Old Acquaintances

[Kalanea McKay]

Truth Montenegro sighed wearily as she finally pushed aside the small metal dish that contained several lumbar vertebrae. She had been alternating between three different metal tables, each containing various pieces of skeletal remains, in an attempt to properly sort out the individual victims found in mass grave in Somali. It was a professional favor for an old colleague with Utopia. Three weeks ago she'd received the call from Jennifer, informing her that a mass grave had been found near the one of the suspected strongholds of a Somali nova warlord, one of many under investigation for crimes against humanity. If the remains could be tied to the man - Ali Hassan Said - then the Aeon Society would be able to authorize the use of force in any and all dealings related to the rogue nova, and they could make another small chink in the great mountain of nova-related international crime.

She'd traveled down to visit the site herself, and overseen the collection of the scene. Pictures had been taken, as well as soil samples, and the remains had been packed and cross-referenced based on location within the grave. All in all there were over sixty victims buried in this particular grave, although Truth hadn't narrowed it down to an exact count just yet. For the last five and a half hours, she had been working on the contents of section 5A - most likely to be verified as two females and a male, all negroid, all with composition markers that indicated a similar upbringing. Unofficially, they were most likely from the same region (possibly the same village) in Africa as most of the other victims she had sorted out thus far. Unfortunately, once bodies that had been piled on top of each other were reduced to a skeletal state, it took a bit of work to sort out the pieces, and make sure that everything was placed with the correct set of remains.

It was work that Dr. Montenegro no longer found herself up for, a decision that her stomach seemed to agree with by growling insistently at the thought of food. Leaving the bones laid out in their semi-complete status, Truth gathered up some reports that she wanted to catch up on, and made her way out of the labs. She briefly considered the idea of leaving the base and heading down to the village for a long lunch, but dismissed it reluctantly. She was trying to take advantage of the brief lull in her Promethian-oriented duties to complete as much of this side project as was possible before things picked up again. While the identification of the bones themselves would probably take a fair amount of time, and might never be thoroughly completed, Truth's initial goal was to find enough indicators in the remains to formally tie Said to the genocide. Once that was done, Utopia would have full authorization to go after the bastard, and she could focus on identifying the victims themselves, so that they might one day be returned home to their families and properly buried with all the funeral rites and tears of their people. It was never enough.. but it was the best Truth could do for them.

So it was with a faint sense of resignation that she turned in the opposite direction towards the HQ's Cafeteria. The food their would be significantly less fresh or flavorful than anything she might have fixed at her own small residence or acquired from a vendor in the village, but it was quicker, closer, and easier, meaning she could get back to her work sooner.

She made her way down the hallway, pressing the button to the elevator as she began to flip through the first few pages of her reports so she could sort them into some sort of relevant order. So it was only with a brief glance that she favored the young man who stepped off the elevator, at least at first, to make sure she didn't run into him on accident. But as she stepped past him into the elevator, something tripped in her memory, and she turned back around, catching the door and holding it open, despite the annoyed chime the elevator gave her and the slight jerk of a mechanical process being forced to change trajectory. She stared for a moment at the retreating snow-white ponytail for a moment as her conscious mind caught up with her instinctive recognition skills.

"Bannon?"

[Bannon]

A short while earlier...

Golden South American sunlight played over the leaves outside the windows as a youthful man in an off-white lightweight jacket and pants sat in a comfortable chair, listening to an older man talk while a beautiful woman, with folded arms that looked as though they were rusty cast-offs from a robot endoskeleton, stood and watched him carefully.

"...and that's pretty much the rundown on the team." Jake Stefakowski said expansively, a touch of the South in the clipped military precision of his tone as he leaned back in his chair and looked over at Bannon. Leaning up against the bookcase by the windows Lee smiled crookedly at him and added "Of course, you'll find the details in their dossiers."

"If I decided to come back." the white-haired young man said a touch sharply, narrowing his eyes at Machine Girl, who merely shrugged and nodded, smirking.

"Sure. If." she assented, not at all fazed by his apparent ambivalence or the frosty look in his pale green eyes. Bannon didn't press it: Lee knew him too well to be taken in. She and Jake had got Bannon to come in and sit down for the pitch, and that meant he was already 90% in the bag. Bannon looked over at Jake.

"It seems to me that you've gotten quite the line-up, Jake. It's a good team... On paper." He allowed. Stefakowski leaned forwards, grey eyes sparkling in the sunlight as he smiled too.

