The Red Hand

Chapter 21 – The First Law of Nuclear Weapons.

General Iseyama stood inside his command center at a complete loss for words. In all his years, he never imagined that he would be so completely and utterly defeated. Akagi's secondary team had broken into his ops center and swiftly killed his guards. At present, only five members of his staff, including him, survived Chloe's assault on the command center. The red-haired cat and her team made short work of anyone that didn't immediately lay down their arms and the General ordered his remaining officers to surrender, seeing little point in them dying for no reason.

Although the General told his officers in the command room to surrender, he refused to issue a stand down order base wide. As a result, fighting continued throughout Camp Katsura. Whether this refusal was because he genuinely believed he could still win or because he was too stubborn was open to interpretation.

"Come now General, just tell your men to stand down. Every second you wait means more of them die needlessly nya.” Chloe said while sitting on one of the desks. “It would a pity for such good soldiers died for an old man's pride.” Chloe's glare showed she was not amused.

"Surrender is not something a proud General of the JSDF should ever contemplate, but you might be right." the old General said, taking a seat. "I shouldn't allow more of Japan's finest to go the reaper for no reason." his eyes were filled with scorn. His command staff was bound in the corner of the room while Chloe's team began removing the bodies to reduce the distraction. Chloe had already made that mistake once today and wasn't keen on a repeat.

"Tell me. How were you able to overrun this base so easily? I know you have strange abilities, but with so few of you and our technological edge, this overwhelming defeat just doesn't make sense." he asked.

"Hmmm. Maybe it's because we have experience in doing things like this? Or maybe it's because you lack it?" she said putting her finger on her lip. "From what I've seen, your men lacked experience in ambush situations and your reliance on technology meant that, when it failed, your soldiers were disoriented. Combine that with your lack of information about my team and our abilities and it wasn't really surprising that we manage to overwhelm you, even with our low numbers nya," she explained.

In FWO, Akagi used Chloe and her team to great effect when infiltrating Imperial positions. Her clan was tailor-made for stealth operations and fast hits and runs. While military tech in this world was far better than in the game, it didn't matter if the soldiers couldn't use it effectively against them. Her team prioritized speed and maneuverability and rarely gave Iseyama's soldiers a moment to collect themselves. The general chaos and confusion also helped to ensure that the defenders were caught flat-footed; plus Akagi herself attracted a lot of attention.

"I see," he responded. "So what you are telling me is that we picked a fight with an enemy that was a complete antithesis of our standard doctrine." he closed his eyes for a moment. "Your right, my men's training was inadequate to defeat an enemy who used such tactics. Our focus is more on fighting other militaries, not insurgents. On top of that, I never even considered that she had a special operations team like you, and we paid the price for it." he cursed his incompetence.

"Yup! Yup!" Chloe gave a toothy smile.

The room remained silent for the next few minutes. Iseyama's staff was quite nervous about what would happen to them and were too afraid to speak. Most presumed they were all about to die or that they would be used as hostages. Eventually, the main door to the ops center opened revealing Akagi and Yumi.

"Myaster! You're here!" the cat-girl ran up to Akagi and dove at her.

Akagi caught her and began to pet her head softly and play with her ears, which caused the cat-girl to purr.

"I am." Akagi smiled. "Good work; to you and all of your team. You did a fantastic job; I couldn't be prouder."

"Heeee." Chloe could only grin at the praise.

"Now then." She said, looking at General Iseyama. "I think we can discuss the terms of your surrender, general."

Akagi, Chloe, and Yumi walked to his desk. Iseyama was a beaten man, but his eyes still gave the impression that he had some fight left in him.

"Surrender?" he scoffed. "That's a word I never wanted to hear, especially coming from a monster like you."

Akagi slammed her hand on his desk. "Would you prefer I just kill everyone left in the base? Because I could do that and it would be so much easier than negotiating with you." her eyes gave off a dangerous glint.

{Go ahead. Make my day.} that was what her eyes told him.

He raised his hand. "No, that won't be necessary. Enough blood has been spilled, and I think you've proven your point." He looked Akagi straight in the eye. "But. Don't assume you've won, monster. You may have tasted victory today, but what about next time? Or the time after that?" he smirked.

"The government won't take an attack like this lying down, and the general public will be horrified by your actions." Iseyama said with a smug expression. “All those soldier's you killed had friends, family and loved ones. Once they learn what you did, they'll call for vengeance.” he seemed quite sure of himself.

"Can you honestly tell me you can win against such force? We have far more manpower and resources than you; and much, much more potent weapons." He stood up. "It's only a matter of time until we deal with you and the others." he was practically taunting her.

"Pffffffffff." Akagi began to laugh. She was so loud that she startled everyone else in the room.

