In This Together

  Zyckevele had been a superpower longer than ANS, having been formed by the Zyck Nation, taking over the Orcs and Pontians' territories, and well-integrating the Lenovo Empire and Veil Kingdom. Thus, as Fox looked around and found just 8 guards on each side, he didn't become surprised when he saw over 2 dozen high NUAs behind a glass wall in a 3 meters tall shelf each behind the wall.

  These weren’t for show only. The moment they were needed, be it immediate defense or to take them out, PR agents would bolt and counterattack. Similarly, the guards all had a set of the northeast’s assault rifle and submachine gun.

  The Northern Blade, NB. It may not have the longest range, but it is truly powerful. As amazing its fire rate might be, its spread is far too much when untrained. Its effective range is of 687 meters, ammunition feed from 25 to 30, 75, and 110. It has a thick rear, a stable but regular and ‘flexible’ barrel, and is mostly black metallic.

  The Northern Snowflake, NS. It’s a most-liked submachine gun, although that is also because it is especially seen within the organized crime.

  It is very light, and is the small sister of the NB, but it has a slightly hard barrel and a retractable tool on its rear, not just as a stock. The stock can be used for the weapon and user’s protection. From firing all-out, to potentially getting hit, and can even be used as a climbing auxiliary aid. It has an effective range of 240 meters and a feed system ranging from 20 to 30 and 40.

  Such are the northeastern firearms, top-notch, that have ruled over the Twilight supercontinent for a couple of hundred years, getting a notorious improvement every several decades or dozens of years. Being a special agent, they had excellent use of both during any combat.

  “Since you left your bags with the rest of your agents, maybe we can finally get to something serious.” After walking past the guards, still facing them and tracing her steps backwards, Lemyonova stopped and dusted her attire before looking at up Fox.

  “…:” Fox replied with his usual silence. Lemyonova didn’t mind, continuing, “We have reunited to work in coordination, aren’t we? For decades, before and after the Green Humanism, Lymoca and Zyckevele have only continued to know each other better. Now, we’re almost allies. It’s a fact. But this time, we are doing more, and both of our sides expect initial loyalty.”

  “So, why don’t we begin on taking that step? You’ve let your bags behind, but if you could be kind to drop all the hidden SMs with you, and those few pistols, I assure you my side would feel glad. At ease.” Lemyonova proposed, signaling to the floor afterwards.

  “…” Fox gazed at the Zyck President’s daughter for a while. The guards at the sides were patient, not even directing their gazes at him or the other PSD agents behind him. Fox blinked before flinging his right arm a little, letting some SMs drop from his sleeve unto the floor.

  Clack, clack, clank… Fox wordlessly let go of his little, dangerous, lethal and penetrating devices, followed by the other District’s agents, making a drum out of the floor. He kept looking at Lemyonova before speaking, crossing his arms as he did.

  “Your side feels safe now, right? If Paved Road could make these processes much shorter, stop playing ‘do we trust each other?’, and show their sincerity from hereon— then we’d feel more willing to work with you with all our capabilities.” Fox released his arms after stating.

  “Hoh, I see,” Lemyonova crossed her arms and nodded, her voice sounding a little manly this time. At the side, Socolov grinned like a fool, only for a few moments. Naturally, the elite PSD gents noticed before it went away.

  “This is the first time both hoogs work together directly, and you’re also been granted direct communications with our government. Don’t you think it should be like this? Going out with our heads feeling a bit too free… we must have our backs tensed, backed with each other’s.” Lemyonova added and took a few steps towards Fox.

  “It makes a little sense,” Fox nodded after tilting his head a bit. He formed an improvised bag with the clothes on his SA uniform to pick up the SMs. The other agents did the same before Lemyonova nodded with her eyes closed, “Please follow me, dearest guests.”

  A few agents, including Fox, jumped their eyebrows before following the young woman. The guards were left behind, with the small group advancing through PR’s HQ. Fox received wide-eyed, surprised, and respectful gazes as they walked. Some nodded and silently welcomed them but were still amazed to see him.

  Ignoring the looks and feeling Nala and Esmeralda’s hands graze against his from time to time, they were led into a wide open room, looking a lot like any other sophisticated war room would look like. This time, with the necessities and fashion of the secret world, and of higher caliber.

  There were several tables, and levels, which were more like platforms sticking out of the floor here and there, with each having their own staircase. There was 1 in the middle that was smaller but had a high-tech smaller table in the middle, yet the people around it spread away from it.

  They went to that platform, only needing to walk up the stairs for a couple of seconds. It was tiny, considering the tallest platforms were up to 15 meters tall. A bit too much.

