When the Kinetic invaded LASAR's headquarters, Team Delta had been on an assignment in Australia. From what I remembered, it was supposed to be a short mission — an in-and-out op that should've lasted no more than twenty-four hours.

Instead it was their last official LASAR assignment, and at some point they fell off the grid.

How they had made it to Europe, I had no idea. But I had no doubt it was with their own special kind of flair.

Rebel and I's trek to Berlin was a lengthy one. Our efforts to avoid roads didn't make it any easier, but given hitchhiking is frowned upon in Germany, it was in our better interest not to draw any extra attention to ourself.

It took a little over two hours, and the sun was setting when we arrived, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was we had arrived, and we needed to make it to the arranged meeting place. Team Delta would hang out and wait for as long as they could manage, but under the circumstances, we really didn't want to press our luck.

"You know what would be great right about now?" Rebel asked in Russian.

"No," I answered flatly in return.

"Snag," he said plainly, for it was a name better spoken in English. He ignored my tone. He was watching our surroundings just as attentively as I was, his green eyes alert.

I hummed and granted him a shrug of concession. "Unfortunately," I continued on in Russian, "you cannot speak her name and have her appear. Besides, she can only carry one person at a time, and every time she does great distances, she eats like an elephant."

Rebel snickered. "Which is pretty funny, given her size." He knocked into my shoulder then, his smile beyond amused. "She's smaller than you, after all."

I shrugged. "She's also as quick-thinking as she is moving. Remember, size doesn't always matter in a fight."

Rebel rolled his eyes before taking an abrupt turn down a more narrow street, toward the train station we had been looking for. "I wasn't going to try and pick a fight with her," he continued smoothly, holding the door open for me after we'd cleared the crowds.

"No, but your teasing would get you there anyway," I murmured, moving past him into the space.

We both went mute as we moved through the train station, purchasing tickets and then proceeding to navigate the halls. Once we had discovered a map, we knew where we were headed. Desmond had set up a very public meeting place for us to meet Delta. It was one of the platforms, and it was halfway across the station. Not that Rebel or I minded the walk, it just reminded me of a few things.

Firstly, we'd had no encounters with the Kinetic on our way in. That alone was enough to make me suspicious, and I didn't have to be a mind reader to know Rebel felt it, too. He was lingering closer to me, and every once in a while would give a once-over to anyone who passed too close to us.

Second, it was getting late. Soon the crowds would leave, giving us much less cover. There was a good chance we'd actually have to catch a train in order to stay inconspicuous.

Last — and the greatest reason of all — Team Delta had likely been waiting for hours at this point. And Outlaw and Slick staying put in one place for that long had never worked out well in the past.

"That's our platform," Rebel said abruptly, nodding across the tracks. "Dunno how we ended up on this side," he mused, scratching the back of his head and looking down both ends of the platform we were on.

I was diligently scanning the platform across from us — it was filled largely with men and women in business wear, teenagers in trendy, bright clothes, and a few couples looking sickly-sweet — when chaos erupted.

An explosion went off. Just to the right of where we stood on the other platform. No civilians were near it, but it was loud, and it was bright; a stunning flash that immediately induced billowing black smoke soon after the boom.

I didn't have to say "Found them!" because Rebel knew just as well as I did that the explosion was likely caused by our bored friends.

Or rather, Outlaw had built a bomb, and an annoyed Slick had insisted she at least avoid creating casualties (because somewhere along the way of their partnership, she has learned to stop fighting the inevitable).

Unfortunately enough (though not at all unexpectedly) it created a mad panic.

Amidst the panic I spotted them. Outlaw was had a wild grin on her face and was shaking with laughter, her teeth dazzling white with the contrast of her dark skin. Slick was glaring like a disapproving mother, her long dark hair tied up in a ponytail as she dragged her partner away from the scene of the crime ... in the opposite direction that the crowd was moving.

Everyone on our side of the platform has begun to freak out, too. There was some screaming (even though the fire had been reduced to a now struggling flame in a rather beat up trash can), and some loud people trying to direct everyone back to, well, wherever they'd come from.

