Chương 54: R&R Ch. 54 — Kintsugi

Jasmine always felt a sigh of relief when Nicholas came into her soul forge and just seemed to marvel at everything he was seeing. Like it was this magnificent creation. She had put a lot of effort into changing it retroactively; she had been inside her grandma's soul space enough times to know that she had never wanted the brutalistic design. So she had made hers a garden, and it was supposed to help people feel relaxed and safe.

It certainly did the job for her, and she was happy to see that it was seemingly a hit with her partner too. She still wasn't sure what had spawned the idea for them to try dating, but it had been a fun idea, so she went along with it, and now she had plans. If they were going to try genuinely, she would have to try to capture his heart, and she had no idea how to do that. So she had been testing various things the past few days to see how their bond reacted to it.

Unfortunately, all of that was a problem for future Jasmine, and current Jasmine had more important business to take care of.

"Seen everything you needed to?" She asked, laughing.

"You cleaned up," Nicholas said, smirking at her. She pretended she didn't care that he had said that. It was perfectly normal for her to do spring cleaning in her soul forge, and that was the only reason it was now clean. Jasmine certainly didn't care if it was clean or dirty; this was a place for work, so it would have to be functional, no more, no less.

"Yeah, I wanted to clean out some prototypes that were never going to go anywhere," Jasmine said, grabbing the box their project was in. Inside rested her armor and hammer. They were in terrible shape. She had actually caused herself more damage to make the container to stop their degradation. Which had gotten her in trouble, but it was important besides. She could handle more soul damage than normal people, so it was perfectly okay.

There was a tugging sensation on their bond, and Jasmine turned to look at Nicholas concentrating on something. The golden book flowed out of her soul before flying back to him.

"Odd," he said, flipping through the pages manually.

"That was weird," Jasmine said, looking over at the book. She wasn't sure how it came out of her soul; it was supposed to come out of his soul. Though both of them could use the other's item, they were linked to both of their souls.

"I was trying to summon it and there was a strange resistance, but it felt like there was a way to do it, just not the normal one, so I let it flow down that path," Nicholas explained.

"Maybe because it's a soul-based pocket dimension it didn't recognize your authority?" Jasmine suggested as she summoned Quicksilver. She had tried to come up with a different name, but nothing had seemed to fit. At least it was better than Nicholas naming the golden book Book. Really, he had terrible naming sense; he hadn't even been the one to name himself Retort." Maximize" Jasmine commanded as Quicksilver settled atop her like a mantle. Next, she changed its power construct, letting soul power flow through her.

It resonated with her own soul, pushing her power far beyond what it should be at their rank.

"You good?" Nicholas asked tentatively. Jasmine turned to face Nicholas, except he wasn't there anymore. In his place was a humanoid cloud of water, the same color as the soul fragment she had cut from him to make their items. She blinked and her vision split, one eye seeing the physical realm and one eye seeing the soul realm.

"Just freaky power synergy. You ready?" Jasmine asked as she pulled out the soul-carving knife.

"Ready." Jasmine cut out a chunk of her soul." Playroom" Pain rippled through their bond as a golden flame consumed a portion of Nicholas's soul. With the increased existence from it being his signature, the even further authority boost from burning up his own soul, and their bond, Nicholas had just made himself the perfect assistant for what she needed to do. Her knife fell to the ground as Quicksilver formed tools in her hands.

"Ready, let's begin the operation." The chest clicked open, and Nicholas pulled out the hammer and armor, both of them floating in the air before her. With both of them concentrating, they wouldn't have to worry about the degradation.

"Beginning to fix the physical chassis." Nicholas said as she watched the cracks and rents in her weapon begin to straighten themselves out. They had done a ton of theorizing on how they were going to fix the hammer and armor. First, they were going to make the best of what was there, cleaning out all the broken bits and fixing the parts that didn't need new grafts. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Once the vessel was at its own limit to what it could handle, she would then use the new soul matter to fill in the gaps that couldn't be fixed. And they would have the two meld. It was a simple plan, but it would take hours for them to do so. And if they wavered once in their vision of what they wanted, it had a chance to bring it all crashing down around them, but those were just problems.

They were superheroes; they dealt with problems every day, and they didn't need to worry about either of them lacking the focus to do something like this. A prayer in her heart and determination flickering through their bond like an inferno, Jasmine mentally expanded the power construct that kept her hammer and armor working. There was so much damage from tangles and knots. Not even including all the missing pieces. The interior of her baby was about as bad as the exterior. That was okay. They could fix it.

Simultaneously, two supers, a hammer, and a suit of armor clanged to the ground. The hammer and armor were clearly the same one that Jasmine was known for wearing, but it was as if liquid gold had filled in the cracks and made it better than it had ever been before.

"Did we do it?" Nicholas asked, lifting his head to look.

"Yeah, we did," Jasmine confirmed. She was connected to all of her items. And she got a great feedback sensation from her main set.

"You mind if I take a nap in your soul garden?"

