Double-O-Seven

"Meanie, stop it!" I whined while fidgeting on the counter, unbelievably tempted to give him the biggest pout in the entire history of all pouts.

"Shut it, Trouble! And stop fucking wiggling. This shit is impossible to clean off if it gets on your skin," he warned me, the lipstick in his hand poised like a weapon in front of me. "And put that lip back in."

I may have pouted a tiny bit.

"I don't see why it's such a big deal," I argued, wanting to get off this stupid counter and join the other boys in Victor's room. I could hear their laughter through the bathroom door and it made my stomach squirm as I felt like a toddler in time out.

"It's a huge fucking deal!" Gabriel exclaimed, putting the lipstick down and grabbing my cheeks. He squished them together, making my lips pucker into a fish face before I squealed and pulled away. "This is your first official mission, Trouble. I spent hours looking for the perfect outfit, so don't you fucking dare tell me it isn't a big deal."

"Gabriel," I said his name cautiously, looking down at my outfit and back up at him unsurely. "I'm wearing all black. This couldn't have taken hours."

"That's not just any black, Sang!" Gabriel gaped at me, looking so offended I glanced back down at my attire to make sure I hadn't missed something. Nope, still black. "In fact, the only part of your outfit that's actually black are the fucking socks, and that's only because Mr. B didn't want me to buy something you already had. I can't fucking work with that man sometimes!"

"Gabriel," I repeated, my confusion only growing as I pointed at my shirt. "My shirt is black, and so are my pants, shoes, and hat."

"That's not black, Trouble," Gabriel shook his head tiredly, leaning forward to place his hands on my hips and tugging lightly on the shirt fabric. "This shirt? It's ebony, and it looks fucking amazing on you. Do you know how impossible it is to find a spandex tank top with a sweetheart neckline? It took me forty minutes to find that one, and a manager even tried to kick me out of the store."

"But shouldn't I be wearing a turtleneck-" I started to ask, but Gabriel planted a finger on my lips. He nudged me lightly, tugging my hip towards him and I hopped off the counter.

"These pants?" Gabriel cut me off, removing the finger and sliding his hands around to cup my backside lightly. I blushed slightly at his forwardness, but couldn't hide the smile forming on my lips. Gabriel's lips broadened into a grin, but his eyes didn't lose their serious light. "Café noir, and I'm going to be honest with you. Those fuckers in Victor's room are probably going to be staring at your pretty ass all night from the way these pants hug it. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm fucking not."

I just shook my head and smiled at him.

"And this hat! This bloody hat!" Gabriel cried, giving my bottom a quick squeeze before bringing his hands up to snake through the loose hair underneath my hat. He tugged lightly, and my head leaned back to look up at him. Gabriel wasn't that much taller than me, and I had the perfect view of his beautiful blue eyes from this angle. Their sparkle was hypnotizing, and I tried not to get lost in them. "The only ski hats left over from Winter were brown and orange ones. Or fucking ugly puke green. I had to nab this one from the men's section at a ski store because all of the girl ones were bright and sparkly."

"You're wonderful, Gabriel," I blurted out, feeling completely overwhelmed by the passion and thought he put into a simple outfit for me, even if it still looked black to me. I took it all for granted.

"Shush, Trouble," Gabriel ordered as he rolled his eyes, but I saw a light blush tint his cheeks. He gave my lips a quick peck before stepping back and grabbing a comb off the counter. I hopped back on the counter, realizing he was ready to get back to work. "And don't even get me started on those shoes! Victor already made enough ignorant comments when we were at the mall..."

I listened to Gabriel ramble on about the shopping trip as he styled the hair that wasn't covered by my hat, but my mind kept drifting back to the mission tonight. My first official mission as an Academy member! It was surreal.

And a little intimidating.

Okay, a lot intimidating.

I slowly moved both hands behind my back to hide their slight shaking.

"How's it going in there?" Victor's voice floated through the door as we heard a light knock.

"Almost done!" Gabriel called back before murmuring under his breath about hats and bobby pins. "Alright, Trouble. You ready for this?"

"Um, yes," I nodded, taking a deep breath and grabbing Gabriel's offered hand. He helped me off the counter before squeezing lightly and letting go. I didn't even have a moment to glance at the mirror before he was ushering me through the bathroom door.

"Shouldn't we be hiding her hair?" Nathan asked as soon as we appeared, and I turned to see him eyeing the hair that was loose around my shoulders.

"I did everything else you fuckers asked!" Gabriel argued, grabbing my hand and squeezing tightly. "You know how much I hate Trouble's hair up, so you can give me this one fucking thing tonight."

I wasn't sure if I should feel offended by that, but I didn't have the heart to argue.

"Gabe, it's not-"

"I think we'll all be worried enough tonight," Gabriel cut Nathan off calmly, but his grip didn't loosen on my hand. "I don't need the weight of Sang getting hat hair on my shoulders all night."

Nathan sighed before turning back to Kota, who cleared his throat.

"Let's go over the preparation one last time," Kota ordered, sending me a warm smile as he motioned to the empty beanbag chair across from him. Gabriel pulled me over, sinking down in the seat and pulling me in after him. "We just went over everyone else's parts, but I'll give you two a brief overview. Victor?"

"I'll be in the van," Victor explained, meeting my eyes with his burning ones. "We already set up surveillance around the house, and I'll be monitoring all of you. I'll also have the central comm for any emergencies."

"North?" Kota called after nodding approvingly at Victor.

"Silas and I will be on extraction in the SUV," North explained, fixing me with a look. "If at any moment you need to get out of there, either run to my car on the Southeast block corner or have Luke get you there."

"Nathan?" Kota prompted next with another nod.

