Challenger's New Gear
"Now wait a minute, Ms. Eichi!" Kuromizu stood up, his muscles tensing. "We let you cut in on our presentation because you were just supposed to give a quick overview of the armour, if we're getting back into the details, then surely we should be the first to go."
"Yes!"
"That's right!"
"It's only proper."
Bikis echoed.
"Like there is anything more to add to that. You just remade it according to the old specs, and slapped a taser on it to explain the bill. What else is there to say?"
The Chief's face turned red and his knuckles white. He exhaled heavily through his nose.
The sponsoress of this evening had to intervene once again before the argument would break out of control. Having to mediate between bickering craftsmen made her feel like a kindergarten teacher, and she hated that. If this wasn't about Hifumi, she'd have stormed out long ago, but oh the things we do for love.
"Let's hear about the sword first, then we'll come back to the armour. Are you fine with this, Babo?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Thank you, Miss Chang!"
Kuromizu's face brightened as he watched grumbling Rika go back to her seat. He picked up the sword from the stand it was resting on and handed it to Hifumi.
"At the core of each support item worth its price is the understanding of the Hero that will use it. Because of how important the familiarity with your gear is for your ability to effectively activate your Quirk, we tried to keep changes that were too overt to a minimum," he took a deep breath, "similarly to the approach that Ms. Eichi took with the armour."
She seemed slightly surprised by the comment, but slowly nodded in agreement. Straightening up a bit in her seat, she listened as he continued.
"The challenge was to balance the improvements with the time it will take you to get used to them. We believe we've managed to do just that. If you'll excuse me..."
He reached out and flipped the switch on the sword. The red light signalled the safety being disabled.
"The basic two modes generally work the same way they did before, but that was no reason not to try to perfect them. While we still opted for outsourcing the forging of the core katana, we got ourselves much more involved in the process."
Hifumi weighted the blade in his hands. It felt ideal, just like what he remembered. He pressed one of his nails to the edge, feeling it bite at once.
"This time, we managed to convince a Masamune Award winner to work with us on this. Getting him to accept using more modern techniques wasn't easy, especially given that we only had a month for the whole process, but the result was worth it. We analysed your previous swords to identify the most vulnerable areas, and worked on reinforcing that. Also, we requested that the sheathing mechanism should be kept in mind already during the forging process. Thanks to that, we were able to not only mount it more easily, but allow it to serve as a reinforcement in this mode, and to be more stable in others. Finally, we've modified the alloys used a bit. The result is a sword that should be significantly more durable, while also being lighter. Since we aimed to keep it as similar to the old one as possible, we used that extra weight allowance, to install the electro-blade mechanism. Speaking of similarities, the fittings have been recreated to be identical to those used previously. We even tried to obtain the hamon pattern as close to what it was as we could."
That level of attention to details resulted in some approving hums from the audience, even from those who tried to avoid them and coughed after as an attempt to cover it up.
Kuromizu reached for the sword once again, and re-engaged the safety. As the sheath deployed nearly instantly, the light shifted to blue.
"As I've already mentioned, the modified forging process allowed us to make the entire mechanism more stable. We've also altered the alloys used here, although the specific formula is different. We believe we've gone as close to 'unbreakable' as we could without sacrificing the overall structure and usability. Extra importance was also placed on the draw/sheath process itself. The shift between the different modes is now 50% faster. But more importantly, we've also increased its reliability. Even if the sword does suffer some damage, the extensiveness of it would need to be really significant for the mechanism to be rendered inoperational; details at page 62. We also double-checked the mechanism to ensure that it will not cause any edge damage because there was a risk of that in the old prototypes, but the results confirmed the effectiveness of the modifications in Ms. Eichi's last model."
He tipped his head to her. Some first cracks in the mountain of animosity, built between them earlier today, started to form.
He reached out again, but this time, rather than switching it himself, he instructed Hifumi how to enter the taser mode. Quickly, the electrodes popped out slightly from the sheath, and the light turned purple.
