Chapter 10: Filling the Crucible

"You look surprised, lieutenant."

"That must have been painful, colonel. He didn't even try to get out of the way. He should have been able to dodge it and try for a second approach. His squadmate might even have picked off the remaining defender if he gave him a chance."

"But think of the time pressure he's under. Look at the odds for the rest of Panther. His squadmates currently under fire are outnumbered."

"I know, sir. The situation looks bad. But still, Daryl's Endlave is ruined now. It's not just simulated damage anymore. He's actually wrecked it. They'll bail him out."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Are you going to make another call?"

"No, that would be a little too direct, and I want him to decide for himself."

-GC-

"Do you hear me, Cadet Yan?" Chief Warrant Officer Pham's voice was loud in Daryl's head. "Your legs are not really broken. Do you understand?"

"I know," he said, gritting his teeth.

Every nerve in his body was trying to convince him otherwise, but it was only the Endlave. His body was safe. He was really in a neural pod, in the command center, nowhere near the battlefield. Only the Endlave was broken.

Was it really? It had to be. The sting from the gel capsules should no longer hurt. No one was shooting at him anymore, and the Endlave beneath him was completely still. Red lights flashed in his mind's eye. Everything below the knees was gone.

"We're going to bail you out," said Pham. "Since your Endlave was not hit in a core area, the automatic disable didn't kick in. I just want to make sure you're aware that it's not that you were surprised by an enemy you didn't see. It's us pulling the trigger."

"Wait!" he said.

He could see the rest of Panther and Bear Squads moving on the field. Bear had realized what was happening and converged on his location. They probably thought him down, crumpled like he was on top of a Bear Endlave, but they couldn't leave their device unguarded.

Conner and the rest were chasing after them and Heather was swinging over from the other side. She was coming in fast and would join the fray from a completely different direction, but not before Bear Squad reached his position.

"Most of my systems are still up," said Daryl, trying to keep the pain from his voice. It felt like his legs had been crushed. "I have not been completely disabled. Leave me in the match."

In a real battle he would not bail out now. They only wanted to do it because it was practice. There was nothing at stake except a grade.

"Very well, cadet," said Pham, her voice crisp. "But we will do a medical evaluation of you afterwards to make sure you recover."

That was fine. Daryl lay still, as though his Endlave was out, and throttled back his power output, trying to reduce his heat signature as much as possible. He did not talk to his teammates, who had not heard the conversation between him and Warrant Officer Pham. He did not want them to look his way and reveal that he was still operational. He tried to block out the throbbing of legs that had not truly been shattered.

It must have been from ramming into the Bear Endlave. The other pilot probably had felt a flash of agony as well, just before the Endlave shut down from Daryl's gunfire, but the pain would have ended after disablement. Daryl really hoped no one would be upset if he actually broke the two Endlaves.

"I'm in position!" said Tomas.

He arrived first, skating around the building and right up to the doomsday device. Gunfire sprayed around the corner.

"Remember, all enemy Endlaves need to be either disabled or out of the quarter mile radius for two minutes," said Conner. "If they're going to circle the wagons, then we have to take them all out. They're not going to run away now."

"Do you want us to hold position?" asked Paul. He and Oscar were still guarding Panther Squad's own device. "You're down two people now."

"No, stay back. We pegged two of them when they doubled back. Only three against four right now, and as soon as Heather catches up to us we'll be even."

And Panther could recover from that. If Daryl's partially disabled Endlave could be counted, they actually outnumbered Bear, in a way. He had not forgotten how Panther had lost the last fight because Wolf Squad had a combatant who was not fully neutralized. The squad had been forced to watch the replay of that battle multiple times as a reminder not to prematurely celebrate any given engagement, and there was no reason that Panther could not take advantage of that same tactic as well.

"I'm almost there," said Heather. "Coming up behind Tomas."

"Sandwich them!" said Conner.

Bear Squad hurtled around the building and Tomas skated backwards around the corner using the debris for cover as he sprayed bullets at them. The move let Bear Squad circle their doomsday device, but now they were about to be surrounded.

"In the real world couldn't they blow this thing up now and destroy all of us?" said James.

"Ignore the hypothetical," said Conner. "Stick to the mission."

In the real world the brass might or might not know the capabilities of any such device. As long as they had contact with command their directive wouldn't change until command said so.

"You'll see me in five," said Heather.

Conner and James rounded the building, brakes squealing, and opened fire. Bear retaliated. It was a mess. Tomas yelled at James to be careful about the crossfire. Heather rushed in from a third direction. Bear Squad scattered. The doomsday device was pelted in gel. Daryl wondered if they all should have gotten blown up by now.

Slowly, he raised the power levels to his Endlave, felt the systems hum in response. Everyone was busy now. There was no need to wait until the end of the match. James was disabled, again. Tomas was damaged. Bear Squad only lost one for certain. The remaining three were still functional in some way.

