*This is ported by Wattpad, feel free to come by as I've focused on making stories there rather here.*
Location: Boreas - Military Base
Time: 1640
The warship has landed in the military base on Boreas, the neighborhood city of Atlas.
"Careful. I'll see you soon." Fenix spoke out, as Weiss walks down. As she departs from the ship, she meets Jay and Klein, with both of them being relieved.
Weiss smiled, "So, do you miss me?" She asked.
Jay chuckled, "Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." He said.
"Well..." Weiss slightly giggled, "Vacation is over." Jay nodded as they walk along with Fenix to the limousine.
Klein speaks, "Where to, Miss Schnee?" He asked.
"Please take us hospital in Atlas, Klein." Jay requested.
"That won't be necessary." Weiss immediately spoke off.
"What do you mean Weiss? You have to go to the hospital." Jay is concerned by her words.
"I said no." Weiss' tone turned stern.
"Weiss, you have gone missing for three months. The doctor has to take look at you." Jay tries to explain.
"And know that." Weiss replied, "But I don't have to do anything. But there are two things I want to do. I want a cheeseburger and the other..."
"A cheeseburger?" Jay is confused by that, knowing that Weiss never goes for that type of food.
"And I want you to call a press conference." Weiss added.
"A press? For what?" Jay asked.
"I'll tell you when we get there." Weiss assured, "Klein, please drive, I heard Boreas has a fast-food restaurant nearby." She walks to the limo with Klein and Jay being confused.
Location: Atlas - Schnee Industries Headquarters
Time: 1630
The same limo has arrived outside of the HQ, where many of the employers are here waiting to hear a press from the return of Weiss Schnee.
Lilith walks up as Klein opens the door Weiss appears, and many people cheer for her return.
"Ah, dear Weiss! How glad you have returned!" Lilith gleams. "I thought you were going to the hospital?" She asked, then she noticed her holding a leftover wrap from a cheeseburger. "You bought a cheeseburger?"
"I was hungry." Weiss simply responded. "And second of all, I'm fine."
"You do know we have the greatest chefs in service with us?" Lilith wondered about her choice.
"I made this choice." Weiss stated.
Lilith was a bit backed by her response, "Well, everyone is waiting!" She smiled and gestured the way as they enter the building with many more employees inside clapping as the camera flashed.
Meanwhile, Jay and Klein followed inside. As Jay joins the applause, a man with short brown hair and teal-green eyes walks up.
"Mr. Friedrich?" The man asked.
Jay turns to him, "Yes." He confirmed.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked.
"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." Jay gestured to the press conference.
"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Clover Ebi, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division." He introduced himself with a handshake
Jay takes it, "That's quite a mouthful." He admits.
"I know. We're working on it." Lucas replied.
"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." Jay informed.
"We're a separate division with a more specific focus." Clover explained, "We need to debrief Miss Schnee about the circumstances of her escape."
Jay thought about this, then decides, "...I'll put something in the book, shall I?" He asked.
"Thank you." Clover nodded as he walks off. Jay remains watching the press where Lilith is at the stage as she calms the audience.
"Alright everyone, settle down..." Lilith spoke off, "Weiss, care to speak?..." She wondered.
Weiss walks up to the stage, she stares at the audience, "Thank you for being here..."
Fenix who is also here, is confused by this, "What is this about?" He asked Jay.
"Don't ask me, she still didn't explain about this." Jay responded.
Weiss continues on, "You know, I never say goodbye to my family. Never said to my Mom, never to my Sister, my Brother, and especially my Father." She had a tone lower when mention her father. Jay, Klein, and Fenix understand this.
"I always have questions, questions I would ask my Mom..." Weiss explains, "I would have asked her how she felt about what this company did. If she was conflicted, if she ever had doubts. Or maybe she was every inch the person we all remember from the newsreels."
Then silence occurs from the people, Weiss sighed and speak on, "I saw young people killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."
"What do you mean?" Someone spoke up as chatter goes on, Jay, Klein, and Fenix are confused by this. Lilith was also confused.
"Miss Schnee?" The reporter asked, "What do you need to tell us?"
"I had my eyes opened." Weiss stated. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." Then she paused before revealing her intentions. "And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Schnee International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."
