Jack walked out of the elevator and into the lobby only to see Mirage waiting for her. He was wearing his full yellow bodysuit with decoy creators, sensors and all while she wore her usual black leggings and an oversized dark hoodie. She always liked to dress comfortably.

Her brows rose high on her forehead as she approached him: “Wh…?”.

“Oh, there you are!” he cut in almost as if he didn’t hear her; “Was just starting to get worried that you’ve changed your mind.”.

“I’m 30 seconds late!” she said, a wide smile appearing on her face.

“That’s 30 seconds more than I’m comfortable with.” he said, lifting his finger into the air.

“Oh, c’mon…” she approached him; “30 seconds is nothing! I waited 2 hours for Walter yesterday.” she pushed his shoulder playfully; “Anyway, I wanted to ask… Why are you wearing all that?” she motioned with her hands in his general direction.

He followed the movement of her hands and took a look over himself before a cheeky smile appeared on his face: “That’s a surprise.” he said and offered her a wink.

“I’m not sure if I like surprises…” she said, wrinkling her forehead.

“I guess that whether you like them or not depends on the surprise itself?”.

“Yeah, I guess.” she said; “I hope it won't…”.

“I guess you’ll have to wait and see, then!” he cut her off, making a small pause; “Let’s get going, shall we?” he said impatiently.

“Fine. Lead the way, then.” she nodded readily at him, offering him a shy smile.

Her cheeks went slightly pink, but she had her hair let down. It was nothing that she couldn't conceal, so she didn't worry about it.

However, she couldn't help but to wonder why.

Why did her cheeks always go pink when in his presence?

Yes, true, he was good-looking, at least by her standards and, yes, he had a particular wit about him that was especially charming.

 “This way, the shuttle is waiting.” he said and, with quick steps, he made his way toward the exit of the lobby. She followed after him readily.

“Mister Mirage?” a sudden voice came from the receptionist's desk and they both stopped in their tracks; “Shall I book you a shuttle back for later?” the receptionist asked.

“Erm…” he looked caught off guard as he turned to face him; “Erm… No. I’ll just give you a call when we’re ready.”.

“Of course, mister Mirage.” the receptionist bowed his head slightly and the duo was on their way.

Moments later, they both slumped down in the very comfortable backseat of the very nice black shuttle with darkened windows and, as soon as the shuttle lifted off, Mirage spoke: “What do you think of Maqui?".

"Erm… Maqui?" she asked.

"The receptionist.” he elaborated.

She listened to him and was taking part in the conversation, but her eyes were lost to the darkened windows and to the magnificent view of the city. 

The sun was already setting behind the far away buildings, leaving orange, almost red traces across the already darkening sky. 

The lights of the busy city shone brightly and in all colours, shuttles passing by everywhere.

Breathtaking.

She thought in wonder.

Realising that he was waiting for her answer, she finally spoke up, her eyes still lost to the furthering city below: “I don’t have an opinion on him just yet. I don’t know him that well.”.

“Don't get me wrong." he said defensively; "I think he's a'ight. But, all of it is weird...” he said; “I just can’t get used to someone serving me .”.

“How come?” she asked, turning in her seat and finally giving him her whole attention.

She caught him gazing at her and, unintentionally, her cheeks went slightly pink again.

Get it together, Jack.

She told herself and clenched her teeth. After all, she always liked to look at him on the television. She thought that he was particularly funny and witty, as well as good-looking. Considering this, finding him gazing at her the way he just did made something twist inside of her lower abdomen.

“Well… I guess…" he said and it helped her to snap out of it; "I was always the one serving people, so someone else serving me… It gives me the creeps.” he shook his head.

She considered him for a moment: “I think that I get that." she finally said: "I’m from a lower-middle-class family. I'm definitely not used to people serving me in any sort of way… Other than perhaps some bartenders, but even that had happened on very rare occasions.”.

“Well, tonight, Mirage will be serving you.” he said and offered her a huge grin, a satisfied look playing in his eyes.

She burst out laughing.

Mirage’s facial expression got somewhat more serious and his cheeks went pink: “What?” he asked confusedly.

“You didn’t just speak about yourself in the third person, did you?” she chuckled 

His cheeks now went red: “Well… I guess…?”.

She cut him off with her laughter.

“Oh! Stop it!" he pushed her shoulder, the tips of his ears going red; "You’ll see why!” he said.

