Special thanks goes to deathwing17, who created the character of Ichrio Sato.
Break
"Oh, looks like the police are getting interested in something at the Dresden Factory." Kazumi said. "Well, we can't allow that."
Break
The SEALs of Bravo Section burst through the door, assuming assault positions for a moment, confirming that the room was clear. The section leader glanced around, then looked at Sargent Michael.
"All clear on our sector, Sergeant." Bravo Section Leader said. "How are things going here?"
"A little sticky at first," Michael responded, "But we managed."
"So where are these drugs we're here to acquire?" A Bravo Section SEAL said, dropping his rifle into his harness and drawing a chemistry kit from his belt.
"Over here, I think." Gabriel said, pointing at a door labeled 'POST PRODUCTION STORAGE'.
"Awesome," Michael muttered. "Philip, deal with it."
Philip nodded and walked up to the door, removing explosives from his belt. He was still shaken by what he had seen when he entered, but he was a professional, and he would do his job. He began fixing charges of Plastic Explosive to the door, placing copper plates over them to shape the blast outward into the door in as wide a cone as possible. That would, in theory, do as much damage to the door as possible without damaging the contents of the room.
Once the charges were in place, Philip waved the entire squad back once more. The SEALs took cover behind the various consoles and displays in the room. Philip took a step back, training the detonator wires behind him.
He took cover behind the chair in the center of the room, feeling bile rise slightly in his throat. There was a steaming puddle on the ground in front of it, and the skeleton of the girl was quickly crumbling away.
Philip took a deep breath and pressed the detonator button.
There was a loud bang, followed a moment later by a crash as the door fell inward. The SEALs looked up from their cover, and John began to walk toward the now-open door.
"Pretty good job." He muttered, looking at the clean holes blow in the door over the latch and hinges.
A pair of Bravo Section SEALs stepped past John and onto the heavy steel former-door lying on the ground. They both produced black trash bags from their belts and walked into the room.
"Allright, gentlemen, you know what to do." Sergeant Michael said. "Check everything, then put it in the bags."
Philip followed the rest of the SEALs into the room. It was the size of a large closet, with a self-section down the middle of the room and along both of the side walls. What immediately drew Philip's attention, however, was the large safe set into the rear wall. He walked up to the safe and gave it a long look.
He had been trained in safecracking, of course, but any completely designed safe would require enough explosives to destroy the contents to open.
As Philip was drawing more Russian plastic explosives from his belt, he felt Sergeant Michael lay a hand on his shoulder. The bruise from the bullet he had taken twinged.
"We have the techies for that, kid." The Sergeant said. "You have a different job."
"What is it, Sarge?" Philip said, turning around.
"We're at the center of the building," Michael said, "and if those plans we got are correct, there should be a load-bearing column running right through this room. I want you to rig it to blow, to cover our tracks."
"Yes, Sarge." Philip said. "I'll get on that."
Break
Sargent Michael watched as the new kid walked out of the room to rig the building. He waved John off of looting duty to escort him. He turned back to the pair of Bravo Section techies working on cracking the safe.
It was apparently a digital lock, as both of them had their laptops out and connected to the lock and were tapping away furiously. As Michael watched, a light on the lock changed from red to green, and the safe opened with an audible click.
There was a small container resting inside. It was a cylinder just under a foot tall and several inches in diameter. It was covered in shrink wrap, and was partially filled with a white powder.
The two techies stepped back, and the chemist SEAL stepped forward, holding several implements. He produced a long stick and poked the container. When nothing happened, he gingerly picked it up.
Nothing happened.
The chemist drew a probe from his belt and place it over the lid of the container. He pressed a button, and the probe launched a needle through the plastic covering of the container and applied an airtight seal.
The probe worked for a moment, testing for the presence of deadly gases or compounds which would destroy the contents of the container if it was opened.
After a few moments, the test came back negative. Carefully, the chemist removed the probe from the jar, then removed the shrink wrap, then went to work.
The Chemist performed a variety of tests on the contents of the container using the equipment he had lugged in with him. After a moment, he announced the results.
