Chapter 9: 7 Accessory

I woke up early once again. This was the level of early I had barely tolerated for my morning runs, but this tinker work necessitated it. I needed to get to the Undersiders base and pick up my equipment and I was already on a crunch schedule. Tattletale had promised to have everything ready at seven and I needed to secure the gear as soon as possible. As soon as I was out of bed I felt the Celestial Forge moving again, with my power connecting onto another mote. It was a hell of a lot to wake up to.

My reach was bigger than before and had enough power to latch onto a mid-sized mote from a new constellation. This one was called "Resources and Durability' and the power was called 'Built to Last'. And it was incredible.

I'd gotten some amazing powers from the Celestial Forge, but this was the first one that made me want to laugh maniacally. Its base effect was nice enough as it made anything I personally built pretty much immune to the effects of weather, rust, or time. Without a tornado grinding down on it or some exposure to corrosive chemicals everything I made was going to effectively last forever. This opened up a lot of possibilities for using more reactive metals than were previously available to me since I wouldn't have to worry about corrosion affecting the items performance or lifespan.

The aspect of the power that really, truly thrilled me was an almost unrelated aspect that was seemingly tagged on to the end of it. That aspect perfectly addressed some of my most serious concerns with working for the Undersiders. With this power I could feel out the location of anything I made. No matter if it was lost, buried, gifted, or stolen I would have a vague idea of where it was and would be able to track it down. It wasn't as good as having a GPS tracker on everything I made, but there was no chance anything I built could truly get away from me.

I can't really state how big a relief that was. Being able to track and retrieve everything I made resolved one of my biggest concerns with the kinds of technology I would be able to produce. I might be handing off deadly weapons but I was also handing off a way to monitor the people who were using them. What's more, since this worked on the same mystery principle as my reinforcement power or workshop key there was no way to detect or disrupt it. It would take some effort to keep track of things, but it was a level of security that made me much more comfortable about this entire endeavor.

Speaking of which I needed to get moving. I had just enough time for a slice toast and some reheated coffee from the previous day before I needed to head to the Undersider's base.

It was weird seeing the early morning city again after I had effectively sworn it off. I was on a different route than my usual running trail, but the city still had the same odd 'not quite all there' feeling. It at least meant I made it to the abandoned factory without attracting any attention. While I'm pretty that sure so far I'd only broken tax laws regarding undeclared income, I was still a little afraid of having the Protectorate swoop in at any minute.

Fortunately my paranoia was not validated and I completed the walk to the factory without being swarmed by PRT agents. There was an unmarked van parked in front of the heavily chained doors of the main entrance. I would make a joke about vans like that and their criminal associations, but this one actually managed to look legitimate. It gave off more of a plumbing services vive than that sketchy 'free candy' feeling usually associated with those kind of vehicles. Lisa and a sleepy looking Alec were waiting for me next to it.

"Hey." Lisa waved me over. "Got all the machinery you asked for. Also threw in a few extras as a signing bonus." I raised an eyebrow at her. "Server components, some modern ceramics, a 3D printer, laptops, spare electronics, that kind of stuff."

I looked into the back of the van and saw the piles and piles of boxes neatly arranged. The equipment and materials I had asked for took up maybe half of the space with the rest devoted to the eclectic collection of supplies. "I didn't ask for any of this."

"We had the space to spare and were already paying for rush delivery. I figured if you're still getting set up then this could help."

I wasn't sure if this was a bribe, a social dynamics ploy, or just her taking the chance to charge more to her boss. Whatever her motives it would still be helpful. I wasn't going to turn down free anything right now and though I had padded my requests a bit to get some non-essentials and my remaining alchemy reagents I hadn't tried to go this far.

"Thanks, I appreciate this."

"Hey, you're doing us a favor. This is the least I can do." There seemed to be more meaning to that, but I couldn't parse it before Alec broke in.

"So, with the stuff you were talking about last night. Any chance of getting a lightsaber?"

I looked at the bags under his eyes, and the moderately irritated girl standing beside him. "Wait, did you wake up this early just to try to get a laser sword?"

