Closer Than Touch

Deia has difficulty keeping partners; no matter how hard they try, they keep winding up dead. Bad enough in a special operations unit, but Deia is a Gemini, meant to work with a partner at a level of intimacy that leaves all his other relationships dull and distant by comparison. Tired of his partners dying, Deia is ready to transfer to Scorpio, where working alone isn’t a problem. When his boss stipulates he’ll only sign off on the transfer if Deia meets a new candidate, Deia reluctantly agrees to try one last time.

Closer Than Touch, A Zodiac Forces Short By Tami Veldura Published by Less Than Three Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews. Edited by Michelle McDonough, EC Morrigan Cover designed by Aisha Akeju This book is a work of fiction and as such all characters and situations are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental. First Edition January 2012 Copyright © 2012 by Tami Veldura Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-1-936202-96-6

For all the years, To Sarah. For all the faith, To Beth. For all the songs, To Kate.

Closer Than Touch A Zodiac Forces Short

Tami Veldura

Deia melded the angles of his body into a dark corner of the warehouse, a joint of crates beyond the limp reach of a single dangling florescent. He took a slow breath through his nose, letting sensations from the Gemini suit untangle in his brain. He could feel the sharp weight of metal in Mordekai's hands as if he held the gun himself, despite the distance of half a building and countless crates between them. The other man's breath was unsteady and his heart was simply racing. Deia let himself take another calm breath, unwilling to follow into that panicky state of mind. Mordekai wasn't cut out for this. He was able enough in workouts or drills, but in the field? Deia should have pressed harder for reassignment. Again. Deia let the stillness of the crates seep into him, slid his broad shoulders with less than a whisper to the edge of the box, and glanced around. The Gemini suit pushed data around the edges of his vision, a head-up-display that Deia filtered with simple contact signals against his hip. The HUD offered no more sign of anyone than there had been a moment before. He padded across the smooth cement floor, carefully balancing speed and stealth. It wouldn't do to announce himself early, but time was moving with or without him. He felt the distance between him and Mordekai grow with each step like a physical pull around his midsection. The suit's ridged feet gave him perfect traction. Its smooth latex-silk, embedded with tech, hugged his angles as no lover could. The Gemini within the Zodiac Forces were an elevated breed. The civilians they protected compared as though blind and deaf at once. He circled closer to the light, a distant point at the far end of the warehouse. So far things were going nicely according to plan, but no amount of preparation ever survived first contact with the enemy. It was simply a matter of time. Deia flowed forward like the inexorable tide. He felt Mordekai take a hand off his gun to shape a signal with his fingers. Deia tapped his left thumb to his ring finger once to acknowledge. This kind of in and out theft shouldn't require one of them to be stuck as a lookout, but trying to patch an Aries transmission through corrugated metal was an exercise in futility. No Aries on comm meant one had to stay behind. Deia wasn't entirely upset it had to be Mordekai. The space around him echoed suddenly. Deia flashed out of the aisle and between a turn of crates. He pressed two fingers of his right hand together. The echo of sound resolved itself into a chair scraping back along the floor, a man stretching, a groan, lips smacking. Deia prowled up his stack of crates, the catsuit echoing Mordekai's quick heartbeat back at him. He leaned out over the edge and spotted a man below, rubbing hands over his face. A long rifle hung from a shoulder harness. A handgun rested on the opposite hip. The night watch. Deia felt his plan wavering. This guy was carrying far more firepower than they had expected. he touched to Mordekai. Deia refused to allow Mordekai's sudden tension into his muscles. He flexed his fingers and dropped from the crate. He landed precisely with a muffled thump. Deia wrapped his arm tightly around the

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guard’s neck and squeezed arteries shut. Blood pressure and heart rate displays popped up on his HUD. The guard wasted precious seconds scrambling at Deia’s solid arm. The man may be well armed, but he was not well trained. It was a simple matter of seconds until unconsciousness slumped the body. Deia kept his arm locked for an additional count of three. He had no desire to kill but the guard needed to be out of the picture. Satisfied, Deia stripped both rifle and pistol from the man, stowed them in the closest crate he could pry open, and left him strewn in the aisle of boxes. He crept toward the light. Jittery touch passed from Mordekai, Shit. They were early. Deia sprinted toward the light. The catsuit kept his footfalls muffled by design; hopefully the incoming truck would cover the rest of his noise. <Second vehicle.> Deia's intel was falling apart at the seams. Typical. He touched to Mordekai, The negative came back quickly, then, Deia vaulted up a crate and ran along the top of the row. He could see his target, a low crate under the florescent. A man sat on it, facing away from Deia in low conversation on a walky. Deia's HUD offered distance and depth measurements. He lunged into open space, feet first. The guard never saw him coming. The walky squawked as it bounced away, Deia rolled to his feet, drew the gun from his back in the same motion, and shot twice. <Made you. Incoming. Four.> Yeah, no kidding he was made. Deia wrenched the top of the crate away and threw piles of packing fluff on the floor. He dug out a sealed box and blew the front panel clean. It was blank. Touchtech, not a turn dial. Fuck. Deia took the whole firebox and hauled his ass up the closest tower of crates away from the bay where his silhouette was least likely to show. Footsteps crowded the air. He set the box down quietly and stretched out flat on his stomach. The florescent projected its light mostly downward; he was in shadow but only just. The footsteps resolved themselves into four men armed to the teeth. They scrambled through the open crate, cursing at one another. Mordekai touched to him, The man's heart was still pounding, though.

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Deia confirmed. His HUD noted guns, knives, extra magazines. They were packing an awful lot of firepower for a simple pickup. <Approaching.> A partial touch, like the start of a message, then through the Gemini suit Deia felt Mordekai's gun leap up and the surprise made them both react. A fifth man. Deia's tension released to prep for a fight but Mordekai pulled the trigger. The shots echoed in the space and his hands tensed at the recoil. Screams. Deia let his breath slowly trickle out his nose. The four men at the crate whirled at the sounds. Deia touched, though he wondered if Mordekai even felt it with the iron grip he had on his piece. The gun fired again and the screaming stopped. Deia remained still atop his crates. he touched. He felt Mordekai running, the impact of cement through his feet made him wince. Even in this the man was inefficient. It would be handy to have an Aries on the comm right now. The sounds of pursuit trailed toward the bay. Deia rolled himself and the firebox off the other side of his crate tower. He landed hard, the extra weight of the box pulling him weirdly out of balance. He made for the back of the warehouse patiently, quietly. Mordekai's distraction was useful, if idiotic. Deia was nearly at the back door when he felt Mordekai's mayday through his fingers. It drew him up short, one hand on the door. He looked back across the crates toward the spot he knew the other man to be: as if he could see through the masses of wood and stuffing and watch the chase with his own eyes. Mordekai rounded a corner of crates, Deia could feel it in the angle of pressure on his feet, and came up short. Gunshots. Deia collapsed against the door. An explosion unfolded in his chest like a fatal flower. He scratched the gaping hole in his ribcage and tried to breathe. He coughed blood. Too much blood, it made his hands slippery. Someone stood over him and yanked his left arm. Nails dug into the meat of his forearm and tore out his entire nervous system. He screamed. Deia snapped back to himself with the force of a crashing freight train. He lay on the ground. He felt his throat locked around a sound his training refused to allow out. There was no hole in his chest. Deia gasped his lungs full of air. Something bit into the flesh of his right hand. He hauled himself upright through sheer force of will. There was a small round bit of tech in his hand. He stared at it trying to remember why it was important.

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His eyes wandered around, landed on the firebox some feet away. Memories crashed together. The Gemini suit. He had torn off the trigger for his Gemini suit. Deia winced at the damage to his left arm. Veins stood out in blue relief. There was quarter sized hole in the flesh, deep enough to see muscle. Blood everywhere. Deia shoved the trigger into a fold on his belt, wrapped gauze around his arm that he tied off with his teeth, and scrambled for the firebox. He found the rendezvous spot half an hour early. And then he realized: he needed to be reassigned. Again. *~*~*

"You ripped it out?" Vaughn coughed to cover a laugh and set down his beer, "What on earth were you thinking?" "I wasn't thinking much at that point. I was dying." Deia ran his thumb over his left arm where the new trigger blinked faintly blue. Unassigned. The flesh was still tender but he was off the pain meds. Vaughn flicked his head to the side, clearing hair from his eyes. "You mean Mordekai was dying." "That's really not what it felt like." "So, what—you got up and walked away?" "More or less." "Jesus, Deia, do you even feel pain?" "I had to get that box out. I'm lucky they didn't find me while I was freaking out on the floor." "Freaking out." Vaughn snorted. "The Black Widow doesn't freak out." Deia made a tight face at the name, "Vaughn ..." “What? I kinda like it. Makes you sound deadly.” “First, I’m not female.” “Details. Besides, it’s better than ‘The Killer D’ someone was kicking around earlier.” “Second,” Deia ignored him entirely, “Death of partners is not exactly the kind of thing I want to be known for.”

