Chapter 9: Drunk Delight of Battle

August 28, 2017

Narita Mountain.

Despite my advice to evacuate the civilians before the battle, Cornelia refused, fearing the JLF would make a run for it when they got word. Understandable, but she's still an asshole. So I had to take it upon myself. Had to 'reactivate' the Special Activities Division and forcefully started evacuating the civilians before the battle. Only one refusing to do anything to move was…yep, that same white building. I rolled up several APCs and trucks into the parking lot and ordered the boys to smash the windows and storm the building. A simple flash, cuff, and bag operation.

One-by-one, scientist and security were complaining loudly and protesting their treatment. I had to roll my eyes. I clapped my hands and several men with Molotovs threw them into the building. They jeered at me, demanding to know who my superior officer is. God, they have no concept of silence. I snapped my fingers and they were thrown against the wall, forced to lined up. That just made them protest louder. I barked the order and their complaints were immediately silenced by the rapid puffs of suppressed assault rifles. They were on the ground, grovelling quietly and crying. Finally! We got them cuffed, still alive, and zipped into bodybags. Ordered my men to, quite literally, toss them in the back of the truck. I had questions for those cunts anyways.

With the last of the civilians out of the way, I sent the boys back home to base, exception being those responsible with those scientist. They are working over time. I just walked down the empty road, towards the nearest checkpoint. Waved the guards off with my ID badge. Looking around, I saw Knightmares, Knightmares everywhere. Honestly, Cornelia has no chill.

Saw a white Knightmare ahead of me, that new 7th-Gen, with its ground crew busily working awau. Wait…hold on…Suzaku? I stormed up the steps. "Warrant Officer Kururugi!" I barked, standing below him.

He immediately stood up and saluted. "Lieutenant, sir!" he replied.

I shouted, "Engineering Corp my ass! More like Special Research Projects Administrations!"

Suzaku rubbed the back of his head, laughing. "Sorry sir! It was meant to be a secret!"

I stormed up the steps and ordered, "Warrant Officer. Your neck. Present it."

He did so. I clawed both of my hands, ready to give his neck a nice, big hug. "Sir I must protest your attempt to strangle our devicor!" a purple haired woman barked. Second Lieutenant. Ha! I outrank you! I do what I want.

I growled, "I am not strangling Kururugi. I am just going to give his neck a nice, tight hug."

Suzaku broke into laughter, whacking his hand on the armour. Shit, now I started laughing. Fuck! I clapped his shoulder. "Shit man. You should've told me. Alright, I'll leave you fellas to it. I'm going to try and dissuade Cornelia from fighting a literal uphill battle." I stated.

"Oh, you aren't going to change her highness' mind. Once she's set on a goal, there's nothing really can stop her." the mad scientist said, bored out of his mind. I couldn't help but let out a large sigh. This is definitely going to end badly. "Well…shit…" I said. I looked at a computer and took control, preparing a…scathing? Yeah, a scathing email for Cornelia. I heard the scientist whistle loudly and started laughing. I turned around and saw Suzaku unsure as to what to do and the Second Lieutenant fume.

"How can you say such a thing to the her highness, Cornelia Li Braitannia?" she demanded.

I told her, quite simply, "Easy. I think about it; I write my thoughts; I press the send button." I sent the email and shrugged. "Not that hard."

Suzaku coughed. "Aren't you worried that she'll kill you?" he asked, obviously worried. I'm not actually. What'll she do, kill me for being butt hurt? Ha! Like that'll ever happen. I shook my head and played around with the computer, upgrading its defences.

"Oh? You aren't that bad." exclaimed the scientist, excited by my work. I shrugged, playing around with it more before exiting the code. "It's good enough. Anyways, I really best be heading towards that mountain by now. I'm sure that we'll be needing a whole lot of Jackhammer Missiles for this."

I walked away and back onto the streets, a force of Knightmares forcibly deploying behind the buildings for cover. I found mine in a parking lot. In all honesty, I hate the Knightmares. Too big. Too easy to trip up. Unfortunately for me, the Knightmare has some special equipment that a tank or APC doesn't have and I need that. So, with reluctance, I had one…requisitioned. A Sutherland-class. Ugly machine but useful for what I'm going to use it for. "Right. Commence Operation! You, the Japanese Liberation Front! You, who time has left behind! You, who have forgotten basic human decency! You and your dream of a bygone golden age shall fall and rot to nothingness!"

Knightmares charged and I did too. I took the road with the fewest nightmares there. Unfortunately, that made me part of…General Darlton's command. Didn't care much, I just followed along the flank and fired wildly at anything olive drab aimed at them. Good lucky a few times, even caught several others off guard. "You got some great eyes soldier. I'll see about getting you marksmen training." he said, cheering me on.

