Who's the Buster? - Fast and Furious Fic (Chapter 14/14)
I would've posted this yesterday except that all three sites I typically post this to went down at the same time. What.
...
Chapter Fourteen
Striding forward under Dom's gaze, Brian knocked on the door frame as he leaned into the office. Tanner and Bilkins turned to look at him, as did the chief of the Torettown police.
"You wanted to see me, sirs?" Brian asked, needlessly.
Tanner waved him in. "Brian, yes. You know Mr. Toretto, Chief Penning," he said with separate waves to each man as he introduced them.
Brian nodded. "Yeah." He stepped forward to shake Chief Penning's hand. "Good to meet you again, sir."
Penning didn't look overly pleased but shook his hand anyway. "Wish you had told me who you were when we met last time, son."
"Sorry," Brian apologized, eyes flicking to where Dom still sat, silent, watching him. "I couldn't."
"See that's where you're wrong," Penning said, pulling Brian's attention back. "Torettown PD was on the lookout for Campos," he cleared his throat, "excuse me, Braga, for months. He'd been slipping in and out, causing problems for the people of our city. The protection of the people in Torettown is the duty of every TPD officer. Yet the MCF did not consider working with us to be beneficial to your mission when it would've made it much easier. Shared intel. The ability to stake out a possible locale. Extra eyes on the street. Protection from any backlash of the criminal sort." He lifted an eyebrow. "I hear you nearly died twice, maybe even three times. That's a risk you didn't have to face, Officer."
No one had said anything while Penning ranted. Tanner watched them in mild interest, Dom watched Brian, and Bilkins looked out the window at the city below. Something was going on here that Brian didn't know about.
Brian narrowed his eyes at Penning. "What's the point of this? Sir," he added a beat too slow and a bit too sarcastic to be considered proper. In the corner of his eye, Brian saw Dom's lips twitch upward.
"Cesare Toretto was unhappy with how the MCF intervened in Torettown," Tanner said.
Without turning from the window, Bilkins continued, "Seems he went to the federal government, all the way up to the president herself, to orchestrate a change in policy." Now he faced the other occupants in the room, but his focus was on Brian. "She agreed that the MCF is abusing its power. If the MCF wants to do anything regarding mutants in a mutant controlled city, they now have to have a liaison in that city."
So this wouldn't only effect Torettown, but the half dozen other mutant-friendly or mutant run cities across the country. That made sense. The president wouldn't play favorites with Torettown, so Cesare would have needed to come up with a plan for all mutant cities. As a Toretto, a family dedicated to helping other mutants, it probably never crossed his mind to leave them out.
"Liaison?" Brian repeated.
"In our case, here in California, someone who facilitates the exchange of information and plans between the TPD and outside police forces like the MCF and LAPD," Tanner explained calmly. Unlike Bilkins, who was bristling like a startled cat, Tanner seemed to be taking the change in policy like a fish to water. "Someone who either lives in Torettown or spends a lot of time there, knows the people, knows their system, has contacts and connections, and can fit in among the people there."
"A mutant," Bilkins simplified with a scowl. "A mutant on our payroll that helps catch out of control mutants in areas now out of our jurisdiction."
"Torettown was always out of your jurisdiction," Dom said. It was a simple statement of fact, but there was an acidic nature to his tone that belayed his anger at how the MCF had just come on in and invaded his city.
Brian was having a little trouble concentrating. A mutant liaison between the MCF and the TPD. Someone who lived in Torettown or near it. Someone with contacts and connections, who can fit in, who knows the people. As far as Brian knew, he and Monica were the only two MCF officers to have spent any good length of time in Torettown, and of the two of them he was the only mutant.
He met Tanner's gaze while Dom and Bilkins were having a stare off. Tanner's lips were raised just the slightest bit and he lifted his eyebrows as if to say 'Yes, Brian, you've got it.'
"You want me?" Brian asked aloud, flipping his eyes from one man in the room to the next for confirmation.
"You're the best option," Penning answered. "Been living in Torettown for weeks already now, haven't you? People know you. People trust you."
Bilkins frowned at Penning but he spoke to Brian. "We had hoped to put in one of our own, but since the MCF until this point has never employed mutants, our options were limited." Now he looked at Brian. "Not only is your sneaking ass the only option we have, but you were specially requested by Cesare Toretto himself."
Yeah, Bilkins was still ticked that he'd unknowingly hired a mutant. But at least he was being mildly cordial. And wait, Cesare Toretto had asked for him? Brian turned to Dom, who shifted when he realized he had everyone's attention.
