Event synopsis: Operation Lucent Arrowhead
| Event | Synopsis | OST |
| This article pertains to a subject that is not yet released in the Global server of Arknights. |
Continuing from the story of Operation Originium Dust, Operation Lucent Arrowhead tells of another squad of Team Rainbow, "Ela" Elżbieta Bosak, "Fuze" Shuhrat Kessikbayev, "Iana" Nienke Meijer, and "Doc" Gustave Kateb, arriving on Terra following the Magnethill incident. Upon arriving at Dossoles, the squad are tasked to work as body guards for the Galería Krysztauowa, but they will turn against their will to fight for justice while an art movement in a slum are voicing out their rage against the art conglomerate.
Down Into the Rabbit Hole
Return to Magnethill
Months have passed since Ash’s squad suddenly vanished at Magnethill-2 bunker at the Ural Mountains. Being the witnesses of their disappearance, Ela and Iana bring Fuze and Doc for the investigation, and the latter are unpersuaded of the incident. Suddenly, an earthquake occurs around the bunker’s site, and the squad are drawn into the impact of the earthquake. The squad find themselves falling down until they break the building’s ceiling and land on the floor. Upon climbing out from the ruin, they find themselves in the middle of a hostage battle surrounded by hostile soldiers, but they easily clear out the hostiles and evacuate the hostage safely.
The squad are bewildered by their surroundings. Doc discovers these people possess dog-like ears and tails, Fuze curses that they are not at the frigid Urals but some tropical site like the Maldives, and Iana is shocked to see two moons appearing in the darkening sky. They realize they are now in a totally alien world, not on Earth. The two freed hostages, introducing themselves as Reynell Kowalski, curator of Galería Krysztauowa, and his loyal bodyguard Miłosz, introduce to these “Sankta”-like alien squad that they are now on Terra, somewhere in Dossoles, Bolívar.
Out of the Greenhouse
For the next few days, Team Rainbow hides its identity as Reynell’s new bodyguards. Ela learns that Reynell is preparing for the opening ceremony of Galería Krysztauowa. They have to protect the gallery from some rustic artists in a nearby slum who are mad over this rich art dealer for stealing the art community’s public spotlight, and recently, they angrily protest the gallery for coinciding the ceremony with their upcoming art festival. On the other hand, Ela has been embezzled over Reynell’s ruthless actions such as skydiving while loosing off his safety belt, causing her to reconsider the squad’s cooperation with this ego man.
Meanwhile, Iana and Doc are given the free time to familiar with this new world. They save an Infected Durin girl living in the slum named Techno who suffers from acute symptoms. Upon bringing her back to the slum, however, the slum dwellers suddenly become hostile against Doc and Iana; without Techno’s help, they might not easily leave there.
Little did Team Rainbow know that there is a third party who has been keeping an eye onto the gallery and the slum. Representing the Coalition Government of war-torn Bolívar, Captain Matteo and his army yearn to forcefully acquire the slum to expand the Coalition’s influence over Dossoles, but the land built upon it is owned by Reynell who has long given up in chasing them away after being feared of their stubborn arrogance. They fail to kidnap Reynell, so they disguise themselves as Ela’s squad to raid the slum’s Oripathy inhibitor supply as bargain chip, which result in the slums anger over Iana and Doc. But the captain realizes the supplier is none other than Rhodes Island, and Ernesto Salas, a.k.a. Operator Tequila, the rumoured successor of Mayor Candela Sanchez, is present in the raid. Out of fear of Candela’s punishment, he orders his soldiers to dispose the medicine in Reynell’s warehouse to shift the blame onto him.
Reynell orders Team Rainbow to wait at the warehouse for an arriving goods. Knowing from Candela’s intel that these “goods” being the stolen medicine, Tequila, Catapult, and Techno infiltrate the warehouse. After the tiny Durin girl easily knocks out Fuze, Ela’s squad are on high alert, resulting in an immediate, hostile close contact. Ela thinks that these slum dwellers are here to steal Reynell’s goods, and Techno accuses them for stealing the medicine under Reynell’s order. Fortunately, Tequila suggests to interrogate the arriving deliveryman, and their misunderstanding is finally cleared.
Art is a Bang
Burning Graffiti
Team Rainbow realizes that there is a better spot for them to stay, so Ela submits her resignation to Reyell to live with the slum artists. On the other hand, Reynell is open on Ela’s decision, stating that she is more privileged to see these artists’ genuine spirits. He hopes she can help persuade the slum to change the art festival’s date.
As it turns out, the coincidence of the art festival and the gallery’s opening is not without reasons. To the slum community, the art festival is meant to be a commemoration to those who were dead inside a fire that burnt down the slum’s dance club, many of whom were young talented artists. To Reynell, it is the day of passing of his mother Alicia after many years of suffering from his late abusive father Stefan. Furthermore, Reynell plots a rather maniacal event on the gallery’s opening: he will blow up both the building and the art collections inherited from his father via explosives in front of his guests, serving as his liberation from his father’s shadow and greed and a farewell gift to his beloved mother.
Now finding themselves in the slum, Team Rainbow have to proof their worthiness to the community’s leader Díaz Gonzalez, Techno’s adoptive father who is infamous for his arrogance and mistrust. They not only bring back the stolen medicine and distribute them to the Infected, but also aid Techno in repairing a giant puppet. The slum hopes that through both the festival and the puppet, they can honour the dead and brings public attraction that will help improve their well-being.
