Chapter 36 – Temerity
December 31, 2010, 1256hrs Oured Bay, Osea
Sneaking through a ship's brightly lit corridors with hardly any place to maneuver, let alone hide, was going to be one of the most challenging infiltrations I've ever had to do in my life. If Rico was able to give me that adaptive camouflage he was working on a few months ago, I would've had an easier time doing this. Anyways, I was making my way through the ship and I noticed that there weren't that many guards patrolling the place as I'd thought. Everyone I saw was armed with combat gear and assault rifles and I couldn't see anyone who looked like they were actually part of the ship's crew. This led me to wonder if this ship really did belong to the Grey Men or if it was commandeered by them. Either way, they needed this thing to make their next move and I needed to know what they were planning.
The first thing I needed to know was where this thing was headed. Judging by the ship's layout from the map I found on one of the walls, it was similar to one I had to infiltrate a couple years ago. If this was the case, the navigation system was completely automated and all I had to do was make it to the ship's bridge. After I found out the destination, I could try to contact Mr. Harkin and get some help trying to recover this ship from them. The only catch was that I couldn't leave any trace that I was here until I knew for certain where Antonio was.
As soon as I laid eyes on him yesterday, he's been on my mind ever since. Right now I was comparing my infiltration methods to his and I knew that he'd be the one to leave a trail of dead and unconscious bodies in his wake. Mine was more passive in that I wouldn't even touch or point a gun at anyone unless they saw me first, which never happened in my experience. As much as I wanted to tear this ship apart, I had to know exactly what I was dealing with. Anyways, I was heading down one of the corridors and noticed a single guard wandering lazily through the ship. If I was reading the ship's layout right, then this was the only way towards the bridge from where I was now. There wasn't any way for me to sneak by him until he turned the corner I was hiding behind. When he finally did, he didn't see me and I managed to slip by him. I think it's rather funny how easy it is to sneak by people by crouching near them. Anyways, the guy didn't notice me and I continued to make my way down the corridor until I came to the stairs that led to the upper deck. A couple guards were coming down and I hid by the stairs until they were gone. However, I noticed that one of them had a radio on their belt and I quickly snatched it, pulled out my earpiece, and plugged it into the radio so that I could tune into the communications throughout the ship.
The only chatter that I was hearing was from the guards on patrol and how they were checking in and nothing else. I continued to head towards the bridge and I was encountering more personnel as I got closer to my objective. The area that was the most challenging to get through was the recreation room because there were several people in there, covering each other's blind spots, but there's nothing that a little power surge couldn't fix. Anyways, when I was finally outside the door that led to the bridge, I pressed my ear against the door. I couldn't hear anything coming from the other side considering that I snuck passed a large number of guards to get here. Either way, I drew my knife and pistol before I cautiously entered the bridge. I quickly scanned the room and saw that it was abandoned which I found extremely odd. The ship's navigation was automated like I thought, but having no one on station here was something a ship's captain wouldn't do under any circumstance. I kept my guard up as I made my way towards the navigation controls and found the destination coordinates. There was no doubt that this ship was sailing into Oured Bay for some reason. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that they were going to recover some part of the SOLG, but I needed to know for sure. There wasn't any way for me to find out what cargo this ship was carrying and I couldn't hack into the ship's computer without someone knowing that I was here.
With that out of the way, I cautiously made my back down the ship's superstructure and back towards Kei's position. Along the way, I only ran into a single guard who was walking in the direction I was going. The hallway we were going down had a dead end and I knew he'd eventually turn around so that he could go back the opposite way. Easy enough… I quickly walked up behind the guard, but I wasn't being sneaky about it in the slightest. My walking style was naturally quiet and the guard didn't notice me while I kept behind him as he turned around to back track his patrol route. I kept my pistol at the ready in case he decided to look back and I cracked the door to Kei's hiding spot open before I entered.
"Kei, it's me," I whispered before I entered the room. Kei was still there waiting for me and she quickly got up to meet me.
"What happened to your signal?" she asked but she stopped herself. "Never mind, any news?"
"This ship's headed back into Oured Bay for some reason."
"What about Antonio? Have you found anything on him?" she asked nervously to which I shook my head. Kei ran her fingers through her hair and sighed in frustration. "What do we do now?"
"Now we find him and I'm going to need your help. We still can't let anyone know that we're here and you need to stick by me every step of the way. If we get caught even once, our chances of getting to Antonio will decrease drastically," I warned and Kei nodded.
Kei took off her jacket so that the noise generated from her movement was reduced and she made it disappear into thin air when she did something with her watch. The way it happened was similar to how the weapon pylons on my Typhoon worked, but I decided not to ask any questions and I asked her if she could do it to my jacket and blouse as well. Kei followed me out of the room and down the corridor. The way to the lower deck was pretty straight forward and we didn't run into anyone along the way. The first area we had to pass through was the engine room and it was occupied by a total of eight people. We were on a walkway that over looked three lower platforms and there was an armed guard patrolling each deck. The remaining two people were doing their maintenance work on the ship. When we got to the door that led to the engine room, there was a single guard standing with his back turned to the door. The corridor we were in led to a tool shed of sorts which gave me an idea. I had Kei hold back while I went to the tool shed and set up some tools that would make a loud crash once I closed the door. Once it was ready, I closed the door and quickly darted to where Kei was. I was lucky that the crash was loud enough for the guard to hear it and that his reaction time was so slow. When he finally reacted, he casually made his way towards the tool shed while Kei and I shouldered up against the doorway.
