With Nomad…
The early morning found Nomad and Clara sleeping together, Clara's wings wrapped around Nomad and Nomad's arms holding her close, if someone were looking…or if Melody cared enough, they'd find the scene adorable. But a knock on the door sounded and it was Nomad who woke up and got up leaving Clara sleeping with a smile on her face.
Nomad opened the door to find Jay who looked surprised and peered to see Clara there sleeping.
"Nomad…did you…?" Jay asks curiously.
"No. We didn't do it, but she is my girlfriend now…long story short, she confessed after finding out what love was" Nomad answers.
"She didn't know what love was?" Jay asks
"Yeah…anyway what did you want?" Nomad asks.
"Higher-ups have made a plan of attack, we move in about two hours, we eat up, do our preparations before leaving and we take down Cortex" Jay said.
"I'll wake Clara up…anything else?" Nomad asks for more info.
"Nah, we'll meet and discuss the plans made…oh and congratulations, guess she fell for the strong dark masked charm of yours." Jay smirks.
"Go do your thing, we'll do ours" Nomad huffs in annoyance.
"Okay but save blowing her mind for AFTER the mission" Jay smirks.
"Jay" Nomad gave a warning growl.
"I'm going" Jay raises their hands as they left.
Nomad sighs…he was sure gonna get a lot of this wasn't he? Especially when Melody finds out…time to wake Clara up…he kinda didn't want to seeing her comfortable there but she wouldn't want to miss her chance to help bring Cortex down.
…
Clara's POV
I feel…shaking…
"…ra! Cla…! Clara! Time to wake up!" I hear Nomad's voice.
"Mmm…Nomad?" I mutter.
"Yes it's me, time to wake up and smell the "bringing down Cortex" Clara" Nomad answers
I open my eyes to see Nomad standing above me and shaking me until I sat up.
"What time is it?" I groggily ask.
"Time to beat Cortex, we gotta get ready to do so, so up you get Clara!" Nomad tells me.
"Yaaaawwwnn…fine…I'll go get showered and dressed." I say as I get up.
"I'll probably be in my room or the meeting room when you're done." Nomad tells me.
"Okay…just one thing…was yesterday a dream?" I ask Nomad.
"Nope, you and I are together" Nomad tells me it's not a dream.
I smile so wide…I'm so happy that wasn't a dream, I had so much fun with Nomad…it's close to what he calls a date but not quite…apparently they involve me wearing a dress we go to some fancy place, eat and talk…not sure why the fancy stuff and the dress needs to be there…
"I'm glad" I say
"So am I, now get ready, we'll be lovey dovey later!" Nomad tells me.
I watch Nomad leave the room and then I head to the shower to clean myself up and then put on my battle outfit…I wonder if these show off my body a lot like Melody says? …where did that one come from?
After a bit of breakfast, I went to find Nomad again who was in the meeting room this time and with Jay and Melody already in there as well. Jay notices me as I came in and waves at me.
"Hey Clara, you're here! Since everyone is here, let's go over the plan of attack as we'll really only get one shot at this, if Cortex does slip away, it will take forever to find him again unless we get lucky as he will go underground. Hell, it was lucky Clara even found the map to his lair" Jay says mostly to all of us.
So turns out the plan is basically a frontal assault…well the agents from the other cities are gonna do it, command is gonna have us sneak in the back way and disrupt their defenses and capture and bring Cortex into custody.
As Jay said…there is only one shot at this, if Cortex slips away it may be forever before we actually find him and I will not let that scientist get away with what he's done to me and the others, he will face justice and then I can finally have safety and Nomad can be mine without worrying about our safeties.
At 4am we were in the helicopter, but not any old helicopter, a stealth one designed to slip past Cortex's radar and the other people didn't…they were going to assault the front and were designed to be noticed so we could get in and if they win their fights they can get inside and we have Cortex surrounded.
I've been dreaming of this day ever since I decided to fight for the CMD, the day Cortex goes down and that day is today, I swear it!
I look at Melody who was just humming to herself, my boyfriend Nomad, who saw me looking…I think he is smiling under there…you can never tell for sure, And Jay who I have no idea what is going on in that head, maybe just thinking all of this over.
