“Something isn’t adding up with him. He’s freaking me out.”

Croc’s words swam around in Jack’s head, whirled around by her own thoughts on the matter. Was Cobra acting suspiciously? Jack instinctively wanted to say no. After all, hadn’t Cobra always been a supremely dodgy asshole? Him refusing to answer questions felt normal to her. Did Croc know something that she didn't know about him? Were they on friendlier, more familiar terms?

She’d known Cobra for a year now, same as the others, and he’d always been a bit shifty and indirect. That didn’t make him a traitor, or even a bad guy. Or…any worse of a guy than the rest of them were, she supposed. They were all quasi-wanted criminals. They weren’t exactly doing this for charity.

But Cobra had never been anything but kind to her. Apart from Croc, she felt like she had the best rapport with the British thief. She spent the most time with the guys, and struggled to know where she stood with the women in the Menagerie, but Cobra had shown up to save her ass once before, and stood by her and Croc in any dangerous situation since then.

Jack chanced a look in his direction, where he was posted firmly in between her and Croc in the seats. His spot in the middle had done nothing to discourage Cobra from a constant running commentary on the places they passed. Which curry shop he’s eaten himself sick at during one visit, shop fronts he thought looked interesting, stories invented about pedestrians that caught his attention.

She’d tried to listen at first, in an attempt to glean any important information that he might have let slip, but soon that faded into a buzz in the back of her mind as she continued to puzzle over the problem.

“Are you going to tell me why you helped me, or not?” She’d been ten seconds from being beaten into a bloody pulp before he’d gotten there, and she’d entered and exited that situation ready to go down fighting.

“I needed to clear my karma -- consider it my good deed for the year.” With a smile that she hadn’t grown used to at that point, Cobra had thrown her the most bizarre excuse she’d ever heard. “Although, if you wanted to help me with a favor-” Initially, she hadn’t let him finish his sentence, and had slugged him in the stomach.

Turns out, he wanted to recruit her, and had laughed at the punch once he could breathe again. Cobra hadn’t ever been one for direct answers, but he’d helped her out that day, at no actual benefit to himself beyond a new getaway driver.

Besides, from what she understood, he’d been a part of the Menagerie before any of the others. So why would he betray them now?

“I think she fell asleep- ay Jack-o, up and at ‘em.” Cobra’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she scrambled vaguely out of the cab after the rest of the team. “If you slept in the cab, he would’ve just driven off and charged you fare for wherever he dropped you off.” He pointed out, before he gave her a wry smile. “...and then who would keep an eye on my whereabouts?”

Jack froze in her tracks, and her heart fell from her throat to her stomach. So he had heard the entire conversation. She knew that he must have, but there had been some small, vain hope that he hadn’t, and that she could brush off Croc’s suspicions on her own. Cobra shouldn’t have found out about this entire stupid mess, and now she needed to do something, whether that was gathering answers or smoothing feathers.

She’d stopped moving, but Cobra had continued on his walk, keeping pace with the others. Jack jogged to catch up, just in time to hear Mongoose’s instructions.

“So, it’s a damn park. I don’t know what we’re supposed to learn here.” She groused, her angry eyes wandering the park as if she’d suddenly know what they were looking for if she just saw it. It was discouraging, but Jack had to admit that she was right. They had just arrived, but the park itself was already lively and full of people enjoying the muggy, cloudy day. Nothing suspicious that Jack could pick up on, apart from the concept of it being oppressively overcast and people were still wearing sunglasses. “But we won’t find anything just standing here. Greenwich is ridiculously huge, and there’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“It’d be cool if a cryptic stranger could suddenly send us some instructions!” Four pairs of eyes zeroed in on Jack as she raised her voice slightly. Croc visibly cringed, and a few pedestrians gave her a bemused once-over before they continued their walk. Jack wilted. “Shit, that seemed to work back at Liberty Bridge…” She grumbled an explanation to her accomplices, kicking a small stone away with her foot sullenly. "Should we split up? If it's such a big place, we can cover more ground that way. Start in specific areas and search it from top to bottom."

To her immediate relief, Mongoose nodded along to her suggestion instead of shooting it down. "Splitting up is a good idea, preferably still in groups so we don't get caught off guard by anything…unpleasant." She hummed under her breath for a moment, before adding, “We need to find a map though. Greenwich isn’t “we’ll split up and have the park searched from top to bottom in an afternoon” big, it’s “we need to find the most likely targets and case the place from there” big.” This assessment was met by a nod from Mock, who was listening intently.

