Chapter Text
“Go again,” Sabina demands, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.
Ingrid looks warily over where Bosley’s standing, questioningly arching an eyebrow. She’s wearing her training outfit, a sleek black ensemble, and not a single blond hair is out of place on her head.
Boz looks down at her clipboard, loosening her grip on the cool metal as she gives Ingrid a curt nod. “One more round, Sabina. That’s it.”
Sabina cracks her knuckles, looking expectantly back at Boz as she clenches her jaw. “Fine.”
Elena reaches for Jane’s hand, intertwining their fingers together. Jane rubs her thumb in small circles across her wrist, shooting her a knowing look as they watch with bated breath.
They’ve been pacing around the boxing ring for close to an hour. Sabina’s been retesting for the past three days, and as much as Elena hates to admit it, it’s been hard to watch. Hard enough that she and Jane have been sharing worried glances and hasty whispers behind closed doors.
Elena refuses to count Sabina out, especially after everything she’s been through in the past year -- she’s the strongest person Elena knows. Elena is filled with nothing but reverence for her. But, she knows Sabina’s not at the caliber she used to be at. It’s expected, but it doesn’t fail to push a wave of conflicting emotions onto Elena. Frustration being closest towards the top.
“Come on. You’ve got this, love.” Jane encourages with a soft smile, one that doesn’t quite reach her brown eyes.
Sabina pushes her hair back out of her face, a heavy sheen of sweat covering her upper body, cheeks flushed, and a faint scattering of bruises lining her arms. She split her lip the day before on the obstacle course, landing hard on the ground after misjudging the distance jumping down from the rock wall. Elena winces when she gnaws at it, reopening the scab. A bead of blood forms over the cut and Sabina swipes at it, the back of her hand coming away smeared with red.
Boz gestures at Sabina and Ingrid to go ahead.
Elena holds her breath.
--
“Jane, I said it was fine .” Sabina seethes, crossing her arms over her chest as she resists the ice pack Jane’s holding out in front of her. Condensation gathers on the blue plastic and water drips down Jane’s forearm.
“Sabina. Can you just take it, please?” Jane asks, exhaustion leaking into her voice as she looks back at Sabina, who’s fuming in the backseat.
She takes it without a word, just a stony glare before she leans back against the car window.
Jane bites her tongue, hands curling into fists at her sides, taunt against the smooth, brown leather of the seats. It’s been a long day.
--
“And what do you think, Elena?”
“About..?” Elena knits her eyebrows together in confusion as she looks back at Saint. It’s late in the afternoon and soft streams of light leak through his blinds in the office, landing on the shelf of plants behind them.
“Do you think she’s ready?”
Elena frowns, trying to steel her facial expressions. “I--wait, what? I just spent the good part of a half an hour telling you about how Sabina’s been doing so much better, since everything happen.” She gestures wildly, hands flying through the air. “I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
Saint leans forward, desk chair creaking underneath him. “Which I appreciate, Elena, I really do. But, I think you know what I’m trying to ask.”
Elena’s silent, shifting in her spot as she stares helplessly back at Saint, desperately trying to say something, anything. “I-she’s...um…” She stammers, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“It’s alright, you don’t have to answer right away,” Saint says, blank face masking whatever he’s thinking, but a twinge of something Elena can’t place lingers in his eyes. “Get back to me when you feel ready.”
Ice cold guilt creeps in as Saint leads her out the door, a whiff of jasmine following her out into the hallway.
Like Boz always reminds them, silence is an answer in itself.
--
Rebekah Bosley is a certified, professional liar. It’s in her job description.
That doesn’t mean it makes it any easier.
“We’re sending you on a mission,” she tells Sabina, refusing to look her in the eye as she sips her coffee, wincing at how cold it’s gotten.
“For real?” Sabina stares at her incredulously, leg bouncing underneath the table. The dull grey carpeting of the boardroom does nothing to muffle the sound. “I passed all the tests?”
She ignores the second question. “A practice mission,” she clarifies, setting her mug down. “With Elena and Jane.”
“A practice mission?” Sabina repeats, tilting her head in confusion. “I’ve never heard of that before. I thought it was just the physical retest and the psych evaluation.”
“Think of it as a simulation. We’re just going to run you through some scenarios and see how it goes. Nothing to worry about.”
A wide grin stretches across Sabina’s face and she doesn’t attempt to hide it. “Oh, okay. Yeah that sounds good.” Sabina thanks her profusely when they finish finalizing the schedule, leaning over the table for a hug.
Boz hesitates before finally wrapping an arm around her, her other hand pushing the thick manila folder deeper into her bag, the one marked with Sabina’s name, filled with failed reports, and heavy, red pen marks.
She supposes lying is just at holding off the truth for a long as possible. Bosley’s always been good at stalling.
--
September 15, California, 2021
Jane’s hands are shaking when she ties up her boots, the waxy laces cutting into her palms when she pulls too hard, leather molding tight around her feet.
