Twin-Tower Fortress had countless external platforms jutting from its towers—pads for different craft to land and launch. A few minutes later, they arrived at one of them.
“First test,” the Gentleman said. “You don’t need auxiliary wings anymore. Take a lap.”
“Yes, Lord Julian.”
Wyatt fired up his flight engine and rose lightly into the air. He discovered vectoring thrusters not only on his back, but along his forearms and shoulders—enough to let him change direction in midair with frightening speed.
He started with a slow circle around the tower. Then he gradually increased speed and complexity. Rolls. Snap turns. Dives. Sudden stops. Everything came effortlessly, as if the air itself had become cooperative.
Wyatt couldn’t contain his excitement. Before, without auxiliary wings, he hadn’t even been able to maintain stable flight.
He accelerated. The sound barrier broke almost immediately. He threaded between towering mountains at a speed that looked suicidal from the outside. Only when the Gentleman called him back did Wyatt return to the platform.
“Not bad,” Bit said. “Peak speed: Mach 3.46.”
“That’s almost Phantom-fighter territory,” Bubbles said.
“Maneuverability,” Merc said, “better than a fighter.”
“And I’m not overheating at all,” Wyatt said, astonished.
“Of course you aren’t,” the Gentleman said. “That chassis is super Yaru alloy. It can take extreme cold and extreme heat.” He tilted his head. “Now let’s play a little game.”
He pointed to a distant mountain. “See that summit? It’s 4.7 kilometers from here. I’ve deployed Observers along the route. Your job is to reach that peak without being detected. Thirty-minute limit. No flying.”
Wyatt traced his gaze down from the summit. The slope was steep. Between the tower and the peak lay a valley packed with jagged boulders. Those naturally scattered stones formed countless winding paths.
“Understood, Lord Julian.”
Wyatt activated stealth mode, leapt from the platform, and started toward the objective…
“I’ll bet you won’t even see him,” Bit said.
“You’re only saying that because you can’t see him yourself,” Bubbles shot back.
“There,” Merc said, pointing at empty air beside a boulder.
Twenty-two minutes later, Wyatt spoke on the open channel. “I’m here.”
On the bare summit across the valley, Wyatt appeared out of nowhere and waved.
“Good,” the Gentleman said, satisfied. “The Observers didn’t spot you.” His voice stayed on the open channel. “Now we raise the difficulty. I’m adding Avengers. They’ll patrol between the boulders. Come back here under the same conditions—you must avoid them completely.”
“That’s fun,” Bit said. “Better than the virtual battlefield. I want a turn.”
“Forget it. You can’t,” Bubbles said.
“Why not?”
“Because you’d end up killing everyone you run into. Merc—thoughts?”
“Not fun,” Merc said.
…
This time, Wyatt was discovered in under three minutes.
“Failure,” the Gentleman said with a chuckle, as if he’d expected it.
“It’s hard, Lord Julian,” Wyatt said on the open channel. “Too many Avengers. With the Observers working with them, there’s almost no blind spot.”
“You’ve a reliable little partner on your shoulder,” the Gentleman said. “And you haven’t used it yet.”
Wyatt glanced at his shoulder. A slightly raised, curved hatch had replaced the old micro-missile mount.
“Activate the program in your database called Shadow Falcon,” the Gentleman said.
Wyatt obeyed. The hatch split and slid aside, and a diamond-shaped device popped out. It unfolded into a V-shaped flyer—and at the same time, Wyatt’s mind acquired a second viewpoint.
He understood instantly. He sent Shadow Falcon climbing. Controlling it was as natural as controlling his own hands. As it rose, it faded from Wyatt’s direct sight, but through Shadow Falcon’s eyes, Wyatt could still see himself clearly. The drone was cloaked, too.
When Shadow Falcon reached altitude, the entire valley’s “enemy” layout spread out beneath Wyatt like a map. From that moment on, Wyatt had a bird’s-eye view from the sky.
“Shadow Falcon is… incredible,” Wyatt said, genuinely.
“Now try again.”
This time, every Avenger patrol route was exposed. With Wyatt’s upgraded computation, the optimal route and timing assembled themselves almost instantly. All he had to do was stay wary of the Observers.
Wyatt sprinted through the valley, slipping past every Avenger and Observer. Victory was in sight—he was almost at the tower—when a spider mine suddenly sprang from beneath a boulder. It was too close. Wyatt couldn’t dodge, and the mine latched onto him.
“Failure,” the Gentleman said.
“You didn’t say there would be spider mines, Lord Julian,” Wyatt said, sounding wronged.
“An enemy won’t reveal every card to you,” the Gentleman snapped, suddenly severe. “Remember this: the strike that hurts you most is always the one you never saw coming.”
Wyatt flew back up to the platform and bowed with the kind of gesture humans used for elders. “I understand.”
The Gentleman returned a shallow bow. “Next: familiarize yourself with your sidearms. Open the gun bays on both thighs.”
Wyatt unfolded the compartments on his legs and drew two pistols with an unusual silhouette.
“What are these?”
“My design,” the Gentleman said. “They don’t have names yet. For now, call them Frost and Flame.”
“Energy weapons?”
“Yes. Flame follows the standard principle of a laser gun: pulsed lasers heat plasma into a destructive, high-temperature beam. Frost uses plasma lasers to trigger a liquefaction reaction in helium-nitrogen atoms, producing an extremely low-temperature beam.”
He waved off the deep theory and got to the point. “Individually, they hit about as hard as a standard laser pistol. But if you land both beams on the same target, the damage doubles. More importantly, you can slot them back into the bays to recharge.”
“So they’re… infinite-ammo weapons,” Wyatt said, startled.
“You could say that,” the Gentleman said with a shrug.
“That’s amazing. But… I still want my ion blade.” Wyatt noticed an elongated ridge on each forearm, like the old ion-blade emitters. “What is this? My ion blade? Wait… I’ve two?”
“Activate them.”
Wyatt triggered them as he always had. No blade appeared. Instead, two deep-blue energy shields bloomed into existence.
“Same principle as the ion blade, but denser,” the Gentleman said. “I used a stronger magnetic field to constrain the plasma into round shields. Your chassis is already strong, but an extra layer of protection never hurts.”
“Th-that’s… incredible.” Wyatt couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. “I’ve always liked shields. But my ion blade… I need a melee weapon.”
“Enough with ion blades,” the Gentleman said. “Heaven above. Don’t you want a 2D Blade?”
“A 2D Blade…?” Wyatt’s eyes flared with light.
“Don’t even think about it. Mine!” Bit grabbed the hilt of his own 2D Blade and turned sideways as if someone was about to snatch it.
The Gentleman rolled his eyes. “No one’s stealing your sword, you miser.”
“Did you make another one?” Bit demanded, startled.
“I did,” the Gentleman said calmly. “Not long ago, I captured another progenitor particle.”