Chapter Text
Colt’s arms strained as he held onto the jet ski for just a second longer than necessary, letting the momentum carry him before he finally let go, hitting the water hard enough to knock the breath out of him. The crash had gone exactly how it was supposed to—loud, messy, dramatic—but that didn’t make it feel any less real when the cold water closed over his head and the roar of the engine cut out all at once.
By the time hands grabbed onto his arms and hauled him up, his lungs were burning and his vision was blurred from water and whatever the hell makeup the costuming department had smeared all over him for continuity. Which he didn't understand since he was going to be in the water anyways. He coughed as they dragged him onto the platform, pushing wet hair back out of his face with a rough swipe of his hand, blinking rapidly to clear his vision.
“Okay people, move it.”
Jody’s voice carried easily from above, sharp and confident even over the noise of the water and crew. Colt tilted his head back, squinting up toward the watchtower where she stood leaning over the railing, headset pushed slightly off one ear as she looked down at the chaos below like she owned it.
“And can someone please get Colt a towel? Thank you.”
She made her way down a moment later, boots hitting the dock with a practiced rhythm as the crew around them started resetting the scene. Up close, she gave him a quick once-over, checking without making it obvious she was checking.
Once he got into reach of her she started assaulting him with the towel.
"Ack! Don't be so rough, or you're going to give me a friction burn from the way you're using that thing."
"Quit whining" She cruely says while smirking.
“Also you're absolutely disgusting, you need a shower for sure.".
“I thought you loved me just how I am.” He teases.
He softens thinking back to when she said those exact words all those months ago, when he was stuck to a bed in pain, wondering if he was ever going to be able to walk again. She smacked some sense into him when he was feeling sorry for himself, especially when he asked why she would ever stay with him when he could be possibly crippled forever.
“I like you dry and clean thanks.”
He sighs and exasperation while he goes to collect his things, "Am I done today? My back is killing me right now after all those takes."
"You're pretty much done for today,” Jody starts, looking at him in slight worry, “but we’re transitioning into the aerial sequence next—”
Colt pauses mid-step, turning back.
“Aerial?”
“Yeah,” she nods, glancing up toward the coastline where a helicopter sat staged in the distance, partially obscured by equipment. “The chase moves from water to air. You’re going to be piloting part of it—well, ‘piloting’—you’ll be in the cockpit, we’ll have a stunt pilot handling the actual flight for the dangerous parts, but you’ll be doing the takeoff sequence and close shots.”
Colt blinks at her.
“…You’re letting me fly a helicopter.”
“You will be heavily supervised,” she corrects immediately. “Multiple rigs, safety lines, controlled airspace, and if you so much as look like you’re going to crash, I’m pulling you out.”
“So yes,” he repeats, satisfied.
She rolls her eyes but continues.
“We’ll start low over the water, then pull up along the cliffs, the camera drone will track you from the side, then we cut to interior shots. So try not to look like you’re actively panicking.”
“I never look like I’m panicking.”
“You always look like you’re panicking.”
“That’s just my face.”
She huffs out a quiet laugh despite herself, shaking her head.
“Oh! And before you go anywhere, I got a call from your brother, I guess he called me when he couldn't get ahold of you” She shrugs. "Unfortunately I had my phone on silent so it also went straight to voicemail, I'll send it straight to you"
He nods, slightly concerned about what his brother could have been trying to get into contact with him for.
“Huh, it's been a bit since we called, you know how it is." Ryland and him try to stay in contact as much as possible but sometimes it lags from time to time. After his accident Ryland make him swear he would call more often, he's trying but with how busy he is it's looking more like a pipe dream than anything.
She nods in agreement, “Well let me know what he says.”
He glances back. "Aye aye Captain, I'll keep you updated".
She rolls her eyes at him. "Just stay safe on these roads, I know it confuses you that Australians drive on the opposite side of the road."
Colt nods in exasperation, he isn't that stupid is he?
“Well, let's see what had Ryland in such a tizzy."
He looks at the message Jody just sent him, clicking on it and putting it up to his ear to listen.
“Uh Jody I couldn't get ahold of Colt so hopefully you can pass this along. God I don't even know where to start, so.... hopefully you're sitting down Colt because this gets a bit crazy. I know you want me all the time to look out for sketchy stuff, which I don’t even know why you’re still telling me that, I’m in my 30’s I can do what I want–! Ahem. Moving on, I kind of maybe got put into a situation against my will?” He hears his brother chuckle nervously over the phone.
