Chapter 7: Having Fun With Science
Beast's Forest, Nagano.
"Okay! Running! Running while tied up. Running while tied up and being chased by a fucking psycho in a superhero's outfit. I've run from a lot of crazy shit recently, and every time it gets worse! Gonna be honest, I feel like this place is trying to one up Black Mesa in how fucking terrible it is." Gordon sprinted down the hallways of the Lodge. With the lights restored, he could navigate the halls easily, but that also meant Vlad King was likely right on his tail.
"But I mean, It could always be worse right? I could be on fire, shot, lost, lost and scared, lost and scared in the dark, electrocuted, stabbed, soaking up rads like I'm licking the Demon Core. Christ, I'm getting real fed up with the universe just cheating to try and kill me. It's bullshit, if the universe is listening, either play fair, or don't. Because if you really just wanted me dead, you could make the bonds between the molecules making my body spontaneously collapse and cause me to dissolve into a puddle of raw matter on the floor, but no, instead I keep getting the most ridiculous obstacles thrown in my way, like I'm on one of those weird Japanese game shows."
Gordon found himself standing in front of a door, looking through the window in it, he could faintly see inside the dark room on the other side. His weapons were set on the floor in an organized fashion. "Oh good, they're still here..." Gordon glared down at the door handle, then at his binds. "Right now would be a really good time to be Goro… Son of a bitch. I am going to maim that crackhead next time I see him. Fucking mummy bindings… Wrap me up like I'm in a straightjacket, why don't you? As if I'm crazy or something! I'm not crazy. I said I'm not crazy! Grraa-!"
As Gordon fought with the bindings, the building shook once more as another explosion came from outside, the lights once again flickered. He could hear footsteps nearby and bolted for a corner. "Damnit, I don't have time for this. My weapons are right there and the door is locked. This right here is a problem that could be solved if I was a Jedi. But I'm not. I suppose my midichlorian count is too low..." Gordon's tone was dismissive, he peeked around the corner again and proceeded onward into the halls, following signs that he couldn't even read, searching for an exit.
"I'd say I have high hopes for the third movie, but I'm going to be honest, I don't. That last one with the fucking… Clone Wars, or whatever was stupid as hell… It was so boring. How do you manage to make a movie about an army of cloned supersoldiers fighting against an army of killer robots boring? Whatever. It's not like I have much time these days to be prancing on into the evening matinee or whatever. I need that time for… well, clubbing. And drinking… and discerning quantum physics on a de Broglie based theorem, and I'm going to find irrefutable proof of the Higgs Boson; just like all the girls I dated in college it can't hide from me for long."
Gordon entered a sort of yard, the air was thick with steam and the ongoing firefight was more readily apparent too, though the Vanguard didn't appear to be peppering this side of the building as heavily. Gordon noticed a high wall surrounding a basin of water. "Hot spring! Well, that'd be fantastic If I wasn't under immense gunfire right now. I'll bet Alexander the Great got to relax in hot springs during combat. Though, I suppose the difference between me and him is that he didn't have to deal with automatic weaponry and artillery barrages. I suppose the Achaemenids would have enjoyed a much longer period of prosperity if they had Howitzers instead of catapults..."
Gordon realized that he was essentially walking towards a dead end and retreated back inside. "What was I thinking about? Clones? Yea, Clones. See, I can get behind human cloning. But only if it's me who's being cloned..." Gordon observed a nearby sign and began to make his way towards what he assumed to be the exit to the Lodge, still occasionally cringing whenever another warhead struck the building, "See, I don't want my clones to be perfect clones, smart, sure, but not too smart. Certainly not as smart as me. Now granted, several clones of me with the same intellect could probably get work done a hell of a lot faster but I'd also run the risk of one of them attempting to usurp me as the Prime Gordon. And I can't have that. And I know they'd do it too! Because if I was one of my clones? I'd definitely try to kill me and take my position."
Gordon located the exit of the lodge and quickly bolted out of the back door, finding himself standing at the back of the building. It was oddly quiet, save for the obvious sounds of fighting in the vicinity. "Another close call for our hero..." Gordon said to himself, before proceeding into the woods. "Alright, so now I just need to find a way to break these binds, get my stuff back, and I'll be one step closer to formulating my clone army. Yea, I don't want them to be too smart, so I think I'll have like… administrator Gordons, they'll oversee the worker and soldier Gordon's, but all of their orders come from me. And they'll be dumbed down for sure. Though I'll occasionally put them through loyalty tests every so often to ensure they won't rise against me… And occasional cullings to root out the least efficient and most deviant Gordons, keep them sharp and in line. Actually, if I could figure out how psychic powers work and create some kind of ant colony like hive mind with myself as the central node? That'd be perfect!"
