'No rush huh? Then what do you call that? Catching up to my speed?'
He offered a lopsided grin. "Sure, somethin' like that. But I'm a professional- do as I say, not as I do." That harness was basically foolproof, he would know. There'd been many an occasion where he slipped and nearly went down. She'd be absolutely fine, yet still should take her time and not rush.
At her question, he paused for a moment before pulling himself up the wall a little bit more, continuing to remain beside her at this pace. "I guess...it was just out of necessity?" There was a flicker of something sad across his face before it was gone. "I loved Aladdin- y'know, the Disney movie? Anyway, I remember thinking it was cool how he would scale walls and leap across building gaps...and I wanted to do it, too. Perfect skill for a thief." He chuckled lightly, barely feeling the embarrassment. "Zee had been good at it for awhile, but we changed up our tactics and she needed to be the pretty face."
It didn't take long for Joanna to get the hang of this rock climbing. Watching how Dax did it out of the corner of her eye, ensured she was doing what she was supposed to, set their pace as they made their ascent upward.
She listened to Dax tell his little story, understanding how something had to become a necessity, and being a thief with the ability to climb and get out of situations when you could necessarily take the ideal route was smart.
The curve of her lips curled up into a mischievous smile as she raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him as she pulled herself higher so she was looking down at him for the moment. "So what, are you saying you're not pretty?, Dax?" She asked in amusement. "I'd argue with you there, mate." She remarked light, giving him the casual compliment as she continued her way up. She pondered what her next question to ask him should be. Why did he get into thievery? Before this life, Jo would have been the sort to hunt people like Dax and Zee down. You called in experts to catch experts and her life at MI6 had been doing things for the greater good. That is until she became a mother. Then that life had drastically changed and- here she was. Scaling a wall in the backcountry of France to forget the fact she'd been a mother and that her family had been taken from her.
"Have you got a monkey as a sidekick then that you're hiding from everyone, Aladdin?" She asked instead. Deciding to keep the mood light.
Last Edit: May 27, 2021 4:57:57 GMT by Joanna Byrne
He paused in his climb, tilting his head back so that he could look up at her; a crooked grin turning his lips. "Oh no, I wouldn't argue. I'm damn fine, I know," he said, his tone dripping with that conceitedness, and it might be difficult to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. With a face like that, he probably believed it, mostly.
Laughing, he began to climb slowly again, noting that the view from down below was "damn fine" also but he wasn't aiming to go down that particular road. He liked his pretty head where it was on his neck, and she was a teammate no less.
The thief did many stupid things, but he knew when to draw the line. Usually.
Chuckling a little, he shook his head. "No, but considering Mick is fuckin' loaded, maybe he could just buy me one." Finding his footing, he took a second before climbing a little more. Now, he was looking down at her a bit. "Do you know how easy that would make our job?" Or how much more complicated, depending upon how well the animal was trained.
C'mon, it was a genius idea!
This was when he would naturally ask her about her life, but something told him he had to tred carefully. Dax just wasn't sure how to do it. "So, this couldn't be the most adventurous thing you've done in your life." It was technically a question, but one she could bypass if she wished. "Considering this climb isn't really hard to begin with..." Dax added, clearly teasing by the way he grinned. Sure, it wasn't that difficult for him now, but that was beside the point.
Last Edit: May 30, 2021 4:37:55 GMT by Dax Beckett
Jo laughed as he said he wouldn’t argue, and agreed with her. She didn’t know whether or not to jokingly take it back at the tone he used or just let it be. And he was damn fine, there was no argument there. “Careful their mate, you’re going to start sounding like Mick.” She chuckled with a slight shake of her head as she used her legs to push her upward.
Her grin widened and she was chuckling again. How long had it been since she actually laughed? on this day? Five years probably, and Jo quietly told herself she’d have to do something for Dax to thank him for this. “Are we sure Mick isn’t already the Monkey? He sort of looks like one.” She smirked. Teasing their fearless leader like this when he wasn’t around to defend himself would certainly cause some laughs.
