Lost Kingdom

“This message is being broadcast at the request of the Provisional Japanese Wartime government. A state of emergency has been declared across the Japanese home islands and all related territories. At three forty six PM, Japanese Standard Time, on January the twenty sixth, the People’s Republic of China declared war on the following nations: Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of South Korea, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, Malaysia, the Republic of SIngapore, the Republic of India, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Kingdom of Bhutan and the United States of America. Military action from the Chinese army was taken approximately three hours before this declaration of war, utilizing cruise missiles to target vital infrastructure across Japan. This attack caused significant damage to rail infrastructure, road infrastructure, water infrastructure, waste infrastructure, power infrastructure, radio infrastructure and cellular infrastructure. If you are currently in an area that has seen significant damage due to bombardment, you are advised to continue sheltering in place unless absolutely necessary. Undetonated munitions have been located in areas of high damage intensity and may be present in others. Levels of high risk of invasion have been assigned to the territories of Ryukyu, Kyushu, Shikoku and the Honshu prefectures of Yamaguchi, Shimane, Hiroshima, Tottori and Okayama. If you live in the above mentioned locations it is recommended that you ignore the previously mentioned warnings, and evacuate towards further east provinces within Japan. Members of the JSDF and Heroes are currently under emergency deployment to aid in the evacuation of civilians from population centers from the previously mentioned locations. All reservists of the JSDF are required to submit themselves for active duty positions. War has come to the shores of Japan once more, but the nation will prevail. This message will repeat until an updated…”

“We need help over here, we’ve got people trapped underneath the rubble!”

“I’m coming!” As soon as Midoriya heard someone call out for help, he rushed over. Using Blackwhip he lifted up a number of chunks of rubble, setting them off to the side as he kept digging through the remains of a bombed out apartment building. Once most of the rubble was clear emergency workers and Heroes began flooding in, carrying away the wounded survivors. Unfortunately for them, there were very few in this building. It had been directly hit by an explosion during the bombardment and the building had collapsed inwards onto itself, crushing to death most of the people that had been living on the lower levels. Even for people that had lived on the top floors the situation hadn’t been good, as by the time they’d finally arrived to pull them out many of the survivors had died of their wounds or asphyxiation. The only thing they could do for the dead now was pull them out of the building to be properly identified, then give them a proper burial.

The situation in Japan had become more dire than Midoriya could have ever imagined it to be. The newly formed Wartime Government had mobilized every single Hero in the country, regardless of training or legal status, and ordered them to render aid to civilian areas across the country. With the seeming lack of any specific targets during the initial bombardment it meant that a number of civilian locations had been caught in the crossfire, with Heroes now working as quickly as they could to save as many lives as possible. And with how bad the damage was here, he didn’t want to even begin to imagine how bad it was in the western part of the country where the majority of missiles had landed. At the time, the JSDF were deploying their forces to the west in order to set up defenses on the coastlines and in the cities. They were preparing for what felt like the inevitable landing of Chinese troops in the country, hoping to throw them back at the landing beaches but also preparing to fight further inland if necessary. He wasn’t sure that the fighting would stick to just the professional military though. There were already reports of civilians preparing to take up arms and engage in partisan warfare, and that even some Heroes were getting ready to fight if they had to. He really hoped that it didn’t come to that.

Ida called out to him, “Midoriya, there are more people trapped over here!”

“I’m on my way!” Midoriya used Float to quickly ascend over the destroyed sections and get to where Ida was standing, the stress of the situation and using it over and over had seemingly managed to bring it under his control. Having it made traversing the destroyed city much easier. He then began removing the pieces of rubble one by one, revealing the people who’d been trapped underneath. “This is…”

“A daycare…” Ida solemnly finished the thought, Midoriya grit his teeth. He wanted to look away from this awful sight, from this aftermath of such an inhumane action. But he knew that if he shut down here and didn’t concentrate on what he was doing then he wouldn’t be able to help anyone. Emergency workers rushed in, carrying the children out of the ruined building and towards the evacuation point. All of them were being taken to the same place, allowing for a sort of macabre form of reunion with their families. Midoriya walked over to the side, sitting down for a moment to try and set his head straight. But it was just…

“I don’t understand… Why would anyone do this…?” He rubbed his face, his gloves covered in dust and dirt.

