Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022

"We're going," the young man said, "Henri, take point until we reach our allies' Transports. The rest of you, follow me and take Cristina; you're going to the Phnom Penh International Airport - It's clear that the shock of this has left you guys unable to fight any further."

"I still - have some vim in me. You'll need the backup... and I have a mean left hook."

Raising her left hand, it flashes white, revealing the armored gauntlet of wrath.

"I've never liked leaving anyone behind to make a run for it; I won't start now. Please."

"Same deal, Boss. I'll put Crissy on the plane, but... I'm not much good in a fight anyway; I'm no good to anyone warming the bench." He thumps his injured ribs with Archie's Level and winces, but doesn't gasp in pain. "That's as good as I'm gonna get before this crisis is over. Put me on REMF duty or something, if you have to, but this shit's broken and I need to fix something."

"Medic or mechanic don't make much difference to me. Parts is parts, just give me something to do. Pounding we just took..." His voice trails off, and when he speaks again, it's in hushed tones. Referential. "I can put 'em back in the field, or I can try to send them home in one piece. But I can't just... quit now. I need to help. Let me help."

Berto rarely made eye contact; he rarely even took his sunglasses off, if he could help it. But he looked Myron in the eye.

"Please."

Phnom Penh International Airport - 11/11/2022 8:15 UTC+8

The scene at the International Airport was on the verge of a disaster, a mass of civilians had desperately gathered outside the terminals, but the singular runway was being used to transport military personnel only as ASEAN reinforcements were hastily sent to the city.

A bottleneck.

The soldiers diligently patrol for both enemy sabotage and civilians trying to climb over the fence. Lupe had arrived early on, so that she could help moving supplies and tending the injured, for a first day on the field, she had to deal with a grueling scene.

Unfortunately for the rest of her team, the arriving transport plane would be shot down by Cambodian Anti-Air, a missile exploding right next to the collapsing airplane. For a moment everyone at the airport contemplated whether the reinforcements could have survived, the Arms Masters are harder to kill, but a barrage of rockets and autocannon fire?

Right the next moment however a message from those same reinforcements reached the comms.

"Fuck you!"

This misdirection sure was going to endanger Dior’s Teammates if they reacted poorly.

@AtomicNut

---

Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center - 11/11/2022 8:15 UTC+8

Nil had, at this point, no idea what was going on. First she was being bored to death, then they met the weird-looking puppet with Qingshe’s head, then gunfire… and now, Myron is giving orders…

Noel, their actual commander, was nowhere to be seen.

Thai Air Force sending reinforcements? Shouldn’t their team go to help them? No, Noel was the commander… but he’s not here.

She let Myron finish, straining to actually listen to him right after the harsh recovery. They had to get out, that much was clear, places were named… but what’s the direction to get there?

”Ah… Aiport, go?”
Not even waiting for anyone to understand her, Nil quickly manifested Stang and went to search for a window or entrance to peek through, ensuring there’s no gunfire directed at them.

Phnom Penh International Airport - 11/11/2022 8:15 UTC+8

Blood, tinnitus. Screams. Scrambling people. Lupe gasped, and cursed under her breath as the evacuation transport exploded before her eyes. She winced ever so . The rest of the team was in no position to move fast and bold. She grit her lip and eyeing the skies, she clutched her Noble Arm to deliver first aid.

And then some asshole had decided to crack the intercom with some inane messages. "Hey, leave the channel free for people who need it! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth of yours? This is Lupe. Plane's scrap. Multiple shrapnel wounded. Gonna try to clean this mess up a little. Heading to give medical care." She said, as she looked at some of the nearby soldiers who nodded at her energy, and even started the engine of a vehicle as she hopped on the back, while she spun her hand indicating to speed up as fast as possible. Critical care was needed.

"Situation's no good on the skies, silence those AA defenses so we can evac!" She said. " Moving to the wreck to give first aid. We need to avoid casualties on our Arm Masters." Lupe gritted her teeth as she steadied her body from all the rough driving her impromptu comrades did. "A little help will be appreciated!" She finished her radio communication as she gritted her teeth.

But a kingdom that has been destroyed can never be again, nor can the dead ever be brought back to life. A certain saying muddled her expression for a moment, before she narrowed her eyes and avoided biting her tongue or bumping into the vehicle's frame.

