A Hecatoncheires!
Briareos!
Briareos...
Is this really our Eden?
All right, the forecast was completely wrong.
This is perfect weather for a day off!
Hey Deunan, are you done yet?
Give me a minute.
Voilà.
What do you think?
Fine, I guess.
Let's go.
That's all?
It's just a one-night trip. Don't make such a big deal of it.
We haven't had a day off in a long time.
What's the point if we don't have fun?
As soon as we get there, I'm going to change into something else, order a big plate of tropical fruits, and—
What's wrong?
Nothing. Let's go.
The Captured Cradle
To Poseidon Air flight M-727 traversing airspace C-23:
This is OAS Control. Your ship is currently flying off-course.
Adjust immediately.
M-727, respond.
What's wrong?
Poseidon Air flight M-727 is veering off its flight path.
Ping them again.
This is OAS Control.
What's wrong, M-727?
Adjust your course immediately.
I repeat, this is OAS Control.
Lance here.
Your vacation request has been retroactively declined.
You can't be serious!
Return to HQ and prepare to mobilize immediately.
It's P-4 confidential.
Well, this sucks.
M-727, a super jumbo jet class chartered for a flight from Poseidon to Paris, has been hijacked.
Reports came in about 13 minutes ago.
The craft has changed its course and is currently headed towards Olympus.
Who's behind it?
The Aleus Sect of the Human Liberation Front has assumed responsibility.
They want us to release all of their comrades imprisoned here within three hours.
Nonsense.
What will they do then, run to Switzerland?
They have the crew and passengers as hostages, all in all some 3,000.
We're lacking intel and want a Hecatoncheires for the infiltration.
You and Deunan will go.
That's all.
So we could've gotten our break if you weren't a Hecaton.
Get your asses back here if you have the time to talk crap!
The Human Liberation Front is an extremist group
holding that humans are superior to bioroids and cyborgs, not to mention robots, right?
A bunch of reactionaries.
They probably see the lives of bioroids as worthless.
How cruel.
They may have had their DNA modified,
ideals harmonized, and lifespans lengthened, but they're no different from humans on a basic level.
Indeed, bioroids and humans are the same deep down.
Still, there are always some who cling to the tiniest differences in order to claim themselves superior.
What idiots.
It just goes to show how few pure-blooded humans are left.
So few that they feel they have to fight extinction.
Not everyone's a tomboy who doesn't need protection.
How ironic.
Many people who agreed to migrate to Olympus
have lost their fight or flight instincts after living here, simultaneously losing all individuality.
It went exactly as the legislators predicted it would.
That some conservative members banded together
and lobbied for the restoration of a "human" society is, in a sense, a healthy response.
Even if their methods are hopelessly blunt and extreme?
The more blunt and extreme the method, the more it calls to the human heart.
Perhaps this city truly is lacking faults.
Suffering and fear serve to instill discipline in man.
Absolutely.
But going back to its origins, this city is what the people themselves wished for and worked towards.
We bioroids have a history of helping them realize it.
Exactly what kind of help must we provide so that humans may live as befits them?
They should already know that demanding to free all their comrades is unreasonable.
Perhaps it's all a bluff to confuse us, and in truth they want to use the passenger jet for a terrorist attack.
After checking the passenger list, we have confirmed that all of the passengers are bioroids.
There isn't a single human.
That makes sense.
Their aim must be Tartaros, then.
I agree.
They store frozen DNA there for bioroid production.
Perhaps there's some meaning to targeting Tartaros, the birthplace of the bioroid passengers.
We have to prepare for the worst. I'll tell them to activate their self-defense systems.
Very well.
What's wrong?
Are you actually nervous for once?
Maybe.
Hey, Briareos?
Once we're done with this, take me somewhere nice for dinner.
I don't know if this is Eden or not, but I have the right to eat something nice once in a while.
Do you have a place in mind?
Hitomi mentioned a restaurant with a great view at night.
I don't mind, but I can't guarantee that they can fill your bottomless pit of a stomach.
You forgot to leave out the rude parts!
Good. You're yourself again.
Here it is.
Let's finish this thing and enjoy the rest of our day off.
