Nikke is no stranger to making emotionally hard hitting events or tackling mature subject matter. But to say I haven't had a Nikke event hit this close to home since Nya Nya Paradise would be an understatement. This one is hitting very close to home, especially being released when it is.

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  That absolute idiot! They couldn’t possibly be that stupid is something that could only be said before disaster! It's like saying hold my beer and watch this! Nothing good came from taunting Murphy that aggressively!

  You might as well moon him for all the good it would do!

  People have apparently gotten way too flippant about provoking retaliation from the universe.

  Not that I was entirely blaming Eunhwa for that mistake. Most of the blame fell on Laplace. It was her, after all, that pulled off this shit not once, but twice. That I knew of! Who knew how many times that woman had fumbled a flying Rapture into a bridge? She was a menace against public safety! And public infrastructure!

  What did she think was going to happen?

  To say that I was beyond tempted to put a shot across Laplace's bow for this? An understatement. Something Eunhwa was actively doing. There were only a handful of reasons that I wasn't doing the same.

  The largest was that frankly, it was a waste of ammunition. We wouldn't do anything that could reasonably hurt them. The second reason?

  I'd get a whole lot closer than putting a shot across the bow. Clipping ears was more intimidating, and sent a stronger message.

  The final reason was that at the end of the day? This was an accident. A stupid, mind numbingly painful accident. But an accident all the same.

  Didn't mean that I wasn't planning on letting this stupidity slide. Once I could forgive. But twice? There was no faster way to show someone didn't learn a single lesson than to make the same mistake twice. I was going to give Laplace the verbal lashing that she so desperately deserved.

  Not to say that I was standing around, twiddling my thumbs. I was close to the lip of the canyon. Not too close. Getting blown in was the last thing I wanted. Depending on how deep it was, survival was unlikely. But I was hoping to get some measure of signal cross. Not that the odds of that were particularly high. The bridge was long, using what could only be advanced, by my standards, construction techniques.

  Enough distance that even shouting from one edge still couldn't carry across. And with Johnson being the only one who could contact and communicate with Shifty?

  That meant that we couldn't collaborate on a plan. Because of course the Ark never thought that a backup on the off chance that a group had split up, either by enemy action or simple, pure, incompetence. Nope, not a single hint of a functioning backup plan in sight. That would mean actually caring about Nikke’s on the surface.

  I mean, Eunhwa would just be swearing, but at least we'd have some measure of back and forth and could plan on what to do next. Well, besides what obviously came next.

  Ideally, regrouping and proceeding to dope slap the ever living shit out of the pack of idiots.

  Which meant.

  “And you didn't shoot at them because?” We were making our way to the nearest bridge with all due haste. Ideally, Matis would be at the other end, and beg forgiveness. If not? It wasn't like we didn't know where they were going.

  “Because it's nothing more than catharsis and I have more important stuff to use my rounds on,” I scowled. Eunhwa's question was probably sensible from her point of view, but it wasn't entirely from mine. Did I understand the need to physically vent your frustrations out using violence? Yes, absolutely.

  But was it the most useful thing you could do? Not always, and this moment was absolutely one of them. Meanwhile, I was putting my rage to actual good use, tracking them from whatever vantage point I could get up and down quickly. Which thanks to my powers, was quite a few.

  On that front?

  “They're currently cutting northwest, heading away from the canyon rim,” which was a bit annoying, meaning that getting an apology was going to be an after thing. There was only a single place they could be going, after all.

  “And why would they be doing that?” Eunhwa was not happy. Not that I could blame her. But the fact that the ire was whipping around towards me? Uncalled for.

  “Because Laplace is stupid enough that it was an accident. It wouldn't even be the first time,” I answered. Eunhwa wasn't going to want to hear that. The way her jaw set was proof enough of that.

  “She's done something like that before?” That was Anis, sounding a mixture of pissed and about to laugh out a bark.

  “Yes, the first and only time I had the luxury,” that last bit got put in air quotes, because sarcasm could never be too obvious. “Of working with Matis. We were trying to clear out a bridge. She saw an aircraft come over a hill, blind fired a shot into it, and it came crashing down.”

  “That doesn't remove the possibility of it being intentional,” Christ, butting heads was going to be a common thing, I see. Still, we didn't have time to stick around and argue.

