Darling in the FranXX: The Reaper Squadron
Chapter 6: Gaia class
At APE HQ Time: unknown
"There has been a marked increase in Klaxosaur activity, within the last month alone two more sub-bases have been established in priority areas." Papa said. "There has been Moho class and above showing up everywhere which is unprecedented."
"The Nines are dealing with them for now, but they have other tasks to complete as well." An APE said.
"How long are we going to let Strelitzia goof off? Now that the special specimen's aptitude has been ascertained, there is no reason to leave it there any longer." Another APE said.
"Indeed. It isn't wise to let her mix with the tainted stamens anymore." Marmoset said.
"What about Reaper 1?" An APE asked.
"Retrieve them as well, they can be useful elsewhere or with the Nines." Papa said.
...
Plantation 13
"A demon... She is a demon. You would have to be insane to ride with her. She'll kill you." Mitsuru said clutching his head. Mitsuru had been saying this or other things along the same line since he woke up a few days ago. He had yet to touch any food or drink given to him.
Squad 13 and Reaper 1 were standing outside the medical ward within Mistilteinn watching. The Reapers were internally scoffing at the thought that Zero Two was a demon, however bad she may be, she was not a demon, the Klaxosaurs were the true demons. While Squad 13 was concerned about his mental health. Hiro suddenly grew determined and enter the room.
"Mitsuru..." he asked. "What happened with Zero Two?"
"What...Happened?" Mitsuru said glaring at Hiro. "That girl tried to devour everything I have. My flesh, blood, and my soul...All of it! Everything was normal at first, but after a point, Sh-she was out to kill me."
"Mitsuru..." Hiro started to say before Mitsuru lunged out of bed to grab Hiro's collar.
"What's worse, she had a smile on her face! She was smiling the entire time!" he shouted.
"Mitsuru!" Kokoro said.
"Calm down, man!" Futoshi said.
"Ride with her again, and the same will happen to you." Mitsuru said. "You'll end up like me, too. You're out of your mind if you think you are the sole exception! She is called the Partner Killer for a reason!"
"Partner Killer?" Reaper thought. He filed that tidbit of information away for later. Resolving to look up more on Zero Two later.
"Cut it out, Mitsuru!" Futoshi said, pulling him away from Hiro before Mitsuru fell unconscious again.
"Look, just lie down." Futoshi said, as he and Kokoro placed him back on the bed and tucking him back in.
Ichigo walked up to Hiro. "You okay?"
"Yeah."
Later as Squad 13 is enjoying some time off Ichigo approaches Hiro.
"Do you still want to ride with her? After what she did to Mitsuru I can't bring myself to trust her. Assuming that the rumor she is a partner killer is true, if you ride with her two more times, you could die."
"Even so, as long as I can be useful, I will continue to ride with Zero Two." Hiro said.
Standing in the shadow of the door leading to their quarters, having been completed two days ago, Owl shook her head and sighed.
"Oh Hiro, there is so much more to life than just being useful." She then turned and walked off.
...
Later, in the elevator with the inner city in background in all its orange glory, Zero Two was standing with Nana and Hachi, Hachi was speaking.
"Yes, the Klaxosaurs need to be killed. But, that doesn't mean you get free reign."
"You did not need to use that much power to kill those Klaxosaurs. But, because you did we nearly lost one of our squad. Are you even listening to me?" Nana said.
"I wanna leave, I feel like I'm gonna suffocate in here." Was all Zero Two said, looking out the window.
"Why, you..." Nana started to say.
"As long as I have my Darling, I don't care about this place. The rest will probably die soon, anyway. Aside from Reaper 1, that is." Zero Two said, thinking about Reaper and his squad. If they could best her, they would be just fine.
"Zero Two, those kids are your fellow FranXX pilots, even if you belong in different units.
"Fellow pilots, are you serious?" she said turning back toward them. "The only ones I consider my fellow pilots are Reaper 1. The others are only a nuisance, no matter how many there are."
"They may be an irregular squad," Hachi said. "but they're parasites carefully chosen for their high aptitude."
"Really? Those guys?"
"You only feel that way because you are special."
