The Plegia-Ylisse border looked breathtaking from up high, but the closer they got to the ground, the more Robin realized that nothing about this land could be really seen as beautiful once one thought about the blood shed upon the land. When the plane landed, Robin and Chrom rushed to Frederick, already waiting for them.
"Frederick," Chrom said.
"Sir, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that we've managed to scout the area, and there aren't many Plegian soldiers here. Though President Gangrel was trying to lure the exalt here, he didn't show up himself. So it was good call to not have her show up," Frederick said.
"That's because he's a coward. What's the bad news?"
"One of our interns is out there with Maribelle. They managed to get out of direct control of the Plegians, but they're surrounded."
"One of our interns?"
"Yes sir, his name is Ricken."
"Ricken? He's a tech intern. He doesn't have any experience out on the field," Robin said.
"He managed to send a virus into the Plegian security network for the holding cell where Maribelle was being kept, but he just sent a message about the current situation," Frederick said.
"That isn't all- isn't it Frederick?" Chrom said.
Frederick sighed and hung his head low.
"Sir, a couple of our field agents are already out there, but Lissa insisted going out there as well. She should have been under the care of Agents Sully and Vaike. But they have lost contact with her," Frederick said.
"You've got to be kidding me. We need to get those two agents first and foremost, but I don't want Lissa by herself. Her combat skills aren't up to par," Chrom said.
Robin cleared her throat and raised her hand. She pointed at Lon'Qu and said, "How about he gets Lissa?"
"Him? He can't physically be near a woman. How is he going to protect Lissa?"
"Lon'Qu, I looked at your credentials while we were on the flight here. You were Ferox's top field agent in their intelligence unit and President Basilio's personal guard before he made you his vice president. I trust you know how to handle a gun," Robin said.
Lon'Qu pulled out a gun from a holster hidden beneath his jacket and looked at Robin.
"Tell me where to shoot, and I'll do it," he said.
Frederick looked more shocked at Lon'Qu than anything.
"Sir, that gun he carries is illegal in pretty much every country," Frederick said.
"Frederick, I don't care if it's illegal or not. He's protecting Lissa from now on," Chrom said.
With that, Lon'Qu already left in search of Lissa with only a short description of the princess- blonde and delicate. He was nervous about this request- not because of the woman thing but perhaps because he hadn't done a search and rescue like this in a long time. He requested to be taken off them when he was in Ferox due to a botched mission. The sorts of missions he was comfortable with were always ones where he would shoot "the bad guys" and call it a day. But what kinds of missions he preferred were of no consequence now. He needed to find that damn princess.
Off in the distance, Lon'Qu heard a faint shriek. He ran behind trees and brush to get closer to what he heard. He assumed he was close to the princess, and as luck would have it, he saw a two Plegian soldiers surround a girl. Silent as always, Lon'Qu crept in and aimed for one of the soldiers. For a split second, he felt terrible about what he was going to do, but he went with shooting one of the soldiers in the head because he knew it was always him or the other guy. The other soldier, in his horror, turned around and fired his gun aimlessly. Lon'Qu sighed and shot the soldier. Coming from his hiding spot, he looked down at the girl with her arms over her head, shaking.
"You the princess?" Lon'Qu said.
Lissa looked straight up at the man in front of her who was reloading his gun. Never in her life did she think she'd die like this. She thought about how she should have listened to Chrom and never have joined the military or just stay safe practicing medicine at home.
"Don't kill me!" Lissa said.
"Your brother sent me," he said.
"Chrom?"
"Yes."
Lissa's arms dropped to her sides as she sighed.
"Oh, thank gods. But how did you know it was me?" Lissa said.
"Blonde and delicate."
"I'm not delicate!"
Lon'Qu snorted ever so slightly and started to walk away from Lissa. She ran to catch up with him and put her hand on his arm. Immediately, he flinched and ran from her. Even with that sort of rejection, Lissa ran after him.
"Hey! You! Stop! You know you're injured!" Lissa said.
Lon'Qu stopped and turned around. He examined his arms and noticed some slight bleeding. He concluded that it might have been from a bullet that grazed him while on his hunt for the princess.
"I can fix that for you," Lissa said.
"No."
"You are the worst!"
On the other side of the mountain, Robin and Chrom reached to where Sully and Vaike were waiting. To her surprise, Miriel was there as well, arranging some explosives, though Robin gathered that Frederick seemed more interested in the explosives than Miriel. That was when Robin heard an update on Lon'Qu and Lissa who were making it their way to the team.
"Hey, Lon'Qu and Lissa should be here soon," Robin said.
"Thank gods," Chrom said.
"Change your mind about Lon'Qu?"
"He saved my sister, and I'm practically guaranteed that he will not touch my sister in any way. He's like an overprotective big brother's dream."
"You know that won't stop Lissa. Right?"
Chrom's jaw dropped while Robin laughed. She ignored his protests while Miriel asked about where the explosives needed to be set up. Robin pointed to the point of the mountain where the scouts reported the most Plegian soldiers. She hoped a little bit of an explosion would distract enough for Ricken and Maribelle to get in a clearing with very little guarding. As Frederick set up the explosives in a weakened area of rock, Lissa and Lon'Qu arrived.
"Finished," Lon'Qu said.
"I can tell. Lissa, are you okay?" Chrom said.
"Ugh yeah. Mr. Grumbles here is a pleasure. Why does the hot guy that saves me have to be so weird?" Lissa said.
"Still here," Lon'Qu said.
Miriel turned around with the look of slightest displeasure. She rolled her eyes and stared back at her laptop screen.
"If you people mind, I'm about to detonate the explosives. I suggest you all cover your ears," Miriel said.
The team all covered their ears and looked over at the side of the mountain as it decayed into the ground. Robin ran out in front and led the team through the rest of the mountainside. She sighed in relief as she saw her plan go so well. The blast got rid of most of the Plegian soldiers and distracted the other soldiers that were now rushing to the aid of their fellow soldiers. Weaving through trails, they made it up to the hill where Ricken and Maribelle huddled for cover.
"You two…" Chrom said.
He bit his lip before he could say what he wanted to say. That they were idiots to get caught by the Plegians like that on a mission. That he was proud he had two smart soldiers that were able to get out of a situation like that. Instead he said, "Are you two alright?" Something that brought smiles to both Ricken and Maribelle's faces.
Ricken got up first and scratched his head. He looked relieved now that the team was there. Maribelle, on the other hand, looked slightly peeved though almost everyone knew she was just as relieved as Ricken. She immediately embraced her friend Lissa and started to cry as if everything that just happened to her was finally catching up to her.
"Lissa, I'm so glad to see you," Maribelle said.
"I know, but I knew you were going to get out," Lissa said.
"And thank you so much for that."
"If you want to thank someone, thank Ricken and Robin."
Ricken blushed and cleared his throat.
"It wasn't anything… They have terrible security systems," Ricken said.
"The intern still saved the day," Chrom said.
"Aw… don't call me that. I'm just as good as any of the other tech people."
"Yeah, maybe we could use Ricken on a full time basis," Robin said.
"If you think so, I won't say no," Chrom said.
"Yes, now I'm not the intern!" Ricken said.
Sully laughed and messed Ricken's hair up.
"But it does make you the rookie," Sully said.
"Aw… C'mon guys," Ricken said.
And with that, the soldiers packed up and left back for Ylisse with smiles and laughter plenty. But as they flew home, Chrom's mind couldn't help but keep thinking about how all of this was just the calm before the storm.
