Unit HAZE

Part 3

Part 3
The eight so-called 'higher ups' merely stared at the four who were brought to them. Marika tried her bet to avoid their gazes, whilst the other three tried their best to take them head on.
"Now," started an old woman, "care to tell me why my country's capital had been half destroyed?" She was the representative of the U.K. Her name was Eleanor. Her curly grey hair emphasised her age, but she still looked rather spry for an old woman. She must've been in her early to late sixties.
"To get to that, we should first review the events that had led up to the incident." Responded one of the Americans, Jacob Silverback. He was a little younger than Eleanor, with spectacles sitting on his nose.
"Very well." Said Eleanor, looking displeased.
"Before we begin; may I ask for the name of the young girl? I do not recognise her." Cut in a hispanic man with chiseled features. He was the second American: Ricardo Guatze. His light brown, if not golden hair resembled a lion's mane.
"U-ummm........! M-my name is Shifune Marika. I'm Izuka-kun's g-girlfriend."
All of the higher ups went silent and stared at Izuka as though he had done something wrong.
"Tsubachi-kun, is it true that you have relations with this girl?" Asked the second Japanese representative: Hichiro Kumei. He looked to be in his twenties, just older than Keisaku.
"Yes. Although it is prohibited, I am currently in a relationship with an outsider. However, I ask that we leave this subject, and continue with the matter at hand."
"But Tsubachi, this is a clear violation of-"
"I said to leave it!" Izuka shouted, silencing to young Russian girl who was speaking: Svetlana Urtgrad.
Izuka soon realised that he had raised his voice, and shrunk back into his seat. "I'm sorry, my lady."
"And so you should be! I could order your death as quickly as humanly possible, so I suggest you hold your tongue!" She sounded like a spoiled child. She was actually a real Russian princess. In her irritation, she played with her fluffy blonde hair that almost glowed in the white environment.
"Lady Svetlana, I advise that we do as Tsubachi-kun requests. Judging from that look in his eyes, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you try to take this girl away. But that doesn't mean that that won't happen." Said the Chinese man: Xiang Pao.
"Leaving that matter aside; I believe we would all like to hear the full story from the very beginning." Said Ricardo Guatze.
"Then I shall begin." Began Keisaku. "November 26th, 20:34pm. The members of the HAZE unit were dispatched to remove any traces of robotic life support suits, known as exo-bodies. The operation went smoothly, until one of said exo-bodies activated itself and attacked. Once the attacker was neutralised, no further events occurred on that day." He stopped his explanation to take a short breath.
(Eh? November 26th? Wasn't that when Izuka-kun asked to take me to England? So, he fought a robot less than an hour before meeting me.............) with distant eyes, she stared at Izuka. She was amazed at how clueless she was, and at how readily she had accepted it all.
"After the events, Izuka took the liberty to travel to the UK to seek out Urushiro Haruke for information regarding a camera we had discovered aboard the exo-body. However, Izuka decided to travel via normal means, with Marika-san as his traveling companion." He relaxed back into his chair, letting out an inaudible sigh as he did. "At this point, I cannot explain the events, so I must pass the baton to someone who can." His face turned in the direction of Haruke, who was currently twiddling with his thumbs, paying no attention to anything.
Just as someone was going to alert him that it was his turn to speak, the pompous Svetlana Urtgrad spoke first.
"So, this means you also knew of the illegal relationship. Things don't look good for anyone in your unit." She said in her usual, snobby voice, as if she were looking down on absolutely everyone.
"Hmph! I mean no disrespect lady Svetlana, but now is not the time nor place to bring this up! Yes, our whole unit knew of the relationship. No, we didn't report it. Why? Because they're two young people in love. If you really are as much of a bitch as I know you can be, I know that you will try to take Izuka out of the underground. But I also know that he would personally resign before you could manage it. He would, and has, chosen that girl over this place, and I think you should respect that. Beware. Although you may just see him as a disposable tool, he is easily the most advanced and most powerful out of all the unit members. Remember that before you act all high and mighty." Unexpectedly, Keisaku, the sensible and mature one who knew his place, came to Izuka's defence. But he had just spoken out of line to one of the higher ups; and lady Svetlana no less. The punishment for such an act............
"No disrespect? You have downright insulted me! I should have you executed where you sit!" Screamed the princess at the top of her lungs.
"But you won't, will you, my lady?"
"Tch. Keisaku, I wish you weren't here. But just because I won't hurt you, don't think Tsubachi is safe!" Unexpectedly, she did not react further than getting angry. Even the other higher ups were surprised at how mellow she was being with Keisaku; even using his first name.
"Keisaku, do you and lady Svetlana know each other?"
"We have...............a past history."
"Even though I hate you, I also hate how you call it something so simple. It was a big part of my life.............." Lady Svetlana muttered to herself, with it not reaching the ears of anyone but Keisaku.
"Hmmhmm!" The sound of Haruke clearing his throat broke the silence that had enveloped the room. Everyone soon remembered that it was his turn to speak.
"Back to the matter at hand. Urushiro-kun, please tell us your story." Spoke the gentle and caring member of the higher ups, Rinko Chisaki, the Japanese beauty.
"Izuka-senpai came to see me after arriving in the UK. He informed me of the situation and asked me if I had knowledge of anything similar happening to my own unit."
"And did you?"
