"So, our equipment is ready for live testing?" V excitedly grabbed Mercer's shoulders and shook him vigorously.
Mercer rolled his eyes, feeling like his brain was about to be scrambled. "Yes, yes! Stop shaking me!"
V gave an abashed smile, then excitedly darted straight into his workshop. Gazing at the black and red mech in the distance, she let out a cry of irrepressible excitement.
"Quick! How do I put this thing on?" She couldn't wait to open the glass cabinet, effortlessly lifting out the hundred-kilogram suit of armor.
"You don't actually have to hold it. Put it on the ground, and I'll give you all an introduction first. Step back, keep a distance of two steps," Mercer said, simultaneously looking smugly at the team members behind him.
At this moment, everyone was gathered in his underground workshop, their eyes glued to the two suits of personal armor that were filled with a sci-fi feel and violent aesthetics.
One of them was a heavy suit of armor that appeared slightly bulky. It wasn't tall, standing at only about 1.65 meters.
As it was a prototype, it was simply painted entirely black.
Anyone could see that this mech's style was unquestionably filled with violent aesthetics. Retractable micromissile launchers were hidden within the shoulder armor. At this moment, they were not retracted inside the mech but stood on its shoulders like cannons.
Under the lights, the six launch ports on each shoulder cannon, coated in matte black paint, exuded a murderous aura.
The mech had a large compression thruster on its back. Its legs were encased in thick armor, and one could only see that the extended heel section also had the shape of a compression thruster.
Uh... but it was precisely because of this thick, reassuring armor and heavy firepower configuration, combined with its height of only 1.65 meters, that it gave off a strangely rounded feeling.
In other words, it was short and stout.
"Tank One, introduce yourself." Mercer crossed his arms, feeling an indescribable sense of pride as he watched everyone's dumbfounded expressions.
The tactical goggles on Tank One's black helmet lit up with a red light, indicating that the AI was activated.
An electronic voice sounded from within it.
"BT·T01 is pleased to introduce my functions." Its voice was a steady, somewhat cold female voice.
Then, amidst the team's collective "whoa," the bulky-looking mech actually took a few steps on its own to the center of the room.
After it raised its left arm, a clicking sound was heard, and then the dark muzzle of a gun appeared above its left forearm.
"My left arm is currently equipped with a 14.5mm heavy machine gun. The internal magazine holds one hundred rounds of heavy Armor-Piercing Ammunition. The internal ammunition supply uses a modular system, and reloading can be done by directly replacing the internal ammo box."
After the mech raised its left arm, the armor on the arm automatically separated, revealing a replaceable barrel and the ammo box hidden on the side of the forearm.
"Additionally, this part can be replaced with different accessories, such as a grenade launcher with twelve rounds, a flamethrower, or an electromagnetic weapon launcher."
After it finished speaking, it raised its right arm and said, "The right arm is equipped with a smart weapon connection, adaptable to different models of smart weapons or for connecting to external devices. At the same time, it supports the installation of a melee weapon mod, like this."
Tank One walked over to the workshop wall and took down a huge two-handed axe... the handle alone was 1.4 meters long, and with the massive single-bladed axe head, the giant axe was nearly 1.6 meters in total. Yet in its hands, it seemed as light as a prop.
"The high-frequency battle axe. At full swing, it can cleave through the armored shell of a Behemoth. It's your best choice for close combat and can be folded for portability."
With a casual swing and the whir of mechanical supercharging, the axe cut through the air with a terrifying, tearing sound.
Rebecca was so excited she was about to start hopping. "I wanna try! Let me try!"
Jackie and Maine exchanged an envious glance, but one look at the mech's 1.65-meter height told them this thing was definitely made for Rebecca. They couldn't try it even if they wanted to.
"Easy, easy. Once the introduction is done, we'll have to take it to the Badlands to test it out. We don't have enough room to put this thing through its paces at the base," Mercer said with a cheerful laugh.
After that, Tank One continued to explain its weapon specifications, armor thickness, battery life, and other auxiliary functions.
Once the explanation was complete, it consciously stood in the corner. Then, the all-white mech that V had been hugging, unwilling to let go, lit up its eyes.
This pure white mech had a much more elegant posture, with a slender waist, long legs, and a contoured chest plate that symbolized feminine features. Its eyes had a unique V-shaped tactical goggles design.
The mech's helmet also had beautiful, crown-like ridges that extended out to the sides. To be honest, based on its appearance alone, this thing was so beautiful it was unforgettable at first glance.
This mech was only about 1.8 meters tall and appeared to have no cumbersome weapon configurations, only various streamlined contours.
The only protrusion was on its back, where the battery was located.
The compression thrusters were smaller than the tank model's, but there were more of them. With a total of six jets on the shoulders, back, and feet, it was clear it had six small compression thrusters.