With a statement from herself, the crowd roared into a frenzy, and a commotion started. Jay, Klein, and Fenix have expressions of shock about Weiss' statement.
Lilith tries to smile, trying to settle down, standing up beside Weiss. "I think this day has gone through a whole new level..." She assured. "Now, Weiss is taking an odd direction..."
"A direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this kingdom, as well." Weiss stated then she leaves the stage, as the commotion still going on.
Lilith tries to assure the crowd again, "What we should take away from this is that Weiss is back! And she's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up." She spoke up.
Outside of the HQ, Klein is waiting in the limo in front of one of the buildings. Lilith is furious as she sees Klein, "Where is she?" She demanded.
"She's inside." Klein pointed to the building, which Lilith enters inside. She then sees Weiss staring at a large energy reactor.
"What in the brother gods, you were doing?" She questioned her.
"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" Weiss asked.
"Your head?!" Lilith exclaimed, "It's on mine, and everyone else your company worked for. What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"
"Optimistically, 40 points." Weiss estimates the reduction.
"At the minimum." Lilith added. Weiss says nothing as she sighed, "Weiss, we're weapons manufacturers."
"Lilith, please, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." Weiss replied.
"That's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons. that's it." Lilith stated.
"It's my name on the side of the building." Weiss refuted.
"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Lilith explained.
"Not what I saw." Weiss shook her head, "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else." She decides on a new change.
"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Lilith questioned.
Weiss thinks, then sees the large reactor, "...I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." She suggested.
"The arc reactor? That's a publicity stunt!" Lilith retorted, "Weiss, we built that thing to shut the hippies up."
"Yet it works." Weiss added.
"As a science project. The arc was never cost-effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?" Lilith questioned.
"...Maybe." Weiss admits.
This perked Lilith up, "So I'm right?" She sighed and downcast, before looking up to Weiss, "We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years." She assumed.
"That's what they say..." Weiss replied, "So... Who told you?" She asked, seeing how she appeared.
"Never mind who told me. Show me." Lilith requested to see the arc reactor on her chest.
"It's Fenix, Klein, or Jay." Weiss replied.
"Just show me." Lilith demanded. Weiss sighs, as she lowers her shirt to show the arc reactor on her chest, Lilith takes a look and nods, "Okay."
"It works." Weiss recalled.
"Okay..." Lilith admits, "We're a team, Weiss. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your mother and I." She comforts her.
Weiss apologises, "I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had..." She tries to explain.
"Weiss." Lilith assured her, "This is the change you wanted. No more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business. You understand me?" She asked.
"That was father's way of business." Weiss remarked.
Lilith assured, "Look, you gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low." She advised.
Location: Atlas - Schnee Manor
Time: 1530
Later and on, Jay watches the TV, the news occurs, and he is not happy about what he saw.
"Schnee Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Let me show you the new Schnee Industries business plan! Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!" The newscaster exclaimed as random cartoony effects appear all over the screen as well showing the Schnee Industries, and Weiss herself.
Jay sighed at what this is now, just then an intercom called to him, "Jay. I need you to come down." Weiss called.
This confused him as he heads down to the workshop.
He arrives at the workshop, where he saw Weiss, lying on the chair, with medical equipment as she is not wearing a shirt, only revealing her bra. This confused him, "What is this?" He asked.
"Can you show me your hands?" Weiss requested.
"What?" Jay exclaimed.
"Show me your hands." Weiss repeated.
He sighed as he shows his hands. She inspects them, "Yep, they're perfect." She confirmed, "I need your help with this." She pointed to the arc reactor in her chest.
Jay watches the reactor with shock, "That's the thing that's keeping you alive?" He asked.
"It was. Now it's an antique." Weiss reveals another reactor in her hand. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit."
"So, what do you what me to do?" Jay asked.
Weiss then takes out the old arc reactor and hands it to Jay, "There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short." Jay is still surprised to see he's holding the very thing that kept her alive for months.
"It's fine, Jay." Weiss assured. "Just put that on the table over there." She pointed out the table.
"My goodness..." Jay muttered as he does so.
"Okay, I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out." Weiss instructed.
