Young Justice: The Hunter

by NewMystery356

"The Bow and Arrow: Beautiful in its simplicity. Is it coincidence that every culture on Earth developed it independent of one another? Or is it something else? Something in our blood? Something... primal, that allowed us to manifest it? Of course, the trickiest part about hunting, is making sure you're the hunter, and not the hunted. Which are you? I know damn sure what I am."

22. Vertigo: The Preparation

NeoNazo356: One of the Guest Reviews asks-

Superpeirce(Guest): Is Ahena OC if not what series is she from?

NeoNazo356: Athena MOXXI is an OC. However, her psychosomatic alter-ego, who is ALSO named Athena, is represented BY Athena from Borderlands the Pre-Sequel; it's why I went to such great length to elaborate her description. Another Guest review asked-

Guest: Is Virgil ventus's father

NeoNazo356: Grammatical and Punctuation errors aside, no, it does not work that way. Teen Titans and the rest of the DCAU/DC Animated Universe take place in [Earth-12] within the DC Multiverse. Young Justice takes place in [Earth-16] within the DC Multiverse, meaning they are NOT THE SAME. Vincent Valentine (Teen Titans) and Virgil Valentine (Young Justice) are "parallel existences" within their respective universes, just like how within the DC Multiverse there's multiple Supermen, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. On a fundamental level they are "the same person", but each of them is different as is dictated by the Copenhagen Interpretation.

Odflou: i just recently found this story and i love it. i love how you are able to combine so many different games and stories into a well written story and i cant wait for the next chapter

NeoNazo356: Thank you for the compliment, always glad to HEAR that people love my work. In more than two words. The reason I made this a Mass-Multi-X-Over is because an A-and-B-only kinda story gets really boring, so that's why I made a "Web of Intrigue" kind of deal; to destroy any type of "predictability" you'd find in Crossovers which had only two elements to them. In Naruto/Negima or Naruto/One Piece stories, while they can be written DIFFERENTLY, what you'll notice is that there's "overlap" regarding plot points or character interpretation. What separates Young Justice: The Hunter and [Earth-16H] (H = Hunterverse) from the rest of the DC Multiverse, is the fact that pieces of Prototype, Metal Gear, Borderlands, Black Lagoon, and so-on are PART of the world's history, which means you can't think ONLY in terms of "Young Justice & Crysis" when trying to predict what'll happen, there are far more possibilities, which only a Mass-Multi-X-Over can create. Read the stories of one of my favorite authors, 26-Lord-Pain and you'll see what I mean when I say that working with more than 2 Source Points gives stories a greater degree of "vibrancy".

Once again, thank you all for the comments, glad you've liked the work, and I hope you look forward to this and future updates.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

Bludhaven
October 10

'Okay…' Virgil hummed to himself as he laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. 'First off, Athena is being very supportive of my quest for personally-motivated vengeance and making me something to help with the upcoming mission… All things considered having to wait a week for a reliable product wouldn't be unreasonable on my part,' he thought as he raised a finger. 'Second, Re-l won't even lend me the Nanosuit in the first place until I have a substantial lead to act upon, so on that front I've got no choice but to sit back and wait for Balalaika to come through with something. If I assume that Vertigo is bad for business, I might not have to wait too long for something I can use,' he thought as he raised another finger. 'Thirdly, since I've got nothing but time until Athena and Balalaika come through for me, I guess I should use this time to work out a little, make the Nanosuit stronger than the last time I put it on,' he thought as he counted out a third finger.

Since the future raid on Count Vertigo's base of operations was largely dependent on groundwork laid down by Balalaika, Virgil had no choice but to while away his time until he had any substantial information to act upon.

Using a life-hack that Tina told him about in one of her rare moments of coherency, Virgil set the songs on his phone to play after tossing it into a paper cup, which in this case acted like an impromptu speaker and began to let music spill out through the room. From there, he proceeded to work out, forcing his way through the burn with the knowledge that the next time, he'd have to work harder for longer to reach that same burn in his muscles.

After his morning exercises, Virgil was called in by Re-l to do some modeling for Real Fashions, this time for some sunglasses and matching upper-body ensembles designed for fall weather; a strange combination if ever there was one. He didn't happen upon any of the others aside from Yoko and Leeron, so once his work was finished, he decided to hang out with the two of them assuming they weren't busy.

As it later turned out, Yoko had an appointment at a shooting range out of town, meaning the only immediate acquaintance he could hang out with was Leeron.

"I've got to get some friends my own age," Virgil thought to himself as he followed after Leeron, for all intents and purposes looking like a kid spending the day with his gay uncle/guncle.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"So Vincent, sweetie, how are things going with you?" Leeron asked, the two sitting across from one another at a vegan place.

'Oh, right, these people know my legal name, not my real name,' Virgil thought to himself as he took a drink from his water. "They could be better. They could be worse," he answered noncommittally.

"Ah, girl troubles. I got ya," Leeron said with a wink.

"Please don't do that."

"Sorry, my bad," Leeron said waving his hands. Give the guy credit where credit's due. When the person he's conversing with sets very strict boundaries for their sexual orientation, he respects hem. "So, was it girl troubles or not?"

" . . . Something related to the girl troubles," Virgil said resting his head on his hand, his elbow on the table.

"Want to talk about it?"

"I'd rather not. It's private, and it doesn't make me comfortable."

"Understandable. Not everyone's comfortable with airing their dirty laundry," Leeron said with a shrug. "Anything you would be comfortable talking about? I know I'm the gay coworker, and that might put you a little out of your comfort zone, but I genuinely would like to be your friend."

" . . . At least you're being upfront with me," Virgil sighed, finding no signs of a lie on the man's face. "Now that you mention it, there is something I'd like to ask you."

"Ask away, hon."

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to apply my makeup."

"Why the sudden interest in cosmology?"

"Because when I have this thing on my face for all to see," Virgil said pointing to the scar beneath his left eye, "it makes people think I'm some kind of hoodlum, or a thug, and sometimes I'd just like to be invisible. Another face in the crowd."

That was true, of course. In high school while he did have people who told him the scar on his face looked cool, there were just as many of his peers who found it off-putting; that it made them feel uneasy.

While adults could hide their contempt for one another for professional reasons, when it came to teenagers, they felt no such obligation to do so, so there were many times that adults around him treated him suspiciously simply because they thought the scar on his face came from a knife fight or something.

However, the recent interest in cosmology was because, if he were doing something like covert ops and he didn't have the option of wearing a mask, he'd need to be able to duck into a bathroom, change his face, and slip away in case anyone was looking for someone with a noticeable scar on their face.

He had no aspirations of becoming a master of disguise like Decoy Octopus, but he figured having a knowledge base to build upon in the future wouldn't be a bad way to spend his time before the upcoming mission. Assuming Balalaika came through on her end.

"Sure, I can teach you," Leeron said with a smile. "Who knows, maybe cosmology could be a good hobby."

"Maybe," Virgil said giving a noncommittal shrug. He didn't want to seem too inflexible, and there wasn't any reason to burn bridges before they were built.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

When it came to covering up unsightly marks and discoloration, it was all about "color correcting", and while it sounded counterintuitive to apply green or purple concealer to your skin, strangely enough, it actually worked.

When it came to picking the right shade to address your concerns, you wanted to select a color that was the polar opposite of what you were trying to cover. To cancel out redness from scars, blemishes, or broken capillaries, you would use a green-based color corrector. Yellow-based products on the other hand neutralized purple and blue hues like spider veins, under-eye circles, and bruises. For scars in particular, the trip was to dab, not rub, the concealer on. Once the concealer was on, next came your favored foundation or BB cream, then using a concealer brush to apply several thin layers of a buildable, full coverage cream formula in order to build to your desired level of coverage.

Caked on too much and it would look fake, too little and it would rapidly deteriorate. The key was finding the "Goldilocks Zone" in the middle since your face was a living thing, not just a canvass.

It took a few tries and a lot of makeup to get it right, but eventually, "Vincent" learned the nuances of applying makeup.

As it turned out, hiding facial scars was not something you could do "in five minutes or less" in a random bathroom if people were actively looking for you just outside the door.

"Who knew?"

"Who are you talking to?"

"I said that out loud?"

"Yes. Yes you did."

"Oh. Sorry about that. I was lost in thought," Virgil apologized.

"It's no problem. Everyone talks to themselves every now and then," Leeron replied. "So, what did you think of my lesson?"

