Risk and Rebel

59: EVERY ENDING IS A BEGINNING

"Yup," Catatonic said, popping the 'p.' "What'd she say it was supposed to do? Implode instead of explode? What good is that, anyway?"

"It means instead of debris flying it'll all get sucked in and compacted," Low informed him, pulling herself up before flipping midair and sticking a rather impressive landing. "Timer's for five minutes, right?" Her question was directed toward Rebel and I.

"That's what Law said," I agreed. "She said she wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to clear the area. That in mind," I nodded pointedly at Cat, "you need to set it and punch the timer. It's time for us to get out of here."

"Right, 'cause the great Risk and Rebel actually have a checklist of things to accomplish," Cat drawled.

"You guys come up with a new name for us?" Gunner asked, shifting his stance next to Snag so he could wrap one of his big arms around her shoulders.

"We're in process," Rebel said.

"Okay," Catatonic interrupted. "Button's pushed. Time to turn tail and run."

It took us all less than five minutes to clear the building and reach the SUV we'd ridden in. We all piled in, and I'd driven us almost the entire way down the gravel road that led to the building before we heard the loud foom of Outlaw's work in action. When I checked the rear view mirror, what used to be a shrinking building in the distance was ... nothing. Gone.

Gunner gave a low whistle, having twisted in his seat to look behind us. "Outlaw outdid herself with that one," he mused.

"It was her last hurrah with us for a while," Rebel said. "And we all know how much she likes to leave a big impression."

"In more ways than one," Snag chuckled.

"So you don't have a new team name," Catatonic said, returning to the conversation we'd been having before he set up the bomb. "Can we at least get a hint as to which way you're leaning ...? It is gonna be an acronym like LASAR was, or did you want to just be completely unique individualists?"

"Cat," Low said calmly from beside him.

"Yes, dear?"

"Shut up."

He put a hand to his chest. "You wound me, Low."

Gunner and Snag both rolled their eyes at Cat's theatrics.

Rebel leaned on the arm of his seat. I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my face, so without looking, I asked, "What?" in Russian.

"We should tell them," he said, also in Russian. "It would get Cat off our backs about a new 'team name,' as he puts it. Plus it'd be good for them."

I didn't roll my eyes, though the urge was there. Instead I gave him a quick look with narrowed eyes. He just continued to stare at me expectantly, thick brows high on his forehead. I gave a sigh eventually. "Fine," I retorted in Russian before switching back to English; "Catatonic, Low. Rebel and I have news for you."

Both of them perked up at that. "You do?" Catatonic asked, trying not to sound hopeful and failing.

"Yeah, we do," Rebel agreed. "Risk and I decided that in ... whatever we're going to call ourselves, the two of you are going to be an official team. Team Bissotwo."

That shocked Cat into silence, while Low let out a whoop of celebration. She shoved Catatonic's shoulder when all he did was sit there in stupefied silence, staring at the two of us with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Did you hear them? We're a team! Officially!"

"I— we— team?" Catatonic squeaked. "For real?"

"For real," I confirmed. "Desmond's already sorting out our logistics in the database he's setting up for us. I had him put you two together as a team, which puts us at four teams in our new set up."

"Four?" Gunner asked curiously.

"Yeah, we finally made contact with Bar and Flip," Rebel said. "Turns out when LASAR was attacked, they were in Brazil. The two of them went into hiding in the Amazon. That's why they were so hard to find. But Desmond managed, so they're rejoining us."

"Wait, so that just leaves Pride as the last surviving member we never made contact with," Gunner said. "Did Desmond manage to find him, too?"

"He did, actually," I said with a crooked smile. "Pride's currently meeting up with Rage and Bravo."

"So that means— I can't believe it," Catatonic gave a loud, near hysterical laugh. "Every surviving member of LASAR is going to be back together again?"

"Sans Team Delta," Gunner reminded him.

"Yeah, but let's be real, we're still going to see plenty of them regardless of if they're 'officially' with us or not," Catatonic said with a dismissive wave.

"Yeah, Cat," I said, with a small smile that only Rebel saw. "We're all going to be together."

That time the shouts and whooping in celebration came from all of the four individuals in the back of the SUV.