[SFW VERSION]
🌹 There's something wonderful in those who stare death in the face. Even in a world wracked by relentless calamity, flowers blossom between a sea of corpses, the shapeless crimson rivers marched over by mechanical instruments of mass...
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"Heroes... heroes don't give up!" Laplace didn't care anymore. Not about the consequences, the gravity of the situation, the sheer hopelessness filling the air.
She figured, even without a mighty hero's weapon, she could still fight. For the future, for the present, for those who had fallen in the past. This Rapture, no matter how small Laplace was compared to it, would die. That hero would not succumb to a death in vain, and so she stood, unarmed, looked the creature in its eye as it rapidly approached, and she burst out toward it.
"For the Ark!" she shouted, her hair wildly flowing over her face as she tackled the robotic creature with all her might. It resisted with a push and a metallic shriek, its spider-like limbs too strong for the hero to overcome.
Laplace gritted her teeth, planted her feet in the ground and took hold of the Rapture's body. She hit the thing with her fist again and again, pounding away at its unbreakable metal vessel. Her hand clanked against the beast's singular eyeball, that red orb radiating dominance and wild hostility.
"Die, fiend! Die!" Laplace cried, but alas her heroine was not enough to breach even the slightest of defenses. The Rapture's eyeball shimmered with that deadly alien glow, and then it sent off a beam of light. Laplace was too close. That light penetrated her chest, soaking right through her uniform and punching out the other side.
She froze as the pain set in, and a gaping hole opened within her. Her spittle became splashes of blood, her vision now blurry and chopped. The only thing Laplace could see now was the glimmering eyeball that had impaled her.
"Heroes... don't... die."
"... Syuen..."
And just like that, her vision went blank and she dropped to the ground.
. . .
"Come on then, chumps!" cried Drake, even though her weapon was empty. She held it up and instead of shooting, she smacked the barrel of the gun off of the Rapture's head.
Nothing happened, of course. All it was was a desperate attempt at fighting back. Desperate, but not quite fearful. The girl who believed she was a villain at heart didn't stop to wonder why she fought so hard for the Ark. It never occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, her villainy paled in comparison to her righteous heart.
As usual.
Even when a Rapture jumped at her and knocked her effortlessly to the ground, she clutched her weapon tighter and continued to swing it like a blade of crimson.
"Do... do your worst," she said, her voice growing weaker by the second. Surprisingly, she didn't scream when that same Rapture stabbed a limb into her shoulder. No — instead of crying out for help, Drake grinned.
"Chumps," she said. "All of you..."
The gang of metallic aliens closed in.
"I'll get you. All of you. I'll get all of you back for—"
Bang.
. . .
The battle was simply lost and Maxwell knew it. Firing off her final piercing shot and missing the Raptures entirely drilled that thought into her head: that it was over for her.
Over for everyone.
Over for the Ark and its people.
She threw down her weapon, wiped a smear of blood from her arm, and awaited her demise.
"I'm useless, Syuen," she whispered to no one but herself. "I'm so useless."
Rapid clicks and clattering echoed down the field as Raptures crawled toward the girl. With their prey now open to attack, it was time to strike. Maxwell wasn't planning on fighting back. Matis had already lost.
"... stop! Stop! Cut it off!" someone shouted.
Maxwell looked over her shoulder. Suddenly, the world around her was fading out, the rocks and rubble becoming empty and white.
The door to the simulation came open and Syuen rushed in, frantically waving her arms.
A feminine voice sounded over the speakers within the room: "Simulation: End. Operation: Failed."
Syuen hurried over to her squad, first to Drake, then to Laplace, slapping their faces and forcing them awake.
Laplace shot up like a bolt of lightning. "Ah! Ah! What?! Are they dead?! Did we win?!"
"No, you dimwit! You failed the damn simulation!" Syuen slapped Laplace's cheek one more time. "I taught you better than that!"
Maxwell stared down at her weapon on the simulation room floor, feeling nothing more than silly. She knelt down and picked it back up. "We... failed?"
"Ugh." Drake stood and started rubbing a headache out of her temples. "Seriously? They can't give us credit for fighting till the bitter end?"
"You idiots!" cried Syuen. She was fuming, her little round face red and pouting. "You're hopeless! All of you! Hurry and get up before that damned Commander sees you like this! I cannot let him have the satisfaction!"
"The Commander?" Maxwell said, looking around. "Jeez. That would be pretty embarrassing, huh? Come on, guys." She gestured to the other two.
Laplace got to her feet. "R-right! I wouldn't want Birdie to see this hero in distress!"
Little did everyone know, you were already walking into the simulation room.
Syuen froze up as soon as she heard you granting her a slow applause. Her face twisted into an even hotter anger. She very slowly turned to face you with her fists clenched.
"In your face, Syuen!" You laughed and started pointing at her. Her lips quivered in raw rage. "Who's got a team of misfits now?"
Your laughter literally caused her to growl. "You little—!"
"Suck it, loser!" You clapped louder, howling with laughter, completely amused by her expression.
Laplace, Drake, and Maxwell only exchanged short glances among one another as you and Syuen stood off against each other. Once they realized Syuen might be arguing with you for a while, all three Nikkes snuck out of the simulation room. It seemed like the easiest choice.
Anything to avoid Syuen's wrath for a while longer...
