name lit up green, responding to all at once with her own signal. Everything was calm and everyone was fine… so far.
Katsumi leaned back into the helicopter, looking into the cockpit. “Take us around the Kitsuine Tower again.” Reno nodded and Katsumi looked back outside as the chopper turned at an angle, heading towards the city’s tallest building.
The Kitsuine Tower was the most expensive building in Tokyo. It had been constructed after the Tokyo Tower had been brought down during one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks. Built partially from materials sent from seventeen other countries, it was one of the symbols of the new world, a sign that the borders between countries were being blurred and ignored more than ever before. As such it was considered a prime target for terrorist attacks and thus had impressive defenses, but those with a strong national pride such as Katsumi, who had been but a child watching it on TV as the Tokyo Tower fell, were very protective of the Kitsuine Tower.
Katsumi didn’t know if what they were after was really a terrorist or not, but it never hurt to be careful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Law sat back in his car, lighting a cigarette as he looked out the window. The giant black man had a way of standing out in Tokyo crowds so sitting out of sight was always his preference on missions like this where you were meant to notice someone else rather than being noticed. Besides, he liked being able to listen to music as he waited for something to happen, he found it helped prevent anxiety. Not that he really had an anxiety problem, not after his life, but he wasn’t a big fan of the calm before the storm and always preferred the storm’s arrival to the silence prior.
Breathing out a puff of smoke he let his mind wander a bit after making sure his music wasn’t loud enough to prevent him noticing a call. As it usually did in these situations his mind chose a similar event to take him back to, delving into memories he rarely indulged in on purpose.
2054, Central America, Amazon Rainforest:
The Amazon had once been deadly only due to its natural predators and exotic diseases, but that was before one of the biggest terrorist coalitions in the world had moved in. Private militaries had made a huge push into the region, all vying to take down the threat for varying reasons, the most prominent being the renown that would come from such a victory.
Samuel Lawrence, he remembered that was all he was known by, no nicknames. Just as large a man then, he had a big advantage in close combat so frontline fighting had always been his forte, and it was no different in this conflict. But rules had no place in those jungles. His unit lost several commanders and many men to the mines, traps, ambushes, guerilla tactics, and straight-out attacks. Military drills dissolved in the face of the true chaos that ruled that forsaken battlefield.
Still, Command refused to give up; the company he’d worked for back then had no trouble with throwing people away. After all, each death was a face they’d never seen and a name they wouldn’t remember. They’d simply hire another person to take the place of the deceased and repeat the process when necessary.
Sam remembered the last commander they had die. The men who had survived the longest, including Sam, just looked at each other and shook their heads after that little skirmish. The officers they were sent were usually the staunch military type with starched uniforms, shiny boots and stern faces. By the end of the month their posture would be slumped, uniforms torn, boots bloody and faces afraid. The ones that still had faces after a month, at least. Eventually they’d either leave or die.
Sam read the latest letter explaining their next officer and how this one was “different”, a promise they’d heard many times. However, the information they were given only succeeded in making the men even more skeptical than usual, rather than infusing them
Katsumi leaned back into the helicopter, looking into the cockpit. “Take us around the Kitsuine Tower again.” Reno nodded and Katsumi looked back outside as the chopper turned at an angle, heading towards the city’s tallest building.
The Kitsuine Tower was the most expensive building in Tokyo. It had been constructed after the Tokyo Tower had been brought down during one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks. Built partially from materials sent from seventeen other countries, it was one of the symbols of the new world, a sign that the borders between countries were being blurred and ignored more than ever before. As such it was considered a prime target for terrorist attacks and thus had impressive defenses, but those with a strong national pride such as Katsumi, who had been but a child watching it on TV as the Tokyo Tower fell, were very protective of the Kitsuine Tower.
Katsumi didn’t know if what they were after was really a terrorist or not, but it never hurt to be careful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Law sat back in his car, lighting a cigarette as he looked out the window. The giant black man had a way of standing out in Tokyo crowds so sitting out of sight was always his preference on missions like this where you were meant to notice someone else rather than being noticed. Besides, he liked being able to listen to music as he waited for something to happen, he found it helped prevent anxiety. Not that he really had an anxiety problem, not after his life, but he wasn’t a big fan of the calm before the storm and always preferred the storm’s arrival to the silence prior.
Breathing out a puff of smoke he let his mind wander a bit after making sure his music wasn’t loud enough to prevent him noticing a call. As it usually did in these situations his mind chose a similar event to take him back to, delving into memories he rarely indulged in on purpose.
2054, Central America, Amazon Rainforest:
The Amazon had once been deadly only due to its natural predators and exotic diseases, but that was before one of the biggest terrorist coalitions in the world had moved in. Private militaries had made a huge push into the region, all vying to take down the threat for varying reasons, the most prominent being the renown that would come from such a victory.
Samuel Lawrence, he remembered that was all he was known by, no nicknames. Just as large a man then, he had a big advantage in close combat so frontline fighting had always been his forte, and it was no different in this conflict. But rules had no place in those jungles. His unit lost several commanders and many men to the mines, traps, ambushes, guerilla tactics, and straight-out attacks. Military drills dissolved in the face of the true chaos that ruled that forsaken battlefield.
Still, Command refused to give up; the company he’d worked for back then had no trouble with throwing people away. After all, each death was a face they’d never seen and a name they wouldn’t remember. They’d simply hire another person to take the place of the deceased and repeat the process when necessary.
Sam remembered the last commander they had die. The men who had survived the longest, including Sam, just looked at each other and shook their heads after that little skirmish. The officers they were sent were usually the staunch military type with starched uniforms, shiny boots and stern faces. By the end of the month their posture would be slumped, uniforms torn, boots bloody and faces afraid. The ones that still had faces after a month, at least. Eventually they’d either leave or die.
Sam read the latest letter explaining their next officer and how this one was “different”, a promise they’d heard many times. However, the information they were given only succeeded in making the men even more skeptical than usual, rather than infusing them
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