Agreed!
We'll ascend from right underneath it and stick to it.
There should be an emergency hatch under the wing.
Gotcha.
I don't see a single passenger here.
This is like a ghost plane.
Indeed, it's strange that there isn't a single one.
Maybe they herded them somewhere.
What do your life sensors say?
I can confirm that all 3,000 are alive right now.
Thank God. At least the passengers are safe.
For now.
What should we do?
We could take the cockpit.
I'm worried about the safety of the passengers.
Let's check each floor first.
However...
Don't start a gunfight alone, was it?
Good girl.
Who the hell are you?!
Do you know that this is a Human Liberation Front office?
I know, and also that this is one of the smaller branches.
Who are you?!
An assault cyborg of ES.W.A.T with a terrible temper.
But what's the point of knowing?
ES.W.A.T?!
A-Anything, just don't kill me, please!
Come on, I just wanted to ask you something.
Shouldn't you be some kind of enhanced cyborg?
Find anything?
We have a winner.
Lucky boy. What's inside?
Gina was telling me about it while looking around Poseidon's offices.
They're using the Personal Information Protection Act to stop anyone from giving the passenger list to the public.
She's one to always attack head-on. Is that the passenger list?
Yeah. The question is why the Human Liberation Front has information from Poseidon.
Easy. There's a third party controlling this operation behind the scenes.
I believe so too.
An insider leaked those secrets to the Human Liberation Front.
They used them to plan the hijacking.
My part of the plane was deserted.
Same here.
I still feel that the passengers are alive.
This is an honest-to-God ghost plane.
Kind of creepy if you ask me.
Well, the only place left now...
...is the cockpit.
It's on autopilot?
As Lance suspected, the destination was changed to Tartaros, Olympus.
To make things worse, the program is read-only.
What's that?
Wait!
Is it a bomb?!
Yeah.
One of the old ones that are set off by vibrations.
It'll be difficult to defuse it since it's so old.
What should we do?
The culprits should be lurking in the airspace around here somewhere, monitoring us.
So, what's the plan?
Let's return the favor of a trap.
Deunan, go back and get your Gyges.
You're going to finish this.
Alone?
We still don't know how they managed to hide the passengers,
but there's no point in arresting them if they blow up the plane.
I like having two or three backup plans.
I'll stay behind and defuse this thing.
Hurry up and go.
Briareos!
Calm down, I just finished defusing the bomb in the cockpit.
Touching it might have triggered a message.
They know what they're doing.
Be careful.
They must be close by.
I know. Leave it to me!
A Floating Torch?
I can see through your camouflage!
Briareos, I found them!
Abort the mission!
We're done for otherwise!
Briareos!
Damn!
Calm down, Deunan!
Did you forget that a single Hecatoncheires can control an aircraft carrier?
I can fly this thing with engines or without.
But...!
Surviving takes priority.
Focus on the job you have right now.
It's flying right at us!
Don't panic.
That Landmate is fast because it has hardly any armor.
We win once we get a hit in.
What's the matter, throwing your weapon away?
You're screwed now.
Checkmate.
Get me a lawyer.
I know my rights, criminal or not!
Save the crap for when we're on the ground.
Though, my colleagues are a lot scarier than I am.
It's a miracle.
He landed it with three engines knocked out.
That's what a Hecatoncheires is capable of.
If you'll excuse me.
Briareos!
Thank God you're all right!
Fortunately, so are the passengers.
Deia, what are you doing here?
I wish to thank you on behalf of the Tartaros Center.
He's Euris, in charge of the Next Generation Bioroid Program.
Thank you for saving the 3,000 fertilized bioroid eggs.
You're telling me these are the hostages?!
Egg cells are considered human lives once fertilized.
They might not look like us yet, though.
Sounds complicated.
We'll make good use of them.
They're for the development of the next generation of bioroids, whose job it will be to perfect our Eden.
Eden, huh?
Well then, let's get back to our day off!
We can't go to the beach anymore, but let's go to that restaurant with the great night view!
Fair enough...
It's pouring outside. Looks like the forecast finally hit the mark.
Let's give up on the night view and open some cans for dinner.
This sucks!