“I don’t think we can ever understand why this happened. The people that ordered all this happen live in worlds apart from us, and they have vastly different ideas on how things should be. I’m not even sure if they know what they’re causing here. But the least we can do right now is help those that we can, and leave the bigger picture to those that can handle it.” Hearing those words, someone might have gotten the idea that Ida was managing to cope well with the situation. But when Midoriya looked up he could see the pain in his eyes. This whole thing was hitting him just as hard as everyone else, and no one could blame him.

“I guess you’re right, I just hope this doesn’t get any worse,” Midoriya stood back up. The main evacuation point that the Heroes were using was the UA campus, since it was the largest contiguous location in the region that could possibly provide shelter for what would eventually become thousands of people. The large training grounds were being actively converted into miles of temporary shelters, turning the once fake city that they used to fight mock battles into a real city filled with the displaced. Doing so was an absolutely herculean task given that the training grounds were never meant to actually shelter people, but staff and other workers pressed on to provide what was needed. At the same time a massive network of tunnels and bunkers was being set up underneath the campus, preparing them for the possible inevitability of another mass bombing. Cementoss was the one leading these efforts due to his quirk, but he also had a number of Heroes and public servants back him up. It wasn’t a task one person could accomplish alone, and they knew that they needed it finished as soon as possible.

“Deku? Ida? Is that you?” That voice…!

“Uraraka?!” He turned around, finding Uraraka and Asui standing on the opposite side of the damaged road. “I’m glad to see that you two are alright.”

They all walked over, meeting halfway in the middle of the street. “Asui and I were still in the hospital when everything was happening. I only woke up around the end of all the bombs falling, Asui woke up a little bit before me.” She looked down, “I still have somewhat of a bad headache, but once I heard what was going on from my parents I knew that I needed to come and help.”

“They didn’t want to let us leave at first, but we managed to convince them to let us leave. Ribbit.”

“Are you sure that you two are really okay to help out so soon?” Ida asked, “We’re shorthanded, but you don’t need to push yourself to help if you-” Uraraka stopped him mid sentence.

“We’re here to help because we want to help, it would feel wrong if we let all of our training go to waste. Especially now that our quirks have changed.”

“Your quirks changed?”

Uraraka looked down at her hands, “Well, I don’t need to touch anything directly to make it float anymore. From what I can tell something just needs to be near enough for me to make it float.” She demonstrated, making a number of pieces of rubble that she hadn’t touched begin to float “But it’s not just that. Before I could only make them float like they weren’t being affected by gravity, now I can actually manipulate the force of gravity on an object.” She demonstrated that too, with the pieces of rubble seemingly moving without any force acting on them. Suddenly they then dropped, and Uraraka held her head. “It’s still taking some getting used to though”

“That’s amazing…” He looked at Asui, “But what about-?”

“Morons, quit slacking!” Bakugo blasted over, “There are people to save, and if you don’t get going right now then there’s going to be a lot more on your mind than missing time!”

“R-right!” Midoriya snapped out of it, Bakugo was right. They didn’t have the time to talk, they needed to save people. “It’s good to have you two back, now let’s get to work!”

Aurdel clenched his hands around the edges of the info-centers table. “I needed those status updates five minutes ago, people. Tell me what's going on!”

“JASDF ground to air units have almost all come online, most have sustained serious damage and the greatest coverage is in eastern half of the country. Forty percent of the subsonic missile interception systems are still online, supersonic systems are at ten percent and hypersonic systems are at zero.”

“And the rocket interception systems?”

“Twenty five percent, though repairs should have it up to thirty five within a matter of days.”

He gave a tired sigh, “That won’t be enough for when they open up with another saturation attack. How many fixedwings do we have operational?”

“One hundred and seven interceptors, two hundred and twelve superiority fighters, one hundred and thirteen multirole, sixty five ground attack and fourteen EW aircraft.”

“Considering the enemy we need to face off against those are horrible numbers,” he shook his head, “What about the ones in the mothball?”

“The mothball airfleet?” The advisor turned towards him, looking up from his screen. “Sir, that hasn’t been cataloged in-“

“I don’t care if it hasn’t been cataloged in years. I need you to look through it and tell me what we have at our disposal.”

“Yes sir.”

“Now what about air squadrons? How many active units do we have on standby?”

“We have thirty squadrons on paper, twenty of those were active duty at the time of the attack and only nine are currently able to be on active standby”

“Underequipped and undermanned, great,” Aurdel shook his head, turning to the next advisor. “What’s the status on those Chinese warships?”

