The Six Guns

Chapter Thirty: What Has Passed

It was now December 5th, 2192. The Six Guns crew left Demetri and Robin with Vivi, although she was not happy about it. Tanya was too busy taking care of her daughter to come out regularly, and the rest of the crew once again went to Japan to gather the Ueda sisters.
  "But why can't you just call them again?" Finn asks Holly.
  "Because" Holly explains, "I can track them down when we get to Japan by reconnecting to their cellular service by proximity. Last time I called Satomi's phone, I got ahold of her phone model by abusing her frequent internet activity under her legal name. I never used her phone number and I'll need an access point to do that again. And since her phone is likely using cellular data rather than WiFi all the time, it'd be a lot easier to access it through the same cellular service that she uses. She's not the only one with that phone model, so it'll be hard to guess which phone is hers from a WiFi access point anyways. The cell data narrows that search for me".
Scratching his head, Finn replies "Yeah... I understood exactly none of that".
"Then why did you even ask?" Holly asks. To which Finn replies by shrugging his shoulders.
"Wait a minute" Siran asks, "how'd you even figure out their phone model and service? Did you peek into their phone at some point when we weren't looking?".
"It helped, didn't it?" Holly replies.

The next day, the crew arrived in Shibuya. Shortly after getting there, Holly spent a little time on her laptop tracking down Satomi's phone again. There may or may not have been a few wrong numbers called, but eventually, Satomi picked up.
"Is this Satomi Ueda?" Holly asks.
"Who's asking?" Satomi calls back through the phone.
"Holly Jeong" Holly says, "remember me?".
"Holly... Holly..." Satomi says to herself as she tries to recall. "Oh! You mean The Six Guns Holly?".
"The very same" Holly replies.
"Oh my god, how've you guys been?" Satomi asks.
"Still alive, I guess" Holly says unenthusiastically. "Listen, we need to meet up with you and your sister at the cafe we met at".
"Alright" Satomi says, "can do... but may I ask why?".
Before answering, Holly hangs up on Satomi by closing her laptop. The crew went to wait at the cafe. Finn, Alex and Rose all fell asleep from jet lag while waiting. The Ueda sisters arrive to see half of the team asleep on the table.
"What's up with them?" Mikoto asks as they arrive.
"Jet lag, I think" Siran replies.
"If it were jet lag" Satomi asks, "then why have only half of you fallen asleep?".
"Insomnia" Holly says.
"Same" Siran adds.
"I'm just used to feeling tired all the time" Zia says.
As Zia finishes talking, Rose wakes up and begin to lift her head off of the table. When she looks up, she jumps at Satomi and Mikoto, hugging both of them at the same time. "I missed you guys!" She yells.
"Ha ha, nice to see you too" Mikoto says.
"Cool glasses" Satomi says while laughing softly.
"Oh" Rose says as she finally stops hugging them both, "these aren't glasses. They're my eyes now".
"Oh right" Satomi says, "Because you are... are-"
"Blind" Rose says, "you can say it. It's not like not speaking the truth makes it any less fortunate".
"Right..." Satomi agrees.
Rose ends up waking up the rest of the crew that was sleeping. Finn and Alex groan as they awaken. Finn raises his head with his eyes still half closed and says "Oh, hey guys". He then yawns and he and Alex try to sit upright.
"Anyways" Satomi says as her and Mikoto sit down at the table with them, "what did you guys need us here for? We didn't even know you guys were in Japan again".
Siran folds his hands on top of the table as he says "We need to gather the entire crew and make a move on The Ly'Lum. We're planning on striking straight into Omnia, and we need all the manpower we can muster".
"Are you planning on attacking directly at the capital already?" Mikoto asks.
"Not yet" Siran says, "there will be several bases and fortresses set up to prevent invasions from the outside. Going straight for the heart will only cause unnecessary casualties. I still feel bad enough for letting you two and Rose get severely injured before, so I won't stand for letting anyone kill you if I can prevent it".
"It's not your fault that happened" Satomi says, "bad things are bound to happen. It's naive to think that you can go through life without several rough patches".
"Yeah" Mikoto adds, "besides, with more people to lead and protect, it gets harder to protect everyone".
"They're right" Zia says, "no one blames you for it. Besides, you saved her life".
Mikoto nods in agreement as Siran hangs his head low, still feeling a sense of defeat. "So what's the plan, Siran?" Mikoto asks.
"Well" Siran says, "I'm thinking we push them from the outermost fortifications, moving from north to south, pushing their forces back more and more. Although they may be able to prepare a large counter attack once cornered, the more we can push their authority back, the more holding ground we have to retreat to. That way, if we ever need to, we can retreat without being circled in and enclosed. It gives us room for error, even if only a little room. Just in case things don't go as planned".
"Always have a plan B" Alex says.
"That's right" Siran agrees.
"Sounds good to me" Satomi says. "There's still war in Japan, but the war has settled enough for the citizens to not have to be involved. I'd say our job here can afford to be put on pause, since now we have the JGSDF (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force) handling most of the fighting. Shortly after the attack on the base, the news passed it off as 'negotiations with the alliance of Omnia breaking down' and their military reacting aggressively towards the nation as backlash. So it appears as if it's a completely justified reason to fight back with military power. That's when our task forces responded. It'd be best now if we don't get civilians here involved anymore".
"War takes time to resolve" Siran says, "but glad to hear the nation is done taking their abuse".
"We also had the opportunity to fight alongside the SAT (Special Assault Team)" Mikoto adds. "To The Ly'Lum, The Six Guns are terrorists... but to Japan, we're like heroes! At the very least, we may be able to get in contact with them again in the future and request assistance in the war in Omnia. They're a branch of the police force, so they can't officially deploy in other countries unless under extreme circumstances. With that in mind, if the war gets too rough for the world to handle, it'd be reasonable for task forces like those to deploy".
"That's actually really helpful" Alex says, "good job!".
"They were impressed by Mikoto's sudden ability to handle lots of magic after leaving the hospital" Satomi says. "With that reason, they labeled us as 'usable assets' and permitted us to fight in only one situation here in Shibuya. But only once... so I wouldn't depend on it so much".
"Good to know" Siran says, "I'll keep it in mind".
"Wait a minute" Finn says, "is no one alarmed by the fact that Mikoto suddenly got more magic from being hospitalized?".
"Oh, I gave her that magic" Siran says. "When I tried to resuscitate her while she was in a coma, I used a shock from a sudden burst of magic to manipulate her internal organs for a second, rather than actually shocking her".
"You can do that!?" Satomi asks. "Can you give other people magic without it manipulating or whatever?".
"Sure I can" Siran says, "I've done it for the rest of the crew too".
"C-can... can you do that to me too?" Satomi asks.
Without saying a word, Siran extends his hand, with that usual black smoke-like substance emitting from his hand. Satomi slowly reaches out, then firmly grabs his hand. The smoke goes into her hand and disappears.
"I don't feel any different" Satomi says.
"You usually don't" Siran says.
"Oh" Satomi replies, sounding a little disappointed.