Author's Note:
It's time to finish writing this episode, we've been around STAR Labs long enough.
XXX
Story Arc: A Journey to America
Episode 2: Five Bad Women (IV)
Chapter 7: The Science Team
Plot: The heroes have won, but before returning to the Hall of Justice, they must take care of the less spectacular aspects of their superhero careers. Galahad takes advantage of the opportunity to meet some smart people.
XXX
POV Narrator
In less than half an hour, the chaos of the battlefield was replaced by the frantic coming and going of rescue workers: a constant flow of paramedics, firefighters, and police patrols.
A crowd of people coming and going from STAR Labs under a dark, gloomy sky.
The four supervillains: Cheetah, Killer Frost, Livewire and Lady Nagant.
They were loaded into a maximum security armored van, specifically designed to neutralize subjects with superhuman abilities.
Flash moved nimbly among the medics and firefighters, providing quick reports on who needed urgent care and pointing out areas of the building where the structural damage was most severe.
Its speed is used to provide assistance in rescue logistics operations.
Considering he did very little in the fight, it seems only right that he does the "cleaning up."
Not far away, Superman and Wonder Woman had just finished conferring with the local police chiefs regarding the ritual procedures and the custody of the prisoners.
Three out of five of the area's heroes are doing something useful, while the rest are less present.
Rider had remained in the background, moving like a silent shadow behind Shielder.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, Galahad called upon his Kinto'un cloud, gently lowering the still-unconscious Dr. Seiko Kimura.
After entrusting the woman to the care of qualified personnel, the Black Knight allowed himself a moment of apparent rest.
He leaned back against the side of the ambulance, crossing his arms, but his eyes continued to subtly scan every single person leaving S.T.A.R. Labs.
Invisible to anyone's eyes, Hassan of the Hundred Faces has created a circle of cover around the building, with a hundred pairs of eyes at his service, there is no corner of the circle.
If anyone wants to leave this place, they will be seen by Assassin or Galahad.
Among the many people working at this research center, five individuals caught Galahad's attention.
The five of them simply stood out from the crowd of anonymous individuals agitated by what happened today.
It was as if they were the protagonists walking through the background characters.
Galahad is a person who enjoys staying up-to-date, especially on things that interest him, such as anime and the leading scientific community. He can recognize these five scientists, as they are quite famous in their fields.
'Kurisu Makise, the famous neuroscientist prodigy, has beautiful hair,' thinks Galahad, having a weakness for women with red/orange hair.
Kurisu Makise is an 18-year-old Japanese girl, about 160 cm tall, with a slim figure and an aura of composed seriousness.
Her most distinctive feature is her long reddish-brown hair, which falls straight to below her waist, with two side locks that frame a face with delicate features.
His eyes are a deep dark purple, capable of switching in an instant from scientific curiosity to a sharp, critical gaze.
Her style is unique and slightly eccentric: she wears a white shirt with a loosened red tie, over which she wears an unbuttoned khaki cardigan with unusually long sleeves, which almost entirely cover her hands.
Complete the outfit with dark micro-shorts held up by a black belt, opaque black tights and dark ankle boots with rolled edges.
Despite the white coat she sometimes wears over everything, she always maintains the air of an elite college student rather than a government scientist.
"Rakshata Chawla, India's top scientist, with a degree in cybernetics and nuclear engineering. She created the best prosthetics on the market, capable of restoring the sense of touch. She even invented a procedure to allow people with minor spinal cord injuries to walk again thanks to a special chip." Galahad thinks, having read many of her scientific articles.
Rakshata Chawla is a 28-year-old Indian woman, about 175 cm tall, with a magnetic beauty and an air of sophisticated nonchalance.
Her skin has a warm amber tone and her features are strong, with piercing golden eyes, often made up with a light veil of dark pencil.
Her most iconic feature is her thick mane of ash blonde hair, styled in a voluminous and rebellious way, which contrasts beautifully with her complexion.
Her style is a unique mix of tradition and avant-garde: she often wears a golden yellow dress inspired by Indian saris, but revisited in a modern and technical way, with a wide neckline and fabrics that seem to contain microcircuits.
She's rarely seen without her long, e-cigarette, from which she exudes thin wisps of scented vapor as she observes the world with a cynical half-smile. She wears several tech bracelets on her wrists and a golden bindi on her forehead that sparkles in the light.