"I have to say, I never knew there were so many different variables in applying a good layer of makeup," Virgil admitted. "I'll never take what you do for granted ever again, that's for sure."

"It feels good to be appreciated?" Leeron sighed wistfully. "So, what are your plans after this?"

"Probably go home, watch a little TV, read a book, and wait until I get called back in," Virgil replied. It's not like he could ever admit what he was really planning to do without breaking his non-disclosure agreement.

"Oh, I wish I had the kind of freedom to just go home and do whatever I want after work," Leeron sighed. "Oh, to be young and free again."

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be balled-and-chained before you know it," Virgil consoled the whimsical man, which strangely enough was one of the more normal conversations he'd had in recent months.

"With an attitude like that, you're going to be all sorts of lady-killer, won't you?"

"God, I hope not. For once in my life I'd like to have something normal going on."

"Oh don't be like that. Every boy your age thinks everything around them is strange."

'You have… no idea,' Virgil thought to himself. 'No seriously, this guy has no idea,' he amended."Anyway, I should probably be heading out. Time, and the public transit system, waits for no man."

"Oh, I know, right? Missing the bus is just the worst."

'I can think of worse things to happen,' Virgil thought to himself morosely as he left Gothic Renaissance.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The bus ride back home to the "bad part" of Bludhaven went about the same as any other; mostly everyone giving him strange looks when he was heading toward that part of town instead of away from it. Of course, Virgil wasn't one to concern himself with the concerns of "background characters" whom he'd never talk to ever again, so their looks were like water off a duck's back as he made his way back to the Red Light.

The rest of the evening went by pretty much as Virgil predicted it would.

He watched a little TV with Tina, and when he got bored of that, he perused the bookshelf in the living room. Despite the very strong "red neck" vibe certain aspects of the Moxxi Family lifestyle gave off at times, the family was actually pretty well read. Mark Twain, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens.

Thankfully the Moxxi Family wasn't "white trash" otherwise Virgil would've legitimately contemplated murder due to his newfound ability to commit murder without the psychosomatic blocks that came with contemplating (and then executing) murder.

Dinner shortly after was of the usual affair, conversation about the day and anything interesting that happened wherewithin. However, the entire time, Virgil just couldn't sit still, his heel lightly stamping on the floor, much to the consternation of the others in the household.

"Okay, seriously kid, what the hell's eatin' you?" Shaula asked irritably.

"Sorry," Virgil said forcing his leg down. "It's a work thing, and the waiting's driving me nuts."

"Then maybe you should just do something about it," Lilith suggested.

"Wait… Where're the guys?" Virgil asked noticing the absence of Roland, Mordecai, and Brick.

"Havin' a drink down in the bar."

"Is that safe?"

"Don't worry. They might seem really immature, but-"

*CRASH*

" . . . Excuse me for a minute," Lilith said excusing herself, stomping down the stairs like an angry den mother.

"Happy-hour shenanigans aside," Moxxi spoke up. "Care to share this work thing?"

"You know I can't…"

"Well, it's clearly bothering you, so I can't help but worry," the mother of 5 sighed.

"Don't worry about it, please. I can deal with this on my own…" Virgil said as he picked at his meal. " . . . In fact… I may've just thought of the solution," he realized.

"Oh?" Moxxi hummed as Virgil got up from his seat.

"Thank you for the meal, Moxxi. It was delicious as always," Virgil said bowing out as he put his dishes in the sink and fast-walked up to his room.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Virgil, what're you planning?" Athena asked as she came into the room of her family's fifth-latest tenant, the brunette-haired teen in question cramming clothes into a duffel bag.

"Getting rid of all this nervous energy," Virgil said running inventory of all his unmentionables. "The less I'm doing with my time, the more wound-up I'm going to get. The more wound-up I get, the less-effective I'll be in the field when the time does come to move out."

"So… a little last-minute level-grinding before the big raid boss at the end of the month?" Athena tried to rationalize.

"Yeah. That," Virgil nodded. "I might be good with a bow, and I may've gotten better at working under pressure, but since this job's going to be so close to home, I can't use something the feds can pin to me. Not if Vincent still want to use the archeryrange outside of town, at least."

"Yeah… I suppose making Vertigo's den look like the bad end of a quail hunt would make practicing close to home a little difficult," Athena hummed as the gears in her head began to turn. "So… You're going to be gone for the weekend?"

"Maybe a couple days longer," Virgil answered closing up his bag, double-checking the retractable lanyard for his Cell Motors employee ID. "So, you know, don't feel the need to rush on my account or anything. Any good game one will play is won in the pre-game."

"Right. I think you'll really like what I have in mind for you," Athena said with a smile. "I hope it'll be a good fit."

"Yes, well, unless Vertigo suddenly decides to up and leave town, I'm not really pressed for time or anything," Virgil said throwing his bag over his shoulder. "Take care of yourself. I'll be back soon."

Before Virgil could pass the threshold, he felt an arm lock around his, pinning him in place.

"Virgil."

"Yes?"

*Chu*

"You got a girl's hopes up. Don't let me down," the blond said sexily, patting the same cheek she'd kissed before pushing him out into the hall, the both of them left hot and bothered.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Remind me again why you check weight distribution?" Virgil asked as he was being screened just outside The Bunker.

"A little precautionary measure against imposters or shapeshifters," York's voice replied over the intercom. "It's been getting easier and easier to put another person's face on in recent years, so we need to check the things that can't be copied. Like how a person carries themselves."

"Hm. Makes sense," Virgil hummed as he looked up at the cameras in the corner of the room, feeling like their multi-spectrum lenses were peeling back every last layer of clothing, skin, and who knows what else. "These things can't see under my clothes, can they?" the brunette asked as his hands nervously went to his crotch.

"Haha, boy would that be fun for spring break-OW!" the approachable man yelped as someone struck him upside the head on the other end of the line.

'Well… Glad to know their time underground hasn't dulled their sense of humor,' Virgil hummed as he got the green light to go ahead.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Hey there, sport. Welcome to the armory," North greeted as soon as the brunette made his presence known. "What can I do ya for?"

"I need something light. Something that won't leave a mountain of dead bodies behind," Virgil answered succinctly. "After that, something a little more lethal I can whet my teeth on for later missions."

Since his superiors had gone out of their way to tell him about how he was a "Two Percenter", someone who biologically had the inclination towards murder without hesitation, it was pretty obvious that at one point or another, he was going to be asked to take a human life. Kinda like a Chekhov's Gun.

If a loaded weapon on the mantle was described in a scene's elaboration, you could be damn sure someone would be dead by Scene Two.

"Well… Snake, Old Snake," the Freelancer amended, "already showed you the Ruger MK. 2. If you're looking for something a little different, we managed to come across a couple Windurger No.2s. Built-in suppressor with a mounted laser sight makes it pretty darn good for all your tranquilizin' needs."

"Sounds good," Virgil nodded.

"Trust me, with this bad boy, sounds the last thing you'll have to worry about," the man chuckled. "When it comes to non-lethal missions, a lot of Freelancers swear by it, so I'm sure you'll join the club pretty soon."

"And if I wanted something with a little more… kick?"

For another half-hour or so, the man went on to give his sterling recommendations for any firearm "with a little more kick" as requested. Everything from the shape, to the weight distribution, to its features, to its nationality, and to things like how much damage it could cause until it ran out of ammo.

So in a way, not too dissimilar to talking about women.

The Windurger Series 333 .44 caliber revolver. The Maschinen Takische 37 9mm SMG. The G44 Bullpup 5.56mm assault rifle. The Kabarga-83 automatic shotgun. The Broughton Model 2000 7.62mm sniper rifle…

Were it not for the fact that Virgil was most definitely certain of the fact he were not a raving gun-nut, Virgil could only assume if he actually were as such, he'd have a raging erection at that point in time at how much shop the two had talked.

While he had a deeply-ingrained fondness of the feeling of a bow and arrow in his hands, the idea of wielding "instant death" in firearm form… It was beginning to grow on him, and he could actually understand others' fascination with firearms from a more-objective perspective than before.

What followed was hours of practice under the dutiful guidance of Old Snake, a quiet dinner accompanied by quiet contemplation, and then dropping into his cot at the end of the day in preparation for what would come next.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Bunker
October 11

The whole of Sunday was largely uneventful. Or at least as-uneventful as a day could be in a retrofitted cold war fallout shelter decked out to the rafters with next-gen tech and commodities.

The routine was pretty simple.

