"Raven!"
"Uuuuunnnngggghhhh…."
She rolled over and pulled the mangled quilt over her head, not wanting to hear that the morning had come to ruin her peaceful night of sleep. Why couldn't they have scheduled the trade for NOON? Not 7 in the FREAKING MORNING.
She figured if The Creator wanted her to see the sunrise, He would have put it in the middle of the DAY.
"Raven!"
"Oh come oooooonnn" Raven grumbled, peeking out from the quilt and looking towards the closed door. "It can NOT be 6 yet."
"You're right. It's not 6." came Zero's voice from the other side of the door, sounding unamused. "It's 6:45. If we're not there in fifteen minutes, we're going to have the ENTIRE Neo Arcadian army knocking at our door!"
"More like 'blowing up your door'." another more sarcastic voice muttered.
"Jaken, get her to the transporter."
"YOU try dragging a FLYER down a hall she doesn't want to go down!" Jaken's voice groched. "MOVE...IT….YOU….LITTLE- GAH!"
Someone KICKED the door. "RAVEN NOIR, GET YOUR ASS OUTTA BED SO I CAN GO HOME!"
Raven's head suddenly popped out of the blanket, a perplexed look on her face. Was that Foxfire?...Did she just-
"Miss Foxfire!" Zero growled from the other side of the door. "I've tried asking nicely, but you're trying my patienc-"
"'Asking nicely'? You barging into my cell, putting these rusty things on my arms and saying 'Let's go' is 'ASKING NICELY'? Pah! Typical!"
"Oh my G-...Jaken, PLEASE get her to the transporter!" Zero groaned. "Raven! You were the one who wanted to come along, and if you're not out of that room in the next thirty seconds, I'm going to CARRY you out!"
Raven made a face before letting off a scoff. "You. Wouldn't. Dare."
In the transporter room, Colbor was trying to tighten Foxfire's handcuffs...only for the key to slip right out of his hands, and the cuffs to slid off her wrists. Panicking, Colbor tried to fumble around to get the cuffs off the ground, but when he stood up, Foxfire had her arms crossed and her nose in the air.
"No."
Several Rebel soldiers looked towards one another, looking bewildered. A couple of them aimed their blasters at Foxfire...but still, she wouldn't budge.
"M-M-Miss Foxfire...please." Colbor rubbed the back of his helmet. "C-...Considering you spared m-my life….I really don't want to give the order to shoot."
"And You WONT give the order to shoot. You know why?" Foxfire glanced towards him, a sneer on her face. "Because if you DO, Commander Sage Harpuia and the rest of the Guardians will locate your base and obliterate it to nothing. Got it?"
Colbor shrunk lightly...but Jaken marched over to Foxfire and flailed his arms around. "And what makes you think you're SOOOOO special, Little Lieutenant!? Are we supposed to believe that you have some sort of special ability that's sooooo precious to the Guardians? The Guardians are loyal to that BLASTED Clone of X! Not you!"
Foxfire rose her eyebrow at Jaken...even HE was calling Master X a clone...she shook it off and scoffed.
"Believe what you want, grandfather clock, but I speak the truth."
"MY NAME IS JAKEN!"
Before Foxfire could make a retort, she looked past Jaken and her mouth hung open, a look of bewilderment on her face. Jaken seethed for two seconds, before his curiosity got the better of him. Turning, Jaken's face fell flat….
Seeing Zero marching into the transporter room with Raven's Naginata and blaster in one hand, while Raven herself was SLUNG over his other shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"PUT ME DOWN YOU OUTDATED NO GOOD EXCUSE OF AN OLD MAVERICK HUNTER!" Raven screamed as he entered the room, his face absolutely deadpanned to the world.
"Let's head out then." Zero droned. "We don't have all day about it."
***NA***
The sounds of blows landed could be heard in the room over, and over, and over again. Many of the blows sounded like little pings, while others sounded like metal SLAMMING across other metal.
"YOU!"
Clang!
"ABSOLUTE!"
Twang!
"IDIOT!"
CRASH!
Sobek found himself SLAMMED into another wall and tried getting up, only to have his face SMOOSHED against the ground once more.
Standing over him- more like LOOMING over him, was Shadow, who had Sobek's helmet firmly in his grip and was seething.
