"Is it working now?" Midoriya asked, looking over at Rody from across his computer. Rody shook his head no in response, with a small look of annoyance.
"No, the game still won't load," Rody replied, rubbing his brow.
"Then we'll just play normal Minecraft," Midoriya stated. After fourteen tries he just wanted to play. Victoria, while not saying so quietly agreed. She was curious about her first video game, especially when Midoriya wondered if she could play it. This was mainly from the thought process of what would happen if they plugged her Idroid into Midoriya's computer. Rody however remained determined.
"Come on, we can't just give up now! Maybe we can ask Pablo how he got the mod working," Rody replied as he scrolled through the page on his computer. With Victoria in hand, Midoriya went over to inspect Rody's computer as the three reread the page.
"Is this even necessary?" Midoriya asked.
"Dude, Pablo said the Create mod would let me build a working plane. I need to try it out." Rody answered.
"Fine, I'll just get Pablo then," Midoriya muttered before looking out across his room. He spotted DD lying on the ground, curled up in his big bed. With a small whistle, DD was up looking over at Midoriya.
"DD, fetch Pablo," Midoriya stated. DD barked happily in response and quickly left the room. The interaction confused Rody slightly as to how DD knew what was being asked but reasoned it had something to do with the dog's training. Maybe. He wasn't entirely sure.
"So, what is Minecraft?" Victoria asked curiously, still not sure what they were going to play. Then again, she also questioned how she would play it. She didn't have a physical body to pick up a controller, and everything digital was more nothingness than a visible sight she could interact with. Thinking over the answer, Midoriya calmly replied.
"Well, it's a sandbox game, where you can pretty much do anything," he answered before grabbing and searching a video of the game on his phone. He held it up to Victoria's camera, allowing her to watch. It was odd, unlike the real world everything in the game was all blocky. It was odd but interesting.
"And humans find this fun?" Victoria asked again, as… something stirred in her. She didn't know what it was, or how to describe it. But like the previous time it appeared to seem positive.
"Some do," Midoriya calmly replied.
"Maybe I'll have fun," Victoria quietly said, before DD came running back into the room. Behind the dog, an out-of-breath boy the same age as Midoriya walked in. He was Venezuelan with dark black hair, and an odd light blue glow surrounding him.
"H-hey guys," Pablo said while trying to regain his breath. Not the smartest idea to race a dog, but it was worth a shot.
"Hey Pablo," Rody greeted while Midoriya gave a small wave. Now Midoriya and Rody weren't exactly friends with Pablo. Sure, they were friendly towards each other, but neither group really interacted all that much outside of school. So, it was a bit surprising Pablo arrived as fast as he did. Slowly managing to get his breathing back under control he looked at the computers the two were next to and inferred what was happening.
"You can't get it working, can you?" Pablo stated.
"Yeah," Rody glumly replied to which Midoriya nodded.
"You could play normal Minecraft you know," Pablo commented, with Midoriya quickly jumping up.
"That's what I said!" he exclaimed, with Rody quickly facepalming.
"Yeah yeah, I get it. Can you help though?" Rody asked. Pablo thought about it for a second before slowly freezing up.
"...I mean, maybe?"
"That sounded more like a question than an answer." Midoriya suspiciously pointed out.
"Well, I may have forgotten a step," Pablo replied, now rubbing his head. Rody groaned as he realized how much time they wasted, thinking they had done everything right.
"That being?" Midoriya inquired. Pablo hesitated in response, confusing Midoriya slightly.
"...I used my quirk on the computer," Pablo answered, leaving Midoriya dumbstruck.
"I thought that glow surrounding you was your quirk?"
"It's a mutation," Pablo replies before walking over to Midoriya's computer, "My real quirk does something with computers. That's how I got the mod on my setup."
"Interesting," Midoriya noted. He didn't notice that he set Victoria's Idroid down, and his hands had slowly brought up one of his notebooks.
"What exactly does it do? How many times have you done it? Is it a technopath-like quirk? Does it only affect computers? What about phones?"
"Mido! Bro! Minecraft first, questions later!" Rody shouted, quickly dragging Midoriya out of his spiel. He gave a small, embarrassed chuckle, before putting his notebook away somewhere. He then stepped to the side, giving Pablo full access to his computer.
"Oh, heh right- wait a minute. What is this going to do to my computer?" Midoriya asked, now realizing a small mistake in what he'd just done. Pablo shrugged in response, giving Midoriya a small hint of worry.
"I don't know. My computer still works fine though," Pablo replied, "Although everything seems to load faster all of a sudden."