The engine room was brightly lit, but there were hardly any clear lines of sight from the lower level. There was a walkway that bordered the second level, but there was no way to go through it without the patrolling guard to see us. There were numerous people towards the rear, but not as many towards the front. In total there were five armed guards that were in the room and the amount of cover I'd have would allow us to stay out of sight.
I looked over the rail to see the next guard on the lower walkway and waited for him to pass so that we could drop down and cross over to the other side of the engine room. We were in everyone's blind spots and everything was too loud for me to quickly get a bearing on the location of all the guards using my sense of hearing. We were near the stairs that led to the upper walkways and I peeked around the corner to get a glimpse of the area. However, I saw one of the guards headed our way and I knew that he was going to see us. There wasn't any other way around him and Kei knew this when she saw me tense up. Crap… When the guard was about to turn the corner, I quickly grabbed his arm and chopped him in the throat as hard as I could with my free hand so that he couldn't cry out in pain. I also broke his wrist so that he couldn't fire his weapon. Once I 'muted' him, I pulled him to the ground and quickly choked him out before I took another look around to make sure no one saw what happened. I threw the guard's body over my shoulder so that I didn't leave him lying out in the open. Kei continued to follow me up the stairs once the coast was clear and we had finally made it out of the engine room and into another corridor that led one of the ship's electrical rooms. Kei took point and led the way while I brought up the rear. I couldn't keep carrying the guard I neutralized and I stuffed him into one of the electrical boxes that were large enough to hold him. Kei took his knife and sidearm so that way she had some kind of weapon in case things went south. With that out of the way, we continued down another corridor that ran the length of the ship's port side. Compared to the other areas we passed through, this place was dimly lit and there were no signs of anyone. The average person wouldn't be able to see their hands in front of their faces unless they stood by the lights on the wall.
"Attention all hands we will be arriving at our destination within the next three hours. Make sure everything is set for the salvage operation before then."
"What exactly are they going to salvage?" asked Kei.
"I really don't care at this point," I said slightly annoyed.
"You really love him, don't you?" asked Kei. I froze in my tracks and lowered my head. Kei knew I was wearing my heart on my sleeve when it came to the topic of Antonio. I kept my head down when I nodded because I knew Kei figured out how I was feeling about all of this. "Naomi, please be honest with me. How deep does your bond with him go?"
I sighed before I began to continue walking down the corridor with Kei following closely. "He opened my eyes, Kei. When I met him, I wanted nothing more than to die, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I spent every day of my life hoping that my mentor would tell me to kill myself so that I had some sort of reason to cease my existence. Antonio was the first person who actually showed me that he cared about me. When I realized that, I fell in love with him and almost ruined his relationship with Miranda. When she died, Antonio was never the same and I tried being there for him. It wasn't until after he ended the Usean Continental War that he was able to tell me that he didn't want to die and that he just wanted to be happy. I did my best to make sure that he was happy and he did his best to return my kindness. Before he left for flight training at Heierlark, he asked me to marry him," I said and my voice trailed off.
"What's the real reason you declined?"
"…We were still being hunted by the Grey Men after he exposed their presence. Once Antonio joined the military, IOSS stripped him of his false identity to expose him and draw out the Grey Men again. If I had married Antonio, they'd use me to get to him."
"You were just covering your own ass?"
"No, Antonio and I still are assets to them and that's why they went so far as to capture him. I've been active within IOSS for the past year to protect him and route out the Grey Men wherever I could. If I had married Antonio, I'd blow my cover and the Grey Men would try to exploit me to get to him," I said softly.
"I bet he didn't know that," grumbled Kei.
I almost wanted to hit her because she had no idea about some of the things I've been keeping from Antonio. "You're right. IOSS exploited him for their own interest as well."
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you join the OADF?" I asked to which she tensed up.
"…I wanted to find Bishop," she said in quiet anger.
Did you seriously think that you'd find him after fourteen years with no leads on his whereabouts?
"So did Antonio. However, he knew he'd find him after IOSS leaked the information about Bishop's existence. They also knew that this war was inevitable which was why they knew Bishop would be involved. IOSS didn't tell Antonio that because he'd be easier to manipulate."
"If you knew all of that, why didn't you tell him?" asked Kei.
"This was his problem and he's never asked me or anyone else for help when dealing with them before. I had full faith that he'd make the right choice in the end," I said.
"'The right choice', do you seriously think that sparing a man who's goal was to destroy the planet was the right thing to do?"
1241hrs location unknown
When I finally came to, I felt myself lying down with a needle stuck in my arm. There wasn't any beeping of a life support machine and I wasn't restrained to anything. When I opened my eyes, I could see that I was in a small white room with some ugly looking muscular chick leaning against the wall. She was waiting for me to wake up and she pounded on the room's door when I did. Not long afterwards, a lady with blonde hair and bright blue eyes came in. She looked like any other basic white girl, but I knew who she really was.
"Ahh, Mr. Castillo, I'm glad to see that you're awake. It was touch and go there for a while, but you've managed to recover just fine I see," she said. I was still groggy and it took me a second to remember what happened. "Take it easy, alright. You're still suffering from blood loss and I don't want you over doing it."
