Merlot's Island Pt. 2

Grimm roamed around the outskirts of the island. Despite being an isolated island, Merlot has developed a habit of acquiring grimm from the mainland.

Various machines had been improved and devised by Merlot as a means to capture grimm. It was historically challenging to keep grimm in one place.

Professors such as Peter Port had some desire to capture grimm to study it but the aggressiveness and self-destructiveness would lead to the grimm dying in captivity.

Such was not a problem for Merlot, after years of being obsessed with what he called the future of Remnant, he dedicated his time to capturing grimm better than the rest of the world.

Masses of grimm roamed the inner sections of the island. Hanns was aiming at them with HE ready to fire. Neo was nearby and covering her ears while they prepared to fire.

The shot was quick and easy, one explosion and the grimm were destroyed in a single moment.

Hanns navigated further, he had gone away from the shore and towards the middle of the map. There in the distance was a wall that surrounded an area.

He got closer and soon he was looking at a metal gate that protected the facility inside.

'So this is it. It's a bit smaller than I expected. Though that's probably because I'm a tank so my perspective is higher.'

Hanns looked at his partner right beside him. Neo returned the gaze and smiled, thinking it was Hanns making sure she was ready. Not knowing that Hanns was in fact comparing her to the wall to see how tall it actually was.

A voice came from somewhere in the wall itself.

"Hello visitors, I apologize for any static that may come from my end. The signal isn't usually good when you're this far from civilization but I do hope you enjoy your stay here on this island."

He laughed and chuckled while Neo and Hanns looked at the wall that was coming to life. Gears shifted inside and a multitude of metal interacting with metal could be heard.

Multi-barreled turrets aimed at Neo and Hanns. Neo was concerned but kept it to herself while Hanns didn't even have a change in emotion.

The barrels started spinning rapidly while Neo, now alerted tried to use her semblance. Telepathic communication resounded in her head just as she was going to use her illusions.

"Don't, just hide behind me."

Neo looked at Hanns and back at the wall before nodding in understanding. She quickly dashed towards the tank as the turrets on the wall started pouring out bullets toward Hanns.

Merlot was in his room looking at the sparks and dust being thrown in the air from the number of bullets hitting all around Hanns. He stroked his mustache while he contemplated.

"An impressive machine, not one I have seen before. Interesting." He chuckled to himself.

The dust settled and the completely fine Hanns stood without budging. Bullets impacted and did nothing to the thick steel surrounding Hanns.

'Going to take a lot more than peashooters.'

Hanns took aim at a part of the wall while loading DI-APCBC. He took aim and shot a single round towards the left side of the upper part of the wall.

The dust reacts inside and pushes itself outwards, and the wall and its surrounding turrets get destroyed. The destruction ripped pieces out of the metal gate and sent shards of heated metal all over the area.

Some of it bounces off Hanns but he didn't mind the hits.

More gunfire was aimed toward the bunker of death. The turret's shots did barely any damage as it runs out of rounds.

The spinning of the turrets finally stop while Hanns aimed his barrel directly at the other part of the gate still standing.

The hinges that connected the wall to the gate finally get broken open. The entire gate falls backward as the sound of steel crashing down reached Neo who peeked from behind Hanns and saw the destruction.

"Neo, get in for now. I have a feeling that Merlot isn't going to stop at just turrets."

Neo obliges and climbs up to the commander's hatch. Hanns let her inside and she seated herself right in the gunner's position. She could still look in the front by using the vision port.

Cannons activate from the nearby edges of the facility itself, Hanns moves slowly while he returned fire on the stationary defense turrets. They were upgraded but it still didn't have any major effect on Hanns' armor.

A few minutes went by and Hanns had finally gone through dozens of turrets scattered around just the entrance.

'What kind of thing is Merlot expecting to fight off with this amount of defenses?'

Hanns found it odd that these many defenses were created on an isolated island. Grimm were outside but those were put in by Merlot. If he was expecting intruders it would make sense but even then it was excessive.

Hanns made drove inside the complex, a massive tower was in the middle while many buildings were scattered around. Each was made with a purpose in mind. Hanns didn't know which was for what purpose but he was there to find out.

He looked at the barrier surrounding the middle tower, it was far but then again it wouldn't take long for him to drive there. It was made of light, Hanns was surprised.

'Hard-light dust is supposed to be rare but someone like Merlot has a lot of them?'

Another peculiar thing caught Hanns' eye attention. It was the absurd amount of pipes going around the entire span of the area. It ran through different buildings but it all gathered towards a single zone.

'I wonder if this thing is what made up the mutants?'

Hanns had an idea come to him

'Can I sell these for GE? I can just give them as samples to someone if they're worthless.'

A logo of Merlot Industries was present on one building. It looked like it was active at the time which Hanns found suspicious.

'People still work here?'

Hanns then remembered the old location in Mountain Glenn.

'Ah, so that was the purpose of the numbers there. It was how they informed their employees the location.'

'Merlot must've not expected that power still worked somehow in that lab.'

Hanns approached the building, reading the nearby signs it confirmed his thoughts on this being the building where research was conducted.

As soon as he approached the vicinity, peculiar-looking robots activated and deployed from the ground. The metal flooring hid the new-looking robots that Hanns didn't recognize in the show.

'Well, that's definitely not Atlesian.'

