“… Over there. That’s toward Fordham University, right? It’s a huge ss. Why the fire….”
“The first thing I saw after the battle was the West Bronx, burning after being hit by white phosphorus. It’s so overflowing with charm.”
“Is that usually called charm…?”
4:22 AM, Lincoln dical Center.
The inside of the building was filled with the pungent scent of blood and the sll of burning. It was such a horrible sight that I wondered if I’d be able to clean up all the corpses here later. The only good thing was that the bodies of the people I killed all had distinctive tattoos.
… Actually, that didn’t matter. My head hurt after the battle. Even the operators of the Dagger Team, who had much more combat experience than I, were in a similar situation to .
Have I ever killed so many people in my life… No. Strictly speaking, this might be the second or third ti I’ve done sothing like this.
Considering that taking soone else’s life is generally considered a felony, and that he killed hundreds of people in just a couple hours… .
‘… How did I end up like this?’
What did I do wrong to be here?
Usually, at tis like this, Olivia, who I would jokingly call Mom, would co and comfort , but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case today. It seed like she needed ti to collect her thoughts.
It wasn’t just Olivia. All the operators who were deployed with were showing similar reactions. What should I say? They looked quite tired.
In fact, it was the sa last ti. Should I say it was the exhaustion after a fierce battle, or should I say it was what people call the sage ti?
The Icarus Gear suppressed the sympathetic nervous system, preventing excessive adrenaline from being released.
Thanks to that, it suppresses the intense parasympathetic nerve reaction that occurs after battle and prevents short-term mory from being fixed as long-term mory. Thanks to that, even so-called babies like … had much less inevitable ntal pain after battle.
However, that was only when the post-battle feedback and ntal care were safely completed.
'… .'
I suddenly felt doubtful about whether I would be able to continue to face this situation in the future.
While the others were busy moving around the facility to make Lincoln dical Center their future bridgehead, Laurentina and I were on the rooftop where a cool breeze was blowing.
Even the clear starlight couldn't comfort my heart, but soon a gentle voice comforted my heart.
"You must be having a hard ti, my youngest."
"...I'm a little dizzy."
"It's natural to be having a hard ti. Co to think of it, Ollie is good at that kind of thing, but since the others aren't coming, should I help you?"
"Ah, that, that... woof!"
… Unfortunately, Ms. Laurentina and everyone else weren't taking off their long pants.
In short, the kind of... soft, fluffy situation I wanted was impossible. Strictly speaking, it wasn't impossible. But it's a bit much to say 'Can you take off your bulletproof vest?' now.
On the plus side, Ms. Laurentina is 188cm tall, which is about 16cm taller than . It's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's more than enough to hug .
Her body slled like blood and gunpowder. I guess it was coming from too.
She added while stroking my head.
"It's a bit embarrassing to say this now, but I didn't even know that physical contact would be so effective for PTSD. Are you feeling better now?"
"...Yes."
“Don’t worry, youngest. Even if you’re a little dizzy right now, you’ll be back to normal soon. Especially… those guys lying on the floor are gangsters. They’re cheap even if they die.”
“…That’s right.”
“I don’t know what happened to the youngest in the past, but if I hadn’t killed him here now, he would have continued to create more victims. And we prevented that.”
… Certainly.
It hadn’t been long since the first engagent, so I was a little confused, but when I thought about it… I felt a surge of anger when I thought about all the troubles I’d gone through in Brooklyn because of those damned guys.
As my brain, which had been unable to accept this situation, gradually began to think of the dead enemies as ‘cheap guys,’ my pounding heart quickly beca gentle like a tad horse, and my headache gradually subsided.
I know it’s weird to say this… Now, I didn’t think I’d have a headache or feel anxious when I faced the next battle.
Long live Icarus Gear.
When my expression improved significantly compared to before, Laurentina-ssi released her hug.
I exhaled softly and added.
“When I grow up to the point where I can proudly call myself an operator, I wish I could do this for you too.”
“…You know how hard you’ve worked to sap your masculinity in this way, right, youngest?”
“Oh, oh. You’re doing well…”
“Even though it looks okay at first glance, this appearance is the result of my own efforts. It’s the result of adaptation. This body helped a lot in the battle, if it hadn’t, I would have been ntally very distressed.”
… Is that so?
Maybe I would have been the sa. The reason I received so much comfort at Brooklyn Maymonis Hospital in the early days of the incident was because I could really feel that I could be of help to them.
I ended up touching my cheekbones because of my slip of the tongue.
Anyway, thinking that way, I looked at the inferno in the distance.
The white phosphorus flas that I had seen and experienced in Lower Manhattan with Olivia were exploding wildly at a place called Fordham University.
What on earth is going on there? I thought that while munching on a chocolate bar in my pocket. Only then did I feel a little stronger.
