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"Hey, Aiden," Alvin said over the communicator that Aiden wore. It was just after nine am, and Aiden was already hard at work in his office.
Barely pausing from the program he was working on, he tapped his communicator. "Go ahead, Alvin."
"Hey, knowing you, you're already hip deep in the latest reports from the farms that came in." Aiden stopped and looked up in surprise. He couldn't help but giggle slightly, as that's exactly what he was working on. The Unit was working on becoming self-sufficient, and that meant having the ability of getting enough food to feed all of them. For the most part, they got their food from good, reliable farms, the kind that didn't add extra shit into what they grew, to make it produce more.
Adam and Logan had been very specific when Aiden volunteered to take on this task. They only wanted naturally grown food, and meat that came from farms that didn't use chemicals. They even went so far as to contract with a large group of Jewish butchers, not because they cared about things being kosher for religious reasons, but kosher food was naturally better, with less crap in it.
"Okay, you caught me," Aiden giggled. "Whats ya need?"
"Well... I'd like to pry you away from your office for a few minutes. Could you meet us in Conference room 2b in Utah?"
Aiden pushed his chair back and hopped down. It always made people laugh that his feet didn't even reach the ground when he was sitting behind his huge desk. He laughed right along with them, but then again, it was funny to him.
"I'll be there as soon as that brother of your stops looking at all the shower cams and actually does something important!" Aiden said with a giggle.
"Hey, I heard that!" Daileass responded. "Watch it, KID... or your mom might get a video of you... in the bath tub...."
"Knock it off, Daileass!" Aiden said while blushing a bright red color. "Just transport me, will ya!"
Daileass's giggles were all that he heard, both from the room he just left in Russia, and the hallway he appeared in outside the conference room. Shaking his head, Aiden approached the door, it opening as soon as he got close, and walked in.
When he got in there, he saw a single empty chair, near the top of the table, and immediately moved towards it. He was surprised to see who was in the room, but, knowing the chipmunks, something 'exciting' was about to happen.
As he sat down, he noticed how some of the boys in the room seemed to have their eyes downcast, only looking up for brief moments, while others seemed to be able to look at him. But none of them could really make and hold eye contact. On the outside he showed nothing other than the happy kid, but on the inside Aiden was pissed. He knew a lot of what had been done to these kids, and that was a lot more than he really wanted to.
When he sat down, he smiled to Alvin and the rest. "So what's up, oh master of that which is chipmunky?"
Alvin simply flipped him off while he stood. "I'm assuming you know everyone here?"
"Well, I've not met them personally, but I've wanted to. So let's see. That's Clint," he said, pointing to the ten-year-old Adam clone that used to be a slave to Bartnev. He then motioned to the two Logan clones. "That's Declan and Dalton, then Alex and Andrew," pointing to the two Jory clones, then he moved to the two clones of Will. "Then there's the clones of the fly boy, Benjamin and Branson, and finally, there's General Samurai’s clone, Edward."
Alvin grinned while the former slaves sat there shocked. Aiden was right in his thinking. By him being able to tell them apart, and using the names they'd been given, he helped show them that they were worth something more, and even maybe their own persons.
"Yup, you got it in one. Anyways, Simon, Theodore, and I were looking at things, and thought that they might be able to help you out." Alvin was a bit worried about how Aiden would take this, since he ran such a tight ship, and didn't like for people to interfere.
However, his concerns were misplaced. Aiden's whole face lit up as he looked at Alvin, then the other boys. "Really?" He asked in excitement. "That would be so kewl! You guys really wanna help me out?"
Clint, the one who had made the most progress since being de-programed, hesitantly spoke up. "If... if you want us to?" he said softly, more as a question than anything else.
Inside, the anger rose even more. But of course, Aiden refused to let anyone see that. He wasn't angry at these boys, but at what had been done to them. However, showing that would probably be taken wrong by all of them, so he kept the happy excited face on, as he replied. "Want you? Of course I want you guys to help. I'd be stupid not to." Worried that he might be taking it too far, Aiden kept going, trying to boost their fragile egos as much as he could. "I mean, come on. You guys are smart, you work well in a group, and I'm sure in a few days, once I've had a chance to get you guys up to date, you'll be running a lot of the things that I do now."
