Chapter 119 - Isle of Man
"Gero-kun.." Assam suddenly called out
"Yes?"
"Regarding the car that guy Edward was driving.."
"What about it?"
"It just blew up.."
(Assam was looking at her laptop and was now gazing at a smoldering wreck which was Edward's car just a few seconds ago.)
"The Prince just blew up someone in broad daylight. Not to mention it was only minutes after that guy met with the Queen. Told you that Family is crazy." Kal said
"We still don't know if the prince was responsible." Klara said
"Klara is right, for all we know Pandora could've been behind this." Naomi said
"It would make sense to kill him since he's the only one that knows the prince's location. Killing him would mean that our only way of finding the prince has vanished." Erika said
"First things first, we have to find the Prince no matter what."
(A full day went by trying to find clues on the whereabouts of the Prince but Gero and his team couldn't find anything. Their patience was being tested and were on the edge of overwork when luck finally knocked on their door)
"We're receiving a call. A very secure one at that." Assam said
"How secure?"
"National Level secure."
"Answer it."
(Assam answered the secure call and a call was connected to her laptop)
"Hello?" Assam asked
"Hello! Thank God you answered my call! I need your help!" a voice answered
"Who is this?"
"My name is Charlie Artura Georgina, the First Prince of Britain, my mother is the current Queen of Britain, Cristina Artura Georgina."
"Looks like the Prince found us first." Ono said
"Prince Charlie, it is an honor to meet you, my name is Assam. Your mother is looking for you and is very worried. How may we be of service?"
"My close aide told me to call this number if I needed help. He told me to call if ever I couldn't contact him anymore and that you are the only ones that I can trust."
"Close aide? Is your close aide's name Edward perhaps?" Assam asked
"Y-Yes! Have you met him? Is he safe? The last time I spoke to him was yesterday when he sent me this number after he met with my mother. I've been trying to call him since then!"
"Before I inform you about sir Edward, do you not have any means to watch the news or receive any kind of information?"
"No, Edward said that I had to distance myself from any kind of electronic devices in order to avoid detection. I am only able to communicate with him through a messenger pigeon that he trained. Right now I'm using a secure satellite phone to contact you." the Prince said
"I see, I'm sorry to inform you that your close aide sir Edward died yesterday just after leaving the Palace."
"What?! Edward's dead?! What happened?!"
"His car was rigged with explosives. It was an instant and painless death."
"Oh my God! What do I do now!?"
"Tell us your location and we'll come for you. Or you can tell us a location of your choosing and we'll go there if that would make you feel better."
"Why should I trust you?"
"I won't ask you to trust us since you don't know us. But I'll ask you to trust sir Edward's last words to you. He told you to call us if you need help and you did. We're here to help you."
"Alright, I'll send you coordinates on where we can meet and what time. Only Miss Assam and two more can come. After this call I'll be destroying this phone to make sure I'm not traced."
"Let's decide on a code when it's time to meet. When we say Midnight you respond with Morning."
"Very well. I'll trust you."
(After the prince told them the coordinates the call was cut. The location was in a very remote location surrounded with mountains and they'll meet at midnight)
"Could be a trap by Pandora by using the Prince as bait." Erika said
"Trap or not, we don't have any choice, I'll go with Assam. The rest of you will standby near the coordinates in case things go south."
"Roger!"
"Who's going to be the third one?"
"Someone that'll help us convince the prince."
(When midnight came, they then headed to the designated location via helicopter. They landed the helicopter and waited in front of a cave)
"Midnight Tree!"
"..."
"Midnight Tree!"
"M-Morning Yawn!" a voice was heard from inside the cave
(Slowly a man wearing casual clothes walked out of the cave)
"Miss Assam, is that you?"
"Yes, and this is my comrade, Gero-kun."
"It is an honor to meet the prince of Britain."
"Thank you for coming all the way here but forgive me for not completely trusting you."
"We understand, that's why we brought someone that you might."
"It's been a long time, brother."
"Lotte!"
(Charlotte was the third person that they brought in order to convince the prince)
"You can trust this man and his team." Charlotte said
"Do you?"
"With my life."
"Okay."
"This way prince." Assam said
"All units, this is Alpha, package secured, I say again package secured. Proceeding to exfil. What's the current situation?"
