String - Foundation 1.3 & 1.4

It was unfortunate, but expected, to discover the wound on my face hadn’t gotten better overnight. The swelling made my eye difficult to open and seemed to come bundled with a throbbing headache. Not the best way to start the day.

“It’s not looking so good is it?”

Mom cringed, handing me some eggs and bacon as I flipped the knobs on the stovetop. “You aren’t winning any beauty contests, I’m afraid.”

“That’s fine with me. You had your chance with Alex.”

“She was never interested,” Mom complained. “If I can’t live vicariously through my kids, what’s even the point in having them?!”

“So we can be complete and utter burdens on you, both financially, and emotionally,” I replied, cracking a few eggs into a pan. “Besides, at least I cook for you. What does Alex do except forget how timezones work and start messaging us in the middle of the night?”

“Excuuuuuse me,” A voice came through the speakers on Mom’s laptop. “You were the one still online at 2 A.M.”

Of course Mom had already started her morning call with Alex.

“She sends me wonderful paintings,” Mom said. She turned her laptop to face my direction. Alex was on a webcam of her in her studio apartment with the Eiffel Tower in perfect view. She wasn’t looking at us, instead, she was touching up her latest painting, some mind-bending abstract thing that looked like a meaningless mess to me. “See, look at this. Another gorgeous piece, sweetie.”

“Thaaaanks, Mom. I’m sure I’ll get a good grade on this one,” Alex chuckled, turning back to the webcam. She gasped when she saw my black eye. “Max, what happened!?”

Mom gave me an expectant look.

I turned away and sighed. “Walked into the bathroom door at night. Couldn’t see.”

“Buuuullshit,” She waved off dismissively. “Come on, spill it. What happened? If you don’t tell me I’m going to get Mum to pull your ear.”

“Honey, he’s too tall for me to do that.”

“Fine, she’ll wake you up with a bucket of water.”

“My bedroom is upstairs.”

“Hit him with a broom!”

Mom cleared her throat. “Kids, that’s enough! Max, tell her. She deserves to know. ”

I didn’t want Alex stressing about something she had no control over. While I’d like to finally meet her, the last thing I wanted was for her to delay her study just to come home for something so minor. She raved about art and how it allowed her to express herself; how true artists were a dying breed with all the Evohumans running around and ‘cheating with their unfair, bullshit powers’.

I shook my head and sighed. “I got jumped by a bunch of thugs. They robbed me and messed me up a bit.”

“WHAT!?”

Cold fury overtook Alex and her usual playful demeanor vanished in the blink of an eye.

“Tell me everything.”

I narrowed my eyes – or my only currently functioning one. “What’s there to tell?”

“What gang?”

“Does it matter?”

Mom crossed her arms. “Max, stop being difficult.”

“What’re we going to do about it, call the police? The ECU? They’ll take our case and file it away for later. Maybe twenty years down the line they’ll get around to it and then find that the assholes that did it are dead anyway,” I countered, dishing up breakfast.

I slid Mom’s breakfast across the table to her while I sullenly sat down with my own. She caught the plate before it could fall off the table and into her lap.

“There are other options. We could hire a private investigator,” Mom offered. “There are a number of independents that would be up to the task.”

“You want to hire a super to track down the guys that beat the crap out of me?” I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about that. The last thing I wanted was for the Cains to go after Mom. “Come on, you know what they charge. It’s only a black eye.”

Mom replied without missing a beat. “It’s worth it if you’re safe.”

What a ridiculous thing to waste money on.

“No.”

Mom stopped eating her breakfast and looked up at me.

Alex made an amused noise. “Oooh, you’re in trouble.”

“No?” Mom repeated in disbelief. “You’d rather wait twenty years for the police to get around to the case?”

“It’s a waste,” I intoned. “Besides, even if we find out who did it, law enforcement isn’t going to do anything. They’re swamped with Evohuman serial killers, gang skirmishes, and potential city-ending threats like Grim. They don’t have time to spend on a teenager getting his ass kicked. You hire the investigator, and maybe they find the guys that did it. Then what? Nothing is gonna happen, it’s completely pointless.”

Mom looked pained.

She knew I was right. Justice was a hard thing to come by nowadays.

“I’m sorry bro,” Alex said. “Look, mid-term break is coming up soon so I’ll see what I can—”

“Don’t. It’s cool,” I blew her off. “You don’t need to sacrifice anything. I’ll just keep trucking along as I have been,” I stood up and cleaned my plate in the sink. “I’ve gotta head out now, otherwise I’ll be late for school.”

