“Comfort leads to delusion. Delusion leads to complacency. Complacency leads to the destruction of comfort.”

- Lieutenant Dorothea Demea

+++

Latia

Corinthia City

“Damn it! What the hell is she?” Moritz shouted in a panic. Another boom blasted through the walls at the side of the Central Bank Building. He panickedly sprayed his rifle in the smoke. Then, Florena jumped back out of the smoke, landing on one of the tables beside him. “Hey, what—”

“Duck!” Florena shouted, and Moritz complied. Suddenly, a black arrow nearly nailed him. The damned thing destroyed the wall behind him when it was hit instead. Florena on the other hand fired her gun at the figure that was dodging her shots. Naturally, Moritz joined in afterward, as he came face-to-face with the woman they were fighting.

She seemed to be wearing a black cloak, armed with an enchanted compound bow. She charged another arrow, as electricity coursed through it. Aimed straight at Florena, the shot went fast, slamming straight into Florena’s gun, which she had used to block the attack.

This is why getting in a fight between combat mages is ill-advised!

That pissed off the RIU agent, as she realized that her arcano rifle was broken. She suddenly took something that Moritz hadn’t noticed. As was standard with a lot of Royal Guard and RIU personnel, it seemed that Florena had a blade tucked somewhere. When she drew it out, it immediately glowed into a golden hue for a split second.

Then, Florena closed the distance.

Moritz joined back into the fight, slamming a fresh magazine on his empty gun. He opened fire at the hostile woman the moment he had a chance. He suppressed her long enough that her next arrow narrowly missed Florena. It forced the unknown woman to use her composite bow to block Florena’s blade.

But it was immediately shattered. Moritz saw the unknown woman pulling out her wand. Then, she aimed it at the RIU agent. Florena naturally noticed that. She then blocked another pulse of light that badly damaged her sword with a blast. Moritz on the other hand somehow nicked the unknown woman’s wand off with a lucky shot. The explosion silenced the interior of the bank, and Moritz found that Florena had been thrown a few meters away as a result.

Shit! Militants!

As if to reinforce the unknown woman, five masked men in tactical armor broke through the cracked glass panes of the bank. Moritz made a quick decision, pulling out a flashbang, and throwing it at them. Following Florena, he then jumped straight into the cover of one of the tables, as gunfire erupted.

His flashbang then exploded violently, and the enemy’s firearms ceased activity for a good split-second.

“Damn it! This sword was passed to me by my mother!” Florena complained beside him. Moritz barely had a chance to glance at her broken sword, so he quickly drew out his pistol instead. He tossed it at her.

“Whine about it later,” he coldly told her, as he raised his rifle at the attackers that were coming from him. He took a split-second to breathe deeply and calm his nerves.

Burst after burst came out efficiently from his rifle. Each of them accurately found their mark on the necks or heads of the attackers. In three seconds, three militants were down bleeding on the bank’s floor. On the side, Florena rejoined the fight, her pistol downing another militant.

The last one, who started firing his gun wildly in panic, retreated straight into the staircases.

They heard a womanly scoff. The unknown woman seemed to be hiding behind one of the corner walls.

“Sloppy unprofessional—”

“Raise your hands up, asshole!” Florena shouted in Latian. She stood up, pistol aimed in the direction of the unknown woman. “You have nothing now. Best you come out, hands in the air, or I’ll blow your head off!”

“I thought I could sneakily put the two of you down.”

“Yeah? Well, you lost. Now show yourself, or else!”

Florena fired her gun twice. The woman immediately showed herself, her arms raised. But there was just a neutral smile on her face.

“Calm down, young lady,” the woman replied, before looking at Moritz as he stood up and aimed his rifle at her. “And to you, Mister, I hope you’re above shooting a disarmed lady in broad daylight.”

“Unfortunate then,” Moritz replied. “It’s already almost night.”

“Orlishmen. Way too uncouth at times—”

“Shut your trap!” Florena pushed the woman facedown on the floor and immediately placed a bind on her hands. Her cloak came undone, revealing a brown-colored hair. Moritz kneeled near the side of the downed woman, as he curiously poked her shoulder with his rifle.

“So who the fuck are you?” Moritz asked

“You know nothing, little man,” the Latian woman mocked. She then tried to look at Florena, who had kept her pinned on the floor. “And to you, Orlish lass, you and your little team are already too late. Your actions also show that the Orlish Queen has no plans to—”

“Shut up,” Florena coldly pushed her head on the floor in anger.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Let me speak,” the woman chuckled. “We have a deal with her. And she’s breaking it. Look at me right now. Why shouldn’t we detonate that damned bomb then?”

Florena suddenly stood up and aimed her pistol at the woman’s left leg. With a quick pull of her pistol’s trigger, the Latian woman screamed. Even Moritz winced at the display, especially when Florena plugged her finger into the woman’s gunshot wound.

“Continue speaking then!” Florena threatened. “Where is the bomb stashed? How many bastards are guarding it? Speak, or I’ll make this entire affair even messier!”

She began twisting and twirling her finger, which led to the woman screaming further. Moritz on the other hand was just utterly confused. Florena had been panicking for a while now, especially with them unable to regroup with the rest of the “Rose Team”. And she especially seemed even more mad when they reached the bank and it was just nothing but ruins.

Without proper communications, deep inside enemy lines, and cut off from any friendly forces, Florena seemed to be turning desperate to Moritz’s eyes. But now, she just seemed like she wanted nothing but to finish whatever mission she was given no matter if she regrouped with her team or not.

“Come on!” Florena shouted again, as she plunged her finger deeper into the gunshot wound. “Tell me, damn it! I’m not letting you lunatics blow an entire city. So you just speak up! Speak up damn it!”

