It was two o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon in late spring when Sylia wondered, for at least the hundredth time, what had possessed her those many months ago when she'd agreed to let A.J. join the Sabres.
"You're not saying anything. You hate it, don't you?" The girl in question and the source of Sylia's sudden headache looked downcast and scuffed her toe on the floor.
"I don't hate it, Alex," Sylia noted quietly. "I'm just-- wait. Is that one of my old field emitters?"
A.J. brightened. "Yep! You'd left them in the reclamation bin and I figured, hey, this way it won't cost anything. Katy fixed them up for me. Mostly. I think." The brunette shrugged. "It's sometimes hard to tell, with her work..."
Sylia bent and examined the suit hanging on the makeshift armoring rack in the corner. It, like all of A.J.'s other suits had been, was blue and white. The poor girl had gone through so many variants by this time that Sylia had quite lost track. She was an FBSA-certified superhero, true enough, but Sylia harbored private thoughts that perhaps the FBSA had certified A.J. just to make sure she was on the Medicom network and thus, keep her alive, rather than due to any actual ability the girl possessed. As Linna had put it, the girl was a grade-A klutz.
Unlike some of her previous designs, this one had actual armor rather than molded plastic painted to look like armor. Being a Sabre had given A.J. access to better materials and better tools, and an actual budget to play with -- but A.J. still clung to the idea of reusing things wherever possible, and adapting them to fit. Sylia twitched slightly in memory of one of A.J.'s previous attempts, which had ended disastrously (if humorously) with the poor girl stuck in a chronal loop, oscillating back and forth through the experience of getting splattered by a water balloon, over and over again, until a giggling Nene had finally taken pity on her. After that, Sylia had firmly expressed the idea that maybe A.J. should use brand-new instead of worn out hand-me-down parts.
It didn't look like the girl had quite listened, though in this case at least Sylia was somewhat reassured that it was her old tech instead of someone else's.
"It looks sturdy enough," Sylia finally said, glancing back at the younger girl. "Have you tested it yet?"
A.J. laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Of course not! You said all testing had to be done in the danger room! No more live-fire testing, right?"
Sylia raised an eyebrow. A.J. squirmed.
"It wasn't my fault I was bringing it back from Katy's lab and got jumped by a pack of Hellions!"
Sylia sighed. "Did it work?"
A.J. nodded eagerly. "It was amazing! It was like the suit was part of me!"
"That's how it should be," Linna said, entering the armory. "Afternoon, Sylia," she said by way of greeting the Sabre leader. Sylia nodded in reply.
"Hi, Linna!" A.J. bounced in place, rising to the balls of her feet and rocking back on her heels. "She's been giving me special lessons," she added, glancing at Sylia. "I'm a lot better than I used to be."
Sylia drew on years of experience and her masterful self-control and refrained from observing, "That's not saying much," and instead simply inquired, "Oh?"
"It's true, Sylia," Linna said, perhaps sensing Sylia's unspoken assessment. "A.J.'s come a long way. The staff really suits her."
"I thought you taught unarmed combat," Sylia said.
"I do," Linna confirmed. She grinned. "I also teach pole dancing."
"Lin-na!" A.J. squealed, blushing.
"What? It's more an art form than most people think, and you've got the body for it. Don't be ashamed," Linna replied, shrugging.
"I have to admit to some confusion," Sylia began slowly. "You're teaching Alex how to pole dance, and this led to her learning how to fight with a staff?"
Blushing further, A.J. replied, "That's... mostly accurate. Um."
Linna chuckled. "She's a klutz, but she's lucky, Sylia." A.J. nodded red-faced agreement. "So there we were in the studio one day. A.J.'s practicing a vertical lift and somehow manages to break the pole. As she's falling, she spins, lets go of it, and ends up clobbering Master Leep from across the room."
"I didn't mean to!"
"After he wakes up," Linna continued, "he decides that she needs to learn better control of her 'unconventional' staff-fighting technique, and since I'm her teacher, obviously I need to practice it as well, because otherwise, she'd never have lost control of her weapon in such a shameful manner." Linna chuckled and shook her head. "Honestly? I think the old perv just figured it was a way to stare at girls in leotards for a couple hours at a time without getting in trouble, but he is helping us develop a new fighting style."
Sylia thought about it for a moment. "I suppose that makes a strange sort of sense," she admitted. "For this city, at any rate."
"Hey, I'm not complaining," Linna noted. "I've got three classes full already, and we're looking at hiring more instructors."
"So in your opinion, Linna," Sylia said, resolutely returning to the original topic, "is Alex ready for fieldwork, using her new techniques and tools?"
"Sure." Linna nodded. "And anything's going to work better than that rebuilt toaster-gun-thing she got off what's-her-name in the Legendary."
