by Zen DiPietro
“Someone’s cleared the way for us,” he surmised.
“Yeah.”
“I guess we should get used to living a different way. Being connected to people who can arrange things.”
“Being expected to wander out into the night and deal with criminals,” she added.
“We could always quit,” he said.
They looked at each other and laughed.
“Wait, look,” she said.
Two men were approaching Peregrine and Hawk, carrying a large metal container. Each held a handle on either side.
“What do you think is in there?” he whispered.
“Don’t know. Drugs? Illegal medical supplies? Stolen art?”
“I hope it’s art,” he said as they watched Hawk and Peregrine talk with the men. “It would be more interesting, don’t you think?”
She didn’t answer. She was waiting, watching to see if Hawk raised his hand above his head. He talked with his hands, making expansive gestures, and each time his hands rose, she felt her adrenaline spike.
But no signal of trouble.
The guys set down the container and stepped away. After Hawk looked inside, reaching in and apparently rummaging about, he nodded, and an infoboard was presented to him.
He touched it, and it seemed like the deal was done.
Emiko stayed on alert, waiting for more people to come out of the shadows. She had her hand on the door, ready to burst out at any second. She’d already chosen the path she’d run.
But nothing. The men disappeared, and no others arrived.
Disappointment pooled in her stomach, but she denied its existence. It would be stupid to hope for trouble. Better that things went down easy. She shouldn’t be looking to try out her skills in a real-life situation. That was foolish.
Hawk moved to pick up the crate, but Peregrine made a sharp gesture and picked it up herself. He followed her, his eyes roving, watching for trouble.
But no trouble came.
Emiko got out and had Hawk keep watch while she and Peregrine loaded the container into the exterior cargo compartment. It was tight, just barely fitting. At least that meant she wouldn’t have to strap it in to prevent it from shifting.
“How heavy is it?” she asked. She doubted it would affect the handling of the plane much, but it was a good idea to know.
Instead of answering, Peregrine stepped close, put her arms around Emiko’s waist, and lifted her several centimeters above the ground. She gave a test bounce, then put her down again.
“A little more than you.”
Emiko stared at Peregrine in surprise.
“What?” Peregrine asked. “I wanted an accurate basis of comparison.”
Hawk barked out a laugh, and while Peregrine’s face remained solemn, Emiko was pretty certain she was amused.
At least she had some sense of humor, even if it was an odd one.
“Fine. Let’s go.” She did an exterior inspection of the plane while the others got in. Once she was confident the ship was flightworthy, she climbed into the craft.
As she closed the door, bright light nearly blinded her.
“What’s that?” Raptor tried to peek through his fingers to see.
“Stop there! You’re under arrest for smuggling illegal items. Come out of the aircraft with your hands up.”
“Prelin’s ass, it’s the local authorities,” Hawk groaned.
“I can’t see,” Peregrine complained.
Emiko had about five seconds to decide. Surrender or make a run for it?
Of course they’d run for it. She didn’t need to see to find the runway. She turned on audio readout of her position, and the plane roared to life.
In her mind, she pictured the schematic of the airfield, with its latitude and longitude markers. She goosed the throttle, throwing them forward much faster than she normally would ever go on the tarmac, and made it to the runway in short order.
Now turned away from the lights, she could open her eyes.
“Stop!” The loudspeaker ordered. “If you do not, we will be forced to open fire.”
They’d shoot them down?
“Keep going,” Hawk advised. “They’re not going to shoot.”
“How do you know?” Even as she asked, she increased the speed, nudging them toward the minimum for takeoff.
“You’ve got a tail full of orellium. They’re not going to set off a fireball like that.”
Finally. Takeoff speed. She pulled up and the wheels left the ground, giving her that feeling of leaving her stomach below on the ground.
She loved that feeling.
She ascended hard, banked, and set off for their destination. As Hawk had promised, they did not get shot out of the sky.
“You sure that was a good move?” Raptor asked.
“Better than getting caught,” Hawk answered. “Relax, preppy guy. Your girl did good.”
Raptor sighed into his mic, which was an obnoxiously grating sound. “I’m not preppy. That has never been my life.”
“Whatever.” Hawk sounded unperturbed. “You look like it.”
“Yeah, well you look like a bear that’s escaped from a nature preserve,” Raptor shot back.
Emiko recognized this kind of exchange. She’d seen guys do the same sort of insulting one another when what they really meant was approval.
Hawk laughed. “Thanks. I try.”
After the initial thrill of escape faded, Emiko spent the rest of the flight wondering what awaited them upon landing. Would they just be taken into custody then?
After executing another textbook landing, she eased the plane into the slip she’d been assigned by the airport authority.
She let out a deep breath as she removed her headset. “Okay. Let’s go see what’s next.”
Whelkin appeared out of the darkness, momentarily alarming her before she tamped down the urge to throw a punch.
She’d have to work on that.
A man and a woman, dressed in black like the rest of them, appeared behind Whelkin. He directed them toward the cargo.
“You four are with me. Inside for debriefing.”
