Kill the Dragon

“I'll go see the Commander myself. ”

Sergeant Red has left the control room. As he walked down the hall, he encountered Okto. Okto, full of greasy oil, looks at Sergeant Red and says,

“Sergeant! Is it true that Lee Han betrayed you? That can't be right. He's a traitor. ”

“I'm still working on it. Okto, calm down. ”

Okto didn't calm down at all.

“Calm down what? He told me a few days ago that I needed a psychoframe. He just tried to assassinate you all of a sudden? That's bullshit. I know. He's not like that! … This is no different than three years ago. I don't know anyone else, but I do. Humans lie, but machines and Lee don't lie. ”

“That's odd. Okto, calm your nerves. I'll talk to you later. ”

Sergeant Red stops on his way past Okto. Okto went to great lengths to defend Sergeant Red.

‘So Okto is only a few sides in this situation. ’

Sergeant Red calls for Okto. I whispered something to Okto's ear.

“Okto, if…. ”

Okto's eyes changed. He nods.

Sergeant Red sees Okto disappearing quickly. He wipes his sweaty palms off his trousers.

‘I owe it to Lee. Even if Ihan really is a spy in the Citadel... There must have been a reason. ’

The commander should not have these feelings. Differentiate between jobs. But Sergeant Red is not one of them. So I didn't fit in with the commander. He was a man who moved at the moment of his last choice with hot emotions, not reason.

‘I'm not as qualified as Chief of Staff Alexander. Alexander was a great man. Now that I'm here, I get it. ’

Sergeant Red smiles bitterly.

The interrogator sighs and sighs.

“Tough guy. ”

Lee Han spit blood in his mouth. Lee had seven missing fingernails. The thorns are tucked under your fingernails and pulled out. Lee did not scream.

“You're not gonna get anything out of me this way. ”

Yihan mutters, and those who tortured him get tired of it. I know the reinforcements received a level of mental education that was close to brainwashing, but these boys are under the age of 20. An interrogator from the U.S. military was in a complicated mood.

‘Damn. He's just a big, little kid. Some men fight with radiation exposure. Did they make monsters in the Arc? ’

Even the strong arc executives did not see Lee's torture firsthand. Everyone has their faces and faces. It's hard to see a betrayer tortured by an acquaintance.

‘Isn't Lee really innocent? ’

Seeing how he didn't succumb to torture, I even thought about it.

Sergeant Red has entered the Commander's room. Two soldiers stand guard. The guard salutes Sergeant Red.

“Chief of Staff. What can I do for you? ”

“I'm here to check on the Commander for a moment. ”

Sergeant Red looks at Commander Jurgen. The sitting Jurgen mutters to himself. Like a madman, I made fun of my mouth without rest. The words didn't match back and forth. Among the words, there were some words that were not the language of this world.

‘Commander Jurgen. ’

Sergeant Red stares quietly at Yurgen. Yurgen deals with Sergeant Red. I wandered around the room alone like an autistic child.

‘What did Commander Jurgen really do to Ihan? ’

Sergeant Red sighs. No matter how much he observes the Commander, there is no more information to find out.

“Take care of it. ”

Sergeant Red says so and leaves the room. Yurgen, speaking to himself, glances closely at Sergeant Red. A twisted smile hangs over the mouth of the Jurgen.

Lee had endured torture and repeated interrogations. I couldn't sleep, and I suffered constantly. It was just waiting for Lee to weaken his mental strength. The interrogators decided to give him a confession if he showed weakness.

‘This is an unexpected situation. I'm in a bind. Can I escape without backup? ’

Lee found a way to escape. There was no right way. Yihan is a sicker, but the interrogators know that. The preparations are already done.

Sticky, sticky.

His body was hot from the pain, but his head was calm. The exhausted Inquisitors are out for a moment. Lee also had time to think for a long time.

‘They won't kill me. But we can't stay here like this. Most importantly, given the Commander's condition, it's not uncommon for an arc to fail at any time. ’

Lee made a hypothesis about the commander.

Psychological contamination due to SPECTRE invasiveness - or sensitivity.

‘Specter's intrusion is unlikely. It's hard to rule it out completely... but I think we should leave it behind for now. Much more likely to be contaminated It used to be difficult to stay sane, Commander. At some point, you're right to think that even your original self is broken. If Chief Alexander were alive, he would have noticed the change.... Red Sergeant or Colonel Tobias didn't have a long rapport with the commander. You didn't notice the glamour. ’

Lee continued to think based on the clues given.

‘The question is, how do you convince others that the commander has gone crazy? How many people trust me more than the commander? Plus, he's a Citadel spy, and he's been under the impression that he's been hiding for three years. Even if I tell you about the Commander right now, it's not very convincing. ’

Lee recalled the Commander's appearance.

