Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 13

Nomad and Judai spent around ten minutes stuck inside the hangar bay before they were able to move towards one of the dropships. Once Kismet and her team showed up, they were able to mow down what little resistance was left. It gave them just enough leeway to load Megumi onboard and prepare to evacuate the ship toward Nojiri. Paxton and Rowan arrived minutes later, both still battered from their encounter with Dmitri.

With the fighting nearing an end, Paxton could only hope that Tetsu and Rei had completed their planting of the bombs. He marched towards the dropship with Rowan, still drenched with blood and other matter from Dmitri’s skull. While on the way up, he gave Rowan some support and assisted to walk her into the dropship.

“Alright, what’s the damage?” Paxton asked the crew.

“Megumi’s hit, she’s gonna bleed out if we don’t get her back to the Mobile Carrier.” Nomad replied.

He led her inside of the dropship to Megumi, who was still lying on the floor clenching her abdomen. Her face was bruised from striking the inside of the hangar bay and she was fighting to stay awake. Paxton quickly knelt by her to try and provide some sort of field dressing. It wasn’t the first time he had seen one of his troops with such a wound.

“Kiss, get me some gauze, there’s gotta be somethin’ on this ship,” Paxton ordered her before turning to face Nomad and Judai. “You two get this thing airborne.”

“What about Rei?” Rowan asked him, still fighting to stand.

“Her and Tetsu will be fine, we need to get moving.”

While the rest of the troops got on board, Nomad and Judai found themselves staring at the controls. The vast array of buttons, switches, and other levers appeared completely foreign to the two.

“What’s the hold up?” Paxton barked.

“Give me a minute.” Nomad shouted back. He tried to think of the sequence used to start the Mobile Carrier, pausing to try and decode the controls.

“We don’t have a minute!”

“I’m trying,” he started to flip through the switches, slowly engaging the fuel line on the vessel. “I’ve never flown one of these, and our pilot is bleeding out.”

“Well, figure this shit out or were dead.”

“I’m trying, damn it!”

“Wait,” Rowan shouted, rising to her feet and storming towards the cockpit. She quickly pulled Nomad from his seat, taking his place and beginning to go through the controls. “I had to do an inventory on one of these, and we did a function check one time. I can start it, but I can’t guarantee a smooth flight.”

Paxton let out a sigh, keeping his focus on Megumi as he ordered, “Get us home already.”

Rowan started to go through the motions, feeling her enhancements beginning to take over. While she began to stare at the controls, she could feel a presence in her head reminding her of a previous moment in time. Her hands started to take over, quickly going through the remaining steps.

Judai watched her in awe before asking, “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

“It’s ok,” she remarked, shaking her head as she stared off in a daze. “I did this once, and there’s a chip in my head that documented it. My body is just going through the motions right now.”

“That’s nifty.”

Rowan could feel her grasp starting to slip as her body took off on its own. Eventually, she heard a faint whirring from inside the ship that seemed to give her control over herself again. The turbines on the side of the aircraft let out a screech, soon causing the occupants to light up.

“I got it!” Rowan shouted.

“Get us home.” Paxton repeated, faintly cracking a smile.

The rest of the troops braced themselves while the inside of the ship began to shake. Once it began to lift off, the hull began to light up with a series of thuds as the enemy forces began to descend on the area. Its thick, armored shell easily deflected the incoming projectiles, allowing Rowan and the others to finally escape over the woods.

As she nervously kept the ship level, Paxton was able to retrieve a med kit from Kismet. One of the first items used was a large swab of cotton-like material that was drenched with a type of antiseptic. Paxton inserted it into the wound with some resistance. Megumi let out a quick belt of pain and reached out to his arm. She began to dig her nails into his bicep, causing him to hiss back to her.

“Alright, you’re fucked up, calm down,” Paxton said. The material from the swab started to expand while slowly turning red. The blood seeping from her abdomen began to instantly clot while he remarked, “You’re gonna be ok.”

Rowan stared back at them, watching anxiously as he continued to apply first aid. Shortly after inserting the swab, Paxton placed a gelatin like substance over the top of the wound which quickly began to melt. It created a type of cap which would keep any bacteria from getting inside. He gave Megumi a pat on the shoulder before finally sitting next to her. Once again, he started to try and rub some of the excess blood from Dmitri off his blouse, still agitated to see his fresh uniform already unserviceable.

“What the hell happened to you?” Rowan asked him.

“When I said I’d pop some skulls, I meant it,” Paxton replied, this time reaching for his shoulder to remove the mechanical arm attachment. He let out a deep sigh after the machine hit the floor and tried to feel around for his pack of cigarettes. Once retrieving them, he could only groan after realizing the entire pack had been crushed during the exchange. “Ah, piss.”

He slung the pack across the room and began to rub his forehead, only causing more blood to smear across it. His frustration caused Rowan to snicker, which caused him to follow suit.

