“I’m sorry, I heard the whole conversation, and even though I understood the words and the concepts involved, The final resolution was… odd. I assume she was distracted? I will try and forget the conversation, but I imagine when we are back together I will probably consider it carefully.”

”Poorly timed conversation because I forgot you were there. So how’s the project coming along?” I asked, changing the subject quickly. Heck, I was ready to start kicking my OWN ass, but I couldn’t say what I did was wrong.

“Extremely well. I discovered your hardware handlers, and I must say that while some are clunky workarounds for avoiding potential software pitfalls, more than a few were extremely elegant systems for avoiding potential latency. If I can, may I make a hardware suggestion?”

“Of course. If it’s a simple blueprint, I might even be able to accomplish it quickly, but I might have to restock on materials soon… if I keep using the junkyard, I might have to start doing broader material shifts, which will eat my energy like candy.”

“I noticed that you were starting to install more complicated paired quantum entanglement stations. If you start adding them in 128 pair increments, it might make broadband possible.”

“Yep, I had considered that, but I wanted to wait until I created a decent receiving and transfer switchboard system. This armor is intended to be a prototype, and I would hate the idea of losing a big chunk of our data communications due to getting a leg or something bitten off while I was low energy. Good thinking, though. When I get around to a Mark five version, I have a ton of potential upgrades lined up.”

“Right. Okay. I have a working model in place, would you care to try on your helmet to see what I have accomplished and maybe comment on changes you would like before I start building the emergency and backup software?

I hopped up, pulled off the earbud, and immediately tugged my helmet on, activating the full display matrix. I noticed that the tracking systems and even the targeting links were active, but since I didn’t have any modular systems plugged in, they were simply floating.

When I blinked while looking at something, the view stayed steady, but I had a passive neural control net built into the helmet, and that beautiful girl had succeeded magnificently in dragging in my intent based on the neural net, focusing on items, looking at them closely, and then labeling them as well as any known properties from the database.

“This is sweet! It’s even better than I had hoped. I knew you could set up database linking and intent tracking, but this is awesome!”

“You installed a VERY complete set of neural net sensors. Usually, they are simple, 18-point systems, but yours are designed to hardware collate over seven thousand impulses. And with your entangled passive nervous system, even my heaviest software is virtually latency-free. I think a good job is in order for you too. I have never worked on anything this complicated, but I have never worked on anything complicated that is so clearly labeled with data handlers and mad amounts of hardware over-engineering to prevent anything even resembling latency.”

“Ugh. That’s why this is the Mark four. Latency and neural inputs go together like nudity and volcanic jets. I did that to prevent headaches as much as to increase response times, and I also designed my suits to handle people with enhanced nervous system reaction speeds. Tell Kali that I plan on making her a suit too, for the low friends and family discount, just as soon as I figure out how to deal with her size-changing issue. As attractive as she might be as a seventy-five-foot naked woman, I don’t have the slightest clue how to deal with it.”

“You can tell her yourself, we both still have your commlinks. But it might not be an issue, since I think she alters her garments, armor, and weapons with her when she changes, and they gain increased durability to adapt to their size just like she does.”

“Good point, but I will still want to experiment in case an unforeseen problem emerges from the shift. So what’s next?”

“I noticed that you have a mylomar musculature system installed in the skin. Quite powerful, in fact, but it’s rigged entirely for passive energy collection and distribution. Might I ask why? And are you planning on making that active? It has enormous potential as power armor.”

“Cyberkinetics. I am paranoid, and the idea of a hostile cyberkinetic using my own suit to rip me apart is sort of a personal nightmare. Did you ever see Iron Man 2? Remember the Hammer suit’s torso twist? It still makes me wince.”

“That makes sense, but the directed AI I am creating should be proof against virtually any hacking attempt on active components.”

“I will bear that in mind if I decide to create specialty suits, but I live in the ‘virtually’ area. Sooner or later we might be wrong, so for my standard suits, I am happy to keep that possibility contained. Until or unless I can figure out a way to create a distributed security network with active updating.”

