User blog:Roinelll/Solace 3-25

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Midpoint

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-NO!!- I was wishing so strongly right now to have functioning vocal cords and to shout at the irritating pink haired team mate. -How many times do I have to repeat, I will not use either!- She convinced me to bring the tablet to the mission and I was glad that I did comply. -We have names. Regular ones to use.-

"But what is your problem with the Code Names?" Canon was still giddy as we trudged through the snowy area, uphills toward where we knew that our target for the current mission was located. "Lockjaw is kinda cute."

-IS not!- I countered, feeling the headache building once more and I gritted my teeth. -You have no idea on why did I get that name.-

"No, but while we are on mission, we need to use the Code Names."

-Do not!- I sighed in defeat. -Who told you such a baseless thing anyways?-

"Gina did." I flinched hearing that, I could have expected that the sniper just fooled around with her telling such a prank with a straight face. "Why are you making such a face?"

-These... 'Code' Names are more like nicknames. You earn them for what others see you and nothing else.- I couldn't help, but stop at the stare of the pink haired God Eater having glittering eyes. -Besides, do you think that newcomers start off with a Code Name already?-

"No?" Canon wondered and thought about it for a second, then faced me with a serious expression. "Are you sure about that?"

-Canon! For the last time, I will not use any ridiculous names at all!- But the sight of the still not convinced female annoyed me. -Not everyone has a Code Name, therefore this is simply... not required.-

"Then we could give them some!" She offered and I had to face-palm. "That would be cool. Don't you think?"

-Sierra. Canon.- The strict voice of our Instructor, Tsubaki made us shiver as it called through our communicators. -Your target, the Quadriga boasts exceptional hearing. You are nearing the mission coordinates and a successful ambush would help to get the mission over and soon.-

"Oh... OH! Right!" The medic snapped to attention and I frowned, as the warning went over her head. "We got you!"

She's going to kill me, one way or another...

No wonder no one wants to team up with her.

"We... uhm..." Canon turned towards me with a bit of insecurity, careful at toning down her voice. "We can handle this... Right?"

-Just stick to the plan and it will be all okay.- I've reassured the girl with a smile and she looked away. -Topple the beast with your bombs aimed at the tracks, once the interior opens unload your radials inside and fry it from the inside. Should you empty your reserves, stay back and let me distract the Aragami while you recover.- Then I just shuddered as I realized, that this has a very serious drawback also. -Just make sure to warn me before you start attacking again.-

"Uhm... I do my best..." The God Eater nodded enthusiastically. "I mean, I can be good... I... Think..." She wasn't that sure about that apparently. "I-- uh-- Just-- ... Maybe we should go."

-Just be careful of yourself, this will be your first time fighting a Quadriga as I recall.- Well not like I had that much more experience with it, this being the third one for me.

"We gotta be real careful then." She stopped laughing slightly. "Well, as careful as people hunting crazy monsters for living can be."

-Canon, I expect you to do your job with great focus today.- The Major's voice carried over the comm was making the recipient of it shiver. -Follow Sierra's instructions and I can convince your team mates to take you out on missions again.-

"A-are you ready?" She turned to me nervously, impacted by the load of responsibility on her shoulder. "C-cuz I-I'm ready." A sheepish half laughter escaped her and I nodded that we can get this done.

'''She's... too demanding with herself, kinda reminds me of my old self.'''

"Stupid Quadriga..." I heard Canon groan in anger as our, well her attempt at an ambush failed because she loaded the wrong bullet, one that fell short of a few meters so she had the very fortunate experience to dodge a volley of rockets that erupted from its missile pod. "Just firing blindly at everything that happens to move!"

You're the one to talk?!

'''Ugh... forget it...'''

I've scampered farther and kept out of sight of the humongous beast, Canon on the other hand did correct her earlier mistake switching from the previous cartridge to a correct one. Once the barrage was over, the Aragami looming over her started to trample forward with the intention making paste of the God Eater.

