Chapter Eleven

The VTOL was far above the ground over Haiti. Section would have preferred to go lower to avoid the SAMs, but it wasn't his choice. An army ranger went by checking everyone's wingpacks as Torres began singing.

"He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright. He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar. He ain't gonna jump no more." Torres sang as he checked his pack. Section and Sakamoto chose to ignore this, but evidently, Arisato wasn't the kind of person to bite her tongue.

"Torres, can you shut the fuck up about a paratrooper dying on his first jump?" Arisato asked rather aggressively. "I would greatly appreciate it."

"Yeah sure." Torres groaned. Section finished checking his gear just before one of the SAMs hit the VTOL. Section leaped out of the jet as the icy blast of the sky hit him. Fortunately, the rest of the team made it out in time. It was chaos. Aerial suppression missiles were being fired, flak was going off all around, and, once cloud cover broke, it was evident that the JSDF was pinned down by the snipers on the roofs, thank god the Chinese paratroopers managed to arrive on time. Section rushed behind a friendly CLAW, taking cover behind the hulking machine. Poking out of cover, Section noticed a group of mercs, easily taken down with his M8A1. On the roofs were target designators for the SAMs. Torres took care of those with an RPG he took from a dead Cordis Die member. What they couldn't deal with, however, were the multitude of CLAWs and ASDs that were keeping everyone pinned down. A kinetic strike weapon was available, but it's targeting module was destroyed. Section was weighing his options when Arisato and Sakamoto boldly stepped into the battlefield, carrying only a .22 handgun each.

"What the actual hell are you doing?!" Section asked, about to leap out of cover to grab them. Torres stopped him, holding him by his rig.

"Don't worry, they've got this, just appreciate the light show." Torres smirked. The pair pressed their handguns to the head, pulling the trigger. Two figures materialized behind them, one was a sword wielding machine wearing a cape of coffins, the other a heroic skeleton in greek armor atop a ship. The figures faced each other, nodding before they released blasts of what seemed to be pure energy, completely annihilating the Mercs in the area.

"What the hell was that?" Section asked.

"It's complicated." Sakamoto sighed. "I'll explain later."

"It's a reflection of ourselves that we can weaponize." Arisato stated.

"I don't even know how to respond to that." Section sighed. "Let's keep moving." The team did so, pushing into the facility until they found a control center filled to the brim with mercs and dragonflies.

"Okay, my time to shine, let's see what I can work with." Torres mumbled, picking up several EMP grenades and a strange looking AR-15. "I think I have an idea. Anyone here a crack shot?" Takeba raised his hand.

"I got the best marksmanship score in my unit." he told Torres.

"Okay, here's the deal, shoot the grenades in the air." Torres stated, loading an EMP into the AR-15's oversized barrel. It was clear what his intentions were. One shot, one EMP, a whole mess of shorted out drones. This gave the team room to push into the control room. Once there, engineers began desperately trying to shut down the broadcast.

"Torres, Arisato, and I are going to try and destroy the broadcast dishes, good luck in here." Sakamoto stated before rushing to the roof. Almost immediately after, a livestream, with Menendez front and center came on.

"Opulence is sinful, and we all pay for it." he opened. "Los Angeles was the flagship of their absurd materializm, so I destroyed it. They thought I wanted to kill their president. Madame Presidente, I could have buried you a thousand times over. But I wanted you to know how it feels."

"The drones aren't being controlled from Haiti…" A tech cursed as footage of New York, D.C. and Beijing were broadcast. Just as Section thought Menendez was sending drones to those cities, the footage shifted to the drones falling from the skies.

"This is Huang Long-1, the drones have started self-destructing!" A chinese pilot yelled into his radio with panic.

