A Request (Hotwire)

Kuro walked down into the crime lab, where the high tech equipment was. He figured that was where Hotwire would be, considering his abilities and talents. He looked around quietly for him, in full gear. When he did finally find him, he tried to announce his presence in a way that wouldn't bring Hotwire out of focus on whatever he was doing, but also wouldn't surprise him and cause him to make a mistake in whatever it was he was doing.

"Hotwire. I was hoping to speak to you for a moment."

There were easily a dozen other places Hotwire could have been working on stuff. He could have been in the hanger playing with the T-Ship, in his own room playing with his personal gear, or in the training room running simulations (turns out advanced particle physics are surprisingly easy to simulate in a holographic setting).

But today Kuro was lucky. Hotwire was indeed in the crime lab working on some general purpose gear. He was currently bent over a box twice his size, half inside it. The soft glow of the powers glinting off his hands were easily visible coming from inside. He didn't even know anybody was in the room with him, so he was reasonably surprised when Kuro spoke to him.

"Ahhh- OW! My head!" He cried out pulling himself from the wires. *&#*$ stealthy assassins. "Oh, uh... Hey Kuro. What do you need?" He asked throwing the lid closed on his machine.

Kuro bowed apologetically to Hotwire when he ended up surprising him despite the best of his efforts. Perhaps old habits truly did die hard. He straightened up. "Apologies, Hotwire. I tried my utmost to approach you overtly and conspicuously. It seems that I failed." Hotwire asked him what it was that he needed.

"If it it not too much trouble, I would like to have some repairs and perhaps enhancements on my equipment." He opened up the trench coat, taking off the machines with the cables. "As you know, this is the device I use to maneuver around the city. They are motors with many yards of cable. It was damaged recently, and my former suppliers are rotting somewhere. I only need repairs on this, but if you could think of a more efficient mechanism, then you are free to use your creative capabilities."

Next came the HF-blades. Or HF-blade, as it were. "This is one of my primary weapons, called an HF-blade, or a high-frequency blade. It uses electricity to vibrate the blade with a current, loosening the molecules in an object which allows me to cut through nearly anything. I lost the other weapon in a fight recently. The one remaining before you is in disrepair, but I would like you to make some improvements on it, if you can."

"Finally," he said, putting a long roll of cloth in front of him, "As my other weapon is lost, I would like to see if you can make this into an HF-blade while maintaining the blade's original quality. I found it in a shrine long ago. It could still be used today as a weapon, which boasts its quality."

He paused. He had just asked for a lot from Hotwire. "I realize this is a lot to ask of you. But I would appreciate it, Hotwire."

A gear upgrade request? Boy it had been a while since he had done one of these. He hadn't even so much as run a diagnostic on Yangs equipment in weeks. Kuro was making this easy though. He already had all the gear he wanted worked on already there. 

The first thing he did was scan the grappling hook. "This should be an easy fix. The motors in these are a good bit more powerful than the ones in my own grappling launcher, but given the space, I should be able to fashion a substitute. Now about this hook... Yeah this looks pretty banged up. I can manufacture a replacement grab easily and. Wait-" He said looking in close and waving his hand over it. "What a waste of space!" He cried out. He pointed to a pocket in the grappling claw. "See this indent? You aren't using it for anything. I could install an electromagnet for easier clamping to metal surfaces, or a small drill for better cling to rock..." he said putting the thing aside. 

He picked up the blade. He had examined it before, and the principal on which it functioned was definitely sound. But he'd need to do some research, and put together some specialty parts to fix something of this caliber. "Grappling hooks are rather standard fare. This is a bit more complicated. More specialized. I can fix it, and maybe do some upgrades, but it'll take some R&D on my part." This was fine of course. Hotwire loved a good engineering challenge. 

Then he turned to the bolt of cloth. This was by far the most bizarre request he'd received. He didn't even attempt to use his powers to check it for tech or anything.

"You want me to make a blade out of cloth? I mean... high density reinforced polymers I can understand. But cloth?"

