Darling in the FranXX: The Reaper Squadron
Chapter 3: Contact & Capture
Time skip: 2 hours
"You have got to be kidding me." Raven says, from her and Crow's position atop one of the buildings in the city. She was hoping her eyes were deceiving her as she looked at the massive mech that is approaching the city. Her eyes however were not deceiving her, there was a massive, humanoid, white, red and blue mech that was making its way toward the city. Behind it she could make out some type of mobile dome/fortress. Handing off the binoculars to Crow she said,
"See if you can find anything else of note or a potential weakness. I'm going to tell Reaper about this."
Crow nodded his head and put his eyes up to the binoculars while Raven tapped a few screens on her communicator before beginning to speak.
"Raven to Reaper. How copy?" She asked.
"This is Reaper, I can hear you loud and clear." He said as his face appeared on the screen. "What's up? Is the enemy here already?"
"Not exactly Reaper." She said. "The enemy appear to have a massive mech on their side."
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"That's right. There is an enormous red, white, and blue battle mech headed our direction." She replied.
"It's carrying something." Crow suddenly noted. "Humans, I think."
"If they are indeed humans, why send a battle mech to retrieve us? You don't send heavy armor unless you are expecting heavy resistance" Reaper said.
"It has two magma energy spear-like swords on its arms." Crow stated.
"It might be for defensive purposes against the Klaxosaurs for the dome behind it." Raven stated.
"Dome?" Reaper asked.
"Yeah, near the horizon there is an extremely large dome/fortress that the mech came from." Raven replied.
"Very well, keep an eye on it but do not be seen." Reaper stated.
"Yes sir!" They replied.
Suddenly Snake appeared in the call. "Pardon the intrusion Squad Leader but," Snake said. "I've detected a horde of Conrad class Klaxosaurs approaching from the east."
"Damn it! How far out are they?" Reaper asked.
"About 8 clicks." Snake replied.
"Hmmm." Crow hummed.
"What?" Both Reaper and Snake asked.
"It appears the battle mech is going to deal with them." Crow stated as he watched the mech set down the people from its hand and began walking toward the east. Likely having detected the horde as well.
"Alright, that will keep it occupied for a while. Send us any new intel on our enemy when you receive it. Reaper and Snake out." Reaper said as both he and Snake exited the call.
Time skip 30 minutes
A group entered the city from the northwest. High above them a raven circled over the group looking down on them. Back at the rooftop, Crow was looking for any other threats while Raven was crouched near the edge of the roof with her eyes closed. There was a black shadow covering her eyes which faded as she opened her eyes. At the same time Reaper and Cypress suddenly appeared on Raven's communicator.
"Raven, Crow, report." Reaper stated.
"A group of 8 just entered from the north west." Raven replied. "4 guys and 4 girls, aged approximately 10-15, unarmed."
"They sent children in after us?" Cypress asked, shaking her head.
"Don't underestimate them. We don't know what they are capable of." Reaper said.
"Where do you wish to engage them?" Crow asked.
"Near the square." Reaper replied. "Gives us room to work with as well as give support if necessary."
"Very well, we will begin to lead them there. Raven out" She said before closing the call. She turned toward Crow,
"I'll be the bait, you don't have the speed." She said.
"I'm fast when I want to be." Crow huffed.
"But you have yet to beat me in a race." Raven said with a smirk before disappearing down the side of the building.
Crow huffed before putting away the binoculars and preparing to follow Raven to the city center via the rooftops.
POV change: Raven
As I landed on the ground I took stock of the situation. The group had split up into pairs in the time we were talking and were systematically searching the northern section of the city. "I'll send an attack at one pair and run. That should draw them out and get them to follow me." I thought. Since they were already in front of me, I decided to attack the pair ahead of me, which consisted of a boy with unruly brown hair and a girl with the same hair color as her but instead kept in two pigtails. I held out my right hand and concentrated, and soon a shadow portal appeared on the ground and out from it came my scythe, Misery.
She was nothing fancy, just a midnight blue scythe blade on a long black handle, but she was mine and that's all that mattered. It was nothing like Reaper's two bladed, death dealer, Harvester, but considering his numerous dealings with him, I'll stick with Misery. I took careful aim, aiming for the space between the brown-haired boy and the girl, and let Misery fly. She flew right between the two causing both to let out a shriek. To my amusement, the boy let out a higher shriek than the girl. I quickly wrapped my hand in shadow and called Misery back to me, causing it to halt in its flight and reverse back into my hand, catching the two-off guard as they turned to look at me.
