Work Text:
Martin flipped on the tape recorder, needing to get Elias’s attention. “Are you listening?” He glanced around, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. “...Good.” He flipped through some statements. “Case, uh...007130...4. Statement of...Ivo Lensik.” He gave himself a moment, before flicking the lighter on. He waited a beat, before lighting it on fire. “Alright.” The fire crackled with a satisfying sound as he let out another breath. “Statement ends, I guess.” He was nervous, but he had a job to do.
“Um…” He flipped through some more statements, before settling on one. “Harold Silvana. Number 002040...6. You’ll probably do.” He held it in his hand, listening for a bit, before shrugging. “Alright then.” He set the burning paper aside, picking up another statement. “0140207, Dylan Anderson. Yeah?” He tilted his head, before smiling. “Okay.” He enjoyed being cheeky, but he was getting anxious. He let out another breath, steeling himself. “There’s plenty more on the pile.”
There was a sudden, loud knocking on the door that startled Martin. He inhaled sharply, turning towards the sound. It was Elias.
“Martin! Martin, open the door.” He tried the handle but Martin had wisely locked it.
“Sorry Elias. I can’t hear you. There’s a door in the way.” God, he was terrified.
“ Martin , I do not have time for this.”
“Then maybe you should make time.
“Unlock the door now .” He was getting serious.
“I thought you had a key.” He couldn’t help a cheeky grin.
“ Martin. ”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Elias hit the door with an exasperated sigh, walking off, presumably to find the key.
“I would hurry though! If I were you…” He muttered that last part to himself, grabbing another statement. The tape recorder clicked off.
The tape recorder clicked back on when Elias burst into the room. Martin was, of course, still lighting statements on fire. “Hello!”
Elias’s voice was cold and chilling. “ What are you doing?”
Martin put the lit paper aside, his anxiety levels rising now that Elias was in the room. “That one, that one was-” He paused long enough to read the name. “-Benjamin Hatendi. You weren’t fast enough with the key.”
Elias was, of course, unamused. “What. Are. You. Doing?”
“Oh- I’m sorry! Can you not just- look into my head? Read my mind?” Martin didn’t let his uneasiness show as the other just silently glared at him. “What’s wrong? Too busy trying to keep an Eye on everything?”
“Tell me what you’re doing, and why .” His voice was dangerously quiet.
“I just thought I’d...you know...drop a couple of ideas in the old suggestion box. Turns out, my suggestion is...fire.” He flicked the lighter on again, punctuating his point.
Elias just sighed, like he would at an unruly child. “And yet you haven’t set the whole Archives alight. So I assume this is...what’s it called, a cry for attention?”
That didn’t feel good. Martin’s shoulder rose. “Maybe I just thought it might hurt.”
He was calm as ever, only serving to set Martin off more. “No more than you’re hurting yourself by acting out.”
Martin was still nervous. No, not nervous, terrified. But he had to keep Elias distracted. And stand up for himself for once in his damn life. “Oh, that’s it, isn’t it? Martin’s just acting out. I mean, Daisy’s a- a rabid dog, and Melanie’s a potential killer. Tim’s a- a rogue element, but Martin ? Oh Martin’s just- just acting out. He’ll have a cry and a lie down and feel much better.”
Elias, that bastard, just sighed again. “And if you’re trying to convince me otherwise, then you are failing.” He nodded to himself. “Now. If you’re quite done, I am very busy.”
He was desperate to prove himself, to show he wasn’t what people thought he was. Also, he kind of got a kick out of annoying Elias. “Oh, sorry. Sorry, I’m not- keeping you from the show, am I? Well- well you head back. I’ll- keep myself busy here. Albrecht von Closen is next, I think.” He picked up the statement, fully planning on setting it ablaze. “He’s quite an old one. Should go up very quickly.” He knew Elias was reaching the end of his patience, and he was not looking forward to this. But he had to do it. For Jon. And, you know, everyone else.
“...Did Jon put you up to this?”
“...You think I’m doing this for him ?” As if Martin wasn’t allowed to have his own frustrations with this godforsaken hellhole.
