Chapter Text
“Last night I dreamt I was in the ward. It was cold and dark. I could hear… mumbling. Words repeated over and over again,” Jesse shook her head, as if she could rid the words from her mind as she sunk further into the plastic couch. “I couldn’t tell if it was in my head or outside the door, so I stood up to check. The closer I got to the door, the louder the voices. I reached for the door handle, but it threw me to the wall, and a… a hiss of red light flooded the room. Then I woke up.”
She twirled the pen in her hands; her foot tapped rhythmically on the floor. Her heart beat faster, the moment of vulnerability consuming her mind. She knew she was safe, that Emily wouldn’t judge her, because Emily would never, but that lingering fear… the last years of her life. Well, it didn’t set her up for hope.
The pen scratching on paper ceased as Emily stopped what she was writing. She looked up at Jesse, her eyes wide and curious.
“Did it feel real?” Jesse paused. Her inner meter for realness didn’t align to the everyday guy in the street. This she knew for a fact, ever since Ordinary. She sucked in a breath, weighing her options.
“Considering what we deal with,” she pursed her lips and looked away from Emily, “It just felt like any other day.”
“Hmm.” She quirked her eyebrow at the responding hum.
“Are you going to tell me that we have protocols for dreams?” In the corner of her vision, she caught the small smirk that popped up on Emily’s face.
“Oh, we absolutely do. Have you seen the shit that goes on here? It can totally manifest itself into the subconscious.” Emily adjusted the strap of her HRA and tapped it three times, before she stood up from the desk, crossing the room to sit next to Jesse. Jesse’s eyes traced her hands.
Outside Emily’s office they could hear the soft work chatter, of people moving between cubicles and the occasional shouts as someone’s research goes…off the rails. Outside this office they’re Director and Head of Research, but inside it’s just Jesse and Emily. Or right this very second, it’s Jesse and Doctor Pope.
Emily bit her lip, lost in thought, mulling over dreams, déjà vu, anything that could possibly explain what Jesse’s dream could mean.
“Was it just a ‘hiss of red’ or was it the Hiss?” Jesse stopped twirling the pen. She wasn’t sure.
“Was just…a hiss of red.” She shrugged, face unbothered. The difference between the two didn’t matter to her, the use of ‘hiss’ just…fit here. Emily pondered her for a moment before she nodded, soft hands taking the pen from Jesse’s.
“Okay, Jess. Perhaps you need a break.” She murmured, eyes concerned, the type of concern you can only get for someone you care about. Jesse sighed, eyes darting around the room, catching on the wall of notes.
She remembered walking in on Emily one night a few weeks back, the blonde women in a trance of write, pin, next. It had come not long after she had returned to the Ordinary AWE storage site, wanting to see Emily after contemplating the event that changed her life those years ago. Polaris had pushed her towards the Head of Research’s office, urged her, anything to stop her from shutting down, from running away. When she had walked in unannounced, there Emily was. She had looked closer at the words Emily was writing, recognised names and places. A timeline. Of the worst mistake of her life. After the shock, she had joked about synchronicity, pulling Emily from her tunnel vision. Emily had looked at her, like she could see her.
Jesse noticed that in the quiet of the office, that’s exactly how Emily was looking at her now. She coughs, awkwardly.
“I’ll take one when you do. What was it you said the other day? Tired minds make not good minds?”
“Close enough. Well, maybe we could both take a… different day of work?” Emily suggested.
“…Different?” Jesse turned her body towards Emily; her eyes searched for a clue as to what she’s about to be dragged into. Dragged, she mused, as if she wouldn’t follow Emily to the ends of the Oldest House and beyond. Emily stood, suddenly, moving back towards the desk. She flipped through a large stack of papers that teetered on the edge of the surface, plucking a file.
FIELD RESEARCH REPORT: [REDACTED]
CONFIDENTIAL
EYES ONLY: Doctor Pope, E.
SUMMARY:
An item has been spotted in [REDACTED] following [REDACTED]’s exploration of Nostalgia Department.
Important: No Hiss frequency has been detected but given the current emotional nature of the Oldest House, we believe it would be necessary to seek and identify the [REDACTED] item. It is believed to be Altered. Ranger loss count increased to [REDACTED], with other’s returning with repeated [REDACTED] that they are unsure if are real.
Proceed with caution. We would suggest that the [REDACTED] not be contacted.
Last known location as of [12.32pm]: OPERATIONS CENTRE.
“So, no hiss, but a rogue AI?” Jesse narrowed her eyes, taking in the information, “I thought all duties were hiss focused right now.”
Emily sucked in a breath, waving her hands about, avoiding the elephant in the room. What they should be doing. What they were supposed to be doing. Clearing the hiss, lifting the lockdown, leaving the Bureau.
“No hiss. Just us and a potential altered item.”
“Were you gonna go alone? Emily…” She whined out, all but rolling her eyes. Emily blushed, her face turning pink as she refused to meet Jesse’s eyes. Jesse paused, taking in the slight nervous look on Emily’s face, how her hand had begun fidgeting with the pen she had taken from her own.
