Chapter 7: The Rescue
His lungs were burning.
"LOOK OUT COMMANDER!"
The sound of his boots crunching down on the rubble filled his ears and rang in his head.
"This way, Commander!"
…to be drowned out a moment later by the far louder thumping of the colossal Rapture right on his heels.
"DAMN IT, IT'S RIGHT ON US!"
He heard Anis' grenade launcher firing, followed by a trio of explosions as her rounds impacted against what he hoped was their pursuer's chassis.
Jonathan risked a look behind him.
There were visible dents in the Blacksmith's armour, some sparks spewing forth here and there, enough accumulated damage that it was no longer leaping towards them, just lumbering steadily enough that they could try outrunning it.
Well, if it didn't shoot them first.
Narrowly dodging a burst of gunfire from the Blacksmith's machine guns, his heart leaping into his throat, Jonathan turned his head to Anis.
"Can you hit those weapons, Anis!?"
"Those were my last grenades, Commander!" She yelled back, cursing as she dove behind some rubble to avoid the bombs their pursuer just launched her way.
"Neon, can you-"
"I'm sorry, Master! That was all my last bit of firepower back there!" She wailed, looking distraught.
Shit!
Why the hell didn't Shifty pick up that other Blacksmith sooner!? We'd have been more conservative with our ammo if-
No, this is my fault too. I let Neon and Anis get a bit too trigger happy back there. Even if I thought it was the only Rapture left to deal with, that's no excuse.
"Commander! Do we have a plan?" Rapi called over at him, shooting at the Blacksmith's optics as it brought its weapons to bear again, causing the Rapture to recoil and turn away to shield itself.
"Find a tight space to lose this thing, then meet at the rendezvous point!"
"Yes Commander!"
"On it, Master!"
"There should be a building on the left intact enough for you to get through." Shifty chimed in.
"Thanks." Jonathan mumbles, sprinting towards the ruined, rubble-filled entrance and trying to ignore the pain in his legs.
Come on, come on!
The Blacksmith's stomping still thundered in his ears as he squeezed through the remains of the doorway, nearly ripping his uniform on the jagged stone, metal and bricks. Cursing with what little spare breath he could muster, he kept on hurrying through the hallway.
"Alright, take a right here. There should be a doors-"
He almost ran smack dab into some overturned furniture in front of what used to be a door.
"Ah, sorry! Straight on, go straight on!"
As Jonathan turned back and continued down the hallway, brushing past more debris, the building began to shake and sounds of explosions reached his ears.
Ah damn it, of course it's chasing me!
"I'm sorry, I should've been that second Blacksmith's signature sooner!" Shifty cried in his ear. "I just-"
"Don't…don't worry…bout it." He gasped breathlessly. "Just…get us all…out, yeah?"
"On it! Okay, there should be a fork coming up, take the left hall and you'll get to a doorway that leads to an alley. It should be narrow enough that the Blacksmith can't follow you."
The building shook again as more explosions rocked it, with pieces of the ceiling dislodging right in front of Jonathan.
Aaahhh, damn it!
Ducking and weaving past the falling debris he forced himself onward to the marked fire escape door at the end, the burning in his legs and lungs almost impossible to block out now.
Little bit further…little further.
He tried shouldering open the door as soon as he got to it, only for it to get rather badly stuck halfway through, sending ringing through his ears and flares of pain up his right shoulder.
Wheezing, his fatigue now finally catching up to him, Jonathan slumped down and clung to the fire door's handle for dear life. He sucked in air greedily, hoping that the burning sensation would abate soon enough.
Just…just a little rest. I've got time, right?
The building shook again.
Come on, come o-
The sound of crumbling bricks reached his ears, close enough to send his heart rate through the roof.
Oh shi-
A large hole was blown in the opposite wall, prompting a yell from the winded Commander.
Before he could react, another blast smashed in more of it, showering Jonathan in dust and small pieces of debris, making him wince in pain as some of the sharper pieces scraped and tore at his skin.
Shivering, he pushed himself up, pushing frantically against the door and gradually forcing it further open.