@Danyel

The parachute hit the ground behind him as Kaden unhooked it smoothly, his movements automatic and precise. He crouched for a moment, taking in the chaotic scene around him. They had landed in enemy territory, the others already scattered, and the tension was palpable. But Kaden’s focus was razor-sharp. This was just another situation to manage.

Then, Dior’s voice cut through the static in his comms, louder than necessary and laced with irritation:

"Fuck you!"

Kaden blinked, the outburst catching him off-guard for a split second. Not the cursing — he couldn’t care less about that — but the timing. They had barely landed, and already Dior was throwing unnecessary chaos into an already delicate situation. Not ideal.

He ducked into cover behind a section of collapsed wall, eyes scanning the surroundings as he quickly regained focus. The mission came first; distractions like Dior’s antics had no place here.

“Great,” Kaden muttered under his breath, his voice low but steady. It didn’t rattle him, but it did make him question how things were going to unfold. Dior was volatile, but that wasn’t new information.

Keeping his breathing steady, Kaden keyed his comms. His voice was calm, measured — as if they were in the middle of a briefing rather than deep in enemy territory.

“Dior, stick to the plan,” Kaden said, tone even. “Let’s get this done.”

Whatever games Dior was playing didn’t matter. Kaden had his priorities straight. The mission was everything right now.

The faint crackle of gunfire in the distance reached his ears, growing closer with each passing moment. Kaden stayed low, moving carefully from one bit of cover to the next, eyes sharp and focused on any potential threats. The terrain was unfamiliar, but his mind worked through it like a puzzle, each step deliberate.

“Stay sharp,” he reminded himself as he tightened his grip on his Noble Arm. His senses were alert, tuned to every shift in the environment. He could feel the tension in the air, the weight of the moment settling over him, but he wasn’t about to let it throw him off.

Somewhere ahead, the Cambodian forces had set up their defenses, likely preparing for their arrival. The odds weren’t in their favor, but Kaden wasn’t concerned about that. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in a tight spot.

No escape but forward. No way out but through.

Kaden’s heartbeat remained steady, his mind locked onto the task at hand. He didn’t need to think twice. He was here to complete the mission, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

“Focus,” he thought, pushing away any distractions. “We get through this. No matter what.”

Mission Four - Knives in Phnom Penh

Cambodian National Assembly Grounds - 11/11/2022 07:17 UTC+7, which is 8:17, UTC+8

The Cambodian Special Operations Command, the elite guards of the Cambodian Prime Minister, fired back at Dior's death squad as the latter dropped from the sky. The simultaneous release of dozens of weapons filled the air with bullets as the infantry and vehicles - Light Tanks and Scout Cars, began firing at the small, fast-moving targets, hoping to clip each one with the sheer weight of projectiles. A few of these people were firing MANPADs too, hoping that as their missiles exploded in the air, these were intended to shake Dior and his assassins as they tried to land on the ground.

They failed, and the assassins landed among their ranks, pulling out assault rifles and submachine guns while a few others threw grenades; these seven, though not Arms Masters themselves, wrought immense havoc against the Special Operations Command and their associated Cambodian Army units. However, there were still enough of the foe's soldiers to shoot at Kaden when they saw the latter running towards them. These elite soldiers would attempt suppressive fire against the fast-moving young man and his Noble Arm, hoping to pin him down.

Eighty-nine guns were firing at him all at once; a large portion of the elite forces guarding the building were focusing fire on him, forcing him to hide behind whatever cover there was or use his Noble Arm's powers to the fullest - Or maybe both simultaneously?

The point was that these soldiers were elites in the fullest sense and skilled in taking down Arms Masters.

The three hundred Cambodian soldiers who were tasked with protecting Prime Minister H.S. were being whittled down; about forty of them were dead and fifteen more were out of commission. But filled with dedication to their paymaster and hatred for their neighbors and the rich countries who buttressed the 'global order', they fought on, continuing to shoot, to throw grenades, to duck behind cover, to pull wounded men away to be given emergency medical treatment - Whatever can be said about them, they were proud and bold despite their servitude to a dark cause that has rooted itself in their hearts.