It wasn’t often she got to see Emily Pope like this, small, quiet, uncertain. Only on late nights after a countermeasure where new information had destroyed a hypothesis, or when Jesse would return with a new scar added to her collection. Like someone who isn’t quite sure where their place is. But then Emily would nod to herself, smile, and figure out what’s next. The resilience, the ‘can do’ attitude that only someone thirsty for knowledge could have. Her Emily.
“Let’s go.” Jesse nods.
The walk to the control point went slowly, the silence that had taken hold comfortable and calm. Around them Central Research bustled, quick ‘Ma’am’s and nods thrown in their direction as they passed. Their hands brushed almost every step, lingering but never enough to hold.
The soft twirl of Polaris enveloped the control point the closer they got, and it made Jesse smile. Regardless of anything that happened in this house, she was glad to still have her friend. Emily’s walking slowed as they made it to the point, and Jesse knew she intended to take the long way to the Abandoned Offices. She cleared her throat, Emily turned to her, eyes curious.
“You want to… come with? Y’know…” She gestured at the control point.
“Through the… you think I can?” Emily’s voice was soft, as if she didn’t want to hope too much, but Jesse could hear the underlying buzz of excitement, of ‘new research materials’ or ‘stuff’ as she herself had claimed it to be called.
“Yes!” Jesse winced at the new shrillness of Emily’s voice, but a small smile worked its way onto her face.
“I guess you could also call it testing?”
“Oh yes, yes testing. Of course. We really need to do some research on your teleporting, how the control points work for you. First hand data from the one writing the reports will be even better!” Her rambling continued as Jesse wrapped her arms around Emily’s shoulders. pulling her close, and in a blink, they found themselves in the Abandoned Offices. It’s only when Jesse pulled back did Emily stop and look around at where they are.
“Feel like you’d hoped, Doctor?” She asked, a teasing tone overtaking any seriousness she would’ve been able to muster.
“I barely felt anything! This is so interesting, and that fact I was even able to teleport! Could you imagine how streamlined everything could be if you could get across the Bureau in only seconds? Do you think we could travel through alone? Or maybe it’s just Polaris that lets you use them…” A blue sparkle twirls in the corner of Jesse’s eyes.
“Think it’s her, but I’m sure you’d be able to figure something out.” Emily nods in certainty.
“If the Director says I can, then I’ll do it.” Jesse rolled her eyes, sighing with a smile. She would never have imaged her trust in someone would mean this much, would matter this much. She looked at Emily, losing herself in thought, eyes tracing her face.
“Jess…?”
“Sorry, uh, thinking.” She turned to the room, eyes moving over the desks. Her and Emily started walking around the room, soft rustling of paper filling the silence as Jesse flipped through files left on the desks, pens rolling to the ground in the motion.
“So do you know what exactly this item looks like?” She glanced over to where Emily was inspecting a vending machine.
“Hm, it could be anything. But considering it was first found in the Nostalgia Department, I imagine it’d be something that will evoke that feeling.” She replied.
“So, we’re searching for a feeling. Sure. I’ve done weirder,” Jesse joked. Emily snorted in reply and moved on from the vending machine. She moved to the restrooms, checking both for anything out of the ordinary. She opened cabinets, sighed, and moved to the next. Every desk got checked, every drawer.
“Anything?” Jesse’s voice filled the otherwise silent room. She walked around the final desk, looking towards the other woman.
“Not that I can tell. Can Polaris sense anything?” Jesse shook her head, sitting down onto one of the desk chairs, spinning slowly. She loses herself to her thoughts again as Emily continues to search.
She thinks back to the day she met the blonde. How she had entered the Bureau, met Ahti, found the service weapon, and then found her. A face she hadn’t expected. Someone she couldn’t blame for anything that happened to her, or to Dylan. Wide eyes, inquisitive voice, someone who searched for answers, just like her. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it started. Maybe the first meeting, maybe when Emily answered her questions as best she could, never thinking of her as less when she didn’t understand what, she assumed, was basic knowledge in the Oldest House. Or perhaps it was when they found themselves in the Foundation. When Emily knew that she needed her. She knew.
“Jess?” A soft voice asked, snapping her from her thoughts. It was hesitant. Unlike the Emily Pope Jesse knew. “Can you hear that?”
And suddenly she could. It was the sound of a child’s cartoon, one of those jingles that gets stuck in your head for days once you’ve heard it in passing. It carried into the room from the hallway to the Operations Centre. Oh God, Jesse thought, Threshold Kids. She moved to Emily’s side, standing slightly in front of her as they walked towards the doors.
As soon as they got close enough, the door swung open. Jesse summoned the service weapon, her other hand reach back towards Emily. To keep her safe. She felt a cold hand grab hers, holding her tight. The sound of the cartoon remained quiet, as though the volume had adjusted to keep their ears straining to hear.
In the middle of the hallway sat an old school projector on a trolley.