BoW: Salvage Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Raiden's Mei eyes snapped open as she jumped out of the bed.

"OH NO!!! I forgot to set the alarm clock!" She exclaimed with panic as she looked at the clock on the wall.

"..."

"..."

"..."

For a few seconds, she looked at the clock with confusion.

"Why is it ticking backward!?"

She then saw a notification on the terminal on the wall.

The oldest of the trio walked over and checked it out.

[Don't worry, I got you covered. Get your rest.

M.G.]

Mei closed her eyes for a second and giggled, remembering something.

"I guess Kiana was right… We don't need to worry about oversleeping. However, we should not abuse this."

She said to herself as she doesn't want to abuse Marcus' goodwill.

Though she did go back to her bed. Her eyes went to the clock. As she watched it…ticking backward… It is a strange experience seeing one doing that.

However, she did figure out how this is working.

Raiden Mei had around 2 hours. Which is enough to get a short nap and get a short shower? Or maybe a bath? It's quite luxurious and she can't remember when she did anything like that.

It was quite common before her Herrscher Powers awakened but that was some time ago.

~~~

Marcus walked to the Catapult Pad. A single computer terminal was right on the wall. He pressed a button and the screen came to life.

He saw a single option on this console. Which said [Launch]. Seeing this he pressed a button on this option.

[Select destination.]

[Gundam Seed: Battle of Alaska]

[Gundam 00: Celestial Being Last Stand]

[Guilty Crown: Rise of a King]

'Well…so, this is how it works.'

The teen stroked his chin as he was wondering which one he should take.

Gundam 00 choice while interesting is not something he will pick. Even if the Gundams were lowered to three. His GINN is useless against machines that have perpetual motion energy.

The Guilty Crown verse is a possibility but there are not that many options for him. He needs better computer tech but it's not a priority.

This leaves the Battle of Alaska. A wide-scale battle is good for things to disappear. No one will pay attention if a few GINNs just disappeared.

"Hoh…wait… Before Freedom descends, Gundam Duel is on the battlefield." He said that barely hidden glee. He might be able to get one of the Gundams from the very beginning!

For a second he grinned from ear to ear. His gaze went to the simulation console.

Time to get good at piloting mecha. By any means necessary, time is not an issue for him.

He can simply do this to the point that he is…good.

As he turned around and was about to walk to the simulation pod, but then he saw Bronya walking toward him.

"Marcus. Goldman. You said that Bronya is your assistant. Bronya wants to start her work." The Silver-haired girl said with a serious tone.

"Oh? Can you tell me why such an urge?"

"...Shouldn't you already know?" She asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"If you think that you know every nook and cranny about you or the other two then you are mistaken. I am just like you, I am cautious. I am stupidly cautious, I made my A.I. capable of turning off by mere voice command including a fall safe switch which is easily accessible even when I know that my A.I. has less than 0.00001% going rogue.

I even installed an anti-Herrscher measure in case any of you go rogue as well which is even less than my A.I. Is going rogue. As you can see I am very cautious. Now ask yourself Bronya, why do you and your two teammates have this much freedom when I am this paranoid?" He gave her quite a long speech followed by an interesting question which made her think.

"...You know enough not to consider us as a possible threat… Bronya's point still stands that you know a lot."

"Indeed. I do know enough, but not everything. I can't read your mind."

"...True…Bronya will consider trusting you to some extent if you reveal how much you know about our World. Subject Kiana told Bronya that you know things from a 3rd perspective of our world. I believe that much. Your time powers could give you such a perspective."

"Hmm? Do you want that? I suppose I can tell you a few things. First, Honkai Will erases humanity in a cycle-like fashion for many circles now."

This single sentence made Bronya's eyes bulge. She showed more emotions than ever before in front of him.

"Think logically, when the earliest recorded text is found in your world?"

For a second she thought deeply…

"Mesopotamia, approximately 6 thousand years."

"Ah yes, guess what… nearly 50 thousand years there was a much more advanced civilization than your current one. It's a civilization that created those fancy weapons called Divine Keys. I am sure Mei can tell you more, as she has been studying Honkai in special archives."

"..."

"..."

"..."

This was not what she expected, Bronya was expecting some sort of Honkai qualities she had never heard before. But what she got was much darker than she had ever expected.

"Do you want more info?"

The silver-haired girl swiftly shook her head.

This was enough for her.

"Good. You can take your time to process what I said. I still have a few things to do before breakfast." Marcus mentioned breakfast with some enthusiasm. He was simply living with a great cook now. He has nothing against his mother's food but Mei takes her food making it almost like art. Like a swordsman takes his swordsmanship kind of thing.

"...Why are you helping us get stronger?"

This time he chuckled, why are they all asking the same thing?

"...I did say that you three are my starting gift." Bronya for a second frowned when she heard that. She is still trying to understand what this means. She was into games and not light novels so she has no actual idea what he means by that.

"I see that you are confused. Think about them in this way. You three ARE extensions of my power."

For a second she nodded but then she realised one thing…

"...You think that we will be with you for a very long time?"

Bronya asked with baffled shock. Before continuing to talk, as it started to make some sense to her, more like she figured out the angle.

