Chapter 64 - Ignition
By Cille
Nothing made Michelle Ozzal happier than good television. Her favorites were reality shows, of course, especially the ones about people subjecting themselves to humiliation and emotional torture for some fleeting fame or meaningless prize.
The very best reality shows, however, were the ones that she herself created. And she had a real doozy on now.
It was all set up perfectly, better than she could have directed it. The shot framed by pathetic rebel scum writhing and screaming in agony, the helpless little girl cowering at center, and the fierce soldier looming over her like a god of death. She could have slid off of her cushy chair in anticipation.
The soldier prepared himself, and the next thing Ozzal saw was a thrilling wall of fire whooshing directly toward her.
"AHHH!" she couldn't help shouting as she jumped back into her seat. The effect was so real, she just had to get caught up in the moment.
...And then the entire screen turned black.
"DAMMIT! **BLEEP**ING **BLEEP** ON A **BLEEP** SANDWICH! WHERE THE HELL IS MY SHOW?!"
Makina rushed forward to look at the console.
"Apologies, madam, but I don't know enough about electronics to fix it," she said. "I'll go find somebody who can."
"Yes, you do that," Ozzal snapped.
Makina left the room, and a few minutes later a young man opened the door and hurried inside.
"FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!" Ozzal demanded, pointing at the blank screen.
The technician looked over the display panels. "I'm sorry, Head Governor, but there's nothing wrong on our end. There's no signal coming into this monitor."
"Bahhhh... that idiot must have toasted the camera over there," Ozzal grumbled. "Get somebody on a phone with somebody over there. I want to know what's going on!"
The man scurried out and closed the door behind him. Ozzal sat grumpily with her arms crossed, glaring at the black screen.
"Well at least I can imagine the next scene," she said, regaining some of her sense of satisfaction. "That little twerp's a charred piece of barbecue by now." She grinned. "And I can just see the look on Hikki Follet's face when he realizes he's next."
**********
In the great room of the farmhouse, a gaping hole had been blown in the wall and roof. The steady rain falling into the room was extinguishing the last of Taredan's flames, and the smoke was beginning to dissipate into the sky.
Hikki and his compatriots, along with most of the soldiers, were initially blinded and nearly choked by smoke. Those closest to the flames had gotten somewhat scalded, but from what Hikki could see those around him were all right.
Still coughing, Hikki turned his attention to Anne. He could see her still body through the clearing smoke. He crawled over to her, praying that she had somehow been able to survive - but knowing that it would have taken a miracle.
She had been fairly badly burned, and some of her clothes and most of her hair had been singed off. The chair she had been sitting on was nothing more than charred sticks of wood strewn around her. With his hands bound behind him, he couldn't touch her or turn her over, but he leaned close to her and tried to sense any sign of life.
She was unconscious, but she was breathing. She was alive.
Taredan was on his knees, breathing heavily and sucking his thumb like a madman.
"What deed you do?" Hikki asked him incredulously.
Taredan looked at him like he was an idiot. "What does it look like I did? She's still alive, isn't she?"
"Yes, but..."
"Then there you go. And that screen and camera are gone, so Ozzal won't be breathing down our necks anymore. You can thank me later."
Taredan went back to sucking his thumb. He seemed kind of self-conscious about it, but looked like he didn't really give a rat's ass what the rebels thought of him.
"What's wrong with you?" Emiri asked. "Don't tell me you burned your little thumb."
Taredan shot her a surly look. "You think it's easy sending walls of flame around a body and hitting something directly behind it? Maybe you should try it sometime. And see how you feel afterward."
"So wait... you did that on purpose? Even though Ozzal told you to kill her? Why is a military dog betraying its master?" Elizabeth asked.
"Even a dog knows when its master isn't worth obeying," Taredan retorted.
Hikki and his comrades exchanged glances. They weren't really sure what was going on, but it was obvious that there were unexpected machinations afoot.
Around them, the soldiers had begun to come to their senses.
"Fuery - check the camera," Taredan ordered.
Fuery quickly appeared from the next room and moved around the hostages.
"Wait, you blew up the camera. What is there to check?" Elizabeth asked.
"I blew up Ozzal's camera," Taredan replied impatiently. "That doesn't mean I don't have my own."
"The wires are all fused together," said Fuery, who had been tinkering with something on the wall behind the hostages. "They must have taken too much heat from the flames, even from here."
"Then it got everything up to that point? Is the video intact?" Taredan asked.
"The feed went to our base live and was recorded there. I'll need to check with them, but it should be good to go, at least up to the point where the electronics failed."
"Excellent," Taredan said with a sigh of relief, finally looking like he was relaxing a little.
"So um... is anyone going to tell us what the hell is going on here?" Emiri asked angrily.
"Sure, we'll all sit down with some cookies and milk for storytime later," Taredan snapped back. "But maybe you'll be so kind as to let me and my people do what needs to be done first."
"Please... Anne... she needs help..." Hikki interrupted them, drawing their attention back to the burned girl.
"Get the doctor in here," Taredan told another of his men, who immediately left the room.
"Merci beaucoup," Hikki said gratefully.
A few moments later the soldier returned, and the rebels looked hopefully to see the man or woman following him... but the "doctor" appeared to be neither.
A small, furry, brown animal with antlers ambled into the room, carrying a black satchel. He wore a giant pink top hat that was nearly as big as he was.
"Ohhhh, he's adorable! Is that a tanuki?" Elizabeth cooed.
"I'M NOT A TANUKI, I'M A REINDEER!" the creature raged in an adorable high-pitched angry voice.
"And he's also the best damn doctor you'll find on this battlefield, so don't piss him off," Taredan said.
"Don't think you can make me stop being mad just by flattering me, you asshole~" the reindeer said, clearly pleased by the flattery despite his words to the contrary, and also apparently not too worried about offending his superior officer.
"S'il vous plait, zen, Docteur, zees girl needs help desperately," Hikki said, gesturing to Anne.
The doctor's expression immediately turned to concern as he turned to the girl and looked over her injuries.
"Can you take care of her, Chopper?" Taredan asked.
"Mmm... the burns are pretty severe, but I think I can at least stabilize her. She'll need more serious attention later, but I'll do what I can here."
"Sank you, Docteur," Hikki said, relieved.
"The first thing we need to do is get her out of the rain," Chopper said, noting the hole in the roof and wall. "If you can lift her carefully, bring her into the next room. I can set up a table there to work on her."
Taredan gestured to one of his men, and he gently scooped up the girl. Hikki and the others stood, along with Taredan, and the major nodded to them to follow. The blond soldier who had been holding Hikki led the way, while the other soldiers followed behind the rebels.
"Say, do you think we might get untied here?" Emiri asked. "I'm pretty sure we're not hostages anymore."
"You're still on my turf," Taredan answered evenly. "As long as you're here, I'm in charge. So don't think we're going to be buddies just because you know where I stand."
"Well okaaaay then, Captain Bigpants," Emiri snarked. Hikki shot her a look telling her to just suck it up.
"You can have a seat right there," the blond soldier said, gesturing to the cot that Anne had been occupying only a few hours before.
Hikki sat down on one end of the cot, but Emiri stayed on her feet next to him. "Thanks, but I'd rather stand," she said.
The soldier smiled at her, and then came up to her and put one hand on her shoulder and the other around her waist before swiftly sweeping one foot behind her legs. She felt her legs go all tingly and her knees went weak. Before she knew it he had her leaned back over the cot as if he were dipping her in a tango. "Sorry babe, but it wasn't a suggestion," he said with a sly grin.
"You..." she began, less struck by his advances than by the feeling that she recognized the energy he was using. What was it that Jojo called it? Hamon?
"Caesar, can you lay off the ladykilling for once?" Mikasa said, rolling her eyes behind him.
Caesar simply winked at Emiri as he released her and stood back up, and then gallantly gestured for Elizabeth to join her friends. She obliged, but remained vigilantly poised on the edge of the cot.
A low table on the far side of the room had been covered with a blanket, and Chopper was already rummaging through his medical bag as Anne was gently placed on the table.
As the doctor got to work, the rebels also got a look at Fuery's electronics rig. It actually resembled a smaller and slightly less organized version of Elian's surveillance array, but with a more varied assortment of old and new technology.
"Fuery," Taredan said, "do your boys have that footage?"
"It's all there sir," Fuery replied, his cell phone to his ear. "They're going through it now."
"Have them make whatever edits they need to and then get that thing down to CSF at OZTV. Let's let people see how Ozzal and her dogs treat innocent little girls."
"Aye, sir," Fuery said, a little grimly, and then went back to his call.
"We'd better get the rest of the equipment out of the rain, sir," said another soldier.
Taredan nodded. "Everyone get busy picking up whatever needs to be salvaged and bring it in here." He glanced at the former hostages. "Lieutenant Ackerman, keep an eye on them," he ordered as he left the room.
"Yes sir," Mikasa answered, stepping forward as the others followed Taredan out. She took up a post on the opposite side of the room, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. She seemed to be scrutinizing the rebels critically, and looked away sharply when she saw Hikki looking back at her.
Hikki leaned toward Emiri. "Ees eet me, or does she not seem to like us very much?"
"Hrmph," Emiri grumbled. Then she raised her voice. "Hey Sourpuss. You got some kind of problem?"
"Mon dieu..." Hikki murmured, wishing he had his hands free to facepalm.
The young woman turned her unsmiling gaze back to the rebels. "What makes you think I have a problem?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you've been glaring at us this whole time. Or did your face just freeze that way?"
Mikasa's eyes narrowed slightly, but then she turned away again. "I don't really want to talk to you."
"Oh, you think you're too good to talk to the likes of us?" Emiri challenged. Hikki quickly shushed her, and she just scowled at the uncooperative woman. A tense silence settled over the room.
"You might as well just tell them," Chopper said quietly, not looking up from his patient.
The rebels and the soldier both looked at him with a little bit of surprise, and then Mikasa sighed.
"Fine," she said, looking back at Emiri and the others. "I had a friend... no, he was more like my brother. He was killed during your little failed uprising."
Hikki immediately felt bad. "He was een ze army too?" he asked gently.
"Yeah. He was in a different unit. They were up at the front lines near your base. The entire unit was killed. By your people."
Hikki was sympathetic, but Emiri immediately went on the defensive. "So now you got a score to settle or something?"
"You mean would I consider taking you down right here while the commander isn't looking?" Mikasa replied, giving Emiri a look that made her wonder if she might actually be capable of doing it. "No, that would completely undermine everything he's been working for. And I guess what you've been working for too. I wouldn't be that selfish."
"What we've been working for, huh?" Elizabeth spoke up. "If I didn't know better I'd say that sounded almost like you supported us."
"You can believe me or not, but I actually did support your rebellion. So did Eren. But that didn't seem to matter much in the end."
"If you wanted to support the rebellion, I think you joined the wrong team," Emiri said pointedly.
"We joined the military because we had to," Mikasa said coldly. "We lived in a small town and it was destroyed by fighting. The army came through and told us we could join them or starve on the streets. Being in the army wasn't something we did for fun. We did it so we could survive."
"I guess that's one way to recruit," Elizabeth said disdainfully.