Colt also nervously chuckles at his brother's rambling, wondering where this could possibly be going.
”So I think I got snatched or taken by the government, which by government I think all of them if what I'm being told is right-”
Colt's brain blue screens, please god tell him he just didn't hear that right.
He immediately dials Ryland hoping this is all some sort of elaborate prank.
“Come on...” God he hates the service here.
“Colt?” Colt breathes out a huge sigh of relief. "Ryland?? That's you right?"
“Uh... yes? What's up or uh, going on?”
Colt can hear a lot of wind in the background for some reason, which is muffling his brother's voice slightly. Weird.
“What's up? Are you serious?? What, do you expect me to answer and tell you ‘the sky’?!” Colt's hands shake slightly wanting to throttle his brother as he fumbles with his car door. “You just called me and told me you got kidnapped, maybe you really were the one dropped as a baby! ” He doesn’t bother to hide his incredulous tone.
“Christ on a cracker... CALM DOWN! I honestly even forgot I left you a voicemail."
His patience was honestly wearing thin. "Ryland."
“Yes….?”
“I'm going to hurt you the next time we see eachother.” Not really but it gets his distress across.
“NOW HOLD ON–, Colt, I’m sorry I forgot, but I haven’t been led into any secret torture rooms, also I’m working for the government now on this new—” His brother quickly tried to smooth things over, and actually sounded excited but that did little to assure Colt.
“You’ve been kidnapped!” Colt grasps his hair in agony over why he was even having this kind of conversation while both of them were in their 30's.
“Don’t interrupt me.” Well look who's being snarky!.
“Well, I'll stop interrupting you when you start making sense! And you're currently making none! Zip, nada.” Colt tries to briefly calm himself down. “So you got kidnapped to work on a new project? What did they take you to Area 51 to study aliens or some shit?”
Silence.
Colt stills.
There’s no way, Ryland must be fucking with him.
“Uh well...”
“I swear to god Ryland, don't start being secretive now!” Colt starts his car up and pulls out of the makeshift dirt/sand parking lot being used to film next to the water, not even bothering to check if anyone’s coming before merging.
“Geez calm down, all I can tell you is that I was taken right as I was leaving school, they needed me to look at something for them. And maybe that something has to do with the Petrova line on the news."
“That thing?”
“…yes. Have you even been watching the news??”
Is he seriously doing this as deflection? “Yes I've seen the news! Stop trying to wriggle out of this” Colt turns into a nearby station to wait for the train, seeing as he's in bum fuck nowhere Australia and needs to get to an airport. “Okay, so let me get this clear.” He gets out of the car and locks it. “You’ve been kidnapped by the government... or all of them, to study the Petrova line they've been talking about… why did they choose you, I mean you’re brilliant but you’re currently just working as a Teacher.”
“Apparently they saw my paper, y’know… THAT one, and apparently they needed someone to think outside the box, so they tracked me down and confronted me outside the school, then—” There’s a noise on Ryland’s end, something muffled, probably one of the people who have apparently kidnapped him talking to him.
“Hello? Ryland?” Colt hears the breaks on the upcoming train, and quickly prepares himself to hop on.
“Yes, yes, still here—I need to go, apparently I’m being moved.”
“Wait! Moved?? Are you even asking any questions?! Do you have any idea where you’re going!” Colt gets on the train once it comes to a stop and finds a seat.
“Well they haven’t really given me the chance! I… honestly, I don’t know where I am, but I have to go, they're moving the lab I was just in and packing up. I'll let you know when I find out.”
“Fine, but I'm already heading to the airport.”
“Wait! I’m nowhere near California!”
Well shit, that throws a wrench into his plans.
“Colt, seriously think this through. Just wait and I'll call you and let you know my new location! Aren't you right in the middle of a production?”
He needs to seriously stop changing the subject.
“You need to stop and just be patient!” Ryland's voice jumps in pitch, somewhere between annoyed and stressed.
“I'm already on the damn train to the airport, see you soon maybe.” Colt hangs up before Ryland can figure out another way to call him stupid. He sighs and rubs his face.
God Ryland was going to be the death of him, he's sure
Whatever.