"We extrapolated on the previous pattern of mode switching to make entering the taser mode feel natural. As the sort of 'semi-safe' option, it is in a way a sort of intermediate between the other two, but, with the way the deployment process works, it's further away from the sword mode than the sheathed mode is. The tests ran by our UX designers suggested that combining this colour scheme and switches worked best. The taser mode is the biggest modification we let ourselves apply, but considering you've already trained for the use of it while preparing for the tournament, we believe adjusting to that shouldn't be problematic compared to the possible gains. There are, however, some changes compared to that version. Because it's only a part of a much bigger mechanism, we were forced to compromise on the battery. As such, it can't be active for a long time before it needs to be recharged. It's better to think about it as a temporary boost rather than something you should employ all the time. With the same settings as the one you used in the tournament, it'll let you perform only a couple of attacks. Still, it is some extra non-lethal firepower, which can be effective against Villains with durability Quirks, and especially against those with the ability to nullify purely kinetic attacks. If you allow me."
He retrieved the sword back from the boy, toggled the safety back on, and put it on the stand.
"Since, I've already mentioned settings, I'll just add that there is a degree of customizability to the sword. For now, we generally tried to set it in a way that should feel familiar. The power in the discharge of the electro-blade can be adjusted as needed, and so can be the intensity of the lights in different modes. It's not something that can be done on the fly, but it is relatively simple, the manual is on pages 120-121 of the file, so you can do it yourself with some basic tools, but you can also come to us as long as the warranty is active, and we'll adjust it as needed. And I think that, without getting too far into the technical side, which you can read more about from the file, that should be it. Any questions? If you don't have them now, just remember that our customer support is always there to help."
When no one seemed to have any, one of the Bikis started to applaud, and soon the rest of the audience joined in. Some did it with enthusiasm, others more begrudgingly.
"The stage is yours then, Ms. Eichi." Kuromizu said as he walked back to his seat.
Rika went back to the centre of the room, and cleared her throat.
"Thank you. I have to admit, it was slightly more informative than I expected it to be." She looked away as she said that. "As you mentioned, for similar reasons, I've kept his armour similar to the old one. Too many changes could also hurt a Hero's branding, but that's not really an issue before he truly goes Pro. I did, however, push the scales further towards the modifications. I judged that, the benefits outweigh the cost of him getting used to it, especially since he still has a lot to learn anyway. Speaking of the benefits, let's start with the communication systems."
She walked over to the helmet. With a click, she detached the visor. After another moment of fiddling with it, she unpinned a layer of padding, revealing a lining filled with more tech than a motherboard.
"Almost all of the communication tech is built into the helmet. The only extra part is that the main antenna is built into the chest piece due to its size. The backup one is in the helmet, it should be enough in most situations, but the places with terrible reception. Speaking of backups, there is a wired connection to the rest of the armour," she pointed out a thick cable that could attach the helmet to the back of chestplate, "but in case it gets damaged there is also a wireless connection available, although not as efficient. As for the communication options themselves, we have a short range radio, a long-range phone, and an internet connection for the data transfer to enable video calls and more. Right now, due to encryption on the legal regulations, you won't have access to it except for emergencies, but as part of the future proofing, the system can handle access to police radio frequencies and CCTV streams. The latter I believe will be especially helpful for you."
She picked up the visor.
"You need to know the place to be able to teleport there, and similarly, you need to know the people and objects you want to take with you. I thought having easy access to what they look like will help. Thanks to AR, you can easily view video feeds and images of them in the field, as well as any other visual data you may need. There is also some HUD provided for the rest of the armour's systems, but because of how much time you spend with your eyes closed, I decided that non-visual formats are as, or even more, important."
She set the visor down.
"I've considered olfactory or tactile inputs, but they seemed inefficient. After the talks we had, I decided that the best way to go about it, will be to enhance the signals to the sense you already relied on in those situations, the hearing. The audio system is state of the art, especially when it comes to recreating spatial properties. The base system relies on two main speakers, and the onboard computer performing a lot of calculations to alter the sound pressure and delay to replicate the sound direction on the fly, even as you move rapidly, but as a backup, really, a key element in support gear used in the field," she looked at Kuromizu for a moment, "like ensuring that the sheathing mechanism won't be compromised when the sword gets moderately damaged," she looked back at her customers, "the whole cap lining has smaller speakers spread through itself that can sort of brute force the spatial properties if needed, if limited in the ability to replicate the frontal and downwards directions in that matter. This is especially important when it comes to scanners because this is their main output. Let's move on to them."
