Their last remaining hours finally passed, Natsumi and Giroro turned their heads when they heard the sound of the elevator returning. They stood and went to meet them at the door. Natsumi stood tall and was prepared to meet her fate. Giroro on the other hand was not so well prepared. He felt hatred, anger, love, fear, desperation, and sorrow swirling inside him. The emotions twisted and churned as if fighting for supremacy. His thoughts ran a million miles a second, trying to figure a way out of the situation, but he knew that he was his only hope to accomplish what must be done.
When they reached the end of the hall only a few seconds passed before the doors to the elevator opened at the ranking officers stepped out and greeted them. Giroro saluted and Natsumi bowed her head slightly.
"I hope you are prepared for what must be done." the commanders asked Corporal Giroro. He cast a look that made his eyes seem dark and terrifying. Giroro nodded his head, as the commander pulled a handgun from his holster and handed it to Giroro.
Taking the weapon from his superior, Giroro cocked back the hammer, looked at the weapon, and hesitated. He looked to Natsumi and noticed that she was watching him from the corner of her eye. She stared him down fiercely, she was trying to tell him something.
It was then that he remembered. He knew that look, the tenseness in her muscles, the look of determination. She hadn't prepared herself to die; she was prepared to FIGHT.
In the moment he realized his expression changed, his heart began pounding faster and faster, adrenaline coursing through his entire body as he took his chance to make an opening.
"Sirs, I think there's just one thing you should know before we go any further." Giroro's eyes were covered by shadows as he looked back down at the weapon in his hands, positioning it for use. The superiors looked at him in confusion, but were too content with their victory to recognize the threat coming their way.
Giroro lifted his head slowly, looked one of the superiors straight in the eye, his deadly determination and anger expressed clearly on his face. He lifted the gun, aimed at the head of the nearest superior, and spoke.
"She's MINE." as soon as the words left his mouth he fired. The bullet exited the gun barrel and buried itself directly between the officer's eyes, killing him instantly. The others froze briefly but before they could respond Natsumi was already moving.
Pivoting her right foot, she spun whilst extending her other leg. Keeping her arms in close she kicked the other superiors all in one swoop, sending them flying straight into the wall. Dazed and disoriented Natsumi and Giroro began to make their escape, slipping into the elevator and closing the doors. Giroro pulled out his favorite blaster cannon from his arsenal, and handed Natsumi the handgun he'd stolen. He smiled at her as she looked at the weapon.
"Your first." they both chuckled lightly and waited as they ascended through the base. The officers that they had left below had regained their senses and issued a warning to the rest of the base.
"Attention all personnel! Corporal Giroro has committed the crime of killing a superior officer and is currently trying to escape with Dangerous Pekoponian Slave X814! They are to be stopped immediately! Shoot on sight, I repeat, SHOOT ON SIGHT!" The commander screeched the intercom off nearly matching his own shout.
"Well, guess the fun is just beginning." Giroro mused. Natsumi reloaded the handgun and looked at him.
"Let's make sure we give them something to remember us by." she smiled as she spoke before turning towards the elevator doors, preparing for what was on the other side.
When the doors opened they were met by a force of Keronian soldiers with riot shields. Six in front with two rows behind them, a total 18 Keronians in total. Natsumi and Giroro acted fast.
Giroro fired a shot from his blaster cannon, the sheer force knocking two of the riot shield holder back, taking 4 other Keronians to the ground with them. Natsumi took this chance to get behind the other riot shield bearers, she shot one and hooked her arm round the others neck. Spinning around she brought the Keronian and his shield out towards the other soldiers. She fired her gun from behind the shield, taking them out one at a time; Giroro fired another blast, clearing the rest of them away. When they had all been taken care of Natsumi snapped the neck of the Keronian she had captured, dropped the body and began to head down the corridor with Giroro.
"We're still three floors below ground, the ships are located outside the building so we'll have to get out the access doors to reach them, otherwise we face the perimeter defense." Giroro explained.
