“Doc... hey doc, you alive man... uh, lizard?”

Kaleb awoke to a male voice speaking somewhere above him and a sharp pain in his right shoulder. As he opened his eyes, he found his vision distorted preventing him from seeing much detail besides blurry shapes. Tired and groggy the only thing he could think to say was “I’m not a doctor.”

The voice gave a short “Ha!” and exclaimed, “You’re not dead!.”

Kaleb felt like he was close to dead, shaking his head to clear his vision he tried to wipe his eyes but his right arm wouldn’t move. He blinked repeatedly until his vision cleared enough to see a system window taking up his view.

*Tutorial Event Completed*

The first Tutorial Event of Modern Age Online has ended with the capture of the Mad Witch Korrigan and the escape of the scientist Cog. Registered heroes can check their contribution to the battle via their HeroLink device to receive their rewards. Unregistered heroes will need to visit a registered Hero’s Cafe, Patroller’s Post, or Bounty Club to check their contribution, receive rewards, and pay for the collateral damage. We remind unregistered Supers they can register at any of the above locations. Any peace officer with a HeroLink can also reward unregistered heroes and file collateral payments.

Closing out that window resulted in a barrage of notifications, blocking his view again.

*Endurance Skill level up*

Stamina increased by 11%

*Toughness Skill level up*

Health increased by 6%

Incoming physical damage decreased by 2%

*Toughness Skill level up*

Health increased by 7%

Incoming physical damaged decreased by 3%

*Shield Mastery level up*

Defense increased by +1

*Congratulations*

Your constant ducking, diving, and dodging in combat has awarded you with the Dodge skill

*Dodge Lvl 1*

Being ahead of your enemies strikes can save your life. Never underestimate being able to move quickly in a fight.

Movement speed while dodging increased 1%

*Congratulations*

Coming closer to death has resulted in a jump start of your healing abilities awarding you the Regen Skill.

*Regen Lvl 1*

While not as hardy as others taking a good rest can do wonders for most Mundanes. Increases your Regeneration of health while at rest.

At rest, health regeneration increased by +2

*Badge Awarded*

For defeating a named minion solo we have awarded you the Little Titan badge. Badges are decorative and mark your achievements to NPCs and players. NPCs may react differently according to your badges.

*Warning*

You are injured!

*Moderate Injury*

Bruised ribs–damage to your ribs has resulted in an increase to stamina use while in combat.

Stamina usage while in combat increased by 5%

*Major Injury*

Lost limb–your battle has cost you a limb, without the ability to regrow or heal the damage you must find alternative means to repair the injury. Overall health reduced by 25.

*Limb Regeneration activated*

Your right arm has been blown off resulting in a decrease in your overall health. Your limb will regrow thanks to your non-human body. Time till complete limb growth: 3 days.

Kaleb stared at the last two notifications, “Guess that explains why my arm won’t move” he thought. With the last of the messages out of his eyesight, he could finally look around. Someone had set him up against the prone robot, Benny, and he was facing part of the woods from which he had emerged. It was darker out and familiar blue and red lights danced among the dark trees letting him know the police were nearby.

He looked at his right arm seeing his badly bandaged shoulder. The sleeve looked torn and ragged with some hints of red blood painting its edges. Someone had made the bandage out of the remnants of his sleeve, a blue shirt, and duct tape taping the bandage to his chest and side. He grimaced in pain as he placed his left hand against the unmoving Benny and staggered up. He was off balance without his right arm but the weight of his left made it easy to compensate.

Finally righting himself, and dismissing the Loot request he got from touching Benny, Kaleb glanced at the destroyed street lit up by combined glow of street lamps and police lights; NPCs were outside looking over their businesses and cars, several police cars and an ambulance were a little further south but they appeared to be unattended as most police and emergency personnel were talking to various NPCs.