It would not stop them from dying, especially when their focus on Dior's death squad and pinning down Kaden meant that they were open to an attack from the real Dior and one Len Vuong, whom they have not noticed in their haste to focus on the attackers before them...

@4wheathRmany@Danyel@LimeTime966

National Assembly

Len was one of the last ones out of the plane. The pilot would not see the rat-sized chimeramorph that replaced Len in the seconds before he jumped out and the missiles found their target.

The firearms sang below, but with the explosion overhead, they were focused on the others as Len—who, at a glance, could be mistaken for one of the pigeons that could be seen in Phnom Penh when there weren't foreign militaries operating within the city—flew from transport over the parking lot, empty beyond a small command encampment, onto the steep roofs of the National Assembly building.

Under some circumstances, Len would have been able to hear Dior, or Kaden's response. Even if he had been in his keen-eared chimeramorph, Len could've picked up a snippet—but there happened to be a great cacophony of combat that smothered any chance of it. Even if he had wanted to, Len had no attention to spare.

Along the roofs, including the one he landed on, were tactically-positioned snipers of the Special Operations Command. Each of the elite soldiers were heavily-armed and contributing to the volume of fire directed at the grounds.

That did not stop the first one from getting the hundreds of kilograms of force from Len's paw swipe. Ribs were crushed, and the sniper was flung as Len morphed smaller to fly to the next.

Speed is of the essence, he thought, increasingly aware of the AFVs.

The air was thick with the sound of gunfire, bullets cutting through it in every direction. Nearly 89 rifles were trained on Kaden as he crouched behind a chunk of crumbling concrete, the elite Cambodian soldiers unloading round after round in his direction. He didn’t need to be reminded of the kind of danger he was in. These soldiers weren’t just shooting wildly—they were disciplined, skilled, and trained to handle Arms Masters. They knew exactly what they were doing.

But so did he.

He could feel the concrete around him chipping away under the pressure of their firepower. His back pressed firmly against it, Kaden took a breath, keeping his composure even as the chaos raged around him. His thoughts raced—he had to make a move before they boxed him in completely. Waiting for an opening wasn’t an option; they were too organized, too fast.

A quick peek around the corner showed the soldiers moving with precision, tightening their circle, trying to pin him down. Grenades exploded in the distance, sending plumes of dirt and debris flying into the air. He wasn’t going to get out of this by just sitting still.

“This is getting messy,” he muttered under his breath.

Kaden’s grip tightened around the Duality Blades as he activated their Light mode. The soft blue glow pulsed through them, the chain shimmering faintly. It wouldn’t make him that much faster, but it was just enough to give him an edge—a slight boost in speed that might buy him the time he needed.

He didn’t waste a second. With a deep breath, Kaden darted out from behind the cover, moving faster than before, but still within the realm of human reaction. Bullets trailed after him, some grazing his armor but none finding their mark. He zigzagged across the battlefield, using the limited boost in speed to stay one step ahead of the elite soldiers’ aim.

Each movement was calculated. His footwork, honed through years of training, allowed him to slip through the smallest openings between the bursts of suppressive fire. Kaden spotted a destroyed Scout Car ahead and made a beeline for it, diving behind its cover just as another wave of bullets slammed into the ground where he had been.

He could hear the soldiers adjusting their positions, trying to anticipate his next move. They were good— too good to give him any room to breathe. But Kaden wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction of pinning him down.

“They’re not gonna let up, are they?” he thought, wiping the sweat from his brow.

He needed to create an opening, something to shake them up. With a quick glance over the Scout Car, Kaden saw a group of soldiers clustered together, focused entirely on his position. He smirked, reaching for a grenade strapped to his vest. Pulling the pin, he lobbed it over the car, aiming for the center of the group.

The explosion rocked the ground, sending a shockwave through the air and scattering debris everywhere. It wasn’t enough to take them all out, but it threw off their aim, if only for a moment. Kaden seized the opportunity, sprinting from cover and moving to a new position before they could lock back onto him.

His movements were sharp, deliberate. He wasn’t moving at blinding speeds, but every step, every shift of his body, was meant to keep him just ahead of their line of fire. He ducked and weaved between obstacles, his mind racing with possible plans. He needed to thin their numbers, disrupt their formation—anything to turn the tide in his favor.

