Night Angel

The Warhead Mission

 (Twenty years later)
I groan loudly as a pounding noise goes off in my head. Oh, wait, I think. There is a pounding noise. It must be Duke or Ripcord.
  "Who is it?" I scream at the person, irritated.
  "Tis I, the grand and fabulous Duke!" I hear Duke's voice say.
  "Who told you that you're grand and fabulous? Whoever it was, they must've been high or something." I joke, getting out of bed. I walk to my dresser and pick out an outfit.
  "Oh, haha Lyn, very funny." Duke says sarcastically. I look down at the clothes I had put on: a black sleeveless turtleneck, with black skinny jeans and black combat boots. I smile at my outfit and open the door.
  Duke is standing there, waiting patiently. He looks at my outfit and smirks. "Same old outfit, huh Angel?" He says as some other men pass us. Duke and Ripcord are the only army guys that know my real name; others just call me either Night, Angel, or Night Angel.
  "You know it. What's today's mission, Duke?" I ask. He looks at me with a stern and irritated face.
  "The warheads." He says, and that's enough to make me frown as well.
  "Oh god save me!" I say dramatically, easing up the tension. We laugh as we walk down the hallway and into the main hanger. I see Ripcord holding a black case and he gives it to another soldier after talking with one of the scientists. I walk up to him, smiling and shaking my head.
  "What, Angel?" Ripcord asks, crossing his arms.
  "Oh, it's nothing serious. Ready to go?" I ask. He nods and we tell the rest of our team to load up.

~Time skip~

  "Hey Duke, Angel. I've been thinking." Ripcord begins from the driver's seat. I groan and Duke sighs.
  "Now, now. We've warned you about that." Duke jokes, and I laugh.
  "Whatever. Anyways, do you know what I think we should transfer to when our time is up?" Rip continues.
  "Please don't say Air Force-" I begin.
  "The Air Force!" Rip says, banging his hand against the steering wheel. I groan again, this time louder than before.
  "How many- you know what! It's pointless arguing with you!" I say.
  "How many times do we have to tell you, we're done discussing this." Duke finishes for me.
  "You two were done talking about this, not me." Rip argues.
  "Look. Duke and I like to be on the ground, in the fight, not flying around it." I say.
  "I want to be in the air!"
  "You want to be in the air?" I ask.
  "We'll get you a trampoline." Duke says, and I laugh as Ripcord sighs, defeated. I lean against the window and close my eyes.

