Chapter 24: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

  “I mean, I was a life long fan and wanted to help, to make sure they could do it right, but still… I think Daft Punk went a bit too far when they digitized themselves into real robots.

  Still, I can’t wait for that collab with Gorillaz now that the characters finally got emancipated from the studio!”

  – Mesh Interview by Hackerz Beatz forum with samurai Dial Up, 2054

  ***

  “Are you sure I can’t get powerful laser eyes for less than a thousand points? That seems excessive!” How the hell did Altany manage to project the mental impression of shaking her head while sighing? Not even the sound or a mental image, no, just the mental impression of it!

  The discussion had been pretty short lived after that got settled. I chose the rebreather, better brain link and mod slot, visual stuff, better protection, and the same heat insulation as the lining for my armor.

  Overall, one hundred and seventy-five points. I was getting tired of spending so much but I needed to. I planned on putting that armor through its paces, hard. Spending a lot on it just made sense since, well, failure could kill me.

  “Ok, so now we have to turn that armor into power armor so I can do the rest of the cool stuff. What do you propose, Altany?” Turning it into true power armor would require, well, power. I had to add… whatever in it.

  Like Iron Man’s reactor or something like that. I mean, it already had a decent battery but apparently it needed a lot more to be true power armor and do all the cool stuff I wanted!

  For this, I suggest adding another catalogue. Certain advancements in Power Armor class one are not accessible even in Mole Bear class two.

  I sighed. “Sure, go ahead…”

  Class 1 Power Armor unlocked!

  Points spent… 100

  “Ok, so a power armor reactor, how much is that?” I asked, apprehensive.

  That will depend entirely on what you wish to do with the suit. Consider it an added cost to the features you want. So, what would you like to add to your armor?

  I was getting antsy to just buy whatever, equip my awesome new stuff and go back to fighting aliens! Bad panda! I had to calm down and think.

  I wanted this armor to be the best possible for the cost. Actually, I didn’t just want it, I needed it! It had to be as effective as possible so that I could save the most people!

  This was important.

  “Can I get super good tactile and a dildo?”

  That didn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun. It took quite a few seconds for Altany to respond.

  … Yes.

  That… That had been a joke.

  No one spoke for a bit after that. I shouldn’t have underestimated the protectors.

  “Hum… ok, table that for later, what about increased strength?” Gotta focus, gotta focus, gotta focus…

  “We’re going to talk later, Altany…” Robin said almost distractedly. Fuck me… litteraly, please Robin fill- Argh! Focus!

  “Yeah, so hum… Yeah, strength? Please?” I begged Altany to get us back on track. Thank the mesh my armor was solid all over. Could it work as a cha- NO! BAD PANDA, BAD!

  Thankfully, Altany seemed to want to get away from this even more than I did.

  You could severely increase your strength, but it may come at the cost of flexibility. With a balanced approach, using memory alloys in a similar manner as with your muscles, we could double your strength at relatively low cost, both point and power wise.

  “Really? My muscles were pretty expensive, weren’t they?” I knew the answer but my brain wasn’t working right and I wanted to stay on the subject.

  Your Roar Of The Core required bio-compatibility, including micro-generators and integration with your nervous system. However, we may wish to include this last part for these muscles as well.

  “So, it’ll essentially move at the same time by using the same signals instead of the lag people often get with power armor. I imagine it’ll feel a whole lot more natural. To get it further… I guess it would cost more and be more bulky?” I asked, totally back on track and not thinking of Robin…

  Nop… Not in the least…

  Not necessarily. With higher grade alloys we could achieve the same results at a higher cost in points and power. We could also utilize faster muscles along with the neural speed coprocessor. They can achieve the same strength, but will effectively drag your limbs behind them at higher speed. It will be costly however.

  I thought about it for a second. I had a few problems during that big fight, and strength wasn’t one of them. There were advantages, but my strength already kicked ass and I had a limited amount of points.

  “Okay, I got an idea of what I want. I need muscles in that armor that will compensate for the weight mostly. The last one hampered me some because of it and the alloy barely helped. I don’t really need much more than that.” I was pacing again, my mind churning.