A short ways away in front of the hardware store the guy who had been using the bat was standing with a couple who looked to be in their mid-40’s who was talking to a policeman with grey skin and a short horn protruding from where his nose should be, he looked like a humanoid rhino. Noticing his gaze the younger man smiled and waved him over, so in a great amount of pain, Kaleb shuffled across to the small group as he did he took in the three human’s appearances.

The older man was short and stocky with tan skin and short brown hair and a thick mustache, he wore a brown shirt with Nova Hardware written on it in white letters, well worn blue jeans and a pair of tan work boots. She was taller, skinnier, and far more pale with blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders, she had on a white blouse, black slacks, and red tennis shoes. Mr. Baseball Bat was around 18 or 17 and was obviously the older pairs son, being a mix of both adults features. Slightly shorter than Kaleb, with a muscular build, pale skin, and short cropped brown hair. He was wearing a white baseball uniform with blue trim under a dark blue Letterman’s jacket and blue cleats.

As Kaleb approached, he heard the older man telling the rhino cop that after hearing the warning on the store’s radio the couple had closed their store and barricaded themselves in their upstairs apartment. They thought their son, Roy, was having a practice game with his high school team. They hadn’t known of his arrival until the all-clear had sounded a few minutes ago and they had come downstairs to see their store’s front window broken and their son performing first aid on a lizard in a lab coat.

As he was finishing his story, he looked over to where Kaleb had woken up and spotted Kaleb standing behind the officer and jumped, startled. “Yeah, that was me.” Kaleb said out of breath from the pain in his arm, all except the officer jumped a little at the sound of his voice.

Turning to the young guy, Roy, he said: “Thanks for the save man.”

Roy grinned and answered “No problem, doc, I would have been paste if you hadn’t shown up. Sorry about your ice gun though.”

The rhino man faced Kaleb stating in a rough voice not that different from Kaleb’s “I’m officer Battlehorn from Austin’s Super-Powered Police Division, Registered Hero rank C. Sir, can you recount what happened here?”

Nodding and trying to mimic Battlehorn’s introduction Kaleb said “Professor Pack Rat, Unregistered hero, I was responding to the summons for help against Cog and Korrigan when...” Kaleb explained the series of events from when he parted from his group up to passing out.

As Battlehorn listened, he was typing into a wrist-mounted computer while the family that ran the hardware store listened in, Roy and his father looked interested while Roy’s mom had crossed her arms and had a severe look on her face.

Completing his story, Kaleb met eyes with officer Battlehorn as he looked up from his wrist computer “Looks like your story checks out. I had the drone footage sent to my HeroLink and tracked back your progress to your house. You did good for a mundane, racked up 16 neutralizations with minimal collateral damage...”

Anything else Battlehorn might have said was cut short as Roy’s mom interrupted shouting “MINIMAL!? He admitted to breaking our front window! It’s bad enough with all the flying freaks and abominations running around. Now we have to deal with some fool Alien with no powers running around destroying property!?”

The vehemence of her small tirade shocked Kaleb and the look on officer Battlehorn’s face at the word Abominations told Kaleb the rhino-man was most likely a mutant.

Hurriedly trying to calm his wife her husband interjected “Marie, since he admitted to breaking it I’m sure he intended to take responsibility for it and besides what’s the cost of a window compared to our son’s life. This man... eh, lizard saved our boy we can give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Kaleb was a little miffed the old man hadn’t brought up Marie’s obvious prejudices, but it also caught him off guard. He hadn’t considered the monetary consequences of his actions at all. Marie seemed to calm down considerably at the mention of her son; her eyes tearing up, she said “You’re right, Hank.” looking ashamed of her outburst she muttered something about cleaning up the store and scurried inside.

Hank looked at both Kaleb and officer Battlehorn before apologizing “I’m sorry about my wife,” nodding to Kaleb he added, “your particular circumstance just hit a little close to home.”

His words confused Kaleb until he saw Hank’s eyes cut over to Roy who looked red-faced and was staring at the sidewalk; both Battlehorn and Kaleb nodded as the situation donned on them. Roy wanted to be a hero, a dangerous vocation, a fact made plainer by Kaleb’s missing arm.

