I grappled to a nearby roof, enabling night vision. I tracked two individuals blitzing down a darkened street, eager to flee from their pursuer. They wouldn’t get very far, and it was only by sheer luck that they managed to evade me for as long as they had. Regardless, the chase would shortly end, and I would get what I came for.
Eight objects were highlighted on my visor, closing in on the fleeing Supers. One shot a multicolored blast of light at one of the outlines, but it zipped out of the way. It wouldn’t be long now because any second, they’d turn another corner and find themselves at a dead end. I grappled to another rooftop and carefully watched the situation unfold.
“Are you suuuuure you’ve got this handled?” Alice’s voice sounded through my headpiece. “I can be there before you can say ‘lickity split.’ Starburst and Basilisk haven’t exactly proven cooperative.”
“I don’t need any help,” I reiterated for the hundredth time. “Seriously, Alice. This isn’t a big deal. You said it yourself, this sort of thing will only happen more often. We all need to learn how to deal with it. Besides, this is a good chance to test some of my new toys.”
More multicolored bars of light shot into the sky, and my drones maneuvered out of the way. Warnings flashed across my visor, and prompts to permit offensive weaponry pinged me. I dismissed them because the weapon systems weren’t what I was testing. I only recently implemented precision movement, path prediction, and automated defenses. Costly, sure, but entirely worth it.
“Alrighty then. Play nice with the kiddies. I’ll just add the finishing touches to that special project of yours.”
“Try not to break it.”
“I would never!” Alice giggled menacingly. “I detect a significant lack of faith in your adorable, cute, sexy—”
I cut communications and moved to catch up.
My drones were about to corner the two fleeing supers at the end of a road blocked by rubble. While cleanup had started, sections of the city were still in disrepair. Those areas were closed off, but that didn’t matter to these kids. They turned quickly into the blocked-off street, not realizing they were running into a dead end.
It was unfortunate they couldn’t fly.
Starburst tried to destroy one of my drones with his powers, but avoiding his multicolored plasma beams proved trivial for my Mechatech. Basilisk even pitched in, spewing wads of acid the size of bowling balls into the air. I watched the green sizzling goo sail through the air before splattering across the road, eroding whatever surface it landed on. Neither of them had the accuracy or precision to hit my drones, and their inexperience would ultimately lead to their defeat.
A few grapples later, I dropped from a roof and landed a few feet away from them. Starburst saw me and immediately tried to blast me with his powers. I saw the multicolored plasma ignite in his palms, but I casually enabled the weapon systems in one of my drones. There was a quick pop, and Starburst was pinned to the ground by a gelatinous liquid that grew around his body.
“Ah! NO! Let me go you stupid bast—”
“Language,” I drawled tiredly, turning to Basilisk. I held out a hand. “Hand it over.”
Basilisk’s chest heaved, and a thick wad of superpowered acid drenched me from head to toe.
“Corrosive agents isolated.”
I sighed, straightening up as my suit began smoking. The acid tried to burn and eat through the outer layer of my suit, but the reagents I incorporated into the fibers neutralized it. With my patience wearing thin, I calmly wiped away what I could, clearing my visor. My last encounter with these brats had been fleeting, and Basilisk managed to hit me with her acid. It almost disintegrated my suit.
Now, I made sure that wouldn’t happen again.
“Suit integrity: Ninety-six percent.”
“Unlike you, I learn from my mistakes,” I held out a hand again. “I wouldn’t do that again if I were you.”
Horrified, Basilisk reached into her pocket and retrieved a glass ball the size of her thumb. Sparks of red, blue, and green lightning danced around within, giving off an intense light. She didn’t hesitate to toss it my way, and I caught it with a grateful smile that they’d never know I wore. With a tap, I opened a compartment on my shoulder and safely sealed it.
My suit practically thrummed with power.
“Jericho Core MK V Installed. Dual-cores detected. Reroute primary power source from Jericho Core MK II to Jericho Core MK V?”
It only took me a few seconds to reconfigure the settings within my suit to draw power from both cores. I had implemented three slots within my suit to fit Jericho Cores or any other method of portable power generation, and now two were occupied. As it turned out, the modules I planned to integrate into my suit needed a lot of power. If I was going to rely on them, I needed to compensate for the consumption, at least until I could improve their efficiency.
“Configurations updated.”
Right now, none of that mattered. My suit wasn’t using enough power to draw from both, so the armor defaulted to drawing power from the MK II.
“Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you're causing?” I scolded, glaring at the two of them. Starburst tried to incinerate me with a smoldering glare while Basilisk looked away to hide her fear. The theme of her costume fit the name. Basilisk had fake snake scales, eye contacts, and even braids. Starburst was the same, though his costume looked more like pajamas when I could actually see them. “You two have hit twelve different homes in our territory and then attempted to steal from us, again.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t make it so easy then,” Starburst sneered. “How’re we supposed to know that crummy little house was your hideout?”
“It’s not,” I intoned. “If you found and breached our hideout, we wouldn’t be having this conversation– not because you’d be dead,” I waved off Starburst’s growing dread. “But because you’d be speaking to someone else, and believe me they would not be offering you a shred of the kindness I am.”
Starburst struggled against the hardening substance around his body. I noted how his skin flickered like a dying lightbulb. He tried to use his power to break out, but unfortunately, he couldn’t channel it properly without his hands. There were other ways to use it, and I was sure he’d learn in time, assuming he survived long enough.
“Kindness!? What part of all this is kind!?”
“The part where I didn’t burn you to a crisp with lasers, or take your head off from several blocks away,” I offered with a shrug. “You two are just kids, and I know you’ve already dealt with Vigil and Anomaly. I think you shouldn’t try to complete the set, because trust me, you don’t want to deal with Alice.”
“What are you going to do with us?” Basilisk’s timid voice pulled at my heartstrings, but I had to remind myself that this was not their first rodeo. They were a troublemaking duo, and from Starburst’s aggressive outbursts, it was abundantly clear which of them was the leader. If their escapades continued any longer, the problems they would cause would cascade into something too much for them to handle, and people would get hurt. “Are you going to turn us in?”
I hummed aloud.
“It’s tempting,” I said, watching them flinch. “But no. I’ve gotten what I came here for. If you two want to keep on stealing, then there are going to be consequences. You can consider this your final warning,” I shrugged. “Just know it won’t end well for either of you if there’s a next time.”
I had more important things to do than play babysitter to a bunch of unruly preteens. I had projects I needed to finish, and I still hadn’t heard from Lucy. It had been two weeks since the fall of The Cains, and I had yet to hear even a peep from her. School would be back in a couple of days, and if she didn’t show up, I would have to track down Wildfire to interrogate him myself. It already rubbed me raw that Alice and Cyberspace advised me not to make rash decisions involving her. They promised me she was safe, but my gut told me otherwise.
“If you’re not going to do anything, can you get me out of this stuff?” Starburst complained. “It’s starting to itch my skin. It kinda burns as well.”
“A side effect,” I said, bringing one of my drones down. There was another pop, and Starburst yelped. The restraining mixture fizzled away, just like Basilisk’s acid did on my suit. “Not that you care, but I’m still working out the kinks in the design. It’s not perfect, but it shouldn’t hurt you.”
Starburst shuddered as he climbed back to his feet, brushing himself off. Basilisk jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He grumbled before pushing her off.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Steal from us again, and I’ll leave you both pinned to the ECU’s Citadel,” I warned. “Or I’ll stick Alice on you.”
Red warnings flashed on my visor.
The drones I had hovering in discreet areas around my location picked up on the disturbance and fed me images of the incoming threat. There was a blurred figure moving at high speeds through the air. I looked up just in time to see it plummet before slowing to execute a controlled landing. I recognized the newcomer, as would anyone in Bayside. It was hard to forget who those wings belonged to. Unlike with Starburst and Basilisk, I decided that talking first would be the least I could do.
Seraphim wasn’t someone to take lightly.
“Don’t suppose you were out for a leisurely flight to stretch your wings?”
The Rookie Heroine regarded me coolly.
Her version of Nanoforge’s armor was stark white with angelic patterns to fit her namesake. Six glittering golden wings extended from her back, three overlapping on each side, all as sharp as obsidian glass and flowing calmly in the night breeze. Unlike Abby, Seraphim had a headpiece with a featureless face mold that matched the same theme as the armor.
“I came to investigate the reports of the unidentified flying objects in the area,” Seraphim replied dully. “I hope you realize that operating unregistered flying mechatech in this area is against the law.”
“I was under the impression operating any unregistered mechatech anywhere was against the law,” I shot back, unconcerned with her tone. “Not like you guys have time to worry about that sort of stuff right now anyway. I’m helping to keep peace and order.”
“In your own way,” Seraphim criticized. “Not in accordance with the law.”
“I’m not interested in entertaining an ethical debate. The results speak for themselves.”
