There Will Be Bloodshed

Chapter 6: Trials part 2

For those who knew of the machines, the sheer scale of a Metal Gear always managed to impress. Metal Gear RAY, in particular, was an impressive engine of war, standing at just over twenty-one meters tall and sixteen meters long from snout to tail tip. With its primary arsenal bays on either side of its body, it had a width of thirty-two meters, with each bulbous appendage being packed with AGM-65 Maverick missiles, HEMP rockets, stealth cruise missiles, and with the capability of deploying one massive heat blade each. Mounted on the outer casing of each arm was a quad machine gun, with the thighs holding another each. Armour of ceramic-titanium encased the mechanisms and CNT muscle fibres that drove the machines.

Tank shells and missiles would do little besides scratch the paint on such armour, and given its sloped geometry, most conventional rounds would harmlessly deflect off of it. At the right time, in the right place, a single one of these mighty war machines could win a battle decisively. Three of them were truly a force to be reckoned with. But what else could be expected of Metal Gears designed to kill other Metal Gears? What was one man with a sword meant to do against such overwhelming odds, such ferocious, city-razing levels of fire power? In this case, it was to grin and face them down with excitement in his heart and fire in his blood.

The VR simulation fed data directly to Sam, and the RAYS were designated: RAY-1, RAY-2, and RAY-3.

All was quiet and still for a moment that seemed stretched into minutes. Most of the Sekirei hadn't even heard of these things. Sure, they'd caught tanks and helicopters and other military vehicles on the odd TV show they'd watched, but weapons platforms on this scale... it boggled their minds. It was known among a small number of them that they'd emerged from their hibernation amidst swathes of advanced technology that made anything on Earth pale in comparison, but standing there and staring at the RAYS made them question that assessment.

As if it had been frozen, time resumed, and Sam was already moving as the segmented heads of the RAYS opened and jets of plasma blasted out at him. The already broken ground was scorched and sand burned, leaving semi-liquid trails of viscous glass in their wake. Heat washed over the samurai, but he was too focused to care as sweat beaded on his forehead and the oxygen was sucked from the air. That was the role of his mask, to be a combat oxygen system in hostile or low-oxygen environments.

His eyes flicked from one RAY to another as he picked his first target. The furthest one to his right, RAY-3, stood near a section of destroyed housing that would serve as ample cover against their volleys of machine gun fire, and as good vantage to leap from. His sword slid from its sheath and became a blur of red steel as he struck bullets from the air as he ran, each ringing out with a short staccato shriek. High-calibre impacts sent miniscule jolts through is cybernetic wrist and arm, but did nothing to knock his precise parries. Geysers of sand and stone shot up as the RAYS tracked his course, with Sam always staying just ahead of their fire.

He made it to the ruined house and found that there were no stairs, so he did the next best thing and leapt up to the floor above in a single, easy bound. A shadow passed over head as one of the UGs jumped in the air to reposition itself in relation to Sam, and RAY-1's red compound eye sensors flashed as it relocated its target. With a shrieking roar, it unleashed its plasma cannon again, and the stream of plasma burst through the wall. Without hesitation, Sam hopped up onto the top of the roofless house, momentarily perching on the wall before jumping again. The house was utterly annihilated as sandstone was burnt into slag and glass and crumbled.

Sam's feet came to rest on the head of RAY-2, and it bucked its head up, sending Sam flying up in the air. He sheathed the Murasama as he prepared for a death strike, aiming to sever the head at the neck in one clean blow. On his descent, his eyes widened fractionally in surprise as he caught the black blur of a long, thin tail whipping towards him. He drew his blade just an instant before impact and blocked the oncoming tail as it sent him sailing through the air as if he were a fly struck by a swatter. He somersaulted backward and landed, inertia carrying his armoured feet through the grit and sand while his blade carved a long gash in the ground to slow him down.

The samurai stood and grinned with a chuckle as he rested the Murasama on his shoulder. RAY-3's optical sensors strobed slowly as it glowered at him, as if taunting him after thwarting his attack on its kindred machine.

"I'll be taking that tail," his eyes narrowed, but instead of going for RAY-3, he went for 2. A hail of bullets came at him, and another gout of plasma from RAY-1 crossed his path and Sam jumped over it. RAY-3 deployed its left heat blade and raised it high in the air, and ten meters of heated metal came crashing down in a sweeping arc. The samurai dove over it and rolled to his feet with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Taking a breath, he honed his razor focus and used one of many unique techniques of the Rodriguez style. As he stood beneath RAY-2's titanic form, the Murasama shot free of its sheath and what the others saw defied explanation. What looked like a single upward draw strike turned out to be many in a dome of screaming steel. The rubbery outer casing of the Metal Gear's stumpy foot was cut to ribbons and the muscle fibres were similarly shredded. It roared and violently slumped as support on its right side gave out. It managed to regain its balance but with an obvious limp. The UG jumped back with its machine guns firing and Sam's blade came up to deflect them. As sparks shot from his crimson sword, his senses prickled and he heard the rush of missile engines heading towards him.

