"So," Beige said, patting the bulletproof container's sealed lid, "big secret's inside here, huh?" He fixed Olivia with his eyes, crows feet forming at their corners as a grin snuck onto his face. He rested his hand on the crate and drummed his fingers against it, waiting for her to explain.
Olivia sighed, calming herself. She had spent the trip to Noshima Station mentally preparing herself for this moment, thinking about what to say, how to explain her mysterious cargo, even meditating to relax. Or trying to, at any rate. She never had been able to follow Maroon's lessons very well.
Here she was now, standing in a small room aboard one of the shadier stations in Kusari, getting ready to reveal her currently second biggest secret to a man she had known for years and hoped would not turn on her once the truth came to light. Of course, there was no way to predict his response with any degree of certainty. With Beige one never could be too sure how he might react to ... anything.
Taking a deep breath and standing up straighter, Olivia stepped to the small table the container stood on, reaching out with her right hand to swat away Beige's own. With the other, she pressed her thumb against the biometric scanner at the crate's latch, unsealing the lid. It hissed ominously as the insides pressurized. Olivia glanced at Beige, standing beside her with raised eyebrows, eyes now locked on the box. She did not miss the fact that his right hand had instinctively wandered down to the oversized sidearm that he kept strapped to his hip.
"Relax," Olivia whispered. "You're making me nervous." Beige chuckled in response, shoving his restless hand into his trouser pocket.
Steeling herself, Olivia lifted the lid and threw it back. Deep blue light washed over them, flooding the room and casting stark shadows across the steel walls. A sensation of blissful warmth embraced the mercenary, seeping into her body and mind, threatening to wash away her negative emotions; her anxiety, her restlessness, her worries. Olivia braced against it, resisting its attempts. Not this time. She would not let it take her again, cradling her in a false sense of comfort and security, no matter how much it tempted her.
Beige let out a low whistle. Olivia felt him place his free hand on her shoulder and realized that she had shut her eyes in an attempt to shut out the light and its effects. She opened them, turning again to face Beige and found him gazing back at her, the smile gone from his face. Instead he looked ... concerned? A rare emotion to see on the usually so carefree man.
"That's quite the secret you've been keeping," Beige said quietly.
Olivia had slouched down into a chair in a corner of the room, eyes downcast. The blue light had vanished again, once more contained safely with the mysterious crystal orb within the resealed container. Olivia felt exhausted, as though resisting the strange light's influence had taken a great physical effort. A few beads of sweat ran down her temples. Beige remained standing at the table, gaze fixated on the crate, one hand resting firmly atop its lid, as though to make sure its contents did not try to escape of their own volition.
"Any idea what this is?" The man finally muttered after a few minutes of straining silence. Olivia glanced up at him and shook her head. "None at all?" Beige insisted.
Olivia sighed. "Some ... alien artifact? Nomad?"
Beige nodded. "Sure looks like it." He turned to face her, his expression caught somewhere between worry and reprimand. "How the hell did you end up with this?"
"A Rogue left it for me," she answered quietly, "after killing himself."
Beige raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Wow. You sure have an effect on men."
"I barely knew him," Olivia snapped in response. It was true, too. She had encountered the pirate two, maybe three, times? None of those encounters had been pleasant for either party, yet for some odd reason the Rogue had become almost immediately obsessed with her. Only to commit suicide a few days later, bequeathing this damn glowing orb unto her. "I don't know why he gave it to me," she said more calmly.
Beige nodded his head slowly, more to himself than to what she had said. "And you thought keeping this thing was a good idea, huh?"
Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, Olivia shook her head again. "Of course not. But..." she hesitated, unsure herself of why she had held on to the sphere. "I had a feeling it might be important to me." She averted her eyes from Beige's gaze as she saw him raise his eyebrow even higher. "A gut feeling," she muttered. "Nothing ... alien."
They both fell silent again. Olivia could feel Beige's eyes still locked on her, heard him absently drum his fingers across the black container's lid. New beads of sweat formed on her forehead - this time not from exhaustion, but fear.
Had she made a mistake coming here for help? Would Beige turn on her, afraid that she may have fallen under some alien influence? She was unarmed, as usual these days. If he drew his weapon on her, she would die before she could even get to her feet and-
"So," Beige interrupted her thoughts. "What do you want me to do with this thing?" Olivia's eyes shot back up to meet his, hers wide in surprise. Her former colleague stood before her, a mischievous smirk curling at his lips. "Strap it with explosives and turn it to dust? Jettison it into a star? Mount it to a torpedo and send it off into deep sp-"
The impish grin vanished from Beige's face at her interjection.
"Keep it?" The man repeated, sounding incredulous. "You want me to keep that thing?"
Olivia hastily got to her feet, anxious not to lose Beige's interest in helping her. "Hide it," she corrected herself, stepping up close to Beige. "For me. From me. Someplace safe."
Her old colleague fixed her again with his gaze. Olivia often forgot just how intense the usually so roguish man's blue eyes could be. She held his stare, unwilling to back down from her request. They fell silent, save for the sound of Beige's fingers' continued wrapping against the container, as he pondered her plea. The silence seemed to stretch on for eternity, Olivia becoming ever more restless under Beige's unbroken contemplation.
I messed up, she thought to herself, foreseeing Beige's rejection. I shouldn't have come here. I should've just-
"Why," Beige broke the stillness and her thoughts, "don't we just get rid of it?"
Olivia let out a breath she had not realized she was holding. Not an outright refusal. However, now she had to explain.
"Because," she started slowly, picking her words carefully, "it's helped me. And I think ... I might need it again, some time."
Beige raised an eyebrow at this. "Helped with the whole ... blacked-out-murder-spree business?" Olivia nodded. Without the crystal orb and its strange, comforting light, she was certain she would have lost herself long ago.
Beige finally turned his gaze away from her and glanced down at the crate, still under the watchful drumming of his fingers. "So, you want me to hide a potentially dangerous, alien artifact that messes with people's minds while you try to unfuck yours?"
Olivia nodded again. That was the gist of it.
Beige's fingers ceased their drumming and he opened his mouth to speak. Olivia swallowed hard, preparing herself for her old friend to turn her away. Instead, Beige threw back his head and erupted into raucous laughter. Startled, Olivia took a step back, staring at him in sheer amazement. This was not the reaction she had expected.
Tears forming in the corners of his eyes, Beige caught himself long enough to look at Olivia, his face red and a wide grin stretching from ear to ear.
"Hah! Oh, Sable! I've missed this!" He exclaimed, reaching out and amiably slapping her on the shoulder before losing himself to another fit of laughter. Olivia could only stand and stare, nonplussed. "I'm in!" Beige managed to squeeze out between guffaws. He retracted his hand, holding his stomach as he tried to catch his breath, panting. "You have no idea how boring retirement has been!"
Olivia stood there a moment, frozen, before comprehending what she had just heard. "You'll help?"
"Of course!" Beige cried with another laugh. "I haven't had any excitement in months!" He reached out again, this time placing his hand more steadily on her shoulder, with a reassuring firmness. He gave her a smile so warm that, for at least a brief moment, all of Olivia's trepidation and worries seemed to melt away. She could not help but return it as Beige gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. "You can always count on me, old girl."