"Lloyd Asplund, the robotics luminary. Son of a multi-billionaire couple, who disowned him last year after he blew up the family manor following a botched experiment." Galahad thinks, having heard many things about this eccentric and unpredictable individual.
Lloyd Asplund is a 29-year-old man with a slim, almost wiry appearance, approximately 182 cm tall.
His most iconic feature is his silver-grey hair, straight and cut with a geometric fringe that falls over his eyes, accentuating his curious and perpetually amused gaze.
He has noble, slender features, framed by a pair of round, light-rimmed glasses that give him the air of an old-fashioned mad scientist.
He dresses impeccably yet extravagantly: over his shirt and tie he always wears a white, military-style lab coat, often left open, which flaps as he moves in a dashing, theatrical manner.
His smile is almost perpetually plastered on his face, an expression of intellectual superiority mixed with genuine excitement at every new technological discovery.
"Cécile Croomy, the woman who is both Lloyd's assistant and babysitter. How did she end up stuck with this crazy guy?" Galahad wonders, very curious about this.
Cécile Croomy is a 25-year-old English woman with a sweet and professional appearance.
She has fair skin and large, sky-blue eyes that convey competence and a natural kindness. Her most distinctive feature is her light lavender hair, cut in a sleek bob that frames her face, with a neat fringe over her forehead.
Her attire reflects her role as a high-level assistant: she wears a modern-cut lilac jacket over a crisp white shirt, paired with a dark skirt that reaches her knees.
He often wears a small golden pendant around his neck and is never without his latest-generation tablet, which he uses to manage the ingenious follies of his boss, Lloyd Asplund.
Despite her delicate beauty and calm tone of voice, she exudes the aura of someone who is in total control of the technical situation in the laboratories.
"Silas Stone, the head researcher at the Washington office, the oldest and most sane of the group," Galahad thinks, knowing this individual's respectable reputation.
Doctor Stone is a dark-skinned, middle-aged man with a stern gaze behind rectangular glasses and the inevitable white coat over a burgundy tie.
The group of five scientists had gathered around Seiko Kimura's ambulance, discussing in low voices.
'Beautiful, intelligent women, teenage prodigies, an eccentric genius with a responsible assistant and an authoritarian boss.' Galahad thought, filtering reality through his nerdy instincts and his knowledge of narrative clichés.
"I just found the lab's main cast. If anything big happens, it'll definitely be them. I'd better go meet them," Galahad thinks, seeing a golden opportunity ahead.
"If you want to know how Dr. Kimura is doing, you can ask me. One of my subclasses is the healer." Galahad began, emerging from the shadows of the ambulance with a calm that clashed with the surrounding chaos.
"A knight in armor coming to greet us... the day is getting busier and busier," Lloyd Asplund commented, adjusting his glasses with an excited smile.
Clearly, the robotics genius isn't the least bit stressed about what happened today.
'The press wasn't lying, he's an eccentric to the core.' Galahad thought, watching him carefully.
The Black Knight's brain, which may well belong to Sherlock Holmes, manages to deduce quite a bit about the eccentric genius.
'I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up becoming a supervillain or the tech sponsor of some suicidal hero with a martyr complex.' Galahad thinks, deciding to be cautious with this individual.
"Lloyd, be serious for once! The lab has been attacked by metahumans and Seiko Kimura is unconscious in an ambulance." Cécile scolded him, her tone betraying an almost maternal concern.
'There's our local Tony Stark's Pepper Potts.' Galahad thought, immediately recognizing the dynamic between the two, though he doubted Lloyd had the same depth of humanity as Iron Man.
Obviously these two will never get together. (Author's Note: I'm not kidding about this.)
"Dr. Kimura is fine." Galahad explained reassuringly, bringing out his Paladin charisma.
"She just fainted from the stress and shock. She'll recover soon, but at most she'll need a couple of days' rest," Galahad said, sharing what he knew about the condition of the young pharmacology genius.
"And how can you be so sure?" Kurisu Makise asked, crossing her arms and looking at him with a hint of scientific suspicion.
"When Flash jumped from the third floor with the doctor in his arms, I used my Kinto'un cloud to break her fall. Then I administered first aid and protected her in a cloud chrysalis until the medics arrived," Galahad explained, pointing to the small, fluffy golden mass floating above his head.
"Fascinating! What is it made of?" Lloyd exclaimed, instinctively reaching out to touch it, before being promptly blocked by Cécile.