“No need,” Mom said, stopping me in my tracks. ”I’ve already signed you out for the rest of the week. I want you home and resting.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad. It’s like you took a hockey puck to the face.”

I ignored Alex.

“The whole week? It’s not that bad. I don’t need to be off for that long,” I said. I’d go stir-crazy if I was home for that long. “At least let me go back on Wednesday.”

“No.”

“Thursday.”

Mom pursed her lips and sighed.

“Friday.”

“Thursday,” I insisted. “I’m not made of glass.”

“Fine, but only if you rest properly and call in sick to work. I’ll be calling a doctor to come and have a look at you. I want to make sure there isn’t any permanent damage,” Mom relented. “Do not fight me on this. If you want to keep working late, you’ll do this without complaint.”

“I’m not concussed.”

Mom glared at me. “Maxis…”

“Come on, just listen to Mom for once,” Alex chimed in. “I'm worried about you too. We need to make sure you didn't lose too many brain cells, you're barely functional as is.”

“That’s rich coming from the girl who failed French.”

“Foreign languages are hard!”

“You live in France!”

We continued to trade playful jabs as I cleaned up the kitchen, all while Mom sat in the middle of our squabble, her patience wearing thin. She earned her reprieve when I finished up and disappeared upstairs to my room, leaving Alex to speak to the wall.

Collapsing on my bed, I rolled over onto my back and stared at my ceiling.

Last night’s events looped in my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about what to do next. Things had gone wrong, that much was clear. The only question now was how to correct it. I had already replaced my phone which had been easy enough. What I really needed was some form of protection.

But where to start?

Well more than anything I didn’t want to die and there was one thing that could prevent that..

Armor.

I was on The Cain's radar now and if I came across them again, I’d need to be protected. I needed something that could negate mundane firearms at the very least and if I was going to wear armor, I might as well go all in and just create a costume.

I had put it off before, thinking I wouldn’t really need it if I slid by under the radar. I only intended to sell some small things here and there to try and make extra money. In my head, it would eventually all pile up and I’d be able to afford what I needed without getting involved in the Evohuman world.

Evidently, that was no longer the case.

I swung my legs off my bed and made for my wardrobe. I began sifting through various items of clothes, many of which I hadn’t touched in years. The more I searched, the more I realized I was in dire need of some spring cleaning. There were things in here dating back to my primary school years that I had never bothered to throw out.

I need something that will cover my whole body, preferably everything down from my neck.

My hand caught a rubbery material, an old wetsuit, one I had long since grown out of. I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone swimming or surfing.

Had to have been before Mom’s accident.

I removed it from the rack and observed it with my power. With my charges resetting every day at 4:43AM — my time of birth — I’d be able to make a start now.

[Charges: 25/25]

[Type]

• Children’s Wetsuit

[Durability 87/100 - Repair Available. Cost: 1]

I might as well repair it. If this was going to be the base for my armor, I’d need it in the best condition possible.

With twenty-four charges left, I moved onto size. I had obviously grown since the last time I had worn this so I filtered the nearly limitless options that [Size] provided and quickly found my height and build.

[Charges: 23/25]

[Materials]

• Neoprene
  • Durability MK I (Cost: 1)
    • Durability MK II (Cost: 2)
      
  • Insulation MK I (Cost: 1)
    • Insulation MK II (Cost: 2)
      
  • Sturdiness MK I (Cost 1)
    • Sturdiness MK II (Cost: 2)

Useful for watersports but not exactly what I wanted. Looking further down the tree I could dump charges into Sturdiness and the fabric would eventually be able to block bullets but that along with the required upgrades to the base would cost about half a week's worth of charges. It made sense, this wasn’t designed as armor after all. I’d need to try something different.

What if I try what I did with the drone?

After tossing the wetsuit onto my bed, I moved back over to my closet of endless wonders and began digging through the bottom. There were some boxes with old junk in them. I didn’t have nearly as much stuff compared to all the crap Mom kept in the basement but I was almost certain I could find something to use.

It wasn’t long until I found an old metalworking project I had done for school a few years ago. It was just a simple metal plaque with my name bolted on. The corners were jagged and there were parts that were a bit wonky which explained the C I got, but this should do the trick.

I pried off each letter and placed them on the limbs of the wetsuit. I put the plaque on the chest, covering a solid portion of it. It took some rearranging of the material so that it covered more of my vital areas before my power clicked.