Meanwhile, Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo, having heard Mandalay's message and the gunfire in the woods, were attempting to make their way back to the lodge with Kosei Tsuburaba in tow, fleeing from an unknown gas that had incapacitated their fellow schoolmate. Though finding their way in the chaos was to be a tall task indeed. Despite Bakugo's desire to stay and fight, Todoroki figured it would be safer to regroup with everyone else, much to his classmate's chagrin.
Their retreat was interrupted by the presence of a figure standing in the woods before them, blocking their path… He was wearing what resembled bindings, bound from head to toe, though very little else could be seen on his body, aside from his unsettling gaping mouth.
"Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki." Their attention was drawn to a feminine voice, belonging to a robotic woman standing behind the bound villain. From out of his shadow stepped Caroline, the sounds of hydraulics punctuating her steps.
"What the hell is that...?" Bakugo asked, looking at the tall, lithe android standing before them. "Must be one of the villains attacking us… I've seen plenty of quirks that incorporate machinery into their user's body, but never like this. It's like they're completely robotic." Todoroki muttered.
A sound akin to that of someone slowly clapping their hands emitted from 'Caroline's' speakers. "Excellent observation, It's good to see that the youth of the 23rd century haven't lost their intellect." Caroline said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "'What' I am is a first generation genetic lifeform and disk operating system. The thankfully 'only' one of my kind. And 'Who' I am is a very busy woman, though you may call me Caroline for the brief instant that information will be relevant to you. So. Let's get started, shall we?"
Portal 2 OST, Bombs for Throwing at You
Before Bakugo or Todoroki could react, the bound up villain, Moonfish, was lifted into the air by a strange bundle of metallic, almost trunk like stalks resembling knives that he projected from his mouth. Despite the speed and shock of the incoming attack, Todoroki managed to quickly block the barrage of dental blades with an ice shield.
Caroline raised her left arm, unfolding a pair of gun barrels and a blazing red laser sight and opened fire on the ice wall. Bullets, literally entire bullets, casing and all, pinged off of the hard, icy barrier. Damn money saving "resource utility maximization" tactics… There was a good reason you didn't fire the entire bullet!
Moonfish, using his blade-teeth, moved towards the barrier and started to wail against it with strike after strike, chipping away at the ice, with Todoroki just barely able to replace each broken piece. Meanwhile, Caroline's right arm fired an orange ball of energy into the ground, producing a glowing oval shape below her. She carefully aimed at a tree right next to Bakugo and fired another ball of energy, this one blue.
And taking the two students completely off guard, Caroline had vanished. Though only for a split second, as she quickly reappeared behind them and grabbed Bakugo by his shirt collar. "What the hell?!" Bakugo flailed in the air, having been lifted up by the machine.
"How the fuck did she do that!?" Bukago asked himself as he struggled against her grip, "It's like she… Teleported. She teleported!"
Everything was happening so fast, the absolute chaos of combat. Caroline's left arm changed shape, as she was about to strike Bakugo with a cattle prod looking device that was sparking with electricity. How much of that was volts, and how much was amps, he didn't want to find out. Before she could stick him with it however, Bakugo pointed both of his hands behind himself and produced a powerful explosion, all while lurching his feet back and kicking against Caroline's chest, the boy was launched forward, out of her grasp. Though the explosion did very little damage against Caroline's plasteel frame. Regaining her footing, she smugly addressed her combatants again, "If nothing else, this is serving as an ideal field test for the perfected Handheld Portal Device, your contribution to science is appreciated."
Todoroki glowered at Bakugo, still trying to fend off Moonfish's advance. "You need to control your Quirk, Bakugo. You're going to wind up setting the woods on fire..." Bakugo growled at his classmate's bitching, he was worried about the forest? What about them? Was this really the right time for a lecture? "Yea, Yea, I know! Quit your whining!"
Now surrounded on both sides. Bakugo and Todoroki found themselves standing back to back, well, Bakugo's back to Tsuburaba's anyways… Caroline glanced back at Moonfish, she would have smirked had she the means to physically do so. Quickly firing another set of portals, the first one was angled behind Todoroki, and the other near Moonfish. Without a single word being necessary, her unspoken command was received. Moonfish launched one of his blades into the portal. "Get down, damnit!" Bakugo quickly grabbed Todoroki and heaved the both of them out of the way of the oncoming blade; Bakugo damn near finding himself skewered on it for his troubles.
