Nora managed to jump behind the concrete barricade mere seconds before the explosion. A loud bang tore through the air along with pieces of what was a car just moments ago. Bullets and laser bolts regularly flew just above her head, kept at bay only by the thin layer of concrete that would soon deteriorate under the gunfire.
"Prepare another shot, she ran away!" someone shouted in the distance.
That was Nora's cue to escape, yet she was unable to - her body refused to obey after all the stress she put it under up until that point. Every muscle fiber in her body ached terribly, she had at least one rib severely damaged, her right leg was most likely shot through and just overall she felt light-headed and completely exhausted. Gathering all the remaining energy with the help of adrenaline, she jumped out of her cover and headed towards another barrier, about 200 meters further down - out of the rocket launcher's reach.
"It's so close… I can make it" she repeated to herself, pushing her muscles to the very limit, and even though limping, still managing to keep a steady pace, just a little below a sprint. She was positive she could make it - a pathetic ambush couldn't be her end, she had already survived worse situations, and, more importantly, she wasn't fighting for her and herself only. She had other people that she cared about and she couldn't afford to leave them stranded, not ever, and especially not like that. Her body pumped enormous amounts of adrenaline, trying to keep her fueled enough to, more or less safely, make the distance. With every rushed step her confidence rose - once she had jumped behind the barricade, she would be safe from the RPG, the snipers, and other bullets…
But that wasn't what fate had planned for her.
Out of the blue, she felt a powerful kick on her left arm that almost spun her around. Noticing a distinctive flash of light in the corner of her eye, she instinctively understood what happened. By a miscalculation, sheer chance, or pure luck, the sniper missed her vital organs by mere inches, a mistake that wouldn't and most likely, won't happen twice. Instantaneously the remaining energy left her, along with certainty and will to fight - any effort was futile at that point. Adrenaline left her veins almost as fast as it appeared, now leaving her numb and confused. Her eyes got covered by a pitch-black mist, and a deafening silence entered her ears. Her winded body collapsed on the ground.
"No, no no no! It cannot end like this!" her mind shouted to herself in panic, attempting to fight the weakness that was already winning the fight for her consciousness. Her chest was burning with pain that flooded her thoughts, making it even harder to cling to the last, rapidly disappearing strands of life. Even with that burning sensation in the chest, the rest of the body was ice cold. She started to shiver. With every passing second, the ground drained more of her already dying warmth. She couldn't see anymore; she couldn't feel nor hear anything - only things that were left was fear and pain.
That sensation - the terrible panic inside her heart and mind was the worst part of the whole process, but she knew all too well it wouldn't last long until it was over, and then she'd welcome the death with arms wide open.
Starfox Universe fanfiction:
RISING PHOENIX
Chapter 1: Welcome to the frontline
A/N: (tl;dr just below) I finally made it. After finally deciding on publishing the first few chapters of Rising Phoenix here on FFnet, I realized along the way that the lackluster quality of the storytelling and irregular, not-so-frequent updates were going to kill the story for You guys.
That is the reason behind the new, revised edition. I simply had to sit down and rewrite it in a way that not only satisfied me, but allowed me to use it as a foundation to a new project, currently codenamed "Squadron" (many of you probably heard of it by now, but I'm not going to leave any more info for now).
Thank you for believing in me.
TL;DR: Revised version, it's better, I'm happy. Project "squadron" possible. Thanks.
She was numb but comfortable. Nora knew that something was certainly not right - the ground wasn't comfortable by any means. It wasn't soft, and above all else, it wasn't warm.
"Where am I?" she whispered to herself, trying to open her eyes, not accustomed to the amount of light, though, they refused to obey. She rubbed them a bit then tried again, and what she saw was not what she had anticipated. She was lying on an enormous bed in the center of a spacious master bedroom, furnished like a palace, with mahogany furniture, silk hangings on the sides of the bed and golden finish on the walls. She took a moment to take all that in, before finally realizing she knew that place really well.
