GOKURAKU JODO

The terrorists kept their phones and devices, putting them into a bag.

Ariel in the meantime is holding on to her forehead with a piece of tissue, stemming her bleeding.

A terrorist pulled out a young school boy from the seats, throwing him onto the floor, in front of another terrorist holding a camera.

(Mobile command post)

"How's the evacuation of the metro stations?" asked the commander of the Tokyo SAT. Xiao Tian is standing next to him. He is wearing his body armour, helmet and equipment over his civilian clothes.

"Sir, 2 more batches!" replied assault team leader Kenji Hamada on the ground.

"Sir, UNIFJ elements have barricaded off all stations along the JR Yamanote Line!" reported a Indian UNIFJ peacekeeper.

Suddenly, the phone of the command post rang, the Tokyo SAT commander answered it.

"I want to speak to the top man, do you f***ing understand?" insulted the terrorist on the other end.

"This is the Tokyo Police—"

"NOT YOU, MOTHERF***ING DIGNIFIED BUTLER!" roared the terrorist. "I mean the UN guys who you are a b*tch of."

The commander handed the phone to Xiao Tian.

"Commander," sneered the terrorist in Chinese. "I suggest you get yourself a translator, as this will be the only line of Chinese you will hear from me."

"Thank you for your consideration, that is not necessary, however," smiled Xiao Tian in fluent, florid Japanese, momentarily stunning the terrorist. "Though I am curious, why did you guess Chinese?"

"Isn't most of the UNSSD soldiers and UNIFJ "peacekeepers" in Japan Chinese?" he retorted. "It's open statistics on the UN website."

"Fair enough," replied Xiao Tian. The terrorist requested a holographic video sharing, which Xiao Tian agreed.

Soon a holographic image of the interior of the metro train carriage is shown. There are 4 terrorists in the frame, and a school boy on the floor in front of them. Xiao Tian noticed Sean's group behind the terrorists.

"I have about 1000 people in this train now," warned the terrorist. "We have enough Cosmic Energy ores here to blow this entire train into the sky."

"Our demands are simple, the release of those arrested in the peaceful protests around UNSSD facilities, and an independent investigation into the use of force by UN and Japanese government law enforcement!"

Sean rolled his eyes in the back ground. "Yeah, having a shootout using illegally gained guns and improvised weapons is peaceful," he retorted internally.

"Scared?" taunted the terrorist, seeing that Xiao Tian is not replying, not knowing that to Xiao Tian, he and his entire crew are a bunch of idiotic amateurs.

"I hope I can make it in time for the concert," thought Xiao Tian absent-mindedly.

"Firstly, UNSSD is not afraid of you," said Xiao Tian firmly.

"Secondly," joked Xiao Tian. "The anarchists in Japan take a lot of offence towards the UN presence, seeing it as some kind of illegal occupation. Funny, if you had a problem with us, why are you putting your fellow countrymen into harms' way? Aren't you supposed to be fighting for them?"

The terrorist spat onto the floor. "These politically apathetic fools that watched the PLA roll tanks onto the streets of Tokyo and did nothing? They had willingly allowed their honne to be subverted by the tatamae forged by you all! They aren't my countrymen!"

"What is he talking about?" asked Jay, confused.

"You see," whispered Sean. "Back in WW3, Japan was one of the countries that were subverted by traitors and pledged allegiance to the Veo, becoming their stronghold in the Asia-Pacific theatre."

"I know that," whispered Jay. "Same thing happened to the USA, we fought a 2nd Civil War concurrently, and the defeated collaborators became the Liberty States movement."

Sean nodded. "But unlike how you all largely liberated yourselves, Japan was only successfully liberated after the multi-national task force that was led by China occupied Japan in the counterattack against the Veo."

"I know that too," whispered Jay. "Consequently, a full reboot of Japanese society is needed to purge the collaborators out."

"Unfortunately, far-right militarism was revived by the collaborationist regime, packaging the collaborationist as nationalist heroes seeking to rebuild Japan into its imperialist glory in the 20th century," said Sean.

"Hence, UNIFJ was established to help the post-war Japanese government maintain order. While purging its influence had been an overall success, significant parts of the population remained brainwashed," continued Sean.

"Thus, these banzai nutcases," joked Sean, "combined the "pacifist" ideology that came from Europe into this mess you see right now."

Jay nodded. "Damn," he muttered.

Meanwhile, the terrorists beat up the schoolboy in live broadcast to prove their point.

Nanami, who is in the command room, clenched her fists in anger. The rest of Team Zero are inside the room, all wearing their equipment over civilian clothes.

"DO YOU UNDERST—" gloated the terrorist.

"Cut the nonsense," said Xiao Tian. "I will release them. They will be at the airport, but whether you all will make it out alive is up to us to decide."

"You talk big, bye," sneered the terrorist, hanging up.

