Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story
Chapter 9
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.
As we waited on the roof top for Alisa, Robin and I made idle chat.
"Are you ready for another helicopter ride? You're not scared are you?" I ask her, hiding the worry in my voice that I felt for her. The first time she was in a helicopter almost became her last.
"Not really." Robin replied. She did well to coat her worry from her voice with a nonchalant tone but I know her better than that. I continue to stare at her, waiting for her to falter. To be honest, even if she didn't admit, I knew she would be scared. I would be lying if I said that I, also, wasn't scared. I almost lost Robin last time. I'll need to make sure that doesn't happen again.
"Okay, okay, a little bit..." Robin finally admitted with a sheepish expression and I could feel my face muscles relaxing.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" I give her a playful nudge before remembering that I should quell her fears, "Relax. I have your back if you have mine." She smiled in response; something which made me do the same.
"Thanks, and I'm sorry for being such a scaredy-cat lately. I have to get my game back." Robin explains to me and I couldn't help but think that it wasn't for the first time today that she had a determined vibe about her.
"You've been really pushing yourself lately. What's gotten into you?" I ask her as I notice the determined vibe. She wasn't like this when we were back at the Valley so something must have had a large effect on her to change her into this very determined woman. I wonder if it was because of the Tsuchinoko.
"I'm worried I might make another bad mistake like last time. I almost got us killed..." Robin replied with a tone matching her expression. All I could do is smile and keep her spirit up.
"You'll be fine. We'll be fine. We kicked tail in the sim, so we'll do great, I know it."
"That was one pathetic Gboro Gboro back there. I think Sakuya put a wimpy one in there on purpose. What gives?" Robin seems to be very pessimistic right now. That will need to change. I feel another smile welling up within me but it quickly disappears as someone else makes themselves known to us.
"That was for a good reason. You're still technically on medical, you know." The two of us turned to the man who wanted in on the conversation. Upon turning around, I wished I hadn't. Standing there was the man who dragged me to the Director's Office. He never really wanted to talk to me, he was just doing whatever he could to bring me to the Director. The very... Bastard that threw me into the Director's Office; Lindow.
"You again... What do you want?" I enquire with a tone rivalling that of an Aragami's roar. I know that is bound to cause suspicion of our situation but I don't want Robin anywhere near this guy. Hopefully, he will go away after a quick chat although I will have to refrain from giving him a much need punch, or two, to the face.
"Hello to you too, Jackal." He gives a casual wave. How dare he?! He just brushes off our earlier incident?! I thought that there would be no God Eater worse than Karel at this point but now, I would rather he be here than Lindow.
"I see your partner's with you this time." The man has spoke no more than three sentences and, already, I am fighting the urge to pummel him into the ground. He is such an aggravating pri-
"Who's this? Did something happen?" I look to Robin as she asks her questions. I turn back as I speak making sure to filter out any taboo language.
"That's Lindow. What out for him, he's even pushier than the Director." My tone lightens as I speak to Robin but quickly falls into an angry tone as Lindow speaks.
"I get it. You're not exactly the forgive-and-forget sort are you? You remind me a bit of Soma like that. I'm sorry for being so forceful earlier, but we have to bury the hatchet if we want to get this mission over with." Oh God, he's coming with us?! How I despise him to the core. I don't care if he has apologised. If sorry solved everything then there would be no need for-
"Alisa put you on the roster with us?" Robin speaks and I could sense a slight bit of unwillingness in her voice. I desperately hope that she was unwilling to work with a bastard like him and not that she was getting fed up with the situation.
"yeah. He insisted when he heard there was a new Aragami out there. Sorry for the short notice. I hope this is alright with you two." Alisa informs us as she ascends the steps to the rooftop to join us. Lindow insisted? Clearly he just wants to annoy me by playing mind games. Just his very presence is enough to make me want to hit him.
"So that's how it is with him. I'll remember that." If Lindow wants to play mind games to annoy me then I can do the same.
"What's going on?" I hear Alisa ask.
"It's not worth discussing." I don't take my eyes away from Lindow as I speak.
"The Director asked me to bring Jackal in to see him. I kinda forced the issue when the kid was being stubborn." Lindow explains the situation simply to Alisa but there were many things wrong with that situation. One of which was that I was not being stubborn. One thing though, he was right before. If he is to accompany us on this mission then we'll have to, at least, look like we are getting along. I should be able to tolerate him for this mission. After all, it is only reconnaissance so I wouldn't even need to stay near him.
