Chapter Zero: Prologue
"We need to go after those who are support the FRF abroad," argued Jean. "If we can cut the foreign support, then we can make the operations in Italy more effective."
Jean was arguing with the chief of Section Two of the Social Welfare Agency, Pieri Lorenzo. Pieri sighed.
"The risks with foreign operations are too great," Pieri argued. "If a fratello were killed in a forgein nation, we couldn't react fast enough to cover our doings, and the SWA would come under fire, giving the Five Republics Faction a great advantage."
Jean clenched his fist, growing angry at the lack of action against the FRF's supporters. He knew they had guns being trafficked to them from the Middle East and Eastern Europe, money from Germany and France, and they were getting their soldiers trained from veterans in Serbia and Chechnya. He knew the problem would only get worse if this foreign support continue.
"Sir, the problem is that the foreign support is becoming overwhelming, what happens if they get their hand on heavy weapons, or they hire mercenaries to attack government buildings, or they hack into government servers and cause civil unrest?" Jean saw as Pieri frown, considering the ramifications.
"I understand, but we can't dispatch all the fratellos to attack the supporters; it would leave Italy unprepared against the rising terrorist attacks," Pieri said. He seemed to be calculating the best course of action. "What we need is to send the fratellos to go after one of these groups, one that isn't so vital for our operations here, and easily written off if the worse comes."
Jean looked over to Rico, knowing that he wouldn't be sent; he and Rico were too successful to be sent overseas. Same thing with the Hillshire/Triela and the Jose/Henrietta fratellos. Claes lacked a handler, so that left only one possibility. Jean cursed his luck; it would easily write off future foreign missions.
"With all due respect sir, but is it wise to send Angelica into the field? She is just recovering from her injuries after rescuing Claes, and she has the most medical problems. She could be a liability in the field." Jean saw Rico shuffle her feet, a little nervous at Jean's words. However, Pieri sighed.
"They are the only ones I would risk sending overseas, you and the others are too valuable, and we need all the veterans we can get," Pieri argued. "I want you to talk with Marco, begin looking at possible operations, and give me a timeline for when they can be sent overseas."
Jean sighed, but he nodded, and he turned to leave. As he and Rico left the room, he pulled his phone out.
"Priscilla, I need a list of known outside supporters of the FRF, have them ready for me as soon as possible," Jean commanded.
In a city devoted to science, an enigmatic man looked at a screen. He was looking at news report from Italy, and smiled.
"So the Five Republic Faction is stepping up their efforts, very well, their efforts will be useful for keeping the Roman Catholic Church busy, and it allows me to continue with my plans," the man said.
The man, who wore a green hospital gown and had long white hair, was floating upside down in a tube, making sure his plans were coming along as he intended. He was considered the greatest magician alive, and he had the technology of Academy City behind him. He was pulling the strings, influencing the actions by his subtle will.
Yet he had been getting reports that threaten his powerbase. For in Italy, where civil unrest was sure to keep everyone's attention for the most part, there were reports, rumors really, that the SWA was closing the scientific gap.
These rumors, of human bio-engineering, intrigued the magician turned scientist. If the SWA had technology that could give him an upper hand, he would take it. But how to go about it? He ran a couple of calculations before calling in one of his more loyal soldiers. He saw as the blonde hair man approached him.
"What is it you want Aleister?" asked the man. He had a tattoo around his left eye, and wore a lab jacket over a maroon shirt and brown slacks. "If this is about Accelerator, he is already a Level 5, not much more I can do, since he is out of my hands."
"This has nothing to do with Accelerator, Kihara Amata," Aleister stated plainly. Aleister watched at Amata tried to figure out what Aleister had called him for.
"Oh, what would this be about then? Not Hound Dog, those pieces of shit are easily replaced and highly trained. Not about the Imaginary District, that is still under the works. Not the Dark May Project, not my field of research. So what the hell did you call me in for?"
Aleister enjoyed the show, so he began to explain.
"Have you heard about the Italian Social Welfare Agency?" Aleister asked. Amata laughed.
"What, that social healthcare system for advance medical practices, yeah I have heard about it. What of it, it's not like they have anything we can't replicate."
"Then perhaps you heard of a division with the SWA, one that is rumored to be going after the Five Republics Factions with what could be equated as super soldiers," Aleister prodded. Amata paused, thinking.
"I haven't heard of such rumors, though then again, my research on the lovely lab rats you have given me has me busy, and the world of politics bore the shit out of me," Amata said. "What you want me to do, go to Italy and destroy the SWA, to keep your prestige intact?"
Aleister chuckled.
"No, destroying is easy; I could dispatch any numbers of espers to do it. Rather, I want you to attract one of their units to the city, if it exists, and capture the 'super-soldiers'. Find what makes them tick, then do what you will with the soldier."
Amata chuckled; this was going to be fun. He had to figure out how to get the SWA's attention, lure them into Academy City, and kidnap one of the 'super-soldiers'. He already had a basic planned formed.
"Alright then," Amata said. "I will be sure to get you the data, though, why has this got you bothered?" Aleister remained calm, but Amata knew better; nothing caused sudden interruptions from Aleister unless it was a problem.
"Let's just say I got an itch I want to scratch," Aleister said. As Amata left the Windowless Building, Aleister looked back at the screen, looking at today's bombing in Rome.
"Things are about to be affected; better prepare for all possible outcomes," muttered the magician.
Marco was on the firing range, trying to get Angelica ready future missions. He sighed, growing annoyed with her general clumsiness. But when given a rifle, she could drill targets all day.
