It's the year 2571, June 6th. At a large building, there is a sign in the front that says 'BlackWatch 2nd Corps Building'. In a large open room, several groups of people are talking on the sides and at tables. One of the groups in particular is one of the more special kinds of one, instead of the normal soldier-est like uniforms and training. They were rather picked individually and had set skills. For this squad to see if it was possible to set a squad rather than "randomly" place them somewhere.
The group is sitting at a table with full military backpacks next to them waiting for something or someone,
"How long is Major going to take?" groaned a harsh young women with black hair and a red streak in the front
"Well he does take a while," says a polite young woman with short bright green hair, "although some of you guys seem to not mind the peace,"
"Well I'm bored, I wanna do something for crying out loud," said a lively young man with lean muscles and short, spiky pink hair
"I'm feeling kinda hungry, how about you guys?" asked a mature young woman with long black hair
"Yeah I'm feeling kinda hungry, but not for a big meal though," said a shy young woman with long golden hair
Then suddenly, "Zulu 5! Get over here," someone roared within the room. The group of 5 jumped out of their seats, picked up their bags and followed the voice. The voice leads to a tall, lean, scarred middle-aged man with dark gray hair wearing a full bodysuit donning both metal and kevlar armor with a full helmet with a black visor on his belt, standing near a desk with a robot behind it.
"I found the contract, let's go," said the man
"Yes sir," said the group in unison
The group then left the room with some of the occupants confused about what happened.
As they are walking down a hallway one of them strikes up a question,
"Major, if I may ask," said the young woman with long black hair, "What's the contract?"
"Collect and extract, in and out," said the man
"Who's the contractor?" asked the light green hair girl
"One of our own, in R ,"
"Where is the location?"
"West Virginia, 2101,"
"So not from our time then," the light green hair girl replied
As they kept walking down the hallway, the man then slowed and stopped at a door promptly named 'Research and Development'.
The man opened the door to see a giant lab, with many objects that include various types of microscopes, vacuum chambers of different sizes, and many other things related to science. In the back of the room there is a scientist in the back wearing a blue lab coat with safety goggles on, working on something.
"Dr. Orion sir," said the tall man. The scientist surprised by the sudden voice, looked behind him,
"Ah, Jacob good to see you again, I didn't hear you come in," He then looks behind Jacob, "I see you have brought the entire squad with you, excellent,"
Jacob nodded, "We're here for the contract,"
"Ah yes of course, but would you like to introduce me to you new teammates?" asked Dr. Orion
"We don't have time for that," said Jacob
"Of course we do, the contract can wait a bit, and I want to know who my contract-tees are," Dr. Orion pushed
Jacob grunted at his response then sighed, "Line up,"
Then Jacob's team lined up side by side by height, arms to their side.
"Going left to right, Private First class Natsu Dragneel,"
Natsu is a the second tallest right behind Jacob, he is a muscular and toned young man with short pink hair,
"Good to meet you sir," Natsu said proudly, "A fire wizard, and now mercenary,"
"Next we have, Private First class grade three Jung E-Young," said Jacob
Jung E-Young is a tall but slightly shorter than Natsu, fit and slender young women with long black hair that reaches down to her back,
"Good to meet you sir," said E-Young
"Next to her is, Private First class Ryuko Matoi," said Jacob
Ryuko is a young woman with an average height and has black hair with a large piece of hair red in the front,
"Good to meet ya" Ryuko replied back
"And next to Ryuko is Mira Yurizaki," said Jacob repeating his line
"Good to meet you, mister Orion. My name is Mira Yurizaki. It is a pleasure to work with you." Mira says politely
"And lastly Alice," said Jacob
Alice is a short petite young girl with long blonde hair,
"Oh! M-my name is Alice, pleasure to meet you," she says surprised
"Good to meet you all," greeted Dr. Orion, "now then to the contract,"
The contract was to infiltrate a building and grab files of importance then exfil. But another thing was that what they were going to go was highly infested with hostiles so it wasn't going to be an easier run for them than most of them thought.
"So Doctor Orion sir, how are we going to get there?" asked Mira
"How you guys are going to get there is by this," Dr. Orion then pulls out a several small devices, "These are still prototypes, but they do work,"
When Dr. Orion said that most of the group was suspicious and exchanged wary gazes at each other. Although Jacob was used to these types of things.
"I understand these are quite new to some of you guys, especially to Natsu and Alice. But I can assure you guys that these are relatively safe," said Doctor Orion
"That's, assuring," Ryuko says ironically
"No need to worry to much, It will be smooth sailing, just like riding a calm sea,"
"But I have a question," Mira, who was from a world of technology, asked, "How does it work?"
Doctor Orion then smiled and began to explain,
"Now how these small little devices work is by using very advanced teleportation that utilizes slip-space technology that can transport you from point A to point B, very quickly but somewhat inaccurately unlike previous models. And do not worry about getting stuck in wall or getting teleported in a different time, for the R has made several fail-safe procedures for the devices,"
Mira surprised by the explanation asked another,
"How do we make sure that we don't get separated?"
"Ah that, you all do not have to worry about separation, for that they are all synchronized to make sure nobody, and I mean nobody to ever get separated."
To hear that, the group was relieved that they don't have to worry about getting separated,
"And another thing," Dr. Orion added, "They have a cooldown after one use, give or take roughly fifteen hours. And also some of you might get some side effects like nausea and or vomiting after the teleportation,"
After Dr. Orion finished explaining, most looked discontent with the side effects then Jacob spoke up,
"So, will we need input where we need to go? Or did you already set them up?"
Dr. Orion nodded, "I already set the rough coordinates for the location,"
"Anyways enough chit-chat," Jacob says annoyed, "are they ready Orion?"
Dr. Orion straightens out, "Yes they are ready for you to use," He then passes out the small devices, they were the size of a watch,
"To use them, press the button on the left of the case, it should be pointing at you, once you all are ready,"
They all looked at their watches that they were given and found the small button on the side of the watch,
"First before we go, anything you guys need to grab or do?" asked Jacob
"No I'm okay," says E-Young checking her bag
"I'm good," Ryuko replied. Almost ready to hit the switch
"Nah I'm all good and ready to go!" Natsu says fired up
"No, I'm ready to head out," Mira says nonchalantly
With Alice left, she's hesitant on if she needed to do something then something popped in her head,
"I um, actually need to do something," said Alice
"If it's quick then go," said Jacob
Alice then leaves her bags and quickly leaves the room and walks down the hallway into the barracks where she goes to her bunk and grabs a small medallion, it was a small porcelain tag that had her name on it and said 'Adventurers Guild'. She then leaves the room with her small medallion and hangs it around her neck.
