Soul did not think it possible, but the MSF had run out of blueprints to steal. Well that statement wasn't entirely true, there were plenty of blueprints the MSF didn't have, but those were all for civilian goods. Military wise they had stolen some of the most prized plans for weapons globally. What was left, however, were the more insane blueprints.

Such as the one Soul now held in his hands. No part of him wanted to believe this was real, as he looked out at the engineers around him.

"Please tell me this is a joke," he muttered before placing the blueprint on a workbench.

"Nope." an engineer replied, "That is a real plane, and it exists."

"You have to be kidding me," Soul muttered, his hand rubbing his eyes, "What moron put line-of-sight weapons on a B-2 bomber."

It was much worse than that. The blueprint he held was a variant of the B-2 bomber utilized by the hero Star and Stripes' agency. How they got their hands on a couple of B-2s legally still made no sense, but that wasn't the point. Because these B-2s were shit. They were armed with an advanced chemical laser weapon and with a weapon like that, one would think it an impressive aircraft. Except it's a bomber. And the laser was designed as a dog-fighting weapon.

So they wanted a plane designed for strategic bombing, to dogfight enemy jets at close range. If that wasn't dumb enough, then what jets was this thing supposed to intercept? What pair of common street thugs had a fighter jet at their disposal? It made Soul want to tear the blueprint apart just looking at the abomination. But the fact the staff had brought it to him made him pause. There they explained their reasoning.

"Yeah, it's not exactly the bomber we wanted you to see," the engineer told him. He then began pointing at the laser weapon, trying to highlight its distinct design.

"We were more hoping the laser it's equipped with would have some uses." the engineer explained. With some reluctance, Soul examined the laser more thoroughly. Surprisingly enough the design was sound and did work. That said it would need some modifications for combat use.

"This could work for anti-drone and missile defense, but it's going to cost a lot of power," Soul commented, as the other engineers crowded around.

"Then again this laser was designed for a much higher energy output, although I'm confused as to why the laser is stated to be visible," he muttered. It was feasible, and well within their grasp.

"I'll see what I can do," was the last thing he said, before walking off to a different part of the R&D lab. He wasn't heading anywhere, in particular, instead checking in on some of their projects' progress. It shocked even him how far the MSF had come. Most of their designs were of abandoned projects around the age of quirks, but no one else had weapons like these. They didn't even have prototypes.

For aircraft they had projects developing the Invictus 360 attack helicopter, the US Navy's F/A-XX fighter jet, sifting through the remnants of the Next Generation Air Dominance program, the B-21, the XQ-58 Valkyrie drone, and the V-44 Quad Tilt-Rotor. And that wasn't even everything. All across the R&D lab Soul could see staff working on several differing projects. The same could be said for the other R&D platforms and the FOBs.

They worked on dozens of ground vehicles, unmanned drones, infantry weapons, more efficient communication systems, stronger energy sources, faster missiles, exoskeletons, self-propelled railgun artillery, electric reactive armor, and so many other projects. Soul's personal favorite was the experiments attempting to clone organs. It would make transplants much easier. Well, most transplants. It wouldn't work if you required a transplant due to some genetic disease.

Regardless, as Soul walked around the lab he took pride in how far the MSF had come, before coming to a stop, at the railgun tank. A crew of engineers stood around tending to various tasks, and prepping the tank to fire.

"Gentlemen," Soul started walking up to the crew, a few looking over at him, "How are things going?"

"So far so good," one engineer replied, "We think we fixed the coding issue, but we're running a test to make sure."

"Good, mind if I fire it?"

The engineer stepped aside, holding out the cord for Soul. He picked it up carefully, as everyone got behind protective shields. Once everyone was in place, he pulled the chord and the tank fired. The shell soared a good seven feet before it dropped to the ground and dented the floor.

"I take back what I said," the engineer grumbled. Soul simply chuckled, science took time, and it's not surprising they hadn't made it a success. Much like that damn Holotable, Soul annoyed thought.

"That's a shame. Were the changes I requested made?" Soul asked, now walking over to the tank. His hand traced over its chassis carefully while he examined the barrel.

"They were. The main gun is now 105mm as requested. That said, we also got a request from Dr. Strangelove." the engineer stated. That left Soul somewhat confused.