His perception of time slowed as he intensified his focus. His breathing changed and became methodical while his heartbeat was slow and rhythmic in his ears. Everything in his sight came into sharper focus as he entered a state of hyper focus. Bullets hung in the air and their blinding speed became a crawl.

Zandatsu.

He faced the missiles and held his blade out... and cut. With several swipes of his blade, the missiles parted into several harmless pieces that sailed past him, thumping to the sand.

"How...?" Benitsubasa was the one to break the silence. Of all the things she'd come to expect from Sam, this surely wasn't one of them. He showed he could fight, sure, she could give him that. He was skilled as well. Ridiculously skilled. She looked at Karasuba, who looked on the edge of jumping into the fray. The smile on her face was so wide that her cheeks looked as though they'd cramped. Even her perpetually closed, fox-like eyes were open, and the storm-grey orbs glittered in a way the Red Sekirei had never seen.

"Isn't it glorious?" Karasuba said, "where else can you see that kind of performance and have the opportunity to fight alongside one like him?" The Black Sekirei turned her gaze to Benitsubasa. The others were too engrossed to acknowledge each other, especially Haihane. She was struggling to decide which was more awesome between the RAYs and Sam as her eyes flicked between them.

"How is any of what he's doing even possible? Skill and technology can only do so much, right? His head isn't full of all that other stuff like most cyborgs, right?" Benitsubasa was growing more bewildered the more she thought about it. Surely it was impossible. And yet, she was seeing it first-hand.

"Of course not. He's just... special. However, I didn't know about that draw strike he used," she cupped her chin in thought, "you've been holding out on me, Sam."

"Yeah, I was curious about that, too. Shouldn't that kind of thing-"

"Be impossible? You'd think so, but I managed to see the path of his blade, at least partially. I'm not sure how, but Sam managed to make many strikes look like a single draw strike with speed and technique alone. Even with his suit, I'd have thought such a feat beyond any human, but here he goes surprising me again," she giggled. That surprised the pinkette. Had Karasuba ever giggled? She sounded giddy like some school girl with a crush. "Ah, I am a lucky girl."

Benitsubasa turned her eyes back to the fight and saw that during her and Karasuba's brief exchange, Sam had essentially crippled RAY-2, with both of its legs now shredded stumps with the thigh armour ruined and the mounted machine guns on its legs silent. She wondered then if the path to true strength really did lie with him. Years of blood, sweat, and tears led her to this point, but even now she felt as though she still had so much more to learn. She was powerful and knew it, but lately she'd felt the slow creep of stagnation catching up to her. Sparring kept her skills sharp and her body strong, but she learned very little these days. The occasional trick here and there, and she'd certainly learned some lessons in patience when dealing with that ditzy powerhouse, Musubi.

Her ideas of fighting Sam were quickly starting to seem like a bad idea. Granted, she knew that fists were a poor match-up against swords, but she had the distinct impression his hand-to-hand skills were also nothing to scoff at. Karasuba had said that he was a master martial artist, specialising in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Her jaw tightened and she made a decision then. She was going to give him a chance. He'd earned at least that much.

Red electricity sparked up Sam's arm as he surged forward, a great cloud of displaced sand and dust plumed up behind him as he rapidly advanced on RAY-3. The other two UGs had maneuvered themselves into better positions to launch their salvos of missiles and bullets, but their in-built targeting systems stopped them from firing in close proximity to their fellow machine. The samurai knew this by observing them as he fought, but on several occasions, stray bullets had struck different RAYs. A little bit of friendly fire could be helpful.

Sam stopped sharply and leapt high into the air until he was level with RAY-3's face. Its jaws opened wide and the actinic orange glow of its charging plasma cannon flashed brightly as it prepared to vaporise him. He smirked, and with a single blinding motion and the crackling of high-frequency power, the Murasama burst forth from its sheath with the accompanying gunshot Sam was known for. Ceramic armour parted like shards of glass from a broken mirror as red scores of molten metal lined the machine's head. It reared back, roaring as if it felt pain and armour plates thudded to the ground below.

Unrelenting, Sam did another thing previously thought impossible. He jumped while mid-air! He landed and pierced his sword into the top of RAY-3's head, and from the corner of his eye, he saw both of the other RAYs coming to assist. RAY-1 leapt high and cleared the twenty-meter distance and crashed to the ground nearby, while RAY-2 hobbled as sparks and hydraulic fluids shot and spurted from its ruined legs.