[Integration Status: Available. Cost: 4]

A little more expensive than I had expected, but not outrageously so. I suppose taking only a little bit of metal and turning it into armor is a bit of an ask. At least I didn’t have to spend twelve charges this time like with the drone legs.

I let my power take over and the item rippled before folding like paper into the familiar blobby mess of colors. I counted the seconds as they ticked by. Like my phone, the liquid slowly unfolded, revealing the new and improved wetsuit.

[Charges: 19/25]

[Materials]

• Neoprene-Steel ★
  • Durability MK I (Cost: 1)
    • Durability MK II (Cost: 2)
      
  • Insulation MK I (Cost: 1)
    • Insulation MK II (Cost: 2)
      
  • Sturdiness MK I (Cost 1)
    • Sturdiness MK II (Cost: 2)
      
  • Flexibility MK I (Cost 1)
    • Flexibility MK II (Cost: 2)
      

Picking up the wetsuit, I found my power interpreted the [Type] as [Armored Wetsuit] now, which was much more in line with what I wanted. I wasn’t sure what the star next to the new material meant but I was sure I could figure that out later. Just as long as my costume functioned the way I wanted it to, then I had no issues.

I retreated to my closet again to search for new items to mess with. I’d need more than body armor if I was going to keep myself safe. Head armor as well as something to protect my hands and feet would need to go with my costume.

I found an old bicycle helmet, a pair of worn-out running shoes, and a pair of winter gloves.

As I retrieved them, I placed them next to my newly acquired armored suit.

It was time to get to work.

I focused on the shoes and the gloves first. I wanted the costume to be a full one-piece and right now it is cut off at the wrists and ankles. Integrating them with the armored wetsuit cost two charges each, for eight in total. Fairly expensive all things considered but it needed to be done, so I bit the bullet. A small perversion of physics later and I had a full bodysuit made entirely of Neoprene-Steel.

In my excitement, I undressed and slipped into it. The first thing I noticed was how difficult it was to move. My limbs felt constrained and there was an incredible amount of resistance, so much that I couldn’t even zip up the back of the suit. It would be great for a workout, but that’s about it.

I removed it and spent six charges pushing the suit’s flexibility to MK III. With how stiff it was, I suspected MK I and II wouldn’t be sufficient enough.

I slipped back into it again and found that moving around was much easier. Granted, there was still some resistance but I could improve on it. I could walk and run as it was now. I could probably even swim. Crouching proved to be a bit of a task, so it seemed that the suit wasn’t too far off being as flexible as a normal wetsuit is.

I’ll get the flexibility to at least MK V then, maybe VI.

I got out of the suit and redressed myself, turning my attention to the helmet. With only five charges to spare, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it quite yet. Without question, it couldn’t stay as it was. A child’s bicycle helmet like that wasn’t going to protect me from much and with my armored suit covering everything sans my head, it would pay to go full-body.

A motorcycle helmet would work.

I picked it up, spent one charge to repair it, and another to change the type.

[Charges: 3/25]

[Type]

• Motorcycle Helmet

[Durability 100/100 - Repair Unavailable.]

What to do? three charges didn’t leave me with many options but there was no point hanging on to them. They’d just go to waste otherwise.

Motorcycle helmets don’t have the best visibility. The visor stunts my vision a little. I’ll need to be completely unimpaired if this is going to work.

Maybe an astronaut's helmet would have worked better? The visor was bigger but the whole piece itself was clunkier than a motorcycle helmet. Maybe I could modify its size?

I found the visor under [Features] and expanded the width and height of it. After spending a charge adjusting that, I placed it on my head to test it out.

Not wide enough.

I adjusted again and spent another charge. Down to my last charge.

There we go.

Now to enhance it so the most important part of my body doesn’t get splattered on the side of the road.

[Charges: 1/25]

[Materials]

• Exterior
  • Polycarbonate Plastic
    • Durability MK I (Cost: 1)
      • Durability MK II (Cost: 2)
        
    • Sturdiness MK I (Cost: 1)
      • Sturdiness MK II (Cost: 2)
        
• Protective Layers
  • Carbon Fiber
    • Durability MK I (Cost: 1)
      • Durability MK II (Cost: 2)
        
    • Density MK I (Cost: 1)
      • Density MK II (Cost: 2)
        
• Interior
  • Nylon Foam
    • Durability MK I (Cost: 1)
      • Durability MK II (Cost: 2)
        
    • Insulation MK I (Cost: 1)
      • Insulation MK II (Cost: 2)

I didn't mind ignoring the interior for now so I decided to dump my last charge into exterior durability. The rest of it I could work on tomorrow. With no charges remaining, I admired what I had accomplished. Normally, I had heard that it would take weeks, sometimes even months for supers to create their costumes.