“That explains what kind of person charges a giant robot with just a bat.” Kaleb thought.

Battlehorn cleared his throat, which sounded like a truck backfiring, before continuing the conversation “As I was saying, you defeated 15 minions and 1 named minion totaling up to 2,500 credits; that’s 100 for the Bladelings and elemental, 200 for the Bruisers, and 500 for the named Bruiser. However, the destruction of the car on South Congress Avenue along with the damage to Nova Hardware and this street amounts to 1,100 credits in damages.”

He paused waiting for Kaleb to acknowledge or disagree with the amounts when Kaleb nodded he continued “As is normal with unregistered heroes I’ve set up a temporary HeroLink account for you.”

He produced a small card from his wrist computer with a user-name and password printed on it and handed it to Kaleb who took it and placed it into his breast pocket asking “Can I pay here, with you, or do I have to use some other terminal?”

Battlehorn nodded saying “I can have the amount deducted for you right now.” he hit a few buttons on his computer’s screen which beeped in confirmation and looked back up at Kaleb “Do you want the medics to look over that arm, maybe get you an estimate on gene regrowth or a cybernetic implant like your other arm?”

Kaleb grinned wide at that and said: “No need, it will grow back in a couple days.”

Both Hank and Roy looked at him wide-eyed as officer Battlehorn just grinned “That’s a neat trick.” he said, looking back down at his wrist he added “Well that’s all for me, Professor Rat Pack you did good work the rest of your friends just finished with some other SPPD officers on the South Congress Bridge and are coming this way.”

He shot a look into the hardware store at Marie, who was picking up the circular magazine rack Kaleb had collided with, Officer Battlehorn glanced at Roy and muttered a quiet “Good luck, kid.” before he walked off.

Battlehorn’s words seemed to snap both Roy and his dad out of their shock. Hank looked at Kaleb at an obvious loss for words but Roy didn’t have that problem exclaiming “Your arm grows back? That’s sick dude”

Kaleb just grinned and nodded directing his next words at Hank “Do you mind if I come in and help you clean up while I wait for my friends?”

Hank looked surprised at the offer but he recovered quickly saying “Not at all, you can just wait inside though. No need to see how many one arm lizards it takes to sweep a floor. I’m Hank Nova” he looked ready to swing his right arm out to shake but caught himself and switched arms. Kaleb chuckled both at Hank’s words and his actions as he shook Hank’s hand with his robotic left hand and followed Hank and Roy inside.

As they entered Roy rushed to the back of the store saying “I’m gonna change out of my uniform and be right back to help mom.”

Marie looked up from the small pile of glass she was sweeping and answered “That’s fine, Hun” as she noticed Kaleb leaning against the counter in front of the register. Hank watched his wife for a few moments before he grabbed a trash can from behind the counter and went to help her clean.

Kaleb had every intention of helping but with one arm and the only broom he could see being used already he slouched near the counter hoping the system would take it as a resting position. He was at 42 HP helped from being unconscious in the street with his new Regen Skill. A glance at the clock told him he had been in-game for a little over 3 hours. He used his new at-rest Regeneration rate to calculate that he’d been unconscious for about 5 minutes.

He was focused on watching his health when Marie Nova’s approached and gave a polite cough “I wanted to apologize for what I said out there, it was out of line and motivated by a different situation. I may not like your vocation but that’s no excuse for acting the way I did.” she said looking him in the eyes.

Kaleb gave a polite nod, accepting he apology “I understand,” he said adding “you should know I won’t do anything to encourage him.”

She smiled sadly and said “You won’t have too, I think he has decided on this subject. In a week he’ll be 18 and instead of applying to college, he will run off and register himself as a hero. There will be nothing for his father or I to do. There’s no test or anything to dissuade us Mundanes from applying.” She looked close to tears again making Kaleb uncomfortable, a short silence pervaded the air broken only by the sound of Roy’s footsteps upstairs.