I made sure that they got a good look at me before turning and beginning to run down the nearest street, receiving a "Hey, wait!" from the boy before I turned the corner of an adjacent street. As I ran from the pair I could hear the girl shouting orders into her mike to her group. Not the smartest idea to shout orders so that they enemy could hear them but hey, maybe they were new to this. They were children after all. As I was running I banished Misery and called up Reaper on the communicator. "I've got their attention and are guiding them to the square." I said.
"Good. Cypress and Snake are already waiting, and Owl and I will be there shortly." He said.
"Understood. Raven out." I said as I closed the link. The sound of footsteps behind me had multiplied so I looked back and saw that 2 other pairs had joined up with the first. "Where are the final two?" I thought. Hearing footsteps above me I looked up to see Crow leaping from rooftop to rooftop trying to keep up with me, although he was falling behind. I chuckled to myself before having to dodge a flying kick coming from the right from a girl with pink hair and two little red horns. A boy with shaggy black hair came out of the same alley the pink haired girl did and joined the group that was chasing me bringing the total up to eight. Just in time too as I could see the square just ahead of me. I suddenly heard from behind me.
"She is headed for the square! Cut her off!"
The pink-haired girl jumped in front of me and attempted to grab my arm, but I summersaulted over her before doing a backflip and ending up next to Reaper and Owl who appeared from behind the old fountain. When the group crossed into the square, Crow jumped down from behind them cutting off their exit and cracked his knuckles. Snake came out of the shadow of a building and Cypress punched off the lid of a sewer drain before appearing.
"Hello children," Reaper said with a grin on his face and his eyes glowing, "let's dance".
POV Change: Third Person
As the fight began the two groups squared off. Miku and Zorome versus Raven, Kokoro versus Crow, Ikuno versus Snake, Mitsuru versus Cypress, Futoshi versus Owl, and Hiro and Zero Two versus Reaper.
Miku and Zorome Versus Raven
"Hey now, we just want to talk!" Miku said.
"Well then, you should have thought about that before coming in with a battle mech shouldn't you?" Raven replied.
"What?" Miku asked before getting hit in the solar plexus. While she was trying to recover her breath, Raven chopped her in the neck, causing her to be knocked out.
"Miku!" Zorome shouted before turning back to Raven.
"You'll pay for that." He growled, before throwing a punch at Raven. She immediately caught the punch before responding with her own, punching him in the face and breaking his nose. While he was dealing with his broken nose, Raven hit his temples, causing him to fall unconscious. "huff, that was easy" she said. Raven carried the two over to one of the nearby building and turned to watch the others.
Kokoro Versus Crow
As Kokoro faced off against Crow, she was a bit nervous but thought she could handle him. "He can't be that bad right?" she thought. That was before he suddenly disappeared. As she looked around for him she was lightly hit in the back of the neck causing her to fall unconscious.
"I'm sorry." Crow said as he caught her limp body. He picked her up bridal style and carried her over to where Raven had taken Miku and Zorome and laid her gently beside the two. He then turned around to watch the others fight while keeping an eye on the trio out of the corner of his eye.
Ikuno Versus Snake
"Why are you taking off your glasses? Do you not need them?" Ikuno asked as she saw Snake take his glasses off and put them in his pocket.
"No, I need them." He said. "I just don't want to get them broken in the fight."
Ikuno gave him a questioning look before, to her at least, he started blurring toward her, fist raised toward her face. She managed to block that punch, though it would leave one hell of a bruise later. Ikuno, however did not block the second hit to the back of her jaw, causing her to pass out. He then picked her up and carried her over to the others before putting his glasses back on.
"Aww man, I got a chip in my glasses!" Snake exclaimed.
"Oh, quit whining." Raven said. "Reaper can fix it, you know that."
"That's not the point!" Snake whined.
Mitsuru Versus Cypress
Mitsuru started out his fight with Cypress with an attempted strike to her gut which she quickly dodged. He then followed with a series of strikes to her neck, trying to hit the Vegas nerve (the nerve just below the ear).
"You strike with precision." Cypress complemented. "but…" that was all she got out before Mitsuru managed to get a hit on her solar plexus. While she was winded, he casually walked over to her and prepared to land the finishing blow. Before he could however, Cypress suddenly launched forward and landed a hit on his spleen, his liver, and a knee to the groin simultaneously causing him to be knocked out. "…your too cocky" Cypress said. She then dragged him over to where the other lay, she then leaned up against the building keeping an eye on the children in case they started to wake up.
Futoshi Versus Owl
"We don't have to do this, we just want to talk." Futoshi said, facing off against Owl.
"Perhaps not." Owl said, "But if you just wanted to talk, you should have sent an envoy instead of a combat squad and a battle mech."