  “After that, speed is the deciding factor. Add to that an aim assist module along with the mental coprocessor and I’ll be happy. I’m not going to pretend I’ll ever be as fast as Johnny, but aiming better and faster is critical here.” Quick target acquisition would also save on points. Spray and pray cost a lot in ammo.

  “Got a lot of shit to kill, and making it easier to kill them is more important than the potential scenario where I need to be even stronger than I already am. This is the most efficient way of doing things, I think…” I sure as fuck had doubts, hence why I asked for advice from friends.

  Lila came to the rescue. “Yeah, it’s not like you need to throw a model six over your head, you need to shoot it well. Your blades don’t need that much strength behind them either. Even when you do need strength, you have it. Let’s say you’re dragging your limb and are only a quarter as strong. Well, your weight is plenty for the quarter second it takes to catch up.”

  Surprisingly well thought out. We can add ‘twitch’ muscles that engage on command along with minimal muscular increases. However, the difference in point cost between pure equalizing and a twenty-five percent increase is very minimal. I suggest going for the increase. It may prove useful in rescue efforts.

  “Yeah, that makes sense. There’s use over yonder from what I reckon.” Johnny added, which made sense given he’d been around the floors more.

  I agreed and moved on. The speed coprocessor would determine the cost of the twitch module since that’s what they would model on.

  The neural coprocessor will be rather costly. Mole Bear Technologies is not very well equipped for such and I must find something compatible with your neural augmentations. From your Neural Augmentations catalogue, there is the Reflex Matrix Mark 4. It will come at a cost of two hundred and fifty points for a fifty-percent increase in neural processing.

  “That ain’t bad…” Johnny said before I heard him face-palm. With his helmet on. With alloy hands. At full speed. It was pretty damn loud! “Right, shit, Bytal, give ‘em access to my catalogues!”

  I almost forgot about that! God, that would have been a horrible waste!

  That is very helpful, thank you. I now have access to the Neo-Reflexes Mark 3. It will create a seventy-five percent increase in mental processing for two hundred and fifteen points! A much better system, but you cannot increase more until you upgrade your neural wreath and your brain’s biology as Johnny has done. This would be very expensive, even with access to his catalogues.

  “That’s more like it! Also, yeah, I figured I wouldn’t match him. That’s alright, it’s not my gimmick. So, aim-assist and twitch muscles?” I asked with a bit more pep in my step. Oddly, Altany chose that moment to reveal a little tidbit privately to me.

  While we are on the subject of neural processing, I felt the need to mention this: I have been altering your audio and visual inputs mildly.

  I mentally switched off my mics. “That sounds concerning. May I ask why?” I trusted Altany and this felt a bit like a betrayal, but at the same time, she’d earned the benefit of the doubt.

  A common causality exists between autism and certain sensitivities, this may include light, sound, touch or taste. In your case, I have been altering slightly the wavelengths and amplitudes fed to your neural wreath and through your augmentations to observe the reactions from the regions of your brain responsible. In part to reduce your tiredness issues.

  My eyes widened. “Oh…” I… I did notice I felt more tired than other people now that she said something… fuck… but my reaction was mostly to power through… and use energy drinks… That wasn’t good was it?

  I wore ear-plugs that blocked louder sounds since a gunfight could break out whenever, which might have helped… I did like the dark a fuckload more and this was a shitty mega-building, light was never a big part of the equation…

  Ok. New info about myself! I liked it! “I’m guessing you mentioned this because you found something? Oh, and do you have any… I don’t know, advice? For recovery and stuff?”

  I have. I believe I can unload some of the neural load and reduce certain wavelengths and amplitudes that cause more problems. I’ve been doing it very minutely with the neural wreath, but the co-processor will be much more capable of the task. This will help keep you ‘fighting fit’ much longer, even beyond mitigating some autistic issues.

  This will cause them to reduce the extra-processing they can give you. Remove very roughly five percent and the number will be a lot more accurate. In emergencies you may take the full load, but it will tire you the way it did before the changes. That is, not accounting for the changes to your audio and visual input of course.

  As for advice during recovery, turning off your inputs could help a lot. Also, have you heard of a ‘cuddle-nap’?

  I blinked several times. “Damn… fuck I love science!” Medicine was the mother fucking best! I also snorted at the ‘cuddle-nap’, even though… Yeah, I’d need it after this, desperately…

  So do I! On another note, I found something.

