Back on the road again, everyone was on edge and paying extremely close attention to their surroundings. Rapi moved ahead and scanned every rooftop with her rifle, Fay had moved to Commander’s open side with her riot shield in hand so she could jump to his defence at a moment’s notice and Samantha and Anis had their heads on a swivel at the back of the group.
No more than ten minutes passed and the squad found themselves moving out of the city and into a suburb. Now instead of rows upon rows of multi-storey shops and offices, they were seeing nothing but regular houses fit for a family of four. There was certainly less damage in this residential area compared to the main city, but the homes still showed signs of tough times. Because Raptures go after humans whenever they see them, and most people were at work or school when the invasion happened, homes weren’t damaged by Raptures but were instead damaged by looters. A handful of people tried to grab resources for future survival while everyone in the city was slaughtered.
Counters ended up in the middle of a cul-de-sac street. Just as Marian was about to say they were at their destination, a silhouette walked out from the shade of a house. It was another Nikke. Dangling from each shoulder were grey bags with a green plus symbol on them, and text that read ‘BANDAGE MAN’. On her leggings was the logo of the Tetra Line company. She wore a dark grey vest with ammo pouches attached to it and there was an oversized visor covering the top half of her head. Long white hair that curled up at the ends ran down her back.
“iDoll Ocean, reporting for duty.” She stated in a monotone voice.
“Anis, check her out.” Commander ordered as he observed his team take up positions around him. He was used to Anis being the brains of the group, despite her humorous nature. It was an odd contrast but he just appreciated having someone on the squad that knew the ins and outs of the mission.
Saluting Commander jokingly, Anis approached Ocean and asked for her serial number. Once she had confirmed Ocean was the third and final member of the missing patrol, Anis pumped a fist into the air. They were done. They could all go home now. They’d been lucky to avoid whatever this Lord class Rapture was and find the entire missing patrol.
While Commander smiled at his ragtag team’s success, Marian spoke up. Unlike every other time she’d spoken today, there was a strange lack of emotion. “We’re here.”
“That’s right, good job getting us here. Now we can all go home.” Commander was a little confused by Marian’s words, it was apparent a minute ago that they’d arrived at their end goal, but maybe it was just her exhaustion speaking. Maybe she had meant to say something else but her fatigue got the better of her and she misspoke.
Without warning Marian began walking up the road which forced Commander, who was still acting as her support, to move with her. As he was questioning her actions, Shifty popped up on the radio.
“I’ve finished analysing the black box from the transport ship, and it’s not good!” Up until now their aid at the Ark had been calm and collected, but now she was frantically typing and shouting over the radio. “I’ve sent you the report as proof but BA-01 was blown up from the inside!”
Commander’s heart sank as he heard this. There was a traitor on that helicopter. For what purpose? He could understand Shifty’s rush to get the information to his squad. There were two survivors of the transport ship’s destruction, Commander and Marian. Of course, Commander knew he wasn’t the traitor, and surely they couldn’t question Marian. She’d done so much to get them to this point. She’d taken one hell of a beating to keep the last commander alive. It must’ve been someone else, but then that means the traitor died in the crash which made Commander seriously question what the point would be. Unless this traitor somehow managed to slip away, past the hordes of Raptures drawn to BA-01. It was a massive mess Commander couldn’t make sense of.
At this point Commander had walked with Marian until they were just over ten feet away from Counters. Commander couldn’t understand what Marian was trying to do, they had finished their mission. It was time to get back to the Ark. Commander heard something click in the distance behind him. It sounded like the bolt on a rifle being pushed forward, chambering a round. Turning to look over his shoulder, Commander saw Rapi pointing her rifle in his direction, her eyes wide in disbelief. Because Commander was so close to Marian it was hard to say who Rapi was aiming at, but it soon became apparent.
“Commander, get away from Marian! Now!” She shouted while peering through the holographic sight atop her gun, gritting her teeth after she’d spoken. This wasn’t how the mission was supposed to end, but she’d read the report that’d been transmitted to her mind. She knew what had happened. As far as Rapi was concerned, Marian had taken Commander hostage now. Rapi was fully prepared to shoot Marian in the head right now, but she held back just in case Marian pulled Commander close and used him as a shield.
