Motion on a fourth dimensional plane

Note: Second chapter already...

For those who reviewed, thank you. I'll admit, the idea is strange and unlikely, but I felt compelled to write it. I wanted to make something unique, and the various 'soldier-fics' that appeared in the Love Hina section also inspired it. The decision to make the perspective from a soldier a century ahead also gives for some interesting flashback or contemplative moments, all of which I enjoyed writing, and there's a type of subtle humour availible when doing so.

Well, I ought to keep working, or at least play some WoW.


Chapter 2: Recovery

The T43 Integrated Tactical Helmet is the standard helmet in use by forces within the Commonwealth Military Command. It is a lightweight, low profile, but reliable and revered piece of military equipment. It is constructed with many layers of nanomaterials able to withstand high impact fragmentations, shrapnel, and of course, rifle rounds. Being a modular design, it allows the user to swap internal parts for comfort and handling, and is also designed to mount the AQN86 Computerized Multi-Role Tactical Heads-Up-Display to give the user full access to information on the battlefield, on the fly.

The L447 Standard Offensive Handgun Weapons System, SOHWS, is the standard sidearm for all forces in the Commonwealth. It fires a wide range of ammunition types and sizes, but is often chambered for a powerful and accurate 10mm round, with either the choice of hollow-point ammunition or depleted uranium, armor-piercing load-outs. The magazine, able to hold eighteen rounds, is loaded over top of the weapon with the rounds pointing sideways. With the use of a rotating chamber behind the grip, technically making it a bullpup weapon, each round is inserted into it, the chamber rotates and aligns with the barrel, and the user can then shoot, the process repeating itself for the next round. A series of equipment rails fitted in front of the grip also allows the user to customize their sidearm with whatever attachments necessary for the mission.

They are two simple pieces of equipment. The pistol wasn't a concern, since it didn't contain too much to reveal future technology, with the possible exception of caseless ammunition and with the L447's new layout and design, but the helmet I was worried about. By default, our helmets were fitted with kill mechanisms, essentially, its own colony of nanomachines. When our helmet is either forcibly removed or if we've been killed, the nanomachines will then break down the construction of the nanomaterial in our helmets, rendering it a useless hulk of carbon and other excess materials. The purpose of this system was to prevent the Bloc from reverse engineering our equipment. So far, the systems have always worked, and the Bloc has been forced to remain with simpler pieces of equipment more reminiscent of the 21st century in contrast to what we've been using. This ensures our advantage in battle.

Unfortunately, I removed my own helmet, which due to the recognition sequences in my gloves, didn't trigger the kill mechanisms. Worse, I left my helmet behind, meaning now that the residents of Hinata Inn had a complete design and piece of equipment more than a century ahead of their time.

How much of the timeline did I already screw up by even coming here? How much more of it was going to be screwed up by them having my helmet?

And how more will it be messed up even more if I go after my equipment?

There's no question about it – I had to recover my equipment and assuming any details or notes were made regarding either my helmet or sidearm, destroy them. I was lucky to have stayed low for the past few hours or so, but it was time to move in.

I pulled out my PDA, a smaller piece of equipment given to each Commonwealth soldier for the sake of personal use. It had my usual information and personal pieces of data, but it also functions the same way my HUD would, minus a few features. In particular, it too was keeping a rough, updated map of my current movement throughout the inn, as well as tracking signals on my equipment.

I immediately found their locations. They were within the same vicinity somewhere in the building, possibly the same room. Usually, if I had my HUD, as well as a connection to an overhead spy satellite via ICON, I could pick out the exact location in a three-dimensional layout. However, I was without it, so I am left only with a rather broad area to search in.

Before moving out, I took a moment to load the single magazine of stun rounds in my rifle, as well as fit my utility launcher with ring airfoil rounds. By default, Commonwealth soldiers were given various non-lethal munitions for events such as crowd control or having to secure a suspect. The amount varied mission to mission, but it often translated into a single magazine for our rifle, a single magazine for our sidearm, and a half dozen ring airfoil rounds. The stun rounds for our rifles were extremely light foam and compressible plastic rounds with an extremely soft non-metal conducting core that crumbles upon even the slightest impact, negating any major penetration capability. When fired, the core is given a jolt of roughly 400 kV, which is sent into the target on impact and thus disabling them harmlessly or even rendering them unconscious. Simple, yet highly effective, but against armored targets, it would be useless, due to the harder plating negating any contact with the skin and nervous system.