Come on! COME ON!
On the fifth push, the door finally gave way and he stumbled out in the alley. Looking back and forth, he groaned to himself when he saw the debris piled up on both sides before hurrying to the right pile.
His fatigue was already setting in again, with his legs beginning to burn as he started scrambling up the pile, cursing as jagged debris cut into his trousers.
Eventually, he made it over the pile…and promptly slipped and tumbled down it, his sluggish feet missing a bit of stable ground and sending him sprawling. Jonathan yelled out openly now as his body was battered further, debris ripping his clothes and tearing at his flesh.
Ah shit! Just great!
Finally rolling to a halt, his whole body burning and in pain, the Commander lay there for a few moments, breathing hard and groaning.
Come on. Just…just a little bit further to go.
With every muscle in his body screaming at him, Jonathan struggled to his feet, wincing at the spikes of pain lancing up his spine with almost every movement. Standing straight, he gingerly reached down to brush off the larger pieces of debris still clinging to his clothes.
He blew out a heavy breath as he plucked the last jagged bits of stone and masonry from his tattered, hole-filled clothes.
Okay. Okay. Now to-
A loud crash drew his attention, prompting Jonathan to turn and see what it was.
Only to see the optics of the Blacksmith peering at him from the very end of the narrow path…with a cluster of bombs already deploying from its back and heading right for him.
OH FU-
He turned and broke into a sprint immediately, his fatigue and pain pushed aside by a surge of adrenaline, trying desperately to escape the alleyway.
He wasn't quite fast enough.
The ear-splitting explosions completely blotted out his thundering footsteps, making him stumble and wince just a few steps from what he'd hoped was safety.
Pain exploded across his body a few moments later, before everything went black.
Finally, Jonathan managed to open his eyes again.
Urgh…how long has it been? What happened?
Struggling for breath, feeling some heavy weights pressing down on his back, Jonathan tried pushing himself up. The screaming of just about every nerve ending in his body quickly had him relenting, as did the cramped and dark space he was stuck in.
Agh, damn it! Okay, that didn't work.
Let's try going slower this time.
Gingerly, he began shuffling and turning his way to the right right onto his back, grimacing and grunting as twinges of pain began shooting through his body, especially as the weights pressed down harder before they slid off of him.
Despite that, it was not so unbearable that he stopped moving, gently and slowly turning until he could see small cracks and pieces of light shining down from above. Looking to the left side, he saw pieces of broken masonry and rubble laying close by his side.
Alright, his best guess was that he was buried under quite a bit of debris, considering what happened with the Blacksmith.
An experimental few pushes with his hands told him that yes, he likely was, given that nothing was budging. Well, even if he wasn't, those stabbing pains lancing into his arms made short work of his efforts to free himself.
Actually, considering how bright the light was, it couldn't be THAT much debris…
But what did that matter when he couldn't move any of it himself?
Another push, another bit of strength into it-
Agh! Shit!
His arms spasmed violently before Jonathan clutched them back at his sides, wincing and biting his lip as a fresh wave of pain washed over him.
A sinking pit opened in his chest, cold panic creeping up his spine and fogging up his mind as the Commander began to understand just how helpless he was.
No…
There has to be-
Maybe I can-
Fumbling weakly in his pocket and steadily pulling out his phone, Jonathan's brief hope was crushed entirely when he noticed the cracked and glitching screen.
DAMN IT.
Besides, are they even in range anymore anyway? They're probably at the rendezvous point by now.
Even if they were still around, that Blacksmith's likely still prowling the area. No way they'd be able to get close to me, especially with almost no ammo left. Way too risky for that.
Damn it all. What can I do?!
Gritting his teeth, Jonathan sucked in a shaky breath, trying not to cough and wheeze as his lungs were filled with dust from the debris all around him.
Guess there's not much else for it.
Even if it attracts a Rapture, it beats starving or dying of thirst under all this.
Lifting shaking hands to dry, chapped lips, he called out.
"Someone! Anyone! I'm over here!"
…
Nothing.
Again.
