ғ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ʟ ᴇ s s - ᴀ ᴅʏsᴛᴏᴘɪᴀɴ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ 「ɪɴ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ」

[Winter]

~"The fall of a Titan"~​

It all happened so fast that Naomi barely had time to really process what was going on. The moment that she and Eresh were knocked to the floor the Titan rolled and moved to place herself over her fellow NOAH to absorb the blow, knowing that her body had a far greater chance of surviving the blow than if Eresh took it directly. She braced for pain, expecting the hit would likely break her body, removing her from the battle once and for all forcing her to withdraw while her repair protocols went to work. But her damage was more then that, her health state was beyond critical and the moment her Elegance powered down her body would shut down into a coma state to recover from the damage and strain.

Naomi's red eyes bore into Eresh's, regarding her briefly before she grit her teeth, closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable onslaught of pain to envelope her being. But it never came, the Titan was wrenched from her position and within the next moment her eye was gauged from it's socket by the other Praetorian. She couldn't react, it was too fast and she screamed in agony, body writhing painfully as he mutilated her. Warnings flashed into her mind from the neural enhancement and within the next few moments her body ceased moving, her gauntlets powering down and fading out as her body had finally broke past it's capacity for damage intake. Naomi fell limp to the ground as blood leaked down her cheek.

---- /// BODY STATUS: CRITICAL \\\ ----
---- // Recovery Protocol Engaged \\ ----
---- // Assessing Damage \\ ----​

The Titan had fallen, unable to continue the fight after having fought with everything her body would physically allow her. Tia had bought her time and in doing so had advanced her condition past critical, hence why instead of extreme exhaustion she'd slipped beyond consciousness. She though she could hear the fight continue on around her and she could have sworn she felt her body lifted from the ground, though in truth she half suspected she might be dying and that this was merely the process of her journey to the life after death. It was terrifying, a word unknown to Naomi as very little she were confronted with had the ability to find that emotion within her. Yet this wasn't a fight nor an obstacle that could be overcome.

The fallen Titan fought to regain consciousness and continue the fight, causing her to stir and groan as she laid on the helicopter bed, her arms raising as if trying to grab hold of something she could use to pull herself up and get herself back into the fray. Each time her body closed her out again, refusing to release control till the repair protocol had finished engaging her cellular activity to regenerate scarred tissue and her missing eye. The Titan had never regenerated a missing body part before and in truth the act was stressful on Naomi's design. But the eye would gradually reconstruct, scars and wounds sealing up slowly as she was refused death once more. She would not be permitted to leave this world just yet, there was far more to suffer.

 

[Bismarck]

Blood, gore, wounded friends, and even more brutally injured foes. Across the board, it was a mixed bag, and hard to decide who had truly won. The remnants of FEARLESS were little more than battered, bruised messes. Alex alone was the last uninjured RONIN. It seemed the only standing, and untouched NOAH was Dmitry. Each step was careful, back toward the helicopter, helping whoever he could. But not daring to step foot into the machine, until everyone else had boarded.

Once Alex finished helping another injured comrade onto the helicopter, he placed his free hand onto his pistol. Holding the almost comically sized Desert Eagle, like it was little more than a 9mm. A clean shot from it was bound to put anyone down...the issue was, whether or not the RONIN would ever get a single clean shot that would be worth taking.

"Come on, let's get it moving people! I'm not leaving until the rest of you find your footing in this contraption."

"Run?" Dmitry asked aloud, as he watched almost everyone else, excluding the pretty boy, and himself take off toward the helicopter. The NOAH paused for a moment, indecision overwhelming him. His feral instincts sent mixed messages...fear, rage, dominance. It was a feeling the male had become accustomed to. Years of killing clerics, and high ranking officers had taught the assassin that it was just how his adrenaline seemed to work at any given time.

The NOAH moved close to Chevalier, standing alongside the sword wielding, stranger. At least that's what the cat considered the armored male. Little more than honorable, but incredibly mysterious stranger. "I'll stick around. I need to stretch out my muscles a bit." He commented with a little grin on his lips. "Besides, can't let you claim every moment of glory today pretty boy." Dmitry finished his statement, assuming a fighting stance as the last words rolled off his lips.

