Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 141
“Experience.” Boyd shrugged. “Laura was an ER trauma nurse, so faced crises on a daily basis. For her, the training was necessary to adjust her expectations about the scale and scope of the type of crisis she will likely face. You’ve faced your fair share of turbulence and have some experience as field support, but she has years of building up and relying upon coping mechanisms that you do not.”
As Tinker gradually regained her composure, she straightened slightly. He felt a spark of determination ignite within her, becoming a small fire. “I want to be able to bounce back like that too,” she whispered softly, almost to herself.
Boyd turned his gaze to Tinker, a proud smile playing on his lips. “You will, Tink. You have the potential within you to overcome any challenge that comes your way. I’ve seen it in you several times. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t support your desire to take on a combat support role in the field.”
Tinker looked up at him with a small smile. “Thank you for that. I know how much it goes against your instincts. I’m still not sure if I really want it, but I want to be ready if I decide I do.”
Part of him was tempted to caution her or otherwise dissuade her from pursuing this path since the opening she gave offered him the opportunity to do so. But he knew that doing so would be a disservice—both to her and to their relationship.
As someone who loved her, he should build her up, not tear her down to serve his own self-interests.
“It will always be your decision,” he leaned down to rumble softly near her ear. “But Tink, you’ve already demonstrated incredible strength and resilience. You will be an amazing asset in the field… when you are ready. I believe in you, and I know that whatever path you choose, you will excel on it. Your potential is boundless, and I’ll be here every step of the way to support you.”
Tinker dropped her legs and wiggled around until she sat facing him, straddling his thighs. Her big hazel eyes shimmered with a layer of unshed tears, but they also glowed with the determination he felt starting to burn brighter within her. She reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders, her fingers curling gently into his skin.
With a newfound resolve, Tinker straightened her posture and met Boyd’s gaze with big but steely eyes. “I want to be ready for whatever comes our way,” she declared. Her voice was infused with a quiet but resolute strength. “I may not be as experienced as Laura or as battle-hardened as the rest of you, but I’m willing to put in the work to become the best Hero I can.”
“I have no doubt you will help the Devoted become the best team in the Authority’s history.” Boyd grinned at her.
“I’ll do my best.” Tinker nodded firmly. “So, what’s next for my training? I know I have two more of those terrible Pain, Fear, and Failure sessions to go through, but I’m sure there is a longer checklist I’ll have to complete before you’ll let me out into the field for more than just emergency reinforcement.”
“Combat training will be the main focus.” Boyd's deep voice rumbled as he settled his hands around her tiny waist. “Up to this point, we’ve kept you focused on mid and long-distance evasion, surveillance, and ranged attacks. That will serve as an excellent foundation to build on, but we’ll need to lay a few things down over it. Of these, close-quarters combat will be the primary training. The main goal before was for you to exit any engagement you found yourself in as quickly as possible. Now, we have to switch both your mindset and your tactics to you staying in the fight, which increases your risk of getting up close and personal with hostiles.”
Tinker’s eyes widened at Boyd’s words, a mix of excitement and apprehension flickering across her features. She shifted slightly in his lap, nervous energy building within her as she contemplated the new direction her training would take. Her eyes dipped down to his chest as she chewed on her lower lip.
“Close-quarters combat… that’s normally a death sentence for Powered Armor tech users like me,” she murmured after a moment, her voice laced with uncertainty. “I don’t have any personal resistance, but…” Hazel eyes looked up at him, taking on a faint pink glow for just a moment. “It’s still different for me.”
Boyd blinked. He had never seen that happen before. “Uhhhh…” Boyd responded rather eloquently.
The science behind the semi-sentient interdimensional energy being, or S.I.E.B., that had taken up residence within their little inventor had been explained to him well enough for him to understand that she was effectively a contained ongoing fusion reaction—one at a level similar to that of a star, just in a much smaller and cuter package.