Alvin was almost moved to tears at what Aiden was doing. He knew the boy had an intuition about people, and it was showing here big time. Ever since he and his brothers decided to work with Aiden as their main intel connection, they'd gotten to know this incredible little boy very well. They'd even gone so far as to have Logan set up a special link between them and Aiden. It wasn't on the same level as any of the other links, since Aiden's mind couldn't handle that, but it was enough for them to be in constant communication, and to step in when they knew something that Aiden didn't but should or suddenly had a need to know.
Aiden looked over to Alvin. "Did you tell them what it is I do?"
"Yup, I briefed them myself before I called you. I wanted to make sure it was something they really wanted to do," Alvin said, also telling Aiden in his mind that he made sure that it was something they actually wanted to do, not something they were going to do just because others wanted them to.
"Kewl!" Aiden said as he turned to the boys. "Here's my only question for you now. If you guys want to, you can move your stuff to a big room in the Palace back in Russia, or you guys could stay here. Or some of you could come and some stay. Basically, it's completely up to you guys, since your new jobs can be done at either place."
Seeing a bit of panic in their eyes, Aiden quickly jumped in. "It's no big deal which way you decide. I won't mind either way. But you don't have to tell me right now. Why don't you guys meet me for lunch at noon in Russia... which is just under three hours from now, and I can start to show you what you need to know. Don't worry about where you are going to stay. Whatever you decide is fine, and if you change your minds later, that's cool too."
Getting hesitant nods from all of them, Aiden walked over and pulled the closest boy up out of his seat, then gave him a big hug. "Welcome to the team. I'm so happy you guys decided to help out." He then went around and gave every single one of them a hug, while repeating the same thing to each of them.
The young dragon finally fell asleep some time after midnight, even though his dreams were troubled. When he woke, he looked and saw Chang sitting there silently meditating. It was somewhat surprising seeing a Klingon boy meditating like he was, but there were many strange things going on right now.
Sensing the boy wake, Chang opened his eyes and gently smiled. "Good morning."
"Good morning..." the boy said softly, his mind slowly filling him in on what had happened during the last several days.
"I know it is difficult," Chang started as he stood up and walked over to where the boy was still lying in the small sleeping bag that Chang had put him in last night. "However, you cannot dwell on what had happened. There is nothing that you can do to change the past. All you have control over is what you do now and how you move into the future."
The boy couldn't help but smile sadly. "That sounds like something my Master would say." Chang simply smiled, and was silent for several seconds, before the boy spoke up again. "I think my Master knew that this time would come. He kept speaking about how things were changing, and that soon I would be having to make decisions for myself. I simply thought he meant that I was growing up, or something like that. But now I think he knew what was going to happen."
"That is very possible," Chang said as he sat down next to the boy. "If he was anything like my master. He always knows things that there doesn’t seem to be a way for him to know."
The boy looked off into space for several moments before he looked over at Chang, and completely changed the topic. "Did you even sleep?"
Chang smiled and shook his head. "I do not need sleep the same way that you do. I can go days without it if needed, and even if I don't need to, I only need about three hours per night."
"Is that because you are a Klingon?" the boy asked curiously.
For a moment, Chang was surprised the boy would know about Klingons. He had, falsely, assumed that, being here, the boy would have little to no interaction with the outside world. "Actually no," Chang said, which caused the boy to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "It is a very long story, but the result is the same. There are many things about me that are not normal. When the events of the day are finished, I would be more than happy to tell you my story, since it would honor me greatly if I were to call you friend."
The boy started to tear up, and quickly hid his head so he could wipe the tears away. When he looked back, the tears were still there, but he had better control over his emotions. "I would like that. I have never had someone who was simply a friend. I have always been The Dragon, for as long as I can remember. My life has been training and studies. I've never had a friend."
Chang stood and offered his hand down to the boy. "If you would have me, then I would like to be your friend."
The boy smiled as he took Chang's hand, then got pulled to his feet. Before he let the hand go, he spoke softly. "Please call me Pabu. It was the name that my father gave me when I was born."
Chang couldn't help but grin at the name. Few people outside of this area actually knew the Tibetan language. Chang was one of them. He did find it rather amusing that the father of The Dragon would give the child a name that translated into 'puffball'. Fortunately, it seemed that Pabu had a good sense of humor and laughed right alongside of Chang.
After they both calmed down, Chang looked over his shoulder to where the wolf pack was waiting. "Get ready, my Pack. We are about to go bring justice to those who killed so many." Every single one of the wolves grinned a toothy grin as they quickly got themselves ready.
