User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑: The Maxim of Possibility, chapter 3

It had been around three hours since Nanako and her assault team had departed the Rhizome en route to the location where they would carry out the operation against the branch gate of the Neo Aragami hive, where, deep beneath the surface of the earth, the Gehenna lay dormant. The plan was for a sniper team led by Sasha Andersen to draw the attention of the Watchers guarding the gate with long-ranged shots and force them to exhaust the Neo Aragami guarding the gate in retaliation. An interception team, led by Nanako and Alan Croswell, the Rhizome’s physically strongest God Eater, would meet the retaliation group halfway and suppress and destroy them before they could reach the sniper team, who would meanwhile continue to unload on the Watchers from extreme range, destroying their eyes and rendering them powerless. Once this was complete, the sniper team would rendezvous with the interception team and both would head for the now unattended branch gate together.

Or at least, this had been the plan, until Sasha’s initial sighting of the gate yielded an unexpected result.

“What do you mean, ‘it’s empty?’”  Nanako could not believe her ears.

Sasha, however, repeated her earlier words. “Just what I said. There’s nothing guarding the gate. Here, see for yourself.”  She moved aside, allowing Nanako to sight down the scope of Sasha’s sniper rifle-type God Arc – and, sure enough, the Watchers Croswell had reported at the strategy meeting four days ago were conspicuously absent.

“Huh, well what do you know,” exhaled Nanako. “I’m still about 500% sure this is a trap, though. In any case, we should hold our position here until 1500 hours, just in case.”

Croswell interjected. “You don’t think we should just rush in and crush ‘em now, commander?”

“Don’t be stupid,” came Nanako’s curt reply. “If they’ve withdrawn their guard, there’s literally only a single possibility that presents itself – it’s a trap, and an obvious one at that.”  Nanako kicked at the ground in exasperation. “Those damn Neo Aragami might not be genuises, but they’re apparently at least smart enough to realize that a tactic like this will keep us busy long enough for…”

“For what, exactly?” inquired Sasha, but the words had scarcely escaped her lips before she immediately realized what Nanako had noticed.

A chill ran down Nanako’s spine as she leapt into action. “God Eaters,” she cried out, breaking into a sprint in the direction whence they had come, “this is an emergency of the highest caliber. The Neo Aragami have most likely launched an attack on the Rhizome in our absence.”

One by one, the rest of Nanako’s assault team followed suit, running after their commander as her voice echoed over their intercoms. “That Ranger we met out front was probably there to ascertain whether we were at home. The fact that it didn’t return to the hive was likely a signal to the Neo Aragami back at home base that we had left, and thus for them to execute their own plan, meaning they’d pull back their guard and send an assault squad of their own the long way around to hit the Rhizome while we were out. Shit! Goddammit!”  Nanako cursed her own shortsightedness as her own Oracle Cells superactivated and gave her the energy to sprint at speeds no normal human, and few God Eaters, would be able to match. “I can’t believe I missed that! And it was so obvious, too!”

Nanako saved her breath and energy, concentrating entirely on returning to the Rhizome as fast as her legs would carry her. However, what was waiting for her was…

-

Sure enough, the Neo Aragami had beaten them there. The subway entrance was uncovered, and screams could be heard from within as the Neo Aragami mercilessly slaughtered any humans they could find. Nanako had been sure to leave a defense team of God Eaters behind just in case of exigent circumstances, so hopefully they could do what they could to minimize casualties, but it was a battle of attrition to be sure. Nanako dashed down the subway entrance and leapt from the top of the escalator, breaking her fall with her God Arc as she landed. Waiting for her were two Stalkers at her three and seven, as well as a number of a different species, the Slasher – a ring-like Neo Aragami lined with blades, whose purpose was to cut through prey faster than they could react and weaken them for the Stalkers to clean up.

Nanako would not be defeated here, though, a sentiment affirmed by three bullets in quick succession nailing the Stalker in the head from behind her. Sasha and the sniper team had caught up – and immediately thereafter, a massive hammer came down from above, as Croswell had leapt from the top of the escalator and dealt a lethal blow to one of the Slashers.

“So you finally made it, huh?” Nanako exclaimed, her comment directed at Croswell and at Sasha who finished descending the escalator. “Good… now let’s clean up!”

Nanako and her teammates spread out and swept through the subway system, fighting their way through numerous Neo Aragami. The corpses strewn about caused Nanako a great deal of pain, but she knew that she must put that aside until the Rhizome could be cleared out.

The sound of a Stalker gaining on her from behind snapped her out of her thoughts – just as another Stalker closed in from in front. Nanako was trapped in a pincer attack between two Stalkers, with no way around either. Surveying the situation, she decided that the most efficient plan of attack would be to fire on the one behind her while continuing to face forwards, then use a second shot to propel herself forwards and sever the second Stalker’s head before it could react. It’d be risky, but…

She readied herself and prepared to form change her God Arc – but before she could act, there was a flash, and the head of the Stalker in front of her exploded in a bursting flash that erupted forth with multiple chained blasts. Immediately thereafter, there was another flash, and the Stalker behind her met the same fate, its body crumpling to the ground.

