PROTOTYPE3
Yoshito Kikuchi was currently riding inside a helicopter along with more than a dozen men which comprised Team Raptor. It wasn't as turbulent a ride as he expected it to be as it was a model slightly larger than an American Huey.
Sitting across Yoshito was Barnabas "Barney" Blackwell, otherwise known as Raptor-1. He was a man of medium build but such wasn't evident from first-hand sighting as intense training had gotten him to look almost 30 percent more muscular and sinewy. He was about 6'1" and had brown hair which he wore quite long though neatly tied in a short ponytail. He was in full gear as was his teammates which comprised Team Raptor. (think "BORMA" of Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex)
Yoshito himself wore the same clothes though he opted for lesser equipment, which was made up of a Kevlar vest, two 9mm pistols, 2 sets of mini-tools, 6 clips of ammunition and a combat knife. He was also wearing the same communication gear that Blackwell and the others were using.
"I still say you're traveling too light," Raptor-1 volunteered.
Yoshito regarded him for a while before answering.
"We can't risk packing too much gear as it'll weigh us down. As it is, you guys look like you're ready to start a full-scale war with the whole Nazi-regime," Yoshito replied.
"With your girlfriend being our target, we may as well be," Raptor-1 replied in return.
"She's not….." Yoshito was about to retort but he decided it would be useless to do so as Raptor-1 seemed to have decided that Yoshito and Urumi were a couple. Oddly enough, this reminded him of Onizuka's own attempts at matchmaking. Yet Raptor-1's last statement was quite near the truth as far as the gravity of the situation was concerned. Indeed, Urumi was NOT to be taken lightly. Yoshito recalled how she made short work of the highly-trained team guarding the armory back at the facility. Heck, he recalled his own run-in with Team Raptor in the alleys near the Kanzaki residence and even then as Najita told him back at Kanzaki headquarters, he was yet to use his full range of powers/abilities.
"I'm aware of that. However, the area where she's headed isn't exactly the most conducive for people in full-combat gear to operate unseen. Today's the day of the first-ever Japanese approximation of Mardi Gras and there are UN delegates visiting. The Premier will be joining the parade before giving a speech when it ends. That's a 2-hour window of opportunity for Urumi to execute her assassination attempt as that's how long the parade around the city will take. I've isolated 6 possible areas which are best-suited for such a task," Yoshito stated as he turned his laptop around so that Raptor-1 and the others could see.
Team Raptor saw the specific points that Yoshito highlighted. True enough, any of the 6 areas would give any would-be assassin a clear shot to a target and enable escape easily.
"Looks like you did you homework, kid. What makes you think XH-2 WILL pick those spots?" Raptor-1 inquired.
Yoshito took a few seconds before replying to Raptor-1's inquiry.
"Because I would choose those spots myself," Yoshito replied.
A few seconds of silence went by before Raptor-2 joined the discussion.
"It does look bad, chief. Which of those locations do you think XH-2 would pick?"
"Good question; what do you think, XH-1?" Raptor-1 asked Yoshito.
"All of them."
"All of them?"
"All of them."
"Impossible! She can't be in all of those places at once, can't she?" Raptor-2 asked.
The other team members were about to voice their objections when Raptor-1 raised his hand, giving them the signal to shut up.
"Let the kid have his say," he declared.
Raptor-1 then turned to Yoshito then raised his left eyebrow as he spoke.
"Well? We're waiting, kid. What makes it necessary for us to split the team and cover all those areas?"
Yoshito eyed the team-leader before answering.
"Simple: she doesn't have to be," Yoshito began.
"Before Urumi escaped from the facility, she broke into the armory and procured the necessary gear and weapons. I've confirmed this with Najita and he sent me a list of what specific weapons and equipment she took. Aside from the usual array of pistols and ammunition, she also took 6 Steyr recoilless-rifles which can be tripod mounted, a dozen extended-range remote-control receptors with lithium-ion batteries, motion-sensors, and a box of C4. She also took a whole batch of tazer-net. Care to explain that, Raptor-1?"
"Tazer-net is simply another application of the technology used in tazer-guns. However, the voltage is at 200K instead of the usual 75," Raptor-1 replied.
