Sometimes Cress felt a little bit bad about using her superpowers for her own benefit.
But not enough.
She had hacked herself into the Ukranian consulate's computer system and put herself in as an appointment at the next convenient time.
She also knew that getting her documents would take weeks - not least because she was using a fake name. Which meant she had to forge some entries to a Cress Erland, a person that hadn't even existed more than a year ago.
It wasn't ... quite moral. She had done the same with the marriage license and maybe with her green card too.
Details, Captain would say in situations like this when she called him out on his crimes. It bothered her but not enough to stop her.
But she had no time to worry about that. Not with the looming threat of Jina that left her feeling exposed.
Someone had found out that she was Satellite. And worse, that someone was an evil Lunar. An evil Lunar whose plans Satellite had just thwarted.
Looking to the seat beside her, Thorne as he did try his best to speak a little Ukrainian with the people around him, more charm than vocabulary.
He was in danger. Some part of Jina had followed her and found out where they lived. She also must have stolen her wallet, Cress was sure which meant she had everything she needed to find Cress.
It was just a matter of time until Jina showed herself.
Cress had done her own research. Jina Ciid, age twenty-eight, already had several records for petty crimes. Then nothing in the year after the Super Blue Moon Eclipse until the robbery. Her Lunar personae was still unknown and there was nothing about someone who could turn into sand.
She had kept a low profile after becoming a Lunar but why, Cress couldn't say.
But now she was back, and she was dangerous. More than that she was dangerous to her and her life as Cress Smith.
As Satellite, she could deal with the repercussions of her actions but as Cress? How should she do that?
"Dobryj den," she heard Thorne saying to a young mother. "Chekannya ... docho." As if to emphasise his point, he made a broad gesture with his hands.
Despite her worries, Cress had to smile. She wondered which online translator he had been using to tell several people around him that the waiting took a long time. Not a good one for sure.
The woman didn't seem to mind and likewise answered in Ukrainian and gave a lengthy explanation involving the birth records for her child - none of which Thorne was even remotely able to understand. But he nodded understandingly and added a few affirmative taks to agree with her. He also pointed to the child to say it was pretty and cute (words he mostly knew to compliment Cress, so those he got those right) which seemed to please the mother when they got called in.
It was a strange feeling knowing that the only real documents were Thorne's birth records and, to a degree, their marriage licence. Everything else Cress had forged. But no one noticed any difference and soon, Cress would have her new papers that would declare her as Cress Smith once more, a name Cress was more comfortable with than Cress Erland anyway.
On the way out, Thorne told everyone do pobachena, though the response he got were lukewarm at best. He still looked pretty pleased with himself.
"This is so awesome. Your bureaucracy is so efficient? You called what, two days ago? And here we are and can pick up your documents in one week?" He gave an impressed whistle. "I tell you, good ol' America could really learn a thing or two from you guys."
Cress obviously couldn't tell him that this efficiency was only if you had the powers to hack into computer systems and get yourself an appointment at any time. Since that only applied to her ... well, the reality for everyone else looked rather different.
Thorne treated her to her favourite Ukrainian restaurant and despite liking her life in New York, she still felt a bit homesick now and then, especially when the young waitress wore the traditional embroidered blouse, the vyshyvanka. The kruchenyky she had ordered helped a little.
Thorne's hand reached over the table to grasp for hers. "Hey, is everything alright? You're so quiet."
Since she couldn't be possibly tell Thorne about the approaching catastrophe that was a Lunar criminal (and this time, it wasn't Captain), she used her homesickness as an excuse. "Just missing Ukraine I guess. I visited Kiev every summer since I moved to England to study but ..."
"Not this year," he finished for her, thoughtfully. "You know, I offered to go with you. It would have been just the plane tickets to pay for anyway, as you still have your place, right?"
Her place being her father's apartment. She remembered that when they had visited it, after their tour through Europe, she had to make up excuses to get Thorne to wait at a café while she frantically removed anything that could be traced back to Dr Darnel and his daughter: The name on the doorbell and the letterbox. The pictures of her dad, the certificates of him hanging from the walls. The prizes he won and even in her room, the trophies, as well as all the postcards from her which he had pinned to the fridge before he left to work in Beijing.
It had been risky to bring Thorne into an apartment where Cress Erland never existed. He hadn't paid much attention and he probably wouldn't have recognised her father anyway but if anything had been labelled Crescent or Sage Darnel ... she couldn't risk it. She hadn't known what Captain had planned to do with the research documents he stole from her dad, so she had tried to veer on the side of caution.
