Audacity chapter 22.
*On my profile there are several things pertaining directly to the story those things being, a picture of Gray Jack, An audio rendition of chapter 1… Soon to be more, as well as a quick demonstration of how my character uses his butterfly knife. That aside this will be one of the last cannon hugging scenes throughout my story, future conflicts with Britannia will for the most part involve custom events that were triggered by my plot line. Please keep in mind that there are some events that are simply unavoidable whether or not they'll keep the same timing of appearance is very conditional.*
Response to reviews by: XT3 and Alastor Pariah. I appreciate the support; I try to make it so you don't have to wait too long for an update… But shit happens… like football… Call of duty… Spontaneous combustion, you know the drill. Lol.
Response to review by: Eva-Saiyajin. I agree with some of your analysis, at least when pertaining to CC and my grammar. Gray Jack came from an incredibly scary nightmare I had a few years ago, so I tend to embody him as the epitome of fear… Sometimes I forget he does not have the same effect on other people… Especially people that have been alive for several hundred years. I would like to go back and change what I wrote, but that's just how I saw the scene in my head at the time. Regardless I agree with you on that point.
As to the issue with Kallen not acting as she should have, I have to disagree to a certain point. Considering my character was in a injured state at the time I simply couldn't imagine her showing an act of aggression, not to mention she reacts in similar ways to teasing throughout the original series, I'm not trying to say you're wrong… I'm just saying I'm not either.
But please do note, your review has helped me significantly I had no idea I overused the word 'this' nor did I realize I was overusing it incorrectly. Your review has helped me patch up a few inconsistencies throughout my story. Thank you.
Response to review by: Debido. Thank you for noticing one of the points I try to subtly push throughout the entirety of my story. That being for those of you who didn't notice 'people screw up, shit happens.' I want to make my character more interesting, anywhere you guys can point out things only helps that even more. Thank you for your thoughtful review.
I had listed the supplies we would need, mostly just infantry materials, however I made sure to requisition that two knightmares be brought along as well. We were set up to rendezvous in the town of Kodachi, less than a 5 minute drive away from the hotel. In order to get there I had to Geass another taxi driver. Surprisingly enough this one was a woman; but that didn't stop me from demonstrating my Geass ability to Kallen even further.
I had made sure to bring both my Glock and my model 36, I had given up trying to reacquire my High Point 45. Weaponry aside, I had no idea how I was going to get into the hotel… Better yet, I had no idea how was going to get past the Britannians and then into the hotel. I realized if the Britannians couldn't ninja their way in, I more than likely wouldn't be able to either. And even if I was able to get myself in, my combat abilities would be almost 0.
Another option was to try and send word to the liberation front ahead of time and then try to force our way past the Britannian forces currently stationed. I didn't like that one too much primarily because I determined it had a high probability of failure, or at least serious casualties… My group was not yet ready for open combat, myself included.
The final option I considered was a bit more dramatic. Simply driving up there myself on the front of the procession would certainly be one way to get attention… However I was likely to get shot immediately. If I somehow managed to actually get a word in edgewise before dying, it was likely I could convince the Britannians to allow me entry.
I suppose the operation's success is rather pivotal to who is currently in charge. If they're willing to grant me audience I could just Geass them. Even if they won't grant me an audience on fair terms I can always Geass them once they detain me and try to unmask me.
The vehicle hit a patch of rough road as we turned off an exit into Kodachi. This caused me to wince, luckily Kallen didn't notice. The extra painkillers I took didn't seem to be having too many negative effects on my body, in fact it was quite the uplift. I could almost walk straight without having to hunch over- I still had to make sure I didn't contort it or anything, but other than that, the only thing I felt was the constant twinge of the damaged flesh… As opposed to the debilitating, mind blurring yank from my ribs.
The driver slowed to a stop and we exited, I had already instilled my order in full so there was no need to worry about being traced.
"Which building is it?" I asked Kallen as I looked at three older places of business near the edge of the town, furthest away from the hotel.
"The one on the left." Saying nothing I headed towards the specified building. I considered removing the contact lens and simply keeping my eye closed at all points in time- that way I could use my Geass when I wanted to… However the loss of my depth perception was something I couldn't handle, at least not on top of my already existent handicaps. I simply hoped I would have enough time to remove the lens when I needed to use my power.
As I entered I shouted. "All right people first things first! Where's Yamada?" the group of people checking over weapons and a tactical display screen looked up at me in surprise.
"H-here Sir." Came the fumbling reply from Yamada. This was the first time I had managed to get a good look at him: he was almost my height and had light brown hair and a rather strong build. It looked as if he was the nervous type. Walking up to him slowly and menacingly, I opened my arms and hugged him gently, trying not to aggravate my injuries.
"I love you so much… You carried my heavy ass at least a full mile." Tamaki burst out laughing at the scene. Despite the humor, I looked at him seriously and said. "Really though, thank you, I owe you my life now." Yamada scratched the back of his head nervously.