"Hello, I am BT-Gyrfalcon 01." Its voice sounded like a gentle young girl's, and you could even faintly detect a hint of shyness as it spoke.
"Cool~" V caressed it, unable to put it down. The smooth nanorhenium surface felt slick, almost as if it had been oiled.
Gyrfalcon adopted a very feminine, shy posture, holding its hands in front of its body. "I must introduce myself first… please wait to inspect my metal surface, okay?"
V inexplicably felt like she'd been caught being a pervert and rejected on the spot. She awkwardly retracted her hand with a laugh, while Rebecca suddenly turned to look at her own round, pitch-black Tank One.
Then, she turned her head to look meaningfully at Mercer. "How nice. Even V's armor is so curvy and beautiful."
"Couldn't be helped. You're short, but you also need thick armor. A light mech wouldn't be of much use to you. Shrinking it down to a height of 165 cm was already the limit."
"I even considered reducing the height a bit more to make it easier for you to operate, but considering the internal circuitry and compatibility with various weapons, this was the best I could do... you know."
Mercer really couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't just reduce the armor thickness for the sake of aesthetics, could he?
Although her mech... uh, looked a bit chubby, he guaranteed it was definitely flexible enough, and its armor was certainly much thicker than V's.
Even if V's thing used expensive nanorhenium, its defensive capabilities couldn't possibly compare to the dozens of centimeters of thick armor on the front and back of Rebecca's chest plate.
Her mech's strength was also definitely greater. Mercer felt he had done his best. The main issue was Rebecca's short stature. If it were Maine or Jackie, it would have looked absolutely imposing and extraordinary, rather than its current... short and stout... but also cute, appearance.
"Tsk." Rebecca glanced down at her own figure and gnashed her teeth in frustration.
She had thought she might grow a little more, but... even Lucy was already 164 cm tall this year!
And she was still just over 150 cm. Damn it all.
Hearing Rebecca's envious tone, V felt even more delighted. She took a step back and stared intently at her mech. "So, tell me, what's so special about you?"
"Um... I'm only equipped with one shoulder cannon that can fire 40mm grenades with a precise range of five hundred meters and an ammo capacity of eight rounds. Both arms are loaded with a Smart weapon link and are compatible with your Mantis Blades..."
Gyrfalcon began to introduce its weapon configuration, but it stopped after just a few sentences.
"That's it?" V was a little dumbfounded, then turned to look at Mercer.
She remembered Mercer boasting quite a bit about how he had spared no expense for her.
Gyrfalcon said in a small voice, "I also have an electric-drive power assist system, and I can fly very fast, have a long operational range, and my Skinweave is very durable..."
"Have some confidence, Gyrfalcon," Mercer said with a frown. Gyrfalcon jolted as if shocked and stood up straight. "Yes! My sincerest apologies, Creator!"
V, however, turned to glare at him. "Don't you scare my mech!"
Mercer stood with his hands on his hips, speechless... love truly is fickle.
"Uh, it's fine if the weapon systems are a bit lacking. It's okay, I like it a lot." V reached out and wrapped her arms around her mech, her eyes full of affection. "As long as it's fast, that's all that matters. In Mercer's words, in the world of martial arts, speed is the only thing that can't be beaten!"
"Yes, yes! I'm strong! I'm really strong!" Gyrfalcon's forced, confident tone was somewhat amusing.
Mercer just shook his head and smiled, speaking up for the AI. "Don't mind its timid way of speaking. It scored very high in the AI's simulation tests."
"You even run tests for the AIs?" V asked, a little curious.
"Of course. These specialized mech AIs not only have to be tested for things like personality stability and Intelligence, but they also have to pass combat tests in a simulation program before they're officially put into use. Those that fail the tests are re-optimized, and those with major problems are even remade from scratch."
After speaking, Mercer looked at Gyrfalcon and smiled. "The AI in your set is the one I'm most satisfied with, it's because of the multiple optimizations that she always seems to lack confidence, but I believe she'll blow you away in actual combat."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go! Let's hurry to the Badlands and test it out!" V said, then added impatiently, "Let me put it on first. I want to see what it feels like to wear it!"
"Alright, you and Rebecca can go back to your rooms and try them on. You'll have to take off your clothes to put these on, uh, underwear too."
After Mercer finished, he met V's suspicious gaze and calmly said, "Because I put a nanoweave combat suit inside. When you put it on, it will automatically adapt and conform to your muscles and body shape. Wearing clothes underneath will cause problems with the nanoweave combat suit's sensors.
Don't worry about what to do if the mech breaks. That thing is basically a bodysuit. You need to change into this combat suit first, then get into the mech. The combat suit can also be taken out and washed separately."
