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RP [Ken-TEC: Origins] Do Feline Supersoldiers Dream of Warlocks?

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Legix

Well-Known Member
Yellow Marsh Expanse, Kennewes

Among the many ruins of war that littered the surface of Kennewes and its marshes, one in particular was noisy beyond the local skiff or shuttle zooming by with tourists or students from the university on tour. The world was home to old and ancient technology alike thanks to having been the capital of the once-mighty Ueusureyan Star Empire. Compared to some of the achievements of the modern age, the designs were impractical in the face of the mighty Mindy from the state's successor Yamatai. Those who came to study at the established college tended to be much more interested in the gang wars that had once littered the surface with wrecks, fire, and blood.

Now, there was only scrap, faded paints of the various groups of Nepleslia marking ancient machines from the now mostly defunct E-Series and various vehicles of custom make. It was the legacy that the Greens had left, to remember their hard-fought victory over the other gangs. In the wake of mighty wars with the NMX and now the impending one with distant aliens, such battlefields were forgotten. But to others, these fields were the history and livelihood of their day-to-day schedules. Many, both students and graduates, had chosen various fields to excavate and work to provide plenty of war trinkets for the Yamataian and Nepleslian tourists alike.

This, however, was not the case for a handful of graduates working within their small garage.

A young, quarter ID-SOL Nepleslian by the name of Ashton Acres wielded the welding mask of KU colors as his fellow colleagues watched with anticipation. Months of work and their combined years of studying had led all of the group in the room to this moment. The beginning of something new, something different, and something to fit the legacy of their homeworld. Ashton and three others had graduated from the College of Engineering, while their younger aides had come from the School of History or the College of Medicine and Psychology. Their skills might have seemed odd, but the collection of engineers hadn't brought together masters of the living, intelligent-walking form and the experts of history for nothing.

It had all been to create a machine unlike anything the sector had seen in ages. One born from a mix of styles, after the now-gone giants of old within the sector that had existed before some of them were even born. It was the culmination of history and the beginning of progress. Where the two strongest nations sought war, they sought a savior. A purely magical sign that could not be defied, that would strike fear in the common villain and inspire hope without the need for a Plumeria.

As the lights flickered above, the holographical display hummed to life to illuminate and mold along the form of something great. Notes from experts of various fields like the sciences of gravity under the wise advisement and insight of Yori Kataoka to copies of seminars made by the head minds from various other parts of the sector.

Standing on a pedestal in the middle of the poorly maintained garage was a husk of the past... or perhaps better seen as the skeleton of the future. Its massive parts hummed as power cords fulfilled the lacking backpack that was still being worked on by a pair of noisy engineers in the next room over. Ashton slowly approached the large machine, its lack of armor and comforting fabrics making it appear scary even to its original designer. Reaching out to grasp the belt around the machine's waist, he turned one of its plated dials, the machine hissing as the stomach panel extended out and lowered like a knee-rest, while the upper torso peeled up and backwards.

It took all but a moment for Ashton to climb up and turn around, grasping the rudimentary shoulder rails to lower himself down and into the lower half of the suit. It was warm, the insulation not enough to completely protect the user quite yet... almost comforting. Reaching his arms up and into the sleeves, clasping his fists within the arms to engage their powered movement systems. In a flash, the heavy durandium of the prototype became lighter than paper... even with its massive and bulky gauntlets. Those would need more trimming, as they appeared almost square-like.

The room's sub-par light slipped away as the chest came up and over Ashton, linking into position and allowing his head to poke through before the armored collar shifted and moved to protect the angles toward his neck. All that was left was the helmet, which one of the cute Minkan nurses on hand walked up and slipped down over him. Darkness was all he could see, the same experience in the room as the generator's pumped up their power. Systems in the garage were going down as the skeletal suit hummed and shook in an initial breath of life.

And all they heard was the hiss of the powerful servos clicking into position as the supports broke away from its bulky leggings, allowing the suit to thump down to the ground and for Ashton to stumble in his darkness to his hands and knees. His fingertips felt funny as the suit's specialized gauntlets roared to life, sending electrical discharges into the stone below with enough force to heat it violently and send everyone stepping back. It was what most people would view as the start of a meltdown... but the entirely electrical system currently powering the suit wasn't at risk of detonating like a nuclear bomb.

