Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story
Chapter 5
In collaboration with Subzero Dragon. Visit their profile to see the other side of this story. Important events that aren't mentioned here take part in the other side of the story.
The beast slithers towards my kneeling form with a smirk that could rival that of the devil. Its crawls ever so slowly towards me and I feel myself shrink in comparison to its huge form. My eyes widen in fear my breathing becomes hitched as I finally realise the situation. I'm going to die. In a panic, I throw my hands onto the ground and clamber away from the beast. It picks up its pace so that it is still getting closer to me despite me pulling myself away. This continues for a short while and my breathing becomes more shallow and I feel my eyes threatening to water. If this had been all then I may have been able to live out my rapidly shortening life without regrets but as my hands clamber onto something cold and large I find myself being unable to escape. I didn't need to turn around to know that I was cornered at the bottom of a cliff. I had nowhere else to retreat to. The monster was standing only 3 metres away, blocking any escape I may have had. If I attempted to escape to the sides then I would be much more within striking distance. As I notice this, I look towards the Aragami and notice that it hasn't attacked me, nor is it charging an attack up. Maybe it wanted to see me cower in fear more. Was that it? Surviving a little longer just because it wanted to play with me? Well, I'm not having that! I climb to my feet with a new determination within me, I may not have the energy and so I will have to call upon my reserves. I raise my God Arc towards the beast, who has strangely not retaliated to movements, and attempt a slash. Unfortunately though, the Aragami decides to camouflage itself and therefore leave my vision. I don't hesitate as I swing my God Arc in all directions and start running out of the corner I had retreated into.
My wild swings continue for a minute before I realise that this wasn't having any effect. In fact, it was just a waste of my reserve energy. I stop my swings and look to my surroundings; trying to find any sign of the Aragami.
"Dammit. I can't do this by myself. I'm going to need help from my others." I grunt as I reason with myself, "I just hope that they've already saved Robin." After a few more seconds looking around, I find the direction that I had drawn the Aragami from and head that way; hoping to collide with the 1st Unit and Robin along the way.
I don't run for very long before stumbling across a group of humanoid silhouettes walking in front of a pile of rubble.
"Hello? Is that you guys?" I ask the group as I emerge from behind the rubble. It was not even five seconds later that I felt a weight being pressed upon me. One of the members of the group had taken me into their arms. The long, green, frizzled hair of the female made me recognise instantly who it was but if that hadn't, the person's words would have,
"Jackal! You're alive!" Yeah, this was definitely Robin.
"Yeah... I'm okay."I wrapped an arm around her and placed my hand on her shoulder as I return her hug. It feels as though a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders knowing that she made it out of that building alive. I give a nervous chuckle before speaking,
"I'm glad you're safe. I thought that thing had you." I spill my fearing over her to her.
"I thought the same thing happened to you! I was so scared...! I took some nasty hits, but I'm alive. Thanks to you, I'm told." Tears were overflowing from Robin's tranquil blue eyes and they ran down her angelic face. I was startled at this but didn't show it. After all, she had a large smile on her face as she was crying which led me to believe that she wasn't crying because she was said. Seeing her so happy almost brought a tear to my eye as well.
"See? Told you he was alive." I hear a voice in the background get louder as its owner approaches the two of us. We separated at this. I give each one a smile as I say,
"So... Can we just go home? I'm beat." My smile is quickly removed by the stern voice of the acting Captain.
"Jackal!" I make sure to look her way, "Don't think you're off the hook just like that! What were you thinking, running off like that?!" I stiffened at her scorn and could feel Robin, beside me, do the exact same thing.
"I... Don't get so upset!" Robin spoke to defend me, "The most important thing is that we are alive, right?" Robin was like an angel in this moment. She was sticking up for me.
"I'm not mad at you, Robin. You weren't the one who acted so rashly!" Alisa glared and pointed at me. I had the urge to look her in the eyes but could only do so for a second. I was intimidated by what I saw in them. They were the eyes of a commander. I had gotten very familiar with eyes like those thanks to Commander Viper but it didn't mean that I had grown used to them. I lowered my head and scratched my ear as I spoke up,
"Yeah, maybe in hindsight that wasn't my best plan. I guess I thought I could lost it and rejoin you guys later... I'm sorry. I own that one." I lift my head up as I finish speaking. In response, Alisa puts a hand to her hip and replies with,
"If you mean it, then good. Just don't do that again, got it?" Alisa was no longer using a scornful tone but she still meant business.
"Hey, can the lecture wait? I'd rather get to the chopper." Kota interrupted and quite honestly, I forgot that he was there.
