Part 3 – England
Five hours later, after the H.A.W.K. had landed, and the team had gotten on board the Osprey to get to London, the MI5 team was still going over the entire crime scene with a fine-tooth comb, and still found nothing.
When the Osprey touched down in the park across the street, Sasuke and his team stepped out onto the street, and crossed over to the crime scene.
"Can I help you," MI5 Agent Garra Sands asked.
"United Nations," Sasuke said as he held out his badge, and a court-order, "Under United Nations Regulations, you are to give me and my men one hour to examine the crime scene, and we'll turn it back over to you."
"This mean I'm off the case?" Garra asked.
"No Agent, you're still on," Sasuke said as he slapped Garra on the shoulder, "It just means you've become the U.N.'s point-man in charge of the investigation here in England."
"Seems fair," Garra said, "Don't destroy the crime scene."
"Don't worry Agent," Sasuke said, "We won't."
As they stepped over the tape, Sasuke pointed at the area near the fountain, "Sakura, take the fountain area, preliminary reports a lot of shrapnel ended up around there, see if you can get an idea of what the pieces looked like," he said, then pointed to the area the bomb went off, "Shino, Hinata, check out the area the bomb went off, see if you can get an idea about what kind of materials were used, and how much were used to create those kind of scorch marks," he then pointed to the window, "Tenten, see if you can pick up a scent over there," he then noticed something beneath a small pile of rubble, "Naruto, come with me."
As the team split up, Sakura began examining the holes the bomb fragments made in the fountain, she would use her energy to create small gaps in the holes, measure them, and write them down.
Hinata and Shino started examining the explosion zone, Hinata's senses managed to pick up traces of copper, steel, and lead.
Shino knew of only one explosive that could cause this kind of damage, not demolish the pillar, and not leave any chemical trace?
Shino put his hand on Hinata's shoulder, and asked, "Any traces of dye?"
"No," Hinata said, "Just a lot of other materials."
"I think I know what the explosives inside the bomb were." Shino said.
As the rest of the team was doing their jobs, Tenten found traces of something that shouldn't be in the building, burned tin.
About twenty feet away, Sasuke and Naruto were clearing the rubble so they could get to a small item, a brand-new security camera that keeps a record of what was recorded for an entire week after it had been shut down.
"Di-Tonics Mark V," Naruto said as Sasuke cleared the soot, grease, and dust off the side of the camera, "I'd say the dust is about five days old."
"If that's the case, we can still pull some of the recording from the system," Sasuke said as he stood up.
Sasuke and Naruto walked up to Garra where Sasuke asked if they could use some of their equipment for viewing the footage.
The footage showed exactly what the reconstruction showed, save for two things, the camera had captured a slight glimpse of his face, and that the backpack had a logo on it.
"I can't see that," Naruto said as he pointed at it, "Sun obscures the numbers."
"Go get Hinata," Sasuke said, "I bet she can."
"On it." Naruto said.
Naruto walked out to get Hinata, and brought her back to the MI5 command truck.
Sasuke played the camera in frame-by-frame to show Hinata the letters, "V-U-L," She began, "C-A-N-O."
"Vulcano," Sasuke said as he wrote the word down on a scrap of paper, and underlined it, "Seem familiar somehow."
"Anyway," Hinata said, "While I was doing my scans, I found something," she pulled out her own little notebook, "The area the bomb went off in contains traces of copper, steel, and lead."
At that moment, Garra came walking up to the truck, "I'd hate to break up the little party in here Major," he said, "But your hour's up."
"Call my team over here," Sasuke said, "I'd like to go over our notes."
As the rest of the team climbed into the truck, Sakura started first, "I've done some scans with my powers," Sakura said, as she handed her own notebook to Sasuke, "I managed to determine the shape of the bomb. Each of the pieces were made of tin, each were no less than half an inch, and no more than four inches. Using linear algebra, I've determined that it the delivery device came in the form of two cylindrical containers made of some kind of metal."
"Could it have been tin," Tenten asked as she held out a small object that looked like someone had took a paint can, and exploded a stick of dynamite inside.
"These holes and scorch marks are reminiscent of what you would see if you were to detonate some kind of explosive device," Sasuke said as he looked up at Shino, "Shino, any idea what kind of explosives were used?"
"Yes," Shino said, "Hinata didn't detect any traces of semtex, C4, gunpowder, or dynamite. The only thing that could leave those kind of burn marks, that kind of explosive damage in small amounts, and not leave any residue is pentaerythritol tetranitrate."
"PETN?" Sasuke asked.
"Yep." Shino said.
Sasuke looked at Hinata, "You say you found evidence of lead, steel, and copper?" he asked.
"Yes." Hinata said.
"I knew I knew the name 'Vulcano' before," Sasuke said, as he turned to the computer inside the truck, and typed in 'Vulcano Car Company'.
