Author's Note: Alright guys, sorry for the delay on this one, my job got busy and so did life, but here it is, the 3rd chapter of this story. As stated before I'm a one man team and some editing fuck ups slip past me.

Disclaimer: this story is rated M for things to come in the future... that is all I'll say.

Other Disclaimer: The names I used for the Seven sages (those are members of Papa's council) came from the Darling in the Franxx Wikia. I don't know if they're actually the names but, it's all I could find.

Faceless wasn't a word Hiro never expected to use to describe the Franxx. That being said he had only ever known Squad 13's Franxx in all of their color and unique weaponry. The ones that the Nines used were emotionless, lacking any semblance of humanity in their porcelain white faces. They had somehow even surpassed the dutiful, yet bored, look that encompassed the Franxx of the Plantation 26. It would be these faceless, cold, and unfeeling machines Hiro and Zero Two would be fighting alongside.

"Darling," Zero Two broke the silence as the lift they were riding stopped at the pilot's scaffolding, "are you ready?"

"Yeah," Hiro shrugged. He was about as ready as he would ever be; the Nines, as described by Nana in the few hours before the operation, were special forces unit. Hiro never expected to be fighting alongside the best of the best, and he didn't know what to expect. He had one job, and that was to support the Nines in this one operation, the fight of his life. He clambered into the cockpit of Strelizia, the closest thing to home on the battlefield

Zero Two leaned in and kissed him as he took his seat, "love you."

"Love you too," Hiro smiled.

As she placed her arms and legs in the holes of the pistil controls the inside of the Franxx came to life, the HUD began lighting up with various alerts telling Hiro that Strelizia was offline.

A voice crackled to life over the comms, one that sounded just like Nana, save for the fact that she addressed Hiro by code rather than name, "Code 016 you are cleared for startup."

"Understood Nana, but why m-," Hiro began to ask.

"Please, Code 016, keep questions relevant to the mission," she cut him off.

"Strange," Hiro thought, "she's never done that to me before."

Hiro clicked the buttons on the tops of the control wings, watching as Zero Two's face in all its beauty shrouded by the Paracapacity hood. As per usual both their numbers surged to the high end within a matter of seconds, and once again their minds became one, but only for a moment. Strelizia's magma driven turbines began to kick on, shooting out a small puff of exhaust from the skirt of jets at its waist before spooling down once again. The Paracapacity gauges momentarily faded away, revealing a small representation of Strelizia with several green checkmarks around it. They were all good to go.

"Nana," Hiro spoke, "Strelizia is all green, awaiting orders."

"Standby Strelizia," Nana replied, "you will be moving out after Nine Delta and Nine Epsilon."

"What?" Zero Two spoke in a mix of surprise and anguish, "we're going last in the line up?"

"Line up?" asked Hiro.

"The Nines fight differently from Plantation 13," Zero Two explained, "they use formations and tactics like no other plantation and they kill with extreme precision."

"What does that have to do with a line up?"

"It means we're on clean up duty… we get to see the least of the fighting," Zero Two sighed, "if I don't kill enough of them I can't be human."

Hiro wanted, right then and there, to reach down and wrap his arms around her, the only thing stopping him was the Franxx's need for paracapacity. He wanted to remind her that no matter what she looked like he would still love her.

"Squad," the voice of Nine Alpha spoke through the comm, its inherent conceited tone irritating both Zero Two and Hiro, "let's move out."

"Jeez, I can already tell this is going to be boring," Delta replied.

Hiro watched in the Hud as the faceless Franxx moved out in unison forming a line.

"Come on Zero Two," Hiro spoke softly, "we'll be alright."

Zero Two was right, sitting in the back of the formation was about as exciting as watching paint dry, it lacked everything that a fight should have, from the glamor to the gore. They had been burning fuel for only an hour, and none of hit had been for any real fighting. Hiro slumped in his chair, bored out of his mind as Nine Delta went soaring past him, talking about how boring it was. Which of course was enraging.