Chang walked over to where his swords were resting, and spent a moment to put them in their proper places, before he put his hooded robe on.
Adam walked into a conference room ready for a fight. Logan had tried to calm him down some, but with everything that had gone on the last few days, even Adam was finding it hard to be rational. In the room were Alexei, Sergei, the wolverine Logan, General Krolikov, and Cadet Captain Damien Azarov. Standing in the back of the room were Madison, Maddox and Morgan.
The people that had been seated in the room rose to their feet when Adam, Logan, and their two shadows walked in. Without saying a word, Adam moved to his seat, on the right side of Alexei, who was seated at the head of the table, while Logan sat next to Adam. Cole, the Adam clone, stood right behind Logan, while Elijah, the Chang clone, stood directly behind Adam.
"Thank you all for coming." Alexei started out in a very steady voice, yet it was filled with all the confidence and command that his station as Tsar held. "The reason for this meeting is because of the reports I have seen coming out of Moscow." He paused for a second to see who knew about it. Getting nods that everyone knew, he continued. "It is my intention to go and meet with those people at the Pokrovsky Cathedral."
Adam stood up and growled, "The Hell you will..." He fell silent when Logan took his hand and gave a gentle squeeze. Adam sighed and returned to his seat, then in a calm voice said, "Sorry. Logan, you have the floor."
Logan smiled at everyone as he looked around the room. Then his face became serious and he looked Alexei right in the eyes.
"What General Casey was about to (Logan held up his fingers imitating quote marks) 'gently' remind you was that your safety cannot be guaranteed outside of the palace at this time. If you choose to do this, then you must keep in mind that not only will you be putting yourself in the line of fire, but you will also be putting any civilians in your general vicinity in significant danger. They could be seriously injured or killed. Of course, you realize that those who guard you will lay their lives down for you if things go bad, but they may not be able to protect anyone else. You know that we have yet to round up those who... well, were responsible for your earlier circumstances. Until we complete the round-up and ferret out any we do not currently know of, you and those around you are in mortal danger. Am I making myself clear? Where you go, people are very likely to be hurt and die. We will abide by your decision, but I want you to understand what you are asking."
Alexei let his eyes drop to the table as the enormity of Logan's words hit him. The room was silent for almost a full minute before Alexei lifted his head. When his eyes met Logan's they were full of the fire that Logan often saw in Adam's. "I am well aware of the situation; however, I also know that my people need to see me. By staying here safe in the Palace, I am sending a signal to the people that I am afraid, that I am hiding. I can not let the people see that. They need to know that what I said last night was more then just words. The people of Russian need to see action!" Alexei said firmly.
Logan smiled gently at the young Tsar. He knew what it was to make tough decisions and he figured that was what Alexei would decide. He just wanted him to understand what the possible outcome would be. This was politics and it got messy. "I knew you were going to say that." He turned to his lover and gently said, "Adam?"
Adam still didn't like it, but he knew the boy was right. "What security are you going to be willing to take?" he asked calmly, much more calmly than he felt.
Alexei let the breath out that he'd been holding. He was sure that this was going to be more difficult. "Whatever it is that you think is needed."
Adam sat back for a moment and let his mind work over the problem. He knew the more security they took, the larger a disturbance they would cause. That would allow people to know where he was at. However, if he didn't take enough security....
"Okay... everyone, tell me what you think of this..." Adam started out, before going into outlining his plan. Over the next thirty minutes, everyone in the room offered up suggestions, and the plan got tweaked several times. By the end of it, no one was really happy about it, but they all agreed that it was the best they could come up with.
Thirty minutes later they all met up in the field that Alexei had played soccer in a few days before. He was dressed in his official uniform, one that looked very much like a military uniform. However, under it was a skin-tight suit of a material that Logan and the rest had developed on Archnania. Sergei was also there, wearing a suit, but also dressed in the same under-armor that Alexei wore. Similarly, Adam and Logan were dressed in their best uniforms, with the armor on as well, as were General Krolikov and Cadet Captain Damien Azarov. All of them wearing a simple side arm.
Madison, Maddox and Morgan also had the under-armor on, and were dressed in slacks and a nice shirt. Their jobs during the entire time were simple. They would scan the minds of as many people as they could, especially those that might try to get close to Alexei, and see if any of them were a threat. If they were, they were to let Adam know telepathically.
Logan the wolverine and his full team were there fully armed and armored. They would be the obvious line of defense between Alexei and would-be assailants. However, there were also the unseen defenses that would, hopefully, stop anything from happening before it could get to Alexei.