The ring airfoil rounds were probably the most conventional weapon in my arsenal, part of a design that has yet to be changed for more than a century. Beneath the primitive design was a tool proven effective time and time again, enough to warrant its place in the modern soldier's kit. All I had to do was score a hit either in the chest or head, and I could take my target down somewhat safely.

I then reached for a pouch and pulled out a cylindrical silencer, screwing it onto the muzzle with a steady click-click as it secured itself in place. I also flipped up my rifle's backup sights. My HUD usually gave me the reticules and aiming aids, but for now, I needed to rely on my sights. The silencer was a no-brainer – while the stun rounds were quieter than a normal 6.8mm caseless DU, they still had a very audible snap when fired. Also, the silencer would slow the rounds down further, making them even less lethal, something that I, ironically, needed at the moment.

Making sure my rifle was all set, I took a deep breath. I was here, on my own – no backup, no teammates, and no intelligence – just myself. A part of me was nervous and unwilling to go ahead. Teamwork was emphasized with my training, and here, I had none to rely on. Worse, I was walking back into a place filled with people who already know I'm here, and are more than willing to fight back.

Taking another deep breath, I then moved out. I got back into the tunnel and crawled my way up to the kitchen yet again. I checked my corners as I moved out – clear. The lack of light coming into the kitchen told me it was nighttime. This hopefully meant most of the inhabitants of Hinata Inn were asleep.

Pulling out my PDA, I picked out the location. I was really starting to miss my HUD – with my PDA, it gave me a general location, but it didn't account for what floor it was on. From the outside, Hinata Inn was at least three stories high.

I shut the tunnel entrance behind me, and I started by moving down the same hallway I was previously running down from. I followed the direction given by my PDA as close as possible. It looked as though I was close, when it immediately spiked and changed direction. There were some other rooms within the area, but as I approached them, the location of my equipment changed direction. It either meant my equipment was above or below the current floor I was on.

I now needed to find the stairs.

I was moving away when I suddenly heard one of the doors slide open. I quietly swore and leapt out of the way, running down the length of the hallway and hiding behind a corner. Peering around the corner, I spotted the blue haired girl, 'Shinobu' looking around. Her expression was somewhat fearful, but curious. Did she hear me while I was looking around outside? The possibility of that played through my head.

My thumb played around with my rifle's fire selector, switching from safe to single shot, and back again. I could take her down right here and now, and keep her out of commission for at least an hour or two. I had forty-five rounds, and using one didn't matter too much.

I perished the thought. Even if the rounds were non-lethal, the thought of using it on a kid was just sick. Luckily, Shinobu didn't find anything, and went back into her room. I paused and waited before I could continue on. Before I did, I took out my PDA and did a rough diagram of the area I was in, and made sure to mark down the location of Shinobu's room.

I stared up at the ceiling. I wasn't sure why, but I had a strange feeling my gear was located upstairs. Only one way to find out…

I moved around a bit and I was able to find another set of stairs and led up to the second next floor, third, from the looks of it. I moved in closer and homed in. It wasn't spiking or jumping around – I was getting closer. I had just passed another room and what appeared to be a balcony when I heard more footsteps.

Worse, they were coming this way.

I looked around, trying to find a place to hide. The balcony looked good, but it was open, and I would have stood out if I tried that place anyways. I found myself taking several steps back, when I found my answer.

I slid open the door to Room 304 and got in, closed the door behind me and hunkered down in a corner. Sure enough, I could hear the footsteps of somebody walking around outside. Their footsteps were steady and held pace – this person wasn't merely, say, going to the washroom. Whoever was up and out of bed was up to look for me.

Inching closer to the door, I peered through a crack, and all I could see was somebody with long black hair, carrying a sword.

It was the crazy swordswoman.

I wasn't surprised. Seeing how hostile she was, I would have been surprised had she not been up. I checked my PDA again. Damn, the location of my equipment was located just down this hallway. Her presence patrolling it was a snag. Again, I found myself playing with my rifle's fire selector.

No, I couldn't do it. Avoiding all confrontations would be a better idea. I still felt uneasy about the idea of shooting these people. A Bloc soldier was different – civilians, particularly women, from over a century ago? Sure, preserving my well-being was one thing, but I just couldn't get the strength to do so on these people.

I looked around, trying to find something to help. I smiled when I found the window. If I couldn't use the hallway, I'll simply avoid it entirely – I'll move towards the location via the outside of the building.

