Page 60 of Omega Inked

I slowly untangle myself from her embrace and make my way to the deck. The moon is full, casting a silver glow on the water, the lights of Solstice Bay in the distance. The night is eerily quiet, except for the sound of the waves and a seagull crying out.

I light up a cigarette and take a drag, savoring the burn in my throat. I hear footsteps behind me and turn around to see Olivia, wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt.

"You should go back to bed," I say, trying to hide the concern in my voice.

"I couldn't sleep," she replies, her eyes trained on me. "I'm ready to do this, Phoenix...but I think..."

I glance at her. "What?"

"I think that maybe you should stay."

I scoff and shake my head. "No fucking way."

She comes up beside me and takes my hand, but I pull it away.

"Phoenix," she says, "you've been through so much because of the ACB, and I don't want you to have to see..."

"The guy who's responsible for it all?" I scoff. "Your dad?"

"Yeah," she says. "Exactly."

I take another drag of my cigarette and exhale. "Olivia, you know I can't stay behind. We need to do this together, as a team."

"But what if something happens to you?" she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

I turn to face her, placing a hand on her cheek. "I'm not going anywhere, Liv. I promise."

She leans into my touch, closing her eyes. "Okay," she says softly.

I pull her into a tight embrace, feeling her warmth against my skin. As much as I want to protect her and keep her safe, I know that we're both in this together. We're both survivors, and we'll do whatever it takes to get justice for those who've been hurt by the ACB.

We spend the rest of the night planning our next move, going over our weapons and supplies, and discussing different scenarios. As the first light of dawn breaks over the horizon, we see a figure climbing down to the dock from the Raft--and then a few more--and I realize it's all the others Olivia has won over.

Lex, Jade...and even Hawk and Fallon, the two guys that came with us on the train job.

I can't help but feel a sense of pride knowing that Olivia has convinced these people to join us in our mission. But at the same time, I'm filled with a sense of dread. More people means more risk, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that.

We all gather on the deck, the sun barely peeking over the horizon, and Mercer begins to explain the plan.

"Olivia was asked to go in alone," Mercer says. "But that doesn't mean we're just going to send her to her doom. We'll take our boat to the edge of the marina, and then we'll send Olivia inas ifshe came alone...but we'll be there, waiting in the wings."

"How will we mask our scents and make sure we aren't seen?" Fallon asks, crossing his arms. "The ACB has ways of finding us, no matter how hard we try to go stealth."

Mercer holds up a little bag of pills. "I...may or may not have grabbed a stash of suppressants for all of us," he says. "We'll use these to hide our scents--and Olivia will be the only one who's out in the open, unless things go south."

But as we go over the details, I can't help but feel like something is off. Maybe it's the fact that we're all just a rag-tag group of survivors, or maybe it's the fact that we're about to go up against a powerful enemy with dubious intent.

Either way, I can't shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong.

"I don't like this," I mutter. "We shouldn't..."

"I told you you don't have to come," Olivia says, clearly sympathetic--but I take it as a slight.

"I'm coming," I say firmly. "But we need to be careful. We don't know what kind of people we're dealing with here...or, we do, and we know they're fucking evil."

Olivia nods in agreement, her eyes serious. "I know. That's why I convinced everyone to come with us, Jade included. We need to stick together and watch each other's backs."

"I can't leave Kendra behind," Jade whispers. "And we can fight. You need to believe in us."

---