I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

"Is it the Cleaner that's still engaged outside? Quite impressive in many ways. I didn’t think the phrase 'seeking only death' was a literal truth."

"He calls his own death martyrdom. I'm not sure if he's joking or serious, but... it's clear that they wanted that. They're troublesome people in many ways."@@novelbin@@

"Before those guys really become martyrs, let’s deal with them and get out. The news you brought while we were gone is no small matter, so I don’t know if we’ll finish it quickly, but…"

After passing breakfast and reaching lunchtime, an unrelenting darkness covered America, with not a single trace of light.

The cold winds of early December and the gloomy weather. Just a few months ago, it had been hot enough to occasionally exceed 30°C, and everyone only packed short-sleeve shirts and shorts, but in just 3–4 months, summer had come to an abrupt end.

Outside the debriefing room, which wasn’t too old and still smelled of concrete and new construction, the sharp, dry sound of winter winds echoed.

Amidst all of this, the Dagger Team, particularly the strike team, had just scattered the information they’d collected just hours before into the air.

There were still many battlefields that required Dagger Team’s involvement, but there was an overwhelming mountain of information they needed to verify, even if they had to momentarily neglect other requests.

"Crow. Currently the Director of Artemis' Technology Department, suspected to be a former PMC… not much to go on with just this. Have we finished the voice analysis?"

"It’s almost done, but we probably won’t be able to trace him from just this. Even if we find something, catching him will be an entirely different issue."

"That’s true, but better than nothing… We’ve passed the data to separate intelligence units like the ISA and NSA, so let’s wait a bit, maybe something will come up."

"Not sure…"

At this point, the most frustrating element for the Dagger Team was the sudden appearance of a figure named Crow, who quickly became the most troublesome one.

The table was filled with sheets of paper where what Crow had spoken, the monologue he had delivered, was transcribed and pasted, and the Dagger Team read them, trying to pick up the underlying meaning.

"There are a lot of smooth talkers out there, and the smart ones usually get picked up by intelligence agencies, but in this situation, being able to talk like that means they’ve got quite a bit of field experience."

"Among the survivors, who hasn’t done the same? Probably the combatants from the Black Eagle group have the same kind of experience."

"Black Eagle, Black Eagle... has anyone heard of them? First time I’m hearing about them."

"Not sure. If the world was normal, I could just call up the retired guys and ask, but now, that’s not possible either."