Heroic

by H D Forth

  I had to figure it out.

  I re-winded to the section where I landed the blow. It was clear that it had hurt him. Maybe not to a significant degree, but he had been hurt. Better yet, that hadn't been the best the steel frame could’ve done. I’ve laid out far better punches than that one on the bag in headquarters.

  I was significantly faster in my current suit, which might allow me some extra force behind my blows, but hardly enough to make up for the difference in density.

  The steel was two and a half times heavier than my current aluminum composite, that meant a lot more speed required per blow. I could dish out that kind of speed, for a few seconds, before I defeated myself, breaking down as I did.

  Weapons were the obvious solution. The other answer was gadgets. I brought up some videos of older heroes working with devices. There were some interesting ideas.

  One used small gas clouds to blind their opponent, another used tiny metal pebbles that had a capacitor on them to stun their foes. I wouldn't work for me since I couldn't handle electricity just yet, but it would be very interesting some point.

  Now for the biggest question, the hardest question. The one I really didn't want to think about.

  I reflexively y swallowed, the feeling slightly off since it was only a simulation of the movement.

  Should I involve Kani and Val?

  The answer was obvious. I should, but that wasn't the problem. Could I involve them? I was not so sure about that.

  I shook my hands together, before slipping one into my pocket and pulling out the phone. In an instant I had it unlocked and was looking at Val’s phone number.

  My thumb hovered over the call button. It was shaking slightly. The hero on the TV screen used some kind of sticky bomb that glued a bunch of villains together.

  Smart idea, I idly thought, before I realized that I was trying to distract myself...

  I had acted like a major asshole. I was a major asshole. What if they didn't want to talk to me? What if they didn't want to work with me? Could I possibly do this without them?

  Could I even ask them for help after how I acted?

  My hand felt clammy, but a quick check revealed that it was more thought than reality. AS I stared at it the phone locked. I must’ve unconsciously locked the phone.

  I quickly tapped in the code and unlocked it again. I was still staring. Maybe it would be better if I called Kani?

  Despite how I felt. Despite, what I knew and the conclusions I had come to. I still felt irrational spite rise up in me. She probably didn't actually care about what happened to me.

  I threw the phone onto the table next to the drive. I got up from the couch, squeezing my hands into fists, hard enough to hear the metal scraping.

  "That's not true," I told myself. Kani's done too much for me, that I couldn't rationally believe that she didn't care about me. I tried to remind myself that this issue was something about her, something that had been done to her. Not something she had done to me.

  "This isn't about me," I told myself, trying to sound convincing. "This is about her. She's nothing like them. She'd spend god knows how many hours working on the steel frame for me. For me!"

  I could scarcely remember how many people had spent that much effort on something to help me. Emmet might’ve come close once or twice, but we had been friends for almost twenty years. Kani had barely known me a month, granted the frame was just as much about hero work as it was about me, if not more so, but still.

  Applying a bit of logic to my fear, helped a bit. Knowledge and fear were enemies. You could combat all fear with knowledge. Kani wasn't rejecting me because she didn't like me, or because of whatever other reason, I could come up with.

  This wasn't either of our faults. I thought. If you asked someone for a helping hand, and they were missing a hand. You didn't blame them for missing the hand, you should blame the one who took it from them.

  Reasonably reassured in myself, I started pacing the room. Back to the troubling question. Could I ask them to help? I absolutely should. I looked down at the phone.

  But did I deserve their help after what I'd done? Could I come back to them, asking and begging for their support to defeat Leric? I shook my head trying to clear it.

  I was afraid of how they would react. I realized that they would likely scorn me…

  I couldn't let them see that side of me, I had to do something to change the situation, somehow. If I defeated Leric on my own… Then I could return to them a conquering hero, worthy of their help once more.

  I slowly started nodding to myself, that could work, that could work.

  Let the preparations start.

  ***

  I started by checking my current stores. I quick diagnostics returned various data. My leg holster was a little overfilled since it was being used to hold a wrench, rather than trash bags.

  Next up was my vacuum. I quickly emptied it, though the canister holding the dirt, was only half full. It was always a good idea to keep a clean vacuum.

  Next up was the other little things I could do. I activated the vibrator in my left hand. I grabbed onto the table in my bedroom, since I still hadn't gotten any dining table yet. Slowly I turned up the power of the motor. I didn't figure that I would be mighty, seeing as it wasn't meant to be a weapon, but a sex toy.

  Which was why I was surprised when I shook one of the legs off my table and was suddenly holding all the weight it had supported in my hand.

  I quickly checked and realized that the screws had been somewhat loose, but still. I stared at the hand imagining someone using all that power on another person's genitalia. A shudder whispered down my spine.

