And that was about ten years to be exact. Enough time to get a good job, even if you’re a little overqualified. ‘And maybe cheating, a little.’ Enough time to learn quite a few things, even if you barely listen in school. ‘It gets hard to dream when Speaker starts up a new lecture every night.’ And enough time to work out how to pay off your debts, even if your powers make things difficult. 'But everything has a solution… it just takes more time to… actualize on those solutions.' But Seth and the voices… the Garkah, as they prefer to be called, had worked out just what form that solution would take.

The Fedor Smeltery Co. was the only small order foundry in Kadia that could work with exotic orders. It was kind of unusual for the foundry to take cash, but business was slow, and the money was good. Seth waited outside the main yard, the heat from the smelter pouring out of the barely enclosed main building. It felt like that first day staring out from his doorway, like the fires of Brighton, but… ‘Heh’ way less oppressive. It was easy to handle, way less soot in the air too. The foreman trudged out from the metal yard with three workers in tow, an industrial trolley bearing a pile of matte grey bars weighed all four of them down. Seth met them halfway to save them some trouble. “Welp!” the foreman stopped short and haggardly picked up his clipboard from the trolley. “1,500 pounds of… whatever you want to call this mess, ready and cooled.” Seth went over and picked up a bar. It was heavy, felt slightly brittle to the touch, but it was conductive as hell and exactly to the Garkah’s specifications. He smiled with a little pride. “It’s perfect, and you were even able to make some extra.” One of the workers sneered a little, “It’s pretty easy to melt random trash together if-” “IF there is anything else you need just ask.” The foreman handed the clipboard over to Seth for his signature. “Nope this is more than enough. But…” Seth handed the signed board back. “If I were you, I’d would look to diversifying your outputs. Something tells me you’re going to be down a few major customers in the coming years.” Now the foreman was leering at him. “And what makes you say that?” Seth put a hand on the trolley’s rail. “Well… the armorers in Kadia are starting to lose customers, and likely won’t maintain their current sales figures by the end of the year. And once that happens, the stocks start to dip, the investors dry up, and suddenly the whole industry is staring at a major downturn. It’s just better to diversify now so you don’t get sucked down with them.” All four men stared at him like he just turned green, but Seth just shrugged off their indignation. “Just some off hand advice.” He started to pull at the trolley. The foreman went to help. “Wait, we at least need to help get that to your truck.” Seth smiled again, “Nah, I got it.” and pulled the near one ton trolley along behind him. It moved almost without effort as he walked it briskly from between the awestruck workers. “I’ll send the cart back later.”

Seth wheeled the trolley around and out on to the wide sidewalks of the industrial district he’d accepted as his home, pushing it down the street like it was nothing more than a shopping cart. Thankfully the district was designed so materials could be transported like this, though not by just one person. A few looks from the work yards and offices he passed went unreturned, the smile on his face too much to stifle. It was like nothing bad had ever happened. The ashen skies and bloodied streets were a distant memory distilled into simple resolve. He had moved on, at least consciously.

For Seth, home was a dingy apartment block just outside the industrial sector he had grown up in. The orphanage had closed down not long after he had outgrown it, so it was the bachelor life for him. The apartment had garage space for tenants so it was exactly what he needed. Walking his heavy cargo up to one of the garages, he put a hand to the door. A metallic clink signaled it unlocked as it started rising on its own. Inside, a dim overhead light came standard with every unit, the three extra work lights didn’t. The garage was set up like mechanic’s shop, work tables flanked a heavy metal framework with pulleys and chains for heavy lifting. Tools were hung on the walls and in holsters at each table. A faux generator was placed near the door just to cover all the bases. There was only one thing missing from this picture though, but only because a tarp cloaked it against the far wall.

Seth left the trolley at the door and began, two by two, stacking the metal bricks at the foot of a machining table. Their brittleness left them without the resounding clang that twenty five pound metal bars usually responded with, simply thudding against each other as they stacked higher and higher. Once everything was in place, the cart was moved outside, and the door shut. The work lights kept the room lit from all sides, but the cloak maintained a defiant shadow. Seth walked over and pulled it away, revealing a glistening skeleton. Titanium alloy formed into distinct shapes, like a wide angular mesh waiting to be filled in. Simple joints, servos, and rotary cuffs broke the frame up into distinct body parts. Finally a drive pack and battery were hung and wired into the grooves on the inside, or at least it looked that way. Seth didn’t really need the assistance. But still, it was a powersuit to the layman's eyes, like many he’d repaired, built, and designed over these years of preparation and training. The culmination of his and the Garkah’s plans for the future. He was going to need it to keep his power in check and hidden. A buffer between him and the world that could keep him safe from scrutiny. But that could wait, there were still some final pieces to get before the day was out. Tomorrow though, that was going to be a great day.

