"Unbind Me" - one character freeing another
The man threw her into the water and Baird watched, horrified, as she plunged like a rock. His heart sank with her. Faster than he could think, his fingers started undoing the clasps and buckles of his chest plate. Logically, it was idiotic; he was still in very real danger and even without his chest plate, his boots would pull him down. But he didn't have time to react like a normal human being. He just had to act.
The man across from him stood, victorious for all he knew, with the ugliest grin Baird had ever seen. "Go get your bitch, soldier."
And then half of his jaw was missing in the split second of an explosion. The man fell forward, his lackeys swarmed and fired their weapons, but Baird's focus was elsewhere. Paduk will take care of them. He nearly shot a man's face off—he'll be fine. The chest plate came free; he ditched it on the dock and pulled his goggles over his eyes.
Five minutes or less. It takes barely any time to drown.
He dove in.
His boots pulled him under faster than he thought. For two heartbeats, he panicked and tried to control his descent by flailing his legs helplessly. Great, now I'm going to drown. No, shit no. We searched for too long. I'm not going to fail her or Paduk. I can't fail.
Through the murky waters, he spotted her. Her red hair blossomed in the water like a unique anemone, and it was almost peaceful—but the way she thrashed told him something different. He reached for her and caught one of her bound wrists.
They drew level. Her wide, terrified eyes were beginning to glaze over. Loss of consciousness and then it's only a matter of minutes. Come on, Baird, do this quickly.
He climbed down her body until he was at her ankles, tied with rope and attached to an old COG ammo crate. His muscle memory never failed him before and he was thankful he had drilled himself to reach his tools in times of emergency; it didn't take long to find his small tactical knife.
Sawing through the rope, he realized not only was he running out of oxygen but that his stamina was rapidly draining. The water slowed him down, tugged at his every movement. He wanted nothing more than to take a deep breath and try again; his lungs ached with the compulsion. I'm not gonna make it. Shit, I'm not trained for maritime operations. He wasn't sure adrenaline and fear would be enough to overcome.
But the rope cut. Sofia immediately ascended towards the light of the surface; dressed in rags, she was no longer weighed down. But she fought against buoyancy to reach her bound hands towards him.
He didn't give her false hope. He resisted the urge to stretch out his hand; instead, he offered her a smile as water flooded his lungs. She kicked and swiped her hands through the water but finally lost consciousness and floated to the surface. His boots drug him further down, his lungs ached, and his limbs were heavy. But he hadn't failed. In the year it took to find her, he promised Paduk he would do whatever he could to get her back.
She'll be okay. Paduk's up there waiting for her. At least I got to see her face one last time.