Kidnapping

The setting sun shrank into a pinpoint of light on the horizon, sinking beneath the sea along with the lingering glow of dusk. Having finally reached the end of the workday, Myriad Commander Willoughby let out a long breath of relief. What a rotten day it had been. Following that explosion at noon, he had first received a call from the secretary to the director of the Brahma Province Theater General Affairs Department, and then he had been given the cold shoulder at the Governor's Mansion. Ya Hui, that cunning old fox, had previously made clear promises, only to turn around and deny everything. With a callous "handle it yourself," he had dumped all the dirty work of cleaning up the mess squarely onto Willoughby. Fortunately, as a myriad commander himself, Willoughby still had ways to pass the buck further down the chain. Pushing his chair back from his desk, Willoughby hummed an off-key tune and strode out of the Garrison building. Along the way, people greeted him from time to time, and he nodded and smiled in return. He thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of being respected. Especially when his dignity had suffered elsewhere, those fawning smiles never failed to soothe his mood a little. What a pity. His "Project Wasp" had clearly been a stroke of genius, and it had been right on the verge of success. Yet who could have expected his subordinates to act on their own initiative, digging into a case they shouldn't have touched, uncovering people they shouldn't have probed, and even alarming the General Affairs Department... At this point, he could only chalk it up to bad luck. Just as he was lamenting how poorly everything had gone, a black sedan pulled smoothly to a stop right in front of him. It was a Garrison vehicle. Willoughby blinked, not remembering having arranged for a driver to pick him up. Right then, the rear door swung open, and an unexpected face appeared from behind it. The face wore a cheerful smile, as though gazing at prey that had tumbled straight into a snare. And the gun barrel concealed in the shadows made Willoughby's heart skip a beat and his breath catch in his throat. "...Mister Willoughby, please act a bit more natural." Even as he spoke, Talan kept the gun trained on him while lightly patting the seat beside himself. "And then sit down nicely next to me." Finally realizing what was happening, Willoughby felt the blood drain from his face. Not daring to gamble on whether the gun was loaded, he reached out a trembling hand to steady himself on the car door and shakily sat down beside that "wasp." Right at that moment, he noticed the person sitting in the driver's seat—or rather, that vaguely familiar face. Willoughby's eyes flew wide open, disbelief clearly written in his pupils. He had seen this fellow before! This man was from the Garrison! He just couldn't recall his name, since far too many people greeted him every day. "Y-You're—" "Kant. Don't bother straining your memory; you won't remember." Kant cast a casual glance into the rearview mirror. His aloof expression suggested he didn't care in the slightest, yet Willoughby seized upon it like a drowning man clutching at a straw. "You're from the Garrison Intelligence Section—" "That's right. I'm also a disciple of the Enlightenment Society." *The Enlightenment Society?* Willoughby's mind went blank. Staring at him in utter bewilderment, it took him several seconds to squeeze out a sentence. "Are you... out of your mind?" Yet Kant had no intention of explaining. He simply started the car and tossed a single instruction back to Talan in the rear seat. "Wait—" Willoughby's eyes widened in terror. He grabbed the door handle to flee, only to find the doors were already locked. Talan naturally wasn't about to let him escape. Pulling out a pre-dampened towel, he lunged forward and clamped it firmly over Willoughby's nose and mouth. Before long, Willoughby ceased his struggling beneath the hold, leaving behind only steady, even breathing. After confirming the man was still alive, Talan placed the towel, stained with dark-green residue, into a plastic bag and sealed it tight. Then he looked toward Kant, who had already set the car into motion. "...What next?" "To the broadcast station," Kant said calmly, lighting a cigarette. "I have a few questions for him." *** Meanwhile, at the Garrison Intelligence Section. After half an hour of hectic work, Daniel had finally wrapped up cleaning out the Enlightenment Society's fabricated safehouse, returning to headquarters with all the cleanup personnel and recovered materials. Project Wasp had come to a close. What remained to be decided was the fate of the thirty Alliance travelers detained in Katnode Prison. Daniel carried the hurriedly compiled documents to report to Myriad Commander Willoughby. After all, the entirety of Project Wasp had been orchestrated by him, while the chief of the Intelligence Section was merely an executor. Yet when Daniel arrived outside the