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theconfusedartist · 8 months

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Before Penn Station [permutation 1] Ch. 2

Hi guys! I finally managed to get this done! I hope that you all like this chapter, and I replied to the person on ff.net. I wasn't sure if I should also give the reply to the concerns here too, but I'll answer here in the notes too.

Here's the chapter below the cut!

After shoving his way through an entire crowd, Alex doubles back as fast as he can, ducking around a corner then back over the rear entrance of Bad Weather. Ignoring the irritated and outraged looks he got as he ran past people, he quickly started scaling the nearest building, eyes alert for Desmond's telltale presence.

He managed to catch a glimpse of it as Desmond teleported (because what else do you call it when someone straight up disappears in broad daylight?) somewhere else, a low computer noise the only thing he left behind. Alex felt his lips pull as his mouth widened to a cheek-to-cheek grin.

He'd been just a bit late, but he'd managed to find Desmond as he was escaping, and he was only getting better at it.

Satisfied, Alex climbed back down in the nearby alleyway, dusting off his hands and wiping off the debris in his (what used to be) white hoodie. He didn't have any work to do, since today was a field-testing day, and Dana told him she'd be occupied for the better part of the day before doing some other things she had to take care of. His apartment was already clean and the idea of laying down to sleep was repulsive at this point.

Which meant he only had one other option, since he wasn't nearly desperate enough to call up his insane boss for company. Karen.

Hopefully, she was in a good mood today—he really didn't want to hear her talking about her murder scrapbook. His phone was a basic Nokia brick flip, but it worked and that's all that mattered, and he didn't pay it a second thought as he called Karen.

The phone rung four times, then Karen answered with a terse, "What."

Ah. Not a good mood then. Oh well. "You free right not?"

A loud sigh, "Unfortunately. How soon are you coming over?"

Alex shoved his way back onto the sidewalk, holding his arm up for a passing cab's attention, "I'm catching a cab now."

"I'll see you shortly then."

Alex never saw any reason to make small talk with people he wasn't interested in, so after shooting down the cab drivers' initial attempts at conversation, the trip was a short and awkward one. Pushing the money at the disgruntled cabbie, he wasn't surprised when he heard the screech of tired as the car peeled out of the lot.

Karen's apartment was on the third story, no elevator to speak of, just two sets of rickety stairs with dying bushes and potted plants littered around carelessly. Karen's door was easy to puck out, the almost gothic door knocker that sat in the center of steel ivy vines above a cheery 'Welcome!' mat was a dead giveaway.

Alex slammed the door knocker once, and waited for a few seconds as the door swung open to reveal Karen, sans makeup in a light grey bathrobe, a cup of coffee in her hand. She turned back into her apartment without a greeting once she saw it was him, yawning loudly and moving to eat her breakfast of bland scrambled eggs.

"Hey, Karen." Alex greets dryly, slamming the door after walking inside and grabbing his own mug for coffee, "You look like shit."

"Coming from you, that means nothing." She chugs her first mug then blankly sets it down to grip at her second cup, already hot. "You look like you fought a bear."

Alex scoffs, "Please, none of them were big enough for that."

"So, why'd you call me anyways? Did you need help with disposal again?"

"Nah, I already took care of that." Alex's head absentmindedly touches his right coat pocket, the inner lining pressing against his shirt. "There isn't anything left for anyone to find now."

"Then why are you here?" Karen yawns again, "Seriously, if you came here to talk about that girl you've been trying to date, then you better be prepared to hear me talk about my love life."

"Finally!" Karen shots, slamming her empty cup on the counter top loudly. "Trina dumped me last night and I've been drinking coffee to stay up and reread our chat history! She blocked me." Karen glowers at Alex, "She blocked me! I'm such a catch and she blocked me!" She looks to Alex cheerlessly. "What am I doing to drive these women away, Alex? Why can't I find love?"