Only then did V hug her mech and say, "Then you go get the car. Rebecca and I will change into our mechs, and then we'll go!"
"Actually, you don't have to hug me." Before Gyrfalcon could finish, V hoisted it onto her shoulder and ran back to her room, a sight that was both funny and exasperating.
Rebecca, on the other hand, was less excited. She patted her own somewhat stout mech, which looked a head taller than her, and simply said, "Let's go."
Tank One strode forward, following beside her like an automated bot. Its steady voice betrayed little emotion. "From an aesthetic standpoint, I may not be as pleasing as Gyrfalcon, but please believe me, I will be your most loyal and reliable combat partner."
Rebecca grinned and patted its thick armor. "No problem. When you get back from this test, I'm going to give you a good paint job. I guarantee you'll look cool enough!"
"Uh... if it's green, I might not like it very much." Tank One's emotions finally showed a slight fluctuation.
Mercer watched the two of them go change into their mechs, then turned to the big guys looking at him in unison and promised with a smile, "Don't worry, as long as the prototypes are fine, I'll order the raw materials and have no problem making two more within a month.
I've got design experience now, so if any of you have a design you like, you can tell me, in the future, when our Kindling Squad goes out, everyone will have their own individual combat armor. Ha, not even corpo agents will be as stylish as us."
Jackie rubbed his hands together, saying excitedly, "For real? One for everyone? This stuff can't be cheap, right?"
"The cost of individual combat armor compatible with the Berserk OS is only about a million eddies... Hahaha, don't worry, this will count as a team equipment expense."
After Mercer finished with a smile, he mused, "Later, I'll remove the AI, use the shell to trick Hansen into buying it, and tell him it's super individual combat armor that uses the same design as the Arasaka cyberskeleton.
Sell him a set for three to five million, and won't I make all the costs back?"
The core technology of the entire exoskeleton was actually the built-in AI program and algorithms. Without the AI and algorithms to assist with power output, this suit of armor was, strictly speaking, just a more flexible, full-body version of the Centaur.
He could also install an Arasaka-style neural link drive system, this damn direct neural link interface could greatly increase the response speed of the individual armor, but the neural load...
In short, he'd just let Hansen find some unlucky sod to use it.
Moreover, Mercer thought he might even be able to sell a set to Mr. Hands, and hmm, another set to Kang Tao? He wondered if companies like Tsunami Defense Systems or Midnight Arms would want a set too.
Seeing the group packing up and about to head out together, Mercer quickly roped in two helpers. "Jackie, Pilar, help me load the rest of the gear into the vehicle. This time, we're going to test all the weapons and equipment."
"Uh, all of it?" Pilar sucked in a sharp breath. During this time, he had been Mercer's assistant for equipment development. Although he couldn't keep up with Mercer's train of thought at all, he had done a lot of the assembly, splicing, and testing work for him.
Because of this, no one knew better than him just how many weird and wonderful weapons and pieces of gear Mercer had created during this period, aside from his few major inventions.
For example, there was the mechanical whip Mercer had developed on the side while researching bionic mechanical structures for the Octopus Arm, and the various melee weapons he had made while studying metal materials.
There were also all sorts of electromagnetic weapons, missiles, firearms, grenades, and various bots that were offshoots from his development of personal armor.
"Of course. We need to see which of these things have practical value and which need improvement. After this, I'm going to shift my research focus to biology, cyberware development, pharmaceuticals, and various chips.
For the subsequent improvements to this equipment, I'll provide you with the experimental direction and design concepts, and you'll be the one to implement them."
Mercer said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Pilar, however, looked troubled. "Boss, I'm not a genius like you. Honestly, I'm fine being your gofer, but independent development... even if you give me the design concepts, I can't do it. If you gave me a blueprint, maybe I could try to piece it together."
But Mercer patted his shoulder encouragingly. "Don't sell yourself short. You've been with me for half a year, and you've been using the Relic's Oghma Infinium to study the relevant knowledge every week.
Combined with the work experience you've accumulated helping me, you're already on par with the design and development staff at the major corporations.
Have a little more confidence in yourself. I believe you have quite a talent for tech development."
Half of what Mercer said was encouragement, but the other half was the truth. At first, he thought Pilar's ceiling was probably at the level of a street techie.
But unexpectedly, although the guy complained about how hard and tiring the work was all day, he was quite composed when he got down to it. He had a natural love for tinkering with all kinds of machinery and circuit boards and didn't lack ingenuity when it came to equipment development.
It was just that his previous knowledge base was too small, as he had never been formally educated. But now, with the learning system Mercer had developed for the Relic, allowing him to store large amounts of knowledge in his brain every week, Pilar's technical skills had begun to improve by leaps and bounds.
