Chapter Six
"Wait, zoom in on his hand." Section stated, reviewing the footage of Menendez's meeting. "What's that? Cross reference image with active US Corporate logos." The computer came back with no matches.
"Try worldwide." Torres shouted.
"Wait, that's Colossus." Harper stated.
"I've been there, my wife and I spent a week there for our anniversary." Ryuji stated.
"How the hell did you manage to get there?" Harper asked.
"My wife does run a particularly large business in the food industry, and the military industrial complex if you say the MRE's are part of that." Ryuji informed the team. "As for the island, it's run by some libertarian guy who used to work for a game company. Guy went nuts and decided to build a city in the sea for the 1% of the 1%. Place is constantly moving so the owner doesn't have to pay taxes or some shit, I don't know a whole lot about it. What I do know is that the place is very goddamn rich, and a perfect target if Menendez wants his followers to think he's a communist."
"Makes sense." Torres mused. "Want people to think you hate capitalism? Attack the most capitalist place on earth."
"That would mean the Karma weapon is on the floating city." Salazar stated.
"Tell Briggs, and get a covert response team ready." Section stated. "We're getting close to Menendez, but we need more information. After this, I'm going to The Vault. I gotta talk to Woods."
"Icarus Nine you are cleared to land, maintain current heading." the ATC stated. The pilot confirmed with the ATC that they were approaching as Torres loaded the last of his magazines. Section began giving a briefing. Torres didn't pay much attention, it was mostly just Farid and Section confirming that they needed to get to the CRC to find Karma. Torres just focused on sliding the last of his bullets into the magazines. For this mission, Torres kinda just assumed that civilian casualties would be a given, which is why he was taking his good old Peacekeeper, too bad no one else got any. The plane landed and Torres hissed at the light, putting on a pair of aviators on loan from Ryuji. He had developed photosensitivity since that brief period of time he was rouge, and it had only been getting worse.
"You know, if this wasn't an op, I believe I could get a little hot chick action here." Harper laughed. The entire team turned to face Harper.
"Are you already forgetting Pakistan? Your face don't look too good." Salazar commented.
"It's not the face, it's the body they're gonna be after. Sakamoto can attest, he's got enough scars to write a book and he's got a wife and kids!" Harper stated, dragging Ryuji into his argument.
"Moot point, we met in high school, our relationship started because of the bond we share, not our bodies." Ryuji stated, deflecting the comment. "But damn, this is some serious security, they really are expecting an attack from Menendez."
"Or the IRS." Torres chuckled as the team entered security. They definitely were pulling all the stocks out to make sure attacks would not happen. What would be a metal detector anywhere else was a large scale millimeter scanner, meant to detect hazardous materials, weapons, and drugs, all to keep terrorists at bay. Fortunately, they had weaknesses. By placing a thick lining into the duffle bags the team stored their gear in, they were able to prevent their gear from being detected. That was, not until the construction workers in the next scanner were found to have something in their boots, probably either dust from a worksite, or bags of crack. Either way, Torres assumed they had a fun day ahead of them. Torres left the scanner, overhearing a comment from Harper.
"Damnit Egghead, thought we were burned." Harper groaned.
"Relax, Harper. Told you the shielding would work. Just walk on through and show your ID." Farid said with a smirk Torres assumed Farid had. The team walked past the receptionist, showing off their IDs.
"Hello ladies, we're from the union." Harper informed them. Ah, cover stories always worked, as long as you had confidence.
"That's seriously it?" Section asked.
"People don't do much here." Ryuji chuckled. "I don't think Haru and I interacted with people much here. Top 1% of the 1% don't want to interact with people much."
"More concerned about this." Salazar stated, staring at an advertisement featuring his face.
"It's your biometric IDs, they use them for targeted advertising." Farid informed them.
"We're all going to hell man." Salazar groaned. The elevator finally arrived, and the team boarded.
"So this is how the 1% live." Salazar stated.
"How the 1% of them live." Ryuji stated. "My wife and I are actually poor compared to many of the people here. The only reason my wife and I were able to come here was an investor who we're friends with. Gave us a huge discount, said it was a way to thank me for taking out Makarov."
"No wonder Menendez rallies so much support." Salazar muttered.
"How much do you figure it'd cost to spend a weekend here?" Harper asked. Ryuji grimaced, likely remembering the bill from his vacation there.
"More than you make in a year." Section stated as the elevator came to a halt. "Skull, Harper, go sweep the main floor, search for any threats to security. Torres, Salazar and I will go to the CRC."
"Copy that." Ryuji stated. Harper was about to talk, but then accidentally bumped into a woman Torres could have sworn he recognized but he couldn't make out her face. The elevator closed and they were immediately faced by a pair of mercenaries in Colossus security uniforms. A gunfight ensued almost immediately, thank god for suppressors. Section worked on using the spider drone thing Farid had to get the eye scan they needed to access the CRC. It was at that time that they learned Menendez's mercenaries, all ex Cuban Militia or Shadow Company, had
been hired to bolster security, and were using that fact to sabotage the city. Absolutely perfect. The robot was destroyed by a PMC right after the eye scan was obtained. Torres smirked as he changed the magazine on his rifle.
