Sorry that I haven't gotten any new chapters out. I have been busy with college and have very little time with the amount of work that I have. Hopefully I can make things up to all of you.
Chapter 8: Siege of Avignon
People had been rioting against the NEF under the affect of the artifact, and the current incident only gave reason to do so. After the attack, there had been a massive loss of defenses on the border, and the MEE had reclaimed nearly half of their lost territory. There was no telling if anyone was going to break through all the confusion that had occurred during the past few months. It was now October.
"It's not looking good at all," Andris said. "They've only continued to breach through, and the riots are getting worse."
"Same thing is happening in Academy City," Kamijou said.
"Anything you know about this?"
"From what I've been able to find out, the protests seem to be centered in Avignon, France. Tsuchimikado tells me that there is an artifact called the Document of Constantine, or C-Document, for short. It influences anyone of Christian faith to believe ghat something is absolute truth, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. He also found that Academy City is mobilizing a strike force."
"Well then, it seems that we have a bit of a situation. I'll contact the LPS Makara and see if we can supress the crowds long enough for you to destroy this artifact. You have the most expertise when it comes to Imagine Breaker. I'll contact you when we're ready."
Kamijou then headed back to Japan and spent two days under the radar. He wasn't sure if the plan would ever come to fruition, but knowing that the High President had mind-blowing intellect that seemed to radiate high levels of success, there shouldn't be any worry about the new orders he would give out. As Kamijou now left school, he encountered Misaka. Trying to feign ignorance, he acted like he didn't listen, as he didn't have the time to listen to her. But, as misfortune would have it, ignorance is never bliss for this Kamijou.
"Hey! Get back here!" she yelled.
"What now?" Kamijou asked. Misaka stopped in front of him, about to shout in his face.
"Why haven't you been answering my calls?"
"Um, because I haven't gotten any from you?" That was when Misaka remembered that she never gave him her phone number.
"Let me see your phone." Kamijou, though reluctant, handed over his own phone, which Misaka snatched away once it was in her reach. As she searched, her face started showing mixed expressions.
"Do you mind explaining..." Misaka approached him again, "... why you have my mother's phone number?" she finished with a threatening glance.
"Huh, now that I think about it..."
-Flashback-
Kamijou had been patroling the war torn streets with Hiro, and recalling correctly, had to electrocute Hiro a total of 36 times as to prevent him from his attempts of peeking up a girl's skirt. After Hiro got up, that was when it happened. A wild, drunk Misaka Misuzu suddenly approached him, looking with what may or may have not been lust. The two Legionnaires, were they to go up against enemy ANGELs without support, they could handle themselves and sabatoge the systems long enough to escape. But drunk women? That was a totally different ballgame. Kamijou and Hiro both backed up quickly, maintaining their distance as to avoid getting the weirdest alcohol-scented hug one could possibly imagine. She then took his phone from his pocket without permission and placed her info just as she fell unconscious due to her drunkenness.
"Um, how about no?" Hiro said as he blocked the number on Kamijou's phone. That would mark the first time Hiro acted the opposite around a woman, in contrast to his usual actions of getting all sorts of peeks.
-Flashback end-
"... is that a good enough explanation for you?"
"Um... well..."
"Well, moving on." Looking around, Kamijou noticed on the news of how the protests were only getting worse. "They just keep gnawing over that event, don't they?"
"They definitely are," Misaka responded.
"Well, as long as it keeps going, the longer that things remain bad."
"And now we've been ordered to put an end to it." Kamijou looked up to the voice to find Hiro come down and land in full armor. "Be it peacefully or by force."
"Hopefully the former, right? Hiro?" Hiro then ran towards Misaka with lightning speed, but Kamijou grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the pavement, all the while detonating an electrical arc grenade against him as he hit the ground.
"Seriously, what was that for?" Hiro asked ignorantly?
"You were going to do that maneuver where you slide between a girl's legs, weren't you?"