"Skies are clear. Looks like we're the only ones here." Erika radioed
"Copy that, we are RTB."
(The four of them then boarded the helicopter and flew back to base without any problems. The next morning they headed to the Palace so that the Prince can meet the Queen)
"Mother! I'm so happy to see you again!" Charlie said
"I wish I could say the same to my son. You have a lot of explaining to do." the Queen said
"Explain what?"
"Don't think of me for a fool you damn brat! I'm talking about Pandora! What is your relation to that terrorist organization?!"
"W-What?! I have nothing to do about it!"
"Lies." Erika said
"How dare you call me a liar! I am the prince!"
"So the fuck what? You're about to lose that title soon anyways so I'll treat you how I see fit."
"Lose my title?!"
"What the young lady said is true Charlie. Your answers to my questions now will determine whether you'll lose it now or soon."
"Mother! Please believe me!"
"I'll ask again, are you involved with Pandora?!"
"Y-Yes.."
"Truth."
"You damn fool."
"I didn't know that it was a terrorist organization! I swear!"
"Truth."
"Then what did you think it was?"
"A man approached me years ago and told me about a project about making our military stronger. He said that if it was successful it would definitely put our country a cut above others."
"Truth."
"Is that man's name Richard Bronson?"
"Y-Yes! How did you know?"
"I know everyone that has been involved with you since Edward always kept me informed."
"So what happened? Did Richard offer you his support in the succession of the throne in exchange for financial support?"
"Exactly that! All I did was write some checks for him! I swear I didn't know that it would get this messed up!"
"Truth."
"Now we know where Pandora got all their money. Straight from the pocket of the Royal Family."
"Congratulations brother, you just funded a very dangerous terrorist organization's human experiments and was indirectly involved with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives of men, women, and children." Charlotte said with a very pissed off voice
"How was I supposed to know?! I didn't want this!"
"It was your job to know as the prince! You wanted the throne so bad that this happened! Was it worth it?! Huh?!"
"Shut up! How would you know how I felt! I was always compared to you! Always under your shadow! I keep hearing how better you are than me and how people hope and pray that you succeed the throne instead of me! I just wanted to win against you!"
"If you wanted the throne that badly I would've given it to you!"
"Really?! You'd give it to me just like that huh?!"
"If it meant your happiness then yes! I just wanted us to be close just like before!" Charlotte started crying
"Lotte.."
"I didn't want this as well..I almost killed an innocent man because of this farce.."
(Assam and Klara started comforting the crying princess as the others listened to the answers they wanted to hear for a long time)
"Do you remember a man named Bryan Williams?"
"Yes, he was introduced to me by Richard and offered to have that person train Lotte."
"Truth."
"I see."
"Why? What about him?"
"That man was the commander of Pandora's forces and he was probably meant to be leash for your sister and a leverage against the Royal Family."
"W-What?! I'm sorry Lotte, I..I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't."
"What happened to him?"
"I killed him already so no need to worry about him. I have a question this time, did sir Edward know about Pandora?"
"Yes, he was with me when Richard approached me."
"Was he involved with them directly?"
"No! Most definitely not! He hated it when I met with them and always warned me. He even suggested telling my mother but I didn't listen to him, I should've"
"Truth."
"Yeah, you should've. Next question, who were you hiding from and for how long?"
"Edward told me a couple months back that somebody was following us. I wanted to confront whoever was following us but Edward said it was too dangerous. So we shook whoever was tailing us then hid. Edward threw away all our electronic gadgets."
"Truth."
"Used a messenger pigeon as a form of communication huh. Your close aide was very smart."
"Now he's dead." Erika said
"Here's my last question, where is Pandora's base in this country?"
"I don't know! I was never told that stuff!"
"Truth."
"Tsk, did they ever say anything to you, a name, a place or anything that could help us find them!?"
"I'm sorry, I really want to help and atone for what I had done but..I really don't know.."
"Truth."
"Damn it! In the end we still got nothing!"
"Wait! I remembered something! It was the last time I met with Richard. Each time I was told to sign some documents for funds I noticed that the name that Richard signed was different."
"What name?"
"Ellan Vannin."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure."
"Truth."
"Does the name ring a bell? Anyone?"