"They're a great team off-paper, Bannon. Diverse, pros in their fields, and they've got the hunger." Jake sipped at his bourbon and pointed at the young-looking man across from him. "But they need an experienced team lead in the field. Lee can't be in two places at once..." Jake looked over at Lee and raised a mock-suspicious eyebrow. "At least, not so's I can catch her doing it." Machine Girl just shrugged once more.

"If I could, I'd never let on to you, Jakey. You'd have me doing paperwork and running field ops while talking to the Big Boys, all while you relaxed in the Bahamas." She deadpanned, causing even the dour Bannon to smile as Stefakowski chuckled and turned back to him.

"Anyway, after her..." Bannon raised a hand to cut him off and nodded.

"I know." he said. Jake nodded and looked at him inquisitively.

"So what's the answer, Bannon? You've been cooped up in your hermitage for years now. You've got to be going a little stir-crazy." Jake set his glass down and set his hand palm-down on the files arranged neatly in the centre of his desk. "This team needs you, Prometheus needs you, and to be perfectly frank my boy, me and Lee need you." Jake's voice dropped a note, becoming softer. "I'm not getting any younger, Jason."

That hit it's mark. Bannon winced internally as he looked at the hand on the stack of folders. It was tanned, still strong, bearing a few minor scars from a lifetime of adventure. Some of those scars had come from pulling his ass out of the fire, Bannon knew. Old eyes in a young face looked up to meet Jake's gaze.

"Okay, Jake." he said quietly, his expression sombre. "Alright. I'll do this." Lee and Jake shared a triumphant look as Bannon stood, tossing back the last of his own drink and setting the glass down before giving Stefakowski a wry, one-sided smile. "But only if you promise to hang around another 10 years or so." Jake chuckled.

"No promises, but I'll make sure I get regular checkups and take my vitamins." he deadpanned back, his eyes sparkling as he stood and offered Bannon a hand. "Welcome back, Dr Bannon." he said formally. Lee came around and gave Bannon a (restrained) slap on the back.

"Nice to have you back, Jason." she grinned before giving him a comradely hug.

"Yeah, yeah." Bannon answered back, trying to balance the warm feeling of being back in the saddle with the cold dread that something terrible would happen again because of it. He wanted a smoke, but more than that he needed some time to think. "I'm going to take a wander around, see what's new, settle in. That alright?"

"No problem." Jake exchanged another look with Lee. "We'll start making arrangements. Your old quarters are already set up. Whenever you're ready we can bring whatever possessions you want or need from your home." Bannon smiled very faintly and nodded before turning and going over to the door.

"Thanks Jake, you're a class act as always. See you both later."

* * * *

He'd been lost in his own thoughts and memories of the past as he'd wandered the hallways of the facility. Here was the briefing room where Thierry had shown off his hand-held 'flame wand' and nearly set fire to the place. There was the rec room where Jonas and Virginia had played table-tennis for 34 hours straight, both novas deciding that neither would leave until there was a clear two-game lead to one of them. They had had to stop when a mission came down, though.

Taking the elevator up a floor, intending to wander through the labs and see if some of the old cultivation tanks he'd established for strange flora were still around. That had been some of his best technical design work, aided by several of the best minds in the Prometheans. A woman passed him, head down over her papers as he exited the elevator. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but the distracted Bannon didn't spare it any more thought than absently remarking to himself that she was probably one of the lab analysts. The ding of the elevator door being halted was followed by a half-surprised, half curious calling of his name.

"Bannon?"

The young man, by all appearances perhaps barely out of his teens, stopped and turned to look at her curiously. For Truth, there was no doubt at all. The snowy hair and the pale green eyes were identical, as were the handsome features, to those in her memories from twenty-plus years ago. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

For Bannon, there was a moment of disorientation before his keen brain supplied the details. The woman was familiar. Her eyes and hair were the same shade, the hair perhaps a little lighter. Of course! Jake had told him during the briefing that she'd been part of the Argonauts for three years now. But names and faces rarely match up when the span of years are taken into account. The face and figure were those of a woman, not the girl he'd known. A girl without parents, whose parents had been friends...

"Truth Montenegro, as I live and breath." Bannon blinked and smiled slightly, turning fully around and stepping back to the elevator. "Sorry for not recognising you right away." he apologised as he offered her a hand. "Jake told me you were here, of course, but I've not had a chance to put faces to names." A wry smile twisted his lips. "And you've grown since we last met."