She walked over to the chestplate, and as before, removed a layer of cushioning, revealing a sight similar to that in the helmet, a high-tech heaven hidden beneath a vaguely traditional shell.
"Let's start with the innermost of them. We have a vital signs scanner. All the usual, to help detect any altered state you might be in. They output any abnormalities with verbal cues, and also display them on the HUD. Armour integrity breaches are reported in a similar manner. Also, there is a GPS. Those, together with the communication systems, allow for the already mentioned sending of SOS. If it's detected that you've fallen unconscious for more than 3 seconds, or some other critical injury is detected, an SOS with your location and copy of the readings is automatically sent to registered emergency organizations, hero agencies, and other specified contacts, like Miss Chang. After all, looking for teleporters in danger can be an extra pain in the ass."
Hailey looked at Hifumi. His sullen expression made her think it's not a good time for another jab at the incident, and she signalled to Rika to skip ahead.
"Yes... Also, there is detection of whether your eyes are open. It's important for some systems later on. Anyway, let's go to the next set of scanners, then. They are still there to help yourself, and the rest of the systems, locate you. We have a speedometer and a gyroscope. Let me just tell you, that designing them to not go mad when teleported was a fun challenge. They are working all the time, but the output directly to you depends on the state you're in. When your eyes are open, they are displayed as minor visual cues on the HUD. After all, then you should be able to orient yourself without them. When your eyes are closed, and it's detected that you're moving above 50kmph (to avoid sensory overload), they are represented as constant, but hopefully not obtrusive sounds. The speedometer is a high-pitched sound coming from the direction you're moving towards; the gyroscope, a low-pitched sound pointing towards the ground. The volume of the speedometer signal gets louder as your speed increases, but they generally will be quieter than the next system."
A broad smile spread on Rika's face.
"The crowning achievement among this set of modifications: the SDDS, or the 'Surroundings and Dangers Detection System'. It's a combination of both radar and sonar technologies, both passive and active, although the active sonar is disabled by default and works as backup in case radio-jamming is detected. Using those, a rather detailed scan of your nearby surroundings, up to about 60 metres, is performed. To avoid the already mentioned risk of sensory overload, it is then analysed, and the objects are classified based on their size, distance, and how fast they are closing in on you, and how fast you're moving. If it's detected that they might pose the danger to you, or that you could possibly be looking for them, you will be warned about them. The HUD output is minimal here, but there is a bit of a highlight, especially if the danger comes from behind you. The main star is the audio system because the primary purpose of the system is to assist you when your eyes are closed. It works a bit like a bat's echolocation, but focusing on the important parts. Objects are represented as audio cues, or pinging to be precise. The exact type of it depends on the aforementioned qualities of the object. The pitch is constant to help differentiate them from the gyro and speedometer, sort of in the middle between those two. The duration of pings and intervals between them is dependent on the object's distance from you. The loudness is tied to the speed it's moving at. And finally, the 'spatial aspects' of pinging are directly tied to its size and the direction it is in. I didn't bring the documentation with me, and I don't think the technical descriptions of the mappings used will really do much for you. The system will certainly require a lot of getting used to, but I think it will save your skin more than once. You may think about it like this, it will be as if the dangerous objects in your surroundings were covered in bells."
Hifumi stared in slight confusion, but with interest. Kuromizu was doing some calculations on his notepad.
"You'll just have to put it on to see it, but before that, let's move to the last set of modifications: the 'aerial mode'. I've made it with that 'Waterfall Style' you talked about in mind. These are the changes that impacted the outer look the most, since the first part I've focused on was enhancing the armour's aerodynamics. It is an armour, first of all, but there were some areas where I could improve it without compromising other qualities much. Since I was already at it, I too leaned on some more advanced accomplishments of materials science. The armour, as a whole, should not only be more aerodynamic, but also more durable than before. In particular, I built in some extra arm support. You've already injured them enough for a lifetime, and with the speeds you'll achieve with this, I don't want to be responsible for you breaking them again."
