Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard

Sarah's drive out to the SkyTech facility was far a far more sedate drive than what she had done the other day on the way to her air strip. I felt and heard the van pull over at the side of the road, heard Sarah's door open and close then she opened the back door and got in, closing it in behind her, leaning against the door to look at me?

Sarah: "You ready?..." I nodded in reply, "...you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, right?"

Me: "Hey, you asked for my help, here I am... So what's the plan?" Sarah gave a small sigh,

Sarah: "Ok, we're mile out, I'll stay here with the van as a get away vehicle, but I'll be monitoring your progress from here. Crystal has the plans for the site, she will guide you in, you're looking for anything we can use to either to give us additional site locations or, although less likely, anything we can use to expose SkyTech. After you get close to the site, you're on your own if shit hits the fan, I can't be seen involved by coming to save you, alright?..." Again I nodded. "... alright then, get your helmet on..." I put it on and it latched in place, my vision quickly returned as the lenses adjusted to the light and my HUD appeared. She opened the door, checked the coast was and waved me out.

Crystal immediately turned on my night vision and placed a marker on my display pin pointing the facility as I rounded the van and I set myself into a sprint into the direction, taking myself into the dust off the seemingly abandoned road.

Sarah: "Com check, one two three, you read me Alex?"

Me: "I read you."

Sarah: "Good, I'll be monitoring you every step of the way, give you help where I can alright. I can see and hear what you can ok." I belted along, taking me just a little more than a minute to cover the mile at my top speed, great thing was was that my breathing had barely risen from that, this suit made everything effortless. I approached the boundary fence, but the facility looked dark.

Me: "I'm guessing it's not a 24 hour site?"

Sarah: "I guess not, but I don't have that sort info I'm afraid. But don't let your guard down, the site might not be 24/7 but security might be." I leapt the tall fence, surprising myself and going easily 20 feet up, landing on the floor the other side in the compound.

Me: "Whoa..." I said in astonishment to my increased jumping height, looking back at the fence.

Sarah: "Told you so."

I ducked down the side of the nearest building, which appeared to be a warehouse with multiple loading bays...

Me: "This don't feel right..."

Sarah: "What? Something wrong with the armour?"

Me: "No I mean this place. It looks abandoned."

Sarah: "Apparently it was only constructed 7 years ago."

Me: "It looks like it's been abandoned for more than 7 years Sarah. I mean seriously, you have weeds growing through the cracks in the concrete, smashed windows and some of these doors are actually going rusty, this place was built decades ago. Crystal, are you getting anything?"

Crystal: "I'm detecting no energy outputs from this facility, no life signs either." I made a complete lap of the site, dropping my cautiousness the more I went on, even forcing open a door into an small warehouse, the room completely empty besides some old empty racking.

Me: "There's nothing here Sarah, this place is deserted, not even security, your intel is wrong."

Sarah: "They can't be, It's a recent list..."

Crystal: "Alex, I am detecting motion in the nearby office block, North East of your current location, fourth floor, South side of the building..." I ran back outside, looked up to the small office block in question, Crystal placing a pin point on my HUD on the side of the building to an open window. "...That window was where I lost track of the motion."

I opened the hatches and released my wings, putting full effort to lifting myself from the floor...

'Yep... this armour is heavy' as I gradually lifted from the floor and headed for the window, I made a swing past the window,

Me: "Crystal, see anything?"

Crystal: "Negative, but I am am getting a faint life sign, but I'm finding it difficult to pin point in the structure." I circled around, aiming straight for the window, folding my wings away at the last second, threading the needle through the hole, landing in a roll, braced for an attack, but nothing came. I scanned the room, it was empty besides a few old desks and a couple of scattered filing cabinets. I got up and walked further into the office.

Me: "Anything Crystal?"

Crystal: "The structure is still masking any signal, but I believe the signature is coming from the stairwell." I headed for the stairwell door near the center of the room, scanning around the room before I entered the doorway. I opened the door carefully, scanning the stairway up and down as far as I can see, but still no one... Until an object swung down towards me from the stairwell above,

"FUCKING SKYTECH!" A female voice screamed at me and a tail blade caught me square in the face, the blades screeching off my helmet but the force knocked me flying back and smashing through the door I just walked through and onto my back on the office floor, I scrambled to my feet as the unknown Dragon came charging toward me, again tail blades flared aiming for spot in the floor where my neck just was. I spun around in time to see my attacker charge for me and tackle me, I turned the tackle into a backward roll, flinging her off, over and away from me in the process.