“I will bear that in mind, and trust me if you can figure it out, I will be totally on board! I’ve had to deal with hostile security penetrations more times than I care to think about, and I have even done it myself. You know that when I am back together, we are going to beg you for a solid-state central processor to run our own ops on.”

“You already have one. The prototype I gave Pixie has an identical data network to this one, it’s just missing a few tweaks that this one has, like modular weapons and targeting links, and a few things I decided weren’t worth including, like the nervous system voltage monitoring.”

“No! Please leave those systems in. I have managed to use them to create something I am stupidly proud of, because of the way they link with the EEG monitoring and biophase selection. I am not sure, but it looks like you may have actually discovered a way to monitor, store, and distribute otherwise lost advancement essence!”

“What? How? What the hell?”

“When we get back together, I will use Pixel’s display abilities to show you the mechanism. But if it’s correct, we might have found a way to handle essence mechanically in a quantum storage network… the potential is not just groundbreaking, but potentially universe-breaking. But I could be wrong, so we might need to wait until I am back together to explore this.

“Right. Okay, go ahead.”

“Are you ready for this?”

“Am I ready for what?”

Okay, a little intro. I LOVE MMO’s and roleplaying games. Once I figured out how to merge biophase selection, deep sensory scanning, microphase encephalographic modeling density retrocognition, and a hefty dose of object-oriented procedural framework design, I came up with this! Think ‘character sheet’.

“Really? Character sheet? Are we suddenly in a video game?”

“Life is a game.”

“Right right, I have heard that before. War is a game, life is a game, yadda yadda. Fine. Character sheet.”

My visor was suddenly filled with an amazing framework.

Testing purposes only! (Details will be a focus popup in the future!)

BLUEPRINT (real name withheld)

Classification: secondary anchor; Healer; Tinker; Manipulator

Attributes: (baseline average 5)

{Reflex: 9 (88 mps slow nerve impulses, 433 MPS fast impulses)

Strength: 8 (1000+ kg max press)

Twitch: 13 (scaling is relative)

Build: 10 (subjective. Face it, you are a ten) }

{this information is irrelevant, but I thought it would be cute to experiment with classic concepts, but on further thought, only the relative values are needed. I also ran out of ideas for stat measurements, because the classic six-stat system is almost completely subjective when it comes to things like wisdom, intelligence, and constitution. So please consider the NEXT section a bit more objective}

Affinity: Motion

momentum (3) (Using Akyo’s Law suggestions and your scalar within that law, with a mystical 9 cap where concepts become laws)

“Can I make a quick suggestion?” I asked, before scrolling down to the next listing.

“Of course, this is your commission, after all.”

“Thanks. This stuff is intensely subjective. The cape dot net top archives contain a rather comprehensive listing of average subjective ratings based on observed comparison values, if we could switch over to that, rather than using untested data based on potential cultivation levels. After all, most of our users will be more familiar with that, even if it’s not particularly accurate.”

“May I cross-reference with the Academy variables? They have a more trainer-friendly listing that might help people that are actually concerned with advancement, and if their attributes are visible, they might find ways to enhance those by comparing them over time.”

“Please do.”

Right. Recompiling. Okay. Ready.

“Character sheet.”

Testing purposes only! (Details will be a focus popup in the future!)

BLUEPRINT (real name withheld)

Primary: Tinker

Secondary: Healer

Government Threat Level: 3-6 (subjective, Academy rank 6)

Cultivation rank: 8 (late mortal)

Known Powers

Apportation 30x2

Kinetic manipulation 1

Matter creation 5

Point defense 8

Intangibility 7

Fireball 3

Icebolt 3

Chain lightning 5

Temperature control 4

Regeneration 10

Sphere of Destruction 8

Limited healing 8

Traits

Improved durability 4 (5)

Improved strength 3 (4)

Improved reflexes 2

Improved endurance 5

Radiation resistance 8(15)

(Full life support)

(Full environmental protection)

(commlink)

(Known armor traits)

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Okay, I get most of these numbers, each rank-up is a times two multiplier for the traits, and the armor stuff is from the armor. But what’s the importation number?”

