A/N Hey, sorry for being late. I had a bit of trouble with this one. Hope you like it!
Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull)
Isabella and Adyson sat opposite each other on the vibrating steel floor. The metal bars of the cells blocked their escape but not their vision. "You know, I'm starting to regret signing up for this mission," Adyson revealed.
Isabella smiled. "Hey, they gave you a chance to back out."
"You sure you two want to do this? It'll be one of the most dangerous missions yet." Candace asked.
Isabella and Adyson exchanged a quick look. "We're sure," Isabella confirmed.
"Well yeah, but that was before the mission actually started."
"You have to admit, it started off great."
The elevator doors squeezed shut, and the container began to move upward. It was only in motion for a second before a sudden stop sent the passengers slightly off the ground. Isabella opened the emergency hatch and began climbing up. "They had to make this hard, huh?" She was about halfway out when the elevator began moving up. The sudden movement caused her to fall back into the elevator and land dead on her back."
"Apparently not," Adyson said as she helped Isabella up. The elevator continued moving for a few seconds before slowing down to a gentle stop. The doors dinged, and the number two popped up on a small LED sign inside the elevator. They moved to opposite sides of the front and readied their weapons.
The doors opened, and a voice shouted to them, "Come out with your hands up." Isabella glanced at the small army reflected on the back wall.
"There are too many," Isabella said to her partner.
"Yeah. Well, we have two options:" Adyson said back. "Go out guns blazing, or..."
"Or surrender and be taken prisoner."
"I kind of like the one where we don't die." Adyson threw her gun into the middle of the elevator. Isabella followed suit. They raised their hands and slowly came out of their cover. Two guards rushed forward and beat them to the ground. They were handcuffed and taken out of the base.
"Yeah, great."
"HEY! Shut up!" The lone guard screamed at them as he entered. They took his advice. Silence fell over them as they waited.
After a couple minutes, a sharp screech broke the silence, and a strong force moved the two towards one side. The guard, unable to stay upright, fell to the floor, unconscious. Isabella and Adyson smiled at each other. Their waiting was over.
Isabella dug in her hair for a bobby pin.
"Why can't we just blow it up?" Adyson asked as she leaned on the table. Around her sat Candace, Baljeet, and Isabella.
"Well, for one, we'd like to capture the target alive if at all possible," Candace explained. "That, and it's also in the middle of the city. We blow it up and civvies could blow up with it. Infiltration is our only option."
She found one, and moved to the front of the cell, and began working on the lock. Adyson did the same on her side.
"So how do we get in there, and get to the heavily guarded captain, without getting captured?" Adyson asked, still unsure of the effectiveness of this particular plan.
"That's the fun part," Candace revealed. "You don't." Adyson's face formed a look that screamed "Oh no" louder than any mouth ever could.
The lock clicked, and Isabella opened the cell door.
"That's why you're going to get captured first."
Adyson picked her lock and joined Isabella. She walked over to the guard. "Free weapon," She said, grabbing the guard's sidearm and keys. The small movements woke him, but he barely got a moan out before Adyson slammed his head against the steel floor. She holstered the weapon and threw him in the cell she previously occupied. "See how he likes it." She taunted, locking the door.
"Come on, we have to go," Isabella ordered. She pulled the front door open, and air rushed in as soon as the seal was broken. "One down, lots to go." She carefully walked across the couplings to the other side. With one hand on the outside hull keeping her steady, she pushed the door open the next door open. A guard turned towards her but caught a bullet in the shoulder before he could raise his weapon. Isabella rushed forward, knocking him to the ground.
"Regretting it slightly less now."
"You could've shot me."
"But I didn't," Adyson said, grabbing a rifle from the gun racks. "Want one?"
"I'm good," Isabella replied, showing Adyson her new nightstick.
"Suit yourself." Adyson started walking towards the next door.
"Okay, next one should be troop transport. They'll be armed, so be ready."