I rolled over and scrambled to my feet, with her doing the same,

Attacking Dragoness: "So you SkyTech have realised that you can't win in a fair fight so now they're plating you up, *scoff* figures."

Me: "I'm not SkyTech."

Dragoness: "Well you're clearly not Vanguard are you, which can only make you SkyTech!..." She charged at me again, though this time, she side stepped at the last second as I braced for a frontal attack and she slid up and over my shoulder onto my back before I even had a chance to react to her moves. She pulled my head up at a horrible angle. "...Let's see if I can still break your neck just as easily!" Try as she might, she couldn't, I could hear and feel the servos in my neck joints resisting her pull, and actually straining to over power her gradually, attempting to aide my suit by pulling at her arms with one hand. She resorted to standing on my shoulder blades with one foot forcing my chest hard in the floor and giving her more leverage to pull against my head.

Me: "*Grunt* I wouldn't do that if I were you..." I strained out, "...The thing about trying to *Grunt* break someone's neck, you need to do it quickly." I poked my own tail blades against her back, she turned and looked at them, growling in annoyance.

Dragoness: "Go on then, do it."

Me: "If I wanted you dead I wouldn't have even warned you... Now do you want to get off me so that we can talk professionally?" She growled again and I felt her release her tension on my head and I pulled my blades away so that she could get off my back. She stepped backwards away quickly and I did the same, she was rather pretty, for a Dragon anyway, slender build and face but had a sort of majestic aura about her. 

Dragoness: "So... what could we possibly have to talk about? And if you could've killed me, why didn't you?" she said spitefully.

Me: "You spoke of the SkyTech, from an outside perspective, like you hate them, so that means you're not one of them either, so what are you? Are you, the Vanguard you mentioned?"

Dragoness: "Hmmm... Not exactly." There was a rather long pause, I was hoping she was going to continue, but she clearly she didn't want to.

Me: "Soo?... Who are you with then?!"

Dragoness: "Alright, yes, you could say I'm associated with the Vanguard, but why should I tell you any more than that?"

Me: "Because I want to put a stop to the SkyTech, same as you I guess."

Dragoness: "*Scoff* You don't stand a chance, even with that armour, if anyone is going to stop them it will be me."

Me: "You're not making any sense, here I am armoured up and you're saying I don't stand a chance when all you're wearing is a snazzy bracelet!" I pointed out, noting her silver band on her right arm.

Dragoness: "Well maybe, trying to take them out with a head on approach won't work, maybe you need to take out their source of power and watch them crumble."

Me: "Make sense will you! You ever heard of 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'? If we both want to stop the SkyTech then why don't we work together! Tell me what you know!" Before she could answer Crystal interrupted and I had to hold a finger up to the Dragoness.

Crystal: "Alex we have incoming, 3 targets on the motion tracker and closing fast from the South, profile on radar suggests draconian sized in flight, ETA 30 seconds." I turned back to the dragoness,

Me: "We got incoming."

Dragoness: "What? How many?"

Me: "3... possibly SkyTech, coming in fast from the South." I pointed towards the window where I came in.

Dragoness: "Hmmm..." She looked to the window "...You want answers, you fend for yourself for now, if you survive, meet me at the Giffith Observatory, next Saturday..." She looked at her gauntlet, "...The 15th at 22:00... Then we'll talk." She ran through back into the stairwell,

Me: "Hey wait!" I shouted after her and followed her, she leapt off the hand rail, diving feet first between the stairwells, I watched as a red and purple portal appeared between the staircases, completely engulfing her and immediately closed behind her.

Me: "Fuck it! But what was that?!" A series of smashes came from the office floor. I watched out of the smashed door way, a few silent moments passed before a Dragon walked up to and sniffed the smashed door before noticing me and snarled, repositioning himself into a defensive stance. He looked bulky, very very muscular, then heard a familiar low grumbling voice,

Skylen: "What is it A12?..." Skylen then stepped into view on his hind legs. "...ahhh, who might you be?" he said looking directly at me. I willed a thought through to Crystal, hoping she could hear it...

Crystal: "Understood Alex, external audio output is off."

Me: "Thanks. Quick, put some sort of voice changer on for me please, I don't want him recognising me."

Crystal: "Done."