Zero Two glared at him. "Are you talking about how I'm not human?"
"I'm talking about your abilities and nothing else. Also, it is highly unlikely that 016 will be authorized to pilot Strelitzia."
"What do you mean?"
"We received word from HQ earlier. You are to return to the front lines."
Zero Two narrowed her eyes at him.
...
POV Change: Reaper POV
As I was meditating by the lake, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching my position. From the amount of pressure put into each step, I could tell that it was Ichigo.
"Hello Ichigo." I said as I opened my eyes.
"How did you know it was me? Your eyes were closed." she said.
"Training." I replied. "Also, meditation heightens the senses making it easier to identify things, in this case, I heard your footsteps over a quarter of a mile away and the amount of pressure you applied in your footsteps allowed me to identify that it was you approaching."
She hummed in response.
"But, I can tell that you did not come here to listen me ramble on about meditation. So, what is it that you need Ichigo?" I asked.
"You have been your squad's leader for a long time, haven't you?" She asked
"Indeed. I lead my squad for around 10 years before we were frozen. Why do you ask?"
"How did you get your squad to listen to your orders without hesitation?"
I lightly smiled. "She is willing to try and learn, that's good" I thought.
"Two things." I said holding up two fingers.
"Experience," I said holding up one finger. "and trust." I held up the other finger.
"Experience comes with time, so you need to focus on earning their trust."
"How do I earn their trust?" she asked.
"Did they teach these children nothing about leading a squad?" I despaired.
"Well, trust is a two-way street. To get their trust, you must give them yours. Right now, your squad follows your orders because they have to. The trick is to make them follow your orders because they want to. They need to know that you have their best interests in mind when you give an order."
"Where do I start though?"
"Well from what I heard your first sortie did not go too well, right?"
She dropped her head in shame and mumbled a yes
"Start there. You made some mistakes yes, but everyone does during their first mission. Go to them, admit your mistakes. Tell them you want nothing more than to ensure the plantation's protection and to make sure everyone gets back safely." I said.
She gave me a hug and I stiffened, not used to non-hostile contact, before letting go.
"Thank you! It's been so difficult to do this by myself." she said.
"No problem, if you have any more questions you can come ask myself or Owl."
"Thank you again." she said before walking off.
I chuckled a bit before going back to my meditation. Half an hour passed before an alarm went off signifying a Klaxosaur attack. "*sigh*, no rest for the weary." I thought before getting up to go find my squad.
...
POV change: Third Person POV
When Reaper and his squadron got to the briefing room, most of Squad 13 had already deployed. As Reaper 1 went to go to their FranXX Nana stopped them.
"Reaper 1 stay here. They need to be able to defeat a Klaxosaur by themselves." Nana said. Reaper's suspicions were immediately raised. How did they know that they would be able to handle a Klaxosaur by themselves if they had never fought one in their FranXX?
"What kind of Klaxosaur is it?" They heard from over the comms.
"We don't know. The dust obscuring it is too thick to get a good look at it." Nana replied.
At that time Hiro and Zero Two came running into the room. Without turning to look at them Nana said,
"Putting on your uniforms will not help, you have not been cleared to deploy."
"I didn't say anything." Zero Two said.
Reaper idlily noted that two military transports had landed in the hanger but was more concerned with trying to identify what type of Klaxosaur 13 was about to face, and he had a sinking feeling he knew what it was.
When Squad 13 reached the Klaxosaur it was revealed what it was, and the Reapers grimaced.
"So what kind of Klaxosaur is it?" Zorome asked.
"I... don't know." Nana said looking at the Klaxosaur.
"It doesn't matter what it is, we need to kill it!" Ichigo said as Squad 13 leapt onto the Klaxosaur and began to unload their weapons into it causing it to collapse.
"It's never that easy..." Reaper mumbled
"Did we kill it?" Argentea asked.
"No, I think we missed the core." Goro replied.
"Well then let's... Ahhhh!" Argentea screamed as a second head came out of the ground behind her and grabbed her. The other head began to move again and tried to grab the others.
"Yep, that's what I was afraid it was." Reaper said, causing Nana to look at him.
