Wings - A Hamilton Fanfic - Lams, Mullette, and Jeffmads

Chapter Thirty Two

Lafayette's P.O.V.

I gesture to a dozen or so soldiers to grab their lantern bombs and go. It's showtime. The plan is a go. I crouch down with my troop, waiting for our cue for our part. Basically, I've come up with a good plan that will lead us to success.

First up, lantern bombs will set fire to the base and cause confusion. These bombs will be released in a circle around the base, trapping the soldiers in. Then I and my troop will go in from the middle, while Hercules will lead a few more troops around the fire and close in.

We will squeeze em and kill em, no escape from us. Once we give the last signal, the water troop (lead by John) will fly in and extinguish the fire, the original lantern group also helps. Okay, okay, deep breathes Laf...

Suddenly, a high pitched shout echoes through my ears, and some soldiers near me wince. I, on the other hand, grin. That's our cue. Thanks, Carl.

"Let's go!" I yell, and we all spread our wings and fly low, around the trees, sharply pulling up where the fire ring lies. I feel the hot air warm my skin, and I just hope I don't burn myself.

High up in the air, we fly right above the middle of the camp, where we drop for a few seconds. I spread my wings a few meters before impact and get into position, my troop making a circle next to me.

"Remember!" I exclaim. " The further we go out, the more spread out we will be. Hold your own, and hold the circle. Good luck, friends!" And with that, we start marching out, sneaking up on resting Human soldiers and taking care of them. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but just know these Humans are not going to be causing any trouble anytime soon.

After about half an hour of clearing the area out, I finally see Herc. We were supposed to meet right in the middle in between the flames and the centre, but we ended up more on my side. We could've been done quicker if Hercules and his troop did their half...but... I guess we still got the job done.

"Sound the second cue!" I shout as loud as I can. Carl, who is a few meters away, hear me and lets out another high pitched shout.

A few seconds pass. We start congratulating each other on our victory. Hercules smiles and hugs me, all the while whispering he knew I could do it.

It was only a few minutes later when we realised something was wrong. Murmurs shoot through our crowd of dirty and tired soldiers. I frown, and my face starts to pales.

Where is the water troop? Where is the original lantern troop?

Then it hit me. The flames were spreading. It will burn us all down to ashes if we don't do anything about it.

"Quick! Everyone! To the nearest river!" I shout. One by one, we start shooting up and to the north, where a river flows furiously. As I fly, I know there's no hope. How are we supposed to carry the water anyway?

Where did my plan go wrong? Did I station them too far away to hear Carl's cue? Perhaps something happened to the buckets of ready to use water. This is going to ruin everything!

If only I had planned this better... if only I had thought of every single obstacle that may occur.

"Lafayette!" I hear Hercules call for me. I stop midair and Hercules comes up to meet me. "Hey man where you off to? You just flew way over the river," He says, and I can tell by the tone of his voice he's a bit worried.

"I'm sorry Hercules, it's just... the plan was not meant to go like this!" I mumble. "Everything is ruined now because the water troop has failed to show up."

"Well, that's okay! We can find another solution to this new problem."

"But what? We have no Plan B."

"Also okay! See Laf, sometimes you just have to improvise when things don't go your way. We'll be alright!" Hercules says encouragingly. A glimmer of a smile appears on my face. We will have to try. "Now," Hercules goes on. "If you don't mind, I have a little plan I'd like to try."

"Go for it!" I tell him, so we swoop back down to the river.

Hercules tells everyone to get into pairs, and one person will scoop up water using their wings, while the other carries them back to the fire. People start collecting water, and I pair up with Hercules.

As I carry the water in the bowl made by my wings, I notice by the time we get there, most of the water and has dripped out. Together, the water extinguishes about a quarter of the flames, but the fire grows more, eating back into the areas we just put out.

"This isn't working, Herc," I grit my teeth in anger.

"No, it is! We just have to be faster," Hercules insists.

"Hercules, please, there has to be a better way to do this. Some other solution," I argue back. Hercules struggles with his words, before exhaling out.

"You're right. This way isn't good anyway," He says with a pained smile.

"Look!" Someone calls, and I look up to see the water troop coming over. Finally! I notice instead of buckets, they're holding lanterns that are cut open at the top. I guess they also had to improvise some things.

"Sorry we're late, Laf!" John calls, stopping to talk while the other fly over and start extinguishing the flames. "We had a minor problem."

"It's fine, John!" I find myself saying. Strange. I should be angry they're late, but all I feel is relieved. Hercules hugs me closer before slowly letting go, and we hold hands and fly over Base 1235, now no longer being run by Humans.

We did it. Although I wasn't able to come up with a solution for the flames, at least we did something. We made their job just a tiny bit easier.

(1036 words)