Snake had no idea what was going on as he ran past the surrounding soldiers. Paz had just informed him something was happening on the medical platform, now he found someone had issued the order to evacuate. What made it worse was he didn't know if he should rescind that officer's order. He simply didn't know what was going on, so Snake ran. Reaching the platform, he found several teams of soldiers sitting about.
Defenses had been set up in the halls, and the troops manning them held some semblance of worry. A few looked over at him before one finally stepped forward.
"Report?" Snake demanded.
"Possible cyber-attack sir, we're not sure if it's a quirk or a hacker." the soldier stated, as the two entered the facility. Inside Snake found more defenses set up, with the entire area in darkness. The only light was supplied by an occasional flashlight.
"And the machine guns?" Snake asked.
"Precautions for teleporters, sir. We were ordered to stand down though." the soldier explained.
"No one can tell me what the hell's going on so keep those guns up," Snake ordered, "I was told Dr. Strangelove was sent over here."
"Yes sir, she entered the main facility a few minutes ago." the soldier replied. A few minutes later the pair found a member of the R&D team waiting outside a lone room. The room had a shred of light, but not enough for Snake to see inside. The soldier looked over at the pair, before saluting Snake. The first soldier, realizing his work was done, turned and went back to his post.
"Boss, Glacier Bat," the soldier introduced.
"Soldier, is Dr. Strangelove in there?" Snake asked, pointing at the nearby room.
"Yes sir," Bat replied. Snake moved to open the door before finding it locked. He tried to force it open after a few tries but stopped when Bat spoke up.
"I wouldn't do that sir, we tried earlier but Dr Strangelove said she needed us out here."
"Did she specify why?"
"No, just shoved us back out here and locked the door."
"Well," Snake commented, "Seems we're waiting then."
He pulled out a cigar then, and quickly lit it. The small flame lit up the hallway for a few seconds before it went dark again. With a cigar in his mouth, Snake looked over at Bat.
"So, do you at least know what's going on? Boys outside are saying it's a cyber-attack, others are saying it's a quirk." Snake asked.
"I'm not entirely sure Boss. Before Strangelove went inside, she said it wasn't a quirk. Could still be a hacker though."
"Great, so all that time wasted on a pointless evacuation," Snake muttered. No one on the platform could coherently inform anyone what was going on. Now some patient in need of a lung transplant is possibly dying for their incompetence. Someone was getting demoted for this chaos if not court-martialed. Regardless of who was receiving the blame, Snake could only wait for Strangelove to report back. Hours would pass as he waited outside, as his watch provided the only knowledge of how much time had passed.
Though in the darkness he could barely tell the numbers apart. In all that time Snake burnt through four cigars. Eventually, he gave the order to stand down, once he was certain there would be no teleporters. Snake kept the platform empty though. For a reason unknown to him Strangelove had kept the base's electronics shut off. It had to be a valid reason, so everything was kept off. It was only when sleep was about to take him, that the room's door finally opened.
Out stepped Strangelove who looked worse for wear. She looked tired, horribly so, but whatever it was that was going on was over. Carefully, Snake stamped out his fifth cigar as Strangelove quietly approached him.
"What happened?" he asked.
"The biggest advancement in AI research since the creation of Peace Walker," Strangelove answered, leaving Snake flabbergasted by the response.
"I'm going to need a longer explanation," Snake told her.
"I'd explain it if I could, but I'm not entirely sure how it happened. In the simplest way I can put it, the Medical Team's Viral Intelligence Computer managed to gain sentience." Strangelove replied. The comment left Snake shocked as he processed her words. It had become sentient? A small feeling of worry began to build up in him. The last AI they'd dealt with almost nuked a country, and that one couldn't form coherent thoughts. ZEKE at the very least had to be ordered to do something. But a sentient AI? Snake didn't trust it.
"That thing is dangerous," Snake stated a frown present on his face.
"That thing has a name," Strangelove countered.
"You named it?" Snake asked surprised.
"Sort of. All I gave was an idea, it was her choice to accept it." Strangelove replied.
"Her?" Snake asked suspiciously. Wordlessly Strangelove held out her Idroid where its hologram lit up. Now what would normally occur is a small screen forming at the device center. Instead, the pale blue light the device emitted shifted to the form of a girl with short hair, a pale complexion, a large poofy skirt, and a shirt with equally poofy sleeves. It was an odd choice of clothing, but the sight of the AI alone surprised him.
"Snake, this is Victoria."