“Damn!” she exclaimed, wiping away the tears of joy; “That was beautiful. Thank you!” she started to calm down with a small giggle.

“If nothing else, I’m glad that I managed to make you laugh.” he said and shrugged his shoulders, some spirit returning to his eyes as his lips started tugging at their edges.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Did he actually just say that?

She thought, bewildered. 

Does he actually mean what he had said? He's glad for making me laugh? As if I was that important!

Catching herself in an awkward thought, she quickly said: “Aren’t you the main joker of the whole group? I've always imagined that you commonly make plenty of people laugh.”.

“Eh, not quite. Walter’s the main one.” he said and shrugged his shoulders again; "Always with his ‘cold ones’ and all the 'mates' and 'fellas'." he did his best to mimic Fuse's voice and accent; "I don't know why, but it makes people content and intrigued.".

“What do you mean by not quite?" she retorted to what he had said first, ignoring the rest; "I know that I don’t know you very well, but I think that you’re pretty funny.” she offered.

Her thoughts went back to all of his witty remarks during the games. He always had something funny to say even though he often seemed to twist his tongue and talk nonsense. Either way, she found it amusing and endearing in a way.

“Well, thanks!” he said, a wide smile appearing on his face; “That’s two people now!" he said satisfied, a wide smile appearing on his face; "Win for Mirage, am I right?!” he exclaimed and lifted his hand, waiting for her to high five him.

“Two?” she asked confusedly, giving him a light high five nevertheless and deciding to ignore that he, once again, spoke about himself in the third person.

“Yeah. You and Walter are the only ones who admitted to it…” he said, getting lost in thought; “But, yeah… I don’t need others to confirm it. I know they all love me.” he said sweetly and bowed his head slightly, a wide smile not leaving his face.

“I see.” she said teasingly, a wide grin appearing on her face now too; “I always knew that you’re the best one around here!" she giggled; "Lucky me to get some one-on-one time with you!” she pushed his shoulder playfully once again.

He appeared to beam for a very short moment before his face went aghast as if something had dawned on him and he quickly grabbed her hands: “Hey! Hey!” he exclaimed; “You’ll screw up my hologram tech!”.

His hot touch made her heart drop to her stomach and she gritted her teeth again, hoping that it would somehow make all of this go away. After all, no matter how charming she found him to be, she knew better than to expect anything more than what she had already heard about him, if she were even to expect anything at all.

He's a lady's man.

She thought for a short moment before she realised that she hadn't answered him, his hands still holding hers.

She gulped: “Oh, right. Sorry.” she said and slowly took her hands away from his firm, but warm grasp; “I forgot that we’re not in the arena. It’s confusing, you know?”.

“What’s confusing?” he asked.

“Seeing someone in the actual and real suit outside of the games.” she elaborated.

“Don’t you remember your suit and equipment being scanned for the games when you first came in?”.

"Of course.".

"Then you know that the scanned suit and equipment are used in the games while the real deal stays with us in the real world.".

"Of course. It's to give us space to try and better our equipment.".

"Exactly." he said; "So you shouldn't be surprised seeing the squad wearing their real suits sometimes. They do it to tweak them and test their abilities out.".

"I guess, yes.".

"And if they come up with a good idea and the CO and manager of the abilities approve it, it'll be added to the games.".

“I get that and I know that." she said; "It’s still weirding me out, though.” she said and slowly got lost in her thoughts.

“Which part exactly? I don't get it.” he said with a confused look on his face.

“All of it!” she said urgently; “First, everyone is suited up in the games, then no one is suited up outside of them, now you’re suited up and we’re not in the game... It’s just confusing. Games feel way too real and, and…”.

“Y’know…” he cut her off, lifting his hand; “You’re just babbling nonsense now.” he said jokingly; “You gotta relax!” he offered; “Lucky for you, we’re almost there and Mirage will take care of you.”.

She looked at him with wide eyes and a huge grin appeared on her face; “You did it again.” she said teasingly, deciding not to ignore it this time around. 

His cheeks went slightly pink again and he ignored her; “Oh, look! The Mirage Voyage.” he exclaimed.

She readily turned her head and looked out of the shuttle’s window and, just like in the games, the Mirage Voyage ship hovered proudly in a secluded area between the mountains.

Her eyes widened as she readily examined it. Its yellow colour was beautiful and, unlike in the games, there wasn’t a single scratch on it. It looked freshly painted and renovated, all wood on decks looking brand new. 

