Claws and code

Don't sweat the small stuff

The buildings were at an industrial terrain. We met up with five men who had departed the moment I gave the location. They had been keeping watch on the comings and goings of the place.

David was in charge of the whole strike team but the other packs' security chiefs worked with him on strategy. That included Jack. I'd given up on trying to create distance between us. Every time I moved away, he simply grabbed my hand and pulled me back until he got sick of my attempts for space and tucked me under his arm. The other men had chuckled and David asked if I was alright with his behaviour, in the link.

'I still say we cut the power and strike immediately.' One man argued for the fifth time. Sick of his stupid suggestion I finally spoke up. He wasn't listening to David.

'Won't work, that'll just give them time to get rid of anything we could use.'

He looked at Jack and then spoke to David. 'With all due respect, Sir. I understand she is a warrior and carries some importance here but maybe she should stay out of this discussion. Also, I respect that she is a Beta but that doesn't make her a strategist.'

'You're right regarding ordinary warriors...' I said over the low growling from Jack and my own pack members. 'But I am a strategist and if you think about it... I have to be. I'm smaller than any other pack member, how did you think I got adopted into the Beta line? Luck? Must have been some incredible good luck, yes? I work in systems for the hell of it, no offence... but my IQ is probably twice yours.'

'Yeah? And why would cutting the power be a problem then? Tell me that instead of saying it wouldn't work.' He snarled.

'They are good, they infiltrated three packs that we know of, they would be smart enough to have backup power and contingency plans AND a self destruct sequence in case of attack. I would know, we installed all that into our systems, in the heart of our territory. They are infiltrating supernaturals, high stakes business for anyone, they will have protections in place and if we cut the power, it's like giving them an hour head start in a thirty minute race. It takes ten minutes at the absolute most to drop a system completely.'

I stepped away from Jack but could feel him at my back when I went to the man who had tried to doubt me. I had to look up quite some way. 'I'm not asking you to like me or my diminutive size but you had better find some respect for my overdeveloped brain... or I will deal with you myself!'

A few men chuckled, Jack wrapped his arms around me from behind and pulled me closer and Arthur clapped his hands. 'Now, daughter dearest, I know you were out of routine for a few days but you can't just pick fights with every idiot you meet here. Instead, you can tell us how David and you would like to do it. Three more people arrived in there while you were stating your case.'

David told them what we had been discussing in the link while they had been trying to sort things out. Basically, we had to sneak in and hook into their system, then strike. That meant David and I had to get in. That also meant Jack and Mark had to get in. As they were picked to protect the two of us while we worked. They saw sense, most of them. But even the ones that weren't sure about what we planned to do, understood that it was the best plan we had.

So, my trusted old laptop and David's laptop, full of stickers, quotes and sticky notes were our weapons while Mark and Jack loaded up with their own arsenals of silver and steel for every occasion. Jack even went as far as loading up my spare pockets with his extra ammo and a few more throwing knives. I had tried to argue that I wasn't his pack horse. Much to everyone's amusement he had shamelessly told me it would be easy to have extra ammo and knives handy and they always be within his reach, especially if they were on my person.

"Jack, damn it..." I had walked away knowing that he would follow and he had stopped almost against me when I turned to complain to him. "...surely you can do with a few less weapons, between you and Mark we have a truckload of weapons already. I have two knives on my wrists and a gun of my own and David has weapons of his own too. Can we leave the spare stuff, for fox sake!?!"

Jack's voice dropped and he stared straight into my eyes, dead serious. "Baby, I want to make you happy, I want to keep you happy and I want to do as you ask..."

I started to smile and respond "Good! Then I_"

"..BUT, I need to keep you protected, to make sure you're alive, to keep happy!" He grinned, rather cheeky, considering I was glaring at him. "So, it's my job and my duty to do everything I can to keep you safe. Those extras might make the difference between life and death."

I frowned and felt like stomping my foot. "Yeah, they might, but not like you think... because all that extra shit will weigh me down, make me slower and land us in trouble. Then they'll corner us, we'll run out of ammo anyway, we'll all die, the packs will be unprotected on the web, the hunters will get everyone, everywhere. And then you will have caused an unbalanced world, which will bring on the apocalypse, and unbalanced universe and death to everything, everywhere. The universe will implode and the moon goddess will be so pissed at you that she will snuff out all our immortal souls. DO YOU REALLY WANT THAT ON YOUR CONSCIENCE!??"

Instead of letting me remove the extra ammo, he grabbed my hands as they went to the first pocket and he burst out laughing. I heard other laughter but Jack managed to distract me because he leaned really close to my ear and nipped the shell. "Sweetheart, as long as I'm alive, I will protect you. We'll come out of this just fine. Don't sweat the small stuff!"