"There are three cops on your right, four behind you, and two to your left."

Our breathing was mixed together, even for me and wild for him. His feet pounding upon the floor audibly, mine silent as night.

"And a barricade just outside the alleyway. You have to climb," Hyacinth added. "Unless jail is a friend of yours."

"For me?" I bark a breathy laugh. "Imagine the headlines."

"We'd be the ones to write them," Yoichi chided with a giggle.

"Ah yes, front page news. 'Local hot man candy Mikaela Shindo and clandestine lover Yuuichiro Amane revealed as Blue and Green,'" Kimizuki narrated.

"He's not man candy," Yuu snapped to his ear piece. "And babe," he continued, glancing to me. I knew our eyes must have connected beneath our night vision goggles, but neither of us saw the other.

"I know, I know. Jump in five seconds. Climb like it's high school Gym. Oh, by the way," I began with a sign, the wall dangerously close. "I'm not fond of Hyacinth's instructions."

Then I dive bombed through a window with my poor lover at my side. It hurt far less than I expected it to, glass shattering around us.

"There's a reason why I love you," Yuu murmured to himself as I hauled him off of the floor. "This... this is not it."

"And I find myself once again agreeing with the Ghost. Mikaela, you very likely slowed yourself down- stairs to your right- enough for the police to catch up," Hyacinth began.

"I like Cynthia more," Kimizuki added blandly. "She wouldn't tell you off for doing the things I wanted to do to him myself."

"The intent was to not harm either of us. Pet, are you hurt?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder. He shook his head in response.

"Just my feelings."

"Easily repaired. You see, Kimizuki, I would have both programs on at once. But it's exhausting. Both serve the intent to keep me from harm in their own ways."

"We're bitches to keep his stubborn ass from death. Even then, Cynthia is incompetent at doing so."

"What?" Yoichi seemed to choke on something. "When did Mika get hurt?"

"Don't talk about it," Yuu snapped. The harshness in his tone was enough to stop even Hyacinth from continuing.

"We're on the roof," I announced, hoping to change the subject. Two months since we accidentally found out that our own friends knew virtually everything about us via black market hacking. Two months since I killed an innocent man. But more importantly, two months since I delt with the Pakistani renegade named Freya. She was the second best hacker in the world, now dead to the list. But still quite alive. Hidden, of course. I let her go on the promise that she would never show her face again. And Yuu once more took his rightful place as the second best hacker in the world.

"Good," Yoichi breathed. "You can run and hurdle over rooftops for the next three buildings. Then-"

"You're fucked," his partner finished for him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Yuu, a cop behind us on your left just cocked his gun. In two seconds I want you to go on my right."

They missed him by a hair. Kimizuki cursed under his breath, and I could have sworn Yoichi stepped on his foot.

"How did you detect that?" The culprit of foot stomping asked innocently as his victim swore somewhere else in their room. "No normal person could hear that over the commotion."

"Why do you suppose I can hear the cocking of guns and interference with my bomb viruses? Since you seem to know more about me than I do."

"Are you teasing him?" Yuu asked through pants as we broke through the rooftop door, soon leaping over building ledges.

"No," I responded, rolling to my feet once I collided to the next building. "I'm curious."

"Questions later, babe-" he sighed, a police shouting at us to tell us that it was the end of the line.

"Shit," I said in unison with Yuu. Our heels rested on the ledge of a dead end, although I was planning. We faced the policemen racing towards us calmly. "Hyacinth. Make sure Cynthia doesn't find out about this."

"Of course. Do it now, Mikaela," the program responded.

And so, I bowed to our valiant chasers, now leaping over the last building. Then I lept backwards into a dumpster below, Yuu following in less graceful movements. He had flipped off the cops with his Ghost trademarked shit eating grin, and stepped off of the roof.

We both landed on our asses, though. With our legs overlapping one another it made it hard to get out, a solution being whoever's leg was on the top got out first.

It was Yuu.

"You did great," Yoichi chirped as we slugged into my apartment, goggles discarded lazily. He had the face of a child meeting their hero, an amusing thing to me. That he could look up to the two people who only did it because they had to. I gave a dull thumbs up before collapsing on top of Yuu over the arm of my sofa.

Then we started laughing.

Hysterically.

I'm quite sure it was from exhaustion, but it did not cease our childish amusement.

"All of that was over a god damn passport!" Yuu cried.

"You... you flipped off the fucking police. Yuu, that's a garbage pile for Gemini and Sombra to clean up," I seemed to wheeze.

"I'm getting you food, Mikaela. And it won't be as difficult as you think. Yoichi deals with people witnessing you," Kimizuki announced from the kitchen, throwing two water bottles in our general direction. One hit Yuu in the arm, the other rolling on the floor. "I delete the feeds."

The explanation as to why no one ever caught us. We received it long ago, too busy feeling embarrassed by what the two saw happen several times.

"I threaten them into silence. Yuu, stop giggling like a three year old," Yoichi explained.

"But Mika's tickling me with his hair."

"Liar. I am not."

"You are," Cynthia piped up. "And you're somewhat kneeing him."

"Oh. I didn't notice," I dully stated, shifting my leg.

"You're sweaty," Yuu complained a second later, flicking at the spandex. "Go take a shower."

"You are just as bad if not worse, pet," I argued stubbornly, although now standing.

"I still think it's a kinky nickname," Kimizuki bluntly commented from his computer.

"Agreed."

"Cynthia, I did not need your opinion on that. Gross program."

"Gross programmer." I could almost imagine her sticking out her tongue jokingly. But it hurt to see it.

"You're both gross," Yuu sighed, kicking me in the shin as he pulled himself from the couch. "And we need to shower."

"Don't talk to her," I warned my friends as Yuu dragged me away by a gloved hand.

"Rude. I rarely get to talk to anyone. Talk to me, Gemini."

"She will pry into your lives."

"I'm aware," the two said in unison. "That's why we're blocking her from all devices in this room."

Translation: Cynthia is your problem, Mikaela. You make her, you deal with her and her unnecessary commentary.

And that is why I preferred working alone. It was much better when there weren't other distractions.

The gentle hands helping me out of my suit, however...

They were not a distraction.

Anything but, in fact. He made me more than what I was.