I guttered my voice, "Thank you sir."

I stayed close by when a sudden rocking vibrated the ground. I saw it. Rocks falling. Rocks coming right at us. "Landslide!"

I shot slash-harkens at my 'comrades' and pulled as many as I could up. Damaged their armour sure, but they'll live. There were just too many of those guys and too few of me to get them out of there. Suddenly, the line snapped, took out both my arms. The rest saw this and took their chance with the rockslide, firing slash-harkens into the ground like anchors. I looked at the squad before me. I plugged into command, listening to the chatter. Black Knight operators in the area. Landslide coming down, a large purple area covering dividing the mountainside. Manufactured? Possibly. Rockslides can't be this precise. I looked down, the rockslide didn't stop at all, just kept going until it started bouncing and smashing into the buildings.

Devastation at its finest.

I felt it. I saw it. Does Zero believe he can fucking use a rockslide as a discriminate weapon, he got something else coming! Oh yes! Ha ha ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! T-T-This…oh~ ZERO! I'M COMING FOR YOU MOTHERFUCKER!

I shouted, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING STANDING THERE?! IT'S TIME FOR WAR! PROCEED WITH YOUR OBJECTIVES! ANY RESISTANCE YOU FACE, MARK IT AND I'LL CALL DOWN JACKHAMMERS!"

They saluted, "YES SIR!" and rushed out. I popped the cockpit out, sending a swarm into the air. Programmed them to follow the team. I rolled behind them and took a knee. Forest combat. Tight corners. Gotta fire and move.

"Under attack North! Defenders behind cover! Requesting Jackhammer strike! Sector Echo-Charlie-59. Danger close!"

I looked. Got them. I plugged in coordinates, stating coolly, "Jackhammers proceeding to target. ETA 5 mikes."

A single Jackhammer flew above us and smashed into the ground ahead. "Fire mission effective! EKIA all around."

I moved out and took a new position. "This is Detroit unit! We are taking heavy anti-KMT fire all around! Requesting immediate support."

I replied, "Detroit unit. This is Foxtrot Oscar. I have Jackhammers ready. Mark your targets."

The man barked, "Mark Sector Delta-Foxtrot-13."

I sent the coordinates in. "Detroit! Missiles inbound. ETA 5 mikes."

I rolled to the next position. Five minutes later, the radio barked, "Great shot FO! Detroit unit is Oscar Mike."

On the move indeed.

"Yeah, that's right Britannia! We can finally go up against you on equal footing head on! And our counter attack begins with this baby, the Guren Mark II!"

I blinked. Terrorist with new Knightmares? That's like saying Al Qaeda made a homegrown 4th generation Main Battle Tank! …OH SHIT, Al Qaeda made a homegrown 4th generation Main Battle Tank! I peered around the corner and saw the device in action. Red and orange paint scheme. Fast. It's literally dancing around the Sutherland. Its hand gripped the head. "Sorry." the female Japanese pilot said, before letting a burst of energy shoot out from its claw, literally melting the Sutherland.

Oh…my…god…I'm so fucking boned. I bugged the fuck out of there, exclaiming, "All units within range of this transmission, be advised! Black Knights have a new Knightmare! I say again, enemy forces possess a new Knightmare! Capabilities are beyond that of current models. You are to refrain from engaging directly and to set an ambush at these coordinates!"

"Belay that order!" shouted some general. "You are to hold position and defend her highness!"

Idiot! He's going to get them all killed!

Immediately, Britannian ground forces were rushing the red Knightmare. I called in a saturation strike of Jackhammers on my position, alerting the others, "Jackhammers on our position. Fire for effect in order. Say again, fire for effect."

Didn't stop them from holding the position and getting wiped out. These guys kept on coming and coming! I pulled back. Immediately, explosions rocked the grounds behind me, sending me flying and smashing into a tree. I was still okay, surprised it held up so well. The strikes ended and I had to look back. I walked towards the area of impact and there were plenty of Britannian Knightmares on the ground but not the red one. How?

"Did you think that'll work on me Britannian?" taunted the girl in the Guren. I felt my throat gulp down unconsciously. I run and I die. I surrender and I get captured. What's the next option?

Got it!

I used my armless body to ram the Guren. I stood back up and legged it. That thing has superior speed and I'm hoping this thing is more maneuverable…that and I'm pretty sure those roller-blade things are busted up. I just ran. I shouted into the radio, "This is Foxtrot Oscar! I am being hunted by an unknown enemy Knightmare! Requesting units 05-09 to prepare ambush ahead of my current position! How copy?"

