Phase 23.11

Shinomiya Ayase

My heart pounded with anticipation as the visor lowered over my pod and I was engaged to my Endlave, Steiner II.

"It's been too long," I smiled as the mech's vision became mine.

Steiner currently stood among numerous other Endlaves in a carrier ship nearing the shores of Shanghai. One by one the other mechs activated as their pilots took control, and then we all just waited for the ship to dock and extend the platform for us to get on land.

"You with me, Tsugumi?"

"Roger that!" she replied over her command interface.

The wait was cut short when bullets suddenly riddled the ceiling above us with dents.

"What was that?" one pilot exclaimed.

"Endlaves: prepare for emergency release," shouted a voice over the ship's PA system. "We are under fire from Chinese anti-naval mounted turrets. I repeat: we are under fire from Chinese anti-naval mounted turrets."

"Chinese!?"

"What can you tell me, Tsugumi?"

"I-I don't know! I wasn't planning on keeping track of those guys! Hold on one sec!"

Maybe China wasn't so eager to let us get rid of Da'ath after all. My heart seemed to sink into my stomach. We weren't prepared to fight another enemy at the cost of an ally—not by a long shot. If China was protecting Da'ath, we might as well turn around and go home.

"Is this already the trap Shibungi suspected we'd run into?"

Another barrage of bullets punctured the ship, and this time water started to leak in along the ground.

"What are they waiting for? Let us out!" an Endlave pilot shouted.

"We're still too far away!" answered another.

The carrier ship rocked and churned as the crew struggled to push it forward as fast as possible.

"Come on..."

"Tsugumi!"

Before she could answer the end of the carrier burst open and the exit platform extended down into the ocean. The ship was still some 50 meters from shore, but it was taking in water fast and starting to lean to one side. The Endlaves could sustain a little water exposure, but total immersion would destroy them almost instantly. We had no choice but to boost off the carrier and hope we made it far enough that we could land on solid ground. Steiner was better equipped for flight than the average Endlave and so I made it across the water without issue, other than to dodge the attacking turret-fire along the way. Not everyone was so lucky, though. Some Endlaves took a hit or two before even touching down, and one even drained its fuel too quickly and fell into the ocean, never to return.

"Kss! Not already!"

Even while controlling Steiner I could feel my muscles tense a bit in the pod. The anti-naval turrets were positioned along a fortified wall a short distance from the beach. One of them took aim and fired at Steiner, but I dodged fast and then boosted up at the turret when it stopped firing for cool-down. Steiner landed on top of the wall and I took aim for the turret's operator.

"Yyyaaaa!"

My Endlave's right cannon arm opened fire and dispatched the operator in an instant. He was followed by several others as I sped Steiner across the wall, tearing apart anyone that fired a weapon at the approaching Japanese army.

"Woo! You get 'em, Aya-nee!" Tsugumi cheered into my ears.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" someone started shouting.

I looked around and saw a Chinese general scrambling up a flight of stairs onto the wall and waving his hands. Most of his men listened and held back their arms, but one took aim at Steiner and fired, regardless. He missed, but the general wasn't any more forgiving for it. He executed the soldier on the spot, and turned to look at the others, smoke still clearing from his pistol.

"Anyone else want to betray an ally?"

No one made a sound.

"Then let us hope our relationship hasn't already been ruined."

The general turned to me and saluted.

"My sincerest apologies for the welcome, Endlave."

Steiner couldn't very well salute in return, so to show my acceptance of the gesture I boosted off the wall and landed back down with the rest of the Endlave fleet. Our own leader, a balding man with a mustache and named Commander Matsumoto took note of the turn of events and arranged a peaceful meeting with the Chinese General, Zhao. Everyone waited anxiously while the men spoke privately in a room inside the beachfront wall for what felt like forever. In reality it wasn't long before Commander Matsumoto emerged and announced to us Endlave pilots:

"I am convinced that General Zhao did not sanction the offense against us and that our alliance with China still holds. However, we suspect that the attackers were secretly Da'ath agents, and they were organized, so watch your backs: there could be more such surprises before this is all over."

The Chinese general then came out as well.

"General Zhao," Matsumoto continued, "this unfortunate incident has delayed us significantly and separated us from the rest of our army. What's the fastest way for our Endlaves to reach the facility? I believe you know the one I speak of."


