(Skullgirls OST: Paved With Good Intentions)
"- In short talk. you'll be fighting Big Band." Valentine casually said. Her tone, clearly sounding disinterest for the upcoming test for Soldier.
The scientists led Soldier, followed by Leduc and Hive, with Valentine quietly behind the group. The next part of the facility was still intact with Lab 8, and appears to be some sort of organized training facility, but only that it was a lot wider in space. Soldier had never seen any training facilities her whole life before. During her time in Mann Co, once you've sign up, you're immediately given your very first set of weaponry, which were the default stock weapons, depending on the class you are contracted and specified as, and regardless of any knowledge in fighting, you will be fighting in the Gravel Wars right away, which was very straightforward prior to the contracts. That's how Soldier went through six years with the Red team. No training provided, but just the straight-up bloodshed, that Soldier seemingly enjoyed her whole life to result in victory for the Red team.
"I've already called Ben. He should be here any sooner now." Dr. Avian said, but calling out to another doctor, a male that fully appears to be a light blue shark with a pair of round glasses and a lab coat approached. "Stanley, is the simulation ready for operation?" Dr. Avian asked. "Yes, Doctor. As usual. Is it for Leduc and Hive?" Stanley replied, but shortly stopped as he noticed Soldier observing the entire facility. "Is she a new recruit, Doctor-" "She is an asset. Possible asset, for the ASG. None of your business either." Brain Drain interrupted, as rudely as possible in tone. Soldier heard this but before she could snap at the brain on a dome, she was interrupted by the sounds of heavy steps of metal.
"Hey y'all. Doc Avian, you called?" They voice who greeted was slightly deep, and male. Soldier turned around to see a large man. Or, what she sees as a man, who's skin, as not to offend other people, is as darker in skin tone, similar to Demoman. He also wore a large tanned trench coat and a fedora that perfectly matches his coat and seems to be wearing some sort of a round tube-like mask connected to a pair of vacuum tubes. And strangely enough for Soldier, this man's shape was visibly a walking saxophone. Nothing to exaggerate, but as in a large, literal walking saxophone.
"Ben. I'm glad you could join us, and yes I called you here to assist us on a sparring match in able to test out a new ASG asset." Dr. Avian responded, as he and Stanley were pressing buttons on the strange computers, that all look like World War II era tech. But strangely enough, advanced. "Possible asset. Avian. You put too much faith on an outsider you've just met, yet we haven't seen her capabilities so far. Or what she is even capable of..." Brain Drain rudely interrupted in a remark, then glanced at Valentine. "Can't say how in the Hell's did this woman even survived Valentine... Perhaps, any other could survive her at all..." Valentine glared at him by this, but said nothing and stepped away from him. Soldier surely does not like this Brain Drain's attitude.
"Well, I'm all happy to help out, Doc." Big Band finally responded, clearly ignoring Brain Drain's rude presence. But as he approached the group, he looked down at Soldier and greeted her with a polite nod. "ASG rarely has assets. But I'm assuming they've found something in you, and what you may be capable with, then maybe that's a reason why you're here." Soldier nodded simply with a confident look on her face. He sounds polite as Soldier figured. "AFFIRMATIVE!"
"Well now. I guess we'll see how you tune up. This beat should be interesting." Big Band replied. "The simulation is ready! Soldier and Big Band, please step through the lines out front to begin the simulation!" Dr. Avian announced.
By the time the announcement finished, the entire surroundings before Soldier immediately faded and transitioned to into a ruined battlefield on what appears to be in the middle of a desert. "FIGHT!" A male, automated voice announced, and this surprised Soldier to see Big Band charging at her.
Soldier immediately grabbed her shotgun and began firing at Big Band, who simply ignored the sprayed pellets fired at him. She immediately tried her best to dodge Big Band's first attack. A honk which quickly followed up by another few musical instruments that Soldier didn't had the time to identify until she got hit a few times by the tricycle thing below Big Band that hit her five times. Soldier fired her shotgun in retaliation, which luckily forced Big Band away for a bit but not for long.
Seeing that he was large enough and moves slow, Soldier decided to change her tactic of approach then decided to go on melee using her shovel. "MAGGOT!"
Soldier leapt above Big Band and tried to get some hits but only managed to get two hits on his upper torso, which weren't clearly enough.
"BIIIIG BAAAAND!" Soldier was immediately caught up in mid air by a circular instrument with mini cymbals and began shocking her in between before getting dropped down.
