Chapter 12: Armor up!

  “Armor can be extremely important for a samurai, outside of the obvious. When you’re the vanguard, when PMCs or militia are at your back, seeing you kill leagues of antithesis, what are they going to see? When you’re on the news feed for millions of people, what are they going to see?

  Armor is a symbol, it's a message. The ancient samurai were dressed like demons to scare the enemy, but we’re dressed as super-heroes, to inspire humanity.”

  – Motivational speech by samurai Invincible for new members of The Family, 2056

  ***

  “Alright, so we got a pretty good idea about the armor. That means… the neural stuff right?” I asked with quite a bit of apprehension. The system Altany wanted cost over four hundred points, so I at least trusted that it would be high quality.

  The upgrade didn’t scare me, installing it did. Fucking with my brain had already been quite disorienting, and if there was a mistake…

  Do not worry, this system is made to be as comprehensive as possible. It will also have some shock and acceleration dampeners, to prevent concussions and lessen trauma. It is a net that will cover your brain with flexible probes going into it. There will be a connection directly to me, just so you are aware.

  It will not give me any power over you, but I will be able to help manage the link and assist you by using connected systems. The disorientation you’ve felt every time you’ve added neural augmentations should be a thing of the past after this. Lila, would you kindly assist me in this task?

  A box appeared between us and I looked at it with some trepidation. What part would I not be able to do on my own? “What do you need?” Lila asked the both of us.

  The insertion point is at the base of Louis’ skull, at the back of the neck. If the proper angle and position is reached, the self-guiding needle will take care of the rest.

  I ended up in an awkward position, my chin to my chest and sitting with my back to Lila when that fucking big needle decided to come in. The injection didn’t hurt that bad. The sensation of the net unfurling in my head however was… indescribable.

  Unlike my previous augments, this one wasn’t constructed inside me. A very fine mesh would unspool and be guided by nanites into the proper position. Then, it expanded into my grey matter.

  It forced a few minutes of constant shaking and shivering from me. That sensation, plus the nanites under my skin and those probes giving me little random sensations? Too fucking much…

  I tasted copper, then smelled roses, then I saw the smell of carbon, felt the touch of sound and tasted the sound of red and…

  Lila held me from behind the entire time with my head on her breasts. She shushed and soothed me, the same way as she did Jack now that I thought about it. The militia guys had arrived and took over defensive duty.

  I felt bad for not giving them more equipment but didn’t feel that fucking great! Felix and Alex, the other two enforcers, arrived and instantly took positions guarding me. I felt safe, which helped more than I could say.

  They’d both put their initial reactions on pause, eyeing both sides of the corridor with a ‘shoot first ask questions never’ look on their faces. I’d never been that vulnerable around them. It felt good to know how they’d react. No hesitation, just instant support.

  I kept looking at the vending machines, the ones with Donna’s corpse wedged between them and the ceiling. They made it hard to keep to my motto…

  I couldn't for the life of me say when it happened, but two hardline ports emerged from under my skin at the junction between my skull, my neck and the back of my jaw.

  When I finally stopped shaking, I gave a thumbs-up to my enforcers. “I’m good, that was… fucked up but I’m alright.” Alex, the definition of a large amount of danger in a small package, looked at me with quite a bit of concern.

  Her dark skin contrasted with the cheap plastic plates of her throat. A pretty shitty model from a ripperdoc-hacker down here. The original’s payment plan almost killed her. “You sure boss? That looked… unpleasant.” I laughed.

  “Understatement of the century Alex, but I’ll be alright, I’ve had worse today.”

  Felix turned to me. One of those ‘trench coat and sunglasses inside’ jackasses, but he sported enough neon on his equipment and green dye in his hair to pull it off. The man clearly never saw the sun given his skin tone.

  Still, he cared about people, so I’d endure his distinctive fashion style. “That’s not reassuring in the slightest, boss.” He deadpanned. That just made me laugh harder. I might have looked a bit insane! Altany decided to reassure them over our shared comms.

