The extraction, surprisingly, was the easy part.
With the ambient Honkai radiation falling below a certain threshold, the majority of the beasts lost coordination and were further distracted by the advancing 'normal' troops, who could now push into the outbreak without instantly dying from magical cancer.
The Skybolt the HQ sent to pick me up did so from atop one of the roofs.
I boarded it, greeted the different pilots (the ones who brought me in got rotated, to minimize the Honkai exposure), and sat down on the seat, feeling my body simply... melt.
I muttered some nonsense under my breath, not sure what exactly, as my mind wandered.
This was the outbreak. Not even remotely as severe as the eruption when the Herrscher showed up. Nowhere near as bad either.
Nowhere near as bad...
Fuck, what a joke.
I glanced down at my arms, clad in armor as they were, and they were still drenched in blood and covered with dust.
With an effort, the outer layer of my shadows liquified and fell on the ground of the transport like a black sludge, before dissolving, leaving only the contaminants.
Not that it helped that much. I am not feeling any cleaner.
I reached down and across my breastplate, peeling it off just a little bit, and manually disabled the microphone for my communication with the HQ.
"What the hell do I do?" I muttered to myself.
A superhero, that's what I was telling myself I was training for. This? This wasn't that.
There was no big bad who you can stop so everyone can clap like you're a hallucinating Shinji. This is me coming to a warzone after the damage is already done, and stopping it from spreading, saving... what, the grand total of one person?
What the hell am I even saying? People being saved isn't the point, even if I managed to pull one hundred orphans out of the fire, that wouldn't make all this any less shitty. It's not about people being saved, it's about how many fucking died.
What was the population of that city when I was briefed on it, again? Somewhere in the hundreds of thousands?
"This is insane..."
I muttered, not even noticing.
And this wasn't anything really 'big' by M.O.T.H.'s estimations. Shit was hypothesized to get worse.
We, and I mean all M.O.T.H.? We are firefighters. We stop the consequences of the disaster from spreading, and we have a science division that is supposed to figure out how to stop it from happening, but so far... the eggheads have no idea. Not about why the outbreaks happen, not where, not about how to stop them.
So, how many more times do I get down to the burning cities to kill the zombies and beasts, watching the ruins where thousands perished? It's insane! I can't keep that up!
"Do I feel like a hero yet...?"
I realized what I had muttered and laughed to myself hysterically.
At least this Honkai mess isn't my fault.
It isn't right? The plot twist won't be that it's my power that somehow brought this shit about, too, right?
"The hell am I even thinking?" I slapped myself gently across the helmet.
This whole meta-thinking shit isn't working and won't ever work. I've lived in this world for two months. People are people. Some have weird hair and eye colors, but in the end of the day, thinking about 'characters' and 'world' like I am not right here is a good way to get even more insane.
The question remained.
What do I do? What can I do?
I am a guy who can punch a tank and see it dent. But you can't punch inter-dimensional radiation. Then again, maybe...
I reached towards my outer senses, and felt that... there were two strings actually.
One was familiar, the sunglasses.
The second... oh. Oh, hell, is this a real Pokémon?
For a moment, I marveled. It took me a moment to realize that the thing I had is a Ditto.
I couldn't help it, I snickered. Mobius, Mobius shared a theory that my powers, the ones that gifted me with more abilities and things, didn't spew out shit randomly. I was given what I needed, in some way, shape or form. Or that's what she proposed as a working theory.
Giving me a Ditto? Very suggestive, Cosmic Chaos Divine Giga Strings. Well, at least it's not a Vaporeon.
Jokes aside, Pokémon is... huge. Maybe Ditto isn't the strongest or the most impressive little guy out there, but even without the real inhumane experiments... Mobius can probably learn a lot.
She is that bullshit level of comic-book scientist after all.
Chuckling to myself, I decided to leave Ditto as a surprise for Mobius, and for now reached towards the sunglasses.
I pulled on the string, and in my hands...
"Huh?"
Those weren't sunglasses. Orange, huge, looking like two triangles mashed together without frames...
My hands shook slightly.
I couldn't help it, I chuckled quietly, but the laughter didn't let up.
Throwing my head back, I laughed like a fucking madman, feeling both cheated, ridiculed... and yet, oddly reassured.
It was like the Cap's shield. From just pulling it, I could briefly sense its history. What sort of shit it went through.
The same went for those glasses. They were... a genuine fucking article.
If Mobius was right, if my power did try to help...
My hand gently clenched around the glasses.
"Believing in myself, huh? I guess compared to that guy, what we have here isn't that miserable."
Being a 'superhero' is one thing, get a costume on, beat some muggers, fight an ambiguous evil guys for your own self-preservation and you are practically already there.
Being a genuine Hero... a symbol grander than life to inspire others to things that even you alone can hardly imagine?
Is that what my power says I should be? Maybe... this is the way?
I could feel it, my heart slowing down before exploding in my chest again... It's as if magma ignited in my soul into a tiny, flickering flame.
***
When the trap door lowered, I wasn't greeted with grim-faced technicians hurrying around.
Instead, I was greeted with an ovation. Not that loud, but as I stepped outside and glanced around, I could see most of the people I knew around HQ standing there, smiling and cheering.
The decontamination guys who went past me and into the Skybolt to clean the dust and blood I dropped on the floor tapped me on the shoulder pads for reassurance.
I felt a bit bewildered, but otherwise stepped outside, letting my armor finally morph back into normal clothing, albeit still with a functioning sheath for my sword, and a magnetic hold on my back for the shield.
The walk through the facility felt surreal.
Johan from maintenance gave me a firm nod and a thumbs-up as I passed. The guy usually looked perpetually exhausted from keeping this whole underground complex running, but right now he was grinning like an idiot. I managed a weak smile back.
"Good work out there," muttered Priya, one of the field agents I'd trained with a few weeks back. Her squeeze on my shoulder was brief but solid.
Didn't have much time to say hi; I knew I still had a debriefing ahead of me, so I just nodded, feeling lost.
More faces. Dmitri from security, built like a brick shithouse, actually saluted me. That was new. The big Russian was a stickler for formalities with his bosses, but anyone who wasn't one didn't get to see him playing a toy soldier. I almost wanted to tell him to cut it out, but my throat felt too tight.
Chen was there too, one of our communication guys, actually; it was one of the few departments where I didn't know everyone. He didn't say anything, just gave me this look that said 'you did good' better than words could. His eyes were a bit red, probably from staring at screens for hours.
The hallway to operations felt longer than usual. More people lined up along the walls. Not a parade or anything that was organized, just... there. Even old Samuel from the cafeteria was there, still wearing his apron.
I don't think anyone actually came here from active duty; the people around were probably supposed to be on a break.
