Plantation 1
The Nines sit in their private lounge located inside Plantation 1, the site where APE plans to make their final move once Hringhorni has wiped out the last of the Klaxosaurs. The laid back and relaxed atmosphere the Nines typically have at times like these is nowhere to be found, instead it is replaced by an almost eerie silence as they pass the time there until the proximity alert calls them for deployment.
Delta and Gamma were god-knows-where and they aren't allowed to search for them. They threw themselves in Squad 13's way so that their squad could escape with Strelizia and this is how Papa rewards them. To top it all off, there is a new special forces group that looks to be a replacement for the Nines, the Spectres.
Alpha sits on one of the couches, staring blankly at the ceiling and pondering about the things you told him. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. From the moment he could think, he was taught that as long as one was of use to Papa, that they would be taken care of. What did Delta and Epsilon being discarded mean for the rest of the Nines? Alpha doesn't know. Frankly, a part of him doesn't want to know. Everything that you warned him of back when he visited you in your cell had come to pass, more or less.
But there was one more thing Alpha needed to know, and he might as well do it now while he still has access.
Getting up from the couch, he makes a beeline towards the door, which immediately slides open once he is close enough.
"Hey, Alpha," Beta calls out to him, "Where are you going?"
Alpha stops in the door but doesn't turn around. He doesn't want to trouble Beta and Gamma even more now with information that could be false but he'll tell them later if it turns out to be true.
"I'll take a walk," he replies, "This sitting around is growing boring."
As Alpha walks through the Plantation's hallways, he reflects on his life. Besides Papa, the only constant in his life has been his squad, the Nines. They've always had each other's backs in their countless fights, and now Papa just discarded two of them like they held no more value than any other Parasite.
Eventually, Alpha reaches his intended destination, the Plantation's archives. He holds his hands in front of the scanner that is located right of the door, which turns green after recognizing his ID as a Nine. Upon entering, the light automatically switches on and he walks up to the nearest terminal to look for the answer to the question that is stuck in his head. He always had access to this information but there was never any reason to look into it because he never doubted Papa, until now...
XXXXXX
After meeting with the Klaxosaur Princess and the mass of information you received, Squad 13 returned to base for a good night's rest. You're just glad to be back where you belong and are frankly amazed at how fast your teammates went out to rescue you, consequences be damned. Everyone was glad to have you back.
The following morning was spent on a long briefing to discuss your strategy for infiltrating Kosmos station and destroying Hringhorni, which was docked to it.
The first step was to hijack a shuttle that is capable of reaching Kosmos station. The fastest and easiest way for that would be to go back to Plantation 13, which was now abandoned and can also serve as another base for you. Since Umbra was still in APE's network, he can simply add your shuttle to the schedule and get the necessary codes to get through their checks.
However, one problem is that every shuttle going to Kosmos station is scanned before landing. This way, APE ensures that anything that could pose a threat to them never reaches the station, shooting anything down that fails this security check. In other words, any Umbra unit on board your shuttle would be detected and shot down unless the Umbra units were inactive.
This boiled down to at least one of you having to come along to activate the smuggled Umbra units that are aboard the shuttle to Kosmos station. You, Zero Two, Ryoken, and Misaki volunteered go with the Umbra units while the remainder of the squad prepares for the attack on Plantation 1, Project Valhalla's housing.
In the meantime, your new prisoners Nine Delta and Nine Epsilon were taken care of. Umbra took them to the medical bay to treat them, despite the fact that they are your enemies, but he kept them under tight watch in case they tried something.
One trip of a few hours later, you arrive back at Plantation 13 with your Franxx and a great deal of Umbra units to serve as the skeleton crew to operate it. It is kind of weird to be back where you spent so much time together and it almost feels like a homecoming. However, now was not the time to reminisce about the past. You could do that after APE and their doomsday weapon that hovers menacingly over the planet is dealt with.
After a short stroll through your old boarding house for the sake of nostalgia, you head down to the hangar to meet up with the others to infiltrate Kosmos station. Once you arrive there, you are greeted by Zero Two with a smile, "There you are, Darling!" You take her hand in yours and reply, "Ready to take back our future?" She nods and gives you a peck on the lips before you continue to the shuttle.
Walking over to the shuttle, you see Misaki leaning against the entrance of it. "Hey, Misaki," you greet her, "Is everything ready?" "Yeah, Umbra's units are already aboard," she replies, "Umbra is giving Ryoken a crash course in piloting right now."
Entering the shuttle, you can see a bunch of inactive combat units hunched together in the cargo hold. A little further to the cockpit, you find Ryoken and Umbra, who turn towards you once you enter.