Skylen: "Why don't you step out here?..." He gestured me out onto the office floor, and I, for some unknown reason, willingly followed his gesture, so intently watching and stepping past him and A12, that I missed the 3rd dragon standing on the other side of me, who growled, slightly making me jump. "Relax B'2... don't harm our new friend... so come on, what's your name?..." My mind was frazzled in fear, not of the other 2 dragons, A12 and B02, but just of Skylen. Remembering how intense and frightening his presence was... "...Well? do you speak?!"

Me: "Sarah... my name's Sarah." It was the first name that came to mind, my voice coming out slightly garbled, just as I had requested Crystal to.

Sarah: "Really? You use my name?" she said in my ears.

Skylen: "Well, Sarah, nice to meet you. My name is Skylen... it has to be said, you kind of stick out like a sore thumb... and, judging by your name, your armour and that fact that you are here, in this facility, without my knowledge, suggests that you are not with us... so tell me, what is your purpose here?"

Me: "I got lost, sorry."

Skylen: "Oh, indeed you are..." he flicked his tail blades out "...stop lying to me and start telling me what I want to know, who do you serve?! Who sent you here?!" B02 and A12 flicked their tail blades out too and started slowly surrounding me growling. I took a deep breath and audibly sighed, realising my only option was going to be fighting my way out... I snapped my tail blades out as I swung for B02, who mostly side stepped my swing, but my blade still lightly cut through his shoulder with a small screech of pain emitting from his mouth. I quickly threw my body and my tail the other way, trying to get A12, but he threw his fist upward, smashing my tail upward as I aimed for his face and missed as a result. B02 tackled me, gnawing futilely at my neck as I hit the floor. I kicked him hard in the stomach to get him off me and was only just getting to my feet to see Skylen punch me square in the face, the force shuddering down my neck and sending me flying backwards through a dividing wall. Again I tried getting to my feet, I felt myself snap up, and my head fling back uncomfortably quick, obviously Crystal trying to assist me, as A12 threw a punch, narrowly missing the end of my snout.

I took his stunned motion and brought my elbow smashing down onto his back with a crunch and he fell to the floor in a groan of pain. I didn't have time to revel though as B02 tackled me again, we rolled along the floor, him chomping at my helmet. We came to a stop, I punched him in the face and kicked his stunned self off of me. My tail was promptly grabbed though and I was swung around by Skylen and he let go as I faced the center stairwell wall, smashing hard off of the concrete. I groaned as yet again I tried to get to my feet but Skylen assisted, in a way... Grabbing me by the neck and pinning to the wall with one hand. Using his free hand he dug down with his claws into the top of my helmet, I heard the metal above my head crunch and slowly give way as I tried to fight him off, clawing at his arms. Then in one long swoop, he yanked backwards ripping my helmet from it's connections, scraping his claws down my the top of my head and face and simultaneously I swiped at his legs with my tail blades. He growled in pain and dropped me and I fell to the floor, taking my opportunity to retreat, I dove around the corner of the doorway and into the stairwell.

Skylen: "GET HER!" I heard him roar. I leapt off the hand rail, trying to use my wings to slow my decent, but there wasn't enough space for me to spread them wide enough, I caught my wing on the next stair well hand rail down, hearing a snap and a shooting pain shot down my wing into my back causing me to spin out of control and to scream in pain, right before I smashed into the solid ground floor, cracking it in the process. I pulled myself to my feet as fast as I was able to upon hearing scampering coming down the stairs and made for the boarded up lobby doors, smashing though them with my shoulder and stumbling out of the door. 

My side hurt from landing on the floor, my face stung as the cool air hit the fresh cuts, now feeling the blood trickle down my face in every direction and into my eyes, making them sting as well. My wing was killing me, every step, leap and bound sent shocks through it and it didn't help that it was dragging along the floor either. But I didn't care, I was running for my life now, aiming for the boundary fence I leapt over, still with relative ease but landing on the other side hurt my wing again. But still I ran, as fast as I could manage, the suit still seemingly functional without my helmet. I saw headlights on the road, a van, it span round in the road with the back roller door open, Sarah leaning out the drivers door,

Sarah: "LET'S GO! GET IN COME ON!" I leapt and slid into the back,

Me: "GO!..." not that I needed to say anything, she was already putting her foot down as I landed on the floor of the load area. "...fuck it..." I said more to myself, more pissed off with myself than anything, "...You well and truly fucked that up didn't you Alex... you fucking idiot." lightly punching the floor of the van, I got up and looked out the back to make sure they weren't following, then reached up and closed down the roller shutter.

__________*_Skylen_*__________

Watching the vehicle drive off into the distance, I stood on the roof top, patiently waiting. A12 and B02 arrived a few moments later.