  Then I remembered Val jumping through her chair, reducing it to splinters and how she liked to be dominated. I had a feeling she liked it quite a bit rougher than we’d been playing at.

  Then I imagined shaking Leric’s head apart with a sex toy. That would be worth getting my first body broken for.

  Next up was the lube. I wasn't sure if this would be good for anything. It was specially designed to not be harmful. According to online reviews, it would hurt a little if you got it in your eye, but washing it out within an hour or two and it would do little more than irritate. That would have to be one dragged out knuckle dusters of a fight before that would net me a victory.

  On the other hand, well it was the same hand… On the other side of the hand, I had my fluids dispenser. It could about three-hundred ml of three different liquid for a total of about a liter of fluid. I could probably fill that with something that would hurt.

  I pulled out all the canisters. One was currently filled with window cleaner, one with universal cleaner and the last with shower cleaner, even though I couldn't use it.

  I emptied them all into the sink, before checking the cleaning cabinets. I had recently improved my cleaning habits, by expanding it into two, as opposed to half of one.

  I was honestly surprised by how much damaging stuff there was that could clean.

  I got tile cleaner—for the bathroom—it was acidic and could do severe damage to the skin if you allowed it to land on you. Next, I did lighter fluid which was flammable because of course, I did. And lastly, I got whiskey because if everything went well, I might celebrate with something to drink afterward, even if I couldn’t get drunk.

  I checked everything else I had. I decided to leave the long handle for the vacuum behind it. It was lightweight and easily breakable. It wouldn't last a second against Leric. This meant that my reach with my vacuum was the exact length of my left arm. Not much, but it would have to do.

  Not like it would really come in handy though, so it didn't matter.

  Next up a weapon. This I quickly found, was something I lacked at home. I had some lightweight metal working gear, like a soldering iron and a power drill, not anything that could really be described as a weapon. I did put a screwdriver in my pocket though.

  That meant that I would have to go somewhere else for me to get a weapon. I could buy a bat
in a shop somewhere, but I didn't like the odds of a lightweight aluminum bat breaking Leric’s skull. He was just a little above that weight class.

  I figured that if I could get a sledgehammer that would probably be ideal. I sat down and watched the fight again. Strike that, if I had more experience with combat, then I could have used a sledgehammer. Right now I was too unskilled and the hammer too heavy, Leric would knock me down if I tried.

  Something that could pack quite the punch, but wasn't too heavy. The screwdriver in my back pocket was a good example, though the range was too short. If he got that close, then I was toast no matter what I did.

  I thought about all the tools we’d had at headquarters. Maybe one of those could work.

  Kani had brought in a pair of bolt cutters. I remember questioning why she’d brought it, and her giving me some excuse about my bolts needing cutting. If I remembered correctly, which was despite my roboticity, wasn’t guaranteed, since not everything was assigned permanent storage. I thought it had a bolt of some sort arranged to keep the two halves together.

  I imagined coming at Leric, dual wielding the two halves of the bolt cutter. If they weren't too massive, then that would pack the extra oomph. They were heavier, and I could attack faster with them.

  The only problem was that it meant I would have to go to headquarters. Which meant that I had to preferably avoid Kani and Val.

  I checked the clock, then blinked. I hadn't realized it was this close to midnight.

  It was later than I’d thought. As decent a time as any to go to headquarters.

  Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Three

  I had no idea how to defeat Leric. At least not in the beginning.

  After I finished looking through the fight for the first time. Stopping when Leric started breaking me. I couldn't experience that again.

  I hadn't got a clue. The steel frame was sturdier, and heavier. It flat out a had a meaner punch than my current frame, yet it couldn't beat Leric. How was I supposed to do it now?

  I had to figure it out.

  I re-winded to the section where I landed the blow. It was clear that it had hurt him. Maybe not to a significant degree, but he had been hurt. Better yet, that hadn't been the best the steel frame could’ve done. I’ve laid out far better punches than that one on the bag in headquarters.

  I was significantly faster in my current suit, which might allow me some extra force behind my blows, but hardly enough to make up for the difference in density. The steel was two and half times heavier than my current aluminum composite, that meant a lot more speed required per blow. I could dish out that kind of speed, for a few seconds, before I defeated myself, breaking down as I did.

  Weapons were the obvious solution. The other solution were gadgets. I brought up some videos of older heroes working with gadgets. There were some interesting ideas. One used small gas clouds to blind their opponent, another used tiny metal pebbles that had a capacitor on them to stun their foes. I wouldn't work for me since I couldn't handle electricity just yet, but would be very interesting some point.