Today she was practicing her accuracy at long range with the Steyr IWS 2000 with 15.2x169mm APFSDS rounds. The rifle was fed by a 5 round detachable box magazine, semi-automatic, but the main appeal was its ability to punch through 40mm of RHA at a kilometer away.
Angelic rested the massive rifle stock into her shoulder, lying down on the ground prone with her legs off centered to better absorb the recoil. She aimed at the target at eight hundred meters, taking into account the window, the muzzle velocity of the round, and her heartbeat.
She zoned herself into her heartbeat, noting when her heart was about to beat, and timing her shot to be between beats, during the lull period. She adjusted her aim accordingly, and prepared to fire. She held her breath, and pulled the trigger as lightly as possible.
BOOM!
The weapon fires its sabot dart nearly fifteen hundred meters as second, closing the distance in a little over half a second. Angelica remains in position, waiting for Marco to give her adjustments. Marco meanwhile saw the bullet had impacted the on the lower bull-eyes, bordering on the eight ring.
"Angelica, you were a little low, aim higher to compensate," Marco instructed. Angelica obeyed, and sent another round down range. Marco observed the shot; it was now dead center bull-eyes. "Very good Angelica, bull-eyes. Fire the remaining rounds."
Marco watched as the remaining three shots danced around the second shot, clipping its edges. He smiled, impressed that Angelica was able to handle the rifle; well in all technicality, it wasn't a rifle as it had a smoothbore barrel, but for its purposes it was a rifle.
"Well done," Marco said. "Now, I want you to run ten laps around the complex before calling it a day." Angelica, with her dark black hair, nodded.
"Yes Marco," she said, before putting away the IWS-2000 and taking off for her laps. Marco watched as she jogged around the complex, and he sighed, lifting the beast of a weapon. He saw Jean approaching him with Rico.
"I just saw Angelica jogging off, did you order her to?" Marco nodded, and Jean sighed.
"Alright then, well I need to talk to you."
"What about Jean?" Marco asked. Jean gave Marco a file, and Marco flipped through it while Jean talked.
"We are about to start targeting the supporters of the FRF that are outside the country," Jean began. "But sadly, due to a lack of resources, Pieri wants to only risk sending one fratello, and he expects you and Angelica to be up to the task."
Marco shook his head, unable to believe that Pieri wanted to send Angelica out into the field. Marco was only just getting her ready to support the others, but to do a solo mission, he wasn't sure…
"How long will I have to train Angelica?" Marco asked. Jean shrugged.
"The sooner the better, though given her conditioning, I can understand if it takes a couple of weeks for her to get ready," Jean explained. "Also, I suggest going through the possible missions and selecting the easier ones, to instill confidence in Pieri to allow the rest of us to get out of Italy and start hurting the logistics of the FRF."
"I get it, but, this is going to be hard," Marco commented. "So, what are you and Rico up to?" Marco saw Rico was unpacking her SVD marksman rifle. Jean put both hands into his pocket.
"Simple; getting the rifle sighted in for tonight's operations," Jean said. "The FRF is moving some hardware from the Tuscany region to Milan for reasons unknown, though we suspect it is to train new FRF recruits in taking down the RIOT police forces."
Marco shook his head, disgusted by the FRF's tactics. They didn't hesitate to use ransoms, murder, black mail, or terrorist attacks to succeed, they believed the ends justified the means. Marco nodded, leaving Jean and Rico to their practice, hoping that their mission goes successfully.
On a long stretch of highway that ran from Tuscany to Milan, Jean and Rico were setting up their observation point. Rico nestled her SVD, aiming at the road, past the point where Hillshire and Triela were supposed to set up the roadblock. Jean smiled; the ambush was set.
"Hillshire, how are things at your end?" Jean asked. He heard Hillshire chuckled.
"The spikes have been laid, and Triela is prepping her shotgun, so we are good to go. Don't worry Jean, they won't be getting past." Jean then radioed his brother Jose.
"Jose, you and Henrietta down setting up?"
"Henrietta is set up with her FAL, and I got one as well, so I don't think anyone will be getting away so easily," his brother said calmly. Jean then saw headlights down the road. He raised his binoculars, and saw three cargo trucks, typical for the FRF for when they do weapon convoys.
"Everyone, look alive, the FRF has arrived," Jean said, while lying down, readying his own SVD. He looked over at Rico.
"Focus on those with the heavy weapons first, then take out anyone at your discretion," Jean advised.
"Yes Jean," Rico said. Jean watched as the convoy rolled to the ambush point, when they suddenly stopped short. Jean felt something was wrong, but it was too close to call off the ambush. He waited, only to realize his mistake, as he saw the lead truck uncover itself, revealing a M2 machine gun with a CROW system.
"Shit, Hillshire, get down!" Jean yelled into the radio. "They were expecting us!" At that moment, the M2 opened fire on the car that Hillshire and Triela were using as cover, forcing the two to seek cover in a ditch. Jean aimed at the CROW unit, and tapped Rico on the shoulder.
"Aim at the M2, see if we can't render it useless," Jean said. Rico nodded, and the two set to work on firing on the CROW system. Jean aimed at the camera, while Rico aimed for the mechanism. But as they were doing this, the other trucks were unloading foot soldiers, which began to pepper their position with gun fire.
As bullets whizzed past them, Jean finally put a bullet into the camera system, which temporarily stopped the M2 from firing. Jean radioed Hillshire, telling him to fire on the FRF. Meanwhile, Jean could see that his brother and Henrietta were firing down at the soldiers, picking them off slowly.
Jean was about to radio them, asking them to close in, when he saw two FRF soldiers carrying rocket launchers.
