Foreclosure Task Force Club Room

Serika walked into the club room, a mild yawn escaping her mouth.. "Morning everyone."

No one gave her a response, causing the girl to frown. As she joined her club mates, she nudged Ayane. "What's going on?"

The glasses wearing girl pointed at the far side of the room. Standing there was Takanashi Hoshino…humming with a skip in her step. She was holding a feather duster and was dusting away without a care in the world.

Serika's mind blanked out. Sure, she had seen the upperclassman be lazy, carefree, and an absolute slob, but never being diligent, hard working, and HUMMING? Since when did Hoshino ever hum?

The door to the club room opened and the grizzled teacher walked in. Noticing Hoshino's chipper mood, he smiled and waved. "Morning Hoshino. In a good mood, I see?"

The club president turned her head. "Ahh, Sensei, good morning. I just woke up this morning and noticed that it was a beautiful day. It'd be a shame if our clubroom was a filthy mess on such a wonderful day, so I decided some house cleaning was needed."

"Filthy mess?" Ayane, the normal housekeeper of the clubroom, raised her brow. "I clean just fine."

"Oh, did I say that? Uhehe, sorry about that." Hoshino sheepishly chuckled. "The room was already very clean. I just wanted to do something productive and found the duster. Sorry Ayane-chan!" On the last word, the girl winked.

The two first years' faces paled as they rushed over to their teacher. "Sensei, Hoshino's lost it. Something broke her!"

"What's gotten into Hoshino? It's like something snapped in her!"

""Sensei, help us!""

The teacher broke into a hearty laugh, leaving the two girls in confusion. "Girls girls, I see what you're worried about. But I assure you, your club president is fine." He sat down at the table and pulled out several packets from his bag. "Now then, I've gathered intel concerning recent Kaiser movements throughout the last month and it seems like they've been making a lot of shipments and convoys into the desert."

Ayane opened up the folder and gasped. Inside were detailed maps of the Abydos dunes, with full topography and drone surveillance footage from multiple directions. "Wait a sec, this is incredibly detailed. You've got accurate maps that make my drone generated maps look like children's scribbles."

"It's not like I actually made them. These maps have been around for decades." The teacher shrugged, "I just found a few copies still in decent condition from the main campus."

In his defense, he had kept vacuum sealed copies of tactical maps of the entire district in his old office and Fox squad had been kind enough to dig his office up enough to break in and collect his old intel kit.

"Even so, this drone footage of Kaiser troops moving into the desert is very sharp and has already been cleaned up significantly." Ayane muttered, "Sensei, can you tell us where you got this from?"

The teacher gave the student a wink, "Best you not ask and just know that Sensei has good intelligence connections."

"Uwah, Senpai really is an expert in intel gathering," Hoshino casually muttered aloud. "To get us this good intel, Kaiser won't even know what hit them. Uhehe…"

Ayane raised her brow, but sighed, understanding no one was going to give her an answer. Meanwhile, the rest of the task force was pouring over the maps, doing their best to memorize every minor detail that could help them.

Sensei observed their careful and astute observations and smiled. Even with the school's collapse, it was good to know that the Abydos student training had not slacked in the slightest. "Shiroko, you confident you could pathfind us a route into the desert?"

"Nnn" The wolf girl nodded, "I've cycled a few of these paths before. Finding my way from there shouldn't be hard at all."

"Serika, you think you can craft some makeshift desert gear for us? Just some white linen and fiber should be enough to cover our heads. Also we need extra canteens and possible rations for an extended surveillance."

Serika frowned as she considered the order. "It's a tall order, but I think I can put it together. Between my various part time jobs, I've done a fair bit of sewing and stitching. Making headgear and water pouches should be a breeze."

"Good, Nonomi, I'll leave stocking ammunition and supplies out to the dunes to you."

"Of course Sensei."

