O-kay. Not the face. With Ranger on his front and the whole expanse of his back there was plenty else to work with. Maybe not lower back and probably not where she wanted to cut. Noel moved to kneel around the Ranger's legs and wondered how they got into such ridiculousness.

The bottle had hit hard, she'd gotten the first smack, afterall. She knew just how hard that hurt. If that'd been her face, she'd have a black eye by now. His face seemed fine, but her shoulder was still smarting. So she needed to hit about that hard, she guessed. She wasn't sure how fast she needed to cut him afterward so she tried to have everything in its place and ready.

"I'm sorry in advance."

The angle isn't great when punching down unless you really get your entire body weight into it. Noel circled her arm and dropped her weight to put some oomph behind a hammer fist in the meat of the Ranger's back. His ribs should protect him if his mysterious power did not, she doubted it was enough to break one. But it was a solid smack.

And she scrabbled immediately for the knife, trying to go fast but still precise. Noel put her finger down hard to keep the tracker from rolling around and cut. His skin sliced this time and all Noel had to do was guide the little bead out through the hole she'd made. Almost like popping a really big pimple. A slurry of blood followed and Noel traded knife for towel. The bead, she dropped into her pocket for the time being.

"Hanging in there?" She'd thought the leather strap a bit silly at first. A good, sharp knife and you hardly feel a thing. It was a little different than she'd imagined, but it worked in the end.

Noel made quick work of the antiseptic and the bandage. As an afterthought she kissed her hand and gave his backside a pat before she helped guide whatever clothes he wanted back into place.

It was definitely less funny now.

The blow came down on Ranger’s ribs. It hurt. Break or in any other way damage bone, it did not. While Ranger’s back was still smarting, Noel went to work with the knife. The knife was the sharpest he could find on the train. It was not as sharp as Ranger would have liked, but it was the best tool he could find and it did the job well enough. The cutting into his skin hurt, the mechanical action to force the tracker out hurt. It was altogether a painful experience and he didn’t have the benefit of adrenaline to mask it for him. He had been through much worse though, so he just grinned and bore it.

“Hanging in there?” Noel asked.

His face buried in the bunk’s mattress, Ranger said, ”I’ll survive.”

Noel cleaned and dressed the site. Ranger had thought she was done, but she gave his bare ass a quick pat. Ranger winced before softly chuckling. Were it that the roles were reversed, it was not so cold, and there was not impromptu surgery…

Before he stood up he wanted to at least get something on over his unmentionables. ”Can y’ start my ranger panties up my legs?” Ranger asked. He could pull them up, but he didn’t want to have to bend all the way over to start them after just having his cheek sliced open.

Ranger also asked for his pants, but for Noel to dump the contents of his pockets before starting them. He didn’t need the added tightness from a wallet, a gun, a phone, keys, etc. while he was freshly post op.

Once his legs were covered, Ranger rotated so his legs were off the bunk and stood. ”Shirt please.” he said after looking at his shirt laying on the floor where he’d have to bend all the way over or squat for it.

Fully dressed, Ranger said, ”Y’ turn.”

Uh yeah. She not only owed him dinner, she owed him the dignity of helping him with his pants. Noel ran, fetched, and carried, dealing with keys and phones and anything else they needed moved.

Then, you know, the totally non-ominous call that it was her turn.

She wanted to be brave and calm, she wanted to trust him, but most of all she really didn't want to throw up today. It'd been a close call once, if not twice, already.

"Just in case" She explained as she grabbed up the little trash can from their space.

Between them they managed to get Noel's eyes covered and her ears plugged, and Noel finger combed her hair and worked a quick braid. Over engineering at its finest. She, at least, got to keep her clothes the whole time. Though they did shimmy her jeans down low and cover the cloth with a clean bit of towel, she wasn't about to freeze like the Ranger had.

She folded her arms under her head and tried, and failed, not to knot her shoulders up in anticipation of what was to come.

"Okay. Ready." She couldn't hear any response, but she had to trust there was one.

Before she took her place on the makeshift operating table, Noel moved the trash can over. Ranger hobbled over to his first aid kit and produced a packet of painkillers. Contraindications being damaned, he took a few and washed them down with more whiskey.

Ranger left the package of painkillers out for Noel for after as he went to disinfect the blade again. Last Ranger checked he did not have any bloodborne pathogens freeloading in his system but it is better safe than sorry. From there he helped Noel with her sensory deprivation and clear her clothing out of the way. No sense in getting blood on clothes when you can just bare a couple more inches of skin in either direction.

A few more well placed towels and another round of hand disinfecting and they were ready. Ranger slid on some gloves and took hold of the knife. Noel said she was ready.