"Vulcano cars?" Naruto asked.
"Back in the seventies, two former Royal Air Force pilots decided to start their own car company," Sasuke said, "Their first model was a gullwing car with open ports in the wheel arches which made the car very aerodynamic. They wanted to make it a sports car that could survive anything, they tried to use steel to make a safe car, but this kind of attention-to-detail was almost as expensive as starting the company. They had their first model proven, tested, and ready to launch, but before they could release the car they had to declare bankruptcy, and they shut down."
"I take it they just closed down their plant?" Naruto asked.
"A buyer for the company was never found," Sasuke said, "There had to be loads of stuff just lying around, steel for the cars, copper for the wiring, and lead for the paint."
"How could they get in though," Sakura asked, "Places like that usually have security fences that would last for years?"
Sasuke pulled out his phone, and contacted Ino.
"Ino here," she said over the other line.
"Commander, its Uchiha," Sasuke said, "I need a favor. Does the D.S.I. have access to public records?"
"All over the world," Ino said, "Why?"
"I think I might know where the bomb came from." Sasuke said.
"What?" Garra asked as he entered.
"Who's that?" Ino asked.
"MI5 Agent Garra," Sasuke said, "He's in charge of the investigation here."
"Then he can sit here and listen," Ino said, "What do you need us to check?"
"I think the blue backpack the bomber was carrying was Speisialta Blue." Sasuke said.
"Speisialta?" Ino asked.
"It's Irish for special. The Vulcano car company was to offer this special kind of blue as a special feature on their base-line car, the Ace: that was before they shut down," Sasuke said, "In the 70s as Vulcano was beginning, they had all this stuff made for them, tee-shirts, hoodies, shoes, and backpacks. Hinata found traces of steel, copper, and lead, all three components in making cars."
"You think someone's using the Vulcano plant to secretly make these bombs?" Ino asked.
"Yes ma'am," Sasuke said, "As I remember, the Vulcano plant was located in Corringham in Essex?"
"Standby," Ino said, there was a brief pause before she spoke again, "You're hunch is right Major. Not two months ago the Vulcano factory in Corringham was bought by an anonymous investor. Also, there is absolutely zero Vulcano items on the open market. Also reports written by the government agents that went to oversee the shutdown of the plant did note that Vulcano's main showroom did contain some ten thousand pounds worth of unsold merchandise including, like you said, 'tee-shirts, hoodies, shoes, pens, jackets, and backpacks', half of which were painted this, Speisialta Blue."
"Whoever's there have everything they need to make a bomb big enough to cause this much destruction," Sasuke said, "My bet is they're still there, and probably both the bomber and the bomb-maker."
"I can have the SAS ready by the time you get there," Ino said, "Garra's going too."
"This is a British investigation," Sasuke said, "So let's haul ass."
"We'll take my car." Garra said.
"Come on cave-man," Sasuke said, "We've got a VTOL."
The seven climbed into the VTOL which took off for Corringham, fifteen minutes later, Sasuke got a radio communication from Ino, "I spoke with the city, and got a diagram of the plant from the London Archives," she said, "I'm sending it to you right now."
"Thanks ma'am." Sasuke said.
When they arrived, the SAS were standing by, Garra walked up to one of the soldiers, "You, soldier, where's your CO?"
"Right here," a six-foot tall SAS Captain said as he walked over to Garra, "Captain Iruka Umino: Fifth SAS Regiment."
"Garra Sands," Garra said, "MI5," he then turned his attention to Sasuke, "This is United Nations Major…"
"Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka said as he walked up to Sasuke.
"Iruka Umino," Sasuke said, "Been a while."
"You're a Major now?" Iruka asked.
"Still taking orders from MI6?" Sasuke asked.
"You should talk," Iruka said, "Being as you're now taking orders form the UN."
The two of them laughed, and then embraced, "Great to see you man," Sasuke said as they pulled apart, "Great to see you."
"You too," Iruka said, "This is your case?"
"Our case," Sasuke said as they walked up to the regiment, "We believe this place is where the bomb used to attack the New State Stock Exchange were made."
"Glad to see you're on the case then," Iruka said, "Let's move," Iruka then turned his attention to the soldiers, "Alright men, listen up," the soldiers looked at Iruka, "This is an old friend of mine, Major Sasuke Uchiha, he used to be SEAL Team 6, now he works for the United Nations, he's going to be leading the ground team. Major if you would."
"Alright boys," Sasuke said as he stood in front of the soldiers, "Here's the deal, we believe this is the place where the bombs used to attack the New State Stock Exchange were created. We've identified the possible explosives as PETN, and one of the active ingredients in PETN is Nitric Acid which is very sensitive to heat. Needless to say we're going to be carrying weapons that are going to generate a lot of heat. So nothing beyond a gun inside, no flashbangs, no frags, make sure you know what you're shooting at, and don't aim at anything that could explode. We want to keep this quiet so the men inside don't get spooked. Grab your weapons, and let's move."
