In the training room, the friends sat in thought for a long while.

Alfred broke the silence. “I believe congratulations are in order. Neither of you was prepared for that fight, yet you prevailed.”

Falco smiled a tired smile. “Thanks, Alfred. That… actually means a lot right now. Gabe, how do you feel?”

“I feel like that couldn't have gone much better. We were outnumbered and frankly, outgunned.”

“Outgunned? You killed those things with one attack each. Sure, you got hit, but so did I! I got hit once, and out I went…”

Gabriel couldn’t allow this simulation to block his friend’s confidence. He removed his helmet and chose his words carefully.

“You are totally right.” Falco looked up in surprise. “But you have to see that your weapons couldn’t really do much to those things; it’s not your fault at all.

If anything you, are the better Super, I had Alfred to adjust my movements, and you had nothing but knives. Well-made ones, but still! KNIVES! For god’s sake, man, you’re a badass!”

Falco brightened but became pensive. “How do I fix that problem? My ultimate goal has always been defeating the MechaBlitz. I need better weapons.”

Gabriel nodded. “If only you knew a good Engineer…”

Falco laughed, “Come on, don’t make me beg.”

“I could probably modify your weapons themselves unless you’d like something else?” Gabriel said.

Falco shook his head. “I would prefer to keep my blades if you would indulge me.”

“Of course! If you give them to me, I can have something ready by tomorrow morning. Say at breakfast?”

Falco’s eyes grew like saucers. “T-tomorrow? Do you sleep at all?”

Gabriel’s cheeks reddened. “Well, yes. But I can’t relax until I get everything on my list done.”

Falco frowned. “As long as you don’t overwork yourself. I’d be grateful.”

He blurred into movement before handing Gabriel his holsters. Forty-two long throwing knives and two machetes, all made of hardened titanium. Not bad, but there was a lot of room to work with. They parted ways shortly after. Gabriel went to his lab and go over the knives.

On the way there, he asked Alfred, “Hey Alfred, anything to say about training today? I thought it went pretty well, but I value your input.”

The fight against Falco was a hectic affair. Your suit took too much damage. He pressed us to our limits, even without upgraded weapons.

“Our suit Alfred. Our brain, for that matter. We are in here together.” Gabriel interrupted.

Thank you, but as I was saying, we had no answer to his speed, but your gravity well trick worked. That may be useful for future speedsters. However, the actual problem is not that. The real issue at hand is the damage we’re coming up against. It is too great to defend against with your wings.

Your armaments are powerful enough to kill MechaBlitz, but not enough to protect yourself. We need a better defense system, and I think I have a solution.

“Oh really? And what is it?” Gabriel asked, extremely curious.

I think we could mimic the MechaBlitz shielding technology with antimatter.

Gabriel couldn’t believe what Alfred suggested. “You mean you want to cover ourselves in AM energy!? That’s ridiculously dangerous; that could vaporize us!”

Just you, really, but that’s why I suggest we start small and see how a regular shield construct would work. Have you ever even tried using AM energy for anything other than destroying things?

Gabriel was embarrassed; he hadn’t. “Alright, alright, we can try.”

I also believe you should forego the AM scissor in favor of AM gauntlets.

Gabriel stopped walking. “Gauntlets? Really? So like antimatter punches or something? Brass knuckles?”

Yes, you have the right idea. Ideally, they would cover your entire hands in case you felt like creating any construct weapons.

“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.”

Gabriel lost himself in thought until he arrived at the lab. He set down his sharp bundle and arranged the objects out on the center table.

He would strengthen the knives with a nano-polymer to prevent them from breaking or snapping and magnetize the blades like he did his AM scissor, instead of Falco having to pace himself. That would mean Falco would need to retrain to avoid cutting friendlies with the knives as they flew back. Gabriel would do the same for the machetes.

He had another idea. If he hollowed out the blade’s handles and replaced them with small magnetic generators, he could magnetize the hilts while at the same time vibrating the metal at incredible speeds. Falco would be able to cut through pretty much anything.

Taking the opportunity, he also went through his mind to find the right protective gear for Falco. Gabriel had designed the last few generations of standard ablative vests in the past few years. He had made them more durable, but that also made them larger and more cumbersome.

Gabriel went with the Mk. III vest. It was an older model and weighed about 30 kilograms but remained thin enough to fit under an overcoat. It was Gabriel’s personal favorite. He had one installed beneath the outer layer of his armor.

Alfred observed what Gabriel had been doing, following along as he went through and formed each object he needed to use from the 3d printing suite of his wrist pad. He concluded that he was observing something surreal. even in this world of super-powered humans and geniuses, Gabriel used his wrist pad in a way he had never heard through the Nets or seen at the Spire, even while assisting Dr. Atomic.

Alfred waited until the Engineer ordered the materials for the 3d printer to ask Gabriel, did you design that wrist pad?

Gabriel looked up, confused. “How is everyone figuring me out this quick? I mean, I did design this thing, but they’ve been around for a while on the market.”

You are using it for applications I have never seen before. Even Dr. Atomic still uses standard interfaces for the different phases of design. You seem to create from nothing but a wrist pad and a molecular printer.

