Chương 154: Shifting Gears

"Come in," Talia's voice called from inside her room. Alexander opened the door and stepped inside. Spartan would be an understatement. A bed sat against one wall, perfectly made. A wall-to-wall walk-in closet occupied another. The third wall held a long computer desk with six monitors arranged in two rows of three. Two tablets sat in docking stations at either end. All eight screens were active, displaying information and feeds. Talia sat in the chair with her legs pulled up, feet resting on the seat.

She wore fuzzy pajamas covered in cartoon cats. A bag of chips sat open on the desk beside five energy drinks, three already empty. Her arms reached around her knees to work the holographic controls floating in the air above the desk. Alexander considered asking. Then decided he really didn't want to put her on the spot. As far as he was concerned, this just meant she'd started to feel at home. He caught a flicker of a sideways glance from her. Just a fraction of a second's worth of self-consciousness.

Then gone, her expression smoothing back to neutral as her fingers continued moving through the holo controls. His Hyperawareness had picked up on the tell. But Talia had perfect recall and the ability to process everything at superhuman speeds. Which meant she knew he'd noticed. Which meant she knew he knew she knew. Which meant he knew she knew he knew she knew. Which meant she knew he knew she knew he knew she knew. Alexander decided not to think about it too hard.

"I thought you were still sleeping," he said instead.

"You skipped breakfast."

"Carmen woke me." Talia gestured at the screens without looking away from them.

"I've been working on a few things." Alexander glanced at the displays. A training program interface on one screen. Superhuman information feeds on another. News reports scrolling across a third. The others showed data he didn't immediately recognize and didn't bother trying to understand. It was her business. Instead, he focused on what he'd come for.

"I need—" Talia flicked her finger through the holo controls in his direction. A notification appeared in Alexander's vision. File received. He opened it and scanned the contents. A comprehensive dossier of New York's active superheroes. Patrol routes, known abilities, response times, territories. He raised an eyebrow.

"Am I really that predictable?" The corner of her mouth curled up.

"I spend considerable time anticipating what Grimnir needs. I'd hope I can predict something as simple as you wanting to recruit the crushed lawyer Carmen found." Alexander narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, so I am predictable." She laughed, the sound brief but genuine.

"Are you going alone?"

"Yeah." Alexander crossed his arms.

"I'm not planning to get into a fight with anyone. I'll just drop by and walk right in like a client. Nobody will know I was there."

"Going to wear a disguise at least?" Alexander shrugged.

"I don't think anyone as far out as New York is going to recognize me. Besides..." He raised his left arm slightly.

"Nobody should know I have a cybernetic arm yet. No way to mistake me for me." Talia gave him an incredulous look, then tapped the holo controls a few times. His AEGIS bounty page opened on one of the central monitors. He squinted at it. Below the primary profile image was a sliding bar of images. Including one of him sitting at a table enjoying a drink.

"Why does it say there are 833 pictures?"

"Because there are 833 pictures that various people have taken of you." Alexander stared at the number.

"Fucking paparazzi," he joked.

"Can't a guy get a milkshake in peace?" Talia flicked the air. The page scrolled down to recent updates. She pointed at the screen. Alexander read the entry aloud.

"Recently lost his left arm while off-world, cause unknown. Returned with a blue-black metallic cybernetic replacement. Assumed to be weaponized and extremely dangerous." He paused.

"Also of note, the Machine God has recently broken into the top 100 of our universe's bounty rankings. Currently holds a position in the 800s for multiversal bounty rankings." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He turned to look at Talia.

"Seriously?" She nodded.

"I assume people caught sight of it on Astra Omnia."

"What? No, not that. The bounty rankings." Talia gave him another incredulous look.

"Don't you ever check your System rankings?"

"Why would I do that?" Alexander gestured vaguely.

"If I start worrying about things like that, I'll go mad. And I'm not quite convinced I'm not already."

"We're all in the top 250 now for our universe. The original four of us, I mean. It happened when we were fighting on the Beastworld." Alexander shrugged.

"It's a stupid ranking system anyway. Not a real measure of strength."

"Annie doesn't think so." She smiled.

"She brings it up all the time. Every time one of us overtakes the other."