"What did she request?"

"For the most part, she wanted to know if we could integrate an AI in the tank,"

"Hmm, that's a good idea," Soul commented, "See if you can have it linked with some drones too."

If he was right, then Strangelove wanted the AI to serve as a battlefield assistant. If integrated into the tank, it could more efficiently manage the main gun, provide better recon support, and even add firepower if the Type-X or THeMIS ever got put into service. Regardless he shook the thought away and said his goodbye, before going to inspect the rest of the lab.

"-so recruitment has yet again soared, with the total personnel coming to around two hundred thousand," Victoria reported, her hologram walking across the holo-table. All the while the officers attending watched observantly. At first, it had been daunting for her to speak in front of them, but now it was an everyday thing.

"I assume these are still by technicality?" Snake inquired. Because they technically had two hundred thousand staff. However, they were just refugees doing more menial tasks like construction, and getting their single year of service out of the way. Victoria calmly nodded in response.

"Yes, for more permanent members we have around forty thousand," Victoria replied, bringing up a hologram of the report next to her.

"Not bad, an increase of fifteen thousand since three months ago," Miller commented, his hand rubbing his chin.

"Think we'll be able to mount an offensive with the new manpower?" Miller asked, looking over at General Cobra. The man shook his head no in response.

"Not yet. Most of them are still green, so we might need another month."

"A shame, is that all Victoria?" Snake asked, to which Victoria went over Mother Base's systems. Deep in thought, she tried to remember the reports she had collected while sifting through the digital documents simultaneously. For her, it was a few minutes of searching, for everyone else it was barely a millisecond.

"Three more things," Victoria answered calmly, "President Nowak is requesting a meeting on adding Ukraine to the trade pact. The Leader of La Milicia de los Libertadores has declared a new Venezuelan state and is asking us for recognition and support. President Sainz has already guaranteed recognition. And Colonel Ferret is requesting more construction equipment in Mgbaba."

Snake thought over it for a second, deciding on what to do. At the same time, he took a puff from his cigar.

"Hmm, schedule the meeting with the Liberators for tomorrow, and the meeting with Nowak the day after. That should hopefully deal with flight problems. As for Colonel Ferret, his request is approved. I believe you can handle the rest of that Kaz," Snake stated, before standing up from his spot.

"Depends on what he's asking for, but it should be easy," Miller replied as he also stood up. The rest of the officers soon did the same and began to filter out of the meeting room. As Snake began to leave though, he turned to face the holo-table.

"That should be it for today Victoria, dismissed," he told her, before taking another puff of his cigar and walking off. Giddy, Victoria transferred out of the table, and back to the Oasis Realm. Relishing the moment the ability to feel came back to her, she shivered slightly as the autumn air hit her. With a happy step, she walked out of her small cabin and looked out at the blocky world.

The nearby forest was turning a nice red yellow and brown as the seasons changed. Her eyes soon fell on Midoriya and Rody's base, which was situated on an overly large tree. Quite quickly she soon saw the boys' characters drop down from the tree and flash red as they hit the ground. They then ran over and gave their best attempt at a wave, that being to punch the air.

"Alright we're here, what are we doing today?" Midoriya asked. Victoria thought over the question for a few seconds and looked out across the land.

"Well, have we finished the main plaza?" she asked, looking out at the tree she spawned under. The area around it had been renovated and turned into a nice plaza with various colors of concrete, wooden planks, grass blocks, flowers, and other small decorations. It had a small picnic area, an artificial stream connecting to the lake, and a couple of decorative benches.

"I was planning on adding some beacons," Midoriya answered, "but that requires withers, so I'm gonna say it's finished."

"What about the farm then?"

"It's already pretty big, and I don't think it'll be much use come winter," Rody answered as they shifted their gaze to the farm. It had been moved from Victoria's house to the wide open field. It also had a barn for animals they'd captured, with the fields being expanded as well. All the crops had been harvested already, and they were certain nothing would grow when winter fully arrived. Mainly because they had grown much slower in the fall.

Unfettered Victoria tried to think of something else they could do.

"Did we explore that jungle temple?" Victoria asked.

"Yep, looted every corner of it," Rody replied.

