The culmination of a week's worth of my efforts lay before me, the mere sight of it lit a spark of wonder in my eyes.
I leaned forward in my chair as the center of my focus reformed to reveal its newly minted form. I had taken the liberty of working on my suit to ensure I had as much survivability as I could get. I had seen footage over the years of fights between supers. Things got messy fast, and if I had any hope of survival, I’d need the best armor I could get my hands on.
I wouldn’t settle for anything less.
My hands gently touched the chest piece of the suit and my mind was flooded with information. I inhaled as I deciphered the information, my power now reading this item as [Multi-purpose Armored Combat Suit]. The name was a tad long for my tastes but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like I was going to go around calling it that. To everyone else, it was just my costume – my armor.
[Charges: 25/25]
[Multi-purpose Armored Combat Suit]
[Materials]
* Neoprene-Steel ★
* * Durability MK VII
* * Insulation MK VII
* * Sturdiness MK VII
* * Flexibility MK VII
First up has been improving the base materials. I had been… ‘neglecting’ was the wrong word. Distracted was a better descriptor. There were so many things I could work on that I had forgotten to improve my suit – the thing that would be keeping me alive. I had wanted it to be better than Nanoforge’s tech, but now I didn’t want to stop there. No, I couldn’t. I needed it to be better. I had a better understanding of the scope of my powers now.
I wouldn’t just create things that could match Nanoforge’s armor, I’d surpass it.
I’d make armor so much more sophisticated that she’d be green with envy if she ever saw my tech. That was my goal. My survival depended on it. Sam, Mia, and Liam’s as well. We all needed to be at the top of our game.
As I pulled the suit off the table, I kept observing the changes. I hadn’t just stopped with the [Materials], no. I had gone further. If this suit was going to be better, it needed to be so much more than just armor.
[Multi-purpose Armored Combat Suit MK IV]
[Power System]
* Jericho Core Intake
* * Efficiency MK IV
* * Safeguards MK IV
* * Durability MK V
It had been something I had debated over for a while before I decided to take the leap. My energy needs were getting rather large. Between batteries taking up too much space and becoming so heavy it wasn’t worth the charges to make them workable, I decided it would be better to generate energy onboard using disposable cells.
Nuclear energy – while powerful – wasn’t something I wanted inside my combat suit. While reactors are safe for the most part, they probably wouldn’t do well in active combat environments. While I could upgrade the durability and safeguards, I still didn’t want to risk it and that was before considering what I would do with the waste.
My solution came in the form of Jericho. It was an energy source created by a Mechakinetic back in the 70s and importantly, wouldn’t potentially irradiate a large chunk of the city if something went wrong. It was unfortunate that he died only a few years after making it before he could revolutionize the power industry. The few bits of technology he managed to create before his death were still being maintained and kept in use, but, from what I had read, nothing from his line of Mechatech had been recreated or improved upon.
Until now that is.
It wasn’t as powerful as Nuclear energy, but its byproducts were more manageable and it was overall much safer.
Emphasis on the safer part. I wouldn’t be turning my DNA to goo if the core was compromised. Worst case, the core would power down. A problem, sure, but I still had some batteries on board that would let my suit operate at maximum capacity for another half hour or so, even if the core was rendered unusable.
There was only a minor issue with my current design, and that was the Jericho Core needed to be replaced every three days of full operation. I was able to get my 3D printers to the point where they could create a very, very primitive Jericho core that my power recognized. From there all I needed was a few charges and we were good to go.
I slipped into my suit and pressed a small button in the palm of my right hand.
There was a series of clicking as parts of the suit began readjusting to my frame. Once it had finished and tightened around my body, I reached up and pressed another small button located at the back of my neck. The process was quick, the compartments opened and began clicking into place around my head.
One of my more preferred changes. Having everything in one piece just made the process easier.
I managed to restrain my glee but couldn’t hide my satisfied smile as it all fit together perfectly.
So far so good. Now, I just need to disable those two buttons to avoid any unforeseen problems.
Disabling them was quick, a togglable feature that was easy to implement.
Now, it was time to move on to something more important.
“Run startup procedure.”
