On exit they were met with a large fence, and tanks, infantry, and mortars behind it. Bradley approached the fence, “Hello! We are survivors. Can you help us!” The startled guards jumped, and aimed their weapons at the group, “Stay in there until we get an okay!” A high ranking soldier screamed from across the field. Bradley nodded towards HM, “Hello sirs, I am the Head Manager of the USDC branch that was stationed here, my name is ~~~~~~ and these soldiers and citizens are under my command. Most of the survivors are children, please let us out of these dangerous woods, a big green monster already tried attacking!”
Bradley gave HM a thumbs-up, ‘Apparently he’s not entirely useless.’ The soldiers sent out a call, and after nodding yelled out, “What is your position passcode, it will be replaced with a new one after!” HM screamed out, “19743702!” The man repeated what he said into the phone and nodded, “They’re cleared! Separate the civilians and those under USDC!” The gate was opened, and the citizens they were protecting were funneled to the left, and Bradley, his soldiers, and the puppet boss and his group were funneled to the right.
The soldier barking orders approached, “Nice to meet you sir, and what bravery, saving so many undeserving fallen, as well as so many soldiers.” HM sighed, “A lot of these brave men and women were survivors from other companies that didn’t survive. USDC brought them on, trained them, and we owe a lot to these brave survivors.” The soldier nodded, “We’ll call over some vehicles to take you over to the closest USDC branch and help you guys get everything sorted.”
HM scoffed a little, “You think we can’t even drive ourselves over to another branch? Commander Bradley, you may.” Bradley tossed out metal chunks after metal chunks, repeatedly over and over, until he felt exhausted. He gripped a spell crystal, and chanted, “Blueprint: Armored Vehicle x 40!” In front of the group row after row of transport vehicles appeared before them, shocking everyone, including some of the members of the Squads.
Bradley breathed heavily, “Everything is ready sir!” Bradley absorbed another crystal to stabilize himself. ‘Holy shit, that is way too much to flex.’ Bradley calmly took a deep breath. HM glances at Bradley, “All personnel fill in the backs, Squadron leaders or those with experience driving sit up front!” Bradley glances at HM, “Come on sir.” Bradley motioned to the front seat of the closest vehicle.
The military official nodded, “Impressive skills, he must be an engineer right? Anyways, we will send two military escorts to ensure everything goes smoothly. Please confirm sir.” HM nods, “Thank you for your hard work soldier!”
With that the convoy began, only going smoothly because of HM and his connections. HM slumped back in the seat as Devin drove and Bradley sat cross legged in the center, “Damn, that was stressful. I can’t believe they were gonna leave us trapped in Ogre infested woods if it wasn’t for my connections.” Bradley laughed, “Of course they were, we’re fallen, evil criminals thrown out by society. Even with most of them being children, it doesn’t matter.”
HM sighed, “Well you managed to get 800 of them out at least. That’s impressive.” Bradley looked over at HM, “If you had more pull right now we could’ve saved more, but we can try to purchase them later. Something about them serving their countries under USDC. Taking control of the small population to train, and make squads out of, while also ensuring the kids are fine.”
HM nodded, “As long as I make money, all is good. Hell, we might even get government subsidies if we take control over those Fallen. That’s a good plan.” Bradley smiled, “Of course, it is my plan after all. Head Manager, I appreciate all your cooperation so far. Glad I didn’t have to go with plan B.” HM gives Bradley a curious look, “What was plan B?” Bradley laughed, “Murdering the entire military to prove our strength.”
Devin spoke up, “That wasn’t actually our plan B right Bradley?” Bradley laughed off the accusation, “Of course not, that was plan D. No worries. Plan B involved that Ogre I incapacitated. We’d show our power by having someone kill it in a single blow. Maybe use it as an excuse to blow the fence.” Devin exhaled, “So what’s our next step Bradley?”
“We need to garner some monetary and political power through Mr. Head Manager right here, and we need to figure out what all else is going on and what we’ve missed.” HM looks over to Bradley, “You know I have a name right?” Bradley snorted, “Well yes, I am aware people have names, just don’t wanna know yours.” HM sighed, “As long as I make good money. USDC normally takes massive cuts of profit, so if I can become head of a new venture I’d get most of the money. Worst case is I just use my connections and start up a brand new business.”
The drive took four hours to make it to the regional office in Pittsburgh, one not connected to a Fallen City. They arrived at the checkpoint to the shock of the regional manager. He was expecting a convoy of military vehicles, but not USDC and other Corporation Vehicles. He gladly had us waved in into the massive side parking lot. The military left to return to their station out at the Detroit Defense Line.
Bradley ordered his crew to stay positioned in their vehicles and to follow the orders of the USDC office, and to not make it obvious many of them were Fallen. Him, HM, Devin, and Kathy were to enter the building, both as a strong force, but also as people who understood USDC well. They were led into the building, up the elevator, and into the regional manager’s office.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Regional Manager Ralph Gentry sat at his desk with a cigar in his mouth, “Take a seat, you must have had a rough time.” He gestured for the four chairs prepared for them. “I saw you managed to bring out a large amount of equipment, that’s something no other group has managed. Tell me how you did it.” HM nodded towards Bradley, “I’m an engineer class. I’m able to quickly deconstruct and construct anything that I’ve done before. In preparation for some missions I had already done that for the main vehicles so I was able to bring them with me.”
