Chapter Forty-Seven: The Move

  The crew starts to make a plan on where to move first and how. As they all met together to discuss this, with the exception of Robin still in bed to recover as well as Athena, Loki and Thor joining the discussion, Holly started to adjust everyone's cellphones. She took the phones apart with a tiny kit of tools that they had to in HQ. With that, she started removing chips from their phones and replacing them with new ones. That way, Jacob McNamara couldn't track them, but Holly could still track everyone with the new chips. "Where do we go first?" Tanya asks.

  "Which group is in more immediate danger?" Benjie asks.

  "Good question" Blake says. "We'd have to first find out how they'd hunt them down."

  "One of America's strongest points of military" Siran adds, "is their Navy. Traveling by water would be a solid bet, seeing as how they can transport their vehicles via ship. If they were to mobilize a full on attack against us, that'd definitely be the most intimidating way to do it."

  "Assuming you're right" Holly asks, "wouldn't their closest target be Germany then?"

  "Right" Siran says. "But we should also consider the efficiency of traveling between the areas like that. Between The United States and the Middle East, it's almost impractical to launch a full scale invasion by boat. There's too much landmass between the two. Even if they could get across entirely on sea through the Mediterranean Sea or by going around Africa entirely, they'd still stir up unnecessary trouble with the countries they pass by."

  "Yeah" Holly agrees. "With everyone being on edge and the world being on the verge of another World War, stirring up trouble like that would be a good way to put a target on your back."

  "So, that means Finn's group in Egypt is likely the safest?" Ali asks.

  "Maybe not" Tanya adds. "Each country our group split up to are each in their own conflict. Based on the scale of the war alone, not counting the threat of America, Alex's group in Germany is the safest. As well as they're surrounded by countries wanting to avoid conflict as much as possible. Driving a ship through there too would be suicide. The Swedish and Norwegians would be quick to the trigger. Germany has been amassing specifically against the British Secret Service rather than a full scale war. With that in mind, they are getting help from Ireland, plus they're the only country that; from what I know; are not being skewered by being attacked by every country around them."

  "Which means that Mikoto's group in Japan is in the most danger then." Siran says. "Taking a ship from America to Japan would be lengthy, no doubt. But there isn't anything in the way that would slow them down. As well as they're being attack by two military super powers at once. It'd be safe to say their supplies are likely cut off and they're being pinched in from every side of the country right about now."

  "But hold on" Benjie says. "Not only that, but we have to consider the danger our crew is in specifically, not the overall status of the country if we're to make this as efficient as possible. Germany isn't supposed to have a military, but they amassed one anyways in this conflict. With that, they also have other countries backing them up, much to my surprise. Their battle is also in a small scale, so Alex's group has the most protection. There'd have to be hell in there before someone could cut through their military to reach our crew. Meanwhile in Japan, sure the battle is large, but Britain also has to deal with Germany. Likely, almost all; if not all; of the fighting is from China and their forces. But, even if the battle is bad there, Japan's ability to fight back is still largely known to be efficient and strong. Historically speaking, they've already bested China several times. I think it would take a little more than just that to get to Mikoto's group. Especially since they have Haru with them. A special forces member within our crew is with them now. I'm sure they're in good hands. But in Egypt, there's a battle between most of the Middle-Eastern countries as we speak, and most of them have their guns pointed at Israel. Israel, on the other hand is dragging Egypt into the conflict! Egypt doesn't have a military! They have improvised militia made of groups of rebels and civilians! To say in the least, Finn's group has the least amount of protection."

  "That's a good point" Holly adds. "But, that brings me to another one of my worries. I haven't had any word from any of our crew for a little over a month now. So far, all that I know is what I've told you already. With that in mind, I wouldn't put it past Finn, Rose and least of all, Shelby to keep up with me. That's likely beyond their mental capacity. As for Alex, Vivi and Ying... while it is alarming, they are in a state where everything they're taking part of is likely a risk factor if shared by any means other than in physical writing. They're working with special forces against other special forces. They're likely being kept on a need-to-know basis and kept shut about it. Last I heard, they haven't even been deployed into combat. But in Japan... last I heard from Haru was when they got to Japan at first, about three months ago. They mentioned the western coasts of Japan have spotted a lot of naval carriers and even submarines. But I haven't heard a single word beyond that from Haru. Even if they're kept busy, this is unlike Haru."

  "But she's also special forces" Tanya argues. "What about that need-to-know basis thing?"

  "That's just it" Holly says. "We definitely need to know, and Haru is usually good at keeping tabs on everything. She's special forces, after all. She's good at what she does, and what she does is mark down and pass on intel. With them being silent, it only sends up red flags."

  "Then we'll be moving to Japan first." Siran says.

  "But what if we split to go get the crew?" Tanya asks.

