Creating a grappling hook took a few steps. Some of which I added because I still had no idea the exact size of the cabling for it. While working on the grappling hook I estimated for the cable to be half an inch in diameter or less, preferably less, and worked around that limitation.

Built within the handle of the gun I placed the ejection mechanism and a few surrounding pieces and set up the cabling to rest in the larger front of the gun. It would be heavily weighted in the front because of the cables and a bit lopsided but there wasn’t much I could do for that. In the end, the grappling gun looked like a mostly normal pistol with the added attachment of a round Tommy gun-like magazine for the cables rotated ninety degrees.

I used the CNC machine to cut out the metal pieces and a few more parts along with the 3D printer for everything else. Once the pieces were ready a few hours later it was good to assemble. The pieces came together nicely as my knowledge of how most guns are put together helped my assembly of this new gun. Using the computer’s simulation software, I was able to test out almost all of the working parts before assembly.

While I waited for a cable of the proper length and weight that I required I used a shorter length aluminum and steel cable. It wasn’t as durable as I would need it to be in the future, but for testing it was perfect. After loading the cable into the gun and locking it into place I turned on the gun’s ejector mechanism.

Some 30 feet above me were the roof’s rafters and support beams. I took aim and fired. The cable with the hook attached launched up and missed where I was aiming and landed with a clatter on the warehouse floor. I sighed and reeled in the cable with a press of a button. The gun jerked a bit like the force and weight of the pieces all came back to the gun.

It took a few more shots for me to get my aim correct each time. ARGO helped in repositioning everything for me and once it had enough data I was good to go. As I practiced going up and down I adjusted the settings for the gun for the speed going up and down. I didn’t want to come crashing down and smack the floor after all.

With a ‘thwip’ the hook shot out and its momentum carried it around the beam a few times before securing itself into place. With a press of a button the cable reeled back in, and I was lifted up with some uncomfortableness I was still working out. I was hoping that some added support from a suit would alleviate most of those problems. Now though, with both hands on the gun, I felt the force pulling at my shoulder sockets a bit harshly. The way down was much better. The release of the cable slowed as I got closer to the ground. The sensor’s in the gun automatically recorded the approximate height of the drop and adjusted accordingly. The third and final button on the gun retracted the hook and pulled the whole thing back in. The barbed ends slid inside allowing the Gun to easily pull everything back into its initial starting positions. With a click, the hook returned to the front of the gun and then expanded its barbs once more.

As I fiddled with the settings for the gun and stretched out my sore arm a knock at the door came. Checking the cameras showed Rachel waiting for me. Closing the camera tabs, I put the gun away before opening the door.

“How are you, Jason?”

“A bit busy.”

“The project for Sydney?”

“Yeah, but I work well under pressure and deadlines. I just sent it off yesterday, actually.”

“Did she like it?”

“She was pretty hidden with how she felt, but she didn’t outright reject it and I felt pretty good about it.”

“That’s good. Look. I’m here because of that murder last week.”

“Do you need my help?”

“Only a little. We’ve made some progress, but we need your talents for this part,” said Rachel as she pulled out a manila folder from her back.

I opened up the folder on the desk. Inside was a set of seven photos of different people.

“I recognize this guy.”

“As you should. They were all working in the restaurant that day weren’t they?”

“Yes. That one was your waiter. This one was the dead man’s waiter,” she said pointing to the different pictures. “I was hoping that your nice implant would help pull some information from the event. You might not have seen it all, but I hope that you saw enough.”

“So, what do you want me to do with these pictures?” I asked while looking at them again.

“We at the office are operating under the assumption that the killer has some sort of psychic powers. This meant they had to be near the man. In the room if not right next to him soon before he died. I highly doubt that the killer used their powers to draw attention away from themselves at the same time as performing the act, so I hope you caught sight of them. What can you tell me about the people in the room? The only people who should’ve been walking around during the fifteen minutes or so before the killing were these seven people.”

“Ok. I think I got it. The ARGO doesn’t have the ability to store my memories in total-recall style, but I will see what I can do with what I do have in my brain still. For your sake, I hope that these pictures can jog my memory a bit.”

I close my eyes and took a deep breath to focus.

“ARGO let’s see what you can do.”

