Someplace Nice [Zeek]

[Ali Cross]

Ali was out for a nice dinner. She had just recently concluded a very successful experiment. She had successfully finished her fifteenth experiment that week, beating her own record! She was so excited about this fact that the young woman decided to go out and purge herself a bit with a nice dinner on the town. Ali was used to going out to eat since she was usually spending most of her time in the labs and thus often just went out to the nearby town for a quick bite and then headed back to continue her experiments. Tonight, however, she really wanted to spoil herself and go somewhere special in celebration.

She walked through the streets of the town, her long khaki trench coat wrapped snuggly around her. Her dark hair was pulled back into a short ponytail as it always was, and her dark eyes gazed across the somewhat crowded streets, taking in every sight. There were people of all ages milling around despite the nighttime darkness that was creeping forward.

She took in a deep breath of air as she walked and closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to think of a nice place to eat dinner at. She wanted someplace high-class, but not too expensive. Someplace with good food and preferably good service (she didn’t want an obnoxious waiter ruining her celebratory night). The place would have to-

Ali was pulled out of her thoughts when she suddenly ran into someone. She stepped back, opening her mouth to yell at the person but then thinking better of it when she remembered that she was out in public. She looked at the person she had run into, swiping away the shocked gape that had taken over her face.

“I apologize,” she said, nodding her head at him. “That was my fault I was… lost in my thoughts.”

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek had only been out for a stroll. Really to just try the night life away from the circus. You would have thought he would have had enough of the scummy night life that prowled the streets. But no, he was still fascinated by everything and how everyone changed in the night. And, with his tall stature, he was able to see everything over majority of the people's heads. It was just as crowded as it was during the day, and he found it startling that so many people could be so rude, just with a change of time.

It was then that a body bumped into his, and, with the shock he let out a small 'Oof' and, with doing so, the exhale of breath he let out; puffed out a small cloud. Not the sort of cloud exhaled in the winter weather, but the cloud you'd find in the sky. It was only the size of a tennis ball, but it was enough to point out he was a mutant. His cheeks flared and he covered his mouth, praying no one had seen. He simply nodded to whoever it was that had bumped into him and attempted to wriggle away.

[Ali Cross]

Ali was just about to go on with her stroll and search for her restaurant when she suddenly caught sight of the little cloud that escaped the man’s mouth. It wasn’t cold, so why would his breath cause that? No, it wasn’t his breath Ali realized and instantly a sly little grin came over her face. She knew what this person before her was. She didn’t know his name and she didn’t know exactly why he was here, but she knew that she needed to get close to him.

He was an experiment.

What could make her celebratory night better than finding a runaway experiment? How splendid. How beautifully, horribly splendid. In a moment of rash behavior that was so unlike Ali, she grasped the experiment’s wrist lightly. Normally she wouldn’t have acted this way, but desperate times called for desperate measures. So she put on some little doe-like, wide eyes and forced a light little blush to come to her cheeks and she averted her eyes purposefully, though the act would normally have never even crossed her mind. She was a good actress, always had been, and at this moment she was thankful for it. She couldn’t, after all, simply kidnap the man. She was good, but not that good.

“Uhm…” she said, trying to make herself look vulnerable and embarrassed. “I’m sorry but… I… I was just looking for a restaurant to go to. Tonight’s a special night for me. Uhm… Would you mind accompanying me?”

She hoped this worked, she really did. If it didn’t work, Ali would have to do this the hard way and fight the young man. That wasn’t at the top of her things to-do list, that’s for sure.

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek's nose twitched at the cool, soft skin grabbing his. His eyes widened as he looked down to the raven haired girl. His first initial thought was trouble, and little did he know, he was right. But at the expression on the woman's face, his features softened. He had never been one to be rude to a woman, a manner he had tought himself. He had spent a lot of time on his own, and found that talking to a woman as politely as one could, often led to good places. So, looking down to her, purple strands of hair fell over his face. "I-I was going somewhere, but it can wait." Books can wait, Zeek. The lady needs a hand, so help her. He was thinking to himself, and sighed softly, before turning to face the lady. "I'm Zeek." He told her softly.

What was he doing? He was about to walk with a stranger to a restaurant, idiot. He didn't know who this woman was, and as innocent as she seemed, there could have been other thoughts in her head, other than a meal. But none of this entered Zeek's head, despite the iron-like grasp she had on his wrist.