My mouth opened.
"When will I be able to go ho?"
"No one knows. It's an actual operation."
"I think soone like Lieutenant Laurentina would know... Hey, tell ."
“Even if you act cute, you don’t know what you don’t know, rookie. You have to achieve a certain level of the operational objective before you can go back. There’s no set period for the operational period.”
“…I know. I just want to rest, aaaahhh…!”
Of course, my cheeks were pinched imdiately.
This is too much. This is too much… However, my complaints were lightly ignored, and before I knew it, 4:30 AM had passed. Although the operation had already begun, the entire ti had not been spent in combat.
The goal was to wipe out all the enemies in the hospital in the first 20 minutes or so of combat, establish a communication system with Central Park, and then wait and reorganize before the next operational deploynt site was decided.
In other words, it was a kind of rest ti, and at the sa ti, it was ti to clean up the inside.
That’s why I could sll sothing burning instead of gunpowder smoke.
“…Fuck, shit. I wish I could just throw it outside.”
"That would be a problem in itself. I don't know if it's because I've only done a few strikes with such a lack of follow-up, but the problem of disposing of the bodies is really... horrible."
"I heard that the Cleaners are going to take over the facility in 20 minutes. Can't we just leave it to them?"
"They're just going to burn people alive, they don't care about cremation. They just dispose of the bodies that can't be disposed of."
By the ti Laurentina and I ca down, the hospital was filled with the unpleasant sll of burning protein.
Since no one seed to care at all, I guess they had already activated their olfactory blocking function, and so did I.
The 'disposal' thod they were talking about was quite simple. They piled up the bodies, incinerated them with about a hundred kilograms of thermite sent by Central Park, and used an oxidizer to burn off the remaining remains.
I thought that human dignity had fallen to this extent, but I decided not to think about it any longer.
… I was so glad that the Icarus Gear had a Deform function.
"Have you heard anything else?"
"We've poured white phosphorus on the heads of many of the rioters staying at Fordham University, so it'll be a while before we get any real feedback."
"Central Park doesn't have much paper. I heard that instead of scattering surrender notices, they're going to play ssages with drones or sothing... That's the full story."
"Where... Those who want to surrender should gather at a nearby sports stadium and burn their weapons, or wait at least 500m away from the railroad section… It won’t be easy.”
“I’m not expecting much.”
As he said.
Central Park didn’t have any tepid expectations that the rioters would surrender properly. On the contrary, if they showed any intention to surrender even after all this, wouldn’t they have thought about it at least once?
Of course, that wasn’t sothing I had to worry about. If they really wanted to wave the white flag, they would have co in bowing down like Mr. Lapland.
Otherwise… I should know, that kind of thing. It’s their fate.
I thought so and sat down on a nearby patient bed.
Laurentina opened her mouth after seeing that.
“It looks like things have been sorted out to so extent, so how about everyone resting until the next order to act is given.”
“… That’s right. Ugh, I guess I should get so shut-eye.”
“Team Leader Owens, let’s go have a smoke together. Do you have anything left?"
"Carry it, you punk."
Leaving behind those who were moving to relieve their stress as if they had been waiting, I surrendered myself to the pouring water as if it were a lie, even though I had clearly slept a long ti in preparation for today's operation.
My body beca tired, and my thoughts beca fragnts. Sleeping in a place so horrible that it didn't seem like it was even in a horror movie was terrifyingly sweet.
The world was still dark.
"A large part of the railroad suffered significant damage. The aboveground railroad lines are generally in a similar situation. The underground is less damaged, but there are many unidentified civilians."
"Even if the railroad maintenance is okay, there are civilians in the subway station and underground passages. That's a very difficult situation in its own right. Let's think about that later. "How's the situation in the operation area?"
"We've been transmitting the sa ssage via drone for about 3 hours and 42 minutes now, and there's nothing unusual except for a group of about 15 people at the Charles Young Softball Field in Upper Manhattan."
"You can send one drone to those guys, and what about the Dagger team?"
"We're coordinating with the Cleaner and the operation area. It seems like we're headed toward the aforentioned softball field."
6:58 AM, Central Park.
The morning at HQ was later than elsewhere. The rising sunlight was blocked by the tall buildings surrounding Central Park, so the darkness lingered a little longer than elsewhere.
However, below, in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC), nurous operations officers, deprived of sleep and exhausted, were constantly chatting while watching the screens that were busy.
The Cleaners slowly ascending from below, the Dagger Team moving little by little, Fordham University burning, and a large number of rioters who couldn't even make out what was going on. In a sense, it was a cruel cody itself.
The nurous screens that filled one wall of the control room, or rather, many walls, were simultaneously and separately briefing the operation.