He suppressed a yawn as he replied. "Hey, hey. That's not what we're discussing here. Lightsaber. Yes or no?"

I thought about it. The actual composition of a lightsaber wasn't clear. There were no details on how they worked or what they were made of. So strictly speaking, no I couldn't build a lightsaber.

However if all you were looking for was some kind of area of extremely high temperature contained in a roughly sword like shape, then that was another matter. Bakuda's bomb was an example of how to confine frankly insane levels of energy to a finite area. Scaling that down to a blade shape would be difficult, particularly since I was still not completely clear on a lot of the principles of that device. A nanite cloud could manage that kind of effect, but the control system would be intensely complicated and frankly you'd be better off just using the nanites to tear apart whatever you hit than relying on heat from short periods of contact.

"I knew it!" Alec's shout broke my train of thought. I looked at him in confusion.

"What? I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, but Lisa wouldn't look so annoyed if you weren't thinking about how to do it." He turned towards the scowling thinker. "And you said I shouldn't ask."

"Yes, you shouldn't ask because you shouldn't have one. I barely trust you with the knife he's making, and even then I've been reading up on reattaching fingers."

"Honestly, arms are a lot more likely."

Her expression suggested she did not appreciate my clarification.

I cleared my throat. "Let's hold off on any energy based weapons for the moment."

"Whatever." Lisa gave me a faint grin. "You good now?"

I checked inside the van. "Yeah, this should do it." I looked at the vehicle with some apprehension. "So, about this van?"

"Listed as belonging to a shell company. Registration's in the glove compartment, but it's probably best if you try not to get pulled over. You can hold on to it for the duration of the job. Another signing bonus."

Well, that was both generous and incredibly suspect. Still, at least they provided a way I could move the stuff without having it delivered to my apartment. I took the keys and made my way to the driver's seat.

Before I left I turned to the two of them. "Oh, I wanted to ask. What's Taylor's costume like?"

Alec gave Lisa a sidelong glance "Why?" He asked, drawing out the word.

"I don't want to make something that will horribly clash with it. I know what the rest of you look like in character, I don't want her stuff to stand out."

Lisa cleared her throat. "Aesthetics aren't really that important for this..."

"Black and gray bodysuit with yellow lenses. Insect theme, including this mandible thing on the mask. Very intimidating, no soft edges at all." Lisa looked irate at being cut off, but let it slide.

"Remember, Thursday morning, 8am. If you're late we'll have to go without you."

To go to their job. The mystery crime. Still, I wasn't going to let them run into danger without some support. Lisa gave me a knowing grin as I climbed into the driver's seat.

"Don't' worry. I'll be there."

"Hold up." She reached into a pocket and handed me a cheap disposable cellphone. "This has the work numbers for both Brian and me programed into it. Check the message once a day and before you make the drop, in case anything changes."

I nodded, checked the phone, then powered it down and pulled the battery. Lisa just smiled when she saw that.

I pulled the van out of the factory's side street and into the Docks proper. I didn't know for sure if I was being tracked, but I wasn't taking any chances. I had come up with a plan the previous night on how to handle this, which was made much easier by the handoff of the vehicle. If one of them had been driving for me this would have been a lot more difficult.

It was funny, before I got my powers I'd only ever driven with an automatic transmission. Now, after a second to familiarize myself with the controls I was handling everything like a pro. None of my powers gave me enhanced driving ability but I had a thorough understanding of engines. In fact I was probably one of the top experts on the subject in the world. I could tell all kinds of little details about the van by the sound of its engine, the grip of its wheels, and even how the weight shifted. Just from the feel of shifting gears I could map out the entire transmission system in my mind. I knew exactly how much acceleration to expect, where my sightlines and blind spots were, and after a few turns all the details of the handling and what that said about the steering system. It was an unusual but highly appreciated aspect of my power.

I had no intention of going to my apartment. A determined person might still be able to track me there, but that was no reason to make it easy for them. Instead I made my way to an underground parking complex roughly where the Docks and Downtown met. It was one of a few such places I was familiar with since it was convenient for a nearby shopping center, basically as close to a mall as you could get in the middle of the city, that had a movie theater in it. Back when I was in college I would head out here every now and then with people from my class.

