𝟮𝟮𝟳 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 [𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙚]

12. 𝙊𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙙𝙖

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"So I'd say that went rather well," Lemon smiled widely upon our return.

"Well? Well? Are you fuckin' mental?" Tangerine exploded at his brother. Nadine was sure if not for the insistence on this being the quiet car he would have been yelling. Instead the brunette was whispering loudly and furiously.

"What happened, Lemon?" She asked, taking a less angry approach to his brother.

"Nothing happened, it went well, I said!" He protested as the other two sat down opposite him.

"You were waving the dead kid's hand around like a fuckin' balloon!" Tangerine was a little beyond angry.

"Comedic value." Lemon shrugged.

"I don't think the people on the platform thought so," Nadine sighed, running her fingers along the stiff fabric of the seat she was sitting on.

"Why not?"

"Because his head slipped into a way that sleeping people most definitely do not take, you fuckin' moron." Nadine had heard Tangerine swear a lot, but this was the most in the span of one conversation. Maybe she'd start keeping a tally.

"What Mr Satsuma is trying to say is that they didn't find it funny, and now they're probably going to kill us." The noirette explained.

"It's Tangerine..." The assassin muttered under his breath. This was the second time she'd referred to him by a fruit similar to his name, but different. It was the sort of thing he'd do to irritate someone, and he could tell from his own reaction it was effective.

"I'll call you what I like, sweetheart." She mocked. A shiver ran through the brunette. "If we want a chance of survival, we need that case." She added.

"Alright," Lemon nodded, on-board with the idea. "What's the plan?"

"Well, we know who we're looking for, thanks to Miss Sedgwick's aptness at getting beaten up by homeless men-" The woman in question jabbed her elbow into Tangerine's side in a not so gentle manner.

"I swear, one day, I will choke you out against a wall." Nadine opened her mouth to continue but was interrupted.

"Give me a time and place, love. I'll be there." The assassin in the waistcoat smirked, one eyebrow raised.

"Your funeral." She shrugged. Lemon watched the interaction unimpressed.

"Oi! It's gonna be our funeral if we don't work this out," He cut through. "So stop eye-fucking each other and let's actually figure out what the shit we're gonna do." The two he was talking about would both furiously deny this accusation, and also ignore the uncomfortable shade of red painting their faces.

"As Tangerine said, we know who we're looking for. Lemon, stay here," Nadine instructed, formulating a shoddy plan, but a plan nonetheless. "If he comes around, get the case and incapacitate him by any means necessary. He'll be armed, so be careful."

"Are you wearing the bulletproof vest?" The moustached man asked. The other male scrunched up his face into a scowl.

"It's uncomfortable, and it doesn't prevent you getting shot in the neck." He complained.

"Lemon." Tangerine said, flatly.

"Yeah, I'm wearing the bollocking vest." Nadine frowned inwardly, wondering why it was only the shorter of the two who had one. She knew fine well from an earlier excursion that there was nothing between Tangerine's shirt and his skin.

"Fantastic. Tangerine and I will sweep the train again." She could see the brunette start to protest but shut it down immediately. "With Lemon here, there's no way he can sneak past us. I didn't see him leave the train so he must still be here."

"Why am I stuck with you again?" He asked.

"Because that bastard took my gun, remember? You're just taller than me, so make a sufficient shield should it come to us being shot," She joked without humour. "Lemon is too short and I feel he'd actually be grateful for being kept alive, so I made a decision." She smiled.

"Oh, brilliant! Fuckin' brilliant, real charmer you are." Nadine winked in his direction.

"Let's not delay," She stood up, sliding out of the booth. "If you do see him, get the case hut don't kill him. I have a rematch with that motherfucker." Nadine's voice had taken on a hard icy quality the two had never heard before in their brief encounter with the woman.

"You've really switched up, ain't you, love?" Tangerine pointed out, using the take to drag himself along and into the aisle.

"Because this is where it fucking matters. This is where if we fail, we die. Time to be professional." She replied quickly.

"Told you she was a Percy." Lemon offered.

Neither replied to the Thomas analogy, instead giving the man still sitting a curt nod and walking in the other direction. Tangerine and Nadine walked in silence, some sort of tense atmosphere between them. It was clear to both something was conspiring with the other, but neither knew what. The brunette was seething and sultry. Something about the new commanding edge to her voice had brought a certain effect of cold burning to him, but it was an effect he really didn't have time to explore right now.

The green-eyed woman was just trying to pertain composure, something Tangerine was making very hard. No matter how she tried to assert a power dynamic, he'd make some sort of remark and drag it back down to hang equally between them. It was infuriating, but also a fun game of tug or war that they'd been playing since their first conversation. Someone wasn't going to just win now, clever tactics and feigns had to be employed. It was far more complicated than anything like chess, but all they had were words to speak and deflect like a sword fight that usually ended in some form of flirting. And she supposed they had to avoid certain death. Though Nadine was so sure this train would be her demise she almost didn't care despite her earlier outburst. She would be happy to wait it out, filling the time until the platform making jabs at the man next to her.

In some sick sort of way, this was her wanting to spend her last hours alive with Tangerine.

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