Night is beginning to fall over Mitakihara, including over the shipyard of its once prosperous port, now a mostly abandoned no man’s land, often tinted quite a few shades darker than the rest of town due to the complete lack of functioning lighting. 

From within the warehouse that has been serving as her makeshift prison for weeks now, Midori carefully peeks out of the sole window again, monitoring the activities of the guards surrounding her. It is getting dark, so she must have been doing this for at least two days now, occasionally glancing outside to get an idea of what the guards get up to. 

The answer is clear — not a lot more than the hostages they are guarding do. Most of the time, the guards act as if they have been programmed — patrolling along predetermined paths, eating military rations thrice a day and making a barrel fire at dusk, though, much to her dismay, they never seem to sleep. In between these brief moments of activity, they are lounging around, smoking cigarettes and shuffling about like mindless zombies, barely sparing each other a word, except occasionally, when she has noticed them getting a burst of energy, and they start shooting their guns, wrestling each other or singing bawdy songs, until they eventually calm down back into their routines.

Sitting against the wall underneath the window, waiting for her next opportunity to take a look, Midori sighs. Her mother has a plan, she has been assured, but Midori has no idea what she is making the other hostages do, let alone if it is as boring as this. As if on cue, Hikari scoots up beside her, whispering.

Hikari: How long’s it been since they last got reactivated?

Midori: (she looks at her wristwatch) … Five hours and twenty minutes.

Hikari: Forty minutes, then, huh? Should be fine.

Midori: Forty minutes for what?

Hikari: To escape, of course. Based on your observations, the brainwashing on these poor sods gets renewed, on average every six hours. Means it’s close to wearing off, and our captors at their most feeble-minded.

Midori: … Yeah, I figured that out, like, twenty hours ago, mom. Geez…

Hikari: Now, you mentioned they tend to clutch their ears whenever that happens, right? 

Midori: (she nods)

Hikari: Asked around, and… someone here remembers hearing a voice being broadcast all over town… Affected him… Probably would’ve made him one of these drones if they hadn’t knocked him out.

Midori: … So, you think they’re brainwashing people with like, evil radio broadcasts?

Hikari: That’s when it started. When that girl incited a riot at her father’s rally? She’s broadcasting her voice all over the city, at regular intervals, to keep everyone under her thumb.

Midori: … Except we’re miles away from the city center. The broadcasting system doesn’t go this far. Besides… we’ve been fine, right? I don’t feel any worms crawling around in my brain.

Hikari: Means they’re hearing something we’re not. (she quickly stands up to take a peek out of the window) … Knew it.

Midori: … Knew what?

Hikari: They’ve got headsets. Brainwashing gets whispered straight into their ears. That’s why they clutch ‘em. Good to go for another six hours.

Midori: … You are way too enthusiastic about this.

Hikari: Well, someone’s gotta be if we wanna get out of here. (she pats Midori on the shoulder, urging her to get going) Let’s go. (standing up, she grabs a piece of rubble off the ground and throws it through the window, shattering the glass with a loud noise)

Midori: Hey! How about a little heads-up?

Entirely in line with Hikari’s predictions, the guards take a few seconds to spring into action. Like dogs who can’t be bothered to play fetch, they slowly look up towards the source of the noise. Then, methodically, as if programmed to do so, some of them aim their guns at the window, while some others form pairs and head towards the warehouse’s front and back entrances.

Whispering a litany of curses under her breath, Midori crouch-walks to her assigned spot, picking up a solid iron bar the group excavated from underneath the rubble earlier along the way. Taking a deep breath, she positions herself next to the back entrance, against the wall, while Hikari readies herself on the opposite side, ready to strike.

Midori: I swear to God, mom, if this goes wrong…

Miraculously, it doesn’t. As the two patrolling henchmen disaffectedly trudge through the doorway, mother and daughter bring down their improvised clubs onto the backs of their heads. Like ragdolls, the men collapse, causing Hikari to immediately crouch down next to her victim, taking his sidearm for herself.

Midori: (she mutters, recoiling in horror as what she’s just done) Jesus Christ…

Hikari: Hey, between the two of us, who’s the one who’s actually done jail time?