Not knowing what else to say Kaleb shrugged muttering “I could watch out for him where I can but I just started this Hero business myself.”

He noticed at some point Hank had wondered over and was nodding “We’d be grateful for that.” He said.

Marie meanwhile was staring at Kaleb‘s missing arm. Kaleb realized the pain had reduced to a dull throb as Kaleb reached up with his left hand and touched his shoulder wincing at the pain of the gesture.

Kaleb smiled at the couple saying “If it helps my idiot invention caused this by backfiring.”

Marie gave him a frown showing how she felt about that while Hank let out a laugh asking “So you’re an inventor?”

The sound of feet interrupted Kaleb’s answer, thumping down the stairs, dressed in blue jeans and a dark blue T-shirt Roy walked over as Kaleb answered Hank’s question “I’m trying but with little funding and resources, I’m stuck using whatever odds and ends I can find.”

All three Novas looked like ready to ask or say something but it was Marie who spoke up first “Why don’t you take Roy as your assistant?”

All three men questioned at once “What?”

Roy looked excited, Hank was wearing a curious expression, and Kaleb looked confused. Turning to Roy she continued “You put off registering and help the professor. See if being a hero is for you,” nodding to something behind the counter she said, “It’s how your grandpa got started.”

Turning to look at where she was indicating Kaleb saw an old picture on the wall behind the register, in it a man who looked like a slightly older version of Hank stood in a green flight suit with his elbow propped on the arm of a 7 foot tall silver and blue exosuit with white lightning bolts down its legs. The suit was bulky and looked like they had to rebuild it multiple times with newer layers built on top of the old. It had a curved seat in its torso where the pilot sat exposed with a three-fingered right hand and a cannon-like weapon on its left arm. At the older Nova’s feet sat a small boy looking at the exosuit with a round helmet on his too small head.

Turning to the family again, Kaleb could see Roy nodding vigorously at the idea while Hank’s eyes were still on the picture. “That would be awesome and I wouldn’t mind doing grunt work for the Doc.” said Roy.

Kaleb was still a little confused at the direction the conversation had gone but he felt compelled to remind them “I’m not a doctor and I’m just starting out. I’m gonna have a lot of work, most of it will be tedious too.”

But Hank was nodding his head “That’s perfect,” he said, “you can start out together, just like Streaks and The Doc,” He nodded back at the picture “and if you haven’t noticed, we run a hardware store. I don’t know if any of it will help but we can give you the family discount on anything you need.”

That brought Kaleb up short, a steady source of materials would come in handy and Hank presumably knew where to get other building material. But, he’d also have to protect Roy if he took him on any hero business. Thinking it over under the hopeful gazes of the Nova family Kaleb came to his decision, putting his robotic hand out to Roy he said: “I can’t promise it won’t be dangerous but I’m willing to try if you are.”

Roy nodded enthusiastically with a big smile on his face “I understand if you can equip me and get me some experience I have no problem watching your back.” he responded grasping Kaleb’s hand and giving it a firm shake. Hank had a big smile as he patted his son on the back and Marie looked a little happier as she smiled at them. Suddenly another notification sprung into Kaleb’s view.

*Congratulations*

You have accepted a companion. Companions will work and fight beside you growing stronger and learning new skills. Companions start with their own Origins and sub-types but where they go from there is entirely up to you and your companion’s interactions.

Companion Lvl: Assistant

Name: Roy Nova

Origin: Mundane

Sub-type: Athlete Lvl 1

Experience: 60/100

Health: 90/106

Stamina: 112/112

STR: 10

AGI: 10

CON: 10

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 10

Stat points available: 0

Skills: Endurance Lvl 3

Slugger Lvl 1

Toughness Lvl 2

Hand-eye coordination Lvl 2

Benefits: 50% off at Nova Hardware

Special Note: Legacy Hero

He dismissed the window and Kaleb looked at Roy as he hugged his mother wondering if anyone else had a companion yet and in what capacity Roy would help him. Hank approached him as Kaleb was thinking, grinning he nodded his head out the door and said: “you better go gather whatever materials you can from those bots before a salvage crew comes and if you have the means I’d think about taking one back to your lab for research.”

