X) Femme Fatales
- Freedom Base, 3:16 PM
In a tunnel near a Sanctum military base, Team NORA makes their way to the side entrance. Among the group are Lightning, Snow, Sazh & Gadot.
As they continue to walk, Sazh looks at his friend Lightning and wonders how she's feeling after a rough couple of days for her.
He asks, "Hey Lightning. How you holding up?"
"I'm fine", Lightning simply puts it.
Sazh answers back, "Well, I know you've got a lot on your plate now. What with that Prince Noctis coming out and saying he knows you when you don't remember him. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."
"The first thing you can do is not mention that stupid prince. He's not important and we have a mission to accomplish right now. I don't want anything...or anyone interfering with me doing my job."
"Hmm...okay. Fair enough." Sazh looks forward again as she taps him on the shoulder to get his attention again.
Lightning tells him, "But thanks for caring." Sazh gives her a little smile. Snow and the others stop at the end of the tunnel, which gives them a clear overview of the base.
Snow says to the troops, "Okay people, you all know what's at stake here. There's a new shipment of high tech missiles down by the second quadrant of this base. Our information says these weapons could inflict more damage than the ones they've been using. We have to shut them down. Any questions?"
"Yeah, can we do this already?", Lightning asks.
"Umm...you sure you're up for this?", Snow wonders.
Lightning answers, "I'm here, aren't I?" She leaves the group and heads to dismantle the missiles.
Gadot says, "Hope she doesn't lose focus."
"She never does", Sazh emphasizes as he follows her.
Snow looks at Lightning ahead of him and just laughs. "We're in good hands. Alright people, let's move!" He, Gadot and the rest of Team NORA head toward the base.
The group enters Freedom Base with little complication as they come closer to the area where the missiles are expected to be. They maneuver around the base without any soldiers seeing them. They stop in front of the small warehouse where the missiles are located. As they hide behind crates to keep their cover, the group seems optimistic about the mission thus far.
Lightning, however, voices her concerns. "This is strange. There are usually more guards around here than this."
Snow replies, "Maybe most of them are inside or deployed elsewhere."
"Something's wrong. Just stay on high alert." She looks around, then advances into the warehouse. The rest of Team NORA carefully follow her. Once inside, they see a giant crate that's marked 'X-4517'.
"That's the spec for the missiles. We hit the jackpot", Sazh states.
Gadot adds, "We just have to take out those three guards."
"Leave that to me", Lightning reassures them. She picks up a tin can from the floor and throws it to the other side. The soldiers make their way towards the commotion. That's when Lightning gets behind two of them and smashes their two heads together. The last soldier is stunned as Lightning gives him a thunderous roundhouse kick to the stomach, followed by a kick to the back of the head. She looks around to see if there's anyone else around, then motions to Team NORA that the coast is clear.
Sazh comments, "I could've done that." The others smile as they come out and join her.
Snow compliments his comrade. "Nice takedown, Lightning."
"Just doing my job. Now let's get this crate open", she responds. The team all grab hold of one side and try to pull the crate open with all their might. After 20 seconds of struggling, the giant crate rips open. They are surprised by what they see.
Gadot says, "What the hell?"
"The missiles...they're not here", states Sazh.
Snow says, "Don't tell me...". Before he could finish, dozens of soldiers storm into the complex.
Lightning yells out, "It was a set-up! Spread out!" Soldiers start firing at Team NORA as they take cover once again.
"I got this", proclaims Snow. He focuses his energy and uses his ice spell to freeze their combatants. The team relaxes as they. "Well, that's that. We better before any more of them come our way."
Suddenly they all hear multiple trucks from all sides speeding toward them. They can hear several soldiers getting out of the trucks and the sound of guns being pointed at them.
One of the soldiers goes on the loudspeaker. "You have one minute to come out and surrender, or we will shoot through this whole building. You have nowhere to hide. 45 seconds!"
Snow tells some of the members, "Check their numbers. Be careful they don't see you." They look to see hundreds of soldiers on each side waiting to fire.
The Sanctum soldier yells out, "30 seconds!"
Gadot asks, "What the hell are we gonna do?"
After some thought, Lightning suggests, "How about we go for a ride?" The others have a look of wonder on their faces, but Sazh and Snow have big smiles on theirs.
The Sanctum soldier continues to count down. "...13, 12, 11, 10, 9..." Suddenly, two vehicles burst out of the warehouse and attack the unsuspecting PSICOM forces. The Eidolon Shiva is in bike form with Snow riding and Lightning on behind him. The Eidolon Brynhildr is in car form with Sazh driving with Team NORA onboard. Their strategy proves to be too much for PSICOM.
A few of the soldiers yell out, "Fall back!" NORA's gunfire at high speeds mows down dozens of soldiers at a high rate.
Lightning shoots from left to right, then tells Snow, "This is my stop. Get to your spots after this. They'll have the advantage again in a minute."
Snow replies, "You got it. Give 'em hell." Lightning jumps off the bike and puts her hand in front of her chest until a pink crystal emerges. She uses the crystal to summon her Eidolon, Odin. The mystical horse appears as Lightning gets on and takes out Odin's sword split in two. She rides into the heart of the PSICOM forces and starts to dissect them with her swords. Team NORA help her and continue to attack
After about a few minutes, the battle favors Team NORA. However, the power of Lightning, Snow and Sazh's Eidolons are temporary due to the immense magnitude it takes to summon them. The Eidolons go back into their crystals, leaving their owners slightly fatigued.
From an airship nearby, Yaag Rosch goes on his communicator and says, "It's time. Go get her."
