“Hurry it up, Atsumu, or you’re going to get lost or left behind,” warned Miue, calling the super soldier closer to them with a jerk of his chin. Atsumu obediently trotted closer to the group as they passed corridor after corridor inside the administrative building of Tokyo’s military base. “Seriously, this almost fools me into thinking we’re a kindergarten going for a walk to the neighbourhood’s park…”

“That comparison is weirdly accurate,” awkwardly acknowledged Mizusaki, a half-laugh getting stuck inside of his throat. Usually, it was his role to be the life of the party and crack an uncalled-for joke or two during tense minutes. To have Miue fill in that role because he was still feeling a bit uncomfortable due to Rei’s discovery during the trip to the ‘human realm’ was making him feel even more conscious and restless. “But well, opposite to what Eki-san had said, we were called all the way here out of the blue. I’m sure even they can feel a bit uneasy about all of this.”

“Nah, not really,” said Mitaru, leisurely stretching his arms over his head. “Though it’s a bore having to come here when I could be at home watching TV.”

The epitome of laziness, right here, right now, inwardly sighed the soldiers, Ikusaki even rolling his eyes around at those human-teenager-like words.

“I thought we were finally free from humans for the day but no, here I am…” grumbled Azuma under his breath, his arms crossed over his chest and a sour expression on his features as he maintained his head lowered. When he spotted a small, pale hand motioning a gummy towards him, his pout only grew more accentuated. “No, Rei, sugar will not sweeten my mood.”

“I can have it then~,” said Tsugi, quickly snatching the gummy from Rei’s hand before Azuma changed his mind.

“They seem more human now, compared to when they first arrived at the base.”

“Good evening, Nakatani-san,” greeted Murayama, immediately saluting the general together with the other members of his squad at his sighting by the office’s door.

“Yes, good evening. Come in,” greeted back Nakatani, a soft smile on his lips as he gestured towards his office and invited them in. He walked back to his desk and took a seat once again. “There aren’t a lot of chairs but feel free to seat if you feel like it.”

“Excuse us our intrusion,” acknowledged Murayama at stepping inside of the office alongside his squadmates and the super soldiers’ group. It went without saying that some of the super soldiers made an immediate beeline to any chair available.

“I was supposed to pay you a visit as soon as my schedule allowed it but such was impossible, with the sudden attack and Tou Kurose’s death ongoing investigation,” started Nakatani, softly releasing a small tired sigh. “That’s why I was forced to call you here instead.”

“Has there been any clues as to what happened?” inquired Miue, a frown creasing his brows at the mention of the unexpected attack.

“Unfortunately, there’s not much,” sighed Nakatani, leaning his sitting position on the chair’s backrest. “I talked with the soldiers present at the time and a forensic team has also been called to the scene. The only information that has been confirmed as of now is that the attack came from outside of the base. The forensic team is currently making the needed calculations to find the location where the snipper fired from, to find further clues about their identity. Having said that, the preliminary investigation points out that this sudden attack was just a warning of some sort. Tou was caught on it due to being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. As for possible culprits, it might be related to the world war. But we can’t completely overrule the possibility that The Union was the one behind it either.”

“I see…” acknowledged Miue, his frown softening slightly.

“If The Union happens to be the one behind the warning, then we must do something about it before they issue a full-fledged attack on our base,” said Nakatani, his gaze switching to Iru, the one appointed with the position of commander within the super soldiers. “Yesterday you said you’d begin The Union’s elimination. What exactly consists that elimination?”

“Destroy them, down to the last one of them,” announced Iru, his words so straightforward and honest they came as a startle to some of the office’s occupants. “It’s just like you said, Shuukyuu, it wouldn’t be above The Union to attack some soldiers of the base as a warning. They know we rebelled and escaped the lab. Whether they plan to capture us and lock us up inside of another lab or eliminate us after dubbing us failures, The Union will eventually make a move. We wanted to make a move of our own before that could happen but perhaps it’s already too late.”

“How do you plan on eliminating The Union?” inquired further Nakatani.

“The backdoor Mitsu created on their servers wasn’t limited to our lab only,” explained Iru. “She has full access to the entire network, including all of the labs currently being operated in Japanese territory. She’s been avoiding using the backdoor since we escaped to prevent it from being discovered but we can upgrade our intel on The Union’s latest movements any time we need. All in all, we have access to the illegal labs’ locations, the number of scientists working in them and the number of super soldiers currently being created in them. Eliminating each location one by one is our plan A.”

“How many illegal labs there are?” asked Murayama this time, part of him surprised at the organisation and thought put behind the escape and elimination plan that was formulated while they were still locked up inside of the lab.