Not having to do anything but make the cut and remove the tracker, Ranger had time on his side. After he disinfected the site he set one hand on Noel’s back near where he was cutting and pressed in with a firm pressure. It was both a sign that he was about to start and a point of contact to help him control the knife better. Like holding the paper while you write on it. It was there so if Noel flinched he could hold her in place.

Ranger held the knife close to Noel’s back, took a deep breath, and slowly lowered the tip to where he wanted to cut. He exhaled, and with one smooth motion, sliced a short channel. Then with one finger of the support hand he pushed the tracker toward the channel and by backing up the knife drew out the tracker.

The moment the tracker was out Ranger set the knife aside and grabbed a towel to mop up the blood. While holding the towel down with one hand he grabbed a handful of steri strips. He only needed two to draw the wound closed. From there he bandaged it up and removed the bloodied towels.

When Ranger was done he removed his gloves and gave Noel a smack on her rump. ”Good game.”

Once he moved from knife to towel, Noel figured it was safe to take out the ear plugs.

The tracker might have been gone, but she didn't quite feel the relief she was expecting. Instead, she got a firm butt smack.

> "Good game."

She cringed as the shockwave went up her back, but supposed that was only fitting. She had started it by proxy kissing his ass, and it wasn't gay if you said good game. Besides, she’d gotten to deck him and pants him and Ranger had neither option.

"I’m gonna let that slide because I don’t like beating up cripples while blindfolded. Tends to be a real ego hit on both sides. Maybe next time, though. Have any idea what you want to do with these?" She moved slowly, leaving her blindfold on for now as she dug out the little bead of Michael's tracker from her pocket and offered it out in front of her in the palm of her hand.

No doubt, he probably wanted to do exactly what Noel wanted to do: curl up on the bunk and doze off. They could put it off, but it negated the point to carry them around.

"Next round of grabass then, we'll see what's what." Ranger said as he once again disinfected the knife and the tracker. "I say we plant them on a couple. Sucks t' be them but they'll have believable organic movement. Stick it in their coats while they sleep."

Ranger dumped the tracker in a cup holder and turned to take the one that Noel was holding out. As he was reaching for it, he felt his strength leaving him. He had a feeling of exhaustion from physical activity that followed a long ruck or intense lifting session. His heart rate and breathing changed with the feeling.

After quickly moving the tracker to be with it's friend, Ranger sat down breathing heavily. "What... in Sam Hill… " he took the orange juice and greedily gulped it down.

Noel ripped off her blindfold when the Ranger started huffing and puffing. A gas? She didn't smell anything, nor did she seem affected. A dart of some kind? She turned to make sure he made it to sit, but he'd already gotten himself some juice. Not looking him in the face was difficult considering, but there was plenty else to check. Only, nothing seemed wrong with him except that suddenly it was like he'd run in a race.

Noel prowled on red alert, checking the windows and the door, but... there was nothing.

"Chalk it up to all the other math that doesn't add up, I guess."

She stretched to test the limits of her bandage and rubbed her palm across her eyebrows forcing her to relax her face and release tension. There was no threat that she could guard against here. "Okay. One more shopping trip, then."

It wasn't long before Noel was back, sunglasses on and a few necessities in hand. "It's gas station quality, but when there's something screwy with a mutation, it seems to take food to fix it." A couple packages of boiled eggs in plastic, three ham sandwiches, a banana, two waters and a diet soda. She let Ranger pick and then went to lock their door and check the room all over again. This time she thought to check their phones and turn both on airplane mode. There had to be something else she was forgetting.

"We have time, but I don't want to miss our stop." As much as she'd like to continue pacing, she was aching. Noel eased down on what she'd started to think of as the Ranger's bunk, having decided to claim the top bunk for herself, and debated how bad it'd be to take shifts. Could they both afford to rest now? Noel noticed her laptop was open nearby. She'd left it unlocked, told him he was allowed to read... she'd left off on a methodical journal entry on her search for a way to stop tasting things which wasn't incriminating in and of itself.

While Ranger sat breathing heavily, Noel searched for a threat. The feeling of exertion felt like it had come on suddenly as if some outside influence had caused it. When he took the time to think about it though, he felt like he had been exerting himself some while he was being cut and punched.

"Chalk it up to all the other math that doesn't add up, I guess.”

”I’m runnin’ out of fingers an’ toes f’r all this math.” Ranger said, ”This though… It feels like...Like I’ve been usin’ my power f’r an extended time. Y’ know as well as I do that I ain’t immune t’ blades though.”

It was Noel’s turn to go shipping. While she was gone Ranger managed to get his breathing and heart rate under control. He still felt completely exhausted.

"It's gas station quality, but when there's something screwy with a mutation, it seems to take food to fix it."