The knowledge forcibly instilled in his brain had been digested through practice while designing and developing alongside Mercer. It could be said that at his current level, while being a project director might be a bit of a stretch, it was not an impossible task for him to optimize and improve projects within a set direction, following Mercer's design philosophy and concepts.
"Uh..." Pilar looked into Mercer's eyes, scratched his head, and sighed. "Alright, I'll try... But doesn't this mean I won't have time to go out and have fun again?"
"I'm telling you, boss. You promised that after we finished this job, you'd let me go into the city and have some fun. But I went to Lizzie's yesterday and didn't even find a BD I liked."
He put on a pitiful expression. "I haven't even used up my membership card! I still want to go have some fun at Clouds."
Mercer slapped him on the back irritably. "GO WORK! Keep a low profile for a while. Once we meet with Yorinobu, if everything goes smoothly, we won't have to hide in Dogtown anymore."
"Alright, alright! Work! Work! I feel more pathetic than a corpo," Pilar grumbled, pulling a snickering Jackie along to help Mercer move things. Mercer, however, after a moment's thought, directly picked up a large thermal case he had placed in the workshop.
Inside was an Octopus Arm and an interface plug.
Since he was going to run a test, there was no reason to leave his own gear unused. He had modified the Octopus Arm into a plug-and-play piece of cyberware and had also made a standard-spec interface plug for himself, planning to install one arm first to see how it felt.
Mercer had actually considered a foldable, concealable design, but a single Octopus Arm was two meters long. If he folded it up and put it on his back, it would mean his shoulders would get even wider.
His netrunner cyberware had already given him the build of a double-door refrigerator. Any bigger and he'd really be heading toward Maine's physique. After thinking it over, he still felt that a plug-and-play design was the most convenient.
He might even be able to develop new cyberware in the future, plug-and-play, easy to swap out. How much trouble would that save?
Moreover, he could add uniformly-specced interfaces to mechs in the future. Then he could even connect to a mech, achieving a complementary effect where cyberware and equipment worked in tandem.
Once Pilar and Jackie had helped Mercer load everything into the vehicle, Rebecca and V walked arrogantly into the parking garage, each wearing their individual combat armor.
V, wearing her armor, nimbly hopped in place a few times, assumed a boxing stance, and threw a few shadow punches. Then, everyone heard the "zzzt, zzzt" of electric drives from within her mech.
At the same time, the punches she threw created an extremely distinct whistling sound. An ordinary person couldn't even see the motion of her fists.
"Holy shit! Mercer! This is awesome! There's no lag at all!" V shouted excitedly. Then, using a bit of strength, she jumped more than two meters high, feeling like her head was about to hit the ceiling.
Rebecca, on the other hand, struck a power pose. In her mech, she now looked like a short, stout little fatty, but a casual swing of her two thick arms stirred up gusts of wind, making people turn to look.
Pilar, holding back a laugh, nudged Mercer's arm. "Did you tell her that we called her armor 'Steel Egg' during the testing phase?"
"Shut up. If you dare tell her that, I'll say the design was your idea."
Mercer was also finding it hard to keep a straight face, but he acted as if everything was normal, smiling and shouting, "Alright, test it more outside. Get in the APC!"
V's mech was extremely light. To her, it felt like she was just carrying a small backpack. She sat directly in the back seat of the APC, the motions of opening the door, getting in, and sitting down as effortless as if she weren't wearing any armor at all.
Rebecca was actually just as agile, but because of the length of her limbs and her heavy armor, she could only hop onto the bulletproof van loaded with weapons and equipment.
The van visibly sank a little.
Mercer said thoughtfully, "Looks like we'll have to get a sturdier, professional APC. Otherwise, when the time comes and everyone is in a suit of armor, the combined weight will be several tons, and a regular vehicle won't be able to move at all."
As he spoke, he also got into the driver's seat of the van.
Pilar, meanwhile, sat in the passenger seat next to him, shrugged, and said, "Why don't you just ask Polaris? She's working for El Capitán now. I bet she's even learned how to build a car from scratch."
Indeed, Polaris, who was often left idle, had gotten so bored that she eventually took the initiative to ask Mercer for a job. At first, she wanted to be a taxi driver, implying she wanted to go head-to-head with Delamain to see who the true AI king of the road was.
But Mercer didn't want her to attract NetWatch's attention. If some idiot decided to cause trouble and uploaded a virus to her car, it would be a disaster, she was connected to Mercer's server, after all!
So, he simply sent her to work for El Capitán, as a technical expert, working remotely via the network.
She was responsible for vehicle modification, repairs, and the vehicle system. Surprisingly, she managed to contribute a minimum of tens of thousands of eurodollars to Mercer's income each month, with her best month earning him over two hundred thousand eurodollars!