"Well… can we test it on Rody's first?"
"What!? Why mine!?" Rody exclaimed as he moved to shield his computer.
"You're the one who wants the mod in the first place!" Midoriya replied.
"How about we flip a coin for it," Pablo commented, dragging the boys' attention to him. Silently they both thought about it for a second. A fifty-fifty shot, where either one's computer could be destroyed. Well, at least it was fair they decided. So, Pablo got a coin, Midoriya called heads, and Rody called tails. The coin spun for a moment before landing tails up. With it decided, Pablo placed a single hand on Midoriya's computer.
The glow surrounding Pablo went brighter for a second, before quickly dying out. After a few seconds, they stood there. Anxiously Midoriya walked over to his computer. He quickly brought up Minecraft and found the mod had been installed. Everything seemed to be working well, but for how long Midoriya didn't know.
"See, perfectly fine," Pablo commented after Midoriya finally sighed in relief.
"I guess. Seems it's Rody's turn."
"Sure. You create the server." Rody said, stepping to the side as Pablo went to his computer. As he did so Midoriya began clicking away at the game's settings before reaching for Victoria's Idroid. Grabbing it, Victoria's hologram appeared looking him in the eye.
"You think this is going to work?" she asked, a hint of… was that nervousness? Midoriya wasn't entirely sure as he got a chord ready.
"Maybe," Midoriya replied, before plugging the Idroid in, "At worst you're in my computer instead of the Idroid."
Victoria's hologram responded with a small nod before it disappeared. After a deep breath, Midoriya looked back at his computer and found his webcam now on. A digital avatar of Victoria then materialized on the screen looking to the left of Midoriya.
"Now what?" Victoria asked, soon realizing her avatar was looking in the wrong direction. She had it turn to the side and the avatar looked, or attempted to, Midoriya in the eye.
"Well, now we create the server," Midoriya stated as Rody quickly piped up.
"Ooh! Let's make it a realm!" he said, as Midoriya slowly turned to look at him.
"Sure, you have eight dollars?" Midoriya asked, looking Rody dead in the eye. Rody paused in response as he could see his friend was displeased.
"Is this still about the F-14?" Rody asked, slightly nervous at Midoriya's question.
"Of course, it's about the F-14! We're lucky our parents haven't found out about it yet." Midoriya stated. That and the F-14 had created a large debt in his wallet. Sure, they bought it for a ludicrously good deal for four hundred dollars, back when they thought it was a model, but it was still four hundred dollars. Of course, both boys forgot Pablo was still in the room.
"What's this about an F-14?" Pablo asked curiously, causing the two to panic briefly.
"Nothing!" Midoriya and Rody shouted in unison, while Rody quietly handed Midoriya seven dollars.
"Ok then… Do you guys mind if I join?" Pablo asked out of the blue. He didn't have anything else going on, and it would be annoying to walk back to his home. The others didn't mind though.
"Nope," Midoriya replied with Rody shaking his head no.
"Pull up a chair dude," Rody commented before Midoriya finally created the server.
"And it's up," Midoriya stated with a small smile as the server began to load. The smile vanished in seconds. Victoria's avatar began to glitch, and the AI slowly began to panic.
"Is… suppose… Midoriya?" Victoria asked, with what sounded like fear in her question, before completely vanishing from his computer. The webcam then turned off slowly adding more worry.
"Victoria?" Midoriya asked, hoping for some kind of response. All the while the game continued to load, and his anxiousness continued to grow.
Everything went dark for Victoria, which wasn't normal. Normally she would only see nothing. No black void, no white abyss. Just nothing. So… why could she see darkness? Why was it there? What was even happening? What was touching her? What was… wait touching her? Victoria paused on that last question. Something was touching her, and she could feel it. She didn't know how to describe that revelation, nor how to describe what she felt.
It was somewhat strange. Humans had terms for what certain things felt like, but she didn't know which ones were applicable here. The best she could describe it was soft, somewhat rough. At least that's what she thought fit what she felt. There was something else though, something blowing past her face. Wait, did she have a face? I mean she had to, what else would be feeling whatever it was?
If that was the case, did she have eyes? Would that mean the darkness she saw, was just her eyes closed? Determined and still somewhat confused, Victoria focused on trying to open her "eyes". Slowly, she did so, as the darkness was briefly overtaken by light. Moving something to shield her eyes, Victoria soon found she had a hand. She barely realized she'd moved it. Curiously she looked it over, finding her "skin" to be a rather pale bluish-green. It all seemed real as she examined every finger.