  Now for the biggest question, the hardest question. The one I really dint want to think about.

  I reflexively y swallowed, the feeling slightly off since it was only a simulation of the movement.

  Should I involve Kani and Val.

  The answer was obvious. I should, but that wasn't the problem. Could I involve them? Not so certain about that.

  I shook my hands together, before slipping one into my pocket and pulling out the phone. In an instant I had it unlocked and was looking at Val’s phone number.

  My thumb hovered over the call button. It was shaking slightly. The hero on the TV screen used some kind of sticky bomb that glued a bunch of villains together.

  Clever idea, I idly thought, before I realized that I was trying to distract myself..

  I had acted like a major asshole. I was a major asshole. What if they didn't want to talk to me? What if they didn't want to work with me? Could I possibly do this without them?

  Could I even ask them for help after how I acted?

  My hand felt clammy, but an quick check revealed that it was more thought than reality. AS I stared at it the phone locked. I must’ve unconsciously locked the phone.

  I quickly tapped in the code and unlocked it again. I was still staring. Maybe it would be better if I called Kani?

  Despite how I felt. Despite, what I knew and the conclusions I had come to. I still felt irrational spite rise up in me. She probably didn't actually care about what happened to me.

  I threw the phone onto the table next to the drive. I got up from the couch, squeezing my hands into fists, hard enough to hear the metal scraping.

  “That’s not true.” I told myself. She done too much for me, that I couldn’t rationally believe that she didn't care about me. I tried to remind myself that this issue was something about her, something that had been done to her. Not something she had done to me.

  “This isn’t about me.” I told myself, trying to sound convincing. “This is about her. She’s nothing like them. She’d spend god knows how many hours working on the steel frame for me. For me!”

  I could scarcely remember how many people had spent that much effort on something to help me. Emmet might’ve come close once or twice, but we had been friends for almost twenty years. Kani had barely known me a month, granted the frame was just as much about hero work as it was about me, if not more so, but still.

  Applying a bit of logic to my fear, helped a bit. Knowledge and fear were enemies. You could combat all fear with knowledge. Kani wasn’t rejecting me because she didn't like me, or because of whatever other reason I could come up with.

  This wasn't either of our faults. I thought. If you asked someone for a helping hand, and they were missing a hand. You didn't blame them for missing the hand, you should blame the one who took it from them.

  Reasonably reassured in myself, I started pacing the room. Back to the troubling question. Could ask them to help? I absolutely should. I looked down at the phone.

  But did I deserve their help after what I’d done? Could I come back to them, asking and begging for their help to defeat Leric? I shook my head trying to clear it.

  I was afraid of how they would react. I realized that they would likely scorn me…

  I couldn't let them see that side of me, I had to do something to change the situation, somehow. If I defeated Leric on my own… Then I could return to them a conquering hero, worthy of their help once more.

  I slowly started nodding to myself, that could work, that could work.

  Let the preparations start.

  ***

  I started by checking my current stores. I quick diagnostics returned various data. My leg holster was a little over filled, since it was being used to hold a wrench, rather than trash bags.

  Next up was my vacuum. I quickly emptied it, though the cannister holding the dirt, was only half full it was always a good idea to keep a clean vacuum.

  Next up was the other little things I could do. I activated the vibrator in my left hand. I grabbed onto the table in my bedroom, since I still hadn't gotten any dining table yet. Slowly I turned up the power of the motor. I didn't figure that I would be very powerful, seeing as it wasn't meant to be a weapon, but a sex toy.

  Which was why I was surprised when I shook one of the legs off my table and was suddenly holding all the weight it had supported in my hand.

  I quickly checked and realized that the screws had been somewhat loose, but still. I stared at the hand imagining someone using all that power on anther persons genitalia. A shudder whispered down my spine.

  Then I remembered Val jumping through her chair, reducing it to splinters and how she liked to be dominated. I had a feeling she liked it quite a bit rougher than we’d been playing at.

  Then I imagined shaking Leric’s head apart with a sex toy. That would be worth getting my first body broken for.

  Next up was the lube. I wasn’t sure if this woul
d be good for anything. It was specifically designed to not be harmful. According to online reviews it would hurt a little if you got it in your eye, but washing it out within an hour or two and it would do little more than irritate. That would have to be one dragged out knuckle dusters of a fight before that would net me a victory.

  On other hand, well it was the same hand… On the other side of the hand, I had my fluids dispenser. It could about three-hundred ml of three different liquid for a total of about a liter of fluid. I could probably fill that with something that would hurt.

  I pulled out all the canisters. One was currently filled with window cleaner, one with universal cleaner and the last with shower cleaner, even though I couldn't use it.