Part 104: Mission #37: It All Goes to Shit

That is correct.

Mission #37: It All Goes to Shit


I like how Marcus' ex-wife went to her Japanese neighbor and just casually asked for a ninja costume.



: Oh, they're cute! Good thing they don't look like you. ...Being twins and all.
: Twin girls that look like Marcus? That's funny!!
: ...(Darn it, you two!)


And now to the update proper.



Er...given that our informant bled out before the team arrived, not really, but sure.
: You saved us.
: Who's she?
: My friend's daughter.
: Where's her father?
: He's gone...
: Why! Why did my father have to die?
: Her father was a USN spy.
: Now both of my parents are dead... What am I supposed to do!?
Well, I mean, is Batman still building a team of international Batmen? I mean, I haven't been following comics lately, I used to read DC comics pretty regularly, but they keep fucking with the continuity to make everything like it was in 1983, which is great and all, but it was a few years before I was even born, so it's kind of like, "Oh, wow, Hal Jordan's Green Lantern again? This is better why again?"
: Ran Fong...
: You have to keep on.
: !
: You're father's not coming back, no matter how much you cry. Think about your own survival. Are you waiting for other people to feel sorry for you?
: Yun, you're being too...
: How are you going to survive like that? You have to be strong.
: What do you know about me!?
: I don't know anything about you. I don't even know my parents. I survived on my own. I've been through things you can't even imagine. I had no choice but to keep on living!
: ...
: Be strong. That's what your father would want.
: Dad... Dad...
: Thanks, Yun...
Uh, is that really the best to deal with an orphaned child?
: I can be serious sometimes.
: Here...
: The necklace I gave you?
: I know my father hide something inside.
: ...It's a microchip!?
: Please take it.
: Is that okay?
: My father trusted you. You should have it.
: Okay...
: What will you do now, Ran Fong?
: Mind if I take her back to headquarters?
: Sure. What would you do there?
: She's in danger. Guan Lei asked me to protect you. Let me keep my promise to him. You'll be safe there.
: Thank you...



Guangzhou...always Guangzhou.



: Don't be so scared.
Be more scared.
: Okay...
: Who can blame her? You are pretty frightening.
: Hey!
: Yun.
: Yeah?
: Can you take a look at this?
: Ah, the microchip.
: My friend risked his life for this.
'Risked' makes is sounds like he almost died, Jose's friend went one step beyond that.
: Gimme some time.
: Yeah. Try to make it quick.



: Yes. It's safe here.
: I agree. We can provide for her here.
: Let me take care of her.
: Ling?
: I'd like to raise her.
: That's fine with me.
Here's the thing, the Hua Lian believe in capitalism, and government-run Child Service Departments sound a bit socialist, so they're obligated to put orphans on the free market and hope for the best.
: I'll take good care of her.
: Ran Fong, what do you want?
: I...
: Ran Fong? What a pretty name. You can think of me as your sister.
: Thank you.
: We'll get acquainted shortly.
: Take good care of her.
: I will.



: She hasn't come out of her room.
: She said it's a job that's worthy of her talents.
: ...
: What's the matter, Emma?
: I can't stand it anymore.
: You've been restless lately. What's wrong?
: Yeah. It's not like you.
: My skin crawls at the thought of Bal having custody of Alisa.
: I know. Me too.
: You don't understand what Bal is really like!
: Emma...
: ...I'm sorry. I'm okay now.
: Emma...
: I can't believe the military betrayed us. How can they do such a thing? You knew they would, didn't you? Eat up. This is all I can do for you guys. It's on the house. Eat up.
I guess we aren't murderers now, you spineless bastard!
: Long live the Hua Lian Rebels! Overthrow Jie for us! Victory will be ours! Long live Kwang! Long live the Hua Lian Rebels!
: The entire country is celebrating Ming's son's return. I can't believe he's alive. Now the real work begins. Jie will be stripped of his power. I gotta get moving, too!
: The military scares me. I guess they're looking for something important but they're crazy. They even came and turned my house upside down. Isn't the military here to protect us? I don't care who they are. I'm sick of living in fear.



: I make everything possible!
Yeah, but I still liked Miho better.
: Yeah, sure.
: Hey you! Be quiet.
: What was on the chip?
: You wanna know?
: Yes. Explain.
: Oh, you're so impatient! It contained data about the DHZ's mobile fortress TIANLEI.
: What!?
: That's big news.
: Happy now?
: What? I don't get it.
: We know the enemy's point of origin! They operated from the mobile fortress.
Yep, remember than gigantic land fortress from last branch, apparently this version of the rebels literally have no idea about it, despite the fact that giant mobile land fortresses tend to fall somewhere between, 'A-Bomb strike' and 'floating continent' in terms of glaringly obvious places and events.
: Ah.
: Thanks to Guan Lei.
: I'll explain the rest in the command room!



: Yes, indeed.
: Now we know the enemy's home base and it's current course.
: No wonder the forces around Wuhan were spread out. The base was moving.
: If we take the fortress...
: Shanghai is within eyesight.
: We can invade Shanghai...
: There's still a problem.
: Tianlei's structure?
: Yeah. All we know for certain now is Tianlei's existence and it's purpose.
Seems like we should have already known that, but, whatever.
: We need to know their capabilities before we can do anything.
: I agree.
: How do we get more information?
: There's a way.
: What is it?
: There was a list of Tianlei engineers on the microchip.
: So we can go see one of those engineers.
: That's right.
: Can you show us the list?
: Sure! But it'll cost extra.
: Hey!
: Just kidding. I'll download it now.



: One is the list of engineers. The other is the blueprint.
: If we have the blueprint, it'll be a piece of cake!
: We'll see...
: Can you select it?
: Here.
CONSOLE
DA HAN ZHONG FILE ACCESS SYSTEM

FILE CODE:BLUEPRINT MAP

PASSWORD:

: It's asking for the password.
: Should I try it?
: Yes, please.
Hacking Failure!
: I can't break it.
: Then let's try the engineers.
: Okay.
: There are so many of them...
: What's this "deceased" bit?
: Probably to prevent information from leaking.
: They were killed?
: Pretty typical.
I don't think's that really 'typical,' especially since authoritarian regimes usually have a rather limited supply of highly educated engineers that are ideologically acceptable, and so really can't afford to discard them like that.
: Thrown away like trash...
: But this is unbelievable.
: Yes, the majority of them are dead.
: This is sick!
: Stay calm.
: Is there a survivor?
: Hold on.
: Zhun Xi Liang.
: He's the only survivor.
: Can we see his personal profile?
: Yup.
: An assistant manager. Not a bad job.
Except the position apparently included a 'no-compete' clause that was enforced by means of a firing squad.
: The address only says Guiyang.
: I'm tired...
: We now know one of the surviving engineers lives in Guiyang.
: Thanks, Yun.
: I think you owe me a visit to the restaurant.
: Sure. My treat.
: Yeah!
: Huh? Hey, there's mail for Dennis.
: Thanks.
And now it's time for the plot development e-mail service...
: What's up?
: Kazuki... There's been a military coup in Japan.
: What? I never thought things like that could happen in Japan.
: What are you going to do?
: It doesn't matter to us. I need to rescue Alisa first.
: Yeah. I doubt it's anything serious.
: Let's get going.



Hopefully the bar, since we can't go anywhere else.
: Somewhere in this town, that's for sure.
: So we're missing the most important info!
: Too bad.
: Let's just gather more information here.
: Good idea.



: It's peaceful here, despite the chaos in Guangzhou. I heard the late vice-chairman's son is still alive. Did he really join the Hua Lian Rebels? Oh, I don't care. As long as I have my drink, I'm okay.
: People love to fight, don't they? I know our government is awful. But what's the point of a civil war? In the end, the unarmed civilians suffer. Doesn't anyone understand that? All I'm saying is... isn't there any other way?
: Hey, can I ask you something?
: Oh... Call me Randy, you cutie.
I...don't know what I'm supposed to make of this character.
: Er, okay... Randy. Have you noticed anything strange lately?
: Strange...
: Anything.
: Oh, take a look at that.
: They're coming to kill me!
: I know, I know.
: Go drink over there!
: Just another drunk.
: What about him?
: He's like this everyday. It's bad for business.
: He said something about being killed.
: That's what he always says. Being chased by the military, or something...
: By the military?
: He drinks until closing time and never pays! He makes me so angry!
And because of the damn socialist government, she has to keep giving him free drinks!
: What's his name?
: Denny or something.
: I'm going to talk to him.
: You're wasting your time! Leave him alone.
: Hey, Denny.
: What? Are you here to kill me, too?
: No. I wanted to talk to you.
: Then buy me a drink.
: Randy! Give him a brandy.
Kazuki strongly believes that brandy is making a big comeback as a drink of choice.
: For him?
: Please?
: Fine...
: Thanks. What do you wanna know?
: Do you know an engineer named Zhun Xi Liang?
: W-What!?
: He designed Tianlei in the military.
: My name's Denny. I don't know any engineers in the military.
: I thought you'd know Zhun Xi Liang.
: What are you getting at?
: I need to ask about Tianlei. Please.
: Are you guys from the military?
: We're mercenaries for the Hua Lian Rebels.
: The Hua Lian Rebels!? Do you plan on fighting that monster!?
: Yes. We're going to take Tianlei. We have to take Tianlei before we can get to Shanghai.
: You think that's possible?
: We want to avoid it if we can, but... This is the only way to Shanghai.
: ...Okay. So you really want to destroy Tianlei. That fortress...
: That's right.
: I'm Zhun Xi Liang. Let me say this, as the one who designed the Tianlei: It's not an easy target.
: I know. That's why we're here.
: ...Follow me. Bartender, here's your money.
: That's a first.
: He changed all of a sudden.



: So we need to attack from inside?
: Yeah. You need to know the infrastructure in exact detail.
: You'd know; you were the assistant manager.
: How do you know?
: We checked.
Yeah, it took us about five minutes to track down this guy, and those were all spent hacking the DHZ intelligence site, meaning that there's no real reason the DHZ government shouldn't have whacked Zhun by this point.
: I see. Unfortunately, security was very tight. Only a few people know of Tianlei's power core.
: And they're gone.
: Yeah. The old man, and all the others...
: The old man?
: The engineering manager. He was good to me. He was eagerly awaiting Mei Lin's and my wedding...
: Mei Lin is his daughter?
: Yeah. Tianlei was almost complete. The old man was in a rush when he told me.
: In a rush?
: He said he'd be killed upon Tianlei's completion. I wasn't about to leave by myself. But he insisted that someone should let the world know.
: You've been drinking yourself into a stupor instead.
: I was scared. I haven't even seen Mei Lin. If you're serious about destroying Tianlei, I'll help you. I have to get back at them somehow.
: But we don't know Tianlei's structure.
: The old man... He gave the access code to Mei Lin.
: Really!? She know the password!?
: Why would he tell her something so dangerous?
: That's if he told her directly.
: Are you saying Mei Lin doesn't know she has the password?
: That's right.
: Where is Mei Lin now?
: She lives in Kunming.
: Zhun, can you take us to Mei Lin?
: Okay. Give me time to get ready.
: Are you ready?
: Yeah.
: Shall we get going?



Well, we're in the shit now...



: What is it, Zhun?
: Look over there.
: There are those Wulong mercs. What're they doing?



Well, that certainly doesn't look promising.
: ...Zhun, stay back.
: Yeah, I'll do that.



: What about you? Are you trying to interfere with my business?
: Check it out, Hatari. You call that a wanzer?
: Are you mocking this methane wanzer!?
: I don't have to. It speaks for itself.
: I see you don't understand the greatness of this wanzer. Commoners are such pitiful beings.
In fairness, we really are...
: ...He's not with the Hua Lian.
: Instead of them, we ended up with a crazy.
: Who cares? Let's kill him. His life has no merit.
The translators have come a long way since Final Fantasy Tactics, but still aren't quite there yet.
: How rude! ...Mistaking me for some common gang. Whoever they are.
: Who do YOU think you are... calling us commoners!
: Hmph... I am the one and only... ...chairman-to-be of the Barilar Corp., Linny Barilar!
: Barilar Corp.!
: I guess you've heard of it.
: Nope, never heard of it.
: Commoners are so ignorant...
: Hatari, you're wasting time, let's hurry up and kill him.
: Calm down, you two. Didn't just Rudolf tell you to keep your cool?
Actually, seeing as our last confrontation with these three ended with Emilio blowing up Hatari and Greg's wanzers, that might be for the best.
: Hey, as long as we do our job, it doesn't matter!
: Hatari, quit your lecturing, or I might have to shut you up.
: Hopeless...
: You want to take on me!? You should know what my methane wanzer can do. I'm warning you.
Yeah, it's got the power of the a thousand exploding shits.
: Hey, he's getting his butt kicked...
: Do we just let them be?
: I doubt any good will come from associating with him.
: Ahhh! Don't you people know anything about mercy!?
: You're awfully weak for the amount of lip you give!
: No kidding. C'mon, give me some kind of challenge.
: ...We can't just leave him. Let's go help! You've done enough!
: Oh, you! Commoner! I order you to save me!
: You're really bossy, dude...



Kazuki, Yun, Dennis and Marcus get the call. The enemies are, aggravatingly enough, two APC grenade launchers, two legged grenade launchers piloted by Hatari and Greg, a few foot snipers and Emilio in his Whisk, which is now equipped with a missile launcher.



Still, I get a bit lucky. Kazuki combos one grenade launcher to death in the first action of the battle. Anyway, this isn't a complicated mission. Close range with the enemy quickly, or die. It's that simple.



Yun immobilizes the other grenade launcher, and the team now has a bit of breathing room to prepare themselves to deal with the other enemies.



Linny is technically an allied unit on this map, but is almost certainly going to be destroyed by the end of the first turn.
: Sorry, Daddy, I've failed again...



I send Dennis out to try and draw the enemy fire, since there's only one enemy on the map with arms that can be smashed, which means that he's not even theoretically useful.



Beautiful.



You can minimize the number of grenade hits your wanzers take, but you can't eliminate them.



Yun does what Yun does best.
: Damn it, I was gonna beat Rudolf's score this time![/i]



You see how much damage Dennis has taken? That's from one grenade hit. Fortunately, Hatari is the last grenade launcher left, so it's basically over.
: They're good...



Emilio is the last Wulong standing, but Dennis takes his missile arm...



And Yun takes everything else.
: Stay alive until I kill you...



Invictus. Yun gets MVP.



: That was unnecessary.
: What's your prob? We just saved you.
: Maybe it would've been better if we hadn't bothered.
Yeah...but, here we are...
: Uh...'scuse me...
: Hey, there's more!
: What!? More trouble!?



: Yes, we just love farming.
: But our bodies are just too old... He was demonstrating this wonderful wanzer...
: Hmph, exactly! This is a very cost effective wanzer, running on methane.
: ...Methane?
: Yes, methane.
: Then you mean it's...
: Runs on pure natural fertilizer! You'll always have fuel then!
: ...Enough, I've heard enough!
: By the way, what are you people doing here?
: It's none of your business.
No one wants Linny around.
: If you really need my help, I might be able to do something.
: ...Let's go guys.
: Yeah.
: W-Wait! I said wait!
: What? You still have something to say?
: I've worked day and night to do international business.
: Well, good for you.
: Oh, wait! Take me with you!
: Go away!
If only...

Next Time: Hacking! Mass Warfare! Oh, and I'll get that parts list up soon.