Liberation In Death
Viewer Discretion is Advised. This work of fiction depicts Violence, Strong Language, and Adult Themes. You have been warned.
Chapter 3: Coping Mechanism
Serena trudged up the snow ridden hill. She was already growing tired of the banter between Wash and Maine. If you could call the muffled growls and uncertain translations banter, then yes, it was banter. As much as she enjoyed Wash and Maine's company, she felt that she didn't need them to recover the other Agents' armor and AI. Agent Pennsylvania's especially.
The intel had gotten to them a bit late, but Agent Pennsylvania was listed as one of the Agents that needed their armor and AI recovered. Serena was not in the least bit surprised. She had her suspicions but to stoop so low as to work for CT was a little too much for her to handle. Her now ex-bestfriend is a traitor to Project Freelancer. As far as California was concerned, the Pennsylvania she knew died in the crash. Only to be replaced by this traitorous ghost of a person she once knew.
Serena was never one to deal with her emotions in the normal, conventional ways. She often took her emotions out on emotionless targets in the firing range, going for fast paced cruises in a Warthog, to just burying her emotions entirely. It was her defense, no, her coping mechanism for dealing with things. Granted it wasn't the most healthy thing, but it saved her from looking weak in the eyes of the others around her.
She hadn't realized she had gotten lost in her thoughts until Wash placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, stirring her from her reverie. He looked at her with concern, or as much concern as a helmeted soldier could portray. She observed Maine inspecting something in the snow.
"Are you okay? I know this hasn't been easy for you. Especially finding out that your best friend is...well, you know." Wash says.
"I'm fine." she replies curtly.
Wash takes this as his warning to not continue talking. He simply nods silently. Serena watches Maine follow something in the snow before returning to them quickly.
"What did you find?" Serena asks, getting to the point.
A few growls and grunts is what she's greeted with. She turns to Wash, whom appears to be stirring from a reverie of his own. She gestures between him and Maine, indicating she needs a translator. Wash understands and asks Maine to repeat.
"He says he found tracks. They were left by armored boots. Too light of steps to be anyone else but Pennsylvania." Wash says.
"So we're on the right track after all. Well done, Maine." Serena comments.
She then starts them off again, this time on the trail that Lydia had left behind. They follow the trail of shallow footprints until they come to an open field where the trail ends in a heaped indent in the snow. Serena silently curses to herself but scans for thermals anyway. She notices something peculiar in the heap of matted down snow.
Instead of the normal blue hues, she sees a trace of green and a little bit of yellow more towards the middle. 'Hm. Fresh. She was here a little bit ago. Probably about ten minutes.' she estimates in her head.
"You'd be correct Agent California." a gentle male voice in her head informs as a glimmer of light flashes before a pixlated figure appeared.
"Oh? I'm actually right this time Omicron?" Serena comments, enjoying the AI's response.
"Let's not get cocky. You were right this time. Doesn't mean you will be next time. But, yes. Agent Pennsylvania was here approximately ten minutes ago. Tau's signature flared up at this exact spot." he informs with a little bit of an irritated tone.
"Ah...so little miss traitor has her AI still? Interesting. We should be able to track her easily." Serena chides.
"Not neccesarily Agent California. I've already tried tracking her. We cannot find her. She must have herself cloaked somehow." Sigma's haunting voice says seriously.
"If I needed your help Sigma, I would have asked for it." Serena says coldly.
"Cali. Enough. You're arguing with an AI. And you call Pennsylvania crazy, guess we know where she got it from." Wash interjects with a bored tone.
"I am nothing like her. NEVER compare me to her. Or that red-haired bitch she likes so much." Serena growls.
"Carolina? Huh. I always thought she liked York. Weird. Never took her as the lady liking type." Wash comments off-handedly.
"Would you two please focus on the mission? While you two debate Agent Carolina's sexual orientation, our trail leading to Agent Pennsylvania grows colder. We must keep moving if we are ever going to find her." Sigma interrupts.
