On his way back to the lab, Gabriel had Alfred send messages to the rest of Gamma, telling them to meet him ASAP. Once there, he sat down cross-legged on the floor to meditate while they arrived.

Falco came first, as one might expect of a speedster. Crossing the threshold to the lab, the man raised his hand in greeting. “Hey, Gabe! You won’t believe how my day went-”

Gabriel stopped him. “Hold on, Falco. I would really rather wait for all of us to be here before we talk about our training today. Everyone needs to be in the loop.”

Falco nodded several times. “Sure thing, Captain.” He said. Following this, he took a seat in one of the chairs arranged around the center table. “Why are you sitting on the floor anyway?” He asked.

“Meditation is something I enjoy when I can’t keep myself occupied with something,” Gabriel responded.

Falco didn’t say anything else, and Gabriel resumed his relaxation exercises - the silence was comfortable. It wasn’t long before Rosenquartz stomped into the room. He said nothing and stood near the door like a statue. After another ten minutes, Gabriel wondered when Lilith would arrive or if she even would.

Suddenly Lilith rushed through the door. She wore her battle armor and had her weapons strapped to her body. Gabriel noticed her hair was wet. She seemed normal, hurried yes… but different in some noticeable way.

Lilith regarded the assembled team and said, “Sorry I’m so late. You tried to reach me at a bad time.”

Gabriel understood. She had likely been in the shower, explaining the wet hair… what was off about her, though? It came to him a second later. “You were dying your hair!” He blurted out.

Lilith turned her cheeks reddened slightly. “What? How do you know?”

Gabriel responded easily. “Your hair is a shade darker than it used to be. The faint blond highlights are gone as well.” Not wishing to cause offense, he quickly added, “It looks good.” He wasn’t lying.

Lilith’s cheeks darkened a shade, and it took her a moment to reply. “Oh, thanks.” Her words were soft and earnest.

Falco gazed appreciatively at the scene playing out before him. He decided to include himself in the conversation before things got awkward. “Hey Lilith, don’t worry about it! We were going to have the team meeting about our training today.”

Lilith nodded. “I had thought as much. Who wants to go first?”

Falco raised his hand. “I do. I’ve been waiting longest.”

Gabriel laughed. “Technically, I’ve been waiting longest, but yeah, go for it. Before you do, though, I’d like to say something.” Gabriel looked at Rosenquartz and Lilith, removing his helmet. “Falco already knows this since I told him this morning, but I would like to take this chance to tell you both that Zero has chosen me for the position of Strike Force Captain.”

Lilith’s expression darkened slightly, but she nodded - giving a small smile. “Congratulations.”

Rosenquartz shifted. “Good… for… you… Gabriel.” He said slowly.

Gabriel had expected a much more negative reaction from Lilith, but he wasn’t about to jinx away her sudden change in attitude. He bowed his head. “Thank you. Now, Falco?”

Falco jumped into his tale excitedly, speaking so fast he finished in under a minute.

Photon was training the Offense specialization - he was a light-controlling Super that could turn his body into pure energy. Falco trained with Gemini from Alpha, Tusk from Beta, and a girl named Pain from Delta. They didn’t interact much, and they weren’t asked to share their abilities with anyone but the instructor.

Falco made a point to mention that Gemini had boasted obnoxiously about their strike mentor, Grizzly.

He went on to describe the simulations the Offense Supers had undergone. They focussed on each individual’s talents and placed them in scenarios where they could maneuver to strike without being hit back.

Finally, he mentioned some advice Photon had given him about channeling his momentum into his blows when attacking.

When Falco finished, Rosenquartz raised his hand to speak next.

His speech was slow and filled with pauses, but the team was patient with him. The giant spoke shyly at first but quickly warmed up to his audience and related his own opinions on the training. It was clear that Rosenquartz was more intelligent than they assumed.

The Defense specialization class was not asked to share their abilities either. From Alpha, there was Crocodile, from Beta a man named Stalwart, and Delta had chosen a woman called Polymer.

Rosenquartz described speaking to the trainer, a man named Snow Angel, about his abilities and the particular effect his crystal body had on Pulse Lasers. They worked on establishing a baseline of how much punishment each defense specialist could take. The reasoning behind the exercise was to teach each super when they could and could not defend their teammates - and the proper timing for communicating this.

He described - at length - his training simulations, in which he was sent into close combat with three MechaBlitz grunts at a time. The Pulse Lasers refracted, but he started to feel uncomfortably hot after a few rounds. He could take one down on his own, but the other two would beat him down after a while.

They had run the same simulation more than once and achieved similar results each time. Rosenquartz also said that he had real trouble angling the lasers - that it would not be safe for him to do so around friendlies.

Once Rosenquartz finished speaking, having taken ten minutes, Lilith asked to go next.

