Locked

When I came back to my senses, everything was dark, a feeling of fatigue took over my body, I couldn't move in any way, not even to blink. A horrible sleep paralysis where I wanted to scream and escape, but my body just wouldn't respond. Although I couldn't see anything, I could hear a conversation nearby that I couldn't help but pay attention to.

"Ugh, this is all disgusting."
"Just seeing her there, sleeping innocently despite what she's done, disgusts me."
"Have we really stooped so low just to gain an advantage in the war?" Said the voice of a woman, I think close to me.

"So this is where you were."
"It took me a while to find you in the city."

"!!!!!"
"Mr. Yamamoto, I didn't know you were in Plymouth."

"That's right, I'm back after Operation Silver Prodigy."
"The information there was about the appearance of a girl in white who managed to fight about 7 DOLLs and get out alive.
"The bosses in Japan were impressed by such a thing and sent me to investigate.
"I just followed the trail from where the USS Essex was and confirmed that the sightings of the white girl match the places where that ship and you were."
"So I imagine if the aircraft carrier was in Plymouth and you were there, the girl would be there too."

"Yamamoto, this is a restricted area, there are orders to shoot intruders immediately."

"......"
"Actually, I just came to say goodbye, today is my last day at work."

"????"
"The great Agent Yamamoto leaving the job unfinished? What's going on?"
"What happened?"

"....... "
"'It's my daughter. ......"
"She died in a car accident on the first of January."
"I received the news yesterday.
"Her daughter Haru, my granddaughter, is now living with her aunt."
"She is in trouble with the banks and has no children.
"She is in a situation where she can't take on the responsibility of looking after someone else.
"So I've decided to go back home and take care of her myself."
"If I'm going to take care of her, I need to find a new job that is much more stable and secure."
"I'm already quite old, I can't keep getting into trouble."
"It's time for me to retire and enjoy my last years in peace."
"I can't go before I make sure Haru can take care of herself."
"That is what I promised my daughter if anything happened to her.
"A man must keep his word."
"I talked to some friends about it; they want me to be the chief of detectives or something."
"It's mostly an office job, it pays well, has good hours, and I already know some people who work there from before."

"Uh..."
"I'm so sorry, I really didn't know."
"....... "
"If you need any help with her or anything, please don't hesitate to tell me."
"It's the least I could do for a great friend like you."
"You've helped me with so much advice over the years."

"Please, I was just helping the only woman who actually seems to be doing something to win the war sooner and save more lives."
"You're the only one in the High Command I could think of to help stop all this madness."
"...."
"In fact, I can't believe we're this close to victory now, thanks to you."
"When the Sixth Fleet sets sail again, they won't stop until they reach the capital."
"Victory or death, the boys are shouting in the corridors."
"My work here can be considered done anyway, especially with you in charge."

"...."
"I also can't believe that we could end the war in less than a month."
"It seems unbelievable that after the AIM-140 Hawkeye and the new tanks, we could make so much progress."
"....."
"But in a turbulent time like war, not all new weapons are good."
"The Empire's DOLLS were like opening a Pandora's box that will never be closed again.
"....."
"But we're not innocent either when we have the White Demon from the Valkyria Project doing our dirty work."
"I probably made the biggest mistake of my life when I thought of giving money to the I.S.C. for this project; they managed to deliver another weapon equivalent to the Arksuits."

"Come on, you just did what you thought was right at the time."
"'For every day the war is shortened, perhaps hundreds of lives will be saved.
"Thanks to you, the war is about to end, thanks to you, some people will be able to go home to their families much sooner than they thought."

"Family..." The woman said in a melancholy tone.
"We all have one."
"Though I've tried to hide mine the last few years."
"I didn't want to burden them with my work, each of them has been through so much in the last 10 years."
"I don't want to put them through any more than they've already suffered."

"..."
"It must be difficult to hold such an important position in the Alliance."
"It leaves you no time for anything else."

"To call it having a job is a bit of a stretch."
"That almost everything depends on me alone reflects the enormous inefficiency of the High Command and the politicians."
"Their ego battles have prolonged the war the most, instead of the enemy and its plans."
"But even that is coming to an end for me."
"It is also time for me to return home."
"I swore that I would return to my family after the end of the war."
"I will leave all this stupid game of business and favors behind."
"I don't want any of it anymore."
"After losing someone so important to me again, I realized that this world doesn't care if I save it or not, the world or the governments don't care about sacrifices."
"None of them care what happens to me or my loved ones."

The woman spoke with a rather sad tone; her way of describing her thoughts reminded me a bit of myself and everything that had happened. After all that had happened, it was still my dream to leave everything behind and focus on what was important.

"And speaking of family and the end of the war," the old man said seriously.
"What will happen to her?"
"You're just going to leave her there?"
"Forgotten in a warehouse to fend for herself?"
"Or are you going to set her free and teach her something more than just killing?"

