What's Junk? (The Mech Touch)

[Sunhawk]

I wonder if Bubbles might have any advice on MTA resources he can draw on to deal with kidnapper-type threats like this; seems like something designers do occasionally have to consider (albeit probably usually not involving a gestation pod).

Mini-mechs might be a way to deal with human-sized threats in human-sized spaces? And making sure one or more of the protective mechs is able to take the gestation pod inside, keeping it powered and supplied - just in case evacuation is needed.

 

[lost star]

The answer is typically have a trusted security detail. There's no perfect solution though. Even high value First Rate guys have issues.

 

[Simonbob]

The answer is typically have a trusted security detail. There's no perfect solution though. Even high value First Rate guys have issues.

Click to shrink...

Sure.

But, Bolt is offering a supprise for this set of kiddenapers.

 

[lost star]

Mechs were expensive. This wasn't immediately obvious to someone who saw Bolt create them, but it had to be said. Making mechs from scratch simply reduced the cost from extremely expensive to expensive. Bolt could cheat due to his abilities. He still had to pay an exorbitant amount. Moreso because he was paying to have the materials delivered as a priority.

Thankfully he had a bank of Friday Credits due to his antics elsewhere. The sales from Nosferatu and the arena modules covered his expenses and made it so that he didn't have to take the time to do some money transfers. It was a nice benefit that also sped up his timeframe by a fair amount. What should have taken days worth of material transfers was done within a day. This didn't include build time though, and Bolt would have to push himself if he wanted it done before the weeks end.

By this point Lilly had moved their child to the suite. She was notable tense and they'd managed a few words in private and out of any possible earshot using some spiritual shenanigans. None of what she relayed was good. What was worse was that there wasn't really actionable intel at the moment. What would they say, there were people out there that Lilly had identified as dangerous? That was not much at all. Expert senses were good, but they had no idea what would happen if the people were accused. They didn't even know what the actual danger was! It'd look very silly if they accused the man and the danger was something around him or something.

They couldn't leave the planet due to the child still needing personal attention either. It was very possible that even if they could there would be a problem there! Right now bunkering down was the best option. Making three Torment-guards became half Bolt's way of handling the stress and half him creating a solution.

Bolt would not be selling this line. It was private use only. Which meant that the MTA didn't need to get involved, and he could push his spiritual construction all the way.

He did the chains for the electro-whip first. They were cruel and barbed things that wouldn't be out of place in a torture show if they were so large. The whip itself was very technically a melee weapon, though it used a different range of motion and had a surprising range. It required a quick snap and pull from the arm. The chains would drag across armor and shred the target in the best case scenario.

What had made the weapon less than popular was the fact that the best case scenario rarely happened. Mech armor was naturally able to prevent the barbs from gripping, and the electric / heat payload that was contained in the chains was typically grounded harmlessly. It was a weapon that looked cruel and cool and ended up being rather anemic in practice. Yet it fit perfectly with this mech. It was also the most fiddly part of the entire thing because nine barbed chains that each weapon had were not easy to assemble safely. (The proprietary material had a strange sort of stretch that gave the whip a natural snap. It'd be something very entertaining in other circumstances.)

The armor was red. Solid, but unremarkable. Bolt wasn't getting fancy with it. Most of the construction was actually fairly standard. Bolt's innovations were more in the unseen than the seen. It was a bit soothing to go through the routine of creating the mech. Bolt added spikes here and there to compliment the back weapon and overall theme. Each mech was going to be slightly different, but would have the same broad strokes. The fan-like structure was striking and prominent. It made the mech look almost vain really. As if it'd worn a personal adornment to give it a background effect.

Once the three eyes were installed Bolt decided that it needed some shading here and there to magnify the overall look. The eyes might have been just sensors, but they really popped. It felt a bit strange until Bolt stood back and looked at the entire design visually. The fan-like structure of the launchers drew the eyes up, and then you got caught in the three eyed gaze of the mech. Very striking.

Amusingly this was emphasized still further by the fact that the lower half of the mech was a bit chunky. The legs were thicker and more armored than standard, and the feet were larger. This gave the mechs better footing and made it harder to push them off their feet. The boosters were meant for balance and quick response more than flight. When the thing was in action it'd be almost a show, which was purely unintentional honestly.

All told, the entire construction was fairly normal from the outside. Bolt knew for a fact that anyone looking at the recordings would see him just make three mechs. Sure it was done a bit fast, but he was known for that sort of thing. The Torment-guards looked more ceremonial than weapons of war. The aura was barely there as well. It looked and felt like a decorative piece on first glance.

Yet if one probed deeper there was something sleeping inside these mechs. He'd poured his emotions into them. All the tension and hopes. This was a mech that would wake up at the proper time. Until then it was content to sleep.

"So, there's a system you ain't familiar with in these." Bolt told the three pilots when they gathered around him. "It's called the heart system, and it's got the blueprints and briefings in them." He said with a small and grim smile. "Please review them if you can."

To his mild bemusement, the three pilots were in what they considered their formal outfits at the moment. Two maid outfits and a butler outfit. Complete with chokers. Why they preferred the collars he didn't know. Bolt had a sneaking suspicion that the kids found it funny. So far as jokes went it was completely harmless, so Bolt wasn't going to make a big deal of it. It was going to spread rumors about him, but that was almost helpful really. Obscurement about his tastes and needs would be useful moving forward.

He was more focused on what needed to happen next anyway. The teens needed practice in the new mechs and he needed to review any bugs he'd missed. There were always a few small things that needed to be adjusted on new mechs, and he technically had time now.

The waiting was always the worst part. There was no question in Bolt's mind that there were going to be problems. It was just a matter of when.

Elsewhere the man responsible for setting off Lilly was not even aware of being the one to alert her. He'd been doing this for decades now, and not a single person had even come close to identifying him as a threat. Assassinations, espionage, sabotage, he'd done it all without a single hint of his involvement. He'd become almost complacent.

Yet he was still a very good infiltrator. This meant that even though he had a team he wasn't going to rely on them alone. His goal was to abduct the child. His secondary goal was to disrupt governments. Unhappy areas gave better opportunities. There were a good few cats-paws in the city that were watching the couple. Provoking a few of them to attack and make a distraction was a matter of simply making them believe that it was in their best interest.

The man didn't even need to really do much. Paranoia was an artform amongst many black-ops areas. It took about two calls and a singular meeting in a tea-shop to arrange for an entire mercenary company to attack within a few days. Practically overkill really.

His plan was relatively simple really. Have the mercenaries attack. Invoke the shield that was built into the suite that the couple was in, and then have his team walk in through the backdoor. They'd slaughter everyone, sabotage the shield to make it explode, and the battle would do the coverup.

Unfortunately for him, he gave Bolt several days of preparation. A paranoid man wondering about things like that could do a lot. He also rather neglected to take into account how many other black-ops groups there were.

 

[Luker number 5]

Haha these FOOLS these utterly CLUELESS RUBES have no idea I've manipulated them into doing exactly as I want! Soon they shall make a mess and I shall SWOOP IN and claim my rightful prize with none the wiser!

THERE WERE HOW MANY GROUPS?!

 

[Oglymogly]

I wonder why he didn't make a man sized one like he did back in the fortress. Didn't want that knowledge getting out? Or couldn't get a spirit into it from here?