I managed it before lunch.

But now, I would be forced to wait till tomorrow to improve upon anything else.

With the rest of the day ahead of me, I moved over to my laptop and opened it.

Alright, let’s see what I’m getting myself into.

It had been a productive week, so I was in a good mood going to school on Thursday.

I had spent so much time working on my costume that I had neglected the other projects floating around in my head. I had enough protection to keep myself alive, now it was time to start on some offensive tools.

I ignored most of my peers as they began pouring through the door with the usual energy felt two days before the weekend. Talks of parties, trips to the beach, and other plans I couldn’t be bothered to listen to buzzed around me. Instead, my thoughts were on my phone. I created a piece of software last night that would allow me to ping nearby networks and see if my current equipment could crack it. The best part was it automatically reconfigured when I upgraded anything or transferred it to another device — best six charges of my life.

And today was going to be its first test run.

Quite a few red dots around… probably the ECU patrols on site. A few more orange dots than I expected, good on the IT department, that’ll stall me for all of a few seconds. Lots of green dots, as expected. Out-of-the-box security protection really does suck, huh.

The traffic light feature was a genius addition on my part. Sure it sucked up a few charges, but ease of use was paramount. I swear I spent most of my budget on UI.

It was probably a foolish thing to do but I couldn’t help my own curiosity in testing my new software, and ended up breaking into the school’s security system. Minerva High was a public school so they couldn’t get their hands on all the fancy stuff the private schools usually had.

What should I break into first?

My train of thought was interrupted by someone slipping into the seat next to me.

“Hey there. You’ve been missing all week,” she said. “And you haven’t been answering my— woah.”

“Hey Lucy,” I darkened my phone and placed it face down on the table. “I like the new look.”

She had frosted the tips of her curls. It went nicely with her black hair.

“Yeah? I see I wasn’t the only one to change things up this week.”

Her gaze was fixated on my injury. Once again, I was reminded of the dull throb in and around my left eye.

“I’m going to get a lot of that today, aren’t I?”

“What the hell happened?”

I considered lying for a moment but Lucy knew me well enough to know when I was spouting bullshit. The bathroom door line wouldn’t work on her like it probably would’ve with Alex.

“I finished work on Sunday and got jumped by some assholes on my way to my car,” I grumbled. “They messed me up a bit and took my wallet.”

Her mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Shit. are you—”

“Yeah I’m fine. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Do you know who did it?” She asked, looking far more worried than I had been expecting. “Was it… Pandora?”

“Nah,” I shrugged. “Wasn’t them. It was just a couple of nobodies looking to cause trouble. Nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about? Max, you were beaten and robbed.”

“It’s in the past now. Besides, it could have been a lot worse. It could have been Pandora or The Cains, then I’d be a lot worse off.”

If it had been a couple of nobodies, I would’ve been able to deal with them.

She exhaled deeply, sounding relieved. “I’m glad you're safe, but why didn’t you answer any of my texts?”

Crap, I forgot to redownload my sim card data.

“They broke my phone and I had to get a new one,” I said. “Sorry. I would’ve called but I’ve been a bit out of it.”

“Yeah, I bet. It really doesn’t look good,” Lucy said, leaning over and trying to get a better look at my black eye.

“Enough about that,” I said, forcing a smile. I wanted to change the subject before I said something stupid. “What have I missed this week?”

“Sooo… honestly not that much, I did a bit of research for our Evohumans assignment. Abby and Jackson are doing Nanoforge – which is totally cheating because Abby knows her – and just like usual there’s a whole bunch of our classmates doing their projects on Gaea, The Mountain, and Ajax.”

“What about Foresight?”

Lucy groaned.

“The point I’m trying to make here is we’ll get a better grade by picking a super to study that the other groups aren’t doing. The teachers are probably sick of reading about The Trinity by now. Everyone talks about them even when they aren’t doing a project and I’m pretty sure most people know what Melody’s favorite type of bagel is by this point.”

“Trick question, Melody hates bagels,” Lucy gave me a withering glare. I sighed reluctantly. “Alright, what about Comet?”