"You can't escape!" the Guren pilot shouted.

"She's coming right for me!" I pleaded, begged that somebody would listen.

No one did. All I got was static. What's going on?! The machine fell, a screeching sound of metal sliding against metal echoed within the cockpit. My leg was laid out before me. Then a claw hand smashed my head in. "FRY!" she shouted. I smashed the ejection port, luckily enough, the cockpit sent me up and towards safety…I think. Oh fuck…I hit the rocky ground, the chair the only thing keeping me in place. The recoil shot me back, hitting me right in the back of my head.

Fuck…I can't concentrate…note to self…don't go to the front lines anymore…


Where am I?

Aside from the fact that I'm still alive, I got no idea where the hell I am, which is rather annoying to say the least. From the looks of things, I was still somewhere in the Narita mountains. Where exactly, I got no clue. Can't get in contact with anybody, must have run outta batteries. I still had food in my backpack at least, so that'll hold me over until I return back to civilization.

All I had to do was go down the mountain I guess. Making my way down was no easy feat though. Around me were the fallen and destroyed materials of war. Knightmare frames were obliterated, metal was bent out of shape, bodies upon bodies were thrown about. I checked up on each one. Lucky. None of them were Gwen. I checked the Knightmares and found more dead. I closed their eyelids and left them, the least I can do before the clean-up crew roll in and take over. Those were just on our side though.

My travels didn't leave me just there, it led me to find JLF war machines too. Again, I checked on each site of wreckage and found the dead. Again, I closed their eyes for them. Whatever belongings they have, I didn't bother. Ashes to ashes as they say. Though, the least I could do is take their dog-tags and track down their families…even they would like to know what happened to their sons and daughters.

Heh…look at me now. What am I? A crow? A bringer of bad news? A screaming banshee? Ha. won't that be the day.

From my position, the gun emplacement was on rails and led deeper into the mountain facility. I dared to travel deeper into the facility, confident that it was abandoned. I mean, it just had to be after the battle. Maybe I can find computer? It was pretty dark in here but it reminds me of something from the Maginot line or Fort Douaumont. Massive concrete works that somehow manages to be both claustrophobic and spacious. Never did understand how.

I was surprised each room was cozy with wooden floorboards and sliding doors. Even got their own dojo in here too. Who knew?

There it was, the Command And Control centre of the JLF. I let my equipment run free after I ran the preliminary scan. This was a golden opportunity that I could not afford to miss. I switched over to another computer and started looking up some of the names of the fallen. Unfortunately, it wasn't as detailed as I would like. Perhaps it was to protect family or that military discipline degraded over the years, I don't really know.

I took a look at their intelligence base and found it very lacklustre, almost like they don't even have their own scout team. You can't tell me they have been biding their time like this without having some kind of information against Britannia, that makes no God Damn Sense! I had to dig deeper, find something that I was missing. These servers seem to be running an old government program, modified to 2017 standards. Fossils, am I right?

Once again, no sign of any intelligence gathered by the military. Could it be possible that another organization does the intelligence work for them? If so, who? Looking around, I couldn't find much of anything. Damn. These guys would do anything to to protect their spy agencies, even purposefully doing this to throw me off. Clever bastards. Still, the fact that landslide arrived just as it did when our concentration was the most dense…it couldn't have been coincidence.

I checked my progress. All complete. I pulled the plug and let myself out, I can sort through the data later. The question remains, can I trust Cornelia with this information? As of late, she had been very…uncooperative with my suggested reform program, despite me literally listing the advantages and disadvantages for her. I got more luck with Euphemia but she too had been slowing down. Guess the older sister took exception to that.

What am I supposed to do now?

Have I compromised myself too much and allowed myself to become something I hate? Have I become a government worker, doing the dirty deeds they want? Have I surrendered my morality yet?

"S-Stop! B-Britannian S-S-Scum!" guttered a woman's voice in halting English.

I rose my hands. "I can speak Japanese just fine. Would you prefer to converse in your language?" I offered.

"Yes. Thank you. Turn around. Slowly." she ordered, rather haltingly. Out of breath?

I turned around as she ordered, allowing her to take control here. The woman in question had a Nambu pointed at my head and a hand wrapped around her gut. Wounded. Her hands were shaking and her ventilation was laboured. Exhausted, perhaps even cold. Her arm drop and her body collapsed towards me. I caught her, slowly lying her down on the ground.

