Swooped | ✓

Chapter 47: Two Birds, One Stone

Gia's face was crinkled into a frown as she stood behind me to lock the clasp of my top together, smoothing the fabric and my wings almost reluctantly. She still wasn't particularly keen on the idea of throwing myself into an obvious trap, but at this point, there wasn't much else we could do.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with?" Geoff asked, "I could watch your back."

"Thanks, Geoff," I said, smiling at my friend, who could sense my refusal. "They asked for me alone, so me alone they'll get. Not counting the, uh, police standing by out of sight, though. They don't really want to involve any more civilians than necessary, and allowing us to be a part of this operation is already questionable."

"Fine," Geoff said glumly, giving me a tight hug, which Gia also joined, wrapping her arms as she stood by my other side. "Beat all of those assholes up for me, 'kay? And remember the things I taught you. Especially that punch, okay?"

Laughing, I lightly punched Geoff's arm as we all pulled back, before tugging on my mask and goggles, adjusting my gloves and flexing my wings.

Geoff and Gia opened the glass doors to the back yard, bodies taut as I launched myself into the air. It only took a few seconds for their images to appear in the corner of my goggles, the two of them sitting side-by-side to operate the computers that Milo usually manned alone. 

It was just past 2:00am when I landed on the balcony of a seemingly abandoned apartment near the park , Olivia and the task force already waiting for me. They were geared up in dark bulletproof vests, guns tucked at their hips alongside others in locked cases. One of the policemen looked at my own suit up and down in appreciation, tugging at his now seemingly lacklustre outfit. 

"I have a great stylist," I said, answering his silent question, the man barking out a laugh as he shook his head in amusement. 

"You seem very calm, Black Dove. That's good," Olivia said, nudging me inside the apartment; most of the poorly cared for furniture had been pushed to the sides to make way for the computer equipment and weapons, the base of operations nestled amongst frayed couches and chipped wooden tables.

As I stepped inside, Olivia immediately pulled me into a second room - a bathroom, with a missing shower head, though the tap was splashed with water, signifying working plumbing. 

"Culver," Olivia said, hand tight around my arm. 

"Wow, moving straight to a first name basis now, Olivia?" I joked, the woman in front of me rolling her eyes.

"Is your wit a response to your nerves, or are you truly calm about this?"

Tugging down my mask and pulling the goggles to rest on the crown of my head, I levelled Olivia with a determined expression. Olivia sucked in a breath, the final piece of the puzzle seeming to click into place when she finally saw my face. 

"I couldn't really believe it, not until I saw your face... Are Gia and Geoff listening in?" I answered Gia's question with a tap on my goggles, Olivia sighing, dropping my arm and pushing a few stray hairs from her forehead, eyes hard.

"I really should pull this whole operation," Olivia said, looking at me carefully. "Seeing you now, I'm really reminded that you're just children."

"Special children," I said, Gia and Geoff laughing in my ear as I whipped my wings up, the shower curtains snapping against the tiled walls. "And we've already been invited by these very impolite kidnappers. I never say no to a good party."

Olivia paced the bathroom, tossing my words around in her head, before sighing. 

"Patch us in to your comms network," Olivia finally said, jerking her hand to my mask and goggles. After pulling them back over my face, Olivia lead me out of the bathroom, to the amusement of the other police officers. Olivia just sent them withering looks, all of them turning back to preparing their weapons or clacking their fingers on their keyboards.