With Alice gone for the moment the group double checks their equipment,
"Zulu 5-5, you have the emergency transponders, right?" asked Jacob
"Yes sir, I do," Mira replied back
"Okay good, 5-4 and 5-3 you have the munitions right?" Jacob questioned
"Yep, all that we need in this bag," Natsu then taps the added bag on his main bag.
Ryuko nodded to signify that she had them
"Okay good," Jacob says slightly relieved, "And 5-2 you have the food and rations right?"
"Yes sir, I have them right here," E-Young says while tapping her added pack on her bag
Then Alice enters the room, with everyone taking a quick look to see who it is. Alice who is stunned for a moment looks for her bag then she picks it up then Jacob speaks up,
"5-6, we're just double checking our supplies, can you check if you have the medical supplies that I told you to get?"
Alice nodded and looked inside of it to see medical supplies like bandages, morphine, tourniquets, full bottles of antiseptics, pain killers, and Etc.
"I have them all in my bag sir," said Alice
"Okay good, I think we're all set, so let's get a move on," replied Jacob
They then all put their equipment on and grabbed their weapons and holstered them, and readied their watches,
"On my countdown." says Jacob
The anticipation in the room is tense and they are all ready for what is about to happen,
"3."
As Jacob slowly counts down, the group looks at each other in excitement and nervousness, going to another world different than the one they are already used to,
"2."
They all looked back their watches waiting for Jacob to say the final countdown,
"1, Go."
Then immediately, they all clicked the button then a blue glow engulfed the mercenaries with Dr. Orion in another room watching the blue light from a distance.
The group teleported into an open field with the sun shining up high almost blinding them, since they were in a well-lit room. Then to the bright burning sun was a change of pace for them. Natsu falls to his knees and hurls onto the grass,
"Augh, I didn't know it would be instant. Augh~ my head is killing me," says Natsu nauseous
"Same, ugh… My head feels like it's splitting," Ryuko says in pain, kneeling on the ground
Then Jacob who is also facing the same symptoms, whips out a small vial of a mysterious green liquid out his pouches and forcefully drinks it,
"All part of the job," says Jacob strained to the group, "augh, fuck this hurts,"
Alice as well is also facing the same nausea and mind-splitting headache. She is trying to pull through before she falls to the ground. E-Young on the other hand is sitting on the ground to see if it will help to decrease the effect of the nausea. Although for one of them, Mira, who is an android, is mostly unaffected by the teleportation. She decides to scout out the area with Jacob's approval.
As Mira is scouting the area, the group is trying to recollect themselves. Alice then pulls out a water canteen from her bag and drinks it. The water was so cold that it made her teeth ache, but it was also so refreshing. As she drank it, it felt like the cold water was refreshing her entire body from the sudden transportation. The water helped to soothe her intense headache and nausea, and she felt a little bit better. She took another sip of water, and then she offered it to the others,
"Here drink this, this will help," Alice offered
"Heh, thanks Alice," E-Young thanked. Once she was done drinking it she passed it over to Ryuko to which she drank, then she passed it onto Natsu who downed the entire canteen leaving nothing left.
"Ah… That was refreshing! I feel way more better than before. Thanks Alice!" said Natsu, rejuvenated from the water.
An hour later, Mira comes back from her scouting and sees the group is a bit more lively than before, Jacob notices her and asks her what the area is like. Mira explains that the area around them is mostly a barren prairie, and that there are creatures that are abnormal in size, with severe mutations, or both. Hearing that made most of the group confused with how the creatures looked, Jacob told them that they should head out since they still had daylight left and wanted to do the assault at night rather than during the day. Although Alice was somewhat hesitant to attack at night Jacob and E-Young reassured her that they would be fine.
As they marched towards their objective given to them by Dr. Orion when Alice was gone, they were told that their objective was to head to West Tek Research center to collect information on the FEV. Luckily they were not far from the building, only a 1.5 kilometer march to their objective.
As they were marching their way to the objective it was nearing sun set, they then reached a small town called Huntersville, but before they could enter they saw giant green humanoid creatures with what looked like firearms, patrolling the small town.
As they all slowly approached the small town, one of the giant green humanoid creatures noticed one of them,
"I see a human!" alerted one of the green humanoid creatures
The group of mercenaries then opened fired upon the green humanoid creatures,
"5-4, 5-3 provide cover fire. 5-5, 5-6 get a good vantage point. 5-2 on me," ordered Jacob, he then puts his full helmet on ready to fight
"Yes sir," they all said in unison
As Mira and Alice depart to find a good vantage point, the rest start to fight off the giant green humanoid creatures.
As the gunfire ensued from both sides, Natsu equipped with both a M43 Recoilless rifle and a MA41 assault rifle, and Ryuko equipped with M6L Handgun and as well as the MA41. They both were able to give supportive fire to both E-Young and Jacob so they both could push up to the enemies. Jacob is equipped with the MA41 and M6L, and E-Young is equipped with the M398 Enhanced Designated Marksman Rifle and the M7A PDW. While the two are pushing the enemies and were given suppressive fire by both Natsu and Ryuko, the two were able to easily push to their enemies in short succession.
Jacob and E-Young was able to reach a destroyed building from the town and entered it through a hole in the building, as they entered they were shot at the enemies who were waiting for them, the two quickly dove into cover,
"5-4, 5-3 push up once you're cleared," said Jacob over the radio
"Yes sir," said both Natsu and Ryuko.
Then Jacob returns fire hitting several of the giant green humanoid creatures, then a stray round hits Jacob's energy shield near the head. Jacob then pulled back into cover,
"Major! Are you okay?!" asked E-Young concerned if Jacob got injured,
"I'm good, a round just hit the energy shield," Jacob replied back.
As the gunfire keeps going, Alice and Mira are in a hidden position where the enemies can't see them. Mira is scanning the battlefield and sees that Natsu and Ryuko are pushing up to where Jacob and E-Young is,
"Natsu, Ryuko there are enemies that are right in front of Jacob and E-Young and are pinning them down, can you guys do something about it?" asked Mira over the radio,
"I got just the thing!" said Natsu, suddenly Natsu jumped on top of a pillar,
"Junbi o, karyū no hōkō!" Natsu yelled. Then suddenly, where once the enemies were standing, a flame pouring out of Natsu's mouth engulfed the area right before them. Once finished, the area where the flames were at was nothing and the ground turned charred. Astonished by Natsu fire magic, the team regrouped to assess their situation,
"Natsu that the first time we've seen your magic in action, or in general at all," said E-Young still astonished
"Hehe, Amazing isn't it!" Natsu boasted. But before they could celebrate their victory Mira senses more enemies inbound,
"Major, I'm sensing more enemies on their way from the north," said Mira over the radio
"Hold on, we have more incoming. Get ready," Jacob says alerted
Then another wave of the same giant green humanoid creatures is charging towards them, but before Natsu could use his fire magic again Jacob stops him,
"Natsu use the M43 on them," ordered Jacob
"Why can't I use my magic?" asked Natsu
"Save it for later and use the M43 on them!"