"That's a Gaia class, Worm type to be exact" Reaper said.
"Gaia class Klaxosaurs are very rare. Very hard to kill as their cores are difficult to get to, they can easily level a large city and are very dangerous." Snake said.
"We faced a Gaia class called a Kraken in Asia one time. Its mouth was the size of a plantation." Reaper replied.
"...Who are those transports for?" Zero Two interrupted.
Just after she said that the door to the briefing room opened and several armed guards entered the room pointing their weapons at Zero Two and Reaper 1. Reaper and Owl went to summon their scythes but were stopped by Crow and Cypress.
"Your escorts." Nana said "Don't make this harder than it needs to be Zero Two. Also, Reaper 1 you have been reassigned elsewhere."
"Code 002, you are coming with us." a guard said and placed a hand on her shoulder. Big mistake.
"Don't touch me!" Zero Two shouted and threw the guard across the room where he landed in a heap. Instantly there were red sights all over Reaper 1 and Zero Two.
"What is going on?" Hiro pleaded.
"We have run out of time Darling." Zero Two said, her voice filled with melancholy. "I really thought that we could do it. I wanted nothing more than to be able to stay here and be with you." She leans her head down so that her horns touch his forehead. Hiro seems surprised by the act but does not draw away. Zero Two then backs off and says with tears beginning to form in her eyes, "bye-bye."
"Move." One of the soldiers say and Zero Two and Reaper 1 walk out the door. As they began to walk down the hallway the Reapers began to develop a plan to escape. They couldn't just make a run for it, as that would put Zero Two in danger. Bullets couldn't hurt them, they weren't so sure about her.
As they walked Reaper and the others heard rapidly approaching footsteps and by the look on Zero Two's face she did two, causing her to slow down considerably. As they reached the escalator they heard the door access being denied and someone banging on glass. Reaper looked down and Hiro was trying to force his way into the hallway.
"Hey, wait!" Hiro said. "Zero Two! I admit, I was scared to ride with you again and frankly I still am. But it has nothing to do with the fact that you aren't human! It's because I was not confident in my own abilities. When I first meet you, I couldn't take my eyes off you. And later, in the fight you didn't hesitate, throwing yourself back in despite your injuries. I found that beautiful. I've spent the last few months moping around, but in the time I spent with you, I felt like I could fly again! It made me realize that it didn't matter if I could ride in any FranXX. I only care about riding in yours! you're the most amazing person I've ever met! So please, don't leave me!"
Zero Two stopped walking. "Well, how can I leave after hearing that?"
Zero Two backflipped and landed on one of the guards, planting her left foot deep in his chest sending him crashing into the wall. She then grabbed his gun and ran down the banister firing into the glass above the door causing it to crack before launching herself at it causing it to break. While this was going on the Reapers quickly summoned their scythes and made short work of the remaining guards. When Zero Two and Hiro danced back through the barrier, literally, as this was the only way to get Hiro through the barrier, they saw the bodies of the guards and the blood dripping off the Reaper's scythes. Hiro looked in shock while Zero Two just let off a small smirk as Reaper said,
"You don't point a weapon at us and expect to live long."
Zero Two smile a small bit before taking Hiro's hand again and beginning to run.
"Run for it!" Zero Two shouted.
Reaper 1 quickly followed behind the two, keeping up easily, while poor Hiro was practically being dragged behind her. As they made it to the hanger bay they saw that their FranXX were loaded into the two transports and were awaiting take off. Owl and Reaper's FranXX, the newly named Black Rose, was resting beside Strelitzia. The other two FranXX, named Lotus and Digitalis were in the transport next to them.
For the most part the newly designed FranXX looked similar to their owners, they were all covered in a metal cloak that covered the body up to the eyes. The FranXX also had a hood on their heads that, when pulled forward caused a mask to descend activating a modified Stampede mode, they had quickly found out about that little drawback and modified it to be more like a power-up. It could be seen however, that Lotus was more agile than the others, meant for hit and run attacks versus Digitalis which was bulkier and built to take more hits, Black Rose was a combination of the two. As they entered the hanger, the guards quickly figured out what they were trying to do and tried to stop them. Zero Two ran up to the first guard that was in her way before jumping and kicking him in the chest with both feet before popping back up and continuing on. The Reapers soon got in front of them and cut down anyone in their path with their scythes.