  This is interesting. I have a system that is superior to your previous option but comes with some drawbacks. The Caffeine Squirrel Mark 1. It is faster than necessary, but has very low overall strength.

  It is more point effective for the speed, but will require more power. There are more chances of overheating as well. Memory alloys have the ability to self-repair to an extent and this does not.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  I considered what I’d be using them for and shook my head. “No, my gun’s heavy and I’ll be using those twitch muscles to aim most of the time I think. A bit more power than necessary doesn’t sound like a bad thing though.”

  “Got anything that’ll let me move faster than my perception? At least in quick emergency bursts?” If I got jumped, being able to move out of the way would be pretty nice.

  Of course. May I propose the Silver Speeder mark 4. It will allow your armor to move at the same speed as your perception no matter the neural processing rate at which you operate. It will modulate and integrate with your nervous system.

  You should also be able to move faster in an emergency, but it will cause overheating issues quickly. Even heavy normal use will cause similar problems. That is unavoidable because your equipment is built for strength and resilience, not speed.

  “That’s pretty good, how much?” I asked with apprehension.

  One hundred and twenty-five points. Your additional muscles will cost eighty-five points. The cheapest core you would need is thirty-five points. However, I recommend a micro-generator that would allow for future upgrades, which costs sixty-five points. The aim-assist system will cost thirty. Do you wish to buy all of these upgrades?

  “Yes!” We were done! Finally! Time to kill shit!

  But no! Altany had to ruin my mood by being annoyingly helpful and life-saving!

  Do you wish to discuss offensive upgrades?

  I froze mid-fist pump. It took me maybe two seconds to answer? “Got enough for Esoteric Large Bore Ammunition Class 2?”

  Yes.

  “Buy it.”

  Done.

  “Yes!” I finished my fist pump! We were done! Time to kill shit!

  New purchase: Armor Plating - Various!

  Points Spent… 650!

  Points reduced to… 4605!

  New purchase: Helmet Of Neural Ensurement, Model Y!

  Points Spent… 175!

  Points reduced to… 4430!

  New purchase: Neo-Reflexes Mark 3!

  Points Spent… 215!

  Points reduced to… 4215!

  New purchase: Silver Speeder mark 4!

  Points Spent… 125!

  Points reduced to… 4090!

  New purchase: Power Armor Conversion Kit!

  Points Spent… 180!

  Points reduced to… 3910!

  Class 2 Esoteric Large Bore Ammunition unlocked!

  Points Spent… 510!

  Tokens spent… 1

  Points reduced to… 3400!

  Then, the installation started… It was Ikea on easy mode, sure, but also annoying as hell! The best, most efficient method of putting a new inner layer?

  Put it the fuck on and walk into the stupid armor!

  Putting on the artificial muscle felt just plain weird. Without integration, those were just loose muscle-like metal! How the fuck do you put that on?

  There are some things that should not be spoken of. That incident in bed with Robin when something happened, Alice’s rat friend and its family, the pasta incident and putting on fake muscle for skin tight armor!

  Big bucket of nop! Thank the mesh it was quick! After, I drank that godly protector made nectar to wash the memory from my mind.

  I’d have preferred sex with Robin but we didn’t have time, damn it!

  Finally, FINALLY, I actually put on the armor!

  It. Was. Sexy. Literally.

  When Altany said she’d fill out my form she wasn’t kidding! When I added the divisible plates, I started with my midriff. I put two big bands of metal together, stuck them to my chest piece and they started going down, leaving a layer every few centimeters.

  It perfectly represented my figure, slight hourglass included, simply bigger, fitting in with my chest piece and large leg armor. The ones around my neck were the same, and all of them looked goat fucking amazing!

  They moved and divided seamlessly, doubling or combining to provide overall uniform protection. With all the extra stuff, all my limbs were now proportional instead of having oversized gauntlets and shit! I looked properly armored!

  Same colors, black at the front, red at the back with some glowy bits because samurai. The front was slightly angled and the plates formed a sharp jagged line. Perfect for a samurai called Mad Panda!

