Chapter Two - Because being a BAMF is Easier in Power Armour

“Spacesuits evolved surprisingly slowly after their inception. For a long time, the same suits that were designed for the Apollo missions were being used by astronauts onboard humanity’s fledgling space stations.

It wasn’t until interest in space travel--and more importantly space defence--grew, that the spacesuits started to evolve and change quite rapidly.

As with many other technologies originally developed for space exploration, this eventually meant that people on Earth had access to new technologies.

Of course, some military asshole had to weaponize our power armour!”

--A Rant About Space Tech, WriteIt forums, 2026

***

“Alright,” I said. “We need a bunch of things for the new place, once we move over. And a bit of cash wouldn’t hurt to pay for, like, contractors and such. Also, I do want to get to Gomorrah sooner than later.”

Lucy nodded. “And none of those excuses will work to stop me from shopping,” she said.

I sighed. “Damn. Fine. Myalis, want to get one of the Dumbasses over? We could probably use the projector.”

Certainly. One of them is on the way. You might want to open the door though.

I bounced off the bed and opened the door a crack, then shut it when one of my little drones scuttled in on all fours and installed itself in the middle of the room. “Alright, I’m going to put my armour on,” I said.

“Your armour wasn’t enough,” Lucy said.

“What? It was plenty!” I protested as I bent down and picked up the belt and neck pieces of my under armour. As soon as they were on the armour itself started to melt onto me, connecting itself together and hardening over my important bits.

“Cat, your back has a bunch of blue splotches on it, and your arms, and your legs.”

I shrugged. “I got tossed around a bit. The armour did a lot to help.”

“Your Mark IV TIGER-B armour did prevent you from dying. Some of the impacts you sustained would have been lethal otherwise. Not to mention its ability to protect your skin from all the acids in the air.”

“See,” I said.

“You didn’t mention acids in the air!” Lucy said.

“I, uh, forgot?” Maybe that explained why my pants had melted a bit. They were just normal cargo pants.

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Proper armour,” she said. “Like your new helmet.” She pointed to where my new helmet was sitting on the floor. It was a nice piece, shaped like a cybernetic tiger of sorts, teeth barred and eyes set in a frown. I didn’t know what it was made of, but it was tough, air-tight, had its own air purification thing going on, and a bottle of oxygen for when things got rough.

“I... guess?” I tried. I was well aware of time ticking on. “Okay, um, Gomorrah had this thing with modular armour. It was actually kind of cool.”

“Then get something like that,” Lucy said.

I nodded. “Right, right.”

“And when you come back, we can shop some more, for other things that you need. Your new arm is a first-tier one from your Sunwatcher Catalogue, and you have the second tier unlocked there. You could get something way better.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Myalis is a gossip. She texts a lot.”

I turned and glared at the Dumbass drone since I couldn’t exactly glare at Myalis when she was in my head. “Really?”

“Would you rather I not tell Lucy how you are? She gets worried,” the AI said. “It’s healthier for your relationship that she knows.”

“And she can help you bully me into buying stuff.”

“That too,” Myalis admitted.

Lucy giggled at my distress. “We win!” she declared. “Now buy cool sexy armour!”

I shook my head, but gave in to the inevitable. Lucy just wanted to see new toys, but she did want me to stay alive, so there was that. “Okay, fine. Myalis, can I do the modular armour thing?”

“You could. It would require a new catalogue, but combined with your second tier Sunwatcher Technologies, you could purchase some fairly impressive gear. Though it would mean discarding some of your equipment.”

I looked at the pile of gear in the corner. I had my auto-reloading under-arm holsters, one with my Claw, another with my Trench Maker. And my back-mounted guns, with the plasma cat-tail and all.

My coat was kind of awesome, but the cloak was a bit much. It was unwieldy. And in terms of weaponry, my Icarus was nice, but my Whisper was a tiny bit clunky.

“Alright,” I said. “Get me a modular gear catalogue.”

“Consider it done!”

Class I Modular Equipment Unlocked

Points reduced to... 12,371

An expensive catalogue, but not much compared to what I had.

“Okay, so, armour. I want... uh.”

“It needs to look cool,” Lucy said.