The thought brought back a load of emotions that I pushed away with help from my passenger. He was still excited about my first serious crafting job and the prospect of working with the Undersiders. I tried to focus on that and not get caught up in the past.

The reason I had come here was the complex was oversized even when it was at peak hours. Right now the lower levels would be nearly abandoned. I drove the van to the deepest floor of the garage and found a maintenance closet near one of the parking spaces. I backed in as close to the door as possible and used my workshop key. The janitor's closet opened to the entry room of my workshop and lab and I started unloading the van.

Rather than pile everything into the entry hall I moved it into the Laboratorium. I didn't have time for a full scan on everything in the shipment, but the scanners were good enough that they would be able to detect any tracking signals or bugs in what had been supplied. I didn't think most people would be dumb enough to try to sneak listening or tracking devices into a tinker's gear, but you should never underestimate the resourcefulness of fools.

Fortunately nothing came up. I sealed off the door and left the van where it was. It could sit here for a couple of days and I didn't trust anything registered to their boss anywhere near my home. Once again, I'm not saying I couldn't be tracked, I just didn't want to make it blindingly easy.

My knowledge of the garage was an asset when it came to sneaking out. I changed clothes with a set from the entry hall and took a side route out. I snuck through one of the underground accesses to the shopping center, then through a large department store that had an exit on the other side of the block. By the time I was on the street I was three blocks from where I had parked and taking a roundabout route back to my apartment.

It was a time sink that I wasn't sure I could afford, but I wasn't willing to take that risk just to save a bit of time. On the way home my power failed to make a connection to one of the largest motes of the Vehicles constellation, but that just meant my reach would continue to grow.

But none of that would help me with my current project. As soon as I got home I piled into my lab and started setting things up. My workshop didn't have a fixed size, instead being as big as it needed to be for its work. It was kind of freaky how adaptive it was. Just entering with a new piece of equipment resulted in the layout having shifted to allow a place for it. Even for the stuff that was still being figured out or designed there was enough room to accommodate.

Most of what I needed to do involved setup. Thankfully the machinery I'd been provided with was as close as possible to what I needed for this application. At most I'd need to do some basic prep work. No, the real difficulty would be the construction of a prototype metallic glass with store bought components and the shaping of said material to a functional monomolecular blade.

I was doing work that the world had never seen before and I was doing it with cobbled together chains of equipment barely adequate for my needs. I'd never felt more like a real tinker.

My rigged up arc smelter would have blown out my entire building's power grid but fortunately my workshop seemed to have a policy that as long as it was for metalwork there were no limits on power consumption. I was actually doing a proper test batch before risking everything falling apart by rushing to the final product as soon as the machinery was ready.

The metallic glass was tricky. I had enough liquid nitrogen for rapid cooling to ensure amorphous formation, but I could decrease the need for that by precise matching of atomic sizes in the alloy. I could understand the science behind it, but without my innate sense of materials science I doubt I would be able to pull it off in these conditions. Likewise the magnetic suspension system to facilitate formation into the blade shape took just about every ounce of knowledge my power had granted me in order to pull it off with the parts I'd been given. The hardest part was maintaining the magnetic shear long enough for both edge formation and reinforcement.

To say it was nightmarish would be an understatement. I was sweating bullets the entire time. Finally, after hours of setup and an arduous amount of tension I had a tiny sliver of dull gray material with an edge theoretically fine enough to cut anything.

I secured it in a vice and tested it on a piece of barstock. The steel went past the two inch blade without the slightest resistance and suddenly I was holding two pieces of steel neatly split apart.

I had done it. I was a proper tinker. This wasn't some tinkerish power or a boosted mundane skill or access to facilities. This was proper, impossible for normal people, tinker tech.

I wanted to shout. I wanted to scream. I wanted to get drunk and party. My excitement was amplified by my passenger. I was a God damn tinker. This piece alone was enough to get me respect on any level of parahuman society. I had always known I was building towards something great, but with the slow burn of my power and the scattered applications I never quite dispelled my doubts. Even with the highs of my reinforcement power, my alchemy, my runecraft, I always doubted a little bit. Not anymore. I was a tinker.