Grabbing the Lieutenant of the Scorched Earth Squadron, Shadow CHUCKED Sobek in the air and SLAMMED his knee into Sobek's mid section, causing the blue-clad reploid to land on his back, groaning.
Shadow landed a few feet away, storming for Sobek, only for Sandstorm to quickly catch the ninja from behind and hold him off the ground a few feet.
"Comon, Shadow...take it eas- GAH!" Sandstorm found his head JERKED back when Shadow practically backflipped, STILL in the larger reploid's grip, causing Sandstorm to stumble back and land SMACK on his face.
"Owwww…"
"Take it EASY?" Shadow snarled pointing at Sandstorm and Sobek accusingly. "You want me to 'TAKE IT EASY'?! I'm gone for two weeks. TWO. WEEKS! How am I supposed to 'TAKE IT EASY', when Foxfire is IN THE HANDS OF MAVERICK SCUM?!"
Before the ninja Lieutenant could continue his onslaught, he was stopped by Harpuia grabbing him by the shoulder. "Shadow that's enough!" He growled, though his glare was mostly on Sobek.
"We're handling it." He motioned towards the large crate that other reploid soldiers were preparing for transport. For a moment, Harpuia seemed to ponder, before looking towards his own Lieutenant.
"Shadow, you're in charge while we're gone." He instructed, letting go of the ninja and heading for the supplies that were ready for transport.
"Hey!"
"What about us?" Sobek and Sandstorm called from the ground, watching as the other three Guardians just walked past them, unbothered by the display.
"Shadow, make sure Sobek stays on the ground." Leviathan crooned as she walked towards the transporter.
"Sandstorm could use a few kicks too." Fefnir pipped, looking thoughtful as he walked by. "Keep him on his toes."
"Oh so he can take the fall for your mistake?" Phantom grumbled, also following the other guardians.
"Pretty much." Fefnir replied, earning a pathetic look from Sandstorm.
"OH COME ON, I wasn't even THERE!" the orange armored reploid whined as the four Guardians teleported away.
For a moment, all was still in the transport room, the only sounds being machinery and other reploids typing on keyboards. It stayed in this silence, before a loud CLANG was heard as Shadow went back to beating the crap out of Sobek.
One by one, the Four Guardians made their way to a dry and barren wasteland, the container of goodies appearing beside Fefnir. All was quiet, aside from the dry wind of the desert. For a while, it looked like the four were alone.
Harpuia narrowed his eyes and scanned the area, looking for any movement, or any possible traps that could have been laid out.
From what he saw, it was only them.
"This better not be a trap." Fefnir snarled, arming his blaster and sneering. "Because someone is going to taste my BLASTER if it is."
"They'll be tasting MUCH MORE than JUST your blaster." Phantom crooned, crossing his arms and sneering. "So….SO much more…."
"Everyone stay en pointe." Harpuia growled, taking out his Z Sabers and powering them up. "We're not sure what to expect."
"I know what to expect." Phantom snarled, glaring at one of his kunai blades that he had a deathgrip on. "I know EXACTLY...what t-"
WHHIRRIIPP!
The Guardian's heads snapped over towards an area of the wasteland, seeing Zero materialize out of nothingness. He had his Z Sword out and activated, and he kept a sharp eye on each and every one of the four Guardians in front of him.
All of them had their weapons out and ready, and behind them was a large containment unit that looked locked.
Zero narrowed his eyes slightly. He was going to have to make sure there were no…'surprises' in that thing.
"Isn't it JUST LIKE a MAVERICK to show up without what was promised?" Fefnir suddenly bellowed towards Zero, aiming his blaster at the long haired reploid. "I'll teach YOU to show up empty-handed!"
"Fefnir-" Harpuia put up a hand, but Fefnir had already taken a single shot towards Zero.
As he did so, Raven and Foxfire teleported into view, Raven holding Foxfire's right arm behind her and pushing her forwards...before the two girl's eyes widened at what had NARROWLY missed Zero, and was coming right for-
"GAH!"
The blast singed past Foxfire's left shoulder, causing damage to her arm and exposing circuits and wires from within. Out of instinct Foxfire flinched and stumbled back a moment, being caught by Raven for support... before she looked towards the wound...and looked back towards Fefnir, a stunned look on her face.
