Chapter 91: The Siege of Jeju Naval Base (４)

****

Ugh, dizzy. I barely held back the rising nausea. I don’t normally get seasick, but this was crossing a line. Like riding a roller coaster for six straight hours.

The hovercraft had no canopy, so the wind and rain hammered my helmet without mercy. I gritted my teeth. I’d ridden helicopters, done rappelling, but I’d never been on a more miserable mode of transport.

Still, it was fast, I’d give it that.

Speed-wise, it was nearly aircraft-level.

“How do we board?”

“I’ll raise a wave with magic and lift the two of you onto the deck. After that, you’re on your own.”

I nodded.

“Then—”

Autocannon fire streaked toward the hovercraft, the typhoon howled, and thunder crashed overhead. A total clusterfuck, literally.

Dr. Chae began her incantation from her seat.

“Great Dagon, I have clearly witnessed the magnitude of Your power. Lend this humble servant dominion over the waters, if only for a moment, that I may achieve my goal.”

The sea folded.

The tiny hovercraft rode a colossal wave straight toward the warship. The enemy soldiers who spotted the wave and grasped the situation abandoned their positions and began retreating into the hull—

The wave crashed over the warship, and everything on the deck returned to the sea.

The hovercraft lay smashed against a Phalanx mount. I stepped onto Admiral Hourani’s destroyer alongside Nanami.

The destroyer listed. Judging by how much lower the deck sat, a considerable amount of water had flooded into the ship from that wave.

“Attention, Foundation personnel! Surrender your weapons and you will be spared!”

My voice rang across the ship. The sky, the waves, the gunfire—was it my imagination that everything went still, if only for a moment?

Clang. The destroyer’s Phalanx cannon fell onto the deck, sheared in half. No one answered. Perhaps they’d all dropped their weapons and surrendered.

“To the bridge, Dr. Geum.”

****

The bridge.

There was probably some kind of panic room aboard the destroyer, but the enemy officers likely hadn’t had time to run. I led with my gun, Nanami with her blade, as we entered the bridge.

“Which of you is Admiral Hourani?”

An old man in a Foundation Navy uniform rose from his seat. I narrowed my eyes.

“You must have questions, Blue Rose-13. I didn’t expect things to come to this, but from now on—”

BANG!

The brains of the enemy commander who’d tried to kill me splattered across the bridge like a water balloon bursting. As if red paint had been sprayed from a nozzle.

I looked around the bridge.

“Who’s next in the chain of command?”

“I’m the captain. Even if it kills me, I won’t cooperate with terrorists like you—”

BANG!

Another head burst.

Adrenaline was flooding every blood vessel from head to toe. Patience was biochemically impossible right now.

“Next. You. Are you the executive officer?”

This time, the executive officer rose from his seat.

“No, wait. Tell us what you want.”

“It’s not a demand, it’s an order. I’m a Director of the Foundation, and I’m the highest-ranking employee on this site.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Raise the antenna and turn back to port.”

****

I re-established contact with Foundation HQ via Aide An. Surely they’d do something this time.

“Is this Foundation HQ? Admiral Hourani, who ordered my assassination, is dead. This is the Foundation destroyer *Bluefin*, returning to Jeju Island.”

[Facts confirmed. Overseer 8 is en route to Jeju Island with Task Force Nine-Tails. Arrival in approximately 3 minutes.]

“Three minutes?”

What the hell was that supposed to mean…

****

A black rectangle appeared at the rear of the bridge, and a man in a black suit stepped out through the door.

Hair slicked back, black as coal. A face as pale as his shirt, impossible to age. He stood a full head taller than me.

“Why’d I say three minutes? The coffee’s already done.”

Overseer 8. Justitia.

“Hey, who’s listening out there? Why’s the weather so shitty today? Turn off the typhoon.”

And then…

Like a lie, the wind and rain died down, and the lightning that had been popping off like camera flashes began to taper off. Everyone on the bridge held their breath.

The Overseer’s shark eyes fixed on me.

“Well, well… So you’re the one who’s been tearing shit up all day? Dr. Geum and that hunting dog of yours?”

“That’s correct.”

Nanami looked displeased, but.

“Dr. Geum. I’ve got something to say. You’ve met Petraeus, right? That short Overseer.”

He wasn’t short, he was a cat. Though calling a cat tall would be ridiculous too. I nodded for now.