Wake up at what was contextually the crack of dawn. Eat breakfast at the mess hall. Burn off breakfast at the gym. Build up a good sweat. Take a shower and head down to the gun range. Practice his marksmanship. Work on his weapon maintenance. Eat lunch. Go to the gym again. Build up yet another sweat. Take another shower. And then delve deep into FoxCry's codex database until dinner while trying to strike up casual conversation with the other Freelancers only to fail spectacularly because half of them scare the ever-loving hell out of him.

So yeah, "just another day" in aforementioned bunker.

However, it was Monday where things got really interesting.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Bunker
October 12, 15:30 EST

After breakfast that morning, Virgil had committed himself to cease in his efforts to speak with the other Freelancers.

It made sense why they wouldn't want to talk to him; they were all top-notch soldiers, and he was just a regular guy who happened his way into top-of-the-line military hardware. He hadn't even been using the thing all that long, so it made sense why they didn't think it worth their time to talk to him. Hell, he wasn't even one of them, so expecting any sort of comradery just because he was the Nanosuit's test pilot was pretty arrogant on his part.

So color him surprised when one of the agents approached him for a change.

"Virgil. Pack your shit and come with me. We're going training," a fierce red-headed woman with sharp green eyes ordered. She wasn't the bustiest woman you'd ever see, but she was pretty damn tall and muscular to boot, not unlike Wonder Woman, or any of the other Amazons of Greek myth. Or Greek fact. Whatever.

"Okay… Can I ask your-"

"Carolina. That's all you're getting from me," she said bitterly.

"Geez, what the hell'd I do to you?"

"Live long enough and maybe you'll find out."

"Yeah, because that inspires confidence?"

"What was that?" the woman demanded.

"I said- 'Yeah, because that inspires confidence'," Virgil rattled out.

After everything going on with Vertigo and his drug-crazed junkies, on top of the wounds that Blackwatch had left behind, he wasn't in the mood for any shit.

" . . . Huh, maybe you do have a pair," the woman said flippantly. "Come on. Let's see if you're really worth as much as the Director thinks you are."

'Director?' Virgil hummed to himself. 'Wonder how far I'd have to dive down the rabbit hole to find that nugget of information.'

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"So… The Danger Room, huh?" Vincent hummed as he eyed the large circular room he'd been lead to.

The walls were a metallic chrome color and the ceiling was in a high arch creating an impressive dome. Off towards the front of the room overhead was a wide viewing platform with panoramic windows and an array of control consoles, a number of other Freelancers watching overhead. The floor was a slightly darker shade of chrome, probably because people were literally going to be walking all over it.

"They just finished it the other day. You and I are going to give it the test run," Carolina replied as she pulled a pair of fingerless gloves onto her hands.

"What's there to test? It's an open room? Or are you saying this entire place is one giant hologram emitter?"

"DAMMIT! WHO TALKED?!" Carolina raged at the control room.

"No one, geez! I was being facetious!" Virgil grumbled.

" . . . Shut up," Carolina bit out a moment later. " . . . Alright, screw the formalities. Show me what you're made of," the woman said getting into a stance.

"You realize my formal combat training is almost completely nonexistent, right?" Virgil asked getting into his own.

"And that's why we're going to fix that," Carolina retorted. "Now… Put 'em up!"

"Alright… Here goes nothing…" Virgil muttered to himself as he shot forward aiming for a body blow, ready to fight with everything he had.

*WHAK*

*BIF*

*BAM*

*POW*

*Thud*

Suffice it to say, it was a very short fight.

"So…" Virgil groaned from his place on the floor, now sporting a split lip, a swollen eye, and an ugly purple bruise on his abdomen beneath his shirt. "Just gonna throw me straight into the deep end, huh, Red?"

"That's Carolina to you, kid," the woman said rolling her neck. "Now get up. If you've got the energy to whine, you've got the energy to fight."

'Fan-flippin'-tastic,' Virgil grumbled as he coughed out a phlegmy wad of blood onto the floor.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

Meanwhile up in the Danger Room's command center, all the off-duty Freelancers were watching with an attentive gaze usually reserved for sporting events, blooper reels, or blooper reels about sporting events like a baseball bouncing up into a guy's crotch and him subsequently dropping onto his face.

"Wow, she is really beating the shit out of him," South hummed as she watched the shit-show beneath them unfold.

"Sis, be nice," North chided as Virgil got roundhouse kicked across the face.

"What, it's true," the fraternal twin returned as the brunette's face was pulled into a knee strike. "She hits him any harder and she'll literally beat the shit out of him," she said as Carolina delivered an axe handle to the top of his skull.

"The boy does appear to be a smidge out of his depth," Wyoming hummed idly, Maine grumbling off to the side.

"Anyone have any idea why she has it out for the guy?" North asked.

"Well, Carolina might still be a little bit bitter about what happened in Gotham," York said leaning idly to the side.

"What the deus happened in Gotham?" Wyoming wondered.

"Apparently she got into a fight with Batman during the kid's exfiltration from the last mission site," the man explained. "The Cape was tailing him so she intercepted, but even with her experimental Armor Mods, she still got her butt handed to her. That could be why she's in such a foul mood. That or the fact she got passed up to beta test the Nanosuit by some kid," he went on to speculate.

"Um, York."

"Yeah, North?"

"Your hand's on the intercom button."

" . . . Say what now?" the man asked after a few moments of processing.

"YOOOOOOOORK!" an irate Carolina screamed from the Danger Room floor, her bruised and bloodied quarry ultimately forgotten as the seething woman stormed towards the control room entrance.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" York asked as a chilling shudder ran up his spine.

"Probably," South hummed noncommittally as York made a break for it, the man escaping Carolina's grasp by the barest of margins as they passed one another.

"So… Who wants to help the worst fighter here to the infirmary?" Wyoming hummed as Virgil tried to get to his knees, only to fall flat on his face.

"Not it," North said washing her hands of all this.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Well that was a complete fucking disaster," Virgil grumbled through a fat lip as he was squeezed into the Undersheath by North and South Dakota, the Nanosuit being opened up a short distance away as the Nanosuit Cradle was primed.

"Well, what do you expect when you go up against the number one Freelancer in the Nanosuit program?" Dr. Yumeno asked idly. "To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised you're still conscious, let alone breathing."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Virgil bit out as the seam running along his spine was zipped shut. "Who the hell even are the Freelancers?"

"How much are you even allowed to know?" South asked. The only reason she'd been strong-armed into this two-man job was because she and her brother were twins; always being lumped together.

"Nothing that goes against your non-disclosure agreements regarding other Freelancers," the doctor replied.

"Wait, he is becoming a Freelancer?" South gawped as she gestured to the teen's insensate form. "This guy? This guy right here?"

"Eventually," the doctor said curtly. "Obviously there's a lot more polishing that needs to be done, but the same could be said for all of you when the Director picked you out of the lineup."

"Huh…" North hummed. "Well then, I guess at our core, the Freelancers are-"

"I'm fading in and out… so save the exposition for later," Virgil gurgled as he spat a wad of phlegm and blood onto the floor, the man's sister snickering off to the side as the back of the Nanosuit opened up and the teen was lowered into it. The back of the Nanosuit knitting itself back together around him and cocooning him in a sinewy shell of synthetic muscle fibers, as the teen was lowered into the coffin-like Cradle, he was compelled to ask- "So what is crawling into this tin can going to do exactly?"

"Simply put, the Cradle is going to transmit energy into the Nanosuit, which it will then redirect to the nanobot-generating nodes inside your body to repair all the damage that Carolina did," Dr. Yumeno summarized. "Right now the Nanobots in your system need energy from an external power source, your own bioelectric current simply isn't robust-enough to do the same. However, we're hoping that with enough advancements, we can fabricate the sorts of healing factors that allow the more robust members of the human species to put themselves back together again."

"As long as you don't turn me into the liquid-metal Terminator, you can experiment on me as much as you want," the teen grumbled as his stamina gave out, the teen losing consciousness a moment later.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Hey, these nanobots aren't replacing my busted-up bodyparts with plastic, are they?" Virgil asked as he crawled out of the Nanosuit… who knew how many hours later.

"Nothing's actually being replaced, the nanobots are simply stitching your myofibrils back together on a cellular level," Dr. Yumeno replied as he looked over the data accumulated over the past several hours. "If you lose something, like a finger, or a toe, or a whole limb, then that is when parts of you will be replaced, though it'll be with clonated tissue. Not plastic."

"Once again, I was being facetious," Virgil grumbled as he looked around for some pants. "Why the hell can I never find any pants when I need them?!"

