Midoriya followed Chico through the halls of Mother Base, with DD trying to keep pace. He didn't know what they were looking for, but Chico said it would be cool. Something about a UMA, whatever that meant. He kept going on about it, holding a book in his hands as they went. Soon they got to where Chico was taking him, the Intelligence Room. It had a massive modernization effort in the last few days, with more modern computers being… liberated… from their original users. So of course Chico took him to one of the computers.
"It's a real-life UMA! It's incredible, you have to see it."
"What's a UMA again?" Midoriya asked him. He still wasn't entirely sure what it was, everything in the book just seemed to be a fictional monster.
"An unidentified mysterious animal, like Loch Ness, or the Chupacabra," Chico replied, pulling something up on one of the computers.
"Oh… ok," Midoriya replied, right as Chico stepped to the side for him to see. He looked at it and… that's not an animal.
"Chico… I don't mean to be rude, but that's a hero." Chico, looked at him incredulously, clearly not believing what he was saying.
"What!? How is it not a UMA!? Look at those jaws, look at how tall and scaly it is!"
"That's uh, the hero Godzillo." He walked closer up to the computer now, quickly finding a video of a news team interviewing the hero. Midoriya wondered how he could have gotten him confused for an animal though, he was wearing clothes. It seemed to have shut down Chico's brain briefly, as he contemplated the truth that was in front of him.
"Damn it, every time I think I have something," Chico muttered.
"It's not that bad, they might be somewhere out in the world," Midoriya told him, trying his best to comfort Chico.
"I know, but first it was with Bascilisco, now it was this." It caused Midoriya to wonder what he meant for a moment.
"Bascilisco?"
"It means King of Snakes," Chico started, "I thought I saw it back in Costa Rica. It turned out to be this giant unmanned weapon instead."
He moved back to the computer then, shifting it to the security footage of a dock. It displayed a large mech on the screen, towering over everything nearby. It continually stomped around the area, destroying whatever was underfoot. Midoriya could see where he could confuse it for a large animal.
"Woah, what is it?" Midoriya asked him, entranced by the video in front of him.
"It was called Peace Walker. A nuclear-armed metal gear."
"Did a villain build it?"
"More like a monster. But sure, villain works."
He kept watching the video feed. It just kept stomping around and shooting at something on the ground. It took him a minute to see it, but it looked like a man. The man was also shooting back at the metal gear. Right as it was getting good, the computer turned off.
"Hey!" Midoriya shouted out in surprise, his face mere inches from the screen.
"What? You're too young for this."
"That's bold of you to say Chico." a new voice spoke over, a woman standing over behind him. Chico turned around quickly, excitement clear in his voice.
"Amanda! When did you get back?" Chico asked her, running up to hug her.
"Only a couple minutes ago, the mission was shorter than we expected," she replied, turning over her gaze to Midoriya.
"Midoriya." she greeted, holding out a small trading card. All Might's face was visible on it, so that was enough for Midoriya.
"Thank you!" he exclaimed before looking over every part of the card.
"Did you see what Kaz bought?" Chico asked her.
"You mean the warship hanging off Mother Base. Yeah, I still don't know what that idiota was thinking." Amanda replied. She had seen it from the helicopter specifically. When they were still a few miles from Mother Base. Needless to say, it was quite a sight.
Kaz groggily sat up from his chair. He hadn't slept in days, but he had done it. A genuine use for the aircraft carrier had been found. It had taken him a long amount of searching for contracts, reviewing ideas from R&D, and nearly falling off Mother Base half-asleep. Yet here it was, lying out in front of him. A contract from the Indian government asking for assistance with pirates in the area. It paid enough to cover the cost of the carrier, only barely but it was enough. All they needed now were sailors.
But where to get them? They needed men with experience in this field, not newbies who barely knew what they were doing. Strangelove's AI worked for the moment, but it could only tell the ship to sail forward. It couldn't do any of the more complex tasks that would be needed, yet. He was about to start looking for possible applicants from the volunteers lining up when his codec started ringing. Kaz answered it, hearing the voice of Striker Osprey.
"Commander sir, there's a situation outside."
"Care to elaborate?"
"I would, but I think it's best if you see for yourself."
Standing up, Kaz made his way over to the door. He was greeted by dozens of other MSF members running through the halls. He grew worried another prisoner escaped, but the men didn't seem all that panicked. More surprised than worried. He followed them out, unsure of what to expect. He made it to the edge of the platform where he met Osprey. Kaz was about to speak when his eyes dragged him away.