In the last two weeks, Madhouse kept a tight grip on illegal activities in our territory. Groves Den and what areas we successfully wrestled away from Pandora after The Cains crumbled were relatively crime-free. There was the occasional break-in and other minor crimes, but what populated area didn’t have those? Cyberspace insisted that a measure of order and professionalism be maintained if we were serious about holding territory. Lead by example and whatnot. The ECU did it. Gaea did it. Liberation did it, and Grim did it. All of them cultivated different communities and cultures within Bayside.
Cyberspace wanted us to do the same.
All we had done so far was weed out the bad actors and funnel them to The ECU and local police stations. Mia – Vigil – was especially good at doing that. Crime dropped, and a semblance of normalcy returned to our lives. The chaos we had felt weeks ago faded, and we settled into a routine. Despite this, Francis reminded us that things in this city tended to take turns for the worse at the drop of a hat. We needed to be prepared for that eventuality.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
For now, Bayside was recovering, and that was all that mattered. Once the city recovered, I could start making things better.
“Make this easy and let me bring you in. We don’t need to fight.”
I sighed. “You’re right, we don’t. Leave me alone and there won’t be a problem.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can,” I shot back. “You’re choosing to confront me. See those two behind me?” I gestured to Starburst and Basilisk. “I just stopped them from continuing a colossally stupid robbery spree, one that would’ve ended with them dead if Grim was still around. If they had been close to Pandora or Queen’s Court, you better bet they would’ve been given scars to remember. They’d be lucky to get away without being press ganged.”
Seraphim shifted, showing undisguised uncertainty.
“And you don’t intend to recruit them?”
“We don’t need them,” I clarified. Starburst snorted, and I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t want to get into a fight with Seraphim, but if I did, I was confident I’d be able to hold my own. After Grim, I earned myself enough time to build and develop my Mechatech. There weren’t many people I was afraid of now, especially after having dealt with a man synonymous with death. “We’re doing fine as we are.”
“What you’re doing is ensuring the status quo never changes. The Cains have fallen and you have taken their place,” Seraphim said, shaking her head. “You should be working with The ECU, not against us. If you come with me peacefully, you can do more than what you are now.”
“No, I don’t think so. I think I can do much more as I am now. I wouldn’t be able to do very much with The ECU spending every waking moment looking over my shoulder,” I argued. “So, I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to have to decline. Don’t take it personally, I know you’re obligated to negotiate before going in for the take down.”
Abby had said as much. It was standard procedure to try and negotiate if the subject in question wasn’t an immediate risk.
Seraphim’s wings extended and flexed. In a knee-jerk reaction, I enabled all my weapons systems on all eight drones. They didn’t engage, but I was ready for anything now. I stood confidently, waiting for the superheroine to attack. Seraphim could slice through steel like butter with her wings, fly, and crush concrete with her bare hands. She was the kind of Super that would be on the frontlines of any battle. Her immense strength and durability would keep her from dying.
But that didn’t mean she couldn’t hurt.
“I don’t want to fight you, Upgrade.”
Another voice sounded before I could speak.
“But I do!”
The warnings on my visor came too late. Someone kicked the back of my right leg, forcing me to my knee. I recovered quickly, whirling around and slashing the air with my extendable blade. Basilisk and Starburst hadn’t moved from their spots and looked confused.
I was kicked again from the back, but I didn’t buckle this time. A pop from one of my drones sounded, and my restraining mixture splashed the space behind me. My eyes zeroed in on Seraphim, who had backed away, her fists tightening into balls. When the third attack came, another drone attacked, and a growl escaped her throat.
“Tricky! I told you not to engage!”
He popped into existence on a dumpster, his legs crossed. Like the other Rookies, Tricky wore Nanoforge’s armor with stylized red and oranges. I couldn’t see any thematic design, but maybe that’s because I was too busy imagining him as a red smear on the side of the road.
“Sorry,” Tricky replied without a shred of remorse. “I got bored waiting and I just wanted to hit the guy. Come on, just look at him! You think you’re tough with your black and green armor? I get you want to look like us but really, couldn’t you have gone with something a bit more original? Seriously, it's like you’re TRYING to be Nanoforge. Sorry, but we already have a Copycat on our team. We don’t need another one.”
A groan escaped my throat, and I wasn’t the only one.
“Why do I always get stuck with you?” Seraphim muttered.
I pointed at Tricky while keeping my gaze locked on Seraphim.
