Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume15 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 6===

That free and peaceful city looked entirely different now.

The countless security cameras, which were set up according to some big theory about cross-pollination or whatever, were no help at all. They would not clear the soldiers’ names of this false accusation.

“What the hell, what the hell, what the hell hell hell!?”

Even if someone else had thrown the rock, they had to deal with the pests that erupted out of the hornet’s nest. But Heivia and the others had no weapons, so they only had one option. If they did not run away, they would die. All of them would be killed together. The Bullmite on Heivia’s back had collapsed, so he had to get up and run through the Chinatown.

“Wh-where are we supposed to run to!?” asked Myonri. “All 20,000 meters of this place is on top of an Information Alliance Object!!”

“If you really want an answer, then put your hands on your knees, stick your ass out toward them, and take the time to think! Me? I’m running!!”

After turning a corner in the Chinatown, Heivia found an ordinary gun barrel aimed his way.

“!?”

He grabbed and twisted the attacker’s wrist and slammed them back-first into the ground only to find it was a college student.

“Why does a civilian have such a big submachine gun!? Are these easier to get than the Island Nation’s Stick or Pokemamo!?”

When Heivia fired a few warning shots into the air, the passersby all crouched down and hid below tables and benches. In what seemed to be a sign of surrender, they tossed guns and cartridges out like money offerings. The Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers did not have time to take them all while they fled, but in something like marathon runners at a water station, they all ended up with guns from a variety of makers.

“There is something seriously wrong with the North American market,” said Heivia. “Aren’t there more guns than on the battlefield?”

“Revolvers, shotguns, submachineguns…are these really all for self-defense?” asked Myonri. “Uwehh, there’s even some LMGs and sniper rifles…!?”

Guns was more reassuring than no guns, but the serverless and highly-coordinated Bullmites were designed to be used as shields. A machine would not die even if you shot it in the head or chest.

“Normal bullets” was not going to do the trick, so they selected lightweight weapons rather than powerful ones.

Increasing their firepower was not going to stop the Bullmites.

“Oh, honestly!!”

Heivia raised the submachinegun almost on reflex, but it was no use. He was up against machines. Threats would be useless and a stream of 9mm bullets would only be deflected by the thick armor. Given how many civilians were cowering around them, ricocheting bullets would be too great a threat.

They were not alive.

They did not fear destruction.

Did the rules really change this much when unmanned weapons were sent to the battlefield?

That was when a “silver bullet” arrived in advance of its gunshot.

The armor-piercing incendiary round could punch through the thick armor and fry the circuit boards within using great heat. After being fired down from some roof or another, the sniper bullet punched through the transformer controlling a traffic light, so a large truck drove through and targeted Heivia’s group.

Yes.

The problem was that the “silver bullets” were not just targeting the monsters.

“Watch out, dammit!! God, this is a terrible orgy!! You never know when you’re going to get a face full of squid stink!!”

The truck drove right over a concrete barrier that doubled as a flowerbed and came to a half-crushed stop just short of hitting the delinquent soldier. But he did not have time to catch his breath. The mystery sniper fired a few more shots into a nearby park, calling that area’s Bullmites toward the soldiers. Just like gathering the attention of an isolated enemy in an online game.

“That sniper is following us,” said Myonri.

“Are they jumping from building to building? Hey, if you’re not using that plastic sniper rifle, toss it here! Silencing that gloomy Peeping Tom takes top priority!!”

That said, real snipers were not like in movies. You could not just look up and see them leaning out from the building. They seemed to be running along the roofs of the buildings alongside the sidewalk Heivia’s group was running down, but it was not clear where exactly they were.

There were countless floral security cameras set up, but they were arranged with the flow of people in mind. Simply put, monitoring the populated streets came first and the sky overhead was less closely watched.

Meanwhile, another Bullmite pushed in to cut off their path.

“That isn’t going to work even if you fire at it head on!”

“That’s not what I’m doing, you idiot!! Bukkake-ing on a mech’s face isn’t my idea of fun!!”

Without even using the scope, Heivia fired a high-speed rifle bullet at the fire hydrant at the end of the road. Those animal types had little surface area in contact with the ground for their weight, so they were in trouble when they lost friction. That was obvious when nothing but four small hooves were used to control the same weight as a large motorcycle.

Myonri and the others fired more bullets as the Bullmite slipped and toppled over, but that only sent sparks flying from the armor. Not even concentrated fire on a defenseless enemy had any effect.

“What do you think about that sniper!?” asked Heivia.

“Well, I definitely don’t want to be their friend!!” replied Myonri.