"I think this is what we're looking for." He announced. "The tests are coming back as ninety percent by mass of a sucrose filler and ten percent of an unknown compound." He paused for a moment. "Also, it says DR623G on the lid."
Michael smiled slightly as the chemist announced the results of his test. This insane mission hadn't been for nothing after all. He'd had his doubts about this mission from the start, but was too much of a professional soldier to voice them. Now, at least they had accomplished their objective, even if the mission turned into a diplomatic and strategic disaster.
The SEALs began tying up their 'evidence' bags and preparing to move out. As the rest of the team prepared to leave, the two techies went out to the control room of the factory to raid the computers for any data that could shed some light on just what the hell was going on.
As the preparation for departure went underway, the chemist sealed up the container of the drug they were after and began packing it for the evacuation. A few moments after he was finished, Philip and John walked back into the room.
"We're done." Philip said. "I wired up the load-bearing column, plus a few walls, with enough explosives to level a house. When you give the word, this place is coming down.
"Good." Michael said. "We're bugging out of here."
Philip nodded and picked up his rifle. Michael waved forward, and the SEAL team advanced out of the room, drugs in tow.
Break
The SEALs reached the vans and began reshuffling cargo. Quickly, the unused heavy weapons were put back in the boxes, and some of the drugs were handed off to the driver of one of the vehicles. The heavy weapon crates were loaded into that vehicle, for delivery to the CIA team.
The rest of the SEALs loaded up into the other van. It was a bit crammed, with ten heavily armed and armored men stuck in the same vehicle, but every one of the team members had been trained to endure discomfort. They would manage.
Moments after the SEALs had arrived, both vehicles pulled out of their parking places and made their way back to the road and began driving away from the factory.
In the vehicle a few minutes later, Michael tapped Philip on the shoulder.
"Blow it." He whispered.
Philip had planted more explosives on the way out of the factory, and wired them all up to remote detonators. He withdrew the remote control from his belt and pressed the button.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a distant rumbling sound, barely audible over the sound of the vehicles.
"Huh." Philip muttered. "I expected more-"
There was a flash in the distance, illuminating the night like a second sunrise. Instants later, a rumbling blast wave swept across the landscape as the partially-collapsed Dresden Pharmaceuticals Takayama Factory vanished in a flash of intense light. The blast wave swept across the landscape, striking the vehicles carrying the SEAL team away and shaking them violently.
The vehicles had just driven into a small gully in the ground, sheltering them from the majority of the blast. That spared them from broken windows, a fate that would befall buildings much further away.
"Wow." Philip said. "I'm pretty sure I didn't set quite that many explosives."
"Of course not." Michael said. "There must have been other explosives on sight, possibly rigged for a sympathetic detonation, or maybe your explosives just set them off."
"Yeah, I figure there'd be a lot of volatile materials at a pharmaceutical plant." Philip said, putting his hand on his chin. "But for a blast like that, you'd need military-grade stuff."
"Yeah." John tilted his head toward Philip. "That was a heck of a boom. But from what you're saying, it sounds like someone had a self-destruct on this place. Who actually does that?"
Michael sighed. Things just got a lot more complicated.
They kept driving.
Break
Kazumi leaned back from her computer, putting her hands behind her head. "It's over." She said.
"What do you mean?" Ryouta asked.
"There was just a massive explosion at the Dresden Plant." She said, looking at her screen. "Whoever it was that caused it, if they didn't get out, is a crispy critter."
"Huh." Ryouta muttered. "Could you get anything on who they were before you disconnected?"
"No." Kazumi said. "Whoever it was, they're good. All I can gather is that the attack was launched from China."
"So we're back to square one." Ryouta said. "Our only lead is that device."
"Yeah, but that's an issue for tomorrow." Kazumi said, standing up out of her chair. "What do you want to do now?"
"I don't know." Ryouta said. "The busses have stopped running, so I guess I have to say here for the night..."
"Oh," Kazumi said as she walked toward Ryouta, her tone implying that she knew that perfectly well. "Then I guess we're stuck here. Together."
"Kazumi..." Ryouta warned, as the pink-haired girl stepped towards him. He took a step back, but Kazumi's foot shot out and entangled his, and both of them fell to the ground.