Marian jolted and finally stopped walking, shock evident on her face as her eye widened and she frantically looked around for a moment. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember the last twenty or so seconds. There was nothing reported in her logs either. The thing that forced her to take control of her body was Commander. Rapi sounded concerned for the young man and that concern had brought Marian back to her senses. But now she was just confused. The man she was quickly growing to like, the man she would protect with her life, was standing beside her. He was still supporting her injured body, not showing any signs of being worn out. Instead, he was looking back over his own shoulder, so Marian turned her body until both herself and Commander were facing the rest of her squad. That was when she saw Rapi and Samantha training their guns on her.
Anis had her hands on her grenade launcher. If she could shoot at the right angle, she could use the force of an explosive to cause Marian to falter, allowing Commander to flee. But it was way too risky. If stray shrapnel hit Commander in the wrong place, like his throat or an important artery in his leg, then he’d be dead because of her. So Anis stood down for now. All she could do was explain the report, her voice cracking at first.
“There were two explosions, they both came from inside the helicopter. Explosives were given to high-ranking commanders of this mission so they could kill the Lord class Rapture. They wouldn’t detonate without the correct signal.” Swallowing hard, Anis forced herself to say what she needed to. “The signal was given and it came from you, Marian…”
Marian dropped her submachine gun and, as it clattered to the ground, her injured arm went limp and slid off Commander’s shoulders. She clutched her head with her one good hand as her left eye, her good eye, flickered red. Commander had let go of Marian without realising it and took a step back as Marian recoiled from a headache. He only took a single step though, as he didn’t want to believe Marian would be a traitor to the Ark. She had done so much for him in such a short amount of time. For her to betray him would leave him heartbroken.
Attempting to seize the opportunity presented to her, Rapi steadied her aim and put a finger on her rifle’s trigger. She was halfway through applying enough pressure to fire a round when she was forced to stop, her eyes narrowing in annoyance. Commander figured Rapi would take the shot if she had the chance so he rushed between the two Nikke, putting a hand up to Rapi that told her not to shoot. Rapi was stunned by his actions, to the point where she didn’t know how to proceed. Commander hadn’t taken his eyes off Marian, his back was to Rapi. She could slowly begin to circle around the pair until Marian was in her sights again, but it’d be pointless if Commander caught on. Rapi needed to take it nice and slow, but if Marian really was a threat then Rapi didn’t have such a luxury.
“No, no, it wasn’t me!” Marian stammered, looking at Commander with tears in her eye. She gripped her chest with her one good hand. She knew something was happening to her. Multiple things were. Marian couldn’t explain the sharp headache she felt just a second ago, nor the missing logs and memory, but she could explain the pain in her chest. “You have to believe me, Commander! I would never do anything to hurt you, I swear!”
He wanted to say it. He wanted to say he believed her. The problem was that Rapi had evidence to prove Marian was responsible for the attack on BA-01. A unique signal triggered explosives aboard the helicopter, and the black box had picked up on that detonation signal. He didn’t want to admit it, but he could be in danger right now. Even so, he didn't want to abandon Marian. Commander wanted to bring her in for a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay. She would certainly be punished for her actions, but they could find a way forward. His mind was a mess trying to figure out how this situation came to be and what he should do about it.
“Commander, please…” Marian begged. A small amount of static distorted her vocal cords as she spoke but it was near imperceptible. No one noticed it, not even Marian herself. She was too engrossed by wanting to win over Commander. “I didn’t do it. I protected you and helped complete the mission. Doesn’t that prove it?”
The young man considered this for a moment before nodding and taking a step towards his Nikke, his mind cleaning up some of the finer details and trying to justify that Marian wasn’t a threat to him. Surely there had to be some other explanation for the explosives being detonated. He didn’t know how it worked, but maybe there was a workaround that used Marian to trigger the explosives and made it look like she was the one to blow up BA-01. He felt awful for even doubting her. Marian had proven time and time again that she had his best interests at heart. He’d lost count of how many times she’d saved him today. If Marian’s goal was to kill everyone aboard the helicopter, then why would she put so much effort into saving him?