“That bastard’s an idiot. I’m not that spineless, so don’t go judging the rest of the Overseers by Petraeus’s standards.”

“Yes.”

“How much of a mess did you make, Dr. Geum? Are you going to kill everything in sight every time you get pissed off? You should’ve shown some restraint.”

I nodded.

I contacted HQ as fast as I could, but they blew me off, didn’t they? Told me to handle it myself. So I handled it myself.

Justitia snapped his fingers, and the members of Task Force Nine-Tails took control of the ship. Guns I’d never seen before. They looked somewhat similar to the one I was holding now.

“This is the only time I’m cleaning up after you, Dr. Geum. You know how much Directors and generals at the Foundation act up on a normal day. I can’t have an Overseer personally intervening every single time.”

“Understood.”

I couldn’t tell whether he actually meant that or if it was just some twisted joke.

“Have the ship dock at port on its own. I’m heading back to the naval base. Ah, Dr. Geum and her party, follow me. There’s cleanup to do.”

A black rectangle appeared in front of Justitia again. We stepped through the black door and came out outside the naval base.

****

Nine-Tails members swept through the facility. Foundation personnel set down their weapons.

“That’s the cleanup. The staff at this naval base — the vast majority will be reassigned. There’s also a chance today’s events will be erased from memory.”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Geum. Are you starting to get a sense of it now? What the Foundation really is? The enemy isn’t only on the outside. The most troublesome and powerful enemies are inside the Foundation.”

“I suppose so.”

“And they are the ones who pose the most serious threat to the world’s safety. Unlike the Groups of Interest, who aren’t even worth a bug, or the mindless anomalies.”

Justitia let out a sigh.

“Nine-Tails is the Foundation’s elite. The Foundation’s internal control force. Task Force Nine-Tails is deployed in the event of a rebellion or a serious containment breach.”

“…”

“We’re busier than you can imagine. The Foundation is walking on thin ice, and the only thing holding order together is a few pairs of chopsticks.”

****

[Overseer Council Meeting Minutes]

[Filed by: Overseer 1]

[Attendees:]

[Overseer 1, Veritas.]

[Overseer 8, Justitia.]

[Overseer 9, Petraeus.]

[Admiral Hourani attempted to kill the Director of the Seoul Branch, and the entire facility got turned upside down.]

[The pinnacle of incompetence. Even if Jesus himself had come storming in, you should be able to subdue or stop a single humanoid. Good riddance.]

[Honestly, disappointing. All the Blue Rose instances deployed in the field are dead too.]

[Don’t you see it now? Yulje-myeon is a kind of solitude. You cram poisonous insects into a single jar and make them devour each other, to select the most venomous one.]

[So what?]

[So. This is what I’m getting at. After killing every other monster, every other poisonous insect, who is the monster that crawled out of Yulje-myeon’s fog alive?]

[Blue Rose-13.]

[Dr. Geum.]

[That’s a joke, Petraeus. You came out of Yulje-myeon after fighting and that’s the conclusion you reached?]

[It is.]

[Nine-Tails’ personnel count needs to be expanded to triple digits. No… the Foundation has never had this many containment failures, and never this many insurrections.]

[What did Hourani want?]

[Recovery of Blue Rose-13. Neutralize obviously failed, and Blue Rose-13 single-handedly smashed the naval base and subdued a destroyer.]

[Justitia. Anything to say?]

[…]

[I respect Dr. Geum’s power and ability. This incident was a bit over the line, but in the end it was triggered by an assassination attempt on Dr. Geum.]

****

[Nine-Tails Operation Report]

[Filed by: Team Leader]

[We have subdued the Foundation’s Jeju naval base.]

[Among key personnel, Dr. Chloe was found neutralized, and Admiral Hourani’s adjutant sustained injuries that effectively destroyed one arm.]

[Also. Ms. Nanami appears to have been slashing around at everything in sight. The entire area was completely torn to shreds.]

[In total, casualties from this incident are estimated at around 100.]

[If I may offer an impression… it is rather puzzling. The base personnel at Jeju surely weren’t unfamiliar with killing superhumans, and they must have had plans in place. What’s the reason for this outcome?]

[Also… Blue Rose-0 appears to have awakened from its sleep. Whether it’s because of the typhoon, or whether Blue Rose-0 is stirring up the typhoon itself, cannot be confirmed.]