"You should have slit their throats much earlier."
"Well, I’ve been pretty bored lately. Should I send a proposed operation plan to upper managent?"
"Seriously thinking that way first... I must be out of my mind."
New York, Central Park HQ.
The storm had settled, and the words "peace" and "stability" were beginning to take root in people's minds. But as always, below the surface, there were unpleasant and irritating behind-the-scenes clean-ups going on—things ordinary people shouldn’t know and don’t need to know. It was a given.
But teors, by nature, don’t fall straight down; they blaze across the sky, and when they do land on soone’s head, no one ever likes it. And this was exactly the situation that the Dagger Team found itself in.
Lorenatina, half-reclined in her chair with her feet on the table, reading a book, sighed. The sound of the book closing echoed throughout the lounge. With a grunt, she pushed herself up, making the large sofa sway.
At least it didn’t break.
"Even if I propose it, the likelihood that upper managent will get motivated is low... but when has the Dagger Team ever been the type to think and act like that?"
"Let's think about what we need for the operation. Standard type, or full destruction operation. We’ll need a helicopter for extraction, and... anti-air defense systems... probably don't have those at this point."
"If they had them, that'd be ironic... But, well, these idiots have sohow managed to hide infrastructure that makes things like cha Eugene possible, so I can’t rule out the possibility of SAMs. Just looking at the materials they sent, those bastards attached plasma cannons and mini-guns to android tails."
"Turns out, they’re even crazier than we thought."
As soon as Lorenatina heard this, she burst out laughing.
Logan glanced sideways at her, let out a dry laugh, then stood up and spoke.
"Funny bastards."
"The plasma cannon attached to its tail... that’s the most interesting thing I’ve heard recently. Do you know how much destructive power it has?"
"Call the little one and ask him directly. The firepower is impressive. It can lt an entire car or a thick shopping mall pillar."
"That sounds like sothing truly dreadful if it hits directly."
Plasma cannon and mini-gun.
The combination of those words was like magic, erasing all the previous anger and discomfort in an instant. Everyone, except Owens, who had spoken up at the ntion of plasma cannon, opened their eyes wide and leaned in. As expected, the senior officer of the operation, Owens, let out a brief laugh before continuing.
"Rember, unlike before, we can no longer pinpoint cha Eugene’s and Artemis’s exact headquarters. After analyzing the angle of the sunlight, surrounding vegetation, weather, and several other factors, all we know is that it's sowhere in Canada."
"Looks like we’ll need cooperation from the Canadian military."
"That’s not our concern. For now, let’s look at this."
At the sa ti, several sheets of paper were placed on the table. They were photos sent by Eugene from another world.
The content varied, but it wasn’t hard to recognize what they were—mainly specs of exoskeletons believed to be operated by Artemis, combat UGVs, and photos of cha Eugene in a self-destructing state… One thing was clear: we couldn’t rush in without proper intel.
Naturally, it didn’t take long for everyone in the lounge to analyze the photos with sharp, calculating gazes. anwhile, Owens sat down and opened his laptop, accessing the Icarus database to scan all information regarding Artemis’s movents.
There were countless pieces of information that should not be publicly released, but Owens’s gaze stopped on sothing—the information update on Artemis’s activities that had been stalled for several months.
With expert skill, Owens uploaded the data to everyone’s gear.
"With the security-level accounts, we couldn’t even find any relevant information, so it looks like it’s being managed by a completely different system… I’ll need to fabricate a source for the data Eugene gave us before reporting it to upper managent."
"With the normal procedure, we won’t be able to deploy support in ti. Unless we manage to kick the bureaucrats’ fat asses."
"Now that we have this crazy info about cha Eugene, I think we can stir things up a bit with the higher-ups. Watching Henry spill his coffee over it will be worth it."
"Seems like the manifesters are still talking nonsense as usual."
At that, Lorenatina burst into laughter, while the polar bear grumbled about being dragged into this. It was just another normal day for the group.
After a long laugh, Lorenatina began inspecting the photos of cha Eugene on the table and started making so guesses. Specifically, how much firepower would be needed to destroy the machine without too much trouble.
