???? 1984:47

The clock was ticking down at its normal uneven pace. Myles pondered what metrics it used, if he was daydreaming did it speed up? If he was trying to work out a complex strategy designed to keep him alive if a horde of fae invaded, would it slow down to a crawl? He needed to talk through things with Zara when she awoke. On one hand, if he took the slow way of being patient it was ten weeks or so. If he overclocked the suit, he could have it now… probably, presuming he had enough base materials to complete the build. But something that big would leave his suit in emergency-only mode and whatever form this jailbreak took it would likely attract sweet bright attention and he wasn’t about to fight them off in jeans and a hoodie.

He was sure the mystery item his Trigger was in the middle of constructing for him, based on the genius loci he slew, was the very thing Johnny Samhain eluded to. He claimed Myles had the solution all along. It made sense, the creepy eldritch forest had a foot in two dimensions and it was obviously, a complicated construction even the time it was taking.

???? 1984:46

“What do you think Llex?”

“I think Samhain's having a laugh with you about this whole wedding thing. Zara going out with you? More chance of me becoming a dancing horse. And, Myles, if she catches wind of you going haywire twice, you might find yourself with a headache courtesy of her aiming skills, if you catch my drift." Said Llex.

“About the unknown thing I’m building out of the genius loci corpse, “ Said Myles through gritted teeth.

“Oh,” said Llex. “Yeah, that is likely your ticket out of the turn. But you never really know with time travellers. Pain in the bottom, the lot of them, especially the ones who can only go forward.”

“That’s everyone Llex,” Myles said “Everyone can only go forward it time, that’s how linear time works.”

““I Know” said the A.I “But in all seriousness you might want to watch those little slip ups. Handy in a pinch turns into needing to go live on the farm faster than you might like.”

“I don't suppose you know how to get past this bonkers stage you all keep telling me about? preferably without getting my brain liquefied by Zara or otherwise wise euthanised by concerned parties.” Said Myles

“It's different for everyone” said Llex “But the commonality between Trigger users seems to boil down to a battle of wills against the suit. But you have a stage or two before that battle of wills needs to occur.”

“Exactly what are these stages? John never clearly explained it.” asked Myles

“If memory serves, you start with the Origin form, that is what you are now, the albino-looking bunny suit.” Said Llex

“Thank you Llex, I would have missed that without your expert guidance.”

“You are very welcome,” Said Llex “Next up is the Boost form, most of them turn red for some reason, but you might get away with that, then Super Boost. After that, Savage Champion, that is when you go celebrity chef on anyone in the vicinity. If you win that you get the Champion form. Less than half make it there.”

“This is why legacy Triggers can be a mixed bag right?” Said Myles

“Bang on! A legacy might be more plug-and-play, but it's heavily limited by how far the original user could go.” Said Llex “Your friend John Marquis and the Cash Trigger have one of those quirks that lets the user bypass that restriction, fairly uncommon but it does the job. Anyway, after that, you get the Ascended form and if you are a lucky boy you get True Ascended.”

“Seven levels of power.’ Myles mused out loud.

“At least upwards, Augments make you stronger outwards but they mostly only work with the Origin form.” Explained Llex “But it's always best to take all this as a guideline, not a hard rule set, it's one of the things that drives the rest of the community nuts about you.”

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“I have been getting that impression, are we as troublesome as Zara has been making out” Asked Myles, a note of hope in his voice

“Probably worse, you should see the Christmas parties.”

“We have Christmas Parties?”

“Oh yea, two usually, the bigger groups and independents all have one for their respective groups and one big one for everyone.” Said Llex “Bit of crossover because of plus ones and normally a week or two of overtime for the department that does all the cover-ups… remember that time Nelson’s column went missing?”

“Nelson's column has never been missing Llex.”

“Good aren’t they!” said the A.I

With no way to know if his leg was being pulled, Myles let that one go. The glow of the interface reminded him he still had work to do.

Familiar bond - Completing Synchronising 86%

Hope lit up his heart when he saw how well the familiar bond was synchronising. But Myles knew the Charlie that came out the other end of this process may not be the same Charlie he knew and loved. Images of a mighty pink hand smashing his cat into the ground flashed across his imagination, images and guilt. The little guy always looked out for Myles and he had repaid that by putting Charlie in danger by declaring war against the whistlers and their big dragon mum. Knowing on an intellectual level that the pink bastards were only ever going to escalate regardless of Myles’ actions did little to assuage the pit in his gut. If in 14% time, there was a second chance to see Charlie, Myles resolved to never let him down again. Done with his melancholy, there was another thing Myles needed to check.