They also clearly knew I wasn't quite off-duty. Little nods, brief touches on the shoulder or back as I passed. Nobody tried to stop me for a conversation. They knew where I was headed.
Almost at the operations door, I spotted Bjorn leaning against the wall. The Norwegian was one of the few field agents who'd actually been deployed to Germany during the eruption. His face looked like leather that had been left in the sun too long, all weathered lines and old scars.
"The first one's always the hardest," he said quietly as I approached. "Gets easier. Not better, but easier."
I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be comforting or terrifying. Probably both.
"That's not really comforting," I muttered in turn, just quiet enough for him to hear.
The man shook his head.
"I know."
He pushed off the wall and opened the operations door for me. "Come on now, Chief's waiting."
I stepped through, feeling all those eyes on my back. The door closed with a soft hiss, cutting off the subdued murmur of the hallway.
The operations center sprawled out before me, multiple levels of workstations and screens showing global Honkai readings, and a lot of info I didn't know where to even start reading. The usual controlled chaos, except now several of the operators turned to look at me.
"Director," I managed, taking a moment to center myself. With some difficulty, I grinned. "Mission accomplished, ready to debrief."
He studied me for a moment, those sharp eyes taking in everything. Dunno what he saw exactly, but after considering me, he briefly gestured to the side.
"Follow," Hesitating for a moment, I did, as we went past most of our command and towards a single table a bit to the side of the room.
As we approached, he didn't offer to sit, nor did he do so himself, turning to me.
"This was a hell of a job, son," He told me, looking into my eyes. "Before we start the actual debriefing, I wanted you to know that."
I didn't really know what to say immediately.
He seemingly noticed, gently clapping my shoulder.
"Alright, we are still working on cleanup. John will run you through the debriefing." He informed me, "He won't be too hard on you. Today, we just want you to run us by what happened and what you did, while the memory is fresh. After that, go visit our eggheads; we need to make sure your armor held up to Honkai as well as they thought it would. After that, you are free as a bird."
That sounded really fucking good right now.
Too good even.
For a second, I waited for a familiar voice to interrupt. Then I glanced around in confusion.
Still no snek.
Weird.
"Where is Mobius?" I asked Hulk, glancing to the sides, as if awaiting a ninja ambush. Big booby ninja mobius, god I wish.
The man chuckled.
"In Japan. She handles the containment of the remains of that high-class beast you killed."
Wait, remains? Ah... yeah, now that I think about it, the Geometric Godzilla didn't immediately decay into Honkai radiation!
"Thank you, Jesus!" I said, theatrically clapping my hands in prayer, "Thank you for letting me eat and shower today!"
If Mobius were here, I damn well knew I would be in her company for hours before I was allowed some me-time.
Hulk chuckled again before once more tapping me on the shoulder.
"Alright, son, save the clownery for the lady. Go kill that debriefing and rest, you've earned it."
You god damn fucking right! I even dropped a nuke today. And seen it detonate before my very own eyes.
That's still unbelievably wild. Also cool. Gotta love nukes when they only kill giant eldritch monstrosities.
God, I am exhausted if my thoughts drift that much.
I nodded and turned around to leave, but then remembered something, pausing and turning back around sharply.
"Hey, chief, there is another thing. Tell Mobius I can summon living things now."
I didn't look back to see his reaction. I also felt pretty damn great about myself.
My only regret was that I couldn't see Mobius' reaction to the news in person. Then again, she was getting better at holding a poker face around my bullshit.
***
"Explain."
Mobius demanded, once I was seated, as she shoved a folder into my arms.
I was confused, yet obediently, I checked what she meant.
Okay, so those seem to be my analyses. Most of it I couldn't understand, yet I tried to get through the dry scientific terminology. Mobius, impatient, tapped a specific section, way below where I was reading.
Taking a sip from the protein shake, I checked it specifically... wait, unknown microscopic organism? Alien in origins?!
"The hell!" I exclaimed, my mood immediately swinging, as I devoured line after line of text.
'Seemingly harmless', 'Cause no percivable effect', 'die immediately once removed from the bloodstream'...
"Listen Mobi, I have no idea what I am looking at..." I said, glancing up at her.
The woman who folded her arms beneath her ample chest just looked at me. With the 'trying to drill through' kind of stare.
"First of all, it's Mobius, Lab Rat," She said sharply, "Second of all, we know you applied a new power on yourself, and used another one to summon an item."
"Hey, you already confiscated Kamina's glasses," I complained, sighing. At least they promised to return them in three days... so, I'll get them back tomorrow. "As for the other ability, I mean, I already wrote down all I knew about it in my report, and I don't believe you haven't read it by now. It's a combat precognition. Spider-senses, basically. Those..."
I tapped on the zoomed-in microscopic image of the simple single-cell life forms... that apparently just lived in my blood now.
"I have no idea what those are."
Mobius stared.
"You said you usually have an instinctive sense of the powers you pull into yourself. And I need something to work with. Especially if you are at risk of, apparently, unleashing a pandemic of an alien infection."
"Hey, this isn't a bubonic plague," I complained, tapping the words 'seemingly harmless' in the folder, "You guys didn't even notice those doing anything."
"Not the point Lab Rat. The issue is that if it's something you truly didn't know of, the next thing you summon may bring about something unforeseen but harmful. If not for you, then for those around you."
...I couldn't really argue with that.
But it's not like I can explain what pulling on strings felt like. It's not like I got manuals or a fucking briefing. It was a bunch of 'images', sensations, vague ideas that appear in my head when I pull on it.
With the Shadow Armor, it was a powerful spell that I think some knights used...? With Captain America's shield, I could tell it was wielded by a hero and faced all manner of tests.
It was like that with a precognition, but more vague. I just sort of knew where and how it would activate.
It was like a spider-sense, so that's what I call it! Well, either that, or a Jedi precognition...
Wait...
I grabbed the folder with both hands, locking in and reading the characteristics again.
No way, right?
"Those... could be midichlorians?" I said quietly. I didn't really mean to say it, but neither did I mean to really keep it back.
"Midichlorians?" Mobius asked, urging me on.
I paused, unsure.
"So, remember how I told you that the Captain's Shield belonged to a comic book character, on my Earth?" I asked her quietly, "This is sort of like that."
Mobius studied me for a moment but decided to sit down opposite me, on a bench.
We were currently in my 'private' gym, which held the equipment that can actually handle me when I used my armor.
"So, it's another power used by a 'super-hero'?" I could hear her making the quotes verbally. Sugoi, Mobius-sama.
I shook my head.
"I thought so at first. But no, the Spider-sense was a psychic sense one comic book character had. This? This was from a sci-fi space opera movie," I explained plainly, locking in a little.
