Less than a second after the doors opened, the EWMG unleashed a hail of bullets upon the guards, quickly taking out their shields and barriers, then the guards themselves. Nyz continued navigating the weapon, which rolled through the halls until it reached the stairs, then began climbing it, retracting its wheels and lifting its legs up to ascend. Once it reached the top of the stairs, it used its wheels to continue moving.

They shot their way through several more groups of soldiers, coming to a stop in the lobby when faced with military soldiers in black-and-gray Class A suits.

Without a moment's hesitation, the military soldiers began firing at Nyz and the EWMG, the bullets of the experimental weapon bouncing off their barriers as their own bullets flared up the barrier around it. The EWMG's barrier formed a dome over the cockpit, protecting Nyz, though he knew it wouldn't last against their attacks. It was fading within moments.

As the soldiers unleashed their bullets, Nyz climbed out of the back of the EWMG, bullets striking him from underneath it. Pulling an item from his belt, he pressed it against his right forearm and tapped his arm a few times, activating it.

Nyz counted down from three under his breath, and when he reached zero, the puck-like object in his hand glowed, then the lights went out in the building and the guns and EWMG ceased firing.

"Magitech neutralizer!" A soldier called. "Switch to bullets!"

Nyz slipped the neutralizer back onto his belt, then charged towards the soldiers, before jumping into the air, leaping clear over them. He grabbed a grenade and threw it at the ground, coating it in a thick, sticky green substance as he ran out the destroyed doors. It would slow them down, but he knew it wouldn't take long for them to escape. They were wearing Class A combat suits, and combined with the Class A bodysuits underneath, they could jump high, run fast, and lift immense weights normally impossible for a person.

Pulling out of the goo he'd thrown wouldn't take much more than a few seconds.

With his head start, Nyz continued running, following Kal's directions for where to go. As he ran down an alley, Nyz pulled to a stop just in time to avoid having a soldier drop onto him from above, the soldier having leapt fifty feet into the air in an arc covering one hundred yards.

Drawing a knife, Nyz immediately slashed at the soldier, the magically-enhanced blade cutting through their barrier and slicing open their breastplate, splitting the bodysuit underneath and drawing blood from the soldier's chest. He thrust it forward and caught the soldier in the chest before they could respond.

Even if they had Class A equipment allowing them to move at great speeds, their reflexes and minds were still at the speed of a human's, unable to match Nyz.

Throwing grenades, Nyz created a cover allowing him to slip into another alley as the soldiers waited for the bursts to end. At Kal's command, Nyz stopped moving and stood in a slight crouch.

"Transferring in three… two… one!"

Immediately, Nyz found himself in the back of his van, where he began stripping off his armor. Several pieces of it were bent from his attack in the hall and refused to pull off, digging into his skin, though none pierced his flesh Grabbing the edges of the armor, Nyz pulled them back, bending each piece away from his skin before pulling it off. One of his boots had bent as well, refusing to slide off, so Nyz grabbed the top of the boot, then tore it down the middle.

"Yeah, that armor was trashed as soon as you bent it to hell and back," Kal said. "At least we've only ever had to destroy one set of armor, that one."

"Hopefully, we never have to again," Nyz finished pulling off his armor, then pulled off the bodysuit. "First time I've damaged a bodysuit, too."

"You don't normally move that fast when you aren't in the Class S," Kal said. "It's only natural we'd encounter that, the armor is meant for giving humans protection and working with the increased strength given by the bodysuits. It's not meant for someone who's already stronger than a normal person wearing the bodysuits. That's why you have the Class S."

"Does this mission count as a failure?" Nyz asked as he began dressing.

"No," Kal answered. "Even if you abandoned the EWMG, we can consider it a success. They'll think Gairal knew about it and attempted to steal it, then abandoned it in favor of escape. They'll also think Gairal has military-grade tech now, which will hopefully make them crack down on Gairal even more. While it wasn't in the vault, we now know it's not in the vault. Even if there's no way for me to monitor what goes in and out because of their ridiculous primitive record system for it, I can still monitor for any suspicious movements, as I've been doing. It sucks the item isn't that large, it's easier to transport it. Hell, it can fit in the trunk of a car!"