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"All right, look." Vaughn drained his beer and leaned forward to drop it in the bin behind the bar. "When do they reassign you?" "Tomorrow, oh-six-hundred." "Great. Since I know you won't get shithoused with me, I'm going to talk to a man about a horse." "Think they'll finally pull you up to Gemini?" "You kidding? I'm the best Taurus they've ever had, they're never going to let me out. I can build a bomb from scrap before you ever get your shoes on. Besides, feeling someone else all around you like that is the kind of kink I don't go for." Vaughn flashed white teeth like he was baring fangs. "I'm no match for you Deia, not physically." "You'd follow direction." "Only 'cause I know your ass is better than mine and I'm totally green with that." Deia swirled the dregs of his cranberry juice and didn't reply. "They'll find someone who can take you on, D. They're never going to let you escape Gemini, either." "I am way too overqualified for this." "Fucking tell me about it! Not everyone around here has the privilege of private tutor from age four." “I can hardly control to whom I was born. I've killed two people now. Isn't that enough?" Vaughn turned and pushed his hand against Deia's shoulder, forcing the bar stool to turn. Deia twitched under the pressure before he could bring the reaction under control. Vaughn just gripped his shoulder through it and stared at him. Vaughn was the only one he knew willing to brave right through their reaction training. He probably considered it bone-headed stupidity, though, not bravery. Deia raised his shuttered expression to meet Vaughn's slate grey stare. There was no humor there. "You did not kill Guene and you did not kill Mordekai." "I could have gone back—" "And gotten your fool ass killed yourself. Or lost the package. Either way you're fucked. This is not your fault."

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Deia nodded, packed the feeling down and hid it away. Vaughn saw the process. Nodded to himself. "I do have to talk to a guy but I'll come by right after. We can brain drain on video games or something." He clapped Deia's solid shoulder and tossed a large bill on the bar. *~*~* "Deia, come in. Sit." Commander Cameron Johnson, balding and bright-eyed, waved him into the long, familiar office from behind his diminutive desk. The Zodiac Forces Gemini crest dominated the face in brass and red relief. Cam was proud of his service to the country’s security, even if most civilians never saw a Gemini in operational uniform. Being a hidden facet of support had never dampened Cam’s spirit. Gemini’s special operations were as important to national security as Taurus’s more public groundbased mob missions and Cam never let anyone forget it. Deia shut the door behind him and approached. He opted to stand with his back to the bookshelves, facing Cam's wide skyline window instead of taking a seat. The view stretched over the city to the coast where a civilian airport kept the skies animated. Though there wasn’t a fence to border Forces property, the stark structure of military buildings beside the more organic civilian homes marked it well enough. There was little need for a soldier to mingle with the public, except on personal leave. Deia hadn’t taken a simple walk off Forces property in years. Cam was the public face of the division, his missions as the elite Gemini agent Gundog years behind him, and Deia was perfectly content to remain in the man’s respectable shadow. "How are you feeling?" "Doc cleared me." "Of course the doctor cleared you. So did the neurologist and the shrink. That wasn't my question." Deia schooled a frustrated expression into even lines. Cam let the silence stretch between them until Deia took another breath. "If you can't find someone who can match me, I'd like a recommendation for transfer to Scorpio." "You think you'd do well there?" "I'm not doing another job here with a lackluster partner." "Your partners have hardly been lackluster. You're simply elite. You're the best man I've got and you know it." "I'd do less damage in Scorpio, Sir." Deia hated to suggest it; he’d been sponsored into Gemini from the beginning, nearly 20 years ago. Cam was as much a father as he was a commander.

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"Probably." "You'll recommend me, then? I'd rather not petition." A petition would tarnish Cam’s good name. He didn’t deserve that. This wasn’t his fault. "I appreciate that but no, not yet." Deia clenched his teeth but Cam steamrolled right on through. "There's someone who's been recommended from Taurus. I'd like you to run the drills with him." "No." Cam sat back in his chair. "Sir," Deia added belatedly. "I want full simulation. One of the new ones. Hard as they've got." "My budget—" "Fuck your budget. If you'd given me sim before like I asked, Mordekai would still be here." "You would have reamed him in there." "Yes, but he'd be alive and I would have known we couldn't be assigned." Deia reined himself in with a breath. "Give me full sim or a recommendation to Scorpio." This time when the silence stretched Deia didn't fill it. He watched a plane take off from the airport in the distance. "Ok." Cam said and turned to his computer. Deia relaxed carefully. Scorpio would be good for him. Solo work. It was more distance and less melee than he liked but he wouldn't be babysitting anyone. He could handle it. He could request to train under Motocross, an elite agent within Scorpio. Deia could stand to learn a trick or two behind a sniper rifle. Cam printed a sheet and held it out. "You report for simulation in an hour. Show up packing. It's livefire." Deia started, grabbing the paper on reflex. "Sim?" "You're right, Deia, you always are. You deserved a sim with Mordekai. I try not to make my mistakes twice. I'm sorry." "Your budget—" "Can handle it if this guy is half as good as his recommendation. Go, you're wasting space."

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"Sir." Deia jogged for the door. *~*~* He heard him before he even exited the hall, a boisterous, child-like glee coloring an otherwise cultured tenor. He couldn't make out the words but Deia let his brow wrinkle with doubt. Cam meant well but what on earth had he gotten himself into? Deia checked the items on his belt with automatic light touches—gun, extra magazine, knife, MREs—and unbuttoned his shirt before he hit the outer doors Blazing morning sun bounced around the glass, blinding most everyone on the other side of those doors. Everyone except a slim man with a rope of black hair down his back and wicked eyes that raked Deia from top to toe and back up in the seconds everyone else was blinking at spots. He let out a low, descending whistle. Deia didn't acknowledge the look or the sound. He pulled his shirt off and draped it over one shoulder as he came to a halt in front of the small group of three. They stood clustered around a deceptively simple waist-high control panel. Feet beyond was a clear bullet shield that easily stretched two stories high. Another few feet beyond, the ground dropped away into a football field sized pit another two stories underground. The simulation room. "If I'd known it was that kind of party I would'a worn my fuck'n boots." "Phade." The woman jabbed him with two fingers. He laughed, "Chill, Laura, he's so wrapped up in his own self-importance he doesn't give a shit about a word I say." The third person, a dark middle-aged man with a square jaw and square hands unfolded his thick arms to point at Phade. "Phade." he said, his voice so deep it was almost underfoot. The tree trunk arm swung over. "Deia." He smirked. "Play nice." Phade flicked his head in a move that neatly settled his braid over one shoulder. Some motions had nothing to do with gender and everything to do with how long your hair was. "I don't play nice." He offered a toothy grin and pealed his t-shirt up. Deia found himself tracing the path of that shirt as it revealed washboard abs, long lean muscle, a bare dust of hair and not an extra ounce of fat. "I don't play." He replied when his scrutiny met knowing eyes. Deia addressed the tree instead. "Who are you?" "Nathan. I'll be your controller. This here's Laura, she's your architect. We're ready when you are." As with all non-agents in the private military contract agency, the sim staff were known by their first names rather than callsigns, surnames or rank. Zodiac Forces was a bit like a big family. A big deadly family.

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"Not yet." Deia swung his attention back to Phade who was bent sideways to whisper something at Laura. He waggled his fingers at Deia and Laura blushed pink. "What," Phade said as he straightened, "No witty one liner like 'I'm always ready'?" "That goes without saying, but one doesn't strike on the battlefield without knowing the strengths of his allies." A twisted expression flicked across Phade's lean face before the smile overwhelmed it, "Did you just quote Sun Tzu at me?" Deia had to give him credit for being moderately read. Guene had been able to keep up like that. Mordekai never could. "We spar first. Then the sim." Phade shrugged elegantly and dropped his t-shirt on the corner of the console. He crossed in front of Laura and, Deia noticed, turned to keep them in sight as he backed into open space. Deia turned as Phade did, let Laura take his shirt, and rolled his shoulders loose. They each kicked off sandals. Deia settled his heart and took an even breath. Phade bounced on his toes like a boxer, that grin still painted wide. They circled. Phade struck out first, rapid, obvious blows that Deia hardly acknowledged. A quick right punch he brushed to the side, a jab he shrugged away from, a feint he didn't even blink at. Phade wound up for a huge roundhouse kick to the jaw. Deia caught his foot as it came in, let it sweep over his head harmlessly and yanked suddenly down to bring Phade's face into his knee ... Only Phade didn't fall. He moved into the momentum change as if it were his idea and it brought him precisely inside Deia's guard. Deia watched laughing dark eyes pass an inch from his nose. He jerked his right elbow down to intercept the jab to his ribs he'd all but invited and then of a surety they were fighting. Close, quick little movements that encouraged Deia to predict two, three, four steps ahead. They circled around like two Tasmanian devils, whirlwinds of exact muscle and violence. Phade spun backward for another high kick, this one well calculated to break into Deia's next pattern of three jabs. Deia lifted his hands, aborting the jabs to lift Phade's leg up. Phade twisted into the shift and a long, dark idea flicked over Deia’s head: Phade’s braid. Deia ducked himself under Phade's leg and struck for his hair instead. He hauled the lithe man close by the leash, tangled one leg around his ankle to prevent turning, and brought his free hand up for a strike to the neck and a quick end to this fight.

