When's that friend of yours...

Alec scoffs as he wanders behind Ryan back outside. "The risk of getting caught by the cops for street racing? You call that danger?" He shakes his head, his lips pursed in a look of annoyance. "If that's all I had to worry about, I'd be in good shape."

Leaning against a sign post, he sighs. The whole thing with the Agency turning against him really had thrown him for a loop. He'd wanted to kill anybody at the Elite for trying to take the Agency down, but now... the very place he'd been defending had tried to murder him. He needed to take Ryan's advice and get out without looking back. But now he'd always be on the run. He could trust no one.

He felt stupid. He shouldn't have to depend on anybody else. He'd never had to before. He was used to getting his way, no matter how he did it. Then all of a sudden, he was caught and held prisoner for over a month. Finally getting out, he now was being rejected by those he had belonged to. He knew he couldn't really trust anyone at the Agency - they were all crooks. But he'd at least thought they'd have his back. Discovering they didn't was confusing and hurt just a little too as it angered him. For the first time, he wasn't in control, and as such, he just didn't know how to act.

"You have no idea who I am or what they want me for, Ryan." Alec pushes off the sign to amble closer to her car. "I'm not gonna risk your little club getting broken up by the cops and having them find me. But... I will take you up on your offer for a room... just for tonight."


"So you gonna go later this week?"

Clang
Axel cringes as his wrench is dropped. It was bad enough he was here working past eight o'clock, and now Leo had to be a chatterbox. Axel loved his friend to death, but every once in a while, the talking and hyperactive tendencies were just a bit much. "Go where, Leo?"

Leo leans back against the work bench, watching Axel tinker in the car engine. He fiddles with a screwdriver. "You know... to go see Ryan."

Axel retrieves his wrench and keeps working, even though he could feel his hand going numb for the third time that day. It had progressed to four or five times a day now instead of maybe once. Already he was being forced to work long hours because he wasn't able to get everything done during the day when his hand acted up. So far, his boss had been lenient. "Ryan?"

"Yeah, you know..." Leo hints. "Go watch her."

Oh that. Axel shakes his head, his focus still in the engine. "I think you know my answer to that."

"Come on. I mean, the other guys are going."

"Do I look like the other guys?"

Leo smirks. "Not a bit. But lighten up... you gotta get out and do something different."

"Than what?" Axel straightens, oil and grease stains clear up to his elbows, and a smudge on the side of his face. "Working here, being in a band, being involved in my church and spending time with Jess? There are just twenty-four hours in a day, last I looked... isn't that right?"

Leo rolls his eyes. "Come on. Just once? I hear it's a blast. The other guys say it's quite the deal."

"Leo, no."

"But-"

"I'm not going to go watch something like that," Axel states flatly. "I won't do it."

"Aw, but Ryan's not-"

"Ryan is an ace mechanic, great driver and she's fun to be around." Axel grabs another tool and goes back to work on the engine. "I like her as much as the next guy, and I believe she's loyal to her friends, honest, hard-working and she's got the guts to go after whatever she wants."

Leo grins. "You certainly know how to be observant."

"All you do is notice her looks," Axel quips.

Leo's face reddens, though his cheesy grin remains. "I can't help it she's gorgeous."

"How many times has she turned you down?"

"Oh..." Leo sighs. "Four? Five?"

"You mean you haven't asked her more than that?"

Leo shoots him an annoyed look. "Okay, so I don't know. But see? She's great. And you won't come watch her drive just once?"

Axel heaves a deep sigh and finally straightens to look at his buddy. "No. Have fun watching, tell her good luck from me, but no."

"But it's just down on-"

"It doesn't matter where it is," Axel returns. "I simply have no desire to go watch races like that."

"Why not?"

"Because. Personally, I think it's too risky a business. The driving and the gambling that goes on. I don't agree with it, and I don't want to be a spectator because I won't enjoy myself watching it."

Leo throws up his hands. "So you're calling Ryan stupid? You're more loyal to safe procedures than your friends?"

"Leo, I didn't say that," Axel states flatly. "You know I'm loyal to my friends, but street racing isn't my thing. There's a reason cops don't like it. If the local authorities could get away with banning it, they would. You know as well as I do that other stuff goes on there, and I don't want to be in that position."

Leo lets his arms fall back to his sides in surrender. "Alright, alright. I know better than to keep arguing with you."

"Who's arguing?" Axel gestures to the tools on the wall. "Go get me that wrench over there."

"Hey, you're on the clock, not me."

"You want to find peanut butter in your locker again?"

Leo's eyes widen and he quickly retrieves the tool, bowing low. "I am your humble servant, oh master of the spreadage of peanut butter through one's locker."

Axel grins, his eyes twinkling. "That's what I thought."

Leo leans over the engine to take a look as well. "So when's that friend of yours coming back?"

"Friend?" Axel furrows his brow. "Who you talking about?"

"You know..." Leo's eyes remain on the engine parts. "Liz."

"Ohhh." Axel chuckles. "I don't know. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Uh-huh." Axel rolls his eyes. "You're the one that needs a life, bud, not me."


"Alright. Here we are." Ryder parks his car at TJY once more. He looks to the door, then to Thirteen who was beside him in the passenger seat. "I don't know if I can convince Reese to let Trooper stay or not. If I can't, you're gonna just have to take a deep breath and stay in your room anyway."

His eyes show that he's sorry and he wishes there was something more he could do. The spare room was a whole lot better than the holding cell, but that thought didn't do much good. He knew Thirteen was scared to death of being alone.

"You can come with me when I talk to him though, if you want, so you don't have to go to your room just yet."


A light knock at the door makes Jason look up from his chair and spot Carson. "Hey."

"Hi, Jase. Heard the good news and wanted to stop by." Carson enters the room slowly, still in his clothes from work, with his baseball cap on. He knew Katie was probably exhausted, so he wouldn't stay long. "Hey, Kat." His grin is wide. "Welcome back." He'd worried about his little friend as much as anyone else. It hadn't been the same not seeing her around.

Jason nods to him. "Headed home?"

"No. Going to TJY first."

"Still working on that stuff for Scott?"

"Yeah." Carson sighs and leans against the foot of the bed. "I was finally able to access some files that got me a little deeper, but I'm still having a hard time finding the right source. The information has to be there somewhere. I just need one document... but I can't find it."

"What about Dalton?"

"I know the Agency files. I know without getting into some of them what will be of use or not, so it's just as fast that I do it myself. Scott gave me the security code I needed."

Jason folds his arms, shifting his weight in the chair. "What if it doesn't really exist?"

The thought was prominent in Carson's mind. The more days that passed without proof that something had happened with Scott after the assimilation only emphasized the chance that he'd been wrong... that Scott really was a threat. And the more time he spent on this, the more chance there was that his hacking would be found out. Not even Reese knew the extent of his hacking into the Agency system, or how risky it was. "I don't know." His eyes glance to Katie for a moment. He knew that she and Scott were close friends. "But I'm not giving up yet."

"You gonna stick around after the fact?"

Carson shrugs. "Reese is still after me to stay but... I've got the restaurant... I just don't see how it could work." He turns back to Katie and throws her a wink. "Get yourself out of here so you can come down for some pizza soon."