"Rico, target the launchers!" Jean yelled, aiming at the first one. Aiming at the guy's head, he squeezed the trigger, killing him. Rico fired at the second, but the shot hit his chest, which caused the man to fire his launcher. The rocket flew toward their position, and Jean threw him and Rico out of its way.
The rocket exploded as it collided with a tree past them. The splinters flew through the air, and Jean kept himself covered over Rico. Jean could hear the gunfire shift from their position, so he got back to his SVD.
He saw that the FRF were now putting pressure on Hillshire and Triela's position, while at the same time keeping Jose and Henrietta down. Jean and Rico manned their weapons, and began picking off the soldiers, which caused chaos in the FRF ranks.
The FRF fell back to their trucks firing madly at all three of their positions, but the shots were wild, often missing them by yards. Jean and Rico saw the two trucks beginning to form a box around the FRF forces, trying to get the remaining men to escape.
"Oh hell no you don't," muttered Jean. "Rico, target the drivers!"
"Yes Jean," said Rico. She aimed for center of mass, and she put two shots into the lead truck's driver. The driver slump over, and the other trucks couldn't get past it. Jean smiled; the FRF had lost this engagement, now it was just cleanup.
"Rico, just pick the targets that make themselves open," Jean said. Rico nodded, and began to take shots at anyone who popped out of the cover of the trucks. Triela and Hillshire moved in, trying to get shots on them, while Henrietta and Jose flanked to behind the trucks.
Jean picked off another man when he saw a couple of FRF soldiers come out, with their weapons empty.
"We surrender!" yelled the soldier. Rico looked at Jean.
"Sir, should I take him out?" Rico asked.
"No, they are surrendering," Jean said. He radioed Hillshire. "Can you deal with the men while me and Rico come down to help out?"
"Yeah, we got this. Looks like Jose and Henrietta didn't give them much option anyway." Jean then saw Jose and Henrietta, their rifles leveled, aiming at the defeated FRF. Jean smiled at the scene.
He and Rico came down to the road, and saw there were 13 dead FRF, and five who surrendered. Jean walked over to Jose while Hillshire and Triela handcuffed the soldiers.
"Some ambush that was," Jean said curtly. "Way for that to fail." Jose nodded.
"It would've worked, but somehow they caught wind of our operations," Jose said. He turned to Henrietta, who was in one of the trucks. "Henrietta, is there anything of note?"
"Yes Jose," Henrietta said, clambering out of the truck with a piece of electronic kit. "Don't know what it is, but it looked different from the rest of the stuff."
Jose looked at the equipment while Jean climbed in, and shuffled through the crates. The M2 CROWS was scary enough, but the stuff in the crates sent shivers down his spine. Packed inside were Milkor MGLs, Javelin Anti-tank missiles, and several F2000 assault rifles. Jean cursed; who the hell would give the FRF this level of military hardware?
He climbed out, and he saw his brother smash the electronic equipment.
"It was a radio interceptor, top of the line," Jose spat out. "They were listening to us planning!" Jean shook his head, this was terrible. He walked up to the prisoners, and raised his gun to one of their heads.
"Now, I want answers, and if I don't get them, I will execute you one by one," warned Jean. "So who will speak first?" One of the FRF soldiers, a kid who looked like he just got out of high school panicked.
"L-look, we don't know who gave us the supplies!" he yelled. Jean aimed his gun at him.
"Are you sure about that?" Jean asked, cocking the hammer. The kid's leg began to shake violently.
"Look, I don't know who, but I know where!" the kid spluttered out. "Will you not kill us if we tell you?" Jean sighed; if he couldn't get a name, a location might be the next best option.
"Depends on the place, and if you tell me if there are any more shipments," Jean said coolly. The kid nodded.
"The guns were from Academy City, our source called himself AK, but it was a one-time deal!" the kid said, sweat rolling down his face. "I don't know anything else." Jean paused for dramatic effect, before lowering the hammer slowly.
"Thank you for your cooperation, perhaps now you won't be sitting in prison for the rest of your life," Jean said, holstering his pistol. He turned to Jose.
"When we go over the debriefing tomorrow, get Marco's ass up here, I have a strong idea of what mission he is going to be up to." Jose nodded, and soon the support units from SWA arrived to pick up the prisoners, confiscate the weapons and equipment, and clear the road, leaving Jean to curse at the new development.
Marco was in the meeting room, having listened to the mission debrief by Jean. He couldn't believe that the FRF had managed to get so many military grade weapons, and were able to hack into their radio communications.
"So as of now, the SWA is under direct fire," Jean concluded. "The FRF has been able to intercept our radio communications, and they are now carrying firepower to rival military units. We need to take out their supply lines."
The others in the room nodded, and Marco could feel the pressure building on him. He knew that Jean was telling him to get his and Angelica's asses into the field and go abroad to take out the foreign support. He concluded that Jean would pressure him to take out a Middle East arms dealer.
"I agree," Pieri said. "Marco, we need you and Angelica in the field now; the risk is too great otherwise. Jean, do we know where the shipment originated from?" Jean nodded.
"According to one of the prisoners, the shipment came from a man calling himself AK, who apparently lives in Academy City," Jean said.
Marco wanted to spit his coffee out, shocked at the information. Academy City would be like trying to enter a city where both the inhabitants and the outside world was trying to prevent anyone entry. It also explained the high-tech nature of the weapons.
"Are you certain?" Pieri asked. "We don't have any conventional means to enter Academy City undetected, and they don't have any extradition treaties."