"I don't like fire. Nope nope nope," A.J. put in, shaking her head frantically.
"So this is why the armor is minimal," Sylia said, indicating the suit. "Your staff techniques require flexibility."
"Yep!" A.J. nodded, whipping out a laser pointer and dropping a wobbling dot on key parts of the suit. "I used your old field emitters here -- Katy re-tuned them a little, so they don't draw so much power -- and that's what provides protection for everything except the center torso. Keeps weight down. Then," she said, scribbling a rough oval over the chest, "I put a layer of segmented armor from Priss' old suit here. And Nene helped me with the helmet," another wild scribble of red laser light, "so that it can link up with the SabreNet and, well, everything." She hesitated, frowning. "I think I need to get her to take a look at it again, though. It won't access YouTube or any cosplay sites."
Linna snorted.
Sylia nodded. "I'm sure she can handle it," she said diplomatically. "Well, Alex, this latest revision seems to meet all the minimum requirements for Sabre fieldwork. I want a full round of testing before you hit the streets, mind you."
"Sure, no problem!" A.J. beamed. She paused. "Also... um... if it's okay with you, I want to change my codename."
"Oh?"
"Sabre Zero was always kind of a joke," A.J. said. "And that was okay, because... because I've never really been a Sabre. You know."
Sylia shook her head. "You're one of us, Alex," she said. "You may not have arrived here the same way, but you're one of us."
A.J. reddened slightly, smiling. "Well... okay. But my name should show that, right? So if it's okay, I want to be known as Staff Sabre."
Sylia considered it, a tiny smile crossing her face. "That seems an excellent choice," she said finally. "It exemplifies your weapon, and for those in the know, your position as well."
A.J. blinked. "Yes, um, that. Exactly."
"Take the FBSA fees out of the Sabre fund," Sylia said, and nodded. "If that's all, I'll return to the lab," she added. "Good work, Alex."
As she left, with A.J. bouncing in excitement and Linna trying to wave her down, Sylia shook her head. Maybe this time it would work. The suit was better by far than any of A.J.'s previous attempts, but this pole-dance-fighting... thing... was a complete unknown.
Hm. Pole dancing.
"Henderson," Sylia called out as the door to her lab closed behind her.
"Yes, miss?" The voice of the artificial intelligence was, as always, calm, unruffled, and soothing.
"Please compile an instruction manual for me," she said, shrugging into her labcoat. "Topic: pole dancing."
"... as you wish, miss."
Priss was going to be surprised.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
"You're not saying anything. You hate it, don't you?" The girl in question and the source of Sylia's sudden headache looked downcast and scuffed her toe on the floor.
"I don't hate it, Alex," Sylia noted quietly. "I'm just-- wait. Is that one of my old field emitters?"
A.J. brightened. "Yep! You'd left them in the reclamation bin and I figured, hey, this way it won't cost anything. Katy fixed them up for me. Mostly. I think." The brunette shrugged. "It's sometimes hard to tell, with her work..."
Sylia bent and examined the suit hanging on the makeshift armoring rack in the corner. It, like all of A.J.'s other suits had been, was blue and white. The poor girl had gone through so many variants by this time that Sylia had quite lost track. She was an FBSA-certified superhero, true enough, but Sylia harbored private thoughts that perhaps the FBSA had certified A.J. just to make sure she was on the Medicom network and thus, keep her alive, rather than due to any actual ability the girl possessed. As Linna had put it, the girl was a grade-A klutz.
Unlike some of her previous designs, this one had actual armor rather than molded plastic painted to look like armor. Being a Sabre had given A.J. access to better materials and better tools, and an actual budget to play with -- but A.J. still clung to the idea of reusing things wherever possible, and adapting them to fit. Sylia twitched slightly in memory of one of A.J.'s previous attempts, which had ended disastrously (if humorously) with the poor girl stuck in a chronal loop, oscillating back and forth through the experience of getting splattered by a water balloon, over and over again, until a giggling Nene had finally taken pity on her. After that, Sylia had firmly expressed the idea that maybe A.J. should use brand-new instead of worn out hand-me-down parts.
It didn't look like the girl had quite listened, though in this case at least Sylia was somewhat reassured that it was her old tech instead of someone else's.
"It looks sturdy enough," Sylia finally said, glancing back at the younger girl. "Have you tested it yet?"
A.J. laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Of course not! You said all testing had to be done in the danger room! No more live-fire testing, right?"
Sylia raised an eyebrow. A.J. squirmed.
"It wasn't my fault I was bringing it back from Katy's lab and got jumped by a pack of Hellions!"
Sylia sighed. "Did it work?"
A.J. nodded eagerly. "It was amazing! It was like the suit was part of me!"
"That's how it should be," Linna said, entering the armory. "Afternoon, Sylia," she said by way of greeting the Sabre leader. Sylia nodded in reply.
