"Click!"
The sound of a weapon being cocked and the safety being disengaged echoed through the empty temple.
Eight security guards gripped their rifles or shotguns, aiming them at the woman in front of the statue.
The security guard standing at the exit, gun in his right hand and pressing his comms on his left shoulder, quickly reported to the military base in Athens:
"An anomaly has appeared at the Parthenon. Please notify other colleagues to evacuate the surrounding tourists as soon as possible and request UBCS support."
"Received. Tourists are being evacuated. Support is expected to arrive in four minutes."
After receiving the base's reply, silence once again fell over the temple.
You could hear a pin drop.
"Miss," the security guard closest to the woman said, attempting to communicate with her, "Please stay where you are, raise your hands, and do not move, or we will be forced to take necessary force against you."
"Oh?" The woman narrowed her eyes, spread her hands, and retorted, "Force?"
"Miss! Don't move!" The security guard's index finger trembled with effort, about to pull the trigger.
"Heh," the woman chuckled, "It's you who shouldn't be so agitated."
Then, her previously indifferent tone turned grave:
"Although your actions are very disrespectful, I don't intend to pursue the matter. I will stay here as you wish.
Also, the toys in your hands cannot harm me. If they misfire…"
The woman looked at the security guard closest to her, her tone annoyed, "I wouldn't mind teaching you what true combat is."
Upon hearing this,
The security guards exchanged glances.
The atmosphere was no longer as tense as before, and the muzzles of their guns, aimed at the woman, lowered slightly.
After all, an anomaly that could communicate normally and was willing to cooperate to a certain extent was much better than something that would start killing without reason.
However, the security guards remained vigilant.
The security guard who had previously reported to the Athens base made contact again, saying:
"The anomaly is willing to cooperate with our actions. We will monitor here until UBCS arrives."
"Received."
— — — — — — —
…
Time: 17:30.
Location: Military base outside Athens.
The Athens military base was originally a large Umbrella base deployed in Europe, once a crucial part of the global troop transport network, with nearly five thousand personnel stationed there.
But when the First Fleet was deployed in Earth's low-Earth orbit and could quickly arrive at the scene, the ground forces from various bases were assigned to the various ships.
Even so, each military base retained several companies of UBCS to guard against various emergencies.
The mysterious woman who appeared at the Parthenon was escorted back to the Athens base for interrogation by the UBCS company deployed in Athens at 17:30.
As for William, who was on Mars, after being alerted by the system, he quickly returned to the Phantom, also arriving above the Athens base at 17:30 in UTC+3.
The Pelican carrying William, Spartan Blue Team, and Alpha flew out of the Phantom and, following the ground control tower's guidance, landed at the designated parking spot.
The Pelican formation responsible for the escort also flew to its designated spot and slowly landed, offloading 120 UBCS personnel and the mysterious woman.
— — — — — — —
…
In the corridor of the base building.
William, dressed in a suit, led the Spartans, who were already in their Mjolnir armor, and Hank and the Alphas in their bio-armor, towards the building's command center.
During this time, Serena also reported to William through his earpiece:
"Boss, through observing the helmet cameras of the security guards who interacted with the anomaly, I found that her body seems to contain extremely strong energy.
I also checked every surveillance video in Athens and confirmed that she first appeared in a residential alley in the Halandri district today at 16:00.
Then she used cash to buy a ticket at the Acropolis of Athens, went straight to the central Parthenon, and made contact with our security personnel."
William, with his hands behind his back and a serious expression, listened carefully to Serena's report.
Then he asked indifferently, "Since she has a human-like appearance, have you analyzed her true identity by facial recognition?"
"Boss," Serena replied,
"While in the Pelican's cabin, a UBCS squad leader had asked her to remove her veil to confirm if she had civilian status.
But the anomaly had warned that the time was not yet ripe, and if her veil was forcibly removed, she would slaughter everyone who saw her true face.
To avoid provoking the target, the UBCS squad leader abandoned the request for her to remove her veil."
"Is that so?" William nodded.
At the same time, he arrived outside the command center.
"Swish—"
As the automatic door opened, William led a large group of people inside, standing behind numerous technicians and suspended screens.
He then said to the supervisor, who had been waiting for a long time, "Lieutenant, report."
"Yes," the supervisor, in a military uniform, saluted William, then said, "So far, the anomaly has been cooperative. She has already been sent to a standard interrogation room by the UBCS. Should we send researchers for interrogation?"
"Good, project the interrogation room's surveillance onto the main screen."
"Yes."
— — — — — — —
…
The following content is the surveillance video of the mysterious woman's interrogation.
She was seen sitting on the wall side of the interrogation room, with a transparent isolation wall in front of her.
Soon after,
A researcher wearing glasses entered the interrogation room.
There were also four UBCS personnel in AAES, responsible for the researcher's safety.
The researcher sat opposite her.
The interrogation began.
Researcher: "Hello, my name is [Redacted], Miss… (Interrupted)"
Woman: "(Chuckles) You all seem to like calling me 'Miss,' but in reality, my age is measured in tens of thousands."
Researcher: "(Pauses) Tens of thousands? Did I hear that right?"
Woman: "You heard right. I won't give you the exact number; after all, a lady's age is private, hehe."
Researcher: "(Nods) Since I can't call you Miss, then at least tell us your name. Is that acceptable?"
Woman: "Of course. In fact, you humans have given me many titles, but I prefer you to call me by my true name, Pallas Athena."
Researcher: "(Shows a hint of surprise) Athena? Are you the goddess of war and wisdom, Athena, from myths and legends?"
Woman: "Actually, besides war and wisdom, I also govern order and law. Even your first human court was founded by me."
Researcher: "Then, madam, I need you to prove that you are the goddess from the myths. Otherwise, anyone would think you're speaking nonsense."
Woman: "(Shakes her head and smiles) I'm sorry, I don't wish to display my abilities to you mortals, but…"
At this point,
The woman looked at the monitor meaningfully, "If it were your boss, that would be another matter."
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