Nathan Hunter
&
Jennifer Jureau
A collab between Subject Zero & Xandrya
Nate smirked at the idea of working for those clowns. "What, tweedle dee and tweedle dumbass? They could never afford my services." He pushed himself up from the couch and began strolling around towards Jeniffer, fishing something out of his pocket as he went. "No I was hired by your business partner. You know...whatsisname...with the face." he informed her, not realizing that that was less than descriptive. "He wanted me to keep an eye on you, make sure you don't get into trouble or take up Scientology or whatever...And wouldn't you know it, you did just that...The trouble part, not the Scientology part I mean." He balled up his fists and made a gentle punching motion at the air as he explained "I took care of your delightful little friends. God only knows what they had planned for you."
"Here" he said as he took hold of her wrists and stuck the key he had fished from his pocket into the lock on the cuffs. After they were off, he gave jen a smile and added "But y'know, I bet we could have more fun with these on." He then presented her with the key before holding both of his hands together for her.
Jennifer couldn't help but smile at the remark, although playing along would work to her advantage. "Hm, you're right. You're not that bad-looking yourself" She took off the handcuffs and proceeded to lock one of them around his wrist before dragging him by the small chain back towards the bedroom. "And I don't even need to know your name..." She gave him a wicked smile as she pushed him on the bed, but not for the reason he had in mind. With a swift quickness, she locked the other cuff to the bed post and stepped away from the man in order ot keep the key out of his reach.
"Sounds like a likely story, but I'm going to need some proof. Not that I don't trust you...well, I actually don't, but that's neither one of our fault." The blanket was a heaping mess around her feet, but Jennifer didn't care. This guy had offered her sex like 30 seconds ago, so the comfort line had definitely been crossed by this point.
Nate rolled his eyes in disappointment. "Your loss." he remarked with a small sigh. He knew she would never have actually gone for his offer but it was worth a shot, right? Where a normal person would normally react aggressively to being handcuffed to a bed, Nate simply lay back and closed his eyes. It was hardly the first time he had been in this situation. The only difference was this time he had backup.
"The lack of gratitude from people these days." came a remark from behind Jennifer. In the bedroom doorway, with his shoulder pressed against one side, stood...Nate? Or someone who looked exactly like him anyway. "Here," he said as he casually extended a phone her way. "Give him a call if you don't believe us. Or just call the cops."
"But they're already looking for you." added the Nate on the bed. "I mean I did beat the crap out of one of them to save your life. You're welcome by the way."
The other Nate, lets call him Duplinate, smiled and blew a short blast of air from his nose like something was amusing. "Well that and that whole debacle a couple of weeks ago at the charity gala."
"Nathan James Hunter and Jennifer "JJ" Jureau are wanted for questioning." said Nate, quoting the news anchor. "You're not responsible for that massacre are you?"
"Because I know I'm not." said Duplinate, finishing his brothers sentence.
Nate sighed and muttered "Doesn't matter. A lot of wealthy people died that night and they're looking for someone to blame. They'll find a way to pin it on us...They always do."
It all made sense now. Jennifer slumped back against the wall in an effort to calm herself down. "Well, I guess we don't have any other choice but to skip town. That's my plan anyway, don't know what you want to do." She tossed the key to Nathan #1 who was sitting on the bed. "But you two are off the hook from now on, so you don't need to look after me anymore. If there's any overdue amount left to pay for your services, then I can write you a check."
Jennifer proceeded to search the drawers for any shorts or pants she could wear while coming up with a plan on how to get back at Harrison. How dare he have someone watch her without her consent? Not that she didn't appreciate the help back in the hotel, but it still doesn't give him the right to do that to her. Eventually, Jennifer found some skimpy shorts, and even though she disapproved of the garment, it nonetheless fit her just fine.
"Well, if there's nothing else you two need, then I'll be on my way now. Thank you for saving my life back there, and uh...keep up the good work."
As Jennifer rummaged around in the drawers, Nate uncuffed himself and sat back up. He had fully expected her to be annoyed by the insinuation that she needed a bodyguard/babysitter but if the situation she found herself in earlier was any indication, she definitely did.
When she informed them to keep up the good work, the duplicate replied "Oh we intend to." He held a hand up in the air to stop her leaving and added "As much as I appreciate you offering to pay me, the job's not over until the employer says so and that's not you." In any other situation, he would probably have just let her leave and called the job but he had a vested interest in keeping her around for the time being. "You don't have to stay here but if you're leaving, we're coming with you."