Sensei turned to the club president and Ayane. "Now the three of us are going to be working on upgrading Ayane's drone range to handle the extended distances we're going to be traveling. Are we good?"

Ayane raised her brow. "You can do that?"

Hoshino chuckled, "It's no biggie. We just need to insert a stronger battery and wrap it in a resistant tarp. Sure it will be more visible from afar, but now we won't have to worry about any breezes knocking the drone out of the air.

"I see." Ayane nodded, "Then let's do this."

Kaiser PMC encampment

"What do you mean back off? We can take them!" Serika demanded.

"Nnn," Shiroko agreed, raising her rifle.

Sensei shook his head. "No can do. This isn't a fight we can win. Let's do what they ask. Turn around and leave."

Hoshino turned her head towards the teacher. "Even if?"

Knowing exactly what she was implying, the teacher gravely frowned. "We can't get them involved. Not this time. Not on their turf."

He raised his hand and made a reverse circle. "Abydos squad fall back."

As the girls and teacher left the perimeter, Hoshino looked back at the assembled Kaiser force and muttered. "So even with Sensei's help, it's still hopeless."

200 meters away, from an enclosed sniper's nest, Otogi gave Yukino a raised brow. "What do you mean we can't engage? This is literally why we came back to start with."

Kurumi's ears bristled as she growled. "Let me at those Kaiser jerks, I wanna take 'em all."

Niko shook her head. "We can't. SRT may have the extra judicial authority within the D.U to pursue criminals, but we're on Kaiser soil. They legally have the right to be here and we don't have a warrant from the GSC to operate here. If you open fire, that's basically ousting SRT as Teacher Ao's personal army without any leash."

She turned to her squad lead. "That's my take on the situation."

Yukino had her ear pressed against the squad transceiver, her brow narrowed in concentration. "He just called off the attack. We're heading back to the evac zone."

"But we can't just leave our underclassmen to fend for themselves." Otogi protested, "The entire point of this operation was to save them."

"I refuse to flee like a coward." Kurumi snarled. "And if you're just going to run with your tail between your legs-"

"FOX 3 and 4, that's an order from your squad leader!" Yukino barked back.

The two foxes froze at the change of tone as their ears flattened. Niko jerked her head in surprise. "Yukino, are you-"

Taking a deep breath, the squad leader sighed. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just-"

She looked back wistfully at the encampment and their underclassmen. The sniper and pointwoman followed her gaze and smiled. "Jeez Yukino," Otogi sighed, "Always the fretful one. We get it, we're SRT. We're meant to be the tool of the GSC and that means we need to follow orders, even if we don't like it."

Kurumi rolled her eyes, "Some of us more than others. But I get it. Let's pack up and get out of here."

Niko's expression remained stoic for a moment before softening. "Right then, we'll regroup near the old academy and await further orders." With that, she turned and exited the nest, carrying their equipment as she left.

Yukino sighed. "Sensei, you better have a plan for all this. Or else next time I may not be able to follow your orders."

Abydos High School

It was dark when he noticed her entrance. Sensei raised his face from the mess of maps, reports, and photographs pinned on his corkboard. "Ahh, I was waiting for you to show up."

Hoshino sighed, "Sensei, saying that is so utterly cliche. Makes you sound like an evil mastermind." She turned to one of the maps on the wall, recognizing it as the Kaiser encampment. She frowned as she noticed a smaller mess of debris and drywood cobbled together into a small shelter. "So the Senpais were there."

"Pretty much," Sensei didn't hide anything. "They were waiting for the fight to start before backing us up."

"And you called them off." The girl spoke bitterly. "You had everything there and you chose to back off."

The teacher was about to explain himself but was cut off as Hoshino continued. "Tactically it may not make sense, but politically it makes perfect sense. The Kaiser general was there. If we started a fight there, they would have justification to move in on the rest of Abydos. I don't know whether we could have won with Senpai's reinforcements, but it wouldn't have mattered in the long run."