"The position would be like a lifetime undercover op," Dom said, "but without the fake background. You could join the TPD directly, or continue working at Harry's or wherever you could find work, as long as you were available to coordinate between the TPD and outside forces when necessary. You would also need to have regular contact with politicians and other city representatives, to check in or give status updates. You would get a fair salary, about the same he makes," he nodded toward Bilkins, which made Bilkins tense, "for your troubles. Think you can handle all that, O'Conner?"
Hearing his name come out of Dom's mouth did things to Brian. He absently wondered if he'd shivered as much outwardly as he did inwardly. Brian Spilner was gone now, and Timothy Rowan, and Jared Martinez, and every other false name he'd ever had. He could be Brian O'Conner again. That one name, spilling from Dom's lips so easily, felt like a liberation.
"Yeah," he agreed in a sure voice. "I'm in."
Dom and Penning stood up then, and Dom held out his hand. When Brian took it and they shook to seal the deal, Dom smirked. "You're the first liaison between mutant towns and the regular world. Don't screw it up, Buster."
Brian smiled at the teasing tone to Dom's voice. "I'll do my best."
…
…
There was a lot of paperwork to fill out and handshakes from everyone present and words of advice from Tanner and Penning. Within an hour, however, Brian had gone from fearing he would be slapped in handcuffs at any moment to being given a free pass to live among mutants and use his mutation in a legal, federal position. He almost wished Dom would punch him just to prove it wasn't a dream.
Since the desk he'd been using wasn't his own, Brian just had to grab the sketches he'd made and his keys and he was ready to leave. Dom and Jesse were standing in the lobby, ignoring the unwelcoming looks Hannah kept shooting them, when Brian left the bullpen. Chief Penning was gone already.
Jesse immediately hurried over to wrap Brian in a tight but quick hug. "You're coming home, man, that's awesome!" He beamed. "The other's are gonna be so psyched."
"Really?" Brian asked, even as the three of them made their way into the elevator.
"Totally," Jesse assured him.
They were standing in the elevator, staring out at the lobby where Hannah was watching them with narrowed eyes, when suddenly Leon let himself be known and appeared right in the doors to the elevator. Hannah gasped and dropped the coffee she'd been holding. Leon slipped inside and let the doors shut while Hannah cursed at the hot temperature of her drink and how it was staining her clothes.
"She deserved it," Leon said when Dom and Brian both lifted an eyebrow at him. Jesse snickered.
Brian smiled for a moment but, as they moved slowly down the floors, it faded. "You're all really okay with this?" he asked. "With me coming back?"
"You mean because you lied?" Leon asked. "Because you're a cop working for an anti-mutant organization? Why would we be angry about that?" Leon asked sarcastically, a sharp gleam in his eyes.
Oh boy. Vince was gonna kill him, wasn't he? Brian would show up in town and suddenly a juggernaut of anger and muscle would barrel into him and he'd be gone. Short lived career.
"We're angry," Dom noted, crossing his arms and turning to face Brian in the small space of the elevator. "I thought I'd punch you when I saw you again."
His muscles flexed in his arms when he tensed them, as if holding himself back, and Brian's posture stiffened.
"I'm glad you didn't."
"Rome talked a great game in your defense," Leon told him. "His boy Tej too."
Tej? Tej hardly knew him. But, if it had won even one of the group over, then Brian was glad to have the support. It also made Brian feel better about him and Rome being together, and glad that Rome had told Tej about Brian's job.
The elevator doors opened and they all stepped out, then left the downstairs lobby for the street outside.
"Mia supported you too," Jesse said, pulling a beanie out of his pocket and slipping it over his head. "She and Vince got into it real bad. Never thought I'd see the day." He whistled as he slid his hands into his pockets. "But he's on your side now, so."
"He might still punch you," Leon warned him. "But he misses you too."
Dom placed a hand on Brian's shoulder, pulling the whole group to a stop next to a 1970 Dodge Charger. Dom's Charger. "We all miss you. The garage ain't the same without you in it."
Brian got caught staring into Dom's eyes and seeing that, though there was anxiety and hesitance, anger was not a dominant emotion looking back at him. He blinked hard and tossed his keys to Jesse.
"My car's the blue and silver Skyline right inside the parking garage over there," he pointed. "You and Leon mind taking that while I ride with Dom?"
They had things they needed to talk about and Brian wasn't ready to talk about them in front of the others yet. Jesse bounced in place and nodded. Leon shrugged.
"We were gonna start packing your place up anyhow, get you moved back to Torettown. You think we'll need a truck?"
Brian blinked at them almost uncomprehendingly. Pack up his place? "No. I don't…They put me up in a hotel. I don't actually live here."
