(A/N) Hey, time for our Monday update! This chapter is brought to you by ParabolaOfMystery, depicting everyone's favourite teal-aqua-sea green- whatever - wearing freelancer, Agent Carolina. Would just like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of our readers, as we passed 6,500 views since our last update, which, quite frankly, is incredible! Let's try to break 10,000 before the end of May, eh?
Anyway, not going to hold you any longer, here's the chapter.
Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Two - Black Hawk Down
Agent Carolina
Written by Parabola of Mystery
"The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart." - Robert Green Ingersoll
The city of New Delphi was a peace, for now. Although 'at peace' didn't really seem like the right word choice. The Innies were out, but the entire city was in ruins. Carolina could see the damage as the raised higher and higher in the Mother of Invention. At least they were done there. She figured she'd had enough fighting for one day. She took off her helmet and touched her eye tenderly. It was puffy and swollen, and probably a lovely shade of purple. Ah well. Shows I'm a fighter, I guess.
"That really brings out your eyes, you know." Carolina turned to the side to see York, smiling like a goon.
"You're not supposed to be in the cockpit, you know. Only the pilot and co-pilot are supposed to be here."
"I know that," he said, grinning. "I never really liked rules, though." He looked out the windshield to the city below. "You guys have a much better view than us. Not fair."
Carolina rolled her eyes. "Sorry this isn't exactly Air Tours of Haven."
York yawned and stretched his arms. "That was a long day. I could really use a burger or something right now. Mmmm. Yeah. That sounds nice."
"Yeah. It was a long day." Her mind flashed back to her lying on the ground, a gun pointed at her face. "Thanks, by the way."
"For what?"
Carolina bit her lip. "You know."
York paused. "Oh yeah. That. It… wasn't really a big deal." Carolina looked at him. Shooting that guy had really bothered him more than he wanted it too. She couldn't understand why. He was trained for this. Maybe there was something more to it. But he would have to get used to killing. There would be more to come. Much, much more.
"Everybody buckle in!" 479er yelled.
"What's going on?" York asked, confused.
"Does it fucking matter? Do what I say!" The plane banked hard to the right, and York smashed into the wall. He seemed to get the message and scrambled back to buckle himself in.
Carolina checked that her seat buckles were secured and put her helmet back on. "What's the situation?"
The plane went hard to the right this time, and Carolina heard a muffled thump from behind her. "Innies again," 479er said with clenched teeth. "They seem to be shooting everything they've got left at us." The pilot's voice suddenly got deathly quiet. "Yeah. That's a lot of missiles."
There was a bone-splitting crash as one as one of the missiles must've hit. 479er was mumbling under her breath. Carolina felt a sense of dread creeping over her. She'd never seen the pilot like this.
"Right wing hit!" York yelled from the back of the plane.
"Shit," the pilot muttered. "Everybody buckle in and make sure your helmets are on!"
"We're going to crash, aren't we?" Carolina asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
479er took a shuddering breath. "It's either that or be blown to smithereens in the air. People survive plane crashes all the time."
"I hope you're making a good decision here."
"Me too. Brace yourselves, people; it's going to get crashy."
When Carolina woke up, everything was upside down. Her head felt swollen, and her seat belt- she was still strapped into her seat- felt like it was slowly pushing into her body.
We crashed, she thought. We crashed in the woods and now I'm hanging upside down. A sudden overwhelming panic overcame her and she was grabbing, fumbling at those bloody seat buckles and her fingers wouldn't move right, but she had to get out; she had to get out now. She found the bottom buckle and it popped open, and suddenly her lower body was leaning forward, falling out of the seat; she got the other one open and then she fell. She was higher up than she thought.
She smashed though part of an intact part of the windshield and hit the ground hard. The impact set electric shocks of pain through her body and radiated around her right arm. She tasted blood; she'd bitten her lip when she hit the ground, and blood was leaking throughout her mouth. With enormous effort, she rolled herself onto her stomach, off the arm she had landed on. The slightest movements sent feelings like nails on a chalkboard up her arm. She forced herself to look at it and immediately felt a wave of nausea; at her elbow her arm bent the complete wrong way.