"SOMEONE! HELP! I'M DOWN HE-" He shouted, before stopping to cough and retch at the dust getting into his mouth and tickling his throat.
"Ack!"
…
Still nothing.
"ANYBODY!? PLEASE, ANYONE!"
Come on!
Don't let me die down here, please!
…
Still nothing.
"….anyone? ANYONE?"
Jonathan's voice was growing croaky and hoarse, a crushing dread and helplessness weighing down harder and harder on his shoulders.
Damn it…no.
Am I really going to die down here?
No. Not today!
Come on. COME ON!
One more push, with all the strength he had left.
He managed to shift the central piece of rubble a few inches before the pain became unbearable and the dust lined his throat too much to ignore, forcing Jonathan to drop his arms and cough his heart out for a few moments. Any more pressure and they felt like they'd break.
A few tears slipped down his cheeks.
Would they even find him again? Bring him back to bury?
What would happen to his team? To all the other Nikkes who'd made The Outpost their home?
What about Crow and Exotic, would anyone do anything about them?
I'm…I'm sorry, everyone.
I should've just-
A rumbling, a shifting of the masonry, snapped him out of his dark thoughts.
What?
Is it just me, or has it gotten bri-
He didn't finish the thought before the largest piece of stone above him was practically thrown aside, sending bright, warm sunlight streaming down right onto his face. Quickly, Jonathan scrambled to cover himself, his eyes unfocused and still adjusting to the fresh light.
"Ack!"
More rocks, bricks and other debris were swiftly thrown aside, bringing more light streaming down on the prone and injured Commander. However, even with his vision impaired, he could make out well enough that the figure helping him was very much humanoid.
Oh thank god!
"Rapi? Anis? Is that you?" He croaked.
His saviour didn't reply, simply reaching down to grab his prone form and pull him from the wreckage, having made a large enough breach in the pile to safely pull him free.
As their hands gripped onto him, Jonathan couldn't help but notice something very odd indeed.
Wait, these feel like-
Blinking a few times, his vision cleared.
…and his brain promptly crashed a moment later when he saw just WHO his saviour was.
"Sir?" He practically whimpered.
HOW DID-
"Good to see that you're still alive." Andersen squeezed him gently on the shoulder, his gaze roaming his subordinate's body and taking in his injuries. "Well, mostly alive. Nothing some time with Seraphim's doctors won't solve. Come on, let's get you something to rest on and call transport to get you back to The Ark."
"W-Wait, h-how ar-"
Andersen didn't give a chance to reply, slipping under his right arm, supporting Jonathan on his shoulder and wrapping his left arm around Jonathan's own waist to slowly walk him over to a few nearby pieces of rubble lying next to a wall. Using his foot to arrange them into a relatively neat pile, he gently set Jonathan down onto it, making sure to rest his back against the wall.
The wounded Commander simply let himself be guided around, his poor brain still trying to comprehend just how in the hell Andersen managed to find his way all the way out here, much less FIND HIM.
And how was he moving that rubble so easily!?
"There, rest there for a while. I'll-" Andersen began, pulling out his own phone.
A loud rumbling cut him off.
As Jonathan turned his head in direction of the noise, the northmost office building's wall, still relatively intact, practically exploded outwards.
Followed shortly by the Blacksmith he thought had gone away stomping out from the dust cloud, weapons readied and quickly focusing on him, emitting a mechanical screech as it advanced.
Jonathan's heart almost stopped on the spot, his blood practically freezing in his veins as his mind was swamped with terror.
Oh shitshitSHITSHITSHIT-
There was no way he could escape now. Not with his injuries.
"Sir, you need to run!" He rasped out, desperately trying to warn Andersen away.
"There's no need for that."
Contrary to his desperate pleas, however, his superior instead decided to roll up his right sleeve and crack his knuckles.
"W-What are you-"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of this."
…how?
HOW?
HOOOOWW!?
YOU'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU TRY!
WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY-
Jonathan's frantic internal yelling cut off abruptly, his mind grinding to a halt all over again, as Andersen threw a haymaker at the approaching Blacksmith.