“No?” Elias’s easy tone annoyed him to all hell. “It’s just the sort of half-baked scheme he’d come up with. And I’m well aware that you’ll do just about anything for him.”
To his horror, Martin’s cheeks flushed red as he got a little offended. “I w-”
He spoke over him, the smallest of smiles gracing his expression. “And I don’t need to read your mind for that one.”
A little flustered, he attempted to defend himself. “Do you re-” He took a breath, composing himself, getting his thoughts in order. “Is it so hard to believe that I hate you as well?”
Tilting his head, Elias looked almost thoughtful. “No. It’s just hard to imagine that you’d act on it.”
Martin laughed almost incredulously, no humour behind it. “You think I’m- I’m what, I’m bluffing?”
“Oh, no. You’ve made that quite clear.” His tone became more of an edge when he looked back at the ruined statements.
“So what? I don’t get to be angry?” He was more than angry. Behind his anxiety, he was pissed . “I don’t get to burn things? Just- just run around, making tea, while everyone else gets to actually-...have feelings.” That could have been said better, but at the moment, he didn’t care.
Elias was having none of this. He had shit to do. “Please get to the point, Martin.”
“Maybe there isn’t one! Alright? Maybe-”
“Maybe you’re just wasting my time.”
“Yeah. Yeah, maybe.” Martin glared back at Elias, who was steadily getting more and more annoyed with him.
“I see. That puts me in a...difficult position.” He didn’t like doing this. That was a lie. Yes he did. It just took too much of his time.
“Good.”
Elias’s voice was deadly quiet. “You might want to turn the tape off, Martin.”
The tape clicked off.
Until, of course, a couple of seconds later, it clicked back on.
“Hm. Sorry. Looks like it wants to know what’s going on.” Martin was trying desperately to keep his voice from shaking. He was scared.
Elias hummed with a smile. “A pity. You know Jon listens to all of them.”
“What, you don’t want him hearing your big evil speech?” He knew he wouldn’t like Jon hearing this, but he didn’t have a choice. He had to do this.
He held up his hands to alleviate Martin, having the complete opposite effect. “Just wanted to spare you the small amount of dignity you have left.”
This laugh was more incredulous than the last. “ Dignity ? Oh, right, yeah. Like the dignity of being- trapped in your flat by worms, or sleeping in the Archives, clutching a corkscrew. O- Or- Or fetching drinks for the thing that murdered your friend without you even noticing .” Martin still couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed. The grief overtook his heart for a second, before he pushed it out of his mind. Now was not the time. “Laughing at all of their little jokes, then being left to wander impossible corridors for weeks !” He was getting worked up. Good. Anger was good.
Elias sighed with a small bit of annoyance. When didn’t he? “Are you done?”
“Not even close . Because...I-...” He shut his eyes, allowing his breathing to slow a little. “I’ve been thinking. It’s not like you got this all-seeing thing recently. You’ve had it the whole time. ” Martin stared at Elias for a moment, horror and anger fighting for dominance. “I remember the way you looked at Sasha after the attack. You knew it wasn’t her. And I reckon you knew Prentiss was lurking under the Institute too. And you did nothing . Why?”
When Elias didn’t answer, Martin’s anger surged and he slammed his hand down on the desk. “ Why ?”
Elias still didn’t answer the question. They both knew what was coming. “Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”
“What? Like with Melanie? Just that perfect bit of information to leave me a wreck?” Oh god, he was terrified again. But his anger sustained him for the moment.
“...Yes.”
“Well. I hope you’ve got something better than that pathetic dig at my feelings for Jon .”
He huffed a small laugh. “It’s baffling, really. Such loyalty to someone who really treats you very badly.” He was eerily calm to Martin’s heaving breaths.
“Oh, is that supposed to be- what, a revelation?” That couldn’t be all Elias had. That was so easy. And kind of dumb.
Elias chuckled, putting Martin on edge. “You know, I really should have gone for that. Found something that would finally manage to shatter that precious image you have of him. But, as you say, I am very busy at the moment. So, I suppose I’ll just have to go with what I had prepared.”
Martin was ready. “Do it.” He so wasn’t ready.
