“How many did you spot?”
Jaid was scanning the area through a loaned pair of binoculars when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “Holy zjik, Tize, you scared me,” She did her best to keep her chastising to a whisper, but it had been bordering just straight yelling with how aggressive it was. The group had taken Xard’s advice, abandoning The VANisher for now to split up and scout the area.
While they hadn’t come up with a firm plan yet, Tize had taken unofficial command. Even though she didn’t really want to take orders from him, it was probably for the best. “Alright, give it another scan and then meet back up at the van.” He then crawled out from the brush where the two had been hiding.
Jaid waited a moment to make sure no one else was going to jump at her back before getting absorbed in the binoculars again. Xard hadn’t been kidding. Jaid had been expecting a standard military compound, not this. Even knowing the country was on the coastline hadn’t prepared her for what she was staring at.
Most of the northern coastline of the continent was actually raised cliffs with steep plummets into the watery depths below. Tooshifont was no exception. However, there was a unique land-mass that made this a prized spot any military would kill to have. Not far out into the water was a large pillar of rock. It perfectly matched the height of the cliffs but was completely vertical straight down.
There’d be no scaling it—not at that angle, and especially not with the rampaging sea sloshing up against it. It was a defensive dream. Any fortress built upon it would be damn near impenetrable, as the grand fortress standing in front of her appeared to be. At least it would have been in the past.
In the modern era of helicopters and skycrafts, it lost most of its advantage. Still, it would be hard for any infantry or naval vessels to be of any use. Though, a battleship could potentially bomb the pillar to collapse the entire thing. Jaid now understood what Nachi meant when she told them they could plummet it into the sea.
The fortress really was impressive, closer to a castle than a military fortress. It had probably been built long ago when Tooshifont’s military believed it’d become the ultimate stronghold, blissfully unaware of what the future would hold. Why Nachi had been pushing them towards stealth also made a bit more sense now.
There was only one bridge to the island, and it was the only means in or out. If they could get across that bridge unsuspected, things would immediately get a lot easier. From what Jaid had been able to scout, there were two guards manning a security booth at the bridge’s entrance.
She’d also noticed one more patrolling the mainland side of things nearby. It meant there was probably at least one more walking around where the others were scouting. Awfully bold of them to be openly walking around in Tooshifont territory. The pillar was now technically in international waters after the war, but on the mainland, they could be arrested at any moment.
On the other side of the bridge was the bigger problem. There were at least a dozen soldiers out front, all heavily armed. To top it off, there were two guard towers with spotlights shining on the bridge, mounted artillery pointed at it, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. They knew their weak point and they knew it well.
If the Fiends tried to force their way across the bridge, it could be deadly. Jaid could make it across, able to dash past the spray of bullets, but it was iffy at best for the others. Chorus could possibly make it if they had some form of impenetrable armor in their overstocked wardrobe. She imagined The VANisher probably had at least some protections, but if it broke down partway across the bridge, they were screwed.
Jumping across also wasn’t a viable option. It was just too far. Jaid could maybe make her own bridge of clones, but they’d surely be spotted and fired upon. Destroying the entire place was still an option, but she doubted the rest of the group would opt for that choice.
“So, we’re all in agreement then? We’re going to attempt to infiltrate the fortress and then subdue the inhabitants. We’re going to capture them and turn them in. Killing will be kept to a minimum, none if possible. The ideal outcome is for us to disable their means of resistance and restrain them before they can retaliate.” Tize summed up their discussions once everyone reconvened.
“We’ve solidified our plan once we make it across, but we still need to hammer out how we’re going to trick them into letting us through in the first place. The VANisher matches their insignias, but we’re not—”
“Hehehe,” a verbose chuckle came from Chorus, cutting off Tize. “Leave it to me!” Chorus’s chained chest made an appearance and spat out an unconscious now-naked Wukadai mercenary.
◆◆◆
“Back with supplies,” Tize bluffed as he pulled up to the guards. He was sitting solo in the driver’s seat, adorned in the Wukadai uniform Chorus had dressed him in. They had made outfits for the rest of the members too, apparently able to make and tailor a certain type of clothes endlessly as long as they had a base outfit and enough materials in their storage.
The rest of the group was hiding under tarps in the back—worth it since the inspecting guard gave them a cursory glance. “Hmm, didn’t know we had anyone for a supply run. Nothing ‘bout it on the reports. Hey!” they called over to the other guard. “Anyone tell you someone was going out for supplies?”
The other merely shrugged and the present guard pondered for a moment. Tize managed to keep his cool through all this, even tapping the wheel as if he was mildly impatient. “Damn those guys, always messing up their end-of-shift reports,” the guard let out a slight laugh. “Second time this week. So, they still haven’t patched the hole in the gate then?”
“No, but there was someone inspecting it,” Tize doubled-down on his bluff. “I took care of them, but we may need to find another hole soon.”
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“Heh, or make one,” the guard grinned back. “Hope you got some good stuff. Go on through.” They went back to their station and raised the boom gate, allowing the van to drive by.
Tize took the drive across the bridge very slowly. There was only one lane, so it was slightly claustrophobic. The bridge also creaked like crazy, showing its age as the van crawled across. Spotlights now shining into his eyes from above surely didn’t help Tize’s confidence as he drove.
The rest of the group slid the tarps off of them during the ride. Roque pulled a piece of paper up in front of him. After the paper magically tore itself to shreds, a gun appeared in his hand. “Sorry about this. I’ll form a new contract with you soon,” Roque apologized to the weapon before he stuffed it into the back of his uniform.
