CONESON, STUYVESANT TOWN, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK

MARCH 5ST

5:40 PM

Before leaving on our crusade to retake New York City we all met one last time. In the place, there were monitors and speakers everywhere. On the screen you could see an extremely important person, the president of the United States of America, addressing his men from the bunker that was under attack. Behind him, you could see people working and my mother giving instructions to someone out of sight. Everyone regardless of their rank went to hear what he had to say:

"Good morning troops"

"I have an important announcement"

"As you already know firsthand, today the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the forces of the Empire"

"This event was clearly planned and deliberately executed by people aware of the weight of their actions"

"This morning our city would celebrate the end of a bloody era, but now it is another day that will live in infamy"

"We had not been attacked in this way since the second world war, on a day when peace was to be celebrated"

"But with this, the Empire has chosen to fight to the end, and we will show you that we will too."

"In one hour each one of you will take part in the most important mission in our history."

"The mission will result in the salvation of our city"

"A mission to destroy the vile enemy that has come to bring destruction in our own homes"

"Although we are from different origins and of different races, we have fought, suffered and died together"

"Fighting for what we believe in. Fighting for freedom"

"Today we should gather for the final battle to liberate our beautiful home and restore freedom to our people, our friends, and our families"

"Our victory will be the legacy for generations to come, Where will they say that the saddest day in the history of our country It was also where his people shone the brightest"

"Victory will be OURS! We SHALL return peace to our people! We WILL win back our freedom AND our future!"

"So go with faith that your sacrifice will be remembered"

"We will fight this battle together to return home."

"We will fight to end this war"

A passionate audience applauded and celebrated the words of their leader. Almost as if his fatigue had vanished with his words, the soldiers with their morale higher than ever today are ready for the challenge that was coming. They were excited and happy thinking that they would mark a new page in the history of the country.

For my part, I was simply away trying to finish the finishing touches on the makeshift Arksuit that Momo and I had made. Some soldiers saw me as some kind of bitter, but the truth is that all this did not matter to me. I don't care about this country or its president, I don't give a shit what happens to that city. After all, I wasn't from here. Hell, I hadn't even entered this country legally. The only reason I was here now was to get my mother out of that bunker. Because as incredible as they think of me, I'm not a superhero, I can't face a little army alone. Not if there's someone I don't want someone important to me to get hurt from the heat of the battlefield.

Momo who was by my side quickly told me the important details before going into battle:

"Alright, okay, quickly"

"First of all the armor only covers vital parts, in theory, it should resist 7.62 NATO ammunition"

"But you know what happens during battles, also that's just the armor plates without battery"

"The battery powers almost the entire armor: the shield, the weapons, the propulsion system, and the most important part locomotion"

"Your small body literally cannot support the weight of the armor despite the reduction in weight"

"Without battery, you will not be able to move, the armor will have to be removed by someone else!"

"That should be your maximum priority, not run out of the battery to be able to move!"

"The battery also powers the area shield, a one-meter sphere around you will stop anything that exceeds the speed of 40 kilometers per hour"

"Very effective but it consumes a lot of energy, only use it when you know that they will hit you for sure"

"The propulsion of the armor will make you fly at high speed, in theory, a little less than that of a combat fighter, but once again and had to limit it for your own safety, if you go at such speed you will lose consciousness in mid-flight"

"I am not a doctor but blowing up at about 600 kilometers per hour against a building is not survived by anyone"

"If you want to get to the airport before the start of the Thunderdome operation, you must save battery"

"Finally, the main weapon is the .50 caliber "The bolter" assault rifle, it uses conventional ammunition instead of energy as laser weapons do."

"This weapon is not made to be used by a normal human, the recoil is massive, only the 30-round magazine weighs 4 kilograms"

"If you use it without the armor it could even break your back"

"I'm not going to lie, this armor is a complete beast, it can do more harm to you than the Empire could"

"Just giving the specs I'm afraid of what it might do to you"

"The battery is not at maximum but it should help you to arrive time to get on the plane"

"Any questions?"

"Ok, first because I have all these limitations while Kazumi only put a backpack on her and that's it?"

"Well, unlike you, she has no blood or internal organs that can tear due to flight, and second, her equipment was created for her body from the beginning, I literally only took a screwdriver and that was it"

" Okay, second and even more important question the foxtail won't get stuck in the turbine, right?"

"Everything I've told you and you're worried about your tail?"

"I have no idea, use tape and stick it to the leg if you care so much"

"Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?"

"In a bad idea"

When it was our turn to leave Tamamo hid and transformed into a fox so that she could be carried in the arms of her daughter while she flew. The Cyclone Squadron they were against having one of my daughters around but Adelis indicated to them personally that her mission was to protect her because after all, she is the centerpiece of this entire operation. They were taken off first, then Kazumi and I (the danger) last. I ran a couple of meters, jumped, and started the engines to try to gain good altitude so that I could quickly learn how to fly.