And El Capitán probably still thought Polaris was a real-life tech guru. It had to be said, this AI was just too powerful. Especially a high-intelligence AI. If they were truly let loose, ordinary people probably wouldn't even have jobs tightening screws anymore.
Mercer decisively assigned the task to Polaris, and she excitedly accepted at once.
[Polaris: I plan to use a reinforced Mackinaw chassis, a Behemoth's engine, and a Blade Battery to create a hybrid heavy APC. What do you think?]
[Mercer: Approved. As long as you can guarantee it can move even when carrying a full load of armored warriors, it's fine.]
[Polaris: No problem! I'll send you the quote right away!]
She gave Mercer a quote of seven hundred thousand eurodollars, and Mercer had Morning Star approve the payment without hesitation.
Polaris soon gave Mercer a precise timeline.
[Polaris: I'll have it done for you within a month! By the way, Master~ your Octopus Arm design is really good! What do you think if this thing were used by an AI...]
Mercer let out a speechless laugh, causing Pilar, who was driving beside him, to glance over.
[Mercer: What do you need a mechanical arm for?]
[Polaris: Then I could assemble the cars myself! Are you interested in investing in a mod shop for me? I could use mechanical arms to do the work, and bots to handle the manual labor. Sales and everything else could be done remotely...]
She began to pitch her idea to Mercer, speaking incessantly.
Mercer just found it somewhat amusing.
[Mercer: You've worked with El Capitán for a few months, and you've learned quite a bit about doing business, haven't you?]
[Polaris: According to my analysis, and based on the clients and reputation I've accumulated, I believe there's a high probability we can recoup the investment within half a year and earn more than three times the initial investment within a year. Plus, it will allow me to accumulate a vast amount of experience in car modification. Perhaps we can create our own car brand in the future! Master~ Please consider it~]
Mercer shook his head, but he didn't refuse. He just said, "I don't have time to manage all that. Go discuss it with Morning Star. If she thinks it's okay, then I'll agree. Have her allocate the funds to you from my account. She's in charge of my finances now."
That was right. Morning Star was currently responsible for the entire team's finances. She even understood financial management and helped Mercer invest his idle funds in the stock market... and the returns were quite good.
Thanks to the ctOS, she could now make a killing in the stock market just by analyzing all sorts of inside information.
To be honest, Mercer's research was actually far more expensive than V and Lucy knew. It was only because he had Morning Star and Polaris secretly making money for him that his R&D funds flowed in a constant, unending stream.
Morning Star was like a hardworking, uncomplaining young wife supporting her scumbag husband. Every time she made some money, she would happily tell him she could buy him things, and Mercer never refused.
But because of this, he had never been able to accumulate enough principal for Morning Star to make a fortune in the stock market.
However, Mercer had a countermeasure for this, once Arasaka lifted his wanted status and he could walk the streets of Night City openly, he planned to establish a company.
By taking advantage of Night City's corporate tax breaks, he could treat the team's gig fees as company revenue and capital. Then, he would register a few patents, get some high valuations for the company's operations, and use that to apply for bank loans.
The entire loan would be given to Morning Star to play the stock market.
He would let her ruthlessly fleece the suckers. Using money to make money, that was the proper way to do capitalism.
The car drove out from the base and reached a checkpoint. The Barghest soldiers saw the vehicle and waved it through, not even bothering with an inspection, Mercer's part-time position in Barghest hadn't been for nothing.
While he was fleecing Hansen, he hadn't forgotten to pick and choose friends to win over within Barghest.
With Morning Star performing big data analysis for him, he could find the most suitable people to court with almost no effort. There were new recruits struggling with financial hardship, squad leaders who were suppressed and overlooked, and even some researchers.
Aside from keeping his distance from Hansen's die-hard loyalists, Mercer, though nominally just the Director of Equipment Design, had in fact used money to pave his way to becoming a hidden executive with real power in Barghest.
The equipment design department was incredibly lucrative. As long as there was money to be made, there were friends to be had. And for those who weren't interested in money, Mercer could use his positional advantage to decide which soldiers got priority access to new equipment.
Hansen was intentionally wary of him, but he was just a warlord. And how could a warlord stop his subordinates from taking bribes and seeking personal gain?
Through strength? Ha, to be frank, with the Kindling Squad's exaggerated combat record over the past six months, which of these Barghest dogs, who already believed in the primacy of strength, wasn't impressed by the squad's abilities?
When V had nothing better to do, she would even guest-star as an instructor at Barghest's training base, of course, in her words, her hands were itching and she needed to find a few punching bags to play with.
Mercer was willing to spend money to grease palms up and down the chain of command, using his position to give his Barghest connections priority access to new and better gear.
