Swooped | ✓

Chapter 47: Two Birds, One Stone

"White Crane, Red Crane, how do you, uh, 'patch them in to our comms'?" I asked, watching as Gia and Geoff squinted at the computer screen in confusion. If only Milo was here.

I swallowed the thought down as Gia's nails clacked on the keyboard, the girl groaning. 

"We weren't exactly left a 'Superhero Computer System for Dummies' booklet," Geoff said, Olivia giving me a look as I cursed under my breath. 

Turning to one of the women at the computers, who looked up at me in surprise, I relayed our confusion to her. 

"We need some tech support," I said, pointing to my goggles. "Connect our stuff to your stuff."

"I'll need to have a look at your equipment then, sir," the woman said, eyes sparkling with curiosity at my goggles, almost drooling at the idea of taking a peek at Milo's tech. I looked at Olivia, and she just nodded. I gave the woman my goggles, taking care not to look at her face directly, as well as the phone connected to it.

As she tried to figure out how to patch the police into our network, I felt a sense of pride swelling in my belly at her murmured "wow, so intricate", "amazing technology", "who the hell made this?". I wanted to brag about my boyfriend, but he wasn't here.

He would be soon, though.

It took a short while for the woman to figure out how to connect to our system, apparently struggling due to Milo's complex coding. She had apparently only been able to figure it out because she had the physical device at her fingertips, and she would have had no chance to figure it out remotely, courtesy of Milo's safeguards.

"It's almost time," Olivia suddenly snapped, snapping the ammo into her gun and tucking it into its holster by her waist. "Are you ready?"

"I have to be," I replied, pulling my goggles back on. Olivia nodded, face cool and collected, though flames of resolve flickered in her eyes that looked like Lark's.

"Our units are in position. We've got your back, Black Dove," Olivia said as I stepped out onto the balcony, wings ruffling in the wind. One of the policemen whistled as I took flight, wings beating strongly with the breeze.

"Okay, it's time, Black Dove," Gia said, voice appearing calm, though her eyes were narrowed as she nervously eyed the screens. "The park seems empty, satellite images don't show any movement, from neither our friends or foes. Be careful."

"Did you guys hack into the satellite imaging system?" Olivia's voice interrupted, the image flicking from Gia to the police commissioner, whose frown deepened.

'We didn't,' Gia sent me via written message so the police couldn't overhear her, the girl smirking. 'Milo did.'

"I'm going to the meeting point now," I said through a hidden grin, Olivia ignoring our (or Milo's) hacking and confirming that the snipers she had posted on distant rooftops saw me. 

I dove down and landed in a crouch beside a bronze statue - The Court Favourite - depicting a lithe young man and a lion cub. The lion cub was biting down tightly, seemingly delighted as it snagged the bronze man's cloak, smooth surface gleaming under the moonlight. The feline's eyes seemed to stare at me as I slowly stood straight, just as that tell-tale headache began prodding at the base of my skull.

"White Crane, any movement?" I asked quietly, using my enhanced bird vision to scope the area. I picked up on all of the noises; the individual leaves rustling in the chill winter winds, the slight rattling of the metal fencing behind me, the individual thumps of my heart beating in my chest. 

"Yes," Gia said, sending me the satellite video feed. 

"Black van, East side," Olivia added, confirming the image Gia was sending to me.