[13:Guns and Ships]
(A/N: Another long chapter. I rewrote this like 3 times, which is why it took so long to release, trying to put this event together, but I thought I was trying too hard, so I just wrote what I thought would look coolest. I hope you enjoy.)
"We'll be conducting rescue training. Whether you want to use your costumes is up to you; just know that it could affect you the environment we'll be in. I'll give you some time to get ready. We'll take a bus to an off-campus facility where All Might and another hero will be waiting for us."
Why am I getting kind of excited for what's about to come? Well, for this, I'm going to use my hero uniform, not my Italian one. I haven't used it much since I could only get away with it on the first day. Since then, I've been wearing the standard girls' uniform. I went to the wall, where the compartments with our hero uniforms came out of the wall, if we wanted to use them. We had an option, but everyone would wear it.
But this time, I took my fighter pilot helmet with me. Remember? The sleek, high-tech one with the mechanical bunny ears on it, that comes from USS New Jersey? Part of her had to come in, since my appearance is mostly Enterprise, but it's whatever. The aesthetics and looks of a piece of equipment come after making sure it actually works. And these bunny ears on the helmet are very flexible and move almost naturally, like they were real and not mechanical. That's 22nd-century advanced technology for you, I guess.
The one I haven't tested properly, but will do so in this situation, in a trial by fire. It's risky, but during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ben Sliney, the National Operations Manager for the FAA, also went through a trial by fire. Why? Well, it was his first day on the job when the attacks happened. And he was decisive and effective.
That might be a…out-of-place comparison, but it's what came to mind. Not like this will be as bad as that. I mean, people joke about the attacks. And I'll be honest…some of the jokes are funny.
Anyway, time to test this out as much as I can on the bus ride.
/\\//\\//\
Enterprise outfit. Check. Helmet. Check. Everything is a go. I was on the bus ride with everyone. Of course, it was after dealing with Tenya and telling him that being strict on how to get on a bus isn't exactly something a class president does. For him, maybe, but I don't see a point in it. Who cares, it's just a small thing.
Anyway, I sat a bit far away, since I wanted to see what features this helmet had. I actually had to turn it on. I put it on and pressed a button on the side to turn it on. As soon as I did, a HUD appeared as a blue pulse extended in the surroundings in front of me. It went over objects and people in front of me. What was even cooler was that I could see the environment outside of the bus. And not just through the window, I meant through the solid parts. If I looked down, I could see the street it was riding on; if I looked at a non-window part, I could see the buildings and trees we passed.
Yeah, this is already advanced in ways I have a hard time thinking about. Normally, there would be special cameras and sensors on the outside of a fighter jet to allow this, but in this case, there's nothing. This is advanced even for this era.
{Successful start-up. Welcome, user.}
Okay, things have just taken a turn.
I have to whisper here, so I don't look crazy. "What are you, and explain your features."
{I am the artificial general intelligence in this helmet. My features cover a broad set of uses, but they cover data collection and analysis, combat assistance, recommended course of actions, communications logistics, networks, cyber warfare, and automated processes.}
No way. Artificial general intelligence? Okay, this is crazy and awesome. Gotta love AI.
"Can I customize settings, and do I have to physically talk to communicate with you?" I kept whispering.
{Yes, User. And you don't need to talk. This helmet uses a Brain-Computer Interface as part of its technology. Think of the command you want to say, and the helmet will translate those signals to give an output.}
Let's try this out.
'Address me as Eleanor. Change your voice to a masculine voice. Your new name will be Theodore.'
{Requests received, Eleanor. Theodore is at your service.}
Whoa, I said masculine, but it's a high-pitched and reedy voice. I also hear a New York accent. No, this sounds more like an upper-class New York accent. Like something from the early 20th century.
Oh, it's sounding like my...ah, never mind.
'Alright, Theodore, give me a summary of the most important things you can do in a 30 minute limit.'
{Right away.}
/\\//\\//\
"Hey, Momo, you're really smart. What is Eleanor doing?" Ochaco asked Momo.
Momo looked back and saw Eleanor with a helmet on. It was hard to gauge her emotions, since the visor covered her eyes and half her face, leaving only her mouth visible. But looking at her sitting posture, crossed legs, how she had a hand on her chin, like she was deep in thought, she was paying a lot of attention to something.
