"In order to activate a Changer," Ryan explained as he dug around beneath his seat, "it needs to be Attuned first. Sort of like how you have to register a car before you're allowed to drive it."

Amy stared down at the Changer fastened around her waist.

"So this thing is Attuned to me now?" she asked.

"To me, actually," he corrected. "Once it's Attuned to a Forward-Commander, it can be Bonded to a user. That's you, in this case. A Changer that's been Attuned and Bonded is ready to use, but it can only be activated by the Forward-Commander it's Attuned to, and only for the user it's Bonded to."

"I see." She frowned slightly. "So if you got separated from your Forward-Commander, or if your Forward-Commander was injured or killed..."

"You'd be out of luck. I'm sure the Zorvax set it up that way on purpose, given how paranoid they are. They're not afraid of losing some expendable foot soldiers, but they worry a lot about having their own weapons pointed at them."

"...although the system doesn't do much good if it's one of their Forward-Commanders who turns on them," he added after a moment of further consideration. "A-ha, here it is!"

Ryan held up the Changer that he'd taken from the defeated Simian Brute, drawing a quizzical look from Amy.

"You said that a Changer won't turn on unless it's already been Attuned and Bonded," she noted. "So we won't be able to use that one, will we?"

"Not unless the Forward-Commander that it's Attuned to transfers control... or dies, I suppose. But I don't think you'd want to use this one, in any case. It's powerful, but not very versatile."

"And the one I have is better?"

"Much better." Ryan shook the metallic belt in his hand for emphasis as he spoke. "This is an old-style Changer, a Mark-I Onyx. It turns you into a Brute War-Form, makes you bigger and tougher and stronger, but that's all. Remember earlier, when we talked about expendable pawns? Mark-I Changers are what the pawns get." Turning in his seat, he pointed at the one around her waist. "That, however, is a brand-new Mark-II Gold model. Top of the line. Mark-II Changers are only ever issued to the elite Enforcers."

"What's the difference?"

"Well, the big difference is that a Mark-II Changer has ITAR."

"Eye-taur?"

"Iterative Threat Adaptation Routine. ITAR. Basically, it's a system that continuously records combat data whenever the Changer is in use. Once it accumulates enough information, the ITAR can evaluate and process the stored combat data in order to improve the Changer's overall capabilities."

"So it's some kind of... learning computer?"

"Not quite. The more you use a Mark-II Changer, the stronger it becomes. I think it would probably be easier for me to show you how it works, rather than try to explain it."

"Okay, fair enough. But if I'm understanding you correctly, Mark-I Changers aren't as good, and we can't activate that one anyway. Why did you keep it, then?"

"Because," he said, "there's something else you can do with Changers that you don't have any other use for. Check this out."

Ryan reached his hand out, then paused. "Ah, do you mind?"

"What –" Amy followed his gaze to the Changer she was wearing beneath her baggy exercise clothes. "O-oh, I thought you meant... nevermind. Of course." She lifted the bottom of her hoodie enough to reveal the segmented metal band underneath. "Is this enough?"

"Yeah, I just need to touch it for a second."

Already tinged a faint pink, Amy's cheeks went incandescent at that remark, and he had to hold back a chuckle. For such a tough, no-nonsense woman, it's surprisingly easy to embarrass her.

Her cute reactions made him want to keep teasing her, but of course he was too much of a gentleman to ever act on such childish impulses. For now, that is. Later, though, once things have calmed down, maybe...

He tried not to admire the strip of taut midriff on display.

Man. Ryan shook his head sharply, attempting to clear the inappropriate thoughts away. Just how long has it been since the last time I got laid?

Downtime between missions for building interpersonal connections had been another thing that the Zorvax weren't big on.

Focus, he told himself, and closed his eyes.

Convert Change Matrix [Mark-I Onyx] to salvage?

CAUTION: This process is final and cannot be reversed!

Confirmed. Salvaging Change Matrix [Mark-I Onyx]...

Although he wasn't able to observe, he'd watched others perform the process enough times to know exactly what would happen next. As soon as he confirmed his selection, the Mark-I Changer in his right hand dissolved into a cloud of glowing motes, which were then drawn into the gem at the center of the Mark-II Changer around Amy's waist.

Change Matrix [Mark-I Onyx] has been converted to salvage.

Change Matrix [Mark-II Gold] has been upgraded.

Change Matrix [Mark-II Gold] has gained an Effective Level!

All Change Matrix functions have been reset.

Type: Change Matrix Mark-II (Gold)

Class: Juggernaut

Effective Level: 3

Combat Data Collected: 7%

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

"Whoa, you gained a whole Level and then some just from winning your fight against that Brute. I didn't even notice."

"Oh. That's... good, I guess?"

"It's great news. Between that and salvaging the Changer we took, you're up to Level 3 now. It means we've got some choices to make." He opened his eyes before continuing. "When you're transformed, the Changer gives you two benefits: enhanced Attributes, and special Abilities. The Attributes you've already experienced."

Amy raised a blonde eyebrow. "What about the special Abilities? I don't think I noticed anything like that."

"At the time, it seemed like you already had your hands full adjusting to the Attribute changes, without trying to throw new Abilities into the mix too. I can already tell you're going to love them, though. Uh, I guess you could think of them like super powers."

"Super powers," she repeated flatly.

"Super powers," he confirmed. "The Abilities you get are determined by the Class of your Changer. Since yours transforms you into a Juggernaut, it comes with the Intercept Ability to start. Essentially, when you activate it, it'll launch you in a straight line in the direction of your target, ignoring your current inertia. Even works in midair. It's really cool."

"...super powers." She shook her head resignedly. "Fine, whatever. I've got super powers now. And getting Levels makes them stronger?"