"Hey, stop glaring at me like that. I'm sorry for irritating you. Let's try to get along better in the future, yeah?" Lindow continues as he apologises again for earlier's incident. I, slightly, ease my glare as Lindow's facial features show that he has no intention to fight me but I do not speak. Truthfully, I didn't feel like speaking to him. It's bad enough that we are on the same mission together. If he wants to socialise then he is talking to the wrong person.
"You all know what the mission today is, right?" Alisa speaks up and I can't help but think if she was just changing the subject.
"We're collecting scales from the Tsuchinoko, right?" I look towards Robin as she asks this with my glare being removed from my face. No matter my mood I could never glare at her.
"That's right." Alisa nodded. "Doctor Sakaki gave me this case to use. It's insulated against electricity and should make the scales safe to transport." Alisa shows off the briefcase in her hands.
"I see. I hope we get gloves to handle them too." Robin speaks and I remember how difficult it was to remove the scales to make a path after our previous encounter with the Tsuchinoko.
"Yeah, they're in there too. I don't like the grips on those things, so I'll put them on when we find the scales." Alisa speaks and I feel myself becoming relieved,
"Works for me."
"Where are we going this time?" Robin enquires and I can't help but become intrigued.
"It's the same place as last time: The City of Mercy." Alisa answers Robin. I could feel a slight bit of worry welling within me because of the thought of going back to the City of Mercy so soon. I can only hope that the Tsuchinoko has moved away from the area.
The helicopter ride to The City of Mercy made everyone anxious although our reasons were probably very different. My anxiousness came from the bastard of a God Eater sitting diagonally across from me. I couldn't help but think that Lindow was up to something. What this was though was a complete mystery. Who knows, maybe I'm just over-thinking it. He did seem genuinely apologetic on the rooftop but that hasn't stopped me being wary of him. After all, with an inhuman arm like his, it would be a bit difficult to get along with him, right? I don't care how his arm became like that but I assume it has to do with an Aragami infection seeing as how he doesn't have an armlet.
"We're here." The pilot's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. "I can't bring you to the usual drop off. Too risky. This is as close a I dare get."
"That's fine. Thank you. I want you to stay at high altitude whenever possible, alright? We can't have any more casualties." Alisa speaks to the pilot as she readies herself to jump out of the helicopter which I notice is still hovering quite high in the air.
"You got it. Come back safe, got it?"
"We'll do our best." Alisa speaks before she jumps out of the helicopter with Robin then Lindow then I joining her.
The landing was far from smooth but it wasn't bad enough to hinder my fighting abilities, should I need them.
"The area is clear of Aragami signs." A voice comes through my earpiece. I recognise it to be a familiar voice but I don't know the person to whom the voice belongs to, "but we know by now that Tsuchinoko likes to hide. Stay sharp, everyone."
"Got it, Hibari. Keep us updated." Alisa speaks to Hibari through her own earpiece.
"Who is that anyway?" Robin asks, "I heard you talking with her last week too..."
"Oh, that's the Far East's operator. I haven't met her in person though." I answer Robin's question with an all-knowing voice.
"I should introduce you two to her and the rest of the crew when we get back. I think you'll fit right in." Alisa spoke with a smile.
"Did anybody notice how quiet it is here. That's not normal." Lindow said with suspicion in his voice. I hate to admit that I agree with him but I do. It's never usually this quiet. We haven't seen one sign of an Aragami at all.
"Yeah," I say with a grunt. It took a lot of energy out of me to voice my agreement with Lindow. "That Tsuchinoko thing could be anywhere. I don't like this one bit!"
"Me neither." Robin chipped in with her own unease at the situation.
"I agree, Let's hurry up, get those scales, and go. Don't get separated." Alisa commanded and I wasn't one to ignore orders.