"Heads up Nines," Nana spoke with that uncharacteristic monotony that Hiro still couldn't wrap his head around, "A large mass of Klaxosaurs are moving out from the Gran Crevasse, Gutenberg-class along with some Moho-class, back up squads are being rerouted to assist you."

"We don't need it," Alpha shot back.

"Understood Nine Alpha," Nana replied, "the group is tracking out towards your east."

"Squad," Alpha said as he turned towards the rising sun, "let's go!"

Hiro felt the resistance in the controls, she didn't want to go. He felt he could push as hard as he wanted and nothing would come of it.

"Are you okay?"

"They're idiots," Zero Two groaned, "Gutenberg class Klaxosaurs and they're not even willing to pull back for assistance."

"We can help," Hiro said nervously, "but you're right."

Hiro thumbed the mic button on the controls, switching from the Squad back to Nana, "we'd like to find help with this threat Nana."

"Code 016," said Nana, "move forwards with your team, your squad leader has already rejected any offer for help; you're on your own now."

"Shit," cursed Hiro as he pushed Zero Two forwards, turning the microphone off as he did so, "we're on our own Zero Two."

"Time to school these idiots," she laughed.

Hiro could feel the controls switch their resistance, pushing forwards came with ease, and pulling back was a struggle; well, at least she was ready to go.

"Woah Zero Two slow down," Hiro spoke nervously, remembering the last time she had surged forwards out of control, "we should take a look at how the rest of the squad is doing."

"But Darling…" said Zero Two, the controls still not giving up in his hands.

"We need to take our time," said Hiro, "look ahead." In front of them the towering silhouettes of the Gutenberg class outlined the horizon as the sun shone just above them. Their shadows cast long along the dead soil that blew in eddies at Strelizia's feet. The Nines were already engaged and it almost looked like they were losing; the Moho class having swarmed them caught them off guard and they were severely outnumbered.

"We'll take the small ones out first," Zero Two shouted as she pushed Strelizia forwards, Queen's Pike at the ready.

"Sounds good to me," Hiro smiled. They cut through the first one effortlessly, then the second, and the one after that like a well-oiled machine. The flow of battle and the blue blood of the klaxosaurs surrounded them both; they felt invincible, like they could go on forever.

"Strelizia watch out!" Delta shouted from her position crumpled at the ground.

Hiro swiveled his head just in time to see the appendage of a Gutenberg class hit them full force, sending them tumbling across the scorched ground, dust kicking up around them as they finally came to settle. Hiro was dazed and for a minute all he could.

"Asshole," Zero Two grunted as Strelizia righted itself, "damn asshole…"

Hiro could feel her, he knew her, and he knew all he could do was prepare himself for what was to come; his grip tightened on the controls. Strelizia's jets kicked on and Hiro yanked back on the controls; now was not the time to be reckless.

"Darling don't hold me back!" Zero Two yelled back at him.

"We need support for this, there is no way we can take it and the rest of them out on our own," Hiro spoke calmly, "don't lose your head."

The Gutenberg was lumbering towards them now, as the rest of the Nines struggled to move away from them.

"Fall back!" Alpha shouted.

"Nana we need support squads rerouted to us," Nine Beta's ridiculously calm voice called out, "we are falling back."

"Do not fall back," Papa's voice suddenly filled the air, the Hud showing his masked face, "we cannot lose the Gran Crevasse."

"We're out numbered!" Hiro cried out, "we can't hold them off forever."

"Defend the flank," Papa commanded, "you do not have my permission to die."

"Permission to die?" Hiro thought, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"Come on," Hiro shouted as he brought Strelizia back around, "we're getting out of here!"

"You heard Papa," Gamma said in a chillingly indifferent voice, "we aren't leaving."

"We're going to get killed out here!" Hiro retorted, "do you want to die?!"

"We won't die," said Beta, "Papa said we can't die."

"What the hell does Papa know?!"

"Papa knows everything," Epsilon replied, "don't you dare question his authority."

"His authority comes from miles above this battleground, our fight," Hiro spoke calmly, trying to hold back his anger, "we stay here, and we die."