“They think they’ve got me figured out,” Kaden thought as he slid behind another chunk of rubble. “But they have no idea what’s coming.”

He knew Dior’s death squad was causing chaos in the background, and somewhere, Len was lying in wait. The soldiers were so focused on him and the immediate threat that they didn’t even realize what was brewing on the horizon.

More bullets pinged off the rubble, shaking Kaden out of his thoughts. He wasn’t out of the woods yet. His hand tightened around the hilt of his Noble Arm, the soft blue glow from the Light mode turning into a dark crimson. The light blue chain changed into a prominent red. Things were about to get even more messy.

“Alright,” he muttered to himself, “Let’s finish this.”

Mission Four - Knives in Phnom Penh

Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 07:19 UTC+7, which is 8:19, UTC+8

Myron acknowledged Marta and Berto's words as he fast-walked towards the transports, and responded without ceasing to move, "All right, then; if you two want to stay once we get to the airport, we're staying. Also... Berto... If your Noble Arm can get Marta back to fighting shape, use it on her - Now let's go; we've dilly-dallied long enough already!"

The transports were in sight in an increasingly chaotic city; the Cambodian ASEAN Loyalists under Dara Chea, the one whom Nico had brought to their side, were waiting for them, with the dark-skinned blond opening the doors to one of the BTR-60Ps, just outside the Convention Center to gesture them into the vehicle, which was mostly empty. Once they were inside, and mostly insulated from the sounds of fighting, Dara would then give everyone the sitrep of what had been happening.

"The Air Force has defected to our side rather than face Lotus Squadron; this is turning the tide in our favor, but large portions of the Royal Army, plus the Gendarmerie and the Marines are still with the foe - The Russian and Venezuelan Mercenaries the Prime Minister brought have also overrun our positions in the eastern part of the city; they've begun sacking the richer businesses and homes, those assholes. As for the Prime Minister and his son... A group of Arms Masters are trying to capture them and the National Assembly, but they're encountering heavy resistance."

All the while, the vehicle was driving towards the Phnom Penh International Airport, where a new member was waiting, one Lupe Chang; Myron was only informed of her existence as the Vehicle drove away from Koch Pich, and thus did not have the time to do any extensive investigation, not when Noel's absence and Qingshe's death meant he had to assume provisional leadership of Task Force Obsidian...

Phnom Penh International Airport, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 07:38 UTC+7, which is 8:38, UTC+8

They arrived at the Airport; where Myron gave Berto new orders.

"We have a new member called Lupe Chang; she's a Filipino Chinese with a Noble Arm focused on Healing and Enforced Pacifism..." He then forwarded him a picture of the girl in question, then continued, "Once you find her, set up a triage site for military folk and civilians alike."

As for Marta, Henri, and Nil, Myron held out his Noble Arm, the shield that can render people down to data and transmit them to another location through radio, landlines, and the internet, and said, "All right, you three; here are the options - Either help Berto and Lupe set up a triage here or help me do my part to take the National Assembly Building from Prime Minister H.S. We need to win this battle and we need to do it now."

Nico and Aoi have not responded in a long while now; what exactly were they thinking?

@Gerlando@Nimbus@QJT@Amidatelion@Digmata@Chiro@Creative Chaos@AtomicNut

Mission Four - Knives in Phnom Penh

Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 07:19 UTC+7, which is 8:19, UTC+8

[...]

"We have a new member called Lupe Chang; she's a Filipino Chinese with a Noble Arm focused on Healing and Enforced Pacifism..." He then forwarded him a picture of the girl in question, then continued, "Onc you find her, set up a triage site for military folk and civilians alike."

Berto looked at the photo briefly. "Wilco."

Berto didn't wait to be dismissed; he never did. Among his many shortcomings in military protocol, this one at least made him more efficient... most of the time. He disappeared into the crowd of arriving aid workers and opportunists, and fleeing refugees, looking like a tourist who had no idea he'd been dropped into the middle of a warzone. Within a few minutes of wandering just outside the arrivals' gate, he'd somehow acquired a heavy sack of breakfast pastries, a couple of large coffees, and a sign that read "LUPE + MYRON" inside of of a crudely fingerpainted black lotus flower.

Just another scared old man, desperate to find his loved ones and get them the hell away from this awful place.

