August 30th, 2005, Brockton Bay
Now that I've reached a satisfactory level of tools, I think it's time to diversify myself a little. Just one armor set up won't be enough for all the different tasks I need to do and having multiple sets means I'm ready for any situation. There's also the fact I can't spend all my time in public wearing the bulky lungbuster armor, I need something less intimidating that'll still be good enough for emergencies.
As such, I've decided to make five extra sets of equipment to be used in different situations. A stealth set, an anti brute set, an anti blaster set, an anti stranger set which can also be utilized as a detection set and a space set. Of course, I'll still have a general set to build. Each set will have capacities specifically tailored against their intended target. With the miniature brothers, I can make those dedicated sets even more powerful.
The stealth armor won't be as strong or durable as my other suits but it'll incorporate enough stealth system that I won't ever need to defend against something. It'll also be my first piece of equipment to incorporate cursology.
In essence, cursology is the study of forms and patterns that inspire strong emotional responses from the human mind, from joy and awe to existential dread and Profound fear. Some interesting ones might cause people to be unable to look straight at an object or the object might not even register in their mind, a certain pattern might inspire nostalgia while another might inspire feelings of motherly love.
Paired with reactive optical camouflage, I'll be practically undetectable by visual means. The armor will have temperature regulation good enough to hide from even tinkertech infrared sensors and it'll have air circulation systems to hide from gas displacement sensors. Basically every known scanning equipment will be countered by the armor.
Since propulsion systems are the antithesis of stealth, I'll have to use modified portal drones for mobility. Each one will have image projectors to cover the portals and they'll need to be as stealthy as the suit. Ten drones should be enough to maintain good mobility, I don't expect to use the suit outside of infiltration missions anyway.
The anti brute armor on the other hand will be downright simple. Most brutes attack in purely physical ways so I won't have to make space for energy absorption tech. For that armor, I'll be able to focus purely on strength and durability with a side of attacking capabilities. As such, I'll have more free space to put upgraded artificial muscles, microhydraulics actuators and kinetic energy manipulation units.
This armor will be my best yet in terms of strength and speed. Strong enough to rip apart tank armor with ease and fast enough to dodge railgun shots. It'll also need a whole lot of energy generation due to how inefficient my current kinetic energy manipulation units are and how much power the suit's increased strength burns through every second it's in use.
If I design the whole frame right, I'll be able to fit in ten times as much ascendant matter as I put in the lungbuster suit and I can make the energy supply self sustaining if I install an upgraded version of the set up I used in my first transmutation device.
It's also going to be my most durable armor to date from a purely physical stand point. It'll use one of the most durable composite materials I have access to, a superalloy of carbon, steel, tungsten and titanium suspended in a shock absorption matrix of chlorophyte metal with a bit of adamantium-c added for bonding and augmented durability. The adamantium-c really isn't ideal but it's the best I can synthesize at the moment and it's still much better than chlorophyte metal in terms of bonding strength.
As a whole, the armor will have a brute rating of seven and a mover rating of nine. Fast enough to reach any destination in the United States in under ten minutes. It's also going to be able to leverage its strength from any angle with the kinetic energy manipulation units. While wearing it, I'll be able to deal with any brute in the bay easily, the only one that could pose a problem is a fully ramped up Lung.
Ironically, designing the anti brute armor which is supposed to be a close quarters focused suit gave me some pretty good ideas for powerful long range equipment. The kinetic energy manipulation units which are based on the telekinesis gauntlets and a reversed version of my inertia dampeners are essentially energy focused transmuters. An hyper focused version that transforms just about any type of energy into kinetic energy.
Only problem is that the energy conversion ratio is shit, only one hundredth of the energy gets transformed and the rest is wasted. I'll probably be able to improve the conversion rate in the future but the current ratio is the best I can do. At least I have good enough energy generation to take advantage of the tech.