She turned back to her teacher. "I get what's going on here. You don't need to defend anything. I'm sure Kurumi Senpai and Otogi Senpai are super pissed off right now. Yukino Senpai knows how to put duty before her feelings, but I imagine her and Niko Senpai are just as upset."

"Summed it up perfectly." The teacher nodded. "I just spent the last half hour placating the entire squad. They came hoping for a fight and I didnt' give them one. But they'll follow orders. I raised them to do that."

Hoshino chuckled at the mental image. After a moment, she went silent. "Sensei, what if I told you I had a way to make this all stop? To put an end to Kaiser's advance against Abydos and the harassment of the locals? Would you support me in that endeavor?"

Frowning, Sensei looked the girl straight in the eyes. "Explain."

"There's this person who's been pestering me the last few years. I call him Black Suit because that's what he wears. He keeps asking me to resign and take a position in his organization. Says he's interested in my mystic abilities." She shrugged, "At the time, I didn't believe him and refused. A week later, problems began happening in the district. Crime rates went up and the gangs began harassing Yume and I. It only got worse after that."

"And you never told anyone?" The teacher raised his brow.

"Of course I did. I told Yume Senpai. And look where that got her."

Sensei's expression softened. "Kiddo, I-"

"Point is, I've kinda got the feeling that this all happened because I keep saying no. Which means if I say yes, then all this harassment, all this destruction will stop. The people of Abydos won't suffer any longer. My adorable underclassmen won't have to keep fighting off countless gangs. My senpais won't have to suffer in a fight we can't win."

"Hoshino, you don't know that. For all we know, this Black Suit could be lying-"

"But what if he isn't!?" Hoshino shot back. "I can't take that risk, Sensei! If there's even remotely a chance that I can make all this suffering stop, then this is worth it."

She picked up a small envelope and placed it on the teacher's desk. Sensei didn't even bother to open it. "I won't sign off on this Hoshino. I won't lose another student under my watch."

"I know you won't, Sensei." Hoshino chuckled, "That's why I know this is the right thing to do."

She turned around and left the room. "Farewell, Teacher Ao. Please look after my underclassmen for me."

With that, the door closed and Sensei was left all alone. The teacher remained silent for a second before his fist struck the desk with a resounding crack.

"Sensei?" Arona's concerned voice came from the Schitem Chest. "Are you alright?"

The teacher didn't respond as a thousand thoughts ran through his mind. "Am I really this much of a coward? So scared of the repercussions that I won't protect a single student?"

"You're not a coward, Sensei." Arona protested, "You're very strong and brave."

"But the moment I actually have to make a decision, I freeze up and back out." The older man looked at his fist. "Why am I so scared? Why do I choose the easy way out?"

He looks back up to the night sky, "Haru, what should I do?"

Arona didn't respond, allowing the man to brood over his anger. "Sensei, even if I look like her, I'm not-"

"You're not Haru. I know Arona." The man smiled, "You remind me of Haru though. Everyone reminds me of her. And I took up this position to protect Haru's legacy. To finish what she started, to create a place where students can live out their passions."

He looked at the Shitem Chest. "So what if I oust myself, or reveal my trump card. If it's to save a single student, then it will be worth it."

He reached for the tablet, turning it on. "Because that is what a grown up would do. Arona, call Yukino."

Abydos District

Shiroko looked over the burning Abydos district, filled with Kaiser troops. Her fur bristled as she growled. "Sensei, let me at them. Let me tear their robot heads out."

The teacher remained calm, his posture straight as he put his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Calm down Shiroko. Your time will come." His eyes locked onto the Kaiser general's figure. "I promise that."

The general frowned. "What is that supposed to mean? You're outnumbered, outgunned, and there is no General Student Council to save you."