"Now DIE!!" With such a fierce battle cry, the girl lifted her God Arc and aimed right at the tracks of the Quadriga, the ones that were covered in the tracks of an armored vehicle. Her eyes glinted a dangerous expression and I shivered as from the Blast Gun in her hand, which was already larger than the girl itself a humongous stream of energy erupted. "FIRE EVERYTHING!!" And she proceeded to cackle like mad, the energy flowing uninterrupted and engulfing the figure towering in front of her. Once the stream stopped, she had to quickly jump back to avoid the threads of the Aragami slamming down at the space where she was standing seconds before. "How the HELL did I run out of bullets?" The girl cried out in anger, frowning and making more distance between her and the Aragami.

Didn't you just yell 'fire everything'?!

'''God damn... I'm not going to let her die.'''

-Canon! Retreat and refill your reserves!- I put the tablet away hastily and hoping it doesn't get scrapped once again, then I've gripped the handle of Chupacabra and started to fuel power into it, the tip promptly slid open and the needle popped out engulfed by the overloaded energy of the Oracle Cells.

"G-got it!" I heard the girl yelp and curse subsequently after rather colorfully, while I was charging forward towards the Quadriga, which reared back in anger and then lunged forward now towards its new target, me. "How come this thing isn't fazed at all?! I've unloaded EVERYTHING on it!!"

-That's because of the attribute of the attack you have released.- Hibari informed the pink haired girl, who clicked her teeth in irritation realizing her mistake. A bundle of missiles erupted from the pod once again and I had to retreat in haste, still focused on the charged God Arc in my hand. -A Quadriga has high level of resistance Blaze and Spark.-

"Spark also?!" Canon cried in outrage and I had to frown at that, now being sure that she didn't know enough about our target, which can be fatal in our job. "But... all my bullets are Blaze or Spark." The girl's voice gave away her pout and I shook my head aimed at the pod when the beast stopped releasing the missiles. "I'll have to create mo--."

A huge explosion rocked me off my feet and even staggered the Quadriga too, but where the hell did that come from. Canon was out of juice and there wasn't anything near that could have dealt that immense attack at all. I couldn't pick up another Aragami in our vicinity, of that I was sure. The only problem was that I didn't get out unscathed of it either.

"O-oh! So that's what it does." My partner mused and I turned towards the girl in shock, and wondered how the hell did she almost kill me without even attacking. Canon quickly removed the potentially dangerous bullet and stashed it away into her pockets, and loaded another into the chambers. "S-sorry! I... didn't test that bullet and kinda left it loaded in my God Arc."

Left an experimental bullet in your God Arc...

'''Kay... At least she didn't intentionally try to kill me...'''

"Locked and Loaded." I saw the medic raise her God Arc towards me and my eyes widened in shock, it seems she recovered some of her reserves, just enough to let out an attack. An attack that could potentially end mines as it would bounce off almost meaningless from the mighty beast. "H-hey! Don't run away!!" She called after me as I rolled away, fear of death filling me and filling me with adrenaline. "Come back and let me heal you!"

'''HEAL?! With such a mad glance in your eyes?!'''

"This is just a Recovery Radial!" She demonstrated and from the huge muzzle a meter wide and five long green energy erupted. Which was actually rather incredible, who the hell designs such a ridiculous thing as a Radial bullet for recovery. At least there are no Recovery Bombs, that would be even more frightening. "See? It's healing! OH..." Canon cursed once more and I had to frown even deeper. "I'm empty again."

I got to my feet and just in time as the Quadriga apparently had just enough from the little breather and decided to open the chest compartment, revealing a dreaded sight of the Tomahawk Missile protruding from the cavity.

-Come in!- Hibari's panicked voice echoed into my ear as I rushed towards the stoned medic as the heavy missile erupted from the Aragami, trained at the person who created the insanely explosive bullet. Canon. -There is a new Oracle Response coming in! A... no...- Her voice stopped cold, something making her tone die down, just in time to have me tumble to the ground with the frightened girl. The missile zoomed over us just barely and exploded with a force nearly equal to the one that the experimental bullet dealt. -Another just appeared and that's in a haste.-

-Status report.- Tsubaki demanded, although her voice did display concern for us. -What is going on?-

I quickly brought Canon up to her feet and had to grit my teeth as how bad our situation was starting to turn. A single enraged Quadriga was bad enough as it is, but now then two more are also coming to join the fray. We're screwed.

