I followed Mecha out of the orientation room and down the hall towards the elevators, and was surprised to find Eco waiting for us by the elevator. The large man had hair just shy of shoulder length, held back by a strange mix of headband and armored faceguard. The headband held his hair back, and armored metal pieces covered his forehead and the sides of his head from his temple to his jawline. He also wore a domino mask, and I wondered idly how it changed his features. He was dressed in uniform, with a thick-looking tight fabric that covered him from neck to toes except for leaving his arms bare. The part from the waist up was colored to look like a black undershirt with a dark brown vest over top, while below looked like jeans. He also wore heavy-duty boots with metal armored panels, a thick armored belt around his waist, and he had a club hanging from his belt. The club threw me off a bit because at first glance it looked as though it'd been manufactured with a weird pattern, but as I got closer, I saw that the pattern was actually from living bark, and that the head of the club had thorns and small leaves, while the butt of the club had roots that had spiraled into a ring that was hanging from a nylon loop on the belt. Heavy armored gloves covered his hands and the vine tattoos ran down his arms, as before.

"Mecha," Eco said, smiling. "Are they still foisting the orientation classes on you?"

"Eco, my boy," Mecha replied, smiling. "Great to see you! Yes, they've been making me take on more PR duties. It's like they don't want me to take my mechs out at all! So silly, I tell you. There was hardly any property damage last time!"

"Let me guess....outfitting?" Eco asked.

"Yep," Mecha replied. "I hope they've gotten better since my time."

"They haven't," Eco assured him. The elevator doors opened and we all three went inside. Mecha pushed the buttons for a subbasement floor as Eco turned to me.

"A big part of being a super is being able to do the job safely and anonymously," he told me. "That means our uniforms are one of the most important parts of our kit. You will have three options when you get down to Outfitting. You can go with a design they come up with, you can spend your own money and have them make you a custom suit to your specifications, or you can ask for a basic suit. You will need to ask them to show you the suit they design, but ultimately your best bet is going to be asking for a basic suit. That suit will come with a camouflaging domino mask, one of up to five different colors in a full body unitard, gloves, boots, and belt. You should be given the option of three pieces of gear to be assigned for free. If they do so, you'll want a weapon of some sort, a backpack, and some sort of tool. Because I know what the WildCards do and don't have, I'll be there the whole way to help you and give inputs. You don't have to follow my recommendations, but I suggest you do, because it'll make you more useful to the team."

"I....don't really know much about weapons," I said. "How will I make a good choice?"

"That's why Mecha and I are there, partially. We'll help you try out a few weapons and figure out which ones best suit you."

"While we're down there, we'll also get you your Guild Pass and scanner. It'll work with your armor to help you become a more effective super," Mecha chimed in. "And we'll also go through your schedule. By the way, before we go down there, here. It's time you put on your first mask."

The mask Mecha handed to me was the generic domino mask, a small mask that covered the eyes, part of the nose, and part of the forehead. The inside of the mask looked.....moist. I hesitantly pressed the mask to my face and was surprised to feel it squish slightly before expanding slightly. I thought the eyeholes might interfere, but I was surprised to find that I could see just fine and the mask seemed almost like it wasn't there.

"Looking much better, Switcher," Eco said as he looked at me.

"Yes you are," Mecha agreed, nodding. "Let's get you outfitted, young Switcher."

The elevator doors opened on a large room with walkways marked off and colored black, contrasting with the white of the rest of the floor. Various machines sat in well marked areas mostly fenced off with safety fencing. I followed Mecha and Eco as they walked past the machines to the counter at the back of the room, manned by a person that I had no desire to approach if at all possible. He wore a heavily worn lab coat with holes and rips in it, a heavy apron over top that appeared to have been burned at one point and possibly had acid stains on it, goggles on his face, heavy, elbow high gloves, and he was missing half his hair.

"Hello again, Seven," Mecha said, stopping well back from the counter.

"Seven, good to see you," Eco said, stopping even further back. "We've brought someone for a fitting."

"Ah, yes," the man said, turning his head to look at me. "I see that. Excellent. I haven't had an opportunity to work on a new uniform for weeks! Hello, young man. I am Seven!"

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"Uh....nice to meet you, Seven," I said uncertainly from where I stood beside Eco. The two men next to me helpfully stepped back, leaving me at the front of the group.

"What are your powers and name, if I can ask?" Seven asked.

"You know that's off limits," Mecha said. "His moniker is Switcher."

"Oooohhh," Seven said, excited. "Sounds intriguing! I'll come up with something presently. Now, come, come, and let me get your measurements," the man said, waving me towards a circle painted green on the ground. "Just stand inside the circle and don't let any part of your body pass over the circle's boundary."