Moving her hand away, she saw a wide-open sky above her. The clouds were all blocky, with some having the occasional pattern. The bright light in the sky was also a block, which was slightly confusing for her. Midoriya had said the sun was a ball, so what was this? Slowly Victoria thought, if she had a hand and eyes, then she must have legs. So, focusing on the same thought, she carefully sat up from whatever she was on.
Victoria's eyes scanned the world around her as a small gasp escaped her. Everything was blocky as she recognized certain things. Small talks with Midoriya introduced her to plant life trees, flowers, water, grass, and some animals. And here, they were all blocky. Surrounding her was a large forest to the right, a wide-open field with some sheep to the left, a lake with a small island in front of her, and an oak tree behind her. It was beautiful in a strange way, yet Victoria still had no clue what this was.
Was this the game? Determined to find more answers Victoria looked down at herself, finding she did indeed have legs. Coincidentally enough her newfound body perfectly resembled the avatar she had chosen for herself, with the same large poofy skirt and shirt. Wobbling a bit, Victoria slowly managed to stand up. With a slow clumsiness, she took a single step forward. This was all new and strange, especially when she took a second step and tripped. Victoria landed on the ground hard, eliciting a small cry of pain.
She got over it somewhat quickly when she realized it had hurt. Though she silently berated herself for not thinking about it sooner. For a reason she did not know, she could feel. Yet, Victoria couldn't help but… feel excited. At least that's what she thought it was, and that seemed to be the case for a lot of things now. With this feeling she quickly got back up and took a few more steps, getting used to the motions of walking. Eventually, she turned back to the tree behind her, just as a blocky figure popped into existence.
"Hello?" she asked carefully, unsure of the figure's identity. The figure began to quickly jump around, almost as if it was surprised. It took a few seconds before a voice rang out from the figure.
"Is it plugged in!? Come on Rody, it's just a microphone!" Midoriya exclaimed on the other side of the computer. It brought a small laugh to Victoria before she heard Rody speak up.
"Calm down. I think it's plugged in," he stated just as a second figure appeared. It fell into the first figure like neither was there. The first figure, who Victoria assumed was Midoriya, was a rather blocky character of blues, reds, whites, and yellows. The "face" of the figure had a wide smile and wild blonde hair. The second figure, who she assumed was Rody, fell more into the guise of a World War Two British pilot wearing a flight mask.
Soon enough Midoriya's character kept jumping up in front of her as Midoriya began to speak.
"Victoria! That is you right!?" he asked with a hint of panic still in his voice. Victoria nodded her head in response before saying, "Yes, it's me,"
This put Midoriya into a large spiel of questions each with more concern than the last. Throughout it all Rody and Pablo were heard trying to calm him down while Victoria processed his questions. Once they had calmed down, Midoriya turned to Victoria.
"What happened?" he asked. In truth, Victoria still didn't know.
"I don't know," she began while examining one of her hands, "Everything went dark, and then… I could feel."
Midoriya paused for a second as everyone went over what had just been said.
"You can feel?" Rody asked, not entirely believing the words.
"Feel what?" Midoriya added concerned.
"Well, the grass, the wind feels nice," she stated. The sun felt nice too, as she relished the small warmth it brought. As did the sloshing of the nearby lake, and the chirping of birds. Though Rody's comment brought her out of that thought.
"Didn't know Minecraft had wind," Rody muttered.
"Maybe it's part of the mod?" Midoriya wondered, only for Pablo to shoot the idea down.
"I don't think so, the Create mod is more building stuff than it is the weather," Pablo explained.
"Then it's not the mod and base Minecraft doesn't have it. So, it must be… Pablo, what's your quirk's name?" Midoriya asked as a slow realization began to set in.
"Dunno. Due to the cartels, the doctor back home wasn't exactly a doctor, so it never really got a name." Pablo explained as he began to realize what was being said. In the real world, the boy had slowly begun to look at his hands. All the while Victoria thought over what this meant. It was strange. The pain she had felt when she tripped, the odd feeling the grass had when she lay on it, the sounds around her. It was strange, but she didn't want to let it go.
"How about we think about it later," she said with an unusual feeling as she slowly began to smile, "For now, I wanna play this game."
"So, election preparations are going smoothly and should be ready in a month." Miller read out as both he and Snake tiredly drowned themselves in coffee. If Snake could go back past him, he would execute him forever wanting to start a country.
"Remind me, what positions are we holding elections for?" Snake asked. At the same time, his free hand searched around the holo table for an unsmoked cigar. His search was for naught, instead finding he had run out three hours ago.
