Reason to Live
Chapter 4: A Brother's Duty
(Frederick's P.O.V)
April 12th
Social Welfare Agency, Frederick's Room
1700 hrs
"We're leaving tonight?"
"Yes. Pick your weapons Frederick, and make sure it's something that deals with high accuracy, and good firepower. We'll need you, and Rico's service to achieve our objective."
A Padania meeting had been discovered by our intelligence board. We will be divided into two teams for this mission. Team 1 will charge the mansion under cover of darkness while Team 2 will cover them; acting as snipers. Intelligence reported that high ranking Padania operatives around Rome will switch information regarding the secrets of the SWA. Not to mention, the one who held the meeting is no other than the wanted terrorist we're after a few days ago. What makes this guy dangerous is him knowing about the operatives. He knows that Henrietta is one of them, and had already launched an ambush: The Piazza di Spagna incident dated back a month ago. Intelligence board also confirms that he knows Triela, Rico, and I are the operatives that operate under our seniors; which is our handlers. This is bad, but what makes it worse for me is that I'm in Team 2...which means I'll be sniping. Yup; this time, I'll be watching Henrietta, Triela, and Angelica assault the forest cottage while we stay at our vantage points and take out any idiots who thinks they're just facing 3 cute little girls and their older brothers! Not the one charging in and take them head on. I don't like that…..sniping takes time, patience, and all that crap. It's one of the worst and boring jobs you could take as an operative! Heck, its amazing Rico can withstand something like that. In conclusion...sniping is something that could be described as a 'pain in the ass'
So, I pack all the weapons I could carry. The weight surprised me at first since I'm carrying two primary weapons and two side arms. But I get used to it a minute later. We board our helicopters, and head for the designated target area. The trip takes 3 hours in the helicopter, so I'm able to get a little shut eye before I get there.
April 12th
Forested Mountain,
2034 hrs
"Frederick. Frederick, wake up. It's mission time." I woke up at the call of my handler, Koch. Rico's already out of the chopper with Jean. Her Sniper Rifle, the SVD Dragunov is an outstanding semi-automatic Sniper Rifle build in Russia, and has been in service since the Vietnam War. Compare to mine, the Karabineer 98K Rifle (with a scoped attached), is a standard bolt-action rifle built in Germany and had dated back since World War II. It's still a reliable rifle; accurate, excellent stopping power, and all that. But compare it to Rico's Dragunov, it's almost like a mere toy gun.
"Get to your position Frederick!" I hop out of the helicopter, grabbing my rifle along the way and sustain a heavy fall from the amount of weight I carry. Koch helps me get back on my feet and almost drag me to the vantage point.
"Rico, you're in position?" Jean asks her as she looks through the oversized night vision scope attached to her sniper rifle, replacing her standard one.
"Frederick, get to your position, NOW!"
"Yes sir…" I lay down on the dirt with my rifle ready. The scope attached, however, is no more than a 25x25 scope with no night vision capabilities. The reason was that my rifle, the 98K, can't accept the oversized night scope
"Sir, it's…too dark. I….can't see. Can I just…."
"No, Frederick! You'll be assisting Rico on this one. Keep your eyes in the scope, and watch for any movements around the mansion! Shoot only when you're sure it's your target!"
Then there was a moment of silence. All I could hear around me is the sounds of crickets and owls 'singing' at night. The radio rings a minute later, confirming us that Henrietta, Triela, and Angelica is now moving up towards the mansion. Their handlers expect a full sniper cover from us as they advance through the darkness.
'Alright….here goes…' I take a long deep breath; raise my gun; and wait for any sucker to pop
(Henrietta's P.O.V)
The owls' hoots as we advance slowly but carefully through the pine covered woods. We could see the mansion ahead of us. The tense around us and the chill air of the mountain gives me one of the most intense feelings I've ever encountered. My finger is ready at the trigger of my silenced P90 as sweat runs down my hand. José, Hillshire, and Marco are watching us from the helicopter; they'll catch up once we clear parts of the mansion. In the meantime, they communicate with us through our intercom.
"Ok. Be careful out there Henrietta. Be very careful." José's voice rings in my intercom. His voice is always relaxing at times like this….