"Nora, is that you?" she heard the masculine voice coming from the door on the opposite side of the room. It was deep, but gentle, strong, but subtle, able to take away all the stress and sadness in her world just by saying three words - words she hasn't heard since what, for her, was an eternity.
She desperately wanted to see if it was true, so she walked towards the doors. Something was clearly off, however, because no matter how hard she tried, how fast she walked, the doors weren't getting any closer to her, just like she was stuck in place. Somehow, she wasn't surprised by that, her subconscious was well aware of what was going on, and even though she really didn't want to accept the reality, she had to… She had to relive, once again, the nightmare she's been having ever since that day, the day which changed her life forever.
The silence in the room was suddenly broken by a loud explosion, quickly followed by what seemed to be an earthquake. Pictures fell from the walls and glass from the windows shattered into pieces.
Just as suddenly the doors on the other side of the room were kicked open by a half-dressed distressed wolf. Completely ignoring Nora, he got to the wardrobe and grabbed a red leather jacket and a military backpack, probably prepared for an emergency situation like that.
"Shit, they got close faster than I'd anticipated," he said to himself out loud, putting the jacket on his shoulders, quickly examined the insides of the backpack.
"Shane, what's going on…?" Nora asked, her voice shaking just as much as the rest of her body.
Seeing the distressed look on her face, the wolf quickly regained his own composure and, dropping the backpack back on the floor, gave her a reassuring, warm hug,
"Everything is okay, hun," he said, placing a kiss on her forehead, "and it will stay that way if we get out of here quickly."
"Okay, I'll be right behind you," she said just before both of them left the house.
The sky was pitch black, even though it was only a few hours after morning. Nora looked around her frantically, her mind still trying to comprehend what actually was happening - she really did not want to believe this was a Venomian attack.
The buildings down the road and in the distance were crumbling under the damage they were put under in the last few minutes. Both the horizon and the sky were full of smoke and fire, and in the distance, one could hear screams, gunfire, and explosions.
"You know there's no time to explain," Shane said out of the blue," but I suppose you know exactly what is happening right now."
She nodded, "All we've got to do is to get to the shelter, they are probably already waiting for us there."
"That's most likely. You need to get there as fast as you can."
"What about you, aren't you coming?"
Shane shook his head and looked behind, "Not right away, I still have something to do first."
"Bullshit, there's nothing as important as getting to saf-" she tried to protest, but was silenced with a kiss. Despite all the stress and danger that surrounded them, nothing seemed to matter for the brief moment their lips were locked together.
Neither one of them wanted to break the loving embrace, but the urgency of the situation made Shane be the first one to stop. He took a step backward, still holding Nora's hand.
"I swear I'll be back, I have to make sure she's safe," he said, running away before she even had a chance to respond.
"Okay tiger, pull yourself together," she thought to herself, "You know where to go and what to do; it's not like you're left in the dark."
Having successfully reassured herself in her mind, Nora headed down the road in the direction of an old railway tunnel leading to a complex of underground bunkers built back during the second Lylat Wars.
Getting closer to the epicenter of the attack, Nora finally started to comprehend the amount of damage the attackers inflicted upon the suburbs. Buildings turned to dust seemingly without any effort, trees, grass burnt to black, corpses of not-so-cleanly shot civilians laying down all over the place…
She was well aware of the dangers of living on the outer sector planet, yet still, the scope of brutality that she had witnessed up to this point was well beyond anybody's comprehension. Acting more on instinct than anything, Nora picked up the pace up until she reached a full-on sprint down the road. Luckily, in the range of her sight, there was no one to be found alive, neither friend nor foe. In these dire circumstances, that thought actually gave her some reassurance.
Having left suburbs, Nora progressed into a much denser area not too far from the old railway entrance. As she neared her destination, she took a quick glance around herself.
The old shaft she had before herself was, at one time, used by locals as a shortcut, but when one of the exits collapsed, the tunnel was abandoned and shortly thereafter fell into the state of complete disrepair, only to start serving as an attractive place for courageous children trying to impress their friends.