“Case and point, this is why we don’t need those two,” I gestured behind me. “Too brash, too young. Not exactly reliable when they can’t listen to simple instructions.”
My words provoked a predictable reaction out of Tricky.
He appeared at my side, but another compartment popped out of my shoulder, locked onto him, and fired. Red light slammed into his chest and carried the boy into a nearby wall. There was a pop from one of my drones, and the restraining mixture hit its target. Tricky groaned as a block of amber solidified around his body, pinning him against the wall. Once he regained his bearings, I knew the restraining mixture wouldn’t hold him.
Supers that could teleport were problematic if they were still conscious, so I loaded an armor-piercing tranquilizer in one of my drones and nailed him in the neck.
Tricky sagged before he had the chance to teleport.
“He’s fine!” I held up a hand to stop Seraphim from attacking. She looked ready to rip me in half, but she held herself back. “Just unconscious. My drones aren’t loaded with live ammunition.”
Rookies didn’t have live Mentalist support so I felt comfortable lying.
“Thank you for your restraint,” Seraphim’s tone was biting. “Now, I would appreciate—”
“No, stop asking,” I cut her off. I waved at the two preteen Supers behind me. “Feel free to take these two though. They’re troublemakers and I think they and Bayside would benefit if they were taken off the streets.”
“I thought you said you weren’t turning us over!” Starburst exclaimed angrily. “You lying sack of—”
“I’m not turning you over,” I said with a tired sigh. I tilted my head and looked at the two thieves from over my shoulder. “I never quite got to the point where I captured you to begin with, so technically, I’m not handing you over. I am suggesting that Seraphim take you, before someone else does,” I paused, giving them a blank, pointed look. “If you don’t want to go with The ECU, I suggest you run away. Now.”
The two tripped over themselves as they bolted.
I turned back to Seraphim.
“Now, who’s more important? Me, or the two kids that will almost certainly get into more trouble if they aren’t stopped?”
I didn’t wait for a response.
I grappled to a roof and turned to guard in case Seraphim gave chase. The offensive systems in all my drones were still primed, and I was ready to beat her down if need be. Thankfully, she saw reason and didn’t give chase, leaving me to escape in peace. Part of me was disappointed that Seraphim didn’t attack because it would have been the perfect opportunity to test my Horizontal Movement Systems or ‘air jets’ if you were boring like Sam and Liam.
Oh well, there’s plenty of opportunities to field-test them later.
“Cloaking Module Engaged.”
My armor let off a light buzz as the outer layer slightly shifted to begin refracting light. Total invisibility was still quite a ways out of my reach, but the active camouflage module was enough to hide me from prying eyes, especially the ones in the sky like Overwatch.
As I disappeared, I activated my drone's camouflage modules, and they too, vanished.
Crossing the city, I brought my drones down to street level as we returned to the hideout.
When I arrived at the front door of my workshop, I disabled the cloaking modules on my suit and drones. The metal groaned as I lifted the door for my drones to squeeze through the bottom. I followed in last, letting the first door drop behind me. Scanning activated, and light buzzing sounded throughout the room. I was bathed in lights as the scanners confirmed who I was. The final door to my workshop opened, and I directed my drones to their charging ports.
They zipped through the building before slowing and plugging themselves into the racks on the walls. I strolled through the maze of machinery and found Sam spinning around on an office chair next to my suit’s disengagement unit, looking dangerously bored.
“I seem to remember you saying you were putting the finishing touches on our special project?” I queried, walking past her to stand in the open pod. I raised my hands to my sides and widened my stance as the machine peeled the suit off my body. “Unlike you to slack off.”
“I’ll have you know I finished,” Sam flicked a crunched-up sheet of paper at my face the moment I stepped out of the disengagement unit. “I was just waiting for you to get back so we can put it to the test! Oh, wait— nooooo are you serious? Come on, Max, I really wanted to see how this thing was going to work!”
“Sorry, I wanted to focus on my Cybernetics development,” I said, sighing. “Besides, for the Combat Analysis Recreation machine to work with my suit, I need the module,” I gestured to a nearby table where a small blob of colorless liquid was hovering millimeters from the surface. I strolled over to it and gently lowered my hand over it. “The Automated Adaption module is still cooking. It’ll be done in eleven hours.”
Sam groaned.
“Tomorrow then. Greaaaaaat. You know, we could always just capture my fighting data now so it's all ready to use tomorrow when the module is done. I took my whole night off just to come down here and help you with your toys. The least you could do is actually play with me,” she playfully jabbed me in the side before sitting on the side of the table. “Oh! Did something happen while you were out? Oh, OH! Something happened. Tell me.”
