User blog:Roinelll/Solace 5-08

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Summer Horsefly

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We were summoned quite hastily in the Major's office, the mature woman's visible eye being focused on me and Soma on my right side. Behind us the other seniors were also lined up, while the male on my side was growling in anger. He only let his ears to be bandaged temporarily, claiming they will heal in a short while. "Captain Sierra Declaine," Tsubaki's voice startled me and that made me shiver. I'm in it deep. "I would like to hear a detailed explanation on what happened."

I turned back to the medic, who nodded at me and when I returned my gaze to the Instructor her eyes narrowed dangerously. "A pair of Soma's grenades have gone off in his room. The result was the damage inflicted upon his quarters, on himself only. The... doors were dealt their part when Soma ripped them off their hinges and mines had to be broken apart to enter his room." I said and tried to shrink as small as possible. "That's all I can explain myself."

"Assault Corporal Soma Schicksal," Turned the mature woman towards the next victim and I gulped as the male wasn't giving off any reaction. "Is that right?"

The male looked at her and Sakuya spoke up in his stead. "Major, Soma has gotten his eardrums damaged. For a while, I'm afraid his hearing will be not functioning properly." Explained the medic and the woman frowned, going to her desk and taking a tablet and repeating the question, this time in written format.

"I woke up to the damn thing blowing up almost in my face." Soma growled. "Which probably loosened the pin of the second, but why it happened I don't know." After crossing his arms, he turned away from the Major.

"Then, why were you shouting the name of your Captain as the first thing you woke up?" The question felt like spears at my throat and I looked worriedly at the male, who read the spoken questions letters. "Also demanding explanation from your captain clearly."

Soma blinked unresponsive and simply stated. "At first, I thought it's one of the Doctor's experiments gone wrong that was entrusted to her to be kept watch at." My blood froze literally. "But, it seems it was a mistake on my part only."

YOU MORON!!! I seethed, then gulped as the Major turned back to me. "I'm listening." She said calmly and my shoulders sagged.

"Ah well..." I was so nervous I started to fidget. "It's like... this..."

"It was something related to the Izanagi's effect on them." Sakuya said, coming to our rescue. "More on that should be asked from the Doctor himself, we weren't involved since it was only them affected." '''NICE SAVE! Also, take that old fox, trying to trick us into be your lackies!'''

"W-well..." Still, I couldn't help, but gulp as I was stared down. Even with the shelter of the suit, I felt my skin crawl under that watchful gaze. "S-something like that..."

"I see." Tsubaki closed her eye and waited for a few seconds. "Dismissed." She stated then simply and we left her office.

"Bull." King said walking past us. "And she knows that you're lying, just not why." Said the leader of the Scouts. "Make your peace, because once the Major finds out what you are hiding..." He gestured with a thumb, drawing a line before his neck.

"Well... there are missions to be done." Tatsumi said and left us alone with that, Karel silently gestured a 'bye' to us also.

I looked at Sakuya who sighed in defeat. "Let's get to our mission Captain." Said the medic and I nodded in agreement.

We gathered after leaving the helicopter, checking our bearings one final time. "This... is punishment?" Alisa wondered, as I briefed them from what will we be doing today. "Isn't it?"

"Well... Yeah." I've admitted after the Major gave me this times list of missions. Emphasis on multiple numbers. "Well, at least they are all in close proximity so it shouldn't take long to handle."

"I'm still waiting for your answer, why was Shio in my room." Soma growled, arms crossed and sending glares enough to kill whole hordes of Aragami under a blink of an eye. "Wasn't she under your supposed care?"

"C's fault." I said and scribbled on the tablet Soma was now carrying along, it kinda left a bittersweet taste in my mouth having him go through something like me. "She opened the room for her and locked me out." As the male glared at me, I chuckled. "Should I have made a scene of it? That would have blown her cover, right?"

"It doesn't matter now." Soma said calmly, looking at us with contempt. "It's the old man's fault for getting us into this trouble. Hell get his coming eventually."