"Because we're in an underground bunker and there's nothing on the three-hundred channels we get down here."

"Oh that is such bullshit," the brunette grumbled.

Suffice it to say, the day's training had come to an end after that whole debacle.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Bunker
October 13

"Virgil? What're you doing down here?" Otacon asked the teen as he walked into the R&D lab the following morning.

"Dr. Grey told me to take the day off after what happened yesterday," the teen replied finding himself a seat.

"You mean the butt-kicking?"

"Yes. The damn butt-kicking…" the teen grumbled rolling his shoulder. Sitting inside the Cradle and having the Nanosuit stitch him back together was fast, and despite knowing the mechanics and the logic behind it, a part of his mind still told him the process was wholly unnatural. " . . . Where's Sunny?"

"She's playing video games with Caboose. If no-one's around to baby-sit him, he starts talking to the vehicles."

" . . . Not even gonna touch that with a ten foot pole…" the teen sighed. "So… I notice for an R&D lab this place is pretty small."

"Well, other than the mandatory size doesn't matter joke," the man chuckled, "the Bunker is solely specialized towards Nanosuit research. Anything that requires special equipment is done off-site by other cells or CryNet itself," the man explained, idly making adjustments to the Meal Gear Mk. IV. "We do have a microfacturing suite that's still in beta, hence the 3D printer over in the corner."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Virgil hummed looking the device over. "So… What can it make?"

"The question you should be asking is, what can't it make?" Otacon asked in turn. "Other than the size restrictions, as long as we have the specs and a three-dimensional blueprint, given the right materials, we can make basically anything. But like I said, this model's still in the beta, so don't think about making anything too crazy."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," he said sitting back in his chair, letting the sounds of computers and machinery wash over him like white noise.

"So… No training today?" Otacon asked a minute later.

"After the ass-kicking Carolina gave me yesterday? Not likely," Virgil grumbled as he popped the cricks out of his back. Even though his body was healed, in his mind he still felt like an enormous bruise. And that was just from three minutes with the woman. 'I pity the poor sap who tried pressuring her into prom sex,' the teen thought to himself, wondering what Carolina was like as a teenager before immediately shelfing that line of thought. "Note to self: Have Dr. Grey run bloodwork for hormonal imbalances."

"Hm? You say something?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," the teen sighed. " . . . Okay, I have to ask, what's Caboose's deal exactly? He seems a little…"

"Out of place?"

"Yeah, that."

"Well, Caboose is a little… different."

"What kind of different we talking? Certainly not Franklin Delano Donut different, guy's in a league all his own…"

"Well… Mind you, this is just hearsay and it really isn't any of my business, but…" Otacon whispered conspiratorially. "Apparently before he was assigned here, Caboose was used as a human guinea pig for next-generation Neo-Steroids by one of Hargreave & Rasch's rival companies."

" . . . Why are we whispering?"

" . . . Yeah, you're right, the whispering's a bit much," the man chuckled. "Anyway… the rival company was trying to re-create the experiment that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America back in World War Two, but while they got the strength part of it right, or even surpassed it in some cases. The side-effects of the experiment were an almost complete cessation of all higher brain function."

"So… he's super-strong… but as a consequence he's a complete idiot."

"Pretty much," Otacon shrugged. "Hargreave more or less adopted the guy using an intermediary because in his present state of mind, Caboose might become incredibly unhinged; a baaaad combination for someone who can flip over full-sized vehicles by themselves."

"Still better than him being super-strong and smart," Virgil grumbled. Bane was one such example of how much damage could be caused by someone with superhuman strength and the brainpower to make the most use of it.

"Unfortunately, the damage done to his brain can't really be reversed with current medical technology," Otacon sighed regretfully. "However, for the most-part, Caboose is pretty much harmless. Just don't do anything to make him angry."

"That seems like it'd apply to any reasonably-strong person."

"Yeah, good point," Otacon shrugged.

" . . . Okay my curiosity got the better to me and I've got to ask… Does Caboose actually talk to vehicles?" the brunette found himself asking.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story, and I only enjoy telling it in five-minute intervals."

'Oh good god, what fresh hell have I just unleashed?'

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Bunker
October 14

The following day after a well-deserved rest, Virgil found himself in one corner of the sparring ring in the gym. Standing across from him was the aged form of Snake. However, as opposed to the gymwear that Virgil himself was clad in, Snake was clad in a full-body suit that covered him neck to toe. It was wholly dark-gray, and looked more like a muscle suit than anything else. A batching bandana was wrapped around his head, and atop the full-body suit he was wearing he had a set of dark green combat webbing, fully loaded with guns and ammo.

Compared to the first time Virgil had seen him, Snake looked like he'd nearly doubled in size after putting on whatever kind of suit that was.

"Snake, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead," the old man said as he did some stretches.

"Are you going to beat me senseless like Carolina did the other day?"

"No," the man replied gruffly. "That was simply her acting out after her last meeting with the Director went sour," he clarified as he tried to do some toe-touches. "We're going to get you started on the basics of CQC. After that, you'll be able to practice with any of the Freelancers, not just me."

'Oh yeah, I did kinda brush over that,' Virgil thought after hearing the f-word. "So… How do we get started?"

"First we'll work on your stance. Once we have a good foundation for you to build upon, we'll add on from there," the man said rolling his neck.

'Fingers crossed I don't get the shit kicked out of me.'

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

As it would turn out, the finger-crossing actually paid off since he didn't get the shit kicked out of him. Once he'd learned where to put his feet, how to distribute his weight, and how close to the ground he had to lower himself, Snake started teaching him about how to get the most force out of his strikes with minimal effort and wasted energy. He spent a couple hours fighting with an imaginary opponent, getting used to the movements before he began sparring against the man himself. Having someone to hit you back was certainly a good way to train situational awareness, as well as kinesthetic senses, and while his CQC was understandably rough, Snake admitted that the kid was a fast learner.

It was hard to tell whether the old man was surprised by the teen's aptitude or not.

Eventually Virgil's curiosity got the better of him and he was compelled to ask what exactly Snake had been wearing the entire time they sparred. As it turned out, the man's apparel was the current generation of Sneaking Suit, specially-designed military wear created with something called "electronic weaving technology" that made use of optical fibers. By clinging tightly to the wearer's body, the protective suit could boost resilience and strength, acting as armor and extra muscle tissue in some cases. Snake then akinned the suit he was wearing to "a crutch" since its strength-enhancing properties were the only reason he at his "biological age" was able to move and fight the way he could.

If Snake was this good as an old man wearing the suit, he shuddered to imagine the kind of shit the old man could kick in his prime.

During their water break, Snake had also let something slip about how the last suit was destroyed by a literal tunnel of microwave emitters, and while Virgil's curiosity was definitely piqued by that, given how the man seemed to not mean to say that out loud, the teen let sleeping dogs lie since the whole thing may've still been a sore spot for him.

At that moment the burn mark on his face made a lot more sense, though given the man walked through a supposed tunnel of microwave emitters, he wondered just how tough the guy was to not have been immediately killed by that ordeal.

Virgil would learn much, much later that Snake had survived constant microwave bombardment for three minutes straight. Something that would've killed an ordinary many anywhere from 60 to 90 times over.

Of course before he could learn that, he'd need to survive the start of his CQC training, because whenever Virgil reached certain milestones, the old man began upping the ante, resulting in a lot of bruising.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Well, apart from a bit of bruising I'm still conscious, so I've gotta be doing something right," Virgil hummed to himself as he walked into his cabin several hours later, covered in sweat and completely exhausted. " . . . Filyss?"

"Yes, Virgil?" the AI replied.

"There's a bit of a deficit on the information I have regarding my co-workers down here. I was hoping you could pull together some files for me so I could rectify that."

"Very well. May I inquire as to who you wish to learn about first?"

"Hmmm… That's a good question," Virgil hummed as he took a seat in front of his console, leaning back as he exhaled tiredly through his nose. "I guess the person I'm most-curious about is Snake."

"Are you referring to yourself, Night Snake?"

"Wha-? No not me, the other Snake. The old guy."

"Clarifying statement has been archived," the AI replied.

"Hey um, getting me files on the guy doesn't count as an invasion of privacy or anything, does it?"

"Within the context of wanting to know about your trainer and potential fellow field operative, I do possess the jurisdiction to deliver unto you files which would give you the necessary context to effectively work with him as a team," the AI replied.

"As long as I don't step on anyone's toes or read anything that's classified."