No.

As everyone watched on, Ashton's world illuminated. The helmet's suite of rudimentary and basic software finally alive with its hardware taking the correct powerflow. More regulation of circuits would be necessary to ensure successful boot-ups without drastic shows of power-failure. His smile grew as he looked over and at the group of equally-beaming workers. They were cast in a brilliant golden light, as if they were facing some sort of descended angel... but Ashton knew better. Slowly but surely, he pushed himself up to his feet and worked his way through the eye-assisted controls, his booted feet pushed their heels down as he moved his hand to the dials on the belt and gave them a sturdy push. Another note on what he would need to automate via an on-board AI, more than likely.

It wasn't an angel that the others were faced with, as Ashton's suit lifted up and away from the ground as the gravity around him reversed. Everyone was laughing as they slowly began to float upward at a crawl with their armored-friend. Bathed in the light of two glorious eyes, they all began to high-five and thrown themselves about the room unintentionally. It wasn't a terribly big garage, with only a ten by ten meter width and length, but it held significance.

They'd made a suit that showed the ability to negate gravity within an isolated area. Not an angel, not a demon. But a magical being that had great promise with more work and polish.

A Warlock.

Not that they got to celebrate long, as everyone thumped to the ground and Ashton came crashing helmet-down into the hard floor.

There was a lot more work to do.

(@Gunhand4171 @Syaoran @Primitive Polygon)
 
Sometime Later, Late YE 39
Nepleslian Tech Expo, Kennewes

Kennewes University was in the backdrop of the square-grounds holding the demonstration area. Representatives from the big companies like NAM and Zen spotted the crowd, showing off things like their new ZARCNAM or trust gear the Nepleslian military could depend on like the Hostile. A few marines dotted the roofing, guns in hand as an oppressive measure against any attempts to steal or mess up another exhibition. Nepleslia was full of people who thought stealing a warsuit was viable as a Sunday activity, after all!

The last fellows had just finished showing off a gun, a pair of Delsaurians by the looks of it, and Ashton stood quietly in the nicest pair of sweatpants, loafers, and a simple brown turtleneck. It made him look rather goofy, as his advisors had said, but he had just finished a long stint preparing for this and woken up only a few minutes before they were supposed to be signed in and registered. The announcer went on stage to silence and gain the attention of the squad as the last of the targets were wheeled away... and Ashton could feel the excitement within him building even as the man spoke at last.

"Alright everybody, thanks for the applause! That was another interesting piece, wasn't it? I certainly want one for my armory!" The attempt at a funny lick of truth failed, the crowd even further silent than before. "Anyway, up next we got an upstart company from a few of the graduates of our very own K-U! Welcome to the stage, Ashton Acres!"

The two or three claps did little for the almost out-of-place stage-announcer, the man sighing and heading off as Ashton slowly walked up the stairs. He was flanked by two of his aides, the pair wearing their oil-stained lab-coats. One tried to usher him notes just before they properly reached the stage floor, but he pushed them away as he walked out alone and the two remained at the stairs. Probably for the first time today, laughing broke out as people saw the rather lazily dressed Nepleslian male and his swept back haircut in such a clash of professionalism. But he didn't care for any of that, walking out and halting in the center of the stage without much showmanship. All he had was his characteristic smile of confidence, the ID-SOL blood rushing as he excitedly removed the microphone from his ear to instead yell out over the crowd.

"What if I told you I made something that can help you in the garage, when you're putting together that homemade tank or bending out a knife for your kids?"

The laughing ended, one or two foreigners gasping as the rest of the crowd began to quiet down and simply chatter at a low volume. It was a good impact to start with in his eyes, the male smiling and slowly moving the microphone back to place. The pair of aides were parting to his left, the man looking over as a hoverskiff with a large tarp came up the stairway and onto the stage.

"What if I could tell you that the thing under this tarp will change the working man's perspective and accessibility? That I've made something that can help the people of Kennewes today with the scavenging jobs that keep many people able to supplement their income?"

