Mother fucking Leitner
The tunnels sucked. Jon had disliked them before, but now the disconnection they provided from the Beholding just added to the frustration. It wasn’t a fun blind spot.
“Maybe it’s not worth it Martin…” Jon’s tired voice carried through the darkness.
Martin took hold of Jon's shoulder and nudged him forward. “We are already here and about 3 hours in. Might as well keep at it.”
Jon grumped as he was pushed along. “I swear if Leitner doesn’t show his stupid face in the next hour I will murder him myself…”
“Stop being so dramatic.”
“I am not being dramatic. It is mentally painful for me to be down here. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have nothing new going on? He’s not even being polite enough to change the paths.”
“Hm, you think maybe he is out?”
“I wouldn’t Know.”
“You can still guess?” Martin took his hand off Jon’s shoulder and poked his face.
“Yes. I suppose. Unfortunately, he is hidden from the Eye even if he leaves the tunnels so it's about the only thing I can do.”
“Think if we left him notes he would respond to them?”
“Probably not? He is annoying at best so can’t see him being too keen to come out of hiding. Though he was nice enough to help me out with the Not!them.”
“Mmh yeah. Say, can you feel the panopticon?”
“Yeah. I could lead us there with no problems, but there would be a wall in the way. Jonah’s got it all sealed off right now.”
“Shame.”
“Why? What would you want to do there?”
“I don’t know. Kick Jonah?”
Jon let out a laugh. That wasn’t what he was expecting at all.
“What? I feel like I owe him. See if he can feel it top side.”
“Well, if we find Leitner, we can ask him to unseal it so you can give Jonah a kick. I’ll admit, I’m quite curious myself now that you’ve given me the idea.” Jon aimed the light before turning into a tunnel they had marked earlier.
Martin paused as he looked at the last timestamp they’d marked off. “Come to think about it, the tunnels aren’t shifting are they?”
“No. Nothing has changed since we got here. Maybe he is hiding, or out?”
“That's not ideal.” Martin leaned on one of the walls.
“We could try again another day? Not like we don’t have ample time to investigate.”
“Hmm I supposed. I really wanted to just have this taken care of you know?”
“I do Know.”
“No. That was an illegal foul, I’m going to have to call a penalty on you for that one. Do you dispute my call?“
Jon’s laugh echoed through the tunnel, not traveling far. “I couldn’t resist. Penalty accepted.”
“You’re in time out then.” Martin opened his arms while he still leaned on the wall. Jon sunk into him on queue.
They stayed like that in a comfortable silence for a few minutes while Martin got a moment break.
Martin broke the silence with a nuzzle into Jon’s shoulder. “Guess we should head out for now.
Maybe swing by the store and get the Marshal some new toys? Think she is about to destroy the scratching post.”
“Mmhmm. Sounds like a plan. We should get out before the store closes.”
Jon offered his hand to Martin as he pulled away from the cuddle. This wasn’t Jon’s ideal location for cuddling, it reminded him too much of everything they were trying to prevent.
--
“Welcome, Jon. I take it you had an eventful trip in the tunnels.”
Jon sat in Elias’s chair and stared at him. “What the heck Jonah? Why just kill Leitner and leave him in the tunnels?”
“I was curious. And Leitner wasn’t someone that would be missed. So I tested out how easy it was to change a timeline. It was quite easy. After that, I went for Prentiss.” Elias had a rather smug look on his face Knowing Jon had been struggling with how to easy it was to change things but was stumbling around trying to learn how to change things by preventing them, rather than just making things happen.
The Eye was please by both of their attempts at watching this timeline, and they both felt it in the air.
“I really can’t stand you.”
“I’m aware. I’m quite surprised that you’ve actually went to look for Leitner after all this time. Were you by chance, attempting to use him like I did?”
Jon leaned back to look at the sealing with a sign. God, did Elias actually have eye patterns etched into the ceiling of his office? Jon groaned at the tacky display above him he’d never noticed.
“Yes, but you beat me to it. Hell, the End or the Eye probably have been eating up my indecision this whole time.” That last part was more for Jon’s own lament rather than for Elias. “Thinking things were set in stone.”
“Lending you to self-fulfilled prophecies I’d say.” Elias looked to his clock. “I have a meeting soon. Talking to is always a delight, but you can’t have been here to just talk to me about Leitner. Considering the Lack of Martin in this intrusion, I’m assuming it’s something you don’t want him to know about it?”
“No, we discussed it in the tunnels. He just didn’t want to end up punching you yet. Said he would be too tempted to. I agree as well, but I’m actually coming to you to ask a favor.”
“Oh? That is surprising.”
“Oh shut up. I’m not really in the mood. I hate to even ask, but could you let me know when Peter is in port. I don’t want to have to keep an eye out on the port. Less worth the time for me than it would be for you.”
“Depends, what's in it for me?”
Jon let out a suffering ugh in response. “You already Know…”
“I’m quite sure I do not. I can guess, but you know you are as blocked to me as I am to you.”
“Fine. I want him to toss me in the Lonely to mark me with it so there will be no reason for the Lonely to come prancing around near my Archives or friends.”
“Lovely. I’ll make sure to set up an appointment with him as soon as he is in.” Elias sounded way too excited for an ancient pair of eyeballs.
“Good. I’m done then.” Jon got up and headed for the door.
“I’m happy to assist you with the rest, how many are there?”
“I don’t need it.“
“I suppose you don’t. You’ve been doing a grand job so far.”
Jon shut the door with a bit of a force.
---
“How’d it go?” Martin walked up to Jon after waving goodbye to Rosie.
“He was a gloating prick. Thinking I should sign his email up for some spam sites, or maybe sign into his accounts and unsubscribe him from things he has on recurring orders so he’ll have to go to a store and shop on his own to buy his things.”
Martin took Jon’s hand with a smile. “I like that last one. I’m sure he obsessively got it scheduled to replace things within the day of it running out.”
Jon nodded and tightened his grip on Martin’s. “He does.”
“That’s- wow kinda impressive actually. To be that together even if it took him 200 some years. I don’t feel as bad about myself and my last-minute shopping trips in comparison. I’ve only gotten some 20 years of practicing.”
Jon laughed, his mood lightened a bit. “The true benefit of the 1800’s Watcher’s Crown. Making sure there is deodorant in your mailbox the Day it runs out.”
“Then after 200 years of planning and spreadsheets, Foiled by one canceled order.”
Jon buried himself in Martin’s shoulder to keep from laughing too loudly. “The true rebellion of the Archive.”
Martin ran his hand through Jon’s hair as Jon tried to not disturb everyone around trying to work. He loved Jon so much.
Martin also thought Jon’s idea was dangerous. The others weren’t going to enjoy it much either.