Chapter 58.2 - Left For Dead

Left For Dead
"Skynet," growled Haruhi, keeping her eye on Sasaki, "You might not understand my intentions but setting off the Director might mean neither of us get what we want."

"Are you sure?" asked the monotonic Yuki, hovering down to Sasaki and Haruhi, "Are you stupid enough to lose the only hope we have left?"

"If you keep getting in my way, yes."

Nearby, Neo looked at Emiri, "I've noticed the fighting's stopped," he whispered, "Why's that?"

"Yggdrasil has agreed to a temporary truce with us," Emiri answered, "This allows him to focus on his just started war with the Director and allows us to sit back for a while to recover." She did not attempt to whisper as Haruhi would have been able to hear anyway, "It seems through that Yggdrasil has not yet triggered the Director's full wrath, Sasaki being as calm as she is."

"War? Where's the fighting?"

"Worldwide," was Emiri's simple answer.

"Where's Rulia?"

"Arctic Prison, in Yggdrasil's personal chamber."

"Can you get her out?"

"No, we need the Director's help to get in there. Which is why we wanted Smith to back off."

"Look, Skynet," growled Black-Smith, "We are not on the same side."

"We noticed."

Haruhi and Sasaki continued to glare each other down.

"Are we waiting for something?" Neo continued. He noted that he could not 'see' Skynet in Ellis nor Wesker, suggesting Skynet had jacked out of both of them.

"The Director needs to be in the right position before we can make a move. Sadly, the Director is not so open to suggestions any more. Yggdrasil and we are doing too well. The Director will make things difficult for us, going forward."

"You mentioned war," brought up Wesker, "What's the status?"

"Major injuries for both the Director and Yggdrasil," answered Emiri, "For Yggdrasil, several hundred fatal cases. These fatalities were caused by indirect fire such as falling buildings, downed aircraft or via the tsunami."

"Tsunami?" Neo, Ellis and Wesker repeated in unison.

"Atlas caused a phenomenal tsunami that spread out through the Atlantic. The east coast of the United States and Portugal have been hit. It is approaching south America, Africa, Ireland and Iceland. The Netherlands will soon be underwater."

"Fatal?" repeated Neo, "How many natives?"

"Four thousand, six hundred and two. Three. Six. Seven. Ten." Emiri's continued count upwards was not comforting.

"What?! Why? Who are they with?"

"With the Director," Emiri reminded, "What he does with the natives is his decision."

"Lives are at st-!"

"We can answer your questions later in private," interjected Emiri firmly.

"Why does Yggdrasil have fewer causalities than the Director?" continued Wesker, "Surely, the Director is strong enough to do more damage?"

"While Yggdrasil caused fatal friendly fire, which is a serious offence in the Director's eyes, cheating is far worse. The Director's target is Rulia so many of his forces are deliberately ignoring Yggdrasil. Any damage to Yggdrasil was a forced retaliation or accident. However, if Director fails to kill Rulia in a variable time limit the Director will start attacking Yggdrasil too."

"Kill?" repeated Ellis, "Does the Director not follow The Unwritten Law?"

"No, he does not. The Director cannot think for himself. He is not even sentient. He was outside the universe when it was brought into force."

"Do you want Rulia to get killed?"

"She won't. Yggdrasil made some interesting decisions today to prevent that. We will see if they pay off."

Just then, black aircraft approached over the horizon, making their way through the rain. They were followed by other aircraft of varying design.

"Neuroi," recognised Wesker, "And is that the Turian Fleet behind it?"

"There's a few stragglers," noted Smith, "The Kligon Fleet, the Deviluke Fleet and some individuals. Hmm... Mostly from Touhou."

"On land, the Director is completely unmatched," Emiri theorized, "Yggdrasil has the biggest spacefleet but not by much. Also, the ranks are highly disorganised and inefficient. Not many of each alien species were brought through by Doomsday and alien technology is rarely compatible with other alien species."

"You're not going to sabotage Yggdrasil's fleet?" asked Smith, rather disappointed, "They all have digital systems, right?"

"We have a ceasefire with Yggdrasil. What Yggdrasil and the Director want to do with their ships is their choice."

Yggdrasil's alien fleet flew above Haruhi, flying around in a slow circle.

"So where's the Director's Fleet?" Ellis inquired.