Natsu grunted then grabbed the M43 off his back and aimed it towards the charging enemies,
"Is behind me clear?!" asked Natsu aiming the M43
"It's clear!" Yelled Jacob
"Alright, eat some!" Natsu yells
Natsu pulls the trigger then the rocket exits the tube in an instant and hits one of the green humanoid creatures blowing it up. The blast and shrapnel hitting the others that were next to the explosion,
"5-5, is there any left?" asked Jacob over the radio
"Negative sir, we're clear for now," Mira responds over the radio
"Alright then, let's regroup,"
After the firefight, both Mira and Alice walk down from their position to regroup with the rest. Within the dead town with almost everything scorched from Natsu's fire magic, they all look for anything useful or anything to note of.
"You guys find anything?" asked Jacob over the radio
"No sir, except this, it seems like an old tape recorder," said E-Young over the radio
"Nope, got nothing over here 'cept debris," Ryuko says over the radio
"I got nothing over here sir," says Natsu over the radio
"Alright then, regroup in the center of the town," says Jacob
A few minutes later, the entire team is in the center of town.
From what they could gather is that this town was either overrun by the giant green humanoid creatures or was empty then taken by them. Another thing of note is that they the saw large amounts of bloodied netbags with flesh inside,
"Major, can we get out of here? It smells like rotting flesh here sir," asked E-Young. Jacob who is unaffected due to him having his helmet on agreed,
"Mhm, Let's get a move on, West Tek shouldn't to far now we just need to head a bit more north," said Jacob
"Okay finally, I was not getting used to the smell," said Ryuko
"I agree, let's get going," agreed Natsu
A half hour passes and they reach their objective, West Tek Research center. It passed sundown with the night covering the air with barely any daylight left. But before they were able to enter the building it was being patrolled by the same giant green humanoid creatures.
"Major sir, how should we do this?" asked E-Young
Jacob thought on how to get inside without trying to cause too much of a commotion, they could try and eliminate all of them one by one which is possible but they don't have the resources if they get caught. Or they could try and cause a diversion and get in during the chaos which would considerably reduce their resources.
"5-5, 5-3 scout out the area to see if there are any other entry points other than the entrance." said Jacob
"Why do I have to go?" Ryuko asked reluctantly
"Just go, you guys will be fine," said Jacob,
"If you don't feel safe here, use this," said Alice. She then passes over one of her kits from her belt, it was a small box, a metamaterial cloaking device kit,
"Are you sure?" asked Ryuko
"I'm positive, since you have to protect Mira right?"
Ryuko is shocked by Alice's politeness accepts the cloaking device and equips it onto her belt,
"If you're ready, go, since time is much of the essence," Jacob says impatient
"I'm ready, let's go Mira," Ryuko says more confidently
"Alright, let's go," Mira replies back
The two then get up and start to slowly run towards the building.
As the two reach a good vantage point near the building, they could see at least 5 patrolling the perimeter with makeshift walls covering some large points in but within the walls is the entrance to the building,
"There are at least five on patrol," says Mira
"Yeah I can see that," Ryuko says jokingly, "but do you see the one with a bomb in their hand?"
"Yes I do, what about it?" Mira asked
"If we hit the bomb in their hand do you think it will explode?"
"What are you suggesting?"
"What I'm suggesting is that we group them up then hit the one with the bomb and get them all in one go,"
"As good your suggestion is, that might attract the ones in the building or unwanted attention, or maybe get us killed."
"Well geez okay miss analytical," Ryuko says sarcastically, "but still I'm just putting that on the table,"
"We still need to figure out another way in," Mira reminded
"I know, but can't you just scan the building for more entrances?" questioned Ryuko
"I did, but there is another entrances other than the front entrance,"
"Okay so where is it?"
"Its behind the building but it is blocked by more enemies than the front,"
"So it looks like we need to get through the front either way then,"
The two then got up and made their way back to the rest of the group where they were hiding.
"What were you two able to find out?" asked Jacob
"There's only two entrances, that's the front door and the back door." said Mira
Jacob is satisfied by the information, "Anything else?" he added
"There are about five of those things on patrol in the front and they have some weak points in their walls. In the back of the building there are roughly more of those thing than the front of the building" said Ryuko, "another thing to note is that, there is one that has a bomb in their hands,"
Jacob is more satisfied by the results, and tells the team that they are going to go with a diversion plan,
"Okay here's the plan," Jacob begins
"We're going to go with a diversion, simple but efficient. 5-5 I'm going to need you to attract their attention with your fire magic, do that nearby,"
Natsu grins confidently, "Yes sir, I'll make sure to make it loud enough!"
Jacob continues, "While 5-5 has them distracted, the rest of you guys will head inside the building during the chaos, and I'll cover to make sure 5-5 gets inside. After that, we search the building for what we need. Got it?"
The group nodes at each other and all in unison, "Yes sir,"
"Then let's get this started," Jacob concluded
Natsu is in position while the rest is near the front of the building ready to enter the building,
"Satedo," Natsu's hands then ignite on fire "karyū no kōen!" He then brings both his hands together causing a large explosion of fire nearby the building.
The explosion of fire attracted the giant green humanoids near the front of the building and made them go towards the noise of the explosion, making a path towards the building entrance.
E-Young takes point and makes way towards the entrance to the building with Ryuko, Mira, and Alice following behind. Jacob is following the group behind them and waiting for Natsu to run back. Then less than a minute later Natsu runs around a corner and dashes towards Jacob.
"Thanks for waiting for me sir," said Natsu slightly tired
"Mhm, anyways let's get back with the group," Jacob replied. Natsu nodded and the two of them then went back to the group.
As the two get back the girls are waiting for the two,
"Alright let's head in, remember to check your corners and stay on your feet." Said Jacob
In unison they all replied a yes sir.
As they head into the building through the front door, they are met with what it looked like either a waiting or reception area. There are railings and there is a desk in front that is at a lower area of them that is a bit to the right with a terminal in the center of the desk, and there are two doorways to their right and in front of them that are both open.
