Within the golden observatory within the great skyscraper of the city, the golden pad ascends up to the balcony level within the vast room, bringing the three to the floor Dana had been on initially. The first to step off is Dana, with her hands behind her back, and following her is Ekitai before Rohan slowly walks onto the floor, his eyes moving while his head stays straight.

The balcony is impressively large, seeming to be more than half the surface area of the base floor, and on the surface were ample variations of white tables and other odd machines. There were benches with faint holographic blueprints above, and random metal pieces scattered on the surface, seeming to be componentry. There were also tables with tools similar to a microscope, with a box that had an opening and a protruding scope.

Dana glides forward, her eyes jumping around before fixating on what seems to be a long flat platform the size of a bed, hovering several feet off the ground. The bed is rather simple however, only being a flat layer with no greater components, or at the very least there were none externally visible.

She steps beside the bed and turns around to Rohan before waving her hand, “Over here!”

Rohan nods his head and follows her to the bed, standing beside it and staring at the surface for a few moments in silence. He lets out a soft sigh of exhaustion, and throws his body onto the bed, laying on his back with a grunt with comprehension as though he has practiced this procedure before.

The bed suddenly begins projecting a faint golden glow, constructing a semi cylindrical casing over Rohan’s body as though he was inside a tube. A soft hum resonates from the bed as a green light projects onto the bed from the top, which gradually descends, shedding the concentrated light like a scanner on Rohan’s body with a more pronounced hum.

Both of Dana’s pupils transform golden again with streaks within her green irises, as she stares forward with a blank expression, as though not genuinely staring at the contents before her. As a test, Ekitai steps in front of Dana, waving his hand before her, trying to get her attention with a child-like innocently curious expression.

After the scanning light reaches past Rohan’s feet, it vanishes, having completed its job. A few moments of silence follow as Rohan remains on the bed, and Dana stares peacefully.

“Hmm…odd…the suit logged the breach and I can see it now…this is interesting…I haven’t seen this before in public. Your theory may be right, this looks new, seems like you’ve been a target of research for them because the energy signature your suit made contact with seems nearly perfectly tailored to the shields." Dana observes, "Also yes Ekitai I can see you.”

Ekitai stops waving his hand after denoting the experiment’s success, and he steps to the side innocently, letting Dana continue her analysis.

Dana hums for a few moments before continuing, “Yeah…this is quite unfortunate, so much for my ‘invisible invincibility.’ Well…hmm…although…this breach seems to have taken advantage of that issue I had in my old projection defenses…that stiffness problem I had. The shields have a high and nearly perfect tolerance, but if something manages to reach it, it’ll shatter immediately and leave you completely defenseless. This was my old design, but lately I have been experimenting with something more ‘flexible,’ it can absorb more damage with a far greater threshold since it’s nearly unbreakable albeit you’ll also absorb some of it too. I mean if you get shot you won’t die, but you might feel more of a kick, so I’m not really sure if that’s good given your condition-.”

“Can you do that for me?” Rohan interrupts with a serious and determined voice through the casing, his face lit up without a hint of doubt, fixed immediately on the solution.

Dana lets out a soft sigh of disappointment, and turns around to face Rohan, slowly approaching the bed while explaining apprehensively, “As I said, the caveat is that you’ll feel the kick. I mean sure the shield may not be breached but you’ll feel a fraction of that damage, and I know the types you’re facing against, that fraction could still be very high. Rohan…are you sure your body can handle that? Be serious with me.”

Rohan turns his head slightly to face Dana, and he gives a light nod, “I’m sure, and this will save me in the long run anyways. Please Dana, trust me. I can do this.”

Dana stares at Rohan for a few moments in silence, her eyes holding doubt as she contemplates to herself. She lets out a soft sigh, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Rohan nods his head, calmly replying, “Thank you, Dana.”

Dana steps closer to the hovering bed slowly raising her hands. “But to make the modifications, I’ll need to work on the suit, and since…well…the suit is attached onto you, I’ll have to do the work on you. Tell me if it hurts, okay?”

Dana rolls up both of her sleeves, and astonishingly, both of her forearms start to change color, morphing from fair caucasian skin into a metallic golden. Boldened ravines become apparent, engrained with patterns similar to the walls of the room, with fragmented golden skin over her forearms and hands. Within the fragments are small diamond-shaped plates embedded with a darker shade, and wrapping around the morphed alien forearm and her ordinary human upper arm is a band of pentagonal golden pieces lined up; beyond the band are faint golden veins visible beneath her skin, extending beyond the pentagon’s tip before fading beneath her blazer.

On the backhand are a series of darker golden streaks leading up to each finger, which is also composed of fragmented components, with the fingertips too being darker. A small arrow-shaped darker golden piece also lies between her pointer finger and thumb, as they seem intricately designed thematically similar to the golden room.

Dana steps up to the bed, and moves her hands into the holographic encasement. Inside the enclosure, her left fingertips strangely start extending forward like smooth golden tentacles, which extend into Rohan’s body.

While at first the points of impact illuminate blue on Rohan’s body in the way it reacted to the strikes from the bar earlier that day, they then illuminate gold, a strange variant that seems uniquely tailored to this specific action.

Rohan grits his teeth with a tsk, as though trying to suppress an uncomfortable feeling, and attempting to remain calm throughout the procedure.

Dana looks to Rohan after noticing the reaction, and she softly inquires in a gentle tone, “Are you okay?”

Rohan raises his blue eyes to Dana, and he nods lightly before releasing the tense expression and assures calmly, “I’m fine, don’t worry. You’ve done this plenty of times in the past.”

Dana nods her head in acceptance, her eyes returning back to his body where her tentacles are interacting. She then responds informatively, “Well you’re right, but every next time we do this your body…you know…it gets more dangerous to do this stuff. Especially with this modification, you’re going to take more firepower…are you sure this is best for you? You keep this up and you’re going to die out there…come on bud…you know there’s something called retirement.”

Dana’s right hand extends forward and grabs onto Rohan’s chest over his heart, triggering the golden illumination below the hand. Her fingers then seem to reconfigure form, spreading itself while malforming her hand’s shape and becoming wider as they cover more of his body, seeming to suction onto the shield.

From the right hand, pulses of golden light project outwards and around Rohan’s body, as though the whole shield system was now reacting to her hand. The golden flashing shield then seems to ascend before descending, bending and warping in odd configurations, appearing to be bending as Dana manipulates it through her hands above Rohan’s body.

Rohan takes a deep breath as his chest lifts up from the odd sensation, and he lets it out before explaining with a slightly sentimental, almost apologetic tone, “I can’t do that until my mission is done. And this is my choice, this is my life, I can’t give up on it. Even if I’m not in the shape I used to…I have to keep going. It wouldn’t be right if I stopped.”

Dana lets out a soft sigh, and she quietly murmurs, “I guess that’s the one thing about you that I’ll never understand. You do all this work, and you won’t even reap the rewards. Even when you know you can have everything, you have none of it, not even what you make. I don’t know, it feels more suicidal than heroic.”

Rohan opens his mouth to refute, but before he can, Ekitai steps forward, standing beside Dana as his yellow eyes widen in fascination to the pulsating golden projection over Rohan’s body.

He remarks in astonishment, “Woah, it’s like a wave! What even is that? Huh Rohan, you’re telling me you’ve been having this thing on you this whole time? What does it even feel like? Does it feel like anything? Can I have one? Also what’s with your hands Dana? Is that some kind of parasite? Oh wait, do you have superpowers like one of those Exhuman guys?”

Rohan carries his eyes to Ekitai, and he closes his mouth, departing the attempted intervention. He lets out a soft sigh, and explains in a calm and neutral tone, “It doesn’t feel like anything, no. And you probably can’t have one, unless Dana would want to sit through that procedure again.”

