“What’s with the van?” Jaid asked Nachi when she arrived at the meeting point much earlier than most of the group.
“Surprised you don’t recognize it, being an ex-merc and all,” Nachi mentioned casually, no real malice from her light accusation. “This van can change the exterior markings to whatever we want. Since it’s used for deception, we’re calling it The VANisher. Right now it's covered in markings for the mercenary group we’ll be targeting today. The hope is that we can slip in unquestioned.”
“Oh, sorry, I don’t recognize the mark,” Jaid openly admitted, but then came the lie. “I can’t say I kept up with mercenary groups after I stopped working for one.”
“Fair enough,” Nachi didn’t pry further. “It is a pretty recent one.” The pair of them then stood there awkwardly until more members arrived.
Drim showed up just as all other heads were accounted for. Jaid originally thought he was the aforementioned chaperone accompanying them, but Xard was already filling that role. He was walking with intent, so whatever the reason he was here for, it seemed serious. “Kaizu, I have something for you before you go.”
Kaizu’s eyes shifted around in hesitant confusion, avoiding eye-contact entirely. Jaid had heard about what they put inside her body to disable her if needed. While it outright bordered cruel-and-unusual, there was sound logic behind why they’d done it. Still, having such a device must be a constant worry for her, so Kaizu was probably expecting something along those lines that would limit her freedom even more.
It was nothing like that. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Kaizu slipped on the gifted glove, inspecting it with intrigue. The actual glove itself was fairly standard—slender and durable—but there was a sensor on the front that linked to a jewel on the back. “Don’t take this lightly, and especially don’t lose it.” Drim instructed before anything else.
“This glove is directly linked to my psyche. Nathym was somehow able to tap into whatever part of my brain makes moral judgments. Had to get a damn chip inserted too. If you point the sensor at someone, it will tell you if they’re evil or not. Well more specifically, it’ll tell you if it’s someone who will fit the Lesser Fiend criteria.”
“My hope is that you’d never use it, and honestly I’m still doubting giving it to you, but my opinion on killing differs from most here. While I certainly don’t endorse it, I’d rather have you killing those who deserve it over innocents, and we definitely don’t want you turning into a blithering mess if you did. It’s up to whoever’s overseeing your missions if they’ll let you kill or not. In this case, Xard. Don’t disobey whatever he decrees.”
Kaizu lit up unlike anything Jaid had seen from her since they’d joined. It was like she’d been filled with new life and ambition. Kaizu immediately began pointing the glove at the others, grimacing when the jewel only lit up green. When she went to point it at Drim, he grabbed her wrist—apparently squeezing quite hard based on the pain that filled her face.
“Don’t let me catch you pointing it at your fellow members ever again. I already have to live with the morality of others being forced into my brain on a never-ending basis against my will. We don’t need someone else around here doubting others like that. You need to trust these people. So if I see it, I’ll take the glove away and never help you find targets again.”
After his warning, Drim trudged off, his mood soured. It was obvious to Jaid that he really hated being the bad guy, but supposed it came with being Leader. She’d often seen that in her mother as well: someone forced to impart strict rules even though it went against her own nature.
“Tize, you’ve flown a skycraft, right?” Nachi asked him as the members started loading into The VANisher. “Great, then you’re flying!” she tossed him the keys once he’d confirmed.
“Uhh, flying?” Tize stared at the keys reluctantly.
“What, you’re not expecting us to drive there are you?” Nachi laughed at the thought. “We’re going halfway across the damned continent. I’d like to get this mission done in a timely manner, thank you.”
“How was I supposed to know? You still haven’t told us where we’re going!” Tize showed an unusual amount of fluster, but still got into the driver’s seat since Nachi had already got into the passenger side herself.
While buckling up, Nachi ordered, “Oh, quit being such a ninny. You’re a soldier, aren’t you? You have to be used to half-assed less-than-helpful instructions by now. Just start flying west and I’ll brief everyone on the way.”
The takeoff was less than stellar. Everyone was jostled around in the back while Tize figured out the hover controls, even doing a full barrel-roll at one point. It didn’t help that the back of the van didn’t have proper seating since it was meant for transporting tools or commodities. It seemed being thrown into a mosh-pit of bodies was the end of Xard’s tolerance. He hopped out of the back mid-air, saying he’d meet them at their destination. I may hate Fiends, but I wouldn’t say no to being able to fly, Jaid watched longingly as he zoomed away.
“Alright everyone, we’re on our way to Tooshifont.” Nachi then paused for reactions, but only Kaizu gave one—her eyes practically melting out of her skull. “Yes, that’s right, Kaizu. For those who don’t know, Tooshifont is a small country in the North-West. Damn near the entire country was turned into a military manufacturer by the Drazahs during the war. Once the war was over, well, they kept the infrastructure to make the country rich and prosperous.”
“This just also happens to be the country Kaizu is from. She worked for a company that sold declassified military tech for everyday civilian use. Don’t worry Kaizu. I know you’re in hot water and the police there would love to hunt you down. We’re not here to hand you over, and are going somewhere well out of reach of the governmental bodies.”
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“In fact, that’s exactly why we’re here, because this government needs some help. The whole ironic thing about Kaizu’s situation is it opened some communication doors. Half the government is trying to hunt her down, and now the other half is asking for our help. Quite a funny ordeal. Part of why we took it is to help build better relations, also known as making them indebted to us.”
“Funny thing about being a military tech giant, you’d expect there to be just as big and competent of a military. Yeah, not even remotely the case. Turns out it’s quite the zjikhole down there. Their military is actually hideously small to begin with—barely a few hundred.”
