Lightforge and Gray Guardian were cheering and whooping, arms thrown around one another in an enormous bear hug. They were in shock, staring at the defeated pile of parts that had been trying to kill them. The dangerous Mechanical Overlord. But it was no more. They’d defeated it.

Another shout of joy filled their ears just before a golden streak of light crashed into them. Sunbird was laughing hysterically as they all tumbled and rolled across the floor in a tangle of limbs. At first Lightforge was surprised, but that quickly gave way as he also began to laugh.

It took nearly a full minute for the three to untangle themselves and rise from the ground. When they finally stood up, Circe and Cannoneer were there, smiling as they shook their heads at the sight of the other three.

Sunbird puffed herself up so much that her toes began to float about an inch above the floor. She stared at the more calm duo and said, "Don't even start with that attitude. I can see it in your eyes; you're just as [BLEEPING] excited as we are."

Circe shrugged and said, "I'll wait until I've seen what we've won. Maybe then I'll roll around like an idiot."

The villain nodded at Lightforge, and he understood. There was an unread system message waiting for him. He opened it and couldn't keep the smile off his face.

Congratulations!

Mission: Mechanical Neutrality

All Objectives Completed

Rewards:

* 80 XP

* 120 Hero Bux

* Component Scanner (Gadgeteer Only)

* Access to Lab Vault

You have received additional experience for defeating enemies within the lab.

Additional Experience Gained: 140

You have reached level 6!

Free Points: 4

He whistled softly as he looked at the results. A quick look at the team showed them reading their own updates with grins that matched his own. After more than two weeks in this world, he'd nearly forgotten what the game was normally supposed to be like. With a little bit of dedication, you could reach level 10 in an afternoon or two. Missions like this were exactly the reason why.

He smiled and declared, "And just like that, I'm level 6. Honestly, I forgot how good it feels to do things like that."

"Hell yeah!" Sunbird said, "This is great! I'm ready for that excitement now, Circe."

"Alright, I'll admit that this is pretty nice. I might just be in the mood for one of those hugs now."

Cannoneer interrupted and said, "Before anything like that, does anyone else see this last reward? 'Access to Lab Vault.'"

"Oh yeah, I saw that," Sunbird said with a shrug before continuing, "I figured it was just talking about the boss room. The squid bot alone has got to be worth a fortune in parts for Forgey Boy over here."

She wasn't wrong, but Lightforge took Cannoneer's meaning. The various robots in the lab were certainly valuable, but this place wasn't much of a vault. After all, the Overlord had seemed more than willing to blast the entire place to pieces in order to kill them, so there probably wasn't anything valuable being stored in here.

That was when the room shuddered and bright light shone from the far wall. They all stared in amazement as the dark concrete parted and slowly slid away to reveal a bright white chamber that had been hidden on the other side. The team all gawked for a few moments before sprinting across the battlefield to see what was waiting for them.

As Lightforge crossed the threshold into the light, he felt his feet grow light on the floor below. Within three more steps, he was floating away from the ground. Surrounded by warm white light, he allowed himself to be gently pulled upward to parts unknown. Except that he knew where he was going: the vault. He just didn’t know what to expect when he got there.

The light dimmed around him, and he found himself standing in a surprisingly dull room. He’d been expecting a sterile space, like something out of a hospital. Instead it looked much closer to a garage: brick walls and a smooth concrete floor. The only windows were small and set up near the ceiling. Windows that were letting in morning sunlight. There was a single metal door leading outside.

The more he looked at it, the more convinced Lightforge became: this was the actual interior of the building that they’d entered. The original lab, built at ground level before being expanded downward into the depths of the earth. This was where the scientist’s work had begun, and it showed.

Much of the working tools and equipment had been moved deeper down over time, but relics and trophies still dotted the walls. Half-finished robots, blueprints, and several crates full of random components were strewn about the area haphazardly. But those were basically just decoration; random bits of mechanical stuff to make things look interesting. The true valuables were sitting in a glass case that stood innocuously against one wall.

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The case was home to six items, and none of them were glowing or giving off any indication that they were particularly powerful. That, Lightforge decided, was the true key. Anything could glow or make impressive noises, that was easy. The truly powerful items didn’t need those things; they were desired based solely on what they could do and nothing else.

Gently, he opened the case and reached for the first item. It was a tablet computer with an oversized camera protruding out of the back. He was drawn to it, and he knew what it was even before the description came up in front of him.