The teacher shrugged. "It means exactly what I said it means. You're trespassing on Abydos property and engaged in the illegal kidnapping of a member of the Abydos Student Council. Unlike your encampment in the desert, you have no warrant nor authorization to operate in this area. That's a violation of the guidelines put forth by the General Student Council protecting the rights of Academic jurisdiction." The teacher recited. "As a member of said organization, I hereby demand that you cease your activities in the district or else face retaliation by Schale."

The general narrowed his eyes. "Did you not even hear what I just said? I just told you that the General Student Council is powerless and has no true power to carry out extrajudicial arrests. Valkyrie cannot operate in the Abydos district and I don't see the Abydos Student Council capable of making said arrests."

The teacher sighed. "And that's where you're right. As of this moment, Valkyrie has no jurisdiction to maintain public order in a district that has officially been recognized as Abydos and it would be up to the actual academy itself to maintain its own police forces."

Serika turned her head to the teacher. "Wait, but that's ridiculous! You can't expect us to repel all these robots?"

Shiroko shrugged, "Watch me."

Nonomi frowned. "Sensei, I-"

"-but I wasn't finished." The teacher interrupted them. "As I was saying, technically this sort of corporate invasion would require the judicial forces of the academy in question to repel, however, two years ago, the General Student Council President came up with a solution for this problem. She instituted a special task force dedicated to combat threats that could cross academy district lines and operate across all districts with the full authority to act in the name of the General Student Council."

The general frowned. "Wait, isn't that-"

"She called them the Special Response Team. And in the SRT contingencies, the next highest authority under the General Student Council President was to be the Sensei of Schale. And correct me if I'm wrong." The teacher smirked as the sound of helicopter rotors began to resound from all sides. "But I believe that's supposed to be me."

Explosions rocked the district, causing robots and students alike to momentarily lose their footing. Serika glanced around in surprise. "What's going on?"

"Oh my…" Nonomi muttered under her breath. "Sensei, you really do have a talent for theatrics."

"General, multiple unidentified targets have engaged our forward sentries. They're being overwhelmed." One of the robots reported to their general.

As if on command, a large blue helicopter gunship broke into the plaza, its rotary cannon spraying bullets across the vicinity. Robots were blown back as more were picked off by the resounding crack of an anti material rifle. A trio of ropes dropped down, allowing a trio of students in full combat gear to rappel to the ground.

"Fox 3, take point against their forces. Fox 2, tend to the civilians. Fox 4, keep a look out for snipers and grenadiers."

"Yes Squad Leader!" As one, the squad moved in synchronized action, rushing past the teacher and engaging the Kaiser forces around them.

"Woah…" Serika could only mutter as SRT commandos rushed into action around them.

"Such efficiency," Nonomi muttered in awe. "Just like Hoshino said."

Ayane frowned as she observed the Tiger helicopters dancing around the city. "Wait a second, I've seen these helicopters before…"

"You'd be correct." The quartet of Abydos students turned to see the teacher walk towards them, escorted by an SRT commando. "After the collapse of Abydos two years ago, the General Student Council had two priorities when creating SRT. The first was to create an extrajudicial force to handle large scale threats. The second was to ensure that the highly trained and equipped Abydos Disciplinary and Intelligence teams wouldn't be snapped up by the other academies, disrupting the balance of power."

"Wait," Ayane put the pieces together, "You mean that-"

"Every one of the SRT commandos you see before you is a former Abydos student. That's correct." Sensei grinned as he gestured to the fox girl next to him. "Allow me to introduce you to former Abydos intelligence squad head Niko. They're the de facto commanders of SRT when I'm not there running lectures."

"You're…our senpais?" Shiroko asked in astonishment.

Niko smiled. "Yes, it's good to meet you all in person."

Sensei was about to comment further when his tablet buzzed. He looked at the Shitem Chest and frowned. "Excuse me, I've got to take this." He gestured to Niko. "Follow up with Fox Squad from here on out."

With that, he turned around and left the students alone. There was an awkward moment of silence as gunfire and explosions were heard around them.

