My Favorite Hero

By Curlly

It had been five days sense she had meet Jason. She hadn't had the opportunity to speak with Birkoff about it further because he was preparing for some major downtime.

So Curlly worked on the challenge of getting into Birkoff's apartment. Once she got in, then they could have a nice long talk. Curlly had spent all of yesterday with Walter working on a device that would get her into the apartment. This little beauty would disable any electric device for 15 seconds. Curlly would use it at his door temporarily paralyzing his entire apartment, break in and reset the alarm system. She checked out the current hardware for hacking his code word and went merrily on her way.

When Curlly woke up the next day ready to go. Sinjn would be back sometime this evening, so she should have plenty of time. She kissed her cat goodbye and stepped out into the hall. Brenna was doing the same she looked a little flushed. "So how is Xavier today?" asked Curlly.

They both got on the elevator. Grinning Bre said, "Oh shut up Curlly. What are you doing up so early?"

"Oh just a little something I have to do. Are you going in today?"

"Yah, just a little preliminary work my next upcoming mission."

Brenna got off at the kitchen with a wave and Curlly said, "See ya later!" and proceeded to the garage. A minute later her silver convertible shot out of CLHQ. About half an hour later she reached Birkoff's building. After parking her car she pulled a small lovely cherry coffee table out of the back seat and headed up the stairs. At his door she set the table down and activated the device. It worked like a charm. She opened the door and pulled the table in behind her.

As she worked quickly using a decoder to find Birkoff's password her mind registered the décor Seymour had picked. Ick! No flare at all! A clink and the password was entered in just as the electronics came back online.

Walking over she placed the coffee table in the middle of the living room and flopped down on the couch. She pushed away the impulse to go snoop around and pulled a book she brought with her out of her bag and started reading. Birkoff should be here in about an hour.

Curlly came awake she heard the doorknob turn. Propping her crossed ankles on the armrest of the couch, she allowed a cheeky grin to transform her features. She glanced at her watch, it was six hours later!

The door opened to reveal Sinjn. The alarm sounded, but his fist connecting with the control panel was one way of making it stop. Maybe she'd try that next time, Sheesh!

Several witty remarks died on her face when she saw the look in his eyes. Curlly stood up so fast her vision got splotchy for a moment, but quickly cleared. "What's wrong Sinjn?" He walked over and sat down pulling her down onto his lap. "Did something happen at CLHQ?"

As he spoke she noticed that his Scottish brogue was more noticeable than usual. "No. Something happened at section. I used your tracker to locate you. Where is you cellular?"

"I must have left it in the car. Sorry. So what happened?"

"I don't know the everything, but from what I understand Birkoff has been working on a computer program to take over in his absences. This program tried to kill everyone in Section to free Birkoff."

"Glory was anyone hurt?" Curlly knew that sense he was here telling her this that this "program" hadn't succeeded.

"Thanks to Birkoff, no one was killed."

"Well that's good."

Very gently Sinjn took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. Then he folded her close to his body so he wouldn't have to see the look on her face at his next words. "But Birkoff gave up his life to save everyone else," were the barely whispered words that penetrated Curlly's thoughts about just how handsome Sinjn was.

Curlly pushed out of Sinjn's arms and stumbled across the floor. "There must be some mistake! He's probably just hurt. I'll buy him some Oreo's on my way to see him. You must be just misinformed." Curlly forced out a bright smile, which died at the look of in his eyes. She bowed her head and ran her fingers through her hair. She felt his arms start to go around her, but she brought her hands down and out breaking his grip. "Don't touch me!"

As she backed away she stumbled and fell over the little coffee table she bought for Birkoff as a house warming present. The tears that had started to form ceased and she sniffed. A trembling hand reached out for the table, caressing it gently. Looking up at Sinjn she said, "Just give me a few minutes okay? I'll meet you out in the hallway."

He just nodded his head but left the door cracked. Curlly sat there just staring off for a minute or two letting the tears fall. The she stood up to leave. She was going to find out what happened. As she looked down at the small table rage filled her. Not Birkoff! She picked up the table and hurled it at the wall. It splintered, pieces falling to the ground. Just like her heart. Her stomach revolted and she sank to the floor to retching.

Curlly landed with a soft thud on the hardwood floor, barely keeping her expletive of pain from being expressed. Through her comm set she heard Sinjn voice, "Curlly report."

"That was me falling on my a-"

"Curlly I've got it," said Avillion padding softly across the floor to help her fellow operative up.

"Sinjn, Avillion retrieved the target, is egress clear?"

"Proceed."

The two girls carefully made there way through the office towards the exit. Once they were out on the windowsill they jimmied up the drainpipe to the roof. Once there, Curlly pulled a cross bow out of her pack and loaded the grappling hook. As she aimed the bow, bullets embedded themselves at the two ops feet.

Both girls scrambled for cover. While Avillion put some well-placed shots into the SOTWs, Curlly shot her bow into one of the men. Avillion looked a little shocked at how Curlly had killed the man she shot. "Why waste it," shrugged Curlly as she pulled a panel out of Avi's pack. She signaled operatives in the helicopter a few buildings over to leave; they'd find their own way home. Curlly pulled her gun out and started shooting while Avi reloaded.

"Curlly there is an cloth overhang down there." Curlly nodded her head and Avillion handed her one of her guns. Curlly started shooting with both guns to give Avi cover to jump. She was a little surprised at how accurate she was. Who knew? Backing up, continuing to fire, Curlly jumped over the side of the building.

The overhang was indeed cloth, but one jump of 5 stories had weakened it, so Curlly went right through it. As Curlly hit the ground a cab was driving down the road. She was still conscious so Avillion got rid of both of their packs, and vests so they looked like two rather dusty women dressed in black. She then ran out into the street waving her hands. The cab stopped and the driver got out. "Please help me, my friend is hurt!"

The drivers helped Avi put a now unconscious Curlly in the back seat. As the driver shut the door Avillion used the handle of her spare gun to rap him smartly on the skull. Then she got in the driver's seat and took off. As she drove she used the comm. set she had taken from Curlly and put it in her ear, "Sinjn?"

"What on earth is going on!" demanded Sinjn.

"I'm driving a white cab to the secondary pick up point. Have a van meet us with medical. Curlly is hurt."