He could only continue to stand his ground and say to Georgette, “Yes! If the Alliance insists on military action, then this is the final answer on behalf of the entire Polar Group!”
Georgette’s expression did not change at all; she simply said, “You have two minutes to change your mind.”
“I don’t need those so-called two minutes; this is my final answer.”
“That is your freedom, but I suggest you think carefully in these two minutes.”
“Enough! Show her out!”
At his command, the office door opened once again.
A whole squad of guards in gray-blue uniforms, armed with lethal weapons, marched in.
The leader gestured to Georgette, inviting her to leave.
Georgette sighed again.
“It seems the best outcome is unattainable…”
Her words more resembled a soliloquy than a statement.
“What?…”
Pierre, who had already turned his back, turned around again.
He saw the Battle Nun casually put on her helmet.
In an instant, a very bad feeling flooded his mind.
“Wait…” He wanted to say something else, but the resolute nun did not give him the chance.
Georgette made her move.
With one punch, she brought down the guard who had gestured for her to leave, and as the others raised their weapons and fired at her, she swiftly ducked, avoiding a hail of bullets, and her sweeping kick knocked over several of them.
Immediately after, she disarmed a fallen soldier of his weapon.
The man instinctively clung to his gun, but with one pull from the nun, both he and the weapon were yanked up; one punch to his face rendered him instantly unconscious, making it irrelevant whether he released his grip or not.
By that time, bullets were already hitting the Battle Nun. However, the protective capability of her power armor was not easily threatened by the firearms made by Polar Industries. In contrast, with the weapons she had seized, her counterattack distributed each precise bullet evenly among those guards attacking her, without any waste.
In such close combat, not exceeding ten meters, she could, of course, hit exactly where she aimed.
After eliminating the guards, the Battle Nun strode forward, closed Pierre’s office door, and locked it from the inside.
Of course, this was not particularly effective, for those outside had keys.
But Georgette did not plan to hold out here for long.
After closing the door, the Battle Nun turned around and did not see Pierre.
She took a few steps, pulled him out from under the desk.
Right after the Battle Nun had made her move, he had hidden himself—mainly to avoid stray bullets, so as not to lose his life senselessly.
And now, though still entangled, the group president was still trying to keep calm and maintain defiance.
“Even… even if you strike, even if you kill me here, it won’t change the collective will of the group… We won’t… We won’t completely submit to violence, your choice is utterly wrong!”
“I know, but I never expected that taking you hostage would completely change the situation.”
“Then you…”
“Shhh… be quiet, I just wanted you to wait for two minutes.”
Two minutes?
Earlier, the Battle Nun also emphasized that he had only two minutes to change his mind.
At first, he thought it was just a way of applying further pressure by setting a very short final deadline when issuing the ultimatum.
But now it seemed… this so-called two minutes might actually mean something?
What could happen?
In those two minutes, all he could do was sit quietly.
Meanwhile, he heard noises outside the door, guards trying to break in but failing. The door to his president’s office was quite sturdy. Then, faint voices came from outside, probably in search of the spare keys.
Two minutes are very short, only enough time for these things to happen.
Then he saw Georgette open the window of the president’s office.
He instinctively leaned in for a closer look, and then, he heard a series of explosions echoing from all corners of the Polar Industrial City.
The closest one was probably less than two kilometers from where he stood.
After the explosions came the sound of artillery.
It was as if the entire Polar Industrial City had erupted into chaos!
Pierre’s brain momentarily crashed.
After a while, he managed to turn his head with difficulty, looking towards Georgette.
“Did you… infiltrate the Polar Industrial City with your people? How many have you brought in?”
He hadn’t expected Georgette to answer, as he had asked out of shock more than anything else.
But Georgette actually answered, “About two thousand. The 31st Airborne Division of the Alliance is in charge of this operation. Two thousand soldiers infiltrated the Polar Industrial City with your group’s suppliers, blending in with the transport convoys.”
Pierre appeared quite shocked, “But… so many people… Damn it! Have all those settlements outside betrayed us?”
Georgette seriously replied, “Not all of them… just over a dozen. In the last two days, their deliveries brought soldiers and weapons from the Alliance hidden inside. Of course, to achieve this, some inside your group also had to assist; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy. Fortunately, our efforts over the past few months in the city haven’t been without results.”
“…”
Pierre didn’t know what to say.
So not only did those settlements acting as suppliers outside become traitors, but there were also traitors within the group, right?
And not just a few!
He gathered his wits, “But if you don’t mind me saying, two thousand may seem like a lot, but they lack heavy weapons and the Alliance’s renowned armor. To think you can take the Polar Industrial City with just these men is perhaps overly confident.”
He spoke with more civility than before.
But what he hadn’t anticipated was that Georgette nodded again in agreement with his point and continued, “You’re right, which is why… we’ve made some other preparations.”
“Hmm?”
Pierre was about to ask what ‘some other preparations’ actually meant.
But soon, he saw it for himself.
By the time the roaring sound reached him, it wasn’t too loud, a bit like bees buzzing.
But what was coming was far more frightening than any bee!
From a distance, he saw a squadron of hundreds of aircraft diving down from the clouds nearby. In the blink of an eye, they were above the Polar Industrial City.
The Polar Industrial City did have air defenses.
But clearly, the Alliance’s special operations were targeted. They had some understanding of the air defense layout of the Polar Industrial City. Many of the first wave of attacks by the infiltrating Alliance soldiers were near these air defense positions.
In the unexpected assault, they probably didn’t stand a chance to activate their air defenses again.
Of course, the infiltrated soldiers could not possibly take out all the air defense positions throughout the entire city.
After the Alliance air force arrived, there were still a few defense positions roaring at the sky.
But… their effect was very limited.
Firstly, they were not dense enough, quite sparse; secondly, their caliber was not sufficiently large.
Such anti-aircraft machine guns could handle some light-armored aircraft well enough; a hit could be lethal.
But against the Wind Falcon?
That armor at the level of armored vehicles was not something that air defense weapons with insufficient caliber could damage for certain.
In turn, any time air defense firepower emerged, the Wind Falcons in the sky would launch a missile down there.
Often, that would solve the problem.
Some Wind Falcons, meanwhile, came to certain open grounds and opened their hatches.
Then, ropes were lowered, and dozens of soldiers clung to them, starting to descend rapidly.
Pierre was stunned.
————
Fell asleep last night… didn’t finish writing…
Luckily, managed to wrap it up before 12 o’clock.