Early the next day, I went out and bought everything I would need, dropping yet another hundred and thirty Rayn on parts. It wasn't all a waste, at least. I was getting experience out of this if nothing else.

The fried circuitry was as simple as switching it out, but the other improvements I wanted to make were more complicated. I decided to go with a heat-controlling approach. It was the cheapest to set up and would fix a few other problems with the blade, like battery life and sustainability. And hopefully would keep the blade from becoming to malleable at higher temperatures.

I got back to my apartment and got to work. I managed to snag an actual heat regulator instead of just a thermometer, which was nice. It automatically did everything I would want it to do without making me figure out how to get it all connected. It was as easy as connecting the heat sensing bit to the blade, and then sticking the heat regulator onto the katana. I had to reshape the base of the katana to get it to fit without weakening the structural integrity, but even that wasn’t too much of a problem.

Then I easily set the minimum and maximum temperatures and connected it to a switch leading from the capacitors to the rest of the circuit. In theory, it should turn off the heating elements once it gets to the maximum heat, while still allowing the capacitors to fill, then turn them back on once the blade gets to the minimum temperature.

I got everything rebuilt. It weighed a bit more than it originally did but hopefully would work better this time. I flicked on the blade, the small bulb on the hilt lighting up. A low hum filled the air as the blade started to glow hot. As soon as it turned red, the humming dimmed slightly. The blade lost a bit of heat, and then turned back on, keeping it a nice blood-red color.

I set it up and let it run for a while, listening to the soothing buzzes of electricity as I thought through the process of making the blade. To be honest, I probably could’ve just used a wire as the part that got hot and had everything external instead of hidden between two sheets of metal, and it would’ve been way easier.

It wouldn’t have looked as cool, or potentially lethal, but it would’ve been a lot cheaper… ugh, something to think about the next time. If I ever make a thermal katana again, that is. I doubt it though. I wouldn’t necessarily have much use for one.

I checked the katana, finding it still running just fine. I’d let it go for another couple of hours just to make sure there weren’t any faults, recharge the battery, and then hand it back off to Torren.

Until its battery finished, I wanted to work on some other things. For instance, my mask. It was really inconvenient to have to use my commlink and my mask. Sure, they were designed to not block noise too much, but what if the earpiece blocked just enough sound that I missed some audio cue of someone walking up behind me?

That was just one of the adjustments I wanted to make. There was also that stealth suit and armor I got from the Neo-Jokers, and it was really about time I set up a full suit for gigs instead of just going in my clothes and body armor like a broke bitch. Hmm… maybe I can even incorporate the mask into the armor? Kill multiple birds with one stone.

I moved over to where I stashed the two sets and pulled them out, looking them over. The heavy armor looked similar to a Crusader’s, though not as shiny. It consisted of greaves, vambraces, a chestplate, and a full helmet. The helmet was flat and angular, with sharp edges and fins along its cheeks. It frankly looked a bit alien, especially without any viewing ports. Instead, it had four pinpricks of light around where the eyes should be, hiding small cameras. Or at least, it would when the thing was charged.

The heavy-duty protective armor, after I snooped around for its information, was rated as level IV. Not quite as good as a Crusader’s armor, but what was I really expecting? The armor would provide about the same level of protection as heavy subdermal armor at least. And the armor was surprisingly light. It felt no heavier than a backpack with everything on. A fully loaded backpack.

The stealth suit, or whatever its actual name was, had specialized threads woven into rather skin-tight clothes with pitch-black padding covering everything important. It was far lighter than the heavy armor, feeling as though I was wearing air when I tried it on. It wasn't sized properly, but I could probably fix that.

It was built to capture thermal signatures, making heat sensors not even a problem. That combined with the threads' anechoic properties, which practically eliminated vibrations, made it quite useful. It came with a deep hood that could cover the face. Based on the way it seemed to devour light, it was probably done in some kind of blackout too.

I had two options. I could leave them as is, one set for combat and one for stealth, or I could merge the two. They would lose out a bit in their perspective fields, but I would have just one set, making it far less likely to get caught out in the wrong armor. It would be especially helpful if I fucked up during a heist and had to get out under fire.

That, and I wouldn’t have to decide which set got which upgrades, and would only have to worry about maintaining one kit. Hmm… I would mostly be taking a hit in the stealth aspect if I incorporated them together, but I’ve gone this far without some fancy threads. It would still be an overall improvement to my capabilities. And I'd be protected.

I’d need some supplies to do a good job of merging the two though. Some blackout paint for the armor to start with. I could also try and incorporate Blackout at some point from Advent’s tech. I still had that blueprint floating around in my head thanks to Eidetic Schematic. Maybe change out the cameras inside the helmet for something else too?

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But that all would need money, equipment, time, and a Night Market for some of the stuff, so it was on the back burner for now. I’d keep them separate till I was ready. It would be nice though. Maybe I could push the armor as a new identity for taking care of more high-risk gigs I didn’t want to be attached to the name of ‘Shiro’.

Damn, how many identities did I have by now? Stupid Shiro and her amateur klepping skills, Squire Ichima and her investigative skills, Lady Meno and her innocent clumsiness, and then this new one?

Still, they were all tied to my face. The armor would be a nice turnaround, and I could use my skills more consistently without worrying about things going bottom up. If worse came to pass, I could just ditch the armor and live on as though nothing happened. Yeah, the more I thought about this, the better I liked it. I’d just have to be careful about how I did things. I could even allow my real identity to drop out of the game altogether.