A12: "Sir we... lost her..." I snapped my head round to them,

Skylen: "YOU LOST HER?!..." I stepped toward the pair, throwing the helmet to the floor, grabbed them by their horns and dragged them to the edge of the roof top and smacked their heads on to the wall, "...THAT'S WHERE SHE IS! NOT THAT DIFFICULT TO TRACK IS IT?!" I pointed at the dust trail fading off down the road into the distance.

B02: "We're sorry, we'll chase her now." and he started climbing the wall.

Skylen: "Forget it..." I replied, pulling him back, then picked the remains of the helmet from the floor and looked at it intently. It somewhat reminded me of my old Vanguard armour, "...Something tells me we haven't seen the last of her." and I crushed the helmet between my hands.

__________*_Alex_*__________

The van screeched to a halt while reversing up, then I heard the driver's door open and close. I opened the shutter and stepped out into her garage, determined not to look at Sarah as she walked up next to me,

Sarah: "Come here."

Me: "Don't... I don't want to hear it-"

Sarah: "Shut the fuck up and come here...." she cut me off, "...You're a mess."

Me: "THAT was a mess!... I couldn't have fucked that up anymore if I tried."

Sarah: "I said, shut up... and come here..." she dragged me over to a work bench grabbing some large workshop tissue paper and started dabbing my my cuts.

Me: "Leave them, they've dried already." She sighed realising I was right, as the tissue just picking up dried and flaky chinks of blood.

Sarah: "I need to sort your wing though."

Me: "It's fine."

Sarah: "It's totally not fine, it's broken. I need to set the bone." I growled in annoyance,

Me: "You know what you're doing?"

Sarah: "I broke my arm when I was 15 once, dad set it in place before taking me to the hospital to get a cast. Here, put this in your mouth, between your teeth." She offered me a broom.

Me: "I'm not putting that dirty thing in my mouth!"

Sarah: "Suit yourself." she then went to grab my wing, I quickly put the handle in my mouth. She grabbed my wing then gave it a sharp yank and there was two loud cracks and a loud groan of pain. The first crack was my wing being set straight, pain shooting down into my back again, the second crack was the broom handle shattering in my mouth as I clamped down on it. She turned to see me dropping and spitting the remains out of my mouth.

Me: "Yeah, that didn't work." I groaned painfully, spitting more wood splinters out. She grimaced at me, clearly not realising my bite being that powerful.

__________

Some time later, after bracing my wing the best she could, cleaning up the dried blood from my face, removing the armour remains and swapping back out my regulator, both us remaining quiet the whole time she worked, we went upstairs, Sarah heading for the kitchen, I followed. I watched as she grabbed a bottle of Vodka, grabbed a glass, took a seat at the breakfast bar, poured some of the clear liquid out and drank about half of the glass, straight, sighing as she put the glass down. I stared at her as she looked distressed, her eyes meeting mine upon realising I was staring at her.

Sarah: "Sorry, you want some?" Raising the bottle at me.

Me: "No, I'm ok thank you, I don't really drink." She stared at me uncomfortably for ages before finally speaking.

Sarah: "I'm sorry Alex." she said before taking another large swig.

Me: "What do you have to be sorry for?"

Sarah: "I rushed this, rushed you into it, I obviously didn't check my intel properly, you weren't ready, the armour wasn't ready... We weren't ready." I shook my head to disagree,

Me: "This wasn't you, Crystal was right, I'm not the right person for the job, I have no fighting skills, no tactical knowledge, I have no idea what I'm doing... you need to find someone else."

She still sat there staring at me though, again another long pause before she replied.

Sarah: "Don't listen to what she says, she's an idiot... Do you think that, if I had listened to what she thought, that you weren't the right person for the job, that you would be standing here right now? She declined you on facts and figures. I chose you because you have heart." She took brought her glass up and downed the rest, plonking the glass back onto the bar then refilling it.

Me: "Maybe you would've been better off though." She raised her glass to me.

Sarah: "Well then... here's to having heart and having 'A' heart, and knowing the difference between the two... Alex." She downed the glass whole.

Me: "Please, go steady on that ok? and make sure you get some sleep tonight, please." She raised and shook the bottle to me before pouring another.

Sarah: "Yes mum." She replied sarcastically, I decided it was best to leave at that point, I wasn't even sure why she started downing drink as heavily as she did all of sudden, when she was saying she had and still has faith in me. Maybe after my mishap she had lost faith and was worried about her decision? I decided not to question it any more, it was very late, I was shattered, in pain, so I headed to bed to sleep, even though it took me a long time, due to my mind not switching off and having to try and lay carefully due to my wing.

