It won’t happen right away. In a year, maybe five, maybe more... I won’t be able to rest easy for a while, but someday, I will. Ideally, we’ll be treated as silly rumors, on the level of theories about South American Nazis making clones of Adolf Hitler. And even if those who know the truth try to sound the alarm, no one will listen to them...
Could it be possible? Those thoughts, which had been vague and formless up until this point, took firm shape in Tessa’s mind as she stood before the grave. Working with Al, Mira, and Chidori Kaname, could they manipulate information to get things moving in that direction? She wasn’t sure how well it would work, but with that many minds working together, it surely wasn’t impossible.
And some day, I’ll get my normal life back. It was a grand calling, far more important than building and commanding the Tuatha de Danaan.
“It won’t be easy, but I think I’ll be able to come back someday and tell you that,” said Tessa, gently tracing the surface of the headstone. She had never touched Bani before. She’d never even held his hand. This was their first real contact.
But her moment of sentimentality was interrupted by a sneer. “Teletha Mantissa! You really took us for a ride last night!”
She turned and saw a familiar group of men standing at the entrance to the graveyard.
It was Murat and his men—the ones she’d thrown into the ocean the night before—standing nearby, with a sour-looking Ronnie.
Murat and his crew glared at her, their eyes burning with unrestrained anger. They carried old rifles and pistols. Where did they get those in the course of one night? Tessa wondered. But beyond the rifles, the item that caught her attention the most was an old break-action grenade launcher. It shot powerful 40mm grenades and could kill everyone there if not used with great caution.
One of the men had Ronnie by the throat. They’d probably forced him to lead them here.
“Hey, Tessa. What’s the deal here, huh? I don’t get it,” Ronnie said.
“I’m sorry, Ronnie,” replied Tessa. “I had a minor dispute with these men before I arrived.”
“A minor dispute? They seem a little violent for— ow!”
“No talking!” Murat gave him a smack, and Ronnie reluctantly clammed up.
“Mr. Murat,” Tessa said politely, “I’m glad to see you survived.”
“Don’t put on airs with me, little girl.”
“But I’m surprised you caught up with me so quickly. How did you manage it?”
“Heh,” Murat said with a triumphant snort. “It was easy. We swam our way to an island and walked for two hours. Then we found a fishing village, borrowed a boat, got some weapons from our cop friends in the closest city, and only just arrived here.”
“You must be running on very little sleep...” Tessa observed.
“That’s none of your concern! Anyway, we were just shaking down the village chief when this kid came running. He tried to get away, but we grabbed him and got him to tell us about this place. Poor little thing.”
“Sorry, Tessa,” Ronnie said apologetically. “I tried to lead them on a wild goose chase, but I think I just got them in a killing mood.”
“I told you not to talk!” said Murat, who gave Ronnie another smack.
“Ow.”
“Please leave that child alone,” Tessa requested.
“You shut up. All right, it’s time to teach you a lesson. But more importantly...” said Murat, as the men looked around them. “Where’s that big guy? He’s the one I really want a piece of.”
“Oh, he’s...” Tessa pulled her tablet out of her bag, called up a digital map, and checked Al’s current location. “He’s here. Er... yes, right over there, in fact.”
The men turned to look. Around thirty meters away, traipsing through the mountain jungle behind the graveyard came the trench coat-wearing Alastor. He must have cut straight through the thick of it, because his body was covered in sap and leaves.
《I’m glad I made it in time,》 Al said through his external speakers. 《There happened to be a certain country’s surveillance satellite passing by overhead. I had a peek at its feed to kill time, and happened to see their boat en route here.》
“And so you came running?”
《Yes. Am I intruding?》
“No,” said Tessa, “I’m glad you’re here.”
The men immediately sprang into action, shouting, “Get him! Shoot! Shoot!” They unloaded all at once, and in the same instant, the Alastor took off.
Unfortunately for the men, they were amateurs when it came to firearms. They had fired their rifles without proper bracing; fired the shotguns one-handedly, and then dropped them. One of them was even dual-wielding pistols like an action hero to fire at a target over thirty meters away. Several shots hit Al purely by chance, but standard rounds wouldn’t do much against a body reinforced with bulletproof fibers and titanium alloy.
Murat himself was struggling to load his portable launcher. He hasn’t realized that he has the round backwards— Ah, no, there he goes, thought Tessa.
One of the men gasped as Al closed in, grabbed his arm, swung him around, then threw him into the next man over. The move knocked them both out together. Another man fired his shotgun at Al from close range, doing no damage at all. Al turned around, snatched the shotgun away, and thrust it at the man unceremoniously—another one down.
Rather than firing his stolen shotgun, Al just threw it at the dual-wielding man, who was still firing at him. The shotgun’s stock hit him square in the chest and—Ah, thought Tessa, that must have hurt—he doubled over and fell to the ground, motionless.
Amalgam’s antipersonnel weapon truly is impressive, taking out four men in mere seconds. Tessa found herself forced to admire anew the skill of Kurz Weber, who’d taken out one of them with just a handgun during their very first encounter.
Murat was the only one left now. “D-Don’t move! I’ll kill the kid!” He staggered backwards, using Ronnie as a shield in one arm and brandishing the grenade launcher he’d finally managed to load in the other. “What the hell are you?!” he shouted. “You’re not human... y-you monster!”
《Monster, you say?》 Al replied.
Tessa didn’t miss the slight sinking of the Alastor’s shoulders. Ah, she thought regretfully, his feelings are hurt.
《My classification aside, you should release that boy and drop your weapon. Surrender and I guarantee you won’t be harmed.》
“Sh-Shut up!” Murat howled. “Why should I trust you?!”
“You really should do as you’re told. I know it’s hard to believe, but he’s been taking it easy on you,” Tessa joined in.
But of course, the man wasn’t listening. “Y-You wanna get me, go ahead and try! Got it? Don’t move, I said!” Murat cried, slowly backing away from Al.
Meanwhile, the hostage had apparently forgotten the danger he was in, staring wide-eyed at Al. “Awesome,” Ronnie whispered.
《What shall I do, Colonel?》
Tessa knew Al wasn’t really asking for help. The Alastor’s arm was mounted with a .50 caliber gun, which could easily blow just Murat’s head off and save Ronnie even at that distance. The reason he hadn’t used it yet was that at the start of the trip, he had promised Tessa he would save killing as a last resort (he seemed to view this as part of his ROE).
At the same time, the grenade launcher was a dangerous weapon. If it hit on-target and exploded, it would do serious damage to even the Alastor, and Tessa was close enough that she wouldn’t survive getting caught in the blast.
But Tessa said instead, “No need to do anything yet. Let’s just wait until he fires.”
《I don’t understand,》said Al.
“It’s all right,” Tessa told him reassuringly. “Just don’t move.” She thought, He’ll make his move soon enough. Ah, there we go...