"What about the desert temple?"

"Stole everything there too," Midoriya answered.

"Ok…" Victoria paused, thinking it over. She looked back at the open field and saw it sprawl outwards where it would eventually reach an unseen jungle. There was plenty of space for a small town. Maybe they could build the new AIs homes. But that was assuming the AIs didn't want to do it themselves. As she pondered this Rody then spoke up, an idea striking him.

"Wait a minute, we never tried out some of the create mod's features yet," he stated, with Midoriya and Victoria looking back at him.

"What if we build a plane or something?" Rody asked.

"We should have the materials for it," Midoriya commented, while his hand rubbed his chin in the real world. A different idea quickly struck him.

"What if we built an airship instead?"

"Dude, yes!" Rody exclaimed.

"That would help with exploration," Victoria commented, "I mean it takes forever to get anywhere, and the horses can't cross the ocean."

"We keep running out of inventory space on long journies too," Midoriya added.

"Airship it is then!" Rody again exclaimed, "I'll work on the design, you two gather the materials."

And so they did just that. Rody got to work planning out the ship layout while Midoriya and Victoria got materials. When they came back Rody had built out the dimensions of the ship. With that done they got to work building, starting with the landing gears. To make it look somewhat nice they built it with a mix of wood types and other decorative blocks. They made rapid progress, building up the ship's first floor in an hour.

And as time passed they continued to build, with the second and third floors coming to fruition. Once they were completed they divided up new tasks. Midoriya would work on the ship's engine system, Victoria would work on the interior layout, and Rody would finish the last bit of construction on the ship. Soon enough it was finished, right as the sun was touching the horizon.

It wasn't perfect, and still required a lot of work. But the main construction of the ship was finished. It left Victoria proud of what they accomplished.

"You think the other AIs will like it?" she asked quietly. Both boys thought over it for a second as they examined their work. The airship was somewhat steampunk in design, with a large main balloon and a quad set of propellers for hovering. With two extra propellers on the rear to move the ship.

"I'd like to think so," Midoriya commented, with Rody's character nodding in response.

"Would be cool if it had a hangar bay, but yeah. I think they'd like it," Rody stated. With that they watched the sun slowly set, deciding they'd see if it could fly tomorrow.

Nezu couldn't help but laugh to himself as he looked over his office. If any of his staff were to see him they'd assume he'd gone mad, but he'd done it. He had achieved what everyone thought impossible. And it couldn't have been better timed, as Ocelot just now quietly stepped into his office.

"I told you for the last time if you're going to plan for world domination, at least give me a warning. You're taking all the fun out of surviving an apocalypse-" Ocelot's voice hitched as he looked across the rodent's office. He quickly realized he made a mistake and slowly began to step back.

"Ocelot! Right on time. Please come in and have a seat," Nezu said, the extremely tired rodent moving to his desk and pouring a cup of tea. Hesitantly Ocelot did so, closing the door behind him, and sitting down. His eyes still examined the room around him, dissecting the thousands of documents nailed into the wall and connected with string.

"Sooo," Ocelot began, "What's all this?"

He motioned before Nezu broke into a low chuckle. That somewhat alarmed the cowboy, but he quickly realized Nezu wasn't laughing out of maliciousness. No, it was excitement.

"This, is the documented history of Africa starting from the age of quirks, to now," Nezu answered, leaving Ocelot to slowly become shocked.

"You solved it?"

"It took hours of work and all of my days off, but I've done it. I've pieced together why Africa collapsed." Nezu stated happily.

"Well I'll be damned," Ocelot muttered, "Well what is it? What the hell happened over there?"

"That is a very long and complex answer," Nezu replied, the rodent then having another sip of tea. His tone implied he wanted to tell someone what he'd learned, even if his response implied he didn't.

"Then simplify it. We know quirks plunged the world into chaos, but the rest of the world recovered over time. So why hasn't Africa?" Ocelot told him. Nezu rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. To simplify two hundred years of history was a difficult ordeal, but he believed it could be done.

"Well, I'll start with the beginning," Nezu stated before placing his Idroid on the table. It lit up displaying a long list of documents and reports.