We're so screwed...

-The sound of combat lured two Aragami to the area. The incursion is bound to happen in a few minutes and... No...- The Operator gave a defeated sigh. -Just now another two signals appeared, they move in unison albeit much slower than the others.-

Nope, more like doomed.

-Retreat is out of the question, the Quadriga has exceptional hearing and the rescue would endanger more lives only.- Tsubaki recalled it, but it was obvious not because she wasn't thinking on a solution, or leaving us to our death. -Furthermore, the two first responses seem to be in a hurry, that means they have a high level of either sight of hearing and that further complicates the exfiltration. It might be possible that the last two signals have not yet caught on what is going on...-

Yea, like we can beat this monstrosity in a few minutes at all...

-Fall back, Hibari will give you directions and lure the Quadriga away from the last two incoming targets. It is without saying this will turn into a dangerous situation, however you might get the chance to turn the Aragami at each other and secure an escape route for yourselves.-

"Did my friendly fire ruin everything?" The girl whined almost in my arms and we saw as the Quadriga started to close the opened hatch at its chest armor. "OH... it, it kinda did, huh?" She was really troubled, after all it was obvious her experimental bullet lured the newer threats towards us. "I'll make up for it! Next time I kick so much more ass!!" She said with a forced cheer and I shook my head in horror to what that implied. "Aragami ass!" Canon added in self defense, but not really convincing.

Hopeful implication, but for now we will have to survive.

-Hibari, two targets are heading towards us, where do we have to go so they meet up with the same time?- It was a bit hard to balance my Chupacabra and the tablet while running and typing. Not to mention that a very angry Aragami was thundering with earth quaking steps behind us. -Canon, focus already.-

""I'm... sorry." She sighed in defeat, adjusting her grip and matching my steps once more as we followed the instructions of Hibari to the letter 'T'. "It's a bad day, super unlucky." Her explanation continued in a deflated tone. "That totally explains all... uhm... the... failures today?"

-New Aragami arrival imminent. The two of you are about to make contact, but be careful the signals are unfocused... The could be anything for as we know!- We got the warning and I shivered at the possibilities. -This is such a bad idea.- Hibari admitted and I had to agree, but it still was more than we could hope for the moment. -We'll send a recovery team as soon as possible. Please be safe.-

'''I have to say, I wouldn't be strong enough to be an Operator myself. She's far more stronger than I am in this regard...'''

-It's okay. I can see the first invader and it's a Chi-You.- A roar from the distance echoed, making the presence of the other one known. -Along with a Kongou. We'll try to get them at each others throat, then bolt as fast we can.-

"Do you think it will work?" Canon asked concerned, as we swerved backwards suddenly towards the rampaging behemoth. "If any one of them targets us, we won't be able to survive."

-Stay silent for now and please don't attack either.- I typed my answer as my tablet was set prior to the mission in a way that only those on the teams channel could hear the translation, which was good since I was to observe and coordinate Canon originally. -Neither Aragami has such a good eyesight and if they get all mixed up with each other, we'll run as silently and fast as possible.-

Canon nodded and I could see how much she is troubled by the turn of events, so I've reached out and pinched her upper arm to focus. Her eyes darted to me and I shook my head and urged to evade the Quadriga with me. Its attack barely missed us as we tried to get as close as possible and the beast couldn't as effectively to slow down and chase after us, just as I hoped.

I kept an eye on the beast as it dug the front tracks into the ground and tried to make a sharp u-turn when a ball of energy impacted upon its side and sent the much larger Aragami tumbling to the ground. My eyes widened when I recognized the flaming explosion that filled the air.

Not that one again.

The Chi-You lowered its wing-arms to the side and looked straight at me. I shivered when realized that it was the deviant, the one that almost killed me. Around its legs the snow was sizzling as it made contact with the frozen ground and a trail of steaming footsteps were making visible the path that mutated Aragami took. It raised one of the wings high and in the huge clawed palm energy started to concentrate.

If it doesn't lob that at us, we're down to a single Kongou and hope that the Quadriga will change targets.