Revenant more than likely knew everything about Dmitry at this point. The cat was likely among the most wanted NOAH. His claws, teeth, and very special one on one training, had made him a potent killer. Who far excelled above similar projects. Excluding cases like TITAN...the cat was a finely made long sword, compared to Naomi, who was more akin to a war hammer. Each served a purpose, one was just more versatile, and had so many more hours invested into it.

 

[Asuras]

For all that they had done, and failed to do, perhaps it was the ocean-drenching adrenaline that had kept Eresh from losing her mind in the face of Revenant's sudden grisly victories. Fury had been vanquished in hellfire, and while several now had been wrested of body parts, perhaps lives, the red-eyed NOAH could only accept what was happening. Drowned in a listless mix of satisfaction, exhaustion, and newfound fear, it seemed as if she were temporarily frozen.

Only the movement of Ashlynn, who she had retreated to after Fury's defeat, brought her from the shell shock. Barely aware of the orders, Eresh stumbled with the others to the helicopter, making out Chevalier beneath bloodied eyelids. It was clear, then, what had always been necessary for this mission.

For all they had done, and failed to do, the realization returned that someone was likely to die in the midst of all this chaos. Situating herself on the helicopter, awaiting freedom, it seemed as if someone had to die. A frown was all she could offer in solidarity. A feeling welled in her lungs; words she so desperately wanted to say. But so long as that monster lay within her sights, Eresh wouldn't dare jinx them all.

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

​

Gaia only glanced in Godfather's direction as he gave the order to retreat. With a few more seconds of concentration Gaia finished what she could do for Monad's eyes as the blue sparks and light faded from her hands. The nerves, the flesh; all of it. But the dark haired NOAH wasn't finished just yet so she refused the pleasing urge to to just collapse. The girl pointed towards the odd vehicle that everyone was converging to and on cue two of the remaining golems each picked up and carried Monad and Tia into the confines of the helicopter; laying them down flat and by each others side.

Meanwhile the NOAH glance over at mister knight in shining armor and the cat boy staring off against the lord of shit. She had half a mind to go over there, however, the other half of her seemingly had other plans. The third human sized golem which had semi spiky hair picked Gaia up and began to take her over to the chopper with the others.

"The hell do you think you're doing...? I didn't command yo--"

Her words were caught in her throat as she looked up at the semi familiar face and her eyes began to tear up as she remembered...this had happened once before. Before she knew it the golem had placed her within the helicopter door, laying her down before stepping back and lining up with the other three semi familiar faces of golems. Gaia could see their faces clearly now, her old teams smiling faces. Tears rolled down the NOAH's cheeks as she reached out towards the three only to watch their artificial bodies crumble to dust. Her teary gaze looked over at Alexander for but an instant before she used her arm to whip her eyes and turned to face the inside of the contraption.

The girl weakly crawled her way over to where Tia and Monad had been placed and collapsed from exhaustion with blood dripping from her lips and eyes mixed with tears upon the floor of the vehicle.

 

[Valor]

-

​

Carrying Titan aboard the vehicle, he placed her against the metal floor before rushing back out. There would be time to mourn later, for now, FOX wanted to make sure everybody was accounted for. He dashed to and from the helicopter, carrying the remainder of their wounded before making one final run to the airship. After everybody was accounted for, minus Southpaw, who chose to stay behind to help Chevalier, FOX would finally settle himself into a seat aboard the helicopter.

"Alright! That's everybody, get us out of here!"

"My pleasure. Buckle up and shut that door." Honoka called from the pilot's seat.The propellers of the helicopter began to wind up, the Japanese researcher taking a few last moments to check aviation systems on her dashboard as the foreign contraption whirred to life. "Time for dust off." Honoka pulled back on the flight stick, the helicopter dipping backward as it gained elevation within the hanger.

"What the heck is this thing?!" FOX gripped his seat to avoid spilling over onto his wounded team members. The directional movement of the helicopter was nothing like he had experienced before, a sinking feeling in his chest as the vehicle flew out from the hanger and proceeded to gain elevation.

