Chapter #10

After Psycho delivered them to the evacuation point, Zeno and Sarah were quickly taken to the USS Constitution deployed near the island via VTOL.

Before separating Zeno gave a final gift to the Raptor Team in the form of a system update.

|The NanoJammer Program has been installed.

Developer Note: It should be effective against Korean Nanosuits, also it may just work against the Ceph if the frequency matches, good luck.|

'Bastard ain't half bad...' Psycho thought as he looked through the program.

Zeno on the other hand was currently handing out his papers about his presence in Lingshan island.

He did go through some convoluted ways to get here but nothing illegal, he had nothing to hide other than his modified rifle but that was still with Nomad.

The Raptor Team wouldn't sell him out to the army after all he did for them.

Prophet may report him to Hargreave but Zeno is already prepared to face the old man Hargreave.

'Wait I didn't joke about the rifle when the those two came!' Zeno was sad.

______

After exiting the VTOL, Sarah was taken by her CIA buddies. They were all glaring at him for some reason.

'Did she snitch on me while I was talking with the soldiers?' Zeno wondered but ultimately didn't care.

He had a feeling he won't be seeing her again and he didn't mind it. What he did with her was a split moment decision.

There's no evidence of him doing anything illegal. If they ask about how he killed all those KPA soldiers he can just bullshit his way out.

Zeno has gone through the battlefront numerous times to check for potential evidences, he is safe.

Once Sarah was taken away. Zeno was escorted to Admiral Morrison to give him a briefing about the aliens.

Admiral Morrison was an old man, he never liked taking chances and Zeno could provide him with vital information.

Zeno wasn't shy with the information he held, after all it is an extinction level threat.

The Admiral was ready to listen but he never expected to hear such things.

"So, you're telling me these aliens are treating our planet as their garden and they see humanity as overgrown weed?" Admiral sat down and took a shaky sip from his coffee.

On the interactive display were several documents translated from Ceph Language that Zeno took from the first Scout he had killed.

"How much of this information can we trust?" Admiral asked, he seemed to be in denial.

"Well, Ceph operates on a hive mind, which makes it easier to get information as long as you know what you're doing.

While I took this from a dead scout, it is still fresh intel. You can enlist language experts to check my translator if you want." Zeno shrugged.

His job was done, now all he needs to do is get Nomad's environmental data and jump the ship.

He can bargain with Hargreave to get back to CryNet and get the blueprints for the N2 Suit during the next three years.

Over the years Zeno had scrapped any hopes of getting his hands on the real thing since he is paranoid about Hargreave.

Who knows what that old man put in the suits he makes, sure there was no such thing in the game but this isn't a game.

Zeno himself can hack into the suits of the Raptor Team and remote control them, let alone Hargreave or Rasch who came up with them.

'I can build my own as long as I end up in a modern setting world.' He thought.

"Thank you for your expertise Dr. Zeno. Follow my men, they will be escorting you to your room." The Admiral dismissed Zeno before he started to re-read the documents.

"This way sir." Soldier nodded towards Zeno before moving.

_______

Arriving at his room, Zeno was surprised to find a crate, there was also a military communication device on it.

Just as he entered the room, it started ringing. Sighing Zeno picked up the call, he already had a feeling who was calling.

"Hello boss." Zeno called out jovially.

"Your vacation is terminated." Hargreaves' voice answered him on the other side.

"You know I am not exactly an employee." Zeno replied.

"Let's cut to the chase, I have sent some equipment in that crate. Use it to secure yourself and come back alive... Take care." Hargreave hung up, his voice sounded emotional to Zeno's ears.

'What has gotten into him I wonder.' Zeno was curious but he was happy that he got support from Hargreave instead of getting yelled at.

'Man, sometimes Hargreave acts like a father. It's creeping me out.' Zeno thought before a notion wormed into his head.

He looked back on their afternoon tea sessions where Hargreave would ask about his days at the orphanage.

There was even a time he invited him to play baseball before he realized his body wouldn't allow him.

'No way right? System?'

[Well, technically you should have biological parents but I made sure that you were born as an unwanted child.] System replied unfortunately it just made things worse.

[Let's just focus on what's in the crate for now.]

'Yeah.'

_______

On Roosevelt Island, in CryNet Headquarters, Prism. Jacob Hargreave was drinking while gazing at his computer.

He never drank in the last twenty six years since he got dead drunk. That night was the time he learned of his newest illness on the long list of illnesses.

At the same time it was that night he slept with a young girl whose age he didn't even know. He didn't know why she slept with an old man but that ultimately didn't matter.

At the computer screen stood a DNA test accidentally done by the prototype scanner for the Nanosuit.

Hargreave wanted the suit to be able to analyze all kinds of data so he made sure it could make DNA scans just by looking at the sample.

The report on the screen showed a match between Zeno and him. Hargreave was convinced that the sensor was malfunctioning when he first got this.

But after following scans showed the same results he was assured.

'I have a son.' He thought to himself.

He should have been over eighty years old by then, it was truly illogical but it happened.

'Just the fact I could get it up while intoxicated is a miracle in itself, yet alone getting someone pregnant.' He wasn't mocking himself, it was just the facts.

Hargreave never planned on having a family ever since Tunguska. What he saw there drove him to prepare humanity for the Ceph threat.

Now though, he learned he had a son. The same son that found his way to his company and created the drug that saved him.

The same son that helped on the projects and made several breakthroughs.

'Just like I had dreamed.' Hargreave was proud of Zeno but he also knew he couldn't reveal his identity, CryNet cannot handle such scandal at the eve of Ceph invasion m

Now the son he just found and was so much proud of had ended up in Lingshan doing God knows what.

'You must come back alive.' Hargreave took another sip from his drink and closed the report.

Now what remained on his screen was the blueprints of the Nanosuit and the notes about the possible upgrades.

"Well, I guess it's time to go back to work."

________

Back on USS Constitution, Zeno who unpacked the crate was looking at the contents of it in wonder.

The supplies that Hargreave sent him was enough for Zeno to build a light armored Nanoshell with enough time, not that he would since he doesn't need protection.

Zeno, knowing about the Ceph Warrior and the possibility of the ship sinking, built himself a armor made good enough to be used as an excuse.

'Still this would let someone survive that ice dome.' Zeno thought as he put the finishing touches on the armor.

'Although the warrior might not awaken since I made sure the army won't use nukes or any high energy bombs on the sphere.' Zeno thought but he decided to be ready either way.

Then he started to assemble some upgrade kits using the rest of the materials that were leftover.

Zeno had several ideas to improve the suit just by analyzing a real life Ceph and he is eager to put them to the suits.

Zeno would rather boost the existing Nanosuits and have them fight for him instead.

Just as he was doing the finishing touches on the kits a soldier knocked on the door.

"Sir! Sergeant Sykes and Major Barnes have arrived. They requested to meet you at the armory, also it appears that Major's suit has been malfunctioning." Soldier spoke.

"Alright, I'll be at the armory in a second, also could you get someone to carry these to the armory. They're upgrade kits for the Nanosuits." Zeno nodded and gestured to the kits while getting out of the room.

'Time for the final act. I should get myself a Gauss Rifle too, those guns are awesome.' Zeno thought as he made his way downstairs to the armory.