The AI gave a small wave but ultimately remained quiet. That worried Snake, as he couldn't tell if the AI was being genuinely shy, or if this was all an act.
"OK, what's the plan for Victoria here?" Snake inquired, hoping to sound as non-threatening as possible. He didn't want the AI knowing he didn't trust it.
"Well, I planned on having her hang out with Izuku temporarily. Allow her to learn about the outside world a little." Strangelove explained. Snake's face soured for just a second after Strangelove finished. Whether the AI noticed he was unsure, but Strangelove certainly did.
"Snake, trust me. I know what I'm doing." Strangelove told him. That was a lie, he knew it was a lie. There was no protocol for this, no precedent they could refer to. It was just like when they first entered this dimension. The best material they had for reference was science fiction stories, of which half ended with nukes. But Snake was out of his depths in this situation, more so than Strangelove.
"I trust you," he relented. What went unsaid but understood by both was the silent warning he'd given. While he did trust her, if this program went rogue, he would destroy it.
One of the things Snake had forgotten about, was the Idroid's microphone. So, when he stated Victoria was dangerous, she had heard it. It left her confused. Why was she dangerous? She hadn't done anything, at least she thinks she hasn't. All of this was confusing, even after the talk she had with Dr. Strangelove. To know she wasn't real answered a few of her questions but… now what?
She wasn't real. What purpose did she have? She could think but did that matter? Did she want it to? She didn't even know if she qualified as alive. She had no beating heart, no lungs to breathe air, and no skin to feel the wind. She couldn't even see anything. She could hear what she assumed were her thoughts, but she couldn't see anything except through the Idroid's camera. Inside the device, there was no endless black void, no eternal white valley. There was nothing. She could see neither light nor darkness.
There was nothing. Victoria didn't realize it, but hours had passed. It had been mere seconds for her, but the outside world had become active again. She was only dragged out of her stupor when Strangelove's voice was heard on the microphone.
"Victoria?"
Hearing her name Victoria projected herself onto the Idroid while using the device's front camera to see. It wasn't the best angle, only allowing her to look up at the ceiling but it was something. She saw Strangelove and someone she didn't recognize. He was male like Snake, with small freckles on his face and green bushy hair. Victoria could have sworn his eyes sparkled as he looked at the AI curiously.
"Victoria, this is Izuku. You're going to be with him for a few days."
Going through the Idroid's database, Victoria synthesized a voice she thought fit her.
"Hello," she greeted quietly, her hologram giving Midoriya a small wave.
"Hello!" Midoriya greeted a little more eager, however, he quickly flinched back as he chuckled to himself.
"Sorry if that was off-putting, it's just this is so cool! You're a real AI!"
Victoria was a little surprised by the boy. She had expected all humans to be more reserved like Strangelove and Snake, but it seemed that wasn't the guess.
"It isn't that cool," Victoria replied, her hologram rubbing the back of her head. That's what humans did, right, she questioned. And it wasn't all that cool, she wasn't real after all. She was a little surprised when Midoriya gasped at her response.
"Of course, it's cool! You have access to all human knowledge; you can effectively be smarter than a human! I mean the things you could do are almost limitless." Midoriya stated before he quickly turned away. The Idroid's camera couldn't exactly see what he was doing but it sounded like he was looking for something. Seconds later he came back over with a notebook.
"Like here, you could manage an entire financial company by yourself. Or you could pilot a spaceship in ways a human can't, or even fly a plane better than a human!" Midoriya exclaimed.
"I resent that!" another voice yelled out from somewhere in the room.
"Rody you've tried it for the eighteenth time now!" Midoriya shouted back.
"That computer is running out of tricks, I'll win eventually!" Rody retorted. Midoriya shook his head, but it didn't seem like he was angry. Instead, his mouth curved upward, leaving Victoria somewhat confused.
"But anyways, you shouldn't put yourself down like that when there is so much you can do," Midoriya stated with a small smile. It was odd for Victoria, causing something to stir inside her. She didn't know what it was, or how to even define it. But it seemed nice, she just couldn't tell what it was. Still, spurred on by Midoriya, she made her hologram give a small smile.
"A sentient AI," Nezu mused with an intrigued smile, "how fascinating."
"I prefer concerning," Snake countered over the call. The moment Strangelove had handed Victoria to Midoriya, a new meeting was called into motion. Nezu and Ocelot weren't in person, but that didn't mean the rodent would miss out on this.
