77 Prewar Plan (2/2)

”It's simple.” Ed replied. ”It's to wear down the enemy. It's all but guaranteed that Nexus knows the day we planned to begin the war. They likely know some of our other plans as well. Obviously the governor and mayors will know this secret information too. So, what happens when we delay the war two weeks?”

Dupe lowered his head in thought for a moment before speaking. ”They would question the accuracy of the information from Nexus?”

”That's part of it.” He agreed. ”However, there's a far more important aspect. All of their soldiers are going to be on edge waiting for the war to begin. They'll be filled with vigilance as they await our attacks that aren't coming. This anxiety and stress will lead to lack of sleep and doubts in their leaders. Meanwhile-”

”Meanwhile, our soldiers will be well rested and in prime condition to start the actual war!” Dupe interrupted, a sparkle in his eyes. ”It's genius! I can't believe I didn't think of it!”

”Right.” Ed nodded. ”As of now, only you and the other higher-ups I met with today know of this. All of you are my most trustworthy men. Tomorrow morning, I want you to inform the entire base that we're delaying, but remember that we can't tell the soldiers why we're delaying or for how long. If anyone does so, then I'll consider them a traitor. You'll likely receive some flak from the soldiers for not providing enough information to them, but that is the role I've assigned you in this plan. Anyways, that's all I wanted to talk about. Anything you need to report to me before the war?”

Dupe explained his concerns over some minor issues throughout the base, but nothing of much importance. Then he left the office.

Ed leaned back in his chair, a smile on his face. He slowly tapped his finger against the arm of his chair. Thud, thud, thud. 'The plan is complete. Dupe thinks I told everybody the same orders, but I really only told him. The others were only told to follow Dupe's orders without questioning and without showing any confusion. This will cause him to think that everyone is on the same page. If Nexus finds out about the plan, then there is little to no doubt that Dupe is working for them. If our enemies are left in the dark, then either Dupe doesn't work for them or he outsmarted me.'

'Now, what should I do with my new 2 weeks of spare time?' He wondered. He thought for a brief moment when he suddenly felt a strange sensation on his chest. It was his new pair of lungs trying to breathe through his shirt. 'Oh, right. I forgot to remove them.' He controlled his powers and melted the lungs back into the original muscle and flesh he had used to temporarily serve as the lungs. 'Actually, I guess that's something worth doing before the war. I could use some backup organs.'

Ed returned to his lab and fetched some more crocodile flesh. They were starting to run low on the supplies of it, as he had used the condensed versions of the flesh on the soldiers. Still, there was no point in trying to conserve it. He could always hunt for stronger mutants after the war when he had more time.

He melted the flesh from the crocodile and created two spare hearts, giving him a total of three. Then he created a pair of extra lungs that breathed through two small holes on the back of his neck. He didn't bother with other organs, as he could easily repair them if needed. The hearts were essential. The extra lungs weren't really necessary, but the extra oxygen intake was a nice benefit. Also, it would allow him to breath if something ever happened to the front of his throat. He could place the extra lungs elsewhere, such as his back, but there wasn't really a point. He would pretty much have to be beheaded to stop him from breathing from both pairs of his current lungs, and that would kill him no matter what.

”Grr.” A low growl came from Ed's throat as his pupils turned vertical. 'Too much crocodile flesh.' He thought as he controlled his mana to forcefully calm himself down. The new organs had raised his crocodile mutant flesh percentage above 50 percent. He started removing some crocodile flesh from less important muscles and flesh, bringing the percentage back down to 50. His eyes returned to normal as his rationality slowly returned. 'How terrifying.' He sighed at the strange phenomenon.

...

The next morning. The sun was just rising in the sky, causing the shadows within the base to slowly recede. It was hot despite it being winter, which was a rather ordinary occurrence in Florida. The humid air caused the soldiers to sweat heavily.

Dupe stood on stage. Brass horns were in front of him, in order to carry his voice far into the crowd. Rows and rows of soldiers were lined up along the street, to the point that the end of the line couldn't be seen. Mana-radios were distributed down the street, so that the speech could be heard by all. He leaned near the horns and began to speak. ”Starting today, we will be delaying the war for an undetermined period of time. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it is a necessary part of our plans. I know this unexpected change may cause some of you to feel anxious, but nothing will change. You'll all continue training and preparing as you have been. Additionally, we will be allocating additional vacation time so that you may relax during this postponement.”

A series of whispers echoed from the crowd. The whispers quickly grew in volume as the soldiers fought to speak over each other, arguing over what they thought was really going on behind the scenes.

”ATTENTION!” Ray yelled into the brass horns as he stepped in front of Dupe. There was no hesitation or doubt visible on his face nor heard within his voice. ”You heard the man! Get back to training. I'll be assigning extra vacation time as he just said. You should be celebrating, not doubting.”

”SIR!” A chorus of voices rang out, so loud that it seemed to shake the streets. The soldiers started marching back to their stations to continue their work and training. It was obvious to anyone that Ray had earned the soldiers' deep respect as he trained them over the past few months.

Ed watched the crowd leaving, a smile on his face. 'I think I'll relax these next two weeks and intermingle with the soldiers a bit. It'll do good for morale if they actually see Forge's face before the upcoming war. More importantly, these could very well be the last two weeks of my peaceful life. I might just die during this war if I'm unlucky.' With those thoughts in mind, Ed headed for the training field.