And as a tinker I had massive time commitments that I had stupidly agreed to for a price that was probably a brutal rip off. I currently had eighteen hours to do what I just did, only on a bigger scale and five times over. Also precisely following designs I'd prepared the previous night because I'm too proud to churn out standardized equipment.

I am such a fucking idiot. Why did I agree to this again? Oh, right. Passenger wanted to look after Taylor. Savior of the world and all that. Well, hopefully this helps.

All I can say is thank God for the work I did the previous evening. Without that prep I would probably have gone insane.

I started working my way through manufacturing the Undersiders knives. Because I had to be all stylistic none of them had the same blade profile, so there was custom setup needed for each one. Still, after the prototype proved the concept I was able to build momentum and got into a routine. Smelt, mix, suspend, edge, treat, finish, store. There were a couple of mistakes on the early runs, but I was able to salvage the material and reset. By my third blade I had things going smoothly.

It was still pushing my skills to the limit. I was a master smith with intuitive grasp of materials science and knowledge of a plethora of future weapons and nano-scale engineering. Without any one of those pieces this could have fallen apart or taken ten times as long. As it was I was able to keep a decent pace, drawing from experience I didn't have, knowledge of things I'd never studied, and leveraging laws of physics that I'm not even sure really existed.

Because I wasn't a conventional tinker I didn't have the full benefit of that state of high focus where the world falls away and you lose yourself in your work while basically on auto pilot. There was some investment but it was the normal level of getting caught up in your work. I still had to stay focused and on task through the entire process, checking dozens of aspects of the crafting process and making sure procedures were followed precisely.

The most frustrating thing about the whole thing was my constant realizations of how I could have done things better. Better placement of the machines, refinement of the alloying process, more efficient use of magnetic suspension, and full automation of at least half of the steps. Because of my deadline I didn't have the time to implement any of them. I kept a close eye on the clock as the night ticked on. I was managing to keep my schedule and would have enough time to finish and make it to the Undersiders.

As I was finishing the blade for Lisa's knife I felt my power move again and connect to a small mote from the Quality constellation. This one was called Decadence and was essentially Bling of War taken up to eleven. While Bling of War allowed stylish design and matching themes this ability allowed a level of detail in aesthetic craftsmanship that bordered on the absurd. With barely any additional effort I could make things that would put imperial courts to shame

It was also a lot further reaching than Bling of War. That ability only applied to equipment while this one worked on every possible application of manufacturing from vehicles to architecture and beyond. There was also an interior design aspect of the ability that let me tailor décor for any purpose or environment, including surveillance. Outside of the appearance and efficient use of space that part of the power would let me both locate and place surveillance devices with near perfection.

None of these items were exactly going to look bad, not with my previous style perk guiding the design, but with my new ability I was able to refine my plans for the weapons to works I could be truly proud of without compromising any of their utility.

At six o'clock in the morning I was doing the final touch ups. Most of the items were packed in an oversized Halliburton briefcase that had been included with my supplies. I was just doing the last of the design work for Taylor's knife and baton. I'm rather proud that despite the early hour and the fact that I was being kept upright with caffeine the quality of my work never suffered. I had put extra effort into Taylor's knife and I hoped to God it was enough to keep her safe.

From the way she stood and behaved I doubted she had that much combat experience. I looked at her baton. She didn't seem to have that much upper body strength either, and the question of how well she could handle either of these items was unlikely to have a comforting answer. I looked down at the blade I was working a pattern into. I could help with that. Even in my sleep addled state, with my level of skill it would be trivial to add an enhancement.

I made my decision and started to integrate wind runes into the design. With the advantages of my Decadence ability they blended in seamlessly to the pattern I had started. They would make the weapon lighter, faster, and easier to handle. It should make up for any lack of skill.

While touching up the baton I worked a few earth runes into it, just enough to enhance the force of the swing. More energy transferred on impact. I hoped it would help.