Unlike Marvel comics and its dogshit movie universe, I actually knew Star Wars lore. Well, before Disney ruined everything.
"The ability, as I felt it, was supposed to be a combat precognition. Being able to react faster because you subconsciously kinda perceived the danger, you know?" I explained to her slowly, "In that movie, there were... well, space-wizards. People who could use something called The Force. The Force was explained like an invisible metaphysical energy field that connected everything in the universe. Some people and animals could interact with that field, so they were called force-sensitive. Being able to predict danger before it struck? That's kinda a mark of a strong force-sensitive who lacked training."
Mobius studied me, her face completely blank.
I know what I was telling her was probably kinda physically painful to listen to for a scientist, and she wanted me to get to the point. So appreciating her restraint, I continued.
"So, The Force. When you are trained in feeling and using it, things sort of change; a character becomes a force user. A force user can do a bunch of things with the force Telekinesis, mind-control, enhancing yourself physically, being able to view the future or the past... a lot of other ridiculous things. That being said, all the abilities were limited and dependent on training, talent, and how well attuned the character was with the force."
I finally looked her in the eyes.
"The Midichlorians were kind of a sore subject in the lore. Depending on the source, they signified different things. We had characters that claimed that midichlorians were responsible for giving force-sensitives the ability to use the Force. But that seems wrong, because we had alien sentient-rocks using the Force, not to mention force ghosts... It's the whole thing," I explained, shaking my hand in a 'meh' expression, "The other theory was that midichlorians were indicators of the force, but not it's source. Like, the force-sensitivity is its own thing, and midichlorians can only live in people who are attuned to the force, because they feed off of it, and so stronger force-sensitives had a higher medicholrian count."
Mobius was quiet for a moment.
"This sounds completely asinine."
"It totally is," I agreed, "The stuff was made by a bunch of writers for over, what, thirty years? This whole thing is pretty ridiculous."
Even as I said that, I thought. Force-sensitivity? That sounds great... on paper. Then you consider what you need to train it to be a force-user, and shit isn't all sunshine and rainbows anymore.
First of all, Jedi spend their whole life training, and usually end up as mildly superhuman fellas. I am decently sure I, in my armor, could take down an average Jedi Knight. So, even if my force-sensitivity was average, that's the level I would get in a decade of training. I mean, sure, you have people like Starkiller in the lore, but he is practically non-canon even in canon before the Mouse. There were also other ridiculous exceptions, but they were just that, exceptions. Most knights weren't anything to write home about, and those guys were trained from childhood.
And then you consider the Dark Side. Dark Side, to which you can fall if you are just not careful with your emotions, while you are a force-user. Once you tap into the Dark Side, the temptation is always there, even if you snap out of it.
Despite what people claimed, Dark Side's portrayal was almost universally bad news. It gets you prone to anger, malice, and violence, and that's if it doesn't straight up give you a psychotic murder-everything episode.
There were some 'gray' Jedi and other force users, but those guys are a meme. One in a million exceptions amongst the force-users.
If using Dark Side without going psycho was that easy, Jedi wouldn't have banned the Dark Side. I mean, provided Jedi weren't idiots.
So, that meant training force safely was equivalent to trying to become a Jedi. Without masters, directions, techniques, or a safety net. Even if I somehow succeed in stumbling in the dark like that, it still means living the rest of my life like a monk, while knowing that a single emotional breakdown can lead you to becoming a psycho that eats babies while laughing maniacally... fuck that.
Fuck that in every possible way.
So, I explained the whole dilemma to Mobius from the start.
I felt like a guy who was telling his girlfriend the 40k lore during a date. That is to say, Mobius looked like some parts of the explanation visibly pained her, and yet still listened attentively because it was pretty fucking important intel.
"...I don't think I should be training that." I finally finished.
"If you are right about the nature of those life forms in your blood, I agree," Mobius agreed after a moment of consideration. "For the record, the media in your home universe is terrible, Lab Rat."
I was offended on behalf of every 5 y/o on Earth.
"Hey, you take that back! If you heard the lore when you were five, you would've loved it!"
Mobius simply looked at me, and somehow, I knew what I said didn't make her happy.
"I wouldn't have," She said instead. She didn't act colder but... I could feel that she wasn't happy at all. There was something there. Yet, I... didn't want to pry.
That being said...
"Mobius, if you were working on some blacksite project of cloning me, I suggest you drop it."
The woman actually paused, taking a double-take.
"Excuse you?"
I looked her in the eyes seriously.
"The Force does not play nice with force-user clones. They all, with zero exceptions," In actual good lore, not counting the nonsense dogshit, "Either went mad, physically started to degrade, or both. There was one almost-successful attempt, but it was only possible because... well, Sith alchemy and some unexplained things." I wiggled my index finger left to right. "Midichlorians also weren't exactly ever transplanted or otherwise implanted. You can certainly test that part, but you'll kill a lot of time on projects that may take even your genius decades, if you start looking towards cloning."
The woman huffed, folding her arms under her chest.
"You say this was never done by any geniuses and entire races of the entire galaxy, but believe I can achieve that in a decade?" She asked, seemingly more amused than anything.
"Well, duh," I chuckled, "Compared to you, those guys are probably chumps."
Mobius was a comic genius after all. Well, she might not have been from any comic I've ever heard, maybe the story about her was never even written on my earth, but she had the qualifications.
There wasn't a scientific area where she couldn't outshine most leading experts. She was a biologist first, not because she was all that much better in biology, but simply because she liked it more.
People who get a single doctorate understand just how much knowledge, understanding, studying, and all that you need to be able to just call yourself a doctor. A leading doctor in the field? That takes even more.
Now, Mobius? She was one of the leading experts in pretty much ALL THE FIELDS.
This isn't a realistic human genius. That was a ridiculous anime/comic competence that a normal person can never match by the age of eighty. Literally inhuman intelligence is a minimum requirement to pull off half the things she is famous for.
"Anyhow, call me anytime and ask me anything else about Star Wars whenever it becomes relevant; I'll give you anything I remember on the subject, but you probably have better things to do than to listen to me monologuing about cool space magics that won't ever be relevant in the lab," I offered to her, seeing that she was distracted with her thoughts too. "I'd like to know if those are midichlorians before I try doing something stupid, like meditation."
At least force visions didn't happen to untrained force users... for the most part. The shit was pretty vague, but while you weren't trained and not attuned to the force, you also couldn't fall to the Dark Side. I am pretty confident about that from what I remembered of the lore. Which is neat.
I stood up, leaving my cup with a shake on the bench, stretching a bit, as I eyed the dead-lift machine.
I'll fucking bench past my record today. Row, row.
