I drove a Ducati at home, so when the commissions officer offered me one for the ride home, I readily agreed. I got home, unlocked the door, and stepped inside while James and Smitty grabbed the packs. Smitty and the rest of the team were going to be staying at my place untill the ceremony, and my Packmates were coming over. I could only hope that they wouldn’t behave like, well... a pack of timberwolves. I didn’t even know how we were going to house all of these people untill the ceremony. James, however, had a bit of a suprise for me. “James, you bought a mansion? When the hell were you going to tell me?” “I’ve been saving up money since we were five, Carmen, five years old. I used my portion of the past few kill rewards to get this for us all. Let’s face it Carmen, we were barley able to fit the five of us in the old house. This is a chance to start new, and I think we all really needed it.” He was right, of course, but that didn’t exactly excuse the fact that he did it behind my back. Then I saw the look on his face, and my anger instantly dissolved. I put my arms around him. “You were right. Starting over is a good place to start. Now we need to pick up the kids and see what they think of their new homes, and introduce everybody.”
An hour later, the kids were home, and we had just gotten everyone settled in for the stay, when there was a banging on the door. I pulled it open and came face to face with Kael and what I’m assuming were the children of his pack. The children had no coats and were showing signs of the first stages of sever hypothermia. “What the hell... Kael, what are you doing here?” “Is it not obvious? The WereDingo pack has taken many of our women and children captive. I need the assistance of you and your pack to get them back alive. And-” his voice dropped an octave, his expression mad with greif-”they killed my mate, Nadine.” I felt a shock of angered greif. Nadine was, after all, little Kayla’s mother. “I’ll help you any way I can, Kael. But, first things first, these children are displaying symptoms of severe hypothermia. I want to get them checked out by one of our medics.” I looked around and found Smitty by the soda table. Non-alchaholic drinks only at this party, sorry to dissapoint. “We have several cases of sever hypothermia in the kitchen. I need you to do an emergency eval and treatment, and do it secretly.” I muttered in his ear. “James, pack leaders, kitchen, now.” I breathed to no one and yet everyone. All of my pack were listening for sure. I knew those snoopy little wolves better than they had anticipated. We all made it in to the kitchen, and the treatments began. Smitty was in charge here. “Carmen, start heating up pots of lukewarm water to soak the kids fingers in. James, get them dry clothes while Maggie-” a startelingly tall blonde with midnight blue eyes- “throws their clothes through the five minute touch-up on the dryer. Damon, wrangle up spare blankets and snow tarps to wrap the kids in.” We all dashed off to do what he said. Maggie took over the water operation, and Damon, James and I began helping Smitty warp the kids in the blankets. A few of them were too frostbitten to be put into immediate hot water treatment. Every kid was OK in the end, and that’s what mattered the most. Then it was time for the ceremony. We got into the White house, and we were promptly greeted by Secret Service agents and stripped of our weapons. All we had was our knives and the nonlethal crap, but they took it anyways- (Pepperspray, folding Batons, and a stun gun each). Feeling naked without our weapons, we walked into the room. the team took their assigned seats, and I was escorted over to the president. The president took the podium. “Today we are gathered here to honor one of America’s bravest soldiers, Carmen Amelia Natalia Renee Benicio Miguel Cortez. Carmen has always been one of the kindest people around. Whenever someone in her community needed help, she was there. When her neighbors house burned down in the middle of the night, Carmen risked her own life by plunging fearlessly in to save them. When someone’s brother went missing in the woods, Carmen would be out there, no matter the hour, no matter what she had been doing before, leading a team through the brush to find them. When a fellow soldier ran out of water on a mission, Carmen would give them half of what was left of her own. Time and time again, Carmen has showed her worthiness of our contry’s greatest honor. Most recently, she demonstrated her bravery by upholding the Navy’s motto of “no comrade left behind.” While she was out on a mission, a long raid to help protect our country, a nearby base blew up. She coordinated rescue efforts with her tammates, bravely leading them into the midst of danger. With them she helped to save more than one hundred and fifty lives that day. An hour and a half into the rescue efforts, one of their helicoptors, which had been ordered by Carmen to fly nearby, reported to her that a section of the base was on fire, with more than fifty people trapped inside. Carmen and three others of her team shifted a thousand pound support beam to help free the survivors. As the building was starting to come down around them, Carmen Cortez saw one girl lying injured inside. She bravely ran back inside, at great risk to her own life, so she could make sure that the girl got out alive. And now, a few words from the hero herself and some of the members of her platoon who were there with her that night.” I took the podium first. “Thank you for your incredibly kind words, Mr. President. It is my personal belief, and I know that many of my teammates would share in this belief, that if I were to die saving even one person’s life, then my death would be worth it. It was that train of thought which drove us that day to push aside our exhaustion, to push aside that we were sore and hungry, so we could save the lives of those trapped inside of that building. I know that in my shoes, any one of my teammates would do the same. I also know that without the help of my teammates, saving all of those people would not have been possible, even if by some miracle I had managed to get them out. If many of them had been as injured as the soldiers we saw and saved that day, them living would not have been possible without the medical help of the Medics, or the physicall and mental presence of my teammates. I guess what I mean to say is that none of what we accomplished that day would have been possible without every single one of us being there. From the Helicoptor pilots, who scouted for trapped people and patrolled the border, to the Delta team there with us that day, to the medics who were there, working long into the night to treat and save the wounded, if even one of those aspects hadn’t been there, what we did would