"Alright," asked Aya, who is in the same room with her unit, Team Phantom. "What is the plan?"

"These morons actually think that they have locked us out of the train controls," laughed Xiao Tian.

"How's things inside?" asked Xiao Tian to Xu Qing and the crew from the Japanese railway company. They had already discreetly regained control of the metro train.

"These guys are really amateurs judging from their gear set and awareness," laughed Xu Qing. "Though, they indeed have created a problem for us."

"The Cosmic Energy ores," said Xu Qing. "As you know, these things are extremely volatile. Bullets, ranged magic, hell, even flashbangs can cause them to blow up."

"When we strike the train, it needs to be immediate and fast, no time to disarm them in advance," muttered Santos.

"Who said anything about disarming?" asked Xiao Tian.

He pointed to the air conditioning controls. "We just need to lower the temperature down to single degrees. The ores will become inactive."

"10 minutes is all we need," said Xiao Tian.

"Where will we stop the train?" asked Nanami.

"I think here is the best, it's an enclosed station. It allows us to easily control the movement," said Xiao Tian.

They opened the layout map.

"But there is a problem," said the SAT commander. "Carriages 1 and 2 are not directly connected to the entrance of the platform, there is a detour you have to take here," he said, pointing. "We will not be able to strike all carriages at once."

"There are 5 comrades in the first carriage," said Santos. "We can alert them to strike using Morse code by manipulating the display lights inside. They will be able to once we release the safety harnesses in the first carriage."

(2 hours later)

Team Zero and Team Phantom are hiding behind the walls on the platform. Kenji led a team of 4 SAT operators to reinforce Team Zero, since they have missing members, placing themselves under Xiao Tian's command.

All of the operators have changed to Exo-suits now.

Nanami peeked from behind the cover of a sentry robot. It has its extendable shields deployed, capable of stopping a .50 BMG shot directly.

"Hit it," ordered Xiao Tian, standing behind Nanami.

On his orders, Xu Qing remotely deactivated the power supply to the train motors. The train gradually came to a halt, stopping at the station just as the AI had simulated.

"What the hell is going on?" cursed the terrorist, trying to restart the train. To add to their confusion, the doors of the train suddenly opened, and the air conditioning instantly dropped to freezing temperatures.

Sean, Frederica, Ariel, Phineas and Jay readied themselves, knowing that it is the signal.

Their plan is to immediately grab their guns from the luggage rack once their harnesses and the lock are deactivated.

Their harnesses soon flew back open, and they lunged at the surprised terrorists. The other civilian's harnesses remained locked to ensure that they do not run around in panic.

"TAKE THIS!" roared Jay, throwing a punch.

"Standby!" ordered Aya outside. The operators outside all immediately activated the night vision equipment on helmets. A split second later, the lights were cut and they were thrown into pitch black darkness.

Santos raised his SIG MCX compact rifle in .300BLK, aiming down his holographic sight, the built-in fire control system from the smart optics already relaying bullet trajectory and other shooting related data into his HUD.

The operators launched specialised grenades from their Exo-suits, making a huge blast when they land.

"Go, go, go!" Nanami yelled, tapping the robot, which deployed its twin FN 303 riot guns, moving forward with its wheels and then walking over with its legs over stairs. They then advanced forward behind; guns raised.

A terrorist rushed out of the train to examine what was causing the blast.

"Drop your weapon!" Nanami yelled. The robot immediately extended the shield to cover her.

He immediately turned his rifle on them, Nanami quickly pulled the trigger of her AK-19. Xiao Tian opened fire at the same time with his QCQ-171 submachine gun, gunning the terrorist down before he can shoot.

"Train rear target down 1!"

The remaining terrorists attempted to force the doors shut, only for the sentry robot to forcefully pry it open with 2 extendable claws, then unleashing its arsenal of riot shots at the terrorists in range and locked on, incapacitating them.

James and Louis fired their MP7s, gunning down terrorists trying to reinforce the carriage. Santos then finished off one terrorist trying to run away, taking cover behind an extendable shield deployed by Kenji.

Team Phantom had also breached in, Aya launched flashbangs, incapacitating the terrorists. Albert, Vera, Walter and Atsumi took out the terrorists, advancing to the next carriage quickly.

(First carriage)

"You got to be sh*tting me..." cursed Phineas, fumbling with the lock on the rack. Next to him is the body of a terrorist lying on the floor after Phineas had snapped his neck.

Sean, Frederica and Ariel threw down the bodies of the terrorists they have killed using ice blades they generated. Jay, meanwhile, used his belt to strangle the last terrorist in their carriage to death.

The remaining passengers screamed in shock and confusion, Sean immediately showed them his badge to calm them down.

"What's wrong?" asked Jay.

"The lock is faulty, it's not opening!" replied Phineas.