"Nope, I'm doing the same." It was nearly three hours later when the duo woke up feeling refreshed from the ordeal, though neither of them was without soreness. Even if the grass was lush, they hadn't found a proper place to sleep, just the first place they had landed upon falling to the ground.

"Looks good," Nicholas commented, levering himself to his feet before offering a hand to Jasmine to help her up. Jasmine happily took the hand, waiting for Nicholas to pull her up. She was far too tired to stand, and she had a crick in her back and hip from how she had slept. Nicholas attempted to pull Jasmine to her feet. He resulted in falling down next to her.

"You didn't even try to pull me down, did you?" he said, face down in the grass to hide from his shame.

"I did not." Jasmine confirmed.

"Well, that's great." Nicholas laughed, standing up again. This time, when he offered a hand, Jasmine accepted and helped get her to her feet as well.

"So what are you going to do with it?" Nicholas asked, gesturing to the new gear. Jasmine wasn't sure it was still f-rank; she could tell that much it was part of her soul. But it was the same way Quicksilver or Book were F-rank. Some part of the operation had made it more than it should have been.

"Wear it tomorrow? We have to go deal with Lupine, so I figure we should do that sooner rather than later."

"Wearing your best setup is a good choice," Nicholas agreed. Jasmine wasn't looking forward to what was to come. Lupine had betrayed them, and as the commanders, they were saddled with the decision. If they made the wrong one, it was going to come back and bite them. And she knew what happened to villains. Controllable villains were released in secret. To become the attack dogs of the people in charge, to keep things in check.

Her grandma had said it was just too important to keep all the tools on the table, and Lupine could be controlled. Jasmine was certain. She couldn't stand the idea of the person betraying them walking free like they had done nothing wrong because they were useful. But she couldn't be the one to kill him, could she? Nicholas would do it; she was honestly a bit concerned about the fact that he not only seemed willing to do so but wanted to do so.

There was no right answer, but she was so afraid that she would make the wrong one.

"I won't kill him unless you're on board with it. Or he's become nonhuman." Nicholas said out of nowhere.

"What?"

"He opened the vent and was face-first with the miasma coupled that with his assimilation power he's pretty much a first-round pick to fall from grace. At that point he'll be closer to a Beyonder than a person, and I don't feel bad about killing him in that sense, even if you still didn't want to." Nicholas explained. He explained the part she hadn't needed an answer for.

"But why?"

"We're a team, the decisions are sort of stuck being fifty fifty aren't they? Your arguments aren't wrong, and mine aren't either, so it would be the do nothing choice is what we're left with."

"I hadn't realized you could tell."

"Jasmine, I'm literally attached to your soul. If I couldn't figure out that the idea of murder was bothering you, I would be an incredibly shitty person all things considered," Nicholas said, laughing as they moved to the exit. Jasmine didn't have a defense for that.

"How likely do you think he has fallen?"

"High, but he might be one of the lucky ones?" Nicholas said with a shrug.

"Though if he's one of the lucky ones, it'll be definitely out of our hands." Jasmine nodded; it was true. If Lupine was someone who could wield both paths to power without problem or without sacrifice, then he was going to be the most important F-rank in the city. Even including Jasmine's status as the descendant of Brynhild.

"Are there any parts of your soul smithing you haven't tried yet that you want to?" Nicholas asked as they left the soul forge.

"I would love to try making prosthetics for folks, but uh hard to practice that." Jasmine admitted.

"Oh, why?"

"My prosthetics have to be made custom for the person. So until I meet them and have the chance to analyze their soul, I can't build it. But that's only the first problem." Jasmine said as they aimed for the kitchen. After dinner they were going to do some light training in preparation for tomorrow, and neither wanted to do that on an empty stomach, especially with how long they had worked on and napped in the soul forge.

"Other problem being your materials?"

"Yeah, I could use soul remains of dead supers, but that's always felt a little gross. I can't even ask them for permission."

"If I ever die, I'll make sure it's in my will that you can make whatever you want with my soul." Nicholas joked. Jasmine shoved him, their bond radiating her disapproval.

"Lots of superheroes have it in official writing." Rend said, popping out of the pantry. Jasmine knew that was true, but it was still weird to make people's dead souls into items, even if they couldn't feel it. And she couldn't make the prosthetics from her own soul; it would have the same problem Book and Quicksilver had. Attaching her soul to her teammate was one thing. A random stranger? Not so much.

"It's not going to come up ever, so I don't think anyone needs to worry about me making soul prosthetics." Jasmine said, rolling her eyes. Nicholas stared at her mouth agape.

"What?"

"If I lose a limb in the future of our careers, it's your fault." Nicholas said arms crossed.

"You'll both lose limbs; it builds character. We should practice it at some point." Rend said unhelpfully.

"I thought you were ignoring us," Nicholas said, turning to their mentor.

"I ignore people on break just because you're disappointments doesn't mean you aren't still useful, and you two are back in the field tomorrow." Rend explained. Jasmine and Nicholas were in agreement. They would surpass their mentor and see who was the disappointment.