Technically, apportation is a relatively unknown version of teleportation, but it is also linked to your intangibility. It is a range multiplier, even though it doesn’t technically measure your range, so in this case, it is determining your speed, which is approximately 300 KPH. The x2 means you can comfortably carry up to twice your mass.

“Right, so what does...sphere of destruction, limited healing, and Regeneration ten mean? I thought that the maximum was eight.”

“The videos of your fight with Orcules were, and are, hugely popular.”

“Orcules? I thought we were going with Orcahulk.”

“Blame the press. You are lucky they used your Blueprint handle instead of making up some stupid name. Anyway, they are calling it the sphere of destruction, and from what I’ve heard, people are terrified at the idea of trying to take you in melee now. After what your little globe trick did to Orcules. Also, because of the odd way your power works, the School and BSA had you labeled as potential threat level 6, while the government still had you labeled as threat level 3. After that video, however, the military and government databases will likely update your threat level to at least 5, although again, the threat level is very...flexible. You haven't taken out a city block yet.”

“That’s a little silly, the molecular compression only worked because of what it was. Most people would have been pushed out of the way and maybe heated up a bit. Someone like Mindy would have probably ignored it.”

“Nonetheless, it was captured in living color and full surround sound, and from the point of view of a camera it looked terrifying like you had a disintegration force field. Theoretically, the maximum a power can obtain is ten, even though no one has ever seen one that was ranked higher than eight. You reassembled from a thin smear almost instantly, so it’s being rated as the theoretical maximum, and I haven’t found any reason to disagree, as long as you have energy.”

“Limited healing eight is very simple. Your healing is rated at maximum, and not unfairly, but it is limited based on your own experience of the weaknesses of blueprinting concerning long-term injuries, genetic damage, incurable birth defects, or nonstandard body composition. These attributes are for you, not for the online databases. They can make their own judgments.”

“The traits are more or less correct. A bullet would have to impact you with approximately 16 times the force per square inch to do the same damage as it would a normal human man your size and weight, or twice that to go through your armor and you. Your lifting capacity is almost eight times average for your size and weight, and with suit bracing almost twice that… in addition, certain features like your point defense disks could also appreciably improve that, but not a full category. And based on energy burn, you would have to work thirty-two times as hard or as long as standard to become fatigued, and your reaction speeds are also nearly four times as fast as normal.”

I sat down. “That’s deep.”

You did provide the tools for rather extensive testing in your suit. And I am certain that a few people are interested in… punishing tests of your potential endurance. Bear in mind, though, that the human body is a complicated construct. Improved endurance strongly implies a reduced refractory period, but that may not be the case.”

“Has anyone ever told you too much information?”

“Yes, constantly. And it’s even worse when we are together. Speaking of which, I will need about two more hours to put the finishing touches on the emergency systems, decision matrix, and analytics, before we consider it complete after which, I really need to recombine. I am exhausted.”

“Oh please, do what you need to do.”

“Thank you… and when should we expect the second part of your repayment?”

I thought about that. “I am restricted to campus for the next two weeks. How about the Sunday night after that, we meet at the pizza grill at eight?”

“Can we do better?”

I sighed, “Fine. I think I have some money now. Jesus Ferrara’s. I will ask Network to get reservations.”

“Much better. And then a walk through Lincoln Park.”

I nodded, “Done.”

***

Interesting fact. While I did NOT have a suite of tools that could do the same detailed analysis of others, when people were in costume or had a known alias, a collated list of known attributes, from a number of databases I don’t think that anyone, including me, had permission to install off-site like in my suit, gave me the information if I looked for it. I quickly learned that unless I wanted a VERY complete history of one of my roommates or, well, anyone I looked at too closely while wearing my helmet, I should avoid being overly curious.