Despite the problems, the tech is still an extremely powerful long range weapon. If I'm willing to destroy the projectile in the firing process and to dump all my energy generation into a single shot, I can accelerate a fifteen kilogram rod to just under thirty eight kilometers per second. If I make the projectile durable, aerodynamic and equip it with an upscaled EXACTO bullet system, then I can perform high precision kinetic bombardment from half a continent away.
The only other thing I can build that has the potential for more damage in a kinetic bombardment is the space armor. It uses something I call space time anchoring to move away from or towards the earth at three hundred ninety kilometers per second. If activated at the wrong time, the armor impacts the ground with eleven terajoules of energy. Just under the energy released by three kilotons of TNT exploding, only difference is that all the energy is directed straight into the ground.
Besides it's use as a powerful weapon, space time anchoring is also the fastest and cheapest way to get into space other than portals. When the earth is facing the right direction, a few hours everyday, the tech can be used to send something out of earth's atmosphere in around three seconds for the equivalent of a liter of diesel in energy. The only things you have to worry about are ways to negate the friction generated and to make the object sturdy enough to survive the trip.
Both of those problems are negated in some way by the space suit's equipment. The helmet has a portal connection to oxygen reserves located on earth and the armor has portal drones stored in it in case of emergencies. Not that I doubt my repair power but having a few fail safes just in case is always good.
The armor can be piloted by a low level AI anyway so the emergency drones are only for when I'm in the suit or when I'm sending the suit somewhere in order to establish a portal link. It also has extremely powerful repulsors in order to navigate the solar system, the space time anchoring method is good to escape orbit but you can only use it to go towards or away from the sun at different time intervals which are a few decades apart. Not ideal if you want to get somewhere within your own lifetime.
I probably won't ever put on the suit myself, it's only purpose is to set up portal links across the solar system. Space is mostly empty, the only things I need from it are planets and resources. I also plan to build a testing site for high scale weaponry somewhere in the outer regions of the solar system, the further away from earth the better.
Once I have portal links to every major celestial object in orbit around SOL, I'll be able to sell access to other planets for a high price. I'm sure quite a few billionaires would be willing to pay hundreds of millions every three months to sleep at a luxury resort on mars safe and sound away from any Endbringer's reach.
On the other hand, the anti blaster set will probably be my most used one. With the amount of blasters running around the United States, I'll need it for a lot of fights. As such, it's also going to be the one I use against Behemoth. While he may be the strongest brute on earth, his title as the hero killer mostly comes from his high level dynakinesis. If the armor can survive against him, it'll survive against almost any blaster I'll ever encounter.
Because of it's importance, this armor's design will require the most attention. I haven't begun designing it yet but I already have a good idea of what I'm gonna put in it. The simplified technology tinker agreed to join me yesterday so the designing phase will begin when he arrives later this week, I also want Armsmaster and the miniature twins to be involved in the process. I can't afford to build anything but the best if I expect to make any kind of difference against the Endbringers.
At minimum, the armor will include every variant of energy absorption tech I have access to and I'll have to look into unconventional ways of diminishing the damage I receive. Good intentions are important but if I die, everything I've worked for in the last few months will be meaningless. The tinkers association can probably survive without me with Mansa providing the resources but that's all they'll be able to do, survive.
Even with all the defensive measures I plan to install, I'll still need to make the armor go through repair and damage cycles until I can't do more than cosmetic damage to it. I'll wait until I'm done printing all the other sets before designing that one, I don't want to be rushing the process.
In terms of complexity, the anti stranger set is the only one even close to the expected level of the anti blaster armor. It'll incorporate so many different sensor systems that I doubt anyone with a stranger rating under ten can remain hidden from it. In fact, the armor will be quite bulky despite not needing much armor. The amount of detection systems will take a lot of place and most strangers don't have superhuman abilities other than stealth so high level strength won't be necessary.
The armor will mostly be a testbed for sensor technology anyway. Quite a few of the machines used on it will be completely new to me and I'll need to test them in some way before I incorporate them in other projects. The neutrino flavoring interpretation system will be used to make extremely detailed maps of the solar system and a few of the other systems will be incorporated in my future suits.
