"Do you want to build this?"
Liam was currently looking at the blueprints of a large sharp edged robot. There were two drawings of it side by side one showing its front, the other its back. It seemed to be sketched, and the drawing itself was surrounded by lines and drawings indicating various parts, lists of materials necessary, various calculations, and the title written boldly underneath: VMA.
"What's does 'VMA' mean?" Liam asked as he turned his eyes from Hannah back to the drawing.
Hannah smiled, "It stands for 'Venma Mechanized Assistant'."
Liam stared at her with wide eyes, "What?"
It was established-long before their era-that any devices meant to physically alter the characteristics of a person were to be destroyed. Humanity had already started walking the path of evolution, and they refused to make the same mistakes as their forefathers.
But, these blueprints... they don't contain any parts meant to alter people... it looks a little like...
"A military droid?" Liam frowned. He looked Hannah in the eye, concern and a little fear building in them.
Is she nuts?! Building this kind of thing without a permit from the government itself is-
"It's similar to a military droid, but its purpose is different," Hannah smiled, the pride in her design shining in her eyes, "My VMA is designed to assist civilians in combat if the police, army, Hunters, and Heroes cannot stop a threat. Its primary function is to assist the body of the person wielding it- note that it has much smaller dimensions than military WIU, Weaponized Infantry Units-in combat-"
"Liam rose a hand, "Sorry to interrupt, but isn't this illegal? And the materials necessary to build this can't be found easily, also where would you build something of this size?"
Hannah blinked repeatedly at the questions, and Liam felt worry bubble up inside him.
"H-hey, if you can't-"
"Oh I already have a legal permit."
"...Excuse me?"
Hannah scratched her cheek with an embarrassed smile, "Technically this project belongs to my big brother, and he's an inventor working for my Dad, and he is a military contractor. Oh, please don't tell anyone. It's a pretty heavy secret.
"So why are you telling me?!" Liam exclaimed, jumping out of his seat.
"Oh calm down," Hannah patted the shoulder of the corpse-looking boy, "Now that you know, you can help me right? Some people can't read blueprints, but you have enough knowledge to do so, and your study habits tell me you're good enough."
A groan and sigh escaped Liam's mouth at the same time, then he looked into Hannah's eyes, confusion in his eyes.
"Wait. If the project was given to your brother, why are you designing it?
"He's busy."
"...So he gave it to you?"
"Basically."
"Does whoever issued the permit know that?"
"..."
"Hannah."
The girl laughed and scratched the back of her head, "Well, all you need to understand is that I have a permit, can access resources, and have rented a workshop in the Laboratory Block for the whole year."
Liam froze as the new information whispered like a temptress in his ear. His mind immediately simplified the information and gave him a checklist.
LEGALITY CHECK: PASSED
ETHICAL QUESTIONS: PENDING
ENGINEERING PROJECT: REAL
...PAXWIKI: FULL POWER.
Liam's colorful eyes seemed to glow as he grinned at Hannah.
"Then you need to address this problem first," Liam said as he pointed at the shoulders of the design, "These are too big and heavy. It seems you put the power modules there... no wait, you need to finish your description first. Please continue."
Hannah stared for approximately one second:
Where'd the shy kid go?
Then continued her explanation. After all, to her, her creations came first.
"Ahem... as I was saying before, the VMA is meant to be piloted by specifically adults, and is meant to assist their physical and martial prowess. It will possess a logic core that has saved hundreds of battle simulation data, and is meant for as many Venma types as possible; whether they be Mutas, Transformatives, Emitters, or Controllers."
Liam narrowed his eyes, "So you're saying that this VMA is only meant to boost the physical and combat capabilities, and not the Venma itself?"
"Correct. As-"
"I feel like only people who know the basics of combat can pilot this though," Liam stated matter-of-factly.
Hannah rose an eyebrow, ignoring the interruption, "Why do you say that?"
Liam rose a finger, "Think about it. This idea you're proposing is basically asking people to give up their physical freedom to a machine. How many people do you think will approve of that idea? Not to mention storage..."
"Urgh, guess I shouldn't have been so short-sighted..." Hannah grumbled as she tugged lightly on her locks. Then she gave Liam a wry smile, "I knew having a different opinion helped. Also, to answer the storage question, I was planning to have them kept in the CEZ's."
Liam nodded as he put a hand on his chin, "That does make sense. They'd be better equipped to fight that way..."
CEZ stood for Civilian Evacuation Zone. They were large domes placed in cities to aid in the isolation and protection of civilians during dangerous times. There were at least two in every city, and they contained large amounts of defensive equipment such as force fields, anti-missile guns, EMPs, and many more.
All CEZ's were designed with five interchangeable bunkers in their solid foundations, and contained self-defense equipment, rations, and even minor entertainment.
"But, if we think this through, the only ones who can use these are trained civilians or the police," Liam said.
Hannah sat back with a slightly surprised look on her face, "Hey, you're right. The cops are pretty scary. But this was meant to aid those at the very back of the defense line..."
The police force mainly consisted of people who could not complete the Hero Course, and were therefore recommended to police academies. They solved local crimes, fought criminals, and did whatever needed to be done. They only called in Heroes when Villains were involved or their ability was lacking.
Liam nodded at Hannah's words, but before he could say anything she sat up straight.
"The answer is simple then. We have to change the design, as well as make the AI in the logic core smart enough to tell a beginner from a pro and all those in-between... no wait, it's best to make it controllable. We should work on how much control the machine should even have."
