𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕔𝕒𝕥 | 𝟲 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗

16 | Puss (Back) In Boots

The van jerked as it went over a pothole, and Three swore, followed by Two's muttered "Merde!" when the back wheel, right under her seat, jerked and jolted her.

"You'd think a billionaire-ess would invest in the local infrastructure," One huffed. "How can she live with the state of these roads?"

"Not every billionaire is a philanthropist," Five told him, as she held tight to the overhead handle.

"Wish they were," Seven muttered as they passed over another particularly nasty pothole.

Blake peered through the windscreen, saw they were almost there, and directed Three into a nearby alleyway, where the van would be hidden but still accessible in circumstances where a quick getaway might be needed.

"Alright," One said as he dished out our comms. "You all know what we're doing. Quick and easy, in and out, yeah? Like how Three fucks."

"Watch it," Three warned, glancing sidelong at One as he secured his comms.

"Primary goal is get the patients out of there and the operation shut down," One continued. "Does anyone have any questions, before we begin?"

They all stayed silent. Blake exchanged glances with Four.

"Good."

Outside the van, when the rest were suiting up, One pulled Blake aside.

"I found these for you," he said, presenting her with her bladed gloves. "I'm relying on you for this."

She nodded, a smile playing on her lips as she slid on the gloves and heard the satisfying 'shing!' of the blade sliding out over her knuckles.

One also held out the cat mask for her to take. She reached for it, but paused at the last moment. She glanced up at his calculating expression, his gaze steady in hers, waiting for her to make a move.

She shook her head. "That's not who I am anymore," she said, letting her hand fall to her side.

One grinned and threw it aside. It skittered over the tarmac and into a drainage ditch. "True that."

"Hey, aren't you getting ready?" Four called out, his eyes flicking uncertainly between the two of them. Blake gave Four a swift nod and a smile.

"I hope you two got all that tension out on the plane," One commented lowly. "Don't make me regret putting you two together on this."

Blake coloured, remembering how Four's hands had roamed all over her body not two hours before. She shook her head. She couldn't afford to get distracted.

One watched her closely, the way her jaw tensed at the thoughts he'd induced. Good. She needed reminding where her loyalties laid; he only hoped her budding relationship with Four would be enough to keep her on the straight and narrow with the Ghosts.

"I won't let you down," she promised.

One gave a quick nod and walked back to the group to collect his gun. She wished her promise could have been as sincere as it sounded.

***

Blake was grateful for the lift as they ascended the building directly next-door to Cir-Tech, to the thirtieth floor.

Four, Seven, and Blake got out of the lift and stepped out onto the roof. The wind immediately whipped at their clothing, and Seven grunted in distaste.

"You ok?" Four asked him.

"The wind, man. It makes my job a whole lot harder."

Blake glanced over her shoulder at Seven. "Do you want to move downwind?"

Waving a hand, Seven shook his head indignantly. "I didn't say I couldn't do it. I'm a professional!"

Blake opened her mouth, but Four wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the edge of the roof. "Don't provoke him, he's very proud," he muttered into her hair.

"Oi! You lovebirds forgetting something?" Seven called after them.

"The wire!" Blake realised. She reluctantly twisted out of Four's arms and jogged back for the grapple launcher. She offered Seven a sheepish grin as she collected it and then made her way back to the edge, taking careful aim at the roof of the Cir-Tech building - five floors below and a full twenty meters away.

One's voice came over the comms: "Everything alright up there?"

She fired the grapple, tending at the recoil as the compressed air in the launcher released. The hook pierced the side of the metal air-conditioning unit on the roof, deploying its arms. She gave an experimental tug and it stayed fast.

"Yes, we're in position," she replied. "Where are you?"

"Right outside the front doors. It's less flashy than I expected."

"It's grander on the inside," Blake assured him. She secured her end of the zipwire cord to the large aerial nearby. "We're ready when you are."

"Roger that. Five will meet you in the middle, the rest of us will go down to the basement. Meet us there."

"Got it. Good luck."

Four made a face at her as she cut of the comms. She raised an eyebrow. "Why the face?" She asked.

"You don't wish good luck before a mission. You'll jinx it."

"Oh." Pursing her lips, she flipped a short length of chain over the wire, holding it with both hands. "Then I take it back."

"That's even worse luck," he lamented.

She rolled her eyes, but inwardly her heart fluttered at his adorable pout.

"A kiss for luck, then?" She suggested.

He didn't need asking twice. Fully aware of Seven's presence, she kept it sweet and pushed him away with one hand. "Let's go."

The wind in her ponytail was thrilling but the ride was short, coming to an abrupt halt when she let go and rolled with the impact onto the Cir-Tech roof. She stepped aside as Four followed her and did the same, both of them brushing asphalt from their clothes.

She glanced back at the wire. There wasn't any way back, now; the zip line was one way only. The only escape was down.

Blake drew her gun from its holster and approached the maintenance lift door. It was locked, but her Cir-Tech key card was accepted.

Guards were waiting for them on the top floor. Half a dozen men were camped in front of the doors, and they opened fire on the exposed lift as soon as the doors slid open, bullets flying and ricocheting in the small lift space.

The rotating machine gun Blake had set up in the doorway of the lift did its job and sprayed the room with bullets. She listened to the sound of gunfire from the top of the lift shaft, until the clip of the machine gun was empty. Someone cursed on the floor below, and through the gridded maintenance hatch on the lift she saw them enter to inspect the machine gun setup.

Blake flicked out the knife on her glove and severed the lift cable with a quick swipe. The man's startled scream was cut short by the crunch of the lift hitting the bottom on the shaft.

She listened again. Silence.

"Do you really need me here?" Four asked her incredulously.

"Of course I do. I need you to watch my back," she replied. "Not my ass, Four. My back."

He held up his hands with a grin. "You said it, not me."

Blake sighed and took one of the dangling cables in hand. "Okay. I'm going for an all-or-nothing technique, no sneaking around today. Pretty sure the others have already made their presence known so we need to get down as fast as possible."

"Sure." He shifted his feet, pulling the hood of his hoodie off his head. "Let's do this."