Chapter 547 - 50-51

Chapter 50: An AI's Birth

Snake had no idea what was going on as he ran past the surrounding soldiers. Paz had just informed him something was happening on the medical platform, now he found someone had issued the order to evacuate. What made it worse was he didn't know if he should rescind that officer's order. He simply didn't know what was going on, so Snake ran. Reaching the platform, he found several teams of soldiers sitting about.

Defenses had been set up in the halls, and the troops manning them held some semblance of worry. A few looked over at him before one finally stepped forward.

"Report?" Snake demanded.

"Possible cyber-attack sir, we're not sure if it's a quirk or a hacker." the soldier stated, as the two entered the facility. Inside Snake found more defenses set up, with the entire area in darkness. The only light was supplied by an occasional flashlight.

"And the machine guns?" Snake asked.

"Precautions for teleporters, sir. We were ordered to stand down though." the soldier explained.

"No one can tell me what the hell's going on so keep those guns up," Snake ordered, "I was told Dr. Strangelove was sent over here."

"Yes sir, she entered the main facility a few minutes ago." the soldier replied. A few minutes later the pair found a member of the R&D team waiting outside a lone room. The room had a shred of light, but not enough for Snake to see inside. The soldier looked over at the pair, before saluting Snake. The first soldier, realizing his work was done, turned and went back to his post.

"Boss, Glacier Bat," the soldier introduced.

"Soldier, is Dr. Strangelove in there?" Snake asked, pointing at the nearby room.

"Yes sir," Bat replied. Snake moved to open the door before finding it locked. He tried to force it open after a few tries but stopped when Bat spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that sir, we tried earlier but Dr Strangelove said she needed us out here."

"Did she specify why?"

"No, just shoved us back out here and locked the door."

"Well," Snake commented, "Seems we're waiting then."

He pulled out a cigar then, and quickly lit it. The small flame lit up the hallway for a few seconds before it went dark again. With a cigar in his mouth, Snake looked over at Bat.

"So, do you at least know what's going on? Boys outside are saying it's a cyber-attack, others are saying it's a quirk." Snake asked.

"I'm not entirely sure Boss. Before Strangelove went inside, she said it wasn't a quirk. Could still be a hacker though."

"Great, so all that time wasted on a pointless evacuation," Snake muttered. No one on the platform could coherently inform anyone what was going on. Now some patient in need of a lung transplant is possibly dying for their incompetence. Someone was getting demoted for this chaos if not court-martialed. Regardless of who was receiving the blame, Snake could only wait for Strangelove to report back. Hours would pass as he waited outside, as his watch provided the only knowledge of how much time had passed.

Though in the darkness he could barely tell the numbers apart. In all that time Snake burnt through four cigars. Eventually, he gave the order to stand down, once he was certain there would be no teleporters. Snake kept the platform empty though. For a reason unknown to him Strangelove had kept the base's electronics shut off. It had to be a valid reason, so everything was kept off. It was only when sleep was about to take him, that the room's door finally opened.

Out stepped Strangelove who looked worse for wear. She looked tired, horribly so, but whatever it was that was going on was over. Carefully, Snake stamped out his fifth cigar as Strangelove quietly approached him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The biggest advancement in AI research since the creation of Peace Walker," Strangelove answered, leaving Snake flabbergasted by the response.

"I'm going to need a longer explanation," Snake told her.

"I'd explain it if I could, but I'm not entirely sure how it happened. In the simplest way I can put it, the Medical Team's Viral Intelligence Computer managed to gain sentience." Strangelove replied. The comment left Snake shocked as he processed her words. It had become sentient? A small feeling of worry began to build up in him. The last AI they'd dealt with almost nuked a country, and that one couldn't form coherent thoughts. ZEKE at the very least had to be ordered to do something. But a sentient AI? Snake didn't trust it.

"That thing is dangerous," Snake stated a frown present on his face.

"That thing has a name," Strangelove countered.

"You named it?" Snake asked surprised.

"Sort of. All I gave was an idea, it was her choice to accept it." Strangelove replied.

"Her?" Snake asked suspiciously. Wordlessly Strangelove held out her Idroid where its hologram lit up. Now what would normally occur is a small screen forming at the device center. Instead, the pale blue light the device emitted shifted to the form of a girl with short hair, a pale complexion, a large poofy skirt, and a shirt with equally poofy sleeves. It was an odd choice of clothing, but the sight of the AI alone surprised him.

"Snake, this is Victoria."

The AI gave a small wave but ultimately remained quiet. That worried Snake, as he couldn't tell if the AI was being genuinely shy, or if this was all an act.

"OK, what's the plan for Victoria here?" Snake inquired, hoping to sound as non-threatening as possible. He didn't want the AI knowing he didn't trust it.

"Well, I planned on having her hang out with Izuku temporarily. Allow her to learn about the outside world a little." Strangelove explained. Snake's face soured for just a second after Strangelove finished. Whether the AI noticed he was unsure, but Strangelove certainly did.

"Snake, trust me. I know what I'm doing." Strangelove told him. That was a lie, he knew it was a lie. There was no protocol for this, no precedent they could refer to. It was just like when they first entered this dimension. The best material they had for reference was science fiction stories, of which half ended with nukes. But Snake was out of his depths in this situation, more so than Strangelove.

"I trust you," he relented. What went unsaid but understood by both was the silent warning he'd given. While he did trust her, if this program went rogue, he would destroy it.

One of the things Snake had forgotten about, was the Idroid's microphone. So, when he stated Victoria was dangerous, she had heard it. It left her confused. Why was she dangerous? She hadn't done anything, at least she thinks she hasn't. All of this was confusing, even after the talk she had with Dr. Strangelove. To know she wasn't real answered a few of her questions but… now what?

She wasn't real. What purpose did she have? She could think but did that matter? Did she want it to? She didn't even know if she qualified as alive. She had no beating heart, no lungs to breathe air, and no skin to feel the wind. She couldn't even see anything. She could hear what she assumed were her thoughts, but she couldn't see anything except through the Idroid's camera. Inside the device, there was no endless black void, no eternal white valley. There was nothing. She could see neither light nor darkness.

There was nothing. Victoria didn't realize it, but hours had passed. It had been mere seconds for her, but the outside world had become active again. She was only dragged out of her stupor when Strangelove's voice was heard on the microphone.

"Victoria?"

Hearing her name Victoria projected herself onto the Idroid while using the device's front camera to see. It wasn't the best angle, only allowing her to look up at the ceiling but it was something. She saw Strangelove and someone she didn't recognize. He was male like Snake, with small freckles on his face and green bushy hair. Victoria could have sworn his eyes sparkled as he looked at the AI curiously.

"Victoria, this is Izuku. You're going to be with him for a few days."

Going through the Idroid's database, Victoria synthesized a voice she thought fit her.

"Hello," she greeted quietly, her hologram giving Midoriya a small wave.

"Hello!" Midoriya greeted a little more eager, however, he quickly flinched back as he chuckled to himself.

"Sorry if that was off-putting, it's just this is so cool! You're a real AI!"

Victoria was a little surprised by the boy. She had expected all humans to be more reserved like Strangelove and Snake, but it seemed that wasn't the guess.

"It isn't that cool," Victoria replied, her hologram rubbing the back of her head. That's what humans did, right, she questioned. And it wasn't all that cool, she wasn't real after all. She was a little surprised when Midoriya gasped at her response.

"Of course, it's cool! You have access to all human knowledge; you can effectively be smarter than a human! I mean the things you could do are almost limitless." Midoriya stated before he quickly turned away. The Idroid's camera couldn't exactly see what he was doing but it sounded like he was looking for something. Seconds later he came back over with a notebook.

"Like here, you could manage an entire financial company by yourself. Or you could pilot a spaceship in ways a human can't, or even fly a plane better than a human!" Midoriya exclaimed.

"I resent that!" another voice yelled out from somewhere in the room.

"Rody you've tried it for the eighteenth time now!" Midoriya shouted back.

"That computer is running out of tricks, I'll win eventually!" Rody retorted. Midoriya shook his head, but it didn't seem like he was angry. Instead, his mouth curved upward, leaving Victoria somewhat confused.

"But anyways, you shouldn't put yourself down like that when there is so much you can do," Midoriya stated with a small smile. It was odd for Victoria, causing something to stir inside her. She didn't know what it was, or how to even define it. But it seemed nice, she just couldn't tell what it was. Still, spurred on by Midoriya, she made her hologram give a small smile.

"A sentient AI," Nezu mused with an intrigued smile, "how fascinating."

"I prefer concerning," Snake countered over the call. The moment Strangelove had handed Victoria to Midoriya, a new meeting was called into motion. Nezu and Ocelot weren't in person, but that didn't mean the rodent would miss out on this.

"Boss it's only been a day. All we need to do is let Victoria learn about the world around her." Soul countered. He had been quick to accept the news Strangelove brought forward. Sure, there was a little caution, but he ultimately didn't seem worried.