  Just wait until you see why he went through this. I apologize, I did not think you would handle the installation this badly. Thankfully, this gave your turrets the time needed to accumulate enough points.

  You’ll be able to afford a set of armor with most of the features you wished for. Sadly, you do not have the points necessary for a self-repair system, but that can be remedied later.

  I froze. “Wait, I couldn’t afford the armor? Then why the fuck did I go through that!?” If that shit had been unnecessary I’d…

  You misunderstand. You had enough points to afford a version of the armor, simply without all the features you wished for. The basic version is expensive, but not overly so. At worst, you may have had to hunt a few antithesis before purchasing it. It is not like you do not have a ready supply.

  This will be much more comprehensive and contain everything Robin and the kids wanted to include. Would you like to purchase it now?

  I sighed. She was right, and I didn’t want to admit it. Maybe I was looking for a reason to be pissed off. “Alright, alright, please purchase the necessary catalogues and the set Altany. Thank you.”

  New purchases: Morphic Armor Catalogue/Morphic Weaponry Catalogue/Vibroblades Catalogue/ The Flowing Magma Pelt, Mark 8!

  Points Spent… 1100!

  Points reduced to… 83!

  This time, no boxes, just a standing half set of armor that appeared in a blink, like someone cut it in the middle. Thick, full plate armor from top to bottom! I had my doubts about not hindering mobility but the set wasn’t on yet, maybe it’d… unfurl? It stopped at the collarbone but had a helmet attached to the hip.

  Simply step into it after removing your jacket, pants and shirt

  I did, leaving me in nothing but my under armor. With all my limbs in place, every single part of the armor split. Plates flowed over each other without friction, the thick plates became slats, covering every inch of my body. The joints were weird. There were no hinges or whatever, just thinner overlapping slats allowing for more movement.

  There were areas with more protection. Thick vambraces, large pauldrons with, of course, a logo I liked more than the previous ones. Some stylized red panda face with a dangerous grin and a paw with bloody claws.

  Lots of protection on the upper chest. Also, I got the feeling that even though my stomach only had slats, the armor could still take quite a beating there. A hard shell went around my thighs and up to my hips. The boots were thick as all hell and gave me a few more inches.

  With the pauldrons and thigh armor, I kept my figure with my hips the same size as my shoulders and my ribs going inward, creating a slight hourglass. Not sure why I cared about looking hot in my armor but fuck it, I wanted to look hot!

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Some sort of gel and fabric lining inside kept the very skin tight armor comfortable. The collar started going up my throat, stopping at my jaw. The back kept going up until it hit the two new ports at the back of my head. I felt a ‘click’ as it connected.

  Initializing… downloading movement integration for the Flowing Magma Pelt Mark 8, brace.

  That last part worried me, but only a slight headache followed. Shouldn’t the KP-Kicking take care of it? My muscles tensed and twitched every so often, getting used to the new information. I suddenly had… not quite memories of using the armor, but not against anything, or for any reason.

  I had no context, I just wore it like I’d used it for a long time. A part of me just like my arm, or my hands. It felt… natural to be in it, comfortable even. This was my armor.

  The whole process only took a few minutes. I didn’t fully grasp all it could do, but I knew I’d use it like a natural. That weirded me the fuck out.

  You should be familiarized. The process is close to a prosthetic installation, similar to your ears. Put on the helmet to finish the installation.

  I did so in a bit of a haze. My new ears laid flat on my head and I slid the helmet in place. It was angular, clearly meant to deflect projectiles, and had a fairly subtle, stylized muzzle with fangs bared.

  When it locked in, the whole weird download thing happened again but milder. Two ears that escaped my notice before unfurled, and suddenly, they became my ears. Clearly the same type as the ones on my head, long slats of metal glowing the same colors.

  The cleanest air I ever tasted hit my nose and fuck me, how polluted was the air in the building? That tanked or filtered or whatever air smelled amazeballs!

