The gate closed with the clash of metal on metal, and the wire fencing audibly reverberated where both men let go of it so suddenly. Blue was on the other side now, without any extra layers to shield her from the cold until she got inside the school. Or garage, or whatever it was supposed to be repurposed into. She left them quickly, with the promise that she’d return as fast. Lex resumed his seat on the ground, and Marcus sat next to him, tapping him on the arm to let him know he had company.<br/><br/>“If the gym is a garage,” Marcus started, his voice thin as his breathing tried to catch up and steady out. “Then what did they use the rest of the building for?”<br/><br/>Lex shrugged. “I didn’t get to know that. Something, something, operational security. I worked in the ‘rotunda-looking thing.’”<br/><br/>It was the first time Lex had ever alluded to Marcus what his side-jobs were on the military base. Marcus decided to press his luck; he’d always been more than a little bit curious. “Doing what?” he asked, grinning as he elbowed his brother. “Dissecting some weird, alien space-lizards?”<br/><br/>“Weird, alien space-lizards,” Lex echoed, considering the words as they hung in the air. “You know, I wish my job had been that interesting.”<br/><br/>Marcus screamed internally. He’d hit the wall and regressed back to Lex’s typical question-dodging. “...but what<span style="font-style: italic">was</span>it?” he practically begged. They were here, where he had worked, and Marcus wanted to know what it was. “It was probably awesome. You’re being selfish.”