Ryouta winched as he hit the ground, feeling Kazumi's noticeably flat chest slam into his.
"Ryouta." Kazumi said. "I had no idea you felt that way. I-"
The chair Kazumi had been using exploded. Ryouta's head snapped around, and he spotted Kuroha standing at the top of the stairs leading to the observatory deck. She was glowing faintly, and her hands were clenched at her side.
Break
Alex sat down at on the TV couch at the safe house and flipped the TV onto a Japanese news channel.
A devastating terror attack occurred today at the Dresden Pharmaceuticals. Just after midnight, a massive explosion ripped through the facility, leveling it and killing all staff present. The security staff had been substantially increased following the break-in two weeks ago, leading to an increase in casualties. The death toll of this devastating attack is estimated to be fifty and rising, with considerable property damage in the surrounding area. Debris were thrown over a mile away from the site of the facility, and...
Alex tuned the news out as Hikari walked into the room.
"Hello, Hikari." He said, in English. It had been decided that, as Hikari was fully fluent, that English would be the official language of the spy team while in private.
"Hello, Alexander," she responded, bowing. "How are you this morning?"
"Fine," Alex said. "Have you seen the news?"
"No." Hikari said. "Why?"
"There was a massive explosion at the Dresden Facility, and I think I know who's behind it." Alex explained.
"There was?" Hikari gasped. "Did they-"
"We haven't received confirmation of mission completion." Alex warned. "We can't just assume that-"
Hikari dove forward and hugged Alex, pressing her head into his chest, "Thank you." She said. "You've done so much for me, you saved my life once, and now-"
"What do you mean?" Alex said, trying to keep his confusion out of his voice and off his face. This was the first time a girl had glomped him, and he had no idea how to respond. "I didn't do anything. You should be thanking the spec ops operators who got the drugs, not me."
"But without you, Nathan would have let me melt." Hikari said, standing back up. "So really, it's because of you that they got the drugs at all."
"You're welcome, I suppose." Alex said.
"I don't have to die now!" Hikari said. "That means I can... Huh, I wonder what I'm going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the Lab didn't exactly give us a lot of opportunities to think about our futures." Hikari said, frowning. "And after we escaped, all I really thought about was staying away from the Lab people. Plus, without a supply of Death Suppressants, there was no real reason to think about what would happen more than three days from now."
"I've been meaning to ask this," Alex said, "But what were you doing at the airport, anyway?"
Hikari blushed. "I was trying to sneak onto a flight out of the country. I figured that if the lab was here in Japan, I'd be safer in another country. I know it's silly, but-"
"No," Alex said, "That was actually a pretty good plan, although it's really hard to sneak onto an airliner these days. If you had some magic that helped you sneak on board the plane, it might have worked."
"T-thanks." Hikari said. "I mean..."
"You know, if you want, we could put you on a flight back to the States. You could get out of the country and live out the rest of your life in peace. If Special Forces managed to pull off the raid, we should have enough Death Suppressants for you to live long enough to for us to reverse engineer the medicine and produce it for you. You could live out your live in peace."
There was a long pause. Finally, Hikari turned to face Alex.
"I don't think I could do that." She said solemnly.
"Why not?" Alex asked, tilting his head.
"I mean, you saved me. I don't feel like I can just abandon you."
Alex decided not to point out that an untrained girl with a chemical dependency might be more of a liability than an asset.
There was a ring at the doorbell. Alex stood up and walked toward the door, with Hikari following.
-cause of the Dresden explosion still unknown. In related news, the U.S. President has sent in the elite SEAL team 12 to provide security and assistant for the recovery efforts from this disaster.
Break
When Alex opened the door, a man stood there, holding a clipboard. A black van waited in the street, and the man had a large box at his feet.
"Hello." The man said, in flawless unaccented Japanese. "I have a delivery for one Mr. Hunter and company. Could you perhaps sign for it?"
Alex took the clipboard and began to sign it as Calvin Brown, not missing the man's usage of Nathan's real name. Either this man was an ally, or their cover was blown. Alex finished signing the clipboard, and the man passed the large package to Alex. Alex gave the package to Hikari, who set it on the floor next to the door.