We continued our venture for the scales and were met with the utmost of silence along the way; not even a peep from anything that could be nearby. The only sounds that could be heard was each of our footsteps as well as our breathing. This silence gave me time to think to myself and it was unnerving. I was still quite anxious that we were hunting for Tsuchinoko scales due to our last encounter with the beast. I remember how I gave up on my life after not being able to damage the beast. If it hadn't decided to toy with us then I would have been dead. I didn't like that thought and shook my head to clear it. I gained a weird look from Lindow as I did so but he didn't say anything; I made sure that he wouldn't by giving him a low levelled stare. Due to this, I almost missed Alisa's halting gesture of raising her hand. She motioned towards the old chapel where I almost felt my heart jump into my throat. There was a brief shimmering and I realised that the Tsuchinoko was here. I could hear Robin fling herself behind a fallen platform and I followed her. Lindow and Alisa also took up refuge behind the platform. I kept my head behind cover but noticed Robin had poked her head out to the side. That's when I heard a sharp hiss. It saw us! I raised my head above the fallen platform and was met with a surprise. I was able to see the monster turn invisible again before hearing it slither away. What surprised me was that the scale that Robin had thrown at the Aragami during our last encounter was still lodged in its cranium.
"So that's the Aragami that gave you all hell last week. Doesn't seem that aggressive." Lindow spoke and I could feel my anger welling up inside me again. How dare he make light of the situation that hospitalised Robin and I! I kept myself from bursting a blood vessel though. Thankfully, Alisa spoke so I didn't have to,
"Looks can be deceiving, Lindow. You saw one of its tricks just now." Alisa commented as she switched her God Arc into its Gun Form, "I wonder why it didn't come after us."
"It acted like that last time too. It was setting a trap at the time." I answered her and also changed my Arc into Gun Form. It may be needed for a long distance attack should we run into anything. "Let's stay out of any narrow alleys. That's how it pinned us down earlier."
"I'm picking up a huge surge in Oracle signatures." Hibari's sudden voice from my earpiece made me jump slightly. She had bad timing. "Two Vajras! The signatures also indicate a Deusphage variant among them… I got it! Privthi Mata!" I didn't like this. I tended to hate the Vajra lineage because of how they charge at you like a predatory feline.
"What?! How far away is it, Hibari?" Alisa asked in a slightly panicked voice.
"ETA is T minus one minute and counting. I'm having trouble pinpointing its exact location though." Hibari gave a quick answer but it wasn't one I liked to hear. I hate to admit it but I am quite tired from the early mission with Karel and then the training simulation. I had hoped that in this recon mission the only Aragami around here would be relatively weak ones. Deusphages aren't weak at all!
"A Deusphage, huh? Some recon mission this is. You three feel up to some lion taming?" He asks as he rolls his shoulder. I must admit that I admire his easy going behaviour in this situation. I would probably be the same if I wasn't so fatigued.
"This isn't the time for that!" Alisa scolds the more experienced God Eater which gave me quite the surprise. "We are not ready for a fight like that. Jackal and Robin only just got out of the infirmary you know. We should avoid-"
"They're here!" Hibari's voice comes through the earpiece again and cuts off Alisa. The Aragami had arrived quicker than we thought. "Two Vajras inbound! You should run before they spot you!" It was too late though. The face of the feral beast had already emerged from around the corner of the old chapel. With a fearful roar as it notices us, it charges towards us and prepares to leap. Just before I dodge its attack, I notice another Vajra landing to Robin's right. Since there are four of us and two of them, it will be Robin and I against one of the Vajras and Lindow and Alisa against the other.
"I think those things just made the decision for us. Look alive!" I move to my right to avoid its leap and see Robin running towards the Vajra closest to her as I do so. I follow her immediately; our target already decided. It looked to be charging a long ranged attack, leaving itself vulnerable to melee attacks; something which Robin took notice of. I ran towards the beast as well, changing my arc back to Melee Form into an Extended Bite as I approached it. Robin and I had hit the beast in unison and it stumbles backwards. I turn my Arc back into Gun Form to fire my newly acquired bullets at the Vajra. I hit its front legs but it doesn't do too much. In fact, it seems disinterested in me as it swipes at Robin; rotating its body and giving me access to its tail. I fire a few frost mortars at it and it unbinds.
"You're all doing great. Keep that up, but don't get careless!" Hibari encouraged us through our earpieces.
