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“They’re not gonna be happy about this.” Echo said with a laugh as he read the tablet that Tech had handed him. On it were the details for their next mission. He passed the tablet to Wrecker who was next to him. Wrecker’s eyes quickly scanned the screen before he let out a hearty laugh.
“They’re gonna be so mad.” Wrecker said, still laughing.
“Who’s gonna be so mad?” Jade, the squad’s medic, asked as she walked into the cockpit of the Marauder. Wrecker just let out another long laugh and passed the tablet to her. Her eyes scanned the words on the screen quickly, her brow furrowing as she did so. “No, no way.” She said, handing the tablet back to Tech. “I’m a medic. I’m not trained for that.” She argued, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, ma’am.” Hunter said, not impolitely. “You’re the only woman here and the party only allows couples. We need that information.”
“Still, why does it have to be him?” She asked, not wanting to spend any more time with the aggravating man than she already had to on board the ship.
“Best guess is he looks the least like a reg.” Hunter responded with a shrug.
“What about the tattoo?” She questioned.
“That is why we have also been given this.” Tech said, holding up a small tube that on closer inspection appeared to be human makeup. Jade snorted.
“He’s gonna be pissed.” She told them as she exited the cockpit. She made her way back to the med bay, wanting to finish organizing the new supplies that they had just picked up. She stocked the shelves quickly and was heading back to the cockpit when she, quite literally, ran directly into the one person she didn’t want to see.
“Watch where you’re going.” Crosshair spat at her, passing by and storming off to his quarters. Jade just rolled her eyes and walked into the cockpit.
“I’m guessing you told him about the mission?” She asked the rest of the crew.
“He did not take it well.” Tech told her. She laughed.
“Yeah, I could tell.” Jade replied. “So, if we’re going to a party, I’m assuming I can’t wear this?” She asked, gesturing down to the simple top and pants that she was wearing.
“Your clothing has been placed in your quarters.” Tech responded immediately, not looking up from his tablet.
“We’ll be landing in two hours so I would start getting ready if I were you.” Echo told her with a kind smile. She returned the smile before making her way to her sleeping quarters. It was a small room that had been repurposed to be her bedroom, but she appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. She picked up the dark green dress that had been set on the bed and inspected it. It seemed very high quality and she smiled slightly. It had been a long time since she had gotten dressed up like this, even if it was just for a mission.
She quickly undressed and slipped the dress on. It reached her ankles and had a slit in the skirt of it that reached her mid thigh on one side. The neckline of the dress was lower than she would usually wear, but she didn’t mind. She slipped out of her room and into the refresher, makeup in hand. She quickly applied some basic makeup before beginning to work on her hair. She took it out of the bun that it was in and pulled her long brown hair into a braid, leaving two pieces to frame her face on either side of her bangs.
When she was finished, she opened the refresher door. Intending on heading back to her room to grab the heels that had been placed beside the dress. However, when the door swung open, she found herself face to face with Crosshair. His whole body froze and she watched as his eyes scanned over her. Her face flushed slightly and she looked away.
“Excuse me.” She said, her voice tense, as she tried to pass him. When he finally moved out of the way, she could feel his eyes still on her. Expecting one of his usual comments, she turned to face him with raised eyebrows. “Do you have a problem?” She asked and he finally met her eyes. He entered the refresher without a word. Weird. She thought to herself as she entered her quarters. She slid on her heels and made her way back to the cockpit.
When they landed, Hunter went over the plan with her one more time. “You’ll do great.” He told her with a gentle smile, trying to help soothe her nerves. She glanced over to Crosshair who had just entered the cockpit of the ship. He was dressed in a suit and she smiled slightly to herself. It was almost amusing to see him dressed up.
Her and Crosshair exited the ship and made their way to the large house that was hosting the party. As they approached the entrance, Jade quickly wrapped a hand around Crosshair’s arm. She felt the muscles tense and rolled her eyes. Does he really hate me that much? She thought to herself as they walked up to the man that was letting people through.
“Names and invitations.” The man said, his eyes unashamedly scanning Jade’s body.
Crosshair handed the man their forged invitations and spoke. “Michael and Lily Raysha.” He said quickly, scowling at the man. The man quickly wrote down their names on his paper before letting them through.
“Try to stow the attitude away.” Jade shot at him quietly, keeping a pleasant smile on her face as she did so.
“I’m going to get us drinks, I’ll be back.” He said quickly, pulling his arm out of her grasp and leaving her side. She rolled her eyes again and made her way over to an empty two seat table. She sat down at it and scanned the room with her eyes, finding the stairwell that led to where they needed to go. A man sat down in the seat opposite her and she opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it.
“I couldn’t help but notice that you were sitting here alone.” He said, his eyes scanning her. He smirked and met her eyes again.