"Right. An MCF agent. MCF has offices across the country. Where's your house, B? We'll get all your stuff sent over," Jesse assured him, his expression as serious as Brian had ever seen it. He was acting like getting Brian moved in to whatever house they'd arranged for him in Torettown was his personal mission and he refused to fail it.
Brian shook his head. "I don't have one," he repeated. "I told Mia, and you," he glanced at Dom. "I've been moving around since I was twenty-one. I haven't had a place of my own in six years. Whatever county station I was with paid for whatever housing my cover needed, but none of the stuff was actually mine."
While Jesse looked saddened by the news and Leon looked nonplussed, Dom took charge. "Then tell them the hotel and room number where you're staying, and they'll grab your stuff and meet us back home later," he said. "We've got a lot to talk about, you and me."
…
…
The Charger rolled down streets, took turns seemingly at random, and in general was just going with the flow of traffic. As far as Brian could tell, they weren't headed for Torettown just yet. Dom was quiet behind the steering wheel and Brian was quiet staring out the passenger window.
Brian could feel the heavy air from all that Dom wanted to say, to ask, to do, from himself as well. Where could he start? The team wanted him back, and that was more than he could hope for, but there were things Brian had to clear up before Torettown would really be home.
"Dom," he said, breaking the silence like a bullet through glass. He had nothing to follow it up with yet, but it felt like cutting a noose around his neck.
Luckily, it wasn't just Brian's neck the noose had been around.
"How much of it was a lie?" Dom asked without looking away from the road.
Sensible question. If Brian were in Dom's position, that would've been his first question too. Separate the truth from the lies and figure out what exactly you just signed yourself up for.
"My name is actually Brian O'Conner. I grew up in Barstow, California. I didn't lie about what it was like growing up there. Mutants were in and out of there every week, causing havoc and scaring people. I really did come into my powers when I was nine, and didn't accept it for what it was until I was twelve. Rome and I never dated, and neither did me and Monica," Brian rattled off. "I lied about my life when Rome got arrested."
He received a short glance from Dom, an instruction to explain himself. Brian was quick to comply.
"I was eighteen, and so was Rome. He was getting out of hand, using his powers to get people to give him things like expensive watches and electronics, then making other people believe they were worth way more than they were so he could make a huge profit off it. He liked taking people's cars just because he could, driving them around, hiding them for awhile, and then just dumping them on the side of a road somewhere when he got tired of them. I think he was trying to show me the benefit of having a mutation, but I was one breath from a panic attack every time I copied Brett Evensworth's knowledge of biology or Kate Rose's sports skills in order to pass a test or make a team."
"In December when we were nineteen, I'd just become a cop, and Rome got busted with ten cars in an old storehouse and then got caught bullshitting his way out of it. They had him in cuffs and shipped off to jail before the news even reached me that he was in trouble. It was a shitty Christmas. Shortly after that, I was given an undercover op. I was so good at adapting and blending in that they kept giving me more, and then I became pretty much a cop for hire at twenty-one, moving from police department to police department every few weeks or months, however long an op lasted. They needed results and I got results fast, so I was a hot commodity, until now."
For a moment there was quiet in the car, the only sound coming from the purr of the engine and the muted roll of wheels over asphalt. Dom still didn't look at him, but it seemed his grip on the steering wheel was looser.
"No other lies?" Dom asked, the words just a shade too blunt to be accusing.
Brian shook his head. "Tanner probably knew about my mutation when he hired me for the job, because my cover mutation was my own, and the backstory they gave me was bare enough that I could choose what to put in it. I just happened to put mostly my own story in the holes." He glanced out the window. Maybe, somehow, this had been Tanner's end game all along? "It's easier to keep with a story if it's based in truth. And your sister would've realized if I was lying, anyway."
A huff escaped Dom's lips. "She did notice you were lying," he said. "The problem was that she couldn't tell what about. Ninety percent of what you were saying rang true with her, but her mutation was still picking up on your bullshit." He took a deep breath. "She told me the other day that she's known your last name wasn't Spilner from the moment you introduced yourself, even though our background check on you said it was."
Brian laughed once and rubbed his hands together in his lap. "Yeah. I thought she did," he admitted.
The one time Mia really looked at him with suspicion that day had been when he said his name, and she had only seemed half truthful when repeating it to her brother.
"Why a cop?" was Dom's next question, a few blocks later. "Why'd you become a cop?"
Brian's lips quirked just a bit. "Aren't you tired of hearing me talk?" he asked in return.
Dom shook his head. "Just trying to understand you, Bri."
If Dom ever found out that his nickname would get Brian to do whatever Dom wanted, Brian would be in real trouble.