"I told you to buckle up. Were you not listening?" The Japanese researcher paid FOX little mind. It was difficult to hear FOX's complaints over the sound of the propellers rotating at supersonic speeds. From her cockpit, she flew the helicopter away from ground level, the mechanical contraption soaring through the now evening sky. "I'm taking us down to a military black site." Honoka explained, "Your team will be safe there, for awhile."

"Are you crazy? Another military base? I'm not going to let you take us to-"

"Calm down, cowboy. The Japanese Research Unit has our own embassy, a diplomatic safe zone that not even the Ecclesians will want to mess with. We have medical teams that can save your people."

"No. We're not doing that. We-"

"Can you save Naomi and the others?" FOX interrupted, gripping his bloodied hand.

"We can sure as hell try." Honoka looked backward momentarily at a determined FOX.

"Then we have no other choice." FOX had made up his mind. The team was going to the Japanese Research Base. If there situation had not been so dire, FOX would have gladly tossed Honoka out of the helicopter and taken everybody somewhere else, but as it stood, it wasn't acceptable to allow the team to die like this. Naomi, Ashlynn, Jill, Eresh, Tia, Maria. They all needed help... and they needed it now.

A little under an hour would pass as the helicopter finally passed its way over the outskirts of the city, a large, unoccupied space that lay between Valhalla and the walls that surrounded the city. It was an abandoned zone, an area largely patrolled by Ecclesian forces. Not even FEARLESS would step foot in these regions, as the sparsely populated areas made their guerilla forces easy pickings for the enemy's superior technologies.

Dotting the outskirts were a swath of military bases, many of which operated outside the gaze of Valhalla's citizens. It was no surprise that one of these facilities belonged to these "Japanese" people. The helicopter would find its way above a large military base, surrounded by fences and armed guards before making its final descent. As the helicopter finally touched down, a large group of medical staff and soldiers began flooding the scene, as if they had been expecting their arrival.

The responders shouted in a foreign language as they brought out large stretchers. "Quickly! Quickly!" They would shout between the unrecognizable words. Dozens of responders would take the wounded members of FEARLESS onto separate stretchers, before carting them quickly into a building that resembled a local hospital. "Hey, where are you taking them!?" FOX and Gillian would fight their way through the men trying to ascertain their wounds to chase after their team members.

"We have emergency rooms for them. Our medical staff and researchers are some of the best in the field. You should let them do their job if you want them to survive." Honoka explained, "You'll be allowed to visit them once surgeries are complete." She would turn her attention to an advisor, ignoring FOX's qualms with the situation. "Status report."

"We're not sure how long the Ecclesians will respect our embassy status, Captain. We have already completed preliminary diagnosis of the team members. Project GENESIS looks stable despite her condition, she should heal with no scarring, as expected of her genome. GENOCIDE and THUNDERBIRD are both in a coma state, stitches and blood transfusion may be necessary, but no permanent damage to physical states."

"CREATION seems fine, we will release her after a quick checkup and some stitches. Project CRIMSON is in the worst state, we will need to reconstruct her, possibly with robotic arms. She has a 40% chance survival rate given her condition. We will be giving her a similar treatment to TITAN, hopefully she will survive."

"What about TITAN?"

"The Princess... I mean, Project TITAN's cerebral cortex is inactive, her body has sustained heavy damage. She requires immediate surgery as her skeleton has been misaligned and are threatening to puncture her own organs. She still shows signs of memory loss, but will be fine after a brief diagnosis."

"Her sister, where is she?"

"I'm not sure, ma'am. We lost contact with her a few hours ago."

"Good. She would just complicate things. I'm in command now, double the active guard. Treating the rebels will be an act of war to the Ecclesians. The data we can salvage from the NOAH are important and of course, if TITAN dies, we will all be killed as well. See to it that the Princess is kept safe. Our entire lives have been dedicated to Project TITAN."

 

[ERode]

Drip.

Drop.