I got up and made a beeline towards it. My foot then snagged against something. I gave it a bit of a kick, partly by accident, watching as it landed with a soft thud and then a squeak. The squeak caught me off guard, and I raised my rifle as part of a reflex. It was a stuffed animal, a yellow bear…thing…squirrel? Either way, it was nothing.

I then heard shuffling. Turning to the side, I was then met with the sight of a woman sleeping. I instantly noticed her color of hair, and the two distinctive antennas that rose over her head. It was her – the girl with the strong punch. She moved around in her futon slowly, the affects of sleep still slowing her movements. She was starting to move more and more. Did the squeak wake her up?

Thoughts of me being pummeled by her overwhelmingly powerful punch were pieced together in my head. Worse, any noise from within here would attract the attention of the swordswoman outside.

She stirred some more, and as she did, part of her blanket rolled off of her. I then realized part of her shirt was unbuttoned, providing a rather gratuitous view of her upper chest.

I really had to get out of here.

I had reached the window and had gotten outside the room when I heard something moving. I was caught off guard yet again when I realized a small block of wood on the floor was moving. It was the spot where the stuffed animal was just sitting at moments ago; funny how I didn't notice it. It was actually a trap door, or at least a hole of some sort.

"Hey, Narusegawa, are you alright? I heard something-wah!"

It was the male - the same one I had ran over just hours ago. His room was right below the girl? There was a moment of awkward silence just before I heard the girl, Narusegawa, yell.

"YOU PERVERT!"

I had gotten out of view and was clinging to a piece of wood next to the window just I heard her throw a punch. If I had to guess, the male had seen exactly what I had seen just a second ago. All of a sudden, I heard wood splinter and break from the top of the roof and a single lone figure flying through the air, twisting and screaming as he flew through the night sky.

Damn…that girl punched hard.

I took the moment to keep moving. I shimmied along, slowly moving across the outside wall. It was a tiring process, but it wasn't too bad. The training I had to undergo covered pretty much everything, and at the moment, I suppose I now had the dreaded answer for the single most asked question amongst trainees and recruits: 'Since when are we going to need that?' Given the circumstances, I had to give myself credit – to shimmy along the side of a building to evade hostiles was simply ingenious.

After a few minutes of moving along, I had reached the location. I checked my PDA once again – the locations of my equipment were directly inside of where I was currently hanging from. I had guessed right about going to the floor above. Taking a quick look around, I spotted a window. I climbed for it, managed to get it open, and I crawled in. I was quiet getting in, but my landing was somewhat off. I ended up rolling around on the ground. I got to my feet and brushed the dirt and grass off my armor.

Wait a minute, dirt and grass? What the hell?

I was covered in it, as though I had landed in the middle of a jungle or something. Raising my head, I was met with absolute shock as I realized I was in a jungle. Long vines, sprawling tropical trees, thick green leaves and plants…it was all over the place. Looking behind, I saw the walls and the window I came in from, which all conflicted with the image of the apparent jungle.

Why was there a full jungle located in the middle of a building? Furthermore, how was this even possible? The ground was real dirt and soil, and it felt solid and packed. The trees grew out of it as though it was natural earth, and I swear, even the temperature was somewhat higher here than outside. And I don't know if I was in too much shock, but I think I could even hear the chirping of birds and other animals inside the room as well.

I have gone 146 years into the past, and I'm seeing things that are making absolutely no sense.

I forced myself to ignore it all. I really didn't want to think about 'why', especially in this place. Raising my PDA, I closed in on the signals from my equipment. As I did, I kept my rifle raised. Jungles were the worst place to be operating in. Forget urban warfare – urban warfare could almost be considered fun compared to a jungle. The heat, the wildlife, and especially the annoying amount of cover made jungle warfare an absolute pain in the ass. Behind every tree could possibly be either a hostile or a booby trap just waiting to be sprung.

It was a place where our thermal vision equipped HUD's would help. Sadly, being without it was only adding to a level of annoyance I had yet to feel. I really couldn't wait 'til this was all done.

Continuing along through the thick foliage, I eventually found a desk and a computer hidden away in the back of the room. Sure enough, there they were – my helmet, and my sidearm, sitting at the side of the desk. Putting away my PDA, I walked towards them. I nearly fell over when I stepped into a pool of water. Actually, it was more like a miniature lake.

This room, already a big jungle, was complete with its own lake?

I got my foot out of the water and continued. I was just five meters from the desk when I stepped on something, and then promptly slipped and fell.

"Fuck!"

