Dashing Devil Omnibus 1: Books 1-3, page 34
Her list of inventions and improvements on existing Hero Tech was both extensive and impressive. Many of her creations had been incorporated into the weapons and tools that Non-Powered Officers used. There were several notations of her being called in to help with the tech that Heroes in other cities used, as well.
Boyd heard the door to the bathroom slide open and shut his FDU down. Kitsune preceded Tinker out of the bathroom, and upon seeing the petite woman, Boyd almost gasped. She looked completely different. Gone were the bags under her eyes and the slightly messy hair. Instead, she wore a modest amount of makeup and her hair had been pulled into twin braids that fell over her shoulders.
Boyd would have described her as cute before, but now that word no longer did her justice. He wasn’t sure how Kitsune had done it, but the makeup drew his attention to her natural beauty without covering or changing anything. The pink shade applied to her lips made them look larger, fuller, and very kissable. Subtle eyeshadow highlighted her large eyes, causing him to notice that they had a little green in them, making them hazel instead of brown. The twin braids framed her face, drawing out her high cheekbones and feminine jaw. Tinker’s cheeks were a little pink, but he couldn’t tell if that was because of the cosmetics or a natural blush.
Her coverall had also been unzipped and stripped to her waist, where the sleeves had been tied around her waist in a makeshift belt. Under it, she wore a thin white fitted cami top, and had also apparently gone braless. The ends of her braids brushed the tops of her modest but proportionate breasts. Her waist was already narrow, but the way the arms of her coverall had been tied seemed to bring additional attention to her very adult shape. Most importantly, her lips parted in a wide and honest smile that caused the corners of her eyes to crinkle and fetching dimples to appear on her cheeks.
Boyd felt a sense of triumph slide down their Bond from Kitsune. Glancing at her, he noted the very pleased expression on her face as her three tails swayed behind her. He also felt her fondness for Tinker.
It would seem the inventor had gained an ally in her goal of joining the team.
“I feel much better, now, thank you both,” Tinker said, drawing his attention back to her.
“Anytime.” Boyd smiled back gently. Honestly, he wasn’t sure that she would be the best fit for their team, but now was not the time to bring that up.
“Now, let me demonstrate what I can bring to the table.” Tinker walked over to one of her benches and hopped up onto it. Kitsune and Boyd followed her, standing back on either side to look over her shoulders as she pulled a metal box out from a cubby built into the wall.
“I reviewed your file and that Black Flame of yours interacts with obsidian in some interesting ways,” Tinker said.
“Yeah, it seems like obsidian can absorb and transfer the energy,” Boyd confirmed. “We haven't been able to figure out a way to do anything useful with the interaction, though. Obsidian is too fragile to use in the field and it can’t be embedded in something because I need physical contact with the piece to maintain my Black Flames.”
“Until now, you mean.” Tinker opened the box to reveal a leaf-shaped dagger, roughly fourteen inches long.
Half of its length was the grip—larger than standard to fit his big hands. It appeared to be made of steel, except for the sharpened edge of the blade which was the glassy black of obsidian. Boyd noted that the same glassy black appeared in a stripe on the grip.
“I made this prototype using a nano weaver,” Tinker said. “You can’t alloy obsidian without sacrificing strength and even if you could, it would probably interfere with your Black Flame. Instead, the obsidian is shaped like this.”
She tapped at a holographic input pad a few times to bring up a three-dimensional model up on her main display. The image on the screen looked something like the dagger, but with a split down the middle. The handle looked like coral, or something else spongy and organic. “Steel alloy is applied over top of this and fills in the gaps. It’s not ideal for a blade, but it should allow you to use your Black Flame with it. This is just a prototype to prove the concept, though. The goal will be shields and armor more than weapons. Here, try it out.” Tinker carefully picked up the blade and passed it over to Boyd who took it from her small hands.
He tossed it back and forth between his hands a few times, getting a feel for the balance. It was nearly perfect, being just slightly heavier in the blade—which was surprising given the mix of materials she’d used to make it.
