Change of Heart (BCAD)

[Kitten]

Will looked at the other, worrying a little that Isaac might not appreciate the danger he was in and might do something foolhardy because of it. He kept that thought to himself, villains were rarely in trouble unless they were enacting some kind of plan, he supposed. The dark haired man switched back once more to confuse anyone who may or may not be following them and they finally ended up back at the office almost twenty minutes later. As they pulled in dark eyes assessed no danger in the parking lot, none that he could see at least. "Alright, head inside. I'll bring your stuff, I'll be right behind you just keep moving."

The whole thing might have been overkill for nothing, but the big man wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he was overconfident and got someone killed. He hurried out of the car and popped the trunk, gathering the boxes in one hand and the bags in another. They should probably have left everything in the car and made their way inside, but the dark haired man already had a soft spot for the little brunette and it was enough that he'd risk a little bit of injury to make sure Isaac would be comfortable with his things.

"Max," he chided gently as the others capable arm wrapped around him and he felt safe once more. "I am fully trained and certified to carry this gun. You know I'm probably more qualified to have it then you are." It was still nice that the other was looking out for him and he didn't say anything else about it once they were in the car. He pushed his glasses up his nose and settled his go bag in his lap so he'd have something to fiddle with on the short drive.

"Is everyone back safe?" He asked anxiously, hoping his stupid breakdown in his office hadn't cost them valuable time and even loss of life. It also gave him something to talk about instead of admitting that Max was always the first person he called when he was worried, or upset, or even when he had just a really bad day.

[BCAD]

Isaac couldn't help but smile slightly at that. He wondered if Will would have reacted the same if anyone was in peril. Somehow, he doubted that he'd be quite as concerned as he was. It was rather sweet. It might have even made him feel a bit guilty for bringing his own protection outside of Will, but that was merely a precaution. He keyed in the code that he'd seen entered earlier in the door and then went in to the elevator with Will right behind him. Then, once it had whirred up to the apartment, he entered the code to that door and opened it, leaving the door open so Will could follow him in.

As sparsely decorated as the apartment was, it did feel good to be inside of it. He immediately felt safer here than in the car.

"Everyone's fine. Don't worry about it." Max assured him, his eyes firmly planted on the road as he spoke. "They should be back at the apartment by the time we get there."

It was a shorter drive than usual, thankfully the traffic had been low, so they arrived not long after Isaac and Will had touched base. Max made his way with Spencer up into the apartment, where Will was just putting their newest flatmate's stuff onto the floor for now. Isaac was standing near to him, his arms folded across his chest, a look of deep thought on his face. Max immediately tensed when he saw him, but he controlled himself. He didn't want to make things worse by causing an argument at the moment. He'd give Isaac a piece of his mind, but not now.

"Glad you made it back okay." He said instead, referring mainly to Will.

[Kitten]

Will looked up when his friends arrived and breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was here and accounted for, now they could make some plans. He put an arm around Isaac's shoulder to draw the other close. If Max wanted to say something then he had a right, but the dark haired man felt sort of responsible for the smaller man now. He tried to deflect the situation, at least for now, by heading into the kitchen with the food.

"Good thing I got extra," he grunted good naturedly. There should be plenty of food for the four of them to split. "Come on and fix a plate guys, let's eat and then we can talk." There was a reason that people used to 'break bread' when reconciling with enemies and forming alliances, maybe something of a truce could be made at the lunch table.

Spencer put a placating hand on Max's arm. The tension in the room was thick, and it wasn't any one thing that made it so bad, they were all nervous and had mixed feelings. He dropped his bag next to Issac's and made a concentrated effort to smile and follow Will into the kitchen. "It smells great, thanks for lunch!" He said cheerfully, even if his own voice sounded a little too loud.

[BCAD]

Max watched Will put an arm around Isaac's shoulders. He groaned inwardly. So they'd become 'friends' already. He hoped that Will would at least have had enough sense not to let the devious little troublemaker wrap him too tightly around his finger. Even if they were now technically on the same team, the term 'sleeping with the enemy' came to mind.

"I'm starving," Max admitted. They had more important things to do right now than start an argument, and he could see that Spencer was urging him not to. He wanted his guest to feel safe and comfortable here. Whatever problems he had with the team could wait until Spencer was in the clear. He piled a large portion of fajitas onto his plate, apart from Will, he was easily the largest eater of the group.

Isaac didn't feel much like eating, he never did when his mind was whirring in his head but he could feel a weakness in his legs so took a modest portion for himself.

[Kitten]

Will tried not to make it obvious that he was watching to make sure Isaac ate something. At the very least the two of them had been pretty active earlier and the smaller man should be a little hungry. He set a pitcher of cold tea on the table to be shared between the men and started to put together a fajita. The blue eyed man made a noise of appreciation as he bit into his food.

"Alright," the big man looked around at the others once everyone was sat down and eating. "So we need a game plan. Spencer did that video give you any idea of who might have sent it? Or maybe what they're planning on doing?"

Spencer put his food down, swallowing with some difficulty. The whole thing didn't seem so dire now that he was sitting in a room with some of the most powerful men in the room. His face flush and he took a long gulp of tea before answering. "The guys are working it from their end. Whoever did it sent it to my personal email, obviously it was well encrypted so it could take some time to untangle it."

He unconsciously slid closer to Max, comforted by the others warmth. "A-anyway," he drew in a breath. "We can watch the video after we eat. It's not... I mean it doesn't really give any information, but maybe Isaac will recognize the location or the voices. They've tried to cover up with image and voice distortion though."

