She spotted the Eagle leaping over the fence into the yard of an old factory, proceeding to follow him she found a hole in the fence on the other side. Creeping quietly across the dirt yard, her senses heightened- following the Eagle into the main building.
Dusty footprints lead up a flight of rusty stairs, had he left a deliberate path? She wondered, reaching the landing she smiled warmly- he played the game well.
Knowing he would attack, she deliberately waited for him with a plan.
The Eagle flew out from a side door, taking her with him over the edge of stairwell. Struggling, mid-air she grabbed his helmet tugging it at its base.
This apparently took him by surprise, his eyes widened as she came close to ripping it off his head. The plan was shallow, but she figured she had to try, trying to not allow her underlying enjoyment of her encounters with him to cloud her thinking.
G-1 threw her backwards, landing against a wall on a lower stairwell she frantically searched for a vantage point. He moved swiftly, and their fight continued as the rusty stairwell threatened to give way underneath their feet, creaking sounds sent off alarms in her mind.
Once again, he caught her, this time in a headlock. She gasped for breath in his tightening grip.
"Where is Zoltar?" He snarled. His warm breath on her neck, sending tingling shivers down her spine. She didn't anticipate a rush of drowning sensations being this close to him, she struggled to bring her focus back on the mission.
"I…don't…know…" She choked, feeling his grip intensifying.
He cried out in pain as she kicked him in the shins, his grip loosened enough for her to escape.
He hooked her foot, and she landed face first on the concrete floor. Her mask protecting her as pain shot through her as she struggled to get up. Grabbing her by the arms his weight holding her down he asked her same question again, his voice growing agitated.
"Where is Zoltar?" He snarled, he tensed his muscles as he held her arms tight above her head, gripping her legs and pinning her to the ground, forcing her draw in a breath slowly.
She stopped struggling for a moment, turning her head to try and see his face through her mask, and his blue tinted visor. He pulled her over onto her back, adjusting his weight on her body as they stared at each other.
Through the blue visor his eyes appeared like dark black, circles his steady gaze boring into her flaming coal rocks, but she knew those eyes- struggling to place them she kept staring.
Crushed against him she physically responded, static sensations washed through her, every muscle burned, she had to take back control of the situation.
"You think I'd let you get away?" He gripping her so tight it hurt. "You're going to take me to Zoltar now."
The weight of his body shifted off her, he wanted her to get to her feet.
Knowing the Eagle by now, he would have a strategy she had one too, and orders from Mala. This would be easy all she had to was pretend to cooperate and she hand him over to Zoltar without a fight. Crushing her mixed emotions, she forced herself to remember he was her enemy, hardening her heart she prepared to take him in and forget she felt a thing for him.
Lamely getting to her feet she felt a grim reality hit her. The missing Swan…she could throw him off by using it as a weapon.
"So… where's your sweetheart the Swan? I hear she's your most valuable team-mate, never far from your side." She sweetly implied.
The Eagle pulled her arms into a tight lock behind her back jarring her elbows in the process, pain shooting through her body as he made his point.
"Like you can hurt me." She whispered. "You're nothing but a-"
"Shut up." He hissed-she didn't miss the pain in his voice, tension increasing between them he roughly shoved her forward, she stumbled as he pushed her towards the door.
"I bet she really cut you all to pieces. Men… one woman and three of you old enough to bed her." She taunted. "The little slut-"
"She's worth a thousand of you." He growled.
His jaw clenched so tight she thought her was about to hit her.
"I bet she is... a Federation good girl. Pity she turned bad-"
"What do you know about her." He asked. His tone taking her off guard. "She wasn't like that and we aren't either… we are her family."
She clammed up, his voice filled with anguish. Their Swans absence really did cut him to pieces.
"Nothing." She answered sincerely. Something felt wrong, yet she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Jase are you here?" She heard him ask. "We have a passenger."
"I expected the Condor to treat a lady like this- I was told you had more…. gentleman like manners." She teased, knowing the truth about him from her training, she kept up her guard. "You didn't answer my question about your Swan."
"She is none of your business." He finally answered curtly.
She must have escaped the prison, she thought, pocketing the information, I bet that's why he's edgy.
"To arrest her for her crimes." She hissed. As another thought entered into her mind. Stopping in her tracks she tried to turn to face him again, but he refused to budge, breathing down her neck. "Stop that." She tried to pull away from him enough to stop the sensations racing through her.
"What do you mean by that?" Curiosity halted him.
She drew in a deep breath- how could she explain it. She felt a connection with him, a chemistry, she liked being close to him and it bothered her.
"You're too close." She said, her body ached from his touch, she was having trouble controlling it.
