16 Details

Once they'd agreed to a partnership, the two began discussing their plans.

"I don't think we should bother with anymore Aceron missions" Burns said. "Even though the rewards are great in the short term, I think we should focus on building up a team for now. We also ought to begin laying the groundwork for our organization. The purpose it serves, aside from gathering power for us to wield, the way it is structured, and so on. While Aceron is busy with external foes, we should concentrate on developing a sturdy foundation."

"I agree. Like I mentioned earlier, I've already got a list of potential Jacks we could recruit for our team. I figure we can discuss them later. More importantly, I think we ought to consider the organization we'd be forming. My original plan was to create a guild or union for Jacks, something that would act as a protection for the industry against outside influences. If Aceron really does become the overlord it's trying to become though, I'm not certain how useful such an organization would really be."

"Ultimately, I think we have to both accept something. Although neither of us want to join Aceron, if they grow too strong there won't be any other option. If such a day comes, the more we can offer them, the better off we'll be. After all, even if all humanity were to be united under Aceron's rule, so long as the aliens' orbital gateway remains, Aceron will still have one external threat to sort out. If the aliens can continue to pose a threat to Aceron, they'll be willing to accept us as long as our negotiations with them are reasonable. Of course, this would still be a last resort. Ideally, we'll never have to bow our heads to Aceron.

The point I'm trying to make with this statement is just that your idea isn't any less viable now. Actually, it's even better now, simply because the Jacks are one of the last powers in the Americas not under Aceron's direct control. That's yet another reason for us not to complete their missions. They've already begun luring Jacks in with delicious rewards like the amnesty deals; the more missions these Jacks complete, the more likely they'll join Aceron outright. With enough benefits, plenty of Jacks will give up their independence. This is especially true since there are very few, if any, Jacks capable of traveling to another continent. For the vast majority of Jacks, Aceron is already a hegemon that can't be toppled."

"In that case, I think we should start developing the team first, then only after we've built up our team, we can focus on creating an organization. I know a lot of people in the industry but even I can't construct an organization of any real strength from the ground up in a short period of time. By funneling our shared resources into the construction of a powerful team, we can begin gathering more resources, power, and most of all, reputation. Then, when we've already got a strong, reliable core force, we can start work on an actual organization."

"You're right" Burns agreed. "If we're going to create an organization for Jacks, power is a necessity. A trustworthy, reliable team with good coordination would go a long way to forming such an organization. As for how we go about doing that, recruiting Jacks suitable for such a team is naturally the first step. The second step will be training with them, building our skills and teamwork up. The third step should be undertaking some challenges as a team, which we can then use to show off our might. Once we've completed these three steps, then it'll be time to start working on our organization."

Donovan streamed the list of potential recruits he had via his power armor's communication systems while saying "These are the people I've been considering. Check them out yourself and tell me what you think."

"Mary N Reed, an External Magic user who can transform objects into clean, drinkable water. It says here her magic can be used on living creatures too. She isn't a Jack at all but she's looking to become one. This one's worth considering for sure even if she ends up requiring more training than anyone else. The only real question I have is, what's her temperament like? If she cracks under pressure or has some other major personality defect it won't matter how strong her ability is."

"Mary is a friend of a friend. I know her well enough to know she won't crack. That said, she will probably require a lot of grooming before she'll be a good enough Jack to act alone, which is part of why she's a good fit. Not only will she feel indebted to us for taking her on when she doesn't have a rep, she'll be reliant on us for a time. By the time she's capable of going independent she probably won't want to out of loyalty."

"In that case, since you know her and can judge her character, I'll agree to her being part of the team. Let's see, next up is . . . Calvin Knight, Internal Magic user, a vampire variant. He's one of those sun-immune types but silver, garlic, and holy objects are all bad news for him. His fangs and claws come with a paralytic venom but his most impressive trait is his regeneration. As long he isn't attacked by one of his weaknesses he basically can't be killed. In other words, how strong he is is dependent on how much the enemy knows about his particular weaknesses and how well he can prevent them from mattering."

"Yes, I've worked with Calvin before. His strategy tends to be to stay armored up at all times unless he's sure he's safe. He has a special filtration system designed to deal with garlic, so typically speaking he's very hard to kill. That said, he rarely uses his vampiric abilities out of caution."

"I'm guessing you had the same idea I just got then; you think he can pass as a regular human when necessary."

"Exactly. The main issue would be convincing Calvin to take such a risk. So long as we can develop a good relationship with him, he'd be a valuable addition to the team."

"Yeah, I agree. Also, I'm noticing there isn't any mention of how these people's abilities have changed since the Third Shift. I'm guessing that's something we'll all want to study when we start training as a team."

"I imagine so. Speaking of which, have you made any progress yourself in that area?"

"Some. I'll need more time to figure things out though. How about you, how've you adapted so far?"

"I've got a fair grasp on how to approach my new abilities; I just need the time to refine how I use them."

"Sounds like we're both looking forward to some more training time then. Anyway, where was I? Ah, here we go, Carlos Martinez. He's an Internal Magic user with a giant frog transformation. Apparently he has highly poisonous mucus which tends to be lethal on contact, a powerful tongue whose proportions he can actively modify, and some gene mods too. He isn't connected to the Diego brothers is he?"

"He isn't. Carlos does a lot of his work as a Jack in the Florida Forbidden Zone and doesn't really take jobs outside that area. He's really good at fighting Monsters but he doesn't have much practice with human opponents. The only reason he's looking to team up now is because of the aliens. He's convinced, like you and me, that the alien threat hasn't diminished since the orbital gate is still up there."

"Mhm. Looks like there are a few dozen names left. How about this, let's agree on a team size for now. Once we've done that, we can also pick out where to conduct our training. After that you can do whatever while I look through the rest of the names. Then we can meet up again tomorrow and finalize who we're recruiting."

"Sounds good to me. I was thinking we should split the training into phases. The first phase would be for adjusting to the effects of the Third Shift. I'd guess we could have this phase last a week or two depending on everyone's progress. Second phase would involve cooperating in a virtual training environment. Both of these phases we could do at my personal training facility. Plus, my mansion has plenty of bedrooms so we could house everyone there comfortably. As for the third phase, I figured we'd go fight some Monsters in a Forbidden Zone. Which zone we'd go to we can always decide later."

"I don't have any issues with your plan. As for team size though, what are your thoughts? I think five to six would be good personally. Too many people will make some jobs harder but too few will have the same effect in different situations."

"I was thinking six members for now but in the future, when we establish our organization, we may want to revisit team size. For instance, if we had someone like the Traveler who can teleport people, we'd have a serious reason to add more numbers to the team."

"That's fair enough but for now let's just go with six. We can worry about changing the team size after we've tested things out some. Now let me focus on reviewing all these peoples' files for a bit."

"No problem" Donovan said as he rose to his feet. The Steam Jack walked away already turning his focus towards what new technique he wanted to practice in his spare time.