At Dax’s question, Joanna pondered what to tell him. She was normally guarded with her personal life and didn’t share things about herself unless you were around her around to figure out what she liked and didn’t from her habits. But again, they were teammates, and if they were going to be doing this for the unforeseeable future why not indulge Dax a bit? Especially when she was feeling generous with his act of kindness he’d given her.
She shook her head and glanced up at him. “No, I’ve had quite a few adventures.” She remarked. “Most of which involve getting shot at, but I’ve had some that aren’t that exciting.” She mused. As a former MI6 agent, she’d seen her fair share of a lot of things. “Easy for you, maybe spiderman.” She stuck her tongue out at him, as she found another handhold. She could start to feel certain muscles in her arms and legs begin to burn slightly, and welcomed the feeling. She stayed in good shape normally, but this was a different workout than what she was used to.
She was quiet for a moment before she pondered what she wanted to tell him. “I lived in Birmingham growing up, and the neighborhood kids and I would pretend we were cops or robbers, and we’d come up with these fantastical plans that we’d then proceed to act out.” She started with a harmless story.
“And one day I was on the robber’s team, and we went into the corner store to see if we could actually take something because we were just kids, Yeah?” She huffed a small laugh. “And Billy managed to snag the crinkliest bag of chips he could have possibly found and shoved it right up under his shirt, while the rest of us went for smaller items.” She glanced up and then grabbed another handhold before pushing herself upward.
“The other team then came rushing in, and because we were all playing a game, one had shouted, “Stop thief!” I swear at the top of their lungs, and the store owner thought it was an actual thief, so he came running out with a broom, looking like he was about to face against an actual one when really, there were just about seven kids loose in his store.” She paused to take another handhold. “And he realized we were playing a game, but he was an old codger is what he was, and he yelled at us and made us all stand there and proceed to lecture us. I don’t remember how long we were there for, but Billy ended up taking that bag of chips he had and had begun to eat them while we all stood there, and the owners face just got redder, and we had to pay for the chips, or he’d tell our parents, and that stores were not for playing in and that we should rethink our games or we’d end up in prison ourselves.” Aaaaaand here was the catch.
Jo’s bright blues flickered up Dax as a bitter smile crossed her face. “Ironic that twenty-plus years later, Mick’s breaking me out of a prison.” She said quietly. Mick recruited someone with the whole team usually. Though, at the time she’d been recruited It had just been Mick, Jeff, and Marcel. None of them spoke about how they were recruited, and Joanna certainly didn’t bring up hers. She’d been angry at the time. Wanting to feel some sort of relief, or something for finally getting her revenge after two years of tracking the bastards down, but it had done nothing but leave her bitter, cold, and angry. Mick had been a saving grace in more ways than one.
“I think my favorite adventure was the day I died, though.” She said a bit a more cheerfully. “Massive Car chase, police sirens everywhere, and then I got to throw myself off a bridge.” She mused.
"Like Mick?" Dax echoed, jokingly sounding offended. "I'm definitely prettier than him, though..." That was added in an amused murmur that she'd likely still be able to hear.
She was above him again, and he paused with a light grin to hear her laugh. It wasn't that she was usually miserable or anything, but knowing that something was definitely wrong (and he still wasn't feeling daring enough to ask), this was refreshing. And he supposed he was the cause. Good, he could be amusing and/or stupid for awhile, whatever it took to keep her smiling.
At the mention of Mick looking like a monkey, he outright laughed. "Don't think he would appreciate hearing that, Jo." Mick, although a bit of a conceited hothead sometimes (in his book) was a good man from what he could tell. There were times when Dax felt like he didn't a give a shit about any of them, but deep down he knew that wasn't true. You couldn't take on this mission of saving the world from dark corruption and not have a heart.
Continuing to climb and keeping the pace with her in case she needed assistance, he was patient with that as well as waiting if she decided to talk, and basically about anything at this point. Or, if she rather climb in silence, he could do that also. Usually he had wireless earbuds in blasting music when he did this, so not speaking wouldn't be a problem.
