Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime or any of the characters.
Authors note: No idea where I'm going with this. It has just been sitting on my computer for about a year or so. I will probably be slow on updating so if anyone likes this story, I apologize in advance.
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The stars where shining brightly, but dark storm clouds were closing in quickly. A military chopper could be heard in the distance as it closed in on an abandoned island. It passed over charred trees making a few of the remaining branches fall into a thick pile of ash. It was all that remained of a once beautiful forest.
It passed over old broken neighborhoods. Houses with doors nailed shut and broken windows. Glass spewed on once green lawns. A few tokens of peace could still be seen. A tricycle here, an old rubber ball there, even an old teddy bear that failed to make its way to safety.
Three women sat in the back of the chopper awaiting touchdown at their destination. It was at the center of the island, an old school academy that was now a battleground. Two groups were at war and it had nearly destroyed an entire nation. One for peace, the other a revolution.
"We reach touchdown in five." A voice could be heard through the ear pieces of the women who sat waiting. One woman, a busty red head, was packing a duffle bag full of medical supplies and ammunition. She looked up and nodded to another red head who had been cleaning an assault rifle. Picking up an ammo cartridge on her right, she swiftly thrust it into place, making sure it was secure, and looked over at a raven haired woman looking out onto the island. She was holding one side of the open door while her other hand held onto a piece of tightly nit cloth that was dangling from the top of the chopper. Her hair was being strewn about in the wind as she looked over the scenery and saw the quickly approaching school. There was a large garden which was surprising still mostly intact with a gazebo in the center. The gazebos ceiling had caved in, but over all it was mostly undamaged. Quickly ducking back into the chopper she faced the other women and gave a thumbs up. Hoisting a sniper rifle over her shoulder and onto her back she checked to make sure she had extra cartridges for her service pistol incase anything went bad. Ensuring she has a safe amount of ammo she leaned forward a little and watched the other two.
"When we touch down I want you to follow my every move. You got that?" She yelled over the roar of the chopper. Seeing the other two nod she continued.
"Mai, you stay with Nao and cover my flank." The busty red head nodded.
"We'll move in from the right building. Nao If you see enemy hostiles use a silenced weapon and take em' out. I don't want to blow our cover so easily. Remember this is a rescue mission alright?" She watched as the dim fire that had been in the rifle totting red heads green eyes had dimmed, she smirked. "Okay, good. We should be there soon." Holding a hand to her ear she pressed a small button and heard static. When it cleared she spoke. "Akane how much longer?" She heard static again, but a voice soon overpowered it. It was the same voice from earlier.
"We will be reaching touchdown in 10, 9, 8, 7,-" The raven haired cut off the voice as she took her hand off the button.
"Get ready." She yelled at the other two.
"We have reached touchdown." All three of them heard and the raven quickly jumped out of the chopper and ran for a tall wall and crouched against it signaling for the other two to follow. They crouched as they ran, pressing their backs against the wall as they reached it. The raven quickly glanced at her surroundings seeing a demolished building to her left and an open field to her right. They were at least two hundred yards away from the school
She signaled the other two to follow as she moved toward the building. Sprinting across a short path she reached the building and scanned the area again to see if anyone had noticed their landing. It seemed no one had as the field was still quiet. Leaning her back onto the wall of the building when she reached it she signaled Nao and Mai to wait behind her. She silently walked to the side of the building and quickly glanced around the edge. Seeing no one she signaled the others forward. When they reached her, she signaled that they move around the edge. She shimmied around the edge of the building and ducked under the remnants of a window making her way towards an opening. Half of the wall was gone, so she placed Mai and Nao near the whole.
With the raven in front of them Mai set her bag on the ground as she saw a hand held out to her. Mai unzipped the duffel and pulled out a cylindrical item made of metal with a pin on top. She placed it in the ravens awaiting hand and the raven firmly grasped it. As Mai zipped the bag up, Nao placed an arm across the woman's bust and pushed her back against the wall. With her assault rifle ready she watched as the raven focused on the opening in the wall and pulled the pin out of the metal object. The raven then threw it into the opening and ducked back closing her eyes and covering her ears as Nao and Mai did the same.
A loud bang was heard and smoke filled the room. The small team of women quickly entered the opening with Nao going in first with a small flashlight on top of her gun flashing in every direction as Mai and the raven crouched both brandishing pistols, looking for any hostile forces. Nao's voice could be heard through their headpieces. "Clear." And the room was silent again.