GC


Ouma Shu

No one said a word as we neared the underground facility. Inori and I rode along with several members of the Special Intelligence Division in the back of a military truck. I fidgeted with my pistol, checking each part over a dozen times to pass the eternal minutes by. Even though Mana's crystal ability would be my main weapon Shibungi insisted I carry a sidearm too, just to be safe. A familiar hand gently touched my shoulder as I worked.

"Are you alright, Shu?"

I looked up at Inori sitting beside me in a black catsuit.

"A-ah, yeah," I forced a smile.

"You weren't this nervous when we were brought here before," Inori pointed out. "Shu, you can tell me: is it Mana? Did she say something to you? Do something?"

I noticed a man across from me glance in my direction, curious to hear the answer. I knew that I could tell Inori anything, but I hesitated a bit to trust everyone else in the truck quite so intimately.

"It was—"

My response was cut off by the vehicle coming to an abrupt stop. The back door rolled up at the driver's command and everyone filed out quickly. The noise of trucks, soldiers, and equipment echoed through the subterranean atmosphere, but it was strangely quiet for what would soon be a battle zone.

"Where are the Endlaves?" someone asked.

"Not here yet?"

"I heard there was trouble on the beach."

"Trouble? Man, we're screwed without the Endlaves!"

I tried to ignore such talk amongst the men and women preparing to fight. It only added to the tension. I was determined to win—to destroy Da'ath—but Mana's words from my latest nightmare ate away at me inside. Back in Funeral Parlor, Gai always had a plan that involved playing other people right into his hand, and this mission had his fingerprints all over it. Shibungi believed we were walking into a setup and Mana heavily suggested as much herself. The plan was for keen eyes and quick wits to give us the victory, but while I could see that tactic working for Inori and the others, I doubted my own ability to do the same with Mana potentially clouding my mind.

Inori and I led the group from the transport truck over to the sweep team station, where we would attack from a distance within shelter until phase two of the mission began. Along the way we could see the Japanese, Chinese, and UN armies already gathered in full circle around the Da'ath facility—a huge silver dome protruding from the ground and touching the rock ceiling. There wasn't anything especially remarkable about it from the outside, other than the fact that there weren't any other similar structures around. It could easily have been mistaken as utility center of some kind—sewage, garbage, or water, perhaps. Still, the fact that such a large installation had gone unnoticed for so long suggested that Da'ath had some inside help in the Chinese government. That and numerous other convenient coincidences for Da'ath worried me that we were all missing some key element right in front of our noses. I decided to keep my mind working on that thought whenever possible.

A guard at the door to the station let us inside as we approached, and to everyone's surprise we were greeted by General Hashimoto, the man in charge of the whole operation directly beneath Shibungi.

"Change of plans," he declared bluntly. "The Endlave fleet was delayed at the beach and we don't want to give Da'ath any more time to react to our presence. Rather than wait for them to arrive here I have decided to dispatch a special infiltration team to locate and open a gate which we believe will let our Endlaves in the same way Da'ath lets their Endlaves out. Of course this would mean pushing through Da'ath Endlave forces until our own can get in and provide cover, and that means heavy weaponry. Ouma Shu: if the president is to be believed, you're the heaviest weapon we've got, so I would like to send you in along with other heavy weapons specialists. You would then remain inside the facility until phase two, at which point you'd rejoin the sweep team as they pass by your location inside the structure. Can I count on your cooperation?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Very good. Then follow me. The rest of you take hold here, as planned—the station is stocked with arms and equipment."

I turned around to exit behind the general and nearly bumped into Inori. At once she looked so beautiful, so strong, so calm, yet so vulnerable, so anxious. I quickly wrapped my arms around Inori and held her tightly while she returned the gesture, sadness increasing on her face as we moved in together.

"You said things would be alright so long as we're together," she nearly cried. "I don't want to lose you, Shu!"

"It will be alright," I tried to convince us both. "We'll only be split up for a little while. You can do this—I know you can."

"That's not what I was worried about. Please...be careful, Shu. Really."