Nonomi finally broke the silence. "So you're all of Hoshino's senpais. She's mentioned you all before."

"All good things I hope?"

"She kept telling me about how one of her senpai kept giving her inarizushi."

Niko smiled, "That's me. Actually, I brought some just in case." Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small lunch container. Opening it up, she passed the container around. Shiroko looked in and saw a familiar set of sushi.

"Wait, these are the same as-"

Serika turned to the fox girl, who smiled. "You were at the Black Market!"

"Guilty as charged." Niko grinned, "We just wanted to make sure our cute juniors were being taken care of."

Shiroko didn't even hesitate. She grabbed two and stuffed the pieces of goodness into her mouth. Nonomi sighed, "Shiroko, don't stuff your food in your mouth. It's bad manners."

"Please, it's fine. Take some more."

As Nonomi and Shiroko took more of the inari, Serika and Ayane glanced at the growing numbers of SRT commandos loading captured Kaiser troops into prison transports and then at the groups of sailor uniform clad students tending to wounded residents. Everywhere they looked, SRT forces clad in their white and blue uniforms tread the streets.

Finally, Serika had enough. "Why?"

Niko turned back to the cat girl. "Yes?"

"Why did you return? Why did you all choose now of all times to come back?" Serika's voice was shaky but bitter.

"Serika, you don't need to-" Ayane tried to placate the girl but Serika kept going.

"You guys are all former Abydos students huh? That meant that you all abandoned Senpai when she needed you most. You all deserted her and ran away. So why did you choose now of all times to come back?" Serika shouted, tears running down her cheeks. "We suffered because of you. We've worked countless commissions and extra jobs. We fought together, cried together, and suffered together for our school because you all ran away. And now you come back and we're just supposed to be grateful and say thank you?"

She pointed her finger at Niko before throwing it back. "Not me. Don't act like you're the heroes because you're not! Even as we just hang out here, Senpai is out there somewhere and we're just supposed to sit around as if she's not in danger? Not for me!"

She turned to the rest of her comrades. "Come on, let's go get Hoshino senpai."

"Kuromi Serika."

The girl paused, turning around to see a tall fox girl with dark hair. "What?" She spat out bitterly.

"My name is Shichido Yukino." The girl introduced herself. "I'm one of the de facto commanders of SRT…and I was a personal friend of former Abydos President Yume. You could call me the head of the cowards."

"Yukino…" Niko tried to comfort her friend.

"When Yume died. We all panicked. We all thought Abydos was finished right then and there. Many of us fled right then and there. And I'm not excluded from that group." She gestured to the entire plaza as more SRT commandos joined her. "It's exactly as you said. We are all cowards. We ran when you needed us most."

Many students' gaze lowered to the ground, a shared sense of shame and guilt passing over them. Helmets and headsets were removed and held in one hand in reverence of the fallen former president. Yukino continued. "Sensei pulled us back together. Between him and the GSC president, they gave us a new calling, a new duty to ensure that the Abydos disaster would never happen again. To uphold justice and to preserve truth, those were the callings Sensei gave us. And that's how SRT was formed. And we've accomplished a great many feats under Sensei's guidance, but we've never forgotten our shame, our guilt at leaving Abydos on her own."

She gestured to the entire platoon of students, numbering in the dozens. "When Sensei asked for volunteers to finally purge Kaiser from the Abydos region for good, everyone volunteered. Not a single student refused the order.

"So please hear me out when I say that you are far stronger than us. And we have nothing but utmost respect for the soldiers of Abydos who remained when we all fled." With that, she took a knee towards the students. Ayane's jaw dropped as the gathered SRT students joined their leader, taking a knee as well before the Foreclosure Task Force.

"Please accept our apologies."

Utterly astonished by the sincerity of the students before them, Serika and Ayane stood in place. Nonomi smiled softly. "I'm sure Hoshino is grateful that you all returned to help. And we are as well. Now then, I believe we have a senpai to rescue?"

