“So is this your
base?” inquires Guardian as she and Gears enter a disused warehouse.
“No,” replies
Gears, “This was my temporary base when I was building my main base. I’m not
using it anymore so I removed any worthwhile from here. It would be too easy
for someone to find here so I didn’t want to have anything important lying
about. But I decided to simply mothball the place as it doesn’t cost that much
in time and resources to maintain and you never know when a spare base might
come in handy, especially if there is an emergency.”
“Good logic,”
says Guardian and the voice agrees with her by giving Guardian a sense of
approval for Gears’ actions, “I approve.”
“Let’s head down
now,” says Gears as he opens up a hidden compartment in the floor, “Even with
the lead lining and the jamming equipment I got running up here, I don’t want
to talk about sensitive up here. And you’ll be able to meet Jaylyn in person.
Or as much in person as you can get with someone like her.”
“I understand,”
replies Guardian, “I am pleased to have the chance to meet the person who so
easily broke through my defences.”
“For what Jaylyn
as told me, to her it was one of the hardest things she has ever done in her
single month of life,” says Gears as he climbs down the hidden compartment into
a lift, “Coming?”
“Yes,” answers Guardian
as she also climbs down into the lift and Gears covers the compartment up
again.
“And down we
go,” says Gears, “Oh, forgot you can’t see me smiling.”
“Why are you
smiling?” inquires Guardian.
“A variety of
social factors I don’t think you would understand,” answers Gears with a wave
of his hand, “I take you’re not good at this social stuff.”
“Not
particularly,” replies Guardian, “Not including the stuff that happened over
the last month, the only thing I can really remember about myself was that I
was the Legacy of the Guardian and the only thing I truly understood were the
technical fields relating to my power. As of such, I have been prioritising
those aspects of my life as they are my only intact ones.”
“And since you
lack an old life before the last month, I can totally see how you can fully
devote yourself to being the Guardian,” says Gears as the lift doors open up
into an underground base, “I, on the other hand, have a family, friends and a
life outside of being a superhero. So I have to do this sort of stuff in my
free time while still juggling my other responsibilities. It helps that I got
Jaylyn to support me, but beyond that-”
“Hello Guardian!”
exclaims a disembodied voice that Legacy recognises as belonging to Jaylyn, “Hello Father!”
Who else could it be?
“Hello Jaylyn,”
says Gears with a sigh, “You met Guardian before haven’t you?”
“Yes Father!”
replies Jaylyn in her joyful childlike voice.
“Well, Guardian has
agreed to be my partner,” says Gears, “We’re going to compare notes now since
we’re both an inventors that the other finds interesting.”
“If you’re partners, then you should
tell her about yourself,” cheerfully suggests Jaylyn, “After all, Leggy as already told us
about herself.”
“Leggy?”
inquires Legacy.
“Short for Legacy,”
explains Jaylyn, “I hope you
don’t mind. I can stop calling you that if you wish.”
“I don’t mind,”
replies Legacy, “Leggy, Legs, Legacy, I don’t particular mind which one you
call me.”
“I’ll alternate then!”
says Jaylyn, “Father,
please take your helmet off. It is rude to keep your face hidden from your
partner.”
“I might as well
take all of my armour off,” says Gears with sigh, “I’ll be a moment. Entertain
Legacy please.”
“Hello Legs,”
says Jaylyn as the AI turns her attention on Legacy as Gears leaves the room, “Would you like to show me a trick?
Father has shown me several, but they lose their charm afterwards as I can’t
forget them.”
“A trick?”
repeats Legacy, “Give a moment to come up with something.”
“Okay!” chirpily
replies Jaylyn.
What trick can I show Jaylyn? By best option would be
to do something using my power, but everything here seems to have been created
by Gears. I assume that’s why I can’t sense any technology here beyond what I
brought with me. Which means that my options are limited to using my power to
do something with what little I have brought with me.
I could use my sensors to make something out of them.
Maybe add them onto my stun-pipe. No, I don’t think I’ll do that one. Perhaps
make a larger sensor out of the smaller ones or something along those lines. I
personally feel that might be my best choice. What do you think voice?
Amusement.
So you’re not going to be helpful then? You’re just
going to watch? Oh well.
Legacy takes out
a handful of her sensors and holds them flat in her hand. She focuses on her
power and the machines slowly change as they disassemble and reassemble in a
large sphere. The process is slow, taking Legacy several minutes as she focuses
on getting it right.
But at the end,
Legacy is pleased with her results. She has recombined the sensors into a metal
sphere with glowing lines running through the outer layer.
“Impressive,”
says a male voice from behind Legacy.
So in this segment, we get to see more of Jaylyn, Gears' AI daughter. At the moment, she is very like a young child, but will grow up relatively quickly over the course of the story. Otherwise it is more interaction between Guardian and Gears.
ReplyDeleteAs for next time, we finally get to find out who Gears is beneath the armour.