Serena couldn't argue with the demonic AI, as much as she hated Sigma, she had to agree with him. They needed to move and quickly before her trail went completely cold. This debate about their "fearless" leader was going to have to wait.
Biting her tongue and swallowing her pride, California kicks her team into gear and they headed further out into the open field of white.
Lydia trekked on through the snow. The cold wind nipping at her bare face. She had taken her helmet off long ago to "breathe". She needed to clear her head, and the cold air was helping with that to some extent. With a narrow escape from the freelancers, Lydia had to remind herself to tread lightly. She had gotten careless out in the open field. She wasn't going to let that happen again. Especially since Serena was with them.
When the freelancers showed up, Lydia had been hiding in an alcove not far from them. Downwind of both Serena and Maine. She liked to consider them the most dangerous tracking duo. Solo, Lydia was the more dangerous one, but with Serena and Maine working together, it'd only be a matter of time before Lyida was found. When she saw Serena, she also saw her ex-bestfriend's AI Omicron. She had made it a point to keep Tau under radio silence until they left.
Thankfully for her, it didn't take long for them to move on, heading in the opposite direction Lydia was plannning on going. But, since their departure Lydia became racked with memory after memory. It was putting a toll on her. She knew if she didn't get her illness under control, she was going to be found out by Omicron, or worse yet, Sigma.
Calming her her breathing and stilling her shuddering shoulders, she treks off in the direction of warmer temperatures. She was hoping to get off of this mountain range as quickly as she could. Preferably before nightfall. If she knew her ex-bestfriend like she thought she did, she knew Serena would prefer to look for movement at night. It's the most likely time for movement and the most likely time that Lydia will be found out.
She quickened her pace, now far enough away to leave as deep of prints as she wanted to. Not that it mattered, she wasn't planning on going back. Yet, somehow she found her body moving back towards the Mother Of Invention. Soon enough she arrived at the crippled ship's final resting place. She glanced around the area with her sniper rifle, noting no activity outside of the ship. She activated thermals and could see several figures inside the massive frigate. She counted four in total.
Deciding that there wasn't an immediate threat, she decided to head down towards the ship. She walked silently around the hulking piece of metal to the cliffside where she had witnessed the brutality of Maine. She remembered the look of fear in Carolina's eyes as Maine stole the one thing she worked so hard to achieve back. Her AIs.
Lydia remembered the day Carolina had decided to recieve two AIs. She had been watching the "new" girl Agent Texas train when she saw Carolina storm out onto the training floor. Lydia had been intrigued by Carolina's bold and direct request that she had made to the Director. It shocked her even more when she heard the Director agree. Her explanations to the Director were true, this armor could hold a full AI, but not by someone as inexperienced with an AI as the freelancers were. Two exceptions being Serena and herself of course.
Lydia remembered that fateful day when she underwent surgery, how she laid unconscious in Recovery while her faithful knight in shining armor, York, had watched over her until she woke up. She remembered the surprise in everyone's tone when she demanded a match with Tex. She remembered how all the AIs experienced a slight malfunction at the mention of the name Allison. It affected her too, but not nearly as bad as the rest of them.
She shakes her head as she comes within one step of the cliff's edge. She peers over and to her surprise, she sees Carolina. Holding on, and still alive. She saw the metallic claw of Carolina's grappling hook and knew that she needed to help. Mustering up her strength, she planted herself deep with in the snow, grabbed the rope, and started hoisting Carolina up. Carolina stirred from unconsciousness and peared up toward the cliff as she felt herself getting lifted to the edge of the precipice.
Lydia grunted ever so slightly as she finally pulled Carolina over the edge. She put a little too much force into it and the two fell back, Carolina landing directly on top of Lydia. Lydia froze as she immediately realized the position they were in, but dared not to move.
Carolina finally raised her head and gazed into Lydia's eyes. Lydia saw surprise flash across Carolina's features, followed by brief anger, then finally her gaze settled on a look of gratitude. Too tired to move, Carolina rested her head on the cool metal of Lydia's chest plate. Lydia smiled down at her, glad that she was alive.
