Disclaimer: Shotaro Ishinomori's, not mine.
Warnings/Notes: There are spoilers for 'The Pharaoh Virus' in this, so consider yourself forewarned. This fic was inspired by a terrible fic in which Francoise was portrayed as a spineless wimp whose only personality trait that mattered was her crush on Joe. I being the passive-aggressive fangirl I am, I decided to write a fic that portrayed her as anything but. Hope you like.
She understands why Pyunma didn't want her to go. She's not built for combat on the front lines, her talents are chiefly for surveillance. And sneaking onto an enemy base undetected while trying to dismantle a bomb… it would be a difficult mission even if they had the entire team assembled. But the team isn't assembled, they're scattered across the city of Cairo, and the only way to stop those madmen from testing their virus bomb on the people below is if she can use the radar in her brain to find it and disable it in time.
She understands his concern, and Joe's too, but there's just no other way now. She's the only one who can find and stop the virus before it's too late. And while she usually directs her teammates from the sidelines, she's ready to use force if she has too (something she's certain that poor guard will vouch for, once the effects of the stun ray wear off).
She doesn't envy tightrope walkers one bit as she holds her arms out for balance and makes her way across the support beam as carefully as she can. And to think, I used to accuse Jean-Paul of being the risk-taker in the family. Thanks to her enhanced eyesight, she knows exactly how faraway she is from the ground. A fall like that would kill a human, but she's not human anymore. She would be seriously hurt, but she would survive… presumably. She doesn't want to know for certain.
In an instant, she knows the bomb's wiring by heart. Her fingers fight to keep up with her radar as she disconnects the vital wires. If she just had a little more time…
What they're doing … using these innocent people just to line their pockets with money. It's no different than what Black Ghost did to the nine of us.
She'll make the time. She's going to stop them, no matter what.
"Get out of there, 003!" She knows she can hear Joe but Joe can't hear her, but she still murmurs to him that she's almost finished. Just one last wire, 009... I'm done!
The bomb drops, with her along with it.
Guess I'll get to know for certain now, she thinks even as she plummets towards the city. But then there's a blur and the sensation of being carried as the now deactivated bomb crashes, startling the people nearby, but otherwise harmless.
They're both silent for a while, neither one of them entirely convinced that the danger has passed just yet. Finally, Joe breaks the silence.
"You okay, Francoise?" He's smiling at her.
She watches the people mill around the now innocuous bomb. I really did it…
She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and smiles back at him. "Considering I just fell out of an airplane, pretty good."