"If you leave," Alpha said, "I'll be sure to have you and Iota reported."

"Fine," Hiro scoffed, as he pulled back on the controls, watching as Strelizia's jets obscured the nines in a cloud of dust.

"Where are we going, Darling?"

"We need to find every squad that we can pull from the rear guard," said Hiro, "or the nines all die."

"Okay," said Zero Two, "we should move fast."

Strelizia teared across the scarred battle ground, the remnants of recently deceased klaxosaurs and disabled Franxx scattered across the ground. Parasites in various states of confusion surrounded their disabled machines.

"This isn't going well," Hiro mumbled, gazing sadly at the parasites who lost their partner; after having seen what Squad 26 looked like, it made sense, they didn't know what death really was.

"Don't dwell on it, Darling," Zero Two reassured him, "we'll make them pay."

"Sitrep," Papa stated to the air of station Cosmos. Not a moment later the various Hachis appeared on the virtual screen in front of him.

"Papa," said one, "Squad 47 has suffered heavy losses, I need to pull them back and initiate a rescue attempt."

"Papa," said another one, "Squad 17 has been rendered combat ineffective, from their reports the front line is crumbling, it is in our best interest to pull our remaining forces back from the gran crevasse and regroup."

"Papa," a third one piped up, "Squad 33 remains in the rear echelon guard, we can move up and relieve the vanguard so they can regroup."

It was times like this that Papa felt extremely out of sorts, and most of the time the Hachis were correct in their assessment, but they couldn't pull back, now that they were so close. "How many of you have received severe casualties?" asked Papa.

Twenty of them replied back.

"All of you that have," Papa breathed in through his metal mask, "initiate protocol 32."

"Papa," said one Hachi, the one that was slightly more acute to tactics and strategy than the others, Plantation 13's Hachi, "this will leave the right flank mostly unguarded, this will result in more casualties."

"My order stands."

"Papa," said another one, "Plantation 26 is running out of fuel for our Franxx, may we be given more?"

"A battlefield kissing would be unwise," replied Plantation 13's Hachi, "as the large magma flows would redirect the hordes towards Plantation 26 and the rest of the rear guard."

"Plantation 26 tell your Franxx to hold back at the rear guard, we'll figure out the logistics of that later," said Papa, "the rest of you proceed with protocol 32."

"Yes Papa!" everyone replied as they blipped off his screen.

"We're losing our hold on this situation far faster than expected," the Vice Chairman turned to Papa, "perhaps we weren't ready?"

"Erase that thought," Papa shot back, "we will take the crevasse, at all costs; prepare for orbital bombardment."

"Orbital bombardment?!" Tarsier recoiled, "that would devastate the area and quite possibly wipe out all the plantations; please tell me you'll order a retreat if it comes to it."

"If the situation provides, then yes."

"I'll give the order," the Vice Chairman said as he lowered his seat to the floor.

"I wonder how they're doing out there," Zorome pondered as Squad 13 held fast in their defensive positions.

"They're probably okay," Miku replied to her partner, "or at least I hope they are."

"You're probably right," Zorome said, not so sure of his words. In the last hour they had seen Franxx from different plantation's limping home, some in stampede mode, some missing parts of extreme importance. It shook him on a level that was indescribable, "I just want to see them come home in one piece."

"I'm pretty sure all of us do," said Ikuno over the comms, "right?"

"Yeah," said Ichigo, "right…"

"Conrad Class on the left flank," Nana reported to all of them.

"Roger," said Mitsuru as he turned Genista towards the west, "I've got it."

"Hey come on Mitsuru," said Zorome as he began to push Argentea forwards, "let us have this one!"

"Where are you pushing me?!" Miku cried out, "I thought we agreed that you would be gentle with me!"

"Leave me alone I'm bored!"

Mitsuru rolled his eyes, "fine, go for it."

"Never change, you two," smiled Goro as he bowed his head in suppressed laughter.

"One fast moving contact, coming from the north east," Nana said over the comms, "heading directly for you."