Lydia stiffened suddenly and Carolina raised herself up so that she straddled Lydia's waist.
"What is it Penn?" Carolina asks as she gazes at Lydia.
"Someone's coming, we have to hide." Lydia responds quickly as she moves to stand up.
Carolina needing no further explanation, gets up and extends her hand out to Lydia, who takes it gratefully. Lydia takes a look around, finding no suitable cover, she looks to Carolina.
"What's the plan?" she asks.
"I'm going to have to cloak you. Where's your helmet?" Lydia asks.
Carolina looks over to the cliff and sees her Rogue helmet a few feet away. She quickly grabs it and throws it on, depsite the throbbing pain in the back of her head. Lydia nods to her then activates her armor ability. In order to transfer it to Carolina, she calls upon Tau to help.
"Tau, help me out, cloak Carolina too so that she blends with the snow like I do." Lydia says.
"I'm on it." Tau replies and goes to work.
A short time later, both Carolina and Lydia are cloaked. Lydia then has Carolina lie prone on the ground with her as they watch whomever was heading their way approach. Lydia slowed her breathing, taking only the breaths that were necessary to keep oxygen flowing through her bloodstream. She noted that Carolina on the other hand had shallowed breathing. Almost as if Carolina was hurting. She glanced briefly at Carolina until she heard a foot mat down the snow a few feet away.
She turned her head slowly toward the sound. She noticed two armored figures. Both of them a shade of purple and green. 'The Twins.' Lydia notes in her head. She could tell from North Dakota's stance that he was weary. His sister, South Dakota, on the other had was always the brash one. She surged ahead of him a bit and yelled,
"We know you're out there! Show yourself!"
Lydia deciding she'd deal with them alone. uncloaked herself but made sure that Tau kept Carolina hidden.
"Alright guys. You caught me." Lydia says.
"Penn? Where have you been? There's been news spreading about you. They're saying you helped CT take down the project is that true?" North says in a rush, somewhat surprised to see Lydia standing there.
"I'm not going to lie to you North, I owe you that much. It's true. I helped CT obtain valuable information for her employers. I know it's probably something you didn't want to hear, but it had to be made known." Lydia says calmly.
"Hmph. No surprise there. Wouldn't be surprised if you two were cozying up to each other too." South states in an agitated tone.
"Good to see you too South." Lydia comments dryly.
"Well this changes a lot. I don't know what to say. I'm not mad at you Penn, believe me. I understand why you did what you did. Have you seen anyone else? Are you hurt? What all happened?" North says in his usual gentle tone.
"I've only seen you two, Wash, Maine, and... Cali. No I'm not hurt. And we'll have to discuss what all happened at another time." Lydia replies.
"Oh, I see. Those three... two of them would have killed you had they seen you. What about Carolina? She's not KIA is she?" he asks.
"Who cares? As far as I'm concerned that bitch got what she deserved. Everyone thought she was so great and so special. We all worked our asses off and never got anything to show for it. She lifts a finger and everyone is kissing her ass. If you ask me, I'm glad that bitch is dead. Serves her right for trying to be 'the best'." South spits out angrily.
"Watch your mouth, South. Just because you didn't get an AI doesn't mean you can take your anger out on Carolina. She is a great leader, and she is the best. She can actually remain stealthy during a stealth mission unlike you. If I were you South, I'd stop saying all this bullshit and talking big before you say something to the wrong person and they knock your ass to the ground." Lydia growls back.
"Oh? What are you going to do about it? Going to punch me? Going to beat me up to defend that red-haired bitch? You're just her stupid lap dog. You always kissed up to her. Did you fuck her too? I bet you did. Anything to get closer to our 'great' leader. Unlike you, I worked for my position on that board!" South hollers, making a threatening step towards Lydia.
Lydia feels her anger rising. But, just before she could make a move, Carolina steps between them, de-cloaking herself.
"Enough! This isn't the time, nor the place to be arguing. South, I'm sorry if you felt like you weren't good enough. You were, just a little overzealous at times. And you," she says turning toward Lydia.