  “If this was some sort of Syuen ordered plot, then it's not a great one. She already sent them to the surface without resupply. If there was much of a plan, it was to have us do all the work while they tailed us from a distance, then sprint ahead to cross the finish line,” that seemed like the plan Syuen wanted. At least, from my perspective. Why put in all the hard work when you can get someone else to do it for you? Syuen was a master at that sort of mindset.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “That does sound like something Syuen would do,” Emma nodded her head, even as Eunhwa still seethed. I could get the frustration and anger about something like this. “And I have a hard time believing she could plan for a Rapture to show up at that exact moment.”

  That actually got Eunhwa to seem to, if not cool off, at least even out. Which was also a great point from Emma. There was no way that Syuen could have possibly planned for them to run out of power, get picked up by us, and then get a Rapture into that position. That would require a degree of conspiracy brain rot I'm pretty sure would make Eunhwa's brain fry itself.

  That, and Rapi was with them. If she expected intentional play, we would have known.

  Not that I was in the mood to have another argument by smacking that particular button. Part of me wanted to pick, but we all had more pressing matters, and I didn't want to hear anything about Rapi being a traitor. Unlike Drake, she would kick Syuen if Rapi thought she could get away with it.

  “Plus, do you really think that ‘saving babies is a villain activity’ Drake and ‘my personal nemesis is windows’ Laplace would be able to keep any plans like that a secret for any length of time?” I shrugged. There was a slight downward twitch of her lips at my comment. Either of those two keeping a secret wasn't going to happen. Not long term. Loose lips sunk ships.

  Well not so much anymore. Hard to sink a ship when our navy was down to a single ship that never saw any combat because nobody thought it was productive enough to deploy it. Not incorrectly so, either.

  As much as it hurts to admit that.

  “Fine, but they did,” Eunhwa didn't need to finish the threat, even if I wasn't sure how much she could actually do if force came to shove. “There should be another bridge close by.”

  Again, she took point. Given how she knew where she was going, I let her. There was nothing lost in doing so.

  “Do you actually think they didn't do it intentionally?” Anis whispered in my ear.

  “If this were Wardress, then my tone would be drastically different right now. But Matis very much not them,” I whispered back. Wardress was an entirely different matter. There was also one simple fact.

  Even if Syuen was capable of pulling that off, Laplace and Drake weren't. Oh yes, they would try to lie, on Syuen’s orders. But to pretend it would go with any degree of grace? Maxwell was a different matter. She would tell a lie boldly, even if she didn't like it. Not well, for different reasons than the other two. But she would do so.

  They would always follow Syuen’s orders, regardless of whether or not they liked it.

  But they would actually do it grimly if they didn't like it. Given NIMPH? There was very much the fact that following orders was an excuse that could be used.

  Wardress would do whatever Syuen wanted with a smile on their faces most of the time. They might feel bad about it later. Key word being might.

  “So if I may ask, what was with that talking Rapture you were speaking of?” Emma slipped up alongside, Eunhwa turning back with a glare.

  That was a question I should have expected coming our way. I did give Ingrid all the information I had, but I also knew she didn't pass along everything. Ingrid was looking into a way to potentially block the signal. Something easier said than done, given we had no idea what was causing it.

  “Could he really talk?” Now Vesti was piping in.

  “Worse than that. He can understand,” I got a few looks at that. Neon and Anis knew what I meant. “When it comes to speaking, there are really two different types. Speaking with mimicry, and speaking with understanding. Mimicry is, while concerning, as it can be used to lure in targets, frankly the more simple of the two. Animals can do it. Understanding?”

  I paused. They wouldn't like this.

  “Understanding means, what?” Emma gently pressed.

  “Understanding means knowledge. It knows what it's saying is supposed to mean. And if it can understand language, that means it can think. It can rationalize, that it can make choices and plan ahead,” I said after a moment. “It means Chatterbox has at least human level intelligence.”

  “It's impossible for a Rapture to be at that level of intelligence,” Eunhwa scowled. I rolled my eyes. See, this sort of stuff was a problem.

  “Most Raptures are as smart as animals, yes. Thankfully for all of us. But Chatterbox can think properly. Ambushes, traps, the whole nine yards,” I shot back a glare. “What I have seen and experienced speaks for itself.”

  Keeping my lips closed that the Raptures likely knew where the Ark was and could have finished off humanity at any time was a considerable effort.

  “So you got ambushed by something as smart as an animal. Good way to show your inferiority,” never before in my life have I wanted to rip the stick out of someone's ass and beat them with it. Anis bristles slightly.

  “And the truth doesn't care about your opinion, Eunhwa. Ingrid trusted the information I gave her about Missilis's special operations squad. Information she passed on to you. Believe her or not, it doesn't matter to me,” I said coolly, but keeping my voice flat. As Anis had observed, bringing up Ingrid got Eunhwa's mouth to click shut.