With such an attitude, it's no surprise that we destroyed his parents' home. It's a miracle he hadn't been disowned before.
Kurisu looked Galahad up and down.
"Aren't you a little young to be a hero?" said the red-haired young adult woman, noticing that Galahad is shorter than her.
"My biological age and my mental age are on different levels," Galahad retorted, raising his voice slightly, a little sensitive to his height.
The Knight, in terms of mental experience, is more experienced than Kurisu Makise. In fact, he would be the oldest among those present if you add up the memories he received from Mash Kyrielight, Tachie, Galahad, Galahad Alter, and so on.
"Besides, wouldn't it be hypocritical to judge me by my age? You graduated at seventeen, and now, at eighteen, you work at S.T.A.R. Labs side by side with the most brilliant minds on the planet," Galahad said with a half-smile, leaving Kurisu momentarily speechless.
The truth is hard to swallow.
"The boy's got guts, I like it," Rakshata commented, puffing on her vape and watching the Black Knight with interest.
"My name isn't 'boy,' but Galahad. Or Shielder, if you prefer code names." He pointed out, making sure he was addressed by the correct title/nickname.
"Another fan of Arthurian mythology!" exclaimed Lloyd Asplund, his eyes glowing with an almost feverish light.
"I'm working on a personal project called Lancelot. It will soon silence all my detractors." He added, casting a challenging look at Rakshata.
The robotics genius is definitely a man who loves to attract attention and make noise.
"Lancelot is a bastard. You should change his name, or you risk bad luck." Galahad cut him off without a second thought.
The original Galahad's spiritual heritage and his complicated feelings towards the "Knight of the Lake" had emerged with a disarming naturalness that the current Galahad can do nothing about.
"A very strong opinion." Cécile commented, exchanging a puzzled look with her boss.
"You just earned yourself five extra points in my record, Galahad." Rakshata laughed, enjoying the grimace of disappointment on Lloyd's face.
Doctor Silas Stone intervened, reestablishing a more formal tone.
"You have my gratitude for rescuing Dr. Kimura and protecting S.T.A.R. Labs, Galahad," Doctor Stone said, speaking politely.
"I only did my part. Nothing more, nothing less." Galahad replies, remaining indifferent to the prospect of ending up in the newspapers.
This knight is not as interested in flame and glory as medieval knights; his goals are higher and more immaterial.
"Modesty is a rare commodity these days," Stone observed, appreciating the boy's composure, especially in contrast to Flash, who, nearby, was already putting on a show for the reporters' cameras.
"It's not modesty. My pride simply doesn't lie in my costume or my shield," Galahad explained.
His heart and brain function optimally only for his plans and the intricacies of magic, not for aimless violence.
"Out of pure curiosity... what exactly are you working on in here?" Galahad asks, hoping to gain some useful information, perhaps the reason why five female supervillains attacked the research facility.
"We cannot reveal the current projects of S.T.A.R. Labs," Kurisu replied promptly, resuming her tone of a protocol-abiding scientist.
"You'll have to wait for the public presentation like everyone else." Kurisu concludes, crossing her arms.
Galahad gave a challenging smile.
"I may not look it because of my stature or my medieval armor, but I assure you I am as intelligent as Nikola Tesla and as cunning as Sherlock Holmes," Galahad said, proving he is not modest.
Doctor Stone looked him over seriously, sensing that this was no empty boast.
"Bold words, Shielder. Can you back them up?" asked the lead researcher, openly challenging him on the level of pure ingenuity.
"You will be the ones who bring Cyberpunk 2077 to real life, but without the element of mega-corporations ruling the world," Galahad said, making one of his trademark references that no one can understand.
The five scientists showed varying degrees of confusion or perplexity.
Galahad sighed the nerds in front of him are not his nerds.
"You're working on a project involving cybernetics. Rakshata is in charge of the technology itself; Lloyd and Cécile are helping with the design and power source; Kurisu is taking care of the human-machine interface; Kimura is preparing the drugs to prevent the body from rejecting the implants. Doctor Stone is the one who keeps you on track and working together, providing his expertise in areas you don't specialize in." Galahad deduced, using the information he possessed.
The five scientists remained silent for a long moment, struck by the precision of the analysis.
"Good Sherlock Holmes... but I haven't seen Nikola Tesla yet." Kurisu said, speaking first and breaking the silence.
Galahad smiled slightly. He knew that words alone were not enough to impress such minds.