Across the ocean, and getting closer fast, were hundreds of small rafts. They were shoddily put together and looked as if they would sink instantly, but it was clear people were on them. He pulled out binoculars for a better look. Dozens of people littered the rafts, they looked malnourished and sickly.
"What's going on?" he asked Osprey, his eyes stuck on the mass of rafts.
"Refuges by the looks of it," Osprey replied.
"Any idea where they're coming from?"
"None sir."
Kaz continued to look out across the waves. He couldn't count how many there were. The people themselves looked on curiously at the large structures of Mother Base. He couldn't help but notice the fear in their eyes when they saw the troops of MSF.
"Get them on Mother Base, I want food and water ready for the first ones on board," Miller ordered, stepping away from the edge.
"Yes sir," Osprey replied, before running and relaying the order to the others. Kaz meanwhile, had something else to focus on. Such as where these refugees had come from. He went down to the Mother Base's airstrip finding several pilots on standby. All he had to do was give the word, and they began fueling up the F-35s. It would seem they got to try out their new equipment, sooner than he thought.
"This is Diamond actual over, all signs call in."
"Diamond one checking in."
"Diamond two checking in."
The other five pilots sent in checked in as well. Their F-35s flew gracefully in the air as they surveyed the area.
"Now, Commander Miller wants us to simply scout the area, and find a possible path they could've come from." Diamond Actual told them.
"Couldn't we just ask them, sir?" Diamond one asked.
"We could, but then we wouldn't get to try these out now would we?" Diamond Actual replied, followed by the sound of him taking a drink, before signing off.
"Great, another recon mission." a pilot remarked sarcastically.
"Aw cheer up Darkside, we could be stuck grounded."
"You say that Mustang but all the army guys keep getting actual deployments." another pilot countered, "Meanwhile we keep getting relegated to training."
"To be fair, there's been little need for fighter pilots Butcher." Diamond Five responded. True enough, every mission the MSF had been on so far, had no real form of air power in use. Sure they used the important stuff, like the planes equipped for electronic warfare and transport helicopters. But fighter jets? Those were stuck in storage. Then Miller bought the F-35s… which were also placed in storage.
"What I wouldn't give for some action though," Darkside commented, gazing out at the oceans below. It was so empty. The ocean below them, the sky above. It was the same as it had always been. Then something pinged. He checked his radar, finding several blips approaching them.
"I got contacts, anyone else?"
"Same here. I count five small, one large." Butcher replied.
"Any confirmation on who it is?" Darkside asked them.
"Negative… I don't think they found us yet." Diamond 4 responded "Any suggestions Impulse?"
"Well, anyone up for a closer look?" Impulse suggested.
"I'm down" Darkside answered. Quickly they neared the target, getting a closer look at what was in front of them. Ahead of them were five other jets, they couldn't tell what type they were. He soon heard his jet's warning system go off. Darkside barely having a second to react, dived his jet down while launching flares. The missile narrowly avoided him as he shouted out over the comms.
"We've been engaged!" His radar showed the rest of the squadron coming to engage. The moment they did, three of the enemy's planes disappeared from radar.
"Hot damn do these things have range!" Butcher commented over the radio.
"Yeah well good for you! I'm starting to think getting so close was a bad idea!" Impulse retorted back, his jet stuck trying to lose the one tailing him. Darkside wasn't fairing much better, stuck having to swerve as the jet behind him got another lock. He launched flares immediately this time, pulling a sharp turn. The missile again went towards the flares.
"They seem to like heat seekers," Darkside commented.
"Maybe it's the equipment? They said our jets had stealth capabilities."
"Great, and we just threw that out the window."
Just as he was about to launch another set of flares, the jet behind him exploded. Same as the one behind Impulse. The jets of his squadmates coming in close.
"You know, this seemed a little unfair. We could have shot them down before they saw us."
"Anyone know what they were flying?" Mustang asked.
"Nope, looked Soviet to me though," Butcher replied. Darkside was about to agree when his eyes were drawn back to the radar. The large object remained, however, it was far slower than the jets. It was also below them, in the ocean.
"Anyone got eyes on the large blob?" Darkside asked. The rest of the squad confirmed negative except for Impulse.
"I've got something, though I can't tell… wait a minute this thing has a camera?!"
"Geek out later, what have you got?"
"It's a massive vessel, maybe a cruiser. And by the looks of it, it's heading towards Mother Base."
"Shit, I'll call this in."
"Can you confirm?" Diamond Actual called in, double-checking with the pilots he sent out. Miller stood beside him as he got word.
