Freya

While Mia didn’t need to sleep every night, the last time she had slept was before the incursion, so she decided she was going to sleep. Apparently I no longer needed sleep at all which scared me for a minute because I am a girl that likes her naps, but titania informed me that I still could sleep if I wanted to. After Mia had left to go to bed the Antithesis returned. I immediately went to jump up and draw my swords, but stopped myself as I realized that they didn’t have a red outline.

I decided it was time for a flight, so I could test out my new body. I got up and went to what would be my room at Mia’s tower and went out onto the balcony and without breaking stride hopped up onto the railing, where for a moment I just stood letting my new senses take in the city.

I could smell what each pollutant in the air was and if I wanted to I could have tracked any of them or the thousands of people I was smelling.

I could see with perfect clarity for miles and hone in on anything wanted and see it in perfect clarity, despite it being night my eyes pierced the darkness like it was not there. I could see something in greater detail from two miles away than I could had I been a foot away from it with my original eyes and it was not even close.

I could hear for miles. I could hear people in the buildings around me like I was standing in the room with them. I heard ranges of sound imperceptible to human ears, all the sounds overlapping but I could process them all like they were the only thing I was listening to.

I took in all this at once but I didn’t find it overwhelming, it simply felt like this is the way it should, the upgrades to the processing power of my brain and the knowledge I had gotten from learning architectures letting me make the fullest use of my senses.

Then I simply leaned forward out into the night and then I was plummeting head first straight toward the ground in a dive with my wings pulled into my body, I laughed as I fell.

Finally when I started to close in on the ground, I let my perception speed up and as I did the world seemed to slow around me. Then I snapped my wings out to their full 20 feet wingspan and then pulled up hard enough to snap the wings of any airplane.

Then as I leveled off I began flapping hard, gaining speed.

Soon I was zipping past hover cars going several hundred miles an hour, the anti gravity properties of my wings letting me disregard the physics saying that I shouldn’t be able to fly this fast on wings.

I began weaving through the building leaving only fractions of centimeters of clearance between me and the building.

After keeping this up for hours, I asked Titania to set a course to my apartment, as it happened I had ended up not too far from there. So it didn’t take too long for me to arrive. I landed a little bit away from my apartment complex then walked over toward the entrance.

I will admit that my apartment was not in the nicest part of the city. So as I walked over to my apartment complex I became aware of two men watching me from across the street. At first, I believed they were simply staring due to me being a vanguard, but I could hardly believe my ears when I heard them begin discussing that if they could just ambush me they could get all my gear which would make them rich, and they tell me I am the crazy one.

As they crossed to my side of the street excitement gripped me, when they got behind me I heard the sound of a hand being pulled from one of their waistbands, and then I could no longer contain myself.

I turned, drew my sword, and flew towards them and before either of them could comprehend that I had moved I buried my sword to its hilt in the one with the gun’s chest.

Allowing long enough for the second to comprehend what had happened, savoring watching as fear gripped him and he began to stammer out

“P-P-Please d-d-don’t…”

I don’t know what else it was he was going to say because at this point I wrenched my sword free of the first’s chest and swung it taking the second's head off.

I felt more alive at this moment then I zoomed around the city at hundreds of miles an hour. Took a deep breath the smell of blood filled my nostrils as I did so, reviled in the moment for a second longer.

I couldn’t wait for an actual proper fight, it would be glorious. Hopefully, there would be another high-ranking incursion soon then I could find something worth fighting with my only goal being the complete slaughter of the enemy.

I looked at my sword to find it perfectly clean as its offensive nanites had already cleaned it spotlessly, so I proceeded to sheath it.

Then I looked down and found something that put a slight damper on my mood when I had wrenched my sword out of the first I had done so with enough force to spray myself with his blood. Which meant blood had gotten all over my new clothes, so I asked the obvious question

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Are nanite clothes machine washable?”

They can vibrate at extreme speeds to make any dirt fall off, your body can do this as well, would you like me to activate this function?

“Oooo yes please!”

One very weird feeling moment as my entire body vibrated later I stood there with not a spec of dirt on me

“That is going to be handy.”

Also Miss Freya if I might make a suggestion?

“Of course what's up Titania?”

I recommend that we inform law enforcement about what happened here to avoid any unwanted confusion

“Are you sure about that? I doubt they would look into it very hard and in my experience getting the cops involved never turns out well. Also I really don’t want to have to wait around and talk to anyone”

Well I don’t discredit your experience seeing as you are now a vanguard I imagine it would be quite a different experience as the laws apply a lot less to you now. Additionally with your approval I can send a message for you and you wouldn’t have to be involved.

“That sounds alright.”

Very good Miss Freya, it is done

As I continued on toward my old apartment and left the bodies my revelry fading I yearned for the next fight, the next kill.

Then I was at the apartment complex it didn’t matter that my electronic key was saved to my old aug as Titania bypassed the security like it was not even there.