Rebel and I were the only ones both calm and stationary amidst the chaos, still standing a little too close to the tracks as we watched Team Delta fleeing the scene. It was then that the horn of a train sounded in the distance, and I looked up at Rebel. "Clearly we should have ignored the hitchhiking law and stuck to the roads," I said before I glanced back to Outlaw and Slick's receding forms.

"Do you think she did it for a reason other than boredom?" Rebel asked, already dropping down onto the tracks.

After all, we certainly weren't going to shout for their attention. How covert is yelling in a public place?

Though then again, the explosion hasn't exactly been covert, either.

Still, Rebel and I weren't going to add to the scene.

"Doubtful," I said drolly before following after him. The tracks were starting to vibrate from the oncoming train, but that didn't deter either of us.

We made such quick work of crossing the various tracks and climbing onto the other platform that by the time people had noticed, we were already rushing after Delta.

"Though I'd like to think that self-preservation might have had something to do with it," I admitted as we skirted the unfortunate trash can.

"But it is Outlaw," Rebel finished for me with a knowing grin.

"Exactly," I agreed, breaking into a jog. Team Delta was sprinting now, and the further behind we fell, the longer it would take us to find them. And I really didn't want to be scouting out a train station that would soon be crawling with cops and firefighters ... and who knows who else.

Rebel caught up with me quickly, and for a moment there was a glimmer of mischief in his eyes, before he grinned. "Race ya," was all he said before he took off at full-speed, leaving me glaring at his back as he tore across the platform.

Now, racing is also most definitely not covert.

But since the train that had been incoming was now ripping through the station at full, deafening speed, and that was in and of itself quite the distraction, there was no way I was going to let Rebel beat me.

No sooner had he taken off than was I following close after, arms pumping, boots slapping the platform as I pushed myself as fast as I could go. The whole time I kept my eyes locked on the backs of Outlaw and Slick, though with every step we took they got closer and closer to a large crowd.

The train was still screaming by when Rebel and I began to slow, just a few yards away from them now. Rebel shouted, "Delta!" in a commanding enough tone that, almost immediately, both girls came to a skidding halt.

Hands fell to their waists and I knew that they were wary about hearing their LASAR-born alias in public, but once they faced us, Rebel and I slowed further, both of us breaking into too-wide grins.

"Somebody call for a firefighter?" Rebel asked, giving Outlaw a pointed look.

"Or maybe just boredom relief," I intoned, my smile closed-mouthed.

Outlaw exclaimed in what sounded to me like Gaelic before she whooped and smacked her partner's shoulder. "It is them! I told you I wasn't seeing things! My eyes are fine!"

Slick rolled her eyes and shoved her partner in response. "It wasn't your eyes I was worried about, Law, it was your cracked-up head." She turned to grin at Rebel and I then. "Though it's about time you two showed up. We've had four tails on us for almost six hours now. We were starting to think we'd have to just have all the fun without you."

"Looks like you did have some fun without us," Rebel pointed out, referencing the explosion.

Outlaw just continued on with her full-blown grin, ever the madwoman.

"It's nice to know that her pyro-tendencies weren't without reason, though," I said, turning slightly so I could look back on the platform. "Though I have a feeling those tails you were talking about aren't going to be thrown by a harmless, smokey trash can — no matter how loud."

Outlaw frowned and pointed an accusing finger at Slick. "She said no C4."

"Probably for the best," Rebel assured her. "We all like not having the building come down on us. But Risky's right, we should move."

They both nodded, and continued off in the same direction they'd been headed before we had stopped them. This time, Rebel and I fell closely into step behind them.

"We could try and lose them outside the station," Slick said in a low voice, "but I have a feeling you don't want to waste a few hours in Berlin."

"Not particularly," Rebel agreed.

"We were thinking more along the lines of the airport," I said.

Slick and Outlaw exchanged a fast look. "Airport it is," Outlaw chimed. "I'll lead the way."

"Don't worry," Slick was quick to say, "she actually knows what she's doing. She stared at a map of this place for almost an hour before you guys showed up."

There was no time for further conversation after that; we had a train to catch.