"Affirmative sir, I've got eyes on a large naval vessel. Possible cruiser, class unknown."
"Damn it," Kaz muttered, Diamond Actual ordering the pilots to keep searching the area. A cruiser heading straight to them. Were they after the refugees, if so then for what reason? He didn't have time to think about it. Those jets were already proven hostile and he wasn't taking chances with that ship.
"Flaming Buffalo, get Mother Base's weapon platforms up and running. I want missiles ready to launch now." Kaz ordered. Outside more jets were being scrambled and sent out, securing the sky above them. He could see the refugees in the water over the base's security cameras. Many were quickly pulled up onto Mother Base, but the majority remained in the ocean.
As he saw this, what few modern AEGIS systems the base had begun firing into the sky. The missiles it was aiming for detonated midair, a few miles from Mother Base. Shit, Kaz thought, they've started firing.
"Buffalo those weapon platforms?" he demanded.
"Two and three are ready for launch sir," she replied. Kaz checked in with Diamond Actual, the pilots in the field attempting to provide coordinates for the outdated missiles. The first platform launched its payload, two missiles streaking out over the horizon. He could only watch as the cruiser intercepted them easily. Then the second launched the results ending the same as the last.
Their missiles weren't good enough Kaz realized. They needed something that couldn't be intercepted. Buffalo then called in, informing him that two more platforms were ready. They then fired again, the missiles barely making it to the cruiser before being shot down. Desperately he tried to think of a new idea. It was clear their missiles weren't working, what about the jets? No, they didn't have the firepower. It hit him. He quickly switched the frequency of his codec.
"Huey, get ZEKE up and running!" Kaz told him, there wasn't much time left. He heard the AEGIS systems firing again, trying their best to intercept the missiles.
"W-what? You can't be serious, now?" Huey questioned.
"We need ZEKE's railgun, it's the only thing that can't be intercepted!" Kaz informed him, as another strike was narrowly intercepted while he spoke.
"It'll take a minute, we need to unload the nuke first."
"Do it, quickly!" Kaz exclaimed, right as Buffalo called in about another platform's readiness. Then it happened. A missile slipped by and hit one of the weapon platforms. The once-ready missiles exploded on contact, as the platform began burning. He could only watch on in horror. Their surviving platform fired off another barrage, attempting to overwhelm the cruiser's CIWS. It was entirely futile, the missiles were shot down again.
"It's ready!" Huey called over the code. The platform was ZEKE resided slowly lifted upwards, the metal gear itself coming online. Frantically, they gave the coordinates to the AI for the strike, watching as ZEKE got into position. A missile headed right to it, colliding with its armor. The metal gear shrugged it off, moving into a firing position. Its railgun charged up quickly, before firing. Seconds went by before the pilots called in.
"Cruiser destroyed!" The room erupted into celebration, Kaz sat back and enjoyed a calm breather.
Progress was going just as scheduled. The Ninth Circle was an adamant help in this, especially with his genetical research. Already he could see the beginnings of his plan resting in a test tube. It was truly incredible to see. And all with Akira in the dark, or so he hoped. It would be such a shame if he had to kill off such promising talent. Nonetheless, everything was going smoothly. Madam President, however, believed otherwise.
"A full year has gone by now, and you haven't brought forth any new results," Gecko told him, yet again docking his lab's funding. Honestly, bureaucrats could be so impatient.
"You know, docking my funding isn't helping." Night Owl countered, starting up the machine yet again. Agent Matter was then injected with Trigger, and the portal formed. It was a dark yellow color, not all that promising. This became evident when the aide in the room was immediately struck by lightning from the portal. Their body was vaporized instantly. He sighed as he shut it down, writing his observation in his notes. Dimension 2234, hell dimension class.
"And I keep telling you, you owe us money. We want to remake what we lost, so unless you're willing to fork over the money yourself, then your funding will have to do." Gecko reminded him.
"It's always about money with you isn't it, you never stop to smell the roses do you?" He reactivated the machine then, watching as a new portal formed. This one was… orange. Just like the experiment from a year ago. He could already see the potential. Gecko seemed to see how drawn he was to the portal. The aide in the room stepped forth carefully, holding out a hand to the portal. He stopped instantly, noticing something on the portal. He carefully stepped back, right as a man was flung through the other end. And of course, Night Owl recognized him. This, he realized, would be fun.
The President frantically called up every mercenary group she could think of. The moment Night Owl told her the man with the eye patch was spotted in Venezuela, she had ordered as many agents as possible into the country. Of course, there weren't enough agents available, so she turned to the next best thing. All over the dark web and secret channels, a bounty had been posted. Forty million dollars, for Big Boss alive.