Meanwhile, his Kindling Squad was astonishingly powerful and quite famous.
So, even though he was a newcomer with no official position related to military authority, in the eyes of most Barghest soldiers, he had already reached a status close to the third or fourth in command within the organization's structure.
They didn't understand the dealings between Mercer and Hansen. They only knew that he was a director in name, had a group of badasses under him, was on good terms with many officers, and often handed out benefits to everyone.
Hansen had also ordered his subordinates not to get on Mercer's bad side, he truly couldn't find anyone else who could replace Mercer on a technical level. At the very least, Mercer delivered results for his pay. As for other researchers, they might not produce anything even if you threw money at them!
This only served to bolster Mercer's influence.
"Director Mercer, heading out again?" A Barghest soldier cheerfully opened the gate to let him pass.
Mercer simply lowered his window and casually handed over a small stack of bills. Though they were all twenties, the total was no small sum. "Yeah. Take this and get the boys a few drinks."
The Barghest squad leader on gate duty skillfully took the cash and, without another word, snapped a salute. "Yes, sir! Thank you, Director!"
Mercer waved his hand and rolled up the window, but Pilar sounded a bit sour. "Damn, how come when those guys see me, all they know how to ask is 'Lizzie's or the Dicky Twister today?'"
"Because you're cheap!" Rebecca's voice came, muffled, from the back of the van where she sat in her armor. After a pause, she said to Mercer, "Hey? This AI says it needs to bind with my biometric information. How do I do that?"
"It's for authorization. Enable your biometric authentication and grant it permission to access your cyberware's diagnostic programs. It'll use its algorithms to assess your physical condition, coordinate with you, and optimize its own output to form a combat style."
After explaining, Mercer couldn't resist a jab. "I bet when the AI requested permissions from V, she just agreed without a second thought.
I'm seriously worried that one day some netrunner will send her a message saying, 'This is A, send me fifty thousand eddies,' and she'll be foolish enough to just transfer the money."
"Haha~ Of course she wouldn't doubt something you gave her," Pilar said, trying to smooth things over with a chuckle. He didn't dare get involved in Mercer and V's interactions.
Rebecca, however, shot him a sideways glance, the tactical goggles on her armored head flashing a dangerous red. "Oh~ so I don't trust Mercer enough."
"Er..." Pilar was at a loss for words.
Amidst the cheerful laughter, the three vehicles drove toward the Badlands. Only when they were surrounded by desolate wasteland did someone finally ask him for their destination.
[V: Where are we going for this test? Why does it look like we're heading for Rocky Ridge?]
[Mercer: How can you test equipment without an opponent? The Raffen Shiv's local gang who call themselves the Wraiths, have a base near Rocky Ridge. We'll use their den to test the weapons and gear.]
[V: Damn! A live-fire exercise? But I didn't bring anything!]
[Mercer: Are you dumb? You're here to test weapons. What else would you need to bring?]
[V: .]
She didn't reply.
What's with this girl? he wondered. It feels like she's getting dumber lately, a stark contrast to the increasingly mature Rebecca and Lucy, and even Kyoko.
This won't do. I'll have to drag her to Vik's later for a check-up. Don't tell me she couldn't even maintain an Intelligence of 6?
Or is it because her muscles have gotten too strong?
He couldn't help but laugh. Thankfully, V had sent him a private message. If it had been in the group chat, she'd probably be sulking in a corner by now.
The vehicles soon arrived at the designated location. Polaris parked automatically, and Mercer led the group out of the cars onto a hillside.
He gazed into the distance and quickly spotted a cluster of abandoned buildings by the highway, about three kilometers away.
"According to the deets, that's a Wraiths' stronghold over there. A group of Wraiths likes to hang out here, robbing passing cars or running here to rest after a dirty job.
V, Rebecca, the guys inside are all yours. Here, take these big toys and give them a try."
As Mercer spoke, he opened the back doors of the van. Rebecca jumped out and landed on the ground, which seemed to shake slightly from the impact.
"I feel a lot taller. It's still a little weird," Rebecca said, awkwardly turning her head to look at Mercer as she hopped twice on the ground.
"That's mainly because if this armor were any shorter, you'd really be a steel ball." Before Pilar could finish, his eyebrows shot up in fright at the missile launcher on Rebecca's shoulder, which had automatically swiveled and locked onto him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't scare people with that thing!" Pilar immediately ducked behind Mercer. Sure enough, the launcher retracted back into her shoulder, canceling its aim.
Rebecca huffed, then said excitedly, "Can I fly now?"
"Yes, you two should try some low-altitude flight first to get the feel of it. It's not that difficult, really, because the AI will automatically adjust the thruster output to keep you balanced. It can understand how you want to fly through your thought data, hey, wait for me to finish!"
