Chapter 119: Shieldmaiden
Summary: Working on making their Big Stompy Robot dreams come to life...
Warning! Chapters 118 and 119 were posted together! Make sure you don't miss 118!
Chapter 119: Shieldmaiden
Melissa Shield stared half-blankly at the wall that was still labeled 'Big Stompy Robots.' It had taken her some time to shed her responsibilities and recruit a team willing to relocate to Japan. Mostly, it was a team of younger engineers that, like her, had been born on I-island and sort of hated being couped up there. Many such individuals had started singing very different tunes when the world started going to hell outside the island, but not all of them had.
Which meant that she'd still been able to form up a solid core of fifteen Aegis Inc engineers, and bring them to the joint High-Security lab where they would work alongside almost twice that number of their Yaoyorozu Group counterparts. The lab in question had started life as the place the HSN was born, before Aegis really existed. Since then, it had slowly developed into a joint venture which had seen use developing such things as the UA teleport scramblers, a simplified Siphon design, and the RADS arrays. The facility was, for all intents and purposes, on par with or better than the R labs they had on I-island. Though, previously, it had been mostly used by Momo and Izumi with only supporting personnel present instead of additional designers.
It was also, notably, quite a bit larger than their I-island facility.
Partially, that was because it contained a considerably larger amount of honest-to-God production capacity. Limited in scope and efficiency somewhat, yes. But this location was able to truly forge, refine, print out, assemble, or otherwise manufacture from raw materials some serious hardware. All of which meant that the facility had some pretty large industrial bays and warehouse space. Of the sort it was hard to acquire on the very space-limited I-island.
That capacity, however, was only half of the explanation. The facility had also been rapidly expanded since the Invasion, with fiat government approval to knock down some other industrial space for rapid expansion. And, just as importantly, to turn the facility into a bit of a fortress. It was now an entire complex, rather than a single building, and contained living space for the people that worked there. Not to mention it also now had a permanent JSDF mechanized infantry battalion on guard duty. Complete with some air support in the form of helicopters and a pair of VTOL gunships.
Given just what sort of miracles had come out of the place, the protection priority it had been assigned by the Japanese Government and JSDF alike was understandable. What was considerably less understandable and had nothing at all to do with the facility, was the headache inducing notes made by Izumi and Momo on the wall of their private safehouse-cum-workshop. Massaging her forehead, Melissa aimed a flat stare at the duo, who were at least looking a bit sheepish. 2B didn't look sheepish at all where she hovered nearby. But then, Melissa suspected she probably hadn't had anything to do with the bizarre two-story tall sketch and its labeling scheme.
"Really? 'Big Stompy Robots,' 'Zappy Rifle,' and 'Boom Cannon?' Just what were you two tripping on when you wrote this?"
Momo cleared her throat, cheeks a bit red despite her best efforts, as she answered.
"Mostly energy drinks, mental fatigue, and a near 72-hour inventing binge? Honestly, I'm not even sure what Izumi wrote it with. Which is part of why we haven't removed it. Whatever the marker I apparently created is made out of, it has some novel properties we'd like to reproduce at some point when we have more time…"
Melissa groaned. She could admit, privately in her own mind and certainly not out loud, that she'd probably named a few projects something equally ridiculous during similar sleep-deprived inventing-binges. Leave it to these two to accidentally invent a form of permeant marker with 'novel properties' in the process, though. She was not touching that part right now. The 'Big Stompy Robots,' that apparently mounted Pulse Lasers and some sort of unholy Autocannon-Gauss rifle hybrid, were enough to be getting on with for the moment.
"I assume you have a more suitable name by now?"
Izumi nodded rapidly, looking a bit like a bobblehead for a moment, before firing up the projector next to the ridiculously labeled section of wall. A far more refined version of the 'Big Stompy Robot,' along with a smaller power armor, appeared from the holo-projection.
"Mech Armor for the larger model, Battle Armor for the lighter model. You'll note that the Battle Armor is somewhat cruder in apparent design. That, however, is because it's intended to use the absolute minimum of electronics. It's designed to be deployed in Rift Bubbles, or through Gates. With a heuristic mode and some bulky shielding we're still working on that we hope can protect the minimal electronics from the EM disruption that fries anything complex. Worst case, if we can't get that working, we make the computer module small enough to be carried across by the rare Quirks that can bypass the issue. Then plugged into the armors on the other side of a Gate. That second solution, of course, won't work for Bubbles, where the disruption is more constantly active."