Alisa, who was silent up till now. "Did Shio really bit on a grenade?" She asked, looking worriedly at the male. I'm more interested just what could have sparked the explosion from the bite... The force of it? "Why would you keep something so dangerous in your room even?" The russian girl looked at the medic with concern. "Sakuya, is Shio alright?"

"The damn monster was fine." Said the dark skinned God Eater. "Can't be said from my quarters." He called fingers grips tightening on his crossed arms. And apparently his hearing is improving... Damn about fast healing factor. "Enough chit-chat. What are we dealing with here?"

I took the stack of papers and placed them in the middle of us. "One mission underground to collect the core of a Wyrm, it has possible magmatic Vajratails popping up in the area too. The second one goes for a Vajra, a Quadriga and a Fallen Chi-You in the city remains. The third one has us facing a trio of Chi-You near the wastelands at the other side of the city." I showed them to Soma who grunted in response.

"I take the Chi-You's." He stated simply and decided to walk towards the direction of his targets. "There's some steam for me to blow." I laughed nervously at that, right now I didn't want to end up on the wrong end of his wrath.

"Captain will probably get the one for the Vajra and Raven, however there is the problem with the Quadriga joining the fray and that means... without our support..." Sakuya said and looked at me, however I gave her a simple thumbs up. "Captain?"

"I can play the three Aragami against each other, and in fact can use the Sparks to deal with the Quad quite easily I think." The mammoth sized armored monster might be resistant against electricity on the outside, but the previous two targets confirmed that they are still vulnerable from inside. "It'll be a cinch! But if you finish we can group up if you like."

"That leaves the Wyrm and Vajratails to us." Alisa said and nodded firmly. "We'll be sure to regroup with you Captain!"

"Well, just be careful as I'm a danger to you as well while I'm preoccupied with the Vajra or the Raven, I can withstand and control the static charge, but not perfectly and it is able to lash out rather violently.." I called after them and shook my head as I turned towards the area I had to clear. Time to see just how much juice I am able truly to withstand.

As I walked towards the city, I noticed strange marks on the landscape. When I went closer to examine them, they felt cool to the touch, despite the suit supposedly blocked it out. "Hibari, can you get me the Doc?" I called out and the Operator responded quite swiftly.

The elders voice came in calmly. -Yes, I'm here Sierra.- He asked and I was looking for more clues when he started humming. -That's strange.- He called and that made me frown. -Is there something unusual nearby?-

"Ice in the middle of the city." I said, running my fingers on top of the jagged surface. "Apparently, I can feel the cool touch through the suit and Izanami." It was a weird feeling altogether, like I wasn't wearing a suit, but something skintight. "Was there any Fallen Aragami activity in the region, Hibari?"

-They've spotted charged Cocoon Maidens, near the plains. There's no current record of freezing Aragami near the city itself.- I still looked at the jagged part. -Is there a problem?-

I stood up with a sigh, as my suspicion was confirmed upon I heard the scream of a certain Aragami. "Yep, apparently the Zygotes developed a Fallen cold type variant. I can see two right now." In my field of vision the two said fliers floated in, part of their bodies covered in a blue skin instead of the usual black color. "So doc, what's your take on the suit?"

-I would recommend avoiding them.- Stated Dr. Sakaki flatly and I hummed, he took that as a prompt to continue. -While your Arc Suit apparently is capable of enhancing your condition to not only withstand, but to control static energy, it seems at the same time you are made vulnerable towards sharp temperature drops. In other words, they are your weakness.-

"Wonderful." I've muttered and hide from the Fallen Zygotes view. "So cold is a big no-no... Got it!" Shortly after there was a crash and when I looked out, there was the massive body of the Quadriga now squashing one of the Fallens. "Well, at least I don't have to fear them, the Quad's gonna take them out for me." I watched the battle unfold between the three Aragami, it was a short one and for once I was keeping a close eye on everything. "Doc, thanks for the advice not to get in close."

