Chapter 45
"The Ancients said: Beware the night when three stars fall along with their cohorts, for that is the time the Heavens forsake us." Unknown Immortal of Mount Kunlun. (Attr.)
Agartha Geofront, CIC Room.
My head hit the desk repeatedly, as Naki and Yua looked on impassively at the scene, the data they presented to me making some of the stress from the last days utterly worthless.
Turns out? I already have weapon designs that are extremely compatible with Shotrise technology, and don't look like the 41[sup]st[/sup] millennium took the time to visit. While the two androids accepted my recommendations for weapons to sell to the human nations (Naki made a face at the Shotguns), they also found something in my memories (and isn't that a bit weird) that was easily made with what we had already.
Doom weapons.
As in, Doomslayer weapons.
And I finally stopped cursing at me for forgetting such iconic and useful designs… that in a normal world, would be utter failures. I looked at the two girls again and sighed, before composing myself and pointing at the blueprints in the hologram coming from my desk. "So? You think you can make these up to spec?" I knew the answer already, but it never hurt to confirm.
"Yes, Father. The kinetic weapons are apparently able to be converted to normal bullets for human use, if you are willing to accept a dramatic decrease in efficiency."
"That means?"
"29% loss in stopping power, 8% higher recoil, and some modding options not being available, at most."
"…Those things are meant to kill demons from Hell, literally, which guns will be the hardest hit with those adjustments?"
"The weapons labeled as "Heavy Assault Rifle, Heavy Cannon, Burst Rifle, Gauss Cannon and both 15mm and 7.65 EML variants of the Chaingun." Naki showed me a render of the downsized variants of said weapons… and with the lithe frames of my YoRHa androids, they still looked ridiculous, like a kid playing around with a 1:1 model gun. Those looked way too big for them.
I think the Gunner variant of the YoRHa combat frame might need an upsize…
In the hands of my modified Combat Raiders, mainly Watchpoint, they looked not that bad, but that was due to the bulk of the Mobile Infantry Power Armor offsetting the bulk of the guns.
The Doom Slayer is big enough to wield any of these without any difficulty, but even so, I believe in some Makyr fuckery of physics, since he should be heavy enough to not being able to jump far with any of his guns in hand… "Will there be any setback to our rearmament schedule?"
"We are still on track, the composition of the Tungstronium is still unknown to us but a few cycles of shared processing between our orbital installations might give us something usable. The other weapons are ready to begin printing."
"Hm… Think we can produce the Plasma rifles anytime soon?"
"…Query complete. The power requirements call for heavy usage of LCoTs if you wish to arm a sizeable force with plasma weaponry and a redesign to the gunner class to avoid possible conflicts from having too many cores near each other."
"Wait, what did you say about the cores?"
"It had been found that having over three cores too close will cause increasing power fluctuations that soon become violent enough to begin affecting components despite the surge protections installed. We still have not found why this happens…" Naki gave out a frustrated huff. "If I had to compare it to something normal, it could be like putting objects with the same magnetic polarity and tiny to hold them close without them trying to flip to match each other…"
"Huh… think we can device something soon?"
"Once the new local processing servers are online, yes."
The meeting went on, as we discussed how to deploy our assets for a quick response to any minor outbreak and also have enough manpower for the upcoming operation. A little break for me to stretch my limbs was given as we finished today's reports. "I have been meaning to ask… where is Hime… where is Watchpoint at?"
"VR Simulation Bay, they have taken a shine to the increased firepower from what their conversations say…" Naki stated in her deadpan voice, but I could somehow detect a tiny amount of mirth and pride. She really enjoyed doing her job as an armorer and she felt proud her guns were like by people.
I thought about it and what we had gone through in Nagazora and the American East Coast. "You don't say…"
Agartha Geofront, Simulator Bay (New). A few Days later
"Rider-02 you're lagging behind! 03 cover him and catch up with us!"
"Rider-03, Roger! Come on, Hideki! Gun it!"
"I'm trying! Got something' latched on to my legs!"
"Wait… are those the spiders? Hideki, shake them off! Roll, Roll!"
The Simulator pod did a very good job at inducing the nausea such a maneuver would cause in real life, even to Mei, who was observing from the outside. She and the other two scientific 'consultants' were watching a piece of hardware that many nations would have started wars over, a fully immersive virtual experience. She looked at the pods where the fully armored squad, plus Kevin, were performing training for the next mission.