They rounded the corridor to the stairwell, meeting more Keronians along the way, they weren't heavily armed so Natsumi turned the safety on her pistol, slid it into her bra and leapt at the surprised soldiers. She landed in the middle of them; once her footing was solid she turned and landed a powerful blow square in the face of the Keronian directly behind her. He was out cold before she even pulled her fist back, she used her momentum to turn around and elbow two other Keronians into each other. The last remaining Keronians were easily taken out when she grabbed their heads and cracked them together.
Natsumi dusted off her hands, pulled the gun from her bra, disengaged the safety, and then turned to Giroro.
"Shall we?" she asked, jabbing her thumb towards the door. Giroro chuckled.
"You'd almost think we weren't in the middle of a dangerous escape." he walked forward and opened the door to the stairwell. He bowed slightly, waving his arm in front of him.
"Ladies first." Natsumi curtsied and walked through the door.
"Such a gentlemen." she giggled as he followed closely behind her.
Joking aside they began to climb the stairwell they made it up one flight of stairs when the noise of marching footsteps rang down from above. A squad of Keronian guards were only a few flights above them. Natsumi leaned backwards over the railing and looked up to the flights above them. She was able to see the incoming enemies through the metallic bars, they hadn't noticed her looking at them which was an advantage she gladly took.
Firing in rapid succession she took out the soldiers closest to the railing. She felled a handful of them before they were able to react. The surviving soldiers moved closer to the wall and out of Natsumi's range. In this position they couldn't hope to return fire, the quickest thinkers pulled the grenades from their belts, removed the pins and threw them down the stairs.
"Look out!" Giroro called as soon as he heard the sound of the pins being pulled from the grenades. He pulled a riot shield from his arsenal and grabbed Natsumi's arm pulling her to safety behind the shield. The grenades went off one after another, scattering dangerous shrapnel everywhere. Pieces glanced off the shield but damaged it heavily. Giroro threw it to the side and quickly checked Natsumi for any injuries.
"That won't be any use to us anymore. You okay?" she shook her head slightly before answering him.
"I'm fine, but I'll be better once we get out of here." she looked up the steps "These conditions are a little too harsh to fight in." Giroro nodded in agreement.
They headed up the stairs rushing the remaining soldiers. Giroro grappled with the first soldier, whilst Natsumi stepped over them planting her knee in the face of one knocking him out cold. She picked up the last two, held them over the railing, and then dropped them. She put her hands on her hips and turned back to Giroro just as he finished punching out his opponent. He looked at her, the railing where she dropped the two Keronians to their deaths, and then back at her. He raised his eyebrow inquisitively.
"Dick move?" she asked, questioning her course of actions. Giroro pinched the air with his thumb and forefinger.
"Little bit." He replied, Natsumi simply shrugged before turning and continuing up the stairs.
They exited the stairwell once they reached their destined floor. Giroro and Natsumi came upon a large open room full of enemy soldiers, they were stationed by the exits, there were streams of them marching across the room, as well as in and out of the bay doors, and several guard snipers on the upper balconies.
"Well guarded, we need a plan." Natsumi looked at Giroro as she spoke. He peeked around the room surveying their options.
"We need to take out those snipers first. I'll create a distraction; you sneak up there and take them out." Natsumi looked at the path way up to the snipers, Giroro's plan was sound, he only needed to get the attention of the two guards at the bottom of the landing where the snipers were stationed.
Giroro slid into the room, Natsumi watched as he prepared to make his move. Pulling a silenced handgun from his arsenal, he hid among the cargo stacked near the wall carefully sneaking towards the guards. When he was close enough he quickly fired the pistol aiming carefully the armor piercing rounds tore through the skull of the first one, and buried itself into the skull of the second one.
Giroro then dashed out into the center of the room with a rocket launcher and a belt full of grenades, fighting a single person warefare to give Natsumi her opening. She quickly ran up the steps to the landing firing her handgun unloading the cartridge into the snipers aiming at Giroro. Natsumi grabbed one of the sniper rifles, and pulled back the bolt and peered down the scope. She began to pick off the nearest threats to Giroro.
"That's two for your collection!" Giroro called out to her referring to the new rifle in her hands.
"Remind me to grab some of their other ones on our way out." Natsumi mused as the took the head off another enemy.
