35 Not A Coincidence

Thousands of miles away from where the quarantine zone where Eric had resided for the past month, a certain person with a youthful look is now facing before a holographic image of another person within his study room.

The youth is wearing a standard issued white robe, which seemed to be quite the favorite of this person from the way it exuded his confidence and arrogance. Though, instead of making the youth look peaceful, his subconscious body movements and his arrogant-looking face simply made others feel as though the man was abnoxious and quite pretentious, like a nouveau-riche pretending to have class, which only made him look worse to the true nobles, or in this case, the elite at the other end of the holographic call.

"It seems that the operation had been a little less successful than you had hoped, my little kouhai." The person within the hologram stood from his holographic swivel chair and looked down upon the youth in disdain. "You seemed to have overestimated yourself... again." From the tone of this middle-aged man, it sounded as though he was more disappointed than angry. Though, the youth was too inexperienced and lackluster to even notice the tone in the old man's voice within the hologram.

"Shut up, Arnold!" The youth shouted, pointing at the middle-aged man across from him in anger. "You've got what you want, right? With this, Eric have failed to protect a quarantine zone for the second time. This time, he even basically handed out classified materials to our unknown enemy! Compounded by his lack of judgement for trying to safe his best friend's kid over protecting classified materials, Minerva would definitely be unsatisfied with the Brigadier's performance and exile him to some remote location, or even demote him back to a Colonel!"

"It's General Arnold, Tobias." The middle-aged man sneered, looking quite intimidating to the point where the youth almost took a step back unconsciously. "Do you really think that Minerva would really put Eric to some irrelevant area after this? You really underestimate his importance as a heroic symbol to the Federation!"

"The reason why Minerva directly promoted him to Brigadier-General was not only because of his martial prowess, but because of the ideals that he represent -- honor, glory and loyalty. With him as the face of propaganda, we will be able to brainwash and coerce teenagers to enlist for years to come. Also, although you've managed to get Eric to make mistakes. In both instances, these mistakes were done in a highly classified area, so nobody would even be know of his wrongdoings!"

"But Minerva would know!" Tobias retorted, still with a rather arrogant and angry look on his face. "An artificial intelligence would know and instantly lower the evaluation of Eric after this incident!"

"So what?" Arnold sneered. "Minerva values efficiency over everything. It is responsible for protecting the Federation as a whole. IF it were to make a move on Eric, it knows that many lower ranking soldiers would be dissatisfied with such a situation. Therefore, to prevent lowering the efficiency of the military as a result of such dissatisfaction, Minerva would at most task Eric with less prestigious jobs and wouldn't do anything else."

"Is that why you have me frame his adopted son as a traitor?" Tobias asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course." Arnold nodded. "If Daniel was proven a traitor, then Minerva would immediately censure Eric for the Federation's safety, lest the emotional attachment between the two of them cause the Brigadier to rebel as well. However, even after I've given you a hint about that kid's involvement with the meteor shower incident and the X-23 incident, you still haven't managed to catch him redhanded!"

"How would I know that the kid would have a personal mech suit on him! These mechs were classified for military use only! How could a civilian like him get one!" Tobias protested. "Besides, if you were so sure that the kid is a traitor, why not directly arrest him instead? Wouldn't hat solve all your problems?"

"Arrest him and then what?" Arnold said in a disdainful tone. "Without evidence, we wouldn't be able to do anything. Now that Daniel have turned himself into a victim, Minerva would even start and lower its suspicion towards him after this. Although...."

The general trailed off and seemed to be in deep thought, making Tobias want to interrupt and defend himself. Though, without warning, Arnold directly ended the holographic call, making Tobias widen his eyes in surprise before cursing as he gave a strong punch against the wall with his fist. "F**k! That irritable bastard! I'll get back at him next time when I get the chance!"

***

At the same time, from the home of another residence, General Arnold sat back down on his chair, staying frozen for a long while before he finally spoke towards the artificial intelligence within his brain. "Minerva, what are the chances of Daniel being an 'awakened'?"

<Calculating. Due to his vicinity to an impact sight during the celestial event and his presence of two hostile incidents related to the meteorites, there is a 68 plus or minus 5% chance that Daniel 0777 is a so-called 'awakened'.>

"What if Daniel was also the controller of the suit that looked like B*tman that attacked quarantine zone D-2 yesterday evening?"

<Recalculating. Factoring such a hypothetical scenario, the chances of Daniel being an awakened is 97 plus or minus 3%>

When the middle-aged man heard this, he gave out a rather insidious smile. "Then we just need evidence that he was indeed the mastermind behind the incident yesterday and not an innocent victim... Minerva, increase priority of finding the B*tman suit from Urgent to Top Priority."

<Acknowledged.>

"Oh and I heard that Daniel is applying to the EU Military Academy, is that correct?" Arnold asked.

"Would I be able to shorten the transfer arrangements even further if I give Daniel my personal endorsement that the kid is safe?"

"Hmm..." General Arnold furrowed his brows, looking as though he was making a difficult decision. "How long would the time shorten?"

<Calculating... based on current estimates, with General Arnold's endorsement along with General Eric's endorsement, if such conditions were factored into Daniel 0777's background check, the result of his transfer will arrive in 20 plus or minus 5 days, pending review from the EU Military Academy School Board.>

"Fine." There was a firm look on Arnold's face as he said this. "Give my endorsement to Daniel now. Oh and inform General Eric of my endorsement and have him call me afterwards."

<Acknowledged.>

After all was said and done, Arnold couldn't help but click his tongue and though to himself. "Tch! With this, Eric might be less suspicious of me, but he would be even warier from now on. I really don't know why Tobias would go and give Eric such a job! A Brigadier General had the authority to command a whole regiment of at least 1000 people, do you think he wouldn't be suspicious if he was suddenly assigned to a meagre 250 person squadron just to protect scientists? Even though this was a prestigious job, both him and I know that his expertise lies elsewhere, so even if protection duty was part of his job description, Eric would be suspicious nonetheless."

"Well, now that Tobias have epic failed his so-called 'great plan', I guess I have to activate my contingency... Minerva, give my endorsement to Jake as well."

<Acknowledged. Jake 01230123 has received General Arnold's endorsement for his application to the EU Military Academy.>

***

"Thank you for your endorsement, General Arnold. With this, there's no doubt that Daniel will be transferred to the EUMA." Eric said in a rather respectful tone.

"You're too polite, General Eric." Arnold hummed in response. "It's natural for me to do this for my comrade-in-arms. Besides, I wanted to lighten your load after what you have gone through yesterday."

Eric's facial complexion immediately darkened when he thought of how his adopted son almost got kidnapped from under his nose. Though, he managed to hide his complexion immediately and spoke, "General. I've been thinking of this for quite a while now. Is there something wrong with the meteorite fragments? Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many incidents relating to it, right? Is there something that the higher-ups are not telling me?"

To that, Arnold simply feigned a helpless smile and said, "I'm sure that our enemies were just feeling extra worried, that's all. With the discovery of an unknown substance, even if there aren't even any preliminary results yet, it wouldn't be good if they didn't get their hands on it, since everyone fears the unknown."

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