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Musique Sans Frontieres
Amanda Valenciano Libre, the successor of her father as the commander of the Sandanista National Liberation Front and a renowned member of Militaires Sans Frontieres, was held captive by the mercenary troops under the US regime. The Sandanistas had taken a vital role in the revolution in Nicaragua to overthrow the Somoza government backed by the National Guard and the U.S. government. They wanted to put an end to the Somozas' dictatorship and to claim what had been taken away from their people.
Her little brother, Chico, was still unaware of what had happened. She decided to leave him in Mother Base and check her comrades' situation in their country. After the Peace Walker incident, the comandante had no idea on what was waiting on her return.
It had been three days since Mother Base lost contact to the comandante until one of her men managed to deliver the news. According to him, they were ambushed in their base camp in the mountains after their encounter with the National Guards. It seemed like the government wanted to take out the guerrillas as quickly as possible with the help of the CIA was also said that Amanda and her crew was held in a small military outpost at the base of the mountain where his comrades where captured. Kaz Miller immediately planned a rescue unit to save the comandante. Unfortunately, most of the combat units in Mother Base were currently out in their own operations. Miller left him no other choice but to give the mission to the light music club.
"She's captured?" The guitarist asked the obvious while busy eating stuffed bread. She just got inside the room from her wonderful excursion in the mess hall.
"Yui, just be quiet if you won't say anything helpful," Ritsu said.
"We should set out as soon as possible. Any moment now, the prisoners might be transported elsewhere," Kaz noted.
"Don't worry. We will find the comandante and bring her back in one piece," Tsumugi assured.
"Mugi, don't speak for yourself. Think about us!" Mio spoke in a trembling voice in one corner of the room.
Before they could leave the room, someone already opened the door. They were quite astonished to see Chico with a miserable and disappointed look in his face.
"My sister...she's been captured?" Chico asked with a trembling voice.
"Don't worry...we will get her back." Kaz replied with resoluteness.
"Damn! Why does my sister have to carry all of the load? Why didn't she tell me about this?"
"Chico..."
"Let me go with you!"
The deputy commander rubbed his forehead. "You can't go...you might just slow them down."
"I can carry myself! I'm not a kid anymore!" Chico yelled in a voice that everyone didn't recognize.
"I think we should take any help that we can take," Tsumugi said calmly. "We could use a guide, Miller-san."
Miller looked at the eyes of the young Sandanista which was now full of determination, ready to face death in the midst of duty. Amanda herself wouldn't want to have her brother to be involve but Chico knew that was the moment to prove that he could stand on his own and able to repay the kindness of his compas and her sister. He once pledge in front of Big Boss to become a 'new man' back in the prison camp in Costa Rica. The deputy commander fixed his eyeglasses before giving a smile. "Okay then, whatever works best for you guys. Be careful out there."
"Miller-san, why are you always ordering us to do these kind of things?" The lead guitarist of the music club asked.
"Because most of his type are lazy bums who sit on their asses the whole day while watching the show unfold from a safe place."
"H-Hey, that was harsh!"
"The truth always knows the most painful spot, isn't it?"
The group took off to the military base with an Mi-24A multi-purpose helicopter after preparing their respective gear. They landed a mile away from the base and reluctantly continued their way on foot through the thick forest. It was a humid, hot afternoon trek for them with birds chirping freely from above.
"Sheesh, why do we have to walk if we could just land the helicopter on the base?" Ritsu grumbled while hacking down the shrubs in their way with a machete.
Miller spoke through their radio. "We could do that if the helicopter is indestructible or you're willing to pay the repair bills. Anyway, the outpost isn't that far. I won't send you there if you're not ready for the actual thing likewise."
"Point taken but I think you just said that for the sake of motivating us."
"I wish I brought a camera with me..." Tsumugi muttered as she looked around the lush, green environment.
"Yui, your turn!" Ritsu handed over the machete to the clumsy guitarist.
"Forest...insects...snakes," Mio chanted while grasping Ritsu's arm, not ready to let go.
"Mio, when are you going to let go off me?" Ritsu asked then thought of an idea. She jumped away from Mio and pointed to the ground, pretending to be surprised. "Oh my God, is that a poisonous snake?"