As the skiff slowed to a halt, Ashton moved closer to grasp the tarp and give it the smallest tug to get it to slowly slip backward and over. Inch-by-inch and then quickly foot-by-foot slipped away to reveal an all-black suit of power armor with yellow eyes. It wasn't painted into any specific paintjob, an unruly backpack strapped to its lower back with tubes connecting to a small generator on the skiff. The crowd was a bit noisy, with the representatives of both Zen and NAM looking over from their own demonstrations. It wasn't every day someone came to the table with a power armor, after all, in an age where there were many machines that often could achieve the goal with simple modification. As the skiff lowered to the ground and Ashton moved to the front, he carefully took the helmet from the large suit and turned to show it to the gathered crowd as the eyes flickered to life with a bright yellow.

"We're almost done with creating a valid power pack for it, so I apologize for the demonstration being so... restrained. Allow me a moment of your attention."

Looking over, he waved one of the aides over as the beginnings of camera clicks and recording began. The aid pushed a panel on the chest, the armor opening to reveal a security system panel. Another firm press of his finger, as well as Ashton a moment later, and the suit's chest opened upward and back while the stomach opened down and out. The middle-most panel of the gut armor extended down toward the ground further, allowing it to form the smallest step-like boost. One high-step and double-grip to the arms later, the assistant was turning around and hopping down into it. The suit slowly closed up after he put his arms into the sleeve, adjusting and hissing as it properly linked up around him so that only his head was exposed. Ashton offered the helmet, just in time for the assistant to gain control and take it. The hiss and pop of the wires disconnecting from the pack came next, freeing itself at last.

"Now, we're going to show you the main draw of our product," he said while walking away from the suit, "Go ahead when you're ready!"

With all eyes on the suit, Ashton could only patiently wait as the pilot of the suit checked over his systems and slowly lowered into a crouch... before the gravity generator roared to life stronger than before. People in the front rows were already noticing it as they slowly lifted off the ground along with the Warlock. The pilot let his suit's booster gently push him through what appeared like gravity that had suddenly become non-existent or even pulling them toward the sky. The suit was able to gently move off the stage and land among the crow, making more people start to float as cheers and jeers alike went out. Ashton moved back toward the center stage as the Warlock slowly made its way through the crowd.

"Now, this is only the beginning! Our plans are to perfect this technology. Those of you flying," he stopped as he indicated to the first few who had started to fly, "Will likely find your way to the earth in just a moment. This is why we sign waivers before we attend a public technology expo in Nepleslia, am I right?"

The Warlock disabled the generator just as he finished, all those in the air plopping down or falling to the ground depending on their heights and postures. Someone had seen fit to try and approach the Warlock, though, just in time for the machine to leap into the air once more as if it was weightless... only this time it wasn't accompanied by the audience.

"You see the Warlock, as I've come to call it, is the genius invention of technologies and research made by experts in the gravity generation, manipulation, and general engineering fields. This suit wasn't designed for war, but it was designed to be the working man's tool. The perfect machine to salvage wrecks or stage rescue operations! When it's done, we plan to have it fitted with powerful electromagnetic field emitters and electrical discharge ports. Arc welders and the ability to use magnetism to either support or outright lift those massive girders at construction sites! The potential is unlimited when you have a platform like this!"

Allowing his bold claim to hang in the air as the zero-gravity suit floated and gently cruised through the sky above them all, Ashton finally smiled and spoke with the firmness one might expect from a judge rather than a man wearing sweatpants and looking so goofy.

"In the coming months, you will see this machine as one of the first products of our company, Ken-TEC. TEC-nically the ones to help you! If you want to see more of our product, please! Attend our own personal show we will be hosting at K-U when we unveil the finished model! These suits will be made and sold from Kennewes to support the economy and the world that made all this possible! Because this innovation, this completion of sciences into one project? That is what our school and people are capable of!"