Sasuke decided on a Colt M4 which he attached an ACOG scope, flashlight, and laser-sight to, and his P99.
The rest of the SAS chose MP5s, and their Sig Sauer P226s.
"Here're the plans," Naruto said as he rolled the printed out plans on the hood of one of the SAS team's Land Rover.
Sasuke pointed at the gate, "No doubt the front gate's going to be locked," Sasuke said, "They fire at you, you have permission to fire back. But do not fire unless fire upon," he then pointed to the gate itself, "Once the gate's clear, Naruto will take care of the gate," Sasuke then pointed at the front door of the factory, "Shino will take care of the front gate if it's locked. No doubt when we go in, they're going to start shooting. Make sure you save bullets in your guns. Shoot in bursts or one shot only, but remember we need the bomb maker alive. And if we can bring in the bomber."
"How are we going to identify the bomber?" One of the soldiers asked.
Naruto handed Sasuke a small picture, and Sasuke just simply said, "He'll be very easy to spot. He'll be the one with ash-grey skin. Any further questions," no one spoke up, "Good, let's move."
As the team walked up to the gate, two men carrying Remington shotguns opened fire without any provocation.
The soldiers raised their weapons, and opened up full auto on both of them.
Naruto grabbed hold of the gate, and pulled at it, after a little, the gate's motors simply snapped, and he pushed it aside.
"How'd he do tha…" Iruka began before he looked at Sasuke, "He's another meta-human isn't he?"
"We all are," Sasuke said as they approached the front of the factory, "Shino."
Shino focused on the lock which snapped right off the door like a twig that had been stepped on, "Done." Shino said.
"Good," Sasuke said as he grabbed hold of the side of the door, "Ready?"
The SAS soldiers raised their weapons, and nodded.
Sasuke and Naruto both pulled on the two halves of the door, and as soon as it opened, about a dozen men armed with AK-74 rifles turned to see the SAS lay into them with their MP5s.
Sasuke entered next with the M4, and spotted a man with a Tabuk rifle aiming at the SAS, he simply aimed, and fired.
The 5.56 round went straight through the Tabuk's scope, tore out both lenses, and left a hole in the side of the sniper's face.
As the SAS went through the entire compound, Sasuke and his team swept the rooms.
Shino ran into one of the labs to see one of the lab technicians had an HK USP in his hand, as he raised it, as he was sliding over the table, Shino focused on the edge of the barrel which exploded like a small firecracker so when he pulled the trigger, the gun exploded in his hand.
After the gun exploded, Shino plowed into the technician who landed flat against the wall.
The guard pulled out a knife which broke apart in his hand when Shino focused on the gap where the blade extended out of the hilt.
Shino laid into him with his fist, knocking him out cold after six hits.
Tenten entered another lab, and altered herself to become part cheetah as one of the guards pulled a Winchester 1300.
Tenten ran up the side wall, tore the gun from the guard's hand, landed behind his back, blasted him, and knocked the technician in the room out cold by smacking him on the side of the head with the butt of the shotgun.
Hinata entered the room next to Tenten, she saw that when she entered, the technician would have a USP at the ready, she slid under the table as she entered which caused the technician to miss.
As she slid under, she took the technician's legs out from underneath him, and kicked him once in the face, knocking him out cold.
Naruto entered the room next to Shino, there were two guards standing by the door as Naruto entered, he simply grabbed them both by their shirts, lifted them both above his head, and flung them across the room.
The technician was so stunned he didn't see Naruto kick the table into his stomach, and then kick the table downwards, creating an uppercut affect which knocked the technician out cold.
Sakura entered to see one of the guards carrying an AK-74, she materialized a baseball bat, and swung it at the guard's head, knocking him out cold when she struck him across the back of his skull.
As the guard fell, she saw the technician reach for a gun, she simply threw the baseball bat at the technician as hard as she could, the bat shattered the scientific instruments like the glass items they were, and knocked the technician out like a light.
Sasuke entered the last room to see one of the guards holding a picture of water near the main computer, "Come any closer, I'll pour water over this console, and you lose everything, so back…" before he could say another word, Sasuke fired one round from the M4 which split the bottom of the pitcher almost completely in half, and the rest just shattered the second the bullet hit the wall.
The second round went in low, and took out the guard's ankles.
The assault took about five minutes, and all-in-all twenty three men were arrested, and fifty six were killed, the headlines across every newspaper in the United Kingdom the next morning would be, "United Nations Peacekeepers Help SAS Heroes".
They didn't read it of course because the team had to make it back to the Konoha where Sasuke began the interrogation of the man whose ankles he shot out.