Liam, not even realizing he had been roped into it, shot back, "Not only that, we have to figure out how to make this appealing enough for people to want to even pilot one."
"Then let's get to work," Hannah grinned as she cracked her knuckles.
Liam nodded and raised his tablet and stylus.
"Wait a minute, where did those come from?" Hannah asked, pointing at the device in Liam's hand with a confused expression on her face.
"My bag, obviously," Liam answered as he pointed at his feet with the stylus. Hannah looked down to see the large satchel.
But... how? Hannah stared at Liam for a second. Then she shrugged.
Whatever.
"Okay, first of all we need to deal with power and weight," Liam said as he eyeballed the blueprint.
"You mean the batteries right?" Hannah nodded as she leaned across the table and grabbed her bag to pull out her tablet.
"Yeah. If the mech is this big, we'll need a lot of power to fuel it."
"CEZs run on nuclear fusion."
"THEY DO?!" Liam exclaimed, almost jumping on Hannah.
"Shhhhh..." a voice startled the two. Upon inspection, there were speaker panels in the roof, and, Liam thought, most likely microphones that picked up noise above certain frequencies.
"Let's just whisper," Hannah whispered.
Liam gave a thumbs up, "Anyways, we don't have that kind of power here, so we have to find a way to decrease energy consumption. Which would mean decreasing most of the size..."
Hannah sighed, "For real? We can decide that later. And anyway, we have to deal with actuation too..."
The two eventually lost connection with the outside world as they talked. They whispered agreements, arguments, and shock from realization. Every so often, one of them would leave the table and return with more books, and soon they searched the web as well.
"Seriously? Why not—"
"Weight."
"Right, but then—wait, show me the rear schematic again."
They bounced ideas off one another, and when one hit a snag they didn't know was there, the other would help them through.
"Why did you use this?" Liam would ask
"Because this calculation-" Hannah would answer, revealing the evidence.
"But wouldn't that cause-"
"Already accounted for it. Though you're right about the control latency..."
"...Hannah, you're a genius."
The two ended up talking for a long while, and at some point they stopped discussing the machine as a whole and started thinking about its parts.
"Maybe we could make a few prototypes first, like gloves and boots," Liam offered.
"Hmm... that's actually a pretty sweet idea. They can be connected to a backbone later on-"
After nearly two hours, the two finally paused their chatting.
Hannah stretched and yawned, and Liam stood up to stretch.
"Well, that was certainly productive," Hannah yawned as she looked at her CID, "Oh, it's almost noon. Wanna grab lunch?"
Liam froze mid stretch.
Wait. Lunch?
Together?
With Hannah?
I met her TODAY.
I've been sitting beside her this whole time.
How long have we been talking?!
Wait, I wasn't stuttering.
Did I seriously ramble to some girl I barely know for—
Then his eyes drifted to his CID.
11:58.
...Almost twelve...
Noon...
Wasn't there something at noon?
Liam's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
LISA!
"Oh SHIT!" Liam exclaimed as he began packing his things.
"Huh?" Hannah jumped, "What is it?!"
"Lisa!" Liam hissed as he slung his bag over his shoulder.
"You mean... Lisa from class? Hypnosis? What about her?"
Liam's eyebrow twitched, "...U-um I'm meeting her later okay bye!"
Liam took off running from the corner.
Hannah blinked in surprise at the rush, then shrugged.
Oh well, it's none of my business, she thought as she grinned at her notes.
"It's all coming together, slowly but surely. I have to ask him to help again..."
****
Liam dodged two students before reaching the staircase, then took the stairs two at a time.
"Watch it!" a student yelled as Liam jumped over the iron balustrade when his path got blocked. He put all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind as his eyes widened, allowing him to take in as much as possible at once.
He saw people blocking possible routes, saw gaps opening up, noted all those who didn't seem to move anytime soon, then glanced at his CID.
11:59
...Lisa's gonna kill me if I'm late. And I don't think I'll be able to handle her this time.
Liam took off once more. He slipped around people, avoided droids, and took a straight path with minimal curves to the doorway.
Two students suddenly closed the gap between them, seemingly nervous.
Liam grit his teeth in annoyance and used ghost step to zip to the side and get back on course.
A student crossed his path. He pivoted right and kept moving.
Three people blocked the doorway leading to the main entrance where the librarian's desk was. Liam read their movement, then burst forward and ducked beneath the arm of the guy on the left as he raised it.
"Huh?" the boy paused, "Did someone pass by me?"
"Hey Rex, what's up?" the girl beside him asked.
"...Nothing," Rex smiled.
Liam groaned inwardly as he saw his path of escape blocked by a small crowd of students coming in to study.
Time to put all that training to use! Liam thought with wide eyes.
He waited for an opportunity, immediately saw one, then took it. He ducked under an arm, slipped straight through two people, used ghost step to get around two more, spun around another and immediately had to pivot out of the way of one more, then ended up moonwalking out the door to avoid eye contact with three girls at the back of the pack.
Liam jumped clear of the entrance stairs and landed in a momentary crouch. As he stood, he steadied his breathing and focused on his heart. As he jogged, its powerful rhythm filled his awareness, and Liam's breath began to quicken along with his pace.
Am I faster than before? Liam thought as he ran full tilt, ...I'm probably imagining it. I've only started training with Lee for six days. Although, he has been testing my reflexes after every workout...
Liam put the thought out of mind and simply focused on running.
Lisa on the other hand, was heading from her dormitory building to Liam's, her video game controller and headset ready in her bag.