Amboise was a big fat problem placed on top of a big fat hill. The town itself was small and picturesque with cobbled streets stretching at to foot of the walls of the castle, with cafes littering the place.

And even if a part of him appreciated how nice and tourist-y everything was, Kyle could hardly focus past the inconvenience. Castle with many windows on top of hill overlooking a town meant that they had to do their midnight search practically blindfolded.

"We'll figure something out," Jimmy assured him. "Get a feel of the place after the tour."

He just nodded, trying to believe that it would all work out, but after so much crappy luck, he doubted it would be that easy.

As usual, they took the tour to gauge what they were up against. The castle was fortunately much smaller than the palace in Avignon, much newer and a completely different style. It took up only a fraction of the gardens on top of the hill and the ramparts provided a beautiful view of the Loire river.

The inside was also a lot more interesting, with furniture, tapestries and ornate ceilings. Beautiful to behold, hard as fuck to search. There was no way they could map this one up and search in the dark.

Kyle pondered over this as they sat in a nearby cafe, waiting for the castle to close off to visitors. As usual, Jimmy and Jerry had done their infiltrating gig to freeze the cameras for the night and it had worked. Again. Kyle half expected something to explode because of that.

"You shouldn't worry so much," Tina said, sipping on her latte. "If it worked before, there's no reason it won't work now. And you'll figure something out about the light."

Jessie huffed almost inaudibly on his left. He'd picked up on it, too, Tina excluding herself from the group. Her being so certain everything would work out somehow but not coming with a solution. Not that he expected her to, that was his job, but her attitude was starting to get on his nerves.

Yes, he understood that she hadn't been spending that much time with them, that she'd never been on missions, that they weren't exactly friends... But she, even less than Chrsitine, had never made any effort to fit in. They'd never treated them any differently, yet Tina had been right the other night. She and Christine were something else.

"Do you think using candles would work?" Billy asked.

"I thought about it too, but flickering light could be just as dangerous as the beam of a flashlight," Kay answered. Her eyes studied the castle which was already shrouded in darkness, the lit windows very visible from their position. "And it would be harder to turn them on an off multiple times."

"It would also take longer to wonder around with cadles. And maybe we'll light something on fire," Jessie said.

Kyle just hummed, wishing Jimmy and Jerry were there. One of them would surely have something useful to say. As far as he was concerned, he agreed with Kay. Flashlights were better.

"You okay?" Kay asked. For a second, her hand hovered over his, but she fortunately pulled it back.

He gave her a small smile, grateful for her efforts, for her support. "I just want the others to get here."

She and Jessie both nodded in understanding. Tina gritted her teeth and returned to her coffee. Kyle clenched his fist and took in a deep breath.

"Okay, Tina, spill."

She jumped and her frightened eyes turned to him. "Excuse me?"

"If you're going to go ballistic on us again, I kinda wanna know in advance."

"That's an inappropriate term," she mumbled, looking away from him.

As much as he hated it, he could read the signs. She didn't want to talk with Kay, Jessie and Billy there, but was willing to talk to him. He hated being the sensible one, but someone had to do it and Jerry and Jimmy had both apparently failed. So... yeah, he had to be all sensitive and shit.

"Guys, could you go check out the view of the castle from different angles so we can see how much we're exposing ourselves?"

Kay and Jessie looked at each other, their eyebrows raised, but stood. Billy hopped to his feet too, seeming happy to have something useful to do. They put on their jackets and left the cafe. Kyle watched them go, wishing he was with them and not in this awkward hell. But awkward hell it was.

"Okay," he said, leaning back in his seat. "Can you tell me what's going on now?"

She hesitated, biting down on her lower lip, obviously hiding something. Maybe what Jimmy had warned him against asking. He beat down his curiosity and continued fixing her with polite interest. Or so he hoped. He sure as hell hoped he didn't look all impatient and murderous.

When she stayed silent, he pressed on. "Look, I can see you're uncomfortable with us. And maybe we should be more considerate of your feelings but..." We have no time for this shit. "We're all a little under pressure now, so we all have to put aside our differences and work together." Which was just a nice way to say 'put some effort into it, damn it!'

Tina nodded, her curious eyes fixed on him. "I know. And I'm sorry. But I'm so out of my element, so out of it, I..." She bit her lower lip again, watching him from under lowered lashes. "I need to feel like someone cares."

Jerry cares! Jerry so obviously cared. He didn't. With all his stupid issues at the moment, Tina's comfort was the least of his concerns because she should suck it up, grow up, and either leave the agency or put some damn work into it. But he smiled instead.

"We do care. Of course we do."

"Do you?"

Did he? He guessed he did care about her as Jerry's girlfriend and a part of their group, but he didn't feel the attachment he felt towards Jessie and Angie. He even felt closer to Christine, because even if he wasn't her biggest fan, she'd been fitting in really well lately. Tina was always aloof and minding Jerry and no one else.

"Um, sure." He fortunately kept in the 'I guess'.

Her smile was now honest and her eyes shined in a way that made him think she'd start crying. Instead she reached out her hand over the table and took his. He had to fight the impulse to pull it back, because this was nothing but a friendly gesture and he wouldn't have even flinched if Jessie or Angie did it. Wow, he really was bias against Tina apparently.

"I'm so out of my league," she whispered, her eyes fixed on their joined hands. "I try so hard to pretend it's not a big deal, but it's very hard when I'm reminded that it is. And I feel so alone, so... naked." She rose her eyes to his as she said the last word, a light blush filling her cheeks.

She was so out of her league, he couldn't argue with that. He drew his hand out of hers and patted it before pulling back completely. "Talk to us more. It's one of the best things about being a team. We look out for each other. And there's no way Jerry would let anything happen to you. Or any of us for that matter."

She nodded and looked around the cafe, then back at him. "Thank you. It makes me feel a lot better to know you care."

Why the hell was this about him? But he nodded anyway, hoping this awkward fest was finally over.

"I... I wish things could've been different sometimes," she whispered. "Not that it's not great now, but... what if?"

"What if what?" he asked warily.

"What if we'd never met? Or come to this? What if... " She shook her head. "Never mind. It's nothing but wishful thinking."

His body relaxed and he offered her a weak smile, fighting back the uneasy feeling he had because there was no freaking way Tina was flirting with him, though it had felt like that for a moment. Fortunately his phone rang and ended the conversation. Jimmy and Jerry were giving them the all clear.

So he was more than happy to meet the others in front of the gates of the castle and use their magnets to jump over the surrounding wall. Of course that implied helping  Tina over it, but what the hell? Better that than more heart to heart conversation. Fortunately, Tina seemed to be in a much better mood.

They trekked across the snowy grounds, past the small chapel in which Leonardo Da Vinci was buried and into the dark castle. Jimmy and Jerry waited at the door and closed it the moment they were inside. Darkness swallowed everything.

"Bad news is any light is pretty visible from two out of four sides of the castle," Billy announced.

"So it's between do it fast and do it a little bit more subtly," Kay said.

"Fast. We definitely need to do it fast," Jerry said immediately. "Then it would be less likely that someone saw us."

"Okay then," Kyle said. "Let's split up into small groups and try to use light as little as possible and keep our flashlights pointed down."

"Except in the inner rooms with no windows," Jimmy added, sounding amused.

It took Kay and Jessie precisely ten seconds to team up and wonder off first. Jimmy and Billy followed, leaving Kyle with Jerry and Tina. Just great, but he supposed the teams were evenly matched in terms of survival skills and that was all that mattered.

"Come on, this way," Kyle said, right before bumping into a table. Keeping in a curse, he shone the flashlight down the corridor and quickly pinned the location of future furniture before turning it off and resuming his gait.

Behind him, Jerry and Tina engaged in a whispered conversation and he hoped they were making up after last night, because it was Jerry's job to talk to her and make her feel better and he sure as hell didn't want an encore of their heart-to-heart. Unfortunately, their muttering turned from innocent to angry, grating on him like a jackhammer to the brain.

The annoyance rose like a tidal wave and slammed against his wall of self control meant to keep in everything he needed to rein in at the moment: anger at this stupid situation, worry for Sam, Tom and Angie, his lust for Kay, that murderous beast inside him...

He stopped, taking in a deep breath because the murderous beast was pounding the hardest on his wall and he needed to punch it in the face and have it sit still. Or better yet, crawl over and die.

Jerry and Tina continued their angry muttering.