On the other side of the field. Fefnir suddenly paused and made a face...HECK all FOUR of the Guardians had stunned looks on their faces...before they all looked towards Fefnir in accusation.
Quickly putting up his hands, Fefnir let off a small "Uh...oops?"
"You trigger happy little sh-" Phantom started to snarl, before Leviathan GRABBED Fefnir by his helm fin.
"OW! HEY-" Fefnir began to whine, before Leviathan gave off an angry smile and growled through her teeth. "Fefnir and I will be waiting at base…" She snarled. After a moment, both she and Fefnir teleported away, leaving the rest on the field to awkwardly anticipate the next move.
Harpuia slowly looked back towards Zero, glancing towards Raven and Foxfire, who were both looking at Foxfire's wound, perplexed looks on their faces.
Fefnir you idiot...Harpuia grumbled to himself, straightening up and glaring towards Zero.
"...Now...shall we proceed?" Harpuia asked, trying to clear his throat, while Phantom stood beside his oldest brother, seething and his eyes practically glowing a ruby color.
Zero's eye twitched lightly at the mear SIGHT of Phantom.
...boy...Raven hadn't been kidding when she had spook nothing but doom and gloom about Phantom's rage at this whole ordeal.
Behind him, Foxfire was looking at her arm, watching it sparking from the loss of energy. Wires and circuitry were sticking out and it looked like a blue substance was coming out of it. Pursing her lips, Foxfire made a mental note of all the repairs she would have to do on it. It wasn't the first time something had happened to her arm.
HECK, usually when damage was done, it was to her legs where it was EASIER to take care of herself! Foxfire narrowed her eyes slightly...how was she going to convince Phantom to let her take care of this one on her own?
"Hey…"
Foxfire jumped slightly and glanced towards Raven, who was giving her a slightly concerned look. "...you ok?"
Foxfire was silent for a moment, before slowly nodding. "Yeah. I can fix it later." she mumbled. After a moment of silence, she looked away from Raven and towards Zero and Harpuia. It didn't stop her from glancing towards Phantom…
...Who looked like he was going to rip Fefnir's arm off.
"Now that we've gotten the pleasantries out of the way." Zero muttered, keeping his weapon up, "Step away from the container."
"Absolutely not." Harpuia growled, holding his own weapons up and making a motion towards Raven. "You think we're going to let you make off with a containment unit full of goods while you still have our Lieutenant in your custody?"
"Stepping away from the goods is the first part of the bargain." Zero replied lowly...to which he heard Foxfire scoff behind him.
"Oh NICE. I've gone from 'prized intelligence officer' to 'goods up for barter'." she scoffed sarcastically. "Boy, Dr. Wily would be SO. PROUD. Of you, wouldn't he?"
At the comment, Zero noticeably tensed and gave a dark look over towards Foxfire; which made Harpuia and Phantom get their weapons ready….while Raven blinked at Zero, a blank expression on her face.
Foxfire felt a small chill go down her spine at the look she was getting from Zero, but she returned it with her own glare. After a long, tense moment, Harpuia finally spoke.
"Fine...you can take the containment unit first…" The air commander narrowed his eyes dangerously, holding up a datapad in his hand. "But you're NOT getting this until we have Foxfire in our custody."
Zero narrowed his eyes. "We'll see what happens." he replied as Harpuia and Phantom slowly edged their way away from the container. "...Put down your weapons."
"No." was the quick reply from Phantom, who was still sporting his dangerous glare. "You put down yours."
Zero scoffed. "I don't think so. I'm not laying down my arms first."
"We'll we're CERTAINLY not laying ours down first." Harpuia shot back, making a motion with his Z Saber, as though he were fixing to summon an attack.
"Uugghhh, Men…" Raven groaned, a sarcastic look on her face. Surprisingly enough, Foxfire had the same sarcastic look on her own face, somewhat unimpressed.
"We're going to be out in the desert forever if this keeps up." Foxfire grumbled.
"No kidding." Raven scoffed, before her tone suddenly went squeaky.
"Ohhhh BOOOOOOOYYYYSSSS!"
At the taunting sound Raven was giving up, she got the attention of all three reploid soldiers, who were ALL giving her bizarre looks. HECK, Even ZERO had a weird look on his face that told her that her tone felt...exaggerated.