Then suddenly, she was reminiscing and sharing it with him, so he gladly remained quiet as she spoke. The smile on his face was small, growing a little wider as she continued on with her rather amusing tale. Cops and robbers, eh? Dax was laughing over the part about Billy eating the chips before there came a pause in her story.
'Ironic that twenty-plus years later, Mick's breaking me out of a prison.'
Huh, well, he certainly didn't know that about her, and it was a little surprising. Knowing she had been MI6, he kind of didn't expect that from her. As Joanna continued, cheerfully saying how much she liked the "day she died" the most, he didn't know whether to laugh or sound concerned. Maybe his confused chuckle was good enough. "Sounds like it was...quite a day," he mused. There was a moment of silence as he carefully found his footing and climbed up a little further again. "So...why were you in prison?"
She supposed she should have expected Dax’s follow-up question. After a comment like that? How could he not ask. She could have left it out, but a part of her maybe wanted to say something about it. After five years of not talking about what had happened, maybe now was the time to finally do so. To heal.
It was a startling realization she had on that rock face. Three years since she got her justice and still she wasn’t healed. Maybe she’d never be, but she had to try right? Did she want to heal? That was another question. Every single day she pretended like it hadn’t happened, except for this day. She forced herself to move on, but could she really move on without coming to terms?
What the hell had Dax done bringing her out here?
She was silent for a few minutes as she climbed further, noting they’d reached the halfway mark, or at least what looked like the halfway mark. She pursed her lips, pausing a second to catch her breath, and she rested her forehead against the surface of the rock face for a moment. She took a deep breath and then glanced up before she started to continue.
“I went rogue.” She decided to start with. Deciding to give him as much truth as she was willing to admit. She had gone rogue. Because no one else was taking what happened seriously. While they all stood around doing nothing, her family’s killers were at large. “It was an accident.” Over her dead body, it was.
It’d taken her two years to get them all, and when she had, she was facing multiple counts of murder, property damage, and not to mention fucking over the whole of MI6 by killing the one who had leaked the info they had needed to target Jo that day. “We had a corrupt agent working with a guy I locked away, they wanted me dead.” She shrugged. She could feel the memories coming back and she drew quiet again, clenching her jaw. “Staged an accident I was in that killed two people, and put me in a coma for a month.” Her voice was void of any emotion. Sounding more like a robot, and she could feel herself shutting down, growing numb.
She turned to her head to look at Dax, “I got even.” She said simply and left it at that as she decided to pick her pace up, wanting to get to the top.
He almost didn't ask, but she had set him up for it. Suddenly, for a woman he felt as though kept to herself quite a lot, she was sharing things with him simply because he asked right now. Dax kind of wondered if he would ever do the same in return.
His and Zara's life had started out tragically from the get-go, but at least for him, he thought it had gotten better just as quickly because of the Becketts. It had certainly been difficult, but it had been worth it in his opinion. Dax thought Mick was a little crazy originally when he recruited them for his save-the-world-mission...but the thief got to thinking that, everything he and his sister had been through, everything their adoptive parents taught them were not meant to simply lead to petty crime. Maybe their skills were meant to be used for the better.
And if that wasn't some amazing, sappy shit, he didn't know what was.
But this was about Jo right now, and he wasn't going to push her to answer if she truly did not feel comfortable doing so. He knew what pain of the past could feel like.
'I went rogue.'
Well, he didn't expect that from her, and he wasn't really sure why, either. Dax continued to stay quiet as they climbed, listening to her tell as much of her story as she was willing to. Every now and then, his attention drifted over to her, his brow furrowing in some mixture of concern and annoyance. The annoyance wasn't for her, of course, but at her situation, at those who had betrayed her. Agencies like that were supposed to have your back and take care of you...but from what he's heard, they were always full of rats and traitors. And it seemed like Joanna suffered for it.
He just didn't know the extent of it.
'I got even.'
Noting the lack of emotion in her voice then, he wondered if that was a coping mechanism or she truly didn't care. "Good," he just said before keeping pace with her again as she climbed. They were making good time and nearing the top, so it wouldn't be long until she could finally relax. "And I'm...sorry. For everything you went through," he added after another minute, not really know what else to say. Still, he was genuine regardless.