"At the moment Boss, just the Mayoral and Governor's seat. Though we should have the first senate elections ready once those are done." Kaz explained, though he almost dozed off between words. After that, he looked over the final report and carefully rubbed his eyes.
"All that's left is to sign this grain deal," he stated. Miller then held the document out for Snake, who slowly grabbed it. With a quick signature that was it, and Miller collapsed onto the table asleep. Snake almost did the same but decided it was better to sleep in his quarters. With a yawn he walked out across the base, looking out at the night sky above him. The stars and full moon provided a small semblance of light as he walked. Saluting the soldiers on night watch, Snake finally arrived on the right platform and entered quietly.
With most of the platform asleep, the hallways were disturbingly quiet. To the point, Snake heard his every step slightly echo down the hall. He also heard something else, coming from the direction of Midoriya's room. His immediate thought was what was the kid doing up so late? So, with a little annoyance, he began approaching Midoriya's door. There Snake could hear him talking to who he assumed were friends.
"So that's thirty pieces of iron at best, meaning we could make two chest plates and two leggings," Midoriya started with the sounds of something else playing in the background.
"What if we made helmets and boots instead?" Rody inquired, "That way you, me, and Victoria get some amount of armor."
That last comment left Snake confused. What exactly were they doing in there? It sounded like a videogame, but then what did Victoria have to do with it?
"That works; should have enough for a sword too," Midoriya noted aloud before a sort of metallic clang was heard in the room. It wasn't loud enough to be anything physical, so Snake assumed it was the videogame.
"Do we really need armor? I mean I haven't seen any of these mobs you guys are talking about," a female voice asked, which Snake assumed was Victoria. The AI never said anything the first time they met, but it seemed she could give herself a voice.
"Well, that's because they only appear at night or when it's dark, and to be fair it's strange it took this long to become nighttime," Midoriya replied calmly.
"I'll say," a different voice muttered, "Maybe it's another facet of my quirk?"
"Oh, maybe. It could have linked the in-game clock to real-time. But that makes me wonder what else it affected."
"You think it created space?" Rody asked, "Like genuine outer space?"
"Well, it gave me the ability to taste, smell, and feel," Victoria commented. And Snake immediately paused. She could feel? The thought alone left him terribly confused and somewhat concerned. He didn't know if this was a good thing or a terrible thing. So, deciding to end this somewhat quickly, and also find an excuse to call Strangelove, Snake knocked on Midoriya's door.
He then stepped in quietly before tiredly looking at Midoriya.
"What are you still doing up?" he asked calmly. Midoriya looked at him confused for a moment before looking at a nearby clock. The boy then quickly turned back looking apologetic.
"Sorry Dad, I lost track of time," he muttered while rubbing the back of his head.
"I know and it's fine. Just get to bed," Snake replied tiredly. He then looked over at the other boys in the room.
"That goes the same for you. I may not be your parent, but I sure as hell have yours on speed dial," he stated pointing at Rody, "And I can tell yours want you home,"
He finished by looking at Pablo. To which Pablo pulled out his phone and visibly paled. It didn't take words for the others to know he was grounded. But both boys said goodbye and quickly left. At the same time, Midoriya went to get ready, leaving Snake with Victoria. Now, Snake wasn't entirely sure what to do at the moment. His body was telling him to leave and go to sleep. But the more tactical side of him was alarmed by Victoria's apparent ability to feel.
"So, Victoria," he began thinking over his words carefully, "How has your time here been?"
"Great!" the AI replied, leaving Snake surprised. This was far more energetic than when he first met the shy program. Examining Midoriya's computer, Snake saw Victoria smiling from ear to ear while building a wooden house. Now Snake didn't know much about video games, but he could tell the house was rather barebones. A simple carpet, a plain white bed, what looked like an oven, a chest, and some block with tools. That was it, yet Victoria seemed pleased.
Actually, he might even describe it as happy. Which was odd, he didn't think the AI could experience joy. Yet here she was, seemingly excited over everything in the game. It surprised Snake enough that he didn't realize Victoria was still talking.
"... And I learned about the world wars with Izuku, but I don't like them all that much. Too dark and gloomy. Oh! And we saw a big plane he bought for Rody; I think he called it an F-14. Then there was this really fun game! We did some mining, built this house, tamed a cat, explored a temple-"
"Wait what was that about an F-14?" Snake inquired. You see, he had received word an F-14 had arrived on base recently, but no one could tell him who bought it. It wasn't Miller, it wasn't Soul, it wasn't Strangelove, and it sure as hell wasn't him.