With Commander distracted, Rapi was able to circle him and train her sights on Marian again. She wasn’t going to let it go. A Nikke doesn’t just blow up a transport vehicle with half a dozen humans aboard and get away with it. The problem was Commander had gotten within arm’s reach of Marian, giving Marian the chance to use him as a shield again. Rapi silently cursed the man for his naivety.
Marian managed a pained smile as Commander approached her, getting so close he could easily wrap his arms around her and embrace her. Marian’s eye glistened as her only thought was to prove without a shadow of a doubt that she was on Commander’s side. How could she not be? She had to admit it, she’d fallen for the man. He was charming, he cared for her like no one else did. Marian thought the emotions she’d experienced today had been eternally lost to her. They joked about Commander’s laziness, she was embarrassed to be seen naked, she got angry on his behalf and worried about him. She would never, under any circumstances, do anything that would bring harm to him. If anything, she wanted to keep this relationship going. She wanted to continue to feel this good every day. With Commander so close, she might as well say it. “How could I betray you? After all, I lo-”
I love you is what Marian would’ve said if she wasn’t interrupted by a deafening mechanical roar. It caused Nikke to flinch and Commander to cover his ears, but it was still such a horrible, deep howl that Commander felt his bones rattle from the vibrations. There was no explaining the fear it instilled in him. Every fibre of his being was telling him to run. This was a fight he couldn’t win. Was this the Lord Rapture that Shifty mentioned earlier?
“The mission is over, it’s time to go home. Over? Over. Over here. This way.”
After the ear-piercing roar, Commander lowered his hands from the side of his head and heard a voice. It was distorted by static to the point of being nearly unrecognisable, but he could tell where the voice had come from. He looked at Marian and saw her standing there, all emotion erased from her face. He immediately noticed her one remaining eye was glowing red. Marian opened her mouth to talk, but instead of the expected pleasant voice full of motherly love she sounded like a poor signal coming through over a radio.
“Over here.” Marian began chanting over and over again with her new voice devoid of life.
“She’s been corrupted!” Shifty shouted over the radio, questioning when it had even happened. Regardless of when Marian had been corrupted by a Rapture, Shifty was now panicking more than before. Marian, against her will, had brought a powerful enemy straight to Commander. Whatever it was, it was too far away for Nikke radar to detect it. Was iDoll Ocean bait to make sure Marian reached a certain location? Shifty was trying her best to work through the information she had and come up with a reasonable explanation.
Blocking it all out, Commander simply stood up straight and looked at Marian. He had no idea what corruption was. He didn’t even know it existed. His mind was filled with what-ifs. What if Marian never returns to normal? What if her brain is damaged because of this? What if she needs to be killed because there’s no saving her? An image of Marian dying in his arms flashed into Commander’s mind and he grit his teeth in frustration. She was within his reach. All he had to do was take one step forward and embrace her. He was taking her back to the Ark. There had to be a cure for corruption.
But before he could act on his thoughts, a decision was made for him. Commander looked over Marian’s shoulder to see multiple thin but long objects burst through the wall of a nearby house and swiftly approach Marian from behind. They were something akin to tentacles, clearly made of metal as sunlight reflected off them. These tentacles had to be from a Rapture. They wrapped around Marian, covering her neck, stomach and one of her legs. The enemy’s intent was clear, it was going to drag Marian away. Without thinking, Commander reached a hand out to his injured Nikke. She looked into his eyes and began reaching out to him, but a split second before Commander could grab Marian’s hand she pulled back and smiled at him. As Marian gazed upon the man she’d come to love, she came to her senses and saved him one last time, her crimson eye regressing back to a bright azure.
Then she was dragged away into the building and disappeared from sight. They both knew if Commander had grabbed Marian’s hand, he would’ve been dragged along to whatever fate awaited the Nikke. But her fate was likely death. He wasn’t going to accept that. Even after being corrupted and taken by a Rapture, Marian still acted in the best interest of her commander and had stopped him from getting dragged down with her. He couldn’t just let her die like this. A pain ran through his chest not because he was physically hurt, but because he was emotionally hurt. The idea of losing Marian was too much for him, but all he could do was watch her be taken by a mechanical monster. Commander cursed his powerlessness.