"We need 'Bakugo' alive you… moron..." Caroline shouted towards Moonfish, almost finding herself a bit hesitant to use the word 'moron.' Moonfish didn't really respond, beyond some incomprehensible muttering about flesh, and the goal at hand. Caroline could only roll her optic. "Why must I constantly be saddled with verbally challenged lunatics...?" She lamented to herself, before firing another portal down at Bakugo's feet.
He stared down at it with a wide smirk; not this time. Caroline, without noticing this, fired the other down at her own feet. Bakugo quickly blasted down into the portal, sending both himself and Caroline flying upwards, above the treeline. Caroline, stunned by the blast, used a set of jets on her body to reorient herself in flight. A pair of curved stilt like pads extending where her heels should have been.
"Forget about your stupid caution, Todoroki! If I light the trees on fire just use your ice to put them out!" Bakugo shouted, attempting to control himself in the air with quick, concentrated blasts. Caroline, meanwhile, landed on the forest floor with a loud "tink!" The stilts on her heels cushioning her fall. The integrated long fall boots did their job admirably.
She looked up to see Bakugo plummeting towards the ground, and then turned her gaze over towards Todoroki, that invisible smirk still on her almost featureless face. She proceeded to fire a portal onto a tree, again right next to where Todoroki was barely fending off Moonfish's unrelenting assault. They were in a stalemate, but only as long as Todoroki could focus solely on him.
Bakugo's attempts to land safely weren't going as smoothly as Caroline's had, and to make matters worse, as he came in for his landing, she fired a portal right below him once more. Just barely making out the shape of Todoroki on the other side, the blonde haired, fiery student couldn't stop himself from falling through and slamming right into Shoto's side, sending both boys tumbling to the forest floor.
Caroline rushed the both of them, redeploying her stun baton. Just before she could strike Bakugo, Todoroki managed to freeze her arm. It hardly slowed her down, but it provided the mere split second delay Bakugo needed to launch forward with a counterattack that sent Caroline flying into a nearby tree, her heavily armored frame creating a large dent in the thick wood. She shakily pulled herself out, some parts of her body began to spark, alongside the yellow optic that composed her eye began to flash on and off.
Bakugo took a moment to wipe his mouth off to check for blood, before spitting onto the ground. "What's the matter, you running low on batteries, clanker?" Todoroki had barely managed to refresh his shield against Moonfish, who had taken advantage of their temporary collision, several blades slipping through the wall to stab at the ground around them.
"Clanker?" Todoroki mumbled to himself. Before anyone could make the next move, a loud, groaning sound came from the treeline, something was approaching, something big was approaching fast! Out of the treeline burst forth a pitch black monster. Dark Shadow, the manifestation of the Quirk of their classmate, Fumikage Tokoyami, was destroying trees left and right, completely and utterly out of the control of its wielder, unleashing an ungodly roar that echoed through the night! Neither Todoroki or Bakugo had any clue what had happened to cause this, they just hoped it meant more trouble for their adversaries than them!
Another pair of their classmates, Izuku Midoriya and Mezo Shoji, had emerged from the treeline just before Dark Shadow, the two of them having herded it towards the fight. Moonfish was the first to attempt to strike at the rampaging Quirk with his metal teeth, only to be backhanded to the floor.
Caroline knew a shitshow when she saw one, this wasn't the time for restraint. Quietly, a portion of her shoulder unfurled to reveal the barrel of a rocket launcher, she carefully aimed for Dark Shadow, more specifically, Tokoyami, who was embedded in Dark Shadow's chest, hell bent on finishing both him and this damn distraction off.
Moonfish though, having gained a second wind, attempted to strike once more at Dark Shadow first, only for him to be grabbed by the creature, then slammed over and over into the nearby trees, so much that his teeth were left broken and jagged in his mouth, before finally being cast aside into the forest nearby.
Caroline lowered her weapon, realizing that the tide had absolutely turned against her. Though the students seemed to be more interested in subduing Dark Shadow rather than her. Taking advantage of the chaos, she quickly and silently slipped away into the brush, and by the time the students had realized she left, she was long gone.
Back at the front of the Lodge, Aizawa and Dabi still found themselves under a hail of gunfire from the rapidly approaching Vanguard forces in the trees. With very few other options, the two had an unspoken truce. Mostly due to the fact that neither could really fight the other without getting split in half by the storm of lead present, and there was no sense in handing themselves over to their mutual enemy on a silver platter.
