“Token should be live at any moment.”

  “I really hope this device works, otherwise it’s far too early to be up after Pinky insisted on watching another movie,” Swansong said, actually yawning over our internal comms.

  “She did get a bit overzealous once she learned that we could get movies on that table hologram, though I don’t get how she uploaded all those cheerleading movies to the system so quickly…”

  “Guys, come on focus, BrainCraft’s pretty sure the beacon phase of the token spawning is only going to be active for a moment, 30 more seconds, be ready to hit the button on my mark,” Jon said, doing his best to keep us on track.

  “Yes d-... you know what, nevermind,” I said, cutting myself off from the comms before muttering out loud, “just about gave Angie more fuel.”

  “Oh trust me Loophole, I got plenty of fuel for this fire. Buuuuuuut Codex has been pretty clear that he doesn’t like it when I call him daddy,” Angie giggled and I rolled my eyes.

  “Thank you Angie,” Jon said and she let out a giggle.

  Although I was tired enough to follow Swansong’s lead and let out a long yawn, the previous night had actually been a decent night. It was a bit surreal to be taking the time out of everything to drink wine and watch bad movies, especially since I now knew that I really wasn’t a fan of wine.

  I did sneak away shortly after the festivities began to open up the extra F:Tier I had acquired back in my room, first opening up a single Basic Health Injector before Jon happily rerolled it.

  A moment after the spinning finished, I was left with a set of Titanium Tips that should have been able to add to my Snakebite’s Legacy weapon. But when I attempted to attach them, I was given a warning that only read “Due to having an unrevealed Hidden Upgrade, you may not modify this weapon.” It was a curious issue that Angie didn’t have an answer to, but given that the item would have only given me 5% increased damage to the weapon's output, I wasn’t necessarily planning on stressing over it right away.

  When I made my way back into the base, now clad in my own pajamas just to have given myself a reason to have left and come back, Jon was already diving deep into research on just what Swansong’s Hidden Power was capable of muttering something about “compound interest” of all things.

  So, it was with a bit more levity in my mind and a far less stressful, but still not full, night of sleep that I found myself floating high over the southern edge of Central Park, holding perfectly still as my flight slowly ticked away at my Stamina pool. Swansong had headed for the northern edge of the city, trying to give us the most possible ground to cover. There were noticeably less flocks of Clockwork Falcons in the air, though that easily could have just been because of the early hour. It would have made at least some semblance of sense for Tyrant to be rotating them through whatever maintenance procedures they had to go through while most of the city was asleep.

  My mind was just starting to wander, wondering if there was a way we could use that when Jon cleared his throat.

  “Now!”

  I pressed down on the only button on the device, holding it as a loading spiral appeared on the small screen. It should have shown up immediately if it was going to and without hesitation, just as we had planned to cover the most area, I started flying toward the south with a good bit of speed, holding the button as I moved.

  “I’ve got a ping!” Swansong called just as I passed over Times Square and I came to a halt nearly as fast as I had started to move. “It only flashed for a second but it looks like it’s in the South Bronx. Is it bad I kinda wish the screen gave more info than just an arrow pointing in a direction?”

  “It’s more than most people have, I think Brain’s gonna be happy that it works at all,” Jon said.

  “Yeah, even a direction helps if it’s gonna give us that to work off of,” I said, reorienting myself before launching forward. “I’m heading that way now, we can cover more ground and hopefully find it before-”

  “Okay I actually see it already I think, it was just a bit of the sun glinting off of it but… oh no.”

  “Oh no, what?”

  “Umm… I either found another big droid starting to cause damage... or I think I found Freakenstein,” Swansong said. “I’m heading toward the park that I saw the golden glint at, but I’m pretty sure he’s charging up the street toward it too. He’s maybe four... maybe five blocks away, it's hard to tell from up here.”

  “Can you get there and get away before him or should Loophole back up and get you guys in position faster?” Jon asked.

  “I do have the time, but this is the first one of the day too,” I said as I rocketed up toward the Bronx, increasing my speed as fast as it would let me.

  “Yeah but you can’t be so resistant to using the skill when it will give you an advantage unless-... Damnit, you want to try to talk to him, don’t you? That didn’t exactly work the first time,” Jon said, a slight bit of frustration in his tone.

  “It’s a single token. Yes, they are worth points and we are making good progress toward the first extra level, but Freakenstein hasn’t exactly come running out into the main spotlight. Maybe he’s just a thug, but we can’t know that until we talk to him. I know it didn't work with Barracuda and Skim, but... I don't know... I just feel like we have to try and this might be the only opportunity we'll have without having to hunt him down again,” I said as I quickly soared past the Astoria Power Plant.

  I briefly looked over at it, looking for any signs of droids coming out of it and finding that, much like the skies, it was relatively quiet. That gnawed at me again but with my mind fully on the rogue Miscreant, I resolved to revisit the feeling after we were done.

  “Okay, I'm getting close and Freakenstein is a block away, what do you want me to do Loophole?”

  “I’m almost there, I think I can see you and I'm pretty sure I'll get there before him so just stay up high so he doesn't try and go after you.”

