There were too many options. I didn’t think that would have been a problem, but in a chagrined moment I realized that perhaps I should have begun planning out my investments long term. Another thing to add to the to-do list.

Let’s see… I’ve got some standard vehicles, dirt bikes, jeeps… some luxury cars? I laughed to myself at the thought of trying to drive what would have been a four hundred thousand dollar car out into the wilderness. The price isn’t even that high in M.E., that’s pretty funny. What else?...

Whoa. I paused as I hit the reaper section, some of the devices of a more personal equipment level. I disregarded a few of them, doubting that I would need them as of yet. Although, it did illustrate something that I’d overlooked. The shop wasn’t as comprehensive as I’d thought it would be, sometimes you had to dig through the options to find some gems. Was that by design? Or poor design, I certainly couldn’t disregard the possibility. Someone had obviously designed the obelisk system.

An armored personnel carrier complete with thick armor plating and ten highly mobile hover modules. Cool, but way overkill. The price-tag is still… huh… reasonable, I guess? As compared to the plasma throwing space tank in the regular shop. The difference in price was stark, likely another thing to be grateful for. I didn’t need something geared towards a full group though, but now that I was looking at this, I didn’t just want something that would be good for me getting around.

Alright, let’s see… ah hell, searching one man and automated defense system? Will that work? I queried the shop, embroiled in my own thoughts and imagination. I doubted it would be nearly as useful as I hoped for, reigning in my hopes after thinking about all the ways my tech could go wrong. My previous shield was a good place to start for that. I didn’t have a left arm anymore after all because the heat buildup there, though that plasma shield saved me against the Unique, Spiker. A memory that still made a tremor roll down my spine. Quickly turning my thoughts from that, my eyes landed on one particular vehicle in specific.

The Sickle, hmm? Looks good, moderately heavy personal vehicle, enough space for two more people, pretty good amount of power. Supposedly has an artificial intelligence remote port access, so that’d be good? Onboard subservient AI? Not sure what that’ll really mean. The informational text didn’t give a huge amount of detail on this, but I felt a draw to it nevertheless. Just under it appeared to be something far more suited to direct combat, but I didn’t need that. I needed something that was flexible, not too heavy, but also not light enough to never be able to use in a combat situation.

With a click, I said goodbye to half of my reserved funds. Cheaper than the standard shop didn’t mean inexpensive. What I’d thought was a huge amount of Matter Energy didn’t stand up to the demands of the shop. A part of me immediately felt guilty over spending so much in one place, and I couldn’t help but shake my head at that. Buyer’s remorse in the post-apocalypse? That was a new one.

My thoughts turned wholly on the shimmering mass that began to spill forth from a small orb of silver. It came from seemingly nowhere, but unlike anything I had created before, I could feel an inexorable push from the location. The egg-like shape expanded rapidly, going from golf-ball sized to the size of a basketball in a second. From there, it doubled again and again every second before I stepped back and reflexively moved into a more mobile stance.

I scoffed at that, straightening myself and feeling that it’d be rather silly for me to be on guard against something I bought from the shop. It finally stopped expanding when it was five feet wide, and then began to stretch backwards. Angular and fierce, The Sickle gradually exposed its true form. It was one thing to see a picture, it was entirely another to realize the size and the feeling of the thing.

The others watched as well, realizing that I was making a purchase for myself, and not a small one at that. Red and black paint slithered across the metal, sharp edges suddenly emblazoned with red trim, some of which gleamed balefully in the light. The front of the Sickle looked triangular, sweeping backwards to a pair of protruding pods, both of which also bore several sharp edges. Curved wings extended beyond the frame, a razor-thin leading edge that was clearly meant for slicing. Several protruding plates on the front, like an ender, painted a grisly picture of anything that would be in front of the Sickle at speed. Another pair of stabilizers rested just behind those, flexible and mounted with smaller pods, likely propulsion. Two forward facing guns, squared and resting between the wing and the main body of the craft, would be responsible for forward offensives. The trailing tail of the Sickle expanded, vaguely reminiscent of a scarab with a diamond abdomen, the outside edges away from the passengers compartment bearing yet more sharp edges and a series of thrusters beneath and behind it.

On top of the diamond was a joined pair of guns, larger than the ones at the front. They lifted high enough over the driver's seat that I didn’t worry about accidentally hitting myself, but at the same time, I did see it as a possibility to hit myself on purpose. Probably just in case something got into the driver or passenger seat without permission. As color covered the rest of the Sickle, I noticed the vehicle suddenly turn on, a sound like a jet getting ready to take off filling my ears for a brief moment as it took its first breath. Every sharp edge of the Sickle suddenly gleamed red, energy surging through its frame, heat billowing off of it for a brief instant as exhaust ports sent out cascades of shimmering heated air.

I felt a twinge against my mind, almost a tingle of electricity that made my hair stand on end. Curious, I felt for the connection, and instinctively I realized that I only needed to call out to it, accessing that new part of myself that rested in my mind. The very same one that let me control my equipment and the headquarters for my light show the night before. It was easy to access it now, like flexing a limb that I hadn’t been consciously aware of but had been with me all along just the same.

While reaching out to the source of the feeling, I realized there was a brief moment of resistance before that resistance vanished like a popped bubble. In its place was another mind, unlike my own, new, cold, but pure. A pureness that, as I paused to feel the presence, made me realize that it was focused wholly on me. Not merely the me that was intruding on its own mind, or space, whatever I was doing at that moment, but instead a far more profound thing. It focused on my being at the first moment of its emergence, imprinted and knew only the task that it would do whatever it was required of by me.