"I will be sure you do not receive any files you lack the security clearance for."

"Thank you, Filyss," Virgil replied. "Would you mind downloading the requested files onto my console? I'd like to shower before I hit the books."

"It is no problem at all," the AI replied, leaving Virgil free to step into the cabin's shower and wipe away all the sweat. Once he had finished drying himself off, Virgil took his seat in front of his computer terminal, seeing a folder labeled Solid Snake up in the corner.

"Alright then…" Virgil hummed as he opened up the file, a menu showing off a veritable dictionary of files folding out before him. "Just how far down the rabbit hole do I have to go?" the teen wondered as he brought his cursor onto the first file in the list, labeled simply The Philosophers.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Bunker
October 15

'Jesus fucking Christ that's a lot of reading…' Virgil grumbled to himself the next morning as he walked out of his cabin, popping his back on account of how he'd fallen asleep at his desk. Even with the amount of files he'd read and the numerous NDAs he'd had to digitally sign, he hadn't even scratched the surface of the puzzle regarding Solid Snake.

He'd started on files dating back all the way to the early 1900s, and what he'd found made him wonder for what reason all of this had been given to him just because he'd asked for it. Maybe Re-l or whoever "the Director" was really trusted him all that much, or they just assumed they had him enough by-the-balls that he wouldn't blab about it in any way shape or form.

These harrowing thoughts in mind, Virgil continued reading… and reading… and reading, all the way up to the middle of the 1960s.

He hadn't read everything. Far from it. But he did learn something very important before dozing off.

Never, ever accept missions on behest of the US that would involve him having to act in the capacity as a traitor, because after what happened to the first Boss…

The fact that such a hero to her own country would be forever remembered as a traitor would never sit right with him. And the teen swore that someday, somehow, he'd set the records straight and vindicate The Mother of Special Forces.

Of course, until he had the clout, or even the means to do so, it was back to the old grindstone.

Putting the metaphorical stake to Count Vertigo and proving his aptitude as a Nanosuit beta tester, was just the first step on the path he'd set for himself.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"You know… You seem awfully determined for some reason," North commented as Virgil took to the firing range, perforating the targets with his chosen sidearm. The grouping of his shots wasn't anything spectacular, far from it compared to the grouping of trained soldiers with years of experience; but there was definitely a marked improvement from the other day. "You wanna talk about?"

"No," the teen replied curtly as he ejected the spent magazine and quickly slotted in another, the fire lit by the sacrifice of The Legendary Soldier burning brightly in his crimson eyes.

"You sure?" the approachable man asked.

"Yes."

" . . . Alright then," North said waving his hands up in surrender, leaving the now-angsty teenager to his devices as he muttered, like a mantra…

"One must die and one must live. No victory, no defeat. The survivor will carry on the fight. It is our destiny… The one who survives will inherit the title of Boss. And the one who inherits the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle."

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Bunker
October 16

"Awww. You're leaving already?" Donut asked the teen on his way out after breakfast.

"Yeah. Living down here full-time is a little too Fallout for me," the teen replied.

"But they don't let me play my Fall Out Boy's tracks down here," the "colorful" man returned.

" . . . You keep on doing you," the teen replied as he turned in his tray, shouldered his overnight bag, and made his way out of the bunker.

"Hey kid, you need a lift home?" York asked looking up from his own breakfast.

"No thanks. I need the walk to clear my head anyway," the teen said with a weak smile.

"Well, okay then," the man replied. "Don't be a stranger. Lopez has been way more approachable since you started coming down here."

"Maybe that's because I'm the only other person down here who speaks fucking Spanish," the teen returned. While having the bulk of the Spanish language dumped into his brain ala The Matrix was incredibly useful, it came with the negative drawback of having to be the sounding board for a very irate Mexican mechanic who he could almost swear was some sort of robot.

The ride up the Freight Elevator into the above-ground Cell Motors only served to give the brunette more time to ruminate on what he had learned the other night. He still didn't know how that related to the current Snake he was attempting to learn about, but what he'd learned was definitely an eye-opener. It really put things into perspective for him regarding just what sort of life he'd chosen for himself.

Still… It was either turn into a Two-Percenter back in Manhattan after murdering dozens of his peers and setting himself on the path to a lifetime on the battlefield, or death.

Not really much of a choice there. Not when you have the genetic predisposition towards surviving situations whose only recourse is literal murder.

'God I'm fucked up in the head… Or does being a Two-Percenter mean I'm actually not fucked up in the head?' the teen wondered as he got above ground. 'Fuck if I know.'

Leaving the Cell Motors parking lot right as the cover business' employees began to pour in, he reached into his pocket and took out his phone. Seeing the dozens of messages his phone had received the moment he got out of the shielded bunker, four venom-laden words passed through his lips.

"Son of a bitch."

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"God, why does this place always smell like barf and piss?" Virgil wondered to himself as he made his way down the back alley behind the Red Light.

He would've entered through the front, were it not for the multitude of rather angry text messages he'd received from the house matriarch for not replying to Athena's many own messages over the near-week he'd been "out of town". So, trying to not let the last thing he see be the gun that Moxxi pulled out of her cleavage to shoot him with for making Athena "worried sick" over him, he decided to sneak back in the house and try to run damage control before the woman saw him.

Before he could get to the back door however, the knob began turning on its own.

Immediately backpedaling and combat rolling to hide behind the nearby dumpster, the door swiftly opened, two sets of feet making their way into the center of the alley, dropping a load of stuff onto the ground. Taking out his phone and making damn sure it was on silent, he put the lens of the phone at ground level and snapped a quick pic before drawing his hand back. Looking at the picture, he realized that the ones who had stepped into the back alley were Athena and Tina; a rare combination to be sure.

"So… whatchwe doin' out here again?"

"I am testing out the Kinetic Aspis after the adjustments I made to it last night. You followed me out here because you had nothing better to do."

"I would if you let me make my badonkadonks in the house."

"And like mom said, your work stays on the waterfront or it doesn't happen at all."

'Kinetic Aspis…? Definitely some sort of shield,' Virgil thought to himself as he looked at the picture on his phone; tucked under the genius' arm was a circular object with a stylized Omega symbol painted on the front.

"Sooo… I notice you haven't been outta your room for a while… What's up?" Tina asked.

"I've been trying to keep myself occupied," Athena sighed. "Virgil hasn't been answering my calls, but he might out of the service range," she hummed idly.

'Note to self: Find a workaround for missed calls,' Virgil thought to himself.

"Anyway, if you insist on following me, make yourself useful and set up this mannequin over past the dumpster so I can test this thing out."

'Past the dumpster? Wait, this dumpster?!'

As Tina grunted in exertion over carrying the mannequin, Virgil pressed himself against the side of the dumpster, not yet ready to be confronted by the Moxxi family girls. Clamping his hand over his mouth to muffle his breathing and making himself as still as possible, Tina huffed as she walked right past him, the mannequin bigger than she was. The mannequin set down mere feet away from him, by some miracle, Tina turned right instead of left, the zany girl completely missing his presence as she made her way back over to her step-sister.

'I literally cannot believe that just worked,' Virgil thought, relieved and yet dumbfounded that he'd remained hidden. 'Also, why the hell does Moxxi have a full-sized mannequin lying around?'

"So… What does this trashcan lid o' yos do again?" Tina asked.

"The Kinetic Aspis is a forward-facing mobile defendable encampment-"

"You mean a shield?"

"Well, yeah, if you want to really over-simplify it," Athena bit out. "This isn't your ordinary run-of-the-mill shield. The internally-mounted turbine absorbs the kinetic energy of small arms fire and not only mitigates the danger inherent to the bullets themselves, it also adds energy to the shield's internal stockpile so that when thrown, it will not only redistribute that energy into the body of its initial target, it'll also ricochet towards the nearest dynamic object within three meters' distance.

"Speak English, woman! I can't understand fucking German!" Tina shrieked vigorously.

"Ugh…" the blond grumbled. "What I mean is, it takes the damage from the bullets that hit it, absorbs that damage as a charge, returns that damage to whatever it hits, and then after hitting the first enemy, it bounces off of them and hits the nearest second enemy within ten feet," Athena over-simplified. "Did you get that?"

"Well yeah girl! Why didn't chu say that tha first time?"

"Just take that ball peen hammer and hit the shield. Mom doesn't want me discharging actual firearms back here."

"Okeedokey!" the tiny blond said enthusiastically. Moments later the alleyway was filled with the sound of metal striking metal, a low *whirr*ing sound echoing around the corner behind the dumpster as the Kinetic Aspis "charged up".