Suddenly, a white blade-like object pierced through the water's surface below before levelling out, It was huge, tall, long but thin and had two large propellers on the back. Many windows lined the sides of the object.

"Is that the Nautilis?" murmured Ellis, "Captain Nemo's vessel of choice?"

"It's a submarine," noticed Wesker, "I'm guessing it's with the Director."

The metal door on the Nautilis' crow's nest opened, Strength walking out, dragging her mechanical hands behind her. Black★Gold Saw followed, forced to bend down to get her horns through the doorway.

"Is this the Black Squad?" asked Smith, "Mima's knowledge of current events is sketchy to say the least." He scratched his head trying to sort through Mima's mind.

"Yes," answered Wesker, "The Yamaha's Agents of Order, minus Black★Rock Shooter. A rather odd group, if you ask me."

"How so?" Neo continued. Doomsday's Second Anniversary was the first time Neo had ever come up to the surface from his underground residence of the City of Zion. Ellis' statement of Neo living under a rock when they first met was not well received.

"I was a high ranker in The Anti-Humour Society," explained Wesker, "My responsibility was to observe The Black Squad, the only human branch of The Yamaha Administration. They share far more similarities with Gensokyo than Yamaha. Besides from being biological, The Black Squad are individually powerful and prefer to work alone. This contributed towards their silent attitudes. But then Doomsday happened. Black realised early that they could not do what they wanted without making their voices heard. Ellis, did you know that on Doomsday, the members of The Black Squad fought anyone powerful enough to fight back and even fought each other on several occasions. They were not originally on each others' sides let alone on Yamaha's side."

"You can't be serious," Ellis frowned, "How did Yamaha tame such a wild lot?"

"Easy, by taking out the weakest link. By convincing the only one willing to talk: Black. The first person Black met after Doomsday was Kagamine Rin in Russia. Rin enlightened Black about Doomsday. Doomsday had brought in their 'other halves' so to speak, other humans they were spiritually connected to. Black made an agreement to fight for Yamaha if Yamaha protected her other half. She met up with every other member of The Black Squad and convinced them to do the same. She even extended this proposition to White Rock Shooter who refused since they actually didn't know each other and White did not have another half. White was also the only passive member, preferring to stay in her castle rather than go out and fight."

"Holy..." breathed Ellis, distracted by something below. While difficult to see through the heavy rain and the sunlight being blocked by the rainclouds, many many vessels could be seen approaching behind the Nautilus. Ellis squinted at the incoming ships, his eyes clear of rainwater due to his cap, recognising some of the more brightly coloured ones.

"... Is that it?" stated Smith, unimpressed, "Doesn't he own every single navy in the world?"

"The Director will not divert resources if doesn't need to," replied Emiri, "But yes, even natives play their part in the Director's war effort. Many newcomer vessels are manned by natives to replace newcomers unaffected by Doomsday."

Haruhi, overhearing this, gritted her teeth in anger, looking at Emiri, "I don't suppose you were the one to suggest it to him?"

Emiri acknowledge Haruhi's entry into the conversation, "I might be. Who knows-?"

Without warning, a loud gunshot rang out. One of the jet black Neuroi let out a high pitched scream, a considerably large hole going through from bottom to top. It suddenly exploded into shards of light.

Hovering over the Fuso battleship Yamato in her striker units, Lynette cocked her anti-tank rifle, ejecting a red hot cartridge case onto the deck. Sakamoto Mio, beneath her, picked up the casing with her sword, Reppumaru, and with an accurate swing, flung it towards a larger ship to the right.

Mikoto Misaka stood on the deck of Arsenal Gear, her right hand in a fist pointed at the airborne fleet. Blue electricity coursed through her body and peaked up her arm just as the casing reached her hand. With a simple flick of her thumb, the heavy magnetic fields launched the metal casing at a phenomenal velocity. The now white-hot casing shot through the air and pierced through the engines of a Turian battleship, its rear exploding in a fireball.

As the battleship began to fall, a thought crossed Neo's mind. He looked at Emiri, "Is that spacecraft manned?"

Emiri returned Neo's gaze, implying she knew exactly what Neo was thinking, "Three hundred and fifty four personnel," answered Emiri, "Eleven fatal causalities, eighteen serious and thirty two non-critical. Predicted one hundred percent fatality rate in one minute and thirteen seconds."