“Ready to go?” She looks up to find Sabina practically bouncing off the cream colored walls in their apartment, to-go cup of coffee in hand and standard black uniform zipped up.
Elena emerges from the entryway, tightening her ponytail. Jane can’t get a good read on her. “Boz is out front. We should get going.”
10 minutes into the car ride, Jane realizes she never answered Sabina’s question. The more she thinks about it, the more she decides she doesn’t have an answer to it. They’re never completely ready for missions, because it’s impossible to predict what will happen even with the best planning.
This one’s no different. Jane figures it’s for the best that she and Elena are going into it just as blind as Sabina, but it still leaves her with a lingering feeling of worry. The whole point of this mission is to settle back into things as a team, and Jane knows if she goes into it with the sole goal of protecting Sabina, they’ll all be thrown off.
--
“Remember, the main goal is to get into the mainframe and secure the hard drive. Everyone’s equipped with paintball guns, so once you get hit, you’re out. You need to hit all of the guards to finish.” Boz strains against her seatbelt as she twists around from her spot in the driver’s seat to run them through the mission plan one last time. “If the lights go red, it means you’ve failed.”
Elena’s only half listening, drumming her fingers against her thigh and watching Sabina.
“The three main exit points are the fire escape, the roof, and the elevator shaft,” Boz continues, as Sabina practically mouths the instructions word-for-word along with her.
“You look like you’re going to puke,” Jane whispers, gaze flickering between Elena and Sabina, who’s now deep in conversation with Boz.
“Am not!” Elena protests, grimace morphing into a wry glare when she sees the hint of a grin Jane’s trying to hide. She gives her a light shove, grateful for the distraction.
Jane squeezes her hand as they slide out of the car, eyeing the large brick building in front of them. Elena holds on to it tight, wiping her sweaty palm against her pants as she sucks in a deep breath. She hasn’t puked on a mission in years, and she can’t break her streak now. She refuses.
“Can we do the handshake now?” Sabina’s hand hovers over theirs and Elena’s blood runs cold. Jane nods at Sabina, nudging Elena forward, and they run through their routine. Elena hasn’t forgotten it, not even the back-to-back high-fives and the three first pumps at the end for good luck.
They huddle together for a hug and Elena breathes into the mixture of the three of them; black tea, orange peels, and a hint of smoke.
Boz’s gaze is heavy on the back of her neck when they finally pull apart, and when Elena turns around to look back, her face is unreadable behind the tinted windshield.
And if she closes her eyes before they step into the brick building, she can almost trick herself into thinking that nothing’s changed.
--
“Just finished downloading the files. Sabina, Jane, what’s your status?” Elena’s voice is loud and clear in Sabina’s ears, so she’s quick to pick up the hint of worry that lurks underneath her message.
The wire staircase rattles as Sabina’s boots pound against it. “Elena, chill out, dude. We’re all good. Jane’s patrolling the east perimeter and I’m just about to--oh wait.”
“Sabina?” Jane and Elena both question urgently. Sabina can hear rustling in the background and a door slamming shut.
“It’s fine. Just a leftover guard we apparently forgot to pick up. I can handle it.”
The rustling over the comms stops. “ Sabina .” Jane draws out her name, not even trying to hide the warning in her tone.
She ducks behind a large potted plant. “Jane. I said I could handle it. I’ll meet you outside in a few.”
She follows the guard through the hallway, unable to stop her curiosity from getting the better of her. He punches in a code for a locked door and she slips a finger in between the lock before it snaps shut, closing it softly behind her as she ducks into the shadows.
There’s an exposed piping system above her and she shimmies her way up in order to get a better vantage point.
“Sabina, where are you?”
“Just a second, Elena.” Sabina heaves herself up onto the catwalk, looking down into the rest of the room. There’s a wall of computers and a few guards scattered around. She narrows in on the screens in the center of the room, squinting to see in the dimly lit room. There’s a stream of code flashing on the screen.
“Elena? Are you sure that you hacked into the right system?”
“Sabina, what? Where are you? You need to get out, right now,” Elena says, frantic tone obvious through the comms.
Sabina sticks a tranquilizer on a nearby guard, swiping his gun. Neon green paint stains the muzzle. She reloads, picking off the rest of the guards from her spot up above, until they’re all on the ground, splattered with paint. “Elena, tell me. Are you sure?”
Jane’s voice crackles with static in her ear. “I’m coming back in.”
“I found the real hard drive,” Sabina rushes to explain, jumping down onto a nearby desk and then the cement floor. “I’ll grab it and get out.”
“Sabina, don’t--”
“The one you found must have been a decoy, Elena. This one is marked and everything.”
Sabina reaches for the black rectangle sticking out of the computer, fingers deftly slipping back the tangle of wiring.
“No, Sabina. It’s not it. Trust me!”
It sticks and she pulls harder, shifting slightly as she jiggles it around. This has to be it.