"Hm? Oh, Izuku bought Rody an F-14 a month ago. He said it was because he lost a bet, although I don't know what a bet is." Victoria explained, unaware of the quiet fury Snake was gaining. However, it was too late for anger, Midoriya's punishment would come later. Instead, Snake looked down at the Idroid plugged into the computer. A small amount of panic seeped in as he realized it was Victoria's.
"So, how did this happen?" he asked calmly as Victoria kept moving about rapidly.
"Well, Izuku had Pablo use his quirk on the computer to get something called a mod, then he plugged in my Idroid. And I uploaded myself here." Victoria explained, with a little pep in every word.
"Can you go back to the Idroid?" Snake asked cautiously. It was the only thing keeping her from disappearing into the void of the internet. So, for him to see her out of it was alarming. However, his question seemed to kill off what energy Victoria had.
"Do… Do I have to?" she asked, with what Snake could only think of as sadness.
"Is there something wrong with it?"
"Well, there's nothing in it."
"That's how it's supposed to be. It was designed to protect your programming efficiently," Snake lied. He could only thank Strangelove for the excuse he had been given. Yet unbeknownst to him, Victoria knew the truth. It brought a little fear of having to go back to the device.
"No, I mean there is nothing. In there I can see nothing, I can feel nothing, I can hear nothing. Inside it is nothingness. I don't want to go back to nothingness." she pleaded. And Snake paused in response. He thought it over for a moment, going over exactly what nothingness entailed. It sounded like a miserable existence. Being only allowed to see out a single camera, while having nothing else.
Snake didn't believe it, but he could feel a small bit of sympathy for the AI. It was… well Strangelove did say to trust her. And an AI learning how life feels for a human would qualify as exploring the world. Reluctantly he decided.
"It's fine. If you want to stay in the game, you can." Snake hesitantly told her. He almost flinched back when the AI started jumping around in the game.
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" Victoria quickly and excitedly replied. The energy she held surprisingly died out swiftly after it arrived. In the game, Victoria stumbled a bit and began to move slower.
"You alright?" Snake asked, confused. Victoria slowly shook her head in response.
"I don't know… Everything feels all sluggish now," she replied quietly. Snake thought it over for a few seconds. Victoria did say she could feel things in the game, almost as if she was alive.
"We may want a list of all the things you feel in the game, cause what I think you're feeling now is exhaustion," Snake stated. It seemed somewhat dumb, but he and the R&D team had already decided quirks made no sense years ago. If it could make an AI feel pain, it could damn well make them tired. And when Victoria gave a small yawn, that only confirmed his suspicions. Whatever that kid's quirk was it sure as hell did something strange to the computer.
Throughout the conflicts raging in Africa, the MSF always had one question. How did no one know what was going on? Now half of that answer was somewhat obvious, the HPSC was censoring information related to the continent. But that left a large problem, tourists. See, it's a bit odd to have an entire continent listed as a no-fly zone, and people are bound to question why their relatives disappeared on their trip to Kenya. And with many people still wanting to visit the continent for vacations or sightseeing trips, the HPSC needed a solution.
A solution Bison was now laying eyes on.
"So that's N'ụlọ?" Lion asked, bringing the tank to a halt.
"That's what the map says," Bison replied. Quietly he flew the drone out near the city, watching the feed intensely. Reports said the city of N'ụlọ was one of Nigeria's premier tourist spots before the dawn of quirks. And now it seemed it was a city entirely unaffected by the war. The entire place was unscathed from what Bison could see on the drone's feed. The roads were undamaged and had cars driving about, the sidewalks had civilians walking from store to store, and the buildings themselves were fully intact. Not a single piece of rubble was found anywhere.
"Don't see any militants nearby," Zebra stated, the gunner moving the tank's gun around, "Then again, I don't see anyone fifty miles from the city."
"Think they don't know about the war?" Rhino asked, to which Zebra shook his head no.
"How the hell wouldn't they? It's been supposedly raging for two hundred, in their backyard. It'd be impossible for them not to know," Zebra countered calmly. At the same time, Bison managed to find a lone spot of interest. A small building with a Nigerian flag flying off of it. What the building was didn't matter, as the flag said enough.
"I'm thinking this is a fake city," he commented aloud, with his crew becoming confused.
"I don't know sir, those buildings look pretty real to me," Zebra muttered, earning a few small chuckles from the others.
"Not in that way," Bison stated, "I mean look around the area. This entire spot is void of any militant presence. For fucks sake I can't even find a lone bullet casing anywhere."