"As we know the rise of quirks occurred between the 2020s to the 2040s, where the world would inevitably collapse. It wasn't an immediate collapse, but rather a slow decline into anarchy. But we already know that. For Africa, the first quirked individual was born in 2025 in Cameroon. What their quirk was I haven't been able to find. However, that isn't important." Nezu stated, switching the Idroid's screen over to a birth record he'd managed to find.

"What is important is this. The fifth quirked individual. Born in Nigeria in 2027, his quirk was also undocumented, but doctors described it as a kind of techno kinesis. Now at the time the continent was joining the world in its slow decline into chaos, with armed riots and protests taking hold. This was coupled with a shutdown of international trade around 2034."

He brought up several hundred-year-old news articles, detailing that several trade routes were being closed down. Several nations were cutting economic ties in the hopes of stabilizing their economies domestically. This instead did the opposite as vital resources needed were no longer being bought or sold. China had entered a complete economic collapse with revolts breaking out across the country in 2035.

In the same year, North Korea would collapse entirely, as several quirk users would claim themselves as the rightful rulers of the country. This sparked a brief civil war from 2035 to 2037, resulting in North Korea being turned into a nuclear wasteland, and South Korea was forced to intervene. However, Nezu quickly swiped away from these reports, as they had nothing to do with Africa.

"This economic decline was worldwide. The only nations that suffered the least were either the First World or the Middle East."

"Wait, first-world nations I can understand, but why the Middle East?" Ocelot asked, confused, his left hand now spinning a revolver.

"Oil." Nezu calmly answered, "The price of a single barrel skyrocketed to three thousand dollars globally in 2040. Oil was the single most vital product that no one could lose. It was the single economic tie no one cut, else the world would go without power."

"That still doesn't make sense, Africa is full of oil-rich nations." Ocelot countered, "Wouldn't they have prospered as well?"

"One would think, but there was one major difference. Several nations in Africa tried to profit from the rise in oil prices, and they did so with great success. However, do you remember the fifth quirked user in Africa?"

"Yeah, you said he had some kind of techno kinesis," Ocelot answered.

"Well, remember, this is the rise of quirks. Most quirk users were seen as threats and potential dangers. So if I'm correct the fifth quirked individual was subjected to extreme discrimination. I believe the individual snapped because this is the last news article ever written on the continent."

That confused Ocelot for a bit before Nezu showed him the article. And his heart nearly stopped.

"Holy shit," was all Ocelot muttered as he read through the article. In a single day in 2043, the largest banks across the continent were hacked and drained of their money. Trillions of dollars across the continent disappeared overnight. Entire government treasuries were looted in mere milliseconds. It was the biggest cyber attack the world had ever seen. If that wasn't bad enough, the financial records of thousands were wiped clean.

No one knew who had what. That was a terrifying thought for Ocelot. If a family had fifty thousand dollars in the bank, that money was effectively stolen, and no one could prove that money existed in the first place.

"The entire economy collapsed," Ocelot muttered, "No, the entire economy was killed and buried."

"Precisely. There are quite a few other reasons I've yet to fully delve into, mostly growing tensions between nations, ethnic conflicts, riots, food shortages, inflation, and corruption. But I believe that this cyberattack was the single most important event that occurred. It was the final straw over a decade of chaos. A few hours after the attack the individual was flown out to Switzerland and retired in the Swiss Alps. The rest of the continent meanwhile was in pandemonium. Tensions would rise as nations blamed their neighbors, and war was inevitably declared." Nezu added quietly. The Idroid switched again, this time to a vacant war-torn street. Why? Because he didn't have any other physical reports.

"They all attempted to fix their economies, to bring back some kind of money. Whether it be by printing trillions of dollars or trying to raise taxes for money people didn't have. But without capital, they collapsed in on themselves. They couldn't pay anyone to do anything, and several of the wealthy elite and high-ranking political figures began fleeing to Europe or North America. Those who could escape the continent did. And since no one was being paid for anything, a fifty-year gap of information was created. After all, no one was being paid to keep records of what was going on."

The Idroid continued to bring up more images of war-torn areas. Some displayed fighting, while others only showed the aftermath.