“Screw yourselves, you bastards,” the Latian woman hissed. “Latia will show the world the cost of its mistakes. And it will be glorious!”

“Hey, the fuck did she mean that she’s blowing up this whole city?!” Moritz asked, now also panicking himself.

“They have a WMD in the city. My mission is to find it and stop it from detonating,” Florena angrily explained as she continued pushing her finger deeper into the woman’s wound.

“And you already failed…at that—wait! Ahhhh!”

“Yeah, I failed huh? I failed?!”

“Calm down, Florena! We’re here now!” A slightly cheery woman’s voice shouted from behind. Moritz looked back. Four women from the RIU, all armed with various rifles, and all wearing tactical gear, rushed straight into their direction. The youngest woman however suddenly stopped. “Wait, what are you—”

Moritz watched as three of the newcomer agents stared blankly at the psychotic mess that their team member created. The youngest and cheerful-looking one, seemed a tad bit horrified even. Florena on the other hand stared at her teammates in surprise, and then her face returned neutral.

“What’s happening now?” She asked.

“Lotus Team is now fighting at the compound where the nuclear bomb is stashed,” the eldest woman of the four announced as she walked in their direction. She lowered her gaze at Moritz, who was still crouched beside the Latian woman. “Are you from the Marine Corps?”

“Aye, Ma’am,” Moritz replied, dazed. “I am confused at what’s happening.”

“We’re now exfiltrating,” the leader of Florena’s team calmly said. “Lotus Team should have everything under control in a few minutes now. If not, then it’s best if we’re out of this place already. Let’s go.”

+++

West Orland

Duchy of Rimwurz

November Palace

“They defused it,” Marie’s brief report to the Orlish Cabinet led to everyone breathing a sigh of relief. On the other hand, Amelie watched as the communications between them and the CFN finally shut down. Both President Rimpler and Chancellor Kerensky had fully gone cold after that one confirmation.

I guess…they just talked to us to deal with this.

“So Lotus Team won?” Jacqueline asked, as her smile grew. “We…we avoided it? No nukes are going off in Corinthia, right?”

“The bomb is still about to be disarmed by our bomb disposal teams,” General Albrecht calmly said as he entered the room. “Congratulations, Director Wittfield. The RIU proved itself as valiant heroes today.”

Marie on the other hand just breathed out deeply, clearly also under extreme pressure herself. Amelie watched as her friend looked at her mother, Anne, who just gave her daughter a gentle, congratulatory smile. Even Marie’s expression finally relaxed at that.

“Thank you, General Albrecht,” Marie said. “I’m just happy that I haven’t lost a single RIU agent today. Except for the four who were badly injured.”

“We already have them in priority medevac,” General Albrecht reassured, as he turned to the rest of the cabinet. “Well, ladies and gentlemen. Congratulations. We avoided nuclear annihilation for another day. Pat yourselves in the back. We’re going to live slightly longer.”

“Not that there was a chance anyway,” Walter said, as he smirked. “In fact, now, we know that the CFN also almost pissed their pants at this whole fiasco, we have a major problem solved. It’s been the greatest mystery for us. Figuring out where their leadership stands when it comes to nuclear annihilation. Well, look at this. They ran to us the moment they realized that ‘Oops, we might have pushed too far.’ This’ll give us much strategic leeway next time in our responses.”

“Be careful with that thinking,” Pristina placed her water bottle back on the table. “We must remain careful when dealing with WMDs when the CFN is involved. Just because the lunatics were spooked and they tried talking, does not mean they’re above being actual lunatics. They probably only did this because they too are still unprepared.”

“Now, the next question we have is clearing up Corinthia,” Amelie announced. “Even if we decapitated the leadership and removed the nuclear bomb of the enemy, they still have active militants and coupist soldiers occupying the city. We still haven't evacuated the Prime Minister from Kentro Palace.”

“Her defenders are on their last legs,” William cynically said. “It seems like Kentro Palace’s defenders have now been pushed to the final streets before Kentro Palace itself. And Kentro Palace is now being shelled with mortars and artillery. Mostly mortars. There’s also a few tanks attacking them.”

“The 5th MEU has been held back and delayed,” General Albrecht crossed his arms and frowned. “We’ve also received reports that the coupists have somewhat entrenched themselves already in their positions. We’d have to authorize heavy ordnance bombing from the Air Force to get things done.”

“Goddess…” Amelie shook her head. “And…and do we have enough strength to execute another attack to get to Kentro Palace?”

“You did make us redirect all of our forces away from Corinthia,” General Albrecht said. “Admiral Halberd reported that the Marine Corps is now ferrying elements of the 7th and 10th MEU to Corinthia. But that’s going to take until tomorrow. Again, maybe we can. I think the 5th MEU still has the strength to push. If we bomb the hell out of the path to Kentro Palace.”

“Are there a lot of civilians still on the way?” Amelie asked.

“I’m afraid so,” General Albrecht replied. “Anyway, I should say, regardless of what happens, we’d have to do what we have to do anyway. They’ve taken over the downtown, the business areas, residential areas, you name it. We’re going to have to bomb the city to the stone age for the next week anyway if they refuse to surrender and we have to retake it by force.”

“Well then,” Walter crossed his arms as he turned to Amelie. “What’s your priority then? Civilians, or the Prime Minister and her government?”

Amelie felt herself stuck. She resorted to the last tool that she knew that worked. She looked at Marie.

“...Hey, can you get their Prime Minister, at least, out of Kentro Palace?”

“My girls can’t pull out her entire staff and peers,” Marie replied. “But maybe we can get the Prime Minister out.”

“Then do it.”