“The landing ships that hit South Korea from the south coastline turned back around after they dumped their forces, they’re going back to Chinese ports for restocking and refueling. Estimates are that they’ll be ready to launch again in four days.”

“Four days… We need to rush setting up those coastal defenses. What about the rest of the fleet?”

“Most of their surface fleet is sitting in their harbors on the mainland. However, one aircraft carrier with an escort of two cruisers, four destroyers and five frigates are leaving their ports. Currently we assume them to be on an intercept course for the American fleet coming north, however it’s possible that the task force may split to begin air operations on the western coast.”

“I need two squadrons set up to intercept the fleet if they break for Japan. One to focus on anti-ship duty, one for air superiority. The last thing we need is strike fighters swooping down and destroying the last of our ground installations and leaving us at the mercy of a carpet bombing.” He looked around, “Where the hell is that American attaché?!”

“He notified us to say that he would be late.”

“The country is at war and he’s going to be ‘late’? If he doesn’t show up in the next five minutes then-”

“Then what?” The Major General walked through the door, “You’re gonna usurp my command and take my troops?”

“Yes, actually, I would.” He walked over, getting up close with the officer, “Look here GI, you may think you’re hot shit but your Westpoint education means nothing to me. I am the one that is going to lead this campaign because no one else in this room has fought a war! I spent twenty seven years fighting one in the command center and on the ground, so I have more experience than you’ll ever get in your miserable life.”

“You don’t sound like you’re level headed enough to serve an officer in command.”

“I’m not level headed because right now the one officer that I need most for future defensive and offensive operations is making excuses as to why he was late!” He poked the older man in the chest, “Listen here, I’ll pull rank as much as I need to if it means winning this war, even if it means totally usurping your command at times. And if you don’t cooperate with me then I’m going to take your star and stripes and strangle you with them, understand?”

The Major General looked up at him with disrespect in his eyes, but he relented. “Yes sir.”

“Good, then update me on the state of US forces in Japan.”

He took a deep breath, “Of the fifty five thousand US service members meant to be stationed in Japan, only forty thousand are present due to a number of divisions having been previously pulled out for the war in Iran. Of them, only sixteen thousand are for ground duty. Of the sixteen thousand only twelve thousand are in a position to deploy into combat, and only nine thousand of them can be equipped. They hit our barracks and weapons stockpiles hard in the bombardment. If I’m going to equip all of them I’m going to need to pull weapons from the Japanese stockpile.”

“Your men aren’t trained on Japanese platforms. Unless you can set aside the time for them to learn the weapons and gear, they won’t be using them.”

“A rifle is a rifle.”

“And a soldier is only as good as the knowledge and capability he has with his rifle. Are we going to have the same problem with your airmen?”

“Most of our next gen fighters were caught out in their storage facilities. All we have in good numbers are our current gen fixedwings and some previous generation.”

“Your men aren’t trained on Japanese aircraft and there aren’t enough jets to go around, for now you’ll just have to make do with what you have. Get in contact with your superiors in the United States and tell them of the situation. If you make desperate enough of a case then they’ll pull through, otherwise you’ll just have to fight with what you have. Now our best bet to defeat the Chinese is to keep them from holding any beachheads, so I want your men positioned at the rear of the line to push back as soon as I order.”

“Yes sir,” he said, begrudgingly.

“Now, everyone out. I need a moment to myself.” All of the advisors looked at each other for a moment, then acquiesced to his demand and left the room. He was left alone in the command center, staring down at the table in front of him. “Jesus Christ…” He took a deep heavy sigh, collecting himself. When the missiles had begun to land he’d had to make a choice. Save the people in front of the National Diet, or save the politicians inside the building. He’d chosen the former. And so as a result of the Diet being in session, nearly every major politician in Japan was either killed, horribly maimed or seriously injured when a pair of cruise missiles had ripped their way through the building. That meant that every possible leader in the country for a wartime crisis was dead, leaving only the military. And after convincing or intimidating most of the Japanese general staff he was placed in charge of the wartime government and its military operations. In his mind he already knew how he was going to win the war, it’s just that executing it was the hard part. For his plan he needed to retrieve his ship from the bottom of the ocean and fix it. But there was only one way to get to it. He picked up the phone, dialing the number. “Re-Destro, is the submarine ready?”