Over the radio was Shifty’s shrill voice claiming that a Tyrant Rapture labelled Blacksmith was responsible for taking Marian. It was a disgusting Rapture that went after Nikke to use them as spare parts. Commander was prepared to go after it, but he didn’t need to. The Rapture decided to come to him. Bursting through two houses, sending brick and tile everywhere, was a Rapture the size of the dwellings it’d just destroyed. A series of explosives hit the Tyrant as Anis fired her grenade launcher and Rapi fired one of her few cluster grenades as they aimed to cover for Commander. They’d only known him a short time but they were absolutely going to protect their commander this time.
Fay sprinted to the man standing still in shock. Both herself and Samantha had grown fond of him in the short time they’d know him too. He was a good man they didn’t want to see die. No one was rushing to save Commander because of their duty to protect their leader. They were doing it to save someone they had great respect for. As Fay reached Commander and covered him with her shield, the pair were sent flying in the blink of an eye. Fay’s shield had resisted Blacksmith’s tentacles, but the pair had been hit with such force that they flew down the road.
Everyone fired their weapons at Blacksmith as they retreated to where their commander was. Approaching Commander’s side some thirty feet away, Rapi one-handed her rifle and knelt down to her leader. She put her hand out for him to grab. “We need to move, Commander!”
Commander was dizzy but instinctively grabbed the hand he saw in front of him and used it as an aid to stand up. Fay was already standing in front of him and was prepared to protect him from another attack, but her shield was looking worse for wear. A big chunk of her shield had broken off at the corner.
Looking over Fay now that he was standing, the young man saw the Tyrant Rapture and it was unlike any enemy he’d faced so far. Blacksmith was a truly disgusting monster. Six angled feet held up an excessively large and heavy body. A musty yellow and black core that shifted about in its seat acted as the connector for Blacksmith’s lower and upper halves. Beside its head were eight slots for tentacles, some of which were outstretched and holding Marian still. Further up it had what appeared to be missile launchers and a large speaker-looking weapon on its back. Spread out across its back were six red pods, three on each side. Spikes outlined its back and scythe-like attachments dangled from it. It had short, stubby arms with miniguns for hands that spawned from the core.
The sheer amount of weaponry this Rapture put it on a whole different level when it came to powerful threats. But that didn’t matter to Commander who watched the tentacles wrapped around Marian move her to one of Blacksmith’s red pods. It seemed like while the Tyrant Rapture secured a Nikke in its body, it wouldn’t do much else. Despite Commander and his Nikke remaining in the area, it didn’t pay much attention to them.
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“I highly recommend not picking a fight with a Blacksmith, Commander.” Shifty said over the radio. “You have a less than fifteen percent chance of success, and most of your squad will be dead even if you win.” Her main interest right now was seeing Commander get back to the Ark. If he picked a fight with Blacksmith and won, he likely wouldn’t have a full squad capable of escorting him back home. This fight wasn’t worth it in Shifty’s mind.
Commander heard the operator but ignored what she said. He was outraged by the Rapture and what it had done to Marian. He wanted to fight it, he wanted to save his injured Nikke, but now was also the perfect chance to run away. If Marian were in her right mind, she likely would’ve told Commander to run while he could. To fight another day. Commander said under his breath, responding to his own thoughts about running away, “Fuck that.” He wasn’t going to leave Marian for dead after all she’d done for him. He was going to save her no matter what.
Anis put a hand on Commander’s shoulder. “We should get out of here, Commander. I really don’t want to mess with that thing.”
“It’s not for you to decide.” Rapi barked in response.
Both of them were correct. Returning to the Ark was absolutely the smart decision to make. They’d completed their mission and were now outmatched by a powerful foe. They had no reason to stay on the surface anymore. He could see where Anis was coming from, he could feel her hand shaking as she gripped his shoulder a little too hard. Risking the many to save the few was a questionable option, if it was even a viable option at all.
