Chapter 2
Confused Mark felt the smooth steel wall of the place he tracked her to be, furrowing his brows he tried to contact her- no answer.
"Strange…" He muttered.
I should have gone with her. He chastised himself, he had no time to hang around and look for her.
"Prin, find another way out, and I'll meet you back at the ship. Jason -can you trace her?" He worked to keep his feeling out of voice. Sweat beaded on his brow as icy fingers of foreboding, trailed his spine.
From the outset of the mission the nagging intuition had been whispering in his ear. He come close to leaving her on the ship. But Princess wouldn't stand for that, explosives was her job, and he'd have an earful from her later over it. Besides he liked aces in their places, and she would have been right. He had no cause to be over protective.
"Damn it." He cursed aloud, clenching his jaw tight.
"she's not close to you." Jason stated.
"Then where?"
"Moving… closer to us."
"Then maybe she found another way out and something's blocking the channel."
Mark sprinted down the hall towards the warship's portal. Suppressing his emotions keeping his focus on the mission, Princess would be waiting for him and they could laugh about it later in the ready room back on base.
The first bombs exploded rocking the enemy ship and sending the Eagle tumbling down the corridor towards the entry portal for the Phoenix.
He pulled himself up and stumbling as the second explosion sent him flying, skidding to a halt, drawing his legs back underneath him, clenching his sonic boomerang just in case he ran into trouble he sprung to his feet sprinting until his legs felt like they were on fire.
"Tiny…" He called as he pulled himself up into the ship.
"Princess?" Mark called out hoping to hear her voice. No response.
"Not yet," Tiny, glanced over his shoulder as he walked onto the bridge. Jason closed over the portal to protect the ship from the blasts in case the airlock fractured.
"Preee doopp. I've set the tracker she's coming." Keyop sitting at the console. "Dipp doop. She's on the ship not far away…" Turning with a puzzled expression. " But… it's strange."
"Strange?" His heart thudded.
"She stopped moving…"
Where is she? Mark wondered, suppressing again the urge to visibly worry. She was perfectly capable of getting to them on time.
Another explosion, this time closer and portion of the enemy ship broke off. Clenching his fist- He wasn't leaving with her! Preparing to go back after her he faltered as a transmission came through and then stopped.
"Princesses…" He tried once more to reach her. "Princess, times getting short, where are you? Give me a clue cause I'm coming to get you."
An explosion close by fractured the ships seal, throwing the team to the floor, another explosion and the Spectran ship broke apart underneath.
Tightly controlling his emotions. He drew his focus on commanding his ship, tensions high as metal parts of the Spectrans ship collided with the Phoenix, throwing them all to the floor as the ship vibrated, leaving them no choice but to get out of there.
Part of the dying ship turned into a giant robot mecha entering into Earth's atmosphere in a fireball. Not taking any chances Tiny aimed the Phoenix in the direction of the mecha as they blasted of the dying ship breaking into pieces underneath them.
They prepared to enter Earth's ozone as Jason furiously stormed onto the bridge.
"Where is she!" Jason yelled furious he confronted Mark.
"Not here, we had no choice Jason and you know it." Mark pointed at the Mecha. "She's smart, she's got to be still on it."
He didn't have the luxury of losing it like Jason, he had to keep his eyes on the mission, he had to get back on the ship.
"The signals gone." Keyop informed them, worry lacing his tone, his eyes filling with tears.
"Tiny, you know what to do." Anxious for an answer he tried to contact her again and he was met with silence.
"I'm onto it, that mecha is ours." Tiny declared, gunning the ships engines to get maximum speed his skills as a pilot shone as he aimed the warship in a daring swoop, too catch up with the mecha.
Tension filled the ship like a poisonous gas as the four of them entered the atmosphere after the disintegrating Mecha. They'd had close shaves before, he'd been on dying mecha's.
His intuition was like carbon ice burning his skin, blistering his arms- he should have listened to them. When had it been wrong before? Gripping his emotions, he would have to release them later before they consumed him in an uncontrolled rage like they had done in the past.
