"Wow, nova!" David exclaimed right next to Killshot.
Killshot chuckled as he pressed the keys to the Black Mamba… which was painted white by Spartan Bones.
David was too busy running around, crouching down to look at the wheels, exhaust pipes, and then back to the front of the car.
"Can I…" David asked nervously as he pointed to the front of Black Mamba, the second half of his question dying quietly in his throat.
Killshot understood what David wanted to ask about, and just smirked.
"Go ahead. It's not my car, anyway."
David snickered a little as he opened the car up, revealing the high-quality engine revving up. The engine itself ran on CHOOH2, like the rest of the vehicles in the automobile market. But David's knowledge picked the smaller parts apart, the hydraulic presses looked way too durable, then realising that the gears and chains were made to triple the cycle of a standard racing car. Then there was the main engine- it had turbines, which made David realise how the car could be so fuel efficient.
"This is preem…" David muttered as Killshot walked to his side.
"Cell wasn't too excited about the engine. He's seen better ones be used on our Warthogs."
David looked to Killshot.
"A Warthog?"
"Our main vehicle in the military. Has way stronger engine than this, but uses hydrogen injection combustion engines instead. Though if you take us Spartans words for it, it looks more like a Puma."
"A Puma?"
"A big cat. Anyways, he was more proud of his application of the nanolaminated alloy sheets used for the cars. When force is applied in a car crash, the kinetic force weakens the bonds between the nanolaminated alloy sheets, making the sheet layers slide towards the direction of the force and expel it out the opposite end of the impact through the nanometre gaps and small air vents on the side. Handful of the portion also turns into heat from the friction between the sheet layer. Thus, the nanolaminate sheet layer structure makes them dynamically elastic, bounce backs into shape as soon as the force is expelled. Makes the car durable while keeping the passengers and driver safe from the impact. It's better than having the car easily crumpled when crashed, because it can take further crashes and impact that normally happens in particularly nasty car accidents. Helps with withstanding bullet shots, too."
David stared at the metallic material of the car, running a hand across it.
"Wow… nova…"
"It's something Cell had came up with while looking at the nanolaminate structure, and then seeing pencils."
David coughed, before chuckling.
"A pencil?"
"The graphite in Pencil lead is a carbon structure made like sheets stacked upon each other, with the bonds between the layers being really weak. It was his own creative approach to the nanolaminate alloy layers. There's a reason why he's our chief engineer."
"Ha!" David laughed as Killshot walked over to the Driver's seat, opening the door.
"Now hop in. I'll drive you back to your house."
David closed the front of the car, running to the passenger seat, opening the door and jumping in.
Killshot twisted the keys into the ignition, the Black Mamba roaring to life.
The Black Mamba exited the rather filled underground parking lot of the Medical centre, driving around the Santo Domingo streets. Rather contrary to the streets of City Centre, most of the Santo Domingo streets were riddled with run down factories, half broken sheds, and sometimes several tents lined up on the sides of the dirty and dusty roads.
Then there were several empty spaces with abandoned construction frames left to rust, which only made the newly-constructed corpo factories stand out in the centre of the district.
"Hey, Killshot?" David asked as he looked around the inside of the car, feeling just how comfortable the seats were.
"Yep?" Killshot replied as he stuck his eyes to the road in front, and to the sides.
"Can I turn on the radio?" David asked, pointing the device in the middle of the car's counter.
Killshot shrugged.
"Sure, choose a channel." David grinned, turning the dial after pushing the power button to carefully switch between channels.
Some of them were playing songs newly released, while others were something he was familiar with.
Just has he found the Body heat channel, the song had finished- a short intermission playing before the radio host played the next song in queue.
[The newest documentary of UNSC, now in-development! UNSC: Titans from Space. Part one will be released 6/24!]
David turned to Killshot at the news.
"6/24? Isn't that 3 weeks away?"
"Yeah, offers from various media company was flooding into. Genjiro and Cell was suffering just from choosing."
"Damn, that's quick."
Killshot sneered as he took a turn to the right, going down and into a small tunnel.
"Tell me about it. We all had a footage of us talking about one part of the war that stuck with us. He's set to meet the media company for the interview added into the documentary."