Looking up and nodding at the airborne pilot, the Warlock took all but a moment before silently flying off and away from the square. It wasn't going to get very far... it was going to the arranged landing spot so that it could set down just before it ran out of power. It wasn't the most honest display to show the suit fly off and make others think it made it all the way back to their garage, but it was a necessary one. Because watching that Warlock fly away as he gazed out over the crowd, he could see the chattering and discussion take on the hopeful and interested one. The sharing of footage to friends of a successful and interesting test was all they needed. It was about showing the locals, the big names who attended, and even himself that this was something that wasn't going to just fade away. It was a suit to change the future of the working man of Kennewes, if not the entire sector.
 
ISS Dig-It
Yori's Bunk


The bunkroom of the Dig-It was large, far larger than it needed to be for the small crew. One area had been set-up to facilitate the specialist, boasting a terminal set-up that was binging with a new alert. It was a familiar name... the quarter ID-SOL who had been so interested in her notes on gravity technology. Though it had never been anything beyond passing messages, while this one was being ferried along through the established connection grid the colonists offered from their ship further out in the system. She was getting a video call from Ashton Acres, all the way on Kennewes.

No one else was in there currently, everyone busy with one ridiculous shenanigan or another... but thankfully she had been alerted to it by the ship's basic AI notification over their communication net.

Yori got the alert that she received a message, and was rather quick to answer. After all, she had nothing else to do at the moment, and there was no reason to refuse the message in the first place, she enjoyed talking about technology.

So she made herself presentable and then sat down in a chair in front of the terminal and received the call. "Hello, Mr. Acers."

The terminal lit up with quite the sight, a shirtless hunk of a male with a welding mask on as he worked on a large suit of armor. Yori could see the cables of a backpack on it, the welds making efforts to properly sync the power system to the large suit. The sparks from the welding were rolling over the quarter ID-SOL with the experience one might find in a practiced engineer with super-soldier in their genes. The click of the welder silencing wasn't but a moment later, the man hefting his mask up and looking over at the screen.

"Ah! Miss Kataoka! I thought it'd be a bit longer!" He put the welder down, moving over and sitting at the terminal in what must have been his garage. "Sorry about that. I had the others at the lab bring the suit over so I could make adjustments from my test results and some field data we gained at the other showing we had. As small as the things are, they've proven ample for both the area, strength, and power limitations the Warlock can hold."

She'd see him smile, his predatory confidence leaking through.

"You should have seen the one we held at the local pool. I think I might have to buy one of my own suits to get into mischief once all this research of ours finally hits the market."

The sight of a topless man on the terminal made her question if she hit the right button, and she had to make sure she had not gone somewhere else instead of to the call. But after a few moments she realized it was indeed Ashton, she had forgotten his Nepleslian routes and their penchant for showing off muscle. Once he was closer and less of his chest visible she could actually focus. "Well, of course, they perform well, I spent a lot of time on developing that technology. But don't do anything that's going to cause a bad reputation. There's a bunch of technologies that are going to come later you know."

"A bad reputation?" She could see the smile turn into one of disbelief. "You forget I'm in Nepleslia. Kennewes might not be far from the border... but we have an Akemi's in town for a reason."

The man reached down to below the camera, grasping a data tablet and a lab coat that seemed almost comically small as he leaned forward to tug the thing on. She'd hear the dark-skinned male tap away before data appeared on her screen. The numbers were coupled with an outline of the suit behind him, highlighting the legs and the torso specifically with data notes from the Magic Hand and her own studies she had supplied.

"And besides... I'm more worried about the technology we have now. I want to make this suit for the working man and woman, but there's calibration issues. I've been able to finally get the power pack generating far more than we could need, which is... well." He motioned backwards at the still cooling welds visible in the back despite his massive frame. "Why I was doing that. But balancing the suit's AI is proving difficult. The AI suite for the suit is trying its best to compensate for your technology, but I guess being able to be weightless your entire life has given you a better outlook on how to control yourself. The last guy who piloted the suit crashed when he came to land at out arranged meeting point. Thankfully the suit is tough so he didn't get hurt... but maybe you could provide ideas?"

"I forget that there no such thing as bad publicity there." Yori chuckled slightly and sat back in her chair as she listened to the progress that had been made on the warlock. The main concern had been somewhat surprising to her though, she actually did not have flight control installed in her own suits and relied on her own mind for calculations so she had not thought about such when sending the data.

