Eastern Plaza - outside VC-HQ
The shuttle landed with a lurch under Kaneda’s direct orders ,directly onto the plaza right outside VC-HQ. Much to the annoyance of the port authority and to many clearly surprised patrons both entering and leaving the building.
As both Natalya and Kaneda jumped down from the side of the shuttle , the section agent took her to one side and spoke, raising his voice above the din of the shuttle's engines winding down... “ wait here for a moment…I’ll be right back” and with that, before she could reply, he promptly took off inside to alert the security services, leaving Natalya standing by the shuttle outside the colossal Vinda-Corp building.
She looked up in awe. It was only the second time she had ever set foot on Bonadan and although she had seen VC-HQ before, it still impressed her now.
The enormity of it all was starting to sink in…
Natalya turned around to gain a scope of the place surrounding her. There were people everywhere and they all appeared to be heading in the same direction,towards the start of the 'Big Swoop' competition. She could just make out the starting grid through the crowds milling towards it.
With curiousity getting the better of her, Natalya moved forward to get a better look, but as she stepped forward she felt the rush of something wash over her. Stopping her in her tracks…
The umistakable pull of the force hit her with a violence she had never before experienced, it was like someone or something had opened the floodgates , and it took her breath away…
Natalya fell to her knees in an attempt to steady herself…
The power behind this was too powerful, and it hurt her. Natalya gritted her teeth in reaction and looked up but found she was no longer looking at the world through her own eyes…
The force was now in control of her vision.
Natalya saw a woman up high, with her finger on the trigger, Natalya saw what she saw…and felt what
she felt…
Felt the hatred coarsing inside, the desperation, and the loss,
the loss was absolute!
The vision rushed to the woman’s focus, so fast it made her giddy!...
Two men…
….in an area she was starting to recognise…
One was not what he appeared to be and despite this, Natalya knew him, she
felt she
knew him… all too well…
The other…the other was…
Natalya’s eyes widened…and all became clear…
An instant moment of clarity.
“Natalya!”
Kaneda’s voice punctured the bubble…
As he placed a hand on her shoulder, Natalya's sight returned to her and she found herself looking up at him wild-eyed . He seemed to back-off , as if realising he had awoken her from something unnatural… that and her eyes had now become a bright almost luminescent blue, something he had clearly not seen before…
“whats the matter! Are you alright?” He asked instantly, his voice heavily drenched with concern…
As the spell was broken, she shot up and grabbed him with both hands, the suddenness of which surprised the Vinda-Corp agent…
“She's going to shoot him!” She shouted with utter conviction…
Before Kaneda could ask, Natalya swung around to the direction of what she had seen and pointed to a large housing block ….
“She’s in there! She’s got a gun!” her words came thick and fast, and Kaneda turned to see the building Natalya had pointed at…
“88th floor” Natalya’s eyes glazed as she repeated the information, almost as if someone was speaking through her….
As Kaneda looked up at the building behind him, Natalya had already started moving in the opposite direction...
She knew where she had to go….and despite Kaneda’s rapidly distant protestations Natalya broke into a run as she began to weave her way through the crowd heading in the opposite direction to her, and only two other people…
Time was running out.
The force was guiding her now, compelling her, and she allowed it…
Picking her way through the throng, Natalya instinctively reached for her lightsaber.