"No, I wa-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Hiro was electrocuted by Misaka halfway through. Somehow, Hiro immediately got back up, showing no injuries whatsoever, which surprised Misaka.
"Thanks for that. I really needed to get that annoying pressure imbalance out of my ears."
Misaka could only gape at what he did.
"Anyways, what was this about..." Kamijou then held Hiro alongside himself so Misaka wouldn't hear. "... supressing the protests?"
"The Makara and Leviathan are in position in the Mediterranean. Since the crowds are unimaginably massive, they will deploy tear gas through the use of mid-air detonation cruise missles. They might even... something about lightning, they were vague on that part.
"Huh. Much like how ANGELs are a vague class of superweapons."
"What are you two whispering about?" Misaka asked.
"Something that could get you killed if you heard a single word of it," Hiro responded. "And there would be nothing to stop that from happening. So for the sake of self-preservation, don't listen." He then turned back toward Kamijou.
"I'm guessing everything is ready for us?" Kamijou asked.
"You guessed correctly."
The two then headed to the airport, to meet up with Tsuchimikado, who was waiting by one of the orbital cruisers prepared by the NEF, which also turned out to be the same plane that caught Kamijou when he fell from orbit after being struck with the blast of a MIRV. One with Tritium warheads at that. Fastforwarding to when the cruiser arrived over Avignon, Andris went over the plan. As the protests would be handled by the main forces, Kamijou and his team would find and destroy the C-Document with Tsuchimikado's guidance. With Academy City involved, Kumokawa would actually be providing Electronic Support from a modified supersonic plane.
"Okay, doors open!" Andris shouted over the wind.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Kamijou said.
"Alright. On my mark! Three! Two! One! BANZAI!"
The releases were activated, and Kamijou felt the blast of winds at Mach 18 and the possible whiplash from the sudden slowdown while the cruiser boosted back into orbit. He honestly would prefer a plane at Mach 3 over a cruiser designed to reach space in under 30 seconds. And as for why everyone was yelling "banzai" as they fell would be something he would never understand. And of course, misfortune had to strike, and he ended up in the bottom of a river, 100 meters away from the original landing zone. And of course he had to be entangled in lining that was just sitting there the whole time. And being stuck like that, for TEN MINUTES, is no fun at all. Eventually, by the time Kamijou's oxygen level read critically low, someone went in to help him. Finally surfacing, he swam to the edge of the river, where Andris landed and pulled him out. The person who helped him out was also there.
" *pant* *pant* Thanks," Kamijou said.
"Seems you need to work on gliding," Andris responded. The two looked over to the girl, who seemed to have a look of disbelief in her eyes.
"So, you're Itsuwa?" Kamijou asked. Itsuwa snapped out of her trance.
"Ah, yes, I am."
"Okay, so Andris, do we have any leads on the whereabouts of the C-Document?"
"How do you know about the C-Document?" Itsuwa asked.
"First off, Tsuchimikado gave us a little tip about it, second, the top brass believes it's so dangerous that they'll go as far as to level the city to destroy it if I fail to do so. But enough, do you have a change of clothes?"
"Yes, in case I need a disguise."
"I see, that's good to hear." Kamijou then points out to her current state while looking away. Itsuwa looks down, and finds that her tank top has nearly gone transparent.
"I'm so sorry that you were forced to look at such an indecent thing!" she yelled as she took her bag nearby and ran for the bridge.
"Huh. Normally a girl would slap you over something like that."
"Like both DELTA 1 and 2 did to Hiro when one of his pictures fell out of his uniform?" 'Though technically they sent him through several walls due to the slap having similar force to an AP round out of an RG...'
"Well, here's what I have to say..." Andris then put his hand on Kamijou's shoulder, positioned as someone who would give advice.
"Marry her."
"...Eh?"
Having disguised as normal civilians, Kamijou sat with Itsuwa in the cafe while Andris waited outside for the others. Discussing on what to do once they regrouped, Kamijou found that his phone had drowned and no longer worked.