"What now?" Nyz asked as he exited the van and entered his car.

"Head home," Kal told him. "On Monday, turn in your notice, say you're moving. Gairal demolished a building and killed several soldiers, opened fire in the streets, killed civilians, and even attempted to steal from Asterox here, and that's after an increase in violent crimes in the city. You don't feel safe and are moving to Liratt."

"My next job is in Liratt?" Nyz pulled out and began driving to his current apartment.

"No," Kal told him. "But you'll need to head in that direction anyway. Our next target is the secret Asterox facility I told you about. It's hidden in the fog."

"When should I do the paperwork to move?" Nyz asked. "And the guard at the Gate will harass me for trying to move alone. I'm lucky the last one didn't ask why I wasn't wearing a combat suit already. All it takes is one surprise attack and someone without a suit on is doomed. The next one? I doubt I'll be that lucky."

"You're talkative today."

"So?" Nyz asked. "How will I handle the guard at the Gate? You can't teleport me to the location since we haven't put down the formation there, obviously."

"Just get home," Kal told him. "I've got a surprise for you when you do."

"Do you think it's in the secret facility?"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"No," Kal told him. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not, but there is something useful there. We'll go over the plan later."

"Okay," Nyz said.

He finished the ride to his apartment in silence, save for a stop by a noodles shop to order udon, having developed a taste for it over the past several weeks. Nyz ate on the way home, finishing his dinner by the time he arrived.

After parking, Nyz exited his car and grabbed his trash, tossing it in the trash can beside the elevator doors as he entered them. Less than a minute later, he sighed in front of his apartment, before opening the door and entering.

"You're paying me a visit?" Nyz asked as he closed the door.

"Yep!" Kal answered from the living room. "I take it you smelled me in the hall? I heard that sigh over the comm."

"You know I could," Nyz told him. "You transferred yourself directly, I take it?"

"Yeah," Kal said as Nyz entered the living room, looking at him.

Unlike the lean, muscular build Nyz had, Kal had a more slender frame and appeared to be smaller than Nyz when others looked at them, though at 5'11", he was the tall of the two by two inches. His sandy-blond hair was lightly ruffled, and he looked at Nyz with amusement in his brown eyes as the magitech engineer held up his tablet.

"I can send myself back out, too," Kal told Nyz. "Finally figured out the kink in the programming that prevented me from doing it with a tablet."

"That's cool," Nyz said. "So you won't need to hang out at the base all the time?"

"I'll still be there," Kal said. "Hey! Don't look so relieved!"

"It's a relief to know I'll only have to deal with your occasional visit," Nyz said. "What brings you here? To show off that you can do that?"

"Yes and no," Kal answered. "The plan for leaving Valeros includes me. I have a transport mech that we'll use as the mode of transportation. The official story is that I'm passing through town and had known you when we were kids and kept in touch. When you heard I was heading to Liratt, you asked me if I'd take you along with me."

"Only we'll never arrive."

"We'll never arrive," Kal nodded. "Asterox will likely realize it was you who attacked the secret facility and flag Noll as dangerous, but the identity will be discarded. We'll return to base until we figure out the next move."

"It's been a couple of years since I lived on base for more than a couple of days," Nyz stretched, then walked towards his bathroom. "I'm taking a shower."

"Alright," Kal told him.

Nyz entered his bathroom and stripped off his clothes, then took a shower. After he finished, he dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist, then made his way to his bedroom, ignoring Kal's gaze as he went.

The moment he entered his room, he stopped and stared at an item on his bed. Even before he'd entered, he'd known Kal had entered due to the scent of his friend being inside, but he'd assumed it was his friend's usual attempt at finding toys.

Instead, it seemed his friend had put a stack of something on his bed.

"Kal," he walked over to the bed and picked up one of the items, a pair of dark green boxer-briefs. "Yellow."

"No, those are green," Kal said.

"Yellow."

"They're new," Kal told him. "I only have ten pairs right now, what's on your bed is it. They're made of a lightweight, ultra-durable, stretchy, and flexible fabric."

"What's wrong with my normal underwear?"