An enraged howl filled the air as a bundle of muscles slammed into skeletal form of the large beast, it happened so fast that I almost missed when the simian Aragami ripped one of the Exhaust ports from the skeletal torso. The fiery compressed explosive then erupted on the back of the tailless Kongou and I stopped dead in my tracks.

'''Tailless... Kongou?'''

'''Oh Hell... please don't be that one...'''

Darting out from the smoke that the attack created a damaged, but now properly enraged monkey blitzed towards the avian, who slapped it away with a motion of the wing-arms. Snarling and landing improperly it took a moment for the Kongou to stand up and rush once more at the Chi-You. I could make out the numerous scars and the broken mask and had to sigh in defeat as this was the other mutated Aragami I've encountered.

Why can't they just kill each other?!

"Sierra?" Canon tugged on my shoulder and I turned towards the frightened girl, she was speaking in a very hushed whisper and it seems neither Aragami took it up. The Quadriga roared in rage and thundered towards the fighting duo to make them into a paste in one way or the other. "Is there a problem?"

-No, let's move it as it seems luck is on our side.- I typed quickly and put the tablet away. There was now just one thing bothering me as we started to run as fast my legs were able to.

'''The Chi-You... Why does it feel like protecting me?'''

"Canon Daiba." Major Tsubaki started as we returned and the girl tried to shrink as small as possible, I felt sorry for the girl, but she had it coming. We both knew it as the escape was luckily for us a success and neither of us suffered any serious injuries. Now the only problem was to survive a much more threatening... conversation. "I would like to hear an explanation on what happened."

"Y-yes... I, uhm... Failed?" She tried to be sincere and frowned upon that. "It will never happen again." Canon sighed in defeat. "I will return to solo duty, not going to endanger anyone else again."

-That is not the point.- I wrote and tried to make her realize what could have happened should she have used that bullet even if alone on a seemingly easy mission. Her life was in danger without even her knowing. -You left an experimental bullet in your God Arc without testing, didn't you? How exactly? Where did you get it from?-

"She got it from me." I almost crushed the tablet in my hands as I heard the nerve grating voice of a certain bastard. I turned towards the pale girl and glared at her, hoping that could kill her once and for all. "This little flower wanted to become stronger, wanted power so I gave it to her." In an instant I've crossed the distance between us and tried to rip the head of the girl, but she avoided me deftly. "Temper-temper."

"Sierra, enough!" Our Instructor called and I had to force myself to stay still, only looking at Canon who didn't deny that what we just heard. "The modules you have provided to Canon..." The mature woman stopped, resting her lone gaze on the smirking demon. "Are more than dangerous, even to an experienced user from what I could tell."

"Oh, I know. I know, but she was desperate enough and I was bored." She escaped another lunge of mines and I gritted my teeth so hard, it felt like they will shatter if I apply any more pressure. "Okay jokes aside. This lovely little sound flower demanded my help, in return I wanted her to test some bullets. In return she could keep those for personal use."

"Canon, send the bullets to Dr. Sakaki for inspection. And you're coming with me, Sea." Tsubaki then turned towards me and I shuddered at the intensity of her glare. "Sierra, you've done as expected, however I need to you go and see the Doctor also for your check-up."

-Yes, Ma'am.- I followed unwillingly the medic and we entered the lift, once inside I turned to the shocked girl who just started to realize what she had gotten into really. -Next time, if you make a deal with the devil expect to get your life stolen in response.-

"I... didn't knew this is going to happen..." She admitted still, shocked from the truth. "Don't be angry at me."

-I'm not.- I've pointed out and tried to reassure the pink haired girl, but it wasn't working as I hoped to. -If I were to kill that bastard, would it make you feel better?-

"K-kill her?!" Canon gasped at my idea. "Y-You can't do that!" She caught my shoulders and stared into my eyes frightened. "D-don't even joke about such a thing!"

-I wasn't joking. I could kill that twerp if I get a chance to stay with her alone.- With that I left the speechless girl in the elevator and stopped by my room to deposit the tablet, I won't be needing that when I get checked out.

End of Chapter 2016,12,06

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