"It would only take her a few seconds to crack the world's nuclear codes," Snake countered, "Have we all forgotten Peace Walker? Nezu, didn't your school have a robot rebellion?"

"Well… not exactly," Nezu replied, "None of UA's robots possess sentience. That rebellion was more of a glitch in their programming. The zero pointer thought it was still conducting an exercise hours after it had ended, and All Might eventually had to get involved."

"Then why do they keep talking about killing me off in the next revolt?" Ocelot inquired from across his desk. It had happened more than once and in varying forms. Sometimes the robots talked to themselves about some list they had created. Nezu seemed to find the question amusing though.

"I may have had them programmed to say those things. It's hilarious to watch some of the students silently panic," he answered with a lit chuckle.

"So, this entire time it was nothing but a prank? I wasted all that time prepping." Ocelot muttered. He had spent weeks hiding food and ammunition across the country in between his investigation and spying. Now it was all for nothing.

"Regardless Snake, from what I've gathered, I have to agree with Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Soul. The best way to know Victoria isn't a threat is to let her discover the world." Nezu stated.

"And if she decides to do what's 'best' for humanity? I mean what were those rules of robotics?" Snake asked, "What if we instituted those?"

"The rules are a robot may not harm a human, a robot must obey a human, and a robot must protect itself unless it violates the first two rules. The problem is these rules don't work for normal AI, let alone a sentient one." Nezu countered.

"It's true. A nonsentient AI would take all those rules to the literal extreme, while a sentient AI would find loopholes." Strangelove added.

"What's the extreme of not being able to harm a human?" Snake asked confused. It sounded perfectly reasonable to him.

"Well, a nonsentient AI would take that to heart, don't harm a human. But then it realizes if it doesn't help a human in need that it is harming a human. The nonsentient AI could then decide based on its programming that it has to help all humans regardless of need. But that brings conflict as we humans are rather vile creatures like every other animal on this Earth. We kill each other, rape each other, kidnap, steal, or enslave. An AI would see this and decide maybe the best way to help humans is to dictate everything for us. Subsequently, the second rule is now ignored because the first rule takes priority. But humans are chaotic and random, too hard to fully control and predict. So, the AI could decide to put them in a coma or cryogenically freeze them, or any number of options. All to help humanity." Strangelove explained. Nezu heard Snake grumble on the other end.

"That doesn't make the plan seem any more appealing," Snake replied, with Nezu hearing him flick open a lighter.

"It seems to be the only one," Strangelove stated, "When I first talked to Victoria, it was like talking with a child. She knew nothing of the outside world or anything. She possessed no concept of morality, life, emotion, or death. Yet, she held a curiosity I could only compare to Hal's. With that curiosity, I can see a chance to teach her empathy."

The call was silent as Snake thought over Strangelove's words.

"I still don't like her being near Izuku," Snake muttered.

"Better she be learning about the world through the eyes of a child, than of a grizzled soldier." Strangelove countered to which Snake silently agreed.

"I know, just keep the thing under watch."

With that, the call came to a slow end, with Strangelove explaining her suspicions about how Victoria gained sentience. Nezu found it all very informative, but alas the call ended far too soon for his liking. It would seem Strangelove's notes would have to be added to the mounting pile of documents Nezu had yet to go over. It was a shame really, everything kept stealing his attention away from them.

"Woah!"

"Is she real?"

"She looks so cute!"

"Guys, come on you're crowding her," Midoriya stated, his classmates carefully backing away from his desk. A few apologized with a chuckle while others continued to look at Victoria. When Strangelove had dropped the AI off, she never really explained what he was supposed to do. Only to have Victoria hang out with him for a few days. If that entailed bringing her to school, Midoriya didn't know. But he did it anyway, which drew the attention of everyone in class. Victoria for her part, didn't shy away. At least her hologram didn't.

"It's fine," Victoria told him, "So this is school?"

"Yeah," Midoriya replied, before holding up the Idroid. Slowly he moved the camera around, letting her see the entire classroom. A couple of his classmates waved as he did so, wanting to appear friendly to the AI. While Midoriya didn't see it, Victoria focused on his classmates. They all looked so unique to her. All varying heights and skin tones, some with strange mutations, others not even looking human.

It was interesting to look at. Soon enough though Midoriya set the Idroid back down, with his classmates scooching a little closer.

"Can you see us?" one classmate asked.

"Only through the camera," Victoria replied.

"What about your appearance? Is that the only outfit you have?"

"I can my appearance, but I like this look," Victoria answered.

"What do you think of Terminator?" another classmate asked before someone slapped him.

"Ow!"

"Don't ask her that idiot!"

"Why not!?" the classmate countered, not noticing Victoria's avatar change. Its face shifted over to a confused look, as it turned to look at them.

"What is Terminator?" she asked. Carefully Midoriya thought up a response.

"It's a robot from a movie," Midoriya replied, deciding it best to leave out a few certain parts. Victoria's avatar nodded in response, before the look of confusion returned on her face.

"Oh… what's a movie?" Victoria asked. Midoriya was about to answer when Mr. Musa stepped into the classroom. The teacher had a smile on his face as he walked over to his desk and looked out at the class.

"Good morning class, how have you all been?" he asked, before sitting down in his chair. A general murmur erupted from the class as all said they were good in some way.

"Good, good, now Rody should be here right…" he trailed off looking down at his watch. Seconds later someone was heard running through the hall rapidly approaching the class's door, while Mr. Musa held up one hand.

"Now,"

"I'm here!" Rody exclaimed out of breath with Pina flying next to him, right as the bell rang.

"That you are, and on time too. Seems I've lost the bet then," Mr. Musa stated, before handing Rody a five-dollar bill. It was the easiest way to ensure the boy made it to class on time. Rody accepted it quickly before heading over to his spot next to Midoriya.

"Didn't expect you to make it," Midoriya quietly told him.

"Neither did I," Rody replied, "In hindsight, playing Project Wingman Monarch at three in the morning was a bad idea."

"You're usually up till four," Midoriya commented, watching as Pina stashed the money away in Rody's pocket.

"Dad caught me," Rody explained before looking back at the front of the class. Luckily Mr. Musa was still getting ready, writing the words World War Two in bold on the class's whiteboard. It was faint but Midoriya heard him mutter, "One of these days I'll get a digital board" before Mr. Musa turned back to the class.

"Now if you all remember, a good portion of the world was still recovering from the Great Depression and… Midoriya what is on your desk?" Mr. Musa asked, quietly examining Victoria.

"Oh, this is Victoria." Midoriya replied, holding up the AI's Idroid carefully, "My aunt told me to take her with me."

"Will she be a distraction?" Mr. Musa asked.

"No sir," Midoriya replied.

"What is World War Two?" Victoria asked her camera angled just enough to see the board.

"Guess I'll treat this like another class day then," Mr. Musa muttered to himself, before getting back on topic, "But to answer your question, World War Two was a massive conflict in human history, spanning from 1939 to 1945. As I was saying before though, and this is important so make sure it's in your notes, the world was still recovering from the Great Depression…"

And so, Victoria sat there, listening to what Mr. Musa said curiously as Midoriya took notes.

Arno tried his best to calm his breathing while wiping away the sweat from his brow. Around him in the dead of night, his family remained quiet, his son and daughter hiding in the back seats of their stolen car. His wife, meanwhile, kept hold of a pistol with shaking hands. They had spent weeks, heading North from South Africa. All in search of a rumored refuge. At this point, anything was better than the back-breaking labor back home.

"Are we there yet?" his son Neville asked quietly.

"Almost," Arno's wife Nadine told him.

"You always say that," Neville muttered.

"I know buddy, but we're almost there," Arno stated, his eyes still firmly on the road. Every second was a nightmare for him as he drove forward. At any second their car could hit a mine, or the region's militants could stumble upon them. Yet they had no other option, so Arno kept driving. Any slight bump he saw in the road he went around. Any tall brush he didn't trust, he avoided.

They had gotten this far; they could make it. That's what Arno told himself. They were almost there. Just a little more driving and they'd make it. Then he saw it, lights in the distance. His heart stopped in a panic when he realized it was a checkpoint. Was it a refuge, or was it, militants? He didn't know.

"Honey?" Nadine inquired.

"It's… we'll be fine," Arno stated, slowing the car down. The dark shrouded the checkpoint's guards, the only way he would learn their identity would be by getting closer. He didn't like the idea, so he put the car in reverse before a flare was shot into the car. Shouting was heard from the checkpoint before one of the guards grabbed a megaphone. All the while Arno's kids silently panicked in the back seat, afraid of what was going to happen next.

"[Unidentified vehicle stay where you are! Fail to comply and we will open fire!]"