Fight the pawah.
"Are you not afraid?" I blinked, glancing back at Mobius, who sat down on the bench, glancing through a wall in front of her, "Talking about me cloning you... saying I am better at what I do than an entire galaxy... does it not scare you?"
I paused for a moment, looking at her, trying to understand what she was even on about.
Why would I be afraid in the first place? The sentiment caught on in a moment when I tried to consider this from Mobius's perspective.
"Well, you aren't scared of me, are you?" I asked rhetorically, and she, slowly blinking, glanced at me. "In terms of sheer combat potential, I am probably the scariest human in the world. You probably know all too well what I can do to a squishy normal human. Yet, you were never afraid of me, since my first day here," I grinned cheekily at her, "Stuff like that ain't rational... though, it is a choice. I can choose to quake in my boots over what you can do, and be an idiot about it, or I can have faith that you know what you are doing, and will figure out what you can and can't do. Me meddling with that? I probably lack qualifications to talk with you about the weather, much less about how you do science." I shrugged simply, smiling at her, "If anything, I am super reassured that a person like you exists, Mobi. An idiot like me, who is only good for punching things, will never save the world. But a ridiculous genius like you has little to no limits."
Her piercing stare immediately flowed into a deadpan.
"Use my name, Lab Rat, I know you aren't quite braindead yet." She huffed, quite adorably actually, "For your information, I don't believe myself quite capable of 'saving the world'... yet."
I chuckled naturally at that.
"Give it time," I glanced down for a moment, "'Sides, a woman like you gotta believe in herself."
Mobius just sighed, but didn't reply.
As I went to continue my exercise, she observed me for a short time before leaving. I totally didn't pull my back trying to impress her.
***
It took a while for Mobius to free up her schedule enough to actually oversee my summoning and run me by some of the testing results with my midichlorians.
Mostly because she had her work cut out for her, managing our science department, overseeing the power armour construction that was now rapidly accelerated, as well as doing testing on Honkai samples from Japan.
Supposedly, Mobius went to Japan for an entire two days, where she mostly set up the storage and testing facility for the 'Emperor-class Beast' remains, after which she had to leave eggheads on the ground to oversee the testing she scheduled, as she went back to our main headquarters on Mu, to oversee the projects here...
As well as me, I guess.
"Wait, what do you mean the supersoldier serum usage is in the process of being approved?" I asked, honestly bewildered, as I stood in some devilish contraption.
It reminded me of that thing from that gore video of an anime-loli who gets peeled by lasers like a potato on a plate of a starving Irishman.
By that point, I was just used to stepping into equipment that looked as if it was designed to kill me. I wouldn't be surprised if it could with improper handling. So I preferred not to think about it too much.
"Exactly what I said, Lab Rat," Mobius practically growled, "It's not a hard concept to grasp, is it?"
I blinked owlishly.
"Wait, so..." I pointed a finger at Ato, "You guys are saying that on this Earth, you already have a super-soldier serum...?"
Mobius sighed, as she was clearly mostly busy with some project on her computer.
"It's not a serum, lab rat. It's a complex modification procedure; if anything, it has more to do with genetic and cellular enhancement." She blinked slowly, glancing at me, "Wait, didn't you have anything equivalent in your world?"
"No!" I exclaimed.
What the hell? Those guys have a fucking super-soldier creation procedure already figured out!
"No, we damn well don't! That's a comic book or sci-fi concept! How the hell are all our operatives normal people?!"
Mobius sighed and gestured towards Klein.
Klein obediently obliged, gently coughing into her tiny fist, before going into a lecture mode.
"The technology was developed during the Cold War. It's top secret, and the exact specification of the technology is outright unknown in most countries. Like Nuclear Weapons. It's also outlawed." She explained concisely.
I raised an eyebrow as one of the projectors started to beam light on me.
"The procedure was remarkably unsafe," Klein explains softly, "Even the surviving subjects started to degrade in five to ten years. The international agreements leveraged extensive bans on genetic tampering in humans shortly after the Cold War ended." The girl, who I am pretty sure was actually an adult, finished with her cute, a bit emotionless tone.
"So, there are no other super soldiers?"
Mobius looked at me.
"Are you an idiot, Lab Rat?"
It took me a moment.
"Ah. So, government spooks?"
She nodded, seemingly just a bit amused.
"Government spooks indeed. Officially, super soldiers weren't produced since the late seventies, but unofficially, anyone who is not a child can deduce that some are still in service."
I considered it for a moment.
"So the federal agents actually DO glow in the dark here, eh?" I chuckled to myself, "You'll see them while driving..."
And then you do as Saint Terry commanded.
I paused for a moment, glancing at Mobius, whose eyelid twitched, I think.
"But wait, what are the actual capabilities of those super-soldiers?" I clarified.
She once again theatrically gestured for Klein to tard wrangle, as she sighed like a tragic character in a theatre.
"Technically, unknown. But they are known for augmented physical abilities." I opened my mouth, but Klein immediately continued, "Nothing supernatural."
I closed my mouth.
So, no cool super-powers, only Captain America package... at best.
"Wait, so you are saying, we, the single organization responsible for fighting an existential threat to all of humanity... don't have the tech?"
"Please," Mobius spoke up, annoyed, "I replicated that project when I was twelve. The issue isn't that we can't do it; the issue is that we have oversight and regulations." She looked at me, "With current technology, I can likely tailor the procedure to be mostly harmless to the specific subject I design it for. The enhancement just wouldn't matter much for an average individual, and we don't have an approval." She actually sighed, massaging her temples, "No one wants to give us more special permissions than we already have, so it will take a while before we will be able to get the official permit."
The gorgeous woman looked at me heatedly. Which was pretty hot.
"That being said, your performance in Asahikawa goes a long way to help us with that."
Aaaah, Mobius, you shouldn't have. That almost sounded like a compliment.
"You have a very stupid face right now, Lab Rat."
I gave her a thumbs-up.
"It's charming," I assured her.
She kept looking at me with a dead stare.
"Klein, get him strapped into survey equipment for the summoning."
...I have a distinct impression she wants to be difficult today.
***
Informing Mobius what a Pokémon is was fun. For me. Decidedly not for her.
Oh, sure, she was all sorts of excited as a scientist, but hearing about the world-building of Pokémon seemed to make her crawl up the wall. What little I knew of it, anyway.
Mobius likes things that don't make sense, because she can make sense of them. To her, they are like a puzzle. But she dislikes outright stupidity.
The worldbuilding of most fiction is pretty stupid and full of holes, even for a normie like me. For a super-genius like Mobi-Mobi, it's completely and totally unbelievable dogshit. That she has to listen to, because it may help with the actual upcoming research.