"Wait!" he said before Owl rushed forward and body checked him, sending him flying. She then dashed forward again and grabbed his arm before throwing him over her shoulder and slamming him into the ground, he was instantly unconscious.
"Hmmm, might have been too rough with him. Oh well." She said before she slung him over her shoulder and carried him over to the others. Crow and the others looked at Futoshi before turning to Owl with raised eyebrows.
"What did he do?" Snake sighed out.
"Acted like he wasn't in the wrong and thought we shouldn't be fighting them." Owl replied.
"At least he didn't call you short!" Crow laughed.
Owl glared at him before turning to watch Reaper finish taking on the final two. The group had now formed a semi-circle around the fallen group ensuring that they could not get out.
"Should we tie them up?" Cypress asked.
"Does anyone have something to tie them up with?" Snake asked.
"I've got some rope." Raven said, pulling a length out of her cloak
"Alright tie them up, but don't make the ropes too tight Raven." Crow said giving Raven a pointed look. "They aren't built like we are."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She said as she began tying up the group.
Reaper Versus Hiro and Zero Two
The first part of the fight was relatively simple for Reaper. All it took was a few quick hits on the black-haired boy's body before he was able to get a hit on the boy's temples and down he went. He was suddenly hit in the chest by a roundhouse kick and sent flying across the square. Reaper turned in midair and managed to land with his feet spread out behind him and one hand on the ground. As he looked up he saw a pink haired girl holding the boy and shaking him.
"Darling? Darling?!" she shouted as he did not respond.
"Darling? Surely they're not…" he quickly looked at her hands but saw nothing. "No, but then why is she…" Reaper thought before the girl gently put the boy down before turning and growling at him and dashing toward him. He grinned and ran toward her as well and they met in the middle of the square and began trading blows.
Meanwhile back with the rest of the Reaper Squadron their captives were beginning to wake up.
"Ugh, did anyone get the number of that Klaxosaur that hit me?" Zorome asked.
"It wasn't a Klaxosaur." Raven replied. "My number is R-03 if you're interested though."
"Try not to move too much." Snake said. "You all are probably still experiencing the effects of having your nerve clusters hit and movement is not the best idea."
"It's probably best for you guys to sit and watch R-01 take on your pink haired friend." Cypress said.
"They are pretty evenly matched." Crow said. "Although the pink haired one might have a slight advantage when it comes to speed."
"Her name is Zero Two." Hiro said after he woke up.
"Noted." Owl said, her eyes never leaving Reaper's form.
"Aren't you guys going to go help him?" Kokoro asked, trying to stand and failing.
Owl gave her a strange look and Cypress replied, "Why would we do that? Reaper is having fun."
They all turned toward the fight and saw that; indeed, Reaper had the largest grin on his face as he was fighting Zero Two. They traded blows for a while before breaking off.
"Your good." Reaper complimented. "I haven't had this good of a workout in a long time."
Zero Two said nothing and simply cracked her neck before reengaging Reaper. The two went back to trading blows, for the most part they blocked each other's hits. They each took glancing blows, nothing serious until Zero Two miscalculated and over extended her reach, leaving herself open to a counter attack. Reaper took it and hit her hard in the center of her forehead with his wrist, causing her head to snap back and knock her out, possibility giving her a concussion as well. Reaper quickly caught her before she hit the ground.
"Thank you for the good fight" he muttered to her before carrying her toward the others. Hiro and the others looked a Reaper in shock.
"Alright that should be the last of them. Let's get them back to base before…" Reaper started to say before getting hit in the neck with something.
"What the…" Reaper said before he pulled out what had hit him and saw what it was.
"Tranquilizer!" He shouted. The others had no time to react as they were each hit by a dart as well and dropped.
"I forgot about the mech and its pilots" was the last thought Reaper had before slipping into unconsciousness.
Hiro and the others turned to look at where the darts came from and saw Ichigo waving at them with Goro looking down the sights of a tranquilizer gun.
"Mission complete." Hachi said. "Grab them and return to base"
Ichigo and Goro climbed down from the building they were on and went over to the group and began to untie them. Zero Two waking up shortly afterward. They then each grabbed a member of Reaper Squad and carried them toward Delphinium. Cypress and Crow requiring two people to carry them.
A/N: And end scene. Whew, this is my longest chapter to date, almost 3k words without the author's notes of course. Just a quick note, the reason Squad 13 got wiped was that they are a relatively new squad with little combat experience. Versus Reaper Squadron who are trained professionals with years of experience. Zero Two is, of course, an exception due to her time with the 9's. I wanted to try telling the story in first person to see how it went. Tell me what you guys think. As always reviews are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Ciao!