"Oh...huh I guess that would be a problem" She stroked her chin as she thought a moment. "Well using gravity manipulation for flight is a bit more complicated than thrusters.." She then pulled up a second window and started to type on her keyboard for a moment, but then stopped, looking at the data she just wrote. "Okay well it might be too much on the processor to calculate gravity in real time...what about adding a second small computer dedicated just to the gravity functions?"

"A second computer? I suppose that can work." Ashton tapped away at the tablet, emulating the data and the changes a separate computer might induce. "I guess that could work... I might be able to slot it into the backpack design without it being too intrusive. Then just feed it into a synced system..."

The male was tapping away longer and longer, seeming to briefly forget that he was on a call with someone. But thankfully he worked fast, finally looking up and putting the tablet down with a sigh of relief.

"The only bad publicity would have been if I kept promising the future and this thing didn't work. Ken-TEC and all the guys who helped me make the suit are depending on this. All of them could have jobs and make more than an Origin employee does... I mean, you get the picture since you work for them."

Yori began to type at her terminal once more. "Well if we use a design similar to Origin's X-Type, we could keep the form factor small, we wouldn't need that much processing power after all." She kept typing trying to write up a code. "It will take some time to get the code lean, but I can give you a control code in a little if you have some good coders they can fine tune it for Nepleslians and others who don't have this kind of flight build in. Though flight output might reduce a little."

She stopped at his words though. "Well, you're just gonna have to make it work, aren't you? You've got a lot riding on this yourself too."

"A true inventor cares for those he wants to help and those who help him do it, not their own pocket." Ashton watched her code just off the screen as he spoke. "Reduction of flight to make a suit completely capable of propelling itself with ease regardless of gravity barring the most extreme influence such as a gas giant that's too close or a star."

The man got back up, lab coat billowing behind him as he moved over to the non-colored suit. His right hand moved to grasp it by the wrist, shifting it upward and exposing the palm for Yori to see. Holes in the fingers and palm were fitted with arc controllers, obviously intended to extend when active and retreat into the hand once turned off.

"The amount of power this will generate will let these guys focus it into an arc welder with the amount of intense electrical power it can channel. The electromagnetism units we're setting up have also been appropriately shielded against and we're testing it with some success as well. The ability to lift or manipulate things regardless of the user's strength, coupled with the benefits of power armor and the technology you've helped us assemble? This machine is closer to changing everything... so I guess that's what I've got riding on me. Ensuring that we see a future where men and women don't have to deal with precision-lacking mechs for safety or risk their lives without any solid protection by working on it with things like the Magic Hand."

"Hey now, the Magic Hand is an amazing tool. It's just it was the first step in bringing this technology to practical uses at a personal level. I always intended for more to come after it." She switched over from her script writing to another document and began to work on some complicated equations that related to flight.

"Seriously though...if this goes well, you could change the market. There have never really been much of a market for power armors specifically for laborers, it's always been an afterthought to use it for labor like the impulse."

Ashton couldn't help but grin, carefully hefting the welder up and replacing the mask. She could hear the welder clack to life, the immense heat erupting from the end as he carefully moved near the back of the suit to put his hand on the impressive backpack and heighten the tool into its cutter mode.

"That's very true, Miss Kataoka," he paused as he grasped the suit's belt and focused on the cut with steady angle, "And that's why it's all the more important... that we pull it off."

The clunk-clank of the casing falling away audibly pinged louder than the welder over the feed, the man carefully reaching to it as he powered the welder off and pushed the mask up to look around the side of the suit at the camera.

"And I guess there's some benefits to it... it's small, after all. But, I guess, bigger is how we Nepleslians roll, right?"

"Bigger isn't always better." The Minkan woman spoke up with a chuckle "If you want control and precision smaller is the only way to go. We could go down to the size of my suits, but I don't think those will be beneficial to our target group, the armor is too fragile."

She continued to type away on her computer, writing more and more lines of code as she did. She was pretty quick with it, but the code was unrefined, and there was a lot that needed to be worked through. Can you describe to me what it felt like when you flew this thing? Since it's not a natural thing for Nepleslians I want to try and make control of it more intuitive as well."