"......"
"I still can't believe she completed over 35 missions flawlessly."
"It works with the precision of a clock, almost as if someone else is trying to fool us with the results."
"It was quite lucky that I found the I.S.C. in the first place, trying to hide her existence."
"According to the lead investigator, a subject named Dylan disappeared during the attack in Oslo, some believe he defected to the Empire."
"Almost all research information disappeared with him."
"I managed to steal their project by suing them for diverting Alliance funds."
"We paid them for a weapon, they delivered nothing, and the bastards tried to hide it on the carrier, pretending it was a bomb."
"The president of the I.S.C., Mr. Damien Raven, preferred to give it to me in exchange for not taking his company to the Alliance Jury and letting other governments divide his company."
"Although the few documents we have mentioned have tried to use it as a DOLL, the results have been horrifyingly effective."
"There are some in the CIA who want to try to get it for their benefit."
"Do you remember Trigon? That bastard tried to blackmail me with photos of my daughter into handing over the Valkyria Project.""I sent him home after reminding him that his president is in the White House because he asked me for help, and if he continued to bother me, I would find a way to remove him as well."
"....."
"What I fear is that the end of the war will not be the end of the fight for her."
"Who will assure me that MI6 won't come next, or that Lion Saber Industries won't try to keep her when I'm gone?"
"This can't go on like this, we really don't know how far she's capable of going, maybe the girl isn't even empty as the I.S.C. documents say."
"All we know is that when we give her a mission, she carries it out in cold blood."
"But she could also be alive, thinking, a trapped ego, a desperate person looking for a slip to escape and be free."
"What do you think will happen if that turns out to be true? What do you think she'll seek first when she's free?"
"Freedom? Peace? Hammering her former captors into the wall with metal stakes?"
"This could only get worse with the course it's on."

"So I assume you already have a plan to solve it," the man said simply.

"I've asked my assistant Xi'an to collect and eliminate key information here and there over the past few days."
"Enough that the other intelligence teams won't notice."
"The real plan will be executed when we enter Vienna."
"We'll come up with an excuse to use Valkyria and set up a checkpoint nearby with all the remaining information. "
"Then we'll just pretend that a group from the Empire came and attacked the place, destroyed everything, and that the information was lost forever. "
"Then we'll put the girl back to sleep at the end of the mission."

"And what will happen to her after that?"

"I don't like it, but there's no other way; we also have to get rid of her."
I still don't know how to do it, probably with explosives or cremation to leave no trace.
"We have to end her suffering, put her out of her misery. "
"A life imprisoned against her will, forced to obey orders she doesn't understand for people she doesn't know, only to be discarded in the end anyway."
"It is a fate worse than death.
"At the very least, we must put an end to it and let her rest in peace."

It was the last thing I heard from the couple, who sounded weaker and weaker, as if they were drifting away from me. As their voices faded, the sound of hurried footsteps replaced them. And after only a few seconds, a new person also spoke to me.

"Mr. Cesar, I know you can hear me right now, even though you can't move."
"It's me, Stella, I don't have much time, so I'll try to be quick."
"I've managed to lower the level of the sedatives they're using on you so that you're somewhat conscious at the moment."
"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but right now you are the Valkyria Project the humans were talking about."
"It's been about 9 months since the Battle of Oslo."
"Right now you're in a special cargo hold on the USS ESSEX, the same aircraft carrier you served on before."
"Currently, the Sixth Fleet is in Plymouth, England, gathering supplies for its next deployment in a few days."
"The Alliance has assigned you several missions during this time, most of which have involved direct combat against the DOLLS."
"We have stepped in to carry out these operations on your behalf, to buy some time and get you out as safely as possible."
"But time is running out for us."
"They really plan to kill you very soon."

"But don't worry, we already have a rescue plan in motion, more or less."
"You are currently considered nothing more than a weapon within the Alliance, so they have implemented several security measures that make your rescue difficult."
"We have been working in secret to gradually remove the tracking devices you had, but with the little time we have now, we have thought about being a little less discreet if that will allow us to rescue you alive."
"When the next mission starts, please look for a building with a red flag at the entrance and go to the basement."
"Inside will be Miss Momo, she has personally volunteered to help you remove the tracker from your collar.
"Both of you will need to venture a little further into the battlefield to a key location that will help both of you escape."
"Momo will give you more details when she meets you."
"I think it goes without saying, but she is exposing herself to a great deal of danger to save you, so please keep her safe at all times."
"I'm very sorry I can't be more specific and give you more details as I have to leave now."
"Soon the sedatives will put you back into a deep sleep."
"Please, the next time you wake up, do everything you can to escape."
"We trust in your ability, sir, please don't disappoint yourself."

"I couldn't hear anything else even though I tried to pay attention. All of this is just giving out bad signals everywhere. I still have no idea how I'm alive, if I am, because I don't really know what's happening to me right now." And with these thoughts I felt the heavy sleep claiming my consciousness once again.