Chapter 96:

The City that Never Sleeps

Valkyria Squadron

Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, New York
March 6st
12:00 AM


Racing my motorcycle through the city, I go through the center of the street, as fast as I can. I look at my wrist, the battery only has 2% left, I will never make it. With one hand I reach for one of the locks of the backpack with the thrusters, despite the fact that the ammunition compartment is in it I need to get rid of it to save battery. A group of soldiers comes out of one of the buildings, I reach for my gun and start to shoot, I don't think I even hit anyone, but I made them move away, I accelerate the motorcycle, even more, to leave them behind as soon as possible. It seems that somehow the Empire did manage to enter the bunker in the UN building, despite the fact that my mother was assaulted, a group of Dolls managed to kidnap the president, mom asked me to rescue him because it seems that I am the only one capable of doing it around. Although I don't want to do it, I'd better do it because I don't want to be listening to her complain about why I didn't rescue him the entire flight back to Japan.

A stupid enemy tank appeared in an interception two blocks from my destination, but its turret was not looking in my direction so I managed to maneuver to pass behind it without being noticed. I was doing the building, several soldiers come out of all places to shoot me, I put away my rifle to use it when necessary, a little ahead of me my great sword appeared, with my free hand I hold it on my back to protect myself from the shots. Due to the abruptness of the situation and the need to act quickly, the truth is that I don't have a plan. Just get in, shoot, search, and get out shooting more, the perfect recipe for something to go wrong.

I get to the stairs that lead to the lobby of the building, I do not stop the motorcycle at all, and with the impulse, I throw it to destroy the entrance. I can barely see the inside and immediately I saw a group of soldiers waiting for me, I grabbed Avalon with both hands, turned, and threw it inside, it was a devastating attack to see 6 soldiers cut in half because of that. I pick up one of the weapons on the ground, a shotgun, because of its weight it seems to be loaded. Without seeing the corridor or that there was there I shot blindly from a cover, I could hear shortly after someone screaming, just in case he did it again, another continuous scream where the other left him. After seeing that the place was free, I picked up a bag with shotgun shells from one of someone's remains, reloaded the shotgun until I no longer accepted myself, and started walking down the hall. Suddenly my ears catch something, behind a door, someone reloaded his weapon, immediately I brought mine to the door and fired. The attack was so powerful that it created a huge hole in the wooden door, from which I could see the soldier falling backward, but it seemed that his vest had protected him, so I hit it again to finish it off. On another watch I heard someone walk running towards my position, I picked up a chair and threw it down the hall where I was listening. As soon as he came out, the flying object received it, distracting enough for me to shoot it a couple of times.

I kept running down the corridor that that soldier had left, reloading the shotgun as fast as I could again, several shells dropped but I didn't have time to pick them up. I came across a T-cross, I approached the end of the wall to look in one of the directions, it is clear, but on a pillar that was bright enough, I could see the reflection of how one group created a barrel to the other side. I pull out Avalon again, use it as a one-handed shield, and start running with it. As I do the barricade I started to shoot, pumping the shotgun with one hand very difficult and I did not get the trick, so I better throw the gun to one of the soldiers. I took out my pistol, from proto I received a couple of hits on my back, I shot at the front and threw myself to turn around and shoot the one from behind. I quickly check if I was injured somewhere but it seems that the armor managed to save me, I picked up the shotgun and continued running.