_________

I blinked looking up at the ceiling, on my back, my eyes adjusting to the dim light in my room as I slowly woke back up. I could feel I was lying on my rather sore wing so I tried to roll over, but I was weighted down on one side. I looked beside me to see Sarah lying on my arm, cuddled up to me, fast asleep and... I took a big inhale, the smell of alcohol very prominent... clearly had a lot to drink... I realised then that she was completely knaked aswell!

Me: "Okaaayy?..." I whispered to myself, I rolled her over, trying to separate us, but she moaned grumpily in her sleep and pulled herself closer to me.

Me: "Alright, fine." I whispered, giving in, rolling over a bit more to face her and settling for the cuddle. It was nice to be holding a girl for a change I had to admit, so it wasn't long before I fell asleep again.

_________

Malibu, Sat 8th Jan '22 06:52

I was awoken in the morning by motion beside me and the feeling of being nudged over and over. Still holding Sarah, I realised she was making soft moans in her sleep, and grinding her crotch against my leg, quite vigorously as well, until she shuddered and made an elongated moan. She woke up almost immediately and looked at me, with me raising an eyebrow at her, before she grabbed her head in a pained groan.

Sarah: "What are you looking at? and what are you doing in my bed?" she croaked.

Me: " 'Your' bed? Take a look around. I should be asking why you just humped MY leg in MY bed." She partially rolled over and looked around before rolling back to me and made a croaky groan. It was a couple of seconds more before she rolled over and out of bed, picked up her clothes and haphazardly walked out of the room, seemingly not embarrassed at all by her current state, 'maybe she was too hungover to care?'. I took note of her arse wriggle from side to side as she walked towards the door... I was thinking that, if I was still a guy, and single, I might have tried to take advantage of the situation, you know, if she was up for it. But the new feminine part of me was reminding me what I had been through... In a drunken or hungover state, would I like it if I was taken advantage of by someone I barely knew? Probably not... feeling slightly ashamed I decided to pull myself from the bed to go and shower, mostly because I realised that Sarah had smeared quite a bit of her juices down my thigh. I winced a bit as knocked my bad wing on the door frame for the bathroom, forgetting what had happened the night before, I stood up in front of the mirror to assess the cuts on top of my head, giving them a quick touch, making me take a sharp hissing intake of air, they were sore... best not get them wet and let them heal. I stepped away and headed off into the shower.

Once ready, I headed out of my room and down to the garage, not finding Sarah there.

Me: "Hey, Crystal, where's Sarah?"

Crystal: "Miss Jarvie has returned to her own bed and is asleep once again." I sighed, deciding best to let her recover and leave her be. I stepped over to the platform where Sarah had removed my armour last night, pieces strewn all over the floor, I picked up a gauntlet, gently throwing it up in the air and catching it in my hand several times while looking at the mess.

Me: "Crystal... analysis on last night's confrontation, specifically my performance."

Crystal: "Is this another one of those moments where you would like me to be honest?"

Me: "Alright you cheeky fuck, just tell me what you thought."

Crystal: "Very well. Initially I detected an increased heart rate along with an increase of fear and anxiety when you sighted Skylen, but once you relaxed you're fighting skills were... adequate, considering the odds were slightly stacked against you. But there is room for improvement."

Me: "Fair enough. Did you know who the Dragoness was before those three arrived? The referencing herself as 'Vanguard'?"

Crystal: "I'm afraid I have no knowledge of this dragoness in any of my databases."

Me: "Hmm..." Then I realised something, "...Crystal... you just used a contraction?!"

Crystal: "Indeed, being linked to your mind has given me a better understanding of it's usage among other things."

Me: "Crystal! Are you saying I've taught you, a 'smart AI', something?!"

Crystal: "It would seem apparent."

Me: "Wa-hey!! So come on, do you like me yet?"

Crystal: "I believe I could use the phrase 'sitting on the fence' as to whether or not I believe if you are appropriate for the role, as I say, there is room for improvement. With the right amount of practice and providing you with the right equipment, we might be able to pull this off."

