The newsvan parked in the abandoned garage.

As I hauled the Grunter suits out, I turned to Jeffrey. “Remember our deal.”

O’Rourke nodded. “We drive out and don’t take any photos as we leave. Nobody hides behind.”

“Good.”

“I’d love to do an interview with you later. Anytime’s convenient.”

I laughed. “Maybe someday.”

O’Rourke nodded.

I waited until the reporters left, then pulled the Grunter suits into Inventory.

YOU ARE OVERBURDENED! AP REGEN -10. CURRENT: -6.9/SEC.

I quietly walked behind the pillar, where Anne waited in the autocar. The stealth paint coating made it hard to see in the dark.

As I got in, I unloaded the suits in the boot. The drain on my AP vanished.

Anne nodded at me. “Ready to go?”

I nodded. “Ready.”

And as the autocar slid out of its parking spot, I hit the Jammer Beacon, scrambling all cameras in the building and covering our tracks.

The Grunter Soldier suits stood in the basement, glistening menacingly.

“Do you know what you’re going to do with them?” asked Anne.

I nodded. “A new skill unlocked when I hit Mechanic Level 15. It’s called Reverse Engineering.”

“What does it do?”

“For about 500 MP, I can dismantle each suit and gain some insights into the technology.” I pulled up the description in my skills.

REVERSE ENGINEERING

SEE HOW IT WORKS BY TAKING IT APART. DISMANTLING AN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVICE ADVANCES SKILLS AND UNLOCKS NEW BLUEPRINTS. DEVICES MUST BE MORE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED THAN YOUR CURRENT BLUEPRINTS.

REQUIREMENTS: MECHANIC LEVEL 15.

COST: 500 MP.

I focused on the first Grunter Soldier suit and pushed my MP into it.

REVERSE ENGINEERED: 1X GRUNTER SOLDIER SUIT.

The suit vanished in swirls of blue light.

SKILL UPGRADE: ENERGY SYSTEMS ADVANCES TO LEVEL 4.

SKILL UPGRADE: EXPLOSIVES ADVANCES TO LEVEL 3.

“I got skill boosts,” I explained to Anne.

“Will you get more from the next?” she asked.

“Let’s try.” My MP was recovering fast. In less than a minute, I had enough to reverse engineer the second suit.

SKILL UPGRADE: ENERGY SYSTEMS ADVANCES TO LEVEL 5.

ELECTRONIC ARTS ADVANCES TO LEVEL 8.

YOU HAVE 2 OF 4 REQUISITES TO UNLOCK POWERED ARMOR FORGING.

MECHANIC: LEVEL 20 OF 10 REQUIRED - ACHIEVED.

ELECTRONIC ARTS: LEVEL 8 OF 10 REQUIRED.

EXPLOSIVES: LEVEL 3 OF 5 REQUIRED.

ENERGY SYSTEMS: LEVEL 5 OF 5 REQUIRED.

“Well, I’m still some distance away from powered armor,” I commented. “But I did get quite a few new blueprints.”

“Which ones?”

“Let me check.” I summoned my interface again.

REVIEW NEW BLUEPRINTS?

RIFLE GRENADE

GRENADE THAT USES THE ENERGY OF A RIFLE-BASED LAUNCHER TO TRAVEL FURTHER DISTANCES THAN CAN BE THROWN BY HAND.

CAUSES UP TO 500 DAMAGE IN AN AREA OF EFFECT.

REQUIREMENTS: EXPLOSIVES LEVEL 3.

COST: 0.1 KG STEEL + PETROLEUM BASED FUELS + 500 MP.

SIGNAL DISRUPTER

BREAKS THE CONTROL SIGNAL ON AN ENEMY DRONE OR AUTOMATED COMBAT DEVICE. 100 MP PER USE. COOLDOWN: 30 SECONDS.

REQUIREMENTS: ELECTRONIC ARTS LEVEL 8.

COST: 1 LASER RIFLE + 3 SMARTPHONES + 1 SMALL POWER PACK + 500 MP.

POWER PACK INTEGRATOR

ALLOWS SMALLER POWER PACKS TO BE COMBINED INTO A LARGER POWER PACK.

CAN UPGRADE POWER PACKS GRADUALLY INTO LARGER UNITS.

REQUIREMENTS: ELECTRONIC ARTS LEVEL 7, ENERGY SYSTEMS LEVEL 5.

COST: 100 SQ. M. NANOFIBRE WEAVE + 10 KG FULLERSTEEL + 8 COMPUTER SYSTEMS + 600 MP.

MEDIUM POWER PACK

CAPACITY 60 MJ. CARRYING AS MUCH POWER AS FORTY SMALL POWER PACKS, THIS IS A UNIT THAT CAN POWER SOME SIGNIFICANT WEAPONRY. REQUIRES A POWER PACK INTEGRATOR TO ASSEMBLE.

REQUIREMENTS: ENERGY SYSTEMS LEVEL 3.

COST: 1 KG FULLERSTEEL + 40 SMALL POWER PACKS + 500 MP.

I whistled. “The Medium Power Pack needs me to make forty small power packs and… combine them.”

“Forty? That’s a lot….”

“Yeah but it’s got forty times the power of a small pack.” I paused. “The Heavy Power Pack is 1200 MJ. That’s twenty Medium packs…”

“Wow. That’s a lot. Can you actually make them?”

“Actually - I can. This might be a major breakthrough.”

“I’ll say. Did you level up?”

“Level 9. And I unlocked a new skill tree for defeating Gravitic - it’s called Gravity Control.”

“Does this mean you get new skills by beating ultrahumans?”

“That’s no guarantee. I didn’t get any skills for beating Tigerstrike or Ultragorilla.”

“Okay, so what does Gravity Control do?”

“There’s a skill called Powerjump.”

POWERJUMP

THE POWER OF YOUR MIND COMPELS EVEN GRAVITY TO SUBMIT. LAUNCHES YOU INTO THE AIR AT A COST OF 1 MP PER 100 KGS OR PART THEREOF PER FOOT OF JUMP.

ALSO BRINGS YOU DOWN SAFELY, WHICH AT YOUR CURRENT LEVEL IS VITALLY IMPORTANT.

LEVEL 1: 1 MP PER 100 KG WEIGHT PER FOOT OF JUMP.

“That means,” Anne calculated rapidly, “you could jump as high as five hundred feet with your current power.”

“Only half that,” I pointed out. “I weigh seventy kilos, the armor adds another thirty-five, and my gear usually comes to another twenty kilos. So that puts me at 125 kg, which means 2 MP per foot of jump - or a range of 276 feet.”

“That’s still useful. Bodycharge has a limited range, right?”

I nodded. “This makes me able to close with a foe even a hundred feet away. Or, if the enemy is really dangerous, retreat pretty quickly.”

“You’ll need to practice.” My sister wore a cheeky grin. “This time, I’m supervising.”

I snorted. “Not if you still want cake this weekend.”

“Oh come on! Not fair!”