He didn’t know the extent of it. He didn’t know how deep those wounds went, or how she’d had to sit in her flat, knowing there was a child’s room she had to go through because she didn’t have a child anymore. How she had to stare at the bed she didn’t want to sleep in, knowing Tommy wasn’t going to come crawling in after he finished his video game.
No one knew the extent of that heartbreak. Of being told after waking up, your baby and boyfriend didn’t survive the crash, and whatever god there was, was cruel enough to make you have been the one to live.
Jo’s mouth twitched into what might be a smile as Dax apologized for what she’d gone through and that she’d gotten her revenge. She didn’t know what else to say, and she was afraid to speak more for fear of what her emotions might do, despite her attempts at numbing herself.
So, she focused on the climb. Looking up the rest of the way, as she pushed her muscles to their limit as she carried herself upward. She didn’t know how long it was but by the time she finally managed to pull herself up and over the ledge, her breathing was labored and she was covered in a small sheen of sweat. Laying on her back as she stared up at the blue sky above. Taking a moment to breathe as she felt a soft breeze before she was sitting up and looking out at the view.
For a moment her breath caught, and she suddenly realized why Dax might like this hobby of his, if only for the views, and this one was certainly pretty of the french countryside. She pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms loosely around them. Taking in the moment, before her eyes drifted back up to the sky. “It’s been five years.” She murmured quietly. “Since the accident, today’s the anniversary of it.” She explained. Answering the one question he’d yet to ask.
The world certainly could be a cruel place. Even if he couldn't relate to her particular pain (or even know of it at the moment), she wasn't alone. Dax wasn't so naive as to think that each and every person on this team had a perfect life- something had pushed them to this place, to join together, in order to rid the world of the bullshit that haunts them and so many other helpless people.
All he could do was try to be a good friend to his newfound family, because they deserved it as much as those they helped.
When she said nothing more, neither did he. That was absolutely fine by him, and he was alright with climbing the rest of the way in silence. He hung back just as before in case she needed any assistance or misstep, but the thief came to realize that the spy wouldn't need it. She was quite capable of scaling her first rock wall, and he grinned with pride as he pulled himself up to the top ledge.
He sat there on the edge, letting his feet dangle off as she glanced down at her while they both caught their breath. Indeed, the view was great, and it was a beautiful country morning despite the looming, grey clouds in the distance. Just another reason why he kept moving his rigging- he could probably take in the scenery from here for the rest of his life, but there was so much more out there. Even scaling up a skyscraper could lend awesome views.
Again, Dax was happy to sit there in silence, turning his gaze out to the French landscape. He'd been a little iffy to hear that their headquarters was going to be here, but he certainly had no complaints now.
'It's been five years.'
It was five years since the accident she spoke of, and that was bringing his attention back over to her, studying her profile as it suddenly dawned on him. That was why she had been so absent and had been hiding in her room all morning. She was avoiding everyone, drawing into herself, and into those memories. Did he blame her? No, of course he didn't, but he was a little surprised that she agreed to come out here with him.
Suddenly at a loss for words and not wanting to apologize again for something that wasn't in his power, Dax just reached out to rest a hand upon her shoulder to at least prove that he was there and was listening.
Jo tensed at feeling Dax’s hand on her shoulder, but she soon relaxed. Taking in the silence and his small gesture at trying to show her he was there even if he wasn’t going to say anything. She slowly reached up, placing a hand over his and have it a small squeeze. Using the contact to act as her rock to keep her in the present. Grounding her so she didn’t fall deeper into a place she didn’t want to go to.
She was tired of visiting it every year. Today though? Today, Dax had given her a little taste of living even if she felt sad and despite her loss, she was still here and alive. She was a step closer to maybe really talking about what happened, but she needed the baby steps. This outing was the baby step she needed in the right direction.
“Thank you,” she murmured quietly, glancing over at him. “For this.” She gestured outward at the view and the ropes. A small smile appearing on her face.