From the data so far, several things could be inferred. Given that the operation would take place in an unknown remote area, supplies would be difficult to procure, and the process of managing resources and adjusting firepower for each engagent would need to be finely tuned.
Her gaze suddenly shifted to a box in the corner of the room.
It didn’t quite seem like a regular box. There was a power cable plugged into it, so at the very least, it was sothing functional. Above it, a green hologram, indicating "safety," floated.
If she focused her eyes a little, more detailed information could pop up, but it wasn’t necessary. Everyone in the room knew exactly what was inside.
After finishing her thought, Lorenatina spoke.
"I wondered if the day would ever co when we’d use that. I didn’t think we’d be heading out to the battlefield with it so soon. The world sure is full of surprises."
"…Thinking about it exploding behind us is terrifying. We’ll need to attach portable shields and go out with those."
"I’ll handle the sniper rifle. The polar bear can take the grenade launcher."
"Do as you like."
At the sa ti, the two of them looked away from the box, and Owens, Serkins, and a few others stood up and left the lounge to report to upper managent.
However, the box remained, and even though the eyes had left it, the box automatically activated a hologram, revealing what it was storing.
[Notification: Storing items...]
[List: M145A1 Anti-Material Sniper Rifle - Micro Anti-Matter Round Equipped // Available Ammunition: 150]
[List: M40P1 Grenade Launcher - Micro Anti-Matter Round Equipped // Available Grenades: 75 // Type Alpha - Damage Radius 25m, 45 Rounds // Type Bravo - Damage Radius 50m, 15 Rounds // Type Charlie - Damage Radius 75m, 10 Rounds // Type Delta - Damage Radius 150m, 5 Rounds]
[Warning: To maintain the internal magnetic field of the rounds, only use launchers compatible with Icarus Gear. Unauthorized launchers will not ensure user safety.]
Anti-matter.
Although it wouldn’t have much impact on the U.S. power grid, it could certainly be used elsewhere.
The battlefield was the perfect place to test new technologies and weaponry, and the Dagger Team would soon prove that to be true.
anwhile…
"Archetype, I hope we can take the current machine to a new battlefield soon."
"Too many complaints. Is there anywhere you want to go?"
"This ti, I want to see a dense forest."
"Got it."
"Ha ha ha ha ha."
"Look at that proud look now, ha ha."
"Seriously, this response is hilarious."
"Because of the baby cha Viyam, the mommy Viyam has a headache again..."
Indeed. His body had grown, but ntally, it felt like I was bringing along a little cousin.
Anyway, leaving that aside, today, I had to go back to the research facility again. The reason wasn’t anything special—it was simply to gather weapons for cha Viyam’s tail.
The full story was this.
"Anyway, if it’s okay with you, I plan to take Jin with to the high-value research facility again today. I found so interesting data in the armory."
"Are you talking about places with plasma cannons, particle weapons, or sound-wave weapons?"
"Exactly."
Yesterday, while rummaging through the lab, I discovered sothing: Artemis had also made various preparations to prevent the prototype weapons from gaining consciousness, rebelling, or escaping the test room.
Naturally, to stop this, various ans were required, and Artemis wasn’t stupid. The software-based ideas I had—forcing certain cognitive functions to be locked, and creating kill switches or backdoors to stop them at any ti—had likely already been implented.
But if these non-physical defenses were breached, the answer was simple: stop cha Eugene physically.
The armory I ntioned stored weapons designed to stop the prototype in case of an ergency, and these weapons were compatible with various platforms.
The discovery of these facts led to two conclusions.
"First, when we arrive at the facility, there are two things we need to check. One is whether the facility's defense systems are working properly, and the second is whether this weapon is compatible with your body, Jin."
"Shopping ti, huh?"
"...Where did you learn that?"
"Ha ha ha ha."
"Already thinking about what weapons to attach to the tail, ha ha."
"What? You wouldn’t think about the weapons that could attach to the tail?"
Jin had quickly beco integrated into their environnt.
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