(Everyone in the room was thinking about the name but none of them were able to deduce any answers)
"Isle of Man.." Charlotte suddenly said
"What's that?"
"Ellan Vannin is a Manx name. It means Isle of Man."
"That's an island country between the UK and Ireland." the Queen said
"This is bad, according to my information that country has a nuclear bunker." Assam said
"They may have converted the bunker as their base." Kal said
"The bunker isn't the problem, it's what's inside it."
"The Uranium that Pandora mined back in Africa." Erika said
"Shit, don't tell me they have nukes?!" Ono reacted
"We can't rule that possibility out. The situation just became the worst one possible."
"What do we do?" Charlotte asked
"They probably already know that we have made contact with the prince and are already expecting us to attack."
"But if we don't hurry then we risk a nuclear war happening."
"Call everyone, we attack as soon as possible, we'll be heading straight into the fire but if we don't then millions of lives will be lost."
"Roger!"
"Your majesty, will you lend us some help by informing whoever is in charge of that island to start evacuations?"
"I will, is there anything else that we could do?" the Queen asked
"Please give Sir Edward a medal and a hero's burial. If it weren't for him we wouldn't have found the prince then we wouldn't have known where Pandora's last stand will be."
"Of course. You can leave it to me."
"Before you go, can anyone tell me who really killed him?" the prince asked
"There is only one person responsible for his death and that person was inside his car the whole time."
"What? How can that be? There was only one body found after the explosion." Charlotte said
"Exactly my point."
"Wait, are you saying that.."
"The one responsible for Edward's death was Edward himself."
"He killed himself?! But why!?"
"Pandora knew that he visited the palace and met the Queen. They were already tracking him and his car like we were. If he went back to you then Pandora would've found the prince and he would've been abducted or killed. He couldn't let that happen so he blew his own car up thus cutting Pandora's only lead to the prince. This also gave the prince the reason to contact us himself." Erika explained
"He was prideful and had a sharp tongue. But in the end he was loyal only to you."
"Edward..you fool!" the prince cried
(After finding out the reason for Edward's death they all left and started preparing for their final operation to take down Pandora for good. Gero started a video transmission to the other leaders of the task force and explained to them the plan)
"Listen up everybody! This is it! The final push for that win! This is the day that we have been fighting for ever since the war against Pandora started! Our target is an island in between the UK and Ireland! Pandora is located in one of its nuclear bunker shelters and converted into their base of operations!"
"What kind of opposition should we expect?"
"Everything. If this is their last stand then they are going to throw everything they have to stop us from reaching those nukes. The SEALs will attack from the west, SOC and SAS from the east, Spetsnaz and KSK from the north, and PLA and ROK from the south."
"Do we have any counter measures for the nukes?"
"RYOBU will paradrop from above the island and deploy signal jammers to prevent any kind of missile from launching or detonating. That should give us enough time to reach the nukes but it also means that we will not be able to contact each other once the operation starts."
"So the only way we'll know if we win or lose is either we hear each others' voices on the radio or we hear the nukes launching or blowing up from under us?"
"That sums it up pretty well."
"Great, when do we start?"
"We go in six hours. Dismissed."
(Everyone then continued their preparations for the mission while Gero said his goodbyes to his fiancés and family)
"Be careful and come back to us! All of you!" Darjeeling said
"We will! We always do!"
"Take care of each other alright?" Kaede said
"I should also go with you!" Mika said
"I need you to guard the ship and our families here. You ladies are the ones that I trust and can leave the ship safely in your hands."
"We'll make sure nothing happens here darling!" Kay smiled
"Are you sure you don't want to tell your sisters and parents?" Erika asked
"They'll just needlessly worry and we'll be back before they notice."
"Stay safe and keep our Taichou in line alright?" Hajime said
"I'll do my best! Keep a close eye on everyone else while we're gone." Ono said
"Nobody will touch anyone here as long as I'm here!" Ken said
(Gero then said goodbye to his crew and gave the girls each a kiss on the him and Erika then boarded the plane that will take them to the Isle of Man. All the other teams were in position and surrounded Pandora's base. Gero and his team stood up by the plane's bay doors and were waiting for the red light to go green. After a few seconds the green light illuminated the darkness and the mission was a go. One by one they jumped out of the plane with Gero in the lead. They opened their parachutes as they got closer to the ground and landed on their designated spots. All members of RYOBU then placed advanced signal jammers specifically designed to block signals of every kind.)