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Phade flicked a knife against Deia's groin. Pressure from the flat of the blade on the inside of his thigh stopped Deia's striking hand inches from the target throat. Where had he been holding a blade? Except for a gun at Phade's back Deia hadn't seen any weapons at all. "Let go of my hair." All of the humor was gone from Phade's voice. Deia slanted a glance at him. His eyes were perfectly black. Nearly all pupil. He could see himself in their reflection. "This is a liability." The knife slid up, pressed against sensitive flesh. "Let go or we'll find out how true the rumor is that you have balls of steel." Deia relaxed his grip. "Good boy." Phade whispered and the humor was back like a switch had been thrown. He snaked away from Deia a few steps. The knife was gone ... somewhere. "Again." "No." Deia slid his feet closer to stand straight. "I think I know enough—" "You don't know shit, golden boy." Phade clapped his hands together once and drew them apart into what was clearly a low martial art stance. He flicked his head just-so, jumping his braid over his shoulder. Light flicked off the curve in blues and purples. The humor drained away. The laughing boxer was gone. Phade's expression darkened, "Again." Sweat dripped from Deia's hair. He shook it back and centered himself. Ready. Phade blurred forward with shocking speed. Deia deflected a punch in time to catch a meaty calf in both hands. A long blue-black cord whipped under his chin and the end struck hard on his jugular. Deia pushed Phade by the leg and backed up himself, one hand on his throat. Phade settled back into his wide ready stance, hands apart, relaxed. Flicked his hair over the other shoulder. Deia slid his feet and opened his arms. Again. Phade blurred. Two punches, a slide of thighs. He pushed into Deia's guard, spun, and slapped the knot at the end of his braid against Deia's throat. They broke apart. Readied. Again. They clashed together over and over, short sprinting bursts of violence that Deia could barely manage. A welt grew on his throat where Phade struck unerringly time after time. The man was blindingly fast. For all the cocky arrogance, Deia felt Phade hadn't falsely advertised his skill.

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Deia accepted a strike on his hip to flick his arm up in the middle of their next clash and caught Phade's braid around his wrist. He hauled the man in but again that knife slid up his inner thigh. It was just as much a caress as it was a threat. They were both breathing hard, sweat slick in the morning sun. Deia released the rope of hair without being prompted. The knife flicked away but not before Phade gave the bulge in Deia's pants a rough squeeze. Deia stepped back with a frown. If the man couldn't focus it wouldn't matter how well he fought. Nathan called out to them, "Keep going like that and you won't have anything left for the sim." Phade shot him a smile that clearly stated his offense at the implication he wasn't perfectly aware of his own energy level. Deia could sympathize. "Suits." Nathan said, oblivious as he worked his control console. Deia held out his left arm to Phade. The unassigned trigger on the inside of his forearm blinked mildly. Phade reached with his own left hand and they gripped each other's arm. Phade's trigger dug into Deia's palm. The Gemini suit digitized over their skin, crawling like a fast acid. It made hairs stand on end. Phade's smile morphed slowly. A more sinister look than before. Deia didn't know anyone else with so many different smiles in their repertoire. Those reflective eyes were hungry. "They're saying you ripped your trigger out on your last job." The nanotech suit reached their shoulders and stretched quickly downward, flicking over skin not unlike the tongue of a lover. "Yes." "They say partnering with you is fatal. You’re the Black Widow.” "What do you think?" "I think you're a hard motherfucker, for sure. But I think you're like me, you need to be pushed or you just get bored." Something unknotted in Deia's chest. Relief, he realized. And since when did he need another person's affirmation? Why did he want Phade's confidence? The Gemini suit slipped under his feet. The nanotech disassembled his pants at the molecular level, incorporated the matter into its silk-analogue fabric to be recalled with a simple twist of the trigger. His gun and supplies, held in place by the suit’s touch-responsive code, remained available at his slightest signal. Deia watched the suit stretch up over Phade's head. Those laughing eyes vanished behind a matte black mask. Deia's own mask knitted across his vision. The HUD blinked to life. Deia loosened his grip but Phade held tighter and touched through his fingers.

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Deia paused for another pair of heartbeats, then Phade released his arm. Deia touched his own trigger and rolled his shoulders. Phade turned to Nathan and that's when Deia saw it. Felt it. The braid. The extra few seconds allowed the Gemini suit to digitize over the rope as if it were an additional limb. The end was spiked like a mace with wicked sharp blades. Deia put a hand on his neck and swallowed reflexively. The suit wicked away the sweat and heat of their sparring session. Deia felt Phade's deep heartbeat, steady as his own. The weight and swing of Phade's braid felt strange at the back of Deia's head but not awkward. Even in the angle of his stance Phade knew how to keep the rope of it free to swing. If they could work together, they could be a deadly, efficient force. They faced Nathan who waved them forward. The pit of the sim came into view—it was no longer empty. A low, two story building squatted in the center of the pit. Windows peppered the walls and the roof was industrial flat with AC vents but no doors. A fire escape also provided roof access. "Listen up." Laura said, "Your target is this man, Karen Denver." An image of a charismatic sandy-blonde man digitized into Deia's HUD. He studied it. "He is wealthy, politically powerful, and personally motivated. This is his main office, no blueprint available, personnel anywhere from thirty to sixty men and women. He has personal bodyguards, two men, round the clock. Your objective is to eliminate." "Acceptable casualties?" Phade asked. "Minimal. No need to hide what you've done. Get in, shoot him and his guards, get out." Deia spoke and he felt his suit flex around his face, "Are the guards on our hit list?" "No, but their deaths are expected if they know their job." "We don't know anything about the interior of this place?" Phade flexed his wrists. "No." Deia touched. "Any other questions, boys?" "Negative." Deia verbalized at Phade's touch. "Then godspeed." Laura pulled a clear door open for them in the bullet shield.

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Deia stepped in first, Phade at his back. As he crossed the threshold the pit of cement and clear walls vanished. He stepped onto the roof of a building. His perspective to the target never changed but a city populated the very air around him. Cars zipped by on the street below. Large trees lined the parks. Wind whispered over the slick lines of his suit. He and Phade squatted to be less visible. <Wind is flat. Can't basejump.> Phade touched. <What kind of job is this with no eyes inside?> Phade rolled his eyes. Deia felt it in the tilt of the neck. <What's your max timeframe.> <Supplies enough for three days. Performance lags after that.> Phade turned to him slowly and verbalized, "Seriously, dude? I was talking four or five hours. Fuck me." Deia spelled out since there was no simple sign. Phade turned away from the edge and quietly made his way down the fire escape. By the time he reached the street his suit had digitized into a t-shirt and jeans. A cap hid his braid. Deia couldn't feel every muscle move or every heartbeat, but he tracked Phade's progress across the street and past their target building. He cut into a space between buildings and popped back out in running gear, made another pass back the way he'd come. Deia settled into his crouch, prepared to wait there for the full hour. If Phade really could be eyes inside this could work for him. Phade jogged down the length of the building, turned its corner and disappeared. Deia touched to him. He received quick acknowledgment. <Window pattern holds. Taking fire escape.> A short pause. Deia touched confirmation and felt the press of a window frame against Phade's fingers. Neither one budged. Deia touched,

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Phade confirmed and in a heartbeat he was low on the roof, the Gemini suit back around every inch of his lean body. He leaned over a grate and touched his fingers to each corner. Another pause, then he lifted the grate easily and set it aside. Deia touched. Deia nodded to himself, knowing Phade could feel the movement. Phade touched before reaching both hands into the hole he'd made. <Electrical access?> Phade hunched over the vent and worked something Deia couldn't see. A voltage spike popped to the side of his HUD. Just power. Another jump of power as the Phade cut the cord to kill the fan, then more digging around. One hand wrestled free, Deia's HUD flickered with readings transmitted through their linked suits as Phade touched each wire in sequence. Temperature, voltage, amperage. Most wires were basic power, but one came across with a visual. <Stop.> The image flickered for a moment as Phade singled it out, then held steady. A computer desktop. Someone was projecting a presentation. Slides flicked by slowly. All right, computer hacking one-oh-one, don't let anyone see you do it. Phade acknowledged. Deia felt him shift back into a low crouch. Satisfied they were both fairly comfortable, Deia brushed his fingers on his suit trigger and brought up a virtual plain text display beside his visual of the computer. If he focused he could see through both to the building where Phade perched like a tick. The presentation continued without interruption so Deia relegated the image to a small corner of his HUD and called up all other bits of data flying through the cable: operating system specs, update prompts he could use as backdoors, and cpu graph to judge traffic through this line. With a direct link into the network, most of his hacking programs were over-prepared. He selected the shortest one and began stripping it down to basics. He didn't need a password hack. Didn't need to recover an entire OS. Didn't even need a power on command. He kept the population line in case this computer was connected to others and fifteen minutes later had a streamlined bug nicely packaged. He pushed the program to Phade's suit and touched his trigger.

