The lynx sat quietly in the corner with Nutmeg carefully sharpening the matte blade of a knife. The chatter of the two was suddenly interrupted by a knock at door beside them. "Is the nightshade in bloom?" Nutmeg asked to the other side of the heavy steel door.
"Nah," a voice replied "but the rosemary is ready."
She pulled the heavy slide to unlock the door and hefted it open. With this; Derrek, Dakota, and Rin entered the safe house. Kai sat focused on the blade in her paws.
"Good to have you here." Tundra said as the group entered the living room
"Makita had to make a layover in Alaska to pick the first shipment of supplies." Dakota replied, "but he'll be back in a day or so."
"Where's Wake?"
"He's keeping Makita company, honestly I think he's just needing more time before he comes back to Russia."
"Alright, so anyways, Rin, how's Russia treating you?"
Kai's ears perked up.
"A little warmer than I expected." She responded.
"The hell are you doing here?!" Kai yelled springing up from her chair, gripping the knife tightly in her paw.
"I could ask you the same question." Rin snarled through her teeth sweeping her coat the side reaching for her handgun.
"Oi!" The clacking of a 12 guage resonated from the next room. "Settle down before I gotta knock some sense inta both of you" Arizona boomed brandishing a shotgun. "Now that I have your attention, take a seat at the table and, one at a time, I want you to explain what happened." Arizona had always been the peacekeeper, despite his average build, he had a presence of power about him, the sort you could feel when he entered the room.
"First, I wanna know why we're both here." Rin spoke.
"Fair enough. There's an ARO facility here in Siberia, and we need to get as much out of it as we can."
"Wait,"
Kai and Rin erupted in unison, "You expect me to work with this bi-"
"Yes, yes I do. So, back to the matter at hand, why are you at each others throats?"
Kai elaborated calmly, "This woman has no self-control. Long story short, there was a contract in Saudi Arabia, where we were to execute one guy at a public conference and make it quiet. Rin, she decided it would be a great idea to take out everyone associated with him too."
"A: We would've got paid more, and B: They were this guy's closest associates."
"They we're more than that, I looked into them after the op, and these were folks with families, husbands and wives, kids even. And you killed em' just cause they worked for a guy that was running a chemical weapons trade they likely didn't even have any knowledge about."
"Think about the big picture, any one of them could've picked up his mantle and picked up things where he left off, there'd be more Phosgene in circulation than we could ever imagine."
There was a fire in their eyes a flame fueled by the seething rage left to age and finally come to light.
"Alright, alright, lets calm down now." Tundra said. "You're both here and you've gotta get along just for the time being alright?"
The pair growled at one another before slowly settling down. Later that evening Tundra sat down beside Kai and Corvus upstairs to offer them some dinner.
"Uhh, What's that?" Corvus asked as Tundra set the bowl down on the messy table.
"Pelmeni! It's a traditional Russian dish I figured I'd whip up since we're here."
"I didn't know you could cook." Kai said surprised.
"Or Russian." Corvus added
"Nah, I ain't Russian, but I've had one too many jobs here and just kinda picked it up over the years."
"Huh." Corvus mumbled as he filled his mouth with the dumplings.
"I like to take a little bit of local culture with me."
"I think I'll offer a bowl to Rin too, see you two in a bit." Tundra said as he descended the staircase
"Gah," Kai yelled to the hybrid with a full maw, "She can starve!"
Tundra chuckled as he scooped a fresh bowl of pelmeni from the pot and seasoned it. He creaked open the back door.
"Hey Rin." Tundra spoke sticking his snout through the doorway into the alley. "I gotcha some food."
She took a look at his grin sticking out of the door and rolled her eyes before focusing in on the cigarette in her paw. "I'm good."
"Aww c'mon, but I made it special for you."
"My appetite has been spoiled." She snarled.
"Alright, your loss." His hand slowly raised a fork to his mouth in the crack of the door chewing slowly.
A small chuckle emerged from Rin as Tundra shut the door as he pulled his head out of the it. The door creeped open once more as the bowl slid out to the porch.
"Alright, I'm back." Tundra called as he climbed into the upstairs of the safe house once more.
"So, when are we planning on briefing?" Corvus asked.
"Before we leave." Tundra said with a smirk.
Corvus huffed.
"About sixish tomorrow evening. And we'll ship out around seven."
Tundra rolled up into a ball on a blanket in the corner of the room.
"Y'know you could probably just share a bed with one of us." Kai mentioned
"It's alright." I'd hate to be a bother to any of you and besides I've gotta stay here and run the command center your comfort and quality of sleep is way more important than mine." Tundra returned as he wiggled around getting comfortable.
Kai got up and spread a blanket across him. "G'night man."
"Good night." Tundra mumbled.
