I returned home later than I expected due to dropping off Sydney and the dinner interruption. To say I was a bit shaken was an understatement. I had not seen anyone else die before except for Diana but that situation was different. I was in the middle of escaping and trying to survive. My memories of the event were tainted by the flood of adrenaline and flight or fight response to Wesley’s attack. Whenever I thought back to that event I thought of myself bleeding out and being defended by Caleb.

The guy’s death was different. It just happened in front of me with no warning and I couldn’t do anything about it. For now, there was no one to blame. No one I knew I could find. I just had to wait for Rachel and her team to do her investigation and find the killer. All while accepting that this was just part of the new world I was in. Something I couldn’t change as a mostly normal guy with no superhuman powers.

But I knew that I couldn’t just accept the changes that made up this world. Not when I had some tools I could use to change that. I couldn’t help out the world entirely by myself, but I could help all the same. It is why I at least in the back of my mind started working on a utility belt. One loosely based on a dark knight I knew from media of my old world. I couldn’t be the same. I don’t quite have the same business resources and I don’t have the same training, but with the ARGO I had the resources to start. To be a hero of my own.

But first, that meant waking up early in the morning. Rachel was my alarm clock as I got to the door when she knocked. She made the visit quick and dropped off her suit before flying off to her work. I collected the bag and dropped it off in my car before gathering the things I needed for work.

In my email box was a new message from Sydney sent some time after I had fallen asleep. Inside was all of the images and specifications she requested for her gauntlets. As I read it ARGO automatically scanned the details and created a work document for me to access on the computer at the warehouse. Its systems also ran a search through my files to find a somewhat compatible design for me to start with. Using this process, helped me speed up the work that would otherwise be a rather menial task.

When I entered the warehouse I got to work on cleaning up Rachel’s suit. The first step was to perform a deep clean and rinse off the suit. Using what looked to me like a miniature car wash I sent the suit through to be cleaned with a first wash. Afterward, I got the suit back a little wet but clean except for a few spots I had to manual scrub and rinse. Once that was done I started to disassemble some of the pieces so I could get access to the layers underneath.

The ARGO began making a list of visible damage and the parts that needed repairing or replacing. There were tears in the fabric, paint that was scratched, metal pieces cut, and to top it off the electronics were fried. Something that shouldn’t have happened unless electricity was shot directly into the mask. I sighed and returned to my work disassembling the mask. It was going to be a pain to redo the electrical work in the mask and finish it before noon.

I first started with fabric pieces because the majority of them went under the armored pieces and wouldn’t take much time to fix. After analyzing the damage, I found that the tears in the fabric were easy enough to fix. None of it would need to be replaced, for now at least, but it would eventually. After removing the fabric from the rest of the suit I ran it through the industrial sewing machine to stitch it up before returning the fabric pieces back to where they belonged.

The next steps in the repair were fixing the metal plates and pieces within the armor. Luckily none of the pieces were unreasonably bent out of shape or had sustained damage requiring me to smelt it back down completely. I had to hammer a few pieces and flatten them with a compressing tool, but it was few and far between. Finally, for the metal pieces, I had to fill in the holes and cracks made in a few of the pieces with liquid metal which took more time and patience. Throughout the process, I had to be careful of where I was pouring the metal and lining it up with the broken pieces. These steps were all assisted by ARGO and with its help, the steps using the metal went by quickly and without any mistakes.

Next, I moved on to fixing the paint. The lightning burns had crossed paths with the exterior of the suit as well as the internal electronics vaporizing the paint in places along the way. I got suited up with my paint gear and masking tape as I started. As I fixed the paint I did not do a complete recoat of the suit due to the time required and my deadline, but I made sure that the look of the suit would be good in the end.

For my final repairs before reassembly, I replaced the electronics in Rachel’s mask. After gathering the materials, I put most of them together before inserting them into the mask. This was done to make the assembly easier with all of the small parts involved. A few minutes later I had a finished mask which I connected to power and ran my diagnostic tool to make sure that there were no problems with the assembly.

I checked the time on my computer as the diagnostic tool did its thing. It was almost an hour from noon. I relaxed a little after seeing the time. Thanks to the ARGO and my previous practice creating the Sun Bird costume I knew I could reassemble the costume by the time she came to pick it up.

