Operation Reconnaissance

011* Interchanging Courses

Familiar green eyes scanned the dock before jumping over the railing and onto the water tank. He screwed open the tank, eyes following his partner. She had just silently snapped a guard's neck and was now dragging him into the restroom. Jocelyn came out the room a few seconds later, nodding. Lancelot jumped into the tank, curled up into a ball.

The swirling water brought him down to the bottom of the tank, where Lancelot wasted no time opening a door then draining the water that followed him in. The water slowly circled down into the specialized gaps in the floor, running along the bottom of the tube specially designed to keep the water out of the airship. He checked his timepiece, counting the seconds.

Squeaking rather loudly, the door to the airship swung open just as Lancelot finished counting. There stood Jocelyn, grinning in a guard suit. The hat she wore was rather large, to the point where it comically covered a large portion of her face.

The girl took off the guard uniform and handed it to the boy. She unzipped the bottom of her dress, detaching it from the rest. Lancelot's head snapped up.

"Someone's coming," he ushered, pulling Jocelyn under the stairs. As expected, a guard's voice called out if there was anyone there. They made sure that no one was there anymore before running down a flight of dark stairs.

---

"Lance! Were you mad? Why didn't you leave the explosion?" Jocelyn yelled at the boy with a parachute. Her red hair flapped around her face, rendering her unable to see. She'd forgot to tie her hair up before running hastily into the mission.

"No," her partner incoherently responded from a window of the ship, a few meters below where Jocelyn was standing. "I simply wanted to follow my orders. As for the parachute, I managed to snag one before it combusted. We have to share this measly thing."

"Did you lose the key?"

"It's probably melted at this point."

"They'd be disappointed."

"I know."

Jocelyn kept silent, climbing out of the hatch she was previously in and onto the top of the airship. She shot a hook into the floor, the rope dangling from it the only thing keeping her from falling off the ship. At the speed they were going, the hook wasn't going to hold too long either. Even worse, they were headed right through a bunch of electrically charged clouds.

The girl descended slowly down the side of the ship with extreme caution, checking every few seconds that the hook was still holding. She had tied the rope around her waist and was now slowly making her way down to Lancelot. He shook his head to himself, preparing the parachute for opening. Guards pounded on the bolted door behind him.

The first strike of lightning was released. It flashed for a little second before actually hitting the ship. Jocelyn jumped away just in time to avoid being shocked. She continued descending, knowing very well that the rope would snap soon.

The second strike of lighting wasn't so forgiving. It immediately collided with the ship, zapping Jocelyn off the surface of it. She let go of the rope, falling down a good 20 meters before the rope reached its limit. Lancelot lost the sight of the girl, for she fell right into a mass of clouds. He could only barely see the end of the extending rope as it disappeared into the mist.

Lancelot took out a knife and jumped down as well, timely avoiding the guards as they bust down the door.

The wind wasn't making it easy for Lancelot to see. He slashed around blindly at where he thought the rope was. The knife and the rope collided with such force that Lancelot nearly dropped it onto Jocelyn's head. He collided with the dangling girl, arms automatically gripping her and tugging her into him. With another blind wave, he opened the parachute.

Once they were steadily descending, Lancelot relaxed his grip on the parachute. He reached into his pocket with one arm, the other clutching his partner, to make sure that the last tube of chemicals was still there.

"I think you're the one who's mad," he muttered at the girl. The wind blew his comment away before it reached her ears.

It harshly blew away Jocelyn's soft thanks as well.

jesu! what haste!

this took way longer than it was supposed to sorry

:-)