"Think of a knife going through partially cold butter. It wasn't that it was hard to pilot it, but things felt rather delayed." The horrible example relayed, the male carefully put his things down and moved off the camera for a brief moment.

"Fetch me a small micro-computer! Something that fits within a few inches of space!" There was an equally distant yell-back, but it was inaudible to Yori on her end. "Just get it done! I'm trying to fix it so we don't keep crashing it!"

A few moments later, the male returned and sat down right in-front of the camera once again. The garage didn't even have intercoms that allowed them to properly speak to one another.

"Sorry. Everyone is taking breaks recently. Taking turns crashing it has had an effect on them. But the better way to describe it... well, it's less like a knife and butter. Initially, we thought it was tuning issues in relation to control sensitivity. But it's more like... when we tried to change direction, we didn't just... instantly change direction. That should theoretically be possible, with the suit capable of negating its own personal gravity as well as the area around it.... but as much as we tried, we would always seem to not quite effectively handle the transition periods. The few Minkans on the staff, though, seemed to have the most success flying it. It could be involved with computation problems... or perhaps it's due to experience? Or a combination of both?"

The first explanation was not exactly insightful, but it at least gave Yori an idea of the feeling, but she waited for Ashton t return and listened to the rest of the explanation. It took a moment for her to piece it all together but once she did she chuckled and put her face in the palm of her hand. Words were muttered to herself but then she looked back up to the screen.

"We messed up. The Minkan are probably doing fine because they're compensating with their own flight. When I wrote the code, I wrote it all with the center of the suit as the focal point and simply did movement by applying a large vector to the field around the suit. I ended up treating it like a ball..."

She scrapped the code that was in front of her and began to rewrite things. "We're definitely going to need a second computer though, we'll have to be able to apply separate vectors to each limb if you want to turn instead of strafing. Sorry about that, this is the first time I've actually worked with this gravity code and flight..my suits just amplify my natural system."

"Can't be mad at the woman making it all possible." Ashton seemed to have grasped her premise decently enough, despite being more of a practical engineer instead of a theoretical explorer. "It's simply good that we were able to discover a solution so fast. It keeps us on track for our YE 40 target... maybe we could get it out in time before the end of the year."

She could hear the footfall of someone else arriving, Ashton looking to the side and motioning to the suit behind him. It looked like a young female, probably still attending the university, as she slipped behind the Warlock and Ashton looked back to the screen.

"How long will you need to prepare the code for us to upload and begin our own corrections and field testing? I heard you're working with some... limited resources these days."

Yori continued to type, a bit of a smile on her face when it was mentioned that they could stay on track with the release date. "It'd make a good holiday present for anyone in the industry I would think."

She chuckled and continued with her work. "I wouldn't call it limited resources...I've been sent to work as an adviser? But I have my equipment and my computer, I can do something like code no problem. I just don't have the raw materials to make prototypes endlessly like when I'm at Dawn Station."

"Materials, Miss Kataoka, are precisely the most important things to an inventor." Ashton did seem to jot something down beside the monitor, but didn't split his attention from watching the video feed of his most helpful outsource yet. It was more of contribution between scientists than anything paid... though he had good plans for mending the free sharing they'd been through.

"I don't expect you to turn off your work out there, since you get to go around and still more or less work... but I do have an offer for you." The male cleared his throat, looking back to make sure the working aide stopped momentarily fiddling with the computer they were no doubt affixing. Only then did he turn back and tap a button that splurged data across the void at FTL to assemble an arrangement of data for Yori in the form of what looked like a lot of legal writing.

"I had my friends studying law over at the University draft it up. If you ever want, there'd be a job for you here at Ken-TEC. Your expertise is something that needs to be explored... and man, are you smart. Smarter than I am, probably... but that's because the most bold men aren't always the ones who make the greatest changes but bring them about through leadership. So... the offer is yours to sit on. You'd not be expected to do anything beyond what you already do, I'd wire funds to you for sales and involvement... you'd become a leading partner like the many others who are helping get this going. A real Nepleslian doesn't forget those who get them off the streets... or so I imagine. Every Premier has had a few thug friends, right?"