On the other hand, Matteo is getting impatient over Reynell and the slum dweller. He forces Reynell to let his troop enter the slum in the name of cleaning up Reynell’s mess, and Reynell plans to bait Matteo and his men in the slum and have them beaten up by the angry slum dwellers. But it turns out Reynell makes the wrong move; Matteo has his soldiers armed with weapons and armours to confine the slum in the name of fire safety inspection. Declaring that the slum’s poor facilities could threaten nearby neighbourhood, he orders them to demolish the giant puppet and expel the all the slum dwellers. Ela gets furious over Reynell’s foolish mistake, and Doc has to point his machine gun over the soldiers’ heads to save Techno, Díaz, and the slum.
A Fool's Token
The slum dwellers are now homeless, and their anticipated art festival is forever gone. In the midst of lamentation, Matteo even dispatches some inciters to stir up their anger and blame the demolition onto Reynell. By doing so, Matteo envisions these angry mobs will soon storm the Galería Krysztauowa, and Matteo could then have the accuse to arrest both the slum dwellers and Reynell. Team Rainbow already suspects the sudden anger among the crowd, but Díaz instead plans to lead them to the gallery square and set up their festival there publicly as a peaceful protest.
The opening ceremony of Galería Krysztauowa is held before sunrise, catching the eyes of the curious attendees. There, Reynell begins his ceremony with the unveiling of a new form of art: virtual art tokens, a.k.a. NFTs, collected via city intranets. Everyone mocks Reynell for being a madman who tarnishes art, yet he continues his speech by showcasing Terra’s first NFT. All of a sudden, Matteo and his men feel gravely humiliated; Reynell purposefully turns the captain’s portrait into NFTs to mock him publicly. Angrily, he holds Reynell and the attendees as hostage in the gallery, planning to frame Reynell’s death by terrorist attack by the angry slum dwellers, and the soldiers proceeds to rob the gallery’s art collections.
The slum dwellers led by Team Rainbow, Díaz, and Techno now arrive at the gallery square, only to find vacant seats with debris. They soon get intel from Tequila who has long infiltrated the building, and Tequila warns them of the many explosives scattered across the gallery. Nevertheless, the gang change their plan in saving hostages with Team Rainbow leading to neutralize the enemies.
Team Rainbow begins their operation with Fuze and Catapult breaching the building’s wall with a grenade. Techno and the slum dwellers help evacuate the hostages safely, and Díaz proceeds to search for the hidden bombs and dismantle them, but he will soon be arrested by the soldiers. Ela heads up to the rooftop where Reynell is located. Iana and Doc easily put down the enemies one by one, and in an occasion, the soldiers are even frightened to see Iana’s Gemini Replicator as the “Sankta mass murderer” in a horror drama. Unexpectedly, even Miłosz takes part of the rescue mission and informs them to quickly evacuate everyone before ten in the morning, the time when the bomb will ignite.
A Job Well Done
As Ela climbs up the stairs, she encounters Matteo’s soldiers blocking her way at the sixth floor. She informs them of the explosives which results in panic among soldiers. But the stairway downwards is now blocked with debris, and the soldier pulls out their weapons to force Ela show them the escape route. Suddenly, the wall is blown up, and it is none other than Ela’s familiar teammates – the missing Ash’s squad with Ash herself, Tachanka, Blitz, and Frost. Ash’s team have long hidden inside the building upon receiving Candela’s intel, and they find their way here with gliding jetpacks.
Matteo, now cowardly searching an escape route upon learning the explosives, angrily force both Díaz and Reynell to speak out the whole plan. Realizing that Reynell possesses a secret escape route, his private elevator, the mad captain heavily beats Reynell to injury with a golf club, but Reynell stubbornly refuses to speak out and mocks him as a stupid burdenbeast. Just then, Ela breaks the door and proceeds to neutralize Matteo with a surprising victory.
The explosion quickly spreads across the building, so they have to quickly leave the rooftop with the jetpacks. Ela carefully holds Reynell on his side, but the ego art dealer decides to end his life with a dramatic moment: unlocking his safety belt and falls from above. Reynell wakes up, finding himself cushioned by pills of golf ball thanks to Miłosz’s Arts and floating on the gallery’s pool. Ela proceeds to give a heavy punch onto Reynell and throw him into the pull again, scolding that he should not treat his life lightly just because of his childishness. The rescue mission is a success in which no hostages and rescuers losing their lives, and Ela’s squad could finally give a warm hug to Ash and the others.
In the aftermath of the Krysztauowa explosion incident, both Matteo and Reynell reap their consequences. Long being a hassle, the Coalition Government could finally remove Matteo from his position and have him deported back to La Unidad, the Coalition’s capital, where he will be imprisoned. Reynell anticipates the Coalition to take action on him, but under Candela’s order, he is instead extradited back to Kazimierz through representatives of the Kazimierz General Chamber of Commerce, so he strongly protests due to the K.G.C.C.’s connection with his abusive family. Nevertheless, Miłosz once again saves him, and the two sworn brothers, despite being penniless, decides to become wandering fugitives in the wilderness.
Reynell’s properties in Dossoles have to be settled as well, and miraculously, he decides to hand in the property to Díaz and the slum community, turning them the owners of the gallery. Overjoyed, the slum artists hold a barbeque party at the gallery’s ruin to celebrate the moment. Meanwhile, Team Rainbow could finally take a rest and enjoy the party. Ela’s squad is excited to listen to Ash’s story on Terra, and they anticipate the future awaiting them through their cooperation with R.I.
On Ernesto’s side after settling Reynell’s crime, he has his usual meeting with Candela despite he has been blaming her for the incarceration of his father Pancho. Candela offers him a special kind of coffee mixed with three different kinds of beans, and Ernesto comments that it mixes so well that all the fragrance could be smelt ― an allegory of the never-ending stalemate among the three warring factions in the Bolívarian civil war. As cryptic as the conversation goes, she envisions that the civil war is reaching a turning point, and Dossoles has to enter the fray by trusting its future generations like Ernesto. The turmoil of Bolívar will soon come to an end.