"Fast moving?" asked Goro, "is it a Klaxosaur we haven't seen before?"

"Negative," Nana replied, "it's Hiro and Zero Two."

"Hiro?" Ichigo asked, "but he was deployed with the Nines?"

"Affirmative," Nana replied, "something must have gone wrong."

"Almost there Zero Two," Hiro strained as they continued racing towards squad 13, "just a little bit longer."

"Can we contact them?"

"Just out of range," said Hiro as he looked up at the comm line, which at that moment chose the perfect time to come alive with the sound of a confused Futoshi, "what's going on up there, Nana?"

"Guys," Hiro said, "we need you up front, we need everyone up there."

"Papa's orders were for us to remain here," said Ichigo.

"Papa's lost it," Hiro shot back, "and we're all going to die if we don't regroup our forces, the Klaxosaurs are just thinning us out."

"Code 016 is right," Hachi came over the comm, "I tried to explain this to Papa earlier, but we can't just defy his orders."

"If we don't 'defy his orders' he isn't going to get the gran crevasse," Zero Two exclaimed, "splitting up the field like this is just going to get Hiro and I killed."

Silence filled the frequency, everyone pausing to think about the implications of what Hiro and Zero Two had just said. If they did what he asked, they would be disobeying the person they had been born to serve. On the other hand, in a part of each of them they knew that Hiro was right; the entire fight for them had been spent fighting off the odd Conrad class and watching Franxx from the front lines barely make it back to their base.

"Alright," Hachi said, "Squad 13, prepare to move out with Strelizia, I will notify the rest of the plantations stationed here."

"But Papa's orders," Ichigo began to protest.

"I am overruling him on the basis that we are on the ground, and he is not."

"Well," Goro spoke up, "you heard him, let's go!"

"Sir," Marmoset spoke up, "several squads are breaking from their assigned positions, they seem to be moving in to assist the vanguard… or what's left of the vanguard."

"What?" Papa asked.

"It seems that the Franxx designated Strelizia is leading the charge."

"Which squads?"

"Squads 13, 26, 18, 42, 20, 33, and 10."

Papa opened his virtual screen, selecting the Franxx in the squads and Strelizia on a long list of contacts, "what are you doing, return to your posts immediately."

"We're going to die out here if we do," Hiro replied calmly, "if we all die out here then you aren't ever getting the gran crevasse."

"The gran crevasse will be captured, return to your post."

"All due respect," Hiro acknowledged, "you don't know what's going on down here… the carnage is indescribable; we're taking this matter into our own hands."

The comm clicked off, Hiro's face fading into the white walls of the room.

They rushed back to the battlefield in silence; an odd, ambiguous sense of dread spilling through them as they rode their way back to the gran crevasse. The looming tower of the Gutenberg class Klaxosaurs looming in the distance, but with one more addition to the group. In front of them, a large blade like klaxosaur rolled through the field of the dead.

"Super Lehmann Class klaxosaur ahead… holy shit," Nana spoke in a panicked yet hushed tone, almost as if she were afraid of alerting it to her presence in the safety of Mistelteinn's command center.

Her reaction to the klaxosaur was warranted, as the feeling of dread circling around the Franxx and their pilots lost its ambiguity, firmly planting and establishing itself in all of their minds.

"How are we expected to take that thing out?" Miku shrieked, the anxiety starting to set in with her as well.

"Stand by," Hachi spoke as calm as ever, "the plantations are formulating an artillery solution, reports state that its outer armor is a mere shell."

"I sure hope those reports are right," Ikuno grumbled.

"If they are Zero Two and I can take it out, but we need the rest of you to take care of those Gutenberg class.

A chorus of affirmation rang through the comms as the Franxx began to fan out in a wide arc, weapons at the ready.

"Solution set," Hachi spoke again, "rounds are inbound, brace for impact."

