The roaring early morning surf neatly muffled his approach, but former special operations agent Melody Powers still managed to get the custom-built USP pistol she carried everywhere out and into her shooting hand a full second before the high velocity "cookie-cutter" rounds from her assailants weapon tore into her shoulder and right arm, sending her reeling to the cold beach sand. It was Vance of course, the Company always sent the best when they retired a pro of Melody's calibre. Even as she felt the blood spurt from the massive entry and exit wounds in her body, Melody's efficient mind evaluated the younger specialists choice of weapons, rather melodramatic overall, he could have done a much more covert job with a rifle from long range, but leave it to Vance to take this operation head on. The younger man regarded her with a look of pity as she lay fighting for a breath, blood puddling and sinking into the sand. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Melody" could that be a tear forming in the young agents tired eye? "But times change, so does policy, and so does the Company, the Red's are our allies now and you're too much of a threat to leave alive." Vance kneeled beside the ruined body of the women he had once loved. As Melody felt the blackness she'd been fighting start to overwhelm her, he spoke for the last time. "In the end, you hated the communists so much you became the personification of that rage and America's best weapon, but a rabid dog has to be destroyed, and I want you to know I understand HQ's decision even though I disagree with it." The blond haired agent, pausing only to close Melody's now sightless eyes for the last time, reholstered his rebuilt Beretta before beginning the long walk back up the still beach to the nearby Villa. The Company would want a report about the operation post haste, yet somehow he hoped his next assignment would never come.
Violent, no? I wrote this a while back in an attempt to write something that would be as close to Daria's style as possible. Sleep deprivation was also a major factor but anyway, let me know what you thought.
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