office, he found the door firmly shut. Just then, Myriad Commander Willoughby's secretary happened to walk by along the corridor. Seeing him, Daniel hurriedly intercepted him. "Where is Myriad Commander Willoughby?" The secretary tapped his wristwatch and said with blatant impatience, "What time do you think it is? The Myriad Commander went off duty a while ago. If you have business, come back tomorrow." Hearing that his superior had already left for the day, Daniel wore an odd expression, though he still nodded. "...Alright." He had assumed Myriad Commander Willoughby would wait for him a little, not expecting the great man would be in such a hurry to clock out and head home. It seemed he had overthought things. Bidding farewell to Willoughby's secretary, Daniel glanced at his watch and decided to take the files back to the Intelligence Section office for now. Right then, however, he spotted his assistant sprinting toward him in a panic. "Not good! Something's happened!" Seeing his gasping assistant and that pale face, Daniel frowned. Not daring to waste any time, he demanded at once, "What's the situation?" Gulping down air, the assistant swallowed hard, looking as if he had seen a ghost. "The signal that vanished... has reappeared." *The signal that vanished?* Daniel froze for a second, not catching on at first. Only when his gaze fell upon the folder in his hands did it hit him that the assistant meant the car rigged with the bomb. His heart gave a violent lurch. Shoving past the assistant blocking his way, he bolted toward the Intelligence Section. The car hadn't exploded! Someone had jammed the signal! *But why?!* His mind swarmed with countless baffling questions, and every single possibility pointed toward the worst conceivable outcome. When he burst into the Intelligence Section office, he found everyone engaged in astonished, hushed chatter. Without time to deliberate, he grabbed the nearest staff member and demanded frantically, "Where's Kant? Where the hell is that guy?!" Wearing an anxious expression, the staffer shook his head in distress. "I-I don't know... He never showed up. The last contact was near Katnode Prison." "Bullshit! I'm the one who made that call—do you think I don't know he went to Katnode Prison?!" Daniel seized the man's collar, spraying spittle as he cursed, "Go find him! Right now! I want to know where he is and why he hasn't detonated the bomb!" "Y-Yes, sir!" Facing this impossible demand, the staffer looked close to tears as he answered. Daniel shoved him aside, then strode swiftly over to a terminal and clamped a hand down on the shoulder of the operator who was just about to stand up. "Where is that car right now?" The operator swallowed hard and answered nervously, "We just locked onto its signal. It's crossing Route 14. Its destination appears to be the northwest side of Evernight Port..." Without satellites, they could only rely on triangulation to track the target's position. That meant first calculating the bearing and relative distance of the signal source, and then determining the transmitter's position on the map based on the locations of the receiving stations. This method had a noticeable margin of error and suffered from a degree of delay depending on the complexity of road conditions. Daniel's thoughts raced, his lips muttering incessantly, "Northwest side of Evernight Port... northwest... What on earth is over there?" A staffer sitting nearby ventured hesitantly, "...Could it be the broadcast station?" *The broadcast station?* Daniel stiffened, his pupils shrinking violently as a terrifying thought seized his mind. If it was the broadcast station, he could roughly guess what that fellow intended to do... *But why?* Seeing that the team leader was silent, the staffer swallowed and continued nervously, "...Since we can receive the tracker's signal, the bomb probably hasn't been disarmed yet, and it's impossible for them to defuse a bomb while driving. If we dial that number now, we can blow the target to pieces... Should we do it?" Daniel said nothing. The plan had spiraled completely out of control. Right now, he didn't even know who was inside that car. Even if the call went through, it might not stop this runaway train. In the midst of his daze, the chief of the Intelligence Section suddenly barged in through the doorway. That usually composed man now had panic written all over his face. Striding forward, he seized Daniel roughly by the shoulders. "Have you seen Myriad Commander Willoughby?" Staring into those bloodshot eyes, Daniel was momentarily terrified and instinctively shook his head. "No. I went to find him, but his secretary told me he had already left for the day—" Before he could finish, the bloodshot-eyed section chief cut him off harshly. "Someone reported seeing him get into a black sedan outside the Garrison headquarters, and the license plate matches the exact vehicle we wrote off as destroyed! What the fuck are you doing?!" The instant