“Yeah, I do not know what’s in this,” Daivor grumbled as he stroked his bread.

  Kaleb rubbed his eyes as he stared down at his notes and the serum’s formula. They were using the SG’s meeting table to go over everything. The workshop was too noisy and Kaleb had too many notes. They wouldn’t all fit on his workstation. So now he was standing next to the large round table, scowling at his thoughts and Daivor’s words.

  “Well, that doesn’t instill much confidence.”

  “These are not normal chemicals. But even on the Advanced Alien Periodic Table, these combinations don’t make sense.”

  “Do we have a copy of that periodic table?” Kaleb asked in shock.

  Daivor tapped his head. “I got it in here, but I think the boy has some school books.”

  “Roy!”

  Kaleb called for his assistant as Daivor walked on top of the table. The notes were spread out along the table’s curve and the gnome had taken to walking down its length to read everything. When Roy stuck his head out of their workshop, Kaleb asked for the books and then returned to Daivor. The tiny man was lighting his pipe again as he stopped at a pair of symbols.

  “There is a copper-iron combination here, but it doesn’t have the same symbols as chalcopyrite. In fact, this annotation looks familiar…”

  Daivor trailed off as Kaleb leaned over to get a better look. The symbols in question were the standard human variant for both metals. It was the superscript after that was tripping them up. The script was clearly alien, and Kaleb was sure he had written it correctly. Loud footsteps signaled Roy’s arrival, and Kaleb turned to take his books. The boy had three heavy-looking books in his arms and was pushing his way toward the table. Kaleb moved aside and cleared a space as Roy put down his load.

  “What’s all this, Doc? More serum stuff?”

  “Yep. Some of the annotations are alien, and our friendly gnome seems forgetful today.”

  “Hey! I can’t know what I don’t know! Although I will say some of these symbols look similar to the TekNik formula we found.”

  Kaleb quickly looked down at his notes again. After a few seconds of reading, he facepalmed himself hard enough to make Roy wince.

  “I’m a fucking idiot. It’s not exact. But this stuff has the same base just in different numbers.”

  “So what does that mean?” Roy asked.

  “It means that TekNik aren’t the only ones dabbling in super serums. Which makes sense. But someone has taken the TekNik serum and altered it already.” Kaleb explained.

  “I think it’s the other way around, boss. If you remember the notes we have on the TekNik formula, it is much more refined than this. I think TekNik stole someone else’s serum.”

  Kaleb shuffled the papers around on the table looking for the TekNik notes. Then he remembered they were back in the workshop. Turning to Roy, Kaleb was delighted to find the kid already moving. He allowed himself a fond smile as his Sidekick read his mind. With a few minutes to spare, Kaleb quickly opened Roy’s textbooks. He pointedly ignored the 201 numbers on the Alien Chemistry book and turned to the page with the Advanced Periodic Table.

  Apparently, when the aliens came to earth, they brought along a host of new species and plants. As well as metals and technology. This caused more than a few issues, as everything took time to get acclimated. But once they were past that phase, the entire planet benefited. New medicines were discovered, new alloys created, and new foods brought to everyone. But some humans fought to keep the old separated from the new. They feared losing what made them human, so they spearheaded creating two schools of teaching. Old human versus new alien. The debate had died down according to in-game lore and the systems were slowly combining. But it was a slow process.

  “Blood.” Daivor’s voice said.

  Kaleb blinked in surprise. Looking through the book, Kaleb found the superscript that annotated much of their new formula. Daivor was right. The script was meant as an annotation for blood. In this case, it signified that the creature in question had CuFe blood. A copper-iron blood system. Immediately Kaleb thought of the aliens kept in pods under TekNik headquarters. He wanted to start ripping up the notes and pages in front of him with abandon. But Daivor’s next words stopped him.

  “Animal blood. Well, alien animal blood. Which I guess makes sense.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I think so? We’d have to double-check the blood-types but I’m pretty sure some of this stuff comes from the Neled’s of Uria.”

  “So not people?” Kaleb wanted to make damn sure.

  Daivor's head snapped up to look at Kaleb’s face. Seeing the expression on his face, the gnome nodded solemnly. Understanding in his eyes.

  “Yeah, boss. This stuff is from animals. In fact, I think most of the base of this serum is from the blood of alien creatures.”

  “Which explains the small doses.” Roy added as he arrived with a stack of new papers. “I mean, companies and other interested parties are only allowed to harvest small amounts from alien species.”

  “Small amounts of what?”

  “Everything, Doc. Blood, hairs, fecal matter. If it comes off an alien animal, the institutes who protect those animals have first rights to their… leavings.”

  “I think this is the body secretions of a Keu’ex from Orbutuar.” Daivor said as he continued to study the chemical formula.

  Kaleb dug through the additional notes Roy brought over. He and Daivor hadn’t really dug into the TekNik formula much. But Daivor had written down what he could scan with his magic. As he looked through the notes, Kaleb pushed the alien chemistry book toward Roy.

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  “Remind me to input the Alien Periodic Table into the new server for the scanner.”

  “Will do, Doc. Are you done with the books already?”