“Abby would kill us.”

“It’d be worth it.”

She chortled. “I’d do it just to see her rip you a new asshole… we’ll call that plan B. I think I found someone much more interesting.”

“Who?”

“Cyberspace.”

I frowned at the name.

It wasn’t an unknown name by any means. In fact, Cyberspace was the closest thing evohumans had to the Boogeyman. They were one of the few the ECU couldn’t seem to track down and capture even with Ajax’s help.

They had been dormant since 2016, leading to rumors the ECU had managed to covertly terminate them – but no one really believed that. Online rumors circulated and officials refused to comment. Six years later, no one really knows what happened to them or why they disappeared.

It made for interesting discussion, and evidently, a perfect high school assignment.

“It's been a while since I’ve heard that name.”

Lucy grinned. “I know, right? It’s perfect – it’s like a cold case. Nobody really knows what happened or who they are. Their motivation is a complete mystery as well. Rolling blackouts across China and the Soviet Union, frequent system crashes and hardware failures in ECU and American military bases. The 2010 oil crash… Cyberspace was behind all of them!”

Conspiracy theories, that’s all they really were. There was a reason why Cyberspace had their reputation. Never caught – they felt like modern-day folklore. If something big and unexplainable happened, everyone’s first thought was wondering if Cyberspace was making a comeback.

Some people believed Cyberspace didn’t actually exist, or was a group of people operating under one name.

“How do we actually know they were responsible?”

She flipped through some pages in her binder.

“Evidence gathered by Ajax was released in 2018. Cyberspace had a very subtle but recognizable digital footprint – and actually, they were very bad. Hundreds of thousands of people died. Hospital equipment failed, banks were liquidated, and hundreds of thousands of terabytes worth of private data was leaked to the public. It was total anarchy for months. Riots and violent protests spiked by 318% and terrorist activity increased by 93% all across the world. That’s all just the tip of the iceberg.”

All of this was new to me.

Lucy flicked through a few more pages before finding the one she was looking for. She aggressively tapped one of her sticky notes.

“Oh! Get a load of this. Project Darkarrow. A classified operation conducted by the Chinese and Soviet governments to kidnap children who displayed Evohuman abilities in order to implement a eugenics program. Cyberspace blew the whistle and the two superpowers have been desperately trying to cover it up and denying its existence.”

Okay, that might be stretching things a little too far.

“Oh, come on…” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Where the hell did you find something like that? It doesn’t even make sense, why would they cooperate and risk the other country running off with all the kids? If the U.N caught wind of this, the ECU would be deployed in full force and we’d have World War Four.”

“But it’s not ridiculous! I wouldn’t just take someone’s word for it, you know that,” She countered, sounding offended. “There’s real testimony to back this up. Do you even read this kind of stuff?”

I shrugged helplessly. My time was better spent elsewhere.

She pointed a hand at me and snapped her fingers with a vindicated smile.

“Hah! Gotcha. See? This is why I do all the research. Now, all I need you to do is help me put it all together and we’ll ace this project for sure.”

“Is there anything I can do to not be dead weight?” I asked, getting out of the car. “Feels weird sharing the credit when you’ve done most of the work.”

“Hm… let me mooch off you tonight. It’s been a while since I had dinner with you and Eleanor – how is she by the way?”

“Still rolling around the house.”

“Great! Dinner then?”

“I was more looking for something I could help with when it comes to school work, but dinner’s fine as well,” I shrugged easily. It had been a few weeks since Lucy last visited anyway and I was willing to bet she and Mom would spend the evening talking each other's ears off.

“Any requests?”

“Hmm…” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully as our homeroom teacher strolled through the door carrying far too many things in his hands. “How about you surprise me?”

As the class quietened down for roll call, I felt myself smile.

“I can do surprises.”

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

Entering the school library was like walking out of a zoo and into a peaceful temple. I had never really been fond of the loud crowds that sat outside during lunch breaks so I was quick to find my place here amongst the books, even if I wasn’t much of a reader.

I scanned the packed tables of students for the bright, mystical flashing lights radiating from Abby.

I found her at one of the tables closest to the fire exit with Jackson and Chris, and if the bored expression on her face was anything to go by, they were having a riveting conversation. Chris and Jackson were discussing something, probably our next DnD campaign if I had to guess.

“What happened to you?”