"Hey we're almost at the insertion point, get ready to get out" the pilot told us.
We all start paying attention as the helicopter lands on beachside close to the base and we hop out of the helicopter which immediately flies off. We hear a battle on the other side of the base, but what's noticeable is what looks like a blimp with rockets taking up a good portion of the base, that thing is huge and it looks like the blimp from my time in captivity…but didn't Crash Bandicoot and Tawna take that blimp?
Doesn't matter, we have to climb a cliff to get up…well the others can do, I have wings so I take point and keep and eye out until the others climb up the cliff, thankfully no danger came as we got up over the cliff, the next obstacle was this wall surrounding the base, it had barb wire over it which means…
"Clara, you're going to have to lift us over, but first check it's clear" Nomad tells me
"On it" I nod.
I fly up and check it's clear…it's clear and it looks like back door is about 50 meters about 15 degrees to the right.
"It's clear and the door is in that direction close by" I report what's over the wall.
"Good, you'll have to fly us over the wall, can you do that?" Jay asks me
"Yeah, hold on" I say
I grab Jay's hands and fly up, flapping faster as I got him over the wall, I flew back over and repeated the process for Nomad and Melody…Melody couldn't resist a comment about my figure…was tempted to drop her on the barbed wire but I didn't.
"Phew…that took a bit out of me…" I catch my breath
"You okay?" Nomad asks.
"Yeah you guys need to lose some weight…" I groan.
"Funny, I saw you two eating quite a bit together Clara, you two love—" Melody starts.
"Not. Now." Nomad growls in warning.
"Alright, Nomad-Poo" Melody teases.
I blush a bit, guess Melody knew about us…why wouldn't she know about us? Probably was in the vents spying on us…
"Right, let's get in there." Jay points to the door.
Nomad opens the door after a careful bit of lockpicking and we enter the base, it had a style looking a bit like the more tech looking parts of Cortex's Castle…I mean it definitely wasn't The Lab but…thinking about those times makes me shudder, it reminds me of why Cortex needs to go down, that man is evil!
We sneak through the hallways of the base, sounds of battle going on at the other side but we'd be fools to think Cortex wouldn't have a few patrolling just in case…I mean if I was that repulsive scientist…one I'd surrender myself and two I'd never be so bold to assume my enemy can come from one direction.
Huh. Wonder if Nomad's rubbing off on me more than I thought, I'm trying to think tactically about things, I'm glad I met him, he's a tough mentor and I love him because of that big heart he has. I couldn't help but have a smile on my face…I'd be recaptured as an experiment, never to be seen again if it wasn't for him as well as Jay and even Melody.
"Where do you think Cortex is?" I ask Nomad.
"Don't know, but that blimp may be an escape, we need to get there fast" Nomad answers.
We navigated our way through the base, lucky for us the whole base was focused on the battle outside but we did run into a few assistants and took them out before an alarm was raised. We were at this for 20 minutes before we ended up in a vent outside where we needed to go and I heard voices.
" ! Hurry up and fire up the engines we need to leave now, blasted CMD! How did they find our main recapturing operation and our base so quickly!?" a voice sounds.
I know that voice…I'll never forget that voice, Dr. Neo Cortex and he's exiting the room right now!
"Let's move and we need him alive" Jay says.
We drop down from the vents and sprint into the biggest hangar I've ever seen. Cortex was up a lot of stairs near the entrance to the blimp with rockets.
"Dr. Cortex! Freeze!" Jay called out to Cortex.
Cortex turned around to see us approaching.
"How did you four get in here!? You won't catch me, just like every other time you've tried!" Cortex shouts angrily.
"Surrender and you will be put on trial for your crimes!" Nomad shouts.
"Oh who are we kidding, you all know I'd never surrender! I have a date with world domination, Ta Ta!" Cortex laughs as he moves towards the blimp.
Cortex getting away? No! That scientist is not allowed freedom!
"OH YOU DON'T!" I roar.
I fly directly for Cortex at fast speeds but before I can lay my hands on him I felt something hit me really hard in the side and I went flying into a wall…oowwwwww…
"Clara!" I heard Nomad and Jay shout.