"Longer than a regular human lifespan. And even more, depending on our luck. Even if we find access to your original world I will crush everyone in our path before taking you three back with me."

For a second she felt like the entire reality descended on her. At that moment she felt a little bit of fear. And that is something Bronya feels very rarely.

This was his power? How powerful is he? To make one feel fear just from him speaking to her.

"...Why will it take that long for us to return to our world?" She asked him after fighting back that fear.

"Because the Multiverse is infinite. And even then I made sure we went to technologically advanced ones. Making the number fall to a large amount. But even then we will visit a multitude of versions of your Honkai world, do you understand?

It doesn't mean that those worlds are even yours. Finding that one specific in countless numeral ones IS very hard. However, the question is…would you even go knowing that you can gain more power with me than in your Honkai world? You may be a Herrscher but the Will of Honkai only sends more and more powerful Herrschers. In the last era of humanity, the last Herrscher had the power to corrupt technology, the main force behind humanity's means to fight back."

This made her stop for a bit and think.

"...Can I see…the means to travel?"

He shrugged at her before turning towards the console on the wall.

"This one is connected to the catapult pad which will launch the Mobile suit into the universe. You can see that wall at the end of the launch corridor. It becomes a portal that leads back here."

As he said that Bronya walked to the console and started inspecting it.

She very quickly found out how basic this one was.

"...Bronya doesn't understand the names of these, but the general guess is that we can only visit three at one time?"

"Yes. Once I visit one we will get a new set of worlds. Rinse and repeat. As you can guess there are many worlds and we only have a choice of three which are random." He explained to her as he was remembering what he asked of the book.

"Why is it like this?"

"Because this is what I asked when I first started this. I had the option of three wishes. My first one was time, as someone who loves engineering and mechanics all I wanted was time to make it efficient. The next one was the garage, and the last one was assistance to help me run the garage.

You could say that you three were lucky to get a ride on my adventures through space and time to see things one could only hope to imagine."

Once he explained that the girl had a thoughtful look.

"...This is…absurd and hard to believe…but it makes sense now that you explained. Fine, Bronya will assist. There is no other choice." The silver-haired girl said with a deadpan sigh. Now that he explained in the way that she wanted.

She wanted to understand their appearance, and how it happened. Now he explained that he got some sort of three wishes, and they ended up part of it out of sheer absurdity.

Mei can cook, Bronya is a tech expert and Kiana is just here for the ride. Though she can see that the girl is good at fighting so that can help him as well.

A set of some sort?

'if Bronya looks at this from this perspective it makes sense…' The silver head thought about this from different angles; it only made more sense why they had been selected.

"Great. Though I will be diving soon and getting some materials. At this moment I only have my GINN with basic gear.

Once I bring some stuff we can build some computers and start developing tech in larger numbers."

For a second she nodded before looking at where the tech development and programming computer is.

"We can't use it? You already have a few computers."

"Those are 'set' they come with in the Garage. You can use them but that's about it. I am saying that you could have a laptop that you could use anywhere." Marcus explained to her as he was thinking about the current issues. As he has thoughts he needs resources and that his next destination is the best option for him.

Bronya nodded at him, she understood that these things are part of the garage. Like those video games? Where you set down things that are given by the game. Does this mean…

"If Bronya gives her Valkyrie equipment would the technology level increase in this place?" She asked curiously, figuring out how this place works.

"That's…honestly a good question."

The girl took off her gauntlets and handed them over to him.

"You can scan these. Bronya can help with their disassembly."

"...That's great. I didn't think I would get new tech before even leaving for my first trip." He said with curious amusement.

'Computers from Honkai Impact… if my guess is right, I get the first glimpse at Honkai, and hologram screens.'

"Yes. Your wishes were quite abstract…" She said with an almost accusing tone. He can feel sourness radiating from her.

Instead of saying anything he just patted her head.

For a second her eyes widened. Before a small embarrassed blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Relax, I might make you three appear here, but I am planning to help you three regardless. Just think about the opportunities you three will have."

For a second she forgot about the patting, not that she dislikes it. There are a certain amount of positives from this. Not that she allowed for it to continue as a few moments later she realised that he continued to do it! So she took a step back. Making some distance between him and her.

"Whatever you say, Marcus Goldman. Now let's go and scan the gauntlets, we could scan Subject Kiana's Battlesuit as well." Bronya said that as she realised that Kiana's suit has Hardlight holograms, though they are powered by Honkai energy. The tech is still there.

"Now that you mentioned. Good thinking Bronya." As he said that he took a step forward and patted her head again. It was quite a short one as he proceeded to walk towards the technology processing.

Though Bronya was standing rooted in her spot for a second. Before she shook her head.

'Marcus Goldman…dangerous…'

