(Noodle's POV)
When dawn had approached, the sun tainted the clouds in a murky grey and pink mixture; the low rumble of thunder hummed in the distance growing nearer to the shores of Plastic Beach.
Noodle had left 2D's room, deciding not to share his bed with him from the foul smell of alcohol that hung over the man. Although he still smelled like butterscotch and sugar, she'd had enough of drunken breath and squeamish feelings.
So, taking the elevator to Murdoc's hallway, she trudged to the bathroom but was instead, knocked into the wall from the floor rocking below her feet. Loud crashing sounded above her head and groaning metal squeaked throughout the home.
Noodle, being startled, looked around her before the sound of glass shattering in Murdoc's chambers ahead of her. Tripping over her hands and feet, she pulled herself up and ran to the door, "Murdoc?!"
The light at the end of the hall was no longer providing ample brightness; now it flashed to a glowing red and a loud siren began to wail in her ears.
What's going on?!
She raised her voice and burst through the door, "MURDOC-SAN!"
The room was unoccupied by the man and hundreds of shards of glass littered the floor in a mass of green and clear remnants. Outside another roll of thunder boomed and a cluster of helicopters whizzed past the view of the beach, their silhouettes outlined by a strike of lightning.
Images flashed in her mind as she remembered all too well, the mortifying memory of the island. Flashing. Fire. Jumping and dying. Fleeing for the past five years.
Now they'd come to ransack and steal her dreams of freedom away from her again, but this time, attacking the heart of her home. The monstrous demon had planned for all of the band to be exterminated under no circumstances. This was full-throttle warzone and she could tell from the cry of the sirens, from the buzz of the helicopter wings, from the explosion of fire upon the island and from the vibrations under her feet.
It was real and today they were under probation of a reckless and relentless murderer.
The sound of bullets spraying into the room made her crouch and roll back into the hallway to take cover as she'd done so many times before. Although she'd been confronted with these enemies before, it wasn't always easy to fend them off herself, especially with four of them instead of two.
Sucking in a breath, she looked to the emergency escape on the other side of the bathroom and ran up the steps to the library where she could get to the tip-top of the island.
Once she was settled up in the room, she looked through another mess of broken windows until she saw a dark crimson and grey cloud form over what seemed to be a ship on the horizon.
"MURDOC-SAN! ANSWER ME GOD-DAMMIT!"
Turning to the coat hanger besides the bookcase, she grabbed her feline mask and put it on, feeling a rush of security flood back to her. "KID, HELP ME WITH THIS!"
It was Murdoc responding from above, up on the roof of the home. She almost couldn't hear him from the loud sound of the blades of a helicopter flying past, but when she carefully made her way up to the top, she saw Murdoc with an AK-47 strapped over his chest.
Beside him, hiding below the protective railing was the identical robot version of herself, her provocative army costume tattered and her skin opened, showing the wiring beneath. "Initiate rocket launcher in 5. 4. 3…"
Her voice was set in a low, monotone drone and as she spoke, her jaws parted so widely, Noodle flinched and was surprised that the bone did not disconnect and break when the gun extended from the throat of the cyborg. It was peculiar, how well hidden all of the openings on her faux skin were all just openings for the weapons that hid within the compartments of her body.
The machinery finished its countdown and two projectiles shot into the humid air- fiery navigational death rockets targeted on the metal birds in the sky. Only one managed to hit, but it brought the mass crashing down towards the toxic sea below, smoke trailing behind.
"Where's the dullard?!"
Noodle whipped her attention back to the man who's eyes were both angry and frightened. She was taken aback, for she rarely saw the green man scared. In fact, he was so full of himself and his success, he barely had time to worry about miniscule matters; not that this was a small matter, but he rarely cared in general.
"He's asleep! How'd this guy find where we were," Noodle said, ducking and barrel-rolling to where the cyborg sat, avoiding the mass of bullets from the remaining 'copters.
"FOR THE LOVE OF SATAN, I DON'T KNOW! But we don't have much of a chance if we just sit here and die under their watch," Murdoc dodged the pellets, and spoke to the cyborg beside her, issuing a command so quickly, the real Noodle couldn't hear him at all. In response, the robot sucked in the gun that was in her mouth, replacing it with a retractable shotgun. He tossed it to the real Noodle who caught it, looking sideways at Murdoc before she headed back down the steps, out of the library and down the emergency exit, sliding down the rail of the stairs until she was at the entrance of the house.
She burst through the safety door, careful of her footing and dodging behind the thick shrubberies that sheltered her with cover. She crawled, prone on her stomach and snaking through the garden before she was introduced with the cliff-side of the beach. Noodle dared not to take the elevator, afraid of the electricity powering off from the attackers.
So instead, she let her feet fly, keeping the gun held low and her eyes on the open ground before her. The open patio held concrete and a few sets of umbrellas, chairs and tabled set up for shade, but she passed all these in a few sprints, taking her feet to the edge. Giving herself a few moments of consideration, she looked to the skies, seeing the helicopters focusing on Murdoc up high before she took her view below her, considering her reckless idea. Ignoring her conscience, she pulled her fingers to her lips, deafening the sound around her and screeching out, "RUSSEL-KUN! CATCH ME!"
