Epilogue
GAGE
I always thought war rooms were supposed to feel colder. Sterile. Quiet.
But Maddox HQ?
This place hums.
Even this early in the morning, the building feels alive.
Sleek glass, exposed concrete, metal accents—it’s part high-tech fortress, part industrial dream.
The large digital wall near the elevator flashes with a rotating security feed, while the Maddox Security emblem glows with understated dominance above reception.
River’s hand is in mine as we step off the elevator, our matching clearance badges clipped to our collars.
brAVO TEAM.
“Still surreal?” I ask.
She grins. “Beyond. I feel like we’re about to enter some top-level video game DLC we never unlocked before.”
We follow the corridor past the training bay and gym, then through the glass double doors marked OPERATIONS. This floor’s known as “the tank.”
Sawyer is already there, standing at the head of the long table with his arms crossed. Dark hair. Sharp eyes. Military posture that never quite fades. His expression softens when he sees us.
“You’re early,” he says.
“We like to make a good impression,” River chirps, earning a proud grin from me.
“Good. Maddox doesn’t bring people on lightly. You impressed him.”
River flushes. I squeeze her hand. Sawyer smiles and tosses a pack of Misfit chewing gum onto the table.
River’s eyes widen as she smiles.
“Dean’s got connections. Owner of Misfits is a client. Enjoy.” He tosses a few more packs onto the table before stepping away from the table.
River and I both swipe a pack before we follow Sawyer.
“You’ll both have dual stations,” Sawyer continues. “On-site and remote capabilities. You’ll report to me and Dean for now, then loop into Rae for fieldwork support when it makes sense.”
He walks us over to a glass-walled bullpen adjacent to Rae’s comms room. Two sleek setups—multi-monitor arrays, silent keyboards, retinal scan security. There’s already a sticky note on one screen.
In what must be Rae’s handwriting: Welcome to the Shark Tank. Bite back. R
River snorts. “I’m going to love her.”
We get settled—logins, systems, protocols—and Sawyer briefs us on upcoming threats brAVO’s tracking: a biotech leak in Prague, a cartel contact gone dark in Tijuana, and something weird brewing with a data breach tied to a company named Cathedral. That last one makes River go still for a second.
Sawyer doesn’t miss it. “We’ll talk more soon. For now, ease in. Decompression first. You earned it.”
As he walks away, River swivels in her chair and grins at me. “You realize we’re like… hacker vigilantes now?”
I lean over and kiss her. “We’ve always been vigilantes, baby. Now we’ve got funding.”
Later in the evening, at Gage and Arrow’s apartment, the smell of pepperoni and garlic knots hits me first.
Arrow’s already tearing into a slice on the couch, one foot propped up on the coffee table like he owns the place. Which—technically—he still does.
“You’re late,” he says without looking up.
“We were working,” I reply, kicking the door shut behind me.
“Working?” Juno echoes from the beanbag chair, her legs tucked under her. “It’s been one day.”
“We had to read like four dossiers and sign seventeen NDAs,” River says, flopping down beside her. “And we got retina scanned. Twice.”
“That’s just Rae showing off,” says Arrow from the couch, sipping on a soda.
“How exciting,” Lark says, a big smile crossing her features.
Knight leans against the wall with a brooding smirk, arms crossed, always in observation mode. The guy’s quieter than a locked database, but when he talks, you listen.
Poe and Ozzy show up a few minutes later, Poe juggling a six-pack and a bag of cookies like it’s an Olympic sport.
“Guess who finally tracked the Cathedral shell IP through the Balkan network?” Poe announces.
“Not tonight,” Arrow groans. “No work talk. Just pizza and bad TV.”
River and I exchange a look.
We like this. The chaos. The comfort. The family.
Later, after the third episode of some awful reality dating show and a full dozen jokes about me and River being the new golden couple of brAVO, I catch Lark slipping away toward the balcony. Knight follows after her.
Arrow notices too. “Those two are next.”
“Yeah?” I say.
Juno nods. “You can see it, right? The way they look at each other?”
River snuggles against my side, warm and familiar. “Sounds like the perfect story.”
And for once… I agree.
Because this? This isn’t just a happy ending.
It’s our beginning.