  I pushed myself faster, the ground underneath me starting to blur just a bit. I kept my attention forward, only briefly looking toward the mini-map in the corner of my screen. As soon as I saw Swansong’s dot appear at the very edge, just close enough to appear on my map from being in the same region, I started to slow myself down. Along with her dot, I noticed yet another dot charging right up a road labeled Cypress Avenue.

  Sure enough, like a bull in a china shop, there was a large figure crashing through more than a few cars that had still been left abandoned along the road. Luckily there didn’t seem to be any civilians on the street, though I could hear more than a few yells of complaints coming from the windows about an “early morning ruckus.”

  “I’m here,” I shouted, swooping down toward the park and the token clearly floating in the outfield of the local park’s baseball field.

  “Behind you!”

  I was just setting myself down in front of the token when a large force came crashing down and into the field. I turned, readying myself for an attack or to rewind just in case only to find the rampaging man that was Freakenstein, staring toward me as a cloud of dust slowly settled around him.

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  “Freakenstein. Level 15 Patchwork Armorer.”

  The man looked far different in person than the few scant clips I had seen of him during the nightly announcements. He must have been every bit of six and a half feet tall and even with the obvious distractions of his gear, he was built like a truck with a broad chest and wide shoulders. There were pieces of metal, randomly attached to his body at different spots, like a patchwork quilt, which… given his powerset’s name, felt oddly fitting. The attachments didn’t stop at random pieces of metal seemingly melded directly into his skin, though that did seem to be the largest amount of metal attached to the man that might have been mistaken for a droid if it weren't for the obvious patches of skin and dark blonde hair spiked up atop his head.

  His feet had what looked like wheels somehow attached to the sides and while they weren’t touching the ground, it seemed like an odd attachment to have if they weren’t used for something. As much as I was sizing him up, it was clear he was doing the same when he let out a bark of a laugh.

  “Well lucky me,” he said in a gruff, deep voice before he slammed his fists together. “I’ve been hoping I’d stumble onto you one-a these days without having to go over to fuckin' Manhattan.”

  “Nice to meet you too,” I said, happy that he wasn’t immediately trying to attack me. That wasn’t to say I was going to let my guard down, but there was a glint in his eyes just past the metal plates covering the upper half of his face that I wasn’t sure how to interpret. “You’re pretty fast yourself, something to do with those wheels on your feet?”

  “Heh… somethin’ like that, though no need to go spillin’ my secrets now,” he growled, starting to bounce slightly on his toes in a way that might have made Pinky proud. “Come on, I’ve been looking for a fight and Mr. Number One is bound to put up a good one.”

  He took a step back, very obviously preparing to rush when I held my hands up.

  “Whoa dude, can’t we just chat for a second? You’ve been crushing all the droids Tyrant is sending out, I have to imagine you’re not just after-”

  He rushed forward before I could finish and I internally let out a sigh. The first step he took was heavy, but as he pushed off on the second, he came barreling my way, going zero to sixty in the blink of an eye. I wasn’t sure if it was instinct or just my increasing dexterity but I managed to skip out of the way, sliding off to the side as he sent a plume of dust and grass up, tearing through the outfield in a hurry.

  Swansong didn’t hesitate, flying down and beginning to sing her Song of the Peaceful Mind and as Freakenstein barreled past me, he screeched to a halt, a small wave of dust flying like he just skidded to a stop while ice skating. He looked up toward her with a look of honest disappointment.

  “Aw come on lil lady, let me and the top dog go one on one. I ain’t gonna hurt him that bad, I just wanna see if he’s actually earned that spot of his,” Freakenstein said, reaching up and brushing a bit of dust off of the denim vest that was loosely draped over the metallic plates connected directly to his skin. “I mean, I saw what he did to that big metal egg on the announcement last night and damn am I fucking curious about that raw power. Come on Loopie, hit me like that,” he said, patting his chest directly. “I promise I won’t even dodge.”

  I looked from him up to Swansong and she shrugged, unsure of what to make of the man’s request.

  “Believe it or not, that punch was at least partially because of that ‘little lady’,” I said, though Freakenstein just shrugged.

  “Well give me the part she wasn’t responsible for,” he said, hitting his chest again, this time a little bit harder. “Come ooooon Loopie. I won’t even run this time, that was just to test those reflexes of yours. Hit me and I’ll let yah have the token, regardless of how this fight ends.”

  “If yah wanted to fight, we could just go up to the Fight Club you know… no need to damage the city.”

  “This is a park Loopie, we ain’t doing no damage that can’t be fixed with a little landscaping,” Freakenstein said tilting his head to the side enough that an audible crack could be heard.

  “What is this guy’s deal?” Swansong asked in our internal chat, though I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that and to my surprise, Jon didn’t pipe up an immediate response either.

  “Clock’s tickin’ Loopie,” Freakenstein said, patting his chest again. “One hit, right here. I don’t wanna have to bring the lil lady into it, but if you’re only gonna fight if she’s at risk well-”

  “Hey, no need for that,” I said, cutting him off as he shrugged again.

