Operation Norse Wind

Operation Norse Wind (「北欧の風」作戦) is the code name given for the United States' plan to capture and kill Othinus during the international coalition's manhunt for her.

The operation, as with all other efforts the international coalition did in capturing Kamijou Touma and Othinus, later ends in failure after Roberto Katze himself orders the operation to be suspended, changing it to the United States only observing them, though continually acting as a "collar" for them if they step out of line. Prior to the mission being aborted, members of this operation were briefly attacked by unmanned FIVE_Over Modelcase_"RAILGUN" units from Academy City for their own attempts in killing Touma and Othinus, though there are no reports of any casualties. Later, with the international coalition sparing Othinus and Touma's life.

It would be the last time any serious effort the international coalition would do in hunting down Touma and Othinus, ending with them only observing the events unfold, though it is likely Elizard was aware of Index and Leivinia Birdway's efforts.

Principles
The operation is separated into two teams: diversionary unit and the commandos. The diversionary unit uses 50+ American generation 3.5 tanks. Since a large unit could not be brought in on such short notice, the Danish military is tasked to stir up the area using the American tanks that have been lent to them during World War III. Meanwhile, the commandos, led by Sergeant Ingrid Martin, will slowly move alongside the tanks, locate anyone trying to escape them "from a different angle", and eliminate them.

For the operation to work both teams must work synchronously, despite the fact that the Danish military and the operation leaders not knowing of the presence of the commandos in the area. This is because the commandos must hide their locations from them and even the president to increase their level of secrecy.

When they catch Touma and Othinus, the commandos are to knock them out, then set-up a secure live video with the president in the UN Headquarters in New York City. After establishing a secure line, the commandos are to kill Othinus in front of a cameara sending the footage to the president in real time. A .45 caliber handgun will be used to destroy her brain and heart. Once death has been confirmed, three different poisons will be injected into her at twice the lethal dose. Her major tendons and nerves will also be severed with a knife, and its surfaces will then be sealed with instant glue. After collecting a sample of her DNA, her body will be flow to Alaska. This is to be proof that Othinus has been killed to deter remnants of GREMLIN to claim that she is still alive. It is unknown what fate awaited Touma after he is captured.

The operation
After Touma and Othinus leaves Billund, they notice the tanks and predictably respond as expected. Ingrid Martin, Jaguar, and Lynx, later finds both of them, and confirms that they have the two surrounded. After some minor banter between the three, Ingrid notices that Touma and Othinus has crouched down to hide themselves from the tanks. Seeing this as an intent to continue resisting, she orders Lynx and Jaguar to ready themselves as she wants the job to be finished quickly. With the two other confirming their actions, after Jaguar asks if she actually has girly things like periods, Ingrid stands up from behind Touma and Othinus just two meters away. Touma and Othinus is caught unawares by them, with Ingrid putting pressure on Touma's carotid arteries thus rendering him unconscious. This is a deliberate choice in choosing Touma first as she knows he is important to Othinus and that she is wary of her powers based on America's experience with GREMLIN in Hawaii. Othinus, seeing this, swears at Ingrid, prompting her to use Touma as a human shield against her. Distracted, the others then show themselves, one of which fires a shot at Othinus. With Othinus preoccupied with the thought of being surrounded, Ingrid takes out a knife and throws its butt toward the center of Othinus' head knocking her out. Their attack took only twenty seconds.

When Touma comes to, he hears Ingrid arguing with her comrades in English, though he cannot understand them. One of them argues why Ingrid didn't just kill Othinus with the knife, leading to another to defend Ingrid's actions, reminding their comrade of their mission and that shooting or stabbing Othinus may not work. Ingrid says that they still don't know the details of the magic used in Hawaii, but says that since Othinus needs to at least to think about to use magic, she knocked her out while she was too confused. However, Ingrid notes on how it was too easy. They later talk about waiting to create a secure video link to the UN headquarters. A necessity, as if the line is intercepted it could lead to Othinus' soldiers to interfere. Seeing that the line is up, Ingrid orders for them to move on to the next part of their mission, and orders them to review their process. When Touma looks up, he finds that he is on the ground as they review the gruesome method of killing Othinus in front of a camera and sending the footage to the President live, and her body's eventually secure disposal. One of them reminds them to take a DNA sample, though then complains about preserving Othinus' corpse as the remnants of her organization would rally around it. Ingrid says that is what the higher ups has decided and it is not their place to argue. Moreover, she explains that if her body is incinerated then there'd be no proof that she was truly dead. Finally coming to, Touma asks where Othinus is. He tries to get up from the ground, but is stepped down upon by a soldier pointing a gun to his head. Ingrid then tosses a radio to Touma, telling him that the President has something to tell him.

