Chapter Text
Secluded quarters. Not many girls here have that luxury, but it does provide Quinn Lethbridge-Stewart some privacy that she wouldn’t otherwise have. With that privacy, however, she spends the time on plotting her escape.
She was always in contact with her elder brother, Gordon, through video chats and phone calls. He’d visit when he could, but it was almost as if her mother chose this boarding school based on its secrecy. Quinn had managed to deconstruct various pieces of her uniforms. The ones she held onto despite her mother sending money to supply her with updated ones. She didn’t need them, obviously, but she also wanted to ensure that they wouldn’t go to waste.
Opening one of her drawers, she reaches to the back, hidden beneath pairs of underwear and socks, were other strips of fabric. Carefully, Quinn starts to tie them together. This plan has been so long in the making. Months, but the idea of leaving was after her first fight. She held her own, sure, but when she begged staff to allow her to phone her brother, mostly to retrieve her, they refused. Completely refused.
This was less of a boarding school and more of a place for wealthy individuals to leave their children so they didn’t need to deal with them anymore.
She never felt that way, however, when it was the winter or spring holidays with her mother. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was warm, nurturing, curious about her studies while doing her best not to worry or distract her from them. Gordy warned not to stress Mum out. She had enough to stress over, he’d say, but never go into details what that might be. No matter how many times she’d ask.
From the bundle of ripped strips of cloth that she had tied together, she finds the screwdriver that she had nicked from Marco, the old bumbling maintenance man who is one of the people who are here that might have been around when the structure was built over a hundred years ago. Quinn smirks to herself, going to her window and removing the last couple of screws that were holding the cage over top of it, preventing her escape.
Tying one end of her makeshift, cloth-strip rope to the leg of her bed, next to the window, she tosses the other end over the window sill. She gives her room one last look, her gadgets in her bag as well as the few pictures she kept in her room. Everything she needed. The old clothing, the clothing from the school, she didn’t need that. She didn’t want that. Giving one last smile, Quinn carefully climbs out of the window, slowly lowering herself to scale the building. “Bet Batgirl doesn’t have this level of espionage in her blood,” she mutters to herself.
Hours of traveling on foot. Hours of climbing under fences. Hours of climbing over fences. Hours of hiding from law enforcement. Quinn looks at her mobile, trying to pinpoint the time and her location. She uses a VPN when accessing the map of the area. She doesn’t need anyone knowing where she is. Especially not her boarding school. Truth be told, Quinn wasn’t so sure she didn’t have a tracking device located in her skin in some way. Either by some secret government agency that her family may or may not be associated with, or by the boarding school, she can’t say for certain.
Though Quinn would be diplomatic to others in her class and other forums, she wouldn’t say she had friends in them. She didn’t want any.
The sun begins to rise and she hasn’t the foggiest how long she’s been traveling.
Long enough.
She’s exhausted.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart sits at her desk, returning the receiver of the corded phone back onto the base. She sighs to herself, tapping the screen of her mobile as it rests on her desk, screen up. No texts, no missed calls. Kate can feel that something is amiss. She can feel it deep within her person, but can’t exactly say what it is. When the mug of coffee is placed onto the desk, Kate lifts her gaze, offering a flash of a closed-mouth smile to the usual Colonel delivering it to her, “thank you.”
“If you don’t mind my saying, Commander, and I mean no offense when I say, you seem a tad distracted.” Christofer offers her a welcoming smile, needing her to know that he can be free and open with him. “Is everything okay?”
“To be completely transparent with you, Colonel, I can’t say for certain.” Another flash of an uneasy smile appears on Kate’s face as she looks up at him, “but it’s more of a...family issue that I don’t want to bring into the office.” It was something that was a known issue, that there was a separation between home life and U.N.I.T life, something she expressed to the other members on deck the importance to maintain. Kate wasn’t about to go back on her words now.
Christofer gives a quick nod, understanding, “anything I can help with? Lessen your load?”
“Possibly,” Kate inhales slowly and exhales just as slowly, unsure if she actually wants to stay anything in the first place, but knowing if she should that she needs to not be with other people.
“What about your office?” Christofer offers, hoping she understands that he’s referencing seclusion for whatever conversation that she’s too nervous to have on deck, around others. Him, however, he’s special to her on a different level than anyone else here.
Giving a subtle nod, Kate stands from her desk, leading the man in the direction of her secluded office. She ignores the call of another staffer calling that she was leaving the deck. Kate’s used to it by now, regardless of how many times or how loud the shout is as she passes.