“Now, a sizable chunk of their military defected to start their own mercenary group, taking a bunch of stolen gear with them. Oh what was their name… Wong.. Wreck.. Uhh… Whatever, not important. We’ll just call them Wackadoos. Seems fitting.”
“Things get really grimy from here, since the group’s headquarters is technically located in international waters just off the coast. Even though it’s barely a few feet from the country’s borders, they technically have no legal recourse to raid them. Borders got very blurred during the war. Only the Central Peace has authority there. Even if the country could take action, apparently some of the military’s former best are a part of it. They’re not confident they could take this group down with what remained.”
“There’s more fun legality problems I’m sure, but I didn’t care enough to dig deeper. The point is, if those members happen to end up back in Tooshifont territory, they can be arrested and prosecuted. On the other hand, I got some different vibes depending on which government official I talked to. Some heavily implied that they preferred that this problem just went away entirely.”
“Meaning, there’s a few ways to solve this. We can lure them all out or drag them back into Tooshifont borders. We could go on a big ole murder spree—bet Kaizu would like that. Hell, we could even just blow up the cliff their headquarters is perched on and send them plummeting into the sea. This is your mission, you all figure out how you want to do it. That said, I recommend attempting stealth infiltration at first, which is why we’re in The VANisher.”
There was some light discussion on what they should do about the mission, but it was quickly decided that they should wait until they could scope out the situation first. Tize and Nachi drifted away into their own conversation, mostly reminiscing about their respective military careers. Roque and Chorus began talking about high society nonsense Jaid couldn’t hope to understand.
That just left Kaizu if Jaid wanted to engage in conversation, and that wasn't a bottle she was ready to uncork just yet—especially since Kaizu was undergoing a revolving door of mood swings. She had also started scratching at her skin under the poncho. Jaid could have sworn she saw one of her Curse Marks move or something, but tried to avoid staring at them.
So instead of talking, the spy did her due diligence and decided to spend the trip researching the mission. Nachi had done a surprisingly decent duty of relaying the most important information, but she’d left out some key details. Apparently the group's name was actually the Wukadai. Wackadoos was honestly not far off, so she didn’t feel the need to relay the correction.
According to the media, it was estimated that there were about 50-60 members, about a fourth of Tooshifont’s military count at just above 200. Damn, that really is small. In a time of peace, it was pretty common for the nations, especially those who had the backing of the CP, to downsize their militaries, but this was just ridiculous. It really wasn’t much better than some actual private armies or mercenary groups. No wonder so many had deserted.
While in the mindset of the CP, it raised a serious question. She had to reword it a few times in her head to make it sound less suspicious. After interrupting the other’s conversations and relaying the information about the Wukadai’s numbers, Jaid asked, “Tooshifont is a CP nation, right? Why didn’t they just ask the Central Peace to handle this? Don’t they have their own army specifically for stuff like this?”
“They want to try to take care of it themselves first,” Nachi gave a real answer. “While the CP may like to portray themselves as the white knight who comes riding in to save the day, it’s not that cut and dry. Asking for the CP’s help isn’t free. Any nations who do, they end up fronting the operation costs within reason.”
“There’s also a few more backroom reasons why, but even I don’t know the specifics after all my time of service. From what I’ve ascertained though, needing the CP’s help dampens a country's reputation and can lower their standing in the organization itself. So to answer your original question, political nonsense. But yes, their military does help in times like this. I’ve definitely seen my fair share.”
Jaid had actually intended the last part of her question to be rhetorical, having been a part of it herself. In the few months she’d been part of the CP military, she’d already been on several missions to deal with terrorist groups like this. Even if the Wukadai weren’t attacking anyone, it’s what they’d be qualified as in the eyes of the world.
Granted, this group was much larger than the ones Jaid had seen to personally. However, it still wasn’t anything a few of the CP elites couldn’t take care of themselves. Hell, even Nachi could probably take on half, if not all of them on her own. There were no reports of Fiends in the group, though it was suspected a few were Lessers. All in all, it shouldn’t prove too difficult of a mission.
Well, that would be the case if this group actually had proper experience. If it were just Tize and herself, assuming they could put any remaining pettiness aside and work together, they could likely complete the mission with just the two of them. Or Jaid could complete it herself. It’d certainly be harder if she wasn’t going to kill them, and capture would be too much of a pain, so she’d probably explore the destruction route to make their base uninhabitable.
Regardless, it didn’t matter, since this whole mission was supposed to be about team building and making sure they were all competent. If someone got left out, it’d harm the organization as a whole. While such subterfuge had crossed Jaid’s mind, it’d be far too suspicious if she really tried to push for it. Playing nice and trying to work together was in her best interest.
Nachi had them touch down a few lages away from their target, just outside of a gated-off area. Apparently, the country had walled it off to prevent any dumb civilians from accidentally wandering into the now-enemy territory. Xard was waiting for them there, as were a few Tooshifont soldiers who let them pass. Nachi explained that it was a show of courtesy more than anything, to let the Tooshifont government know of their arrival.
“Alright, from now on, this is your mission,” Xard took over explaining things once the van passed through the gate. “Nachi and I won’t be helping you any further, outside of maybe a bit of advice if you ask for it specifically. We won’t be going in with you or help you at all, even if you request it. We’ll only intervene if you’re in immediate danger.”
“I’ve already personally scouted out the area ahead, and while I won’t give you any specifics, I’ll give you one last courteous advice and suggest that you do the same. It’s probably not what you’re expecting.” Nachi then hopped out of The VANisher to join Xard. “We’ll be observing nearby. Good luck.” He then grabbed Nachi around the waist and flew off into the night.