A throaty groan sounded from Hisato. "There's only one extra ship that you could possibly be talking about."

"Which is why you will owe me! Just wait a few minutes before giving us power back," Vatra called over her shoulder. "So much can go wrong with this," she added in a softer whisper, and placed her mask back over her face.

Her hand reached out and yanked the door open. Vatra descended the stairs back down to the hall with little care to how narrow each step was. There wasn't time to worry about taking cautious movements.

The second door approached fast and Vatra nearly fell through it. Her momentum carried her clumsily for a few steps into the darkness on the other side before she regained her balance.

"All right, maybe I should have slowed down a little," Vatra mumbled. She looked around in embarrassment, composing herself with a straightened back, and continued on down the hall.

Watching the numbers on the hangar doors, Vatra counted in her mind until the familiar number crossed her vision. The hangar was still dark beyond the door, but she knew Hisato would time it just right for her.

"What the hell is going on?" Enyalius' agitated voice questioned from the faint glow of his ship's lights.

She didn't have the spare time to entertain him.

"Go get our ship ready to fight. We're defending this place." Vatra directed her statement to Spyro, ignoring Enyalius altogether. "Take the crew with you. I can handle these guys."

The reality was, she didn't want the spirits pulling a disappearing act while crammed in the ship and giving away her identity. The spirits' time was limited, after all, and they were already on a countdown.

Spyro nodded without question and turned, the others following him. They disappeared to the halls and went to the Agkistrodon.

Turning her attention back to Enyalius, Vatra gestured with her chin to the ship behind them. "I'm going to need you to board your ship and strap in. We're going to be doing a little fighting."

"No, we're not," Enyalius said. "You should join your companion back on your ship. Our ship isn't going anywhere."

She didn't want Hisato to turn power back on until she was in control of the ship. The others could easily turn and beat her to the boarding ramp and keep her from going inside. Vatra needed to step it up another notch.

Crossing the distance between her and Enyalius, Vatra landed a hard and direct punch in the center of his nose. He didn't even have time to block the hit.

Revna looked on in shock beside him. Her arms were held up in a partial attempt to stop Vatra, but they were frozen half-way up.

Blood spouted from his nostrils. Enyalius grabbed his face and ducked down. A noise emitted from him that sounded like a half-cry and half-choke.

"I don't have time to negotiate," Vatra dead-panned. She ignored the tingle that shot up and down her right arm, throbbing more so at her knuckles.

Vatra squared her shoulders at Revna. The substantially shorter woman stepped away, clearly uninterested in being hit.

It was out of character that Enyalius didn't at least strike back. Vatra was expecting more of a fight from him, but she played on the gut-feeling that she had from earlier. He was different. The way he sulked away from being hit once only proved her suspicions.

"Okay," Enyalius said. Blood bubbled from his lips, spilling down over his mouth from his nose. "Take the ship, but let us stay here."

"No," Vatra shot. "Both of you are coming with me. I don't want you out of my sight."

Revna and Enyalius exchanged a look, but ultimately they sulked up the boarding ramp.

Following them closely, Vatra stepped cautiously up into the gaudy ship. The inside looked like an American 1950's diner. Neon signs and red and white leather covered almost everything. Underneath their boots, the metal floor was mimicked in the pattern of white and black tile. If she wasn't pressed for time, Vatra might have wanted to look around a little more.

Vatra settled into the cockpit, squeaking down into a red and white leather chair that conformed comfortably to her figure. She motioned for the other two to strap down in the seats beside her.

"You're not going to the crews' quarters, if that's what you're thinking," Vatra said.

The other chairs squeaked just as loudly and a multitude of buckles started snapping into place.

Just on time, the hangar sparked to life. Vatra sighed in relief and glanced over the controls.

Okay, it's just a refurbished Luxury-class ship. I've flown enough of these to do it in my sleep, Vatra thought to herself.

She went through the controls reassuringly, bringing the vessel to life. They were good on shields and weapons, at least. The only thing that seemed to be off was sensors. She would just have to keep her head on a swivel.

"It might be best if I fly," Revna said in a small voice. "It's a different feel than your ship."

Chuckling, Vatra looked over to the woman. "Sure, it might be. Doesn't mean I don't know how to fly it."

The hangar door opened behind them, revealing the ongoing fight outside. Hisato's defense hadn't downed any more ships from what Vatra could quickly tell as she guided the ship from the hangar. The remaining five enemies had done much damage to Belltower and the defense cannons.