She gasped like a goldfish, this wasn't going according to her plan. All she had to do was hand him over to Zoltar, not have a conversation and develop feelings.
"Take off your mask." His guarded tone left no room for arguments. "Or I will…"
This she couldn't allow him to do.
"You first." She spat back at him, tightening her resolve to have no feelings for him, her hammering heart told her otherwise.
He's a liar, she wildly told herself, don't be taken in by him.
Taking advantage of the moment, wrestling from his grip she ran for the door, as the Condor burst through it.
She slid to halt as he drew out his gun and aimed it at her. To her surprise the Eagle cried out to him not to shoot- to leave her alone. In a defensive stance, he tore his eyes away from her addressing the Condor.
Grunting, he fired a warning shot past her.
Scoping the scene, she viewed her closest escape option, racing to the rusting stairwell she leaped high grabbing the banisters, in swift spiral arcs she worked her way up and out a broken window.
Swinging gracefully onto the roof, sending the old stairwell tumbling in aloud ball of dust and metal onto the two G-force members. It didn't slow them- breaking out of the high window with both the Condor and Eagle in pursuit.
Looking behind her briefly she saw the two of them emerging from a rusty window on the roof.
Her heart racing as she looked back at him from across the yard.
Knowing she should be running, instead she hesitated studying him- Not knowing why he held her captive. The Eagle and the Condor both looked at each other and jumped from the height of the five-story warehouse closing ground between them.
"Why do you kill innocent people? You have Spectran civilians, captive… I'm looking for them." She demanded. Run, her inner voice beckoned her… run.
He slid to a halt, confused. "What do you mean? Spectra are the invaders here, they are the ones bombing our cities closing us off from the rest of Federation with a shield. Why would we want a war with Spectra? Our planet has resources..."
Why would we…she pondered his answer, turning it over in her mind.
She didn't know what to say, she had become confused by a few things she had witnessed in the last few months since arriving on Earth from her home Spectra.
Without another word, she turned and bolted towards her Starfighter.
She ducked as a net with spikes came crashing down on her, eating a ball of dust in her mask, coughing. She drew out her knife and cut through the rope as the Swallow leaped out of his buggy.
"Preeedippp…" I got her!" He boasted.
Launching out of the trap, she instantly shot up her hand catching the bowlers he hurled at her as she ran. She turned and threw them back at him to his surprise. Inside her stomach butterflies ran loose, an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu hit her, with the three members of G-Force following her in tow.
A few meters from her Starfighter she glanced over her shoulder and, saw the Eagle had stopped his tracks. His eyes wide, mouth gapping, as he watched her leaping into the pilot's seat. She fired the engine and lifted off the ground- Her mission accomplished.
He made no attempt to stop her, he appeared frozen on the spot- the Condor drew his gun and fired several shots, his cable anchor bouncing off her fighter, the Swallow jumped into his buggy.
Mala's command came through the intercom. "You're to report to the battle in Dubai. We have secured Tokia and West coast of Ameris. Good diversion Black-Swan...When you arrive I have a job for you to complete. The city is nearing surrender."
"Yes Mala," She confirmed her order, turning her Starfighter away from the battle she headed in the opposite direction to join Mala.
##############################
Arriving towards the end of the attack, she watched the mecha taking down buildings as people ran for their lives the massive machine grinded to a halt before the Lord Mayor of the city. He stood boldly in the middle of square waving a white flag.
Indicating his surrender to Spectra, he stood straight waiting for the verdict.
Green clad troops surrounded him as Zoltar halted the attack to present himself in victory, the mecha doors opened, and like a King he regally marched into the square. Watching him with some distain, she had no liking for the pompous leader.
Landing close by she jumped out of her Starfighter, gathered a few troops and stormed the Lord Mayors office. They had earlier intelligence that President Kane was hiding in the city, and there was a bunker beneath the building.
She speculated, the Lord Mayor's surrender would be to delay Spectra, while Kane was hidden safely until G-force arrived.
Quietly using her fingers to dictate where the troops needed to be she made her way down the spiral stairs and onto a landing. Continuing downwards along a basement corridor. She walked into the kitchen, and tested a door handle what looked to be a walk-in freezer.
"What ya-"One of the troops started to ask. The tilt of her head silenced him.
A confident smile spread across her lips, anticipation grew as she found what she was looking for. Ordinarily the door was as it appeared to be, and the room a normal industrial kitchen freezer. But when she turned the handle the opposite direction a panel popped up. Fiddling with the codes she worked out the sequence.
The door began to change. It turned inwards at an angle closing off the freezer section to lead down another corridor. She had them.
