"Yes, Ambassador Chavez would love to come visit your factory. I'll tell him right away. Alright, buh-bye."
Angela Jackson leaned back in her chair, stretching in her plush leather chair, not used to working this late. If there was one thing she hated about being part of the ambassador's protection detail, it was the fact that she had to impersonate someone else while in Tokyo. She was technically his second assistant, though those duties only took up a few hours each day, just answering the phone and redirecting most of the drivel that reached her to his head assistant.
The rest of the time she spent monitoring Tokyo, and the CCG from a small office in the basement of the Embassy, as well as keeping an eye on Agent Lincoln, who'd been in Nagoya for the past two weeks. Because she wasn't there in her basement office, it was already far too late when she noticed what was happening outside. Her first inkling of trouble was the sight of a helicopter swooping low, two men manning a machine gun in the open sidedoor. Standing, she went to the window, and looked down to see a police cordon around the entrance gate of the Embassy.
Grabbing her phone, she called down to the gate.
"Sergeant, what in the hell is going on?" She and the old man had known each other for years, since she'd been stationed here, and he didn't even question why the Ambassador's assistant was calling him and demanding answers. "What are the police doing down there?"
"It's not the police, ma'am," The Sergeant sounded harried, and yelling could be heard in the background, a young voice calling for someone to stand back, "It's the CCG. They say there is going to be an attack. We-"
The line snapped off as the Embassy building rocked from multiple explosions, and she could see a fireball shoot up from where the gate had been. The sound of gunfire immediately broke out, and Angela was forced to retreat from the window as it was shattered by stray bullets.
Dropping the phone, she reached under her desk and pulled the emergency pack she always kept their. Quickly fitting the small earbud/microphone in, and clipping it to the walkie-talkie, she found the channel the Marine Security Guard channel.
"Alpha One, this is Hickory, do you read?"
"Hickory, Alpha One. I read you 5 by 5," The Colonel in charge of the guard detachment said, "We have multiple Ghouls moving up through the foyer and from the underground."
"Is Big Dog secure?" Angela asked, Big Dog being the Ambassador, as she pulled the small P90 close quarters combat weapon from the hidden recess in the bottom right drawer of her desk. "Alpha One?"
"Roger, roger!" Gunfire erupted in her eardrums, and somewhere in the building below another explosion thumped, "Big Dog is secure. We're heading for the saferoom! Request immediate support!"
What in the hell is going on… Angela asked, as she headed for the stairwell. How did the CCG know about this attack before we did?
She thought she knew the answer, but didn't like what the consequences of that would be. Pulling her cellphone out, she had one final call to put out.
"Ace, the Embassy is under attack," Angela said when the other Agent answered, "How fast can you be back here?" When she heard his answer, she cursed. "Alright, I'll try to hold out as long as possible. Just get the word back to the Agency, this may be the CCG's doing."
Then she entered the stairwell, looking downwards. A group of men wearing non-Marine issue armor were making their way upwards, she could see they were some kind of cloak over it all, but the outline was unmistakeable. Pulling a grenade from her belt, she pulled the pin, waited a few moments, and then dropped it down the stairs, before stepping away from the railing and covering her ears. The stairwell reverberated with the explosion when it went off, and a hot plume of smoke and air rushed upwards, followed by the sounds of men in pain.
I have to make it to the basement. She thought, following her grenade over the side of the stairs, landing on the railing four stories below, her bikaku already whipping out. One of the unlucky fellows got his rifle up, but died as Angela put a burst from her P90 through his skull and neck, and the other survivor of the grenade died as her bikaku split him in half. This is no time to hold back…
"Alpha One, what's your position?"
"Pinned down at the rear of the foyer. Beta and Charlie squads are moving to us, but Delta looks like it's totally gone."
"Alright, get ready for some backup."
At the rear of the foyer was a wide glass window, and she came crashing through this as fast as she could, gun firing wildly, even as she whipped her bikaku at the row of cloak wearing attackers who had Alpha pinned down. Her remaining two grenades sailed behind them, ricocheting and shattering the glass windows. They landed among the group though, and they died as the grenades exploded.
Angela landed in front of the group of injured Marines, shielding them from return fire with her bikaku, which flattened into a kind of barrier. All around them were the mangled bodies of the men and women who Angela had worked with on a daily basis. Alpha One had a bullet wound to his shoulder, and blood ran down his face.
The lights went out all around them, casting the humans into near darkness. Angela's kakugan granted her much better night vision, and so she was able to see what was coming.
"Go, Alpha One!" She ordered, as a group of figures appeared outside the windows, wearing the coats of CCG Ghoul Investigators. "Get the Ambassador to safety, and get the word out."
The squad of Marines dragged the chubby little man to safety, even as Angela squared off with the figures in front of her. She immediately recognized one of them.
"This building is property of the United States," Angela ground out, shielding herself with her bikaku, "Remove yourself from the property immediately or face the consequences."
"I don't think so, assistant," Akira Mado said, wielding a long rinkaku Quinque, "It's unfortunate that a Ghoul such as yourself decided to massacre all these poor people. Your government will be stunned when they see what you've done."
