AU #1: I plan on switching from first-person to third-person. I feel like the detail is limited when I only write in Cara's POV. I want to be able to portray all the characters in depth.

AU #2: I'm aware that Cara probably sounds like the definition of a 'Mary-Sue' right now, but I plan on developing her character as the story progresses. I want her weak in the beginning so I can have the future experiences change her. This story is still very much in its prime.

AU #3: Oh, and do people not write reviews anymore? I only ask because I had crazy views for this story, and one other, but hardly any reviews. Is that a thing now or is this fandom not as alive as I thought it was? Lol. It has been a while since I've been on here, so if things have changed, let me know. Lol.

She's Worth Defending

Chapter 3: Hello, Haven

T/M - Borderline 'M' for the use of foul language and violence. (I used my least favorite word in the world. I hate myself.)

All I could hear was the alarm. It rang numbly in my clouded head, but got louder, clearer, and more familiar as the seconds passed. I struggled to open my eyes; they blinked, fluttered, and repeatedly shut with every attempt. When I finally could keep them open, I noticed I was looking at my feet, which were being dragged along the hallway of a corridor. With my vision still blurry, I used my peripherals and saw two other pairs of feet, which were sporting uniform boots, on both sides of me. Momentarily, the corridor would get dark until the bright red light from the alarm would swivel back around.

'Hellcat is ready to go at the motor pool.' I heard to my left. A communicator beeped. Whoever was to my left snatched their communicator from their belt and responded, "Bringing soldier now for immediate extraction and transfer." The communicator beeped once more.

"We good?" The person to the right of me asked.

"Yeah," The other responded, stopping momentarily to hoist his shoulder in a more comfortable position under my arm.

I was then fully aware of what was going on. Not only was I being dragged down a dark corridor at HQ, but I also was being transferred. I have never heard of a transfer that didn't result in a soldier, or anyone, being exiled to the Wastelands. I wasn't about to be punished for doing the right thing.

I attempted to plant my feet firmly on the ground, but slid and lost balance once or twice before I regained my footing. The men, who were in their Krimzon Guard uniforms, with only one sporting his helmet, stumbled a bit and yanked roughly before noticing that I was on my feet. Upon noticing that they were no longer carrying a limp body, they quickly turned their heads.

"No!" The one on my left pulled on my arm. "Grab her! C'mon!" He yelled to his partner. The other guard was already ahead of him and pulled on my other arm. I felt like they were going to be dislocated from my sockets.

I'm not that much of a fighter, but at that moment, I needed to get away. I needed to do anything to prevent me from being exiled, or 'transferred', to my untimely death. Unfortunately, I had no advantage against these guards. They were trained in combat more than me; I am a medic, after all, but they were also men. Two men. I came to thinking though: they already planned to have me killed. What's the worst that could happen?

Right as the guard on my left was about to snatch me up, I threw an elbow out and jabbed him, unintentionally, in the temple. Without even a simple shriek, the man went limp and fell to the ground; his weapon and a manila folder fell to the floor with him. I had no time to reminisce over the fact that I probably just killed a man, for the remaining guard grabbed me. His fully equipped arms wrapped around my upper arms, rendering me unable to attempt another swing. I started to push back with my feet, which was tough, but I managed to run back, causing both the guard and I to hit a wall. Both of us grunted upon impact, which you could barely hear over the ongoing alarm.

"You fuckin' bitch! I'll kill you!" The guard temporarily let go of my arm. I thought this was my chance to break free, but a shimmer of something reflected off the red light and I was pulled back against his chest. The guard yelled and I felt the sharp, deep pain of a blade in my thigh.

I couldn't help but scream and bend over at the pain. I looked at my thigh quickly when the red of alarm spun back around to only see the handle of the blade in my thigh. My leg shook and my ears rang as I saw the blood circle around my wound. The guard put his arm around my neck and started to choke me. He grunted every time he squeezed tighter around my neck and all I could do was use both of my hands to try and pry his arm off, but I had no such luck. I started to kick my legs frantically, the bottoms of my shoes squeaking against the floor, and started coughing. He started to lower himself slowly, taking me with him, but did not loosen his grip.

With the utmost desperation, I lifted my arm, with as much strength as I could muster, and drew my elbow into the guard's ribcage. He bellowed in pain and squeezed tighter. I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head, but I outstretched my arm again and dug my elbow into his ribs a second time.

He released me and I didn't hesitate to inhale deeply. I couldn't help but stumble and place my hands on my knees and bend over, coughing in exhaustion. I was quick to be stood up though, for the Krimzon Guard, who was once my ally, spun me around to face him. All I had time to register was his arm crashing down; laying a tight fist against my face. I've never been punched in the face before.

Just like a ragdoll, I hit the ground. Hard. I quickly looked back up to see him standing there.

"You're…so…fucked," He said. His chest heaved with every exhausted word that he said. He started to walk over to me, his posture intimidating; he knew he won. I knew I was going to die. Not in the Wastelands, but right here.

I turned over to face him completely and propped my upper body up by my hands. I felt something.

The other guard's weapon.

"You're gonna wish you were exiled to die after I'm through with you!" He yelled as he lunged at me.

Even after everything, I didn't want to have to do this.

With haste, I grabbed the gun that was left unnoticed by the attacking guard, and propped it up, pointing it directly at him. He didn't even have time to react.

I pulled the trigger.

Just like the other guard, there was no noise. Nothing. I watched his face go emotionless while he was still on his feet. He dropped to his knees and fell to his side.