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Phade let the program fly. His visual of the cpu load flickered once, hardly enough to notice. The presentation seemed to continue without alarm. Phade acknowledged and dug around in his hole, presumably to clean up the nest of wires he'd pulled out. He sat on the edge of the vent and grabbed the grate. He slid down the hole, barely large enough for his shoulders, and the grate fell into place as he disappeared, leaving no sign he was ever there. Deia let himself admit he was impressed. *~*~* The shaft was narrow. Phade fit but Deia knew his broader shoulders had no hope. Instead he sat on the rooftop, two fingers pinching the exposed innards of a smart wire. Half his attention tracked Phade's steady movement inside the building below him. The other half followed the similar stealth of his fetch program. The presentation was long over and the computer displaying it shut down, but it was far too late, he was in the system. Phade pulled himself head first through the vents, one hand over the other and most of the force through his shoulders. The Gemini suit provided grip for his fingers. Deia could feel each pull, and the smooth slide of the catsuit that followed. He didn't allow it to distract him even though the information he'd pulled from the network so far was useless social commentary. Phade touched. The growing blueprint flickered as information streamed between them at the speed of thought. Dimensions, layout, number of people, descriptions—no sign of their target yet. Phade moved on. Deia filtered through lines of words, pages of data, bypassed passwords with hardly a thought while Phade crawled in a steady square around the building filling in the blanks of their intel. It was slow work but Deia hadn't lied when he said he was prepared to wait days and he was discovering Phade was at the least not an idiot when it came to stealth. As slow as the going was, they were far faster than Deia reasonably expected with such an unknown quantity as Phade. The slide of the catsuit stopped but no update in the blueprint came. The irregularity brought Deia out of his trance of data. He blinked through the computer displays and focused instead on his suit's twin. Phade was still in the cramped vent, it pressed on his back and one shoulder. His heartbeat remained perfectly steady, breathing was calm. What was he seeing? Hearing? Deia felt the small touch against Phade's fingers only because he was focused so hard. Something small, hard, circular. A crawler. Phade was just full of small surprises. How far away could he direct the recon robot? The blueprint on his HUD flickered suddenly into three dimensions. A staircase zigzagged down

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one side. The new section flashed. Expanded. A detailed photo of a plaque on a wall blinked into existence. Floor B1. A basement. Phade finally touched to him, Phade touched quickly, tapping out spellings when signs weren't enough. His speed was remarkable. <... Lo, but it has a sense of humor. I did mean in the context of the simulation.> Deia let a piece of code fly and felt Phade's sharp breath of surprise with satisfaction. The man was up on his feet, gun drawn, in less than a blink. There was a pause only as long as a heartbeat. "DEIA! What have you done, you SON OF A BITCH?" Nathan roared in their HUDs. They both flinched into loose, deadly readiness. Phade hissed to bring the adrenaline spike under control. Deia vocalized, "I'm replacing this sim with one that will provide a more accurate challenge to the skills we need to test." "What, my mission is too mild for you, Black Widow?" Deia scowled, "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying." Phade touched.

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Deia didn't offer a response. He built himself a set of stairs down to the actual floor of the sim room and dismantled Nathan's test as he descended. The city suddenly collapsed and left the pair of them in a field of tech-embedded concrete. Oops. He hadn’t meant to break it. Nathan screamed himself purple. <So now what?> Deia drifted in Phade's direction while he removed Nathan's vitriol from his HUD. Phade stowed his gun with a sigh, Deia came abreast of Phade and some ten feet before them a generic thug flickered into existence. Three more digitized in beside him. They looked identical. "Who's this guy?" Phade asked. "Agent Smith, I guess. Name isn't important." "What's the purpose of this?" "We need to be able to fight multiple enemies together in these suits and in close quarters. We need to be so in tune that we predict each other; this is the fastest way I know how to test that and improve it." Phade shifted to one hip, "Ok, I'll buy that for a dollar. Anything goes?" "No guns." "Bring it, then." Deia let much of his HUD blink clear and triggered the sim. The four men they stood against were all dressed in standard issue cargo pants and tactical jackets. They spread as they approached and two came in quickly to start the fight. Like his sparring session with Phade, this fight started with broad, obviously blows. Unlike the session, this setup quickly tightened down into close, smart moves that seemed to reflect both Phade and Deia's fighting styles. Phade twisted around Deia's steps without once glancing down. Their mutual awareness of space tightened down to themselves and the two bodies they fought. They blended so smoothly Deia was startled to realize he was actively adapting his well-worn muscle memory into Phade's more fluid dance. He couldn't recall the last time he had altered to his partner rather than trying to pull them up to his level. Perhaps it hadn't ever happened before.

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Phade ducked a round kick that was clearly stolen from his own collection and pulled the agent in close as the leg passed in a move blended from Deia's stock. Deia felt the impact of skull on knee. "You coded my moves into these guys?" Deia twisted his opponent's arm back and kicked a knee sideways, "No, they're learning." The two observing thugs rushed Phade as the first opponent digitized into nothing. "You learned to program—" He dodged two strikes and leapt to the side, "the sim that quickly?" "It is my specialty." "He failed to mention that." Deia twisted the head of the agent at his feet and pushed the body aside. "He who?" It flickered away before hitting the ground but Deia was already spinning to pull a target off of Phade. He yanked the agent back by his jacket and threw him bodily to the ground, freeing Phade's attention for the last man. He never answered. Deia's opponent rolled to his feet. Two more agents flickered into the arena's edges and ran to join the fray. Suddenly Deia was dealing with three guys instead of one. Deia felt a distinct yank on the back of his head, like a clothesline from behind. He jerked backward partly in an effort to detach whatever had caught and partly to have a breath. All other pieces of this fight had been easy to adjust into, but Phade's braid was a weird anomaly he simply didn't know how to incorporate. He saw Phade's opponent slump to the ground, throat more missing than not A new agent digitized into the sim. He had a long cord of braid hanging from the back of his head. Phade's voice was brittle, "Long hair is my gig, you fucker." He fit himself neatly into Deia's scrapping fight, their quick footwork never tangling. Premeditated. Almost surrounded, Phade spared another breath, "Trust me with the power in your suit?" In the middle of a fight? This fight? Deia deflected a sharp jab but his counter missed by hairs. Better this fight than mid-mission. "Yes." "On my mark, hit the ground. Stay there." Deia took a strike on the meat of his shoulder to get in close for a kidney shot. His opponent staggered. "Mark."

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Deia dropped. Two fists from different agents swung harmlessly over his head. Phade's footwork brought one ankle flush up against Deia's ribs and by that point of contact Deia's Gemini suit flicked up into Phade's. His HUD fell apart. The sun was suddenly hot on his bare back and thighs. Phade drew the suit's power up and threw it out from his hands in a great black curve. His blade of nanotech and energy met no resistance. Phade pulled it back into himself, and pushed it down to Deia where it crawled into place with record speed. Eight halves of bodies slid bloodlessly to the ground and scattered into data. "Huh." Deia offered. He stopped the sim. Phade was out of breath and muscle-tired in a way Deia knew he hadn't been just seconds ago. Wielding the suit as a weapon itself had never occurred to Deia before. It clearly took too much effort to be a regular choice, but as a finishing move it was quite spectacular. Phade wobbled. Deia pushed to his feet and caught Phade's arm over his neck before he could collapse entirely. He encoded a ramp up out of the two story sim pit and they started toward it. *~*~* Deia watched the airport departures from Cam's long office window while his boss listened to the doctor drone about Phade's stable condition in medical. Deia could feel the deep, steady heartbeat against his own. Phade was asleep for now. Deia's HUD projected flight paths, speeds, altitude, destinations. The data swarm helped him relax. Cam hung up on the doctor. "How are you feeling, Deia?" "The doc cleared me." Cam rubbed his hand over his head. "Right." he sighed. "I have a small mountain of disciplinary requests from Nathan. He claims you ..." Cam flicked a paper up to read directly, "dismantled his source code." "That was a mistake." "I'm sorry?" "I wanted to shut it down but I've never learned the sim's language. When I started poking things it fell apart instead. If it helps, I learned a lot as it crumbled." "Why were you in the simulation's programming at all?"