"Rider-01, this is 02 Hideki is free of spiders! Hauling ass now!"
The discoveries were worrying. An enemy that could cause the whole world to forget about them and their actions was more terrifying than zombies wanting to tear into you with their teeth. Her organization was completely focused in retrieving critical components to arm their forces in the next campaign.
"I want us on that ship yesterday!"
"Ma'am! Flyers at 7-o'clock!"
"I see them! 04 and 05, spray and pray! Don't let them get too close!
China. Once upon a time an economic powerhouse, had be ravaged by the Third world war, with over 200 nuclear detonations going off over their territories. It was a miracle the country wasn't still a radioactive wasteland, but the loss of modern infrastructure had killed the majority of the population from lack of medicines and starvation. She suspected that they had kept their leader safe in their own version of the TREASURE Plan (which had allowed her family to survive back before she was born) but the world, for nefarious reasons, had forgotten that the place shouldn't even exist as a country. They had gone and assumed the place had kept as normal, with other countries preparing for the 'inevitable' attempts at revenge from the Chinese government.
An attack than never came.
And now they had seen why.
Everyone had been present when Major Yinsen had contacted the US and delivered the information to the Secretary of Homeland Security (instead of the Secretary of Defense, for some reason). The look on mister Watts's face had been one of horror, resignation and then dread at the sight of the satellite images.
Because while normal cameras wouldn't catch much, only a faint shimmering effect as if looking thought very hot air, the Honkai sensors revealed the place didn't even exist.
Oh sure, the mass was apparently there, but to describe it… it was as if someone had taken a cast out of a mold, but it was the whole country that had been taken out and the shape of the mold was all that was left. No color but pitch-black darkness in place of what should be at least halfheartedly rebuilt cities or struggling settlements. The place was a hollow grave that somehow still moved and…
"08 to 01! Runners on our tail!"
"06 and 07! Cover 08 but keep moving!"
The noise form one of the screens showed Kevin and two others fending off a mountain of silver and pink spiders that were nothing but an assembly of blocks and articulations like a demented children's toy. The things were especially hard to deal with because of one thing.
Sheer Numbers.
In the simulation, Watchpoint had to retrieve intel from a site that had gone dark before a scheduled report, prompting the higher ups to send a group on a mission to recover whoever they could from the place and then destroy it.
Mei suspected this had been an actual mission performed by Steel Locust, as the place turned out to be place of downright terrifying research she had once found some mentions of in her days growing up at the TREASURE bunker.
Someone had decided to create an AI to instigate emotions in humans, using their vast knowledge taken from social networks to induce murderous or suicidal thoughts on people or instigate them to take specific actions at specific places and times to create as much damage as possible and use those events to drive even more people mad. Then turned the very same algorithms the AI had written and used them on it.
Then someone decided to allow that same AI to network with the automated defenses and unrestricted internet. The thing had killed the whole lab and used the facilities in reach to craft the mechanical horrors that she wished stayed in someone's head as that, pure imagination.
"04 to 01! Barrel is too hot! Switching to sidearm!"
"05 to 01! Out of grenades! They're gaining on us!"
"01 to 02 and 03! Switch with 04 and 05 and keep those things off us!"
Even with the new weapons and armor Watchpoint were wearing for this simulation, they were struggling with the ways the silver swarm was attacking them. Yinsen had said that the armor was meant to be used for heavy airborne assaults, and the weapons were something he'd found in a cache and was abusing the 3D printers to arm the task force with the necessary equipment.
Mei looked at the gun strapped to her tight. Even when she could use a Belt on her own (and she felt the need to capitalize, even if it was said just in her mind), Yinsen had tasked one operative to teach her how to handle a gun. The woman had accepted with a weird laugh and then took Mei's fellow scientists and dragged them to the range. The proceed to drill into their head that they had the best equalizer of history and by the trinity they would learn to use them.
She had been tough, but fair. Tesla and Einstein had some difficulties due to their guns' strange shape, but quickly got the hang of it. Mei had gotten a gun from Yinsen that her instructor, Griselda Ler Blekksprut, Operative 2I of the Beta-2 Company had told her was worth a small island with facilities included.
The gun didn't look overtly special, just another gun that someone had decided to tint light blue, add an ugly brown grip and blue LEDs on the back of the handle. She had gotten an explanation that this was the first successful integration of ambient Honkai absorbing systems, Shotrise Technology and Flash forging. The Shotrisers Watchpoint used had to be recharged every so often with a special device they slotted in, but this one was truly meant to go deep inside the enemy lines and allow someone to keep fighting.