Soldier groaned in pain but seeing that Big Band was slowly making his cautious approach, Soldier immediately looked above the large tuba man before getting an insane idea.
She immediately got up and charged at Big Band while firing her shotgun. "Smooth..!" Big Band ignored the shots once again before completely blocking the incoming shots with his large cymbal shield. This was going accorded to Soldier's idea before she leapt above Big Band once again, to which, Big Band raised his shield above him to block more shotgun pellets. Only this time, he wasn't expecting it to be different as Soldier landed on top of his cymbal shield for a split second before jumping above high and backwards with a huge grin on her face as she then pulled out her Direct Hit before aiming down at Big Band.
"AMERICAN ROCKET!" Soldier fired a single rocket directly at Big Band's shield, which caused him to lose balance of himself from the explosive impact. Although it didn't seemed to have injured him thanks to his cymbal shield, but it was enough for Soldier to see her target now visibly vulnerable as she pulled a pin to activate her parachute and by this, she aimed once again and continued firing two more rockets at Big Band.
Although Soldier aimed through the scope on her Direct Hit, she intended to aim only a couple of feet away from Big Band before firing two rockets to ensure that she doesn't clearly injure him from direct exploding impact.
Indeed, the pair of explosions managed to send Big Band completely losing balance, and with the explosion impacts, he was stunned for a short moment, to which Soldier immediately took her chance to finish the fight by the time she landed, she quickly rushed towards Big Band before leaping up high above him in a forward back flip, and her boot landing directly towards Big Band.
Although she rarely was able to do this on her male body, Soldier took the full advantage of her new body's flexibility to use her move that she usually fails to use on Blu team. "AMERICAN BOOT!" Soldier's boot landed straight in the side of Big Band's face, which gave enough force to finally send him falling down backwards with a loud metal thud. "I WON!? I WON!" Soldier cheered in her victory as she clearly stood on top of Big Band who slowly recovered.
"Ending simulation!" Doctor Avian announced, and this concludes Soldier as the winner of the sparring match as she cheered more.
"Not bad... Though, you got a different tune, and maybe a little difficult one to tune in, but you seem to know how to play your rhythm all right." Big Band commented by the time Soldier stepped off of him.
"THANKS! I FOUGHT COMMIES EVERYDAY! I DO NOT NEED TO TRAIN BUT GO STRAIGHT TO THE FIGHT!" Soldier replied proudly, then extended a hand to help Big Band up. He was alot of weight though, but Big Band still accepted her hand with his fragile looking claw and pulled his weight back up on his own.
"That was amazing! I mean, Peacock had done that too, but not that quick that Soldier did!" Leduc excitedly said as he and the others approached.
"Zzzshee doeszzz zzbetterzz zzzthan zzPeacock." Hive simply commented next to Leduc.
"THANKS!" Soldier replied happily. "Well, she doesn't appear much, but I think that'll be a perfect advantage on giving a surprise beat when she finally goes out to do some OP." Big Band commented as well, this time his tube mask removed slightly, he wore an encouraging smile.
"Well... That was... Something..." Everyone's attention all turned to Brain Drain who spoke a little dryly with his arms folded. "What do you mean 'something'? She literally put Ben down in only a minute and a half. Patricia's last sparring session with Ben was five minutes tops. This is by far a new and current holding record in the ASG sparring matches simulated in Lab 8." Doctor Avian replied, reasonably. Brain Drain only growled before giving a response. "That still doesn't 'pass' her. Avian."
Soldier glared at the brain under her helmet. "HEY! I WON FAIR, MAGGOT BRAIN! THAT WAS A FAIR FIGHT!" "Nurse Valentine, I suggest that you teach this candidate of yours to respect a high positioned ASG Director..." Brain Drain said coldly directly to Valentine who glared at him under her surgical mask, then squinted her only red eye at Soldier with the same glare.
"Hey now. Let's not ruin this moment in bitter argument. She did won fairly though, and that was indeed a fair fight. But if you're still not convinced to fully vouch for her - We can still test her out. A simple field OP would do just fine as her final test for ASG initiation." Big Band reasoned to Brain Drain, with a little stern in his tone.
"Hmph. As much as I don't usually agree with Lab 8 units... We should do Big Band's suggestion. Have Soldier assigned for a simple field OP, and see how she handles an objective given to her..." Valentine hesitantly added with her arms firmly folded on her chest, clearly not pleased about agreeing to the suggestion.