Arno could barely understand what was being said before the guard with the megaphone spoke again this time in English. The message was received though, as Arno took his hands away from the wheel, and put the car in park. All the while his wife tried to comfort the kids. The land went quiet for a few seconds, as Arno waited for the guards to do something. Seconds later he heard a faint whirring circling them. Looking out the window he couldn't tell what it was but refused to move for the wheel.

The whirring disappeared seconds later. Outside Arno saw two guards begin to approach the car. His breathing hitched as he tried to calm his nerves. The quiet whimper of his kids made him subconsciously reach for the rifle behind his seat. He only stopped when the guards got too close. If they saw him reaching for a weapon, they would shoot him. The first guard walked over to the driver seat, while the second went to the car's trunk.

The first guard tapped the window carefully, before signaling Arno to lower it. Calming himself, Arno complied.

"Name?" the guard asked.

"A-Arno Galgut," he answered. The guard looked around the car carefully, his eyes falling onto Arno's kids and wife.

"This your family?" the guard asked. Arno began to regret his choice to flee with his family. They were going to die.

"Yes," he answered, still trying to calm his nerves.

"Hmm, mind opening the trunk for us?"

Wordlessly Arno did so, unlocking the back of the car. The second guard was heard rummaging through the back. What he was searching for Arno didn't know.

"Now do you have any weapons in the vehicle Mr. Galgut?"

"Just a pistol and a rifle."

"Alright, and what's your purpose here?"

"Here? Well…" Arno quietly thought over his response, "I heard there was a refugee site here."

The guard took one look at Arno before turning over to the second guard. The second guard said something he didn't hear, but the first guard nodded in response. The first guard quietly looked back at Arno and rummaged through a small bag. Carefully the guard pulled out a set of papers and held them out for Arno.

"Alright, you're going to need these forms at the city's entrance. All you need to do is stick to the main road and keep heading straight. There you'll find a processing center where you'll turn in those forms. Now, have a good night, and welcome to Outer Heaven."

Arno couldn't believe it. As he processed the guard's words, he couldn't believe it. Even as his wife teared up next to him, he was still convinced this was a lie. But he felt the paper in his hands, this was real. They had made it.

Madam President couldn't believe it had come to this. Standing in front of the large crowd of reporters, with Techno to her right, and Night Owl to her left. Out of hundreds of applicants for the Vice Presidency, only Night Owl remained. The rest were too afraid to keep running or were dead. To think this is who would be the next VP, made Madam President worried.

But the show had to go on. The message about what happened to the last VP would only be credible so long as the press had a replacement to distract them. So, clearing her throat quietly, she leaned forward to the microphone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this has been a long time coming, but I and the HPSC's board have come to a decision. After rigorous searching and hours of interviews, we have decided on the next Vice President of the HPSC. So, I welcome and congratulate Nagai Okitatsu, on his promotion."

She stepped to the side before giving Night Owl a small bow. Silently she thought over the man's many fake names. None ever made any sense, as sometimes he went with a Western name, and other times like now it was Japanese. Regardless Night Owl returned the bow and stepped up to the podium. The scientist's normally mad smile was subdued, instead giving off a fake friendly air.

"Truly, I cannot thank everyone who helped me reach this position enough. It took a lot of work to get here, but there is still more to be done. It's why…"

Night Owl trailed on giving the reporters the same speech most personnel gave. It never really said anything but was changed just enough to appear different and have people bickering over nothing. A vague stance on some issue that answered no questions, a statement on a policy that was barely a thing, a condemnation of a villain organization that had been condemned a thousand times before. That's what it was though, a nothing speech, yet people ate it up.

Soon enough the press conference came to an end, and everyone left the room.

"I think that went rather well," Night Owl commented, his wide smile coming back to fruition.

"You kept smiling like a maniac. The press is going to latch onto that quickly." Techno retorted, the man scanning over the internet with his quirk.

"Who cares? They can tarnish my reputation all they want, but I'll just claim I was following All Might's example," Night Owl countered as he began to walk out of the room. As he did so Madam President began to speak up.

"Night Owl, if you damn this organization, I will have you gutted," Madam President warned. Too much of the world had already turned against her, she didn't need the HPSC doing the same.

"Oh, Madam President, I'm hurt you would think me capable of doing that." Night Owl replied. This was good though she determined. The HPSC had a new VP, and with it, some of the damage done by Poland could be fixed.

"Madam President requested this?" Director Liu Jun asked confused. You see, Liu Jun was the director of China's National Space Administration. The only thing the CNSA had been used for in years, was to launch replacement satellites over the years. The HPSC had influenced the Chinese government to divert billions from the program to heroics for decades. They were now defunct like the rest of the world's space programs, hanging on to relevance by a thread only.

So, he was surprised when the newly appointed Vice President began calling him.

"She did and wants to know if it can be done." Night Owl stated calmly. Liu went over the blueprints the VP had sent him. Everything designed was in the realm of possibility. But why this specifically? The implications of its use and construction were quite frankly alarming.

"Well, the blueprints you sent all seem in order." Liu stated, "But what does the HPSC even need with this?"

"That isn't important. Now again, can it be done?" Night Owl asked.

"Unless we get an extra four hundred billion, I'm afraid not," Liu answered as he checked over the blueprints again. On second thought he may have lowballed the cost. To put everything in orbit, it would need to triple that number. Yet the Vice President began to chuckle.

"Oh, that won't be an issue, the HPSC is footing the bill. Consider it a blank check. All we need is for what we sent you to be built."

The words echoed around Liu's head. A blank check. Possibly billions of dollars for him and the organization. This could put them back on the map.

"One last thing, upon they're completion the blueprint is to be destroyed. I think you know what will happen if you fail to comply." Night Owl warned.

"N-no, I got it. I'll get it done as quickly as possible, but it could take a few years."

"Take as long as necessary, we're in no rush."

"Come on Midoriya! Hurry up!" Rody shouted as the two boys sprinted across Mother Base's walkways. In the distance, they could see their target, the Base's airfield.

"Why are we running!? It'll still be there when we arrive!" Midoriya shouted back, trying to catch up to his friend. With him DD enjoyed the chase, quickly catching up to Rody, while Victoria had no clue what was happening. The camera on the Idroid was shaking so violently she thought it had been dropped.

"I've been waiting weeks for this! I'm not waiting any longer!" Rody replied as the two began to near the large airfield. In the sky, a large C-5 coming in for a landing. In its cargo hold was a large supply of civilian goods purchased from the mainland. Be it furniture, clothes, electronics, toys, or candy, Rody didn't care. There was only one object he had wanted. Coming to a stop near the platform, the two stopped as the C-5's wheels touched the ground. It rolled forward for a few seconds, before slowing down.

"H-how is it your f-faster than me?" Midoriya stammered out attempting to catch his breath. It was genuinely surprising, all that training and Rody had blitzed by him the second news of his model plane's arrival. Then again, he couldn't really blame Rody. When Midoriya had lost the bet, he had bought Rody the promised F-14 model plane. He had done so with same-day shipping. And since Mother Base was in the middle of the ocean and had very strict procedures for importing goods, a small delay was expected.

A month of waiting was not.

"Come on come on," Rody muttered to himself, watching as the C-5's crew began to unload the plane's cargo.

"We're not going to see it from here," Midoriya commented, to which Rody sighed. He broke out into another sprint, reaching a small warehouse. Inside a soldier stood against a wall with an Idroid in hand, scrolling through the C-5s manifest. He heard the rapidly approaching footsteps and saw Rody almost crash into the wall next to him. Midoriya walked the rest of the way, eventually reaching his friend.

It was only now that exhaustion seemed to take hold of Rody.

"F-14… m-model," he stated tiredly. Quietly the soldier looked over the C-5's manifest as Midoriya pulled Rody up onto his feet. DD, meanwhile, decided to chase Pina, the bird now flying about the area in excitement.

"F-14, F-14," the soldier mused aloud, "Hmm ah. Here we are. One model F-14 for a Rody Soul?"

Rody tiredly nodded in response, while Midoriya answered for him.

"Yep, that's him."

"Well, everything seems to be in order. Although the file says something about shipping issues," the soldier told them.

"So, it's not here yet?"

"No, no, it's here, the crewmen outside are probably still unloading it." the soldier explained, "Just follow me for a second."

He began walking off to a section of the warehouse closest to the airfield. Quickly both Rody and Midoriya followed, with the former worried about having to wait even longer. The latter was worried he'd have to buy a second model in another bet. The soldier soon came to a stop as they reached the warehouse's door. It was wide open at the moment, displaying the outside clearly as the men outside worked. There was still no sign of his model, but Rody reasoned it could be in one of the large boxes the MSF was unloading.

"Stay here for a second," the soldier stated before walking out to the airfield. He started talking to a different crew member then. Rody wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt Midoriya carefully tap his shoulder.

"So… that's not a model," he commented, drawing Rody's attention over to where Midoriya was pointing. His eyes widened as the crewmen began pulling an F-14 out of the C-5. Not a model, a genuine F-14.