"You shouldn't get so worked up just because South says some stupid bullshit. She wants to talk shit, let her learn the consequences." she finishes.
Lydia gazed at Carolina before looking at the ground, a silent apology to Carolina for her childish behavior. South on the other hand scoffed and looked away from both of them. North simply shakes his head in disappointment at his sister's actions.
"I'm sorry about her. And Carolina," he says and she looks up at him.
"I'm glad you're still alive."
She nods wordlessly to him. North stops briefly and holds a hand up to the side of his helmet. He says a few words of confirmation before turning towards them again. Lydia knew who it was. The Director was checking in on his two remaining Agents.
"You guys better scram, Recovery One is on their way back here. If Cali sees you both, she'll kill you. Don't worry, I'll make sure South doesn't breathe a word. Now go, before they see you." North urges gently.
"Thank you, North. For everything." Carolina says.
"Thank you, North, really. It means a lot." Lydia chimes in as well.
"Happy to help. Now, go." he replies with a warm smile hidden behind his visor.
Lydia and Carolina break out into a sprint, heading off in the same direction Tex had taken hours earlier. They slowed their pace when they reached the top of the hill. They watched as Cali, Maine, and Wash walked up to North and South. They decided not to linger and kept moving, putting as much distance between the Mother Of Invention and them as much as they could. Lydia tried to pick up the pace but heard Carolina cry out in pain behind her. She stopped abruptly and turned around, running over to Carolina.
"Are you alright? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Lydia asks in a rush.
"I-I'm fine. My head..." she trails as she clutches both sides of her helmet.
"Yeah... Maine. If we ever cross paths, I'll make him pay." Lydia growls lowly.
"No. He's normally a good guy. I wonder what Sigma did to him." she wonders aloud.
Lydia helps Carolina to a sitting postion. Carolina visibly winces.
"Can you stand?" Lydia asks.
"I can try." Carolina says.
She goes to stand on her feet but falters. Luckily, Lydia caught her right away. Lydia sat them down so that Carolina's back was pressed into her chest. She allowed Carolina to settle herself. Once settled, Carolina pulled off her helmet. Her fiery red mane tamed only by a simply hairtie flowed freely behind her. Lydia openly stared at her, thanking any diety right now that she was wearing her helmet.
Carolina, for all intents and purposes, was a beautiful woman in Lydia's eyes. Lydia always admired the way her brightly colored hair stood out from the rest of her, only to be accentuated by twinkling emerald eyes. Lydia couldn't deny it anymore. She was in love with Carolina.
Carolina had dozed off during Lydia's reverie of the red-haired beauty. Lydia smiled to herself as she could feel the steady rise and fall of Carolina's chest, signaling her slumber. Lydia knew this moment wouldn't last though. She drank as much of it in as she could, then picked Carolina up gently, grabbing Carolina's helmet along the way. She magnetized it to her back, before starting off again. This time, she headed towards her intial destination, the valley below the mountain.
She walked slowly so as not to disturb Carolina. Every now and then, Lydia would glance down at Carolina's sleeping form. Lydia couldn't help but smile everytime she saw the calm, angelic face. It soothed her to know that this wonderful, strong woman was still alive.
She finally broke through to the treeline at the foot of the mountain and began to weave her way through the dense forest. It was considerably warmer here and she enjoyed the warmth as it warmed up her cold body. She felt Carolina stir in her arms and glanced down. Carolina gazed up with a look of confusion as she took in their surroundings.
"You fell asleep. We had to keep moving so I carried you. We should be safe now. Well, safer anyway." Lydia says gently.
"Wow. How long was I out?" Carolina asks.
"A few hours but it's no big deal." Lydia says nonchalantly.
"You carried me for a few hours? Didn't you get tired? Was I too heavy?" Carolina questions.
Lydia laughs then says,
"Not at all. We Spartans are built for long durations of stress. And, you're surprisingly light for wearing armor like mine."