'Lots of reasons.' Alex thinks, but has the sense not to say out loud. "Why'd she break up with you? Was it the murder-"

"It was the murder scrapbook." Karen lets out a long drawn out groan. "I set up my bathroom as a dark room to develop my photos, and Trina decided to surprise me with some supplied because she's a photographer too, walked in and saw them! She saw all my latest murder shots!" Karen rubs at her temples, her short blond hair choppy and ragged from it's most recent haircut. "At least she didn't scream and run like Priscilla did, but it was honestly worse. I got her to sit down see we could talk it out and she, in the nicest ans sweetest way possible because that's just how she is, told me that she was utterly repulsed by me and realized I wasn't the person she thought I was."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I tried to convince her that this was just another part of me, y'know like a puzzle you found pieces to you didn't know existed, but she just. She walked out, Alex. And she didn't even look back, all I saw was her back and the door."

"You should find someone who isn't on the straight and narrow, Karen. I told you, you've gotta find someone who can keep up with you have going on and has their own shit going on."

"But I don't want someone who lacks morals, that's the reason I'm not dating anyone from the company, Alex."

Alex shrugs, not willing to add anything to the topic, as they'd spent many nights bitching about the absolute depravity being fostered and encouraged at Gentek. At this point, any further discussion would be beating a rotten horse.

"I just...wanna come home to a nice girl who isn't going to stab me in the back or poison me for corporate secrets. Who I can share my love of photography with, who I can share my passions with and enjoy her passions, with the benefit of rough sloppy sex! Is that too much to ask?!"

Alex shrugs, "I mean, if you asked me a few years ago, I probably would've said that you met her and the time is past. But now...I dunno, Karen. If I can run into my other half again, after fucking up my shot on three seperate occasions, there's still a chance."

Karen looks at him morosely, "You think so? You think there's still a chance?"

"Maybe. But you have to chase it, when you feel like you've met that person, otherwise you'll regret it."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Yeah." It's not said with shame or sadness. He says it so matter-of-fact that Karen has no choice but to accept it as the truth. Or at the very least, it was Alex's truth.

"Well. Ok." Karen sits up. "Thanks. You give good advice sometimes."

Alex barks a laugh, "I had to take care of Dana growing up, so I've had to give sensible advice every now and then. Just...don't expect me to do this too often."

"What, you might combust?" Karen snorts.

"Absolutely." Alex nods, but she can see the slight quirk of his lips. "I'd be nothing but meat chunks all over."

Karen laughs and a comfortable silence descends over the room. Karen is content to stare at the counter, mulling something over, while Alex gets up to get a mug from her cabinet. He already grabbed one when he came in, but it's a bland boring thing with the Gentek logo engraved on the front. He already has to deal with their bullshit on a near daily basis, swallowing from a mug with their logo almost feels like defeat. She has a couple of mugs in the cabinet that's ended up there after so many years of spending time in her space, migrated over from his apartment, and Alex chooses the familiar one with the words 'resting bitch face' on the front in black, the rest of the mug a faded crimson. Karen's coffee machine is the kind you'd find an office, but at the very least she has cream and other flavors available, for as much as she drank the stuff she wasn't all that good at roasting it.

Cup full of coffee, a spoonful of sugar and a lot of cream later, Alex returns back to the counter.

Karen sighs then taps her fingers on the counter top. "So, c'mon. Why don't you tell me about the good news?"

"What good news?"

"I mean, you sounded pretty upbeat on the phone-well for you at least. Did something go well?"

"Oh." Alex slowly grins, showing all of his teeth as it stretches from the cheek to cheek, his eyes only visible by the excited gleam. "I've been getting batter at tracking him without him being able to tell I'm near. I saw him teleporting today-and that was after he got done glowing."

Karen blows air out from her teeth, "Man, how am I supposed to take you seriously when you say shit like that? People can't glow or teleport, Alex. Do you need to take something for hallucinations or something?"

The smile oozed off his face as Alex looks down his nose at her, "This is why I rarely ever tell you thinks about him. You don't believe me."

