Liu was decked in all black, just like me.
She was standing in the hangar, near TIA's private jet, looking at some documents. And just like me, she was wearing a black top, black jeans and combat boots. The only difference was that I was wearing an army jacket, and she wasn't.
I walked up to where she was standing. "Hey."
She looked up and gave me a small smile. "Hi, Agent. I don't think we've properly talked before. For quite some time now we'll be working together, so I don't want there to be any formalities between us. You can call me Miranda."
She held out her hand. I shook it, offering a smile of my own.
"And you can call me Kaia."
She grinned at my outfit. "I see we have similar fashion sense. I think that means we'll get along great."
I chuckled, just as Soler came strutting along.
Well, he wasn't exactly strutting, but to me it seemed like he was.
He shook hands with Miranda, spoke with her for a few minutes and then we all boarded the plane.
As soon as the plane took off for London, Liu (or rather, Miranda) brought out a plan of the safe house where Caldwell and Beaumont had been hiding. We studied the plan carefully.
It just intensified my doubts even further.
"How could they have possibly escaped from here?" I asked, pointing at the rooms. "All entry and exit points have motion sensors and alarms. The main door has a TIA authorised advanced lock system."
Miranda sighed. "I know. That's what I've been wondering too. We'll have to actually go to the safe house to confirm the layout though. Maybe we'll find some means of escape there which isn't shown in this plan."
I nodded and laid back in my seat. I sometimes developed a migraine, especially on flights, I had no clue why. And this was one of those times.
I'd just closed my eyes for two minutes when an annoying voice spoke up, worsening my headache.
"Already taking a break, Winter? We haven't even started yet."
Without opening my eyes, I replied, "Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, Soler. And I think if you jump to conclusions this much, you'll soon be able to bungee jump from the Eiffel Tower like a pro."
I heard Miranda trying to suppress a snort, but failing. I could feel Soler's glare burning into my side.
"I feel sorry for you Winter. Poor girl can never match up to my level of shooting and so she tries to make up for it with her lame insults."
"I know you're better than me at combat, but I never felt the need to match up to you. I already know I'm far superior when it comes to spying and gathering intel, so trust me Soler, I prefer staying in my lane. You'd do well to stay in yours."
I opened my eyes for a second to see Miranda glancing between us with an amused expression.
"Do you two always argue this much?"
Soler and I locked eyes; I could feel the burning intensity of his glare. And I knew my own stony gaze wasn't any less hostile.
Without breaking eye contact, Soler replied, "Yeah, she's a pain in my ass."
Miranda massaged her temple. "Damn, you both need to learn to cooperate. Otherwise we won't get anywhere in this mission. As much as I loved witnessing your back-and-forth, it won't be any good for us as a team."
That seemed to sober us up. Yes, I realised, in order to work as a team, I needed to cooperate with all my team members. As much as I'd have liked to decapitate him, I wouldn't be able do it while he was in my team.
This is why I didn't like being in a team. Too much unnecessary baggage (ie people) and one too many jerks to deal with.
I exhaled. "Fine, I'll cooperate as long as he doesn't provoke me. But I can't promise I'll never snap, because I have a really short fuse when it comes to him."
Miranda looked pointedly at Soler. He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them again, looking defeated. "Okay, I'll cooperate too. At least, I'll try."
Miranda smiled. "Great. Now that that's out of the way, let's get back where we were. Kaia, are you feeling okay? It looked like you were having a headache back there."
I nodded. "I'm getting a migraine. It happens sometimes, especially on flights. But it's fine, I can continue. I've been through much worse."
Miranda nodded. "If you feel so. You can have a painkiller before resuming though."
I complied and gulped down an aspirin with some water, before getting back to work.
We spent the rest of the flight poring over the plans and the case file. Soon, we heard the pilot's voice crackling through the speaker.
"Agents, we're landing at the Heathrow Airport in 15 minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and close any overhead bins, if open."
I took a deep breath. London, here we come.
a/n: what do we think about kaia and marco's dynamic so far?