Instead of the loot boxes, there were gilded chests placed around and, instead of the ugly white and old rugs were weapons used to be laid out, now there were nice and new red rugs all over the place. 

Throughout all of the exterior of the ship, there were hung lights that, in a way, reminded her of christmas lights. However, these were less festive looking and more ‘party time’ looking lights.

The shuttle stopped at the side of the Mirage Voyage and he jumped out, holding his hand out for her to take it. Without hesitation, she accepted it, feeling his warm touch, and he assisted her with getting out of the shuttle since she was still busy with scanning everything with her wide eyes.

“May I welcome you to the Mirage Voyage!” he said proudly, motioning at the whole ship before them with his whole arm; "Today will be one of those experiences where you'll sit back and say 'oh yeah, I remember that'!" he said, beaming.

“Wow!” she exclaimed; “Elliott, this is amazing!” she said; “Thank you so much for bringing me here! And you bet that this will be one of those experiences!

“You’re very welcome.” he bowed theatrically and made a pause; “Come.” he finally said, pulling her out of her thoughts; “I’ve got a special cocktail for you to try.”.

“Ooh!” she said excitedly; “What kind of cocktail?”.

He chuckled: “Can’t say, I’m afraid.”.

“Oh, come on!” she begged him, making puppy eyes.

“Well…” he considered her for a long moment, his smile going brighter and brighter as he did and her cheeks going redder and redder as he gazed at her; “A’ight." he finally said; "It has spiced rum in it. That’s all I’m willing to share.”.

“That’s more than enough for me.” she said satisfied, hiding her beaming cheeks underneath her let-down hair.

Without any hesitation, he led her to the main deck and inside to the hot tub area. Although there was a huge bar outside, there was a smaller one in there. 

"This should be enough for all of us." he said, placing his hands on his hips, looking around himself.

"What do you mean, all of us?" she asked confusedly; "You mean, you, Walter and me?

"Nope." he answered her quickly; "This is that surprise I've told you about." he offered her a big smile.

Her eyes widened: "I should've known! You brought…".

He cut her off; "I only brought me." he made a pause before he continued to speak; "Multiple of mes’!" he said and lifted his right hand up, clicking on the big yellow button on his chest near his heart.

Suddenly, the 5 decoys appeared and quickly made a circle around the duo. They all stopped in his position as per usual.

"You brought your decoys?" she asked, raising her brow at him only to see him grinning widely.

"Yeah." came a voice from behind her.

She turned around, finding the culprit from where it came and, when she realised that it was coming from the decoy, her eyes widened and she jumped behind Mirage out of fear, grabbing him by the arm in surprise: "Wh…?".

"Y'know, he worked hard on us. You should cut him some slack." the second decoy said, putting his hands on his hips.

"Wh…" was all that she managed before her throat went dry and she found herself to be mute.

Mirage laughed: "Meet my squad!" he said in an excited voice; "And, yeah, T is right. I worked hard on them.".

She stayed mute.

When he noticed her lack of words, he spoke: "So I like to have a little fun. So what?" he said defensively.

She looked around at each decoy with bewildered eyes.

"Told you that she'd be shocked." the third decoy spoke.

"Yeah. Actually, I would say that she's beyond shocked." the fourth one said and placed his hands on his knees, crouching down slightly and looking deep into her eyes.

Her cheeks blushed once again and she found herself feeling very awkward and weird. She had never experienced something like this before and she was pretty sure that this would be the first one for everyone.

"But… How?" she asked the original Mirage, still not letting go of his arm.

He laughed and turned around, making her release her firm grasp on him. 

All of a sudden, his face and his body were so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating from him and she could smell his wonderful cologne. 

She bit at her lower lip slowly and involuntarily, her thoughts going to a weird place.

For fucks sake!

She cursed at herself for not being able to control herself. All that she could do was to hope that Mirage didn't notice her biting her lip in a somewhat seductive way. 

"Oh, well, y’know… They're my babies." he said proudly, not letting on that he had seen anything out of the ordinary; "I was comp… Comp…" he stuttered; "Compelled?" he said; "Ah yes, that's the word! I was compelled to give them intelligence." he elaborated.

"You mean…?" she almost stuttered herself; "You’re saying that you've created artificial intelligence for your decoys?" the surprise was obvious in her voice.