those words hit him, Daniel felt as if a hundred-kilogram aerial bomb had detonated inside his skull. His mind went entirely blank with a deafening hum. That fool hadn't just failed to silence the "wasp"—he had kidnapped the superior of them all! Kidnapping a myriad commander in collusion with an Alliance spy... And during wartime, no less! This was virtually indistinguishable from open rebellion. Face as white as toilet paper, Daniel felt all strength drain from his limbs, his knees buckling so hard he nearly collapsed onto the floor. Looking up at the fuming chief, he forced words through trembling lips. "...They're heading toward the broadcast station in the northwest part of the city. If we rush over now... we might still intercept him." The Intelligence Section chief shoved him violently, hurling him toward the office doorway. "Then what the fuck are you waiting for?! Move your asses, now!!" "If our commander loses so much as a single hair, I'll execute you myself!" Daniel bolted out the door in sheer terror. He harbored no doubts that the chief meant every word; if anything happened to Myriad Commander Willoughby, that man would shoot him dead without hesitation. Without a moment's pause, he gathered a dozen or so Intelligence Section agents and charged straight toward the northwestern district of Evernight Port. All along the way, he prayed fervently that a fool like Kant wouldn't do something irreversible. At the same time, he kept dialing the communicator, trying desperately to reach Kant. Yet the latter seemed to have anticipated this move and had cleanly switched off his comm equipment, showing zero intention of communicating or pulling back from the brink. "Damn it!" Sitting in the front passenger seat, Daniel slammed a fist into the car door, his eyes blazing with a mixture of terror and fury. *** At that very moment, the black sedan carrying Myriad Commander Willoughby pulled up to the entrance of the broadcast station. By now, dusk had fallen, and most of the station's staff had already gone home. Seeing the sedan stop at the gate, the guard on duty stepped forward and asked routinely, "Who are you?" With practiced ease, Kant produced his credentials from inside his coat and flashed them before the man's eyes. "Garrison business. Open the gate." Hearing that it was the Garrison, the guard harbored no suspicion whatsoever. He hurried back to the guardhouse and raised the barrier blocking the roadway. Kant stepped on the gas and drove inside. Bypassing the parking garage off to the side, he headed straight for the foot of the square, five-story building ahead. Cutting the engine, he pulled up the handbrake, snatched up the Pu-9 submachine gun stowed beneath the passenger seat, and glanced back at Talan in the rear. "Carry him on your back and stay behind me." Having finally reached the most thrilling part, Talan shot him a reassuring, eager look. "Copy that." What a shame the operation was so rushed. If he had been given two or three more days to prepare, letting him mobilize the thirty brothers in the prison and call back his two trusted aides outside the settlement, he might have been able to pull off an even grander firework display. Kant gave a nod, wasting no further words. Pushing open the car door, he raised the barrel and fired a burst straight into the sky. The sudden staccato of gunfire startled everyone in the vicinity, sending them fleeing desperately for the exits. The guard in the booth was dumbfounded, staring slack-jawed at the man brandishing the submachine gun, with no idea what he intended to do. Just then, Daniel and his men finally arrived on the scene. Seeing Myriad Commander Willoughby being dragged out of the sedan, Daniel's eyes went instantly bloodshot. He roared at Kant, who stood clutching the submachine gun. "Kant! Have you lost your mind?! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Even as he shouted, Daniel flashed a signal to the men beside him, sending a squad circling around toward the rear of the broadcast station to prevent Kant from using the building to slip away from his pursuers. Yet he had no inkling that his once-loyal subordinate had never planned on fleeing. This was the battlefield he had chosen for himself, and it would also be his final one. It was precisely for this reason that Kant's expression didn't shift in the slightest in the face of his superior's furious bellowing, looking as though he hadn't heard a thing. On the other hand, Talan, carrying Willoughby on his back, was completely baffled by the enraged roar. *What's going on?