She used her good arm to push herself up and against a chunk of metal, probably part of a wing. Stay focused. Stay calm. She used her good arm to pull off her helmet, and then turned her head to the side to spit out a mouthful of blood and what was part of her lip that she'd bitten off.
Assess your surroundings. Where are you? Is it safe? She was sitting on the ground. Looking up, the cockpit was above her, maybe ten to fifteen feet, caught in the branches of an enormous tree. Thank god the tree caught them; if they had a straight impact to the ground, the plane would've flattened itself like aluminium can. To the right was a large branch hanging by splinters, but Carolina guessed that if it fell, she wouldn't be in range. She looked up at the cockpit again. She could make out the white uniform of 479er, who was still dangling in her pilot's seat. Her seat was closer to the ground that Carolina's had been, but it was still out of her reach. Carolina called out the pilot's name, but 479er hung there limply.
Suddenly, there was a squeal of metal and the cockpit was coming down at her. Carolina yelped and flattened herself to the ground, but nothing happened; it hadn't completely crashed to the ground, but it was only about six feet from the ground now. Thankfully, 479er was much closer too.
I need to get her out of there before this thing falls any more, Carolina thought hurriedly. She got to her feet, using the chuck of plane to help her up. Her right arm dangled limply at her side, still sending pulses of pain though her body that set her teeth on edge.
"479er?" she called softly. The pilot groaned, but didn't move. Using her left arm, Carolina reached up and began to undo the seat buckles. Her left hand was clumsy and awkward, but eventually she got the nearest buckle undone. 479er began to slide out of her seat, so Carolina used her right shoulder to catch her as she undid the other buckle. The pilot fell, but unable to use her right arm, Carolina couldn't catch her and the two tumbled to the ground.
Carolina groaned and pushed 479er off of her. The cockpit creaked again, startling Carolina, but it didn't move. Time to go. She looped one of 479er's arms around her shoulders and dragged her out and away the cockpit.
Leaning the unconscious pilot against a tree, Carolina looked up at the Pelican, and with a shock, realized it actually was only half of the plane. It ended after the cockpit, with tangled teeth of charred metal. She felt like was going to throw up. Where were the others? And the rest of the plane?
Oh god. She didn't know what to do. She prepared herself all her life for everything. Except this. How could someone ever prepare for something like this? The Director didn't exactly give them a Plane Crash 101 course.
There was a cough behind her.
"Owwwww," 479er moaned, lifting her head. "That really sucked." She looked up at her plane, and through her visor Carolina could picture her devastated face as she stared at what used to be her Pelican. "Yep, that officially really sucked. Where are the Innies? I want to go kill some." 479er glanced at her, and Carolina could feel her eyes on her right arm, which was hanging limply at her side.
"What's wrong with your arm?"
Carolina bit her lip and turned slightly so it was a little more out of view. "Nothing."
I can't be weak. Not now.
"Looks like a bit more than nothing, kiddo."
Carolina sighed. She was too tired to argue. Her mind was filled with so many things she couldn't keep track of them; the plane, the crash, the Director, the others, the Innies- oh god, the Innies. There was no doubt that whoever shot them down knew where they were, and were coming. "Shit."
"What?"
"We need to find the others. Right now."
479er pushed herself up against the tree into standing position. "Aren't we supposed to keep our heads still or something in case we have trauma?"
"Technically yes, but I thought you might not really want to sit around and keep your head still and wait for the Innies to find us."
"Hm. Good point."
Carolina set off into the woods; finding the other part of the plane wasn't overly difficult, seeing as a) it was a plane, and b) she just had to follow the trail of destruction to find it. The large plume of smoke helped, too. Soon enough she was approaching an even larger mass of twisted metal, radiating with heat as it burned.
"Well shit," 479er mumbled, which summed it up pretty well. Carolina felt pressure building on her chest. They're all fine. Just a couple cuts and bruises.