I wasn't exactly sure how to answer. With all my rising doubts, the possibility of death was very real to me, but I'd committed to the mission anyway. I'd destroy Da'ath and save Inori—I knew that much—but if achieving that goal cost me my life, then I was prepared to go that far. I couldn't promise to Inori that I'd preserve myself, but I also didn't want to worry her by suggesting that I might never walk back out of the facility. Instead I did neither: with my false hand I gently pushed Inori's face towards mine and we kissed, savoring the moment of companionship, closeness, warmth, love. Letting go of Inori after that was by far the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life.

"I love you, Inori."

"Shu...I love you, too."

With that we parted and I hurried to catch up to General Hashimoto. He led me a short distance to another station the Japanese army had set up, inside which was a group of tough-looking men readying all manner of heavy weaponry.

"Ouma Shu, meet Charlie Team," said the general.

I looked around at the line of faces and noticed a familiar one amongst the small crowd.

"Arugo!"

"Shu!"

"You aren't with the president?"

"He gave me permission. I still haven't forgotten what Da'ath or GHQ or whatever the heck they call themselves did to Ogumo."

Ogumo—late member of Funeral Parlor's Charlie Team. I got the feeling Arugo had something to do with the code name of our specialist group.

"You all know your orders, gentlemen," the general ignored my exchange with Arugo. "Our best intel suggests that the Endlave entrance is a few stories down, inside a garage, most likely on the west side of the facility. We'll feed you more information as we have it. Get down there, push through any Endlaves that stand in your way, and open that gate. Our own Endlaves will handle things from there."

"Yes sir!" everyone saluted.

The general exited with a salute of his own and left us to gather our equipment before we headed down to the facility and waited behind the first two infiltration teams as they prepared explosives around the dome's bulkhead doors. So far Da'ath hadn't shown itself to the three surrounding armies, but that would surely change as soon as we rang the doorbell, so to speak. The demolition experts stood back from their work on the bulkheads and one of them raised three fingers in the air, then shifted down to two, one, zero.

My ears rang from the explosion that followed, amplified by the rocky underground. Before the smoke had even cleared the first infiltration teams were inside the facility, and gunfire opened only seconds later.

"Let's move!" Arugo shouted with a wave of his hand.

Charlie Team gathered behind Arugo and me and together we charged inside, unsure of what to expect. We immediately learned that Da'ath was definitely expecting us, as they had set up barricades facing the entrance and were attempting to gun down all who came in, using the door as an effective funnel. The infiltration teams before us had shields, but even so not all of the bodies on the floor were Da'ath agents. Still, they pushed through successfully, and by the time Charlie was fully inside, the room was too chaotic for Da'ath's funnel strategy to work any longer. Between my crystal ability and Arugo's expert aim we had the room mostly cleared behind the infiltration team in a matter of seconds without further losses.

"Looks like these guys weren't modified," Arugo observed. "I didn't see any mind powers or jumping through time and space."

"Guess they save the best for last," I replied, releasing a crystal blade.

A device on Arugo's belt beeped.

"Charlie Team, this is Alpha. We've located a stairwell to the lower levels of the facility. Recommend you do not use the elevators. Sending coordinates now."

"Understood," Arugo replied. "That was fast."

We followed Alpha Team's directions down one floor, passing by several bodies along the way. Da'ath was losing men fast, but so were we, and we hadn't exactly come across their best and brightest yet. I wondered how the UN and Chinese militaries were doing in their thirds of the facility.

"Wait a moment," I stopped everyone. "This looks similar to one of the floors I was on before. If it follows the same scheme, I think I can get us to an Endlave garage!"

Arugo nodded and gestured with his rifle for me to take point. At my lead we found the hallways easily enough, but Inori and I had moved through them so quickly that I couldn't remember exactly how to find the garages again. I kept my eyes peeled for any kind of unusual door, but the farther we went, the less confident I became. Everything started to look equally familiar and foreign.

"Umm...this way! No, we couldn't have turned here. Over there!"

We burst through one door and prepared to open fire, only to see a horde of painfully thin children scamper away to hide in their bedraggled bunks.

"What is this?" Arugo wondered aloud.

"This ain't right, man," another member of Charlie Team commented. "What are they doing, running tests on these kids?"

"I don't want to think about it, to be honest."

Arugo reached down to the communication device on his belt.