I stood on the circle, looking, uneasily, at the machine overhead. It appeared to be attached to the ceiling, and consisted of multiple metal rings the exact size of the circle I was standing on, with strange looking camera-like devices on the rings. I heard the machine begin to hum and an ominous feeling started in my gut.

"Oh, don't forget to close your eyes," Seven called out. "Here we go!"

I shut my eyes as quickly as possible and stayed perfectly still as the machine's hum got louder and louder. I heard the metal rings descend, and then, even through my eyelids, I saw the rotating flashing and strobing effect as the camera devices traveled around the circles. It only lasted a few seconds, and then the machine withdrew and the humming stopped.

"All done!" Seven announced as I opened my eyes. I looked around, a little dazed after the flashing lights, to find him poking around on a large touchscreen he had behind the counter. "It'll be a few minutes before I'm ready for you. Go with the others and find a weapon or something while you wait."

Eco and Mecha were already walking away down a side passage I hadn't noticed, which lead past a sign proclaiming 'Armory'. I followed, speeding up my walk as machines whirled to life behind me, making horrible sounds.

As I walked into the armory, I had to stop and look in appreciation for a beautiful, functional, setup. The armory had five rooms, as far as I could see. The one I entered into was the smallest, with a square counter in the center of the room. There were two men who looked like hard-bitten mercenaries manning the counter, loading magazines and cleaning weapons. To my left there was another room with ranged weapons of all kinds mounted on the walls, and beyond that there appeared to be a shooting range. On my right there was a room full of melee weapons, and beyond that there was a room that appeared to be set up as a dojo or a training area. Mecha and Eco were standing at the counter, talking to the two attendants.

"Come on over," Eco said. "I'd like you to meet our daytime armory crew, Dave 'Mags' Blake and Mark 'Goodie Bag' Travers. Guys, this is Switcher."

"Nice to meet you, Dave and Mark," I said politely as I walked up to the counter.

"Call us Mags and Goodie Bag," Dave said. "Nice to meet you, Switcher. What's your ideal weapon of mayhem?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. "I've never used a weapon before."

"Maybe start with throwing weapons, maybe a crossbow, and then try a firearm?" Mecha suggested. "With a lack of offensive powers, he can contribute while keeping his distance."

"I think he'd be better off using a melee weapon," Eco chimed in. "A mace or baton, possibly. He's going to be swapping into areas that could put him in close quarters with enemies. He's going to need to be able to defend himself against an enemy at arms length."

"That assumes he's going to be getting into close combat," Mecha said.

"Yeah," Eco replied. "His power is literally swapping places with other people. It does him no good to sit in the back and switch places with other people near the back, especially since the only other ranged we have is BrightGold."

"Who's he going to swap with?" Mecha said, heatedly. "You? Do you think he can take a blow meant for you? Is he going to swap with Shank? How's he going to survive something the Steel Tornado can't take? Or Hyper, who is both armored and has dexterity through the roof?"

"Well he certainly can't if he's wielding a crossbow," Eco said. "And nobody's saying he needs to tank a blow or hold off fifty enemies. Chances are he's going to be repositioning people on the battlefield so they can meet enemies they're better suited to fight. He just needs survivability as he swaps other people in."

"Yeah," Mecha replied. "He's going to survive for ten seconds while he defends himself and tries to find the new target and gather his power for the swap."

"He's only used his powers a handful of times," Eco argued. "Who knows how fast he'll go when he actually practices?"

"That's not how powers work, and you know it, Eco," Mecha said heatedly.

"Of course it is," Eco replied. "Even the most gifted person on earth still has to learn the skills and practice them. The fastest runners all had to practice to get good enough at running to be the fastest."

"Woah, woah, woah, guys!" Mags and Goodie Bag jumped out from behind the counter. "We'll take Switcher through his weapons. You two go out and cool off!"

"Fine, fine," Mecha said, throwing his hands up. "Class is over anyways. I'll see you next week, Switcher. Be sure to check your email."

"My email?" I asked, taken aback. "What emai-"

"This email," Eco said, handing me a card and a small bracelet. "I'll double check on your uniform with Seven, but whatever you choose, it'll be delivered to your room in WildCard territory. The bracelet is your Guild Pass. Don't lose it. It'll give you access to the elevator and to selected floors within the Guild. Right now that'll be WildCard territory on the third floor and Orientation on the sixth. And make sure you log into your email at least once every morning. Your email will not be accessible on your phone, only on hardwired computers, and even then you'll probably want to use your team laptop."

"What team laptop?" I asked, confused.

"The one delivered to your apartment today by a fellow Guildie," he replied as he turned to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I watched, confused, as Eco walked out, leaving me with the armorers.

"Well, welcome to the life, kid," Mags said from beside me. "Come on, we'll check you out on weapons and then you can finish your uniform choices and get out of here."