  Fox looked up as he reached the top, lowering his chin once he walked into the small platform, meeting the gazes of those in the highest seats of Paved Road. A couple of them even made Fox feel he was meeting 2 Butlers, albeit one of them wasn’t as formidable and steel-like.

  There was a blond middle-aged man with small black eyes. His height was regular, but his shape was muscular, bulky even. This was one of the 2 who gave Fox a similar sensation like Butler does.

  The other, weaker than the former 2, was a creamy-white middle-aged man. While the blond was nearing his old age, the latter was still in his prime. The latter had light brown eyes and a short military haircut. He was tall and also muscular.

  “Uncle Makory, uncle Lean. These are PSD’s elite. I can tell and promise you there is only sincerity in their visit here. We should get to work as soon as we can, can we?” Lemyonova walked to them and half-bowed her head to them, first to the blond, then to the military man. Her face was adorned with a sweet smile, and her eyes radiated sweetness alone.

  “…” Makory looked at Lemyonova with a silent, thin smile before turning his head to Fox at a regular pace. He nodded ever so slightly and a few times with his hands behind his back. The other man, ‘uncle’ Lean, stepped up and stated with his arms at his sides.

  “Welcome to Pave Road, and most importantly, to Zyckevele’s Radical Wars.” Lean began, “The man beside me is the Road’s leader, Makory Keselyov. Raging Blood, Fox— it’s a pleasure to meet you and this generation’s greatest Piya Sanctum District’s combatants.”

  “I thank you for the welcome, but that’s a bit too much kiss up.” Fox walked to the table and stopped at the same distance they were away from it. He then gave PR leader a glance before looking at Lean, “Sub-leader of Paved Road, aren’t you?”

  “Lean Somirnov,” Lean tilted his head in a greeting. Fox added, “And you’re the main communication channel to PR for the Zyck President.”

  “Not the President.” Lean corrected. He stopped and considered for a moment before carrying on, “Since we’re… we’re working together now, I will tell you. PR’s main communication person to the government is Levedeva Orlova. I trust you met her before coming here.”

  “I see.” Fox semi-crossed his arms, giving his elbows some caresses. Lean nodded and presented the other 2 around the table to Fox and the elite PSD agents. “These are our members, they are equivalent to representative captains, if you will it.”

  “You’ve met Socolov already, he’s also like them.” Laen gave Socolov a look before pressing his lips and continuing, “This is Kusmina Golubev and Nikitina Belyaev.”

  Both were female. Kusmina had pale white skin and long black hair. She was slender, with natural red lips. To PSD’s trained eyes, she looked a bit agile and quite fast.

  Nikitina was more of a beauty and delicate, but also seemed exponentially more lethal. She had freckled, white skin, almond black eyes, and sparkly bright red, smooth long hair. She had a regular height, looking sweet. A delicate beauty; but only in appearance.

  “In a few minutes, we’ll go up and meet with you again to delve in your participation and our cooperation’s involvement in the war.” Makory Kiselyov stepped closer to the table. “So far, Orcesta and Fresna have violated the HLS, but it is too tame and under all radars, nothing to justify our secret world’s involvement yet.”

  Fox’s eyes focused. Nala tilted her slightly lowered chin to Fox, while Esmeralda also focused. Kusmina continued where Makory left it, walking to the table and tapping the air, whereas a holographic, of more or less quality, projected from the table, following her hands’ movements.

  “Orcesta is starting to overtake territory. The army is ceding them that right. Evacuation has been completed, and dozens of the northwestern cities are as empty as possible. They’ve entered some border cities at first, but they were expelled by the stationed special forces.”

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  “Their hoogs also attacked, snatching people and sowing disorder everywhere, alongside fear.” Nikitina stepped up and helped with the briefing, while Kusmina continued moving her hands and showing what Nikitina spoke of.

  The world map, untouched until the 26th with the First Ters-Ly War, showed how Orcesta and Fresna advanced from their borders into Zyckevele. They moved together, practically as one, and more obvious than not, as if one party had orchestrated this.

  Fox narrowed his eyes. He didn’t say anything, however. What was obvious was obvious. He only needed vital information to know how to operate. Nikitina went on, “Our hoog also took care of theirs, repelling them back to their original borders.”

  “The populace was rescued from their hands, as they only sought to cause fear, but seeing how fearless they were… We are lucky we moved quickly.” Nikitina waved her hands high, having to tiptoe a little before Socolov walked over and spoke, heading to Lemyonova’s side. His words finished as he stood by her and crossed his arms.

