A Promise To Protect - 25. Mission - Feelings are a Weakness

“Yeah to a fault I guess.” Zeke sighs.

“I don’t think being compassionate is a fault. I think it’s one of your best qualities, actually.” Tyler replies smiling fondly at Zeke.

“You are aware that Wyatt is living in that safe house, aren’t you?” Zeke starts the questioning straight away.

"Yes, of course. How is he?” G's calmness is infuriating to the point that Zeke doesn't exactly know how to respond to it. Thankfully Tyler had something to say immediately.

“Scared out of his fucking mind. Because some asshole here thinks it's a good idea to send two armed people to his house without telling them that there was someone that lived in there. So of course we burst in to see who the hell was breaking in. And scare the absolute shit out of him.” Tyler snaps, way more annoyed about this than Zeke expected.

“Did he fight you?” G asks, ignoring Tyler's tone and attitude.

“Of course he did. We were intruders in his home. You really need to stop putting people in situations where they feel threatened just to see if they will fight or fall apart. I don’t care what your excuse is, you do not do that to people. It is disgusting...” Tyler continues his rant but G cuts him off, not interested in the lecture.

“Thank you Tyler, for your opinion. I want to hear from Zeke now. You’ve said enough.” G states, Tyler smiles to himself and bites his tongue but is now significantly more annoyed.

“Why is Wyatt There? And what’s with the tracking device?” Zeke asks in a calm tone, sounding like he was genuinely going to give G the chance to explain himself. G sits back in his seat and smiles at Zeke as though he's impressed with his question. This was probably why Zeke was considered good at his job, because he asked questions and didn't just shoot. Kinder than he deserved, but that was Zeke, despite what he thought of himself and his actions, he definitely wasn't able to just turn off his consideration for other's points of views and motivations. Tyler felt himself, that the two of them made an interesting match because Zeke was willing to hear people out and Tyler was the one that would threaten to shoot them in the eye socket.

“Well Zeke as you identified during your confrontation with Wyatt, When he was last present here, he was under some pretty heavy mind altering substances, keeping him essentially 'under control'. We used the tracking device and sent him to the safe house to keep an eye on him because due to his long term use of these substances he's had complicated withdrawal symptoms that required supervision, for his wellbeing. He was identified as a danger to himself and unsafe to release back to the community as is our usual policy." G explains, being very oddly timed with his disclosure of this information.

“And you didn’t think any of that was important to tell us before we went there?” Tyler asks, annoyed. G glances at him but doesn't respond to the question.

“What withdrawal symptoms are we talking about?" Zeke asks, concern crossing his face. G sighs and finds the report Corey had given him.

"So he started with severe anxiety symptoms, loss of appetite, vivid nightmares which we believe are experiences he was a part of without being aware of his actions, because he was 'under control' at the time. These vivid dreams were then accompanied by hallucinations and black outs. He's made improvements, we're just monitoring whether or not he's going to relapse on any of these symptoms." G reads then puts the file down on his desk and looks back at Zeke, waiting for his response.

"I'm sorry, I know you said I've said enough but clearly Zeke respects you enough to not be calling you out on your shit right now. But are you seriously saying that you have a guy coming off a mind controlling substance, having hallucinations and severe anxiety and you sent two armed guys to his place in the dead of the night without informing us? Knowing full well that as we understood it, our job was to ensure no one was at the address, so when we saw someone arrive there we would obviously investigate that, and you've filled us with enough suspicion ourselves that the first thing we will assume is that this is a member of some mysterious rival network of bad guys, so we will respond to that accordingly. And at NO POINT did you think that maybe that is a great way to completely destroy this poor guys' mental health?! Who the fuck put you in charge of this institution?! You are the least responsible person I can think of to run a joint like this and you're playing with people like they are fucking puppets in your life. You cannot say you're monitoring him for his own wellbeing, while actively setting up a scenario in which to put him through hell." Tyler loses it at G, not a single piece of him willing to listen to whatever else G had to say, ever.

"He's highly trained. The simulation was to see if he would remember his training and be capable of fighting back or if he's been completely rehabilitated through memory wipes. It was a calculated..." G begins but Tyler cuts him off again.

"It was not a simulation. You sent us in there blind, you set him up and you set us up and I don't want any part of the shit you're doing to people anymore. From now on, you want to see if someone can fight back, you do the dirty work yourself. If we're lucky they will fight back and you'll be the one messed up by it for once. Step up and be a fucking man, you gutless piece of shit. You can fill in my position here because I am not going to work for you. Go fuck yourself." Tyler states and turns on his heel, storming out of the room with absolutely no care in the world for whether he'd face consequences for this.

Tyler stands in the shower, relaxing and trying not to think about what would happen to him now that G had no reason to keep him around. He suspected he'd be dragged away at some point, memory wiped and send to a torture house to be put through ridiculous tests just like Wyatt had been. He could only hope it'd be G breaking in to test him so he could fall back on his one week worth of training and be the one the killed him. Tyler gets out of the shower and wraps a towel around himself, exhausted by the mentally draining mission they'd been on, his mind swirling with confusing thoughts and knowing he'd not be able to sleep. A distraction shows itself, a knock on his door as he leaves the bathroom. Tyler walks over and opens the door to see Zeke standing there.

"Come to take me to have my memory wiped?" Tyler asks, half joking. He wouldn't blame Zeke if he was, he had a job to do, a job Tyler completely disagreed with, but he respected that Zeke was probably not being as blind to G as he was acting.

"God no." Zeke smiles at him. "Can I come in?" he asks, his eyes glancing down at the towel around Tyler's waist. Tyler steps back and opens the door wider to invite him in. Zeke walks in and just stands in the room looking at Tyler with a confusing expression as Tyler closes the door and looks back to him to ask what he wanted.

"So, I'm guessing I'm in trouble though." Tyler states with a careless shrug.

"You're definitely not in G's good books." Zeke smirks. "I've never seen anyone talk to him the way you did though, that was impressive. He was actually silenced by your comments for a few good moments after you left."

"What did he say after I left?" Tyler crosses his arms.

"We didn't talk about you, just discussed business matters. He is aware that his position here is under threat." Zeke replies with a sigh then walks over to Tyler. "Speaking of being under threat, I'd hate to be the person that pisses you off next." Zeke says in a flirty tone, reaching for Tyler's hand then walking backwards, bringing Tyler to the bed with him.

"How do you feel?" Tyler asks.

"I was hoping to show you." Zeke replies, reaching the edge of the bed and sitting down, pulling Tyler to sit on his lap. Tyler goes along with this, thrilled that this was finally happening. This was the distraction he needed from his confused thoughts and doubts about what was going on around him here. There were so many questions in his head and he wanted nothing more than to let Zeke fill his brain with better things to think about. The moment Zeke's lips touch his, he's granted just that. A swirl of excitement and hopes, of nerves and curiosity. He didn't know what Zeke was hoping for, but he runs through just about every possibility in his head and he's pretty sure he wont say no to any of them. Zeke holds him close and throws himself back on the bed then rolls so Tyler is below him. His hand glides down Tyler's body and breaks the kiss as he reaches the towel around Tyler's waist and feels the wave of nerves emulating from Tyler.