She took a running jump and in seconds, she was weightless. A swirl of color and a skip of a heartbeat was all she could focus on, but just as she'd prayed for, a quick flash of dark skin pulled out below her and she fell into the soft cushion of a giant hand.
In the distance, she could hear cannons, explosions, and cries. The sky let out another crash of thunder followed by lightning and a soft sheet of rain that began to fall.
"Glad to see you're okay Baby-Girl," he set her down on the lower part of the beach and she took a quick bow of thanks before running off on the other side of the shore. Russel had followed but soon stopped to look down where his feet were and he managed to let out an angry holler.
Noodle flinched from the bellow and turned around to see the large man bend down and pull from the waves a large sperm whale. "NOT 'D YOU MOTHA'FUCKA."
The giant man then whipped the whale around his head in a circular motion, much like a cowboy would with a lasso, gaining speed until he flung it into the air, taking down another large helicopter that Noodle hadn't even noticed was beginning to gain on her.
It was then that she realized that the whale that Stuart had muttered nonsense about was a real and was a legit threat to the bothered man. Letting a wave of nausea flood over her, she did a double-take at the falling machinery and listened to the large splash a few hundred feet away from the thin woman.
"Toochie…stay safe…," Noodle murmured before she shook her head, clearing her thoughts and pushing away the nervous tears that threatened to fall at the edges of her green eyes.
She was so tired of this man, this demon trying to kill them. She was so tired of the empty promises that Murdoc made and all the gunfire and the running and the feeling of losing something dear to her, like her family.
The band was all she had and all she could really remember from her childhood since everything in Japan was really just a fuzz of orphanages and ignorant adults. She needed Murdoc, Russel and Stuart. It was all she had and hoped for in her dreams when she was gone. It was all that kept her going in hope that they were still in existence.
As far out as she could see, she saw a pirate ship. It's sails were faded, the wood was moldy and the smoke that hung over it resembled the black crimson that pulsed through her veins and pumped through her heart. Explosions sounded and large cannon balls smashed into the island, rocking it slightly and making large craters in the eroded pink plastic.
She braced herself, steadying her stance. Pulling the shotgun up, she used the sights and aimed at the nearest helicopter, branding holes into the door. She aimed and shot again, missing.
Sighing with aggravation, she sprinted farther on the beach and shot once more, hitting one of the propellers. It began to sink down to the waters below and soon, it was consumed in the greenish liquid.
Completely drenched in rainwater now, Noodle began to feel encumbered by the weighed clothes. Her legs began to chafe and her fingertips wrinkling. The grasp on her gun never loosened and her focus stayed sharp as she sprinted on the slick, plastic beaches, passing the docks and past the ashes of the bonfire.
"RUSSEL! WE'VE GOT TO GET RID OF THE," Noodle swayed under her feet and slipped, dropping her weapon and watching it skid toward the water. Another cannon had hid the island and she knew the landfill wasn't going to last for long.
But just as she thought this, several rockets shot from above her, on the mansion rooftop. The cyborg had begun shooting the rocket projectiles again and a few had caught the ship, setting it on fire and making it's passengers scream in terror. However, the screaming had ceased and the cloud that hung over the deck of the ship had faded into nothingness.
Scrambling to her feet, Noodle backed into the mid-section of the beach and leaned on the mass, letting it give shelter from the rainstorm. She wiped away the water that crawled down her face and flicked her hands and arms, doing the same. Where'd he go?
The ship out at sea was sinking slowly and the sails that once stood were now bright flames of yellow and crimson against the skies that cleared farther out.
Russel waded to where Noodle was and scrutinized the flaming boat with her until the majority of it was under the waves and in the dark, churning waters.
He offered his hand to her and she crawled along the slopes of his fingers and into his rough palm, letting him chaperone her to the entrance of the island, where she jumped off, waved to Russel and bowed again in sign of thanks.
She hurried into the pink landfill, listening to the pour of the rain and began to fret for the man who'd been sleeping off his alcohol poisoning and had his room attacked by the whale she saw was in Russel's huge hands only minutes earlier. Stuart may have still been asleep, but with all of the chaos and hits the island took, he might've awoken beforehand.
Glad to see that the electricity was still working fine, she hopped into the elevator and let it take her down to the lower compartments of the landfill, wary of the tiny space she was in and on edge from the sirens that still wailed in the house. Her mind was choppy and jumbled with the sight of her robot copy with guns coming from her throat, Murdoc being scared for the first time she's seen, the demon finding the island and the whale. Everything was a horrifying mess and their hideout had been discovered.
I hope Stuart isn't a mess…
The red light flashing in the elevator reminded her of the red-eyed gas-masked demon and she choked back a strangled scream as she realized...
We are no longer safe anymore.
(Author's Note)
This was a rather odd chapter for me to write. I didn't put too much detail in every little thing and I feel I rushed a lot of it. But in the end, after rereading it, I think it's decent.
I like cliffhangers. Suspense will do you guys some good.
I hope you all liked it.
I don't know if I'll be adding more. Honestly. I might make a sequel? Or I might add a few more chapters in, but either way, I'm lost at what to do now.
Yes, this chapter was based on Gorillaz' music video, "Rhinestone Eyes".
I don't own Gorillaz.