~~~

"Guys! There you are. Mei is almost done with breakfast." Kiana walked over. She had a small smile as the white-haired girl was very much refreshed after sleeping for over 10 hours. Now she was feeling like she could take on an army of Honkai Beasts.

"Cool! Time sure flies when we are having fun." Marcus said to the girl when he heard that breakfast was almost done. He didn't use any time stuff when he was with Bronya learning about Honkai verse technology.

Once you remove all the boosts given by Honkai energy it was just regular BUT advanced technology.

"Oh? What are you guys doing?" The white-haired girl asked as she walked over to their side.

"Studying technology under Bronya. Your place has quite impressive stuff."

Hearing the praise, Kiana for a second puffed, but then asked about what specifically?

"Though you guys are thinking something cool?"

"More specifically I am going to upgrade stationary stuff. Thin glass monitors. Though I am going to need your Valkyrie gear for a bit. You have your hard light projectors. This will give me a designing edge."

"Oh? Do you mean this? You can check it out, but is there a way to get it back working?" As the white-haired girl asked, she removed a small round device from her hip.

"Hmm…this is the main processor…"

As Marcus said Bronya walked behind Kiana and started to remove something from her.

"H-Hey!"

"Stay still…this is for the greater good." As the silver-haired girl said that she removed the projector from the back of the suit the white-haired Valkyrie was wearing.

She then brought it over and placed it on the scanning table. Then she pulled several cables.

"This part here—"

As Bronya was explaining Kiana was standing there with crossed arms slightly pouting, she was feeling robbed, well she is going to get this back with extra!

'I need to tell him to bring a Mech for me! I am going to paint it white and red! Some fire markings! With a big sword! A handgun? Nah…a hand cannon? Hmm…maybe ask for a railgun…

So, many choices…'

As she was thinking someone started to pull her ear…

"OWWWWWWW!!!"

"What should you be doing Kiana?" Mei asked with a 'sweet voice'.