Midori: There’s a difference between resisting arrest and straight-up assault!

Hikari: Self-defense. Not assault. (Hikari wastes no time in removing the men’s earpieces and crushing them underneath her feet, before holding out one of the guns she looted at her daughter) Here.

Midori: What the hell, mom, we’re not gonna shoot people!

Hikari: Of course not. That wrist’s gonna end up even worse if you try.

Midori: As if you’re speaking from experience… Look what is the point of this? These guys aren’t gonna surrender if we point guns at them!

Hikari: Don’t gotta point them at them. (a gunshot resounds, quickly followed by another. Turning to look outside through the window, Midori notices the remaining guards sluggishly dispersing in various directions)

Midori: (she plugs her ears) They’re shooting at us!

Hikari: No. We’re shooting at them. (loading the gun, she aims it at the ceiling with both hands and fires, though the recoil nearly knocks her off balance)

Midori: (suddenly, her mother’s intentions become clear) Oh, you’ve gotta be—

Hikari: We take their guns, fire them in every direction we can point ‘em at. Drones think they’re under attack from all sides, split up as they’ve been programmed to do, we pick ‘em off one by one.

Midori: That’s your great plan? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?

Hikari: Because you’d complain.

Midori: (she groans) … Am I the only one in this family who doesn’t have a death wish?

Despite Midori’s grumbles, the plan goes off surprisingly well, as the hostages manage to use the guard’s limited cognitive functions against them, isolating them and knocking them unconscious one by one, destroying their earpieces. Eventually, the guards’ numbers have been thinned so considerably, the path towards freedom for the hostages lies wide open.

Hikari: (urging everyone towards the exit, she gestures at the last hostage who comes rushing in, hissing) Come on, hurry up! (as soon as the final straggler has run out, she leaves as well and slams the door shut, upon which a number of hostages barricade it) Scram! Go, go, go!

Joining the other half of the hostages, who used the same strategy to escape through the front entrance and lock the remaining guards inside, Hikari, Midori and their co-conspirators run as far and as fast as their legs can carry them, trying to put as much distance between them and the warehouse, but the farther they run, the louder the sounds of several vehicles heading towards their location become.

Midori: Stop! Mom, we gotta… (she stops running and turns around, spreading her arms) Everyone, wait! There… (she shrinks, startled by a loud, primal war cry echoing through the shipyard as the engine noises grow louder)

Hikari: Reinforcements. Shit. (she turns to address the group) Everyone! Hide!

Unfortunately, it’s too late. Suppressive fire is already reaching them, giving the escapees little time to look for a good hiding place as they run for cover. Soon enough, the convoy of reinforcements slams the brakes, sliding to a standstill, and several hooting and hollering rioters jump out, opening fire on the walls the hostages have hidden behind.

Midori: (hidden behind the same freight container as her mom, she starts panicking) We’re so fucked, man, we’re so fucked! How did these guys even get here so fast?

Hikari: Those guards must’ve had trackers on them… Damn. (she bites her lip, looking at the gun she is still holding in both hands)

Midori: You’re not gonna turn this into a firefight, are you?

Hikari: Do you have a better idea? I’m not gonna die here… not when Koharu finally has her mom back—(her eyes widen) Behind you!

Midori: Huh? (she turns around to see one of the rioters, who appears to have snuck up on her while his comrades were distracting her, raising a baseball bat above his hat) N-No! (she instinctively raises her hands to shield herself and closes her eyes… but nothing happens. When she opens them up again, the rioter is on the ground, unconscious)

Hikari: Well I’ll be damned. (she looks up as a large helicopter descends onto the scene, its open doors revealing a young woman with a long ponytail holding a tranquilizer rifle ailed firmly at the man who just tried to attack Midori) … JSDF’s making themselves useful for once.

Toi: (she lowers her rifle with a sigh) … Like mother, like daughter, huh?

Katsumi: You say that as if it’s a bad thing… (standing behind Toi, Katsumi brushes some hair from her face) Welcome back, Shirahara-san. Now then… we need to clear a path so that Tokai-san can get through.