Raven rested her blaster's nozzle against Foxfire's neck, making the girl shudder lightly. At the motion Phantom noticeably gripped his own weapons tighter while Harpuia was gritting his teeth so hard, Raven swore his JAW would come off.
"I DO believe this is checkmate." Raven taunted, before her voice got sour. "Drop 'em."
After a few more tense moments, Harpuia and Phantom both dropped their weapons to the ground. At the motion, Zero sheathed his Z Sword...before Raven chimed. "Ah ah ah, ghosty! I know there's more!" She taunted. "ALL of them."
Phantom glared at Raven, gritting his teeth in disdain, before he took out more kunai knives from his waist and dropped them to the ground.
"There's more, isn't there?" Raven grinned sadistically. "Cough 'em up."
Growling, Phantom YANKED several Kunai from various places, tossing them to the ground.
"Your voice is giving me a headache." Foxfire muttered, glaring over at Raven and scoffing. "Are you done yet?"
"Your boyfriend still has one more, doesn't he?"
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Foxfire snarled, seething at Raven.
Phantom's eye twitched at the fact that Raven was onto him...before he reached behind his helmet, plucked out an extremely small kunai and dropped that to the ground as well.
"Good boy." Raven taunted, making Foxfire groan.
"Seriously?! Do you EVER grow up you little flip?!"
"Not a chance, Princess." Raven turned her attention towards Zero. "Ok, go ahead and send out the drone."
Zero make a face at Raven, before pressing a button on his wrist. Out of his back a small flying droid went hovering for the container that the Guardians had brought. Scanning the large container, it beeped twice.
"There are...four...tracking devices inside containment unit." the bot informed.
The information spilled made Harpuia put a hand to his face and seeth. "What the heck…"
"Ok boys, are we going t-" Raven started to say.
"ENOUGH!" Phantom pointed towards Raven, seething. "I've had...ENOUGH of your words. You speak an infinite deal of NOTHING!"
"Ooohh, poetic." Raven scoffed, before grinning towards Foxfire. "Is that why you like the creep?"
"Don't insult him!" Foxfire hissed.
As this went on, Harpuia grabbed all four of the tracking devices and crushed them in his hands, an irritated look on his face. He then took two steps away from the container and glared towards Zero.
"There is also...a bomb...in the container." The drone suddenly announced, making Raven grin and open her mouth to say something- only for Foxfire to SLAM her hand over Raven's mouth, gritting her teeth in annoyance.
"NOT….ONE...WORD...You Thorny BUSH!" Foxfire snarled.
Zero glanced behind him, watching Raven and Foxfire...basically nip at each other like two small dogs...or two cats that were fighting over the same toy.
Really, the way they fought made it seem like they were still friends. Or Close for some reason…
Zero quickly put his attention back on Harpuia and Phantom when the ninja RIPPED out the bomb from the container and sent it SAILING across the barrenness of the land...EXPLODING while in mid-air.
After a moment, the droid made a satisfied beeping noise. "The containment unit is….secure…" it said, before hovering back for Zero, who allowed it back into his items. "Ok Jaken, accept the package." He said into his radio. Within moments, the container was teleported away...and things got noticeably more tense.
"Now...our Lieutenant." Harpuia growled.
"The datapad." Zero replied, just as aggressively.
"How about 'both at the same tiiiime'?" Foxfire asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Zero glanced towards Foxfire, raising an eyeridge, before glancing towards Raven. "...you good?"
"More than good." Raven replied, looking over towards the Guardians on the other side. For a moment, it looked like Harpuia was fixing to step up, before Raven brought the blaster closer to Foxfire's neck.
"Uh-uh...not you, pretty boy." Raven sneered, making a motion towards Phantom. "Let loverboy prove himself to his lady."
"WHAT THE HECK RAVEN YOU LITTLE CREEP!? STOP TH- OW!" Foxfire growled when Raven JABBED her on the side. "GAH...that...hurt you little"
"Oh DUH it hurt, you little baby."
"Raven." Zero hissed, motioning her to 'get on with it'. Raven ended up sticking her tongue out at Zero and slowly made her way forward.
Phantom didn't keep his eyes off Raven. He took the datapad from Harpuia and made his way over, watching every move that was made. Zero was ready...Raven was ready…
...he could only pray that his brother was ready as well.