Kaleb mentally chastised himself for forgetting to loot the two mobs outside. The idea of taking one back to his lab intrigued him, but hauling the thing down the street seemed like a tricky task even if he had 2 arms.

As he tried to think of a way to get one Bruiser back to his garage Roy, having finished hugging his mom, spoke up “We can use my truck, though getting it into the bed with just the two of us will be tricky.”

Kaleb nodded at the idea and lifted himself from where he’d been leaning against the counter and headed out the door, as he did he saw the broken front window and got a sudden idea “You know, I might be able to make something to protect the storefront.” He said looking back to Hank and Marie.

They both looked surprised at the offer and Hank considered it before saying “That would be great, nothing to fancy though, the store has changed little since my father retired and started it.”

*Quest Generated*

You have offered to build better defenses for Nova Hardware. You will complete this quest once you hand in one invention to Hank or Marie Nova. The reward will be based on the quality and type of invention.

Time Limit: none

Reward: increased affinity with Nova Hardware,???

Failure: failure to produce a quality invention will decrease affinity with Nova Hardware and companion Roy.

Marie was nodding gratefully as Kaleb accepted the quest and headed outside with Roy to loot his kills. Making his way to the first Bruiser as Roy walked further down the sidewalk to a brown pickup truck Kaleb noticed several familiar figures among the small crowd of store owners and police still outside.

They had spread out along the road looking for him, it was Claire who spotted him first exclaiming loudly “Professor!”

The other members of his group and several others nearby looked over at the green giantess then over to Kaleb who had stopped a few feet short of the regular Bruiser. Kaleb smiled and raised his hand in greeting as his group dashed toward him pulling up short as they all saw his missing arm.

They all frowned at the missing appendage as Jar-lock asked “What in the hell happened to your arm?!”

Kaleb shook his head still smiling as he said “Ice Ray backfired and took my arm and Benny there with it” he nodded at the prone and ice covered body of Benny still lying in the street.

Two Gun looked between the fallen Bruiser and Kaleb asking his own questions “Shit son, you defeated a named minion solo? Guess that’s what the new badge is for, isn’t it?” He pointed to a spot on the right side of Kaleb’s open coat.

Kaleb glanced down and saw a small brown circular badge 2 inches in diameter on the front of his coat, twisting the coat around with his good arm to get a better look he saw it was brown except for a red silhouette of a Bruiser looming over a small white silhouette of a human taking up the center of the badge.

“Huh, I didn’t see that, though I wasn’t exactly solo. I had help from my new assistant.” he pointed further south along the road as Roy got into his brown truck and started the arduous task of navigating around the many cars and debris in the street driving toward them. The others were giving him curious looks so Kaleb related his story to the others as he did he looked them over realizing they had not left their battle on the bridge unharmed.

Claire had a black-eye and multiple cuts and bruises along her dark green skin, both Two Gun and Jar-lock looked like their clothes had been in a blender with multiple long gashes in their clothing and the skin underneath, and Abby had a large circular section of the lower part of her hoodie that looked like it had burned off.

His story complete he was about to ask for theirs when Jar-lock interrupted “Damn dude, a badge, a new quest, half off at a hardware store, a chance to tinker with new tech, AND an assistant? You did well for yourself.” He said grinning.

But Two Gun spoke up sounding irritated and a little concerned “Yes, but it cost him his arm.”

Claire joined in adding “That’s a high price. Will you build yourself a new one? You would have a matching set of robot arms.”

