When I arrived at the doctors laboratory, the first thing that hit me was the faint smell of oil and the sound of a familiar hammer pounding away at something.
The bandana that I was wearing were soft but I wrapped it up too tight across my face, the moisture from the rain caused it to get damp making me taste the weird taste of my own sweat and the afternoon rain.
I wheeled the bike towards the faculty, I was approved by the soldiers working at the checkpoint but now I was developing an uneasiness to me. The A.P.A armor was a masterpiece, a one man tank that could deflect bullets.
But at the same time I wasn't sure if I wanted to hop back into its claustrophobic metal suit. The thing was able to even protect me from explosion spells, but even with that much protection it came at a cost.
Me speaking, and not being able to turn around due to the weight made the armor unbearable to be in. It was worse when I wasn't able to speak my mind, like that time Tanya ordered me to commit that act.
I followed her, like a good little dog and did her dirty work. Now she personally recommended me for her special battalion, sure Victorya was involved in the battalion but that was something else entirely.
Why would she do it? Was I not paying enough attention to her and Tanya's relationship, maybe they were close friends not just comrades. But that still didn't make me happy how Victorya joined a sucide battalion.
I felt inside my jacket, fishing out the shirt that I was containing the ring. I unwrapped the shirt like I was unwrapping a present until I saw the faint gleam of the ring when the sun touched it.
Claire asked me if I loved Victorya enough to give her this, and on the ride towards the doctors laboratory I finally figured it out.
As the faint lights of the urban city disappeared behind me and I was trailing through the fierce woodlands of the Empire I finally figured out the truth, I truly did love her.
Those days that we spent together were the happiest I have ever been, I truly cared about her enough to give her something like this.
As I rewrapped the ring in my sweater and rezipped up my bag I began to walk towards the doctors laboratory. There were beads of sweat dripping down his forehead as a smoldering cloud of heat erupted as I opened the door to his laboratory.
"Frank how have you been!" screamed the doctor in his insane happiness
"Fine, what are you doing?" I asked, I dropped my bags right next to the door as the heat began to disperse out of the room. He looked like he was working on something strange, a chestpiece of some sort.
I walked over to him as he moved away letting me get a better view of the thing, it was practically a better version of the A.P.A armor chestplate, or rather the armor had less metal to it and was lighter.
I lifted the thing up seeing the sleek design to it, the original armor had a sleek dark grey look to it that could be confused for black. But this one had a jet black coat that was different from its original. Even my name tag was different, usually it just had a first initial but this had a second initial to it.
"F.G" I whispered to myself
"Hey Doc, why is my name tag different?" I asked as I began to rotate the armor, I was trying to find more differences to the thing.
"Anes called me, he wanted to invite you to the family. Frank Graham, kinda has a nice ring to it doesn't it." the doctor said in between breaths, being in this hot workstation was probably slowly killing the poor old man.
Wolfsheim, a name that belonged to there son before it was mine. It felt wrong bearing their family name on my chest, there blood was different from mine.
"I don't know." I said as I hung my head, was I worthy enough to wear that name. Was I even worthy enough to fight for them?
The doctor looked at me as he tried to figure out something to say, but instead his mouth opened and quickly closed like he was eating something.
"The black coating came from a recommendation, you are probably going to run nighttime operations mostly so the black coat would come in handy." he said trying to change the conversation
"Who gave that recommendation?" I questioned
" "
I wasn't even there yet and she was controlling the armor, that girl never takes a break.
He walked over to me, basically snatching the chestplate from me as he began to walk over towards where the rest of the armor was stored.
As I walked with him I observed the rest of the armor, the armor had massive pieces of metal stripped from it and were replaced with sturdy dark brown leather.
The chest, shoulder, and front parts of my legs had the metal. But due to the stripping and the metals being reduced now the back was nearly exposed. My helmet would cover the back of my head, even the back part of the chestplate would protect my back but my calves and upper part of my legs were unprotected.
If the last armor theoretically couldn't protect me from mage spells, this one obviously couldn't due to being stripped of the metal.