"Ah, Master," Umbra says, "Everything is ready. We can begin right away." "Uhm, are you sure I can fly this thing?" Ryoken interjects. "Don't worry," Umbra reassures him, "I'll deactivate this unit before they scan us. That way you'll only have to fly a little bit on your own. Also, speak through this device when you talk to Kosmos control. It'll make you sound older, just in case." Umbra says that as he hands him a small oval-shaped device.
"Then," Umbra continues as he turns to you, "Even though I hate such inefficient design, I made a remote control to activate the units we have aboard. I entrust this to you, Master." He proceeds to hand you the aforementioned remote, consisting of a basic on and off switch.
"Alright, everyone," Ryoken announces, "Strap yourselves in. We'll take off in a bit."
You, Zero Two, and Misaki take the seats in the cockpit behind them while Umbra sits in the pilot's seat with Ryoken as the co-pilot. The shuttle takes off about two minutes after all the preparations are done.
You rapidly gain altitude as you look out the window and the trip is rather silent until you decide to speak up, "Can we stop by their database? There's something I'd like to know..." "The guys that attacked us in our old Franxx, right?" Misaki replies. "How did you know?" you respond. "Well, I also want to know," she answers. "That can be arranged," Umbra announces, "I can clear you a path."
As Umbra finishes speaking, Kosmos station comes into view. It looks like a 3-pointed star with a sphere as its center that resembles a plantation from the outside. It wouldn't surprise you if the interior is mostly designed like the Plantations. In addition, there are two metallic rings around the dome itself, probably to support the rest of the structure while also acting as its sensor array.
Then, one of the lights on the control begins to blink in red. "That's them," Umbra pats Ryoken on the back, "You got this. Deactivating unit." Umbra goes limp a few seconds later and the glow in his eyes goes out. Ryoken proceeds to press a button and the voice of an adult can be heard on the other end of the line, "Shuttle TYD-1337, please transmit your clearance code and stay your current course while I check the schedule." "Affirmative," Ryoken replies through the voice changing device, making him sound like an adult, "Transmitting code now."
He pushes a couple of buttons and after a brief moment of silence, a response comes in, "Confirmed. Beginning shuttle scan, maintain your current course, or we will open fire."
The tension in the air is palpable as the shuttle is scanned. If they detect any anomalies, you are done for. No one is saying a word in these two minutes that feel like an eternity. Finally, the flight lieutenant responds, "Shuttle TYD-1337, you are clear to proceed for hangar B-2."
As those words came out, the four of you let out a collective sigh of relief. Following this exchange, your shuttle safely lands in the hangar you were assigned to. You pull out the remote control from your pocket and flip the switch on it, the Umbra unit in the cockpit sparks to life moments afterward.
"Oh," he says as he looks around for a bit, "Good job, we didn't die!" Clanking noises could be heard moments afterward from the cargo hold. The rest of the Umbra units come to life.
"Well then," Umbra states as he gets up, "I'll clear you a path. I'll have my shielding unit accompany you, just in case." The loading ramp of the shuttle opens and the first unlucky staff member attempting to enter the shuttle gets knocked out and dragged in. Then, several Umbra units rush out and mow down the remaining hostiles in the hangar to secure it.
"We're clear to proceed," the unit with the tower shield next to you reports. "Alright, let's go," you reply.
Walking out of the shuttle and into the hangar, you see a few units stayed and are taking defensive positions. The plan was to split the offensive units into two groups, one that goes after the APE council, and one that takes control of the command center. The four of you follow the first squad of units to the command center and you try to remain undetected for as long as you possibly can. Umbra is very proficient in killing and doesn't mess around. However, the alarm goes off eventually, alerting the entire station to your presence.
As a result of this, more APE soldiers show up to block your path but they are ultimately not an issue to Umbra. If one unit gets damaged, it falls back to let others take its place. The outer defenses of Kosmos station are formidable, however, once you are inside it becomes much easier.
Eventually, you storm the command center, which is structured like the ones in any Plantation, just bigger. You access one of the terminals while Zero Two, Ryoken, and Misaki look over your shoulder at the screen. A bit of searching through various menus and clicking through dozens of files yields the information you are looking for, and it's not pretty.
The four of you stare at the screen as you see the origin of your attackers from the day before, the Spectres. They are clones of Squad 42 with additional genetic tempering for enhanced strength, speed, and agility. They transferred the mind of those they recovered their bodies from 18 years ago into their cloned counterpart but repressed everything except their combat capabilities. However, those that were lost in that last battle, namely you, Aki, Ryoken, and Misaki, are pure killing machines with no shred of emotion or memories in them.
The procedure used to transfer the mind of their then deceased bodies into cloned ones is the same method that was used to transfer your mind into your current body, although more refined. So, you are the progenitor in a way. However, it is not entirely the same as what APE is using now to collect the consciousnesses of the adults since your mind was transferred into a cloned body that was tailored to your DNA specifically.