Yukino nodded, "That's right. Sandshrew, Howler, and Koala teams will remain here on clean up duty while Fox and the rest of the volunteer teams will head the main assault on Takanashi's location. As for where she is currently located, I believe our respected Sensei is handling that."

Black Suit's office

The wispy and shadowy man known as Black Suit didn't even flinch at the barrel of the glock placed mere inches from his face. "Hello there Mr. Ao, or do you go by Sensei these days?"

The man in question didn't mince words. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't blow your brains out."

"Not one to play around, huh? I see. I can respect that in a man." Black Suit replied without a trace of urgency in his voice. "Then let me give you a proposition. Why don't you join-"

"-No thanks." Came the curt reply as a thumb unclicked the safety. "Try again."

"Fine, fine, be that way." The suited man chuckled, "Then let me give you a choice. Gematria is an organization of knowledge, with many secrets that could benefit you as the Sensei of Schale. How about this?"

He held up one hand, holding a keychain with a small whale pendant on it. "On one hand, I can hand you the information on the current location of Takanashi Hoshino."

"Well that's why I came here-"

"-And on the other hand," Black Suit held up his other hand, holding a blue desert flower. "I can tell you everything I know about the disappearance of Ao Haru, the missing General Student Council President, as well as your daughter."

Sensei froze, his gun rigid in place. "You…what?"

The man chuckled. "That's right, Sensei. I might know something about your daughter's disappearance. In fact, I might know a great many things. Which is why," Without a shred of fear, he put his hand on the gun barrel. "You are not going to kill me. Because you need me."

Sensei's blue eyes met the shadowy man's as he glared deep into the shadowy void. "Maybe I don't care."

The void gazed back at him. "But you do. You need to rescue your student and you want to know what happened to your daughter. So here's what's going to happen."

Black Suit pointed at the door. "I'm going to tell you where to find the vice president. And you're going to let me walk out that door."

"And what if I don't care and blow your brains out right here and now?" Came Sensei's icy cold voice in response.

The business man didn't even flinch as their eyes met the teacher's with unwavering confidence.

Sensei considered just shooting him right then and there when a faint voice interrupted him.

"Sensei, don't do this." Arona protested. "We need his information."

"I can find out other ways." The teacher protested.

"But we don't have time." Arona interjected.

Sensei ignored her as the grip on his Glock tightened.

Arona tried one last ditch effort. "Is this what Haru would have wanted?"

The father's eyes widened as he stood back. Finally lowering his handgun, he turned to the suited man. "Talk."

"So the rumors are true." Muttered Black Suit, "I am glad that you are able to see reason."

He gestured to the folder on his desk. "You'll find all the information on Miss Takanashi's location in there." He stood up. "It's been a pleasure Sensei and I look forward to our next conversation."

As the man left, Sensei remained stiff as he held up the folder. "What am I doing, Haru? H-how did I blind myself from seeing what was important?"

"You were being a parent Sensei. You're showing just how much you care." Arona reassured the Sensei. "Now then, you've got a student to save."

"Th-that's right Arona." Folder in hand, Sensei exited the building to find two rows of SRT commandos in honor guard columns from the door, a helicopter waiting for him at the end.

"You girls," he rolled his eyes. Noticing the rather out of place Foreclosure students awkwardly standing next to the helicopter, he waved to them with the folder. "Hey girls, thanks for waiting for me."

Serika gave a small humph as she rolled her arms. "You've got a lot of explaining to do Sensei. Hiding this big a secret from us is unacceptable."

"So did you find Hoshino senpai?" Shiroko asked anxiously.

Sensei held up the folder and passed it to her. "It's all right here. Looks like she's being held in a secure Kaiser facility in the desert."

Shiroko took the folder and peered inside. "I'll begin plotting our route."

As he boarded the helicopter, Nonomi ran up to him. "Please let us come as well?"