Kuro watched Hotwire start analyzing all of his equipment so that he could carry out his requests. He seemed to already see potential in upgrading his grappling lines a bit, and Kuro trusted that he was capable of doing so. When Hotwire analyzed his HF-blade, however, he said that he would need to analyze it a bit further, and do some reasearch. He told Kuro that they were much more complicated in terms of technology, in comparison to his grappling devices.

Hotwire seemed to be confused about the katana. "Apologies, Hotwire. Perhaps I should have been a bit more clear." He unrolled the cloth, revealing the katana that lay within it.


"If you could make this blade into an HF-blade as well," he repeated, "I would be very grateful. And if it is not too much further to ask, I would like the power source for the blades to be able to function without me."

Perhaps it was odd that Kuro, the man who could shock people in this tower, was asking that his blades be powered remotely instead of by his abilities. Kuro would tell Hotwire if he asked, but if he didn't he would keep silent about it.

Oh. A Katana. That made sense. But now taking into account what he was asking, Hotwire came to a realization. A quick scan with his gauntlet showed him it was a regular sword. No technological tricks. At least the steel was high quality. So now, not only did Kuro want him to repair a broken Ultrasonic molecular destabilization blade, but he wanted Hotwire to apply those properties to a regular sword. Now that was a challenge.

He loved it.

"Hmmm. Let's see what I can figure out about this thing..." Hotwire said pulling up some files and waving a hand over the broken HF sword. Things began to fall into place.


"I see. Clever. They circumvented the molecular overload problem. Usually for stuff like this, you have to have a small point of destabilization." He said pulling up a mock up some molecules on the holoviewer. "Basically, it's very hard to get any substantial amount of matter to attain a state of High Frequency Molecular Resonance. This is due to the Harlow containment effect, which basically is what happens in cases of unstable molecular resonation. Basically, instead of tearing apart other matter, the molecular structure of the blade will tear itself apart." He said. He showed a model of the blade, and with a flick of his hand, the whole thing disintegrated.

"Now there are methods that allow the Resonation process to be highly controlled, at the cost of power. But whoever designed this blade managed to work around that. It would appear that they used a coating of Centurium 21. This allows the resonance flux to run wild as it would, but remain contained in the lade. The centurium coating's special vibrational properties enable the resonance to pass through cleanly, enabling the molecular shearing you're accustomed to.  Rather clever." He said.


"But I see why nobody else thought of it. Centurium 21 is hard to make in quantities large enough to make a blade coating. And that's why making a new blade will be difficult." Hotwire sighed. "The main problem with your broken blade, is that when the electronics blew, you lost some of the internal grounding, causing your circuits to short into the Centurium coating. That kind of voltage caused micro-fractures in the coating. I can easily fabricate a Centurium 21 Salve that should fix it up. Then I just have to replace the feedback control circuits."


Then he pointed to the sword with a hint of exasperation in his voice. "But with that, I'll have to build some very specialized gear to make a full Centurium coating. It's not a short process either. I can do it, but you'll be down one blade for a little bit."

While what Hotwire was saying was very sophisticated to most people, Kuro got most of what he was saying. And when he didn't get something, Hotwire immediately explained it before he could display any sign of not understanding it. In addition to that, and perhaps most importantly, Hotwire didn't give him a no. He said he could do every one of the projects Kuro was commissioning him to do, but he needed only wait.

He did mention, however, that the process would take a bit of time. Kuro bowed in respect to him, and in gratitude. "Thank you very much, Hotwire, for accepting the requests I've laid before you. Time is not an issue for me. As for the weapons, I should be able to do missions without them. I will lose efficiency and time in comparison to my previously displayed skills, but I will get the job done without them until you can."

"Just to be sure, however...do you think that you will be able to implement remote power sources?"

"Ah yes. The remote power sources. I think I can make it work based on some basic extrapolation based on readouts of your biolectric output. But in order to do that I'll have to run some tests once I've repaired the broken blade. I'll make Salve to fix the microfractures first. I should have what I need here... except for... oh yeah. Can you head down to the hangar and get me something called a 'Piezonic Applicator?' It should be a clearly box with a glass cover on a push cart."  He said turning to another machine in the room. He began punching in some numbers.

