There had been a small mishap, but in the end, we ended up locked in a prolonged standoff with the enemy.
Well, with Manager Dante's clock and K Corp's ampoules in play, it would have been stranger if we'd been pushed back.
The problem was that our attack power wasn't exactly high either, so we couldn't force them back very well... Hm?
"Everyone, focus! Reinforcements have arrived!!"
Shurenne appeared from the adjacent laboratory, shouting at the top of her lungs.
So they finished cleaning up over there quickly? Did they have someone competent with them?
"W-who are those people?"
"Yeah, who are they~ Shurenne? Did you make new friends without me?"
By my guess, the competent people—more precisely, the group accompanying them—were with Shurenne.
Their clothing and armaments were unified into a few categories, and they all used a single color family overall.
Considering K Corp's current situation and Shurenne's position in handling them... was this a separately hired Fixer office?
"They're the Fixers from the Rose Spanner Workshop that's been collaborating with our research lab this time. You've been going back and forth several times, so remember their faces."
So it was a workshop. Too bad. Wait.
...That guy didn't even know the workshop he'd been collaborating with several times existed?
"Greetings. I'm Nico, the head of the Rose Spanner Workshop."
A man in somewhat unusual clothing greeted us. His hair was two-toned, white at the roots and turning red toward the ends.
His outfit was, overall, the same pinkish-red color scheme as the other Rose Spanner Fixers. He wore a coat and a pale dress shirt that made the color stand out especially strongly, with darker trousers to contrast.
Even the tips of his hair stuck up in a bizarre style, reaching about ear height on both sides... The City really is vast, and there are a lot of strange people.
The Technology Liberation Alliance members who had been facing us went pale, apparently not having expected reinforcements to arrive.
"Boring. Let's go."
"What? Yeah... let's go."
Ah, the people who had openly instigated the incident were running away.
"As expected, they were all scared off by our 'force'... heh..."
...His personality is as strange as his appearance. Is that Force the one from that famous Star Wars series?
"Thanks, Shurenne. For the first time, I actually thought you might take next year's Best Department Award."
"What are you going to do now that all those fancy plaques of yours got smashed to pieces?"
"Shurenne, I trust you didn't come all the way here just to wait until everything was destroyed."
"This much is fine. As long as the photos are intact."
"Seeing it firsthand, the damage is worse than I heard... It was a situation where the researchers could have all been killed."
As Gregor said, the death toll was relatively low, and it had been described as a fairly small-scale terror attack, but this one was on a much larger scale.
If they're this competent, that's a problem...
"Yes, and precisely because of that, we need to wipe them out as quickly as possible and reclaim the stolen laboratory."
"Why doesn't K Corp... provide support?"
"Hm... well, because they have to hide the fact that something like this happened right in the middle of a Nest, don't they?"
...Would that really be the reason? If so, they should have swiftly suppressed it the moment an [Abnormality] appeared in the middle of the Nest.
Come to think of it, if researchers are dying and they still aren't sending support just to hide an embarrassing incident in the Nest... something about that still feels off.
I can feel something sticky and rotten that I shouldn't dig into any further.
In the first place, a terror attack in the middle of a Nest could probably be smoothed over with a few rounds of publicity using that man Siegfried, and things would settle down well enough...
In many ways, it doesn't make sense.
"I'll set aside the matter involving the Feather of Innocence, but this time it concerns researchers tied to K Corp and a related laboratory..."
"Even if it's connected to the home ground, isn't it just the sort of thing they'd rather keep shrouded in smoke?"
"..."
...Let's stop digging too deeply. Uncovering and rummaging through the secrets of a Wing isn't exactly helpful if you want to keep living. Besides, the scale of this is too big for me to do anything about.
"Anyway, with that said, I'll make sure to bring plenty of regeneration ampoules, even enough for all of you. Starting out now should be just right, yes?"
"Dongrang, this isn't some outing... are you sure that's okay?"
"Yes. Seeing all of you fight in person makes me feel even more at ease about going with you."