We move closer and closer to the cottage, under cover by darkness. At a moments notice, a couple of rifle fire can be heard from the distance. You really can tell the difference between the bang of the K98K and the Dragunov easily. Glass windows that decorate the mansion shatter as bullets runs through them like rain. We could hear people screaming inside as we move closer and closer into the cottage. They must've been alerted by our presence now as some of them started running out of the mansion with guns at the ready. Frederick's shot kills one of them; the rest was caught by surprise as we rain them a hail of led. Triela's shotgun kills most of them out of 8 guys though…
(Rico's P.O.V)
More Padanias at the window…these guys never really gave up. Every minute that passes, counts as one kill; that's what's in my term….Frederick is having a hard time trying to hit one guy every single minute. He kept on reloading, and reloading every 5 minutes that passes. One shot, per one minute. 2-3 hits every 5 minutes. He's saying the truth back then…about my patience in most things. During warm up this morning, Henrietta and Triela did have troubles on hitting targets using scoped rifles. Frederick especially; he wanted to hit the target so bad he can't even sit still with his bolt action. He did manage to hit his targets a couple of times, but he always forgets that the rifle holds five rounds. After the 'click' sound rings, then he start reloading. Good thing he's using stripper clip. I heard how bad he is with magazines if his patience runs out
"DAMN IT! STAND STILL WILL'YA?" Frederick is really having a hard time tonight. That's his 5th shot. Out of 5 shots, he's able to hit 2
(CLICK!)
"Not again…."
"Calm down Frederick, then you'll be able to hit someone." His handler is also having a hard time explaining things to Frederick. But he just won't listen
"This is José, anyone read me? Over." My handler's intercom rings as a call from José, Henrietta's handler, is received
"This is Jean. I hear you, brother."
"Henrietta, Triela, and Angelica is moving inside. Your job is done for now."
"Roger that. Rico, pack your rifle. We're done." I get up from my position, wiping the dirt in my shirt before I pack the rifle. Frederick is doing the same…
"So much for all the weight I carry…" He said to himself "Seems like all this weight is…." He pauses, and places his hand on his intercom.
"This is Triela! Hillshire, where are you? We need help! It's a trap all around the mansion! There's too many of them! Henrietta's hit and she's wounded pretty bad! We need help! We can't hold much longer!" In a moments notice, Frederick's eyes are directed towards the mansion. I just know what he's going to do next….
(Frederick's P.O.V)
As soon as that message ends, I run towards the edge of the vantage point and jump down to the forest below. It's quite a long drop, more like a two or three story fall. But it doesn't hurt thanks to the mechanical body. It only pains my ankle once I started moving again because the weight is killing me. Koch is surprised by my action, and tried to stop me. Heck, like I would listen to him! Those girls are in deep trouble, and if somebody didn't get there in time, they're good as dead! And if they can't make it in time, then I'll go there first. The woods were thick, but it didn't block my vision. I still can see where the mansion is as I was running towards it. My K98K rifle on my hand, SG551 Assault Rifle holstered at my back, and two Mauser C96s holstered under my coat. Sounds of gunfire and gunshots rang through the forest as I get closer and closer towards the mansion.
I reach the mansion's terrace support a minute later, panting, and taking deep breaths as I look up at the mansion. The terrace is short, so climbing it won't be a problem with this body. The sounds of gunshots are clearer now. AK47 mostly, the rest were shotgun, Light Assault Rifle, and silenced submachine gun; no other than Triela, Angelica, and Henrietta. I climb up the terrace, lying low beside a body of one of those bastards. My target is right ahead of me, through the shattered terrace window giving suppressing fire to those girls as they slowly advance and probably thinking on killing them at close quarters. That won't happen, of course. I load my K98K and take aim at the scum closest to those girls. I squeeze the trigger; the shot rings through the whole mansion as their attention is diverted towards me now.
"There's one more behind us! Kill him!"
No chance. They got no chance against me. I bolt the rifle and fire another; bolt the rifle and fire another, and another and another. Dropping my sniper rifle, I switch to my SG551 Assault Rifle and start the onslaught towards them. The girls are able to hold on as they start a counterattack towards more incoming Padanias. As the whole room turns quiet for a moment, I step inside the mansion with a big grin on my face.
"You owe me for this one, Triela! You call, I answer!" I shouted. She giggles and shook her head
"Well…we didn't ask for your help, Frederick!"
"Oh? How bout' the intercom? What is it? Oh, yes: 'Hillshire! Oh, Hillshire! Save me!' " teasing her a bit, she grumbles as her face turns red all over
I move up towards their position, vaulting the table they use for cover as I take a look at the girls. Henrietta is hit a few centimeters above the waist, a little bit to the right. Her blood is red; thank God it misses the kidney. If it's black, she won't last longer under the constant pressure of Padanias. Angelica's hit on her left arm, but she'll be fine. Triela got scratches around her face; lucky for her none of the bullets hit her.
"What happened to her?" I ask Triela as I take a look at Henrietta's condition
"One of them tosses a grenade at Henrietta as she's leading the charge into thelounge room; the room we're in now.She dodged it, but the second she stood up one of the Padanias with AK showed up and shot her a couple of times."
"I see…." I nod and move on to Angelica "How about her?" I ask
"She's hit when she's retrieving Henrietta into cover."
"And you? Why aren't there any serious wounds in you?"