"It's the PMCs! We gotta get into the CRC." Section stated, rushing to the CRC entrance. The scan was performed, Salazar flashed the room, and a firefight ensued. There were three enemies in the room, one at the control room, two to each side. If Torres could shoot the one in the middle, then spray at-
"Damn, save some for the rest of us, and be a bit more subtle." Salazar stated. Torres blinked. Three PMCs were dead, each with limbs torn off, their head caved in, or both.
"Wha- I- Never mind, let's just find Karma." Torres stated. Fuck, his head hurt. Torres took a moment to breathe. This had happened before in the Shadow Company HQ, but that was because Velikan did something to his food. This just happened randomly.
"You good, Torres?" Salazar asked.
"My fucking head is killing me. I killed three people and have no memory of it, something isn't right." Torres groaned. "Something just feels wrong."
"You'll push through, kid." Salazar stated. "Don't go passing out on us, we need you alive." Something about that felt veiled, but Torres couldn't focus on it. Especially given what Section discovered. Karma was a woman, not a weapon. A former Tacitus employee, had a legal name change to Chloe Lynch, disowned by her previous family, wait a damn second.
"Guys, that's my sister." Torres stated. A brief moment of silence ensued.
"Your sister is a hacker, hot as hell, and somehow vital to Menedez's plan?" Harper stated. "Somehow, I don't believe that."
"It's the truth, we were disowned by our family, and I joined the Marines to use my paid college so she could go to a computer college. Then she changed her name and completely disappeared. I haven't seen her in years. And yeah, I lied to you, Ryuji, I'm sorry."
"Come with me to secure her then, Torres." Section stated. "Harper, you go explain the situation to her. Salazar, you'll provide cover fire in case DeFalco is headed to grab her. She's up in Club Solar."
"As for me?" Ryuji asked.
"Go make sure security is ready to enter counter terror mode." Section stated. A firefight broke out as soon as the team left the CRC room. Naturally, they cut through them like butter. Torres rushed to the club, pushing through crowds and staff to get to his sister.
"CHLOE!" Torres shouted.
"Micheal!?" Chloe responded more confused than anything. "What the hell are you doing here!?"
"Harper isn't lying, Raul Menendez is after you, he needs your tech prowess to decode the Celerium worm." Torres explained. "Please, trust me."
"Micheal, I don't know." Chloe stated.
"Chloe, I made a promise to you when I joined the military. I said I would protect you, from mom and dad, from America's enemies. Please, let me protect you, sis." Torres stated.
"We have to go, now!" Section stated. A gunshot rang out and the music stopped. Defalco stood on the stage with at least seven mercs. Salazar stated he didn't have a shot on him, due to the amount of hostages. De Falco demanded Chloe, killing a hostage every five seconds she refused to come to him. She went over to him after one was killed. The rest was a blur to Torres, he remembered passing out, and waking up with De Falco's head inches away from his mouth.
Chloe Lynch, once Faith Torres, was only going with De Falco to protect civilians, to no avail. She tried struggling, with no success. Her only hope was for Micheal and those supposed SEALs to kill De Falco. Speaking of the devil, Micheal just arrived, but something was wrong. Micheal was covered in blood, his eyes glowing purple, his skin a pale gray, having lost all it's color.
"De Falco. Let my sister go, now." Micheal stated.
"Kill him, slowly, his sister will watch." De Falco spat. One of the terrorists walked over to Micheal, raising a knife. Micheal tackled the man and began doing something horrifying. Micheal tackled the man, pinning him to the ground, ripping open his chest, ripping organs out one by one, the terrorist screaming to be mercy killed the entire time. The other obliged, tapping his buddy, and raising his rifle at Micheal's chest. A burst of shots connected, none affecting him even the slightest bit. Micheal responded by rushing to the man and biting into his throat, ripping his trachea open. De Falco attempted to kill Micheal, aiming his Five Seven at his head. In response, Micheal grabbed De Falco's arms, tearing them from their sockets, beating the man with them. When he was dead, Micheal brought his mouth to De Falco's head.
"Micheal, please, that's enough." Micheal made a strange face, the color returning to him and his eyes returning the purple they were earlier.
"God damnit, not again…" Micheal stated.
"This has happened before?" Chloe asked. "When?"
"I was captured by Shadow Company a while back, went fucking nuts after one of them did something to my food, he put this purple shit in it." Micheal explained. "Wound up killing about half of Shadow Company's forces before I snapped out of it. Guy who put the stuff in my food said it was a gift from my mother."
"You think it's connected to your birth mother?" Chloe asked. Micheal shrugged. The Seals and a Japanese guy caught up.
"Jesus Christ, never seen someone take care of people like that before." Harper grimaced at the sight of the dead mercs and terrorists. "But, at least that asshole De Falco is dead and your sister's safe." Torres nodded, standing up.
"Yeah, at least you're safe, Chloe." Torres stated. "C'mon, we got lots of catching up to do."
A/N: Glad to get that out. For some reason, this was always one of my favorite 2025 missions when I was younger, not sure why. It's gonna be awhile before my next update, I've got finals coming up. Suffer With me is next, followed by Achilies Veil. Suffer with me will bring a close to Junpei's story, and begin the end of the fic as a whole. Oh, one more thing, assume all dispatch missions EXCEPT Second Chance have occurred. As much as I want to do them, it really doesn't make sense for them to be included in this story. Section really doesn't need to know about the operations against the SDC, since he's after Menendez, not Zhao. Well, that's about everything, hope you enjoyed and have a great day!