I wrote some notes and messed around with some designs on other things that were interesting. I also tried to do some more research on Carl Langstrum, the doctor who bought the weird egg, to no avail.

I checked back on the katana, finding it dead after running for two and a half hours. Not an amazing battery life, but it would do. I took the katana apart one final time, adding green neon bulbs along the blade. It would chop off some battery life, but Torren wanted the katana green. I also ran to a corner store and bought some green spray paint, which I splattered all over the katana blade. No clue if the heat would make it peel off, but whatever.

I reassembled and plugged the katana into an outlet to charge back up. I also sent a message to Torren. ‘Katana is fixed. Want to meet up?’

’Nova! Yeah, I’ll bring the rest of the noise thingy’s parts. In four hours at Maroo’s?’

Maroo’s? I checked the Mapp, finding Maroo’s to be a bar located in East End’s sub-district Diosé, just south of the Scath Heights and north of Oldtown. Diosé was the type of place the Cartels liked to hang, so I was a bit iffy about heading there. That, and I’d never actually been to the sub-district.

I didn’t want a repeat of the Mortas Motel, so I did a more thorough sweep of the Net for the place. It looked safe enough but looks could be very deceiving. Who knows? With my luck, it was probably the hangout of some minor gang again.

’Can we go somewhere else?’ I sent back.

’I’m in the middle of something. It’ll probably be a couple of weeks before I can meet up with you somewhere else. It’s a hundred percent safe, choom. I've been coming here since I was a kid.’

‘Fine.’ But I wasn't going without loading myself up. I filled my bag with supplies and grabbed my guns. I even stuffed two of my grenades into my pockets. I briefly thought about throwing on the heavy armor, but it still looked the exact same as the Neo-Joker’s other sets, and I didn’t want anyone to link it to me. It would have to wait till I could make changes.

I did put on my old armor even though it wasn’t in the best shape. Anything was better than nothing. Hopefully, I wouldn’t need it, but there was no telling with my shitty luck. As long as I stayed clear of the Viento Cartel though, everything should be fine.

While I waited for the battery to recharge, which took just over twenty minutes, I did more research on Diosé and Maroo's just in case. I memorized every blueprint I could of the place from the city archives, preplanning several escape routes just in case. I really didn't want to get caught out again.

I checked the time. Seeing as I had several hours, and I adjusted some plans and grabbed my new Drop Chutes.

— — —

The Outskirts was my next destination, far from any cameras or eyes of onlookers. It took a while to find the right kind of dune, one with a hard sandstone cliff dropping down onto the sand and far enough from where the Hawks operated. The Drop Chute, at least according to the manual Feras sent me, only activated after a minimum height to help conserve battery. That height was just over a story, which wasn’t an issue for most people. Definitely not an issue with chrome limbs or spring tendons.

The part of the cliff I stood on was just over two stories. I was a bit worried about injuring myself if the thing didn’t activate properly, but the drop was onto sand which would help. And it's not like the injury would be permanent in the first place thanks to Quick Healing.

I strapped the pods to myself. There were five parts to the Drop Chute. They looked a bit like playing cards with a slightly wider base, though there was one that was significantly larger. They stuck out in an almost triangular shape. Two of them went around my shoulders, the large one went around my lower back, and the last two were supposed to go around my hips.

As I put all of them on, I hit a small button on each of them. They all turned on with a dim purple glow coming out of the ‘thruster’ end. They did look rather sick. They were still in the prototyping phase from Sentinel, so they hadn’t gotten hit yet with Sentinel's overdone color scheme. The purple on silver was oddly appealing.

I looked down at the two-story drop and mentally psyched myself up. According to the manual, I needed to jump and lean back a bit in mid-air as if I were leaning against a wall.

I took a deep breath, then tossed myself off the top of the rock face. I adjusted, the Drop Chute helping somewhat to manipulate my posture. As soon as I hit about a story fall, my momentum only increased as time passed, the chutes kicked on with a low whine.

The speed bled off of me as five pinpricks of heat hit my back. In a mere moment, they lowered my drop speed as if I just hopped and hadn't fallen two stories. I slipped on the sand, tumbling down the small dune half in shock at just how effective they were. Sure, it was only a two-story drop, but they were damn impressive. I was expecting them to not even work in the first place.

Already, visions of high-octane escapes by jumping out of skyscrapers played in my head. Or even stealthy jumps out of a building. They would provide so many more options for infiltration and extraction after I tested them more.

I spent a while longer messing around with the devices, testing them from various heights. The highest I got was a sandstone cliff about five stories tall. The Drop Chute handled the drop perfectly, further enriching some plans I had. I even tested increasing and decreasing my weight with stuff from my bike to marginal differences.

Before long though, the batteries died. They handled twenty-five falls without any issues. Based on my observations, they would probably die before stopping a drop from a hundred stories up, so that was something I might want to look out for.

Or maybe I could wire it up to an external battery somehow. Hmm… They also seemed to have an overheating issue I would need to watch out for. Maybe I could run some kind of cooling system through a harness? I could also make a switch somewhere to easily activate them instead of having to hit each one manually.

Regardless, my appointment with Torren was rapidly approaching and I could think about this later. I loaded back up on my bike and headed for the city.