"I-I told them!" The girl started to explain herself, as the grip on her ear was intense! It was burning pain!

"Oh, Mei, you are here. Bronya, let's go, we can return after having our breakfast."

The silver-haired girl slowly nodded at his suggestion.

"Yes. Bronya is feeling hungry."

At that moment Mei released the hold on Kiana's ear. As she saw that the pair stopped whatever they were doing and started to walk towards the kitchen.

"H-Hey! It's unfair! I get punished for this!"

Hearing that Marcus stopped in his tracks and walked over in front of the pouting girl.

He patted her head.

"What do you say about game consoles from my world?"

"!!!"

For a second Kiana was shocked by his patting but then her eyes gleamed like a cat's. When she heard gaming consoles.

"Deal! You can't forget about that!"

She said that very seriously. The girl is seriously interested in the games of his world!

"Don't worry. The console is waiting for you in the main living room."

"Wah!? Already!?"

*Sigh*

"Don't spoil her like this. You won't have a calm day if you do this." Mei said with a sigh. Though no one noticed how Bronya's eyes were gleaming just as much as Kiana's.

"Then I should not mention that I am accepting custom orders for clothes?"

"...Umm… t-that's kind of different. People need those…" Mei was fiddling with their hair. Is he doing that on purpose!?

"W-We can do that!?" Kiana asked as she was already thinking about a hoodie with cat ears! Some nice shorts…running shoes…

"Yes. Once we finish some stuff with Bronya. Like the Terminal projectors, they will pop up all over the garage."

"T-Thats kinda cool… You just need tech of some sort and then bam! Stuff just happens?" Kiana said with some impressive shock. This place is just convenient.

"In a nutshell. By the way, I know my first destination."

Marcus then started to tell them where he was going.

