I woke to the feel of sunlight on my face.

I blinked in surprise and ran my hand along the sheets to find it empty. I sat up and glanced around Quinn's room. I'd actually slept in. Me.

I'd stole into the room through Quinn's window close to midnight. I didn't wake her from her dreams and it seemed like she'd done the same. My watch told me it was already eight in the morning.

I cursed and rolled onto my feet, searching for my phone. 

Three missed calls, two voicemails, all from my future employers. I glanced down at my ruined shirt and underwear. I didn't bother trying to get back into my own clothes, I ran for Quinn's wardrobe and scanned it. Skirts, skirts, dresses–what the hell was that? I sighed through my nose pulling through her draws until I finally found some suit pants that vaguely mirrored Paragon's own design. 

I was pulling my legs through as I dialled Ash's personal number.

"Yeah."

"It's Fletcher."

"Hey Fletcher!" She perked up. "–Sorry to disturb you but we need to know if you accept the terms of the contract we sent over... Things have moved forward." She finished in slight exasperation.

"Give me five minutes?" I asked.

"You got it." She finished.

I ended the call and drew up my inbox on my phone. Christ fifty pages, really?

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT - VANGUARD SECURITY SOLUTIONS PLC

After the first three paragraphs I got the gist. If you die... If you suffer life changing injuries... There is no state affiliation... These were terms for a mortal to concern themselves with–and if they did pursue me, I had my own personal lawyer rather good at making people change their minds. I smirked, digitally signing its last page and sending it right back to its originator.

I picked up the phone and called her.

"That was quick–"

"No time like the present." I answered flatly.

"Good, because we need you at the helipad in an hour. We'll debrief you on the plane."

I sighed through my nose. Then I noticed a folded piece of paper before the door. I frowned walking to it.

"You just said helipad."

"I did. The plane is a little large for local liftoffs." She allowed, with a smirk in her voice.

"Can you at least tell me how long we'll be out, Ash?" I said, picking up the note.

She laughed, "Don't worry, it's pretty local considering our usual lines of effort." She decided to fill in the space as she heard my silence continue, "–you'll be back tonight if all things go to plan, Fletcher. And we don't often get them wrong." She finished, waiting on my reaction.

"I'll be there in an hour." I answered, hanging up.

I opened the folded paper with Quinn's scent still lingering on it.

Couldn't wake you, you were too beautiful.

– Q

I smiled softly at her elegant handwriting, it was more eloquent than the notes I'd seen on her desk, more careful. I folded it back and tucked it into my pocket. 

I then called a cab outside to shorten the time to my apartment. It still burnt twenty minutes in midday traffic. When I was finally inside my floor I ripped off my destroyed shirt and folded Quinn's trousers and her note over the sink.

My shower was as rushed as my trip here. I barely had time to brush through my hair before I twisted it into a tight plait that ran over my skull and down my back. Whenever I had done this kind of work before it had sat best under whatever helmet or combat it saw. I stared back at myself in the mirror, my eyes almost half ringed with gold now. Perhaps there were some mortals that would fit what needed to be done, the sooner I found them the sooner I could focus on training them with Selena... But it couldn't be just any mortal. 

Immortality had a funny sense of humour when it came to enhancement.

It amplified everything you were, making you a heightened being in every sense. Selfish? Calm? Quick to temper? Vengeful? Generous? Selfless? The great became brilliant and the bad... Well some of them roamed London's halls. I was yet to decide which parts the Founder had amplified, his calm was obvious, the rest was a mystery.

And I wasn't in the business of creating more monsters.

I adorned myself in dark cargoes and all-terrain boots, then threw a close-fit compression shirt over myself. I walked back out of my bedroom and approached my bookshelf. I pressed the concealed button beneath and varying levels of lethality opened to me. I glanced over the weapons and custom kit, perfect for my body. I wouldn't be using their cumbersome gear this time. They knew enough to know I had previous training, the custom gear would be no surprise but weapons were a step too far. They were supposed to be hard to get hold of in this country after all. So I attached a pistol holster to my thigh, a combat belt around my hips and pocketed my gloves. I then ripped a dark and ultra-light set of body armour off the shelf and closed the bookcase behind me.

This would require a faster trip to the helipad. I reached the door with my body armour in one hand and scanned my thumb against the cabinet built into the wall by the lift. Twelve sets of keys gleamed back to me promising various levels of enjoyment. I settled on a BMW that had a useful advantage over traffic.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as I pressed the lift.

Ash: We're on the pad, go straight up.

I ignored it and messaged Quinn.

"I got your note." I text, smiling as the lift descended to the basement parking.

The doors opened and I strode out quickly, not wanting too many questions as to why I was dressed ready to lay siege to the entire building. I flicked the keys and the sleek BMW lights winked back at me. I threw the body armour into the passenger and ignited the engine and enjoying the roar that echoed around the underground space.