  Also… Yes, I put on the ass plates and yes, it looked… very close to the original. Robin also expressed his appreciation…

  Loudly… In front of everyone…

  Then the bastard smacked my cheeks of steel! With everyone watching! I hoped he hurt his hand…

  “Bite me!” I hissed, as quietly as I could, while still expressing that he could bite my shiny metal ass!

  Jesus pig plowing Christ, this'd end up on so many god forsaken news feeds…

  Did my husband just want to lay claim in public? Fuck it, I didn’t want to care.

  After hiding in an apartment, I tested out my new speed boost. I’d already put on the helmet, which appeared bizarrely closer to an actual red panda while still very angular. It was elongated and angled more than the last, designed to deflect incoming attacks.

  Also, I suspected, to make it look like a snout.

  It had the neural integration and augmentation system inside it. It plugged into my port.

  Then nanites had crawled inside me and widened the fucking internal connection to my neural wreath! It felt… fucked up.

  I agreed with other me to never talk about it ever again, because that worked wonders for that other thing that didn’t happen… twice…

  The colors and patterns were the same. Some features also came over which… I didn't want to break Alice’s heart by refusing the suggestion she made! So, yeah, I kept the animated eyes.

  It was useful for… comedic purposes and expressing my emotions in an exaggerated fashion? Also, because my daughter had the idea I super duper loved them if anyone asked.

  Anyway! When I aimed at maximum speed, I could point my gun very fast, but I could feel the weakness of those twitch muscles. My own could keep up until roughly thirty percent extra with a lot of effort.

  After that? I could feel the armor dragging me a bit, and the movement felt a bit… fragile? No, unsupported described it better.

  Still, I was truly armored now! Ready to fuck up some fucking aliens!

  “You still mad?” Robin asked, giving me puppy dog eyes. I mean, I could do other stuff before fucking up aliens.

  My mask retracted and I swept Robin off his feet before he could even react. After a little surprise squeak and a very, very nice kiss, I retracted a bit and looked him directly in the eyes.

  I couldn’t stand going into danger mad at him. I remembered the last time I saw my dad, and it was perfectly mundane. The cancer snuck up on him, brain tumor. He collapsed at work, dead before hitting the ground. That morning, he just told me the same thing as every other morning. ‘I love you little panda, have a nice day.’

  I couldn’t rob my family of that. I felt bad for not spending enough time during this crisis with my kids. I had to save people, I should be able to let myself off the hook. It’d barely been a few hours, but still…

  “I love you, darling. I'm going to say the same to our children, want to come?” He blushed and it was beautiful.

  Sex stuff didn’t make Robin blush that often, but the emotional stuff did. Just truly reminding my husband that I loved him deeply and passionately, that we had amazing children who loved us as we loved them. That’s what got to him.

  Robin’d admitted to me a few times that he didn’t feel like he deserved it, or should even be here. In his opinion, someone like him should have died long ago.

  He sometimes feared this was all some kind of weird miracle, a fantasy, simulation or drug induced hallucination. I loved reminding him of the good things in our lives, that they, and my love for him, were real.

  As a bit of romance and vengeance, I didn’t let him down until we got to the coopted apartment. It got a few catcalls and some cheering. I showed Alice that her papa kept her idea, showed Rachael my new gun and told her I’d let her play with it (unloaded) after this mess.

  I held Jack, sleeping in my arms and put my forehead to his. I hugged all of them (without the armor), gave them a kiss on the head and told them I loved them with all the sincerity and feeling I could.

  Just in case. It was quick, hurried, but I did it.

  Right before I left, I had another piece of unfinished business to take care of. An idea, really.

  “Ok, before we do something else, I was thinking about something. Those medical nanite suites, the ones I gave my kids, they’re super overkill right?” I asked with a few connections still being made in my brain.

  That depends on your definition, but for an uninjured person, of course.

  “How about someone with cancer?”

  It would depend on the size and severity but yes, mostly. Repurposing cancers is not a very difficult process depending on quite a few factors.

  “How about someone with… I don’t know all the shit you get down here because of the smoke stacks, the shitty air and water, all that stuff?”

  Yes, it is still ‘overkill’ for this purpose.

  “Now that I have access to medical utilities class 2 and those emergency modification nanites, can I assemble a cheaper model? Oh, can I reduce the price with large quantities?”

