Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Eight: Here Comes the Wolf, Pt. 2 (Patreon)

At seven in the morning, the Wolf Class Armor Bodyplate finally took form.

WOLF CLASS BODYPLATE:

SUBASSEMBLIES REQUIRED:

1. WOLF-GRADE EXOSKELETAL BODY FRAME

2. REACTOR SUBASSEMBLY

3. BATTLE PROCESSOR ARRAY

4. ONBOARD SHIELD GENERATOR

The Battle Processor Array had already been built, a complex combination of high-powered computers armored in a nanofibre weave frame to protect it from combat shocks. The reactor subassembly slotted in my brand new 50-megawatt reactors.

The suit had not one, but two reactors, and twenty heavy power packs to store the energy they generated.

Frankly, the Wolf Armour needed the redundancy. Without the reactors active, the suit could fight at full capability for about fifteen minutes, though it could function in low-power mode for much longer. So if one reactor malfunctioned in combat - always a likelihood - I would definitely need the second.

The nice bonus was, with both working I could run the onboard shield generator.

The Resonant Shield Generator was a fairly interesting component build into the suit. Strangely, its power was not fixed but somehow related to my vitality.

RESONANT SHIELD GENERATOR

ACTIVE STRENGTH: VITALITY X 100. SHIELD REGEN: NIL. COST: 50 MP/SECOND.

3,700 shield points in return for a constant drain on my MP didn’t sound too bad. However, if the shield was overloaded - or knocked offline fully - it would need to be rebooted before the next battle, a process that took at least six hours.

Fair enough, I didn’t want to be fighting for six hours continuously anyway. Eventually, I’d get to shields that had automated regeneration. Like, say, what the Hierarchy vessels were supposed to use… or the shield spanning the Earth.

The Wolf-class Armour Boots were next, for a very special and cool reason.

WOLF CLASS ARMOUR BOOTS

SUBASSEMBLIES REQUIRED:

1. WOLF-CLASS BOOT FRAME

2. PROPULSION POWER CELL SUBASSEMBLY

3. THRUSTER SUBASSEMBLY

4. FLIGHT CONTROLLER

5. SURFACE EVASION CONTROLLER

Like with the Bodyplate, I’d built a mould to form the boot frame, into which the other components went.

The thruster subassembly, however, was intended to give me one thing I’d never had before:

Flight.

Each boot carried an antigrav thruster, refined to work like a jet engine - only without the burden of nozzles and fuel. The combination of the two thrusters would give the me ability to fly. Like Skymaster or Supreme.

Or, in a more appropriate comparison, like a giant flying robot.

Of course, if I just let the thrusters push me forward, I’d quickly find the armour being torn apart by two rocket engines headed in different directions.

The Flight Controller took care of that. A sophisticated computer, it ensured that the direction of the thrusters was perfectly aligned - even taking over the movements of my ‘legs’ to ensure that we didn’t steer off track.

The Wolf wasn’t just meant for the air, though. A thirty-foot tall suit made a prime target for enemy fire, so I had to be nimble on the ground. Which was where the Surface Evasion Controller came in.

Another independent computer system, it controlled my movements on the ground in ‘melee’ combat. Given that I wasn’t going to be fighting hand-to-hand with anything smaller than a Carnotaur, it was designed to let me weave and dodge with the same dexterity and footwork as Evade Blows.

Without sucking up my AP at an alarming rate.

The Greaves followed, with their inbuilt storage pods for additional ammunition, and soon, the Bracers were done too, with their internal hardpoints for mounting missiles. No more running back-and-forth to the truck to resupply every time I fired a missile; with eight on-board, I could tackle a Grizzeloid Heavy Stealth Tank on my own now.

The Wolf-Class Gauntlets followed, where my primary combat magazines would be stored - enough space for several hundred mass driver rounds. Which, frankly, I intended to enhance with some ‘special’ munitions soon...

Finally, I came to the last element - the helmet. Or as my Blueprint called it:

WOLFBLOOD HELM

SUBASSEMBLIES:

1. OPTICAL SENSOR ARRAY

2. SCANNER ARRAY

3. COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY

4. HELMET FRAME

5. OVERHEAD ROCKET LAUNCHER HARDPOINT

6. AURA BROADCASTER

7. STEALTH FIELD GENERATOR

Each of the subassemblies had been a challenge to put together - and each had given me a thrill of anticipation.

The Optical Sensor and Scanner Arrays were my ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’, and the Communications Array linked me to the nearby military combat networks - the Stratospheric Guard had given me access codes which were as close to hack-proof as they could be made.

The Overhead Rocket Launcher hardpoint did exactly what it said on the can - allowed me to launch a fusillade of rockets at a designated target. Exactly what I needed to slow down a Carnotaur or wipe out a Raptor regiment.

And yet, the subassemblies that had been the most intriguing were the last two.

AURA BROADCASTER

USE PSIONIC WAVES TO CREATE AN AURA OF CALM AMONGST YOUR ALLIES OR FEAR AMONGST YOUR ENEMIES. REQUIRES PSIONIC ABILITIES TO OPERATE.

CALMING AURA: 200 PP, DURATION: 5 SECONDS. REMOVES PANIC AND FEAR FROM YOUR ALLIES.

PANIC BEAM: 1250 CP. PROVOKES PANIC IN ENEMIES WITHIN A RANGE OF 30 METRES. 80% REDUCTION TO INT AND WIS, 75% FAILURE RATE OF SPECIAL ABILITIES, 95% REDUCTION IN ACCURACY. DURATION: 3 MINUTES.

The Panic Beam had an insanely high cost - one that would exhaust my entire CP bank in a single shot, and take an hour to recharge. But the results…

If it worked as advertised, it would be worth it.

The final subassembly was, however, the icing on the cake:

STEALTH FIELD GENERATOR

BLURS THE PROFILE OF THE WOLF ARMOUR, MAKING IT NEARLY INVISIBLE IN DARKNESS, AND A DIFFICULT AND BLURRED TARGET IN DAYLIGHT.

COST: 25 CP/SECOND.

Imagine, for a second, a thirty-foot tall walking combat mech designed to fight a Carnotaur.

Now make it invisible.

Even if I could only stay stealthed for less than a minute, with the speed the Wolf Armour was capable of, I could zoom in, fire a half dozen missiles at close range, and dash out, without the aliens realizing I was even there!

… Assuming it all worked as intended, of course. There were many inventors who donned a battlesuit and exclaimed “Now I am invincible!”

Most discovered, in fairly short order, that they were wrong.

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The first time I took the Wolf Armour out of the garage taught me one simple fact:

Without the stealth field on, it’s noisy.

Imagine a three-ton mech clambering out of a garage and onto the road. Metal boots slam into the asphalt, crunching everywhere and sending up a shower of sparks.

The Thud! Thud! Thud! of its steps attracts your colleagues from their humdrum workday, who gaze upon this mechanical marvel in wonder.

Or, as is more true of my real colleagues, annoyance.

“Keep it down, Belessar!” yelled Gideon. “Some of us are trying to work!”

“Come on, guys!” I yelled back. Three pairs of hands covered three sets of ears. Right, I needed volume control… “Sorry, that was too loud. I just wanted to inform everyone, the Wolf Armour is now operational!”

“Thanks for the update! Now put that thing back in the garage and get back to work!”

It is, I suppose, the tragedy of true genius to be misunderstood in its lifetime…