I dropped the gun to my side and frantically scooted back. I was then reminded that I still had a knife buried into my thigh. I just looked at it. This has never happened to me before. I was so used to removing sharp objects and bullets from my fellow comrades, two of them that I just killed, that I froze up. Still breathing heavily from the fight, I gently placed a hand on the handle of the knife. It sent a shiver through my whole body. I hissed slightly and wrapped my fingers tightly around the handle. I winced and started to pull, only for me to let go and start to cry.

I had to do this.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the knife handle once more and began to pull it from my thigh. I watched as I could see the blade, which was covered in blood, slowly appear. I screamed and cried hysterically as I removed it completely, throwing it down the hall right after.

I took a moment to lean back and sob. I looked to my wound, which was now pouring more blood than I probably needed to survive. I passed a glance between the two guards, who now were lying motionless on the floor. I couldn't help but let out an exaggerated yell before starting to cry once more.

I was going to be killed for not doing my job, but I killed these men, men that probably had families and loved ones, for doing their job.

I sat there for another five minutes, crying into my knees that were bent up near my face. I was no longer crying over the pain from my injury or the death of the guards; I was crying out of frustration. Why was this happening to me? Of all people, I felt as if I always made the right decision, or, at least, tried.

I needed to escape the HQ.

I forced myself to stand and with one leg and leaned against the wall behind me. How was I going to leave undetected?

I looked to the guard closest to me; the one who didn't have a bullet through his chest.

After some careful thought, I hopped over to him and knelt down. I slowly started to dissemble his armor, as if going slower showed any respect after brutally killing him. I turned him on his side as I pried off the last of his chest and shoulder armor.

I slipped on the bottom half of the armor and then slipped the top armor over my shoulders. I looked down to the guard whose armor I just removed.

I'm so sorry.

I then noticed the manila folder that was next to him on the ground, unopened. I picked it up and was about to open it until I heard footsteps and talking around the corner. I quickly knelt back down and removed the guard's helmet of which was once my biggest attacker. I studied his face momentarily.

Yes, I knew him.

I put on the helmet and moved into a dark alcove of the hallway just in time for more guards to come around the corner.

Two guards sauntered down the hallway, not noticing the two casualties at first.

"Yeah, she's a good gal though. We've been through-…"

"What the fuck?" One of the guards said. They both took one look at the bodies before taking action and requesting backup on their communicators.

"He's been here! Requesting backup in corridor B43! Two casualties!" One shouted into his communicator as they both picked up speed and ran back down the hallway in the direction that they came.

He?

I slowly walked out into the hallway, but cowered when another alarm, that sounded more like a siren, went off a long with the original alarm. The second alarm, though, was accompanied with a blinking light that was two seconds away from being a strobe light. The HQ was chaos.

I started to walk down the hallway in the direction of the guards that just left. I tried my hardest not to limp and draw attention to myself, which was hard with all the armor, but I managed. I turned the corner to see multiple guards pouring through the following hallway, passing by me in the opposite direction. I kept trudging a long.

I went down multiples hallways only to be greeted by the same thing. Waves of guards headed the other direction, but only one mentioned that I 'needed to turn my ass back around', but he didn't bother to stop, thankfully.

Through my helmet I saw the long-awaited 'Emergency Exit' sign, but it required me to go down one more hallway.

I turned that corner to see more guards, accompanied by Comm. Erol.

"What do you mean she escaped?" Comm. Erol yelled to the guard next to him as they walked right past me.

"The guards that were assigned to transfer her are dead." The guard responded.

"It wouldn't surprise me if she had something worked out with that Eco Freak! There's no way in hell that Cara could take them out on her own!" Comm. Erol retorted.

"What do you want us to do if we find her?"

Comm. Erol yelled loud enough to make eavesdropping while clanking around in heavy metal fairly easy. "It's not if, it's when! I don't care what you do; just make sure she's taken care of! That useless cunt isn't worth shit anymore!"

After they turned the corner, I ran as fast I could to the emergency exit that was directly in front of me, but at the end of the hallway. I no longer hid my limp or my heavy, obviously female, breathing. As I breached through the exit, I turned to look up at the HQ and stared at it through my helmet. My time as a Krimzon Guard was over.

I turned away and limped my way into the slums of Haven City.

I felt like I was lost, even though I knew this city like the back of my hand. I was dizzy, hurting, and could barely register everything that happened earlier.

It was getting dark, but thankfully, I was in an area of the city that wasn't crawling with people. I was walking through a quiet neighborhood of Haven, one small streetlight illuminating a circle on the sand that I walked on. The apartments looked dirty, as usual, and were piled on top of each other.

Suddenly, as if I wasn't even in control of my own body anymore, I fell to my knees. My breathing became heavy and I couldn't even help it. I watched my hands hit the sand right before me. I tried to look around, but all I could see were blurry images. My ears started to ring and right after, I fell to the ground.

A shadow emerged from a small crevice of the apartment buildings.

"Heh, what do we have here?" A raspy voice chuckled and approached the body of a Krimzon Guard that remained motionless on the ground. The person knelt down and started to rummage through a pack that was attached to the guard's armor.

"What do you got for me?" Upon opening the last pocket of the pack, the unknown person smirked when removing some medic supplies and one vile of Green Eco.

"Thank you, kind sir." The person said, sarcastically. He tossed the vile, which spun in the air, before catching it.

He leaned forward and started to remove the guard's helmet. "Let's see the face of the awesome piece of shit that offered me some Green Eco." He started to laugh until he completely removed the helmet to see a woman.

"...Cara?" His eyes widened, the tattooed lines on his face stretched with his expression. He dropped the helmet, which rolled away carelessly, as he quickly stood up as if to ditch the body.

The tattooed man looked around before he knelt back down and picked the female guard and a manila folder up off the ground. He continued to look around as he made his away from their current spot. He would look at her ever so often as he carried her, but kept a stern look every time he passed a glance.