"It was nothing Sir, just glad you're still alive." I nodded and walked over to the display map.
"Oghi, are all the materials I requested here?" Clicking a button on the laptop, Oghi changed the screen and looked at me.
"Yes, we have everything, but what I don't understand is why we didn't bring any of the body armor?" The answer should've been obvious but I enlightened him regardless.
"If we manage to make it into the hotel, the Liberation Front wouldn't take it to kindly if we're wearing the enemy's uniform… Or in this case armor. It's bad enough we're using their weapons, I don't want to give them the wrong impression." At least not at first. Ohgi took the answer and began describing the situation.
"According to these blueprints the building has 36 levels total. There is also an underground maintenance route they have for moving around supplies but we expect that to be heavily guarded by the Britannians and the JLF on either side. The bridge going to the front entrance is in the exact same situation."
I thought about my options, it was as I had surmised for the most part. I hadn't been able to take into account the underground tunnel but it turned out to be rather irrelevant.
"Why couldn't we bring all the knightmares? I mean, if we're going to help the JLF they're going to need all the armor they can get." I looked at Ohgi genuinely shocked.
"Ohgi… We're here to stop the Liberation Front; they've taken innocent people hostage, it doesn't matter whether or not the hostages are Britannian." The whole group was taken slightly aback.
"What? But they're on our side!" I snapped my vision to Tamaki who had been the source of the outburst.
"They are not! The moment they decided to deliberately involve civilians was the moment they became our enemies! Unless you condone the needless use of violence against those who cannot defend themselves!" everyone was quiet at this.
"This shit just got a whole lot deeper! So let me elaborate! We are here to save the people that have been taken hostage… Not to kill the Britannians… Am I understood?" The room was silent but everyone nodded.
"Good now that we've made that clear we're leaving. Once we get inside the hotel we're going to act as if we're trying to be a supplementary force… The two nightmares will help Testament to that, if we can get them inside. Once I give the signal, the two Knightmares will mop up the soldiers outside… I expect no survivors. The rest of us will sweep and clear the floors after dealing with whoever is in charge."
"That would be Lt. Col. Kusakabe…" Someone stated.
"Not for long…"
*200 yards from the Britannian blockade.*
"Easy, easy…" I said, despite the fact no one could hear me; I was standing on top of a nondescript black van that the others had arrived in and were currently inside of. It was a pain in the ass to keep my balance but I managed… Barely. Surprisingly enough I didn't have to explain to the others why I needed to be visible to the Britannians, however they did look at me funny once I made Tamaki give me a lift onto the vehicle.
I need to be sure they're interested and don't shoot us on site… Though they might end up doing that anyway.
I was shook from my thoughts by a loud speaker-amplified voice coming from a Knightmare frame.
"Stop! You are hereby under arrest for crimes against the crown, murder of Britannian royalty, and trespassing!"
I looked up and saw a formation of Knightmares had encircled us before we even made it within 100 yards of the bridge.
"Very well! However, if I'm going to be arrested I would like to talk to your commanding officer!"
"Unacceptable! Lay down your arms or you will be shot!" I smirked slightly behind the mask.
"You would shoot me even though I'm the only one who can save the hostages?" I really wasn't liking the fact that I saw nothing but Knightmares, it was incredibly hard to judge their physical reactions. I couldn't tell whether or not I was interesting them. The few foot soldiers that were there were gathering around the feet of the Britannian Sutherlands.
"I wish to negotiate terms of cooperation until the hostages are rescued! Unless of course you want them all to die?" I looked below the Knightmares and saw dozens of foot soldiers now assembled as well, the strange thing was they all seem to be in a panic. It was very strange, not to mention the fact that amongst them I saw a pretty young girl wearing a pink dress.
That's weird, I wonder what she's doing here?
I was completely shocked by the next turn of events.
"I will speak with you Cypher, as long as you promise not to raise your weapons against my forces!" it was hard to believe, but it appeared as if this pretty pink princess was the person in charge… I noticed that she walked closer to the front of the line, as she did this the knightmares around the two Sutherlands we had brought began to edge closer. Throughout the absurdity the same voice could be heard again coming from the lead knightmare.
"Princess Euphemia! You can't do this! This man is a terrorist! Please let us deal with him!" I was worried for a moment, worried that she might actually oblige to him.
This was already a shot in the dark… I'm surprised they haven't killed us yet. I thought grimly as I ambled off the van with an audible grunt a line of pain going to my internal organs. I walked in front of the vehicle my hands at my sides, trying to look as unimposing as possible. Euphemia tried to walk up towards me but several men attempted to stop her, she ended up shaking them all off and ordering them to resume their position.
She's actually going to talk to me! holy shit! She's either really stupid, or desperate to save the hostages.
I could feel the tension in the air; it acted as an almost tangible resistance as I walked forward. I reached over to hold my side instinctively and I heard at least a dozen safeties click off.
I better not make any sudden moves, I guarantee every soldier here has there sight aimed at my face… err, mask.