"On my count, three, two, one, execute."
(All of them activated the signal jammers and all forms of signals and communications were jammed. This signaled the other teams to start the mission and immediately engaged Pandora forces. Gunfights and explosions erupted all around the Pandora base and everything plunged into chaos. Pandora couldn't communicate with one another and their chain of command was in disarray. Gero and his team were scattered around the bunker and their first goal was to regroup in the middle. Each of them fought against the soldiers of Pandora all the way to the entrance of the bunker)
"Everyone alright?"
"We stirred up a hornet's nest, that's for sure!" Alisa said
"I'm already almost out of ammo." Kal said
"Grab enemy weapons and ammo. We need everything we can before we get in." Erika said
(Just as they were about to scrounge up some supplies the bunker doors started to slowly open. They felt the ground shake and they instantly knew what was coming out of the bunker.)
"Get to cover!"
(A loud bang was heard coming from within the bunker and then there was a big explosion just in front of the bunker. Gero and his team were able to take cover but their ears were ringing from the blast. Multiple tanks started coming out of the bunkers and were aiming their guns at them)
"Shit! That's a lot of tanks!" Takashi reacted
"Those are old Challenger 1 tanks! Do we have anything that can handle those?!" Sanada shouted
"We have two LAW rocket launchers!" Nana said
"Kaito! Shun! Flank right and take them out! Everyone else go left and distract the tanks!"
"Roger!"
(They then went left and got the attention of the tanks, allowing Shun and Kaito to get into a good position. They aimed the rocket launchers at the rear armors of the tanks then fired. Both hit their targets and destroyed two of the Challenger tanks.)
"Nice shots!"
"More are coming out of the bunkers!" Naomi shouted
(They were all out of rocket launchers and more enemy tanks emerged from the bunker. The situation was the worst and they are out of options. Gero was about to do something stupid again but one of the enemy tanks blew up which stopped him. He looked over the hill and saw a Japanese Type 10 Main Battle Tank staring down at them)
"Sorry, we're late to all the fun!" Chouno said
"Ami-nee san!"
(Beside Chouno's tank were the other Tank Meister's arriving with their own main battle tank and were ready for a fight)
"Whoa! The Tank Meisters are here!" Takashi cheered
"We'll handle these! You all get in the bunker and finish this fight!" Alonso said
"Roger that!"
(Gero and the rest were able to enter the bunker while the Tank Meister gave them some cover fire)
"Alright then, let's have some fun, shall we?" Barret said
"Qui! It's been a long time since I got some action!" Leo smiled
(The Tank Meisters maneuvered around the bunker and started taking out the enemy tanks one by one. The battle was so one sided that they started competing with one another on who would get the most tank kills. Meanwhile, Gero and his team were getting deeper into the bunker and were expecting far heavier resistance compared to the outside. However, to their surprise it was very quiet inside the bunker. It was so quiet that they felt that it was a normal abandoned bunker. But as they got deeper and deeper the normal started to disappear when they found blood and bodies. Dead soldiers of Pandora were scattered all over and they couldn't see any survivors)
"What the fuck happened here?" Kaito asked
"Did we do this?" Klara asked
"Doesn't look like it, we are the first ones to enter the bunker right?" Assam asked
"That's right."
"Then, did they fight one another?"
"Possibly, keep your eyes peeled and be aware of traps."
(They kept moving forward carefully and cleared every corner possible but no signs of life were to be seen. The bodies were fresh meaning that whatever happened inside the bunker just happened minutes before they entered. They arrived at a heavily fortified steel door and were getting ready to breach. They attached explosives on the door and detonated it from a safe distance. They threw in a flashbang and stormed the inside after it went off. They finally encountered soldiers from Pandora and even a couple of Augs. They started shooting at their enemies and took them down one by one with ease while they were disoriented from the flashbang.)
"All clear!" Ono said
"Everyone alright?"
"All good!"