Me: "Probably the closest I'll get to a 'yes'... so I'll take that, I'll agree..." I stepped up to the platform, swiping the old armour pieces to one side or off the edge of the platform, the metal pieces clanging as they bounced on the floor. I was thinking about how in the Iron Man and Avengers films, Tony Stark was always learning from the lessons of failures or faults either he or his armour suffered and then improving on them. "...So... let's say for arguments sake, the old Draconian armour is, let's call it a Mark 1, yeah? This... thing, being the Mark 2..." I gestured to the mess on the floor. "...So... err, can you bring up the hologram or wireframe... thingy, of the Mk 2 for me please..." The orange hologram appeared right beside me in the center of the platform of the armour I had worn last night, I took a step back to take in the whole image. "...Thank you... ok..." I walked round in front of it, looking at the helmet, "...Crystal I have a question, Sarah said this armour is extremely bulletproof, now I know Skylen is strong, but how is it he was able to puncture the armour with his bare claws?"

Crystal: "The density of the armour changes and reacts with heat and pressures, for example, a bullet travelling 2600 feet per second creates enough heat and friction that the material reacts upon impact and reflects the round and is for the most part, is undamaged. A slow piercing object makes little heat in comparison and therefore has a greater success rate of puncturing. Also in your situation, luck was not on your side, as Skylen managed to dig his claws into a join, the edges of each armour plate are naturally the weakest part."

Me: "I see... so.. overlapping panels would be a benefit?"

Crystal: "They would yes, at the cost of adding extra weight."

Me: "Ok, copy this template for me, close the Mk 2 file and label the copy as Mk 3." The hologram fuzzed for a split second,

Crystal: "Done." I dropped the gauntlet into the pile and concntrated on the  hologram.

Me: "Right, ok, modify the design so that all the exposed external vulnerable panels have a slight overlap, that should have an effect without compromising weight too much..." The image adjusted slightly, each panel visibly grew about an extra 10mm on each edge. "...Brilliant... tell you what, bin that helmet... get rid of it." I said swiping away at it. The entire head disappeared, leaving a large cavity for the neck, "...it needs a total redesign, the clip on-clip off design is crap... can you hologram my head in there so we have something to work with please?" A rather rudimentary image of my head appeared, protruding from hole in the neck armour. "Ok, can a draw shapes in this image? Then you can adapt them so that they actually work mechanically and within the design?"

Crystal: "Begin when ready."

Me: "Ok..." I sat down in front and began by drawing a plate that came from the neck line, drawing a basic neck triangle shape with my index fingers to meet at a curved point at the end of my jaw line. "...adapt this as you will, give it a bit of a tub effect sort thing, so that the edges round up, but don't have it so close to my jaw that I can't talk because this bit will be fixed in place..." I watched my basic drawing adjust, "...Ok, now I want plating down either side of my head..." I drew in line from the corners of my mouth back, "...and join them to the neck piece however you see fit. Now a piece to cover the top of my head, not too low though so it's covering the eyes of course,..." I drew in another triangular piece over the top of the head and made it curve down ever so slightly half way down my snout, almost looking like an eagles beak.

"... Good good... now, the face plates, I want them to hinge and pivot something like this..." I used my flat hands and gestured over the display, covering the uncovered sides of the face and merely slid them backwards towards the back of the hologram's head.

Crystal: "Working, one moment..." The sides of the helmet filled in, meeting at the front and also the top and lower fixed pieces. "...I need to try a different design, one moment, working..." The face plates disappeared then reappeared. The hologram's helmet faceplates opened, springing backwards as I requested, only they split into two separate pieces on each side, "... apologies, I had to modify your request slightly, due to the shape of the helmet and your head, the face plates need to split through the center on each side, I hope this satisfies your request."

Me: " 'Satisfies'? Are you joking? That looks awesome!... need to work on the vision issue next, loose those big fucking fish bowl, googly, dome eyes will you, change them to slightly angled horizontal slits that have dull red glow to them when the faceplates are closed, I want to look at least somewhat cool in this..." The design changed to my request. "...Now... here's what I have in mind... when I was in the prison, they were able to send things, messages, to my head, and it was like seeing them in front of my eyes... can we work with that, putting sensors or cameras outside the armour, maybe even putting them in the eye slits if that helps?, then to send the image directly to my head, that way I can actually keep a full field of view? It will be like Virtual reality,  exactly it's showing what's actually outside... And not showing it to my eyes,  but straight to my head... Is that possible?."

Crystal: "That should be, but we would need to test that theory on you to see if you brain can cope with the information input."

Me: "Fair enough, yeah, don't frazzle me please. I think that's about it with the helmet. Need to do something with the wings though..."

(-Neffex)