Nate chimed in then, saying "Look, as far as I'm aware, you and I are the only ones who walked out of that gala alive and in one piece...more or less." He shot his twin a look and got a smirk back. He stood then, dropping the cool guy act and being as honest with her as he possibly could. "My life has been nuts ever since then. This guy is proof of that." He gestured to Duplinate, who had lost the confident smile too. Nate continued "You think he's my brother? He's not! I don't know what he is."
"I'm actually three midgets in a trenchcoat." offered Duplinate, despite not wearing a trenchcoat.
"Go see if four is finished with the car." Nate barked at him. The duplicate rolled his eyes and rolled around on the shoulder that was leaning on the doorframe until he was out of the room. When he was gone, Nate shifted his attention back to Jennifer and continued "I'd be willing to bet that you've been going through some weird stuff too. Something happened that night. Something I don't have answers for. But I intend to get them. The news says the same thing happened out in the sticks at some hillbilly shindig or whatever. I'm going there to try and figure this out and...I think you should come with me,"
"Well, if it's any consolation...I think something happened to me there as well." Jennifer finally commented after a long silence. She stared at her feet for a second and continued "I vaguely remember one of the guests lying on the floor after he'd been shot, and me kneeling over him trying to stop the bleeding. When I pushed his shirt out of the way and made skin contact, I began to feel a sharp pain on my side, in the same spot he had his wound." Nate noticed her face scrunch up in confusion at that, even now. "I also noticed his wound getting smaller, I mean, it was happening right in front of my eyes but it still didn't make sense. That's when I got up and made my way out of there. I had a small injury when I left, but the blood wasn't that bad. Nothing some paramedics couldn't fix. Nathan," she said in a serious tone as she sat across from him on the bed, "I haven't told anyone what I just told you, but I suspect we may have some..." she stopped for a second, trying to decide whether the next word would make her sound crazy, "abilities that are unique to each individual. You have your twin, or whatever he is, and I have the power to heal. Let's test it out!"
Before he could reply, she rushed to the kitchen and came back a few moments later with a kitchen knife. "Give me your palm," she demanded as she held out her hand, "if I'm right about this, then I'll go with you on your quest for truth or whatever you prefer to call it."
Nate eyed Jen from the corner of his eye as she asked for his hand. She planned to cut him? Based on a theory that she could then heal him? That sounded like the plan of a lunatic. And yet he still found himself slowly extending his hand towards her. "This is the weirdest date I've ever been on." he remarked in an attempt to alleviate the tension as she took his hand. "Well...Maybe the second weirdest."
Jennifer took a deep breath as she held Nate's hand in her own, preparing herself for what she was about to do. She winced as she began to make a cut across Nate's palm. Nate's only reaction seemed to be slight amusement at hers. He had received far worse injuries than this in the past. He thought about screaming in pain, just to freak her our but thought better about it. Never mess with a woman holding a kitchen knife. A lesson he had already learned.
With the cut made, Jennifer took the blade away and again took a deep breath. She placed her hand atop the wound on Nate's and focussed on it. Both felt an odd tingling sensation and Nate remarked "I feel like I should make some comment about about giving a tingling feeling but--"
"Quiet." she demanded, still focussing on the wound. After a moment, she removed her hand and Nate was surprised to notice that the cut on his hand was completely gone.
"Wow" he remarked, genuinely impressed. Jennifer seemed to light up, rightfully proud of herself. Nate then noticed that she had a small cut on her own hand, exactly where she had cut his. It was smaller than his own wound but it was still going to need a bandage. "Wait here." he said, before quickly leaving.
Jennifer stood for a moment, laughing gently in sheer amazement at what she had just done. But then she realized her hand was bleeding. "Ow!" she muttered, snapping back to reality.
Nate was quickly back in the room with a bandage which he wrapped around Jennifer's hand with a proficiency and speed of someone who had done it many times before. "That was amazing you know. You can actually heal people." He smiled at her. A full smile this time. Not a smirk after some smartass comment. He was genuinely impressed. Bandage on, he held her hand in his own and said "You're kind of amazing."
"Thanks." Jen said, smiling back at him. "I wasn't sure that would actually work."
Nate's expression slowly shifted from happy and amazed to shocked and angry. "You weren't sure!?" he complained.
"Well I mean--" Jennifer began before being cut off by Nate.
"You know what? Never mind!" he barked as he threw his arms up into the air. "Lets just go!"
He was out the door before Jen even had time to respond to his sudden and somewhat irrational outburst, leaving her standing there, confused. She stared at the kitchen knife in her hand for a second then thought about something. "Wait. Where are we going?" she yelled after him as she followed him out of the bedroom.