[Kalanea McKay]

She smiled at him warmly and shifted her folders to her other arm as she took the proffered hand and shook it. Her own grip was strong but cool, a by-product of spending most of her morning in the climate-controlled labs.

"Just a bit. I've passed the snap bracelets and training bra stage anyway."

She stepped off the elevator so that it could move on to other, less occupied passengers, and looked him over in what he could tell was a combination of typical - though surprisingly unabashed - female appreciation, and clinical evaluation.

"You're still as good looking as I remember. I didn't know you were a nova.. temporal manipulation abilities, or just some sort of enhanced stamina that slows your aging process?"

While the glance made the tone of the question somewhat flattering, there was still a fair amount of 'clinical curiosity' in the inquiry that was easy to recognize, and he remembered Jake mentioning that she specialized in the identification of victims involved in nova crime. No doubt she had extensive knowledge of nova abilities.. she was exposed to the tragic results of their misuse on an all-too-frequent basis.

She was also no less forthright than she had been as a precocious pre-teen, apparently. The first time he'd met her, he remembered her looking him straight in the eye and asking what if he'd worked with Alex and her parents and where, because Alex wouldn't tell her who they'd worked for and she wanted to know. She hadn't been pleased when he'd declined to tell her, either. Many people hedged around the topic of his youthfulness, or at least tried to ask in more more subtle manners.. but Truth had come right out and asked as if discussing the weather, or the score of the latest sporting event.

[Bannon]

"No quantum in these old bones. This is plain and simple good living habits." Unfazed by Truth's directness, Bannon lips twisted in a wry smile as he released her hand from his own warm clasp. "Thirteen herbs and spices in my bath, along with finest tobacco and best Armagnac to keep my insides nicely preserved." He took a step to her side as a couple of lab assistants came down the corridor. He still smelled faintly of expensive cologne and equally pricey cigarettes, Truth noted as she peered at him searchingly. Bannon met her gaze evenly.

"The real ingredient is virgin's blood." he told her conversationally, eliciting strange looks from the two assistants. "The herbs and spices go in it, you see. Then I sit back, relax, light up a Sobranie and have a drink."

"I see-" Truth started to say, then Bannon snapped his fingers and knocked the heel of his palm against the side of his head.

"I forgot the moose skin!" he exclaimed, causing the lab assistants to jump as they entered the elevator. The doors closed on their staring faces.

"The moose skin." Truth said levelly. It wasn't precisely a question.

"Yes." Bannon asserted. "I have to wrap myself in it after the bath, while I'm good and tanked on brandy. Then I chant." He made a sad face at her. "I can't tell you the chant, I'm afraid." He leaned a little closer, a mock-conspiratorial gesture, and stage-whispered. "It's a secret."

[Kalanea McKay]

"Mm. A secret."

He nodded gravely, and he could see the faint twitch at the corner of her mouth that indicated her amusement. It seemed that little Truth had learned somewhere along the way to deal with the fact that she didn't get to know everything.. either that, or she was just less personally attached to this particular mystery than she was to one that involved her dead parents.

"Well, if you ever decide to pass along such a treasured secret, remember us poor souls who have at least three lifetimes worth of work to catch up on, won't you?"

[Bannon]

"I'll bear it in mind." Bannon returned with a dry tone and a slight smile as he straightened up again. "Speaking of which..." he gestured at the papers files in Truth's arms. "Where were you headed before I inadvertently delayed you?"

"Just down to the cafeteria. The paperwork is my light reading." Truth answered, feeling a minor sense of disorientation at the casually authoritative manner displayed by a man who looked like a college sophomore, but was in truth at least as old as her parents would be. How old are you? she wondered as she talked, her eyes examining him for signs of age. Other than his manner and the way he held himself, there was no clue. On impulse she added "Want to catch up over lunch?"

For a moment Bannon was going to refuse. He wasn't really looking to socialise right now, and had been avoiding the cafeteria because meeting old faces (and imagining other faces that should be there but weren't) would be a certainty. But this was little Truth, practically a god-daughter once upon a time, a serious-eyed little girl grown up into a serious-eyed woman who would be part of his team.

"Sure." he said with a nod, gesturing towards the elevator. "I could use a bite to eat." He pushed the call button and glanced at her. "I was glad to hear from Jake that you joined the Argonauts." he said quietly. "How are you getting on with it?"