Several minutes ago, several groups had beamed out to mingle with the crowds that were surely to form when Alexei showed up. They consisted of members of General Krolikov's men, and Cadet Captain Damien Azarov's Cadets. The hope would be that they could pass as families who came to see what was going on. None of them would be dressed in military uniforms, but they would carry whatever weapons they could conceal on their persons. Additionally, there would be several helicopters sitting on their platforms, rotors spinning, waiting in case something went wrong. At most they would be three minutes away.
The biggest thing though, were the Eryradain fighters that were already in the air, simply waiting for the orders to come in. They were much further away, but due to the modifications that Will and Billy had come up with, they would actually be able to respond faster. The fighters would be on target in less than one minute.
Master Quell had informed Adam this morning that their mother ship was fully repaired, and that he was sending it out on a shakedown cruise. However, they were leaving one of their capital warships in synchronous orbit above the palace. What Master Quell didn't tell Adam, but Adam knew very well, was that the Eryradain were much more interested in keep Tommy and Elwyn safe than anything else. What didn't sit well with Adam was the fact that Logan had invited their sons to join them. It was a tactical decision on Logan's part that was very hard for Adam to swallow. Logan was calculating in a way that Adam just did not have in him, unless it was on the battlefield in the thick of the action. He had not said it, but he never would have been able to make the decision that left their clones in the clutches of that bastard Bartnev, and he knew that would have been a mistake.
However, because Tommy and Elwyn were coming along, he was also informed that the Eryradain ship would be on full alert and continually scanning the area for threats.
Before Adam could say anything to the group that had assembled, Daileass contacted him mentally. 'Adam....' The tone of his voice sent chills up Adam's spine. He'd heard Daileass scared before, but this was not like anything he'd heard before. The fact that alert sirens weren't sounding made Adam even more worried.
'Go ahead, Daileass,' Adam said simply.
'Ummmm...oh, fuck it!' Daileass said. The next thing Adam knew, he was standing in his office back in Utah.
Almost instinctively, he sent off a short burst message to Logan letting him know where he was at. Adam took a moment to calm himself while he walked behind his desk and took a seat. For Daileass to do this, it had to be something really big.
The next thing that happened made Adam glad he was sitting down already. Daileass himself showed up in the office. However, he was decked out in full military gear, with enough weapons positioned around his body to make Juan proud. Adam would have laughed, except for the look on the boy's face. It was a look of sheer terror mixed with despair and rage.
"Okay, Daileass," Adam started out calmly. "You've certainly got my attention. What's going on?"
Daileass tried several times to speak, but couldn't seem to find the words. Finally, so pissed off, not only with the situation, but at his inability to speak, he stepped up to Adam's desk, and turned the small viewscreen towards Adam. He finally was able to say a small statement. "I've not shown this to anyone else...."
The display came to life, showing a zoomed-in satellite picture of a small town, in a snowy area. Looking at the coordinates in the corner of the screen, Adam quickly figured out he was looking at some place in the Siberian Tundra, in the very north part of the Russian territories.
"I've been keeping an eye on this area, simply because according to every sensor I have access to, including Starfleet, there is nothing here. Although you can clearly see, there is. Something about the geology of the land makes any type of scan impossible. Watch," Daileass said softly, almost shaking with rage and fear. For a brief moment, Adam was completely shocked at how well Daileass's body mimicked that of a natural human's. Adam could smell the fear rolling off the small boy.
Bringing his attention back fully to the screen, Adam saw a small helicopter come in for a landing. Obviously that was the only real way to get there. As he watched, three figures got out of the helicopter, then ran, with their heads ducked, towards one of the close-by buildings. The only thing that Adam could tell about the figures was that one was clearly larger than the other two. The made it to the building, and one of the smaller figures opened the door. The other one made his way inside, followed by the larger one. Right before the larger one went inside, he looked up. Daileass had zoomed in on the face of the man, and Adam felt the entire world freeze. "No...." Adam breathed out. His stomach clenched, and it felt like he was about to throw up. The man was someone he could never forget. No matter how long he lived, the man's face would be etched in his memory. The last time he saw that face, Mike Reynolds had handed him a severed head.
He felt himself shaking in rage as he looked up at met Daileass's eyes. "How close can you get me?"
Daileass met his steady gaze and quietly responded. "About twenty miles."
