Non Ducor, Duco 〈 Mikayuu 〉

❌40- Hope to Die❌

"Yuu, get this customer for me, I think I left the coffee grounds from yesterday in the kitchen."

"On it, but don't take too long," He said, barely giving me a glance in my direction. A selfish part of me wanted to force him to look only at me for the next hour, but the rest knew that work came first.

"Update," I ordered the moment I was out of the human prying ear, shifting around for the grounds. Cynthia's presence whirred to life in the security camera nearby.

"Pension's slight interference with Alyssum's job was not intentional, she said. Oh- You have a job," She chirped. "And you're not gonna like it. Neither will Yuu, actually. You'll both hate it equally."

"Well," I huffed, lifting the cardboard box from the steel counter. "It will have to wait until Rush hour's over."

And it did. Once the last person filed out the door, Cynthia's static was cut out from my ears.

"Wow, the firewall you put on that program is fucking killer," Sombra whistled, technological voice disguising what I assumed to be an accent of some sorts.

"So you do know where I work."

"Of course I do. Nothing about you is a secret, Blue."

She doesn't know where I live.

She doesn't know about the words that Omission spoke to me.

She doesn't know who Cynthia truly is.

"Of course," I say, raising my hands in surrender before continuing my collection of coffee cups. "So, since you're here, might as well explain yourself."

Yuu met my gaze briefly, mouthing something to me that almost got me to crack a smile. His chin was resting on the heels of his palms, making him look just as bored as he was with Sombra. I, on the other hand, was intrigued by her.

'Not like you care.'

"So, " she began. "I have a shit ton of pre-planned missions for you that involve traveling. The first- you have to go to Dubai for. There's a renegade that's been fucking with the Black Market there. She's constantly stealing back our victims before they're dead and releasing the slaves."

'Good,' Yuu mouthed. I shrugged in response.

"Ghost, your task is to figure out everything on her. Beast, you have to neutralize her."

"Whoop-dee fucking do," I groaned, Yuu barking a laugh as I passed him. He knew I would do whatever the hell I wanted for this job while Sombra only had a hunch.

"And the week after that . . . How about working with Alyssum? We need data from L.A, which has tight security as of now," Sombra says. It wasn't a request, we would have to work with Alyssum regardless.

"That's gonna be great," Yuu said with fake enthusiasm. "You know he hates me, right?"

"He does?" I asked with confusion. He merely gives me a nod.

"Of course I do. But it's not really hate. That's an exaggeration. More like fear of what you can do."

"Ah. Makes sense, actually."

"Wait, someone actually fears him? I just thought he was a piece of shit," I asked, bouncing away from Yuu's joking punch. "I'm serious, pet. You weren't really a threat in my mind."

"Homeland security thinks I'm a threat. And most antivirus protection services," He pointed out with a sly grin.

"And yet I get my name in the news more."

"I-"

"He's got you there," Sombra notated. "Makes it easier for the society to keep up with you, y'know."

"The reports aren't entirely correct, though."

"Of course they aren't. It's mainstream news. I mean, when Pension dropped off the map, they were worried about what Omission would do. The only dangerous thing that woman's ever done was create Olympia."

Yuu looked like he would rather like to argue against that statement.

"What're you trying to hide, pet," I whispered in his ear, hands trapping him by the waist.

"I'll tell you tonight, babe," he murmured back, gesturing to the security camera nearby.

"Anyways, your jobs in between are already planned. You'll get the info as it arrives."

Then the next customer of the day entered, and Sombra left.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, minus one fuck up on Yuu's part. He had accidentally put the frothier on without any coffee for it to frothier.

"Yuu," I began later that night, inserting the magazine into my pistol. I was sprawled across my bed, his already prepared form sitting beside me. "What were you going to say about Omission?"

"Oh," he said, almost as if he had entirely forgotten. "She is dangerous. Sombra has a record of hating Omission, though. They were enemies behind Pension's back. But when she dropped off the Black Market's radar, it wasn't from death or anything. Pension just . . . Escaped the grasp the society held on her. Hyacinth told me that she must have wanted to have a normal life. Omission went off the map, too. But she came back because it was the only job that could keep her steady."

"Hm."

Pension had lived a normal life. She must have had children. I wonder what they were like. The stories Pension would have told them. My mother used to tell me stories, as well. About her friend from San Francisco that got into all sorts of trouble with her.

I never met that friend.

"What's going through your mind?" Yuu asked as he held out a hand to hold me up.

"I had a thought, pet."

"Shoot," he shrugged, hand still extended. I met those green eyes of his that I used to hate, now relishing in.

"What if we could drop off the radar, too? Would you?"

He froze. I knew what was on his mind. His mother's life was on the line- the only
Reason he did what he did. Why he killed who he killed, whether he knew it or not. The only reason he was obedient was because he had his mother.

I disobeyed orders because I have nothing to lose.

Then he relaxed. A plan in his head must have formed in that brilliant mind of his, should we use it.

"Of course, babe."