“You want a body?” Logan asked. Kat and Balmer turned.

[Just something simple. I understand we are low both on Numa and the darkmetal.]

“There are a lot of things we will need both for,” Logan said. “But I get your point.”

[I am not trying to persuade you into making suboptimal choices for the people you are responsible for.]

“I’m responsible for you too, you know.”

[Hm… That is an interesting thought. I am not sure how accurate it truly is, but I appreciate the sentiment, Logan.]

Logan crouched in the darkness and peeked behind a corner. There was a faint blue glow ahead. It was hard to say if it moved or not.

“You’re inside me. I don’t know exactly how your class works, but looks like you’re stuck with me. Which means, I have to keep this meatsack safe.”

[We must both aspire to do so. Might I say, I wish you sometimes act in conflict with this notion.]

“Yeah, well,” Logan said and beckoned his two friends closer. There was definitely something in the corridor up ahead. “We’re about to do that again.”

[Oh great…]

“Do you remember our plan?” Logan said.

[Do you think I have the capability to forget things?]

Logan said nothing to that, he only extended his arm and Tumor made a spear sprout from the Armor.

“Bad guys ahead?” Kat asked.

Logan nodded.

There were some faintly glowing shapes in the room ahead. Some faint echoes of low grunts could also be heard.

“They’re trying to be sneaky,” Balmer said.

“Remember the plan, guys,” Logan said to them. Both Kat and Balmer nodded.

“Go!”

When they ran into the room, the shapes turned to attack them immediately. Four of those strange bulky creatures growled and their thick blue veins rippled as they worked their muscles. Logan immediately stabbed one through the neck with his spear.

Kat used her darksteel gauntlets to deliver a one-two combo, breaking another one’s face in. It grabbed her and tried to squeeze her in a crushing bearhug, but Balmer came from the side, stabbed it in the leg and kicked it down.

Logan pushed the speared creature against a wall and unleashed a barrage of kinetic bullets from his left arm. They clinked down on the stone floor and the blue veins of the brutish creature went dim.

Another one of those creatures jumped on Logan’s back. Spikes protruded and pierced the creature and extra bit of armor came up to protect Logan’s neck, which the creature tried to bite at.

Even with Logan’s significantly enhanced strength, it was hard to shake the creature off. The spikes retracted and pushed in again and again while Logan hurled himself back first against the wall.

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This elicited a grunt from the creature, but it only wrapped its arms and legs tighter around Logan. Even through the Armor the crushing force was suffocating.

The bullets on the ground morphed into a puddle of liquid darkmetal, which was sucked up back into the armor.

The fourth creature was fighting Balmer and Kat, but seeing Logan trapped, its foaming mouth turned into a feral grin and it sprinted towards Logan.

Logan shot out another volley of darkmetal bullets at the charging creature, which managed to stagger it, but not slow it down.

Logan lifted his legs up, pushing the other monster against the wall. It was too stupid to just let go of Logan, so Logan delivered a double legged kick against the creature running towards him.

Tumor managed to shift some extra weight into Logan’s heels and Logan could feel the grotesque snap of the brutal humanoid creature’s neck.

[Skill Level Up!]

[Power Armor Fighter level 13]

It fell limp on the ground, but it immediately attempted to get up. Kat came up and started kicking it all over.

“Okay, Tumor!” Logan said.

[It is not entirely safe. There is a 13.66% chance that—”

“DO IT!”

Logan felt Tumor give a mental nod and the Armor slid off him backwards into the creature struggling to punch, bite and strangle him.

Logan could see from the corner of his eyes, how the creature’s forearms were covered with his Armor and once the black mass swam up to the creature’s shoulders, its grip loosened.

With half of the Armor still on Logan, he wrested himself free, but immediately smashed his forearm at the brute’s neck, holding it in place, so Tumor could slide on the monster completely.

Balmer came up next to Logan, swiped sweat off his forehead and slid a light-enchanted ring on his finger.

It was an eerie sight.

The struggling brute was letting out panicked muffled groans underneath the Armor it writhed. The glossy black outline of the muscular creature made it look like an intricate marble statue. The Armor was now completely removed off Logan, but he held his forearm at the creature’s neck, afraid to let go.

I feel really, really naked.

The creature stopped struggling and went still.

[Logan this is amazing! I leveled. My [Machine Soul] is now level 10. I have had a breakthrough.]

“Uh, that’s great Tumor,” Logan said, eyeing the black-clad monster. “Maybe we should talk more about that later.”

[But this feeling! It is— fine. Slowly remove the arm. I want to see if I can maintain control.]

Logan did so, taking his sweet time, as if his forearm was glued to the creature’s neck. He slowly exhaled and ripped off the bandaid.

The creature immediately stirred and writed, but Logan had the distant feeling that Tumor was clamping down on the creature, constricting it with the Armor. The creature took a stumble forward and a clumsy swing at Logan, but it fell on its face as it did so.

Logan felt the cold sweat in the back of his neck.

Just calm down. It’s fine. Everything is fine. You were doing fine before even without the Armor.

Kat crouched down next to the creature, who had again stopped moving. “Tumor’s got this?”

Logan shrugged.

“Damn,” Balmer said, coming up close to Logan. “I forgot what a stick you are.”

“Screw you,” Logan said and ribbed him with an elbow. Like a cat, Balmer slid out of the way and grinned.

Kat scoffed. “Boys, focus.”

They checked the other bodies, and indeed, there were several dimmed out Numa crystals embedded in the corpses. One of the brutes had a few tattoos. They all shared a grim look. These had definitely been humans before.

“Well, now we got one,” Logan muttered. “We can figure this out.”

“Maybe,” Balmer muttered. “I hate the idea of bringing this back to our home.”

Logan nodded. “I agree. But we can contain it somewhere outside and have Freya, me and Dr. Steinberg and William try stuff on it. We need to learn more.”

“Well at least we’re going back home,” Kat said, sighed and up-ended half of her waterskin in her fiery hair.

“Should we go?” Balmer asked. “Can Tumor move this thing?”

“Wait,” Logan said and immediately got up and moved forward in the ruins. “There’s a blue glow ahead.”

“Logan!” Both Balmer and Kat shouted at him.

Logan turned and raised a quizzical eyebrow.

They both nodded downwards towards Logan who was indeed wearing nothing but his tattered underpants. Logan looked down.

“Oh… Yeah, maybe it’s better if I don’t go first here…”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go at all,” Balmer said. “If there’s another set of four of them, it’s going to be hard fighting them with the two of us and protecting our stick-leader.”

Logan flipped him the bird.

“They would have heard us and come,” Kat said. Then added. “I think…”

“Just peek in,” Logan said. “Worst case scenario, Tumor slips back on me.”

“Eh, he’s got a point,” Kat said and turned. “I’ll check it out.”

Logan kept an eye on the still Armor-clad creature on the floor. Tumor was silent. Logan thought he could feel him being distracted, which considering his processing capability, was quite something.

“You okay?”

[This is difficult. I am constantly fighting to keep this creature contained. I have leveled up my Control and Potency during these minutes. Our classes truly level from experimentation, strain and breakthrough.]

“That’s sure something,” Logan said. Tumor’s stats were in the mid 40’s, so it was extremely impressive that he had leveled up so much. “Can you move?”

[Working on it. My simulations indicate there is a 89.42% chance I will get this to work within a reasonable timeframe.]

“Logan!” Kat called from the other room. “It’s safe. Come!”

“You’ll definitely want to see this!” Balmer shouted.