Adam started to nod, when Daileass kept speaking. "However, the only place I can put you that you will have a somewhat easy path to get there is about 28 miles away. The entire area is a delta, and right now, there's only one known way that you can get there on foot. If we had time to do reconnaissance, we could probably find another way, but that is not an option."
Adam nodded, not daunted at all, and stood up. "I'll be ready to go in ten minutes," Adam said as he made his way to the door.
"I'm going with you," Daileass stated seriously, making Adam stop and turn around.
"No, Daileass," Adam stated very seriously. "You need to stay here."
"No, Adam. I'm going with," Daileass stated firmly, and before Adam could say anything, he rushed on. "What that man did to me, to us.... Adam, I have to."
Adam took a few steps towards his lover's eldest clone, and took the boy into a hard hug. "I'm sorry, Daileass, you can't go. If something were to happen to me, you guys would be able to go on. If something happened to you... we'd all be fucked." Adam pulled back and looked into the crying boy's eyes. "I know how badly you want to go and kill Adams, but it's just too dangerous. Not to mention, we don't know if your uplink will be able to punch through whatever is blocking the sensors. It's not a risk we can take."
Adam could tell that Daileass didn't like it, but he could also tell that Daileass knew that he was right. Daileass pulled Adam into another strong hug, but broke it after a brief moment. He stepped back and nodded. "I don't know if Logan knows about this yet. He could find out if he wanted to, but he doesn't always look at everything. You better make it back here in one piece. I ain't gonna be the one to tell him you went after General Adams alone." Adam nodded and Daileass disappeared.
Without saying another word, Adam turned and walked out into the main control room. He didn't stop to say a word to anyone, simply walked out the main door, down the hall, and into the small armory that was kept near the command center. Inside he found his personal experimental armor... already the surface was white camouflage. Next to it were all the weapons he could carry, some conventional, some not, and a few he had developed himself.
In a moment of reflection, Adam thought back to how most of this was developed. It was on Archnania, about a year into their time there when Logan brought up the idea of the Pico-Tech armor to Adam. They had discussed it for days, strengths, weaknesses, what it should be able to do, what they wanted it to do, everything they could think of. Almost a year later, Logan showed him the prototype suit.
At first Adam wasn't sure about it; it didn't look like all that much. That's when Logan explained that there were actually three different layers to the Pico-Tech Battle Armor. The first was the Neurotronic interface suit, a skin-tight suit that was almost invisible. As Logan explained it, the first part was meant to act as the bridge between the wearer and the armor itself. It translated the physical movements made by the body into actions of the suit, but was more than that. It allowed a direct interface to the wearer's brain waves, and in the case of someone with psionic abilities, it could interface with them as well.
The second layer was also thin and almost invisible. This was the bulk of the armor. This was the part that was made up of pico-bots that had one job, and one job only... to act as armor.
"One thing you need to remember, Adam, is this. The Pico-bots are REALLY good at doing one thing: whatever they were made for. They can be programmed to do multiple things, but then they wouldn't be able to do any of them as well as if they were specialized for one purpose. It is both the advantage and the disadvantage to pico-tech. The more things you try to have it do, the worse it does everything."
Then came the fun part: the outer layer. This is where the most customization would happen. Every suit of Pico-Tech Battle Armor (PTBA) is completely customized for the wearer... it has to be. But the outer suit is where it's really noticeable.
First Adam had to decide on a 'theme'. Because the suits were completely customizable, the outside of the suit could look like just about anything you wanted. Since Adam was the guinea pig for the prototype, Logan told him to go for something 'out there', so he did. The prototype armor was designed to make him look like a smurf.
So when he put on the outer layer parts they were all blue. The feet protection, knee guards, shin guards, thigh guards, groin guards, abdominal guards, chest guards, upper arm guards, fore-arm guards, hand guards, neck guards, shoulder guards, and finally the helmet: thirteen different pieces made up the outer armor, all attaching to the middle layer bonding on the sub-atomic, atomic and molecular level.
Logan helped him put the outer pieces on, yet he still hadn't really explained what they could do. Each section held two or three disks, depending on the size of the piece. Once he was fully dressed, Logan stood back, and couldn't help but laugh at the sight before him. Adam turned around and started laughing to as he looked into the full length mirror. He actually did look like a giant Smurf.
