Cloak and Dagger

chapter eighteen

I was at a loss for words.

Standing beside Kira just a few days later, I watched as she rested one of her hands on the lab bench in front of us, using her other to place a small piece of cloth on top of it. It took a few seconds, but right before my eyes I saw her hand disappear. I blinked, making sure it wasn't just my imagination, but when nothing changed, a laugh of wonder escaped my lips.

"It's – "

When I paused, trying to come up with the right word, Kira turned towards me with a wide grin. "Pretty cool, right?" Her excitement was contagious as she deposited the material back alongside the rest of the prototypes. "I still need to tweak the formulation a bit to make sure that larger pieces of material can work the way I need them to without any complications, but I think I'm almost there."

I shook my head in amazement. "Seriously, this is incredible," I said, running my fingers over the fabric in front of me. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was just an everyday piece of material – nothing special about it. "I didn't even think this type of technology existed."

"You've probably said that about more than a few things since you got here," she mused.

And she was right.

Never in a million years did I think I'd be where I was today. Just two months ago I'd been waitressing full-time, working extra shifts to save up enough money for the possibility of attending university. Fast forward and now I'd witnessed technological breakthroughs, trained with some of the best agents in the world, and had fallen deep into the world of covert operations.

"Seems that way," I replied. Glancing around the room I noticed that, while we were the only two currently occupying the lab, almost every lab bench had bits and pieces strewn across it. "Is this all yours?"

"Most of it," Kira replied, hopping down off her stool before moving around to do a bit of a cleanup. I stayed where I was, not wanting to risk accidentally ruining something that was important. "Catherine's been pushing a lot of other high-level security projects in motion the last couple of days, and with the veteran lab technicians handling those, I'm more or less on my own with the trials I have to run."

"If you need help, I can always pitch in," I offered. "I may not know a whole lot about all of this," I continued, waving my hands around the room to signal the various lab equipment, "but I can do some of the grunt work. Writing down observations, data collection... that sort of thing."

The corners of her lips pulled upwards as she piled a few wires and a small machine into her arms, carrying them back over to the bench I stood beside. "Thanks," she said, "but I think I'll be okay. If, for some reason though, things change, I'll let you know."

I nodded in understanding. "So... what's – "

The words dried up on my lips as the beeping of the lab door captured my attention, and I inhaled sharply as I realized the newcomer was Finn.

Having taken Beckett's advice two nights ago, I hadn't sought him out, and this was the first time, besides the odd passing in the Grand Hall, that I was really seeing him since that evening in the hideaway. My first instinct was to allow my anger to get the best of me – to march over to him and hound him until he told me why he was helping a Division whose building blocks took the form of malice and revenge.

But that wouldn't be smart.

Instead, I stood still. Staying quiet and taking small, calming breaths, my eyes tracked each movement that Finn made as he greeted Kira with a smile and nodded towards the cabinets that kept the field gadgets locked up.

"Is there enough for me to stock up for tonight?" he asked.

Kira nodded, though followed closely behind him. "I'll have to let you in though. I had to change the code last night."