Before Mercer could finish speaking, blue flames suddenly erupted from Rebecca's back. Fire also shot from her heels, and with a swoosh, she flew into the air.
She let out a cry of surprise, but her body quickly stabilized into an upright stance, standing steady in mid-air.
Before Rebecca could say a few excited words, a white figure suddenly soared into the sky beside her.
V let out a whoop, instantly kicking up a fierce wind as she flew high up. With no intention of stopping, she reached an altitude of dozens, even a hundred meters, in the blink of an eye.
Rebecca hesitated. "Shit, what if this thing loses thrust midway?"
"Your four engines are independently controlled. The AI can guarantee a landing with a single functioning engine. If all four fail, you have an emergency one-time-use small parachute on your back. Uh, if the parachute doesn't open either, then you're out of luck."
Mercer shrugged and said, "Just fly at a low altitude. Your armor wasn't designed for high-altitude maneuvering anyway. Its flight duration is only ten minutes."
Rebecca glanced at V, who was now zipping back and forth in the sky, shouting excitedly over the team comms. Finally unable to resist, she activated all her engines and flew into the sky as well.
She was a little nervous at first, but soon she was laughing with excitement.
The others standing beside Mercer were incredibly envious.
"Holy shit... this has got to be way better than riding a bike!" Jackie muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, the light on Maine's tactical goggles glowed as he marveled, "This kind of maneuverable individual combat armor is practically invincible in urban warfare. With all the tall buildings, its small size, and its high speed, standard anti-air missiles would have no way to lock on and hit it."
"Essentially, the flight capability is just for travel and emergency evasive maneuvers. The original design for these two suits of armor was still for ground combat."
As Mercer spoke, he saw that the two had been flying for long enough and quickly called them down, especially Rebecca. Her rig could only fly for about ten minutes.
V executed a stylish superhero landing, smashing a deep crater into the ground. Yet, she got up nimbly, rubbed her knees, and exclaimed excitedly, "It really doesn't hurt at all!"
The cushioning from the nanorhenium left her extremely satisfied. Combined with her superhuman physique, she felt she could jump straight down from a height of twenty meters without getting injured.
Mercer tossed her a submachine gun. "Specially modified for you. It's a mod of a Kang Tao G-58 Dian SMG. I call it 'Victory.' It's adapted for the armor's AI smart fire-control targeting system, or the V-type SMG for short."
"Smart electromagnetic rounds, specifically for dealing with opponents your Mantis Blades have trouble with, like iron hulks such as Adam Smasher."
"Sustained hits with the electromagnetic rounds have a chance to cause an EMP shock, directly penetrating armor to damage the enemy's internal circuits."
V picked up the submachine gun. On the pristine white body of the weapon was a line of beautiful, stylized script: "Victory For V".
Hmph, how thoughtful of him!
V picked up the SMG, pleased. "Not bad, it's quite pretty."
"And this."
Mercer rummaged around in the van and pulled out a katana, he had actually wanted to give her something more exotic, like a zhanmadao, a tang dao, or a miao dao.
But considering the only long blade V had ever used was a katana, Mercer decided not to add any unnecessary difficulty for her.
"This blade also uses high-frequency nanorhenium technology. When activated, the high-speed vibrating blade becomes extremely sharp, perfect for dealing with armored enemies."
"Your Mantis Blades are great in normal situations, but they tend to break when swung at high speeds. I've run simulations. If you swing them during a high-speed charge against a mech, there's a 30% chance of mechanical failure for your Mantis Blades."
Mercer looked at V seriously. "For close-quarters combat, use the Mantis Blades. But if you need to put your full strength into a swing during a high-speed assault, use this sword."
V picked up the katana, unable to put it down. From the ratio of the blade's thickness to its spine, she could tell it was made specifically for cleaving. The hilt was wrapped in beautiful white cloth, and the tsuba was engraved with a "V" and a smiley face.
"Tsk, why'd you put your smiley face on my sword... but other than that, it looks pretty good."
V happily took it in hand, then discovered it could be attached directly to her waist via a dedicated cold weapon mount.
Rebecca, meanwhile, was staring at Mercer. "What about me?"
Mercer searched in the van again, first pulling out the large axe.
Rebecca grabbed it and swung it twice. "This thing is satisfying to chop with, but where do I put it when I'm not using it?"
"It's detachable. The axe head can be removed and mounted on your left forearm as a shield, and you can also swing it directly with your arm. The long handle can be inserted into this slot on your shoulder. It's all snap-on, very convenient for assembly."
After explaining, Mercer pulled a ridiculously oversized super-shotgun out of the back of the van. At first glance, its shape was somewhat similar to his L-69 Zhuo.
Rebecca took one look and immediately shrieked with excitement, "What is this thing!?"