"I'm on lookout with Gabe," Nathan answered seriously. "I'll be across the street from the front entrance, with a view of both the garage and side entrance. I'll see if anyone comes or goes."

"And I'll be in the backyard, in that travesty of a forest they have," Gabriel added in, and Kota nodded.

"Luke?" He asked, turning towards the golden-haired boy lounging across from me.

"Sang and I are on extraction," he flashed me a charming grin. "We got the best gig!"

Kota rolled his eyes pointing at the blueprint in front of us.

"Everyone know their starting positions and all available escape routes?" He asked, tapping the table with a finger.

We all nodded, and I remembered the hours I'd gone over the blueprints and house structure with Luke. We'd planned two dozen escape routes, despite it being a two story house with three doors to the outside.

"So, what are we retrieving?" I asked, looking up from the blueprints and into Kota's eyes. This mission was so finely crafted, but they still hadn't told me what we were actually after.

"Umm," Kota looked suddenly uncomfortable as he avoided making eye contact with me. Heat was creeping up his neck, and I noticed one of his feet shuffling slightly as he stared intently at the floor. "That's not really important, Sang. Luke will grab the item, and he knows what to look for."

I snuck a glance at Luke, who was grinning like a fool, before looking back at Kota in confusion.

"Why won't you tell me?" I asked, doubt crawling into my mind. I was finally in the Academy. We all trusted each other; I thought the time for secrets was over. "You don't trust me?"

"Sang, no!" Kota said quickly, and it was almost drowned out by the sound of the other boys voicing their own assurances. "It's not that. I just don't want you to feel..."

He trailed off with a grimace, as if unsure how to finish what I might feel if I wasn't ignorant.

"Is it...sexual?" I asked in a hushed voice, staring determinedly at Kota as I felt a blush rise up the back of my neck. I turned a brighter red as the rest of the boys burst into laughter, but Kota graced me with a small smile as he shook his head.

"No, Sang, it isn't," he assured me. "What gave you that idea?"

"Well, Luke just looks incredibly too happy for some reason," I explained, pointing at Luke who was still shaking with silent laughter. "And I figured it must be something that would make me uncomfortable if you were hiding it from me."

"Oh, Cupcake, you're precious!" Luke called from the couch, sending me a broad grin and a wink. I snuck my tongue out at him before turning expectantly back to Kota.

"Does the retrieval item have anything to do with the reason you boys aren't freaking out right now?" I asked bluntly.

"Freaking out?" He echoed, both brows scrunching in confusion.

"Yes, this is my first real mission and you guys are so calm," I reasoned, looking at each of them as I spoke. "I half-expected North to roll a life-sized hamster-ball into the room to put me in. I'd like to say it's because you trust me and my abilities, but I know that's not it."

"Sang baby, you know we trust your abilities. You blew us away at bootcamp," North said, looking at me so intently I lost my train of thought for a moment. "You wouldn't have been able to join the Academy if we didn't fully trust you."

"North, yesterday you got nervous when I was jumping on the trampoline," I sighed, shaking my head at him. "Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Sean aren't even here, which means it can't be that bad. So what's different about this mission? What are we getting?"

"Okay, Sang. You're right," Kota agreed slowly, saying the words cautiously but I could see his brain working quickly behind his horn-rimmed glasses. "It may not be a dangerous mission, but that doesn't mean it isn't important."

"So what is it?" I pressed, shifting to fold my legs underneath me on the couch.

"It's a personal request from the Head of the Academy himself," Kota admitted, his lips pursed as he watched for my reaction. I blinked a few times, but nodded at him to continue. The Head would have known this was my first mission. What did he expect me to do? Was this a trick? Mr. Blackbourne had warned me that the Academy would continue to test us well after bootcamp. "He wants us to...well...you see, he has a granddaughter."

"Was she kidnapped?" I gasped, my hands flying out to grip Silas and Victor on either side of me.

"No, no," Victor reassured me quickly, prying my fingers off of his arm and gently intertwining them with his. Silas didn't even flinch as I relaxed my grip on him. "She's fine, Princess."

"The request did come about due to his granddaughter, though," Kota continued slowly. He looked so uncomfortable, I wanted to reach out and hold him.

"Okay," I said, trying to figure out what in the world we would be retrieving. "If she wasn't kidnapped, then what's going on? Has someone taken photos of her or something? We need to get another camera?"

I glanced at Luke who was grinning back at me, both of us remembering our first "date" when we broke into a house to get an Academy camera back. Hopefully tonight wouldn't include being shot at.

"Not quite," Kota mumbled, taking a deep breath before looking back at me. "Don't take this the wrong way, Sang. Okay? This mission is still important. It's a Priority Two because it came from the Head, and he's giving us each a favor for it."

"Just tell me, Kota!" I sighed, slouching back against the couch. I was all out of guesses.

"Alright! Well, the Head's granddaughter had a friend from preschool come over for a playdate on Tuesday," Kota began explaining, folding his hands in front of himself and standing with his shoulders straight. "They got along well for a few hours until the boy's mom came to pick him up. That night, the granddaughter realized that something was missing. She was upset, but eventually went to sleep fine. The next day at school, said boy shows up with her belonging. He refuses to give it back, and has since hidden it at his home."

"If he took something of hers, why doesn't the Head or the girl's parents just talk to the boy's parents?" I asked, confused as to why this even became a mission. Confrontation and problem solving are good life skills to learn. "Having the boy apologize and return whatever he took would be a life lesson for him."

"That's what we thought, too, Sang," Silas rumbled next to me as he slid an arm on top of the couch behind my head. "Unfortunately, the boy's parents think they're raising an angel. They don't believe he stole it."

"Okay," I nodded, biting my lip lightly as I processed the information. Looking back up at Kota, I asked again, "So what exactly did he take that we're getting back?"

"A rubber duck."