"I see. This only means one thing: she intends to remotely trigger the other 5 rifles even as she personally handles one setup so we have no choice but to disable ALL of those setups," Yoshito explained.
The whole Team Raptor could only shake their heads in amazement at what Yoshito explained.
"I've got to hand it to your girlfriend: she's very thorough," Raptor-1 stated.
"Agreed," Yoshito replied without thinking, before he saw Raptor-1's raised eyebrow and added quickly, "She is thorough."
"Mm-hmm," Raptor-1 simply said. Yoshito had the distinct feeling that he was laughing at him and felt a bit annoyed. "When this is all over…….I'm going to make this guy talk…," he promised himself.
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Elsewhere in the city, in an abandoned underground facility, a group of about 2 dozen people was gathering. Fully-armed and weapons loaded, these were the members of an ultra-radical terrorist group who had ties with almost the middle-eastern terrorist circles. The room they were in was nondescript to say the least, save for the amount of electronic-gear that was set up inside where various monitors and screens showed certain areas of the city, focused primarily on the ongoing parade.
"What's the status of the target?" asked a man who from his appearance looked every bit the leader of the group.
"Target is currently heading for their specified rendezvous point. From there, the Japanese premier will be boarding the UN-Float after which the parade will commence," replied the aide who was currently monitoring the events on a monitor display.
The leader stayed silent even as he himself watched the full-blown media-coverage of Japan's Mardi Gras Parade. As he watched, another man came up to where he was seated and addressed him.
"We've been holed up in here for more than half a day, Commander Adjarih. How long must we endure these conditions? Are you sure your operative will arrive soon? All my men and equipment are in place already but we can't start until this "special" operative of yours arrives," the man questioned.
"Just a bit longer, my good friend. We cannot be too hasty in carrying out this operation, you know. Rest assured, my special-operative will be arriving very, very soon. Like you said, you and your men are all set," replied the man known as Jaheim Adjarih.
"Are you sure this operative of yours is worth the wait? For all we know he may have been captured already or worse, dead. Fat lot of good that will do for us," chided the man as he turned his back away from the sitting Adjarih.
The man was about to add another stinging insult when he felt his legs give out from under him as Commander Adjarih had suddenly stood up, swept the man's feet from under him, gave the man a quick punch in the gut before positioning a knife under his throat. This was done in less than 2 seconds.
"I assure you that the operative we're waiting for will be worth your while so I suggest you just sit back and wait patiently or I won't be so "gentle" the next time," Jaheim stated gently even as he pressed the edge of his knife deeper into the man's neck, producing a thin slash that wasn't enough to harm but more than adequate to scare the man into compliance.
Jaheim then released the man from his hold and stood up, wiping his knife with his kerchief. All around him, the personnel and men were struck dumb at his recent display of skill. Jaheim had to smile to himself as he ordered them to go back to their duties.
"Any other additional information that I should be aware of, Sgt. Juaymah?" Jaheim inquired of the second technician who was surveying the eastern sector of the city.
"As we expected sir, Kanzaki Corp. has sent out a crack-team in order to deal with the situation. I estimate a full 4 hours until they catch up with the operative," replied the man.
"Crack-team, eh? Have our aerial scanners zero-in on their current location," ordered Jaheim as he took in the new information. For some odd reason, he looked somewhat ecstatic yet menacing at the same time as he waited for the new data to come in.
"We have visual confirmation, sir. Two unmarked choppers have just been spotted over the outskirts of the city and their general direction is concurrent with the operative's current location," reported the tech.
"How far is she from where we are?"
"About 5 city-blocks more until she reaches us sir, in about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, she's on foot and by the looks of it, the team will intercept her in less than twenty," the tech added.
"We have confirmed identity of the choppers, Commander," another tech reported.
"And…?"
"It's Team Raptor from Kanzaki Corporation, sir."
"You don't say……..Keep me updated on further developments. Send out the retrieval team to intercept the operative. We can't let Team Raptor get to her," Jaheim ordered.
"Well, well, well, Commander Blackwell; it seems we get to have our rematch after all," Jaheim thought to himself as he sat down.