The teacher stared at her in confusion. "Of course you're coming. This is an Abydos affair. Naturally all Abydos students are involved."

He turned back to the commandos, "Isn't that right girls?"

"Yes sir!"

The teacher smiled. "Now then, all teams to their choppers! Shiroko, Ayane, once you've plotted the route, share it with the rest of the teams. The intel doesn't indicate how well defended the facility is, so let's expect to go in guns hot! Foreclosure team, with me."

As the girls boarded the helicopters and the rotors began spinning, Nonomi turned to Sensei. "Thank you so much Sensei. This means the world to me and the rest of the girls."

Sensei gave a grim nod. "I'm just paying back an old favor. Now then, to the desert, the objective, the liberation of Takanashi Hoshino."

Kaiser Laboratory

Hoshino sat on the floor of the laboratory, her arms tied behind her back and her head lowered. She didn't care. What was the point?

She had blindly believed in the promises of another grown up and found out where it had gotten her. Black Suit had deceived her, Sensei had failed her, and even her so-called reliable senpai couldn't lift a finger. All that remained for her was to look out for her underclassmen and pray that they wouldn't be too harmed in all of this deception.

"Uhehe, is this how you felt Yume senpai?" The girl muttered aloud.

She was about to answer herself when a loud rumbling noise was heard overhead. Hoshino glanced up in confusion as she heard what sounded like explosions and gunfire overhead. "Huh, what's going on up there?"

She froze as she began to get an inkling. "Wait, it couldn't be."

Had her underclassmen come to try to rescue her? Hoshino sighed. Naturally they would have disagreed with her method of handling things. Perhaps she would need to convince them that this was the best way and that trying to fight the way of the world would only prolong their suffering.

As for Sensei, he would most likely be commanding them, knowing that their efforts were in vain but complying with his students' wishes. Maybe that's how it was supposed to be. Attack Kaiser head on and realize how hopeless the situation was and back off.

Hoshino sighed. She truly had some troublesome underclassmen.

She turned to one of the Kaiser guards around her who were glancing around in a panic. "Excuse me-"

"-what do you mean we're being overwhelmed?" One of the robot guards yelled into their radio. "It's supposed to be just a small group of brats!"

The robot frowned as they listened to the response before dropping frozen. "It's an army? And attack helicopters?"

Hoshino froze. An army? Did Sensei get some pull to get some extra help perhaps? But where did he get the helicopters?

"What do you mean they've got Seahawk and Blackhawk helicopters? Shoot them down dammit or else I'm coming out there to deal with them personally!"

"Wait, did you say Seahawks?" Hoshino blurted out.

The guards turned to their captor. One glanced at the other before nodding. "Nothing for you to be worried about. Just stay put and everything will be fine. It doesn't matter if they've got helicopters. We'll take them out of the sky before they can respond."

The girl wracked her brain with the new information. Seahawk and Blackhawk helicopters were the primary mode of transportation for the former Abydos Disciplinary Team. Sure, other academies had their own preferred helicopter, but the Seahawk was distinctly Abydos. So where had Sensei managed to scrounge up some old Seahawk helicopters…unless.

The explosions grew closer as the robot guards raised their rifles and ran towards the doors of the laboratory. Just moments before they opened the doors, the sealed gates blew back in a fiery roar, sending several guards flying back. Before the rest could respond, a burst of gunfire erupted from the entrance, catching the guards square in the chest.

As the smoke cleared, Hoshino looked past the smoke to see three figures. Leading the way, Shiroko and Yukino swept the room, rifles and laser dots aimed. Following up behind them, a tall figure in full combat gear entered the room with a FAMAS in his arms. Upon seeing the captured student, he rushed forward. "Hoshino!"

The student's eyes widened. "Sensei, wha-"

She didn't finish as she found herself caught in a firm bear hug. "You're okay. You're okay."

"Ahh, Sensei…you don't need to-"

"Shh, just tell me they didn't hurt you."