…and, with a loud metallic clang, it was sent staggering backwards.
Before it could right itself and re-orient its weapons, he hit it again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
With each hit, the Rapture tipped over further and further , struggling more and more to right itself.
After the sixth hit, a loud crashing noise rang out as it tipped over entirely and fell onto its side.
Not allowing it a minute of respite, Andersen kept on beating at the underside of its chassis, the metallic clanging reaching Jonathan's ears as, even from his position by the rubble, he could see the metal start to buckle and bend.
Under nothing but his superior's fist.
….what?
Taking a deep breath, Jonathan slowly and shakily pushed himself up, wincing and groaning at the lingering pains wracking his body, though they'd already begun to subside, he started to shuffle over slowly to his boss and the Rapture he was beating.
As he drew closer and closer, the Rapture's flailing and thrashing began to slow as its chassis faltered under Andersen's assault. By the time he was almost behind him, Andersen shoved his right hand into the Rapture's internals and began rooting around.
After a few moments, as he ripped his hand back out, the Blacksmith let loose one last screech of agony…and went limp.
As Andersen turned around, Jonathan's attention was instantly drawn to the sparking, half-crushed core he was holding.
I…I…
I don't know what to think anymore.
Was his arm always that muscled? He….did that uniform really hide it all that well?
What is going on here…..this isn't some fever dream, is it?
I'm not frothing at the mouth in some park because one of those picnic foods had something really nasty in it, am I?
"Are you all right?" Andersen asked, crushing the Rapture core almost casually and tossing it behind him.
"I'm fine, sir. Just fine." He mumbled quietly, barely even looking at his superior and staring into nowhere, still trying to process what he'd just seen. "How'd you do that?"
"Hmmmm?"
Jonathan gestured limply at the Rapture behind him, looking at Andersen, at the Rapture and back again.
"How'd you punch that Rapture to death, sir?" His voice was a borderline whine at this point, desperate for something, anything, to explain what had happened.
"Ah. It's simply an old family technique, honed by years of experience fighting threats like these."
It was such a causal explanation, as if it were so simple a feat he'd just accomplished.
Yet all it did was send Jonathan's train of thought crashing into a ditch.
I-I-I…..
WHAT!?
Noticing his subordinate's utterly confused, blank-eyed stare, Andersen chuckled and rolled his sleeve back down, fixing the cuff and straightening the shirt beneath to neaten himself up.
"I see what my grandfather meant now." He muttered, mostly to himself.
"Threats like these? So you've…your family's punched a lot of Raptures to death, huh?" Jonathan asked, just catching up and too far beyond caring about how crazy all the questions bubbling up in his mind would sound to anyone else.
"Actually, from the stories my grandfather passed down, they were threats of a more…biological variety. Some rogue laboratory experiments and a rather unique strain of parasite, among other things, if I recall correctly. Forgive me, the memories of those stories are a little hazy at the moment."
"Y-You…no cybernetics? No biological enhancements? Nothing like that?"
"None at all. It's technique backed by training, nothing more."
"...you punched a Rapture to death, sir."
"As did my father, and grandfather before him."
"'Course they did."
Jonathan stumbled backwards till he hit a wall and slid carelessly down it, suddenly feeling very fatigued indeed. All this new information was too baffling to process right now.
…what even is going on any more?
I need to get back to The Ark. I need these injuries looked at…if nothing's broken, then plenty's probably bruised at least.
"Let's get you medical assistance as soon as possible. Can you contact your team for retrieval? Are they nearby?" Andersen asked, as if reading his mind.
"They're at the rendezvous point by now." Jonathan mumbled, wincing as all the pain he'd previously been able to ignore came rushing back, his adrenaline finally ebbing away. "I'd contact them, but…"
He held up his phone, so Andersen could see the screen was cracked and some of the wires were hanging out.
"I see. One moment."
Pulling out his own phone, Andersen dialled a number and pressed it to his ear. After a few moments, he began speaking.
"Operator Shifty, it's me. I'm afraid Commander Jonathan has been injured and requires medivac, alert Seraphim and make sure to tell his team as well, I'm sure they'd prefer to know their Commander is still alive.
