Headquarters
Atlanta, GA
United States of America
April 2015
“I’m sorry,” Aether managed, “we have to what now?”
Tadashi was able to keep a straight face as he had repeated what he had just said. “Both of you were assigned to a mission. To put it simply, both of you have to infiltrate a party happening this Friday and must acquire as much information as possible,” he said calmly. Aether still looked shocked and Peters had his brows furrowed; both of them waited for the kicker. Tadashi inhaled slowly before delivering the other piece of information, “And you can’t go as separate individuals. Both of you have to go as a pair.”
“And by ‘pair’,” Peters asked carefully, “do you mean as a pair of acquaintances or do you mean something more than that?” the look on Tadashi’s face was all the answer they needed. In response, Aether buried her face into her hands and Peters groaned. “This feels like a fucking plot from some kind of James Bond shit, except that you shouldn’t expect us to be locking lips at the end of the night.”
“For once, I agree.”
“We don’t expect kissing of any kind—both of you just have to go as a couple. Engaged or married, it’s up to you.” He lifted a hand before either of them could protest, “Department has already assigned fake names and have gotten you both into the guest list. All you have to do is to play the part.”
“And why us?” Aether asked. “It could have been Ross and Sol, they’d be much more convincing than Peters and I.”
“Admin specifically asked us to handle it,” Tadashi sighed. “Besides, both of them are on their own individual missions.” Peters made a face.
“So why not you and Aether?” Aether’s cheeks turned mildly pink and she coughed awkwardly, and Tadashi ran his hands through his hair. “What, wouldn’t both of you look convincing enough?”
“Tad is more than ten years my senior,” she answered. “It would appear weird to them. We’re closer in age, so we wouldn’t really stand out.” Peters released another groan at that, to which Tadashi tried his best to smile.
“I can promise that it won’t be that bad.”
“You’re forgetting that while Peters and I aren’t at each other’s throats as often, we’re not exactly the chummiest of friends.” Peters nodded at that.
“And how do you expect us to come up with a believable backstory? It’s more likely that they’ll believe us to be estranged exes more than anything else,” he snorted. “Aether and I can’t act as a couple. It’s—”
“Weird.”
“Exactly.”
Tadashi pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing. “Unfortunately, it’s already been assigned. Take this as an opportunity for growth, both of you. And as an opportunity to learn how to bicker less.” He eyed them warily; Aether had her arms crossed and Peters was leaning against the wall. “Both of you are forgetting that intellect and manpower isn’t all that’s needed when it comes to being a team. You need to work well alongside your squad mates as well, whether you like it or not. If you two don’t develop that, then nothing good is going to come out of it. Understand?” Aether mumbled a “yes” while Peters just gave a short nod. “I’ll ask for more information from Eri; for now, both of you have to decide on some kind of backstory for the meantime.”
Both of them watched as Tadashi left the office, silence remaining between the two of them before Peters broke the tension. “Engaged or just married?”
“Engaged—no.” Aether closed her eyes, “It would be weird for an engaged couple to end up attending a gala of that sort.”
“Unless we’re engaged and building connections with other people.” Peters approached her desk and sat one of the chairs, grabbing a paper as well as pen and starting to scribble. She glanced at what he was writing, “Getting to know the other person’s associates.”
“But it would make more sense if we were a married couple.” He looked at her with a frown, “Say this is a businessman’s gala we’re attending, and we’re a couple who wants combine both of our family’s businesses granted that both of us are the most capable heirs. And,” she added, “Say that both of us aren’t quite that used to each other because this was a marriage for practicality’s sake and we couldn’t get disappoint mother dearest and father dearest,” Aether told him, voice dripping in sarcasm. Peters managed a slightly amused smirk.
“You’ve watched a lot of dramas, haven’t you?”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” she replied easily. Aether took a pen and wrote on the paper Peters had, “Now our only problem is knowing what kind of information HQ wants us to get and what kind of person the host is.”