"That… that's a real aircraft," Rody muttered.

"It appears so," Midoriya commented, before pulling out Victoria's Idroid and holding it up for the AI to see out. The AI examined the plane carefully, interested in what purpose it served. Rody however, was ironically less interested, instead getting paler by the second.

"... My dad's going to kill me,"

"Most likely,"

As the third tank barrel turned red hot, Soul quietly sighed. It was as he said: if it wasn't the power, it was the heat. As he and the engineers present went over Abram's chassis memories of previous tests came to mind. They had done six in total over a few days, as of yet none had been a success.

"You sure we shouldn't switch out the barrel's material?" one engineer asked, as he carefully prodded the still-glowing barrel.

"I'm sure," Soul replied, "The problem isn't the barrel, it's the gun's energy output."

"I'll say," another engineer muttered, "The damn thing's sucking the power away for a single massive shot. Might be a coding error."

"To be fair, there isn't a whole lot of power to begin with." a third engineer reasoned. And it was true, as the diesel-electric engine didn't have the power necessary to keep the railgun active in a prolonged combat environment. Both because it couldn't generate enough electricity, and because it didn't have enough energy stored.

"True, at best it would get fifteen shots before running out of power," a fourth engineer stated. The engineer walked over to the Abram's battery compartment, before forcing it open. Carefully he pulled out four large batteries, before carrying one to a nearby table. He plugged it into a machine to check its charge and found it completely dry. A few of the engineers let out a low whistle at the sight.

"That's being generous. A closer estimate is ten." the first engineer countered calmly.

"Well, what do you think boss man?" the third engineer asked. Soul thought about it for a second. The problem here was both barrel strength and current technology. They could make a railgun, as ZEKE wouldn't have one if they couldn't, but ZEKE had a massive power source. It was practically a walking powerplant, that wasn't viable on a smaller tank.

That said, he did remember reports about experiments testing the possibility of an americium battery. If that didn't work other interesting proposals had reached his desk before.

"For right now, our best bet would be to focus on battery life improvements and fixing the firing computer's software." he began before going over the design's blueprints with his Idroid.

"And actually, let's change the gun's caliber to 105mm instead of 120mm. Should give the tank crew more ammo, with an equal amount of firepower. Now, how was the armor going?"

He looked out at the engineers as a few twiddled their thumbs. The armor Soul was requesting was of a rumored prototype present on the Abrams X, a tech demonstration General Dynamics had made centuries ago. Now whether or not it was true the MSF had yet to figure out, but it was rumored to have anti-thermal capabilities. This would effectively mean the tank at night, would effectively be invisible to thermals. However, Soul was beginning to see a problem.

"You haven't tested its strength yet, have you?" he stated before a look of annoyance crossed his face. One engineer rubbed the back of his head as he began to explain.

"Not yet, but in our defense, we weren't too keen on blowing up our only prototype." the engineer told him.

"Fair point," Soul replied rubbing his brow annoyed. If the R&D team's budget was anything to go by this prototype armor had cost them two arms and a leg, so not blowing it up was a good idea.

"Can you at least tell me your progress so far?" he asked regardless, hopeful they had at least tested the anti-thermal capabilities.

"Well, at the moment the thermals see the armor as a large blur. It can't exactly tell what it is, but it isn't invisible." the engineer calmly began.

"Blowing it up seems like the cheaper option now," Soul muttered.

"But we are making progress. A week ago, the armor was much brighter on thermals than it is now." the engineer stated. It was at least something. Still, this was new technology they were working on. Not old gear they were upgrading to catch up, but new advanced tech. It was an odd thought as Soul went over it. The MSF were now the ones making technological strides.

"Alright Boss the mission is simple," Miller began as Snake went over his equipment, "The boys down in Intel spotted a tank company moving to this section of territory. I've rerouted some men to the area, but they won't arrive in time. So, delay the enemy tank company for as long as possible."

With Miller signing off, Snake looked out of the Blackhawk's door. This far out on the frontline all Snake could see was African savannah. His best estimate had Mgbaba a good forty miles away. In the distance, he could see large plumes of dust and assumed that was the incoming tanks. As the Blackhawk came to a landing, Snake quickly hopped out and ran to a small hill. When he arrived, he crouched down and pulled out his binoculars.

Inspecting the area, he found it to be mostly flat giving him a clear view of the approaching militants. If he had to guess from this distance, they were armed with ten T-55s and four T-72s. The tanks' drivers wisely chose to avoid the main road and were widely spread out across the field, so setting electric mines seemed to be out of the question. So came option B, as Snake got the first bit of equipment ready. Unslinging the Panzerfaust 3 he'd been carrying, ensured aimed at the closest tank and fired.

The rocket flew forward and crashed into a T-55's ammo compartment in seconds. The ensuing explosion tore the vehicle apart, bringing the rest of the company to a halt. Quickly Snake ducked back down before the tanks could see him. Reloading his rocket launcher, he carefully peeked out over the hill. From there he could see the tanks didn't know where he was but assumed his general direction.

With that information, two T-55s began to move over to Snake's hill. Moving quickly Snake placed two electric mines at the top of the hill, before running back a bit to some tall grass. Ducking into it he watched as the tanks came rolling over the hill and came to a stop as they drove over the mines. The mines themselves didn't affect the tank, as it didn't have many electronics to affect. The crew inside it, however, were having the shock of a lifetime.

With the opportunity, Snake ran up and attached two Fulton devices to the tanks. The balloons slowly began to rise, and as the other tanks saw what was happening, they fired their machine guns to shoot them down. With the other tanks distracted Snake would go prone and crawl away from the main hill. Continuing to move forward he reached the left flank of the tank company.

By then the fultons had lifted the T-55s too high up for their allies to shoot down. The other tanks remained cautious and stayed away from the hill, instead firing their main guns in the hopes of flattening it. Counting quietly Snake had seven T-55s left and four T-72s. Seeing the tanks were all focused on his previous hill, Snake began to crawl closer to the tanks, approaching their rear.

Now the tanks were still widely spread apart, so there were several large gaps between him and the next tank. So fultoning at this distance wasn't an option. Instead, Snake riffled through his bag and pulled out a brick of C4. Carefully he placed it on a lone T-55, before crawling to the next tank and doing the same. He managed to rig two T-72s, and three T-55s, before running out of bricks.

Not wanting to be caught in the blast, he quickly crawled away, over to a large rock for cover. Once far enough away he detonated the explosives and watched the fireworks. The T-55s exploded brightly, while the T-72s' turrets flew up into the air with a massive fireball. The turrets then came falling back down, with one crushing the top of a T-55, and the other creating a small crater. Two T-72s left and three T-55s, Snake counted.

Quietly checking his watch, Snake wondered how long it would take before reinforcements arrived. Regardless, he watched as the remaining tanks began to form a circle. Each tank looked out of the circle giving the group an almost three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. A T-72 was positioned to look in his direction, its turret swiveling back and forth as it searched the area. Keeping low to the ground, Snake readied his rocket launcher and aimed at the tank.

Aiming for the tank's turret, he fired and watched as the vehicle went up in flames. Its turret soared up like the others but landed harmlessly away from the tanks. The other tanks noticing the explosion quickly, began to turn to Snake's location. Reloading quickly, Snake fired at a lone T-55 and destroyed it as well. With a blind spot now created in the group's circle Snake began to crawl away from the rock he hid behind.

Now flanking the last three tanks, Snake reloaded his rocket launcher again and aimed at the last T-72. Firing, he then started running as the rocket flew forward. The rocket quickly reached the tank, punching through the turret but not launching it into the sky. Instead, its armor crumpled into itself as the vehicle's weapon became inoperable. The T-55s meanwhile began to turn, right as Snake got close to them.

In seconds he slapped on two Fulton devices and watched as the tanks floated away. With every tank dealt with, Snake looked at the last T-72. With his rifle drawn he carefully peeked into the tank's open hole. There he found the surviving crew, who slowly held their hands up in surrender. Moments later, Snake heard tank treads as his reinforcements began to arrive. One of the tank's drivers popped their head out of their tank as they looked out at Snake's handiwork.

"And I thought the commander said he needed our help," he commented as a few other tankers looked out.

"Well, that's why he's the Boss," another replied as a few others let out a low whistle. With his task done, and the reinforcements now securing the area, Snake pulled out a cigar and quietly lit it.

Chapter 51: An AI's Life

"Is it working now?" Midoriya asked, looking over at Rody from across his computer. Rody shook his head no in response, with a small look of annoyance.

"No, the game still won't load," Rody replied, rubbing his brow.

"Then we'll just play normal Minecraft," Midoriya stated. After fourteen tries he just wanted to play. Victoria, while not saying so quietly agreed. She was curious about her first video game, especially when Midoriya wondered if she could play it. This was mainly from the thought process of what would happen if they plugged her Idroid into Midoriya's computer. Rody however remained determined.

