Heart of Steel

Chapter 9: With Allies Like These . . . (2)

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"Why didn't you save us, Commander?" 

"You left us to die. To Die. To Die." Another voice called out. 

"Stop running from us commander, and face us!" The voices cried out. The scene in front of him was that of that day. His gun only had two bullets left. And it wouldn't fire. So all he could do was run. They're catching up to him, and like always he falls. He can't bring himself to do it, there has to be a way to reverse what happened but . . . he already knows the outcome. 

"I'm sorry, okay?!" He tried to plead. "I couldn't help you then, I know but please-"

 A purple blur slashed through the nightmarish visages. Turning to him, it approached and whispered . . . something to comfort the distraught commander, though what it said wasn't clear, as it sounded like things were underwater. Maybe the reason he's so driven to see this mission through despite Syuen thrusting it upon him is to at least thank the Pilgrim he saw that day. Vulca groggily shook his head to snap himself out of his funk.

"Finally awake?" Crow asked as he came too. 

 Vulca glanced at his surroundings and remembered where he was. Right . . . he was still here. A relieved sigh escaped his lips. Then he remembered something. Crow was sitting rather close to him. 

"Wait, were you watching me sleep?" 

"No."

"She was." Viper said nonchalantly as she was on her phone. Crow shot her a withering glare as Jackal was still sleeping on his shoulder. Vulca smiled softly as he gently woke her up. After some downtime and breakfast with the remaining splendamin Vulca had, the quartet set out.

"We should be nearin' the area where the Pilgrim was theorized. Hopefully, it's who I think it is." Vulca told the Exotic squad. Yet . . . they weren't listening again. Despite the progress, Vulca believed they made. Then suddenly Jackal perked up and began scanning the area.

"What is it, Jackal?" Crow asked. And then a bullet whizzed by, grazing Vulca's arm, and then another went through his leg. Without a moment to react, Raptures began to swarm all around them.

"Let's fall back for now, and prioritize heading to a better position! Taking them on here is going to end badly!" Vulca called out to which the squad didn't listen again. 

"Gross! All I did was shoot it a little! Gross, gross!" Viper hissed as she stomped on the remains of one Rapture. Jackal was laughing wildly as she fired indiscriminately, a few missiles barely missing her teammates and lastly Crow seemed to be the only one taking it somewhat seriously.

Still, if none of them took the battle seriously, things could very quickly go from bad to worse. Which they did. Right as Vulca was trying to move out of the way, the building near him began to collapse and the debris was headed right towards him. He tried to make a move but his leg gave out because wound it had just sustained. 

"Another collapse? Just my luck." He thought to himself. Surrounded by Raptures on all sides and this time he was going to die due to a building falling on him. That was until he was tackled out of the way. 

"Are you stupid or something?! Why would you just stand there?!" Viper chastised him, before realizing. "Are you . . . bleeding?" Viper asked, her eyes widening as she dropped him so he wouldn't bleed on her. It dawned on Viper that the only reason he didn't move out of the way was thanks to having just taken a bullet to the leg. Thankfully, from his assessments, it missed any important arteries.

"I should have a first aid kit. I'll live." Vulca said trying to find it, only for him to find it mostly empty save for disinfectant. He blinked, opening and closing it to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. No gauze, no bandages, no nothing. Looking to Jackal she twiddled her fingers as his suspicions were confirmed.