Kaleb smiled again prepared to drop another bomb on them but Abby spoke up first “He won’t have to, he’s a lizard.” it took the others a few seconds to figure out what she meant but Kaleb looked astonished at her knowledge of his ability to regrow limbs, she shrugged her shoulders at his expression saying “It’s obvious. How long till it grows back?”

“3 days” he answered sulking a little at not being able to surprise the group himself.

Claire and Jar-lock continued to look shocked but Two Gun looked annoyed as he threw his hat to the street shouting “God dammit! This is why I hate going into the game blind. Early decisions can make all the difference later on but with limited foreknowledge some people can just luck into broken builds! Nobody had any idea that certain parts would grant bonus abilities!”

Claire gave a soft laugh as she approached her husband who had just stood up from picking up his hat “Now love, we all made our choices. You’re right, none of us knew what impact the choices we made at creation would have on our abilities. It’s not the Professor’s fault.”

Two Gun brushed dust off his hat as he said “I know that...” he stopped as something seemed to occur to him, squinting his eyes up at Claire he asked suspiciously “what did YOU get?” Kaleb realized Two Gun was right, other than himself Claire was the only other non-human in the group.

Claire gave a coy grin as she asked “Me?” grinning wider she continued “Why I receive a bonus to defense for my alien heritage.” She thrust both her fists into the air and exclaimed in mock pride “We Xarthaksians are a sturdy people!” Kaleb and the others laughed as Two Gun shook his head in resignation at his wife’s antics.

Kaleb was about to ask about the battle on the South Congress Bridge when he heard a car horn honk from right next to his group, looking over he saw Roy had his head out of the driver side window of his truck.

He pulled his truck alongside them and the regular Bruiser, and shouted over the sound his truck’s engine “Which one we taking, doc?”

Kaleb, giving up on correcting Roy’s assumption that he was a doctor, pointed over to Benny’s prone bulk and said “That one, I’ll get what I can from this other one.”

Roy gave a nod and drove closer to Benny while Kaleb knelt over the body of the other Bruiser. He felt his group move closer as he looted the mob, there was the standard flash of light and then a single blueprint lay folded on the ground. The difference from his other blueprints was immediately noticeable, the paper wasn’t as faded or torn, and the design on the paper had measurements and clear detail. It was a detailed design of Bruiser Armor, 5 pieces of segmented armor which looked to be made from pieces of a Bruiser.

A long whistle sounded from over his right shoulder as Kaleb folded the blueprint back up to put in his pocket, turning to face his new friends he heard Jar-lock ask “Can you build it?”

Kaleb shrugged his shoulders “Depends on the research point cost.” he said. He could see the question on their curious faces but, he shook his head “I know we said we’d explain about the differences between our Origins, but I’d like to get back to my lab first.”

Two Gun looked a little crestfallen, but the others nodded.

“Makes sense.” Claire said “We are stuck until we register, and I for one would like to do that soon.”

Kaleb gave a curious look at that remark and Abby answered his unspoken question “This event had drones overhead watching, without them our kills would go unrewarded. We need a HeroLink to record our kills if we want to get paid for them.”

Two Gun added in explanation “We asked a police officer how they tracked who had killed what, seems group kills get added to everyone’s kill count, Unless the group separates, we missed out on the 700 credits you got for these two.”

Kaleb listened as he watched Roy pull his truck up next to Benny and got out to lower the tailgate, facing Claire Kaleb gestured to the broken robot and asked “Can you help us Claire, please?”

She gave him a smile “Sure, Professor.” She responded as she stepped over next to Roy and the prone Bruiser. They all watched as, with a grunt of effort, the tall green woman lifted the bulky robot and placed it into the bed of the truck. The truck sank noticeably and Kaleb worried whether the tires would blow, but everything seemed to be okay as Roy thanked Claire and headed back to the truck's cab.

Kaleb made his way to the truck as he said over his shoulder “If you guys don’t mind waiting, I think I can come up with something to help.”