"Yes. A week before the visit, my unit, ENIGMA, was dispatched to deal with DemonHeart, a technology different and yet similar to the aforementioned 'exo-bodies'. During that assignment, I discovered nanobotic cameras, observing how we operated. After examination with my own nanobots, I discovered that they had been active for about a month, with information on every unit but HAZE." Haruke stopped for a moment and cracked his neck. "With the goal of examining the defeated exo-body acquired by HAZE, my unit went to Japan. Tatsuro deemed that they were indeed life support suits, but more forced the inhabitant to live, rather than just keep them alive. Whilst waiting for a full analysis, I went off to investigate something else. You see, I discovered that-"
"Wait," Jacob Silverback cut him off for some reason. "What suit? I thought that all suits were taken into a research lab."
"That defeated suit was left in our care. We decided on doing our own research, since it was unlikely that we would hear from the research teams."
"You're such a rebellious young man, aren't you?"
"Call me what you will..............."
"A-anyway! By monitoring the use of the harmony cube, I determined there to be excessive usage in Japan, so I investigated. There, I discovered the plan to attack Izuka-senpai and the UK, as well as various simulations and calculations about different technologies used to gather information, such as the exo-bodies and DemonHeart. But Izuka-senpai was not originally a target. Rather, an 'unpredicted factor' had resulted in him residing in the UK at the planned time of attack. Due to him being the sole defender, the subject 'Cerebra' was given the objective of killing him, instead of just going on a blind rampage."
Everyone, save for Keisaku and Marika, stiffened inadvertently from hearing the name 'Cerebra'. Even Haruke stiffened, and he was the person who said it. She had left that much of a mark on the entire underground.
"I hurriedly made my way to the UK, but I was stuck fighting a group of three robotic suits, similar to the exo-bodies."
"Alone?"
"At first, but Keisaku and Izuka-senpai arrived later."
"Wait," everyone looked shocked as they turned to Marika of all people. "Don't you people have some amazing security? Like guard bots or something? How would an attack on a technologically advanced organisation even be possible?" They hated to admit it, but they had all overlooked a simple fact.
Earls were used to guard underground entrances and testing facilities.
So then a question was raised.
Why did they not fight back once the attack had started?
"Urushiro-kun, did you see any Earls on the scene?"
He shook his head. "Not a single one."
"So then, why would the Earls not protect the entrance?"
"Perhaps they chose not to?" Marika inquired with unease in her voice.
"No. The first Earl law is to protect the underground. They wouldn't disobey of their own free will. No command can override this law."
"I think I know." Everyone turned back to Haruke. "Is it possible that someone could 'hack' into the network connecting the Earls, and shut them off?"
"Impossible!" Shouted Jacob. "Only we have access codes to the network! And that network is unhackable! Are you seriously going to accuse US of something!?"
"Then, what if someone messed with the Earls back when they were being built? Somehow managing to give themselves priority over the first law, and any subsequent laws?"
"Even more impossible!" Shouted the other American.
"Enough!" The voice of Eleanor, which was much louder than expected of an old woman, put an end to the useless shouting. "I want to hear the story of how this happened. The Earls were inactive? We'll get to that later! Let the children continue!!" Every single person but Eleanor shrunk into nothingness. Hell hath no fury like an angry Eleanor.
"I-I guess it's my turn?" Marika readied her speaking voice and began part three of the 'what happened to England' tale. "During our own time, Izuka-kun and I went on the London eye-"
"A wise choice. I always found the eye to be a very romantic place." Eleanor, despite being the one to want the story to continue, began drifting off into a strange fantasy of her youth.
"M-miss Eleanor, could we hear her first, then you fantasise?" Xiang Pao did his best to snap her out of it, but she refused to be interrupted. They decided it best to continue without her input.
"However, something struck the eye, and I fell. Somehow, Izuka-kun saved me, then went to investigate. I saw him fighting with someone strange, and then, as the eye was about to fall, he saved everyone. After we met back up, he asked me to take him to where that other fight was happening."
"Your input seems rather vague at best. Why did we not hear this part from Tsubachi-kun himself?" Asked Kumei.
"I have............no memory of events between saving Marika-chan and meeting up with her afterwards."
"Why so?"
"I prefer not to say............"
"Izuka-kun?"
"Don't ask." His words resounded several times amidst the silence they had created. Even the fantasising Eleanor was caught of guard by his menacing tone, so much so that she decided it best to keep with the story for her own safety.
"........I-"
"I guess the baton goes back to me then." Keisaku interrupted before she could say any more.
"I arrived after receiving a message from Haruke. We defeated two of the robots, but one fired a last shot at us. It was a metal object launched at supersonic speeds via magnetism. A railgun, if you will. However, Izuka saved us with his own ability, even after being weakened in his earlier battle. I heard that he lifted the entirety of the eye with that very same power. I have new respect for him."
"""""""".........................."""""""" the entirety of the higher ups was awestruck. To lift such a large mass alone...................
"W-well, that's what happened." Izuka, embarrassed, shrugged his shoulders and smiled wryly.
"I-I see." Eleanor regained her empress air. "Well, all that remains is to find out why the Earls were inactive, how Cerebra made it into the Country undetected, and who organised the entire incident."
"I'm afraid we can answer none of those at the moment." Keisaku said.
"Then, I think you four should get some rest. You've done us a great service. As reward, you may each have the harmony cube do one calculation or simulation. Do with it what you will." Announced the ever-kind Chisaki.
The four looked around, and all the others were nodding, though some like lady Svetlana did so hesitantly. They were free to go, just like that.
"Wait, Tsubachi-kun."
"?"
"We will not pursue further about that girl. But if she gets too involved, it's either memory wipe or death for her."
"..............I understand."
"Also, is she-?"
"Say the words 'pregnant' or 'honeymoon' and I swear to god, I'll destroy this entire base."
"My, my. It seems I've struck a nerve."
"Shut up."