She wasn't sure she would risk it again, especially not with Jina on her heels.
Cress shook her head. "No, it's just new for me. I'm happy we have a few places right here in New York that remind me of home, though." She chewed on her kruchenyky, savouring the familiar taste.
His thumb drew little shapes into the palm of her hand. "Cress, are you happy? Here, in New York ... with me?"
He words were steady if a bit quieter than she was used to from him. When she looked at him, he pulled up his shoulders as if bracing himself for her answer.
She couldn't help but smile. "Of course, I am. I would be happy anywhere as long as I'm with you."
"Okay, just wanting to make sure," he said, trying for a casual tone. "I mean I know you gave up way more to come with me than the other way around."
Cress shrugged. "I never thought of it like that."
"You know, if you ever want to go back for a vacation ... I really liked Kiev. I wouldn't mind going back to see more."
"Next year," she promised.
"Cool. Let's see if we can go to that festival again. Now, that was trip."
KaZantip. That had been a wild few days. They had danced so much that Cress's feet had been nothing but blisters by the end of it and both had drunk enough to remember only snippets like a fever dream. It had been a great time but unfortunately, that had been the last year the festival had taken place.
They would find another one, she was sure but now was no time to make vacation plans.
"Didn't you have to go to a client today?"
Cress pretended to look at her watch even though she knew the time. Today she was hired by some corporation to trace back a security leak that had made its way to their competitors. Now the company wanted to know if someone from outside had been able to hack into their system or, which was probably worse, if someone from the inside had leaked all that classified information.
It would take a very good hacker days to trace back the leak.
With Satellite's superpowers Cress already figured it out without even starting a computer.
Her job mostly consisted of showing up, typing furiously for hours and made it seem like she was working. In truth, she filled out personality quizzes (like Which Lunar are you? Cress was still in shock over the one time she got Captain) and read up on Lunar news, looked at recipes, and hair styling tutorials she wouldn't be able to copy anyway, and tried to look busy.
It was easy money and allowed her to make it seem like she was working at odd hours. When something occurred that required Satellite to come to the rescue, it was enough for her to tell Thorne that an urgent job came up and she could leave with no questions asked.
It was also really good money for basically no work. Her superpowers had some perks after all.
But now she couldn't just leave Thorne. Not with Jina knowing who she was.
Not that she could tell Thorne that. So far she had clung to him but he had an appointment too and she knew it would be suspicious if she asked to come along.
She had to hope that Jina was after her and not Thorne.
"Um, yes. I think we should go."
The sooner she went, the sooner she might go home after all and keep an eye on Thorne.
"Anything else you require, Miss Smith?"
Cress didn't bother correcting him, she never cared much for the Miss-Misses distinction anyway. Instead, she checked the little office he offered to her - she always insisted on privacy to work. It was nicely-furnished, and probably used by some senior employee. It even had its own coffee machine.
"No thanks, that will be all."
He excused himself and left her to work. A work Cress had finished before even stepping into the elevator, but which she would pretend to do for a few days. It was better for her paycheck after all.
Cress set herself up for a few quiet hours. Many employees had already left work and the rest stayed in their offices. Only a few times did she hear steps outside or a few muffled conversations.
She didn't even have to pretend to look busy so she decided to watch a new TV show she had wanted to watch for a while.
If Cress was honest with herself, she wasn't sure how long she wanted to continue working like this. It was no challenge and after so many years of working herself up into one of the top universities and then leaving Oxford as one of the best students of her year this was ... tedious.
But she couldn't manage a normal job with regular hours with her secret life as Satellite. Maybe one day, when everything quieted down and she and the other Lunars had been able to defeat the ones that used their powers to harm others or for their own gain, maybe then she would be able to step back from her superhero duties.
Until then she might as well take advantage of her superpowers.
A rustling sound above her startled her. Automatically, Cress looked for the source, the ventilation grid on the ceiling but shrugged when it was silent once more.
The TV show started to bore her half-way through, so she checked a few local newsfeeds for trouble in New York. It wouldn't be the first time she sneaked out from work to help the police.
But nothing popped up that would require Satellite's intervention.
Coarse grains dribbled down on Cress's hands and keyboard, quickly burying her desk in sand.
With a startled grasp, Cress jumped back in her seat, the rapid motion sending grains of sand flying everywhere ... before they changed direction and were pulled back towards the desk by an unseen force.
Cress stood up and then, she was eye-to-eye with Jina, her form still encased in sand until she revealed herself in one fluid motion.
"Hello, Satellite."
A/N: Reviews mean the world to fanfic writers. :)