The water ran red, but still, he could not scrub off the marks. Bladed nails scraped against blackened carapace as the air suffused with offal and blood, and yet, he stood unaffected. It was quiet. So mercifully quiet. No hunger, no lust, no demand, no desire, only…quiet. Silence after the slaughter, the sword sated and sleeping. It reverberated within his body, the odd, otherworldly satisfaction that came with knowing that he had done a 'good job'. Had hunted. Had fed. Had restored himself.

It was quiet now, a deathly quiet. Nothing to fear. Not a sigle living being within a three kilometer radius. Even though his superhumanly honed senses could still hear gunfire and warfare, it was far removed, the echoes of a different sector. Not here. Here, there was nothing left but sanguine fragments of former individuals, churned and grinded until their families would have no idea where to even begin piecing them together. An orgy of hyperviolence, a congregation of a sadist's most taboo pleasures. Nothing was left untouched, nothing sacred. The young, the elderly, the invalid, the crippled, the righteous, the rioters and the clerics and their families.

How far had he ran? How far had he killed? How far, how far, how far?

Something hard was in his mouth, and he spat it out.

A tooth sunk into the cesspool of viscera.

It was all muddy now, the boundary between wielder and wielded. Had it ate its fill, or had he eaten his fill? He could no longer tell. At this point, it was just…

Exhaustion.

The warm, comforting exhaustion that came after a feast. The boy hardly knew where he was. Hardly cared. It didn't matter much, after all. He wasn't afraid any longer. Had crossed too many lines, broken too many promises, leaving naught but carnage and misery, until he sat alone in the darkness of liberation.

The fear and paranoia that crippled his past self seemed so far away now.

Now, he felt nothing.

Drip.

Drop.

Ah, it was quiet now.

 

[Bismarck]

Stepping off of the Helicopter, Alexander was quick to push away any medics that dared to look away from the rest of his team. The RONIN still hadn't holstered his firearm, and tried his best to make it clear, he didn't want treatment, until the rest of his team was sorted out. He couldn't speak the medic's language, it was complete gibberish to him. However the tall man's body, face, and occasional yelling spoke volumes about his current intentions.

Breathing hurt, walking hurt, even pushing past soldiers that weren't hostile, was something that left him gasping for air. Alex knew his ribs were cracked, and bruised in several spots from gunshot impacts, and being beaten up so many times during the day. Dry blood was running down his right cheek from a deep cut. Another scar to add to the list. The RONIN had been one of the lucky ones. His wounds were mostly surface wounds, excluding his rib cage. No bullets had embedded themselves into his body, and for that he was thankful.

Finding a small spot outside of one of the medical facilities, he knew it would work. The patch of grass looked soft enough to support him for the next few hours. And oddly it seemed almost as appealing as a bed did at the current moment. It would serve the purpose as a field hospital, and a resting position. At least a temporary one.

Removing his destroyed armor, Alex set the plate carrier in front of himself, and reached into a pouch marked with a red cross. Basic medical supplies for himself, or whoever else would have been injured. Pouring a bit of disinfectant over his many small cuts and scrapes, he cleaned them as much as possible, before wrapping gauze and a bandage around them to insure healthy healing. The cut on his cheek would need stitches, though Alex convinced himself that it could wait, and sealed the cut off with some super glue, and a band-aid.

Finally, a dose of morphine to chase off the pain in his torso for a bit longer was what he considered necessary. With a marker, he drew an M on his bare chest, in case someone stumbled across him, and he was no longer conscious. After such a long fight, Alex wasn't sure how much longer he could force himself to stay awake and moving.

Depressing the mag release on his handgun, he dropped the heavy, .50 caliber magazine of his pistol onto the ground next to him. Pulling the slide back, ejected the last round, which bounced a few times, before rolling around a bit in the grass Meaningless now, the block of steel, and moving parts was nothing more than a bludgeoning tool, that was resting in his lap.

Whether Alex meant to or not, he was soon asleep. His space by the military building he had found was surrounded with a tactical vest, shot up beyond the regular expectations of that level of body armor. Wrappers, containers for medicine, and a cardboard roll that was from his bandages scattered across the grass, and the nearby pavement. A torn up BDU top, and white t-shirt covered in patches of blood, was placed between the back of his head, and the wall of the building he was leaning up against. The ruined clothing serving as little more than a pillow for the time being.