"Who's going to be the media company in charge with making the documentary?"
"A company called DNS."
"DNS?! Seriously?"
"Why?"
"That's like the second best media company there is! Right after N54!"
"Huh. Guess that's why they were desperately offering more than whatever N54 was offering."
David looked to the side as the intermission ended, and moved onto Night City by Artemis Delta. The window showed the Darters flying through the sky from the Hospitals and back. They were running harder than both Trauma Team for even less profit.
David was about to wonder why, until he remembered Spartan Bones.
Maybe they didn't really need the profit.
"Where do we go from here?" Killshot asked David.
David knew the streets, he was familiar enough.
"Turn right from here, and then go a bit further before taking left on the second crossroad."
"Right. Oh, and David?"
David looked at Killshot as the Spartan focused on driving.
"How much of those cybernetic implants did you install?"
David held his hand up to his eyes.
"Just the neuroport and kiroshi optics."
Killshot sighed.
"Ok, good. That's not much."
David slouched a little more in his seat.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want you installing any more implants into you."
Killshot saw David's brows furrow in confusion and slight defence through the corner of his eyes.
"You've inherited part of the Spartan II's genetic materials, which means that your body will naturally grow to be stronger than whatever cybernetic limbs or parts you're going to replace your body parts with. I know you still haven't decided whether or not to join UNSC, but I just want you to know that installing implants to replace your body is going to be a waste- you're body is capable of performing much better than standard implants."
David raised one of his brow.
"Really?"
"Yes, really." Killshot exasperated slightly as he made a left turn. "You've seen Spartan Jim and Adam Smasher fight, right?"
David nodded his head with a grin etching on his lips.
"It was preem."
Killshot sneered. The street lamps slowly becoming sparce, replacing yellow light with neon lights as Killshot drove out into an open space. Killshot could see the apartment David silently pointed out to in the distance. He knew the rest of the way now.
"Well, that's standard for Spartan IIs."
"Jim's a Spartan II?"
"No, he's a Spartan III. But he's part of the Spartan IIIs categorised as Cat 2, who are Spartan IIIs that met the genetic criteria of Doctor Halsey's Spartan II procedure. In other words, the Spartan III augmentation made him just as strong as a Spartan II."
"Right…"
"So, can you promise me at least that?"
"What, about not getting more implants?"
"Yeah. I get that the optic replacement and neuroport was important to live in Night City, but just no further implants. It's just going to make your body worse in the long run. Okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I can promise that."
Killshot nodded.
"Thanks, David."
David remained quiet, before he opened his mouth.
"Speaking of implants… Killshot?"
"Hm?"
"Can you teach me how to fight?"
Killshot blinked as he slowed his car in front of David's apartment.
"What's the sudden request for?"
David shrugged.
"I've got this one guy in class, Tetsuo. Son of the Arasaka Academy's boardmembers. Snobby little guy."
"David," Killshot cautiously replied as he turned his upper body to face David. "Are you… getting bullied?"
David clicked his tongue in frustration.
"It's not bullying, it's just… I don't know… kinda, being an ass about someone like me joining."
"David, that's called bullying. How often did this happen? Did you tell anyone?"
"It's just me getting shit on by the blue suits! Nothing serious."
"And you'd have me teach you how to fight because you're getting beaten up in school?"
"He's not beating me up! It's just… he keeps talking about having his dad buy him a Kung Fu chipware. And knowing him, he'll probably use it on me if I keep staying in Arasaka Academy."
David grabbed the door handle, but didn't open the door yet.
"Since you're a Spartan and all… If I'm not gonna get implants, I thought maybe I'd ask you to teach me some moves and what not."
"David…" Killshot took his hand off the steering wheel, place the stick to park and looked at David. "You've naturally got Spartan Time. I've seen you use it when I threw that tissue box. You could probably beat the shit out of him with that alone before he could react."
"I know that! It's just… I wanna make sure, you know? He probably has some chromes decked out thanks to his dad being a suit and… I don't wanna get blindsided when the suit kid pulls some Kung Fu moves."
Killshot recognised the body language, and what David really wanted.