Jack took the opportunity to sneak a look at Cobra, then, to gauge his reaction. He was more interested in the ground, and he frowned as the toe of his shoe wore a spot in the grass. A heavy silence hung across the group as Jack became more aware that Mongoose was watching him too, her directions paused as she gave Cobra a look that he didn’t catch, and that Jack couldn’t place.

Was she suspicious too? Her prior theory aside, Jack was sure that Mongoose knew more about the lanky man than anyone else. If she had files on the rest of them, she had files on him too, and she might be able to either confirm Croc’s suspicions, or put the whole debate to rest once and for all.

“There’s a map over here of the park, we could probably get our bearings from it.” Mock supplied as she strode towards the copy she’d referred to, Jack and Mongoose right on her heels, and Croc not far behind them. Cobra loped along behind him after a few moments and a subtle -- but definitely concerned, Jack decided -- motion from Mongoose to get his attention. Upon studying the map further, the boss bit her bottom lip and scowled. “Granted, this would be a lot easier if we had any idea what this asshole cared about.”

“What if that didn’t matter?” As she blurted out her thoughts, Jack wondered if the others would even take her idea into account. Maybe this was a mistake. But she’d already begun to talk, so there was no stopping now. “They aren’t giving us any further hints, maybe because there aren’t any? Not like they’ve stopped this whole thing and let us off the hook, but like-” She was rambling, and made a conscious effort to slow down. After a deep breath, she continued. “What if we aren’t looking for a stationary clue? What if we need to be here to meet someone? Like a rhom- ron-...a meet up?”

“A rendezvous.” Mock offered helpfully, her hand on her chin. “I’d hate to miss the actual clue if you were wrong, but it’s not a bad idea. Guys?”

Mongoose, naturally, stepped up to bat. “We’ll go to whichever locations we think might have something. If nothing happens, we keep searching or wait for another clue. Mock, you’re with me. Cobra, you take Croc and Jack. If we stay on the alert, and make sure we’re able to reach each other, we should-”

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“Can I go with you and Mock?” As Croc interrupted, Jack noticed that Mongoose’s lips pressed together for a moment into a firm line. “I don’t want to overstep, but Jack and Cobra are used to getting out of situations. You two might need a bit of muscle if something does happen, even if it’s as simple as having to steal something while we’re looking around.”

Jack agreed with his reasoning, but she wondered if that was the entire reason. Sure, the other girls were more of the support team, and she’d never seen either of them on an actual heist. But something about the way Croc fiddled with his shirt sleeves made her wonder if that was the entire story.

“Right, fine.” Mongoose turned her attention back to the map. “We should check out the Maritime museum first. The text mentioned learning something, so that could be a likely place?” She glanced over towards Jack and Cobra. “Where are you two going to look?”

Jack craned her head forward to study the map more closely. She had been about to suggest the observatory, but never got the chance.

“I think checking out Deer Park would be the best move.” Cobra asserted, with a startling amount of certainty.

“What does that have to do with learning?” Mock spoke up, visibly confused by this direction. Jack wondered if there were maybe lessons on the deer that way, or something along those lines.

“I just like to look at the deer -- if they’re watching us, it won’t matter. We’re either going to find a clue with the deer, or they’ll tell us we’re wrong. Easy.” Cobra smiled at Jack, then. “You ready to go, then? Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get this whole situation over with and go home."

"So that's settled? If anyone sees or hears anything, let each other know."

Even Cobra didn't have a clever quip for Mongoose’s orders, and the two groups wasted no more time in getting to work and splitting up. Jack’s partner in this task had a point -- the sooner they got this over with, the sooner this all ended. This fact alone made Jack doubt Croc’s earlier assessment. Cobra wouldn’t be trying to end this so quickly if he was the cause of it, would he? Her teammate had been acting like he’d been sitting on pins and needles since this whole situation began.

However, she wondered if he’d be more candid about his whereabouts away from the others. While she didn’t know a lot about him, she considered Cobra a somewhat close friend. Closer than the other members of the team, save for Croc.

“So where were you all night, dude?”

-- x --

Croc hadn’t imagined that it would be this difficult to keep up with Mock and Mongoose.

“So, why do you think the clue would be in the museum? There’s a bunch of places in the park we could technically learn from, like the theatre and the sundial.” While she maintained a politely disinterested tone, Croc caught a sharp flash of curiosity in Mock’s eyes as she looked over at their boss.

He had to admit that he was curious, himself, but found it a bit harder to speak up in the short woman’s presence than the team’s doctor. He had no idea what the relationship was between Mock and Mongoose, but he figured it was pretty close, considering her tendency to question her decisions.