“We’re saving Marian.” He spoke before his rational side could take over. He knew it was a bad decision, but he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he left Marian behind like this.
Rapi gave a satisfied nod and replied in a way unbefitting of the strict girl who always follows the rules. “The least we can do is try, for all the Nikke we’ve lost along the way.”
There was a moment of silence as Anis looked at Rapi. “...Looks like you finally found it, huh?”
“Maybe.” The red-eyed girl said, unsure of herself. Her goal had always been to find like-minded people that understood and valued Nikke as people. Her current commander was one of those very few people. Marian was also incredibly important because she seemed to have formed a close relationship with her leader, proving what Rapi wanted was possible. Humans could understand and respect Nikke and Nikke could understand what it was like to be human again. Rapi wanted to defend that relationship, for the tens of thousands of Nikke that died as tools for a war.
Forcing a smile, Anis thumbed a catch on her grenade launcher, opening up the cylinder for a reload. As she jammed more grenades into her launcher, she said, “Guess I’ve got no choice then. Let's kill this freak.”
Their determination to fight their foe was met at the same time Blacksmith finished securing Marian in a red pod atop its back. Since Commander and his squad hadn’t run, the large Rapture finally turned its attention to the human and his allies. Everyone took cover behind rundown cars scattered about the road as high calibre bullets shot through the air in their direction. The body of a car wouldn’t do much to stop such powerful rounds, but hopefully an engine block would keep them safe for a bit.
As his squad started shooting back, chipping a spike off Blacksmith’s back and blowing some armour off its miniguns, Commander started to think ahead. There were a limited number of cars littered about the street. Most of them were on the road, likely from when people attempted to flee from invading Raptures decades ago, meaning Commander and his Nikke should be able to safely retreat to other stationary shields when necessary. These cars were scattered about this way because people quickly realised they shouldn’t be making too much noise during the Rapture Invasion. People’s smart decision in the past was now supporting Commander’s admittedly bad decision in the present.
Thinking about defence wasn’t enough. Commander also had to think of offence. First off, their enemy had multiple large calibre ballistic weapons that could deal some serious damage. It had what looked like missile launchers, and it had tentacles socketed away for future use. The immediate threat was its minigun hands. He could deal with everything else as they came, but those ballistic weapons were capable of dealing too much damage.
“Focus fire on its miniguns for now!” Commander put a hand to his ear and shouted over the radio. “Anis, when it looks like it’ll fire missiles, shoot them immediately. We’ll use its own missiles to blow part of it up. 08, shoot that yellow core. Hopefully your sniper can penetrate and damage Blacksmith’s core and internals.”
Blacksmith began walking towards its prey, but it was slower than when it barged through the house a minute ago. At the end of the day, it was an electronic construct. Trying to run too many processes in quick succession could result in too much heat generation. Of course, Raptures had developed methods for dispelling excess heat, but they had to leave themselves vulnerable to do such a thing. For now Blacksmith was taking it slow in order to not overheat, and if its opponents started to become a nuisance then it would bring out the big guns.
Huge bullets tore through rusted car bodies as Blacksmith shot at the Nikke and human, but as expected its minigun rounds weren’t quite strong enough to punch through engines. Eventually, the hulking Rapture launched a tentacle towards Rapi who was standing to shoot, and in response she stepped aside so it flew past her. Under Commander’s orders, she grabbed it, steadied herself by placing a foot against her cover, and pulled as hard as she could. The metal tentacle strained under the pressure and eventually snapped, spraying black oil all over the battlefield. Blacksmith retracted what remained of its tentacle as Rapi tossed the robot’s limb aside and grabbed her gun that was resting against her back thanks to a sling.
As Rapi ducked back behind cover one of the large calibre minigun rounds hit her side, blowing a hole the size of a fist out of her torso. A glint appeared on Ocean’s helmet. It was her time to shine. Ocean one-handed her compact submachine gun and yanked open one of her two bags. A pair of drones the size of an adult’s head kickstarted their four rotors and came flying out of their home and moved over to Rapi. With a little appendage like an arm, they began implanting small amounts of nanomachines into Rapi’s side. The nanomachines got to work immediately, fixing up their patient as best they could. Repairs out in the field were nowhere near as good as they were back at the Ark, but every little helped.