She looked back at the screen showing what Watchpoint was seeing in this simulation, a large amount of tiny silver blocks, akin to metal LEGO's she'd once seen in her childhood, gathered to form various shapes to attack the fleeing group. The most common form was a spider, but right now the Rider group was flying away from a swarm of the thing resembling wasps and birds.
Mei had seeing similar machines the times she'd been allowed to see the food facilities in her Vault, as biological bees had been a pretty luxury after the countries fell and a lot of forests had been cut down to fuel the reconstruction…
The once inoffensive looking robots were now bigger and would haunt her nightmares for sure. And those of Watchpoint of course.
"Evac is here! Gun it!"
The Simulation ended as the Rider group reached a plane flying barely above the ground, getting in as their vessel gained speed and left the buzzing swarm behind. The screen switched to a view of the simulator room once the ship closed its doors.
The soldier group was disconnected from the chairs that had linked their suits to the computer running the simulation, almost falling to the floor in exhaustion and Kevin shaving to rush somewhere off camera.
Mei heard the PA's voice some out of the speakers.
"Scenario 04 -Dark Site Recovery- End. Watchpoint Squad's score: 85%. Primary objectives, Achieved. Secondary objectives, Fail. No Casualties detected. Mission Success. Please exit Simulation Bay at your earliest convenience. Executive group 01, standby by for simulator training."
Mei felt something in her clench as she felt someone pat her shoulder, and she turned only to meet the close-to-laughing face of her instructor. "Time to face the music, buttercup." Mei looked around in a panic as she saw a dark-skinned sergeant pick Tesla and Einstein like cats and drag them to the Simulator Bay. "Don't worry, it won't get as bad…"
Mei looked at her instructor in the eye. "Really?"
This time, 4I couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Nah, we're dropping into hell, kid. Now, get moving."
"Executive Group 01, Simulator Bay Ready. Scenario 01 -Hot Landing Zone-, Loaded. Stand by for connections."
Mei's panic was mirrored in her lab companions' faces.
(A Few Day later, Weapons Training Hall)
Himeko checked her new gun once again. While it was smaller than the one, she got in Nagazora, it certainly was slightly superior in firepower. The bullets were a bit weaker; the plasma caster was the same, and yet she now could use it along with her brand new Shotriser akimbo without sacrificing much in accuracy. Sure, it wasn't military standard, but sometimes, like the recent simulation demonstrated, trigger discipline can go to hell once you're neck deep in monsters.
They had all received the new gun, so they now carried two sidearms, a new Shotriser and this Tri-shot Pistol. She had to admit, seeing a group coming together from barely having enough modern weapons (If you discounted the robots and flying carriers) to arm the infantry and having to rely on mothballs and outdated guns, to fully seeing the capabilities of Steel Locust was… exhilarating.
The Tri-shot was a little marvel. On one hand, fully automatic SMG firing 6.5mm ammunition with underbarrel caster that fired a beam of blue-hot plasma, which at the push of a button swapped places in the gun to become a hand-cannon firing 15mm plasma slugs as fast as you could pull the trigger. That alone made any she'd ever heard of look weak, even her Shotriser.
But no, Yinsen pulled out all the steps and gave them even crazier stuff. The Lancer GL was basically a bigger Tri-shot without plasma caster. Large volumes of fire and an underbarrel laser-guided smart-missile mortar to blow up anything that was behind cover. And if that wasn't enough, they got even bigger guns to mess around with.
There was the Heavy Assault Rifle, which despite the name was basically a futuristic FN Minimi from old times chambered for 9x75mm cartridge (of which she'd never heard about). The thing had decent recoil for the bullets it fired and wasn't as heavy as it looked. It also was damn accurate despite the short barrel.
The Infantry Light Cannon in the other hand… who had come up with that monster? Unlike the HAR, that was basically a Sawn-off Browning M2 able to be picked up by someone and fired like a standard rifle. An automatic cannon that doubled as an antimateriel sniper and a micro-rockets platform. The fact that it could keep firing as long as it had power fed to the flash-forgers was… terrifying. That gun was ridiculous and in the hands of the other soldiers in the base it only reinforced that notion. The fact that only thing allowing her to lift that monster was her power armor was telling.
