Chapter Eight

"Wait, you aren't coming to Yemen with us?" Section asked. Sakamoto shook his head.

"Nope, I'm headed to Kastovia." Sakamoto informed Section. "I'm taking the 141, and Torres, to go to Perseus' safehouse. That's where Minako is, along with the last remaining members of Inner Circle. But I'll be regrouping with you on the Obama, with Arisato, either in cuffs, or a body bag."

"Good luck Sakamoto, you'll need it." Section stated. Sakamoto smiled at Section before heading off. In all honesty, Section was exactly keen on this mission. It was a trap. Everything Woods told him about Menendez, and how easily Karma was able to infiltrate the network, lined up with this being a trap. Unfortunately for Section Briggs didn't see it that way. He was intent on sending JSOC to arrest Raul Menendez. Keyword capture, if he were to be executed, he would become a martyr. At the same time, Sakamoto was on his own operation, meaning JSOC wouldn't have 141 support. Not that they needed it, it would just give Section and his men a little peace of mind. Well, at least they had Farid on the inside. Hopefully, he could keep his cover. If not, the capture was going to be difficult to say the least.

Farid stepped over to the fire where Raul Menendez sat. He kept one hand at the fire, the other over his face. The good news was that the JSOC teams were ready to attack. However, the BlueFor tracking went down, meaning he was to be considered hostile by his allies, even the Yemeni Army. Farid took a deep breath before approaching Menendez.

"We are ready." Menedez said as he stood up. Farid responded with a simple Yes. Menendez seemed almost excited as he spoke again. "The Americans are coming… There is a traitor in our midsts."

"But how? Who?" Farid asked. Menendez approached the doors.

"It matters not, I am one step ahead of them!" Menendez almost shouted as he flung the doors open. "Come, Farid, it is time." The pair stepped into the crowd. Menendez raised his fist, yelling "CORDIS DIE!" the crowd yelled in turn, hollering their support for Cordis Die. When the cheering died down, JSOC arrived. A pair of Cordis Die troops shot down a VTOL. The rest was a blur. Farid was never a fighter, he was just an informant. He vaguely remembered being told to meet with Menendez in the citadel, but anything up to the point was a blur. He remembered a firefight, one against Yemeni soldiers. He remembered having to stab one as well, it wasn't exactly the cleanest thing he did… Soon enough, Farid arrived at the citadel. Menendez was nowhere to be seen. Menendez suddenly burst out from the shade, holding Farid's bloodied wrist.

"American blood on your hands, Farid?" Menendez asked.

"Of course." Farid stated. "We need to get you to safety, we have already lost too many men." Menendez chuckled as he picked up a rocket launcher.

"Vicktory is not measured by losses, it is measured by gains." Menendez stated, aiming the launcher at a VTOL. Menendez fired, striking the VTOL directly in one of it's engines. As it began to crash, Harper began panicking over the radio.

"We're going down! Where are you Farid?" Harper yelled before the crash. Harper was dragged out by a pair of Cordis Die members. "I- fuck.." Harper groaned. Menendez pulled Harper's Five Seven from his kit, aiming it at Farid. For a moment, one moment of pure terror, Farid was sure he was compromised. But Menendez then flipped over the gun, handing it to Farid.

"Kill him." Menendez ordered. Farid approached Harper. Allah bless his soul, Harper kept up an act.

"Come on egghead, do it!" Farid hissed, turning to face Menendez. "Spineless coward, making others do your dirty work!"

"Prove your loyalty Farid, kill him." Menendez ordered. Farid hesitated.

"Do it egghead, kill me!" Harper yelled. "You don't got the stones!" Farid had no other choice, he had to do it, he had to kill Harper. Farid turned away, firing a single shot into Harper's head. VTOLs arrived, firing at Cordis Die. Farid stood motionless, dropping the handgun as Menendez and his men retreated.

"It's okay Farid, you did what you had to." Section stated. Farid wished that were true. He just took the life of a friend, nothing could redeem that.