Apprehensively accepting the abrupt shift in conversation, Dana lets out a soft chuckle before shaking her head, and she confirms with a lighter tone of voice, “Yeah no, I am not going through that again, hell I won’t even do it to myself. Also this isn’t a parasite nor am I an Exhuman, in fact it’s even cooler.”

Ekitai’s eyes become wide in wonder and amazement, excitedly asking like a young boy, “Even cooler? Like what, are you God?”

Dana lets out another chuckle, and she shakes her head again before answering, “No no, it’s cybernetics, made by myself! No ethereal energies in me, just sturdy machinery components. Wow Rohan, I have to give you props on one thing, I would’ve never expected you to actually make a friend, especially one this lively.”

Rohan’s eyes stare unamusingly at Dana, and he calmly inquires for reiteration, “Excuse me?”

Dana smiles widely with her eyes closed, playfully clarifying, “You heard me!”

Rohan’s stare alleviates, and he lets out a soft hmph through his nose before staring straight up, and allowing the procedure to continue without responding.

The bending holographic golden wave finally seems to settle, and it descends back down onto Rohan’s body, recoating Rohan with itself as it fixes back onto him. Once Dana’s right hand remolds back to its normal shape and detaches from Rohan's body, the shield stops flashing, signifying that the modification has been complete.

Dana murmurs to herself, “Just got to…tie up these ends and…-,” before the tentacles extending from her left fingertips retract back into her hand, and she moves both of her hands out of the golden holographic case. She exclaims with relief, “- done! Everything should be good to go now, I updated your suit’s programming and reconfigured the hardware, so it should now have a nearly indestructible threshold. I mean, maybe if you throw it into the sun or something, but other than that you should be pretty safe.”

Once Dana brings her hands back to her side, both of her forearms morph once again, as the golden exterior transforms back to her human fair skin, as though repressing her cybernetic features, or at least blanketing it with her human form.

The golden holographic semi cylinder over the bed vanishes, releasing Rohan and ending the procedure. Rohan sits up, groaning softly before then throwing himself off of the bed and onto his feet.

He staggers forward for a moment before grabbing hold of the bed for stability, still disoriented from the procedure. He regains his balance and stands up straight, turning to Dana and nodding to her. He appreciates, “Thank you, sorry for bothering you, and sorry that you had to miss your meetings for me. I guess I’ll be on my way now, I have my work cut out for me, especially now that I know they’re going to keep coming after me stronger than the last.”

Rohan starts walking forward, approaching the elevation pad he used to reach the balcony. While he makes his way out however, his wrist is grabbed by a soft hand with green fingernails, holding him back.

Rohan halts from the grab, his eyebrow raises in confusion. He turns around, his white locks spinning with his head as his blue eyes set on the one who grabbed him.

Behind him, Dana stands, her hand grabbing his wrist, her body leaning forwards with her head tilted down, letting her amber hair droop over and cover her face.

Rohan tilts his head puzzled, and he asks curiously, “What? I can pay you if you want, sorry.”

Dana doesn’t move her body, however she does respond in a stern and determined voice, answering, “No, I don’t need your payment. Rohan, your suit is going to prevent breaches far better, but you’re going to take far more blows. This isn’t an invincible shield anymore, it used to be my way of protecting you even by not being there, but now the force your body receives may still be too much for you to withstand.”

Rohan stares in bewilderment, and he asks, “Huh? I know, you already told me, what are you getting at?”

Alas Dana raises her head, her green eyes staring at Rohan before sturdily declaring, “If I’m going to let you go out there to fight, I’m coming with you! And don’t try to stop me, you know damn well that if you’re allowed to fight, so can I.”

Rohan stares in pure shock, his blue eyes wide open, freezing for a few moments as he attempts to process this commanding request. His eyes calm with a concerned expression, and he softly mentions, “But Dana, you told me yourself, you’re done with being on the field. This job, this lifestyle, it’s yours, that old life is behind you. I know you’re uncomfortable with being out there, you’re even hesitant to help me from behind the scenes, think about it.”

Shaking her head, Dana explains, “Maybe, I don’t like the idea of facing them after finally managing to untangle myself from that mess, and thank you for helping me to do that. But if this is really the mission you’re going to pursue even to death, I’m not going to just sit here on my throne knowing you’re the only one taking all of this on. You know that these worlds are too much to be dealt with by yourself. I know you know…how much you need this. You can’t stay alone forever, Rohan.”

Rohan lets out a tsk, comprehending the inevitable situation he’s been placed in, knowing none of his responses would dictate the outcome. Just by staring at Dana’s eyes, it was clear how invigorated she was, the flame within her irises was one that he knew far too well, one that wouldn’t stop even if told to, because it would only find another way to pursue its goals.

He lowers his head, and after a few moments of contemplation, he apprehensively notes, “I guess you could just tow my pod if you wanted to anyways, could you?”

Dana lets out a faint smile, tilting her head in a playful manner before retorting gleefully, “Yeah being at the top position is quite nice isn’t it?”

She lets go of Rohan’s wrist, bringing her hand back to her side and standing up straight.

Rohan lets out a soft sigh, raising his head at the golden dome ceiling before thinking out loud, “So, how are you going to run everything out there?”

Dana lets out a chuckle and makes a throwing motion with her hand before assuring, “Pfft don’t worry, I don’t really do much anyways, I just do my own thing and sometimes give them ideas and sometimes they call me but I usually just refer them to my assistant. Come on, you really think I work that much up here?”

Rohan lets out a breath through his nose, accepting the explanation, as he comprehended the validity of her rebuttal. He nods his head, and starts walking forward again, announcing, “Fine fine, understood. Let’s go. Don’t make my pod dirty.”

Both Dana and Ekitai follow Rohan onto the pad at the edge of the balcony, and it brings the three of them down onto the base floor. The three then walk to the exit of the golden observatory, and step into the elevation pad before the tube opening shuts.

Inside the elevation pad, Rohan interacts with the same holographic interface before it vanishes, and the pad then begins plummeting, carrying the three down the many stories of the building. They eventually reach their destination as the pad comes to a halt in the same white room that Rohan and Ekitai entered earlier, and they step out and through the room, following Rohan into the parking lot.

The three traverse through the parking lot until reaching the sleek, matte black pod. Upon Rohan’s approach, the area of the pod’s body covering the driver’s seat dissolves into a cloud, as does the cover of the front passenger seat. However this time, another opening is created behind the driver’s seat, which reveals a backseat composed of two more seats similar to the ones at the front, along with a cushion in the middle wide enough to function as an additional seat.

Pocketing his hands, Rohan approaches the driver’s seat while Dana and Ekitai race past him, sprinting around the pod to reach the front seat first in a rather childish fashion. Dana reaches the front first with powerful strides, jumping into the front passenger seat with pride while Ekitai comes to terms of surrender and submits to taking the entrance into the backseat.

As the two seat themselves, Rohan steps into the pod through the opening into the driver’s seat, and once he does, all three of the openings become covered by the materializing coverings with the vacuuming whoosh.

The pod’s engine then roars aggressively, and it elevates off of the ground by about half a foot. The roar calms to a hum as the pod drifts backwards, and rotates swiftly in the air as it moves backwards, facing ahead. It drives down the parking lot and approaches the outside opening, indicated by the piercing warm cyan light cast by the cyan supersun above.

The matte black pod starts accelerating as it ascends and flies through the opening, out into the open world, and dashes off and away. Racing through the sky, off on its adventure, now with a new member, determined to fight alongside her allies.

An old friend, brought forth out of the will to aid their friend on their life’s mission, taking the same sacrifice to alleviate the great burden of the immense weight of a hundred planets in dire need for a savior.