Overwatch (editing)

Operation Firepaw

13

Seven catches up to Carolyn right as she gets out of her briefing. She holds her files tightly to her chest as Seven calls her old Overwatch codename. She stops and her eyes become glazed.

"Yes, my Lord?" she whimpers.

"What?"

Carolyn turns and flinches when she sees him approaching. "Seven!"

He speaks in a whisper, "Tell me why Ops chose to send the boy, of all agents?"

"The vampire is not a pushover. Your men are good, but she's too strong. You know this. It would be a waste of good agents."

"The boy is attached to her and won't complete his mission. Operation Firepaw is a joke!"

"Have your men trained to confront a vampire? I'm sure they have."

"My men and I can bring her in, I can promise that."

Carolyn shook her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't want Felix on this mission either, but I have faith Ops knows what it's doing, okay? I'm just his Sentinel."

"The boy will die."

"I could care more if Felix dies - I want the Overlord dead - the details don't matter."

"I just think this is a waste of the boy's potential. It seems to me like Ops doesn't know what good strategy is."

"You and your men couldn't even find that whore! Don't come to me thinking you know something about strategy." She is hardly whispering anymore.

---------

The helicopter's blades beat hot air across my face. I sit on the edge, ready to jump from the craft.

It is the middle of the day in Beijing. The sun shines brightly on the LZ - the roof of the shiny ABI building. A dark, winged figure leads several men onto the helipad to block an easy landing. I unhook himself and leap down onto the pad, claws fully drawn. The Raven's bodyguards draw their firearms and point them directly at me. The soldiers in the helicopter aim assault rifles at the wingèd creature.

I hold a hand up to the helicopter and order the soldiers to hold fire. I walk toward the Raven - that sick creature I've only heard about before but never seen. The plumage is almost Osbourne-quality; it's as if I'm walking to a black-feathered Prudence.

"You should've died in that pit," she yells over the sound of the helicopter's blades.

"They brought me here to kill you," I say.

She smiles her sexy smile. "They brought you here to try."

"Maybe some other time."

I power down and hug the Raven as Felix. She hugs me just as tightly. Mr. Wen and his men lower their weapons, as do soldiers that came with me.

Felix closes his eyes and whispers in her ear: "Will you marry me, Kassandra Sorrows?"

The Raven laughs and replies, "Maybe some other time."