"You two both got off pretty damn lucky, considering what that thing's capable of." Soma never let his guard down as he spoke and kept glancing down the alley that I had came through first to get to the rubbish pile. Soma kind of reminded me of the way the leader of an Aragami would always protect its pack and thus look for anything that may be considered dangerous. It didn't take very long for Alisa to agree,
"I agree with Kota for once. Let's get the hell out of this nightmare." I would have spoke up my agreement had it not been for Soma suddenly raising his God Arc,
"Damn, something's still here!"
"What?!" Robin took the words right out of my mouth. Then again, I had wondered where that monster had disappeared to. It was only a second later that a gleam caught all of our eyes and a familiar onslaught of scales came ripping through the air towards us. We all fell to the floor as we noticed this. I look up towards the alleyway a few seconds later; confident that the scales had passed us. One thing I didn't expect though was for the
Exit from the alleyway to be blocked by dozens of the monster's electric scales but one thing I could see coming was the serpent-like monster being at the opposite end of the alley. Had it followed me? Or rather, had it been following me from the start? From the very moment it disappeared? Did it know I would run to my friends? That can't be... There's no such thing as a smart Aragami so it shouldn't have known
"S***! That thin ambushed us!" Soma rose to his feet at a speed that could rival the pace of those electric scales, "We're trapped!"
"No way! Was it waiting for us all along?!" Kota exclaimed his question with a loud voice.
"Is it really invulnerable?" Kanon spoke for the first time in a while and it sounded as though she was panicked. "I have a bunch of different emitters ready for this monster!" Her voice suddenly changed and had a deadly, sadistic tone to it.
"I've tried my spear and emitter." Robin spoke up and answered Kanon, "Jackal also tried mortars and melee. Nothing we did did anything!" Robin started backing towards the scales, "Anyone got any ideas?" She asked in a panic.
"Just one..." Soma spoke up as he readied his God Arc, "Its scales are acting like armour. If its armour breaks, maybe we can finally kill this b****." Soma spoke his plan calmly.
"I see, maybe one by one isn't enough. Let's let it have all we can throw at it in one volley!" Alisa must have agreed with Soma's plan and she changes her Arc to Gun Form. "Gun's up everyone! Soma, fall back and be ready to give it a good slashing once we break it!" Alisa commanded and I also reverted my Arc into Gun Form. Despite how useless it was last time, I must admit that if anything could kill this beast, it would be all of us working together...
The snake slithered towards us with an air of victory to its strides. I set my God Arc to fire Divine mortars and let it rip once the I heard the first shot by somebody else. Looking at the effects of all of our bullets, Kota's multi-shot Blaze laser, Alisa's Frost mortars and Kanon's spark emitter, I noticed that Robin had also chosen the Divine attribute as her emitters joined the rest of our bullets and activated their effects upon impact with the beast who recoiled in agony as it became engulfed in a flurry of energy. Its pain didn't last long, however, as the beast reared both of its heads before snapping them back to the girl to my left. I shoot another mortar to distract the beast and hopefully prevent any more attacks for a short while but I hear a pained scream. Robin had been hit by a scale and made a deep laceration in one of her legs.
"Robin?! Get up!" I shouted and saw her struggle to stand. It pained me to see her in this condition but it probably pained even more for Robin to be in that condition. She kept trying to stand and kept collapsing. It was clear that the laceration was the cause of this. I kept looking her way as I noticed a scale behind her started to gain energy. I knew that Robin had heard this too as she temporarily makes a scared face and quickly tries to move herself out of the way but to no avail.
"Pick her up." The silver haired woman's command was short and quiet enough so that only I can hear it.
"As if I needed to be commanded for that." I reply but with tinge of humour lacing my voice as I rushed to Robin and grabbed her by the arm, swiftly pulling her away from the lightning bolt that whizzed by her head. It was clear that it would be a killing shot. We both hear a scream from the Aragami and turn towards it. I wonder if someone managed to hit the snake with a good bullet but its scream was good news. It meant that it could definitely be injured. I left Robin's side as Kanon rushes over to her and I run back to the front lines.
"Soma managed to push through the scales blocking our exit. He's went around the back for a surprise attack." Kota tells me as we continue firing bullets.
"Will it work though? Robin and I have already tried melee attacks and they were ineffective." I knew I sounded dejected but that didn't put Kota off.
"Hey, have a little hope man. We've been through worse so don't sweat it, Kota's got your back." His words were quite reassuring. This group of God Eaters definitely looked like they knew what they were doing. They must have been in this line of work for a while. I kept shooting at the snake and seen it raise its tail, taking aim at something.
"Kanon! Look out!" I hear Robin scream a warning to Kanon but thankfully it is not needed. Soma had managed to attack the beast with a full-force slam to its midriff but it looked to have been ineffective.