"I understand sir, but the prisoner has been tested extensively, and all methods conclude he is telling the truth," Jean said. "However, I expect we can get inside; it will just require careful planning." Pieri sighed, weighing the options. In the ends, he nodded.
"Very well, Marco, you and Angelica will be heading to Academy City at the weeks end. Get trained, prepare your cover stories, and we will gather you with as much support as possible." Marco sighed; he knew Angelica wasn't ready and here he was, being told to get her ready well before he would even consider it done.
"Yes sir," Marco said, feeling overwhelmed at the situation. "Just promise you have more information on this AK guy, so we can quickly neutralize him and get out; I feel the longer we are in Academy City, the greater the odds of us being made."
Pieri nodded, leaving Marco to prepare today's training regimen. The others began to leave, except for Jean and Pieri. Both knew more than what the others were told.
"Sir, you suspect as much as I do this is a trap," Jean said. "So while the threat is real, is it worth risking a fratello to get them?" Pieri weaved his fingers together, resting his elbows on the table.
"Yes, because this is a trap, if we don't respond, they could send another shipment until we are forced to act," Pieri said. "Besides, Angelica doesn't have much to live; even if she was captured, the state of her mind is too fragile for anyone other than us to make sense of."
Jean looked at Pieri, eyeing him with consternation. He hadn't expected Pieri to be this indifferent to the Fratello, but he respected his decision, for sadly it was the best option; send the worst one into the fire, and pray they succeed.
A week had passed with Marco and Angelica having landed in Tokyo an hour ago, and they were in traffic, trying to enter Academy City. Marco could make out the border between the City and the rest of Japan, with large concrete walls surrounding the perimeter of the city, cameras keeping a watchful eye, and armed security personnel at the checkpoints. Marco could swear that this was like the Berlin Wall.
He looked over at Angelica, who was watching for potential threats. He sighed, as she had been up for over sixteen hours already; doesn't she tire? But he had to remind him that this is why the handlers had cyborgs, the cyborgs didn't tire, they didn't relent, and they followed orders to the very end.
Marco inched his car forward until he was at the checkpoint. He was worried that their cover story would get detected by the advance security of the city. He held his posture however, keeping a calm look on his face.
"Papers sir," said the security officer. Marco handed him his and Angelica's fake passport and papers. The officer, who was an older gentleman, reviewed the papers in the checkpoint terminal. Marco could see the man checking the computer, only to shake his head. Marco braced himself for the worse; he had a Steyr Series M in 9mm underneath his coat.
The officer returned, handing Marco the papers and passports.
"The system has cleared you and your daughter for entry," the officer said. "However, I must ask, is this trip to Academy City for business or pleasure?" Marco sighed, relieved that nothing went wrong.
"Pleasure, my daughter wanted to see about getting a tuition to one of the high schools here," Marco said. The officer nodded.
"Very well then Mr. Remeaus, welcome to Academy City, enjoy your stay here," the officer said, waving him down the checkpoint. Marco nodded, and drove away from the checkpoint, glad to be out of there. He turned to Angelica.
"Angelica, please remember that while we are here you refer to me as 'father' or 'papa', either one works," Marco said. "Never refer to me by 'Marco', 'sir', or anything else, it will raise suspicions." Angelica nodded.
"Yes papa," she said, quickly picking up his orders. He smiled. There were a few things he also had to go over.
"Also, you aren't permitted to carry a weapon in the open, so only carry your TMP underneath your coat," Marco said. "Also, keep it as a last resort, or when I tell you otherwise."
"Yes papa," Angelica said. She began to rub her eyes, her eyes beginning to burn from the long period of keeping a constant look out for Marco when he was asleep on the plane, when he was driving, and it didn't help that she hadn't gone through a period of no sleep for this long in a while.
She yawned, trying to stay awake as Marco navigated the car to the hotel where they would be staying. She watched as students in various uniforms walked along the street, smiling and talking amongst themselves. Angelica had remembered that most of the population of the city was students, which made her wonder how much danger they were in.
The FRF weren't here, but the information about Academy City was the typical brochure information the City used to promote itself. It talked about the low crime rates, the number of facilities, and the cutting edge technology. But so far, Angelica saw no uniformed law enforcement units patrolling the streets, only a unusually high amount of security cameras, causing her to question the safety of the city.
She was about to inquire about this when Marco parked the car. He got out of the car, which made Angelica open her door, and grab her luggage. She followed behind Marco closely, paying attention to the hotel lobby. The lobby was open, with a service desk in the middle. On either side of the desk were long hallways, with an elevator at the end of each.
"Hello sir," said the receptionist, a woman with red hair and round glasses. She wore a black business dress, and was smiling. "Are you looking for a room of two?" Marco nodded.
"Yes, though hopefully this trip won't be long," Marco said, placing his bag down and approaching the desk. "Just looking at the possibility of sending my daughter her for education, it probably be safer here than back at home."
The woman merely nodded, typing on a keyboard.
"Ah, your name sir?" the woman asked. Marco replied with his cover name. The woman typed it in, looking at Angelica. Angelica sense the woman was up to something, but what it was, she didn't know, but she felt like the woman didn't belong working at a hotel.
"This will take a second sir," the woman said kindly, still observing Angelica. "How old is your daughter?" Marco chuckled.
"Ten years old," Marco said. The woman nodded.
"Well there are certainly a number of academies in the city that would be willingly to accept your daughter into their ranks, but that depends on aptitude tests," the woman said, before turning back to her computer. "Ah, we have a room for two, it is on the third floor, room 320, so take the elevator on the left. Enjoy your stay here."