"I am sorry about what happened to your friend," Hikki said, before the women could take any more shots at each other. "But you must know zat many pepole gave zeir lives een zees confleect, and most of zem deed not deserve to die. Eet was a hard lesson for us to learn as well, but sacreefices had to be made."
"Yeah I know. The greater good and all that," the lieutenant replied. "Look, just don't think you're some kind of saints. You've got blood on your hands too."
Emiri grinned wickedly. "Honey, you don't know anything about blood. If I told you how many people I've killed -"
"Killing people isn't something to be proud of," Mikasa responded resolutely. "Only some kind of barbarian would think that way."
"You wanna untie me and say that?" Emiri growled.
Elizabeth had heard enough. "Let it go, Emiri," she said firmly. "Her best friend was killed and she has every right to be upset. How would you feel if someone killed Kira and they were sitting right in front of you?"
A shock went through Emiri at the thought. "I'd want to murder them."
"Well there you go," Elizabeth said. "Now you know how she must feel."
"I don't want to murder you," Mikasa pointed out. "I just... don't really want to talk to you right now. Or ever, if I can help it."
"Do you need to go get someone else to watch us?" Hikki asked.
"No, I don't. It really isn't an issue." She sighed. "I'm just going to do my job. And my job is to do whatever I can to help the Major make this country right again. If that means I have to be in the same room with the people who killed Eren, I can handle that. But I don't have to pretend to like you."
Emiri opened her mouth to respond, and then thought better of it.
Mikasa's comrades began filing back into the room, carrying various pieces of equipment which they stacked against the walls. Some of them began boxing things up. Fuery stood pointing and directing them on what to do with his stuff.
Taredan was the last one in from the other room, and he surveyed his group thoughtfully. The ones who didn't have their hands full watched him, waiting for his next command.
He looked around, as if he wasn't quite sure what to tell them. "Well then... I suppose now we wait."
He started pacing, more slowly than before, as everyone waited in silence. It seemed somewhat awkward to the rebels, but the major's subordinates didn't seem fazed. Some of them continued dealing with the equipment, occasionally speaking to each other in hushed tones.
A few minutes later Fuery's cell phone rang and he quickly took the call. All he got out were a series of grunts and "uh-huhs," and then he said "Good work, make it happen" and snapped his phone shut.
He turned to his superior. "Sir, that was CSF. They've got the edited footage and they're going to get the emergency news broadcast on the air momentarily."
Taredan raised his eyebrows. "They've gotten everything ready that fast? Impressive."
"My boys do good work," Fuery said proudly.
"Indeed they do," Taredan agreed. He walked over to an ornate-looking old-fashioned easy chair and plunked himself down in it. He looked contemplative for a few moments, unconsciously pressing his thumb to his lips, and then looked up at one of his younger soldiers.
"Private Ryugamine."
The man stepped forward. "Yes sir?"
Taredan gave him a meaningful look, and when he spoke again his voice was a little softer than usual. "It's time, Mikado. Send out the call."
The young man looked nervous for a moment, and then gave a determined nod. He reached for his cell phone.
"What's going on?" Emiri demanded.
"Just shut up and sit there," Taredan snapped.
The private punched a few buttons on his phone, and then put it up to his ear and listened for a few seconds. Then he seemed to be typing in a message. He pressed one last button - and suddenly a multitude of cell phone ringtones erupted into the silence.
All of the soldiers started reaching for their phones, including Taredan. The Syndicate members just looked around, bewildered. The soldiers put their phones to their ears, looking around at each other.
Taredan read the message on his phone, and then with a satisfied smile looked around at his men. Their faces showed varying levels of nervousness and excitement.
"Well... so far so good," he said. "But we're not done yet."
**********
Ozzal still sat hunched in her chair, glowering at the dark screens in front of her. She wondered what the hell was taking so long with the techies.
The door opened abruptly, and Makina came into the room followed by two soldiers. She held a cell phone in one hand and her unsheathed sword in the other.
Before Ozzal could turn around and start complaining again, Makina was standing behind her, holding the blade to her throat.
"Apologies, madam," she said, with an unusual edge in her voice. "You are under arrest for crimes against Actonia and its people. Please come with me, and don't give me any shit."
Ozzal was stunned for just a moment, and then slowly and softly began to chuckle. "Oho... ohohoho... so this is how it goes, eh?"
"Your sympathizers have been taken into custody as well," Makina continued sternly. "You are no longer in command of this military."
"Oh really? And I'm supposed to just roll over and let you tell me I'm not the most powerful person in this country anymore?"
Makina narrowed her eyes. "I would not recommend resisting, madam. If you do, you won't get out of here alive. If you cooperate, you may just get some of that due process you think so little of."
"Oh really, that's very magnanimous of you," Ozzal sneered. "Well then, I guess I have no choice but to let you lead me off in chains. Are the news cameras already set up outside?"
"There won't be any spectacle," Makina answered calmly. "You'll be held accountable for your crimes under the law - the people's law, not your law."
"Ooooooh, the people," Ozzal said with mock awe. "I hope they're not too mad at me for being mean to them."
"That'll be for them to decide." Makina had had enough of this repartee, and wasn't about to let Ozzal buy any more time. "Now hold your hands out in front of you and stand up slowly."
Ozzal rolled her eyes but obeyed. The other two soldiers immediately moved to either side of her, and one handcuffed her while the other patted her down and produced a small pistol from her boot.
"Onoez, now I won't be able to pull a sneak attack and get away," Ozzal snarked. Makina narrowed her eyes, wondering why Ozzal hadn't tried using the gun, but if it made her job easier it didn't really matter.
"Let's go," Makina ordered curtly. "And remember, if you even think about pulling anything, you'll have my blade through your ribs."
"Whatever you say, boss," Ozzal replied. "Enjoy feeling all big and bad while you can. We'll see whose power comes out on top in the end."
Makina chose to ignore the vague threat, and she and her accomplices escorted Ozzal to the waiting confinement vehicle.
**********
"So you guys were planning a coup this whole time?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.
"It didn't start out that way," Mikado insisted. He stopped, looking at Taredan as if he were afraid of being reprimanded. But Taredan just looked at him and nodded.
The private continued. "When I came up with the idea for the Double Dollars, I was just sick of the way the military was treating the people. Nobody cared about helping people, they just ran right over them and did whatever they wanted. I saw soldiers beating people up and stealing stuff just because there was nobody to stop them. It made me sick. So I started talking about it with some friends and they agreed something needed to be done.
"But of course there was nothing a few grunt soldiers could do. So we just decided amongst ourselves that we'd uphold a sort of code of honor. We'd do what we could to help people instead of joining the corruption. And maybe we could set a good example that others would be inspired to follow."
He laughed. "It was pretty silly of us to think that way, I know. But the strange thing is, it started working. There were other people who felt the same way we did who just went along with this crap because everybody else was doing it and they didn't want to stand out. But somehow they got the idea that it didn't have to be that way. We organized off-duty help days where we got a few people together to help clean up areas that had been torn up. Stuff like that. And more and more people started hearing about them and coming to help, and then other people started organizing their own.
"So we set up this text-messaging system to keep people in the loop about what was going on, and so people could talk to each other to plan stuff. And then people started using it to tell the others about trouble starting up somewhere, so they could go and help calm things down. It was kind of amazing."
"So at what point did the whole coup thing come up?" Emiri asked, slightly sarcastically.
Mikado looked unnerved again, and glanced back at Taredan. "Well..."
"I heard about their little club, and I realized I could use it for a much greater purpose than helping little old ladies replant their flowers," Taredan continued. "Once I'd had Ryugamine and a few others transferred into my unit, it was just a matter of using their network to spread our ideas and get people on board and ready to get things moving when the time was right. Which, as it happens, is now."
"Let me get something straight," Elizabeth said. "You guys are on our side, right?"
"In that we're both trying to bring down Ozzal's corrupt regime, yes," Taredan replied.
"Then is there a particular reason why you never, you know, helped us?" Elizabeth asked angrily. "We did all the work, we took all the heat... Do you even know how many of our people were killed by your military while you sat there biding your time?"
"I'm well aware that you suffered casualties," Taredan answered curtly. "And of course you know there were soldiers who gave their lives as well. And not all of them liked what Ozzal was doing."
"Yeah, we heard the story," Elizabeth said, glancing at Mikasa. "I guess that falls under 'just following orders,' right? Never mind that they were killing off the people they supposedly supported."
"It wasn't an ideal situation on our side, either," Taredan said. "But we did what we had to do. If we had just charged in and rallied to your cause, we would have been cut off before we could do anything. A good tactician knows when and how to play his hand. The groundwork had to be laid, and we had to wait for the right moment to strike. It's unfortunate that so many people were sacrificed in the meantime, but that's how it goes in a war."
"If you and your people had everything all planned out, maybe we shouldn't have bothered," Emiri grumbled. "We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble while you were making your grand plans."
Taredan raised an eyebrow. "You think we could have done this without you? We needed you on the frontlines while we worked in the background. Without you making so much noise, there's no way we could have gotten away with everything we did."
"So we were basically your meatshields," Emiri said. "Taking the hits and distracting Ozzal so she didn't notice you getting ready to stab her in the back."
"You provided a focal point for the opposition. You showed the people that someone was doing something to keep Ozzal from running the country into the ground. And yes, you provided an excellent distraction while we were forming our plans. Ozzal was so focused on your organization that she didn't think to scour her own military for quiet dissention."
"You mean even weez all of her spies, she deedn't know about ze Double Dollars?" Hikki asked.
"Everyone in the military knew about us," Mikado said. "They just thought we were a silly do-gooder club. We got made fun of by a lot of people, but nobody outside the group really took us seriously."
"It should be obvious why we didn't make our presence known outside the military, or to the Syndicate," Taredan said. "If anyone had found ties between the Double Dollars and the Syndicate, there would have been hell to pay. Believe me, there are some people in your organization I would have loved to get involved in this, but it was too risky to contact anyone in your group."
"So we went through all of that and lost all of those people and thought it was all for nothing..." Elizabeth might have wanted to cry if she hadn't been so pissed. "...And it was really all so you could play it safe and then ride in and be the big damn hero?"
"You think I'm going to take credit for taking Ozzal down? You couldn't be farther from the truth," Taredan said. "In fact this isn't going to be just a military coup at all. Right now our people in the military will be locking the country down, but the people of this country will have the final say in what happens to the country. And at that point the Blacken Syndicate will be the face of the people taking their country back. You'll have your time in the spotlight, don't worry."
Taredan regarded their skeptical faces for another moment, and then sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better," he said wryly, "when I'm lynched for murdering a little girl, I'll take the blood of all of those other people on my head too."
"Leenched?" Hikki said, his demeanor changing as he realized what Taredan was saying. "But... you deed not keel zees girl. You deesobeyed Ozzal's order and saved her."
"That's not what the public is going to see," Taredan replied calmly. "Within a matter of minutes every television in the country is going to be showing Ozzal telling one of her loyal grunts to burn a child to death, and he's going to do it. And then the screen will go dark. That's all they'll see."
"And you're not going to defend yourself? Tell them what actually happened?" Emiri asked, surprised.