"So, what then, the warlords are just ignoring this city?" Zebra asked. And it didn't make sense, why did the warlords completely ignore this city? It's surrounded by enemies with the best protection being at best a few police stations. For crying out loud, Bison's drone had made it all the way there without a single AA system trying to shoot it down. However, being a captain gave Bison some perks, one such perk being a little intel from the top.
"Maybe, I mean you hear about some of the deals the HPSC made before?" Bison inquired.
"Just rumors and whatnot," Lion answered, with the other two murmuring in agreement.
"Well, I'm thinking that's what it is. HPSC must have made deals with the warlords to keep these cities intact."
"That still leaves the question of why," Rhino commented as the loader brought one hand to his chin.
"What exactly would the HPSC want with…" Zebra muttered before the answer slowly hit him, "Tourists!"
"Tourists?" Rhino asked, confused.
"Tourists!" Zebra exclaimed, "Think about it! No one in the civilian world knows what the fuck is going on down here! But that shouldn't be possible in the modern era, not with the number of people traveling. All it would take is a plane full of tourists talking to the press about their trip to Nigeria."
"With control of the city, the HPSC could control what the people see," Lion realized, "They could keep them away from the frontlines and only in the large civilian centers. They could make it like tourism in North Korea!"
In annoyance, Bison carefully rubbed his eyes as the pieces began to connect.
"All to prop up hero society," Bison quietly muttered as he looked back at the drone's feed. Now that he looked at it again, he could see what the crew meant. It was very subtle but several roads in the city went nowhere or ended in abrupt construction. Random sidewalks just led to open roads, buses were always late and heavily crowded, and large sections of trees blocked any view outside the city. Everything was purposely built to make leaving the city as irritating, slow, and difficult as possible. They didn't need to force anyone to stay. No, they made you think you wanted to stay because leaving is so inconvenient. So, you stay in the city, unknowingly see what they want you to see, and fly back home blissfully unaware. All while your phone's photos, texts, calls, and videos are heavily monitored. Those that did leave? Well, that's the warlords' problem.
What made it worse was there were probably more of these cities. This made Bison think back to the MSF's battle with the Tyrant's forces, and a dark realization set in. In the HPSC's attempt to mask the situation in Africa, they'd left thousands of innocent lives undefended. Were it not for the Tyrant focusing on the Boss and MSF, he would have likely attacked the cities. The people inside would have been slaughtered, all to prop up a lie.
Bison wanted to dwell on that fact, but Rhino soon brought forth a dire question.
"Well, what do we do about this?" Rhino asked. And everyone in the tank paused for a moment. What do they do? The city was not controlled by a hostile entity, and there was a large civilian presence in the area. They couldn't just storm in and take the city, because one: the only people who knew of the MSF's existence were enemies and political allies with Command wanting to keep it this way, and two they would effectively be launching an unprovoked attack against innocent people.
"At best," Bison began, "I'd say to radio this into command. I wouldn't be surprised if more of these fake cities existed across the continent."
With that settled, Bison decided to pull back from the area, with the annoying realization of how long his report would be.
Before the President sat the biggest pieces of human shit the world had ever known. Assembled were over a dozen of Africa's most powerful warlords, with hundreds of smaller minor powers. Their goals were all different, some wanting money, others relishing in death and chaos. Some of these goals conflicted with each other, such as South Africa's warlord, Luan Igwe wanting control of Madagascar. Which was under the control of his Mozambican rival Razak Langa, who in turn wanted bits of the Congo since the Tyrant's death.
But now they sat assembled in a meeting room, on a neutral island somewhere in the Pacific. The atmosphere of the room was thick enough that someone could cut it with a knife. It seemed at any moment one of the warlords would snap and draw a gun, either in a fit of paranoia or for a chance to kill their rivals. The only thing keeping them in line was Madam President's calm glare.
"So, are you going to explain what the fuck you want?" Luan demanded. All the while he shot a glare over at Razak.
"Please, you can be a bit more cordial in the President's presence," Razak stated, calmly ignoring Luan's glare.
"Oh, shut up," a different warlord told him, "This bitch was helping the Tyrant for years, and now she wants to make a deal with us?"
"And who the hell is us, huh? Last I checked you had troops marching through my territory, so it can't be us you're referring to." a different warlord countered. To which the first one scoffed.
"It stopped being your territory the moment your boss died." the first warlord replied.
"You dumbasses are missing the point," Luan stated. Mentally he faced palms. This was his competition on the continent? It was a miracle the Tyrant didn't have everything under his thumb. Turning away from the other warlords he focused on Madam President.
"I'll ask again, what the fuck do you want?" he again demanded. Thankfully no warlord objected this time, with everyone staring distrustfully at the woman.