“Yes, well my husband is getting us drinks currently.” She told him, forcing the smile to stay on her face.
He leaned forward, a conspiratory look on his face. “He doesn’t have to know.” He said, sliding a hand across the table and trying to place it over hers. She pulled her hand away quickly, a look of disgust on her face. Just then, Crosshair set the drinks down on the table. For the first time in her life, she was grateful to be near him.
“Is he bothering you, darling?” Crosshair said through gritted teeth. Jade’s face flushed and she just nodded. The man stood up with an eye roll.
“Stupid bitch.” He muttered as he walked away. Crosshair moved to follow him and Jade had to grab his wrist to stop him.
She dropped his wrist immediately. “I had that under control.” She told him, looking at her drink as he sat down opposite her.
“That’s not what it seemed like. A simple thank you would suffice.” He grumbled, taking a long sip of his drink.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know why he came over here.” Jade said, her eyes looking at the man who had walked away in disgust.
“He was hitting on you.” Crosshair said as if it was obvious.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m aware of that. I mean that I don’t know why he was.”
Crosshair’s eyebrow furrowed at her words. “What is there to be confused about? It’s quite common for men to approach pretty women.” He said, looking at her.
Jade, who was about to take a sip of her drink, froze. “You think I’m pretty?” She asked slowly, in disbelief.
Crosshair’s eyes flicked away from hers then, looking down at his drink. “You know what I meant.” He grumbled.
She smirked. “So that’s why you hate being around me so much.” She said with a laugh, taking another sip of her drink. “Does Crossy have a little crush?” She questioned with a giggle.
He tensed. “We need to get on with the mission before we run out of time.” He said, standing up and downing the rest of his drink. She laughed and downed her drink as well, wrapping her hand back around his arm as she stood up.
He led her through the crowd and they quickly slipped up the stairs before anyone saw them. Once upstairs, Jade led the way. She had memorized the layout of the large house and found the study easily. She slipped the lockpick she had hidden out of one of the pockets on her dress and got to picking the lock.
“How do you even know how to pick locks? You’re a medic.” Crosshair said as she opened the door with a grin, slipping the lockpick back into her pocket.
“I have lots of skills you don’t know about, Crossy.” She told him with a smirk as the two of them slipped into the room and shut the door behind them. She quickly moved to the desk and opened the drawer, looking for the blueprint that Tech had described to her.
“Don’t call me that.” He said with a scowl. She rolled her eyes, folding up the paper. She walked up to him and slid the paper into his suit pocket.
“Let’s get out of here before we get caught.” She said quietly, peeking her head out the door and exiting once she was sure no one was in the hall. Crosshair followed close behind and they began walking back to the stairway. Jade froze, hearing footsteps in the distance. “Someone’s coming.” She whispered to the clone.
Crosshair grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him. “Trust me.” He said before quickly pinning her to the wall behind her. Her heart jumped into her throat and she swallowed slowly. He put his face close to hers, but not touching. One hand was on her cheek, shielding her face from view. The other was on her hip.
She heard footsteps begin to approach them and all reason went out the window in her mind. She grabbed the collar of Crosshair’s shirt and pulled him towards her, pressing her lips against his. He went tense for a moment before he began to reciprocate the kiss. Kissing her as if it was all he had ever wanted to do. As if he was starving and she was the only thing that could satiate his needs. His hand, that had been on her cheek, quickly undid her braid and ran through her hair.
“Excuse me.” A deep voice said behind Crosshair and they pulled away from each other with flushed faces. “Partygoers aren’t allowed up here.” The man told them, not unkindly.
“Apologies, sir.” Jade said quickly. “We just got a bit carried away, we’ll head back downstairs right now.” She said, smiling softly at the man.
She grabbed Crosshair’s arm and led him back down the stairs and to the door that they had entered through. “Leaving so soon?” The man at the door asked, a knowing look in his face.
Jade faked a giggle easily. “Yeah, we um, have some business to attend to.” She told him with a wink. The man nodded.
“Have fun.” He told the two of them.
They quickly walked away from the house and back to where the Marauder was waiting for them. Jade let go of Crosshair’s arm as they approached the ship, her face flushing again.
“That was fast.” Hunter said as they boarded the ship. Jade pulled the folded paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. “Good job.” He told her and she grinned.
“Let’s just get off this planet.” Crosshair grumbled and when Jade looked at him she suppressed a laugh.
“What? Did you not have fun?” Hunter said when he looked at Crosshair, a smirk on his face. Crosshair’s brow furrowed at the way his brother was looking at him and Jade fell into a fit of giggles.
Tech looked up from his tablet and glanced at Crosshair. “You have lipstick on your face.” He stated, looking back down at his screen.