As they entered the cockpits of the FranXX, Nana's face appeared on the HUD.
"All of you, get out of there right now!"
"I can't I'm going out with my Darling." Zero Two said.
"Reaper 1?" she was practically begging.
"Those children need help, and that Gaia class has got to go." Owl said before terminating the connection.
The guards in the hanger quickly realized what was about to happen and evacuated the area. It was fortunate that they did as Strelitzia blew out one of the sides of the transport retrieving her spear.
"Let's fly, Darling!" Zero Two said before she activated her jets, flying off. Reaper 1 was not far behind her, pouring on the speed.
Strelitzia arrived a full 10 seconds before Reaper and his squadron did, slamming into both Klaxosaurs, causing them to release Squad 13.
"Strelitzia?!" Delphinium said as she was being thrown.
Black Rose dashed forward and caught Delphinium before she hit the ground. Digitalis doing the same for Genista and Lotus catching Argentea before dashing off to catch Chlorophytum as well.
"Who…" Delphinium trailed off not recognizing your FranXX.
"It's good to see your still alive Ichigo." Reaper said with a smile.
"Reaper?! How…When…" Delphinium asked confused.
"You kids needed help, so we came." Black Rose said. "We've been working on these for the past three nights, scavenging for the parts we needed."
"Why are you guys here? We are supposed to do this ourselves!" Mitsuru said.
"We work as a team!" Lotus said. "Let us help!"
"Fine, Strelitzia, you deal with that one," Ichigo said, pointing to the tail like end. "And we will handle this one." And the two groups dashed off to handle their respective Klaxosaur.
Black Rose turned to look at the other two FranXX.
"No more hiding it." Reaper said, and they all nodded. Each FranXX held out their right hand and began to summon their scythes.
...
Nana was the epitome of confusion. First, not only had Hiro and Zero Two disobeyed orders, but Reaper 1 did too. Then she looked at the trail of carnage that followed Reaper 1 through the hanger, trying to figure out where they had gotten those weapons, since Plantation 13 had none of the sort of scythes that they had. In fact, they didn't have scythes at all, as they were something that had been phased out years ago.
She was getting very concerned for Squad 13's health as it seemed like Reaper 1 had no qualms with killing anyone who got in their way. She was just thinking about getting the two groups separated when she glanced at the screen and saw Reaper 1's FranXX holding out their right hands.
The FranXX in themselves were another source of confusion as well. How did they manage to get to the spare FranXX? They were in a sealed storage bay for Papa's sake! Yet the technicians came to her this morning telling her that the stored FranXX had been stripped for parts and were beyond repair. More importantly, when did they do this?! The cameras saw nothing! Yet they were able to completely strip three FranXX for parts and modify their own without them ever leaving the hanger bay or being seen. How?!
Her confusion quickly turned to shock as she saw three massive scythes rising out of some type circular shadow that had appeared on the ground. The squadron quickly grabbed the scythes and split off to help Squad 13. She was going to have so many questions for them when they got back.
...
At the same time in Dr. Franxx's office, he was watching what was unfolding on the screen as well with extreme interest.
"So that's how they do that. Umbrakinesis." He would have to ask them how they did it when they returned. If he were to combine shadow manipulation with magma energy, they would be unstoppable. Think of the potential!
...
Back with Reaper 1, they each grabbed their respective scythes and waited for orders.
"Lotus, Digitalis, you two go help Squad 13. They are going to need the most help dealing with this thing. We are going to help Strelitzia." Reaper said.
"Yes sir!" They replied before splitting off to help the others. When Black Rose reached Strelitzia she had just blown the armor off the tail like Klaxosaur, but all that had done was piss it off causing it to lunge out and grab them. Reaper quickly ran and dragged his scythe, Nightmare, along the exposed flesh of the Klaxosaur causing it to shriek and release Strelitzia. The Klaxosaur tried to retreat back into the ground.
