An Operation Gone Wrong: How It Started

Her day began with her phone ringing. Blearily groping around in the darkness with one hand for the offending object, 'Red Nightmare' of the SI:7 greeted the day with a muffled string of curses.

Muffled because she was face-down in the blankets on her bed.

Finally, her hand closed around the cold metal, and she quickly retracted the arm with her prize, sitting up and sliding her finger to the left. "Yeah, what?"

On the other end of the line, however distorted, was the unmistakeable voice of Asarai Silvergrove, her company's commanding officer. "You and Enigma are getting called out of the Nest. I'll send you the coordinates once she secures the line."

"Let me go wake her up, then I'll be right back for some other things." Setting the phone down on her bed, she shot down the hall and started banging on her sister's door like somebody possessed.

Enigma wasn't happy to be woken up so early, but in the end did as asked and secured the line before dragging herself back to bed for another few hours. Nightmare was fully awake by now, however, and put on Asarai on speakerphone as she geared up for whatever was down the line.

"Earlier I got a message from Plainshawk. He was assigned to a simple extraction - some angry thieves' guild was going after the noble family reigning over that province after one of their own was captured an executed. He was almost all the way out of the city with them when it occurred to him that they'd gotten seven miles without any trouble. He thinks he's being followed and is also worried about the security of the mission."

"Who else is getting called in?" Nightmare clipped her phoneholder onto the side of her belt, slid the last few knives into their sheaths, and refilled her poison vials with the larger ones in her medicine cabinet.

"Ghost Flare, Flitter, Stalker, Blackheart, you and Enigma, and the Ol' Hawk's already there waiting for you all. How soon can you reach his coords?" Asarai sounded slightly worried - that was unusual. Nightmare decided not to bring attention to it and just answer the question.

"I think I can drag Enigma out of her bed and down there in roughly an hour or so. Tell Hawk I said stay safe.....and don't do anything stupid." There was a quiet chuckle, then a click as the line went dead. Nightmare jotted down the coordinates Asarai had given her and ran out of her room, first down the hall to Enigma's room to bring her up to speed, then backtracking to the kitchen to grab breakfast for both of them.

While flying down from Northrend, Nightmare brought Enigma up to speed on where they were going, why they were going, and what they were going to do when they got there. Enigma quietly crunched on her bagel, done to near-blackness as she liked them, and at the end of the briefing swore quietly. "The Ol' Hawk's still out in the line of fire?"

Nightmare nodded. "Floor it?"

Enigma grinned. "Floor it."

They landed near the given coordinates and casually trotted down the road next to them for a little ways before happening upon a party of seven. A human with graying hair and dark leather armor had goggles perched on top of his head and was speaking to another human, a noblewoman fanning herself demurely. Beside them were two young boys chasing each other in circles around the skirts of a younger woman, and who appeared to be father and son, the only differences between the two being the way they were dressed, the father's gray hair, and the younger man's medium tan.

Enigma whistled a short, sharp tune, and the leather-clad old man turned with a smile. "Nightmare! Enigma!"

As they drew closer, Nightmare's ears perked and she heard the young man mutter "'Nightmare'?"

The two young boys turned and in perfect unison dashed over to where she was standing, then bombarded her with questions.

"Are you a secret agent?"

"Do you have knives and daggers 'n sharp stabby things? I bet you do!"

"Are you here to rescue us?"

"I thought High Elves were all dead!"

A sharp voice cut in. "Boys!"

Looking over, Nightmare mouthed a quick 'Thank you' to the mother as the boys scampered back, then came to stand behind Copeland. "Hey Hawk, how you holding up?"

He laughed. "Ah, same old same old. So you're here to help with my extraction I take it?"

Enigma nodded and he turned them both towards the family. "House Knotley, meet your new guardians: the esteemed ladies Red Enigma and Red Nightmare of the SI:7, Raven Company, Reaver Detachment."

The young boys saluted with expressions of utter seriousness, and Enigma saluted back. Nightmare met and quickly deflected a questioning gaze from the younger man.

Copeland continued, still with a beaming smile. "Girls, this is the noble House Knotley of Asela. Lady Jillian and Lord Cordias -" the older woman and man smiled and bowed at them, respectively, "- the younger Lords Ethen and Derick -" once again the twin boys saluted seriously, "- and lovely Lady Cailey, and we shouldn't forget about Lord Trevor now, should we?" The young man bowed to them and then stood tall again, crossing his arms. "Now we should probably get going before that man behind Cailey takes any lives."

As the Knotleys whirled around, Nightmare leaped into the air, drawing her main knives and flipping over the heads of the startled family, slamming feet-first into the chest of the assailant. A quick slash across the major artery in the neck ended his life. When she'd turned back around, the first thing she noticed was Trevor's slight smirk and look of grudging respect.

"You saved me! I owe you my life!" Cailey exclaimed, bustling over to wrap her in a hug. Nightmare patted her on the back, giving the girl a quick squeeze. "Just doing my job, Lady Cailey."

Copeland whistled to draw their attention. "Our ticket out of here, about thirty yards thataway?" the human inquired, pointing towards their jet. "Would anybody like a ride on Salvation Express?"

Immediately Derick and Ethen took off towards the indicated copse of trees, Enigma chasing after. "Finally," Jillian sighed, "I can't keep up with my sons even on a good day - remind me to compensate your sister for that."

Nightmare laughed quietly behind her mask. "Enigma needs something quick to chase after. She's got too much energy."

And with that, the rest of their party took off after.