Painted in Red Pt. 5

"Boss! Bad news!" Astrid cried out.

"Send traffic, Astrid," she replied. "What's going on?"

"It's... General Sigastiris. She's keeping Minerva pinned."

Loki was suddenly overcome by rage, and Holiday noticed it immediately.

"Zephyr!" she shouted. "Get to Minerva! Now!"

"On it, Captain."

"Loki..."

She did not answer.

"Loki!"

Holiday took Loki's hand, but that wasn't enough to calm her down.

"Holly. Let me go," she muttered. "She has Minerva, and I don't think Zephyr will be able to handle her. I need to hunt that bitch down myself, but I won't disobey you."

"Lilian... Answer me honestly. Will I be making a mistake by letting you go?"

"...Yes, you will. Even then... I have to go. Please... Give me the order."

The history of Loki and Sigastiris is not known to most, even within the Calypso squad itself. Holiday knew that by letting go of this hand, she would be purposefully sending Loki to resurface her past.

"Alright," Holiday finally said. "Go. Help Minerva and Zephyr deal with Sigastiris. However... If you feel that your life is at risk, retreat immediately. That is an order."

Loki took a deep breath, but it did little to stabilize her unsteady condition. "Understood, Captain Holiday."

With that, Loki bolted away, leaving Holiday by herself in front of a massive gate that led to the hangar. She took a step forward to lean against it, keeping her head down as she gritted her teeth and cursed herself in her head.

Whether or not she accepted Simon's request, Sigastiris was already here. They would've run into her either way, and yet, she couldn't help but pin the blame on herself.

"Astrid," she said.

"I'm here, Boss."

"Activate the EMP."

"Got it. EMP deploying in three... two... one."

The moment the lights went out, Holiday pulled her arm back and hurled it as hard as she could. The hangar doors, once locked all around the edge by the toughest bolts and hinges, were sent flying back with an ear-splitting boom.

All eyes turned to see the dimly lit hallway that was now visible, and stepping in was the silhouette of a person with piercing blue and yellow eyes.

"Hostile!" one of them yelled.

They opened fire all around the shattered gate, hoping to hit a target. However, they weren't so lucky. One by one, the soldiers fell amidst the darkness.

"Where the fuck is she?!" another cried.

"Agh!" the one next to him screamed.

Finally, the lines came on, but the onslaught did not end. Holiday zipped through their ranks, cutting them down with just a small dagger.

"There she is!"

From her waist, Holiday pulled out a baton and hurled it at the charging soldier. It struck him square in the head, spinning upward into the air as steam hissed from its joints. The baton’s parts shifted and expanded mid-flight, transforming into Holiday’s signature gunblade with a large, gleaming spearhead.

Holiday dashed forward, snatching it right out of the air and driving the blade deep into the soldier's torso. With a swift press of a button, a brilliant flash of blue erupted from the weapon. A spiraling beam of plasma shot across the hangar, carrying the soldier with it until the beam detonated in a massive dome of light and fire.

The soldiers were quick to recover from their daze. Now that they had a visual on their target, they all aimed their rifles at her and opened fire.

Holiday responded by raising her arm, and the storm of bullets rained down. For the next minute, the only sound was the relentless barrage of gunfire—magazines emptied in seconds, one after another. No hesitation, no chances taken. Finally, the deafening gunfire faded into echoes.

When the smoke cleared, everyone lowered their guns, eyes widening in disbelief. In the center of it all stood Holiday, surrounded by an opaque sphere made entirely of the bullets they had fired.

Without warning, the bullets dropped to the ground, clattering like metallic rain, when Holiday lowered her arm, as if she had commanded it.

"What... the fuck is she...?" one of them gasped.

They could've fired again, but none of them dared. They knew it would be useless, just like before. All they could do was watch as Holiday calmly lifted her gunblade, poised and unshaken.

With every ounce of strength, Holiday swung her gunblade, striking what seemed like an invisible wall. The air itself cracked as if she had shattered a mirror, even though nothing was there.

She inhaled sharply, her eyes flickering with an intense aurora of blue and yellow.

"Code... Event Horizon."

Her grip tightened on the handle, and with a forceful pull, she tore the space apart, widening the fracture. From within the rift, an immense force surged outward, pulling everything in its path.

Desperate cries filled the air as a deafening rumble took over. From the smallest trucks to the heaviest tanks, every vehicle was yanked into the swirling mass. Even light itself bent toward the pull, forming an accretion ring around what appeared to be a sphere of impenetrable blackness.

Beneath the dark star stood Holiday, unmoved as she watched everything around her vanish. With precision, she raised her gunblade, twisting the circular handle until the blade faced downward. Then, with one decisive motion, she drove it into the ground.

The dark mass twisted violently before vanishing into nothingness. A pulse reverberated through the underground facility, shaking the very foundations. Everything the mass had devoured was expelled in a violent implosion.

The walls collapsed, fissures ripped through the earth, and in moments, the once-mighty hangar was reduced to a desolate ruin, while Holiday stood at the center of it all. She shut her eyes, lifted her head, and let out an fatigued sigh. 

"Gosh, what a mess. Couldn't have spared just a couple, could you? I guess that's why they warned us about you. An 'incomplete first-grade code,' they said..."

Holiday paused. Although she wasn't expecting it, she wasn't necessarily surprised either. Her head twisted to glare at Frankenstein trudging towards her, revealing a four-pointed star embedded in her hostile eyes. However, the side corners slowly retracted, reverting them back into diamonds.

"Sheesh. You always did know to scare me with just a single look," Frankenstein scoffed. "Maybe not as much as Nel whenever she got angry, but it's still there. Maybe if you were just~ a bit older, then it'd be a picture-perfect match for a captain... and her soldier."

"Alex... I don't have time to deal with you right now."

"Well, that's too bad, hm? I've been waiting for this moment, just the two of us. So, Judy? Will you play with me? Just like the good ol' days."