[18] Permanent Immunity Shot
Despite not having the natural super-intelligence of Tony Stark or Reed Richards, Joe successfully replicated a gadget that could be described as possessing a touch of its unique magic. The miniaturized arc reactor in front of him didn't have the same level of polish as the later iterations of Stark's models. However, as long as it served its purpose well enough, everything was alright.
Now, with a potent energy source in hand, his future plans were going to be much smoother unless there was some deviation and fuck-ups from the universe ahead.
Joe removed his phone from his pocket and inspected the time. "Whew, I can't believe four hours passed just like that. My body is still energetic and ready to tackle any task."
"I am extra motivated," Joe smirked, picking up a bottle of cold water from a mini freezer on the ground. He uncorked the top before chugging the cool drink into his thirsty throat. A refreshing sensation blessed his mouth, the effects transferring to the rest of his sweat-filled body.
His body was previously hot, partly because of the intensity of his work.
"Ahh, that hits the spot." Joe sighed in contentment as he returned the empty bottle to the freezing compartment. He had an option of going with an energy drink like Red Bull or something like cold beer, but in the end, he would always choose water. He was disciplining himself; his body and mind had to be in their best states. Getting intoxicated randomly had its risks to be mindful of, especially if he was high on NZT. One drug was already enough for his system. NZT gave him headaches and enough hangovers as it is.
'It's been nearly a week and a few days since I ghosted Gwen and she's been giving me the silent treatment. It's understandable from her standpoint. Survival takes precedence, Gwen. I'll try to mend whatever friendship we have later,' Joe thought with a brief smile gracing his lips. What he was thankful for was that he wasn't in a romantic relationship with her at the moment. That would have complicated many things. It wasn't his intention to come off as cold and uncaring, but circumstances made him do what he did.
If it had been his former self back on Earth, Gwen wouldn't even have been just a friend or a mere best friend. The concept of friendship between a virile man and a fertile woman was surely loose from a psychological perspective. If it were not for NZT and his current developed rationality, Gwen would have already been marked.
'Shit, that sounds wrong in many ways. Haha, what am I? An edgy wolf pup looking for the fated Luna?'
Joe shot back those thoughts to some insignificant portion of his brain, deciding to deal with the next step that had to be finalized in one go. His history with dark romance novels was supposed to be a secret.
"Electrical conductivity, insulation, thermal management, materials required... Hmm, this won't be taking longer." Joe rubbed his gloved hands against each other as he jumped into work.
He summoned the Super USB Drive and held it between his long fingers. Its texture was still smooth, but its outward appearance was duller than its pre-instantiation state. The USB Drive needed a lot of energy to look more vibrant.
"No worries, I'm gonna feed you more than you could ever ask for." Joe chuckled at his own absurdity. Here he was, talking to a USB. Maybe he needed a therapist, or maybe he was already going insane.
Looking at the mini arc reactor, Joe momentarily touched his chin in thought before he began nodding to himself. "Hmm, it's possible."
His mind was being swarmed with images, diagrams, and calculations of the path he should take. Since he already had all the necessary components, Joe started with the current transfer. The power output of the miniaturized arc reactor, stated by Tony during Iron Man I, was about 3 Gigawatts, which equated to 3 gigajoules per second. Joe had yet to measure the accurate power output perfectly, but he didn't fret over it. It was something that could be done within seconds.
And Joe did measure it, further confirming Stark's confident words. Understanding how much energy was being produced by his arc reactor was important. For the medium of conductivity, Joe had to break his own wallet to buy thick high-voltage copper wires that he manually electroplated with silver. The wires were perfectly insulated and soldered to the arc reactor with extreme-current connectors. The connectors consisted of superconducting materials made from a foreign element called Aegium. It could withstand extremely high levels of voltage.
Joe went all in, designing a custom water-cooling kit and high-quality fans to mitigate some of the heat. For the USB Drive, he used a port made of thermoelectric materials that connected all the voltage wires to the USB.
He also incorporated a circuit breaker into the system. Of course, there had to be some way to monitor the arc reactor's output, which could easily reach millions of kilowatt-hours. It was all for stability to have a voltage regulator.
"Now for the final touch..." Joe had to kick-start the entire set-up. His hand hovered over the red button, the switch connecting the reactor to the lithium-ion batteries. Sighing to himself, Joe didn't hesitate and pressed the button. He then jumped backward, away from the thermoelectric domain of death, a full-body shield clasped in his hand.