My eyes were assaulted by lights that streamed across the visor, too fast for me to make out. Shortly after that, the visor went blank and a ping sounded in my ears.
Voice Authentication was another feature I had debated on. I didn’t want anyone other than me to be able to use my suit without my permission, so I installed this feature and tuned it to recognize my voice. Voice recognition software was super common anyway, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle.
“Core Functions: Online,” a robotic voice said. “Suit Composition: 100%. Life Support Systems: Offline. Utility Systems: Online. Augmented Armor Module: Offline. Camouflage Module: Offline. Vision Modules: Installed. Running diagnostics…”
The visor flashed between various different modes. Thermal, Night-vision, Electrical Detection, and Analytic.
I had made some changes to the electrical detection software, namely that it pointed out where devices were in 3D as well as what they were. Gone were the clusters of red, orange, and green dots that would pop up in 2D, replaced with a much cleaner highlighting system. The Analytical Mode was just something I had thrown in there. It was simply created to observe an object and scrape the internet for information. Though, with Gold around, it might not see much use. Still, probably good to have in a pinch. I couldn’t count on being around her all the time.
The Augmented Armor and Camouflage modules were offline since I hadn’t even installed them yet. They were projects that I had lined up in the future and had made space for in the suit. The life support system being offline came as a surprise. A good portion of the tenuous upgrade I had made to the suit was incorporating systems capable of keeping me alive should I get hit with something particularly nasty.
That’s weird. Why aren’t they working?
My utility systems were functional, or at least, that’s what the readout told me. The grapple launcher, impact dispersal, and extendable blade modules were all showing up green. I did a quick check by extending and retracting the blade on my right arm to see if the diagnostic readouts were accurately reading. With each use, the HUD on my visor clearly showed when and when it wasn’t deployed.
At least that’s working.
I’d need to do some more practical testing with the other two utility modules to really see how effective they were, but I was in no hurry to scale any walls or jump off any buildings. That could wait an hour or two until I had finished troubleshooting… and until I mustered the courage to actually do those things.
“Diagnostics complete.”
Everything appeared to be running smoothly. The voice was something I had incorporated last minute with the idea that I could eventually evolve it into an intelligent AI. However, the upgrade path for that was very pricey with some of the later upgrades pushing triple digits. Right now, this was all I cared to invest in and it seemed to be doing the job just fine.
I hummed thoughtfully. “Life Support System; retrieve status.”
“Life Support Systems: Offline.”
“Configure.”
A window opened up and another readout streamed down my visor. I had to scroll back to actually take in any of the information that it was trying to give me. When I saw the issue, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The inbuilt oxygen tank was empty and needed to be filled. The medical systems – while functional – were also all empty and had nothing to actually deliver. It then occurred to me that I hadn’t specified what kind of medicine these systems would be delivering. I’d have to configure them manually and then re-upgrade to top them up, or find the medicine and do it manually. It would be a pain to do it by hand, but it would be a waste of charges to continuously re-upgrade my systems, just to refill them.
The oxygen tank, however, was easy enough.
A compartment lining my shoulders hissed and opened the moment I selected the option to manually refill. My suit began sucking in the air and filtering out the oxygen, while the waste was vented around me as I watched the progress bar on my visor slowly fill. When it was complete, the compartment hissed again and snapped shut.
“Life Support Systems: Online. Oxygen supply at 100%. Estimated time of use, one hour. Warning: medical systems are depleted.”
That’s so fucking cool.
I had no idea when this was going to come in handy but again, systems like these were always nice to have. Better to be safe than sorry.
“Whoa.”
I turned my head to find Liam standing at the door with a drink in his hand and a bag of food in the other. I stared at him for a few moments, confused. I had locked the door – or at least I thought I had – to avoid getting distracted. Sam had a tendency to wander in and strike up a conversation, which ultimately ended up distracting me. I started locking the door to give her a hint, which she clearly understood. Liam, it seems, did not.
“How’d you get in here?”
“Under the door,” he replied. “You’ve been here for a while. Thought I could bring you something to eat.”
After a few moments, I nodded. “I did skip breakfast this morning, thanks.”
“It’s four in the afternoon.”
I cringed a little. “It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re busy.”
