I’d tried to sneak in inconspicuously and take a spot at the back but someone recognized me. Everyone stepped aside like the parting of some human Red Sea, none of them looking at me as they made a route for me straight to the front of the pack. That couldn’t be a good sign. Sifu’s probably mad that I’d been away for so long and wanted to express his disappointment.
I trudged timorously along the path they made for me right to the very front, directly in front of Sifu. I didn’t dare meet his gaze but took a spot beside Lianna, who was already there with Jane and Sigrid. I caught Sigrid’s eye and she winked at me.
“What’s going on?” Lianna whispered to me. “Did I do something wrong? Everyone’s treating me like some kind of pariah.”
“Really? You too?” I said.
“Yeah. Like, they won’t even look at me and pretty much forced me up here to the front.”
“They did the same to me but I thought that was because I’ve skipped out on training here for so long. What else could we have done wrong?”
“Are you two for real?” Sigrid said. “Do neither of you know the difference between rejection and respect?”
“Seriously,” Jane said. “That treatment you’re getting is called reverence, dumb-asses.”
We could hear people muttering behind us so Lianna and I both took a furtive glance back, and a sea of NPCs all lowered their gazes away from us.
“This is freaking weird,” she said.
“Tell me about it,” I said.
“It’s your fault, you know. I know I haven’t done anything to merit this treatment, so it’s guilt by association.”
“Hey, you didn’t have to join the team.”
At that point, Sifu cleared his throat and the conversation ended and the lesson began. There were so many people they had to be put into groups with a few senior Dragon clansmen like Shashu and Farrah leading them.
Well before the end of the lesson Lianna got the notification that she now knew kung fu. Never underestimate a fast learner. It’s typical for people to mingle a bit afterwards but we both got the hell out of there as soon as the lesson was over and headed straight to the baths. I had another busy day planned.
I finished getting ready first and was waiting in the courtyard for Lianna to come out of her room. Most of Maple Leaf were there too. With the quest looming, Morgan wanted to work on integrating the new recruits into the team so I’d offered them the labyrinth as a training ground. They were just waiting for the last stragglers to show up before heading out to see what kind of nastiness Alice had prepared for them.
Sigrid and Janet emerged first and came to join me on a bench.
“What’s up with you? You’re all jittery,” Sigrid said to me, then scowled. “Is this because you did something stupid again last night?”
“What did he do last night?” Jane said. “I figured he’s probably just missing your usual morning wakeup snuggles.”
“Yes,” Sigrid said pointedly. “That must be it.” She knew that was not it.
Jane patted me on the leg. “Don’t worry, if you’re getting lonely I...” She stopped mid-sentence when Lianna came out of her room. “Ah, I see now. So that’s what you were up to last night.”
Lianna had emerged wearing the present I made for her after I ducked out of the bonfire party. I’d snuck into her room while she was still at the baths and left it on her bed. It was a sleek, form fitting catsuit with a zipper all the way up the front and reinforced shin, elbow, and shoulder pads, just like the outfit worn by Black Widow in the movies.
Every time I’d seen Lianna she always wore light colors so I’d made the white version because I thought she’d like it better. She could always change it, though, using a custom version of the elven cloak’s camouflage power built into it.
It wasn’t just stylish, it was a serious piece of armor. Its boosted toughness made it bullet and blade-resistant, and it had a power that merged Arthur’s air walking with Chika’s jumping abilities for added mobility. For extra defense, I’d blended a healing power with normal affinity armor to synthesize That Which Does Not Kill Me, a power that didn’t block any of the damage but healed about 80% of it back. The net damage she’d take was less than if it was regular affinity armor making it superior against anything but a one-hit kill, but she’d always have her shield ring to help against those.
Lianna’s Player Battlesuit
At some point, we all have to choose between what the world wants you to be and who you are.
Powers:
Able To Leap Tall Buildings - Enhanced air walking; Duration: 1 minute; Cooldown: 30 seconds
Be The Rainbow - Change color
Healing Defense - Elemental healing protection; Requires affinity with Life
You Can’t Cut This - Extraordinary toughness
She looked amazing, but I wouldn’t say she seemed particularly comfortable in it. In fact she looked a bit distressed by all the eyes watching her, because everyone’s eyes were glued to her.
They may have been admiring how she looked in the suit, or it’s possible they were ogling the other pair of items I’d made for her. They’d been a real hassle to make and took me several tries, so I hoped she’d appreciate them.
P2 Team Player Pistol
Go ahead, make my day.
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Powers:
Bang! - Fire a projectile
Don’t Tase Me, Bro - Ranged electric shock attack
Healing Shot - Projectiles heal instead of harm; Requires affinity with Life
What’s That Red Dot? - Laser targeting
They were smaller and sleeker than the P1 I’d introduced to everyone the day before, made of light metal and shaped much more like an automatic handgun. They had some extra features and also fit nicely into the holsters built into the catsuit’s outer thighs.
When I’d practiced with them in my Fortress of Solitude’s shooting range I found that my crossbow skill didn’t cut it anymore. My aim was terrible. I must have changed their shape too much for the skill to work with them. They didn’t look like crossbows without the bow part anymore, they looked like proper pistols. I’d kept shooting, hoping I could at least become able to hit the target if I practiced enough, otherwise all that work would’ve been for nothing. Then, another surprise.
System: You have developed a new Skill: Pistol
System: You are the first to develop a new Skill: Reward Tokens: 15 (19)
I’d then spent a lot of time in my Fortress on target practice until I’d reached Adept in my new skill. If Sigrid knew how much time I’d lived over the course of the previous night, well, let’s not dwell on that.