Marco thanked the woman, and he led Angelica to the elevator. Once inside, Marco sighed.
"Angelica, forgot one other thing," he said. "Don't talk to anyone unless absolutely necessary. We don't need people to become suspicious of us." Angelica nodded, and as the elevator opened, she noted that the narrow hallways would prove a security issue.
Marco opened the room, to which Angelica began a sweep of the room. She was searching for electronic sensors, bombs, and any other surprises. After spending ten minutes searching every room, she returned to Marco, who was loading the magazines to the TMPs he brought along for the mission.
"Papa, nothing seems out of place," Angelica said. Marco nodded.
"Very well Angelica, get some sleep, we will begin our search of the city for AK in the morning," Marco said. Angelica nodded, and took the bed that wasn't in the line of sight of the window. She crawled underneath the covers, and in minutes she was asleep.
When Angelica awoke, she saw Marco was already up and setting up a tack board, with various bits of information on the city and possible suspects. Angelica however noted that the suspects were vague; with no real reason other than they had nothing other than an abbreviated name, if it was even that, to go on. She got dressed while Marco tried to determine the best plan.
She put on a simple pink shirt and tan jeans, while putting on a boot knife that was easily concealed by her jeans. She put on a purple hairband, to keep the hair from getting in her face. She looked in the mirror, wondering if she always looked this way. She pushes the thoughts aside, knowing they would only distract her from serving Marco.
She walked into the kitchen, where Marco was pouring over the details that they had. He looked over at Angelica, putting a piece of paper down.
"Angelica, due to our lack of information, we will be forced to improvise," Marco said, handing Angelica a blue-tooth. "We will act like we are trying to get a lay of the land, but we will look over the city to determine likely places for someone to store a large shipment of weapons." Angelica nodded.
Marco pulled out a map of the city, and noted that the districts, while number, lacked any order to their placement. But Angelica saw that there were a couple of districts with X's on them.
"For our purposes today, we will examine Districts 2 and 17, the first one being where they train the police forces around here, and 17 is a large railway area, so it be easy to hide weapons like the ones we found there."
Marco then grabbed his green jacket, holstered his M-Series pistol, and headed out the door, with Angelica following him. They went down the elevator, and past the service desk, where the woman was at the computer.
"Are you going to be long Mr. Remaeus?" the receptionist asked. Marco shrugged.
"Not sure ma'am, depends on whether I get lost or not," he said. "However, don't bother sending a cleaning maid to the room; it doesn't need it at the moment." The woman clicked her toungue at his response, but nodded anyways.
"Alright sir, enjoy your day out with your daughter," the woman said before turning her attention back to the computer. Marco lead Angelica to the car, where he began to drive to District 2. The ride there was quiet, with Angelica noting the abundance of robots going around and cleaning the city, which made her ponder on the idea of security bots.
She wondered what could be mounted on the steel chassis, given how they looked fairly top-heavy. She doubted anything larger than a 7.62mm weapon system, as the recoil and the size of the weapon would be too much for a robot of that size to handle.
She turned her attention to the district where they were entering, and Angelica felt that District Two was similar to the SWA facility; there were large facilities with track fields, fire ranges, and here Angelica could see the police forces.
She saw two distinct forces, one that was comprised of adults and the other that compromised children a little older than her. The adults were wearing full body armor, riot helmets, and carried SG-553 assaults rifles. The children however didn't seem to be armed, and the only thing standard about the children were the green and white armbands.
"Papa, the children appear to be volunteer base, nothing striking about them. Some appear to be ill suited to law enforcement," Angelica began to offer her appraisement of the forces. "The adults however appear well trained and equipped. In a fight, I rather take on the children to the adults any day of the week."
"I agree," Marco said. He was scanning the facilities using a camera he had hidden in the trunk of the car. "Hmm, none of these facilities seem to be carrying a large cache of weapons, at least not like the ones that were recovered."
He was about to speak when a pair of flashing strobe lights came into view behind him.
"Shit, Angelica, stay calm, and don't react unless I tell you," Marco said.
"Yes papa," Angelica said, but she still had her hand resting near her boot knife. She could see a woman dressed in the body armor with blue hair and grey eyes approached their car. She tapped on the window, and Marco rolled it down.
"Just what are you two doing here?" the woman asked. Marco began to speak, but before he got a word out, the woman chuckled.
"Oh, you're not from around here, are you?" she asked. "Well, the name's Yomikawa Aiho, and I am going to ask that you leave the district, it is reserved for those serving in Judgment and Anti-Skill." Marco pulled the best 'innocent bystander' face he could.
"Sorry, I didn't know that," he said. "I was taking my daughter around the city, trying to see if it would be worth the cost to have her educated here." Yomikawa gave Marco a glare.
"Trying to pass your daughter off, or are you doing it truly for her sake?" she asked, a certain air of disgust in her voice. Marco shook his head.
"No, Italy just isn't safe these days," he said. "Not with the FRF and the government in pretty much open war with one another." Yomikawa then relented, looking at Angelica. She smiled at the cyborg, unknowing what Angelica was capable of.
"Well, I can see why you wouldn't want her to remain in Italy, I remember a week ago how there was a firefight on a stretch of highway in northern Italy," Yomikawa said. "I wouldn't want a child growing up in risk of their lives."
"Yeah, so what's the best way out of here?" Marco asked, still trying to get away from Yomikawa. She began to pull a map out and explain to Marco how to get out of District 2, which made Angelica realize that in this city, they would be at a disadvantage merely because the police forces would know their way around the city much better than them.