Melissa nodded, skimming the brief outlines they had so far describing that portion of the idea. They seriously weren't kidding when they said the electronics were 'minimal.' Almost everything about the Battle Armor was built on the idea of purely mechanical assistance. The entire thing was built around a 'chassis,' a frame which looked like it was intended to be powered by a crude QE battery. It made use of some utterly bullshit math she could barely follow to provide non-electrical energy for movement amplification. Effectively the equivalent of a moderately powerful Strength Quirk woven into a skeletal frame. A frame which could then take modular amor pieces.
What little the Battle Armor had in the way of electronics was dedicated to basics like targeting assistance, sensors, and a simple mapping ability. From what she was seeing, assuming they could make the entirely-theoretical system work, whoever was wearing it could technically use it without the electronics package at all. How effectively they could manage its loadout without at least something like a status panel would be in question. But technically it would be able to move and fight for short periods without the electronics working.
Her eyes shifted to the Mech Armor after noting there were still an unfortunate but expected number of question marks regarding the Battle Armor. Not even Izumi and Momo had been able to completely solve all its issues so quickly. They'd focused on cracking the core problems, not on a completed design. The Mech Armor was the same in a sense, very incomplete, but it was also far more traditional hardware. Perhaps forty or fifty percent of it could be made from adapting existing systems, which it looked like 2B had slotted in notes for. 2B wasn't nearly as innovative as Izumi or Momo were, but she was extremely good at adapting existing systems. More an engineer than an inventor.
Which…fair.
She'd been a combat android, not a tech. She was honestly doing amazingly well to have adapted as far as she had over the years. Her contributions were also critically important to a rapid development cycle, as she could program and crunch numbers faster than even Izumi. The benefits of having been born as a stupidly advanced android, instead of just slowly transforming into one via a Quirk.
"The Mech Armor? You're thinking it's the solution to retaking Africa, aren't you? Or at least part of the solution."
There was no attempt to pair back the electronics in that design. It was squished full of advanced targeting systems, and those weapons sure as hell couldn't be managed properly without some serious computational power. On the flip side, the focus of the weapons was on minimizing the need for complex logistics. Even the Gauss Rifle fired simplistic metal spikes that could be loaded into a hopper by the hundreds. Make the design robust enough and it could operate in the field for prolonged periods with minimal maintenance or resupply needed.
"That's the initial idea, yes. Along with assaulting Greater Gates and being a solid boost to defensive positions when and where needed. Eventually, we hope to find a way to get electrical systems through the Gates and into Rift Bubbles too, of course. But the design will have more than enough to keep it busy on our side before we need to figure out how to deploy it on the enemy homeworld."
Melissa nodded. Come to that, if they were actually ever in a position to seriously hold territory on the enemy's own world, they could just manufacture the electronics there. Passing through the dimensional barrier royally fucked up anything with even the most heavily shielded electronics. But when Momo had made comm systems on the other side, during the Bristol Gate event, they'd worked just fine. Setting up manufacturing in enemy territory was a seriously long-term thought, though. For now, Izumi was right to say there would be more than enough to keep the Mech Armors busy on the Earth-side of things.
"Well, they are certainly one hell of a major departure from anything we've ever really made before. But the basic principles look…doable. Though you realize, of course, that I'm never going to stop making jokes about the two of you living up to the stereotype of Japanese teenagers deciding that Giant Robots were the solution to their problems."
Momo's groan at that was music to Melissa's ears. If they were going to get her involved with something as ridiculous as 'Big Stompy Robots,' she was going to tease them mercilessly in revenge. Even if she did, privately, have to admit that the idea of the things was pretty awesome…
... ...
"Right! I'm sure you two remember Nikolai, right?"
Melissa, getting two nods from Izumi and Momo as they waved at the Russian-descent engineer who handled Aegis's fabrication and prototyping. Another graduate of I-island academy like Melissa herself, the twenty-five-year-old Nikolai Bunin wasn't quite the same variety of genius that I-island flaunted having at every chance it got. That, however, didn't mean he wasn't brilliant. It was just that, instead of being a scientist or inventor, Nikolai was someone who could make fabrication machinery sing. Also possibly dance, knit you a sweater, and recite poetry. All at the same time. He was, quite possibly, the single most valuable person she'd managed to snag out from under others on the island, idiots who hadn't realized how important he could be. Now, he ran their entire fabrication department with a flare and skill Melissa knew she'd never come remotely close to.