"I'm laying down covering fire behind a flipped table asAngelicamove to my current position for cover."
"So…you're saying you're staying behind?"
"Well….you can say that…."
"Coward…."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing…."
(Angelica's P.O.V)
"Alright. We best get Henrietta out of here first. Angelica, can you carry her?" Frederick asks me as I change the magazine of my Steyr AUG.
"Yeah, I think I can."
"Please…I'm fine…" We turn our attention to Henrietta, who's currently stumbling to get back on her feet.
"Don't force yourself Henrietta; José would prefer seeing you alive rather than dead!" Frederick knew. He knew from the start about her feelings towards her handler. This, indeed, convinces Henrietta
"Angelica, you're ready?" He asks after he took a deep breath. I nod in reply as I shoulder Henrietta
"Ok, Triela and I will cover both of you while you make a break to the front door, where you entered earlier. Do not stop, and do not look back! Veerstanten?"
Frederick makes the call afterwards. Facing back to back with Triela, they cover both of us as more Padanias rushes aggressively towards us. Henrietta kept on firing her weapon as I shoulder her. Frederick and Triela keeps us away from any harm; stopping anyone that comes close. Alas, I reach the door; slam it open and a rush of mountain breeze passes through my nostrils as I take a deep breath. I continue walking down afterwards, away from the cottage as far as possible. José, Rico, Hillshire, Jean, Koch, and Marco retrieve both of us a minute later. José's worried from top to toe seeing Henrietta's condition. He was glad that she's alive. Marco's happy to see me out in one piece. He did take a look at my left arm and bandaged it. Afterwards, the handlers (except José), Rico, and I rush back up towards the cottage to support Triela and Frederick.
(Triela's P.O.V)
We don't know where they come from, and we didn't care. What I care about right now is that they're dead. Frederick's been racking up more kills than I expected. His new Primary weapon, the H&K SG551, is a reliable assault rifle; almost rivaling the M16A2 the U.S developed. It holds 30 rounds, and is accurate enough to kill distant targets. Sniper version is available. My shotgun, however, is an old M1897 shotgun, also known as the 'Pump Gun'. Yes, as the name says it, it dated back to 1897. It's been in service for years and is still a deadly and capable close quarter weapon: perfect for assaults in confined spaces. Good thing Frederick doesn't know what M1897 really calls for. If he does, he'll start teasing me all the way to Rome about my outdated weapon.
"Changing magazine; cover me Triela!" I take a glimpse to Frederick; quite surprised by his words
"Wow….that's unusual for you to say that…..thought you're going to switch over to your pistols."
"Well, it's something I recieve from Koch. It got excellent fire power and all, nice handling, low recoil, and good stoping power. So, let's say I got carried away with this." He answers, chuckling
We keep ourselves tight together; back to back. He guards mine, while I guard his as we advance around the mansion, taking out anyone that has guns ready at their hands. We figured that those scum had planned this out for weeks due to the very organized groups and tactics. The mansion is quite large, but is well taken care of. The mansion probably belongs to one of the rich Padanias.
The onslaught seems to last forever. I enjoyed it at first, but as we move to the main stair hall, things get very bumpy. A large group of Padanias started storming us from the right and the left, armed with a variety of weapons ranging form pistols, sub-machineguns, assault rifles, even infrared rifles and pistols for definite precision. Frederick takes care of those from the right in a full auto fire while I kill those from the left with 5 shots from my shotgun. The next thing I knew, a group of Padanias armed with AKMS starts charging down the stairs. I turn around and aim my shotgun at them twice, finishing the remaining rounds.
'No effect. Their range is too far! My buckshots can't reach them!' I thought to myself as they move closer, and closer; hungry for blood
From then on, it seems like everything had slowed down. Frederick notices it. He turns around, pushes me to the ground and fires his weapon at them.
(CLICK!)
Two rounds. That's the remaining ammo in his weapon when he pushed me down. The Padanias stops their tracks after one of them is knocked out. Frederick drops his rifle and tries to grab his pistols under his coat. It was a bit too late for him. The Padanias fires first, sending a hail of led towards him and me. But he covers me. He let all those bullets run through him, keeping me away from harm. He covers his head with his left hand as his right reaches for his pistol. I couldn't move. I want to, but somehow I couldn't. My hands felt numb as I was watching Frederick gets hammered. He grins vigorously as blood trickles down his mouth after taking hits in his chest, but still manages to stand. He's able to reach his pistol and returns fire using a technique known as 'Bandit Shooting', where he aims sideway and let the recoil leads him to his target. Three guys down. His left hand tries to reach for his other pistol as the Padanias reloads their weapon. Under the heavy injury he sustains, he's able to outrun them and uses both of his Mauser C96 at them. He shouts as he fires; a high adrenaline. The Padanias fell to the ground as blood sprays around the stairs. 'Clicks', multiple sounds of 'clicks' can be heard as Frederick staggers, his fingers still squeezing the trigger as 3 other Padanias came rushing down the stairs with pistols. But Frederick can't handle it. He staggers…before he fell backwards trailing with blood from his chest. He's down….