Hotwire said he had some ideas on how to adapt remote power sources for the blades, but that he would need to run some tests after he had fixed the blade itself. Hotwire asked him to go get a certain item from the hangar bay. Kuro nodded. "Yes, as you wish, Hotwire."

He left the room and went to the hangar bay to retrieve the object Hotwire had asked for, the Piezonic Applicator. He located it fairly easily, seeing that it was indeed on a push cart. He used the cart to bring it back with him into the crime lab, and brought it before Hotwire promptly. "You asked for the Piezonic Applicator, correct?"

"That'd be the one" he said holding his hand up and waving it. The applicator would fly from Kuro's hands and set itself down on an empty table hotwire had set up.


"Now this isn't designed for high impact substances like the Centurium 21, so I'll have to make some adjustments." He said grabbing a couple tools. An electric soldering iron floated into the air and followed him, along with a couple other parts. After a couple minutes, he got out, and the iron set itself back down. "So I'm looking at the current hilt. It was definitely top of the line for it's time, but times have changed. So I'll be making some adjustments to your original hilt to make it state of the art." He said waving his hand. The hilt let out a small hiss, and the blade popped out. Examining it closely, the bottom of the blade had some engravings to make with better contact to the hilt.


"Magnificent design. Kudos to the maker. Now I simply place the blade into the applicator..." He said before walking over to the device he was punching numbers intol. If kuro noticed, it was humming, which it hadn't been doing when he left the room the first time. He extracted a small vial. Inside was a glowing red liquid. "Pure Centurium 21. Let's get this started." Hotwire said plugging the vial into the applicator. With a whir, the machine fired up.

As curious as Kuro was about the goings on of all of these impressive pieces of technology, Kuro decided it would be better to hold off on questions. He wouldn't be bored of the answers or anything, it was more that he wanted Hotwire to focus on the task at hand. He knew Hotwire was one of the most intelligent men he had ever met, but it went without saying, no matter who you were, that you worked better when you were focused on whatever it was that you were working on.

He was grateful when Hotwire at least decided to somewhat include him in his process, mentioning that he had to change up the HF-blade a bit himself to that it could take some impact. "Whatever you think is best, Hotwire." He also mentioned that he would be making the hilt to the HF-blade state of the art, which Kuro nodded to, appreciating the motion.

It was truly marvelous watching Hotwire work. He commented on the design, saying it was great for whoever made it. Kuro couldn't even remember who had made it in the first place. All he knew is they were dead, and had been for a very long time. Kuro did indeed notice that the machine Hotwire was working on had started humming, and he was going to use it now. Kuro was certainly interested in what such a machine could do.

"Ok. I'll have to make some adjustments to the fabricator to allow for the larger scale creation of the centurium." He said taking out a small cornered piece. "While I'm doing that, run over and grab one of those cylinders of compressed air? Then you need to bring it to a decompress and bleed it off. Then bring it back to me."


While he went off and did that, he would wave his hand, and inner workings of the machine would start to shift, in a whirlpool of circuits and parts. The corner piece would integrate in, and within a few seconds, it'd be done.


"Perfect... Slow compressor added. I've been meaning to put one of these in for a while now."

Kuro nodded, continuing to go fetch Hotwire whatever he needed to fix his weapons, and went off to get one of the cylinders of compressed air. He decided it would be best to bleed it out near Hotwire for when he needed it, opening it up and starting to slowly bleed it, though not with any alarming sounds. "Hotwire, forgive me, but did you want me to bleed it off completely and hand it to you, or just have it bleed off to some extent?" It wasn't leaking too rapidly.

"Bleed it off completely. Well, at until the pressure gauge levels off at 1 atmosphere." He said attaching a small valve to the output of the big machine.

Kuro did as Hotwire asked, bleeding it off to his specifications, before handing it to Hotwire. "Here, Hotwire. As you requested." He eagerly awaited to see what Hotwire would do next. It truly was a fascinating process.