“Can we kill the humans?” I asked.
Jarvins's eyes narrowed on me. “Yes, but you must leave the lead scientist alone for Zuko to extract intel from.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a thumbs-up.
Dimitri’s mouth brushed the side of my temple. “Behave,” he murmured.
It sent a chill down my spine, but I tilted my head just enough to glance at him. “Make me.”
His red eyes darkened, and through the bond, I felt a hunger of desire. His hand pressed into my waist a fraction harder. “Do you forget I can compel you, lethal darling?”
“You wouldn’t.” I scowled at him.
“Perhaps.” His lips curved in amusement.
“I already know what I can provide the spies.” Sylver stepped forward slightly, holding out two small matching rings of dull black metal, etched with faint runes that shimmered when she moved them. “These are detection dampeners. They won’t make you invisible or anything, but they’ll make you forgettable. It’ll lessen your obvious supernatural aura that scares humans.”
I took one, feeling the cool metal against my palm.
Dimitri took the other, turning it once between his fingers. “How’s it work?”
Sylver’s mouth curved. “It’s designed to combat humans’ tech sensors, so cameras, biometric scanning, heartbeat mapping, and those lovely alarms they like to set up around lab doors.”
Slater leaned in, eyes gleaming. “Humans really think they can out-tech magic.”
Sylver gave him a look before looking back at us. “I’m also giving you two protection charms.” She pressed small obsidian crystals into our hands. “They’ll buffer any tourmalyke exposurefor Dimitri and scramble any magical essence scanners. If it’s a heavy dose, it won’t save you, Dimitri, but it might buy you seconds.”
“Seconds are everything,” Dimitri murmured, slipping the charm into an inner pocket of his suit.
I slid mine into the inside of my suit’s glove.
Jarvins turned back to the console. “Ready?” he asked.
Slater grumbled, “I’d be more ready if I were around my venom baby, but yeah.”
Katie adjusted her tablet, blonde hair shoved into a messy bun, eyes sharp behind her glasses. “Blueprints loaded with entry points mapped. Cell block locations are tagged, but Slater needs to verify once he hacks the human’s security system. I’ll be able to walk them through the facility.”
Eleanor nodded. “The Human Council liaison’s line is open, so I can talk to them once they catch word of this.”
Zuko flexed his fingers, his torture kit stored on the belt around his waist. “I’m stoked I finally get to play during a mission.”
“Ready.” Koa sighed, warmth in his gaze as he swept his brown, ember-flecked eyes over to me. “Be careful.”
I smirked. “I’m always careful.”
His brows lifted. “Yeah, and I never die.”
I snorted.
Jarvins pressed something on the control panel. “Begin simulation 11.2, Human Facility Extraction.”
The air whooshed.
Cold slammed into me all at once. Dimitri’s and my academy-issued suits had been replaced with black dress pants, a gray button-up, an ID badge, gloved hands, and a white lab coat. The winter air around the facility was sharp enough to bite through what we wore. Wind hissed across a flat expanse of white.
We stood in front of the facility, the rest of our squad in different places.
The facility rose out of the snowy landscape like a box made of concrete and steel. Floodlights cut harsh cones through the darkness. Security fences layered the perimeter, topped with razor wire made of tourmalyke crystal. Watchtowers stood like skeletal fingers on both sides, and the building itself was wide with attached side halls, and a lower underground section hinted at by vent stacks and heat chimneys that blew steam into the air.