"You have problems. Given your qualifications, the critical issue isn't Kurisu's neural interface, nor Dr. Kimura's biological rejection drugs. I'd say the most likely obstacle is the stability of the energy flow during peak synchronization." Galahad speculated, this time more on the side of intuition than absolute certainty.
"Your technology works with animal brains, but a human brain is too complex and chaotic to fail if it has to connect to more than two prosthetics at once." Galahad continued with his deduction, watching the scientists' expressions grow more serious.
"If I've guessed the problem, the solution you're working on must create harmony between the cybernetic interface, the brain, and the intelligent prosthetics. The most obvious path would be a cybernetic brain, at least fifty percent, but that would be too invasive." Galahad said, starting to think seriously.
The Knight touched his chin, lost in thought.
"Perhaps it would be safer and easier to create an external interface. In the comics, Doctor Octopus had an entire apparatus on his back connected to four mechanical arms. An external system could be attached to his spinal column, capable of reading and transmitting information. It would be essentially a miniature supercomputer on the back of his neck, connected to a chip in his brain and a metal band along his spine." Galahad concluded, immediately devising a less invasive but technologically revolutionary solution.
The Black Knight is moving from simple deduction to actual engineering design, leaving the geniuses at S.T.A.R. Labs speechless.
Lloyd Asplund was the first to react, sprinting forward with wide eyes.
"This guy just solved the problem of overheating the spine as an external data highway... Cécile, did you take notes?" Lloyd asks, turning to his assistant.
She crosses her arms, trying to hide how shocked she is, but the blush on her cheeks gives her away.
"Analysis... acceptable. But a brain chip still requires bioelectrical calibration that can't be solved with external hardware alone," Kurisu Makise said, finding a flaw in Galahad's proposed solution.
"However... the idea of a processing unit on the back of the head to offload the computational load from the brain... is not entirely without scientific logic." Kurisu Makise concluded, having to give credit where credit is due.
Rakshata takes a long drag on her e-pipe, exhaling a cloud of scented vapor with a sly smile.
"Not bad, kid. You just described the basic architecture of a Neural Cyber-Link without ever having seen our proprietary schematics. Either you're a natural genius, or you've been watching too much anime. Either way, I like you more and more." Rakshata said, giving the Knight a hard time, something she doesn't do often.
Chief Researcher Silas Stone remained silent, his stern gaze softening into an expression of respect and a little surprise.
"What you've described is, in theoretical terms, the solution we've been working on for our project. The fact that you deduced it simply from observing us and knowing the limitations of human biology... that's impressive, Shielder. Very impressive," said Doctor Stone, using the Knight's official nickname.
Cécile remains in the background and smiles kindly, while she is typing everything Galahad said on her tablet.
Once she finished taking notes, Cécile asked, "Are you by any chance working on a similar project?"
"Nothing like Cyberpunk 2077 yet. I'm focusing on an electric-powered flying motorcycle; the next step will be a fighter jet." Galahad replied, already having mental blueprints ready.
"But how did you get the idea for the external unit?" Kurisu asked, still skeptical that such an intuition could arise out of nowhere.
"I'm just a huge fan of the Cyberpunk genre. You just have to take the insights of various writers, find the right way to apply them, and build them into reality, taking biology and physics into account. Luckily for me, I read a lot, I have a boundless imagination, and... well, I'm a genius." Galahad concluded, having no qualms about talking about his intellectual abilities.
"Thomas Edison said, 'Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.'" Silas Stone said, unaware that he had pressed another of the buttons that triggers the Horseman.
The little cloud above Galahad's head emitted electric sparks.
"Thomas Edison is a Furry, a knave, a thief, and a cheat!" exclaimed Galahad, whose dislike for the American inventor seemed as profound as his for Lancelot.
'He won't be the first or last eccentric genius I'll meet,' thinks Doctor Stone, having seen worse behavior.
"Did you say... flying motorcycle?" Lloyd interjected, his pupils practically dilating with interest.
Galahad snapped his fingers in response.
A floating holographic screen and keyboard materialized before the group: a glowing interface that looked like alien technology, but pulsed with the blue light characteristic of its magic.
Kurisu Makise looked at the projected pattern, then shifted her gaze to the boy.
"Okay... I admit it. You're definitely Tesla too." Kurisu reluctantly admits.
Lloyd watches the holographic display with almost feverish interest, his eyes shining behind his round lenses.
