I'm back.
"You can't save everyone."
His left eye rolled to the side, looking for the right one which wasn't there. She touched his face, but could only feel the scalding, burnt skin. His lips curled into a pained smile, only half the muscles functional. It contorted until she could no longer bear its haunting aura. Presently, it froze in time, space, and within her: the limp body of the forgotten soldier, battered and ravaged by war and time.
"Lieutenant."
She awoke in cold sweat with an unfamiliar hand on her shoulder.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked.
"Are you alright?" A woman's voice. "You were squirming in your sleep."
"I'm fine. Sorry for troubling you."
Fareeha watched as the woman returned to her group at the back of the bus, before sinking into her seat. Eleven in the evening. She hadn't planned to fall asleep so carelessly, but the dullness of the ride got the better of her. It's not often that Helix Security International would send her on an escort mission, for her track record regarding people skills were poor at best. She wasn't going to turn down a shot at a promotion, however.
Fareeha took this for a time as good as any to check on the cargo. This was hour tenth of the fifteen-hour drive to Beirut, and the sturdy metal crates full of lab equipment had yet to budge, let alone dislocated. Turning to the front of the bus, an array of automated controls beeped and flashed. The bus was driving itself, as she had remembered. The scientists group, whose safety she had to guarantee, had far less trouble putting faith in the mechanical.
Settling back down, Fareeha inspected the Raptora Mark VI situated on the next seat. While an excellent companion in battle, the azure suit of chrome and cold iron proved a poor speaking partner in times of tedium. The other three passengers - two men and the woman from before, all researchers of something above her pay grade - were adequately occupied amongst themselves, talking about what she could only guess to be biology. Their conversation wasn't for her to join, that much was obvious.
In this moment of isolation, she wondered why it was her, and her alone, to be sent on this mission. What sort of logic warranted sending the Security Chief, but alone? She had a limited amount of faith in the higher-ups, and even more questions. Last night she was out having a wonderful Christmas dinner, tonight she's out on the dirt road. At the very least she would make it back to celebrate New Year's Eve with her team, who were undoubtedly awaiting her return.
That thought set Fareeha at ease. She peered outside the one-way window, and saw little but the conspicuous overwhelming darkness this side of the mountain. The map in front informed that she was in the Tafilah Governorate, somewhere in Jordan. The road continued to curve under the pale moonlight, as the vehicle rumbled onward.
She craned an eyebrow.
A closer examination of the map revealed nothing but straight lines, yet she was sure the bus was hedging leftward ever so slightly every other second or so. This was, of course, reflective of the road on which it ran, and not the one she was seeing on screen.
If there ever was a time for gut feeling.
Fareeha walked toward the end of the bus, behind the crates, to get to the bathroom. She stared at the mirror. The face of a nervous, dark haired girl stared back at her. The Eye of Horus pierced hesitation, as she began to formulate her plan. She had a concealed and loaded pistol by her hip. The Raptora suit and her other weapon were stranded at the front, and she had no means of getting to them without causing panic, or suspicion, not that using them in this enclosed space was advisable either way. It was safe enough to assume whoever capable of taking control of the vehicle would have tapped into the camera as well. She preferred not to cause distress amongst the other passengers, but feared its inevitability. The first priority was to get them to safety, and the second was to recover the equipment as best as she could. Wrestling back control of this bus was the best solution, but one she had no means to achieve. If they were to abandon it, it would be nigh impossible to preserve the cargo.
Fareeha returned to the aisle. Further observation proved that there was a deviation, minute but significant, in the course this vehicle was taking. She had to assume that the entire operation was compromised, and her only worry was to get everyone to safety. Walking toward the front console, she groaned at the vast array of practically arcane controls that populated the dashboard. It was then she noticed the scenery outside the window shifting. They were picking up speed, and she had little time left.
"Husani," she called to one of the scientists, but everyone turned to stare at her.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" He answered, rubbing his beard.
"May I have a moment?"
Husani obliged without so much as a second thought. Walking up, he noticed her left palm open and instinctively put his own upon it. Fareeha enclosed her right hand over his. Her finger ran across his palm, hidden from all outside observations. He didn't seem to understand at first, but as the message continued, his eyes widened. Presently, he shook his head in defeat, and returned to his seat, notably tense. His silence caused the others to follow suit, looking to the Lieutenant for answers.
Fareeha scanned her surroundings. There were three cameras placed across the bus, watching the dashboard, the front section, and the back section respectively. Without warning, she pulled out her pistol and wrecked the one in the front with a single decisive shot. The other male scientist was about to react, but Husani restrained him. Seeing his serious expression, they all remained silent. Fareeha proceeded to shoot out the camera looming over her own seat as well. Rushing, she grabbed her Raptora Mark VI and put on the upper half except the helmet before returning to the console. Her rocket-enhanced metal fists smashed the machinery to pieces, causing the bus to kick into emergency break and grind to a screeching halt. Husani grabbed his colleagues and made straight to the exit further up, where Fareeha tore the doors open. Red flashing lights befell the enclosed space. Fareeha heard the sounds of vehicle approaching in the distance, and was forced to abandon the rest of her gear.
"Run!" she ordered.
The four scrambled to cover behind large, tattered trees, under the concealment of night, and waited. There was nowhere to run to without being spotted by search lights on this open winter-desolated land. The rolling tires were getting closer.