He’ll find him.
He can't have gone too far anyways
He tries to pass the time on the train but quickly gets bored fast.
Wait a second, it could be a lost cause but...
Colt pulls up the shared notes app Ryland had forced them to install years ago as a way to keep track of each other even after they went their separate ways, they normally use it as a way to tell the other where they are every other week. He hasn’t opened it in awhile other than to update it every time he lands somewhere new, Ryland never opened it often seeing as he normally stayed in the same place. "And nothing, well, don't know what I expected."
He contemplates calling Jody to explain but decides against it.
Instead, he pulls up a website and books the flight to California.
-
The airport is overwhelming, constant motion, constant noise, people moving in every direction like they all know exactly where they’re going and Colt is the only one slightly out of step.
Overhead announcements blur together, voices echoing off high ceilings and glass walls, the smell of coffee and stale air clinging to everything. Rolling suitcases click rhythmically across tiles, conversations overlap, laughter cuts through in bursts—it’s loud, busy.
He’s never really liked airports, even if he has to be in them all the goddamn time.
Colt moves through it with his phone still in his hand, thumb tapping the screen every few seconds like that’s going to somehow force it to light up with a missed call. His bag hangs off one shoulder, half-forgotten, his attention split between where he’s walking and the blank screen that hasn’t changed since Ryland hung up.
He checks it again.
Nothing.
“…Yeah, okay,” he mutters under his breath, running a hand back through his crusty hair, it sadly dried wrong on the way here– pushing it out of his face. “Aliens. Government kidnapping my only living family and beloved Brother.”
He exhales through his nose, shifting his bag higher on his shoulder as he steps out past the gate and into the open terminal, scanning without really thinking—signs, exits, people.
Then—
“Mr. Seavers?”
Colt doesn’t stop.
He hears it, sure, but he has more important things to worry about.
But keeps walking anyway, like maybe if he ignores it, it’ll go away.
“Mr. Seavers.”
Closer this time.
More certain.
Colt slows.
Not fully stopping, just enough to slow down and quickly check who’s bothering him, his shoulders tighten slightly as he turns his head just enough to look over his shoulder.
Two men.
Standing just off to the side of the main flow of people, positioned in that way that doesn’t block traffic but still feels intentional. Both watching him.
Colt turns the rest of the way, expression settling into something neutral, bordering on mildly annoyed.
“…Yeah?” he says, tilting his head slightly, eyes flicking between them. “Depends who’s asking.”
The one on the left doesn’t move much, posture straight, hands relaxed but controlled at his sides.
“We need you to come with us.”
There’s no edge to it.
Just simply ordering him and expecting him to comply.
Colt lets out a short breath through his nose, almost a laugh, glancing around like he’s expecting someone to pop out with a camera.
“…Do I look like the kind of guy who just goes with random dudes in an airport? What? Are you going to tell me you have candy waiting for me too?” he asks, eyebrows lifting slightly.
The other one shifts just enough to reach into his jacket, pulling out a badge.
It flashes for maybe half a second—too quick to read anything real, but long enough for Colt to catch the insignia, the seriousness behind it.
Then it’s gone again.
“It concerns Dr. Ryland Grace.”
Well. They could have just started with that first.
Colt’s posture stills almost imperceptibly, the humor fading just a fraction from his expression. His jaw tightens slightly before he forces it to relax again, rolling his shoulders back like he’s brushing it off.
“…You’ve got about five seconds,” he says slowly, voice lower now, more focused, “to start explaining before I start walking again.”
“We can do that somewhere private.”
Colt studies them.
Really studies them this time— the fact that neither of them looks even slightly worried about him saying no.
That, more than anything, is what settles it.
He exhales.
“…Fine,” he says finally, shifting his bag strap again. “But if this turns into a kidnapping, I’m going to be really annoying about it, dramatic screaming, flailing and everything.”
At least more than what Ryland put up during his impromptu kidnapping.
Neither of them reacts. Which somehow makes it worse.
-
They don’t take him far at least, less for him to remember in his due escape attempt at least so points for that.
No long walk, no back corridors—just a turn off the main terminal, down a quieter hallway where the noise fades into a distant hum, the crowd thinning out until it’s just them and the echo of their footsteps.
The door they stop at looks like any other.
Plain.
One of them opens it.
