Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Now that the weekend had come and gone, Ender felt... lighter. While the burden on his shoulders hadn't much shifted, the absence of other burdens had become more pronounced, and he felt more... focused.

It'd only been an hour since he got to work, but he was already making good headway on the security system at Stark Industries.

He might have added in some variables with eccentric names, based off people he knew.

[ open, kids ]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben walked quietly into the shop, the hood of his Jedi robe up over his head and his heads stuffed into his sleeves.

He was doing a fairly good impression of someone who wanted to disappear.

"I was looking for some supplies," he said softly.

[endsthegame]

He recognised the voice before he recognised the boy. It was the tone that did it. "Ben," Ender greeted, standing up. "What kind of supplies?" He kept his voice carefully low, gentle, like some automatic system had kicked in about it.

[momslilassassin]

Ben pulled out a ridiculously long list and rattled off a request for electronics and metal. "I'm building a droid," he said.

He was distracting himself by keeping busy, really.

[endsthegame]

"A droid?" he asked, gesturing for the list. Ender was watchful, though. Ben was giving off some cues he didn't really want to recognise.

[momslilassassin]

"Robot?" Ben tried, handing over the list. "It's too quiet in my room without one."

Which he'd discovered when he stayed awake all night staring at the ceiling.

[endsthegame]

He shot Ben one more look before he vanished into the back with the list for a little while.

"We've got some of it," Ender replied, when he came back. "Some of it has to be ordered, and some of it, I'm not sure of." He leaned on the counter. "Ben."

[momslilassassin]

"Yes?" Ben replied, trying to smile.

[endsthegame]

"Bad parent?" he asked, without a hint of pity, and put the list on the desk. "You look a little used-up." Kind as a puppy, Ender. Really.

[momslilassassin]

Ben shrank in on himself. "Not a good weekend," he said finally.

[endsthegame]

"I couldn't tell," Ender said, but that nagging voice of empathy kicked back in again. "Come on. I'll show you what I'm working on."

[momslilassassin]

Ben was a little desperate to be distracted. "Is it very complicated?" He rather hoped so.

[endsthegame]

"It's a security system," Ender replied, mildly, walking back towards his computer station. "So I can't show you all of it."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "That makes sense. I'm good at getting around security systems. One time Ja--"

He stopped that sentence immediately, looking pained.

[endsthegame]

"Jacen?" Ender asked, conversationally, like it didn't mean anything, and sat down. "I take it your parents didn't show up."

[momslilassassin]

Ben flinched at the name. "They didn't," he said. "They didn't know about it. He intercepted their invitation."

[endsthegame]

He nodded, twice, and glanced at his computer. "It didn't end well," Ender surmised, tapping a few keys on his keyboard so he could begin to access some of the basic, less dangerous code for the system.

[momslilassassin]

Ben pulled his cloak further around him, still not able to articulate what had happened. "No."

His eyes were drawn to the code. "You did all of this?"

[endsthegame]

"It was an old hobby in school," came the short answer. He wasn't going to push, or anything, unless it was absolutely needed.

Besides, his own brother was trying to take over the Earth.

[momslilassassin]

"What did you use it for then?" Ben asked, getting a little closer to the monitor. "More security?"

[endsthegame]

"Our computers weren't very well-secured." He remembered the old desks, and how easy it was to create a guest account, send a message to someone else, and never get caught. "My sister had already taught me a lot of the basics."

[momslilassassin]

"Valentine?" Ben sounded almost normal now. "I met her this weekend."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not surprised," Ender said, looking up as he clicked away the code. He wasn't stupid; he wouldn't let Ben see all of it.

He wouldn't even let Tony see all of it. "She has a homing instinct for people who know me."

[momslilassassin]

"I liked her," Ben offered, not at all surprised to see the code disappear. "She wants us to do something silly."

That was said in a tone of voice that implied walking on the moon might be slightly more likely.

[endsthegame]

"I'm still not surprised," Ender said, although a touch of a wry smile had appeared on his face. "She's very adamant about that. I think she feels she has something to make up for."

There was no one alive he loved as much as Valentine, not even now, not even with her fingers on his buttons, and he guessed he should have hated her for it, but he couldn't. Some of it might have even shown up in the way he was talking.

[ aaand heading to bed; sp okay? ]

[momslilassassin]

"What would she have to make up for?" Ben asked. Anything that turned the conversation away from him was a good thing.

[NP! Sleep tight!]