Risk and Rebel

58: THE CLEAN UP CREW

"See ya later, Risky," Legion said as he and Sergeant headed for the exit.

"Yeah, we'll see you soon, I'm sure," Sarge said with a cheeky grin.

"Don't have too much fun without us, all right?" Snag asked with a too-big smile of her own. Her arm was wrapped around Gunner's, who nodded at both Rebel and I with a pleased smile of his own.

"You'll be in contact?" Imitate asked, her pace slowing as she and Desmond passed us. They were holding hands, and Desmond was still being incredibly purposeful about not looking anywhere a dead body may have been.

"Kind of have to be," I pointed out, my focus on Desmond. "You still planning on being helpful?"

Desmond's bright eyes skipped to mine immediately. "Oh, yeah. Definitely. For sure. Though you weren't, um ... clear on what that would look like—"

"Nothing outside of your wheelhouse," Rebel said. "No offense, kid, but we really don't ever want you in the field again."

Imitate managed to conceal her laughter.

Desmond nodded. "No offense taken. I don't ever want to be in the field again. Ever."

Imitate did laugh at that, the sound causing Desmond to flush red as a sheepish smile pulled at his lips. She tugged him along and gave Rebel and I one last wave before they headed out of the room after the rest.

"And another one!" Catatonic called, this time flat out shoving a man in a suit out of the room and in McCann's general direction.

Slick approached us next, her steps slow. She was watching the detectives work, and there was a far-off look in her eyes that I couldn't quite interpret. She managed to pull herself out of it, and gave Rebel and I a tired smile. "I'm glad you had it handled. Hardly surprised, but still."

"Outlaw doing okay?" I asked.

Slick nodded, her gaze dropping to my shoulder. Her eyes narrowed. "You need to get that looked at, Risky."

"I'm aware," I said.

"I'll deal with it," Rebel assured her.

"You really think it was a good idea to leave Outlaw on her own?" I asked then, arching a brow.

"Oh, she's not on her own," Slick said with a devious sort of smile. "I left her with Liam. He's the contact I had ... the ex-boyfriend," she clarified with an eye roll. "Couldn't get her to shut up about that part. It only got worse when he gave her pain meds."

"Does he know to keep her away from anything that can be turned into an explosive device?" Rebel asked.

"Let's just say I made sure she had melatonin in her and that was halfway asleep before I left," Slick said with an undeniably affectionate smile. "She'll be fine, though. A few stitches in her, but she should be at full capacity in a week or two." She gave a silent sigh then, glancing back at the cops when Catatonic shoved a man and woman out.

"I'm guessing you have a plan," I said, drawing her attention back to me. "Or at least, I'm hoping so."

This time her smile was closed-mouthed. "Something of one," she admitted with a shrug. "I figured sticking around London for a while wasn't such a bad idea. Since LASAR is a thing of the past, and we don't have to worry about the Kinetic trying to kill us ..."

"You won't get bored?" I challenged.

Slick grinned. "Not with what we'll be doing, no. Turns out Liam's fairly close to the detectives over there," she said with a nod toward McCann and Elson. "We were given an offer. Not a half bad one either, under the circumstances."