Hours had passed since the rest of the team had left. Dmitry had fought alongside Chevalier for as long as he could manage, however unable to keep up, or make a meaningful impact, the NOAH disappeared when given the chance. Leaving the hangar, and not looking back. His equipment was abandon as he went. Whatever was left of it at least, which was little more than a few magazines strapped to his waist, for guns he had lost, or abandoned during the fighting.

The small black cat wasn't terribly injured, cuts, bruises, scrapes. Those types of injuries that would be better associated with a sparring match, rather than a fight to the death. Chevalier had done so much to protect Dmitry, and for that the young male had to be more than thankful. If not for those crucial moments, there was no doubt that Southpaw would be limping, and whimpering for the rest of the time stuck in his hell of a city that he lived in.

Finding a pleasant spot atop one of the higher buildings in the neighborhood outside of the lab they had invaded, Dmitry sat patiently on the ledge. Watching for any sign of movement, Yellow eyes wandering back and forth with intent...and hope. The cat knew what he wanted to see as the outcome, he didn't know the stranger well. However he wanted his fellow brother in arms, to leave victorious.

Though time spent waiting, slowly turned to boredom. Exhaustion taking over what little energy Southpaw had left. He hadn't meant to, but soon he was drifting off to sleep. The riots in the city weren't all that bad in this part of Valhalla. And so it was...silence in his direct vicinity. With the sound of fighting and gunshots in the distance to lull him to sleep.

Alone again...how strange of a sensation it was. To not have people to watch, to talk to, to protect. To feel abandon once more...but this time it wasn't quite the same. Dmitry had volunteered, wanting to help his new friends escape. It was a comforting thought, they had escaped, to somewhere better than this hellhole. Dmitry even hoped that they never came back, he wanted better for them. "Good night Valhalla...may you burn and collapse. So that FEARLESS may finally be free. Take me as a sacrifice if you must."

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

​

Gaia was quiet throughout her entire treatment; it was quick of course as her injuries were incredibly minor especially in comparison to the others. But nonetheless she used the time to reflect. For the most part they'd completed what they'd set out to due but in Gaia's eyes the mission wasn't over till it was confirmed that everyone would survive the ordeal. She had to trust these people; these people that were giving them all medical attention.

After her final checkup she was released and allowed to walk around; and so she did. She wondered around going from room to room within the facility she could go, everyone now and again stumbling upon a window that allowed sight into an operating room. Her thoughts went to those lying upon the operating tables some barely clinging to life as the various staff raced to save their lives.

As Gaia looked on she held her own lack of injures with a little bit of shame despite her usual views. Her expression dowered even more so as she recalled the three unaccounted for individuals. Were they dead now? Did they escape? Did that piece of shit capture them? How and what day will that undying shit head fucking die? The list of questions just kept going. There were factors at play that Gaia had little to no purchase in regards to validating specific outcomes and that frustrated her; though after a while of wondering around she managed to push those thoughts away in order to save her own sanity.

After awhile longer the NOAH finally stumbled upon the last person she'd been searching for; a now passed out and asleep Alexander. 'The stubborn fool.' She'd remembered watching the RONIN do his best to make sure his team was taken care of at his own expense. The stubborn fool certainly reminded Gaia of another equally stubborn bastard and that memory brought a smile to her face. Not to mention the sight of such a stubborn RONIN sleeping as he was with unloaded rounds of ammo scattered about and one who'd clearly medically treated himself in a facility filled with medical personnel was all too amusing to Gaia. 'Suppose even you look harmless like anyone else when you're asleep. Bet you emptied your gun so you wouldn't suddenly wake up and shoot someone.' The NOAH chuckled softly at her thoughts before she quietly made her way to a corner of the room not far from where Alexander slept. She nestled herself into a corner and huddled her sheathed sword against her body as if it were a stuffed animal and nodded off; letting exhaustion take her into a slumber.