"Any luck trying to contact Tsuchimikado?" Itsuwa asked.
"Nothing," Kamijou answered. "My phone is dead, and I can't contact him through Neurolink, since he has no implants." Kamijou observed the Leviathan and Makara arming cruise missles with riot suppresion gas through a screen. Concussion warheads seemed to be a bit too dangerous, as such a blast from a cruise missle could cause permanent brain damage to anyone lower than average strength.
"Well, we'll find him along the way. For now lets get going."
On their way out, Andris and several others took a different path to keep suspicion to a minimum.
"So what were you investigating, Itsuwa?" Kamijou asked.
"I was searching for the Palace of the Popes. It's the largest Roman Catholic facility in the city."
"Was the Document there?"
"I don't know yet. We'll find out when we arrive."
-Upon arriving-
The two had reached the museum after avoiding a crowd of protesters. As for the supernatural, Kamijou detected several abnormal frequencies that did not seem possible through radio. And it spread throughout the city as a ley line to the rest of the world. The abnormalties were strongest at the museum they were currently walking in.
"This seems to be the spot," Itsuwa said.
"I could use my Imagine Breaker, but something this far spread would be comparable to Index's Dragon Breath. This likely requires your work."
"Right."
Itsuwa started chanting, and thrust her spear into the floor, which surprisingly, acted like a liquid around her spear. The spear continued to sink into the floor, until Kamijou once again sensed danger. Feeling the prescence approaching rapidly, he grabbed Itsuwa and pulled her to the floor just as something white passed by with tremendous speed, cutting through everything in it's way. Retreating outside, Andris arrived and blocked the next attack with ease, now in full clad mimicking armor. Kamijou activated his own Nantonium armor as well.
"Well, what do we have here?" the magician said as he entered the street.
"Who are you?" Kamijou asked.
"I? I am Terra of the Left," he said has he gathered flour, forming it into a blade.
"You are far uglier in person than in the recon photos we had. No offense." Andris added.
With that, Kamijou engaged in battle with Terra of the Left, Legion launched, and the Siege of Avignon began.
Welp, this took far too long for me. I have been very busy with college work, and yeesh, it is as ruthless as Fiamma of the Right. I'm going to start another story involving the original Battle Weary World of the Vector Thrust universe, no alterations like I did here. The Battle Weary World, called Terra, or as I like to call it, Strangereal 4(There's only three in the Ace Combat series), has it's own map and has not one, but TWO moons. Oughta be pretty interesting as to what world I will cross it with. Hint: I'll cross it with something in the "Games" section of Fanfiction.
To know more about the Battle Weary World, check out the articles below using the URLs provided: (They're in Mod DB)
The world itself: games/vector-thrust/news/black-ops-report-06-the-battle-weary-world
The Kingdom (Now an Exclusion Zone after the Grand War): games/vector-thrust/news/black-ops-report-07-the-kingdom
The elite peacekeeping force, called The Legion: games/vector-thrust/news/black-ops-report-08-for-we-are-many
And an intercepted message that hints to the protagonist of this world: games/vector-thrust/news/black-ops-report-04-blockade-runner
Well, I may have to put these three stories on hold, or hiatus, as some authors say. Until then, please Review...
*Alarms blaring*
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Multiple airships and fighters have breached through the Blockade! They came from within the Exclusion Zone!"
"The Kingdom? That's not possible, they couldn't have rebuilt this fast after the nuclear hellfire from 20 years ago..."
*Muffled blast from outside, loud creaking and twisting of metal*
"Dammit, the destroyer is sinking, contact the /rier Reso/ for search and rescue, and tell the captain that we need to aban/ sh/"
*Another muffled explosion*
"Was that the Atriox? That /st AEGIS cruiser!"
"Oh crap, that's a Ziz! Ev/on/, get ou/
-Signal Lost-