[Ali Cross]

The moment she saw that expression on the experiment’s face, Ali knew she had snagged her catch. Of course, she would have to keep up the simple-minded, girly act until she had the experiment alone and she was able to capture him, but the scientist felt that it was worth it. She resisted the urge to let out a delighted little chuckle – which in fact would’ve probably sounded more like a cackle – and instead dealt out a charming smile towards the experiment – Zeek? Was that what he called himself? – in response to his acceptance of her trickery.

“Alison,” she replied, moving her hand from his wrist and instead hooking their arms together at the elbows. Though to most it would seem like she was simply a woman flirting with a newfound target, it was really so that the scientist could keep a hold of the experiment without it seeming too strange. “A pleasure to meet you Zeek.” More like a pleasure to beat you Ali thought, silently snickering at her little inside joke.

Oh, Ali planned on having fun with this gullible little experiment, that’s for sure. She could already see him lying on one of her lab tables, ready to be cut into and tormented until what little bit of sanity had escaped the previous experimentations on him had been wiped out. Oh how delicious it would be to see this seemingly kind young man squirm beneath her fingers and tools. It was really quite like the story of Little Red Riding Hood, their situation that is. Ali was the devious, clever wolf – no, she didn’t like wolf… Foxes! They were much more cunning – disguised as someone trustworthy and this poor, poor experiment – Oh, what was his name again? – was poor little Red. Hmm… Maybe more like tall Purple.

“So… Zeek was it?” Ali asked as they began walking through the dimming world. She worked hard on not smiling too brightly, not wanting to scare the experiment away. “Do you have a restaurant in mind?”

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek was silent, really just taking in the whole scenario. Going to dinner with a stranger, a stranger that had possibly just seen his little cloud...What was he doing. He considered turning and running for his life, as bizarre as it would seem, it would be the safer bet. Alas, he could do no such thing. His arm was soon trapped in the woman's clasp. Now what could he do other than remain on edge?

As they walked, Zeek didn't even consider that she could've been flirting, and instead lost himself in his thoughts, as best he could. It was a defense mechanism, be quiet and thoughtful and maybe they'll go away. It usually worked, but he'd never done this with someone holding his arm. Zeek Fulgidus considered that being so suspicious of a seemingly innocent woman out for a meal could be very foolish. Maybe she was just really needy.

He scratched his chin softly, pondering this, unaware of her nursery school story comparisons, he found himself being pulled away from his thoughts. He cringed inwardly, before looking down to the chocolate eyed woman. "Y-Yes? Oh..Uh..Mm..I'm fairly new around here, wouldn't know where to go. I'd suggest maybe..the one like six minutes away. Sushi place, kinda nice." Zeek twittered on, spilling the useless information to her as she beamed up at him. Okay, he thought; that smile could quickly become a little creepy.

[Ali Cross]

Ali could tell from the experiment’s actions and how he spoke to her and zoned out when not speaking that he was longing to escape. He was most likely staying with her out of polite courtesy and for some reason that bothered Ali. Did this experiment think he was too good for her? Was he looking down at her? The anger rushed through the scientist and she had to stop herself from pulling out her guns – which were skillfully hidden beneath her coat – and shoot through this stupid experiment. But of course she didn’t want to do that. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to conduct all of the evil, torturous experiments on him that she so longed to do. Seeing this one squirm would be better than usual, she could already tell that.

“Oh?” she replied, keeping up the soft, friendly, slightly flirtatious smile and continuing to hold onto his arm as they walked in the direction of the sushi place. Ali knew of the place he was talking about. “Kind nice” weren’t exactly how Ali would describe it, but she did go there sometimes when she wished to eat sushi. They were the best place for it in town. “Well that sounds splendid.”

As they walked, Ali only ever looked away from the experiment when she was making sure they weren’t heading in the wrong direction. She really disliked acting this friendly to an experiment, but if it meant she would be able to conduct her experiments on him then she was willing to go through it.

They finally reached the little sushi place after a few minutes of walking together, during which Ali chattered thoughtlessly, trying to seem natural in front of the experiment. She didn’t know if she was doing well at it, but he hadn’t flung himself away from her just yet, so that was a good sign. She thought crossly that she could’ve done a better job if she had a bit of her fine, crimson wine. She had a brand new bottle sitting in her mini-fridge back at the lab and Ali wondered if she would go through the entire bottle while she was experimenting on this certain experiment. Probably.