And he was okay with that, until she went and did things like unexpectedly glowing.
“Hehehe,” she giggled and reached up to bop his nose with her index finger. “Relax, it’s something Granny taught me how to do. I sort of have to push if I want more of the energy to come out. Which will matter more once I figure out some of Aiden’s designs. Having them is awesome, but I don’t understand what a lot of it is yet.”
She pouted, lips turning down in a frown. “Well, I understand most of the concepts behind them… I must be missing a few key pieces or something.” She let out a sigh, and Boyd was pleased to see his little inventor returning to her energetic normal.
She pouted up at him. “It’s sort of annoying that tech from three hundred years ago is more advanced than anything I’ve worked with up until now. That’s just not how things are supposed to work.”
She shook her head before a thoughtful expression overtook her features, and she remembered what she had originally been talking about. “Anyhow, my eyes glow when I push on the energy. It isn’t dangerous.”
Boyd chuckled softly at the interrupted explanation. “I take it you’ve figured out something that will help in close-quarters combat?”
“Not just a single something!” Tinker grinned, excitement causing her big eyes to sparkle. “Being able to remove the constraint of power storage from my designs freed up a lot more space and mass than I’d imagined. I used some of that space to up the armor and onboard computing power so that Granny can do more with my suit’s onboard systems. It has greatly reduced the lag time between her getting input from the armor’s sensors and being able to respond.”
“You’ve essentially improved your reaction time by increasing Granny’s reaction time,” Boyd confirmed his understanding.
“Yep!” Tink nodded excitedly, her braids bouncing. “Then, I used some of that freed up space and mass to add to the onboard sensor suite so Granny can sense and respond to even more threats. That also improved her reaction time. But most importantly, I’ve gotten the GLINT system up and running.”
“Right, you mentioned that before… GLOW and GLINT, right?” Boyd wracked his brain for what he knew of the more recent of the two. “GLINT is the one that will give you improved shielding, while GLOW let you make your wings, blades, and darts.”
“Right.” Tinker beamed at him. “The GLOW, or Generation X-Light Object Weaver, that I’m using now is the second generation. I suppose the proper acronym for it would be G2LOW, but that doesn’t sound nearly as cool. It’s essentially a modification of the nano-weavers that allows for the creation of more advanced optics and other things essential to the photon-based tech I’ve been working with. The main difference is that GLOW uses hard-light during object creation, which you need to make things that produce hard-light. I have no idea how we produced the first emitters, but fortunately I was able to find things that were close enough to Aden’s original design and make some modifications.”
“And GLINT stands for Generated Light Integrated Node Technology,” Boyd said, pleasantly surprised that he’d remembered the acronym soup. “It’s built into your armor which allows you to create shields over it, granting you better protection.” He frowned. “But I thought it was giving you trouble… the emitters kept burning out.”
“Exactly!” Her grin showed him well enough, but he also felt how pleased she was that he’d remembered this information on the relatively new system. She’d only mentioned it a few times—mostly when expressing her frustration that it wasn’t working.
“I fixed the problem the other day, but with all that had happened, it didn’t seem like the time to tell you. I can safely run the emitters at what equates to a middling C-Ranked energy resistance. My armor is actually tougher than that already, but the invisible shield helps to supplement that. However, what will save my life from someone like Silvie or you punching and squishing me like a grape inside of my armor is that the GLINT can safely flicker up to the equivalent of A-Rank resistance.”
“Which is notably better than the B-Ranked armor,” Boyd agreed, nodding approvingly.
“Mhmm,” Tinker gave him a toothy smile. “But it gets even better. The emitters can last at that power maximum for a total of ten seconds. If I were personally flickering them up and down using a mental command or something, I could only use them to take four or five hits. Plus, I would still have to detect the attack and respond to it personally. But with the other improvements, Granny will be running GLINT. She can flicker them much faster and more precisely than I ever could. She’s confident she will be able to split them into single second bursts to absorb and deflect most ranged attacks.”