"So, that really was them..." you mutter, "Or what's left of them." "If there is still a chance that their past self is in there," Zero Two says solemnly, as someone who knows first-hand what it's like to have their memories messed with , "Then we have to try to get through to them." "She's right," Ryoken adds, "At the very least, Aporia seemed to remember. The next time we see them, we'll have to do our best to make them remember."
APE will pay for that.
You turn towards one of Umbra's units to address him, "Umbra, have you reached the council chambers yet?" Umbra turns towards you and blinks twice before responding, "I am encountering heavy resistance but I should reach them within the next 5 minutes." "Good, enough time for us to get there when you do," you say as you face the others, "Let's go."
The four of you rush out of the room towards the council chambers with the shield unit right behind you, just in case.
"I guess it's up to me to disable Hringhorni then," the Umbra unit in the command center says to no one in particular as he connects himself to the terminal.
You reach the entrance to the council chamber just in time as you see several Umbra units cracking the door open with brute force. Then, once the smoke clears out you get a glimpse of the circular room inside with the seven chairs of the APE council in the center of the room, two of which are empty.
"The ground hazard is disabled this time," one of the Umbra units mutters as he reloads his rifle. "What ground hazard?" Ryoken asks. "Ehm, never mind," Umbra replies dismissively.
The Umbra units rush into the council chambers, every council member is aimed at by at least two units. Then, the rest of you follow.
"Code 023, Code 002," Papa says as he looks down on the two of you before his eyes land on Ryoken and Misaki, "Code 055, and Code 71."
This is it. This is the person responsible for all our suffering.
"Your reign of terror ends here, Papa!" you declare, "You won't be sending any more parasites to their death in a war to only further your own goals."
"Foolish child," Papa announces menacingly, "You exist only because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it. Single-minded children like you cannot grasp the scope of APE's goal. This is the way humanity must evolve. And you, Code 023, are not worth the risk of keeping alive any longer, along with your partner."
You clench your fists at this threat directed at you, and more importantly, Zero Two.
"Big words coming from someone we have at gunpoint," Ryoken remarks. "On the contrary, Code 055," Papa narrates, "This place will be your grave."
Papa turns to seemingly no one on his left and orders, "Do it."
"Umbra," you command, "Finish this."
Umbra fires a shot directly at Papa's head. However, the shot just goes through him without any effect but rips through the chair. Papa then begins to flicker.
"A hologram?!" you gasp, "But how?" "This is unexpected," Umbra states, "Recalculating."
The other four APE members, the Vice Chairman, Marmoset, Gorilla, and Baboon turn out to be holograms too as they just disappear, leaving just Papa left with you.
"Farewell," Papa announces before taking his leave, "In the end, you are nothing more than failed parasites. Nothing more than a biological error that must be removed."
Before you even have the time to say anything, a violent shock goes through the station and everything goes dark. The only source of light you have is from the window outside the council chamber from the sun and the Earth. In addition, every Umbra unit in the room falls to the ground as if they just lost power, safe for one that is barely standing.
"B-B-Blast it," Umbra stutters, his voice failing, "The-e-e-ey detonated an EMP. This is the o-o-o-only unit out of the 36 that is le-e-e-eft standing." "Are you saying they are sacrificing this entire station to kill us?!" Misaki panics, "We have to get out of here!"
She is right, this station will be pulled in by Earth's gravitation and become a meteor basically.
"But wait, isn't Hringhorni still hooked to this station?" Ryoken asks as he helps Umbra up. "N-N-N-Negative," Umbra answers, "T-They released it from the station before setting the EMP off a-a-and activated the sequence."
"At any rate, we have to get out of here now!" you state, "Run for the next shuttle!"
You waste no time and make a run for the closest hangar. While you are doing that, you come across dozens of the station's staff that is in a complete panic, trying to get out of here as well by the looks of it since this station cannot be saved. You can't help but feel sorry for them. After all, they stayed loyal to Papa and this is how he repays them.
Fortunately for you, the APE personnel ignore you since they are running for their lives right now. You reach a hangar with a couple of shuttles but there is a problem. Any shuttle that was active when the EMP was fired is completely useless now, so there are not many shuttles that can get you out of here, and they are being filled rapidly by the escaping personnel.
You can sense that Kosmos station is about to enter Earth's atmosphere as the entire station begins to vibrate, dozens of people lose their balance and fall as a result. Your group manages to secure a shuttle, and after Umbra makes sure that you're all aboard, he closes the entrance as he jumps out.
"Umbra, what are you doing?" you shout after him. "Well someone's got to take down Hringhorni," he retorts, "Trust me, Master, I've got a plan."
He proceeds to draw his rifle and charges towards the next airworthy craft, jumping in before they could close the door. "Sorry, Meatbags, but I am commandeering this shuttle!" is the last thing you hear over your comms with Umbra.
