Ryan whistled.

"Not bad," he said, walking in a slow circle around the vehicle.

Not only did the dark purple Range Rover look almost brand-new, it had obviously been cleaned and waxed. He didn't even want to think about the price tag.

"My parents bought it for me as a present when I turned eighteen," Syd told him. "Or, well, Adam bought it for me, and told me it was a present from them, anyway. Neither of them even bothered to show up at the party, so I got really mad and told him to keep it. But, you know, I figured we were going to need a car, so..." She waved towards the huge, boxy SUV. "...car."

"Purple?" he asked, settling into the passenger seat.

"What's wrong with purple?"

"Nothing, I guess. I just pictured you driving a black sports car, with black trim and blacked-out windows and a black interior. Skull decals and stuff. Maybe a hearse."

"Hey, I like purple too! Back then, I was super into Izuna Hatsuse."

"Huh?"

"From No Game No Life? C'mon, that one's old, you've got to have seen it."

"Ah, no, sorry. Can't say that I have."

"Well, we'll have to fix that. Once we're done, I can tell you all about why it made so many people mad."

"You like purple, huh." Ryan thought for a moment. "Is that why you swiped my Assassin Changer?"

Syd made an embarrassed throat-clearing noise. Instead of answering, she busied herself with adjusting the rearview mirrors, her seat, and the steering wheel.

"Okay," she said, starting the car and deftly changing the subject, "where are we headed first?"

***

Their first stop was the closest big box store, which ended up being a few short blocks down the road from the apartment.

Ryan selected a heavy duffel bag with shoulder straps for himself, and smaller hiking backpacks for Syd and Amy. Moving on to the clothing section, he quickly picked out several pairs of pants, an equal number of shirts, a pair of running shoes and (last but certainly not least) a few packages of underwear.

Syd insisted on choosing some of his outfits for him, and he didn't mind indulging her.

It's her money, he reminded himself as he stepped out of the dressing room in a lavender button-up and a pair of creased slacks.

Her squeal of glee when she found him a graphic t-shirt from a show called Grappler Baki was positively adorable. She told him that the character on it reminded her of him; he wasn't quite sure if the comparison was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. Syd had promised they'd watch the series at some point so that he could find out.

The shopping spree continued, passing next through the store's outdoor goods section.

A pile of plastic tarps went into the cart, followed by a fifty-foot bundle of paracord. Never know when rope might come in handy. Traveling up and down the aisles, he added water jugs, a small propane camp stove, a rechargeable lantern, a combination hatchet-mallet and some mosquito netting. That last item would be indispensable at this time of year, unless they wanted to wake up covered in bug bites. Memory-foam bedrolls? Sure, why not. He didn't think sleeping bags would be necessary, given the weather, but he found some thin ones, just in case.

After confirming with Syd that the price wouldn't be an issue, Ryan also threw a pair of lightweight collapsible tents into their cart. He'd originally grabbed three, but his shopping partner put one of them back onto the shelf as soon as he turned around.

When he asked if that meant she was planning to share a tent with Amy, she'd just smirked at him.

It's her money, he reminded himself again, trying not to think about the increasing probability that Amy would kill them both.

Syd left him to pore over the dehydrated soup selection in the food department, returning a few minutes later holding a pair of clinking glass bottles in brown paper bags. She didn't tell him what they were, and he didn't ask, although he did silently revise the likelihood that Amy was going to murder them upward by a few more percentage points.

"Want to drive?" she asked him, once they were back in the parking lot and had loaded all the bags into the vehicle's absurdly-spacious trunk.

"Uh, are you sure? Like Amy said, it's been a while for me..."

"Pfft, don't worry about it. This thing has adaptive cruise control, lane assist, automatic braking, the works. It practically drives itself." She made a dismissive gesture. "Besides, it's insured if you crash it."

***

They'd been on the road for about ten minutes when Syd suddenly started cursing. Startled, Ryan slammed on the brakes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

"I missed my chance to try on cute outfits and see what you're into." Her small fist pounded against the armrest. "Fuck!"

"...huh?"