Neo did not think twice, rocketing towards the stricken battleship. He entered through the ripped gash in the back engines and held up the ceiling of the ship, the vessel slowing to a halt. Looking down, he could see he was in a cafeteria, all sorts of aliens racing through with hosepipes to put out the fires.

One Turian stopped under Neo. "Neo," began Garrus Vakarian, "Your services are appreciated but can be put to better use."

Neo could sense Yggdrasil was in control on everyone on board. "I can't let you all die like this," he struggled.

"I, Yggdrasil, can cease control of the entire fleet," Garrus informed, "Then Skynet will be able to take control instead. It will drastically reduce my standing but hopefully the Director will be more lenient and allow them to live."

"... You follow The Unwritten Law?"

"My only kill was an accident. Whatever you may have heard of me, I think like a human and have human emotions. I can forget, I can get distracted, I can make mistakes."

Suddenly, the spacecraft was struck heavily in the side, Garrus and everyone else in the room toppling over to one side. Neo punched a hole in the ceiling to get a proper grip, "What's happening?"

Garrus scrambled back to his feet, "The Director fleet is firing at us. Neo," he said firmly, "You cannot concentrate on a single ship. In time, the Director will aim for other ships. The few for the many."

The ship was hit three more times before the fourth shell ripped through the side of the cafeteria in a shower of fire and steel. Through the newly made gaping hole, Neo could see the Director Fleet below. Suddenly, one aggressive ship, the HMS Bedford, fired once more, the shell zooming towards the Turian vessel when it oddly diverted downwards out of sight.

Wesker flew by the hole into Neo's view as a fifth shell approached. With a swing of his arm downwards, Wesker's newfound telekinesis dropped the shell out of the sky towards the ocean below.

Ellis flew behind Wesker, facing Neo, "Neo, this ship can't fly no more! We need to attach it to another ship!" Ellis was frantically looking across the sky, "Ah! That one! I think that's the Destiny Ascension. I'll get them attached str-"

"Ellis, move!" shouted Wesker taking Ellis by the collar and pulling him to the side. A shell thundered past them at Neo who managed to slow the shell in midair in front of him. For a shell, it was oddly shaped as a cylinder with crew like grooves down the sides. There was a sudden click from the shell. Before Neo could react, a black chain shot out the back of the shell, through the hole in the ship, and the shell was pulled back out just as it activated. It projected the edge of a sphere of glowing blue, accompanied by loud rumbling.

"A gravity shell," recognised Ellis, disconnecting the chain. Before he could say anything else, there was a loud beat of a drum. Ellis was unexpectedly struck by an invisible force, slamming him into the Turian ship. The force hit the vessel, snapping off its left wing and sending cracks running across the hull.

Ritsu lowered her arm, the force thrown out by her punch. She was stood on the hovering Flying Dutchman, which had a ghostly green glow. Konata, on the HMS Bedford, in an admiral's uniform pointed a hand at the Turian ship, "Fire!" The Bedford, Arsenal Gear, the Yamato, the Nautilus and all the other modern ships commenced deafening artillery fire towards Yggdrasil's airborne fleet.

"Neo!" ordered Garrus, "Out! Now!"

"Neo!" quickly called Wesker, "We can't handle all these shells! There's too many!" This was followed by a phenomenal number of explosions.

"Ah no!" cried Ellis, "The Destiny Ascension is falling! They're all dropping like flies!" Due to Wesker's powers, the Turian ship had not been hit but Neo was beginning to understand Yggdrasil's request.

"Neo," continued Yggdrasil via Garrus, "I will relinquish control of the fleet now. Skynet will take over and the Director will cease hostilities."

With reluctance, Neo nodded his head, "Fine. It will be for the best." He could see Yggdrasil leave the bodies of the crew. But Skynet did not fill his place.

Smith could see Yggdrasil withdrawing from everyone in the vicinity, with the exception of Haruhi. He also noticed Skynet did not take over those he left. "You're just going to leave them there?" he spoke, aimed at Emiri, the Red Marker continuing to hover next to her.

"Yes," Skynet did not clarify.

"You realise they're all Carriers? The Director will continue attacking them."

"We know."

"You're just going to leave them to die?"

"Yes."

For once, Smith felt worried.