The alarm clock went off, Seth was barely asleep, but didn’t want to get up so fast. But he had to, no sense being late to your last day at work. He trudged to the bathroom, sweeping up a prepped shirt and pants along the way. His apartment wasn’t as dingy as the exterior made it out to be. New appliances and furniture existed alongside drab yellowing wallpaper. The fixtures in the bathroom were much the same, mildly calcified pipes and disintegrating molding clashed with new railings and clean faucets. Seth had the money to burn on things he could install himself, but cared little for aesthetics or expert home maintenance. Blankly staring into the mirror as he brushed his teeth told him he was still the same kid that walked through hell, just taller and with completly whited out hair. An annoying reminder he shook away to regain his smile. Though his skin was also still pretty pale. 'Why won't hat change at least?'

As he left the bathroom and headed for the kitchen, a single left hand turn away in this one room apartment, he heard a distant boom from rattle the window. He paid little mind. Booms like that usually signaled another super villain cropping up. And sure enough the echo of the alert system started up in its wake, warning everyone to steer clear. He listened as he pulled out butter, bread, and cinnamon for a light breakfast. As he put the bread down in the toaster he heard another boom, this time it was closer, higher up, a sonic boom. ‘The flyers are getting called in huh.’ Then another softer boom, a bit of rumbling, then finally the jet whine of one of the League’s transports streaking over the city. Seth smiled wider. This was a big one, and worth the detour.

The toaster popped. Before the lightly browned bread had a chance to fall it was buttered, dusted, and hanging out of his mouth as he was pulling on an overstuffed backpack and running out the door. Sprinting down two flights of stairs was too slow so he mounted the banister and slid, munching on his toast for the first length. Only lurching to a stop to allow his only other neighbor by. “Morning Ms. Mahan!” Seth squeezed by his kindly, yet grizzled and literally blue haired grandma of a neighbor as she climbed up the stairs back to her room. “No sense in being in such a hurry dearie, if you’ve seen one fight you’ve seen them all.” “I know Ms. Mahan, I’ll be careful” Seth ramped off the other banister and careened out the door, skipping the last few stairs of the building’s stoop by kicking off over the edge into the garage area.

He didn’t make contact as his garage door flung open to his arm whamming up. Finishing his toast, he put his pack down and quickly grabbed up a loose suit covered in sockets. He slipped it on over his clothes so he could snap into the empty skeleton of his armor. He needed to give the illusion he was taking his powersuit for a spin. The armor snapped into the connectors with high strength magnets, joining the movements of the two together. Though it being over baggy and bunching clothing wasn’t going to make things very precise, but he didn’t need precision. He scooped back up his bag and stomped the frame out of the garage, making sure it locked up behind him before he prepped for takeoff. The joints whined smoothly as he tested them, stretching and reaching as far as he could go. All set, he put his foot down ahead of him, dropping into a sprinters stance.

Seth eyed his surroundings. The road was clear, but downtown wasn’t going to be, so he’d need to use the rooftops. Within a second of this proposal the asphalt under his foot was crushed to dust and he was launching forward. The Garkah had taught him to enhance his strength and speed, and the effects seem to have stuck a little too well. He didn't know everything about his powers, but he certainly wasn’t complaining about that. What he was decrying though was not having a face shield to end the ceaseless buffeting from the wind as he picked up speed, but beggars can’t be choosers.

He stormed down the fairly empty industrial street, exoskeletal feet keeping him from tearing his shoes apart, but doing a number on the roadway. When he had enough speed, he put his foot down again and launched upward toward a low building, crunching one last bit of asphalt but clearing the lip of the roof and continuing on. A few hundred pounds of heavy metal clanged and bent the metal coping the League had mandated be installed on most buildings. It was better to have a single hardened piece of metal take the brunt than risk raining shattered concrete on people just to get around traffic. Also it’s easier to repair and clean with the right super. As he made his way downtown, the distance between roofs waned, at least horizontally, vertically the variance started getting annoying. A clear path forward required jumping entire intersections, or three whole turns to get around the increasing skyscrapers that were too high to jump to. When Seth finally had to climb, at least the metal coping extended down the corners on most of the buildings. Better to have maintainable metal than shattered windows. In all honesty this city was designed from the ground up for hero work, and practically required supers to keep it running.

