The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

"That was unpleasant." Noble covered her mouth. 

"You fought the feeling, didn't you?" Jet was the second Saint amused by Noble's discomfort that day. "The Boss used to drag me around sometimes also. It is counter-intuitive to give in to the pull. Feels a bit like you are going off a cliff. But the whiplash from holding back is much worse." 

"I see." Noble pinched the bridge of her nose. "I hope to never need this mode of transportation again." 

Soul Reaper shrugged. "Most people don't. The easiest way to not need it is also the hardest."

Jet motioned for her to follow.

"The base is set up over here. It's not far."

Noble could have guessed as much. The many emotional signatures in her range were all coming from the same general area behind her.

Turning around, Noble stifled a gasp.

Towering above the landscape was the huge cloudy dome. She had seen it on the screen before, but the image must have been from an even greater height than she thought.

It needed to be large to contain a million Skinwalker vessels and the city it had taken, but even from this distance the semi-opaque bubble nearly blocked out the entire sky. Looking up, she could hardly see its top!

She shook off her awe as she followed Jet around the bend in the landscape and toward the makeshift military outpost.

Jet cleared her throat.

"I know that this mission is not ideal, but I'm glad you answered the call. When Luna suggested you, I had no objections. I might have mentioned you myself if she hadn't." 

"Really?" Noble was surprised. 

Jet had fought alongside the best in the world in Antarctica. 

'How am I even on her list at all?'

"I saw how you held your own against the Corrupted Titan. As a Master, you should have dropped me off and then fled back to the citadel, but you stayed and fought alongside me. You may not have the power of a Saint, but you have the heart of a warrior. Even if we didn't have limited options, I still think you would be one of the few people who can pull this off." 

"Thank you. I hope you are right." Noble shouldn't have survived the encounter with the hydra, or her second Nightmare. 

Both should have been beyond her skill set, yet she prevailed. 

'With help,' Noble reminded herself.

Her efforts had been enormous, but no one survived in this world alone. 

That's why she would be relying heavily on others' preparation and knowledge to see her through. That would have to be enough.

Noble had sought additional help, of course. In the intervening hours between speaking to Fort and informing her children, the floating Master had whispered into the shadows behind her home. 

Sunny had been reluctant to answer her call. "If this is about the shadow in your office…" 

"A city has been taken over by Skinwalkers." Noble felt Sunny's emotions spike. 

The shadowy Saint frowned. "That's unfortunate." 

"They found a way to trap them inside a barrier, but a few innocents have been trapped with them. I am going to get them out." Noble paused. "I don't suppose you would be interested in joining me?" 

"I am not going and neither should you. That monster is dangerous." Sunny's eyes opened wide.

Noble had anticipated the answer. The Saint was wary of both the Waking World and people. A public appearance was very far outside of his character. 

"I appreciate your concern. I will be careful. Do you have any advice before I go?" Noble knew the strange Saint had seen countless horrors. His reaction to her words meant that he, too, had met the Skinwalker and survived. 

"Don't look them in the eye or even look at them in reflections." Sunny's expression turned grave. 

"Is that why you made Rain get rid of the mirrors in our house?" Noble had noticed her daughter silently clear them out a month prior. 

"One of the reasons," Sunny didn't elaborate. 

"I see. I'll keep it in mind." Noble had heard the first piece of advice from Mordret, but hearing it a second time cemented the importance in her head. "Take care of them while I'm gone." 

Rubbing the back of his head Sunny winced. "I suppose this would be a bad time to say I'm taking Rain out this afternoon for a special hunt?" 

"A very bad time…" Noble allowed a faint smile. "But I know you'll keep her safe." 

Sunny nodded slowly. "Take care, Noble. And good luck." 

Noble was thankful for the man's well-wishes. She would need them and more as the day unfolded. 

As her mind returned to the present, the army camp came into view. It was more set up than Noble anticipated, with a dozen temporary buildings surrounded by many smaller tents.

The soldiers who saw Jet coming stopped in their tracks and saluted.

"At ease," she waved her hand. "Where's the genius?"

"The command tent, General," the closest man answered.

Soul Reaper tilted her head and the two women continued to the largest of the temporary buildings.

While about twice as big as Noble's home, it was still much smaller than the buildings that had been used in the outskirts during the Antarctic evacuation.

Entering the building, Noble dismissed the outer layer of her armor, allowing the purple underpinnings to show.

It was very warm. After the cold of Ravenheart and the NQSC, the weather here was a shock even to her Ascended body.

The Winter Solstice was near in the Northern Quadrant, but here in Australia, the weather was gearing up for the hottest part of the summer.

'At least we will have more daylight hours to get this operation finished.'

"Who are we going to see? A genius?" Noble looked at the faces as they made their way through the mass of people.

"He's the Spelltech specialist behind the success of the dome. We have to meet with him before we can get inside. Without Endo, we may be able to get in if we try hard enough, but we'll never be able to get out."

"That last bit is kind of important." Noble bit her lip. "You mean you couldn't even get to the Dream Realm?"

Jet raised her shoulders noncommittally. "That's what Endo claims, but I doubt it. I know he is trying to keep them contained from all angles, but I still think I could find a way to punch a hole between worlds. Better to be safe and have an escape hatch though, don't you think?"

"Yes," Noble wanted to get people out of the dome, not make herself a permanent part of whatever macabre picture lay inside.

"Endo!" Jet's voice quieted the people around her.

"Over here!" An answer came.

The far corner of the main room was filled with screens covering every angle of the dome. While none of the drones could pierce the veil of the cloud cover, they hovered faithfully in place as if the sight was more exciting than a dreamscape battle.

"The containment field is still securely in place, General!" Endo exclaimed excitedly as the Saint neared.

Jet studied the screens.

"Has anything attempted to come out?"

Endo's confident smile faded. "Uh, I don't know. I don't have sensors or anything of that sort inside the barrier. We had other priorities."

"But you are sure they are still in there? All of them?" Jet had dealt with containment failures before. If there was a chance that one of the creatures had gotten out, she would ask Noble to do a sweep before they continued.

"I am absolutely sure that nothing has escaped. It would have shown up as a disturbance in the sphere, and that has not happened."

Soul Reaper took the words at face value. She motioned to Noble.

"This is Master Noble. She and I will be going in to rescue the innocent people who were trapped. We need to know how you will get both of us in and out."

"You mean the four of you." Endo winced, realizing he was correcting someone far superior in rank. "Forgive me ma'am, but I was led to believe there would be two others accompanying you. I have been working off of that metric."

"Did Kai and Effie come back early from their Solstice preparations and hitch a ride here?" Jet began to look for her friends.

"I wouldn't know anything about that," Endo chewed his lip. The two men were just here a moment ago. One of them is rather hard to miss."

Noble heard soldiers nearby groan. The sound was all too familiar. Noble whirled around, picking her way through the crowd until she found two familiar faces.

Or one. The other she had never been able to look at properly.

But right now Noble knew if she could, the man would be grinning like a fool at her startled expression.

"What are you two doing here?"

"It's a nice day for a suicide mission," Master Chip winked, "where else would I be?"

Coy held up his hand to silence his friend before he scared any more of the people around them. "What my less than tactful friend is trying to say is: we heard there was a problem. We are here to help."