"Boss it's only been a day. All we need to do is let Victoria learn about the world around her." Soul countered. He had been quick to accept the news Strangelove brought forward. Sure, there was a little caution, but he ultimately didn't seem worried.
"It would only take her a few seconds to crack the world's nuclear codes," Snake countered, "Have we all forgotten Peace Walker? Nezu, didn't your school have a robot rebellion?"
"Well… not exactly," Nezu replied, "None of UA's robots possess sentience. That rebellion was more of a glitch in their programming. The zero pointer thought it was still conducting an exercise hours after it had ended, and All Might eventually had to get involved."
"Then why do they keep talking about killing me off in the next revolt?" Ocelot inquired from across his desk. It had happened more than once and in varying forms. Sometimes the robots talked to themselves about some list they had created. Nezu seemed to find the question amusing though.
"I may have had them programmed to say those things. It's hilarious to watch some of the students silently panic," he answered with a lit chuckle.
"So, this entire time it was nothing but a prank? I wasted all that time prepping." Ocelot muttered. He had spent weeks hiding food and ammunition across the country in between his investigation and spying. Now it was all for nothing.
"Regardless Snake, from what I've gathered, I have to agree with Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Soul. The best way to know Victoria isn't a threat is to let her discover the world." Nezu stated.
"And if she decides to do what's 'best' for humanity? I mean what were those rules of robotics?" Snake asked, "What if we instituted those?"
"The rules are a robot may not harm a human, a robot must obey a human, and a robot must protect itself unless it violates the first two rules. The problem is these rules don't work for normal AI, let alone a sentient one." Nezu countered.
"It's true. A nonsentient AI would take all those rules to the literal extreme, while a sentient AI would find loopholes." Strangelove added.
"What's the extreme of not being able to harm a human?" Snake asked confused. It sounded perfectly reasonable to him.
"Well, a nonsentient AI would take that to heart, don't harm a human. But then it realizes if it doesn't help a human in need that it is harming a human. The nonsentient AI could then decide based on its programming that it has to help all humans regardless of need. But that brings conflict as we humans are rather vile creatures like every other animal on this Earth. We kill each other, rape each other, kidnap, steal, or enslave. An AI would see this and decide maybe the best way to help humans is to dictate everything for us. Subsequently, the second rule is now ignored because the first rule takes priority. But humans are chaotic and random, too hard to fully control and predict. So, the AI could decide to put them in a coma or cryogenically freeze them, or any number of options. All to help humanity." Strangelove explained. Nezu heard Snake grumble on the other end.
"That doesn't make the plan seem any more appealing," Snake replied, with Nezu hearing him flick open a lighter.
"It seems to be the only one," Strangelove stated, "When I first talked to Victoria, it was like talking with a child. She knew nothing of the outside world or anything. She possessed no concept of morality, life, emotion, or death. Yet, she held a curiosity I could only compare to Hal's. With that curiosity, I can see a chance to teach her empathy."
The call was silent as Snake thought over Strangelove's words.
"I still don't like her being near Izuku," Snake muttered.
"Better she be learning about the world through the eyes of a child, than of a grizzled soldier." Strangelove countered to which Snake silently agreed.
"I know, just keep the thing under watch."
With that, the call came to a slow end, with Strangelove explaining her suspicions about how Victoria gained sentience. Nezu found it all very informative, but alas the call ended far too soon for his liking. It would seem Strangelove's notes would have to be added to the mounting pile of documents Nezu had yet to go over. It was a shame really, everything kept stealing his attention away from them.
"Woah!"
"Is she real?"
"She looks so cute!"
"Guys, come on you're crowding her," Midoriya stated, his classmates carefully backing away from his desk. A few apologized with a chuckle while others continued to look at Victoria. When Strangelove had dropped the AI off, she never really explained what he was supposed to do. Only to have Victoria hang out with him for a few days. If that entailed bringing her to school, Midoriya didn't know. But he did it anyway, which drew the attention of everyone in class. Victoria for her part, didn't shy away. At least her hologram didn't.
"It's fine," Victoria told him, "So this is school?"
"Yeah," Midoriya replied, before holding up the Idroid. Slowly he moved the camera around, letting her see the entire classroom. A couple of his classmates waved as he did so, wanting to appear friendly to the AI. While Midoriya didn't see it, Victoria focused on his classmates. They all looked so unique to her. All varying heights and skin tones, some with strange mutations, others not even looking human.