“That’s excellent! And it will fit your mid to long range role rather well. But what about melee attacks?” Boyd asked.
“Well, that will depend on a lot of factors… but it’s probably more likely to save my life from a melee attack,” Tinker replied brightly. “If it’s someone with low A-Ranked strength or weaker, Granny will most likely leave the system on. Melee attacks come in fast and repetitively most of the time, so flickering it on and off won’t make a lot of sense. That said, it will still give me ten seconds in close when I can hurt them more than they can hurt me.”
“That’s both true and impressive.” Boyd smiled. “Most Powered conflicts don’t last ten seconds. We’ll just have to keep you away from anyone stronger than lower A-Rank.”
“Mhmm,” Tinker agreed. “But… ah… not necessarily.” Tinker had started to nod, but then switched to shaking her head before nodding again. “Well, yes, but there is a chance Granny could even save me from a single strike from someone as strong as you.” Her grin faded. “Probably not Silvie… at least not yet.”
“Really?” Boyd was suitably impressed.
Creating technology based anything that could stand up to even one S-Ranked strike was considered nearly impossible.
“Yeah…” His little inventor nodded with a slight frown. “Just the one, though. Granny thinks GLINT will stand up just long enough for her to use the propulsion systems to get me moving with the hit to rob it of most of the impact. A hit to the head will probably still be fatal, but anywhere else should result in injuries of varying severity.”
“Yeah…” Boyd drawled, “that’s a lovely last resort to have tucked up your sleeve, but not something we’ll be depending on.” A slight growl entered his tone as he added, “And we certainly won’t be testing it.”
He had to draw a line somewhere.
“Hee hee hee!” Tink giggled, her eyes crinkling up at the corners cutely as a result of her big grin. “I don’t have to be in the suit to test it, silly. In fact, for the tests we’ll be using a mock-up version of my armor that includes just the structural components, a basic sensor suite, and the propulsion and GLINT systems. I already made a bunch of them. The armor will definitely be damaged in the testing, so there is no reason to use a fully outfitted suit. Inside will be test dummies, but I still want to test it… since I’ll be trusting it with my life and all.”
“Oh, well, when you put it like that…” Boyd changed his tune immediately. “When would you like to test it?”
Tink looked at Laura and Raev over her shoulder. “It looks like this lesson is going to take a while, want to do it now?” Tinker asked the question with a hopeful tone that would have made it impossible for Boyd to refuse—even if he’d had a good reason to do so.
Boyd glanced around and confirmed that Laura was still learning the ins and outs of the first weapon he’d officially permitted her to train with. Everyone else had their own training to attend to. He had a session set up with Mindy after lunch, but other than that, his schedule was open for personal training.
Beating up some GLINT shielded dummies counted as training, right? It did as far as he was concerned.
“Let’s do it,” Boyd grinned down at his petite love as he stood, shifting her into a princess carry and setting off in the direction of her lab. Another room in that same hall had been set up for testing dangerous materials and equipment. It would serve well for this testing.
Chapter 32
Boyd was once again in a therapy session. He lay with his head resting on Mindy’s thighs. He was convinced that if everyone had a therapist as beautiful, attentive, and affectionate as his, no one would even consider skipping an appointment.
Today’s session was about getting him in the right headspace to handle the ceremony this afternoon for Henry and Maxine Jacobs.
Royce had called about an hour ago while he was busting up pink shielded crash test dummies for Tink. They had everything they needed to test her armor’s shielding and measure what sort of injuries she would get if she was in it when struck by someone with low end S-Ranked strength like him. He was glad they still had a few tests left to conduct after the call with Royce ended, so he could blow off some steam.
Boyd had known the funeral would be soon, as was the way of such things, but he hadn’t expected it to be today. It turned out Royce had greased some wheels and located a venue that would make it easy for a Hero team to quietly attend a private ceremony.