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Back at Seirin High, Eikichi Onizuka, Azusa Fuyutsuki and the rest of the faculty were busy organizing the students into groups as the school was to take part in the parade. The whole retinue would rendezvous with the main body of the parade at a specific point in the city streets. Various countries had been assigned to the student population and all the students were busy putting on their costumes. The assigning of countries was supposed to have been raffled among the homeroom teachers but Onizuka had rigged it such that he would end up getting Germany as his class' costume theme.
"Please don't tell me we have to join the parade wearing these silly outfits! We got hats but wear shorts? This is silly!" lamented Murai who wailed in distress about the leg-exposure he and the rest of the guys had to experience with the male German costume.
"And why do we have to lug these heavy kegs around! This is torture!" Murai added.
"That keg contains beer, I bet. Trust Onizuka to choose a country where beer-drinking is almost mandatory," Kusano laughingly noted.
"That's the whole idea! Now if you guys take good care of those kegs, we get to drink the contents after the parade! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" stated Onizuka who was suddenly with them.
"Why don't you carry them around then!" retorted Murai who was already hunched down as his keg was bigger compared to those Fujiyoshi and the others were carrying.
"Eikichi, are you sure it's alright to have your students carry around alcoholic beverages? This IS a very important affair and I'm sure vice-principal Uchiyamada will not look kindly on this if anything goes wrong." Fuyutsuki cautioned.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head, my darling Azusa! I'll take care of it. I am the GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" Onizuka replied.
True enough, vice-principal Uchiyamada was stomping his way towards Onizuka, wagging his finger and rambling about how shameful it was for Onizuka to have his students carry beer kegs during the parade and how such a scandal would cost him of his hard-earned position and reputation.
Almost two hours later though, it was the same Uchiyamada who was drunkenly carousing and reveling along with Onizuka and his class, singing their best approximation of "99 BottlesOf Beer". Oddly enough, it has he who had Murai in a headlock as he wanted the biggest keg near him in order to have refills quickly.
"Ah sensei, Just what kind of beer did you have us carry anyway?" asked Kusano who was surprised at Uchiyamada's revelry.
"Only the best: KIRIN EXTRA STRONG! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I've a few friends in the beer industry who were once members of my motorcycle gang, you see. So it was easy for me to ask for a few kegs! Onizuka replied.
"Extra strong, eh? No wonder the vice-principal and the rest of our faculty are going about like crazy. And you said we'd be drinking this AFTER the parade!" Fujiyoshi laughingly added.
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Back in the underground facility, Commander Adjarih was still watching the ongoing parade. Due to some small miscues and mishaps with the said parade, he was forced to alter the earlier plans and instead of having Urumi rendezvous with them, she went to phase-3 and immediately went about setting up the remote-controlled redundant firing points. To escape detection, Cmdr. Adjarih had his team drop off stealth-gear/equipment for her at a certain area in the city's alleys.
"Target confirms pick-up of stealth-gear and will proceed to setup after activation," a tech reported.
"Good," Adjarih replied.
"That stealth-clothing is amazing. Leave it to the Russians to develop such a weapon," remarked Major Yasser Mushaf who was absentmindedly feeling the bandage he was sporting on his neck after Adjarih's "persuasion" a while ago.
It's not just clothing, it's armor too: Kevlar MKII which has thinner strands than standard-issue Kevlar but three times stronger, also developed by the KGB," Adjarih explained.
"She's activated the suit, sir,"
"Good. Let me know when she's finished with the weapon setups," Adjarih replied. He was about to turn away when the tech reported that Team Raptor's helicopter was now circling the area.
"They haven't detected her yet sir, but they don't seem to be leaving the area anytime soon," the tech reported.
"What do you think, Commander? Do you think they'll detect her?" asked Mushaf.
Cmdr. Adjarih was silently taking it all in before he replied.
"They can't detect her, not just yet. But then this is Team Raptor we're dealing with and if I know these people, they'll soon find a way. Major Mushaf, assemble your team. We will have to move the schedule up. Take down this facility and get ready to move out. I don't want any traces of anything left in this room, understand?" Adjarih ordered.
"Not bad, Blackwell. You haven't lost your touch," Adjarih thought to himself as he kept his eye on the radar blip of Team Raptor's helicopter on the screen.