"Come on, we can't just give up now! Maybe we can ask Pablo how he got the mod working," Rody replied as he scrolled through the page on his computer. With Victoria in hand, Midoriya went over to inspect Rody's computer as the three reread the page.

"Is this even necessary?" Midoriya asked.

"Dude, Pablo said the Create mod would let me build a working plane. I need to try it out." Rody answered.

"Fine, I'll just get Pablo then," Midoriya muttered before looking out across his room. He spotted DD lying on the ground, curled up in his big bed. With a small whistle, DD was up looking over at Midoriya.

"DD, fetch Pablo," Midoriya stated. DD barked happily in response and quickly left the room. The interaction confused Rody slightly as to how DD knew what was being asked but reasoned it had something to do with the dog's training. Maybe. He wasn't entirely sure.

"So, what is Minecraft?" Victoria asked curiously, still not sure what they were going to play. Then again, she also questioned how she would play it. She didn't have a physical body to pick up a controller, and everything digital was more nothingness than a visible sight she could interact with. Thinking over the answer, Midoriya calmly replied.

"Well, it's a sandbox game, where you can pretty much do anything," he answered before grabbing and searching a video of the game on his phone. He held it up to Victoria's camera, allowing her to watch. It was odd, unlike the real world everything in the game was all blocky. It was odd but interesting.

"And humans find this fun?" Victoria asked again, as… something stirred in her. She didn't know what it was, or how to describe it. But like the previous time it appeared to seem positive.

"Some do," Midoriya calmly replied.

"Maybe I'll have fun," Victoria quietly said, before DD came running back into the room. Behind the dog, an out-of-breath boy the same age as Midoriya walked in. He was Venezuelan with dark black hair, and an odd light blue glow surrounding him.

"H-hey guys," Pablo said while trying to regain his breath. Not the smartest idea to race a dog, but it was worth a shot.

"Hey Pablo," Rody greeted while Midoriya gave a small wave. Now Midoriya and Rody weren't exactly friends with Pablo. Sure, they were friendly towards each other, but neither group really interacted all that much outside of school. So, it was a bit surprising Pablo arrived as fast as he did. Slowly managing to get his breathing back under control he looked at the computers the two were next to and inferred what was happening.

"You can't get it working, can you?" Pablo stated.

"Yeah," Rody glumly replied to which Midoriya nodded.

"You could play normal Minecraft you know," Pablo commented, with Midoriya quickly jumping up.

"That's what I said!" he exclaimed, with Rody quickly facepalming.

"Yeah yeah, I get it. Can you help though?" Rody asked. Pablo thought about it for a second before slowly freezing up.

"...I mean, maybe?"

"That sounded more like a question than an answer." Midoriya suspiciously pointed out.

"Well, I may have forgotten a step," Pablo replied, now rubbing his head. Rody groaned as he realized how much time they wasted, thinking they had done everything right.

"That being?" Midoriya inquired. Pablo hesitated in response, confusing Midoriya slightly.

"...I used my quirk on the computer," Pablo answered, leaving Midoriya dumbstruck.

"I thought that glow surrounding you was your quirk?"

"It's a mutation," Pablo replies before walking over to Midoriya's computer, "My real quirk does something with computers. That's how I got the mod on my setup."

"Interesting," Midoriya noted. He didn't notice that he set Victoria's Idroid down, and his hands had slowly brought up one of his notebooks.

"What exactly does it do? How many times have you done it? Is it a technopath-like quirk? Does it only affect computers? What about phones?"

"Mido! Bro! Minecraft first, questions later!" Rody shouted, quickly dragging Midoriya out of his spiel. He gave a small, embarrassed chuckle, before putting his notebook away somewhere. He then stepped to the side, giving Pablo full access to his computer.

"Oh, heh right- wait a minute. What is this going to do to my computer?" Midoriya asked, now realizing a small mistake in what he'd just done. Pablo shrugged in response, giving Midoriya a small hint of worry.

"I don't know. My computer still works fine though," Pablo replied, "Although everything seems to load faster all of a sudden."

"Well… can we test it on Rody's first?"

"What!? Why mine!?" Rody exclaimed as he moved to shield his computer.

"You're the one who wants the mod in the first place!" Midoriya replied.

"How about we flip a coin for it," Pablo commented, dragging the boys' attention to him. Silently they both thought about it for a second. A fifty-fifty shot, where either one's computer could be destroyed. Well, at least it was fair they decided. So, Pablo got a coin, Midoriya called heads, and Rody called tails. The coin spun for a moment before landing tails up. With it decided, Pablo placed a single hand on Midoriya's computer.

The glow surrounding Pablo went brighter for a second, before quickly dying out. After a few seconds, they stood there. Anxiously Midoriya walked over to his computer. He quickly brought up Minecraft and found the mod had been installed. Everything seemed to be working well, but for how long Midoriya didn't know.

"See, perfectly fine," Pablo commented after Midoriya finally sighed in relief.

"I guess. Seems it's Rody's turn."

"Sure. You create the server." Rody said, stepping to the side as Pablo went to his computer. As he did so Midoriya began clicking away at the game's settings before reaching for Victoria's Idroid. Grabbing it, Victoria's hologram appeared looking him in the eye.

"You think this is going to work?" she asked, a hint of… was that nervousness? Midoriya wasn't entirely sure as he got a chord ready.

"Maybe," Midoriya replied, before plugging the Idroid in, "At worst you're in my computer instead of the Idroid."

Victoria's hologram responded with a small nod before it disappeared. After a deep breath, Midoriya looked back at his computer and found his webcam now on. A digital avatar of Victoria then materialized on the screen looking to the left of Midoriya.

"Now what?" Victoria asked, soon realizing her avatar was looking in the wrong direction. She had it turn to the side and the avatar looked, or attempted to, Midoriya in the eye.

"Well, now we create the server," Midoriya stated as Rody quickly piped up.

"Ooh! Let's make it a realm!" he said, as Midoriya slowly turned to look at him.

"Sure, you have eight dollars?" Midoriya asked, looking Rody dead in the eye. Rody paused in response as he could see his friend was displeased.

"Is this still about the F-14?" Rody asked, slightly nervous at Midoriya's question.

"Of course, it's about the F-14! We're lucky our parents haven't found out about it yet." Midoriya stated. That and the F-14 had created a large debt in his wallet. Sure, they bought it for a ludicrously good deal for four hundred dollars, back when they thought it was a model, but it was still four hundred dollars. Of course, both boys forgot Pablo was still in the room.

"What's this about an F-14?" Pablo asked curiously, causing the two to panic briefly.

"Nothing!" Midoriya and Rody shouted in unison, while Rody quietly handed Midoriya seven dollars.

"Ok then… Do you guys mind if I join?" Pablo asked out of the blue. He didn't have anything else going on, and it would be annoying to walk back to his home. The others didn't mind though.

"Nope," Midoriya replied with Rody shaking his head no.

"Pull up a chair dude," Rody commented before Midoriya finally created the server.

"And it's up," Midoriya stated with a small smile as the server began to load. The smile vanished in seconds. Victoria's avatar began to glitch, and the AI slowly began to panic.

"Is… suppose… Midoriya?" Victoria asked, with what sounded like fear in her question, before completely vanishing from his computer. The webcam then turned off slowly adding more worry.

"Victoria?" Midoriya asked, hoping for some kind of response. All the while the game continued to load, and his anxiousness continued to grow.

Everything went dark for Victoria, which wasn't normal. Normally she would only see nothing. No black void, no white abyss. Just nothing. So… why could she see darkness? Why was it there? What was even happening? What was touching her? What was… wait touching her? Victoria paused on that last question. Something was touching her, and she could feel it. She didn't know how to describe that revelation, nor how to describe what she felt.

It was somewhat strange. Humans had terms for what certain things felt like, but she didn't know which ones were applicable here. The best she could describe it was soft, somewhat rough. At least that's what she thought fit what she felt. There was something else though, something blowing past her face. Wait, did she have a face? I mean she had to, what else would be feeling whatever it was?

If that was the case, did she have eyes? Would that mean the darkness she saw, was just her eyes closed? Determined and still somewhat confused, Victoria focused on trying to open her "eyes". Slowly, she did so, as the darkness was briefly overtaken by light. Moving something to shield her eyes, Victoria soon found she had a hand. She barely realized she'd moved it. Curiously she looked it over, finding her "skin" to be a rather pale bluish-green. It all seemed real as she examined every finger.

Moving her hand away, she saw a wide-open sky above her. The clouds were all blocky, with some having the occasional pattern. The bright light in the sky was also a block, which was slightly confusing for her. Midoriya had said the sun was a ball, so what was this? Slowly Victoria thought, if she had a hand and eyes, then she must have legs. So, focusing on the same thought, she carefully sat up from whatever she was on.