  I opened my eyes but… not inside my helmet? Those eyes were on the helmet. I blinked and didn’t blink at the same time. That would take some getting used to. I also had a larger field of vision and it… somehow didn’t feel weird.

  Thanks to my new augs I had much better vision so the sharpness of everything around me wasn’t nearly as novel. The design didn’t require a visor. It used cameras behind clear steel which… I wouldn’t even pretend to understand.

  However… Why did I feel like I had eyes since the face was smooth?

  Lila was barely suppressing her mirth. “What?” I asked with narrowed eyes which made no sense since my fucking eyes were closed what the fuck was happening?! I received a video feed from her and groaned.

  I had eyes. Animated eyes. Pretty, big red eyes with subtly slitted pupils, not on the helmet but slightly embedded so they didn’t look weird.

  They moved like they were more meant to convey emojis than real eye movements. As a matter of fact… yeah, I could make them do stupid shit like turning into ‘^ ^’. Of course. I blamed the kids for that one.

  I enjoyed the color scheme a bit. The muzzle appeared to be white-ish, not quite chrome, along with a band going from my jaw to right over my eyes. Those eyes had two dark red tear-like bands coming from around them and going down to my jaw and up the center to the rest of my helmet.

  Said rest was the same shade of very dark red, on theme but still badass looking. All-in-all, clearly red panda themed. A slight glow came from the connection with the armor. The eyes glowed a bit too, of fucking course.

  Lila started circling me, giving me a better idea of my look. My back had the same overlapping slats imitating my form perfectly, except for my shoulder blades and my spine. My spine had thicker triangular plates aiming up that also glowed red at the seams.

  My shoulder blades had two larger, thicker plates. Somehow, I knew they contained harder armor plates that could deploy down or up, as well as powerful electro-magnets, to hold my weapons in place or do something a lot more fun.

  The colors were mostly dark red steel at the back and black steel at the front. None of it looked coated or painted, like the alloys were just naturally those colors. Quite a few parts had those damascus-style lines.

  Obviously pure style at this point and unrelated to how any of it got forged or whatever. It had some RGB lighting here and there. Why? Samurai, that’s why.

  “Broad shoulders and chest, hips as big as shoulders, still a hot girl’s ass… yeah, I approve! Robin?” I snorted at Lila’s review. The thicker armor around my thighs and up my hips kind of highlighted my admittedly great ass encased in numerous metal slats.

  Yeah, I had a feminine figure from the back. I even had a tiny bit of an hourglass. Not sure what a straight guy would think about having those but I thought I looked pretty damn sexy. Robin had a similar figure, just, you know, much smaller and less muscular. I fucking loved it.

  “I concur! Cute, sexy and fuckable as hell! Good job Altany!” He added enthusiastically over the comms I shared with all my enforcers, the bastard.

  Thank you. To be clear, I sacrificed no protection for the sake of keeping my vanguard’s assets highlighted.

  I could hear Robin cackling like a madman. Puns would be the death of him one day. Felix and Alex did their best to suppress their laughter and smiles. They sucked at it.

  Lila ogled me openly and I gently slapped her shoulder with the back of my hand. “Down girl!”

  That was too much for Alex and Felix, who broke down laughing while Lila and I chuckled. None of us expected to ever be able to buy ‘new’ stuff. We scavenged, repaired, and repurposed. Having so much awesome samurai equipment? It felt fucking awesome!

  “Alright, let me test out my new armor, check shit out real quick and after, we’re going on the offensive, people!” A chorus of ‘fuck yes’ accompanied my epic speech for the ages.

  I hadn’t moved much since putting it on. Even though the armor felt familiar in a way I couldn’t describe, I wanted to try it for real. I bent down and grabbed my feet. I’d always been flexible, one of the perks of starting on martial arts young. However, now I was wearing badass armor.