The bassist took defensive measures by grabbing the drummer's M16A1 and spraying the ground with bullets until she emptied the rifle's magazine. The rapid burst of gunshots startled the birds, making them flutter to safety. Ritsu almost couldn't breathe due to laughter. After the terrified girl recovered from the shock and realizing that it was just another prank of her friend, she swung the base of the gun to the brunette's head like a baseball bat. The blow instantly knocked her unconscious.
"Ow...That's gotta hurt," Chico muttered as he learned something important when being with Mio.
"Mio-senpai, you hit her too hard!" Azusa exclaimed then checked her friend's vital signs.
"She's an idiot, she deserved it," The frightened bassist coldly said with her arms crossed.
"Mugi-senpai, you're spacing out...Are you okay?" Azusa noticed.
The trance of the keyboardist was broken and replied to the pigtailed guitarist with a smile "Oh...yes...I'm fine. It must be the heat."
"I'm tired; I want some snacks right now." Yui complained after sticking the machete's blade on the ground.
"How about a break? I brought some cake with me." The keyboardist offered.
"Oh, that's fine with me, anything other than rations," said Chico, quite grateful.
"What the hell are you doing there?" Kaz asked, bewildered on their actions.
Yui replied, "Tea time~ We need to relax too, you know?"
After the unintentional delays and occasional outburst of their deputy commander, they soon arrived in the outpost's perimeter before sunset. Mio examined the area using her binoculars. There were sentries and guards around the area. The place had a watchtower overlooking the whole area, a small supply depot with two trucks for transportation in front of it, and some huts and houses that functioned as temporary barracks. Construction materials were also evident which may be used for improving the base.
Azusa carefully aimed her Mosin Nagant rifle equipped with a suppressor at the watchtower sentry before pulling the trigger. As soon as the soldier fell to sleep, Ritsu and the others rushed inside the base while Mio stayed with Azusa in the distance. The drummer's group hid behind a supply truck when a sentry passed by. She sneaked behind and shocked the unwary soldier using her stun rod. The soldier dropped to the ground as if having a bad seizure.
"Neutralized without a hitch!" Ritsu bragged, skillfully spinning her stun rod around her hand. Mio just sighed over the radio.
"Idiot, if you get caught out there, you won't get any help from me!"
"As if you're brave enough to rescue me here. But don't worry, we could manage."
"Maybe we should check that hut over there?" suggested Chico as he pointed a finger.
Not far from their position, two soldiers were guarding the door of a small hut. Tsumugi was about to try the magazine trick as a good distraction but Yui suddenly tossed a chocolate bar in front of the soldiers.
"There! That should do it!"
Ritsu whispered, "That can't possibly work, Yui."
The guards fixed their eyes on the thrown object for a few seconds before realizing that it was something far better than barely-edible rations. One of the soldiers decided to pick it up while the other threateningly glared at him.
"That's mine! I found it first!"
"Oh, really? For God's sake, I was the one who picked it up."
"Give me that!"
"MINE!"
The soldiers brawled over the chocolate while this gave time for the girls to check inside.
Ritsu was dumbfounded when the guitarist's plan worked. "Yui, how did you..."
"Ricchan, the irresistable charm of chocolates!" Yui firmly emphasized. "Feel the might of sweets!"
"Whatever. We should act quickly before they took notice of us."
Upon checking the interiors of the house, they only found crates of ammunition and other weapons scattered on the floor. There was no trace of the comandante or her comrades. They went around the house to check the other structures while the commotion caused by the two diverted all of the soldiers to them. As the group continued to search around, they heard someone shouting inside another house and checked inside through the window. There was a man covered in his own blood, tied on a wooden chair with a blindfold on his eyes. They thought that the prisoner might be one of the Sandanistas. Chico gritted his teeth in the sight of the torture. He remembered when he suffered the same fate after being captured by the Chrysalis AI weapon but he himself couldn't bear much torture and even talked about the location of his comrades.
"No doubt, that's one of my compas!" Chico cried.
"For the last time, where are your other guerrilla friends?" The soldier menacingly questioned but the Sandanista prisoner never uttered a word which made the more furious.
"Still not going to talk, eh?" The soldier pointed his M1911A1 pistol to the prisoner's head, about to give the death sentence. "You asked for it!"
Without wasting anymore moments, they quickly breached the door and pointed their weapons to the interrogator. The soldier was petrified in his place.
