Over the next two days, I continued my work on the new suit. I started on the next easiest parts the boots and the gloves. I spent a day redesigning the gloves to match the Roman aesthetic that I had been building. The redesign wasn’t as extensive as the mask. I started with one of my model designs and only tweaked it a little to fit Rachel’s requirements. Once the main design work for the gloves was done I inserted the attachment piece to the design. With it, the extending blade piece could be magnetically attached to the glove and easily removed when necessary.

I held off from producing the blades because I wanted to hear back on how the makeshift ones at home felt and if they were the right fit. I did however start to design the blades. It didn’t take me very long to do so because I already had the pieces within the software and only had to modify it a little. Over the past few days of using the multiple software programs within the computer, I had become decently proficient and comfortable with them. I was no expert now with the software, but I was also no beginner now.

On the next day, I worked on assembling them and then painting them white with accents of red like the mask. The assembly process took a lot more manual work than some of the other projects I had worked on. They did not contain electronics, but I was forced to sew a lot. I had occasionally worked with a sewing machine in the past so picking up this new fancy one wasn’t too hard. In the past, I had occasionally sewn on new buttons or repaired tears in jeans. The hardest part of the gloves came from the metal knuckle inserts I had to do. They were all small but sharp pieces that I had to be extra careful with. And despite that, I cut myself on one of them anyway. The gloves came together nicely as some small missteps. As I followed the blueprints I mistook some parts because of how I had redesigned some parts. It forced me to tear out some stitching in the end and redo it. After an hour of extra work, the two gloves were finished. I brought them over to a box I had set aside and laid them next to the mask.

The next day I got a message from Nate Young as I was looking through my files on boots and shoes.

NY: I need new shoes. I’m down to my last pair. Do you have extra’s stored in the back yet?

Me: I have one pair currently. If you need more I can get you some in two or three days. When can you be down to pick them up?

NY: I will be down in a few minutes.

Me: I will be at the warehouse.

True to his word Nate sped into the warehouse as I was bringing the shoes I had made out of storage. He was a blur as soon as I opened the doors for him and a second later he appeared right next to the tables where I had been working on the gloves.

“What have you been working on?” he asked me.

Nate looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He hadn’t run here in his QuickStep suit but did have the blue shoes on. They looked scuffed up and like they had been run a thousand straight miles in and knowing him he probably did just that today.

“New suit designs for Rachel,” I answered.

“Oh yeah. That sucks that she can’t be Legacy anymore. I missed our team-ups.”

“You know you could still team up with her. Unless there is something stopping you?” I asked wondering what the situation was.

“I mean I could, but not right now. Currently, her status as a hero is nil right now. New name, new title, fresh hero. To the people who matter she is the same as any other recruit hero except she has to live up to her former self. It is why so many retire when they lose. That and the likelihood of death. Any brand deals or sponsorships she might have had are now voided. She can’t do any formal team-ups beyond some rookie stuff until she has proven herself again. Maybe in the future, but not this year at least.”

“I see,” I said as I handed him the shoes,

He spun them around and looked them over.

“These look good. I can see where you rushed the paint a bit, but I know you have been overworked lately so I will let it pass. If you can get me one more pair of these in two days then that would be great.”

“I will work on getting you another pair in two days. How are things with you? You seem busy today or do you just need to get back somewhere?”

“I’m on break right now to restore some calories. My stomach’s a black hole you know. After this, I have to get back to midtown. There were a bunch of killer robots being assembled there and some were activated when I got there. It has been a mess to clean up and it has been my job to supervise.”

“Interesting. So, what do you do when faced with a killer robot if it can fly?”

“For you, run. For me, also, run, but a bit faster. It is a pain for me to deal with flying enemies so I would usually have to call for backup. If I can’t get back up quickly then I get to do some target practice with whatever sharp objects I can find. I have enough time in super speed mode that I can usually hit my targets because they have slowed to a stop when I’ve focused on them.”

“I will keep that in mind if I am fighting killer robots that fly. Do you want to meet same time on Thursday?”

“Yeah, I should be free at the same time on Thursday. I will message you if anything comes up,” he said in a hurry. He checked his phone before tightening his grip on the shoes.

“Ok. See you then.”

Nate disappeared as I said the final words and slid through the opening door just as it opened wide enough.

I returned to my computer chair and returned to the boot design. These boots would not contain electronics luckily, so they didn’t cause me too much stress. I worked on changing the design like I had the others and began switching between a few different options. I wasn’t sure exactly what to pick because a wavy, cloud-like design didn’t fit well on the top of the boots which made me constantly second guess what I should pick. In the end, I let the computer pick a number between one and four. It picked four. The design was similar to a regular boot but with a high top and the entire edge lined with small, rounded parts. I saved the design intend on finishing it in a few days.

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I brought back up Nate’s shoe design and started the process of making the shoes all over again. I printed out the instructions again and set everything up. That night I prepped all of the materials and pieces before returning home.

In the morning I started my morning routine and started driving in my car when I remembered what day it was. I checked the car’s dash. It read Thursday 7:13 AM. I had been in this world for almost an entire week now. I had been subsumed with new people and projects to do. Not to mention all of the strange quirks I had started to adapt to. The way food tasted was different, I was not even driving the car but watching the steering wheel move on its own. It was all so different. It was also what I wanted.

I looked back on my past week and then further back to my time as a student. My old world while not boring by any means was not exciting. Maybe the people of this world would not agree and would be happy to leave this one and go elsewhere. I didn’t know. I only knew that this week had been exciting despite its occasional boring parts. I was working a job I was liking that was intellectually and physically challenging. I went to a party. I saw people fight. I had also gotten used to being around superhumans. Sure, there may be challenges in the future, but they're always would be regardless of where I was or who I became. I like this world and want to do everything I can to stay in it.