The Jumeau's arms were short, and barely capable of lifting his Endlave's torso, but he set the hands against the Endlave beneath him and pushed. He just needed to raise himself enough to get the chest gun clear. The targeting reticle danced in front of his mind's eye. Steady...

Conner got one. Heather fell. Tomas ducked back under cover.

Daryl focused on one of the Bear Squad members harassing Conner. It was completely ignoring its fallen enemies. This one must be the squad captain, or Bear Squad's second, because it motioned with its arms the most. Its pilot had forgotten that its enemies could see its gestures just as much as teammates. That they were physically in different command centers made no difference.

The pilot would learn their lesson soon enough.

"Can you come back out?" said Conner.

"Tough going," said Tomas, "but just give me the word."

"Lewis, Reyes, if we don't make it, we'll at least have damaged them for you. We'll make sure we get at least one more."

It was no longer time for waiting, not with only two squadmates still in the fray, and the better combatants among them. "Williams, get the one on your left," said Daryl. "I've got a bead on the other."

"You're still here, kid?" He could hear the surprise in Tomas's voice, but was too exhausted to complain about the nickname. All he could think about was a steamroller working his legs. They just weren't there anymore. He was starting to feel like having legs at all was some strange hallucination.

"On my mark: my left, your right, Garcia," said Conner. "Other one's yours, Yan. Don't miss."

The two remaining Bear Squad members pivoted, and as one skated towards Tomas's end of the building, going after the more damaged Endlave. It made sense, and to avoid completely turning their backs on any given enemy, the one of the closest to the building, the one on Conner's right, skated backwards. It would be harder for Tomas to hit it from cover that way, and it could protect its remaining partner from Conner.

"Now!" shouted Conner.

Tomas flung himself outward, firing at the Bear facing his direction. Conner sprayed at the same Endlave but couldn't sit still long enough to get a clear shot with the Endlave closer to the building firing at him.

But that Endlave was not expecting Daryl.

He opened fire and pelted it square in the chest, emptying most of his magazine into it to make sure there was no chance of it getting up. Freed from its suppressing fire, Conner laid into the final Bear, and it keeled over, disabled.

Panther Squad had won, and Daryl found his consciousness abruptly ejected from his Endlave.

-GC-

Lights shined in his eyes. Voices were reaching his ears, obnoxiously loud and distorted so he couldn't tell who was talking. He wished he knew who they were so he could tell them to stop, and it didn't help that someone was pointing a stupid floodlight at him.

"Are you there, Cadet Yan? Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?"

He was fairly certain this was Warrant Officer Pham.

"Too bright," he managed.

"All right, we'll come back to that one. Do you have any feeling in your legs?"

Hands were grabbing at him, lifting him. He wasn't an invalid. But at least the lights seemed to be fading a bit. When he thought about it, he didn't feel any pain anymore, but he was not entirely sure how he was supposed to feel his legs. Usually he didn't think about whether or not they were there. They just were.

Still, he realized that he should probably move them.

"Whoa, not while we're moving you on the stretcher," said a gruff voice.

The light wasn't so bright now. He could make out faces, Pham standing grimly to one side, three other monitors staring down at him; two of which had him by the shoulders and legs. Other faces came into view. His squadmates were staring.

"Is he all right?" asked James.

Pham sighed. "Considering he just kicked a warrant officer, I think he will be, but we'll still take him to medical to make sure there is no nerve damage. Can you see my fingers now, Cadet Yan?"

He nodded. "Three fingers."

"Good. I think you'll make it."

"I can't believe he stayed in the Endlave after it broke like that," said Heather. "He wasn't disabled?"

"Normally we would bail him out," said Pham, "but it was his request."

For a moment Panther Squad was silent, and the two warrant officers under Pham began wheeling the stretcher to the exit from the command center. Daryl could see his squadmates watch him as he left.

Conner gave him a thumbs up and Tomas shook his head muttering something to the effect of Daryl being crazy.

The last one he passed was Oscar, who looked at him and said, "Ballsy move there," leaving Daryl to wonder if he had struck his head as well as his legs. That almost sounded like a compliment.

A/N: Second half of the Endlave fight. So we're seeing some progression in Daryl's guts as a pilot. I noticed that in Guilty Crown that Daryl's Endlave gets beat up a lot, up to and including head injuries without him getting bailed out. The only time he was actually bailed out was when his entire Endlave would have been annihilated, whereas Tsugumi is more conservative when looking after Aya. She stops Aya from receiving a blow to the head, but Daryl's taken the same sort injury at least twice.

Though they are the only two Endlave pilots we regularly see, I suspect part of the difference is because Rowen is aware that Daryl is capable of surviving damage that would ruin other people. It's not a difference in the pilot's will to fight as neither Daryl nor Aya ever ask for a bail out, and it's not a difference in the monitor (Rowen clearly cares about Daryl's well being, and Tsugumi feels the same for Aya), so my feeling is that Rowen simply knows that Daryl can really take a punch.