'Huh… A shield that absorbs the kinetic energy of bullets and then re-directs that energy into two targets. Definitely has a Captain America vibe to it,' Virgil hummed thoughtfully as Tina went to town on Athena's shield. 'Wait a minute… Nearest what now?!'

"Alright! I've got a full charge!"

"Well what're ya waitin' for, girlfriend! Let's fly that Frisbee!"

'Oh crap!' Virgil yelped as something began to whoosh through the air. Hands fumbling around for something to protect himself with, a muttered yipe of- "Protect me cone!" –spilled awkwardly out of his lips as he shielded his face with a discarded traffic cone the moment the Kinetic Aspis struck the mannequin in the head.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATIONS*

"You know…" Moxxi hummed as she eyed the wounded teen. "Normally this would be the part where I bust your balls about leaving my baby girl hanging for a week… But I think Athena already drove the point home," she said with a good-natured grin.

"Ha. Ow. Ha," Virgil grumbled under his breath, sitting at the dining room table with a ball of frozen peas over his crotch.

"I am sooooooo sorry," Athena apologized once again as Moxxi walked back down to the bar with a hearty chuckle.

"Its… Ow… Fine…" the teen bit out. In retrospect, he should've been shielding his other head… although having an over-glorified Frisbee fly into his face may hurt his modelling career… 'Wow, didn't think that was a thought I'd ever be having…'

"But still, why were you skulking around like that?" Athena asked worriedly.

"I saw how much my phone blew up over the last couple days as soon as I got back into town… and I wasn't sure what to say…" the teen admitted, fudging the truth as much as he was able to without actually lying to the girl.

"Why didn't you just call?" the blond asked, idly adjusting her glasses.

"You deserved to be talked to in-person. You deserved better than a phone call or a text message," the teen answered in turn, the genius' face turning a light shade of pink. "Still, I have to say, that shield of yours is very impressive. Have you been working all week on that?"

"It isn't all that impressive," Athena dismissed. "With the materials I had on hand, it can only absorb the energy of small arms fire. Also, without something like Vibranium to line it, not only is there an immediate falloff of the accumulated energy, but it can only bounce off of a single target before its energy stockpile is completely depleted," the genius lamented.

"Vibranium?" Virgil asked raising a brow.

"A super-material from the heart of Africa. Costs $10,000 for a single gram of the stuff. A little out of the price range of my shoestring budget," Athena lamented.

"Hey, the fact that it actually stops bullets is really impressive all by itself," Virgil stated patting the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, but it still needs a little work," the genius admitted.

"Hey, like I said before, I'm not on any kind of time crunch," Virgil returned with a hand-wave. "I doubt Vertigo is actually going anywhere, and if he actually is chased out of town by the police before I can get to him… It's a win-win for me either way."

"Oh… That's good," Athena replied scratching the back of her head. "I may've overestimated myself a liiiiitle bit on that last deadline assessment," she admitted.

"Don't worry about it," Virgil returned. " . . . Sorry for not calling back," he apologized. "I was a little… out of service range."

"Yeah, I figured that's what it was," the genius returned. " . . . You uh… You look good," she groused nervously. "You been working out?" she asked awkwardly.

"Y-Yeah, a little," Virgil replied, stuttering as the girl felt up his bicep. "You know… Pushups… Sit-ups… Plenty of juice…"

"You don't say…" the brainy girl hummed, her hands then going to feel at his pectorals. "Mmmmm… Niiice... Very nice," she whispered with an uncharacteristically saucy grin on her face that made Virgil both uncomfortable and aroused.

Some might even say she made him uncomfortably aroused.

"Hey, keep it PG-13 you two!" Tina yelped as she mindlessly swapped channels.

"Go to your room Tina!" the two teens shrieked, only for the girl to continue watching TV and give them the finger.

A big fat thumbs-down.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Yo Slab, you been working out?" Brick asked the teen that afternoon at lunch in Moxxi's bar.

Moxxi's place didn't actually sell food, she was just really cool with letting people bring their own stuff in as they threw back a pint. Hell, if you had a history of giving the woman big fat tips she'd let you bring in your leftovers and had them heated in the microwave for you.

Now that is how you drum up repeat business.

"A bit. I've got a thing coming up and I want to be in shape for it," the teen replied between bites of takeout pizza.

"Is it the zombie run?" Lilith asked with a quirked brow.

'Oh right, Halloween is coming up,' the teen realized. "Something like that," he replied aloud. 'With Halloween coming up, I'll need to get Vertigo and his shit off the streets, otherwise something might happen to Tina if she tries extorting candy out of people,' he added to himself, wondering if the girl would make bomb threats just to get candy. "What've you guys been up to since coming back from overseas?"

"Relaxing mostly. Mercenary work can be very lucrative, but if you don't invest in your mental health, it can wind up costing you more than just your next paycheck," Roland returned. "If you don't adequately rest yourself between tours, your ability to concentrate can rapidly deteriorate to the point you can't even hit the broad side of a barn with an RPG."

"Those poor farmers," Mordecai lamented with a shake of his head.

" . . . Just what the hell do you guys even do overseas?" Virgil found himself asking incredulously.

"Ugh, all kinds of bullshit," Lilith sighed tiredly. "You'll either have to earn my trust or get me very drunk if you want me to talk about it."

"Lilith inspired a cult."

"Brick! What the hell?! That was supposed to remain secret!" the woman squawked, her face growing as red as her hair.

"Do I even want to know about the cult?"

"Yes./NO!" Brick and Lilith said respectively at the same time.

"You know what, fuck it, it's too early for this shit," Virgil groaned as he downed his water, choosing to ignore "this shit" in lieu of literally. Anything. Else.

"You seem to be under a lot of duress. Did something happen last week?" Roland asked.

"Before or after a Vertigo drug-fiend ruined date night?" the brunette asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, getting attacked by a drug fiend can kind of ruin the mood," Lilith conceded. "You're not going to do anything crazy, are you?"

"No, Lilith. I'm not," Vigil returned as he went back to his pizza.

He honestly didn't consider raiding a crack den wearing top-of-the-line military hardware "anything crazy". Hence, he was not actually lying to the woman.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

Bludhaven
October 17

"Virgil, I was wondering if you could help me with something," Athena asked at breakfast the next morning.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I was thinking of doing a little more-intensive testing on the Kinetic Aspis before sending it out to… my client," she deflected, "but that isn't really something I can do from home. I was hoping to temporarily move out to Ellie's place in the Dust, but that isn't exactly something I'm able to do alone."

"Well, I'd like to help you with that, but I don't really have a car or anything like that," the brunette conceded.

"You can borrow the van, take Brick and Mordecai with you," Lilith stated. "Roland and I need to review client offers before deciding which job we take next."

"That's code for wanting to practice their wrestling moves upstairs while the rest of us are out of the huse," Brick stage-whispered.

"Brick, I'm sixteen. I know what a double-entendre for sex is," the teen deadpanned, Lilith and Roland flushing slightly.

"You know mom's policy on sex in the upstairs room; scented candles, air freshener, and swap out the sheets when you're done fooling around," Athena said tiredly as she ate.

"I'm guessing you've had to make this speech before?" Virgil asked.

"Only a couple," the girl replied.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Alright… That should be the last of it," Athena said as she and Virgil loaded the last of the crates into the back.

"You know, I could've loaded all of those up in like… five minutes," Brick stated from the shotgun seat.

"Brick, this is all very sensitive equipment. I don't need your ham-fisting breaking anything and setting me back several grand," Athena replied to the large man as she began tying everything down.

"In my day, TVs and microwaves and stuff could take a beating," the large man pouted.

"So what all do you need to do out at Ellie's?" Virgil saw fit to ask.

"Mainly discharging firearms into it and seeing how much of the kinetic energy it's able to desaturate from the projectiles. We can't have it failing mid-mission, after all."

"Yeah… Makes sense you wouldn't be able to do any live arms testing here."

"At least not with Marcus' mark-ups," the teen chuckled. "Still, though, a shield that can block bullets and takes bad guys out, that's really something."

"Like I said before, don't give me too much credit," Athena dissuaded. "The Kinetic Aspis is far from perfect. With the materials available to me, it's still heavier and less aerodynamic then I'd ideally wish it to be. However, without a dedicated lab of my own, this is the best I'm able to do."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll have a lab of your own someday," Virgil replied as he closed the door behind him. "Is that the last of it?"