"We could tell zem what actually happened," Hikki insisted. "We saw eet, we know -"
"No," Taredan cut him off with a shake of his head. "That won't be necessary. All the public needs to know is that this is what Ozzal and her regime really stand for. People might be able to look the other way amid talk of distant war and vague reports of corruption - hell, even after that broadcast you made, people were still too afraid or too complacent to do anything. But nobody's going to sit there and watch a child being murdered and then go about their business. Things are going to change, and this is how we're going to change them."
"But why take the blame yourself?" Elizabeth asked. "Isn't it enough to show them what Ozzal wanted you to do, and then explain that you didn't actually go through with it?"
Taredan sighed and shook his head a little, as if he weren't sure how to explain a simple concept to a child. "You know, Ozzal's lackeys once wanted me to be her 'face' to the public," he said with an ironic smile. "I guess I'm finally following through on that."
"But..." Hikki persisted.
"Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do here," Taredan said firmly. "But this is how it needs to be. I've been fed up with this crap for too long. You reach a certain point where you realize your life is worthless, and you could end up dead in a ditch and nobody would care. So you say to yourself, okay, do I want to just go throw myself in a ditch and get it over with? Or is there something I can still accomplish before I go? Well, here's this thing I could accomplish, and frankly I don't give a rat's ass if it kills me as long as I take that bitch with me."
Hikki and the others were silent, not knowing what to say. They couldn't really argue with such strong feelings, but it still unsettled them that it had come to this.
Around them, the soldiers were listening with morose expressions, and Mikasa turned away.
"Well it sounds like you've made up your mind," Elizabeth said. "So I guess there's not much else for us to do here except get untied and set loose."
"I'll get to that, yes. But we still have some business to cover first."
"Oh? What beezness?" Hikki asked.
"When you leave here, there are two things I need you to do for me," Taredan said.
Hikki nodded. He wanted to hear what those two things were before he committed, but he had a feeling he wouldn't have a choice.
"Do you have a doctor at your base?" Taredan asked.
"Oui," Hikki replied.
"Can he keep a secret?" Taredan asked.
"He can."
"Good. Here's what you're going to do. When you leave this place, you'll be carrying a body bag with you. It will contain the remains of an unfortunate little girl."
"But -" Emiri started to protest.
Taredan put his hand up. "It'll have air holes, don't worry."
Emiri settled back down, still not entirely happy.
"You're going to take that bag and your doctor into a room. You're going to close the door, and the girl is going to come out, and the doctor is going to look at her. The girl is going to stay in that room, and no one aside from you and that doctor is going to see her, or hear her, or have any reason to think she might be alive, until a long time after this is all over. You understand me?"
"Wait, so no one but us is allowed to see her?" Elizabeth asked.
"That's what I said," Taredan said evenly.
"She has a brother, you know," Emiri pointed out.
Taredan shrugged, with a "why the hell should I care?" expression on his face. But, seeing that they weren't going to accept that for an answer, he rolled his eyes. "Can the brother keep a secret?"
"Yes," said Hikki firmly.
"Fine, you can put him on the VIP list. But that's it. As far as everyone else is concerned, she's dead and you're all very sad about it. That's the story, and you'd better stick to it."
The rebels exchanged looks, and then nodded to each other.
"Okay, so... what ees ze second sing?" Hikki asked warily.
"You are not under any circumstances to make any sort of claim that I am not an evil, murdering bastard."
Emiri scowled at him. "Right, you already told us not to tell anyone what really happened here. I think we understand that."
"It's easy to say you understand it now, but you'd better be ready to hold to it once you get out there and suddenly have the world looking you in the face," Taredan said. "They're going to put me on trial, and I'm going to be convicted and executed. They'll probably want you to testify as witnesses, although I'd strongly recommend claiming emotional trauma if they do. Hopefully I'll put on a good enough show that testimony won't be necessary. But if you ever feel like you're starting to feel bad for me, or you want the world to know the truth, just stop."
Hikki furrowed his brow. He understood what the major was saying, but...
Taredan seemed to know what he was thinking. "Look, I know you don't like it. I know you're do-gooders, and it hurts your feelings to think you're betraying someone who helped you. But the only way you can betray me now is to open your fat mouths and stop me from doing what I have to do. This day has been a long time coming. And you better believe I'm ready for whatever happens next."
Hikki could feel his determination, and he knew it was something that he had to respect. "All right. We agree. All of us." He looked at Emiri and Elizabeth, and they nodded in acceptance. "And... sank you, Major. You have done more for us zan we can ever realize. Eef zees plan works... we weel know in our hearts who made eet posseeble."
Taredan seemed a little amused at the sappiness of the sentiment, but he also seemed appreciative. "I guess that's something."
Fuery had his headset on and was leaning over a small monitor. Without looking up, he said, "Sir... it's on. Our footage is being aired right now."
Taredan stood and went to look at the monitor. His expression grew slightly pained as he watched. Then he turned sharply and strode to the center of the room.
He paused for a few moments, and then took a deep breath and looked at Mikado. "It's time. Are you ready, Private?"
Mikado couldn't look his commander in the eyes. "I... yes, sir," he said, sounding conflicted.
Taredan's expression softened for just a moment, and then he looked stern again. "It's all up to you now, Mikado. Follow the plan. That's my last order to you."
Mikado met his eyes, and the major's strong gaze seemed to empower him. "Yes sir!" he said resolutely, snapping into a fervent salute.
Immediately every soldier in the room also vigorously saluted their commander. Taredan looked around the room at each one of them in turn, his eyes silently thanking them for the work they had done and had yet to do.
When he had come full circle back to Mikado, his expression changed from one of gratitude to one of confrontation. Understanding what he must now do, Mikado lowered his hand.
"Attention everyone," he said in an uncharacteristically authoritative voice. "Major Tom Taredan has become a menace to Actonian society. Head Governor Ozzal has gone too far, and his willingness to aid and abet her tyranny has made him unfit to command." He paused for a moment to catch his breath. "As of this moment I am relieving him of duty and placing him under military arrest. Does anyone in this room object?"
The room was silent. Hikki looked anxiously from one soldier to the next, but all of them shared the same grim, taciturn expression. He almost wondered if he should speak up on Taredan's behalf, but then he remembered the major's instruction to sit there and let his men carry out their mission.
Mikado pulled out a pair of handcuffs and stepped toward Taredan. "Major Taredan, I ask you to come along peacefully and -"
"Like hell I will!" Taredan bellowed, completely breaking from his former stoic demeanor. He slapped the handcuffs out of the private's hands and shoved past him, trying to break through the circle of soldiers. They all looked at each other in surprise, and then jumped to restrain him.
"All of you are traitors to the empire! I hope you all die in the fires of Hell!" he shouted as they fought to subdue him. "Long live our glorious Queen Ozzal!"
He even started shooting flames recklessly around the room, starting small fires in the ceiling and walls.
"Grab his arms!" Mikasa shouted. "Don't let him suck his thumbs!"
"You're a cruel bitch! All of you are dogs and scum! You're not worthy of our great Lord Ozzal!"
Watching the soldiers struggling to rein the berserk man in, Hikki actually started to feel anxious about whether they would be safe there. He saw Emiri start to squirm against her ropes and knew that she was itching for a chance to take the major down herself.
"You dumbass, get your ruckus away from here!" Chopper hollered, suddenly growing to an imposing stature. He stood protectively in front of Anne, but fortunately Taredan seemed to be leading the fracas back out into the great room.
"What's going on in here?" they heard from the other room.
"Guile, block the door! We're bringing him in!" Mikasa yelled back.
"Oh really? Sounds like fun!" Guile replied.
"GTFO with your democracy and your freedom, Stars and Stripes bastard!" Taredan roared. "You'll see what happens when you cross the regime of the great sovereign Ozzal!"
Emiri and Elizabeth scrambled to their feet, and Hikki followed them as they went to the doorway to see what was going on in the other room.
The great room had erupted into an all-out rumble. The mass of soldiers had the major surrounded and were doing their best to overpower him, but Taredan seemed to be unleashing all of his battle prowess to hold them off. However, nobody had pulled out any guns or blades, and the combatants seemed to be avoiding using any lethal force.
Everything that had been left in the great room was being trashed, and Fuery hovered worriedly around his electronics setup.
"Hey, ees zees going to be okay?" Hikki asked him.
Fuery turned to him with a nervous smile. "Yeah, I... think we'll be able to handle it."
"You just untie me, and I'll handle it in two seconds," Emiri said menacingly.
"I think we've got this," Fuery said, watching the melee.
The soldiers had finally succeeded in grabbing Taredan's arms, preventing him from setting off any more flames. He seemed to have become less focused, and was largely preoccupied trying to bring his hand to his mouth.
"All right boys, heads up!"
The soldiers next to Taredan looked up to see Guile holding his fists out to the side, and instinctively hit the deck, leaving Taredan's back exposed to the fighter.
"SONIC BOOM!"
Taredan took the opportunity to jam his thumb into his mouth, but a second later a flash of energy surged forward from Guile's swinging arms and hit the major square in the back. It seemed to knock the wind out of him, allowing the others to finally throw him to the ground and pin his arms behind him. Mikado had found his handcuffs again, and jostled through the crowd to snap them onto Taredan's wrists.
"That's enough of that!" he proclaimed, sounding a bit winded.
All of them had to take a few moments to catch their breath.
"Where to, Lieutenant?" Caesar asked, looking at Mikasa.
She pulled out her phone. "I'll let Ikari and Maniwa know we're ready. Get the vehicles pulled up. Start loading the equipment in the big van. And get the body bag for that girl. We all need to be out of here before this place burns down."
As she finished speaking, the others noticed that the relatively harmless fires that Taredan had started had begun to slowly spread. It would take another several minutes before the house was engulfed, but it seemed that Mikasa and the others intended to let the flames have their way with their hideout.
Some of the soldiers rushed upstairs to retrieve belongings from the bunk rooms. Others went outside to get the vehicles ready, and the rest started scrambling to help Fuery disassemble his rig and get everything outside.
Caesar pulled out a small knife and set about cutting the rebels' bonds. "I guess you don't need these anymore," he said. "Thanks for being good sports."
"Yeah, sure thing, 'babe,'" Emiri said, rubbing her wrists.
"Can we help?" Hikki asked.
Caesar gestured with his head toward Fuery. "If you can walk and you can carry things, might as well get busy."
As the others went to look for things to take outside, Elizabeth glanced at Taredan sitting in the middle of the floor in the great room. He looked completely drained, and his face had some new bruises and cuts on it, but it also sported a very satisfied smile.
That smug bastard was actually enjoying himself, Elizabeth thought.
As she was having the thought Taredan met her eyes, and for a moment he looked even more smug. Then his smile turned into a sneer and he spitefully spat on the ground in her direction before looking away.
At least he's dedicated, she thought, and turned to follow her friends as Guile pulled Taredan to his feet and began pushing him outside.
The Syndicate members joined the frenetic salvage mission, pausing only to monitor the transfer of the unconscious Anne into the black bag and then outside into Guile's waiting van. The soldiers made sure to be as gentle as possible with her, under the watchful eye of Chopper. The reindeer hopped into the back seat with the "body," continuing to observe her condition.
Fortunately the rain had mostly let up by this point, so Fuery only had to be a little bit paranoid about his equipment getting wet as it was carried to the waiting vehicles. Fuery and Mikasa took one last look around as the last of the boxes were carried out, and then the group stood outside and watched as the fires gutted the house. Only the wet roof was spared from complete incineration, but it fell into a smoldering heap as the wall supports gave way.
