Chapter Fourteen

Twenty-four hours. He'd waited till there was a single day between them and that Dropship and he chose now to tell her.

And not even properly, not in any kind of serious manner. Oh no, because this was Mirage, the Trickster, and she'd been foolish to believe he was taking their team-up seriously.

Wraith was glaring at him, as he stood there with that infuriating shrug in his shoulders, looking like he didn't know why she was annoyed.

"It's not a big deal." he was saying, the words floating in the air between them as whispers flooded her ears, "I just don't feel like it tomorrow, that's all."

"I can't believe you." she snapped.

He met her eye, and though he weakly lifted his shoulders again as if it were an answer, there was fear flickering way back in his eyes. Wraith felt the sparks in her palms, and knew why.

"It doesn't have to be a big de-"

"You didn't tell me on purpose." she spat, growing more irritated, an angry, primal kind of fear prickling in her skull and drawing back her lips, "This is exactly why this was a bad idea."

"Wraith-"

"I can't believe I thought you were capable of screwing your head on."

"Hey! That's-"

"What kind of team are we supposed to be, if you don't even tell me things that I need to know?"

"Wraith!"

She drew her hand back, realising she'd stalked him into a corner without even knowing she'd done it. Surprise and an unsettling trepidation flickered in her system and she took a long step back to reinstate a space between them. The unstable, predatory feeling was doused. She reigned in her anger, realising that she was hot all over, her heart racing.

She felt like she'd just played her last Game yesterday. That familiar overwhelming nervous energy was leaking out of her. She scowled to cover the wave of embarrassment at her aggressive reaction. Mirage was watching her, his raised palms lowering, but he made no move to leave the wall she'd backed him against.

How were they going to work tomorrow, if she didn't have her head on straight?

She shoved the thought aside. She did. She was ready. She was always ready. She was just caught off guard by his casual comment, angry that she hadn't been told. Pissed that clearly, he wasn't as dedicated to winning as he said he was, as dedicated as she had always been.

"Are you okay?" he eventually asked, looking awkward.

She realised she'd been staring at him, glaring was more accurate. She shook her head and looked away. She paced a looping circle away from him to release some of the uneasy tension.

"You should have told me. The minute I said yes, you should have told me."

He said nothing, but his eyes were waiting as he watched her. A Voice was growling. This was a terrible idea. The door opened, a bright blue robotic head peering around the frame.

"I was correct! Hello, friends!"

Wraith crossed her arms. Mirage rubbed his wrists, his usual easy grin springing onto his face.

"Hiya Path, we were just going to talk plans. care to join?"

Wraith gritted her teeth together to prevent herself from correcting him, irritation and frustration still bubbling under skin. The MRVN unit clapped his hands together, closing the door behind himself as he hurried in with a bouncing gait.

"Brilliant!" he replied, loud and bright as always, "A good plan is a dangerous weapon!"

Mirage chuckled, and it bothered Wraith almost as much that he sounded as though nothing had happened, than that she was reacting so irrationally to his badly-timed information. Beyond leaving them a man short if something went wrong, what really was her problem?

Several Voices muttered at once, a garbled sound that only made her wish they'd shut up. A vague deja vu ghosted up her spine, gone before she could grasp at it for answers. Her mind raced for scenarios, solutions, back-up plans. This was so much less than ideal. Agreeing had been a bad idea, and this was only a sign that she should avoid them.

Her gut growled, hungry for the first time in three weeks, right when filling up with too heavy a meal could be a bad idea.

"What say you, Wraith?" Pathfinder's bright tone interrupted the frenzy in her head.

She glanced at him, realising they'd been talking and she'd missed it all. This was why this was a bad idea. Dealing with this entire situation was messing with her fucking head.

"I don't think she was listening." Mirage smirked, raising an eyebrow her way.

The wariness was bright, though, and he couldn't cover it truly. She merely glared, barely able to restrain the urge to bare her teeth and spit at him for giving her this unhelpful myriad of frustrations.

"I am sensing tension." Pathfinder notified them, looking between them with a worried face on his screen, "I do hope we are still participating together tomorrow."

Wraith looked away, and clenched her fingers in her sleeves. Mirage was quiet, for a change, and it seemed they wanted her answer.

She hesitated. A large part of her wanted to run. Nullify their agreement and meet them on the field like usual. Risk the chances of being assigned to them anyway, and the bad blood they'd have to set aside if she did.

The others would wonder, too.

Wraith groaned internally.

"It's too late now, to change that." she responded, belatedly, turning away proper, "We'll have to make do. You should rest."

She didn't stay to hear Pathfinder's delighted response. Making do was what she did, and she would just have to deal with Mirage's decision and hope that tomorrow would be a fortunate drop.

~.~

The noise level in the Bay was bordering painful, bouncing around in Wraith's skull like a thousand miniature pingpong balls. She'd lurked in her usual spot, waiting for this moment, arriving long before many of the others for the sake of not having to pass through the crowd. They left her alone, and she them, the back of her head tipped against the cool metal of the wall as she let her eyes lie shut against the brightness.

Gotta get in the game, Wraith.

Shut up, she had this. Why wouldn't they just shut up?

You're not ready.

Maybe you should have taken this one off.

She didn't need to take one off. She'd put her last Game behind her. She couldn't change it, and it wasn't her fault. She could do this. She was born for this, it was what she was good at.

You shouldn't have teamed.

You're not ready.

She shook her head, and drew a long breath. She was. She was ready. She had to be. This was what she did, this was who she was. It seemed she had enough faith in it that the Voices acquiesced.

At least you know how they work.

They were right though, that she needed to get her head in gear fast. Better now than aboard the ship, too late to map a thorough plan. One that included the fact that one of her squad had decided to refuse a respawn.

They're coming.

Reluctance was a weak cold in the pit of her belly. In that moment she wasn't sure how she had managed to be convinced. Her reasons, that had seemed to make so much sense just two days ago, now fell down like so many dominoes.

"Good Morning, friend!"

Wraith sighed and cracked an eye open, sourcing a pale smile from somewhere.

"Hi, Pathfinder."

"I'm soooo ready for this." Mirage chimed in cockily, flashing her a grin that had more energy in it than she felt she had in her whole body, "I'm extremely ready for this." his eager gaze moved from her to their third, and back, "Are we ready?"

"We're ready." she agreed, her voice sounding flat against Pathfinder's much more exuberant response.

Mirage babbled. Wraith had known this since his first appearances on their rosters, how anyone could not know by now would be beyond her understanding. Pathfinder listened, and responded just as enthusiastically, as Wraith sank further into her own head, surer with every passing minute that the dread in her gut was telling her the future.