The crowd of people had thinned out considerably and there was only a small trio standing outside the sushi joint. Ali thanked god for this great occurrence since it meant that she could capture the experiment before having to have dinner with him. Oh, wouldn’t the other scientists get a laugh out of that? Big, mean Ali Cross having dinner with an experiment. The result would be mortifying!

As they got closer and closer to the dimly lit sushi restaurant, Ali started slowly steering them towards the alleyway beside the place. She continued to talk in a cheery voice, hoping that the experiment would be too distracted to notice her steering him towards the alley. If not, then she hoped that he would at least be distracted until the alley safely hid them. If and/or when they were inside the alley, Ali was planning on pulling out her gun and pointing it at his face. That should scare him into submission, shouldn’t it?

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek smiled softly, his eyebrows twitching upwards and knotting together. He could see them moving away from the front entrance. Zeek began to panic, but did his best to try and hold it back. Thinking rationally, he reasoned with himself. Maybe she knows a back way in, or knows someone that works here. But his mind kept arguing with itself. But if she asked you for a nice restaurant, then surely she doesn't know anyone to be working there. Zeek cursed his reasoning and sighed. Deciding it might just be best for him to voice his opinions. "Uhm - It may be rude of me to ask, but..The uh, entrance is that way? Why are we going down an alley?" Zeek questioned, but made no move to get away just yet. Perhaps she was confused and or lost. So Zeek was really just making sure, even if he was more on edge than he had been in days.

Zeek could still hear the eerily happy tone in her voice, and was beginning, just vaguely to see through it. There was something in there, something sinister. "I..I think I have a map in my pocket." Zeek excused lamely, attempting to pull his arm away and get to said pocket. He had no map, but he was moving to retrieve the dagger he had on his person at all times.

[Ali Cross]

Before the experiment had even finished his lie about the map, Ali had one of her guns out and was pointing it at his head. Her arm had been pulled away from his and she had lost the friendly, flirtatious smile, instead replacing it with an amused smirk that showed her true colors. It wasn’t everyday that Ali got to screw with an ex-experiment’s head and she was relishing in the experience, considering it a personal victory. They were far enough in the alley that they were hidden from view unless someone was standing right at the opening to the street.

“Alright experiment,” Ali said, not even bothering with his name, feeling that he wasn’t even worth it. She was using her actual tone of voice instead of the high-pitched, giggly voice she had masqueraded with during their walk. She was quite openly looking down at the experiment while sniggering lightly at the fact that she full-heartedly believed that she had one this one. “Now, you’re going to go for another little walk with me, alright.” Then, in a cheery little tone, “We’re going to head over to my lab and see what I can get out of you, okay?”

And still with that devilish, winning smile on her face she lifted her hand, setting it on the middle of the experiments back, prodding him lightly to start moving forwards down the alley. Ali knew that at the end was a door leading to a back storage room of one of the surrounding apartment buildings. Once inside, Ali could knock out the experiment someway or another and then phone for some agents to head over and take him back to her lab. Ali could already imagine what fun the night would hold for her and this little experiment and she just had to let out a little snicker.

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek's head dipped as the barrel of a cold, steel gun pressed to his temple. He had been right, and now he was kicking himself for it. The intellect should've seen it, known it, and a part of him had. But in his niceness, or attempt at niceness anyway, he had believed her lies.

A small, harsh laugh came from his mouth then. He wasn't exactly laughing at himself. Yes - he found himself feeling foolish for believing such a suspicious act. But, he found laughter to be quite the intimidating tool. Hey, he was allowed to give it a try.

However, at the harsh push he felt connecting with his back, he found it to be quite the push over the edge for him. He was angry at himself, he was angry at her, he was angry. Zeek spun, the gun now prodding his forehead. It didn't scare him, nothing scared him when he was angry, albeit foolish of him. The tall purple haired man leaned forward, he was officially over the edge now, nothing would be able to intimidate him. Or rather, nothing he suspected the young woman to be capable of. But he'd been wrong once.

