A Lethal Encounter

Yuri stood up and took a blanket from the hotel mattress and covered Yuna with it.

"Why is she suddenly naked, AI? What happened?"

"The princess Yuna consented to a transfer of 5 Health points to save your life, Master."

"She did?" Yuri scratched the back of his head confused at what was happening to his life. Maybe everything seemed so unreal. Just two weeks ago, he was just about to go to college, study, and maybe get something more than a minimum wage job. When he scratched his nape, he felt something stuck behind him. Some sort of metal device. He pulled it out of him but it stuck really hard. "AI, help me a little here?"

The AI helped Yuri in pulling out the device sticking at the back of his neck on his Exosuit. It took the E-tier Strength to really pull it out. When he removed it, it looked like the device was transparent. And it seemed like it used cloaking technology. Three seconds after pulling it out of his neck, the little device self-destructed. Yuri threw it at the wall and it made a small explosion.

"What the hell was that? And AI... How did you not detect it?"

"The device utilized Magitek Cloaking Technology, Master."

"Cloaking technology? Like the CamouMage? How did it get on my neck? Wait, cloaking... That assassin sniper from Akira's Campaign rally! It turned invisible the moment it tried to escape." Yur gripped his fist. "The bullet was still in Akira's body, then I put him on my back when I tried to get him to the hospital."

"Yes, Master. The cloaked device is highly likely to be a tracking device. Wait! If it had a tracking device on me the whole time, then it must have followed me here."

Yuri ran toward Niko's corpse. "AI, extract the bullet from his body."

He injected his hand into Niko's waist where the bullet went through. "Extracting," the AI said.

Yuri's hand found the remnants of the bullet. "AI, analyze the parts of the bullet and simulate the previous form."

The AI absorbed the bullet's remnants into Yuri's Exosuit gloves and analyzed them.

"The bullet is a .50 Caliber fired from an M107 Sniper rifle," the AI said.

Yuri ran to the princess on the floor and carried her inside the lobby, to take cover.

"M107 Sniper Rifle. That was the gun that Akira's assassin had. The same one that the Police sniper had," Yuri said. "The assassin is wearing a disguise. Fuck! Does he know my identity now?"

Yuri did not have time to think about this anymore. There were still other hostage situations all over Japan, and he had to get Princess Yuna to safety. He lifted her up with the blanket around her and started to remember the same situation with Gaia. Only now the princess was safe, and he was stronger than before.

From the stairway, the elevator shaft, and the hotel windows, smoke grenades are thrown into the rooms. And one of the smoke grenades rolled into the hallways. "It's the police!" Yuri shouted.

He put the princess inside a room and put her in the bed.

"Princess, I have to get going now," he said to the unconscious girl. "I'm sorry, you had to go through that pain to save me. Thank you." Yuri dived out the room window and ran down the wall, straight heading straight down.

He sprinted downward and bent his knees to bounce himself off the wall. With all his force, it rocketed him straight into the other building. He bumped into the 7th-floor wall of a commercial building. He smashed his fingers with Exosuit Gloves and used them to hook himself on the side of the building like a mountain climber. "Fuck! AI, this is some Mission: Impossible shit going on here."

There was a window right next to him. He kept doing the same thing with his fingers until he could grab onto the window sill. Once he had grabbed the window sill, he dropped himself straight down and grabbed the window sill right below him, with great timing. He kept doing this until he reached the ground and into the alleyway.

Luckily, the truck that he used to get there was near and he went inside.

"AI, is the princess going to be okay? Were any of the hostages hurt? What's the news with the other hostage situations?"

The AI checked the police radio, news, and ambulance radios. "The police have found the princess, and are taking her to the hospital. Some of the hostages were injured but mostly minor," said the AI.

"Good." Yuri sat in the driver's seat. "I need to stay in the car, I can't remove the Exosuit yet and I can't be seen running around roofs."

The AI continued to check information online and through radio frequencies.

"Master, none of the Yakuza have detonated any of the bombs yet," the AI said.

"None? hmmm... They must be planning something. Could it be a delaying tactic? In that hostage-taking we took down, there were only seven Yakuza gangsters there. If there are twelve hostage situations around the country, then that's only about 80-90 Yakuza gangsters that committed terrorist attacks. But the Yakuza still have thousands of men even after the massive arrests."

Yuri punched the top part of the steering wheel and said, "Shit... shit... shit... Only a few of them have attacked. The police and military are focusing all their manpower on them. But the government can't do anything because they have bombs and hostages. Shit! Why am I so stupid?"

"Master, Botan has sent you a message. Reading the message now..."

***Yuri, I've gathered Ten Mazoku specialized in Swordsmanship just as you asked. We're at the diversion road near the red light district in Shinjuku. There is nothing going on in the street since that's where you pinned the location. Waiting for further instructions, Yuri. Message from Botan ended***

"Fuck! They must have been on the road when we tracked the location! Botan and the Mazoku are on the diversion road... Diversion? Fuck! The hostage-takings are a diversion. The bosses are planning something bigger. AI! Can you still track the Yakuza heads' location?"

"They have thrown away their devices, Master. They must have realized they were hacked."

Yuri put his hands on the steering wheel. And looked to the road. "We have no time to waste. AI, let's go to meet with Botan and the others."