“It’s also Friday,” Liam replied. “Sam said that you might be a bit… disorientated. She said Mechakinetics get a bit tunnel-visioned when they get working, so I thought I’d pick something up for you,” he lifted the bag and looked around for where to put it. Most of the tables in here were packed with spare parts so there really wasn’t any place to set it down. Besides, I wasn’t too keen on eating in this space. I didn’t want it to get dirty. “So… busy huh?”
“Something like that,” I said, walking over to one of the tables. I picked up my laser pistol, my power picking apart the pieces and feeding me information. “Gotta be ready.”
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“Can’t say I blame you,” Liam placed the bag of food next to the door and dropped down into the nearest chair. “I’m really not looking forward to this whole ‘war’ thing that’s gonna break out. Feels like a lot of people are gonna die.”
“People die everyday,” I replied absently, immediately feeling like a horrible person for saying it. I tried to think of a nicer way to rephrase it but nothing came to mind. I was reminded of the horror I felt watching those ECU soldiers get consumed by Grim’s darkness. At the time, all I felt was the adrenaline pumping through my body. Upon reflection, the ordeal was complete nightmare fuel. “You just… don’t see it.”
“I’ve seen it,” Liam replied, perhaps a little too quickly. I saw the uncomfortable look in his eyes as he sipped his drink. “I mean, it’s freaky. I try not to think about it. Like I said, I’ve had my powers for a while now. I’ve been out and seen some things.”
“The gangs?” I asked.
Liam nodded. “Sure, but not just them. Sometimes people just get caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he shuddered. “Ya know, with all the shit that goes on at night, I don’t know why normal people even bother going out, especially in a city like this. In any city really. Maybe it’s better outside of Bayside?”
I couldn’t really say. I had been out of New Elpis twice in my life and I was young so my memories were pretty vague. I had never been further than Australia and the longest I had spent somewhere else was in New Zealand when Mom had taken me to visit her hometown.
“I doubt that. It’s probably just as bad everywhere else.”
“Yeah… you’re probably right.”
The pistol in my hand had shrunk by a fraction. It was more compact and I could almost feel the power source humming with energy. Like my suit, I had invested some more charges over the last few days and really turned it into something worthwhile. Although, now I had reached a crossroads. Further upgrades were starting to become costly to the point that with underpaying, I would only get a few upgrades per day, compared to the rate of around a dozen I had been enjoying for the past couple of days.
[Laser Pistol MK V]
[Operating Mechanisms]
* Laser Weapon Mechanisms MK IV
* Compact-shifting MK I
[Ammunition]
* Laser Round MK V
[Attachments]
* Grip MK III
* Suppressor MK I (Redundant/Disabled)
* Coolant System MK IV
* Holographic Sight
* Lethal / Non-lethal Setting
[Software]
* Biological Identification MK III
* Multi-purpose Armored Combat Suit MK IV System Synchronicity MK I
[Power Generation]
* Energy Cells
* * Capacity MK V
* * Efficiency MK V
Before, the design had been medieval by Mechatech standards. While it still put modern weaponry to shame, it was weaker than the kind of firepower the ECU employed. Now… not so much. I had yet to test it but I could confidently say that this thing packed enough punch to take even some of the strongest supers out of the fight if I landed enough hits.
“That looks different,” Liam pointed out, staring at the weapon in my hand.
“It is,” I retorted lamely. “I improved it. Like everything else in here.”
“Can I shoot it?”
I gave him a pointed look, one he completely missed with my face being concealed by my helmet. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him with the gun – although that was certainly part of it – but because I had just finished syncing up the pistol’s electrical systems with my suit, meaning if you weren't me, the only way someone could actually fire the pistol was if they were wearing the suit. The light-weight bio-scan software I installed into it allowed only me to use it without the suit.
“No.”
Liam frowned. “Oh, come on. Why not? I’ve always wanted to use Mechatech, but they always build so much bullshit into the stuff that it never works for me!”
“That probably means whoever built that stuff was smart enough to build in fail safes and security measures,” I replied. “If you have any brains, it's one of the first things you do, which is why it took me a whole week when I started out to even consider it,” I chuckled lightly. “You have to be wearing my armor to fire it, but you can still hold it if you want.”
