I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 724

"Ahhh...!"

Crash!

With a tremendous sound, Carlton, who had been running at over 40 km/h, fell to the ground. The moment something grazed his right leg, he collapsed with the same speed, sliding across the floor.

Instead of the sound of skin scraping, the noise of thick plastic and alloy grinding against the ground filled the air, sparks flying from the friction. Even with that, due to the residual speed, he rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.

He couldn’t get up. It wasn’t until then that he realized what had happened to his body. The lower half of his right leg had completely vanished. The damage had been too fast for the damage assessment system to keep up.

He had to flee immediately, but the situation was so nonsensical that a question flashed through his mind first.

‘How did this happen?’

He had considered the possibility of a railgun, but that was only under the assumption it was mounted on a vehicle.

The factory producing the necessary equipment for Artemis was designed so that humans didn’t move inside it unless in special cases, and there was no way a railgun-mounted vehicle could be brought in.

That’s what should’ve happened.

But what kind of weapon could cause this much destruction? If it were an explosive, the energy field would have blocked it. Any other weapon wouldn’t have the firepower to cause this level of damage.

However, there was a bit of luck — Carlton’s leg was slowly regenerating.

To be precise, the nanomachines were reconstructing the bones to form a minimal support structure. The process was so fast it almost looked like a white pillar forming in mid-air.

Unfortunately, this time, the Dagger team was faster.

When the pulse pierced the air, the bones that had been forming in place of his evaporated right along with his right leg.

"Kiiing!"

"It’s been detected!"

"Engage. Target the limbs first!"

"We don’t know what kind of strange things he might do! Make sure he doesn’t get any funny ideas!"

An EMP was released, and the nanomachines that had been glowing white now flickered, scattering into white powder on the ground.

As Carlton’s face turned pale at the sight, heavy footsteps began to sound from the opposite side. They were more like the footsteps of a death god.

The directional pulse had been released, and Carlton realized his body wasn’t moving as it should. Even though he had EMP resistance, being hit at close range caused a temporary shutdown of his systems.

And the Dagger team wasn’t about to wait for that “temporary” downtime.

A figure wielding a plasma weapon that glowed blue began to surge forward like a tidal wave.

"Goddamn it…!"

"There!"

"Up close, that suit is really shining. Did you enjoy your time in Syracuse? From now on, it won’t be nearly as pleasant."

There was no doubt that the words were true.

But even in the middle of the situation, Carlton noticed that the posture-control thrusters on his body were still working. He began to consider how to kill these people and escape.

With attack lasers, grenade launchers, and wire blades, there were still plenty of methods at his disposal. He suppressed his rage and forced a pitiful expression, hoping to buy himself some time.

"If there’s anything I can cooperate with, I’ll do it. Please, show some mercy."

"Sure. Let’s hear what you can do."

"You… you’ve come for the Artemis data, haven’t you? If so, I can tell you quite a bit. At least let me regain some posture first."

Five sets of eyes scanned Carlton.

His white hair, which had been neatly slicked back, was now a mess, and his suit was torn and ragged. It was clear that anyone could see the chaos that had unfolded.

With just a few seconds left before his reboot was complete, he cautiously began to assess who to attack first.

However, it was unfortunate for him.

There was no reason to show mercy to someone whose severed ankle didn’t even bleed and didn’t seem to be in any pain.

Olivia smiled brightly and added:

"Don’t worry. You’ll have the chance to blabber all you want soon enough. Didn’t realize you didn’t have to speak now, did you?"

"…What?"

"Don’t act like you don’t know."

And at that moment, a glowing weapon traced a line through the air.

"…!?"

The fast trajectory, which even a cyborg could barely keep up with, came to a halt on the opposite side of Carlton’s arm, and he realized his right arm had been severed.

But there was nothing he could do. The second EMP had been discharged. The cyberware implanted all over his body crackled and malfunctioned, rebooting under the sheer force of the attack.

By then, the Dagger team had already severed his remaining limbs, and Carlton, whose appearance was now beyond recognition, had his eyes widened in disbelief.

Before he could attempt to resist, further measures were taken.

"Looks like you’ve done quite a bit of modification. Artificial muscles, titanium-reinforced heart, hormone regulators… It’ll make things easier. But if you’re going to hang so many unidentified things on your body, you should’ve prepared for a hack."

