Pina woke suddenly and looked around panicked. It was clear she wasn't in the hot springs, but she was in a flying machine of some kind. Gulping as she looked around, fear began to settle inside of her as realisation that she had been kidnapped hit her. before she could cry out Risa moved up and covered her mouth.

"Don't scream," the intel officer said. "You scream, you get beat," Pina nodded getting the warning.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Old military helicopter, a Chinook," Risa answered. "We're being transported someplace,"

"Where?" the princess asked trying to keep her panic down.

"To their base. My guess we are ransom," that did little to help the princess.

"For what?" Pina asked.

"After the war, with governments being rebuilt, Warlords began to spring up. They tried to create their own little empire, but soon realised that no one would recognise them unless the EDF did. Because we were the de-facto government, whatever we said went. As such many governments tried to make themselves legitimate by trying to get the EDF to recognise them. But it never worked. The EDF has a mandate to try and restore the previous governments as close as possible. That didn't always work, the Arabian Republic is one of them. But it doesn't stop Warlords from trying," Risa explained. "But the fact that these guys knew we were coming…" she bit her lip. "They have agents…"

Risa began to mutter to herself as Chuka woke up and Pina explained.

"Are we going to get auctioned off as slaves?!" the elf asked in fear.

"No, we are a bargaining chip so that a warmonger will get his own nation," Pina said. "We just have to wait until the EDF gets us out," but a part of her doubted that they will.

OOOOO EDF Command Asia, Japan HQ, EDF Intel building.

"How could this happen in the first place?" one of the generals demanded.

After Pina, Risa and Chuka had been taken, Japan went on immediate lockdown as investigations began. As such, high ranking EDF generals made their way to the Intel building for a meeting. The way the generals looked at each other made it clear that no one was happy, except for the Intel Head who just leaned back wiping his glasses.

"Everything was planned out," an admiral said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "So how did this happen?" her eyes then drifted back to the head of intel who was still not having a care in the world. "Aoi," she said getting his attention. "Anything you would like to add?" she asked.

"No," was all he replied but the Admiral stared him down.

He however just ignored her gaze and just continued to polish his glasses. You'd never get anywhere as an intel officer if you couldn't deal with people looking at you. But his actions earned the ire of the other generals as General Takuma walked in. He sat at the head of the table and slid a file over to the Intel head.

That made him stop and look from the file to the general. His face paled as he realised what was about to happen.

"Explain," was all Takuma said.

He didn't yell or got angry, instead he used the calmness of his voice as a very clear threat. It sent chills down the backs of everyone in the room.

Aoi just nodded and sat more upright looking at the faces now looking at him. Not one was impressed.

"High Command is wanting to accelerate the Restoration Mandate," he said calmly, trying to make his voice as neutral as possible. "As such we looked for ways as to how to do that. Noes China is one of the bigger threats that we have to deal with. They trade pre-war and old EDF weaponry and tech. We take them down, the other warlords lose their access to weapons and we can take them down,"

"So, you used our guests as bait," one of the generals said putting it altogether.

"It was the perfect opportunity that we couldn't miss. We don't know where Neos China's base is," his expression then darkened, his tone followed. "We also got reports that they are working on an en-gem weapon. Similar to a bioweapon. They are using blank en-gems. That move made us use our guests,"

"Blank en-gems…" Takuma muttered. "That complicates matters,"

"We were also hoping that the terrorists would take Rory, instead they took Agent Risa, Chuka and the Princess. It complicates matters but not as much as one might fear. We planned for this anyway. We just need the use of two elite teams. Strom and Blast,"

"I'll give you blast, but Storm is another matter," Takuma said. "I'll see what I can do,"

"Please do," the intel head said we need their support as well.

OOOOO EDF HQ, Japan.

As soon as Pina, Risa and Chuka got kidnapped, the EDF moved the rest of the inn back to EDF HQ. But this action didn't satisfy everyone in the group. Especially Pina's retinue as they began to complain almost immediately

"How did this happen?" Bozes asked as she looked at the others. "The EDF were meant to protect us, so how did this happen?"

"We have to go after the Princess," Hamilton agreed. "She could be sold off for all we know,"

"They haven't done that," Itami said as he walked in. "We know who did this, and the reason," he sat on the sofa and looked at Pina's group. "After the war, there was a growth in Warlord groups. But after a while, they realised that they needed EDF support in order to be legit. So, this group has targeted Pina, Risa and Chuka. We have received their demands a few moments ago,"

"What are you going to do?" Leiei asked.

"We don't negotiate with terrorists," Kyon said as she walked in. "We arrest or kill them," she said as she handed Itami a folder. "Orders,"

He opened the file and read it with his expression staying neutral. "Blast huh," he muttered after a while.

Kyon's jaw dropped as she heard the name. "B…b…Blast team….?" she muttered before grabbing him by the collar. "HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU GET ORDERS TO JOIN BLAST TEAM!?" she yelled shaking him hard.

"I… d… don't…k..k…know…" he said between shakes.

"Who's Blast team?" Rory asked as she got the sense of jealously from Kyon.