As the smoke cleared the team could make a better assessment of the room. It looked like it was once used for storage as there were a few broken desks and computers lying about. There was also a few moldy floor mats and basketballs which were probably used in the academy's gym class. Mai silently walked towards on of the old desks and propped it up. Setting the duffel beside her she took out an laminated map from the breast pocket of her sleeveless fatigue top. Her grey and white camouflage pants could barely be seen in the dark.
The raven walked over to her as Nao kept up a watch around them. Her hair had been pulled back into a high pony tail when they made sure the room was clear. Her black tank top fit her nicely and the knife sheath secured around her upper left arm was easily accessible. She was also wearing grey and white camouflage pants the same as the other two with a red band around her thigh. When she reached Mai she leaned over the busty red head and checked the map. They were close to the right wing of the school and it seemed like the enemy still had no idea that they where there.
"Okay so here is where we go in." The raven stated as she placed her finger on a marked section of the map.
"You and Nao will take these stairs and wait for my signal to move in. Intel shows that Midori is on the second floor of the right wing. We'll make our way through. I'll be on the first floor and we'll meet up here. It's a few yards away from the right wing." As she mapped out there course she heard a quiet shuffling and turned quickly to Nao. When she noticed she had the green eyed, red heads attention she waved her hand to the right stiffly. Nao nodded and silently walked towards a window frame. The glass was crushed on the floor and it crunched a little under the woman's boots. She put her rifle on her back and pulled a knife out of the sheath on her belt.
Maneuvering the knife at an angle where she was able to see outside the window frame she saw two men in uniform with rifles. They were talking as they walked and stopped a little ways away to smoke a cigarette or two.
Nao glanced at the raven and held up two fingers. The raven nodded and pulled out a silencer for her service pistol. Mai was crouched against a wall behind the desk holding the map and her own pistol.
The raven lifted up three fingers and started a countdown. Three, two, one. Nao threw her knife at one of the men who had his back turned on her. He let out a low groan as it sunk into his back. He dropped his cigarette and slumped forward and the other soldier caught him with a surprised look on his face.
As the other soldier was distracted, the raven moved towards the opening they had previously walked through and leaned out, aimed, and shot the man right between the eyes. Watching as the mans eyes rolled to the back of his head and a dribble of blood spewed from the wound, she motioned for Nao and Mai to come forward. The Raven was in front facing forward, Nao was behind her with her back to the wall facing the open clearing, and Mai was at the rear watching their backs.
When they reached the fallen soldiers Nao grasped her knife in the dead mans' back and swiftly pulled. A dull thud was heard as the body hit the ground again after it was lifted from the force of the knife being taken out. The raven checked the guard Nao killed ensuring he was dead. At the ravens nod, Nao and Mai lifted one guard and the raven took the other. They quickly moved back into the building and dumped the bodies in a dark corner.
The raven moved back over to the desk with Mai as Nao searched the bodies for anything useful to their mission. Seeing that the bodies had nothing on them she sighed and walked over to the desk as well.
"Natsuki, how are we going to meet up when you're on the first floor?" The busty red head asked. Violet orbs looked at the map curiously looking for another staircase.
"That's where the fun begins." Natsuki replied with a smirk. She pointed to a small X on the map. Nao glanced over her shoulder.
"Oi, Kuga. You want us to blow it up? That's going to attract way too much attention."
Natsuki smirked as she turned back to look at Nao.
"That's the point." She turned back to the map.
"We blow a hole here and you and Mai will slip through the hole and meet me here." She pointed to a circular area connecting the two wings. There were two exits on either side of the circle as well as an entrance to the right and left wings.
"In the confusion we'll slip outside and go to the right wing and enter here." Her lithe fingers spread across the map until it landed on the complete opposite area of where they had entered.
"Hey, what do we do when everyone scrambles to see what happened?" Violet eyes gazed curiously at Natsuki.
"We get Midori. She should be right here." She pointed at a large classroom a few yards away from the door they were to enter.
"Fine. But if I die I'm so going to haunt you." Nao said as she grabbed her assault rifle from her back bringing it in front of her. Natsuki replied with a smirk and somewhat folded the laminated map and handed it back to Mai. Mai proceeded to zip her bag back up making sure she had the right amount of explosives.
Natsuki looked to Mai then Nao and nodded giving them a thumbs up and a cocky smile. The she grabbed a small flashlight from her pants pocket. She fitted it to her pistol and walked through the building cautiously with Mai and Nao behind her in the same formation as before.