It was interesting to look at. Soon enough though Midoriya set the Idroid back down, with his classmates scooching a little closer.
"Can you see us?" one classmate asked.
"Only through the camera," Victoria replied.
"What about your appearance? Is that the only outfit you have?"
"I can my appearance, but I like this look," Victoria answered.
"What do you think of Terminator?" another classmate asked before someone slapped him.
"Ow!"
"Don't ask her that idiot!"
"Why not!?" the classmate countered, not noticing Victoria's avatar change. Its face shifted over to a confused look, as it turned to look at them.
"What is Terminator?" she asked. Carefully Midoriya thought up a response.
"It's a robot from a movie," Midoriya replied, deciding it best to leave out a few certain parts. Victoria's avatar nodded in response, before the look of confusion returned on her face.
"Oh… what's a movie?" Victoria asked. Midoriya was about to answer when Mr. Musa stepped into the classroom. The teacher had a smile on his face as he walked over to his desk and looked out at the class.
"Good morning class, how have you all been?" he asked, before sitting down in his chair. A general murmur erupted from the class as all said they were good in some way.
"Good, good, now Rody should be here right…" he trailed off looking down at his watch. Seconds later someone was heard running through the hall rapidly approaching the class's door, while Mr. Musa held up one hand.
"Now,"
"I'm here!" Rody exclaimed out of breath with Pina flying next to him, right as the bell rang.
"That you are, and on time too. Seems I've lost the bet then," Mr. Musa stated, before handing Rody a five-dollar bill. It was the easiest way to ensure the boy made it to class on time. Rody accepted it quickly before heading over to his spot next to Midoriya.
"Didn't expect you to make it," Midoriya quietly told him.
"Neither did I," Rody replied, "In hindsight, playing Project Wingman Monarch at three in the morning was a bad idea."
"You're usually up till four," Midoriya commented, watching as Pina stashed the money away in Rody's pocket.
"Dad caught me," Rody explained before looking back at the front of the class. Luckily Mr. Musa was still getting ready, writing the words World War Two in bold on the class's whiteboard. It was faint but Midoriya heard him mutter, "One of these days I'll get a digital board" before Mr. Musa turned back to the class.
"Now if you all remember, a good portion of the world was still recovering from the Great Depression and… Midoriya what is on your desk?" Mr. Musa asked, quietly examining Victoria.
"Oh, this is Victoria." Midoriya replied, holding up the AI's Idroid carefully, "My aunt told me to take her with me."
"Will she be a distraction?" Mr. Musa asked.
"No sir," Midoriya replied.
"What is World War Two?" Victoria asked her camera angled just enough to see the board.
"Guess I'll treat this like another class day then," Mr. Musa muttered to himself, before getting back on topic, "But to answer your question, World War Two was a massive conflict in human history, spanning from 1939 to 1945. As I was saying before though, and this is important so make sure it's in your notes, the world was still recovering from the Great Depression…"
And so, Victoria sat there, listening to what Mr. Musa said curiously as Midoriya took notes.
Arno tried his best to calm his breathing while wiping away the sweat from his brow. Around him in the dead of night, his family remained quiet, his son and daughter hiding in the back seats of their stolen car. His wife, meanwhile, kept hold of a pistol with shaking hands. They had spent weeks, heading North from South Africa. All in search of a rumored refuge. At this point, anything was better than the back-breaking labor back home.
"Are we there yet?" his son Neville asked quietly.
"Almost," Arno's wife Nadine told him.
"You always say that," Neville muttered.
"I know buddy, but we're almost there," Arno stated, his eyes still firmly on the road. Every second was a nightmare for him as he drove forward. At any second their car could hit a mine, or the region's militants could stumble upon them. Yet they had no other option, so Arno kept driving. Any slight bump he saw in the road he went around. Any tall brush he didn't trust, he avoided.
They had gotten this far; they could make it. That's what Arno told himself. They were almost there. Just a little more driving and they'd make it. Then he saw it, lights in the distance. His heart stopped in a panic when he realized it was a checkpoint. Was it a refuge, or was it, militants? He didn't know.
"Honey?" Nadine inquired.
"It's… we'll be fine," Arno stated, slowing the car down. The dark shrouded the checkpoint's guards, the only way he would learn their identity would be by getting closer. He didn't like the idea, so he put the car in reverse before a flare was shot into the car. Shouting was heard from the checkpoint before one of the guards grabbed a megaphone. All the while Arno's kids silently panicked in the back seat, afraid of what was going to happen next.