"Giddy up!" Sam laughed loudly and twisted the blade inside the machine's head. It damaged something critical, and RAY-3's compound eye sensors flashed brightly and its plasma cannon charged once again. He thrust the blade down to the hilt, and with a tortured screech, the wounded RAY vomited a stream of sparking plasma at RAY-1. Armour melted and CNT muscle fibres liquefied as plasma slammed into it and trailed up RAY-1's body. It fell back and its left weapon arm fell free as the plasma melted the joint. The intense heat detonated some of the armaments within and set of a chain reaction of exploding rockets and missiles. Sam pulled the sword back and RAY-3's head followed and the resulting pressure wave struck the wounded machine with the force of a storm, rocking its immense frame but shielding the samurai from the worst of it. Shrapnel spanked harmlessly from its heavy armour plating.

He pulled the crimson blade free and pushed off of the Metal Gear, rapidly sheathed the sword and pulled the trigger, drawing it again and decapitating RAY-3 in a single fluid motion. With a mighty crash, both body and head hit the ground lifelessly as Sam landed and rested the sword on his shoulder, grinning behind his mask. Spying the tail that had thwarted his death blow on RAY-2 earlier, he cut it off out of spite.

"Told you I'd be taking that tail," he taunted. With one RAY down, there were only two of the wounded Metal Gears left. Easy pickings for him.

Haihane officially had a crush. And she was crushing hard. She imagined that if they were in the real world right now, she'd be reacting to the point of passing out. Nothing a very long, very cold shower couldn't help with, but the fact of the matter was that Sam had become the coolest person ever in her eyes. Not only was he a pretty handsome fellow, he indulged her and her hobbies, could kick all kinds of ass, and now because of him, she'd gotten to fulfil one of her biggest dreams; to see a Metal Gear up close. Okay, they were virtual, but they were so realistic in VR that there really wasn't much of a difference between them and the real thing. They looked just like her model RAY, give or take a few weapons and their paint job.

"This guy's a monster, huh," Toyotama said. She, like Karasuba, wanted to get into the thick of it. Something like this was just too good to pass up, but she knew she had to behave. It wouldn't do her chances of getting into the Squad any good if she interrupted Sam's demonstration, though she was sure he'd just been showing off the whole time. The sixteenth Sekirei was sure now. He'd make an excellent Ashikabi.

"That's certainly one way to put it. Who would have guessed a human is showing us up in combat. Feels bad, man," Yahan replied with a shrug.

"I'm curious, though. What's this little show for, anyway? We know what he can do now, but are we supposed to be fighting Metal Gears or something?" Saki wondered. Personally, she couldn't see herself taking on something like a RAY. It just wasn't where her skills lay. Military cyborgs and smaller UGs were more her speed.

"Honestly, who cares? We know who we're dealing with now, and I for one am pretty happy I came along," Toyotama said and crossed her arms under her chest, "I mean, have you ever seen someone double-jump before today? I sure as hell haven't."

"If you had any doubts, then you should forget them," all eyes turned to Akitsu, who watched as stoically as ever, "Ashikabi are human, and they can't do what we can. I Imagine you were dubious when you heard that Sam would be leading us and fighting directly," it was the most anyone had heard her speak, and so resolutely too.

"A little, I guess. What you're saying is that this was to bury any doubts we had about his capabilities," Toyotama replied.

"And have you buried them?" the Seventh asked. The others looked between each other and came to a silent agreement.

"Heh, that guy's putting us to shame out there. It's safe to say that it's us that need to catch up to him," Yahan said with a chuckle.

"Then the demonstration was a success. After all, that was part of his role here," the Sekirei of Ice said.

Sam strolled out into the centre of the battlefield, the wreckage of RAY-3 behind him. RAY-1 struggled to its feet, one half of its body wrecked by plasma, and one leg mangled from its own city-destroying ordnance detonating in such close proximity. Its red eye sensors blinked and flickered as they were damaged in the explosion. RAY-2 was keeping a weary distance. Its remaining machine guns were out of ammo, its legs made it difficult to move, and Sam was far too close for it to use its rockets and missiles. The plasma cannon in its mouth charged and then settled as it ran a myriad of formulae in its computerised mind, finally judging that using that weapon would ultimately be useless against such a fast target. It was frozen by inaction, unable to determine a proper counter strategy.

Sam watched as RAY-1 struggled to stand and he scoffed. "Still kicking, are you? Stubborn hunk of scrap," he held out his sword pointing it at RAY-1, then at RAY-2. "So... which one of you dies next?"

Without warning, RAY-2 fired its plasma cannon despite the odds it had calculated. RAY-1 coordinated with it and unleashed whatever ammo was left in its machine guns as it pushed itself to its feet. Its remaining ordnance pod opened up and rained missiles and rockets down on the Samurai.