She spoke loudly and clearly, explaining who made up the support specialization. Alpha picked Barbarossa, Beta had chosen DJ Goodness, and Delta a girl named Lotus.

Their trainer had been a well-known female super called Rescue.

Their drills oriented towards combat healing. They had each had to heal a simulated version of their Strike Force’s respective defense specialists while helping them defeat a much larger force. Lilith expressed great respect for Quartz’s abilities and protective nature, saying that her drills always finished quickly.

“I doubted Zero’s choice at first, but I have to admit, some of the stuff we might run into…” She stared of into the distance. “Let’s just say I’ll be gladly healing everyone from now on.

Grateful that Lilith had changed her mind, Gabriel nodded to her before sharing his own experiences that day.

When he finished telling Gamma how Ms. Liberty had rebuked Libra for insubordination, Falco burst out laughing.

“That’s what she gets. Boy, she hasn’t changed at all eh’ Lilith? Just like her sister.”

Gabriel’s curiosity was piqued, “Sister? Mystery said something about that in the hall.”

Lilith answered. “Gemini. Libra and Gemini are identical twins. Their behaviour is petty and self-indulgent. They’re rude and unhelpful; at least that was my opinion of them at the academy. From what you two tell us, they are still up to the same old antics. Those parents sure did a number on them.” She said in a disgusted tone.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Rosenquartz was just happy he could let Gabriel protect the team when the time came.

Lilith asked a short time later, “Do you think you can do for me what you did for Falco? Modify my weapons.”

Gabriel was surprised at the sudden request but nodded vigorously. “I could augment your equipment, I think. Is there anything you had in mind?”

Lilith nodded back. “I’d like for my mace to magnetize like Falco’s knives and machetes.”

Gabriel smiled. “Easy as pie; I can do the same for your shield. Anything else?”

Lilith was taken aback by his nonchalance but quickly furrowed her brow in thought. She opened her eyes wide and gazed and Gabriel. “You… wouldn’t be willing to make me one of those anti-gravity generators, would you?” She asked shyly.

Gabriel considered her request. It would undoubtedly be advantageous to have another flight-capable member on the team, especially their Support. Giving her a generator like his might hamper her movements, withouth a Nerual Link, the interface she would need to use would be too complicated for combat. There might be an easier way.

“That might be a great idea. I’ll toy around with some stuff in the lab after we finish up here. If you leave your helmet, mace, and shield I should have something ready for you by tomorrow.”

Lilith looked shocked, and Falco burst out laughing. “Man works fast, huh?” He said joyfully.

Rosenquartz cleared his throat, producing a sound similar to a wind chime and a blender. “I...would like… weapon.”

Gabriel hadn’t thought to ask the big man what he might desire and chastised himself mentally.

“What kind of weapon do you think you’d like?” He asked.

Rosenquartz folded his arms. “Hmm.” He said, thinking. “I want… something heavy… and… big. Can’t use… small things.”

He held out his enormous crystal hands and demonstrated how his fingers and wrists weren’t the most flexible. In fact, it seemed his fingers would be too large to use triggers, or even anything that would require heavy use of the wrists. That removed any swords, spears, whips, and non-specialty firearms.

“I have an idea that might work. You can use a club, right? I mean, you picked up that support pole fighting Falco.”

Rosenquartz smiled. “I like… clubs.” He replied.

“That’s perfect. I think I’ll have something good for you tomorrow too.”

“Thank you, Gabe.” The pink giant said happily.

“I will say this, though. You will both need to log extra practice hours if I am going to give you new equipment. The world needs each of us to perform at our highest levels always, and new abilities could mess up your rhythm. Falco is already training with his new knives.”

Lilith and Rosenquartz nodded their acceptance, and Gabriel said, “Awesome, now we can end this meeting. Everyone is free to go.”

Nobody moved. Gabriel looked around, unsure of what to say. Falco spoke for him. “We should all go to lunch! We still haven’t eaten as a team.”

Gabriel nodded. “If no one has any prior engagements, I think that sounds wonderful.”

No one objected. Lilith didn’t even look a bit displeased. “AWESOME, LET’S GO!” Yelled Falco, rushing to the door and heading down the hall too fast to see.

The team never caught up to him. Instead, they found Falco eating at a large circular table on the second level of the restaurant. He sat next to the balcony railing overlooking the interior of the dining hall. He even asked for a reinforced chair so Rosenquartz could sit without issue.

Sitting down, Lilith and Gabriel perused the menu for a moment before Falco asked, “Hey Quartz, are you gonna eat or not?”

Gabriel looked up from the menu to see the man shake his head. “I do not eat.” He replied. “I can… drink… liquids, but I get no…. benefit… from them. I know because… heat from… reflecting lasers with my body made me… thirsty. I’m okay… don’t want to eat… only listen.”