"I mean," Karen shrugs, "You let the weirdest shit slip when you talk about him, and it sounds literally impossible. I mean-" she fumbles to gather her words. "-how am I supposed to believe you met him once, and he somehow captivated you so badly that you jumped his bones in Vermont, you somehow didn't have the sense to give him your address or phone number. Then! And this is the part that I really don't believe, but you saw him with his baby-mind you, you've literally told me that this was a guy that you slept with. Also! And this is something you told me by the way, you saw this guy eating glass and metal in a crowd without anyone else noticing. And this was somehow on the one day that you had to get a secondary copy of your dissertation to copyright the strain of virus that McMullen sold to that-who was it again?-that weird as Whister-Water-Wesky-Wesk-something dude from the company that went bankrupt and got bought up by Tricell. Mind you, you managed to see him at the exact time you were coming out, then you had to chase him down and lost him in the crowd. Literally what are the odds? I rarely ever see you lose a mark when you go hunting."

"He talks about 'the Calculations' sometimes when he's super tired or drank too much." Alex shrugs. "No idea what he means, but for some reason he says it like a title of something or an event. Won't explain it though."

"...right. Alex," Karen placles her hand on his arm. "I saw this because I care about you. Are you going crazy or something? The only person I've ever seen you chasing after is a woman, in any of the times I've been your wingwoman she's always been a dancer or a bartender, and? I've never seen her glowing or talking to another person that you've said you've seen. I really think that you might be hallucinating or something."

"He's a woman sometimes, that's all."

"He...crossdresses?"

"No."

"Then...are we even talking about the same person?"

"Who do you think I'm talking about?"

"Uh...? That girl that always wears the huge white hoodie, right?"

Alex puts a hand to his chin, "Is that the main thing that you remember him by? Do you remember anything else about him?"

"...she had really short dark hair? I dunno, Alex, she didn't really have that many distinct features and she's not all that pretty." Karen narrows her eyes, "Maybe it's just because you're biased you think she has some...beauty or whatever."

'No,' Alex thinks. 'She's not the only person that described him like this. Before I gained such a bad reputation at the bar, most patrons and employees only recognized him by the hoodie and hair.'

"Alex?" Karen waves a hand in front of him. "Alex, can you hear me?"

'Karen might've just cracked the case for me. People don't remember him as Desmond or Desiree, since he never introduces himself by either of his real names, they don't even notice the scar on his lips. Does he have some ability to hide? Is that why people only ever seem to see the hair and hoodie? If that's the case, I can use it to my advantage...'

"Alex. Alex!" Karen claps her hands once, twice, thrice. "There he goes again."

'I have a plan now. I've gathered everything to make this work, all I need to do is get Des in a romantic environment, and it'll work!'

"Karen!" Alex straightens up with a yell, smashing his hands onto the counter, startling Karen who'd been skimming a book. "You've done! That's it!"

"What's is?!"

"I figured out what I need to make him mine!"

Karen blinks, then blinks again rapidly. "H-what?"

"I'm going to get ready, Karen." Alex gives her his full toothy, cheek to cheek grin. "I greatly enjoy speaking with you. See ya!"With that he turns and strides out her apartment, making sure to close the door behind him.

Karen rolls her eyes, "Always with the dramatic entrances and exits…"

------->

Author's Notes: Karen was implying that Alex could win in a fist fight with an actual bear, but Alex was talking about the sexy gay kind. Karen has lost multiple girlfriends to her murder scrapbook, she always makes sure to cover her tracks and let her exes know that if they try to turn her in, she will kill them. Karen and Alex were dating before he entered Gentek, and she was actually his link into the company, she's on his team working on is counteragents and immunizations. Alex doesn't have that many members on his team, but the few that does all specialize in things that he doesn't work on, so he doesn't have to worry about anyone taking credit for his work.

No one has ever entered Alex's lab, it was one of the conditions that Alex made when he became a director in the company. Also, yes Karen did imply a few things about other franchises. Shout outs to all the people that recognize it.

#before penn station #fanfiction #protocreed #alex mercer #alex j. mercer #dr. mercer #uhhh #i don't know what else to tag this as #writing

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