Lower Manhattan, which was in ruins due to the aftermath of the white phosphorus that was poured as part of the operation, and Brooklyn, where many escapees still remained. Part of the surveillance screen, most of the Bronx screen, and the location of two nuclear submarines in New Haven.
It was a situation that could be said to be in charge of the entire operation taking place in the northeastern United States.
However, there was one person who was carrying supplies without resting, not even looking at the scene.
"Ugh, it's hard… !"
"Don't lie around too much, because you'll have to fill in the empty space."
"Yes, I guess so."
Previously codenad Zodiac, now codenad Lapland.
Since she was still unable to act as a full-ti operations officer, the work she was given was miscellaneous work - carrying snacks for other operations officers, etc. - but she didn't seem to care much and put down the box of energy drinks.
It was as if she was looking at a different world. She was studying various things to beco an operations officer, but the role of support operators, who were in charge of multiple operations simultaneously and continued support during warti, was more important than she could imagine.
People who usually pretended to know her by saying a word or two when she was walking around, couldn't take their eyes off the screen and just focused on their main job today.
Likewise, Lapland couldn't speak to her rashly.
"… ."
It felt as if she was alone, isolated from the world.
She felt bitter and went outside the TOC. Everyone was busy with their own work. There were turrets and sentries on the thickly built walls, cooks in the ss hall, support operators in the operations center…
Only Lapland was standing there. She glanced around and sat down on a nearby chair. The sunlight that had just begun to rise caressed her hand.
However, she couldn’t stay still because of what she had heard earlier, so she went back inside.
Changing her expression freely was her specialty - or rather, it was her ‘specialty’ - and the composure that ca over her face helped form an expression that seed to show no particular problem to anyone.
However, the mont she went back inside the operations center, her composure was shattered into a ss.
There was sothing to do.
“You ca at a good ti. The Dagger team has just begun moving toward Upper Manhattan. A low-altitude scanning drone has been assigned. Sit down quickly and put on your headset… You have four ears, don’t you?”
“Hey, give it to quickly. That’s it.”
“I’ve seen all sorts of things in my decades of life… Anyway, the red area on the interface is the operation area, and the eleven green triangles below are friendly forces. Your goal is to assist them in their operations.”
“… Can I?”
“There are a few things I need to do. Let explain them calmly. The first is street reconnaissance, the second is building reconnaissance, and the third is to quickly inform the Dagger team of important matters."
I don't understand a single thing even if I listen to it.
As soon as I put on the headset with the interface and saw the nurous holograms floating before my eyes, Lapland tried to ease the tension by holding my breath and exhaling.
It was like watching a console ga I played in my 20s. The first thing she learned as she loosely held the controller controlling the drone was how to open and close the communication network connected to the Dagger team.
And the second was how to operate the pulse scan device mounted on the low-altitude reconnaissance drone.
───Pheeing!
Upper Manhattan, where the sunlight was just beginning to shine.
The eleven-mber Dagger team turned west along the railroad tracks, preparing to cross the Harlem River. Lapland checked the Dagger team's expected movent path on the screen.
Several apartnt complexes were visible across the bridge. But that wasn't the point. Rooftops and It was because there was a lot of movent from the window.
The number was about 40. In addition, the mont the screen was enlarged, various firearms were visible. They were gang mbers ard with military automatic rifles or semi-automatic rifles without scopes.
Lapland, who was looking at the sight, unconsciously pressed the scan button and soon added.
"…Dagger Team. This is Zodiac… no, Lapland. Are you impressed?"
-… I thought I heard that voice sowhere, but now you're acting as a support operator? Interesting. Anyway, what's going on?
"Uh… there are about 40 enemies in the Riverton Square building and Ashel Amino building near the expected movent route. They're a gang ard with semi-automatic rifles. I think, um. Bloodhood or sothing…."
- Hmm. Is air support possible?
"… Let find out."
At the sa ti, she turned her head to the side and called another senior operator with a desperate expression.
Soon, the word "Linkage" appeared on the screen. Then another voice cut into the communication.
"The aircraft is equipped with eight LGBs - laser-guided bombs -. We'll take care of it here. Lapland will fire the laser-guided devices and aim them."
"How do you... ah."
As if it were a lie, several buttons began to flash as if to say, 'Press this.'
She pressed them, and at the sa ti, a swoosh noise spread out. A small drone detached from the aircraft slowly descended, hovering about a thousand ters above the ground, looking at the rooftop of the apartnt building.
The next step was simple. Lapland continued to aim the laser at the enemy's many locations, and the next mont, click with a sound, a single bomb began to fall under the influence of gravity.
What happened next was simple.
───Kwaaaaang!
"...This is crazy."
"Target neutralized. Change laser position."
"...Yep."
Ten people disappearing in the blink of an eye.
That was modern warfare.
Lapland suddenly felt like vomiting.
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