Honestly, he didn't expect the girls to become this depressed when he explained about the Gundam Seed world.

~~~

After Breakfast, Marcus went back with Bronya to continue with their stuff while Kiana entertained herself with his PS5. While Mei was exploring the living quarters and thinking of a schedule for how to maintain the place in good condition.

It was quite a peaceful time with how things continued. But such a thing didn't last long as the teen was thinking about launching soon.

For him, it was some time away but all the girls were a little bit worried as time flows differently for them. He will be going to a war-ravaged world where humanity has split into two.

Regular humans versus genetically enhanced humans. One lives on the surface of Earth, the others live in colonies built-in space.

Fears for one another grew to the point that nukes were thrown and then followed by total nuclear power jamming. This made nukes useless which led to traditional warfare…which didn't last long as humanoid robots were introduced.

This was the world he would be going to. Where humanity is turning genocidal on one another to the point that it could lead to Earth being inhospitable.

Though his peace didn't last long as the next day he had company.

"...You know…"

"... don't worry… I will be taking you with me once we find the means to make you an above average human in strength. Until then I will be the one who will be gathering stuff." Marcus said with a sigh. He didn't expect that the white-haired girl would start nagging him like that.

"...But…Mark…"

Also, Kiana now calls him by a nickname because they were friends now and not strangers… according to her. Giving her PS5 and pampering her with kindness helped smooth it out.

"There is not much you can do against 20-metre-tall Mechs. And in the worst case, I will lose my GINN, remember? I control time. Just because my Mech explodes doesn't mean I will die."

Now she started to pout. Seeing that made him sign, it's hard for him to deal with this. He hopes she doesn't pick up on that. The girl is simply adorable, however, at the same time she is clueless about a multitude of things.

"Listen. If this goes without issues I will get enough parts for more GINN do you understand what this means?"

"...I can get one myself!?" She exclaimed with an excited tone. Now she was glowing with happiness and started to pump herself up.

'She is true Kaslana if massive killer bots excite her like that…' He thought with amusement.

"Yes, however as you can see we are only four people, so it will take time to build one, AND I Expect you will take care of it." He said with a very serious tone which made her straighten up and give him solute, she was playing along.

'Heh…I guess all that discipline training was not in vain.'

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Now I will use the Simulator to get used to the mech. Once I am done I will prepare some simulations for you. Are we clear? When this is done you will wreak havoc on the battlefield regardless of the world."

"Sure…I am quite excited to see the difference." Kiana said that with a confident small smile.

She 'played' with Mechs before, but they were quite slow. She hopes that Mechs in other worlds are faster and more responsive.

"Good to hear, I will prepare some specific battles, I do want to see how you deal with specific threats."

His words for a second confused her. The way he spoke, he knew the world. But Bronya said that he was quite 'normal' before his wishes. Though she was thinking about what she would ask if she got three wishes of her own.

Regardless, she was curious about the source of the information.

"...Say…how do you know about the worlds…"

"Hmm… Do you want to know?"

"Yes? That should be obvious. I would have the upper hand." She said that with an eye roll.

"Sure, then think this way, all the games, movies, stories in the books you read…what if they were real?" He said with a small smirk.

She wanted to say it was bullshit but then she realised something. He mentioned a bunch of times over the past couple of days that it has an infinite number of places and infinite possibilities.

"...I see…I see…that sounds quite cheating, but just knowing… watching something… Hmmm… " The girl mumbled something to herself as she started to scheme.

"Mark! Those big Mechs! Can I get some stuff about it? Is it a game?"

"It's an anime."

"Oh…I see, pity. Where can I watch it?" He said that with a sigh. The girl was feeling pity, she kinda wanted to play with mechs. Open battles are better to understand battle patterns and stuff… as well as pick how characters in the game behave.

"Hmm, since you asked I could get a few games and anime for you." He said that while thinking… He could bring his old PS3 and those hack-and-slash games with mechs.

"Oh!? It has games!?"

"Gundam is an old franchise, it has been around for 50 years or so. It is quite huge, with multiple timelines. Each timeline has specific technology to it. Though I am interested in only two out of the whole bunch."

"Right! You said that you want that GN particle thingie."

"Yes. Well… let's get to it."

Marcus decided to get stuff for Kiana before doing his stuff. As he is quite certain she won't leave him alone now that she knows how he knows about other worlds. He could say that he doesn't know but he has Bronya around. The girl is way too smart. She would pick up on inconsistencies and he would come out as a liar. It's better just to tell stuff and be honest about this kind of stuff.

'However…I do wonder how long until they realise that there are a couple of games and manga based on their world?'

"Great! Can I come with you?" She asked with pouting eyes.

"..."

"You can't say no when a cute girl is asking like this!" She white-haired girl started to properly pout as she noticed that the casual one doesn't work.

"Fine…not that anyone is at my home." He said with a sigh.

Kiana picked on that, she wants to ask his family now.

"Oh? Say, you have a family?" She asked him curiously.

"Both parents. They are working at the time when we will exit the garage."

The girl slowly nodded before she realised that there is a world without Honkai to explore! She should ask him to take them out more often.

'Wait…wait! a moment!'

The way she worded it in her head! It sounds like a date!!!

That moment blush crept on her cheeks, what the hell is wrong with her!?

"Are you okay?"

"I-I am fine! Let's go!" The girl stuttered at first before starting to walk…somewhere.

"Umm…where are you going?"

He said with an eye roll. This made her stop, she then swiftly turned around, crossed her arms and looked away from him, and simply waited for him to show the way.

She was trying very hard not to look at him, there was a small blush on her cheeks. Which made Marcus understand that she is an adorable Tsundere.

"Follow me."

~~~

Kiana looked around at Marcus' house, she didn't expect that she would end up in his place! Now that she realises what this means her mind was all over the place! She was in a guy's house!

"Don't space around in the middle of the room, follow me." He said that while walking towards his room. The girl snapped out and followed after him swiftly. Her eyes scanned everything she could. Checking out pictures where she could, inspected some of the paintings on the walls.