-Well yes.- He said, apparently been monitoring my feed, which I found a bit creepy. -These Fallen variants of a Zygote have an advanced poison. It is capable of even affecting a massive Aragami such as a Quadriga, reducing its mobility and thus lowering the amount of force it is able to generate.- The elder fell silent for a short while. -Not engaging them was a clearly good sign.-

"Yeah, as I said thanks for the heads up, Doc!" I watched as the massive behemoth was busy in devouring the corpses. It had already finished one and was now starting to get to the second when a massive orb of energy slammed onto its shell and electrocuted the area surrounding it rather wildly. "Oh! The Ravens here and engaged the Quad." I was already on the move towards them as the behemoth turned around with its massive body.

-Sierra,- Called Hibari and I stopped for a moment. -The Vajra is en route and will be there shortly, do you think it's a vise idea to engage?- Accompanying the Quadrigas metallic howl was the crackling shout of the Fallen Chi-You, they stared at each other for a few moments and broke into a full sprint towards each other.

"Should be." I said and breathed in deeply. "I'll try to stay out of sigh and just siphon up energy, when the Vajra arrives and gets mixed in the fray, I'll try to finish the Quad in one shot, once that's done I won't have to wonder about anything regarding that beast since against the other two I have an advantage." The two bodies clashed heavily, cracks appearing on both the frontal carapace of the Large Aragami and the Medium sized fliers wings.

-Just be careful and if needed wait for your team to regroup.- She called and I smirked. -Soma is almost done with his part and Sakuya along with Alisa are rounding up the Wyrm as we speak.- Well, it wouldn't be Soma if he couldn't deal with that easy mission under a few minutes.

"Sure, well then... I'll go silent and sneak up on those two." Ignoring the wounds and damage they inflicted on each other, the two beasts lashed out with all of their might and repertoire. Sparks, flames, rockets and explosions were hurled around wildly. Some even coming dangerously close to me and to my shock, while the sparks were collected into the suit the as the flames singed me they dissipated, what's more I felt their heat throughout the suit.

'''Should have been expected, temperature change isn't only affected by cold only, heat is also there. Still why am I fine with energy?''' I frowned and looked at my fingers, traces of the energy was visible still, but I couldn't get a grasp on it at all. '''Is this interfering with Izanami's ability? The change in temperature?''' My frown deepened as I looked on the combat.

With the apparent enragement of the Quadriga, it's body was spouting flames tremendously. It's opponent was in a very bad shape with practically nothing on its body remaining intact. What was scary about it, that all this happened under a minute. Damn behemoth, not only has it a practically impenetrable shell, but now because of the damn flames  can't even fight it at all?! I couldn't curse out loud, because it might hear me so I just grumbled silently.

-I'm done with my part.- Soma called and that made me feel relieved, after all he could deal with a Quadriga if we all gave him support. -I'm heading towards the Captains position, I can hear that she's having trouble quite a bit.

Thanks for the help and the snark. My lips suffused into a wry smile. -We'll be done shortly also, the Wyrm is almost down.- Sakuya affirmed their progress as well and I entered another boring waiting game with the Aragami, watching as the massive beast took its time to crush its opponent, quite literally.

-Sierra, it would appear that you are having problems regarding the change in temperature.- Called out to me the elder and I nodded in response. -At least, this was found out in such a situation.- He stated with a hum. -It would have been disasterous if you were to accompany the others underground and find out during the danger of combat. It also means that with the newfound power, an equal or even greater weakness had been discovered.-

'Yea, just my luck.' I used my fingers to write into the ground softly, not to spark the attention of the Quadriga. It was now feeding on the corpse of the Raven rather vehemently. 'Can something be done about it?'

-I would have to run some tests first, however first issue would be to return to base.- About that answer I grimaced. -It was still a valuable lesson, don't you agree?- Please don't rub it in that I was overconfident. -Much greater people were lost because of overconfidence, keep that in mind young Captain.- I KNEW IT!