When I got into my room it felt weird to be in there. Everything was just as I had left it if I disregarded the Antithesis I saw lurking around it. It felt like someone else's home, though I guess in a way it was. This was old Freya’s home, the one that made silly choices that I didn’t understand.

I looked around and was startled by how little that I actually wanted to take with me, due to growing up on the streets it was not like I had any keepsakes. My clothes I could replicate at any time using my nanites and they would be far better than any regular clothes. Hell I didn’t even need to grab my toothbrush as this new vibration cleaning left me cleaner than anything a tooth brush could hope to approach.

The only thing I decided to bring was my books even though most people just read books with their aug I had always preferred actual physical books. Besides my books the only thing that I wanted to take with me was my instruments and I would need to ask for Mia’s help in moving my instruments.

So I found a duffel bag and tossed my books in before giving the place one last look over the place for what would probably be the last time then picked up my bag and didn’t look back.

On the way back to Mia’s tower I took it pretty easy to avoid ripping the bag in transit. I landed on the same balcony I had taken off from and I deposited my bag on the bed as I passed it.

I thought back to the night of my flight it had been good, yes I had been fast, achieving speeds of a little over four hundred miles an hour and that was fine in all but that meant I was not even faster than most high performance hover hover cars. Which is quite frankly unacceptable, this must be rectified.

“Titania how come I am so damn slow and don’t get me started on my acceleration, shouldn’t I be way faster, with the level of reflexes and the speed I can perceive things as I feel like I am flying with a parachute attached! The rest of my body moves fine like my arms can swing my sword at an acceptable speed.”

My sincerest apologies Miss Freya, I believe the issue you are having relates to the level of anti gravity technology that you have access to. Currently the anti gravity technology utilized in your body is just what you get from your high strain enhancement catalog. You could purchase another catalog to elevate the level of anti gravity technology available when combined with the high strain enhancements will provide a large boost to your speed.

“Ok then it sounds like we need to do that, because I am way too slow! Also it kinda feels like that the high strain enhancements catalog is what we are using as a base and making add on is that a good idea?”

I believe that is the best choice for you. To my knowledge no other vanguard posses the high strain enhancement catalog, while many vanguard may have a few enhancements that could be labeled as high strain as high amount of compatibility with enhancements is a prerequisite to become a vanguard. However using high strain enhancements as a base to build off of as you have would drive them insane or more likely for them put them in a coma. However using high strain enhancements in your case simply allows you to take advantage of the……. unique situation you have found yourself in. Does that answer your question?

“So basically the stuff is very powerful but will drive the person crazy, but I can’t get any more crazy so I don’t have to worry about it?”

That is correct, Miss Freya.

“Nice! Being crazy is great! So let's get that anti gravity catalog.”

For your purposes I would recommend the gravity manipulation catalog

“Ok, if we are going to do this, let's not be cheap, let's get it at class 4.”

Very good, Miss Freya

Gravity Manipulation catalog class 1 through 4 unlocked

Cost… 111,100

Points Remaining… 1,385,449

“Ok and how much for what I need now?”

I would recommend spending 50,000 points on the template. It would allow for you to redirect and enhance gravity so that each flap of your wings redirect much greater amounts of air allowing for a much greater amount of thrust and acceleration. While increasing your already impressive agility.

“Really only 50,000 you sure we aren’t being cheap?”

AH, I believe circumstances have left you with a somewhat warped perspective of how many points it would be considered normal to spend.

Something about this irked me, I thought I understood pretty damn well, spending more points ment better equipment and better equipment meant I could kill more. Therefore my perception was not warped; I knew exactly what I wanted. However, this would let me get more class five catalogs sooner which would be the key to the most killing in the end. So I responded

“Alright let’s do it, anything i need to install this time?”

There is not, the nanites that make up your current anti gravity system will be repurposed to construct the new system.

“Alright then let’s go ahead and purchase it. Also, are there any learning architectures for this kind of flight?”

Yes there is, would you like to purchase it as well?

“Might as well”

I already would have been quite adept at using this upgrade just due to my more general learning architectures but why give up any edge I could get.

Very good, Miss freya

Purchased- Anti-gravity Redirection Flight (A.R.F.)

Cost… 50,000

Points Remaining… 1,335,449

Purchased- Expert Personal Fight With Wings and Gravity Manipulation Learning Architecture

Cost…3,000

Points Remaining… 1,332,449

The first name caught my attention and I remembered all the other weird names but as I went to comment on it, the box containing the learning architecture appeared in front of me. So I grabbed the chip and popped it in, the familiar sensation of coldness flooding my brain for a moment before it was done.

During the time it had taken for the learning architecture to upload itself my wings had finished their remodeling.

There was no visible difference to the wings, but I knew better the learning architecture had taught me just how much of a difference that there was.

I thought about going for another flight but it was then I noticed the sun was starting to rise and with any luck Mia would be awake soon. So instead I headed for the kitchen, where I got to work making some breakfast.