The Lab

Ian squeezed his fingers together, hoping that the creepy man would not notice his knuckles getting white and his eyelids twitching. He should have probably taken care to avoid getting involved in anything too classified, but the tail had been there, the fame had been there for him to take it home and he was too far to back off now.

Besides, this could end up being more interesting than he had dared to hope.

"If I am being completely honest, I do not expect much from you," the purple tie guy said. "I'm Zain Kortock. I work for the Department of Hostile Intelligence. While I appreciate having a sample of krobinnuti poison in our hands, my concerns lie with the obvious tactical intelligence that the species has displayed. Don't expect to see much of me. You will spend your time on the frontlines, at least mostly, since we don't want you to retire too soon."

On the frontlines – that sounded a lot like heroic actions.

"We are here now," Kortock said.

They parked the car next to a building that had a massive dome covering most of it. What looked like glass to the untrained eye glimmered in the sunlight and projected a rainbow of colors onto the well-kept grass.

They walked into the laboratory building.

Ian noticed that regular lab scientists and cleaners entered the building via a series of tedious security procedures. He didn't have to go through all that.

They just walked in, with Kortock leading the way, and they came to a room that looked like a shop in a science fiction game.

Cybernetic suits were displayed behind glass on every wall. Some of them were nimble, with sleek lines and camo patterns, but some of them were sturdier, with actual armor covering the vital parts. Some of the suits were hybrids of agile and strong designs.

One thought appeared in Ian's mind.

There had been no agility stat on his own system or Lilac's system.

He asked Kortock about this, even though Ian was moderately afraid of the man.

"There is no agility stat, because human agility can't be improved," Kortock said grimly. "The humanoids found out long ago that we have arrived to peak performance when it comes to climbing, jumping and dodging. We will always lag behind with our reaction speed. This is part of the reason why the krobinnuti are so dangerous."

This was a real disappointment for Ian, who was a climbing enthusiast.

Then his bad mood disintegrated as he saw the three coolest things on Earth, ever.

One was a neon yellow cybernetic suit, obviously built for speed with its streamlined design.

It had plenty of places for custom lights and a helmet attached.

The second suit was bulkier, but still more of a hybrid than a tank, and this one had a pleasing camo pattern. It looked very military, very serious.

The third one was love on first sight.

It was red all over, and this one, too, had a detachable helmet, but it had a fantasy-like design, with swirls here and there in the heavy armor that probably served a purpose Ian would never come to understand. Manly and built for people with big muscles, it stood proudly in its little display space, threatening the viewers, looking like an absolute fire demon.

It had lights, too, of course, but they were placed so that they would provide a more impressive display when activated.

Fire demon suit. Ian had to have that.

"How much does that cost?" Ian asked and pointed at the beautiful suit.

Kortock chuckled. "Don't you think it's a bit too big and expensive? Then again, you have money for the suit and for the heckton of protein powder you need to chug down in order to fill it up. You want it?"

This new mode of talking made Kortock a lot more creepy, yet more bearable. Besides, Ian was ready to go for a coffee with him and talk about taxes for two hours to get the suit he wanted.

Ian grinned and shook hands with this weird man.

He would have time to try on the suit later. It was a prototype for something under construction, but he had wanted it, he had bought it, he was happy and special. He was on a nice, mellow high now that had nothing to do with his medication.

They walked into the room where the tail and the retrieved body of the dead krobinnuti were lying behind a sturdy glass.

"You fetched the rest of it," Ian said with an approving nod.

"Why wouldn't we have fetched it?" Kortock shrugged. "It was there, it was dead, and all the beasts in the jungle were practically soiling their pants in horror after hearing something as terrible as a being strong enough to kill a krobinnuti."

Ian had a fleeting seed of doubt of his own excellence sprout its ugly leaves from his subconscious mind. He had been insanely lucky, luckier still to even be left alive.

He couldn't shatter the confidence he had just built. He had inhumanly sharp reflexes. That was it, and even if there was nothing more to it, he had to be satisfied with himself now, or he would never be.

The krobinnuti had looked a lot bigger when it had been alive.

It was funny how the mind would shrink or exaggerate things based on the situation at hand. Ian had been sure that the beast had been as big as a polar bear, yet here it was, although deadly.

Its abdomen was pretty much gone by now, but now, with more time to look at it, Ian was impressed.

It had not been a quarter of a decade since the krobinnuti arrived, and they already had stripes on their backs, nature's own camo pattern for animals of the jungle. It was a handsome thing, fit for a museum.

The tail gave Ian chills. The murderspike at the end was just like the stinger of a scorpion, with its shape resembling a curved teardrop.

He looked at the beast and felt a strange pain in his chest.