"That's it! Throw everything you can!" Sam rushed towards RAY-1, his enhanced speed helped him to evade incoming explosives. RAY-2's stream of plasma pursued the samurai as it followed his zigzagging path with mechanical precision. With a leap, he streaked towards the injured machine just as its immense heat blade folded out of its ordnance pod, the angry orange glow of the weapon cut through the choking smog of dust and smoke. Sam's blade clashed with the heat blade and dug in, giving him leverage to flip himself onto the broad flat of it. Sheathing his sword, he ran up the giant blade's length. The Metal Gear shook and thrashed as it tried to shake the samurai loose, but it was too late. A burst of speed carried him forward as electricity crackled up Sam's arm and sparked through his sheath, and with a pull of the trigger, the humming, crackling crimson blade shot free.

"Surprise!" Somersaulting over the RAY's back, his blade slashed through layers of armour and CNT muscle fibres until the front of the machine fell away from the back and both halves crashed to the dusty ground.

He landed facing RAY-2 and held his arms out to his sides. "And then there was one. Lucky you."

"Karasuba," Toyotama called over to the Black Sekirei. She made a sound of acknowledgement, but otherwise made no indication she was listening. "I'm curious. Sam's sword. There a story behind that?"

Karasuba chuckled. "Got your attention, did it? That is... was, his prized possession. The Murasama, they call it. An ancestral sword passed down for centuries from generation to generation of the Rodriguez family. Rumour has it that it's one of the last remaining of Sengo Muramasa's cursed blades, and the name was mistranslated when it was taken to the West. It's safe to say that sword has a long and bloody history."

"He put a high-frequency oscillator on it," Toyotama observed. No ordinary blade would be able to put so much as a scratch on the paint of such heavy armour before it shattered into pieces. She did wonder why Sam would need to do that to what had originally been an old if otherwise ordinary blade. In fact, the longer she watched him, the more questions she had. Where did he learn to fight? Who taught him? How long had he been fighting? Why did he fight?

"As a fighter, he's a one-in-a-billion talent. But as technology advanced, he had to adapt. It's only natural when the criminal gangs he'd been wiping out started recruiting unlicensed cyborgs with their own HF weaponry," Karasuba explained.

"Alright, but why is it red?"

"Its a mystery. If you want the scientific answer, then when it was forged, the sword maker worked iron oxide into the steel to make the colour. But if you believe it was one of Muramasa's blades, then it could have been quenched in blood during its forging, or it's cursed, or it's permanently stained with the blood of those slain by it. Take your pick," the Black Sekirei shrugged non-committally.

"Well, I'm pretty excited to take him on," Toyotama grinned. Karasuba, for the first time in quite a while, took her eyes away from Sam's fight with the RAYs and looked at the Sixteenth Sekirei. Though the motion was slow and measured, Toyotama still had to supress a flinch. It wasn't wise to show fear before a creature like the Black Sekirei.

"Then you'll have to wait your turn," she said, a very clear warning in her otherwise amicable tone. She made no mention of it, but the green-haired Sekirei noticed the subtle shift of Karasuba's hand resting just beneath the tsuba of her sword, her thumb gently resting against it, ready to pop the blade free of its sheath at a moment's notice.

"Uh... sure. No rush here," Toyotama said. A series of gasps and sounds of astonishment was heard, and the two Sekirei turned to see RAY-2 fall in half, split from nose to tail with its mechanical innards displayed in a clean, orange-glowing cross section. Sam faced them as his combat mask folded neatly back into the jaw armour. He smirked, cleaned his blade in the crook of his elbow and sheathed it. After that, he gave a deep and dramatic bow like an actor at the end of a play.

"Are you not entertained?" Sam asked after standing up straight. He gave a laugh when Haihane began clapping. Suddenly, Takami's voice greeted everyone's ears.

"I hope you enjoyed the show, everyone. Now, besides inflating Sam's ego, this display was to show you how even a human-sized combatant can defeat one or even multiple Metal Gears. They're not unstoppable, as you've just seen, and with skill and patience, any one of you could feasibly take one down. Though I hope you won't have to, it's likely that any one of MBI's enemies will field Metal Gears against us. I'm sure if you ask nicely, Sam wouldn't object to giving you all some hands-on tutoring. Right, Mr. Samurai?"

"So I get to start my own dojo, now?" Sam said and crossed his arms with a cocked eyebrow.

"Don't pretend you aren't tempted."

Sam shrugged and chuckled. "Sure. They'll need to learn anyway."

"Alright then," Takami replied, "Ladies, the next scenario I want you to run through will be about your resistance to psychological warfare. As well as conventional weapons, MBI's enemies will likely use other methods to demoralise and scare you. Time of day and weather conditions can also factor into the mental condition of a combatant. Haihane, Benitsubasa, you'll be joining in on this too. Sam and Karasuba will supervise."