Once he had a feel for the blade, Boyd gripped it and pushed his Black Flame into it. The effect was immediate and impressive. The black glass-like blade shimmered, and the dark energy licked at the edges of the steel in a subtle way that was barely perceptible.
“Wow,” Boyd breathed. He grinned at Tinker. “You’re a genius.”
“Is it working?” She asked, clearly nervous but with a hopeful smile.
“Yeah, you can see it.” He held it up for her to see and she leaned in to examine the effect. Something dawned on Boyd; his Black Flame was lasting longer than was typical. It was normally something that he could hold for only a few seconds, forcing him to time its use carefully. It’d been close to twenty seconds since he’d started pushing it into the black blade.
“Huh,” he grunted as the flame disappeared. He hadn’t thought to count, but he estimated it lasted about twenty-five seconds before flickering out.
“What’s ‘Huh’?” Tinker asked, her smile faltering. “Is it not working right?”
“No.” Boyd shook his head firmly. “It’s working better than could be expected. Do you have a stopwatch?”
“Of course.” She flicked at her holographic display before a timer appeared on the display over the model. “Say when.”
“Go.” Boyd said as he pushed the strange energy into the blade again. He held it, keeping his focus on it for as long as he could. “Stop,” he said, just before it flickered out.
Looking up, he saw the timer had stopped at twenty-four and a quarter seconds. “Huh. My previous record was only four and a third seconds. Did you build some sort of amplifier into it?”
Tinker shook her head, a curious expression on her face. “I can’t identify the energy, so I wouldn't even know where to begin if I wanted to amplify it.”
Boyd held up his other hand and reached for the Black Flame, bringing it to his fingers. It lasted nearly double his previous record—roughly eight seconds.
“Seems like you just got stronger.” Tinker said.
Boyd contemplated that for a moment. Just yesterday it had felt the same as it always did. The only thing that had changed was… Kitsune. His head jerked around to stare at his foxy companion with wide eyes.
Had he somehow Enhanced his own Power when he’d enhanced hers? What did that mean? He had temporarily enhanced others while they were testing his Powers, but nothing like this had ever happened before. Was it because he’d formed a permanent Bond with his new lover?
Kitsune returned his gaze with curiosity, but didn’t seem to follow his train of thought. He decided to keep his suspicions to himself—for now—not wishing to spend more time in a lab when The Authority found out. He took a deep breath and turned back to Tinker.
“It still lasted three times as long with the dagger. Are you sure you didn’t do anything special to the obsidian?”
“Hmm. Maybe it’s the shape. I used a pattern found in nature for the obsidian handle. Some fungi grow in similar patterns. Since it was so fragile, I wanted there to be multiple paths from your hand to the blade. It could be that, I suppose. We’d have to test it, though.” Tinker’s eyes went out of focus as her brain kicked into overdrive.
Meanwhile, Boyd decided to test something else. He held the dagger about an inch over an empty surface on the table before channeling the Black Flame into it. With his Black Flame flickering along the blade, he dropped it. He was surprised to see that the flames remained lit for four or five seconds after he released the blade before flickering out.
That was something that obsidian, on its own, had never done before.
“That’s new, too.” He indicated the blade while it continued to glow. “Normally, it only lasts as long as I am in contact with and pushing energy into it.”
“Very strange… we’ll have to run some tests,” Tinker replied.
She fiddled with the holographic input and, after a few moments of rapid screen changes that Boyd couldn’t fully follow, she said, “I’ve ordered another weaving of just the obsidian part, that’s the best place to start.”
Kitsune cut into their conversation. “You know, it would be a lot easier to run those tests if Tinker joined our team. She already applied for a Base Support position with us.”
“Um, wait!” Tinker’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she turned from her screen to regard Kitsune with horror. “You said…”
“I know what I said, but you undersold yourself.” Kitsune smiled sweetly at the smaller woman. “You said this was just a prototype for armor, too. If you can get a similar effect with armor, it would make Boyd nearly invulnerable to energy attacks—if I understand how his Black Flame works correctly. That alone is worth bringing you in. I’m sure Boyd saw that, too. And if you get Boyd’s go ahead, Silver won’t say no.”