She tapped on one of the armpieces. Then she picked it up and attached it to the cuirass.
"Now, why did I call it a 'mode' you might ask? After all, the aerodynamics are a passive feature. But, I did mention before two deployable elements: the wingsuit and stabilizers." She pressed in a button on the belt buckle and rotated it. From the chest piece, a webbing deployed, sliding down a little rail on the armpiece until it clicked into place. A little stabilizer also popped out of the bracer. "Normally, there are safeties that'd prevent deployment when it's impossible to do it for all the other elements of the wingsuit, but I disabled them for today because I didn't want to have to assemble it all just to present it. There are also some other ways to activate it, and also to deploy just the stabilizers without the full webbing. I'll show them to you later. But back on the subject. For mobility, the main idea of yours that we've discussed, was you free-falling and then using that momentum to shoot yourself like a cannonball. I thought we could harness that a bit more. While the stabilizers alone can help you with that, even just for the moments where you use it to strike harder rather than to really travel, gliding is a pretty classic option and the wingsuit should help you greatly with that. It was kind of ironic that despite being a teleporter, as soon as something was out of your range, your power didn't actually increase your mobility that much. Same if you didn't really know the destination."
She pressed the buckle again and rotated it in the opposite direction. The webbing and stabilizer hid again.
"I also mentioned the parachute. Honestly, your idea of the falling style sounded extremely unsafe. My first thought was: 'what if he gets knocked out while up there?' I thought for a moment about some variant of an airbag, which honestly wouldn't be the most terrible idea with the SDDS, but above some speeds it wouldn't work well, and those would be the most dangerous ones, so in the end, I decided to go for the ol' reliable. I won't deploy it here, but there is a parachute. Two, in fact, because a backup for that was also a good idea. I'll show you later how to activate that too. And since I already mentioned that the issue is in big part for when you're unconscious, I think you might have guessed it, but yes, the parachute is automatically deployable. If the system detects that you're falling at a significant speed, and you've been unconscious for more than 3 seconds, like with the SOS, it will deploy the parachute. It's not an ideal solution, and it is possible it might cause more harm than good, but simulations ruled that it should be widely beneficial in most situations like that. I don't take responsibility for those other cases, though. If you want to, you can disable it."
She took a step back and looked at her creation like a proud mother.
"Speaking of disabling it, since this has so many systems, it's even more customizable than the sword. Most systems can be toggled on and off if you want to. Thresholds for scanners can be altered. Same with the actual outputs. Don't worry about the volume too much. By default, it's adjusted based on the environment you're in so that it's audible, but not deafening. The helmet also provides some ear protection by itself, because when falling at terminal speed, the blowing wind could be quite deafening. It's an active, level-dependent system, so it won't cause issues in quieter settings. Some of the systems aren't difficult to alter, mostly those that are simply turning something on or off, so you can do those by yourself, but changes of a more fluid nature, like adjusting the thresholds, require reprogramming the onboard computer, so you'll probably have to come see me for that."
She took a sip of water.
"Sorry, had to refuel myself a bit. Speaking of refuelling. Due to all of those systems, the armour does have a battery that needs recharging. Since it's a much larger system, however, unlike the sword, it has a pretty good capacity. It should hold out for a couple days of an intensive use, so as long as you remember to plug it in after a patrol, you shouldn't have issues with it. As a small nod to ecology, there is also a small system of recovering energy from drag when you're in the aerial-mode. It's not especially efficient, but should be enough to at least keep the vitals scanning, SOS sending and parachute deploying systems running."
She looked at Kuromizu.
"Since the armour should have some energy to spare, we could try to talk in the future about possibly using the armour to recharge the sword. I think I've proven today the superiority of my genius, but I've got to admit, you have potential, and I wouldn't hate letting you guys help me out on some projects in the future." She winked at him, and in response, he just rolled his eyes.
She turned back to Hifumi.
"So, I think that's all I need to say for now, in this stuffy room. I'd say on both sides, the gear you got here today will be vastly superior to what you came with and what you'd have if we kept to the initial repair orders from Kraftwerk and Shiketsu. Don't forget to thank your girlfriend nicely for the gift. I'm guessing you're rearing to go test them out, so how about we go do just that?"