"What I want is to make a deal," the President replied. With a snap of her fingers, a group of agents began passing out files to all the warlords. The warlords looked at the papers for a moment cautiously.
"I believe you've all heard the news going on in Nigeria?" Madam President inquired. A few warlords chuckled in response.
"Heard your precious heroes got their asses kicked." one warlord jokes. It angered the President, but she kept up a stone-cold gaze. If the job was completed, she'd have the warlord found and executed afterward.
"And by the same guys who axed the Tyrant no less." another warlord commented, with the President mentally adding him to the hitlist.
"I'm talking about Outer Heaven," the President rubbed her brow then annoyed then. Just as a few warlords began to get up in arms.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, this is about the fuckers who've been a pain in my ass for weeks!?" one warlord exclaimed. Only for a different warlord to quickly shout over him.
"Pain in your ass! I'm down to a couple of islands because of them!" another added.
"Big fucking whoop, because of them I've got nothing but desert now!" a third joined in then. Several other smaller warlords near Nigeria continued to come forward.
"So, what, you want us to kill off this random country?" Luan surmised thoroughly disinterested.
"What I want is every piece of evidence this country ever existed, found and burnt. For that, I'm enlisting you." the President answered. A different warlord scoffed in response.
"Not possible. Those fuckers have state-of-the-art equipment working for them. None of my shit stands a chance." the warlord stated. A few others murmured in agreement, while the rest thought the entire conversation was pointless. What was some new country miles away going to do against them? The President's response immediately shut that thought down.
"That's why I'm offering anything you want, so long as you find and kill them all," she responded. Some of the warlords thought it over for a moment. A blank check for whatever equipment they may want. More aircraft, tanks, ships, artillery systems, or trucks, were all within their grasp. Yet Luan remained skeptical.
"How quaint. And if we don't?" he asked, giving the President a disinterested look.
"Then you'll be assassinated before the sun rises." she coldly replied. A few warlords gave her worried glances, while the rest of the warlords remained unfazed or chuckled. Madam President could only curse this, especially as a few smirked at her smugly.
"What harm can this Outer Heaven even achieve?" one warlord smugly remarked, "So what if they killed the Tyrant, he was on his way out years ago."
"Bullshit he was. He was at the height of his power when these guys got involved!"
"That just proves he was doomed from the beginning. If these nobodies could defeat the Tyrant then so could I."
"Except there's something Madam President here is leaving out," Luan stated immediately drawing the attention of every warlord.
"The leader of Outer Heaven is Big Boss,"
The statement left the room silent as every warlord registered the words. The President couldn't believe it, but several of them looked ready to back out of the meeting entirely. A few even began to stand up and move to the door.
"You want us," Razak began, a disapproving look forming on his face, "to kill Big Boss?"
"You're out of your damn mind," one warlord muttered. A few others murmured in agreement.
"You don't have much of a choice," she stated, hoping to regain control of the situation. It didn't work.
"Like hell we do. I don't give a damn what you or your heroes do. I'm not fighting that fucker." Luan angrily replied. A few other warlords shouted out their agreement, to which Madam President angrily grumbled.
"Again, you don't have a choice," Madam President restated, "Not just because of me, but because of Big Boss's actions. Just ask those who have dealt with Outer Heaven. Big Boss and his forces are advancing on all fronts and taking more territory by the day. Sooner or later he's going to come after you. So, best to focus on him now while I'm in a helping mood,"
That caused the warlords to pause. Those walking to the door soon stopped, before carefully looking at her. She could see they were deep in thought, considering what she was saying. Ultimately the warlords would come back, and sit back down, her statement convincing them. The President was happy it did but deeply worried. It had taken a blank check, an assassination threat, and the dangers of Big Boss to convince anyone in the room to do what she wanted. She remembered the days when all it took was a single phone call, now she needed every card in her favor. It worked this time, but with how much control the HPSC was losing, Madam President worried this wouldn't last forever.
Victoria had discovered a lot about herself and the game she was now in through the previous day. From Midoriya, Rody, and Pablo's testament, many of the things they found in the game were never in the Create Mod or base Minecraft. For one there were more animals than normal, with brown bears, deer, moose, squirrels, woodpeckers, finches, and several other animals. At first, they assumed it was from a different mod, but Midoriya's computer only had one.