If Mongoose was concerned about this line of questioning, she gave no sign of it and continued to bulldoze ahead towards their destination. While she was notably shorter than both he and Mock, she had no trouble leading the pack by what felt like sheer determination alone. “Call it a hunch. I might have noticed a bit of a pattern, and I just…want to see if I’m right. It could be the theatre, but there’s a bit of a…” The auburn haired woman came to a sudden stop, and Croc nearly stumbled over her.

Something had caught her eye, and the hacker cocked her head to the side, peering off into the distance with a furrowed brow and a curious gleam in her pale green eyes. Her whole body tensed, although he wasn’t sure if it was to fight or to run.

Croc shielded his eyes with his hand and followed suit, not quite sure what had caught her eye. A quick once-over in the direction that had caught her eye rewarded him with nothing more than things a person would catch in any park anywhere.

Mock, however, looked more interested in Mongoose herself, and he saw her cast her eyes warily from their boss to the distant hills. “Goose? What the hell are you looking at?” She’d dropped her voice into a hushed whisper, stepping closer to Mongoose and Croc.

“I’m…not quite sure.” The prior topic forgotten, the small woman strode forward a few steps and stood on the balls of her feet. Her left hand ghosted across the area beside her left hip, as if she were reaching for something that wasn’t there. She swore under her breath and moved her hand up to shield her eyes. “I thought I saw someone waving in our direction, but I lost them.”

“Should we follow them?” Croc glanced back at the girls, unsure of the situation ahead of them. There was a chance that Mongoose didn’t actually see anything meant for them, and it’d be a further delay. But what were the odds? They were on the hunt for anything unusual.

“I don’t like the thought of chasing someone towards something we don’t know.” Mock pointed out, frowning as she glanced at her phone. “Don’t you think our mystery pal would have told us if it was something we sh- Mongoose?!” Her concerns were quickly dismissed, as their boss wandered away from the group in the direction they’d discussed, a determined scowl set across her face. She hadn’t given any warning before she wandered off, but as Mock and Croc leapt forward to keep pace with her, she gave them an explanation.

“I don’t want to lose them if it is important.”

-- x --

From a distance, a couple watched the trio, a man and a woman. The man was tall and thin, with dark skin, short bleached blonde hair, and a closely cropped beard. The woman was shorter than him, but far more muscular, with black hair pulled into a loose ponytail. The man, who had been looking through a pair of binoculars previously, put them back into a bag at his side. They would approach soon enough where he wouldn’t need them.

“Think they took the bait, Wolf?” The man slipped his arm around the woman’s waist, his eyes on the surrounding area to watch for the approaching thieves. “I don’t actually know if they saw us or not, they’re slow as hell and so far away.” He elaborated, before he looked over the shoulder of the muscular, dark haired woman beside him.

“They’ll show, Jackal, don’t worry about it. I’m adding a bit of fuel to the fire.” Wolf hummed, almost meditatively. Her phone screen showed the number of a mutual friend, and he grinned, rubbing his beard as he caught on to her plan.

“Don’t you have their number? You could easily bait the trap without bringing the old sourpuss in on it.” He pointed out, before he patted her on the back, the signal for the two of them to start walking again.

Wolf put her phone away, smiling. “Why do that, when I can let the pro handle it? I’m sticking with my skills, babe, and staying in my lane, just like I was told.” She readjusted her ponytail and snuck a look over her shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

Jackal let out a derisive snort. “Right, because you’ve been great at that so far. Real lowkey and not putting a toe out of line. You’re just a whisper of a woman.” The young woman elbowed her partner, but it didn’t really affect him, and he continued. “The “list of instructions Wolf actually cares to follow” -- that’s the shortest book ever written, right there.”

-- x --

[7:19 -- UNKNOWN NUMBER] You’re going to miss all the fun! You’d better hurry up if you want to catch the clue! This one’s time sensitive!

Croc’s stomach sank as he looked at his phone. He should have known that their enemy had his number too, but it hadn’t occurred to him before now. The trio had stopped when he phone rang, and now stood in a cluster around him to read it.

“I don’t like this.” Mock repeated, shaking her head. “I don’t like this at all.”

“Yeah, but what choice do we have, Birdie? Just stay on your guard, you two, we’ll be fine.” Despite Mongoose’s firm insistence on things being okay, Croc noticed their boss quietly rubbing her fingers together in a silent snap by her side, keeping a careful rhythm as she whirled back around and stalked ahead.

She was scared too.