I couldn't hold myself in. This was getting annoying. Looking at my boot, I found a banana peel, in which I picked up and threw into the jungle with anger. This was getting ridiculous; who the hell would leave banana peels lying around? Getting back to my feet in a fury of minor curses and swears, I slowly made my way to the desk, careful to not step on any of the other banana peels littering the area, as well as to pick them up and toss them aside. Luckily, it relieved some of my anger in the process.

When I got to the desk, I noted the stack of papers and notebooks sitting next to my helmet. It was a pretty heavy stack, at least a foot wide of notes and paper. I picked up one of the notebooks and skimmed through it. Sketches and diagrams of my equipment were drawn in each page, and long sections of text and writing was filled in between. I checked the other sheets and notebooks – all the same. This was all the information recovered from my equipment. In some way, I found myself quite astonished that somebody was able to uncover this amount of information this fast.

I looked around the surrounding area, as close to the desk as possible, and I found a metal garbage can, as well as a large cloth or blanket. Excellent – this would work quite well. I stuffed the notes inside of it and reached for my survival pack clipped at the side of my belt. Opening it up, I took out my set of matches.

Destroying intelligence or sensitive materials was often best left to a thermite grenade. It made sense – the heat and fire of such a device would leave nothing behind for hostile units to use. However, thermite grenades were equipped quite sparingly to units in the Commonwealth, including my unit, and even if I had one, it would leave a bit too much collateral than what I would wish. My only hope was to dispose of them directly, albeit primitively.

I pulled the garbage can filled with the notes below the desk and draped the blanket over the entire desk. If I was lucky, I could light a match, incinerate some of the documents, and keep the smoke contained and hidden underneath the blanket for a moment so I could escape without anybody knowing. There were too many sheets of paper to destroy – at best, doing half now would be the better option, and then I could take the other half and dispose of it later.

Before I set my plan in motion, I turned the computer on. If I had to guess, there had to be some files or data on my equipment stored on the machine as well. I waited as the machine started up. I stood there for what felt like a long period of time. I had forgotten how long it would take these old machines to turn on. The new computers in the 22nd century had hardware and storage all integrated into a layer of super-conducting material, which doubled both as storage of data and for graphical output. All other hardware required to run everything was integrated into the layer of super-conducting material. An example was my PDA – an extremely simple piece of equipment, actually. More than half of it was more hardened plastics and metals to protect the device than anything else. It was quicker, and was sure as hell more durable than having a motherboard and several other components plugged in.

Finally, the machine booted up. It then brought me to a login screen, where a text box then appeared. From the looks of it, I needed a password. Damn, I wasn't expecting this. The owner of this machine actually took care of their computer – a surprise, seeing how most in the future didn't. I took a closer look at the screen. Much to my surprise, the text wasn't in English or Japanese, but rather…something else. It looked like an incoherent mix of scribbles and drawings, not like any written language I had seen before.

Looking closer at the writing, it seemed somewhat familiar. I swear, I had seen this type of writing somewhere before. Wait, is this…Molmolian? That's why I was able to 'somewhat' recognize it. The owner of this machine, quite possibly the darker skinned girl, was from Molmol, or rather, the Central Pacific Empire, to be more politically correct.

Thinking about this brought back some rather interesting memories. Molmol, known more by its international title, the Central Pacific Empire, was a small Pacific country, so small and so insignificant that nobody in all of North American actually heard of it. I myself, I not heard of it until two weeks prior to going there, when I was briefed regarding a new mission in the area. Molmol was an out-of-place country – it still had an absolute monarch, in a time when democracies and socialist governments ruled, and it was quite an underdeveloped nation as well, compared to the technological supremacy of North America. Economics and demographics aside, the Molmolian king was an annoying opportunist. While Molmol was officially neutral in The War, the king was helping both sides. He'd be selling food and resources to the Commonwealth one day, and information regarding Commonwealth activity in the Pacific to the Bloc the next, all for the sake of his country. Despite diplomatic agreements not to aid the opposing side, all of which were made to both the Commonwealth and with the Bloc, the king of Molmol continued to screw around with both sides.

Commonwealth Military Command got fed up with this and gave the go-ahead to our regiment, the 1st Mechanized Light Calvary Regiment, to invade Molmol. The aftermath was shocking, if not simply hilarious – a single regiment, mixed between infantry and light armored vehicles, had taken the island and achieved total control in two days, with no killed-in-action or wounded. We had completely smashed all resistance on the island, due to our overestimation of the Molmolian military strength, all within the course of forty-eight hours. It was complete and utter domination, the same one that soldiers would joke about over a beer in their later years, or a hilarious anecdote that could be cited as an example for how to kick ass.

