- A synopsis of Episode 14, titled The Flame Still Burns (Honoo, imada kiezu (焔、いまだ消えず)
Synopsis[]
- Inside the sewers of the city, a soldier is trying to help his injured friend. Suddenly both are approached by a mysterious armored figure wielding a flamethrower. Bullets are unable to hurt the imposing man. He torches both of the soldiers, yet he keeps talking about how it’s cold.
- Later the Pumpkin Scissors group is checking out a large population of refugees who have taken-up shelter in the underground fresh water distribution network. There, they find a group of guards for the waterworks management company picking on a girl for payment. The men are willing to let her pay with her body, but Oreldo steps in first and gropes her. Alice then announces who they are and that they’re going to lead the people out of the sewers. The residents are initially resistant because they don’t have anywhere else to go, so Alice tells them that the government has a state-run farm for them to make a living on. Most of the people are now willing to leave, but there’s still a few people stubbornly staying behind. Alice and the others find out why when Mercury jumps on the security guard and reveals that he’s carrying some drugs.
- As a result of all this, Connery of State Section I goes to Hunks to complain because his group was already investigating the water network. After Hunks shows him the drugs they found - Himmel - and promises to crush this obstacle to war relief, Connery asks what happened with the waterworks staff. Hunks admits that they are being investigated, so the other commander makes it clear to him that the privately-owned Mion Waterworks Company is an important customer that makes large donations to the military. It is around this time that the president of the waterworks, Albert Mion, comes to retrieve the man that Section III is holding. Alice is infuriated later to find out later that Mion posted bail to get his guy released. Hunks tells her that they don’t have the authority to investigate or make arrests for normal crimes... with the exception being the crimes where they can catch the offenders red-handed.
- Armed with this knowledge, Alice takes her group back to the sewers and corners the guards again as they’re dealing the drugs. Since the guy they captured thinks that he’ll be released again just like last time, Alice promises to arrest him no matter how many times it takes. And so, a cycle of arrests and bail money being posted begins.
- Mion eventually gets angered enough that he gives his men a shipment of special guns to fight the army with. However, he now considers those men useless and turns to his secret weapon: Hans, the man with the flamethrower!
- Meanwhile, Alice and company are driving through the sewers when they get ambushed by Mion’s men. Facing a hail of bullets, Oland uses his weight and strength to push on the back side of the car, forcing it to pop a wheel allowing the armor on the bottom of the car to shield them as they advance towards Mion’s men. Oland also turns on his lamp and prepares to fire on the men, but the car lands back on all four wheels before he can fire.
- The group is able to drive out of the situation relatively unharmed, though Oland covers his face for a minute. As they continue through the sewers, Martis tells Alice that he noticed the guns being used didn’t look like old models. Alice proceeds to make the connection between those guns with the auto-loading tank they encountered previously, but she tells the others to concentrate on escaping for now. Despite this, she soon gets a feeling on the back of her neck and orders the car to stop. Appearing in front of them is Hans, who Martis sees is carrying a flamethrower. Martis explains that use of flamethrowers should have been done away with because the Empire realized that it’s a weapon that can kill in a way that shouldn’t be allowed.
- Heading towards the car, Hans feels that it’s cold and says that he’s going to burn them as he fires his flamethrower.
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