"FREEEEDERIIIIIIIICK!" I shout as hard as I could after he fell to the ground. Somehow, my right hand moves by itself as it reaches for my P230SL holstered close to my chest. Grabs it, aims it, and fire all 8 rounds at them. It was all over the next minute as the handlers, along with Rico, and Angelica bursts into the building.
(30 Minutes Later)
(Henrietta's P.O.V)
In the helicopter, after the mission; I was in the helicopter with Triela and Frederick. The helicopter is filled with different emotions. Koch commanding the pilot to pick up speed, José looking worried over Frederick's condition, and Triela….she's crying; Triela's crying. Frederick has been hit. But he sustained it. Now, we'll just have to see if he survives until we return back to the agency. To be honest, this is the first time I saw Triela crying. All these days working in the agency, she's always looking tough around us, acting as an older sister towards us. Tonight, she's just a girl. Just a girl……
"Frederick…why? WHY? Why did you do that when you know you can't fend them off?" She asks, sobbing. Frederick is breathing heavily, sustaining the wound he received
"Well…maybe…it's because…brothers always protect…their sisters….right?" he smiles softly in return. Triela's sobs just grew stronger as a moment of silence unfolds
"Hey….don't cry…..you look better…if you smile…" He reply again, trying to comfort Triela as his left hand caresses her hair
"Frederick…you stupid….stupid…..just stupid……." She reply as she wipes her tears
The operation is a mess. Intelligence board did confirm afterwards the presence of high ranking Padanias, and the wanted terrorist. But during the chaos, they all escaped through the backdoor of the mansion. Intelligence uncovers tracks; car tracks.
Frederick was sent off to repairs afterwards. The doctors and engineers tried everything they could to save him. They replaced his mechanical body; entirely with the new experimental one, more to be an upgraded version of ours; or so I was told. Afterwards, Frederick stays at the hospital for recovery. His eyes were shut the whole time we went to see him. Shut tight. 'Did he die?' we usually ask ourselves. 'No. He's still alive. His pulse is still active.' is a reply we usually receive from Triela. Our entire visit to Frederick is always filled with a little talk, and a little laughter around us. But almost every time we start a conversation about Frederick, the room turns silent. Most of us, during our visits would bring stuff for Frederick; just to decorate his current room. Claes even hand picked flowers planted in her vegetable garden for Frederick; just for Frederick. Wish Frederick could see them though…
After the operation, Triela has been on an all night-er, watching Frederick; waiting for him to open his eyes. He saved her, and she owes him big time. Hillshire has been constantly trying to persuade Triela on taking a rest. But she refuses it every time. Now, this is quite a surprise for most of us. Usually, Triela would do and obey almost anything that Hillshire told her to do. We all do have affections for our handlers; either it's due to the medication or our true feelings, we don't know. Triela however, is different this time. She changed a lot after that mission. In usual classes, she would turn to Frederick's empty table, and expected his usual ignorant and lazy attitude at present, always complaining about: 'Why in the world do we need to do this? We're just supposed to go out and shoot some bad guys, right?' and Triela would usually answer: 'Well, Frederick, your Italian still needs a little practice; your German accent is still very well noticeable and…' she would go on and on pointing out every problem Frederick has. But he's not there. After lessons, she would return back to his room and spend another all night-er, wishing he would open his eyes soon.
Triela…do you have some affection for him?
Author's Note
Ok. Now…I decided to change Frederick's weapon from the G3A3 rifle to the SG551 rifle. Also…a friend of mine (acting as an editor) reads the first chapter and goes all wishy washy pissed about it and say that it suck. After 'it' reads the next chapter, and the next, and the next; 'it' says its good and all….grammar is still a problem, though. 'It' edits it afterwards. So, next chapter might be postponed for quite some time. I'll be re-writing the Prologue, and edit the 1st, 2nd, 3rd chapter. That's it for now.
A little add-on. Just acquire Gunslinger Girl Manga volume 4, 5, and 6….in Japanese. Can't read it, but my sister translates some that she knows. There's a new girl, a 16 year old operative from Russia. Her name is Elizabeth….something. An ex-ballerina had some accidents, and BAM! The agency takes her. But seriously, in my opinion, the new girls and operatives aren't as…..attractive as the original 5. Anyone knows when will the English version is released? BTW: The girl (the 16 year old) is an advance operative, much more advance than Henrietta. The first operative of 'Generation 2' cyborgs.