My thoughts went towards that night, and I went over each part of the conversations leading up to the incident. Nothing had caught my eye that night until the scream occurred. I had been to focus on the meeting itself. The memories of the stabbing were amongst the clearest to me. I had turned my head around to look for the sound of the screams. I knew I must have seen the entire restaurant at that time.

“Let’s start from the beginning. Sydney and I were in a side booth near the windows and the man was closer to the windows. I remember having a clear view of these waiters and mine was nearby, but I didn’t see him right away,” I said moving the pictures to the side for convenience. “The other waiters I saw when I stood up, but so did everyone else. During that time, I saw no others in a waiter’s outfit. I would be pulling together fragments of imagination if I tried.”

“Damn it.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, but ARGO isn’t a wonder machine, and I wasn’t in a good position to see much during the evening. Maybe if I was there to watch the whole thing unfold then I’d be focused on the guy instead of Sydney, but I had no idea that it would unfold in front of me.”

“Then where would you go to watch it ‘unfold’?”

“What?”

“You heard me. If you were the killer, or in this case a bystander then where would you go to get the best view of the guy would be the walkway to the kitchen. But that would be uncomfortable and packed with workers around that area so the killer and if I were in their shoes would want a seat pointed mostly towards the man or a seat that I don’t have my head much to look at. But I’m guessing that you already went through the IDs of the people there that night so unless they had a really good fake then the killer couldn’t have sat in the restaurant the entire time.”

“There might be ways to get around sitting in a restaurant in view of the murdered man, but I would generally agree with you that it shouldn’t be possible to mix powersets or skills like that to watch the man and murder him. That really only leaves one option I would think.”

“That leaves us with.” I sighed, “They were watching from outside. Depending on where they were standing they only needed about fifty feet to activate their ability on the man. Is that even possible?”

“With powers a lot of impossibilities become possible. It would be classified as irregular and rare, but with training and practice, it could be possible. Either that or an amazingly large amount of natural talent.”

“That is actually insane. They only needed line of sight to kill? If that is possible then depending on the limitations on the distance they could be an amazing assassins. And for now, we have no idea if the power can be stopped once the killer tries to use their powers.”

“It wouldn’t be impossible for the power to not stop until the compulsion finishes its goal or the killer is dead. That wouldn’t be the wildest thing possible with powers though I agree with you that there must be limitations. Finding more about their powers and limitations will be key to taking them down. If they could trigger their power from at least fifty feet then they could stand outside the building and do it. Then they wouldn’t have to deal with customers and waiters. The only problem to solve would be the outdoor cameras and bystanders on the sidewalk. Wait. You had a view of the street the entire time. What do you remember about the people walking by?”

“Let me see.”

I returned my focus to the night's events. The street had been active throughout the evening, but not overly so. The movement had occasionally caught my eye through the window, but I had tuned it out over time. I hoped that ARGO could bring it back into focus.

Flashes of faces came and went through my mind for a while as ARGO helped to amplify the memories. I kept on going despite not seeing anything. It was hard to know what to look for when not even Rachel knew what to look for. I was about to stop when ARGO alerted me to something – An anomaly that occurred while I spun my head around at the time of the murder. A lone blurry face mixed in with other passersby but one that I had seen before. They had walked around the block twice before seemingly stalking their prey before striking.

“I have a face. Someone walked around the building at least three times from what I saw before they attacked. Give me a minute I need some paper. It won’t be the best thing to start with, but hopefully, this can help you identify them further.”

I took out a pen and paper to start drawing. ARGO helped to keep the image of the face in my mind as I drew and then further directed me in improving my drawing. Due to the multiple passes, I saw of the person I was able to compare and update my drawing even more.

As I drew I focused on the most notable features. The wide lips, shorter ears, and the look of the eyes and ears. In the end, it looked like what one might see for a police sketch artist. It was by no means a spitting image of a real man, but I hoped it would be distinctive enough to identify the man if he was seen.

“That looks pretty good,” said Rachel. She picked up the drawing once I was done and looked it over, “I’m glad this trip was worth it. This should help us get much closer. Especially because all the interviews including the newer ones have been a wash. It is like he was a ghost or something. There have been no easy connections tying a motive to the killer.”

“Maybe they just haven’t built a pattern for us to follow yet.”

“Yeah maybe, but that is also one of the worst kinds of killers to try and catch. Their unpredictability is hard to deal with.”

“Well, I am glad I could help this time at least. Call me next time you need something instead of coming right here. Maybe I won’t be in the shop next time.”