Section pushed through droves of Cordis Die radicals, very slowly. Were Torres and Sakamoto there, they would have already taken out most of the Cordis Die members. But no, they had to pursue Arisato. At least it was a good cause for their absence. Had it been anything else, Section would be more annoyed. At least the Yemeni forces were there for support, and they were good at it. Soon enough, Section could see where Menendez was, in a downed VTOL up near a Mosque. Section pushed up to it, fighting his way through Cordis Die members. But it was odd, there were far less men protecting Menendez than there should have been. There were members of what was suspected to be his special forces, but they were barely fighting. Infact, they seemed to be sabotaging themselves. It was almost like they wanted Menendez to be captured, especially the special forces. Soon enough, however, they had him, Menendez was surrounded. He didn't even move, he allowed the SEALS to cuff him. He stared dead into Section's eyes as he was cuffed.

"Thank you, David." He said. "Help me create a new world."

"Whooo boy, that is one big fucking sniper!" Torres laughed as a chunk of dirt exploded near him. The 141 (and Torres) were currently trying to capture Minako Arisato, but were pinned down outside her compound by a sniper with a 20mm rifle. Ryuji sighed, loading a specialized shell for his shotgun he had made just for this situation. Given the size of the 23mmR shotgun shell, Ryuji figured he could custom order something just for situations like this. He loaded his custom made high explosive demolition shot into the KS-23.

"Torres, you try to run as fast as you can and attract the sniper's attention, I'll take him down." Ryuji ordered. Torres laughed.

"You betcha!" Torres chuckled as he got out of cover. Ryuji pressed his shotgun to the rock he was hidden behind as the sniper desperately tried to kill Torres. Ryuji adjusted his aim for a moment before he fired at the base of the sniper tower. A crack rang out as the tower began to fall, taking the sniper out with it. Ryuji slung the shotgun, swapping over to his Mk18 as he approached the compound proper.

"Alright, Alpha team, form up outside the basement." Ryuji ordered. "Charlie, get up to the roof. Bravo, on me." Each team went to their respective location in the small office building. Ryuji slammed his halligan into the door, holding up his fingers as a countdown. Three seconds later, Ryuji ripped the door off its hinges. Swinging in, Ryuji began firing at Inner Circle holed up inside. Soon enough, everyone was down, but Arisato was nowhere to be seen.

"Ey, boss, we found her, the bugger's up on the fourth floor, she locked herself in an office and is demanding to speak with you, alone." Charlie-1 informed Ryuji.

"Thank you, I'll go talk to her, let's hope that the intel Kirijo gave us is good." Ryuji responded, walking up to the third floor. He left his weapons outside the room, setting them next to a pair of AKs and a Tokarav. Clearly, if Minako was going to fight, she wanted it to be Persona's only.

"There you are." Minako stated. "Was wondering when you'd get here. I assume they got the numbers out?"

"Yep, no more numbers." Ryuji stated.

"Shame, could have used you." Minako sighed. "I'll do without you, the drone attacks will send a message, and an even bigger one when I take them down."

"You want to know something? Minato-" Ryuji began before he was cut off.

"WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT HIM!?" Minako spat.

"Mitsuru did, she told me everything." Ryuji stated. "He's not dead."

"H-he's not?" MInako stammered. "Bull shit, he died right in front of me!"

"He left this world, but he's not dead." Ryuji informed her. "He merely became the guardian of it. He's sealing away Nyx, keeping it from uniting with humanity's collective desire to die."

"Wait, then would that mean-" MInako began, before Ryuji cut him off.

"You're only making things harder on him." Ryuji told her. "Your attacks are only making things harder. But if you want to make up for it, you can help us fight Menendez." Minako took a moment to silently sob, allowing Ryuji to pat on the back. She soon regained her bearing.

"Where will you be taking him once you have him?" Minako asked.

"Section should be taking him to the USS Obama now." Ryuji stated.

"Please don't tell me that The Obama's an aircraft carrier." Minako groaned.

"It's an aircraft carrier." Ryuji sighed.

"Then we have no time to lose, we need to get to that ship and kill Menendez." Minako stated, grabbing one of the AKs she left out. "He's going to do it, he's going to use the weapon."

A/N: I am so sorry about uploading out of order, I was so tired last night. As a sorry, enjoy both chapters I had planned.