“Knowing HQ, I don’t think this is your run of the mill business shit.” He exchanged looks with her, “This is criminal shit going on. Rich businessmen with shady connections to some kind of illegal practices going on in other countries, hidden offshore accounts, you know the drill.” Aether hummed. “It’s either that, or there’s some kind of corruption going on inside the business world that’s already bordering on illegal.”
“Or already past the point of being illegal,” she noted, and Peters nodded. Both of their phones rang at that point and Aether soon stood up, Peters following. “A few floors up to meet Tad and Eri.”
“Guess that’s where we’re going, then.” They left the office and reached an elevator, Peters pressing the upwards arrow before it opened. They stepped in and the doors closed, both of them waiting for it to take them three floor above.
That’s what they expected, at least.
The elevator jolted and the lights flickered for a couple of seconds; Aether yelped and tried not to fall while Peters swore loudly as he grabbed to the bar on the side; the elevator stopped shaking eventually both of them were left with no power and the elevator refusing to move a single bit.
“Fuck.”
“Fuck is right,” Peters grunted, taking his phone out and calling Tadashi immediately. Aether sat on the flooring, sighing into her hands and closing her eyes while listening to Peters talk with Tadashi. “We got stuck on an elevator going to your floor. Can you tell maintenance about that?”
“They already got the word,” Tadashi’s voice answered them. “How are both of you? Are you okay?”
“Nothing too bad for me. And Aether—” in the dimness of the elevator, he could make out her figure on the ground. “—she’s. She’s sitting down but I think she’s okay.” A beat. “Tadashi?”
“Keep her calm. Maintenance will get to you hopefully within twenty minutes.” The call ended and Peters tucked his phone back into his pocket, eventually sitting beside her and putting a hand on her shoulder. Aether flinched.
“Hey, hey. You doing okay?”
“Fine.” Aether’s voice sounded muffled, a little winded. “I—I just. I really don’t like enclosed spaces either. When’s maintenance coming?”
“Twenty minutes, Tadashi said over the phone—”
“Twenty minutes?” she snapped. Peters immediately went on the defense, temper flaring slightly and almost snapping back that it wouldn’t even take too long, but that simmered when he heard her release an uneasy exhale. “That’s too long. Twenty minutes is too long, what if something happens to the elevator and they don’t make it on time, what if they can’t get us out of here, it’s—” she groaned. “Too long. That’s too long.”
And then he understood why Tadashi had asked for him to keep Aether calm.
“Hey.” He squeezed her shoulder, “We’ll be fine. This is HQ we’re talking about here. The place is as high-tech and high-quality as it gets.” She said nothing and he attempted again, “We’ll be okay. We just have to wait it out. They’ll get us out of here and we’ll be talking to Tadashi about that stupid mission,” he told her, a wry smile climbing to his lips. “Both of us, married. Remember?”
Aether barely managed some kind of choked laughter. It made him squeeze her shoulder a little bit more. “Married. Stupid fucking arranged marriage for the sake of convenience. We—we probably met at some kind of stupid, family-arranged gala. And they set us up ever since.”
“We never really got along as much, come to think of it.”
“Protested against being paired up with each other.” Peters hummed at that, and Aether managed to add, “But fuck it—we pushed on, anyway.”
“Don’t want to disappoint mother and father, right?”
“I’m sure you don’t.” Despite the darkness, Peters could almost tell that there was a sardonic smile on her face. “Mine are dead.”
“Is that part of our story or are you actually referring to real life?”
“Up to you.” Aether eventually lifted her head, breathed in. “Just as long as everything matches up.” Peters nodded and they stayed there for the rest of the time being, Peters not quite removing his hand from her shoulder and Aether not quite asking him to remove it.
(Did it help? Somehow.)
Eventually the power came back on; lights flickered and the elevator started to move again, both of them exhaling in relief. It stopped at the right floor, the doors opened, and Aether was the first between them to get out. Peters followed and as the doors closed, she turned to him and stared for a moment before muttering a quiet “thanks”.
There was no need to say anything more. Merely giving a nod, he tugged at her sleeve before leading them both to where Tadashi and Eri were waiting.
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