Chapter 3
The convoy was pulled outside of the perimeters of Plantation 13. The squad got into formation with Zorome and Futoshi's Squad on one end and Goro and Mitsuru's squad on the other. Ahead, were valleys, hills, sand dunes, and rocks in the terrain. Fuel ran low for the squad. Everyone continued, nervous, anxious, scared of the thought of being ambushed with no fuel or refueling. The squad prepared for anything possible to come at them. Dust clouds covered their path, so an ambush was most likely possible if not careful. The front side was clear besides hills and large rocks that blocked their path. Side views were clear.
"This would be bad if we got ambushed. I advise we tell the people operating the Tug-cars to stop." Ikuno said.
"She's right." Mitsuru said.
"Alright." Goro puts up the screen and changes the channel of the radio to the Tug-boats. A man appears on the screen.
"Yes Sir! This is Captain Johnson. What is it you need?" Johnson asked.
"I request that we stop and get fuel from the convoy." Goro asked.
"No can do. Orders were to send the convoy with no loss of fuel at any cost."
"What?!" Yorome yelled. "Bullshit! How the hell are we supposed to tread this No man's land if we have no fuel? Do you want to die with the klaxosaurs on our ass?!"
"We're ten miles away from our destination. We can only last by estimate, five to six miles. We won't be able to make it; worse, if we run into more of those monsters!" Mitsuru said.
"I'm sorry, but i must obey. Capital punishment is served if we fail to abide." Johnson cuts off from screen. At this point the squad was in trouble. After two hours on the plains, their fuel remained at 23% and Zorome's 15%. Up north ahead, a little over a dozen klaxosaurs charged towards them. All various sizes and types.
"Enemy 12 o'clock!" Ichigo said.
"Okay everyone! Battle formation delta!" Goro said. Everyone boosted to the front of the convoy in an arrow shaped formation. Goro and Zorome's FRANXX in the front and others in the back. The Klaxosaurs steadily came closer and closer to the convoy as much as they seemed bigger and bigger with each step they took. The roars of them shook the ground, almost tipping the fuel.
"Get ready!" Futoshi reminded. "Don't let them touch the convoy! I'll suppress fire." Futoshi started shooting them with their mech gun, taking out two but was only able to kill one.
"Alright. That's close enough! Charge!" Goro's mech pummels and kabobs many mini klaxosaurs right through their cores. Mitsuru's mech slices through them with great speed. "Don't let your guard down!" Goro added. Zorome's mech goes for the kill on the biggest one. This one was about seven hundred feet tall, taller than the mechs. They jumped for the kill and the klaxosaur's mouth, wide open, preparing to shoot it's cannon.
"These guys are nothin! We-" Zorome gets cut off by a loud alarm in their mech.
"Our fuel is low! We won't be able to control it!" Miku said, freaking out. Their mech, in mid air, shutdown. The eyes of everyone's faces froze. The world stopped. The sound of a laser strikes their mech and falls down. A huge hole blasted the hull of their mech torso. With the fuel running out, their radio transmissions were shut off as Mitsuru tried to contact them.
"Shit! Futoshi! Cover me! I'll grab him!" Goro goes to grab Zorome's mech before they are stepped on. Goro boosted his last bit of fuel to push Zorome and Miku out of the way of the stomp. They tumbled across the plains, landing in a small ditch.
"Protect the convoy! Do not go for them! Let them pay attention to us!" Konoko added.
Back at Plantation 13, I roamed the halls back into the operation room with Zero Two over my shoulder. I drop Zero Two on one of the seats and rested there. The alarms sounded and echoed the facility. Heavy footsteps surrounded the doors and soldiers busted from both exits, aiming their guns around us and pointing their laser sights at our foreheads. The priest enters the room and stands on the podium in the middle in front of us.
"I see a little parasite is meddling with my convicts. You are brave to be stealing and trespassing into top secret grounds boy." He said with a heavy masculine voice. I only stared him down. "She is useful in Strezilia and considered a human to the people, but otherwise, she is nothing but a monster. She is not human. I congratulate you on surviving three runs, but i suggest you leave her before you eventually do get killed.
"You captured my partner. She was in distress and instinctively came to her rescue." I said. "I'm not going to leave her either. I've finally feel accomplished. If you make me leave her, then you are slapping me in the face and taking the medal back."
"And you had no business with government property!" The priest claimed. This statement angered me. I'm property? This question rolled through my mind bouncing back and forth till it ticked me off. I tighten my fist and took a step forward. The gunmen around me shifted to me.
"Halt! One more step and we'll be forced to shoot!" Said a gunman. "Touching the Priest serves capital punishment!"
"What are you going to do? You're a mere child. Do you think just because you've saved us, you can have freedom?!" The priest yelled. "Zero Two is nothing but a tool!" A hand grabs my shoulder. Zero Two stands next to me. Her eyes were blood burning red, and her horns grew larger till it broke her white controller. Her faced was written with anger.