Mr. Gentry nodded and took another puff of his cigar, “Alright. I recognize Ms. Rochester here, but who are the other two?” “Devin on my left was a manager in charge of gun-runners and gun repairs. And Bradley here was an engineer in the vehicle bay who was the first one to figure out that we weren’t on Earth anymore.” Mr. Gentry exhaled, “How’d you know? We need to set up preparations for important areas for their success.”
Bradley nodded, “When it happened I was watching the stars, there was a giant meteor shower, and all the constellations disappeared. Once I figured it out the notification was sent out about the tutorial mission and I was informed of how to open my status window.” Mr. Gentry nodded, “Good, that’s similar to the first returners’ story.” HM questioned, “You’ve mentioned preparations and first returners now. What all has happened?”
“Detroit was the first to disappear. Big cities, chunks of ocean, large swathes of infrastructure, all swapped out for forests, mountains, rivers, and the people all replaced with monsters. The first returners came back two weeks after they had left. It was a small town where an execution was to take place. The returnees were a few hundred, some citizens, the executioner, and the one on death row. Every day more and more land and water is replaced, people go missing, and another defensive line needs to be set up.”
Mr. Gentry blew a smoke ring, “The most important thing we know is that Status doesn’t work for those who were never transported.” HM looked at Bradley, “Do you have any information on that?”
Bradley nodded, “It might be because of how little mana is in the world right now. If you put someone in a danger zone, or use a spell crystal on them then they might be able to call status. I noticed it when I left the forest. My mana recovery dropped immensely, and me using my status window slowly drained my mana.”
Mr. Gentry nodded, “Sounds plausible. Good work engineer,” Gentry looked at HM, “Since you’ve lost your branch, yet still exceeded expectations I’d like to gift you with something.” HM shook his hand, “I couldn’t possibly sir, if anything I didn’t do well enough. If you were to give me anything, what I need is information on what happens with my Units.” Mr. Gentry laughed, “You were always a sly one. Since you’re under the jurisdiction of the USDC we can keep the government from getting their hands on you. A few other businesses have already started investing in returners.”
HM nodded, “Good, one last question, how valuable are resources from monsters? We have weapons made entirely of monster corpses that are far more effective than magically enhanced rifles.” Gentry thought for a moment, “Did you say magically enhanced rifles? And weapons made of the little green guys are better than that?” HM turned it over to Bradley, “Withdraw 7!” A goblin sword was set onto the desk, “This sword is made of the lowest class monster in our tutorial, yet is able to damage the highest tier monster and easily dispatch the lowest only using a level 1 or 2 classless.”
Mr. Gentry looked at the sword, “It looks disgusting, but the craftsmanship is amazing, how many of these weapons can your crew make per day?” Bradley smiled, “I produced 14,000 in a single night. My supplies are a little low now, but if given enough mana and supply I can mass-produce as many of these as I want. Each one costs about 3/4 of a goblin corpse. Two Orc blades can be made per Orc corpse, and I can get five Ogre Blades from a single Ogre.”
Mr. Gentry ran his finger along the blade, cutting it easily. “Damn, I didn’t even add pressure. This stuff seems good. What do you want ~~~~~.” HM smiled, “I want to start the returner’s branch of the USDC. We handle production of equipment and training of fledgeling returners. We’d also do testing on the process of awakening those who didn’t get into a tutorial. I already have a loyal squad of 1000 returners that are already at level 7 or higher, a means of manufacturing magical and physical weaponry, and enough experience to easily train plenty more. I’m sure the government is frustrated that a guy with a stick can kill a goblin better than an anti-tank gun.”
“You really are sly. What do you need to start it, and what’s the cut? It’ll be under my regional branch, so I want a cut of 40% profits.” HM laughed, “No, why would it be under your jurisdiction, that makes no sense. Just because I used to work for you doesn’t mean the leverage is the same. This was just where I had to report first. I’ll be informing Corporate of my plans. Have a good day sir.” HM stood up only to be faced with a gun, and Mr. Gentry grew angry, “Sit the fuck back down Mr. ~~~” Bradley nodded towards Kathy and Devin.
They took a few shots as they stood up, quickly disarmed the guards and set the guns on the ground emptied out. HM turned towards Mr. Gentry, “Sorry sir, but that old trick isn’t going to work anymore. Bullets don’t even work on cowards like me anymore, let alone two of the best soldiers in my squad.”
HM quickly called up corporate, informing them of his return, of his situation with the regional manager, and his deal. He was slowly passed up the chain of command until he was on the phone with the CEO of the company, “So you have products and services that can shake up the entire global market?”
“Yes sir, and I have over a thousand of well trained soldiers to take on government contracts, whether it be attempting to awaken them, training any returnees, and providing enhancements to military hardware to allow for it to be effective again.”
The CEO laughed, “Alright, full permission. Corporate wants a cut of 25% of the profit and in return we can supply you with a new headquarters, and manage contact with the US government.”
HM relayed the offer to Bradley who nodded in agreement. HM laughed, “You run a hard bargain sir, that’s a deal I can’t refuse.” “Ohh last thing, if you get that awakening stuff working on normal citizens, make sure to accept Corporate requests for awakening, as well as recruit more members if the budget can handle the cost.” HM agreed and the call ended.