"Thank you very much, sir." The man said. "I have another delivery for your group, but it is much larger than this object. If I may pull my vehicle into the garage of your home to deliver it, that would be much appreciated."
"Why?" Alex asked, a cagey tone in his voice.
The man looked down at him. "It's your shipment of heavy weapons, kid. Now, do you want some machine guns or not?"
"In that case, I most definitely will let you in." Alex said, and walked back into the house to open the garage door.
Alex felt giddy as he walked. They were finally getting their heavy weapons. If he'd had an AK or an M16 during the fight with the terrakinetic witch, it would have been a much easier victory. Now they were getting a load of heavy weapons.
And you have Hikari's Death Suppressants, something whispered in Alex's mind isn't that worth even more?
The Garage door opened, and a large black van backed it. When it was half in the garage, the driver's side door opened, and the man disembarked. He walked around to the back of the vehicle and opened the rear door, revealing two large black plastic boxes.
"The first is Rocket Launchers." The man said. "Five FGM-244 Jaegers, plus reloads."
Alex whistled. "They really didn't hold back. Where'd they come from?"
"When you care to send the very best." The man said, picking up one end of the first crate. "A few missiles fall off a plane bound for India. Tragedy what arms dealers can get their hands on these days."
"That it is." Alex said, joining the man in picking up the box. "What's in the other box?"
"Assorted weapons and ammunition." The man responded. "Be careful with that shit. It'll get you thrown in jail forever here.
Alex and the man put down the crate and moved on to the next one. It was heavy. When it was on the floor, Alex looked around, then undid the latches and opened it.
Inside was a veritable arsenal of weaponry. Alex could see pistols, shotguns, rifles, various types of ammunition, and more. Of particular interest to him was the generous helping of smoke grenades. Given the unknown abilities of their adversaries, Alex figured it was important to have as much battlefield control as possible. It didn't matter how deadly a witch's death ray was if she couldn't see you.
Alex thanked the mysterious visitor, who bowed to him, got back in his truck, and drove away. Then he looked back at the two massive boxes of weapons and sighed.
"Nathan! Anna!"
Break
Ichiro Sato walked along the hill road, kicking a pebble in front of him. He was rather conflicted. After the Narita Airport incident, his father, who worked for the JSDF, had been transferred into the area, forcing his family to move on extremely short notice. He had transferred into the local honors high school, and now was being pressured to join a club.
Ichiro was a rather average-looking Japanese boy, of medium stature, dark eyes, and short black hair. He walked slowly along the road, somewhat dejected. He hadn't been accepted into any of the clubs he cared, even slightly, to join. Either he hadn't met the requirements, or the clubs had been full.
He kicked the pebble again. He had been walking for some time, now. He knew the school had an Astronomy Club with an observatory somewhere up in these hills, but last he heard, it only had one member, and would probably be shut down next year. It probably wasn't worth trying to join.
But those were only his problems. In Japan, something was going badly wrong. First the Narita Airport Bio Attack, and now the explosion at Dresden Pharmaceuticals. It had to be terrorism, but...
"Hey, watch out!" A feminine voice shouted, "You're going to fall!"
Ichiro whirled around, which allowed him to spot a brown-haired girl with rather large assets running toward him.
It also threw him off balance, sending him tumbling off the edge of the road.
Ichiro tumbled through the air. Is this how it ends? He thought as he fell. He tumbling into an upside down position, and spotted the same brown-haired girl looking over the edge of the cliff.
Then there was a flash of light, and he was watching the girl hit the ground. She struck with a faint thump, but nothing like what Ichiro would have expected given the height he had fallen from...
Wait! What the hell happened? Ichiro thought with a start. I was falling, and then I wasn't! Did I imagine it?
He looked down the cliff again. The girl was still standing at the bottom of the cliff, dusting herself off.
"What happened?" He shouted to her, cupping his hands over his mouth.
"You fell off the cliff." She responded. "I save you with my magic!"
"What do you mean, magic?" Ichiro demanded.
"Wait right there." The girl said. "I'll be right back up there!"
Ichiro sat down on the ground near the edge of the cliff and waited. He sat there for almost ten minutes, but he wasn't going anywhere. What had happened was just too weird. He wanted an explanation.