I stopped roughly 6 feet from Euphemia.
"Greetings Viceroy, it's a pleasure to see you in a situation where I'm not trying to kill you." This produced a visible wince from the girl. Her eyes looked troubled, as if she had missed a good deal of sleep and had been crying. Despite this she still managed to look determined and dignified… Not to mention very pretty.
"So Cypher, how do you plan t-" I cut her off slightly agitated.
"Cypher 01" I growled, amongst my enemies I would not tolerate a half assed version of my alias. She looked at me as the oddity I was and corrected herself.
"Very well, Cypher 01… How do you plan on saving the hostages?" I considered lying to her for brief moment, but then decided otherwise… I honestly hadn't thought far ahead enough to the point where I had a fake strategy to give my enemies.
"I plan to enter the hotel under the guise of supplementary forces, after this I will proceed to assassinate Lieut. Col. Kusakabe. Immediately preceding this, I will use both myself and my men to sweep and clear the rest of the floors until we reach the hostages… The rest is self-explanatory, I bring them back…you let me leave unharmed." I noticed that she was clutching both her fists tightly, it was obvious she was either trying to hold back or was very stressed, possibly both.
"And what makes you think I won't have you arrested here and now?" she threatened. This caused me to smirk behind the mask. I shifted my posture to a wide stance and pretended to tip my nonexistent hat.
"That Viceroy, is because you want to save as many people as possible… Right? And by allowing me to do your dirty work we can accomplish our goals with this few deaths as possible." I couldn't see her reaction while still staring at the ground due to my theatrics.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked quickly. I looked back up at her and tilted my head slightly.
"Why? Because I believe it is the right thing to do."
"Was killing my sister the right thing to do?" I was a bit shocked at the venom behind the words. I quickly put two and two together.
Her sister was Viceroy Cornelia? Son of a bitch! I really need to start paying attention to politics.
Despite my shock I replied smoothly.
"Because she needlessly endangered the civilians in the Saitama ghetto in her attempt to root out the terrorists… The same with Clovis. I did what I thought was right, and I will continue to do so, assuming you will let me this time. You now hold the key to the prison those hostages are in." I motioned towards myself.
"I can guarantee you the release of those hostages… And even if I fail, I will still end up dead or captured. So no matter how you look at it it's a win-win situation… Unless you also fail to save them, and you been doing such a great job with that so far." I couldn't help but allow a small chuckle to escape me.
"Very well, I will allow you to enter… But when this is over we will be enemies again." I tilted my head once more but in the opposite direction.
"So does that mean I have your word? You will not attack us once we return with the hostages safely?" she nodded once sternly.
"I will allow you to return from whence you came."
Perfect… I started laughing sadistically but ended up clutching my side almost gasping in pain. Slightly embarrassed of my injuries I walked away saying.
"I'm just gonna go now, pretend that didn't happen." The whole point behind me acting so sporadically with my emotions as Cypher 01 was to keep people from predicting what I would do next… I had yet to determine whether or not it was working… Even if it wasn't, I was thoroughly enjoying the chance to let the darker side of my personality roam free.
"You heard the lady! We're moving up!" the Knightmares blocking our path cleared the way as I struggled onto the van once more, settling for a seated position on top of the cargo rack we proceeded forward, very, very slowly… With far too many guns trained on us for my liking. Once we made it past the Britannians, we picked up our speed only to slow down once we reached the closed gate on the other side of the bridge.
I'm sure Kusakabe is watching the movements of the Britannians sharply and has seen me coming… or at least noticed the commotion. We came to a halt at the gate. A man behind it shouted something in Japanese then followed up with English.
"Halt! State your business." I smirked by my mask, he said the exact lines I had hoped for.
"I wish to speak to Lt. Col. Kusakabe… We need to smooth out the terms of our cooperation." The man said nothing back for several seconds. I began wondering if they were just ignoring us when finally we received a sort of confirmation.
"You may proceed by the Lt. Col.'s orders."
Ahh… so they checked with their superiors first, that explains the delay in conversation. The gate slid open with a loud screech, allowing my group to enter. I slid off the vehicle as gently as possible once we made it to the front entrance of the hotel. Tamaki was the first one to exit the van, fully armed like the others. Four men in green uniforms walked up to me with their submachine guns at their sides.
"This Way, Cypher. We will bring you to the Lt. Col. But your group must wait outside when you speak to him."
"Acceptable." I said while nodding, allowing them to lead us onwards through the hotel.
I'll admit I was blatantly impressed by the grandeur of the hotel. Polished white marble, gold trim, crystal chandeliers, intricately carved statues, and a water fountain in the lobby. All of it looked very… expensive… I couldn't wait to start shooting it. The four men leading us divided themselves into two groups and motioned for a set of elevators. They attempted to divide my group so that they would enter the elevator on the left, and the four guards would be in the elevator on the right… Alone… With me. I wasn't a dumb ass; it was obvious if they were going to pull something they would do it in the elevator.