"Bitch!" Angela exploded, spraying bullets at the group of Investigators, who sheltered behind their weapons. She immediately dodged sideways, Mado's Quinque missing her by mere inches. Her bikaku hammered the weapon, but she was forced to retreat up the stairs, towards the direction that Alpha squad had gone.
She fought harder than she'd ever fought in her entire life, harder even than when the Academy had been attacked by V years ago. Strike and parry, parry and riposte, she was able to hold off the trio of Investigators coming after her.
But she couldn't defend against the one who appeared behind her, a single eye flashing with a strange grey kakugan. As the slender young man manifested a koukaku that covered his shoulder and most of his upper arm, ending in a pair of long blades. One of the blades cut into her bikaku, and she felt agony as it lopped off the last quarter of her kagune. The other two with Mado also manifested kagune of various types, and attacked in concert.
Angela leapt above them, climbing through the window she'd just a few moments ago smashed.
Those must be the Quinx…
"Alpha One, I'm moving towards your position." She said, "Cancel movement towards the saferoom, head for the garage! We need to get out of here."
Garbled static came back, before a voice that was not Alpha One's cut in.
"This is Alpha Two, mission failed." The man said, a horrible gurgling noise, "The… Reaper is here."
The wall behind her exploded, as the Quinx with the weird launcher-like ukaku fired his claw like missiles at her. They barely missed, and she felt the skin on her legs burn. The koukaku boy attacked again, but she hit him with her bikaku hard enough to sending him flying through the wall back towards the foyer. Mado was right behind him, and her Quinque cut into Angela's shoulders before she could block it with her kagune.
"You stupid Americans always overreach," Mado said, eyes filled with fury as she attacked again and again, "Letting a bunch of stinking Ghouls into our country… What fucking trash!"
Angela retreated, knowing that she had only one duty left to perform. With her Bikaku, she smashed the pursuing Mado into the wall, sprawling her out on the floor, and then she made her run for the stairwell. She dropped down the remaining four flights in a single jump, kagune helping to cushion the fall, even as she scrambled towards the room that held the classified data servers.
Smashing through the door, she found the small box against the wall. Entering the eight digit code, she lifted the cover and smashed the glass underneath, pressing the bright red button under the glass, before pulling a small data storage device from the socket on one of the servers, and shoving it in her coat pocket. A siren started wailing, as she went back outside the room, and headed towards the garage. She only had a few moments to get away.
She came to a stop as she saw the row of hooded figures waiting for her, the white-haired Reaper of the CCG standing at its front. Mado and the Quinx squad appeared behind her, as she found herself surrounded.
"No mercy." Was all Arima said, before the group spread out.
"Damnit." She turned slightly, knowing time was running out, and her hands reached for the holsters on her back, coming out with a pair of pistols. Arima moved, the weird lance like Quinque in his hand suddenly blossoming in to a wide shield, as she fired bullets at both Arima and Mado, knowing those two were likely the greatest threat.
The siren sounded again.
Twenty seconds.
Angela charged towards Arima, both pistols blazing away at him. The hooded figures arrayed around him moved in on her, but she swerved at the last minute, bikaku smashing like a fist into ones chest. Something crunched, but it wasn't bone, and Angela screamed in pain as a blade cut through her right arm. The figure she'd attacked dropped his cloak and revealed a protective Quinque armor.
She lashed out at another Investigator in desperation, as she tried to escape into the parking garage a level below them. Something pierced her chest, and she felt it twist inside her. Her last thought was that the siren was suddenly very quiet.
The whole world was quiet.
"Give Zardoz my thanks when you get back."
Pasha just nodded, before lifting the helicopter off the ground. After two weeks in Nagoya, seeing Tokyo again made him feel anxious. Hinami was beside him, and waved at Pasha as he flew away. Having friends in high places, like Zardoz, had its perks.
"Alright," He said as they made their way down the buildings stairwell, shifting the bag of things he'd requested of Zardoz, "I'm going to take you to :Re and drop you off. Then… I have business to take care of."
Hinami seemed offended that he wasn't taking her along. When she started to raise a protest, he shushed her.
"Please… Please don't argue," Ace said, "This is something I have to take care of. Alone."
Running down the street, he found a black, fast looking car and broke the door open. He had the car hotwired in under a minute, and he and Hinami sped through the streets of Tokyo towards :Re. When he pulled into the alley behind the building, he found Renji and a healed Touka waiting for him, along with a tall, dark haired woman he'd never seen before.
"Miss Irimi!" Hinami yelled joyfully, throwing the door open and running to the older woman. "I thought… We thought…"
"I know," Irimi said, "But they just captured me. And… Other things."
The woman looked haggard, and shot Ace a glare when he stepped out of the car.
"Irimi, this is Ace," Touka introduced him, "The American Ghoul Hunter."
Irimi shot Touka a glance, and Touka laid a calming hand on the older and taller woman's shoulder. The tension in the woman seemed to evaporate, and Hinami lead her inside the restaurant, leaving Renji, Touka and Ace alone.
