I Hope We Can Keep Meeting Like This

“I’m in position,” I say into my earpiece.

“That’s all? No quirky catchphrase this time?” Aquino asks, and I swear I can hear her smirking over the line.

“You know I stopped doing that,” I say through gritted teeth. “Alright, I’m going in.”

I give the door a forceful kick and keep my gun at the ready. But the place is empty.

“Another dud,” I say into the earpiece.

Aquino sighs. “Oh, well. We tried. Get out of there, Vargas.”

“Understood.” As I prepare to make my exit, I overhear voices coming from outside. I pause, then search for a good place to hide. There’s a large broom closet by the window, so I hastily make my way there.

"Is everything okay, Vargas?"

"I hear voices coming in. I found a place to hide for now."

"Alright then, be careful."

The voices have gotten much closer. Looks like I made it just in time. I carefully place my ear against the door to listen in on the new arrivals. As I listen closer, I realize that I recognize the voices.

“No, listen Sylvie, I really think that—“

“Mary?!” I exclaim, bursting out of my hiding spot.

“Wha—?! Altair?! What are you doing in a broom closet?!”

“I went in here to— Wait, hold on, what are you doing here?!”

“I heard that old man Grizzly finally kicked the bucket, so I was thinking of buying up this place. You know, expand the business and all that?”

“Wha— Grizz is dead?!”

“Yeah, I heard he died of old age. Or poison. He wasn’t very well liked. Wait, is he your target this time?”

“Was.” So he’s dead now? Well, at least now I know why all of our intel kept leading to dead ends.

“Oh, sorry about that, babe. I’m sure you would have done a good job taking him out.”

“I don’t need your sympathy, Mary…But thanks anyway.”

“Um,,, do you need us to leave the room?” Brass asks, and it’s only now that I remember that we’re not alone. As usual, the ever loyal breakfast trio are all accounted for. I try my best not to blush, but I can already feel my face starting to heat up.

Aquino clears her throat in my earpiece, also reminding me of her presence.

"Yes, would you two like to have some space?" she asks in a teasing tone. She's been surprisingly chill about our relationship and I found out later that she's known about my mess-ups and accidental run-ins with Mary since day one. I don't know how, but that woman seems to know everything.

Her teasing has been just as bad as Cobalt's though, if not moreso.

“Oh, uh, no, I need to head back and let my superiors know about what happened to Grizz. Uh, see you guys later."

“You sure you don’t want to stick around?” Mary asks. Then, in a softer voice, “And could you please call me Vega around my underlings? ‘Mary’ just doesn’t sound nearly as imposing.”

“Why not? I think it’s a really cute name.”

She blushes a bit. “Thank you, but it’s still a very plain name. Especially compared to ‘Altair’. Seriously, how did your parents come up with that?!”

I shrug my shoulders. “They just named me after their favorite comic book character, is all.”

“Oh…Well it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a very cool sounding name. If you went and became a villain, I’m sure you wouldn’t need to change your name like I did. Or Grizz, for that matter. Did you know his real name was Ben?”

I shake my head. “No, I did not know that. Thank you for enlightening me.”

“Yeah, we’ll let you guys have the room,” Goldie says as she pushes Sylvia and Brass out of the room. “I feel like a third wheel in here.” She adds in an hushed whisper that sounds more amused than annoyed.

"Yes, I'll be off as well," Aquino says. "Let me know when you're on your way back, Vargas."

The line goes silent before I can make any kind of protest. I turn to look at Mary, who has the goofy grin on her face.

“What? What’s with that look?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking, it’s nice running into each other like this!”

“You mean while we’re at work? Even though we’re on opposing sides?” I ask, raising a questioning brow.

“I mean, you gotta admit it does add a bit of a thrill to our relationship.”

“And what if we run into each other in the middle of a fight or something?”

This makes her pause and think. “Hmm…Then I suppose I’ll just have to avoid shooting you as best I can. What about you? What would you do?”

“I’d shoot you.”

Mary makes a pained, choking sound and clutches her chest, right where her heart should be. “Altair, how could you?!”

“Clam down, you’re acting like I already shot you! Besides, I wasn’t finished. I’d shoot you in the leg, one of the least lethal places to get shot at. You’d have an excuse to leave the battle immediately.”

“Why do I feel like you’ve given this a lot of thought?”

“That’s because I have. It may be more likely to occur than you think.”

Mary pouts. “You’re no fun. How would you feel if I shot you then?”

“Relieved because I’d have an excuse to leave the battle and not have to worry about engaging in combat with you.”

“Wow, you sure you wanna settle for this one, boss?”

I turn at the sound of the newcomer. It’s Cobalt, still in his Ace disguise and still somehow evading suspicion from just about everyone. Which means that he’s more up to date about Mary’s comings and goings than I am.

“But I gotta say,” Cobalt continues, “I am digging this weird dynamic you guys have going on. Definitely gives off ‘has had at least three dates and kissed already’ vibes.”

“Wha—?! How did you—?!” Mary exclaims, and I inwardly curse at him. That was told in confidence! And that jerk is giving such a smug smirk right now!

Cobalt just shrugs. “What can I say? I’m just good at reading people.”

I go to the broom closet and pick up the broom.

“Babe, what are you doing with—“

I start hitting Cobalt with the broom. Or at least try to, curse his dodging skills. Oh, there! Finally got a hit in. But just the one so far. Tch.

“Altair, hon, calm down! I’m sure Ace didn’t mean anything by it!”

“Aww, boss has so many cute nicknames for you Mister Altair! When are you gonna give her a cute nickname?”

“Sh-shut up! I’ll come up with something at the right time!”

“You sure it’s not just cause you’re too embarrass— Hey! That hurt!”

I managed to get a hit in the shin.

“There’s more where that came from!”

“Alright boys, break it up!” Mary says, grabbing hold of the broom and breaking it cleanly in half. “Ace, why don’t you go check and see if Goldie and the others need any help?”

“You got it!” Cobalt says, saluting Mary. He gives me one last mischievous wink before heading out.

“Sorry about him,” Mary says. “He’s great at what he does, but he can be such a tease.”

“It’s fine. But I should really get going. I’ll see you Friday night?”

Mary nods. “Yeah, I’ll see you. And Altair?”

“Yeah?”

“I hope we can keep meeting like this.”