As Yomikawa finished instructing Marco on the way out, Angelica watched as the children ran around the lap. She noted that while others were in peak physical health, others were severely lacking, making Angelica to look down on them. If a cyborg was as unathletic as some of these children were, then they would be sent back to be improved.
"Oh, looking at the Judgment recruits are you?" Yomikawa asked. Angelica turned to the woman, nodding silently. "They are just one aspect that keeps the city safe; they mostly maintain the peace, provide social services, things like that. But they can hold their own against the thugs that seem to pop up around the city."
Angelica wanted to point out her flaw, but Marco thanked Yomikawa for her 'help' and drove off, heading out of the district. He cursed under his breath for his recklessness, thinking he could enter the district without getting too much attention. Angelica didn't voice the fact she agreed with his judgment, as it would be insulting him. She sighed as they headed off the district 17.
"What a waste of time," muttered Marco. "We didn't find any weapons caches, we didn't find AK, and we didn't reduce our search area." He kicked a rock in the rail yard, taking his frustration out on something so mundane to take his mind off the needle in the haystack. It was late in the evening, add fuel to his anger.
Angelica looked on at Marco, feeling in someway that this was her fault. She sighed, and looked down, waiting for her orders. She began to pay attention to the rocks on the ground, when she saw a little brass shell hidden amongst the rocks.
Kneeling down, she picks it up, to see that it is a 5.56mm NATO round shell. She noted that the case was cold, as though it had been a while since the shell was ejected from the gun. She tugged at Marco's jacket.
"Papa, I found this amongst the rocks," Angelica said, handing the brass shell to Marco. He looks at it, and smiles.
"Good job Angelica," Marco said, rubbing her hair. "Yeah, this would be fired by a F2000, so the weapons could be around here somewhere, but we will have to come back here later." He began to walk off when he heard the crunching of someone approaching. Marco pushed Angelica behind a freight container. He pulled out his pistol, leaning to get a look at the approaching figure.
Marco saw a group of men in black body armor suits, carrying Tar-21 assault rifles. He leaned back behind the freighter.
"Angelica, I think we found the source of the leak," Marco whispered. "However, they are armed, so we must proceed cautiously." He then checked out again, and saw the men were heading to a freighter on the other end of the yard. He then had Angelica follow him.
After following the men a short distance behind them for a while, Marco saw that the men were heading to a train with several freight containers on them. He nodded to Angelica.
"Tell me what they are saying," Marco commands. She nods, and begins to listen to the men's conversation.
"Shit, how many guns we got loaded up, ready to be sent out?" the first man asked. The second chuckled.
"Oh, let's see, enough to arm a small army," the second said. "But for now, we are to sit tight on them, make sure that if we get word from the boss, we can send the guns out." The first snorted.
"Right, because who the hell is going to be bothered coming out to this place?" the first asked. But Angelica noted his tone; it wasn't serious, rather it was what Marco explained as sarcastic. The second tilted his head in their direction.
"How about the little shits from Italy over there?" the second man said, and he turned, looking straight into Angelica's eyes. The man had just enough time to raise his rifle before Angelica ducked into cover.
"We have been made Marco," Angelica said, taking out her boot knife. Marco cursed, and he grabbed Angelica, running deeper into the rail yard.
"Angelica, we need to break their line of sight," Marco said, taking the safety off. "if you can safely, take one of them out, silently." Angelica nodded, and watched as he began to run off, distracting the two men, who began to fire at him.
Angelica leaned against the freight container, and waited for the two men to pass her. The first she let pass, as the second was behind him. But as the second man moved to past her, she sprang into action. While she was half his height, she was easily as strong if not stronger than him. She kicked his right leg from underneath him, causing him to fall backwards. Using his immobility to her advantage, Angelica swung to his front, and drove the knife into his throat.
He struggled for a few seconds, but as the blood and his life, the struggling ceased. Angelica could continue to hear the exchange of gunfire in the rail yard, so she picked up the man's Tar-21, and tried to catch up to Marco. As she ran, she could hear the gunfire getting closer, but as Angelica rounded a corner, she heard the gunfire cease.
"No," she whispered. She stopped, making sure the gunfire had truly ceased. A minute passed, and it was silent. Angelica went into a full sprint, a thousand's thoughts plaguing her mind. She tried to push them out, but the thoughts were pervasive.
He's dead, that must explain the silence, she thought. There isn't any other reason, he would be calling for you, he would be trying to find you. He's dead because of you, you weren't there to save him!
She felt tears rolling down her face, her body shaking as she walked into an opening in the rail yard. She saw more of the men in the black body armor, with a man in a lab coat sneering at Marco, who was bleeding heavily.
"So, is this the best the SWA can send, an old and beaten police officer?" the man said. "My god, what a waste of perfectly good guns, they could've been put to better use." Marco coughed up blood, and glared at the man.
"You were the asshole who supplied the FRF?" Marco sputtered out. The man chuckled.
"If you are talking about that shipment a week ago, then yes I was," the man said. "How was my rat, pretty good huh? Convinced your little agency to poke their necks out here, but now that I look at you, what was it for? You are nothing, not like the espers around here."
Angelica was about to rush out there, kill everyone who had Marco surrounded, and get him out of here, but she saw Marco shake his head at her discreetly. She nodded, and remained hidden.
"So what were you expecting to see?" Marco asked. The man chuckled.
"Well, since you are about to die, I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone," the man said condescendingly. "Someone on the top of the City wanted to see what shit you guys had at the SWA after he heard of rumors of 'super-soldiers', so he contacted me to get ahold of one of them. A pity though, since you and that girl were all that there was."
The man got up and began to walk away. He pointed to the soldiers.
