“Doc! Doc, you okay!” A voice screamed at Kaleb as he struggled to open his eyes.
Recognizing the voice, Kaleb said. “Roy? Is that you?”
“Yeah, Doc. Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I had a dream were a giant dick was walking around tranqing people.” Kaleb said as he opened his eyes and stared up at Roy, Obadiah, Farrah and Daivor.
Seeing Obadiah, Kaleb widened his eyes in mock horror. Pointing a finger at the old man, Kaleb whispered. “I think you were in my dream.”
Obadiah rolled his eyes. “It was a small dose of Tornolzapam. You’re fine. Get up, you drama queen.”
Kaleb smiled then quickly wiped it from his face. “Wait, my vision’s gone. What happened where is everyone. Oh! Why do old people always test drugs on animals!?”
He saw Roy shake his head, while Farrah just smirked. Daivor had wandered off once Kaleb had started being a smart-ass. Obadiah roughly nudged Kaleb in his side with his foot.
“Get up. Show me how your screwing up my old base.”
Kaleb sighed and got to his feet. “I can’t screw up something you never used. Besides, the Joranek infestation wasn’t my fault.”
“Joranek?” Obadiah asked putting his hands on his hips. “Those things live underground. Why would they leave their home?”
Farrah grumbled. “Either the giant ants or whatever power supply you used was a more attractive meal.”
Obadiah nodded sagely. “Ahh, we thought the Weikacol solution might draw some pests. I thought they meant tiny insects, not giant space flies.”
Kaleb waved at the pile of flies and their removed glands. “Well, it paid off somehow. We got a bunch of Joranek energy glands. Plus, we just learned we can use them to refill the generators.”
Obadiah moved over to the Joranek glands and crouched down. “You know these are unstable, right? They could blow if you treat them too rough or if you puncture them the wrong way.”
Kaleb shrugged and crouched down next to the old cyborg. “Yeah, well, I work with what I have.” glancing at Roy he asked. “Hey, Roy, why don’t you help Daivor detach those turrets and bring them inside. We need to convert them to energy weapons.”
Roy looked between his grandpa and Kaleb before nodded and leaving to find the small Gnome. Kaleb turned back to Obadiah to find the old man giving him a questioning look. Kaleb returned the look and tilted his head toward Roy’s retreating form. Obadiah seemed to catch his meaning because he gave a quick shake of his head.
“They just think I’m here for a visit.” Obadiah mumbled as he inspected a Joranek gland.
“So what are you here for?” Kaleb asked suspiciously.
Obadiah carefully set the gland down and looked back to Kaleb. “I heard what the HLO did to you. It isn’t the first time that organization has overstepped its authority and its becoming a pattern. Some people I work with have expressed concerns.”
Kaleb shrugged. “So what? You’re here to audit the HLO?”
“Nothing so overt.” Obadiah shook his head smiling. “No, my work is of a more clandestine nature.”
“Great, geriatric cyberspook on the prowl in Austin.” Kaleb joked.
Obadiah reached over and smacked the back of Kaleb’s head roughly. Looking around worriedly. “Keep it down. Like I said: I haven’t told my family about my… condition.”
Kaleb rubbed the raising bump on the back of his head and gave the old man a dirty look. “Dude, I get it. But, like I said: They deserve to know.”
Obadiah nodded and stood back up. “Yeah, Yeah, I heard you.”
Kaleb stood up and glanced around. “So what did you come to the hangar for?”
“I need a place to work out of while I’m here.” Obadiah said moving over to the massive pile of junk in the hangar and studying it.
Kaleb did a celebratory arm pump behind the old man’s back. Moving to stand next to Obadiah, Kaleb said. “Well, uh, that would be fine. But, y’know if you stay, then you got to work.”
Obadiah turned to Kaleb and raised an eyebrow. “You know I am the one who gave this hangar to you, right?”
Kaleb nodded good-naturedly. “I know, but this place needs some work and your help would be amazing.”
