Jonah!
England East Sussex
Hey, little Jonah!
I lost him.
Can't say I'm surprised.
He was raised in the mountains. He's mountain infantry to the core.
I'm just a damn cop, you know?
Forget about the counter-terrorism part.
This gun fires using high pressure gas.
It shoots paint bullets.
It stings like hell when they hit you.
We know, Sis.
So what now? Do you want us to train with them?
Exactly!
Last time the bullets were flying they only hit you, Lutz!
I feel for him.
You and Jonah will play Capture The Flag in the mountains.
The one who brings back the other's flag wins.
I don't wanna fight it out with Lutz.
Then how about this, Jonah?
15 points for hitting Lutz.
30 points for getting his flag first.
50 points total will earn you a voucher for a big feast!
Voyage, voyage, Jonah!
Run the numbers in your head!
Everyone knows that you're an efficient sniper.
Now put that to some use moving in the mountains.
Move out.
Goddamn... No one asked for your damn advice...
He's helpless.
It keeps playing back in my head.
I never forget a shot... Both when I did and didn't pull the trigger.
Those Orchestra assassins...
Am I a bad gunman because I couldn't shoot that little girl?
I shoot criminals who aim their guns at hostages
and terrorist motherfuckers with their finger on the detonator.
I can blow off their heads without a second thought.
I'm not supposed to shoot children.
But...
If once again someone like that Orchestra girl showed up,
and it would put the princess in trouble again,
then what would I do then? I keep thinking about this.
Could I shoot someone like her?
Could I decide in a heartbeat?
I would probably shoot.
The princess is my employer, after all.
I respect her too.
What if the kid looked like Jonah?
Jonah!
Hold it, you!
Haha, gotcha!
What?! There was a paint bullet...
Wha—?! No way!
There!
One, two, three, four, five, six...
A job well done, Lutz!
Yeah, yeah. I'll train some.
Next time I'll devote more than a two braincells to it.
So lame!
Shots have been fired among the rising tensions regarding territory disputes
between Middle Eastern Country A and European Country B.
According to news reports, Country A has gathered a considerable ground force at the border.
Valmet! Wake up and get ready!
Good morning, Koko!
Minorites along Country A's Eastern border are facing widespread discrimination...
Today we're meeting them in person, right?
Oui.
We are meeting them at Country B's embassy in London,
during the hearing of the UAV introduction committee.
The objective of this committee is introducing UAVs with our country's ground forces.
We are considering HCLI's Predator, made in America,
and the Euro Group's Neuron proposal.
We hope to keep the renegotiations fair and unbiased.
The competition sent their trump card.
Whoa!
Amalia Tolokhovsky.
An arms broker and former actress.
What a beauty!
Oh, Ms Koko Hekmatyar! Oh, my!
I heard that a young and adorable dealer would be present, my curiosity got the better of me and I went!
The rumors had it right!
Be gentle, will you?
Of course...
We have always treaded the borderland
I will adventure with you from here
Anyway, I don't know anymore what to say
We have always treaded the borderland
I will adventure with you from here
I can say maketaku wa nai
I can say I don't want to lose
demo kizu tsuketaku mo nai
but I don't want to get hurt either
te ni totte tasukerareteta
I got saved when the end was near
kitto modorenain da
so I guess there's no way out for me
demo sa
But you know...
I know
Don't watch now
kono koto ni te wo kase
Please help me with this
Don't watch now
hitozuki no me
You look like you would
Don't watch now
yasashisa no hate
Your eyes show kindness
We have always treaded the borderland
hirogeru ryoute keep balance
Spread your arms to keep balance
yori takaku toberu hou he
Always try to fly higher
mamoritai yo bokura no
I want to protect you
tsubasa no nai kono senaka ni
even if there are no wings on my back
seotta
I'll shoulder it
We are a killing team
I have trouble brewing everywhere! Listen, Jonah.
Telling me won't help.
Don't worry about that.
Mondo Grosso
This one is a hellish opponent.
By the time I'd gotten there, talks had already moved on to another level.
They were all licking her boots already.
The old lady as swift with negotiations as the rumors indicated.