Kamijou Touma's negotiation with Roberto Katze
Roberto tells Touma that though he doesn't know why he sided with Othinus, he should've at least known what would happen to him. Knowing that he can't bring up the President's debt to him for helping him back in Hawaii as Roberto is making his decisions with every citizen of the United States of America weighing on his back, Touma is aware that his chances of convincing Roberto is stacked against him. Regardless, Touma knows that he must win by giving Roberto and the rest of the United States of America a reason to hold off on killing Othinus. Touma asks Roberto that since he is even bothering talking to him then he must at least feel a little hesitant, to which Roberto says that he is only merely killing time until his soldiers have secured the video line which would allow him to see and confirm for himself how his soldiers will kill Othinus. Touma however says that he will not let him kill Othinus. Roberto then replies that Touma has 10 minutes to explain why he shouldn't if he can, though states that he has enough reasons for kill her as well. Despite Roberto's called words, he was willing to talk allowing Touma to believe he can reach him with his words.

Touma tells him that he still doesn't know everything about Othinus, why she fled to Denmark, and that it would be bad if America eliminated her without knowing her objectives or motives. Roberto says that it doesn't matter if their reputation is damaged as the definite stability of the world is more important. He references that since Touma had been out on the field facing GREMLIN he should have a better grasp of what they are, though he says that the vast majority of the world doesn't know any of that, and because of that it may lead to rumors that will give GREMLIN a false credibility and a new war will break out of it. Hence the reason for nipping the problem in the bud by killing Othinus. Touma says that Roberto isn't wrong, but says that that's all the more reason why they can't kill her. Touma says that even if GREMLIN lost its head, Othinus, it will not disband the group, though the members would scatter randomly. Touma says that as they have lost their objective, in anger they will attack the peaceful world, and their first target would be America, the country that had led to that peaceful world. Roberto says that they are prepared for the fight to continue, and says that they are a country that will not forgive a villain in fear of a distant future. Touma says that American will not be hunting down remnants of a group as GREMLIN has already proven itself that a superpower like American can be brought to its knees as shown in Hawaii. He asks Roberto what would happen if the other members of GREMLIN gathered together, and references on how there are a lot of people who would like to defeat America. Roberto however points out that keeping Othinus around would lead to war just the same. Touma however doubts that, saying that to predict the behavior of the other members of GREMLIN, they need to know their secrets, and who has better knowledge of them than their leader. Touma adds that GREMLIN cannot name themselves a new representative as long as Othinus is alive, allowing them to hold off GREMLIN's reorganization and regrouping, and in turn allowing them to slow the spread of chaos that they bring along with them.

Roberto however says that Othinus' power is unknown to them, drawing from his recent experience in Tokyo with the lance of Gungnir, he says that there is no good reason to let her go as she can do worse things in the future. Moreover, he says that they can't detain her somewhere as well as they cannot guarantee GREMLIN won't be able to attack and break her out. Hearing this, Touma draws out the key sentence for his argument: they need only to take her power from her. Touma says that he and Othinus is trying to permanently remove her power then surrender to them, removing the threat of a future where she can do even worse things, and essentially removing the reason to kill her. Hearing this, the President asks if there really is such a convenient way of doing so. Touma tells him that he and Othinus did not come all the way to Denmark without an objective in mind, and says that if they were truly running away then it'd be easier to hide out in some quite mountain. Without waiting for a reply, Touma says that they are not writing off Othinus' crimes, and says that once everything is settled, they can lock her away as lock as they go through the proper procedures and that they will not impede them if they do. Touma then asks if he still feels the need to kill her even though they are merely preparing her to be sent to an American prison. Roberto however is hesitant, showing his inexperience with the magic side, saying that persons like Othinus are usually sent to places like England. Touma says that they ran across the three major churches and that they cannot be swayed, determining to kill Othinus. Roberto falls into silence, but Touma continues to speak, asking him (referencing that America's rules act as the global standard) if there really is no path for Othinus other than death. After a pause, Roberto says that Othinus would be charged with crimes against humanity as she attacked an enemy without declaring wat, which would certainly lead her to be executed. Touma becomes worried on Othinus' survival, but Roberto continues to speak. He says that on the other hand, GREMLIN isn't accepted as a nation under international law, nor are they registered as a legitimate military force, technically making those crimes against humanity and war crimes inapplicable to them. He however states that such reasoning would be quite tricky to pull off, but says that even they pulled it off, Othinus would still be guilty due to her actions, imprisoned for a long time, though it would be possible that she would get a pardon to lessen her sentence. But Roberto says that it'd be best to think there would be almost no chance of her getting out.

