Shadows Over Camp Darkness

Gideon was tense with agitation, to the point that she was causing little flitters as her zap arced into the visual spectrum. It was an unmistakable display of her emotionally volatile state, and one that Virgil seemed to take to heart. He followed behind and to her left, silent but keeping almost more of his focus on Gids than on where he was walking. The Fury could feel her emotions hovering around her, stuck between skin and her aura caging it in. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to have the whole emotional gamut thing right now, not when he believed for a second that Gids had gone dark side. How exactly she was going to figure that out was the question though. As riled up as Gideon currently was, she was likely to hurt Virgil and that was not the game plan. She is supposed to just focus on the job, get their plan of attack set up so that she can anticipate Virgil’s moves while still teaching her kids and being on guard herself. Her personal relationship with Virgil needed to take second place to that until this whole situation was figured out. He’d simply have to understand that. Gideon brought them to her rarely used private room to get them on the same page. So Gideon was more than a little surprised when they reached her room and she’s prepared for a fight and instead her body goes ahead and pushed Virgil against the wall, then attacks his mouth with vigor. Then all his breath went out in a wheeze as Gideon solidly punched him in the stomach and stomped away before she could do any other stupidly emotional outburst.

Her private room was still pristine with barely any evidence that it was in use, Gideon lived with her kids, that’s how she’d always done it. “Just stay over there on that side of the room.” Gideon instructed the gasping Trickster. As if he could honestly come get her right now; that sucker punch had been a hold back too, if Gids had really whaled him then Virgil would be puking all over his pumped up kicks. This kind of uncontrolled reaction should have been a concern for Gideon, the first time she’d engaged in intimacy with Virgil it had been violently unexpected but whole heartedly reciprocated. Their relationship probably contained more aggression than most people would consider healthy. It was the kind of relationship that only made sense to a Fury and a Loki; madness and tricks, chaos and luck.

Gideon pulled herself to sit up on the dresser that held her small assortment of clothes while Virgil’s breathing evened out. Inside the drawers was the limited wardrobe Gideon used to present herself; jeans, combat pants, an array of t-shirts, a pair of sweaters and a bathing suit. It had never felt so pathetically small before today; Gids had always considered it a good idea to be without materialistic burdens but now it looked like a child’s room that lacked any real personality.

Virgil had caught his wind while Gideon contemplated her room. The Trickster watched with cautious guard in place, ready should Gideon decide to go on the offensive again. It was smart to be careful, Gideon wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do next either. “Feel a little better?” he finally managed, voice a little hoarse.

“Not even a little.” It’s the honest truth so Gideon sees no reason not to admit it. “You know me; we’ve been together for over a year now. And I’m dumb enough to be in love with you because here you are doubting me.” That honest truth however, was not supposed to come out just yet.

The Loki descendant reacted to the words immediately. His body language went fluid; guard dropped entirely and he came towards Gideon without hesitation. Despite the body shot he’d just taken and the fact that he knows Gideon can hit a lot harder, Virgil came right up to the dresser and leaned in close to her. A deep breath from either of them would bridge the small distance between them, but Gideon wasn’t sure either of them was breathing. “You might as well zap me because I am going to kiss you. You don’t get to make a statement like that and not get kissed Gideon.” He warned even as his hands came up to hold her face while he kissed her. It shouldn’t have mattered, she was mad at him after all, but that kiss made all of Gideon’s caged, pent up instincts coil painfully tight.

So Gideon did what Virgil recommended and zapped him for kissing her. Sometimes it was necessary to remind people that the Gidster does not bluff. When Virgil’s body hit the floor, the Fury had a moment to wonder if he was still alive; but the breathless laughter squeezing out of her boyfriend indicated that she hadn’t killed him yet. Just floored him in a literal sense. “You alright down there?” Gids leaned over to peer down at the Trickster.

Virgil grinned up at her, panting slightly. “You’re in love with me, I’ve never been better.” It was such a clichéd and cheesy line that Gideon didn’t even know how to respond to it other than ignoring it and jumping over his body to help haul him back to his feet.

“One of these days I’m going to do permanent damage to you. Keep it up and we’ll get there sooner rather than later.” Gideon only felt it was fair to warn him though after a year with her, he should really already know that fact.

“You keep kissing me like that and I’ll take a little brain damage. Totally worth it.” Virgil’s shrug brushed off any possible danger.

“That’s the jot of a Fury kiss; we don’t do anything by halves.” Gideon made it a joke but it was a real truth. Furies don’t half ass things because they can’t, once on a job a Fury hold nothing back. Love and passion are no different than a killing spree to those like Gids. But no need to worry the civilians with that fact. Gideon had Virgil back on his feet when she felt the oddest sense that someone was listening at the door. A quick slide into her Fury sight and Gids saw that it was none other than Jasper coming to check and make sure that the ‘monster’ was being served the punishment she deserved. Gids knew she shouldn’t try and aggravate, or in any way provoke the Warlock, and yet she knew how to get back at him without it directly leading back to her. Added bonus, it would catch Virgil right out too. Her paramour apparently needed a better reminder of how dangerous she can be. As an Empath, Virgil would ‘feel’ what she was going and share an echo of what Jasper was about to go through.