"I was watching some guys spar in the park, just before my eighteenth birthday. I thought it was cool and wished that I'd been taking classes like they had," he started. "Later on, I was putting gas in my car and I went inside to pay cash for it. There was a mutant inside. I watched him melt half the counter to scare the cashier into giving him all the money. I didn't even hesitate. I used the fighting skills I'd seen that day to take him down in three moves."
"Taking down a baddie made you put on the blues?" Dom asked.
Now Brian shook his head. "No. The Barstow Police Department had a little ceremony thanking me, the child, who saved the day. I got a ribbon and my picture taken with the police chief and the mayor. It was in the newspaper. Rome's mom was so proud she had it framed." He heaved a great sigh. "It was the first time I had willingly chosen to use my mutation for something, and it felt like something big. Every time I saw that picture or the ribbon, I remembered that I had done something really good with this power I'd been so afraid of all my life. And I thought about how Rome didn't really hurt people with his power, and how I'd been scared of hurting people with mine. That's when I realized that the mutants who passed through were just as scared as I'd been, and I joined the force to help them out. I thought…if there was someone on their side, making sure the dangerous ones got put away but the simply unlucky ones got away, then maybe things would get better. I became a cop because I finally saw in myself the ability to use mutations to help people in need, not hurt them."
It wasn't until the Charger pulled to a stop at a red light that Brian noticed they were finally heading for the city limits. This was the same route he'd driven on his first day as Brian Spilner, when he'd left LA behind and entered Torettown. That must mean Dom was about done asking him questions.
As if proving Brian right, Dom's next words were, "One last question."
"Yeah?" Brian said. He felt like he'd given an interview with Diane Sawyer already.
"Me."
Brian shut his eyes and just breathed. The Charger began to move again with the changing of the light.
"You," Brian responded.
He opened his eyes and looked to Dom to find that Dom was watching him back, not keeping his eyes on the road. Somehow, Brian wasn't worried about getting into an accident. The bright LA sunlight was lighting up Dom like it had Monica's apartment building. Even his dark eyes seemed brighter.
Only when Dom returned his troubled gaze to the road was Brian able to organize his thoughts once more. Brian wasn't sure if he was glad they couldn't have this conversation literally face to face or not.
"There was more of you in this mission than you want to admit. I believe Brian Spilner was much closer to Brian O'Conner than you think. You wouldn't be so torn if he was a lie."
That's what Monica had told him. She believed that Brian's feelings regarding everything that had happened, the people he'd met, the things he'd experienced, were his own. And by his own admission, Brian had only vaguely lied about himself the entire time he was playing as Brian Spilner.
He took another deep breath, as if bracing himself against what he was about to say. "I'm a mimic, Dom," he said. "I can't guarantee that what I feel for you isn't based on what you feel for me. But I will never regret what we did, and I won't take it back or apologize for it."
He leveled his gaze on the side of Dom's face and saw that Dom's lips were trying to curl up into a smile. His own hopes lifted and breathing was a little difficult. Was it possible that Dom had forgiven him that quickly? He would accept that Brian might only want him so bad because Dom wanted Brian just as much?
"I can I work with that," Dom said after what felt like a lifetime.
Brian swallowed. "You can?"
Dom shrugged. "I wasn't gonna apologize for it either," he said as if that were the answer to all their problems.
Maybe it sort of was. When it came to him and Dom, he had nothing to feel sorry for. He didn't feel that his relationship with Dom was wrong, and it appeared that Dom didn't either.
Brian would likely apologize a lot later, to everyone on the team, for the lies and deception. He would ask for forgiveness that he didn't really think he deserved but that he had a feeling he'd already been given. Vince might punch his lights out, so that was a comfort. Only after that was out of the way could Brian really shed Brian Spilner's shadow for good and put his own back on.
The sign marking the edge of Los Angeles was bright and told the viewer to 'Return soon!' in full technicolor glory. Brian barely gave it a moment's glance, too busy looking to the small, humped sign just beyond it.
"Now Entering Torettown" it read in welcoming font. The sign tacked on the bottom read "NO COPS" in all capital letters in red and "We Handle Our Own" in smaller black letters along the bottom. There was barely a picket fence to mark the delineation between the two cities, but upon passing that sign and entering the Torettown city limits, Brian felt overwhelmed.
Dom reached across the car and took Brian's hand in his own, giving it a firm squeeze. A small smile lifted the corners of Brian's lips as he returned the squeeze.
For the first time since he was twenty, Brian was going home. He was going home to a place where he could be 100% completely himself, mutation and all. It wouldn't be a perfect life, especially not at first, but it was looking better with every quarter mile they drove. He felt amazingly free for the first time in his life.
…
…
Till I See You Again