Their handler had also helped with the rest of the arrangements, for which Boyd was grateful. He just wished he had another day or two to prepare himself for when he’d have to encounter the parents of the children he’d failed to protect.
“You would wish for more time to prepare, no matter how much time you were given,” Mindy said as she traced his hairline with a fingernail.
“I know.” Boyd sighed. “I still have no idea what I’m going to say. I remember all the options they gave us in training. I even reviewed some of them this morning, but they all seem so… disingenuous. The Jacobs deserve better than some canned response.”
Mindy leaned down, her amethyst eyes filled with warmth as they locked onto the big demon’s troubled gaze with a mix of compassion and understanding. Her voice was gentle when she spoke.
“You have a heart too big for your already large chest sometimes. I know you want to offer those parents genuine comfort… and that’s admirable. But remember, sometimes the right words simply don’t exist. It’s why they taught us those standard terms and condolences. We deliver them, we bear witness to their pain, and we share their grief for a time.” She ran her long fingers through his hair. “That alone can be more powerful than any words that could be said.”
“I know you’re right,” Boyd murmured, his voice tinged with both gratitude and sadness. “I just wish there was more I could do for them. These parents entrusted their children’s safety to me, and I couldn't protect them.”
“Kuh-hmm,” Mindy let out a sad version of her giggle as she wrapped her fingers down around his chin and tilted his head back to make him look her in the eye.
“Your massive ego is showing, my little shit.” She gave him a warm smile in response to his grumpy scowl. “I strongly doubt any parent in the history of our world put their complete trust in a Hero—or even the Authority itself—to keep their children safe. They hope we will make protecting children a priority, but they don’t trust us to keep their children from harm. I guarantee that the Jacobs are blaming themselves a lot more than you.”
Boyd’s scowl deepened. That the Jacobs would blame themselves for his failing made things worse, not better.
“Grrrhmmm…!” Mindy blew out a frustrated breath. “Like you, they are wrong. The only person who carries any blame for what happened is Mightbreaker. Other than his negligence, this was a tragedy—a tragedy both you and the Jacobs will come to accept… in time.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” Boyd grumbled.
The amethyst eyes narrowed and the long fingers that had been running through his hair thumped his skull will a thunk.
“Fine… I’ll take your word for it.”
Boyd sighed when those fingers gently scratched his scalp around his horns. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on her gentle touch for a moment in an effort to escape his negative thoughts.
“I want you to start the breathing technique,” Mindy said after a moment, though she didn’t stop touching him.
Boyd took in a deep breath over a four count, held it for a seven count, and then released it over a slow eight count. He ensured he expelled all the air in his lungs before starting over again. Mindy’s long nails on his scalp nearly made him lose count. But then, his attempts were interrupted by a different distraction.
“Incoming video call from Thundercoil,” the base’s automated system said in a conversational tone. Although he couldn’t prove it, Boyd suspected that Granny had simply taken over for the system that ran their base somewhere along the way and was only pretending that it still had its previous limits.
Boyd went to sit up but then had a strong impression that would be a bad idea and decided against it. This, he took to mean that Mindy didn’t want him to get up. Rolling his eyes, he called out, “Send a screen drone.”
A moment later, the door to Mindy’s therapy suite opened and a small pink drone floated into the bedroom they were set up in. This one’s primary purpose was to transport and hold the twenty-four-inch viewscreen that was mounted to it. It hovered over to where he was sprawled out on the bed, his calves hanging over the edge, coming to a stop and angling the screen down at him.
“Answer,” Boyd added once it was in position.
The screen flicked on to display Daryl and Shelia, sitting side by side in front of a window that had a thick, colorful jungle beyond it. Daryl’s slightly serpentine but objectively attractive features carried a slightly pinched expression, as if he was trying to hide consternation. Shelia’s short black fur covered but also attractive features showed a blend of amusement and anticipation.