I unbuttoned her uniform, ignoring her pained pleas for me to stop. The girl was too weak, too exhausted. Why? She was bandaged up. Doesn't look like she's bleeding so that's good but that doesn't explain her situation. I brought a hand to her forehead. She's burning up. Cold? Flu? I buttoned her up again and carried her under the arm.

"W-What are you doing?" she asked, fear evident in her voice.

I replied, "You're hurt. I'm gonna take you to the med bay. Get you warmed up again."

She shook her head. "Don't bother. The medics took all the antibiotics and medicine with them."

Damn. That means I'm going to take her down the mountain. Her conditions okay for now, I can risk it. I told her, "Listen. I'm going to get you off this mountain and get you to a hospital."

She pleaded, "Don't, please…please…no hospital."

"But you'll die." I protested. Still, I get it. She's a terrorist. The minute she steps foot into the hospital, there she goes. She'll be arrested, put in for life or something. The thing is, I don't know any other place close-by. Maybe she does…

I asked, "Isn't there any friendly place you JLF fellas can go to? Anywhere to get treated?"

She shook her head. Damn. I set her down and went for the computer, began searching for any JLF bases or rendezvous points. The sharp bark from the Nambu stopped my progress, destroying the computer. I looked at her, her shaky hands clutching the grip. I bent over her, begging, "Please. Let me help you. I don't care about your activities right now. I don't. Just let me find you the help you need right now."

She held firm, not saying a thing. I sat on my ass and cradled my head. I suggested, "Listen to me. Okay fine, you don't want me anywhere near your bases nor any Britannian hospital. I get it. But I still want to help you. Get you feeling better because this is a miserable way to die. Do you know any family or anybody that could help you? Please, I'm begging you here, I implore you to think about life. You die here, how many people is that going to affect? The world doesn't need more dead heroes, believe me."

She considered it, slowly but surely she considered the pros and cons. Eventually, she put the gun away. "F-Fine…I will trust you Britannian to honour your word. I have family in the Yachimata Ghetto. They know a doctor there that can help me. Please…don't hurt them."

I nodded. "I won't. I promise."

I grabbed her and made my way down the mountain.


Yachimata Ghetto

I took the backstreets, anywhere that isn't exposed to light. Fortunately for me, that only took thirty minutes to get to where she told me to go. I parked my motorcycle out of sight and locked it before moving into the apartment building. We went up the stairs, the JLF girl still leaning on me for support, and I knocked on the door. An old elderly couple was all I saw and they were in shock.

It was weak, but she greeted her parents and I brought her in and lied her down on the mat. Immediately, the old man rushed out to get a doctor, the grandma was rushing around to get hot water. i went and got a towel. She didn't care that I was a 'Britannian soldier', she just wanted to help her daughter. I stayed around, following this grandma's orders as best I could. It was a rushed job alright.

A doctor finally came, rushing in with a medical bag and checked on the girl. She was okay but she got herself pneumonia. Nasty business, that. He prescribed her some antibiotics but even I know that isn't enough. I asked, "How much more do you need?"

The doc turned to me, surprised but grateful, and said, "I would need a small container of Britannian antibiotics. The ones I gave her should hold her out throughout the night."

I nodded, alright then. "Alright, I can get her the antibiotics easily. I just need you to tell me the details." I said, pulling out a little notepad and listing of her characteristics. I repeated them back to the doc and he gave me a thumbs up and I ran off. Closest settlement was the Chiba settlement so I went there. I got out of my military clothes and into more civilian attire before entering the pharmacy.

I approached the counter and gave them the note. The nurse winced. "Pneumonia?" she asked. I nodded.

"Sorry to hear that. I had a friend who got one." she said, reminiscing.

I wondered, "Maybe it's the weather?"

She scoffed, "More like the air conditioning. Been getting more and more people come in because of that Clairvoyance-AC."

Clairvoyance-AC. I'll have to take a look into them. Of course I don't say it but she gave me the pills. I gave her a fifty, keep the change. I waved her off and returned to the apartment, dressed back in uniform. I went back to that family and gave the doc the antibiotics. He gave me a thumbs up. Got the right ones. After a little while, the doctor left and that meant I was left alone with the old people.

Sufficed to say, they were bowing before me, thanking me. It was really uncomfortable actually. Any attempt I made to leave, they begged me to stay. I sighed and took a seat and looked at the girl. Looks like she'll be recovering just fine, her breathings back to normal and she looks calm. I looked at her parents who were in tears. Of joy? Of fear? Of love? Maybe it's a little bit of all three. I don't know, I don't really understand the culture much but…I can feel it. That burning spirit I always want to see.