That has been one of my most terrifying experiences list, the list can be long and this could be in the last potion, but if is on the list, is on the list. The controls weren't easy to use and had terrifying lag. If you wanted to change the angle, you would have to make an appointment with a reservation. It was almost like having planned in advance with almost a minute what I wanted to do to turn it in. I'm sure these armors weren't supposed to be like this, but mine was more of a junk patch than a piece of next-generation technology. When we approach buildings we lower our height for fear of anti-aircraft machine guns The flight wasn't long and it only took a couple of minutes, terrifying minutes. Almost the same as the time I fell into a deep pool when I still couldn't swim.

[https://i.imgur.com/GuDlIUR.jpg?1]

The power plant that was from the beginning of the last century was strongly defended by an elite unit of the Empire. They had strongly secure positions, corridors with machine-gun nests, and makeshift barricades on all sides. Besides they had very good equipment, weapons, and electronics. The soldiers seemed to be the best with years of experience behind them. And yet we were sweeping the place with almost total impunity.

The Arksuits were simply too much for ordinary soldiers. The shields used by Cyclone Squadron stopped almost all of the projectiles in midair, the weapons they used so powerfully that we had to be careful not to over-penetrate the shots and damage critical parts of the building. Even though the armor was made for outdoor fighting due to its awkward size in close quarters. That didn't matter if all we had to do was walk in a straight line and fire the gun every now and then. We looked like the equivalent of walking tanks because from a point on the enemy soldiers began to change their strategies in order to find something to stop us.

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And yet with all this, if I had to qualify her I would say that with all this, a soldier with an Arksuit would be the equivalent of only a level 20 white cape. And although this sounds monstrous, it still only means that they are weak. For although they were inhumanly strong, experience and imagination are also equally important skills in a warrior. More than once I saw white cloaks of the same level fall prey to a group of weak dragons that found them unaware.

While the squad was in the front fighting firsthand, Tama Kazumi and I were in the rear. We did not see combat at all because it was more a walk than combat. The Cyclone team members were even saying that the encounter was disappointing as if they weren't nearly destroyed by a couple of Dolls before, damn useless girls. And when we finally reached the generator room was when their pride came to face them, the moment of truth arrived, and when it was time to reveal who they really were.

As soon as we opened the doors, the first thing we saw was the generators full of explosives everywhere. The soldiers, seeing that they could not win a direct confrontation, went to work to lure us into a death trap. It was for this very reason that an enemy should never be underestimated, as he will seek a way to make your greatest strength your weakness. The girls went completely crazy and began to destroy the walls trying to create a way out of the place as soon as possible.

"The whole place is a trap"

"if those explosives detonate we will not survive!"

"Everybody back out now! It is an order!" shouted Shelby

"Kazumi, if the plant explodes when will it take the 82nd to secure the north plant?" I ignore the screams of despair and the whistle of the bombs.

"They are right now in combat for the place, it will take at least one more hour to secure the place"

"That as soon as it would delay everything the retake of the city?"

"That would cause the delay of the entire operation, it could probably take us back up to 4 or 6 hours easily, possibly more"

"We don't have that much time, the Empire could easily take advantage of that"

"The UN troops are using the last supplies , if the reinforcements do not arrive in time they will be destroyed shortly"

"There is no other choice, give me the tweezers"

"I will do it myself"

"Tama retire and protect Kazumi in case something goes wrong, okay?"

"Wait a minute, are you going to stay and deactivate them?"

"It's stupid, it's a suicide, the place is lost, we have to get out of here now!" shouted Shelby holding my hand.

"You just fucking shut up"

"Unlike you, I have a schedule to meet"

"If we do not achieve our mission even more people will still die"

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to win, even if I risk my life for that"

"If you don't have the damn balls this task requires, then retire from the here now"

"I do not need people who shit with fear when things don't go well."

"If what you are looking for is to win medals with which to increase your ego you can go to play the tutorial mode with the heroes of the 82nd, which if they are risking their lives without your stupid cheat suits" I said while I started to deactivate the first of several bombs that there were.

I stopped paying attention to everything else and just focused on what was in front of me, the bombs. They were a series of explosives connected in sequence. It was due to the walls of the place, it is most likely that they had a timer and not remote control, since the walls are made of concrete and bricks. In fact, the place itself was built with fear that it would one day explode in mind. They were a bunch of different bomb packages, but they were handcrafted out of desperation, so defusing them was actually easy.