In the end I was just far enough ahead of schedule to make a small item for myself. I had taken apart a keychain sized Swiss army knife and replaced the blade with my prototype from the monomolecular edge work. It was tiny compared to what I had made for the Undersiders, but having an item that could slice through chains or deadbolts like they weren't there was exhilarating. Also it was subtle enough that I could carry it anywhere, unlike the rest of the knives.

At seven o'clock in the morning I packed everything into the briefcase and got ready to make my way to the Undersiders' base. Rather than carry a case full of extremely dangerous tinkertech weapons across a quarter of the city I left it in my workshop. I could duck into an alley near my destination and grab it without attracting attention or risking anything happening in route. Once I was a good distance from my apartment I reconnected the phones battery and checked for messages. Only a text confirming the delivery time. I let Lisa know I was on my way, then powered it down again.

After a full day and night of work I was seriously wondering if leaving the van was worth it. I was tired enough that I felt I would totally be ok with exposing my secret identity to an unnamed crime lord if it meant not having to make this walk. To make matters worse about two blocks from the Undersider's base and just after I had retrieved the case from my workshop the sky, which had been threatening rain all morning, decided to cut out any buildup and jumped directly to a torrential downpour. It served to properly amplify the foul mood that had been cultivated by a combination of sleep deprivation and early morning exercise. I was grateful my decision to leave early prevented me from having to march the entire distance in this soup. When I reached the factory my overly aggressive knock on the door was answered by Alec who greeted me with some encouraging words.

"You look like shit."

"Fuck you. And fuck your schedule. Where is everyone?"

"Upstairs. Come on, Lisa got you a coffee."

I trudged up the metal stairs to find the Undersiders assembled around their coffee table with paper cups and various breakfast items scattered across it. Upon seeing me Lisa approached with a Starbucks cup and a warm towel that I accepted without comment. At this point it wasn't even unusual that she had guessed the way I liked my coffee and timed it to my arrival so it was at just the right temperature. Though if she knew in advance I was going to be walking through that rainstorm I had a few concerns about her willingness to share information.

Rachel eyed me warily as Brian cleared space for my case. Taylor was in the back picking at a scone and glancing at me nervously. The rush of positivity from my passenger upon seeing her banished the worst of the cobwebs from my brain and cleared my head well enough to get through the presentation.

"As promised." I laid the case on the table and flipped it open. "One set of tinker tech weapons, ready to go."

I was proud of the work I had done and was looking forward to showing them off to the Undersiders. Yes, these were weapons and criminals respectively, but this was my first serious tinkering and I was excited to see their reaction. I'm not sure what I expected from my reveal, but dead silence and vacant stares wasn't it. Alec was the first to respond, letting out a long whistle.

"Uh, we asked for knives."

I looked blankly at Brian. "These are knives. And Alec's scepter. And Taylor's baton."

Taylor looked at a metal cylinder in her hand, then at the device in the case. Lisa was rubbing her forehead. Out of all of them only Rachel looked interested.

"There's one for me." It was as much of a statement as a question.

"That was the deal. Everyone gets a knife. What's the problem?"

Rachel had gotten up from her seat and picked up the bowie knife in its rugged sheath. I had designed it off the very rough color scheme that she wore in her cape persona. The hilt had a subtle hint of the shape of a leaping dog while still being as ergonomic for her hand as I could make it. The hilt's design continued onto the sheath in tooled leather, creating the impression of a pack when the blade was in place.

She gripped the handle and pulled the blade free. It was as heavy a knife as I could make without sacrificing its ability to cut through dense material. There was a single gleaming edge and the back had light serrations to provide some utility, but was mostly to fit the aesthetic.

She looked at the edge. "Is it sharp?"

"Yes. Yes, it's sharp. It's very, very sharp. Seriously, did no one fill her in?"

"We weren't expecting you to make her one."

I gave Brian a flat look. "The deal was one knife for each of the Undersiders."

"For each of us. She wasn't there, and we didn't think, after what happened..."

There was a sound of rasping metal from the stairs followed by a thunk sound as a piece of cast iron railing hit the floor. Rachel was looking at her large knife with a mixture of admiration and respect. "They're sharp."