"Oh dearest Kallen, would you be so kind as to come with me?" I asked blatantly challenging their attempts at segregation. She complied and entered the elevator with me and the four guards.
Tamaki obviously didn't notice the separation and began spouting stupid questions… Which surprisingly turned out to be rather intelligent once I thought about it.
"Hey! What floor are we supposed to go to?" one of the guards said something in Japanese and Tamaki turned around wordlessly and closed the doors. As the doors closed I could see the worried faces of the rest of my cell.
Once we had closed the doors to the elevator I took off my mask. This caused everyone including Kallen to go wide in the eyes, they didn't get a very good look at my face due to the fact I was struggling with my contact lens. But once I got it off I went to work.
"{Obey me!}" I ordered as I looked at the clearly curious soldiers. Their shocked expressions immediately changed to that of stiff stoicism as my Geass took effect.
"{Where are the hostages located?}" I asked the man closest to me as I placed the contact back into its box slipping it into my pocket. I would need my Geass again very soon.
I'll just have to keep my eye closed while I'm talking.
"{The 27th floor, in a storage room all the way in the back.}" His accent was heavy and his information was barely detailed enough, but with little searching we could find it.
"{How many men are guarding it?}" I saw that we're at the 15th floor already… I was running out of time for questions.
"{There should be two on the outside of the door, as well as four inside the room… There is also a patrol guard on the floor going to the hallways for extra protection.}" We were past the 20th floor; I need to speed things up.
"{When I speak to your commanding officer you are not to harm me… All of you.}" They all saluted in confirmation. "{Continue acting as usual until further notice}" The doors opened revealing a dark hallway.
Just in time. I thought smugly. Judging from how dark it is, they must have emergency generators running to only power necessary facilities… If that much.
We continued walking down the dark hallways until we reached a dead end to which a single door was on the right. One of the soldiers that I had Geassed opened it for me. Two of them stayed outside to guard the door, the rest came with me. Inside the room there were five soldiers, including the ones that had been Geassed, as well as a man sitting on a couch at the center of the room.
"Cypher…01." He said smugly from his seated vantage.
"Lt. Col. Kusakabe." I said with a similar tone. He motioned for me to sit down; I declined politely and chose to stand across the table in front of him. He appeared slightly insulted, but did not let it affect his words.
"So what made you decide to come and work for me?" the word 'for' helped me understand what type of man he was.
"I intend to work with you… But before I get to that, I wish to know why you've taken these people hostage." He placed both his hands on his knees and grunted.
"I'm showing the world that the Japanese aren't dead yet! And we still have a voice and a fighting spirit!" he proclaimed proudly.
"Pfft. Then you've chosen an absolutely retarded way of expressing that." One of the soldiers protested at my words but the Lt. Col. lifted his hand to silence him.
"What do you mean by that Cypher?" The irritated edge in his voice was obvious.
"I mean, you're only pissing off the public by taking their fellow citizens hostage and using them as bartering tools. You'll never gain the trust of the masses by taking advantage of them." I stated confident in my reasoning.
"You speak of trust when you won't show us your face? Remove your mask and I'll consider letting you work as one of my captains!"
"I would never work for someone who is lesser than I…" The tension in the room immediately spiked.
"Then we have no more business here!" he said as he drew his sword and lunged towards me. Opening my left eye I cast a command in a panic.
"{STOP!}" it was the first thing that came out of my mouth. Everyone complied but that didn't stop the forward momentum of the Lt. Col. This became especially clear as his sword dipped down and pierced my thigh.
"{Gahh! Fuck!}" I screamed as I drew my Glock and shot the Lt. Col. The moment his grip left his sword I stumbled back, bumping into the wall painfully. The rest of the group in front of me was still frozen but I had no idea how long it would last, taking aim carefully for each shot, I unloaded the entire magazine into the soldiers. The door swung open revealing the two who had stayed to guard the door.
"{This is further notice! Come inside and DIE!}" I ordered hoping it would conceal the fact that they killed themselves. I barely heard the gunshots as I focused on removing the sword from my leg. I'll admit it was significantly less painful than a bullet wound… But it was no less debilitating, especially considering the location. The white hot stinging sensation emanated from the opening as the blade fully left my flesh. Blood flowed profusely as I struggled to stay standing.
"Cypher!" came several shouts of concern from the door. I looked up and saw my allies trying to force their way in and assist me. Closing my left eye my spoke to them harshly.
"Leave! I will move out after I treat my injury… AHHH FUCK!" I said as I plopped down onto the table next to Kusakabe's corpse. They tried to protest regardless of my already standing orders. "GET THE FUCK OUT NOW, THIS IS NON NEGOTIABLE!" still doubting my orders they stayed for a moment or two longer, but once they saw the dead bodies they were both confused and fearful. The moment the door clicked shut I doubled over in pain.