Yuzuki: (She hesitates for a moment at the helicopter door, a rope in hand, before descending down on the rope. Her handling of the rope is a little clumsy, and an observant viewer might notice she lands more due to her Puella powers rather than the rope) E-everyone okay? We’re here to get everyone out! 

Midori: H-Hey there! Are you outta your mind? They’re not shooting blanks, you know?

Katsumi: Just trust us! We know what we’re doing! Probably! Tokai-san, keep them safe, just as we discussed! Miss Toi, the gas canisters!

Yuzuki: Yeah, I know! (Though she doesn’t make any movement, the sounds of gunfire seem to recede into the distance, the bullets landing against an invisible shield around the area) 

Toi: Trusting you on this! (she pulls the pin on a large tear gas canister and tosses it into the crowd of rioters; an opaque cloud of smoke spreads from the canister, but as if blocked by an unseen barrier, it doesn’t reach the hiding escapees) Now’s our chance!

Katsumi: (A rope lowered to the ground from the helicopter, with another few coming in behind them on the horizon) Come on, get on board! 

Hikari: Get up there!

Midori: You sure? There’s—

Hikari: Now’s not the time, Midori!

Midori: (with a groan, she runs up to the rope and grabs it tight with both hands, wrapping the bottom end around her leg as she has been taught in gym class, but climbing is harder than it looks) Ngh…

Toi: Damn it… Don’t we have a ladd—Whoa! (she nearly falls backwards as the helicopter has to do an evasive maneuver to dodge some stray bullets fired by a rioter shooting blindly out of the cloud of tear gas)

Midori: (about halfway up the rope, she struggles to hold onto it as the maneuver causes it to swing about) W-Whoa, hey!

Hikari: Shit.. Climb, girl! Come on! You’re a sitting duck out there!

Toi: Crap… (she quickly repositions herself and grabs onto the rope, gritting her teeth as she tries to pull Midori up) Ms. Sasaki? Little help here?

Katsumi: Damn it! (Katsumi helps stabilize Toi’s balance before taking a bit of the rope herself, helping pull Midori up and into the craft)

Midori: Ngh…! (thanks to the two women pulling her up, she manages to climb aboard the helicopter, exhaling loudly) T-Thanks… H-How did you…? How come that tear gas isn’t affecting us? A-And how ‘re you gonna fit all these people into choppers?

Toi: Easy there… You Shirahara girls really need to learn to ask one question at a time— (she is cut off by the sound of another machine gun going off, as well as some screams) Damn it! Won’t these guys just lie down already?

Midori: The rope!

Toi: I can get your mom up here, but the others are hiding too far away from us.

Midori: Then fly to them!

Toi: No can do. That tear gas isn’t strong enough to hold ‘em back, looks like, and Ms. Tokai—uh, our defense mechanisms don’t have that kind of range. We gotta hold the fort until the cavalry gets here…

In the meantime, the aforementioned “cavalry”, a motley convoy of trucks is leaving the highway, headed towards the shipyard. Spotting a blockade set up when the area was condemned months ago, the driver of the truck leading the convoy hits the gas to drive straight through, guffawing as the impact sends a shockwave through his vehicle. He turns to the girl sitting in the messenger seat, who is holding a GPS device to track the location of the JSDF helicopters accompanying them on the rescue operation.

Trucker: Whoops, sorry about that, little miss.

Koharu: Go faster. Almost there.

Trucker: Hmm? You have to speak up! I can’t hear you with these earplugs in, remember?

Koharu: … (she clicks her tongue when suddenly, an arm coming from the backset points out of the front window)

Yosuke: Chopper spotted!

Trucker: (he scoffs) Damn, looks like the entire city’s here. Have to keep our distance for now, kids, looks like they’re still fight—Hey, what the…?

The trucker suddenly brings his vehicle to a standstill as he notices a figure jumping out of the chopper nearest to the scene, straight into the cloud of tear gas.

Koharu: …

Trucker: … Is that a… Is that guy holding an axe?

His face obscured by a gas mask, yet still recognizable by his wild ponytail and axe, Rene charges into the group of rioters. He swings the back end of his axe expertly, knocking guns out of hands and sending goons to the ground with quick blows to the head. Once, one of the rioters manages to open fire on him, only for his bullets to falter against an invisible barrier. With a savage grin, Rene advances on him and the rioter turns and flees. 