Reaching the top, Seth could see his destination. A common spot, a circular park ringed by high-rises just off downtown. Though, from the smoke and dust, it looked like the park was going to need to be replanted… again. Jumping those last few bounds, he found his position. A building just off the ring, close enough to see without technically being inside the police line. He unpacked his bag, pulling out a smooth hunch of metal. A recon set up he had… borrowed from work. Snapping it onto the shoulder of his exoskeleton, he pulled the scope out and over to his face, slotting the provided earbuds in for the long range microphone. The hud adjusted before his eyes, a small glitch or two signaling the Garkah were tapping in for the show as well, the earbuds blocking out the ever present din of downtown. “I would scold your shirking of responsibilities, but the more intel we get the better our chances.” “Plus it’s his last day, what are they going to do? Fire him.” Speaker and Threat had really lightened up over the years. "So then, who's up to the challenge today?" The scene waiting for them was almost a cliché, several heroes lined up facing down a villain almost twice their size. Seth could pick out a few names he- ‘Holy shit!! The League didn’t just send whoever was on call, they sent the Elite!’

The Elite, a group consisting of the best heroes that Kadia and its surrounding regions had to offer. At present it was about nine strong, though only six were here. The rest were more than likely still manning The Hill or were out on other assignments. Ranking them was pointless as each is an expert in their own field. But their leader was clearly defined, the blazing sword Eschenwald saw to that. His name, his hero name at least, was Erdwut and along with an almost annoyingly stoic demeanor he wielded Eschenwald, a sword made seemingly of ever shifting molten lava. Also, if it wasn’t apparent, he preferred the Germanic knight motif and wore modernized plate mail with a dark green and red embossed tabard. Also he never wore a helmet, allowing his almost concerningly long black hair to flow back behind his head. On his left was… Aegis. She hadn’t changed much, or at least her hair hadn’t, Seth couldn’t see much from back here. Her suit was similar to the one she wore before at least, but it was recolored white with dark orange bordering. She also seemed annoyed, a noticeably anxious tic waiting for action in her left hand. She also had some kind of arm brace on that arm as well. It looked like an arm blade or something, but it was pointed back and tapered inward rather than out. Next up was Ziyou, the team’s martial artist, emphasis on the artist. She wore a short sleeve armored red and gold leotard, but her dense sleeve tattoos made it seem tailored otherwise. She had moderate spiked up black hair and was stanced ready to fight, but wasn’t quite as anxious as Aegis.

Starting the right half was Technomancer. Not quite a controller of machines, but naming motifs don’t always have to give everything away. He was unimaginably smart and basically ran the League’s R&D division in Kadia. Decked out fairly heavily, he was wearing something akin to a space suit, but colored sepia brown and black. The big thing was the spider like backpack he used, four mechanical limbs each sporting either a sensor array or some kind of support weapon. He also never wore a helmet, but made up for it with a visor with several different scopes ready to be swapped in. He also has short brown hair, if that matters. Next was Maglev, though like Techno it was more like he controlled metal rather than magnetic forces, but he liked to keep it ambiguous. He was the only one wearing a cape as well, or more over the only one who could get away with it, but his suit proper was rather plain comparatively. It was navy blue with grey steel highlights down the extremities, and a magnetic force symbol embroidered on the cape. Strangely the cape didn’t flow, it just wrapped widely around him like a menacing cartoon villain. He also has short black hair with lines shaved into the sides. Lastly was Makani Samurai, as different as the name sounded he was actually an incredible swordsman. His suit was a cut down samurai armor set made from carved driftwood, giving off Polynesian vibes, and accentuated with green baggy robes underneath. Again, no matching helmet, but his dark hair was tied up short in a wolf tail. His sword was hilted but he kept a hand on it, and rest assured he was probably smiling.