  I can see what you are aiming for. To be clear, you wish for a general use medical nanite suite for everyday life?

  “Oh god no! I’m not giving all my people medical nanite suites regularly, Jesus. No, I want… A second chance. Something that will fix all the shit just living here does to you.” It always pissed me off. Our people got poisonned just because corpos wanted to pump shit into the air and didn’t give a fuck.

  “Something that will remove the harm corpos have been doing to our people just because of the air and water. I just want environmental things and consequences of such. Can you do that?” My voice was almost pleading. I didn’t have the points for a full suite for everyone, but maybe…

  I believe I understand. The minimum I can lower it while covering the problems you wish to is five points, but I could make batches of one hundred for 460 points. They will not heal injuries, simply focus on environmental harms and the consequences of such.

  As an example, it can reverse lead poisoning’s effect on the brain and remove the contaminants, but will ignore a paper cut.

  “How many kids do we have in the shelter at this time?” I asked, since more than half should be here. They’d been the first priority for rescue efforts, after all.

  We still needed to go and rescue a ton of people and I’d make more points but… If I died, I’d want to know I at least did this for my people. Saving them was a bit meaningless if their lives got even worse after this.

  There are currently three hundred and eighty-two people under the age of thirteen in the shelter. Five hundred and forty six under the age of eighteen. You have already given medication similar to it which should overlap for fifty two of them.

  “Buy five hundred.” I didn’t have to consider anything. It was undeniably the right thing to do. I couldn’t save everyone and yeah, I was spreading my points dangerously. An argument could be made that I should wait but… I could die.

  If I died and Johnny finished the job, or hell if Laser Jack or just my enforcers kept everyone alive long enough, every fucking one would be worth it.

  Johnny Law looked at me with a smile.

  New Purchase: Mad Panda’s Second Chance Medical Nanite Suite x 500!

  Points spent… 2300

  Points reduced to… 1100!

  Five massive boxes appeared in the apartment we sat in, taking up almost all the space. “Robin, can you handle handing them out? Altany can help you keep track of them and make sure every kid gets one?”

  Of course. Good job Louis.

  Suddenly, a mother fucking plushie of Altany’s avatar appeared! Clearly cheap, it appeared on my chest with the two little front paws around my neck, attached together with velcro, giving me a hug.

  I gently took it off to find ‘We’re proud of you!’ written big and bold! I blushed. It was cute… and stupid… How the fuck did dust make it into my helmet? god dammit… “From Robin?”

  Robin, Lila and me, of course. I made it after all.

  Tokens earned… 1!

  Thank fucking Christ for helmets. Look, it was one hell of a mule pile-driving rollercoaster of a fucking day, emotionally. Shut up…

  Robin arrived and I didn’t take my helmet off. He still knew, and I knew that he knew, but I couldn’t break down crying since I wouldn’t stop.

  “Fight now, grieve later, fight now, grieve later…” The moto helped me recenter, eyes closed inside my helmet with my mic and all inputs turned off. I stayed in the dark silence for a few seconds. It felt peaceful.

  With my sight back on, I saw the mini-nanite suites, looking a little like asthma inhalers attached to a mouth and nose mask.

  They were branded with a chibi mad panda (Fur a bit tousled and eyes slightly manic) holding a big syringe and the words ‘Mad panda’s second chance cure’. “I’m not sure that’s going to reassure the kids.”

  You underestimate how cute it is and the reputation we’ve been building.

  That got a snort out of me. I didn't know if Altany meant all the PR she, and probably Robin and Lila, had been doing or just our work. I didn't care and also didn’t mind sharing the credit.

  Altany made up maybe ninety percent of both the threat I posed and my ability to help. “Agreed! These look great!” Robin exclaimed with great enthusiasm. I lifted my hands in surrender. Too late to change them now anyway.

  Robin gave me a smile and a pat on the arm. He’d usually reward me a lot more for something like that. However, my darling knew what state I was in.

  My husband was the best. I loved seeing him like this. His smiles weren’t often that unreserved, his happiness usually a bit more subdued.

  Could be the difference between enjoying the good stuff while it lasts and having true hope. That wonderful, happy smile made all the pain, fighting and danger worth it.

  Now, it was time to kill shit.

  V1.14