"Wait until I get out of here before offing the bastard," the man instructed. "And if I hear he is alive, I will cut off your balls." The man walked off, smirking as the soldiers paled. Angelica turned to look at Marco, who was still coughing up blood.
Angelica then watched the man get into a van with a squad of the soldiers, and the van drove off. She turned back to Marco, who was looking at the remaining three soldiers.
"Well, any last words?" a soldier mockingly said. Marco smiled and looked at Angelica.
"Kill them all," Marco spoke, and in that instant, Angelica broke from cover. Raising the Tar-21 to her shoulder, she took aim at the soldier aiming at Marco, firing a burst of bullets into his chest, killing him in seconds. The other two soldiers, shocked by the gunfire, turned to the noise, and were shocked by Angelica charging at them.
"It's a god damn girl?!" one of the soldier yelled, disbelieving his eyes. Angelica fired another burst from her rifle, this time scoring a headshot on the guy. Angelica was about to fire another burst when the final soldier fired his rifle at her.
The bullets hit her arm and hand, causing her to drop the rifle. Wincing at the pain, she grabbed a hold of her boot knife in her left hand, and charged at the soldier. She closed the distance, with the soldier scoring a couple more hits into her, but they were non-fatal.
She slashed at the man's arm, but he jumped back, avoiding the slash, and he dropped the rifle and went for a knife of his own. Angelica pushed in with a thrust from her knife, but the man side-stepped and countered by stabbing his KA-Bar into her shoulder.
Angelica yelled in pain, dropping to one knee. She turned to see the man pull his knife out, smiling at her.
"This is the end of the road for you, now isn't it?" the soldier mocked her. Angelica could only watch in terror as the man came at her, about to stab the knife into her skull when a shot rang out in the night. The man's head exploded, blood covering Angelica.
Angelica stared in front of her, seeing a woman standing there holding a SG-553. Angelica was about to ask who she was when Marco coughed. She spun around and began to limp to him.
"Marco, are you ok?" whimpered Angelica, seeing the extent of his injuries. He had a couple of bullets wounds to the chest, a broken arm, and his eye was shot. But she saw Marco smile at her.
"Heh, you're alive," he gasped out. Angelica grabbed his hand, with tears rolling down her face.
"Please Marco, don't die," pleaded Angelica. Marco raised his hand and patted her head. He smiled weakly at her.
"Don't worry about me," he said. "I been doing this for too long, I guess now's my time." Angelica felt his pulse slow down, and his eyes close. She shook him.
"NO! You can't be dead!" yelled Angelica, shaking Marco. But she felt nothing in him, his pulse was gone, his heat was fading, and Angelica felt the world crashing around her. She stared at Marco's dead body, crying. "YOU CAN'T BE DEAD!"
Angelica was about to grab a gun when she felt someone grabbed her from behind. Angelica began to flail, demanding to let her die, when the person spoke.
"I won't a child die just because of their father's death," Yomikawa said. "We are going to the hospital, you are going to get better, and that is that. You dying won't change the facts!" However, Yomikawa's words were on deaf ears, and eventually, Yomikawa was forced to knock Angelica out, just to be able to control Angelica.
Yomikawa turned to the bloodbath, and cursed the entire situation. She had seen the chaos unfold after she drove to the rail yard after a report of gunfire, and was disgusted by the fact that this little girl had been forced to kill people to get to her father.
She carried Angelica to her squad car, and hand cuffed her, for her own safety. She got on the radio.
"This is Yomikawa Aiho, I have multiple dead in the rail yard in district 17, requesting additional units to arrive. I have to get a victim to the hospital; she has sustained several gunshot and knife wounds." She waited for dispatch.
"This is dispatch, we copy. Anti-Skill and Judgment are en route. God's Speed to you, get that victim out of Death's hands," the dispatcher said. Yomikawa started up her engine, and raced to the hospital, stealing a glance to the girl in the back seat. She saw the blood rushing out of her, and Yomikawa prayed she could arrive to the hospital in time.
A doctor was sitting in front of a computer, looking over a series of medical files, when his pager went off. He looked at it before getting up and heading to the ER where he was paged. He walked, noting that he knew most of the patients in the hospital on a first name basis, and how he had spared many people from an untimely death.
He walked to the nurse's station in the ER to grab the patient file.
"I was paged," the Heaven Canceller said. "What is the nature of the patient?" The nurse paled, and he knew that it was severe.
"The patient is a young girl, about ten years old. She has suffered 6 gunshot wounds, a broken hand and arm, a 22cm knife wound to the shoulder. She has lost a lot of blood, and the officer that found her was forced to knock her out, she was trying to commit suicide. Apparently she watched her father died."
The Heaven Canceller looked at the nurse and shook his head; a young girl was in this much trauma, and had tried to kill herself? He sighed.
"Very well, I will do all I can," he said, and he entered the ER, where several doctors were already attending to her. He saw that the doctors were busy extracting the bullets and replenishing the blood loss. But they were having an issue with closing the wounds off.
"What seems to be the issue?" the Heaven Canceller asked. A younger doctor shook his head.
"This girl, it appears as though most of her body has undergone severe cybernetic enhancements and medical conditioning," the doctor said. "I am not certain we have the facilities to repair the damage, and even if we do, there is her mental capacity to worry about."
"I understand, but we will pull her through this," Heaven Canceller said. "I will oversee the operation myself, so let's begin by getting an examination of her other arm, to see how to fix the other one."
The doctor nodded, and soon the Heaven Canceller was in his battlefield, using all his knowledge and technology at his finger tips to pull the girl through.
