86 -Eighty Six- Ep. 8: Let’s Go

It is August 27, 2148. Shin acknowledges a message from Kino’s group via his PARA-Raid, telling Raiden they looked hard but couldn’t find Chise’s Juggernaut. They talk about how the Legion hasn’t come after their base yet, which Shin thinks is because the Legion are testing a new weapon. If it’s completed, they’ll lose a lot more than the four they lost in their recent battle and the Republic will fall. Shin is able to tell its silent for now as he’s memorized its voice. He tells Raiden he’s found his brother and he’ll come for him next. He considers it good luck for himself, but bad for everyone else. Raiden says they’ll follow him to the end. Meanwhile Lena puts down some binders full of military orders on a table in the library. She briefly flashes back to when Shin told her they were going to be wiped out. She looks at the orders before her, which say the target is the deepest part of Legion held territory. It is a mission with an unlimited duration and no support. Any found retreating will be immediately executed. She thinks back to how Raiden said the point of this place is to make the soldiers fight until they die. The next day Lena visits Annette at her home. They sit down on Annette’s bed, sharing some desserts. Lena tells Annette of the upcoming 0% survival rate mission. She asks for help saying she needs to do something. Annette asks her what she would do, make a speech on TV or yell at someone important? Annette says if that would change minds, things would never have ended up like this. She says Lena should give up and they can’t fix this. Lena tells her to stop pretending to be a bad person just to have an excuse to do nothing. Annette tells Lena she’s the one who has to stop and there’s nothing they can do. Annette tells Lena of her next door neighbors from when she was a kid. Their neighbors had two boys, one of which was Annette’s age. The families had been friends until the war began when the neighbors had been declared Eighty Six. Everything changed; the Eighty Six stopped going to school and Annette was bullied for being friends with one of them. Her friend didn’t know about anything and wanted to play one day when Annette yelled at him and called him a filthy colored. Annette immediately has a horrified look on her face and says she was scared of herself for being capable of saying that. When her father was thinking about taking in the neighbors and asked her about it, she said no. She said they weren’t friends and she wouldn’t put herself in danger for him. She thinks her father wanted her support but she gave him a way out. The neighbors were sent to the camps the next day. All she could do was tell herself that she couldn’t do anything and there was never a chance. She tells Lena she may act like a saint but is just as guilty as her. The two of them head to another room. Annette says the kids next door and their mother had a strange power; they were able to tell what each other felt without speaking. Annette says her father took an interest in it and this is where it began. She shows Lena some old boxed up equipment and says they first used these devices on them to try and guess what their mother was thinking. It was like a game. But once the military found out about it, it ordered her father to perfect the technology at any cost. This resulted in the creation of the Para-RAID. Annette asks Lena how many Eighty Six she thinks died to make it. It came from human experimentation, even though they claim the Eighty Six aren’t human. She claims the experiment subjects were all children and they died suffering. Her father couldn’t take it anymore so he committed suicide. This news surprises Lena. Annette asks if she really believed her father would screw up the settings on a Para-RAID. He had told her he’d abandoned his friends and caused many deaths so he deserved to suffer and die more than anyone. She says this means she’s just as guilty for abandoning her friend, so she took over the research. She brings up Undertaker and that they got the request to investigate because of the dead handlers. If she had them bring in the processor causing it, she may have been able to save him, but is glad those in the transportation division refused. She again claims there’s nothing they can do. She says Lena is no different and is even worse. She interfered and kept the Spearhead Squadron alive and now they’re being ordered to die. If she just slacked off and let them die they wouldn’t have gotten this order. She tells Lena she hates her and never wants to see her again. Lena quietly leaves. We briefly see Lena waiting on the side of the street thinking about how she said she wouldn’t let them die. Things then cut to Lena at her desk in her room, her head down.