I roll myself on my back and look up towards Cortex to see…four people next to them…all of them are clones of us…even a Melody Clone must have been made while I was out…great these guys are the last people I wanted to see and they're blocking our way to Cortex.
"Clara, you okay?" Nomad asks.
"Y-Yeah…" I thumbs up as I get up.
"Looks like the gang's all here, but we cannot allow you to Cortex" Evil Nomad spoke up.
"But you came all this way for a fight…" Evil Jay started.
"So allow us to scratch that itch" Evil Clara finishes while glaring at me.
"I hope you like death, because that's where you'll be staying for eternity" The Evil Melody seriously gave off a deadly vibe.
I'm getting really sick of these guys! Never learn to go away do they?
"So that's my clone huh? What did you guys do with my DNA? I thought with it you'd make me with bigger breasts or a sexy French accent but you did serious assassin type, really? Disappointed!" Melody expressed her disappointment
"Hmph, be disappointed while you can, because soon you will have room for no emotion at all" Evil Melody spoke.
"Let's get down to business, let's get them!" Evil Nomad says
Every clone went for their person and I found my clone charging at me shooting crossbow bolts as I was forced to move fast to dodge all of her bolts and I shot an arrow back in kind but we both got out our swords and started clashing as I saw the others fighting with their guns and such.
"You sure are persistent I'll give you that" My clone tells me.
"Says you, I'd have thought you'd known better than come back after I sent you running!" I growl back.
"You got lucky is all, besides, she who runs lives to get her goal another day" Evil Clara responds.
I dodge a flurry of strikes from my evil clone and then give her a kick to the face which she responds with one that knocked me on my back and forcing me to block a blow with both my swords.
"This would be so much easier if you just join me, all those others over there and Cortex are nothing to us, you've seen us both, we may have weak bodies but the pain, the anger, the violence makes us stronger!" My clone tells me.
I kick my clone back and get on my feet, I need to get past her so I can stop Cortex leaving, I will not fail here! Especially not to this disgrace of a clone who thinks she's better than everyone else! I feel my aura flare up as light blue starts to show up around my body again.
RUUUUUUUMMMBBBBLLLEEEE!
I watch as the Blimp was taking off…Cortex was going to get away…I could fly and try to make it…but will Nomad and the others survive here? I really don't want to leave them but if Cortex leaves…I refuse to let that scientist escape from me! I have to act quick!
"Hey!" Evil Clara gets my attention.
I block strikes easily and then grab her hands and force her sword out of her hand, kick her to the ground, sheathe my swords and then spin her in a circle and throw her into a wall. This is my chance, I see a platform above me and I can run along to get enough speed. I jump up to it and land on it
"GET BACK HERE!" My Evil Clone yelled after me.
"We'll finish this later" I shot back.
I start running after the blimp which was leaving the hangar, gaining as much speed as I possibly can using my aura to boost my speed immensely and sprint like I've never sprinted before and then I leap off the platform and start flying as the blimp leaves the hangar.
I fly as fast as I can as both the blimp and I gain altitude, I spot a door on the side which I am getting closer and closer to but I'm getting too high, I need to get inside quick, I am starting to feel light headed and the blimp is getting faster and faster. Come on…almost there…got the handle for the door!
I find myself hanging on as the ground was below the clouds and the blueness of the sky was disappearing in favor of black and I can't breathe right now, I got to get this door open. Come. On! OPEN! I'm running out of air! There! Get this thing more open so I can slip inside. I got inside, now to close the door…no air…can't stay up…
CLICK!
The door closes and air starts flow through the airlock as I collapse to the ground and start gasping with air as I lay on my back, catching my breath. After a minute I get back up, this is no time to be resting, I look out the window of the door I just came in…I'm in space…is that Earth down there? No I can't sightsee right now either.
I open the door inside and thankfully there seems to be nobody in this room…I'm all by myself…It's up to me to bring Cortex to justice, no back-up, no nothing, probably out of my mind doing this but…I guess nobody can ever say I didn't try. I walk towards the door on the other side of the room, here goes nothing…