Noel came back in wearing sunglasses and bearing a load of food. Ranger felt hungry enough to eat all of it. He knew he shouldn’t eat all of it. He could get more later. He took a bottle of water, package of eggs, and two of the sandwiches. He dug into a sandwich while Noel locked the door and checked over the room. She even checked their phones.

"We have time, but I don't want to miss our stop."

”Set alarms.” Ranger said before having a though, ”Might want t’ sleep in shifts though. In case the agency decides t’ get on the train at one of the stops an’ find us.” He didn’t think it a strong probability but it was always possible. ”I’m fine t’ take first watch unless y' want it.” They both needed rest, it had been a hell of a day.

"I want first shift." Not exactly a lie, but he seemed worse off. Noel could deal and she would let him rest for as long as it took, circadian rhythms and fairness be damned. She also told him to eat the last sandwich.

"You are, like, five times as swol as me and there's still eggs." Which she was sure she couldn't stomach at the moment anyway. There was plenty of food in the world, she'd eat later.

Once he seemed settled, Noel sat on their little stretch of floor and fiddled with her phone to set an alarm. The screen light made her head hurt, but she was interested and hadn't yet had time to explore what was on her hand held. It looked pretty standard: a calendar with notes that stopped almost a week back, maps, photos with friends and her dog, and music. One playlist was named "songs that mean something" and it seemed promising for later.

The Ranger snuffled in his restful state. Noel closed her eyes to listen to the train and the sounds around them. She thought forwards and backwards and poked at anything that seemed out of place. She hadn't wanted to sleep until she was absolutely sure no memories could be saved. It was looking like that was true. She would love to dig in the Ranger's head too, just to be sure. If he'd allow it.

What she had now was a handful of strangers that felt like family, and 5 years of New York city living: a time that included getting let go from her previous government employment.

She hadn’t told them that.

The dossier they had on her painted a picture like Noel had been on their payroll the entire time. Like she’d been living a second shadow life parallel to the memories she actually remembered. Did she trust them? Did she trust the paper? Did she trust her memory?

She ended up taking the pain pills he left her. She fiddled with the vodka bottle, but left it unopened. She dug around in her bag to familiarize herself with what was in there.

It was blessedly boring and the floor was just uncomfortable enough to keep her awake through it. Nothing to it.

The outside light waned from what little she could see around the drawn shade, and Noel let the cabin dip into darkness.

Noel wanted first shift. Ranger didn’t protest, while he could make it through taking the first watch he wasn’t excited about doing it. Not to mention he was clearly the more exhausted of the pair so it was better for the pair of them for him to sleep first. Noel also gave Ranger the last sandwich which he found somewhere in his stomach to store.

"You are, like, five times as swol as me and there's still eggs.”

”Those’ll have t’ wait f’r breakfast.” Ranger put his hand on his abdomen, ”Don’t wanna make myself sick.”

Ranger finished of the bottle of water and cleared the bunk of any remaining remnants of them playing doctor. Cracking his laptop password, reading the journals on Noel’s computer, and other concerns could wait until he had rested.

A P226 under his pillow, Ranger laid down on the bunk to sleep. His last thoughts as he drifted off to sleep were of him trying and failing to remember anything of the ten years he lost.

Hours later he awoke. Light was coming in through the shades tinted in the colors of morning. How long had he been asleep? Why hadn’t Noel woken him for a shift?

He propped himself up on an elbow and wiped his face with a hand, ”How long was I asleep?” He felt like he had taken a short coma. ”How long until our stop?”

Noel picked at the banana overnight and otherwise waited in the dark to get the drop on anyone who made sounds around their door.

Nobody even tried.

Eventually, the Ranger started shifting around in the way that the recently-dead rose. She scooted closer to watch him in the bare blush of sunlight since he was the most interesting thing that had happened all night. Eyelashes, nose, he had all the regular face parts. He was familiar enough from walking up the aisle and dancing at the reception, but was he as familiar as the notes made him sound? Not really.

Time had both dragged and gone by quick in the funny way that time sometimes did. She was rubbing her tired eyes when Michael actually transitioned back to the land of the living.

"You got a solid 8, I think, but we've also changed time zones so maybe that's 9? Not a peep from outside." She abandoned her phone to the floor and went to claw her way up to the top bunk, avoiding eye contact like her life depended on it since the sunglasses were in the wind.

"Just 3 hours left unless we cross another time change." She honestly had no idea where those happened. Seemed like a whole bunch of nonsense considering the technology they had. "Phone will go off an hour before for freshening and whatever."

She faceplanted into a stale smelling pillow and didn't even bother with the sheets. "See you in a sec."

Only nine hours? To Ranger it felt longer. Shouldn’t Noel have woken him up before that? Generally when sleeping in shifts one does not get a full eight hours of unbroken sleep. Not that Ranger was going to complain. It certainly made Noel’s haste to climb to her own bunk understandable.