"Finally, something to do," Benitsubasa huffed as she stood, eager to do something today. She cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck. Sam joined Karasuba and opened a private channel to Takami.

"What are you planning?"

"Remember when I told you about a certain Metal Gear design the company managed to acquire? Well, it used a lot of vocalisations to scare soldiers when it was originally deployed in Afghanistan in the 80s. According to classified first-hand accounts, it would roar and grunt, sounding like something between an ape and a dinosaur. It was also one of the tallest recorded Metal Gears, and surprisingly agile. Put the girls in a situation with low visibility and have that Metal Gear stalk them and attack at random, we'll be able to gauge how well they do against psychological warfare tactics."

"A little harsh, but useful. What's this Metal Gear called?" Sam stroked his chin.

"ST-84 Sahelanthropus. The first and only bipedal Metal Gear to walk upright. We got our hands on its design data some time ago, and it's... unique to say the least. It doesn't carry nuclear armaments which is a key part of being designated a Metal Gear, but its armour is twenty-three tons of depleted uranium. With a certain process, it can melt its armour and turn it into weapons-grade uranium and self destruct. Our engineers estimate the original would have a fifteen-kiloton nuclear yield if it self-destructed. The original was the only one of its kind built, but it mysteriously disappeared in the 80s and hasn't been seen since."

"So if it made it into a key location, it could end a war in a single, decisive move. Shit," Sam said, grateful that the machine had disappeared from the world.

"Or paralyse any kind of resistance with just the threat of it being deployed," Takami added. "There's another thing I'm adding to the exercise. When we acquired the design data for Sahelanthropus, we got a whole lot of research data and plans for military assets called the Parasite Unit. Super soldiers enhanced by the same thing that made Sahelanthropus' upright stance possible. You'll see it yourself, these things are their own special brand of nightmare fuel."

"Jesus, Takami... where'd you find this stuff? What the hell was going on in the 80s that people were making Metal Gears and super soldiers?" Sam asked with a dismayed shake of his head.

"Besides the Cold War? A whole lot of stuff that the history books never mentioned. But, as far as the world's concerned, all that stuff's over."

"Over? Heh, don't know about that," Sam said cynically, "the wars change, but the people waging them and the reasons why don't."

"Yes, well, we can discuss the nature of conflict another time. For now, we have a test to run."

"At least try not to traumatise them too much. And keep an eye on Kaiha for me," Sam said.

"Don't worry. I'm watching her brain activity carefully, and I'm not seeing any abnormalities. She's just been a bit quiet is all. I'll let you know if things are too much for her and I'll pull her out," Takami said in an attempt to reassure him. In truth, the samurai was worried about the disturbed Sekirei. With no clear idea of what could set her off, he was essentially working blind with her. The sooner he could get through these trials and see how well his apparently stabilising presence worked on Kaiha in the real world, the better. He actually pitied her. She seemed so confused when she was lucid, like her mind was always consumed by a frenzied dream, and being around him woke her up.

"Good. Now, let's get this over with," Sam cut off the private channel and looked at Karasuba, who had been watching him intently. "Things are about to get interesting," he grinned.

The simulation began, and the girls found themselves swallowed by dust and darkness. Heavy winds blasted them with sand and dust as it howled across a bone-dry expanse. It was cold, and they, with the exception of Akitsu, found themselves shuddering with every gust of cold air. They shielded their eyes as best they could, blinking out what bits of dirt and grit flew in and stung their eyes. Haihane and Benitsubasa moved to the front of the group.

They stuck together in a loose formation, always making sure they were in touching distance of each other. The wind stole any words as it rushed around them, making only shouting a viable method of communication.

Suddenly, an objective marker appeared in their collective vision, some point off in the distance almost a kilometre to the Northwest. Then, Takami spoke clearly in their ears over the howl of the wind.

"To the Northwest is your extraction point. Get there however you can, that's all." And like that, they were on their own.

"Well, it's only a kilometre! We're fast enough to cover that in no time," Toyotama said with a confident grin, though she quickly had to spit sand out of her mouth. They bunched closer together.

"Come on. You think it'd be that easy? There's definitely something that's gonna get in out way. Question is: what?" Saki said, "Yahan, think you could scout ahead?" the shadow Sekirei shook her head.

"No can do. I need to be able to picture where I'm going. With this dust storm and the terrain being so random, I can't travel anywhere out here," she said as she shielded her eyes.

"Damn, so that's out. Looks like we're hoofing it," Toyotama groused. They began advancing towards the extraction point, occasionally checking to see if the quieter members of their group were still there. To their relief, both Akitsu and Kaiha were keeping pace at the back of the group. Oddly, neither seemed bothered by the weather, though Kaiha was blinking sporadically to clear grit out of her eyes.

