Chapter 52: METRO TROUBLE
(UNSSD Operation Base, Tokyo, May 2134)
2 days ago on a Saturday, UNSSD received an urgent alert from the Tokyo Police, citing that they have uncovered a terrorist attack plot that will happen in the following week. However, the exact date and target(s) remain unknown.
The alert is then sent over to UNSSD SOC, where it then ended up on the tables of Franz, Bryan and Xiao Tian, having delegated the mission to Task Force Prime.
After a careful analysis, Xiao Tian arrived at the following conclusion:
The terrorists are amateur at best and not well organised, meaning that attacking infrastructure is not feasible, hence their target is likely to be population hubs with a lot of people. Their limited manpower means that only 1 location will be attacked realistically.
Xiao Tian then compared their strengths, and deemed that letting Task Force Prime handle them directly will be using a rocket launcher to kill a mosquito. Hence, after seeking approval from Franz, Bryan and the higher ups, he deliberately withheld this information to the rest of the unit apart from the team leaders, turning it into an orientation to test their ability to work as a team in an emergency.
His plan is to discreetly spread out the personnel into popular areas in Tokyo under the guise of tourism, allowing them to act as first response.
Of course, he had also rallied the UNIFJ element in Tokyo, Tokyo Police, including its SAT SWAT unit, and JSDF forces to immediately contain and lock down the area once the attack begins.
Essentially, instead of using a rocket launcher to kill a mosquito, Xiao Tian built a pressure cooker around the mosquito.
(Gate)
The remaining members of Team Zero looked at each other. All of them are dressed in civilian clothes now, with 1 suitcase, 1 gun bag and 1 backpack each.
"Ok, what's the plan?" asked Louis.
"How many of you here have lived in Tokyo long term?" asked Santos.
Nanami, Frederica, Sean and Xu Qing raised their hands.
"Where do you all want to go on Day 1?" asked Sean.
Santos, James, Jay, Phineas, Ariel and Louis showed them the places they want to go to.
"Oh, I see that they are split nicely to the East and West of the hotel Xiao Tian has reserved for us!" exclaimed Sean, checking them on the map.
"Ok, how about, we split into 2," suggested Nanami. "Xu Qing and I will take the group heading to the East, Freddie and Sean take the group to the West. We then meet at the hotel for dinner? The time now is 10am in the morning, we will meet at 6pm."
"Works," said Santos.
(20 minutes later, in a shopping district)
"Freddie and Sean went to buy clothes, Jay went to go look at. Umm, anime figurines," said Ariel. "What a weeb."
The shopping district is where Jay wanted to go to.
Phineas nodded, strolling along the stores with Ariel.
"I am hungry, let's get lunch first," said Ariel.
They walked past a restaurant selling tonkatsu, aka fried pork. Ariel stared at the food displayed in the glass cabinet, her mouth watering.
She gulped hungrily, wanting to dig into the juicy and succulent meat, and the crispy outer layer immediately.
Phineas noticed her staring at the food.
"You want to eat here?" he asked.
"No," smiled Ariel, lying.
"If my beloved sees me so un-womanly, what kind of impression is he going to have?" she roared internally.
Phineas followed her gaze, seeing that her eyes is essentially glued to the displayed pork.
Taking a silent note, he continued walking with her.
After a stroll, they came back to the restaurant.
"Oh wow, we came back here," remarked Phineas. "You sure you don't want to eat here?" he asked again.
Ariel pursed her lips. "Well, it kind of full..." she smiled.
Phineas stared at the rows of empty chairs and tables waiting for their customers, turning back to Ariel, giving her a half-frown.
"And, you hate fried food right?" she added.
"Since when did I hate it?" asked Phineas, puzzled.
"You said it! When we were in primary school in Hong Kong!" she pouted.
"You just want to eat fried pork don't you?' asked Phineas.
Ariel looked away. "Nope, not one bit!"
She cupped her face and elf years with her hands, smiling and winking at Phineas cutely. "How can a proper lady like me love such oily food?"
"This girl..." muttered Phineas internally.
He chuckled. "You're indeed cute, but I want to eat fried pork, will you eat with me?"
"OH FOR REAL?" exclaimed Ariel in German, happily grabbing Phineas' hand, rushing into the restaurant.
(Clothes shop)
"Gosh, when they saw girls take years to dress, they aren't exaggerating too far..." muttered Sean, looking at his watch for the 5th time outside the changing rooms.
