Chapter Text
Like a child at an arcade, Reese went to work putting his muscle movements to good use as he controlled everything happening in the house during the night.
The moment the Machine gave its blessing, Reese went to work having a bit of fun at the ghost hunting groups expense.
With his fingers on the keyboard, he tapped on keys as they caused things to happen in the house.
Anywhere from doors opening on their own or the sensors going off unexpectedly.
The Machine messed with the groups over the spirit box by keeping their attention focused on it while Reese played tricks on them.
“Is anyone here?” Chelsea asks aloud as she held her camera outward while moving throughout the house.
Reese spooked her by causing the door adjacent of her to open on its own.
Screamed like a hyena as she turned her attention to the door.
“Who are you?” Thacker calls out to the nether as he wanted to know what ghost was haunting the house.
Showman to a fault, the Machine never explicitly told him “who” the ghost was and kept him interested in finding out, even though there won’t be an answer.
Enjoying every bit of it, Reese continued to mess with the groups during the witching hour.
The Machine kept him on a leash, reminding him that he needed to keep it as realistic as possible or else they’ll get suspicious.
“Holy shit!” Mozz suddenly shouted as he sprang up from his spot on the ground.
Roused, Reese turned his attention to the cameras as Mozz attempts to touch his back.
Turning their attention to him, Thacker and Wiz ask what was wrong.
Struggling to touch his back, Mozz whimpered that it hurt.
Turning around for them, Thacker lifted his shirt and recoils with Wiz.
“Dude, are those claw marks?!” Wiz exclaimed as he turned his attention to Thacker.
Surprised, Thacker responded with a confused, “T-they look like them, yeah.”
Adjusting himself in the chair, Reese asks the Machine if it was responsible, but it answered that it had no means to do such a thing, before suggesting it was something Reese might’ve done.
Insisting that he didn’t do anything that would cause the claw marks, he was interrupted as Thacker radioed him to ask if he saw anything.
Unexpectedly genuine, Reese answered that he didn’t see anything.
“He’s gotta come out, it’s bad. We need the med kit,” Thacker informed him.
Digging out the med kit, Reese gone out of the van as Mozz hobbled out of the house with Thacker and Wiz behind him.
“It burns!” Mozz let out a pitiful cry as he reached the van with Reese waiting for him with the medical kit.
On the ground, Mozz struggled to lift his shirt, Thacker and Wiz helped him as Reese opened the medical kit.
In the illuminate area, Reese could see the claw marks on Mozz’s back going from the top of his back towards the bottom.
Blood slightly oozed from the claw marks, worsened when Reese cleaned it as Mozz whimpered in pain.
Having experienced every form of pain since being in Finch’s employ, Reese can tell a lie from the truth, and this was the rare time that this wasn’t some sort of trick by Thacker’s group hoping to get a boost in their popularity.
With the experiences he endured, it also helped Reese quickly tend to Mozz, and when he pulled down his shirt, Reese could see there’s tears from the claws.
“You didn’t see anything?” Reese asks Mozz.
Shaking his head, Mozz insisted that he was sitting against the wall, like normal, waiting for something to happen.
“Dude, you know what this means, right?” Wiz looked to Thacker.
Despite the lighting being crap, Reese could see the stars in Thacker’s eyes as he held back excitement about the potential of a demon being in the house.
With both groups trying to get it to do stuff, he speculated it gathered enough energy to do something to Mozz.
Unable to express doubt, Reese could only stand and look at Thacker, before he’s jolted when screaming started ringing out of the house.
The door slammed open and the second group poured out of the house with terror on their faces as they ran outside screaming at the top of their lungs.
“Holy shit!” Reese parsed the words among the screaming.
Their attention moving away from Mozz, Thacker and Reese ask Chelsea what happened and she told them as she wheezed that her and her group saw a shadowy figure moving throughout the house.
They would’ve stayed to capture the footage, but there was such malice in the shadowy figure that it made them flee for their lives.
“Holy shit, what happened to him?” Greer pointed at Mozz.
Wiz told him what happened and the coincidence in events was enough for the group to believe that there’s a correlation between the attack and sighting.
“I’m not going back in there,” Chelsea made it clear that she’s throwing in the towel.
Looking behind her, Reese saw her group sharing the same sentiment as they outright refused going back inside.
“I gotta get this looked at, man,” Mozz stiffly moved his arm to point at his back as he looked at Thacker.
Eyes on him, Thacker gestures towards the house that if this is happening now, imagine what’ll happen as the witching hour’s winding down, but both groups insisted that he throw in the towel for the night.
“We have cameras already set up, dude,” Wiz pointed out that they have cameras everywhere in the house, they can come back in the morning and see what they missed.
Like David and Goliath, Reese saw the fighting going on behind Thacker’s eyes as he wanted to work out a way for them to get what they want.
Only when Reese dressed the idea of leaving out of fear would look great on the sheets did Thacker cede and the groups dispersed from the house.
Upon returning to his private safe house, Reese’s eyes closed the moment his head touched the pillow, and when he woke up, he heard the low rumble of thunder outside the window.
Rain poured from the skies above as Reese pushed himself off the bed.
Once he was refreshed, he made his way back to the HQ.
He was greeted with breakfast brought up from the bar since he had a long night and Finch knew he likely hadn’t a chance to properly eat.
“You didn’t have to, Finch,” Reese shook his head as Finch continued having a habit of ensuring that he ate.
Eying him, Finch assures him there was no trouble, before asking how last night went, and Reese explained what happened.
“Claw marks and a shadowy figure? Could be the carbon monoxide exposure, Mr. Reese,” Finch pondered what caused the incidents last night as Reese took bites of his toast.
Shaking his head, Reese tells him with a mouth full of bacon, toast, and eggs, that he saw it with his own eyes that Mozz couldn’t have gotten the claw marks elsewhere.
“Could’ve gotten them from somewhere else, Mr. Reese,” Finch remained rational as he exercised caution about the situation.
Patting down his face with a napkin, Reese asserts that he followed the men everywhere, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and he was sure that Mozz didn’t accidentally lean back against exposed nails.
“Unusual, I’m sure the Machine’s looking through the footage as we speak,” Finch sighs as he adjusted his glasses.
Glimpsing around as he ate, Reese inquired about Edith’s whereabouts, and Finch informs him that she went with Lee to look through Thacker’s private life more.
Seems that he might’ve had a drug charge in New York State and well, he did assault an officer, all that.
“How’d Lee handle the revelation?” Reese inquiries while chewing on his toast.
An exasperated look on his face, Finch responds with, “It’s a miracle he didn’t faint!”
The revelation hit him like a sack of bricks and somehow remained stable enough that he didn’t collapse on the floor from the shock.
“I think he’ll come to like Edi,” Finch believed that once the shock wore off, Lee will find that Edith can be as difficult as him, at times.
Snickering, Reese brings up, “Wouldn’t want that getting back to her, Finch.”
He recoils at Finch’s eyes narrowing on him as he stated, “And she won’t. Now, Mr. Reese, aren’t you supposed to help them retrieve their recording devices?”
Pointing down at his plate, Reese hesitantly says, “Finch, I’m not even done with breakfast, yet!”
Finch swiped the last toast from the plate and says, “You are now, Mr. Reese.”
Before he proceeded to take a bite out of it.
TO BE CONTINUED… Lights, Cameras, and A Missing Necklace