"Charlie to base: request to mark our location for the secondary infiltration teams. We've got children here, I repeat: children here. Possibly test subjects, showing no signs of hostility."

While Arugo talked I stepped in closer to the terrified kids. Something about them had caught my eye, and my heart skipped when I figured out what it was. All of them were male, about ten years old, and while the color of their hair varied, all of the boys' faces were exactly the same. What's more, it was a face I knew well from my own childhood.

"Triton..." Mana's voice echoed in my mind a bit too audibly.

"Is this the sort of place you came from, Gai?"

"Shu! We need to keep moving," Arugo reminded me.

"Right."

I decided not to mention anything about the children or Gai. That mystery would have to be solved later. For now I had to stay focused and find the Endlave garage. Every minute I failed to lead us there lives were being lost—lives that our Endlaves could potentially save.


GC


Shinomiya Ayase

It took the fleet a while to regroup after the incident on the beach. The setback annoyed me. We received word from General Hashimoto that the assault had begun and that a team had been sent in to open a gate for our Endlaves and make up lost time, but that just meant we couldn't even attempt to go anywhere or do anything until then. Those that took a couple scuffs earlier disengaged from their Endlaves for some on-field repairs, but I couldn't do that sort of thing in a wheelchair and Steiner wasn't in need of fixing, anyway. And so I just waited anxiously, staying engaged and ready for the very moment we were given the signal to move.

"Any progress, Tsugumi?"

"Not in the ten seconds since you last asked, Aya-nee."

"Well, can't you do something? Hack the gate open!"

"Hard to do when I don't know where the gate is."

"Then find it!"

"You think I haven't been looking? Once we get inside I'll be able to isolate Da'ath's network and have some real fun, but until then I'm only guessing at whose party I'm crashing."

"How can Da'ath hide an exit for Endlaves, anyway? You'd think someone would've noticed it."

"Unless they own the place where it comes up from the—"

There was a long pause, during which I could almost feel Tsugumi dancing around her holographic controls.

"Tsugumi?"

"Hang on!"

Another pause.

"Tell everyone to get back in their Endlaves, Aya! And stay back from the wall!"

I relayed Tsugumi's requests to Commander Matsumoto and in turn he ordered the rest of the fleet to comply.

"Ready?" she asked when we were all in formation.

"Yes, but we still don't know what for."

"Good! Three...two...one...zero! Ta-da! Open sesame!"

The Endlave fleet watched in amazement as the face of the beachfront wall creaked and slowly sank into the ground, revealing an underground passage just large enough for an Endlave beneath it.

"I'd say that explains why Da'ath was so trigger-happy earlier," Tsugumi said.

General Zhao and his remaining men stood beside the fleet, astounded. The shock was momentary however, and soon his face became gravely serious, almost sinister.

"I tried detaining you mercifully," he said, "but I see you are insistent upon forcing the hand of Da'ath!"

With that he grabbed a communication device from his belt and started shouting into it in Chinese.

"Him too!?"

I should have waited for Matsumoto's orders and I knew it, but something got the better of me and without thinking I reached out Steiner's cannon arm and gunned down General Zhao while he was still speaking. His men immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

"Yamada: disengage and secure these men for questioning," Matsumoto ordered someone among the fleet. "It would seem I should have been more thorough in my discussion with 'General' Zhao. Shinomiya: your quick judgment is commendable, but see to it that you not forget discretion, understood?"

"Yes, sir! I'm sorry, sir!"

With the gate open and the threat neutralized Commander Matsumoto took the lead with his Endlave at the underground entrance.

"This is it, everyone! Here we make our mark on history, for ourselves, for our nation, for the world!"

War cries abounded to a fever pitch and the Endlave fleet sped into the tunnel. At long last the final battle had begun.


Author's notes: Umm, yeah, I'd say I'm definitely not going to have this thing finished by next chapter. So two more chapters to go, then! And if you didn't notice before, Chapter 10 got pretty majorly updated, so go back and check out Phase 23.10 if you missed the second version. I really didn't like how it turned out the first time. Good thing is, things really feel back on track with this one. At least they do to me-hopefully I'm not the only one that feels that way. Well, stay tuned for the continuation of the big battle! Epic stuff is in the works. Thanks as always for reading!