Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume16 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 10===

They finally managed to regroup.

With young Hina in tow, Quenser exchanged a look with Heivia and Myonri. While Quenser had been fighting Dora, the others had searched the facility on their own and they had secured the few ordinary workers stationed there. That explained the few unfamiliar faces in Hawaiian shirts.

“Holing up inside isn’t going to help. In fact, there’s nothing but pipes and tanks full of concentrated oxygen around here. If an Object fires one of its huge-ass cannons, who knows how much of the place is going to blow up!”

They heard a loud sound from outside that was more like spraying steam than a metal shell.

They hesitantly approached a window to check.

“The bridge is falling.”

“I guess it isn’t going to let us escape.”

They were already within the Over Cavitation’s firing range. If they stood in front of it, they would be crushed immediately. They were afraid to use their radios, but they had to check on the situation.

It was unclear how much good it actually did, but they used some of the facility’s radio equipment to help disguise their signal.

“Princess, are you still alive!?”

“Just barely. And I wouldn’t be if the Over Cavitation hadn’t made an unnatural course change.”

“If you can still move your Object, then let’s end this. We have the accurate plans, including the Parasite Plan part. The new leg-like propulsion device disguised as a bipod at the base of the main canon is really just a form of aircushion. It uses a layer of air to kick off the ocean surface like it’s stepping on an invisible balloon. It only works on the water. Princess, if you follow my instructions, you can strike back at it. Do you think you can do that!?”

“Just get to the point.”

She really was a great girl who you could rely on. Just having her nearby gave you plenty of opportunities. Quenser shared the plans he had taken from Dora’s device, explained his idea, and urged them all to action.

Of course, success was not guaranteed.

They had run across plenty of accidents and unforeseen circumstances while reaching this point and more than a few of their comrades had fallen along the way.

Quenser had no way of taking responsibility if this failed spectacularly.

But everyone still set to work.

They were sick of waiting around to be killed. If there was any chance at all, they were on board. That was the thought process pushing them onward.

“Hina, if you’re going to run and hide, use that storage room over there. It looks like they added on an empty space not in the original plans. There is a panic room in case of an explosion, but if their Elite knows the layout, that will be the first place she targets. Thick walls can’t save you, but a location the enemy doesn’t expect can. Hina?”

“…”

The girl felt like she was being left behind.

She simply stood there with her head lowered, so Quenser crouched down to look her in the eye from below.

“How?”

“Hina.”

“How can you stay so positive?”

Finally, she got the words out.

“I couldn’t do anything. I knew dad couldn’t swim and mom never would have forced him to go into the ocean. It made no sense that they were attacked by sharks while surfing, but I had to believe what the grownups said!”

“…”

“I was afraid of the Object! I was afraid of all the grownups in army uniforms!! We found the arms dealer, but all I did was tremble in fear!! You were the one that ended it, Que’ser. Even though I had the bomb in my hand and the enemy was right there!!”

…Who could blame her?

She had a gun pressed against her head, her debt was used against her, the police, the military, and the law were all stacked against her, the entire adult world around her had viewed her with scorn, and the parents who should have protected her were no longer there. Who in the world could blame her and call her a coward for holding her tongue to protect her own life?

But.

Just because no one blamed her did not meant it had not built up inside her little by little. Until it was too much to bear.

“I always knew it wasn’t an accident. Mom and dad welcomed in all the foreign people who moved here. And they said it was wrong to treat some of them better than others, so they got into arguments with people from the Capitalist Corporations who claim to be in charge here! They knew what the Oxyocean Operation would do, so on that night, they said they were going to discuss it with the people running the program! They said those people would understand if they talked it out!! But they…!!!!!!!”

“Hey.”

Quenser spoke lightly to interrupt her increasingly erratic words.

“I think you’re confused about something, lady. We aren’t saints. Just because the people who fought di the right thing doesn’t mean the people who didn’t fight did the wrong thing. We only say that to keep the wars running smoothly. If we don’t make the soldiers look like badass heroes, no one’s going to enlist. So throw out that idea of justice and focus on the dumber things you can actually believe in.”

“But they…my mom and dad and I couldn’t do anything!!”

“Hina, your parents stayed true to themselves to the very end.”

Little Hina’s eyes opened wide.

She looked like she had stopped breathing and Quenser had more to say to her.

“Increasing the shark population for profit will get the ignorant tourists eaten first. And your parents would have known how dangerous it was to aggravate the professional killers of the military in private talks. …But they still did it. They still didn’t rely on guns. Nor did they rely on terrorism or guerilla warfare. They decided they would fight with their words and they stepped up onto the final stage with that as their weapon.”

“…”

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“That’s a noble thing. The lies we tell to facilitate war have nothing on that. Lady, your parents risked their lives to stay true to that path, so are you going to defile it now? It isn’t violence that decides who’s strong and who’s weak or who’s right and who’s wrong.”

He could not say anything more.

Hina’s face crumpled as she hugged crouching Quenser and exploded into tears.

She had not avenged her parents.

It may have been the most difficult decision she had ever made.

But it was a much stronger and more human decision than someone who icily held a gun or knife over the corpse of their hated foe. Hina Liqueurball was smart enough to have pulled it off if she had put her mind to it, but she could remain a kind girl for now.

Heivia and Myonri waved over at Quenser from a short distance away.

They were done with their preparations.

With Hina still hugging him, Quenser nodded and used his empty hand to grab something that had fallen to the floor.

It was a tool that looked like a pair of wire cutters enlarged to the size of a two-handed pair of scissors.

It was a pair of chain cutters.

“Don’t worry, lady.”

He kept it short.

And he made his point clear.

“We’ll take care of all the dirty work. You don’t need to dirty your hands over this.”

There was a snapping sound.

It was a clear sign of a counterattack. It was the sound of him cutting the chain holding that binding metal ball to the girl’s ankle.