At this point, I didn't even delight in her suffering; I was honestly just feeling sorry. The woman had enough on her shoulders as it is.
Which leads us to here. An isolated chamber, vacuum-sealed at that, with air analyzers to make sure the Pokémon won't contain some alien virus.
Which is kinda silly, because by that logic, even Kamina's glasses could've carried something like that.
That being said, I was forced to wear a rebreather and my armor.
I knew this was excessive, but I think Mobius got really spooked by Midichlorians. It was honestly kinda adorable that she cared, even if I knew it was nothing personal; teasing her about it was generally fun.
When it came to testing, she was bustling about and took all sorts of precautions, trying to idiot-proof pretty much anything. Like a single mother trying to wrangle a retarded baby.
Mmm, snek mommy.
"Lab Rat, if you are quite done, please proceed with the summoning," Mobius spoke up through the microphone.
I couldn't really see her through a one-sided glass, and the white room around was pretty damn nostalgic.
"Sure." I saluted jokingly, "Here goes..."
I didn't know that much about Pokémon, mostly because the anime somehow went right past me. But I did know the Cliff Notes.
Still, I was a bit apprehensive as I pulled the string, as I stretched both of my hands, clad in my shadow armor as they were.
Once again, there was no splash of light or anything, just... weight settling in my hands.
"Ditto?" It was a blob. A cute, pink blob. With outlined eyes and mouth.
Wow, how does it look so natural... like, when you look at an animal, and it doesen't cause an uncanny valley? Ditto was like that. Just cute, not weird.
"Hello, little buddy," I told the Pokémon, as it curiously glanced around, seemingly not even distressed or afraid. "Did I pull you out of anything important?"
"Ditto. Diiiito ditto?" The cute blob answered, looking back at me and shaking energetically.
A bit confused, but excited. Curious, but a bit anxious about my appearance, but likes my voice, even if it's distorted a bit by the air supply mask.
"Really? That's a relief." I said, smiling under my helmet. "Sorry if I look a bit spooky, safety procedures and all that."
"Ditto?"
A query, asking for assurance, as he looked more distracted with the white room around us.
"Really," I assured solemnly.
"That being said, wanna be friends?"
Ditto looked at me in consideration for a while... and then wiggled happily.
"Ditto ditto!"
Happiness, excitement, glee, acceptance, and overall, a bunch of almost childish enthusiasm.
Suddenly, the dynamics spoke up.
"Lab Rat," Mobius spoke slowly, "You'd better start explaining, if it's not some instance of an indecipherable eldritch idiot-to-idiot communication."
"Ditto!"
My little friend was offended, or pretended to be, as he squeeled indignantly.
"Yeah, Mobius, don't be mean to him." I agreed, faking an offended tone myself.
The brightest mind I've ever met groaned.
I exchanged glances with Ditto, and he quietly giggled.
He radiated powerful smug energy with his wiggly body.
Jesus Almighty, is he my people?
"...and here you go, buddy," I said, patting the Pokémon whom I just placed on my shoulder, as I passed him a cookie. "Sorry about the needles, bells, and whistles, but it's kind of important to do sooner rather than later."
"Ditto! Ditto!" Ditto, who turned back into his slimy perky self, seemed quite happy with it. The treat, I mean. He absolutely hated the testing.
"Fascinating," Mobius, who was already doing some strange sciency magic with the small test tube, half-full of very red blood, seemed more taken aback and deeply into her own little world than anything else, "By all accounts, this is regular blood..."
I didn't really comment, just patted the little guy, leaving Mobius to her wet dreams, which were probably filled with bio-engineered monstrosities straight from Lovecraftian mythos.
Thing is, while she certainly heard me explain what I understood of Ditto and his biology, which was quite a lot thanks to Demonic Uber Skibbidi Chaos Strings...
...I myself really knew much less about Pokémon than I probably should. The things I did know were from the retarded community of the series, who couldn't shut up about it.
I also might have played one of the newest games, which no one can ever prove. If I ever did, I played just to beat the game without reading the lore, so in any case, I was pretty ignorant.
"Yeah-yeah buddy, you did great," I assured him seriously, "Honestly, I hate needles myself..."
"Ditto!" The little guy was nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, it's weird, right? It can't possibly even hurt that badly, but it's scary every time. Not even the sting, but the expectation of one..."
"Ditto, ditto..." He said pitingly, patting me on the head... while standing on my shoulder. Why do I get the 'understanding uncle' vibe from him?
"Here, please..." Suddenly, the local Pokémon named Klein interrupted, bringing me a cup of coffee.
I love Klein. If anything ever happens to Klein, I am killing everyone in the facility and then myself.
With a titanic effort of will, I fought down the urge to coo at the girl and pat her, because I knew, despite how she looked, she was practically a woman grown.
"Thank you," I nodded instead, trying to show with my expression how grateful I felt for her care, before glancing back at Ditto, and taking a sip of the liquid that flowed through my veins during my student days.
Ditto gestures at me with a 'gimme gimme' gesture, which, after a moment, prompted me to offer him a cup sneakily.
She leaned into it, somehow taking it enough to tilt some of that Black Gold into his mouth.
Luckily, the entire science team was quite distracted, gushing and debating around Ditto's samples to berate me on being too lax with an exotic alien animal again.
After the summoning, they made the guy immediately pass a series of examinations and 'basic tests'. Mobius agreed to cut it a bit short when I plainly told her that Ditto was getting stressed, which led to the first test in his 'transformed form', when he was asked to transform into a literal lab rat. Not me, I mean the mindless beast...
...still not me, damn it. The white, albino kind that Klein brought from who knows where.
As a result, while I was constantly helping with communication, I didn't really have much time to speak with my new gooey friend.
"So, do you remember anything before the summoning?" I asked him curiously.
"Ditto, ditto... ditto ditto!" He started slow, picking up speed and articulation along his tale, before shaking from side to side.
I still didn't understand the language, mind you, I don't think there was a language to it. Pokémon probably understood each other through some psychic bullshit. But reading his body language and emotions was very easy. I could tell he was describing some place and some events.
"So you do remember, you weren't just created by that power..." I commented to myself, nodding slowly. "Did you have a trainer?"
"Ditto." Denial, a touch of regret, and resentment.
"That's a shame. Folks around your home must have been blind. You seem to have lots of potential." Then again, at least he wasn't kidnapped from a loving trainer... per se, "Did you live alone?"
"Ditto!" Agreement.
"Somewhere in the wild?" I clarified.
"Di-tto!" He agreed.
"Well, that's good, I suppose," I nodded to myself, and at his questioning glance I explained, "I don't know much about your world, but wild pokémon don't have it as good, right? Here at least you'll have treats and a bunch of friends, and we probably can do some training for you, pal."
