The first thing I did after squashing the two terrorists was that I found a bush.
The course of action was putting Luha down next to the fauna and hiding her inside it.
"I'll go in alone." I told her. There were way too many people inside. I didn't know whether they were hostages or terrorists. There was no way I was taking Luha inside a place that was possibly infested with terrorists.
Not to mention her potentially dead clubmates. Too many variables led to this situation.
Even after claiming that the safest place was next to me. Only if there weren't that many people inside.
After I announced my departure, Luha looked at me understandingly. She probably thought of herself as dead weight. Which… as much as I hated to admit it, she was. But then suddenly her face brightened up and she became resolute.
"Umm… I will guide you from here." Luha spoke up.
"Eh?"
"Rune-san can you please connect Mao's lens to mine?" Seeing her take charge was fresh.
"I-I can." Rune was startled too.
We had a new mission head, it seemed.
"Then please do that. I know the hangar the best out of everyone."
Luha's words made sense. She did know the place for the longest. Including the hiding spaces and things that might factor in, in case I had to pull off something unexpected.
She was indeed a valuable asset.
"I'll open her lens up in yours too, Mao."
"Yeah, that would help."
A window of her POV opened. I put it in my periphery along with the cams and turned the opacity down. It would help me monitor her.
If someone unwelcomed came even close to her, I would rush back.
For now, this little girl was my top priority.
"Stay safe." I told Luha.
"You too…" She replied.
After seeing her off, I snuck behind the building adjacent to the runway. The runway led directly to the hangar. The hangar was surrounded by pillars that would usually hold mech's up when outdoor.
But just getting there was a huge risk.
The hangar was at least 400 meters away. 400 meters of open air. Just a run through that would make me an open target. Me, getting there depended entirely on the fact that there were no visible terrorists in the vicinity except for in the hangar.
Neither the satellite nor my mana scan could pick them up.
I just believed that it was safe. But it was rather easy to trick either system had they known how to.
So I stayed on guard. Even I could try to dodge a bullet or two.
I took a deep breath and revved myself up, the very next second I started runnin- no sprinti- no racing across the runway at blazingly high speeds. I could bed that I at the very least hit 27 kilometres per hour on my way to the hangar.
There was no cover, but I had the two vests I had picked up after squashing the two terrorists on either side along with the vest I was wearing. If something did go wrong, I was better off than naked.
My heart was pumping. It was because of fright. Something I hadn't felt in my previous life.
It was exhilarating.
As soon as the dots on my lens representing the population of the hangar got in range, I expanded the field of mana in my body. Immediately my senses picked up 2 people who were around 6 feet in height, and 16 others around 5'9 and 2 around 5'4.
"Luha… How many people are there in your club?" I hid behind the front gate. The people seemed to have been gathered on the second floor. I should have been everyone's blindspot.
"There are 19 if you include me." She said.
So there are 18 kids and 2 terrorists.
The maths checked out.
I started emitting more mana. The two people around 6 feet were male. There were around 13 females, out of which almost all were 5'9 and the rest were the guys who were slightly shorter. That confirmed the two 6 feet men as the terrorists.
The dots on my lens representing people were slowly getting sorted and grouped. A large group was being herded together and the two guys were standing in the front. This was a legitimate hostage situation.
"Your clubmates are fine. Just in a precarious hostage situation." I tried to get a good view but it was hard. "Anyways, where are the 'buggiez'?" I asked.
There was no point in caring about the kids. I could barely look after the two of us.
"It's in th- Wait. Mao-kun… Are you not going to save the kids?" Luha asked.
"He shouldn't save the kids. Mao is too young to. You two should run away as soon as you can with the vehicles. They would have died anyways had he not come." Rune gave the rational answer.
"But-"
"If he gets caught then the national security would be put at risk."
"They will actually die!" Luha shouted.
"It's neither his business nor his responsibility. He is a kid who should have been in the bunker waiting for the military to come. But he's out here guaranteeing both of your safety and ensuring it. The only thing that can save those kids is if the military arrives in time. Mao shouldn't have to deal with it."
"That's jus-"
"I'll save the kids." I finally joined in.
I wasn't a philanthropist. These were sensitive years for Luha. Experiencing something like this was bad enough. I didn't want her to go through PTSD from all her companions dying. As her older brother, Luha was my responsibility.
"You'll what now? Just get the buggy and get out of there."
"Shhh… This is actually pretty easy to fix." I looked closely at the tools I had at my disposal. The greatest tool was this site- the Hangar. It was beautiful with many moving parts that could kill someone.
The stairs ran across either side of this huge hangar and were present on the two sides. There was a second floor where they probably attached the higher up parts of the mecha. A switch to close the main door. 4 different 'buggiez' which were practically tropical hummers. And the tools to build all of them.
The two targets were on the second floor, and so were the victims.
Killing the two terrorists seemed rather easy. I mean I did just squash two on the way here. Admittedly it was mostly the element of surprise, but right now I had the ability to hunt them. I was confident. That was why I even agreed to this.
"Luha."
"What?"
"Do you have machine oil?"
"Yeahh… I think it's in the main rack next to the stairs."
"A lot?"
"As much as the school's budget allowed. We did use quite a bit."
"Hmm…" So relying on the machine oil was another gamble. "Rune. Can you access the school's speaker system?"
"Well, not the main building's that got destroyed but I think I can do the path ones."
"That's good enough." I needed a weapon and in an orderly manner, I pulled a gun out of one of the vests. "Rune how good is your eastern accent?"
"Bad."
"Put a filter on and call a member of each unit to some location."
"Gotcha."
My lens displayed the instructions for using a gun. Check the cartridge, get the lock off, pull the top part, and then the little switch thing. Cool.
My plan was rather obvious- a bait. Call a member out, kill him. Then attack the other one. All while the rest of the terrorists gather in one location... And go past them.
"ATTENTION SQUAD MEMBERS! WE HAVE NOW TAKEN OVER THE SCHOOL AND WILL LIKE ONE MEMBER OF EACH SQUAD TO REPORT IN THE MAIN GROUND!" The speakers behind me announced.
"That was pretty bad. Oh well, sample this guy's voice once he gets out. Use it whenever I ask you to."
"Which guy? Ah."
One of the red dots started to move down the stairs and towards the gate of the hangar. The first target I would ideally let him get to that location Rune mentioned but that meant that he would have a slight possibility of encountering Luha on the way.
This wasn't the only place where the announcement worked. People from all over the school were now headed towards the main ground.
1 hour until the military arrived.
The sound of steps was now audible. Heavy boots.
I went back outside and moved until I could find a thick beam to hide behind. I couldn't take him out at the entrance, his partner would find out. I had to do it silently and at some distance.
As I hid behind my guard, I put a cylindrical thing atop the gun. It was hidden in my vest and was probably a silencer.
I was ready. All the steps required for preparation were there and my mental strength was there too. The sound of the footsteps got right behind me and inside the killable distance.
It was time.
I swung from behind the beam and the man's eyes met mine from behind his helmet.
'Oh shit! Isn't that bulletproof?! I completely forgot about that!'
I twisted my gun so that I was grabbing it by the nozzle. His automatic gun slowly got lifted into the air. But my seasoned hands were quicker. I had this movement memorised from the thousands of times I did this over the past 9 years.
My hand was all the way up in the sky and his body weight was shifted forward.
He finally understood his death.
Like that bulky hoe, I had swung since I was 7, the gun in my head cut through the hair and crushed the man's helmet, then his skull. He didn't even have a chance to struggle. The butt of the gun obliterated the man's entire head and killed him on the spot.
The objective had been met… But I firmly believed that that was not the right way to use a gun.