Madelyn, Haroun - Monday morning

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

After dealing with the Hellfire Club fiasco, Madelyn goes down to the gym to let off some steam and finds Haroun there. There's banter, some grumbling and much abuse of punching bags.



Haroun was in the Gym, taking a little bit of time for himself in between visits to see Alison. He was running hot, from an emotional and endocrinological sense of the term, and he needed to let some of it out. Hence the speed bag and Haroun's attempts to knock it clear of its mooring.

"Oh, that good a making up session, I see," Madelyn said dryly from her vantage point in the doorway, leaning against it with her arms crossed over her chest. She'd come down to the gym for pretty much the same reason, to work out some of her aggression, although hers was for a far different reason. Having to examine a teenaged girl for signs of sexual assault tended to make her blood boil. "Mind some company?"

"You have no idea." he grinned as he kept up his assault on the speed bag. "And be my guest. Want me to hold the bag for you?" he asked. "You look like a woman who wants to do bloody murder. Am I in trouble again?" he teased.

"Actually, no, not this time. I'm just off shift after last night's adventures, and right now I'd be very happy to join Pete in the beating of people with sticks," she said, coming in. "Actually, are you up for a sparring session with me? The bag seems like too easy a target today. I promise not to beat you too badly." There was a glimmer of grin at her last words as she started stretching out her shoulders. Ow. Too much hunching over medical equipment.

"Beating people with sticks?" he asked curiously. "I've been offline keeping Alison, err, company. What happened now?" he asked curiously, forgetting the speed bag for a moment in
favor of this line of conversation.

"Pete's Amanda's guardian. He's a little upset about the fact she's currently in the medlab having had six kinds of shit kicked out of her at this Hellfire thing last night. And Manuel's not much better, only they decided a little reprogramming was in order instead." Madelyn spat the word 'Hellfire' out like it tasted bad. "The worst? No fucking evidence to tie anyone specific into the whole thing. Both kids were drugged, and they were careful not to leave anything in the way of physical evidence. So the doctor part of me is seething that anyone would do this to a couple of kids, and the law enforcement part is frustrated that whoever did it is going to get away clean."

"All good things, my dearest doctor, come to those who _wait_. Eventually, one of them will fuck up. And we'll be there waiting." Haroun said, by way of a vow. "Now come on - I think this bag here is asking to be beat on. Call it Alphonso." he said with a grin. "The speed bag over there is Selene."

"Just let me tape my hands - the last thing I need is to wreck them again when they're still healing from last time..." Madelyn was already in the process of this as she spoke, wrapping the tape over her knuckles with quick, practiced movements. "It always comes down to waiting," she growled, finishing up and moving over to 'Alphonso' the heavy bag. Magic was complicated and hard to understand - having a girl beaten was not. She stretched out her arms, shaking her hands at the end of it, and took up a basic fighting stance. Her first punch was hard and sure, impacting with a satisfying thud. "Damn politics. Hellfire should have gone down for what happened to Alex already."

"I read about that." he said, taking up his own stance in front of Selene and letting fly with some quick jabs of his own. "They'll get what's coming to them. Even if we need to call up your old buddies and have them show up with subpoenas and milspec hardware," he said with a grim smile. "I think I'll enjoy watching that place burn."

"I like your confidence... Still, I don't like the idea that someone else is probably going to suffer whilst we're waiting for them to slip up..." Madelyn punctuated her words with a left-right-elbow-knee combination that set the bag swinging slightly, and she reached out to steady it before going on. "And believe me, any concrete evidence I do get my hands on is straight to Fred."

"Well, yeah. That's bad." he agreed. "But we can't go in without solid evidence, with or without the Federal Bureau of Investigation." he said, increasing the speed of his bag hits, keeping Selene swinging fast with each hit. "Just means that when the butcher's bill comes due they'll pay that much more. For Alex, for Manuel, and for Amanda."

"No evidence. Hence the frustration." That much was evident in the flurry of punches Madelyn dealt the bag, intent on giving 'Alphonso' something to think about. "But before this degenerates into another Maddie -vs- Bag Deathmatch, change of topic? Alison looked all glowy at her check up yesterday - well, she's always glowy at the moment. But you two sorted things out? Properly?"

"As sorted as it's gonna get for the time being, yeah." he said, continuing his lightning-fast assault on Selene. "Things are pretty good, all things considered. Good to know that the Heir to the Kingdom of Idiots - that would be me - hadn't fucked it all up beyond redemption."

"Good. Because if you hadn't? Boomsmiting, to quote Carlie." Madelyn glanced up from her bag assault to fix Haroun with a Look. "Especially the part where I end up being the bearer of bad news. That was not fun."

Haroun winced. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm an idiot, and I'm sorry about that. If it's any consolation, I'm trying to figure this all out on the fly. It's not like I have rockstars - or anyone else! - take an interest in my plastic ass all that often."

