Several days passed before the trio were called back to their base. Not much had changed between them, though there was much less teasing of March and Miles individually and more as a couple. The three of them entered the base to see Matron, Flask, and Bones arguing, with Raven watching from the sidelines.
"This is an obvious trap and I can't believe you are even entertaining the idea that we go through with it." Flask snapped at Matron.
"Our hands are tied, while they claim they will not act upon the information they have we can't be sure that won't change should our interests diverge from each other." Bones interjected. Matron sat quietly, not at all disturbed by the man criticizing her. Miles recognized her current state as 'we both know I am right so I'm just going to let you make an idiot of yourself while you try to claim otherwise'. It was a mode Miles was very familiar with. Matron was slow to anger, but quick to retaliate should the need arise. She had demonstrated as much when she trained the three of them. Raven loudly cleared his throat to signal the men to settle down, which they begrudgingly did when they saw Miles, March, and Isaac had arrived. The three at the table were silent while Bones silently contemplated how best to approach the matter.
"We recently received an anonymous message from someone we believe is aligned with the commonwealth. They asked us to send you three to meet with their so called 'benefactor', threatening to expose your identities."
"Which we believe they have." Matron added, sending a scathing glare at Miles. Miles wouldn't have been surprised if she knew it was his identity that had been compromised.
"So where will we meet?" Isaac asked bluntly, swiftly cutting through any objections to going. Flask had seemingly resigned his protest during the conversation, as he didn't speak out again.
"They have given us 3 chances to make contact. Starting tomorrow, a boat will be crossing under a bridge not far from here. You are to board it and enter the cabin." It did seem like the most obvious trap ever. March silently and subtly grabbed Miles' hand, squeezing it tight.
"Though they also gave us a gift that we are currently studying…" Bones said, motioning to Flask. Flask nodded, reached beside him and put a small baseball sized mechanical device on the table. He flicked a switch and it grew green, slowly floating in the air. He grabbed hold of it and floated upwards at the same speed. Miles jaw dropped as he recognized its effect, it was the same as that girls! He mentally cursed at the girl who was once again somehow one step ahead of him. Flask switched the device off, and he fell back onto his chair.
"Now as far as I can tell, this is a very early prototype, and is very unstable. However in 3 days I should be able to make it usable."
"Can you make more of them?" March asked. It's true with an unlimited supply of those devices, you could wreak total havoc in any fight. Flask shook his head.
"I considered reverse engineering it, but it's seems to be intentionally adjusted to make it impossible to fully take apart. I suspect this is probably an early version of something that has already been improved. However I should be able to improve this specific one to be as functional as possible, I just can't duplicate it." There were equal measures of annoyance and respect as he talked about it. He didn't like being outsmarted, but he also couldn't help but respect the ingenuity of whoever made the device.
"And that is all for now. Report back here in 3 days." Bones said. Miles, March, and Isaac turned to make their exit, but just as they were about to go out the window, Matron called after them.
"We will also hopefully have some backup for you by then as well." Miles wasn't sure what kind of backup could be made on such short notice, but he figured if anyone could figure something out, it was her.