Opposite to all this was a villain known as Terrorfirma, and judging from his outfit he just broke out of prison '...again.' If his name didn’t give it away, he could control earth, but that was only half the equation. The product of two villains from the old golden age, Fateseer and Quaker, he was a considerable opponent. Getting devastating ground pounding from his dad, and near clairvoyant foresight from his mom. He could predict disasters and major events and capitalizes on them, or cause them himself. Judging from the lack of a park, and several periphery buildings, he probably predicted up one hell of an earthquake. And judging from the uniform, he broke out of Omni-Max, prison for everything. The suit was bright orange, but with indicator stripes across the middle chest and arms. Big brown for ground type powers, with a moderate pink psychic band above it. The tubes and ancillary pumps on the suit meant they were keeping him sedated, or were trying to. The real worrying thing was his expression. 'How the hell is a villain called Terrorfirma scared like this?' Seth flipped a volume dial down to get the long range microphone up and finally get in the action.

“bzz…you listen to me?! You have to listen to me!! I can’t stop seeing it… I can't stop FEELINGIT!! It’s like pure hate… anger! It resents everything! IT HATES EVERYTHING!! It wants to destroy... It wants eat... IT-” “ENOUGH!!!” Erdwut wasn't enjoying the monologue and leveled his molten blade with quieting intent. It looked dull and more solid though. Speaker borrowed the ear piece to cut in. “He is holding back again, watch this carefully.” Aegis stepped up, flicked her arm brace hard. It… it unfurled into a round shield. “You’re going back to prison Terror! We don’t need to hear another self-perpetuating prophecy from you!” Her tone was as harsh as her stance. Samurai stepped closer. “Besides, you really think this is how you get heard and understood? I actually kind of liked this park you know!” Terror turned his head down, massive hands barely leaving the sides of his head. “You don’t believe me… YOU WON’T BELIEVE ME!!!” He reared and balled those hands up, everyone bracing like this wasn’t the first time. “FINE!!! THEN I’LL MAKE YOU BELIEVE ME!!!!” He slammed his hands down, shattering the already broken ground as a shockwave precipitated from his arms and down into the ground. Seth grabbed the lip of the roof before- *BOOM* The ground around him heaved like a wave, cracking under stress but carrying that wave along at speed.

The heroes all reacted accordingly. Aegis whirled around and took Ziyou by the outstretched hand, swirling up a few feet into the air, Techno activated a jetpack on two of his arms and lifted off, Maglev floated up nonchalantly with Samurai hanging off his cape. “You’re paying to get this retailored if it rips.” “Stop being dramatic, we all know it’s metal.” Erdwut though didn’t move, he just pulled Eschenwald in and pointed it down, prepared to meet the wave head on. With all the stoicism of freaking volcano, he drove that sword down. The ground melted as the wave splattered molten rock around him like a defiant lighthouse over the worst of seas. The wave continued on, rumbling the nearby buildings. Shaking them but not toppling anymore. Scared the shit out of Seth though, he’s tough but falling off a building was still frightening.

Aegis moved first, flinging Ziyou around and releasing her toward Terror like a catapult before looping back around to jet with her. Maglev spun up like a top before releasing Samurai off in Terrors direction, flinging several steel rods out from under the cape in pursuit. Techno stayed back and up. Support arms squirmed robotically, measuring relative velocities and waiting for a chance or need to support. Erdwut… just started walking forward through the melt field he created.

Ziyou hit first, Terror hardly having time to pull his hands out of the ground. He blocked just as she pulled around, slamming a kick against his thick guard before twisting again and again and again, kicking like a combine harvester chopping wheat. Terror was recoiled from the barrage as Samurai slashed in, blade turned around so he won’t just cut him in half. His slash slowed his momentum enough that he slid past Terror just off recoiling from the last combine kick. Suddenly he pulled to the left like he was just slammed in the gut. Next came a flying sweep in from Aegis on his back right, shield bashing his legs out from under him. Then came the Maglev rods, each bending around his extremities and slamming him back first onto the ground. Terror’s head rebounded off the shattered earth, but he was never know to go down that easy. He tried to pull himself up, but Maglev held fast to his bindings. His situation was hopeless, but he was also incredibly vindictive. A hand started reverberating, massing all the power he had left. He was intent on shaking the places to dust and take as much as he could with him. But as the reverberations rose up his arm, an Erdwut shaped shadow loomed over him with matching Eschenwald held high and flat. Solid molten rock slammed down on Terror’s head like a metric ton of bricks. It bounced off the cracked and churned earth like a paddleball, teeth flying loose all around. His head finally fell back, bloodied but out cold. ‘That’s the Elite for you, efficient and badass.’

