I followed Lady Lumina to the side of a nondescript van.

: van’s empty but be careful

: it’s just a chat

The heroine leaned against the van and looked at me. “First month active, right?”

I nodded.

“And you managed to take out the Grunters.”

“Not Grumman.”

“Or Gravitic. Yes, there are quite a few left.” She cocked her head. “You also killed quite a few people.”

I shrugged. “They were Grunters.”

“Is that so?”

“Human trafficking, drugs, gambling and extortion. How much more do you tolerate?”

“That’s why we have courts, Mr. Belessar. The efforts of a hero should be to bring foes to justice, not be judge, jury and executioner.”

I grimaced. “A very idealistic view of the world.”

“And you’re a pragmatist?”

“I like to think of myself as practical.”

“Then let’s be practical, Mr. Belessar. You destroyed a fair number of Grumman’s suits. Do you know why there are so few of them?”

“The ones inside didn’t feel like a few.”

“By the standards of the war we’re fighting?” Lumina shrugged. “During the attack on Tanisport, the Grunters held off an equal number of alien soldiers. Their actions saved a lot of lives.”

“And did some of the civilians they were protecting end up here?”

Lady Lumina shrugged. “As a woman, I hope no-one did. Being practical? Seeing this place? I don’t know.”

“Then you understand why it had to be destroyed.”

“I understand. Your armour is quite good, by the way.”

I was taken back by the sudden change of topic. “Thank you.”

“Not too many people can build such armour. How do you make it?”

“I’m afraid the processes must remain a secret.”

“There is that,” nodded Lady Lumina. “By any chance, are there some limited ingredients in its construction? Difficult to find and forge?”

I thought of MP, and fullerite. “A few.”

“And would access to larger factories help deal with that problem? Make more of the armour?”

“I’m afraid not.” My MP pool would remain the bottleneck to producing more, of course.

Lumina nodded. “That, unfortunately, is true of most Inventors. A lot of what the average inventor makes is very, very maintenance-intensive and can’t be scaled up.”

“An aircraft is maintenance-intensive,” I pointed out. “Twenty hours of maintenance for each hour of flying.”

Lumina hesitated. “I did not know that.”

“Most complex technology is maintenance-intensive. So what?”

“Most inventech requires the inventor who created it to do the maintenance.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. It’s not as if you can train a hundred technicians in a science that doesn’t exist yet.”

“Well, what Grumman has achieved is different. To date, he’s the only inventor in the world to field thirty armoured suits at a time. Which makes a huge difference when fighting aliens. I understand you intend to damage his suits?”

“Destroy them,” I commented, “and there’s no ‘intend’ about it. I’ve already destroyed twenty-nine.”

Lumina nodded calmly. “Then he only has a few left. When the aliens attack next time, what do we heroes do? Will more good people die, who could have been protected if the suits had been available?”

“That’s a false equivalence. There are alternatives to relying on the Grunters.”

“Yes,” nodded Lumina, “and I’m looking at one of them.”

: she got you good, brother

I almost laughed. Fortunately, the Nanofibre Weave Helmet is very good at concealing expressions. “Are you inviting me to fight the aliens?”

“If you can,” Lumina said, “it would go a long way to making up for the deaths here, today.” She smiled. “We could even agree to … allow some leeway, in any future confrontations with the Grunters.”

: did she just offer to let you off the hook for killing those guys if you fight the aliens?

: the heroes must be desperate

: ask for stuff

: what?

: I don’t know, anything… you need to haggle, it’s shopping 101

Lumina was waiting for my answer.

I quietly snapped off an Observe.

LADY LUMINA

LEVEL 30

FACTION: TANISPORT ADMINISTRATION

CLASS: SUPERHERO

RELATIONSHIP: DISLIKED (-1)

LADY LUMINA IS THE SECOND-IN-COMMAND OF THE HEROES WHO DEFEND TANISPORT AND ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED ULTRAHUMANS IN THE UNITED STATES. SHE HAS FOUGHT ALIENS, CRIMINALS, AND SUPERVILLAINS FOR A DECADE. DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT, SHE DOES NOT GIVE UP HOPE.

CURRENTLY, SHE IS HOPING TO CONVINCE A RUTHLESS, DANGEROUS ULTRA TO DIRECT HIS AGGRESSION AGAINST A COMMON ENEMY.

KNOWN POWERS: SUPERSTRENGTH (OVER 200 STR)

The superheroine was waiting for my response.

I inclined my head. “There’d have to be appropriate compensation.”

“We can only offer you the UN rates. You know that.”

“That’s fine. I do expect some support, however. Certain exotic materials. Testing facilities for my powers.”

“We can provide those - within reason. No human subjects.”

“Volunteer human subjects for - certain tests.”

“Only if you can guarantee no harm will come to them.”

What? I’d wanted people to practice Heal on. “I can guarantee that.”

: she probably thinks you want to harvest organs or something

: where do you get these ideas

: television

“We can discuss the human test subjects. Is there anything else you need?”

“Transportation,” I blurted. “To the areas where the attacks are happening.”

“Of course.”

“Complete secrecy. No attempts to follow me or contact me in my civilian identity.”

“Naturally.” Lumina smiled. “Heroes have a lot more to fear from exposure than neutrals or villains do, after all.”

: idiot

: those are things they give every ultra out of courtesy

: ask for something actually meaningful

“I want the right to examine any technology recovered from alien craft,” I said.

Lumina’s eyebrows went up. “Any technology?”

“All technology. In battles where I fight.”

“I can promise you only the right to examine any technology you recover yourself. Or in battles where you’re in the frontlines, with me or Storm, we can get you a chance along with any others. Of course, for that, we’d have to recover technology in that battle.” She smiled. “But you’ll get the first pick of anything we recover.”

“One battle,” I replied, “and I choose if I want to participate in others.”

“Done,” replied Lumina. “How do we contact you?”

“Before a battle, you mean?”

“Yes. We generally get no more than half an hour’s notice. How much time do you need to prepare?”

“I can be ready in ten minutes…. If I’m not busy, that is.”

“Please see that you make time.”

I nodded.

“The contact approach?”

“A locker,” I said. “I’ll rent a locker at the station and send you the details…. How do I get in touch with you?”

Lady Lumina handed over a card.

“It has my phone number,” she said, “and e-mail ID. Plus Twitter and Facebook handles. Any one of them will get in touch with me.”

“And give you a chance to trace me?”

“I’m sure an inventor of your calibre can make an untraceable smartphone; you can use it to reach us. In any case, you should contact the Stratospheric Guard HQ and get yourself listed. They'll get you a pager.” She smiled. “Thank you for your service, Belessar.”

“... I think I’ll be going now.”

“Can I offer you a dropoff?”

“No need. Don’t follow me.”

Lumina nodded, smiling slightly, as I walked off.

: bro, I think we got played

: why?

: she was too happy when you left

: we should have asked for more

: what more?

: dunno, but I’m sure we’ll realize it in the morning

: at least we beat the Grunters. What's a pager?

: let me find out