The entire group was staring at the girl and the large knife she was holding. On one hand I had just given a space age melee weapon to a girl who assaulted me the last time we met. On the other the group was apparently alright with her sitting there while everyone else got shiny toys and she came up short like the least favorite child on Christmas morning. That didn't sit right with me but I would have felt a lot better about this if they had at least clued her in before she picked up the thing.

I cleared my throat. "The sheaths aren't monomolecular proof." Rachel glanced over at me. "They're designed to hold the blade in place without contact on the edge, so there's no risk once they're sheathed, but if you're not careful you could cut them apart when you return the blade."

She looked down at the dogs tooled into the surface of the sheath, then nodded slightly. With exaggerated care she slowly returned the blade.

I looked to Lisa. "Can you fill her in on the rest?"

"Sure. No problem."

I turned to the rest of the group. "So what is the issue here?"

Alec was the one to speak up. "It's just we were kind of expecting some kind of tinker looking stuff, not customized museum pieces."

That was what they were having trouble with? "We didn't talk about design so I tried to fit it to theme." I glanced at Lisa. "Is this going to be a problem?"

"More of a surprise really. I don't think anyone was expecting bespoke tinker tech tailored to their personal look." She picked up the purple and black sheath of the long stiletto dagger. I had worked the cross guard to roughly matched the letters she had hidden in the design of her costume. She pulled it free and looked at the gleaming edge of the thin knife.

"I said I was making these to match your costumes. What exactly were you expecting?"

Brian shook his head. "Honestly I figured it would be standard knives with maybe a coat of paint, not this craziness."

Lisa's action seemed to have allowed Alec to overcome his reservations and he snapped up the small parrying dagger. He admired the luxury styled design of the handle and sheath before pulling the blade free. His eyes gleamed as he settled his hand into the grip. I had built a serious cross guard and thumb ring to improve control and protect his hand, hopefully reducing the chance of accidents.

"No Alec."

"What?" He asked innocently?

"You're not testing that on everything in the hideout. Put it down."

But apparently not reducing the chance of 'intentionals'.

He grumbled but carefully sheathed the knife. "Here." I took the rebuilt scepter from the case and handed it to him.

Alec gave it some experimental swings. "It's less bulky. Did you tinker it up?"

"Yeah. The Taser's a bit more powerful and you don't have to worry about charging it anymore."

He examined it and noted the lack of a charging wire for the battery as well as the lack of space to hide a Taser inside the object. He triggered the activation button and watched sparks jump continuously between the prongs of the scepter's crown.

"Put it down Alec." Lisa shook her head. "How long will that last without maintenance?"

It was fairly durable, but it could still end up damaged in combat, especially if they went against higher tier opponents. "That depends on how roughly he treats it."

"So to the end of the day at most."

"Hey!"

"Were you not just considering sticking that in the power outlet to 'see what would happen'?" He scoffed but let the sparks dissipate. "So when you say 'a bit more powerful' what are you talking about?"

"Mostly faster charge. It's not going to bring down serious brutes, and I'd be careful with anyone with a heart condition, but it should do the job."

"Uh, question." I turned to Brian who had pulled his knife from the case. "What the hell is this?"

"That's a karambit."

"Right." He looked at the curved blade in his hand. "And why does it look like this?"

"I tried to match it to your costume. What's the problem?"

Alec seemed to be enjoying Brian's discomfort. "I'm guessing it's that the knife looks like it should be fighting Éowyn from the back of a fellbeast on the fields of Gondor."

Ok, maybe the knife did come off a bit dark and edgy, but this was a guy who went out in a skull mask. What was he expecting?

Brian gave the knife some careful swings. "The grips a bit loose."

"I scaled it for your gloves. Should be fine in costume."

"Relax Brian. Our new tinker friend likes us so much he put all this extra work into our stuff. I wonder why that is? Oh look, Taylor has the biggest knife in the case. Taylor, why don't you go look at what the nice tinker made for you."

Ok, Taylor's knife did kind of boarder on the size of a short sword. She got up from her seat and gingerly took it from the case. When she pulled it from the sheath the room went silent.