"5-5 and 5-3 check the terminal," Jacob ordered silently, "we'll cover the door ahead of us,"
"Yes sir," said both Ryuko and Mira
Ryuko checks the doorway to their right with her rifle and signals that the coast is clear, so Mira quietly dashes towards the desk and hops over it, then checks the terminal behind. As Mira is checking the terminal the group is looking around the area that they are in.
A few minutes later, Mira finished reading all the logs on the terminal,
"Sir, I'm finished here," said Mira over the desk
"Good work let's keep going," said Jacob
The group then talk on which way to head either the door to their right or the one in the front,
"We got two doors, I'm thinking of splitting up for now and head back here once we've found what we are looking for," said Jacob
"I'm not so sure sir, since we've encountered the creatures out there, we could see them in here," said E-Young
Jacob considered her point, "Good point, but I trust in all of your abilities to fight off against these things," Jacob replied back
The team surprised by Jacob's words,
"But still sir, I feel like we should stick together as we don't have a good idea on how these things fight," E-Young persisted
"I have a good understanding what they are capable of, from our encounter we had with them at the town," Jacob contended
Although E-Young was second in command in the squad, she was still unsure of their abilities to handle their own,
"I still think we need to stick together, that is my recommendation," E-Young finalized
"Okay then, let me think here,"
Jacob considered the two options,
"5-3, 5-4 check the right door. 5-2 you're with me checking the door in front of us, and to what we are doing, we are to quickly check and do not continue forwards, copy," said Jacob
The three looked at Jacob, they were hesitant but complied.
Ryuko and Natsu checked the door to the right and quickly looked around, it led to a staircase that goes up a floor and down a floor. There was another doorway ahead of them with a terminal next to it. The two of them backed off and reentered the area they were in before. Both Jacob and E-Young are already done,
"What did you guys find?" asked Jacob
"There is a staircase that leads up to both a lower floor and a higher floor, as well as there is another doorway with a terminal next to it," said Ryuko
"How about you guys?" asked Natsu
"We found a corridor that leads left into an two areas, one of them is ahead with the doorway, and another that leads right into a what it seems a research area," said E-Young
"I think we should check out the research area first," said Mira
"I agree, we might find what we are looking for," said Jacob, "are we in an agreement?"
The group thinks for a bit and agrees with the option by all nodding.
"Okay then, we're heading through the door ahead of us, and remember stay on your feet," Jacob cautioned, "I'll take point,"
With Jacob in the front and Natsu in the rear, the rest are numerically ordered by squad number. Jacob slowly peeked at the corner of the doorway, it was clear. He signaled that the corridor was clear and slowly pushed into the corridor. As Jacob entered there was a door on the right and a door ahead of him,
"5-2 keep an eye on the door ahead," Jacob ordered
"Copy that," E-Young complied. E-Young then raises her PDW towards the doorway ahead of them.
Jacob slowly peeked the door on his right and saw it was clear. He slowly walked into the small room and noticed three pods with two of them with robots inside docile to the far right, there is a desk with controls and a terminal with windows in the far left of the room as well that had decontamination arches on the other side, and lastly the a desk with a window to the right of them.
"Clear, move in," says Jacob
Ryuko enters first with her rifle in hand,
"This is a small room," Ryuko commented. Then Mira enters with a M7A PDW in hand,
"I agree," Mira added. Next was Alice with a M6L, as she is holding it, with her small delicate hands making it look huge.
"Sir, there is a terminal near where the windows are," said Mira, Jacob nodded back to Mira. Then Natsu enters the room.
"I don't like how small this room is," says Natsu as he walks in. Lastly E-Young enters the room
"5-2 cover the door. 5-5, 5-6, check the terminal and the robots. 5-3, 5-4 check the desk over the right," ordered Jacob
Ryuko and Natsu go towards the desk to the right while Mira and Alice go towards the terminal. E-Young is covering the doorway with her PDW. Jacob then walks up to her from behind,
"What could you see in the other room?" asked Jacob
"It was a locker room, but that is all I could see sir," responds E-Young still looking out the door
Meanwhile, Ryuko and Natsu are having a small discussion while looking for anything of importance,
"Hey Natsu I got a question," asked Ryuko searching through the file cabinets nearby
"Hmm, what is it Ryuko?" Natsu responded back
"I know you use fire magic, but how does it work?" Ryuko curiously asked
"Honestly I'm unsure myself, but for the longest time I just knew how to use it," Natsu answered, "Also you find anything?"
"No not really, Just a lot of files about old stuff,"
"Oh really like what?"
"Some stuff about protocols and about security, that's about it," Ryuko responded, "how about you?"
"Nothing much here as well, except random junk," Natsu replied back
"I think that's about it," said Ryuko. The two then stopped their search and headed back to Jacob to report their findings, on the other side of the room, Mira and Alice are trying to get into the terminal,
"Is it this?" Mira says while clicking the keys on the terminal
The terminal then locks out,
"Agh, come on that was clearly close to it," Mira says frustrated
"You okay Mira?" Alice asked concerned for her teammate
"I'm fine it's just this doesn't make any sense on how I'm supposed to get in this thing," Mira replies back
Alice, who is watching Mira trying to get into the terminal, tries to offer some assistance. Alice sees that there are words and random signs all over the screen and there is a numbered amount of tries before they get locked out. Mira picks one of the words and enters it, as she did, on the right of the screen then shows 'ENTRY DENIED' and below it there is a familiarity of zero.
"What does that mean?" asked Alice pointing on at the right of the terminal
"My guess? Probably how similar the word is to the passcode," Mira replies back, "Though it's annoying that I only have four tries before it locks me out,"
"Where does it say that?"
"On the top of the screen,"
Alice looks at the top of the screen and sees that they have three more tries left since they used one already. Mira goes for another word and the same thing happens again but this time with a familiarity of two instead,
"Hey we're heading in the right direction, I think," said Alive, trying to be optimistic
"Yeah, at least we are making progress," Mira replied, feeling slightly encouraged by the familiarity level going up to two.
Mira and Alice continued to look closely at the words presented on screen and trying to figure out what the passcode on the screen is.