Emiko hadn’t expected a warm greeting or even a, “Good job!” but the matter-of-factness of his demeanor felt a little underwhelming after their success.
He led them into a small room, similar to the one she’d sat in with Raptor and Captain Martinez before their test mission.
The similarity was so strong, she suspected PAC intelligence, or some division of it, operated this place. That would explain why there had been no local authorities when they arrived. Somehow, that had been handled.
Whelkin gestured at the chairs, and after they’d seated themselves, he sat. “Describe your mission, including why you made the choices you did.”
An hour later, after relaying every excruciating detail and choice they’d made, Emiko felt worn out.
“Why did you leave two able-bodied members behind, rather than take them in with you, as a show of force?” Whelkin asked Hawk.
“For one thing, dirty dealings are not a group activity,” Hawk answered. “One or two people, tops. Four would be strange. Also, it’s better to have people they don’t know about keeping tabs on you.”
Whelkin nodded, then looked to Peregrine. “Why didn’t you take a more active role? You didn’t contribute a lot to this endeavor.”
Peregrine didn’t flinch. “Because others had more experience in the particular situations we encountered. I’d rather follow the lead of people who understand the situation.”
Now he looked to Emiko. “And why did you order pork buns?”
She’d been expecting a question about her piloting choices, or splitting up the team. “Because no one sitting at a table in that bar was just drinking, and I didn’t want to stand out.”
Finally, Whelkin smiled. “Excellent, all four of you. You didn’t do it exactly as I would have, but you used the right logic for all your decisions. You did well together. Any questions?”
Emiko had lots of questions. She just didn’t think she’d get answers to them. Most likely, all she could do was wait until command was ready to reveal things.
“All right then. I do have this little bit of news.” He handed an infoboard to her. “Your name has been corrected. You’re officially Falcon now.”
“Nah, that just sounds wrong,” Hawk said. “You should change it back to Fallon. We’ve gotten used to it.”
Raptor smiled. “I have to agree.”
Even Peregrine nodded.
“It doesn’t match. You’re Avian unit.” Whelkin looked mildly exasperated.
“Don’t care.” Hawk shrugged. “She’s Fallon.
Whelkin shook his head and looked at her. “What do you say?”
She looked at Raptor, Hawk, and Peregrine, and felt a thread of a bond beginning to form. After seeing Hawk and Peregrine in action, she believed they could work together.
Letting them name her would help form that bond. “Yep. From here on out, I’m Fallon.”
She handed the infoboard back to Whelkin.
He shook his head again, but smiled. “I’ll see what I can do. It’s an unusual request to change the name of a Blackout member.”
Her breath froze in her chest.
He’d said it out loud. Until that moment, she hadn’t been sure Blackout existed. It was a whisper. A rumor. A conspiracy theory, even, depending on one’s politics.
She’d known she’d be a spec op or a black op. It had always been her plan. But being a member of Blackout took even that to a new level.
Whelkin broke the silence. “Yes, it’s real. And now you’re part of it. I hope you’re prepared for that, since there’s no going back now.”
She exchanged looks with the others. They didn’t want to go back. They were all in this, one hundred percent.
“All right,” Whelkin said. “Let’s get back to campus. You four need to get to your classes in the morning and carry on as usual. Remember, you’re just college kids, dealing with the end of third year.”
“Like we can forget,” Hawk said. “Math is kicking my ass.”
Fallon and Raptor laughed. Hawk was just so rough around the edges and tough. He was nothing like an officer should be.
And maybe that was a good thing.
Whelkin didn’t look offended, though he could have taken exception to such a breach in protocol. He didn’t insist on all the typical bows in informal situations, but talking back like Hawk had done just wasn’t done.
“It kicked mine, too,” he admitted. “Keep at it.”
TWO WEEKS LATER, Fallon had completed her classes. All that remained was to prepare for finals and the end-of-year championships that would determine the class rankings for skills like archery, hand-to-combat, and knife throwing.
She was no archer, but she intended to win the second two.
She and Raptor had settled into a somewhat different pattern. He stayed at his dorm some nights, and at hers some nights. Every now and then, she went to stay with him.
They got along as well as ever, and their chemistry remained strong. They’d fallen into a weird valley, though, of not knowing what to do about their relationship. Whether to forge ahead with it or just be teammates. Somehow.
She kept waiting for the answer to come to her, but it didn’t.
Each night when she went to bed, she wondered if she’d be yanked awake and sent on another mission. So far it hadn’t happened.
She had started joining Hawk at his favorite bar for drinks every two or three nights. She had a better handle on his personality now and his sense of humor was growing on her. She’d have to get used to some of his other habits, like profuse swearing and a habit of giving people a lecherous head-to-toe stare down.
“Tell you what,” she said as she finished her flask of sake. The night of their first mission had given her a taste for it. “After the championships, when the year is completely over, I say we invite Peregrine and Raptor here and see who falls off their stool first.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “I like it. Let’s do that. I hope you’re not competing in any events I’m in, though, because you’ll lose, and I don’t want to hear you whining about it.”
She laughed. “Lose? You have no idea.”