“We’re putting the finishing touches onto it now, though I’m sure that you’ll want to have a look at it yourself when you arrive.”

“Of course.” One of the first things he’d done with his new position was officially integrate the forces of the Meta Liberation Army into his command, effectively adding another one hundred and twenty thousand additional men and women to his field of manpower as irregular forces. To say that the move was controversial with those around him was an understatement, as he faced backlash from a number of pro-Heroes and from the advisors around him. But after a while he was able to get them to relent and accepted his decision for what it was. And with that he had the full might of the MLA and its resources, allowing him to get what he needed. A submarine. The reasoning being that it wasn’t like he could just walk out into the water, retrieve his ship and then fly back. The ship was over a thousand miles out from Japan, sitting at around three miles below sea level. He needed to cross all of that distance undetected, dock with the ship and then take the time to fix it. The only way he could reasonably do that was with a submarine. However the military couldn’t lend him any, as they were too preoccupied with other things. As such he had to make do with a commercial submarine, one that had to be modified so it wouldn’t be destroyed by the still active point defense system that had likely wreaked havoc on local wildlife and any vessels that may have tried to investigate its presence. “What about the gear that you’re handing out to Heroes and your people, how is that going?”

“We’ve had stockpiles of equipment for a long time, so we were able to hand out large quantities of it to anyone that needed it. However, without any trade and a number of our production facilities destroyed I’m worried that we may not be able to produce anything in the future. At least not until the war ends.”

“That comes later, but we’ll figure something out when the time comes. Until then I need you to keep all of your people ready. If things get as bad as I fear they might, we might really need them all to go into battle.”

“The inevitably of death was something that they accepted long ago, they are all willing to lose their lives if it meant standing for their beliefs and this country.”

“I know,” and he hung up. Because of the lopsided nature of this conflict, the campaign that he’d planned out was meant to be quick and decisive. China was a large nation, one with a vast territory, vast access to resources and manufacturing and an even vaster pool of manpower through a population of around one and a half billion people. Compare that to Japan, a country which had a population of around one hundred and twenty million, a tight amount of space and a very limited amount of access to resources and military manufacturing. However it had access to his knowledge, experience and the tech that he would bring, something that he would use to great effect. To win he’d have to make China bleed. He’d let their landing ships arrive on shore, let them bring in their additional support. Ships, jets, whatever. Then he’d wipe it all out in an instant. After that he’d target the mainland and neuter whatever offensive or defensive capabilities they had left. From there it would be a matter of signing a peace, dismantling the autocratic regime that had rooted itself in the country and then bringing them into the fold. “Mirko, how are things on this end?” He spoke to her through the robot body using his neural lace.

“Things are going fine. The evacuations are moving quickly, so we should be able to get most of the injured people out by the time those bastards try anything again.”

“That’s good, good…” He sighed, “Honestly, I feel bad having to make you work so hard like this.”

“Then you could have come in person instead of sending the robot,” she turned towards him.

“I’m trying to be in more than two places at once as best as I can, but I’m beginning to realize why this technology was still experimental when I found out about it. The human body wasn’t made to handle using all of its senses in double, so it’s putting a lot of physical and mental stress on my head by constantly using it.” He rubbed the back of his helmet, mimicking the motion with the robot. “But I’m fighting through it for now, I’ve had worse headaches in the past and these ones don’t have the chance to kill me. At least, I don’t think they do.”

“So then, what’s the next step?” She folded her arms, “Evacuating people is one thing, but we can’t just stay on the defensive forever like this. Seeing this all is making my blood boil like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’m sure it does, but until something changes it’s all you’ll be able to do. Since I wasn’t familiar with all the war legislation on this version of Earth, I had to do some research into how quirks and Heroes played into war.”

“Can’t say that I’ve looked into it myself.”

“Then prepare to be disappointed. According to the Toulouse accords, the use of quirks in warfare is totally prohibited. The only exception is for people with mutant quirks, so long as the user in question does not use it to inflict cruel and unusual injuries or untreatable wounds to the enemy. This all got confirmed and added to Geneva Conventions, of which China and Japan are signing members.”

“What if I tie down my ears and make it look like I don’t have a quirk?”

“Caving in a man’s chest with your legs and then leaving him on the battlefield would probably fall under being cruel and untreatable. Sorry, when they first come to shore you’ll need to stick to the sides.”