"I can't do this on my own… If this keeps up I'm going to die from blood loss." I rapidly considered my options, none of them allowed me to continue the mission… except one…
"Gray Jack…" There was a moment of silence as I stared at my bleeding wound; a small pool of blood was beginning to form on the table. A quick flash of light caused me to jump. Strangely enough, I couldn't feel my injuries, it was getting to the point where it hurt so much I couldn't feel it.
"You rang?" Came an overly smug question from behind me.
"I need your help…" I said sadly. I didn't want to accept help from him, not in this type of situation.
"Oh really? You sure you can afford it?" I grit my teeth and turned to look at him. He was crouched over poking one of the dead bodies with one of his impossibly long fingers.
"How much, will it cost…" I practically hissed at him.
"How much will what cost? You really need to be clear with me or else I won't understand." His high and mighty attitude was beginning to piss me off.
"How much would it cost for you to patch me up." I said defeated. I continued looking at him as he began rubbing his nonexistent chin.
"Throw me an offer." He ordered.
That's not good- I won't know if I'm actually getting a decent deal. I looked to the pool of blood; it was already starting to spill over the table. I'm running out of time… but what could I possibly offer him other than… A few ideas came to me.
"My soul… you can use that right?" I questioned to make sure. He nodded while grinning widely.
"Then I offer you five years of indentured service, during that five years you have exclusive rights to my Soul… Assuming you return it to me when that time is up." It was clear from his expression that he had not expected that. The skin on his forehead raised and wrinkled as he donned a bemused expression.
"Make it ten years and you have a deal." I had no idea what he could do with my soul, but from the way he was bargaining it was clear he could use it for something… I grit my teeth, I had no other options, it was that or die slowly, and/or fail my objective.
"Deal, ten years of indentured service allowing my soul for your use… Upon the conclusion of ten years I'm to be given my soul back and allowed to carry on the remainder of my life." Jack stood and approached me reaching out and placing a long appendage on my shoulder.
"I will take you up on your offer… However, I will refrain from using your soul until after you die. Once you die in this world I'll use your soul for whatever I want… Only for the determined amount of time of course." I nodded and motioned for him to proceed… Despite the fact I had no idea how he would fix me.
The world flashed white and he was gone. I was about to begin screaming angrily until I noticed something. Despite the fact I still had blood-soaked pants, I felt no pain… From none of my injuries. I inspected them all in turn. I didn't even feel lightheaded from blood loss.
"So you are a man, err thingamajig, of your word…" I found that fact rather comforting.
I surveyed the carnage around me- it would be hard to convince them that I had dispatched every soldier legitimately. But telling them about my Geass was out of the question for now.
I'll just have to let their imagination wander on this one. I'm sure Kallen will understand how I did it.
I made sure to reload the Glock before I left. I simply dropped empty magazine, knowing it left physical evidence behind… But I couldn't risk the chance of needing to reload and accidentally grabbing a empty mag by mistake. Opening the door I pretended to be injured as I hobbled out clutching my leg.
My 10 combatants stared at me in absolute shock, it was hard to see my blood through the dark color of the pants, but it was still visible. Ignoring the questions and attempts to call off the mission, I began giving orders, being sure to talk only with my left eye closed.
"No, we're still doing this. The hostages are on floor 27. We are going to need to take care of any resistance and escort the hostages out." Surprisingly the next voice of concern came from Tamaki himself.
"Hey man, you got more holes in you than a piece of cheese… we can handle the rest from here." I took the extra assault rifle Oghi had been carrying.
"The next person who tries to stop me gets shot, that includes you guys. Now come on." I ordered harshly as I falsely hobbled to the elevator. It was clear they weren't happy but nobody voiced their complaints anymore. I noticed the numbers on the digital display pad above the doors, they were going up steadily… This meant someone was in the elevator for I had yet to press the button. Double checking the assault rifle I clicked off the safety aimed at the doors.
DING! Was the sound the elevator made as it opened. I barely took a fraction of second to identify my targets. Two Liberation Front soldiers. I placed a five round bursts in each of them. I pushed one of the fallen bodies further into the elevator to allow the doors to close. Once in the elevator I turned around.
"If you're not coming with me… I'll go alone." Kallen stalked into the elevator angrily muttering.
"Idiots gonna get himself killed." Oghi, Tamaki, Yamada, Yoshida and the others were soon to follow. Although they did appear slightly disgruntled at the dead bodies leaking blood onto their shoes; I knew they had seen death before, this was no exception.
"Do we even know where the hostages are?" Tamaki questioned loudly.
"Level 27… They're going to have a guard detail, so double check your weapons." I didn't take long to reach the floor. The instant the elevator doors opened I bolted for the nearest piece of cover, a concave area where a door was. All throughout the hallways there were dozens of them. For every room there was a compartment that housed a door to a room, regardless of whether or not the door was open it still provided more than enough cover for two people if not three. Everyone else did the same, I listened…. For a good while I heard nothing.