"York!" she called, but all she could hear was the sound of creaking metal. 479er glanced at her, not even trying to hide her worry. Carolina bit her lip. The noise from the fire and the slowly collapsing plane and the forest around her seemed to be getting louder and louder in her ears. "York!" she called again, with more desperation. Her chest was tightening and she couldn't breathe. They were alive. She knew it somewhere. She just needed to find them. She heard buzzing, but she couldn't tell if it was in her head or the sound of approaching Innie planes.
What if they found York and the others before she did?
She found herself running through the woods, stumbling. Branches and rocks kept finding their way in front of her feet. "York!"
"Carolina?"
Carolina fumbled, almost running into a tree and skidding on the forest floor. It was York's voice. She was certain of it. "York?"
She heard her name again, and took off toward the direction of the voice. Not a single thought was going through her mind. She dodged trees and fallen branches without even thinking, until she hit something solid and bounced backward.
She saw beige armor and before she could react, she was being crushed. Her arm was sending shock waves throughout her entire body, making her vision turn dark, but at the same time, she was the most relieved and relaxed she'd been all day.
"Ow, York," she mumbled, her voice muffled by his armor.
York released her from his crushing hug. "Sorry. Kind of thought you were dead." He looked down, and his eyes widened. "What happened to your arm?"
"Nothing," she said. "Do you have Massa and Alaska?"
"Nothing didn't happen to your arm, Carolina. Are you hurt?"
"It doesn't matter right now, just answer my damn question."
His eyes lingered on her limp arm, but eventually he looked back at her face. "They're fine, mostly. We moved away from the crash site in case the fire spread or something. Where's 479er?"
Carolina looked around. "She was right behind me." On cue, 479er stumbled into view and tripped over a rock. York laughed, and Carolina felt like she was flying. Her team was alive. Everyone was alive. They could get through this… but then she heard that buzzing in her ears, and this time she knew it was a plane. York heard it too, and his face paled.
"Take me to the others," Carolina said. York nodded, his face still pointed toward the sky. He grabbed her good hand and they set off at a run.
"Why are we always running?!" 479er yelled from behind them, but they kept going until they reached a gigantic tree. Massa was leaned in sitting position against it, her helmet on the ground next to her. There was a large trail of blood caked on her face, and she didn't seem to be conscious. Alaska stood protectively in front of her, but when he saw it was just York and Carolina (and eventually 479er, when she caught up) he relaxed a little.
"Thought you guys were Innies," he grumbled. "They're coming." He glanced at Carolina, and her broken arm, and his eyes narrowed. "We need to get out of here."
"No, we can't." York gestured to Massa. "She's in no condition to be moved."
Alaska stared at him with cold eyes. "Then we can fight them off."
Carolina looked at all of them. Alaska's DMR was leaned against the tree and York had a couple pistols on him, but that was all the weapons they had. She hadn't thought to grab hers, and the rest were probably melting in the Pelican. Not to mention her broken arm. She was a good shot with her left, but it wouldn't be the same. To add to that, 479er's combat training was okay at best, and Massa… she was just a shooting target at this point. "No," she said.
Alaska glared at her. "No?"
Carolina backed up until she had a tree to lean against. "If we fight, then we'll die. All of us."
Alaska opened his mouth, but York put up his hand to silence him. "She's right. We can't fight."
Alaska looked back and forth between the two of them, infuriated. "So what are we supposed to do? Surrender?"
"Exactly," Carolina said. She felt drained. She wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. "The Innies will find us. They will surround us, and when they demand us to put down our weapons and put our hands up and surrender, we will."
"You've got to be kidding," Alaska said, picking up his DMR. "We're just going to give up? Not even put up a fight? This is a joke. We are not going to make fools of ourselves."
The sound of rustling leaves and clanking armour was growing louder in Carolina's ears. Alaska raised his DMR, watching as the enemy soldiers approached them. 479er went to stand next to Carolina, trying to hide her shaking. Each second made her stomach churn more, but she didn't move and neither did York as she listened and watched the Innies surround them.
She was a failure. A complete, utter failure.
"Put your weapons on the ground and raise your hands!"
Alaska took a moment to stare Carolina directly in the eye. "You'd better be right about this," he muttered, and threw his rifle on the ground.
She hoped she was, too.