  My fears about lacking flexibility were apparently unfounded. As I bent down, I somehow subconsciously moved bits and pieces of the armor out of the way. Thigh and chest armor displaced to the back, stomach slats rearranged and my spine armor extended without any difficulty.

  As I stood back up, everything moved back into place. I stretched my arm over my head and the pauldrons moved down my arm and to the side a bit to give me range of motion. Fucking amazing!

  I thought about what my awesome, cool, nice and amazeballs brain parasite said about the neural link and something came to mind. “Hey Altany, can you move the armor?”

  If you give me permission. It may be wise to do so. I could reinforce you against a blow you do not know is coming.

  “Granted.” I said without really thinking about it. I didn’t live a life devoid of the possibility that someone might shoot me from behind.

  Thinking about it, I tried out the response to such a situation. It seemed ingrained like a reflex, which felt just a bit fucky. Two plates of some dark as pitch metal slid up from my back ridiculously fast, forming a wedge that would deflect projectiles. I slid them back down like using a muscle. Did the same for my stomach, my face and, of course, my crotch.

  Curious, I took a boxer’s stance. My hands appeared to be covered by gothic gauntlets, but when I made a fist and punched a wall, a transformation happened. They became a block of pure metal over my fingers and knuckles.

  I tried again and again, my fists pounding the wall, creating various shapes. A brass knuckle, a few spikes, a sledgehammer head, etc… But then I explored more.

  A long spike extended from my bracer and penetrated the concrete without issue. Then, I switched to a blade. Not just that, a humming blade! It cut through concrete with terrifying ease.

  Since you asked for something better than just sharp blades, I selected vibro-blades. They require power and their micro-motors can suffer damage with thicker materials, but they should cut through most things with a fair amount of ease. I also added normal blades as backups. Should I mention your claws?

  I blinked, then deployed them without thinking. I looked down at my hand. I had claws. Humming claws. They weren’t very long, maybe a few centimeters, like long nails. They formed out of my fingers and integrated like an extension. Every single one of my fingers now tapered into spikes with inward blades.

  I swiped at the concrete and made deep gouges without much effort. “Fuck that’s scary.”

  Thank you. You should try your other strikes.

  I put my hands back up. After testing out a few moves to try and get in the right headspace, I elbowed the wall and gasped. My boots extended little spikes into the concrete, giving me perfect purchase.

  My bracers turned angular, extending to my elbow and connecting to a piece of my pauldrons that came down and formed a fat, solid spike that melded with my armor. Every part that would have to handle the shock hardened. All of it instinctual, subconscious even. The armor didn’t do anything on its own, I’d manipulated it.

  Oh, and of course, I not only upgraded my muscles once, but was in the process of upgrading them for the second time in the past couple hours. I made a small fucking crater! Then, staying in the groove, I decided to try out a knee.

  I saw a documentary once on martial arts. Some old video on my feed that looked cool. It claimed that a knee strike delivered from a pro-martial artist was similar to getting hit by a car at low speed. Sure as fuck made sense now…

  I deployed my claws to penetrate the concrete a bit and create handles. After that, my right thigh shell connected to the shin guard before turning into a sharp pyramid. My left boot made crampons again and then, my knee hit!

  I buried almost half of my fucking leg into the damn concrete! Broken chunks flew away from the impact and I grinned like a fucking madman! I wanted to destroy the rest of that fucking wall but had shit to do.

  However, I learned that my display had a purpose when I turned around. Lila had the same mad grin on her face as me. Alex, Felix and David were slack-jawed.

  I looked at them, hoping my stance conveyed all my confidence, then tried my new gun. Most of the material from my backplates and pauldrons came together, creating a triangular tube on my left shoulder.

  Metal plates slid over each other before snapping in half, creating a hexagonal barrel a meter long connected to my shoulder by bracing struts. A semi-flexible feed connected to a back-mounted magazine. Empty at the moment, but they didn’t need to know that.

  With everything in place, the whole thing started glowing dark red and humming dangerously.

  “Let’s go get our fucking people back.”