“That’s a hard question to answer~,” said Atsumu, crossing his arms over his chest as he tilted his head to the left. “You see, they have the main labs where they perform their tortures on us and do modifications to our bodies as they please. But they also have plenty of support facilities, which provides them with trained staff and resources, whether financial or material. So there are 4 main labs, one of which has been taken down already, and around 50 or so support facilities.”

“An easier way to understand their operating structure would be to think of them as a large yakuza group,” added Iru, smoothly inviting Rei to sit closer to him as they all remained focused on the current discussion. “The Union has the top brass, which very rarely directly deals with the labs and the experiments being performed. Out of all of us, I believe the only ones who have seen some of the top brass members are Rei, Atsumu and I. Below the top brass are the main labs, used to create and store the different serials. Our lab only contained us, the serial M, because they needed that much space to keep us in check. The other labs won’t have one super soldier per floor but several serials spread throughout the building.”

“Since you said The Union is similar to yakuza, does that mean the support facilities would be something along the lines of illegal financing with a regular corporation cover-up?” inquired Mizusaki, attentively listening to each explanation and piecing the details on his own.

“Yes, but not limited to financing only,” acknowledged Iru with a small nod of his head. “Private hospitals and clinics providing experienced medical staff, university professors recruiting promising students, factories and manufactures with side contracts to provide the labs with all the materials and technology they need to perform their operations. And, of course, human trafficking and orphanages to provide potential super soldiers.”

Upon Iru’s explanation, the office was drowned in silence.

It went without saying that the soldiers were aware of the illegality of the lab and the human experiments being performed in it. Save for Nakatani, they had personally seen the conditions in which the resulting super soldiers were being kept in there. They had seen the lab workers’ tranquil faces and heard the words they spouted in their defence. Only upon the realisation that the humans they had turned into monsters might slaughter them did they start apologising for what they had done, start regretting and realising the wrong they had done. And the soldiers knew the main culprit was the organisation known as The Union.

However, having The Union’s control and reach slapped straight on their faces was numbing, disconcerting, shocking.

Medical institutions meant to heal were offering their staff to aid in illegal genetic modifications. Aspiring professionals were being lullabied into helping fuel the growth and development of human experiments. Enterprises and small-medium-and-large-scale businesses were providing their products to an organisation involved with the breaching of so many human rights in exchange for profits. Human trafficking and its already illegal basis aside, children were being removed from orphanages and swiftly tortured and modified to cease to be what they were born as.

All of it had been ongoing for decades. Without the army’s knowledge. Without the government’s knowledge. Without the general public’s knowledge.

The suffering of those young children, of those modified to give birth to human-shaped weapons had been happening right beneath their noses.

Perhaps the doctor that prescribed them cold medicine had spent the previous day disabling the pain sensors in a child’s brain. Perhaps their favourite professor in college had been recruiting their fellow students and classmates to the labs or support facilities.

It weighted. The truth weighted immensely in their consciousness, even if they had never gotten involved with The Union directly.

“Which location where you planning on taking down first?” inquired Nakatani, a serious expression on his face as he straightened his sitting position to a more formal one.

“Cutting off their supplies would only force them to select and pick other ones,” said Iru, a knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Plucking another lab would be the optimal course of action for a first move. The one in Tokushima is small enough to not be a big hurdle to us while being large enough to cause a bit of a headache to the top brass.”

“Tokushima…” mumbled Nakatani, closely thinking about the location for a couple of seconds. He then announced, “I’ll contact Osaka’s military base to propose a joint military exercise. The recent Russian attack will serve as the perfect excuse for the suddenness. Either way, the earliest I can arrange it is within one week. Ms, use that time to further instruct Murayama’s squad on The Union and the other super soldier serials. Also to study the terrain and the lab’s plants. I’ll try to curry some favour to have Osaka provide any armament and vehicles you may need during the elimination operation. In the eventuality they say no, just steal a couple of their humvees and weapons without them knowing. Any more questions or requests?”

“Geez, the Kanto vs. Kansai rivalry is as strong as usual…” mumbled Mizusaki under his breath, lightly scratching the back of his head at the words ‘steal’ coming from the general of Tokyo’s military base. He sighed, “I can already smell trouble for me…”

“I have one,” said Tsugi, raising one of his hands high in the air. “Is the food good there?”

“Osaka is known as ‘Japan’s kitchen’ so you have nothing to worry about,” acknowledged Nakatani, all smiles despite the cruel words that soon exited his lips. “If you could devastate their food supplies, you’d have my thanks.”

“Nakatani-san, please don’t say that,” groaned Murayama, inwardly feeling like facepalming himself. “They’ll take it seriously and really devastate their food supplies…”

“Can I go to Kaiyukan?” asked Rei afterwards, his body fidgeting just the slightest as he remained sat down on Iru’s lap. How they had gotten to that position without no one noticing was a mystery in itself. “I want to pet the whale sharks.”

“Y-You… can’t pet the whale sharks…”

“Oh…”