“Wait, you mean regular wrist pads can’t use these tools? Mine can do a whole lot more than just that. It ran the suit’s programs before we integrated.”

No, regular wrist pads don’t even approach that level of computational power. Most use VIs for that sort of thing.

Gabriel frowned. “Dr. Holmes, the man who created me, told me he sent my schematics as-is to the build team. I never confirmed it, but now I guess he lied to me. It seems I gave him a weapon.”

It’s not your fault, friend. You had no alternative. On the bright side, you gave yourself a weapon, as well. I could use it to do more or less anything for you if you gave me access to it.

Gabriel thought about this. His AI companion could indeed automate procedures like the ones he was working on, but he could also potentially run rampant and wreak havoc on god knew how many levels on the net, but Gabriel trusted his friend.

“Here, the password is Alfred, go ahead and re-encrypt access when you connect.”

Oh, that is interesting. You nano-layered multiple quantum computers. No one has even theorized this yet. Incredible. I will finish the Mk.III vest for you, is there anything else you need done?

Gabriel described each one of the designs he needed for the blades. Alfred recommended that after the vest, he cover each blade in nano-carbon to save time. Gabriel agreed, and the AI went to work, proving much quicker than Gabriel’s fingers at drawing and interlacing designs. It was elegant to watch, beautiful he would say.

Would you mind if I took the liberty of altering some design choices? I can see that you had to modify them yourself in order to design it, but I can work with the drawing at an atomic level.

“Go for it. I had just been thinking that myself, actually.”

Thank you, Gabriel. I won’t be long.

Once the MK.III finished printing, Gabriel placed it on the table and inserted the knives into the printer. They finished quickly and moved on to the machetes, which took slightly longer. While Gabriel did this, Alfred was designing the magnetic generators for both types of blades.

Working in tandem, they finished the coats and started manufacturing the other devices. Alfred suggested printing all the generators at once to save time. After around 30 minutes, Gabriel had finished boring out the handles and was ready to install the generators.

The installation process went by quickly. They programmed the knives to vibrate when drawn and to return to magnetic holsters when dropped. A few test throws proved both they worked and that Gabriel was a horrible knife thrower. Falco would be pleased with his new weapons.

An unknown design popped into the forefront of Gabriel’s brain.

Now let us move on to our own upgrades. Here is what I’ve come up with while you played with the knives.

“I wasn’t playing! I was… testing them; scientifically.”

Right, tell yourself that. Anyway, this design might help us protect ourselves. As you can see, it is a similar design to your current AM emitter. However, the energy channels are much thinner and more numerous. We would be able to manipulate antimatter much more delicately without losing potency. Also, we will be able to use smaller numbers of channels at a time, approximately tripling our construct capacity.

“That’s genius Alfred; I feel humbled.”

That is not it. I merely know what you do. I am in your mind, Gabriel. If you did not know what you do, I would not be able to use the data. I could not have come up with your theories in antimatter.

Gabriel thought for a moment. “Hmm.” He finally said.

Will you print it?

“Yes, but we have some modifications to make before I do.”

I am listening.

“I need you to mirror the drawing, make two of them. Good, good. Now shape the channels around the contour of the hand. Disconnect those channels from the rest and connect them directly to the power source. Wow, you’re good.”

Thank you.

“Last, I want you to make new channels overlaid on the forearm plating. Shape them so the energy projection tool creates a half shield from each side and a separate circuit for another blade projection straight out of the wrist. No, larger than a kite shield. Longer, and wider than my shoulders. Perfect. Now the new Scissors. Yes, that length is good; wait, no, a little longer. Nice. Now cover the new channels in nanocarbon plate. Yeah, there you go. Those spikes look great!” He laughed.

Gabriel hadn’t had so much fun in years.

The designs are quite pleasing. I cannot wait to work on something together again.

Gabriel smiled, “Same here.”

Once the new gauntlets were printing, Gabriel kept playing around with the knives - showing no more skill in throwing them than before.

He stopped. “Alfred, what should we do with this old gauntlet?”

You could keep it. It’s still linked to us, and none could unleash its power. However, it may still be stolen and replicated.

“You have a point. We should destroy it as a test run for the new ones.” He said merrily.

The gauntlets took around an hour to make. Gabriel programmed them to his liking and gave Alfred access.

“First thing’s first.” Said Gabriel as he slammed his forearms together. He heard a buzz and opened his eyes, surprised the gauntlets had worked on the first try. From his arms sprouted a roiling, dark purple shield that bubbled and undulated. He noted the shield engaged almost instantly.

It uses minimal energy. I would say you could activate it an infinite number of times.

“Sure seems like it. There’s barely any draw on the power cells.”

Next, Gabriel made snappy, whipping motions with both arms. The AM blades formed with the same ease as the shield - and drew even less power. Modifying the AM channels provided a serious boost to efficiency.

“Time for the test drive,” Gabriel said, picking up the old AM cannon with both gauntlets.

His hands coated in antimatter, and he squeezed. It was like squashing butter. The new weapons didn’t even leave dust behind.

“Job’s done, Alfred, thank you,” Gabriel said earnestly.

It is close to midnight; perhaps you would consider resting. You can’t have slept well last night.

Gabriel grunted. “Passing out on the floor left me kinda sore. Let’s head back.”