Not wanting to be useless as she was repaired, Rapi kept blind firing over the car’s bonnet as Blacksmith still reeled in pain from having its tentacle ripped off. With the Rapture unstable its accuracy plummeted as bullets hit everywhere except where its targets were. Brick houses were torn apart and deep holes were gouged into asphalt as Blacksmith’s bullets flew about the battlefield.
“Fall back, find some new cover!” Commander called out over the radio, not wanting to rely on damaged vehicles for too long. They went in pairs, allowing some Nikke to lay down covering fire for their allies. Fay stuck to Commander like glue and her shield took another hit from the wild Blacksmith, tearing a second huge chunk out of it. Commander grabbed Fay by the back of her clothes and launched himself over a car’s bonnet with his Nikke close behind him. She was just about light enough for him to pull with one hand, which made him somewhat happy because he wanted to be as useful as possible to his squad. Dragging an ally to cover was something at least.
Just before both of them were moderately safe behind a new car’s engine, Blacksmith got a lucky hit in, blowing Fay’s foot off. Ocean’s drones were just about done patching up the hole in Rapi so they took their microscopic nanomachines back and headed for the girl with the shotgun. One healer drone was shot down on the way, but the other made it and began affixing a foot back onto its owner.
Now that it’d recovered from having part of its body ripped off, Blacksmith was focused once more. Using just its rifles was achieving nothing. It needed to go further. To use stronger weapons. So it began loading and preparing missiles for launch. They were spherical in shape and housed a hefty number of explosives. It should be enough to take out multiple Nikke at once. Such an attack would ruin their parts, Blacksmith couldn’t harvest much from Nikke that had been blown to a thousand pieces, but such was the price for survival. A thin red laser sight shone from Blacksmith’s back and lit up Anis and Rapi just as they clambered into the garage of a house.
“Anis, I think Blacksmith is about to use its missiles, get ready!” Commander ordered.
The girl with the grenade launcher rushed to load three more grenades. She was running low after constantly shooting at her enemy’s legs to try and knock it down. Anis just couldn’t land a good hit before, and there was a limit to how many grenades someone could carry. But now she had to be precise and strike true. If she could hit Blacksmith’s missiles as they left its body then she could deal a huge amount of damage. It was risky, the red pods on Blacksmith’s back were quite close to the missile launcher, but this was an easier way to win the fight. It was dangerous for Marian, but as long as her brain survived then she could be put into another body. They had to risk injuring her further in order to win against Blacksmith.
Gritting her teeth, Anis leaned out from behind the wall, took aim and fired. Holding the trigger down, she spun the cylinder of her weapon and fired all six grenades in quick succession. It was a technique similar to slam firing a shotgun, except Anis’ weapon wasn’t exactly made for such a thing. Five grenades rained down on Blacksmith, hitting it in multiple places including a spherical explosive just as it exited the Rapture's body. Large amounts of oil burst from Blacksmith as it stumbled about from countless detonations occurring atop its body. Clearly a chain reaction had started, blowing up the missiles within Blacksmith’s body.
Commander’s side didn’t go unscathed, however. Only five grenades had left Anis’ weapon even though it was loaded with six. The sixth had been fired early, causing it to hit the part of the cylinder that separates the grenades. Anis screamed vulgar language as one of her hands was blown off. On top of that she was missing multiple fingers from her remaining hand. Shrapnel shredded her torso and damaged some of her internals. Besides the physical damage dealt to her, Anis was also dazed and struggled to focus. Someone was saying something in her ear, but she couldn’t make out who was saying it and what they were saying.
Seeing an attack incoming, Rapi tackled Anis to the ground as some sort of beam travelled through the house and garage they were just using as cover. It was a particle cannon. Basically, a more concentrated and powerful laser. It dealt an insane amount of damage compared to its weaker laser brethren. The particle cannon cut through everything in its path, utterly demolishing multiple houses in a row and carving a new path through dirt and stone. Steam rose from the ground that’d been damaged by the cannon.