"Yes. My instruments, as well as the necessary firearms and clothes for an extended stay have all been packed."

"And you're sure Ellie's place is safe?" Virgil asked.

After his stint as a fugitive in his own homestead of Manhattan, the teen was now cursed with the obsessive compulsive habit to appraise the defensibility and defendability of wherever it was he was laying his head down at night. Entrances, exits, escape routes, materials to barricade all of the above while either defending or retreating; all of this ran through his mind whenever he was laying his head down for the night, and for all he knew he'd continue to have this mindset.

"Nothing's happened to it yet," the girl replied. "Plus, when you start tossing people into trash compactors, the neighbors get the memo pretty quick that it's not a good idea to mess with you."

"Yeah, I figured that was the case," Virgil hummed, recalling said memory and the blood spatters that came with it.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

Despite the place being mostly desert, there was still enough hard-packed ground for a big heavy van to make its way through The Dust to its center. Virgil wanted the drive there to stay as uneventful as possible, but when a Mad Max-esque car lunged over the crest of a nearby hill and shot towards them, Virgil wondered whether or not he'd have to whip out an incomplete Kinetic Aspis to help save all their butts.

However, before he could even start digging for the damn thing, Mordecai told Brick to take the wheel. As the man's massive meat hooks took hold of the van's steering mechanism, Mordecai shouldered his sniper rifle, cradling it in his arms as he took aim out the window. Virgil and Athena peeking worriedly over the man's shoulder, their stomachs sank when the man actually took a swig of beer in the middle of their pending crisis. When the man tossed down his empty bottle however, he pulled the trigger and fired off a single shot, which somehow broke the front axle of the other car to the point that one of the wheels flew off, and the entire vehicle flipped end over end after its nose bit into the sand.

Moments later and the whole vehicle exploded like something out of an action movie, the Fortune Hunters' van leaving the smoldering heap of metal in its dust as the four made their way over to Ellie's.

"Okay seriously, what the hell did I just witness?" Virgil asked eyeing the rising column of black smoke in the rearview mirror.

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Like I can trust the words of a guy that handles heavy machinery and sniper rifles while completely intoxicated," the teen bit back.

Brick of course could only guffaw loudly, the van bouncing up and down on its shocks as the massive wall of muscle rocked his head and shoulders uncontrollably.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"Remind me again why the hell we let the drunkard drive," Virgil grumbled as he got out of the van as soon as it pulled through Ellie's front gate.

"Neither of us have drivers licenses and Brick's too big to fit behind the wheel of most motor vehicles," Athena replied matter-of-factly.

" . . . Yeah, that makes sense," Virgil conceded.

"Well howdy, ya'll. Fancy meetin' you here!" Ellie greeted as she stepped out of the garage, the woman's skin and attire covered in splotches of lubricant of vehicular origin.

"Hey there, sis!" Athena greeted.

"Hey there, kiddo," the woman replied. "Here to blow some shit up?"

"God, I hope not. Tina almost started a blood feud the last time I worked with explosive ordinance," the genius dissuaded. "Just here to test out a bullet-blocker."

"Like the Meat Shield 3000?"

"The what shield?" Virgil asked with a raised brow.

"Nothing! Shut up!" the girl yelped with a red face. "So anyway… you really don't mind us shooting weapons back there?" the girl asked gesturing to the junkyard behind Ellie's place.

"Pshaww… Why would I? Family's family," the large woman replied. "Although… I could use a little help with a pain-in-the-ass chore I've been putting off."

"A chore?" Virgil asked with a quirked brow. "Sure, that sounds like a fair trade. What do you need?"

*VERIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

"This is not how I envisioned spending my Saturday," Virgil grumbled to himself.

At the moment he was bent over on his hands and knees, a wire brush in his hand as he scrubbed blood, guts, and bone matter from the inside of the trash compactor in front of Ellie's house. As the sun rose higher and higher in the noon sky, its rays bearing down on him, the teen's body glistened with sweat as he went to work on his given task. Wiping his brow with the back of his arm, the teen shook his sweat-matted hair to get the sticky brunette lochs out of his eyes, before returning to the task he had taken on.

Since Athena was going through all the trouble of making something for him that'd stop him from getting shot, he figured it was a fair trade to clean the trash compactor in the girl's stead.

That and common chivalry.

Elsewhere off on Ellie's deck, the older woman and Athena were off having a chat all their own. Virgil wasn't really eavesdropping or anything, but he could only assume it was girl-talk because A) they were both girls, and B) Athena was turning red like a lobster. As he continued his chore, he felt the need to address the elephant in the dump.

"Remind me again why I'm wearing this thing?" Virgil asked mid-scrub, jabbing a thumb toward his leopard-print speedo-clad derriere. The only piece of clothing he was allowed to wear for this given chore.

"So you don't get man-giblets on your nice clothes!" Ellie replied.

"Okay… Second question…" the teen reiterated, adjusting his "package" so there weren't any… wardrobe malfunctions. "Why do you even have a mankini in my size?!"

"A gal can dream, can't she?" Ellie asked, the brunette letting out a shudder at the woman's statement.

'The things I do for advanced military-grade hardware,' Virgil thought with a shudder, before soldiering back to scrubbing human effluence from the trash compactor. 'Damn, the sun really bakes this crap in, huh?' he asked finding a hard-to-scrub blood spatter.

"So yeayuh, as ah wus sayin'… Daayumn! Boy got back!" Ellie said jabbing a thumb at the teen's speedo-clad derriere. "Can anyone say butt floss?"

"I can hear everything you're saying you know!" Virgil stated, though only because he chose to eavesdrop now.

"Ah meant for ya'll to hear that!" the woman replied.

"Yes, he does have a nice ass, and I'd appreciate it if you kept your hands off. That booty belongs to me," Athena asserted with crossed arms.

"Well look'it you girl. Hittin' puberty and already you've got your hands on that tight, tight tush," the woman said with a laugh.

"Ellie, I started puberty four years ago," the genius said before clamping a hand over her mouth.

'WAY too much information,' Virgil thought, but soldiered on through the gut-churning chore and the sexual objectification. 'I wonder if this is how murder-scene clean-up crews and male swimsuit models feel like,' he added, realizing he was basically doing both of their jobs. 'Note to self: The next time you're asked to clean up after a dead body and you're asked to take your clothes off in lieu of a speedo, KEEP YOUR DAMN CLOTHES ON!' he raged to himself.

Fortunately for the teen's sanity, and dignity, the chore he opted to do did not go unrewarded. Athena found the Kinetic Aspis' numerous failings during live-fire tests, and pushed the device to its limits; something the user did not want to find out while taking aggressive gunfire. And when Athena said she packed everything, she meant everything; whatever parts in the Kinetic Aspis failed or otherwise proved to be inadequate, the genius girl was able to replace them with more-robust or more-efficient replacements, slowly turning the Kinetic Aspis into a nigh-impenetrable shield.

Of course, the "nigh-impenetrable" part was heavily exaggerated. Based on live arms testing against common rifles, Athena dictated that anything in the range of a sniper rifle would most definitely punch a hole through the Aspis, or at the very least fling shrapnel into whatever poor sap was standing behind it.

All things considered, Athena had made a lot of progress on ironing out the Kinetic Aspis' kinks, and she said she'd only need another day at most until the device was as-perfect as she could make it with her then-current materials.

Apparently the thing was a rather old project she'd put on the backburner to focus on making money, so most of the math and the engineering was sound, it just had to be tested a little bit. It wasn't like she was making the thing from scratch.

As for what Mordecai and Brick were doing the whole time… By the sound of it, probably getting black-out drunk while watching pirated television.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Dust
October 18

The following day had more of the same as the one before; just with marginally more clothing on Virgil's part as he continued scrubbing the interior of that trash compactor. And of course, like the day before, he was paranoid-enough to ensure the thing was completely disconnected from its energy supply before getting to work.

Athena of course continued fine-tuning the Kinetic Aspis, and the machine shop behind Ellie's garage was a huge help in fabricating any last-minute additions the girl needed to make. Ellie worked on cars, same as usual, and somewhere along the way, Mordecai and Brick bailed on them all to make a beer run in town. They mentioned something about the Irish, but that could've been the heatstroke talking.

It was by the time the sun set that Mordecai and Brick had returned from their booze run, the van filled with both alcohol and provisions, though for some reason there was a severed human arm stuck in the grill, and saw blades lodged in the side of the car.