Boyd chuckled and shook his head but couldn’t help but agree. Tinker didn’t seem like a good fit for a field position with them, but Base Support sounded perfect. Essentially, that meant she would stay in The Tower, inventing and maintaining stuff for the team.
Even better, she didn’t feel like she was nearly as pushy as Kitsune, or even Silvie. He could tell she had hopes of a relationship forming—which for all he knew might be just for the sake of an Enhancement—but he doubted it. She gave him the impression she was the type who preferred to let something like that evolve organically.
“Don’t want to be in the field?” Boyd asked, wanting to be sure it was what Tinker wanted. If she wanted to be a Hero out helping and protecting civilians, there was no way he would take that from her.
“Not at all.” Tinker shook her head rapidly. “It was sort of forced on me. After last night, I requested a transfer to R&D… but I would much rather run Base Support for your team.”
“Done.” Boyd smiled warmly, but it transitioned to a grin as her absurdly pretty face ran through several emotions in quick succession—from shock to confusion, before settling on glee.
She hopped in place a couple of times on her bench, which still had her quite a bit shorter than him, coming to about Kitsune’s nose. She surprised him when she leaped off the bench and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. He was glad he hadn’t picked the dagger back up. Her tiny—well, tiny compared to his seven-and-a-half-foot frame, at least—body pressed into his chest as her feet dangled down around his thighs as she squealed with joy.
“You mean it?”
“I do. This is really impressive, and I can’t wait to see what else you come up with,” Boyd assured her, not hugging her back until Kitsune scowled at him, displeasure flowing down their Bond. Boyd caved and hugged her before stripping her off his neck and setting her feet down on the bench. “I’ll call Silvie and then Royce to get it done.”
Stepping away, Boyd lifted his FDU to do just that.
Silvie answered right away. “Hello Darling, I can’t talk long,” she prefaced her response.
“That’s fine, Love. Just wanted to let you know we are taking Tinker on as Base Support.” Boyd kept it simple and brief.
“Oh?” She asked. He could hear the rush of air that indicated she was talking mid-flight. “That’s great!” Silvie sounded almost as excited about it as Tinker had.
Boyd glanced her way to see she was currently clasping hands with Kitsune and jumping up and down with a wild grin on her face. Boyd wondered if he should have explained that joining their team didn’t guarantee their forming a relationship.
“I’m surprised but thrilled that you are taking some initiative.”
Bod decided that he should have made it clear about there being no guarantee of a relationship, to both of them.
“Royce can make it happen. I gotta go… purse snatcher.” The line disconnected and Boyd sighed.
“Silvie is thrilled,” Boyd rumbled to the other two, which seemed to renew Tinker’s excitement.
Kitsune looked happy but a little overwhelmed by Tinker’s energy. Boyd was glad to have the excuse of the calls to avoid it being focused on him. He called Royce next, who was a little slower to answer.
“Wha-is-it?” the older man grumbled in a sleep-filled voice.
Boyd remembered then that his handler had probably been up all night with all that had gone down, dealing with who knows how many meetings. And Royce hadn’t benefited from a nap like Kitsune and Boyd shared in the hospital bed.
“Looking to add Tinker on in a Base Support role.” Boyd kept it simple. “No rush on it, unless she is going to be transferred out today or something.” He didn’t want to force his handler out of bed if it wasn’t necessary, but would hate for orders to come down taking the young woman out of the city at this point.
“Hm?” Royce didn’t sound fully awake yet. “Oh. Yeah. Techy from the Bionics. Cute little thing.” He yawned. “M’okay.”
Chapter 38
“You’re a dirty old man.” Boyd chuckled. “We aren’t taking Tinker on because of any of that. I’m interested in what she can do for our team because she made a dagger that triples my Black Flame’s duration while still being a usable weapon. She mentioned something about expanding what she called a successful prototype into armor, next.”