"Ditto, ditto..." Ah, he had friends back home, too. He sounded a bit wistful, but... as if accepting? Also hopeful about what I explained.
Wait, why is he accepting? Thinking about it, how is he understanding what is happening? Pokémon shouldn't be that smart. I somehow knew that while they could be intelligent, it wasn't on the level of an educated human... well, most of the time.
"Wait, you understand that you are like... in a completely different place? Another world?"
"Ditto, Diiitto." He agreed, I could tell. He also added something extra, but I wasn't sure what he was trying to say.
"Ah, it was the same power that brought you here, right? It also gave you a bunch of, like... images and impressions about what was happening?" Like it did for me, when I reached for the power, that is.
"Ditto, ditto!" He agreed, sounding a bit annoyed, but not at me, more like on the... unfairness of the situation?
"It's not the best situation for all of us here, little guy..." I said sympathetically, patting him a bit.
His body was odd. It didn't feel like a gel or pudding, though I knew it could be. Ditto dodged Mobius' needle once, by letting it just pass through his body, until I managed to explain to him that she wanted to take a tiny sample.
It seems he can solidify or be liquid on demand. When I was patting him, he felt solid, like a... well, a rubber band. A warm and dry rubber band. Who purred a bit when you scratched it just right.
"Speaking of which, just calling you Ditto seems a bit... well, rude," I muttered to myself, thinking, "Do you want an actual name?"
"Ditto?" More surprise and confusion, rather than any strong sentiment, but I could tell he understood the question.
"Well, it will be kinda hard to think of something fitting." I thought about it, more speaking for myself than for him.
Obviously, there were a few cheap jokes that I could make, like 'big D', or 'Doit', or something equally as stupid. But a joke like that will grow old in two minutes flat when you actually address someone by that name, and besides, I don't wanna be mean to the little guy.
He is like a literal cinnamon puff. Or a cinnamon roll.
"How about going for something simple? Like... hm... Dot?" I tried.
Ditto blinked.
"Ditto." He seemed enthusiastic, but I had a feeling it had less to do with the name itself and more to do with the fact that someone was actually naming him.
Then again, I doubt he had much context to even understand much about names...
"Dot it is. If we come up with something better, we'll change it if you want, deal?"
"Ditto!"
Good man.
I patted him on the back again, much to his clear enjoyment and excitement.
I think that taming ability is finally coming in handy. It's stupid how I somehow can instinctively know and understand even Pokémon, though. If I summon, I dunno, a Game of Thrones dragon, will I understand it too? What about a Warcraft elemental? Did that piece from the Greater Whole impart the knowledge about literally every animal ever into my head? If that's the case, how didn't my brain liquify?
Then again, I don't quite think I can complain. Whatever, just accept it as a given and move on.
I gently leaned back on my seat, watching Mobius give some orders to Klein as she discussed things with Blanca. I waited for her to give me the all clear to leave.
For now, I decided to shortly explain to Dot exactly where we were, and what sort of things he can look forward to…
***
In general, I don't think my first successful mission changed much. Most personnel in the base were aware of me to at least some extent.
That being said, maybe it's just me, but it did feel as if people were... well, a bit lighter on their feet ever since the incident. Even though it's been around three weeks already.
Outside of M.O.T.H, the outbreak was reported in the news. Apparently, a lot of smaller eruptions were covered up to not cause a global panic, but three hundred thousand bodies aren't easy to hide. Nor is the activity of most militaries in the region, as they were rushing to provide some sort of support.
As far as the general public was informed, a new method to combat outbreaks was successfully tested, it was 'a great success', 'people may sleep soundly', and all the usual buzzwords. Practically, however, the public was seriously on edge. And that's despite all the media being literally held by the balls by all the governments in the world, across the entire world, to not rock the boat, and being forced to comply with strict censorship.
Sure, it's authoritarian and concerning, but I can't find it in myself to care that Free Media turned out not to be free again.
Besides, if the global unrest truly picked up right now, it won't exactly help anyone. Informing the public about the scale of the threat may just inevitably lead to making it harder to work against Honkai.
I wouldn't have been able to sleep soundly at night knowing that inter-dimensional turbo cancer rays may just decide to explode in my backyard, completely unpredictably, on any day. If every person in the world knew that this risk is there, I think most industries and supply chains would grind to a halt for a while.
So while keeping people ignorant felt wrong, I also couldn't object from a practical standpoint. Nor can I do anything about it that won't get me, and the M.O.T.H. fucked up for trying.
On this base, people were more informed. They knew it was me who was deployed to Japan; they knew what Honkai was and how many outbreaks we actually had to deal with (duh), so I wasn't exactly limited by red tape about the topics I could discuss. Even a janitor here was about as informed about Honkai as your average high-tier politician.
I was obviously told not to be retarded about this, and not just tell on local WarThunder forums about the architecture of the base, our toys, or what the fuck we were doing, but aside from talking with the normies outside, no one really cared who and what I talked with or about. All people here had the clearance.
Which brought me here.
Mobius leaned back on her seat, taking one glance at the paper I brought to her, before simply signing it.
I lifted an eyebrow.
"That easy?"
Mobius, who I think was planning to return back to whatever project she had on her computer, simply looked at me, nonplussed.
"Did you expect me to refuse on principle?" She asked instead, waving me off, "If you want to go out, do so. I don't have anything planned for you for the rest of the day. It's not like you were ever confined here, Lab Rat."
Now, can you repeat that, looking me in the eyes, I wonder?
...she probably can.
"I will get absolutely wasted tonight," I told her blandly.
"Ditto!" The small guy said, poking out of the chest pocket on my t-shirt. He sounded offended.
"...we. We will get wasted." I corrected myself, seeing Dot give me a thumbs up... somehow.
"Lab Rat..." She said, lifting her eyes again, "I am neither your mother, nor your girlfriend..." Or so you say for now, mommy, "...do what you want. Alexanderson will brief you on what you can and can't do, and what oversight you will likely have to endure when going out."
I paused for a moment.
"Well... I was actually thinking about inviting you along." I said, lifting up Kamina's glasses with a finger, and wiggling my eyebrows as comically as humanly possible.
Not because I wanted to make a joke out of the offer, I was serious. But I also wanted to give her a way out without having to be mean.
Her fingers paused over the keyboard. She looked up.
For a long moment, she considered me, her expression frozen, before she scoffed.
"Lab Rat, even my toilet breaks are scheduled. Utilize your full brain capacity, think long and hard, and estimate what it may tell you about the amount of free time I have," She said simply, her voice quite cold. She also immediately continued, giving me no time to answer in a witty way, "If you are quite done, please don't forget to close the door on your way out."