“Nah, that’s lame,” Liam grumbled, waving me off. “What’s the point if I don’t even get to use it?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Even if you could shoot it, I haven’t exactly set up a range to test any new stuff out yet.”
“The garage has a lot of concrete walls,” Liam offered. “Isn’t that good enough?”
“It’s not concealed from the street and I’d rather not have the police called on us.”
The garage was a large open space and we weren’t about to fill it with cars. If I could put some sort of protective door at the front I might be able to follow through with the idea. Sam had asked me to consider doing that if only to protect the car.
“The police won’t come all the way out here for something like that,” Liam snorted. “But I suppose I get your point. Don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.”
I shrugged. “The best option is repurposing one of the floors or the roof but that isn’t a priority right now.”
“Right,” he muttered under his breath, swirling the remnants of his drink. “Grim, Splicer, and all that stuff.”
I noted his disinterested tone.
“You’ve been pretty ‘hands off’ since we saved Mia. Does it not bother you that these guys are still out there, doing the same shit that they did to her?”
He thought for a moment before shrugging. “Does it bother you?”
My thoughts drifted to Pete and the vat I had seen him in. I had no idea what had happened to him. I had skipped out of school this week, but I doubted that he’d be back given his condition, assuming he was even alive that is. I did care, only a little. He was an asshole but he didn’t deserve to die.
Though… maybe he did deserve a light maiming.
But as I stood there, I couldn’t deny there was this lingering sense of apathy about what I had seen. Other than Pete, I didn’t know anyone down there. They were all faceless strangers. I wasn’t going to kid myself, I knew it was wrong and in an abstract sense, it did bother me. I remembered at that moment, I didn’t want to leave them. I wanted to do the right thing and save all of them and it was Sam who had been the one to remind me that we were there to only get Mia.
If I had pushed back, we’d all probably be dead.
“A little bit. I know it’s fucked up and I feel for those people stuck down there. It’s pretty easy to tell how that shit affected Mia,” I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “But if you’re asking me if I would rush in there again to risk my life for a bunch of people I don’t know? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t.”
“Neither,” Liam agreed evenly. “But ya know, if I had the chance to save more. I would’ve.”
I met his gaze and I could tell he was just saying that to make himself feel better.
“By the way,” he started up again. “Just reminding you that I did buy you food,” he pointed to the brown bag by the door. “Feel free to like, eat. Whenever.”
“Almost forgot,” I admitted sheepishly. I enabled the buttons and pressed the one at the back of my neck.
There were a series of clicks as the pieces came apart and slid back into their compartments. I grabbed the bag and sat down on the edge of a table before plunging my hand into it to find a delectable range of bakery foods, both savory and sweet. My stomach rumbled painfully and I was suddenly aware that I couldn’t remember the last meal I had.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. You’ve been cooped up in here so I doubled up. Thought you’d be hungry.”
He was right.
I remained silent as I devoured two sandwiches, all the while Liam got up and started pacing around my workshop, looking intently at all the devices. Despite my descent into a hermit-esque lifestyle, I wasn’t even close to turning this place into the sci-fi dream that I envisioned it to be. It would take weeks, maybe even months to get to where I wanted. Then again, with a power like mine, I don’t think I could ever reach a point where I could label something as ‘complete’.
Liam was sensible enough not to touch anything. He looked at all the 3D printers that were running, going through the motions to create the things. He peered at my laptop – which by now didn’t really appear like a traditional modern-day laptop. It was slimmer and the webcam could output 3D holograms.
Tables were covered in papers with scribbles, designs that I still wasn’t certain about. Scattered haphazardly were circuit boards and broken tech that Sam had dumped in the room. Where she had gotten it from, I didn’t know, but I didn’t particularly care. I was able to repair them easily with my power and repurpose them for integration. They made for excellent module templates.
“Maaaaan,” Liam ran a hand through his messy hair. “I don’t understand any of this shit,” he picked up one of the sheets of paper that happened to be on the top of the pile. He squinted his eyes as if he were trying to understand it. He rotated the paper, trying to look at it from a different angle like it would aid in his understanding. “What is this supposed to be?”