Gideon untucked the Power words that Jasper the Warlock had so conveniently used against her earlier. Once the Power words were shaken loose from Gideon’s own arsenal of Otherworldly might, she also extracted the power he had fuelled them with and simply lobbed it all back at Jasper. The Power Words and Warlock energy snapped back into Jasper like the universe’s most stretched out rubber band. Pure backlash, his own Power hit him and Gideon knew Jasp would be on his knees outside the door, head reeling. And she’s simply let his Power go home. Talk about a nasty cocktail to swallow down; hot, raw and bloody. Like when Gideon tore a throat out with her teeth, forgot, and swallowed; it was only an experience she wanted to endure once. Best part of this little ordeal for Jasper was that the backlash should have been expected; even if Gideon couldn’t break it herself, the Dragon interrogating her would. Jasper had gotten arrogant and cocky, and it was coming home to roost.

This shocked but amused look on Virgil’s face as he felt the little Power bomb drop on Jasper made Gideon bite back a laugh. She’d wanted to save that for later, to use for herself if necessary, but this was so much more entertaining. Gideon actually held a hand over her own mouth as a physical reminder to not laugh and Virgil mimicked the move as they both heard cursing from the hallway and Jasper’s unsteady footsteps as he staggered away. When the sounds fell away, both the Loki and the Fury giggled like school yard children. Movies liked to show the widely believed misconception of how a Fury is; hard, cold, maniacal and more than a little sadistic. Gideon would let so many fangirls down if they saw her doing the giggle-snort combo with tears in her eyes. Of course, no one ever suspected that Gideon had been known to laugh through the horrific things too, which just added a macabre level to her humor and made too many people wildly uncomfortable.

“By all the Unkindly Gods that felt good.” Gideon admitted with a wistful sigh. Again it was the simple truth; this was more like the Gideon the Fury was use to being as opposed to this serious creature that had cropped up suddenly. Where had the fun gone? “You know what I need to do Virgil?” she didn’t wait for an answer. “I need to go right back to basics. I have an unknown target that is interested in me, I have six kids I need to help rehabilitate and I have to operate under the assumption that my target is fully trained and experienced.” The smile that bloomed on Gideon’s face was a combination of eureka level realization and relieved satisfaction.

“Is any of that supposed to make sense to me, or in any way make me feel less worried about what you’re smiling for?” Virgil leaned back against the  same dresser Gideon had been sitting on earlier.

“I’ve got the Intake for it this year. They’re the right ones to understand it all. And I think….this might be what the Dragon is hoping I’ll chose to do for myself.” Gideon’s grin told her thoughts; she was impressed by the Doctor’s careful orchestration. This was the break through he’d been prodding her towards; he might not have anticipated the attacks, but he was certainly using them to his advantage. Her childhood had been one extreme; a violent, chaotic extreme, and her young adulthood had been a divorce from that, very tamed and demure to the extreme (for a Fury). Neither one was what she wanted to be in the end; she’d experienced what both had to offer and found them lacking each other. But Gideon had been too stubborn to see it; determined to go 100% into it. So the Dragon had waited, letting Gids use the years at the Camp as a chance to be as close to a kid as a Fury is able to get.

“You know why I agreed to come to the Camp in the first place?” It’s a serious question although he couldn’t possibly know the answer, Virgil just solemnly shook his head negative. “I wanted to be more. Even though I didn’t feel guilt for what I’d done, and despite that I felt a level of contempt for every creature under the glorious sun, I didn’t want to be just a killer.” Gideon sat on her bed and watched for Virgil’s reaction. He didn’t look like he was judging her, just listening. “I’ve learned to care about the beings around me, and I understand that the things I did in my past were so very wrong,” this was where Gideon would find out if she had Virgil on her side or not, “But I still am that Fury. I will not deny myself the embrace of lessons learned in my past. And I am going to teach my kids those lessons. My rules, taught my way and this time I’m not going to hide the unhappy parts. This group can take it, I know it. And something tells me they’re going to need it.”

The Trickster smirked at her. “Is that the road then? How can I help?” he hadn’t even hesitated, a fact that stunned Gideon. Did that mean what Gideon wanted it to mean though? Furies were not designed to understand courtship and relationship issues. “You’re an oblivious Fury. Yes I love you too, and yes you’re emoting so strongly that I picked it up.” He cut off her reply with another kiss and she managed to not zap him this time. “So as your bloody shadow for the next unknown while, what is the game plan for tomorrow morning?” he knew he well enough to know Gideon would focus on the task at hand instead of a little romance.

“Tomorrow I show them the reality of Rule 1. I’m going to make the kids confront themselves.” Gideon couldn’t explain the process better than that. He’d have to experience it firsthand because Gideon had honestly never done this before. The Fury had no clue what to anticipate next, what fun!