Rhodes Island's Records of Originium - Blacksteel
| “ | A story between Franka, Liskarm, Vanilla, and Jessica from Blacksteel WorldWide before they were Rhodes Island Operators. | ” |
Rhodes Island's Records of Originium - Blacksteel (originally Stories of Infected: Blacksteel) is the first Arknights manhua part of the Rhodes Island's Records of Originium series. It is a short story explaining the backgrounds of Blacksteel Operators.
Synopsis
The story focuses on the daily life of Blacksteel members, Vanilla, Jessica, Liskarm and Franka, who joined Rhodes Island for the first time. It also elaborates the relationship between Franka and Liskarm since the former's Infection after the Ironforge Originium leakage incident in Columbia. From her words, the exchanging programme between R.I. and Blacksteel was a mean to cover Franka's treatment so that she would not face demotion. Liskarm intended to request R.I. to stop her field operations so that she may focus on the treatment, but a duel between them eventually settled the matter.
Chapter summaries
| Chapter #1: Vanilla |
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| After falling asleep in a training room with her pet Originium Slug Biggie, Vanilla finds that she didn't wear her ID badge and is unable to get out. Not wanting to starve to death, she resorts to crawling out of a vent, only to land on Lancet-2 and some samples of active Originium. Lancet warns Vanilla about the samples despite them being sealed, but Vanilla trusts Rhodes Island's technology enough to deem the containers safe to touch. As Vanilla helps put them back, Lancet remarks that Vanilla can treat Oripathy patients normally, which she attributes to her village upbringing where everyone helped each other regardless of status or infection.
Vanilla eventually finishes organizing the containers, and Lancet offers to heal the burn on her neck, which Vanilla doesn't recall even getting. Before leaving, however, she notices a document with Blacksteel's logo on it. After reading the document and asking for permission to take it, she urgently rushes to Jessica and shows her, alarming her enough to grab Vanilla and run to the training room. |
| Chapter #2: Jessica |
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| At a R.I. shooting range, Liskarm is training Jessica on how to use her handgun. After a vigorous session, Vanilla brings Jessica water and a towel as Jessica explains her training and the complexity of using a gun. Jessica laments that Liskarm has been acting stricter and suspects that something happened to her; she mentions Liskarm going through leaflets on Oripathy, leading to them suspecting Liskarm may have gotten infected. Vanilla suggests cheering Liskarm up with a present, which would also give them a chance to ask her about her situation. With the help of Cardigan and Melantha, the two manage to make a camelbeast leather gun holster for Liskarm.
During the next training session, Jessica is distracted and accidentally jams her gun, but in an attempt to hide it from Liskarm, tries to force the bullet out. However, this causes the chamber to rupture and expel Originium dust, leading Liskarm to intervene. Liskarm scolds Jessica for her actions and makes her do an even more intense training set, causing her to leave present behind in tears. Franka finds the present and delivers it to Liskarm while advising her to be less harsh with Jessica, while also confronting her about arguing with the R.I. Medics. When Jessica returns to finish her training sets, Liskarm is stunned at her suddenly exemplary shooting. She apologizes for yelling at Jessica earlier, and thanks her for her gift. Jessica takes the chance to ask Liskarm if she needs help with her Oripathy, but Liskarm just tells Jessica that she isn't actually infected; turns out, seeing Rhodes Island's treatment of the Infected was just making her think about how Blacksteel didn't do anything to help the suffering Infected they saw. Grateful that Liskarm is okay, Jessica hugs Liskarm and goes to rest. After the training, Franka confronts Liskarm again about how she's been going through her medical records and requesting that she be kept away from field missions. In return, Liskarm accuses Franka of always lying to her, pointing out that if she never followed her to Rhodes Island, she'd never have learned that Franka was infected. |
| Interlude: Conclusion |
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| Liskarm asks Franka about why she went straight to Rhodes Island without a word once she contracted Oripathy, blaming herself for not being there in the operation that infected Franka. Franka explains that it was because she knew Liskarm would worry and blame herself, but is interrupted by Vanilla suddenly barging into the training room. In a panic, Liskarm strikes her neck with her electric Arts to knock her out, leading into the events of the first chapter as she confiscates her ID card and drags her to a different room. |
| Chapter #3: Franka |
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| In a flashback, Franka recalls the operation in Ironforge City which caused her to contract Oripathy when her helmet broke in a heavily contaminated area. She had been treated by a Rhodes Island operator following the incident and subsequent Blacksteel-R.I. collaboration, where Franka was surprised by their honesty and altruistic goals. The operator confirms that Franka has contracted Oripathy, and remarks that Franka is taking the news incredibly well. Franka just tells her that in her profession, one has to be prepared for situations like this - although she admits she'll need some time to accept it for real.
