The Refuge (Noire x Writer)

Impending Impact

     He stepped out of the suit to reveal his face. I knew this person, an old friend from a while ago. It was Captain Max. My eyes opened wide once I realized who it was. He seemed to notice.

-"Surprised to see me general?" He asked.

-"Of course I am! I thought you died!"

-"Nah, I didn't die, simply passed out. They dragged me back to the medical center before you got back. They treated my internal wounds and got me patched up. Sadly, they couldn't fix my eye that got hit with a piece of shrapnel." He said as he pointed to his left eye.

     It was true that when he was fading, I saw a cut on his eye, a deep cut. I looked at his scar a bit closer and it was healed the most it could be. But even then it was pretty bad. Noire walked up to him.

-"Thanks for the save captain. We needed that." She said.

-"Don't mention it. I needed to repay the general back someday." He said.

-"Thanks Captain." I said.

-"We should head back to the Basilicom now, we'll put that creep behind bars." Noire said.

-"Let's go." He replied.

     Noire got in her Goliath suit, I picked up Max and flew back to the Basilicom behind Noire. We got back and I invited Max inside. He stayed for a while and had some coffee before he got a call saying that someone needed help with something. He saluted before leaving. Noire and I brought Anonydeath to the Lastation penitentiary and sentenced him to 8 years in prison. Me and Noire went back up to her room and started watching some TV for a while until I noticed that Noire was asleep. I turned off the TV and carried her to her room. I set her in bed and got in next to her. As I looked over at the peacefully sleeping Noire, it was difficult to imagine Noire ever not being cute like this. I bet she'd yell me if I said that to her. I fell asleep knowing that I could keep her safe for the rest of my life.

THE NEXT DAY

     I awoke to my alarm going off and sat up. I looked over to my side and saw that Noire was already up. I went out to the kitchen and she wasn't there. I looked around but I couldn't find her anywhere in the house. I saw Kei doing some paperwork and walked up to her.

-"Hey Kei, do you know where Noire is?" I asked.

-"I haven't seen her all morning. I think that she's just out doing her patrols though." She said.

-"Okay, thanks for your time."

     I went back into the kitchen and got myself some breakfast while looking over the nation. That's when I noticed something. There was a big group of people around someone. This could get dangerous. I went down there and landed in front of the surrounded person. I didn't get to see who it was yet because my back was turned to him or her. I spoke to the people.

-"Citizens, what is going on?" I said in a serious tone.

     One of them spoke up.

-"This person is a traitor to the company!"

-"How so?" I asked him.

-"He's destroying our products and making excuses!"

-"Even if he's doing something wrong, you don't need to surround him or threaten to kill him! If you do that, then you're no better yourself!"

     I turned to the man and spoke.

-"What did you do young man? Just tell me." I asked.

-"I was...I was taking a portion of the merchandise that we made every day and used it to feed my family. My family is poor, we don't have enough money to feed ourselves."

-"That is a perfectly valid reason, but you didn't have to smuggle food out of the factory. You could just go to the Lastation food drive and collect some rations. It has enough for you and your family."

-"I will, I just don't want to be harassed anymore."

-"Always have the courage to speak the truth, never hide your true feelings. Only then will you survive."

     I turned back to the crowd who lowered their heads in remorse.

-"This man had a reason for his actions. Before you go and judge people, find out the truth, discover the roots of the problem and find a way to resolve it together. Is that understood?" I asked.

     They all nodded in unison and I turned back to the man.

-"Go now. Go to the food drive and demand rations. Here, I'll give you something to help you." I said.

     I wrote down a note on a piece of paper and gave it to the man.

-"Give this to them and they'll give you enough for a family of 8. Got it?" I asked.

-"I will! Thank you Blue Soul!"

     He started running towards the food drive and I called the food drive.

-"Be advised, there's a man with a note from me that I promised rations to support a family of 8, make sure he gets them, I'm also sending you a picture of him." I told the officer.

-"Understood general!"

     I went back to the Basilicom only to find that the system was getting tons of reports on something important. I picked up and yelled into the microphone.

-"What the hell is going on?!?!? I want station #64802 to tell me what's going on!! And him alone!!" I yelled.

-"S-sir, we're detecting something on our radar that has a collision course with Gamindustri."

-"What is it?"

-"It appears to be a asteroid sir! A small one, but still going fast and is of concern!"

-"How much time is there before it hits?!"

-"Right now, we have an estimated 6 weeks and 3 days before it hits sir!"

-"Okay, okay, let me think..."

     My heart was pumping, an asteroid was gonna hit Gamindustri?! We needed to stop it!

-"Start calculating its impact point and get back to me!"

-"Got it sir!"

     I hung up and saw Noire coming back to the Basilicom. She landed and I ran up to her.

-"Hey Rick, sorry I wasn't here all day, I was at Leanbox to attend a report from the country." Noire said.

-"Noire, something is happening and I think you should know about it."

-"What is it?"

-"There's...There's an asteroid on an impact course with Gamindustri and we have 6 weeks before it hits. I've already asked the officers to calculate its impact point so that we can evacuate the people around the impact point."

     She paused for a moment before looking back to me and giving me an answer.

-"I...I guess we can only wait for the calculations to be done huh?" She said.

-"Yeah, I'm hoping it doesn't take long for them to be done calculating."

     I looked up to the sky, imagining what would happen if that asteroid hits. We'll think of something before it hits though, I know we will...I hope.