"The hell? How?!" Soma was clearly shocked but I had thought that this scenario had played out. It's a shame that I hadn't thought of a plan quick enough as the snake slapped him away with one hit of his tail. Finished with the melee-attacker the beast then turned its attention back to the rest of us in the alley or more specifically, Robin and Kanon. It probably thought that it could kill them both with one bite and that may have been the case had Alisa not ran in front of them and deployed her shield allowing for one of the monster's heads to scrape off of it but the other bit into her side. Alisa screeched in pain and Kota fired a colony of lasers at it. This proved ineffective and he could not evade a slap from the snake's sword-like tail and he was thrown into the side of a building as he releases a howl of pain. That's when the beast turned to me again. In its very small eyes I could see that it no longer held hesitation about attacking me which meant that its main goal was to make me feel that I would need the help of my friends to defeat it and thus defeat us all at the same time. Henceforth, I would always know that Aragami can be smart. Smart and cunning. The beast moved towards me and I felt my mind flash back to earlier when it was doing the same thing. I could feel the familiar feeling of fear rising within me again and my eyes widened as a response. That was until another scream was heard as something collided with one of the Aragami's heads. Whatever had happened must have really damaged the Aragami as it looked as though the affected head caved with the pressure of the object. It took a few seconds to realise that it was one of its own scales. I ignore the pained scream of the Aragami as I look towards the person who had made the former scream. Robin sat on the ground shaking her hand rapidly as a few rogue sparks came flying from it. It dawned on me that she had been the one to throw the scale. I finally focused on the Aragami as I noticed its scream stopped and suddenly saw it disappear. It was using its camouflage again but what would it do next? The faint sound of it slithering away was all that could be heard.
"We... We did it! Haha, we made it flee! Up yours, you overgrown worm!" Kota began laughing nervously as he painfully picked himself up from where he was thrown and began walking towards the centre of the alley.
"We drover it off somehow..." Soma began before reflecting on its actions, "Damn, what a beast!" I didn't really care much for what they had to say since I remembered that Robin had been badly injured.
"Robin!" I hurried over to her and knelt by her side. It was the first time I had a chance to see her wounds and they weren't very nice. Even with the healing abilities of a God Eater, it would take weeks before they were fully healed. She may even be out of action for a while. My face contorted into one of worry as I realised this.
"We need a medical chopper!" Alisa shouted into her radio. "We have multiple severe injuries and one God Eater down!" Robin's injuries were definitely severe. It is no wonder why she couldn't stand earlier. I noticed that Kanon had started to treat her leg.
"That was some kind of crazy luck, huh Robin? I don't think that snake will be back for seconds any time soon, thanks to that wild idea of yours." Kanon's bright smile may have reassured her but Robin can't exactly see the extent of her injuries. Nevertheless I tried not to sure my worry.
"What the hell made you do something like that anyway? You could've been shocked or cut you know." Soma spoke him, taking the scolding role from Alisa.
"I... don't know. I just... did it." Robin answered sheepishly.
"W need to get her out of this alley and into the open so we can get her airlifted," Alisa looked behind her for fear of the monster reappearing "Is she safe enough to move, Kanon?" Alisa asked her and Kanon's smile was almost non-existent at this point.
"I've bandaged the worst of her wounds, but she's suffered deep lacerations to both legs. She won't be able to walk through those scales on her own, and they're too tightly packed to move through as a group..." Kanon spoke honestly.
"Then there's one thing we have to do, right?" I stood up and started picking the scales that littered the exit. I'm not going to lie, this stung like hell but this was for Robin and I will succeed, although this doesn't stop me from grunting in pain.
"Come on and help me." I comment and soon enough, Soma, Kota and Alisa help me to remove the scales to cut out a path to walk through whilst Kanon continues to treat Robin. The three that were helping me had taken the liberty to start further ahead of me and so I let them have all of the fun as I went back to Robin and Kanon.
It was 5 minutes later that the helicopter could be seen in the air and the path had almost been cleared.
"She's unconscious and she's still losing blood. She's going to need to be carried to the helicopter." Kanon spoke and not even 5 seconds later, Robin found herself within my arms.
"Ready?!" Kota shouted from the nearly created pathway where the helicopter was waiting at the end of it. I tightened my hold on Robin as we approached the helicopter. Alisa had already gotten into the helicopter and informed the pilot of the situation and so, when Kanon, who was walking with me, Robin and I arrived there was already a stretcher prepared for her in the helicopter.
"Put her down here." Alisa tells me and I follow her orders. We all sit around her in the helicopter with me taking up the space beside her head whilst Kanon sits opposite me, Kota beside me and Soma beside him with Alisa sitting opposite Kota.