"What's the matter, Sixteen? Can't handle a hike?" the Red Sekirei taunted.

Toyotama huffed but ignored her, instead she focused on the distance, her eyes scanning for any nasty surprises Takami may have left for them. Nothing but more sand and rocks so far, but somehow that only made her more alert. This was far too easy. The distance counter between them and the extraction point was ticking down without incident. It almost went unnoticed, but the wind slowed and visibility slightly improved. Toyotama looked at the others.

"Storm's dying down. Everyone hearing alright?"

"Thank goodness. Still not perfect but at least nobody needs to shout now," Saki replied.

"I know, now those two can give their voices a rest," Yahan joked at Akitsu and Kaiha. While she was turned, Toyotama was the only one to notice that the two quiet Sekirei had stopped.

"Hey, what is it, you two?" she called.

"Heard something on the ridge up there," Akitsu pointed to a craggy cliff face to their right. There was the sound of crunching, like boots on sand and they looked around.

"Was that one of you?" Yahan asked warily, and the others shook their heads. They stayed still and listened while watching for any movements.

"Keep moving, but slowly. We don't know what's out here," the shadow Sekirei advised, and the others silently agreed. Slowly, they moved along the sand, their eyes watching for any movement and their ears straining for the slightest disturbance.

"Anyone else feel like there's eyes on us?" Toyotama wondered, her keen battle instinct warning her of some unseen threat.

"Glad to know I'm not alone in that," Yahan said with a nervous chuckle. There was a hiss and sudden movement, and they all whirled around but saw nothing. Haihane flexed her clawed fingers nervously, while the others fidgeted with their own weapons.

"Okay, seriously! There's something out here with us," Saki whispered. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she began to lose her nerve. She felt watched, like something was circling them. Being so out in the open with limited visibility, she was sure something was lurking just beyond their visible range. She didn't like feeling so exposed. There was nowhere to hide, and her skills in espionage and disguise were useless here.

"Problem is, knowing Takami, there's more than one. Tricky bitch, that one," Toyotama growled.

"Dammit, why'd you have to say that!" Saki whined.

"Look, just keep moving. We can't stand still," Yahan said, urging them forward. Their feet crunched on the sand, senses working overtime. Out of them all, it was Kaiha who had the keenest senses. Her grip on her large scissor blades was tight, and her yellow eyes remained focused ahead. However, she was letting her ears do most of the work. The slightest shift of sand and gravel would not go unnoticed. Something to their left drew her attention and she snapped her head to see it. There, up on a large boulder jutting from the ground and silhouetted against the dust-shrouded moon, was a figure in the distance. It stood unnaturally still, watching them. She couldn't see eyes, but she knew it was looking right at her.

"Wait," she said causing them to stop.

"What is it?" Haihane asked. Kaiha had looked away for less than a second, but when she looked at the boulder again, the figure was gone. Kaiha's face scrunched in confusion, then relaxed as realisation hit her.

"We're being stalked by something. And whatever it is, it's fast," she said, pointing to the boulder, "On that rock. I saw it." The others looked doubtful. Quietly, they weren't sure whether to trust what she'd said. Her history of mental instability was well known to most Sekirei, so they were reluctant to take her words seriously.

"You sure?" Yahan asked. Kaiha nodded silently. The girls all exchanged looks, unsure what to do. On one hand, she could be telling the truth, but at the same time, they didn't know if she was just seeing things. It was Akitsu who took her words seriously.

"Did you see it move?" The Sekirei of Ice asked.

"No. It's fast," Kaiha replied curtly.

"Dammit, we've barely moved and we're already running into problems," Benitsubasa muttered. Suddenly, something rushed passed her and knocked her to the ground. The others were then on high-alert and formed a circle with their weapons raised. Large javelins of Ice hung over both of Akitsu's shoulders. The Red Sekirei scrambled to her feet. She rolled her shoulder, feeling it ache. It had taken her completely off guard and surprised her with its strength, but it felt as if it had shoved her. Anger bubbled in her then. It was like they were being toyed with.

"Think we should make a run for it?" Toyotama wondered, "maybe it's part of the test."

"Screw that! I'm gonna find that thing," Benitsubasa growled, and without warning, took off into the dark.

"Get back here you flat-chested moron!" Haihane called, but she relieved no answer.

"Well, shit..." Yahan said, "you never split the party."

"We going after her?" Saki asked uncertainly. Before anyone could answer, Kaiha called out.

"Movement dead ahead!" Just beyond the mist, all of them saw it. Several figures in the swirling dust, their bodies jittering and twitching spasmodically. They'd take a step and seemingly skip forward several feet, then come to a dead stop, completely still.