The king himself was assassinated during the final stages of the mission. I was there, with my squad, and I could distinctly remember that it was my rifle pointing towards him, and several seconds later, we would be making the report to command that our mission was complete.

Looking at the computer screen and the writing, it brought back the memories of that invasion.

The part with the password concerned me. I didn't have the time, or the ability to do so in this area. I shut the computer down and pried open its computer tower, removing its hard drive. I could interface with the hard drive if I used my PDA, and I could use my hacking programs to brute force my way in, but I had to do so another time. I needed to get rid of the written information first.

I finished draping the blanket over the desk, and I then lit the first match. I dropped it in, and watched as it slowly spread to the other papers. As soon as I was sure it was all burning, I released the blanket, letting it cover all the openings around the desk. The remaining half, I fold parts of it up and stuffed it into whatever pouches I had available. Mission complete, for now, anyways.

I then proceeded to reclaim my equipment. I picked up my sidearm, briefly checked it for any damage, and then slid it back into my holster. I did the same with my helmet, before preparing to put it back onto my head.

That was just milliseconds before alarms started ringing.

I then realized there was a network of lasers previously locked onto my equipment. By moving them, I had sprung the alarm. I needed to get the hell out of here.

I was about to get back to the window when the door leading into the room opened up. There stood the crazy swordswoman and the dark skinned Molmolian, with the others slowly appearing.

"There you are!" the swordswoman screamed and she leapt forward, her blade in the air.

"Go, Mecha-Tama!"

Mecha-what? Suddenly, something flew at me out from nowhere. I was able to make out its shape to be some type of shiny metal turtle or something. It had a gun mounted onto the back of its shell, in which it promptly began to fire at me with. Just as it fired, the swordswoman had also just reached my position. Before her blade could touch me, whatever the mechanized turtle had fired had hit – both of us.

The force of the impact sent me flying. I could feel my helmet leaving my grasp. When I came to, I then realized the swordswoman was also hit, and was lying in a pile next to me. This was my chance. I got up off the ground and rolled forward, plucking my helmet off the ground and jamming it on top of my head, also taking some time to lift up my facemask as well – common sense, really. The familiar computer screens turned on and the targeting reticules and aids appeared.

It was great to see it all again.

I raised my rifle and aimed for the mechanical turtle. My current load out wouldn't be able to do anything to it, but if I was lucky, the ring airfoil round should have enough force to at least knock it back. I fired off one of them, watching as the small plastic round impacted against its head and bounced off. The turtle was shot farther back into the room. I was partially right, I guess.

"You shall pay!"

The swordswoman was at it again. I narrowly dodged her sword, and I broke out running. I brushed past the dark skinned girl at the door and got out into the hallway. My pacing was frantic, and I had turned to the side just in time as I neared the wall. My shoulder left a sizable dent in the wall, but at least it slowed me down.

I continued to run, picking a random direction and running there.

In the background, I could hear the swordswoman giving chase. She was too close – while my morals told me otherwise, I knew I had to do it. I turned around, raised my weapon and fired a shot.

The swordswoman blocked and deflected the round with a single swipe of her sword.

Was there another way to say it, other than 'Oh, shit!'?

She swung her sword again, and just like the day before, it sent me flying. I seriously needed to find out how the hell it was doing that. I had gotten up just as the door to my right opened. I then realized in horror that it was the door to Room 304 that had opened.

Out stepped the long haired goddess with the crazy fist.

I got up and ran, now with Narusegawa and the crazy swordswoman in pursuit. With my HUD now back, I had the advantage of using whatever tools or utilities necessary. I brought up my radar and kept tabs on the two women chasing me, and I switched on my thermal vision so I could at least see if somebody was going to jump me as I was running.

It was working, somewhat – I knew when the swordswoman swung her weapon, and I knew which way to dodge. Narusegawa could only actually hit me if she was close, so I figured I'd have to stay at a distance from her. So far so good – I was invulnerable…

WHAM!

Something flew out of somewhere and got me in the head. Next thing I knew, I was floundering on the ground for a moment, trying to get back to my feet. Next to me were the remains of what appeared to be a priceless artifact. I looked up and realized it was the evil blond kid, and she had somehow produced yet another stone artifact.

I had almost no time to react until she had dropped it onto me. My helmet, designed to take impacts probably twenty times heavier and faster, took the brunt of it, but it didn't mean I couldn't feel the force of the impact. I fell back from the impact, and I tried to get back up. My radar picked up Narusegawa getting closer.