"Your war machines are no more. Your military is crippled." Menendez smirked. "Cordis Die, rise up. Strike now, and strike deep." The footage cut out as an elevator arrived carrying a corpse. It was stripped of its uniform and kit. Just as Section realized what was happening, a brick of C4 under the body detonated. From there was complete chaos. Cordis Die mercs were running about in confusion, not attacking anyone. A radio alert led to Section realizing what was happening, Menendez was pretending to be a Navy SEAL. Section ordered for the SEALS not to allow anyone to pass any checkpoints, while the JSDF were ordered to detain any US sailors. Section quickly found himself in a room with it's floor destroyed, creating a ramp into a warehouse, where Menendez smirked at Section as he made his escape. Section drew a knife and his handgun, sliding towards Menendez. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. Then, he stabbed Menendez in the leg, moved the blade to his shoulder, and pressed his handgun to Menendez's skull. He could solve this all right now, kill him in one shot.

"Do it, David, Martyr me for Cordis Die." He laughed. Section held still, then holstered his gun. There was no way he was giving Menendez what he wanted.

"Fate worse than death there, I have questions, Menendez." Torres stated, covered in soot as he walked over to Menendez.

"One year from now, we will meet again." Menendez stated. "Study Ulysses. Be ready." A JSOC member prepared to gag him, but Section stopped him.

"He's just a sad old man talking to himself." Section stated. Torres nodded and escorted Menendez on the plane. Finally, it was over.

Section stepped into The Vault, a nervous, but officially pardoned, Minako Arisato by his side. It was, apparently, forty years since she and Woods had seen each other, and Minako didn't look a day over twenty. Section didn't question it. Section approached a guard.

"David Mason and Minako Arisato here to see Frank Woods." Section stated.

"Damn, another Mason?" The guard asked.

"Shit, secure the building!" Section yelled. He and Minako rushed straight to Woods' room. Where Woods was chatting with an older man who aged much better than Woods.

"Hey kid, come on in!" Woods laughed. "Oh shit, Minako, h-how are you?"

"I'm good." She smiled. "It's been a long time."

"Yeah and you didn't age a fucking day, still look like jailbait." Woods laughed.

"Jesus Frank…" Section groaned.

"David, let me introduce you to my friend." Woods began. "Alex, this is David. David, this is your old man."

"Dad?" Section asked, staring at the man. It all came back to him, the one thing he never realized, his dad was still breathing when he saw him. Woods shot him in the legs.

"Ah, you're a couple of broads." Woods groaned. "Minako, let's go swipe the nurse's smokes and catch up."

"Read my fucking mind, Woods, ya damn onion." Minako laughed. The pair left, yelling at a nurse about cigarettes.

"Still got that scar?" Alex asked, pointing at Section's hand. He remembered that. That was the day he first learned to climb a tree. "You made me proud that day."

"I fell down." Section stated. Alex chuckled.

"Yeah, but you got back up."

Menendez was shocked to hear about the fact that the American's found a better hacker than Chloe, and that was exactly what Torres wanted. He had a sixteen hour plane ride to enjoy, and he intended to use every hour.

"Minako told me something interesting in LA." Torres stated. "Said you knew about my birth."

"Ah, that's right, I had my men search for information on you." Menendez stated. "Micheal Ludwig Torres, age 26, born November First 2001. You were abandoned at an orphanage as an infant and raised at the Saint Joseph Orphanage by a convent. You were adopted at six years old, and were abandoned again at age eighteen due to you and your sister's choices in the people you associate with. You joined the military and used your remaining funds from being an engineer to pay for your sister's college. But I found something else that disturbed me."

"What is it?" Torres asked.

"You have no mother, and no father." Menendez stated. "Despite the fact you were delivered to the orphanage by a person who claimed to be a German immigrant."

"Do you know what those initials mean?" Torres asked, leaning in close.

"No, but one group kept coming up as I searched for information on you." Menendez stated. "Does Requiem mean anything to you?"

A/N: Didn't expect this so quick, but here you are, the last chapter. Next entry is the zombies entry focused on Torres, and then I'll be going into an expanded universe and the stories about Ryuji's children, Reilly Sakamoto and Koskue Okumura. As always, hope you enjoyed, and have a great day!