"Oh. You know I almost forgot you were a Spartan. It's amazing what you can do." Carolina says with a gentle tone.
"Well, we aren't that special. But, thanks." Lydia says with a smile hidden by her helmet.
Lydia walks on for a bit in silence, still carrying Carolina whom, seems to have no protest to it. Lydia was always curious about what people were thinking. It always intrigued her to learn why people think the way they do. And, it was in this exact moment that Lydia felt her curiosity begin to rise.
"Carolina?" she prompts.
"Hm?" she replies.
"Why are you letting me carry you? If you're capable of walking do you want me to put you down?" Lydia asks.
Carolina paused.
"Normally I wouldn't let anyone see me at my weakest point. But, there's something about you Penn. I don't know what it is. You just have this air about you where I can feel comfortable enough to let you see me like this. I don't feel like I have to prove anything with you. I feel comfortable, safe even. I can't describe it. And, if you tell anyone I told you this, I'll kill you." Carolina replies.
Lydia laughs at the last bit. She finds her heart swelling with happiness at Carolina's words regardless of the threat at the end. 'Maybe she likes me after all' Lydia thinks to herself as she grins widely behind her helmet. Lydia nearly missed it, but she saw a slight pink twinge to Carolina's cheeks. The only thing that made it look more adorable to Lydia was the slight pout Carolina had along with her furrowed eyebrows.
"What's so funny? I mean it." Carolina warns.
Lydia chuckles lightly and says,
"Nothing. You just look so cute right now." Lydia says but freezes as she realizes what she said. She stops dead in her tracks.
She dares to steal a glance down. What she sees surprises her. It's not anger on Carolina's face. It's shock. Along with a deep shade of red accenting her cheeks almost matching the color of her hair. Carolina, the cold, distant soldier was blushing. Carolina quickly turns her head away once she notices Lydia staring, trying to hide her blush.
"Are you blushing, Carolina?" Lydia asks with a chuckle.
"No..." Carolina trails, her blush deepening.
Lydia laughs at this.
"Sh-Shut up. Put me down." Carolina says.
"Alright, as you wish." Lydia giggles.
Carolina punches Lydia in the shoulder lightly. And starts to tread slowly on her own. Lydia rolls her eyes and shakes her head, still lightly laughing from the little exchange. She follows Carolina catching up to her easily. They walk along in silence until they reach a small stream. Carolina stops and inspects the area around them.
"This seems like a good spot to make camp. What do you think?" Carolina says looking at Lydia.
"Sounds good to me. I'll take first watch. You need your rest." Lydia replies.
"Absolutely not. I will take first watch. You've been on your feet all day. You need rest." Carolina argues.
"Carolina, I can go days, even months without sleep. I'll be fine. Trust me." Lydia counters gently.
Carolina pauses again. She ponders what Lydia said for a moment before saying,
"Fine. But at midnight you wake me up so we can switch. Deal?"
"Deal." Lydia agrees.
"Well, since there's a stream here, I'm going to freshen up." Carolina states.
Lydia takes of her helmet then says,
"Alright. Sounds like a good idea."
Carolina looks at her expectantly. She then clears her throat and makes a motion for Lydia to turn around.
"Oh! Sorry. I'll just.." she trails as she turns her back to Carolina.
She can hear the familiar clicks as the armor's locks come undone. She hears Carolina place each piece of armor carefully on the ground. She then heard the familiar zip of the undersuit. She decided to distract her mind as images of a very beautiful and very naked Carolina drifted in. She listened to the sounds of small animals scurrying along the forest floor, the slow trickle of the stream, and unfortunately, the pleasured sigh of Carolina as she washed herself in the stream.
Lydia shook her head trying to shake the images that kept plaguing her thoughts. She started to whistle a tune, the same tune that Carolina hated. She heard the motions in the stream stop. She knew Carolina was listening but she continued to whistle it regardless. She heard a few splashes and knew that Carolina was exiting. She heard the familiar zip of the undersuit again but it stopped halfway. She heard the clicks of the locks on the armor again.