When she realised that Mirage was still standing so close to her, she took a reluctant step back, wanting to curse that she had to, and turned to look closely at the closest decoy to her.

"Yeah." Mirage said.

"And will they allow you to include this in the games?" she asked curiously, still observing the decoy.

"Sadly, so far no luck." the decoy standing before her spoke.

She flinched.

The decoy chuckled: "I'm L.".

"H… Hi." she managed; "Nice to meet you, L. I'm Jack.".

"We know." the decoy that was silent so far spoke up, drawing her attention to it; "Elliott had…".

"A’ight!" Mirage jumped in, cutting off the decoy from saying another word; "Squad, this is Jack." he said and motioned at her with his hands.

She stood in the middle of the circle awkwardly and waved at all the decoys, her cheek being a constant shade of pink.

"Jack." Mirage turned to her; "These are E, L, I, O and T." he pointed at each decoy as he explained; "Or you can call them 1 through 5, if you find it easier." he offered and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nooo, don't be silly." she said and walked up to him, lowering her voice so that it was barely above the whisper; "I don't want to insult them." she said honestly.

Mirage chuckled again: "A'ight." he said and made a pause; "Squad, time to party!" he announced mischiefly and raised both of his arms above his head.

In an instant, a charter started between the decoys and one jumped over the counter and slid his way behind the bar.

"What'cha drinking?" it asked her.

"Erm… Elliott mentioned some kind of a cocktail made of spiced rum?" she more asked than said as she took a seat at the very comfortable yellow bar stool.

"She’ll have Beloved Captain.” Mirage told the decoy.

Her eyes widened. She had heard about the drink only due to Mirage's fame and some filming he had allowed on his ship. Everyone seemed to love the cocktail so much that it caused everyone to keep asking and pestering him for the recipe. He, obviously, declined.

“Oh, wow!” she exclaimed; “Thank you so much, Elliott!”.

“Hey!” the decoy called out; “I’m the one making it. You should be thanking me!” it said jokingly, a wide smile appearing on its face.

Although uncomfortable by the sudden appearance of 5 other sentient creatures, she giggled nevertheless; “Well, thank you… Erm…” her eyes widened when she realised that she couldn’t distinguish it from the rest of the decoys.

In fact, if not for a low glow around them, she was sure that she would be unable to distinguish Mirage from them too.

“It’s I. Or 3. Whichever you prefer.” he said and winked at her.

She blushed.

“A’ight. One Beloved Captain coming right up!”.

She watched it, or should she say him as he quickly took a shaker cup and added an egg and a ball of clear ice before he shook it well. Then, he pulled out a tall chilled glass in which he placed two clear balls of ice before he spinned the glass which made it create a crystal-like sound. 

He turned to his shaker cup and added a double shot of spiced rum followed by a shot of some kind of what she figured was a syrup. He topped it all with a small amount of something that resembled a cream. Then he placed the shaker cup in front of her and cracked his knuckles. A cheeky grin painted across his face when he made eye contact with her.

As soon as he grabbed the shaker cup, he tossed it over his head and caught it with his other hand, making it slide across his whole arm to his chest where the cup spinned, not spilling a single drop. He then tossed it to his free hand and spun it over his elbow, catching it as it started to fall down, the liquid splashing back into the shaker. He tossed it up again, cathing it and balancing it on his elbow before he chucked it high up and over his head before he caught it again.

Her eyes were as wide as never before.

A cheeky grin didn’t fade from his face, not even for a second. He pulled out the second shaker cup and her eyes, in anticipation, somehow widened even more. He started tossing both shaker cups and catching them in the air before chucking them again and catching them again. It was like a well practice choreography and an amazing dance that she had never seen before.

"Oh, wow!" she exclaimed in delight.

Finally, he caught both shaker cups and shook the contents well before he slowly poured it into the ice-filled glass.

“Evola!” Mirage exclaimed as the drink got served before her by decoy 3.

She looked at Mirage, puzzled: “You mean et voilà?” she asked.

His cheeks went red.

“There you go, Jack.” 3 said, breaking the awkward silence that Mirage had started.

At that moment, other decoys drew 3’s attention and he turned to serve them as well.

She looked after them before she spoke: “Can they drink?”.

“Nah. Not yet, at least. I’m working on it.” Mirage said as he made his way around the counter of the bar.

“Where are you going?”.

“If you didn’t notice, I didn’t get a drink.”.

She giggled.

