On the way to retrieve Setagaya ( Part 2: Brute force )

   The 13th of February 2084. 4.p.m.

“… On my sign!” I ordered “… 3… 2… 1… GO!”

We started running, everyone towards his designated position. Shuna retreated to search for the perfect spot for a pro sniper like her. The rest of the team including me went to the front lines. As we approached the other squad members, we started hearing them complaining…

“…So, they only send this squad… Looks like we have some kids to babysit!”

I liked those comments! We, humans, tend to start complaining when we get cornered. Thinking of the expressions on their faces when the enemy starts to fall back made me more excited for the fight. I looked at the others around. They were laughing at our allies!

We were totally looking down on the other squads… I think this was a reciprocal feeling between us and them…

“… Asahi! Do you hear me?” I asked “… Whenever you receive a call or mail from another squad tell me immediately!”

“Roger that!”

Rintaro and Kazuto went together to the enemy camp, destroying everything in their ways in a straight line. Kazuto was a lot slower than Rintaro. Although their equipment is a bit similar, the difference was huge. Rintaro focused on physical attack while Kazuto focused on defence.

Who said defence items can’t be used in attack?!

I think the enemies who got hit by Kazuto understood that fact perfectly but in a hard way. They couldn’t inflict any damage at him as he ran in a straight line hitting everyone on his way. Those who got hit usually sustained some broken ribs. While that doesn’t necessarily knock them down it hurts them to the point where they wish they were even killed.

Rintaro, on the other hand, literally smashes the enemies with his fists. A direct punch sends two or three enemies flying. Those who got hit by him are unable to join the fight anymore.

This was the strength of the strongest combination in the special forces…

Of course, this wasn’t the only hell the enemy had to go through. The fun had just started at that time…

After Rintaro sends two or three enemies flying, Rin jumps in the vacant area that was filled with enemies, moments ago, and launches a quick attack with two EMP guns from short range at the surrounding enemies making them unable to move. After that rapid attack she jumps in the air quickly leaving the stage for Akira who finishes them off with his two daggers.

That was the assassins’ team…

As for me, I simply walked to the back lines of the enemy. I didn’t need to show the brute force of Rintaro and Kazuto, or the fancy moves of Rin and Akira. While the four of them were dragging all the attention towards them I attacked the ones who were having some rest before joining the battlefield once again.

Unfair? You can call it like that but in this war we don’t have the time to play fairly. If we want to win, we need surprise and cruelty! Shuna was backing me up from far away. I wasn’t fool enough to fight a whole army by myself. Whenever someone tries to launch a sneaky attack, he sees what seemed for the enemy as a divine retribution. They weren’t able to understand what happened whenever they tried to attack me from behind. I didn’t even bother to verify if someone was aiming at my back. I trusted Shuna completely with my life. After all, she is the member that I knew for the longest period in this squad. The enemies thought for the beginning that a sniper was aiming at them, but they quickly rejected that idea for two reasons: Speed and number.

Even if they attack me in large numbers or with quick moves, they always receive what they called the “Divine retribution” that was simply an EMP attack. Since EMP doesn’t leave any visible trails with the naked eye, trying to know the direction was exceedingly difficult especially when you’re using a sniper rifle.

They tried in vain to search for Shuna in a three hundred meters radius, but all their efforts went in vain. When Shuna uses her special rifle, she hides in a bush five hundred meters away from the whole area of the battlefield.

After the success of the first attack, I ordered Kazuto to move for the second phase of the plan: Securing the agents as they switch positions.

With all the shields that he had and the immunity to EMP, Kazuto can receive tons of the enemy attacks without sustaining any damage. Of course, we didn’t let him do that. Once the enemy sniper tries to hit him, he immediately receives a headshot from Shuna. To do that, we, me and the three others, had to retreat from the enemy ranks and went to support the front line. That first attack we did earlier was just to surprise both the enemies and the allies with our strength. With that, we received the respect and fear we deserved. It was also a way to lure the traitor. As we took our new position Asahi started reading the mail he received from other squads.

“… Shinji, I received three mails from three different squads. Seriously, all of them looked a bit suspicious to me.” I smiled as I pushed some enemies who were mindlessly trying to attack me: “… None of them was sent by the traitor!”

“But they were all asking about our next move!” He said with a frustrated voice.

Since we were using the common line of the squad, the other members were able to listen to and join the conversation. Akira, who was having a 1v1 fight, replied to him: “… Don’t worry! Shinji’s saying the truth. It’s common between squads when they join forces together to share that kind of information.”