Because of a power outage, the location's own old, yet still efficient failsafe power generator sprung to life. The tunnel changed from pitch black to barely lit, drowning in red emergency light from sparsely hung light bulbs, in quantities just enough so anything but the ground could be differentiated from one another.
Nora knew exactly where to go - about halfway down the shaft there was a service passageway leading to a flight of stairs which in turn led towards the emergency bunker. Despite never being inside, Shane made sure she was well prepared in the case of immediate danger. With every step into the red tunnel, however, her confidence declined a bit more.
"Relax, girl, there's no chance for anybody to be here, no one knew about the bunker... You're safe here, just get a move on-"
Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud clanging noise in the distance. Almost like hit with freezing water, she immediately froze in place. Adjusting her heightened senses, she attempted to make out any shapes, noises or smells that could potentially suggest a danger or lack thereof. Because of the echo, sheer fear, or simply because there really wasn't anything to begin with, her attempts proved futile. The sound of metal echoed through the concrete tunnel for what seemed an eternity, sending shivers down her spine with every second, and when it finally subsided, the silence that followed was unsettling, to say the least.
As she passed one of the few massive metal gates, the temperature started to abruptly drop, and she quickly found herself shivering. Her stress made it nigh impossible to keep the breath and pulse in check, but she knew she had to move on - it was either "just" a chance of death here, or certain death outside.
"Okay, just a bit-"
Her attempt to reassure herself was stopped in track by a faint sound of rocks hitting each other. Any reasonable person wouldn't even notice the sound, but Nora's heightened senses picked it up like it was a rock avalanche. Something wasn't right, someone was behind her. Slowly and silently, she turned around. She saw the same exact thing that she was looking at before – a seemingly never-ending train shaft covered in a dim red light, nothing suspicious nor out of the ordinary.
Did I imagine that? I'm sure someone was there…
"Don't. Move."
Nora felt something poke her in the back of the head, and instantly knew what it was.
"I knew you were hiding something in this shaft, and it looks I wasn't mistaken."
The voice was low and coarse, sending shivers down her spine. It was definitely masculine and sounded like it belonged to a person that would not think twice about pulling the trigger aimed at an entirely harmless person… like her.
Tears fell from her face as she faced a sudden realization that not only her life but also the lives of everybody who knew about the emergency shelter was lost.
"Tell me, what a pretty foxy lady like you, missus, is doing in a place like this?"
Nora couldn't help but grimace in protest when she felt an ice-cold hand touch her cheek. He was gentle, but she knew all too well that if she didn't cooperate, she'll either get a new hole in her chest or get raped.
"F…" she stuttered, unsure if she should push the line. Albeit terrified, she knew the stakes – she couldn't rat out the potential survivors, she'd rather die.
That thought gave her a little motivation as she hissed through the teeth, "Fuck you."
Instantaneously a firm slap to the face came as a response. The hit was hard enough that her ears started ringing, "You bitch! You will reply to me as I see fit!"
She turned around a bit and looked him right into the eyes. Her attacker was a black panther, with cold, blue eyes that were entirely devoid of any emotions. They were the eyes of a soldier, used to the sight of the dead, not moved by cruelty nor violence.
They reminded her of someone she'd rather forgot, someone who brought as much fear as she felt at the moment. She survived him, how would she die in the hands of that panther?
Still looking right into his eyes, she growled, "Try me."
Agitated, the panther swung the butt of the gun right on her head, sending her on the ground, vision blurry, ears still ringing. He grabbed her hair and bent her backward, growling in her ear, "I'm not up for these games, whore. You will tell me where are your pals hiding and as a reward, I'll stop at fucking that nice ass of yours."
Another wave of pain and heat erupted from her backside as her bottom was slapped by the perverted aggressor. Still confused and unable to retaliate, Nora quickly regretted her last sentence, but even so, she was not going to tell him any vital information.