"What were they doing here? It seemed like they were hiding." Sakurai asked
"Over there, another door." Kal pointed
(They stacked up on the door and breached it right away after throwing a flashbang inside. They were greeted by a man down on the floor screaming in pain)
"Stop! Stop! Don't kill me!" said the man
"Stand the fuck up!" Sanada ordered
(They all looked at the face of the man and they immediately knew who it was. It was none other than the leader of Pandora himself Richard Bronson.)
"Look at what we have here. It was way easier finding you than we thought!" Erika said
"Great, you found me! Now let's get the bloody hell out of here before he finds us!" Bronson said in panic
"He?"
(Gero suddenly felt intense bloodlust coming from behind them and he instantly reacted by grabbing his pistol and began shooting at the location. His team was surprised and started shooting as well without any questions asked)
"What the hell is down here?"
"Oh good God, you led him right to me!" Bronson shouted
"Who's he?!" Erika shouted
"The one responsible for the massacre inside this bunker!"
"No time to talk! Just run!"
(Gero gave the order to run which his team followed. They ran as fast as they could through the bunker which was a maze filled with rooms and hallways unfamiliar to them. They had to rely on Bronson to give them directions on how to reach the control panels to disable the nukes.)
"Which way!?" Shun asked
"Left! Left!"
(Just before they were able to go left a huge explosion happened which blocked off their route forcing them to go right. After numerous detours they were able to reach the control panel and they saw two nuclear missiles on standby. Shun started on defusing the nukes so that they wouldn't launch but it wasn't easy.)
"How much time do you need?"
"All that you can give me." Shun said
"First things first, what the hell is that thing?" Erika asked
"That is what Pandora was created for, to create the perfect soldier that will obey our every order. A killing machine programmed to kill its target no matter what. The perfect Aug born from your blood." Bronson said
"It isn't perfect if you can't control it and start killing your own men now is it?"
"It WAS perfect until you activated that signal jammer. It affected our control over him and caused him to kill everyone."
"Serves you right, that's called Karma you bastard!" Takashi said
"If we deactivate the jammer then those nukes will launch." Klara said
"Then we need to take care of that perfect Aug while Shun-senpai disables the nukes." Kal said
"Alright, Erika, Kal, Ono, and Takashi with me, we'll buy Shun the time he needs. The rest of you stay here, guard him and make sure Bronson doesn't go anywhere."
"Roger that!"
(Gero and the rest now left the others in order to face the Perfect Aug that Pandora had created. Their plan was to lure it out of the bunker and lead it towards the Tank Meisters so that they could blow it up all the way to hell. They started luring it by engaging in gunfights from a safe distance while slowly heading towards the exit. Eventually they were able to lure it to the exit and Gero gave the Tank Meisters the situation)
"Ami-nee san! Whatever that comes out of that exit, blow it up!"
"Roger! Gunner, aim at the exit!" Chouno said
(Her tank aimed its gun at the exit of the bunker and they waited for the Aug to come out. The Perfect Aug slowly walked outside and they all saw its body and face clearly. They were all shocked to see a young man with skin so pale that it looked like it was already a dead body. The most shocked out of all of them was Gero himself. Just as Chouno was about to give the order to shoot Gero suddenly intervened)
"STOP! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"
"Gero?! What's wrong?!" Erika reacted
"I SAID HOLD YOU FIRE! THAT'S AN ORDER!"
(Everyone then lowered their weapons and were very confused about the situation. Gero started walking slowly towards the Aug with a very painful expression on his face)
"I've been looking everywhere for you and for a long time."
"Gero, do you know this Aug?"
"I know him very well, I could never forget that spiky yellow hair."
"It can't be.."
(Erika instantly knew when Gero mentioned the hair. It was a person very important to him and was the very reason why Gero is alive to this day)
"It's good to see you again, Aniki."
Coming Up Next : Chapter 120 - Aniki
Author's Note :
Hi everyone! Here is the chapter again and I hope you all enjoyed it! Gero and his team successfully rescued the Prince of Britain and was able to extract information out of him about Pandora! They have now entered the final battle against the evil organization that started it all! Everything was going all according to plan until the strongest Aug created by Pandora stopped Gero in his tracks. As he was about to end the fight he was yet again faced with a bone chilling revelation for the strongest Aug created by Pandora was his Aniki that he was looking for all this time! Will he overcome this situation? If so how will he? Stay tuned on the next chapter!