𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕔𝕒𝕥 | 𝟲 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗

11 | Mouse Trap

Blake did her very best to stay out of Four's way over the next couple of days, and Four gave her the same courtesy. She politely declined any invitations to play board games in the evening, and left her room at odd times to avoid him. She made sure to make an appearance in the living area daily, but only to sit in the corner to read, and both of them avoided each other's eyes. Feeling the tension, the other Ghosts kept tight-lipped and light-hearted, though they watched the two surreptitiously. One very much enjoyed the drama, Three and Five discussed matchmaking whenever the pair weren't in the room, and Two and Seven were, frankly, sick of it.

Blake was on the roof one evening when a buzz reached her ears. She watched the drone clear the edge of the building and land neatly beside her. Briefly, she scanned the windows of nearby buildings, looking for the operator – all she saw were the reflections of the city lights in the glass. Back inside, she scanned the note, then hurried to One's 'office' room. She rapped on the door.

"Come in," One called.

He was sat in front of his computer, data streaming over the monitor. He was biting his thumbnail as he watched some program analyse the data.

"Circe contacted me," Blake said, striding over to him. "A drone delivered this letter." she handed it over, and he scanned the printed note. "She wants me to lead you into a trap at headquarters."

He nodded slowly as he read, then handed it back, his brows furrowed. "She writes letters like a fucking Bond villain. Where's the headquarters?"

"Greece," she replied.

"Figures. That gives us another week to get prepared." He gave her a brief smile. "Thanks for telling me, Blake."

She smiled back and left, the smile instantly dropping from her face as soon as the door was shut. That meant she only had a week to get herself prepared. She wasn't much looking forward to seeing Circe again.

***

"This is a shit idea. It won't work," Seven grumbled.

"She doesn't care!" Two exclaimed. "You'll just hurt him more, and it'll be your fault, not hers."

Three nodded sagely. "He's not going to like it."

One kicked his feet up and glared at them all. "I don't care. Now he's come back and made a nuisance of himself, he can make himself useful."

The team, minus Four and Eight, were assembled in One's tech room, which was the large spare-bedroom-turned-lab in which One was storing all his equipment, including the two large monitors and a conference table at which they were seated at.

"We were just gaining her trust and now she's retreated again," One continued. "We've only got a week 'till we go to Greece. This team needs to work like an oiled machine, and at the moment, it's not."

"It's not his fault," Five appealed. "If you'd let him stay instead of sending him away and keeping him in the dark-" She broke off as a knock on the door interrupted them.

Four opened the door. He looked at their expectant faces and raised a brow. "I feel like I just walked in on something. Should I just... Go?"

"No, stay," Two replied.

"We were just talking about you."

"Shut the fuck up, Seven," One said in a warning tone. He turned his attention to a bemused Four. "You read the file I left you?"

He nodded and slid into a seat. "Yeah. Why the fuck didn't you tell me sooner? About any of it?"

"I needed her to trust us. As a team, not just because of you."