Hikari: … (she takes a few seconds to frown at the unfolding mayhem, eyeing up the axe-wielding fighter with suspicion)

Midori: Mom! The rope!

Hikari: … Right. (she takes a hold of the lifeline, causing Toi and Midori to pull her up as well, and climbs on board) Too cheap for a chopper with an automating winder, huh?

Katsumi: Blame the suits in Tokyo, not us. And do save your questions for when we are not taking gunfire, for once?

Hikari: … Not even about the Conductor with the axe? (she sighs, abandoning her characteristic stubbornness for a while) … In any case… Thanks, Katsumi.

Toi: Do we have another one of those canisters? (having retaken her sniping position, she manages to tranquilize a rioter about to strike René from behind)

Then, with a cacophony of honking, the incoming truck convoy makes itself known. At a worrying speed for a truck, the convoy leader rams into one of the pick-ups the rioters’ reinforcements rode in on, causing a few of them to flee in a panic. Taking advantage of the chaos, a dozen or so JSDF riot troopers burst out of its freight container, and with the Virtuosos’s help, they quickly manage to subdue the remaining attackers using their unconventional weapons.

Hikari: What the hell are those? Invisible bullets?

Toi: Microwave rifles. Enough to cause incapacitating pain, but non-lethal. The Bureau had just finished developing them when they got, eh, nuked.

Midori: … And who are you exactly?

Toi: Just your sister’s guidance counselor… who’s a big military otaku? Let’s go with that.

Midori: Uh-huh…

With the way cleared and the tear gas dissipating, the JSDF troopers run up to the various hostages, offering them gas masks and leading them towards the convoy. After a while, a girl emerges from one of the trucks as well, followed by a similarly-aged boy trailing behind her.

Hikari: Wait… Is that Koharu?

Katsumi: Oh god damn it… Get us closer! We need to get her on board, now! …Oh, does she have a boyfriend? Since when was she— (she shakes her head, then lowers the rope as the copter hovers over Koharu’s location)

Hikari: That jackass? Doubt it.

Koharu: (frowning, she looks up at the helicopter above her, the wind tossing her hair in all directions)

Yosuke: (he comes running up to Koharu, catching his breath) … What’re you standing around there for, senpai?

Koharu: …

Yosuke: … You can’t climb a rope, can you?

Koharu: … Shut up.

Katsumi: (a heavy sigh) …I need a goddamn vacation after all this. Hup! (Katsumi slid down the rope, landing next to Koharu, facing away from her.) Grab my back. Now. And you, guy, I hope to god you can climb ropes, because I’m not coming back down…

Yosuke: Wha… hey! That’s sexist!

Koharu: (she nods, doing as Katsumi tells her, ignoring Yosuke’s grumbling as he follows them up the rope)

Katsumi: (She climbs up the rope with some effort, and immediately looks for a cool surface with which to soothe her rope-burned hands from her descent, equally ignoring Yosuke’s grumbling.)

Yosuke: Ugh… (with a pained groan, he clambers on board as well)

Koharu: Mom! (she doesn’t hesitate to hug her mother)

Hikari: (she sighs awkwardly) What the hell are you even doing here, Koharu?

Koharu: I was the one who found you!

Hikari: Did you now… Well, it’s good to have you back, kiddo. Must’ve been a real challenge for you out here… without us.

Midori: I bet she could handle it no problem.

Yosuke: Well, she’s had some… great help.

Hikari: Right. Bet your girl’s been taking good care of her, Katsumi.

Katsumi: I’d like to think so. (she glances down at Yuzuki and René) …Will they be alright, you think? 

Toi: I would trust Ms. Tokai to survive anything. As for the Virtuoso… Well, “ill weeds grow apace”, as they say. (she signals at the pilot to return to town as more truck drivers leave their vehicles to get hostages on board)

Katsumi: (Katsumi looks out over the city as they fly by, smoke, flames and rubble engulfing much of it. Much, but not all.) Endure… just a little while longer, Mitakihara…