After the electronics testing came back as all clear I started the reassembly. First were the layers of cloth that went between the undersuit and any metal plating for the armor. Once those parts were sealed and put back into place I returned a mix of metal pieces and padding on top of the rest of the suit. Finally, I went back over the suit in whole to make sure I didn’t miss anything and check if any last-minute parts needed replacing.

With my first assignment of the day done I sent a message to Rachel about the suit before moving on to my next project. ARGO had already started assembling a design document for Sydney’s gauntlets and I started looking through them. Included within the initial document was a mix of the possible information I could pull from to get started on the gauntlets.

To start the gauntlets, I made a list of the minimum materials I needed that would be included in every possible variation I could make. This list included the metals, cushioning materials, cold isolators, and warmers to disperse the cold generated from her powers effectively.

I made note of the items in the list and began sculpting the prototype gauntlet on the computer’s 3D software. Using the software allowed me to easily switch out parts and make modifications before the assembly. One of the things it couldn’t do though was simulate it actually working and whether it fits all of the requirements of the project.

After going through the requirements listed by Sydney I knew I would have at least one revision of the gauntlet by the time I was done. Some things just needed to be tested to prove that some pieces were better than others and provided the best fit for the requirements.

As I was working on the model work I heard the door to my shop open and looked up. Rachel entered as I expected. Her suit, now done, was hanging in its bag by the door.

“Welcome. How were things at work after the restaurant scene?” I asked as I got up from my seat.

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“It will keep me pretty busy because of the seriousness of what has occurred, but you shouldn’t stress about it or anything like that. It's being taken care of and testimonies and information is being gathered for the time being. I can’t really say anymore even if I wanted to.”

“I understand,” I said. I picked up the suit and brought it over to her. “I fixed up the suit so it should be presentable from all angles now and its internal electronics are running properly now. Is there anything else you need?”

“I’ve got everything. Thanks for fixing up the suit as fast as you did.”

“Of course. It wasn’t too bad after I got started just don’t fry the electronics again. It is annoying to try and fix and took by far the most time.”

“I’ll try, but I make no promises,” said Rachel before she left the shop.

With that assignment out of the way, I returned to modeling the gauntlet on my computer. I went through a few different adjustments to the model until I found a design for the gauntlet that should function well, but at this point didn’t show any alterations to fit the look of Frost Cloak’s gauntlets. As presented in the 3D model and now physically as I assembled it the gauntlet was just a simple metal band with pieces bolted together.

The ARGO couldn’t help me much with the modeling of the gauntlet, so I was only able to see the obvious mistakes I had made when assembling it. I had already gathered most of the materials, so I only needed to fabricate a few more to get started. The first problem came up when I tested the first gauntlet on my arm. Despite it all seemingly working it was uncomfortable to wear, something I wanted to avoid for sure. It would require a redesign of the placement of parts to make the gauntlet easier to handle. I made note of the change and moved on.

I kept the gauntlet on the table while testing. It was possible, likely, and ultimately unnecessary for me to wear the gauntlet while doing so. After connecting all of the electronics I brought out some hydraulic tubes and a refrigerator connected to the warehouse’s main battery. Using these pieces, I could mimic to a degree Sydney’s ice powers. Finally, before getting started I put on my old thermal goggles to watch the temperature of each component throughout the testing.

The hose of the refrigerator shook slightly but didn’t move much because I had taped it down. The start-up process for the refrigerator started and it hummed as it started to spew its cold. I felt the temperature around me drop. I could already see the air out of the hose was nearing subzero Celsius.

Once it dropped below zero I activated the gauntlet’s initial systems. From the computer, I was able to monitor the status of the electronics and activate them remotely. Everything was going well until the temperature dropped to twenty below. One of the electronic pieces froze up and started throwing errors. I hurriedly disconnected the refrigerator’s cooling system, not wanting the cold to ruin anything else.

After removing the hose, I picked up the gauntlet and inspected it. The interior surface area was cold to the touch but from my sensors, it showed to be above freezing. I made another note to fix it as well. I hoped I could get the inside of the gauntlet at least a little better at holding in heat and pushing away the cold.