"Oh no you don't." Reaper said, as he buried Nightmare into the Klaxosaur, temporarily pinning it to the ground.
"Hiro! You need to pull it out of the ground! Escape is its greatest defense!" Black Rose said as the Klaxosaur managed to free itself from the scythe pinning it down, throwing Black Rose into the air.
"You got it!" Strelitzia said as she pursued the escaping Klaxosaur into the ground.
All was quiet for a moment before the earth trembled as Strelitzia shot back out of the ground, Klaxosaur in tow. She gave a mighty yank, and the Klaxosaur was torn out of the ground. Like Reaper had suspected, it was, in fact, one Klaxosaur, as 4000 feet away the head was suddenly jerked back as its body was pulled out of the ground.
"It's a rather small one isn't it, Reaper?" Snake said over the comms.
"Indeed." He replied.
"That's small?!" Zorome said.
"Yes, they are usually about a 2 to 3 miles long." Snake said.
"Uh, with something that big it's going to be really hard to find the core." Goro said.
"It's still the only way to kill it." Delphinium said.
"Pin it down! We need to keep it from moving." Lotus said.
"Right!" Everyone said.
All of Reaper 1 buried their scythes into the Klaxosaur, Argentea planted her claws while Genista stabbed her bayonet into it as well. Delphinium stuck her spear-swords in its mouth to prop it open while Chlorophytum helped her hold it.
"Alright, now what?" Argentea asked.
"Hi-Hiro, we could use a little help!" Delphinium cried.
Strelitzia looked at Black Rose who gave her a small nod, before she jumped, igniting her thrusters, and doing a beautiful backflip and landing at the head of the worm. Seeing what they were trying to do, Strelitzia activated her thrusters again, holding her lance aloft. As she passed by Delphinium, Strelitzia gave a wink and smirk followed by a "Hmph" from Zero Two, causing Delphinium to gasp.
Strelitzia then tore through the worm searching for its core. About 20 seconds later she shot out the other side with the core impaled on her lance. The worm shuddered for a moment before exploding into a shower of blue blood.
"Another Gaia class defeated. That brings our total kill count up to 4." Reaper thought to himself. As the two groups got back together, Squad 13 was openly gaping at the scythes that Reaper 1 had.
"Those are not magma energy weapons." Goro said accusingly.
"No, they are not." Crow agreed, before banishing his scythe, the others following suit, causing 13's jaws to drop even farther, if it were possible.
"How did…" Zorome started to say before Black Rose held up a hand.
"We will answer your questions when we get back to the plantation. I'm sure command, as well as that annoying doctor, have many questions for us as well." She said, and they proceeded back to base.
As Reaper 1 exited their FranXX they were greeted by an annoyed Hachi, a confused Nana, and a giddy Dr. Franxx.
"Zero Two, Hiro, and Reaper 1 come with us, Squad 13 you are dismissed." Hachi said.
Reaper stopped them. "Let them come, they have as many questions as you do, and it is best to answer them all in one sitting."
"Very well, all of you come with us." Hachi said and they proceeded toward the briefing room.
As everyone entered the room Hachi then rounded on Reaper 1 and began tearing into them.
"You disobeyed a direct order, assaulted and killed several APE personnel," Squad 13's jaws dropped again at that, "stole 4 FranXX, and recklessly interfered in a sortie-" Hachi began saying before being interrupted.
"But, in the end, you saved Squad 13 from certain death. Nana said. "For that, we are willing to overlook what you did just this once. Don't let it happen again." Nana finished icily.
Dr. Franxx then stepped forward.
"For the sake of the children, can you explain what it was you did out there? As well as explain how you got your powers.
Reaper turned to Squad 13. "What we did out there was a very basic application of Umbrakinesis, that is, shadow manipulation. We can store and banish items to the shadow realm for retrieval later and summon them via shadow portals."
As an example, Reaper summoned and banished Harvester. He then turned back to Dr. Franxx. "As for how we got our… abilities. They were given to us by someone who's name we cannot say. In return, we swore to serve him and do as he asks. We still do to this day, although we have not had an order from him in several years."