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“Yeah, obviously,” I replied. “It needs to be stealthy. Silent, no smells, invisibility too. I’m tired of being partially invisible. I bet there are other senses we can mess with.”

“A high-priority for stealth. Noted,” Myalis said.

Lucy bounced. “It needs to be tough! But not something like a walking tank. Those are cool, but they’re not sexy cool.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that works for me. Back-mounted weapons wouldn’t be bad either. I’ve gotten used to having those.”

“I think I have something that would fit,” Myalis said. “Though it would come with a few compromises. The Lion’s Mane, Mark XII. It’s an expensive platform, but it should cover most of your bases.”

Dumbass shifted, and soon an image was projected above it. The armour was pretty much what I imagined when thinking about stealthy cybernetic armour. Plates covered everything, with some sort of weave between them, and glowing lines in between. The legs had a set of curved metal pieces at the back that joined up under the heel.

“Is that boob-plate?” Lucy asked the pertinent question.

The way the chest was shaped did hint at... some... chest. It wasn’t as egregious as some armour I’d seen though. The way the abs were shaped was neat too.

“The armour is meant to be worn over an under armour like the one you already have. It can turn entirely invisible, has jump assists, and servos around every joint. Each section is hermetically sealed.”

The image spun around so that we were looking at the back, which unfolded.

“There is room for small gun emplacements in the upper back. Or you might wish to install jump-jets. The amount of room is limited, which reduces the space for weapons and equipment. The plates themselves are reactive armour over a graphene weave. The armour is heavy; you might need to accustom yourself to the weight, even if the powered parts of the armour will make movement feel relatively natural.”

“Neat,” I said. “And bits can be replaced piecemeal?”

“Indeed! The full set costs nine hundred points.”

I winced.

“That’s not much if it means you get to live,” Lucy said.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Anything better out there, Myalis?

“Plainly put, yes, but the price would either be significantly higher, would require better tiers than you currently have, or would need different compromises. Larger armour would be safer, but would limit your mobility and increase your mass.”

“What kind of upgrades can it take?” I asked.

“I would suggest back-mounted weapons, seeing as how you enjoy those.” The armour in the image spun and the ribs and chest unfolded. “There is room for multiple smaller systems. A nanite self-repair system, injectors for adrenals and an exterior healing system, maintenance subsystems, communication suites, more weapons...”

“Nice,” I said. “Okay, get it.”

“Wonderful!”

“That was fun!” Lucy cheered. “I was afraid I’d need to toss a ball of yarn down while Myalis and I talked about things.”

“Hey!”

New Purchase: The Lion’s Mane, Mark XII

Points Reduced from... 12,371 to... 11,471!

The armour appeared standing in the centre of the room, arms crossed and shoulders set. If it didn’t lack a head, I might have thought someone was there. It had a tail behind it, because of course it did, but otherwise it was pretty un-catlike for something Myalis suggested. Though there was the word STRAY stenciled on one pauldron and CAT on the other.

I walked over to it, then blinked. My nose came up to its shoulder. Sure, I wasn’t wearing shoes, but still. “Tall,” I said.

The armour unfolded, plates shifting aside then opening up to reveal an interior that would have a claustrophobe sweating.

“Okay then,” I said as I gingerly stepped in. It was only when I was awkwardly pressing myself into it that the armour closed up around me. My augs tingled, then I felt as if I was dunked into cold water for a moment. I gasped.

“Are you okay?” Lucy asked.

“Oh, yeah, just...” I snapped the fingers on the glove of my left hand, and felt it. “Oh, that’s messed up. There’s some tactile thing going on.”

“Really?” Lucy asked.

She got up, tugging a blanket around herself, then reached out a hand and grabbed the armour by the breast. She squeezed. “Did you feel that?”

I felt my cheeks warming just a bit. “Uh, yeah.”

“Sensation levels can be tweaked. It shouldn’t allow you to feel pain, but it is sensitive enough to feel changes in temperature.”

“What about pleasure?” Lucy asked.

“That... that isn’t part of the original package, but there may be modules for that sort of thing,” Myalis admitted. The AI sounded reluctant there.

“Okay, so... put a pin on that one,” I said. “Weapons, real fast, then Gomorrah. I don’t want to be late, alright?”

“Sure thing!” Lucy said. “We can explore all the options later.”

***