“It’s a bunch of BS anyways,” she turned around, “Their Heroes are already militarized, shouldn’t that violate those accords?”

“Domestic law enforcement doesn’t count as open warfare, it’s the same loophole in morality that lets police use tear gas on protestors. But it’s still one that stands.”

She took a few steps forward, before turning back towards him. “You don’t intend on following them though, do you?”

“No, I don’t. The ethics of using quirks was honestly the last thing on my mind, it’s just that I don’t need every international court coming after me just because I ordered someone to literally throw a troop transport back to their country.” He paced around a little bit, “But I don’t think that they’re going to bother following the accords either, at least not in any meaningful way other than trying to hide behind them later on. That’s why I want everyone recording the events that unfold from the moment they land, that way I can point the finger at them and say ‘They did it first’ before flattening them.”

“Crafty, though I know by now to expect that from you.”

He winced, “I don’t expect them to wait too long before bringing in soldiers or Heroes that use their quirks, they’ll probably get bogged down quickly and start using them out of desperation. By the time they might be able to pose any meaningful threat I’ll have my ship fished out of the ocean, and I’ll lay the hurt down on them.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” She gave a smirk, then it faded. “But it looks like there’s something up with you, from the way you're moving. Is something wrong?”

“Well, aside from the headache and all the trouble with handling this crisis I’m having terrible back pains.”

“Sounds like you’re in denial about being old.”

“Oh-ho, let’s not even go there. You’re twenty six and unmarried, I think that says more about your age than back pain does about mine,” She laughed at his retort. “But no, it’s not that. It’s not like it’s my entire back, it’s these two spots by my shoulder blades.”

“Wearing your armor too tight?”

“No, and I checked to make sure I wasn’t and adjusted it regardless to see if it would alleviate the problem. I’ve tried everything but it still hasn’t done even a damn thing for me.”

“I’m no doctor, but it’s probably just the stress and lack of energy. You haven’t exactly had a moment to rest.”

“Could be, but there’s no real way to tell right now,” he walked over, looking down at the situation on the ground. Things were still bad but they were gradually improving.

“So, when do you leave?”

“Just after sundown tonight. If I left during the day I would get picked up by their recon efforts and blown out of the water, and I don’t plan on walking all the way back home across the ocean floor.”

“And you’re still sure that you want to go alone?”

“I’m going alone because it’s the safest bet. If something does go wrong and I end up trapped down there, I don’t want to be the reason someone else is stuck with me. Besides, I won’t really be alone. I couldn’t be alone even if I wanted to. I still have this thing to talk through, though I’ll be needing it to stay in the command room.”

“Whatever you do, just make sure you come back. The last thing I need you doing is running off to the bottom of the ocean to never be seen again.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to come back.”

To say that the campus was busy would be a complete and utter understatement. After the evacuation of thousands of people from the city and onto the school premises, things had become crowded and loud fast. People talked with each other, many looking for friends and families who may have not been able to be evacuated. Others simply wondered aloud what they were going to do now, as many had lost their homes and would have nowhere to go once this was all over. Others still sat alone, mourning the losses of loved ones to a force that they had absolutely no power to influence. Meanwhile, the classes of UA returned to their empty dorms. Their things had already been moved underground to the new dorms, ones that wouldn’t fall victim to attacks from the air. But they came back out of habit, because outside of where they were actually from this building was like a second home to them. For a while none of Class 1-A said a word, they just sat there. But eventually one of them spoke. “You know, I don’t know if I can do this,” Kaminari said, partially curled up into a ball on the couch. “It’s all just… so much. Things got so bad so suddenly, and it’s too much for me to handle.”

“How can anyone expect us to do anything with how desperate things are?” Mineta asked, “Even the Heroes are struggling to keep up with everything, meanwhile we’re still only kids training to be Heroes.”

“Young as we may be, we still have a duty to protect people. We have our licenses as Heroes and we have the obligation to use that privilege to help others,” Ida retorted.

“Open your eyes man! Can’t you see that we’re completely out of our depth?! Bombs are falling and the world is at war, none of this was what we trained for!”

“Abandoning the people that we were supposed to protect won’t help anyone either,” Jiro raised her voice.