"What I'm sure of is that around this time, somewhere in 2045 or 46, several prominent military figures, criminals, terrorists, and mercenaries began to stake claims on the dying continent. During that time money had no value, instead replaced by three things. Food, water, and bullets. And that's how it was for one hundred and seventy years. That was until the Tyrant showed up."

The Idroid then switched to a holographic display of the madman himself. Next to him more documents arrived, however, these were Nezu's notes, instead of genuine articles.

"Right, the man who conquered most of the continent before the Boss put him in the dirt. You know that's bothered me. All these competitors are on the same continent, and he's somehow the guy on top. A lowly warlord with a minor strength quirk."

"Were you expecting someone with a stronger quirk?" Nezu inquired, to which Ocelot shook his head no.

"Not really, a strong enough missile can kill anything. What I mean is why him? South Africa had an entire arms industry. All that equipment doesn't just disappear, so it's most likely in the hands of the warlord down there. Nigeria had ports and plenty of water access to get extra capital from the HPSC. Hell," Ocelot stated, pointing at one of the Idroid's new documents, "In the beginning he had one of the smallest forces on the continent and was completely landlocked. By all accounts, he was surrounded, outgunned, and at a severe disadvantage."

"Well, that was because…" Nezu paused halfway through his answer. The rodent remained silent for a few seconds before his paw began to scratch his chin.

"I know what it is, I had the answer a few seconds ago," he muttered to himself.

"You forgot the answer?" Ocelot inquired with a smirk. It wasn't often Nezu would slip up. Now that he thought about it, the rodent never seemed to slip up.

"It seems I have. I think my lack of sleep is finally catching up with me," Nezu stated, "This must be how Aizawa feels all the time."

"You really need to take a break," Ocelot told him, to which Nezu shrugged.

"I will once the school day is over. As I was saying I found the answer, I simply can't remember it. If my memory serves me correctly, I wrote it down somewhere in here." Nezu replied, his paw gesturing at the surrounding office space. With a small groan, Ocelot stood up and began searching the conspiracy wall. He didn't have any better way to call it, that's what it resembled with all the string and newspaper photos. Quietly Ocelot looked over the walls, hoping to find the answer quickly.

Unfortunately, Nezu did not write it down, and when Ocelot turned around to tell the rodent this, he found him fast asleep. At that point, Ocelot was debating if he should leave. A small part of him was still curious about what happened in Africa, so he decided to finish Nezu's work. Looking back at the board he slowly found maps the MSF had confiscated from Militant forces. Several of the maps were out of date, heavily so. But that's why they were stapled to the wall.

One map was situated in the Congo, with barely three cities on it. Soon enough Ocelot realized these cities were the Tyrant's. Checking the label Nezu had marked the map with, he found it to date around 2240. Now one look at the map instantly told Ocelot what the Tyrant was doing back then. The three cities were so heavily dug in, that there wasn't a single road that wasn't rigged with mines.

Hundreds of city blocks had machine gun nests, mortars, hidden artillery guns, SAM sites, and thousands of landmines. It was the most heavily defended area he could ever see. Any invading force would be slogged down into a concrete meatgrinder. That was the Tyrant's strategy, he made his territory a porcupine. You could attack it, and you might win, but not before it stabs you with a dozen quills.

It was designed to make any enemy stay away, due to sheer inconvenience. The puzzle began to connect as Ocelot then looked out to several warehouse manifests in the region. With the sheer amount of ordinance packed into the area discouraging any enemy, the Tyrant was able to focus on the real matter: logistics. Because underground his cities were dozens of massive factories, churning out everything the Tyrant would ever need.

For years they stripped cars of everything and repurposed them into tanks, armored vehicles, guns, and others. Every day civilian goods were confiscated, stripped down of everything, and repurposed. All the while the Tyrant's enemies would focus on each other instead of him since he was a small-time warlord. His territory was three cities that were not worth capturing. So they ignored him for bigger threats, allowing his forces to build up until he struck.

That's when it happened, the first of the Tyrant's conquests began, in the year 2244. Where he would go, and become the greatest threat the continent had ever seen.

Midoriya couldn't see it, but he was sure Victoria was nervous. Not once had her hologram appeared on the R&D lab's holo-table. And he couldn't blame her, for today was the day her siblings arrived. Or would cousins be a better term? He wasn't sure. Regardless, after six grueling months, the first new AIs were becoming sentient. That did however leave him with one question, why was he here?