Name: Component Scanner

Type: Tool

Quality: Common

State: Undamaged

An essential tool for every gadgeteer and tinkerer. Among its functions is the ability to locate high quality components in the immediate area and to analyze machinery to determine how they might be duplicated.

Abilities:

* Area Scan

* Locate crafting components within a 10m radius

* +7% chance to find higher quality components

* Scan Item

* Analyze a crafted item to determine its components (60% chance)

* The same item can only be scanned 1 time per 24 hours

* Scan cannot identify components higher than Common Quality

It really was the perfect tool for him to use. It would help him to skip through a lot of the trial and error that would otherwise make up a huge part of the early crafting process. Actually, now that he thought about it, trial and error would still be invaluable to him. After all, the scanner would be at its most valuable once he could collect items to use it on.

But he was getting ahead of himself. He needed to investigate the rest of the items. He looked up to pick up the next one, but they were all gone. He blinked and looked around, searching. His team was all around him now, each one inspecting an item. Except for Circe, who’d helped herself to two of the rewards instead.

Judging by the grins of excitement, the other items were all good. There were a few minutes of trades and explanations, but soon enough everyone had the item that would suit them the best and an understanding of all the loot that they’d won.

Cannoneer was now sporting a medieval gauntlet that clashed with his modern military style uniform. He didn’t seem to mind; it provided a small speed and power boost to all projectile weapons, which was more than a fair trade off for the mismatched equipment. It was questionable whether or not he needed to do even more damage, but it was a better fit than the other options.

Gray Guardian looked the same as always, covered from head to toe in their billowing gray cloak. But somewhere underneath the costume they now carried a package of bandages that looked ordinary while being anything but. There were only three of them, but each one would nearly double the power of healing and regeneration effects for a short time. With that, the healer would be able to keep up with even nasty wounds even at their low level.

Sunbird was sulking in a corner, still complaining to anyone who would listen. The rest of the team was ignoring her; she’d started to repeat herself after only a few seconds. Her item was a wristband that could provide her with short bursts of speed, perfect for escaping risky situations. It wasn’t the flashiest of tools, but they had all agreed that it made the most sense. Given her mobility, she was more likely to be caught away from the group. An escape method was the clear choice; she just didn’t like it.

Circe's reward had been the target of the most heated discussion, but she'd won out in the end. It was a plain metal ring that looked rather unimpressive, which had been the biggest hint. It reduced AP expenditure by 5% for all skills. Anyone could have benefitted from it, but extending the duration of illusions had the most benefits for the team as a whole.

In addition to his scanner, Lightforge was handed a second item. He had initially protested, but the entire team had overruled him. This was his mission, and so he got the spare. It probably also helped that it wasn't particularly useful on its own.

His second item was a glistening silver gear that nearly glowed when the light hit it. It was about the size of his palm, but heavy. The corners dug into his hand as he studied it. It was a Rare quality upgrade component, and was probably worth any two of the other items that they'd recovered. Of course, that was only true if you had a Gadgeteer around to actually use it.

With all the items accounted for and handed out to the members of the team, Sunbird finally cheered up. With a sly grin on her face, she nudged Circe and said, "With a haul like this, you owe me some excitement. I seem to recall something about a hug, but I'm not so sure that's going to cut it anymore."

The illusionist spent just a moment looking bemused before a smirk slid onto her face. She raised an eyebrow at the other woman and said, "Oh, really? If you don't mind an audience, then I'm down. I'll make you very… excited."

Sunbird's face flushed, but she kept a forced smile on her face. She managed a brief laugh before slowly backing away from the other woman. Circe just shrugged before starting to giggle. Lightforge was next, giggling quietly to himself as he watched someone else be subjected to Circe's antics.

From there the mirth spread, and soon the entire team was quietly giggling as the last remnants of tension from the dungeon disappeared and they were just a group of friends having a good time. It was nice.

Lightforge wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and said, "I can't speak for any of you, but I think I needed that."

"Agreed," Cannoneer asid, "Now how about we get out of here. We've earned a break after all of this."

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to check this stuff to see if there are any usable parts in all these piles of junk."

"Suit yourself. Let me know when you start building with all the junk around here. I'm sure you'll make something interesting."

"Will do. I'll happily take as many guinea pigs as I can get."

Sunbird chortled and waved to him as she headed out. She was the first out the door, and the others were close behind her. They left Lightforge alone, and he was nearly buzzing with excitement. This place was a goldmine for components, and he already had the possibilities swirling through his head for how to use them. Now that he'd cleared his first mission, it was time to move on.

His shop was about to go through a massive expansion. It was time to start crafting his own items.