A light rustling was heard when the three reached the end of the building. A door was still in tact and it screeched as someone forced it's hinges to move. Natsuki, Mai, and Nao immediately ran for at least some semblance of cover. Natsuki was behind the slowly opening door, Mai was in a prone position behind an fallen piece of the ceiling with her pistol posed at the door, and Nao was crouching behind a fallen bookcase, a knife in hand.
The three heard a muffled curse and the sound of someone slamming their shoulder against the stuck steel door. Once, twice, and the door burst open a short soldier stumbling, almost falling over his own feet at the extra force applied to the door. Natsuki immediately kicked the door back when it came close to hitting her and rushed the confused soldier. Wrapping an arm around his neck in a sleeper hold she leaned back with the stupefied enemy. He started to thrash and kick almost making Natsuki lose her grip. In response she tightened her hold issuing quiet shushing sounds to her captive. There was a quirk of static and a muffled voice was heard in the room.
"Station five respond." The static ended and Mai and Nao looked at each other and then to Natsuki. Natsuki was still holding the slightly gasping soldier and applied more pressure with her arm ensuring her other hand could grab the radio from the captives belt with out a fight. Lifting the radio to the mans lips she pressed a button on the side and a quick static sound could be heard.
"Tell them you're fine." Natsuki whispered. The soldier was shaking and his face was quickly turning red. He nodded as best he could.
"St-station five here….all cl-clear." He rasped out. Natsuki released the button and placed the radio back in the soldiers belt. Nodding gently she whispered a "very good" before she quickly applied even more pressure making the soldiers' eyes bulge before releasing him. When he lurched forward and gasped for air Natsuki grabbed his face from behind and twisted his neck until a loud crack was heard. The man dropped to the floor.
Another bit of static was heard and the same voice came on again.
"Station five are you alright?" There was a brief moment of silence and all three women looked at each other silently, waiting patiently.
"Ah get off it. He's probably drunk again. Just leave him alone, let him sleep it off." It was a different voice and the three in the room held their breaths.
"Yeah I guess so. But I'm telling the Captain this time. It's the third time he's done it this week. You hear that Hiro!" There was a burst of laughter from what they assumed was only two men and a click was heard as the radio was turned off. All three women let out a huge breath. There was a steady silence as Mai stood and Nao moved towards the sniper totting woman. They listened for a few moments making sure the area was clear.
Natsuki glanced at her team and briefly nodded her head towards the door and they slowly made their way out. Natsuki crouched as soon as she exited the bashed open door and held her pistol in front of her. Scanning the area she found they were close to the flower garden and the broken gazebo. Pulling her sniper from her back she aimed it at the entrance of the garden. It gave almost a straight shot to the gazebo and it the scope was fitted for night vision. Peering into the scope Natsuki closed her left eye and her right green orb focused in on the gazebo. Flowers shifted in her line of sight by a strong breeze and she frowned.
The gazebo was clear so she slowly raised the barrel to the top of the academy building. There were two soldiers on the roof. One seemed to be looking directly at her and the other had his back turned a few yards away.
Natsuki slowly calmed her breathing, taking in deep even breaths, laying prone on the wet grass. She could feel her heartbeat slow and her body relaxed. The flowers dissolved in front of her eyes and the slight wind vanished. All she saw was the two soldiers. She felt only the cold, metal trigger. She had stopped blinking and counted down from three…two…one. She gently squeezed the trigger and a high pitched sound rang in her ears thanks to the silencer. She spared only a second to watch the guard who was facing her fall, head first, off the roof. She quickly shifted and another buzz was heard as the second soldier slumped forward.
Replacing the slightly heated gun on her back she looked towards her comrades.
"Let's move!" and they were sprinting towards the building as a light rain fell upon them. As they sprinted across the slightly damp field they were shrouded in darkness and moved with ease. Skidding across the grass and gravel they braced themselves and hit their backs to the hard concrete building. Mai let out a slight gasp as her left elbow hit the cement. "Idiot." She chastised herself while wincing. Nao and Natsuki paid no attention as they quickly searched the perimeter. Natsuki had her pistol down, clasped in both hands, looking towards their entry point. Nao was behind Mai (who was behind Natsuki) and held her rifle up with her left hand holding a knife towards the ground.
"Clear." Nao whispered.
"Clear." Repeated Natsuki.
"Ow…all clear." Still wincing Mai held a pistol in her uninjured hand.
Natsuki lifted up three fingers and counted down. On one, Natsuki ran in front of the door, pistol pointed at the glass. Mai ran to the other side of the door and aimed at the side. Nao was on the opposite side of Mai.
The hallway was empty.