When the whole room was engulfed in fighting, Natsumi climbed back down the stairs. Sticking close to the wall she eased around the room.
"The exit is over there!" Giroro yelled as he took out the guards by the opening that lead outside. He headed towards Natsumi, grabbing one of the fallen enemies AK47's and handing it to her once he reached her side.
"Use this, we got a lot coming." Natsumi and Giroro stood back to back, covering both sides of the room as their enemies began to rush them.
Natsumi unloaded the AK47 ammo into the nearest enemies. Taking down one after the other, they continued to progress towards their escape. Giroro tossed several grenades towards the crowd of enemies.
"Hit the deck!" one of them called out. They tried to get out of the way, taking their attention off Natsumi and Giroro. They took advantage of the confusion and ran for the exit, as the grenades went off around the room.
They came to a large open area outside the base, the high security fencing just screamed menacing. Several guards stationed around the wall carried more sniper rifles and were adorned with heavy duty armor. Natsumi handed the handgun and AK47 to Giroro whom put them in his arsenal. She slung the sniper rifle strapped to her back around and aimed it carefully at one of the snipers, landing a headshot before they had to start moving to one of the ships stationed across the yard.
Quick scoping as many of them as she could they ran as fast as they could. Giroro opened fire to the enemies on the ground, keeping up with Natsumi's long strides they reached the ship. Natsumi gave Giroro cover fire whilst he keyed in the code to unlock and open the doors. When the doors opened they slipped inside. The bullet-proof armoring kept them safe inside whilst Giroro started up the ship.
"So where to?" Natsumi asked him. He swiped his fingers quickly across the keys.
"Well we can't go back to Earth, but how about we go somewhere similar, all to ourselves?" Giroro looked at her and smiled, she nodded happily as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Let's go home." She spoke softly in his ear. He blushed as he entered in the coordinates for the planet he had mentioned. The ship activated it's thrusters and began to take off.
"They're going to try and stop us so we need to get to the weapon controls, I've set the ship to autopilot." Giroro lead her to the weapon controls each one of them taking their positions. As they approached the outer limits of the planet enemy ships began to appear.
"Incoming, you ready?" Giroro asked loading up the weapons system.
"It's now or never." Natsumi spoke, determination emanating from her words. The approaching enemies opened fire, which Giroro and Natsumi returned.
The ship's autopilot dodged what attacks it could. One of the enemy ships came in close, Giroro's weapon system was closer than Natsumi's so he aimed for the enemy ship's flanks. Firing at each new threat the onslaught continued, Giroro grumbled under his breath.
"That's it, I can't take it anymore. Natsumi I'm taking over the flight controls, on my signal I want you to press the dark green button near the trigger. That will send a powerful blast towards our enemies, then we'll use that time we gain to finish our escape." Giroro explained as he jumped from the weapon controls and ran towards the front of the ship.
Taking over he switched off the autopilot and caused the ship to jolt. He maneuvered the ship quickly into an asteroid field, dodging in and out of danger, the enemy close behind. Natsumi did her best to keep them off as she awaited Giroro's signal. As they approached the end of the asteroid field Giroro shouted to Natsumi.
"Now Natsumi! Do it now!" she quickly pressed the button as he said, a large and powerful blast fired out of the ship, taking out the enemies following them but also draining the energy from the ship, causing it to shut down. Natsumi yelled to Giroro in confusion.
"What happened?!" Giroro hopped down from the flight controls and walked over to her.
"That attack drained the energy from the ship, it will take a while for it to recharge but this way any other Keronian ships will assume we died in the asteroid field. So we're safe for now." Giroro sat down and exhaled deeply. Natsumi decided to sit down next to him. They sat in silence for a while before Natsumi decided to speak first.
"Hey, you know what?" Natsumi asked him, half a smile on her face. Giroro looked up at her.
"What is it? Are you okay?" Giroro asked, she chuckled and then looked deeply into his eyes.
"We made it. We actually made it." He smiled in response. They continued to sit in silence for a few more moments before Natsumi leaned towards him and gave him a long, passionate kiss. They were finally free, and could now begin their new life together with a bright and promising future to come.
-To Be Continued…