The action done, and not wanting to get caught behind the police line, Seth packed up the scout suite. Threat interjected before he took off the earbuds. “Did Aegis seem angrier than usual? She seemed more level the las-“ *brr* ‘Hmm.’ Seth’s phone was ringing. He pulled it out, it was work and- “OH SHIT I’m late!” He slotted the phone into the exoskeleton and started hurriedly walking to the opposite lip of the roof, Garkah tethering the suite’s earbuds to the phone “Hey Mitch, sorry got caught up testing the new frame.” He could feel the skepticism from the other side of the line. “Then why do I hear a VTOL in the background?” Seth stopped, took a noise canceling earbud and turned to face the droning League transport making a landing run on the park, the crew inside dead-eyeing him as they passed. He smiled and waved a slight hello before breaking for it and jumping away. “You went to catch the fight didn’t you?” Seth bounded down several buildings to a more covered path back out of downtown. “Maybe? But hey at least the scout package worked out great.” Seth could tell his ‘official’ supervisor Mitch had his face in his hand. “How many times have I…! *sigh* Just get here already, the meeting is in an hour and I don’t trust you to be prepared yet.” Seth got back down to more even leveled sprawl and continued leaping back to the industrial sector. “Heh, Jokes on you, I’ve been prepared for this meeting for a while now.” Mitch sighed again on the other end “Just hurry up.” and hung up. He continued on at speed, only checking behind him to set his mind at ease, he’d been chased off a few times before.

Seth landed back down on the industrial streets, dodging around a cargo semi-truck as it pulled out of one of the yards. He was sliding into the yard of his job before the driver even knew he was there. United Armors, a once small time maintenance and upgrade house for the sector was now the underdog powerhouse of the entire powersuit industry. Seth hadn’t done everything to get it there, but between his powers and the Garkah scientists in his head he had definitely given them their edge. He basically soloed the entire maintenance floor most days, fixing suits faster than the dedicated machines of their competitors ever could. He also designed and created new suits for their design bureau when orders were slow, but he's always been a little at odds with corporate over that. Apparently working there since thirteen was too long, or the new executives just saw him for his thread bare CV. Can’t get a degree if you don’t go to college.

Mitch, United’s COO and Seth’s only real supervisor, was leaning against the main floor’s doorframe. A completely unsurprised look stared back at Seth as he scraped to a halt over the yard’s hardened concrete. “Meetings in 50, don’t be late yada yada.” Mitch turned around, heading inside and back to his office. Seth walked in behind him and berthed his frame into a waiting workstation. Pulling the recon suite out, plugging the exoskeleton into diagnostics, and secreting the suite back to the materials section he borrowed it from, he was done getting settled in less the two minutes. Not wanting to waste time doing nothing though, he turned to the wall of waiting repair booths.

The maintenance floor had become too crowded with orders over the years, so the floor expanded up the wall to save space. Several recesses were built out from the original wall and repair and maintenance berths were put in. Seth scanned the frames in need of repair, picking and choosing the ones he thought he could get away with fixing one last time. A personal model in for basic maintenance. ‘Nah too simple.’ A yellow checkered industrial model that got pushed too long without maintenance. ‘Don’t have time for that.’ An old military model with… no arms. ‘Yeah that’s not happening.’ Ah, a security model with some servo malfunctions. ‘That'll do.’ Seth stepped up to the repair wall, calling the service lift down. The unit was three levels up, but the booths were set in the wall deep enough so it was more claustrophobic than acrophobic.

Model S2-10, security series two iteration ten. A shiny chrome body job made it rather distinct from the rest, a blue series of stripes on the chest denoted its purpose along with its model number. This series had servo issues constantly, Seth was only allowed to design the frame, but not the full suit for this one. Corporate skimped on the materials and the other designers have been playing catch up ever since. He was also pretty sure this was intentional so the designers were kept busy, but who knows. The fix was easy enough, but needed some serious hardware to get done, or one expert super.

He pulled open the suit’s primary release latch just under the collar, opening the main compartment like a human shaped lotus. Reaching inside, he pressed another button on the inside frame, facing away from the main compartment. The suit closed back up and the outside paneling opened up. The joints and hinges all over the suit pop open revealing concentric circular modules, the servos. It was easy to see some of the modules were cracked, the stresses of use wearing down the cheap metals until they started to break up in their housings, causing undo resistance and eventual destruction. Seth pulled one of the offending servos out, a hairline crack had started from the outside edge. He pulled the casing apart revealing the bearing motor inside, nothing wrong there at least. He put it back together and set it down on a welding table behind the berth. The only way to fix it without straight up replacing the servo is to reinforce the housing, and that’s easy with an arc welder and proper material. Seth smiled, he’s got both right in his hands.