“‘Tis not funny!” he said; “I gotta do everything myself.” he said sourly.

“Oh, come on. Lighten up, would you?” she teased.

“Easy for you to say. You just got served the best drink out there in all worlds.”.

“To be fair, this is delicious!” she exclaimed, sipping on the delicious drink.

“As I’ve said…” he offered her a shy smile.

She giggled: “Oh, come on. This drink is your recipe, isn’t it?”.

“Well…” he thought about it for a moment; “Yeah.”.

“So, all the glory goes to you! Bravo!” she teased and he smirked at her; “See? All better now, isn’t it?”.

“Yeah, all better now.” he said and they found each other's eyes in silence.

She felt her cheeks going pink under his gaze and, unable to take it anymore, she hid her eyes under her hair.

“Erm… Right…” Mirage spoke as if he was just pulled out of a trance-like state; “Shall we get this party started?” he lifted his newly made drink to hers.

She smiled and lifted her glass too: "To our in-game friendship!" she said.

"To all the future wins!" he returned.

They toasted and each took a sip of their drink.

He turned around and clicked a glowing red button and a nice upbeat music suddenly filled up the whole area. They both just started getting into the music, pounding their heads slightly, when a sudden loud noise drew their attention. All the chatter died out instantly, everyone turning toward the incoming noise.

“A’ight, mates?” a familiar voice called out.

“Walter!” Mirage exclaimed; “What are you… I mean…” he stuttered; “Welcome?”.

As Fuse came into the light. He wrinkled his forehead and crossed his arms.

“I’m glad you found us!” she spoke up; “Come! Join us!” she said excitedly.

Fuse remained in his spot, arms still crossed across his chest and a crossed look on his face.

“What?” Mirage asked.

“You could say I’m lookin’ to make a bit of a scene.” Fuse said.

“Oh, don’t be like that!” she jumped in; “Come and join us.” she pleaded.

"No, lass. Elliott here tried to pull a trick on me.".

"Y'know that it isn't true!" Mirage protested.

"Yeah." she said; "We got sidetracked to the Mirage Voyage, but we were still planning on making it for the rooftop tonight, right, Elliott?." she asked and found Mirage's eyes.

He looked concerned and kept eye contact with her only shortly before he turned back to Fuse.

"If you haven't noticed, it's already night." Fuse said and motioned at the sky above him.

She looked outside to realise that he was absolutely right; it was pitch black out there.

"Damn, man. Look, I'm sorry and I'm sure that Elliott is sorry too." she offered sincerely.

"I don't blame you, lass." Fuse said; "It's Elliott who baited you out here and I can't help but to wonder why.".

"Aww. C'mon, Walter." Mirage spoke up; "You know that I didn't mean anything by it.".

Feeling like this wasn't just about the rooftop thing, she cut in on what was obviously supposed to be a conversation between the two of them; "What are you two on about?".

They both looked at her.

"Nothin'!" Mirage said urgently.

"It's about the fact that he wants to keep you to himself." Fuse said, still keeping his arms crossed.

"Aww, man, it's not like that." Mirage protested.

Fuse turned to face him: "You know it is.".

"I don't understand." she said, pondering.

"Walter, don't." Mirage pleaded with him for some unknown reason to her.

"Mate, I wasn't born to be subtle." Fuse returned, his hands still crossed.

"Oh, god, please don't!" Mirage exclaimed.

"Lass, this boy here fancies you" Fuse told her.

Both her and Mirage's cheeks went red and Mirage covered his face. At least her cheeks were hidden by her let-down hair.

"Oof!" one of the decoys said.

"A'ight there, man?" the other decoy added, turning to face Mirage, a wide trickster smile present on his face.

"You did this to yourself, man." the first one spoke again.

"Shut it!" Mirage said; "Shut it both of you or I'll turn you all off." he threatened and the decoys went silent.

"Erm…" she barely managed; "I don't…" she stuttered; "I think I'll pretend like I didn't hear any of that and, one last time, Walter, I'm inviting you to join us." she turned to Fuse and said it as sweetly as she could.

Mirage turned his eyes to slits, his cheeks still red: "Yeah, 'mate'. Come and join us. I've got some cold ones in the fridge for you.".

Fuse looked at them both.

"Come on? Please?" she said.

“A’ight then.” Fuse said and allowed his arms to fall to his sides when he found her eyes, a cheeky grin finally appearing on his face; “Time to rock n’ load, fellas!”.