I really had to get away.

"Get him, Naru!"

Naru Narusegawa? Interesting – her first and last name were quite similar, and it had a nice ring to it.

Why the hell was I thinking that? I was close to getting my ass kicked and I'm thinking about a girl's name? I then felt a strong kick at the back of my head. Naru's legs must be insanely strong – she had lifted me right into the air with that kick. If that wasn't bad enough, I then felt another kick, this time at my back, and that propelled me even further down the hall.

So, Naru could attack with both her fists and her legs. How pleasant…

My flight path, as far as I could tell, was at an angle towards the wall and also towards the floor. I slammed straight through the wall, and then impacted against the floor at what felt like the same velocity a novice paratrooper would hit the ground at. My stomach then floated for a split second as the floor gave way. I was falling, and Naru's kick still gave me enough forward momentum to keep going forward. I fell and ended up one floor below.

Was it even possible to ask how Naru was that strong? Hell, was it even worth knowing?

I weakly got up and out of whatever crater I might have ended up in. I was in a great deal of pain, but it immediately receded and I then started to feel woozy – the drugs were being injected and they were relieving me of the old mistress.

I was on the verge of wondering where I landed, when I was met with the sight of two firm and well rounded breasts.

Wait a minute…breasts?

Looking up, I immediately recognized the face and hair of the curvaceous fox from yesterday. She was sitting on her futon, and her shirt happened to be partially unbuttoned, the last few at risk of letting her nicely shaped assets from spilling out.

I had landed in her room?

"Heey…who's there?" the fox slurred.

I immediately took note of the bottle in her hand. My helmet's scanning tools did a brief scan of the bottle and picked out several key chemical compounds and ingredients, which it used to crosscheck with existing information in my databases. The final conclusion: it was sake, Japanese rice wine. Was the fox drunk? I switched to a blood alcohol content scanner and scanned her. Her blood alcohol content was .25.

Yeah, she was drunk alright.

"Heeeeellllooooo…?"

She then fell forward. I quickly caught her in my arms. Was she passed out?

I could feel her snuggling against me.

No, she definitely wasn't passed out, but she wasn't fully conscious either.

I tried to dump her back into her futon, but I then noticed that there were four people staring in from the top of the hole I made entering into the fox's room.

Naru, the crazy swordswoman, the evil artifact tossing blond kid, and the Molmolian stared at me, with a drunken girl in my arms. It was an image that would leave little for imagination for anybody else watching.

I dropped the girl onto her futon and tried to run for the door. It was a worthy effort, but a failure nonetheless. I was dropkicked by Naru, and then sent flying through the door by one of her immensely powerful punches. I was able to recover and sit myself up, but I then found the tip of the swordswoman's blade hovering mere millimeters from my helmet.

"You hide at a girl's dormitory, prey on innocent women, and now, you attack our fellow boarder? You are a despicable criminal and villain without respect or decency!"

"What are we going to do with him?" the Molmolian asked as she slid into place next to the swordswoman, the expression on her face telling me that she wanted to do something devious.

Naru and the evil blond gathered with the other two. All four stood in front of me, their faces filled with expressions so evil and cruel, they could probably make a Drill Sergeant break down and cry.

"Argh…my back still hurts…"

Somebody new arrived at the scene. The voice belonged to a male. It was him! He had just returned? Come to think about it, he did fly pretty far, so making it back here at this time shouldn't be too surprising. He came around the corner, en route back to his room while he rubbed the side of his face and his back.

Christ, was this guy immortal or something?

"Heeey, Keitaro!" the Molmolian chirped happily. "We caught the guy who ran over you yesterday!"

"Wait, who are you talking about Suu…? What the hell?"

As with yesterday, his eyes bugged out when he saw me. A plan then clicked together in my head. I brushed the sword out of my face and charged straight for him. His reactions were slow, and it allowed me to slip past him, turn around, and grab him from behind. I held out my assault rifle with one hand, and held the male, 'Keitaro', with the other.

He was now my human shield.

"Keitaro!" Naru cried out as she stepped forward.

"Don't move! Nobody move!" I shouted, moving my assault rifle from person to person.

My assault rifle weighed roughly four and a half kilograms – I was used to that kind of weight, but I wouldn't be able to hold for long with one hand. I had to hurry and get them to back off.

"Ahhh! Somebody help me! Motoko? Naru?"

I slowly began to walk backwards, my rifle still raised. The swordswoman, 'Motoko', if I had to guess based off of their brief exchange, stepped forward, but she was careful not to charge at me. If I didn't have Keitaro between myself and them, Motoko would have rushed at me for sure.