Flicking his right hand into a concentrated form, index and thumb ahead of everything else, he focused his power into his fingertips. Pressing the servo down with his left, he focused power into either side of the crack in the housing. Then increased power in his right, focusing and arcing a small discharge into the crack to melting the metal. The power from his left repelled the molten metal together, and pulled it up so it didn’t flow into the motor. Once together, Seth stopped and wiped his right thumb over the cooling line, scraping away the excess. It will hold, but it needed a little more. Seth put both hands to it, focusing power on it until it get hot. Then pulled all but one finger away, swirling the last one around the housing. He imparted a small magnetic field onto the housing, meaning even if it cracked to bits it would hold together, he just had to make a repellant field opposite of it so it didn’t stick inside the suit. Each servo received the same treatment, even if they weren’t cracked. The Garkah had taught him a great many things about his power, but somethings he learned all on his own.

The blue flashing of Seth’s arc welding lit up the booth as Mitch stepped onto the maintenance floor, scanning around for him. Mitch saw the flash out the corner of his eye and called up to him. Seth peeked out past the frame. “It’s time! Get down here!” He flashed a thumbs up and left the last servo on the table. Mitch turned to leave and spied one of the floor’s arc welders at a workstation and turned back. “Were… were you just welding up there?” Seth turned to look at the softly glowing line in the last servo he just welded, then turned back with a false puzzled face. “No.” Mitch mirrored his puzzled look, but shook it off and turned away again. Seth released his false posture, ‘That was close.’, and set off to the meeting, grabbing his still laden backpack on the way by. ‘Moment of truth.’

The boardroom wasn’t much, though it didn’t really need to be, the company was always pretty small. Little more than a designated projector room off of the United Armors upstairs office space, with a simple oval conference table and chairs spread out and designated for the various departments. The current CEO Terrance, COO Mitch just taking his seat next to him, the Head of Sales David, Head of Procurement Kaysha, the ‘Official’ Design Head Kenneth, and now Seth. He had worked his way up to the design bureau the first few years of his career and was the defacto lead designer while the old CEO was around, but times change and leading positions have standards like degrees and experience… and name recognition. It helped that the old CEO left Seth enough stock to keep him at least nominally on the board, if only so he could maintain his autonomy. The old CEO was nice like that, these new corporate ones weren’t. Seth put his pack at his feet, preferring to let the corporate song and dance play out before letting everyone know what he had in store. Terrance straightened up first, preferring an orderly process of events. “Now that we are all here, we can finally start this meeting. David.” The mildly balding man stood up and moved to the projector at the end of the table, Mitch flipped a switch against the wall to close the blinds and kill the lights. “Our current quarterly…”

The meeting proceeded with little info that Seth didn’t already know just from watching TV and just being right in the middle of it all. Sales were down again, the current policy of taking in other brands suits for repairs was covering the decline but only just, contracts were drying up as super labor became more readily available. There was some kerfuffle about the latest model being bottlenecked but… “Seth?” “Hmm” “The new model?” “Oh yeah, just finished the preliminary runs. The recon unit as well and…” “We know.” Terrence interlocked his hands and leered at Seth. “We need that unit to keep this company afloat, if it even lives up to what you say it can do.” Seth grimaced slightly, but was expecting this. “The units done, all that’s left is manufacturing the plating and the drive system, all of which is ‘outside’ my purview for this. Though, if you’ll take it, I have the specs and plans for the rest.” Seth pulled up his pack, unzipping and pulling out a dense folder labeled Series 4. Kenneth leered at this. “We don’t need you doing everything again, just stick to your assignments and stop wasting company time.” “You say that like I didn’t do this at home.” Mitch sighed as the rest of the room grumbled. “Seth, you need to let other people do the work. We can’t run a company of just one employee.” Seth grimaced again, but relented. “Fine. Then I guess you don’t want the rest of Series 4 iterations,” Seth pulled out another folder, slightly more packed than the last. “Upgrade notes for Series 5,” Another folder. “Preliminaries for Series 6,” More folders. “And all the iterations in-between.” The last of the folders, though several stacks were labeled repair and maintenance notes. The room is silent, Kenneth is visibly mortified. “What the hell!?! Why… why am I even here if you can just crap out all this on a whim!?” Seth straightened and pulled out one last folder, thinner with a letter on the top. “Because… I’m not going to be here for very much longer.”