"So what happens now?" Hikki asked.
"Mikado and I will head the group bringing him in," Mikasa answered, glancing toward the disgraced major, who was sitting patiently in the back seat of a Jeep. "We have contacts in the police force who will be ready to take him into custody. Guile, you're in charge of getting these guys back to their base. Take Caesar with you. And whoever else you think you might need in case you run into any trouble."
"Roger that," Guile said.
"Trouble?" Hikki repeated worriedly.
"The coast should be clear, but just in case, you'll have backup," Mikasa told him.
Guile started giving directions to some of the other soldiers as Caesar came toward the Syndicate members. He smiled at them and held an inviting arm out toward the green van.
"Let's go. It's time to bring your friends the news."
**********
It had scarcely been an hour since Cille and the others had watched their comrades get taken away as their enemies' captives. She had spent the entire time since then pacing up and down the end of the tunnel, unable to stop her mind from desperately trying to work out what they should have done and what they should be planning to do now. Solomon had tried to calm her down, but she'd only been able to last two minutes sitting next to him before she was on her feet again.
They had decided to send Kamina and Kittan to quietly assemble a small commando squad that they could send out to the farmhouse at a moment's notice. About fifteen minutes earlier Kamina had notified her that the team was ready, but it would still take them some time to reach the escape hatch.
Suddenly Cille's walkie-talkie crackled to life and Raef's panicked voice came through. "Cille! Cille, listen to me!"
Cille grabbed the device. "What is it?"
"Look, can Elian get a TV signal through his Alter? You need to get OZTV on, right now!"
Cille looked anxiously to Elian, who nodded and set about sprouting an antenna outside. "The incoming signals are all jammed, aren't they?" she asked Raef.
"It's not jammed anymore. The signal's coming through now. You need to get it on screen, now!"
"Okay, we've got it!" she answered, as Elian's monitor switched from the outside view to the incoming television broadcast.
None of them were prepared for the scene they were about to witness. There was Anne, bound to a chair, with a soldier they all recognized standing behind her. They heard Hikki and Emiri confronting Ozzal, who loomed over them from a giant screen. And then, the absolute horror: Ozzal issuing the cruel command, the soldier raising his hand, the flames engulfing their young friend.
The image went black, and then was replaced by a harried newscaster repeating pleas for viewers to remain calm and promising more information as soon as it became available.
None of them could move or speak. Elian looked to Cille and Solomon with frightened eyes.
Cille's shock gave way to a surge of despairing rage. "Get Mustang," she seethed. "Get Kamina. Get..." She grasped for ideas. "Get every able-bodied badass in this place. Tell Cid and Proof to get Kraky ready. We're storming that son of a bitch."
Solomon looked grave. "Cille, are you sure..."
She turned on him. "Did you just see the same thing I saw? Do you really think I'm going to sit back on my pampered British ass and do nothing?"
Raef spoke up through the radio. "Cille, this isn't the time for Scarlet Pimpernel quotes. It also isn't the time for losing our heads. I mean, for one thing, Kraky won't even fit out through the escape tunnel."
"All right, then... just send the badasses out. We've got a base full of big tough guys who want to fight, and now we know where to send them."
Solomon frowned. "And what about Hikki and Emiri and Elizabeth? They might still be hostages. We risk something happening to them if we just charge in there."
She scowled at him. "So you want to risk them getting killed too instead. Every second we sit here arguing, they're still in danger. They might be dead already. Either way we're done sitting around."
She raised the walkie-talkie, intending to radio Kamina to ask where his team was, but Aoi's voice came through instead. He sounded more agitated than usual. "Cille, are you there?"
"Yeah, what's up? Is it about that broadcast?" she asked.
"No, I haven't seen any broadcast. But our surveillance cameras all just came online all of a sudden. There's something really weird going on. It's like the military is pulling away from our base. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like they're fighting against each other all of a sudden."
"Fighting against each other?" Solomon repeated.
"Yeah. There's an actual skirmish going on outside our front door. Some of the units are pushing the others back. I don't know what's going on."
"That's our opportunity, then," Cille said assertively. "We'll get the mech and push out while they're keeping each other occupied. We'll charge out to that farmhouse before anybody can engage us."
She radioed Kamina and told him to turn his posse around and head for the front door. She also contacted Charles and told him to get Cid and Proof ready with the mech.
"You two stay here and let me know the second anything appears out there," she instructed Solomon and Elian, not even letting Solomon get any protests in. Solomon sighed, but relented.
Cille ran down the tunnel as fast as she could, with one thought providing all of the impetus she needed. With everything on the line, and the chance to make decisions in her hands, she had defaulted to playing it safe. And at least one of her friends had suffered for it. Now she wasn't going to hold back anymore.
Her legs were screaming in pain by the time she made it to the front foyer of the bunker, where Kamina and Mustang were waiting with their impromptu unit. As she stopped to catch her breath, Mustang went over to give her a hand.
"Hey, are you going to be okay?" he asked. "You didn't have to come all this way. We've got our radios."
"I'm coming with you," Cille panted. "I’m not going to sit around here for something like this."
Mustang and Kamina exchanged glances. They hadn't seen the news broadcast, but they had been filled in on what had happened, and they knew what she must be feeling after seeing something like that.
"Okay then, we're just waiting for Cid and Proof," Kamina said. "They're going to lead the way through and then we're going to charge on out. We got Kirara to give us the best directions she could. She was actually keen to come along too, but you know that sunlight thing doesn't really work for her."
Cille noticed that Aoi was standing at the control panel for the front door, looking at the surveillance monitor. "How does it look out there?" she asked him.
"It's completely clear out front now," he said, still looking puzzled. "I've checked the other door cameras and it's the same thing. It's like they're creating a perimeter around the base."
"We'll take it," Cille said, relieved.
Before long they heard squishing noises coming from a side hallway, and then Kraky burst into the room with Cid and Proof at the helm. All three of them seemed super stoked to get to go out on a mission after so long.
"WOOOOOOO LET'S GOOOOO!" shouted Cid.
"Wait, where are we going?" asked Proof.
"Hey guys, give me a lift!" Kamina called up. One of the tentacles picked him up and deposited him next to the cockpit, and the pilots opened the hatch for him to join them inside.
"Just follow my directions and we'll lead the way for everybody else," he said. He looked down at Cille, who was still recovering from her long run. "Hey Cille, why don't you catch a ride with us too," he called down.
"Um..." Cille eyed the tentacles warily, but before she could answer, Cid said "Ooh yeah, she can sit behind me!" and a tentacle scooped Cille up. She tried to ignore the grossness as she was lifted up to the cockpit and took her seat inside.
"Ground unit ready!" Mustang called. It felt good to be giving commands again.
"Ready sir!" came the chorus of replies.
Mustang looked up at the mech. "On your mark, Tactical Coordinator."
"Aoi?" Cille called.
"Ready."
"All right then." Cille took a deep breath. "Let's move out!"
The heavy bay doors lurched to life, scraping as they opened for the first time in over a month. The mech stood poised to go, and shot outside as soon as there was enough space to get through. Kamina directed the pilots to head west, and the commando group surged after them.
Strangely enough, even as they got farther from the base, they weren't running into too many enemy units. They could see activity to either side, but it was almost as if a path had been haphazardly cleared in this direction.
"Did they know we were coming?" Cille mused.
"Be on your guard, everyone, but keep moving forward!" Kamina instructed through the mech's external speakers.
It was strange revisiting this terrain that had been so familiar to them during the six-day conflict. The ground was still wet and a little muddy from the rain, but it had firmed up considerably since the initial early thaw, and the land had had time to begin smoothing itself over after being sundered by men and machines. There were still remnants of busted scrap and abandoned personal items scattered here and there, providing testament to the destruction and loss of life.
"Hey guys, what are these dots on the screen?" Proof asked suddenly.
"Looks like they're coming toward us," Cid commented. "Maybe it's someone we can beat up!"
Before the pilots could get too excited, Cille held up a hand. "Let's make sure they're actually bad guys before we start trying to beat them up."
Despite her caution, the approaching unknown entities did have her worried. This was all too easy, and they had to be prepared for a trap.
As they crested a rise in the path, the mech passengers finally got a look at what was coming. It looked to be the same green van that had visited them before, followed by two Jeeps.
"Three vehicles? Is it a convoy? Are they on their way to attack the base?" Cille wondered out loud.
"Everyone halt!" Kamina called out. "We've got bogeys approaching. Be on your guard!"
The convoy came closer before the lead van stopped and the driver got out and began walking toward them. It was Guile, and he had one hand resting on his holstered gun and the other hand raised with the palm out.
"He might be coming in peace," Kamina said. "We should at least listen to what he has to say. He should be able to tell us what happened to Hikki and -"
Before he could finish the thought, the passenger door of the van opened, and Hikki himself stepped out. There was a collective gasp of relief from the Syndicate group, which intensified when Emiri and Elizabeth emerged from the middle seats of the van.
"Guys... let me down," Cille said urgently. As soon as the hatch opened, she sprang out of the cockpit and slid down a tentacle to the ground. She ran toward Hikki, who brightened when he saw her approaching.
"Hikki, is it really you? Are you guys okay?" she asked breathlessly.
Hikki looked back at Emiri and Elizabeth, who had come up behind him. "We three, we are okay. But... Anne..."
"I know. We saw the broadcast, and - and..."
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she gave Hikki a big hug. "We thought you guys might be dead too. That's why we came, to try..."
Hikki patted her back. "Eet's okay. What happened to Anne... eet ees a tragedy. But we are okay. We weel all be okay."
Cille took a step back, wiping her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Hikki gestured to Guile and the other soldiers who had stepped out of their vehicles. "Zese pepole... zey are not our enemies anymore. After what happened... zey are going to help us. Everyseeng ees going to change."
Cille looked with wide eyes at the scene around them. "Then you mean..."
"Yes. Ze war... eet ees really over now."
Chapter 64 Author's Notes:
Recurring Characters:
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
Major Tom Taredan - Metatronda
Anne Monroe - herself
Emiri - _Boxers_
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
*Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
Lucille "Cille" Compton - Cille
Raef Compton - Maenos
Cid - cidthekittyisfun
Proof - NoProof91
Kirara Amour - kiraralove
Major Makina - Deadman Wonderland
Kain Fuery - Fullmetal Alchemist
*Joseph "Jojo" Joestar - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Lieutenant Mikasa Ackerman - Attack on Titan
Elian - s-CRY-ed
*Izuru Kira - Bleach
*Kenzou Tenma - Monster
Technical Sergeant Guile - Street Fighter II V
Solomon Goldsmith - Blood+
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Kittan - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Charles Beams - Eureka seveN
New Characters:
CSF - comedyswimfan089
Tony Tony Chopper - One Piece
^Caesar Zeppeli - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
*Eren Jaeger - Attack on Titan
^Private Mikado Ryugamine - Durarara!!
Keiichi Ikari - Paranoia Agent
Mitsuhiro Maniwa - Paranoia Agent
* Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned but do not take an active part in the story.
^ Characters marked with a ^ have appeared in previous chapters but were not previously named.