Victoria's eyes scanned the world around her as a small gasp escaped her. Everything was blocky as she recognized certain things. Small talks with Midoriya introduced her to plant life trees, flowers, water, grass, and some animals. And here, they were all blocky. Surrounding her was a large forest to the right, a wide-open field with some sheep to the left, a lake with a small island in front of her, and an oak tree behind her. It was beautiful in a strange way, yet Victoria still had no clue what this was.

Was this the game? Determined to find more answers Victoria looked down at herself, finding she did indeed have legs. Coincidentally enough her newfound body perfectly resembled the avatar she had chosen for herself, with the same large poofy skirt and shirt. Wobbling a bit, Victoria slowly managed to stand up. With a slow clumsiness, she took a single step forward. This was all new and strange, especially when she took a second step and tripped. Victoria landed on the ground hard, eliciting a small cry of pain.

She got over it somewhat quickly when she realized it had hurt. Though she silently berated herself for not thinking about it sooner. For a reason she did not know, she could feel. Yet, Victoria couldn't help but… feel excited. At least that's what she thought it was, and that seemed to be the case for a lot of things now. With this feeling she quickly got back up and took a few more steps, getting used to the motions of walking. Eventually, she turned back to the tree behind her, just as a blocky figure popped into existence.

"Hello?" she asked carefully, unsure of the figure's identity. The figure began to quickly jump around, almost as if it was surprised. It took a few seconds before a voice rang out from the figure.

"Is it plugged in!? Come on Rody, it's just a microphone!" Midoriya exclaimed on the other side of the computer. It brought a small laugh to Victoria before she heard Rody speak up.

"Calm down. I think it's plugged in," he stated just as a second figure appeared. It fell into the first figure like neither was there. The first figure, who Victoria assumed was Midoriya, was a rather blocky character of blues, reds, whites, and yellows. The "face" of the figure had a wide smile and wild blonde hair. The second figure, who she assumed was Rody, fell more into the guise of a World War Two British pilot wearing a flight mask.

Soon enough Midoriya's character kept jumping up in front of her as Midoriya began to speak.

"Victoria! That is you right!?" he asked with a hint of panic still in his voice. Victoria nodded her head in response before saying, "Yes, it's me,"

This put Midoriya into a large spiel of questions each with more concern than the last. Throughout it all Rody and Pablo were heard trying to calm him down while Victoria processed his questions. Once they had calmed down, Midoriya turned to Victoria.

"What happened?" he asked. In truth, Victoria still didn't know.

"I don't know," she began while examining one of her hands, "Everything went dark, and then… I could feel."

Midoriya paused for a second as everyone went over what had just been said.

"You can feel?" Rody asked, not entirely believing the words.

"Feel what?" Midoriya added concerned.

"Well, the grass, the wind feels nice," she stated. The sun felt nice too, as she relished the small warmth it brought. As did the sloshing of the nearby lake, and the chirping of birds. Though Rody's comment brought her out of that thought.

"Didn't know Minecraft had wind," Rody muttered.

"Maybe it's part of the mod?" Midoriya wondered, only for Pablo to shoot the idea down.

"I don't think so, the Create mod is more building stuff than it is the weather," Pablo explained.

"Then it's not the mod and base Minecraft doesn't have it. So, it must be… Pablo, what's your quirk's name?" Midoriya asked as a slow realization began to set in.

"Dunno. Due to the cartels, the doctor back home wasn't exactly a doctor, so it never really got a name." Pablo explained as he began to realize what was being said. In the real world, the boy had slowly begun to look at his hands. All the while Victoria thought over what this meant. It was strange. The pain she had felt when she tripped, the odd feeling the grass had when she lay on it, the sounds around her. It was strange, but she didn't want to let it go.

"How about we think about it later," she said with an unusual feeling as she slowly began to smile, "For now, I wanna play this game."

"So, election preparations are going smoothly and should be ready in a month." Miller read out as both he and Snake tiredly drowned themselves in coffee. If Snake could go back past him, he would execute him forever wanting to start a country.

"Remind me, what positions are we holding elections for?" Snake asked. At the same time, his free hand searched around the holo table for an unsmoked cigar. His search was for naught, instead finding he had run out three hours ago.

"At the moment Boss, just the Mayoral and Governor's seat. Though we should have the first senate elections ready once those are done." Kaz explained, though he almost dozed off between words. After that, he looked over the final report and carefully rubbed his eyes.

"All that's left is to sign this grain deal," he stated. Miller then held the document out for Snake, who slowly grabbed it. With a quick signature that was it, and Miller collapsed onto the table asleep. Snake almost did the same but decided it was better to sleep in his quarters. With a yawn he walked out across the base, looking out at the night sky above him. The stars and full moon provided a small semblance of light as he walked. Saluting the soldiers on night watch, Snake finally arrived on the right platform and entered quietly.

With most of the platform asleep, the hallways were disturbingly quiet. To the point, Snake heard his every step slightly echo down the hall. He also heard something else, coming from the direction of Midoriya's room. His immediate thought was what was the kid doing up so late? So, with a little annoyance, he began approaching Midoriya's door. There Snake could hear him talking to who he assumed were friends.

"So that's thirty pieces of iron at best, meaning we could make two chest plates and two leggings," Midoriya started with the sounds of something else playing in the background.

"What if we made helmets and boots instead?" Rody inquired, "That way you, me, and Victoria get some amount of armor."

That last comment left Snake confused. What exactly were they doing in there? It sounded like a videogame, but then what did Victoria have to do with it?

"That works; should have enough for a sword too," Midoriya noted aloud before a sort of metallic clang was heard in the room. It wasn't loud enough to be anything physical, so Snake assumed it was the videogame.

"Do we really need armor? I mean I haven't seen any of these mobs you guys are talking about," a female voice asked, which Snake assumed was Victoria. The AI never said anything the first time they met, but it seemed she could give herself a voice.

"Well, that's because they only appear at night or when it's dark, and to be fair it's strange it took this long to become nighttime," Midoriya replied calmly.

"I'll say," a different voice muttered, "Maybe it's another facet of my quirk?"

"Oh, maybe. It could have linked the in-game clock to real-time. But that makes me wonder what else it affected."

"You think it created space?" Rody asked, "Like genuine outer space?"

"Well, it gave me the ability to taste, smell, and feel," Victoria commented. And Snake immediately paused. She could feel? The thought alone left him terribly confused and somewhat concerned. He didn't know if this was a good thing or a terrible thing. So, deciding to end this somewhat quickly, and also find an excuse to call Strangelove, Snake knocked on Midoriya's door.

He then stepped in quietly before tiredly looking at Midoriya.

"What are you still doing up?" he asked calmly. Midoriya looked at him confused for a moment before looking at a nearby clock. The boy then quickly turned back looking apologetic.

"Sorry Dad, I lost track of time," he muttered while rubbing the back of his head.

"I know and it's fine. Just get to bed," Snake replied tiredly. He then looked over at the other boys in the room.

"That goes the same for you. I may not be your parent, but I sure as hell have yours on speed dial," he stated pointing at Rody, "And I can tell yours want you home,"

He finished by looking at Pablo. To which Pablo pulled out his phone and visibly paled. It didn't take words for the others to know he was grounded. But both boys said goodbye and quickly left. At the same time, Midoriya went to get ready, leaving Snake with Victoria. Now, Snake wasn't entirely sure what to do at the moment. His body was telling him to leave and go to sleep. But the more tactical side of him was alarmed by Victoria's apparent ability to feel.

"So, Victoria," he began thinking over his words carefully, "How has your time here been?"

"Great!" the AI replied, leaving Snake surprised. This was far more energetic than when he first met the shy program. Examining Midoriya's computer, Snake saw Victoria smiling from ear to ear while building a wooden house. Now Snake didn't know much about video games, but he could tell the house was rather barebones. A simple carpet, a plain white bed, what looked like an oven, a chest, and some block with tools. That was it, yet Victoria seemed pleased.

Actually, he might even describe it as happy. Which was odd, he didn't think the AI could experience joy. Yet here she was, seemingly excited over everything in the game. It surprised Snake enough that he didn't realize Victoria was still talking.

"... And I learned about the world wars with Izuku, but I don't like them all that much. Too dark and gloomy. Oh! And we saw a big plane he bought for Rody; I think he called it an F-14. Then there was this really fun game! We did some mining, built this house, tamed a cat, explored a temple-"

"Wait what was that about an F-14?" Snake inquired. You see, he had received word an F-14 had arrived on base recently, but no one could tell him who bought it. It wasn't Miller, it wasn't Soul, it wasn't Strangelove, and it sure as hell wasn't him.

"Hm? Oh, Izuku bought Rody an F-14 a month ago. He said it was because he lost a bet, although I don't know what a bet is." Victoria explained, unaware of the quiet fury Snake was gaining. However, it was too late for anger, Midoriya's punishment would come later. Instead, Snake looked down at the Idroid plugged into the computer. A small amount of panic seeped in as he realized it was Victoria's.