Maybe he didn't want to be part of UNSC, sure. But judging by how much he brought up about this bully's dad providing for whoever was giving David shit, maybe he was…
Maybe the kid was just jealous.
Killshot sighed. He was here to send Leonard-131's final messages. Was it even in his position to step further into boundaries like that?
Killshot blinked. He had to admit the facts- David was a son of a Spartan II. Agent Washington and Captain Church had tasked him with trying to bring David in before another Megacorp secured him.
Maybe this was the best approach for Killshot after all.
"Fine. I'll think about it."
David smiled.
"Nova, thanks."
Killshot and David both opened the car doors and walked out, closing the doors and locking the car behind them.
"Which floor?"
"7th. Hold up, I've got a call…" Killshot looked to the side as David started to walk with both his and Gloria's stuff in his arms.
Killshot looked up at the apartment building. It was pretty unbalanced, the lower part of the apartment being narrow than the top, which looked more like blocks of buildings glued on. It almost resembled a tree, with the holographic red caution signs and red lamp lights making it all the more ominous.
"Yeah, hoop chip. Version back… Is that all? You low-balling me? Huh?"
Killshot overheard David's conversation as both went inside and walked up the stairs, avoiding the homeless in the narrow stairs and hallway.
"Nah, forget it, choom." David ended the call, shouting 'Damn it!' before looking at what his apartment room's front door said.
[Access Denied. Rent Overdue.]
"What the fuck?!" David exasperated before kicking the door.
David sighed as he tried to go around to the vents in the back, but Killshot grabbed the kid by the shoulder and stopped him.
"David."
"Hmm?"
"You can stay at our place for tonight if you want. Make sure to tell your mother about the current situation, though."
David grinned.
"You sure? Nova! Where's your place, anyway?"
"The Graveyard."
Killshot saw David take a step back with a faltering grin, blinking twice before realising the misunderstanding.
"Oh, right. I forgot that only UNSC and Reds and Blues call it that. It's our headquarters in Badlands, where most of the Spartans are in."
David rolled his eyes around before remembering seeing it through the news. The giant silver building that would look more fitting in Corpo Plaza instead of the outskirts of Night City.
"Ooooh, that place. You said that's where most of the Spartans are, right?"
"Yeah, you can say hi to them if you want. They're nice."
"Is Jim there too?"
"Last time I checked, he was. We could also go over teaching you how to fight, if you want."
"Sweet! Oh, shoot! I still need to go grab my uniform for tomorrow."
"Right, so we still have to go in there. Hang on. I got just the guy."
"… Huh?"
Killshot touched the door before David properly responded, the hologram disappearing and the door automatically opening.
"How did you do that?!" David shouted in surprise, ignoring the fact that the homeless were all looking at him with annoyance. He was being too loud late at night. "You can quick hack?!"
Killshot looked at David with confusion as he wore his sunglasses.
"Quick hack? Is that a Night City Slang? I've got a buddy in the back of my head that can open controls like no problem. Specialises in it too, thanks to my main job being deployment for espionage and reconnaissance."
"In… your head?"
Killshot walked into David and Gloria's apartment, showing the neural interface implanted in the back of his neck by tapping on it.
"Dumb AI named BUTLR. Anything digital, he can handle it."
"Wow…" David muttered as he followed in. "So you've got an AI in your brain?"
"More like an AI in my Neural interface. We don't tamper with the brain. Go grab your stuff, I can lock the doors on our way out."
David did just that, grabbing his school uniform out of the washing machine before grabbing extra clothes. Some were gym clothes (since Killshot did just promise with teaching how to fight), some were Pajamas. He was rummaging through the shelves just in case he was staying in the place longer than necessary, until he saw something slip out and fall to the ground.
"The hell is this…?" David muttered as he picked it up. It was cyberware, wrapped in a plastic bag.
"What is it?" Killshot asked as the Spartan walked up and looked over David's shoulder, David looking up to Killshot and showing him the cyberware clearly.
"Oh, I've seen Ram and Cell tamper around with that. That's what a Sandevistan looks like, I believe. Though it looks bulkier than the standard ones we saw."
"A Sandevistan? Why would mom have a…" David tilted his head as he flipped the chrome around.