"We are property?" She asked. "We work for you, we protect you, we dance for you, we represent you, we clean your shoes, and yet you pay us with DIRT?!" Zero Two charged the priest. "I'M GOING TO STRANGLE YOU!" Zero Two is halted by a blue hair man who charges back at Zero, stepping in front of her, and elbowing her in the stomach; stopping her in her tracks. The blow is so powerful, she coughs up blood. He then finishes her off with a knee to the head. She falls over; blood splattering on the floor. She struggles to get up and eventually does so. She charges at the man this time and goes for a punch but the man counters, pushing her punch away. He spins and knocks the back of her head with his forearm. Zero Two gets knocked to the ground so hard, one of her horns break. I was stunned. I was unable to move. At that moment i felt like a coward.
"Do not try it" The man stepped on her head. He wore a military uniform, with many badges. He seemed to be a General officer from what i remembered in training. He was young, who seemed to be in his twenties.
"Get off her!" i yelled. The man slowly pressed his foot against her head. She spazzed about trying to release his pressure.
"What are you gonna do about about it peep squeak? Remember your place." The man kicks Zero Two's face repeatedly until blood pore from her nose. I struggled to move. Guns were pointed at me from all directions. Lasers left dot marks as though i had chicken pox, and the extreme stare of the man in military uniform was dead straight into my soul. The atmosphere of the room has completely changed. The man grabs zero's hair, lifting her from the ground.
"Why was she captured?" i asked calmly.
"Questioning." The priest answered.
"Why did you have to torture her?"
"She wouldn't cooperate after we pulled her aside from the squad. It's her fault for not speaking to me without knowing her place. I didn't want to do it, but she ticked me off."
"Where is the freedom your announcer at the ceremony contribute? Where is the freedom? What is the difference between us parasites and the civilians!? Are we truly dirt!?" I asked slowly raising my voice with each question.
"That's enough. I'll let you go two go for now. You've already received your punishment." The priest said, signaling everyone to leave. Zero Two remains on the floor motionless. I run up to her and pick her up. Her nose was disfigured, and her right horn was shattered with half of it on the floor. Nose steadily poured from her nose. We already received our punishment? What did he mean? Zero Two got the worst of it but i didn't get any? These questions give me a headache.
"Zero!" i called out.
"Hey-" Zero's head falls back before she's knocked out again.
"Medic! Medic! Please! Help!" I called out. Two nurses come inside and evaluate her condition.
"We must take her to the emergency room. Her skull has been fractured." Said one of the nurses. I stood there with cold dead eyes. I feared death most in life. But the fear was greater when a friend is about to die. I cried. I felt hopeless just like before then, when i was useless to my squad. I was lonely and afraid of being the outcast i was all my life. My mentality wouldn't want to feel that ever again. If it did, i wouldn't stand to live anymore. Seeing Zero Two get handled like that made me angry, yet also angry at myself for not stepping up for her. The man was over six feet tall. Watching a military trained Zero get downed...my heart dropped. Seeing her get carried away in a stretcher made me sad. I cry not just for her, but the past o'm reminded of. My past stupid self. Hachi and Nana rush into the room and see my crying on the floor with my knees to my face. Even their comfort and words didn't help.
On the battlefield, the convoy stopped, and Mitsuru and Futoshi were the only mechs standing. They both went to carry the, around their shoulders.
"We have lost communication with them. We have to keep moving. Push on Johnson!" Mitsuru said. Inside Zorome's mech, Miku laid on the floor, blood pouring from her side where the blast hit the mech (Sync damages of the mech affects the pistil.) Zorome is knocked out. Miku struggles to get up, covering her side with one hand, the other, climbing onto the pistil cockpit and onto the stamen seat where Zorome was. She laid on his lap.
"Zorome...please come back."
In Goro's mech, Goro and Ichigo laid on the floor. It was dark, for the light had broken from the hull damage. They sat there hugging each other.
"I do not like the dark." Goro said.
"Neither do i." Ichigo clung to Goro's arm. "It'll be awhile till we get help. I don't think we are going to make it."
"I believe in our team. We'll make it somehow."
"Promise?"
"Promise. We are family after all."
"Yeah. We have at least six miles left to go, but the others are about to run out of-" Goro clings to Ichigo tighter making her feel better and at ease.
"Is there a backup power source we can at least turn on?" Goro asked. "It's too dark to find the buttons. Feel the wall maybe?" Goro asked.
"No. All the controls should be in my hub. As i've been taught, i've never heard of a back-up power from Hachi or Nana."
"Damn!" Goro slams the hull with his fist out of anger. "We need a way to get into contact with the others but the radio is down as well."
"We'll just have to wait then."
In the operating room, Nana informed me of the mission our squad was given.
"Hiro, by the orders of the Priest, we sent out the squad for a sixteen mile convoy escort to another Plantation. I'm sorry i didn't tell you earlier. Please understand." Nana tried to place her hand on me, but i shoved it away. "Plantation 21 is desperate demand of fuel. Their squad's been wiped out and we need our mech's to go out there immediately. We didn't have the fuel ourselves to fuel them right away."
"This is not This mission was deadly and was out of the codebook to send FRANXX outside of Plantation 13's sight. I was angered and did nothing but cry, realizing the danger my friends were in. Again i felt useless.
"I'm going. Once Zero is healed, we are going to save our friends."