"Did I say something funny? Or have you just lost your mind?" Iseyama asked annoyed at her laughter.

"No, No general I haven't lost my mind, though I must admit what you said was comedic," Akagi said while still laughing. “If the Japanese government still wants to continue this farce after today, I will happily oblige." She said with a smile. "But I hope they understand that, if they do, I won't be pulling my punches anymore." her expression turned dark.

Akagi turned around and walked over to the holographic display at the center of the room. Taking a moment, she waved her hand through the image currently projected and said. "Display Fort Usamigami-no-Yama, coordinates 43.52598794298706, 142.87766732064856. Authorization code 2-Delta-6-Charlie-8-Whiskey-4-Omega, 487647."

Upon hearing that name and code, General Iseyama sprung up from his chair. "How do you know about that facility!" he screamed. “That's a national secret!”

Chloe and Yumi were quick to react, pointing their weapons at him. They didn't think he could actually do much himself, but they weren't taking any chances.

"General, tell me, what do you think the rest of the world would do if they found out the Japanese government had developed its own secret nuclear arsenal?" she turned around and placed her hand on her cheek. "And what do you think they would do if they found out that you had allowed said arsenal to fall into the hands of a rogue actor?" her smile sent chills up his spine.

While it was common knowledge that Japan hosted U.S. Nuclear weapons on its soil, having its own would be a violation of international law and would not be tolerated by the international community. With the Second World War having faded out of living memory, there was minimal opposition to Japan re-militarizing for the first time in over ninety years. However, there is no way the major nations would condone the independent development of nuclear weapons by the Japanese government. If Akagi were to leak this information, the consequences would be devastating for the country. Though one has to ask if the Americans, in particular, didn't already know.

"No, no, that's impossible! If anything had happened at Fort Yama, the military would have known!" he broke into a cold sweat. "You might know of its existence, but there is no way you could be in control of the weapons themselves! Even I don't have the authorization to launch them!" he was sure that she couldn't access the warheads, but for some reason, he couldn't shake this fear.

"Oh? Is that so? Then should I launch one to prove it? Sapporo is quite close and has a large enough population; it would make an excellent test of the weapons. We can see how Japan's nukes compare to America's." Akagi began to walk back toward Iseyama's desk. “Though unlike Hiroshima or Nagasaki, I doubt there will be anything left of Sapporo to study.”

{She, she must be bluffing! There has been no abnormal activity from Fort Yama, nothing! If anyone even got close to Mt. Tomuraushi we would know.} General Iseyama was having a hard time believing her claim.

"Tell me how you managed to gain control of Japan's top-secret nuclear facility without alerting anyone and how you obtained the launch codes. Do that and I just might believe you," he said, still believing it to be a bluff.

"Easy." She responded. "One of my subordinate's primary ability is to hypnotize/brainwash people. The hard part was sneaking her in. After that, it was simply matter of making each person on base loyal to her with her pheromones." Akagi said with a shrug. "Quite nice to have a dryad that can control people with chemicals on your team; isn't it?" Akagi cracked a smile.

Akagi had broken her active subordinates into three teams. Team Chloe was on intel gathering in Kyoto. Team two, under Marshal, was tasked with preparations for the assassination of the Mitsuhide family. Team three, led by Yumi, was tasked with government infiltration on a national scale. Akagi was hoping to pull some of the nation's top brass into her sphere of influence, either with Kurosawa's pheromone ability or fear. She figured it might prove useful in keeping the government off her back.

However, during her investigation Yumi stumbled upon evidence of a covert Japanese nuclear program. When Akagi was informed of this possibility, she dedicated all of team three's efforts to secure it for herself. It was a long shot, but it proved successful and she was able to swiftly bring the entire base under her control without alerting anyone. Of course, taking control of the base came at the expense of more intel from within the Japanese government as she couldn't split her resources any further. To Akagi, this trade-off was worth it. After all, what better way to keep governments off your back than by threatening them with nuclear annihilation? At a bare minimum, she could force the Japanese government to play ball by threatening to reveal this information to the intentional community.

General Iseyama was left speechless. While he couldn't be completely certain about her claims, something in the back of his mind told him she wasn't lying.

{That's absurd!} General Iseyama shuddered. {If she can take control of a covert nuclear facility, couldn't she take control of the entire government? Is it possible she already has?}

What the General did not know; was that the brainwashing ability was rather limited. Only a few people could only reliably controlled at a time, and the ability required close proximity of the target. Additionally, it also required reapplication of the pheromones regularly to maintain the effect and those that had strong enough willpower could resist it. Using it to control a country, or other players, was not an option. The only reason Akagi had managed to take control of Fort Usamigami-no-Yama was because it was mostly automated with minimal human staff.