have been close to impossible, and many more would have died that night.” I stepped down from the podium, and Smitty stepped up. “When asked what adjectives come to mind when thinking of Carmen, I would say ‘Beautiful, Brave, Courageous, and incredibly Loyal. She has led us through thick and thin, through peace and war, and done it with grace. Never once did she complain when injured, and she is always willing to lend a hand to those in need.” With that said, Smitty stepped down and James stepped up. “When I was younger, only about seven or eight, I was wandering through a bad section of town. While I was there, I was nearly mugged. I would have been, if not for young Carmen stepping from the shadows and telling them to leave me alone. when they didn’t listen, she ran up, kicked one guy between the legs so hard he was singing opera for nearly a week, and caused the other to just cut and run. it is because of her bravery that I am still standing here today. She saved my life that day, and many times since.” With that, the speeches were over, the president stepped up and said “Carmen Cortez, it is my honor to present to you the congressional medal of honor. As a nation we thank you for your devoution to country and community.” With that, he handed me the medal and shook hands with me. As he was stepping off the podium, I registered a guy pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing it towards the presitent. I sprinted the stairs, shoving myself between the president and the shooter. My arms flew up in a basketball bodyblock. James saw the shooter as he pulled the trigger, the secret service moved in on the guy, and either he was an extremley bad aim or somebody rammed him, because the bullet only grazed my shoulder. I pulled out my service revolver and raced after the guy as he attempted to blend into the crowd. I shouted orders back to my guys. “Form a defense around the president!” It was then that I lost the guy in the crowd. I jogged back to the others. “Can any of you see him anymore?” It was a bunch of “negative”’s all around. “All right then. Stay in formation around the president. We’re going to work with the Secret Service untill this guy is caught. Do we have any idea who this guy was or anything we can use to I.D.him?” One of the Secret Service men chimed in on this. He was tall (about 6’2) and blonde with blue eyes and a beach bum’s tan. “No ID, but we did get his gun. We can use the serial number to get ownership off of it.” “Good. We’ll stay with you to guard the president until he’s in custody or otherwise stopped.” I was talking about the clause on justifiable use of deadly force. Basically, if you are a threat to me or those who i’m supposed to protect, I have the right and reason to use a more permanent solution. Death is that “more permanent solution.” We had just begun the process of moving the president when we recieved the news that our very special someone had broken into the whitehouse and was now holding the First Lady at gunpoint. “How in the hell did this happen?!” I muttered to myself. “Guys, I’m going to have to go in alone on this one.” I told the team. Smitty and James, however, had objections to that. “I can’t let you go in alone, Carmen. If something were to happen to you...” “James, statistics show that a guy is three times less likley to shoot a girl who he would percieve as nonthreatening, such as me, than he is to shoot a big, threatening guy who looks like Popeye the Navy Sailor, such as you.” That line of arguement worked on James, but Smitty was almost immovable. “Carmen, I can’t treat you with you in there and me out here.” “I know, but saving the First Lady is going to be less difficult if I go in alone.” I ended up having to promise to at least let him band-aid the fleshwound and take gauze in with me. I got in and silently worked my way to the security controll room, wich is where the First Lady was being held. I put into practice standard SEAL training. Avoid or obscure all security cameras, blend in with your surroundings, and accomplish the objective as quickly as possible with minimal casualties. I got to the controll room, hid my gun in a potted plant, rearranged my knives, and pushed open the door. The guy spun on me. “I’m not armed!” I blurted out quickly. “Why are you here then?” His tone was impatient, as if I had merely inturrupted him at a meeting or something. Hah. “I’m here to make sure that the First Lady is okay. I just have to check her over for injuries.” and slip her a pistol somehow. “Spread’em then, cause I need to pat you down first.” I did as he said, and thank god that he didn’t discover any of my weapons. I had prewrapped a small handgn into a “cold compress”. I knelt by the First Lady, pretending to examine her back. “There’s a bruise on her back that needs a cold compress, or it could lead to serious injury.” “All right, do it. Any funny buisness though, any at all, and I’ll shoot you both, got it?” He pressed his gun to my temple to emphasize his point, and I seized my chance. I flung myself around on my back, kicked him in a straight shot to the balls,and grabbed his gun up off the floor from where he had dropped it. I grabbed the First Lady off the floor, passed her the gun from the compress and said “It’s loaded. All you gotta do is point and shoot. Please try not to shoot ME, though, seeing as that would be rather counterproductive. Stay close.” I led the way out of the room, jogging down the hallway, stopping only long enough to make sure the First Lady was with me and check around the next corner. It was in this fashion that we made it to the door when we were stopped by a woman with a gun. She couldn’t tell which one of us was the First Lady, so I spoke up. “I’m the First Lady. I’ll go with you without a fight if you let Jennifer walk out the door first.” Better me than the actuall First Lady. She cocked her head, considering. My hand itched towards my weapon, but I froze the impulse before I could act on it. The fool actually took me on my word on this one. I waited untill the real First Lady was out the door, then I yanked my sparring knife from my waistband and lunged with just my upper body, managing to stab the woman in the heart. Oh, dammit! I was so going to have nightmares about this well into next week. I pulled the knife out, the woman’s weapon discharged, and the rest of my team was barging through the door, James and Smitty in the lead, closley followed by Damon. Damon spoke first. “Holy... Carmen, what the hell were you thinking, impersonating the first lady?” The knife slid from my fingers, and I felt myself starting to get dizzy from the blood loss. “Crap.” was all I said as the world spun away from me. The last thing I registered for a while was Damon’s arms sliding around me before I could hit the ground.