But that is when the real fun began. "Okay, Adam," Logan said as they made their way outside. Adam was slightly stunned at how light and moveable the suit was. "What you need to know is that the suit was designed to enhance your own abilities. Unfortunately for you, I don't think the suit's gonna do much on that end of things. You're already pretty much at the top limit of everything already. But what will be really interesting is to see how a middle of the road Genesis kid deals with the armor."
"Okay, so what do I need to know?" Adam asked, not really wanting to try anything before he knew what it would do.
"Well, first off, the suit is designed to augment mental abilities... BUT!" Logan said urgently. "Don't you try to use it. With your N-Gen abilities, you'd probably fry the Neurotronic interfaces."
"Right..." Adam said, making sure to keep in his mind not to use his mental abilities while in the suit.
"Now, obviously once we get all the kinks worked out, your suit will be specially designed to NOT enhance your mental abilities. But for someone who is only slightly psionic, this armor would make them a lot stronger," Logan said as he punched something up on the data padd he was holding.
"How's that even possible?" Adam asked, to which Logan gave him a friendly smile.
"Do you really want me to get into all the techno-babble? Or do you just want to know that it works?"
Adam held up his hands and grinned. "You're right, 'it just works' is good enough for me."
Logan laughed as he worked on the Padd more. "Okay, now... let's have some fun, shall we?"
"You know... it scares the shit out of me when you talk like that," Adam said, only half joking. "Maybe I shouldn't have volunteered to be the test subject...." he half-muttered to himself.
"Well, you're the one with the strong moral obligation to 'not let anyone else do something that you wouldn't do yourself'," Logan said with a grin. Had anyone else said something like that, Adam would have taken offense, but not Logan. The two of them had been through more than Adam could ever have imagined beforehand, and it had only drawn them closer. Logan really was the other half of Adam, and vice versa.
Turning serious, Logan looked at Adam and spoke. "Okay, obviously this has not been tested before. I am 100% sure that your mental abilities will be able to block anything bad that happens , so here's what I want you to do. Make sure all your blocks are up. I'm then going to turn the suit on. At that point you will feel a presence just outside your mind. It's the armor. Simply open up to it slowly, and I'll make corrections if needed as you're doing it."
Knowing better then to ask why, Adam did as he was told, knowing that it would all be explained when it was done. He put up every mental block he had, some he created himself, others were ones that either Logan or Master Takamura had shown him how to make. Once they were in place, he nodded, and Logan hit a few buttons on the Padd. Just as Logan had said, Adam felt a small presence just outside his consciousness. Slowly he opened himself up to it, and felt a very weird presence start to fill in throughout his mind. Looking at Logan, all he saw was the boy smiling triumphantly. "Perfect!" he breathed out a few moments later.
Logan dropped the Padd to his side and grinned as he started to walk around the suit, looking Adam up and down. After one full rotation, Logan began to speak. "Just as I thought. The suit itself is not alive by any stretch of the imagination, but we used a very unique type of Virtual Intelligence, so that the armor is actually 'smart'."
"Okay..." Adam said as he started to move around cautiously. The first thing he noticed was that the small amount of weight that he had felt before, was now almost entirely gone. The suit was actually 100% un-encumbering.
"The suit is actually telepathically connected to you now, meaning that all you need to do is think about something and it'll happen," Logan said with a grin.
Adam looked up sharply in surprise. "How the hell'd you manage that one?!" Adam exclaimed with surprise.
Logan chuckled and shook his head. "Again, do you want the fifteen-hour-long explanation on the technology behind it, or do you want me to just tell you that it works?"
"Okay, so what can this thing do?" Adam asked, trying to change the subject completely. Logan just laughed as he turned and started to walk out of the room.
"Come on, I got a test area all set up. I'll explain a few things about the suit on the way there." Adam rushed to catch up to his lover, all the while thinking about how easy it was to move in the suit. "That's because, even now, the suit is assisting in your movements. It don't mean much for you, or for one of the higher-end Genesis kids, but a normal human, or even the lower-end G-Kid won't get fatigued as quickly, because the suit is actually making it so your body doesn't work as hard to move. Getting into physical combat is the next area that the suit will help out in," Logan said as they made their way outside and into the Archnanian wilderness.
Logan led Adam into a slightly wooded area, where several targets and a ful-blown obstacle course had been set up. "The Ancient helped me set this place up. There is not a mobile tree within a mile of this place right now, and all the trees that are here now are actually already dead or fakes. They are just being held up by the Ancient for this exercise. In other words, don't worry about hurting anything here."