Joe waited a few seconds for any malfunctions or Murphy's backshots, but nothing outrageous happened. He had already factored in something worse happening, but it seemed his worries had been unnecessary. He even had a shield in case an explosion happened. Logically, Joe knew the shield wouldn't have helped much against a mini-nuclear explosion.
Peering from one of the shield's sides, Joe exhaled soundly, expunging a bit of the tension inside his muscles.
"The thermoelectric conductivity and electromagnetic induction systems seem currently stable," Joe noted as he moved closer to the beautiful set-up, shield still in hand. He felt like a Viking with Valhalla's subtle calls in the background, in case he got compromised.
Minute droplets of sweat trickled down Joe's forehead as he stared at the arcs of vivid blue electric sparks surrounding the USB Drive.
"Beautiful." There was only one word to describe the scene.
The dangerous electrical buzz in the background was like a symphony of death. Joe remembered that it was called an electric corona.
"What's the current and temperature?" Joe curiously wondered before looking at the monitor placed in the corner of his room. Graphs and measurements were being displayed in real-time of everything happening at the workbench. Prior to the set-up, he had built an experimental algorithm capable of analyzing real-time voltage, current, and temperature from the sensors. The algorithm was just a small project that was going to culminate into something complex and advanced later on.
"Everything works. I've defied the odds once again." Joe settled in his gaming chair before he began rotating around.
'Man, that was so intense. Do I even have a breather? No, I forced myself into this. It's something I must do. For myself,' Joe contemplated, conflicting emotions showing on his face.
'And for my bloodline~' The mere thought made him spring up from his seat.
"Of course, there is also that. I guess that's for the Future Joe to deal with. How irresponsible of me." Joe wanted to run a hand down his face, but he recalled that he still had his gloves on.
"That was close." He meticulously removed the gloves and placed them in a bin.
"It's 3 O'clock, hmm." Joe looked at the time and concluded that he had fed enough energy to the USB Drive for subsequent extraction.
He wore heat-insulation gloves, switched off the entire set-up, and meticulously removed the USB Drive from the port after waiting for some time.
'It's still cool even after being bombarded with that much current and heat,' Joe mused as he brushed the USB Drive against his palm.
'Its silver color has now improved, gaining more vibrancy. The current material composition is still unknown.'
"I can only make further observations if I continue to feed it with energy," he analyzed, even though he already had a significant grasp of the details regarding the origin of the USB Drive. Nothing was truly absolute.
"Now, how about I cure my morning headaches and withdrawals? Permanent Immunity Shot, here I come." Joe grinned as he walked to the gaming desktop. He inserted the USB drive and began looking for the Limitless series, a continuation of the movie version.
"Damn, the series cost a leg. A whole 300 bucks just for one scene, pfft." He shook his head, amusement radiating from his eyes. 'That godly entity probably likes money. How ironic.'
"But at least, I'm not poor." Joe removed the bills and, like usual, they disappeared to god-knows-where. He didn't even bother to hypothesize their unknown destination.
Anyway, Joe opened the folder and jumped straight to the last episode. He then paused the scene, showcasing the syringe containing the counter to NZT's negative effects.
Just like the previous time, Joe experienced the familiar feeling of his hand passing through a probable spatiotemporal, membranous film. In one jerk, he snatched the Permanent Immunity Shot from another reality.
"Drugs aren't cool, but whatever." Joe shrugged, examining the pressure syringe in his palm. After a moment of scrutiny, he aimed it at his neck and, in one swift motion, injected the cure.
"Er, it ended just like that?" Joe arched his brows. "Isn't this part where I am supposed to turn blue or become a monster?"
'Of course, the Permanent Immunity Shot isn't a super soldier serum, dipshit.'
'Anyway, that's another problem solved. And it's my cue to continue abusing NZT without worries. Hakuna matata.'
Standing up, Joe walked over to the window and opened the blinds. The skies were gray, pregnant with brooding thunderstorms. The streets below didn't lack people as they rushed to wherever they were going to avoid the possible rainfall.
'Well, the meteorological reports are hardly wrong, right?' Joe scoffed internally before his focus returned to the skies. Its grayness quite resembled his inner self. Maybe a bit darker.
BOOM! Thunder roiled in anger, transient flashes of lightning coloring all of existence.
"The road ahead is going to be interesting." Joe cracked his neck before closing the blinds.
…
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[Word Count 1744]