Lianna endured the playful whistles and compliments from the others as she stalked over to us.
“You could’ve told me why you wanted to know my favorite superhero,” she snapped at me, red-faced.
“Would you have given me a different answer if I had?”
“Probably. At least I’d pick someone who doesn’t have a skintight costume.”
“Are there any superheroes who don’t?” Sigrid said. “Besides, what’s the problem? You look fucking hot.”
Lianna plucked at the fabric of the suit awkwardly. “I’m just not used to wearing something this...snug.”
I was honestly surprised. Lianna had always struck me as such a confident, self-assured person. It had never occurred to me that she’d have body-image issues.
Over my time on Crucible I’d started learning that I saw myself through certain unflattering filters, and had assumed that other people saw me the same way. I could thank Sigrid most of all for making me see that my filters and assumptions weren’t entirely accurate. Who knew other people had the same problem?
I suppose standing next to Jane and Sigrid anyone might feel a bit insecure, I know I still felt very out of place in their company, but this was Lianna. I was sure she could’ve been a model too if she wanted to, though the thought of her taking a gig as a booth babe does not compute.
People say that, they say “oh you could be a model,” as though that’s something rare and precious. I was honestly of the opinion that a lot of people could be models, that they didn’t need to be especially beautiful so much as interesting to look at, and they needed to be able to pull off the right attitude. Lianna had both those qualities in spades.
I thought she had an alluring figure and she certainly had that classic resting bitch face you see a lot of models wear in pictures, that haughty look that’s strangely hard to look away from. I couldn’t tell Lianna that, though. She’d probably just think I was hitting on her.
I was about to make a joke about her being lucky I’d given her a choice at all and hadn’t tried dressing her in a classic Robin costume with bare legs, tiny green spandex booty shorts, and a little yellow cape, but thought better of it.
“Lianna,” I said, standing up from the bench. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to wear it.”
Sigrid also rose and put her hand on my chest to stop me from saying more. Then she stepped in close to Lianna, looking her straight in the eyes.
“Listen to me,” Sigrid said. “Dummy Daniel here is right. You don’t have to wear anything that makes you uncomfortable, but believe me when I say that if the reason you don’t want to wear it is because you’re worried about how it looks, you’re delusional.”
Lianna looked away from Sigrid’s piercing gaze, face flushing.
Nina, who had been standing nearby, also came over.
“If I may interject here,” Nina said. “I’m sorry for listening in, but you have no reason to worry, Lianna. However things may look to you from the inside, from where I’m standing you look amazing in that getup.”
Yeah. What she said.
At that moment, Byron came to join his wife. “Wow, Lianna, looking good. Did you make that outfit, Daniel?”
“Of course he did,” Jane said. “Who else would dress his new partner in something so tantalizing?”
“I wasn’t sure,” Byron said. “I mean, he does have a thing for hanging around with gorgeous women but I didn’t expect him to put her in something that sexy. At least, not on the first day.”
“Sexy?” Lianna said, flushing even redder. “Come on.”
“Have you seen how your ass looks in that?” Byron said.
Lianna tried to look at her behind and actually spun around once like a cat chasing its own tail. “Really? Is it that good?”
“Honey, if I wasn’t married...” Byron said, biting his knuckle.
“Nice to know you remember your wife is standing right here beside you,” Nina said.
“Hang on,” Jane said, pushing me out of the way. “I gotta just fix one thing.” She reached towards Lianna and pulled the front zipper of the catsuit from where it was at her down a good three or four inches, stood back and took a look, then lowered it another inch. “There, that’s better.”
“What do you think, Daniel?” Nina said with a devilish smile.
“Oh will you look at that,” I said loudly, “here comes Chika and Kenji. Looks like your whole team’s here so I guess it’s time for you to all go off to the labyrinth now. Alice has those scenarios you asked for all set up, Morgan. Better not keep all those monsters waiting.”
“Are you trying to get rid of us or something?” Nina said, looking amused.
“Perish the thought. Here, it takes so long to walk to the gazebo so how about I just open you a quick portal there now, huh?”
A pinprick of Void appeared in the air and rapidly expanded into a two-dimensional portal. The gazebo in the town square was clearly visible on the other side.
Byron’s jaw dropped. “When did you become able to open a portal beyond line of sight?”
“Never mind that. Better get going before someone on the other side gets curious and comes through to this side.”
Morgan shook her head bemusedly. “Okay troops, you heard the man. Through the portal we go.”
I was treated to more of those funny looks I seemed to get from some people wherever I went as they stepped through my portal, and when the last of them was gone I shut it down, leaving only me and Lianna in the dojo courtyard.
“They really like you,” she said as I opened a new portal for the two of us. The empty arena floor could be seen on the other side.
“Only because I give them presents,” I said.
“You should give them more credit than that,” Lianna said with a frown.
“You’re right. I gotta stop doing that.”
We both went through the portal, then I started using the arena’s formation to set up targets around the perimeter.
“I’m not so sure about that Arthur, though,” Lianna said. “I sometimes catch him staring daggers at you. Did you do something to him?”
“Arthur? No, not that I know of. Maybe he didn’t like the helmet I made him.”
“No, that’s not it. When did he and Jane break up?”
“I don’t know. Heck, I don’t even know for sure if they had something going on at all.”
“Oh, they did.”
“Why do you say that?” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.
She looked at me with a weird smile. “I get it now,” she said.
“What do you get?” I said, growing irritated for no reason. I wanted to know what she knew about Jane and Arthur.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
Next up: Lianna levels up