"Hey Mira look at this one right here," Alice then points at the word on the screen with her finger,
"I could see the resembles to that but I'm not sure," Said Mira reluctant, "but you'll know if you don't try,"
Mira then typed in the word on the screen and another "ENTRY DENIED" but this time they have a familiarity of three,
"Yes, at least we're more closer than before," Alice says excited
"Yes we are closer but with only two more tries left," Mira says cautious
Now with only two more tries, they both try to look more closely into the words,
"I got it!" Mira says ecstatically. Mira types one of the words on the screen into the terminal, "ENTRY GRANTED" is displayed onto the screen
"Finally I thought this was going to take forever," said Mira exhausted
"We were going to get it eventually, but luckily it didn't take too long," Alice comments, "But what's in the terminal?"
Mira looks through the terminal and sees that there is a log named [Request Approved, another with [Safe Control, [Decontamination Arch Control, and [Protection Control]. Mira decides to read the first one. From what she read from the log it seems that the security in this building didn't have enough manpower to secure the location so they got three 'Protections' for assistance.
Mira then goes back and selects the safe control, to which instantly unlocks a safe which the two hear a faint noise below them. Alice inspect where the noise came from and looks around to find a floor safe next to them on the left, Alice opens the safe and finds old green bundles of paper, what seemed like a pistol, and a box of old 10mm ammo with only 9 rounds,
"I'm not sure if any of this is useful?" Alice said dissatisfied with the contents
"I'm pretty sure it was for personal use rather for combat," Mira replied back, "Anyways it seems like the arches on the other side of the window are the decontamination arches and those-Mira looks at the robots-are the 'protections' of this facility"
"I think we're good, lets report our findings then" said Alice
Mira nodded in agreement and the two of them left the terminal and desk. The two approached Jacob who was still conversing with E-Young,
"Major sir, we found some stuff, although not related to the mission sir," said Mira. Alice is holding a bundle of green paper, a pistol, and a small ammo box.
"Okay, anything else?" Jacob asked
"And those robots over there-Mira then points towards the Protections-apparently they are called 'Protections'" Mira added
"Okay is that it?"
"Yes sir, that's all," Mira confirmed
Jacob looked at the bundles of green paper and it looked like money from this world although it seems old and worn out. The pistol seemed old and hadn't been used, as well as the ammo with it.
"You can leave that stuff. We're done here, let's keep going," Jacob said to the group
The rest of the team nodded in agreement and they left the room with Jacob in front and this time E-Young in the rear. They entered the other doorway that led to the locker room that was next to the other room that they were at, they did a quick scan of the area and it seemed that this locker room led to the main research area of the building that was through the decontaminating archways.
They prepared themself for what was on the other side of the arches; they checked their weapons and equipment before moving onto the next area.
Jacob was first, he looked through the archways to see another room on the other side. Under the arches is a glowing green liquid that has flooded the ground within the arch corridor. He walked through the arches carefully, sloshing through the green liquid. Although the arches were inactive, it seemed like they could activate at any time as he passed. As he passed through, he quickly looked around the area, it seemed like a small common area but before Jacob could take a closer look he heard a low howl. He looked where the sound came from and there was a giant green mutated dog that is quickly rushing towards him. Jacob then quickly points his rifle at the hound and fires a couple of rounds towards the hound.
His gunshots rang throughout the building and echoing in the small common room, his bullets landed on the hound staggering a few but the hound kept pushing through. Before it could fall, it made a last ditch effort and lunged towards Jacob. Jacob stopped shooting and dodged out of the way of the incoming attack, he then opened fire once more unto the hound hitting it several times in center mass. Then his rifle made an audible click, he ran out of ammo with his ammo counter on his rifle displaying '00'. Swiftly Jacob dropped his rifle and pulled out his pistol, pointed it at the hound and shot once into the head finally putting it down.
"Major! Are you okay!" yelled E-Young on the other side of the arches
"I'm good. Get your asses over here, we got more inbound," Jacob shouts
Jacob picked up his rifle and took out the empty magazine, put it in a pouch and grabbed another magazine from another pouch. He inserted the mag into his rifle and chambered the round into the rifle with his ammo counter displaying '32' indicating a full mag is in his rifle. By the time he is done, the rest of the team is in the same room as him, weapons drawn, they all quickly look around the area; there is a blocked off hallway onto their right, a large doorway ahead, and another open doorway to the left of the blocked hallway.
Jacob orders Natsu, Ryuko, and Alice to cover their rear incase if there are enemies coming from the rear while himself, E-Young and Mira cover their front. They all get into position. Jacob, E-Young and Mira could hear loud stomping coming their way,
"Mira scan on how many is coming our way," ordered Jacob
"Yes sir," Mira responds quickly, "fifteen on our way sir, straight ahead,"
"This is going to be a tough firefight," Jacob says confidently, "so get ready."
The team braced themselves for what was going to happen, they all tightened their grip on their weapons and put all their focus on the doorway ahead of them. The stomping grew louder indicating that the enemies were drawing closer to their position.
The air in the area that they were in was heavy, almost feeling like they were about to be pulled down to the ground, but they stood tall, ready to face anything that was about to come through the door. Jacob tries to think of a contingency plan in case they get overrun, retreat and teleport out of here and try again, or try to fight against all odds and win. He knew that they would need to escape if the time called for it, but for now they'll need to fight for the time.
The silence is broken by the first batch of enemies, it was the giant green humanoid creatures with large wooden planks as weapons and accompanied by the giant green mutant hounds. Jacob, E-Young and Mira opened fire upon the creatures bringing down as many that showed up. As Jacob kept firing he quickly glances at his ammo counter, it displayed '07'
"Hey cover me reloading!" Jacob yelled out to his team
"Got it!" Said E-Young. She then switches from her PDW to her rifle. She looks down her optic that was equipped, although the close small area made it uncomfortable to look through, she opens both her eyes, with one eye looking through the optic and the other to scan for targets. With precision she is able to knock down a new batch of the humanoid creatures and giant mutant hounds.
With a new mag Jacob opens fires once again taking down more of the creatures. Behind them Natsu, Ryuko and Mira are in the previous corridor with Natsu looking into the the reception room,
"Must be one hell of a fight," Ryuko says on edge, she then looks back at Natsu "Anything?"
"Nothing, surprisingly," Natsu says nodding his head
"Don't jinx it Natsu," said Ryuko, "I don't want to fight these things this up close,"
"Why not it's not like they know to shoot straight," Natsu jokingly says
"Still, that doesn't mean they know how to shoot,"
"I agree Natsu. Although I'm not much of a fighter unlike you guys," said Alice nervous
"Don't worry, you got us, we'll cover you," said Natsu, "just leave the fighting to me and Ryuko,"
"Thanks for putting me on the spot," said Ryuko, "and to change the subject, it's surprising how Jacob can just immediately know what to do,"
"What do you mean?" Asked Natsu who is peeking out the door
"For example right now, how can he take a situation as quick as this and make us do tasks that make sure we don't die?"