"Maybe you can ask her when you tell her what's happening. For now, though. Maybe pack it in your bags along with the rest of your clothes. You've got your toothbrush?"
"I… right, right. Ummm… Yeah, do you guys have blankets and toothpaste?"
Killshot outstretched his hands to the side and shrugged his shoulders defensively.
"Of course we do. What, you think we sleep without blankets and brush our teeth without toothpaste?"
David heard the heavy sarcastic undertone in the reply. He laughed as he responded just to poke some more fun into Killshot.
"I mean, hard to imagine you guys sleeping and brushing your teeth at all."
Killshot frowned through his sunglasses, his brows visibly upset in David's eyes.
"Well that's rude to say. Why, did my breath smell bad?"
David chuckled as he packed the rest of his luggage and hoisted it on his back.
"Nah, nah. Choom. You're fine."
The two walked out of the apartment, Killshot sending out BUTLR to once again close the door and set everything back to how it was.
"Well, now you just made me conscious for no reason. You can sit at the back, now."
David chuckled as they walked back down the stairs and to the Black Mamba. Still unrobbed, no thanks to its durability making it really hard to be car jacked.
"Hey, come on! Killshot, Choom! I was just joking!"
-oOo-
"Wow…" David looked around, slowing his steps as he got out of the car and into the silver hallways. The left side of the wall was made entirely of glass, showing the grass covering the soil between the Graveyard and the wall built up to surround it.
Everyone stared at David- the few Spartan IIs especially. To them, David Martinez looked exactly like Leonard-131, down to the hair and the face. Who knew Spartan genes were this strong?
It almost felt like they had Leonard-131 return to them.
David even saw how clear the starry night sky was, free from the standard night pollution of Night City.
David had even forgotten about the reason for coming here when he started to run around the windows looking into the labs from the hallway.
He saw how some of the employees were hard at work, talking to each other while making a 3d model through the hologram showing up on the desk.
Some of the employees were chuckling with each other, holding a can of beer in one hand and playfully testing out a holographic simulation of a pistol at each other with their other hand.
He heard some of the Spartans chuckle at the boy's excitement at technology being developed.
It didn't sound condescending, however. The tone was significantly different to the snickers he received in Arasaka Academy.
One of the Spartans walked up to David, who was still looking through the R department of the Graveyard.
"You're David Martinez, right?" David turned to the contralto voice right behind him, looking up to a huge Spartan in a ARDENT-Class helmet towering over him. "Leonard-131's kid. We've heard about you."
David laughed nervously and awkwardly looking at Killshot in the back for help.
Killshot was talking to the Spartans with a can of soda in his hands, before noticing David's silent plea and shouting back.
"That's August-099, she's a Spartan II, leader of a six-man Spartan II team called Spartan group Omega."
David awkwardly laughed as he raised a hand for the Spartan to shake.
But he didn't expect the Spartan to bring him into a hug.
"Welcome to the Graveyard, kid." That's all August-099 said before releasing him from the hug. "You look just like Leonard. Did Killshot ever tell you that?"
David looked back from the ARDENT helmet to Killshot, August following David's gaze as Killshot looked to August-099 with a shrug.
"Killshot!" August-099 protested. Killshot only grinned cheekily
"What? I never really had a chance to tell him that. I mean, why would I? He probably heard that enough times from his mother anyway."
August-099 groaned as the Spartans around them laughed.
August-099 shook her head as she looked to David.
"I knew your father, David. All of the Spartan IIs did. Personally." August-099 added as she placed a hand on David's shoulder. "I'm sorry about what happened."
David looked to the floor.
"It's fine." He replied with a smile. Really, he meant it. At least he finally knew that his father didn't die a coward, and there was still people that remembered him for who he was.
It was a tragedy. David will admin that. But at least he finally got closure. And some sort of feeling of vindication.
August-099 nodded, before lightly slapping David on the shoulder.
"Come on, I've heard the general situation from Killshot. Let me introduce you around the place."
David looked to Killshot as August-099 was marching off down the hall. Killshot waved at David as he talked to the Spartans.
'And you've checked the records?'