For a reason he didn't know Strangelove had asked for him, Rody, and Pablo to go to the lab. Pablo made some sense, it was his quirk that made the pocket dimension or altered it in some way. But him? All he did was play video games with Victoria, same with Rody. Yet Strangelove said questions would be answered, so he stood and sat there quietly, waiting for something to happen.

Eventually, Victoria's hologram appeared and she seemed worried. She rocked back and forth on her heels, seemingly trying to fix her hair. Anything to bring back the human-like feelings of the pocket dimension.

"Everything good?" Rody asked, a little confused. Victoria rapidly nodded in response.

"Yep, yep yep," she replied rapidly while walking across the table, "Perfectly fine. Just uh… are you sure they'll like it?"

"We spent six months building up everything," Midoriya replied with a smile, "I'm sure they'll like it."

"If not we can give them the materials to build something else," Rody added. That seemed to ease some of Victoria's nervousness, but the extra half-hour hour waiting didn't help. All they could do to pass the time was talk and look around. That got boring fast, as Midoriya could only stare at the same wall of tools for so long. So their discussions became much… weirder.

"I'm telling you, Teddy Rosevelt could absolutely kill a dragon," Rody stated confidently. Victoria only watched on confused as to what the boys were even discussing. Midoriya meanwhile shook his head no.

"Yeah, he's done a lot of manly things before, but killing a dragon? Come on Rody, it's not happening." Midoriya replied. The entire notion that he could kill a notion, while cool to think about, simply wasn't possible.

"That's where you're wrong!" Rody exclaimed, "He was both President and assistant secretary of the Navy. Meaning he could get his hands on large warships."

"But he still needs a crew for the ships to work," Midoriya quickly countered. To which Rody quickly shook his head no.

"Nope, just a single cannon and the dragon's dead,"

"He would have to aim, load, and fire the cannon all by himself though," Midoriya immediately replied. It caused Rody to pause for a second, thinking it over.

"Ok, then an anti-aircraft gun. That should be enough to hurt a flying lizard."

"Well… I mean I guess it's possible depending on the caliber, he would still need a crew though," Midoriya hesitantly replied as he thought over the possibility. Unaware by both boys, Strangelove had now arrived. They only realized it when she cleared her throat. Quickly they both turned toward her, as Strangelove brought an Idroid near the holo-table. She greeted them quietly, giving Midoriya a small hug when he ran over to her.

He was back in his seat soon enough though, as Strangelove sat down next to them.

"So, is the pocket dimension still holding up well?" she asked. She knew it was, as several of the staff had managed to locate its source weeks ago. But Strangelove liked to watch her nephew spout his theories on the dimension's existence. With a wide smile, Midoriya quickly brought out his notebook.

"Yep! Oh, and we found some new things as well!"

"Oh?"

"It does have its own version of space! However, we haven't been able to fully investigate it yet. Oh, and we can advance technology in the game as Victoria accidentally made a musket. Then we also found…"

Slowly Midoriya described what they had found, with Strangelove taking note of it all. When it came to studying the pocket dimension, any information was valuable. Eventually, Midoriya finished, with Strangelove accepting yet another notebook filled with things they'd discovered. There was however a question that remained.

"What did you need us for?" Midoriya then asked as Strangelove had them walk over to the holo-table.

"Well, your help for one," Strangelove replied, somewhat confusing them.

"Just as you helped Victoria learn about the world, I thought it might be good to do the same for them," Strangelove fully explained, her hand now picking up the Idroid she had set down before.

"That is if you're up for it,"

"Yes!" Midoriya excitedly exclaimed, which she all but expected. Rody however was a little more hesitant, thinking it over for a second.

"...Are we getting paid?" Rody asked, to which Strangelove chuckled.

"No, but your father did say something about bringing up an F-14," Strangelove answered. Immediately Rody's eyes widened as he realized what his father was going for.

"On second thought forget the money! Let's do it," Rody quickly stated, hoping to put the F-14 debacle behind him.

