It was just supposed to be a routine field mission. No combat, just disarming land mines. Joachim had been sent out with Renee, Noel, Reiner, and Helmut more just to keep him company than out of any expectation that they'd see combat. They wouldn't see combat, but this mission would not be free of danger. No, not at all.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly up until the third day, when they had only a third of the land mines left to clear. One of Joachim's pliers had broken a tip off due to a combination of the fluctuating desert temperature, from sweltering day to frigid night, as well as from overuse in the field. He had to hitch a ride on a truck back to the nearest fort so that he could get his pliers replaced, leaving the rest of his team in the parched scrubland to look for more mines.
They weren't having a bad time, to be honest. Reiner was full of bombast and zest as usual, booming with laughter anytime anyone made a joke. Rene had actually managed to get Helmut to come out of his shell, chatting with him about sports and physical training and the like. Noel was just kind of strolling from place to place, taking in the expansive desert vista sprawling from horizon to horizon.
"Excuse me, Noel," Helmut suddenly spoke up, turning away from his conversation with Rene. "I don't believe you should be just ambling around like that. There are probably still some undetonated land mines hidden in the grass." His concern was quite evident, sweat beading on his brow as he nervously adjusted his tie.
"Don't sweat it, Helm," Noel laughed! "I'm just taking in the sights! But yeah, you're probably right." Noel conceded to Helmut's prudence, and went over to join the group in the safe area they had established. Only four feet away from the rope that marked the safe zone, she didn't have a care in the world as she set her foot down.
Click.
Noel froze. Her blood ran cold. Everyone else went pale, and let out a slow rasp in unison. Gulping, Noel looked down at her feet. A thick plate of olive green metal resided there, depressed down under her weight. She screwed her eyes shut and prepared for her life to end. The group had foolishly deigned to don their armored clothes, although with a land mine of this caliber, there was no guarantee even that would save her.
Seconds ticked by, and although her blood was hammering in her ears, no explosion had yet signaled her demise. Noel carefully opened one eye, and saw that the land mine had a light on it that was glowing green. "H-hey," she whispered, then cleared her throat. "H-hey, guys," she said, louder this time. "A-aren't these mines an experimental model? Th-the kind that don't blow up until the pressure is released off of them?"
The group all glanced at each other, then sighed with relief. Immediately after, though, they had to begin hatching a plan. They spoke quickly and quietly, and Noel couldn't hear a thing they said. Eventually, Reiner stood up to speak for them. "Noel," he said, wiping the sweat off his brow with his shirt's hem. "Noel, very carefully bring your other foot forward so it's resting on the mine." Noel did just that, and the group was relieved to find the mine still had not detonated.
"Okay, Noel," Rene spoke up, her tanned face still a little pale. "We're going to go up the road and grab Joachim, and tell him he needs to get back here ASAP to defuse the mine." She raised a clenched fist, gulping loudly. "Y-you need to stay on top of that mine and assert your dominance! Don't move for anything, okay?"
Noel nodded, smiling and putting on a brave face. "O-okay," she sighed. "I understand. You guys better not leave me in the lurch out here, okay?" The group all nodded, and very carefully navigated from the safe zone to the road. They began running at that point, sprinting up the road into the distance. Soon their silhouettes were made hazy by the heat and sun, and soon after that, they were no longer in sight.
That left Noel alone, stuck on top of the mine. "I'm going to be just fiiine," she told herself, chuckling nervously. "All I need to do is make sure I don't let pressure off this mine. Yeah! That's all I need to do!" She folded her hands up, fingers steepled. "Now I just have to wait on Joachim and the others to get back." She looked out over the desert horizon. "Juuust wait."
As Noel tried desperately to wait it out, she did her best to keep her mind occupied. She started by imagining how nice it would be to relax by dismantling her rocket lance, carefully cleaning every single part, then putting it back together. Then, she started counting rocks and plants around her.
Eventually, Noel was reduced to singing a little song to herself. "I'm stuck on a mine, but I'm doing fine, when I get back I'll clean my lance and I'll make it shine! I'm stuck on a mine, but I'm doing fine," she suddenly took a deep breath. She stared up at the sky and gave a loud, piteous whine of, "I am so not fine."
Stuck on the mine, the constant stress of worrying that she'd misadjust her footing and detonate the mine had quickly begun to wear down on Noel. The mixture of anxiety and baking in the desert sun left Noel's hair streaked with sweat, forcing her to toss her beret aside so her straight black tresses cascaded down to her jaw. That at least gave her some room to breathe, although she still had to ditch her blazer to cool down some.
That still left a very serious problem, though. Noel's legs were beginning to turn to jelly, her feet aching terribly and her knees shaking so hard they jarred her whole body! She eventually had to slowly lower herself down, carefully bending her legs and resting her rump on the land mine, then gingerly tugging her feet free so her legs could flop out in front of her. Still applying pressure to the land mine, Noel sighed as the pain in her legs began to subside.
Yet she was still stuck on the mine. Minutes had turned into hours, and the sun had reached its zenith. The heat and the stress were still doing funny things to Noel's head, and she had to try anything to occupy her mind. "And so, we see the rabbit family out grazing, leaving the safety of their burrow in search of food," Noel mumbled. "And now, the hawk has swooped down and attacked the mother rabbit. She narrowly escapes, circling around to join her kits in their escape back to the burrow. The rabbits are safe, but the hawk and her chicks might go hungry tonight. That is the way of nature." Well, that was about five minutes she'd occupied herself with.
Eventually, Noel had slumped back, reclining with her rear end resting heavily on the mine. She felt the scratchy grass on her cheek and hands, staring off to the side in a stupor. So dazed was she that it took her a good, long minute to realize that she saw two feet clad in expensive-looking shoes in front of her.
Noel turned her head to look upwards, and saw with dull surprise that her father was standing over her. "Come now, Noel," he chuckled. "Why are you just lying there in the grass? Come now, let's go back inside and get you something to drink." In her confused state of mind, Noel presumed that she was back at her father's villa, and it never occurred to her that as soon as she got up, she would die.
Luckily, a sudden shout broke her out of her addled state, and her father's ephemeral form melted away into the heat haze. "C'mon, Noel, don't get up now," Joachim cried out, skidding to a stop beside her. "I got a new set of pliers, and I'll take care of this in just a second!"
He looked around on the mine, then blushed. "Hey, uh, Noel," Joachim gulped. "The uh…I've got to access it from over here." He scooted around in front of her, and Noel realized why he was embarrassed. He was between her legs, and could plainly see her striped panties. "Um, uh," he stammered, "they're really cute!"
"Joachim, I am saying this as a friend and with the utmost gratitude," Noel croaked hoarsely. "Shut up and disarm the damn mine."
When Noel eventually made it back safe and sound, she dismantled and cleaned her rocket lance twice.
For the rest of the mission, she kept her eyes on the ground.