But in Iseyama's mind, Akagi could brainwash the entire government, and what he believed was more important than reality. As for the launch codes, whether she had them or not was unknown, but with such an ability, he couldn't take that chance.

"Now then." She looked at the General. "What will it be? Will you come quietly and do as I say, or do I have to escalate the situation even further?" Akagi was in complete command of the situation. If the General refused, she would either reveal the program to other nations or launch one of the warheads at a Japanese city, if she actually had the codes. Even if she didn't, the fact that she could reveal the program left General Iseyama with only one option.

The old General stood up from his chair, performed a bow; and said. "I surrender."

Akagi smiled when she heard those words. “Good. Now first, issue a base wide stand down order to your men.” she turned around. “Chloe, once he does that have Yumi tell your clans to stand down as well.” Receiving their orders, the two headed out of the ops center to begin the wind down of operations.

A few moments later General Iseyama pulled up a holographic screen from his desk and began to enter authorization codes.

“Attention.” his voice could be heard on the PA system. “This is General Ren Iseyama. The position for the JSDF in Camp Katsura has become untenable. Furthermore, my position has been compromised and I have been captured by the enemy Commander. In consultation with her, I have decided to surrender rather than needlessly sacrifice the soldiers under my command. All soldiers within Camp Katsura should lay down their arms and surrender to the invading forces as soon as possible. My soldiers, please forgive my incompetence and may the Emperor forgive me for my failure.” he disconnected. “There it is done.” he looked at her.

“Now on to the next step.” She walked around to the side of his desk. “Someone like you ought to have a direct line to the Prime Minister right?” she looked at him.

“Yes, I can contact him. In fact he is likely waiting for a report at this very moment.” He bit his lip. “If you wish to speak with him, then we can do so in my office, I have a secure line there.” Akagi followed the older man upstairs and into his office.

From here, you could see the scale of destruction, Camp Katsura was engulfed in flames and soldiers could be seen running around frantically. The General walked up to his desk and pressed a button hidden in one of its drawers. When he did so, the lights in the room dimmed,  the window shutter began to close and a large monitor appeared from the wall. A few moments later he typed on a keyboard, and the image of the Prime Minister appeared on screen. He seemed nervous with sweat visible on his forehead.

“General Iseyama!” he exclaimed. “Would you care to tell me what is going on at Camp Katsura! My office is being bombarded with media requests for information, from what I've been shown it looks like the base has been devastated!” He was at his wits end.

“Mr. Prime Minister.” He bowed. “I regret to inform you that we have lost, and I have been forced to surrender Camp Katsura to Ms. Akagi and her forces.” as he says this, the Prime Minister's eyes shift towards Akagi. It seems in his haste he hadn't noticed her standing there.

“Thank you General Iseyama. I'll take it from here.” With one swift motion, she drew her Katana and cut the old General down. “I hope he didn't think he was getting out of here alive after all he's done.” her eyes showed contempt for the now dead man.

After swinging her blade to remove the blood on it, she looked up at the terrified visage of the Prime Minister. “Now then, Mr. Prime Minister, I believe we have much to discuss.” her words sent chills down the man's spine.

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<News Helicopter POV>

"We're here live over Camp Katsura in Kyoto. Large-scale explosions and gunfire were heard coming from inside mere moments ago. Nearby civilians reported that unknown forces staged an attack on the JSDF garrison." the reporter was speaking into a small floating screen.

"As you can see, the east wall has a massive hole in it, and it appears that the main gate was split in two." she continued. "At this point, we cannot say for certain what is going on, and the government has not replied to our request for a statement."

The helicopter began to circle the burning base.

"For now, we only have this one image of the suspected attackers." the news reporter used her screen to put up an image of Akagi and Yumi standing on top of the collapsed gate.

"We can't say who these two women are; or why they may have attacked the base. However, regardless of why, it's clear that the JSDF was caught completely off guard." she pans the camera around to show the base.

Much of the base is on fire. Several buildings have collapsed, and there are what look like bodies littered throughout the base.

"This is truly a tragic affair. Who attacked the base? Why? And does this have anything to do with the returnees from FWO? Stay tuned to find out." she says, cutting the news feed as requested by her director.

"Kirika." the other reporter called out to her.

"What?" (Kirika)

"Am I crazy, or does the blood scattered throughout the courtyard look like some kind of symbol?" (male reporter)

"What are you talking about?" Kirika looked out the window of the helicopter and focused on the red pattern. Not seeing anything, she told the helicopter pilot to gain altitude and swing around the base from a different angle.

As the pilot changed his position relative to the base, it became clear that the blood was shaped into a pattern. A handprint. A giant red handprint made of blood was in the middle of the main courtyard of Camp Katsura.

"It's-It's a red hand? she says shocked. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but I can't imagine it's a good sign." the male reporter replied.

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