“So that’s about it for the chemistry part of the tour!” exclaimed Iori, the alchemist in charge of showing Kai around the research laboratories. “So how’d you like it?”

“It was great!” exclaimed Kai with a genuine smile. “Can you show me how to brew a potion? Like, even a simple one is fine.”

“You know, I’d love to,” replied the alchemist through a melancholic smile. “But then we won’t have time for the other sections, and I’ve gotta at least try to make them look as interesting as the al-chemistry lab.”

Kai replied with a pout and a nod, but acquiesced. The duo continued the tour, walking through a pair of lab doors to the room next door. Also filled with scattered tables, the new chamber wasn’t as cluttered with glassware. In fact, the only glass the teen could see was that built into the doors.

Instead, what met them were several machining tools, from lathes to saws, and automatic hammers. Several metal bars and rods were both scattered about and organized into several neat piles. Most of them were various shades of gray, but differed in overall hue. Bluish steels, bright and shining platinums, and even a reddish brown copper could be found amongst the collections of raw materials.

What finally caught Kai’s attention was an engine. He ran up to the device and opened his mouth wide behind his mask. What sat before him was no ordinary motor. Built into it were 12 entire cylinders, each side containing 6 of them. The entire device gleamed with the harsh ceiling lights, looking like it would be more at home in a bank vault than in a car.

“Ah, so you’ve seen the RDV-4 Vulkan engine! Models 1 through 3 have already been fitted into motorbikes, but Adithya, the head mechanical engineer, wants to turn it up to 11 with the next model. I kept telling him that 6 cylinders for a bike is more than enough, especially with the fuel that it runs on, but nooo, it’s gotta be faster! And I’ll probably be the one to design a new fuel source to keep up with how fast it’s going to guzzle the stuff.”

“Holy shit,” was all he could say while caught up in the moment. After several seconds, he was able to shut his mouth and turn back to his tour guide. “So do you two work together often? I mean, I can see these guys making the bike, but it sounds like it doesn’t use normal gasoline.”

“Nope, diesel,” said Iori matter-of-factly.

Kai stared back at her blankly, the mask on his face covering up how he really felt.

“I’m just kidding, geez,” said the alchemist with a roll of her eyes. “But yeah, it uses a specialty brew that makes rocket fuel look like candle wax! And the two of us have to work together to get them to work together.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re too fond of working with him, in that case,” replied Kai.

“That’s only when we’re engineering since we can become at odds with each other on who has to do what,” said Iori. “But beyond that, we work together pretty well. Especially during Executive council meetings.”

“Wait, you’re part of the Executive Council?” asked the teen, eyes growing wide, though not as wide as when he was staring at the engine.

“That’s right, Kai!”

“Cool! I got to meet Obadiah earlier today, and he was a really nice guy.”

“Glad you did, because he really is! Who else have you met so far?”

“Just you two, and Artyom. He’s the one who rescued me in the first place.”

“Artyom, nice! He’s also a great guy, but he’s got his flaws.”

“Flaws? Like what?”

“Eh, I really shouldn’t be gossipping about colleagues like this, especially when it has to do with official business. But he really is a great guy.”

“Of course he is,” replied Kai with a quick nod, his voice slightly lower than before. The man had saved his life, how could he be anything but a great guy?

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” came the voice of a man from behind them.

The two turned around to come face to face with another researcher, this one with a stubble on his chin and short, spiky black hair. He wore a pair of shaded glasses that went well with his tanned skin.

“Oh, this must be our newest guest taking the grand tour! What’s up, I’m Astor! I’m one of the mechanical engineers here at TOAL.”

“Hi Astor,” replied Iori with an eyeroll. “The tour’s going well, so you can get back to work.”

“Hold on, I’m not leaving until I’ve made sure you’ve made us look as good as the al-chemistry department.”

The alchemist shrugged. “I’m giving Kai here a fair view of every group, so it’s not my fault if you’re not as interesting as we are.”

“Pfft,” the engineer scoffed. “We want a chance at fresh blood too, you know.”

“Hey, our focus is to get him interested in research and engineering in general, at least more so than whatever Gus is going to do to get him interested in becoming a soldier.”

Kai’s eyes flashed in realization at her last sentence. He wasn’t sure why he never expected it beforehand, but it made all too much sense that even a place like this would be embroiled in some kind of politics. And it seemed like most of it was between the science divisions and the army. At least when it came to finding new recruits.

The teen recalled how many soldiers were present to rescue him versus the number of researchers he’d seen so far during his tour. He really couldn’t blame Iori and Astor either. That could’ve explained why the alchemist was so forthcoming about providing Kai with tutoring and a letter of recommendation. Hey, if they were going to fight over him, at least he’d come out on top no matter which one of the competitors actually won.

“Alright Kai,” said the mechanical engineer, breaking out of his previous conversation. “I’m not going to let Iori here sabotage our chances of recruiting you, so I’m going to show you something really cool.”

“Fine, we’ll go along and see what you’ve got to show,” the alchemist relented. “But only because we have enough time, and because you deserve a handicap.”

Astor ignored the jab and led the two to a corner of the massive room. A large opaque box that stretched to the ceiling stood before them, covered by a sliding metal door on its front face. With the swipe of a keycard and a press of a button, the door began to slide upwards, revealing a sight that made the engine look like a toy car in comparison.

Hanging by several large hooks embedded into the wall were pieces of oversized armor, probably even too big to fit on the biggest members of Squad Romeo without significant padding. But it wasn’t regular armor, Kai realized. The magical glyphs that glowed right below the outermost surface, the circuitry lining the insides of the pieces, and the ridiculously-sized shoulder pauldrons gave it away. It was a suit of power armor!

“So how do you like it, Kai?” asked Astor, a smug grin spread across his face.

“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“Good, good. I thought you’d say that.” The engineer looked towards his competitor, eliciting an angry pout from Iori. “If you join up with us, you’ll get to help out with this baby!”

“Oh please,” scoffed the alchemist. “You should see some of the bombs the al-chemistry department has made. They could turn this thing into rubble.”

“Bombs?” asked Astor. “You mean that bad batch of bike fuel you made that blew up the off-world factory making it? Oh please, those wouldn’t even be able to scratch the paint on this thing, especially with the energy shields up.”

Kai ignored the ensuing argument between the two, too engrossed at the metal behemoth in front of him. What caught his eye was the paint job, now that Astor had brought it up. It was covered in blues and greens, with a stylized decal resembling Earth painted into the center.

“Whatever, I believe my job here is done,” said Astor as he crossed his arms.

“Well it is, since it’s time for the rune magic part of the tour. Come on Kai, time for the actually disappointing part of the tour.”

The teen, still enraptured by the power armor, ignored the strange words and followed Iori to the next set of doors. Of course the next part would be disappointing, how could it even begin to compete with this?!