"She's thinking."
"No, I know that. I meant, why is she being super focused? Or is this something only smart people do?"
"It might be a habit of hers. You can ask her later when we arrive at the site."
"Okay. That helmet looks kind of expensive, doesn't it? That must be a support gear. I wonder how much it costs."
It was a relatively calm experience during the bus ride. Jokes, casual conversation, and repartee. Unfortunately, one minute they'd be joking, and the next, they'd get valuable real-world experience.
/\\//\\//\
"Stop talking. We're here." I heard Aizawa say.
I got up from my seat and got off the bus. Here we go. Almost there.
As soon as I got off, I summoned my bow and shot an energy arrow into the sky. I looked up through my visor and display, and it automatically zoomed in on the projectile. It traveled before it transformed into a large drone that immediately went into cloaking and stealth mode. What I just summoned is a logistics communication drone. This girl would give me the ability to communicate even if there were jamming attempts to shut down electronic communication.
It might come in useful. Who knows?
That was sarcasm.
"Eleanor, what did you do?"
"Just making sure my stuff works, Mina. Are you excited for rescue training?"
"Definitely! This could be a good day!" Mina said as he headed to the entrance of the USJ.
They're just tempting the red flags, aren't they? It's time to face the music.
When we entered, I saw all the environments. The water zone, the volcano, the burning urban environment, the rain zone, and all the others. I quickly put together the kinds of drones I could make for these situations. I know it doesn't exactly matter knowing what's going to happen, but if I remember right, we'll come back after the attack and actually do the training properly.
"Class, this is Thirteen. She's one of the teachers who will be part of the rescue training." Aizawa said as he introduced us to Thirteen.
"Thirteen! You're my favorite hero! I can't believe I'm meeting you in person!"
Fangirl much? At least Ochaco isn't on the level of Midoriya. All Might was right when he said it gets creepy at times.
While some of my classmates asked about All Might, and then later, as Thirteen started talking about the danger of quirks and how they can be used for helping people instead of relying on their inherently violent nature, I started to set things up. I summoned my carrier rigging.
'Theodore, be on the lookout for any anomalies detected by the drone. Connect to my tablet to set up a grid computing system to increase computing power as much as possible. We're going to be running a lot of drones, and we'll need to make a lot of quick decisions. Prioritize combat assistance measures.'
{Understood, Eleanor. Setting up a drone view.}
A small, live view window popped up on my HUD to the side. It was a live view of what the drone was seeing. Perfect.
Just then, I got a small ping.
{Detecting unusual activity. ETA is 3 minutes. Recommend deploying shield drones to your classmates. Recommend deploying high kinetic attack measures against enemy forces. Communications are expected to be fully available via drone.}
'Good work, Theodore.'
Alright, three minutes. How do I go about this? First of all, never ever underestimate an enemy. Second of all, always assume the worst-case scenario, which would be everyone here being killed. I will need an overwhelming force. I'll forget about Nezu's rules.
{Enemy forces are here. Unusual activity at its peak}
As soon as Theodore said that, all the lights started to go out around the USJ. A dark purple mist formed in the center of the USJ as multiple villains started to appear.
"Is this part of the training?" Eijro said.
Alright, while they're not paying attention to me. I started to summon various drones; the mag-lev-assisted ones, from my carrier rigging. I also got out my tablet, and using my legally obtained privileges to the school's network, I sent an emergency signal to Nezu and all the faculty members.
I saw Aizawa put on his goggles. "Stay back! These are real villains! Thirteen, contact the school!"
"I'm unable to! The signal is down!"
"Thirteen, there's an open network! Connect to it! There's no time to explain! Just do it!" I shouted at Thirteen, since Aizawa was going to be too busy fighting.
Thankfully, she listened to me. "There is!" I got a ping from my tablet about someone connecting to the network from the drone.
"I've got the message out! We just have to hold on for help to arrive!" Thirteen shouted.
Aizawa nodded before he went in. "Protect the students, Thirteen!"
'Deploy the shielding drones on everyone, Theodore.' At my command, the drones surrounded everyone, including Thirteen and Aizawa, and set up a transparent shield. As they did, I also summoned something from my carrier rigging. It started small, but got bigger. I don't want to reveal what it is to everyone, so I sent it somewhere hidden enough by the chaos that was happening.