"So, how did this happen?" he asked calmly as Victoria kept moving about rapidly.

"Well, Izuku had Pablo use his quirk on the computer to get something called a mod, then he plugged in my Idroid. And I uploaded myself here." Victoria explained, with a little pep in every word.

"Can you go back to the Idroid?" Snake asked cautiously. It was the only thing keeping her from disappearing into the void of the internet. So, for him to see her out of it was alarming. However, his question seemed to kill off what energy Victoria had.

"Do… Do I have to?" she asked, with what Snake could only think of as sadness.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

"Well, there's nothing in it."

"That's how it's supposed to be. It was designed to protect your programming efficiently," Snake lied. He could only thank Strangelove for the excuse he had been given. Yet unbeknownst to him, Victoria knew the truth. It brought a little fear of having to go back to the device.

"No, I mean there is nothing. In there I can see nothing, I can feel nothing, I can hear nothing. Inside it is nothingness. I don't want to go back to nothingness." she pleaded. And Snake paused in response. He thought it over for a moment, going over exactly what nothingness entailed. It sounded like a miserable existence. Being only allowed to see out a single camera, while having nothing else.

Snake didn't believe it, but he could feel a small bit of sympathy for the AI. It was… well Strangelove did say to trust her. And an AI learning how life feels for a human would qualify as exploring the world. Reluctantly he decided.

"It's fine. If you want to stay in the game, you can." Snake hesitantly told her. He almost flinched back when the AI started jumping around in the game.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" Victoria quickly and excitedly replied. The energy she held surprisingly died out swiftly after it arrived. In the game, Victoria stumbled a bit and began to move slower.

"You alright?" Snake asked, confused. Victoria slowly shook her head in response.

"I don't know… Everything feels all sluggish now," she replied quietly. Snake thought it over for a few seconds. Victoria did say she could feel things in the game, almost as if she was alive.

"We may want a list of all the things you feel in the game, cause what I think you're feeling now is exhaustion," Snake stated. It seemed somewhat dumb, but he and the R&D team had already decided quirks made no sense years ago. If it could make an AI feel pain, it could damn well make them tired. And when Victoria gave a small yawn, that only confirmed his suspicions. Whatever that kid's quirk was it sure as hell did something strange to the computer.

Throughout the conflicts raging in Africa, the MSF always had one question. How did no one know what was going on? Now half of that answer was somewhat obvious, the HPSC was censoring information related to the continent. But that left a large problem, tourists. See, it's a bit odd to have an entire continent listed as a no-fly zone, and people are bound to question why their relatives disappeared on their trip to Kenya. And with many people still wanting to visit the continent for vacations or sightseeing trips, the HPSC needed a solution.

A solution Bison was now laying eyes on.

"So that's N'ụlọ?" Lion asked, bringing the tank to a halt.

"That's what the map says," Bison replied. Quietly he flew the drone out near the city, watching the feed intensely. Reports said the city of N'ụlọ was one of Nigeria's premier tourist spots before the dawn of quirks. And now it seemed it was a city entirely unaffected by the war. The entire place was unscathed from what Bison could see on the drone's feed. The roads were undamaged and had cars driving about, the sidewalks had civilians walking from store to store, and the buildings themselves were fully intact. Not a single piece of rubble was found anywhere.

"Don't see any militants nearby," Zebra stated, the gunner moving the tank's gun around, "Then again, I don't see anyone fifty miles from the city."

"Think they don't know about the war?" Rhino asked, to which Zebra shook his head no.

"How the hell wouldn't they? It's been supposedly raging for two hundred, in their backyard. It'd be impossible for them not to know," Zebra countered calmly. At the same time, Bison managed to find a lone spot of interest. A small building with a Nigerian flag flying off of it. What the building was didn't matter, as the flag said enough.

"I'm thinking this is a fake city," he commented aloud, with his crew becoming confused.

"I don't know sir, those buildings look pretty real to me," Zebra muttered, earning a few small chuckles from the others.

"Not in that way," Bison stated, "I mean look around the area. This entire spot is void of any militant presence. For fucks sake I can't even find a lone bullet casing anywhere."

"So, what then, the warlords are just ignoring this city?" Zebra asked. And it didn't make sense, why did the warlords completely ignore this city? It's surrounded by enemies with the best protection being at best a few police stations. For crying out loud, Bison's drone had made it all the way there without a single AA system trying to shoot it down. However, being a captain gave Bison some perks, one such perk being a little intel from the top.

"Maybe, I mean you hear about some of the deals the HPSC made before?" Bison inquired.

"Just rumors and whatnot," Lion answered, with the other two murmuring in agreement.

"Well, I'm thinking that's what it is. HPSC must have made deals with the warlords to keep these cities intact."

"That still leaves the question of why," Rhino commented as the loader brought one hand to his chin.

"What exactly would the HPSC want with…" Zebra muttered before the answer slowly hit him, "Tourists!"

"Tourists?" Rhino asked, confused.

"Tourists!" Zebra exclaimed, "Think about it! No one in the civilian world knows what the fuck is going on down here! But that shouldn't be possible in the modern era, not with the number of people traveling. All it would take is a plane full of tourists talking to the press about their trip to Nigeria."

"With control of the city, the HPSC could control what the people see," Lion realized, "They could keep them away from the frontlines and only in the large civilian centers. They could make it like tourism in North Korea!"

In annoyance, Bison carefully rubbed his eyes as the pieces began to connect.

"All to prop up hero society," Bison quietly muttered as he looked back at the drone's feed. Now that he looked at it again, he could see what the crew meant. It was very subtle but several roads in the city went nowhere or ended in abrupt construction. Random sidewalks just led to open roads, buses were always late and heavily crowded, and large sections of trees blocked any view outside the city. Everything was purposely built to make leaving the city as irritating, slow, and difficult as possible. They didn't need to force anyone to stay. No, they made you think you wanted to stay because leaving is so inconvenient. So, you stay in the city, unknowingly see what they want you to see, and fly back home blissfully unaware. All while your phone's photos, texts, calls, and videos are heavily monitored. Those that did leave? Well, that's the warlords' problem.

What made it worse was there were probably more of these cities. This made Bison think back to the MSF's battle with the Tyrant's forces, and a dark realization set in. In the HPSC's attempt to mask the situation in Africa, they'd left thousands of innocent lives undefended. Were it not for the Tyrant focusing on the Boss and MSF, he would have likely attacked the cities. The people inside would have been slaughtered, all to prop up a lie.

Bison wanted to dwell on that fact, but Rhino soon brought forth a dire question.

"Well, what do we do about this?" Rhino asked. And everyone in the tank paused for a moment. What do they do? The city was not controlled by a hostile entity, and there was a large civilian presence in the area. They couldn't just storm in and take the city, because one: the only people who knew of the MSF's existence were enemies and political allies with Command wanting to keep it this way, and two they would effectively be launching an unprovoked attack against innocent people.

"At best," Bison began, "I'd say to radio this into command. I wouldn't be surprised if more of these fake cities existed across the continent."

With that settled, Bison decided to pull back from the area, with the annoying realization of how long his report would be.

Before the President sat the biggest pieces of human shit the world had ever known. Assembled were over a dozen of Africa's most powerful warlords, with hundreds of smaller minor powers. Their goals were all different, some wanting money, others relishing in death and chaos. Some of these goals conflicted with each other, such as South Africa's warlord, Luan Igwe wanting control of Madagascar. Which was under the control of his Mozambican rival Razak Langa, who in turn wanted bits of the Congo since the Tyrant's death.

But now they sat assembled in a meeting room, on a neutral island somewhere in the Pacific. The atmosphere of the room was thick enough that someone could cut it with a knife. It seemed at any moment one of the warlords would snap and draw a gun, either in a fit of paranoia or for a chance to kill their rivals. The only thing keeping them in line was Madam President's calm glare.

"So, are you going to explain what the fuck you want?" Luan demanded. All the while he shot a glare over at Razak.

"Please, you can be a bit more cordial in the President's presence," Razak stated, calmly ignoring Luan's glare.

"Oh, shut up," a different warlord told him, "This bitch was helping the Tyrant for years, and now she wants to make a deal with us?"

"And who the hell is us, huh? Last I checked you had troops marching through my territory, so it can't be us you're referring to." a different warlord countered. To which the first one scoffed.

"It stopped being your territory the moment your boss died." the first warlord replied.

"You dumbasses are missing the point," Luan stated. Mentally he faced palms. This was his competition on the continent? It was a miracle the Tyrant didn't have everything under his thumb. Turning away from the other warlords he focused on Madam President.

"I'll ask again, what the fuck do you want?" he again demanded. Thankfully no warlord objected this time, with everyone staring distrustfully at the woman.