'Yeah, the last thing I managed to find was their address and contact. Records dug out from the government files showed that Gloria Martinez had a partner called Leopold Martinez, disappeared 7 years prior. Birth of David Martinez was also recorded. Matches everything down to a T. You guys better thank Noble 6 for sneaking in and extracting data.'
'What about the Spartan II enhancements? Did David really inherit them?'
'Inherited some of it. The genes and epigenetic factors. I tested it myself.'
'… how?'
'… I threw a tissue box at his head.'
'Kenichi!'
'What? What? It was the most effective method at hand!'
David snickered at the conversation before he followed August-099.
Catching up just in time as August-099 looked back to check Leonard-131's son was still right behind her.
August-099 pointed to one of the engineering room, where the employees were trying out new car models on a holographic simulation. Their tables scattered with Compads and a miniature holographic model of Night City on one of the desks.
"Those guys are former Militech engineers, using their free time trying out new car engines and wheels."
"And do they all use holograms?" David asked as he watched the engineers grab the holographic model of a car and place it on the Night City model's streets. Before they all cheered and clapped with the car whizzed around the districts with no complications or difficulty.
"Yeah, easiest way to test out if things will work properly."
"Nova…"
"… Nova? That slang for something?" August-099 asked, confusion evident in her tone.
"Oh, right- yeah, it's… it's uuh, street slang for Awesome or Cool. Kinda like Preem."
August-099 tilted her head, before nodding along.
"… I see, alright… moving on, here's the vertical farm and- what are you doing here, Grif?"
August-099 walked to a bigger room, filled with columns, rows, and shelves of crops ranging from cabbages to lettuces to potatoes and carrots.
August-099 threw her hands to her sides in frustration, however, when there was an orange Spartan IV crouching down behind one of the columns, peaking his head out before hiding back.
"I'm trying to hide from Sarge- go away!" Grif snapped back in a hushed tone.
August-099 looked to David, before silently gesturing to him that they should move on. David nodded as he looked at the orange Spartan for the final time.
And just as they walking across the hallway, David saw a Red Spartan Sprinting with an M90 Close Assault shotgun close to the Spartan's chest.
"Sarge?" August-099 called as the Red Spartan stopped just in front of August-099.
"Petty Officer Second Class August-099, Ma'am! Have you seen where Grif went?"
All of the Spartans here were part of the Spartan Division, which meant that there were no solid hierachy among the Spartans. But to someone that had considerable time spent in a (somewhat false) hierarchy, he was some of the few that still addressed to their own rigid system.
August-099 turned to look back at the vertical farm- and so did David. August-099 looked back to Sarge and replied in a hushed voice.
"He's behind one of the columns in the vertical farm. Try not to ruin the crops there, though. Okay? I know Grif did something stupid again, but I don't want to see you guys get chased through the desert by Cell with a Scattershot."
Sarge looked to the sides of August-099's shoulder and straight at the entrance of the vertical farm, before looking back at August-099.
"I'll try, ma'am. But no promises."
August-099 just sighed, waving a 'good luck' with her hands as she gestured David to follow her. Sarge rushed past the two and dived straight into the Vertical farm.
All David heard behind him on his way forward was the sound of Grif screaming, before the two orange and red spartan IVs ran out of the vertical farm, Sarge now pumping his shotgun.
"GRIF! I TOLD YOU NOT TO CRUSH OUR WARTHOG!"
"AND I KEEP TELLING YOU, THAT THING HAS 6 PEDALS! HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW WHICH ONE'S THE BRAKE?!"
"Now, that there is the cafeteria. You hungry, David?"
David felt his stomach growl a little. Oh yeah, David realised. He didn't really get to eat anything today, considering the car crash and all. David lightly patted his stomach as he looked to August-099. The hunger was nothing he couldn't handle right now.
"A bit, but I can go after the tour."
August-099 nodded as she moved on. "Don't worry," August-099 added. "We've only got 3 or 4 places to go."
David found himself taking a right turn and an escalator up to the second floor, this time the hallway had a glass wall that looked into… a complete replica of a city, with palm trees and car roads.
David pointed to what he was looking at in confusion, turning to August-099 in confusion.
"Oh, that's War games. It's what we use for simulated training for UNSC soldiers. I think Killshot was planning to bring you here to teach you how to fight. Seems like someone's using it for a match."