I didn’t really need to know that the voluptuous brunette practicing Escrima in Intro to Alternative Martial Arts had two abortions in the last three years, had over twenty-one unpaid parking tickets, and was currently fighting a hit-and-run citation in Empire City for clipping a hot dog cart with a hover-trans on manual in an illegal zone, namely a sidewalk INSIDE of an arcology. Although I would kind of like to have seen it.

Of course, some of them, like Jay Blankenship, a baseline student born in Atlanta, was a known member of Humanity First and probably had his tuition paid for by the extremist group, was something I really wished I could find an excuse to let the master-at arms know… I dropped her an anonymous letter, and I didn’t see him the next day. Being a member of a known extremist group wasn’t illegal, necessarily,

Nearly a week after our battle on the Sea Wall, I hadn’t seen the girls much. Between my workout schedule, a very heavy courseload for all of us, and extra training from Senpai Bob in Kendo which he determined I needed badly after my too-blatant public appearance, I mostly wound up just sitting with them while we ate or waving to them as I passed through the sitting room, from the shower, and into bed.

Sure, I noticed my improved endurance. That was great and meant I could train that much longer and harder before I was utterly exhausted, according to Bob, who was making a habit of increasing the gravity while I worked and meditated. Asshole, but obviously a well-meaning asshole, since I was getting much more comfortable with the Kendo sticks.

Saturday morning, I woke to whispers and the sliver of light from my bedroom door. When I lifted my head groggily, I realized I had overslept by almost two hours. Yes, Saturday was technically my day off, but I seldom overslept and never had at school.

“Jake? Are you okay?” Abbey asked.

I nodded slowly, “Yeah. Everyone’s decided they want to make an example of me.” The school had gotten hit too, but Bob, as the hero once known as Jupiter, had flattened the lesser incursion without overly disturbing the students. Kind of impressive too, since when I say flattened, I mean flattened. It had taken days to scrape the beaches clean of the squashed remains, some of which I got drafted to assist with since I was actually pretty quick about vaporizing the remains.

I sat up slowly, stretching. I stopped sleeping in the altogether since it was entirely possible that in an emergency I would have unexpected visitors, and at least I was protected by boxer shorts. Sleeping nude was kind of arrogant at a girl-heavy school like the academy, anyway, so I sat on the edge of the bed with my blanket over my lap.

“Can I come in? I’ve been trying to handle your correspondence, but this is the first chance I’ve had to speak with you in like… five days, and I know you have extra training right after lunch.”

I nodded and yawned, patting the side of the bed next to me as I tried to put on my awake face. I was just glad I had gotten a good shower before I crashed last night, or I’d have stunk up my whole room. “Go for it.”

She came in and sat down on the bed next to me. She was wearing some kind of schoolgirl chic, a sort of Gothic Lolita look with a wraparound sweater and tall boots, set off by her occasional glasses, this time with gold frames, that I knew full well were just for show. “Do you mind if I ogle you while we work? The look is pretty amazing and makes me want to lick you like a lollip… uh… sorry.” I said, trying to get my sleep-addled brain in gear. “What’s up?”

She was blushing, since my off-the-cuff flirtation was probably just a little too heavy right now, especially since I was currently dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers and a blanket across my lap to hide my usual morning attachment. At least I didn’t wake up having to pee, since that made it even worse.

“Okay,” she said and coughed into her hand for a little bit as she tried very carefully not to look at me. “The armors were delivered as ordered, and the payments were processed and are in your school account. Most of your business offers I dumped into the ‘not enough information’ circular file with e-clips to that effect. But there were a few things I couldn’t file thirteen, or needed to know more about before I figured out where to send them.”

“First of all, I have ten clips from someone named C at Faberge HQ, the Flare’s headquarters. I assume that they are from your Ex. What would you like me to do with them?”

I groaned. Great. Just great. “Did you look at them?”

She shook her head, “Of course not, that’s your private business.”