An old lady?
Yeah! Former stage actor. Real beauty!
If she puts on her bambi face and ask the big old dogs in the army to buy her guns, they would scramble to obey.
She used to be a real celebrity, but then she married a rich guy who died soon after and she inherited all the money.
She made full use of all her weapons-related assets and manpower.
But still, that woman, Amalia Tolokhovsky, was strange.
What are you trying to sell this time?
Unmanned aerial vehicles.
It's a place flown over satellite link and equipped with a radar. Good for recon.
It doesn't get tired or careless.
Even if it's shot down, no one dies.
You can even arm it and use it for combat.
Just the other day one of them sent a few leaders of a certain organization to hell.
The age of robots killing humans has come.
Asimov would turn in his grave.
This is over my head. Too strange.
Yeah, I think so too! It's too strange!
But it's my job to sell them. Period.
Hey, Koko!
This country's so hot!
There's always clouds and the food is horrible.
I guess.
So about the American Predators. The Americans really don't like this.
If through you they sell Country A UAVs on the condition they treat their minorities better,
then Country B will make demands, and the Americans are going to sell them UAVs as well.
That would be the end of it.
If Country B suddenly remembered that they took part engineering the Neuron UAV,
then it would all work out too. They're fine with that.
The UAV market is only going to turn into even more of a rat race.
We'd regret not putting a foot into the door early.
I should get going.
Scarecrow won't let me hear the end of it if we hang out too much.
W-what?
Tell me, CIA nerd girl, didn't you decide on tailing me together with Scarecrow?
Now you might wind up sitting in the same boat as me.
Not saying that's bad, necessarily.
Is this what I think it is?!
A d-diamond! Whoa!
Keep a good watch on the Americans to make sure they don't back out of this.
This might not be such a good idea...
I get the feeling she's just toying with me.
Oh, well. Whatever.
We're visiting the hotels all around London where Country B officials are staying, Ugo.
Roger!
Capitalism, ho!
You're in good spirits, Princess.
Ms Hekmatyar from HCLI, if I'm not mistaken?
Please wait in the lobby.
General!
Ms Hekmatyar!
This is how it is. I'm sorry.
I am terribly sorry, Ms Hekmatyar.
It is indeed the time we had agreed on, but the colonel departed not long ago...
I am sorry, but the lieutenant general changed his schedule and left home already.
Originally I favored introduction of the Predator,
but the Euro Group convinced me...
Euro equipment for a Euro army.
Her shadow lurks wherever I go.
That posture would pass for some postmodern statue.
Yeah, this is beyond the Thinker!
One more! Let's get going, Ugo!
Roger.
Country B ground forces lieutenant colonel Marikis.
I've dealt with him before.
He supports introducing the Predator.
Tolokhovsky has come to me as well.
I haven't given her my answer yet, though.
Glad to hear it!
It would appear to me that she fears your ability and wants to settle this quickly.
According to what I heard from the HCLI HQ, your import scheme was exposed by an Italian paper.
It's a tabloid more than a newspaper.
I'll leak it to a respected paper if it's not enough to finish her off.
Koko thought this through quite well.
The Predator drones she's going to sell are surplus Italian ones,
and it emphasizes that the Americans aren't directly involved,
as if it was a civilian deal, and tries to put it in a good light for Country A.
Hekmatyar's strength lies in the swiftness of her movements.
You have outdone her using manpower and improvisation.
That pose suits the princess.
You know, that doesn't look like surrender. It looks like scheming.
Oh? Who knows?
Is the job over, Koko?
Oh, no.
I have spread all the information I had to spread.
The rest...
is just outwitting them. No more.
That's how I roll.
Are you sure Sis and Wiley will be enough in England?
I don't think we have to worry.
We should focus on our job.
Don't let your guard down.
The people representing the Euro Group are tailing us.
Seriously?
Three or so are no biggie.
Have some faith in your comrades.
So if I get the negotiations with Country B over with quickly,
we can all go home happy, right?
No chance in hell.
Even Koko struggled on that front.
She's been wholed up in here since negotiations started two days ago.
I'm a little worried.