Hiro and Zero Two watched as the rounds from the plantation defense cannons streaked in exploding near the sides of the klaxosaur, shearing off its armor, which in reality happened to be a bunch of Conrad class glued to the sides of the Lehmann. It was a truly impressive display, the plantation cannons were never designed to kill a Klaxosaur, merely fend it off as the Franxx would scramble. Hiro took a deep breath as he watched the Conrad class fall around him like rain.

"Ready Zero Two?"

"Always, Darling."

"Let's do it!" yelled Hiro as he pushed the controls as far forwards as he could bear, the resulting burst in acceleration pinning him back to the seat. Zero Two moved Queen's pike directly in front of them, the long handle extending the tip of their spear half their length in front of them, aiming for the blue ball of klaxosaur blood which encased its core. For a moment, Hiro's screen turned a vibrant blue as they plunged through, before reemerging on the other side with the core impaled on the tip of their pike. They punched through the other side of the Klaxosaur's armor, the one area that hadn't been affected by the plantation fire, pushing the core further down on the weapon as they flew out of the other side coated in the Klaxosaur's blood. Small droplets falling to the ground as Strelizia landed effortlessly as the now lifeless Super Lehmann class teetered over, falling in slow motion before coming to rest in a large cloud of dust. As it began to clear Strelizia walked back into view of the rest of the squads, nonchalantly removing the core by flicking Queen's Pike.

"They did it," Mitsuru stared in mild disbelief, "they actually did it."

"It's Hiro and Zero Two," Ikuno said, "did you expect anything less?"

"It's still impressive," Kokoro agreed with her partner, "can't deny that."

"All remaining squads," Nana spoke, her confidence regained along with Hiro's fighters, "move in to eliminate the Gutenberg class, and cover Strelizia as they move in to eliminate the threat in the gran crevasse."

The combined force of Hiro's fighters moved forwards, passing by oblivious to a small crisis unfolding in Strelizia's cockpit.

"Dr. Franxx?" Nana spoke up as the rest of Hiro's army moved past him, "we've got an issue."

"Issue?" asked the old man, "what kind of issue."

"The strain of piloting in today's fight seems to have accelerated his saurification, far faster than you had predicted."

On the screen of the command center were two figures. Each diagram had a varying state of blue lines coursing throughout; Zero Two's side was registering half way, a result of her half klaxosaur and half human DNA. Hiro's had, in some astonishing fashion, surpassed Zero Two's by a solid twenty percent.

"Incredible," Werner looked at the screen, raising his hands up above him, the smile of a psychopath emerging on his face, "absolutely incredible."

"He may lose the ability to pilot Strelizia from the Stamen position, Dr. Franxx," Nana piped up over the doctor's rising maniacal laughter.

"Nonsense," Dr. Franxx yelled, "he can pilot no matter the position…" Dr. Franxx paused, looking at the tactical map displayed on another screen, "he needs to survive this, his status as a special specimen doesn't do him justice, not now."

"Sir we can pull him back," Hachi interjected, "if he is of critical importance to your research."

"No," said Nana, "Hiro stands as the only motivation for the rest of the squads, pulling him back from the field would only serve to demoralize them."

"Leave him," Dr. Franxx said, "he can fight this one last time."

Strelizia dropped to a knee, its faceplate no longer mimicking Zero Two's expressions.

"Darling?" Zero Two turned around, the paracapcity hood sliding back into its idle position as she postured up out of the piloting holes. Her eyes met Hiro's, or rather the discs that looked oddly like hers, scarily like hers. She had seen herself in the mirror, she knew her eyes were unique, only to her. Or at least they used to be. His eyes now were lined in blue, a small sliver that mirrored hers, and from the top of his head protruded two slightly bloodied blue horns. His face had paled slightly to the same pallor as hers. "Darling?!" Zero Two panicked, pulling herself up to him.

"Zero Two," mumbled Hiro as he looked around with a dazed confusion on his face, "what happened?"

"No… no…" Zero Two repeated over and over, "no… you can't… you can't be like me."

"Be like you?" asked Hiro as he closed an eye, the blood had begun to trickle down; he paused for a moment, taking the time to wipe his eye, "what do you mean?"

