ᴄʟᴏɴᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ꜱʜᴏᴛꜱ

Transparency Part 1 (Tech x Reader)

On your way out, you shove Wrecker and dodge his rejoiner to irritate him. It works, and he chases you to the door before Hunter calls both of your names and tells you to straighten up. Like little kids, you saunter outside and return to the banter once out of sight.

"Another food fight?" Tech says as you approach the shuttle. It looks like he is completing the pre-mission systems check.

"Y/n started it," Says Wrecker, quickly followed by Omega's agreement.

Tech nods, "I assume you finished it then, Wrecker?"  

You chortle, climbing up the steps of the Marauder, "The owner of the restaurant finished it."

After cleaning up, you wait in Cid's parlor for the final arrival to show face before the briefing can begin.  It turns out, Hunter's prediction is wrong.  The one holding up the briefing isn't a part of your main crew.  You seat yourself next to Tech at the bar and ask him about the ship's status. Simple small talk, which neither of you are phenomenal at, but you had made an agreement a while back to practice on each other to improve the skill.  Today's subject is simple, so it doesn't take long to cover.

He turns to you after the previous topic is exhausted and says, "Y/n, I've had the intention of speaking with you about something rather serious," 

"Oh, no--did I break something?"

He smiles at the attempted humor, then opens his mouth to reply just as a tall figure enters the room. You both turn to watch the rugged woman stride to Hunter and offer her hand in greeting. The corners of Tech's lips turn down just a little bit, but you notice the wheels turning behind his eyes.

"What were you gonna say? You probably have time before the briefing..."

"No—it can wait," He says, getting up.  "We do need to begin the meeting. This is a time sensitive operation."  You stand and follow him to the rest of the group.

"This is Hunter, your team leader," Offers Cid.  "I'm sure you know everything about everyone here, but you might wanna act like you don't so ya don't scare 'em away.  They're like scared little bugs when someone knows a little more than they want them to.  Trust me."

The newcomer chuckles and scans everyone.  Her eyes linger on Tech as she smirks, "How's the weather up there, brown eyes?"

He tilts his head at her, "Seeing as I am only a few centimeters taller than the average height in the room, I would presume it is the same as at your level.  On a different note, my mutations objectively are aimed at my brain.  Iris pigmentation was not affected in any way when I was..."

"Explain it later, Goggles.  We've got a briefing to get through.  Go ahead and explain your brilliant plan."  Tech eyes Cid for her accentuation of the word, but gives no further attention to her.

It's a standard product retrieval aside from the bounty hunter, whom you come to learn is named Portia, that is paid to help out for her experience dealing with this sect of pirates. She is impressive to look at, even making you feel meager, though you yourself are relatively tall. Her eyes are piercing and her lips thin. You notice her insanely intensive expressions as Tech speaks about the details of the mission and that her eyes rarely leave him. She doesn't take the time to observe the others—only Tech.  For some reason that you don't understand, she strikes some kind of nerve in you.

"A recap," Tech says, looking up from the hologram blueprints of the ship, "Wrecker and y/n will quietly go to the bridge so that they can make a distraction and set the charges.  From there while Echo and I disable the alarm systems.  Once we are finished, Hunter and Portia will retrieve the item.  We will all meet back at the Marauder in the hangar afterwards.  It should take only an hour at most, and we'll be off their ship before the pirates have realized what happened.