Suddenly, a woman on a hovercraft throws a flash bomb onto the battlefield. She is wearing a full bodysuit in black and a matching mask where you can only see her eyes. The bomb blinds everyone as she casts a net on Lightning, snatches her up and flies off with her.
Snow, who can barely see, yells out, "Lightning!"
After flying for some time, the woman eventually drops Lightning on a grassy cliff, right next to the top of Calo Falls. It's the highest waterfall in Cocoon. The hovercraft touches down as the woman watches Lightning try to cut herself out of the reinforced ropes.
The woman asks, "Need some help, sunshine?"
Lightning ignores her and finally frees herself. She wonders, "Okay, so you got my attention." She takes out her gun-blade.
"I know you're a tough cookie. That's why I needed to make a statement. My name's Fang, by the way. I'm with the Sanctum and I'm here to kill you." Fang walks to her hovercraft, picks up her spear and points it at Lightning. She tells Lightning, "I've been watching you. I'm glad I can finally see face-to-face what you're made of."
They draw their weapons and circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, Fang charges at her as Lightning tries deflecting her fast moving spear. Light trips Fang to the ground and thrusts her sword at Fang's head, but Fang moves just in time.
Fang tells her, "You are the real deal. Most men would have got their heads lobs off from my spear. This is really..."
"I'm sorry, are we fighting or talking?", Lightning wonders.
"You're in such a rush to lose. I was just making conversation."
"You know, I actually do have something to talk to you about. This is a gun-blade." She then switches modes. "Gun." Lightning starts shooting at Fang, whose eyes light up as she quickly moves out of the way. Lightning is surprised by her speed. "This won't be easy." Fang deflects a few bullets with her spear. One bullet ricochets into the ground right in front of Light's left foot. She looks down for a split second as Fang knocks the gun-blade out of Light's hands.
"Gotcha!", Fang screams out. She lunges it at her, but Lightning causes her to miss by dodging slightly.
"Not quite", replies Lightning. She grabs the other end of the handle as a tug of war begins. Lightning kicks the back of Fang's left leg, dropping her to a knee. Light has both hands on the spear, while Fang has one. Lightning shouts, "Give it up!"
"Not yet, love. I got something for ya." Fang lunges toward Lightning and viciously headbutts her in the stomach. Lightning goes down in a heap. Fang slowly gets up to check her head, cracks a few bones in her neck, calmly picks up her spear and points it at her.
"Victory is mine", Fang proclaims. "Rosch, can you hear me? Rosch?" Fang uses her communicator to reach Yaag, but there is interference. "Hmm, this worked out better than I thought. Okay, believe it or not, I'm here to help. I'm getting you outta here."
"Excuse me?"
"I said I was here to kill you. Doesn't mean I'm going to."
"That's encouraging", replies a very surprised Lightning.
Fang tells her, "See that camera behind me? But don't actually look at it, you twit, or you'll blow my cover." An aerial camera is showing Fang's back and Lightning's face. "Your good buddy Rosch wanted to see your demise on the big screen. So, he can probably still see us but can't hear us."
"Timeout. Don't you work for the Sanctum?"
"Yes and no. It's a rather long story which we don't really have time for at the moment. I need you to side step, lunge at me and get me to the edge of the cliff." Lightning doesn't know what to do. She doesn't trust Fang. "Come on! They're gonna catch on if you don't, you ninny." Finally, Light gives in as she rolls to her feet, grabs the spear and pushes Fang toward the edge of the cliff. The waterfall is right next to them.
Lightning asks, "So what now, genius?"
"We jump down into the water."
"No chance."
"We have to make this look good. By the way, this was fun. We must do it again."
Lightning again lets her know, "I said I'm not jumping!"
Fang replies, "Like you have a choice." She falls backwards and grabs a good hold of Lightning as they both plummet 200 feet until they plunge into the water below.
It's been 15 minutes since Lightning disappeared and Team NORA still can't find her. PSICOM soldiers are still around looking for them.
Snow says, "Where is she? We can't stay here any longer or we're dead."
Sazh tells him, "Her communicator isn't working and her tracking device is offline."
"She instituted and we all agreed to the '15 minute rule'. If one of us is MIA and the others are still in jeopardy, the team comes first and we have to retreat."
"We can't leave her out here, Snow!"
Snow yells back, "You think I want this? I have to do right by her and the team. Damn it...come on." They all lay low and reluctantly retreat toward the tunnel they came from.
- Team NORA headquarters, 7:55 PM
It's been 2 hours since Snow and the others got back to base, but still no sign of Lightning. They are using their supercomputer to try and search for her.
Vanille says, "Poor Lightning. Where could she be?" She looks at Snow and tells him, "Don't beat yourself up, Snow. You did what you had to do."
"I know, it just hurts to not know where she is."
Hope says, "Maybe we should go out there and..."
Sazh answers back, "PSICOM must be swarming the place by then. I don't see how we could right now."
"There's got to be something we can do". It's that moment when the automated door open and a soaked Lightning walks in. Everyone is ecstatic to see her as they approach her. Hope and Vanille even give her a big hug.
Vanille says, "Lightning, you're all wet. Where were you?"
"I am fine, that's all that matters. I need to dry off and take a shower. Then we'll discuss the next mission."
Sazh asks, "Mission?"
Snow also wonders, "What mission?"
Lightning informs them, "We're going back to Hanging Edge and bringing back my sister Serah...tonight."
Everyone is in complete shock.
X
What were some of your favorite parts/quotes from this chapter?
Thank you to Mysterious Friend & FarronCaelum for the reviews. Yes, even to nie261, in some strange way lol.
3 more chapters remaining. Soon, Lightning must choose!