The moment they reached him, he wrapped his arms around their shoulders and brought them together. "Look, I don't know what this is all about, really, but you two take a break and figure it out because it's driving me insane. Alrighty?"

"We can't take a break now--" Jerry started.

"Oh, yes, you can," Kyle interjected. "And you will. Now have a good talk, kiss and make up and then start searching."

Without waiting for an answer, he strode away and after a quick peek down the hallway with the flashlight, disappeared inside the room on his left.

It was mercifully empty and quiet and also windowless. He spent a few minutes just drawing deep breaths and focusing on the silence and stillness of the room. There was no need to get angry, no need to even be annoyed because Tina was not his problem. And they had just one more castle to go before they met the others and he wouldn't have to keep all the sarcasm and nastiness inside him. He could let it out in short bursts and not feel like a caged animal.

After a few minutes, all the wishful thinking worked and he calmed down. He really had no reasons to feel this trapped and tense. Minimal issues just piling up. So it was time he did something useful. He turned on the flashlight, placed it on a round table in the middle of the room, and took a look around.

There were no windows, he'd guessed that right, so he could search properly. He'd ended up in a bedroom with a four poster bed placed in one corner, a carved dresser in the opposite corner of the room and a huge tapestry filling the wall opposite the bed. Another door was visible across from the one he'd come in through.

Though there wasn't much furniture, Kyle doubted it would be so easy to search. He should definitely start with the bed because it was faster and easier and work his way across the room to the dresser. Nah, he was starting with the dresser.

Just as he picked the flashlight off the table, the other door opened and Kay slipped in. She froze when she saw him.

"How'd you end up in here?" she asked.

He shone his flashlight towards the other door as an answer.

"Oh. Okay..." She shuffled her feet. "I was supposed to search this room."

"We can both do it. It would be faster," he answered with a shrug. The even tone grated on him so much when all he wanted to do was postpone the search and just fawn over her.

She nodded and turned on her own flashlight. "Okay then. I'm taking the bed."

He gritted his teeth, but turned back to the dresser and opened it. The doors creaked and the musty smell of old, unused furniture filled the air. The dresser, as expected, was utterly empty. Just a few wooden shelves perched precariously on supports which seemed a lot newer than the rest. If his guess was right, the furniture was restored, so there was absolutely nothing of interest inside it.

Still, he felt and knocked around, not wanting to do a halfassed job. He could hear Kay rummaging around the rest of the room, probably finding as much nothing as he was, but he forced his attention back to old wood and controlling his strength before he destroyed centuries old furniture.

Finally deciding he'd reasonably searched every possible corner, he straightened and turned around just to bump into something soft.

With a short yelp of surprise, Kay hit the ground hitting the dresser on the way. A sense of dread overcame him as he keeled next to her and took her hand.

"I'm so sorry."

"God, you're like a truck," she mumbled, rubbing her elbows.

No, he wasn't. He was just someone who couldn't move around normally without hurting someone or destroying something.  He fought a tremor overcoming him, a wave of panic which threatened to numb his mind.

"Hey." She put a soft, warm hand on his cheek. "It's no big deal. I shouldn't have come up behind you."

"It is a big deal. Because I turn around a lot. And you and other people come up behind me a lot. I just can't keep hurting--"

She put her hand over his mouth. "It takes some getting used to, but I'm sure you'll figure out how to control it."

He honestly wasn't so sure. He'd always had to be careful but now it seemed like the thing was escalating beyond his control. It shouldn't be this fast, he shouldn't have this much trouble adapting to whatever changes that weird serum felt like.

"Kyle." Her hands were now both on his cheeks and she tightened her hold to force him to focus on her. "You'll figure it out. We'll get through this. It just takes a little fine tuning."

Of course she was right, but the conversation was sort of lost on him. The light from his fallen flashlight made her eyes sparkle like diamonds. How could she be so beautiful?

Her eyelids dropped the slightest bit as she looked back at him. And at the moment he completely forgot why kissing her was a bad idea. He leaned over and did it, wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off the floor and placed her on the round table in the corner of the room. He could feel a small attempt at resistance, but it was quickly smothered and he'd be damned if he could remember why she was supposed to push him back.

It didn't last long. Her arms wrapped around him and she kissed him back, running her fingers through his hair, then down his back. And he couldn't help but melt into her, feel every inch of her, because she was his haven, the only place he felt safe, the only one who could make everything go away.

