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"Urgh."
She fiddled about with her dress, the corset bones were digging into her sides and under her boobs. She was pretty sure that one of the underwires had broken out of her 'designer bra' and was poking into her armpit. Geez, the things you have to do in order to look good and fit in with the posh crowd.
She felt naked without her purple and black tech suit, but heck, you had to deal the hand you were given. Besides, she was just there as a decoy. Fuse was the one doing all the work behind the scenes.
Speaking of ...
I'm just about to slot the wires into the device
She rolled her eyes, Fuse was on one of his narratives and she grimaced. Under the pretense of tucking her hair behind her ear and picking up a napkin, she turned away and hissed ...
"Look... dumbass, I don't want the whole bloody story, just let me know when it's all set up. Okay?"
Okay sis
Turning back, her stomach grumbled. She hadn't eaten for much of the day. But looking at the buffet, there wasn't anything here that took her fancy. It was all that fancy expensive stuff. Like oysters YUCK and caviar EWWW. At least the sandwiches didn't look too bad, despite being cut into tiny little triangles. One bite and they'd be gone.
She was debating whether to take a glass of champagne, but hesitated. She wasn't wearing any gloves, and she's pretty certain that her fingerprints were on file. For all those petty crimes that she and her brother Fuse used to be embroiled in.
Until they met the Hood.
And he gave them the deal of a lifetime.
Or so they'd naively believed.
Now, his demands were getting tedious and outrageous. And his temper? Whoa, you really don't want to be in the same room as that man.
Ah, what the hell. You only live once. Just as she was reaching for a flute, she heard a cough behind her. She ignored it.
Rude, just go around, there's plenty of space asshole
"Not thinking of stealing that ... are you?"
Havoc froze. Ah shit. The last person she expected to see here.
Clenching her fingers into a fist to compose herself, she plastered on a broad smile and turned to face him.
Gods, those eyes And that wicked smile
Ah hell, and those dimples when he smiled.
But he wasn't smiling right now. Scott Tracy definitely wasn't happy with her being here at this posh party.
Pull yourself together woman, you're here on a mission. Don't let this flirty man get in your way.
"Actually," she purred, "I'm wondering if there's some beer around here ... champagne isn't really my thing."
She raised herself up a little to look him squarely in the face and lowered her voice, swirling the glass and it's contents around.
"It tastes like horse piss."
Scott nearly dropped his glass of whiskey. He shouldn't have been surprised at her, but this woman, always ALWAYS shocked the hell out of him.
She snatched it from his hand and takes a gulp, coughing and gagging at the tastes. Her face turned purple as people stared, not the attention she wanted right now. Scott immediately thumped her back until her breathing regulated.
"Geez," she replies hoarsely, "that's worse than the bloody horse piss. How the hell do you drink THAT?"
He tilted his head and was about to make some snarky comeback, but his eyes narrowed suspiciously, focusing on a part of her head, grabbed her arm and squeezed it.
"What the hell is that?" he demanded, pointing to the side of her face.
She froze from wiping her melted mascara, wishing she could have an excuse to reapply her make up. Waterproof my ass. She was betting that she looked like a bloody panda.
"What?"
His fingers reach for her ear. She jerked away, horrified that he would dare invade her personal space. Then blanched as she realised what has caught his attention.
"Hey ... whatcha doing?" she hissed, jerking her head as his hand reached for her ear.
"You're up to something."
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"You and Fuse are never apart. Where the hell is he?"
He popped out the small device and palmed it. It looks remarkably like a hearing aid.
"Clever," Scott mused, "very clever."
She tried to snatch it from his hand but he whipped his arm away, the device safely enclosed in the palm and out of her reach.
"Give it back," she snarled.
"Or what?" he taunted, "you'll set Fuse onto me? ... or the Hood?"
He started tossing it up and down, deftly catching it each time and loving her reactions. Oh yes, she'd been caught red handed, time for her to come clean.
"Only if you tell me where your brother is," he said, sipping at his glass of whiskey, freshly topped up.
"Go to hell, " she spat out, then flopped into the nearest chair, all fight had gone out of her.
He was shocked to see tears welling in her eyes, she turned away, hating him even more. This wasn't what she wanted.