Koko, you'll get fat eating snacks without exercise.
Is there a way to make it all go to my boobs so they'll get as big as yours?
Oh please, you're perfect as you are.
You flatter me.
She's sending a mail.
The 25th this hour.
Can you decipher it using your connections to French intelligence?
The DGSE? Probably, but it'll take time.
Are you sure this is necessary? We've won.
The HCLI has played their last card.
I will ask Amalia. Keep monitoring her.
Hey, Chocolade!
No luck. Nothing's working.
They've beaten me soundly here.
My plan was to sell the Predator to Country B by way of Italy
so that Country A wouldn't take it as a provocation.
Imagine my horror when the Italian press got wind of it.
I'm sure it was one of Tolokhovsky's people.
There's nothing I can do now.
HLCI is chalking this up as a loss.
I'll be at tomorrow's meeting just as a formality.
I just remembered why I didn't regret quitting acting.
Both on stage and on tape, it's art.
A wonderful world worth risking your life for.
But no matter how hard you try, it's all just fiction.
That was all it was when the illusion lifted.
It didn't fit me.
But at the same time I realized that there is a world
where deceiving and being deceived is what earns you money,
and where you suffer if you're caught acting.
In my opinion,
all the phone calls that Koko made these three days were acting.
They were all...
Lies!
I thought for a moment you'd really given up!
It's just a ploy to confuse them.
If it works.
And finally, after all that empty chatter, I get the important mail.
Germany Bonn
Why am I surrounded by all these puppeteers?
One diamond won't pay for all this!
We still have no idea who this girl really is.
Koko is preparing some sort of all-out attack.
She's trying to tear down the web I spun.
This is what she excels at.
Just in case, we should talk to Country B leaders and make sure that they won't change their minds.
Princess, can I come in?
Come in, Lutz.
Watched the news?
Country A's troop movements that the Americans wanted to see stopped have stopped!
It seemed like your sort of ploy, and the timing fit.
You can't direct armies from your bed sheets.
I am just one gear of a million and one in the army machine.
The weird and mysterious web of the hearts of the people around it control the armies.
Men's hearts set the world afire.
You are such a perfectionist, Madam Tolokhovsky.
But your victory is certain.
There should be no need to required my services anymore.
Excuse me, Lieutenant Colonel.
Please take a look at this.
What?!
Lieutenant Colonel Marikis?
The German Air Force is buying Predators from America.
Twenty of them!
They will deploy it along the German-made ISR radar.
Permit me to take my leave and negotiate with Ms Hekmatyar.
I am very sorry. Please excuse me.
Here it comes! That's Hekmatyar's attack.
I'm done! Damn, I'm tired.
I was only delivering the contracts to the army guys connected to Koko.
What's this smell? Freshly roasted sausages?
And the beer is black! It looks delicious!
Summon the Euro Group brass immediately.
Amalia... The Spanish have bought Predators as well.
Spain too?!
Executive Nassos from EAE Corporation?
Dammit, we got hit badly!
It's that little bitch!
I have to return to my country right now!
Just what is...
It's TOB! They're buying up our stocks!
It's some new investment bank called Euro Hekmat IB!
How dare they make a fool of me?!
She's not just tearing down my net...
She's going for my throat.
This... This is Koko Hekmatyar.
I'd like a chat with you.
Now.
Fine.
I'm sorry this was on such short notice, Koko.
Thank you for coming anyway.
Please don't worry about it.
That reminds me, and don't take it the wrong way, but are you armed?
Or snipers around on the roofs?
Snipers?
He has a gun.
He's my consultant and bodyguard too.
Oh, please. I'm not planning on "teaching you a harsh lesson" or anything. Don't worry.
Suspicious developments will be answered in kind.
I fear I have to warn you.
Please don't be so stiff, Koko!
Oh, really? Sure looks like snipers to me.
Not so sure. The old lady really might not know about it.
That would lend Lehm's intel credibility.
"Country B sent muscle when they left England."
Koko's partner in the whole stock business seems hot-blooded.
"You're dead if you don't obey", huh?
But man, these infrared stealth cloaks are so damn hot.
