"Rachel!" exclaimed Rush, hopping down off of Dreadnought to see if she was alright "Rachel!" he continued as he made his way off.
He landed on the ground, not realizing how bad he was hurt, his ankle gave way, causing him to slam to the ground.
"Damn it," groaned Rush, picking himself up, limping towards the remains of Cydra.
Rush climbed the torso of Cydra, trying to reach the cockpit. He used his good foot to push himself up on to the chest of the mobile suit that lay on the ground, unmoving. He searched for the emergency release switch, feeling all around the cockpit. He pulled the switch, releasing the hatch that revealed the pilot's chair. She seemed unconscious. Rush reach in the cockpit, undoing Rachel's safety harness.
"Looks like we really blew it this time," she weakly commented with a laugh, wincing in pain.
"Thank God you're alive," Rush replied, still undoing the harness.
"It is going to take more than a-" she was cut short by more pain.
"Take it easy," Rush warned, "Let me get you out of here."
She complied, reaching for his hand. Rush lifted Rachel out of the battered cockpit. He cradled her arm over his shoulders, helping her down off of the beaten mobile suit. Rachel looked over at Rush's headless suit.
"Seems you didn't fare too well either," Rachel commented, wiping a trickle of blood from her forehead.
"I have never seen or faced anything like that," Rush replied, setting her down gently next to her suit.
"At least you got a chance to defend yourself," Rachel said, feeling cheated.
"Believe me," Rush said, "you wouldn't have wanted to fight this, this,... monster. Your help would have been great, but I still don't think it would have been enough to win."
Rush limped towards his suit, which was not far away. Rachel noticed he wasn't walking normally.
"You're hurt," she said.
"'Tis nothing," Rush replied, continuing on his way. "You are in a lot worse condition than I."
Rachel felt her body's cry of pain, but she felt Rush's as well. Every ounce of suffering that flowed through Rush was in her as well. She knew that she had injuries, but it was nothing compared to what Rush has felt, what his heart has had to endure over these past days. Rachel lost her train of thought as her body hit her with another surge of pain, telling her to fix it or it will get worse. Rush was on his way back with a suitcase-looking box.
"Where are you hurting at?" questioned Rush, wanting to help her.
"Here is the worst," she informed, holding her lower left hip, which was covered by her shorts. Rush saw the area was damp, probably saturated with blood.
"Let me see it," said Rush, opening the box, containing a wide variety of medical tools and supplies.
She undid her buckle, sliding her shorts down enough for him to see the wound. It was a severe abrasion, enough to split the skin. Rush cleaned the area around the wound, preparing it.
"This may hurt a little," Rush warned.
She gripped his free hand.
"Do it," she replied with reassurance in her voice, know that she was in good hands.

Hephaestus screamed through the sky, continuing on its way to the N. America EMF base.
"The transport is completely destroyed," informed Brandt, radioing his superiors at the base.
"Who's responsible for this?" questioned an Admiral, one of many high ranking officers there for a meeting.
"2 mobile suits, Sir," Brandt continued, Hephaestus continuing on its autopilot path.
"Only 2?" exclaimed another officer off screen.
"Yes," Brandt replied, calmly, "both were Gundams, made of Gundanium Alloy."
"I see," the Admiral said, keeping his anger suppressed, "and what of them?"
"I have crippled them," stated Brandt, lying about the true reason "they are out of commission for now, I left them intact for possible capture at a later date."
"Good thinking, Brandt," the Admiral replied, "but the pilots can call for reinforcements and such, hampering our campaign in the area."
Brandt realized his fake strategy did have that fatal error.
"I left jammers in the area," Brandt continued to lie, "unless they can find all of them, they can't make any kind of transmission to anyone."
"I want a full debriefing upon your arrival, Commander Brandt," the Admiral said with authority.
"Yes, Sir," Brandt obeyed, the transmission ending.
The mobile suit continued to fly at extraordinary speed.
"I let them live," commented Brandt, "so I could fight them again one day. The pilot of the Gundam with the large guns, he is skilled indeed, but he is young and foolish. The other, was incapacitated before I could size him up. This suit acted on its own, which is startling. But again, it did save me a lot of trouble."
IT knew Brandt was talking about it, and was pleased with his reactions.

"Glad that is over with," Rachel said, letting go of Rush's hand.
"So am I," he replied, shaking his numb hand.
"Sorry about the death grip," she said, squeezing and releasing her hand..
"Now," Rush said, "Your forehead looks pretty bad, maybe needs stitches."
"Just patch it up," she replied, wiping the blood off of the wound, "we can fix it later."
"If you insist," Rush said, taking out a roll of gauze.
Rush applied a large bandage to stop the bleeding and begun wrapping the gauze over it to hold it in place.
"At least he hasn't taken advantage of the situation," thought Rachel, pulling her shorts back up without getting Rush's attention.
He finished, taping the end of the roll to hold it in place.
"Now," Rachel said, "you need a splint or something on your ankle, it looks pretty nasty."
"I said I am fine," Rush replied, looking at it, wiggling it, "It is just sprained."
"Stubborn ass," thought Rachel, keeping her comment to herself.
"So," Rush said kneeling down, "no what? We have 2 busted suits, no radio, no supplies, and we are in the middle of nowhere."
"I have n-" managed Rachel, stopping.
"What?" Rush questioned.
"Did you hear that?" Rachel asked, holding her head up to listen better.
The faint sound of mobile suit footsteps resonated off in the distance. It grew louder and louder, but Rush, nor Rachel, could see a mobile suit. The ground vibrated as if the suit was right next to them. A part of the sky in front of them distorted, revealing a mobile suit. It looked a little like Rush and Rachel's, but it didn't have near as many weapons. It had a large rifle on its back, attached to it was a scope. The Gundam knelt down, as if the pilot was exiting the mobile suit. Rush looked for something to use as a weapon do defend him and Rachel. The hatch opened, a young man appeared, wearing a USC spacesuit.
"Hello there," said the man, his voice belonging to that of a man no more than 20, maybe less.
"Who are you?" questioned Rush, easing up a little in his overall posture.
"I'm Janus," informed the man, "This," he said, knocking against his suit, "is Gundam Eclipse, sniper extraordinaire."
Rush eyed the mobile suit, looking at every last detail, taking it in.
"Do you think you can help us out?" questioned Rachel, as Janus began walking in her direction.
"Of course," replied Janus, still wearing his helmet, denying Rush or Rachel a look at his face.