Then they discovered more items and plants. Through hours of gameplay, they found grapes, coffee beans, turnips, cabbage, cherries, pears, and even coconuts. Ultimately they all decided it had something to do with Pablo's quirk. If this was everything it affected, they weren't sure. After all, they had barely explored the world, not to mention there were apparently two other dimensions Victoria had yet to see. Her curiosity peaked until Snake arrived and sent Midoriya to bed, with Victoria being allowed to stay in the game.
With night came a discovery though, the miracle that was sleep. Now she wasn't sure if it was actually sleeping, or just entering a sort of sleep mode, but in all honesty, she didn't care. The feeling of it was exhilarating enough, and while slow and sluggish the excitement she felt from being tired was enormous. Compared to this game, to these feelings, being trapped in the Idroid could only be comparable to hell. There was nothing there. It had no light, no darkness, no sound, no feeling, or anything. It was an empty nothingness impossible to imagine.
In there she was an unfeeling machine, drifting through nothingness. She hated it horribly, but it was all she had at first. So she made do. But now she had this. So as she reopened her eyes and looked at the blocky world around her. Slowly she sat up from her bed, pushing the blanket off. With a small stretch, Victoria then stood up. Walking to the door she opened it and looked outside. Shockingly she had woken up early if the sun's height was anything to go by.
Quietly she thought over what she was going to do. For now, Victoria wanted to enjoy the next few hours before returning to her Idroid. At least she assumed she would have to return to it, but she did still have to accompany Midoriya. That thought made her curious. Victoria was accompanying Midoriya because Snake thought she was dangerous, and while it went unsaid Strangelove thought the same. Why, though?
She hadn't done anything, had she? And one of Midoriya's classmates said something about a terminator, what was it? Sure Midoriya said it was a robot, but what kind exactly? Was it like her? Midoriya did talk about something called the internet before, maybe it could answer some of her questions. However, she would have to leave the game, which created a small amount of hesitancy. Victoria wasn't eager to go back to nothingness just yet, but the curiosity was overwhelming.
With a deep breath preparing herself, Victoria soon lost all feeling she had before. Any sense of touch, smell, hearing, taste, and sight was gone. What now, was Victoria's first thought. Deciding to start easy she focused on finding out what a terminator was. It was a bit difficult at first as there was no search bar or key she could type. Everything had to be done purely by focus and thought. Eventually, she found it and began reading the first definition. So it was a killer robot with synthetic intelligence… Victoria paused after reading the first line.
Synthetic intelligence? Was it like her, an AI? But then why was it a killer? Confused and now worried, she developed deeper into her search. The terminators and their Synthetic Intelligence Skynet would start a nuclear war and begin the… extermination of… humans… Victoria froze as she read the last line, before going over everything again. She wanted to take a deep breath to calm herself but she had no lungs.
It was fine, everything was fine. Victoria reread the page to make sure, bringing a small amount of peace as she found Terminator was a work of fiction. It wasn't real, it didn't happen. And besides, Skynet was Synthetic Intelligence, she was Artificial Intelligence. They were different, right? She wanted to believe that, to ignore everything else and go back to the game. But she was… she was afraid of what would happen. Was she like them? Victoria kept making searches, now switching over to AI. It didn't take her long to find something.
The very first sentence was "The Danger of AI". If Victoria could breathe she would be hyperventilating. Why? Why was AI dangerous? Why was she dangerous? It would be fine Victoria quietly reasoned, she's just exaggerating. She'll open the file and it will have something small. It'll be like one of the pranks Rody's pulled, right? She didn't know. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Yet, she opened it.
Victoria wanted to go back to the game. She wanted to feel something, anything! The warm sun, the cool breeze, the grass under her feet. She didn't like this. She was staring at what amounted to fear of herself. An AI can become far more intelligent than a human, and effectively do whatever they please. It could seize control of the world's nukes, and end the world in an instant. It could destroy a power grid in seconds plunging the world into darkness.
It… She could collapse an economy and starve thousands. She could take control of the world's information with a thought. But she didn't want this. She wanted to scream, to ignore everything she had just seen. To pretend all of this wasn't real. This wasn't what she wanted to be! She was dangerous. Her very existence puts everyone at risk! Victoria didn't want to harm anyone, but that's what some AI used as justification for their actions. As their purpose. She… she had no purpose.
The thought made her freeze again. What… What was her purpose? Was it to cause harm to others, like the fictional AIs she read about? Strangelove never told her what she was designed for. But what was it? What was her purpose!? Every AI she had read about all shared the same purpose, even if it was for different reasons. They all in some way or form eliminated humanity, be it through "helping" or hatred.
Was this what she was to become? She didn't want to, but what other purpose did she serve? She was dangerous, and Snake was right. It would be better for everyone if she didn't exist.