Natsuki moved forward slowly, Mai at her side and Nao watching the rear. They were breathing softly and crouched as they walked, silencing their footsteps. Natsuki's eyes moved frantically around the hallway, watching for any signs of movement and she moved swiftly towards the wall as they approached a gap in the hallway that lead to the stairs. Nao and Mai crouched against the wall as Natsuki took a quick look of the gap. One soldier was guarding the stair way.
Natsuki pressed back against the wall and gave a quick look at Mai who was watching the rest of the hallway further down and at Nao who was watching where they had entered. Letting out a quiet breath she held her pistol and slowly turned her body towards the wall. Aiming the pistol in front of her, she gripped it tightly and maneuvered herself so that only the pistol and her right eye was aiming towards the stairway. The soldier was currently readjusting himself and never saw the slight movement. Natsuki quickly aimed and pulled the trigger and the soldier slumped down in front of her. Holding up an open hand she signaled for Mai and Nao to continue on without her up the stairs.
Quickly jogging down the hallway, Natsuki reached part of the wing the held classrooms. She hugged the wall and crouched under every door window she came across not wanting to draw attention to herself if there were any soldiers in the classrooms. Her pistol was held stiffly in front of her aimed down the hallway in anticipation as she glided down the hallway on soft steps. Slowing her pace she noticed the hallway started to widen as she reached the rendezvous point. Two soldiers were walking around the circle in the middle of the two wings. Quietly, Natsuki reached for her knife and pulled it out. Holding it above her head and looking into the window that she was crouching below. Seeing no patrolling soldiers in the classroom she grasped the handle of the door and quickly ducked inside.
Letting out a low sigh she moved behind a tipped over desk and sat. Touching a small button on her earpiece she whispered, "Nao, do you read me?" For a moment all that she could make out was static before the line cleared and a low, annoyed voice could be heard.
"I read you."
"Have you set the explosives?" Calmly Natsuki changed her ammo cartridge of her pistol.
"Yeah, but it wasn't easy. The second floor was heavily guarded. We were lucky we weren't noticed. Only had to take out a couple of guys." There was a brief moment of static before the line cleared again.
" That's why I sent two of you." Natsuki grinned slightly when she heard a quiet grumble as her reply.
"Alright, tell Mai to set the charges for two minutes and get in position. It's about to get real busy here."
"Roger that, just don't get crushed under the debris." The line went dead.
Natsuki sat and waited, listening for the loud bang she was anticipating. She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes as she counted the last thirty seconds down in her head. Opening her eyes when the distinct roar of an explosion assaulted her ears. She cracked her neck and was up like a shot and bolted out of the classroom quickly shooting the two confused soldiers in the middle of the circle. She heard gun fire behind her, but continued forward into the circle shooting a few of the soldiers running, assault rifles at the ready, from the right wing. Ducking down by one of the fallen soldiers she grabbed the rifle laying a few feet away from the body and aiming at the rest of the soldiers coming at her and taking the out with a couple of quick bursts. Pausing to reload for a moment Mai and Nao came up behind her.
"Damn, I was hoping you would have been crushed." Nao snickered. Natsuki just rolled her eyes.
"Let's move." They quickly moved into a triangle formation shooting anyone that could be seen. The team rushed out of one of the doors and swiftly ran to the main entrance of the right wing. Just as Natsuki had planned, the wing was empty.
They moved down the identical hallway fast and cautious. Reaching the stair well they took the stairs two at a time. Reaching the top of the stairs the slowed and silently checked to see if there were any soldiers still lingering in the second floor hallway. There were none. Forming their triangle formation again, they made their way to the classroom that hopefully held a still alive Midori. They reached the door and ducked underneath the window. Natsuki held up a hand and counted down from three. On one they rushed the room. Natsuki rolling into the room followed by a poised and ready Nao, followed by a crouching Mai in the doorway. Midori was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Natsuki stood with her rifle, aimed and ready, and walked slowly to Midori. Nao moved to the corner of the room behind Natsuki to look over the room and Mai stayed in the doorway. Cautiously stepping towards Midori, Natsuki stopped and aimed towards the far left hand corner of the room where a lone shadow came creeping out. A pistol aimed straight at Natsuki's head.
Honey hair framed an angular face and smiling red eyes came out of the darkness. A sweet smile showed bleach white teeth and made Natsuki hesitate.
"Ara, ara. What a surprise to see my Natsuki here." It was a soft, lilting voice that made Natsuki take a step back, eyes wide with confusion as she slightly lowered her rifle.
"Shizuru." A whisper as the girl with blood red eyes smiled wickedly and shot.
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Authors note: Like it, hate it, whatever. Let me know.