"Ace, don't tell me you're going to the Embassy," Touka said, looking at him sharply, "It'll be suicide. Arima is there, along with most of the CCG. And according to Kaneki, Aogiri Tree was behind the attack."
"I don't have a choice." Ace said simply, getting back into the car, moving his bag from the back of the truck to the front seat. "Take care of Hinami. I'll see you all later."
And so he backed out of the alleyway, and headed towards the Embassy. Craning his neck as he moved parallel to the CCG cordon, he was able to see that the Embassy was engulfed in flames. Pulling out his cellphone, he called the Agency Control number.
The tune played in his ear, and he spoke his name and ID number.
"Authenticate, October-Alpha-Two."
The code had been changed, and Ace struggled to remember.
"Beta-Three."
"Authentication accepted. Line is unsecured. Scrambling." The mechanical voice paused for a moment, before continuing. "Line is secured. Transferring."
"Agent Lincoln," Control said, "It is a pleasure to speak to you again. Are you aware of the situation at the Embassy?"
"I'm about five blocks away."
"What is the Embassy's status?"
"It's gone, Control."
"Status of the Ambassador and his staff?"
"Unknown. Will attempt to ascertain." Ace paused for a moment, as he heard someone speaking to Control, "Control, I suspect CCG involvement in the attack."
"The Japanese government is reporting to us that it was a Ghoul attack. Do you have proof?"
"Negative, Control." Ace pulled onto the street facing the Embassy, where the line of CCG trucks and mobile vehicles was abuzz with activity. "Will attempt to obtain proof. Expect to be out of contact."
"Roger. Good luck, Agent Lincoln."
Ace turned the lights off on the car as he stopped at a red light. His heart rate and breathing increased as he pulled his mask on, he took an extra moment to make sure it was secure, and then rested his left hand on the shifter. Revving the motor, he waited for the green light, even though there was no cross traffic. The light shifted to green, and Ace slammed the gas pedal down.
First gear. The tires on the sports car spun, whining as he pushed the car to its limits. The rear drifted slightly as it lost grip, but he wiggled his hand slightly and corrected it. Ahead, the CCG line looked like a tiny line, with ant sized figures moving along it, not knowing of what was barreling towards them.
Second gear. Ace kicked the clutch, changing gears. He nearly lost control again, but remembered his training, and didn't try to overcorrect. The engine screamed as Ace once again took it to the red line.
Third gear. The car protested its mistreatment, bucking as Ace flashed past 150 km/h. He was less than a half mile from the CCG cordon now.
Fourth gear. Someone on the cordon finally noticed the car screaming towards them, and bullets began to snap and crack past. Ace's koukaku manifested, covering his face and torso like a shield, with just enough space to see through. He was now traveling over 200 km/h, and the temperature on the stolen car was beginning to skyrocket.
Fifth gear. He'd just barely entered the final gear when he crashed through the cordon, shattering one of the cheap plastic barricades on his way through. Gunfire lashed out at him, but the CCG was having a hard time hitting the dark colored car as it traveled down the unlit streets. The Embassy came up suddenly, the entire gate complex in front seeming to have been torn off by an angry giant. In a strange twist of fate, he caught sight of a familiar, pretty face in the crowd of CCG watching him come on, the blonde woman who'd tried to ambush him.
He pulled the emergency brake, nearly standing on the brake as well, as he jumped through the cratered remains of the guard shack, and into the Embassy courtyard. The car spun as part of the suspension failed, the front bumper ripping off in a shower of sparks.
The car came to a stop a few feet from the wall opposite the gate, and Ace let out the breathe he felt like he'd been holding for hours. Then he burst into motion, his koukaku slicing the roof off of the smoking car, while his rinkaku punched it into the air. Already, Investigators were charging towards him, Quinque and bullets shooting shards and bullets respectively at him. Ace used his koukaku as shields while he calmly removed the two gifts Zardoz had given him when he'd made his request to return to Tokyo. Standing up with a foot on the driver and passenger seats, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Say hello, to my little friends, you mutherfuckers!"
He held the two heavy rotary magazine grenade launchers like pistols, and began to unload the grenades on the horde of Investigators, having to adjust his aim when his first two grenades fell short. The next volley of grenades were smoke grenades, and he used the cover they provided to move into the burning Embassy, as he quickly unloaded the remaining eight grenades into the smoke.
Then he dropped them and took off down the stairs, knowing right where he needed to go, as Angela had shown him during his first month. There was nothing left of the classified data servers, as the destruction charges had done a thorough job in obliterating them. That meant Angela must have gotten to them, as she was the only person who knew how to activate those charges.
Which means she most likely has the Backup Drive. Ace thought, running down towards the garage to see if a vehicle was gone. If I can get that, I should have all the proof I need…
Standing on the scorched concrete at the bottom of the garage ramp, was Arima, looking up at Ace. Behind him was arrayed the rest of Squad Arima.
"We've been expecting you," Arima said, eyes flashing with rage, "You dishonorable dog."
Ace nearly fled at that point, but Arima began to toss something up and down in his right hand.
The Backup Drive.
Will Ace be able to get the Backup Drive away from Arima? What do you guys think?