"Wha-what the hell..." Toyotama's eyes widened. The dust storm seemed to follow the figures, growing thicker and more intense around them. Through the swirling sand, the figures wore black armour made of segmented plates, interwoven with straps, pouches and pockets. Their heads were bare from the mid-face up, the lower half encased in rebreather units. Their skin was deathly grey like that of corpses. Their eyes, however, were unnatural. Eerie, pale green light shone from their sunken sockets as if they were possessed by vengeful phantoms.

Then they attacked.

Blades came in at blinding speeds, only perceptible thanks to the natural gifts of the Sekirei. Some evaded while others met the corpse soldiers head-on. Toyotama's staff batted away a strike aimed for her neck. She spun the weapon in her hands and swept the legs from under the Parasite soldier. In a surprising display of agility, the soldier caught itself on its hands with its legs in the air. It swung its legs around in a fashion reminiscent of Capoeira, throwing kicks with devastating force before vanishing and reappearing above the Sixteenth with its blade raised.

Kaiha matched her opponent in sheer speed, countering with animalistic agility and ferocity. Her scissor blades were a blur while her mouth was set into a snarling grimace. Her brief calm before the attack was gone, replaced by the feral frenzy that had always consumed her. Strike for strike, parry for parry, the two went back-and-forth as they searched for the killing blow. However, Kaiha was as ruthless as she was unpredictable, and the Parasite discovered this as one mistimed attack saw its left arm severed at the elbow.

One of the Parasite units thought it had gotten the jump on Akitsu. It descended from a high leap with its blade primed to plunge into the Sekirei of Ice. With a single nonchalant glance, she saw it coming. The blade never came. Within a second, a lance of ice shot from the ground and impaled the augmented soldier. Akitsu merely tilted her head slightly, curious as to why it was still alive as it struggled. Three more ripping through the corpse soldier's body rendered it inert.

"Huh, not much bothers Akitsu, does it?" Sam observed. He was rather impressed with her so far. She was keeping her head clear and she acted decisively, which was what he wanted from his squad.

"She's certainly an interesting one. So far, she's showing more promise than the others," Karasuba concurred.

"Maybe it's a single-digit thing. From what I remember of my time with the old squad, all of you knew how to control yourselves no matter what happened," Sam said speculatively. As flighty as Matsu could be and with how Kazehana was... well, Kazehana, he could still count on them to get the job done efficiently and professionally. The wind Sekirei was a lover and romantic down to her very bones, but she spared little thought for the people she killed in the defence of the younger feathers. Chinooks full of fighting men would be ripped from the air with the smallest gesture, and jet fighters would smash together in balls of flame simply because that's what Kazehana wanted. Matsu similarly had no issue turning her enemy's technology against them to achieve maximum carnage, with no regard for those who died as a result.

"Maybe. We single-digits are a little different than most. In our case, we had a job to do and an excellent teacher on top of that. It could be that older embryos were chosen for certain predispositions and traits. But who knows?" the Black Sekirei said with a non-committal shrug.

"You might have something there. I wouldn't know anything about that, but it makes some sense," Sam replied.

Takami chimed in, "no, that's pretty much it. Whoever put the Sekirei on the ship had done so with a lot of planning. They most likely screened the genome of each one for certain markers before placing them in stasis."

"So the first five were older siblings by design, then?" Sam asked.

"Pretty much. God knows how the others would have turned out having that lot for role models," Takami said dryly.

"You wound me, Takami. I think I'd be an excellent big sister," Karasuba said in mock amusement.

"If we wanted the Sekirei to be little more than an invasive predator species, then sure, you would be," the geneticist snarked.

"Flattery now? Fickle, aren't you, Takami," Karasuba smirked. The geneticist sighed. Little games like this were pointless with Karasuba since she was fairly certain she had no feelings to hurt in the first place.

Sam cleared his throat, getting their attention. He nodded his head towards the simulation. "Let's focus, shall we? Takami, anything on your end?"

"Well, elevated heart rates across the board. Brain activity is spiking, but it looks like Akitsu is handling this pretty well. The others are okay, but Kaiha's become erratic and Saki's starting to show signs of panic."

"Haihane and Benitsubasa?" Karasuba inquired.

"Well, Haihane's fine. A little shaken but she's holding her own. As for Benitsubasa... huh, well..."

"Well, what?" Sam's tone became hard. If there was an issue, he needed to know so he could do something about it.

"She got lost. Ran off into the desert to chase the Parasite that pushed her over. She's half a kilometre from the others," Takami said.

"So, she's isolated and that Metal Gear is out there somewhere. Great," the samurai sighed.

"If that little idiot wants to dive in head-first, then let her. She goes on and on about how powerful she is, so I say let her prove it," Karasuba said. After a few seconds of thought, Sam shrugged.

"Eh, what the hell? This is a test after all. Can't go saving her over something like this. Besides, she'd probably just turn on me if I did," he said with a shrug.