"Communication is the key, or so the magazines say," Madelyn said with a brief grin, turning back to the bag. The tension was starting to drain out of her shoulders, which was a good thing. "Not that I have that much more dating experience than you, but a small hint? No more taking off to parts unknown with other women. Most women, rockstars or not, tend to get a bit tetchy about that."

"Yeah, well, it was either get some space and cool down or watch things get really, really ugly." he said with a slight snarl. "Besides, I couldn't hear her, she wouldn't use the damned panel, and... GAH!" he said, slamming his fists into the speed bag with savage force.

"Part of the hassles involved with her condition at the moment," Madelyn said, unperturbed by Haroun's sudden flash of anger. "And I'm not begrudging you the thinking space, just the way you did it - if you'd told her, it wouldn't have blown up the way it did." She gave him a considering look. "How're your levels doing?"

Haroun didn't answer right away in favor of stepping up the speed of his assault on the speed bag. He was breathing hard with the effort of it, and after a minute or two he stopped to look over to Madelyn. "Not good." he said. "Running hot, which is why I'm here and not there." he growled.

"Can you handle it, or do you need the wonders of modern science to give you a hand?" She kept her tone calm, used to how volatile Haroun's temper got when he was in need of filtering. And of course, if he'd been with Alison recently... They did make a sad and sorry pair right now - Alison in too much pain to take advantage of Haroun, and Haroun had the obvious issues with the whole taking advantage thing. Not that it didn't stop either of them - she made a note to be a bit more stringent on Alison's checkup that night.

"I'll be fine." he said with a sudden grin. He then returned his attentions to the speed bag, resuming his cascade of punches at it. "Yes, I'm running hot. No, you don't have time to babysit me in the Chair. I'll be _fine_."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "I think it's up to me to say whether or not I have time to conduct a legitimate medical procedure," she said, returning her attention to the heavy bag and giving it a few good punches, plus a kick or two besides. "But if you say you're good, you're good. Expect me to be chasing you down before I go home for Thanksgiving, though."

Haroun only snarled and returned his attentions to the speed bag, pummeling it with quite the display of hand-eye coordination and dexterity. "I'll be fine. You don't need to be following me around to fix stuff that I started, that I got into with my eyes open."

"That's a crock and you know it," Madelyn retorted. "Okay, I'd prefer not to have to treat conditions people get themselves into, but I'm not about to stand back and deny you treatment when you need it because you brought it on yourself. So quit the martyr act, okay? Come to me if you need filtering, but if I get back from my parents' house and find you haven't had a session during that time, I'm getting Hank to sling your plastic ass in the chair. Whether it's something you started or not."

Haroun grunted at that, and launched a particularly nasty combination at the speed bag. "Fine, then. We can do one before you leave." he growled, then returned to pummelling the speed bag with more force than was strictly necessary.

Madelyn rolled her eyes and concentrated on the bag again. "Doofus," she muttered under her breath, with no small amount of affectionate exasperation.

"I heard that." he said with a grin, continuing his assault on the bag for a few more punches. "So you're heading out to visit your family for the holiday? That's good - family is very important." he commented out of the blue. "Tell them I said hello."

"It's been a while... Not my fault, but I miss them a lot. Carlie's started college this semester, and Joe's kids are growing like weeds..." Her expression had softened. "Still, I've got a few days to catch up, and they understand work can get insane - that's never changed, really. I’m taking Jubilee with me - I figure she needs to get away from this place, and I think it'll do her some good to meet people who are spectacularly ordinary."

Haroun grinned - leaving the speed bag alone to walk over to where Maddy was working the heavy bag. "They sound like good people. What about your grandparents?" he asked her with curiosity. "One of these days if you get a day that's crisis-free I'll dig out what pictures I have of my family."

Madelyn blew a few wisps of hair out of her eyes and paused in her assault. She was feeling better for the activity. And the chat. "None alive, now," she said, a brief sadness crossing her face. "Mom's parents died in a car accident back before she was married, so we never knew them. Grandpa had a heart attack back when I was in high school - he was the one who encouraged me to take science, become a doctor, really. He always told me there wasn't anything I couldn't do if I set my mind to it. Grandma passed away just before I came to the school - she'd been ill for a long time. Alzheimer's. But I have hoards of uncles and aunts and cousins, so family gatherings are always a big deal. Thanksgiving we keep to the immediate family 'though, and you have to be practically in a coma to miss it." She grinned at him. "How about when we get back you take me to Harry's one night and you can tell me all about your family? I'd love to hear it."

"Sounds like a date." he said with a grin. "Anyway, I'll leave you to beating the crap out of Alphonso there. I should go get cleaned up - there's a songbird who will want for some company this evening." he said.

"You won't be so happy about it when I kick your ass at pool," Madelyn told him with a grin. "Go on, I've still got some talking to 'Alphonso' to do. If I don't catch you before I leave, make sure Alison doesn't overdo it while I'm gone? She's already pushed it today."