Obadiah looked around the hangar nodding at Kaleb’s words. “Yeah, maybe. But remember: I built this with the help of a bunch of eggheads.”
“Why did you build this place?” Kaleb asked.
“Wolfgang and I wanted a place to cultivate new talent. We wanted this base to be a training center. But then Hank blew up the Mark VII and my life took a rather drastic turn.” Obadiah said grinning. “Spies, Soldiers, and international intrigue. Oh, my!”
“Well, it has potential. But I don’t think we have a room for you.” Kaleb said.
Obadiah looked toward the office and asked. “You haven’t expanded the second level yet?”
“With what money?! We are freelancing things here.” Kaleb asked.
Obadiah rubbed his chin in thought. “I might be able to help with that, actually. If you have a certain moral flexibility.”
Kaleb eyed the old man, out of the corner of his eye he saw Roy carrying one of the large fifty-calibers toward the Mechanics Room. Moving to help he whispered.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I have a fund in place to help obtain some local deniable assets. You’d have to follow people, a little B&E, maybe a kidnapping or two. Nothing too strenuous.” Obadiah whispered back as they helped Roy put the large machine gun onto the workbench.
Kaleb nodded silently and looked over the machine gun. There wasn’t a lot of space to work with on the gun itself. So Kaleb figured he would have to cut out much of the receiver and the feed tray. Then they could make some kind of energy container to store and then transfer the energy to the barrel. They still had the empty Joranek glands to use, all they needed now was some solar panels and to reprogram the minicomputer.
“How big is this fund?” Kaleb asked as he disassembled the large machine gun.
Obadiah helped by clearing out the already cluttered workspace. “As big as I need it to be to get the job done. Why?”
Kaleb shrugged. “I think I know a few people with some useful skills.”
“You mean the small girl with the shadow powers or the Warlock built like a linebacker?” Obadiah asked.
Kaleb stopped his work and gave the old cyborg a strange look. Obadiah just chuckled. “You think we didn’t check you out? So which one were you thinking.”
“Neither actually. You say ‘deniable asset’ and I don’t immediately jump to my friends. You monster.” Kaleb groused as he went back to dissembling the gun’s receiver. “No, I was thinking of a couple of guys I met in Under-Town. I’m willing to bet they are more inclined to this kind of work.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Hey, deniable assets is just a term. Don’t go taking offense, you do the work right and you don’t have to worry about being hung out to dry.” Obadiah said as he looked around the Mechanics Room.
Kaleb gave a sarcastic nod. “Uh-huh, sure.”
Roy arrived carrying the second machine gun and placed it on the floor next to the workbench. When he stood back up, he looked between Obadiah and Kaleb. Obadiah smiled kindly at his grandson before he spotted something on a nearby shelf. Moving over to it he picked up a small circuit board.
“Are these Wolfgang’s failed blueprints?!” He asked incredulously.
Kaleb shrugged. “I’ve been too busy to look at them. You know trying to get this place up and running.”
Obadiah waved the circuit board around as he said. “Seriously? You have the ramblings of what could be one of the greatest minds in the world and you leave it on a shelf?!”
“Busy.” Kaleb said, but he waved for Roy to pick up his laptop.
Roy smiled and quickly picked up the laptop. Sitting on a stool he took the circuit board from his grandpa and connected the two. Obadiah stared at Kaleb for a few seconds before the old man shook his head. He went back to look over the room as Kaleb worked on the gun and Roy typed away.
As Kaleb finally got the receiver detached from the rest of the gun, Roy gasped in surprise. Kaleb and Obadiah both turned to the young man sitting on the stool. Roy looked up at both of them smiling.
“This stuff is cool. Mixed alloys of metals I’ve never heard of, mobile autonomous armors, condensed storage containers, some weird battery thing. Old Doc was working on some crazy stuff.” Roy said as Daivor suddenly appeared on his shoulder.
“Where have you been?” Kaleb asked the Gnome
Daivor held up the turret’s minicomputer. “Going through this thing. But programming is not my thing.”