Abby’s invasive tone stopped me in my tracks. I hadn’t even managed to snag a seat before the interrogation started. Jackson and Chris looked up at me and cringed.

“Bad date?” Chris offered.

I saw a smile cross Jackson’s lips. “Oh, I got a good one—”

“Save it,” I took my seat. “I’ll give you guys the rundown, as long as someone promises not to fly off the handle,” I directed my attention to Abby.

She was sitting in her seat spinning a book above her hand with her powers. When she noticed my stare, the textbook slowed before stopping completely. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’re looking at me?” Abby looked offended. “Why?”

“Do you even need to ask?” I squinted my eyes in disbelief. “You have a reputation.”

Abby wrinkled her nose. “I do not.”

I looked to Chris and Jackson for support. They both awkwardly shrugged.

“Yep.”

“Yeah, you kinda do.”

Abby grumbled and the book fell out of the air and crashed to the table. The students on the table over from us looked up from their quiet study and glared at her, which Abby ignored.

“Okay, fine,” she glared. “I promise not to fly off the handle.”

I quickly summed up what happened. On my way over here I had considered trying to sell them the lie about walking into a bathroom door but not only would that lead to them ridiculing me for being an idiot, Lucy would also be quick to correct me once she got here. It was easier just to tell them the truth, or the ‘truth’ that I had decided to go with.

“You’re an idiot. How could you fall for that?” Abby scolded. “A girl flutters her eyes at you and suddenly you start thinking with your other head. You’re the last person I’d expect to fall for that kinda shit, Max.”

“I’d had a long shift and was tired,” I brushed off her scolding easily.

“That’s how they get you,” Chris spoke up. “They lure you in with a pretty face and before you even know it, you're trafficking drugs across the city like my uncle.”

We all turned and stared at him. He met our gazes one at a time. “Did… I never mention that?”

“No…” Abby said slowly.

Jackson just frowned. “We didn’t even know you had an uncle dude.”

“It’s a sensitive topic. Obviously, it doesn’t make for good conversation when you have guests over,” Chris explained. “Plus, he wasn’t around much when I was a kid so we aren’t that close. My Dad was pretty torn up about it though. Still is. He’s been trying to get him out early.”

My curiosity got the better of me. “What gang got him?”

“Ever heard of The Tweakers? They got him. Now he’s sixteen years left of his twenty-five year sentence.”

We all cringed.

That was rough.

“Twenty-five years is harsh for drugs,” I said, my thoughts drifting to my Mechatech. If he got twenty-five for peddling drugs while under duress, then what delusion was I living in where I thought selling Mechatech would get me any less? “Why so much?”

“It really depends on the drugs,” Abby answered. “They had a bunch of biokinetics making their supply so the stuff they were putting out there was more harmful and addictive than the stuff everyone else makes.”

“Super drugs,” I murmured. “That makes sense.”

Abby nodded.

I wonder if my power could affect drugs?

The thought had never crossed my mind, but like weapons, it seemed like a very slippery slope to go down.

“Anyway, the bitch that suckered you was probably in on the whole thing,” Abby drawled. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye out for these guys. I’ll make sure to swing by on patrol. I’m sure Ionizer won’t mind.”

“Oh shit! He finally got promoted?” Chris laughed. Abby and Jackson groaned. “You guys owe me twenty.”

I frowned. “What happened to Sparrow?”

“She is finally getting married and moving out of New Elpis. She said something about moving to New Zealand or something,” Abby sighed. “Actually, it might have been Australia. I’m not sure, I wasn’t really listening. She’s moving out of the country and that’s all that really matters. She’s put Ionizer in charge of me and the rest of the Rookies.”

Jackson raised his cola as if to toast her. “Gonna miss her. I still have the t-shirt that she signed for me. She was pretty nice.”

“Ionizer isn’t much different,” Abby said. “Nothing’s really changed around HQ. He’s a little stricter but I still do the same crap I’ve been doing before. The thing that’s really going to mess shit up is General Jessamine transferring. I’m not looking forward to that. Apparently, she’s a real hardass.”

“General Jessamine?” Chris murmured. Abby opened her mouth to explain but he held up a hand to stop her. “Wait! I know this one. The name is familiar. Let me guess…” he paused for a moment, an intense thoughtful look crossed his face. Then, he snapped his fingers. “Chronos!”

Jackson shook his head. “Nah man, she’s Dilation.”

“Nope. Chris was right. She’s Chronos,” Abby said.