[z-Carver]

Carver sighed and rotated her neck, hearing her spine crack. “That’s a bad sign,” she muttered before straightening up into a full stretch. She glanced at the clock, frowning when she saw it was only eleven. Early enough for lunch, but she wasn’t hungry. She touched the report she was referencing, her fingers brushing over the plastic cover. But she made no move to open the folder; she couldn’t muster even a fake enthusiasm for her work. She felt cooped up and confined. She needed to get out of the office and away from the report she’d been writing. Her gaze dropped to her tennis shoes tucked under her desk and she began to grin. Now that was what she needed.

She changed shoes and hurried to her small cottage. It wasn’t that small actually, but the standards of the area, but it was smaller than some of the place she’d have access to in America. She had also lived in worse before, and it was a charming building. Inside, she stripped and changed into her running clothes, a pair of gray cotton Capri sweats and black tank top. She was still smiling as she headed for the edges of the village.

The run quickly soothed her restlessness; the steady rhythm of her feet on the dirt paths took her back to college, when she was happier, or at least less complicated. She was just trying to win, trying to be first across the finish line. Now, her only opponent was herself – and her constant companion. Sadly, Jael could keep up with her with no effort.

So you feel the need to escape me? Jael was either pissed or bemused; it was always hard to read her when she was feeling flippant.

You feel the need to get the hell away from me at times, Willow pointed out, choosing her words with care. It was ridiculous to be afraid of Jael, but sometimes she was. Just knowing what Jael was bad enough, and her only saving grace was that Jael couldn’t get to her physically. Not really.

Yeah, you’re lame, though. Willow scowled; Jael clearly wasn’t scared of her. And a stick in the mud.

“Thanks,” Willow muttered angrily.

“Well, you are,” Jael answered.

Stop that. People will hear and think we’re crazy, Willow said quickly, looking around.

Jael snorted. You worry too much about what people think.

You don’t at all, so it just balances you out, Willow pointed out. Whatever, I’m getting us lunch now.

She paused long enough to splash some water on her face in the bathroom and check to make sure she didn’t stink. But she didn’t want to go back and change just to eat. She’d be back in the skirt and blouse soon enough; she could eat lunch in her sweats. Carver headed for the line and grabbed a tray, feeling her stomach growl a little. There were several people there already, and she settled in for a wait.

Movement behind her in the line caught her eye and she turned. A second later, she smiled as she recognized the woman behind her. “Hey, Truth,” she said, giving the other woman a professional nod. “I heard you had a mess handed to you earlier.” She looked at the young man with Truth, wondering who he was. Carver didn’t recognize him but if he was with Truth, he belonged somehow. Her eyes gave him a friendly once-over – but there was a flash of a less-congenial emotion in her expression. It was like a cat sizing up a canary, but it was literally there-and-gone and easily dismissed. When Carver spoke, there was no trace of that hungry emotion in her face or voice. “And who’s your friend? New recruit?”

[Kalanea McKay]

"I like it here. I mean.. I'm not sure I could tell you why. The job isn't too different from what I was doing with Utopia or the FBI most days. I'm still looking at dead bodies and trying to figure out who they are and how they ended up that way. But there's a little more variety here too.. something to keep it from getting to be too much. Something to do besides just look at impact fissures or acid marks or striations. And besides.. I suppose I feel closer to them here, knowing I'm working for the same goal they were."

It was very matter of fact, with very little sentimental weepiness, and for a moment Bannon mulled over whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that it was obviously still something she thought about so often. On their way down they were stopped by a couple people with questions for her, but not by any faces he recognized, and they were all in too much of a hurry to ask much about the unfamiliar one walking next to the serious-minded scientist. So they made it all the way down to the cafeteria before they were stopped by anyone who found reason to address not only Truth directly, but Bannon's presence as well.

Quote:

Hey, Truth,” she said, giving the other woman a professional nod. “I heard you had a mess handed to you earlier.” She looked at the young man with Truth, wondering who he was. Carver didn’t recognize him but if he was with Truth, he belonged somehow. Her eyes gave him a friendly once-over – but there was a flash of a less-congenial emotion in her expression. It was like a cat sizing up a canary, but it was literally there-and-gone and easily dismissed. When Carver spoke, there was no trace of that hungry emotion in her face or voice. “And who’s your friend? New recruit?”