"Just 3 hours left unless we cross another time change. Phone will go off an hour before for freshening and whatever."

Ranger slid off his bunk and stretched, careful of his healing butt, ”Plenty of time t’ take care of the trackers.”

"See you in a sec."

”Sleep well.”

Leaving the overhead light off and moving only by what filtered in from outside, Ranger grabbed both of their laptops and settled in. He could read the journals on Noel’s computer and periodically try new password ideas on his laptop.

The journal that was open was about her methodically trying to stop tasting. Ranger read it and then moved on to read others, starting from as far back as he could. It didn’t take long and there were mentions of himself. Whenever the journal entry included Ranger it felt less like prying.

Ranger spent the next couple hours reading the journals. While he did not find a mention of any agency that Noel and he allegedly worked for he did discovered how close the pair of them had become. He had let her go into his mind and after lifting the most classified of his memories, erase them from both of them. When he read that he looked up at the bunk where Noel slept. The sheer level of trust he had in her at that time, it was mind blowing to Ranger.

The journals told the tale of how he came to trust her, if only from Noel’s perspective which included warnings to herself to keep her distance from Ranger. The journals also helped Ranger crack his laptop’s password.

After reading the journals and considering what he might have set as a password he thought about the first time he met Noel -- which to him was only a few weeks ago. He had instructed the DJ to play Cody Johnson and he played Dance Her Home which Ranger and Noel had then danced to.

Ranger keyed in ‘DancedHerHome’ into his computer and it unlocked.

Now they had two computers worth of information about themselves. Ranger’s also happened to be able to connect to the train’s WiFi. So that was nice.

When her alarm went off, Noel pushed herself up as far as her arms would allow and yawned. Noel struggled to get mentally awake to the tune of some country something. For that, she could only think to blame the Ranger. Five more minutes sounded like heaven, but she knew down that path lay danger. She fantasized briefly about falling asleep at the top of her plank, but knew something would give out. It wouldn't work like it did in her head.

She did this to herself, so she only had herself to blame.

Noel shuffled about with her eyes mostly closed. She hadn't undressed. Her arm was a tingly army of ants from passing out on top of it. Where were those eggs? At least she'd gone to bed with her hair in a braid. She fumbled her phone off and tried to remember what they were doing now.

Oh right. Sunglasses. Noel grabbed those up so that she didn't have to pretend she was blind.

Two computers, two sets of records on their lives. Only one of them included mentions of working for a government agency the last few years as a mole in Haven. Ranger’s laptop read [CLASSIFIED] across the top as he cross referenced his own mission logs on his laptop against those in JWICS and SIPRNet. He still had a ‘TS’ or Top-Secret clearance level which meant he was still involved in clandestine, need-to-know operations.

Ranger was comparing notes between the computers on the mission where Ranger had lifted the Fordasaurus to carry it out of the snow and ice when the alarm went off. He had been quietly listening to all the new Texas and Red Dirt Country that was new to him. The past ten years had been a good time for non-Nashville music.

The alarm also meant they had an hour until their stop. Plenty of time to dispose of the trackers. It was still early, some people would likely still be asleep. They would be easy to slip the trackers onto.

”Rise an’ shine.” Ranger called when he heard Noel shuffling about on her bunk. He looked up at the bunk. According to all he saw the pair of them had become an item. It could have been part of their cover but it seemed more genuine than that. They had grown close enough that Ranger had allowed Noel to remove certain memories so that they could have a more physical relationship. 

The memories were indeed gone. No matter how hard he tried there were specific moments that were just gone.

They would need to talk about it at some point.

Ranger set the laptops aside and stood up. He stashed P226 in the front of his pants, ”I’ll take care of the trackers.” He scooped them out of the cupholder and made for the door.

”I got int’ my laptop. There’re mission logs on it. The corroborate y’r journals an’ much of the agency’s file.” Ranger gestured to his laptio, ”Feel free t’ have a look.”

Noel awake, Ranger left the room to dispose of the trackers. Some couple was going to have a bad day today.

Oh more data and computer screens. Noel slid down the wall to sit back on the cruel, hard floor. Jooooy.

"I'll get there eventually." She'd found the eggs and her appetite, even just a few hours could do wonders.

After the Ranger had gone, Noel did peek at his computer. She want sure what she expected, but confirmation of their mission was not it. Maybe... She erased all the mission memories to make things more genuine. Maybe they submitted reports and then forgot. On purpose.

Still, there was nothing that Noel could imagine that might be bad enough to have her nuke 10 years of memory...

There wasn't anything to pack considering the fact that they did zero unpacking, but Noel did take the opportunity to change her clothes. Quickly, (and begrudgingly when it came to the discomfort of the underoos) though she was a bit hung up on having to stretch to change her shirt.