Eventually the girl walked up to him, panting.
"Hello." She said, smiling, "I'm Kotori Takatori. I think you need to come with me."
Break
Chisato Ichijiku sat at his workstation, looking over the display of a strange, alien creature. He sighed. Things were not going as planned. The second raid on the Dresden facility was much more damaging than the first, and crippled his organization's ability to produce the Death Suppressants needed to keep the magicians alive. Already, he had been required to liquidate many B+ ranked witches ahead of schedule.
Ultimately, however, it would not greatly affect the production of the Sorcerian. He had stockpiles of the drugs required, and most of the witches needed. Now, all he needed was-
The door behind him cycled open, and Kurofuku, his second in command, entered.
"Sir," Kurofuku said. "We have received confirmation that enemy agents are at work in the country."
"Conformation?" Ichijiku asked. "What sort of confirmation?"
"Not conformation as such, but the analysis team confirms that Hexenjagd would not have the resources to launch the attack on the Dresden facility. That was too professional for them." Kurofuku explained. "Given the fact that our operations have been targeted twice with no sign of the traitors, it seems prudent to assume that we have a new, unknown, opponent, sir."
"Very well." Ichijiku muttered. "We have a contingency plan for this, after all. Pick four other agents. You and they will pose as information brokers with intelligence on shady government agencies. Throw in something about abductions or illegal experiments. Each of you will take a witch to use when something bites. For you, I recommend No. 1936."
"Audacia, sir?" Kurofuku asked, a hesitant tone in his voice. "I don't know if she's the best choice. She's... unstable, sir, and not like Saori or Kikako. She's..."
"Nonetheless, her powers are incredibly useful." Ichijiku declared. "She will have no trouble crushing any clandestine forces, and we're already preparing a cover story the explain the inevitable collateral damage."
"Yes, sir." Kurofuku said, bowing. "I will take 1936."
Break
The rocket lifted off into the air with a massive roar, a bright light flaring at the base of the colossal controlled explosion. It rose on a pillar of smoke, shooting upwards and out across the Atlantic Ocean.
Dominic Winters watched the rocket rise until it was out of sight, then turned to the scientist standing next to him.
"Thank you for allowing me to view the launch, Doctor." Dominic said. "It was very enjoyable."
"It would be more enjoyable if you told me why my probe was taken off my boster." The scientist, Dr. Merkwürdigliebe, said.
"The Agency's need was more pressing. You will be reimbursed for the loss of your booster." Dominic assured him.
"That's not the point! The launch window for this probe won't come again for another five years!" The doctor shouted. "It took years to build, and now you go and steal it for your warmongering! This was-"
"Doctor, please believe me when I say I understand you fully and empathize with you." Dominic said. "However, please do not call what we're doing here today warmongering. In fact, this operation may be the world's only hope to avoid a war."
"What do you mean? I-"
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a flight to catch."
Break
Domic sat down at the table with Martin Griffin, the Director of the CIA, and President Viktor Justinian. They were sitting in a bunker under the White House, built specifically for meetings such as this one.
"So, gentlemen, what do we do now?" The president asked, folding his hands on the table.
"Well, we have positive confirmation of supernatural events occurring in Japan, and have committed an act of war against one of our staunchest allies." Griffin said.
"Which has SecState working overtime." Justinian said. "Though it seems that our plan to push the blame onto the Chinese is working."
"Good." Griffin said. "I don't want Japan turning on us just yet."
"Yet?" The President asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I figure it's inevitable, given what they're doing." Griffin explained.
"I see.' The President said. "Dominic, how is the operation going?"
"Well, so far." Dominic said. "The initial goals of Operation Blazing Summer have been obtained, namely confirming the presence of supernatural events in the East Asia. However, given the course of events, we have chosen to leave our agents in place to investigate further."
"Good." The President said. "I got the National Security Advisor and the SecDef to go along with the raid, but they're pressing for results."
"We are also in the process of mobilizing and emplacing additional agents," Winters said. "However, given the scale of the operation we might be looking at enacting, that will take time. It is essential that the Japanese keep their borders open as long as possible."