"Ah, ahhh!"

"At least Valerie caused a ruckus back in Central Park, but you, you were taken down without much trouble. Now, let’s see… we’ll just lower your heart rate by half."

"Alright, disable all the self-destruct functions. Reset the admin privileges."

The cyberware’s many functions were all shut down, and control was entirely taken away from him. It was almost like all the long-term control had been handed over to someone else.

Blood flow was artificially regulated, and all the necessary steps were taken. In that moment, Carlton became nothing more than a heavily-weighted, incapacitated human-shaped lump of metal. The Dagger team placed him into a box they had apparently prepared.

Considering that Valerie had at least successfully rescued Dr. Dexter, Carlton was now one of the top three easiest captures by the Dagger team.

Of course, the undisputed number one spot was still held by the Russian-Chinese detachment, which had surrendered not one, but two nuclear submarines.

"Exactly three minutes since we entered. Looks like Artemis is catching on."

"Good. Let’s move like bullets. Rookie, give me that sniper rifle, and take the heavy box. We’re heading to the extraction point now."

"Four-wheelers are ready outside. Griffis Air Base has Skyceptor surface-to-air missiles on standby, just in case Artemis’ air forces are more than drones."

"Right. Let’s rev up and make a quick getaway."

It didn’t take long for the Dagger team to exit, with the four unoccupied four-wheelers moving swiftly to the factory exit. Olivia twisted the Titan sniper rifle’s barrel pin, loading it as she did so.

With the destination set and automatic steering initiated by the Icarus gear, Olivia saw Artemis forces approaching, and moved the Polaris 3, which had been stuck in place.

The friendly fire function activated, and the “friendly” position pinpointed on the Polaris 3’s network changed to a target.

With a quick activation, Olivia smiled and added:

"Let’s see how much havoc they can wreak."

Vroom!

The four-wheelers accelerated with unbelievable speed, quickly reaching 70 km/h.

The perfectly balanced bikes ensured they didn’t tip over, and in no time, all four of them were out of the factory grounds.

Despite the ease of their getaway, it wasn’t over yet.

-[Alert: Drone swarm detected. Distance: 3.16 km. Estimated time of arrival: 33 seconds.]

"I knew it."

Olivia pulled out the adhesive bomb launcher attached to her thigh, loading it with an explosive designed to serve as a decoy, and began charging the directional EMP function on the Icarus gear.

After a brief wait, the drone swarm, resembling a flock of birds, began flying toward them from the distance.

— POOF!

As the adhesive bomb flew into the air, it turned into hundreds of shrapnel fragments, and the drones were immediately drawn to it, like hypnotized.

Within moments, hundreds of drones exploded in mid-air. The rest of the Dagger team followed suit, and nearly a thousand drones fell to the ground.

Though many remained, before they could get within 100 meters, a second EMP disabled the majority of them.

Still, those they couldn’t knock down...

"Dammit, now we’re shooting down drones with guns? This is dizzying..."

"Here comes Eagle 1! We’re retreating! The drone swarm is attacking us!"

-Requesting shotgun missiles. Estimated minimum 3 minutes needed. Can we make it out?

"Dammit, not sure… Eugene! Get that damn suit and override the admin rights!"

"Now!?"

"Dammit, now or never!"

Yujin, cursing loudly, quickly scrambled to open the box behind the four-wheeler.

As the Icarus gear remotely controlled the bike, Yujin placed it on the body in the back and did everything Olivia told him to do.

And—

-[Alert: Artemis admin privileges recognized... // Joshua S. Carlton, Executive Director confirmed.]

-[Alert: Face recognition completed by drone swarm. Drone swarm deactivation confirmed.]

-[Alert: Attack terminated.]

"…Is it over?"

"It feels uneasy, but… looks like it stopped. Didn’t think this would actually work, but it did..."

"Ugh, the adrenaline is giving me a headache. Let’s get out of here."

Vroom!

The bikes accelerated smoothly, and the drone swarm retreated.

It was the day Artemis lost its executive director, all within the time it would take for a single instant meal to heat up.

"…So, this guy, the 'Suit Guy,' the one you sniped in the leg, cut off his limbs, and then kidnapped him? Is that what you’re saying?"