"FREEZE!" Ritsu commanded with her M16A1's laser sight aimed at the soldier's head. "Move a muscle or your head will blow up in seconds!"
"Uh...FREEZE!" Tsumugi quickly followed, drawing a Single Action Army revolver stylishly engraved with the MSF pattern from her holster then contentedly giggled. "Sorry...I just wanted to say that."
"Hey! No fair! Why do you always get the awesome ones! That model is engraved too!" The drummer leaned closer to the exquisite revolver with sparkling eyes for a closer look. "You won't see this gun everyday!"
"Ricchan, you're drooling..." The carefree guitarist notified. "Err...How long are we going to point our weapons? This is kinda heavy..."
Ritsu couldn't believe what she was seeing. "A combat shotgun? Didn't I told you to pick a lighter one?"
"This is very cute. See?" Yui handed over the combat shotgun with a design similar to Tsumugi's Peacemaker but had a cake's silhouette pattern as well.
"What the...this is custom-made too! Damn it!" Ritsu exclaimed with a stomp on the floor. "Wait...you don't even know how to use this thing!"
"You can ask the R&D team for custom ones like this," The keyboardist said, putting her index finger on her chin. "I'm very happy that they gave me this one."
"Can I have some snacks first? Ricchan, potato or tortilla chips?" asked Yui as she reached to one of her belt pockets.
"If you're going to kill me now...just do it," The soldier pleaded as his hands held up high, already losing patience and resolution. He stole a glance at Chico who was now quite embarrassed. "Hey, kid, are you with these girls? I can already imagine the mental torture..."
"Well, as much as I hate you...maybe we could have something in common too."
Ritsu raised an eyebrow. "What was that? Did we told you to talk?"
The soldier tensed up. "Ah, no! Please spare me!"
"Good! Don't think about fighting back."
They disarmed the soldier then restrained him with a rope, surprisingly without any attempt of retaliation as Chico released the guerrilla and removed his blindfold. The black-haired man slowly regain his vision, seeing that his rescuers were young soldiers; three of them were girls. Tsumugi handed over her canteen of water to the man which he willingly accepted.
"You're with MSF?" The man asked after drinking, quite relieved to be free from torture.
Ritsu gave him a nod. "Yeah."
"Are you with my sister's unit?" Chico hopefully asked.
The man stared at the eyes of the boy before nodding. "You must be her brother. I see that you've already grown so much."
"Is she still here?"
"They've probably them somewhere else," The man informed. "I was the only one left here."
Chico turned to the restrained soldier then pointed his AK-47.
"Where are they?" The young soldier questioned steadily.
"In the supply base...southwest of this outpost."
"Miller-san, please send a chopper for recovery," Tsumugi requested over the radio as crackling sounds could be heard.
The other end received the message."Acknowledged. Any news about Amanda?"
"It seemed that we arrived too late. The prisoners were already moved to the supply base..."
"I see. We already sent a chopper to pick him up. I've never imagined we have to infiltrate that supply base again. Then again, I'm impressed that the base is still operational until now?"
"Why would they move the prisoner into their main base?" Tsumugi asked while checking the situation outside. The surroundings were already dark and the soldiers watching the fight already returned to their respective posts.
"They've already got the Sandanista commander, everything else will fall soon," Kaz explained. "These soldiers are not actually onto us, but to the guerillas."
"Uhm, can you walk?" Yui asked, worried on the man's condition.
"I'm fine. Those bastards will pay for this."
"Wait...are you going to leave me here?" The soldier asked.
"Fine...We'll bring you too," Ritsu said. "No stupid ideas, or you'll gonna get it."
The group went back to Azusa and Mio, who were patiently waiting for them from the distance. They received another call from Kaz for the necessary updates in their operation.
"We already checked the supply base beforehand. There are soldiers patrolling outside the base and probably much more guarded inside," Kaz informed. "The base is also fitted with several AA weapons and platforms."
"Can we go home then?" Mio asked anxiously.
"Negative, we'll think of another way."
"Now, what? How did Snake managed to slip inside the base anyway?" Ritsu asked.
"Using a cardboard box..."
"Shoot, I should have guessed it!"
"Maybe we could use a truck from them," suggested Azusa, pointing to the suppy trucks parked in the outpost.