As she tried to stand back up, a solid kick to the side sent her right back on the ground. She let out a scream of pain as the sharp rocks tore through her hands. Thanks to the lighting, the liquid that came out was pitch black.
The panther got to her once again and thrust his hand right into her pants, reaching for the intimate areas, "Let's see what's behind the door number one" he smirked.
Nora started shouting in denial when the attacker violated her but was left too defenseless to be able to try and stop him.
"You think you're gonna tell me about your friends, or should I uncover what I found in your jeans?"
He crouched next to her and reached for the pants' button. However, his attempts were soon stopped in their tracks.
"Get away from her you fucker!" came right behind a wolf slammed his fist into the unsuspecting panther's face.
The initial surprise effect threw the cat into a complete disadvantage, allowing Shane to not only throw him on the ground but also trade a few consecutive punches. The wolf attacked without a break, opening all sorts of wounds on his adversary's face with the help of his claws. What he wasn't aware of, though, was the fact that the panther was not completely defenseless.
A loud hiss and a flash of light erupted from the wolf's side as his enemy pulled the trigger on his blaster. Nora winced when a painful, top-of-the-lung scream came from Shane in response.
The cat didn't waste any second. With a low-pitched growl, he got on top of the surprised wolf, and deliberately scarred his face with his own claws, "Wow. A cowboy thought he could win by surprise!? How's that taste for ya?!" he hissed triumphantly when the wolf's face erupted with blood.
"Shane!" Nora shouted as she tried to get up, but was still a little dizzy from what happened a few moments ago.
"Stay out of this!" came the reaction as the wolf kneed his adversary right in the crotch in an attempt to regain lost control over the struggle. One threw punches seemingly without stopping all the while trying to keep the blaster out of commission, while the other struggled to keep up.
Stopped in her tracks, Nora crouched on one knee, gasping for air as she watched the chaos unveiling right in front of her eyes. From what she had seen, Shane had little trouble keeping himself in control… Until one moment. Upon receiving a powerful blow in the face, he withdrew himself for a brief second. That pause was enough for the cat to get his hold back on the blaster.
"NO!" a desperate shout escaped Nora's lungs when a red laser erupted from the wolf's back. He kneeled for a brief moment, choking on his own blood. With a blank stare and mouth agape, like in slow motion, he fell to the ground, forcefully emptied of what made him alive.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was deaf to the brutal laugh of the victor; her body was numb, mind empty. The situation spiraled out of control almost as fast as she was losing grip on reality at the moment. Back then, she wasn't in despair, she wasn't sad, there was no fear inside her mind. All of her basic emotions vanished, leaving room for a primal instinct, something so deeply rooted in her subconscious that, under normal circumstances, would never see the light of day. Her chest throbbed violently as her heart sped up; her eyes narrowed.
Without any hesitation, blind rage took over her body. With one jump, she closed the distance between her and her unsuspecting prey. The panther didn't even have a chance to blink before claws dug deep into his face, ripping out not only fur and skin but probably leaving marks in his skull as well.
It wasn't moved by the cat's agonal screaming as his face turned into a mixture of muscle, blood, and dirt, neither did it hesitate when it heard his begging – the animal that attacked him couldn't understand a single word. Its only purpose at the moment was to kill, as brutally as it was possible. It continued without a break for more than five minutes, way longer than the screaming and struggling and jerking lasted.
Finally, the rage subsided, and an instant recollection came into Nora's mind – Shane.
Nora instantaneously jumped off of what was a person before and was mortified. He just laid there, frozen with the terrified expression he had when he was shot. Blood dripped from his dislocated jaw on his chest, disappearing in already soaked white tank top.
She fell on her knees, grabbing his hand, but almost immediately withdrawing it – he was stiff and cold, even more than the temperature of their surroundings. Despair and devastating pain flooded Nora's mind to the point she nearly lost consciousness.
