Raid

The predawn darkness and rainy weather provided excellent cover, perhaps with a little luck on their side as well. Since taking off from the Frontline Base, the helicopter formation had neither attracted the United Defense Force's attention nor come under attack by Mimics.

Inside the UH-53E at the center of the formation, whose cabin could accommodate nearly sixty people—

Whump! Whump!

Clack! Clack!

The cabin was filled not only with engine noise, but also with the scraping and clattering of metal gun parts, from charging handles to magazine covers.

Mercenaries in black combat uniforms and level IV body armor sat along both sides of the cabin, methodically checking their weapons and equipment.

Most of these mercenaries were descendants of the security team formed by Arthur Morgan and others in the late nineteenth century. They knew the secret that their boss was an "Immortal," and through him, they had also learned about the Mimics' characteristics in advance.

Sui Yang sat near the cockpit, dressed and equipped no differently from the mercenaries beside him.

Of course, Sui Yang could have worn a baseball cap, or dispensed with any helmet or protective headgear to emphasize his special status...

But joining his trusted subordinates on this mission was already a risky yet necessary decision. Adding a personal touch to his appearance would be tantamount to telling the enemy, "Come kill me!"

Although individual Mimics lacked self-awareness and intelligence, they could still identify who was in command.

Sui Yang checked that the safety on his personal 1911 was engaged, then returned it to the holster strapped to his right thigh.

Then he turned his left arm slightly and checked the moving map on the tablet strapped to the inside of his forearm, confirming that the formation was five kilometers from the Louvre.

The three crew members manning the .50-caliber rotary machine guns on either side of the cabin and at the tail, their helmets equipped with HUDs, noticed that they were about to reach the target area. They immediately heightened their vigilance and placed their thumbs on the firing buttons.

"Incoming! Get ready!"

"Brrr—zzzz!!!"

As the AH-1W's gunner issued a warning over the communications channel, the distinctive, crisp, "melodious" roar of rotary machine guns filled the air inside and outside the cabin.

"Everyone." As combat suddenly erupted, Sui Yang spoke to everyone participating in the operation through the headset connected to his handheld radio. "You are the core of Atlas, the elite. It is an honor to work with you. I have only two things to say: first, we will win this battle; second, you're getting a raise when we return. And finally...

"Kill every alien bastard that stands in our way, except the Alphas!"

"Hooah!"

"Attention, all personnel!" the UH-53E's pilot shouted over the communications channel. "Landing in thirty seconds!"

Meanwhile, the scene outside the cabin was quite "spectacular," though it was no display of fireworks and firecrackers set off to celebrate New Year's Day.

The flashes and explosions surrounding and erupting among the helicopters came from guns and autocannons pouring dense streams of ammunition toward the ground, and from Mimics that kept half their bodies buried in the soil while firing "energy projectiles" from their cores.

The escorting AH-1W, equipped with a three-barreled 20 mm autocannon and four 70 mm rocket pods, provided the formation's main firepower.

Boom! Boom!

The AH-1W blasted the Mimics and the ground concealing them into the air.

The four UH-1s deliberately surrounding and shielding the UH-53E had long since opened their doors on both sides, allowing crew members manning 7.62 mm or .50-caliber machine guns and mercenaries wielding their own weapons to suppress the ground below.

In the film, Omega had not expected any humans to discover its hiding place, so the defenses it deployed around Paris were not particularly dense. That had given William Cage and the others their opening.

Although the same held true in reality, "not particularly dense" still meant hundreds of thousands of enemies.

For people living in a peaceful world, thirty seconds would pass in a blink—just enough time to scroll through a couple of videos. For the helicopter formation, however, it felt interminable.

BOOM!!

Faced with the dense barrage of antiaircraft fire, a UH-1 on the formation's right failed to evade in time. Energy projectiles struck its tail and cockpit, triggering a violent explosion that sent the shattered fuselage spinning toward the ground.

The AH-1W providing the main fire support drew even more focused attacks from the Mimics. It became a fireball in an instant, and the explosion also caught another UH-1H.

But the Glass Pyramid was already in sight.

Despite being caught in the blast and barely staying aloft, that UH-1H managed, under its two pilots' control, to crash-land near the Little Triumphal Arch west of the Louvre.

Several mercenaries immediately climbed out of the cabin. Some staggered to their feet, while others slapped their helmets hard, trying to clear their heads.

Within seconds, the crash survivors recovered and used the UH-1H's wreckage and the nearby low walls around the landscaped grounds as cover, exchanging fire with Mimics approaching from the distance.

They were not the only ones. The remaining UH-1Hs and the UH-53E also successfully reached the plaza north of the Glass Pyramid.

"Go, go, go!"

The moment the three helicopters touched down, mercenaries poured out of their cabins.

"Hudson! Hicks! Move your fat asses! Take your people twenty meters east and north, and hold those positions!"

An officer whose shoulder insignia bore two red bars, and whose appearance closely resembled Arthur Morgan's, immediately issued orders.

The thirty-odd mercenaries who received those instructions split into two groups and rapidly advanced east and north. About twenty meters from the landing zone, they spread out and took up defensive positions, establishing interlocking fields of fire with the crash site near the Little Triumphal Arch and the landing zone to maximize their killing power.

At the same time, the three helicopters, having finished "unloading their passengers," took off again and circled above the Louvre, providing fire support for the ground forces.

"Pete! Hall! Keep your people here. Everyone else, come with me and escort the boss to the target location."

Once the officer finished giving his orders, the remaining mercenaries, numbering fewer than sixty, likewise split into two groups. Some stayed behind to guard the landing zone.

The others formed three-man teams, maintaining roughly six meters of spacing as they escorted the officer and Sui Yang swiftly toward the Glass Pyramid.

The pyramid's interior, which should have been clean, bright, and filled with artwork, had been reduced to a dilapidated wreck by the war.

Splash! Splash!

Water poured through the broken glass like a waterfall onto the cracked floor tiles. Before it could pool, gravity and the slope carried it toward a collapsed pit in the center of the hall, where something seemed to have smashed through the floor.

Thud! Thud!

The heavy tread of combat boots echoed through the space.

The mercenaries entered in turns, keeping their muzzles trained on their assigned sectors as they spread out, still in three-man teams.

Two teams had no need to check the hall for threats. They went straight to the collapsed pit and gathered around its edges. Peering down, they saw an underground parking garage twenty meters below.

That was the hiding place of the Mimic brain, Omega.

(End of chapter)