********

  I jolt awake as the truck runs in a pothole.
    "Oh, sorry, Angel. I didn't see that pothole." Duke apologizes, now driving.
   "It's ok, Duke. I was going to wake up anyways." I say, stretching a bit.
  "Hey Duke? Weren't we supposed to meet with the recon group at 40 clicks?" Ripcord asks.
  "Yeah." I answer for him.
  "Well, we just passed kilometer 41." Rip says, and I'm on high alert now.
  "Alright, eyes open people. Recon team should be around here somewhere. How's it looking in the air?" I ask in an army radio.
  "It's clear, nothing but us up here." One of the choppers respond, but not five seconds after, one of the trucks in front of us explode, and Duke slams on the brakes.
  "Angel! Take the wheel!" He says, and we rapidly change seats, like how we did in training. I give Duke the radio and take control. All of the trucks are backing up as Duke gives orders to the rest of our team.
  Then the truck behind us explodes, and I slam on the brakes. "Shit!" I yell, nearly hitting my head on the steering wheel.
  "Angel, drive like the crazy ninja bitch you are! They're after the warheads!" Duke commands, and I smile wickedly. I put the truck in drive, and drive off the road in a crazy swerve, throwing the attacker off for a split second. Both helicopters above us blow up, nearly blocking my path, but I swerve to avoid it. Some of the men in the back are laughing at my crazy driving skills.
  "This is no laughing matter!" Duke screams at them, outraged. "You'll distract Angel!"
  "They're fine, Duke! It's actually helping me to concentrate." I say as I avoid a fallen tree.
  "Alright then. But don't complain if it gets annoying and you can't concentrate!"
  "You're annoying and distracting! Shut the hell up!" I scream at him, narrowly missing a large boulder. This makes the men, including Rip, laugh harder.
  Then, out of nowhere, a plasma blast hits the ground next to us, and I try to avoid it, but the blast sends the truck flying in the air, and it hits the ground, landing on its side. I groan as my head begins to throb like a mother fucker.
  "Angel, are you alright?" Duke asks.
  "I'm okay, but I'm going to have a killer headache later. How about you, Rip?"
  "My leg. It's caught between the seat and the door." He replies in a pained voice. I look out the front windshield and see a weird ship land. Out of it came strange soldiers, and a woman with long black hair. They got off their aircraft and began to make their way towards us.
  "Boys! We need to move, like, now!" I scream, and kick the windshield. The glass shatters, and I hop out, pulling out my twin handguns. As the weird soldiers came closer, I shoot them with my guns as Duke helps Ripcord out of the truck.
  "Angel! Grab the case!" Duke shouts as he throws Ripcord onto his shoulders. I'm about to grab it when I hear a groan from another soldier in our truck named Jake.
  "Angel? Wha...grab the case and go." He moans out, barely awake. I think for a split second, then I reach for Jake.
  "What are you doing? Get the case!"
  "No! I'm not leaving you in here. They'll probably kill you! I can retrieve the case from them after I get you out." I say, my tone suggesting that he couldn't change my mind. So, he reaches for the case and grabs it while I try getting him out, but I couldn't; his seatbelt was stuck.
  "Shit. Alright, hold still so I don't cut you." I say as I pull out a knife. He stiffens so he doesn't move while I cut the belt. I finally cut him loose, and reach under his arms to pull him out. By then Duke is already on his way. I turn around, Jake in my hands, when suddenly, I'm hit in the head from behind. I grunt as I hit the ground, the world spinning.
  "Angel! Are you okay? Can you hear---" Jake begins, but was cut off with a snap, and I look down to see that someone had twisted his neck enough to kill him, his eyes glazed over and looking at me.
  Anger burns in my body as I glance up to see the black-haired woman looking down at me.
  "You're gonna pay for that, bitch." I say, my voice low and threatening. She clicks a button on the side of her glasses, and they unshade themselves to reveal...Anna?!
  Anna smiles at me. "Hello, Angel." She says, and I growl at her. I hear Duke's voice above me.
  "Anna?" He asks. She looks up at him, smiles, and kicks him in the jaw. She walks over me to Duke.
  "You have to admit, you had that one coming." She says, and that set me off. I jump up and grab her shoulder, spinning her around. When she turns, I sock her in the jaw with my fist, and the impact spins me around, and my other fist connects with her forehead, sending her sprawling. I then take care of the two soldiers that were with her.
  "And you had that coming when you snapped Jake's neck!" I scream, angered. I grab the case and begin running in a random direction. Anna throws something at my ankles, tripping me. She then kicks Duke and runs after my fallen form. She grabs the case, kicks me in the face, and runs in the direction I was heading in, Duke following her. I try to follow, only for the ground to start spinning, which sends me tumbling down a hill.
  I regain control and follow after Anna and Duke. I see Anna kick Duke, and he falls to the ground, dazed. Anna gets up, only for me to tackle her to the ground, sending us rolling down the hill. My back hits a tree, stopping us, but I don't let that stop me as I repeatedly punch Anna in the face until her grip on the case slackens.
  I rip the case out of her hands and run farther down the hill, ignoring the throbbing in my head. I sense someone following me, and I run faster, knowing that it wasn't Duke.
  The mystery person is only a few feet behind me, when suddenly Anna's aircraft blasts the ground behind me, sending me flying forward. My head hits a rock, and I scream in pain as I feel my ankle break. The case flies from my hand, but the mystery person doesn't go after it; instead, he sees if I'm okay. I look at him, and I see Anna approaching, pointing her fancy gun at us.
  "Watch out!" I scream as a warning, and the black clothed man wraps his arms around my waist and he rolls out of the way of the blast Anna's gun gave off. She was about to grab the case, when the man's aircraft shoots the ground in front of her.
  I hear a British voice say, "Don't make me shoot a woman," from the aircraft. Anna's aircraft picks her up and they fly away.
  I look over and see that Duke has the case. I look at the man over me, his arms still wrapped around my waist, and recognize his build immediately. I frown as my eyes widen.
  "Snake Eyes?" As I say this, the man's body stiffens. I can tell that he's looking closer at my face as he helps me up. Duke watches us, gun ready to shoot the man in front of me if he tried to harm me.
  After what feels like forever, the man in front of me pulls me into a tight embrace, indicating that this is indeed Snake Eyes. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me.
  "I thought I'd never see you again." I whisper to him, tearing up.
  "I missed you so much, Angel." He whispers back. His voice is rough and husky, as if he hasn't spoken in a long time.
  "Do you talk much? Your voice sounds a little husky." I say, pulling away. Snake shrugs. I look over at Duke.
  "Do you have the case?" I ask.
  "Right here," he replies, holding it up. I walk over and take it from him.
  "And Rip?" Before Duke could answer, two more men and a woman with red hair came out of the bushes.
  "Hand over the case," the woman says.
  "Over my dead body." I growl at her. She looks at me.
  "That can be arranged." She says, about to move her weapon. Suddenly, Snake Eyes moves in front of me, blocking me from the woman's line of sight. All three of the newcomers look at Snake, shocked by his move.
  "Snake Eyes, what are you doing?" The black man asks, his voice thick with a British accent.
  "I won't let you shoot this woman." He says, surprising his team again by speaking. At that moment, Ripcord decides to show up, aiming his gun at Snake's team.
  "What's your unit?" He asks.
  "That's classified." The woman states bluntly. The two men were still staring at Snake with open mouths.
  "If we're going to stand here all night with our mouths hanging open, can I just take the case and go?" I ask no one in particular.
  "No, Angel. You can't, unfortunately for you." Snake answers. I look at him
  "Oh, and fortunately for you?" I demand, a sly smirk on my face. I can tell that he's smiling when he leans in and says, "Maybe."
  I gasp with mock surprise and shock, and we both start laughing. He puts his hand on my shoulder for balance we were laughing so hard.
  "Yep. I've missed ya." Snake says, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
  "I've missed you too," I say, copying his motion. He looks at me, then tilts his head slightly up. He reaches up and touches my forehead, and I wince, noticing I had a cut there.
  "Don't move." Snake commands as he takes off his mask, revealing his icy blue eyes and blonde hair. His team's jaws fall all the way to the ground as Snake takes care of the gash on my head. We look over at his team and I just end up laughing at their expressions. One of his teammates stick a metal pole in the ground and a hologram of a man steps out. Snake quickly puts his mask back on and faces the man.
  The man, known as General Hawk, talks to Duke for a while and they agree on taking us to their base. As we walk up to the aircraft, I trip and fall because of my ankle, which is now throbbing like a bitch. Snake checks my ankle and picks me up, carrying me to the aircraft. We load up and take off to God knows where.