-We've extracted the core here.- Alisa spoke and that was a welcome news. -We're en route to backup the Captain and Soma.-

'I have been wondering Doc.' I wrote into the ground once more. 'Why did this come out sooner? I fought Quadriga and even magmatic Vajratails before, even the Wukong and Fallen Ogretails.' It was stil digging at the back of my mind.

-My conclusion would be that as you started to develop the bond with the Symbiote, not only did it enhance your strengths, but also your weaknesses.- Mused the elder and I clenched my fist hard, not to slam it into the ground. -I wonder... Did you feel the 'urge' to engage in combat, no matter what?'

That took me by surprise and I blinked a few times to think it through. 'No, not at all.' That was actually weird, so far Izanami was sending me an overriding urge to feed when an Aragami was nearby, the only excuse was when Shio was nearby... 'Doc, there might be something.'

-Hmm, yes?- Pondered the elder. -Aside from the survival instinct of the Symbiote keeping it dormant and hopefully you out of harms way?-

'Well, uhm... That... thing, I would have to be observing at night, could it have been influenced me?' I wrote and felt really awkward, didn't know who else was accessing the feed. 'I mean, I spent some time in its influence and I know for sure that it can nullify Izanami.' '''Sorry Shio... I'm going to make up to you for this.'''

-Oh?- Dr. Sakaki raised his voice in excitement. -That might be an interesting find indeed, however I can still not assure you if that is it or not.- For a few seconds the elder remained silent. -The Symbiote was showing signs before 'the specimen' came in contact with you, young Captain.-

'Was just a shot in the dark, Doc.' I replied and looked up as a massive wave of energy slammed into the body of the Quadriga, while the damaged carapace started to heal slowly, there was still enough to break apart and let the Oracle infused destruction stagger the behemoth. 'Soma made his debut.'

"Here I though you would tear them apart like in the last mission." Stated the dark skinned God Eater, walking towards the massive Aragami, drawing it's full attention. "Instead of a crazed murder machine, I find a covering brat. Where has all that bravado gone?"

Yep, he's still pissed because of the morning... Even though it wasn't my fault at all... well not completely... I turned to the male as he gathered energy into his weapon. The Quadriga was already rumbling forward towards it, the missile pods albeit damaged, still in a functioning order and spraying everything around it with explosive shells during the charge. Soma couldn't handle a Quad while he was weakened, I wonder how he handles when the tables are turned.

-Soma, we understand that you are angry, but don't you have a better target to channel your anger into?- Alisa spoke and I had to smirk, she has guts to stand up to him. -Like that Quadriga in front of you?-

-I doubt he can hear you chiding him.- Sakuya chuckled at the attempt, and I forgot about it too, not just the russian girl that his hearing is impaired. -Otherwise you would be in quite a bit of trouble.-

"I can hear you two damn fine." Grumbled the melee God Eater and stabbed forward with the God Arc, still infused with energy it ruptured the frontal carapace on the chest of the incoming beast. Despite the damage, the enraged Aragami didn't stop and as Soma steadied his feet, while he was still pushed backwards, the blade was fiercely digging more and more into the flesh of the Aragami. "Begone!" He yelled and released the blast right into the heart of the metallic behemoth.

With a shudder, the Quadriga stopped abruptly. It gave a final pained howl and fell on its sides, blade still embedded in its chest, however Soma had decided to take some distance as the beast stilled. "Show off." I scoffed as he walked to the beast, grabbing the God Arc and summoning the predator to consume the most probably broken core. "Let's get the girls, okay?"

Soma simply stared at me and scoffed. "What happened to the Vajra?" He asked and I tilted my head. "You forgot about it didn't you?"

"No." I turned towards the distance and pointed towards the Aragami. "But you can get a shot at it if you want." However he grunted and turned away. "Or... you can wait until I finish it?" There was no answer, so I shrugged and started walking towards the oversized kitten. "Okay, then wait for me, kay?"

End of Chapter 2017,06,11

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