"Hi, Linna!" A.J. bounced in place, rising to the balls of her feet and rocking back on her heels. "She's been giving me special lessons," she added, glancing at Sylia. "I'm a lot better than I used to be."
Sylia drew on years of experience and her masterful self-control and refrained from observing, "That's not saying much," and instead simply inquired, "Oh?"
"It's true, Sylia," Linna said, perhaps sensing Sylia's unspoken assessment. "A.J.'s come a long way. The staff really suits her."
"I thought you taught unarmed combat," Sylia said.
"I do," Linna confirmed. She grinned. "I also teach pole dancing."
"Lin-na!" A.J. squealed, blushing.
"What? It's more an art form than most people think, and you've got the body for it. Don't be ashamed," Linna replied, shrugging.
"I have to admit to some confusion," Sylia began slowly. "You're teaching Alex how to pole dance, and this led to her learning how to fight with a staff?"
Blushing further, A.J. replied, "That's... mostly accurate. Um."
Linna chuckled. "She's a klutz, but she's lucky, Sylia." A.J. nodded red-faced agreement. "So there we were in the studio one day. A.J.'s practicing a vertical lift and somehow manages to break the pole. As she's falling, she spins, lets go of it, and ends up clobbering Master Leep from across the room."
"I didn't mean to!"
"After he wakes up," Linna continued, "he decides that she needs to learn better control of her 'unconventional' staff-fighting technique, and since I'm her teacher, obviously I need to practice it as well, because otherwise, she'd never have lost control of her weapon in such a shameful manner." Linna chuckled and shook her head. "Honestly? I think the old perv just figured it was a way to stare at girls in leotards for a couple hours at a time without getting in trouble, but he is helping us develop a new fighting style."
Sylia thought about it for a moment. "I suppose that makes a strange sort of sense," she admitted. "For this city, at any rate."
"Hey, I'm not complaining," Linna noted. "I've got three classes full already, and we're looking at hiring more instructors."
"So in your opinion, Linna," Sylia said, resolutely returning to the original topic, "is Alex ready for fieldwork, using her new techniques and tools?"
"Sure." Linna nodded. "And anything's going to work better than that rebuilt toaster-gun-thing she got off what's-her-name in the Legendary."
"I don't like fire. Nope nope nope," A.J. put in, shaking her head frantically.
"So this is why the armor is minimal," Sylia said, indicating the suit. "Your staff techniques require flexibility."
"Yep!" A.J. nodded, whipping out a laser pointer and dropping a wobbling dot on key parts of the suit. "I used your old field emitters here -- Katy re-tuned them a little, so they don't draw so much power -- and that's what provides protection for everything except the center torso. Keeps weight down. Then," she said, scribbling a rough oval over the chest, "I put a layer of segmented armor from Priss' old suit here. And Nene helped me with the helmet," another wild scribble of red laser light, "so that it can link up with the SabreNet and, well, everything." She hesitated, frowning. "I think I need to get her to take a look at it again, though. It won't access YouTube or any cosplay sites."
Linna snorted.
Sylia nodded. "I'm sure she can handle it," she said diplomatically. "Well, Alex, this latest revision seems to meet all the minimum requirements for Sabre fieldwork. I want a full round of testing before you hit the streets, mind you."
"Sure, no problem!" A.J. beamed. She paused. "Also... um... if it's okay with you, I want to change my codename."
"Oh?"
"Sabre Zero was always kind of a joke," A.J. said. "And that was okay, because... because I've never really been a Sabre. You know."
Sylia shook her head. "You're one of us, Alex," she said. "You may not have arrived here the same way, but you're one of us."
A.J. reddened slightly, smiling. "Well... okay. But my name should show that, right? So if it's okay, I want to be known as Staff Sabre."
Sylia considered it, a tiny smile crossing her face. "That seems an excellent choice," she said finally. "It exemplifies your weapon, and for those in the know, your position as well."
A.J. blinked. "Yes, um, that. Exactly."
"Take the FBSA fees out of the Sabre fund," Sylia said, and nodded. "If that's all, I'll return to the lab," she added. "Good work, Alex."
As she left, with A.J. bouncing in excitement and Linna trying to wave her down, Sylia shook her head. Maybe this time it would work. The suit was better by far than any of A.J.'s previous attempts, but this pole-dance-fighting... thing... was a complete unknown.
Hm. Pole dancing.
"Henderson," Sylia called out as the door to her lab closed behind her.
"Yes, miss?" The voice of the artificial intelligence was, as always, calm, unruffled, and soothing.
"Please compile an instruction manual for me," she said, shrugging into her labcoat. "Topic: pole dancing."
"... as you wish, miss."
Priss was going to be surprised.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs