Squad X (a Nuzi Story)

Chapter 4: Mission with a hottie (a stupid one)

Nora's POV

The jet engines hummed like an overworked blender, rattling us around as Tate and I zoomed toward the Cabin Fever Lab. I glanced over at Tate, who was messing with his hair in the reflection of the window, completely oblivious to the fact that we were about to dive into a potential disaster. Typical Tate.

"Suspicious activity near the old Cabin Fever Lab," came the crackly voice over the comms. "Go poke around, act like you care, and maybe don't die."

"Sounds like fun," Tate muttered, smoothing down a stray lock of hair that refused to cooperate.

"Yeah, nothing says 'fun' like a potentially deadly ambush," I deadpanned, adjusting my harness. "You sure you didn't forget your brain with that hair gel?"

Tate smirked, completely unfazed. "I don't need brains when I've got these killer looks."

"Shame they haven't killed you yet," I muttered under my breath, earning a snort from him.

The jet touched down near the lab, which looked like it had been abandoned by anyone with common sense decades ago. Perfect. Nothing like a creepy, crumbling building to set the mood for a suspicious trade deal.

We crept through the ruins, trying to look like stealthy professionals. Keyword: "trying."

"There they are," Tate whispered, nudging me and pointing to a shady-looking meeting between two groups. On one side was Romia Dasion, some local oil tycoon who clearly thought she was way too important to be caught in a place this gross. Across from her was a woman with bright blue hair that screamed, "I'm a villain, surprise!"

"Who's that?" Tate whispered, like we were gossiping at high school instead of spying on a sketchy trade.

"No idea," I whispered back, squinting at the blue-haired woman's outfit, which looked like she was headed to a runway show after this shady deal. Black jumpsuit, leather jacket, heels—who does she think she is, a spy in a bad action movie?

They were exchanging something shiny on a rickety table that looked ready to collapse at any second. Oil for crystals. Oooh, how mysterious.

"Ten gallons of oil," the blue-haired woman said, her voice dripping with that 'I'm too cool for this' attitude. "And 1,000 units. The usual evil stuff. Hope these crystals aren't cheap knock-offs."

Romia, looking like she would rather be anywhere else, shrugged. "Sure, they're good. You'll love them. Like, seriously."

"Uh-huh," Blue-Hair replied, inspecting the crystals like she was shopping at a farmers market. "If they suck, though, I'll be returning them. No refunds."

The awkward exchange dragged on, and I was just about to suggest we leave when Blue-Hair suddenly turned her head and looked straight at us.

"Hello? Uninvited guests, much?"

Before I could react, a couple of henchmen popped out of nowhere and grabbed us like we were on the world's worst roller coaster. Great, just what I needed.

"Spies?" Blue-Hair asked, walking toward us like she owned the place. "Seriously? And here I thought this was gonna be boring."

I glared at her. "I'm not a spy. I don't even get paid for this nonsense."

She raised an eyebrow and glanced at my necklace. "Cute accessory. Where'd you steal that from, a yard sale?"

"Hey!" I snapped. "That's mine!"

Blue-Hair smirked like she'd just won an award for sass and yanked my necklace off with some invisible force, like she was showing off some cheap parlor trick. "Interesting. Thought I recognized it. Tell your mom I said hi."

I blinked, totally thrown. "What does my mom have to do with—"

"Blah blah blah," she interrupted, tossing the necklace aside like it was last season's fashion. "Take them away, I'm done here."

Before I could protest, Tate and I were hauled off like a couple of disgruntled sacks of potatoes and shoved into a dingy cell. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Uzi's POV

One minute I was enjoying a peaceful evening doing, you know, important leader-y things like yelling at people and ignoring paperwork, and the next, Nora's comms cut out. My first thought was: great, now I have to deal with whatever mess she's gotten herself into.

I bolted into the control room, where V was already tapping furiously at the monitors, probably trying to figure out how to blame me for this.

"Nora's in trouble," I said, stating the obvious. "Her signal just cut out near the Cabin Fever Lab."

"Obviously," V deadpanned, not even looking up. "Let me guess, she and Tate are being idiots again?"

"Probably." I grabbed my gear. "Let's go bail them out before they manage to blow up the lab."

V sighed but followed me. "I swear, if this turns into another 'explain-this-to-HR' situation, I'm blaming you."

"Blame away," I shot back, revving up the jet. "I don't even like HR."

Nora's POV

"So, this is... fun," I said, glancing around the tiny, dark cell where we'd been dumped. "Any brilliant ideas, Captain Awesome?"

Tate, sitting on the floor with his hands behind his head like he was sunbathing on a beach, shrugged. "I dunno, maybe we could... ask them nicely to let us go?"

"Oh yeah, that'll work. 'Excuse me, miss evil lady, can we please leave? Pretty please?'"

"Hey, sarcasm won't get us out of here, but it's sure making the wait more entertaining."

Before I could come up with a scathing reply, the doors to our cell burst open, and—surprise!—Mom and V strolled in, looking like they'd just wrapped up a training montage. Plasma bolts still sizzled in the air from the guards they'd toasted.

"Nora!" Mom shouted, rushing over like I'd gotten lost in a grocery store or something. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, totally fine," I said, waving off her concern. "Oh, except for the part where some blue-haired psycho stole my necklace and basically told me you're hiding all the secrets."

Mom's face went pale, and I swear she stopped breathing for a second. "She... took your necklace?"

"Yeah. And she was all cryptic about it too. Said something like, 'Tell your mom I said hi,' which is totally not creepy at all, right?"

Mom exchanged a look with V, who just sighed like she'd seen this trainwreck coming a mile away. "Sounds like Doll."

"Doll?" I raised an eyebrow. "Wait, wait, wait. Doll? Like, that's her actual name? Couldn't she go for something scarier? Like, I dunno, 'Dreadqueen' or 'MurderLady 3000'?"

Mom wasn't amused. "We'll talk later," she said, avoiding all my questions like a pro. "Let's just get out of here before things get worse."

"Sure, sure," I muttered as we fled the lab, leaving chaos and confusion behind. "We'll just save the life-altering revelations for after dinner."

Doll's POV

Romia inspected the glowing crystals with all the enthusiasm of someone checking the expiry date on a milk carton. "These better be as good as you say," she said, clearly unimpressed. "My clients aren't fans of defective merchandise."

Doll (yes, that's really her name, deal with it) gave her best evil smirk and replied, "They're fantastic. Way better than those fake crystals you get on the street. Trust me."

Romia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just take your oil and go before I change my mind."

Doll pocketed the shiny crystals, grinning like a kid who'd just conned the Tooth Fairy. "Pleasure doing business, as always."

With that, she sauntered out of the lab, probably already planning her next evil scheme involving overpriced crystals and cryptic one-liners.

And thus, the mystery deepened... or got weirder. Same difference, really.