"Break into two groups, one group hang right and go down that hallway over there and clear it. I don't want to get shot in the back, everyone else is with me." I was left with Kallen, Ohgi, Yamada, Ishida, and some guy whose name I didn't know. I peeked from cover and saw only the end of the hallway that carried onto the right around a corner. Hugging the wall as best I could I linked up with the corner down the hall and peeked around that one as well.
I raised my left hand to signal for my group to stop. I held up one finger, then another and pointed towards the corner, then held a finger to my lips as I reach for my butterfly knife.
Let's try and make this quiet, I can handle two guys… That sounds weird… I observed the two soldiers, each of them stood at either side of the next hallway, effectively preventing anyone from walking by unnoticed; it was obvious these men were the front line alert guard. Opening my left eye, I sprinted towards them, knife in my right hand, rifle in my left. They noticed me almost immediately and raised their weapons. Before they could shout anything I gave my order.
"{Freeze!}" I tried to say it with as little volume is possible. They hesitated just long enough for me to run by and slash the throat of the first guard, a fountain of blood followed and painted my body as I skipped forward and jammed the bloodstained blade to the other guards jugular, ripping the knife upwards I made sure to catch his carotid artery as well.
The men fell to the ground, gurgling gruesomely. Death didn't scare me, but it was still disgusting when it was this intimate. My hyper alert state allowed me to hear every air bubble escape their lungs as they tried to force air in and out of their mutilated throats. Eventually they became silent, never to make noise again. I ran up to the nearest door crevice behind the previously guarded area and motioned for my squad to do the same.
"That was sick man." Whispered Tamaki. I couldn't tell if it was a complement or a disgusted statement. Soon after we had dealt with the first two guards, the second squad reconvened with us. With10 people behind me, I inched forward being sure to check every door: some were open, some looked as if they had been kicked in. We didn't have the time to clear each and every room, nor the resources.
The man said towards the back, so if we simply skirt the corners we should meet up with it eventually.
This idea became slightly more complicated for at the end of the hallway there was a T, I looked left and right and saw no one. Peering all the way down my right I noticed only to hallways both going towards the back of the building where our objective might be, there was also another one to my left.
"Break into two groups again." I whispered. "There are two hallways down there, use the same groups as last time. Put three men on each hallway and try to move up quietly. Until you reach the end of the hallway feel free to shoot first and ask questions later, but once you turn the corner I want you to try and identify targets." Before the second group could break off once more I gave a final order.
"If you run into any contacts be sure the radio me." They nodded and continued on their way. I took my group once more than headed to the hallway on the left.
If we keep hitting intersections we're going to end up thinning out too much to be any good in a fight. I thought as I leaned from the corner down, what I hoped, would be one of the last hallways. It was dark but I could make out a dimly lit sandbagged position.
Dammit they have it fortified, I didn't expect this… I might be able to approach them calmly; after all they wouldn't expect me to get past those first two so quietly.
I determined since this specific area was fortified, that my objective must be just behind it, or at very least not too far away. I concluded we were close to the other side of the building, but it was hard to tell. It was too dark and too maze-like to properly determine distance without some sort of extra perspective.
Before I broke from cover a radio transmission came from of Ohgi's headset.
"Both teams say they've encountered fortified positions similar to this one in both the hallways over there." I looked down towards the other group, I could barely see them but they were posted up in a similar fashion.
"Tell them to break for better cover and advance the moment they hear gunshots." Ohgi complied and relayed the order. Ignoring the whispers of protest, I walked straight into the open, assault rifle casually in hand. Before I even made it halfway down the hallway I was stopped.
"Hey! Stop right there, you need permission to be here." A man said while leaning over the sandbags and aiming a submachine gun at me.
"{Die!}" I ordered as I unloaded the remainder of my magazine and jumped into the cover on my right. The soldiers reacted by sending a torrent of gunfire that tore through the hallway with a deafening wail. I looked back at my squad; they were taking cover in the doorways just one room down from me.
The enemy hail of gunfire broke briefly; I was about to break from cover until I remembered I had yet to reload. While I was in the process of reloading Oghi and the others began firing, I realize the fire was two rapid to be accurate. The situation quickly explained itself as I saw Kallen moving up and firing her rifle in single shots, taking infrequent but significantly more accurate shots at the enemy.
On an odd side note, I noticed she was kind of hot with the way the multitudes of muzzle flash threw the shadows across her supple body. And not to mention th-
I have bigger problems than hormones at the moment. Pay more attention to the guys shooting at you! Hey wait a minute did I just cut myself off? Weird… Moving on.
There was a brief break in gunfire; I took advantage of it by quickly getting on one knee and leaning out of my cover while aiming down my sight. I couldn't see a full target through the sandbags; however I did notice a person's leg slightly exposed near the edge of the cover, a sandbag appeared to have fallen over after being pounded by the 223 Remington several times. I aimed for the ankle and let loose two rounds.
CLACK! CLACK!