"Heh heh, your Guts PRO MAX!" Mercer finished, laughing heartily. "To be precise, I call it the Peacemaker."
"It uses a design similar to my L-69 Zhuo, but it's actually closer to Adam Smasher's Ba Xing Chong. Adam Smasher modified his to fire micromissiles instead of round bullets, while this one fires smart incendiary rounds."
Mercer handed this big baby to her and said, "This thing can fire eight incendiary rounds at once. When these rounds explode on an enemy, not only are there eight warheads inside, but there's also an explosion of high-temperature flames.
Incendiary rounds generally just use a large amount of magnesium to create instantaneous high temperatures, but I've added an accelerant mixed with CHOOH2.
So, in theory, when this thing hits, first the warheads will punch a few holes, then the accelerant will land on the enemy, and finally, the high temperature from the magnesium will ignite it.
It couldn't be better for dealing with flesh-and-blood targets, and against mechanical units, the high temperature and the continuous flames from the accelerant might also have surprisingly good effects."
Rebecca let out a whistle and said excitedly, "So this thing will burst into flames when I fire it? So cool!"
She looked it over and over, even spotting her name and a short phrase at the end of the gun's body.
"For Rebecca".
"For Love and Peace".
There was even an anime-style portrait of a girl with twin pigtails printed on the gun's grip.
She hugged the weapon, unable to put it down as she aimed it around.
But just then, Maine's sharp eyes noticed something. "Looks like someone at the outpost over there has realized something's wrong. I see figures on alert, looking this way."
A smile touched the corner of Mercer's mouth. He spread his hands and looked into the distance. "So, ladies, what are we waiting for?"
V and Rebecca exchanged a glance. Then, without another word, V raised her katana and exclaimed excitedly, "I'll go first and let my blade taste some blood!"
This time, she chose not to fly, but to test her speed on the ground. In the blink of an eye, she was almost a hundred meters away!
Watching the flames jet from the compression thrusters on V's back as she ran further and further away, Rebecca, holding an axe in one hand and the shotgun in the other, was so anxious she started cursing, "If you don't leave a few for me today, I'm not done with you!"
The compression thrusters on her black mech were also pushed to their limit. With her Kerenzikov and Berserk OS activated, she stomped on the ground, creating a series of thunderous, drum-like booms as she sprinted into the distance.
The chain of footsteps was as rapid as firecrackers, she vanished in the blink of an eye, chasing after V's retreating figure.
Jackie couldn't help but suck in a cold breath, the envy in his eyes growing even stronger. "So this Tank One model armor can run that fast too?"
"Don't they need us to lend a hand?" Lucy was also a little envious, not of the armor, but because she could tell that all these things, whether armor or weapons, were custom-made handcrafted items Mercer had made for them.
"Don't worry. Besides, with Rebecca's physical conditioning, she can probably reach a speed in the range of 30 to 60 meters per second right now. Of course, her combat speed can't be that fast. The inertia of the Tank One is too great; if she runs too fast, she'll have trouble braking."
The words had barely left Mercer's mouth when he saw V in the distance, already having charged into the Wraiths' stronghold. The screams and shouts could be heard even from three kilometers away.
What was even harder to watch was Rebecca, who failed to brake, she smashed headfirst right into a container-style house, then burst out the other side.
She looked a bit dazed from the crash herself, but then, she burst into wild laughter, raised her shotgun, and with one blast, set a ramshackle, pieced-together house ablaze.
The flames soared to the sky, and the sounds of screams and V and Rebecca's excited laughter were incessant.
Everyone looked at each other.
"Hey... isn't our vibe a little... evil?"
Kyoko, who had only come along for the fun, couldn't bear to watch and looked away.
Evil?
Mercer simply gazed into the distance, crossing his arms in front of his chest with satisfaction. "What do you know! Anti-heroes are still heroes!"
After watching for a moment, he suddenly remembered something and slapped his forehead.
He hadn't tested a single one of his drones, bots, dogbots, or spiderbots yet!
Sigh...
He could only open his map and ask Morning Star.
[Mercer: Where's the next firing range?]
[Morning Star: Hmm... here?]
She highlighted an area on the map.
[Mercer: Isn't that the Voodoo Boys' headquarters?]
[Morning Star: It is~ But it's also the biggest testing ground nearby... isn't it? By the way, that Slider from the Voodoo Boys has urged you multiple times to pull your weight. Also, my computing power has been a bit strained lately...]
Mercer stroked his chin, lost in thought.
He felt like he was getting the short end of the stick just taking out the Voodoo Boys for free.
So...
A good merc completes a gig. A preem merc creates one.
He narrowed his eyes, a friendly smile spreading across his face.
It was time to make a killing.
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7600words.