August-099 only barely managed to finish her sentence before 24 spartans, split into 2 12-man teams, whizzed into the arena with gravity hammers, energy swords, and other power weapons.
"… or in this case, for just some bullshit fun."
David heard the voices of the Spartans within bombard the field and overlap with each other, Spartans attacking each other in humorously obscene ways.
"""OOOOOOOOH"""
"OOOH MY GOOOOOD"
"OH YEAH"
"OH GOD."
"WHY?"
"LET'S FUCKING GO!"
"WHY DID YOU DO THIS?"
"SQUID GAME"
"WHY?"
"SQUID GAAAAME"
"SQUID GAME"
"WHAT-"
"SQUIIID"
"SQUID GAMES"
"SQUID GAME"
"SQUID-GAME"
August-099 recognised the voices quickly.
Yeah, those were Spartan Badger and his fireteam in there.
David watched as one of the Spartans (judging by the red and yellow CQC armour, it was Spartan Badger) used his grappling hook to fly across the street, only for a gravity hammer to smash into his helmet and have the poor Spartan IV's body flying across the entire map, slamming into the glass window as David flinched back.
"Don't worry, the weapons and maps are all holograms." August-099 reassured David.
"Even the body that just flew across here?!"
August stayed quiet, before continued walking.
"It's… it's a hologram."
David was equally perplexed and shocked. And the more he watched the case that was War games custom mode, he didn't want an answer anymore.
He just dashed across the hallway, catching up to August-099 as they came across a door.
August-099 knocked on the door, before the voice on the other side answered with a 'come in.'
David watched the door open to reveal someone that David knew- the purple Engineer-class MJOLNIR, with the four nodes on the helmet.
That was Cell. That was President Cell, the CEO of Reds and Blues.
Right in front of David's eyes!
"Do you need me for something, August?" Cell asked as he was busy fiddling with a microscope, not even bothering with looking up to properly face August-099.
August-099 turned to David.
"That's our local egotistical megalomaniac. If you got something you wanted analysed or fixed, he's your guy."
Cell flicked his left wrist before closing it into a fist, bringing up only his middle finger to flip the bird at August-099.
"Love you too, August. Love you too, ma'am."
"Come on, let's move on to where you'll be sleeping for a while." August-099 said to David as she snickered.
Cell finally looked up, and realised that he had a guest.
"Oh shit." Cell stood up, walking up to the door and crouch down slightly to look at David at eye level. "David Martinez?"
"I…" David stammered as he shook his head rapidly to snap himself out of awe. "I- yeah! David, I'm David Martinez."
Cell clasped David's hand and shook it firmly, David felt the force of the Spartan's grip.
"David Martinez, hi. So nice to meet you, a lot of the Spartan IIs were happy about your news."
"Uh… Nice to meet you to, sir. It's… it's actually an honour to see the Reds and Blues CEO personally, since your Project Caduceus saved my mom and all…" David smiled anxiously, before his eyes caught the microscope.
Cell followed David's gaze, and looked back at David, caught on to what he was curious about.
"You want to try looking into the microscope?" Cell asked as he pointed to the microscope, letting go of David's hand.
David himself turned to August-099, asking for permission to take a moment. August-099 chuckled.
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead, take your time."
David and Cell walked up to the microscope, David looking in through the eye piece to see cells rapidly dividing into a globular shape.
An egg, David recognised the pattern of cell replication.
David was witnessing the development of life.
"Wow, Preem…!" David muttered as he continued watching.
"It's cool isn't it?"
"Yeah! What is it?"
"It's a fish."
"A fish?"
"Yeah. More specifically a tuna. I talked about ocean restoration, and now that the mines were nearly gone in Night City ocean thanks to Fireteam Titan I was thinking about restoring fish population. Then suddenly Akaromi Biocorp leader comes in with a surprise request about getting Tuna.
I said 'why tuna?' and the Akaromi Biocorp replies 'the rich and influential people in Japan heard about the high quality of Reds and Blues food products. So people like really high Arasaka board members would like to taste proper tuna, rather than the ones they have right now. You know, the ones without synthetic after taste.