As he leaned, the gun continued to prod at his forehead, he could feel the cold metal heating against the blood thundering through his skull. His amazingly mutated skull. "Don't you know?" Zeek asked, his voice low, husky, dangerous. He continued, before she could reply to him. "Metal conducts electricity. And lightning is a perfect source of raw, powerful, energy." Zeek let out another laugh then, his skin snapping and crackling as he called forth the weather. The clouds above them swirled, but only the clouds above them, no where else. A dark grey whirlwind coiled, before ripping apart. One white flash of lightning shot down then, white like bone.

Now, you'd think Zeek would aim for the woman, but no - that wouldn't be inkeeping with his words. The lightning had hit him, running through his body as a secondary pulse. The raw lightning sparked beneath his skin, and Zeek couldn't help but smirk down at the young woman. He was a polite man, until angered, then..Oh..Then..

[Ali Cross]

Ali raised her eyebrows to the skies at the laugh that escaped the experiment’s mouth. She was confused and a little disappointed. Was he insane? That wouldn’t be good. The insane were never all that much fun to experiment on because they seemed to enjoy pain or their minds were too gone already that they didn’t register the situation they were in. Since he was laughing, Ali suspected that something in the experiment’s brain had clicked and wasn’t as sane or as controlled as he had been. Ali wasn’t intimidated by the laugh, though; she had been face with many other, much worse things.

She didn’t flinch when he spun around, the gun now pressed to his forehead; she didn’t cringe when she saw that hateful, angry look in his eyes; she didn’t gasp when he spoke, his voice much lower as he tried to intimidate her; and she didn’t even blink when the lightening shot down at him. No, Ali didn’t do anything during that time, but when she saw that that lightening had disappeared within the experiment, she allowed a low, devious little smirk spread across her features.

Taking a step closer to the experiment, pressing the gun harder into his skull, Ali looked up into the experiment’s eyes with undisguised malice and laughter in her gaze. Did this experiment really think that Alison Cross was such a pushover? Really that was just rude. No, Ali had definitely dealt with worse adversaries than this little petty experiment who brandished his powers to rashly. Now Ali knew what he could do and she knew numerous ways to incapacitate him.

“Do you realize who you’re dealing with?” Ali questioned, continuing to step forward until she was practically pushing the experiment into the brick wall that made up one side of the alleyway. “I am Alison Cross. I have conducted over two hundred experiments and have tamed the worst of them. I know you’re kind inside and out. I’ve dealt with experiments twice your size, twice your intelligence, twice your temper, and four times your power.” She leaned in closer, giving him a satisfied, almost challenging expression. “Your petty little attempts at control don’t bother me one bit.”

[NOTE: Okay so this is up to you Zeek since I’m good either way, so I’ll let you decide. I suspect a fight will most likely break out between these two at some point, but do you want Zeek to win, lose, a bit of both, get captured, or what? Ali wouldn’t full-out lose miserably, but I could deal with her not winning exactly haha.]

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek's nose twitched. Okay, he had been polite, he had been nice, he had tried doing his best. And that wasn't working. Zeek lifted his electrically charged fingers up to the steely gun, his purple eyes narrowed as his digits curled around the barrel. He could feel every part of that gun pressing firmly into his skull, and it didn't scare him. He knew what he was doing. He also knew he hadn't scared her, which had been the plan, and that plan had backfired.

"I am Zeek Fulgidus, and I guarantee, you are underestimating me." Zeek stated, a grim smile on his face. Many people had underestimated him for a friendly, librarian type person. But they hadn't experienced his anger. At the moment, he was a little bit irked, both at himself and at Alison. And that could get a whole lot worse. "You should also know, that I am a nice person, and I do not like having to fight women. So turn around and forget what you're getting yourelf into." Zeek warned, a growl hiding in his voice as he held the gun firmly, small smarks spurting from his fingertips to the metal gun.

[Ali Cross]

Ali’s jaunty, mocking smile disappeared almost immediately when the experiment wrapped its hand around her gun. He was glaring at her with a grim smile and she returned to glare openly, slowly moving the hand that wasn’t wrapped around the gun pointed at Zeek’s head around her waist and under her trench coat, where it slowly wrapped around the second gun that was hidden in its holster there. She didn’t take her eyes off of the experiments so she was rather confident that he hadn’t noticed the movement. If need be, she could pull the second gun out and take the experiment out with it. In her eyes it was better to have a dead experiment than a live one running around.

