Chapter Five
"So, we're going to Pakistan huh?" Ryuji asked. "I actually just sent a 141 strike team south of there to supplement your team."
"Yeah, thank god we've got India and, of course, Iran with us." Torres laughed. "Like Briggs said, I don't want Persia as the SDC's bitch."
"Well, why don't you say we blow off some steam before the op, huh? Throw a few punches?" Harper asked. Section chuckled.
"Why not?" Section laughed. Ryuji smirked. Ah why not? A nice throwdown before an op would certainly get his blood pumping.
"Alright, come on, come suffer with me." Harper stated. Section didn't seem to take well to this statement. It seemed to trigger something, similar to the numbers programing.
"Wait? What was that you said? Come suffer.. What?" Section seemed confused, no, he seemed like he was remembering something. "I keep getting these flashes, it can't be a coincidence. I need to talk to Woods as soon as possible…"
"C'mon! We're getting pinned down by the ISI here!" Harper spat.
"A MK48 can only do so much man!" Torres sighed. Ryuji groaned.
"Don't rely so much on tech, it's unreliable." He sighed as he slammed a new magazine in his UMP.
"Says the guy who served in ARM-4 as his first deployment." Section grumbled. "I'm trying to get this up and running!"
"The GCM must be stuck!" Harper yelled.
"They're closing in!" Salazar stated. Harper ran to the CLAW section was working on and kicked it.
"There, unstuck!" Harper yelled as it rose to life. Like all American technologies designed in Germany, violence fixed it. That's why Ryuji liked British and Japanese equipment, it was more sophisticated, and the fix was usually obvious if something went wrong. Well, with the exception of the L85, that was a piece of shit, but Ryuji never had to touch one in his life, thank god. The CLAW left the room the team was stuck in, gunning down hordes of ISI forces. As much as Ryuji didn't like the new autonomous tech, he did respect the CLAW's efficacy in engaging it's enemy. It was terrifying how quickly it cut down enemy forces. Ryuji remembered seeing the prototype of one during an operation with ARM-4. They were pinned down trying to get to a smuggler providing weapons to AQ, unable to move. In response, the US sent in two of them as a field test for the machine. Ryuji recalled being impressed by their performance, despite the fact that the early prototypes couldn't take a single hit from an RPG-7. Rather embarrassing for the time, but it seems that the issues were worked out by now and they were terrifyingly near invincible. Pushing forward, Ryuji engaged plenty of ISI forces, they just kept coming. What was worse was that they were using civilians as human shields, something he thought only terrorists could do, it was sickening. Pushing forward, the team, minus Torres and Salazar, got to a gate, rusted shut from the flooding. Section and Harper tried to push it open while Ryuji stood watch. A bus suddenly came billowing down the street, making Ryuji turn his focus to the gate. Slamming his Halligan against the door, Ryuji was able to bust open the gate, leading the team to safety.
"That's some serious brute strength, Captain." Harper chuckled. "I gotta work out more."
"Yeah, I'll spot you." Ryuji responded, giving a nod to Harper. "Be aware, my workouts are intense."
"Yeah, sounds about right for the 141 Captain." Harper laughed. The trio approached a flooded section of the city, spotting a drone gunning down scavengers.
"Shit, best stay out of that thing's sight, don't want it tearing us to shreds." Section stated. Ryuji would have summoned Theseus to destroy it, but it was best to keep the whole Persona thing under wraps for now, perhaps it would come to light when he finally confronts Minako. But for now, everything with the Plume of Dusk and Personas could wait. Ryuji crept through the streets, avoiding the spotlight made by the drone. After some time, the team was in the clear, and they made a bolt straight to the compound they needed to get to, where Menendez was.
"Remember, as much as we all want him dead, we're only gathering information on what Menendez plans next." Section stated as he prepared his line. Ryuji nodded, preparing his own. It was some kind of grapple hook pistol, easily the most nonsensical tool Ryuji had seen in his career, but it worked, and that's what mattered. The trio was posted on the roof, sneaking away from a drone to get to the site of the meeting. Menendez was meeting with one of his lieutenants, a bastard of a man called DeFalco. He was much like Arisato, but maybe worse. Like Arisato, he seemed to enjoy killing, almost reveling in it. Unlike Arisato, however, he knew what he was doing was wrong. Empathy was understood by him, but it was irrelevant. The meeting went well for the terrorist, reciving an assignment to carry out an attack to obtain Karma, the weapon the scientist in Myanmar told them about, the one based on Celerium. Well, not exactly Celerium, Celerium wasn't anything new, at least to Persona Users. In actuality, Celerium was a Plume of Dusk, restructured to be used in the Karma Cyber Weapon. Supposedly, Arisato stole several of them when she defected to the Soviet Union, and one of them fell into the hands of Raul Menendez. It seemed that Menedez had high hopes for the Plume, as he seems to have spent the majority of his amassed wealth on the weapon. It was at the end of his second meeting, a discussion on support with the leader of the ISI, that shit got interesting. Menendez answered a phone call after the team had to swim through a flooded CIA blacksite, revealing a shocking truth.