Once he got to Raven and Foxfire, a tense glare was shared between Raven and Phantom. However, Raven smirked and prodded Foxfire with her blaster. "Now...be a good little lovesick puppy and get the datapad from your boy-"
"SHUT. UP!" Foxfire snarled, glaring towards Raven. "You're PISSING me off!"
"Nooooooo, I NEVER would have guessed!" Raven crooned.
Rolling her eyes and letting off a growl, Foxfire looked back towards Phantom, her demeanor changing dramatically. She exchanged a look with him and slowly offered him her hands.
After a moment, Phantom slowly placed the datapad in her hands, his eyes resting on her for two seconds, before he kept his sharp eyes on Raven.
Foxfire almost paused...that look...that was the look he made when he had something up his sleeve…
"Now give me the datapad, little Lieutenant." Raven said, her eyes on the datapad in Foxfire's hands. "And we can aaaalll go home.
Foxfire hesitated for a moment. If Phantom was going to do what she thought he was going to do...her thoughts suddenly came to a screeching halt when she felt Phantom's hand slowly wrap around her arm...but his eyes were still dead set on Raven, who was still pointing her blaster at Foxfire.
...yup. It was that move.
Breathing out, Foxfire took her other arm and slowly turned halfway offering the datapad towards Raven.
Raven's gaze went from Phantom towards the datapad and she managed to get ahold of the device-
Before Phantom YANKED Foxfire to himself and WHIPPED out a last Kunai blade. At the sudden movement, Harpuia swiftly took out two blasters and started shooting at Zero.
Zero swiftly took out his own blaster and shot at Harpuia, GRABBING Raven and Yanking the girl to his chest. "CIEL NOW!" He yelled as Phantom CHUCKED his kunai blade right for them…
...the blade passing RIGHT through the air they had once been in.
For a moment, there were no sounds….before Foxfire groaned and sank to her knees panting.
"Oh...for crying...out loud…" she grumbled, a hand to her head.
Harpuia glared at the empty space where Zero and Raven had teleported away from, before sheathing his weapons.
Phantom cursed lightly under his breath, angry that he had not been fast enough to deliver a finishing blow. He stayed silent for a moment, before kneeling down to Foxfire. "...are you alright?"
"No." Foxfire replied truthfully, rubbing her head. "I can't stand that little twit…"
Phantom smiled only slightly, before putting a hand to his helmet. "This is Hidden Phantom. Lieutenant Foxfire has been recovered. Transport us back to Neo Arcadia."
***RB***
Zero and Raven appeared in the transport room, the maverick hunter holding Raven tightly to himself with one arm while he had a firm grip on his blaster with the other. For a moment, neither of them moved before they noticed they were surrounded by their fellow rebel allies.
"Ooooohhh gooooood griiiiiiief!" Raven grumbled, letting out a huge breath. "I HATE that guy…"
"I'm not too fond of him myself." Zero muttered, putting his blaster away and looking around the room until he saw Jaken. "Did the package get delivered to our secondary location?"
"It did, and our soldiers are currently scanning it for other anonymous items, Zero" Jaken replied, giving the former Maverick hunter a thumbs up. "That was some quick thinking on Raven's part, even though I hate to admit it."
"Admit it, Jaken." Raven smirked. "I'm just that good."
"Now THAT I don't have to admit at all." Jaken muttered, rubbing his head.
Raven smirked, before pausing. Looking down, she noticed she was still in Zero's grip.
"...Uh, Zero?"
The reploid glanced at Raven, who had a sarcastic look on her face.
"You can let go of me now."
Zero was silent for a few seconds...before he plain DROPPED her.
Raven THUDDED on the ground, rubbing her bum in the process. "What was THAT for!"
"You said I could let go of you." Zero replied simply, walking off with a very slight smirk on his face.
"You didn't have to DROP me, Firetruck BUTT!"
"It's still white back there." Zero replied flatly.
Raven marched off after him, making Colbor lean over towards Jaken.
"Hey...Do they….hate each other?" Colbor asked, earning a weird look from Jaken.
"What are you talking about, boy? That's more attraction than anything else!" The older reploid put his hands on his hips and scoffed. "But both of them are too stupidly stubborn to admit it!"
