Angel's feelings

He tumbled on the roof of the truck, when he almost fell off, he held the edge of the truck, his face was red as he groaned in pain, he couldn't even react to what happened, he could only raise his hands at the last moment and that's what saved his life.

The peacemaker has two doors, one at the side and the other at the back. The side door opened and laid horizontally. With the truck's huge tires, the horizontal door was half a meter off the ground. A soldier rushed out and pointed her gun at the huge bird, and not even a second passed as she made the shot.

BOOM!

The gun made an exceptionally loud sound and the next moment the condor screeched in pain, its loud piercing screech almost caused the eardrums of the soldiers to rupture.

The bird retreated, and its increased momentum as it flew back flung Zach off his seat. Before he could react, he was already off the vehicle.

The soldier threw her gun inside the vehicle and grabbed Zach before he could hit the ground.

She grunted softly as she pulled him up, she dragged him into the vehicle and the door closed immediately, BOOM!, They heard a loud sound, outside, a huge salamander which had been waiting for a good meal, felt wronged as it moved to a different place, Zach was supposed to be his lunch.

( Author's Note: the real world is dark)

"Thanks," Zach said to the female soldier with a grateful gaze.

She chuckled and walked to her seat; and exhaled softly as she sat; Angel turned to the other soldier in a female exo-suit beside her.

"Where's my gun?"

"It's with James. He grabbed it like it was a treasure," Amelia replied with a pout.

"You were great out there. The beta rank isn't far away," she added with a smile.

Angel removed her helm and stared at Amelia calmly. As her mother said, Angel hardly gets out of character. Her calm nature was nurtured by her training to be a great sniper.

"Don't behave recklessly this time. The numbers of the night beasts out there is much higher than what we're used to"

Angel warned her friend with visible concern in her voice.

"I have a great sniper to watch my back, don't I? " Amelia pouted with her tongue stuck out.

"Be careful out there Amelia, this is a red zone and the number of melee soldiers who have died in red zones is more than all other zones combined"

Angel spoke while pressing her soft lips together. Amelia's negligence worried her.

"I would be careful okay," Amelia hollered. "Especially when I've found a guy," she mumbled subconsciously.

"What did you say?" Angel questioned with raised brows.

"I said, especially when I want to attend your wedding." Amelia faked with a mischievous smile.

Angel's cheeks turned red. She rapidly blinked her long lashes and glared at Amelia.

"What!, I didn't say anything wrong," Amelia smiled innocently.

"Who talked about the wedding?" Angel whispered while gritting her teeth.

Amelia turned in a different direction and peeked at Angel, only to find out she was still glaring at her.

"I'm sorry," Amelia said in a soft tone. "I thought you liked the survivor we rescued from Stronghold eleven," she muttered.

"Having feelings for him doesn't mean we are getting married," Angel retorted.

"Ha!.. you've finally expressed your true feelings," Amelia smirked, with the joy of victory glowing in her eyes.

Angel's eyes widened and became complicated. She lowered her head as she remembered their interaction a month ago; she had finally figured out why Derek was so cold to her. It was because of what happened seven years ago. 

Angel had broken a promise which brought pain to both, but with her background revealed, there was no choice.

She shook her head and said calmly, "We don't need distractions, Amelia"

"I know, but you have to talk to him when we get back, avoiding him would not help, you're always ahead in everything, what's happening to you," Amelia encouraged Angel, no matter how it pains her, she still rooted in her friend.

She knew that Angel's relationship with 10 was because her parents wanted her to have a relationship, so she chose the person with the least number of negatives. And Amelia also knew that it was all an act. Angel didn't even allow 10 to touch her.

She knew Angel as a calm girl, who was in control of her emotions. While she had not gotten any boyfriend because of her preference, Angel was a girl who would almost never have feelings. It gladdens her to see a man who could shake the calm, cold, and calculative girl.

"I don't know. He didn't want to talk to me before," Angel mumbled while staring at her boot intensely. She had no other way of controlling her nervousness.

"It's been a month and it will be a while before we return. He should have calmed down by then and if he doesn't, then make him calm down," Amelia said while staring at Angel.

"You handled 10 perfectly. What's different with Derek"

"..bu... But he's different.."

"How?", Amelia questions with raised brows.

"He's the only person who I feel relaxed with, I have to act cheerful like my brother to avoid attention, All those stupid parties and lustful gazes from those fools annoys me but I have to smile to avoid a war between our organizations, even my dad doesn't really understand me, he is so occupied up with his duties that sometimes he doesn't even come home for a whole year."

"My mom is the head of the organization, so no matter how much of her free time she squeezes it won't change the fact that they don't really know me, all everyone sees is the talented sniper, the elegant Crawford, I grew up like this not because of my job, it's because I had to control everything to be perfect, I have to be perfect to my parents, to the government, to the organization, and to the stronghold, there can't be an odd Crawford..." she stops and exhaled.

"The first time I met Derek, although he wore cheap clothes and used outdated gadgets, his gaze had a strange brilliance, his smile was contagious and even his fumbling when he walked up to me and introduced himself was amusing and cute."

"I never needed to be perfect with Derek because he loved and cared for Angel, not the Crawford everyone sees".

It was shocking to see Angel pour her heart out. Amelia's eyes flashed with a complicated light, and she exhaled slowly and embraced Angel. well, the metal suit spoiled their emotional embrace, but they didn't care.

"Don't worry he's not going anywhere, I'm here to help" she said with a sad smile, Derek was really important to Angel, she was happy that her best friend finally had real feelings for a guy and it pained her deeply that this same guy also seemed to be the one for her.

Their COMs beeped and the captain's voice rang out, "Prepare to engage in three minutes"

Every soldier began to prepare themselves, Zach was replaced as his mental state was unstable for now.

Amelia turned to the white-haired beauty beside her and her lips curled up.

"Make him love every part of you, the sniper and the Crawford would be happy to know him"

Angel chuckled and wore her helmet. The visor glowed with green light and a robotic voice rang from the helmet.

"Ready, sir".