It smells like adobo.

The fresh kind that perfumes the house with the smell of burnt meat right before it’s seasoned. The smell of fat is most prominent and any human would register it as food.

Not the best thing to come home to after a bloodbath.

The two enter quietly, as if the place suddenly hasn’t become their territory too. The whole place is a mess of broken glass and blood stains. The crew clean it off the wall and floor.

From this angle, they can see the back of Giselle’s head on the couch. Her head is bowed slightly as they cross. When they pass her, she’s actually seated at the corner of the couch, knees drawn to her chest and eyes fixed on a certain part of the floor. The glove on her hand is trailed by thick cables that lead back to her room.

“Geene-” Tony tries and her head suddenly snaps to their direction. They glow angrily and Mac can’t help the flinch even after all these years at how painful it looks. The lights flicker and her irises seem to glow.

Her breathing is ragged and struggling for control of herself. Mac imagines her heart must be pounding heavily too.

In an instant, he takes the jacket he’s been wearing and puts it over her shoulders. Her borrowed shirt is crumpled at the front. Grease from someone who grabbed the front of her shirt and her shorts left a just as crumpled but large handprint.

At the foot of the couch, a badly mangled and burnt body lays crumpled. The smell of burnt adobo permeates from it. His large hands hang limply as the clean up crew carry him out.

As the jacket settles, she stops shaking.

“Are you okay?” Mac ruffles her hair gently. Giselle looks at them from head to foot and does the same to Tony. Her skin is torn to reveal bright light beneath the splitting flesh. Her hair reaches the couch as she sways front and back. She merely glowers at him, not bleeding.

“You’re injured.” The lights flicker again.

“We’re home.” Tony says evenly. “And we brought Chinese food.”

“Antonio.” Her tone is warning despite the way she snuggles into the jacket.

“Geenie.” Tony says just as stern. “The siopao will get cold.”

“You’re hurt-”

“I know.” Tony sighs. “I’m sorry. We fucked up.”

“Damn right you did.” Her skin splits a little more, revealing a glow of light. Her face contorts a little with pain but she doesn’t relent. “Not only did you botch the mission, you left a fucking bloodbath for everyone to clean.” She leans forward, body tense as if ready to stand up. “And the one thing I ask of you. The one thing.” Her skin cracks and the sound of static fills the air. The lights blare suddenly so bright and then dim too fast.

“Giselle-” Mac is cut off by Tony holding her close, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace.

She draws the jacket around her shoulders closer to herself, arms crossed and squished by Tony’s embrace. The cracks subside a little with a small sob.

“I told you to be fucking careful.” Her voice cracks a little and Mac can’t help but join the hug as well. “Both of you are fucking idiots.” There is a hint of fondness somewhere.

“Yeah, but we’re your idiots.” Tony and Mac say together as if on cue.

Silence follows and then Giselle perks up. Her eyes dull to its natural color. “M’hungry.” The two sigh in relief.

Dinner is a quiet affair. It’s almost three in the morning at this point and the sound of metal utensils scrape against the paper bowls and plates.

Giselle eats her siopao with her left hand slowly. She chews, eyes trained on the medical kit the boys promised to use when dinner was over. The right hand is still gloved and has two small metal circlets on the middle and ring finger.

Mac finished his fried rice a moment ago and tucks into dessert. He takes his halo halo by the spoonfuls since it’s too solid to drink in one go. He focuses on finishing his food slowly, unsure if it’s really safe to relax just yet. He eyes the closing cracks on Giselle’s skin and watches it glow with concern.

Tony eats his large bowl of wonton soup slowly, trying to maximize the taste as it goes down. He watches the two of them eat quietly, glad for the peace at the moment. He takes the great liberty of not looking anyone in the eye as he does so, afraid one comment might just start a shouting match.

For now though, everything seems so quiet.

Giselle checks the time often and then the medical kit in the cupboard. Nobody is willing to talk just yet. While the mission was successful somewhat, they had to break all the rules to do so. It’s a bit too raw to process at the moment so they have dinner instead.

After half an hour, Giselle bites her lip and hastily climbs the sink to take out the medical kit from the open cupboard. She huffs a little as she tries to pick it up and ensure everything they need is inside.

Tony watches her amusedly as she does, making eye contact with Mac to raise their eyebrows together. Mac shakes his head with a little laugh. Once she’s satisfied with the contents, she hops down and hands Mac the medical kit. Giselle watches Mac work on their injuries curiously.

“Hold still.” Mac wraps puts gauze on several parts of Tony’s bare chest.

“Hurry up, I’m cold.”

“Hi cold, I’m impatient.” Mac rolls his eyes and slaps one of the gauze on a little too hard. Tony makes a yelping noise then hits Mac back.

“Your wrist is injured.” Mac says, noticing the space between the glove and his jacket sleeve was red and irritated. “Let’s run it under some cold water-”

Giselle suddenly kisses his knuckles with a small mumble of thanks. Mac’s face flushes bright red all the way to the ears.

Their eye contact was interrupted by Tony making retching sounds.