I looked down at my leg to see that it was fully healed along with my other wounds, but the affected areas were still sore. What the hell is going on? "Where am I?" I asked.
"You're aboard an IOSS medical ship headed for our base of operations where we can treat you for any other injuries you may have suffered." I took a good long look at this woman and the other and studied them from top to bottom before I drew the conclusions. "Is something wrong, sir?"
"Yeah, I'm wondering why you're lying to me about being part of IOSS. What's really going on?" I asked as I pulled the needle out of my arm. The woman didn't answer me and the butch looking lady got up off the wall like she was getting ready to kill me, but the lady in the lab coat called her off with her hand.
"I'll tell you only if you can tell me how you figured it out."
"First off, you 'pet' has been mad dogging me like crazy which only suggests that she's wary of me. Why would she be on guard if I was on an IOSS ship? Secondly, Teresa Flemings doesn't have a medical degree. And finally, I was aware of everything from the train station until now. Sedatives aren't as effective on me as they used to be thanks to one of my past girlfriend's stupid date ideas."
"I'm actually shocked that you knew it was me. I hire a better makeup artist. Anyways, you're right about us not being part of IOSS. We're actually working with the Grey Men," said Teresa as she took off her disguise to reveal her brunette hair and brown eyes.
"And you think it's a good idea to leave me unrestrained on your ship?"
"I'd like to think of this as a gesture of trust and I doubt that you'd stand a chance against her," said Teresa referring to her companion. "We brought you here so that we could have a word with you about everything that's-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there. Nothing you say or do is going to convince me to aid in your cause, so save it," I interrupted.
"Your valuable to us dead or alive, but you'd be doing humanity a great disservice if you don't listen."
I was still groggy and I needed time to recover if I stood a better chance of getting out of here alive. The butch lady posed the biggest threat to me right now and there was no way I'd be able to get past her in my current state. I'll need to buy some time. "I'll humor you a little if you can get me some pants first," I said.
The butch lady pounded on the door again and was handed a pair of blue jeans that were my size. She threw them my way and I got out of the bed to put them on after I took off the medical scrubs I was in. "Mmm, I can see why your girlfriends flock to you so easily. You have a great ass," teased Teresa.
"I thought it was because of my fetish for Asian women," I said sarcastically.
"So I don't have a shot at you?"
"I didn't say that. Now what do you want?"
Teresa sighed and leaned against the wall where she pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "In July, 1999, Earth was devastated by several thousand meteors, destroying the world's economic infrastructure. The Eurasian continent was hit the hardest and they were forced to divide themselves into regional federations. Everything worked out for a short period of time until an energy crisis threw the world into chaos. Even as we speak, Earth is at war over the remaining natural resources that are left. Millions of refugees are trying to escape, but are becoming caught in the crossfire."
"I got the gist of it from Bishop. People are suffering on Earth because of the disaster, but we have the same problem here," I said.
"Okay did you know that this planet is inhabited by 4.9 billion people and 77% (3.773 billion) of them are living comfortable lives?" asked Teresa and I glared at her. "There are 7.1 billion people on Earth and 54% (3.834 billion) of them are suffering because their governments can't do anything to help them because of a lack of resources," said Teresa.
It occurred to me that only several countries on Strangereal were still suffering economic strife while the rest of them were enjoying prosperity. I've never seen the full image of a country living in poverty. I've only known my own suffering and the stupid-ass first world problems that people around me bitched about all the time. The only thing I've really seen were the oppressed people of San Salvacion during the Erusean occupation of the city. Other than that, I didn't know what other people were doing out in the world. I never claimed to have all the answers, but I was smart enough to know that the same number of people living comfortably on Strangereal roughly equaled the number of suffering people on Earth. I don't want to accept this…
"Earth's governments dug themselves into a hole when they started the Cold War. It was all about influence over others, claiming that they'd help everyone. I'm not going to stand idle while you endanger the lives of innocent people."
"You care about the lives of other people?" asked Teresa. I knew where she was going with this, but I needed to hear it for myself.
"I've devoted my life to helping others how I could."
"Then why would you let all those people on Earth suffer so terribly? They're being exploited for cheap labor, human trafficking, and other inhuman actions. If you were so gung-ho about your morality, why would you let Strangereal continue to be selfish and not lend us aid?"
"Why couldn't you find another solution?" I asked.
"We've tried, but Strangereal's governments are too damn stubborn to do anything to help. We've been forced to play the same hand that Japan was dealt when they attacked Pearl Harbor."
"But Japan attacked so that they could pursue their plans for expanding their empire throughout Asia."
"It's not the same thing!" Teresa protested. "We're here to aid the people of Earth and nothing else. How can you be so blind as to not understand that! Ask yourself this; can you seriously live with yourself knowing that billions of people are suffering for selfish reasons?"
"What do you mean it's 'a matter of perspective'?" asked Kei in an appalled tone. "It seems pretty cut and dry if you ask me."
"That's your opinion. I understand the reason for their actions, but I don't like it. I would never allow something like that to happen for the sole purpose of being exploited like that," I said and I paused for a moment.
"What's wrong?"
"…it's Antonio. He doesn't know the real reason behind all of this. If he found out, he'll more than likely aid them in some way… that's what I'm scared of," I said.
"He'd never do anything like that," argued Kei.