Multiple copies of robots were in front. A red variant with a glaive and blue outlines and another with a minigun and white plating.

'They look nice compared to the ones Atlas was making.'

The red variants try to slash at Hanns. Their metal weapons ringed out as they tried striking at Hanns. They moved towards the other sides of the Tiger II (P) but did nothing.

'I really wish I could just disable these things. I want to sell them in the market.'

Hanns' access to the market made him look into taking things he could sell to the multiverse market. It was an opportunity to gain more GE so Hanns was looking at every way he could gain GE.

Robotic parts would eventually help him in the future. He was planning to let Ruby be with him for an entire weekend to just brainstorm more weaponry for the already powerful Hanns.

"Neo, can you hack these things to not attack or something?"

Neo wagged his gun side to side. It was a far-fetched idea but who knows, Neo might have the skills considering she was supposed to be the infiltrator and assassin type.

"Yeah, I guess it was worth it to ask."

Hanns looked at the robots still trying to gun him down and slash at him to no avail.

'I'm sorry my precious robotic parts and GE.'

A single HE round exited his barrel and towards the ground, he could resist the shrapnel being sent but the robots didn't stand a chance. There were a few that survived but one quick running over did the job to crush it.

'I need to find a way to disable these things.'

Hanns focused back on the research facility which was now on high alert as they heard the commotion right outside. Hanns prepared his tracks and got ready to accelerate.

The scientists inside were nervous. Gunfire and security systems issuing a warning of an intruder made them wary. Merlot's orders prevented them from going out since their research was going to be left behind if they did so.

A researcher clutched his hands. A gun in his coat pressed down to his chest, reminding him of his dedication to the cause Merlot shared with the entire research team.

The wall bursts through, a massive metal construct met the wall and created a massive opening. No one in the room even dared to pull out weapons on Hanns.

Hanns crept up the destroyed remains of the wall and let himself down on the ground and the turret spun around the room, scanning for something.

'Looks like this is the place.'

"Neo, take the vials and containers of anything that looks interesting. I trust you can handle yourself so I won't fire inside here. I don't want to hurt you by accident."

Neo followed Hanns' orders and opened the hatch. The scientists looked on as a small young girl with a parasol exited and casually walked among the metal debris and made her way towards their work.

She looked at their workplaces and grabbed a few vials filled with the green ooze that made up the serum of Merlot. The same serum is used to mutate different types of grimm.

Seeing that a young girl was of no significant threat, the researcher from before reached inside his coat pocket as Neo walked past him with her back turned away from him.

He took a chance and felt the handle of the gun and gripped it with a nervous hand. He slowly let it out of his coat and began to aim. The other scientist follows his example by slowly letting out their pistols.

Hanns looked at them as they did so, the scientists believing that the Hanns was only being controlled by Neo instead of being sentient.

'That's a big mistake.' Hanns thought.

The researcher pulls the trigger and a bang sounded as the bullet hit the back of Neo's head. He felt relieved but the sound of glass breaking and his throat feeling a strange sensation.

He touched his throat and pulled it away to see red, a lot of red. It had pooled up in his hands and dripped to the floor. The other scientists look in horror as they tried to look for the one that killed the researcher.

His throat was slit and his body felt fragile, he crumpled to the floor clutching his throat and died quickly. Neo smiled from behind another researcher, relishing the feeling of seeing a man die by her own hands.

Neo gave them all a chance and she was thankful that they didn't take it. She thrusts her hidden blade behind the researcher she was behind while using his dead body as a meat shield.

Absorbing the small calibers that the scientists carried while they tried to track down Neo.

A researcher searches for her and spots Neo to his left side, he pulls up his gun and shoots. The illusion broke and he sees the betrayed-looking eyes of his co-worker.

The researcher had just shot one of his friends.

Before he could regret shooting him though, a blade slashed across his chest and he looked downwards to a grinning Neo that was starting to giggle as she killed. Her mismatched eyes switched constantly as she started to move at other targets.

They all tried to eliminate her by shooting but they could only stand and wait for their eventual deaths as Neo slaughtered the entire room full of researchers.

Her clothes were now stained in blood as the blade she carried dripped crimson liquid. She flicked her weapon to the side and the blood came off easily. She looked at her clothes and pouted.

She was going to have to clean another pair.

Hanns sighed at the deaths. "Did you really have to kill them all, Neo?"

Neo opened her parasol and shrugged, she took the vials and other interesting objects and tossed it inside Hanns. His inventory activated and it disappeared into his slots.

Hanns would check it later but now he had to look at his partner who was visibly happier.

"I guess since they became combatants the moment they used their guns then they shouldn't be civilians right?"

Neo nodded and skipped over to the bodies to check if there was anything else. Hanns noticed the coats had ID"s attached to them, thinking it was going to be useful eventually Hanns instructed Neo.

"Neo find an ID, preferably one that was from a high-ranked scientist if possible.'

Neo nodded in return and found a suitable body to take it from, she snatched it from the bloody lab coat and attached it to her hip. It was already dirty so she didn't mind the blood seeping into her clothes anymore.

'Now that that's over, I'm guessing that things related to controlling the robots are in the most protected section which would be that thing over there.' Hanns looked to the gigantic tower located in the middle.

"Let's go, Neo. We have to thank Merlot for his courteous welcome to his guests."