"Just ... give it back ... please."
He paused, unsure of what to do, turning the tiny device around in his fingers. Then she turned to glare at him, hatred in those deep blue, almost violet eyes of hers. Her shoulders slumped and she grabbed a glass of water, taking a long drink from it and slamming the glass down.
"It's my hearing aid ... arsehole."
"What?"
"You heard me." she swallowed hard and cast her eyes down, fiddling with the now crushed napkin, "What ... you thought it was a communicator? A remote control device or something?"
He blinked, then had a proper look at what was nestled in the palm of his hand. Ah crap. Havoc scratched the vacant spot where her hearing aid once nestled, the same one that was now in the possession of one rather smug ... but about to become a grease spot on the floor ... Scott Tracy, if he didn't hand it back to her pretty soon.
She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers.
"It was Fuse's fault," she sighed, a tone of defeat in her voice, "one of his first explosive tests went wrong. Blew up too soon and bust my eardrum. Can't hear a thing out of it since. So ... if you don't mind."
She wiggled her fingers again, and slowly, reluctantly, Scott handed the hearing aid over. She wiped it with a clean napkin before popping it back in. She frowned, pulled it back out and tapped it.
"Gee, thanks."
"What?"
"You bouncing it around has fucked up the sensitive circuitry inside." She waved the hearing aid in his face. "These things aren't cheap you know. This one ... cost me a bloody fortune."
She pinched the tiny aerial, and threw him a dirty glare. "Now ... if you DON'T mind ... I've got to fix this," shoving him aside as she walked towards what she assumed was the bathroom, then stopped and smirked at him, "...unless you've got a toolkit hidden inside that jacket of yours."
He grinned, thinking back to when John had that encounter with the Hood at the auction venue on board the Chateau Traverse. Brains HAD been a little OTT with all the gadgetry there, but it did come in useful at the time. Today, his suit was more ... old fashioned. Like ... borrowed from his dad? So it didn't have any tech slotted in here and there. Besides, it was a shame to ruin such a well fitting tailored masterpiece.
There had been some tense moments back home, when Scott had to put his foot down and say no to the overly enthusiastic engineer. This was just like having their dad by his side. Grandma shed tears of happiness as she tenderly brushed the wool.
As the eldest, it was fitting for him to attend this event, and because of the high security, any hidden gadgetry, no matter how cleverly disguised ... would have set alarm bells ringing. Which made him think twice about seeing Havoc there. She wasn't in her suit, the alarms hadn't been triggered. So maybe she only WAS there to see the priceless exhibits?
But nope, it didn't add up at all. This was a strictly by invitation only event.
He tracked her movements and decided to linger that little longer, as he didn't trust her completely.
In the meantime, lost in her thoughts and slightly disoriented with the maze that was this grand hotel, Havoc opened a door and discovered a stairwell. Damn that stupid Scott Tracy. Now where the hell was the loo?
You there sis?
The line was crackling, reception poor as she shoved the earpiece back in and tried to focus on her brother.
"I'm here," she responded in a low whisper, any louder and her voice would echo around, "what gives?"
Where ya been?
"Whatcha mean ya dumb ox?" she countered angrily, "I been a bit busy, that's what I've been doing. Keeping a buzzing bee from poking his nose in."
She paused, pinching her nose, taking a deep breath and gathering her thoughts.
Um ... we got a problem.
Urgh, now what?
Someone else has beaten us to it.
Crackling
Whoa! You gotta see this sis.
There was a long pause, then Fuse's voice crackled back online.
Aw crap
"What do you mean ... oh crap?"
Sis? This thing's about to blow. You gotta get out of there!
"Well ... can't you diffuse it or something?"
Er ... no ... you'd better warn everyone to evacuate though ....
"We're the bad guys here .... remember? We cause CHAOS you dumb ox. Got that?"
Silence.
"Fuse?"
More crackling.
"Fuse ...."
Just then Scott appeared, ready to launch into her, but saw her face and the fear written all over it.
"It's ... Fuse," was all she could utter, before a deafening boom rang out and the walls vibrated from the explosion.
"FUSE!!!"