“Sorry,” Rowan said to him, trying to hold her laughter. “You’re a real mess.”

“Well, you should have seen the other guy,” Paxton returned with a grin before nodding to her. “You ok?”

“Yeah, I’m glad we all got out of that one.”

The dropship continued to speed over Aiga, narrowly evading more oncoming fire from the ground troops. It would continue over the woods where they would hope to encounter Rei and Tetsu.

Tetsu carried Rei over his shoulder for a little over a mile before they reached the meadow where they began. After finally getting some of her stamina back, Rei tried to push herself off him to regain her balance. She started to stumble over towards a tree before raising her hand to Tetsu.

“I’ve got this,” she said, continuing to refuse his assistance. She could not feel the presence of the Deep and could barely keep her balance. After a few steps, she completely lost control of her footing and ended up stumbling forward into the ground. “I’m fine, I got this.”

“No, you don’t.” Tetsu snapped back as he rushed over to help prop her up against the tree.

Rei started to lean back against it and collect herself once more. The power of Susumu’s strike had done more than just physical damage. She could barely hear the commands from her battle robe and was desperate to try and reach the presence from the Deep. Tetsu sat next to her and began to reach for the radio still tucked away in his yoroi.

“I never wondered how you knew about the Rising, but I guess that makes sense.” Rei said as she struggled to speak to him.

“He really wanted it, and I didn’t think it would ever lead to this. I know I should have never teamed up with him, I really wanted to do something to prove myself.” Tetsu confessed, his voice laden with sincerity.

Rei winced at him, both from the pain of her wounds and his revelation. She turned her gaze towards him, searching for any signs of deception.

“Why prove yourself to him?” she asked.

“I thought I could have kept control of the situation. If I knew that all of this would have happened like this, I would never have done it.”

Rei’s expression softened as a mixture of anger and understanding played on her face. She didn’t respond immediately, instead trying to process the many even that lead up to this point. The air hung heavy with tension, the weight of their shared struggle and present circumstances pressed down on them. Once again, she continued to think of her battle with Susumu and the attacks he used.

Seeing him guide the wind and use it as an extension of himself continuously reminded her of her encounter with Hiro and his men months earlier. All at once, the pieces started to fall into place. The gang she had fought months earlier were skilled Deep users like Susumu and nearly wiped her and her team out. It was a miracle that her and Jin were able to come out on top and escape death. Slowly, anger filled her face, and she felt a deep sense of betrayal.

“When you came to my village,” Rei finally spoke. “You came with a gang, didn’t you.”

“Yes.” Tetsu hesitantly replied, this time lowering his head.

She thought of what happened to Shugo following the events, and again of Dan, Sara, Kai, and Ami. The brutal battle not only changed the life of the villagers but had felt as if the spiral in her life started with that battle. Her growing rage started to overwhelm any glimmer of sympathy that she once held.

“You were going to give that Rising to those monsters.” She said once more, slowly starting to shake from her resentment.

“I’m sorry,” Tetsu replied, this time his eyes started to water up. He already failed Paxton and the others by not detonating the bombs, and as he pleaded with her, remorse played on his features. “I know I can’t fix whatever happened to your village, but I’m trying everything to do better.”

Rei closed her eyes and started to think of the village again. She had lost too much at this point to hold a grudge and seeing him sulking started to make her think of losing Shugo. The circumstances were the same. Despite the anger welling up inside of her, she took a deep breath. Her gaze softened as she was reminded once more of the same pain. After swallowing what rage built up, she looked over Tetsu and reached out towards him.

“Tetsu,” Rei began, her voice steadier than she once felt, “I’m angry that you would choose to work with Susumu, but I’ve lost too much. There was somebody I lost; somebody I cared a lot about.”

Tetsu’s eyes flickered. He knew he jeopardized their friendship and failed the others. The consequences were hanging on him. There was a tense silence as Tetsu absorbed her words. The weight of the situation continued to press heavily on them both. Rei couldn’t shake the fear of losing anybody else and could only hope that Tetsu could redeem his actions. He turned back to her, still wrestling with his mistakes.

“I hope you can forgive me,” he said as he started to lift the radio. “We need to call the others. I don’t think either of us have the strength to walk back to Nojiri.”

Rei nodded in agreement. Despite all of this, she knew that their chances of survival in the woods and the chances of being found by the G.E.I. troops posed a grave and imminent threat. Tetsu’s fingers moved swiftly over the buttons on the radio. He started to communicate with the crew aboard the dropship, hoping that they would be able to arrive soon.

The tension in the air shifted, this time the focusing on their shared goal of overcoming the external threat over their turmoil. Amid uncertainty, Rei found solace in the idea that they could still stand together against the looming darkness ahead, even though their bond had been strained. The radio crackled with their distress call, a lifeline connecting to them to the support they would need.