"Getting a Level gives you a choice in how you want to make them stronger," he said, emphasizing the subtle distinction. "At Level 2, and every even Level after that, your Changer undergoes a power expansion. You can either improve an Ability the Changer already has by 1 Rank, which makes it better, or you can take a new Ability. There's restrictions on which Classes get which Abilities, and the order you can take them, but it's complicated and we can save the nitty-gritty details for later. It's your Changer, of course, but I would strongly recommend you take a new Ability first."

"What are the choices?"

"You've got five options: Energy Shield, Transpose, Density Boost, Enhanced Toughness, and Momentum. Each of those leads to a different line of advanced Abilities at higher Levels. You can take more than one, but it's generally a better idea to choose one or two paths to focus on. Following so far?"

Ryan waited for her confirmation before continuing.

"Keeping it simple, Energy Shield does what it says on the label. Activating it generates a shield formed out of magnetically-contained... eh, that's not important. You get something that looks like a glowing, see-through medieval shield on your arm that you can use to block attacks or hit people with. It'll stop bullets, no problem. Transpose uses short-distance teleportation to swap places with an ally. Kind of situational, but it can be a lifesaver if your team has weaker members that you want to protect. When it's active, Density Boost makes your War-Form more solid, sturdier, harder to knock over or push around, but you also get slower and heavier. That one's pretty straightforward. Enhanced Toughness is what we call a passive Ability, just giving you a flat boost to your Toughness Attribute. Finally there's Momentum. Every time you hit a target while it's active, it increases the force of the next hit for a short time. Powerful, but tricky to use effectively, because it stops working if one of your attacks misses."

"It sounds like you have an opinion on which one I should take," Amy observed.

He held up his hands defensively.

"At the end of the day, it's your Changer, so the choice is yours. I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to push you into anything. But..."

"But?"

"...but I think that Energy Shield would be the best option right now. It's got the best combination of flexibility and ease-of-use."

Ability Name: Energy Shield

Rank: 1

Requirements: EL2, Intercept

Effect: Creates a magnetically-contained ion field in the form of a shield, capable of absorbing most attacks. The shield persists until the Ability is deactivated. Each rank improves the size and capacity of the shield.

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

"Alright." She nodded decisively. "Let's go with that one then. What do I get from the other Level?"

"At Level 3, and every odd Level after that, your Changer undergoes a performance enhancement. You can add a Rank to one of your Abilities, and five points to your current Attributes, divided however you want. Also, the maximum duration you can remain in a transformed state goes up by two minutes, but that's a bit of a double-edged sword."

"Why?"

"The cooldown is twenty-five seconds for every second you spent transformed. At Level 1 a Mark-II Changer can stay active for ten minutes, max. If you use all of that time, it'd leave you unable to use your Changer again for a bit over four hours once the transformation ends. Obviously, that becomes a bigger concern as your transformation duration gets longer."

Noting her concerned expression, he quickly added, "Oh, but the cooldown also resets when you gain a Level, so this time around you don't have to worry about it. Just something to keep in mind for the future."

"Don't transform unless I need to, and don't spend any more time transformed than I need to. Makes sense. What's the deal with those Attribute points you mentioned earlier?"

"Attribute points are kind of like... I'm guessing you don't play video games much?"

She made a face.

"No, they're more Syd's thing. She'd play all day if nobody stopped her. I never understood the appeal."

"Hm. Okay. Let's just say that your Attributes are a comprehensive measurement of how your physical capabilities compare to the baseline for your species. There are four Attributes: Strength, Agility, Toughness, and Endurance. 5 points in an Attribute is considered an average value, with 0 and 10 being the bottom and top ends of the normal scale, respectively. Which Attributes the Changer improves when you're transformed are determined by its Class."

"I got slammed into the pavement with a streetlight, and it just left me a little winded," Amy noted. "That means that Juggernauts have a lot of extra Toughness, I guess."

"Right. Mark-II Changers provide a boost to all Attributes across the board, but for yours, Toughness is the primary focus. A Juggernaut War-Form is... if you played video games, I'd tell you its role was to be a tank, but I don't think that would mean anything to you, would it?" Her uncomprehending stare told him everything he needed to know. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Uh, a Juggernaut is supposed to get in the enemy's face and take hits to protect the rest of the team."

"I like that." The corner of her lip quirked up at the picture his words had painted. "Should we put all these points I have to spend into Toughness, then?"

"That's one option, but it really depends on how you want to fight." He pulled up her current Attributes. "If you want my advice, I'd suggest putting two points into Strength, two points into Agility, and the last point into Toughness. Right now, you're a team of one, so you need to be able to handle yourself on offense as well as on defense."

"And for the Ability Rank?"

"Your call. I imagine you'll want to put at least a few Ranks into both of them eventually."

"Then we'll start with the shield."

Ryan nodded. After finalizing the requested changes, he pulled up the details on Amy's new and improved War-Form.

Analyzing... analysis complete.

Target Identification: War-Form, Human Juggernaut

Commencing Standard Attribute Evaluation...

Effective Level: 3

Strength: 14

Agility: 10

Toughness: 20

Endurance: 11

Abilities:

Intercept (Rank 1)

Energy Shield (Rank 2)

Threat Rating: MEDIUM

Hey, all those upgrades were enough to bump her up to threat rating medium. Not bad!

"Okay," Ryan said when he was finished, "that about does it. Now, I think it's about time for us to go find your wayward friend."

By way of reply, Amy started the car.

"Try calling her again?" he suggested.

Amy dialed, then waited with the phone held up to her ear. After a few moments, she sighed.

"Her phone's still turned off."

"Then let's hope she hasn't run too far."