References:
Double Dollars - the gang from Durarara!! + the currency from Trigun
Nothing made Michelle Ozzal happier than good television. Her favorites were reality shows, of course, especially the ones about people subjecting themselves to humiliation and emotional torture for some fleeting fame or meaningless prize.
The very best reality shows, however, were the ones that she herself created. And she had a real doozy on now.
It was all set up perfectly, better than she could have directed it. The shot framed by pathetic rebel scum writhing and screaming in agony, the helpless little girl cowering at center, and the fierce soldier looming over her like a god of death. She could have slid off of her cushy chair in anticipation.
The soldier prepared himself, and the next thing Ozzal saw was a thrilling wall of fire whooshing directly toward her.
"AHHH!" she couldn't help shouting as she jumped back into her seat. The effect was so real, she just had to get caught up in the moment.
...And then the entire screen turned black.
"DAMMIT! **BLEEP**ING **BLEEP** ON A **BLEEP** SANDWICH! WHERE THE HELL IS MY SHOW?!"
Makina rushed forward to look at the console.
"Apologies, madam, but I don't know enough about electronics to fix it," she said. "I'll go find somebody who can."
"Yes, you do that," Ozzal snapped.
Makina left the room, and a few minutes later a young man opened the door and hurried inside.
"FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!" Ozzal demanded, pointing at the blank screen.
The technician looked over the display panels. "I'm sorry, Head Governor, but there's nothing wrong on our end. There's no signal coming into this monitor."
"Bahhhh... that idiot must have toasted the camera over there," Ozzal grumbled. "Get somebody on a phone with somebody over there. I want to know what's going on!"
The man scurried out and closed the door behind him. Ozzal sat grumpily with her arms crossed, glaring at the black screen.
"Well at least I can imagine the next scene," she said, regaining some of her sense of satisfaction. "That little twerp's a charred piece of barbecue by now." She grinned. "And I can just see the look on Hikki Follet's face when he realizes he's next."
**********
In the great room of the farmhouse, a gaping hole had been blown in the wall and roof. The steady rain falling into the room was extinguishing the last of Taredan's flames, and the smoke was beginning to dissipate into the sky.
Hikki and his compatriots, along with most of the soldiers, were initially blinded and nearly choked by smoke. Those closest to the flames had gotten somewhat scalded, but from what Hikki could see those around him were all right.
Still coughing, Hikki turned his attention to Anne. He could see her still body through the clearing smoke. He crawled over to her, praying that she had somehow been able to survive - but knowing that it would have taken a miracle.
She had been fairly badly burned, and some of her clothes and most of her hair had been singed off. The chair she had been sitting on was nothing more than charred sticks of wood strewn around her. With his hands bound behind him, he couldn't touch her or turn her over, but he leaned close to her and tried to sense any sign of life.
She was unconscious, but she was breathing. She was alive.
Taredan was on his knees, breathing heavily and sucking his thumb like a madman.
"What deed you do?" Hikki asked him incredulously.
Taredan looked at him like he was an idiot. "What does it look like I did? She's still alive, isn't she?"
"Yes, but..."
"Then there you go. And that screen and camera are gone, so Ozzal won't be breathing down our necks anymore. You can thank me later."
Taredan went back to sucking his thumb. He seemed kind of self-conscious about it, but looked like he didn't really give a rat's ass what the rebels thought of him.
"What's wrong with you?" Emiri asked. "Don't tell me you burned your little thumb."
Taredan shot her a surly look. "You think it's easy sending walls of flame around a body and hitting something directly behind it? Maybe you should try it sometime. And see how you feel afterward."
"So wait... you did that on purpose? Even though Ozzal told you to kill her? Why is a military dog betraying its master?" Elizabeth asked.
"Even a dog knows when its master isn't worth obeying," Taredan retorted.
Hikki and his comrades exchanged glances. They weren't really sure what was going on, but it was obvious that there were unexpected machinations afoot.
Around them, the soldiers had begun to come to their senses.
"Fuery - check the camera," Taredan ordered.
Fuery quickly appeared from the next room and moved around the hostages.
"Wait, you blew up the camera. What is there to check?" Elizabeth asked.
"I blew up Ozzal's camera," Taredan replied impatiently. "That doesn't mean I don't have my own."
"The wires are all fused together," said Fuery, who had been tinkering with something on the wall behind the hostages. "They must have taken too much heat from the flames, even from here."
"Then it got everything up to that point? Is the video intact?" Taredan asked.
"The feed went to our base live and was recorded there. I'll need to check with them, but it should be good to go, at least up to the point where the electronics failed."
"Excellent," Taredan said with a sigh of relief, finally looking like he was relaxing a little.
"So um... is anyone going to tell us what the hell is going on here?" Emiri asked angrily.
"Sure, we'll all sit down with some cookies and milk for storytime later," Taredan snapped back. "But maybe you'll be so kind as to let me and my people do what needs to be done first."
"Please... Anne... she needs help..." Hikki interrupted them, drawing their attention back to the burned girl.
"Get the doctor in here," Taredan told another of his men, who immediately left the room.
"Merci beaucoup," Hikki said gratefully.
A few moments later the soldier returned, and the rebels looked hopefully to see the man or woman following him... but the "doctor" appeared to be neither.
A small, furry, brown animal with antlers ambled into the room, carrying a black satchel. He wore a giant pink top hat that was nearly as big as he was.
"Ohhhh, he's adorable! Is that a tanuki?" Elizabeth cooed.
"I'M NOT A TANUKI, I'M A REINDEER!" the creature raged in an adorable high-pitched angry voice.
"And he's also the best damn doctor you'll find on this battlefield, so don't piss him off," Taredan said.
"Don't think you can make me stop being mad just by flattering me, you asshole~" the reindeer said, clearly pleased by the flattery despite his words to the contrary, and also apparently not too worried about offending his superior officer.
"S'il vous plait, zen, Docteur, zees girl needs help desperately," Hikki said, gesturing to Anne.
The doctor's expression immediately turned to concern as he turned to the girl and looked over her injuries.
"Can you take care of her, Chopper?" Taredan asked.
"Mmm... the burns are pretty severe, but I think I can at least stabilize her. She'll need more serious attention later, but I'll do what I can here."
"Sank you, Docteur," Hikki said, relieved.
"The first thing we need to do is get her out of the rain," Chopper said, noting the hole in the roof and wall. "If you can lift her carefully, bring her into the next room. I can set up a table there to work on her."
Taredan gestured to one of his men, and he gently scooped up the girl. Hikki and the others stood, along with Taredan, and the major nodded to them to follow. The blond soldier who had been holding Hikki led the way, while the other soldiers followed behind the rebels.
"Say, do you think we might get untied here?" Emiri asked. "I'm pretty sure we're not hostages anymore."
"You're still on my turf," Taredan answered evenly. "As long as you're here, I'm in charge. So don't think we're going to be buddies just because you know where I stand."
"Well okaaaay then, Captain Bigpants," Emiri snarked. Hikki shot her a look telling her to just suck it up.
"You can have a seat right there," the blond soldier said, gesturing to the cot that Anne had been occupying only a few hours before.
Hikki sat down on one end of the cot, but Emiri stayed on her feet next to him. "Thanks, but I'd rather stand," she said.
The soldier smiled at her, and then came up to her and put one hand on her shoulder and the other around her waist before swiftly sweeping one foot behind her legs. She felt her legs go all tingly and her knees went weak. Before she knew it he had her leaned back over the cot as if he were dipping her in a tango. "Sorry babe, but it wasn't a suggestion," he said with a sly grin.
"You..." she began, less struck by his advances than by the feeling that she recognized the energy he was using. What was it that Jojo called it? Hamon?
"Caesar, can you lay off the ladykilling for once?" Mikasa said, rolling her eyes behind him.
Caesar simply winked at Emiri as he released her and stood back up, and then gallantly gestured for Elizabeth to join her friends. She obliged, but remained vigilantly poised on the edge of the cot.
A low table on the far side of the room had been covered with a blanket, and Chopper was already rummaging through his medical bag as Anne was gently placed on the table.
As the doctor got to work, the rebels also got a look at Fuery's electronics rig. It actually resembled a smaller and slightly less organized version of Elian's surveillance array, but with a more varied assortment of old and new technology.
"Fuery," Taredan said, "do your boys have that footage?"
"It's all there sir," Fuery replied, his cell phone to his ear. "They're going through it now."
"Have them make whatever edits they need to and then get that thing down to CSF at OZTV. Let's let people see how Ozzal and her dogs treat innocent little girls."
"Aye, sir," Fuery said, a little grimly, and then went back to his call.
"We'd better get the rest of the equipment out of the rain, sir," said another soldier.
Taredan nodded. "Everyone get busy picking up whatever needs to be salvaged and bring it in here." He glanced at the former hostages. "Lieutenant Ackerman, keep an eye on them," he ordered as he left the room.
"Yes sir," Mikasa answered, stepping forward as the others followed Taredan out. She took up a post on the opposite side of the room, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. She seemed to be scrutinizing the rebels critically, and looked away sharply when she saw Hikki looking back at her.
Hikki leaned toward Emiri. "Ees eet me, or does she not seem to like us very much?"
"Hrmph," Emiri grumbled. Then she raised her voice. "Hey Sourpuss. You got some kind of problem?"
"Mon dieu..." Hikki murmured, wishing he had his hands free to facepalm.
The young woman turned her unsmiling gaze back to the rebels. "What makes you think I have a problem?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you've been glaring at us this whole time. Or did your face just freeze that way?"
Mikasa's eyes narrowed slightly, but then she turned away again. "I don't really want to talk to you."
"Oh, you think you're too good to talk to the likes of us?" Emiri challenged. Hikki quickly shushed her, and she just scowled at the uncooperative woman. A tense silence settled over the room.
"You might as well just tell them," Chopper said quietly, not looking up from his patient.
The rebels and the soldier both looked at him with a little bit of surprise, and then Mikasa sighed.
"Fine," she said, looking back at Emiri and the others. "I had a friend... no, he was more like my brother. He was killed during your little failed uprising."
Hikki immediately felt bad. "He was een ze army too?" he asked gently.
"Yeah. He was in a different unit. They were up at the front lines near your base. The entire unit was killed. By your people."
Hikki was sympathetic, but Emiri immediately went on the defensive. "So now you got a score to settle or something?"
"You mean would I consider taking you down right here while the commander isn't looking?" Mikasa replied, giving Emiri a look that made her wonder if she might actually be capable of doing it. "No, that would completely undermine everything he's been working for. And I guess what you've been working for too. I wouldn't be that selfish."
"What we've been working for, huh?" Elizabeth spoke up. "If I didn't know better I'd say that sounded almost like you supported us."
"You can believe me or not, but I actually did support your rebellion. So did Eren. But that didn't seem to matter much in the end."
"If you wanted to support the rebellion, I think you joined the wrong team," Emiri said pointedly.
"We joined the military because we had to," Mikasa said coldly. "We lived in a small town and it was destroyed by fighting. The army came through and told us we could join them or starve on the streets. Being in the army wasn't something we did for fun. We did it so we could survive."
"I guess that's one way to recruit," Elizabeth said disdainfully.
"I am sorry about what happened to your friend," Hikki said, before the women could take any more shots at each other. "But you must know zat many pepole gave zeir lives een zees confleect, and most of zem deed not deserve to die. Eet was a hard lesson for us to learn as well, but sacreefices had to be made."