"We're gonna be at the back. Like, the way back." Isabella pointed to the prisoner transport carriage. "There between us and the target are three cars, one cargo, two carrying guards, on their way to their first day on the job. We'll have to Remember, we want him alive."
"How many guards will there be?"
"Lots."
Isabella slammed open the door and rushed in towards the dozens of guards. Adyson followed close behind. She fired on the armed guards, giving Isabella the opportunity to take some out with her nightstick. The clip quickly ran out, and Adyson switched to her newly acquired sidearm. When that ran out, she joined Isabella, taking them out up close.
"You weren't kidding!" Adyson yelled out as she dodged batons. They kept fighting until only one was left standing.
"The prisoners escaped! We need back-" The snitch was silenced with a blow to the head, but the damage was already done.
"Well, crap," Adyson complained as she picked up a new sidearm.
"They'll be waiting for us in the next carriage."
Adyson opened the door to the outside and began climbing the next carriage. "So we go up."
She helped Isabella up and the crawled slowly across the top of the car. The wind rushing by kept them from going much faster than a snail.
They got to the other side and landed in between the first and second cars. In front of them lay the engine car, which held the warden. "Here we go." Adyson opened the door and yelled out "Hands up!" The warden did not follow her direction. He drew his weapon and pointed it at Adyson. She did the same to him, leaving them in a standoff.
Isabella entered. "You're outnumbered. Turn around and put the gun down."
Seeing that he was defeated, the warden did as he was told.
Suddenly, two shots rang out. One was fired by the warden, the second by Adyson, who hit him the leg. As the warden went down, he pushed a lever and the two stumbled back at the sudden increase in speed.
"What did he do?" Isabella asked Adyson.
"Okay, so we can't blow up the train. What's to prevent them from blowing it up."
"I think he shot out the brakes or something."
The old warden groaned. "You better hope we don't hit any sharp corners."
Candace sighed. "Nothing."
"Shut up!" Adyson said, before silencing him with a kick to the head.
Isabella heard the door to the second carriage open and ran over to keep their door closed. Guards banged at the door. "I can't hold them for long!"
"I have an idea." Adyson began searching the control panel. "Found it." She pressed a button and the thudding stopped, Isabella peeked out the window to see the rest of the train falling back.
"Nice work, but now what?"
"I don't know," Adyson admitted. "I might be able to find another way to activate the brake, but it won't matter at this speed. I think jumping is our only option."
"At this speed? We'd probably die on impact."
"And we'll live happily ever after in here," Adyson said with a tone full of sarcastic anger.
"Point taken." Isabella opened up the back door. The city was rushing by them.
"You first. Then me," Adyson said from behind her.
"Okay." Isabella hesitated for a second before leaping. She braced herself and landed, skidding across the asphalt for a few meters before stopping.
"My turn," Adyson said to herself. She was about to jump when another gunshot rang out. She looked down to see a large dark spot forming on her torso.
"If I'm going, you're going with me." More gunshots created more dark spots and Adyson collapsed on the metal floor.
Isabella looked on, waiting for her friend to appear and skid across the road like she did. Her worry became greater as the train moved farther away. Until it hit a single sharp corner.
The train flew to the side, smashing into a building and exploding in a ball of fire and metal. Isabella ran towards it, calling out Adyson's name. She was almost halfway to the wreckage when she froze. Normbots, the dictator's guards showed up the scene. Isabella knew that if she continued, she'd most likely be caught. Or worse. She ducked into an alleyway and sat against a building, scolding herself. "She should've gone first," She told herself. "She should've said no. I shouldn't have let her even go." Tears began crawling down her face. After a few minutes of sobbing and scolding, she rose from the ground and began the long walk back to her base. She could still hear the fire roaring behind her.
"You aren't exactly filling me with confidence," Adyson stated bluntly.
"It won't be easy, but if we succeed, the prison is ours. Every resistance member that has been captured will be free. We'll have an army."
Adyson looked to her commander, then to Isabella. "Fine. I'll do it. For them."
"Good."
"Yeah, I just hope I don't wind up joining them."