Lucina was not looking forward to fighting Blood Falcon again. It was the one thought that hung at the back of her mind as she moved closer to the hangar door. Her encounter with him was short, but she could still feel the bruises all over her skin.
At least this time, I probably won't be the one taking the hits, she thought, pressing herself to the side of the hangar. Her eyes flicked to Captain Falcon standing in front of her, his face set in a cocky grin.
Lucina frowned. She'd have thought someone like him would have taken this a little more seriously, but in the end, what did it matter? He probably wasn't a world-class bounty hunter for nothing, and as long as he got the job done, she would keep her complaints to herself.
Captain Falcon took a brief look inside the hangar, before he signaled her forward. Lucina stepped out, gun raised. The only sound she heard was the low hum of the lights outside and the flickering flames not too far behind.
Lucina stepped inside. The sound echoed through the hollow space. She flinched.
No response. That meant he was either hiding, or he hadn't heard her.
She glanced up at the cargo plane looming over her.
Was this what he had been after? What was he trying to do? Was he trying to steal it? If he needed to steal a plane, he could have picked a smaller one, and he had no reason to come to such a heavily guarded place. Then was he trying to steal something inside?
A government airfield would have an assortment of illegal things. If Blood Falcon needed anything off the charts, this would be the place.
Lucina made a mental note to ask what was on that plane later. But first, she needed to make sure Blood Falcon didn't get away with whatever he was stealing first.
She scanned left and right. Equipment was scattered over an array of cabinets pressed to the walls, and a few exits were scattered about, all of them closed. Her eyes roamed over every shape in the dark. Nothing seemed out of place.
Carefully, she approached the plane. Its front was closed, but there was no mistaking the massive smoldering hole ripped straight through the nose.
Behind her, she could hear Captain Falcon's footsteps. Though not particularly loud, in the dead air they swelled into a painfully obvious presence in her ears.
Would it hurt him to be a little quieter? Lucina thought, but kept it to herself.
Reaching the cargo plane, Lucina stepped to the side. She beckoned for him to go first. Captain Falcon flashed her a smile. Before Lucina could process whatever that was, he disappeared inside.
"Was he winking at me?" she muttered to herself. She shook her head. "No, I think he was probably doing a weird sideways blink or something like that."
Following him inside, Lucina raised her head to look over his shoulder. Massive crates lay scattered around the inside of the plane, all of them held in place to a set of tracks running over the floor by bright red straps. The tangle of boxes only became more cluttered the deeper they went inside, and the cramped space did little to mask their presence. Every step they took echoed within the confines of the plane. Further ahead, she could hear Blood Falcon's footsteps as well, quick and frantic.
He was searching for something. Once he had it, Lucina guessed he would bolt instead of taking his chances with the two of them.
Captain Falcon stopped. So did Lucina. She shot him a confused look. Captain Falcon motioned to the right.
It took her a moment to realize he was motioning for her to go right.
"Splitting up?" she murmured. "That hardly seems like the smartest idea."
Captain Falcon shot her a smirk. "Trust me, miss. You take him from the other side. I'll take him from this one. He won't even see it coming."
"If he sees me coming this time, I'll be suffering a bit more than a few bruises. Sticking together is our best bet."
"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll be here to make sure you're still in one piece. What could be the worst that could happen?"
"What could be the worst that could–" Lucina cut herself off. She frowned. Something was off. But what?
The footsteps had ceased. Blood Falcon had either found what he was looking for, or...
"Move!" Lucina yelled.
"Wha–"
A train of boxes snapped free of its constraints and flew toward them. Lucina ducked to the left. Captain Falcon was not nearly as lucky. The boxes rammed into him and crushed him against the wall with a loud crack.
Lucina glanced back. Blood Falcon stood at the end of the line, his foot still smoking. His eyes met hers. He smirked.
Lucina hissed. That couldn't be good.
His gun came up. Hers was faster.
Bang!
Her shot pinged off the empty wall. Blood Falcon disappeared behind a crate. Lucina fired again. A hole ripped through the crate behind.