"You told me to push you back," she whispered, pulling away for a moment. "But I don't want to."

"I don't want you to, either," he whispered back and kissed her again. There was no way he was stopping this, giving up on this feeling.

Until someone gasped and broke the spell. Kay flinched and broke away, hear weary eyes darting towards the door. Cursing profusely inside his head, Kyle looked towards the door.

Great. Just great. Tina stood there, staring at them as if she'd just witnessed two dragons battling to the death. The weird comparison brought a smirk to his face. Where did the dragon thing even come from?

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry, I just..." She looked from him to Kay, her hazel eyes shining eerily in the little light. "I just wanted to let you know Jerry and I are done."

"You're what?" Kay asked, shocked. Her voice at normal volume sounded very loud after all the hushed conversation.

"Done talking," Tina clarified quickly. "Not done... done."

Kay let out a breath of relief, but the affirmation rubbed Kyle the wrong way because the wording had sucked. And Tina was usually very careful with her words.

"Are you sure?" he asked, squinting at her.

Tina didn't get to answer before Jerry came in too and shut the door after him.

"You left the door open and the light was coming through." He froze when he spotted Kay, still sitting on the table. "Kay, why are you..."

"I knocked her over so I put her on the table to get a look," Kyle said, unable to keep the hardness out of his voice. He was suddenly and unpleasantly reminded just why getting lost in Kay was a bad idea. It turned him into and idiot. He hadn't even properly checked if she was okay.

"You knocked her over?" Jerry asked, rightfully alarmed.

Gah, he couldn't take this. He gave Kay's hand a light squeeze and brushed past Tina and Jerry, out the door and into darkness.

He stopped against the wall opposite from the door, taking in deep breaths. Why was it so damn hard to focus? He was hurting people. He was hurting Kay. Losing control, damning his better judgement and for what? Nope, he couldn't convince himself he wanted anything more than Kay at the moment. At any moment actually. Could Jimmy be right? Would it all go away if he stopped trying to control himself when it came to Kay? Because he couldn't go on like this.

You have to. Suck it up and come out of your comfort zone. He'd been all judgemental towards Tina for the very same reason. You're such a fucking hypocrite.

But he was also supposed to be the cool headed leader for at least one more day. So yeah, as much as he hated it, he was fighting for control some more. Or maybe plotting for when this was all over. Yes, plotting eased the knot inside his slightly.

The door opened again and he wanted to scream. Why couldn't they leave him alone for five freaking minutes?

"Kyle, we need to talk," Jerry said, his tone stern, reminding him of Freider when he got all fatherly.

"Nope, thank you."

"You need to stop this--"

"Seriously, Jerry, just back off."

"No, you need to listen. Stop treating Kay this way--"

"I'm in no mood for your lecture--"

"She deserves more of your attention and respect--"

"So just take your morals--"

"You should be making her happy, not ignoring her--"

"And shove them where the sun don't shine."

"So just give he what he wants!"

Kyle froze, Jerry's words finally registering. "Wait. Are you giving me relationship advice?"

Jerry took in a deep breath. "Apparently someone has to."

"And you want me to give Kay what she wants?"

He nodded, a stoic expression on his face as if he'd just given out the wisest advice. Kyle has to fight the impulse to laugh his ass off because Jerry has no idea what he was actually telling him to do.

"Alright then," he said with a shrug. "Have it your way." God, he had to bite the insides of his cheeks not to laugh.

"Good." Jerry's eyes narrowed as if he could somehow sense the trap. "Why are you laughing?"

"I'm not." But it took everything in him not to.

"Did I say something funny?"

"You have no idea." Kyle finally let it out and clasped Jerry's shoulder. "Just trust me, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to me and Kay. At least not what you think."

And without giving Jerry time to respond, he wandered off in the dark, still laughing. Yep, plotting it was then.

❄❄❄

Yay, I managed to update. Hope you found this chapter entertaining. It's written directly to wattpad and seriously unedited so sorry about that. Just wanted to get it out there. I'll comb through it at some point.

So... content wise? What do you think? Story still keeping your interest? Do you think goons will be showing off soon? We're still not going back to Sam and Tom because we have one castle left 😅

Thanks for reading. Now continue worshiping me and brining tribute so I can write more.