It also has some safety measures against strangers that affect the human mind. I'll be controlling the armor from my virtual room and the armor will have a backup AI pilot in case my mind is affected somehow. Against a stranger like Nice Guy, the AI will analyze his body for signs of malicious intent and take control from me to engage if it sees I'm not responding accordingly. As such, the armor also has some level of protection against masters.
Besides working on the armor sets, I've also done some work with the miniature brothers on upgrading some pieces of equipment and on starting the designing process for movie props. The brothers liked my idea a lot and were quite eager to begin work on the project. For now, they're designing a control system for the props and they've started the printing process on a miniature animatronic, the thing's going to be used as a base to install different faces and equipment on. To help them, I'll have to contact some unaffiliated heroes for contracts.
Should be simple, ask them to wear a tinkertech camera for a few weeks when they go on patrols and they get a few percent of the finished product's earnings. I just need to find heroes with the right track records that are also popular enough for a movie about them to sell. The insight program should be helpful for that.
The first few association members will start arriving in five days and they should all be here by the end of September. All my armors will be finished printing in ten days and the anti blaster suit will be done five days after the others. Quite frankly, this whole situation is stressing me. The designing is exhausting and on top of that, the Simurgh is over ten days late. An attack could come at any second.
Because of that, I started sending a constant stream of portal drones around the United States a few days ago and I've had the miniature brothers and their family practice evacuation drills. If she shows up, I want to be ready to escape in seconds. All my new drones have been designed with extreme redundancy and they've been built so that they can't be disassembled. I want to change the world for the better and that goes against the Simurgh's goals so I have to prepare myself with the idea that I'm a prime target in mind.
At least for now. Once the space suit is done, I'll send it towards mars so I can make a base there as early as possible. The armor should be able reach the planet in twenty days so I'll be able to start working on the base by the end of September. When that's done, I won't have to worry about her, I'll be out of her reach. Depending on when the Simurgh shows up, I might even have time to collect professor Haywire's tech before the Behemoth fight.
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Short list of tinkertech product suggestions:
Suggestion for Upgrade.
If you're willing to limit yourself, your power could be used to advance just about any industry and to make large sums of money with patents. Alternatively, you could become a frontline fighter in relatively little time if you focus your attention on the right gear. I might also ask for your help on a few projects.
Suggestion for Enigma.
Your drones have a lot of potential for transportation methods but you've expressed an uncompromising desire to become a hero. As such, I'll have to spend more time discussing with you about what you can build to achieve your desires. Rest assured that I'll help you in any way I can as long as you do the same for other association members.
Suggestion for Raiden.
Lighting and electricity can be used to produce sounds and images. If you improve your precision, a lot of money can be made from selling tinkertech speakers and exercise equipment. If you still want to go out and fight crime, a split approach would be best. Money made from products sold can be used to fuel your hero career. Sometimes, money goes a long way. Paying the right tinker for advice or joint projects can help you rapidly improve yourself. The other members of the association can also help you when they have free time. You know my free hours so you can come see me if you need help.
Suggestion for Primal.
Rich people pay high amounts of money for quality handcrafted goods. Depending on what you decide on, you could make massive profits. I'll give you access to a small botanical garden, some shaping equipment and a forge. What you do them it is your choice. Just know that I'll support you no matter what you choose to do.
A.N: sorry for the late chapter, I've been pretty busy so it took longer to write. I'm also sorry that this chapter is pretty much another tinkertech infodump. I'm just sick of tinker fics glossing over the tinkering when it's such an interesting subject. For this fic, I want to explore different uses and ways to combine different supertech into versatile and powerful machines. A lot of this fic will be like that, finding ways to exploit metaphorical resources as intelligently as possible. I'm also trying to keep the introduced tinkers varied and not too overpowered. Another thing I find interesting are powers that aren't technically classified as tinker but that produce tinker like results. As such, you can expect to find more tinkers like dragon that have a thinker or striker powers that have tinker like effects. Hope you enjoyed, till next time.
Extra note: kinetic energy manipulation units will be written as KEM units from now on.