Shattering Humanity-Chapter 370: Ærial Assault
"Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks, a fortified city, into ruins; the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city; it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore, a strong people will honor you.
The cities of violent nations will fear you.
For you have been a stronghold for the poor person, a stronghold for the needy in his distress, a refuge from storms and a shade from heat.
When the breath of the violent is like a storm against a wall, like heat in a dry land, you will subdue the uproar of barbarians.
As the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day, so he will silence the song of the violent.
On this mountain, the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.
On this mountain he will swallow up the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations.
When he has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.
On that day it will be said, ’Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him. Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’
For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.
But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trampled in a dung pile.
He will spread out his arms in the middle of it, as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low, along with the trickery of his hands.
The high-walled fortress will be brought down, thrown to the ground, to the dust." -Isaiah 25 (SCB)
_________________
{Otis Air Base, Massachusetts}
Inside the control room, the two aircraft dispatchers are keeping in touch with their allies in the sky over the Atlantic Ocean.
Control 1: "This is ground to Shenron 2.
Come in, Shenron 2."
In the dark corner, now smoking a cigarette, is Sheriff Jesse James. The 2nd Generation DæMon is awaiting an update to her current plan, silently.
Shenron 2: "This is Shenron 2!
We are 5 minutes until enemy wake up call.
Unlike the mountain range, I can’t get any clear visuals within a dense city landscape."
The Sheriff fishes through her trench coat and pulls out a worn-out leather wallet. Instead of money, or credit cards, there are laminated pictures and hand written notes in the slots.
She pulls a picture out, and her depressed pink eyes stares at the personally disclosed photo.
Control 1: "Just an update on the other two units, Shenron 2. Madame Sheriff has decided to reset the course to one of them.
Keep in mind, units 33 and 34 will strike the same position, but thirty seconds apart."
Shenron 2: "That’s a copy, Control 1!"
Control 2: "By the way, we’ve taken an examination of the images you sent.
At a closer look, from the side of the island, it seems as if someone simply cut the entire visible chunk of the island off. Based on how the southern county was a higher elevation above sea level, once it was separated, the landslide ended with our allies being dragged into the ocean."
Shenron 1: "Um...th-this is Shenron 1."
The quiet Sheriff looks up from her picture and puts it back, along with her wallet into her body covering coat.
Control 2: "Is this important Shenron 1?
You should know the Madame’s rules..."
Over the speaker, the nervous man contemplates his words as if treading lightly.
Shenron 1: "Well I-I know I’m new here, but shouldn’t we send in a Coast Guard to find possible survivors off their coast?
And since I am not a slave anymore, thanks to the Madame’s ’integrity system’..."
Shenron 2(whispering): "What are you doing?!
I told you to just shut the Hell up and be thankful to go home!"
Over the speaker, the copilot is whisper yelling at his colleague but the ’new guy’ keeps going.
Shenron 1: "...but don’t you think, maybe if you weren’t tricking people into believing they were going to be enslaved forever, they wouldn’t revolt and find people who are stronger for help?"
As if physically harmed by the skepticism, the Sheriff pinches out her half finished cigarette, and walks slowly up to the headset hanging up for her to join freely on the comms.
Both of the posted air traffic controllers in the room with her, sweat and swallow their spit in fear of the actions from their calm leader.
Shenron 1: "...I-I’m only saying this as someone who was abused in the system we currently run. Those scars never heal, even if you imprison the scum bags who abuse their power..."
As if knowing something is about to happen, the person codenamed ’Control 1’ takes their headset off and barely rolls away on their chair.
Jesse James: "Shenron 1..."
The nervous man comes back on the speaker.
Shenron 1: "Y-Yes, Madame Sheriff?"
There is a silence on the feed, and almost like an ambushing strike of lightning, an order is sent.
Jesse James: "Since you are new, you wouldn’t know exactly how many stars are in our sky tonight, would you?"
There is a sense of nausea floating in the air.
Shenron 1: "Stars?...
Uhhh, w-well from what I learned in school, what we see as stars are actually..."
*BANG!*
...
...
There is a gunshot and the communications from the questioning pilot goes ghost.
Jesse James: "Well, add one more..."
After a muffled thud, the other pilot talks on the line once again.
Shenron 2: "This is Shenron 2...
Deviant has gone dark, Madame Sheriff.
I’ll keep the plane in autopilot until the mission has been completed on my end."
Jesse James: "Your loyalty means the safety of all 10 million humans with their backs to the Atlantic, Shenron 2.
Remember, the only true valuable treasures this world contains, are trustworthy friends, and allies who don’t mind getting their hands dirty for one another.
No questions asked..."
Shenron 2: "Even on the day I wake up in Hell, I will fight for your will, Madame Sheriff."
Jesse James: "Hmph, if you’re lucky enough to get there before I do, have a double glass poured and ready for me.
...
Alright, finish the mission and report back home.
I’ll have a clean up crew wash that bug off your windshield when you return." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Shenron 2: "Yes, Ma’am!"
Taking the headset off and hanging it back up on the hook, the Sheriff takes a step away and the air traffic controller(2) who didn’t shy away from the audio of an assassination, keeps a stern look on him.
Control 2: "It’s never easy, is it Sheriff?
Your methods and current system may be ambivalent, but that is the state of mind all protectors must think in, to save the most lives possible."
Turning around and moving towards the closed door in the small control room, the Sheriff relights her half finished cigarette.
Jesse James: "Please do me a favor, and save the philosophical bullshit for someone else..."
[Outer Sanpaku]
With the new threat immanent, the bonfire is left ablaze while the fleeing Takamagahara gets underground.
A second explosion happens at the base of the building, and it is final hit the structure can withstand.
The diagonally cut in half building begins swaying until finally it collapses under it’s own weight.
The crashing and rumbling of the glass and steel framed building can be heard a few blocks away.
Shelly runs in the direction of the chaos. Madame Fryer flies out from her sheath and the human partner jumps on the sentient blade in the perfect transition.
Monitoring the strike, the military drone piloted by Shenron 2 scopes out the surrounding area and the reaction.
In the cockpit to the C-130, the faithful pilot watches his monitor showing visuals from mini aircraft.
Shenron 2: "Shenron 2 here. I can confirm, the successful strike of both units 33 and 34 on their target.
The structure has been compromised and any hideouts inside are under rubble."
Control 2: "That’s a copy, Shenron 2. No point wasting another cruise missile when we have limited supplies anyway.
Bring Unit 36 back with you and we can recycle it for another mission."
Shenron: "10-4."
However, as soon as the piloted drone turns around, within it’s sights is the surprising shot of Shelly gliding in on her flying sword of flames.
Shenron 2: "What the fu-"
In the air, over Sanpaku, in one quick and fluid attack, Madame Fryer leaves Shelly’s feet. Using the soaring momentum, the brave Valkyrie descendant grips her sentient weapon and front flips, cutting the possible threat in half.
The human grip releases Madame Fryer and the trusty sidekick returns back in place to help Shelly fly away from the explosion they are leaving behind in their Seiõr powered ærial assault and combat.
Shelly: "Let’s look out for any more of those dangerous, explosive drones Madame Fryer!"
The two allies zip around Outer Sanpaku, as their own version of Takamagahara’s Air Force.
