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“Sara!”
The scream ricocheted through the ship. Most of the crew was already gathered on the bridge and they faced each other, wide-eyed. Martin had never yelled that loudly. He stormed onto the bridge, his gait more intense than usual. Ava followed close behind him, her stride short and precise.
“What’s going on with you two?” Sara asked, grabbing Ava’s shoulders gently. Ava jerked back, staring at Sara in surprise.
“Babe,” Martin said, grabbing Sara’s hand. Now it was her turn to jerk away.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Please tell me this is not another body swap,” Jax groaned, his head dropping into his hands. Ava spun on her heel and pointed at him excitedly.
“Very observant of you, Jefferson! I was trying to transfer Firestorm’s mental power from myself to Ava.”
“I thought we decided to stop all of this after the first time,” Ray said, his eyes wide with worry.
“The first time?” Ava-as-Martin shrieked. “Dr. Stein, you didn’t tell me there was a first time.”
“Pantsuit is in Grey’s body?” Mick asked, pointing between them as best he could with a beer in his hand. “Is this a thing now?”
“It’s not a thing,” Ray said, his voice panicked. “This is not a thing we're doing!”
“Dibs being inside Sara,” Mick said. Sara glared at him and he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“I want to be inside Mick,” Nate said excitedly. “Bet I could do some real damage with that body.”
“No one gets inside me,” Mick growled, grabbing Nate by the collar. Nate held up both hands, quickly relenting.
“No one is getting inside anyone!” Sara shouted. “Martin, what were you thinking?”
“I thought she would be fine since she’s a clone,” Martin-as-Ava said, beginning to pace. "I thought the transfer of power might—"
“We don’t use the c-word around here,” Sara reminded him.
“At least not that one,” Nate joked. Amaya rolled her eyes and his grin fell. Mick snorted.
“Ray, do you think you can fix this?” Sara asked, rubbing her temples.
“Already on it,” Ray replied, tapping away at his tablet. “Let’s go to the lab. I have an idea.”
“Thank you,” Sara said, placing a comforting hand on Martin-as-Ava’s arm. She soon realised she had the wrong body and turned towards Ava-as-Martin, pausing again before awkwardly patting his—her—their arm.
“Nice one, Captain,” Jax laughed. Martin and Ava shot him identical unimpressed glares and he shrank away. Ray led them towards the lab, a gentle hand on each of their backs. When they were out of earshot, Jax wiped his forehead.
“He’d better get them back in their own bodies. As bad as they are individually, they’re somehow worse swapped.”
“They’re not bad,” Sara said defensively. “Just… intense.”
“So while they’re away…” Nate began, pulling a bottle of Rip’s old whisky from the captain’s desk.
“We party!” Amaya shouted, a bright smile filling her face. Mick had already opened another beer, so Jax grabbed a glass and joined in.
Sara considered resisting—after all, she was the captain—but when Amaya filled another glass and held it out to her, the rest of the team already laughing and whooping in the background, it felt like an opportunity she couldn't pass up.
Sara climbed the steps and slung an arm around Mick’s waist, grabbing her glass from Amaya. Martin and Ava were in safe hands. She’d check on them both tomorrow and make sure everything was okay. But tonight?
“Let’s fucking party!”