"Next to him are the identical menaces known as Hera and Hana Aziz. Hera has the purple hair, Hana the pink. Watch out, they switch the colors randomly just to fuck with people."
The duo, who looked absolutely identical save for the hair colors, waved with mischievous smiles. The pair were honestly hard to put an ethnicity too, beyond looking distinctly some flavor of Asian. Not that it particularly mattered, doubly so in an era where someone was as likely to be randomly born with pink skin and horns as they were more traditionally colored skin.
"Despite their many, many faults. Hera is a genius with electrical systems and Hana is similarly good on the mechanical side. Frankly, since they work almost utterly seamlessly together, I'd highly recommend you tap them for the Giant Robot project."
Hera and Hana froze at the mention of Giant Robots, looking like they were stuck between disbelief and glee. Melissa moved on before they could ask the questions that were rather obviously now on their mind.
"Bradley Bart, better known as BB to everyone, is to Hana's left. Extremely talented with materials science. He's proposed some interesting alloys you might want to look into, Momo."
BB was the first heteromorph of the group, some sort of deer or goat influence it looked like. He waved affably, drawing attention to the fact he had only three fingers and a thumb on each hand. In addition to hooves in place of shoes, he would have been the most unusual looking…if not for the final member of the group.
"Last, but not least, hiding back there behind everyone is Elizabeth. I specifically bribed Elizabeth into leaving I-island with promises of the Land of Manga and Anime, because she's a diabolical genius at making things that go boom."
Elizabeth, properly revealed by others shuffling out of the way, shrunk in on herself a bit in a sign of obvious shyness. She blushed an interesting purple at Melissa's introduction of her and waved weakly. Another heteromorph, her features were far more unusual than simple animal features. Instead, she had glossy and moist looking blue skin. From the way her body sort of jiggled and shivered when she shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, she had to be at least partly a liquid-form. A goo or slime morph or some sort, though one with a much greater degree of human definition than was typical for that sort of Quirk.
Izumi forced herself not to stare at the way said Quirk had the girl's rather ponderous chest move interestingly. Instead, she focused on waving back, noting that the girl must be even more of an introvert than she herself was, from the way she shrunk back behind the older Nikolai the moment she could. Well, at least she seemed comfortable with the other members of the team, so it was probably just dealing with unfamiliar people that was causing her to hide. Izumi could totally sympathize with that! Thankfully, she had Momo to handle the peopleing. Which is precisely what her amazing girlfriend did a moment later.
"We're happy to meet all of you! We've met Nikolai before, of course, but Mel has had nothing but good to say about the rest of you! Now, who wants to help us build a giant Battle Mech to drive our enemies before us and hear the lamentations of their women?!"
Izumi blinked at that choice of description, only to realize that Momo had once against somehow read a room perfectly as Hera and Hana cheered, BB grinned, and even Elizabeth smiled. Only Nikolai shook his head in exasperation. Then again, he was used to Mel, who could be a bit extra all on her own at times. So she was sure he'd survive. Seriously though, Melissa. Who builds rocket powered pogo sticks? She was really going to have to remind Mel of that particular disaster if she kept teasing them about the Giant Robot thing…
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A/N 1: For reference, since I didn't want too much crossover with the mechs and such in Displaced Hero, the designs they are going to be working on are based on the Fallout and Battletech universes. The Battle Armor and Mech Armors they discuss briefly in Chapter 119 are based on the Fallout T-45 and Battletech/Mech Warrior Atlas, respectively. Both are closer to the MHA tech base than some of what I used for the Displaced Hero designs.
A/N 2: Yep, you're probably already expecting this bit. Once per release, I remind people that there is Early Access content available On My Page. Note that NONE of my fanfiction works are paywalled permanently. If you don't feel like supporting me, that's just fine, it will end up here eventually :-). If you DO feel like supporting me, currently chapters 120-125 are available over on , adding another 16,000ish words to the fic! As well as similar amount of early access content for my other fics. All for just a single dollar a month! I'm not trying to be super greedy here, just trying to support the writing time I need to maintain several ongoing fics ;-).