Spotted one, spotted two.
Fingers on the triggers, just in case.
She wasn't just waiting for an ambush all those three days. She was holding back.
I should have realized when we first met.
The face of the arms dealer Koko Hekmatyar is a mask.
I suppose.
Then I assume you've seen through all my attempts to confuse you as well.
I would expect nothing less from a former actress.
Or so I would like to say,
but the moment I saw you I realized that you are a dealer who's never seen a battlefield.
I'm not going to preach about how arms dealers should tread the battlefield.
But weapons are used by soldiers on the battlefield.
If you have never seen them used yourself,
it means you have no idea what you're selling.
At least that's my five cents.
The goods we deal in? I know what they are.
They are very dangerous things.
Once one of my men said, "the boss should always smile".
My father told me to "put a steel mask on your face and armor on your heart".
I think they're both right and keep myself to that.
Because if you walk the battlefield and sell weapons, your heart will rot in time.
Cotton wear rotting and falling to pieces in the jungle when you wear it is the same.
Two arms dealers facing off is a battlefield.
If someone were naive enough to walk it with a single bodyguard,
they should retire before they burn their hands, is that it?
No, that's not my point.
But I do have my own opinion.
This is fun! So much fun, Koko!
I don't want you to think I'm weird,
but ever since I saw the EAE people get hit by you and return to their country,
I've been so excited!
I don't particularly believe in any ideology or religion.
I don't have children and I'm not trying to make money for the sake of my family.
Finally I've found a rare business partner who's got some power in her punch.
And it's a girl!
Meet and talk.
Have fun.
For me the reason to sell arms
is just that.
We are pulling out of the UAV order war.
The Euro Group has lost, Koko.
It was a battle for every street.
Yesterday's enemy may be your friend today. That's the European way of doing things!
Here we go...
Yesterday's enemy may be your friend today. That's the European way of doing things!
You don't need to tell me twice. I understand you.
What would be your point?
Please take care of EAE's stocks. Please.
I thought so. But it's not going to be that easy.
However, this is related to what I was saying earlier.
I'm very well aware of the European way,
but I think the time has come to reconsider it.
First, put on that steel mask and prepare your spikes and knives.
The continued privatization of former national defense companies
only gets in the way of group operations. Even in our case now...
Their illusion of invincibility stemming from the former protection of their governments won't be gone in a day or two.
However, this may be our—
Would you let me buy them back with a 2.5% premium on the TOB price?
Are you even listening?
At least... 10%.
5%.
I can't believe this... What's wrong with those people?
Are they going to decide the whole future of the EAE Corporation I work with their chatter?
Sniper one, two. Do you read?
It's about time.
Roger.
Koko!
Fire, fire!
Nice shot, Lutz!
They've got some nice flowers now.
Amazing! You're an amazing shot, Lutz.
270 meters across the river is no distance.
The old Lehm would've done it quicker.
I'm sorry about that disturbance. We were removing obstacles.
Nobody was killed.
Madam Tolokhovsky, I will make an exception for you.
How about a 5% premium?
I am happy to accept.
Well then, see you tomorrow at the embassy.
Why are you so nice with that old hag, Koko?
Am I? Maybe she told me it's nice talking to me.
But then I'm having a million times more fun now!
Watch the road when you're driving, Valmet.
Madam Tolokhovsky was really a tough opponent.
I'd rather not encounter her again.
But she's the kind of person who's certainly gonna show up again.
The world is mysterious in that.
hikari yo kotaeru mata tsumi
Light shines on my newest sin
sougon no ma ni yurameku ayamachi
and I tremble in the solemn shine
fujou shite iki wo tsuki
I resurface and draw a breath
tokasare majiru dake no tsugunai wo te ni shita
But my salvation faded all too soon
mujun haramu kono sekai no tou
This world, filled with contradictions
omoi tsukashiteru zakuro no me ni
reminds me of a bead of garnet
wataru kumo ne fushi wa mou nai
There is no rhythm in the passing of the clouds
Mondo Grosso
suiheiki no tsuranuku kodou
just a chaotic ripple on the water