The girls looked at each other disappointingly then followed a moment of silence which made the deputy commander puzzled. It was surely a great idea, using an enemy vehicle as transport to the supply base without the worry of being compromised but there was something that the girls immediately realized.
"Uhhh...Is there a problem?" Kaz asked, still wondering on the sudden change in atmosphere.
"NOT EVEN ONE OF US IS A FREAKING DRIVER!" The drummer exclaimed over the radio.
"But you guys reached the Pacific with a yacht, which seemed to be much more complicated than driving a..."
"THAT'S A DIFFERENT STORY!"
"Uhm...I can drive if you just told me," Chico said shyly.
Everyone looked at the young soldier expectantly.
"You can drive, Chico?" Ritsu asked for the sake of clarification, still not convinced on what she heard.
"Wait...you are having doubts on me, aren't you?" Chico asked. "But, it's a truck we need...so I can't handle those..."
"THEN, WHAT'S THE POINT OF BRINGING THAT UP?" Ritsu exclaimed.
"Mister, how about you?" Yui eagerly asked the restrained soldier.
"Well, yeah...I can drive," The soldier reluctantly replied.
Tsumugi turned to the captured soldier and asked him convincingly. "Why not join us? You won't regret enlisting to MSF."
"Join MSF?" The soldier asked. "You got to be kidding me. I've heard you're just a bunch of renegades causing trouble."
"Really, you think all of those are true?" The drummer spoke in a loud voice, probably got quite insulted on what the soldier had said since they were already part of Outer Heaven as well. Knowing that the military group didn't belong to any state in the world, hearing such opinion from other people was somewhat normal. The keyboardist thought of another idea to persuade him.
"Then, how about this...we'll set you free after this operation," Tsumugi proposed. "You can think about joining us later."
"I guess that's a fair deal for me..." The soldier accepted the offer as he didn't have any other choice to begin with. His top prority as of that moment was to live anyways. "What if I refused to cooperate?"
"Too bad then..." The keyboardist discontentedly frowned while checking the bullet-loaded cylinder of her custom-made revolver. This made the soldier gulped in distress. He certainly knew what could happen when he made a small move against the girls. He just hoped he would be still alive afterwards.
"Anyways, just call me Mustang."
"A codename?" Yui asked. "Neat! Too bad we dropped the codename thing for ourselves!"
"Sounds like a guitar to me," Azusa whispered to herself.
"Just tell me what to do so we can finish this..."
"Mugi, you don't need to threaten him like that," The bassist whispered. "It's up to him if he wanted to join..."
"Don't worry, Mio-chan. I got this one under control," Tsumugi replied with her charming smile.
After they sent the Sandanista prisoner back to MSF Mother Base through fulton recovery, the group sneaked back to the outpost. Some soldiers on patrol already went inside the houses which made things easier. They checked the supply trucks in front of the depot. Fortunately, the truck's doors were not locked and the key was still placed in the ignition switch. Mustang gave a hearty chuckle upon realizing how lax and careless his comrades could get.
"Well...just wait here. I can arrange our trip to the supply base."
"Why do you need to inform them about this?" Ritsu asked suspiciously. "Hey, don't you think of selling us out."
"I won't. It's too risky for us to get out here without a fight."
"I know this is crazy but," Tsumugi said, fastening a C4 explosive on the soldier's waist, "if anything goes wrong, you will face the inevitable consequence."
"Uh...W-Wait a minute...A-Are you really that serious?" The soldier stammered anxiously. "Is this the way you treat a new comrade?"
"Of course, we need to make sure," The blonde haired girl responded then beamed giddily. "Don't disappoint us."
Azusa shuddered. "Mugi-senpai, what kind of things got into your head this time?"
Mustang entered the supply depot and returned back to them after several minutes with a grin.
"That was fast," Azusa noted. "I guess it's much more easier when you got an enemy work for our side."
"See? Nothing to fear. I have a small favor to ask as well..."
"What is it?"
"...Can you please remove the C4? I don't want my guts to be scattered around when this blows up."
They traveled through one of the transport routes used by the American soldiers to disseminate resources to distant outposts and small settlements. Chico sat together with the driver in the truck's cab while the rest were at the container area at the back. It was a peaceful evening for them so far.