"Okay," Adam said as he looked around at the 'test area'. Finally his attention went back to Logan. "So what do you want to do first?"
"Well, first, let's see how the suit handles a full-on obstacle course. I know you'll have no problem with it, so what I really want you to tell me about is how the suit moved during it, did it try to help you at all, did it get in your way at all, things like that. I think we got it calibrated enough so it responds about as quick as your body would, so it shouldn't slow you down, but for those not as high up on the Genesis scale as you are, it should actually help to enhance their movement."
Adam took a long look at the obstacle course that Logan had set up and whistled softly. For most people this would have been impossible, even most Genesis kids. As it was, this was going to push Adam's limits. He looked over to Logan, who nodded. Adam took a few deep breaths, then launched himself towards the course. At almost the same instant, parts of the course started to move, changing the obstacles in seemingly random patterns. Adam wanted to curse Logan, but he didn't really have the time. The really funny thing about it, and Logan never mentioned it, was Adam felt like he had 'eyes' all over his body.
It wasn't like he could actually see everything, it was more like he had a feeling of something coming behind him. The first time he got that feeling, he tried to look to see if his feeling was correct, and ended up getting wacked in the face with a moving log. After that, Adam started to listen to those feelings, and tp act on them immediately.
While the armor didn't help his movements, or anything like that, the armor also didn't encumber him. That was strange, as almost everything encumbered Adam, even normal street clothes and the BDU's he normally wore. This stuff seemed to react to his movements as fast as he made them, which was cool. Add onto it the fact that he was able to 'feel' everything going on around him, and this armor was certainly an aid in combat.
Thirty minutes later, when Adam completed the course, he was surprised with the fact that he was only slightly winded. However, the grin on his face, matched by the one on Logan's, told him all he really needed to know. The first test of the suit was a complete success.
"So... how was it?" Logan asked as he ran over to him.
"I fucking LOVE this shit!" Adam exclaimed as he pulled Logan into a hug. Thankfully he'd gotten used to not squeezing very hard when he hugged Logan. For the next hour, Logan peppered Adam with question after question on how the armor worked. Adam had a lot of experience with this sort of thing. It reminded him of his time in the lab, after an experiment. The doctors would spend hours asking question after question; some of them Adam had no clue how it related to the test, but he had to answer every question as fully as he could. The main difference this time thought was... the 'doctor' questioning him was a lot cuter then the ones in the lab.
After the questions were over, and Adam and Logan shared a small picnic lunch that Janet had brought them during the questioning, they decided it was time to move onto the next step.
"Okay, Adam," Logan began as he started to pace. This was a sure sign to Adam that Logan was really into what he was about to explain. "The next thing we're going to get into is the weapons in the armor. You see all the disc shaped sections of the armor?"
Adam held up his arm, and looked at the three discs that were located on his forearm. "Yeah."
"Each of the discs performs a different function. You should have a total of thirty on your body right now. That number can go up or down depending on what you customize your armor to do. However, with that many slots of customization, these things will truly fit the capabilities of the person that's wearing the armor. I took the liberty of outfitting the prototype armor with things I know that you know how to use; however, when we start on your real suit, you'll have full control over what goes on it," Logan said, back to instructor mode.
Adam nodded his understanding, then Logan continued. "Each of the discs is either a weapon by itself, or part of a larger weapon. Keep in mind that most of these do one thing and one thing only. Always remember that Pico-Tech is best when it only has to do one thing. When you start trying to make a piece of pico-tech try to be... say both a knife and an axe, as in being able to change from one to the other, it will do neither as well as it could do if it was only designed to do one. Following me?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, it's like anything else. Someone who specializes in demolitions is going to be better at it than someone who is trained in both demolitions and say, medical," Adam said, nodding.
"Exactly!" Logan said, grinning. The way Adam just explained it was so simple, yet so accurate, Logan made a note to use it in the future. It was something that was hard to explain to other people before, but the way Adam just did it was perfect.
It took Logan only about five minutes to explain to Adam how he had to activate the weapons. "Basically, it really is as simple as just thinking about it, willing it forward. However, it takes a few minutes to calibrate the weapons system so it will know when you actually want the weapon to come forward, rather than just when you 'wish' you could use a weapon."