  "Not good" Siran says. "We'll need a large enough forces to swiftly end whatever is keeping our crew busy. Then we'll need to make sure to safely extract them. Unless you intend on our group remaining split and occupied for months or maybe even years, then we move as one. That way we can return before something happens in Omnia. That way, we can find Zia faster. Got it?"

  "Y-yeah... got it." Tanya replies. "You're really worked up, huh?"

  "The man's wife is missing..." Blake whispers to Tanya. "Who wouldn't be?"

  "I get that" Tanya says. "But I guess part of me is worried that he might be acting too reckless and disregarding safety or not planning thoroughly enough for this."

  "Is the other part of you jealous too?" Blake asks.

  "No, it's just-..." Tanya argues, then stops. She thinks for a couple seconds, then says "I-I guess so... I never knew what it was like to feel enough for someone you were married to, to chase them down and help them no matter where they are."

  "Or maybe" Blake adds, "you're jealous because you want to be the one being chased."

  "Don't push your luck" Tanya says. "I've grown past wanting another romance in my life. I'm not that shallow."

  "But you wish it was like that when you had it, right?" Blake asks.

  Tanya was silent, then quietly whispers "I'm starting to regret telling you about my story."

  "Now that that's all settled" Loki says, "we'll split up from you humans and go try to work on some of the streams. Hopefully we can come up with a solid method to fixing these broken seals."

  "Then it's settled" Siran says. "We head to Japan first. Then we should go to Egypt, and lastly, Germany."

  The crew made their move to arrive in Japan. They first arrived in Mexico, where they then got air travel to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport, in Sakhalinskaya Oblast, Russia. From there, they would have to take a boat to Sapporo, Japan. From then, they would finally begin their search for their crew. It took them a little over a week to make it to Sapporo. Ready and anxious to find Mikoto, Satomi and Haru, the crew began their search by first trying to learn about the war here and hoping that would give a clue as to where their crew was. To their surprise, the people of Sapporo didn't speak much, if any English at all, even though they were used to people in Tokyo speaking English. With the assistance of Holly using her laptop to translate, the people of Sapporo directed them towards Tokyo. The people in Sapporo couldn't speak English, but they did recognize The Six Guns. With that, getting help was easier for them than they had expected. The crew began to move to Hakodate, where they got a short boat ride to Sendai. From there, they were able to get a several rides taking them from Sendai to Tokyo, where fighting was spreading from the southern coast. China had laid naval carriers along the east and south coasts, from which which began to push on every major city from Nagasaki to Tokyo. China was attempting to overtake the large cities and use them as ground to push the rest of the country. However, Japan was pushing them back and keeping the fighting from spreading. Unfortunately, the fighting was still being held in the larger cities, where it was more heavily populated. Even if it meant it was harder for China to secure a victory, it also meant every push inside of these metropolitan cities was nothing short of devastating. When the crew arrived in Tokyo, they saw the streets were mostly empty and any parts of these cities where the Chinese forces weren't currently occupying, civilians were hiding anywhere they could. Inside of malls and shopping centers, reinforced with wood nailed tk doors and over windows, and some doors blocked entirely by people taking large appliances from the stores and shoving them against the doors. A small unit of police met with Siran and the others as they arrived. "Hello" a man in a police uniform says to them. "We got word that you arrived in Japan. We've been expecting you. My name is Haruto Fujiwara."

  "What's been going on?" Siran asks.

  "The three of your crew that have been with us have been trying to push China out of Tokyo" Haruto says. "But China has a lot to their disposal. As soon as we push some of them out, more have shown up. Civilian casualties shot up to the dozens quickly, and China has now taken hold of Shibuya and Minato."

  "Oh no..." Benjie says. "How did it get so bad?"

  "War happens quick, I'm afraid" Haruto replies. "I'm afraid all I can do it watch over these people. I'm not trained to fight. Please, for the sake of our people, please help us."

  "There's no need to ask" Holly says. "That was already the plan. Was it not, Siran?"

  "That, and more" Siran says. "We came to retrieve our members, but not before we settle this. With what support Japan gave us in the war, it's the least we could do."

  "God bless" Haruto says with a short bow. "Thank you very much." Haruto was almost moved to tears as he says "You have no idea how haunting and horrifying it has been to see women and children lose faith, and hear the screams in the night. Thank you! Thank you for coming to end our nightmare!"

  "Look... Haruto, was it?" Blake asks. "We're sorry for all that has happened. I'm sure you've been through a lot, but don't lose your composure yet. You still have a job to do, right?" Haruto looks up at Blake as Blake says "Those people need a leader. Don't go crying on us now. We're not the heroes here, that's your job. Do that for us, and we'll return the favor."

  As the team walks deeper into Tokyo, Holly says "Wow, I didn't know you were a smooth talker."

  "You gotta practice to get the good jobs when you're a Hunter." Blake replies.

  "Sounds like an excuse to weasel extra money out of contractors with sweet talk" Holly says. Blake smiles as they walk and let's out a quiet giggle. "Not even a shred of dignity, huh?" Holly asks.