"We're finally safe. We're going to the Far East." My hand stroked her cheek. "You can rest now, Robin." I speak up. It was oddly silent in the helicopter so to say that had definitely embarrassed me but this is for a friend and a very good friend at that so of course I was going to comfort her in her time of need. The helicopter chose this moment to lift off of the ground and so I held onto Robin tightly as we ascended. It wasn't long after this that the helicopter had steadied and we were on our way to the Far East Branch.
"You're holding onto her a little tightly there, aren't you?" Kota speaks aloud and draws attention to my tight grip on Robin's stretcher.
"This is her second time on a helicopter..." I began reflecting on what has happened over the past day, "The first time she was on one was when we were attacked by that Aragami and we were forced to crash land. The pilot of that helicopter was cut in half from the crash and that is an image that I won't be getting over any time soon so forgive me for being concerned about rising in another helicopter on the exact same day. I don't want to see that happen to Robin." I reply honestly and nobody dared to utter a word... For a few seconds,
"Dude, I didn't think you were the caring-type. Sorry man." Kota speaks up before smiling and giving me a pat on the back,
"Chill though, the doctors at the Far East are the best around."
"Yeah, I bet she'll be back on her feet in no time." Kanon speaks up with the same smile she gave Robin when she was talking about Robin's luck. It was all a lie! I daren't call them out on this though. What is important, right now, is to get Robin the medical care she deserves.
It was 15 minutes later when we arrived at the Far East Branch. There was a medical team waiting on the roof and, as soon as the helicopter landed, they took Robin inside. I wanted to follow them and got off from my seat only to be halted by a strong grip on my forearm. Looking towards the person I found it to be Alisa.
"I know how you feel but you'll only be in the way." She stood up and her grip on my arm tightened as if knowing my response.
"What?! When Robin wakes up she is going to be confused and disorientated, she'll need a familiar person to be there when she wakes up!" I tell Alisa as we both get out of the helicopter followed by the others. She releases the grip on my forearm and I think that she understands but instead she grips both of my shoulders.
"We can't let you see her yet. You've seen the extent of her injuries. She's going to need proper medical care. You, on the other hand, have been instructed to meet with our Director. I can't promise you anything but you may be able to see Robin once we're finished." Alisa explains to me calmly and releases her grip.
"Then what are we waiting for?" I speak in a rushed but deep voice before walking to the doors that would lead me into the Far East Branch.
Accompanied by Alisa and Kota, since Kanon had went to the infirmary and Soma had left us, we arrived at the Director's Office. Alisa knocked on the door before shouting "Director Sakaki?" She is almost instantly met with a response,
"Come in." I didn't even need to see the guy to know he was happy. Sure enough, after opening the door and allowing me to enter, as well as Alisa and Kota ditching me which I found suspicious, I noticed that the guy had a wide smile on his face and he was sitting behind a desk with many computers.
"Is this an office or a laboratory?" I ask as I approach the smiling man.
"Both actually. It saves time and space to have my laboratory and my office as one room rather than them bin separate. Anyway, enough about that. Let me give you a warm welcome to the Far East Branch, Jackal." He speaks up and the mentioning of my name grabs my attention, then again, we were supposed to be transferred here anyway weren't we so that's probably how he got my name. He probably knows-
"Robin is in the infirmary right now, correct?" I give a nod of my head as he probably already knows about Robin's condition.
"Let's get this meeting over with so that I can see Robin." I state simply but make sure to have a small smile on my face as I do so; not wanting to seem like a bad person.
"I can see you're a man that likes to get things done quickly. Very well, let us begin. I am Doctor Paylor Sakaki also the Director off the Far East Branch. We are glad to have a God Eater of your abilities among our ranks." the Doctor introduces himself.
"it's good to meet you Doctor. So... Are we finished here?" I ask impatiently since I desperately want to see Robin.
"Not quite. You see," The man leaves his seat and walks around his desk so that he is standing in front of me. I don't have any idea what is about to happen but the guy suddenly sticks his face right in front of mine. It comes to a point where I move my head back so much that I'm sure that I am about to fall over.
"I heard you were injured quite badly during your trip over here and I accept full responsibility for that." The man then delivers a light kick to my left shin and I can feel the pain welling up in the affected area.
"Gah!" I fall to one knee.
"We need to run tests on you so you can either walk over to the bed over there" He points to the bed, "or I can carry you over there but I can't guarantee your safety that way." He tells me and I begin to think that the man is a psychopath. I mean, the Director just threatened me.
"I'll walk." I raise my body and limp towards the bed and lie down.
"Very good. Now, this test will probably take a while. You'll be able to see Robin once its done though but for now, rest." He tells me that but I don't feel like resting. It's a shame I couldn't argue as he knocks me out cold with some sort of sleeping gas.