"Nagase, listen to me. I've known him for over four year and I've seen him at his best and I've seen him at his worst. His morals won't allow him to let people die, but it's not all black and white. I know him well enough that he would sacrifice a thousand people to save five thousand, but he wouldn't make a decision like that lightly."
"No, he'd never do that. He wouldn't…"
"Kei," I shouted. "You've only known him for several months, but you act as though you've known him for as long as I have. Be honest with yourself; this is part of the reason you were wary of him."
Kei grunted in frustration because she knew I was right. I would've lectured Kei about this even further, but I didn't want her to think I was trying to tear her apart from Antonio. However, I knew that their relationship wouldn't last and it pained me to know this. We continued to walk down the dark corridor until we arrived at the bulkhead that led to the cargo hold. We were on a walkway that over looked the whole area and we could see a section of a crane sitting there with engineers inspecting it. There weren't any guards that we could see and we headed for the next area of the cargo hold that was separated by an extremely large bulkhead. The door on the walk way let us keep our height advantage over the area and we could see that this section of the hold held the next half of the aforementioned crane along with several large bundles of some kind of cloth.
"They're definitely trying to salvage something. The only question is what?" I muttered.
"It has to be part of the SOLG," said Kei.
"We still don't know that. If there's anything I've learned in the past, it's that assumptions lead to mistakes."
"But why else would they employ armed security?"
"Piracy is still a thing on this planet, even in this country."
We were about to go through the next bulkhead into the final cargo section of the ship, but the door began to open from the other side. Kei and I quickly jumped over the rail and dropped down in front of two guards. They were caught totally off guard and I quickly pushed the first guard's weapon out of the way. From there, I punched him in the throat and punched him as hard as I could in the jaw. Kei quickly kicked the other guard in one of his ankles and hit him on both sides of his neck with her hands. Both guards hit the ground hard and we left them where they were because it was completely secluded. When the coast was clear, Kei and I climbed back up to the overhead walk way to head for the next section of the ship. This area of the ship was much larger and there were numerous cargo containers everywhere that were stacked unevenly. On top of that, we could see one of them on the other side of a wide open area. This one was different because I looked like a glass box, but I felt my hope rise when I could clearly see Antonio standing in there with the butch looking lady from the train along with someone else. It wasn't until I saw her turn around that I saw that it was Teresa Flemings.
"He's here," gasped Kei.
Something's not right. I was paying attention to every detail of Antonio's behavior and I didn't like what I saw. He wasn't restrained and he was casually leaning against one of the walls of the container. He was clearly talking to Teresa about something. But the way he was doing it was what really bothered me. Antonio had to have been wondering where he was and he had to have had a lot of questions regarding the whole situation. Furthermore, he probably had no idea who Teresa was really working for. He must've been star struck at the sight of her because he didn't seem all that worried about anything. Teresa was a master manipulator which was why I hated her. Given enough time, she could corrupt a Saint into doing anything evil.
We continued down the walk way when we saw that there were no guards around except in front of the container Antonio was in. He didn't see us because the cargo hold was dimly lit as well and we were a good enough distance away where he couldn't hear us. When we got to the end of the walk way we dropped down and were able to sneak behind some crates to get a closer look at Antonio. He was fully healed and I didn't know what they did to him. I was about to rush the only guard and incapacitate him, but the sound of Solid Snake's codec going off stopped me. The guard became alert to my ringtone and I froze hoping that he'd just ignore it. I quickly answered my phone and Kei switched spots with me so that she could incapacitate the guard when he came to investigate. I quickly answered the call as Kei knocked the guard out and I quickly hung up. However, when we both looked around the corner, we noticed that the container Antonio was in suddenly went dark. Crap.
Kei knew we had to move and she tried to move towards the container only to be intercepted by the butch lady. She grabbed Kei by the shoulder and was about to punch her, but I quickly moved in to hold her arm back while I kicked her in the back of the knee. Kei tried punching the woman in the ribs several times, but she was tossed away like a rag doll and I was thrown along with her. Kei and I quickly got to our feet to face the woman while Antonio and Teresa quickly flanked her.
"Kei, Na- Yue?" said Antonio in shock. "What are you two doing here?"
"What else could we be doing here? We came to rescue you," said Kei as she got back on her feet.
"Well, well, well, look who it is," said Teresa. "I didn't think I'd ever get to see you out of your getup Yue. And who the hell are you?" Kei didn't say anything because she was star struck at the sight of Teresa. I got the feeling that Kei wanted to ask her for her autograph or something, but I nudged her in the arm to snap her out of her trance. "Never mind, I doubt you're of any importance if you're with her."
"Wow, I didn't think she'd be that condescending in person," said Kei.
"Fuck you, you're…"
Antonio grabbed Teresa by the shoulder and cut her off. "She's my girlfriend and my wingman. Watch your mouth," he growled.
"Even if that's true, they wouldn't understand."
"I'm sure Yue will."
"What will I understand?" I asked nervously.
"I'm going to help the people of Earth," said Antonio.
I was at a loss for words. Antonio wanted to aid the people to whom he held so much resentment towards. He would often bellyache to me about how he wanted to annihilate this group of people for what they did. Not because of what they did to us, but to the whole world.
"I don't understand," I said in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"Yue, we've never been told the whole story regarding the Grey Men. Think about it; what do we know about them? What is there overall goal?"