"You can turn back around now." Carolina says.
Lydia turns on her heel and sees that Carolina is half dressed. Her lower half was armored but her upper half was revealed with a cyan colored tank top to cover up the area. Lydia had to stop herself from staring. So she took this time to squeak passed Carolina to the stream to freshen up herself. She removed her armor bit by bit but only zipped her undersuit halfway down. She splashed cool water on her face and scrubbed off the dirt. She felt a prescence behind her as she dipped her head briefly into the cool stream.
She raised her head out of the water and let the water trickle down her form. The droplets dipped into the divets of her many scars that littered her body, and between her breasts that were free from the undersuit's tightness. She felt eyes on her. Carolina was the one staring now. She stood up from her crouched position and turned to face her. She saw that Carolina had that pink twinge to her cheeks again.
But, instead of hiding, Carolina took a step forward. She kept up her steps until she was right in front of Lydia's tall, muscular form. Her eyes ravaged Lydia up and down. Lydia simply watched her, intrigued by what Carolina was doing. Carolina's eyes followed every dip in Lydia's body. It traced every scar and slight imperfection etched into the lightly tanned skin. Then Carolina reached out and brushed a long scar along Lydia's chest. It stretched from her left collarbone and stopped at her sternum. Lydia's breath hitched at Carolina's touch.
"Carolina..." Lydia breathed.
Carolina leaned up, almost on her tip toes and kissed Lydia. Lydia's eyes widened as she felt Carolina kiss her. She snapped out of her surprise quickly and returned the kiss deeply. They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity until Lydia pulled away.
"I...I should uh get to my watch." Lydia says as she clears her throat.
She zips up her undersuit and attaches the rest of her armor with ease. She walks a few feet away and begins to monitor the area. She touches her lips breifly before throwing her helmet back on. 'Woah' she thinks idly to herself and smirks.
Carolina on the other hand had watched her go. She stood there shocked by her own actions but at the reciprocation from Lydia. She too touched her lips briefly. She then sat herself down against a log. She couldn't deny it anymore, she was in love with Lydia. All of this time and even she hadn't known she liked Lydia much less women in general. Carolina decided sleep would help her regardless of having been unconscious a half an hour ago. She rested back against the log and quickly fell asleep.
Lydia breathed a sigh of relief. She could finally relax. She had tensed up when she felt Carolina watching her, now that Carolina was fast asleep again she could resume her watch. Every so often her eyes would drift over to Carolina's sleeping form. She would smile every time and remember their kiss. It was so intense and yet so delicate at the same time that Lydia couldn't fully wrap her head around it.
"I think you have your answer Agent Pennsylvania." Tau's warm voice chimes in.
"I guess so. I just, can't believe that actually happened though." Lydia replies to the AI.
"But, on the brightside you now know how she feels about you." Tau says reassuringly.
"True. But, I just fear for her safety now." Lydia states in a slight worried tone.
"That's natural. It'll pass. Agent Carolina is more than capable of handling herself." Tau says.
"Yeah I know. But, you know that's not the reason why." Lydia states gravely.
"Don't worry. It won't happen again. I know you'll make sure of that." Tau replies calmly.
Tau went silent along with Lydia. She welcomed the night time silence and with it was the chatter of the nocturnal creatures. She had time to think. She knew she couldn't get so worked up just yet, nothing was set in stone just yet. And, it might never be. But, Lydia was happy that she finally knew how Carolina felt.
Lydia carried on her watch with a smile on her face.
Tomorrow was going to be a great day.
|| Author's Note || Well guys, here's chapter 3. I hope you are all enjoying this fic as much as I enjoy writing it. I'm having a lot more fun this time around then I did with Fallen Angels, Righteous Demons. I'm glad that I'm going at my own pace and that I'm able to elaborate more on the characters and how they're feeling. It's a lot less cookie cutter this time around. I hope you guys enjoyed that little bit of fluff that I threw into this chapter. Hope you enjoyed, and remember; Stay awesome and keep reading!