My biggest problem is going to be the purple mist guy. Kurogiri? I think? Something like that? Ah, whatever. Oh, look, right on time. Kurogiri appeared from behind us, all misty and threatening to consume us. Which, granted, he will. Oh, and Thirteen will probably still almost kill herself.
I looked at the center, but he still wasn't there with the Nomu. I need Tomura here to serve as a distraction and liability.
"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. We've come here to kill All Might, but it's a pity he isn't here."
"Stay behind me!" Thirteen shouted as she got in front of us.
Look, I would tell her not to do what she's going to do, but that would show I have knowledge of his quirk. And why would a student from America know about the quirk of this villain? Too suspicious, and it would raise too many questions. Especially since after this, the police guy with the lie detector quirk will show up and question us, and I'm not going to risk anything there. I have to think of the future, even if I hate how it limits me in this specific instance.
And so, it happened. Thirteen tried to suck up Kurogiri's mist (Pause), only for Kurogiri to open up a portal behind her and reflect the attack back on her. The back of her astronaut outfit tore open, and it was a nasty sound hearing her own flesh and body being hit by the attack. The show didn't show that part.
I have to get her out of here.
"It's a shame, but we have to part ways now."
The mist enveloped us all. I would say it was weird, but after remembering what it felt like after I died in my last life, this was tame. When I appeared again, I saw I was falling towards the water.
'Water? Perfect. Theodore, bring the helicopter to my location and ready the anti-submarine warfare.' I sent the command to Theodore.
I readied myself to land. Hitting water from this height and speed isn't going to be a pleasant feeling, since water doesn't compress fast enough to absorb the energy. While I'm falling, let me give you a quick science fact: if you've been taught that liquids, water in this case, can't be compressed, you've been lied to. Liquids are technically compressible, but it requires extreme force. Liquids are only incompressible in a practical sense. Enough about that. If the math I did when I trained holds up, then I'll be fine.
Have you ever put a hypothesis to the test with your life on the line?
As soon as I hit the water, I did a roll. Better safe than sorry. I quickly got up, but when I did, I heard a small gasp. I looked around and saw a small white boat and some green hair peeking out.
"Midoriya, you okay?"
"You can walk on water?" He asked me as he looked over the railing of the boat.
"Of course I can. Why wouldn't I? Look, just wait a little bit, and we'll get out of here."
Quickly, the "helicopter" I told Theodore to bring over arrived. It's less a helicopter and more of an armored aircraft. (A/N: Aren't they all armored?) The fuselage was broad and smooth, broken only by narrow vented slits where the air shimmered, and the heat created a faint mirage haze. It had no rotors and no mast. The only sound it made was a low hum as it lowered slightly above the water's surface.
Yup, this "helicopter" was also using mag-lev assisted propulsion. It's simple, since all I need to do is scale it up from the small drones. Except this one needed a pilot, which was Theodore. I'd need to do something else with it.
{Hostiles detected underwater}
'Deploy the torpedoes.'
From a small bay, a few homing torpedoes sank into the water.
"Midoriya, hang on tight to that boat!" I shouted at him, since these things will literally shake us.
A few seconds passed before several sudden booms and columns of water shot up into the air. I had to focus on balancing myself. I looked at the boat and saw small cracks forming.
Once I was steady enough, I got into the helicopter. It started flying to Midoyia.
"Midoriya, jump! I got you!" I held out my hand as I prepared to catch him. It was very close to him, so there shouldn't be issues.
He jumped, only for half his body to be dangling from the helicopter as his hands tried to grip something on the floor of the helicopter. I grabbed his hand and lifted him on. He was very light.
"You okay?"
"Y-yeah, I am."
"Okay we're leaving, we have to help the others."
"Wait for me! I'm here!" I heard a shout from below. It was Tsu who was waving her hands in the water.
'Theodore, lower the helicopter quickly with the door facing her.'
The helicopter lowered enough for me to grab Tsu's hand, and I lifted her on. She was also light. I noticed that the shield around her had a faint yellow glow. Looks like the shield protected her from the shockwave of the torpedoes. I could instantly tell that it was hot. Heat is always a problem. Good thing she was in the water; it helped cool down the heat.
"You okay, Tsu?" I asked her.
"Yes, ribbit."
"Did you see anything, Tsu?"