  The path we were on opened up, revealing another bridge ahead. This one looked just as beat up as the first one. Even lasting two decades was important.

  “I hoped it would be in better shape,” Emma said, raising her hand to shade her face from the sun. She wasn't the only one, but I hadn't crossed my fingers. The real question was getting across.

  “It would be best if we went over in pairs of two,” Eunhwa said, looking across. I ignored the none to subtle snipe. “Once we cross, it should be close, if over open terrain.”

  “You do realize that means you'll be crossing with Elen, right?” Anis, on the other hand, was less forgiving of the shade being thrown. The look on Eunhwa's face told me exactly what she thought of that.

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  “We should fall back,” something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but something was wrong. What Elen had said rang in his head. About how the one of two ways the fire would have gone out. How it was unlikely the fire would have burned itself out unless the Natural Gas pocket was small.

  That, and the place was level. The briefing had said it should be a crater. Everything Matis and Absolute, plus Rapi had said it should be a crater. Instead, they were looking at a flat plain of sand and dirt. And Shifty wouldn't be getting something like this wrong.

  “The ground should be more torn up,” Maxwell admitted, looking out over the desert.

  “The coordinates would have to be wrong!” Laplace exclaimed. “That's the only explanation!”

  “Elen said that it was possible that the fire was cut off by artificial means,” Johnson said, Shifty running a check of the coordinates again. “We should fall back to a safer distance.”

  Maxwell's eyes widened a bit in surprise. “She thinks?”

  Anything more was cut off by Shifty shouting, no screaming, through the coms.

  “It's man made! The terrain is man made!”

  Rapi and Maxwell, already starting to move, barely avoided sets of tendrils that broke through the sand. Drake and Laplace were less lucky, their skin being punctured. Not for long, as the tendrils were swiftly destroyed by the pair.

  “A cowardly tactic!” Laplace shouted, as the ground began to rumble.

  “Picking up the signature of a Tyrant class beneath you!” Shifty shouted, a massive leg emerged before them, pulling the rest of the body to the surface.

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  The flare went up into the air not long after we crossed the bridge, hanging in the sky. It quickly had a date with Eunhwa's sniper. Not like it had long for the world but still. Brutal.

  Still, that gave us the motivation to surge ahead, closing the distance. As we got closer, we saw the body of a massive Rapture. It was big. Really big.

  Each leg could have been a building. Held between the limbs was a large body clearly meant to mimic a spider.

  “Where are they?” Anis asked, looking around at the carnage.

  “Spread out,” Eunhwa ordered. Which we did. Good to know she wasn't going to pretend that they were dead or anything.

  “Guys?” Neon said. I wasn't sure how many minutes passed. “I think they went this way.”

  This way being a massive hole in the ground, one that had what looked like metal at the bottom. From the lip to the bottom, it looked to be several hundred feet. A cone, with smooth edges of sand that looked deceptively less steep than they likely were.

  “Nobody could have fallen for something like this,” Eunhwa looked down. “But I'm not seeing anywhere else they could be.”

  “Because it likely wasn't like this when they arrived. This looks like an ant lion larva trap. Or, maybe sarlacc would be a more fitting example, given the scale?” And the odds that this place was made by hostile forces. Raptures weren't smart my damn flat ass.

  “Ant lion? Like Timi?” Vesti asked, looking up at me with confused eyes.

  “Sarlacc? Is it something with a lot of firepower?” Neon was being, Neon. But I could answer that too.

  “Ant lions build structures like this to trap prey, but on a much smaller scale. They are insects, after all,” I explained. We really didn't have time for this. “Sarlacc's are fictional creatures that do what ant lions do, but on a larger scale. They should be subjected to firepower.”

  “And how do you know any of that? You said Syuen messed up and you remember more than you should, but doesn't explain how you would know all this,” I was going to smack Eunhwa. We seriosuly did not have the time for this.

  “Eunhwa,” Emma said, seemingly trying to get Eunhwa to back off.

  “If you want to talk about my age, that can wait until later,” I ground out. “We have people to rescue! We don't have time for this.”

  We really didn't. This didn't get here without a reason. The sarlacc may have been fictional, but the reference did not come out of nowhere. There was only a single source of this. The Raptures. How long ago they beat us to this punch? No clue.

  “Fine,” Eunhwa let out a reluctant breath.

  Well, once more into the breach.