I saw the flashes of Pink in her as the giddiness took over.
“While I was dealing with our problematic thieves, I had an encounter with the Rookies. Specifically two of them,” I explained, knowing Gold was piecing together things faster than I could verbalize. Still, lately, Sam seemed to enjoy having things explained to her for whatever reason. “As you’ve probably already figured out. Seraphim and Tricky.”
“Annnnnd Seraphim held back,” her gaze flicked to my armor. “Your suit would be more damaged otherwise. Those wings are no joke. Weird that she’d just let you go if you disabled Tricky, though, I don’t imagine his disobedience made things easy for her,” Sam mused. Her features suddenly brightened. “Oooh, you used Basilisk and Starburst to your advantage! Look at you using your brain,” she playfully ruffled my hair. “Smart cookie. I’ll make a dastardly villain out of you yet.”
I smacked her hand away.
“Anyway, I got the Jericho Core they stole back. It's in the suit.”
“You integrated it already?”
“No, it’s just sealed in one of the power generation slots. I want to scan it into my 3D printers so they can replicate the MK V variants. Better efficiency, more compact, and easier on raw materials,” I collapsed into a chair and rubbed my face. “I feel like I’ve barely made any progress. Two weeks isn’t enough.”
Sam snorted.
“Yeah, Max. You’ve been slacking. It’s not like you reordered your workshop and split them into categories or anything,” she shook her head with exaggerated disappointment. “Really, how lackluster are your multiple fabricators, cybernetic development machines, drone assemblers, and the dozens of other things you’ve labored to create? Truly, you are shockingly underwhelm— Ow!” I pinched her arm, causing a pout to form. It quickly disappeared in favor of a more genuine smile. “Cut yourself some slack, you’ve worked yourself to the bone, even when you ran out of charges.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I told you before, I never feel like I’m doing enough.”
“And I’m telling you that you are. Every Mechakinetic has this problem, so don’t feel like you're so special on that front,” she lightly jabbed me again. “You're doing great, and I doubt that’s going to change.”
I detected the insinuation in her voice and leaned forward.
“We’re about to get very busy, aren’t we?”
Sam swayed quietly, kicking her legs back and forth while staring distantly into my workshop. Her eyes flashed between Blue, Pink, Red, and Gold. There was wearing your emotions on your sleeve, and then there was being Sam.
“I’ve had the displeasure of sitting through a few chats with Cyberspace. They’re going to be giving us an assignment soon, and my gut tells me it's going to bring down some heat on us,” Sam muttered, running a hand through her hair. “Such is our life. Can’t exactly complain when I can see what they’re going for.”
I considered her words before looking toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
“What do Liam and Mia think about it?”
“I haven’t told them yet. Liam won’t care, but Mia…” Sam released an exasperated sigh. “It’s all sugar and chocolate with her— her morals, I mean,” she idly waved away her strange analogy. “She’s coming around, sure, but it's taking a bit longer than I hoped.”
“Come on, you can’t fault her for wanting to be a good person,” I chuckled. “I think deep down, we all want to be good people. You most of all. Don’t pretend like we don’t operate on morals. If we didn’t, we would’ve left Grim to grind the city to dust. I think the only difference is that sometimes abiding to morals won’t yield the most ideal outcome.”
“Yeah…” Sam sighed again. “That was one of the big reasons I never gelled with The ECU. I know I’m not the best person, but I’m not a total monster. Some of them just couldn’t—” she stopped and laughed weakly. “Nevermind. Talk about a bummer subject. Didn’t mean to drag you down memory lane there.”
“Don’t worry,” I shrugged. “If you wanna talk, I’ll listen.”
“Some other time,” Sam said. “Anyway, whatever Cyberspace wants, it involves General Jessamine, which means we’re in for some serious shit.”
Her arrival – according to Cyberspace – was due sometime during the coming week. With her, she’d bring an armada of war machines developed in collaboration with Ajax. Sweepers and Walkers were exceptionally efficient at warfare. They’d be deployed all over New Elpis, and that included Bayside. Despite all my improvements and innovations, I knew I wasn’t ready to face Sweepers and Walkers.
“Shit.”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “‘Shit’ indeed. Good thing you made those,” she pointed to the containment pods next to my suit. Each one held an altered earlier iteration of my suit, and they were named. “Because I have a feeling we’re going to need them.”