"Stay back!"

So far this was working. With a hostage in hand, I stood a slightly better chance. I continued to move back, until I picked something moving up to me on my radar. Keeping my arm around Keitaro and keeping him in front of the women, I turned myself around and pointed my rifle down the other end of the hallway. There were two new arrivals. The first was Shinobu, her blue hair and small size was a dead giveaway. The other was somebody I had not identified earlier. She appeared a fair bit older than the residents of Hinata Inn, late twenties or so, perhaps thirties, older than even me at least. She had short brown hair, with two thick strains extending down in front of her ears and stopping around the middle of her neck. A lit and smoking cigarette dangled lazy in the corner of her mouth, and her eyes stared unpleasantly at me. She was still dressed in her nightgown, which did little to hide her rather gorgeous figure.

I then noticed she had a gun pointed at me.

"Put my nephew down."

Her voice was cold and monotonous, but in an alluring and feminine way. Somehow, that seemed to suit her.

"Aunt Haruka, thank God!"

She then squeezed off a round, much to the surprise of both me and Keitaro, who was then screaming in fear moments later. The round had buried itself an inch from Keitaro's foot.

"Haruka" she corrected.

My scanners did a brief check over the size of the bullet hole the weapon left, and empty cartridge on the ground, and the weapon itself in Haruka's hands. The scans concluded it was a Browning High Power, a widely used sidearm during the early 20th century, extending even into the early 21st.

I noted in particular that it fired 9mm – definitely not able to pierce my armor.

"Put the gun down!" I ordered, lining my rifle up with Haruka.

She refused, holding firm her stance and her weapon. Her stance bothered me – the way she held her weapon and the way her arms and legs were positioned told me she was extremely well trained. The shot she had fired had also landed perfectly without any risk for Keitaro, and she kept her sights lined up with me, without any fear or hesitation.

Great – in addition to Naru and her extremely powerful punch, Motoko and her sword, the Molmolian and whatever devices or schemes she had in store, the evil blond kid and her stone artifacts, there was now Haruka, highly skilled and proficient in firearms.

Five to one odds - could I be any more screwed?

"Put the gun down!" I shouted again.

"Who are you?" Haruka asked. Her voice still in the same monotone – it annoyed me because I couldn't tell if she was hesitant or not. Then again, seeing how well trained she appears to be, I wouldn't doubt it if she was ready to unload a full clip right into me at this second.

"Who are you? What are you doing at Hinata-Sou?"

"I am not authorized to answer that question."

Bullshit. Saying that wasn't going to help at all. If this was even going to help, I might as well start spewing bits from Article 4-C of the Commonwealth Military Command's Procedures and Regulations Document: 'All Commonwealth Military Command personnel, unless approved or ordered so by a senior superior officer, are not authorized to divulge data or intelligence regarding Commonwealth military operations within the immediate and international area.'

None of that was going to help me. Not now. I was standing in a hallway holding onto a hostage with hostiles in front and behind me, and there wasn't much to help me.

"You coward! Why must you hide behind another's life rather than face us like a real warrior? Have you no sense of honor?"

Motoko stared at me with eyes filled with spite. Funny, I've never had that question before. As far as I was concerned, 'honor' was just a word, and only a word. I often attributed honor with being shot first in a battle, and as such I never cared about it. Especially in a 22nd century war, 'see first, shoot first' was key. There was no time to 'see first, let opponent know that I'm going to shoot him, give him an equal chance, then shoot.'

"Please, let Urashima-sempai go!"

I then found myself staring at the crying form of Shinobu. She stood slightly in front of Haruka, the tears rolling down her smooth cheeks and to the floor.

"Just let him go! He hasn't done anything wrong!"

I then found myself unable to move as I stared at Shinobu's pleading form. I was thankful I had my helmet and facemask on – the residents would not see me hesitating. For a moment, I realized what I was really doing. I temporarily left the semi-conscious autopilot I usually moved in and realized that I was holding somebody hostage to protect myself. I was using Keitaro as a bargaining chip for my own means.

On one side, it was a conflict of morals and ethics – the same things I always though I was born without. In reality, it was a mission failure. The point where I had to take a hostage means my mission has taken a complete turn for the absolute worst. I had gotten myself waist deep in shit, and I now had very few options on how to resolve this. Of course, I couldn't use Keitaro as means of negotiating.

Well, there was one solution, but I needed to be quick and lucky. Strangely, I was without either of those two during my time here.