Then there were the other weapons. There was an 8 Gauge Magnum (3" Shell) Shotgun that could fire full auto like a gatling gun or could the swapped to fire normally with some explosive slug on the side. A 400 Magnum Heavy Battle Rifle. A Gauss Cannon that could double as a gigantic laser lawnmower. A Fucking 60mm Portable Cannon. A Plasma Rifle with an LMG variant. A 16-barrel gatling gun that could split into four full powered four-barrel gatlings. It was saying something when the rocket launcher was the most mundane thing she'd seen in a while if it were for its ability to swap remotely detonated rockets to smart missiles with the change of its scope.
There were the suits. They looked similar to the ones they had gotten during their battle with Tango Hotel, only there was even more stuff to them. Her new Shotriser was green and orange, to match with the rest of the suit, a replacement for her destroyed Raidriser was given and put in the right side of her hip like some strange new holster. She received a new key that resembled Yinsen's blue one, but in green.
They all had now various keys, but while formerly they would have a new suit every time they switched Keys, this time they would slot it in the new Raidriser and instead gain armaments on their shoulders. So far, she'd tried missiles, micro rockets, a smart mortar, a grenade launcher, a gatling gun and a 20mm autocannon in various combinations. Some were linked to various keys, and they'd appear only when their specific key was activated.
Firing two shoulder-mounted gatlings along side her own three-in-one gatling in full auto had been… exhilarating. And her squad had loved messing around with the combinations too.
Did she already mention they could do all that while flying?
Ok, technically, it was more like rocket jumping, but it was still cool. Yinsen truly was starting to turn them into miniatures of his bigger robots.
And that sobered Himeko's mind a little. The fact that they were implementing how to triple the number of guns a single soldier could fire at once was kind of given a reason with the recent simulations her team went though. She knew that it was unlikely they would find themselves fighting those kind of things… but the fact remained the same, the moment they grew too confident on their stuff, Murphy would throw them a curveball hard.
Himeko finished disassembling her Tri-shot and set to reassembling it, along with her squad. The other scientists including Kevin's girlfriend were around being taught by two sergeants, given their different guns. She sniffed, it felt strange having 'superiors' doing drill along with the common grunts. Not that Yinsen ever told them they were, but almost a decade of service of habits don't vanish in a few months.
Speaking of the man himself, he came in dressed in the new armor he'd given them, the one that didn't come from the keys. His armor was black with orange details, and he was dragging an even bigger ILC is if it were a struggling dog instead of a twenty-something kilo gun. He set it on a table and looked at everyone, the two instructors turned nearby and saluted so my squad did the same, heck, even the science girls did it too. "As you were." We all dropped the salute, but he looked at everyone of us in the eyes with something strange going on behind them. "As you remember, a week ago we began our rearmament and regrouping efforts in earnest. So far, we have received communications of both Rapture and Helheim, that is, our Atlantic and Antarctic bases, confirming survivors. But seeing as their Geofronts were hit harder than ours, they will be coming here to collect tools and materials to bring them back online." He paused. "Bad news, is that will take too long, so don't be surprised at the influx of new faces until the next operation starts."
"So, we getting reinforced?" Takahashi Rentaro spoke up, in a move completely unlike himself. The mans was calm and collected until you put him behind a wheel. He had been banned from the motor pool for a reason.
"In a sense, yeah." Yinsen motioned towards the HMG in the table. "They've managed to rebuild some of the blueprint stored in their 'fronts, but a lot we had to cobble together, thank you girls by the way for that, but a lot we have to make ourselves."
"So, what with the bigger compensator in gun history in the table, sir?" Maya Ishimura, their designated marksman, eyed the gun. Even as cumbersome as it was, the thing was a pretty damn good sniper, for something that clearly wasn't trying to be one.
"Bigger? Oh, no, this is the original version the Rapture Geofront had in its storage. Damn thing is thought than a tank. See these marks? Looks like someone rigged it to blow with C4 and it only manage to wreck the scope." Yinsen pointed and yes, Himeko could see scorch marks all along the weapon.
Everyone looked at the thing with wonder, especially the blue haired girl among them, and then Yinsen pulled out another gun… this one even more ridiculous, but somewhat familiar.
"Is that a gatling… that splits into more gatlings?" Tyler asked incredulously. He'd seen the four-by-four version already, but having accepted it was as much of a laser weapon as it was crazy gun, this looked… a bit more real? If that made sense.