He scoffed at her. “Little thing like you? You look like an origami championship would be too rough on you.”
Now he was just screwing with her. He dwarfed her in size, and she didn’t have Peregrine’s strong physique, but there was no mistaking that she was fit.
She rolled her eyes. “We can’t all be built like an ox. Some of us have to do more with less.”
He laughed. “Well, you give it your best.”
She snorted.
It was fun, joking around with him.
“You and Raptor fighting?” he asked.
“No. Why?”
“He asked me out for pizza.”
When she looked at him, he said, “Not like that. I mean, he’s cute and all, but he’s entirely hung up on you. But he asked if I was hungry, and I said yes, and he said he’d pay. So I made him regret that decision, because I can eat more than you can imagine.”
“Believe me, I can entirely imagine it.”
This time, he snorted at her.
“So, what did you talk about?” she asked.
“Eh. Nothing particular. He seems like a good guy. I won’t hate knowing him.”
“What about Peregrine?”
“I knew her a little before, and we grab some food now and then. We understand each other.”
Hm. It seemed they were all hanging out together on different schedules. She supposed that was good, all of them forming their own relationships. They should all probably spend more time together. Maybe there was a sport they all liked or something.
“Now you’ve gone all thoughtful,” he scowled at her. “What’s with that?”
“I’m not,” she denied. “Maybe I’m drunk.”
“Hardly. I’ve seen you drink way more than that. For a little thing, you can pack it away okay.”
She took that as a compliment. Hawk put great store by eating and drinking.
“What about me?” she asked.
“What about you?”
“Think you’ll hate knowing me?”
He studied her over the rim of his glass. “Guess we’ll see. I don’t hate you yet, so that’s promising.”
“Still think I’m a spoiled rich girl?”
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t other things, too. Just like I’m street trash and more things, too.”
“Huh.” She found that surprisingly pragmatic of him.
“What?” He frowned at her.
“When you put it that way, it sounds okay. Street trash or spoiled rich girl. Those things are relative.” To him, she imagined she was a rich girl. “It’s the other things we are that matter, right?”
“Yeah. So long as they overshadow the rest. That’s what I think, anyway. But maybe I’m just making excuses for myself. Trying to sound better than I am.”
It was her first glimpse into his true thoughts. The thoughts they all had, that they hid from others. Doubt, worry, fear.
“You’re not.” She pushed the pretzel knots at him. “I wouldn’t share my pretzel knots with someone like that.”
“They’re my pretzel knots,” he grumbled. But he grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth, whole.
“I wouldn’t share your pretzel knots with someone like that, either.”
He grinned at her.
“MAKE ME SOMEONE ELSE.”
Peregrine stared at Emiko. “What?”
“Do your makeup thing and make me look like someone else. I want to see how it works.” She’d met Peregrine in her room, where her disguising tools were.
“Why?”
“First, because I need to have a sense of your abilities. Our job before didn’t give you a chance to show what you can do. Second, because I should learn what it’s like to be in costume. Surely it ta
kes practice to be able to embody someone else.”
Peregrine slightly pursed her lips. For her, it was a look of deep thoughtfulness. “Reasonable. I don’t have a lot of time today, so I’ll work with your existing facial structure, but I can do something more elaborate tomorrow.”
“Okay. What should we do?”
Peregrine gave a sharp nod of decision, and Fallon felt a sudden sense of nervousness. What would Peregrine make her into?
“A glamourous holo-vid type,” Peregrine decided.
“Me?” Fallon laughed. “I’m as girl next door as it gets. I’m not even the especially cute girl next door.”
“I can make it happen, with your face and hair. You’ve got the body for it, though you’re a little short. A shame I don’t have a dress and high platform shoes for you to wear, to really get the feel of it. We’ll have to improvise. That’s the thing you need to learn—how to embody your character and move like they would.”
“I can move like a holo-vid star,” Fallon argued. “It’s just walking and posing, acting like you’re amazing.”
“No. It isn’t. Sit.” Peregrine indicated the chair.
She sat.
Peregrine reached into her closet and pulled out a huge case. She set it on the desk, opened the lid, and it expanded to what seemed like three times its original size, with tons of little drawers and cubbies.
“Wow.”
“Be still,” Peregrine ordered, rubbing something on her face.
Other stuff followed that. Then more stuff of a different, yet also flesh-toned color. And then something berry-colored. Then powder. And then, somehow, more stuff.
It was exhausting. No wonder she didn’t wear makeup.
“I’m going to use a wig, for the sake of time,” Peregrine said. “Sit still and don’t touch your face.”
It wasn’t easy. Her face felt weird. Her eyes felt kind of wet and gloopy around the edges. She wanted to find a mirror and sneak a peek, but didn’t want to get in trouble.
So she obediently sat still and didn’t touch her face.
Then Peregrine was pulling at her hair, pinning it up, and settling a big hairy blanket on her head.
It was itchy, and she immediately hated it. But she remained still.
Peregrine fussed with the thing, made adjustments and styled it, and finally stood back and stared at Fallon.