He scanned the rush of new arrivals intently, looking for one particular face in the mass of strangers...

@AtomicNut

Henri considered his options. He didn't have that much medical knowledge, something he had realized when his shield's limits got in the way of saving an important Arms Master from cancer.

However, the convention center had shown Leonidas's liability in tight spaces, while fighting regular troops along with Arms Master allies. They had managed to escape, and Henri had managed to improve the situation by scouting ahead of the team, but the reality of the situation remained.

"It might be for the best, if I help with the triage and safeguard Private Chang" He finally declared. It was unlikely that his and Lupe's powers would be needed to be active at the same time, and Leonidas worked better with regular troops, anyway. "However, I'm ready to move, if needed elsewhere."

Mission Four - Knives in Phnom Penh

Cambodian National Assembly Grounds - 11/11/2022 07:20 UTC+7, which is 8:20, UTC+8

Numbers, tactics, cover, and overlapping fields of fire, all wore down Dior's squad of assassins, whose augmented senses and speed were simply not enough; four of them were killed, perforated by a combined assault rifle, submachine gun, and sniper fire before Len managed to save the remaining three through his sneak attack. Nevertheless, Dior's squad managed to bring down thirty-five of the three hundred combined Gendarmerie and Special Forces Command of the Cambodian Army assigned to protect Prime Minister H.S. from retaliation after his brazen break with international norms.

Len had brought down another seven during his purge of the Snipers; that meant forty-two overall losses for the defenders, but that wasn't enough; these soldiers were proof that Arms Masters were not invincible against mundane weapons and fighters who could use them well.

Kaden, meanwhile, still had sixty-three guns firing in his general direction, trying to suppress him; at least that was twenty-six fewer weapons firing at him, right?

As for the three remaining members of Dior's assassin squad, they launched a counterattack that killed five more Cambodian elite soldiers and injured two; this eased up the pressure on Dior himself, who had used the cover his death squad had brought to sneak, fight, and maneuver himself to where his Noble Arm, a razor locket, can project six sharp-edged, icy-cold mirrors that launched beams of cold in all directions at a rapid rate of fire, flash-freezing metal, plastic and rubber as the fleshy soldiers used the armored vehicles they brought as their cover, armored vehicles that nevertheless had their guns and ammo grow so cold that heating them again by firing them just caused the metal to snap.

Dior received no return fire as he continued towards the doors of the National Assembly Building, where sandbags, a machine gun nest, and a grenade launcher were set up, all of which failed to fire back...

The Skies above Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 07:20 UTC+7, which is 8:20, UTC+8

The Cambodians had stockpiled a lot of Anti-Aircraft ammunition before and during the ASEAN War, and were emptying it recklessly into the air, forcing Lotus Squadron to dance away to evade the sheer weight of fire protecting the Royal Cambodian Army's Gendarmerie HQ.

As for the Royal Cambodian Air Force, they saw the Russian and Venezuelan mercenaries hired by the Prime Minister start to rampage around their homes and families, and that sealed their determination to return to the ASEAN fold. They began strafing these goons, using the bare minimum of fire needed to avoid collateral damage, and when the guns-for-hire gathered in one place or occupied a relatively empty building, retribution was swift; they died.

Cambodian National Assembly Grounds - 11/11/2022 07:20 UTC+7, which is 8:20, UTC+8

But now, a million-dollar question needed to be asked: Where was Task Force Obsidian? Had Noel's capture plus the injuries sustained during the initial Cambodian Ambush gutted them so badly? Or was Special Liason Lei Qingshe's loss a deeper wound?

Would the members of TFO choose sit out this most vital engagement?

Prime Minister H.S. got a call from his son, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Army, H.M. He instinctively opened his phone to answer it, and a bright flash of light filled the National Assembly chambers as Myron Makraig, temporary commander of Task Force Obsidian, teleported himself and maybe Marta, Nil, Nico and Aoi (assuming they volunteered) into the large room using the Prime Minister's own internet connection as his conduit.

His Floro-Mk2 Submachine Gun was pointed at Prime Minister H.S.'s face, even as his security detail pointed heavy pistols at him and those who may have joined him (if any).

Impasse.

@Gerlando@Amidatelion@Creative Chaos (Involvement Optional).

@4wheathRmany@Danyel@LimeTime966