Wood creaked. Blood Falcon tore the crate out of its strappings and, with it in front of him, he charged. Lucina unloaded her gun into the crate to slow it. No such luck.
Dammit. Where's Captain Falcon when you need him? Lucina glanced behind. The pile of wood scraps was the same as it was before.
The crate was almost upon her. Cursing, Lucina threw herself to the side. Blood Falcon hurled the crate away and lunged after him.
Lucina aimed at him. Fired. Blood Falcon wrenched her arm away. The shot pinged off the ceiling. Blood Falcon smirked in her face.
Lucina replied with a kick to his chest. Blood Falcon stumbled back with a gasp. Lucina raised her gun at him again and fired.
A blur streaked across her vision. Lucina cursed again and swung her gun to the floor. Her shot dove into the ground as Captain Falcon swooped in to bat Blood Falcon away at the worst possible time.
What are you doing? I almost shot you! Lucina almost said, but she trapped her words behind clenched teeth.
The two of them intertwined together in a streak of blue and red. Punches and kicks flew across her vision so quickly she could hardly keep track of them. All the fire flying around wasn't helping either. The heat warped her vision and scorched her skin just from standing so close to it. Lucina stepped away, gun still raised.
An opening. She needed an opening to land a shot. Rather hard to do when she couldn't even tell what was happening.
Captain Falcon's head snapped back in the air from a hit she couldn't see. Blood Falcon slammed into the side from a strike she only registered a second after the impact. A kick crashed to the floor. By the time Lucina realized that Captain Falcon had deflected that there, he was already rearing back for another punch.
His fist smashed into Blood Falcon's chest. Blood Falcon staggered away. Lucina's gun snapped onto him. Falcon rushed in before she could take the shot. Lucina groaned.
Dammit. Why can't they just stand still?
At that second, Captain Falcon missed. Lucina could tell this time because of how much he'd extended his arm over Blood Falcon. How long it took for him to move again.
Blood Falcon took the chance and seized it with both hands. He slammed his elbow into Captain Falcon's gut. He drove his knee into Captain Falcon's chin. He grabbed Captain Falcon's collar and hurled him into a crate, splattering the walls with wooden shrapnel.
Lucina fired down at him. A bullet tore into his shoulder. Blood Falcon's grin faltered. Anyone else would have stopped.
Blood Falcon threw himself at her.
Caught off guard by such a reckless tactic, Lucina didn't have enough time to pull the trigger a second time before he was upon her. Blood Falcon grabbed her wrist and slammed it into the wall. The metal of the plane warped around her and punctured her skin. Blood pooled in the gaps between the twisted steel.
Lucina barely noticed. Blood Falcon punched her twice in the gut. He smashed a fist into her chin. Lucina's head jerked back and slammed into the wall. He kicked the side of her head.
Lucina caught it on the side of her arm. Blood Falcon's eyes widened in surprise. Lucina didn't give him the chance to recover and smashed the hilt of her gun into his temple.
Blood Falcon staggered back into a crate. He clutched his helmet and groaned. Lucina aimed her gun up at him again. Two more holes appeared where his leg would have been. Blood Falcon ducked under her shots and tackled her.
Lucina raised her arm and came down hard. Blood Falcon's head slammed into the floor. Lucina drew closer to the wall and raised her gun to shoot. Blood Falcon was back on his feet already. Flames leaped to life around his arms, streaking behind him as he charged.
He swung. Lucina blocked it with her arm. The flames bit into her flesh and clawed through her sleeves like red hot razors. Lucina pushed through it and pushed him back. Blood Falcon reversed the momentum and came at her with a spinning kick.
Lucina leaned back. His foot ripped into a crate beside her. Lucina swung to force him away.
A hook came from over her shoulder. Lucina was only fast enough to register it as yellow before it clocked her in the face and sent her tumbling into a nearby crate. Bits of wood stabbed into her back and her head rang like a bell. Through the muddled mess that was her head, she heard Captain Falcon yell "I'm sorry!" as a red shape reached over her head.