"It'll take more than a mere Vajra to beat us! Let's show them what we're made of, Robin!" I exclaim with a large grin. I was starting to enjoy this. Fighting alongside Robin again felt great. The feeling of having a trusted comrade to watch your back gives you the power to do anything. I never felt this way when I was teamed up with Karel earlier; most likely because I had only just met him and he seemed to value money over somebody's life. That's enough reminiscing now though. Robin has just misjudged an attack and I had to distract the beast by feinting with my Scythe but that was short lived as Robin had recovered and fired a few unusual bullets at the beast, causing it to fall to its side. I rushed to its exposed underbelly where Robin and I slashed and stabbed at it with rapid movements until the Vajra's movements had stopped completely wherefore Robin devoured its core.
"Nice! Now that's the Robin I know!" I nudge her shoulder with a large smile. "Good to finally have you back!"
"Feels good to be back on the field!" She exclaims with excitement lacing her voice before turning around to see the other Vajra. I follow her turn with one of my own. "Let's take the other one down too! Ready?" I nodded in response and took the time to notice the condition of the remaining Vajra. It had suffered multiple un-bindings and it was clear to see that it had been weakened significantly.
Robin had charged in and taken up a post beside Lindow; something I wasn't too happy about but it was only to defeat a weakened Vajra. I decided to stay back and help, like Alisa, by using my Gun Form. After a few shots later, the battle took a turn when the two melee attackers had been taken off of their feet. Alisa and I gave each other a knowing glance and we both ran towards the Vajra, changing our Arc's to Melee Form as we took their place. As we come closer to the beast, I notice that Robin and Lindow had recovered from their setback and were preparing their own attacks the Vajra. All of our attacks connected and caused the Vajra to fall in an unmoving heap wherefore Lindow devoured its core.
"And that's two Vajras down and out. Good job, team!" He comments as he turns towards us. It was clear to see that he had suffered a few injuries but he looked to be brushing them off. Looking around, nobody seemed to have suffered any serious injuries. That's when I caught Lindow looking back and forth between Robin and I with a large grin on his face. Is he up to something? Either way, I intend to remove it.
"You two are something else. You sure know how to kick a** and take names! You sure you aren't secret Fenrir commandos sent to one-up us?" He asks.
"I'm not here to steal anyone' thunder." I give a simple, stoic response. I may be able to tolerate the more experienced God Eater but that doesn't mean I wish to converse with him. I look towards Lindow with a less severe glare and see the man's annoying smile weaken at it. Success! Alas, I could not bask in my victory.
"Let's hurry. Tsuchinoko may have heard us fighting." Alisa commented and I had forgotten all about the earlier cause for concern. It was true that the beast could very well come back for us. We all followed Alisa as we left the area but a thought ran through my mind. Didn't Hibari pick up a signal for a Prithvi Mata?
It was only a little while, and a short distance, later that Robin spoke of something up ahead.
"Wait. What's that up ahead?"
"That what?" I tried to see what she could possibly be talking about but couldn't. I wonder if the Vajra had hit Robin on the head for her to start to see things.
"Let's get a closer look. Stay alert, guys." Alisa speaks, leading me to believe my earlier thought was wrong. We slowly approached the area with Alisa leading us to the spot. As it comes closer, it becomes more apparent as to what it is. It is a Tsuchinoko scale lodged in the corpse of an Ogretail. In fact, there are three Ogretails in total. Each looking the same as the last. It was clear that their cause of death was the Tsuchinoko.
"What the hell happened to these Ogretails?" Lindow enquired as he leaned to look at one of the Aragami.
"Those scales... It's Tsuchinoko scales. We've found what we need."
"Hey, something's not right here." I turn to Robin as she says this. "Look at them. They're still decomposing. That means this is fresh... very fresh." She says and I realise what she means. The Tsuchinoko could be around here and we have no cover to hide from it.
"You're right! Aragami decompose rapidly once the core is removed. We better grab those scales and get away from here." Alisa commented as she pulled out the case and start equipping herself with the insulating gloves. "Cover me. I'll move as fast as I can."
"Got it." A simple response was all that was needed. I took a look around to see if I could notice anything unusual.
"Okay. Now let's get to the dropoff." Alisa said a few seconds later having retrieved a scale and placed it into the insulating case. With the job done, we set off towards the dropoff zone with Alisa leading the way.
Arrivving at the dropoff zone, we could see that the helicopter was still several tens of metres in the air. That was quickly rectified uppon Alisa's dramatic waving of her arms which informed the pilot to lower the helicopter so we could get on it.