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Flying overhead, Team Raptor was scanning the city grid in a search pattern that doubled-back over the area every 10 minutes. Each member was using an array of highly specialized binoculars which not only used infra-red and x-ray, but actually had double the range and magnification. However, none of them had yet to see anything down below. Yoshito however, wasn't using his scope but had linked his laptop with the chopper's onboard systems.
"What do you plan to do with that thing?" Raptor-2 asked upon noticing Kikuchi.
"I'm pretty sure that none of the gear we have will enable us detect Urumi…..XH-2 if she IS down there. However, there might be a way to detect where's she's been," Yoshito replied.
"If you're referring to footsteps or thermal traces, I don't think we'll have any luck there kid. With all the skills she's got as an XH-prototype, I bet she isn't leaving any in the first place. Worse, I believe she could be wearing some sort of cloaking armor or suit of some kind. We could well be wasting our time even with these souped-up scopes," Raptor-1 replied.
"Stealth-armor, you say? That may well be the case. But armor or not, she can't escape the laws of physics and that's where we'll be able to detect her," Kikuchi replied.
"Physics?" Raptor-1 and 2 asked incredulously.
"Physics." Kikuchi replied.
Kikuchi went on to explain how a person would still occupy space and displace the air as that person moved. The problem was that the equipment they were using was calibrated for normal search parameters and did not factor in otherwise negligible factors such as slight temperature variations in air. However, such variations were still too small to be of any significance but Kikuchi showed them a technique which would allow them to do just that.
"I've a program in my laptop that measures slight differences in air pressure based on thermal images. Using the images which our equipment has gathered, we'll soon be able to "see" XH-2. I've yet to iron out the algorithms and equations for the program but it works nonetheless. See here? If we filter out the other areas where there's a lot of activity, we can narrow down our search field to areas with a temperature that is more or less static. Differences in air pressure also means a slight drop in temperatures so if XH-2 is indeed down there, the "wake" she leaves will enable us to "see" her, " Kikuchi explained to a now amazed Team Raptor.
True enough, there it was or rather, there was Urumi. It wasn't a visual image of course but the absence of one which had a trail of lower-temp. air and it was this which Kikuchi was hoping to detect.
"I've got to hand it to you kid, you know your Science very well, not to mention your girlfriend," Raptor-1 remarked.
Kikuchi gave the man the coldest stare he could muster and replied: "Like you said, I know my Science."
"But from the images we've finally gathered it looks like she's traveling lightly now. You said a while back that she had a ton of gear and weapons with her," Raptor-2 noted.
"My guess is she's done with her other setups and is proceeding to the last one, the one she'l personally use," Raptor-1 replied.
"You'd better take a look at this sir," prompted the co-pilot who was manning the remote-mounted camera.
The screen showed 6 groups of armed men heading towards different areas in the city. Yoshito knew already which areas they were heading for.
"Inform headquarters that we need backup. Have the remaining teams towards those areas. Keep a channel open for the police in case we need their assistance," Raptor-1 ordered.
"Hey Blackwell; it appears we have old friends in the neighborhood," Raptor-2 declared as he watched the screen.
It showed a van heading for a building which had about 6 levels of parking before the actual office spaces. The other members were obscured from view but the men in front were clearly seen.
"Well, well, well, Commander Adjarih…..," Raptor-1 muttered.
Kikuchi noted the change in Raptor-1's expression and behavior. Clearly, there was some history between the leader of Team Raptor and the man riding in the passenger seat of the van on screen.
"Old friend of yours?" Kikuchi asked.
"Yup. We go waaay back," Raptor-1 replied.
"I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this but we need to split up, men. Half of you will go with Raptor-2 here and neutralize setup #2. I'll take the other half and proceed to setup 3# while the teams coming from headquarters will deal with the other setups. Keep in mind men, failure is NOT an option. Good luck to you all," Raptor-1 ordered.
Kikuchi looked an as the helicopter proceeded to drop off Raptor-2 and his team then take off again to drop off Raptor-1 and the rest.
"So I take it I'm coming with you to setup #3?" Kikuchi asked.