"Don't make it sound so off-track, Logan. It was the best approach we could come up with based on the data collection results. During the capture, we confirmed that even with his body modified, his intelligence stayed intact."

"High-ranking, with substantial authority. Observation period was what, two days? For such a short intel collection period, you guys caught a big fish."

"We’ll dig deeper during interrogation. Given he's a cyborg, I don’t think the usual methods will work, but… should we start by looking for a USB port?"

Greenlake Golf Practice Facility, Dagger Team Hideout.

As the Eagle team returned, shedding their dirty clothes and freshening up after a long reconnaissance and sniping mission, Carlton, now minus his limbs, regained consciousness.

However, that didn't mean he had regained his sanity. In fact, the Dagger team was hoping he hadn’t. They had no idea what he might do once awake.

The conversation continued:

"Since the rookie already overrode Artemis’ admin privileges in the gear, let’s start there. With the amount of cybernetic modifications this guy has, we should be able to make some progress."

"You’re telling me the override was that easy? Seems odd. A guy with that many crazy modifications didn’t bother with security?"

"Eye recognition works the same way. Pull out the eyeballs, and you’re good to go. Anyway, stop him from waking up and getting any ideas. From the looks of it, he won’t cooperate at all."

Just as it was said, no one in the room expected a cyborg to cooperate, and even though the Dagger team still didn’t know Carlton’s name, they weren’t planning on sparing him, even if he did.

Owens grabbed a nearby laptop and started typing. The Icarus system had already begun analyzing Artemis data, with Valerie and Volvok’s help speeding up the process.

Soon, the laptop screen was filled with an Artemis network access window.

The code input field on the screen displayed code derived from analyzing Volvok’s brain, but Owens cleared it and added his own.

"Let’s see what we can do with this guy."

"Face recognition, iris scan… there’s no fingers left, but since his arms and legs were completely replaced, it’s not gonna matter much. I’m guessing there’s some admin codes around here. Let’s try everything."

"Here comes the rookie. We’ll go through it one by one."

A few minutes later, Eugene entered the room, his tail wagging nervously as Carlton’s eyes were roughly pried open by the Dagger team.

In a surprising twist, the Dagger team realized that none of Artemis' cyberware had any anti-hacking protections installed. It didn’t take long for the Dagger team to realize this, and within less than five minutes, they had bypassed the second authentication and found out that the person they had captured was named Carlton, Executive Director.

The UI that appeared was drastically different from Volvok’s and was far more sophisticated, displaying a wide range of information about Artemis.

Seeing Artemis’ internal network so exposed, even the Dagger team was taken aback.

"…Is this really this easy?"

"Try calling Hoffman. Is he available? He’s not busy with another mission, is he?"

"I’m not sure. Let’s call him."

The situation felt almost surreal, like some kind of deception.

So, the Dagger team contacted Hoffman Vinson, an ex-undercover agent for Artemis, and their communication was connected in less than a few minutes.

And—

• Surprised, but actually, it’s normal.

"…Huh?"

• I don’t know how you managed to catch someone directly tied to Artemis' upper echelons, but back when these cyberwares were just theoretical, no one expected anyone to use them. These lunatics have been implementing them on their own, and they don’t care who knows.

"That makes sense."

• No one believed we’d ever start augmenting humans with cybernetics to boost combat power. These lunatics are probably thinking, ‘Who cares if others find out?’

"Well, we wouldn’t have caught him if we hadn’t kidnapped him."

• Exactly.

In other words, it was a result of the belief that "there’s no way something like this would ever happen," but when it did, it was due to sheer randomness.

The Dagger team didn’t take long to accept it, knowing that in war, the winner is determined by who makes the least stupid mistakes.

And the Dagger team knew what they had to do next.

On the screen were various operational progress bars, but the one marked "Carlton" was the one only accessible by him.

The MQ-20 Avenger transport mission status.

The very thing the Dagger team had been hunting for was right in front of them.

"Finally, we’re starting to see the outline of the unmanned drone retrieval mission."

"We’ve been in Syracuse for a while now."

"Yeah, it seems like it."

Lorentina smiled softly and muttered, while Owens nodded in agreement.

It seemed the day they would leave Syracuse was finally on the horizon.

Let me know if you'd like to continue from here or need further assistance!