"They're trying to manipulate the planet for their own gain! They tried throwing the world into chaos numerous times!"
"But why," asked Antonio. "What is the reason behind all of it?"
"Why are you siding with them?" I asked
"Earth is in trouble. Ulysses devastated the planet even more than it did Strangereal. Earth's population is in worse shape than ours and Earth's governments' can't do anything to help them. Our governments are stonewalling Earth's request for aid and they're growing desperate."
"They wanted to destroy the planet, how can you side with a decision like that?!" I shouted.
"I know that! I stopped it from happening twice, so don't you dare suggest that this is an easy choice for me!" he shouted.
"You would seriously kill billions of people for them?!" asked Kei.
"I haven't made that decision yet. If anything, I'm going to try and have Strangereal cooperate with Earth."
"And if that doesn't work?" I asked.
"Then there's nothing that I can do. But I'm not just going to stand by and watch billions of other people suffer while knowing that I could've done something to help," said Antonio. "You've always believed in me, Yue, but why are you hesitating now?"
I would've done anything for Antonio. I would've risked my own life to save him because I knew that he was a kind person. The majority of people who knew him might've labeled him as an asshole, but I knew him as the most selfless person in the world. This quality was what I loved about him more than anything. However, I never thought he'd take it to this extreme.
"I've always stood by you, Antonio," I said quietly. "I've supported you just as much as you've supported me and I'll never be able to repay you for everything you've done. You've helped me see the light numerous times when I was lost and you even taught me how to think for myself. But now, I'm making the choice to stop you," I growled.
"I see," he said softly. "And you, Kei?"
Kei was clenching her fist and I could see her body trembling with rage. If anyone knew what was going through her mind, it was me. "After everything we went through in the past several months and after all the hardships we've suffered together, you'd plunge the world back into this mess?" Kei looked up and I could see just how much she hated Antonio. The thought of what she'd do to him sent chills down my spine, but I didn't blame her.
Antonio sighed in defeat and I could see how he really felt about all of this. He wasn't going to change his mind on this issue and he knew what he had to do if he was going to go through with this. I pulled out my dagger and pistol while Kei did the same. We all knew what was going to happen.
"If you're not going to help us Yue, get out of our way," said Teresa.
"I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck," I growled.
"I won't give you the chance," she said.
I was about to say something, but the bulk heads on both sides of the overhead walkways suddenly opened and almost every guard on the ship began to swarm into the cargo hold. Kei and I didn't waste any time running back towards the cargo containers towards the rear of the area. A hail of bullets were coming in from every direction, but none of them found their mark as we took cover in this maze of cargo. We could hear Teresa calling for the guards to cease fire and it took them a minute to stop shooting.
"Gogulski, you're ex seems to think highly of you and he's asked me not to kill you or your friend," she shouted from the other side of the hold. "He's also telling me that these men can't kill you and he insists on dealing with you himself, but I have my orders as well. I'll make you a deal, if you can incapacitate all of them, I'll let him have his way."
"Bring 'em on. I'll be done in a matter of minutes," I shouted back.
"Ha, that's something a whore would say."
"I didn't know two year dry-spell made me a promiscuous woman," I muttered as I chambered a round in my gun.
"You're telling me," Kei grumbled in response and I froze.
"He held out on you?" I asked.
Kei just gave me an annoyed glare and I almost laughed, but I could hear the guards closing in on us. We quickly separated to deal with the guards that were coming our way. By the sound of things, there were only a fraction of them trying to track us down so that they didn't run into each other in this maze.
"It would be a lot more effective if you sent all of them at once," I heard Antonio say.
He's right. Fighting numerous people in tight spaces like this while I was surrounded would've spelled certain doom for me and Kei, but I knew how Teresa liked to do things. She liked to see how far she could push people before they buckled under pressure. She didn't take Antonio's advice and she only sent twelve of them in after us.
I heard a guard coming down one of the alleys and I shouldered up against the adjacent corner. When he was about to look my way, I grabbed his weapon's barrel and forced it upwards while I pulled out my suppressed pistol and shot him in the throat. As I ran towards the other end of the alley, I could hear another guard grunt in pain followed by him hitting the floor. I was about to shoulder up against another corner but a guard spotted me right off the bat. I would've incapacitated him on the spot, but another guard spotted me further down the way. I hit the closest guard in the jaw with my right elbow so that I could grab his hand more easily and twist it behind his back. Once he turned around, I tightly wrapped my left arm around his neck and drew my pistol on the other guard. Once he was dead, I threw the first guard behind me and shot him once he hit the floor. I could hear another guard hit the ground nearby and I peeked around one of the corners to see what was going on. The guards had wised up and began to move in pairs so that they could cover each other's' blind spots. The first pair that I saw heard what Kei had done and they both turned their attention in her direction. This allowed me to sneak up behind them more easily. I shot the first guard in his right wrist so that he lost control of his weapon and then put a bullet into the back of his neck. His partner tried to point his gun at me, but I deflected it away with my dagger and jammed the barrel of my pistol into his eye before I shot him in the throat as well. Another guard was coming down the alley I had just come from and I quickly rushed to meet him. He was alone and I quickly pushed his rifle away before I double tapped him in the stomach at point blank range.