??????: Repair 100% Synchronisation 100% - Complete

There it was, his Grandfathers's mysterious inheritance. Giving it a mental poke the mysterious augment revealed itself.

Augments

Legacy of Seleucus

Legacy of Seleucus, what did that mean? Myles would need to test that out in the morning. But he would admit to a certain level of excitement, like a child with a new toy. Of course, a toy that had the added benefit of increased survivability… Again Myles was reminded that he would need to look up therapy once he was free of the cosmic hernia.

Myles now had another arrow in his quiver, not that he knew what shape that arrow would take… but it was added security and enough that maybe it really was worth the risk…

???? 1984:40

A bit of mental arithmetic adding a hungover sentinel to a brand new augment equalled a risk worth taking. Myles selected the countdown and chose to overclock.

The headache as he awoke was substantial. A hand rubbing his face came away red and wet. A nosebleed he thought. Rising up and ignoring the thumping in his head Myles made his way to the bathroom. A glance in the mirror revealed not just a nose bleed, but some blood from the eyes and eras. Cracking stuff.

The hot water of the shower was a tonic in and of itself. The dried blood was washed away and the thumping in his head subsided. He knew he would not be able to manually summon his armour for a fair while. This last over-clocking felt like a big one. Not that there was a huge sample size, Myles was just using his intuition in the context of previous experiences but his gut told him he had pushed the envelopes this time.

Descending the stairs dressed for the day, Myles was surprised to find Zara already down and making breakfast.

“If you are wondering we Sentries have a remarkable recovery ability too,” said Zara “Would you like some sausages… at least I think they are sausages, I’m frying them anyway.”

“It's sausage meat, don’t worry, the weird stuff is in the freezer,” said Myles.

Zara continued frying various meats, eggs and fungi in Myles’ pans. the result was a very close approximation to a proper fry-up.

“Just what you need sometimes” Said Zara

“You seem uncharacteristically chipper.” said Myles

“Not every day you meet a legend, well, legends… no… legend… fuck I hate time travel.” Said Zara “

“you tried to arrest him?” stated Myles

“No, not Samhain, Tommy rockets… Fire Trigger or not, he is a legend in the community… but I guess you are right, they are the same person…. this requires more sausages,” said Zara who began rooting around for more meat products.

“Bag of hand browns, bottom shelf of the freezer” said Myles

Zara took the bag out of the freezer, ripped it open over a metal tray and put the whole lot in the oven.

“It can be a bonus portion,” Said Animalbion Silver.

The two ate breakfast and then a second breakfast once pre-made hash browns had been done in the oven. there was a small fight over who got the brown sauce first, but Myles opted to be a gentleman and let Zara have it first.

“I have something to run by you before we start training” Said Myles halfway through munching on a hash brown.

“Whatever Endeavour,” Said Zara

Under an hour later the pair were stood in the muddy remains of the park. It had not reset like some of the food stores, but then a turn was not known for operating by any kind of rules that made sense. Myles was sure had had seen a duck floating past earlier… not flying just sort of floating past, like it was swimming through some sort of invisible water.

“Am I just going to have to shoot you for wasting my time” said Zara

“No, just give me a minute” Sid Myles.

“Did you overclock and forget?” Said Zara

“No… Yes” Said Myles with a slight embarrassment.

“One minute” Said Zara.

Zara ran off into the park, there was a small wait when familiar red sparks began jolting around Myles and the suit manifested. the suit had only just snapped into place when a fat sea urchin-looking thing slapped down right in front of Myles.

“You, are welcome,” Said Zara.

Myles took out a golden orb from his storage, clicked it into his Trigger and pulled.

1.2.3. Boom.

The audible part of the change was in Myles’ opinion… a bit crap. But the golden-plated arms were a nice change from the regular configuration.

“you quite alright there your Majesty’ Said Zara

“What?” said Myles in confusion before feeling above his head and finding a static floating golden crown.

“So what does this fancy wardrobe change do?” asked Zara

Myles had zero idea. There were no instructions. He had no clue what this new augmentation did, it was entirely a mystery. Refusing to look bad in front of Zara he dug deep, his tiny human mind doing its best to probe the new power-up, he hit on something.

Myles outstretched his hands. in his palms, a glowing bright light began to appear. The glowing light formed a solid-looking sphere, bright, firm and packing power it gathered and grew in Myles’ hands. Myles aimed at a tree stump in the distance, he imagined it shooting forth at great velocity. The ball of energy released and dropped straight down to the ground and promptly blew up sending Myles flying.