"For reference... even if you observe us, the technique used by Manager Dante is in the realm of restoration, which is different in nature from K Corp's ampoule regeneration.
So it won't be of much help in analyzing K Corp's Singularity or the ampoule formulas."
"Restoration, not healing..."
...That sounds ominous. Unsettlingly so.
"What, are you planning to do industrial espionage just because you saw Manager Dante's ability, like some stingy boss running a Boddhisattva Chicken shop?!"
"I don't do things like that. I'm not the type to force down something I can't even digest."
"In your case, it'd be normal to send subordinates skilled in combat. Why insist on the front line? Are you trying to get a commendation or something?"
"No, it's just that there are quite a few things I left there without managing to bring along.
The commemorative photo for three consecutive years of excellence, the K Corp appreciation trophy, the lab expansion commemorative photo... what else was there, Samjo?"
"...There were confidential documents related to the research..."
"...So you wanted to bring back what you had received, rather than what you had been given."
"Ah, right. I forgot that too."
"So you just rushed out while barely keeping your body intact..."
"Dongrang, that bastard probably hasn't thrown a punch in his life. What a carefree guy. At least bring some Fixers like I did."
"Shurenne, are you going too?
Even if this operation succeeds, your department won't gain anything from it."
"...Three of my coworkers died. In that last terror attack.
It means I've lost too much to keep moving only by weighing profit and loss."
Ah...
"Shurenne..."
Samjo drew out the words, sounding genuinely regretful.
So that person had empathy too...
"In that case, will the travel expenses for those Fixers be paid by Shurenne's department..."
-Thwack!
"Damn it, is that really what you should be saying right now?"
"Ahem. That was a fairly important matter.
Now then, back to the main point: the Lobotomy Corporation branch we need to reclaim is not far from here.
Let's move together."
"I wanted to ride the bus you all came on at least once... what a shame."
"I'll let you ride it next time. Let's get moving."
...Samjo, why are you the one saying that?
"Huh? Who gave you permission...?!"
"Now, we don't have time for this. Let's go already."
...What an absurd man.
"Aren't you all coming? The penalties for breach of contract are..."
"Ugh, fine! I'm coming!"
...With Heathcliff's irritated words as the end of it, we were pushed out and left K Corp's headquarters.
Maybe because what Dongrang had said about being our fan was at least partly true, the mission was noisier than usual.
"So then~ right after I put the chip down, I said this."
Rodion's bus-life greatest-achievement bragging was always the same story whenever it came up.
"All-in."
"Ha... I'm sick of hearing it... I've developed motion sickness that didn't even exist before."
"The person in question seems happy, so isn't that enough?"
"Ha... well, it's hard to spit on a smiling face."
"As expected, there's nothing better than playing draw poker at J Corp's casino. The idiots who just sit around on slot machines are all morons."
Oh, Nico. You seem to know your stuff. Sure enough, slot machines have no fun, no emotion, no efficiency, and not even a decent chance of winning money.
"What, is there something shady about slot machines?"
"This is information I've never told anyone, but..."
"Wait, tell me more..."
...Heathcliff's concentration always rises whenever money comes up.
When it's something unrelated to him, there's no bigger brat than this guy.
"Ha... everyone's letting their guard down again..."
"How are people supposed to stay tense all the time? Sometimes you need to loosen up like this."
"That may be true, but..."
"Then that settles it. Isn't this nice in its own way?"
"Ugh..."
"Come on, come on. Don't be so harsh and just enjoy it."
"Hmph... just this once."
"You won't keep me company next time?"
"...Anyway! Just this once."
"Heh..."
"Don't laugh!"
Ishmael does have a cute side to her. She's fun to tease, too.
She usually looks so strict, but she actually has her share of openings.
In many ways, I can't deny that she's a precious comrade in bus life.
...A little more precious than the others.
"Not. Like. It."
"(They say they don't like it.)"
<(I know.)>
...What are those two up to again?
We can all hear them anyway, so why bother whispering to each other?
...Anyway, the operation proceeded slowly, and leisurely.
At the same time, it moved forward with a creeping, deeply unpleasant feeling.