Kyon stopped shaking and looked to the Oracle. "Blast team, also known as 'Special task group Blast' is the group that destroyed Raznid. The apocalypse-class creature that nearly destroyed the planet! Not only are they a big deal, they are the Elite squad that everyone wants to be a part of!" she looked to Itami once again. "I'll kill you…" she said burning her eyes into his soul.

"Please stop…." Itami moaned but the jet angel didn't stop shaking him.

OOOOO 2 days later.

Leiei, Rory, Bozes, Hamilton and Panache were led into the main EDF command centre and looked in awe at the set up. The room was set up like a stage with several screens in front of several rows of seats. People on the seats were muttering to their headphones as they read something on their screens. General Takuma sat at the back of the 'stage' with two others. As the group entered, he turned to them.

"Ah you've arrived," he smiled. "I feel like you may want to see this for yourself,"

"See what?" Hamilton asked.

"How we conduct military operations," he said before turning to the screen. "Blast, Storm are you ready?"

OOOOO

"Ready!" Commander Takeda said as she stood. "Ok apes listen up!" she yelled getting both Blast and Storm's attention. "Let's go over the targets once more," she said as her troopers HUD's activated. "We have three primary objectives. The first is the rescue of the Special Region delegation. Second is the kill or capture of Lebedev Zhen, if he falls the faction will as well. Third is the destruction of the en-gem weapons factory,"

"And given we don't know where they are, it's going to be a hunt mission," one of the troopers said. "What weapons?"

"Pre-war and old EDF tech," the commander replied. "AK's and AF14's. Sat images also show that they have MK 2 PA gears,"

"MK 2?" another soldier asked scoffing. "They must be desperate. Let's get these armatures!"

"Well show them what Blast and Storm can do!" Takeda declared. "Jet's, deploy!"

The back opened up and the four jet troopers from Blast and Storm fell out of the back before activating their jets and flew faster than the Hawk. Armed with grenade launchers, they planned to bomb towers, turrets and any vehicles that they could find. Flying in a lose formation, this prevented them from being targeted with ease. Given the small arms the warlord had, they didn't expect much.

In fact, EDF troopers had a low opinion of warlord soldiers. Which had a good reason. Most if not all soldiers used by the warlords tended to be criminals, traitors and people who never fired a gun before. That combined with the poor equipment and training meant that they were little threat. They would teach them what it would mean to be a soldier.

As they approached, their HUD's detected the base with few air defences. The lead jet trooper painted the main targets and sent it to the others. Each one of them picked their targets and moved into position. Due to the wind, jet troopers couldn't talk normally and so they had to use their HUD's to communicate with each other. This tactic was used during the war as it meant that jet troopers couldn't be detected by radio detection.

This time was no different as they approached the base. The troopers soon flew over the base with sonic booms making people take cover. Only the few experienced soldiers realised what was happening and began to set up a defence. But that did little as their anti- air defences and ground defences blew. Luckily for them only a few turrets still stood, which they took control of. The jet troopers wouldn't take another pass over the base, but that was the point.

Their objective was shock and awe while the rest of the troops deployed. Troopers held back while heavy troopers used their back mortars to send the soldiers in the base moving around in panic. Once done, the troopers moved up first followed by the heavies. The base was in tatters thanks to the bombardment. But that didn't stop the warlord troopers from putting up a defence. The force inside the base was estimated to be about 50 soldiers. But a good soldier knew to take intelligence lightly, as it can be wrong.

EDF troopers moved in to find that not all were impressed by their shock and awe tactics. They took cover and began to fire at the EDF troopers who, with their superior equipment, moved into cover as well. the two groups exchanged fire until the heavies arrived. With their slab shields, the heavies moved forwards forcing the enemy to fall back while the troopers picked them off.

As they did so, the commander and four others made their way to the bunker entrance and made their way down. There was little resistance as they headed to the primary holding areas. Itami kept his eyes open for Chuka, Risa and Pina, he promised he'd keep them safe. A promise he wasn't going to break. Soon they reached and old hanger where the three girls where hung from the ceiling in a cage.

All three had clothing on, but they were bound and gagged to prevent them from moving. They were also encased in a glass box which had canisters set at the bottom of it. Inside them was a green fluid that just oozed danger.

"That must be the weapon," Itami muttered.

"Indeed, it is," a voice said.

Weapons raised as Lebedev Zhen with several of his soldiers walked in front of the glass box. Unlike the others the EDF faced outside, these ones had training and experience. The way they stood and the way they held their weapons were very telling as they faced Itami and the others.

"I thought I said 'I'll kill the guests if all demands are not met'?" Lebedev said as he looked from soldier to soldier. "Looks like that warning wasn't heeded," he then produced a dead-man's switch in one hand and a detonator in the other. "Now, I'm not going to give you the choice," he smiled. "Kill me, or one of my guards the weapons gets released. You have five minutes. Nation status, or death,"

"Fuck…" Takeda muttered.

A/N forgot to add this.

Humtrack 'truck':

As the war progressed, EDF manufactures used old military vehicle plans and adapted them to their needs. One such vehicle was the humtrack, a half-tracked vehicle used for transport of supplies. However the truck wasn't used for military operation, but instead used for logistics between the EDF and any settlements under their control.