"Yeah I know. The greater good and all that," the lieutenant replied. "Look, just don't think you're some kind of saints. You've got blood on your hands too."
Emiri grinned wickedly. "Honey, you don't know anything about blood. If I told you how many people I've killed -"
"Killing people isn't something to be proud of," Mikasa responded resolutely. "Only some kind of barbarian would think that way."
"You wanna untie me and say that?" Emiri growled.
Elizabeth had heard enough. "Let it go, Emiri," she said firmly. "Her best friend was killed and she has every right to be upset. How would you feel if someone killed Kira and they were sitting right in front of you?"
A shock went through Emiri at the thought. "I'd want to murder them."
"Well there you go," Elizabeth said. "Now you know how she must feel."
"I don't want to murder you," Mikasa pointed out. "I just... don't really want to talk to you right now. Or ever, if I can help it."
"Do you need to go get someone else to watch us?" Hikki asked.
"No, I don't. It really isn't an issue." She sighed. "I'm just going to do my job. And my job is to do whatever I can to help the Major make this country right again. If that means I have to be in the same room with the people who killed Eren, I can handle that. But I don't have to pretend to like you."
Emiri opened her mouth to respond, and then thought better of it.
Mikasa's comrades began filing back into the room, carrying various pieces of equipment which they stacked against the walls. Some of them began boxing things up. Fuery stood pointing and directing them on what to do with his stuff.
Taredan was the last one in from the other room, and he surveyed his group thoughtfully. The ones who didn't have their hands full watched him, waiting for his next command.
He looked around, as if he wasn't quite sure what to tell them. "Well then... I suppose now we wait."
He started pacing, more slowly than before, as everyone waited in silence. It seemed somewhat awkward to the rebels, but the major's subordinates didn't seem fazed. Some of them continued dealing with the equipment, occasionally speaking to each other in hushed tones.
A few minutes later Fuery's cell phone rang and he quickly took the call. All he got out were a series of grunts and "uh-huhs," and then he said "Good work, make it happen" and snapped his phone shut.
He turned to his superior. "Sir, that was CSF. They've got the edited footage and they're going to get the emergency news broadcast on the air momentarily."
Taredan raised his eyebrows. "They've gotten everything ready that fast? Impressive."
"My boys do good work," Fuery said proudly.
"Indeed they do," Taredan agreed. He walked over to an ornate-looking old-fashioned easy chair and plunked himself down in it. He looked contemplative for a few moments, unconsciously pressing his thumb to his lips, and then looked up at one of his younger soldiers.
"Private Ryugamine."
The man stepped forward. "Yes sir?"
Taredan gave him a meaningful look, and when he spoke again his voice was a little softer than usual. "It's time, Mikado. Send out the call."
The young man looked nervous for a moment, and then gave a determined nod. He reached for his cell phone.
"What's going on?" Emiri demanded.
"Just shut up and sit there," Taredan snapped.
The private punched a few buttons on his phone, and then put it up to his ear and listened for a few seconds. Then he seemed to be typing in a message. He pressed one last button - and suddenly a multitude of cell phone ringtones erupted into the silence.
All of the soldiers started reaching for their phones, including Taredan. The Syndicate members just looked around, bewildered. The soldiers put their phones to their ears, looking around at each other.
Taredan read the message on his phone, and then with a satisfied smile looked around at his men. Their faces showed varying levels of nervousness and excitement.
"Well... so far so good," he said. "But we're not done yet."
**********
Ozzal still sat hunched in her chair, glowering at the dark screens in front of her. She wondered what the hell was taking so long with the techies.
The door opened abruptly, and Makina came into the room followed by two soldiers. She held a cell phone in one hand and her unsheathed sword in the other.
Before Ozzal could turn around and start complaining again, Makina was standing behind her, holding the blade to her throat.
"Apologies, madam," she said, with an unusual edge in her voice. "You are under arrest for crimes against Actonia and its people. Please come with me, and don't give me any shit."
Ozzal was stunned for just a moment, and then slowly and softly began to chuckle. "Oho... ohohoho... so this is how it goes, eh?"
"Your sympathizers have been taken into custody as well," Makina continued sternly. "You are no longer in command of this military."
"Oh really? And I'm supposed to just roll over and let you tell me I'm not the most powerful person in this country anymore?"
Makina narrowed her eyes. "I would not recommend resisting, madam. If you do, you won't get out of here alive. If you cooperate, you may just get some of that due process you think so little of."
"Oh really, that's very magnanimous of you," Ozzal sneered. "Well then, I guess I have no choice but to let you lead me off in chains. Are the news cameras already set up outside?"
"There won't be any spectacle," Makina answered calmly. "You'll be held accountable for your crimes under the law - the people's law, not your law."
"Ooooooh, the people," Ozzal said with mock awe. "I hope they're not too mad at me for being mean to them."
"That'll be for them to decide." Makina had had enough of this repartee, and wasn't about to let Ozzal buy any more time. "Now hold your hands out in front of you and stand up slowly."
Ozzal rolled her eyes but obeyed. The other two soldiers immediately moved to either side of her, and one handcuffed her while the other patted her down and produced a small pistol from her boot.
"Onoez, now I won't be able to pull a sneak attack and get away," Ozzal snarked. Makina narrowed her eyes, wondering why Ozzal hadn't tried using the gun, but if it made her job easier it didn't really matter.
"Let's go," Makina ordered curtly. "And remember, if you even think about pulling anything, you'll have my blade through your ribs."
"Whatever you say, boss," Ozzal replied. "Enjoy feeling all big and bad while you can. We'll see whose power comes out on top in the end."
Makina chose to ignore the vague threat, and she and her accomplices escorted Ozzal to the waiting confinement vehicle.
**********
"So you guys were planning a coup this whole time?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.
"It didn't start out that way," Mikado insisted. He stopped, looking at Taredan as if he were afraid of being reprimanded. But Taredan just looked at him and nodded.
The private continued. "When I came up with the idea for the Double Dollars, I was just sick of the way the military was treating the people. Nobody cared about helping people, they just ran right over them and did whatever they wanted. I saw soldiers beating people up and stealing stuff just because there was nobody to stop them. It made me sick. So I started talking about it with some friends and they agreed something needed to be done.
"But of course there was nothing a few grunt soldiers could do. So we just decided amongst ourselves that we'd uphold a sort of code of honor. We'd do what we could to help people instead of joining the corruption. And maybe we could set a good example that others would be inspired to follow."
He laughed. "It was pretty silly of us to think that way, I know. But the strange thing is, it started working. There were other people who felt the same way we did who just went along with this crap because everybody else was doing it and they didn't want to stand out. But somehow they got the idea that it didn't have to be that way. We organized off-duty help days where we got a few people together to help clean up areas that had been torn up. Stuff like that. And more and more people started hearing about them and coming to help, and then other people started organizing their own.
"So we set up this text-messaging system to keep people in the loop about what was going on, and so people could talk to each other to plan stuff. And then people started using it to tell the others about trouble starting up somewhere, so they could go and help calm things down. It was kind of amazing."
"So at what point did the whole coup thing come up?" Emiri asked, slightly sarcastically.
Mikado looked unnerved again, and glanced back at Taredan. "Well..."
"I heard about their little club, and I realized I could use it for a much greater purpose than helping little old ladies replant their flowers," Taredan continued. "Once I'd had Ryugamine and a few others transferred into my unit, it was just a matter of using their network to spread our ideas and get people on board and ready to get things moving when the time was right. Which, as it happens, is now."
"Let me get something straight," Elizabeth said. "You guys are on our side, right?"
"In that we're both trying to bring down Ozzal's corrupt regime, yes," Taredan replied.
"Then is there a particular reason why you never, you know, helped us?" Elizabeth asked angrily. "We did all the work, we took all the heat... Do you even know how many of our people were killed by your military while you sat there biding your time?"
"I'm well aware that you suffered casualties," Taredan answered curtly. "And of course you know there were soldiers who gave their lives as well. And not all of them liked what Ozzal was doing."
"Yeah, we heard the story," Elizabeth said, glancing at Mikasa. "I guess that falls under 'just following orders,' right? Never mind that they were killing off the people they supposedly supported."
"It wasn't an ideal situation on our side, either," Taredan said. "But we did what we had to do. If we had just charged in and rallied to your cause, we would have been cut off before we could do anything. A good tactician knows when and how to play his hand. The groundwork had to be laid, and we had to wait for the right moment to strike. It's unfortunate that so many people were sacrificed in the meantime, but that's how it goes in a war."
"If you and your people had everything all planned out, maybe we shouldn't have bothered," Emiri grumbled. "We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble while you were making your grand plans."
Taredan raised an eyebrow. "You think we could have done this without you? We needed you on the frontlines while we worked in the background. Without you making so much noise, there's no way we could have gotten away with everything we did."
"So we were basically your meatshields," Emiri said. "Taking the hits and distracting Ozzal so she didn't notice you getting ready to stab her in the back."
"You provided a focal point for the opposition. You showed the people that someone was doing something to keep Ozzal from running the country into the ground. And yes, you provided an excellent distraction while we were forming our plans. Ozzal was so focused on your organization that she didn't think to scour her own military for quiet dissention."
"You mean even weez all of her spies, she deedn't know about ze Double Dollars?" Hikki asked.
"Everyone in the military knew about us," Mikado said. "They just thought we were a silly do-gooder club. We got made fun of by a lot of people, but nobody outside the group really took us seriously."
"It should be obvious why we didn't make our presence known outside the military, or to the Syndicate," Taredan said. "If anyone had found ties between the Double Dollars and the Syndicate, there would have been hell to pay. Believe me, there are some people in your organization I would have loved to get involved in this, but it was too risky to contact anyone in your group."
"So we went through all of that and lost all of those people and thought it was all for nothing..." Elizabeth might have wanted to cry if she hadn't been so pissed. "...And it was really all so you could play it safe and then ride in and be the big damn hero?"
"You think I'm going to take credit for taking Ozzal down? You couldn't be farther from the truth," Taredan said. "In fact this isn't going to be just a military coup at all. Right now our people in the military will be locking the country down, but the people of this country will have the final say in what happens to the country. And at that point the Blacken Syndicate will be the face of the people taking their country back. You'll have your time in the spotlight, don't worry."
Taredan regarded their skeptical faces for another moment, and then sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better," he said wryly, "when I'm lynched for murdering a little girl, I'll take the blood of all of those other people on my head too."
"Leenched?" Hikki said, his demeanor changing as he realized what Taredan was saying. "But... you deed not keel zees girl. You deesobeyed Ozzal's order and saved her."
"That's not what the public is going to see," Taredan replied calmly. "Within a matter of minutes every television in the country is going to be showing Ozzal telling one of her loyal grunts to burn a child to death, and he's going to do it. And then the screen will go dark. That's all they'll see."
"And you're not going to defend yourself? Tell them what actually happened?" Emiri asked, surprised.