It was almost a requirement that he be taken alive. He had a private army, and they were more than likely loyal. So if the HPSC wanted their whereabouts they needed him alive.
"What did the Brothers request?" she asked, turning over to one of her advisors.
"They want more AA systems, specifically modern systems."
"Authorized," she told him, pulling up the next document on her desk. It still baffled her how many villains continued to use guns in the modern age of quirks. As she looked over the document in hand, her phone began ringing. She picked it up, finding it was Techno.
"Anything on MSF?"
"I'm afraid not, it's something else this time. The Gold Coast mercs went rogue."
"Explain," she demanded. This was rogue organization number two now, their saboteur seemed to strike again.
"They were spotted launching an assault on the southern coast of Vietnam. Several refugees fled the area but have disappeared. The mercs also haven't been spotted." She was losing control, and she didn't like it. If any more of these groups went rogue it would send a message to the others. Then the whole house of cards they set up would come crashing down.
"I want their leader's head on my wall by sundown, and all of them questioned," she ordered, very nearly yelling into the receiver. The HPSC would not be made a laughingstock of the underworld, especially due to the likes of some two-bit villain.
Maria let out a low whistle, as the helicopter approached the FOB.
"Nice place you got here Yanqui, you sure you're not a hero?" she commented, a smirk on her face. Snake only grumbled as the helicopter neared the landing pad, watching as the base's medical staff came out to greet them. They quickly began ferrying off the civilians to temporary housing.
"Mind telling me what's going to happen to them?" Maria questioned her hand very clearly on her weapon.
"That depends on what they choose," Snake replied, pulling a cigar from his bag.
"Seriously though, who even are you?" Maria asked, motioning to the entire base around them.
"We are MSF," Snake replied, taking a quick puff from his cigar, "Militaries Sans Frontieres."
"A military without borders… so you are mercenaries. So, what, this Night Owl guy a contract you're going after?"
"No, it's more difficult to explain."
"Well, I've got time, so get to yapping."
Snake sighed as he held his cigar, pulling out a photo of Midoriya. This was going to take a while.
"At least a year ago, we found this kid in the HPSC's custody," Snake told her, holding the photo nearby.
"Figures," Maria muttered angrily. Odd, Snake thought, he would have thought law enforcement would have more respect for the HPSC. Then again, she did tell him to fuck off when she assumed he was a hero.
"We managed to get him out of there pretty quickly, but we've been on their hit list ever since. Night Owl was working with them, and now we suspect he's up to something."
"So, you followed him here, because of this kid. Understandable, you still haven't explained his part in all of this."
"They were using him for experiments."
Maria immediately turned pale as the words were uttered. Yet as quickly as it arrived, anger took its place even faster.
"I always knew the HPSC were cabrónes."
"How do you mean? I mean I know from being on their hitlist, but you seem to bear a grudge against them." Snake commented as he enjoyed another puff of his cigar.
"Well, there wouldn't be a cartel if it weren't for the HPSC. Almost a hundred years ago and we had them on the ropes, the last of their leadership was behind bars. The story was making international headlines, there was only one problem." she started, fiddling with the bits on her rifle.
"The operation didn't involve heroes. Next thing the policia knew, the operation was being called off, and heroes would be taking their place. The cartel would then surge back into prominence and flee into Venezuela when the war started."
"The entire cartel came back that quickly?" asked somewhat surprised. Sure, he had heard of combatants making rapid gains before, but she made it sound like days rather than weeks.
"Why wouldn't it, we sent glorified brand deals in spandex into the jungles. Sure, there were some competent ones, but not nearly enough for the entire country. But the HPSC hailed it as a victory, and news articles about the cartel haven't been seen since. As far as the rest of the world knows, the cartel's gone." Maria finished, looking out across the vast ocean around them.
"Huh, so then that off-the-books operation, you were sent in quietly, so the HPSC didn't notice." Snake deduced, stamping out his cigar as it burnt away.
"Pretty much, they've got too much money invested in Colombia. Going against them is political suicide for anyone. I'm pretty sure our last police chief died for it." Maria stated.
"Makes sense, I've heard how much the hero business makes." He remembered what Strangelove had said before. Somehow every industry in life has some link to heroics, whether it be simple marketing or genuine participation.
"So, what are you doing now?" Snake asked her, watching as she turned back to him.
"Right now? Well, the moment my teammate is finished I have to go report the ops failure. Think you can spare a helicopter?"
"I'll see what I can do," Snake replied.