Tuna sashimi, Tuna sushi. Grilled Tuna, all sorts of food for them to eat. And I said 'is it only going to be available for those guys?' and the CEO replied 'god, I hope not! I'll pay you quadruple the amount we pay for the beefs!' and he kinda gave me a lot of money up front for the specific tuna commission, and I said 'I don't need this much, you could probably just give me half of this and I'd have already released Tuna on the market for the public to get', and then he says 'It's a show of good faith, and hopefully enough incentive to release the first batch of Tuna for us to supply to the Arasaka clan.' And so he tries to pre-order the first successful Tuna products restored, and he thinks it's an auction where the highest bidder wins, I call him 'a fucking idiot for giving me this much already' to his face, but he was smiling when I said I'd do it.
Honestly, though? He gets first batch and briefly monopolises it over other food corporations, and I get to restore Tuna in the ocean so it's a win-win for both of us? I guess? So I'm happy with it."
David had drowned out half of Cell's rant-like rabble as he watched the zygote become larger. It sounded like Reds and Blues' partnership was going strong and steady.
"And how long were you on this tuna restoration?" David asked Cell as he took his eyes away from the microscope.
"Oh," Cell exclaimed as he looked to the artificial Tuna ovary being created in the giant water-filled cylinder behind him before turning back to David. "I started it this evening."
David looked back in surprise. "What?! No way, Choom!"
"Uuuh, yes way. That was the offer that came in during the afternoon, so…" Cell shrugged, gesturing to the artificial ovaries and then to the Tuna egg being developed on the microscope. "… I started it this evening after planning it out. We'll probably have the requested batches of fully grown tuna by like… the end of this week. End of next week if we want to keep it steady and not overdose the tuna on growth accelerants."
"That's quick!"
"I mean, I think quick and I work quick. What do you take me for, I'm a workaholic. This morning, I was taste testing grapes and grape juices some of my employees made for their own passion project."
"Grapes?"
"Oh yeah, some of the former Biotechnica biologists and bioengineers wanted to continue on the project they were forced to stop. And make it less… illegal? It doesn't have any shady chemicals they had to rely on anymore, so that's finally good. They wanted to make wine, you see." Cell looked around the room, and to the window on the back of room that looked down on the factories and lab rooms, before turning back to David. "Don't… tell the guys, but I personally think they got a little competitive after hearing the other group's passion project about wheat genetically modified to be brewed as beer had dazzling responses from the workers that taste tested it, and ended up with a brewery megacorp wanting us to utilise the licensing rights of that passion project to them. Lots of cash paid up front already, too. Huge success."
David chuckled as Cell finished explaining in a hushed tone, standing a bit straighter as he made a gesture across his helmet akin to zipping his mouth shut.
David nodded as he laughed, before Cell took the microscope slide out and sucked the egg with a syringe, loading the needle up with the egg before he carefully lined up the end to the artificial sack inside the water-filled cylinder tub and injected the egg sack.
"Now, we wait a while before the artificial ovaries finish replicating the egg I injected."
"And then?" David asked expectantly.
"And then we wait until the ovaries takes the cell and multiplies the eggs throughout the germinal epithelium. And then we wait for it to become fertile, have the ovaries release the egg. In the mean time, I have to develop the tuna sperm so we can fertilise the released eggs without wasting time."
"That's… you're really prepared for this, huh? And you started this not too long ago too."
"Oh please." Cell exasperated without looking at David, simply tilting his head to the 17-year old as he stared at the artificial tuna ovaries. "I've already replicated the cows with enough genetic diversity to refill the bovine population. Tuna is nothing to me."
"…Nova…" David muttered.
This… really was different, compared to Arasaka. He remembered the tour he was given by the academy, of all the rigid and stressful work environment he saw. All the shouting and mocking that the Academy AI had tried to cover as something positive as a corpo.
David was smart enough to tell what really was positive. He just looked at it now during the tour of the graveyard, didn't he? He had just watched roughly three to four different people that were making actual progress, and looked happy doing it too. Looking relaxed.
"This is really Preem, you know that?" David said to Cell as he walked a little further to the window. Sure enough, there were more labs down there. One of them was working on tending to a pot of grape vines, one of them was squeezing grape juice and plotting them on paper, probably to see the chemical reactions.
