Darling in the Franxx: Insurgency

Ch. 9: The Great Escape

Listening through the room door, the rest of Squad Thirteen could hear Zero Two's faint cries. Looking to each other as Zero Two grieved, they collectively nodded to each other. Turning the doorknob, a sudden wave of sadness shot through as they caught sight of Zero Two. She was trembling, her face buried in Hiro's bedsheets, while Hiro continued to remain unresponsive.

"Please say something, Darling...please." Zero Two begged, her fists clenching the sheets as she tried and failed to suppress the tears welling up,

Steeling herself for what was coming, Ichigo took in a deep breath before stepping forward; with a stern look on her face. Turning around as she heard Ichigo approach, Ichigo hesitated for a moment when she saw Zero Two's tear-filled eyes.

'Don't do this to me...not now.'

"Where were you? After you...attacked Hiro, you went AWOL." Ichigo then questioned, after taking a moment to breathe in deeply,

Zero Two contemplated for a moment as if deciding whether she could trust Hiro's Squad. Shaking her head internally, she turned back to Hiro; her cries falling silent as she pondered. Zero Two didn't move an inch from Hiro's side as the night progressed, preferring to protect and guard him from the rest of his squad.

'I have to get us out of here.'

It was three in the morning, and Squad Thirteen found themselves sitting in silence by the fireplace of the common room. Every single one of them; including Mitsuru, found themselves feeling a measure of guilt for Hiro's condition. Remembering the feeling of slapping Zero Two across the face, Ichigo stared at her hand distantly. Finally, resolving to keep Hiro with his squad, and away from Zero Two, Ichigo stood up.

'She nothing more than a danger to him.'

Marching over to his room, Ichigo took another deep breath before turning the doorknob and bursting into the room. However, what she found was an unlit room, while the curtains of the now-open window billowed in the wind. Looking around the room, Ichigo realized that Zero Two and Hiro were missing.

"C'mon Darling, it's just a little bit further!" Zero Two called back, as she pulled Hiro along with her hand,

The two then made it to the hangar, just as the engineers and security guards began to file out. Taking cover behind a pillar, Zero Two gulped a little as the tension of their escape began to weigh down on her. Skulking through the hangar, Zero Two found Strelitzia unchanged as it sat idle at the far end of the hangar. Rapidly, she brought the systems online as she strapped Hiro to his seat.

"We can do this, Darling!" Zero Two prayed, activating Strelitzia's systems,

However, with Hiro's condition, Zero Two found herself unable to link with Hiro voluntarily. After thinking for a moment, she resolved to escape using her strength. Ripping and tearing through its restraints, Strelitzia then bounded out of the hangar, setting off numerous alarms as it did so. Hearing the sirens, Zero Two could feel a line of sweat beginning to fall from the side of her head as she felt the stress of having to pilot a Franxx alone.

"So...that's how it is then." Ichigo sighed, as she watched the distant shadow of Strelitzia pounce from roof to roof while air-raid sirens sounded,

After a few minutes of relatively unimpeded progress toward the outskirts of the capital, Zero Two breathed a small sigh of relief just as a missile struck Strelitzia's rear; shaking the cockpit furiously. The missile sent Strelitzia tumbling, further exhausting Zero Two as she struggled to maintain the Franxx.

"You didn't really think you could escape from us did you, Iota?" Alpha's voice called out, as a lone Franxx appeared before Strelitzia,

"It must be exhausting, piloting Strelitzia all alone like that. Well, it's not like Hiro is going to ride with you ever again, so I see your frustra-" Alpha began to mock, just as Zero Two gritted her teeth; her eyes turning a deep crimson as she did so,

"Shut...your...mouth!" Zero Two roared, bounding from side-to-side as she closed the distance on Alpha,

Unable to react fast enough, Alpha felt a shattering pain in his right arm as Strelitzia pounced on him, tearing off the Franxx's right arm as it did so. Using its left arm, Alpha's Franxx fired a full clip of machine gun fire into Strelitzia's side; causing Zero Two to scream in agony.

What is she...doing...?

Persevering through the pain, Zero Two roared as Strelitzia tore off Alpha's other arm; casting it aside afterwards. Pinned to the ground, Zero Two focused all of her strength on firing the main cannon from Strelitzia's mouth. Then, it fired. Two one-hundred and fifty-two millimetre shells, fired in rapid succession, landed straight in the cockpit of Alpha's Franxx. Panting heavily, while Alpha's Franxx fell limp, Strelitzia began limping away; making it to her Mother's hideout, unimpeded, just before dawn the next day.

"Zero Two!" Her mother exclaimed as Zero Two pulled Hiro out of Strelitzia's cockpit; collapsing on the ground afterwards,

Her mother, catching sight of Hiro's blank stare and Zero Two's desperate attempts to bring him to safety, soon sighed as she wiped small tears away from her face. Turning to some passing soldiers, she ordered them off, turning back to Zero Two and Hiro afterwards.

"Don't worry, you two will be safe here." Her mother assured them, while Zero Two shook her head,

"Help Darling, please...help..." Zero Two pleaded, her vision becoming blurry as a combination of fatigue, injuries, and stress struck her unconscious.

Did she...take me with her?

Intermittent beeping from two heart monitors sounded out, as the Commander sat by Hiro's and Zero Two's beds. Anxiously waiting for them to awake, a soldier entered the room before saluting and handing her a small datapad.

"It's from Nana, ma'am. Central Forces have sent search and destroy aircraft out." The soldier reported, at which the Commander simply sighed,

"Prepare SAM's, but don't fire unless they discover us." The Commander ordered, turning to back to Hiro and Zero Two,

'Pray that they don't find us...'