15 minutes before they wanted me on that helipad.

I could do that in ten in this car.

I pulled out of the high-security residence driving like every other mortal, until the tyres hit the road outside and I ignited the police lights at the front and rear and stepped on the accelerator. London traffic suddenly became secondary and my ETA dropped considerably. It was unfortunate I'd have to repaint and replate the car after this.

My phone vibrated again, I drew it up while darting through rows of vehicles.

"I meant it. You're gorgeous when you sleep."

I grinned and skipped another set of slights, spinning the wheel and powering the engine into the next corner, drawing closer to Canary Wharf by the second. I need to do some CCTV wiping after this escapade too... This is why immortals did not lie in.

"Don't get used to it–I can't believe I did." I typed back, scanning the road for civilians before I moved into the tunnel.

"She really must have worn you out... Just dinner was it?"

The grin stayed on my face as I shook my head. I turned the last few corners before I was outside Vanguard's building. I drew one of the staff forward and he gestured to the underground parking after checking my licence. At least their staff were ready.

I parked it quickly before taking my armour off the seat and pulling up my phone.

"She worked me really hard, Adams. I broke quite a sweat."  If she didn't know I was fishing, she did now. But she replied all the same.

"I think I can take her." She replied faster, that let me knew she kept her phone in her hands. I laughed loudly as I entered the elevator and hit the rooftop floor.

"As entertaining as that would be, I think I'll keep you two apart."

"Maybe I'll invite her over for dinner." I glanced at her reply and stiffened.

"Remember you are dinner to her Quinn..."

"No, mostly to you ;)"

I smirked at her answer as the elevator opened and the rush of wind hit me in the face. The rotor blades were already in motion, ready to leave. I tucked my phone away and walked with my armour in hand to the waiting bird.

Ash and Mack were already strapped in with comms over their heads. The co-pilot was waiting at the door so I nodded to him as I climbed in beside them.

"I thought you'd be late." Ash admitted, over the comm.

"I drive fast." I answered, glancing at the file Ash handed me.

"Some light reading for you to do on the way."

Mack waggled an eyebrow at me and glanced at my body armour. His smile widened.

"May I?" He glanced up at me, gesturing to the dark armour that lay at my feet. I nodded, unbothered and opened the file.

A mountain range in the French Alps. A convoy moving through its winding roads to a bio-lab of some form. They wanted a team of six set up to intercept. I scanned the rest of the details quickly, noting the type of vehicles assessed to be moving the target and its contents.

"This is not bad." Mack grunted, running his gloved hands over mag holsters on the chest and the light and manoeuvrable side coverings. "–ballistic?"

I nodded, "Kevlar everywhere else that matters."

He placed it back at my feet, "We shouldn't need it."

I wouldn't need it at all mortal. This was purely to keep their equipment off my shoulders and play the part of past experience nicely...

I glanced back over the operation plan and the rest of their intelligence. I nodded and passed it back to Ash who took it and secured it back into a coded briefcase and tucked it under the seat.

"Quick and clean intercept, nothing fancy."

"Nothing fancy." I agreed, pulling my phone back out.

"I think we both know I look at you as more than my dinner... You're breakfast and lunch included." I text Quinn back with a dark smirk.

It didn't take her long to find a response despite whatever work she did now.

"Maybe you can show me at lunch?"

My smile faded at the thought of another 12 hours away from her at a minimum.

"I'm sorry Quinn, we're going to be out today." Out, being quite a few hundred miles away. "But I will do my best to make it back for dinner."

"I'm starting to miss when we were both unemployed..."

I chuckled and glanced outside the windows as the landscape changed to that of the countryside below. I had a sudden image in my head of us on a white sand beach. I saw her point I had to admit.

"You would tire of it, Adams." I responded, more sure of that than the sun would rise tomorrow.

"Not with you. But you're right." I chuckled, and watched her message again. "So, where are you going?"

"Skiing." I text back ironically.

"Send me a picture."

"We're still in the air, Quinn."

"Send it anyway."

I sighed and glanced at Ash and Mack who was staring out the window or, in Mack's case... half-asleep in his seat. I took a silent picture with an emotionless expression and sent it back.

"You look hot."

"That's hardly the idea."

"Especially your hair... Don't worry about changing for dinner."

I chuckled lightly and toyed with the idea of getting more time with her.

"You're incorrigible." I typed.

"I am. I'll see you later then, I actually have work to do and not everyone can lie in..." I grinned again and text her back the simple words I've needed to say to her directly for a few days.

"I love you."

"Stop distracting me." I smirked, "I also love you a lot." She added.

I leant back in the chair and started debating the pros of this work all over again–immortal and mortal.