"What's going on, Lieutenant?" asked the female scientist, cowering with her colleagues.
"Our ride was hijacked by an unknown group." That was Fareeha's best guess. "I believe we're being pursued, and I'm not going to stick around to ask why."
"Are they bandits?" asked Husani.
"No, these people had been after us since we left." Gun in her hand, she peaked over the sparse foliage. "They are anything but local."
Presently, four military jeeps collapsed onto the locations of the abandoned bus. Men dressed in bullet-proof vests, wore red-eyed gas masks, and branded assault weaponry flooded the site. Fareeha noted their insignia: a silver emblem with claw-like marking on their shoulders. They operated cohesively, and immediately split up into search parties after determining that the vehicle was devoid of life.
"What do we do now?" asked the woman again, voice trembling.
"Try to see if you can contact Helix," said Fareeha.
The instant the woman dialled for help, the patrol squads around them paused as if picking up a signal, which prompted Fareeha to confiscate the device and shut it off post-haste.
"They are intercepting our outgoing signals somehow." The men in black drew closer. "Turn off everything. This position is no longer hidden."
Before they could even move, a squad veered off the right side, gun-mounted flashlights scouring the very earth. This pincer was surrounding them from every direction, and while the signal didn't seem to have pin-pointed where they were, this half a mile radius was already a dead zone. It wouldn't be particularly hard for Fareeha to escape with the jetpack behind her back, but her mission came first.
"Lieutenant?" Husani pleaded for a suggestion.
She could tell he was shaking. No one knew what this mysterious organisation wanted, whether to capture hostages or remove eyewitnesses. There was only one chance.
"Don't follow," she said. "Escape when you get the chance. I'll join you when I can."
Leaving her companions baffled, Fareeha rose from hiding. Two steps forward, the rocket boosters beneath her wings flared a roaring flame, and propelled her into the heavens. Every laser sight of every rifle in the vicinity was immediately on her. Gun shots lit up the sky, a few bouncing off the Raptora suit. She led the scouting parties toward herself and away from the trembling scientists, taking pot shots with her pistols to draw more attention. The danger was not to be taken lightly, for while her torso was protected, her lowly body and head were wide open. Drifting, she made sure the vicinity was clear for the others to escape.
When the three began to make their way off the hiding place, she knew it was time. Bullets was still flying by her, some close enough to have left marks. Fareeha fired a concussive blast from her wrist, knocking several enemies back and impelled herself even higher.
Momentarily, she was alone in the night sky, overtaken by the beauty of the Middle Eastern moon. She closed her eyes to find solace and took a deep breath. The wings of her suit ignited a crimson exhaust, as Fareeha turned toward the earth below. Its engine growled and span lengthened, the Raptora Mark VI glowed a majestic thermal power. Every vein in its iron seams unbolted at once, revealing the wide array of rockets primed underneath. Fareeha opened her eyes, directly facing the clump of enemies below.
"Rocket Barrage!"
A salvo of a hundred missiles burst forth from their metal containment and ran rampant on the grounds beneath. Explosions ravaged all formation, causing complete obliteration across the battlefield. The ground itself crackled under the immense pressure, rocking the otherwise untouched vehicles. The bombardment ended when there were no more standing enemies as far as the eye could see. Fareeha was careful to not cause collateral damage to friendlies on the ground, and she could see them on the far end of the horizon, safe. She smiled to herself. Job well done.
A faint sound of zip line was heard under a thunderous roar of killing intent.
A warm sensation coursed through her. Flabbergasted, she turned to scout the vicinity, but a sharp pain at her abdomen stopped her efforts, blood gushing out of the fresh wound. It was unclear to her who could have done this without her noticing, but the shot had pierced her lower torso and through the right booster of her suit. Without its sustain, she was falling. Clutching her side, she had no choice but to steer herself away from the site and behind a nearby valley for cover.
Another bullet.
The second shot missed her head by mere inches, but close enough to scratch her cheeks. Worse yet, it succeeded in taking out her remaining booster. No way to maintain verticality, Fareeha was in free fall, the only thing stopping a total plummet toward the hot sand was the meagre wings then feebly combating gravity. Eventually, she lost control, and teetered off course, straight down.
The foliage broke her fall, but hitting the ground from that height was excruciating nevertheless. She was bleeding from multiple injuries, and unable to move. Fainting would spell her doom, but she could do nothing about the blood loss. Her vision was blank, a messy smear of darkness and crimson. Her sight and senses were but a blur of hazy images and the persistent, throbbing agony within her chest. The icy air caressed her cheeks, as Fareeha could do little but accept fate.
Footsteps approached.
She whimpered in annoyance. A quiet, lonely death was a blessing compared to what would happen when more enemies find her. No doubt these were hostiles closing on her position, readying to riddle her defenceless body with bullets until it could no longer bleed.
"Doctor!" An unfamiliar voice rang in her ear. "Someone's here. She's hurt bad."
More rattling footsteps closed in on her position. A subsequent feeling of weightlessness told her she was being carried away on a stretcher. Through her blood-filled gaze and ghastly perception, she saw a face. It was strangely familiar, brimmed with kindness and worries, feminine in all its features. Blonde tresses fell over its side like flames of the sun.
"Hang in there. It'll be ok." A gentle tone of mellifluous beauty filled her with transcendent bliss. It was comforting, luring her to surrender the arduous effort to keep herself awake.