"Cécile, I think I've found the right guy for you! You'll be happy, and our team will finally have the key element it needs." Lloyd exclaimed, already relishing the idea of putting Galahad's genius to work on his Lancelot project.
"Lloyd... I'm about ten years older than him!" Cécile retorted, her cheeks burning with embarrassment in front of everyone.
Galahad, maintaining his usual imperturbable calm, replied with the sincerity of a grown man trapped in a boy's body: "I like older women."
Lloyd's smile widened, while the blush on Cécile's face became even deeper.
But the scene was abruptly interrupted.
Medusa stepped out of the shadows, wrapping her arms around Galahad and pulling him into a possessive embrace, like that of a snake claiming its prey.
Under the pressure of the contact, the magical projection instantly vanished.
"What are you doing, Rider?" Galahad asked, surprised by his Servant's sudden gesture.
Medusa has never behaved like this before.
"I'll protect you." She replied shortly, her gaze stoic but her aura brooking no argument.
Cécile's poor face went from red to crimson, unable to handle the sudden tension.
At that moment, a red trail stopped right in front of them: Flash had returned.
"Shielder, Rider! We're about to return to the Hall of Justice." The speedster announced with a dazzling smile, oblivious to the ongoing romantic drama.
"And don't forget, Galahad: you owe us hamburgers. You made a promise before all this madness at S.T.A.R. Labs!" Flash said, feeling a certain craving for a good hamburger.
Galahad remains silent for a moment, deciding that it would be better to continue the discussion another time, in a setting more suited to intellectual conversation.
"If you need me, you'll find me at the Hall of Justice. As of today, I'm officially an associate of the Justice League, under the supervision of Wonder Woman," Galahad announced, intent on keeping in touch with that brain pool.
"I already know where we're going on our next second day off," Lloyd muttered with a knowing smile, several devious ideas brewing in his head.
"Why the second day and not the first?" Cécile asked, confused.
"Because you'll need your first day off to get yourself ready. If you don't get moving, Rakshata or Kurisu might beat you to it." Lloyd replied, not wanting to lose a potential asset for his project: Lancelot.
"It will never happen!" Kurisu snapped with her usual sternness, while Rakshata placed a hand on her shoulder with a sly smile.
"Never say never..." She teased the Indian woman, enjoying Lloyd's grimace.
Flash watched the scene, shaking his head, with a hint of envy.
"Are you sure you're not Batman's long-lost son? You have the same effect on women: they either want to kill you or keep you all for themselves." Flash asks, strange ideas swirling in his hungry head.
"It's the charm of the knight, what can I do?" Galahad replied in an indecipherable tone.
At that moment, his attention was caught by the red-haired woman.
Tall and aloof, she was making statements nearby.
The sky, following the Paladin's mood, began to darken even more, the wind began to blow, the air became colder.
"Medusa, let go. I have a magic trick to perform." Galahad ordered through their mental connection.
The Servant obeyed instantly.
Galahad pulled the piece of clay from his belt, already carefully shaped to look like a perfect replica of a USB stick.
Suddenly, Fou, the magical creature accompanying him, appeared, leaping forward as if terrified by something.
"Fou! What's the matter with you?" Galahad exclaimed, starting to chase the little animal through the crowd, attracting the attention of everyone present.
"Watch your step! It's fragile!" Galahad exclaims loudly, displaying a personality more suited to his appearance.
As he ran, he passed close to the mysterious woman. At that precise moment, thunder cracked across the dark sky.
She instinctively raised her head to the clouds, and in that millisecond, Galahad performed the switch, using a small spatial spell.
"Hassan, keep following her. I'll finish the play and then return to the Hall of Justice." Galahad said, giving Assassin his instructions through their mental link.
The Black Knight continued to chase Fou for a couple of minutes, then finally caught Fou, holding him in his arms.
Then, Galahad regained his composure and went to join the Super-Heroes to return to the Hall of Justice.
At the same time, the red-haired woman walked away unaware that she was being chased by a "cutthroat ghost" and in her pockets she kept a fake USB stick that did not contain the stolen data.
Continues ...
XXX
Author's Note:
With this, I've finished episode two of this story.
Actually, I was originally planning something very different, a fight that ended with a huge bolt of lightning falling from the sky and hitting a giant target.
But I ended up writing this chapter, what can I say?
I let myself be carried by the current.
Ps. I'm craving a good burger, I'll go and eat one tomorrow or the day after.