It was an 18 inch blade with mono-edges on both sides. The stylized curve gave the vague impression of an insect claw or pincer and the cross guard had a spider web pattern that extended down to the hilt. I had tooled the grip as close to Taylor's hand as I could get it. The blade itself had a similar web engraving that contained the wind runes I had etched onto it.

It may be a bit apparent that it was the first thing I had made after getting my Decadence power.

"It's light."

I nodded. "I tried out some new technology. Should be lighter, faster, and easier to use."

"Hey, Taylor. He made you a special sword Taylor. New technology Taylor. Isn't that nice Taylor? Don't you think..."

Alec cut himself off as Taylor made some experimental swings. The blade sang as it sliced through the air almost too fast to see. There was a flutter from its passing as the scattered wrappers from the forgotten breakfast items flew off the table. When she stopped it the blade's edge was blurred and humming. Everyone watched as it slowly settled back to its normal appearance.

Alec swallowed. "Yeah. Nice knife." Taylor nodded and sheathed the blade with intense caution.

"So, last item. Collapsible baton with wrist sheath." I held up the final piece from the case. "Straps on to your right forearm." She took it and looked questioningly before setting down the knife and attaching the straps to her wrist. "Ok, cock your wrist and flick your arm out like this."

Taylor mimicked my motion and the baton sprang out from the sheath to her hand fully extended. She looked at the weapon questioningly. "There's no seams."

There were, but I'm managed to reduce the appearance of them, especially with the refinements of Decadence. "They're hidden. It's a precise fit." That meant it had more of the appearance of an insect stinger than the staged tubes of a conventional collapsible baton. You could see the connection points if you looked very closely, but mostly it seemed like she had grown a barb from her wrist.

She gave it some swings. "It's too light."

"It amplifies impacts." She looked doubtful. Ok, earth runes for higher striking force would be a bit of a weird concept. Best to just do a demonstration. "Here." I closed the case and set it upright on the table. "Try it against that."

Taylor looked doubtful, but consented when I made a supporting gesture. She wound up with her whole body and stepped into a heavy swing with the thin stick of metal. It impacted the thick aluminum side of the case with a slam and the sound of warping metal. The case launched off the coffee table, hit the railing, and flipped over the side in an unsteady arc before crashing onto the factory floor below.

The room was dead silent as the last echoes of crashing metal died away. Taylor looked at her hand like she was holding a live bomb and the rest of the group was leaning slightly away from her. I cleared my throat. "Ok, full body strikes might be a little much. I'd recommend wrist flicks. Save hits like that for if you run into a brute."

"Or need to breach a door, or cause a seismic event, or" Alec stopped muttering under his breath when Brian and Lisa gave him a warning look.

"Right." She shifted her grip. "Uh, how do I put this away?"

"Flick your wrist like this." She copied my gesture and the baton collapsed back into the wrist sheath. I was pretty proud of that. It had taken a lot of work to make sure the weapon was solid enough while extended but still able to quickly retract.

"Thanks. Thanks." She muttered. It wasn't quite the level of enthusiasm I had hoped for, but I was still happy with the quality of my work.

"So are we good?"

Lisa looked at her knife again, then nodded. "Yeah. Not that I doubt your claims, but second payment after the mission, as agreed."

She fished out an envelope and added the charge for Rachel's knife before handing it over. I hope they didn't think I was doing that just to upsell them. I looked at the girl who was still running her fingers over the surface of the sheath. I also hoped Lisa could covey how to use that safely. I trusted she didn't want to kill people, but she regularly brushed closer than I was completely comfortable with.

Right, I was facilitating a major crime here. Comfortable didn't really come into it. As much as my passenger liked these people I needed to keep some level of emotional distance. It would be easy to get sucked in and I couldn't lose sight of what was happening. Spending time with them it was easy to end up part of their world and suddenly heading out for a felony on a Thursday morning was just a thing you did.

"Well, if that's settled I've been up and working for like twenty six hours. Glad you sort of liked the knives, but I need to get going." Everyone turned towards the window where the rain was coming down in biblical volumes. There was a rumble of thunder that shook the loft slightly and I couldn't hold back a sigh.