"Yes, I'm afraid there won't be a GPS signal from his phone, even with no alva particle interference, it's been damaged beyond use. Just use mine instead. Yes, I am here with..."
He kept talking, but Jonathan didn't bother paying any more attention. Instead, he leant back and let out a shaky breath, allowing fatigue to weigh him down as he focused on staying still, not wanting to aggravate his injuries any further.
Haaah…
No way "family training" is all there is to it.
No family training lets you beat metal with just a fist.
But what else could it-
"Your team is on the way."
He jumped, inadvertently hitting his head on the debris he was resting on and yelping in pain, at the sound of Andersen's voice, especially so close to his ear.
Shivering, Jonathan turned to look at his superior, standing over him with arms folded.
"Oh, u-uh…that's great news."
"Are there any nearby Raptures in the vicinity?"
"No, we managed to clear them all out before that second Blacksmith showed up."
"Good. Good."
"-mmander! Commander! COMMANDER, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"Master! MASTER! CAN YOU HEAR US!?"
Both Jonathan and Andersen turned their heads at the new voices, coming from the east. They were faint, but growing louder as they kept calling.
"They're here sooner than I thought." Andersen mused.
"They're dedicated girls. I wouldn't trade them for anyone else." Jonathan mumbled, smiling softly to himself.
"If only there were more Commanders who think like you do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting in 15 minutes."
"Course you do, sir."
You always do.
Andersen simply nodded and began striding for the nearest ruin, turning the corner on the half-wrecked wall and quickly vanishing from view.
Blowing out a heavy breath, Jonathan let his head slump back against the wall once more.
Hell of a day.
Didn't even get any useful answers about Andersen, even from the guy himself. What sort of "family training" lets him do what he just did?
I'll have to-
"COMMAAAAANDEEEEER!"
Blinking and jolting upright, Jonathan saw Counters, with Anis in the lead, practically sprinting towards him.
At least she had the good sense to stop and kneel before hugging him.
"MMMPPH!"
Though that wasn't too much comfort, considering how suddenly his face was smashed into her chest and how tight her arms wrapped around him.
He flailed a little in her vice grip, but with his injuries and how weak he was, not to mention the natural strength difference between a Nikke and a human he didn't have a chance of throwing her off.
"Oh no you don't!" Anis huffed, squeezing him again. "I'm hugging you and that's that!"
"Um…Anis? Master doesn't look so good." Neon shook her teammate by the shoulder.
"One hug's not gonna kill him! Just let me-"
"ANIS, enough." Rapi was far less gentle, clamping her hand onto Anis' shoulder and practically snarling the order into her ear. "The Commander's injured, so please don't aggravate his injuries too much."
Faced with her teammate giving her a more intense stare than she'd seen in a long time, Anis quickly but carefully disengaged from Jonathan and pulled back, looking apologetic.
"I-I'm sorry, Commander. I just- you weren't showing up at the rendezvous and…I really thought you'd died this time."
"It's okay, Anis. I get it. I'm glad you all got out, too." Jonathan smiled weakly, giving her a tired thumbs up before looking to his second. "It's alright Rapi, you can relax now."
Realising that her hand was still on Anis' shoulder, Rapi withdrew it and scooted away from her a couple of inches, taking a few deep breaths.
"I'm sorry, Anis. I just didn't want the Commander in more danger…not when I failed to keep him safe again."
"Which of us would?"
"How do you feel, Master? Is there anything that hurts the most?"
"Ugh. If I had to specify, it's probably around here." Jonathan waved a limp hand in the vicinity of his chest. "It's a little hard to breathe without-"
As if on cue, he erupted into a fit of coughs from the lingering dust in his throat, with Anis and Neon shuffling forward to place supportive hands on his shoulders and behind his head so he didn't hit it as his body convulsed.
"It's okay Master, just keep still. Seraphim should be here soon."
He just nodded in reply, sitting back and sighing, turning his eyes to the sky.
Once I'm all better, I'm going to get some answers to all this.