Frederica needed a new set of civilian clothes to wear for this week, so Sean took her to a store along this commercial district that Aya often frequented.
Frederica is wearing her just her underwear in the changing room, looking at the pile of clothes she had chosen, and the ones recommended by the store owners.
"What will Sean like?" thought Frederica. All of the clothes look alright on her after trying them.
She dressed back into her clothes. She opened the curtain, looking at Sean.
Sean looked at the clothes she had hanging on the hangers in the changing room.
"Trouble choosing one?" asked Sean.
Frederica nodded slowly.
His eyes darted to a white dress shirt and outer dress set, with a pack of white stockings and blue bow tie.
"How about this one? Show me how it looks like on you?" asked Sean.
Frederica nodded slowly, hiding her blush.
She quickly dressed up, looking at Sean, her white hair is let down.
"You look really good in dresses," smiled Sean, remembering her red dress at the train station.
He then grabbed a pair of black ladies boots, handing it to Frederica. "Try this on too!" he grinned.
Frederica slipped it on.
Sean stared wide mouthed. Frederica is like a model in a fashion magazine now.
"Never thought Freddie is so pretty," thought Sean.
"It looks perfect," smiled Sean.
Frederica took it off. She frowned when she saw the price tag. It is out of her budget if she buys the clothes too.
Sean noticed her predicament, taking the boots from her. Before Frederica can react, Sean came back soon, holding a now boxed boots and his wallet in his hands.
"Our birthday is next month, consider it my early gift for you," he grinned.
(5pm, Metro station)
"I thought Bavaria was bad..." muttered Ariel, staring at the maze that is the Tokyo metro map. After clearing their itinerary, they are taking the metro to the hotel.
"I thought Hong Kong and Shenzhen were bad..." echoed Phineas.
"You guys have a good metro network?" laughed Jay. "The NYC subway still looks like it was built in the 1900s."
Sean chuckled, asking them to simply follow him and Frederica.
The 5 of them checked into the metro system, going through security. They showed the security personnel and robots their military IDs, allowing them to take their guns on board.
The 5 boarded the train, the doors closing behind them. They had locked their gun bags in the luggage rack as required under Japanese laws. The new 7th generation Metro trains are designed to be all seated, with no room for standing, complete automated piloting, with luxurious seats akin to fanciful trains of the 21st Century.
The 5 sat down on seats near the luggage rack. They are in the first cabin behind the pilot room. In the same cabin as them are many people, including a group of 6 near the doors.
The 5 are planning to take 30 minutes of metro train ride to the hotel to meet up with the rest.
They chatted, though Frederica mostly just listened and did not say a thing.
5 minutes into the ride, they got bored, and Jay suggested they play some games.
As they started their games on their phones, Sean noticed the 6 people near the door standing up, heading to the front of the cabin.
He frowned. Phineas is too puzzled by their actions. There is no reason for them to stand up now, as there is still a while till the next station.
"Could it be that they want a leg break or their legs will go numb?" thought Phineas.
"But for 6 of them to stand up together at once to have a break is too weird," he thought.
The 6 men walked up to the door that cut off the autopilot AI server from the rest of the cabin. The AI also controls the automatic emergency systems in the train. One of them took a tablet, keying a few keys.
In the instant, the safety harnesses on the seats suddenly swooped down, locking all of the passengers firmly in the seats, including the 5 operators.
The 6 men then took out guns from their bags, firing them into the air. They are also wearing bomb vests with Cosmic Energy ores on them, enough to blow up this entire train. This is to prevent Sellardraxains to use ranged magic to retaliate, scaring the others in the cabin and those in the others cabins. Some of the people in the cabin started crying.
"BE F***ING STILL!" yelled one of them.
"YOU SHUT UP!!!" roared one, slapping a crying school girl in the face.
The 5 operators, while stunned, remained calm and clear headed.
"Terrorist attack," muttered Sean. The 5 realised that their guns are out of reach to them, rendering them unarmed.
All of the cabins have terrorists on board now.
The terrorists started to confiscate phones and devices. When they got to the 5 operators, they hesitated.
One of the terrorists got fed up, giving Ariel a rifle butt to the head, cracking her head open, blood spilling out.
"ARIEL!" roared Phineas. "Motherf***er!" he cursed.
"Give them what they want," said Jay, knowing that they need to lay low for now.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone