An Adult's Responsibility Chapter 14:

Chapter 14:

A snap from a large-calibre rifle sounded out, followed by tyres screeching and a crunch.

“Road has been blocked to the north, Fox 1. Van neutralised, several guards are exiting and making their way over.” Otogi’s voice came through her earpiece.

“Roger that, Fox 2, please deal with them.” She responded, grenade flying from her fingers and exploding as Kurumi used the distraction to rush the disoriented group.

“Got it.” Niko spoke, falling back into cover as she pulled out a screen from her pack, stowing away her rifle.

A buzzing sound followed, fading from hearing as Yukino followed Kurumi into the room, firing over the shorter girl’s head at the guards inside. Performing a quick scan, she confirmed all hostile guards were neutralised before she moved to the door across, taking up position beside it. Kurumi took the other side of the frame, nodding at her to confirm readiness.

An explosion sounded from outside, which was ignored by both of them as Yukino slammed the handle of the door down and threw it open, separating from the frame slightly to cover the corner of the next room while Kurumi moved through the door with her shield up. She didn’t see any movement, the room seeming to be a storeroom, which was confirmed by Kurumi a moment later.

“Clear!” The point man declared.

“Clear.” She confirmed, following through the door, rummaging through her own pack.

Pulling out a timed incendiary device, the attached the nearest box to her that contained explosive materials, the grenades jostling slightly in their braces as she made sure it was attached firmly, before she set the timer and tapped the shoulder of Kurumi, who had been covering for her.

They quickly left the room, exiting the building entirely as Niko fell into step beside them, quickly moving onto their next target.

“Fox 3, time?” Yukino asked as they left the compound behind the three warehouses it contained, destined to become smoking rubble soon.

“11:23.” Otogi called back instantly.

“Over ten minutes, we will review improvements when we RTB.” She clicked her tongue, disappointed, “Fox 2, lead us to the next target.”

“Roger that.” Niko spoke, throwing her pack into their ‘commandeered’ transport for this operation, the black-painted armoured transport perfect for blending in the rest of the Black Market Guards attempting to intercept them.

Yukino and Kurumi fell in to the back, stowing their equipment as the car started to move.

“Fox 3, are you still secure?” She spoke into her headset.

There was an amused huff in response, “Snug as a bug, Fox 1. No one has even glanced my way.”

“Be careful.” She chided, “Let me know the moment that changes.”

“Affirmative.” Was the airy response.

She sighed, but didn’t press. Otogi was the best for a reason, if she was sure that she was secure, then she was. Her annoyance was broken by Kurumi speaking up, not activating her headset as she did so.

“So… Takanashi Hoshino. Was that really her?” Yukino considered telling her to save it for later, but truthfully they had time enough for a quick discussion before they arrived at the next site.

“It was.” She responded, “Her appearance is an exact match, aside from the hair. It appears she hasn’t grown much over the years, physically at least.”

“I expected something different from her entry.” Kurumi hummed, “She seems to have lost her edge.”

“She would wipe the floor with us.” Niko spoke, eyes on the road, “You read what she did.”

“Yeah, but…” She frowned, “I don’t know, I just don’t get the vibe from her I was expecting to.”

“We should be glad that she has relaxed.” Yukino opined, her headset letting Otogi listen in.

The sniper added her two cents, “Yeah, those Abydos girls aren’t up to our level, but they are still a cut above the usual students. Fighting them would not be pretty.”

Yukino could agree with that. You could be put on the DNE list in one of two ways. Making powerful friends, or being powerful enough yourself that engaging you led to a significant chance of mission failure. Takanashi Hoshino was the second, the feat she preformed being enough that she was basically written off as a valid target even if she went rogue.

After all, how would you go about defeating someone who defeated an entire Major Academy single-handedly?

“I’m more worried about Sensei, if I’m honest.” Niko shifted the topic, causing Yukino’s eyes to narrow.

She trusted Niko’s intuition, if there was something that she noticed, it was a good idea to pay close attention to it.

“Why? What did you pick up?” She questioned the second of the squad.

Niko hummed, putting her thoughts in order before she answered, “He’s not a normal teacher. He beat Kurumi in close quarters, the plans for this operation were done to perfection, he gathered all the relevant intel. He’s had a lot of experience in military operations and planning. More than that, did you notice what he was wearing?”

“Hey!” Kurumi grumbled, “He caught me by surprise, that didn’t count! Also, he was wearing what he usually does right? What’s so odd about that?”

Niko nodded, ears bobbing with the motion, “Exactly, he wore his usual fully covering suit, despite the meeting taking place in a desert. That’s odd, usually you would want to dress lighter, right?”

“What are you saying?” Yukino questioned, not seeing the conclusion Niko was getting at.

“Nothing yet, it’s just some strange feeling I’ve got. He’s a lot more than he wants us to think.” Was the response, “It’s not a bad feeling, just an odd one.”

“Well-” her words were cut off by Otogi piping up through her comms.

“Leader, we have an issue.”

Yukino immediately snapped into business, “Fox 3, report.”

“The warehouse just went up in smoke that you guys hit, but none of the Guard units are responding. Every single one of them seems to have dropped what they are doing and are converging on one location.” The sniper relayed.

Yukino grimaced, guessing immediately where they were headed, “The Bank.”

---RERERE---

“Task Force.” The clipped tone of Yukino sounded throughout my earpiece, “You have incoming.”

“How much?” I questioned, nodding in satisfaction as the download bar displayed on the Chest finished, Arona giving me a beaming thumbs up.

“All of them. The guards are ignoring out actions and retreating from Valkyrie, heading towards the bank.” That answer caused me to pause, not at all expecting such a response.

“All of them?” I questioned.

“Yes. All units not currently engaged are moving towards the building, the first group just arrived.” Otogi was the one to answer, as over-watch she would have eyes on the situation.

“Then there is definitely something here that they don’t want getting out.” I mused, before communicating back, “Roger that FOX, thanks for the heads up.”

“We will attack the nearest convoy from the rear, try to give you some time to escape.” Yukino offered.

I thought for a second, closing my eyes as I imagined the floor-plan of the building I was currently in and the surrounding structures before I shook my head, “Negative FOX, that would make it too obvious that these attacks were coordinated. Can you set up your transport at the intersection of 5th and 6th?”

“Sens- Task Force! That’s three blocks away! There’s no way you can fight your way there through this number!” Yukino exclaimed.

“FOX 1, I have a plan. Please, trust me.” I answered back, hearing silence on the other end of the line.

Eventually, a more calm sounding Yukino responded, “5th and 6th. We will be there. But if we don’t hear from you, I’m going to order my squad to engage, no matter how it looks.”

“I would expect nothing less.” I spoke, zipping up my bag that was bursting with documents and disconnecting the Chest from where it had been plugged into a server.

Moving swiftly, I made my way back to the Atrium, stepping over incapacitated office workers as I did. There were only a few of them, luckily they had spread out enough that I could surprise them one by one and take them out. As I neared the front of the bank, I could hear the sound of gunfire and explosions, the familiar din of Kivotos combat filtering in through the hallway. The sounds petered out as I neared the staff entrance and I saw the reason why as I creaked open the door.

The guards had set up a cordon just past the door of the bank, all pointed towards the teller desks, behind which the FTF were taking cover. With the positions of the two groups, the FTF had a sightline to the door I was looking out of whereas the guards had to turn to be able to see me. One of the Androids, wearing fancier clothes than usual stepped forwards, addressing the pinned down Abydos girls.

“I must admit, you picked a good time to strike. You almost got away with it too. But it’s over, Give up and tell us who your accomplices were. Don’t make this harder on yourselves.” He growled out.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes at the amateur speech. If I didn’t already know, that more than anything would tip me off to the Guards being run by a corporation rather than a criminal syndicate.

A syndicate wouldn’t care who you’re working with, they would make an unmistakeable example out of you, with such brutality that whoever it was wouldn’t dare try again. A corporation, on the other hand, had competitors that they needed to keep a watch out for, where any bit of information could be invaluable in the struggle between them.

So, that just confirmed that Kaiser was bankrolling this whole operation.

Hoshino stood up to respond, allowing me to seize the chance, sticking my arm out of the door and waving to catch her attention. I made a hand gesture, allowing her to see the cylinder in my grasp. At the same time, I started to whisper into my comm.

Her eyes flicked over to me, before she took in a deep breath.

---RERERE---

“Well now, this is quite the situation, isn’t it, Red-chan?” Nonomi chirped, causing the catgirl to groan.

“Why do I keep letting you people keep talking me into these things?” She griped, reloading her gun in a lull of the fighting.

“Oh no, oh dear.” Hifumi, the sweet little thing from Trinity, was holding her knees and rocking back and forth slightly from behind the desk, “I’m going to get arrested, my school life is over!”

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” Hoshino quipped, watching as a well-dressed mook walked in front of the others, the gunfire petering out as he raised his hands, “You can always apply to Abydos. We will accept you, no problem.”

“That’s a big problem!” Came the angry retort, but the conversation was paused by the mook-in-chief beginning to speak.

“I must admit, you picked a good time to strike. You almost got away with it too. But it’s over, Give up and tell us who your accomplices were. Don’t make this harder on yourselves.” He growled out.

She stood to respond, before movement caught her eye. An employees-only door, cracked open, with a hand sticking out of it and waving. She could see clutched in the hand was a grenade, before it made a gesture indicating that they should come towards the door.

She instantly got the message, but hesitated. The bank doors were just behind this group, if they could burst past them, they could escape into the streets. The door that Sensei was trying to get them to go through, to her knowledge, had no way out of the building.

“Hoshino-senpai.” Ayane’s voice came through her ear piece, “Sensei told me to attack with the missile drone on his signal. You are going to get your chance to escape.”

She made her choice.

“Follow me.” She muttered to the others, who all immediately became serious and nodded in response, even if Hifumi’s was more shaky.

Turning towards the leader of the guards, she smiled and struck a confident pose, “HAHAHA! You think this wasn’t in the plans of our leader, Faust?! You acted exactly as she thought you would! You fools!”

Hifumi squeaked at that, but the Guards reactions were more tense.

“You can’t honestly expect-” His words were cut off when a metal rod slammed at his feet, exploding brightly into thick smoke.

At the same time, gun shots sounded out, another explosion adding more smoke into the chaotic situation. There was the sound of shattering glass and another explosion, followed by several others outside.

Hoshino and the FTF didn’t waste the opportunity, holding hands to not lose each other, they ran through the confusion, their pink haired leader at the front. None of them could see where they were going, until suddenly a soft click sounded behind them and the smoke in the hallway settled.

“I hope you have a plan.” Hoshino bit out, immediately regretting her choice.

“Always.” Albrecht-sensei spoke, before bringing a finger to his lips before any of them could speak.

“What the- after them you fools! They ran out the window! Get them!” They heard the muffled sound of the leader of the guards shouting.

“Come on, we need to be quick, before they think to search the building.” He grinned, eyes twinkling mischief.

“Thank you for the help, Sensei.” Shiroko spoke, falling in behind him as he started to lead them through the halls.

“Don’t worry about it, Shiroko.” He responded, voice easy.

Hoshino could see, however, the tension in his shoulders. He was not nearly as confident as he was projecting.

“What is the plan, how are we getting out of here?” She pressed, stepping to his other side, wanting answers.

“There is maintenance passages that we can get into from here.” He responded, leading them towards another heavy door, “They lead up to the roof. From there, we can jump across until we reach a building with a fire escape and get to street level from there.”

“How will we get out of the Market district? If we go on foot they will catch up to us for sure.” She pressed further, not satisfied.