More guards were coming in after us and I knew that I had to move or else I'd become boxed in. They were converging on all sides and I quickly climbed on top of one of the containers to get around them. I was lucky that these things were stacked unevenly because I knew that there were some guards who had to have been watching from the walkways. Anyways, from where I was, I could see that fighting them in this area wasn't an option and I decided to move to another area in the maze of containers. I was at the starboard bow corner of the maze when I saw a straggling guard coming down an alley. I jumped down and delivered a hard right cross to his face which caused him to fall. When he tried getting back up, I stomped on his neck as hard as I could. With him out of the way I climbed back up on top of the containers and began to move towards the port aft side of the maze when I heard automatic gunfire come from that direction. I was still on top of some containers when I saw Kei surprise a guard when he walked around a corner. Kei was carrying an M4 equipped with a bayonet and I thought that she'd be at a disadvantage when she dealt with the guard, but I was wrong. The guard failed to look her way and she grabbed the guard's weapon with her free hand while she was standing on his left side, kicked him in the back of his left leg, and ran her rifle's blade into the side of his neck. One guard had heard what she did and was headed her way, but I intercepted him by landing on his back and snapping his neck. One of the guards that were looking for Kei now had his sights set on me, but Kei took him out by kicking him in the back of his knee so that his aim was thrown off and proceeded to bayonet him in the back of his neck. However, another guard had rushed Kei so that he could try and disarm her. He grabbed Kei's weapon, but she quickly head butted him and jammed her rifle's blade into his throat when his grip on her gun loosened. Once they were out of the way, Kei turned around to deal with two more guards that were behind her and I did the same. The first guard I saw was thrown off when I quickly rushed in and grabbed his right arm and kneed him in the gut. When he bent down, I brought up my pistol to shoot his friend before I kneed the guard in the head causing him to stagger backwards. I hip fired into his chest twice before I aimed down the sights to put one in his head. When I looked back at Kei, I saw her kneeling over one of the guards while she punched the crap out of him over a dozen times before she got back up to look at me.
"I'm tired of this," shouted Teresa. "Tear those bitches apart!"
All the guards that were waiting to be sent in after us began to flood into the container maze after me and Kei. We quickly nodded at each other to deal with all of them. I grabbed a grenade off the guard I killed and climbed back on top of one of the containers. My heart was racing because I had never fought this many people at once and I knew that I had to get out of this alive if I wanted to stop the Grey Men's plan. The only thing that worried me was Kei. I had no idea what she was capable of and I just had to trust her, but I knew she was just as pissed as I was.
Gun fire and explosions echoed throughout the ship's cargo hold and I could tell that the girls were doing a number on Teresa's men. If she had listened to me from the start, she could've ended this a lot sooner, but my profile of her suggested that she didn't want to admit that I was right. I could tell that she was frustrated just by standing next to her and by how many cigarettes she smoked within a span of two minutes. The Man-Lady was standing in front of me like she wasn't going to let me help subdue Kei and Naomi and that's what really irritated me.
"By the time this is over, your friend here and I are going to be the only two people to cover your sorry ass if they both survive," I said sarcastically.
"There's no way that they can kill all my men on their own," she retorted.
"Do you have any idea what your bosses did to us while we were kids?" I asked and Teresa just gave me an annoyed look. "I'll enlighten you. We were trained to overcome insurmountable odds and we were even given abilities that were far greater than the average human. Supposedly I was the best subject they produced and Yue was one of the most promising. Do you really think that your men could do anything to stop her?" I asked.
Teresa gritted her teeth at me because she knew I was right. I didn't like her as it was because she thought she was a great manipulator, but so was I. If she wanted to deal with the girls effectively, she'd have no choice but to send me in there. She came to terms with this when we heard the gunfire cease and when she didn't get a response when she asked for a sitrep.
"Get in there and take care of them," she growled.
"Can I get my gun back?" I asked.
Teresa looked at the Man-Lady who then pulled my pistol out of her holster and handed it to me. I was surprised that it looked like it was still fully intact after my fight with Bishop. But when I held it, it seemed slightly lighter than when I held it before. This made me conclude a couple things. The first thing was that my senses were as sharp as the time before I encountered Ghost for the first time. And the second thing was that my gun was missing a specific piece. I didn't say anything and I pretended not to notice when I turned to head towards the containers.
I was using extreme caution when I entered the maze because I knew better than anyone what Naomi was capable of. Now that she had Kei helping her, this could prove to be one of the most difficult scenarios I've ever faced. Naomi's sneaking abilities were superior to mine, but I could detect her only if I concentrated hard enough. I knew that Kei would give her the opening she needed to effectively attack. As I continued deeper into the maze, I found numerous bodies of the guards and they all had fatal wounds around their chest and head. I blamed myself for this because I trained Kei and Naomi. They both knew my technique and this showed just how effective it was. One guy was still moving and I could see him reaching out to me, but I knew it was a trap. One of two things would happen if I went towards him. Either I'd help him up only to be attacked in some way and we'd both die, or I hesitate to do something and get attacked while I contemplated helping him. The latter turned out to be true and I heard someone drop down and I looked up to see Kei coming down on top of me with a rifle equipped with a bayonet. I dove out of the way and rolled onto my feet to face her. When she charged at me, I managed to deflect her attack way and gain control over the weapon. Once I had it, I jammed Kei in the chest with the butt of the rifle before I hooked my leg behind her and pushed her to the ground. I would've tried to neutralize her at this point, but I knew Naomi was about to attack and I turned around just in time to see her trying to deliver a flying punch to my jaw. I stepped out of her way enough so that her punch missed and I was able to drive my knee into her gut. Naomi collapsed to her knee and I grabbed her by the back of her neck so that I could push her towards Kei. She rolled onto her feet and quickly turned towards me so that she could help Kei stand back up. I was in for one hell of a fight and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to it.