Everyone, even Soldier, who was impatient, waited for Brain Drain to reply. The brain on a dome growled a little loudly before face planting. "Very well..." He said coldly. "We can set her final initiation test..."
Brain Drain stared directly into Soldier through her helmet and spoke harshly. "We'll see how you will handle this task for your final test for initiation. Location: Little Innsmouth. Reports earlier states the Fishbone Gang is up to making a deal of some kind. Your objective, is to gather information. Information that would benefit the ASG that may involve Medici hostages, or anything related to the current Skullgirl on the loose." At this point, everyone, Valentine excluded, began objecting.
"Brain Drain, that is a live ASG field OP. We can't risk sending her out with such an objective." Doctor Avian argued. "This is final. Avian. If what Nurse Valentine claims to be true, that this Soldier may prove useful for the ASG - We shall test her on a live ASG field OP. No questions asked."
"Doc. That early Intel report you have on Lab 0 states that the Black Egrets would be involved. My old partner, Irvin, informed me earlier to lay low, and warn all ASG operatives from executing any field OP there on Little Innsmouth. Whatever this 'deal' is that the Fishbone Gang has going on, isn't worth any shot getting arrested, better yet, apprehended by the Black Egrets. You know how serious things are when we have to deal with them." Big Band seriously said.
"THE BLACK EGRETS!? THE ONE WITH THE PRINCESS!? THE NAZIS!?" Soldier exclaimed questioningly, causing everyone to look at her clearly startled. "Yep. Don't know what that 'Nazi' means, but you're damn right. The Princess leading them is Parasoul Renoir. Eldest daughter of King Franz and Queen Nancy, former Skullgirl seven years ago. Parasoul leads the elite military under her name and command. They're not like the regular Canopy Military that the ASG used to be allied and friends with. They're the opposite, and they see everything unauthorized by them as illegal. Trust me, Soldier. This is not worth the risk sending you out there with the Black Egrets involved." Big Band replied.
Everyone was starting to have opinions of their own. Doctor Avian and Big Band clearly protested against the idea. Leduc and Hive clearly encouraging that Soldier executed the objective, and Doctor Stanley was commenting about possibilities of encounter with Princess Parasoul if Soldier was to execute the field OP. Brain Drain only had his arms firmly folded, and clearly didn't gave a damn as he made his decision already by the proposed objective.
"So... You have two options. Soldier. You execute the objective, or back out..?" Valentine suddenly spoke. This made the others in silence as they all looked at Soldier expectantly for her response.
Soldier thought about this longer than they thought she would've. She thought of Merasmus wanting to side with those Umbrella Nazis. And if she does encounter them, more specifically, this Princess Parasoul - There's the huge chance that Merasmus may be with her. Considering that he wanted to seek her help. Soldier frowned but finally made her decision.
"I WILL ACCEPT THE OBJECTIVE TO GATHER WHATEVER INFORMATION I CAN EXTRACT! AND IF I ENCOUNTER THIS PRINCESS - SHE AND HER UMBRELLA NAZIS ARE GOING TO FACE THE WRATH OF A TRUE AMERICAN!"
FAQs:
1. Soldier clearly likes to join Lab 8, specifically, and this was why she was eagerly ready to get put to the test. Regardless of being commended only for Lab 0.
2. Yes. Soldier already doesn't have any good impression on Brain Drain and clearly dislikes him due to his attitude.
3. Valentine is hiding something from everyone else in the Anti-Skullgirl labs, but at this point no one knows what it is. Soldier also doesn't know about the real reason why Valentine even commended her for the Anti-Skullgirl labs in the first place.
4. Soldier's moves the 'American Rocket' and 'American Boot' are straight references from the TF2 Gmod 'Unusual' animated series by 'STBlackST'.
5. Soldier has a tier 3 Block Buster move, which is the three-rocket firing launcher that she will be using in future chapters. Most specifically, planned to be used against her future rival within the Medici in a future chapter. And that extra rocket launcher that Soldier has is the 'Beggar's Bazooka' .
6. The Anti-Skullgirl labs is no longer a legitimate organization like they used to during their alliance within the Canopy Military, making every ASG covert operations illegal and is/are considered an act of vigilance which is to be apprehended by the Black Egrets.
7. This story takes place only one month after Valentine's group, the Last Hope, were wiped out during and after their encounter with the Skullgirl.
Thank you for reading!
~Defective Demon 666~