Chris pumped his fist in the air to celebrate right as Lucy arrived.

“Hey guys. What’s got Chris so happy?” Lucy shot him a cheeky grin. “Did Kate say yes?”

Chris’ victorious smile melted off his face as she pulled up a seat next to Abby. The rookie superheroine giggled and hi-fived her as she sat down.

“Ouch,” Jackson flinched a little. “Low blow.”

“I suppose this is what I get for trusting Lucy with sensitive information,” Chris bemoaned. “Learn from my mistakes gentlemen, anything you do or say will be used against you.”

“Oh, quit being a baby. It was just a joke,” Lucy rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I told her anything.”

“Anyway,” I intoned, trying to change the subject back to what we were initially talking about. I wanted to know more about the changes happening within the ECU since I was now going to be involved in this mad world. “We were talking about Ionizer getting promoted. Apparently, Sparrow is getting married and is moving out of the country.”

Lucy’s jaw hit the table. “Sparrow is getting married?”

“And Chronos is coming to town,” Abby added. “My life has been insane these last few days and it's about to get even worse.”

Right on cue, an ECU agent briskly strolled through the library doors and made a beeline for our table. He was dressed from the neck down in thick black body armor and armed with some very futuristic-looking weapons that my eyes lingered on for a little too long.

If I could get my hands on one of those…

“Sorry to interrupt, Comet,” the agent said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “But there’s a situation that requires your immediate attention.”

Abby threw her head back in her chair and groaned. “Give me a damn Mentalist rating because apparently, I’m a prophet now,” she heaved a sigh. “What’s going on, sir?”

“Techies and Junkmonger have escaped custody. In the last hour they’ve robbed a liquor store, electronics retailer, and a car dealership,” the agent explained. “They seem to have constructed a helicopter from what they’ve acquired… somehow.”

Hearing the puzzled aggravation in the agent’s voice made me chuckle. Chris and Jackson also shared in my amusement. Abby just groaned.

“So? Why is that my problem? Get my mum to deal with it.”

“Domination is currently dealing with a gang dispute between the Cains and Pandora by the harbor. You’re the closest and the only one with the capabilities to safely disable their mode of transport,” the agent said. “This is a non-negotiable order. Activate your gear and get moving.”

Abby looked like she wanted to throw the agent across the room with her power.

“This is such a pain in the ass,” she stood up, twisting one of her metal bracelets. A swarm of nanites emerged from the small metal band and covered her whole body from the neck down. It was such a quick transition and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Just another piece of technology I wanted to get my hands on.

How the hell does Nanoforge make something so compact and effective?

Abby’s armor was primarily black with golden accents. Plastered across her chest was her symbol, a shooting star – a comet. It was cheesy but to be fair, most heroes were like that. Something about PR and needing to inspire positive feelings to the wider populace.

“I’ll never get tired of seeing that,” Chris said.

“Looking good, Comet,” Jackson gave her a thumbs up.

“I’ll copy my biology notes for you,” Lucy chimed in. “Go kick their asses.”

“I’m going to do more than that,” Abby growled. “Let’s see them break out with their knees broken.”

“No unnecessary force, Comet. You know the rules—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Abby – or Comet now – brushed the agent off. “I won’t do anything that the nerds back at HQ can’t fix. I’m just going to give those two idiots a little incentive to not escape this time. I promise, I’ll be gentle.”

“You’ll follow protocol,” the agent shot back. I could see that he was expecting some form of response but all he got was Abby turning on her heels and walking out of the fire exit. “Comet! Do you understand—”

The alarm blared the moment she pushed the door open.

“What? I can’t hear you!”

Chris and Jackson started cracking up as the agent swore under his breath. She saluted us before her power surrounded her. The multi-colored aura shimmered around her as she jumped and took off into the sky.

The ECU agent stalked forward, breaking the fire alarm glass with his elbow and switching off the alarm. Muttering, he walked off, the broken glass crunching beneath his boots. Nobody dared to get in his way as he stalked out of the library.

“One of these days, she’s going to do something she can’t take back,” Lucy mused sadly. “I hope she gets her act together soon.”

“Eh, she’ll be fine,” Chris shrugged. “She’s the Rookie poster child. She’d have to  actually kill someone to get into any real trouble.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she knows what she’s doing. I doubt she’s really going to break their legs,” Jackson scoffed. “Right?”

I shared a silent look of agreement with Lucy.

One hundred percent, Abby was going to break their legs.