“Now I know as well as you do that I won’t be going anywhere without your unconscious, dim-witted little body close behind, carried by some agents,” she replied, gritting her teeth in aggravation as this damn experiment. Why did they always have to be so cocky? Well no matter, Ali knew ways to make those cocky, angry experiments bend to her will. She’d been doing it for years.

Suddenly the sparks coming from the experiment’s fingertips caught Ali off guard ever so slightly. She glanced up at the gun for only a moment, quickly looking back when she realized that she had made a mistake in taking her eyes off of the experiment. Without another thought Ali wrapped her hand tighter around the gun in her back, starting to slide it out of its holster. If this experiment were as good as it cockily exclaimed it was, he would be taking advantage of the female scientist’s momentary distraction.

[NOTE: Feel free to power-play a little bit if it means that the scene progresses haha]

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[Zeek Fulgidus]

Zeek's fingers had done their job, his tips sparkled along the barrel of the gun and the harsh woman's eyes flickered up. Giving him enough time in that split second to gain the advantage. The hand holding the gun whipped to the woman's thin wrist with a firm grab, while his other snapped to grab her forearm. Now, he knew for anyone that getting grabbed could make them scream. Zeek didn't really want this, no one would, he didn't want to be holding this woman - he wanted to be at home. But he couldn't get home without a few drastic measures.

So, to prevent her from screaming, kicking, or just drawing attention to their scenario, he crushed his tall body to hers, stooped his neck and pressed his lips firmly to hers. The intellect didn't care what she interpreted it as, a kinky man turned on by a gun probing his forehead or a muffling effect...They'd still look like just plain lovers if anyone did allow their eye to be drawn to them.

However, Zeek was now stood practically kissing this threatening woman, and he realized he hadn't made the smartest move. He didn't know where to go from here, he could grab her guns and run. But if she had more than one gun on her already, she could have more, and he could be putting himself in more danger.

Zeek would have swallowed harshly if it wasn't for his lips on hers. His eyes didn't shut however, and he continued to glare her down, as he held her wrists tight.

[Ali Cross]

Ali wouldn’t have screamed. In fact, showing such a faulty sign of distress was completely out of the question in her mind. She would’ve kicked, probably, and maybe she would’ve attempted a few cusses at him, but alas she was thwarted in these attempts. She hadn’t been expecting the experiment’s movements and in fact she was quite taken aback by them.

Now, Ali had been kissed before. When she was thirteen she had had her first boyfriend, Jonathan, who was the son of another scientist. Things did end well and that was the last sort of relationship Ali ever had. Besides that, Ali had kissed a few of her experiments, teasing them and loving the uncomfortable expressions and – on some occasions – the lust that quite obviously showed up in their reactions. This was a bit different, though. Ali was not doing the kissing she was being kissed. And this wasn’t a normal kiss - in fact could it really be considered anything like that? No, this damn experiment was smothering her lips and that was all. Not even a real kiss and quite honestly that pissed Ali off quite a bit more.

She didn’t close her eyes either and instead glared up at this experiment, attempting once to bite down on his tongue but failing a bit miserably and deciding that she shouldn’t try it again in case he was one of those people that got off on those kinds of things. This thought made her roll her eyes ever so slightly before turning her gaze back to the experiment’s and glaring at him. She was trapped in his arms and couldn’t move and that feeling of complete helplessness was driving her close to insanity.

But she noted that he didn’t have anything to do now. No, he was as stuck as she was. If he released his grip she would shoot him right away and if he pulled back she would probably attempt to bite his nose off. The two stood there for a few short moments and Ali tried to think of a plan. The only one that popped into mind, however, was hard for her to even consider. It was risky and most likely would just make her look like a fool, but it was really the only choice she had.

So, cursing herself and this alleyway and this goddamn experiment, Ali pushed as hard as she could against the experiment’s lips – reluctantly – kissing him back. Her hope was that he would act like the pig that Ali viewed most men were and get so caught up in the sexual repercussions of the kiss and forget about holding her against her will. When she kissed back, Ali’s eyes begged to close in the way most young women’s did when they were kissing someone, but she willed them to stay open just like she willed herself to focus on escaping instead of the actual kiss.

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