"I closed my eyes when the large bang happened."
Good, good. Seeing what happened to Thirteen is enough gruesome things for them to see. They don't need to see anything more graphic. Or at least, it can't be too detailed.
I grabbed some helmets for them. "Put these on, it's mainly for ear protection." As soon as they put on the helmets, Theodore gave me an update.
{Connected to helmets. Primary action is to save Thirteen, followed by helping Aizawa. Other students are holding their own. Shield integrity of drones at acceptable levels. Assistance is on the way. ETA is five minutes.}
Plenty of time.
"Alright, you two, buckle in and sit tight."
'Theodore, head to where Thirteen is. She needs immediate medical services.'
{En route}
The helicopter quickly made its way to Thirteen. She was still lying there on the ground. I jumped off quickly and picked her up, and then I got back on the helicopter. I summoned two medical drones that would inject her with nanobots to heal her quickly.
"Midoriya, Tsu, watch over her. Make sure she doesn't move too much while those drones have the green beam on her."
They nodded. Now to deal with the rest.
'Head to the center. Take control of the M230 chain gun. We're going to help Aizawa. If you see a blue-haired person with hands all over him, focus him, but only shoot one at a time.'
{Heading towards the center of the USJ.}
'Where are the weapons platforms?'
{Behind the cockpit. They slide into place, and you can lock them in a certain position to keep them in place. There's one for each door.}
I looked, and there they were. Oh yeah, this is where it gets fun.
{Arrived at destination}
"Midoriya, Tsu, I advise you not to watch what's about to happen. Don't let that morbid curiosity get you; I don't think the satisfaction will bring you back either." With that piece of advice, I opened the door and slid the machine guns into place, and then locked them in place.
Double-mounted Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns; the Swedes have something like this. These girls are so good, I'm sure they're still used in the 22nd-century.
{Target spotted. Potential higher-threat enemy also spotted.}
The visor zoomed in, and I could see the Nomu in disgusting detail. That thing is already dead. Although it would make a good target. Finally.
'Change of plans. Focus on the big one, I'll focus on the person. Also, start assistance in drone swarm implementation.'
{Confirmed}
I summoned my carrier rigging, and I started releasing countless drones. These were suicide drones that would explode. Whether someone dies or not is up to the person getting attacked. The drones quickly got into formations as they flew out to all the zones in the USJ.
'Theodore, initiate combat-assistance mode.'
On my visor, several targets were highlighted. Not only that, but the projected trail of the bullets was also shown. This is a real-life aimbot. Hell yeah.
Let's do this.
/\\//\\//\
Aizawa was fighting off multiple villains at once. He took away the quirks of the villains sporadically and utilized his capture weapon to deliver brutal hits. Though he was holding on, his focus was on the Nomu that stood menacingly still.
Until the swarm started. The intense buzzing of so many drones caught not only his attention, but also the attention of all the villains near him. He knew this was Eleanor's doing, but he had a bad feeling about what she was going to do. Nonetheless, he had to take advantage of the distraction.
He immediately used his capture weapon and brought a villain close to him before punching him in the stomach and knocking them out. He took down three more in quick succession before they finally started to pay attention again.
"Nomu, kill him." The Nomu started moving to Aizawa with heavy, thudding steps.
Aizawa immediately shifted focus. This wasn't something that he could take on. He'd need some help.
"Aizawa, get out of the way!" Aizawa heard the shout from Eleanor and turned around, only to finally see what she was doing.
"Aizawa move! You can't fight that thing! We need to wait for All Might at the minimum, or we could end it here and now! Just move!"
Aizawa ran to Eleanor's location, away from the line of fire.
As soon as he did, the chain gun tore the air apart as it started shooting at the Nomu. Spurts of blood and flesh flew off with each hit of the 30mm ammunition from the chain gun. It was a gruesome sight, but the Nomu was being slowed down.
"Nomu, destroy that thing! Show them real power!" Tomura commanded.
Eleanor grinned. "Power?" Elanor aimed the machine gun at Tomura and unleashed a hail of bullets at him. Before Tomura or Kurogiri could react, some of the bullets tore into his arms and legs. By the time Kurogiri was able to shield him, Tomura was already in a pool of his own blood. His right arm was barely hanging on by a few strands of muscle and tissue, almost amputated by the bullets. Shattered bone was visible in his other injuries.