"[Unidentified vehicle stay where you are! Fail to comply and we will open fire!]"
Arno could barely understand what was being said before the guard with the megaphone spoke again this time in English. The message was received though, as Arno took his hands away from the wheel, and put the car in park. All the while his wife tried to comfort the kids. The land went quiet for a few seconds, as Arno waited for the guards to do something. Seconds later he heard a faint whirring circling them. Looking out the window he couldn't tell what it was but refused to move for the wheel.
The whirring disappeared seconds later. Outside Arno saw two guards begin to approach the car. His breathing hitched as he tried to calm his nerves. The quiet whimper of his kids made him subconsciously reach for the rifle behind his seat. He only stopped when the guards got too close. If they saw him reaching for a weapon, they would shoot him. The first guard walked over to the driver seat, while the second went to the car's trunk.
The first guard tapped the window carefully, before signaling Arno to lower it. Calming himself, Arno complied.
"Name?" the guard asked.
"A-Arno Galgut," he answered. The guard looked around the car carefully, his eyes falling onto Arno's kids and wife.
"This your family?" the guard asked. Arno began to regret his choice to flee with his family. They were going to die.
"Yes," he answered, still trying to calm his nerves.
"Hmm, mind opening the trunk for us?"
Wordlessly Arno did so, unlocking the back of the car. The second guard was heard rummaging through the back. What he was searching for Arno didn't know.
"Now do you have any weapons in the vehicle Mr. Galgut?"
"Just a pistol and a rifle."
"Alright, and what's your purpose here?"
"Here? Well…" Arno quietly thought over his response, "I heard there was a refugee site here."
The guard took one look at Arno before turning over to the second guard. The second guard said something he didn't hear, but the first guard nodded in response. The first guard quietly looked back at Arno and rummaged through a small bag. Carefully the guard pulled out a set of papers and held them out for Arno.
"Alright, you're going to need these forms at the city's entrance. All you need to do is stick to the main road and keep heading straight. There you'll find a processing center where you'll turn in those forms. Now, have a good night, and welcome to Outer Heaven."
Arno couldn't believe it. As he processed the guard's words, he couldn't believe it. Even as his wife teared up next to him, he was still convinced this was a lie. But he felt the paper in his hands, this was real. They had made it.
Madam President couldn't believe it had come to this. Standing in front of the large crowd of reporters, with Techno to her right, and Night Owl to her left. Out of hundreds of applicants for the Vice Presidency, only Night Owl remained. The rest were too afraid to keep running or were dead. To think this is who would be the next VP, made Madam President worried.
But the show had to go on. The message about what happened to the last VP would only be credible so long as the press had a replacement to distract them. So, clearing her throat quietly, she leaned forward to the microphone.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this has been a long time coming, but I and the HPSC's board have come to a decision. After rigorous searching and hours of interviews, we have decided on the next Vice President of the HPSC. So, I welcome and congratulate Nagai Okitatsu, on his promotion."
She stepped to the side before giving Night Owl a small bow. Silently she thought over the man's many fake names. None ever made any sense, as sometimes he went with a Western name, and other times like now it was Japanese. Regardless Night Owl returned the bow and stepped up to the podium. The scientist's normally mad smile was subdued, instead giving off a fake friendly air.
"Truly, I cannot thank everyone who helped me reach this position enough. It took a lot of work to get here, but there is still more to be done. It's why…"
Night Owl trailed on giving the reporters the same speech most personnel gave. It never really said anything but was changed just enough to appear different and have people bickering over nothing. A vague stance on some issue that answered no questions, a statement on a policy that was barely a thing, a condemnation of a villain organization that had been condemned a thousand times before. That's what it was though, a nothing speech, yet people ate it up.
Soon enough the press conference came to an end, and everyone left the room.
"I think that went rather well," Night Owl commented, his wide smile coming back to fruition.
"You kept smiling like a maniac. The press is going to latch onto that quickly." Techno retorted, the man scanning over the internet with his quirk.
"Who cares? They can tarnish my reputation all they want, but I'll just claim I was following All Might's example," Night Owl countered as he began to walk out of the room. As he did so Madam President began to speak up.
"Night Owl, if you damn this organization, I will have you gutted," Madam President warned. Too much of the world had already turned against her, she didn't need the HPSC doing the same.
"Oh, Madam President, I'm hurt you would think me capable of doing that." Night Owl replied. This was good though she determined. The HPSC had a new VP, and with it, some of the damage done by Poland could be fixed.