Her stomach in knots, she led the way to arrest President Kane and his cabinet, the final fall of the Federation. They wouldn't have had time to escape the attack without the assistance of G-Force.
Drawing out her stun explosives to begin the attack, she rounded the corner. Something felt wrong, her heart racing as she peered into the huge room.
No one was there.
She walked in with caution, watching for anything unusual- but nothing was out of place except for the lack of people.
It was then she saw the feather dart with a note attached to it. Curiosity drew her to it. Pulling out the feather dart, the crisp white paper crinkled as she read it.
Zoltar,
I left you my calling card an invitation to leave Earth and shrink back to Spectra.
Looks like you're out of luck here. Don't count on us backing down, I'm coming for you and I won't stop.
The Eagle- Commander of G-Force.
Furious she wanted to throw it in frustration. How did he get here that fast?
Impossible she concluded, they must have moved them before the battle began possibly a few hours before.
Remembering her encounter with him, her admiration for her enemy had taken on a new level. She had to admit to finding him to be more alluring than she anticipated. He had a quality about him she liked.
Drawing in a deep breath, it was time to report it to Mala, and knowing what she felt about failure she wasn't looking forward to the meeting.
"Black Swan." She heard Mala's purring voice at the door of the room, swallowing a nervous lump in her throat, she turned to face her sooner than she expected.
The troops were dismissed, by a flick of Mala's finger, her cold stance spoke of displeasure at the empty room.
"Mala…" She addressed her respectfully.
"I expected to walk in here with the president of the federation and his cabinet on his knees."
She extended her hand with the note from the Eagle. Taking it from her, Mala perused the page and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the feather.
Her frosty stance spoke volumes of her displeasure. "You failed…"
"I held them back, they were still scrambling for the their ship-"She reported.
Mala's face twisted in anger, her starchy tone hit her hard. "You failed your mission… I think the Eagle and the Condor secretly smuggled him out a secret passage while we were conquering the city… and you know the punishment for failure."
"They couldn't." She said." The Eagle's jet fighter was damaged during the battle-"
Defiance lacing her words, as she spoke she saw her mistake written in Mala's stiff stance.
"Take-off-your-mask." Mala hissed like a cat, her face contorted in rage.
She stood up straighter, and didn't answer. She knew better than to try and argue the point with Mala, when she had made up her mind on what she considered failure.
Since she woke up on the shuttle she learned Mala's ways quickly.
Pulling her stomach in tight, and strengthening herself for what was to come, she closed her eyes, and pulled off her wig and mask. Without hesitation Mala slapped her hard across the face whipping her head sideways her cheek throbbing, she knew it was just the beginning.
"Yes Mala, I failed…" She answered in a more submissive tone. Mala held up her hand and hit her again- two more Sicarius walked in.
The door closed behind them. Mala pulled out a rod, and extended it.
She was ordered to strip to waist exposing her flesh, and her hands tied above her head.
One of the Sicarius found a high enough place to chain her up in the middle of the room from some metal piping running across the ceiling.
They stood to attention as the punished was delivered.
With each whack of the rod, she cringed, trying not to cry out in pain from each lashing. She kept telling herself she was numb even as the next whack of the rod arched her back distorting her vision, tears stung her eyes.
Avoiding being seen as weak she blinked back the painful tears, and bit her bottom lip until it bled.
Finally, Mala was satisfied she had learned her lesson. Her back bloodied with welts, they untied her hands as she dropped to the floor groping in agony.
"I thought you would have learned to keep your mouth shut by now- eminsolent girl/em." Mala whispered dangerously in her ear.
Weakly she pulled herself up, and her clothing over her back. Stinging pain ripped through her as the leather touched the wounds. Mala ordered her to return to the base on a shuttle and she left the room along with the other two assassins- One small mercy.
She was expected to walk out of there as if nothing had happened.
She buried the jabbing pain with each movement of her body. Blood trickling down her leg inside of her bodysuit- She arranged her mask to hide the painful tears she straightened her wig grimly determined to be strong.
She left the building holding her head high, boarding a transport to the base to clean up the wounds at the medical bay. In these moments, she wondered about her life and the destructive path it was on.
She didn't know why Mala beat her more than the others. When G-Force claimed a victory, she was blamed for it. Her internal pain ran deeper than the raw wounds on her back. She longed to have a sense of touch that didn't involve pain, her thoughts turned to Stinger, he was a reality in her life. The Eagle was a distraction and nothing more.
She was seeing things that didn't make sense to her, what she felt when she encountered the Eagle was more than a casual attraction. He held a quality she didn't see in her leaders.
Curious, she wanted to know more about G-Force, confronting them wouldn't reveal what she needed to know. It was time to do more than that…