* He had assumed this was all part of the Enlightenment Society's plan, but the reaction of the "Guide" Daniel told him it clearly wasn't. What bewildered him most was that he couldn't even tell whether this was infighting within the Southern Legion or within the Enlightenment Society. At this moment, he felt as if he had hit "Skip" on a massive block of story dialogue, only to find himself unable to tell friend from foe right as the fighting was about to start. "Over here." Seeing Kant gesture toward him, Talan ultimately decided to follow him inside first. He didn't know what this NPC planned to do, but he had given his word that he was ready. The moment his front foot crossed into the building, the sedan they had ridden in erupted with a thunderous boom, bursting into a blazing fireball. The raging flames illuminated Talan's baffled face. Only now did he vaguely begin to piece things together. His cover had probably been blown long ago... Kant's next words confirmed his suspicion. Yet he still couldn't fathom why this Wilante had taken his side. "...They planted a bomb in the car. According to their plan, you should already be dead outside the gates of Katnode Prison." "We would have released your compatriots, but we would never have acknowledged your existence... nor that of Project Wasp." Talan swallowed hard. "...Project Wasp?" Kant nodded and briefly outlined the entire plan, laying everything bare. In short, the Garrison hadn't known the Enlightenment Society existed. They had merely learned through higher intelligence channels that an organization composed of vault dwellers operated in the Great Desert, and that this organization allegedly possessed an unfinished superweapon. And so their esteemed Garrison commander had an inspiration: he fabricated an Enlightenment Society cell at "The Marshal's Armory" and attempted to use that cocoon to extract more information from Talan regarding the society and the superweapon. Things had actually progressed very smoothly. Unfortunately, they had uncovered leads they never should have touched, and a certain prominent figure far beyond Evernight Port had stepped in to extinguish every last trace. After listening to Kant's account, Talan wore a look caught between tears and laughter. "...So after all that, your intelligence on the Enlightenment Society came from me in the first place." Kant answered succinctly, "Part of it, yes. Another part came from the archives in Avent City and Triumph City." Talan fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "...Then I went through all that trouble for nothing." Kant raised an eyebrow slightly. "...Are you truly an Alliance spy?" "A spy? I'm the corps leader of the Desert Corps," Talan grinned. "Of course, you can take it as bragging if you want. I won't admit it either way." Kant offered a noncommittal smile, disbelief plain on his face. *If this fellow could be a corps leader, then I'd have to be a myriad commander at the very least!* Still, he didn't call the man's bluff. He merely cast a calm glance toward the vehicles and guards gathering in greater and greater numbers outside the window, then said quietly: "I'm sorry for dragging you into this. Though I considered letting you go, I needed a teammate." Talan grinned. "What are you apologizing for? A man might not run into something this exciting once in a lifetime, not to mention you already consider me a teammate." That composed, nonchalant gaze looked as though he had set life and death completely aside. Kant looked at him in surprise, then chuckled softly. "I've always heard people say that the vault dwellers of the Alliance are a bunch of eccentrics... Now I'm inclined to believe it." "Not all of us are, though you had the bad luck to run into an unreliable one like me." Freeing a hand to scratch the back of his head, Talan hefted the unconscious man on his back. "So what now? Are you planning to beat this guy to a pulp to vent some anger, or use him as a hostage to trade for a ship to the Alliance?" "Neither," Kant shook his head, his voice steady and even. "I told you my plan from the very start... The Wilante have heard enough lies. What they need now is the truth." *** At the same time, outside the broadcast station, more and more Garrison troops completed their assembly. Daniel was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, and so was the chief of the Intelligence Section, along with the heads of the other sections. Only two men occupied the broadcast station, yet the hostage in their hands happened to be Myriad Commander Willoughby. No one could afford the blame for harming the hostage, but dragging things out like this wasn't an option either. Right then, the loudspeaker atop the main broadcast station building abruptly crackled to life. The piercing screech of frequency tuning sent a chill down the spine of everyone present. Especially Daniel, who stood on the front lines clutching his gun. A moment later, Kant's voice echoed through the broadcast: "Listen up, everyone outside. Your commander, Myriad Commander Willoughby, is in my hands right now. If you don't want anything untoward to happen to him, you'd best stay where you are and don't move." "My demand is simple: stand there, do nothing, and give me two hours." "Just two hours!" "I will use these precious two hours to conduct a special interview with our esteemed Myriad Commander Willoughby."