After hearing this, Touma cannot help but laugh, and says that it is fine as long there is hope then he and Othinus can accept it. Roberto asks if Touma truly understands, to which he replies that it is much better than having her killed in a frenzy. Touma then apologizes to him for thinking that America wasn't a major power in the world stage unlike Academy City and England for the science and magic side respectively, but says that America was the most rational ones when it came down to it. Finally, he says that America did what the science and magic sides could not. Hearing this, Roberto then tells Ingrid Martin that for their national interests and for the stabilization of the world, Operation Norse Wind is suspended. He orders them to release Touma and Othinus and continue their infiltration with the channel open for further orders, and then tells her to repeat what he just said. Ingrid Martin does so, and then has the soldiers release their bonds on Touma as well as that of Othinus. Touma then sees Othinus from a short distance being guarded by soldiers and goes toward her. As Othinus slowly regains consciousness, Roberto tells Touma that they won't attach an obvious collar on them, like a bomb on them, as a security measure, but says that the United States of America will be watching over them in hiding and maintaining a position to kill them. He says that would enough to replace an actual collar, with death constantly looming over Touma and Othinus.

Aftermath
After being released, Touma looks at the soldiers in the eye just once, though they pay him no heed put their ghillie suits over their uniforms and then hid from Touma's sight. Ingrid and the others could only watch as Touma aids Othinus as they begin walking away.

Attack by Academy City
Unmanned FIVE_Over Modelcase_"RAILGUN" units from Academy City later arrive and destroy several tanks. The unmmaned units order the other forces to disarm and surrender, otherwise they will be eliminated regardless of their reasons. Several, and likely all, of the soldiers of the diversionary unit surrender to Academy City, though the units just pass over them. Regardless however, it was obvious that the diversionary unit has been decimated.

With the help of Touma and Othinus, the commandos try to escape the units, believing that they will be taken prisoner, which is against their credo as commando, and a matter of their pride. Despite this, Touma later tells them to surrender, which the commandos later do and predictably passed by the units as they continue to pursue to continue Touma and Othinus.

Mission aborted
As the commandos are still alive after the attack by Academy City, they are still able to continue to watch and present a threat to Touma and Othinus, a "collar" for them as Roberto has stated. Ingrid Martin is the only known commando to have continued with this part of the mission. She would later end up in the area near Egeskov Castle, Touma and Othinus' destination. She later sees the final act of this saga, as Touma fights Othinus in order to save her life. Using a parabolic microphone, Ingrid overhears Touma and Thor's conversation regarding the distraught Othinus. Ingrid asks the President what to do, to which he says he is also trying to figure it out what to do, not being able to fully grasp the situation as Othinus uses her magic. Roberto then asks if she can continue to keep track of Touma and Othinus' conversation. Ingrid says that there'll be a lot of static but it would be possible. Roberto continues speaking and says that though he knows that it would be a difficult request for you since she is tasked with cross-borders operations he still asks her if she is able to declassify the footage of Touma's battle with Othinus. He says to her that he wants to show the two to the world as they are and he wants to ask the world for forgiveness. Knowing how this would be affect the President's credibility as it would take more of the blame than anyone else on the actual scene, Ingrid becomes frustrated. She tells him, with all due respect, that it would definitely harm his approval ratings and that both Touma and Othinus are not American citizens. Despite this, Ingrid already knows what Roberto will say: "So what?". Thus, despite her remonstrations, Ingrid is forced to follow his commands. With this, Roberto intends to hand the fate of Othinus to the world's judgment.

Ingrid later goes through with her orders in releasing the footage, with Roberto using it as part of his speech. Later, she likely sees Touma saving Othinus from certain death and then later see her becoming 15 centimeters tall. With Roberto and Elizard seeing that Othinus' current form as well as letting her live in a world of happiness that she tried to desperately escape to escape from to the point of suicide. With this, the mission to kill Othinus is finally aborted.