“What’s that?” Jar-lock asked as Kaleb spun to look at them. “I was already thinking of a way to see enemy health bars using glasses or something. I need to work on it but shouldn’t be much harder to add a camera to it.” The others were all smiling when he finished talking.

Two Gun said “Tell you what, how about we wait till morning. It’s around 9 pm. we can meet where we first met on South Congress Avenue.” He waited for Jar-lock and Abby to nod before continuing “We learned that the closet registration location is a couple blocks south from there. I’ve got a few Evolution Points to tool around with and I reckon the others do too. On the way, we can discuss our different Origins and resources. Plus test out your new gadget, what do y’all think?” Kaleb and the others nodded at the plan.

Kaleb gave a wave and entered the passenger side door of Roy’s truck, as he shut the door Two Gun’s face appeared at his window.

He rolled the window down only for Two Gun to shout at him “Dammit boy, don’t go running off before the plans done! We’ll meet in 12 hours, enough time to fool around in-game and pop off to the real world for food or whatever. We also learned that you were right, we learn skills faster when we don’t use our powers. I got the Marksman skill while Abby and Claire got the Dodge skill. Jar-lock has gotten nothing yet, but I’ll bet he’ll try to tonight. Okay, now I’m done.”

Kaleb gave him a chagrined smile as he rolled his window back up. He waved again as Roy turned the car around and headed south down the street.

Kaleb gave Roy his address as they stopped at the first intersection. Roy was familiar with the nearby neighborhoods and Kaleb’s house was surprisingly close. They drove in silence for a time as Kaleb took in the streets now alive with activity, when the event was happening the place looked like a ghost town now, however, it was teeming with people, checking their yards and cars for any damage done during the attack. The major fighting was further west from these homes though, occasionally there would be a Bladeling laying in someone’s yard but they weren’t too frequent.

After a few minutes of driving Roy spoke “Just want to thank you for this opportunity, doc. I know my parents hope this little side job will scare me off, but I’ve always wanted to be a hero. Ever since gramps retired and told me about his adventures when I was a kid. I know he glamorized it but still, it’s in my blood you know?”

Kaleb just shrugged his shoulders “I can’t tell you not to try what I’m trying myself,” he said “and it seemed like a win-win: I get help in my lab and access to cheap resources, and you get to see if you’ve got what it takes.”

Roy gave him a sidelong look asking “Do you think I’ve got what it takes?”

Kaleb laughed as he gestured to his missing arm with his robotic one “What do I know? My first time out and I lose my arm. But you handled yourself well with those two Bruisers. Even if it was a little crazy to go at them with a metal bat.”

They had a short chuckle at that but soon silence fell between them again and Kaleb asked a question “So your grandpa started the hardware store?”

“Yeah,” Roy answered “he meant to run it while dad would start his hero career, but dad wrecked the suit his first time out. It pissed Dr. Kersait and gramps off, and Kersait said ‘I’m not building another one for that brain dead son of yours.’ That just made gramps madder but Kersait wouldn’t budge, so dad ran the store and gramps moved to Galveston.”

“Dr. Kersait?” Kaleb asked.

Roy gave him a strange look before answering “He was gramps’ partner. Streaks and the Doc, the greatest crime fighting Mundanes ever, the way gramps used to tell it. Kersait built the tech and the two of them would test it on every criminal from here to El Paso. When gramps retired so did Dr. Kersait, gramps built the store and Kersait founded K-Tech.”

Kaleb waited for Roy to continue when he didn’t he prompted “K-Tech?”

Roy’s look was incredulous “Wow, you really haven’t been at this long, have you?”

At Kaleb’s shrug Roy continued “K-Tech sells high-end gadgets and equipment to heroes, used to be whatever Kersait came up with but now they have whole buildings full of inventors. Government funded and Hero supported that’s K-Tech. Although...”

Kaleb found he didn’t have to prompt Roy to continue as the look on his face must have been enough. Roy shrugged his shoulders “Dad says they’ve gone downhill since Kersait died. Says they now sell to the highest bidder instead of just registered heroes.” A quest pop up cut off Kaleb’s response.

