Don't Derail The Plot

12. Mission 1 - My Lady (7)

A/N: Wattpad keeps refusing to retain my formatting/changes/deletions. I keep having to save and check and fix and save and check. I'll have to go back to the previous chapters to see what else went wrong. Ugh.

Like before, previously undefined ship terminology is underlined and has a note at the end of the sentence/paragraph where it was used. Well, it should be underlined (҂⌣̀_⌣́)

Chapter Title: Twenty-Eight Percent

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When the humor—or as 909 called it, hysteria—passed, Tanzu's slightly relaxed muscles shivered from the biting cold. It hadn't bothered her very much before, but it almost all she could think about now. She was soaking wet, and the sharp winds seemed to freeze every part of her it touched. Hypothermia has now becoming a possible cause of death for Tanzu, but the risk of drowning and the rogue female lead kept her from succumbing to its lethargy.

Is she actually helping anyone?

She couldn't help but ask at some point during 909's narration of Emma's activities. From what she gathered, the men by the mast had to split their attention between controlling the sails and protecting her. Regardless, Tanzu was grateful for their temporary guardianship. It gave her a minute to catch her breath and figure out how she could get Emma back below deck safely. The erratic timing of the waves made this nearly impossible.

909 never answered her question, for an internal alarm threw the system into a panic. Tanzu could also hear the strange sound ringing in her mind and had barely formulated a thought to inquire about it when 909's announcement wiped away all her fatigue.

[Host, the Plotline is derailing!]

Huh?

Tanzu wasn't even aware there was such a feature. Was it there to warn her of something she could reverse, or just notify her of the inevitable?

909 was still processing the prediction forecast it just received from the Department, but it knew this mode was only activated when something irreparable was going to happen to the Plotline; the kind that could earn the wrath of a world god if an agent didn't resolve.

[I think Emma is going to die.]

Tanzu was stunned by this. She knew the Cupid Catalyst System discouraged agents from tampering with the Plotline, but she thought it was because it messed with the romantic storyline of the primary characters, not their lifeline!

Suddenly, she felt an inexplicable tingling sensation course over the surface of her entire body. Even in her drenched state, she sensed the air was charged with some kind of static energy. Tanzu gulped when a cool metallic taste creeped into her mouth; it was as if she had just licked the end of a battery. It was unnerving, it was alarming, and she couldn't help but look about her in dreaded anticipation.

The fourth strike of lightning Tanzu witnessed by the stairs cracked down like a whip. Unlike those that came before, it was much louder, and much brighter. The snapshot it left was the most frightening one she had seen yet; the Concorde's main mast had been splintered under the topmost spar by the bolt from the sky. She feared it might even fall. (a/n: wooden pole of the mast that runs horizontally)

909 had finally arrived at the end of the chain of events.

[She'll be impaled to death by the broken mast if you do not intervene.]

Without a second thought, Tanzu took off.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Her repeated curse marked every step it took to get there. Tanzu urged her exhausted body to get to Emma just a little faster, just a little sooner. She couldn't believe she had to really save the protagonist. Weren't they supposed to be luckier than this?