"Shane!" she repeated over and over, like a spell that would magically bring him back to life. But nothing changed, his blank, mortifying stare was fixed on the red light over her head, and no amount of praying nor shouting would change that.
You couldn't save me. You can't save yourself. You couldn't save them.
Nora screamed as a sudden wave of heat and pain erupted from her right side.
You are useless. He knew that. They knew that. You don't deserve to live.
Darkness overwhelmed her mind, she was at a brink of consciousness when she realized Shane wasn't there anymore.
You will die a slow and painful death. It's still more merciful that what you caused to me.
She found herself looking again at the blank, ice-cold stare, this time turned right at her. Shane was standing in front of her, making a gurgling sound, almost like he was choking on something.
"You will die," the animated corpse said aloud. Saying that the sight sent shivers down Nora's spine would be a grave misunderstanding. She was mortified, unable to move her body. It had a dislocated jaw, hanging loosely and swinging with every spasm that the corpse had.
You will die… You will die… You will die…
The slow, repeated chant looped at the back of Nora's conscious, imprinting the shock and fear deep inside her mind. She couldn't help but stare at what was unveiling before her. It was a nightmare came true, everything one never could imagine themselves.
"Consider this a punishment," the wolf said as it nonchalantly went for the fallen gun, took it off the ground and pulled the trigger.
"Parker, status report."
A short guy behind a desk in the corner of the room jumped on his seat, unprepared for a sudden command from his superior. He quickly adjusted his glasses and did a quick run-through through three screens presenting all kinds of data.
"Sir, all systems appear to be functioning normally. Nobody even noticed something is out of the ordinary, sir" he gave a quick response, not tearing his eyes away from the readings.
A lean figure in a worn lab coat nodded, "That's because nothing is out of the ordinary. Send the data over and get the life support readouts ready. Commander will be here any minute."
"Already done, sir, you can check it out on your PDA" Parker answered casually, already concentrated on the work in front of him.
The man in a lab coat turned around from his subordinate and, avoiding the clutter on the ground, made his way through the control room towards the main wall where the biggest screen in the room was. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of glass. Upon contact with his hand, the device sprung to life revealing all the readings that were sent from Parker's computer.
"Central, open data cluster two-four and bring it up on screen," he said aloud as he grabbed a stranded chair and pulled it towards him. As the data was being accessed, he took off his lab coat and hung it over the backrest, revealing a damaged military outfit with a flak jacket.
His whole outfit was in a terrible shape, torn in many places, dirty and dusty from being worn almost 24/7 for the last week or so. He didn't seem to mind, however, as there were way more pressing matters ahead of him.
"Commander," he said as the doors next to the screen opened, and a tall, long-haired soldier entered the room, filling the previously silent place with heavy footsteps that echoed off the bare walls inside. He was in a terrible shape - he had circles under his bloodshot eyes, his long hair, wrapped into a ponytail was mangled and sweaty, and his uniform was far from a pristine condition.
"Matt, what's the situation and in how deep shit have we stepped into?" he asked, placing a hand on the other one's shoulder.
The man with the lab coat tapped the screen of a device in his hand and threw its contents over to the big screen with an upward swipe. The screens showed power levels throughout the facility, along with what seemed like blueprints for the place. There also was a small window that was monitored heart rate, temperature and level of painkillers in the bloodstream of the monitored.
"Should I tell you the truth or the usual response?" Matt asked with a grin that was quickly answered with an elbow bump in the back of his head.
"Give me details. How it's holding up?"
"Better than you thought it'd be; It's already started to scar, and only two days have passed since the expedition. As for the status report, Parker sent me the data a few moments ago, they should be ready in a minute." he took a brief pause there and stood up, "What I'm more concerned about, though, is your health."
"Everything is fine" the tall person shrugged, purposefully avoiding any eye contact.
"Mike" Matt sighed resignedly, "You know that you are the only person that keeps everything in order, but seventy-four hours? Get some sleep, it's not like the place will collapse when you take it off your eyes for one second."