Dabi began to launch streams of Blueflame into the nearby trees, the typical result of each stream being a member of the Vanguard running out of the treeline, screaming bloody murder, having burst into flames, though most had very little time before simply collapsing into ash or charred remains. It was brutal, and Aizawa didn't like it one bit, but he could hardly put up any protest… The Vanguard allowed a small squad, including Owl to approach the front, leading the charge was a man entirely encased in a jury rigged metal suit with a massive gas tank attached to his back, he bore a metal mask with a small viewport, staring daggers at both Quirk users before him.
Floored by such a… bombastic entrance. Dabi could merely mutter, "What the fuck is with this guy?" A wall of burning fuel exploded forth and nearly ignited both Dabi and Aizawa as they leapt out of the way, though now the front of the lodge had gone from a warzone, to a warzone that was on fire. Dabi had at least kept his bursts controlled. One Vanguard member circled around his flamethrowing compatriot and began to lay down fire against Aizawa, who had no choice but to flee back into cover again. Dabi on the other hand was busy returning fire, literally, against the oncoming firebug. His Blueflame clashing with the red hot, napalm laced flames coming from the Vanguard's heavily modified M1. "You feeling warm yet?!" The Vanguard member called in a deep, metallic voice from beyond the roaring wall of flames. Dabi retorted, "Hardly. I'll show you why fighting fire with fire is a bad plan when you're dealing with me."
From the left flank, Aizawa spotted a pair of glowing, yellow eyes off in the distance, and had barely reacted fast enough to dodge as Owl leapt out of the trees and started firing off shot after shot of laser bolts at him. It was rather ironic considering the name of the 'Eraser' DMR, and whom she was fighting. But that irony was lost on both parties it seemed.
Aizawa quickly managed to rip the DMR out of Owl's hands with his capture weapon. She leapt forward and attempted to strike him with a left hook, he dodged to the right and delivered a swift knee to her stomach before attempting to ensnare her. She quickly recovered from the blow and unfurled her gauss pistol. Unloading several magnetic slugs his way, one managing to strike Aizawa in his left shoulder.
Despite the searing pain and blood shooting from his shoulder, Aizawa quickly used his free arm to ensnare Owl's wrists, before yanking her towards him and delivering a clothesline that put Owl into a daze on the ground. Gripping his bleeding shoulder, Aizawa turned his attention to the remaining Vanguard members battling Dabi. He had managed to break through the napalm stream being fired towards him and lit the flame trooper on fire, despite his metal clothing, he still burst into a bright, blue flame. "Agh! Aghh! Aghhhh! AGHHHHHHH!" The trooper screamed from within his armor, trying to put the flames out, his teammate ditched for the woods, sounds of pressurized gas began to hiss out from the man's armor. Aizawa's eyes widened, before quickly grabbing Owl from the ground and hauling ass away from the flaming man. Whom, with a loud, hissing sound, erupted into an explosion of both Blueflame, and napalm laced fire that engulfed the front of the Lodge in an inferno, setting the building ablaze. Aizawa could merely watch on in horror. Owl, despite Aizawa having saved her from a fiery death, regained enough constitution to elbow him in the face, before stumbling off into the brush. Aizawa, meanwhile, managed to catch a glimpse of Dabi's body melting away in the fire, not in the way one would think, no, there was no gore to it. He melted as If he were made of soft serve. So if that wasn't Dabi then...what was that then? Glancing off to where Owl had made her escape, Aizawa's eyebrows furrowed, before he dashed into the now burning Lodge to link back up with Vlad and the rest of the students...
