Song of Extinction

Chapter 8

"You seem to be distracted. Is it because we didn't get to go on a mission again?" Lyra asked when the others were out of sight. It was incredible how well she knew the agent after such a short time together.

"Perhaps." she responded, shrugging. The strange tension that appeared earlier didn't want to leave her shoulders, but she didn't want to damper her partner's good mood because of a bad feeling. "I'm not that mad about it."

"Now that we're partners we need to trust each other. You can tell, me anything, Asha." the agent cringed while her partner grinned at her. It was the equivalent of throwing villain's words in his own face, except they were not enemies.

"Really, it's nothing. Maybe I'm just tired."

Lyra wrinkled her nose but said nothing, and for a moment Asha debated telling her about her bad feeling, but she forgot all about it when she saw two people rounding a corner and heading their way. It was unmistakably Jazz with Blank, who was dragging her feet behind her. The younger girl waved to them enthusiastically and jogged closer. However she slowed down when she noticed Lyra, who leaned from behind Asha to see what was going on. Since there was no way to pretend she was not coming towards them, Jazz awkwardly joined them and stood close to Asha, not really looking at Lyra at all.

"Hello, Jasmine." the occultist greeted her with a warm smile but the girl said nothing in response, just jabbed her foot into the ground. "I'm glad to see you're doing fine."

Blank greeted them with a nod from a distance, but stopped at the end of the corridor in front of a snack machine. She was clearly in no mood to talk.

"Where you going, girls?" Asha asked.

"Blank's partner wanted to talk with her in the cafeteria. And since we're apparentely inseparable now, I need to go with her"

"And how are you finding your bodyguard? You and Blank getting along fine?"

"She doesn't seem to like me." Jazz said, pointing her gaze towards the agent's face and keeping it there. Was she really going to ignore Lyra throughout the whole conversation?

"I think she doesn't like the job, not you." Lyra chuckled, once again getting no response. Asha looked disapprovingly at Jasmine, raising one of her eyebrows in questioning manner. The girl finally sighed and lowered her eyes onto the occultist's boots, and Asha counted that as a win. "I know we started off on a wrong foot. I'm Lyra."

The occultist extended her hand, prompting Jazz to move slightly back with a look of disgust.

"I know who you are." she stated quietly after some uncomfortable silence, looking at the occultist with steel gaze. Lyra dropped her hand and her smile faded. "You introduced yourself when you came to bribe my father"

Both agents were stunned. The silence was once again absolute and Asha wasn't sure if she wanted to immediately evacuate from the premises or stay and watch this trainwreck of a conversation happen.

"How do you... ?" Lyra asked.

"I sneaked down to the living room to eavesdrop when you came. We used to get visits from the Protection Unit from time to time and I loved listening to them. I was sure that was the same thing as always, but lo and behold, when I peek in it turns out there are a bunch of hooded figures in our house! They all introduce themselves nicely and start chatting with my father like old friends. Can you guess who was the one to speak first?"

"I apologize for that. We came to your father with a certain offer..."

"I know. I listened to the whole thing. You disgust me. How could you buy off my father and destroy humanity's chance at a vaccine?"