The Nomu kept charging at Eleanor's helicopter, following the last command given to it by Tomura. Eleanor jumped out, needing the space for what she was about to do. She landed, leaving small cracks on the ground. She looked dead on at the Nomu charging at her.
"This-" A large rail gun battery manifested next to her. Violent electric arcs and high-pitched whines sounded out as it charged up. "-Is Real Firepower!" With a sonic crack—Mach 10— a tungsten rod fired at the Nomu. In the blink of an eye, the Nomu… disappeared. The tungsten rod hit the walls of USJ, turning the part of the wall and the rod itself into plasma. It left large cracks and almost tore it down. It was barely strong enough—thanks to the Nomu dissipating the energy—to withstand the impact and explosion afterwards.
/\\//\\//\
Well damn. That Nomu got deleted. Is there even a piece of it left anywhere? Successful test. Thank gods, the wall was strong enough. And from the communications drone I set up earlier, I could see some explosions happening all over the place as the suicide drones hunted down any other villains.
Now, onto the other part.
I looked at the purple mist shielding Tomura before it quickly disappeared. Great, now he will get healed up. Dead? Not until I see it with my own two eyes or have another form of confirmation.
'Theodore, I aimed for his head. Why did the bullets not go as the projections listed on my visor?'
{Those are projections, a model.}
Ah, I see. Yeah, it makes sense now.
I can't believe I forgot that one. Models and projections. All scientific models are wrong, and they can't grasp the true reality. Damn it, I wanted to kill him here and now, and I blew it. What a failure.
I have to learn from this.
Kind of wanted to get justice for what he did to Star and Stripe. "HavInG aN IdeTity CRisIs," yeah, yeah, utter nonsense. I call absolute BS on that. Oh, and saving the world or whatever, I guess.
Speaking of that, Star and Stripes is cool. She wanted the missiles to be used to kill Tomura, even when she knew what would happen to her reputation. And she went out herself to help against All for One, even when the United Nations didn't authorize anything on it.
Some things never change. The United Nations is as useless as ever, even in this future. Yeah, let's take our time deciding if the country fighting a villain that's a global threat needs help, because we have time to spare. Absolute geniuses. They are a relic of the past and a bygone era.
So, that's over. And I finished before everyone else could arrive. That's gotta be a record.
I went back to my helicopter. Thirteen was looking better thanks to all the nanobots, but she still needs a medical professional to fully clear things.
"You two okay? Nothing bad happened to you?" I asked Midoriya and Tsu.
"Yeah, we're okay."
"You look a bit shaken up. You sure?"
"We've never seen a machine gun fired before. And you looked very calm using it." Tsu said.
"Ah, well, the recoil wasn't too strong for me. Thanks for watching over Thirteen, she'll be just fine, maybe a week at most."
"Did you…" He trailed off, but I knew what he was asking.
"Yeah, I did, Midoriya. Look, I already did what I did; arguing about it won't change the outcome. Look, no one here will get in trouble, except for me most likely, but I'd do it all over again if it means protecting people."
In the distance, I could hear constant explosions from the suicide drones before they they stopped.
{All enemies are dead or neutralized. Help has arrived.}
'Recall all drones and set the helicopter down.'
All the drones, except my helicopter, went back to my carrier rigging. It was like bats emerging from under a bridge, the way they looked. The helicopter also landed on the ground. I helped Thirteen get off, gently setting her down, while Midoriya and Tsu also got off. Only then did the helicopter return to my carrier rigging, as I unsummoned it.
"Eleanor, we'll need to have a long discussion with you after this."
"Yeah, I know, Aizawa. And as I'm sure you've heard, you already have my statement and mindset," If he knew what the alternative path would've been like, maybe he'd have a different answer.
Help did arrive, but the only person here who needed help was Thirteen, and she was already being taken care of. They didn't arrive late; I just took care of things quickly. Honestly, it didn't even feel like the expected five minutes, but situations like this make time kind of go slow.
"Oh, by the way, I don't have to pay for that, do I, Aizawa?" I pointed at the severely damaged wall.
"We'll discuss this with Nezu."
Yikes. Now this is the scariest part of today, not knowing if I have to pay for that. If I have to, I'm getting out of this country. I can pursue a hero career in the USA.