Michael shook his head, "You know I can't; the stakes are currently too high. If we've truly found it, there's no time-"
"For FUCK'S SAKE, ARCHER!" he interrupted the other by slamming his fist into a glass desk, "You won't help anybody dead or unconscious!"
Mike blinked a few times, genuinely surprised by the sudden outburst, "Are you saying that as a doctor?"
"I'm saying that as your goddamn friend," came the response, "but since I happen to have a medical license, you can take it as a medical advice as well."
The soldier just stood there, processing the information that just had been said. Even if he wouldn't admit it, the lack of sleep really took a toll on the clarity of his mind. He had trouble concentrating on things and keeping his mind focused, often drifting away just to result in a slight confusion shortly after.
"I guess there's no denying that I'm positively exhausted," he said after a while, "Just try not to blow this place up when I'm napping, okay?"
Matt gave him a thumbs up, backed up by an honest smile, "consider it done. Now get to the sleeping quarters, commander."
Mike left the room. As the doors closed behind him and he was left alone to make the way back to the sleeping quarters, the man couldn't help but smile.
Matthew Konieczny was a damn good soldier and an even better computer specialist. But primarily, he was Michael's lifelong and most trusted friend, who always provided mental support and invaluable advice. The two knew that they could depend on each other in literally any situation, and when life threw them into opposite sides of a barricade, they found a way. Despite the fact that they weren't the same rank, other squad members took for granted that when Mike wasn't around, Konieczny was the second in command.
"Damn you!" Mike chuckled under his nose, "Outplayed again!" he grinned as he realized that he was so easily convinced to change his mind.
About halfway through the corridor, the soldier's mind drifted off to another current matter. Passing the junction leading to the sleeping quarters, he stopped for a moment, looking down the other passage, towards the medical wing, "I just hope…" he whispered under his nose. For a brief moment, thought to visit the med-bay crossed his mind, but that thought was stopped in its tracks by an involuntary yawn.
Naah, now is not the time. I better really get some sleep.
The pain was unbearable, just like the very fabric of her existence was hurt. She tried to scream, but couldn't. She tried to move but was unable to. Her brain was overloaded with information from her entire nervous system and was about to give up. She was denied even the freeing embrace of unconsciousness, though. The fear, pain and a mortifying image of a zombified wolf burned deeply into her conscious as her existence struggled with the Grim Reaper in a final fight for her life.
Suddenly, the pain eased a bit. She started shivering again. She felt her chest throb as her lungs demanded air once again. With a sharp and painful gasp, she filled her lungs with air and was immediately thrust into a sitting position when the exhausted organs stretched instantaneously. She choked up on her own blood a bit but was, once again, alive.
"Jej odczyty są w normie, ale coś jest- JENKINS dawaj uspokajające!" she heard over the ringing in her ears. She tried to open her eyes, but the light was too bright to even try.
Suddenly, she was thrown back down by some unknown force. The pain and coughing stopped, and she found that the consciousness was slipping away from her. Unable to do anything, she welcomed the tiredness arms open, drifting off to a deep slumber shortly afterward.
"Damn" Michael sighed to himself whilst getting out of his bunk bed. The man clinched the bridge between his eyes, trying to stop a terrible headache he's had ever since he woke up. It was like a hangover, with one difference - no hangover ever would put him in a state as he was at the moment.
His ears rang like a bell that has just been hit, and his stomach was acting up way worse than usual. It was then he realized how much stress his body was put under ever since his team decided to take over the base. He knew it was a suicidal plan, there were way too many elements that could misalign and backfire on them…
...but none of them did, and they have managed to get the upper hand without any casualties.
I know we're doing it for the greater good… But is the risk really worth the effort? Half of our staff is now in the medical ward, and the ones who came out unscathed haven't slept for at least three days now…
Ice-cold water poured on his scalp seemed to ease up some of his thoughts, as well as helped him fight off some of an ongoing headache. Still, the stress and uneasiness weren't things that a simple shower was able to remedy. He and the squad that he was responsible for were still in grave danger - that was the cause, and only fixing that could reward him with a moment of peace.