She has no doubt that there were some in the office that had caught onto their relationship. Mel and Rose knew about them, that much she was certain. Though she’s well aware that Shirley has probably caught on by now as well, would give them subtle looks whenever Christofer would bring her a drink or she’d catch herself smiling at him. U.N.I.T contained the best of the best and she had no doubt they were more observant than she originally believed them to be. They had better be.
Entering the office, Christofer steps in behind her, carefully closing her office door to keep their voices from traveling. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of Gordy for days. H-he checks in once a week, at the very least, but nothing. Not even a text to say he’s busy.” Kate bites the corner of her mouth from the inside, doing her best not to appear worried even though her heart races and her mind turns to worst case scenarios. “It’s not like him.”
“I can look into that for you.” Christofer nods with certainty, “what about the other one?”
“Quinn?” Kate shakes her head a little bit, “I don’t know. Gordy usually updates me on what’s going on with her.” She falls quiet for a moment, “she’s not allowed to have a mobile at the boarding school.” Kate pauses, thinking about it for a moment, “when, really, I’m not terribly comfortable with.”
“So why send her there?” Christofer asks casually, curious. “If you aren’t comfortable with their practices, why would you-”
“Because it’s safe.” Kate interrupts, swallowing after. Her voice softens as she repeats herself, almost absently, “it’s safe.”
“Okay.” Christofer gives a quick nod before bringing his left hand to his ear, touching on the small black earpiece, “I need eyes on Scion, repeat, I need eyes on Scion.” He uses the codename for the man, only a few years younger than himself. Christofer continues to watch his lover, “are you sure you don’t want me to check on Quinn?” He pauses, “just a call to their offices, but we have an agent embedded to give us reports if required.” When she gives a weak nod, he touches his earpiece again, speaking, “I also need eyes on Echo, repeat, I need eyes on Echo as well.”
“Scion and Echo.” Kate raises her brow, a subtle smirk forming in the corner of her mouth, “clever.” She comfortably folds her arms over her chest, edging a seat on a shorter side of her desk.
“We are once in a while.” Christofer nods, winking at her before casually moving his hands to his hips, “don’t worry though. We’ll get this figured out one way or the other.” He wants to touch her, wants to hold her, comfort her. He wants her to understand that things will be okay because he’ll work his hardest to make them that way. “Maybe he’s just on holiday or his mobile broke.”
Kate gives a weak, subtle shrug as she shakes her head negatively, indicating that she has no idea really. “He always finds a way to get in touch. If not a ring or a text, he’d send an email and that isn’t available either.”
“Well, maybe it may be a good idea to phone Quinn then.” Christofer tries once more, “maybe he had told her something that he forgot to mention to you.”
“It would only worry her.” Kate shakes her head again, looking away from him, absently at the wall of her office, “indicating to her that something is amiss.” She bites her lip more this time, bringing her hands up to her own face, shielding her eyes. Kate doesn’t cry here, but she can’t take in the scene around her. She doesn’t want to. Only using the darkness of the inside of her eyelids as a mechanism to focus her thoughts.
“He's a grown man and he appears to be able to take care of himself. I have no doubt that this is all just an oversight.” Christofer attempts to reassure her, lifting his wrist to look at the time, “it’s nearly lunch. How about I grab you some soup?” He offers her a soft smile, taking a step closer to her, “I’ll even go to Giuseppe's to get it.”
“I don’t think I can eat right now, but I appreciate the offer.” Kate mutters quietly, exhaling slowly as she lowers her hands after a moment, placing them against the ledge of the desk that she’s resting upon.
”No sign of Echo.”
Christofer hears the news in his ear, glad he had the channel of his receiver to be just him. Last thing he wants is for Kate to get worked up more than she already is. He turns his head, pressing a finger to his ear before muttering, “repeat.”
“No sign of Echo. Escape attempt possible.”
Furrowing his brow, unsure he heard correctly, but doesn’t want to ask them to repeat again, Christofer clears his throat as he looks back at his lover, “how about you stay here? Calm yourself down a bit. I’ll go and see if there’s been any developments that are worthwhile?”
Kate turns her attention to his face, able to see there’s something he isn’t telling her. He doesn’t hide things from her. Not intentionally anyway. Kate gives a weak nod, hoping she won’t regret it later as he takes his leave from the office, leaving her door open this time. Leaving her alone.
This is my fault.