Virgil didn't want to know. Or rather, he didn't bother to ask since the van wasn't his problem. He was sure Lilith and/or Roland would straighten out whatever needed straightening out.

Once everyone had gotten cleaned up and had a nice country dinner over the coals behind Ellie's house, Athena stepped forward with her completed product in hand. The device looked much the same as it did during his last… encounter with the device, though it now sported eight gear-like teeth along the edge, and had a slightly more-refined look. In terms of surface area, it was enough to hide the entirety of his torso behind, albeit while leaving his head and everything from the waist down completely exposed.

Of course, if you were to crouch while using it, then the coverage would nearly double.

"So it's really done?"

"Yes. All that's left is the live testing. Firing it up and seeing how-usable it is with a person behind it."

" . . . I assume you'll want that person to be me," Virgil stated as he mulled over the prospect of getting shot at without the Nanosuit covering every inch of his body, realizing how fragile and vulnerable he was without it.

"Well, you will be the one using it sometime in the near future…" Athena replied worriedly. "Don't worry, we'll take every possible safety precaution."

" . . . Well alright then," Virgil hummed, deciding if he was going to have bullets shot at him while bereft of his full-body super-suit, he was going to do so on a third stomach.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

Once everyone's bellies were full, the set-up for the Kinetic Aspis' final live-fire testing was slated to begin. Brick, as comically-strong as ever, dragged two wheel-less cars over to an open lot creating two sets of bullet-resistant waist-high cover. Ellie arranged three scrap-metal dummies in front of Athena who was running final checks on a sidearm, and Vincent, now wielding the Kineic Aspis, was being outfitted with bullet-proof armor by Mordecai to make the testing as safe as possible. After everything was set up and Virgil finished re-reading the instruction manual for the Kinetic Aspis, those not involved with the test hid inside Ellies trailer, which, given where she lived, was tremendously resistant to stray bullets.

"Virgil… Do you trust me?" Athena asked giving her sidearm a final checkup.

" . . . I do," Virgil eventually replied, realizing he was as-safe as he was ever going to get outside the Nanosuit. That and/or a retrofitted Cold War bunker.

"And paramedics are… nowhere to be found," Mordecai said drunkenly as he poked his head out the door, making a show of looking around for an ambulance that would never come.

"NOT HELPING!" Virgil raged. "So… How are we going to do this?" he said turning back to Athena.

"Once the Kinetic Aspis has been activated, I'll empty my clip into the center of the shield, and you'll throw it at one of the dummies. Assuming everything is in proper working order, the shield should ricochet into a secondary target, and hopefully make its way back towards you on a return trajectory," Athena explained. "I'll make adjustments as-necessary until the product is ready to be shipped out."

"Alright… Got it…" Virgil said as he adjusted his grip on the shield's handle, drumming his fingers over the Aspis' controls before shouting- "FIRE!"

At the cue, Athena discharged her weapon into the dead center of the shield, the Kinetic Aspis whirring as, through whatever means unknown to Virgil, the shield began to absorb the kinetic energy of the projectiles. In front of his eyes above where his arm was holding it, a colored gauge like a loading bar on an LED screen slowly ticked down. Knowing what would happen once the shield's energy was fully depleted, the teen fired off his next order.

"CEASE FIRE!" Virgil shouted, the girl holstering her weapon and throwing herself behind her waist-high cover, leaving behind the human-shaped trash-borne effigies. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Launching the shield like a discus, the Kinetic Aspis auto-corrected mid-flight before striking the first target. The dummy blasted off its mooring, the shield then ricocheted into another dummy, before flying back towards him. However, the Kinetic Aspis lost all of its momentum before it could complete the round trip, causing the shield to slide across the dusty ground and stop just in front of Virgil's waist-high cover, the two dummies hitting the ground a moment later.

"That… was… awesooome…" Virgil found himself blurting out in awe, the genius behind the technological marvel blushing at the praise.

"Th-Thank you… But there's still a bit more testing to do to make sure what happened here wasn't a fluke."

"Well, hey, I'm much more confident in the Kinetic Aspis now that I've seen it work. Bring on the live testing!" the brunette said enthusiastically, the genius merely smiling at the teen as the two of them righted the dummies, and returned to their testing.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

For the next couple hours, Virgil and Athena continued live-testing the Kinetic Aspis. Between every other throw and test, Athena would open the shield up and make some adjustments to the construct, before letting the device fly once again. Initially, the Kinetic Aspis was a little unwieldy, but as he got used to the weight distribution of the shield, the act of blocking and then throwing it grew more and more seamless. Towards the end, Virgil began closing the gap on the shield's return trip, actually catching the shield mid-flight and slipping it back over his arm before shield bashing whatever dummy was remaining.

Eventually however, the sun began to set, and while Ellie did have the means to light the place up, since she wasn't made of money and the fuel for the generators got really expensive while burning the midnight oil, the two teens decided to close up shop for the night, the two satisfied that the Kinetic Aspis was as-perfect as it was going to be at that time.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

The Dust
22:31 EST

It was the middle of the night.

The sun had set hours ago, and the visitors from Bludhaven were all asleep in the guest lodgings; a beat-up mobile home that was refurbished into a semi-functional state. Ellie had offered the older members of the group what she called "more welcoming accommodations", but apparently whatever Mordecai and Brick had spent all day chugging wasn't enough to give them the Beer Goggles that would incline them to take up that offer.

All things considered, Ellie was pretty cool about it, saying they "were a little too skinny" for her tastes.

Virgil, unable to get to sleep that night, found himself climbing the ladder that led him to the roof of Ellie's garage. Situating himself atop a lawn chair that had been sterilized and bleached under the hot desert sun, Virgil kicked up his feet and looked out at the desert over Ellie's junk-borne fence.

"Huh… In a weird way, The Dust under the moonlight is actually kind of soothing," Virgil hummed to himself as his eyes panned over the desert's rolling dunes.

Under the moonlight, the desert sands once a blinding shade of bleached white under the morning sun, were now an aesthetically-soothing shade of silver, the desert sands whipped up by the wind into abstract-at-a-distance patterns. In addition to this, the quiet and tranquility of the scenery before his eyes was incredibly soothing as well, doing wonders for the paranoia that had been bubbling up over the past couple days. Especially without the rampant hootin' and hollarin' he'd had to endure while cleaning out Ellie's trash compactor.

He would later learn that the reason The Dust got so quiet at night was because with how cold it got, it was more-economical for the Nomads, Marauders, and other Mad Max rip-offs to retreat to their homes once the sun went down. Also, headlights were like literal neon signs telling attackers where to shoot, so that was also a perfectly valid reason the normally-untamed Dust became so calm at night.

"You know… I'd used to think people were nuts for wanting to backpack out in the middle of the desert, but looking at it now… I think I can get why places like this are considered beautiful, even when half the things living there want to kill you," the teen hummed, all of his troubles feeling a world away.

Until his phone suddenly rang and he fell out of his chair in a scramble to pick it up.

"Kapitan!" Virgil yelped once he saw the Caller ID. "What can I do for you this evening?" he asked shooting to his feet and snapping out a salute.

While not officially a member of Hotel Moscow, the teen still respected (and/or feared) Balalaika enough to give her the respect she was due. Even when she wasn't able to see him.

"Glad I was able to catch you so late at night," the woman stated. "I have a message I need you to relay to a certain someone. A message regarding a mutual pest that needs to be… dealt with…" she hummed.

" . . . I'm all ears," Virgil replied as he fished the notepad from his pocket he carried with him out of paranoia.

As the woman on the other end of the line spoke, a manic grin slowly pulled at the teen's face. The woman's dulcet tones like ambrosia to his ears, his metaphorical "murder boner" grew more and more erect in anticipation with every uttered syllable.

Hit literal phallus remained completely unchanged, of course. He wasn't that far gone.

. . . Yet.

*VERTIGO: SURGICAL PREPARATION*

Hey there readers, SOOOOO sorry for the long wait. I've been so-focused on getting Giant-Slayer completed and compiling ideas for other stories that my other works have fallen to the wayside, but hopefully now that Giant-Slayer is on Hiatus until I decide to put out the Sequel, I'll be able to give my other stories the attention they deserve.

In the FUTURE, I'll try to make chapters shorter so I can update more frequently, or just divide larger chapters into mini-arcs as long as breaking up the narrative doesn't damage the plot of the story too much.

Anyway, I hope to get some Reviews out of this, as the Vertigo Arc nears its conclusion.

Once again, SOOOOO sorry for the long wait. I really hope to be able to update this story more-frequently in the future.