As quickly as they arrived, the Mist unit were gone, leaving behind only two of their number dead. Besides the one impaled on Akitsu's ice spikes like some kind of grim modern art piece, the other one had been savaged by Kaiha, soundly cut into several pieces. Yet, to look at the two Sekirei responsible, one would think nothing had happened.

The others were all panting, their eyes keeping a frantic and careful watch on their surroundings for any sudden movements. Yahan finally released a breath she'd been holding. She and Saki had been fighting back-to-back to fend off their attackers, but while they'd been successful in their defence, they hadn't scored a single hit against the Parasites. Saki fell to her knees and Yahan quickly knelt down next to her. The shadow Sekirei looked uncharacteristically concerned, any trace of her usual dismissive and flippant self pushed aside for now.

"Saki, hey! You okay?" Her purple eyes traced Saki's body for any injuries, completely forgetting that they were in a simulation. The smaller girl met her eyes and nodded her head shakily. Taking her hands, Yahan steadily helped her up, bringing her swords with her.

"S-sorry, it's just... I'm not r-really... cut out for f-fighting... like this..." Saki admitted with no small amount of shame. Yahan gave her a small smile.

"Hey, it's fine. Neither am I. Just like you, I'm better at stealth. Leave the brawling to meatheads like Sixteen," she looked over to Toyotama who idly observed the arm she'd literally ripped from her opponent before tossing it behind her, "Hell, Frosty and Scissors over there even killed two of them."

"R-right..." Saki tried her best to return Yahan's smile, but she was still terrified. It wasn't just that they were strong and fast, the Parasite Unit were just unnatural. Everything about them horrified her.

"Still, you did good having my back like that. Why don't we stick together, whaddaya say?" having released Saki's hands, the shadow Sekirei offered one to shake. Saki considered it for a moment, then took the offered hand.

"Sure thing. And same to you."

Sam was rather pleased with this development. It was to be expected, he supposed. Stressful situations had a way of bringing people together, particularly when it involved danger. Of course, they weren't in any real danger, but the heat of the moment made that an easy fact to forget. It was even less of a surprise that the two more covert among them had gravitated towards each other. Having them on a stealth-op when they could safely trust and rely on each other was absolutely a bonus.

On top of that, he was beginning to get an insight into their personalities.

Upon closer inspection, it looked as though Akitsu and Kaiha had some kind of unspoken agreement between them. They both lingered at the back of the group, and while few words were exchanged, the two seemed to have little difficulty conferring between themselves, as evidenced before the attack of the Mist Unit. Now it looked as though the aura of calm that surrounded the Seventh Sekirei was actually good for the Thirty-Second as she'd calmed down considerably in her senior's presence.

Sam had his reservations about Kaiha. Should she make it into the Squad, she would need a different approach than the others, so he was grateful that both himself and Akitsu could alleviate her mania. However, the issue remained. He and Akitsu wouldn't always be around just by the nature of their work. The Samurai just hoped that Takami's hypothesis was correct and winging her would bring her some peace. If it didn't... he dismissed the following thought. He'd cross that bridge when he got there.

It hunts. Towering over the expanse of swirling grey, a titan of steel stood imposing and indomitable. Heavy footfalls stirred the shifting sands, its mighty strides casting shadows in the moonlight. The first phase was over. The prey had been shaken by the Parasites, and now the apex predator of the desert had been activated. It let out a rumbling vocalisation, a guttural call that echoed in the expanse. Weapons came online as it strode to meet its prey while sensors and cameras serving as its eyes and ears looked for any traces of life.

The dust posed no problem to the war machine as it cycled to its thermal sensors. The sand blowing through the air cast a blue haze over its vision, but off in the distance several hundred meters away, a multi-hued object appeared. It was moving at a good pace, faster than the human average, then slowed, eventually stopping. Magnifying its vision, it locked onto a lone humanoid that looked around in all directions. The prey was angry, but more than that, it was lost and in distress.

Sub-routines encoded within its A.I assessed the situation and motivated the machine in accordance with the predicted scenario. The psychological profile of this individual prey item made them prone to irrational acts as a result of heightened stress and anger. Ammunition cycled, preparing to disgorge lethal ordnance upon the prey and its fellows. The archea whip grew agitated, its structure ready to bend and unfurl.

With prey in sight, servos and joints powered forward in a single-minded stride towards it. Another sonorous bestial call echoed out, startling the prey. Sahelanthropus hunts.

Been two or something years since I updated this one. Found the document on an old phone, basically finished. Decided to do some touching up and get it out. Can't even really say this has been a delay, I straight up forgot about this story. But, upon reading it myself and going through the reviews, I actually like this one, and so did many readers apparently. So I apologise for leaving it for so long. No promises, but I'll try to get more out soon-ish. Until next time.