***NA***
"FOOOOOOOXFIIIIIRRREEEEE!"
"Oh crap." Foxfire's pupils shrunk as Sobek and Sandstorm went BARRELING for her, arms wide open and ready to tackle her to the ground...before Phantom stood in front of the smaller Lieutenant, arms crossed and an unamused look on his face.
Sobek and Sandstorm went screeching to a halt, tripping over each other and landing SMACK on their faces in front of the Cutting Shadow Squadron leader.
"Oh come on Commander Phantom!" Sobek looked up from the ground. "You aren't still pissed, are you?"
His question was answered by a sneer from Phantom, which made both Sobek and Sandstorm shrink.
As this happened, Foxfire walked past them and headed for Shadow, who looked her up and down.
"You're wounded." Shadow observed, reaching for her arm, to which Foxfire quickly covered her exposed parts and chuckled meekly.
"Uh...Shadow, let me get repaired real quick and I need to go over the reports I have for you" she said quickly, before her expression got serious. "Besides...there's things about the rebel base that I'm sure you'd like to hear about."
Shadow nodded. "Alright...but don't rush yourself, you still need to get repaired and rest."
"He's right." Phantom came up behind Foxfire and put his hand on her back, making the girl tense up and blush. "Allow me to escort you to the medical ward, Foxfire."
The Lieutenant blushed and glanced towards her Commander, before nodding slowly.
As the two made their way out of the transport room and down the halls, neither of them said anything for a while. Foxfire's thoughts were of relief. She was glad she was safe and sound back at base...she was glad that Raven hadn't been hurt...she was glad Phantom and Harpuia hadn't been hurt…
...she felt like she wanted to give Commander Fefnir a piece of her min-
Foxfire paused as she and Phantom turned another hallway, before Phantom turned to her making her stop. She looked at him, startled by the sudden motion, before his hands cupped her cheeks and his eyes stared deeply into hers.
...Foxfire felt time stop…
The world didn't exist...her surroundings practically disappeared…
"...C-...Commander…"
"Did they do anything to you, Foxfire?" Phantom asked seriously, his teeth gritted. "Did they hurt you?...I swear on my blade I will off anyone who has-"
"NO!" Foxfire reached out quickly, looking spooked. "No Commander! No one hurt me!..." She paused and suddenly looked sarcastic. "Of course there was this one old guy who wouldn't SHUT. UP. about his name, and seemed to think that I needed to be lectured every two hours."
She put a hand to her forehead and groaned. "The guy was a complete moroooon…" Foxfire groaned and slid her hand down...and paused when it hit Phantom's hands, that were still rested on her face.
Foxfire's face went red and she looked back up towards Phantom, feeling a tightness in her chest.
"...I'm fine Commander Phantom...I'm...fine…"
For a moment, Phantom said nothing. He slowly put one arm around her waist and brought her closer to himself, taking his other hand and examining the wound that his brother had so GENEROUSLY provided her with.
Narrowing his eyes, Phantom frowned for a moment...before looking back towards Foxfire's eyes…
...her...stunning emerald eyes…
"...Foxfire, I can't tell you how relieved I am to have you back...safe and sound" He murmured softly. He brought his hand up and lightly trailed his two fingers against her bangs, making the girl blush darkly.
"...if anything...had happened to you…."
"...Phantom…"
For a moment, no words were said...the two only gazed at each other intently…
Slowly Phantom leaned down, picking up her chin with two fingers.
Breathing out, Foxfire shut her eyes...she could almost feel his lips brush against-
"Kiss her...kiss her!"
Both Phantom and Foxfire's eyes snapped open, and the two quickly moved away from each other, looking towards the other end of the hall…
...where they had an audience of the other three Guardians and Lieutenants.
"OH COME ON!" Sobek flailed his arms. "YOU WERE SO. CLOSE! Just pretend we're not here!"
"Shut up, you little slag!" Fefnir SMACKED Sobek across the helmet.
Phantom gritted his teeth and sneered...while Foxfire tucked her arms in and blushed. "I'm uh-...I'm gonna go get my arm fixed." she quickly said, turning and rushing down the hall.
Phantom watched her go….
...Before the peeping group suddenly had to run from three kunai blades being thrown at them.