"From what my intuition says about him, is that he must of been through a lot to get to this point," replied Natsu
"Probably," Ryuko agreed
Then suddenly six of the new giant green humanoid creatures with two giant green mutant hounds came walking out of the door that led to the stairs,
"I can smell the humans, but where?" said one of the giant humanoid creatures
"They must be close, near the loud noises" said another one
Natsu, Ryuko and Alice froze in place from fear. This is the first time by themselves without having Jacob to back them up. Natsu tries to think of something quickly but couldn't think of a solid plan, Ryuko tries to communicate something to the other two but her throat is stuck, and Alice is frozen in place from fear. Natsu then shakenly puts his hands up and signals them to pull back into the locker room, the other two complied. The three of them then slowly walked back into the locker room and waited for the creatures to approach the corridor.
"Natsu, any plan?" Ryuko quietly questioned
"We are going to ambush them in the corridor," Natsu quietly replied, "Once some of them are in the corridor, we attack them okay?"
"Got it," Ryuko says trying to put some resolve in herself
As they lay in wait, Natsu and Ryuko, pulled up their weapons, steeling themselves. A few seconds later one of the green humanoids goes through the doorway and into the corridor, Ryuko glances at Natsu, to which Natsu nods 'not yet'. Then another enters the doorway,
"Now!" Natsu shouts. Natsu peeks out the doorway and opens fire with his rifle, killing the one that is the closest.
Ryuko then peeks out and opens fire as well, killing the other one behind, "Take this you giant green basterds!" Ryuko shouts
The other green humanoids don't enter the corridor but rather blind fire into the corridor. Their bullets hit the walls and ricochets off making Natsu and Ryuko take cover,
"Natsu, do you have a grenade?" Ryuko asked, reloading her rifle
"You mean a bomb? Yeah I do," Natsu answered, also reloading his rifle, "why?"
"I think it'll be a good time to use it," Ryuko suggested
"Do you have a good throwing hand?" questioned Natsu
"Yeah I do," answered Ryuko
"Then here," Natsu then digs into one of his trouser pockets and pulls out a M89 Frag grenade.
"Hold on, wait till they are done firing at us!" Ryuko shouted
Then coincidentally the giant humanoids stopped firing, Natsu tossed over the grenade in his hand to Ryuko who had holstered her rifle and grabbed the grenade from Natsu. She peeks out quickly and holds onto the onto the grenade as well as spoon of it, she then unpins the grenade and tosses it at the doorway where the enemies were,
"Eat this!" yelled Ryuko
The grenade bounces off the doorway frame and lands where the green humanoids are.
"Look out!" yelled one of the green humanoids. Then a few seconds later, a large boom could be heard. The shock wave of the boom echoed from the corridor to the locker room where the three of them were rocking them to their core.
"Did you clear them out?" asked Alice, her filled with hope
"I think so," Ryuko says with relief
Meanwhile on the other side of the corridor the remaining humanoid are dead, same with the hounds with them.
"Hey, How are you guys holding up?" asked Jacob coming out of the common area through the arches
"We had a bit of action, but we are doing okay," said Ryuko
"Good work, we are cleared on our side, let's keep moving," Jacob said
"Yes sir," said the three in unison
The team then marched through the building complex together finding several terminals, with either important data or random logs. They also get into several firefights with the same giant green humanoids, to which they figure out that they are called 'super mutants' a product of the FEV. They also find giant tanks with glowing green liquid, the same one that was in the arch corridor.
As they search more of the building they reach a staircase that leads up, with Jacob in front he carefully scans the stairs and slowly walks up it. As he slowly walks up the stairs to the next floor, he sees there is are two doorways; one that led into the same reception room where they had first entered, and the other had a terminal to the left of it, so Jacob puts points his rifle in low ready,
"We just looped around. We can take a breather," he said exhausted
The group slowly walks to the reception area and sees the dead bodies of the super mutants and mutant hounds that Ryuko had killed with a grenade a while back.
"So we did kill them, that's finally good to know," says Ryuko relieved.
As they are resting, the group eats their rations that E-Young had brought as requested by Jacob. As they are in conversation about what they do when they get back from the contract, suddenly Jacob spoke up,
"Equipment check, how much ammo do you guys have," Jacob interrupted
Natsu reports he has about two more mags left for his rifle. Ryuko reports that she also has two more mags for her rifle like Nastu and four mags for her pistol. Alice reports she has about four more of her pistol mags. Mira reports that she has only one more mag for her PDW. E-Young reports that she has one mag for her PDW as well as two more for her DMR. Lastly, Jacob reports that he has no more mags for his rifle except the one in already and three more for his pistol.
"This is not looking good," Jacob says, concerned about the dire situation, "5-4, 5-3 do you have any more 7.62 ammo boxes in your bag?"
"I don't remember but we'll check real quick sir," Natsu replied back. Natsu and Ryuko checks all of their bags but all the boxes that they once had were empty,
"No sir, we don't," Natsu says disappointedly, "but I can give you a magazine sir,"
"No, you keep yours, I'll have to do with what I have," Jacob says, he then glances at his rifle's ammo counter '21', instead of the '32' rounds.
"Guess I'll have to reserve this for now," Jacob muttered to himself, he then holsters his rifle and pulls out his pistol chambering it.
The group is silent after hearing how much supplies that they have left, the dwindling ammo left an impact on the group. As they were finishing their rations, it was quiet. As they finished, Jacob spoke up,
"Here's how we're going to go about this,"
Jacob says that instead of himself taking the lead, he says that Natsu will take point then himself, Alice, Mira, E-Young, and then Ryuko in the rear.
The team then approach the large doorway with the terminal next to it in the stairway,
"Mira check that terminal we'll give cover," Jacob commanded
"Yes sir," Mira complied. Once Mira got on the terminal it told her that she needed a password, and she was unable to hack into it as it would fully lock out the terminal and decommission it.
"Major sir, it seems like I'm unable to hack this terminal," Mira says worried. The team looked at each other upset with the outcome, then they looked at Jacob for guidance.