"The new ones are missile-proof."

Nyz sighed. He could smell the laundry detergent on the underwear, even without bringing a pair close to his face.

"You actually tested these with that, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"You could have just tested the fabric," Nyz said as he moved out of view of the living room and dropped the towel.

"I did," Kal told him. "There's a limited amount of that fabric. Nearly all of it was used in your underwear. I'm working on pants and shirts next, but it'll take a bit. As you can see-did you just pull one on?"

"It's surprisingly comfy."

"Anyway," Kal said, and Nyz could hear the eye roll in his friend's voice. "As you can tell, the underwear looks like normal underwear, which is the intent."

"Do you really think I'm going to be hit with a missile when I'm not in a combat suit?" Nyz asked as he stepped into his closet.

"No," Kal told Nyz as the warrior pulled on a red tank top with blue hems. "I wasn't finished, Nyz. That was just me amusing myself, but then I realized, I could work similar resiliency into normal clothes. Make them look and feel like regular attire. Pants, shorts, shirts, hoodies, and the like."

"But they're actually missile-proof?"

"That's just a benefit," Kal told him. "How resilient they are will depend on the important factors: looking like normal clothes."

"You know I don't need that stuff."

"I know," Kal said as Nyz returned to the living room.

Nyz pulled Kal off the couch and threw him onto the floor, then sat on the couch and picked up the remote.

"So why are you wanting to make this random crap?" Nyz asked.

"It's not random," Kal said as he picked himself up off the floor. "Well, the underwear was a whim, but the rest? That's actually got a purpose."

"Which is… what?"

"Sales," Kal told him. "Do you have any idea how valuable such a thing would be to politicians and celebrities? To high-ranking members of corporations and their families? If they're wearing a bulletproof shirt, there's no need for bulky armor or a vest. Just pull on your shirt and go. It would take a headshot to kill."

"Or a bomb."

"Well, yeah," Kal said. "Not everyone can have your ridiculous durability. Anyway, once I have them out of the testing phase and into the production phase, I'll start selling them. It'll earn us a little income we can use to buy other stuff."

"Are we low on funds?"

"No," Kal answered. "We'll never run out of funds. It's mostly to amuse myself."

"Oh," Nyz said. "They're comfy."

"You said," Kal snorted. "By the way, I ordered dinner for both of us. I know you ate on the way here, but I also know that probably wasn't enough to satisfy you."

"It wasn't," Nyz confirmed. "So you're making the stuff to earn money in a way that amuses you?"

"Yeah," Kal answered. "Well, and because I'll stick it to Asterox with the sales, refusing to sell to any of its employees."

"They deserve that," Nyz stated.

"Yes, they do," Kal told him.

"So," Nyz said. "The plan? If you don't think it's at the facility, why are we attacking it? Isn't everything right now focused on getting it?"

"Yes," Kal said. "Even if it's not at the facility, there's still something useful there. Something extremely useful, which we can use."

"That you can't make?" Nyz asked. "Or do you not have its blueprints and need it?"

"Hm," Kal said. "It's a little more complicated than that. However, the thing you'll be stealing will prove immensely useful. I just hope it's still there when we attack."

"It might be moved?" Nyz asked. "Why aren't we going now?"

"I can track where it goes," Kal told him. "That much is easy. Hell, the secret facility doesn't even realize what they have."

"What do they have?" Nyz asked. "What am I stealing?"

"Hold on," Kal looked at his tablet, then tapped a couple of things on it. "The official report is decided on. They've assumed you were from Gairal. Heh. Everyone is scrambling to sort out the full extent of what happened, while some of them are going 'what the fuck is the Novran Division'?"

"What is the Novran Division?" Nyz asked.

"A clusterfuck of confusion," Kal told him. "Officially, it doesn't exist. Technically… it doesn't exist. In reality… it exists as paperwork, but no one knows who runs it or who's in it. It has no members. It'll probably take a few days for the top of the military to figure out that someone used the name of a misplaced unit, and that's when their minds will really start to burst, because no one has active teleport tech."

"Except for us," Nyz said.

"Except for us," Kal nodded.

"So," Nyz said. "What am I stealing from the facility?"