*Investigation Quest*

Investigate whether there is any truth to the rumor that K-Tech is making unauthorized deals. As a government-backed corporation, any fraud reported and proven can have big rewards. Big business hides its secrets well though.

Time Limit: None

Reward: Credit reward based on proof. Increased affinity with Companion: Roy

Failure: a false or unverified report can cause huge fines and decreased affinity with K-Tech.

Kaleb smiled as he closed the window “That might be something worth looking into.” he said.

Roy nodded his agreement responding “That’s what I thought, information is scarce though. They protect their clients with armies of lawyers and the Internet is just full of conspiracies and hearsay. So unless we plan on hacking into their closed server network, we will have to think of something else.”

Kaleb agreed as they pulled onto his street “Yeah, we’re probably not ready for them yet but we should be ready for villains using their tech when they shouldn’t be.” Roy nodded as Kaleb had him back the truck into his driveway, the street was quiet and eerie being lit by the few street lamps along the road.

As Roy shut off his engine Kaleb exited the truck and walked to the wide garage door stopping short as he remembered the rusty old shelving unit next to the other side of the garage door. He told Roy to beware falling debris as the two of them lifted the heavy metal garage door. With a spray of dust and a loud creaking sound the door slowly rose, the shelving unit wobbled slightly as it met the night air but remained upright.

Roy stared at the interior of the garage with a mixed expression of awe and slight disappointment, Kaleb laughed at seeing the younger man’s face “I told you, I’m just starting out.” he said.

Roy rallied his expression and gave a halfhearted “Its great.”

The two of them moved the shelving unit to the side so they could slide in Benny’s body. With even more creaking and groaning then the garage door had made they carefully shifted the unit out of the way. Kaleb had Roy get in the truck's bed as he stood to its right side ready to pull as Roy pushed the defunct robot out of the bed.

With a lot of heaving and the screeching of metal rubbing against metal they got the thing halfway off the back of the truck when Kaleb had to take a break. His chest was killing him and his stamina had dropped to the teens, his bruised ribs were screaming in his chest as he sat down on his driveway to rest. As Roy tried to shove Benny all the way off the truck Kaleb noticed white text had appeared in the bottom center of his view.

Roy: STR +1

The text faded after Kaleb finished reading it, but as Roy groaned with exertion, Kaleb brought up his status window switching over to Roy’s companion page. Sure enough, his strength stat had risen to 11,

“Seems like he can raise his stats just by using them. But then why did he start with the base? How difficult is it to keep raising them? And what’s the cap?” Kaleb’s series of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal impacting on the driveway, looking over he saw Roy had got Benny’s body out of the truck and on the driveway. Roy hopped down out of the truck’s bed and looked ready to drag Benny the few feet into the garage before Kaleb waved him off, telling him to rest.

Roy, covered in sweat, didn’t argue and sat down beside the robot; Kaleb meanwhile displayed his companion’s health and stamina bars placing them up near his own, he toggled it on and the two rested for a few minutes. After resting the pair pulled the robot into the garage, metal scraped on concrete and Kaleb and Roy grunted and cussed as they brought the Bruiser far enough into the room to close the garage door.

After thanking Roy and getting his contact information Kaleb sent him back home, with a promise to meet again later tomorrow. That done Kaleb sat down on the floor next to the Bruiser and touched it with his metal hand.

*Disassemble?*

Surprised at the prompt, Kaleb excitedly replied “yes” happy at the thought of the process being automatic.

*Assisted or Automatic*

Kaleb frowned at the next window, while Automatic was faster, Assisted had proven a better way to get skills. Not wanting to miss out on any extras and figuring he had time to kill, Kaleb chose “Assisted” and settled in as guidelines appeared and tools floated around him. He worked into the night as pieces of scrap and gears fell away and floated into the bins and scrap pile.