"Not only do I know about the infiltration," Menendez explained, staring directly at the team. "I engineered it."
"Sdelay eto." a woman's voice called out. Several grenades fell into the maintenance tunnel the team was hidden in, forcing them to dive, yet again. They swam for it, reaching a garage where they finally made contact with Torres and Salazar.
"Guess what!" Torres shouted from his seemingly endless army of hacked drones. "I found their drones! Thank the egghead and Oracle for these!"
"It wasn't my idea…" Salazar groaned. "I just wanted to get a single MQ! But we did find the SOC-T's, so that's something."
"Let's just get to the extraction point. Torres, have the drones attack anyone and everyone, we need a distraction to get the hell out of here."
"Copy that." Torres smirked, smacking a detonator. Several explosions went off, destroying a broadcast tower, making the drones target each other, hostiles and even friendlies, all in an effort to create chaos.
"How the hell'd you know to do that?" Harper asked as the SOC-T lurched into action.
"Combat engineering." Torres laughed. "They teach ya to break shit then rebuild it."
"Sounds like my kinda action." Harper laughed. The SOC-T chase was less intense than it could have been, but still chaotic. It was a mess of vehicles rushing by each other, exploding, and crashing, all to get to Ryuji, Section, Harper, Salazar, and Torres. They eventually made it, using a fire ignited by a gas leak to escape.
"OWW FUCK!" Harper yelled as they rushed through the fire.
"Shit, Harper, you good?" Torres asked, rushing over to the SEAL.
"Yeah I'm fine, didn't duck in time is all." Harper groaned. "Remind me never to get into a car you're driving ever again, Section."
"At least Skull saved Torres' face, Crosby would be upset otherwise." Salazar joked.
"What are you insinuating?" Torres demanded, going into his 'Evil Voice' as Reilly liked to call it.
"Come on, we all know about the shit you two get up to, 'Magic Mike'." Section laughed.
"Who the hell told you about that?" Torres spat, clearly angry.
"Just about anyone connected to the Marines in any way knows about the guy who locked himself in his room and watched Magic Mike on repeat after basic." Harper laughed. "Oh shit we got bogies." A group of SDC soldiers stood just behind a pile of rubble, investigating the V-22 the team was to use to extract. Fuck. Ryuji was just about ready to engage them, but Section had other plans.
"Hold your fire, that's Tian Zhao, he fought alongside my father in Afghanistan." Section stated. "We have no quarrel with China, we're only after Menendez, same as you."
"Then we have something in common." Zhao stated. "But know this, American… If you really are here for Raul Menendez, then I have no need to kill you." The SDC forces left, allowing the SEALS and Ryuji to extract.
"Well that went well."
Minako was in her state room, evaluating the effectiveness of his team. A single grenade was missed, throwing the rest of the team off. It was only natural she needed to make an example of him. She ordered her team to her room immediately.
"You fucked up today." Minako stated. "You were to allow one to land on the platform, the rest were to go into the water so they would kill Section and his team. Give me one good reason not to kill all of you and replace you with actual members of Perseus."
"It was direct orders. Menendez wanted-" One of the Cordis Die members assigned to her team began. Minako slammed a fist on her desk.
"FORGET WHAT THAT FAKE COMMUNIST WANTS!" She spat angrily. "You fucked this up for everyone. You ruined my elegant plan."
"Ma'am I-" He tried to respond.
"YOU WALKED ALL OVER IT WITH YOUR DIRTY BOOTS! OVER THE CRISP WHITE SHEETS OF MY BED THAT I HAD JUST MADE!" Minako spat as she began stabbing him in the throat repeatedly. "Let that be a lesson. My orders are supreme, especially if you want a real, truly red world."
"Y-ye-yes ma'am." the remaining members sputtered.
"It's, Perseus." Minako hissed.
A/N: Yep, Minako's really off the deep end now. Don't worry, things get better for her, maybe. And yes, the stabbing was based off Torre's homeless ranting in Ace Combat Seven. Yes, I am playing it right now. Yes, I do plan on doing a Fic about Ace Combat at some point. No, it will not be connected to this universe because that would mean I would have to use the stinky earth timeline. Anyways, that's about it for now, hope you enjoyed and have a great day!