Samantha, who had been quietly working away at her task of dealing damage to Blacksmith’s core, succeeded. The tough glass core that appeared to house some strange liquid had cracked. Raptures needed a core, it was like their brain or heart. Without it they would die.
“Everyone, focus on Blacksmith’s core!” Commander gave his order and his team complied. At least, everyone that could. Anis was no longer in the fight. As he thought about his injured Nikke, Commander observed the Rapture lower a silver and red piece of metal down over its core to protect it. That wasn’t good, they needed to deal with the core in order to kill Blacksmith and get Marian back. The faster they dealt with their enemy, the better. This couldn’t turn into a prolonged fight. With the core shielded, they were back to square one.
Having been dragged behind another car, Anis was beginning to think a little clearer as she lay on her back. She took a grenade from her belt, struggling with only a thumb and a few fingers to hold it, and handed the explosive to Rapi who was crouched beside her. “Blow this asshole up.”
Commander saw this exchange between friends and an idea formed in his mind. But it was risky. If Rapi simply threw the grenade and shot it to blow it up, who knew what damage it would deal. That must be what Anis was thinking. But it relied heavily on Rapi’s throw being perfect. Instead of leaving it to chance, what if they made sure the explosive dealt maximum damage? It was a really dumb plan that could easily result in heavy damage to his team, but Commander felt like it was their best shot at dealing with Blacksmith as fast as possible.
Over the radio he laid out his plan. Rapi was to personally get Anis’ grenade as close to the Rapture’s core as possible. She would approach using Fay’s shield. As Rapi backed off, Product 08 would use her sniper rifle to hit the grenade right when it’s next to Blacksmith’s core. If need be, Ocean would need to act as a decoy. The hope was that they could crack the silver armour now covering Blacksmith’s core, jam Anis’ grenade into it and detonate it. It would be so close to the already damaged heart, the core, that it would finish Blacksmith off.
A hail of bullets hit their cover as Rapi thought about the plan. Blacksmith was back to being steady on its six legs. It was going to continue being a nightmare to deal with and she was running low on ammo. She had to assume most of the team was low on ammunition too. With this in mind, Rapi nodded and agreed to the plan. She could see where Commander was coming from, it was the best option at this point.
Everyone except Anis kept taking shots at Blacksmith, all while moving to new cover. They just needed to deal damage to that silver armour and then they could win. Avoiding another particle cannon blast, Fay managed to move closer and make her weapon a little more effective, and as she did this Rapi used her last underbarrel cluster grenade.
Commander, as he watched Rapi’s cluster grenade hit Blacksmith, thought he’d seen enough explosions today to last a lifetime. This was exactly what they needed though. That attack had dealt enough damage to Blacksmith, its silver armour was beginning to receive damage as cracks formed across it and small, nail sized amounts of the armour fell off. The plan was now in effect.
Ocean did what she needed to and acted as a distraction. She made a nuisance of herself by shooting at Blacksmith with her submachine gun while everyone else was in cover, causing large bullets to be fired in her direction. While their enemy focused on one particular Nikke, Fay tossed her shield twenty metres through the air. It clattered to the ground and slid to Rapi’s feet. Rapi tucked the grenade into a pouch and wielded a heavily damaged riot shield in one hand and an automatic rifle in another. After taking a deep breath once or twice, Rapi sprinted around her cover as fast as she possibly could, protection directly in front of her as she fired her weapon around the side of the shield.
Their medic had to take cover to avoid a tentacle and stay alive because Commander wasn’t going to let anyone in his squad die. This caused Samantha to pop up early in an attempt to give some covering fire for Rapi, but lasers struck both Rapi and Samantha. Rapi got off light, besides a graze to her leg the other beams hit her shield. Cracks formed across the entirety of the shield, showing signs that it could only take one more hit. For now it was just about holding itself together.
Someone who wasn’t in one piece, however, was Samantha. A laser had carved into her torso and separated an arm from its owner. Commander stupidly left cover and moved to Samantha, with Fay following close behind. He wanted to make sure his Nikke was okay, which thankfully she was. No significant damage had been dealt to her. But now who was going to take the shot? Even for Nikke, Sam’s sniper was designed to be used with two hands. It was exceptionally powerful. Fay wasn’t trained with it so she could miss, Anis couldn’t shoot anything and Commander most definitely couldn’t handle such a powerful gun. He looked around to see Ocean was too far away.