‘If you are hostile towards the arc in that position, you can always drive the arc to its destruction. But the arc is still alive and well. Something doesn't add up. Red told me that if the Commander regained his senses, he would join us in the discussion. The Commander still cares about the survival of the Ark. If you were part of the Spectre or Dragon Corps, you would have been on the deep sea terrace long ago. ’

Lee Han, who only moved his lips, wanted to drink a sip of water. It seemed to be cracking in my mouth. You hear a door open outside. The interrogation begins again. Lee was resolute.

‘I can't fall down yet. I'm not going down here. ’

I heard a lot of footsteps. Lee's heart thumped.

Whee.

Someone took off the hood that was covering Lee Han's face. Lee Han frowned and barely gained his sight.

“Octo?”

“We don't have time. I'll explain right away."

Okto quickly said. After that, there were three technicians.

“We've solved the dummy footage in the monitor room. ”

The technician who was touching the handset said. Okto nodded his head and cut his cuffs.

“Thank you.”

Lee touched his dull hands and feet. His hands were bloody, but he didn't mind. I had my fingers roughly wrapped in bandages.

“By now, the hangar doors with the psychoframes should have been welded. The terranode will rise above the surface in five minutes. Open the hatch and escape. ”

“Even if I tell you to escape.... ”

As I spoke, I stopped. I found a case the size of three meters. It was a familiar sized case.

“… psychoframe. ”

Okto opened the case. Inside, there was a psychoframe. I was unfamiliar with the design. It resembles a crude first generation. Artificial muscles appear sparsely through the gap in the armor plate.

“Oldman Reborn. One and a half generations, to be exact. The mainframe uses the first generation, and the artificial muscles and the armor plates are assembled to fit the second generation's parts, which is worse than nothing. ”

Okto explained. The Old Man was a training psychoframe. Of those, Oldman-3 was Okto's jurisdiction. Even Okto had forgotten for a long time.

“Can I use it? ”

Lee said, standing in front of the psychoframe.

“It's sudden, but it touched me. Don't worry, you can do it. ”

Okto's mouth overflowed with confidence.

Lee Han mounted the Old Man. The joint drive was not carefully segmented because the main frame was first-generation. Dynamic movement is restricted. Only machine-hard movements were possible.

‘But the artificial muscles cover the body well. It fits me perfectly. This is from Okto. ’

The second generation uses Muscle Suits, i.e. systemic artificial muscles. The Old Man Ribbon is the first generation in which systemic artificial muscles are introduced. It was a fuzzy position called the 1.5th generation because of the mixed generation of technology applications.

“Two minutes left. ”

“I know. ”

Okto's hands are faster. The basics were first-generation, so there was a lot of manual tuning to do.

“Data says we can use it now. But practice and data are always different. ”

Okto replied, wearing a helmet.

“The test will end in action. ”

[Equipped]

A message appeared on the helmet shield display. The program was booting.

Weeing.

Lee released psychic energy. Psychic energy is linked to the psychoframe. Components made of dragon material reacted as if they were connected to this nervous system.

Pow, pow.

The movement of the fingers was awkward. Lee smiled bitterly.

‘I don't have time to be discouraged because it's lame. This is my weapon now. We have to do our best with this. ’

Lee looked at Okto and his technicians.

‘They also take discipline seriously and help me. People who trust me. ’

Lee tried to ask Okto before moving on.

Why did you help me? ’

The horse rises up to the throat and sinks. The answer seemed to be inconsequential. Such a question might be an excuse.

“Thank you, Okto. ”

“You're welcome. A message from Sergeant Red. ‘I repaid my debt. ’ ”

Lee knew what it meant. He stood in the hallway, walking loudly. Escape routes appear on the shield screen. It was pre-programmed by Okto.

‘Coming.'

As soon as Lee tries to move, the interior of the Terra Node flashes red.

Whee!

An alarm has been sounded. The bulkhead of the hallway comes down one after the other.

I noticed Lee's escape attempt at the top.

Cadduk.

Lee ran through the bulkheads that were coming down. The obstructing soldiers ignored it.

“Grab it!”

Even if I asked you to catch it, there's no way to stop the psychoframe from running. You cannot use heavy weapons inside the submarine.

“Ahhhh!”

Lee Han got rid of the interrupting soldiers. I adjusted my strength so that I wouldn't die.

‘It's also Octo. ’

It's a new psychoframe, but Lee became accustomed quickly. It was a psychoframe optimized for Lee Han. As he moves, the psychoframe follows. For the first generation, the reaction is neither too dull nor too soft. The balance of strength and flexibility was in line with his ability to move.

"This is a psychoframe assembled in a matter of days?" ’

Ihan laughs. Okto was well aware of Ihan. Oktoman confirmed with data and figures that this was no different than three years ago. The psychoframe that applied the optimization figures three years ago is now the right fit for Lee.

‘This is possible. We can get out. ’

Lee checked the floating map on the screen. The exit between the speedboat and the psychoframe was the destination.