The blob she assumed to be Blood Falcon and Captain Falcon disappeared behind the crates again, and Lucina reached for the throbbing at the back of her head. When her hand came away with a vaguely red-shaped splotch, she could only sigh. This really was not her day.
Slowly, she pulled herself out of the crate.
Slowly, her vision straightened out.
She dragged herself along the nearby crates and back out into the middle of the cargo bay. Just in time to see Blood Falcon shoot Captain Falcon in the foot.
"Gah!" Captain Falcon cried out.
Blood Falcon didn't give him the chance to add to that. He grabbed Captain Falcon by the neck and slammed him into a nearby crate. Then he grabbed the crate above him and wrenched it out, sending the rest of the crates tumbling down around him and burying him under a pile of planks.
Lucina's gaze met his. Her gun snapped to him.
Blood Falcon just grinned.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said.
Lucina's eyes narrowed. "Give me one reason not to."
"Well, for one, if you shoot me, how are you going to save our lucky man this explosion?"
"Explosion? What explosion?"
Blood Falcon's smile widened. Then, he moved. Lucina fired. The bullet disappeared, engulfed by Blood Falcon's flames as he swung for the bottom of the plane. His blow tore through the steel plating.
"This one, of course," he said, and he stepped away. "That, miss, was the fuel tank. In a minute or so, it's going to blow. You take me out, and I'll guarantee you won't have enough time to save the good Captain. So," he said, tapping the side of his helmet, "what'll it be?"
With that, he spun on his heel and broke into a sprint. Lucina's eyes trailed after him. Her finger brushed against the trigger.
One shot. She could cripple him. Bring him in for questioning. It was what she should do, as an officer of the law.
Her eyes flicked down to the pile of crates.
Captain Falcon didn't need her to save him. He was the world's finest bounty hunter. He had probably survived scuffles worse than this, and if he died–well, he was an independent bounty hunter, wasn't he? He had to know the risks, going into a job as dangerous as this. He wasn't his responsibility.
Lucina glanced back at Blood Falcon. He'd disappeared already. She could chase after him. Or she could save Captain Falcon.
"He punched me in the jaw," she muttered.
Like that was a good basis for negligence. Already regretting her choice, Lucina bent down and started tearing away bits and pieces of wood.
Falcon awoke to the ear-piercing wails of alarms. With a groan, he forced his eyes open.
He awoke to the sight of the officer from before standing over him with a frown on her face. The bright wisps of orange and red reflected in her eyes as she watched it from afar.
"What–ugh." Falcon rubbed the top of his head. "What happened?"
The officer's eyes snapped to him, and they narrowed. "He got away."
"Who?"
"Blood Falcon."
"Oh." Falcon punched the ground. "Dammit."
The officer didn't reply. Her brows pulled down. She was probably as displeased as him, if not moreso.
Falcon chuckled. One of the benefits of being an independent bounty hunter, he supposed, was that he didn't have to deal with all the bureaucratic nonsense involved with property damage and all that. He did not envy her in the slightest.
"What am I going to do now?" he asked himself.
"Aren't you the world's greatest bounty hunter or something? You should know how to track a criminal yourself."
"I do. I just... think I'll need to sleep on this."
"Sure. You do that." The officer turned around. "I shall get started on cleaning up this mess."
As she walked away, Falcon heard someone yell over his head, "Goddammit Fox! I told you letting strangers into the field was a bad idea."
How this has ended up being the story that I update consistently over my other stories, I have no idea. I guess having the first few paragraphs of this chapter pre-written helps.
Anyway, with that, the first encounter just about wraps up! Wonder what kind of first impressions they've made on each other. They do say first impressions are everything, after all. Now I can get back to writing stuff that isn't action, which'll be nice if I can sort out myself well enough to put together some nice calm stuff. I guess having a simpler story to work on is a very nice change of pace from having to strictly adhere myself to all the rules and characters of bigger, more expansive fics.
I do hope I'll be able to keep this bi-weekly streak up. Until then, remember to take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!
