To Be A Rebel

Chapter 13: Brothers In Arms

"Noah Base external surveillance report via periscope, please," Janine requests.

Sam sighs wistfully. "Oh, it's a lovely day, actually. One of those sunny ones where the sky is clear blue, and you sort of want to take a photo of how lovely it looks. Only, you know, you'll probably just end up taking a photo of your feet. And by you, I mean me, obviously. Oh, yeah, and to be clear, I am too badly coordinated to be any good at Kung Fu."

I snort. Over the last few days, while everyone was recovering from sickness, we listened to a few more radio documentaries about us that Peter managed to get his hands on. They were just as bad as the first one we listened to, saying things like Sam is an excellent fighter and giving us more conversations between him and Jody. The looks of horror on their faces as people pretended to be them and flirt together was both disturbing and funny.

During one point Jody screamed after her actress said a particularly... terrible line. Her reaction made me laugh so hard I fell off the bed.

"Yes, yes, and I'm not a Sith lord," Janine says. "Those radio documentaries are the least of our concerns. I was referring to the zombie situation, Mr. Yao."

"Yeah, I know. I just thought a little scene might get everyone in the mood. And there are no zoms in sight."

"Very good. Now, Runner Four, Runner Five, your primary objective today is to extract our target from a secret military holding facility. Are you confident of mission parameters?"

Jody nods, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Yep. Actually lookin' forward to it, in a weird sort of way."

"I see. And you're aware of how very dangerous this is?"

"Oh, definitely."

"And of how many ways in which this particular mission could go wrong?"

"Hmm, I counted eleven," Sam cuts in. "Maybe twelve, if there's an unforeseen shoelace disaster."

"When you say that, do you mean tripping on a shoelace or someone choking you with one?" I ask.

"Are you sure you're not a cunning, ruthless killer?"

I frown. "Shut up, Jerry."

"Stop calling me that!"

Jody rolls her eyes as I giggle like a little kid. "We're ready, Janine. We know what we've got to do. One: liaise with our contact. Two: keep radio silence while we're with her because she doesn't know you're alive. Three: follow her instructions to get us inside the holding facility where a meeting with Sigrid is takin' place. Four: avoid all contact with Sigrid and her people until the secondary target's been acquired. I mean, you know, the files, but you told us to call them the secondary target. Five: initiate extraction for the primary target. Did I get everything?"

"Yes," Janine says, sounding quite impressed. "Very good, Miss Marsh."

"'Big boy'. As if I'd call anyone 'big boy'! Especially not on a mission," She murmurs to herself. "I'm a professional!"

"Yeah, well, apparently I seduce people before I kill them," I say with a shrug. "I mean, I can barely even say a pickup line correctly."

"You've never used a pickup line on me," Sam says.

"That's because every time I tried to think of one, my mind when blank. And I mean, I had to take flirting lessons from Archie, so why the hell am I the one who-"

"You can discuss this later," Janine interrupts. "Runners, you may now take your positions for mission launch."

"They're already in position, Janine," Sam says. "They're standing in the lift."