“But would anyone really blame us for giving up? Listen, I just think that we should be leaving this to the real professionals. That way we can-”

“Shut the hell up!” Bakugo shouted, slamming his uncovered fist through the wall next to him. “Just who the hell do you think you are if you’re giving up? You came to this god damned school to be a Hero, and that’s what you’re going to do!”

“But-!”

“I don’t want to hear it! If the Heroes are falling behind, then it’s our job to pick up the slack. No one else is going to do it for us now, and no one is going to do it for us in the future. So pull your head out of your ass and get with the game!”

Ida interrupted, “Bakugo, there’s no reason to be so rude. They were just-”

“No reason?! They came here to be Heroes and they’re giving up at the last hurdle, and if that didn’t piss me off enough they’re doing it at a time when Heroes are being needed the most they’ve ever been!” His voice was filled with anger, rage. But Midoriya could see that he was trembling, his eyes beginning to water. “What those assholes did, what they’re DOING, is unforgivable! And someone has to hold them accountable for all of it, and if we don’t do our jobs there won’t be anyone to hold them accountable. Accountable for what they’ve done to everyone! For what they’ve done to me...” Bakugo lowered his head as he finished speaking, his voice trailing off and tears rolling down his cheeks. The room went silent, no one dared to respond any further.

Some of the first civilians to be evacuated to UA after the bombs fell were the families of its students, as their safety was considered a serious concern for the mental wellbeing of the students. Their method of doing so consisted of first calling the families, then showing up in person with several staff members to help escort them to the campus. And largely it was a success. Most of the families were able to be relocated to UA with their things and given safe shelter, and they were able to get in contact with their children attending UA. But the problem is, the key word in that sentence was ‘most.’ With how many people lived in the city, it meant that it was statistically unlikely for the family of one of UA’s many students to be directly hit by any of the missiles. But being statistically unlikely didn’t mean that it was impossible, and Bakugo was now trying to grapple with that harsh reality. In spite of everything that had happened between them in the past, Midoriya couldn’t help but feel his pain.

David numbly nibbled on the small portion of food that he was given, it was barely enough to stay alive in these conditions. He’d practically turned to skin and bones with all the work he was doing, waking up at the crack up dawn and being dragged out to work past midnight. That is, if it was even dawn when he woke up. With not even a window to the outside world, it was impossible for him to know what time of day it was at any point. He hadn’t even seen the sun since… Since before he was kidnapped. Just how long that had been was anyone's guess, as all the time had begun to blend together. There was a knock at the door, then it opened. “Mr. Shield, I see that you have begun taking your meals in the workshop.”

“I have, I didn't want to waste the time that I had to work on this machine.”

“Ah, you truly are a hardworking man. I wish that our own people could take after you, our country would not face nearly as many problems as it does.”

“Has something happened? You haven’t been coming in as frequently.”

“Indeed something has happened, that is why I have come here.” The Colonel walked forward, carefully observing the jet in the room. “I see you have made much progress, that’s very good. It will be needed very soon.”

“It will?”

“Yes… The imperialists thought they could suppress our comrades in arms forever, but that time is now over. The revolution is being brought to all, and this will be its spearhead,” the Colonel gestured towards the aircraft.

“You plan to use it?”

“Of course, that was always my intention. It must be ready by tomorrow for field deployment.”

“Tomorrow?” He dropped the food he was eating, “But there’s so much that still needs to be worked on, I-”

“The revolution waits for no one, my friend. But worry not, you shall be able to make your changes when it comes on return trips for repairs. For our spearhead shall not be blunted!” The Colonel turned around and walked out of the room, leaving him once more to his own thoughts. If his captors had really gone to war, and they intended to use this machine… He wasn’t sure that anything could actually stand up to it. And the transmitter, he’d only just recently managed to put it together. He still needed to put it inside the jet and make sure that after the message was sent the transmitter would be destroyed. Even still, he needed to come up with some sort of code word to insert into the message. One that could be associated with him, though not immediately have the connection made between him and it by his captors. Maybe it could be… No, wait! He had it! Looking over the blueprints for the aircraft again, he found one word that was used constantly. Scalar. In every case he saw it used it was related to the immense power draw the aircraft had, likely an informal term the original designers had used to describe it. That was because in mathematics when something is described as scalar, it has magnitude but not direction. But if one tried to extrapolate its meaning, they could apply it to his work with the quirk amplification device. Something that had a great deal of magnitude, but had no real direction. All he had to do now was just program the message, and pray that someone who knew him heard it.