NoveLight ™
"You should have slit their throats much earlier."
"Well, I’ve been pretty bored lately. Should I send a proposed operation plan to upper management?"
"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 meteors, by nature, don’t fall straight down; they blaze across the sky, and when they do land on someone’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 management 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 somehow managed to hide infrastructure that makes things like Mecha 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 melt an entire car or a thick shopping mall pillar."
"That sounds like something 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 mention 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.
"Remember, unlike before, we can no longer pinpoint Mecha 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 somewhere 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 same time, 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 Mecha 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. Meanwhile, Owens sat down and opened his laptop, accessing the Icarus database to scan all information regarding Artemis’s movements.
There were countless pieces of information that should not be publicly released, but Owens’s gaze stopped on something—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 management."
"With the normal procedure, we won’t be able to deploy support in time. Unless we manage to kick the bureaucrats’ fat asses."
"Now that we have this crazy info about Mecha 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 Mecha Eugene on the table and started making some 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 engagement 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 something 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 come 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 same time, 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 management.
However, the box remained, and even though the eyes had left it, the box automatically activated a hologram, revealing what it was storing.
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.
Meanwhile…
"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 time, I want to see a dense forest."
"Got it."
Indeed. His body had grown, but mentally, 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 Mecha Viyam’s tail.
The full story was this.
"Anyway, if it’s okay with you, I plan to take Jin with me to the high-value research facility again today. I found some 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 something: 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 means 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 time—had likely already been implemented.
But if these non-physical defenses were breached, the answer was simple: stop Mecha Eugene physically.
The armory I mentioned stored weapons designed to stop the prototype in case of an emergency, and these weapons were compatible with various platforms.
The discovery of these facts led me 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 time, huh?"
"...Where did you learn that?"
Jin had quickly become integrated into their environment.