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"Because they were testing our patience, not our physical skills. One doesn't become Gemini without a certain baseline of ability. I needed to know if I could work with the man, not if I could tolerate his conversation." "And can you?" "He is competent." Cam sat forward, "That's practically a glowing recommendation coming from you. What did he do that impressed you?" "There is no one skill that makes a partner functional, sir. Else you'd have found me one years ago." "Don't avoid the question, Deia. What's he got the others didn't?" Deia frowned at the latest departing airplane. Its speed was slower than others, a tentative captain. Correction was made, it took off without incident. "He ... gets bored." Cam blinked at him. Sat back in his chair. "That's what his paperwork said. So do you." "The missions you send any team on are limited by that team's weakest member. I have never been that link." "Do you want to die?" Deia looked at Cam and digitized his suit away down to the neck. "Don't be offensive. I want a job suited to my particular skill set. Phade may be the partner I require to that end." Cam considered him across the desk, tapping the end of a pen on his armrest. "All right, he's yours. But I need to at least put on a show of reprimanding you for the stunt in the sim. Find whoever you need, I'll give you a recommendation, learn that program and rebuild Nathan's test." "That sim was useless—" "I don't care. Do enough of a good job and you might be called back to build some better ones but not unless you smooth things over with Nathan. He's one of their top controllers." Deia resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Fine. I'll rebuild it." "Thank you. Your suits are still paired?" "Yes, we haven't shut them off."

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"I'll have the doctor reassign you from Phade's trigger." "Do you have a job for us?" "Yes. I'll pass you the details tomorrow. Get a good night's sleep. You'll have plenty of time to go over our Intel; you might be setting the timeline, in fact." Deia's eyebrows went up, "Why? Aries won't be supporting?" Again. Were there no other Gemini able to sort through their own intel? Or was Aries that short on personnel? "We're having some conflicts with Aries." Cam flapped his hand, "You'll hear about it tomorrow. Get gone." "Sir." *~*~* Vaughn waved Deia onto a bar stool as soon as he entered, all smiles. "You're still suited, like him that much?" Deia sat and waved away a beer. "Something harder." Then to Vaughn, "He's in medical. I want to keep an eye on him." Vaughn's smile fell apart, "How bad is it?" "What? No, he's fine. Tired mostly. He pulled my suit into his and did some serious stuff, could barely walk afterward." He accepted a small glass from the bartender. "Have you seen the footage yet?" "Pfft, man I got a live feed wired into the mess, everyone has seen your footage. There are probably guys out in the sim right now trying to beat your Agent Smith sim." "Vaughn ..." "I'm particularly interested in that move you two pulled at the end there." "Cam said he was recommended from Taurus." Deia said instead. Vaughn smirked, "That's right. I sent him over as soon as I saw him in action." Deia coughed. Brought his glass down hard on the bar, "You recommended him? Fuck, Vaughn, you should have been in that pit with me!"

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"We've had this argument. Phade is much better for you." "He talks too much." "He's wicked fast." "He questions everything." "He's got that braid weapon, no one expects that." "He's arrogant." "HA!" Vaughn barked. "And you're not?" He waved his beer. "Don't answer that. You're assigned and don't try to convince me it wasn't with your agreement. You two blended. I've never seen anyone fight like that, like you're two parts of the same being." "Fluke." "You know it isn't. I don't want to hear another word on it." Deia put his drink back in a gulp. Vaughn sighed. "Is he really all that bad? You weren't happy with Mordekai but you took him on anyway." "Cam put me in a spot with Mordekai, I didn't have much say. I could have turned Phade down." "But you didn't." Deia flicked at his empty glass. "He is ... technically proficient in many things. Exemplary with stealth and emotional control. He reacts like I do. Thinks like me." "I thought so," Vaughn said, but his taunting was done. "He was too brash for Taurus. Not enough room to show off. Not enough people who knew anything to be impressed." "He is not showy." "Not with you. You're not impressed by showy. You demand competence without excess and you can recognize it. So can he. Keep Phade's feathers preened and he'll sing any note you ask."

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Deia wasn't sure he wanted Phade to do what he said. Yes, Deia had been in control of their session today, but there was more to Phade than a warrior. There wasn't much more to himself. "You coming out tonight?" "No, go have fun. I've got an early morning." "They sticking you in the field already?" "We have an assignment. No timeline yet. Some conflict with Aries." "Sounds fun." "Thrilling." ~*~*~ Deia felt Phade awaken as he parked his Jeep outside his condo. It was telling that the man remained perfectly still and his breathing calm. Phade's fingers pressed subtly against his own thigh. <Status?> Deia sat back in the seat of his car. Phade acknowledged and was still for so long Deia suspected he'd fallen back asleep. He let himself into his condo and dropped his polo shirt on the back of the couch as he passed. His fish still swam in their tank, good. He was pulling a marinated chicken out of the fridge when Phade moved. And quickly. He lunged off of the bench or bed he lay on and Deia felt a hard impact on his shoulders and a slide into a corner. Back to a wall. Deia stopped prepping dinner to follow. A quick twist of a doorknob, then rapid, cat-like steps down a smooth hall. The medical hall. Deia touched, <Why are you trying to escape medical? They will just let you out.> Phade's breath was steady but his heart rate was quick. Muscles loose. Deadly. Deia frowned, His hands gripped something. A ledge. A window ledge. Falling. A neat balanced landing. Walking. A deep sigh.

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<So have I passed your tests, Black Widow?> Deia dropped his skillet on the stove with a bang. <My callsign is Deia; I detest that nickname.> <Who came up with it?> <What happened to your partners?> Deia was prepared to spout acid and anger but neither came to the surface. Instead he was relieved. Again. For the first time since spilling to Vaughn, someone didn’t outright assume their deaths were his fault. He touched. <She could keep up physically, mentally; the others never gave her enough credit just because she was female. We were so close. Like siblings.> Like twins. Guene had never looked at him like an over-taught sponsor child. He loved her for that. <She took her own knife under her ribs, up in her heart, just barely nicked it. Do you know how long it takes for someone to die from a gut wound? If nothing fatal is hit it can take hours. She lasted maybe twenty minutes. She died in my arms. I killed every single target on my list with that knife.> Phade’s response was jerky, <Shit.> <Mordekai was too green, he was shot and killed quickly.> Deia found a frozen bag of mixed veggies and added them to the chicken in his skillet, disinclined to say any more on the subject. At some point Phade's walk turned into a loping jog Deia felt could be maintained for hours. Wolf-like. Deia smiled. He cooked his dinner, cleaned up the dishes, and ate a meal in silent company with Phade. He was weirdly comfortable as the man's second skin. He wasn't in the habit of wearing an active Gemini suit for hours on end when not on a job, but it was ... relaxing to be so close to a fellow predator. Vaughn probably would not have been amenable.

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The jog shortened to hopping up stairs, then a quick twist of a doorknob under Phade's palm. <Why didn't you disable the suit after the sim session?> The expression of his thoughts caught Deia off guard. He took several seconds to respond. Something in Deia's chest loosened. The same feeling he had earlier in the day when Phade said they got bored with their work. The feeling was addictive. He pressed the heel of his hand to his chest. Deia started. He touched belatedly. <... and?> <... what?>

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Phade slapped his hand on something, his heart rate and breathing spiked. His touch was rough, A light tug on the back of Phade's head. His fingers running through something soft. Hair. The tight braid loosened and with it a comfortable restraint around Phade's skull sagged. He sighed. Seated. Reclined on a couch. A distinct run of fingers slid from Phade's inner thigh to the mound at the center. Deia reached for his trigger when words made him pause. Of course he could feel it. They were practically in each other's skins. He touched affirmative instead of twisting his trigger. Another press of fingers dragged up Phade's erection. Suddenly Deia was very interested in this process. Blood pulsed between his legs. He pressed another affirmative. Phade's legs spread. He palmed his balls, the suit accommodating whatever stretch he asked of it, and squeezed lightly. He ran the heel of his palm up his shaft and touched with the other hand, Deia stared somewhat wryly at his own lap where a minor erection was working diligently toward becoming a problem. He knew what to do with one, not like he'd never been around this block before, but it had been a long time since he'd done anything with another person ... no one had been worth it. Phade was worth it. Deia thumbed his cock up off his belly and the suit wrapped down the shaft like another limb. He fisted the flesh and pulled up then pushed back through his own fingers. He felt Phade's head fall against the couch, the thump on the back was not gentle. Phade gripped his own erection and the sudden feedback loop was intense. Deia felt Phade feeling him hold himself. He felt two hands on two cocks and it was just too much. His own head fell back. "Fuck ..." His eyes rolled.

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Even Phade seemed out of words. Deia pulled up and pushed through again. Phade made the same motion out of sync. Deliberately, Deia thought. They fisted themselves slowly, feeling the other in the opposite direction like an extra hand on their own. Pleasure rushed through Deia in a terrible constant. Unrelenting. Despite the control with which they moved, things built exponentially. All too soon Deia's muscles creaked with tension and his breath caught. Their climaxes broke together and nursing himself through it Deia wondered if Phade was a screamer. Catching their breath took longer than the buildup. Before anything could be said, though, Deia squeezed his own shoulder knowing Phade would feel it and twisted the trigger in his left forearm. The Gemini suit digitally retracted across his body back to the port, leaving him naked but for a pair of trousers open at the fly. There was nothing to clean up, but Deia made his way to the shower on principle. ~*~*~ Clusterfuck. That's really what Cam meant to say when he claimed there were 'conflicts' with Aries. A full blown SNAFU. Deia strangled the urge to smack his head on the table and block everything out. He really wanted to strangle one of the four Aries ready to get into a battle royalé right here. They were all standing, yelling, pointing fingers, name-calling. Phade, at the end of the conference room just offered him a raised eyebrow and the smallest of smirks. The last person in the room was a young thing. Another Aries. For some reason he'd been relegated to a chair on the wall. He hadn't said a word since coming in with the others. Someone shrieked and this was about to turn ugly. They all thought they were the best Aries had to offer, they were the one Deia should pick to work with. He thought it was telling he hadn't worked with any of them before. Deia put his hands on the mess of paperwork and stood very slowly. The room fell into silence. He passed his hard eyes over the four Aries, three men and a woman. "You are all idiots." He watched a series of emotions flicker across their faces. Typical Aries, so emotional all the time. Eventually they accepted or disregarded his words without comment. Deia looked at the seated red-head against the wall and found clear alert eyes staring back. "What do you think?" Protests sprang up instantly. "He's just apprenticing" "Don't talk to him, Deia." "He's been sponsored to be here, he doesn't know anything."

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Deia turned a heavy glare on the man with that last comment. "I was sponsored into Gemini for years and you're all falling over yourselves to work with me. Sit down." The man sat heavily. Deia turned his eye to the rest of them. "All of you." They sat. Deia gestured at the fifth Aries. "What's your name." "He doesn'—" the speaker's chair suddenly wrenched out from under him. Chair and man fell in a clattering heap. Phade returned to his seat. The younger Aries took it all in with widened eyes. "Cleo." One of the men snickered, "Cleopatra." Deia pointed at him, "You can go." He stood quickly, "But, Deia—" "First, I don't believe I ever gave you permission to use my name. Second, I don't care if you've got the best plan in this room, I'm not going to work with you in my ear for this job. Leave. Now." Cowed, the Aries swallowed and reached for his paperwork. Phade put a hand on his arm. "Leave it. We'll return anything we don't need." A nod. He backed to the door and closed it sharply behind him. "Anyone else?" Deia asked. He acknowledged the chorus of 'No, Gemini' by looking back at Cleo. "You have the floor." Cleo stood and straightened his shirt with an unconscious pull at the edges. He approached the conference desk, touched his fingers to a mess of documents, and slid them gently aside. Underneath was a technical drawing of the city grid. He pointed to a building. "You'll want to enter from here, directly into the twentieth floor." He traced a straight line across the street into the target. Deia pulled papers out of the way. They'd been discussing underground routes and base jumping solutions for hours. "You're talking about a zipline." "The method is up to you, but it needs to happen at nine oh five." The woman piped in, "Shift doesn't change until ten."

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Cleo nodded, "Floors fifteen through twenty are under a guard named Jameson. His daughter has a ballet practice every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. He leaves at nine to bring her home." Deia asked, "Why not nine oh two, then?" Cleo's finger slid up, "Floors twenty one to twenty five belong to Leonard, Lenny to the guys he works with. Nine o'clock is when he makes his round on floor twenty one but on days when he knows Jameson below him is leaving early he will log into one of the computers on twenty four and pass the time. Give him five minutes to get there and settle in, you'll have five floors below you and three floors above with no bodies to catch you." "How long is the window?" "Forty five minutes keeps you safe. Fifty you can get away with. Fifty five and you're caught." Phade leaned forward, "I like it. Who did you say your sponsor was?" Cleo pulled his hand away from the desk. "I didn't." Deia gestured, "You three can go." "But—" Deia's stare cut off the protest. "You can explain to your commander or not. Cleo will forward him a timeline as soon as it's complete. Get out." They shuffled out, leaving their papers and research for Deia, Phade, and Cleo to puzzle out on their own. Deia handed Cleo a blank pad and a pen. "Show me what you know." ~*~*~ Deia gestured Phade to the elevator shaft access. They could pop the lock if necessary but Phade thought he could breach it with more finesse. "Green." Cleo said quietly into their HUDs. Deia appreciated his quiet, straightforward manner. Jumping the hoops to have him on this small team was worth the drill down from the Aries commander, even if Cam kept sending him exasperated looks every chance he got. Readiness involved more than training.

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"Hah." Phade whispered. He eased the panel back on quiet hinges and checked up and down. He didn't wait for Deia's acknowledgement but reached into the elevator shaft to clip the rappel slide on and swung in. He began sliding downward immediately. Deia clipped his own slide on and triggered sticky fingers through his suit. He pulled the access panel closed behind him. It wasn't locked but it was at least less obvious. He whizzed down the elevator line after Phade. Floor ten: dress ties, formal shoes, and men who like to traffic children out of the country. By the time Deia reached it, Phade had already jimmied the lock and let himself out. He touched. Deia made short work of his slide and took point through the wall-to-wall cubicles. The good news was they could see clear across half the floor. The bad news was so could security. They prowled down a center aisle. Deia took a left, inward; Phade continued toward the stairwell to keep eyes and ears open for the one and hopefully only sweep they needed to avoid. Deia came up short of opening a posh office door. There was a camera on the other side, just above the swing of the door. He key-gunned the lock and held the handle close. Straight up was the camera. A single cord fed directly into the wall. Deia pressed his fingers in the half inch he allowed the door to open and caught the cord, slicing open the rubber casing. He pressed the tech of his suit to the wiring and saw the feed jump up on his HUD. Then it was a simple matter to record several seconds of video, attach it to his prebuilt time stamp, and set the decoy. A few heartbeats filled his ears. Cleo said. Deia pushed the door wide and that's when everything went to shit. Someone somewhere had crossed them. Two men in full tactical gear stood in the room pointing semi autos at Deia's chest. Deia pushed his right thumb down the inside of his pinky as he raised his hands to shoulder height. <Mayday.> "Turn around. On your knees. Slowly." Deia turned very slowly, deliberately backing out of the doorway as he did so. He paused for a heartbeat. He lunged to the left. Bullets barked out the doorway. Deia was already yards down the aisle. He dodged right into the forest of cubicles. The shooting died down into eerie silence. There were no men on radios shouting for backup, no stomping feet, no assault. <Status?> he touched to Phade. No response. If he had been knocked out or fought Deia would have felt it. There was just ... Nothing.

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Deia wove more distance between himself and the weirdly silent Ops guys undoubtedly behind him. His path crossed the open door of the stairwell where Phade should have been. A third man in tactical gear bent there to sling Phade over his shoulder fireman-style, clearly unconscious. It brought Deia up short. He couldn't feel any difference in Phade's heartbeat. No press of straps in his abs, no sense of hanging at all. The man turned with Phade and headed downstairs, missing Deia entirely. Deia popped his head up between the cubicles. Either the men who shot at him were gone or they were ducked in the aisle. Cleo whispered in his ear through a rough connection. "Make your way up by any means. They are flooding into the building—" static overwhelmed his words. What the hell was going on? Deia circled back around to the elevator without seeing anyone at all. He strung his slide onto the cable and started climbing. "They have him." Cleo stuttered back into Deia's HUD. "Do not compromise yourself." "What happened?" Deia barked. "Unknown. Get up and out. I'm pirating a signal and it won't last." "I can't feel him." "I figured—" Static again. Deia lunged out onto floor twenty but no one was there to assault him. He ran for the window they entered from and took the zipline at speed. No one shot at him from below. He dismantled the line in record time. "They're shutting me down as fast as they can. I don't know how they're tracing. Consider him compromised. Abort." "Damnit ..." Deia bolted down the fire escape. The night was gray. Rain spilled from the clouds. He hit the street and made for the corner intending to ... He didn't know but blood and death would be involved somehow. He needed to get his hands on one of their guns. A pickup truck stopped in front of his path. Vaughn was crouching in the back and met his eyes through the rain. "Get in." "I'm going after him." "Fuck you, get in before I make you."

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"He's not going to die because of me." "With all the effort they put into this I doubt killing him is very high on their list. How are you going to track him anyway? Get in and start writing some code. Your Aries already has his hands full." Deia hissed but climbed into the bed and slammed himself down beside Vaughn who slapped the top of the cab. They streaked into the night. "Dammit—" "Preaching to the choir, D." Deia hissed again and cranked the trigger in his arm harder than necessary to open his coding windows. If Phade ever woke up or Deia could sense anything besides this creepy numbness he would have something to show for his time. ~*~*~ He sat through hours of debriefing only half aware. He was dragged before commander after commander; he ignored them all. They couldn't make him turn off the suit, it was their only connection to Phade. Cam was there in brief flickering moments, like a radio tuned between channels. He heard the Scorpio commander’s crisp voice at one point but couldn’t be bothered to turn and look at her. The shuddering glimpses of Phade came and went, but as time wore on, they mostly went. He hadn’t felt a heartbeat or breath in over an hour. He only knew Phade wasn’t dead because the trigger on his arm still pulsed green. Assigned. Deia crashed into a bunk somewhere on the compound well after the sun had risen, satisfied with his tracing program and completely hollow at the thought he wouldn't have a chance to use it. ~*~*~ Something pushed Deia's thigh. He jerked awake and grabbed at nothing. No one was here. The rain was still pouring down. The barracks were ghostly. The time popped up on his HUD, five in the evening. Something pushed Deia's thigh and understanding dawned in a rush. He dropped his code into the reestablished link to Phade and slammed through the door of the barracks. Limited signals came from his partner, flashes of heat and cold that the suit should have mediated, a steady thump against one thigh. Occasional turbulence.

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The code he dropped kicked in, flickered, held. A map. A vehicle moving fast on a heading Deia couldn't put significance to. Deia shouldered through the mess doors and an echo of silence spread like a wave before him. He swept the sea of eyes for Cleo. A light touch on his arm whirled him around. Cleo handed his bagged food to the closest at hand and nodded to Deia. They ran for the trucks. Deia slapped a hood as he passed and Cleo climbed in. Deia nearly bowled Vaughn over blasting into the office for keys. "Where do you think you're going?" "Found him. Don't get in my way." Deia physically lifted Vaughn behind him and ransacked the desk. "They're prepping a silence mission with a Scorpio." "Unacceptable." Deia couldn't believe he had ever considered transferring to them. This was unbelievable. "Its protocol, Deia." "Toss the protocol. I found him. I'm tracking him right now, real time—where the FUCK are the keys?" Vaughn jingled a set. Deia turned on him slowly. "Do not be against me, Vaughn. I don't want to hurt you." "Get in the car, Widow. I'm driving." "I hate that name." "I know." Doors slammed. The engine roared. Cleo braced a slim shoulder on the back of Deia's seat and slipped a tablet into his hands. "Interface with that somehow. I want to see what your HUD sees." Vaughn threw a look behind him. "Sit down, Sweetheart, or you'll be flat." Deia smacked Vaughn's thigh ungently, "His name is Cleo and he's smarter than both of us. Watch it." "Damn you are touchy when the wife is in danger." Deia flipped him off and typed into the tablet one handed.

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~*~*~ The rain slashed down at such an angle it was amazing Deia could see anything at all. He stood against the truck, mostly protected on the right by its mass, and flicked through night vision and infrared to piece together what he was seeing. Cleo could probably make more sense of it than he could. "HQ is calling again." Cleo announced. Deia grunted. "It's your commander this time." "Fine, patch it." His HUD announced the connection. Deia grunted again. "I don't think I'm going to recommend you to Scorpio." "What?" "I wouldn't have nearly as much time off from stress if you leave Gemini. I think you'll have to petition." Deia huffed a laugh, more air than sound. "I don't think I want to transfer anymore, Sir. I found a partner I'd like to work with." "He doesn't seem to agree." "I just need to knock some sense into him." "Listen, Scorpio's commander is burning at both ends for you to come in. I can't tell her no." "Are you going to make it an order?" The silence on Cam's end was long but Deia didn't think he was consulting anyone, just between a rock and a hard place. "I think you deserve to know: the signs say Katz is responsible." Air left Deia's lungs in a rush and the hollow space in his chest came back. He heard Cleo squeak in the truck and Vaughn muttered something he didn't catch. "That explains why they were so well funded. Have they said what they want?" Katz always had a list of demands. He was efficient like that. "Not yet. Libra's on standby to negotiate. You should also know that Scorpio is prepping Moto."

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This time the silence was on Deia's end because the loose something in his chest that Phade had been working at since they met fell down into his feet and broke. "Hey, D?" "Is he mobile?" "Not yet, there's some kind of tension between him and the commander but it won't last long." "And by tension you mean ..." "I don't know but he was scheduled to leave an hour ago and I haven't told you any of this." "Cam ..." "I'll give Cleo what help I can." "Thank you." Deia breathed and cut the signal. "I was eating with Motocross." Deia turned to Cleo, "When I came to get you?" "Yes." "I didn't even see him. Damn ..." "He's probably the one causing the issue with Kimberly, his commander." "To delay his own job? Why?" "He respects you—probably trying to give us some time." The man owed him nothing. They'd exchanged maybe two words ever. If there were any reputations to rival his own, Moto was one of them. He had completed every job issued to him to date. But so had Deia. "If he's delaying then we need to take advantage. Cleo, show me what you know." "What's Phade's status?" "The suit is coming back online in fits and starts but he's still unconscious as far as I can tell. Chilly."

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"This will be a lot harder if he doesn't wake up. I can't patch in to him, though that may change when you get in contact. Either way you'll be leaving me behind." Deia pulled the truck's tail down with a bang and dug into the supplies. Vaughn turned around in his seat, "Why?" "I can't be in your ear and be mobile. Too many things to see and not enough eyes." "You can ride—" "We'll be sacrificing the truck." "What?" Deia growled, "Vaughn will you shut up already and help me with this tarp? Cleo we can set you up with a rain fly and a tree stump for a chair at least." "Thank you. The building we're looking at is very high tech but not very well fortified. They have key cards, video cameras, and electronic locks but chain link fencing and a wooden structure. Impossible to sneak in, but very easy to demo through." "Oh," Vaughn piped in, "I get to drive through a building, why didn't you say so?" "I've calculated an angle of approach. Vaughn, you'll want to barrel in as far as you can get. They're holding Phade in the middle, mostly, so farther is better. I then need you to make yourself the biggest pain in the ass you can. We don't have much in the way of firepower but you're sure to run over a guard or two. Steal a gun and go nuts." Deia yanked Vaughn close by his shirt, "Get shot and I will sic Moto on you myself. Green?" "Photosynthetic." Vaughn smiled like he could bare fangs. The idea of no-holds-barred destruction rushed to his head. "Deia, while Vaughn is doing his kamikaze impression you need to follow his trail and copy someone's uniform. They probably won't notice a nametag is missing but do your best to blend. Vaughn should make enough of a panic you can get in without trouble. Find Phade, get him out. "Vaughn, while you're making problems, keep an eye open for an available van or truck. Pick up Phade and Deia, get out of town." "We picking you up?"

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"No, Scorpio will likely be here by then. I'll hitch a ride back to HQ with them." Vaughn cackled. "I love smash and grab! Deia, you always bring me out on the best dates." "Remember that next time you try and get me to a cl—" Deia broke off. "He's awake." he touched to Phade. <Silence?> <Moto took the job, he's in transit. We're assaulting first.> Acknowledgement. Deia whirled on Cleo. "Out." Cleo jumped to, carrying his tablet and a suitcase that resembled a squid of cords. He threw a mobile antenna up on the tarp as he ducked under. "Need anything else?" "No. I've got Scorpio pinged, don't worry about me." Vaughn slammed the driver door and shook the water out of his hair. "How close are they?" "Twenty minutes." Deia slammed the tail of the truck and jumped into the bed. "Good luck, Gemini." Deia nodded at Cleo and tapped his ear where he could hear the Aries loud and clear. He slapped the top of the cab. Vaughn revved the engine but didn't waste time spinning the wheels. They moved out. ~*~*~ Maybe a hundred yards from the building, Vaughn plowed over a chain link fence. The truck bounced through and kept going. At half the distance Deia tapped the cab and jumped from the bed when

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Vaughn slowed. The engine roared. The truck pulled away. Vaughn flicked his high beams on, spotlighting two guards just before he greeted them with his push bar. The truck blazed a trail smack into the building, two or three rooms deep before the debris pulled all four wheels off the ground and he couldn't move any farther. Deia lifted a semi auto from a very dead guard and stepped into the first wall. People were screaming. The first one he saw, a woman crying as she ran, wore a white lab coat over casual office dress. She froze in the devastated hall. Deia digitized his suit into slacks, a button down, and a white lab coat. The woman fainted. Bullets cracked in the distance; hopefully that was Vaughn. Deia worked his way through the broken walls as far as he could before forking off into a hallway he hoped would turn left at some point. He was completely ignored. Even though anyone else with a lab coat was clearly without weaponry and despite the fact that Deia was just as clearly making his way upstream instead of down, no one even gave him a second look. He turned left and planted two bullets in the guard at the door without breaking stride. The body slumped. Deia wrenched open the door in time to see Phade slice a guard's neck full across. Deia closed the door. Blood sprayed across the viewing window. The body dropped with a thump. Deia opened the door again. Phade stood bent over, bloody up to his elbows and holding his right side. His suit was down off his face and a fantastic bruise colored one cheekbone. He smiled up at Deia and it squinted his eyes. It was beautiful. The broken thing Deia had been carrying around in his feet set itself properly back in his chest. Phade's smile dropped away, "Why can't I feel you?" "Our suits are out of sync. It's probably an effect of the drug they gave you." Deia held out his left arm. Phade took it, planting a bright red hand print on the inside of Deia's otherwise immaculate lab coat. They both breathed through deadly smiles when the familiar buzz of the other's life flickered back. Phade digitized his suit into a copy of Deia's. He added a cap to hide his braid. Cleo's voice was warm, "Welcome back, Gemini. We missed you." "So are we just walking out of here?" "That's the plan." Deia took point down the hall. "Why don't I get a big gun?"

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"I'll get you one for Christmas." They clambered their way out of the rubble of the building and were nearly shot by Vaughn as he rounded the corner. "No cars." He yelled as he ran past. He fired two bullets blindly behind him, catching one guy in the shoulder as a mob of men in tactical gear churned after him. Phade reached into the mess, divested a soldier of his semi auto, and let the rest swarm past. The gunless straggler crashed suddenly sideways. Blood spatter painted like a Rorschach blot on the wall. "Moto has arrived." Phade observed. "Do we help Vaughn or run for it?" Light flashed and an explosion beat against Deia's heart. They both crouched reflexively. Then Vaughn's insane cackle echoed back at them. "Run for it." Deia decided. Their suits digitized back into the uniform black catsuits, extending up over their heads. The HUD tracked fallen men and extensive damage. A Taurus symbol tracked Vaughn’s fleeing form. A distant Scorpio icon indicated the cavalry. They followed Cleo's instruction back over the chain link fence and directly to the Scorpio contingent. There were at least fifteen Taurus armed to the teeth swarming three pickups and a single Jeep. On top of the Jeep despite the rain, conspicuous in his black turtleneck and lack of weaponry, stretched Motocross with his rifle. Deia watched him calmly line his shot, squeeze, throw the bolt, and line another shot. Pull. Pull. Pull. He worked the pattern like a well-oiled machine, utterly calm among the ruckus the Taurus around him made. He sighted his next shot, then backed off. "Taurus incoming, someone go pick him up. He needs medical." A host of porcupine-like men broke in the direction Moto pointed. The sniper watched through his scope until they all had returned, hauling Vaughn among them. Deia let himself breathe. The man was stumbling along under his own power and that was good enough for him. Phade's shoulder touched his, "Katz won't let this slide. We got lucky." Deia nodded. The herd of Taurus packed themselves back into the cabs and beds of the trucks. Moto climbed down from his Jeep and stowed his rifle. "Climb in, Gemini." He slid into the driver seat. Phade and Deia took the back by mutual consent. "Cleo ..." "I've got his location."

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Cleo was waiting for them, packed and ready. They left the tarp hanging. Cleo scrambled into the front seat and checked twice that Phade really was in the back. He smiled. Phade reached forward to muss his rust hair. The only sound on the ride home was the patter of rain. ~*~*~ Deia dropped his keys on the table by the door and stretched out of his jacket. The rain was still falling, it was two in the morning, but the doc had cleared him and he was home. Finally. He fed his fish. They jumped for the pellets and churned the water with much more energy than Deia had. He stood there for several breaths, just staring, until he realized he was looking at Phade in the reflection of the glass. The man wrapped arms around him before he could turn. Deia sighed into the embrace, as familiar and different as it was. "Why did you come after me? You must have known Scorpio was mobilizing. They would have taken care of it." "You're my partner." "You would have been reassigned." Deia turned in Phade's arms and brought his hands up to cradle the man's head. He pressed his thumbs across Phade's temples into wet black hair. His eyes were quiet. "You are the only one I want in my Gemini suit." A smile curled one side of Phade's mouth. Shy. "Your compliments are getting better." "How about this one." Deia pulled Phade in and kissed him gently. The barest meeting of lips. A different kind of smile curled Phade's mouth and when they met again they opened to each other and explored. Deia pulled his hands down Phade's tight chest and spread his fingers across ribs. Phade shied ever so slightly left and Deia lightened his touch there. He pressed fingers into Phade's other side. It wasn't a question, but Phade touched back. Deia reached back to press the light off for his fish. He didn't want to stop kissing Phade. The quiet exchange of breath, the way he yielded under Deia's tongue, it was intoxicating. Deia pulled at Phade's t-shirt as they worked through the condo. Deia's shirt went next. Shoes and socks got lost in the kitchen.

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Deia sprawled Phade on the bed and pulled his jeans off by the cuffs. Commando. He dropped his own pants and briefs. Phade lay out on the mattress like an artist had painted him that way. Deia ran his hands up tightly toned calves, and broad thighs. He bypassed Phade's cock entirely, though it stood at attention, and drew his hands up over abs and ribs, gentle on the right. He slid his palms under shoulder blades and propped himself on elbows there. He leaned down to kiss again and Phade smiled up at him. "Tease." Deia lowered his hips just a breath and they came skin to skin for the first time. Phade thrust up against him, suddenly more urgent to touch and be touched. Deia pressed himself between Phade's legs and surged up against him, dragging their erections together. "Oh ..." It was a puff of air against Deia's lips more than anything. He kissed along Phade's jaw, smooth with a recent shave at medical, and gently bit the bulge of muscle between shoulder and neck on his next thrust up. This time Phade moaned properly. Deia fished lube and a condom out of the bedside drawer one-handed and blindly. The former he also managed to coat his fingers with one-handed. He left off rutting into Phade's hip to press a single finger against his entrance. The lube made the slide easy and he straddled Phade's leg to watch his finger work. Phade's muscles tensed. The ring clamped around Deia's finger. He paused and looked back up. "I like the friction." Phade admitted in a whisper. Deia watched Phade's face as he pushed his finger in past the second knuckle. It slid past with a slight jerk. Deia pulled the knuckle back out, pushed in again, bumping back and forth over the joint. Phade's breathing quickly went ragged. He pulled his free leg up and laid it flat to the side, tensing all the muscles there along the groin. Deia bent and took Phade's cock in his mouth, a simple plunge down to the root, and added a second finger simultaneously. Phade arched beneath him and cried out. The leg Deia straddled tensed up but Deia's weight kept it down. Deia bumped two knuckles in and out and sucked up on Phade's cock. Apparently it was a powerful combination. Phade shuddered, "Deia ... I—" Deia drew off, "No." Phade's lower body instantly went slack to stave off orgasm but his breath came out in a rush at the effort of it. Deia rolled the condom on and pressed himself into place. The slide was easy. Hot. Phade waited until he was completely settled before slowly tensing until Deia was sure he'd burst just from the pressure.

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Deia stared at Phade's chest. Trying to translate smiles and move at the same time was simply too much. He dragged out against the tight gland of nerves and thrust in just as slowly. The heat. The tension. He wasn't going to last. Deia thrust again. They found a steady rhythm. A basic in and out that Deia could control. "Harder." Of course it wouldn't be enough. He snapped his hips up. Flesh slapped. "Ah!" Phade arched and fuck trying to translate smiles, Deia wanted to see his face as he came, wanted to watch those black eyes go hazy with need. His next thrust rocked them both up. Phade braced one hand on the headboard and suddenly he had leverage to push back. The rhythm jerked into a driving beat, one that tightened the occasional exclamation into a series of yeses. Then Phade arched up and moved Deia into a perfect angle that threw Phade off the edge. Every muscle locked down. Some part of Deia noted that Phade was, in fact, a screamer. He thrust right through the vice and into his own climax. He hugged Phade tightly through their jerking release. Deia couldn't get enough air. He pushed himself up (when had he lay down?) from atop Phade and dealt with the condom. It took a moment to convince himself he could walk, but that accomplished, he returned from the bathroom with a cloth to clean them both. Phade pulled him back down to the bed— it wasn't too hard to convince him—and after a brief struggle with the covers, curled up against Deia's chest. Deia ran his fingers up and down Phade's back and wondered if there was something he was supposed to say now. Phade's breath stretched out into sleep before the words ever showed up and Deia realized his touch communicated enough.

Fin

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About the Author Tami Veldura

grew up in a home without pets and currently lives in an apartment that doesn't allow them. It is therefore understandable that she's been animal obsessed since kindergarten except for a week after watching A Acrophobia crophobia because that shit's just scary. Balto made it better, though, and Tami tried coloring her first animated film at the age of ten. When that didn't turn out quite right she tried drawing comic book panels. When that took too long she made wolves into in a forum role play and realize that writing was light years faster than drawing. She hasn't looked back. She has her mother to thank for exposing her to romance. She has her high school buddies to thank for exposing her to slash. She has no one to blame for the interest in BDSM or explicit sex so she might as well own that one and call it good. Tami loves to hear from her readers, and can be found all over the internet: tamiveldura.com @tamiveldura http://goodreads.com/tamiveldura