Spyro exited Belltower at nearly the same time, expertly guiding the Agkistrodon into a pursuit of one vessel.

"What's this ship's name?" Vatra asked as she picked her target. A lone ship, unsuspecting.

"What do you care?" Enyalius sounded bitter.

Vatra cut a look over her shoulder and saw him tending to his nose, wiping the blood from his face like a boy with his pride wounded.

Revna leaned against her restraints. "This is the Marguerite."

"A woman's name?" Vatra questioned with a grin. It wasn't like either of them could see it, but certainly they could hear the smugness in her voice. "There's always a good story behind a ship with a woman's name."

A small smile tugged at the corners of Revna's lips. "A French woman," Revna said. "Enyalius renamed the ship when he took it over."

She regretted pushing for the backstory. Vatra tightened her grip around the controls of the ship and returned her focus to trying to catch the slippery enemy in front of them.

"He was a hopeless romantic for her," Revna continued.

Vatra fired on the enemy, reveling in the feeling as the vessel exploded into a thousand pieces. Fire enveloped them as they passed into the wreckage, ripping through the carcass and fully destroying its frame. Whatever was left dropped to the forest below.

She caught the faint explosion of another vessel not far off, and the retreating shape of the Agkistrodon. There weren't many enemies left.

Two beams of light passed close by, and Vatra pulled to a hard right. She spun nearly a complete turn of direction and caught her pursuer by surprise. A quick reaction, and an expertly aimed shot, sent the vessel spiraling into the treetops. Vatra continued firing on them until they were fully engulfed in flames, and surely unable to emerge from their ship.

"You're a good shot," Enyalius said. "Have you served? With your mask, it's hard to say how old you are."

"I'm just a good pilot," Vatra shot back. She scanned the skies for the remaining two enemies.

The chair creaking behind her signaled the man hadn't believed her answer. "No, you're more than just a good pilot. Back on Doatis I saw it, too. There's more to it."

Oh, great, now we're suspicious of each other. Both for different reasons, Vatra thought.

Veiled in the shadows of the descending sun and heavily cloud covered sky, the dark metal of a ship had blended in seamlessly. She didn't catch the plummeting ship until the last moment. The Agkistrodon had apparently downed one of the last two enemies somewhere above them, and the falling vessel had made a direct line for them. The failing wreckage sparked with bits of fire, catching her attention.

Vatra cursed to herself mentally, pulling the controls with every bit of muscle she could manage, but there was only so much she could do. The enemy ship crashed into them.

Alarms went off instantaneously. With a jolt, they were yanked down along with the other ship like a riptide pulling them in an ocean. There was no stopping it. Vatra tried to test the engines, but the other ship had severed her ties to their control. They were dead in the sky.

No one had time to say anything to each other. Vatra was grateful for that, at least. She also hoped the chance of dying in the explosion of a gamboller, a godkiller in itself, would take Enyalius out for her. Then she wouldn't have to worry about killing him herself.

If only an explosion had happened. Unfortunately, the two ships crashed down to the forest floor without a fiery death.

Trees burned above them. The smell was anything but happy memories of huddling around a campfire and singing songs. As Vatra stumbled down the boarding ramp, which was the only thing that worked on the Marguerite, she was instead reminded of agonizing death and rebirth.

Reaching the end of the ramp, Vatra tugged up the edge of her mask and vomited out over the singed grass at the toes of boots.

A hand slapped over her shoulder. "I think you have a concussion," Revna said.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Right now there's two of you talking to me." Vatra pulled her mask back down.

"You should sit down." Revna motioned off to the side of the clearing their ships had fallen into.

"Where's Enyalius?" Vatra asked, looking back into the ship. "And we need to make sure no one comes out of that other ship."

"He's getting some weapons for that exact purpose," Revna assured. "We need to make our way back to Belltower. I saw the last ship downed by your friend, but I don't think they saw where we went down at. Unfortunately, we have no way of relaying out our position."

"With the sun going down, this place is about to get as dangerous as being up in the sky was," Vatra said.

Revna nodded in agreement. "At least the enemies are defeated for now. I'm sure the three of us can get back to Belltower in no time."

Vatra folded her arms with a sigh, willing her legs to steady themselves. She'd found herself in the most precarious of positions; working alongside the person she wanted to kill.

A/N: Oooh, more action! I hope you guys like this one. I really like Vatra's character, she's a blast to write and really fleshed out in my mind. I hope as her character develops in the story you see how cool she really is! 

What do you think of Revna? Do you trust her?