“After you.” They say. Yeah okay fucker.
Colt pauses in the doorway, glancing inside.
Small room.
No windows, a table, and also three chairs.
“…Oh yeah,” he mutters as he steps in, voice dry, “this definitely isn’t sketchy.”
The door shuts behind him with a soft click that feels louder than it should.
Colt drops his bag next to the chair but doesn’t sit right away. Instead, he walks the perimeter of the room slowly, dragging his fingers along the edge of the table, glancing up at the ceiling like he’s checking for cameras even though he already knows they’re there.
Then he finally sits.
Leans back.
Hooks one ankle over his knee, arms resting loosely like he’s relaxed—even if his fingers tap once, twice, against his leg before going still.
“This is already my least favorite vacation,” he mutters. But well, nothing would beat the months he was stuck in the hospital for his back.
The door opens again.
And she walks in.
Blonde.
Shorter than him if he was standing, but she holds herself in a way that makes her tower over him.
Composed in a way that feels almost deliberate, like every movement is calculated down to the smallest detail. Her posture is straight without being rigid, her expression neutral but not blank—controlled, more than anything.
Colt watches her cross the room without speaking, his eyes narrowing slightly as she stops across from him.
“My name is Eva Stratt.”
He studies her for a second longer than necessary, head tilting slightly.
“…Yeah,” he says finally, exhaling softly. “Ryland mentioned your name.”
Her expression doesn’t change.
Not even a flicker.
“Your brother—”
“—was kidnapped by the government,” Colt cuts in, leaning forward just slightly, forearms resting on his knees. Hey, if he was going to be here on her terms he might as well be slightly annoying.
“He is participating in a critical global initiative,” she says instead, tone even, like she’s said this exact sentence a hundred times already.
Colt lets out a quiet, disbelieving laugh, shaking his head as he leans back again.
“Again,” he gestures loosely with one hand, “weird way to say kidnapped.”
Her gaze doesn’t waver.
“Dr. Grace is here because his expertise is required.”
“And he just agreed to that?” Colt raises an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching like he’s trying not to smile.
“He understood the importance, besides, he actually advocated to stay on the project in the first place after our initial use for him was finished.”
That gets a real reaction.
Colt huffs out a short laugh, dragging a hand down his face before looking back at her, eyes sharper now.
“No,” he says, quieter but more certain. “He thinks he did. That’s different.”
His brother mentioned that they even thought of bringing him into this because of the paper he published that caused him to be shunned from the Sciency Community or whatever it’s called. Even after all these years it’s still a sore spot for him, Colt wouldn’t be surprised if they used that as a way to sway him. He knows his brother and knows that no matter what he says he has missed being able to work in a research setting, putting his big PhD to use.
For the first time, there’s the smallest shift in her expression—not surprise, not disagreement, just… acknowledgment. Like she’s filing that away.
Colt notices, duh.
“So,” he continues, rolling his shoulders back, tone lightening just slightly again, “you going to tell me what’s going on, or are we sticking with vague ominous statements for the rest of this?”
She takes a step closer.
“Your brother has already told you more than he should have.”
Colt pauses.
His head tilts.
“…Yeah,” he says slowly. “Well, he said aliens.”
She pauses slightly.
Colt’s eyes narrow just slightly as he watches her face..
No denial.
Nothing.
“…Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he mutters under his breath, leaning back again and looking up at the ceiling for a second like he’s reconsidering his entire life.
“If you follow me, Mr. Grace, we’ll be able to get you into contact with him again, in person.”
He doesn’t move right away.
Instead, he looks back at her, studying her again, this time more carefully.
“…I’m calling him.”
“You may.” Yeah well he was going to call him anyways bitch.
-
The call goes the same.
Ryland’s voice—tired, distracted, but okay thankfully.
His brother confirms that who he’s talking to is who she says she is, that he is very much okay and to stop worrying. He also tries to feebly tell Colt to not come but he makes sure to shut that down quickly.
He ends the call slower this time, staring at the screen for a second before lowering it.
“…Alright,” he says finally, pushing himself up from the chair and grabbing his bag. “I believe you.”
He pauses at the door, hand resting briefly against the frame.
“For now.”
Stratt steps aside to let him pass.
“You’re taking me to my brother,” he adds, glancing back at her, not quite a question.
“Yes.”