My two shots sounded out of place in the relative quiet between the exchanges of volleys. Risking exposure I checked to see if I'd made contact with the target, all I could hear was the screening of a man and swearing in Japanese. From the looks of it I had practically taken his ankle off.
I really wish I had an earpiece right now, it's obvious the Intel on the enemy's numbers was off. Several torrents of gunfire tore through my position specifically this time. Way off. There's at least six guys up there, not to mention at least a few where ever the other squads are engaged at. I poked the gun out with my wrist and fired a few shots blindly. I just hope they don't decide to execute the hostages in an act of desperation or something.
Looking back to Kallen, I noticed she had taken cover in almost the exact same way I had. I waved at her childishly; she did not return the sentiment as she fired blindly from her position.
The firefight was beyond aggravating as it dragged on: it got to the point where neither side was willing to waste ammo on suppressive fire and only fired when some idiot tried to advance or poked from cover. Because of this my ability to hear and be heard was significantly greater than it previously had been… Unfortunately the same could be said about Tamaki.
"Great! You just had to piss'em off! You could've tried to sneak up there but noooo! Instead you just fired blindly and only got one of them!" It was as if he was trying to make me shoot at him instead of the enemy.
"Shut the fuck up Tamaki! You're not helping!" I shouted back at him.
"Why are you even up there! I've barely seen you take a shot since you started hiding there!"
"Yeah? Well at least I've killed some of them!" all I heard in return with various profanities some of which were in Japanese. Almost a full minute went by after that… Not a single shot was fired, not a single casing was spent or ejected… I was getting bored.
"Screw this!" I yelled as I stood and exposed half my body. I loosed a consistent yell along with a full magazine catching the soldiers off guard after such a long pause in action. I didn't get a single hit, but what I did get was every last enemy squeezing tighter to their selected cover.
Just then a suicidal idea dawned upon me. I ejected the empty magazine and inserted my final one. I then shouted.
"Cover me! I'm doing something stupid!" as I yelled this I dashed from cover while spraying blindly and inaccurately, I skipped a zigzag pattern as I neared the sandbags, 10 feet from the sandbags my gun clicked empty.
Time for the stupid part! I straightened my Sprint and leapt into the air both feet extended outwards towards the sand bags. The dropkick connected with the cover effectively knocking the top end of it over and onto the soldiers behind it. It also put me on my ass, which was a distinct disadvantage. Rolling to the left I reached for my Glock, noticing there were only four men behind the remainder of the cover.
If I take cover here those men will just shoot around it given the angle I'm at. My thought took less than a millisecond to form as I drew a conclusion from it. Brazenly taking a stand, I sighted the Glock on the first soldier easily shooting him in the chest twice. As he doubled over on himself leaking blood and a fantastic display of blood pressure, he also pulled the trigger on his firearm causing it to spray wildly to the wall beside him.
Instantaneously I snapped onto the next man and fired several times, the first few rounds either missed entirely only caught glancing hits, however I was saved by a lucky shot to his right eye that caused this entire head to jerk back, the officers hat he had been wearing flew off because of this and landed on the floor before his body could hit it.
The two remaining men did not hesitate to shoot, but they did hesitate to aim, for nearly every shot was extremely wild as I dispatched them both barely keeping my wits about me. With my heart rate hammering I slumped against the wall, coming down from my adrenaline high.
Kallen quickly broke from cover and ran up to me, at first I thought she was going to offer me her hand and help me up, instead she crouched down dropping her assault rifle and began shaking me.
"Cypher! Wake up! Stay with us!" I thought this was absurd for a brief moment until I remembered what would have been my predicament had I not received help from the unearthly.
Oh yeah… I'm supposed be seriously injured. I gripped her shoulder tightly and hauled myself upwards my legs shaking from both excitement and fear.
"Tamaki, Ishida. Go assist the other squad." The two ran off no longer questioning my orders. I could still hear gunfire from a few halls over. I briefly considered sending Kallen and Ohgi as well but I knew they would not comply due to what they thought was my physical condition. I walked forward past the position we had just taken to survey the area behind it. It was a corner, more specifically one of the four corners of the building. I looked to the right and saw the two hallways I had sent the other squad to.
"This could be our objective, let's breach and clear these rooms." There were only two rooms in the corner of the hall. There was a room to the right that said 'maintenance' on a brass plaque centered in the middle of the door.
"On second thought this has to be it." I bumped my shoulder against the frame.
"Kallen, get on the other side, Ohgi I need you to kick in the door. The moment it caves in I want you to get out of the doorframe." Kallen double checked her rifle and I did the same to my Glock.
"Here we go" Ohgi said before revving up his leg and slamming it into the door nearly kicking the door knob instead. The door flew inwards with a quick shower of wood splinters, Ohgi moved out of the way immediately.
There was nothing, no sounds at least. I decided to be the idiot that goes first, whipping my gun around and began clearing the corners.
Clear le- holy shit! I couldn't see a single enemy however I could see nigh upon 200 people all sitting on the floor with wide and worried eyes. I made sure to search for the student Council members with my eyes while I gave the next command.