[BCAD]

"Unfortunately there's not a shortage of suspects," Isaac replied, poking at his food. It tasted fine, but he didn't seem all that interested in eating. "But perhaps I can work it out. I wonder why they bothered sending it to you though, wouldn't it make more sense just to come and get me? That would be more effective."

He took a sip of the cold tea as he mused on it. "That makes me think it's someone who is confident that they can get to me, even if they give you a warning beforehand. So it's probably someone quite dangerous. It also makes me think it's someone who would enjoy trying to scare you, so much so that they'd risk the likelihood of their plan succeeding."

"You're not being very specific," Max pointed out, not appreciating how Isaac's words would no doubt scare Spencer even more. "How do you even know the same person who recorded the video sent it?"

"That's simple," Isaac rolled his eyes with a slight scoff in his voice. "It's true that it came from a bugged room, yes? But if I wanted to assassinate someone, I'd do it myself. I'd go in quick, with only my most trusted lackeys, and take the person out. I wouldn't stand around talking about it in a room that could be reached by your lot. Maybe not everyone in the video knew about it, but I have a strong feeling that whoever is in charge wanted us to hear whatever they said."

[Kitten]

Will reached down to give Isaac's thigh a squeeze. He was going to have a hard enough time talking to Max about this later if the two didn't spend the next few hours antagonizing each other. It was going to be awkward as is. Hey Max, you know that super villain you really don't like? Yeah I fucked him. Don't worry about his attitude, I'll give him a good spanking for you. He snorted audibly at the idea.

"So we're reasonably sure that they're targeting Isaac," he said taking another bite. "And that they knew enough not just to send Spencer something that would scare him, but also that they had to assume he'd go right to someone with the information. They're cocky enough that to risk giving away their identities and maybe even one of their locations to a super genius." With a sigh the man leaned back in his chair and slung one arm over it. "But can we assume that if they knew what team he was put on, and where he was, they'd already have tried some kind of attack or should we be booking it for a safe house?"


Spencer picked at his food a little, feeling about as hungry as Isaac was. Pushing glasses back up to his green eyes he gave a sort of helpless shrug. "I-I really think you guys should watch the video. I mean the more I think about it," the more he felt like he'd just wasted a bunch of their time with his split-second decision. "You know the higher ups didn't even think this was a big deal. They said we should expect some unhappiness, but that the real trouble wouldn't start until Isaac comes in for a debrief and we start actually using his information to take people out."

He thumbed over the handle of his gun, it made him feel a little better to have it close at hand. Not that a gun was of much use against many types of Supers. "A-and anyway, if we make a rash decision like leaving or drawing a lot of attention to the office then they'll be sure to target this place."

[BCAD]

Isaac felt Will's hand squeeze his thigh, he gathered that it was a warning not to push Max too far, but it amused him rather than deterred him. Nonetheless, he would take his advice, if only so that they could work something out regarding this threat.
"I agree with Spencer," Isaac admitted. "I don't think leaving is necessarily going to help. When I watch the video that might change, but hopefully not. I'd hate to have to move all of my stuff a second time in one day."

"I thought you'd be more worried than this." Max admitted, folding his arms across his chest as he regarded the smaller man skeptically. "But it seems you're more worried about your tailored suits getting damaged."

"Oh, I'm sorry if that was taken the wrong way. I thought my confidence that you two will keep me safe would be a compliment," Isaac replied dryly.

Max rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I don't have time to argue with you. Spence, can you bring the video up just now and we'll take a look." He asked, his voice becoming kinder when he referred to Spencer. He put a hand on the other's arm gently, the small action betraying his concern and care for him.

[Kitten]

Will brought his hand down on the table loudly. "That's enough," he said looking between the two bickering men, it was mostly aimed at Isaac as he'd already told the other not to argue, but he couldn't really expect the dark haired man to simply sit and be insulted. "We get it, the two of you are unhappy with this arrangement. You don't like each other and you don't trust each other." He sighed and ran a hand through his chin length hair. "Well too bad, we're all in this now so suck it up."

He wasn't too worried about Max taking his words the wrong way, they were good friends and the handsome blonde was a good man.

Spencer flushed happily when Max turned to him, he'd been getting more and more nervous as the tension in the room skyrocketed. Happy to have something to do, the man pulled his laptop out of his bag and pulled the video up from his email. The green eyed man looked on impassively as the dreaded video played once more, still chilling him to his core, but reached out to take the blonde's hand under the table. He hoped the other wouldn't have a problem with it.

[BCAD]

Isaac jumped slightly as Will slammed his hand into the table, but quickly composed himself, folding his arms across his narrow chest and wearing a rather sulky expression on his face.

Max knew that Will was right. Whatever his personal feelings were about Isaac, now wasn't the time. He had been unprofessional. "Sorry. You're right." He admitted, which was more than Isaac did. He continued to sit in silence, waiting for Spencer to bring up the video.

The three other men scooted around so they could all see the laptop screen. Max's shoulder brushed against Spencer's and when he felt a small hand reach out for his, he had no problem in squeezing it gently in reassurance. "That's pretty messed up." He sighed when it had finished, still holding Spencer's hand secretly. "Someone out there really doesn't like you, genius." His voice wasn't teasing, but actually betrayed a genuine concern. As much as he didn't like the guy, he didn't wish him dead or seriously harmed, which was what the person behind this video seemed to have in mind for him.

Isaac's jaw tightened as he watched it and his grey eyes were fixed tightly on the screen. He couldn't recognise the voice. It was too distorted. However, an uncomfortable feeling swished around in his stomach and his intuition jabbed at him, trying to tell him that it might be a man he had been with in the past. Both as a partner in crime and a partner in bed. He had the arrogance to let a video like this be made and he definitely had the malice in him to try to scare him like this. They hadn't parted on good terms.