Jacob, feeling their stares, is this the end of the line for them, they got useful info but they still need to grab all that they can. Their supplies are dwindling and almost on their last legs,
"We keep going, we'll finish this contract." Jacob says trying to reassure the group, "first we backtrack from where we came, that's the first order of business,"
The team nodded in affirmation. The team backtracked and was able to find a way to get the password for the terminal, after searching they were able to gain the passcode. Once again Mira approached the terminal near the large doorway, once she put in the password, it worked. Before Mira could open the door,
"Hold on, Mira before you open the door," Jacob announced, "Once we go in there, we are to find information the FEV, and seeing what it does, be careful, got it,"
The group nodded in unison,
"Alright then, Mira open it up,"
"Yes sir," Mira complied. As Mira opened the door, a lab was presented to them, with workbench stations with lab equipment and papers scattered on the tables and ground,
"It seems like they were in a hurry," commented Ryuko
"It appears so," Mira added to the comment
"Let's focus on the mission at hand," Jacob reminded them.
The team then went quiet, and quietly searched the area. The next area led to another room with more lab equipment and papers scattered, although what stood out was a two cell rooms.
"What were they doing," questioned Alice
"I don't know but seeing this, make me feel a bit uncomfortable" replied E-Young
"I agree, from what we gathered, my guess is that they were testing the 'super mutants'," said Mira
They three then stopped their talking, and continued looking for any important documents or research. Then suddenly something breaks the silence,
"Is someone there?" said a super mutant nearby. The team stopped their search and quickly hid. They knew they could take them on one but with the supplies they had, they weren't sure how many there were. What felt like the longest thirty seconds passed, and the super mutant spoke up once again,
"Hmm… Must be hearing things," grumbled the same super mutant annoyed
The team held their breath, silently waiting until the coast was clear. A minute passed before they got out of their hiding spots,
"Close call," Mira says nervous
"Yeah, close indeed," Alice agreed
"If they're here also, that means we're closer to our objective," said Jacob with certainty in his voice. The team steeled themselves for what was going to happen. The group then approached where the super mutant voice came from to find the info they are looking for. With Natsu in the front, he slowly looked around a corner a catches a glimpse of a super mutant with his back turned in a dark hallway, Natsu then slowly turns back to the group and relays the info to the group,
"Major there is one ahead of us," whispered Natsu
Jacob nods his head and Jacob signals Natsu to be behind him, Natsu complies and gets behind Jacob. Jacob looks behind him with his helmet on and hand signals the group to hold position, then he turns on his cloak device behind his hip. Jacob looks around the corner and sees that the super mutant is walking their way so Jacob hugs the wall, holsters his pistol, and pulls out his knife. The super mutant approaches him unaware of Jacob's presence. Jacob notices the height difference now that he's up close and personal, the super mutant is slightly taller than Jacob but he should be able to take down the super mutant if he's fast enough. Once the super mutant is right in front of Jacob, he lunges forward, driving his knife into the super mutant's throat he then lets go of his knife, he swiftly kicks one of their knees making it fall and gets behind the super mutant to use one of his hands to cover their mouth to silence them. Jacob then gets a hold of his knife once again with his other hand and pulls it towards him, killing the super mutant instantly. Jacob looked behind him and the coast was clear, for now.
"Zulu 5 regroup," Jacob radioed to the team
The five then quietly walked towards Jacob, who was barely visible.
"Major, you can deactivate your cloaking," whispered E-Young
"I know," Jacob then deactivates his cloaking, there is the blood of the super mutant displayed on his armor, "Natsu, you're on point,"
"Yes sir," Natsu complied. Looking at the blood on Jacob made Natsu think that he shouldn't go up against Jacob when he has his cloaking device.
The six then continue on, but before they get far they are greeted by a low green glow coming from a room ahead, Natsu looks back at Jacob, Jacob nods his head to confirm to continue. Natsu then walks towards the green glow and stops at the doorway, he slowly peeks inside and sees four super mutants and two mutant hounds. The mutant hounds sniff the air, almost detecting Natsu's presence. Seeing the hounds sniff the air Natsu pulls back quickly, his heart racing,
"What is it?" asked Jacob concerned for his subordinate
"S-six of them, four supers and two hounds, sir" Natsu replies. Jacob quickly thinks of a plan of attack.
"I'll draw them out," Jacob says confidently, "you guys will hide and once they are out of the room search for any information regarding the FEV, got it?"
"But sir, that's almost suicide," said E-Young, concerned
"I'll be fine, I've had my fair share of close calls, and this is one of them," Jacob reassured, "so don't worry about me,"
The group all nodded in unease for Jacob's safety. The team is in another room hiding while Jacob is near the door where the super mutants are at with their hounds, he grabs his pistol and checks the chamber to find a bullet already seated inside. He then grabs and checks his rifle, his ammo counter displaying '21', he then slowly checks the chamber to find a bullet already inside. Jacob peeks inside to see the four super mutants up and looking around while the two hounds are sound asleep. Jacob then aims down his rifle through the holographic sight, aiming it at one of the super mutants' heads. *BANG* The super mutant's head then explodes into a gruesome mess, the gunshot alerts the three other super mutants who look at Jacob. Jacob fires a two small burst of three rounds at two of the super mutants' injuring them, the hounds get up and all the remaining super mutants charge at Jacob, who then runs the opposite way passing his team as well as the super mutants and hounds.
"Good luck the five of you," Jacob says over the radio
"You too, Major," E-Young whispers back over the radio
The five got out of hiding once it was safe and walked over to where the green glow was. As they entered the room they could see many super mutants floating in capsules in a glowing green liquid, as they looked more in the room they found the super mutant Jacob had killed with its head gone.
"He always goes for the killing blow," someone said behind them. The five look over to see who it is, It was Jacob's sister Sofia. Sofia is wearing a darkly colored undersuit with armor covering her body, shoulders, wrist, thighs, and knees. With a helmet that is covering her whole head with a blue visor. She is also wielding an M398 EDMR and a M6L handgun in her belt holster.
"Sofia?! What are you doing here?" asked the whole team
"I noticed that you guys were taking too long on a contract, usually my brother would've finished this contract within two days, usually. So as a concerned older sister that I am, I wanted to check up on you guys," she replied back
"Wait, it's been two days already?" asked Alice. She then checked the time, it was only a day after for them.
"Yeah it has been two days, well for the world back home anyway," Sofia replied
"Is your team with you?" asked E-Young
"Yeah they are, they are behind the building, we just cleared it out and now on stand by," Sofia answered, "By the way where is he?"
"He just drew out some enemies for us to grab info," said Mira. The group then heard an audible 'tsk' from Sofia,
"That trouble maker, he'll just get himself killed, I'll be right back," Sofia says angrily, "Which way did he go?"