"Ohgi, tell the others to hurry up, we got'em" I didn't wait and listen for him to relay the command instead I walked closer to the hostages.
"Do not worry! We're here to take you to safety. As long as no one tries anything, everyone will be able to leave safely!" The looks of disbelief I was getting from the people was rather surprising. "You heard me dammit, get up and get going cuz' if not I'm leaving without you guys!" I threw my arm in a wide arc and motioned towards the door.
Getting the hostages out simple enough, it took several trips on the elevator, making it so we had to guard both ends, but other than that, it was uneventful. Ishida had been the only one that had been injured in the firefight so we had little to no injuries to deal with amongst ourselves. And just as I predicted the two Knightmares outside easily handled their weak infantry fortified positions, not to mention their positions weren't set up to take an attack from behind- which would be smart if the enemy overtook it, but not if the enemy was already behind you.
As I exited the hotel ahead of everyone else, I noticed the destruction the Knightmares caused. There were bullet holes the size of my fist littered throughout what used to be sandbags and concrete walls. There were bits and pieces of the men who had been defending these positions… Not much else. I decided to walk the distance of the bridge allowing the Kightmares and the Van to trail behind me.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ohgi had ordered that all of the elderly and injured be transported using the van. This significantly increased my opinion of him for the better. I made sure to hold a brisk pace to keep the van from overtaking me.
There are going to be some questions about my sudden ability to shirk off cracked bones and stab wounds… I'll just have to play it up when we are away from the Britannians.
Once I made it to the other end of the bridge, a line of infantry and knightmares once again stood to block my path.
"Euphemia! I have done what I promised, now let me pass… Unless you plan on going back on our deal?" I shouted at the Britannian forces. It took several seconds but eventually a hole opened up and allowed us passage.
We left the hostages in the care of the Britannians, something I'm sure everyone was more comfortable with.
Now to see if she keeps up on her end of the bargain… I thought cautiously as I entered the van and sat next to Kallen. We left just as slowly as we had arrived… Nobody stopped us, that was until a news van pulled up in front of us and flashed it's high beams several times.
"Could this be a trap?" asked Yoshida. I thought about it for a brief moment, but found no reason for the Britannians to do something like that.
"No, not likely." I said as I opened the door and stepped over to the news van. I had to admit their vehicle was significantly better than ours: it was larger and looked a lot newer. It didn't stop me from wanting to kick in the headlights that flashed at us though.
We have two Knightmares and least 10 people with guns, who the in their right mind would stop us unarmed?
My thought was quickly answered as a Britannian with blonde hair stepped out followed by a cameraman wearing a jacket displaying the logo of their news station. I couldn't help but smile at his audacious behaviour. That crazy bastard walked straight up to me and began asking questions.
Does this idiot have any idea how close to getting killed he came? Probably not… I scratched my chin under the mask slightly revealing the side of my cheek.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" The man muttered a quick apology and introduced himself.
"My name is Diethard Reid, I'm with Hi-TV news studio. I'd like to ask you some questions." This was just plain out funny! Considering the amount of balls he had shown with stopping my procession, walking up and speaking to me directly, I could only oblige his request in return.
"Sure, have at thee." I said while nodding. The smile on his face was nothing but creepy; it was as if he was enjoying this more than anything else in the entire world.
"What is it you're doing? What do you hope to accomplish by saving those hostages?" I briefly looked behind me at the Britannian forces.
"Isn't it obvious? I wanted to bring those people back to their families, to stop the strong from preying upon the week. As to what I was doing… I was doing what I believed, and still believe, was the right thing to do and I expect no less from my associates."
"You mean the group that helped you? Those people in the black van over there?" I nodded and crossed my arms.
"Yes those are my allies; we have the same views for the most part… we all seek the same thing, justice."
"Justice? Isn't that that a bit of a lofty goal, not to mention vague. How do you plan on accomplishing this?" I chuckled darkly before I answered his question.
"We, being both myself and my allies, we will stand in judgment of those who commit atrocities! We will stand and fight against those who would oppress the rights of others! We will protect those without power! And prevent those with it from abusing it!" I paused briefly and extended my arm as if to grasp the world.
"We are the Seekers! And we are the ones who will stand in judgment of this world!" Diethard's eyes were wide, his expression emphatic. I turned abruptly as he began giving a sit rep of the situation back to the camera.
I entered the still open van and close the door.
"Go around them… I got what I wanted out of them, somehow." The two Knightmares veered off towards an entrance of the subway system while the van kept on and directed itself towards the Tokyo settlement.
"The Seekers… that's a bit odd, why did you choose that name?" Kallen asked me quietly. I smiled beneath the mask, the real answer was simple.
"Because we seek justice, the truth, that which is right… That's all I have left." I leaned my head against the glass and closed my eyes.
"No, nobody can say I have nothing…" I stated before falling asleep to the sound of the tires on the road.
To be continued…