xp_logs | Forge and Laurie: The Red Bull Express (Reply)

Forge is overclocking his brain in the futile hopes of finding any information on his missing friends. As usual, he's put simple needs like sleep and food aside, and Laurie shows up with a solution to at least one of them.

Laurie paused at the top of the stairs, juggling the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and placing the can of red bull in the crook of her arm as she pushed open the door. Forge had been scarcely seen since the announement that Kyle, Jennie and Marius were missing and if she knew Forge, he was probably in his lab, attempting to work himself into some kind of calmness. Which probably meant that he'd have forgotten to eat if she was going to make a guess of it, thus she'd brought Red Bull and some sandwiches for him.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she was extremely worried herself and had been attempting to make at least visual contact with all her friends in order to convince herself that they hadn't disappeared either.

Forge's swearing could be heard even out in the hall. He stood in his lab, the overhead lights dimmed and a rack of monitors arranged in a semicircle casting a flickering light over where he stood, pivoting to type commands into a number of keyboards.

"Shit shit shit!" he cursed again, punching at the air in frustration. "Come on, GPS signals do not just vanish! Dammit, why won't this make sense?"

Laurie tapped lightly against the door, not wanting to interrupt what was obviously important. She frowned at the swearing, not having heard Forge use so many fbombs in one go before.

"Um, food service?" she said softly.

"Continue full scan, Eastern seaboard," Forge barked into one of the microphones, reaching out to tap another set of commands into one keyboard while his other hand activated subroutined on a touchpad. "Search any data anomalies consistent with Monaco patterns, start with financials..."

Realizing he wasn't along, he glanced over his shoulder and noticed Laurie. "Go dark," he murmured, as the monitors dimmed to near-blankness while the computers worked. Running a hand through his hair, he turned and leaned against a bench. "Hi."

She hadn't had a chance to see Forge in his element before, and she had to admit, it was impressive. Even with the tension she could see tightening his shoulders.

"I brought you some sandwiches and something to drink." she said, walking further into the room. "Everything okay?"

Glancing at Laurie as if she'd suddenly started speaking Russian, Forge just blinked. "We've had three students abducted by a teleporter with unknown range, and the locator transmitters in their phones aren't transmitting. I've bounced signals off every satellite in orbit, unless they're on the goddamn moon, whoever grabbed them managed to deactivate the phones. They just hit the panic buttons and then -poof- gone. So no," he concluded with a sigh, tension evident in every muscle of his body, "things are pretty fucking far from 'okay'."

Laurie flushed with embarrasment and placed the sandwiches and can of Red Bull on a spare surface. "I know they're missing, and I'm worried too, although I didn't know their phones weren't working. But you're...you need to be calmer than this if you're going to think of everything you need to think of."

She reached up and flipped the cord of the air scrubber over her head, placing it down beside the table and reached out her hand to him.

"Let me help."

Hesitantly, Forge reached out, placing his hand in Laurie's. "You're right. I can't focus like this. I know there's got to be something I'm missing, there's got to be."

Laurie closed her eyes, thinking of some of the meditation books she'd been reading lately and pushing that thought outward, trying to get it to translate into her power. She still had a long way to go before she could do anything more then the big emotions but calmness was big enough that she could grasp how it felt.

"You're doing everything you possibly can. I know it's scary, but we'll find them." she replied, opening her eyes again.

Admittedly, she wouldn't be near as calm as she was right now if she didn't have the distraction of taking care of her friends. Looking out for them was keeping her from thinking about how helpless she was to help Jennie and Kyle. She'd have worried for Marius as well but she didn't know him as well and there was only so much she could handle.

The effect felt like a quick cold rush over Forge's skin, and he could literally feel his muscles relax as he breathed. He was still worried, mind still racing intently. But he was breathing easier, and what had been the start of a headache was fading away to a nice even calm.

"That's weird..." he commented. "It's like I know I should be all keyed up, but... thanks." He released Laurie's hand, then hooked a stool with his foot, dragging it over to have a seat. "The Professor's searching for them too, telepathically, I mean. I'm trying a number of search patterns, just in the hopes that if they've gotten off somewhere, they're leaving traces. Like looking for footprints on a beach." He sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately it's coming up like looking for footprints in water. Nothing."

"Who would take them? Has anyone put in a ransom note yet?" Laurie asked, wondering if Forge was allowed to tell her those things. She didn't want to push for information, even if it's what she really needed right now. "I know you can't tell me everything, because of security, so it's okay if you don't answer that."

Forge shook his head. "Nothing. And... it's not a security matter, not exactly. Right now, you guys know what we know. Kyle and Marius and Jennie are missing, and we haven't heard anything." He folded his hands together, staring down at his fingers. "Normally, if we're keeping something quiet, there's a reason. Not wanting to start a panic, not wanting people to try and take matters into their own hands, that kind of thing. This is... Crystal was right there, and everyone did the right thing. Hit their panic buttons - three calls in under a second. The security system picked it up - I'm literally wired into it. Well, wireless, anyway." He wiggled his fingers for emphasis. "The moment they hit the alert, I knew. I had a tracking program running in seconds and then -bam-, three of them were gone. Pietro went out to get Crystal, and then, well..." He shrugged, waving a hand at the computers. "The search continues."

"Oh." Laurie replied, folding her arms tightly around herself after she put her air scrubber back on. There should be enough pheromone in the air now to keep Forge's body calm for at least the next few minutes. "I was sort of hoping that you guys knew more then you were saying. I mean, I trust you guys. Whatever is happening, I know they'll be alright because you all deal with these huge situations and this isn't that huge, right? You'll find something, some trace. Forge, it's what you do, I know you'll do it."

She was babbling in her worry, not really thinking about the words as they came out, only needing to say something, needing to reassure herself after this new information Forge had imparted.

"This isn't a situation," Forge said flatly, "these are my friends. And you're right, we'll find them. And the bastards who thought it was a bright idea to do this? Are going to wish they'd never been born."

Glancing over, Forge finally noticed the sandwiches and Red Bull. Pointing, he cocked his head. "For me?"

"Yeah, I knew you probably wouldn't be thinking about eating something right now." Laurie replied, reaching for them to pass onto him. "Thought I'd bring something down."

"Don't need to sleep, but I do need to eat. How's that for weird mutation side effects?" Forge quipped, reaching for one of the sandwiches. "I should get back to work."

"I'll just get out of your way then." Laurie replied, standing up and heading for the door. "I'll come down later, get the dishes and give you another boost?"

"Thanks," Forge said, sandwich in hand as he returned to his computers. "I'll find them. I promise."