"This is my casual look." Syd waved disparagingly at the simple outfit she was wearing. "I wanted to know what kind of lingerie is your favorite. Guys love that shit." When he didn't immediately respond, she asked in a slightly less confident tone, "They do, don't they?"

He snorted.

"Syd, I'm going to be perfectly honest: I had trouble keeping my eyes off you when you were wading through mud up to your knees and wearing nothing but a half-burned t-shirt. You look great regardless of what you've got on."

"Jeez, you can't just say things like that!" She swatted him on the shoulder, then hid her blushing cheeks in her hands. "My heart can't take it!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll, uh, try to keep the compliments to a minimum."

"Hey, whoa, let's not get carried away. Just, y'know... next time, give me some warning first, okay?"

"Note to self," he narrated out loud, taking his hands off the steering wheel so that he could pretend to write on an invisible notepad. "Stop giving Syd compliments."

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The car really did practically drive itself, he discovered as she flailed at him in mock outrage. It was impressive how far that sort of thing had come in the half-decade he'd been away.

"Speaking of suits that looked good on you, though..." He waggled his eyebrows, drawing a groan from her. "Ah, dang it, that was another compliment. I guess I can't help myself. Anyway, rather than worrying about my taste in women's fashion, why don't we use this time to start thinking about your future Class build choices?"

"Oooh." She sat up straighter in her seat. "I always loved making character builds."

"Amy's Changer got another Level out of the last fight. Yours is pretty close to the next Level. If we Salvage that Blaster Changer you grabbed, that ought to put you over the top. Once Amy meets us, I figure we'll go out into the woods and do as much training as we can. After you both run out of time and revert, I can Level you both up to reset it."

"It's really unfair that you get to see all my stats and experience and stuff, but I don't," she observed with a pout.

"Eh, it's a tradeoff. Unlike you, I can't use a Changer, remember?"

"Hmph. I bet you check out girls' stats all the time when they're not looking."

"...you know, now that you mention it, I've actually never Inspected you."

"Really? You should. I want to know what it says!"

It wasn't a bad idea, Ryan thought. Knowing her base Attributes would make it much easier to decide how they should allocate any future gains.

Analyzing... analysis complete.

Target Identification: Human, adult female

Commencing Standard Attribute Evaluation...

Effective Level: 0

Strength: 3

Agility: 8

Toughness: 4

Endurance: 3

Abilities:

None

Threat Rating: MINIMAL

"Strength 3!?" Syd squawked, outraged, when he informed her of the results. "3 out of 10? You've got to be fucking kidding me! Am I a toddler? That stupid Implant in your head must be broken! What's Amy's Strength score?"

"Amy has a 7," he told her.

"Arrgh! Fucking bullshit alien scouter! What's yours, Ryan?"

Ryan hesitated.

"...12."

"What? Are you telling me that you're four times stronger than me!? I thought you said humans only went up to 10!"

"Unless you get abducted by aliens and they rebuild your body at the cellular level, yeah."

She slouched down and crossed her arms, sulking.

"Well, at least my Agility is pretty good. It's higher than Amy's, isn't it?" Syd waited for him to nod. "I knew it. And it's higher than yours, too, right?"

Probably safer to avoid answering that one, he decided after a brief internal debate. If he told her that he had a 10 in Agility, she might jump out of the car or something.

"It's higher than yours, right?"

"Your Attributes are fine, Syd. Assassins mostly rely on Agility, and you've got an excellent Agility score. The suit will shore up any areas you're weak in, but if you're really worried about it, we can start you on a long-term training program to bring those other numbers up a little."

"Ugh. That sounds like a lot of work."

"Your call." He shrugged. "When your Changer hits Level 4, you'll be able to pick a new Ability, or –"

"Or raise an Ability I already have by 1 Rank." she interrupted. "I remember. It's basically an MMO talent tree. So, what are my choices?"

Scrolling through the Implant's display menus, he brought up the relevant information and centered it in his view.

"Right now, you've got two Abilities," he told her. "Decoy, which every Assassin starts with at Level 1, and Prowler Mode, which the... previous owner of your Changer must have picked at Level 2. Prowler Mode you're already familiar with." After she nodded in confirmation, he continued, "Decoy is a little more complicated to use. Here, I'll read you what the description says."