Mitch and Terrence both reeled in shock. Seth slid the folder over to them. The letter on top was of resignation, while the folder was his controlling stocks. “Wha… You… You’re just leaving like that!? What about two weeks’ notice? What about…” “Hey you all always wanted me out, and it’s not like I’m leaving you hanging.” He put a hand to the stack of folders. “If you guys use these plans effectively I’d say you can get a good five more years out of the company before the industry collapses.” David leered over. “The hell do you mean by that?” “You JUST finished a presentation on the slow decline in sales, that’s not going away anytime soon. These units will keep you all competitive. Hell, ahead of everything else by far. But the industries on its deathbed. Super labor is flooding the market, the League is churning through recruits and pushing them into work programs. The only future I see is either a graceful severance or falling into the villain markets, and you DO NOT want that.” The room was dead silent, but visibly irritated. “I don’t care what you do, what you think, or even if you use the plans I’m leaving you. But I’m out of here. It’s been fun, great even. I couldn’t have done all this without you, but I’ve got my own plans.” Seth stood up and pulled his expended pack on. “Here’s hoping you do the smart thing.” He walked out the door to the shocked faces behind him. Mitch ran up and followed him out into the hall.

“What the hell?! Seth you can’t drop this kind of bomb on us! Do you have any idea…?” Seth didn’t stop walking out the offices. “I told you I was prepared. You have everything you need, you just need a few new mechanics and you’re good.” He only stopped once he reached his station, unlocking his frame from its berth. “Then where the hell are you going if this isn’t enough for you? You’re still under a non-compete clause.” “Phh ha you think I’m switching to someone like SynDef or Malachite, they make up most of the crap that I’ve had to repair here.” Seth pulled his frame from its berth, hitting a latch on the inside back causing it to retract inward, arms and legs folding in like a ball. He didn’t even let the frame hit the ground before he had it hucked over his shoulder, all three hundred pounds of it. Mitch wasn’t expecting that. “Don’t worry, this is just something I need to do. Debts aren’t going to pay themselves.” Seth walked off the floor and out the yard, barely encumbered by the frame. He finally had some freedom, now he just needed to get the suit put together.

Seth berthed the exoskeleton back into his personal workshop, conductive metals and various linings, gels, and ancillary wiring piled high on either side of him. The culmination of ten years of design work and planning was finally upon him. The door to his garage was shut tight, can’t have anyone know just yet. Also battlesuits aren’t exactly legal to just make on your own. Everything ready, he stretched out his hands and focused. Concentrating power into them. The power to destroy, but also create. Electrical arcs started racking between his fingers, ionized air particles began to glow around his arms. In one swift motion, he pulled his hands closed, locking in the power he just focused. It was mostly for show, but it had at least some purpose to it. He picked up a block of conductive alloy, the heavy metal weighing down his arm. It reacted to the power in his hand, visibly shrinking, becoming denser and denser. It soaked up the power he offered it and used it to become almost crystalline in strength. With his other hand he pressed down on the corners, the metal giving way like dense clay. The Garkah had devised this stuff almost specifically for him, something about its structure made it pliable to his powers. And greedy for energy. Within a few minutes he moved his hand away and the metal bar was now shaped into a plate, the top plate of the helmet. It was elongated, with two cut outs for the plate to fit onto the hinge of the helmet. But he took the plate to his workstation first, it needed more layers and additions.

Two extra layers, one a ceramic filler mixed with a heap of iron shavings, and the other a protective and adaptive gel layer so the suit fit tight without chafing. The ‘ferroceramics’, another one of the Garkah’s designs, act to dissipate any kinetic energy from impacts on the suit, shattering like pottery. But the iron filings magnetized the mixture, resulting in the shattered plate reforming to a degree, meaning it could continue to act as ceramic plating without the need to replace it. The gel layer was full of iron particles as well, but to a finer degree. This allowed the Garkah to manipulate the gel layer as needed so Seth wouldn’t get crushed inside his own suit. Lastly to go into this plate was the view screen and vision system wiring, a smaller and simpler set of eyes than the recon suite he tested before. No sense limiting his vision just because has to wear armor. The plate completed, he slid it into place on the helmet frame… on his workstation. This frame looked almost nothing like the one still on the exoskeleton, almost snout like and with hinged sockets for a lot of other plates.