The first thing he did was get an detail design of her arm, to which he reversed to fit her right arm and began to reconnect the wires, blood vessels, and repairing the reinforced bone to repair the arm.
He then proceeded to find a suitable replacement for the synthetic skin to cover the wounds. He had to get in contact with a medical research facility to have a specialist come over and apply the skin, making sure there was no rejection of the pseudo-skin.
With the arm fixed and in a crutch and the wounds sealed off, the Heaven Canceller and the doctors turned their attention to her mind. The Heaven Canceller had never seen a brain that was so dependent on drugs. He had sent the brain of addicts, but this rivaled them in terms of damages. She was dependent on drugs to keep her stable, and her receptors for joy were being controlled, as though someone had managed to force her to engineer her mind to accept only certain things as pleasurable.
He began a procedure to wean her off the drug dependencies, and also began using nano-machines to help repair the brain to a more natural state. He sighed as the first batch of nano-machines entered her brain and began their repairs; it would take a week before her mind and brain would be anywhere near repaired.
Heaven Canceller left the room, with man of the doctors praising each other for the work they did. It took twelve hours from repairing her arm to focusing on her brain, but in the end, the patient would be fine. He went to his office, to write a order for the nurses to follow when his phone rang.
"Hello," Heaven Canceller said. "How may I be of assistance?" He heard a casual smirk.
"Hello Heaven Canceller," Aleister said on the other end of the line. "I am wondering how your most recent patient is doing?" He sighed; how was he not surprised by Aleister being in some way involved with this girl's health.
"I assume you know who she is?" Heaven Canceller asked. "She isn't listed in any official records the City has." He heard Aleister chuckle.
"That would be because she isn't from the City," Aleister said. "She is from Italy, and is a subject of the SWA. However, I am interested in the girl's future."
"To what end?" Heaven Canceller asked the magician. "Hasn't she suffered enough under the SWA, if they truly are responsible for this?"
"Of course," agreed Aleister, shocking the frog-faced doctor. "I am thinking it would be better to inform the Italians that she is dead, so she may stay here in the city." Heaven Canceller knew of the level of manipulation Aleister would go to ensure he had what he wanted.
"I would have to agree; if she were to go back to the SWA, they would do whatever barbaric procedures they did to her in the first place again. However, as she is my patient, I won't let you control her like a puppet."
"My, I wouldn't dare harm her," Aleister said. "Rather, I want to test her capabilities, nothing more and nothing less."
"You want to see if her cybernetic implants could be used for the city," the Heaven Canceller stated, calling Aleister out. "However, I can see their uses as plainly as anyone else. But the brainwashing, which is the only thing you can call it, I will never help you with."
"Nor would I need to, as brainwashing by drugs is irrelevant with telepathic espers," Aleister said. "I am merely interested in her cybernetic upgrades, to see how they will benefit the city. In exchange, I will be offering her a new life, but free from my influence of course."
Heaven Canceller snorted, knowing full well that Aleister would be influencing her life whether she wanted it or not. But the girl was now an orphan, with no family or place to call home. She might not even have her memories, what with his procedure trying to undo the brainwashing. He sighed.
"Very well Aleister, I will forward the results of her implants, in exchange for the girl to be allowed to not be involved with your plans. I assume she is going to need a home, of course?" He heard the magician chuckle.
"I think the solution to that problem will present itself shortly," Aleister said, before the line went dead.
Annoyed with the meddling of the Magicain, Heaven Canceller turned his attention to the girl's file. He read her name and sighed; how her innocent face and name hid the sins of others. He put the file on his desk, and went to work, trying to determine the best thing for the girl.
Author's Notes: Longest first chapter I have ever done! And this is the first 'A Certain Magical Index' and 'Gunslinger Girls' crossover on the site! And now to explain some things.
Yes, this is focused on Angelica. Why Angelica, and why not Henrietta, Triela, or Rico? Because I like Angelica, she tries so hard to please Marco, she has a very humbling back story, and she gets treated like crap in 'GG'. So call it taking pity on her, call it favoring her, I think Angelica has better potential for the story.
Second, why did I off Marco? It's not because I hate Marco, but rather I want to have the story focus on a more independent Angelica, one more reminiscent of her life before her parents tried to kill her. Also, having Angelica tied to the Brainwashing to Marco isn't a good idea for an independent Angelica.
Next, I am getting rid of the brainwashing and pretty much giving Angelica a blank slate, instead of her trying to kill herself due to Marco's death. I am not saying his death is pointless, it will come back, but I don't want to deal with the fact that in 'GG', the cyborgs would rather kill themselves than live without their handlers.
Continuing onwards, on what ability Angelica will get, I have yet to finalize it, but I promise it will be good. It isn't going to be an elctromaster, it isn't going to be a Meltdowner, but it will be on par with them. What it entails I am working out now.
Next, on the when of this story and why Angelica is only ten years old. I determined her age by the fact that of the five main gunslinger girls, Triela is the oldest, and on the wiki she is said to be in her mid-teens. I thus said she is about 13-14 years old. Then I figure Henrietta and Rico are about 12 and 11 respectively. Claes is about the same as Triela or Henrietta, so her age doesn't matter. So this places Angelica, who is often depicted as the youngest age wise at ten.
As for when this story takes place it takes place a couple of years before 'A Certain Magical Index' takes place, as we will meet Kuroko, who will also be 10 when Angelica meets her. So no seeing the Railgun just yet. But don't despair, there will be a lot of things going on in Angelica's life to compensate!
Also, this is my first cross-over fan-fic, so please follow, favorite, and review!