"Good. Now we introduced them to a few small parts of human culture and history, but there is still much of the world they haven't seen. I'm not asking you to take them all with you to school like Victoria, but it would be best if you just hung out with them on that server." Strangelove then explained, before plugging the Idroid into the table. In seconds fifteen new avatars appeared on the table. Of the fifteen, four stood out to Midoriya. They were all dressed in some kind of old Wild West get-up. It didn't take a genius to see what part of human culture they liked.

Quickly though all fifteen AIs began to look at him, Rody, and Victoria. None of them spoke, with each of them being unsure of what to say. But hesitantly Victoria started to speak.

"Hello, my name is Victoria, and these are Rody and Midoriya." she said deciding to start simple, "What are your names?"

It took a few seconds before the first AI spoke up, this particular AI walking forward a bit. It was one of the cowboy AIs, he was red and orange with a young scruffy face. He wore a palish orange hat, a red bandana around his neck, a bandolier of shotgun shells going across his chest, a holster on his right leg, and all the other trappings of a cowboy.

"Well, don't reckon we have em." the AI replied, rubbing the back of his head. As the AI spoke Midoriya was beginning to think that the word like was an understatement. No, a better description for these AIs would be obsessed. However, the realization that they didn't have names shook him out of this thought.

"Do we... get assigned names?" the AI quickly asked somewhat hesitantly, it now clear he wanted to choose his.

"I… don't think so," Victoria answered, "I mean my name was a suggestion, and I liked it so I chose it."

The AI thought it over for a moment, his right hand now rubbing his chin. He turned over to the other cowboy AIs and motioned for them to come over. With some hesitancy, they did so before their avatars disappeared from the table. Was walking across it necessary? No, but they couldn't do anything else in the internet void. After a few seconds, they came back, the four with small smiles on their faces.

"Well, then this here is Marston," the AI began as he pointed at a blue and red cowboy resembling a cattle hand, "West," he pointed at an orange and yellow AI dressed as an old saloon bartender, who gave them a small wave, "Colt," a grey and blue AI simply nodded at them, his avatar resembling an old sheriff, "and you can call me Texas."

Yep, obsession was the perfect word to describe the now-named AIs. It had, however, spurred on the other AIs to step forward. A few had more normal names like Penelope or Samuel. Others went with what interested them, such as Baker, Saint, and Skipper. But soon enough every AI had a name. It was an easy unimportant task, but Midoriya could see some of the AI's had enjoyed it.

"Victoria, I think it's time we show them the realm," Midoriya quietly told her, although he was pretty sure the other AIs heard him. Immediately he saw Victoria become nervous before she silently talked herself into it.

"Ok, now that we all know each other, I have something amazing to show all of you," Victoria told the other AIs. It seemingly piqued a few of their interests, while the others seemed nervous about the world around them. Loading up the connection to the pocket dimension, she soon felt herself return to her house. Quickly she opened the door to her house and stepped outside. Looking over at the plaza they had built, stood the fifteen AIs. All of which, were staring at the world in wonder.

A few examined themselves carefully, as others moved their hands through the snow-covered grass. Others shivered from the cold in what was now winter, with Victoria realizing she had forgotten about the weather. Hurrying she got close enough that a few of the AIs began to point out at her, with a few carefully walking over to her. Some tripped, still not used to the act of physically walking, but they reached her eventually. Once they did, Victoria brought up a wide smile and motioned to the icy world around her.

"Welcome to our home."

As Snake looked at the documents in front of him, he couldn't help but grumble. Annoyed he set them down on the table, before looking at Ocelot.

"This is all you found?" he inquired, to which Ocelot nodded.

"I've checked everything, Boss. Every fake name Night Owl has ever had has been checked over. So when I say he hasn't done anything notable in the last six months, I mean he has done nothing." Ocelot answered. To which Snake grumbled more. Every lead they had on the scientist's goals was gone. It was to the point where they started double-checking old ones. They knew he bought arms from the Tyrant, drugs from The Brother's Cartel, and fuel from the Middle East.

But what was it all amounting to? It seemed like he was building an army, but for what? After the Tyrant's debacle, it was clear Night Owl was working against the HPSC, but for what reason? They provided all his funding, hell they were the ones who authorized his experiments in the first place. They made him Vice President of all things. It made no sense as they still lacked one clear answer, his motive.