“But you are always in the shop around now. It is your pattern that you follow.”

“Maybe I need to change it then.”

Rachel gathered her things and was out the door soon after leaving me to continue working on my suit's needs. For the rest of the afternoon, I began prepping the materials I needed for my ‘super suit’ in between an actual paying project for Nate and Barry. There were shoes of course for Nate and Barry had enjoyed my magnetized lightning rod plates that I was commissioned to make some more.

For my super suit, the focus was on defense first and foremost. I had a lot to make up for in that department and needed to be able to take some hits. To hide my identity and to protect my body I planned to have the suit cover everything. For most heroes, this wasn’t a problem. By the end of their first year or even earlier their names were known to all. The few exceptions were those who had skills that necessitated them going undercover. And they often had little need for head protection whether it was because their powers keep their skulls hard or their powers prevent others from getting too close.

For the sake of quick shipping and the ease of going shopping, I got most of my fabric and cloth needs from the same place as my gloves and boots. Pulling from the protective designs of my clothes I integrated the spider silk into the design as well. There were a few other pieces as well from previous work I had done on super suits but those were the basis for it all.

For defense, I wanted to make sure I had a few things covered. First I needed to deal with extreme heat and cold temperatures as needed. After working on Sydney’s gauntlets for so long I had bought and built some things for those steps already. I would just need to add them to the suit in a nice way. Second I needed to deal with super-powered punches. Deflecting and dispersing the energy to the rest of the suit was key. That along with minimizing the damage through fighting and the direction of ARGO would also be helpful in my defenses. The final defense piece I wanted though I might add more eventually is energy deflection. I had seen a collection of Tabitha’s and others’ fights when they used energy blasts and they all had at least one thing in common – The energy that they exuded was a form of solid crystallized light.

I planned to have a specialized metal known for reflecting energy blasts and able to do it well. I had found the metal during my search for a proper metal cable. I had found them both through the same shop and put in an order for the materials I needed. They would come in a few days but for now, I could create the undersuit and lower layers of the suit before adding the larger metal plating to the suit.

The suit's design was something I wasn’t quite sure about. The completed gloves and boots had created a mostly black design which I wanted to follow suit with. It would also be part of my plan for outings as well. I couldn’t go running around the streets of the city around other heroes. While they are technically on the same team I wanted to avoid them for as long as possible. I tried looking into stories of regular people who tried to be heroes. Besides the random story or two of someone running into a building to save people the lives of people who tried to face superhumans were often short and painful.

And because of these incidents and dumb superhumans, it was generally illegal to work as a hero without either being licensed in the city you are in or working under someone licensed to work. There are of course some exceptions but not many. Once I did this hero thing more than two or three times I except that people will be passively looking for me if nothing else.

I finished the gathering and cutting up the materials I needed for prep before I left for the day so that when I returned I was ready to get started. The first layer was universal and something nearly all heroes built their costumes on top of. The mesh clothing, I bought was meant to sit comfortably on top of my skin before whatever layers of other stuff were added on top of the suit. The mesh wasn’t very durable or resistant to anything, but it was fit to my size and a comfortable fit when everything else was eventually added.

I set the undersuit aside and moved on to the clothes I had cut out. The layered fabric held a few special properties. They would secure the ability to take a punch with a thousand pounds of force for me. Once chemically activated it could store energy sent into it to a degree. In this case, I planned for it to deal with the punches and kicks I planned to take. Once the first layer was stitched together it was time for the spider silk. Using a version of my clothing line I added to the suit's the ability to deal with cutting and piercing attacks along with heat. Because I didn’t have to fit the layers of silk under regular clothes I went a bit crazy with the material. Once finished I expected that a regular person with a knife would not easily be able to cut through many of the layers even if the metal was not there.

The third and final layer of the suit before the metal was set to be added would help me deal with cold and be a buffer for my more precious layers of suit. It was in many ways just insulation later to create more padding.

The creation of the suit took the rest of the day for me to complete. I still hadn’t started on a helmet, but I needed the metals for it. In the end, the suit before the metal was added looked well done but unfinished. I had left the materials uncoated which were something I still had to finish the next day. At the end of the day, the suit was almost finished and was one of my better works so far. I put the suit on a hanger and set it aside on a rack when I closed up shop for the day intent on putting plenty more work on the suit the next day.