"Don't act dum" "Doubting is dying " "Just go with the flow and let yourself go" I say to myself remembering what The White Banisher always told me. I go to the entrance that seemed to be the access to the basement. A soldier suddenly comes out of a door to shoot crazy, scaring me, I shoot a couple of times but either I can't hit him or his vest saved him, I had to resort to my gun one more time. I managed to hit him, but again, despite the impacts, I had not managed to kill him for his vest. While he was still stunned I ran and shoved a knife to his throat. I hear footsteps, someone came running through the door next to him. I put a single shell in the shotgun and shot the door making another huge hole. Through it I can see the soldier shaken by the pain, I reach out my arm and manage to grab his head, I drag his head out of the hole, and taking my shotgun as a bat I hit him several times until I kill him. I opened the door and took a couple of grenades that he brought, it seems that from here I can reach the maintenance area, If the Empire has a portal it should be there. I almost tripped down the stairs a couple of times. I hear several screams and footsteps, soldiers are climbing them, I take a couple of grandas and tie them tightly to the front, they bounce off the wall and keep going down, arriving by surprise next to them when they explode. The shaking makes me fall but it doesn't matter, I get up and keep running.
A beep comes from my wrist, only 1 of battery. "Fuck"
"I already knew I screwed up, but damn it." I ran like a madman, I no longer had time for anything or consider anything, I just had to leave the place as soon as possible with that guy. A couple of men came out of a corridor, shoot as fast as I could, I covered with a wall, they keep shooting. I jumped up and held onto a pipe on the ceiling since they would normally expect to find me at ground level, but from up here I came out and finished killing those who were left. I keep running, my fatigue is at the limit, my body cannot give more of itself, I have muscle pain all over the place and still, I can't even think of stopping, my steps are clumsy and slow, I find it hard to even breathe if I had done this in the morning maybe already it would have ended long ago, I lied to myself.
I managed to find a large room where I could see several soldiers behind improvised barrels, with them was the president and next to him a young man pointing his head with a gun. The bastard seemed to be my age, well what I should be in reality, His uniform clearly reflected his rank, he was the one in command. "Bleiben Sie, wo Sie sind, und ich werde Ihren dummen Präsidenten nicht töten" "Aufgeben! Sie wissen, dass Sie uns nicht schlagen können! Wir sind viel mehr als Sie!" (Stay where you are and I won't kill your stupid president.)
(Surrender! You know you can't beat us! We are many more than you!) shouted the general in german, probably thinking that I would not understand him. "geh Scheiße essen, du Arschloch Fotze!" I kindly answered him.
(go eat shit, you bastard motherfucker!) "Hurentochter Schlampe!" He responded by preparing to shoot. (Daughter a bitch)
I threw a grenade right where the group was standing, obviously, I wasn't going to risk killing the president myself, so I summoned Avalon alongside him to protect him. "Scheiße, Granate" a soldier yelled letting others know. (shit, grenade) They all jumped but the grenade hit most of them. Immediately charged against them and began shooting at the survivors. But wait a minute, where is the one in the different uniform? A shot hit me in the shoulder, thanks to the armor it bounced. I ran after my sword next to the president and reloaded my pistol.

"Ich kann es nicht glauben, also existierst du wirklich"
"Du bist nicht nur eine Legende, die Soldaten geschaffen haben"
"Du bist ein echter, weißer Dämon"
"Das erklärt, warum das alles schief gelaufen ist!"
"Sie haben mit ihr gearbeitet!"

(I can't believe it so you really exist )
(You are not just a legend that the soldiers made)
(You are real, White Demon)
(This explains why all this has gone wrong!)
(You were working with her!)

But I just responded by firing the whole damn clip at one of them. He did the same afterward. Taking advantage of his moment to reload and throw a grenade to where he was, he took refuge throwing himself into a corridor near where he was. I immediately took the arm of the president and pulled it to indicate that I even immediately. He looked at my shoulder for a moment and noticed the flag of the United States on my shoulder, which seemed to be enough for him and he followed me. I took my sword and protected his retreat. "What the hell are you saying, what a stupid idiom is that?"
"Why are you fighting?" Said the man next to me.

"Calm down!"
"Adelis sent me, I've come to get you out of here"
"Do you know how to use a gun?"

"Girl, I got six tours in Afghanistan"
"This is not my first rodeo "

"Also please tell me they don't have nuclear football"

"I destroyed it out of fear that that would happen while I was in the bunker"

"That's enough, have this, I give it to you" I gave him a rifle from one of the dead in the hall
"I have little time and I have nothing planned so we will do the next thing."
"We run, we shoot and we hide"
"Questions?"

"No, I like the plan, I did it regularly in my days."

"Excellent"

We kept running down the corridor, back up, but we didn't run into any more soldiers. It seemed strange to me, but then I noticed why. Crossing the T-connector to go to the main hallway at the entrance was another group of Dolls, the time could not be worse. They pounced on me to try to stop and recapture my companion, but I was not going to let them. I pushed him back, and I threw my last grenade. After the explosion, I got out of there and fired with the big gun I was keeping. I only managed to destroy two with all that but I did not have time for more. I grabbed the president and with my sword, I ran towards the lobby of the building. The bike was still there, I tried to pick it up but someone shot me from somewhere, it didn't hit me, but it passed close to me. The president used his rifle and started shooting more or less where the shot came from. Without stopping we ran from there to the street trying to get as far away as we could.