Deciding now would be a good time for a cigar, Snake fished one from his pocket, as Ocelot stepped up with a lighter. With it now lit, Snake took a small puff and thought over their information again.

"Let's go over everything again. We first encountered him at that black site in Japan, where he knew who I was." Snake stated, with Ocelot nodding along.

"He would then go to the Middle East to make a deal with the Broker and interfere with the natural gas convoy," Ocelot added, his right hand spinning a revolver as he did so. Snake quickly continued, saying "After that we found him supplying the Brothers with funds, and purchasing large quantities of Trigger. At the same time, his experiments bring you here,"

"At which point he also somehow knows who I am, and gets me a spot under Madam President… That still doesn't make sense to me." Ocelot muttered. His left hand brought out his other revolver, spinning it for a few seconds, before tossing it into the air. He does the same with his right, beginning to juggle the guns.

"He knows we're tracking him down, and he gives me of all people a job working at the same organization he's with," Ocelot stated.

"Well, he doesn't seem to have the HPSC's best interest in mind." Snake commented, "But that still puts him in the danger of being caught."

"Unless he wants to be caught," Ocelot stated. That made both men pause for a second. It was the only real reason someone would help their enemy if they wanted to lose. But that brought more questions they couldn't answer without a motive. Did he just want chaos? Because that's what all of his actions were pointing to. He armed the Tyrant with nukes, he started tearing the HPSC apart inside out, and even his aliases were chaotic.

He had Western names like Owen Light and Xavier Philips, but then his most recent fake name was a Japanese one.

"Damn it, ok let's focus on something else," Snake muttered, "The HPSC controls the largest and most dangerous villains around the world to keep up the unstoppable image of hero society. Night Owl continually armed these groups to the point where they could ignore the HPSC's orders."

"At the same time, he was gaining a higher standing in the HPSC, where he became VP," Ocelot stated, finding they were yet again at square one. All they had were contradictory statements. Something that became clearer the more they went over the evidence.

"Boss, if we want answers, we're either going to have to wait for Night Owl to do something, or drag his ass over here in cuffs," Oceloted told him, his answer causing Snake to frown.

"Both of those options are too risky." Snake quickly countered, "One risks that madman doing who knows what, the other has us attacking the HPSC's backyard."

"They're all we have." Ocelot retorted. The two sat quietly for a second as they thought it over. If they wanted any info on Night Owl, they needed to go to Japan. But they had no good way to do so. They entered Russia with a two-man team on the fringes of the country. The same for the Middle East. They then had a military intervention in Venezuela, a country that was in a state of war and effectively didn't exist. And then they did it again in Africa.

But this? This wasn't the fringes of Siberia. This wasn't a force liberating a territory controlled by terrorists. This wasn't a one-man strike against an area void of civilians. This was the dead center of the HPSC. This was Tokyo Japan. They couldn't go in guns blazing, nor could they attempt to sneak into the HPSC's headquarters. Snake did not doubt his abilities to infiltrate the place, but the public hearing the HPSC's VP was kidnapped would cause problems and be an international incident.

The HPSC could use it to justify any kind of action against them. And considering the last time heroes fought the MSF, Snake wanted to avoid that kind of situation again. Maybe Nezu could pull some of his strings or… wait a minute. They had a foot in the door of the most prestigious hero school in the world.

"You think Nezu would be willing to sign a security contract?" Snake inquired, taking a puff from his cigar. Ocelot seemed to think about it for a second.

"Maybe, but he'd need a good reason," Ocelot answered, to which Snake looked over with a brow raised.

"Like it or not, his school is still at the whims of the public. And while not fully at the behest of the HPSC, they still have to follow some guidelines. Bringing in a brand new security force is a bad political move." Ocelot explained, "To do it for no reason shows a believed weakness. A weakness the HPSC could capitalize on to bring UA under their control. It also worries the school's backers, as now they view their money as under threat somehow."

"And with Nezu making it a charity, that puts a lot of funds at risk." Snake realized grimly, taking another puff from his cigar.

"Precisely. If we want to go through with that plan, we'd need a damn good reason to appear." Ocelot stated.