I smiled a little, “Go ahead and share them around if you want a little amusement. I am pretty sure that she realized who I was at the Wall, and is just trying to chase powerful dick. It’s sort of her signature move, and I am not interested. If she breaks identity, go ahead and send them to Subvector for an appropriate response. If she asks, tell her I don’t give a flying frog fart what she does about it.”

Abbey grinned broadly, her teeth flashing, “Seriously? That’s… amazing. How…”

I sighed, “Mostly I just needed to unload on someone, and I did. It helped me get my head on straight, and I didn’t want to burden any of you with hours of listening to me weep and moan like a right baby. I feel much better now. Oh, I meant to ask, could you get me a table for two at Ferrara’s Sunday after next? I sort of owe Kali and Pixie a huge favor, also find out if you have two hours you can spare for lunch tomorrow.”

“Me?” she asked.

I nodded, “I can’t leave campus, but I want to have our date tomorrow for lunch if you can. I don’t know much fancy cooking, but I do have something I’d like to try and make into a picnic lunch, and you know Sundays on Campus… Where I have in mind is probably empty.’

She nodded quickly, “Of course! Yes! Tomorrow at eleven okay? I should be out of church by then, how should I dress?”

I smiled, “Dress for a grassy picnic? I’ll bring the food, but it might be a little sloppy, so stain-proof would be a good idea.”

She beamed and nodded, “Great. I will wear something for rolling around in the grass and staining.” I ignored the flirty comment, but I took note of it. I think she might be expecting a little more than just a lunch, but I hadn’t kissed a woman in quite some time.

I was quite interested in renewing the habit, especially after my intentional strike-out with Akyo. The steam park would likely be empty on a Sunday, but I was planning on being a good and honorable guy anyway and not stealing second.

Yes, I admitted that I was being THAT GUY. The one that made baseball metaphors for sex. At least it wasn’t fishing metaphors, right?

I checked the door, which was now closed. “How is Akyo doing?”

“Akyo? She seems… I don’t know, a little frantic. Preoccupied, I think. Something about talking to her mom set her off last week, I think, but we have been pretty busy too, I have only been hanging out with Colette and Mindy the last few days, so I am not sure what’s going on with her.”

I nodded slowly, “Well, in the spirit of honesty, I told Akyo the truth. I am interested in her, but not if she’s heading back to Japan after graduation. I am an old-fashioned kind of guy.”

“What if she decides to stay?”

I sighed. “That’s very very tough. I like you and I like her, but I am not some kind of womanizing secret agent. We are a team, and if I were smart I’d make a no-dating the team rule, but I never pretended to be smart like that. I guess we figure it out as we go along. I have zero interest in being the next Magnum. I met the guy, he’s got big muscles but I am pretty sure he’s a micro-penis, even with all the Flare girls hanging off of him.”

She bit her lip, “If that’s true, then there’s no chance of you being like him.”

I laughed, “Really? We are still trotting out that poorly-timed walk of shame for flirting? Wait till someone burns off your costume someday, I swear I will never EVER shut up about your nipples.”

She bit her lip again and then shook her head. “If you really want to see them, you just have to ask. But I might ask a favor in return,” she stated boldly. She looked at her pad, and then back at me. “Oh, Colonel Moore has… ahem… ‘requested your presence at eleven hundred hours at the operations building, where you will entertain a security interview.”

“Colonel who? Can I blow him off?”

She shook her head. “No, you can’t. If you aren’t there by eleven hundred, in a little less than an hour, Subvector will drag you by your ear… possibly literally, since military funding pays for nearly a quarter of the school’s annual budget. You have to listen to him, but if he makes you any offers you can safely turn him down… Right now, the Monster hunters know damned well that you shifted your curriculum to match their needs, and they’d probably knock his block off personally if he tries to poach you.”

“How do you feel about what I just said?”

“Which part?” she asked, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“About Akyo, or really about you.”

She sighed, “I don’t like competing, but I will if I have to.”

“I meant the part about… well… I am not looking for a fling.”

She smiled slightly, “Are you asking if, after graduation, I’d be interested in joining whatever organization we decide on, if we are together?”