"We both know that you don't stand a chance against us," growled Naomi.
"Even though I'm not the same after Ghost-"
"Specter," she corrected me.
"Whatever, even you have to admit that I was still more of a challenge even for you after he poisoned me," I said as I disassembled Kei's rifle. "Dealing with the both of you should be enough to test how capable I still am. Even though I taught both of you what I know, you both still have a long way to go before you're able to go toe-to-toe with me, especially you, Kei. So, I'm going to give you both one chance to give up."
"You asshole," muttered Kei. "I'm not going to submit to you or those bastards that nearly destroyed the city. If anything, I'm going to kill you first before she does."
"No, I'm going to kill him," growled Naomi.
"And what makes you think you can?" I teased.
"I'm a hundred and fourteen pounds of raging estrogen, crammed into this damn suit, and I'm nursing a savage case of PMS. I'm pretty fucking dangerous right now!" shouted Naomi.
"Ha! I knew you gained weight," I laughed and Naomi took offence to that.
Naomi screamed as she pulled out her dagger and charged at me without hesitation. Even after all this time, she was still easy to antagonize and this was one of the things that caused her to screw up in a fight. When she was within reach, I grabbed her wrist with my right hand squeezed it hard enough so that he grip loosened and I pushed it out of her hand with my left hand. Once she lost her dagger, I tried to toss her to the ground, but she tried to hook her leg behind herself so that she could kick me in the head. I deflected her leg away and quickly grabbed her right arm so that I could toss her to the ground and twist it behind her back. I would've pulled her arm out of her socket, but Kei was coming in from behind me to attack. I was forced to release Naomi and confront Kei who was trying to jump on me. She would've tried to wrap her arm around my neck if she got hold of me, but I caught her in midair and threw her behind me. Naomi recovered and tried to kick me in the leg while she was still on the ground and I jumped back to avoid it. When she got back onto her feet, she didn't hesitate when she began to throw her punches and kicks.
Naomi seemed like she was out to hurt me, but I could tell that she was pulling her punches. When Kei joined the fray, I could feel the same thing coming from her. They both didn't want to kill me, but they did want to hurt me. I knew how they felt, but this was the only way that I'd be able to save them. It wasn't an easy decision to make and I knew the consequences of what I was doing, but it was the only way for us to survive. To be completely honest, I hated even siding with these people at all, but I was going to deal with them once everything was put in place. I just hoped that Kei and Naomi could forgive me when all of this was over.
The thoughts that were going through my mind as Antonio and I continued to fight were a mixture of sorrow, anger, and denial. To think that Antonio could even side with these people was the most heartbreaking thing I think I've ever endured in my life. He had hurt me a few times in the past out of frustration and anger, but I never held any of it against him. But the fact that he could ally himself with the people whom he hated most was unforgivable. I don't think that I could've ever forgiven Antonio for this because I hated them just as much as he did. Despite his allegiance to these people, I didn't want to believe that he was serious. This was the reason I was holding back and I could tell that Kei was thinking the same thing, but this didn't keep us from trying to hurt him.
I had just avoided one of Antonio's kicks aimed at my head and dove to grab my dagger and Kei rushed in to attack. She ducked to avoid a right hook and ran her elbow into his gut before she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Antonio tried to use his free arm to elbow Kei in the ribs and head, but she blocked his attacks and elbowed him in the back of the neck. Antonio was a little dazed and Kei ran his head into the side of a container a couple of times before he was able to twist out of Kei's grip and force her into the side of the container as well. I quickly moved in to tackle Antonio, but he managed to stay on his feet. Antonio elbowed me in the back and threw me behind him while Kei tried to move in. I got back onto my feet as quickly as I could and we both began to attack Antonio from both sides. He was totally boxed in and I could tell that he was close to screwing up. I thought we'd finally be able to beat him and I managed to put him into a full nelson so that Kei could pound the crap out of him, but he threw us for a loop. Kei was about to connect a hard right cross to his face, but Antonio ducked and Kei ended up hitting me on accident. I still held onto Antonio as hard as I could but he threw his head back into mine so that he could get free. Once my grip had loosened, he delivered a kick into Kei's jaw and heel kicked me in the chest before he quickly climbed on top of one of the containers.
When I looked at Kei, I saw her pull her pistol out and shoot a couple rounds at Antonio before he ran. It was then that I knew that we couldn't beat Antonio like this and I pulled out my pistol as well before we climbed on top of the container after him. I thought he would pull out his gun, but he ran instead. Kei and I chased him as he ran towards the bow of the hold and he stopped just short of the open area he came from. We weren't far behind him and he knew that we'd have and easier shot if he tried to drop down.
"Give it up, Blaze!" shouted Kei.
"There's no escaping from us," I said as I leveled my gun on him.
"Did you already forget who I am?" he asked as he pulled out a pistol mag. "You of all people should know not to assume things, Yue."