"We could tell zem what actually happened," Hikki insisted. "We saw eet, we know -"
"No," Taredan cut him off with a shake of his head. "That won't be necessary. All the public needs to know is that this is what Ozzal and her regime really stand for. People might be able to look the other way amid talk of distant war and vague reports of corruption - hell, even after that broadcast you made, people were still too afraid or too complacent to do anything. But nobody's going to sit there and watch a child being murdered and then go about their business. Things are going to change, and this is how we're going to change them."
"But why take the blame yourself?" Elizabeth asked. "Isn't it enough to show them what Ozzal wanted you to do, and then explain that you didn't actually go through with it?"
Taredan sighed and shook his head a little, as if he weren't sure how to explain a simple concept to a child. "You know, Ozzal's lackeys once wanted me to be her 'face' to the public," he said with an ironic smile. "I guess I'm finally following through on that."
"But..." Hikki persisted.
"Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do here," Taredan said firmly. "But this is how it needs to be. I've been fed up with this crap for too long. You reach a certain point where you realize your life is worthless, and you could end up dead in a ditch and nobody would care. So you say to yourself, okay, do I want to just go throw myself in a ditch and get it over with? Or is there something I can still accomplish before I go? Well, here's this thing I could accomplish, and frankly I don't give a rat's ass if it kills me as long as I take that bitch with me."
Hikki and the others were silent, not knowing what to say. They couldn't really argue with such strong feelings, but it still unsettled them that it had come to this.
Around them, the soldiers were listening with morose expressions, and Mikasa turned away.
"Well it sounds like you've made up your mind," Elizabeth said. "So I guess there's not much else for us to do here except get untied and set loose."
"I'll get to that, yes. But we still have some business to cover first."
"Oh? What beezness?" Hikki asked.
"When you leave here, there are two things I need you to do for me," Taredan said.
Hikki nodded. He wanted to hear what those two things were before he committed, but he had a feeling he wouldn't have a choice.
"Do you have a doctor at your base?" Taredan asked.
"Oui," Hikki replied.
"Can he keep a secret?" Taredan asked.
"He can."
"Good. Here's what you're going to do. When you leave this place, you'll be carrying a body bag with you. It will contain the remains of an unfortunate little girl."
"But -" Emiri started to protest.
Taredan put his hand up. "It'll have air holes, don't worry."
Emiri settled back down, still not entirely happy.
"You're going to take that bag and your doctor into a room. You're going to close the door, and the girl is going to come out, and the doctor is going to look at her. The girl is going to stay in that room, and no one aside from you and that doctor is going to see her, or hear her, or have any reason to think she might be alive, until a long time after this is all over. You understand me?"
"Wait, so no one but us is allowed to see her?" Elizabeth asked.
"That's what I said," Taredan said evenly.
"She has a brother, you know," Emiri pointed out.
Taredan shrugged, with a "why the hell should I care?" expression on his face. But, seeing that they weren't going to accept that for an answer, he rolled his eyes. "Can the brother keep a secret?"
"Yes," said Hikki firmly.
"Fine, you can put him on the VIP list. But that's it. As far as everyone else is concerned, she's dead and you're all very sad about it. That's the story, and you'd better stick to it."
The rebels exchanged looks, and then nodded to each other.
"Okay, so... what ees ze second sing?" Hikki asked warily.
"You are not under any circumstances to make any sort of claim that I am not an evil, murdering bastard."
Emiri scowled at him. "Right, you already told us not to tell anyone what really happened here. I think we understand that."
"It's easy to say you understand it now, but you'd better be ready to hold to it once you get out there and suddenly have the world looking you in the face," Taredan said. "They're going to put me on trial, and I'm going to be convicted and executed. They'll probably want you to testify as witnesses, although I'd strongly recommend claiming emotional trauma if they do. Hopefully I'll put on a good enough show that testimony won't be necessary. But if you ever feel like you're starting to feel bad for me, or you want the world to know the truth, just stop."
Hikki furrowed his brow. He understood what the major was saying, but...
Taredan seemed to know what he was thinking. "Look, I know you don't like it. I know you're do-gooders, and it hurts your feelings to think you're betraying someone who helped you. But the only way you can betray me now is to open your fat mouths and stop me from doing what I have to do. This day has been a long time coming. And you better believe I'm ready for whatever happens next."
Hikki could feel his determination, and he knew it was something that he had to respect. "All right. We agree. All of us." He looked at Emiri and Elizabeth, and they nodded in acceptance. "And... sank you, Major. You have done more for us zan we can ever realize. Eef zees plan works... we weel know in our hearts who made eet posseeble."
Taredan seemed a little amused at the sappiness of the sentiment, but he also seemed appreciative. "I guess that's something."
Fuery had his headset on and was leaning over a small monitor. Without looking up, he said, "Sir... it's on. Our footage is being aired right now."
Taredan stood and went to look at the monitor. His expression grew slightly pained as he watched. Then he turned sharply and strode to the center of the room.
He paused for a few moments, and then took a deep breath and looked at Mikado. "It's time. Are you ready, Private?"
Mikado couldn't look his commander in the eyes. "I... yes, sir," he said, sounding conflicted.
Taredan's expression softened for just a moment, and then he looked stern again. "It's all up to you now, Mikado. Follow the plan. That's my last order to you."
Mikado met his eyes, and the major's strong gaze seemed to empower him. "Yes sir!" he said resolutely, snapping into a fervent salute.
Immediately every soldier in the room also vigorously saluted their commander. Taredan looked around the room at each one of them in turn, his eyes silently thanking them for the work they had done and had yet to do.
When he had come full circle back to Mikado, his expression changed from one of gratitude to one of confrontation. Understanding what he must now do, Mikado lowered his hand.
"Attention everyone," he said in an uncharacteristically authoritative voice. "Major Tom Taredan has become a menace to Actonian society. Head Governor Ozzal has gone too far, and his willingness to aid and abet her tyranny has made him unfit to command." He paused for a moment to catch his breath. "As of this moment I am relieving him of duty and placing him under military arrest. Does anyone in this room object?"
The room was silent. Hikki looked anxiously from one soldier to the next, but all of them shared the same grim, taciturn expression. He almost wondered if he should speak up on Taredan's behalf, but then he remembered the major's instruction to sit there and let his men carry out their mission.
Mikado pulled out a pair of handcuffs and stepped toward Taredan. "Major Taredan, I ask you to come along peacefully and -"
"Like hell I will!" Taredan bellowed, completely breaking from his former stoic demeanor. He slapped the handcuffs out of the private's hands and shoved past him, trying to break through the circle of soldiers. They all looked at each other in surprise, and then jumped to restrain him.
"All of you are traitors to the empire! I hope you all die in the fires of Hell!" he shouted as they fought to subdue him. "Long live our glorious Queen Ozzal!"
He even started shooting flames recklessly around the room, starting small fires in the ceiling and walls.
"Grab his arms!" Mikasa shouted. "Don't let him suck his thumbs!"
"You're a cruel bitch! All of you are dogs and scum! You're not worthy of our great Lord Ozzal!"
Watching the soldiers struggling to rein the berserk man in, Hikki actually started to feel anxious about whether they would be safe there. He saw Emiri start to squirm against her ropes and knew that she was itching for a chance to take the major down herself.
"You dumbass, get your ruckus away from here!" Chopper hollered, suddenly growing to an imposing stature. He stood protectively in front of Anne, but fortunately Taredan seemed to be leading the fracas back out into the great room.
"What's going on in here?" they heard from the other room.
"Guile, block the door! We're bringing him in!" Mikasa yelled back.
"Oh really? Sounds like fun!" Guile replied.
"GTFO with your democracy and your freedom, Stars and Stripes bastard!" Taredan roared. "You'll see what happens when you cross the regime of the great sovereign Ozzal!"
Emiri and Elizabeth scrambled to their feet, and Hikki followed them as they went to the doorway to see what was going on in the other room.
The great room had erupted into an all-out rumble. The mass of soldiers had the major surrounded and were doing their best to overpower him, but Taredan seemed to be unleashing all of his battle prowess to hold them off. However, nobody had pulled out any guns or blades, and the combatants seemed to be avoiding using any lethal force.
Everything that had been left in the great room was being trashed, and Fuery hovered worriedly around his electronics setup.
"Hey, ees zees going to be okay?" Hikki asked him.
Fuery turned to him with a nervous smile. "Yeah, I... think we'll be able to handle it."
"You just untie me, and I'll handle it in two seconds," Emiri said menacingly.
"I think we've got this," Fuery said, watching the melee.
The soldiers had finally succeeded in grabbing Taredan's arms, preventing him from setting off any more flames. He seemed to have become less focused, and was largely preoccupied trying to bring his hand to his mouth.
"All right boys, heads up!"
The soldiers next to Taredan looked up to see Guile holding his fists out to the side, and instinctively hit the deck, leaving Taredan's back exposed to the fighter.
"SONIC BOOM!"
Taredan took the opportunity to jam his thumb into his mouth, but a second later a flash of energy surged forward from Guile's swinging arms and hit the major square in the back. It seemed to knock the wind out of him, allowing the others to finally throw him to the ground and pin his arms behind him. Mikado had found his handcuffs again, and jostled through the crowd to snap them onto Taredan's wrists.
"That's enough of that!" he proclaimed, sounding a bit winded.
All of them had to take a few moments to catch their breath.
"Where to, Lieutenant?" Caesar asked, looking at Mikasa.
She pulled out her phone. "I'll let Ikari and Maniwa know we're ready. Get the vehicles pulled up. Start loading the equipment in the big van. And get the body bag for that girl. We all need to be out of here before this place burns down."
As she finished speaking, the others noticed that the relatively harmless fires that Taredan had started had begun to slowly spread. It would take another several minutes before the house was engulfed, but it seemed that Mikasa and the others intended to let the flames have their way with their hideout.
Some of the soldiers rushed upstairs to retrieve belongings from the bunk rooms. Others went outside to get the vehicles ready, and the rest started scrambling to help Fuery disassemble his rig and get everything outside.
Caesar pulled out a small knife and set about cutting the rebels' bonds. "I guess you don't need these anymore," he said. "Thanks for being good sports."
"Yeah, sure thing, 'babe,'" Emiri said, rubbing her wrists.
"Can we help?" Hikki asked.
Caesar gestured with his head toward Fuery. "If you can walk and you can carry things, might as well get busy."
As the others went to look for things to take outside, Elizabeth glanced at Taredan sitting in the middle of the floor in the great room. He looked completely drained, and his face had some new bruises and cuts on it, but it also sported a very satisfied smile.
That smug bastard was actually enjoying himself, Elizabeth thought.
As she was having the thought Taredan met her eyes, and for a moment he looked even more smug. Then his smile turned into a sneer and he spitefully spat on the ground in her direction before looking away.
At least he's dedicated, she thought, and turned to follow her friends as Guile pulled Taredan to his feet and began pushing him outside.
The Syndicate members joined the frenetic salvage mission, pausing only to monitor the transfer of the unconscious Anne into the black bag and then outside into Guile's waiting van. The soldiers made sure to be as gentle as possible with her, under the watchful eye of Chopper. The reindeer hopped into the back seat with the "body," continuing to observe her condition.
Fortunately the rain had mostly let up by this point, so Fuery only had to be a little bit paranoid about his equipment getting wet as it was carried to the waiting vehicles. Fuery and Mikasa took one last look around as the last of the boxes were carried out, and then the group stood outside and watched as the fires gutted the house. Only the wet roof was spared from complete incineration, but it fell into a smoldering heap as the wall supports gave way.