“The other team obtained a Guards Transport, It will be waiting for us.” Was the answer.

She wasn’t as certain as him, but she held her tongue. She didn’t even know what possessed her to follow him instead of busting out of the bank, but she would reserve any judgement until and when his plan failed.

---RERERE---

“Sensei.” The warm voice of Niko greeted be as I opened the passenger door, “Glad you could make it.”

“Thanks for waiting for us.” I responded, breathing out a sigh of relief.

The old adage held true, even here in Kivotos. Information was power. When your plans inevitably went up in smoke, it’s the quality of your intel that determined how well you could recover. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the seat, letting out a sigh.

I was just glad that all the girls followed my instructions, and that the buildings were close enough together for Ayane to guide us along the best path to get to this van.

The sound of a zip caused me to open my eyes, to be greeted by the sight of Niko looking down at the documents that filled my duffel, whistling to herself.

“Damn, that looks like a lot of work.” She remarked, before doing the zip up again, “Let me know if you need help sorting through it.”

“Will do.” I grinned, thankful for the offer.

“Who’s this?” Yukino’s voice caused me to look at the back of the transport, seeing that she was looking at Hifumi.

“This? This is the greatest criminal mastermind of Kivotos, the dreaded Faust!” Hoshino responded, causing the other Abydos girls to laugh softly and the Trinity student to blush deeply.

“Cut that out! If anyone finds out about this, I will be in so much trouble…” She fretted, before Shiroko softly bumped their shoulders together.

“You had fun.” The wolf girl remarked.

Hifumi paused, before slumping into her seat, “Yeah, I did.”

“She’s a student from Trinity who was about to be kidnapped that we saved.” I answered Yukino’s question.

She tilted her head, confused, before seeming to realise why she had been brought along, “Ah, I see. They have the wrong number of suspects, so the FTF won’t be immediately fingered as the ones behind the heist.”

The girl in question fidgeted, “Well, I’m glad I was able to help. But why were you guys robbing a bank like that anyway?”

The FTF looked at each other and the members of Fox squad in response to that, as Niko started the transport to go fetch Otogi.

“You don’t have to-” I was cut off by Nonomi.

“It’s because of our debt. We found out that the interest payments were going towards this bank and we wanted to figure out what was going on.” The others nodded, causing Hifumi to cover her mouth.

“Oh no, that’s terrible! I’m glad you were able to get the money back!” She responded. Causing Yukino and Kurumi to snap their heads over the bags being carried still by Shiroko.

“About that…” Yukino cleared her throat, only to pause. seemingly unable to decide how to continue.

I rescued her, addressing Hoshino directly, “What are you going to do with the money you obtained in the heist? It’s enough for you to pay down quite a bit of the debt.”

Her mismatched eyes stared into my own, resolve filling them as the other FTF girls realised just how much they managed to grab.

Before any of them could speak, she answered decisively, “We are not going to be keeping it.”

“What?!” Serika yelled out, “Why not?!”

“Because doing it this way would be wrong. Sure, it fixes our problem right now, but what about the next time we need to pay down the debt? If we took the easy way out this time, we would do it again.” Was her answer, “It’s the duty of a senior like me to ensure that you girls don’t go down a bad path, so no matter how much you might hate me for it…”

“She’s right.” Shiroko, surprisingly, backed her up, “Doing it this way would be wrong.”

“But…” Serika wrung her hands before she threw them up, “Fine! You’re right.”

Nonomi giggled, “Don’t be so down, Serika-chan. We will figure something out.”

“I’m glad I don’t have to attempt to confiscate your gains from you.” Yukino slumped in the chair, seemingly very relieved about that fact, “But what are you going to do about the money in that case?”

Shiroko simply tilted her head, before opening the back door of the transport and throwing her bags out of them, closing them afterwards.

“There, done.” She smugly replied.

There was a beat of silence in the cabin as we all stared at her, before a snort from Kurumi broke it, the entire car filling up with laughter.