He enjoyed seeing how confident Martin thought he was. He was also ready to see it all crumble as it did with his next two words. “Your mother.” He ignored the intake of breath. “She’s always been...difficult, hasn’t she. You take care of her for years, feed her, clean up after her, and now, with her condition degrading even further, she is the one that asked to move into a home. To have it left to the nurses.”
Martin’s already weak facade was beginning to fall. He felt sick.
“ She’s the one that refuses your visits.”
His confidence was pretty much gone now. This...this was worse than he thought it would be. This hurt. “She’s a-always been-”
“Strong-willed? Stubborn ?” He knew exactly what Martin was going to say, and was satisfied when Martin quieted with a shaky exhale. “No. No, Martin. You know the reason. Your mother simply hates you.” He took joy out of the hurt expression on his employee’s face. “You just don’t know why.
“It’s not your fault. Though I know that isn’t any consolation. Just bad luck, really.” At Martin’s confused expression, Elias smiled. “How old were you when your father left? Eight, nine? When your mother began to sicken, and he decided he was done with you both. Not old enough to remember him with any great clarity, especially when your mother refused to keep any pictures of him.” He paused for effect. “She never recovered from that betrayal. He just tore her heart right out and took it with him.”
Martin’s breath was getting shakier by the second and he was desperately trying to hide it. He’d never been a good liar.
“The thing is, though, Martin. If you ever do want to know exactly what your father looked like… All you have to do is look in a mirror.”
That’s what broke him. Or, he thought it was. It certainly set him off and he was having a hard time not breaking down right then and there. God, this was so much worse than he thought it would be. It hurt. It hurt to know he was hated just because he looked like his father. Unfortunately, it didn’t end there.
Elias continued on, ignoring (or revelling in) Martin’s emotional turmoil. “The resemblance is quite uncanny.” His voice grew cruel and merciless. “The face of the man she hates , who destroyed her life, watching over her, feeding her, cleaning her, looking down on her with such pity .”
Martin barely managed to get words out, trying to keep himself under control. “Shut. Up.” He hoped the tears weren’t running down his face. They probably were.
He ignored that as well, pausing. “...Do you want to know what she sees when she looks at you?”
And that is truly what broke him. Seeing what could only be a monster’s face, but it wasn’t. It was his father, and it was him. It was the person his mother hated most in the world. It was him. She hated him so much to the point that she didn’t even want to see him. And at that point, he didn’t hold back the tears. He couldn’t. He started sobbing as his mother’s hatred for him was burned into his mind, the hatred that he couldn’t do anything about, no matter how hard he tried. She just hated him. He could barely get the words out, just sobbing the words “Oh god”. He didn’t even try to speak.
Elias’s work here was done. “Don’t burn any more statements.” He left Martin sobbing hard in the room, without an ounce of remorse. He did his job.
It took Martin a while to calm down. He tried composing himself as best as he could after Elias left, but he knew he still looked like a mess, even though his breathing was mostly under control at this point. He wouldn’t be able to get his mother out of his mind for a while.
The door opened. He knew it was Melanie. He didn’t give himself any time to be derailed. “Did you find anything?” He cringed internally as he still sounded on the verge of tears. Truth be told, he was.
Melanie blinked, caught off guard. “Uh, yes, I fo-” She finally noticed the state Martin was in, but didn’t look surprised. “Jesus. Are you okay?”
Martin didn’t allow himself to answer that question, to cry again. They had a job to do. “Do we have what we need?”
“I- I think so, yes. He didn’t even have a safe! Just a- a few locked drawers. It was- it was easy.”
“We-” He took a deep, shaky breath, trying his hardest to will the tears away. He couldn’t think about his mother. He had to think about Jon and the others. “We need to leave.”
Melanie looked almost pissed. “We need to kill him. Look at you! He needs to die!”
“...No.” Martin willed his hurt away. He had to think logically. “No, I-...I knew what this was gonna be.”
“It’s not just for you! If we leave him alive-”
“Melanie. ...Melanie, please.” He was too exhausted for this, mentally, physically, and emotionally. He couldn’t do this.
“...Alright. Let’s get these somewhere safe.”
And the tape clicked off.