Nanako knew that there could only be one person behind this…

…and, sure enough, out of the shadows stepped a God Eater with long blonde hair, her sniper rifle form God Arc changing into a scythe before devouring the corpse of the Stalker in front of her.

This was none other than Natalia Estheim, the Rhizome’s chief engineer and head (and sole member) of R&D. Natalia had been picked up early on in the Rhizome’s lifespan, taking on the role of weapons maintenance and bullet development. It was thanks to Natalia that the God Eaters of the Rhizome could combat unfamiliar Neo Aragami threats every time one arose, so it would be no exaggeration to say that the continued survival of the Rhizome rested almost entirely on Natalia’s shoulders.

“Natalia!” Nanako exclaimed, running towards her comrade while stepping over the Stalker’s corpse. “Man, am I glad to see you alive. How are the others?”

“Well…” Natalia began, “I managed to activate the emergency defenses for the deeper rooms in time, but they still got almost half of our civilian population and three of our God Eaters. We’re down to 537 civvies and 24 God Eaters in total.”

Nanako cursed and kicked at the ground. “Goddammit!” she shouted. “How did they know where we were? And how the hell could they have come up with this plan in the first place?”

“I guess the Neo Aragami are just a lot smarter than we give them credit for,” came the voice of Alan Croswell, who approached from Nanako’s rear. “My guess is that the hive isn’t just a physical location – it’s a collective, a hiveMIND, that all the Neo Aragami use to communicate.”

“If that’s true,” Nanako responded, “and I’m willing to bet it is… then humanity’s more screwed than we thought.”  Nanako shouldered her God Arc and turned to face Croswell as Sasha caught up to the three of them.

“At any rate,” Natalia interjected, “it’s been a while since the four of us were together like this, hasn’t it?”  Natalia’s position within the Rhizome demanded she be in her lab constantly, so she rarely, if ever, got the chance to participate in strategy briefings. The four of them, though, made up the core of the Rhizome in every way; it was an unfamiliar and somewhat chilling feeling to see the Big Four, as it were, all grouped together.

“Indeed it has,” replied Nanako. “On that note, though… Sasha, Natalia, and Croswell. You three took separate routes to get here. Report to me your findings.”

Sasha was the first to respond. “I came in right after you,” she began, “and I only just caught up. Most of what I took care of was cleaning up the stragglers left behind after your run and taking care of some survivors here and there.”

“I took a bit of a detour,” continued Croswell. “I caught up with part of the defense team that stayed behind. They were having a bit of trouble with a team of Stalkers, so I gave them a bit of assistance. After that, I made my way back to the main tunnels and caught up with you.”

“I’d been in my lab all day, as usual,” answered Natalia, “so by the time the Neo Aragami attack began, I was putting the finishing touches on that beauty you saw back there.”  She was referring, of course, to that brilliant display of bullet-based Oracle engineering that took out two Stalkers in a single shot each. “I left the lab about half an hour ago, and I’ve been clearing out Aragami ever since.”  Natalia was not very adept at combat, so she preferred to take a support role with her bullets – but her support was second to absolutely none. With her taking a rear guard role in combat, the God Eaters of the Rhizome could rest easy knowing that their backs were covered.

“At any rate,” Nanako spoke, “it seems like the Neo Aragami are pretty much cleared out. Let’s spread out and search for any survivors and remaining Neo Aragami we may have missed, see to any wounds, then rendezvous at the main subway platform. They know we’re here now… we’ll need to make plans to move.”

“And where exactly will we move TO?” demanded Croswell.

Nanako, however, already had her answer. “To the northwest, there’s another series of tunnels – a concourse under the old city – that fell into disuse four years ago after it was cleared out in a Neo Aragami attack. They won’t expect anyone to still be there… we can move in and be safe there for the foreseeable future. Alright, dismissed!”

As Nanako’s teammates turned and traveled down various side tunnels, Nanako stood and contemplated. The plan for the move was perfect; as long as they stayed out of sight of any Neo Aragami and instantly annihilated any that did see them before they could communicate their finding to the hive, they should be golden. Should, of course being the operative word.

Nanako’s thoughts, however, were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a distant rumble. This gave Nanako a bit of a start – there was no heavy machinery in the Rhizome that made that sound, and no trains had run in the tunnels ever since the Gehenna’s rampage.

But wait, that meant–

Nanako’s realization could not have come an instant sooner, as before she could react, the ground below her gave way as a massive gaping maw burst forth, its jaws opening around Nanako in what seemed like slow motion.

The Neo Aragami hadn’t been completely cleared out, Nanako realized. ''There was still a detachment of Crawlers lying in wait for just such a moment. ''

And as Nanako descended into the Crawler’s mouth, its jaws closing around her, she knew that this could mean the end of all who called the Rhizome their home…

-


 * TO BE CONTINUED::