  “They weren’t only chased. Our Road is currently hunting the enemy hoogs as we speak, and until new notice. We can’t change that. The moment we let them get closer to our territory again, they will gain more opportunities to mobilize and for intelligence. We can’t have that.”

  “Because you didn’t want to wait before Orxa and Pexa did the same and sent another portion of your Road to their territories.” Fox complemented, saving himself another half a minute of elaboration. The Road members looked at him before exchanging a glance with each other. Socolov affirmatively nodded.

  “How busy is your Road now and in prediction to the near future?” Fox further asked. Socolov nodded, but it was Laen who answered, with Socolov remaining quiet. “Over a third has been sent to our enemies’ territories. The rest is spread throughout Zyckevele.”

  “We believe we won’t be as busy dealing with the enemy in 6 to 8 months, but it might take longer if they receive additional aid from foreign hoogs.” Laen stepped closer to the table but remained 1 step behind Makory. “We might take that long to cripple their hoogs.”

  “Will you let the enemy keep gaining territory until then?” Fox asked. Socolov replied this time, “It’s… one of the possible scenarios. The Zyck Nation did before, and then conquered a lot of their territory instead. But we’re still investigating other routes to these wars, at least in the north.”

  “You’re basing your country’s wars on the secret world too much. And what if ANS finally decides to act? Moreover, they don’t have to, not directly at first. Aren’t there more countries with their military bases established in them? How many of them are truly neutral?” Fox crossed his arms, staying where he was.

  The platform fell silent. That was a blatant and direct manner of speech, which the Zycks seemed not to be used to despite their clear hostilities with ANS under the table, where the global eye won’t reach.

  “Even if you’ve made a list, you also didn’t predict when your only land neighbors would arm an offensive against you. My simple guess is that you slowly plan a push into both fronts. Not let them take your territory little by little. If you begin forcing them to sacrifice to gain half what you’re letting them now while wasting double their manpower and resources, it could end this sooner.”

  “Then, we’ll push, but ‘their side’, as you say, will grow more restless and act sooner. Then what?” Makory looked at Fox. Because of the distance, Makory didn’t have to tilt his head backwards so much.

  “I believe that’s a problem to resolve in the general war room,” Esmeralda interjected. All eyes went to her. Fox gave her a quick sideways look. This showed a little in the Road’s eyes. She added, “If we can bring a sole, well-prepared, and concrete push to an unready enemy at both the south and north, half the war will already be won.”

  “For this, it’s better to not use any aerial or naval units to transport your who-knows-how-many hundreds of thousands of soldiers. You have some of the longest railways in the world— use them after training your armies for a full-scale advancement. PSD will cover your corners.”

  “… … …” The room went lower than silent. Not only Paved Road, even the elite PSD agents were taken aback. This was their country’s little gem, but she was shining a thrill and hue of blood like no other. They quickly glanced at Fox, but he was unmoved.

  “Then upstairs we shall take it.” Makory gave the Zyck President’s daughter a look, who stared at Esmeralda with a baffled yet intrigued face, before saying to Esmeralda. He flashed a ceremonial smile to PSD before walking around the table.

  Fox and Nala looked at each other, their heads slightly tilted, before following suit. While more baffled than Lemyonova, both hoogs’ people also moved. It was time to have those planning talks their leaders have teased them. They were heavily intrigued now.

  Everyone followed their leaders, but Makory and Laen disappeared after exiting the gate, not about to be seen in public. Even though Fox and PSD would show their faces, it wasn’t as necessary for them, since they were ambushed twice before even entering Zyckevele’s territory.

  PSD soon found itself in the general war room again. A minute later, with Lemyonova and Road’s members preparing the blueprints, records, panels, and screens, Road’s leader and sub-leader arrived. Their meeting began.

  On Paved Road’s side, Makory and Laen stood at the center of the other 4 members. On PSD’s side, Fox stood between Nala… and Esmeralda. Meanwhile, Lemyonova stood on Fox’s right side of the table, with the Minister of National Defense and Prime Minister on his left.

  “Before we start,” Levedeva lifted her hands and casually clapped them in a low volume. She charmingly smiled, “I’d like to say I’m glad to see decades of mild cooperation between both our countries’ hoogs didn’t yield no fruit. Today, we are seeing this historical change and event.”

  “This should be the first worldwide bilateral hoog cooperation and between Lymoca and Zyckevele. We can celebrate later with some drinks.” Lemyonova started. She then nodded and lifted a mantle covering some documents and maps. Then, she looked at Laen Somirnov.

  He nodded and commenced, taking a few steps forth with his hands behind his back. “Ever since the report from the District less than a decade ago. Stricter regulations on our treaties with the EPA Commonwealth were risen.”