"Hey," I turned to Alec. "You want to crash here?" Everyone looked at him like he'd grown a second head. He just shrugged. "If this job goes well we're going to celebrate after. You should join us. No point in running across the city just for us to track you down this afternoon. And it's not like you're any more of a risk staying here."

There were some meaningful looks between the Undersiders that one by one slowly shifted over to Rachel. She unsheathed her knife again, looked at it for a few seconds, then shrugged.

"Fine with me. Do what you want."

Brian shared a look with Lisa, then cleared his throat. "Yeah, that works. We really appreciate the rush job. Least we can do is let you rest on the couch."

There were probably all kinds of good reasons to avoid a villain's hideout, but the exhaustion was catching up with me. Even with the caffeine in my system I wasn't looking forward to the walk back to my apartment. Frankly I was probably going to find a quiet door nearby, access my workshop, and crash for a good six hours minimum. If I was just going to have to head out again after that I might as well stay here. "Uh, yeah, thanks. That sounds good."

I lounged on the couch as the Undersiders did their final prep work. It would have been fascinating and informative but I was too tired to care. I was half asleep during the entire process and by the time they were getting ready to load themselves into vans downstairs I was completely out. I didn't even register their departure before sleep took me.

I really envy noctus capes. They have a general advantage, but noctus tinkers in particular are broken. I'm pretty sure the extra tinkering hours from not needing sleep would be enough to boost anyone's PRT threat rating by at least a point.

Despite how tired I was my sleep wasn't totally peaceful. This was due to my passenger's agitation. Normally he clamped down on his reactions when I was trying to rest. I had the sense that he knew how important sleep was to make sure I stayed functional and didn't want to disturb that. In fact, initially he had even prodded me to ensure I was resting properly. Not directly, just growing concern for my wellbeing if I was pushing myself too long in my workshop. Once I settled into my workout routine with decent sleep hours he backed off, but it was nice having someone concerned about me.

That was why it was so strange to have him disturbing me now. Shortly before noon it reached strong enough levels to wake me up. The driving force was definitely concern over the Undersider's job. Not dread, just eagerness about it. Eventually a failed link to the Vehicle constellation in the Celestial Forge drove me completely awake.

I was still exhausted, but sleep was off the table. I pondered the ethics of raiding a villain's fridge before hunger overrode the moral quandary and I fished out a plate of cold pizza and a bottle of sprite. With my half-asleep brain I elected to try channel surfing, an activity I hadn't engaged in since shortly after I moved out of dorms and didn't bother with cable. It was kind of impressive that the Undersiders had managed to get a connection here, and with this good of a package of channels. Tinker knowledge made it easy to figure out. Bill it to a nearby address, run connections yourself, and you have a huge selection of media with no threat of discovery. No doubt the bill was funneled through the same mess of shell companies that their boss used for the van I had been gifted.

Channel surfing was not as relaxing as I had hoped. Once again this was due to my passenger. Every time I would settle on something that seemed like a decent time killer he would start getting agitated until I started changing the channels again. It was fifteen minutes of cycling through channels before I found out why.

I had looped past the movie stations back to the low numbers. It was here I hit one of the local stations. Honestly I probably would have stopped even without the reaction from my passenger. The subtitle plastered across the live news broadcast was more than enough to grab my attention.

"Live Report: Hostage Crisis at Brockton Bay Central Bank - Wards in Combat with Undersiders"

Fuck.

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Built to Last (Assassin's Creed) 300:

Whatever you personally build, be it handheld or architectural, becomes nigh-impervious to weather, rust and time. If it gets lost or buried, you can 'feel' it out too!

Decadence (Dune) 100:

You have the skills to sacrifice neither form nor function when you design, create, or arrange things, which is especially important in a society whose upper crust values opulence the way this society does - after all, the Emperor's throne is carved out of a single massive gemstone. Whether it's interior decorating, crafting a knife or sword, building furniture or a vehicle... you can make it appeal perfectly to the most crass or the upper crust. You can also figure out the optimal decor for any purpose or environment, which includes the best places to hide discreet surveillance devices.