The big demon watched the ‘cute little thing’ in question do a happy dance on her bench, having let go of Kitsune’s hands. “She is cute, though,” he admitted, despite himself. Plus, if what he suspected about the cause of the extension of his Black Flame was correct, then he now had an incentive of his own to pursue additional relationships.
“Really? Well, I’ll make it happen. The transfer will come through by this evening. I’ll get the labs below your suite activated for her, too,” Royce replied, finally sounding more awake.
“Labs?” Boyd asked.
“Yeah, the alpha suite has a lab floor and vehicle bay just below it. We didn’t activate it, as you didn’t have anyone on the team who would use it,” Royce explained. “It’s fully stocked… got all the bells and whistles, and she’ll have a budget to pick up anything she’s missing, too.”
“I’m sure she’ll love that.” Boyd smiled.
He wondered if Tinker already knew about the lab. He looked around at all the stuff cluttering up a dozen worktables. Somehow, he doubted it. Then, he wondered why they hadn’t made the alpha lab available to the Bionics. They would have benefited from it more than he and Silvie could. Maybe they had a lab elsewhere… but that wouldn’t explain why Tinker had such a set up here in her personal residence.
“Alright, kid. I’m gonna go rest my eyes a bit longer. Stay outta trouble,” Royce groused at him.
“Always,” Boyd replied and ended the call before walking back to the others. “You’ll be transferred by this evening and my handler is going to have the Alpha suite labs activated for you.” Boyd smiled at the still-energetic Tinker, happy to be the one who got to tell her about it.
She froze in place, staring at him with wide eyes, her lips parted in a little ‘o’. “There’s a lab? I’ll have my own lab?!” she half-way asked, half-way exclaimed. “I’ll have my own lab!”
Boyd chuckled and grinned. “Royce said there is a fully stocked lab and vehicle bay right below our suite. ‘All the bells and whistles’ is how he described it. You’ll also have a budget to pick up anything that might be missing.”
Tinker’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water for a solid thirty seconds before she reached down and pinched her forearm. She looked back up at him, eyes still very wide. “I’m not dreaming,” she stated.
Kitsune laughed good-naturedly and assured the other woman, “No, you’re wide awake, Tink. I’m going to help Boyd out here, though, which might sober you up. You do know that joining the team doesn’t guarantee you that kind of relationship, right?”
“Yeah, Silver made it clear that nothing will happen unless Boyd wants it to happen.” Tinker nodded her confirmation. “I actually prefer it that way, so that’s not a problem at all. I’m not into the idea of a transactional relationship.”
A weight lifted from Boyd’s shoulders. He hadn’t been looking forward to explaining that, and he smiled warmly at Kitsune for taking care of it. Letting himself cave to her seduction was already paying off.
“Um, so what’s next?” Tinker asked.
“We were planning on grabbing lunch and then doing some shopping, if you would like to join us,” Kitsune offered. “Most of my stuff got left behind and my current wardrobe is… lacking.”
Tinker considered the offer for a solid fifteen seconds before she shook her head. “As much as I’d love to go with you, I need a nap. I’m coming up on slap-happy status and don’t think I should go out in public. Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry,” Boyd rumbled. “Are you going to be okay on your own?”
“Yep,” Tinker said brightly before a shadow fell over her face. “It might be terrible to say, but the Bionics didn’t treat me very well. I’m sad that so many of them died, but I’m not upset to be leaving the team—especially now that I’m joining your team and I have something to look forward to.”
“Okay, then.” Boyd nodded his understanding. It was a perfectly reasonable sentiment, after all. “Well, the transfer will go through by this evening. You are welcome to join us for dinner if you want. We can help you move in and get settled in tomorrow.”
He said this last as he looked around the room. He had set the bag with her blaster and shield generator down on the bench near to the door. He pointed to it. “I brought back your blaster and shield generator.”