"Ryoken, you need to fly this thing!" Misaki orders him, "Get us out of here!" "Well, I don't have much of a choice now, do I?" he complains as he rushes to the pilot's seat and boots up the system. You, Zero Two, and Misaki each take a seat and strap yourselves in.
You can see out the window that the hangar is in utter chaos. People frantically trying to get into the remaining shuttles as the station grows more and more unstable. Stacked crates fly about and entire panels on the wall fall to the floor.
"Hold on to something!" Ryoken shouts right before you are suddenly pressed into your seat by the launch of your shuttle. You barely manage to get out of the hangar as Kosmos station enters Earth's atmosphere and is in a free fall towards the planet.
In the distance Hringhorni prepares to fire as it begins to surge with purple energy.
XXXXXX
Meanwhile
The Klaxosaur Princess stands in the middle of the barren wasteland as she looks up to the sky. She frowns as she sees a faint purple glow up there.
This is it.
Her horn begins to glow and a massive blue tower shoots out of the ground in front of her. It continues to rise until it reaches the clouds themselves. Then, six rings of energy form around it their radii growing smaller as they ascend the structure.
The Princess walks up to the tower and connects her tendrils to it as she closes her eyes.
Activating tower... It's up to you now, humans.
The top of the tower begins to create a massive shield of blue energy, covering the sky itself. The purple ray from orbit hits the barrier shortly after but it holds, for now. The Princess grunts in pain but remains steadfast.
The entire structure is Klaxosaur, but the shield is not. I will fight through the pain. I will hold out as long as I have to!
XXXXXX
Ryoken manages to stabilize the shuttle and just then you contact Umbra, "Umbra, where are you?! Hringhorni is firing!"
"Not to worry, Master," he replies calmly, "I am approaching it as we speak. I have found a structural weakness and will overload the engines of this craft once I am close enough to it. I have already lost 35 bodies today. One more won't make much of a difference. You just see to it that you get to safety when this thing explodes!"
Despite the fact that Umbra isn't going to die from this since this is just one of his many units, you can't help but admire how he is able to willingly sacrifice himself for the bigger picture. "Understood... Thank you, Umbra," you add. "There is nothing to thank me for," he concludes, "I am merely following my program." With that, the line gets cut off as you lose the signal to Umbra's shuttle.
It started off as a small explosion in the mid-section of the giant lance, but it soon turned out to be the start of a chain reaction of bigger and bigger explosions. Eventually, the continuous purple beam stops and the entire structure goes down in a massive explosion which can be seen from the surface of the Earth with the naked eye during the day.
"Bring us home, Ryoken," you conclude as you enter the atmosphere.
XXXXXX
The Klaxosaur Princess falls to her knees as she disconnects from the tower, panting heavily. The cobra slithers up to her, lowering its head to ground level and looks at her worriedly.
I'm fine... just need to... rest for a bit.
XXXXXX
Unknown location
"That was certainly close," Dr. Franxx narrates, "But the children did it. They truly are the future of humanity, but there is still one obstacle left to overcome."
"Note to self," Umbra remarks, "Upgrade future units to withstand an EMP."
"Anyway," Dr. Franxx says as he gets up from his comfy chair and reaches for his cane, "It is time for me to enter the stage again. This little vacation was nice while it lasted."
XXXXXX
An hour later you arrive at Plantation 13. The rest of Squad 13 plus Umbra had worked to get it up and running while you were on Kosmos station. You told them everything that transpired from start to finish. Needless to say, that they were all worried about you when they heard that Kosmos station crashed into the planet, followed by the giant explosion in the sky.
The most important thing was that you all made it out alive and disrupted APE's plan to commit genocide on the Klaxosaurs. After helping out the others with the rest of their tasks, you all decide to go to sleep a little earlier today at your old boarding house in the birdcage of Plantation 13. After all, tomorrow will be the decisive battle to reclaim your future and you all need to be well rested.
You, however, decide to take one more walk through the forest of Mistilteinn and stop by the lake. There is something soothing about this calm scenery at night and it puts you at ease.
That reminds me.
You pull out your communicator and type a message to Umbra, asking him for a "special favor." He responds immediately, as you expected, and replies that it would be no problem at all. You put away your communicator, knowing that you'll make good on your promise once this is all over.
Just then, you hear the sound of a stick cracking behind you. You barely manage to turn around as you are tackled to the ground, pink hair and two teal orbs taking all of your vision.
"I caught you, Darling," Zero Two whispers as she straddles you. "You sure did," you smile as you quickly put your hands around her and pull her down so that she is lying on top of you, "And I caught you."
The two of you melt into a long and lustful kiss underneath the moonlight out in the forest, only separating to draw breath. Then, Zero Two begins to slowly unbutton her top.
"Wait, what are you-" you begin but she places a finger on your lips to silence you. She then leans towards your ear and whispers seductively, "I'll show you what comes after kissing."