Antonio quickly threw the mag at Kei and she caught it before it could hit her. I was distracted by his action that I didn't notice that Antonio had charged at me and grabbed me by my wrist while he elbowed Kei in the chest. Kei fell back and Antonio proceeded to throw me onto the ground before Kei fired off a couple more shots that Antonio dodged. In an effort to push him over the edge, Kei tried to tackle him, but he stopped her. Antonio kneed her in the chest and threw her behind him so that he could rush me again before I could bring up my gun. He grabbed my arm again, twisted it behind my back, and spun me around so that he could restrain me by wrapping my own arm around my neck. Kei had just recovered and was now aiming her gun at us.
"I don't get it, why would you turn on us like this?" she asked.
"I didn't turn on anyone," said Antonio. "I just see things differently. I know that these people want to kill everyone on Strangereal, but do you seriously think that the people of this planet are dumb enough to completely annihilate themselves before they came to their senses? A lot of people will die, but it will be a hell of a lot less than if Earth continues down its current path."
"Why should we care about Earth?"
"They're still people just like us. You've never had to make some of the hard choices me and her have, Kei. Reality is extremely cruel and unforgiving and I thought you would've come to realize that throughout the war."
"After you told me that you wanted to make the world a better place, how could you just turn you back on everything you used to stand for?" I asked.
"The people of Earth have it worse than we do. I know I can do a lot more good over there than here!"
I felt myself lose all rational thought and I began to act on pure instinct. There was no use in trying to convince him that what he was doing was wrong and I knew that I had to kill him. I twisted out of his grip and Kei took advantage of the situation to shoot a couple rounds. Antonio avoided her shots and got close enough to push her pistol out of the way before he connected a right hook to her face. I fired a couple shots of my own to try and hit him while trying to provide a window of opportunity for Kei to attack. She threw a back roundhouse kick only for it to be deflected and I tried using her distraction to shoot Antonio. He dodged my bullets and moved in to grab a hold of my gun. Kei tried to take aim, but Antonio back handed her while I tried to kick him in the face. I knew he was going to block my attack, but I didn't expect him to counter my attempt to shoot him point blank in the face. Antonio grabbed my arm and pushed it out of the way and Kei attempted something similar by shooting him up close as well, but Antonio grabbed her arm as well. We both tried to pull away from him, but he twisted around and threw us both over his shoulders and off the edge of the containers. I wasn't able to recover in time and I landed on my back while Kei rolled onto her feet only to be tackled by the butch lady I fought before. I was about to go after her, but the sound of Antonio hitting the ground forced me to stop myself.
"Give it up, Yue," he said sympathetically. "If you keep fighting, I'll be forced to put you down hard."
"Then do it. You're not going to stop me otherwise," I said as I pulled out my dagger and reloaded my pistol.
Antonio sighed and pulled out a knife Teresa gave him. He was going to kill me with his next move and I knew that he'd get me because of how unfocused I was. We both charged each other and I tried to deliver a flying kick to his chest when we were close enough. Antonio ducked out of the way and readied himself for what I was going to do next. I charged at him again and attacked with multiple swipes with my dagger that he deflected and I tried using my pistol whenever I could, but all of it was useless. The more we fought, the more I could see that he was messing with me. He usually did this whenever we sparred and I could've sworn that he was doing this just to piss me off before he finally killed me.
"You always were a try hard, Yue," he teased as he deflected my attacks.
"And you were always an asshole!" I shouted as I tried to level my gun on him.
Antonio quickly grabbed my wrist and pried my gun away and I tried to counter by stabbing him in the head with my dagger. Antonio quickly deflected my hand away and blocked me from bringing up my other hand. This gave him an opening to hit me in my inner right thigh and I bent over in pain. This gave him the perfect chance to grab me by my throat, hook his leg behind mine, and throw me to the ground. Normally, I would've been dazed, but I've had this done to me so many times that I've developed a counter for it. As soon as I hit the ground, I kicked Antonio in the groin and he nearly collapsed from the pain. When this happened, I was able to grab hold of his pistol, but I wasn't fast enough to pull the trigger. Antonio had landed on top of me and kept me pinned under his weight while he broke one of my fingers to gain control of the gun. After I cried out in pain, Antonio tried to get up and I kicked him in the face causing him to fall back. We both flung ourselves onto our feet and I corrected my broken finger before I tried to throw a punch at him. Antonio dipped his head down and I ran my fist into the top of his head. He wasn't fazed by my attack at all and I ended up hurting my hand pretty badly. Antonio capitalized on my pain and landed a left and right cross to my face and head-butted me before he heel kicked me into a container. I tried to get back up and pull up my dagger, but it was too late. Antonio had leveled his gun on my head and he showed no signs of hesitation. I froze in place and I was desperately thinking of a way out, but tears formed in my eyes when I knew that I was completely helpless.
"I wish it didn't come to this, and we both know that I'd pull the trigger before you could even think about attacking again. We both know how this ends… I just hope somehow you could forgive me," he said solemnly and he pulled the trigger.
Again, I apologize for the delay in my posts, but these last few chapters have been difficult for me to write due to my personal feelings with the characters I created and the direction I've been going with my fanfics, especially in my other story. Since I also saw the AC7 reveal trailer, I've been swarming with ideas on how my future fanfics could play out while tying in these current stories or if I should attempt to write anything. I'm not entirely sure about it though. Our journey is almost at an end I suppose, but I hope to have your support in the future.