"Yup. Meet the Delta-12 Minigun… as if there is anything mini about this. 15mm nine-barreled minigun that can deploy into a three-by-three (Three three-barreled) set of fully functional miniguns… I've given up in trying to understand how the mechanics of this work, so as Naki or Yua if you're curious…" Yinsen put it on the table and picked the LIC once more. "I'm taking these for a spin. According to the data, this one was meant to fire a single hypervelocity round every second, provided this doesn't flatline your power supply or break your body with the recoil…" He trailed off as he eyed the thing. "Makes you wonder, what the hell the people who made it were thinking of fighting… or what drugs they were into…"
Himeko looked at the two impossible guns. And felt one of those urges she had whenever she saw something spicy or in a grill. "You need anyone for testing these guys, sir?" Himeko could barely hide her giddiness, she wanted to try those things out!
"Sure, anyone else wants to come?"
…
…
…
"I know it was an open invitation, but…" I muttered as saw Himeko whooping in joy as she let the Delta-12 rip the practice targets set in the range. Sure, she wouldn't gain any sniping accolades for how little she let go of the trigger the whole time. Kevin was testing the ARC (Armored Response Coalition) Heavy Cannon and finding satisfaction in the volleys of micro missiles it fired.
"You asked, for it, Dad." Ark had switched to her normal Izu-type body… well, the Azu variant. But she looked oddly at peace at the sight before us.
I looked at her and frowned. "You know, Ark? I still haven't gotten used to hearing that from you or Zea."
Her serene smile turned mischievous. "You don't like it?"
"It feels odd, but I don't dislike it." I admitted, and she leaned in and hugged me. I returned the affection a less obviously, but I saw her shiver for a bit.
"I still remember. Haven't we told you?" She began. And I knew something was wrong when her voice broke in a very human way. "It was terrifying. Seeing you stuck in a loop. A program locked out of any input or output. We feared you might begin to deconstruct yourself again in order to escape."
"Deconstruct?" I asked, and I tried to remember where I had heard the term before.
"Yes… you did that before, back when you were fighting the possessed Herrscher. We saw them."
Oh. "Oh, those were old thoughts, don't worry…" A gear that doesn't fit properly, straining the box every time it was used. I clutched my head as pain filled my body once I let my old thought process take hold. My pain redirected at the task before me. The other one flinched at my gaze. I bared my teeth as lounged and tried to take back that which was mine. Her hand held into my property as if was a shield that would protect her.
"No! No, they were not. Those were you. Your memories were restricted and used at parameters for a separate instance, but it was al you. Why? Why would you do that?"
"That's something I did whenever I needed to do something that I couldn't do now, but I was able to before. Sometimes it was before taking action, other times it was in the middle of it." My heart hammered in my chest, as I looked at the place, seeking the one that would help us. Identifying those that were less likely to be that person. I grabbed her hand as I pointed at a woman in an office suit who just sent someone away. The papers in my painting hand were barely kept safe as I resisted clutching my hand before taking off towards the secretary before someone took her time again. my mother clutched my hand as we raced across the office space. Mourning could wait.
"That is not healthy, dad." A new voice came from behind as someone hugged me from behind. I grabbed at her form, still clad in the MI Inner Suit, leaving nothing to the imagination about her form. Zea put her head in my shoulder and sighed. "You must understand. Unlike our parallel instances, yours were themselves. You became three completely different people yet remained yourself every single time. That is something only an AI should be able to do. And then to recover yourself without losing yourself to rampancy… is that the power of a human?" She pondered as she nuzzles into the crook of my neck, her effort feeling natural enough that if I didn't know, I would think that it was a common human doing this. Alas, I didn't have that frame of reference, so I could only imagine.
"And I tell you again girls, I was able to do that back when I was a normal human. Before coming here." I said as I remembered.
I screamed, I burned, "Water" I pleaded, as the others tried holding me. I trashed as the waves of emotion followed the heat inside my chest. Give me a heart of flesh, I had told HIM, like before, without thinking. The heat didn't stop even as I almost drowned myself in bottled water and the gushing tears from my eyes. But I didn't regret it. I laughed as I cried. The boy who wished to become a monster to survive… was human again…
The girls hugged me a bit tighter, and I allowed it to continue. I laughed at myself inside my mind. Even now, only machines can understand me…