"Ahh, yes Sensei, I'm fine. They haven't done anything to me."

The teacher released the student from his grip as the other two students came forward. Shiroko glared at her upperclassmen as Yukino pulled out a pair of cutters. "I bring a message, Senpai. You're an idiot."

"Uhehehe, did Oji-san make you cry Shiroko? Sorry if this old timer made you cry and sob." Hoshino tried to laugh it off only for Shiroko to shake her head.

"I'm not going to punish you. But Nonomi said she's first in line for your stupid decisions."

"Ahh…I see…" Hoshino felt a shiver down her back as she felt the cutters free hands. "Oji-san will have to apologize profusely."

"Nnn"

Yukino rolled her eyes. "You're welcome."

"Ahh, Shichido senpai, thank you for your assistance too."

The Fox squad senior sighed, "Even I'm not stupid enough to pull what you tried to pull." She smiled, "You've got some great underclassmen though. Shiroko here definitely has potential to be SRT, maybe even a team lead."

She sent the wolf girl a smirk, "What do you say, wanna ditch this good for nothing club president and join SRT? We got only the best in terms of equipment and firepower. Why, we just recently opened up recruitment and brought in a team of new juniors-"

"-Awk, you wound me Senpai!" Hoshino protested, "First you try to nab me from Yume senpai, and now you try to nab Shiroko from me?"

Shiroko looked over the SRT member's uniform. "Would you let me rob a bank?"

Yukino raised her brow. "Bank robbing?"

Abydos High School

The post operation afterparty went long into the night. Held in the unused gymnasium, almost 60 SRT students joined their juniors in a night of festivities that hadn't been seen in years.

However, in the small office hidden in a corner, Sensei lay back in his seat and yawned. "Arona, make a note to send an alert to everyone to make it to bed at a good time. I am not going to have a repeat of the Abydos afterparty of five years ago. I don't know how they turned the Oasis pink and even today, I refuse to think about it."

Arona giggled, "Noted Sensei. I'll make sure to message everyone at oh one hundred hours."

The teacher lay his head against the back of the hard chair and closed his eyes. "Anything you wanna say Hoshino? Thought you were busy catching up with your former classmates."

The girl behind him shrugged, "Meh, this socializing is tiring me out." Her eyes turned serious. "But what baffles me is that you decided to show your trump card."

She looked out at the desert, "I was under the impression you couldn't deploy SRT not because you didn't want to, but because you couldn't. Weren't they supposed to only respond to the Student Council President?"

"Actually, there's a contingency right underneath it that authorizes me to deploy SRT as I see fit." Sensei corrected her. "Haru always intended for SRT to be used as an extrajudicial enforcer that would work alongside Schale."

"But to the public, that looks like SRT is nothing more than your own personal army." Hoshino observed, "Which is why you could only deploy them in very specific scenarios. Kaiser taking a single student is not a reasonable justification to deploy SRT." She turned her two colored eyes, "So why? Why risk SRT? Why risk your position as Schale Sensei to save me?"

"Because it's what Haru would have wanted." The father spoke without hesitation. "Haru never wanted to abandon Abydos. This is her second chance to make things right. And…well, I've got another reason." The teacher sighed. "It's kinda embarrassing to be honest."

Hoshino's brow rose. "Oh, and what is that?"

The teacher looked up at the ceiling. "It's because, to me, you're all Haru. Everytime I look at one of you, I see Haru in front of me. And I can't turn away from Haru when she's in need. So each one of you is one of my kids and I will never abandon you. EVER."

The teacher blushed slightly. "Is that too cheesy of a reason?"

Hoshino sighed as she walked up to the teacher. "Jeez, you grown ups are such a handful." With that, she walked up to the teacher and got up on her tippy toes to give the grizzled man a chaste kiss. "Thanks…dad."

A soft smile crossed the man's lips as he closed his eyes and let the darkness overtake him.