“Trust us, Asahi!” Shuna replied. I am surprised how she was even able to join the chat when her rifle didn’t rest for a second. With every hit she fires from her weapon, one enemy falls.

“… Here I got another two mails!” Asahi announced.

I retreated a few meters back and asked him about the content.

“… One of them said that the fourth squad is proud of the new squad that joined the special forces and that they are grateful to our cooperation. The next one…”

He stopped talking for a second then resumed with a hyped tone: “… This is it! I think we got him this time. The seventh squad asks about the location of our sniper!”

“Even someone like me who lacks the fundamentals of being a good strategist can say that this mail is normal!” I looked at Kazuto who was moving between the two lines with a surprised face. His words were correct after all!

“… Eh? How?” Asahi started wondering. “… Kazuto what do you mean by that?” At that time Kazuto was in the middle of way between the two lines so he hadn’t any free time to answer him instead the one who answered was Rin: “… To put in simply, all the allies should know the sniper’s position so they won’t be on the way of his attack, and they can back him up in case something happens!”

“… I am really looking like an idiot now! Anyway, I received another mail from another squad. This time it is from the ninth squad simply asking me to share strategic information in order to assure order in the battlefield! Yeah, I think this is what you were explaining to me already!”

Everyone participated in this chat except for Rintaro so I looked towards him as I shot an enemy in front of me with a rifle EMP shot from close range: “… You… don’t want to participate?!”

“…And why would I?” He answered as he punched a guy sending him flying five meters away. He stood for a second then said: “… I am enjoying playing together with the enemy! You can play the detective game as much as you want. Anyway, what you said this time is correct, Asahi!”

He then immediately jumped at three enemies at once without a second thought. I looked at that hilarious scene before me then replied: “… You are not playing together with the enemy. You are using them as a toy to play with” I return to the fight as I asked Asahi: “… So you received 6 mails up until now?”

“… Yes,” he replied “… The second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth squad send each a mail”

“… Then the traitor is obvious now!”

“Huh?! How?” I bet his eyes became wide open when he heard me. No wonder he would be surprised. I was surprised as well. After all, the enemy spy fell for the oldest trick in the book.

“… Let me explain things for you all! So…” I retreated a bit then started the explanation: “… Think of it like this! You are the traitor, and you must deal with the information of your squad and inform the enemy of the movements of all the squads. What would you do when an allied squad does not share the information about its sniper and the other members?”

Akira answered: “… I would ask them to share information. I won’t insist since that would raise suspicion.”

I smiled then answered with confidence: “… That would be in normal circumstances. But what if that ally started destroying the enemy all of a sudden before you could even ask him to share info?”

Rin retreated for a few meters as well then answered: “… The enemy will start asking for immediate explanation!”

“… So, the one who didn’t send a mail was busy explaining the situation to the enemies who were probably bullying him for being incompetent.” Shuna added.

“I got this!” Asahi responded with an enthusiastic voice. “I’ll send the location of the third squad’s technical supporter. This is the moment where I can shine!”

“… That would be unnecessary!” Ai interrupted him “… Master I’ll send the location of the traitor to you immediately!”

[Aah! Poor Asahi, his spotlight got stolen at that moment!]

Luckily, only me and him were able to hear Ai. That's why everyone thought that he did a quick and amazing job… As for him, he lost all the energy he had because of Ai.

She laughed and then said: “… Serves you right! That’s what you get for bullying me earlier this morning!”

Looks like Ai has grown to be with a character that never forgives…

We continued the mission for a few more minutes until Shuna confirmed that there were no more snipers in the enemy team.

We retreated to the Setagaya ward where, luckily, the supporter of the third squad was hiding.

He was in the nearest house to the crystal dome…

We silently entered the house and went upstairs to the second floor where he was hiding… There we found some enemies guarding his chamber. Defeating them was an amazingly easy task. Rintaro took care of them before anyone was able to move.

When we entered the chamber, a thin man jumped at Rintaro begging for mercy. He said that he would continue acting as the enemy wished if we just spared his life. He had mistaken us for the enemy terrorists. Shuna went to comfort him a bit and explained that we were the special forces.

“… So, you came to save me?” he asked as he continued crying.

Shuna smiled: “… Yes we’re allies!”

A faint smile appeared on his crying face as he asked once again: “… You really are allies?”

I took a few steps toward him then answered: “… We are allies…” the faint smile was about to become a larger one when he received a punch in the face that made him fall unconscious. I walked out of that chamber as I repeated my answer: “… we’re allies of justice!”