I released Keitaro and pushed him forward. While he fell, I turned around, switched my rifle's fire mode to the utility launcher, and fired. The ring airfoil round shot out and got him in the back and also hurled him forward some more. There was a collective gasp from everybody watching as he fell to the ground. They would all assume the worst for a moment or two.

It was in that moment that I could escape.

I spun around and ran past Shinobu and Haruka, pushing her handgun out of the way. I then ran as fast as I could down the hall. Gunshots then rang out – Haruka was now firing at me. There wasn't any room to dodge and weave, but that didn't matter. I could feel several dull thumps on my back – the 9mm rounds were hitting me, but were being denied by my armor.

I rounded the corner and ran into another hallway. My radar was picking up at least three or four people in pursuit. I pumped the slide on my utility launcher and pushed in a flashbang round, set on a timer, which I then fired at a wall behind me. The round bounced off the wall and hit another, in which it also bounced off of. I continued to run and tried to put as much distance between myself and my pursuers.

"There he is!" a voice sounding similar to the evil blond kid yelled.

A brief second later there was a loud explosion, followed by several screams and curses. I had to admit, the trick of dropping a flashbang round was getting old already, even after just the second time. But, it was effective enough for me to keep running. My HUD accessed the mapping data from my PDA and created before me a rough diagram of the building – complete with a three dimensional layout and updated areas of interest.

I found the tunnel entrance in the kitchen and headed straight for it. Same as usual – same escape plan, same exit. I have to admit, this was working quite well. For once, I didn't need to change my tactics or anything. I got into the kitchen, slid the poster out of the way, and got in, also making sure that it was in place after I went in.

Back to the safety of the tunnel – I was safe. Once inside the tunnel, I moved far from the entry and further down the tunnel. As soon as I was what felt like a safe distance, I checked over my equipment. I still had my assault rifle and I had only expended one of my stun rounds. I used a pair of ring airfoil rounds – one to get the mechanical turtle out of my way and the other on Keitaro. I had my sidearm and it was in good condition. I field stripped it just to be certain, and I was. My helmet was working, evident by the now working heads-up-display. Recover all equipment - complete.

There was still the next part to finish.

I pulled out the remainder of the notes and the hard drive I stole from the Molmolian's computer. Looking around the new section of tunnel that I was now at, I noticed there were several rooms.

Jackpot.

The insides of these rooms were bare and unfurnished, save for a few pieces of rock or miscellaneous items. Some didn't even have sections of floor. If I had to guess, these rooms are extremely old and no longer used. Lucky enough, there was a bowl in this one, non-wooden, thankfully. I started with the notes, taking the sheets and tearing them up into smaller pieces before stuffing into the bowl and lighting them on fire. The process took more time, but I was in a safer area and I had all the time to do so. It also reduced the amount of smoke from disposing them, which was also a good benefit.

While I kept along with the process of burning the notes, I pulled out the hard drive and connected it with my PDA. Now that I had time, I could now hack the device. Our PDA's were fitted with several programs able to break through or bypass various security systems. This was so, in the event a Commonwealth soldier finds a computer or machine carrying Bloc intelligence, we can access it regardless of whatever protection is used. I wasn't much of an engineer or computer person, but I was trained on how to use them, and plus, the programs themselves were idiot-proof enough for even me to use.

I let the PDA run an emulation using the data from the hard drive, and from there, I used a few brute force programs to test for passwords. It would take awhile, not that I was worrying. I still had other notes to destroy.

In addition, I took off my chest armor and began to inspect it. It was shaped like a vest, only it was thicker and was constructed out of nanomaterials. The front was fitted with several pouches and pockets. Storage space was integrated into the back of our vest, where it doubled as partial storage space for rations, medical kits, or water. It wasn't meant to simulate a full military rucksack, but rather, act as immediate space for a soldier. It was more armor than anything else though.

I found the places where Haruka's bullets landed at. They still remained in place, not for much longer as I scraped them off. Their groupings were tight – Haruka was definitely skilled and well trained. The armor was well constructed, so much, that the small 9mm pistol rounds wouldn't even come close to penetrating. Hell, if a .50 AE and point blank couldn't get through the armor, everything else below it certainly wouldn't.

Satisfied, I put my chest armor back on and returned to destroying the data. The programs found the password and gained access within two or three minutes. I immediately searched the contents of the hard drive for anything that related to my equipment.

How long would it take? I had no definite answer, but it would be awhile. Plus, there were still the other notes and sheets of paper.

It was going to be a long night…