Chapter Four – 17th June 2003:
She found Kat in one of the training rooms, a towel around her neck, a few beads of sweat forming on her forehead and looking a bit flushed but, other than that, she looked exactly as she did when Rachel left. Same clothing choice, same hairstyle, same jewellery.
"Hey Rachel," Kat said when she walked past the senior agent, giving no hint of shock or surprise that Berto and Max had shown. "Good trip, did you manage to catch Psycho?"
"Hey Rachel, what're you doing here? Thought you'd forget about us 'lower' agents being your friends now you're our boss."
"No and no," Rachel said, shaking her head sadly. "Does news travel faster than the speed of light or did Jeff tell you?"
"That you're coming back?" Kat nodded as she grabbed a water bottle and took a long gulp. "Yep, I knew. Seems like I'm the only one who's kept up to speed on international events, especially those involving the boss' son."
Rachel's eyes narrowed, though she didn't say anything. Yes, she was…attracted to him in that way, but the kiss was what she thought would have been the less harmful option. With the benefit of hindsight, she would have slapped him instead.
"Psycho can be a real illegitimate child sometimes."
"So, since you managed to completely miss Psycho in your mission, what have you been chasing down in the snowy north?" Kat asked, walking over to her locker and opening it, dumping her towel inside.
"Mainly chasing down minor Russian and ex-Soviet Union criminals. Anything major was sent back to the Russian base. Apparently we didn't have the expertise or experience to deal with anything more important."
"That's bureaucracy for you," Kat said, pulling off her sweat-stained top and grabbing a clean one from her locker. "Always tells you what you can't do, never what's actually allowed."
"You know, you've had a real stick up your butt since you got that promotion."
Now that Rachel had gotten over the shock of seeing Kat, and her knowing more than should be expected, she noticed something different, something not quite right with the younger agent. Nothing physical, it seemed more like the way she moved, not so sure –
Rachel looked up from the floor, where she had been staring, and into Kat's angry green eyes.
"I think the cold's got into your ears, Rachel. You're going deaf. I asked you a question, and here you are, far away in dream-land with Steel."
"…sorry," Rachel said after a pause.
"I'm being sent to Russia. Permanently."
"I asked, are you going to be coming to the meeting later, or are you here on a temporary basis?"
"I'll be coming to the meeting. What's it on?"
Kat laughed quickly before shaking her head. "Smith calls you back, and he doesn't even say what for? Well, you've dealt with fire and ice before, haven't you?"
"Pyro and Cryo?" Rachel asked, once her brain had caught up.
"So you know something, at least."
"Curteosy of Martinez."
"At this rate, you'll've bumped into everyone before the meeting even starts." Kat slammed her locker shut twice, after it refused to close the first time. "Pyro and Cryo Triantis, twins from Greece, and they're a right pain. Had more than one suspicion that they were infused with those Dread probes."
"So that means I'm gonna be stuck with college-boy permanently now? Thanks a lot, Rachel."
"How'd you know about them?"
"Simple case of me finding all of your mission logs and records and reading them. I noticed you 'forgot' to put the little infraction between yourself and Steel a thousand feet underwater."
"It wasn't necessary to the mission," Rachel said, feeling her cheeks beginning to heat up. Although the kiss between her and Max was common-knowledge amongst the N-Tek agents, any mention of it was likely to send her into volumes of denial, especially since it had happened almost three years ago.
"You're welcome."
"Of course not," Kat said with a grin that said she knew all too well the truth. "Meeting starts at 1500 hours," she added, and Rachel quickly looked at her watch: fifteen minutes to get to the briefing room.
Rachel glanced up at Kat, a battle going on in her mind: whether to go to the meeting and be surrounded by people she hadn't seen in over two years, or to ignore it and potentially be left out of the loop.
"It's not gonna be anything important; at least, not anything you won't be able to hear from me. So, where do want me to begin?" Kat asked.
Rachel smiled weakly. "I heard the beginning's always a good place to start."
oooooooooo
A/N: Starting next chapter, I'll be going back about a year, when Max first encountered Pyro and Cryo and lost the max powers. Also, thank god I only had to write two pages (well, one and a half) of this: I had very little idea what Rachel and Kat would talk about: they were murder to write!