“Not that. I’m just talking about their skill.”

The torrent from the fire hydrant had knocked over a window washer’s bucket of industrial detergent, so the Bullmite slipped even more than expected and could not seem to get up. When it could not move, it seemed to have difficulty using its motions to communicate with the others. Thus, the other units did not move to help it. And the potatoes were not about to stay in one place. Heivia had to click his tongue and jump right over the mass of composite armor that could not return to the fight and kept spinning around and around like a giant pinwheel firework.

“They destroyed a traffic light to send in a truck and they provoked the Bullmites into attacking. Why are they being as indirect as a literary girl with a crush? All they need to do is fire bullets straight into our heads!!”

“Um, maybe they hope to make it look like an accident?” suggested Myonri.

“They’re using armor-piercing incendiary rounds. That’s more than just repacking a used cartridge bought from a gun shop. These bullets will stand out a lot more than the used gum all over the sidewalks, so there’s no room for a conspiracy there.”

They fired occasional warning shots into the air to deter the sniper who they still had not located. Normal bullets would not work on the Bullmites who pursued them in a coordinated fashion without using a server. After making sure the sporadic gunfire had rid the area of civilians, Heivia fired his sniper rifle straight into the air.

A crane’s wire snapped and several steel beams fell from a building under construction.

“Those things can still move after a direct hit!?”

“You need at least as much firepower as a powered suit!” said Myonri. “More importantly, what were you trying to say about that sniper?”

“There’s more to sniping than just distance and wind direction. Machine assistance can make up for the scientific side of things, but the more social side of it is harder. You have to predict what your target will do and place the ballistic trajectory where they will be next. This sniper was always targeting things that are easy to predict: Bullmites that have no fear of death and a stationary transformer. For those, all you need to do is line up the crosshairs in the scope.”

Realistically, Heivia’s group was as cornered as could be.

But he proposed a bold theory all the same.

“This sniper is only an amateur virgin. They’re not confident then can satisfy us, so they’re firing on the easier mechanical targets instead.”

In that case, what was the attacker’s field of expertise?

The sniper attacks with armor-piercing incendiary rounds were a lot like extremely small-scale explosions. They were also good at figuring out how gadgets like the Bullmites worked. They ignored the preparations on both sides of the fight to throw the scene into chaos and achieve more than their skill would normally allow for.

…Come to think of it, hadn’t ''someone'' well known to Heivia nervously attempted some machine-assisted sniping to rescue the Princess in the Alaska District?

(You’re kidding, right…? I’d love it if he’s alive, but he wouldn’t make his appearance like this, would he!?)

He heard what sounded like a thick metal clasp fitting into place.

He looked back while running and his eyes bulged. At some point, the composite armor bulls had received attachments resembling backpacks or saddles. And attached to those were a light machinegun, grenades, and a small container magazine that resembled a cooler.

It was as unfair as finding the relentless zombies had started cleverly aiming guns your way.

“What the hell is this…!?”

That was when the sign for a subway station entered the corner of his vision.

It was all over if those guns opened fire across the surface street. The Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers and the innocent civilians who had evacuated indoors would be caught by it. Heavy machineguns used bullets thicker than a thumb, so they could tear through glass and concrete like it was styrofoam. Heivia gestured to the other potatoes and they all ran down the stairs.

“Do you really think this will save us!?” asked Myonri.

“How should I know!? Go call tech support!! But this will at least distance us from the sniper on the roofs. And underground, the 2D map alone won’t be enough. Plus, Manhattan has turned all around with no concern for the cardinal directions, so we can only hope those things will lose track of where they are…”

War was generally a contest over who could take more lives.

Thus, they would have to change how they fought when up against lifeless unmanned weapons.

Hearing the commotion, some benevolent station workers started to come out with stun guns, but Heivia’s group aimed their real guns over to force them back while running through the chaotic ticket selling area and jumping over the ticket gate.

They heard further angry shouts and screams from behind.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Damn, did it not work!? Are they using microwaves or submillimeter waves or something!?”

“Could you please explain what this means!?” asked Myonri. “I thought the Information Alliance’s unmanned weapons were autonomous and didn’t need to access a server!”

He did not have time for that. They were dead if those things caught up.

The floral security cameras were installed here too, so the Martini would know where they were. That limited what the potatoes could do. They would be trapped if they kept running and returned to the surface through a different exit. And even if they ran to the platform, Heivia doubted they would find a train conveniently about to depart like in a drama.

“It would only be the same standard wireless LAN that can misdirect the selfie a bored housewife meant to send to the guy she’s cheating on her husband with. Could we jam it!?”