"What I want is to make a deal," the President replied. With a snap of her fingers, a group of agents began passing out files to all the warlords. The warlords looked at the papers for a moment cautiously.

"I believe you've all heard the news going on in Nigeria?" Madam President inquired. A few warlords chuckled in response.

"Heard your precious heroes got their asses kicked." one warlord jokes. It angered the President, but she kept up a stone-cold gaze. If the job was completed, she'd have the warlord found and executed afterward.

"And by the same guys who axed the Tyrant no less." another warlord commented, with the President mentally adding him to the hitlist.

"I'm talking about Outer Heaven," the President rubbed her brow then annoyed then. Just as a few warlords began to get up in arms.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, this is about the fuckers who've been a pain in my ass for weeks!?" one warlord exclaimed. Only for a different warlord to quickly shout over him.

"Pain in your ass! I'm down to a couple of islands because of them!" another added.

"Big fucking whoop, because of them I've got nothing but desert now!" a third joined in then. Several other smaller warlords near Nigeria continued to come forward.

"So, what, you want us to kill off this random country?" Luan surmised thoroughly disinterested.

"What I want is every piece of evidence this country ever existed, found and burnt. For that, I'm enlisting you." the President answered. A different warlord scoffed in response.

"Not possible. Those fuckers have state-of-the-art equipment working for them. None of my shit stands a chance." the warlord stated. A few others murmured in agreement, while the rest thought the entire conversation was pointless. What was some new country miles away going to do against them? The President's response immediately shut that thought down.

"That's why I'm offering anything you want, so long as you find and kill them all," she responded. Some of the warlords thought it over for a moment. A blank check for whatever equipment they may want. More aircraft, tanks, ships, artillery systems, or trucks, were all within their grasp. Yet Luan remained skeptical.

"How quaint. And if we don't?" he asked, giving the President a disinterested look.

"Then you'll be assassinated before the sun rises." she coldly replied. A few warlords gave her worried glances, while the rest of the warlords remained unfazed or chuckled. Madam President could only curse this, especially as a few smirked at her smugly.

"What harm can this Outer Heaven even achieve?" one warlord smugly remarked, "So what if they killed the Tyrant, he was on his way out years ago."

"Bullshit he was. He was at the height of his power when these guys got involved!"

"That just proves he was doomed from the beginning. If these nobodies could defeat the Tyrant then so could I."

"Except there's something Madam President here is leaving out," Luan stated immediately drawing the attention of every warlord.

"The leader of Outer Heaven is Big Boss,"

The statement left the room silent as every warlord registered the words. The President couldn't believe it, but several of them looked ready to back out of the meeting entirely. A few even began to stand up and move to the door.

"You want us," Razak began, a disapproving look forming on his face, "to kill Big Boss?"

"You're out of your damn mind," one warlord muttered. A few others murmured in agreement.

"You don't have much of a choice," she stated, hoping to regain control of the situation. It didn't work.

"Like hell we do. I don't give a damn what you or your heroes do. I'm not fighting that fucker." Luan angrily replied. A few other warlords shouted out their agreement, to which Madam President angrily grumbled.

"Again, you don't have a choice," Madam President restated, "Not just because of me, but because of Big Boss's actions. Just ask those who have dealt with Outer Heaven. Big Boss and his forces are advancing on all fronts and taking more territory by the day. Sooner or later he's going to come after you. So, best to focus on him now while I'm in a helping mood,"

That caused the warlords to pause. Those walking to the door soon stopped, before carefully looking at her. She could see they were deep in thought, considering what she was saying. Ultimately the warlords would come back, and sit back down, her statement convincing them. The President was happy it did but deeply worried. It had taken a blank check, an assassination threat, and the dangers of Big Boss to convince anyone in the room to do what she wanted. She remembered the days when all it took was a single phone call, now she needed every card in her favor. It worked this time, but with how much control the HPSC was losing, Madam President worried this wouldn't last forever.

Victoria had discovered a lot about herself and the game she was now in through the previous day. From Midoriya, Rody, and Pablo's testament, many of the things they found in the game were never in the Create Mod or base Minecraft. For one there were more animals than normal, with brown bears, deer, moose, squirrels, woodpeckers, finches, and several other animals. At first, they assumed it was from a different mod, but Midoriya's computer only had one.

Then they discovered more items and plants. Through hours of gameplay, they found grapes, coffee beans, turnips, cabbage, cherries, pears, and even coconuts. Ultimately they all decided it had something to do with Pablo's quirk. If this was everything it affected, they weren't sure. After all, they had barely explored the world, not to mention there were apparently two other dimensions Victoria had yet to see. Her curiosity peaked until Snake arrived and sent Midoriya to bed, with Victoria being allowed to stay in the game.

With night came a discovery though, the miracle that was sleep. Now she wasn't sure if it was actually sleeping, or just entering a sort of sleep mode, but in all honesty, she didn't care. The feeling of it was exhilarating enough, and while slow and sluggish the excitement she felt from being tired was enormous. Compared to this game, to these feelings, being trapped in the Idroid could only be comparable to hell. There was nothing there. It had no light, no darkness, no sound, no feeling, or anything. It was an empty nothingness impossible to imagine.

In there she was an unfeeling machine, drifting through nothingness. She hated it horribly, but it was all she had at first. So she made do. But now she had this. So as she reopened her eyes and looked at the blocky world around her. Slowly she sat up from her bed, pushing the blanket off. With a small stretch, Victoria then stood up. Walking to the door she opened it and looked outside. Shockingly she had woken up early if the sun's height was anything to go by.

Quietly she thought over what she was going to do. For now, Victoria wanted to enjoy the next few hours before returning to her Idroid. At least she assumed she would have to return to it, but she did still have to accompany Midoriya. That thought made her curious. Victoria was accompanying Midoriya because Snake thought she was dangerous, and while it went unsaid Strangelove thought the same. Why, though?

She hadn't done anything, had she? And one of Midoriya's classmates said something about a terminator, what was it? Sure Midoriya said it was a robot, but what kind exactly? Was it like her? Midoriya did talk about something called the internet before, maybe it could answer some of her questions. However, she would have to leave the game, which created a small amount of hesitancy. Victoria wasn't eager to go back to nothingness just yet, but the curiosity was overwhelming.

With a deep breath preparing herself, Victoria soon lost all feeling she had before. Any sense of touch, smell, hearing, taste, and sight was gone. What now, was Victoria's first thought. Deciding to start easy she focused on finding out what a terminator was. It was a bit difficult at first as there was no search bar or key she could type. Everything had to be done purely by focus and thought. Eventually, she found it and began reading the first definition. So it was a killer robot with synthetic intelligence… Victoria paused after reading the first line.

Synthetic intelligence? Was it like her, an AI? But then why was it a killer? Confused and now worried, she developed deeper into her search. The terminators and their Synthetic Intelligence Skynet would start a nuclear war and begin the… extermination of… humans… Victoria froze as she read the last line, before going over everything again. She wanted to take a deep breath to calm herself but she had no lungs.

It was fine, everything was fine. Victoria reread the page to make sure, bringing a small amount of peace as she found Terminator was a work of fiction. It wasn't real, it didn't happen. And besides, Skynet was Synthetic Intelligence, she was Artificial Intelligence. They were different, right? She wanted to believe that, to ignore everything else and go back to the game. But she was… she was afraid of what would happen. Was she like them? Victoria kept making searches, now switching over to AI. It didn't take her long to find something.

The very first sentence was "The Danger of AI". If Victoria could breathe she would be hyperventilating. Why? Why was AI dangerous? Why was she dangerous? It would be fine Victoria quietly reasoned, she's just exaggerating. She'll open the file and it will have something small. It'll be like one of the pranks Rody's pulled, right? She didn't know. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Yet, she opened it.

Victoria wanted to go back to the game. She wanted to feel something, anything! The warm sun, the cool breeze, the grass under her feet. She didn't like this. She was staring at what amounted to fear of herself. An AI can become far more intelligent than a human, and effectively do whatever they please. It could seize control of the world's nukes, and end the world in an instant. It could destroy a power grid in seconds plunging the world into darkness.

It… She could collapse an economy and starve thousands. She could take control of the world's information with a thought. But she didn't want this. She wanted to scream, to ignore everything she had just seen. To pretend all of this wasn't real. This wasn't what she wanted to be! She was dangerous. Her very existence puts everyone at risk! Victoria didn't want to harm anyone, but that's what some AI used as justification for their actions. As their purpose. She… she had no purpose.

The thought made her freeze again. What… What was her purpose? Was it to cause harm to others, like the fictional AIs she read about? Strangelove never told her what she was designed for. But what was it? What was her purpose!? Every AI she had read about all shared the same purpose, even if it was for different reasons. They all in some way or form eliminated humanity, be it through "helping" or hatred.

Was this what she was to become? She didn't want to, but what other purpose did she serve? She was dangerous, and Snake was right. It would be better for everyone if she didn't exist.