Just when we went to another block, what I dreaded so much happened. One beep and the next moment I felt my body drop weight so absurd that my feet could not support it and I fell immediately. Momo was right, it's impossible to move with this thing off. I have to do something immediately or they will catch up with us shortly.

"Girl what happened !?"
"Need help!?"

"Take off my armor, I can't move"
"Move the red locks up fast!"

"Working on it"

But as soon as he said that, from the ground, I could see how one Dolls that I did not finish destroying flew out and found us. She was coming straight to where we were. Damn what a terrible time. We are finished if I don't do something NOW !!

"Remove the one from the right arm first"
"Do it now, god damn it!"

"Ready now!"

" HAAAAA!!"

I fired my gun as soon as I let go of my hand, but the recoil was brutal. I only fired like twice before the gun flew out of my hand. By sheer luck, I managed to hit her in the head and she ended up crashing against a wall, but the price was high. The pain was unbearable, it was horrible, it was hard for me to breathe again, whatever happened to my arm I can give it up for lost. I couldn't even move to see how I was hurt.

"Good shot"
"Hold on there I help you!"
"Fuck, you weigh a lot!"

"Just drag me into the alley and finish taking off my armor!"

"It is not so easy!"

"Da ist es! Schnell Verstärkung anfordern!"
(There it is! Quick call for reinforcements!)

"Fuck you! in your language!" The president stopped dragging me and started shooting at the soldier who appeared

Fearing for my life because I couldn't see what was happening around me, I summoned Avalon in the direction I thought the shots were coming from. The president took advantage of that and also looked for cover behind him, reloaded the gun, and fired again.

"Okay, clear!"
"Nice trick, very convenient"
"how do you do that?" The president started pulling me again.

"Having a lousy streak of bad luck"

"So I'm close to having mine today!"
"I want it to be blue!"

"You know something funnier"
"When I was young I never imagined having to rescue the president of the United States."

"Well, when I was a child and I clearly knew that I would be the president, I never imagined that a girl in costume would rescue me."
"we're on the same level"

Finally, when he finished taking me to a "safe" place, or what is the same, where they cannot kill us immediately as soon as they see us. He put my back against the wall and immediately went to work to remove my armor as fast as he could. It was not an easy task, in fact, this was one of the points in which the Arksuits had to improve the most because for fear that it would disarm in mid-flight it had too many secure joints.

"I'm almost done, hold on a little longer"

"My arm, how is my arm?"

"Calm down, the arm is still attached to you!"

"How bad is it?"

"About ten weeks probably"

"Shit, it's the arm that I write with"
"I have to go back to school next month"

"Fuck girl relax"
"One step at a time, take it easy"

"Believe me I've tried"

"Ok done, that was the last one!"
"Now what?"

I put my good hand on my chest and pushed I managed to remove the armor, the rest fell on their own accord. I took my belt and turned it so that now the gun was close to my left arm. Take the gun, press the button to release the magazine, with the gun open I put it back in its holster, take a new magazine, put it in the gun, and take it again, use the slide lock, ready to fire again.

"How long have you been in this?"
"A little girl shouldn't know how to reload a gun with just one hand"
"Everything is good at home?"

"More or less"
"We are improving little by little"

"Sie sind dort! Lass sie nicht entkommen!"
(They are there! Do not let them escape!)

A group of soldiers appeared entering the alley. We went out and started shooting, but even if we took them by surprise they would be too much, easily a full squad. I ran out of ammunition and I don't think Jhon was capable of taking care of them alone. The situation was so bad that he was really thinking of doing one more crazy thing in order to get out alive. But just in the last second a helicopter appeared flying and the soldiers of the empire began to shoot them, those who did not die ran away looking for refuge. The helicopter immediately landed in the middle of the street and when the door was opened, several Alliance soldiers came out, as soon as they saw us they picked us up and got into the vehicle to get out of there quickly. It turns out that Charlotte never lost sight of me and as soon as I went out to the street, she saw through the satellite that I had the president with me, so my mother got approval to send the helicopter on an almost impossible mission to rescue us. Even though they shot us a bit, we managed to get out of there without any casualties. Quite a damn achievement to close this horrible day. As soon as the helicopter touched down, the doctors treated me, not long after, my family also arrived to see my condition. But as soon as I confirmed that all of them were well, I fell unconscious from my horrible fatigue.