"Madam President requested this?" Director Liu Jun asked confused. You see, Liu Jun was the director of China's National Space Administration. The only thing the CNSA had been used for in years, was to launch replacement satellites over the years. The HPSC had influenced the Chinese government to divert billions from the program to heroics for decades. They were now defunct like the rest of the world's space programs, hanging on to relevance by a thread only.
So, he was surprised when the newly appointed Vice President began calling him.
"She did and wants to know if it can be done." Night Owl stated calmly. Liu went over the blueprints the VP had sent him. Everything designed was in the realm of possibility. But why this specifically? The implications of its use and construction were quite frankly alarming.
"Well, the blueprints you sent all seem in order." Liu stated, "But what does the HPSC even need with this?"
"That isn't important. Now again, can it be done?" Night Owl asked.
"Unless we get an extra four hundred billion, I'm afraid not," Liu answered as he checked over the blueprints again. On second thought he may have lowballed the cost. To put everything in orbit, it would need to triple that number. Yet the Vice President began to chuckle.
"Oh, that won't be an issue, the HPSC is footing the bill. Consider it a blank check. All we need is for what we sent you to be built."
The words echoed around Liu's head. A blank check. Possibly billions of dollars for him and the organization. This could put them back on the map.
"One last thing, upon they're completion the blueprint is to be destroyed. I think you know what will happen if you fail to comply." Night Owl warned.
"N-no, I got it. I'll get it done as quickly as possible, but it could take a few years."
"Take as long as necessary, we're in no rush."
"Come on Midoriya! Hurry up!" Rody shouted as the two boys sprinted across Mother Base's walkways. In the distance, they could see their target, the Base's airfield.
"Why are we running!? It'll still be there when we arrive!" Midoriya shouted back, trying to catch up to his friend. With him DD enjoyed the chase, quickly catching up to Rody, while Victoria had no clue what was happening. The camera on the Idroid was shaking so violently she thought it had been dropped.
"I've been waiting weeks for this! I'm not waiting any longer!" Rody replied as the two began to near the large airfield. In the sky, a large C-5 coming in for a landing. In its cargo hold was a large supply of civilian goods purchased from the mainland. Be it furniture, clothes, electronics, toys, or candy, Rody didn't care. There was only one object he had wanted. Coming to a stop near the platform, the two stopped as the C-5's wheels touched the ground. It rolled forward for a few seconds, before slowing down.
"H-how is it your f-faster than me?" Midoriya stammered out attempting to catch his breath. It was genuinely surprising, all that training and Rody had blitzed by him the second news of his model plane's arrival. Then again, he couldn't really blame Rody. When Midoriya had lost the bet, he had bought Rody the promised F-14 model plane. He had done so with same-day shipping. And since Mother Base was in the middle of the ocean and had very strict procedures for importing goods, a small delay was expected.
A month of waiting was not.
"Come on come on," Rody muttered to himself, watching as the C-5's crew began to unload the plane's cargo.
"We're not going to see it from here," Midoriya commented, to which Rody sighed. He broke out into another sprint, reaching a small warehouse. Inside a soldier stood against a wall with an Idroid in hand, scrolling through the C-5s manifest. He heard the rapidly approaching footsteps and saw Rody almost crash into the wall next to him. Midoriya walked the rest of the way, eventually reaching his friend.
It was only now that exhaustion seemed to take hold of Rody.
"F-14… m-model," he stated tiredly. Quietly the soldier looked over the C-5's manifest as Midoriya pulled Rody up onto his feet. DD, meanwhile, decided to chase Pina, the bird now flying about the area in excitement.
"F-14, F-14," the soldier mused aloud, "Hmm ah. Here we are. One model F-14 for a Rody Soul?"
Rody tiredly nodded in response, while Midoriya answered for him.
"Yep, that's him."
"Well, everything seems to be in order. Although the file says something about shipping issues," the soldier told them.
"So, it's not here yet?"
"No, no, it's here, the crewmen outside are probably still unloading it." the soldier explained, "Just follow me for a second."
He began walking off to a section of the warehouse closest to the airfield. Quickly both Rody and Midoriya followed, with the former worried about having to wait even longer. The latter was worried he'd have to buy a second model in another bet. The soldier soon came to a stop as they reached the warehouse's door. It was wide open at the moment, displaying the outside clearly as the men outside worked. There was still no sign of his model, but Rody reasoned it could be in one of the large boxes the MSF was unloading.