“We don’t have any equipment, you moron!! Stop asking for the impossible! And why are you so fixated on signal interference? They’ll keep coming for us even if we cut off the cameras monitoring us, right!?”

They did not even have 10 seconds to think. Even a human could run across the 100-meter structure in that time.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Anyone with a hand to spare, gather as many fire extinguishers as you can!!”

“Heivia?”

“Head down to the platform!! Hurry! It’s meaningless if they catch up!!”

The Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers more jumped down the stairs than ran as they rushed to the subway platform. As expected, no train conveniently slid up to the platform. The platform was empty on both sides and the college students and housewives waiting for a train all ducked down in shock when they saw the many guns.

“What are we going to do!?” asked Myonri. “Run into the tunnel!?”

“What good is playing tag with machines in a long, straight tunnel? More importantly, give me the fire extinguishers! All of them!!”

Heivia snatched away the red metal containers and aimed the hoses at a surprising location: the track below the platform.

“Subways send the power through the bottom instead of the top.”

“What does that matter?”

“How do those bull bastards track their location and their destination while the Manhattan turns? I’m guessing they use EM waves.”

“But weren’t we told that unmanned weapons can move around while offline?”

“It doesn’t have to be on a military bandwidth. It could be signals for TV, radio, cellphones, or whatever else. EM waves are waves, so the Doppler Effect comes into play. By reading the signals flying around, they can tell how Manhattan is moving. The unmanned weapons use that as a virtual compass to track their own location. Wraith said submarines are the ideal form of an unmanned weapon, right? If they’re only passively receiving the signals, they don’t have to worry about the enemy locating them!”

Which meant…

“The Bullmites didn’t get lost while underground because the microwave and submillimeter wave broadcast signals can penetrate the thick concrete. But if we use jamming to mess with the EM Doppler, they should lose track of their location and stop moving! So let’s go with a corona discharge. The third rail is normally kept at a distance so it won’t cause any interference, but if we place an impurity nearby, that will change!”

The spraying sound was like an amplified version of a carbonated beverage.

The bubble-type fire extinguishers launched their liquid chemical beyond the platform.

A moment later, they heard a lot of noise from the stairs. The quadrupedal Bullmites with a firearm attachment came crashing down toward the platform.

Myonri and the others immediately aimed their shotguns and submachineguns that way.

Their trigger fingers remained motionless.

The Bullmites had suddenly gone limp, lost their balance on the stairs, and started rolling.

The collapsed unmanned weapons did not move again.

Myonri and the others kept their guns aimed at them for a while afterwards.

“Have they…stopped?”

“A corona discharge doesn’t make a bunch of noise like a stun gun, so it can be hard to tell anything is happening. Locating a power line was not easy since New York likes to bury everything from national secrets to broken massagers, but I figured a train’s power rail would be enough to jam the EM Doppler.”

With this electromagnetic interference, any photos sent from an amateur’s phone would not reach their recipient. That meant they did not have to worry about any “unintentional spies”. Heivia used his sniper rifles to shoot out each of the security cameras installed directly around the platform.

He was a capable boy as long as he was not up against an Object.

“Okay. We’ve finally built a blind spot, so let’s change clothes and get the hell out of here. Just like swapping cars in a parking garage or below an overpass.”

Just then, there was a deep noise and the windowless subway platform was wrapped in deep darkness.

“We truly apologize for the inconvenience. The power to this station has been cut to troubleshoot a problem. Lights, air-conditioning, communications, and other services will be brought back one at a time, so to avoid tripping, please remain in place unless a station staff member provides evacuation guidance…”

The sudden darkness was like having a video game unexpectedly switched off.

Heivia worked his imagination while listening to the unnecessary announcement and then he gave a shout

“Crap!! Cutting the power stops the corona discharge!!”

He could not see his hand in front of his face in this darkness, but he could hear several metallic sounds. Needless to say, machine eyes had a greater visual range than human ones. The power outage meant nothing to them. With no power to the subway’s third rail, the EM Doppler would recover and the Bullmites would be unstoppable.

Myonri gave a short shriek right next to him.

“Eek!?”

“Don’t fire at random!! You don’t know where the civilians are in this darkness!!”

“Then what do we do!? They effectively have night-vision goggles, so they can fire accurately!”

Their firearms were commercial products taken from random people, so they were not up to military standards and were not equipped with the various cameras and sensors those soldiers were accustomed to.

In the end, Heivia Winchell could not become Quenser Barbotage.

And a moment later, the massive machines rushed in like charging bulls.