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.
An Operation Gone Wrong: How It Started
The Forbidden Sea was actually a very nice place, if you discounted the fact that while flying above it you were cold as hell. It was for this reason that Nightmare was very happy to see the frozen coast of Northrend stretching below them out of the fog.
Soon after that there was Valiance Port, formerly Valiance Keep circa 700-ish years ago, and then the Jicag Tundra. Trevor's voice sounded in her mind, startling her back from the half-doze she'd been in. Thank you. For saving my sister. And the rest of my family.
Are you a battlemage, Lord Knotley? her curiosity piqued, it took all of her self-control not to turn around and look at him as she felt his eyes drilling holes into the back of her head.
Mmm. My mother always has claimed it's inappropriate for someone of my stature, but I need some way to defend myself when things like this happen. A wistful sigh colored his words.
Magic is quite the thing to pursue. For me, I just like hitting people in the face with sharp things. A sharp laugh from Trevor assured her that her joke had not been off-target. But everybody's interests differ. Anyway, excuse me for a second.
Stepping forward to where the setting sun silhouetted her and her sister's house, Nightmare opened her arms wide and with a grin, let a little pride slip into her voice as she proclaimed "Home sweet home."
"Woah! Ohmigodsit'ssobigandcoolandwe'regonnalivehereforeverandever!" chanted Ethen and Derrick as they ran off the landing pad and into the house proper.
"Woah, chill guys!" called Enigma, chasing after.
Cailey giggled and stepped daintily off the pad, following Jillian and Cordias as they too made their way into the house, led by Copeland. After they'd gone it was just Nightmare and Trevor.
"Nice place," the human commented, making to follow his family. "You live here all the time, or just in summer?"
"Hah, no. It's the only home we have, sorry to disappoint." Nightmare's ponytail fell out of her hood, which then promptly fell down. Making a quick grab for both, she managed to fix her appearance before Trevor turned around. "You coming, or you have some secret-agent stuff to do out here?"
"No, I'm coming....jeez..." she muttered, following after.
Coming into the house proper was also quite impressive.
From the front door, a grand double staircase led to the second floor. To the left of the front door and down into the basement was the engineering lab; Enigma could usually be found there, meticulously welding or quietly cursing over a failed experiment. To the right, a trail led down from the landing pad a little higher in the mountains and met a set of glass doors. Glass doors would normally be absolutely ridiculous to any serious operative, but it was the best bulletproof glass money could buy. Up the stairs was a long hallway, left to the bedrooms and right to the kitchen and stairs down to the menagerie (Nightmare had just recently rescued a litter of Core Hound puppies from Molten Core, and her Molten Corgi had taken a motherly liking to them, and then there was Snowflake constantly flying in circles, the silly little dragon) and the stable (flying mounts only, of course). Each bedroom came complete with a balcony to outside, housed in a dome of the same bulletproof glass the doors were made of, - as were all the windows in the house - the double doors leading to them, and the basic facilities: tub, sink, etc. All the rooms had plush carpets, fireplaces, and several rooms to them, complete with plenty of plug-in outlets for those addicted to electronics.
Shucking off the coats Enigma had found stashed on the plane for them, Ethen and Derik immediately ran up the stairs, giggling and pushing, and took off down the hall towards the rooms. Probably calling dibs.
Copeland, Jillian, and Cordias took more time coming into the house, and then began their conversation anew as Enigma went to chase down the boys.
"So....." Cailey started, fidgeting in the awkward silence, "What is there to do around here?"
Nightmare shrugged. "Help yourself to anything you find - unless it's got somebody's name on it or it looks like it's an engineer's work. If it's the second one, it's probably my sister's, and it'll probably explode." She paused, then added "And yes, Enigma does tend to leave them laying around a lot."
"Oh...kay..." Cailey answered, glancing around and then wandering off after Enigma and the little ones.
Trevor studied her intently. "Please tell me you're kidding about the 'will probably explode' thing."
"I wish I was," she sighed. "Unfortunately, my sister can be a bit of a scatterbrain at times....and that tends to lead to explosives being left around."
The human sighed and shook his head. "So where'll we be sleeping?"
Nightmare smirked. "We won't be sleeping anywhere. You will be sleeping right this way." As she started up the stairs, she heard Trevor laugh quietly before following. At the top of the stairs she turned left and stopped right where the rooms began. "Any of these except for the two directly on the end."
The man nodded and wandered off down the hall, Nightmare making her way back to the foyer. As she walked she suddenly heard Copleand's shocked voice: "Silvergrove?!" Then she started running.