As Commander debated how to proceed, he watched as Rapi got within five metres of her objective. Tentacles struck her shield in a last-ditch attempt to get her to stop, and it appeared to work. Fay’s guard had made it through this entire mission, right until the end. But now it gave up. Now it decided to splinter into a dozen pieces and leave Rapi wide open. Another tentacle, one different from the others, whipped at the ground beneath Rapi, causing a small explosion and heavily damaging the Nikke’s leg. But Rapi did not stop. Now that she had a free hand, Rapi rushed her hand into a pouch and pulled out Anis’ grenade.
She was close enough now. Rapi could see a gap in the silver armour, and it was just the right size. Without thinking she jammed the rounded tube into Blacksmith and took a step back while raising her gun. She’d heard what’d happened to Product 08 over the radio, there was no one left to finish this besides her. With the grenade sitting there, ready to be blown up, Rapi pointed her rifle straight at Anis’ explosive. If the sacrifice for everyone else living was Rapi dying, then so be it. She was prepared because she had found what she was looking for. She found the relationship that could move humans and Nikke forward. It was Commander and Marian the world needed, not Rapi.
From here everything moved in slow motion for both Blacksmith and Rapi. They were granted the privilege of a racing mind right before death, allowing them to consider life up until this point and what might happen after they were gone.
Blacksmith warmed up its particle cannon for use seeing that it had been pushed into a corner. It was too late to retreat now so it might as well go down attacking. Even as Rapi charged at the Rapture, it hadn’t tried to flee. This was the reason Raptures were so feared. They pressed on without worry for their own life. As long as they achieved their goal, then the Raptures didn’t care how many of their allies died.
Rapi began the task of squeezing the trigger while seeing the Rapture appear to become desperate to win. In what should be her final moments, Rapi pondered whether Raptures felt some amount of emotion or whether they even understood what allies were. She was doing this for her allies, but could a Rapture do the same thing? Could a Rapture sacrifice itself and go out in blaze of glory so someone better could live to fight another day?
Enough pressure was applied to her rifle’s trigger, but just as a round was hit by a firing pin and shot down the barrel Rapi felt something she hadn’t experienced before. A man’s touch. Commander had figured out what Rapi intended to do and had rushed to her aid. She didn’t know why she was surprised, he’d been like this since she met him. Putting his Nikke above even his own safety. Earlier, in her mind, she had criticised Commander for being naive, but it was also his best trait. His willingness to act in the best interest of a Nikke was heartwarming to see. Rapi just wished his actions weren’t so reckless.
Wrapping an arm around Rapi’s shoulders, Commander watched as Rapi’s aim changed. Her bullet bounced off the silver armour covering Blacksmith’s core, just above where Anis’ grenade was. With the shock of being unexpectedly grabbed from behind, Rapi had flinched and the muzzle of her rifle moved up slightly. Commander wasted no time and used his free hand to pull out his sidearm. Rapi was too heavy to take down with the strength of just one arm so he placed a foot right next to hers and pulled her into it. His foot’s placement tripped his Nikke, causing her to go down with him. He pulled the trigger as many times as he could while Rapi’s weight now worked against him and dragged him behind a truck. One of his bullets struck Anis’ grenade, detonating it right as the pair hit the ground hard. Hitting the road with a Nikke’s weight atop him caused Commander’s left arm to snap like a twig, but at least both himself and Rapi were alive.
Time resumed to normal speed for Rapi as a deafening explosion went off just a few feet away from the pair. It obliterated the already damaged glass of Blacksmith’s core and shrapnel tore through the robot’s internals.
Blacksmith recoiled from receiving such a large amount of damage. Its core was destroyed and black liquid flew everywhere as it stumbled around. Eventually crashing into a house, Blacksmith’s legs failed and crumbled beneath the mass of its hefty body. The metal monstrosity went limp. It was dead.