Next, I opened up the electronics panel and inspected them and the radiators meant to distribute heat around the device. ARGO began documenting the issues and recommending possible fixes as I thought of some of my own. There was some condensation build-up inside the electronics panel and I started to clean it out before anything else as I read through ARGO’s suggestions.

My work on the gauntlet continued until I was ready to go home in the evening. I continued to make modifications and test possible solutions until I had something better working. The different alterations continued with incremental improvements for the most part along the way.

Of some of the things I changed they were the balance, of course, placement of the radiators relative to the electronic pieces, different assembly techniques to avoid cold seepage, and the placement of the refrigerant hose to see if that would change anything. By the end of the day, I felt I had made great progress, but it definitely did not work completely, nor was it pretty. Not yet anyway.

<-0-0-0-0-0->

The next day I resumed working on the gauntlet. I had to admit it was becoming quite the challenge. After returning home I thought over the design further but still wasn’t close to a proper version one prototype, and it of course still did not look like it should. And on top of it, all ARGO also seemed to give up on the problem, deciding to spit out the same message whenever I get an answer about a fix.

I of course tried just that in the morning. Instead of just one heat exchanger and connected a second one right next to the first, a bit sloppily but it worked, at least for a bit. Then it failed again. The operating temperatures I had gotten out of it were now pushing negative forty Celsius, but not only was the gauntlet unwieldy now. The two exchangers were starting to interfere with each other now. It took me a while to figure that one out as I wasted more time fixing problems I caused with the gauntlets.

The gauntlets were pushing their twentieth revision by now with the newest modifications made and the heat exchangers moved around to balance a bit better. It was still too heavy, but at least I hit a new record with negative fifty Celsius.

I took another break, this time for lunch, and left the warehouse this time. Driving through the city was relaxing even in the midday traffic because I didn’t have to drive of course. It let me look around and see the city better. As I drove I noticed one of the stores on the same street as my favorite restaurant. It was then I realized a solution to my problem. I took manual control of the car and diverted the car toward the Home Appliance Store.

Entering the store, I was immediately assaulted by a customer service worker.

“Welcome. Is there anything I can assist you with today? We have a sale on washing machine and dryer pairs if you are interested.”

“No thanks. I already got one. I’m looking for refrigerator parts. Do you know where I can get them?”

Despite my deflection, the worker continued now that he knew what I was looking for.

“We don’t usually sell individual parts for most of the appliances. If you need your refrigerator replaced then you can bring it in with a proof of purchase receipt and it can be sent back to the manufacturer.”

“I’d rather just get the stuff myself and do the work so as not to waste time. Would you happen to have the number for a manufacturer then? I would like to find out where I can buy parts directly.”

“Of course. Give me just a minute and I will be right back with you.”

I nodded to the worker, and he ran off to complete my request. In the end, he was quite helpful and a few minutes later I finished up a phone call while getting food and was on my way to buy some better refrigerant coolant.

A walked through the second store of the day and entered the coolant aisle. This time when I asked ARGO about the different products and their specifications it actually gave a meaningful response.

“How does this coolant compare to the one designated as the coolant for the current gauntlet’s project?” I asked ARGO for the almost tenth time.

I continued to go down the aisle and made note of the best coolants. Some of the options were for more powerful machines than a simple refrigerator and could be used in industrial applications. I generally put my focus on those. In the end, I picked out two different bottles based on ARGO’s recommendations. They were similar enough that ARGO had a hard time estimating which would be better. I also decided to get the extra coolant because I expected to refill it sooner rather than later. If Sydney stuck with my gauntlets then repairs and refills would be required after fights.

As I walked around the store I also stopped by the heat exchanger aisle to see if anything else was interesting. ARGO performed the same task and read the specifications off boxes and made a list. As ARGO made the list I had the ARGO sort by weight and size vs output capacity and then=further limited the size requirements of the heat exchangers. That size requirement cut down the list of options considerably, but I needed the weight reduction and not a heat exchanger the size of an AC unit.

In the end, I picked out one of the items off the shelf and moved on. When my purchases were shoved in the back of my car I smiled and was ready to tackle the gauntlets once more. I had a few more things to work out before the gauntlets were finished but I was pretty confident that with a few more tweaks I could hit the goal of negative one hundred Celsius.