I woke up back in my bed- James, Smitty, Kael, and Damon all standing by my side, their range of expressions downright comical. James was angry and concerned. Smitty was looking like an old mother hen who had seen a fox near her eggs. Kael was enraged. Damon was furious. “Aahh... I feel like crap. How long have I been out? And how bad am I hurt?” Smitty looked relieved to see me non-comatose again. “You’ve been out for three hours. You took six bullets to the midsection and lost a large amount of blood. Damon knows about you and James now.” That definitley explained all of the thunderclouds on his forehead. “Guys, can I talk to Damon alone please?” They nodded and ducked out of the room. I turned my attention to Damon. “What happened after I went lights out?” I demanded. “You were unconcious. I brought you to Smitty.” “Thank you Captain Obvious. I meant to ask what happened to the President and First Lady, and what happened to the guy who I incapacitated in the security room?” “You incapacitated someone in the Security room?” “Yeah, but judging by your expression, nobody was in there when Security got back, huh?” “Not as far as I have been made aware of. And to answer the second half of your earlier question, the President and First Lady are fine. They’ve been flown to Camp David for safekeeping.” Camp David was codespeak for Airforce One. “Good to know that they’re in safe hands. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about me being a werewolf earlier, but I hope you’ll be able to forgive me eventually.” He cracked a smirk. “I forgave you the moment the truth came out, Carmen. Just promise me- No more secrets.” “I swear on my life. No more secrets between us.” We shook hands. “You know, you being a werewolf really explains all of the “I’m going in alone” crap, but remember that even the macho werewolf can get her ass kicked sometimes.” I smiled ruefully. “Yes, but even when I do, I’ll most likely live through it.” “Is that so?” “Yep. The only thing that I know for sure can kill me is... well... me and others like me.” Oops. Said too much there. “Well, Carmen, there’s something I need to tell you, too.” “What’s up?” “This may come as a bit of a shock, but I’m half Warlock.” “Oh my god, Damon, I would say something like “Why didn’t you tell me earlier”, but that wouldn’t really be a fair question, seeing as I kept my fair share of secrets too.” He sat down on the edge of my bed, and we spent the next four hours grilling eachother on facts vs myth about eachothers species. For example, he told me that Warlocks don’t need ingredients to perform spells. I told him that werewolves are unaffected by silver. and so the night wore on.
When I woke up, Damon’s arm was slung over me. I could smell someone making either scrambled eggs with bacon or an omlette with bacon. Hard to judge the difference from here. I pushed Damon in the shoulder. “C’mon lazybones. It’s time to get up.” I rolled out of bed, stretching my arms above my head, then wincing as I felt a sharp stab of pain. Maybe stretching wasn’t the best idea. Damon shook himself awake, so I decided to go for a light jog. “How far you wanna go?” Smitty asked me. “I was thinking somewhere around an eight mile through town. If you guys want to.” They all agreed. We had just finished when Kael came down the stairs. That reminded me of something important that needed doing. “Damon, Smitty, help Kael make breakfast for everyone. James, see if you can’t charter ship for us.” “How far of an effective range, what weapons systems, and how long will we need it for? Also, how many people does it need to carry?” “Effective range two thousand seven hundered fifty nautical miles at the very least. At bare minimum, the ship should have radar and sonar evasion systems, a radar system, and flak guns. needs to carry-” I did a mental head count “one hundred or more persons, not including crew. We’ll need it for between three and six weeks.” “Basically, you want me to ask to rent an AIRCRAFT CARRIER!?” It wasn’t a question, but i answered anyway. “Yup” “What are we going to use it for?” “We’re going to help free Kael’s people.” There could not have been more shock in that room if I had run in carrying an Atom bomb. “And what are you going to be doing?” That was James again, challanging. “I’m going to be doing the hardest part of all. I’m going to convince either the Secretary of Defense or the President to give this mission the go-ahead.”