Work on one plate done, Seth moved on to the rest. Each plate formed by hand to the desired shape, fitted with layers, and either cushioned or wired up depending on where it went. Last to go in were the eyes, heavily plated glass with the main cameras formed to the slit wide sockets. A little more asthetic than functional. The helmet done, he lifted it up. It was heavy, really heavy, but he grabbed it by the inside collar with one hand and took it over to the exoskeleton. With his free hand he twisted the frame’s helmet and pulled it off, tossing it aside like a burned disguise. He socketed the real helmet on to the frame, snapping it into place on the rotation joint. It fit perfectly. One part down, a whole body left to go. Seth worked the rest of the day, shaping metal, fitting, layering, creating a suit like nothing the world had ever seen before. When the plates were done he moved on to the servos. They were special maglev servos that could hold up and move without resistance from such a heavy suit, they were also quieter. Each was crafted by hand, though that didn't have much meaning anymore. The servos also acted as gateways between the capacitor like plates, taking in almost as much power as them, but using it instead as electromagnets.

Oddly, there were other additions to the suit. Expansion joints, overlapping plates, transforming sections. He and the Garkah planned for something, an eventuality that both hoped to avoid, but still prepared for in the long run. The last addition though was practical, but still odd. A port and mechanisms for a fire prevention system. Seth tested it with his workshop’s fire extinguisher, tearing away its hose and plugging the valve right in and firing it. It filled an internal system, small pressurized pipes that could be released at the squeeze of a hand. The Garkah were the ones to require this addition, seeing the limitations of Earth’s conductors and their tendency to meltdown if too much energy was put through them, and in battle Seth was going to be needing and output a lot of energy. Safeties in place, the suit was finished in its assembly, except the final touch.

Seth stepped up and into the suit, its panels open and waiting. The connector suit snapped into its ports, locking the two together. The panels closed around him, locking him in darkness for a brief second before the view screen flicked on. The on board computer, or better yet the designated Garkah analysts who tapped in to the suits hardcoded systems, scanned the suit for defects, reading out various diagnostics in the makeshift control room they had set up in his mental spotlight. Speaker gave the green light. “The suit is perfectly functional, all systems are working better than expected even.” Threat stepped on to the control room floor, feelings in sync with Seth’s. “Functionality isn’t everything. Gotta make sure this thing looks amazing after all this work.” ‘My thoughts exactly.’ Seth stepped off the berth, past excess materials and plating, clearing a space in the center of the garage. Each step moving nearly a full ton of weight around like it was nothing, joints gliding along without resistance. But, the suit was odd looking, the frame acted as a border around each plate and clashed against the matte exterior. So Seth and Threat decided to test the suits mettle… err… metal.

Seth stopped and stood solid in the center of the garage. He focused, not on his hands, not on his body, but the whole of the suit surrounding him. The iron particles in the gel, the ferroceramic plates, the main capacitor plates, everything. The flow of energy from the Garkah controllers to the suits systems, the flow from him to the capacitors. Years of training and lectures paying off as his focus tightened across the suit. He focused on the plates, each a separate section, one part of an expansive battery. ‘Not anymore.’ Seth doubled his focus, the plates began to heat, controllers monitored their hardcoded sensors to make sure the suit didn’t meltdown. “We will exceed the baseline heat tolerance in 10 seconds. Make this quick.” ‘Only need 1.’ With little warning Seth’s power flashed across the suit, and the plates began spreading out as if under enormous pressure. The frame disappeared under forming metal, joints were covered in extending plating, and lastly a light grey sheen was brought to the surface of the metal. A cloak of heated air and mild steam the only by product. Now the suit was done, and ready for a real fight. It was time for Seth to use all this power for good, it was time to join the League. Or… tomorrow was the time to join the League. Seth slumped a little, finally feeling all the weight bearing down on him. This suit had no motors to carry the bulk around so it was all him moving it. Anf focusing that much energy around was doubly taxing, not to mention it was already dark outside. ‘Wait, why can…?’ *crash* The garage door just fell in. In fact a lot of metal in the garage was pulled and bent inward toward him. Maybe he over did it a little.