"At this pace, we might reach the base tomorrow before noon," Mio said after doing some rough estimation while checking the map.
"Well...everything seemed to be easy don't you think?" Ritsu asked, recalling their actions since they started their mission.
"Luck...I guess," Tsumugi said wearily, almost wanting to get a good rest for tomorrow.
"Don't forget to get some sleep before proceeding to the base," Kaz advised. "Your reaction time will drastically decrease if you're tired, remember that."
"Affirmative. We'll give you a call if something happened," Azusa replied.
The group already traveled for an hour since they left the outpost. Having nothing to do, Ritsu decided to open some of the crates beside her. There were cans and packets of rations in the container, ranging from ready-to-eat ones to preserved foods that could be prepared anytime. Other crates hold ammunitions of different kinds and other military equipments. Some rocket-propelled grenades were also stacked together in the corner. She took one large can from the ration crate containing biscuits.
"Want some?" Ritsu gave the can of biscuits to Yui.
The guitarist happily accepted the can. She quickly removed the lid and took a tasty-looking buttered biscuit.
"Well...how was it?" Ritsu curiously asked.
"They're stale," The guitarist replied in a dissatisfied tone after tasting the biscuit. "Mugi-chan's biscuits are still the best."
"What did you expect? They're rations!" The drummer informed while Tsumugi giggled.
"Hm? What's that?" Azusa asked while gazing outside.
An AH-56A attack helicopter was swiftly approaching behind their truck. The soldiers in the outpost might already know about their infiltration and probably called for reinforcements to hunt them down. The chopper started firing its XM-196 machine gun from its nose turret, making the girls scream in terror.
"I'm not going to die..." Mio took cover behind one of the crates and clutched herself as she heard the rapid gunshots from the chopper.
"What's the meaning of this?" Tsumugi angrily asked.
"I don't know! They've probably knew what happened!"
"MUSTANG, STEP ON IT!" Ritsu cried.
"DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT CHOPPER! WE CAN'T OUTRUN IT!" The driver shouted back while mainting control of the truck's steering wheel. "Use the RPGs in the truck; it will give us a fighting chance!"
Ritsu grabbed an RPG-7 and loaded a HEAT round while the chopper continued its barrage of projectiles. She directly fired her weapon, hopefully making contact to the target. The round just passed beside the chopper, leaving it unharmed.
"Damn, missed!"
"You didn't even aim properly!" Azusa cried.
The chopper began to launch TOW missiles, already wanting to eliminate them as quick as possible. Mustang instinctively steered the truck to the left, miraculously avoiding the missiles. The explosions violently shook the whole truck which made them terribly pale. Azusa tried her own luck, picking up the RPG launcher Ritsu used. She took a deep breath while getting a precise aim. She pulled the trigger and soon after, the chopper burst into flames in the explosion as it slowly descended to the ground.
"Yay! Way to go, Azu-nyan!" Yui cheered, about to give Azusa a tight hug.
"Yui-senpai, not now!"
"I think it's far from over. Look!" Ritsu said as she pointed to the sky.
Their short celebration was interrupted when an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter emerged out of the darkness and began pelting them with its dual miniguns. In desperation, Mustang decided to drive the truck through the woods, and crashed afterwards onto a large tree. Everyone at the container area was pulled to the front upon impact, colliding themselves with the crates. They were all in a dazed state as they got down the truck. Fortunately, no one got severely injured, only some minor bruises for the girls in the container area.
"Hey, tell us what you will do next!" The drummer shouted angrily.
"If I didn't do that, we're already dead by now," The soldier replied.
Tsumugi examined the truck and said with a frown, "We got to take another truck then..."
"Ouchie...Where's Mio-chan?" Yui asked while rubbing her aching arm.
"Oh my, are you okay Mio-chan?" The keyboardist worriedly asked, shaking the shoulders of the club's bassist. "She...fainted."
"So much for the plan. Now we've lost our only ticket to get inside the base," Azusa said discontentedly. "Well, at least we're still alive, that's more important."
They could still hear the whirling sound of the helicopter's rotor from above the canopy. Ritsu and the others used the time to rest while maintaining low profile to avoid detection. Fortunately for them, the trees' thick foliage gave their pursuers a hard time getting their location. After awhile the chopper gave up and headed back to their base to refuel. They decided to return back to the road but only to see another impending hindrance. It was a godsend for them to have the opportunity to continue what they planned from the start. A BTR-60PB armored personnel carrier with some heavily-armored escort soldiers was patiently waiting by the road. Chico and the others hid behind the thick bushes, observing every movement of the unit.