"Jason, Keyop, come with me. After we clear the entry, we jump onto that mecha and find her." He ordered racing off the bridge to prepare to jump, they were right behind him.
The protective bubble opened and they jumped….
They plummeted to the outside of the mecha, the giant octopus lurked as it broke into pieces, taking Mark and the other two along with it.
The wind and the flames forced Jason and Keyop to jump off it as they tried again to glide back.
All he could think of was Princess trapped inside it, as another blast hit him in the chest sending him spiralling, he fought to get the wind under his wings.
She had done her job well. The Mecha Octopus wouldn't make it to Earth in one piece.
The Mecha began to explode in the clear skies, as it made its final decent, the blasts of the explosion sending it off course, plunging it into the Sahara Desert.
A fiery mess of molten twisted metal. He held onto hope, Princess is smart he kept reminding himself. Franticly he prayed that they would see her gliding to the ground near the wreckage.
Tiny flew in and skilfully, picking them up on the way to get to them to ground faster.
Silence weighed heavily on bridge of the Phoenix… He stood still with his mantle wrapped tightly around him. Guilt weighing on his shoulders, he couldn't give up on her now.
"Jason, have medical supplies ready in case she's injured. "He ordered.
"Got it." Jason left to the supplies draw outside the doors.
Tiny landed them as close as he could to wreckage. Their bird suits could stand up to the fire, designed to take even worst conditions in firebird mode. He plunged into the wrecked calling out her name along with her team mates.
Nothing, no sounds but the twisting metal and other parts still landing. They searched for hours until they were forced to leave due to another attack.
G- Force came back to the crash site the next day to start their search for any clues as the flames died. Engulfed by plumes of black gritty smoke from the wreckage still polluting the atmosphere around them they searched. The smell burning his lungs, smoke stinging his nostrils, he still hadn't given up hope of finding her.
Numb to core he refused to believe she was gone. He told Jason, Tiny and Keyop she had to be alive he felt it.
So many missions, they made it out by hairs breath, never leaving anyone behind until now. The times when she had been captured they had an idea on where to start looking.
His skin burned from the hot sun as he moved pieces of metal out of the way. So far only blacked remains of the ship and eerie puddles of glass from where the intense heat met the golden sands of the desert.
Jason's shoes grinding through the sand walking towards him, his eyes intensified into furious grey storms. Kicking clumps of silt with his shoes his own pent up rage threatened to spill over, pointing a steady finger of blame in Mark's direction.
Hanging his head, he accepted every morsel of the bitter meal he was being forced to swallow.
"We go to Spectra and start looking." Mark had to do something, he couldn't give up on her.
"Tiny, prime the engines." He ordered.
They flew into space and searched the swamp lands of Spectra, before being forced to flee with an attacking fleet on their tail, the ship was damaged in the process, barely making it back into Earths atmosphere. They were grounded- Beyond exhaustion after two days without rest the team returned to Centre Neptune, bewildered, flattened and angry.
He returned alone to the crash site of the mecha a few weeks later. Collapsing onto the sand bank, Mark tried to calm the uncontrolled rage building up inside of him. Laying against a piece of metal, his breaths ragged, from grief. Alone he could let the beast inside loose without it hurting the people he cared about.
Suppressing his feelings made it worse, it always did in the past. This was different from the days she was missing inside the flowers. It was like she was gone without a trace, nothing, no clues at all. The ISO executives were already talking about declaring her deceased on the mission. He wasn't allowing it, he wouldn't let them bury her without evidence.
"Where are you Princess?" He cried, running his hands through his hair, brushing out the sand like loose salt.
It wasn't until the fiery sun begun dipping in the sky kissing the horizon with its last golden rays for the day that he began to give up of finding any clues in the wreckage. Looking into the fading sunlight he longed to have Princess by his side, her small hand on his shoulder shaking him- telling him to wake up from this nightmare.
Princess, was officially missing.