"So what happens now?" Hikki asked.
"Mikado and I will head the group bringing him in," Mikasa answered, glancing toward the disgraced major, who was sitting patiently in the back seat of a Jeep. "We have contacts in the police force who will be ready to take him into custody. Guile, you're in charge of getting these guys back to their base. Take Caesar with you. And whoever else you think you might need in case you run into any trouble."
"Roger that," Guile said.
"Trouble?" Hikki repeated worriedly.
"The coast should be clear, but just in case, you'll have backup," Mikasa told him.
Guile started giving directions to some of the other soldiers as Caesar came toward the Syndicate members. He smiled at them and held an inviting arm out toward the green van.
"Let's go. It's time to bring your friends the news."
**********
It had scarcely been an hour since Cille and the others had watched their comrades get taken away as their enemies' captives. She had spent the entire time since then pacing up and down the end of the tunnel, unable to stop her mind from desperately trying to work out what they should have done and what they should be planning to do now. Solomon had tried to calm her down, but she'd only been able to last two minutes sitting next to him before she was on her feet again.
They had decided to send Kamina and Kittan to quietly assemble a small commando squad that they could send out to the farmhouse at a moment's notice. About fifteen minutes earlier Kamina had notified her that the team was ready, but it would still take them some time to reach the escape hatch.
Suddenly Cille's walkie-talkie crackled to life and Raef's panicked voice came through. "Cille! Cille, listen to me!"
Cille grabbed the device. "What is it?"
"Look, can Elian get a TV signal through his Alter? You need to get OZTV on, right now!"
Cille looked anxiously to Elian, who nodded and set about sprouting an antenna outside. "The incoming signals are all jammed, aren't they?" she asked Raef.
"It's not jammed anymore. The signal's coming through now. You need to get it on screen, now!"
"Okay, we've got it!" she answered, as Elian's monitor switched from the outside view to the incoming television broadcast.
None of them were prepared for the scene they were about to witness. There was Anne, bound to a chair, with a soldier they all recognized standing behind her. They heard Hikki and Emiri confronting Ozzal, who loomed over them from a giant screen. And then, the absolute horror: Ozzal issuing the cruel command, the soldier raising his hand, the flames engulfing their young friend.
The image went black, and then was replaced by a harried newscaster repeating pleas for viewers to remain calm and promising more information as soon as it became available.
None of them could move or speak. Elian looked to Cille and Solomon with frightened eyes.
Cille's shock gave way to a surge of despairing rage. "Get Mustang," she seethed. "Get Kamina. Get..." She grasped for ideas. "Get every able-bodied badass in this place. Tell Cid and Proof to get Kraky ready. We're storming that son of a bitch."
Solomon looked grave. "Cille, are you sure..."
She turned on him. "Did you just see the same thing I saw? Do you really think I'm going to sit back on my pampered British ass and do nothing?"
Raef spoke up through the radio. "Cille, this isn't the time for Scarlet Pimpernel quotes. It also isn't the time for losing our heads. I mean, for one thing, Kraky won't even fit out through the escape tunnel."
"All right, then... just send the badasses out. We've got a base full of big tough guys who want to fight, and now we know where to send them."
Solomon frowned. "And what about Hikki and Emiri and Elizabeth? They might still be hostages. We risk something happening to them if we just charge in there."
She scowled at him. "So you want to risk them getting killed too instead. Every second we sit here arguing, they're still in danger. They might be dead already. Either way we're done sitting around."
She raised the walkie-talkie, intending to radio Kamina to ask where his team was, but Aoi's voice came through instead. He sounded more agitated than usual. "Cille, are you there?"
"Yeah, what's up? Is it about that broadcast?" she asked.
"No, I haven't seen any broadcast. But our surveillance cameras all just came online all of a sudden. There's something really weird going on. It's like the military is pulling away from our base. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like they're fighting against each other all of a sudden."
"Fighting against each other?" Solomon repeated.
"Yeah. There's an actual skirmish going on outside our front door. Some of the units are pushing the others back. I don't know what's going on."
"That's our opportunity, then," Cille said assertively. "We'll get the mech and push out while they're keeping each other occupied. We'll charge out to that farmhouse before anybody can engage us."
She radioed Kamina and told him to turn his posse around and head for the front door. She also contacted Charles and told him to get Cid and Proof ready with the mech.
"You two stay here and let me know the second anything appears out there," she instructed Solomon and Elian, not even letting Solomon get any protests in. Solomon sighed, but relented.
Cille ran down the tunnel as fast as she could, with one thought providing all of the impetus she needed. With everything on the line, and the chance to make decisions in her hands, she had defaulted to playing it safe. And at least one of her friends had suffered for it. Now she wasn't going to hold back anymore.
Her legs were screaming in pain by the time she made it to the front foyer of the bunker, where Kamina and Mustang were waiting with their impromptu unit. As she stopped to catch her breath, Mustang went over to give her a hand.
"Hey, are you going to be okay?" he asked. "You didn't have to come all this way. We've got our radios."
"I'm coming with you," Cille panted. "I’m not going to sit around here for something like this."
Mustang and Kamina exchanged glances. They hadn't seen the news broadcast, but they had been filled in on what had happened, and they knew what she must be feeling after seeing something like that.
"Okay then, we're just waiting for Cid and Proof," Kamina said. "They're going to lead the way through and then we're going to charge on out. We got Kirara to give us the best directions she could. She was actually keen to come along too, but you know that sunlight thing doesn't really work for her."
Cille noticed that Aoi was standing at the control panel for the front door, looking at the surveillance monitor. "How does it look out there?" she asked him.
"It's completely clear out front now," he said, still looking puzzled. "I've checked the other door cameras and it's the same thing. It's like they're creating a perimeter around the base."
"We'll take it," Cille said, relieved.
Before long they heard squishing noises coming from a side hallway, and then Kraky burst into the room with Cid and Proof at the helm. All three of them seemed super stoked to get to go out on a mission after so long.
"WOOOOOOO LET'S GOOOOO!" shouted Cid.
"Wait, where are we going?" asked Proof.
"Hey guys, give me a lift!" Kamina called up. One of the tentacles picked him up and deposited him next to the cockpit, and the pilots opened the hatch for him to join them inside.
"Just follow my directions and we'll lead the way for everybody else," he said. He looked down at Cille, who was still recovering from her long run. "Hey Cille, why don't you catch a ride with us too," he called down.
"Um..." Cille eyed the tentacles warily, but before she could answer, Cid said "Ooh yeah, she can sit behind me!" and a tentacle scooped Cille up. She tried to ignore the grossness as she was lifted up to the cockpit and took her seat inside.
"Ground unit ready!" Mustang called. It felt good to be giving commands again.
"Ready sir!" came the chorus of replies.
Mustang looked up at the mech. "On your mark, Tactical Coordinator."
"Aoi?" Cille called.
"Ready."
"All right then." Cille took a deep breath. "Let's move out!"
The heavy bay doors lurched to life, scraping as they opened for the first time in over a month. The mech stood poised to go, and shot outside as soon as there was enough space to get through. Kamina directed the pilots to head west, and the commando group surged after them.
Strangely enough, even as they got farther from the base, they weren't running into too many enemy units. They could see activity to either side, but it was almost as if a path had been haphazardly cleared in this direction.
"Did they know we were coming?" Cille mused.
"Be on your guard, everyone, but keep moving forward!" Kamina instructed through the mech's external speakers.
It was strange revisiting this terrain that had been so familiar to them during the six-day conflict. The ground was still wet and a little muddy from the rain, but it had firmed up considerably since the initial early thaw, and the land had had time to begin smoothing itself over after being sundered by men and machines. There were still remnants of busted scrap and abandoned personal items scattered here and there, providing testament to the destruction and loss of life.
"Hey guys, what are these dots on the screen?" Proof asked suddenly.
"Looks like they're coming toward us," Cid commented. "Maybe it's someone we can beat up!"
Before the pilots could get too excited, Cille held up a hand. "Let's make sure they're actually bad guys before we start trying to beat them up."
Despite her caution, the approaching unknown entities did have her worried. This was all too easy, and they had to be prepared for a trap.
As they crested a rise in the path, the mech passengers finally got a look at what was coming. It looked to be the same green van that had visited them before, followed by two Jeeps.
"Three vehicles? Is it a convoy? Are they on their way to attack the base?" Cille wondered out loud.
"Everyone halt!" Kamina called out. "We've got bogeys approaching. Be on your guard!"
The convoy came closer before the lead van stopped and the driver got out and began walking toward them. It was Guile, and he had one hand resting on his holstered gun and the other hand raised with the palm out.
"He might be coming in peace," Kamina said. "We should at least listen to what he has to say. He should be able to tell us what happened to Hikki and -"
Before he could finish the thought, the passenger door of the van opened, and Hikki himself stepped out. There was a collective gasp of relief from the Syndicate group, which intensified when Emiri and Elizabeth emerged from the middle seats of the van.
"Guys... let me down," Cille said urgently. As soon as the hatch opened, she sprang out of the cockpit and slid down a tentacle to the ground. She ran toward Hikki, who brightened when he saw her approaching.
"Hikki, is it really you? Are you guys okay?" she asked breathlessly.
Hikki looked back at Emiri and Elizabeth, who had come up behind him. "We three, we are okay. But... Anne..."
"I know. We saw the broadcast, and - and..."
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she gave Hikki a big hug. "We thought you guys might be dead too. That's why we came, to try..."
Hikki patted her back. "Eet's okay. What happened to Anne... eet ees a tragedy. But we are okay. We weel all be okay."
Cille took a step back, wiping her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Hikki gestured to Guile and the other soldiers who had stepped out of their vehicles. "Zese pepole... zey are not our enemies anymore. After what happened... zey are going to help us. Everyseeng ees going to change."
Cille looked with wide eyes at the scene around them. "Then you mean..."
"Yes. Ze war... eet ees really over now."
Chapter 64 Author's Notes:
Recurring Characters:
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
Major Tom Taredan - Metatronda
Anne Monroe - herself
Emiri - _Boxers_
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
*Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
Lucille "Cille" Compton - Cille
Raef Compton - Maenos
Cid - cidthekittyisfun
Proof - NoProof91
Kirara Amour - kiraralove
Major Makina - Deadman Wonderland
Kain Fuery - Fullmetal Alchemist
*Joseph "Jojo" Joestar - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Lieutenant Mikasa Ackerman - Attack on Titan
Elian - s-CRY-ed
*Izuru Kira - Bleach
*Kenzou Tenma - Monster
Technical Sergeant Guile - Street Fighter II V
Solomon Goldsmith - Blood+
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Kittan - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Charles Beams - Eureka seveN
New Characters:
CSF - comedyswimfan089
Tony Tony Chopper - One Piece
^Caesar Zeppeli - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
*Eren Jaeger - Attack on Titan
^Private Mikado Ryugamine - Durarara!!
Keiichi Ikari - Paranoia Agent
Mitsuhiro Maniwa - Paranoia Agent
* Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned but do not take an active part in the story.
^ Characters marked with a ^ have appeared in previous chapters but were not previously named.
References:
Double Dollars - the gang from Durarara!! + the currency from Trigun