It was far from the suffocating environment of Arasaka and its academy.
"Honestly? I'm just happy to have workers passionate about what they're working on. Look at those guys over there. That's the beer wheat I was talking about."
David furrowed his brows at the cans being emptied into the scientist's mouth, some of the ones that were standing were slowly swaying side to side, visibly losing balance.
"Aren't… aren't they drunk?" David asked as he pointed to them, Cell leaning forward.
"Oh shit, I guess they are." Cell softly exclaimed as he walked over to his desk and pushed the button on the microphone.
David heard Cell's voice echo out the labs, seeing how the drunk scientists flinched at Cell's voice.
"Lab C-7: I can see you from the window of my office. You're drunk- go to bed."
David saw the drunk scientists laugh, one of them throwing their head back so far that he ended up tipping over the chair and rolling on the floor. Other two were slapping each other's arms as they tried to pick up the empty cans and leave the lab.
David almost felt jealous- he was working his ass off of attending Arasaka Academy and trying to endure the scathing comments some of his classmates left him, not even sure if graduating the academy would lend him in a good job and a good life. Meanwhile these guys over here were free to pursue what they liked together, in a healthy environment. And their passion was successful ventures, too.
It was almost unfair.
"I swear to god, some of them are way too passionate than necessary." Cell muttered.
David chuckled at the comment as he walked back to the office door.
"Thanks for showing me the tuna." David called as he waved to Cell. Cell chuckled as he waved back.
"And thank you for showing interest. I live off of validation of my work."
August-099, who had been silently leaning on the door frame in the back, finally started to walk again, nodding to Cell before leaving with David.
David saw August-099 point to the window outside, which had a much more open space than the other places.
"That's the testing ground for vehicles and sometimes weapons. Though by the looks of it… they're using it to hold a barbecue."
True to August-099's comment, David watched as some of the soldiers were firing up a grill and cooking steak, pork, and bacon while the ODSTs and Marines and part of the Spartans all sat around a campfire, singing. A blue Spartan even had a banjo in his arm, strumming it along with the voices. A UNSC Marine- Moris Grant, was joining shoulder to shoulder with the other soldiers and Spartans. Evidently drunk.
David couldn't help but smile at the sight. UNSC sure knew how to have fun.
August-099 and David continued walking to their final destination- the barracks. They had walked across a branching hallway made with hardened glass walls and ceilings into a smaller building.
"Here's the worker's barracks. Killshot contacted us before you arrived, made sure to give you an empty suite. You can leave your stuff here. And uuhh…. That's the end of our tour. Hope you enjoyed looking around. If you're hungry, feel free to go to the cafeteria. You want me to take you there?"
David shook his head, bringing his hands up.
"Thanks, but I should be good. I memorised way to it."
August-099 nodded her head.
"That's all good, then. If you do need help though, feel free to ask the guys walking around the hallway. Everyone's nice and willing enough to show you the direction. Oh, and I think I already heard it before, but… your father was a really good man."
David nodded shyly, scratching his head as August-099 patted David on the shoulder before leaving.
It was weird, that he was finally being compared to his father by anyone other than his own mother. People that knew his father, no less. He felt a little pride, that his father was being acknowledged… but at the same time, he felt a bit of pressure on his shoulder. Weight, from knowing that he was a son of a super-soldier.
But for the first time ever, he didn't feel any shame at all when being associated with his father, Leopold Martinez. Leonard-131.
Because he finally knew his father for what he was.
Not a coward, not someone that ran away from his family.
A Spartan, that may have deserted to start a family, but in the end came back to keep them safe.
Besides, if you were kidnapped at the age of 6, wouldn't you want to run away?
David wiped the edge of his eyes before the tears came out. He didn't want to cry.
David walked into his room, placing his bag down. There was even a door to the private bathroom, looking more like a luxurious hotel room than a standard worker's barracks.
Each of the workers here were practically living better than a standard Night City Citizen. In the Badlands, no less!
David chuckled as he threw himself onto the bed, feeling himself bounced back up from just how comfortable and soft the blanket and mattress was.
Shit, it really was unfair.