Adam was surprised at how easy it was. On his right forearm was a disc that was a sword. After the calibration, he could bring it forward as easy as a thought, but the best part came after it came forward. Adam had laughed when it flowed up his arm and formed into a curved sword, exactly the way he liked it. He took a few experimental swipes with it, as well as twirling it around his body a bit, and frowned. Logan smiled as he asked, "What?"
"The balance is off a bit. I can compensate," Adam said simply.
"So change the balance," Logan said, causing Adam's eyes to snap up, and a look of disbelief on his face. Logan couldn't help but giggle.
"What do you mean, change it?" Adam asked slowly.
"Exactly that. The sword is just like everything else, connected to you mentally. If the balance is off, then tell the sword to change it."
Adam held up the sword and looked at it for a long moment before he suddenly got a huge grin on his face. "HOLY SHIT! I think I am REALLY gonna love this shit!" He held his hand out, and watched as the sword melted back to its place on his forearm. Adam grinned at Logan and then held his hands out to his side, and spread his legs a bit. On a hunch, Adam mentally commanded the outer parts to separate from the inner parts. Just as he thought would happen, the outer armor pieces fell to the ground as the molecular bonds separated where they slowly formed into little blocks and disks.
Logan grinned at him, picking up on the thoughts coming from his lover, thoughts that made his groin stir. Adam stepped up to Logan and took him in his arms, kissing him long and hard. When the kiss broke, Adam looked into his lover's eyes and said in a whisper, "Have I ever told you how brilliant you are, and how much I love you?"
Logan grinned back at him and nodded. "Yup, every day, sometimes more than once... but I love hearing it." Adam started to unbutton Logan's shirt, and then took it off. When he stepped back, he started to take off the middle layer of the armor, then stopped and looked up at Logan with a question.
"Something just occurred to me. If this suit is controlled mentally, how would a medic get the suit off if the person is unconscious?" he asked as he shed the middle layer and started to take off the inner layer.
"Well," Logan said as he watched his lover strip. "All our medical teams will be equipped with an override that can be used to drop the outer armor off, as well as turn the middle layer into nothing more than cloth that can be easily cut with a pair of scissors. However, if they don't have the override, then they're gonna have a very hard time getting the armor off. Of course, the armor is programmed to be able to do minor bandaging and splinting of injuries, as well as ways to stop bleeding."
As Adam got the last layer off, and dropped to his knees to unbutton Logan's jeans, he had to ask one last thing. "So, if someone wearing this armor got captured, the bad guys wouldn't be able to get the armor off easily?"
Logan gulped, then moaned as Adam took him entirely into his mouth. "Nope... They'd have a really HARD time doing it." Adam couldn't help but giggle around his mouthful, which made Logan moan louder.
Neither boy was seen for the next day, but they were definitely heard throughout the wilderness of Archnania.
Adam couldn't help but smile at the memories. The one thing that Logan and he decided when they got there was that they were going to take some time just for themselves. That was not really something they had been able to do, ever. Now though, they had actually had time to take days with seeing no one other than themselves. Grandma was kind enough to watch the children while they had their alone time.
Although the years spent on Archnania did allow Logan and Adam to become much closer to their children, all four of them. And for the four of them to become closer as well. It was truly a special time for them as a family, and something Adam truly felt blessed to have been a part of. But now, now he had something very important to do, if he ever wanted to have times like those again, without the weight of General Adams on his mind.
Adam quickly stripped off his uniform, thinking that it was rather convenient that he had simply worn the bottom two layers under his uniform. Adam knew that there might be trouble when they went to Moscow, and since the middle layer is where the bulk of the armor was, then why not wear that under his uniform?
So now all he had to do was step into the 'armor rack'. He had designed this one himself, so all he had to do was step into the rack, hold out his arms, and place his feet shoulder width apart, and then mentally call the armor. The different pieces and discs melted off the rack and re-formed where they were supposed to be on his body.
He chuckled as he turned to leave the room. This suit was not the prototype, so he wouldn't be going after General Adams looking like a Smurf on steroids, This time he had ordered the Pico-Tech Battle Armor to look like a traditional Samurai. Of course, the look on the SOB's face when a giant; death dealing Smurf attacked him would be priceless, but he wasn't really in the mood for that right now.
In less than five minutes, Adam was dressed and ready to go. He didn't know what he was going to be facing, but in those brief minutes that he took to get ready, he already had seventeen different battle plans formed in his head, all depending on what he found on the ground.
"Okay, Daileass, take me back to the Palace. I need to tell Logan that I've got something 'personal' to deal with."