That is to be expected from guerillas, though.
Michael threw the towel down on his bunk and reached for his khaki cargo pants, but ultimately decided against the idea. They were in a terrible condition, full of holes and tears, similarly for the other parts of his outfit. He went to the previous owner's wardrobe and gave it a quick search.
Without giving it much thought, he settled on a white undershirt coupled with a pair of black cargo pants. They were a little big for him, but primarily he'd tuck them into his boots anyway and secondly, they still were a better option than his old outfit. Looking himself over the mirror, he combed his short, black hair with his hand.
Fuck, Is my hair getting gray already?
The doors closed behind him as he left the room and headed towards the medical ward. After a quick inspection of his PDA, only to learn that nothing really changed since he went for a nap, he decided he'd check up on his squadmates… And that one.
She felt like she'd been hit by a train. Half of her body hurt so badly she couldn't bring herself to move it, whereas the other one was numb to the point she wasn't sure if she was even able to move it. Her mind, however, regained a lot of clarity. She knew she'd been put in and out of sleep for at least several times now, and every time her body felt a little bit better. Her surroundings looked like some kind of a medical facility. However, she'd never seen any of the staff.
It was then when the doors opened. Two creatures entered the room. They looked like apes but had basically no fur on their face or hands. They had very short or no tail.
Nora's eyes narrowed with anger when the realization hit her. On sheer adrenaline, she jumped out of her bed. They instantly ran towards her, trying to put her back on the bed, but no force in the world would let her submit to those monsters. She turned herself to one of them and quickly lifted her knee into its groin. As it released its grasp and bent in half, shouting she discovered they not only were male but had their manly areas in the usual spot.
She felt a sting on her neck but didn't seem to mind, being more focused on getting out of the second oppressor's grasp than thinking about some stings. She whipped herself in every direction in futile attempts to free herself, but her body was too exhausted to be able to fend off the other attacker. A few moments later a numbing sensation clouded her mind. She fell on her knees, hitting her head on the bed's railing in the process. Feeling incredibly dizzy and sleepy, she quickly lost control of her body, but not before seeing the aliens in lab coats put her back on the bed.
"Let me get this straight," said Mike, almost choking himself with suppressed laughter, "Am I supposed to believe that two of my best Ph. D scientists with years of military training were barely able to restrain a, not only wounded but also sedated, Cornerian?"
"Umm…"
"Grant, can you, at least, tell me why the fuck are you keeping ice between your legs?"
"I... It kicked me right in my..." he blushed with shame, his eyes fixated on the ground, "Listen, boss, can we talk about something else?"
Nothing in the world was able to stop Michael from laughing at that point. Seeing two of his men in such condition, especially after seeing them in much more dire conditions, was unusually funny for him.
They have been tending to its injuries for the most of last five days, and it hadn't woken up once. The fact that it had not only woke up but was able to stand recently meant its recovery was progressing well but, for Mike, that was more worrying than anything else.
He found it under a pile of rubble during a routine reconnaissance around the base. With a gun wound leading entirely through its body and missing a heart by mere inches, coupled with many minor ones it wouldn't survive long without immediate medical attention.
"I'll let it slide for now," he said after regaining his composure, "we're all tired and accidents happen."
Both of the soldiers let out a sigh of relief.
"But know one thing. This is a vital operation, the one that we're having right now. We cannot afford mistakes like these. I will not tolerate such mistakes, not from my squad. Are. We. Clear?"
The soldiers nodded in unison, "Yes, sir."
"You're dismissed," came the response. "And let Konieczny know I'm going to the medical wing now."
A/N: Welp. That was the first chapter. Hope you had fun :)
Also, next part should come in two weeks! If you are lucky, you can check picarto, under FictionDreams handler; who knows, maybe I'll be streaming while writing the next part?
Stay awesome and thanks for sticking by to the end! You're my hero!