Miller's voice rang onto their radios. "It looks like they're that desperate to catch you."
"How about we take that one?" Ritsu asked, preparing her M16A1 assault rifle. "It could give us a ride straight to their base."
"We can't possibly beat them in a head-on fight." Azusa pointed out. "We don't get any more tries if we slipped up."
The drummer gave a devious grin. "Of course, we won't."
"If we need that vehicle, we should only take out the escorts," Mustang advised. "Any ideas?"
"I've thought of something, but I doubt if it will work."
"Let's here it."
Mio gave a doubtful stare to the drummer. "I wish that would actually work."
"Those bastards, sending us here at this hour," complained a red-haired soldier as he sat on top of the armored vehicle. "They better give us compensation this time."
A soldier with a machine gun on his back just shrugged. "Do we have other choices? At least, we get to see some action."
Another blonde soldier, who held up his rifle, replied, "In the end, we're just guarding this route for those renegades. What could possibly happen at this hour?"
"Well. I don't know about you guys, but I kinda like this place rather than being ordered around."
The captain of the group went out of the vehicle's hatch. "I just got a call from HQ. It seems a hostile group is about to get here any minute now."
"Ah, is that good news for us?"
"See? It's fate that we could be involve in some action this time!"
"It's not good if you get to be killed by the enemy though."
The armored vehicle unit was astonished upon hearing an explosion near their location.
"What was that?"
"Don't just stand there, check it out!" The captain decisively ordered. "It must be them!"
The escort soldiers went inside the woods to investigate, leaving the armored carrier behind. This gave an opportunity for Mustang, Yui and Mio to get close to the BTR-60PB which was still unaware of their presence. Yui voluntarily knocked the steel exterior of the vehicle, annoying a few remaining soldiers inside. A soldier came out of the vehicle's roof hatch to check what was causing the disturbance. He was quite puzzled when there was no one to be seen. Mustang quickly restrained the soldier from the back and asked to shoot the enemy before it could break free. Yui tensely aimed her silenced Mk22 pistol at the two then fired a few rounds with her eyes closed.
"Damnit, Why me?" Mustang exclaimed after realizing a tranquilizer round hit his right leg.
The soldier got the chance of pinning down Mustang to the ground. Upon seeing this, Mio immediately drew her own Mk22 then released two rounds from her pistol. The captain emerged from the vehicle with a pistol in his hand upon hearing the commotion. She again drew another weapon, an M19 combat revolver on her left holster. The captain was about to pull the trigger when she remarkably hit the enemy's pistol just in time, dramatically disarming him in the process. The bassist turned her right arm with the Mk22 to the soldier then fired a round straight to his head, quickly putting him to sleep.
"Good thing that he wasn't wearing a helmet," Mio said in relief as she returned her handguns to its respective holsters.
"Woah...Are you a sharpshooter or something?" Mustang said in amazement.
"Mio-chan, that was awesome!" Yui commended as she clapped her hands vigorously.
The armored vehicle's engine suddenly started, attempting to escape to safety. Yui quickly entered inside and neutralized the driver of the BTP-60PB with her stun rod before he could get away.
"It seemed that the diversion worked perfectly. How was it?" Tsumugi asked.
"I can't believe they'll fell for it," Mustang said softly, still fighting the effects of the tranquilizer. "Suckers..."
Mio turned to the club's drummer and asked her interestedly. "What about the rest of the soldiers?"
Ritsu proudly smacked a fist to her chest. "Already taken care of."
"You killed them?"
"No. We just knocked them out...that's all," The pigtailed girl replied.
The bassist whacked the head of Ritsu in a chopping motion. "Figures."
After the terrifying pursuit by combat helicopters and seizing an armored vehicle last night, the group finally arrived in the outskirts of the supply base. Like what the deputy commander had said, the base was patrolled with soldiers and armored vehicles around the area, preventing any means of entering the base. Their armored vehicle slowly approached the gate, prepared if the worst happens. Surprisingly, the soldiers in the checkpoint let them through They all sighed in relief as they got inside the supply base without alarming their presence. Typical for any sneaking mission.