On September 10th, Lena sees new orders waiting for her in her operations room. She heads to a chapel where her uncle Jerome is standing before a statue of Saint Magnolia. She asks for him to let her cancel the orders and he tells her he told her not to get too involved. She claims this is insane and they’re being marched into enemy territory until they’re dead for no reason. Jerome says the Eighty Six need to all die. It’s what’s good for the country, according to its government and indirectly its people. If what San Magnolia did to the Eighty Six got out after the war is over, the Republic will become a pariah and remembered forever as oppressors. When the Eighty Six are all dead, they will have ceased to exist and thus the Republic will have done no wrong. A very small number know the exact truth, but the majority will look the other way or just don’t care, ultimately making them supporters of this action. He says their role in the military is to follow the people’s orders. Lena claims the Eighty Six are part of the Republic and Saint Magnolia’s ideals should protect them to. He claims this is a country full of fools and villains who executed Saint Magnolia for the sake of their own wealth and green. He asks what she can expect of them and that humans were not ready to have freedom and equality, nor will they ever. Lena says he’s just saying that to justify his despair. It’s wrong to sit back and let this happen. He tells her she’s free to speak of her hopes and ideals, but that won’t persuade anyone. He says hope and despair are just two sides of the same thing, desire for something one can’t have. Later, Lena provides Shin the new orders and apologizes for not being able to do anything. She says there’s no reason to follow the orders and he should run away. He asks where and says everyone dies someday. He says you can’t blame someone just because that day came a little early. Lena asks why he always just accepts it. Shin claims they’re not going to die. They’re finally following the path they wanted to follow and will finally be free. He’d prefer she doesn’t disparage that. Lena says they should at least not fight anymore, but he says they have to. Lena asks if it’s to kill his brother and he asks why she had to realize that. She says she can tell, he’s sad but still laughs coldly when talking about his brother. Shin says his brother’s a Shepherd and he can’t go anywhere without killing him. He tells Lena there’s no need to monitor them anymore and he doesn’t want her to hear his brother’s last words. He says if one goes past the Eastern border they’ll no longer hear the Legion’s voices. If anyone’s left alive, help may come there. When a Shepherd dies it throws the Legion in chaos for a while and that will buy some time. He says to survive until then. The setting moves ahead to September 27th. Aldrecht tells Shin about their provisions being ready, including several spare legs for Shin’s unit. Aldrecht tells him to act a little ashamed and not fight the way he usually does. Shin says he can’t promise. Aldrecht says it’s the last time, so just lie and agree. He puts his hands on Shin’s shoulder then walks off. Shin looks at his box of mementos from his fallen colleagues, adding Haruto’s to the bunch. Raiden says he feels sorry for Haruto, if he’d lasted a little longer he could have gone for a fun hike. Theo walks by with Anju and Kurena. Aldrecht tells the five of them to come over. Afterwards, Raiden says he’ll miss the old guy’s lectures. In a montage we see Anju hugging the cat in the mess hall, Kurena washing the window in her room, Theo working on a painting and Raiden outside in the rain by the Saint Magnolia panting. In the recreation room, Shin closes the drawer in the desk and walks out. We see the last light go out from outside. The next morning the five remaining Spearhead Squadron members eat in the mess hall. They talk about how they all gathered here the first day they met and a brief flashback shows a much larger group. Theo brings up how Lena never called back and they talk about her, wishing she could have at least said goodbye, even if she’s finally leaving them alone as they asked. They walk out to clear skies, which Raiden says is a good open. Their freshly cleaned Juggernauts are nearby, as well as Fido with several Scavenger units holding their provisions. They find some candy in their cockpits, and Raiden says Aldrecht treated them like kids to the end. They wave to Aldrecht and the other mechanics and then start up their Juggernauts. As they head out the screen pans across their now empty base. The setting flashes back to the snow falling atop Rei as he’s dying. Rei holds out his hands, saying he wanted to protect Shin and flashes back to when he first got his requisition orders and the notice that their parents had been killed. Shin asks Rei if their parents are never coming back and why their mom died. Rei grabs him by the throat and starts strangling him, blaming him for it, although the current day Rei refutes such claims. Rei is thrown back when someone else comes in the room and tries to revive Shin. Rei says he couldn’t handle the hate and rage he felt at his powerlessness and took it out on Shin, the person he was supposed to protect. In the present, Rei, now a part of the Legion, activates his Dinosauria unit. He says he’s coming for his brother and now they’ll be together. This time he’ll protect him forever.