Chapter 209: Victory
The air in the Yakuza Dismantlement Operations Headquarters had long since frozen. The panic sparked by the sudden, cascading shocks on Nanshu Street had passed; now, only a heavy gloom hung on the faces of every officer in the Metropolitan Police Department.
The massive spectacle unfolding on Rinsei Street could now only be glimpsed through high-altitude helicopter footage.
The Riot Squad's armored vehicles hadn't advanced, and the helicopters didn't dare fly low—otherwise they would likely crash, too.
As for the large tactical personnel screen, the faces of all nine members of the Home Run Squad had long since gone dark.
Four third-tier sequencers and five elite Two-Programmers. All dead.
Eliza Cotton paced the command deck. The scars on her face seemed to sink deeper into her flesh as she exhaled heavy, harsh breaths through her crooked nose. She refused to look at the personnel screen.
Her direct power stemmed entirely from her subordinates, and the Metropolitan Police Department was equally rife with competing interests.
But now, she hadn't just lost the Home Run Squad she had spent years cultivating; the entire Radical Riot Squad had suffered catastrophic losses. The failure of this top-level operation meant the Metropolitan Police Department needed someone to take the blame. Inevitably, it would be her.
For one, she was the commander. For another, the forces under her command were now drastically weakened.