"You…" Zero Two looked away, "it's my fault… all my fault…"

"Is this about the accident?" asked Hiro, still dumbfounded at the sudden mess he was being presented with.

She reached up, grasping onto the top of his head with a leverage he hadn't experienced before in his life, it was almost as if there were two new additions to the top of his skull that he hadn't remembered being there before, "I did this… I did this…"

Hiro reached up, tracing his fingers along Zero Two's arms stopping at the sharp points that weren't hers. "Oh," Hiro gasped in pleasant and stunned surprise, "I'm like you now…"

"I'm sorry," cried Zero Two, "it should have been me!"

Hiro looked down as Zero Two crumpled into his chest, much in the same way that she had when they first reunited in the dorm, he hated seeing her like this. He reached behind her shoulders and pressed her to him, squeezing her in a warm embrace, "don't cry, please don't cry; I'm alright, I'm fine."

"They're going to call you a monster," sobbed Zero Two, "why do you have to sacrifice so much for me, it's not fair!" she thumped her chest, trying to beat the pain into her.

"I don't care if they do; I don't care if its fair," Hiro reassured her, arresting her arm, "if It means I can be closer to you then that's alright." He lifted her face from his chest, kissing her trembling lips. He pulled away, watching her calm down slightly before continuing, "I love you too much to care about all that small stuff."

Ichigo was concerned; not a single word had come from Strelizia in the past ten minutes, and the last Gutenberg class was due to fall at any minute. They should have been gone by now, descending onto the dome of the gran crevasse in order to open it. Instead, Ichigo turned around to see Strelizia with a knee in the dirt; the pose usually assumed when the Franxx suddenly lost both of its pilots.

"Ichigo?" asked Goro from his seat, "what's the matter?"

"She's doing it again," Ichigo flared with anger, "what a sneaky bitch!"

"What are you talking about?"

Delphinium surged forwards, charging towards Strelizia, Goro fighting on the controls. Hiro's face appeared on the HUD, the still image representing him lacking the recent additions to his visage, "We're okay Ichigo, continue on with the mission."

"She's using you isn't she?!"

"No," Hiro replied, "I wish you would understand that; I'll explain what happened back at Mistelteinn, in the dorms… it's a long story."

"Just tell me already!"

"I can't," Hiro laughed a little, "I have a Gran Crevasse to capture."

With those words Strelizia's faceplate came alive, the entire Franxx turning red as they surged forwards; faster than any Franxx before. Ichigo could almost see the shockwave that preceded them as they flashed towards the dome of the gran crevasse. The scorching afterburner of Strelizia's jet skirt still leaving an imprint on her vision as they blipped out of sight at the base of the dome.

"Woah," Zorome gasped over the comm in sheer awe, "why can't we ride like that?"

"Maybe if you were more gentle," grumbled Miku, "we coul-"

The sky erupted into a ball of fire as a large explosion rocketed up towards the stars. In a moment later, a shockwave barreled back towards them, cutting Miku off mid-sentence. The dome having disintegrated in the detonation left the gran crevasse to appear in the settling cloud of dust. It was a hole, no words could describe it past that, and it left Squad 13 along with some of Hiro's fighters wondering what the significance of it was.

Hachi looked up at the crevasse along with Dr. Franxx in Cerasus' command center.

"What a waste of time," scoffed the doctor as he turned to leave, "about as useful as banging your head on a wall."

"Hachi 13 reporting into Papa," Hachi spoke into the comm, "the gran crevasse has been secured, the special specimens are alive."

"Good," Papa spoke, "allow your squad to get some rest, I expect a report by tomorrow."

"Yes Papa."

As Hachi turned to leave Papa spoke one last haunting time, "I understand that you had to disobey my direct orders in order to capture this objective; an honest and understandable mistake… one that you should never make again, for your own sake."

Afterword: So to clear up some confusion. Yes, there are multiple Hachi's and Nanas, which is why Nana seems so impersonal in the firs segment of the chapter (good 'ol fake Nana). The next chapter will be announced four days before it's release. Become a patron if ya want.