"We have you on the manufacture and use of illegal explosive weapons," Sasuke said, "Not to mention the attack on the New State Stock Exchange, the attempted murder of British and United Nations Military Personnel, and attempting to hide evidence. Do you know how much jail time that carries?"
"Is this what you think of me," the man asked, "A rat," Sasuke walked around to the side of him just as he exclaimed, "Fuck you!"
Sasuke grabbed the man by the back of his neck, and slammed his head into the table, "I think you are whatever I say you are," Sasuke said as he let go of him, and once he stood up, punched him so hard, blood exploded from his nose, "You're not from England or Ireland. You're accent points toward far-eastern Asia, the Philippines or another one of those islands. I suspected they might crack down on letting dogs out of those countries. Must've cost your leaders a fortune to send you to the UK."
"Wolves go where they wish," he said.
"Is that how you see yourself," Sasuke asked as he sat down in front of the man, "A wolf," Sasuke kicked his feet up on the interrogation table, "If so you're an Omega, and a pup at that. The Alpha bosses you around, and throws you to the other wolves of the world if they need food."
"How would you know if I'm an Omega pup," the man asked, "I could be a Beta, at least."
"I'd say at most," Sasuke said as he stood up, "Because in here, I'm the Alpha. I say what's going to happen. You know how this works right? The Alpha bosses around the Omega, and if need be I'll throw you to the wolves. And in this case, the wolves are the British."
"And what does that mean?" The man asked.
"I have all the evidence the British need to peg you with the attack on the New State Stock Exchange," Sasuke said, "I need only leak a few documents to the Telegraph, and," Sasuke then snapped, "You'll have a lynch mob waiting outside the UK Supreme Court just begging to string you up from the nearest light-post, if they're feeling generous."
"Feeling generous?" The man asked.
"You don't expect nine deaths, two people possibly paralyzed for life, and nearly twenty others seriously injured to go unpunished do you," Sasuke asked, "The second that mob gets its hands on you I suspect they'll torture you for as long as they can keep you alive. And that's assuming they won't have something in mind to make you go bat-shit crazy before they start torturing you."
"You can't do that." He said.
"I'm United Nations," Sasuke said, "I have the authority, but I can give you a plea deal. A single sentence in a maximum security prison, for your protection, until the case is finished."
"And then?" The man asked.
"Minimum security," Sasuke said, "Compared to what you'll go through with the British, it'll be like a country club."
"You can guarantee my safety?" The man asked.
"Absolutely," Sasuke said as he held out his hand, "Do we have a deal?"
The man grabbed Sasuke's hand with trembling anxiety, their hands raised, and fell.
He gave up the name of the man that supplied the compounds used to make the PETN.
Five minutes after he finished, Ino walked into the command room as Sasuke was scanning over the ten pages of names he was given, "What should we do with him Major?" Ino asked.
"Let's get him off this boat," Sasuke said, "Get him to a super max prison, something where no one can touch him for now."
"What'd he give up?" Ino asked.
"All of this," Sasuke said as he handed Ino the notebook, "Hundreds of names, I've run them through every intelligence, security, and police database all over the world, about a hundred or so civilians he's probably had dealings with, a couple dozen businessmen wanting to buy PETN to land government contracts, five dozen or so people on the terrorist watch list, but I got to name two hundred and seventy three, and I found this," he tapped on the profile he was looking over, and flipped it around to show.
"James Henry Wong," Ino said, "Known connections to the Akatsuki terrorist network, last known location is listed as Singapore."
"Think the UN has any connections in the Singapore Underground," Sasuke asked, "Might need someone shady to get us close to a man connected to an Asian terrorist unit."
"I'll talk it over with the UN," Ino said, "In the meantime, why don't you six go and eat."
"I'm down for that." Sasuke said.
"After you." Naruto said.
The team walked down to the cafeteria where they got their food, and took their seats at one single table.
As they were eating and discussing their last operation, Sasuke had a sudden feeling of déjà vu.
As he put his hand to his head, Sakura asked, "You ok Sasuke?"
"Yea," Sasuke said as he looked at the group, "Are you guy sure we've never met before? Ever since yesterday I've had the strangest feeling of déjà vu."
Sakura then paused, "Yea, me too." She said.
"I don't get it," Sasuke said as he rubbed his forehead, and looked up at the group, "We six have never met before yesterday, and yet we performed a military assault perfectly with no casualties, when I'm around you I feel like I'm talking to my family, and not to mention these flashes of déjà vu."
"You think we knew each other before?" Hinata asked.
"I think we more than knew each other," Sasuke said, "I think we might have been friends, all of us. But why don't I remember?"
"Maybe we've suppressed it," Hinata said, "We saw something horrible, and we can't remember anything."
"Maybe," Sasuke said, "I think we should do some digging. We might have known each other, but why don't we remember?"
Guess what's gonna happen next…