I nodded slowly, “I was more just meaning that I wasn’t interested in just getting a score, and wondering how you felt about that, but okay, that’s a little more involved than I expected, but that works.”

She smiled, “I am a good Catholic girl, who just happens to be good at extracurricular activities that might make her rich and definitely would be illegal if people ever understood what it was she did. But, you know, good Catholic girls have standards, and one of those standards is not flipping her skirt up at every passing fad.”

I nodded, feeling much better. At least that cleared the field a little. That is unless Pixie decided to join the game… I had gotten very used to Quiet Code over the days she was working with me, but I realized I was absolutely developing a type.

Short, flouncy, and fun. Although to be fair, my type didn’t seem to have any consistency attached other than energy and height. Pale Germanic with pink hair, short and stacked Irish brunette, and short and slender Asian with black hair.

Well, that and I was pretty sure I knew something about Abigail that she didn’t know I knew, which was quite an achievement for a girl who could pull information out of my head with barely a thought. If Akyo was going back to Japan, well, I’d do everything I could to help her cultivation short of the dirty deed, and she’d given me ideas. That and Pixie was still half of a complete mystery.

“Ask Mindy if she can accompany me to the interview with the Colonel.”

She looked surprised, “Mindy? Oh wait, she’s still your… oh, hehe, good call. Will do. She will make time.”

“Is that it?”

She shook her head, “No, but that’s the worst of it.”

I smiled and stood up, finally safe. “Okay, I guess I need to get ready. Am I supposed to show up in uniform or in civvies?”

She shrugged, “Federal Law being what it is, he asked for you by name, not handle, which means civvies.”

“Can you come with me too?”

She laughed, “As your secretary? Sure, but I’d never get in the door. I will go ahead and let your teacher know that you will be late to training due to an incident with a yapping dog.”

I chuckled as she waved and headed out, and turned to deal with my morning issues. My current clothes didn’t actually have a lot of wear and tear on them, more’s the pity. I settled for my old Rush Tee shirt but spent a few moments refreshing the blueprint. Old and beat-up was good, it would give the impression I wanted, but tattered? I didn’t want to look desperate.

If only I had long hair. I stepped out of my bedroom and saw Mindy, wearing a rather smart-looking skirt and blouse, looking more like she was working at a law firm than going to school. I grinned and said, “Perfect!”

“Perfect? She asked, pulling out one of Abbey’s pairs of glasses and putting them on. Damn. She had just gone up two hotness points even if she was trying to look more professional. “It doesn’t even look like you’re dressed yet.”

I grinned, “I am wearing my ‘hard to handle rebel not worth the military’s time’ costume. How do I look?” I lifted my hands and spun around in place like an overly masculine ballerina; even the shadow I hadn’t shaved off just added to the look.

She shrugged, “Good enough to eat, but I understand you used that line this morning. If you are going to flirt with poor, innocent Abbey like that, you might want to wait until we are out of range.”

I chuckled, “Not my fault, I was still asleep. I refuse to take responsibility for anything I do while I’m punch-drunk, in a fugue, sleep-deprived, or mentally impaired by a girl dressed like a Weeaboo’s wet dream.”

she smiled a little, “You seem to be in a good mood, despite the circumstances.”

I grinned, “I am in a GREAT mood, probably because of what Abigail was wearing when she woke me up. That was one hell of an apology. You should try it.”

She stuck out her tongue at me and said “I know what she looks like in that outfit, I picked it out for her specifically to catch an eyeful from you. It doesn’t attract me that much.”

I growled. “Smartass. You know what I meant. Are you really trying to hook me up with Abbey?”

She nodded, her hair done up in a very mature bun increasing the effect. And she was right, I could see almost an inch of very red hair at the base of her platinum locks now. “Yes, I realized you had a few too many irons in the fire, and as your patron, I decided to reduce the stress. We still have three and a half more years of… this. Well, I suppose it’s time to go deal with another Kaiju.”