"She would," he said, then changed the subject.

"How's the training program coming?"

"My part is done. Augustus should finish his part today as well." Alexander nodded slowly. That aligned with what Augustus had told him at breakfast. Which meant they would need the serum as soon as possible to really make the most of it.

"What about—" Talia flicked another file to him. He gave her a disgruntled look. She shrugged one shoulder at him.

"It was the obvious next question. You can review it when you're done with the lawyer." Then Talia did something that caught him off guard. She hesitated, opened her mouth to speak, a flash of uncertainty crossing her features. She closed her mouth and tried again.

"Alex… about Flashpoint…" He waited patiently, confident he knew where the conversation was heading. Talia weighed her words for a few moments.

"There is no way I can achieve flight with my powers. And I'm certain you already knew that when you tried to motivate us with your challenge." Alexander leaned against the table and crossed his arms. She looked up at him.

"But you also would have told me I had to sit it out if you thought there was no way I could contribute to the fight. Which means you already settled on at least one acceptable solution."

"That's right," he said, motioning for her to continue.

"There are three scenarios I considered. First, I assist in secret, by providing support enchantments at the beginning of the fight, but staying out of the engagement itself." She frowned.

"It's an acceptable but limiting option." He nodded.

"Second, Augustus creates a flight spell, and can cast it on me. This seems viable, because there's little chance Augustus of all people will fail." Talia shook her head.

"Except that is about Augustus's success, not mine. Which leads to the third option…" She turned back to the displays and flicked through a few sites, coming to a stop on a store page.

"You weren't challenging me to improve my powers, because you know I am already pushing them as much as I can. Progress is slow not because I'm failing to be innovative or ambitious, but because what I am trying to achieve requires deep synergy between my original powers and Faith Enchanting and that takes time." Talia met his gaze again.

"You wanted me to recognize that my inability to ask for help was holding me back. That, while I am comfortable helping each of you train and push your own abilities, I do so at a ratio of twenty-four to one compared to asking for help." Alexander chuckled.

"I didn't know it was that bad. But yes, that's the rough idea. Annie and Augustus offer to assist you with training regularly, but you tend to deflect the focus to helping them instead. I know Annie and I needed that in the beginning, but now we're on more equal footing, it's time for you to shift gears." She nodded.

"I appreciate you bringing it to my attention." Then she pointed at the screen.

"And now I want you to buy this high-performance hoverbike for me." Alexander paused at the unexpected segue. He leaned closer and started reading the page she'd pulled up. Talia continued.

"It's designed for high-altitude waypoint racing. Routes go around mountains, over oceans, through forests, anywhere they can map checkpoints. You'll need to replace the power source, as the ones they use only last a couple of hours before needing to be recharged. That will reduce the maximum speed, of course, but it's an acceptable trade-off. Especially because once you've armored the bike, Augustus and I can enhance the plating, likely improving it far beyond the original specs.

I'm sure you'll have your own ideas, too." Alexander half-listened, distracted by the long list of specifications. Then he got to the price. He turned to her.

"Talia, did I read that correctly?" She nodded.

"Are you sure?" She nodded again.

"Because I could have sworn it said twenty-two million credits." She nodded a third time. Alexander stared at her for a long moment. His plan had worked too well. She wasn't even wrong either. The original idea had been to get her to come up with a solution that he or Augustus could provide. He just hadn't expected it would cost so much. Then it hit him. For a moment, he'd forgotten something very important. Something vital. A detail that changed everything. He was a supervillain. Alexander smiled.

"Sure. Give me an address and I'll pick one up for you." Talia's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You're going to steal it, aren't you?" He straightened, giving her a look of mock horror.

"How dare you! I've never stolen anything in my life. Except the cybernetics R&D from Santiago Systems, but that hardly counts. They're bad guys." Talia flicked a finger through the holographic controls. A notification popped up, showing the address of a showroom dealership in Manhattan. He couldn't be certain, but he felt like she'd flicked it with a bit more attitude than earlier. Alexander backed slowly towards the door.

"Thanks. I'll borrow one for you when I'm done in New York." The corner of Talia's mouth twitched.

"I'd like a red one, please."