As worrying and dangerous as my current situation was, I took the time to get the job done flawlessly. Because stress gives me stress and it increases my chances of making mistakes, which I can't quite afford. The tension was such that I could feel my own pulse throughout my body. The desperation of the moment was also heavy, so much so that I felt that maybe I could faint from the effort I was making. But against all odds in less than about 4 minutes, I managed to deactivate all the ones that I had found in the generator room. Then I ran around the place trying to check that I had not missed any.

"Did you finish it?"

"Is the place safe?" The captain of the Arksuit team appeared through the door of the room

"Yes, that's right, I am done, go and tell Idol to come in and start that ..."

BOOM!

A huge explosion shook the entire complex. Several columns of fire came out of several of the tubes in the walls. Fearing for the worst, I summoned Avalon and held him tight, thinking of protecting myself despite not knowing where something could come from. Both Shelby and I were shocked by what just happened. I looked around and could only see the place engulfed in flames.

"What the hell was that!"

"An explosive, surely there were some more somewhere full of gas"

"This went to hell, now we have to get out of here!"

"NO!"

"We still can't leave, we can still do something"

"I don't think the explosion damaged the building much, it just set everything on fire"

"The place must be full of water sprinklers, if they have not gone into action yet we will have to go to the emergency station and activate them manually"

"With them, we can put out the fire and start the place up again!"

"But what the hell are you saying, the place is on fire, smoke started flooding the place in no time"

"If you're not going to help then don't get in the way"

"I said I'm going to finish this and I'm going to do it!"

"You are completely crazy"

"Yes, they tell me very often"

[https://i.imgur.com/2fBZBNO.jpg]

Without waiting for her answer, I proceeded to run to look for the manual valve. Despite her complaints Cyclone 1 followed me too, it seems that her concern had more to do with me than for her own safety. We started looking for anything that could guide us to the right place, we ran without any plan following only what the emergency signs indicated. Suddenly, after crossing a door, the two of us ran into a huge group of empire soldiers, at least thirty. As soon as we saw each other, we all froze for a few seconds. It seemed that we were all looking for a way to get out of here alive. Shelby stood completely immobile without knowing what to do in this strange situation, but seeing an opportunity, I raised my weapon and jump into the battle.

I started shooting towards where there were several soldiers to try to do as much damage as possible, I activated the armor shield and I jumped from place to place trying to do as much disastrous as I could. I did not have the time or the desire to continue with this, I just wanted to finish as soon as possible. At one point my gun ran out of bullets, but since reloading it took time, I just decided to drop it and try something new instead. Summon Avalon and try to test the strength of the armor by lifting it up. To my own surprise, I could lift the huge sword with one hand, it was still heavy, but now I could swing it relatively normally. A smile appeared on my face thinking of how many times I had wanted to do just this. I jumped with a sword in hand and began to brandish the sword just as the dark cloaks taught me. A lethal horizontal blow tore five apart, a brutal blow in vertical to reposition and break, a quick twist to cover, a quick jump to lose the sight.

Shelby continued to see everything from the door, in her eyes you could see the terror of the scene. She was amazed at what she was witnessing, trying to avoid something she spoke loudly to get everyone's attention:

"Stop everyone!"

"Let's stop for a moment!"

"Who does not see the seriousness of the danger we have in front of us!"

"Don't you see that if we keep killing each other, none of us will get out alive!"

"Let's leave the fight for a moment so that we can cooperate for a common good that benefits us all!"

"Fuck Off" I answered sharply

I continued my fun where I left off. Seeing for one of the few times what I was like to be on the other side, the one that gave the hard blows. By the time I'm done, there was just Shelby and me. She was still at the door, but her gaze did not stop looking at me intently. She looked like she was looking at an enemy danger, she had her gun in her hand ready to fire. It was at that moment that I realized that the enemy she was looking at with fear was me. Seeing that nothing I said was going to lower her guard, I just continued walking around the place to look for the damn valve.

After walking for a couple of minutes I managed to find it and I started to turn it around. With each turn more and more water falls from the ceiling, gradually extinguishing the fire of the place, finally ensuring the place to be able to use it. The rest of the Cyclone squad entered the building again, Tama and Kazumi followed as well. While they were guarding the perimeter, my wife and I did everything Kazumi asked us to do so we could quickly connect him to the central computer and get the place up and running again. It took us a couple of minutes but we made it. During all that time Shelby didn't speak to me, in fact, she didn't even come close to me after that.

With no time for anything else, my family and I took off again to make the flight back to the airport and be able to get to the plane on time, Besides my armor battery now being less than half, I couldn't afford to do unnecessary things. The Cyclone Squadron would be left with the task of keeping the place on at all costs, as our next part of the plan depended on it. The high point of all this battle, the Operation Thunderdome.