  “I got stuff to do Loopie, either take your shot or scram. I ain’t exactly interested in fighting people weaker than me, so I really don’t wanna bring her into it, just wanna get you to take me seriously,” he said. “I’ll even promise to chat with yah after I beat yah down.”

  I didn’t want to hit him with the full power that I had put on display mostly because I knew just how much damage it would do and I was positive that any living person, at least at our level, would be turned to utter pulp if I tried to use that level of force on them. I looked down at my fist and then back toward him, trying to mentally calculate just how much I would have to do to hurt the man.

  “He’s got a shield, must be something with his powerset and all that metal attached to him… though it makes sense with “armorer” in his name,” Jon offered finally and I could hear the rapidity in which he was typing. “I’m trying to find anything I can on what people think he can do but he just seems to be strong and tough…”

  “Just one hit?” I asked, looking over at Freakenstein as he lit up with a wide, excited smile and he crouched, opening his arms wide, offering his broad chest as the target.

  “He’s gotta have some sort of absorption ability… right? Like Pinky? Should Loophole really be hitting him if he can do that?” Swansong asked before adding, “Oh… I guess he could rewind things if that did happen…”

  “Exactly… barring some sort of reverb shockwave that could knock him out in retaliation, but I feel like I would have seen that in any of the footage of Freakenstein if he could do that,” Jon said.

  “Tick tock Loopie, I ain’t gonna wait all day for you two to have your lil pow wow,” Freakenstein said. “I ain’t trying to be tricky, I ain’t trying to do nothing but find the best fight I can ever since I woke up from that coma. I thought it’d be one of those other big Guardians that were runnin’ around before all these droids came around, but I guess they couldn’t have been that strong after all. Now come on, hit me!”

  “Fine… you asked for it,” I muttered, turning my body to prepare to move. Freakenstein’s face lit up as he anticipated my rush.

  My stamina had only ticked down about 10% in the time I had been using it to fly, so I knew I had plenty of the resource available, though I still didn’t think I necessarily wanted to throw a 90% Gravity Punch at him either. That said, if he was only wanting me to deliver a single punch, would he consider it cheating if I used my follow up abilities that let me stack on the damage?

  I had no idea how much health he had, nor how much damage that shield of his would absorb, but I knew if it wasn’t enough, I could just back things up and stack on just a bit more damage until it was just enough to do the job. I would only have to hope that Freakenstein could both withstand the amount of damage he must have been expecting me to deliver and that he wasn’t just trying to distract us for whatever reason.

  I pushed off, rushing toward him and deciding to start on the lower end of things, throwing a single 25% Gravity Punch. While Freakenstein didn’t move to counter or even block, I did hear a metallic shhng before small bits of dust jumped back into the air. My attack that should have sent him flying backwards by 15 feet didn’t even make him budge and his shield only sank by 50%. I didn’t hesitate as I rewound time, bringing myself back to my charge.

  This time I caught as several bits of metallic scrap connected to his exposed legs drove downward hard into the ground, still perfectly melded to his skin as they effectively anchored him in place in the same way the droids had been doing to prevent themselves from being tossed back by my attack.

  Even if he was being anchored, the damage was still getting through though and I didn’t need him to be tossed back to prove how hard I could hit him if that’s what he had been after. This time, knowing I had only cut his shield in half with the first attempt, I doubled the strike. As the 50% Gravity Punch connected, Freakenstein’s anchors still proved to be effective and his shield… didn’t bottom out.

  It still had a small sliver of its bar left and Freakenstein had a wide, proud smile on his face as he moved to counter attack. I backed things up again, only rewinding a few seconds and found myself mid-punch. I grit my teeth as I added just a bit more to the punch, making the strike hit at 55% this time and finding… the exact same outcome.

  After three more rewinds, each time adding only 5% more in an attempt to prove I could take out his entire shield bar in a single, perfectly measured strike, I found he was always left with that single sliver of his shield bar. It was only out of pure frustration, my own inability to destroy this man’s shield that I found myself throwing an 80% Gravity Punch at the man.

  Once more, my strike landed, blowing the man’s shield all the way down to a single, barely visible sliver before I activated Paradox Chain. My afterimage appeared, as I moved out of the way, striking him in a quick follow up in the exact same spot. As the second strike landed, I heard a sharp SNAP as the metallic anchors holding him in place broke and he went tumbling in a sharp backflip backwards, skidding down and against the ground.

  He slammed a fist into the dirt as he slid, send another cloud of dust up behind him as he slowed himself to a stop. His shield bar had been taken out with the help of the second attack, but to both my surprise and frustration, his health bar hadn’t even budge a single point as a wide smile returned back to his face.

  “I thought I said one punch.”

  There was no hint of anger on his face, nor did he move to attack again as he slowly straightened up, once again reaching up to dust himself off once again.

  “Well to be fair, you’re sturdy as all hell,” I said and he let out a laugh before nodding over to the token.

  “Well deal’s a deal Loopie, the token’s all yours,” he said, turning his head to the side and cracking it before turning his body and putting his fists up like he was a boxer. “Though maybe you should have the lil lady scoop it up real quick, we ain’t done with our sparring match just yet and I wanna see if you can take it as good as you can give it.”

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