“I need the space, and this one won’t play along well with the others,” he answered the unasked question from the curious eyes.
“Everyone get ready,” Tize whispered back to them just before reaching the end of the bridge. The mercenaries stationed there prompted him to turn the van around and back it up to the entrance. A few headed to the back of the van, reaching to open it to unload the supplies, but the door popped open on its own.
“Evenin’ fellas!” Roque popped out the back. The others had gone back to hiding so they wouldn’t be immediately spotted. His stolen uniform was doing its job—keeping him from immediately getting shot—but the mercs stared at him deeply, trying to figure if they recognized him or not.
There was some murmuring among the group and some unsettled shifting around, but Roque didn’t wait for them to turn aggressive. “Some lovely weapons you all have. Mind if I take a turn?” A piece of paper materialized in front of Roque and a contract began scribbling itself.
The gun the nearest mercenary was holding vanished from her hands. A second later, the next one disappeared. Before any of the Wukadai could raise their weapons in confusion, they’d all been taken, now just pictures on Roque’s contract.
His contracts could hold multiple of the same item, or even different items as long as they were all in alignment. It didn’t matter that these guns were mostly different models, or that there were even a few knives and a crowbar among them. They all fulfilled the same purpose: ‘Weapons of the Wukadai’.
If items were among the same mindset and meant to work in unity, they could be combined under one contract. For example, the cottage Roque had stored was also only one contract. The building itself and all the items inside also served a single purpose: ‘Create a Cozy Home’.
This was why Roque had to remove his own pistol. It was far too loyal and would never consort with weapons of the enemy. The gun would have refused to let the others join the contract alongside it.
Roque summoned a stolen assault rifle to each hand and began firing randomly to his sides. He was aiming at the ground, making the unarmed soldiers dance away in a panic as they fled. Even though Roque wasn’t actually trying to hit them, he accidentally managed to graze a few of them in the feet and legs.
This had been the cue for the rest to take action. Chorus also jumped out the back and started firing with their own gun at the mercs who chose to hide outside rather than scurry into the building, to make sure they stayed suppressed. With their other hand, they launched their chained wardrobe to the nearest collapsed mercenary on the ground.
It swallowed them whole and then spat them out a second later, having adorned them in a fully restrained padded outfit—the same that Chorus had used on Xard during their entrance interview. Chorus then proceeded to the next victim, bounding them in snug restraints. This one had been downed and paralyzed by Tize.
Tize had taken a few shots at mercenaries immediately within his line-of-sight while he was still in the van, stunning them with paralysis shots. He then hopped out and rushed back over to the bridge. Securing the fortress wasn’t their top priority. It was why they were only scaring and scattering the enemies for now instead of trying to capture everyone they could.
The bridge was the key to victory. If the Fiends controlled it, the mercenaries would have no means of escape. As expected, the guards they’d passed on the way in, as well as another that had been patrolling, were all now running down the bridge. They began firing the moment Tize came into view. He blocked the bullets with his shield and switched his gun to its sniper rifle mode. Three quick shots later, and the guards collapsed on the bridge.
It still wasn’t over, the two guard towers unaccounted for. Jaid and Kaizu split-up, each taking a tower. For both, the guard on top peered over the side as the two women climbed their respective ladders. Unfortunately, Roque’s Curse didn’t have a very large reach, so the two guards were still armed.
Just as the guard on Kaizu’s tower was about to open fire, a chain latched around his neck. Kaizu tugged back on the chain, sending him tumbling over the edge and down to the ground. He landed on his head, but still lived, though. His moaning agonywas proof of that. A glint of red in his eyes showed him as a Lesser, likely the only thing that kept him from certain death.
The guard above Jaid had no such bloody-eyed security. Yet after watching Kaizu, an inexplicable competitiveness swelled up inside of her against her better judgment. This guard was sloppier, taking much longer to attempt to shoot her, also drawn in by the commotion of the other tower.
A column of Jaids shot up the ladder. The one at the top upper-cut the guard. While there was no actual momentum from each clone spawning on top of each-other, the clone had still adapted to the equivalent speed and punched the guard way too hard. They were launched into the air, slamming into the roof of the tower before slumping into the floor. The guard wasn’t killed or even knocked-out somehow, but they still wouldn’t be moving anytime soon.
Jaid rushed over to the heavy artillery and sliced through it with a single swing of her sword. A few moments later, Jaid heard similar destruction on the other tower. She smiled smugly to herself, winning her one-sided competition. Jaid then berated herself for it, not wanting to make comparing herself to someone like Kaizu a regular occurrence.
She still needed to get the guard to the ground and wasn’t about to just chuck them off. Climbing down with them would be cumbersome as well. A new column of Jaids formed back down to the ground. Since the top Jaid had to hold the guard, the bottommost one then vanished, making the stack drop the length of Jaid’s height. This repeated until only the top Jaid had their feet firmly planted back on the ground.
Chorus’ wardrobe snatched the guard out of Jaid’s hands and then spat them out onto the growing pile of nicely-wrapped mercenaries. The group then did a once-around the perimeter to make sure there were no Wukadai still lingering outside, catching one straggler hiding in a barrel. In all, they’d captured just over a dozen so far, meaning the inside of the fortress was still a nest needing to be purged.
There was also still the matter of the bridge before they could go inside, though. Unless they left someone to specifically guard it, the mercenaries could sneak back outside and escape. Blocking it with the van was their first thought. Parking it sideways just barely blocked the entire thing, but it was still climbable, so that was a no-go. After enough bickering, Roque summoned his cottage which left absolutely no wiggle-room.