Then as if on cue, gunshots then rang out down the hallway. Sofia then started running towards where the gunshot originated from. Before the group was able to stop Sofia, another person comes out of a doorway behind them,
"Geez Lieutenant, your brother can take care of himself," said another person in almost the same uniform as Sofia's, "Oh, didn't see you guys, names Kendra Lang or Foxtrot 12-2, call me either,"
The group is confused on what is happening,
"Don't mind us, we'll let you guys grab your information, we'll cover you guys," said Kendra, then suddenly another three of the same uniformed mercs then appeared out of thin air from cloaking device,
"Appreciated," E-Young says, shocked. Then more gunshots are heard down the hall from where Sofia ran to.
"We got what we need now," said Mira, who finished reading a terminal nearby.
Meanwhile, Jacob is fighting off a mutant hound inside a corridor near the reception room. Around in the reception room, the three super mutants that chased him are riddled with bullet holes, the other hound is also filled with bullet holes with a knife lodged in its neck. Jacob's pistol is just barely in arms reach of him, he also had dropped his rifle somewhere within the reception room. The hound is on top of him trying to gnaw at his face, snapping close with its large teeth, while he is trying to stop it from going any further. The saliva from the hound is landing on Jacob's helmet visor, distorting his visibility, but he is holding it off. He tried to think of the options he had, but with the exhaustion finally getting a hold of him, he couldn't think straight as well as he couldn't get the hound off him. Then suddenly a gunshot rangout within the corridor, splattering red blood over Jacob's helmet and visor. The hound stopped its vicious assault and is now limping in Jacob's hands. Jacob moves the lifeless heavy hound off of him and wipes the blood and saliva off of his visor. He then sees who his savior is– it was his older sister Sofia standing over him.
"You could've died y'know," Sofia says monotoned, standing over Jacob with her helmet off showcasing both her beautiful face and her long dark gray hair as well as her having her pistol out and rifle holstered,
Exhausted, Jacob closed his eye behind his helmet and took several breathers, "I know," he answers breathless
Sofia's face then stifled, " 'I KNOW?' I KNOW MY ASS!" Sofia erupts, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU'D DIED!"
Jacob just lays on the floor exhausted from both the hound attack as well as fending off the super mutants. So he just listens to Sofia's outburst,
"I know you feel confident about your abilities, but you need to know your limits, and stop relying on yourself all the damn time!" Sofia continued, "as well as being my only brother, for all we know, our parents could be dead and we're the only ones alive, so don't you think that you can't just throw away your life for some contract,"
Jacob couldn't think of words to counter Sofia's outburst, as his exhaustion made it difficult for him to think.
Sofia then takes a deep breath, "Come on, let me help you up," she then extends her hand, but before Jacob could grab it, then she adds, "After you say that you'll promise you will not go off on your own again,"
"I promise," Jacob says exhausted
"You'll promise what?" Sofia trying to reaffirm him
"I promise, I will not go on my own again," Jacob says finishing the sentence. Sofia then re-extends her hand to which Jacob grabbed, Sofia then pulls up the exhausted Jacob off the ground.
"You dropped these," Sofia then hands Jacob his knife and rifle. Jacob grabbed his knife and placed it in his knife holster under his left armpit, and grabbed his rifle, the ammo counter displayed '01', he then holstered it onto his back.
He grabbed his pistol near the dead hound that was next to him and holsters it
"How's my team holding up?" asked Jacob, still exhausted
"They're doing fine," Sofia responds back
Hearing that made Jacob do a breath of relief.
The two head back to where their team is at, the two teams are in conversation with Jacob's team talking about their events within this contract and all the things that they had to do. E-Young notices the two return and greets them,
"Major, Sofia, you're back," E-Young then takes a closer look at Jacob and sees blood staining his armor and his helmet is stained with grime, "Is Major okay?"
"He's fine, he just bit off more than he can chew," Sofia replied
Jacob who is barely trying to keep himself standing stays silent trying not to use any extra energy.
"Major sir, I collected the necessary data, we can go home now," said Mira. Jacob nodded, and readied his watch,
"Oh you don't need to do that Jacob, we don't want you to have a migraine when you get back so I brought some 'extra' help," said Sofia
The two teams exit the building through the front door. They find the area secured by other BlackWatch operatives,
"Lieutenant colonel, we got the area secured just like you had asked," said a BlackWatch operative that walked up to Sofia
"Good work," said Sofia, she then looked at Jacob, "now then let's go home."
Back at BlackWatch 2nd Corps building, Jacob is dressed in his combat uniform, all cleaned from the blood and grime. He walks into the R room to find Dr. Orion. Jacob arrives at Dr. Orion's room, and knocks on the door,
"Who is it?" asked Dr. Orion on the other side of the door
"It's Jacob," Jacob responded
"Jacob? I haven't heard from you for three days already, so come in,"
Jacob then opens the door to see Dr. Orion sitting on his chair near his desk,
"I believe you have the data?" asked Dr. Orion
"I do," Jacob replied. Jacob then places a USB stick onto Orion's desk
Orion picks up the USB stick, "Good, I'll see what I can take from this. You are free to leave," Orion says while looking at the USB stick.
Jacob then leaves the room, but before he closes the door,
"And Jacob, the money will be at the reception desk. As well as there is a little reward for your success," Dr. Orion adds,
Jacob then closes the door, leaving Dr. Orion to his own devices.
Jacob arrives at the reception desk in the hub of the building,
"Mr. Collins, good to meet you, ready for the next contract? If so, what is it?" said a robot on the other side of the desk,
"No, I'm here to say that the contract from Burton Orion from research and development is completed, from three days ago," said Jacob
"Okay, give me a second to check the database," the robot then stared off into the distance, "Found it, Contract from Brion Orion in R , accepted by Jacob Emile Collins, contract payment: ten thousand credits as well as a personal reward by Burton Orion, completed by Jacob Emile Collins"
Then a card then dispenses out of the robot's chest to which Jacob grabs, then the robot spins and moves to a locker and grabs a small box on a shelf. The robot returns and places the small box onto the counter to which Jacob grabs.
"Thank you for the completion of the contract, would you like to accept a new contract?"
"No thanks," Jacob replied. Then the robot went eerily silent.
Jacob then leaves the hub and goes to his room in the building and opens the small box. Inside was a small data chip that looked like it could be inserted into his helmet, and a note inside as well. Jacob then reads the note, the handwriting was a bit rough but it explains that this tiny data chip has an AI built inside of it to help a 'certain' individual to fight on his lonesome without the need for help from others. Jacob looks at the small data chip, remembering his sister's words to work with his team rather than relying on himself. He puts it back in the box and then stores it on one of his shelves displaying it with countless other 'experiments' that Orion had given him. Jacob then leaves the room and closes the door leaving the small box.