... the doors in the entire facility are automatic, though.
"That wasn't a no~..."
I managed to run out before the cup she threw at me could reach my elusive, graceful figure.
Truly, the Knightmare alone stands unmatched and on the pinnacle of human capabilities.
***
"It's that way," The girl said, gesturing down the street. "There should be an entrance to the conservatory park there," She said, a bit awkwardly.
I glanced from my own smartphone as I was checking the map while she spoke, and indeed, I think that was an entrance.
"Huh, you are right," I said, my voice was fed through a microphone fixed on my shirt's collar, the words were translated, and then played back at her but utilizing the local language via the dynamics on the same device, "Thanks a lot, lady, you are a lifesaver," I said, saluting to her jokingly, a small grin on my face.
She seemed a bit taken aback, probably by my glasses or the pitch-black clothes. Or maybe the behavior and the two bodyguards behind my back.
Recently, I went just about everywhere in Kamina's shades. It wasn't even that they were cool, though they were, but more because they just felt comfortable. Actually decent shades, and somehow, despite lacking frames, they sat perfectly on my nose, without any discomfort. I barely noticed them those days.
Love'em, even outside of what they signify and remind me of.
"N-no problem," Replied the high-schooler whom I asked for directions, and nodding to her gratefully, I headed off.
Honestly, so far, I have had tons of fun. The shades attracted attention, but even outside of them, my clothes turned heads. It was my armour twisted into jeans and an expensive-looking shirt, meaning they, just like my boots, were pitch black.
I wasn't the kinda guy in my previous life who cared much about the style of all things, but in this one, I've had my fun. Being the kind of person people noticed was important.
So, I started walking to the park down the busy street.
The city? Damn it looked foreign, beautiful, and also alien. There were cleaning robots on the streets, and I've seen a train traveling above ground on a... I think, magnetic rail of some kind? It looked like it levitated.
Some of the buildings were also like nothing I've ever seen, neon adverts everywhere, and the writing was some symbols I didn't recognize at all. Mu's most common language in this region, I knew. Most places did look like tall modern office buildings, but some decidedly weird ones were just way too thick or way too tall.
It was just as wild as I expected from Mu; even by just surfing the internet, I knew that cities here looked like Night City. Still, seeing pictures on the internet and walking here myself were two different things.
I walked, simply basking in the atmosphere and looking around, and there were street food stalls, small shops, music, gaming themed and such, cafes, beauty salons, barber shops...
Huh, speaking of, I may need a new haircut.
I paused and glanced back at the pair of my 'bodyguards', who I am convinced are here to nanny me, rather than protect.
"So, I kinda do need a haircut. You two alright with that?" I asked, mostly because if they did have a problem with sharp objects around my head, that'd be awkward.
The man, David, immediately started to report quietly into the communication device in his collar, while Linda just nodded.
"Shouldn't be any problem."
I mean, duh, I have danger sense, and even if my armour did look like a normal suit, it still boosted my physical capabilities. If a normy had a sword to my throat, I'd be able to evade before I could be cut.
"We've got permission," David said, after a moment.
I just sighed, waving for them to follow as I leisurely strolled to the barber shop.
Honestly, this was a bit ridiculous. This whole security team is trailing me, that is. Those two were here, sure, but there were also a few cars with agents on standby. Which was all kinds of silly.
I mean, I get it, M.O.T.H. has some problems with the Council, who are our big sugar daddies, but I have a fucking Jedi Precognition.
Poisoning me? 'I've got a bad feeling about this,' and I am just not eating that shit. Airborne poison? Basically the same. Sniper, explosions, whatever? Same.
We tested my danger senses extensively with Mobius. In the lore, Jedi kinda had a problem sensing danger from droids or remote attacks, for instance. The reason for that is that their precognition was tied together with force-augmented empathy, so they usually relied on both without distinguishing them. Partially, they sensed the danger itself, but also the malicious intent. But Jedi could train to the point where they can precog all dangers to their lives and avoid them. It's just that most didn't really bother, focusing on other, more important skills to hone.
I was wrong about myself three weeks ago; my danger-sense wasn't on a 'beginner force sensitive' level. The ability I gained felt like a trained and well-honed talent. With Mobius testing, the results were kinda ridiculous. An example: one of the tests included a bunch of boxes, one with a shocker that can even knock me out, the other five without, and I could tell which box I can't put my hand in. Same with poisoned food, water, and such, even when people in the room wouldn't have allowed me to consume the poisoned food. Same when I was placed in a room, and randomly an odorless sleeping gas was released, to see if my danger sense would trigger. It did, felt like a growing sense of anxiety.
It was weird, too. The Force? I couldn't sense it for shit. Not that I tried too hard, but without meditations, which I avoided like the plague, I wasn't able to really tap into any of my abilities. Trying to bring a phone from the coffee table to my bed, without standing up? It didn't even flinch. Trying to augment myself with force during daily strength testing? Nada.
But precognition was... different. Even without overall competency with the Force, it's like I could interpret and intuit things on an insane level now. Like I was somehow a Jedi master... who was only somehow trained at danger sensing and nothing else. Not even being able to sense the force itself, but subconsciously having all the necessary skills to interpret its flow to not only sense dangers to my life, but also to my well-being.
Still, my newfound power didn't reassure Alexanderson too much when I was begging for his permission to go outside and touch grass.
And I mean, come on. Who wouldn't want to see Mu in my shoes, now that I snapped out of tunnel-visioning my training?
Mu is a completely new continent on the Earth's surface. It also had its own language... languages, actually.
The more I thought about it, the more interested I was. I mean, I've traveled a bit back on Earth, so seeing a completely new country, what, ten years into the future? With new food, customs, culture? It sounded really fucking interesting.
And I also really needed to unwind in some way. Sure, getting back to the base and having an opportunity to take a hot shower helped after Japan, but I still felt half-stuck in that fucking city across the world even now, almost a month later. Not physically or anything, just... I found myself thinking about it way more than I probably should.
There were also rare nightmares.
So, initially, the goal was to find a way to get absolutely fucking wasted like a filthy degenerate.
When I shared this over our usual table in the canteen, Ato's reaction can be summarized as: 'say no more'.
It was kinda creepy, actually, like seeing a degenerate student waking up from a long coma inside the body of a respected scientist.
Just like that, we planned an outing. Just me and the boys (and a few women, who were honorary Real Men (because they were cool, unlike stinky girls)), the usual crowd of acquaintances from the base.
Ato even promised to organize a private booth in a pub, and to figure out security details from his end.
My signed permission from Overworked Mommy dearest, and Bodybuilder Base Daddy Coolest wasn't about that.