“Give it here.” Farrah said standing up from her chair near the computer. “What do we need it to do?”
“Manage power output for these guns. We want them to have stun and kill settings. We want to make them solar powered too.” Kaleb explained.
Farrah nodded before looking down at the minicomputer. “Well, I have to see how it’s all hooked up before I can program things.”
Daivor took a long puff on his pipe as smiled at Farrah. “You do you, sweetness.”
Kaleb snorted a laugh but Farrah just ignored the Gnome and went back to her own computer. Obadiah stared between the three. Sidling up next to Kaleb, he asked.
“You have a Builder Gnome.”
Kaleb nodded as he measured the space where the receiver was. Seeing how blasé Kaleb was about it, Obadiah smacked him in the shoulder.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Kaleb gave Obadiah a wide-eyed look. “Seriously, you know about my friends. But somehow your government friends missed the wise-ass Gnome? They have shaken my faith in the system.”
Obadiah groaned and asked in a whisper. “How powerful is he?”
Daivor was the one who answered. “His hearing is off that charts that’s for sure.”
Kaleb grinned as he looked at Obadiah’s face. He translated for the old man, but Obadiah just put his hand up. “I might not understand him, but I know when I’ve been caught out.” turning he smiled at the Gnome perched on his grandson’s shoulder. “My apologies, Master Gnome I just wished to know how skilled you are.”
“Skilled enough.” Kaleb said. “He has been indispensable.”
“Demanding, but indispensable.” Roy agreed.
Daivor gave the back of Roy’s head a pat and stared up at Obadiah smugly. Kaleb looked over his shoulder at the old man and sighed.
“Since you are just wandering around how about you help with this?”
Obadiah shrugged his shoulders and moved next to Kaleb. Soon the two of them were pouring over a sheet of paper that had designs for the new gun. Daivor and Roy had been reading through Dr. Kersait’s notes mumbling to themselves. Farrah was still typing away at her computer until she finally hopped up and shouted excitedly.
“Bam! Finally done. We now have access to the city's cameras… for our… neighborhood… for now.”
Kaleb sighed. “And how legal is that exactly?”
“Not very.” Obadiah said as he adjusted the glasses on his face and looked at Farrah.
Farrah shrugged her shoulders and looked at them annoyed. “What? We need to know what’s going on in our district. Besides, they won‘t bust our balls about hacking the city's system to help people, are they?”
Obadiah her a knowing grin. “That depends on how useful you are to the city, doesn’t it?”
“What are you going to do when the inspector comes to visit us in thirty days?” Kaleb asked as he measured out a block of metal.
“They aren’t going to go through every line of code in my computer, are they? Because if they do, then we are screwed.” Farrah sniped back.
Kaleb sighed and rubbed his eyes. “We are a group of supers that are not a part of the HLO. In fact, I have been in direct confrontation with HLO upper management. I’m willing to bet that whoever the send to inspect us will go through our damn trash to find something to hold over us.”
Obadiah looked at him in shock. “Is it really that bad out here?”
Kaleb just nodded as Farrah groaned in annoyance. “Fine!” She said. “I’ll delete the code before the thirty days are up. But you have got to get me some drones. We can’t complete the room without them.”
Kaleb nodded and looked back at Roy and Daivor. The Gnome returned his stare before nodding and tapping the younger man’s shoulder to get Roy’s attention. Kaleb smiled at the two.
“You both mind doing that for Farrah?”
“And I need more monitors!” Farrah added.
Roy and Daivor looked forlornly down at the laptop full of Dr. Kersait’s notes and failed gadgets. They both gave Kaleb sad looks before Roy stood and walked back toward the junk pile. Kaleb shook his head and went back to what he was doing. He needed to cut a large metal piece to put in the receiver’s place. Then he would wire the glands and solar panels.
“So are we putting the solar panels on the guns or on the gun mounting?” Obadiah asked getting back to the job at hand.