Yori was a little surprised by all the legal writing that showed up on screen, but skimming it over she could tell that it was a contract. She only fully understood after listening to what Ashton had to say, and it left her even more surprised.

"A..partner? This is your company though, you and everyone in that garage...isn't there a rather generous offer?" She wasn't saying no though, it would be a serious move up for her, and she'd have much more freedom than she had in her current situation, even if she didn't have the same level of disposable resources as back at Dawn Station.

"Well, of course it's my company... and everyone here gets their own pieces." The man swiped through and then pushed up more info this time. Instead of a contract, she could see a lengthy page of signatures from the various garage-working assistants and employees of what likely form Ken-TEC currently. "It's not a decision I made without support from the others. If it wasn't for you, then we'd likely still be trying to break ground on the gravity field and the controls... so it only makes sense to make you a partner."

The large man got up and finally left the monitor once more, lab-coat billowing gently as he moved over to join the worker trying to affix the second computer. His voice wasn't going to somehow not reach her, despite the fact he leaned in to likely guide their hand.

"Besides, most of the people working for me are just content with deals to keep up their classes at the university. A lot of our local payments and deals will satisfy us... the profits are for growth and paying those like you who help make this all feasible, Miss Kataoka!"

Yori saw the several signatures on the document and then let out a soft sigh and a chuckle. "When that many people want me there, it'd be rude to let you all down unless I had a good reason, and I don't have one." She then flipped back over to the contract page. "I just need a good working environment and supplies to work, but do you think it'll be okay if I transfer officially at the start of the year? I'll finish out the year at Origin and then start fresh with you all."

"At the start of the year, huh? No problem." Ashton took the time to carefully move out and into full view again, slowly removing the coat as the suit began to open once more. "You'll have plenty of work... with what we got in the chamber, that is."

The male hefted himself up and into the suit, dropping and turning in one fluid motion as he plopped down and the suit began to tense and close around him. Piece by piece, the suit locked into place and his head was left exposed without the odd helmet.

"I'll have some neat designs coming up after we get this tech fully locked in, so you can keep working with the big fish over at Origin while we work on getting you those supplies and the right environment to really... let loose. For now."

Yori gave a nod when she was told she could wait until the start of the year. She could have a nice smooth transfer, without anything to worry about.

While she thought about these things though, Ashton had climbed into the suit that still had flight issues. Yori blinked and quickly got back to her typing "Wait up, don't use that yet. I still haven't finished the code, you're just going to crash again." She huffed as she tried to complete the code as quickly as she could.

"Pft," she could hear the suit whining to life more properly as the power engaged through the safety guided system, "Don't worry about me. I won't crash. I'm the most experienced in the thing so far..."

The nearby aide seemed to also be speaking and mumbling something about overconfidence, the man grasping and locking the helmet into place as the shared power lit the eyes up brilliantly. The roaring suit's power wasn't entirely shielded, based on the fluttering lines that danced across the monitor as it likely suffered from fluctuating power. The knees bent, the many flaps on the lower legs opening as the personal generator fluctuated to life and the nearby chair and assistant began to float from the main gravity field.

"So far so good... I'm not flying up or crumpling to the ground... that's a good sign."

"Wait it's not done yet," Yori spoke quickly and sharply as she hurried. Code blazed across the screen as she typed as fast as she could, and then she hit the send button once it was all done.

THe file was uploaded directly to the Warlock, however, the fine adjustments were not done at all, and many of the variables were not identified clearly. But it could work still...maybe.

"There it's sent just take it slow..." Yori spoke softly, a little nervous as to what the result would be.

"Slow?" The eyes lit up as if to mirror the widening of disbelief. "I'm the bes-"

The clunk of the suit flying up and smashing into the metal ceiling sounded probably as bad on the monitor as it must have in the garage, the aide gasping and calling out as Ashton and the Warlock came back down to the ground with a hard thump. Thankfully he was wearing a suit of Durandium or that might have hurt... more.

"Urghhh... guh... suit... definitely not ready."

Yori winced when she saw Ashton hit the ceiling and then come back down. "See...I told you to take it slow. I didn't really have time to go over the code, so you need to ease into it, so we can figure out what's wrong."

At least the end was in-sight.
 
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