Dax really didn't know what to say, but he knew that sometimes you didn't have to speak a word to help someone. Sometimes it was just a matter of being there.
He never dealt with what she had been through (from what little she told him), so he couldn't relate, and wasn't about to pretend otherwise. But he was not without heartache. Both him and Zee had to grow up really fast and learn to survive on their own. While his sister thought every person she got close to would abandon her, Dax liked to believe it wouldn't always be like that. And thus far, this team of thieves were proving him right.
At her thanks, he looked back at her with a small smile before his gaze averted to the view. "It really is something, isn't it. I was so used to urban landscapes, but this? Just feels more freeing. Less... restrictions. Less suffocating."
Jo found herself catching Dax's eye and nodded as she smiled softly at him. Giving him her full attention before she leaned back, placing her hands behind her to look out at the view. "A haven." She remarked. Their own little paradise in the chaos of the world. Something she was honestly surprised that Mick had been able to provide. She had always expected a life constantly moving after he'd broken her out of that prison, but it appeared Mick Devin had other plans for his band of hero's without capes.
"It's certainly less suffocating out here than inside that room." She said lightly. Forcing herself to think about the positive. "And to think, you've been hiding this view from me this entire time?" She tsked and shook her head at him, giving him a mild accusatory look, even though there was nothing but mirth in her eyes.
Last Edit: Jul 3, 2021 1:46:01 GMT by Joanna Byrne
"Exactly," he agreed. Some people liked to wallow away in silence, others (like his sister) sought for breakable valuables to chuck at the wall to get out pent up aggression or depression, but Dax? This was his escape, his way of coping.
So to see Jo smile and admit it was better than her room, it made him happy to do a tiny good deed for someone else. And he really did hope it helped her, even a tiny bit.
With her joking jab, he offered a grin and a shrug of his shoulders. "We all have our little secrets," he told her in light humor. "But, now that you know it exists, you're welcome to come here anytime. Maybe you could help me find a new location."
Last Edit: Jul 7, 2021 19:34:19 GMT by Dax Beckett
Joanna’s usual way of coping was storing all her emotions away into a tight little box, because it was better to not feel then feel anything at all. It had been what she’d been trained for after all. They didn’t want emotions getting in the way of things. But now?
She felt a little more human on the saddest day of her life.
All thanks to Dax of course, and his small act of kindness.
“You can say that again.” She murmured softly as that smile softened, and her gaze wandered back to the view. “I might just have too. I normally just ride my bike around when I need to clear my head.” She told him. “Or I punch people…” She smirked. Work was always a good outlet of course. “This seems safer and less expensive.” She said thoughtfully.
An idea struck her then that had her pulling her legs up more as she scooted away from the edge and then climbed up to her feet. Mindful of her footing. “Have you done much exploring coming up here? Or do you just climb up and climb back down?” She asked, arching a blond brow at him before she held her hand out to help him up.
Dax kept secrets that were necessary to keep, but he stopped caring about hiding emotions away a long time ago. Zara seemed to hold them all inside enough for the two of them, no matter how much he tried to get her to stop. She'd let it build up and up until she unleashed her feelings in a rage. It wasn't good, and who was he to judge how others coped? It just seemed Joanna and his sister were similar in that regard. No wonder they seemed to get along on some level.
Or, as strong women, they just knew they could team up and tear all of their heads off. Whatever the case.
'Or I punch people...'
He laughed at that; a deep, heavy laugh that shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, this is a lot less expensive," he added. Maybe safer, but he couldn't be entirely sure about that one, so he didn't comment.
When Joanna climbed to her feet, he turned his head to look up at her with her question. His brow furrowed a little in thought. "Actually, no." Turning, Dax threw a glance over his shoulder at the small mountaintop they found themselves on. "Yeah, I just...normally climb back down." He mirrored her arched brow before taking her offered hand in order to climb up to his full height. He wiped the dirt from his clothes. "Is that a suggestion, then?" The slightest cant of his head, he smirked as he was already unclipping and shrugging out of that harness.
Now that she planted the idea in his head, he was at least going to have a bit of a look around. It was still early and a nice day, after all.