It was about getting out alone to see the city before the degenerate drinking fest could start.
Even outside of drinking, I needed a day off and an opportunity to actually see some real people. Bask in the sun. To touch the grass.
All the mythical shit people say they want to do, but never really do.
"Hey," I said as I entered, glancing at the receptionist.
She was kinda pretty, but really, M.O.T.H. spoiled me. Or maybe Mobius did,
"I'd like a new haircut. Actually, scratch that, I need to change my style, if you catch my drift. You have a slot open?"
The woman glanced up at me, blinked, and smiled welcomingly.
"Hello! Why, yes, I believe we do," She said, her eyes trailing down my costume for a second, before going to my 'nannies', "Do you have something specific in mind?"
Good question. The answer 'please, anything will do, just without the retarded zoomer side-shaves' probably won't work.
Because this world was blessed without that atrocity ever being in fashion. Frfr.
***
"...alright you bastards, but I am not going to read you a speech here," I said, when I was forced to stand up with a mic, at the head of our table.
The people cheered, demanding a speech.
Thing is? Ato is a bastard.
I was expecting our usual rotating company at the table. Maybe, like, ten people from amongst the people I talk with daily.
Instead, the club was bought out. I am relatively sure we had, like, over fifty people in here easily. I can't even fully blame that on Ato. The usual crowd just invited a few other friends from M.O.T.H., that shit escalated, and escalated... at this point, I think it would've been cheaper and easier to have us party back at the base. Pretty sure we had most of the people off-duty in the HQ here.
If it wasn't a breach of all protocols to party at the HQ, that is. Well, whatever, at this point I am over it. It's not me who had to deal with all the requests to leave the base or to organize all of this. Also, our internal security guys who have to organize this and keep the perimeter, probably are on a suicide watch right now... well, those of them who are on duty.
I should probably buy those guys something nice after this. With my salary, I can fucking afford to.
I also hope Ato will be grilled by his wife for letting this escalate so much. Besides, instead of letting me chill, the handsome bastard is forcing me to perform here, doing the 'opening speech', and he should get some sort of karmic payback.
...I just wanted to get wasted, man.
"Right, right, I can hear you, not quite deaf yet," I said, theatrically cleaning my ear with a finger, "Seriously, cut it out."
When the commotion died down a bit, with people stopping chanting 'speech, speech!', I spoke up again, slowly.
All-fucking right. Speech it is.
For a moment, I considered the people who gathered, casting a long glance at the casually dressed personnel.
"What happened in Japan, to you lot, may look like the first time M.O.T.H. managed to punch back." I glanced around, seeing people quite down; whatever cheer managed to accumulate was gone for now, as the atmosphere grew almost somber. "Didn't feel like that to me. Still doesn't."
Suddenly, there was a loud electronic screech, the kind that happens when something is wrong with electronic equipment. I glanced at my hand, gripping the microphone. When had my knuckles gone white? The plastic casing had splintered under my fingers. I gently relaxed it, throwing the ruined piece of electronics to the side.
Slowly, the slow, shimmering annoyance and weariness ignited... into something in my chest. Into anger, yes. The kind that makes you want to move, to fight, to win. I could feel it building in my chest, electric and alive, like lightning looking for ground. My heart was pounding.
The smart thing would've been to shut up and step back. But. I was so tired of trying to do the smart thing.
"But so what?!"
The words burst out of me. I think I was shouting, grinning, both at once. My voice filled the whole room, and seeing people jerk up was exactly what I wanted to see.
"We are the ones who must save the world! There is no one above or below who can handle it for us! What, just because things went to shit, we are supposed to sober up, look all solemn and sorry?! Or maybe we are supposed to celebrate and pat ourselves on the back that this time we could kill some mooks without throwing around city-leveling explosives?! Who are we, retarded kids in a school sports festival, getting candies for consolation prizes?! No, damn it!"
I took a deep breath, but it wasn't to calm down. It was to fuel the fire burning brighter in my chest. My heart was racing, hammering like a war drum, and it felt right.
It was just fucking perfect.
"So, tell you what, I am not here today to drink the sorrow away, or to pretend that I won three weeks ago. I feel like shit, those of you who know me probably noticed. But it's good that I do. It's good that all of you do too. Sorrow is good, anger is good, because both of those mean we aren't cattle who are used to being beaten down like that! I am here today because I want to clear my head, and next time, beat whatever the fuck shows up back out of this timeline!"
I only just realized that I was leaning over the table, both of my hands gripping it, as a wide, wild grin stretched across my face. The wood creaked under my fingers. Someone's drink had tipped over, the liquid pooling cold around my hands, but I didn't care.
Slowly, I straightened my back. My whole body was coiled like a spring, ready to launch.
"All of us here fight our own fight. Each as desperate as the last. Our eggheads?"
My arm swept out, I think, a grand gesture towards Ato and a few other men and women from the science team who sat by his side. Their faces were sharp and clear now, every detail burning bright in my vision.
"Those guys can probably tell you all the esoteric and exotic ways in which we are fucked, and how far out of the water we are. Our operatives?"
Another gesture, wider, almost celebratory, towards the people I had trained with for a while. I could see the fire catching in some of their eyes, too. Not the good fire, not yet. Just anger for now, but that's just fine too!
"They've been there on the ground, they know what we are up against, and they know how miserable and fucking scary that shit is, how impossible it feels to be expected to keep up. Our maintenance staff...?"
I shook my head, but I was still grinning. The whole room seemed brighter somehow, charged with something electric.
"Yeah, considering I've seen around the canteen and the firing range, those guys actually are doomed, no way a human being can keep up with that workload."
There were a few chuckles, but I shook my head. The sound was good, though, life coming back into the room, but it wasn't what I needed.
"But no, it's really hilarious how outmatched we seem to be."
I threw a glance around, and I could see my words spreading like a ripple, devouring the momentary amusement. But underneath that, I could see it, the spark.
"That's fine."
I struck the table, hard.
The impact sent a jolt up my arm, pure satisfaction as the wood split and cracked under my palm, spider-webbing out in a perfect pattern of destruction. People jumped. Glasses rattled and sang. One fell, shattered, and the sound was like punctuation to my point.
"All of that is fine! Because it doesn't fucking matter how hard it's getting, and how much harder it will get, if there is one thing I can promise, if there is one thing I can do, it's that I will end this. I will beat the Honkai, and I will do it even if I have to do it alone!"
I was definitely shouting now, my voice carrying over everything, filling every corner of the room. My vision had sharpened to crystal clarity, taking in all those faces, all those eyes looking back at me. When had I grabbed the table again? Both hands this time, I think, because the cracks were spreading, racing out like battle lines on a map.