Later, Liskarm - who was absent from Ironforge due to a shoulder injury - asks Franka how the operation went, to which Franka lies that it went perfectly. Vanilla then calls the two to break up a fight in the cafeteria, where several Blacksteel employees are harassing an Infected man. They drive away the attackers, but the Infected bitterly refuses their concern. Liskarm laments the increasing numbers of Infected in Blacksteel, and they point out that even though Blacksteel provides the Infected basic rights, their true intention is merely to exploit the Infected for labor and then discard them after. As Franka outlines the importance of finding trustworthy allies to help them with the Infected conflicts, Liskarm notes that she's been more serious today, which she can only confirm. With Vanilla giving Franka a letter addressed to her, she takes the letter to the office of Dr. Longfellow and asks for a chat about Rhodes Island. A few weeks later, Franka and Vanilla arrive at Rhodes Island. Vanilla is amazed at how fast Franka negotiated a cooperation with them, and Franka lies that she just showed her one of Rhodes' medical reports. In truth, Dr. Longfellow was skeptical of their clinical efficacy until Franka submitted her own Rhodes Island medical report from the Ironforge incident; Longfellow offered to give Franka a personal treatment plan, but Franka insisted on the collaboration in order to help Blacksteel as a whole, not just herself. Longfellow had warned her that this would make it impossible for Franka's infection to be kept a secret, severely reducing her employability at Blacksteel, but Franka just told her that she'd head directly to R.I. to take charge of the cooperation effort. Vanilla is honored to be Franka's assistant on her trip, having expected it to be Liskarm considering their reputation as the "Twin Stars of Blacksteel". However, Franka is taken aback when Vanilla guesses that she had already given Liskarm a proper goodbye, with her quietly lying that she did. A Rhodes Island operator takes Vanilla to drop off her luggage and directs Franka to her HR registration. However, at the top of the stairs, Liskarm is waiting for her, angrily holding a document with Rhodes Island's logo on it. |
| Chapter #4: Liskarm |
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| In a flashback to when Liskarm first joined B.P.R.S., she meets Franka and immediately gets into an argument as Franka boasts about her talents. The two take missions together and continue to bicker mercilessly, but grow to trust each other all the same. On one particular mission, Franka asks a wounded Liskarm about her dream, and Liskarm responds by telling her she wants to make a mercenary company to keep the order, just as mercenaries did for her battle-torn hometown. Although Blacksteel turned out to be quite different from her imagination, that was why Liskarm joined it in the first place. She's surprised to hear that Franka's dream is merely to travel the world.
Flash-forward to right after Liskarm knocked Vanilla unconscious, and Liskarm is telling Franka that she plans to return to Blacksteel and take over the cooperation operation so that Franka can just stay at R.I. and get her treatment. In response, Franka points out that unlike Blacksteel, Rhodes Island is a place where there's no boundary between the Infected and uninfected, and asks Liskarm if she really wants to return to Blacksteel. She draws her sword and tells Liskarm that if she wants to replace her as the cooperation head, she'll have to beat her in a duel, which Liskarm readily accepts. They clash, and Franka accuses Liskarm of holding back just because she's infected. Liskarm wants Franka to live peacefully and keep her infection under control, continuing to blame herself and declare that she'll protect Franka no matter what. Franka instead points out that although she has long since come to terms with her new reality and made strides to face her new future, Liskarm has been unable to accept it and wants to keep things they way they used to be. She pins down Liskarm and tells her that she doesn't want to see her so distraught over her, and tells her to smile. After a fierce rematch that destroys much of the training room, Franka promises to tell Jessica and Vanilla about the news. Liskarm also rethinks her goal of setting up a mercenary company at Blacksteel, deciding to stay at Rhodes Island for now. Liskarm also considers Franka's dream of world travel now that she's infected, but Franka falls asleep from fatigue. Liskarm smiles and muses that if Franka really does go on a trip someday, she'll be by her side to take care of her. |
| Chapter #5: Final Chapter |
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| Jessica and Vanilla, having found the letter detailing Franka's infection, run to the training room only to find it destroyed from Franka and Liskarm's duel. They give Liskarm the letter, but are surprised to find out that she already knows. As Liskarm questions how Vanilla got out of the training room she left her in, Jessica asks why Liskarm kept the info from them; Liskarm didn't want them to worry, but they point out that she herself has been the most worried out of all of them. Jessica and Vanilla despair as they speculate about what caused the infection and when they mistake the sleeping Franka for dead, but turns out Franka was just pretending to be asleep. She asks her juniors how they see her now that she's an infected, and they firmly reply that infection or not, she's still their Franka.
Franka sends the juniors to eat breakfast and then train with her later. Vanilla finds her ID card on the floor, and the juniors are quick to attribute Vanilla's mysterious predicament to a ghost. Franka tells them to ask the perpetrator Liskarm about ghosts much to her frustration, none of them noticing Franka's report lying forgotten on the floor. |
| Extra #1: Conclusion |
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| Dobermann reports the training room damage caused by Liskarm and Franka to Kal'tsit, who asks Dobermann what she thinks about the new Blacksteel operators. Dobermann considers all of them outstanding, but notes that although it took them a while to get used to Rhodes Island's treatment of the Infected compared to Blacksteel's, their ideals align with Rhodes Island. Kal'tsit notes Dobermann's high opinion of them, but the two still decide to dock their salaries to cover the repair costs. |
| Extra #2: Sharing the Blame |
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| As Franka and Liskarm survey the destroyed training room, Franka starts connecting parts of the damage with Liskarm's actions, much to her annoyance. Franka waves off their salary deduction by saying they'll be able to just take on some combat operations to repay their debts, then teases Liskarm when she begrudgingly agrees with her battlefield tactics. Liskarm angrily tells Franka she's not going to help her the next time she gets injured, but Franka brings up Liskarm's musings of traveling together and caring for Franka from when Franka was seemingly asleep, much to Liskarm's great embarrassment. |
| Extra #3: Wear These |
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| Liskarm brings the Blacksteel operators their mandated Infection monitors. Vanilla and Jessica are eager to wear them, but Franka is unusually unwilling to wear hers. Liskarm is worried that it's because her infection status has changed somehow; in reality, Franka is just embarrassed because she's recently been eating well, and thus has gained enough weight that her original measurements likely won't fit her anymore. |
Characters
| Main | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor |
- Janet Longfellow
- Bachman
Trivia
- Interestingly, Records of Originium - Blacksteel is released on the Global server's website after all four Blacksteel Operators have English CVs, with Franka being the last of the four to receive it.