"Good. You guys just need to find the comandante and you're done. We've already sent some backup units for the extraction later," Kaz informed.
The base was a lot larger inside, complete with different facilities, including a runway strip for planes and defensive weapon systems. The supply base was once taken over by Russian soldiers from the KGB in the later part of the Peace Walker incident. The group headed immediately towards prison facility where prisoners of war were held.
"How'd you know this is the right place?" Mio asked.
"Well...I was stationed in this base once, specifically in the prison facility," The soldier replied as he walked ahead of them.
"That's convenient then."
They went out the armored vehicle and ran towards the doors of the building. Mio partly opened the door, seeing soldiers around the place. Azusa thought of an idea of throwing some sleep gas grenades inside before entering the hall. A thick cloud of sleep-inducing gas quickly spread across the room, making the soldiers drowsy and eventually fell to the floor one by one in a quiet slumber. They searched the corridors which contained the prisoners, knocking each of the steel doors of every room. The peepholes weren't much help because of the darkness inside.
Tsumugi called out, "Anyone here?"
A woman asked anxiously, her own voice echoing inside the room, "Who's there?"
"Comandante, is that you?" Tsumugi asked. "We're from MSF. Chico's with us as well."
"Huh? Chico?" Amanda went closer as she attempted to open the door. "Can you open the door from outside?"
"The door won't open...do we need a key or something?" Mio asked after checking the steel door.
"Oh, right...I forgot that the cell doors were operated in a control room somewhere," Mustang noted.
Mustang and Tsumugi quickly went to the control room to open the cell door of the comandante. After knocking out the guard inside, Mustang pressed a button which unlocked all of the doors of the prisoners. Upon opening the cell's door, Amanda quickly gave a reassuring hug to her little brother while tears began to form on her eyes.
"You really came all the way here to save me, huh?" The Sandanista comandante sobbed.
"Don't forget about me next time. I'm a soldier too!"
"I should thank you for the trouble of rescuing us," Amanda said then gave a questioning stare. "Wait...you're those high school girls who joined not long ago. You girls actually continued, huh? "
"Yes, we actually enjoyed the experience," The keyboardist replied cheerily.
"Not everyone here feels the same, Mugi," Mio muttered.
After they freed all of the remaining prisoners in the facility, the security alarm went on unexpectedly. Yui checked outside to see several armored vehicles and soldiers surrounding the building.
"Captain, we've been surrounded!" The lead guitarist reported after a swift salute.
Azusa's fear was getting the better of her. "What now?"
"Go to the rooftop and fulton our way out!" Ritsu said panickly.
Mio rejected the drummer's idea. "We're too many! How can we do that? We might get shot down before the recovery choppers could retrieve us."
The blonde girl cocked her Peacemaker revolver as she narrowed her eyes. "I guess we have no other choice then..."
"Mugi-senpai, are you serious?"
"They'll never take us without a fight!"
The drummer clapped her hands in admiration. "Ooh! An example of a true soldier!"
"Ah, I'm sorry. That was just another line that I wanted to say."
They heard a familiar roar in the distance which made them flustered. Tsumugi quickly recognize the voice. "Is that...ZEKE?"
"Finally!" Mio sighed, realizing that their reinforcements arrived just in time.
The MSF's bipedal tank was creating the uproar in the base, destroying everything it came across with its powerful armaments. A group of attack choppers followed to give support. They all gaped in a mix of astonishment and fear as they watched the action seen only in movies. The base already turned into a battlezone, complete with the distressing sound of the siren, seemingly unending gunfire bursts and deafening explosions to compensate the atmosphere.
"What are you waiting for? Get to the extraction point!" Kaz ordered while another explosion echoed after ZEKE neutralized another T-72U tank with its railgun.
"Wait...this means that all of our hard work getting inside was useless?" The drummer asked.
"What do you mean?" The puzzled deputy commander asked.
"If we could use ZEKE in the beginning, we wouldn't bother to find a way to get inside!"
"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Tsumugi wondered after putting a finger on her chin. "Also, I think I've seen this scene somewhere before."
"Are you going to argue with me all day or board the transport chopper?"
"Fine...You owe us a mission, Kaz." Ritsu reminded.