She darted down the stairs and paused, not to catch her breath (she'd had too much training in long-distance running to need that), but to observe. Asarai Silvergrove, the Raven, stood right in front of the door to the landing pad, a Draenei mage standing at attention a few feet behind her and to her left.
Copeland hastily bowed and turned to Jillian and Cordias. "Um, Lady Jillian, Lord Cordias, this is-"
"I am Asarai Silvergrove, leader of the SI:7's Raven detachment. Is Red Nightmare around?" The Night Elf glanced around the room, not seeing Nightmare where she was above them, balanced carefully on a wooden beam. At Asarai's mention of her name, she dropped and rolled, ending in a graceful bow. "Lady Silvergrove."
"Nightmare." Asarai's response was short and clipped. "I need to speak to you....alone." she glanced to the side at the other three people present in the room, who took the hint and made themselves scarce. "I've received a message from Bianca and Karani. They're being pursued, and will arrive shortly after noon in about ten days. Arioch should be here later today, Theodore will show up in about three days, and Cassandra is making her way here slowly. Her estimate is about four to seven days."
"We can work with that," Nightmare answered evenly. "Did Arioch give you a time, or just later today?"
"Later today. I....I have to go. Yrva!" the mage opened a portal quickly, allowing Asarai to step through. "Farewell, Nightmare."
Nightmare nodded and watched Yrva step through the portal before closing it behind herself. Trevor's voice sounded from behind her. "So this Silvergrove lady, she's important?"
Whirling, she turned just in time to catch him shimmer back to a seeable state. "Invisibility? Nice. And yes, Asarai is our leader. Like, the leader of the whole Raven company. That's why she's called the Raven."
He nodded slowly. "Interesting. And you're part of the Raven Company?"
"Mmm. Raven Company, Reaver Detachment, Nightmare gang. My gang is usually just me, my sister, and a few of our fellow Ravens that aren't in any other gangs, but for this mission we have the leader of the Reaver Detachment, good ol' Zavier Copeland, here to help." Nightmare walked as she spoke, and Trevor shadowed her up the stairs and back down the hall. "Anything else you'd like to know?"
"Yes, in fact there is. Who else will we be meeting while we're here?"
"Arioch is our newbie, though he's got three years under his belt now. He's a fallen angel. Bianca and Karani Shimmerthorn are fairies. They like fire and ice, respectively, though Bianca also likes blowing stuff up. Kinda like Enigma. Theodore is a werewolf, he's our best spotter and can pretty much identify anything or anybody on sight, provided they haven't lived in a hole in the ground their whole life. Cassandra's an undead. Try not to freak out around her, because she doesn't really enjoy being undead, and when people draw attention to it she tends to get a little depressed and withdrawn. That's everybody besides who's already here that should be showing up.....then again, even the best laid plans get screwed up sometimes. More might have to or want to or end up showing." Nightmare opened the door to her room.
"Fascinating. I think I'll go try to catch some sleep before this angel shows up." Trevor opened the door directly next to hers. "See you around, Nightmare."
She nodded to him and closed her own room's door behind her.
Sighing and flopping on her bed, Nightmare was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
"Hello? Any Reds home?" a familiar voice yelled from the foyer. "Ghost Flare's in the house!"
Nightmare jumped out of bed, hearing some other doors opening as well, and darted down the hall. "Arioch!"
The angel grinned. "Nighty! How are ya? Where's Enig-...........oh hi there...." his voice's volume and tone immediately dropped to ridiculous levels as Trevor, Cailey, Ethen, and Derick entered the room. With wide eyes, he attempted to shuffle himself to a position where Nightmare hid him from the eyes of the humans.
Cailey was the first to speak. "H-hello."
Arioch poked his head out from behind Nightmare. "Hi."
"Alright, introductions. Arioch, this is Trevor, Cailey, Ethen, and Derick of House Knotley of Asela. Knotleys, this is Arioch Starflight, fallen angel and mind-bender extraordinaire." Nightmare attempted to separate herself from Arioch, who continued clinging to her. Hide me, his voice whimpered in her mind.
Oh come on, she groaned in response.
Enigma bounced into the room. "Heya Ghost. You trying to hide again?"
There was a slight movement from behind her. "I think that's a yes," Nightmare helpfully supplied to those who couldn't see. "Ghost, why don't you go hide in your room instead of behind me?"
There was a blur of black, grey, and white, and then the angel was gone.
"Well then," Cailey broke the silence. Then her stomach growled and she blushed. "Um...dinner?"