Jay is perplexed, "Are you sure, you're gonna be okay? I don't wanna do anything bad, when... Touching you..." He worried.
"It's gonna be fine, I trust you, Jay. I really need your help here." Weiss smiled, "Just gently remove the wire and don't let it touch the socket wall."
"Okay..." Jay nodded as he slowly puts his hand down through the hole in Weiss' chest, then he feels something slimy, "Oh... Am I touching pus!?" He exclaimed in disgust.
"It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body." Weiss informed him.
Jay slightly reels back, "And it smells!" He said.
"It's supposed to smell." Weiss replied, "Now do you see the copper wire?" She asked.
"I got it!" Jay confirmed.
"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch- OWW!" Then Jay caused something to hurt Weiss which panicked him, "...The sides when you're coming out!" She grunted.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Jay apologised.
Weiss scoffed, "It's fine... Now make sure that when you pull it out, that you don't..." She tries to instruct but Jay pulls out the wire with the magnet attached and the medical equipment starts beeping. "And.. That's the magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out."
"What!?" Jay exclaimed.
"Okay, I was not expecting..." Weiss speaks in slight discomfort.
"Expecting what?!" Jay questioned, "What do I do? Put this back?" As he lowers the magnet.
"No don't! It's too late." Weiss raised her tone, which he stopped.
"What's wrong?" Jay asked as Weiss is slightly and frantically breathing.
"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest..." Weiss responds.
"What?! I thought you said this would be fine!?" Jay yelled in panic.
"We gotta hurry." Weiss gives out the new arc reactor, "Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick." She explained.
"Okay... Okay, I got this. I got this." Jay replied as he assures himself before inserting the new arc reactor.
"Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you..." And that Jay attached it, which caused her to yell which frighten him then Weiss takes a breath of relief, then stares at Jay, "You've done it." She stated.
"Are you okay?" Jay asked.
"Yeah, never better now." Weiss replied as she gets up, taking the medical wires off of her, as she takes a shirt to dress up.
"Weiss?" Jay asked as she turns to him seeing his hands are covered with goo, "Please don't ever ask me to do this again." He pleaded.
Weiss smiled, "No promises." Then she was about to walk off, with Jay holding out the old arc reactor.
"What to do with this?" He asked.
"Destroy it. Incinerate it." Weiss simply replied.
"You don't want to keep it?" Jay wondered.
"Jay, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them." Weiss speaks about herself.
Jay nodded, "Will that be all, Miss Schnee?" He asked.
"That will be all, Mr. Freidrich." Weiss nodded back. She walks off and then noticed a robot arm, "Hey!" She exclaimed, "What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my scroll, and my picture of me and my mom!" She chastised the robot arm who looks down.
Jay smirked at Weiss as rants on the robot, "Clean that stuff. All that stuff. Right now." She continues on.
Location: Atlas - Atlas Air Base
Time: 1600
Weiss is walking towards the base, where she sees Fenix guiding a group of people through the hanger.
"The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned? I'll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgment." Fenix informs about air combat as the men watches, and he smiles.
"I see you're talking about manned or unmanned, Mr. Atar." Weiss spoke out, making Fenix turn to see her. "It's good to see you again."
Fenix turns to the group, "Give us a couple of minutes, you guys." The group complied and walks off, he turns back to Weiss, "I'm surprised." He admits.
"Why?" Weiss asked.
"Well, usually I come to you, not the opposite." Fenix recalled.
"I've changed." Weiss replied.
"Right." Fenix nodded, "After that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy." He mentioned the press, "People including the Atlas Military aren't happy."
"Jay told me about the news." Weiss notified, "I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it."
"Not weapons?" Fenix asked.
"This is not for the military. It's different." Weiss explained.
"What? You're a humanitarian now or something?" Fenix questioned.
"I need you to listen to me." Weiss tries to convince him.
"No." Fenix shook his head, "What you need is time to get your mind right. I'm serious."
"...Okay." Weiss responded.
"Okay." Fenix nodded, then a moment he sighed before giving a smile, "It's still nice seeing you, Weiss." He said before walking off to the group.
"Yeah, thanks." Weiss replied. Knowing that she won't receive help from the airforce, she decides to take this into her own hands...