  “Not by a long shot,” Kaleb and Daivor said together. The two shared a grin before they went back to their reading.

  Kaleb felt Roy shuffling on his feet awkwardly and looked up. The boy had a question written all over his face. But Kaleb couldn’t guess what it was. When they caught eyes with each other, Roy blew out a breath.

  “Are you going to take it?”

  “Huh?”

  “The serum. I mean, that’s why you’re looking into it, right? Do you think I should take it too?”

  Kaleb stared at Roy in confusion for a few seconds until his brain restarted. Honestly, he had just been excited about a new puzzle to solve. Not to mention that this new formula seemed to have ties to TekNik. He had considered the option all the way back to the hangar. But once he and Daivor began deciphering the new serum, he had put it out of his mind. Kaleb racked his brain for an answer, but eventually, he simply shrugged.

  “I don’t know. The boost would be a huge gain. But who can say how it would change us?”

  “Not to mention we don’t have access to the chemicals used.” Daivor added. “And I don’t think we want to use TekNik’s substitutes.”

  “Fuck no!” Kaleb said with not a little heat.

  “Well, keep me informed at any rate.” Roy said. “There are plenty of people around here that wouldn’t mind the upgrade.”

  Kaleb blinked before he looked around. The Hunters and Brute clan members walking around the hangar all seemed to have their heads bent in his direction. Looking down at the table, Kaleb realized what a game changer such a serum could be. As he was looking around their home, Kaleb’s eyes caught Farrah’s as she watched him. Which was only slightly weird. Most of his new friends watched him like a hawk. As if he was going to cause an explosion at any moment. But the look in the bunny-woman’s eyes confused Kaleb. She looked like she knew something.

  Kaleb reached down and grabbed the sheet of paper from under Daivor’s feet. The gnome barely noticed as he was rereading his old notes on the TekNik formula. With the paper clutched in his hands, Kaleb rushed over to the command center and leapt up onto the raised platform there. Farrah carefully turned away from him as he rushed up next to her. She pretended to be watching the drone screens as he shoved the formula under her nose.

  “What do you know?”

  Farrah gave him a tired look before replying. “Professor, I’m not a chemist. What the hell would I know about some random string of letters and numbers?”

  Kaleb studied the woman’s face. The smirk on her face and in her eyes told him he was missing something. The woman crossed her slim arms across her chest as she pointed her chin at the formula.

  “What is it?”

  “A super serum to enhance low-powered or Mundane individuals.”

  “So, who would want that?”

  “Criminals, Supers, hell anyone who wanted power.” Kaleb reasoned.

  Farrah sighed. “So, don’t you think this stuff would be heavily regulated? It’s the whole reason I sent you into TekNik headquarters, if you recall. And all you came out with was stories about robots.”

  Kaleb swiftly shoved the piece of paper into his pocket. “So you mean we could get in trouble for having this?”

  “Yes, but that’s not what I was getting at. TekNik’s formula was probably an under-the-table thing. What if this one isn’t?”

  Kaleb’s mind whirled as he tried to catch what the woman was saying. “That would make it an official formula. Which means it’s heavily regulated. That means there is probably a database for this stuff, right?”

  “One we, sadly, don’t have access to.” Farrah nodded. “Also, if we made an inquiry, then everyone would know that the formula had gotten out.”

  “Which means that’s a dead-end too.” Kaleb grumbled.

  “Not quite. Think about what the serum is for and who could get the most use out of an official super serum.”

  Kaleb thought about for three seconds before the images of the HLO flashed through his head. But before he could shout out his answer, Farrah put up a hand.

  “NOT the HLO.”

  Kaleb deflated. “Y’know, this guessing shit is getting old.”

  “If I just tell you the answer, you’ll never learn.”

  Kaleb racked his mind for almost a full minute before it finally came to him. “The police… or the military. But I’d wager the military could afford a better brand of serum.”

  Farrah nodded happily. “The SPPD keeps a stock of serums on hand for when their trainees graduate, and the APD is given a few vials every year. I’d wager what we have was stolen from one of them.”

  “So, how does that help us?”

  “Professor, someone is stealing super serum from the police. Don’t you think that’s something they’d want to know? They might be incredible grateful to learn such a thing. Enough so to get a certain police department to back off our asses.”

  Kaleb glanced down at his hand in his pocket. The paper with the formula was still stuffed there. “But we don’t have the actual serum. Shaggy took it back to Under-Town.”

  “So what? We can make our own or even use the TekNik vial. I’m willing to bet they won’t know the difference.”

  Kaleb grinned as he realized what she was saying. The serum was leverage. Leverage against the police, but it could still be helpful. But first, they needed to have a convincing substitute or even the real thing. But where were they going to find the chemicals and animal blood that they needed?

  A loud creaking from behind him made Kaleb spin around. Like an angel ascending from Tartarus, Vivienne was climbing the stairs into the hangar. A memory of the woman explaining how she worked with magical animals in-game flashed through Kaleb’s mind. He grinned as he grasped the paper in his pocket even tighter. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

  From next to him, Farrah snorted. “You look like an idiot when you smile like that.”

  “Shudup.”