"Anes told me about the issues with the design, sure I didn't think there was anything truly wrong with it but I adapted on certain things." the doctor sneered
During my stay at the estate, I did rant to Anes about how the doctor's armor was useful but the weight and other aspects were horrific and compromising in battle. I didn't imagine him actually calling up the doctor and telling him my concerns.
I put on the armor, as we both went outside to test the thing. Until the doctor bolted back into the laboratory to get something.
I feared that he was going to get a bigger gun to test me on, I cringed as he was holding an mg in his hands.
I was even more shocked as he handed me the gun, I was expecting an mg-34. That was the last gun that I used and I was even recommended to use it by command. It wouldn't make sense for a one man tank to use a thirty round submachine gun.
"My friend this is truly a beauty, god has blessed you with an experimental weapon that the boys on the frontline won't have until maybe a year. An mg-44" he concluded with his hands closed together in a prayer, for a second it was like he was praying to god for command approving me for this weapon.
It looked like the mg-34 but the sights, belt fed magazine, and the bipod contradicted the original design. The sleek grey gun was a tool, and a tool that I hoped to use to conquer my goals as a soldier.
Why was I even thinking like this, sure the gun was a tool but just like how I use this tool command uses me like a tool. I didn't know why I felt this way, when I thought of things in this viewpoint I hated myself.
The doctor also explained to me the defensive stance I had to take, the gauntlet on my left hand formed a mini shield. To feed the belt of the gun I would have to throw the belt over my left gauntlet, even my mage backpack was converted into an ammo storage unit.
When I was out of ammo, I would pull out a new belt and I would be ready to begin again. It was truly a wonderful system that I even thanked the doctor for. Even the defensive stance that the doctor taught me protected me from incoming bullets.
The helmet, chestplate, left gauntlet in this stance was able to not leave a single gap open. But if an enemy came up right behind me then I would certainly be dead. The gas mask was converted into a lighter metal, it even allowed me to speak and turn my head. Sure it felt heavy but now I had at least a little comfort.
Though only one thing stayed the same, the red eyes that would illuminate when I would pump magic into them. They even frightened me, I even knew that they frightened the ones that they were aimed due to there horrified last seconds.
There was no grip for the mg-44, so I had to use the bipod to stabilize the gun for long continuous fire. It took me a while to get used to when I was firing at the training dummies, but if I kept on trying then maybe I would get better.
There was also a strange little wire connected to my right gauntlet, I placed my hand to pull it but the doctor quickly swatted it away.
"You fool, you will get us killed!" he screamed
"What?" I screeched
"Degurechaff specifically recommended for you to have a sort of explosive weapon at your disposal due to your lack of mana, but I wasn't able to strap on any more weight too you. So instead I implemented an explosive system from the pull of the wire, the moment you pull that wire a highly explosive magic bullet comes out."
"Wait, aren't those things considered to be hypothetical, if that was the case wouldn't every infantryman on the Rhine front have one?" I asked
"Degurchaff blessed us with one of her personal bullets that, the bullet is composed of a yellowish mana that is probably magic at its most purest form. Though it is useful you only have one so use it wisely."
She made this just for me, something of hers that I can have as I fight and fly throughout the battle. When I say it like that I sound so creepy, I was with Victorya now and I knew I had to stop thinking of Tanya.
It probably took tons of tries to keep a bullet like that intact, but that still didn't change the fact that she made it for me.
After a stiff and awkward silence the doctor instructed me to run around the faculty with the new armor, strangely it was much easier to sprint around than the prototype. Sure there was less protection but now I had more mobility.
The weight of the last armor did have good effects on my body though. My muscles became more defined and I felt much lighter on my feet, running around the faculty felt more like a breeze then it ever felt like before.
The doctor helped me pack the armor on the back of the motorcycle, I had to sling the gun over my shoulder so the weight wouldn't be uneven in the back of the bike, and then I was riding off again as the doctor smiled and waved me bye.
I think he was happy that two of his inventions were able to do the fatherland good as he saw me riding off.