"How'd it go?" The pilot asks as soon as we were all in the helicopter. Unfortunately for me, Alisa decided to take the seat next to Robin; meaning I am now sat next to Lindow.
"We got what we came for but it wasn't without difficulty. We had to fight two Vajra but with these new recruits" Lindow slaps my back as he continues and I grunt in response to his slap, "we made quick work of them." I wasn't expecting Lindow to do what he did and became a little winded because of it.
"Hey, you okay? I didn't slap you too hard, did I?" Lindow asks and I turn towards him. I do see concern on his face but right now, I am not too focused on that.
"Oh no. I just decided to grunt because I was imitating an Aragami- Of course that hurt!" I started sarcastically but almost blew my top at Lindow because of his question.
"Jeez, sorry man." He raised his hands and waved them in front of himself.
"You know, if you want us to get along then you're going to need to stop doing things like that." I speak with a calm voice, quite the contrast from my previous rage, I know, but it was true. If he did want us to get along then that sort of stuff had to stop. "That includes the headlock you had me in earlier as well as throwing me into the Director's Office." I ignore the
"Oh, so that's what happened" from the two girls sitting opposite us and I continue,
"Also, no more pats on the back, shoulder or wherever else you may want to assault me. Jeez you'd think that you have a thing for guys with the amount of times you touched me." I say in a light hearted manner. I did want to start this friendship in a light hearted manner but understood that that wouldn't be the case if I were to point out all his faults in attempting to make a friend out of me before.
"Wait, what? I am happily engaged, remember? I told you that Sakuya is my fiancée."
"Yeah you did. But you could have fooled me." I turn my head away from him and look out of the window. I remain like that and ignore the sappy thing he says about friendships and how even Soma became less cold towards people but I couldn't care. That is in the past.
The rest of the helicopter goes by relatively quickly. No longer was the animosity I held towards Lindow present and bringing the mood down. No, it was more of a dislike than anything. That will probably change in the future though especially if I am put on missions with him but that probably won't be very often. Hopefully won't be very often. Other than that, there was only one thing that concerned me during the ride back. About 10 minutes away from the Outer Ghetto, I saw a brief, gold object move behind some rubble. I had and currently have no idea what it was but if it is an Aragami and it is that close to the Den then I will need to take care of it. With this in mind, I wasn't really paying too much attention to Alisa greeting us to the rest of the God Eaters in the Far Easst. It must have been like some royal tour as we stopped by everyone's room. Like I'd need to know where they sleep! What was surprising though is that mostly everyone were in their rooms. The only people that weren't were out on a mission. Apparently, a civilian residing within the Outer Ghetto had made a claim of a golden Aragami skulking near the Anti-Aragami Wall. Of course, due to its components which I had already looked up using the NORN database, I found out that no normal Aragami would come close to it due to what it consists of, so why was this Aragami skulking around so close to it. That really intrigued me.
After Alisa's "Royal tour of the Far East" as I am hereby calling it, I retreated to my room. It was a bit early to go to sleep but I intended to wake up early so that I could investigate this golden Aragami. Apparently, the God Eater that were sent out yesterday only had to protect the citizens; meaning that the Aragami is still out there. With this in mind, I get some much needed rest.
Early the next morning, I walk into the main lobby of the Far East Branch. The only person I see is Hibari, I was introduced to her yesterday, with the hopes of asking about the mission regarding the golden Aragami.
"Good morning, Hibari." I greet the woman who seems surprised to see me. It looks as though she has only recently taken up her post as she still has a cup of coffee on the desk.
"Jackal? You're up early. Have you always been an early riser?" She asks me.
"No. It's just that I was intrigued by something yesterday and am following up on it today. It is regarding the mission about the golden Aragami?" My voice rises in intonation as I try to get Hibari to remember the mission I am talking about. She blinks at me a few times, seemingly unable to remember but,
"Oh! The mission that Gina, Shun and Federico went on?" I give a nod of my head at that. I was told that they were the three God Eaters that I was still to meet since they were on this mission.
"It's funny you mention that actually." She says as her fingers move on the computer keyboard. "I've just received the mission schedule for today and one of them includes scoping out the area the Aragami was last sighted in. You said you were intrigued about the Aragami? Would you like to take a member of the intel team and going on this mission when you're ready?" She asks and I couldn't have agreed any faster than I had. It looks like my next mission will be an interesting one...