After taking the stairs they were on the first floor, this was where her breathing got erratic, she was about to enter his room! She can't believe she can get this anxious about something this silly!

Worse of all Marcus doesn't even notice how she is behaving or at least he pretends to not see it.

Once inside she looked around. The girl was 80% expecting posters or half-naked girls. However what she found were cars…even more cars, and Mechs…

This made her deadpan for a second, but then again…she was weirdly relieved?

'This doesn't make sense to me at all…' Her own emotions don't make sense… fighting and pulverising things with a sword is far, far better. No thinking, just slashing away at things.

"...Why are you digging through your wardrobe?" As she was saying she saw T-Shirts and other stuff just flying out of the wardrobe.

"My old console, throwing away or selling that stuff is not something I do. So to conserve space I stashed my old stuff in a wardrobe.

Hearing that she nodded at him. Makes sense…you don't throw old games away…

Eventually, her eyes ended up on a t-shirt with an interesting sign on it.

"Stay calm…and keep on playing?" She mumbled to herself as she picked it up… It was a size or two bigger than her size but it was an interesting one…

For a second she had a thoughtful look. She then picked it up and decided to take it with her… From the looks of it, he has a ton of shirts anyway…

"There it is."

As he said that he pulled out his console with a black bag. That black rubbish bag was in truth full of games.

"Here are the games." He showed the bag's content to her.

"That's a lot of stuff…how many games does your world make!?"

She exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Hmm? Your place doesn't have many games?"

"Uhhh…we have some? But this is just nuts…" As she said that she walked over and opened the black bag herself. As she went over the titles the disbelief only increased.

"Honestly this is not much, I have more for Playstation 4." He pointed towards a specific wall.

It was a bookshelf full of blue cases of games for PS4…

"And by the way…this is still considered a little, as I don't have sports games or that many shooters. My stuff is mostly racing games, space stuff, RPGs, Mechs, Hack/Slash."

The girl stood up wobbly and walked over to the bookshelf. Her eyes were wide, she had a weird look on her face.

"...You people don't have things to do with our lives?" Kiana asked with a joking tone. The amount of games is just stupidly absurd.

"I guess… It's just how the world evolved? Because of the abundance of things, many people can do whatever they want." Marcus said with a shrug as he picked up the console and the games.

"Kiana, take the cables and the controller."

"Oh…sure…"

The girl swiftly snapped out of the daze as she walked over and collected the cables and the controller. Of course, she didn't forget the T-Shirt…

~~~

Once all that was done, Marcus even delivered the whole anime about the mechs in the form of pirated episodes on DVDs.

When he was done with all that he went to do his stuff which is training in the simulator.

While he was doing that Kiana ended up playing old-school PS3 games.

She even put on the t-shirt because she felt that it was appropriate.

But then Mei saw her as the white-haired girl in the main living room where the TV was the biggest.

"Kiana?"

"Hmm? Yeah?" The white-haired girl was playing a Gundam game while taking notes…though her notes are very basic… like 'Looks cool, slow, etc…'

"Where did you get that t-shirt? I thought Marcus said that we will get clothes later…." Mei asked with a curious tone.

That moment without any sort of thoughts she spilled the beans.

"...I took it from Marcus' room from the outside world?" She said that without much care.

"Oh…wait…a second! You've been outside world and even in his house and his Room!? You even took his t-shirt!?" Mei could not believe how super bold Kiana is!

Well, she was always like that…but…

"...What are you…" Kiana for a second was confused as she was treating him like a friend but…now the way Mei has put it…

"...Eehhh!?"

"H-Hold it! Mei! I found the t-shirt awesome so I took it! His wardrobe is full of them!" She explained with a panicky tone. Now she fully understood how ambiguous it was!

"...I see…he is a nice guy, from what I have seen he could reign you in. Something even I struggle to do."

"Gahhh! Don't talk like this!!!" The girl dropped the controller and went to silence Mei.

Though the purple-black-haired girl quite effortlessly dodged her.

"Stop it! Damn it"