“Wait!”
Nothing happens. Then, the lights go out. Sabina holds her breath, hard drive in hand. When they come back on, they’re red. A bright, neon red that flashes in her eyes. She’s failed.
--
February 3, [Redacted], 2021
“Landing in 45 seconds, Bosley.”
Rebekah Bosley nods, holstering her gun and holding on tight to the rigging on the side of the helicopter. “We’ll be back,” she says. The other agents around her nod in response, understanding the gravity of what she’s saying even though she’s heading in alone.
“Approaching the access point in 4, 3, 2…” the pilot yells over the roar of the propellers, but Bosley’s already gone, rolling onto the rooftop and landing softly on her feet, rotting wood creaking underneath her.
She slips through a vent in the roof. The two guards are slumped against the brick wall before they even notice her, blood dripping from the single bullet she’s lodged in their foreheads.
Same with the one she meets in the staircase and the three standing in front of the doorway. Her gun is hot against her hand and she tightens her grip, knuckles white against the black metal.
The room is dark and empty, wind blowing in from a wall of broken windows. The glass crunches underneath her boots, a few pieces stained red and a scrap of blue fabric flutters against the wind, caught on the sharp edges.
“Suspects escaped through the north exit, send in ground cover,” she mutters into her watch, eyes finally adjusting to the dimly lit room. Bosley doesn’t care if they’re gone; they’re not who she's looking for.
There’s a table swept clean of weapons, the remains of a few maps hanging limply on the walls, and a chair that’s been turned over, currently laying on it’s side. The wooden floorboards underneath are scratched, white, jagged lines running through them, like the chair’s been dragged across the floor. Something snaps underneath her boots and she looks down to find the shattered remains of a syringe.
There’s a bookshelf in the corner. The books on the third shelf are clean, even though the surrounding shelves are covered in thick layers of dust. She runs her fingers across the spines until the shelf swings open to reveal another room.
It’s small and dimly lit. No window, just a single lightbulb swinging from a wire in the ceiling. The cement walls are damp and puddles are spread across the floor. A drain in the middle of the room does nothing to help the sedentary pools of murky water.
Water seeps through the thick fabric of her jumpsuit when she kneels on the floor in front of a cot that’s been shoved into the corner. There’s a pile of grey, ragged blankets on top of it and Bosley can just make out a few strands of blonde hair peek through.
Her hands shake as she reaches out, palms hovering over the side of the cot as her voice cracks. “Sabina?”
--
June 21, California, 2022
“Last round! Get those knees up!”
The recruits jog across the field, sneakers digging into the grass as they dodge around cones. They’re dressed in matching shorts and grey t-shirts, adorned with the outline of silver wings across the chest. It’s getting late, the sun slowing sinking down the sky, streaked with pink and orange. The air's thick with humidity and the scent of rain lingers in the distance.
“‘Bina.”
Sabina turns around, whistle dangling in her hand. “Hey! You’re back already?”
“Mhm,” Elena nods, “it was a quick one. Already done with the debrief–I’ll have Boz send you the notes.” She’s still dressed in her gear, thick black boots and a black tank-top. Her hair’s thrown up into a bun, a few brown tendrils floating across her forehead. “Touch?”
“Yes.” Sabina leans into her hug, lets her plant a soft kiss on her cheek. “Is Jane back, too?”
Elena’s voice is muffled against her shoulder and Sabina can feel the warmth of her breathe on her neck. “Yeah, she’s starting dinner. Pasta tonight.”
Sabina pulls away after a moment, bringing her whistle up to her mouth. “Let me finish up with the recruits and then I can join you guys for dinner? We won't be too long.”
“Sounds good. See you in a few.”
“Hey, Elena,” Sabina calls after her once she turns to head back to the apartment.
“Yeah?”
Sabina grins, “maybe get a shower in, too. Little sweaty.”
Elena rolls her eyes lightheartedly. “Hurry up or else Jane will eat all of the garlic bread before you get back.”
“She wouldn’t!” Sabina gasps in mock exasperation.
“You never know!” Elena calls after her, setting off a fast jog.
The whistle blows and the recruits gather in a semi-circle around Sabina. She runs them through a few cool down stretches, then sends them on their way. She sighs in relief when she finally makes it back to their apartment; it’s been a long day.
Sabina stops to admire the placards posted on their door, golden cursive bright against the white wood. There’s three sets of wings, one for each of their names. They’re all Angels, even if Jane and Elena’s name say “Agent” next to them and her says “Trainer”. She’ll never not be an Angel. It was never a doubt in any of their minds.
The scent of garlic and tomatoes wafts through the hallway. She can hear music from the otherside of the doorway and it only gets louder when she opens it. There’s a golden, hazy light from the sun sneaking past their curtains and Elena’s perched on the counter, wet hair dripping down her back, while Jane stirs something on the stove. The oven beeps and a timer goes off. The song ends and a new one begins.
She’s home.