"I see." The President said. "What, in your estimation, is the probability of a war resulting from these events?"
Dominic sighed. "High. I think war over these magicians is likely. However, I'm still not sure when it will occur, what magnitude it will be, and even who the combatants will be."
"So you don't think we're at the call-up-the-reservists point, correct?" The President asked.
"No," Winters said, "But..."
"I drew similar conclusions myself." Justinian muttered. "I have, however, drafted a new weapons procurement bill. It authorizes a few billion dollars in extra military spending, which we could use to prepare for a war, if there is one."
"Excellent idea." Griffin said. "I'm not sure I agree with you about a war being inevitable, but its always best to be prepared."
"I don't think a war is inevitable," Justin said, "just that magic seems like the sort of thing that the Chinese or North Koreans might be willing to start a fight over."
"And that's if the raid on Dresden doesn't get discovered, and get us into a war with Japan." Dominic said. "We're walking on a razor's edge with this situation."
Break
"What do you mean, you revealed your magic?" Ryouta demanded, slamming the palm of his hand down on the observatory table. "It's critical that we keep that a secret!"
"He was falling off a cliff!" Kotori responded. "What should I have done? Not save him?"
Ryouta sighed. He had risked exposure with Kuroha to save lives before, but never in a manner this blatant. They had someone who now knew of the existence of magic on their hands, and no way to deal with him.
"We could kill him." Kazumi said. "He came up here alone, so it would be a while before anyone started asking questions."
"Kazumi..." Ryouta said, trailing off. It was possible. They could do it, and it might be the best way to protect the witches. But it seemed wrong.
"What?" Kazumi asked. "We totally could do it. Hit him over the head with a brick, have Neko tear him up, and bury the pieces. I could hack the police system and disrupt the investigation."
Ryouta sighed. "No, Kazumi. We're not doing that."
"You're right. Neko probably couldn't handle that."
"Could you people stop talking about murdering me while I'm right here?" Ichiro asked, tones of confusion and worry in his voice. "What's going on here, anyway?"
"If we tell you, people might kill you over it." Ryouta said. "Are you sure you really want to know? It's not too late to walk away and forget you ever saw anything."
Ichiro took a deep breath. He didn't want to get killed over some stupid secret, but not knowing would torment him for the rest of his life. Besides, he should have died falling off the cliff earlier. This life was an extension, granted by whatever magic lay here. He wanted to know what it was.
"I want you to tell me what's going on here." Ichiro said. "I don't think I could stand not knowing."
"Fine." Ryouta said, pulling a paper out from a drawer under the table and pushing it toward Ichiro. "But you can never tell anyone. And first, you have to join the Astronomy Club."
Ichiro pulled a pen out of his pocket and began filling out the form. "So what is it?"
"These girls here are all witches." Ryouta said. "They escaped from the research lab that made them that way, and now they're on the run. The Lab is trying to find them, and is willing to kill anyone who knows their secret."
"How exactly are they trying to find them?" Ichiro asked. "Are they using the police or their own people?"
"Both, from what we can tell." Ryouta said. "But the primary threat- Hey, why are you concerned?"
"You're inducting me into your little club, right? That makes me involved." Ichiro said. "So what's the primary threat?"
"Assassins." Ryouta said gravely. "Witches sent out by the Lab to reclaim the escaped witches. They all have very strong witch powers, and are utterly ruthless."
"Why is that? If this Lab is a place witches want to escape, why would they show dedication to it once they're free?"
"Each witch has a device on the back of her neck called a harnest. It has a series of buttons on it, and if a certain button is pressed, the witch dies." Ryouta said. "The Lab attaches a beacon to the device that presses the kill button upon receiving a specific signal. The assassins know that if they fail to carry out their mission, they will be executed. That is why they are so ruthless."
"I... See." Ichiro said. "That's awful. Why would they do that?"
"We don't know." Ryouta muttered.
"Have you dealt with any of these assassins before?" Ichiro asked.
"Two. One capable of firing a powerful energy beam, and the other able to cut anything within six meters of her."
"Wait." Ichiro said. "If you fought them, how does the Lab not know where you are?"
"Neither of them were intended for us."
"I see." Ichiro said.