"Hi Willow. This is Bannon.. and actually, it's a bit of the opposite. I'm pretty sure he's been part of the Argonauts for longer than either you or I have been alive. Unless, of course, you have some secret method of youth-retention you haven't told me about too. He was a friend of Alex and my parents, I knew him as a child. Bannon, this is Dr. Willow Carver, our field medic, amongst her other talents."

[Bannon]

"A pleasure, Dr Carver." The young man with an old gaze said by way of introduction as he offered Willow his hand, glacial green eyes meeting hers unwaveringly. Bannon gave no indication that he'd seen anything amiss, dissembling with the ease of experience. Of course, it helped that he'd been half-expecting to see something odd anyway. "I've been loosely briefed on your role in the field and your areas of expertise." he told the blonde woman as she took the offered hand. "It's nice to meet the young lady who'll be patching us up."

Willow Carver. He'd been surprised when Jake had told him of her emergence as a talented Psiad. Of course, after that news it was hardly a surprise that the Director of the Argonauts had wanted Carver on the team. He grabbed a tray along with Truth and Willow as the line moved forward, taking a few pieces of fruit and a cup of tea for himself. A few surprised glances from some longer-serving Argonaut personnel who recognised the sleek white hair started a low buzz in the background, but Bannon and his two companions were only abstractly aware of this as they collected their food. intent on their conversation.

"So have you two worked in the field together before?" Bannon asked with professional curiousity. "I ask partly because the current field team roster is a little larger than in my day, and I was wondering if anything has come up that has required the entire lot of you to go, and how that worked out logistically."

[z-Carver]

"Dr. Bannon. I've heard the myths." Her dry smile said she was only half-joking. "And actually, no," Willow said easily as she nodded for a second serving of the sliced turkey but waved away the noodles. They looked like they'd been in the hot tray for way too long, and she signaled for them to give her a scoop of corn instead. "Truth and I haven't yet had the distinction of working together in the field. Honestly, I haven't worked with anyone in the field in a while, so this will be interesting. Of course, I believe we'll all be in need of some adjustments."

Wonder where he's been. Jael's voice was an unwelcome intrusion.

What do you care? Willow wondered, a little surprised that her darker half was showing interest in something like this. Normally, nothing without another’s blood or pain stirred Jael.

Willow had the distinct impression that Jael was shrugging. It’s a mystery. I want to know. He might know some fun ways to kill someone.

He can’t teach us. He’s not like us. Willow was frustrated with Jael and decided to ignore the other woman.

As Truth finished her selections, Carver said, “What do you think of all of this, Dr. Bannon?”

[Bannon]

"It's much as I remember it." The white-haired young man said as he led the two woman over to a vacant table and sat down before leaning back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee. "Coffee's better though." He looked at Willow's expression and shrugged.

"As for the Argonauts, I'm not sure what to make of it yet. I imagine things have changed around a bit. Practically all of the current field roster are as new to me, as I am to you." He toyed with his food, inwardly wishing he could smoke. He took another sip of coffee instead. "I haven't even seen more than a cover sheet for each of you, so it'll take some time to get to know everyone."

[z-Carver]

"What would you like to know?" Carver asked as she assembled the turkey into a lettuce-leaf sandwich. Ignoring Jael's grumbles at the bland fare, she said, "We're here and chatting. So now’s as good as time as any."

There was a hint of challenge in her eyes, but it wasn't malicious. It was more competitive than combative; an invitation to put her to the question here and now. And there was the unasked question: Do you really want to know, or were you just talking good?

“Besides,” Carver added, “I’m sure I can tell you more than you get from a report anyway.” She smiled charmingly as she daintily picked up her ‘sandwich’ and took a small bite. Jael, shut up about the food. I wish we had a nova metabolism, too. We don’t, deal.

I just can’t taste anything!

You want me to go back and get something else? Willow chided. You wanna get fat? Do you?

[Bannon]

"You're right. Now is as good a time as any." Bannon toyed with the apple he'd taken as if considering eating, but set it down instead and took another drink of coffee. He wished he could light up instead, but these days it was bad manners to smoke when others were eating, not to mention a health hazard. Funny how that works he grumped, looking at the healthy selections on the two female doctors' plates and wishing that he'd an appetite for something like a steak.

"I know how you both came to join the Argonauts." he said over his mug. "But what do you both think of the Argonauts?" Pale green eyes watched both women carefully.