Ability Name: Decoy

Rank: 1

Requirements: None

Effect: Creates an audiovisual projection of the user at a designated location. By default, the projection mimics any actions taken by the user, although it can also be manually controlled by the user's Forward-Commander. The decoy persists until the Ability is deactivated. Each rank adds an additional decoy.

Restrictions: Remain stationary to activate. Consumes Stamina while active. Once used, the Ability cannot be reactivated until the next transformation.

"...Clone Jutsu," Syd said quietly once he'd finished. She made a series of four quick hand gestures, then snickered to herself. "Holy fuck, I really am a ninja now."

"What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." She waved dismissively. "So, what are my choices for the next slot?"

"Because you have Prowler Mode, the next Ability on that path unlocks at Level 4, Speed Boost. Like you'd expect from the name, it makes you go faster temporarily. Going further down that path will give you access to more mobility-enhancing Abilities. You could also take one of the other Level 2 Abilities, instead."

"Would that be a good idea? In a lot of games, it's better to focus on one tree rather than spreading your points around."

"You can take a second-tier Ability at Level 2 and a third-tier at Level 4, but you need to wait until Level 8 before the fourth tier unlocks, and Level 16 for the fifth tier. That means even if you're planning to go all the way down a single path, you'll still have enough left over to take four other Abilities."

"Okay. Let's hear the other options, then."

"First up is Energy Claws –"

"Sick. That's the one I want."

"...Syd."

"Sorry. Please continue, Forward-Commander Ryan. I'm listening." Folding her hands demurely in her lap, she gave him an innocent look. "Definitely taking the Energy Claws though," she muttered under her breath the second he turned his attention back to the road.

Ryan sighed.

"Alright. Energy Claws. Sort of like the Energy Shield you saw Amy using, but used for offense instead of defense. There are more melee-oriented offensive Abilities later in that path. Next up is Boost Jump. It's, uh, basically a video game-style double jump. You can't turn into a ball or anything, though. Later in that path, you get a mix of different utility Abilities. Then we have Enhanced Agility, which is a passive that raises your Agility Attribute. If you take that one, you can eventually get other Abilities that will passively or actively improve your Attributes."

"Sounds boring," she said.

"I know, but Abilities that are always active can give you a big advantage in long, drawn-out fights. Finally, there's Energy Dart. The last path for every Mark-II Changer Class is a modified version of one belonging to another Class, and this one is shared with the Marksman's progression. Energy Dart is a ranged attack. You've already seen it in action – the Blasters we fought were using a stronger version of it."

"Hmm. Well, if I'm going to have a sniper rifle, I probably don't need Energy Dart... I'll probably want to grab Speed Boost eventually, but for now..."

"Let me guess. Energy Claws?"

"Only because it makes the most sense!" Syd said defensively. "I could use them to cut through locks while I'm, um, infiltrating. And they'd probably work better than a lead pipe to the back of the head for sneak-attacking bad guys who aren't paying attention."

They went back and forth in that vein for the rest of the drive. Syd's gaming background gave her a surprisingly solid perspective on the relative pros and cons of the various options. Once they'd finally settled on Energy Claws, they used the remainder of the time to discuss the finer points of Attributes, build strategies and combat tactics.

Ability Name: Energy Claws

Rank: 1

Requirements: EL2, Decoy

Effect: Creates a magnetically-contained ion field in the form of a claw, capable of penetrating most defenses. The claw persists until the Ability is deactivated. Each rank adds an additional claw.

Restrictions: At-will. Consumes Stamina while active. If damage received by the user exceeds claw capacity while the Ability is active, it will immediately deactivate, and cannot be reactivated until the next transformation.

After the intense confrontation with Adam and its aftermath, it felt good to let the sexual tension between them ebb. Sooner or later, it would return. Until then, however, he found it reassuring to learn that Syd was capable of holding a serious discussion... more or less.

A glance to the side showed that Syd was staring intently at a video on her new phone... and practicing making Naruto hand seals.

I suppose there's still some room for improvement, he admitted to himself.