"No. You're going to setup #1, your girlfriend's personal setup. Only you can stop her. The rest of the men and I will take care of the other setups," Raptor-1 replied as he reorganized his gear.
"She is not my girlfriend! Why do you keep insinuating………"
"Can it, kid! I've no time to explain things to you now but I'm not insinuating anything! Your success may very well depend on this specific factor. So if I were you, I'd start thinking about XH-2, no, Urumi as such. Not just success kid, but survival. Yours AND hers," Raptor-1 stated.
"What do you mean?" Kikuchi asked, confused at Raptor-1's statement.
"You'll know when the time comes, kid. You'll know. I wish I could say more but we're out of time," Raptor-1 replied.
Kikuchi was still confused when the chopper set down to let Raptor-1 and his team out. Before stepping out though, Team leader Blackwell got something from his pocket and tossed it to Kikuchi.
"Here kid, take this! It'll answer at least some of your questions. Now hurry up and get your girlfriend!" Raptor-1 barked out as the chopper took off again to bring Kikuchi to where Kanzaki was.
The object Raptor-1 gave him was actually a flash-disk which Kikuchi then inserted into the proper slot on his laptop. It contained a video file and after typing out the necessary commands, Kikuchi began to watch. The image of his father popped up and it showed how Dr. Kazuma Kikuchi was explaining to joint NATO & CIA heads what had transpired in the incident that Dr. Kanzaki told about before. In the background were the remaining members of the elite force who were the enhanced-intellect humans from the "Super-Brain" method and among them were Raptor-1 and 2. Kikuchi's father was now actually scolding the NATO/CIA heads for their haphazard deployment of the team which resulted in the death of some of the members. As the rest of the video-file played, Kikuchi got to know that among those who got killed was Raptor-1's fiancée. The enormity of that loss was worsened since an unusual complication arose from the super-brain procedure. The closest illustration would be the kind of bonds which existed within the hierarchy of wolf-packs or a pride of lions. This was what gave the team incredible coordination which resulted in a virtually perfect mission-record. But what held true for wolves or lions also held true for them. In as much as pack or pride-leaders had to subjugate the members in a way, so did the team leader/s. But since the animal-structure was more or less matriarchal, the scientists had to genetically map out a way in order for ease of leadership regardless of gender. Of course, this didn't actually eliminate the problem since natural succession had to take place as well but at least member integration would be faster and there would be less "illogical insubordination". The same principle held true for Blackwell and his fiancée. She was always at odds with him and often questioned his orders but when he finally asserted his leadership, she mellowed and things ran like clockwork for the team. This blossomed into a full courtship and soon they were engaged.
The video ended but though Kikuchi more or less understood what needed to be done, he was still unsure if he actually needed to do such with Kanzaki. His thoughts were disturbed though as the chopper landed on top of a building and gunshots started ringing. Kikuchi could barely dodge and gather his gear in time but he was able to do so and jumped out. The pilot however, wasn't as fortunate as he got shot in the head and died instantly. The next shots punctured the fuel tank and sparks ignited the chopper, resulting in a huge fireball.
Kikuchi barely had time to react as 3 men rushed him. Hits that would normally incapacitate a human got through and try as he might, Kikuchi was at first unable to defend himself and ended up kissing the floor. But as it was in the back alley, Kikuchi had already absorbed the necessary information on the 3 men's fighting styles and as he stood up, he knew that this fight would be over.
The 3 began their attack anew but this time, to no avail. Kikuchi was now blocking and dodging ALL their attacks and even in the middle of their onslaught, Kikuchi gave each a punishing blow to the solar plexus. Not one of them stood up again.
"Impressive, Kikuchi Yoshito……or should I say, XH-1?" Kanzaki declared as she turned off the cloaking-suit.
Kikuchi turned to her direction and was amazed at what he saw. Honestly, he thought her outfit was MUCH too flattering.
"You like what you see? Well, you'll have to get through me if you ever want to see your dear, sweet Urumi again. But you don't stand a chance, not with that pathetic display you just showed me," XH-2 sneered.
"Pathetic, eh? Well then, don't say I didn't warn you," Kikuchi replied as he went into a stance and signaled XH-2 to attack.