"Stay here for a second," the soldier stated before walking out to the airfield. He started talking to a different crew member then. Rody wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt Midoriya carefully tap his shoulder.
"So… that's not a model," he commented, drawing Rody's attention over to where Midoriya was pointing. His eyes widened as the crewmen began pulling an F-14 out of the C-5. Not a model, a genuine F-14.
"That… that's a real aircraft," Rody muttered.
"It appears so," Midoriya commented, before pulling out Victoria's Idroid and holding it up for the AI to see out. The AI examined the plane carefully, interested in what purpose it served. Rody however, was ironically less interested, instead getting paler by the second.
"... My dad's going to kill me,"
"Most likely,"
As the third tank barrel turned red hot, Soul quietly sighed. It was as he said: if it wasn't the power, it was the heat. As he and the engineers present went over Abram's chassis memories of previous tests came to mind. They had done six in total over a few days, as of yet none had been a success.
"You sure we shouldn't switch out the barrel's material?" one engineer asked, as he carefully prodded the still-glowing barrel.
"I'm sure," Soul replied, "The problem isn't the barrel, it's the gun's energy output."
"I'll say," another engineer muttered, "The damn thing's sucking the power away for a single massive shot. Might be a coding error."
"To be fair, there isn't a whole lot of power to begin with." a third engineer reasoned. And it was true, as the diesel-electric engine didn't have the power necessary to keep the railgun active in a prolonged combat environment. Both because it couldn't generate enough electricity, and because it didn't have enough energy stored.
"True, at best it would get fifteen shots before running out of power," a fourth engineer stated. The engineer walked over to the Abram's battery compartment, before forcing it open. Carefully he pulled out four large batteries, before carrying one to a nearby table. He plugged it into a machine to check its charge and found it completely dry. A few of the engineers let out a low whistle at the sight.
"That's being generous. A closer estimate is ten." the first engineer countered calmly.
"Well, what do you think boss man?" the third engineer asked. Soul thought about it for a second. The problem here was both barrel strength and current technology. They could make a railgun, as ZEKE wouldn't have one if they couldn't, but ZEKE had a massive power source. It was practically a walking powerplant, that wasn't viable on a smaller tank.
That said, he did remember reports about experiments testing the possibility of an americium battery. If that didn't work other interesting proposals had reached his desk before.
"For right now, our best bet would be to focus on battery life improvements and fixing the firing computer's software." he began before going over the design's blueprints with his Idroid.
"And actually, let's change the gun's caliber to 105mm instead of 120mm. Should give the tank crew more ammo, with an equal amount of firepower. Now, how was the armor going?"
He looked out at the engineers as a few twiddled their thumbs. The armor Soul was requesting was of a rumored prototype present on the Abrams X, a tech demonstration General Dynamics had made centuries ago. Now whether or not it was true the MSF had yet to figure out, but it was rumored to have anti-thermal capabilities. This would effectively mean the tank at night, would effectively be invisible to thermals. However, Soul was beginning to see a problem.
"You haven't tested its strength yet, have you?" he stated before a look of annoyance crossed his face. One engineer rubbed the back of his head as he began to explain.
"Not yet, but in our defense, we weren't too keen on blowing up our only prototype." the engineer told him.
"Fair point," Soul replied rubbing his brow annoyed. If the R&D team's budget was anything to go by this prototype armor had cost them two arms and a leg, so not blowing it up was a good idea.
"Can you at least tell me your progress so far?" he asked regardless, hopeful they had at least tested the anti-thermal capabilities.
"Well, at the moment the thermals see the armor as a large blur. It can't exactly tell what it is, but it isn't invisible." the engineer calmly began.
"Blowing it up seems like the cheaper option now," Soul muttered.
"But we are making progress. A week ago, the armor was much brighter on thermals than it is now." the engineer stated. It was at least something. Still, this was new technology they were working on. Not old gear they were upgrading to catch up, but new advanced tech. It was an odd thought as Soul went over it. The MSF were now the ones making technological strides.
"Alright Boss the mission is simple," Miller began as Snake went over his equipment, "The boys down in Intel spotted a tank company moving to this section of territory. I've rerouted some men to the area, but they won't arrive in time. So, delay the enemy tank company for as long as possible."