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Honestly, a part of that scared me, how absolute it was. If this were a person, I’d have felt monstrous having created something that so wholly only cared about me. Even now, I felt it watching the others, a strange amalgamation of emotions. I dreaded the awkwardness as I feared it might somehow be jealous that the others were around me, but I quickly - and with great relief - realized it wasn’t anything of the sort. Instead, it assessed them for risk to me, and plotted at a speed that I couldn’t even hope to fathom in that instant.

Relax, I pushed the idea over, wondering if it would work.

It did. The semblance of a mind halted its considerations of my team instantly and refocused entirely on me. This was really, really going to take some getting used too…

Alright, You’re my Sickle, do you… have a name? I pushed aside the discomfort I felt about something at least partially sentient being so utterly beholden to me.

A sensation crossed the gap. An answer, I think, but the image it gave me was not so simple. It was a Sickle, that was its name, and it was a tool. I then felt a followup burst of what seemed like information, almost like it was filing a report. Somehow, though, I think I divined its meaning. It would take up any name I gave it.

Oh boy, I carefully thought to myself, breathing deeply. Then, I’ll call you… I looked at it, realizing that I had little talent for naming things in general. Already most of the time I’d picked some very cringy or questionable things. But, with a grin on my face, I decided that it was far too late to stop that now. I admired the black on the Sickle, a phantom-like visage rippled over it, refracting light almost in delight. Indeed, it was delighted, apparently I hadn’t kept that detail from spilling over. That shimmering ripple seemed to obscure it in darkness, extending like ashy shadows a few inches off of it, something that I assumed could go further.

That gave me the idea for the name, though. I’ll name you… Shade.

Suddenly I felt a click in my mind, as though a connection had snapped into place fully. My senses expanded to another point of view briefly, a headache blooming along with it, before it retracted. Alien thoughts and structure crossed over into my mind, imprinting on me before likewise snapping back. I felt Shade look at the others, a brief moment of pride welling within it at the stunned looks on their faces.

I shared the sentiment.

“Hello, everyone. Meet Shade,” I turned to them, beaming at them, feeling the flush of emotion from my new companion, “My new ride.”

They stood stock still as they watched me, and for a second I wondered what the issue was. I turned and looked to Shade, floating beside me, its passive hovering state nearly silent, a layer of shimmering shadow dancing across its metal skin. A moment later I realized that its gun barrels were reddened, primed.

Ah, calm down there you’re probably a little unnerving. I chuckled, wondering at how natural it felt to have this murder machine next to me. It could probably cut me in half, and yet I didn’t even hesitate to have it next to me. Strange, how forging a bond between minds somehow made an implicit trust just a natural thing to have.

It stuttered a moment, the weapons cooling and sinking into its body, ports closing up around them. The shadows reduced to at trickle before also disappearing, finally ending with Shade coming to rest on the ground, the thrusters slowing and turning off when it touched ground. A low tone, crystal clear, sounded from Shade.

“I think it said sorry for spooking you,” I translated to the others, who looked at me with a mix between helplessness and amusement.

Daniel boomed laughter, “Seriously? What’d you do, man? Is there an A.I. in that one, too?”

I paused, “Yeah, well, since I’m the only one who can’t move fast now, I figured it’d be a good idea to be able to keep up. And it’s definitely an A.I. of some sort, quite advanced.”

“Damn,” Terry stroked the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, “Maybe I should figure something like that out, controlling this whole floating thing is a pain in my butt.”

“It’s probably specific to him,” Fran shook her head, “I’m not honestly surprised at this point. So, what’s the plan for the day?”

I almost felt disappointed that Fran wasn’t even phased anymore. Shaking it off, I began, “The plan is to run recon eastward for signs of biotics in general. We’ll keep engagements to the minimum since we don’t want to get too bogged down. Wolven has been too quiet, we haven’t heard of any kind of contact and frankly biotic activity in general has been down on the eastside for a bit.”

Alice grimaced, “So, that thing might be back to full strength.” Disgust rolled from her words, “I hope it hasn’t gotten too huge. That was hard to get rid of before.”

“It’s only had a while since then, though, right?” Daniel pounded his fists together, the metal clang and big grin on his face matching the gusto with which he spoke, “So, it hasn’t had enough time to really get stronger.”

“Depending on when that thing was actually born, or made? Either way, I think it’s a good idea to hunt this thing down. We’re fairly more armed than we used to be too.” Fran nodded as she thought over the operation.

“At worst, we’ll report back here. Terry, since you’ve never seen this thing in person before, I want you in the back if it shows up.” I looked to him as I spoke.

Terry nodded, “Yeah, no problem. I don’t wanna get near that thing if I can help it anyways.”

The group chuckled at that, though none of us really wanted to get anywhere near Wolven. We still weren’t sure how much damage it could realistically do to us, but it had to be a considerable amount of it could get so many biotics.

I moved over towards Shade and hopped in, feeling the Sickle beneath my feet shift and thrumm to life once more. Sitting in the pilot seat, I couldn’t help but appreciate the feeling of heavy-metal at the tips of my fingers.

Huh, maybe this is why people like mechs so much. I smiled, pressing forward on the stick and growing accustomed to piloting.

“Alright guys, let’s get going. We’ll see our top speed.” I grinned, “Race to the suburbs.”

I laughed as Daniel took off instantly, Fran in tow.

“So much for a start signal!” Alice whooped, dashing forward at remarkable speed, already catching up with Daniel, bounding up and over fences and displaying a truly amazing parkouring talent. Terry cursed, but his laugh also rang out, floating directly over buildings, electricity arcing harmlessly onto them as he went.

“Alright, Shade, let’s see what you can do.” I grinned, feeling a sudden pulse of energy from the A.I. as it roared to life, a hot pursuit through the streets after Daniel.