He turned the paper to me.
I idly waved my half-eaten mince and cheese pie at it. “Speed module.”
“Speed module?”
“For my suit,” I took another bite and savored the delicious taste. “When my power shows me something I’m particularly interested in, I try to draw out the blueprint for it. There’s so much shit that it’s easy to forget some of the stuff I actually see. Once I draw it out, well,” I gestured to the 3D printers, “I see if I can make the base design of it. Saves on me having to spend charges.”
Liam frowned and nodded slowly but I knew he barely understood a word I said. “Right.”
“If I can, the next step would be to integrate it into the suit. With the speed module, I could maybe run as fast as Alice when she’s Pink.”
“Wait, really?”
Again, I shrugged.
“Hopefully. I’ll probably need to make a proper exo-skeleton before I do that, otherwise I’d probably just end up ripping my body to pieces, even then I’ll probably have to see about creating something to make me stronger. My powers don’t provide me with any physical enhancements like hers does, so without proper prep I’d just die. There’s also something else to consider.”
“What’s that?”
“Perception,” I grumbled. “Even if I built that exo-skeleton, there’s no way my mind will be able to process moving at the speeds Pink moves at, so unless I figure that out, I’d probably only be able to move around the speed of a sports car.”
He blinked slowly before putting the paper back down on the table. He sifted through a lot more sheets of paper before putting everything back the way it was.
“You got a lot of stuff here.”
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about things,” I replied. “This week has been productive.”
“Shit, you must have like a dozen scholarships or something with the amount of stuff you got here. Seriously, you’ve got enough stuff here to put a whole design class to shame,” he dropped back into his chair and propped a leg up on his knee. “Mechakinetic’s really are something else.”
“I suppose my school life is pretty good. My grades are actually above—” I felt my world suddenly tilt when a realization struck me. “Fuck.”
The Social Studies assignment!
I rushed to my laptop and minimized a bunch of design programs before pulling up Entropy. I flicked through my DMs until I found Lucy. There was a cold sense of dread that crawled up my spine when I read our most recent exchange. It was older than a week. She hadn’t even tried to contact me. She’d said nothing, no reminders or anything.
“Uh, you good?”
I didn’t answer him. I checked my phone next. No text messages either.
She hasn’t said anything to me. Why?
My hands dropped to the keyboard to type out a message. I wasn’t really thinking when I typed it out but it was as heartfelt as I could make it. She knew I had powers now, so hopefully she’d understand what’s been going on, especially with the news. I kept my message vague and full of code-speak that only she’d understand. Better safe than sorry.
“Max?”
“Sorry,” I replied, looking at Liam over my shoulder. “Just remembered something.”
I sent the message to Lucy and kept an eye on the chat out of the corner of my eye.
“I know the feeling,” Liam said coolly. “Don’t have the best memory. So, did you want to test out your new gear? I don’t know if I can be of much help but since I survived Grim’s darkness cloud… thing, I could be a target dummy for you or something.”
I felt my brow raise at his suggestion.
“You want to be shot at?”
“Not really, but I don’t feel pain when I’m transformed but I can tell how much ‘damage’ I’ve taken so I could help you there,” he countered. “Plus, if Grim didn’t kill me, do you think anything you’ve got would even get close?”
I scoffed. “Not yet.”
I recalled the device the ECU had used to incapacitate his transformed state. It was like some sort of flash freeze grenade that broke him down into millions of little solid bits. Sure, he might be indestructible but the ECU proved fairly easily they had the technology to contain him at the very least.
“Just one thing though.”
I gave him a blank stare. “What?”
“Can I try on the suit after you're done? I’ve always wanted to wear power armor.”
“It’s not power—” I stopped myself and shrugged. I think there was a possibility what I had now could actually be considered power armor. “You know what, why not? I don’t see an issue.”
A smile stretched across his face. “Fuck yeah!”
I couldn’t help but wonder why with a transformation like his, he’d be so interested in power armor. Then again, I had the same sort of fantasy when I was younger. To the eyes of a child, some of the power armor the ECU had looked more cool than scary.
I glanced back at the laptop.
Still no response from Lucy.
That – unfortunately for me – was never a good sign.