Location: Atlas - Schnee Manor
Time: 1700
Weiss is back at the workshop, as she is working on her computer and a hologram table.
"JARVIS, you up?" Weiss calls out.
"For you, ma'am, always." JARVIS respond.
"I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two." Weiss requested.
"Shall I store this on the Schnee Industries Central Database?" Jarvis asked.
"...Actually, till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?" Weiss suggests, knowing she doesn't trust anyone publicly about this.
"Working on a secret project, are we, Miss Schnee?" JARVIS assumed.
" I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good." Weiss stated as the first work is about to begin...
Location: Vacuo - Unknown
Time: 1700
Somewhere on the sandy dunes, men wander around, until one of them walked up the leftover suit made by Weiss from her escape, it was revealed to be the same man. He survived the explosion, but his side of the face is burned off.
He evilly smiled at the sight of the suit.
Location: Atlas - Schnee Manor
Time: 1730
Weiss proceeds to work on the Mark II, first up is the boot, she and the other robot arm helps her work.
"Next. Up. Not in the boot." She instructed the bot, "Right here. Stay put. " But the robot is slightly failing which irritates her, "You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this." The robot whirred, "How am I in the way? Up." But she gave up, "Screw it. Don't even move. You are a tragedy." She retorts to the arm which is downcast.
Then, later on, she is wearing the boots, with one of the bots filming it while the other is holding a fire extinguisher.
"Start mark, half a meter, and back and center." Weiss instructed, then she turns to the bot holding the extinguisher. "Dummy, stay focused. You're on standby for fire safety." The arm bot perked by the name.
"Don't like it?" Weiss questioned the robot arm, "That's your name now, stick with it." She pointed to another bot, "You Butterfingers, roll the camera." The second bot did so.
"Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. 10% thrust capacity." Weiss readies herself. "Preparing to lift in three, two, one."
Just as she activates it, she gets immediately flings back and hits the upper wall, and fell down. Dummy then proceeds to use the fire extinguisher on her.
Later on, she works on flight stabilisation, she then decides to create holographic hand and arm flight stabilisers, seeing a better design choice, and she works straight on it.
Jay walks down, as he comes in with a wrapped box and a cup of something. "Up two. All right, set that." Weiss is now working on her first hand and arm flight stabiliser.
"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?"Jay speaks out.
Weiss noticed, "What?" She asked.
Jay replied, "Lilith is upstairs."
"Of course, tell her I'll be right up." Weiss replied as she lifts the flight stabiliser that is wrapped on her arm.
Jay took notice of this. "I thought you said you were done making weapons." He said.
"I am." Weiss replied, "This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." Then a blast of energy shoot out, causing her to fling backward with Jay looking surprised by that.
Weiss walks up to see Lilith sitting on her couch in the living area. "How did it go?" She asked.
"It could've gone better if you were here." Lilith said, looking a bit annoyed.
"But you told me to lay low." Weiss replied.
"In public. The press, Weiss." She gets up and places her hand on her shoulder, "This was a board of directors meeting."
"This was a board of directors meeting?" Weiss questioned.
"The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction." Lilith explained.
"What?" Weiss is surprised to hear this as Jay appears to hear this.
"They want to lock you out." Lilith added.
"Why? Because our stocks dipped 40 points, the very thing we knew that was gonna happen." Weiss questioned.
"It's actually Fifty-six and a half." Jay remarked.
"It doesn't matter." Weiss responded. "We own the controlling interest in the company."
"Weiss, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction aren't in the company's best interest." Lilith explained.
"Well, I have been more responsible!" Weiss is frustrated, "That's a new direction for me, for the company. I mean, I on the company's behalf am responsible for the way that..." She sighed in anger and walks off. "I'll be in the shop."
"Come on, Weiss..." Lilith follows her, "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs." She advises.
"No, absolutely not. Forget it." Weiss refused. Jay watches as Lilith looks even more annoyed.
"Can I at least come down there and see what you're doing?" Lilith requested.
"Good night, Lilith." Weiss ignores her request as she goes back to her workshop, continuing her suit.
Chapter 3 Completed
...Commencing Next Chapter...