Fan Fiction ❯ Cupid's Mistake ❯ Chapter Three: Seagulls? ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three: Seagulls?

Dante paused momentarily in front of the imposing marble building, giving a whistle of appreciation.

"Hah. So this is what eats our taxes," He commented briefly before looking at the numeric code written on the underside of his arm, memorizing it, and punching it into the keypad.

"State name." The computer monotoned, whirling into action.

"Evensong, Dante."

"Access… denied. Invalid access. Please restate name."

Dante growled low in his throat, rummaging around in his pocket as he complied.

"EVENSONG, DANTE."

"Access… denie-approved. Welcome to ESRecon." The latch clicked open and Dante-leaving the scrambler planted in the card swiper-walked in purposefully. After losing his way more than once in a very Ryoga fashion, he finally made it into the boss's office, and plunked himself down in a chair.

"Ah. Dante. You made it."

"Yep."

"On your way out, could you please remove that scrambler you so nicely stuck into our identification system?"

Dante raised an eyebrow, and grinned. But just as he was about to answer…

"Already got it," came a distinctly female and none-too-pleased voice as the scrambler was dropped into his lap. He looked up, and gave another sudden grin.

"Hey-it's you-" They chorused, both looking surprised-though Artemis just in a slightly more horrified manner.

"Oh…so you two already met? That's lovely. Now we can skip straight to the mission details…"

"Sir, I'd like to register a complaint," Artemis said slowly, determinedly not looking at Dante.

"Sit down Artemis," came the voice. Artemis sat. Dante gave an interesting little cough and shifted around in his chair until he was comfortable-she thought he smiled smugly, but wasn't sure. She wasn't looking at him full on, anyways.

"We will equip you with the most high tech equipment available, but a minimum of bullets. You will find that your own wits shall serve you better in those jungles and with those tribes than a huge shiny gun."
As the boss rambled on and on about something or other, Dante felt his mind give a little tug and soon it was wandering freely about with various thoughts. Artemis looked to be paying such close attention it was boring.

These ESReconers are all the same. They bring out the big guns for the pure sake of having them there-but they always give you less bullets than you can count on a pair of hands. Bastards…

"Is that understood, Dante?" The man in the chair asked, and Dante shook himself into awareness so smoothly that Artemis-who KNEW he hadn't been following along-was still impressed by the act.

"Yessir."

No sir…?

Artemis pushed herself out of her chair and started towards the door-then paused as she grudgingly remembered she had a partner now. With a displeased look, she waited until Dante had ambled after her (Casual and egotistic as his stride was, she found herself wondering if he would ever make it to the door at all.) and out the door.

"So chicka, to the airport, I guess," He drawled, and a snap of sudden rage overtook her as she grabbed him by the collar and brought their faces close.

"Listen up and listen good. I didn't want a partner, and I sure as hell don't need one. However, as long as you're going to tag along, I advise you to stay out of my way and stay quiet," she snarled, angered even more by the mild way he pried her fingers off of his shirt and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I really don't think you mean that. Now then-does ESRecon have a V.I.P jet or something? I'd rather get started sooner than later."

Amazing, Artemis thought with a mentally uttered growl, it's like he's an idiot first class, or something. Everything just bounces off that hard head. How could I ever have been attracted to this guy?

"We have a jet, yes."

"Cool. I'll fly-"

"You will not," she stated firmly, leaving no room for discussion as she whirled smoothly on a high heeled boot and marched off to get her assigned weapons, after a moment hearing Dante's reluctant footfalls behind her.

Good. As long as he keeps his mouth shut and listens like this, I'm perfectly okay to have him around.

And yet, in some nagging corner of her mind, something grudgingly admitted that it would be nice to have a companion for once. And then that little voice was smothered by common sense, and all was right again.

~*~*~

He was silent nearly the whole flight to the edge of the jungle, too. Artemis was faintly amazed at this-but she wasn't complaining.

"You know what? I honestly think you would look better in a longer skirt."

Oops. Spoke too soon.

"That's really none of your business," she stated calmly. What a jerk!

"Eh, well, I think if you don't have the legs to flaunt, don't flau- OW! Hey, what was that for?"

Artemis brought the nose of the plane up after it's sudden and risky dive with a small, satisfied smile, ignoring the hateful looks Dante was shooting at her as he rubbed the goose egg that was soon to be on his forehead.

"Damn seagulls. Never see them until they hit you," she stated with a soft smile, and began the long, careful descent to the edge of the jungle.

~*~*~

Dante was unhappy.

Very much so.

This…Artemis…expected egotistical male stupidity from him, and by golly she was going to get it.

But the seagull thing had been too much.

As soon as they had unloaded their scant gear and packed small knapsacks, he fumbled around in his pocket for a stealth invisibility device and rigged it into the plane's engine. Once switched on, the entire craft was completely invisible.

"Nice," Artemis said distractedly, checking to make sure all the supplies were there. Dante almost hissed at her.

Of course it was nice. It was his, wasn't it? But instead he calmly said something like:

"I know."

She glanced up at him and he caught immense distaste in her eyes. Note to self: Refuse to infiltrate ESRecon anymore once this is over.

Standing, she slipped a sleek pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes and took out a global positioning device, quickly pinpointing their position. Then out came a set of watches from her pack, handing one unceremoniously to Dante.

Had she thrown it any harder it would have been a lob, thought Dante, but took it all cheerfully in stride.

"Communicator." She stated automatically, and he nodded, strapping it on his wrist, privately wondering just how stupid she thought he was. Duh. It even said `Communication device-property of ESRecon' on the wristband. "Try not to get lost."

"I don't get lost," he responded icily, gathering up his own pack and checking his gun for bullets. Yeah, all there, all three of them.

Once again came the little complaining thought about the least number of bullets possible.

"Okay. Come on, we've got work to do. There's a barge waiting for us about ten miles downriver. As it is now, we'll just have to walk all the way down there-the natives don't need to know we're here."

"…..Won't they see the barge? We'd be better off fording the river at a shallow area."

"You're the rookie, Mr. Evensong. There's a barge ten miles downriver. Let's go."

And leaving no room once again for argument, she turned and began to smoothly walk into the jungle, somehow managing to completely bypass all plants and creepers on the roughly hewn path.

And left with no choice, Dante heaved a sigh and followed, deciding he would be very glad when this was all over. But for now, he would play the ignorant rookie.

It was his job, after all.