Sean and Frederica tried to smash it open, but it remained stubbornly locked on. Even their insane strength as Project Artemis creations cannot break it.

"Use magic?" asked Jay.

"It's magic shielded," said Sean. "It will be too long."

Ariel looked at the pile of crushed guns on the floor. She had disarmed the terrorists using telekinesis, crushing their guns in the air.

"Shouldn't have done that..." she muttered.

"Forget the guns! We need to take the 2nd carriage now!" yelled Sean.

The 8 terrorists in the 2nd carriage had activated the emergency doors on their side to cut off access to the carriage from the front and back.

Sean and Frederica braced themselves, running forward, shielding their heads, smashing the door down with a magic infused dash, shocking the terrorists.

The 2 were shot, but they brushed the shots off, tackling down the 4 terrorists closest to them. Frederica swung a kick, kicking off a terrorist's foot.

Jay threw a fire extinguisher at the head of a terrorist, disorienting him.

Ariel ran in, followed by Phineas. Just as Phineas was about to step in, the emergency door of the 1st carriage suddenly closed in his face. Puzzled, he looked at the control button, finding it frozen solid.

He then stared incredulously at Ariel.

"You moron!" he yelled. "Let me in!"

Ariel ignored Phineas, not wanting to put her beloved in danger by fighting numerically superior and armed enemies, hand to hand.

She threw off her hoodie, generating 2 ice daggers, and a floating ice shield, using it to block the bullets as she charged forward, attacking 3 terrorists at once.

Given the close proximity melee combat, and that they do not have pistols, none of the terrorists now dared to shoot, instead drawing blades and using their gun stocks as clubs.

Jay dodged a kick from a terrorist. That kick hit another terrorist fighting Frederica in her head, knocking her out. Jay then grabbed the fire extinguisher, smashing the terrorist in the head.

That gave Phineas an idea. He immediately grabbed another fire extinguisher, using it as a battering ram to break the lock on their gun bags.

"IT WAS YOU WHO HIT ME IN THE HEAD HUH!" roared Ariel, giving a strong wind punch, sending the terrorist flying into the ceiling. The impact so big that he is now wedged inside, hanging off the ceiling like a broken ceiling fan.

"IF I GET AN UGLY SCAR WHAT IS MY BELOVED GOING TO THINK? DO YOU HAVE SYMPATHY?" she snapped.

"Yikes..." muttered Sean. He dodged another slash by a terrorist, grabbing his arm, violently yanking it off, then he turned, snapping the terrorist's neck.

He and Frederica then beat up a terrorist together, dismantling him once they are done. Jay then finished off another with a knife stab through the neck after he snatched the knife from the terrorist.

Soon, only one terrorist is left. Panicked, he hide behind a seat, taking a hostage, holding a knife by her throat.

"STAY BACK OR—"

"BANG!" a shot rang out. The terrorist is shot in the head, blood splattering onto the wall behind.

Phineas walked in, aiming his Glock 17.

He kicked away the knife from the body, then overturned it. A phone fell out, the screen opened, showing the wallpaper of the song "Gokuraku Jodo", meaning "Buddha's pure land". It is a 21st Century song.

"Ironic, Gokuraku Jodo has nothing to do with the Buddha, but a floating pleasure world," mused Sean, walking up.

"On the bright side, this dude is probably in his Gokuraku Jodo now, where his nutcase fantasies are real," said Xiao Tian, who had now breached into the carriage.

"Well done, everyone," he smiled. James and Santos walked in.

"Do we get a reward, sir?" asked Santos.

"Yeah man?" asked James.

Xiao Tian laughed. "How about we all go to the concert?" he asked. "I know some fans who refunded their tickets last minute."

(6 hours later)

"Thank you everyone for coming!" smiled Maki-Chan on stage at the cheering crowd below.

"WOO!" cheered Sean. His throat is now sore, surprised that the atmosphere of the concert hall had soon assimilated him into a cheering fan for a day.

"And for the last song tonight..." announced Maki-Chan.

The seats the audience are sitting on suddenly pushed the audience up, and then it sank into the floor, transforming into a dance floor.

The now standing audience stared around, confused.

"...Gokuraku Jodo! A popular revival of the old song! Please dance along if you know the moves!"

The UNSSD SOC operators instantly burst out laughing, drawing weird stares from the other audiences.

The music started. Nanami instantly hit the dance floor, dancing expertly, drawing the attention of many other audiences around her, to the point that even Maki-Chan noticed her and directed the fan reaction camera over, broadcasting their dances together on the screen, leading to loud cheers.

Phineas noticed that the ex Squad Artemis members all can dance the song well, even the hard Charleston shuffle.

"It's Nanami's favourite song!" explained Aya.

"She taught us the moves before!" added Sean.

"...Dance! Dance! Forget about the time! Tonight, we'll bloom in force together!" sang Maki-Chan.