Falco nodded. “I get it; lots of Supers don’t need to eat. Still sucks, I think; I mean, who doesn’t like lasagna or a sandwich? Wait. Did you taste anything when you drank?”

“I like… taste… of water.”

Falco nodded, “Milkshake it is.”

The food arrived quickly, as always. Strike Force Gamma chatted and joked while trying to describe what food was like to Rosenquartz. To Gabriel, it almost felt like a family meal, having never experienced one. Lilith and Falco would say he was right, had he asked them. They would have realized they hadn’t done this in years, either - But that never happened.

Lilith wanted to make Gabriel try sushi after he said he’d never wanted to try raw fish. It took her a few minutes of coaxing him and Falco speeding a roll into his mouth when he least expected it for him to admit he was wrong about sushi finally. He ordered his own set of rolls shortly after.

Falco had thought ahead. The amount of food they ordered between the three of them quickly filled the dining table.

Close to an hour later, Rosenquartz excused himself from the meal, saying he had to report to his Classes. When asked, he told the team that he had been attending basic knowledge courses with a woman named Dr. Burundu. That explained thing, either way, not ten minutes later, the remaining three decided to split up and be productive.

Falco was going to practice with his blades, and Lilith asked if she could work in as well, wanting to quicken her response times healing damage. He agreed and asked if Gabriel wanted to join in as well, but he said “I would rather get to work on Lilith and Rosenquartz’s requests before my scheduled captain’s training later.”

Gabriel headed back down to his lab. He sent Alfred images of what he had in mind, and watched in wonder as the AI altered them delicately in his mind’s eye. The mace and shield wouldn’t be a problem; some magnetic fabric for the holsters and added plating to the shield to hide the magnetic generators. The mace would have its generator in the pommel while the shield would require multiple generators around the rim as they would take hits in combat - it helps to have contingencies.

Gabriel reached his lab and set the printer to make the generators he would need - as well as the plating - in one batch. Thanks to Alfred, he was able to fit the equipment into the printing chamber precisely. Once that was set to go, Alfred voiced an opinion.

I believe it would be faster if you allowed me to print the machines while you build as last time. This time, I would like to use the suit as a body and assist you physically in the construction of today’s designs. If that would be alright.

The Hero wondered why it hadn’t occurred to him but readily agreed and removed the suit. It reformed seconds later.

Alfred ‘stretched’ his muscles. “That feels good. This should prove efficient!”

“Yes, it should.” Agreed Gabriel.

Alfred practiced moving his fingers in fine increments to ensure he could perform the technical aspects of the builds while Gabriel thought about what he could do to give Lilith the ability to fly.

The conventional GravThrust - like the kind used in Transports and personal Hovers - would enable her to hover and move quickly, but would require a fair number of individual thrusters to allow her to course-correct finely.

In regards to implementation, Gabriel chose to design a pair of light-weight yet heavily-armored, knee-high boots.

With Alfred assisting, Gabriel, wove the Gravity field emitters into a beautiful design in gleaming silver titanium nano-alloy, shaped like the leather gladiator boots she usually wore.

The sole of her boots would perform the hovering and flight applications, depending on how and how forcefully she flexed her toes. All of this would be tied into a small square visor that she would need to wear to the side of her eye.

The magnetic generators and armor plating finished printing a while later. Alfred had managed to hollow out a big enough section of the mace’s grip and set to work installing the device with careful ease. Gabriel left him to work and put his body to the task of augmenting the shield.

He placed the generators and welded them in, connecting them with armored coils. Then he began putting the armor plates around the rim of the shield. It gained close to forty pounds and was quite a bit wider than before.

Alfred had already started up the printer with the boots and magnetic shrouds. Now all Gabriel had left to do was create the idea that had fermenting in his head since the conversation with Rosenquartz.

He was going to make a hammer.

Something big and sturdy that would never break in the giant man’s grip or if struck by a monste.

The handle would be massive, around six feet in length, and half a foot thick, it’d have to be made of titanium-nanocarbon alloy. The head of the hammer would be an enormous nanobot-reinforced diamond prism. Inside the prism, he designed a lattice network that would channel light towards the handle.

He coated the handle with nano-diamond in his mind and added a more complex lattice that would channel any light towards the head of the weapon.

Gabriel did this out of the assumption that after Rosenquartz deflected a Pulse Laser, he would need a moment or two to aim at his next target.

“That is beautiful Gabriel; you have a gift. But if you would allow me.” Alfred inclined his head at the WristPad diagram.

“Of course,” Gabriel replied.

Alfred made some fine adjustments to the lattice networks, creating a form that would focus multiple beams of light at the apex rather than a single final convergence. Once he finished, Gabriel clapped the autonomous suit on the shoulder.

“That looks great!” He said.

The shrouds and boots finished printing twenty minutes later. Setting the hammer to print, he realized he had a couple of hours until training. He chose to head to his quarters for a rest, Alfred following along.