24 … the Furious God’s Field.

Paris’ suburb, Paris’ Gantz’ apartment, Paris’ Champ de Mars

By the end of the day, the team was ready to deploy, each one of them briefed and clear about his tasks and that of the others.

Their objective was a massive towel of metal, the Eiffel Tower, built for the Universal Exposition of 1 889 which marked the hundred anniversary of the French Revolution. Work began on January 26^th of 1887. It used many revolutionary techniques and applications. Even a SAS and an enclosed waterproof chamber like a submarine to build the base of the pillars, the Seine river was so close, you could not talk about water infiltration, but more like digging and building through mud. Not many people knew that Gustave Eiffel didn’t start the project himself. The plans were from two engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier and an architect Stephen Sauvestre. Eiffel was the entrepreneur that carried the project.

Legend said that the tower was built twice. And it kind of had been, as each part was first assembled on the building site, checked to see if it fitted with the next part, then disassembled and send to the construction site, while the cycle started over with the parts that went above the previous ones. This technique enabled the workers to have almost perfects parts to use, few were sent back. It was the only way for them to break a world record for the time, 2 years, 2 months and 5 days, and reach 312 meters. The four pillars were constituted of for parts each, a never ending interlacing of metal. Three floors at 57, 115 and 276 meters high. About seven thousands and three hundreds tons of metal and a total weight of ten thousands and a hundred tons. One of the most visited monuments of Paris, France and Europe. Modern time made it grow to 330 meters with the new antenna. A clear technology miracle that saved the tower by giving it a purpose she didn’t have first. FST, wireless transmission of information. To this day even news crews pointed their antennas to the top of the tower, where their signal was then sent to their HQ, then to the rest of the world.

To bad for the team, they couldn’t enjoy the view yet. Assembled in the Paris’ gantz apartment, above a small restaurant on Place de la République. The usual black sphere was facing the fourteen of them. As they were all already wearing the Takashi’s version of the gantz suit and holding their weapons, the preparation was expedited fast. Only the gantz useless briefing was left to happen.

YOUR LIVES

HAVE ENDED

HOW YOU USE YOUR

NEW LIVES IS

ENTIRELY UP TO ME

THAT’S THE THEORY, ANYWAY.

“You could hope they would renew their starting speech, no?” said Frederic, breaking the tension and the heavy silence in the room.

“Not sure it was built with a sense of humor.” Said Kurono.

“Hm, I’m not agreeing with you, check the names’ page.”

said Takashi, manipulating the screen.

Team 1 Montparnasse Tower:

Team Tokyo Perfection ( Shimohira Reika )

Bunny-Girl (Kei Kishimoto)

Team Paris Road-Runner (Camille Dray)

Team 2 Champ de Mars:

Team Tokyo Kenshin (Masaru Kato)

Muscle Rider (Daizemon Kaze) Lady Croft (Sakuraoka, Sei)

Killer-mom (Yamasaki Anzu)

Team 3 Eiffel Tower:

Team Tokyo Horndog (Kei Kurono)

Team Paris Needle (Richard Vierank)

Not-Indy (Frederic Kurtzmann)

Billy Elliot (Tom Ellison)

Sam (Victor Dupont)

Team 4 Aerial corps:

Team Tokyo G-GM Zero (WATANABE Takashi)

Team Paris Squirrel (Zoe Boussaert)

As the gantzers’ group were laughing, two of them objected the terms on the screen.

“Pretty sure that’s not gantz’ officials nicknames for us.”

“You obviously messed with it. And what’s that with Reika’s nickname? Could you be more obvious?”

The ‘perfection’ in question was blushing furiously while Kato asked to Victor.

“Sam? As in the kids’ tv show?”

“Yeah, not much for originality.” Said the firefighter.

“I so want to change your nickname for Lustig, you know?”

“Who?” Asked Reika, trying to change the group’s focus from her red face to anything else.

“One man, Victor Lustig, nicknamed Count Victor Lustig, got rich by coning junkyards owners, selling the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal. Only getting caught the second time, he succeeded to escape capture. Well, legend say he did con Al Capone too. One of the biggest conman of his time.”

“Shut up your trap and get ready, it’s starting.” Told them the one not looking like a space-mercenary/British teacher, as their heads started to disappear. Unlike their previous missions, Takashi involvement really changed the way they started their missions. No more fear of dying. Now they were more on track like a lasergame or an online competition.

A few seconds later they all were looking at the Paris’ starry night. Some from the ground, others atop a building, on the Eiffel Tower first floor and flying stealthily in the sky.

Team Montparnasse Tower.

Kishimoto lied down, taking aim of her target’s area in front of her. She would be the team sniper but also one of their lookouts for tonight’s mission. Next to her was Road-Runner, Camille, checking her own X-riffle, while their team third member, Reika, was securing the tower’s perimeter. That girl may have been an idol in her daily life, she turned into an efficient killer once in her gantz’ suit. The time she used in VR with Takashi to spend moments with him wasn’t for nothing.

The panoramic sightseeing-rooftop was now rigged with sensors, not only for the roof, but the elevators, the stairs, the building’s glass facade, but also the aerial approaches. A military sniper post wouldn’t be more protected than them. Her role tonight was that of the spotter, assigning targets to the two snipers and protecting them. The Takashi’s version of the two Y-guns she had on her hips were waiting for action. The rest of her equipment was consisted of a tablet which holographic screen showed her array of sensors, the different body-cams and Takashi’s flying bike’s cams.

“Sniper one and two in place, position secured. Waiting for transmission”. Said Kishimoto, professional, she knew it was the only was to get rid of her nickname.

Team Champ de Mars

Not waiting for the snipers’ report, the ground team took position. Kato was alone, as his new fighting style didn’t allow allies near him. Kaze was a little further, waiting, apparently unarmed, but still deadly as he now mastered his upgrade. The teammates divided the field in two, so as to not hinder each other. The two girls were speeding along the field, Sei driving along the passageway, Anzu checking their surroundings, ready to fire and advise her driver. Their role, to contain the targets and support the other two.

Team Aerial Corps

Takashi was enjoying the current feeling he had, as he flew in the Paris’ night. The sky or the ground were perfectly visible in his HUD display as he circled around the two towers and the Champ de Mars. On the back of his gantz bike, Squirrel, Zoe, nervous as she was about to use her gear for the first time.

“Don’t worry about anything, we’re here to support you. Nothing bad can happen to you. Worst thing would be reappearing on top of one of the towers.”

“Easy for you to say. I’m about to launch myself in the void, with a piece of technology I only used in simulations”.

“Worst part is that it’s untested.”

“… WHAT??? When did you intend to test it?”

“… Now?”

“A question? That was a question. Are you shitting me now?”

“You’re welcome.”

Squirrel finally realized she was just angry, not nervous anymore. She would definitely punch him after all that.

Team Eiffel Tower

Horndog, or Kurono as he preferred, was standing on one of the tower pillars, with Richard, Frederic and Tom. Anybody seeing them would be taken by fright and dizziness as they walked unimpeded along vertical or steep metal parts. They were looking everywhere around them, aware of their position of front-liners. Some distance away, they could, aided by their HUD displays, see a gantz flying bike patrolling above Paris, a small silhouette visible on the bike’s back. The five gantzers readied their riffles and guns, looking for their targets. One of them already found his.