"Yknow...I feel like In some other life I have...I think I'd be a cop." Gordon mused to himself, before hearing a large explosion behind him, the forest lit up by the ensuing fireball. "Jesus...Are they dropping napalm...? Whatever, that sounds like a 'them' problem and not a 'me' problem. They can deal with 3rd degree burns at their leisure. Anyways...yea, I feel like I'd be a cop in some other life. Not because I want to be...well, actually I do kind of want to be a cop. But a specific kind of cop..." Gordon continued his way into the Beast's Forest, constantly glancing around to make sure he wasn't being followed, the moonlit beams reflecting the stars that were seemingly guiding him towards salvation. "Now, I know that MegaCity One isn't exactly paradise...but honestly, I think I could be a Judge. It'd be badass to have something like the Lawbringer. A gun that just does EVERYTHING for you. I don't really know how the ammunition could work, I guess...well, I mean, with the teleporters we were developing, we could always just have like...microscopic portals that just feed into the gun itself and then I guess." Gordon approached a nearby tree and attempted to use the bark to break his binds, to no avail. "Goddamnit. What the fuck is this shit made out of? This like...heavy duty toilet paper or something, anyways. I think you could have microscopic portals and then have like goblins or something that feed the ammunition in when you hit the button. You can set up a reward system if they load the right ammo. Eh...I dunno about that. It'd take ages to train a micro-goblin to load ammo. And I have no clue how small we can make those portals- anyways...so..." Gordon's attention was brought to the sight of Raymond standing in a nearby clearing, eating the body of Kai, his blood having been spilt everywhere. "Oh...you have got to be kidding they're in Japan too? Did the US Army capture the Facehuggers and are using them for practice?! For fuck's sake...I never asked for this! I didn't want the US Army to literally become Weyland and Yutani! Ughhh...fine. Ill play ball." Gordon stepped out into the open, he could hear Raymond sobbing to himself, before he turned around to look at Gordon. "Alright, so this is a magic trick, I am going to need an assistant, and you seem to be the only willing participant so get over here." Raymond panted, before gurgling out some kind of cry for help before shambling over towards Gordon, "Now watch, as the amazing Gordini flawlessly breaks free from his binds in seconds!" Gordon allowed Raymond to take a swing at him, before stepping back a bit, he missed. "No! Damnit! You're supposed to hit me! Sorry, sorry! My assistant's new! He doesn't know any better..." Gordon said to an audience that wasnt there, Raymond mostly responded by just clutching at his face and moaning in pain. "One more time..." Gordon inched closer to Raymond, another strike, and successfully, Raymond's claws sheared through the capture weapon's binds, freeing him.
"Ta-da! Thank you, thank you! You're all too kind!" Gordon quickly bowed to absolutely no one, before backing away from Raymond. "And as for you. You could have done better, but that was your first act so, I wont hold it against you." Before Gordon could walk off, he noticed Kai's rifle lying on the ground "Gun." Gordon said to himself, quickly approaching to take it off of Kai's body. He realized it was an M14. "Old. Old gun, fuck." Gordon quickly removed the gun out of Kai's stiffening fingers before checking to make sure it was still loaded. "7.62mm...full metal jacket...I think, I dunno..." Gordon cycled a round, in his haste accidentally ejecting an unspent round. "Okay, numbnuts. We gotta talk. You've been a great assistant, but I think I'm moving on from showbusiness. Consider this your resignation." Gordon approached Raymond, before unloading a few shots into his body, he slumped to the ground in a pile of blood and yellow fluids. "Good to see that you see it my way. Good luck in your future endeavors then..." Gordon reloaded another magazine, before leaving the scene...unknowing to the fact that he had merely wounded Raymond, rather than killing him. Along the way through his trek in the woods, he spotted two figures walking along the dirt path. He quickly raised his weapon.
"I don't have enough ammo for this shit...Maybe these guys can give me some..." He rushed forward, only to see NOT a pair of soldiers walking in the woods. But more students out in the woods. Ochako Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui to be exact. Both frozen in fear, knowing EXACTLY who was standing before them. Lambda. Gordon quickly lowered his weapon. "Oh...uh...hi." Gordon awkwardly waved towards the two, neither of them responded, but Tsuyu quickly moved herself to block Ochako. She said something in Japanese that Gordon didn't really understand, but figured it probably wasn't a friendly greeting. "Woah, woah. I'm cool, I'm cool, Not hostile..." Gordon waved his hand disarmingly...still cradling the M14 in his other hand, alongside the smattering of blood on his clothes. Tsuyu continued saying something, and considering her tone, It didn't sound very nice at all, only punctuated by the fact that Gordon could see Tsuyu's frog-like tongue starting to lash out from her mouth. "Ogh...God, that is fucking disgusting...Why does she have that...?" Gordon mumbled, before realizing he wasn't going to talk his way out of this. Gordon just raised his arms in the air. "Yea! Yea! I'm going! I'm going! Look! I've got my hands up, nothing bad...just...shuffling my way out of here..." Gordon carefully shuffled towards the treeline, keeping away from the supposed battle line Tsuyu drew in the sand, before he could flee, he noticed a dark figure standing behind them, a glint of a knife shimmered in the moonlight. Gordon quickly drew his rifle. "Ninja!" A shot cracked off. Tsuyu quickly wrapped her tongue around Uraraka's torso like a lasso and dragged her out of danger. The figure, all the same managed to dodge out of the way of Gordon's quick, flimsy shot. A standoff ensued...with the figure stepping forth to reveal themselves as Toga, eyeing up everyone present, Uraraka and Tsuyu in particular...
To be continued