I drove up to the warehouse and parked my car. There was already a car parked nearby. I didn’t recognize it. Thought to be fair I don’t recognize much in this world. I punched in the door code, and it opened for me. Inside the warehouse was John Malone.

“Welcome back. I see you have been busy despite the break,” said John as he waved his hand over the box filled with the stuff for the new suit.

He stood by the computer and my half-finished stuff I had not taken care of yet. QuickStep’s half-finished boots sat on the table. His eyes followed my own as I took a few steps forward. I began calming myself after his sudden arrival. I looked back up at him.

“Todd Jace and Rachel came by a few days ago and gave me what I needed to get started on a new suit. Though I have not contacted her cousin yet. If that was something else you were going to ask. I assume that you are also here about our conversation at their house?”

“You don’t need to contact Miss Tabitha Jace anymore. I had a conversation with her, and she has already accepted switching armorer providers to you. The deal and arrangements have already been taken care of. I will just need you to schedule a time when she can bring you her suit for a complete repaint into the proper Legacy colors. Can you handle that?”

“Of course, I can,” I said defensively and unsure of what he meant.

“Good. Make her happy and then I will be happy,” he said, “I expect her to hold the title of Legacy for a long time relatively speaking so it would be best to do everything in your power to suck up to her. She provides us with a lucrative contract that I don’t want you to fuck up on. I will send you it later today. Read up on it and make sure that you conform yourself to her needs. I almost lost the contract to the Rodriquez’s Hero Wear. You need to make sure that Tabitha feels she made the right choice.”

I paused unsure of what to follow up with. He was very forceful and deliberate with his words. His gaze had continued to go right through me. He wore his gray business suit now with a different color tie. I wished I had done some research on the guy over the past few days. Instead, I was busy playing Super Hero Business Simulator for most hours of the day.

“I will keep that in mind when working with her. I am well aware of the importance of long-term contracts within business. I will make sure that both of you are satisfied with my work.”

“I hope so. And you can start with this,” he held up a USB in his hand, “Make this within two weeks and I will be satisfied. It shouldn’t take you too long and hold up other projects and requests you may get. Contact me when it is finished, and I will pick it up.”

“May I ask what it is? Did you bring in new materials to make it?” I asked.

“You don’t need any new materials and if you are running low order more as necessary. I already looked around your reorganized shop and all of the stuff is already there. It looks very nice. The only thing you need that you did not have in the shop was this.”

He pulled his hand out of his suit coat pocket a brought out a metal cylinder only about four inches tall with a radius of an inch. The metal was heavy when he set it down on the table. He opened the top of it with a twist. Inside was a viscous fluid with the metal running in between it. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it looked like an exotic material compared to the bland items in my storage.

“I see you like it as well,” he said reading my face. “It is a new battery system and needs somewhere to go. Put it in the plasma gun and assemble it as per the instructions of the file. Everything you need will be on it. Do you need anything else from me while I am here?”

I thought over what he said as he spoke. I guess I should have assumed that the first thing he would have me build was an item of some sort. He definitely didn’t need me as his tailor and from the files I had on my computer he hadn’t previously needed anything related to super suits. I was curious what he would need it for and filed the question for later review when I had figured out what the guy actually did besides fund my business and talk about business deals with people.

“I don’t think I need anything right now other than more time of course. I will get in contact with Tabitha and start working on the plasma gun.”

“Good. You will find her contact information on the data stick. I have to be going and have other business to attend to,” he said.

I stepped aside as he passed me and walked quickly out of the warehouse doors. I relaxed my shoulder when he left and ran over to collect the ‘Data Stick’. I brought it open on my computer and looked through the files. I grabbed the ones labeled Tabitha and copied them over to my phone. They had her phone number, email, and address in the contact information. Next, I opened up the design files for the plasma gun.

The number of pages was in the multiple dozens. It wasn’t quite the largest amount of pages I had seen in the couple of projects I had seen but it was close. The files didn’t contain any pictures of the gun as a finished project which meant that it likely had never been built before. I read through the pages and the instructions said as much as well. There were only 3D model pictures from the theoretical project. The guideline instructions were vague at times and did not have the kind of notes that came from rigorous amounts of assembly and personal knowledge from its assembly. After looking through the first five pages of the instructions I knew it would be the most technically difficult assemblies I could attempt. I would have to use some of the machines in the back I had not looked at much since the first day. The metal work section was extensive and would require me to learn several new skills related to it if I wanted the gun to function let alone look good. And I suspected that John would want me to make sure the gun looked its best. The way he evaluated everything I did around him creeped me out.

I stared at the assembly instructions in contempt as I scrolled past the electronics section. It read to me like a sixth grade looking at a calculus textbook. There were occasionally stuff I could parse from context clues, but I would need to know so much more. From what I could parse I would need to code some stuff into the chips in the gun for energy regulation and some other parts. It would all need to be done in a coding language that I didn’t know up until just now and had been developed years ago separate from my knowledge of computer science from my world. I panicked some more as I thought of the deadline requirement for the project. I would have to finish QuickStep’s shoes and then focus my energy solely on this. There was no other way to finish this in time.

I wasn’t sure if I could complete the plasma gun in two weeks and even if I could I’m not sure I could complete whatever comes next. With that in mind, I went over my options. First I could try and leave this city and maybe the country. I could get a two-week head start but to what end. He would likely try and search for me. The next option would be to try and work on it as much as I can in earnest for the next two weeks and find an excuse to have it delayed. I’m not sure what his reaction will be if I don’t finish it, but I could give myself some more time this way. And finally, I could stay in town so to speak, and wait it out. I could wait for him to show back up in two weeks and refuse its creation. In that time though I would need to find out what kind of hold he has on me and who he is. After that is done then I can decide between my options.