  “We were able to read through past records and confirmed that both our northern and southern neighbors have been supplied with merchandise from the west during the last decades. There are clues of an ongoing chain of similar ‘deals’ for over 400 years. Moreover, this started before Orcesta and Fresna’s political parties reignited their hatred for us.”

  “But none of their records presented by our agents ever showed receiving these many supplies. Moreover, their IWS information was never supplied with a large trade or market-donation relationship between them and the west. We now believe they have been supplied with the military grade vehicles we’ve seen today, including naval units.”

  “What naval units?” Esmeralda asked, tranquil and rapidly gesturing with her hand, which pinched her chin. Lean slightly nodded. He grabbed a short device as thin as a thumb and pressed a button. Panels displayed footage below the documents and maps.

  “Submarines, all top-notch.” Laen seemed to feel an incoming headache. He went on as the screen followed his elaboration, “We discovered where they kept all those aircraft and where they stored most of their new ammunition supplies.”

  The screen showed images where underwater tunnels opened from afar, with a more or less predicted infrastructure, also linking it with the nearest coastal cities of Orcesta, Fresna, Orxa, and Pexa.

  “But as we drew closer, we were seen by their submarines. They are damaged and immobile, but that doesn’t take away their capabilities. From defusing missiles’ guiding systems to launching multiple torpedoes at once, and large missiles, they are perfect guardians.”

  “No. Nowadays’ ultra modern military vehicles were only improved overall in the last 200 years, with smallish improvements later on. What do you have about the foreign engineers helping them solve those issues?” Esmeralda shook her head and spoke.

  “We have found over 150 such engineers over these years, especially in the last 120 to 150 years. It’s almost like a family business, but they all travel to the west through any means. They stress their desire to hide it.” Levedeva replied with her hands behind her back, tilting her head.

  “Strike them.” Fox commented, simple and easy. Esmeralda turned to him, her profound black eyes smiling in understanding, and cooperation. Fox further elaborated after seeing the other’s inexpressive faces, “It’s not in the HLS or GHH, but it is in our secret world’s rules.”

  “Assets from another country helping our enemy during conflict? All is fair as long as the assets themselves are targeted only. If your agents over there can accomplish this operation, all sorts of alarms will ring in their leaders.” Fox lightly pressed on.

  “To what end?” Prime Minister Semyon questioned. Esmeralda lifted her chin to answer in Fox’s stead, “To mark our coming. Road’s ways are Road’s. Piya Sanctum District’s means are also the District’s…”

  “…” Esmeralda’s words were going somewhere, but those last few words made even Lemyonova slightly tilt her head and frown. It was confusing. Yet, her following sentence brought a shine to every Zyck’s eyes.

  “Raging Blood has been allowed outside the PSD’s jurisdiction, but he is to act in its favor. We are not limited to Lymoca’s stance until clearing the operations in the eastern Radical Wars that our allies have requested aid for. Anyone working under him from PSD is thus like another hoog in this conflict. We want your enemies— now our enemies… to feel dread from us.”

  The Zycks didn’t speak still, needing more. Esmeralda pointed at the maps portraying the 2 fronts at the north and south, changing live. “We are only a couple of thousand agents, but we are fully equipped with both individual and collaborative capabilities. Give us enough tail and strength behind our words, and we will form stains in every enemy frontline’s strongest points.”

  “I didn’t ask to command your troops. I don’t need to.” Fox took it from there, “As long as I can have the backing of your soldiers and their effectiveness to carry out counterassaults, I will give you enough time to do more than killing our enemies’ suppliers.”

  This time, their eyes changed a bit. Levedeva commented from the side, “That sounds fine. A non-Zyck leading Zycks is preposterous even for our civilians. But if you seek support from the military, you’ll get small land forces at most. You should limit your tasks to cripple, annihilate, and destroy enemy resources, goals, and vitality. That’s the line.”

  “I will have them adopt my methods, too. I need them to risk it more than they are used to, and do a lot of mobilization even special agents find troublesome. Special forces or not, they must be willing and capable.” Fox said.

  “That’s a good description of our soldiers, Fox.” Semyon said to him. Fox looked at the Prime Minister, who further stated, “The Zyck soldiers are risking everything to fight for their land, protect their beloved, and massacre those ingrates. There’s no need to tell us what kind of soldiers you need, only that you need our soldiers.”

  “I will speak freely from now on, then.” Fox kept looking at Semyon before gazing at Esmeralda, who nodded and blinked, becoming a delicacy to watch. He then glanced at Nala, who indifferently nodded, but her hand squeezed his wrist behind the table.

  …