"Can your abilities be taught to others?" Dr. Franxx asked.
"No." Crow replied sharply. "Umbrakinesis cannot be taught, transferred, or given to anyone unless you meet him. And trust us when we say you do not want to meet him."
Dr. Franxx opened his mouth to ask another question but Owl quickly shut that question down.
"No, Doctor. What unholy union you are about to propose would be the best way for us to receive orders to kill you." Owl said coldly.
The Doctor sat back, a bit depressed about that.
"One more thing, Papa has reversed his decision on transferring you. You get to stay." Hachi said.
Reaper 1 said nothing but they all had smiles on their faces while Zero Two had wrapped Hiro in a hug. Alarms began to go off before the Plantation suddenly rumbled before lifting and beginning to move.
"Calm down children," Nana said as Squad 13 began to panic. Reaper 1 merely braced themselves before looking about in confusion. "the plantation has shifted to its mobile configuration and has begun moving toward plantation 26. There will be a kissing operation within the next 72 hours."
"Meet here at 0900 hours for briefing on the kissing operation, dismissed." Hachi said before turning his back to them. Dr. Franxx had left some time ago, mumbling to himself about something. Reaper and his squad knew that they had to keep an eye out for that man, too ambitious for his own good. Both Reaper 1 and Squad 13 left for their quarters.
...
Later that night, Reaper walked back into the briefing room, to look up some information about Zero Two and the kissing operation. He knew that the computer in the library of the boarding house would be of no use as it was restricted, but the consoles in here would be connected to the main network.
Reaper walked up to the console and started with the kissing operation, as that was more pressing than satisfying his curiosity of Zero Two. He learned that it was when two plantations connected to transfer their magma energy reserves. The Klaxosaurs, being drawn to the large amounts of magma energy within the pipe, would come in the hundreds. Early reports were already showing that large numbers of Conrad class Klaxosaurs were gathering at something called a sub-base, several hundred miles from the planned kissing site. There were also several reports about a large, box shaped, Klaxosaur being at the sub-base as well. They had no idea what it could be though and neither did Reaper. Although he did note that the information that he had given on the Gaia class had been added to the Klaxosaur database.
He then cycled to Zero Two. When he called up her profile, he saw the usual, height, weight, hair color etc. but when he tried to go deeper he found he was locked out.
"Access Restricted huh, we'll see about that." He said as he pulled out a Hacker.
Sticking it into one of the ports on the console, it quickly got to work. Smashing thorough firewalls, encryption, and antiviruses as if they were paper. All without tripping any alarms within the system. He was quickly granted access. The more he read of her files the angrier he got.
"So, they took blood from something called a Klaxo-sapian and mixed it with human blood to create a new species. A hybrid of the two. They were playing fucking god!" Reaper raged, his eyes glowing a burning red.
"And to top it all off, they tortured her to see what it was she could do!" If they hadn't already sworn to protect the plantation, that doctor would have been dead come daylight. As he continued to read, he finally got to the part addressing why she was called a partner killer. As he read, his blood ran cold.
"No pilot has been able to survive over three rides?" He thought to himself, quickly doing some calculations. "The only ride that we know I know of is the one he took earlier today, but from the way Squad 13 was talking there had to be one ride before that point. That means his third ride would be…"
"During the kissing operation." He said in horror.
He quickly backed out of the console and removed the Hacker. He then grew determined.
"No. I will not let that boy die. Zero Two must be aware that she could kill him on that last ride, so she shouldn't go overboard, she seems to like him too much for that. But just in case, I'm going to have to install both a vitals monitor, and a direct comm link to Black Rose so I can tell Zero Two when she is pushing him too far." He thought. He quickly walked out of the briefing room to set out on his assigned task. He would have to inform the rest of his squad what he had learned, but that could be done once everything else was completed.
A/N: And done. So, what did you think? Reaper and his squad were able to get Dr. Franxx to back off, for now. That man, however, has by no means given up yet. Umbrakinesis is a field of research that is too interesting for that man to ignore. What do you think will happen with the kissing operation now that the Reapers are there? Who knows, only I do. But as always, reviews criticism are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Ciao!