“I was thinking of adding it to the gun mounting.” Kaleb answered.
Obadiah nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s get to it.”
Kaleb started work on machining another receiver for the gun while Obadiah worked on wiring up the Joranek glands. They had decided on five glands per gun leaving them one extra to work with. As they worked Kaleb pointed out what he thought would be a big problem.
“Don’t we need something to convert the energy like my crystal does for my gun?”
Obadiah held up the Joranek gland. “That’s what this is for. It should condense and convert the energy into a useful plasma. Then we can set the strength and send it down the barrel.”
Kaleb nodded trusting the Obadiah’s word and went back to building the gun's receiver. A little over an hour of work and they were ready to reattach the first machine gun to the gun mounting. As they moved the large gun, they grabbed Farrah and the minicomputer before heading outside. When they got to the gun mounting, Kaleb saw Two Gun and Claire’s red sedan pull up to the hangar. They strapped a refrigerator to their roof.
Kaleb waved after the set the gun down on the mounting and Farrah went to work. Two Gun waved back as he and Claire grabbed their purchases out of the car. Claire had the refrigerator tucked under one of her arms like she was carrying luggage. Two Gun gestured with an arm that was holding several bags, asking.
“What’s going on here?”
Kaleb smiled. “We are giving the hangar a defense upgrade.”
“Is that what the shimmering dome thing is?” Claire asked drawing a curious look from Kaleb.
Soon it hit him. “Oh! You mean the shield. No, we got that up and running a bit ago. Although for the life of me, I can’t see it from here.”
Two Gun adjusted his grip on his bags and nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me. It only covers the hangar and once we crossed into it, it became a lot harder to see.”
“Not a great shield. All things considered.” Claire said.
“Well, it only does projectiles for now. At least that’s what the terminal said.” Kaleb stated shrugging.
Nearby Obadiah was attaching the large solar plates to the machine gun’s mounting bracket. Claire gave Kaleb a nod and head inside with the fridge while Two Gun stared at the odd lumps attached to the machine gun’s receiver.
“Are those the fly things?”
Kaleb nodded. “Yeah. We are using them to accumulate and convert solar energy. Which we will then use as ammo for the guns.”
Two Gun glanced down at his own guns. “Do you think…”
Kaleb put up a hand stopping the old cowboy. “You’re next on the list if this works. I’ll get you your gun upgrade, I promise.”
“A man’s only as good as his word, son” Two Gun said pointing a finger at Kaleb.
“Scout's honor.” Kaleb said putting a hand to his heart.
“Like you were ever a scout.” Two Gun muttered as he went inside.
Kaleb smiled and asked Obadiah. “How are we looking?”
Obadiah shrugged his shoulders and glanced down at Farrah. “We are all hooked up, all we need now is the programming to get up and running.”
Farrah crouched over the minicomputer and furiously typed away on its surface. “Hey, I’m re-coding a diagnostic program to read energy levels they never designed it to read. Not only that, it has to be able to adjust those levels.”
“For now, how about we just get it to read the levels?” Kaleb said. “We can work on adjusting them later.”
Farrah nodded and pointed between her head and Kaleb’s saying. “Great minds.”
“Are nowhere near here.” Obadiah muttered.
Kaleb snorted. “That includes you, sourpuss.”
“Never said I was.” Obadiah shrugged. “I am a product of other people’s genius.”
Kaleb just shook his head as Farrah typed away. Soon the rabbit woman was hopping with joy again. “I think I got it!”
“You do?” Kaleb and Obadiah asked.
“My diagnostic program is showing this gun at a whopping 0.86% power. Want to do a test fire?” Kaleb swore he saw Farrah’s eyes shining as her finger hovered over a button on the minicomputer. Obadiah shrugged his shoulders again and glanced at Kaleb. Kaleb inhaled a large breath before stepping back and nodding at Farrah.
Farrah, vibrating with excitement, tapped a few buttons on the minicomputer and moved aside to watch.