With Miller signing off, Snake looked out of the Blackhawk's door. This far out on the frontline all Snake could see was African savannah. His best estimate had Mgbaba a good forty miles away. In the distance, he could see large plumes of dust and assumed that was the incoming tanks. As the Blackhawk came to a landing, Snake quickly hopped out and ran to a small hill. When he arrived, he crouched down and pulled out his binoculars.
Inspecting the area, he found it to be mostly flat giving him a clear view of the approaching militants. If he had to guess from this distance, they were armed with ten T-55s and four T-72s. The tanks' drivers wisely chose to avoid the main road and were widely spread out across the field, so setting electric mines seemed to be out of the question. So came option B, as Snake got the first bit of equipment ready. Unslinging the Panzerfaust 3 he'd been carrying, ensured aimed at the closest tank and fired.
The rocket flew forward and crashed into a T-55's ammo compartment in seconds. The ensuing explosion tore the vehicle apart, bringing the rest of the company to a halt. Quickly Snake ducked back down before the tanks could see him. Reloading his rocket launcher, he carefully peeked out over the hill. From there he could see the tanks didn't know where he was but assumed his general direction.
With that information, two T-55s began to move over to Snake's hill. Moving quickly Snake placed two electric mines at the top of the hill, before running back a bit to some tall grass. Ducking into it he watched as the tanks came rolling over the hill and came to a stop as they drove over the mines. The mines themselves didn't affect the tank, as it didn't have many electronics to affect. The crew inside it, however, were having the shock of a lifetime.
With the opportunity, Snake ran up and attached two Fulton devices to the tanks. The balloons slowly began to rise, and as the other tanks saw what was happening, they fired their machine guns to shoot them down. With the other tanks distracted Snake would go prone and crawl away from the main hill. Continuing to move forward he reached the left flank of the tank company.
By then the fultons had lifted the T-55s too high up for their allies to shoot down. The other tanks remained cautious and stayed away from the hill, instead firing their main guns in the hopes of flattening it. Counting quietly Snake had seven T-55s left and four T-72s. Seeing the tanks were all focused on his previous hill, Snake began to crawl closer to the tanks, approaching their rear.
Now the tanks were still widely spread apart, so there were several large gaps between him and the next tank. So fultoning at this distance wasn't an option. Instead, Snake riffled through his bag and pulled out a brick of C4. Carefully he placed it on a lone T-55, before crawling to the next tank and doing the same. He managed to rig two T-72s, and three T-55s, before running out of bricks.
Not wanting to be caught in the blast, he quickly crawled away, over to a large rock for cover. Once far enough away he detonated the explosives and watched the fireworks. The T-55s exploded brightly, while the T-72s' turrets flew up into the air with a massive fireball. The turrets then came falling back down, with one crushing the top of a T-55, and the other creating a small crater. Two T-72s left and three T-55s, Snake counted.
Quietly checking his watch, Snake wondered how long it would take before reinforcements arrived. Regardless, he watched as the remaining tanks began to form a circle. Each tank looked out of the circle giving the group an almost three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. A T-72 was positioned to look in his direction, its turret swiveling back and forth as it searched the area. Keeping low to the ground, Snake readied his rocket launcher and aimed at the tank.
Aiming for the tank's turret, he fired and watched as the vehicle went up in flames. Its turret soared up like the others but landed harmlessly away from the tanks. The other tanks noticing the explosion quickly, began to turn to Snake's location. Reloading quickly, Snake fired at a lone T-55 and destroyed it as well. With a blind spot now created in the group's circle Snake began to crawl away from the rock he hid behind.
Now flanking the last three tanks, Snake reloaded his rocket launcher again and aimed at the last T-72. Firing, he then started running as the rocket flew forward. The rocket quickly reached the tank, punching through the turret but not launching it into the sky. Instead, its armor crumpled into itself as the vehicle's weapon became inoperable. The T-55s meanwhile began to turn, right as Snake got close to them.
In seconds he slapped on two Fulton devices and watched as the tanks floated away. With every tank dealt with, Snake looked at the last T-72. With his rifle drawn he carefully peeked into the tank's open hole. There he found the surviving crew, who slowly held their hands up in surrender. Moments later, Snake heard tank treads as his reinforcements began to arrive. One of the tank's drivers popped their head out of their tank as they looked out at Snake's handiwork.
"And I thought the commander said he needed our help," he commented as a few other tankers looked out.
"Well, that's why he's the Boss," another replied as a few others let out a low whistle. With his task done, and the reinforcements now securing the area, Snake pulled out a cigar and quietly lit it.