Hey, all! I apologize for taking almost two months to update this, but I've been busy with other projects and I honestly didn't come up with the idea for this chapter until literally yesterday night. And then I was on such a roll that I stayed up until 5AM working on it. lol Anyway, just finished it today. Hope you all enjoy it, and I'll see you all at the next update. :)
Salu frowned in concentration as she carefully moved her electronic scalpels from the left side of the mechanical arm to the right side. She'd been working since dawn this morning on upgrading the arm Lightning Lad used to wear, and now she was beyond exhausted. She finished a circuit and then glanced at the clock. It was almost 11PM. The Game Night must be already in full swing, and she was missing all the fun.
She groaned, put down her tools for a moment, and rubbed her bloodshot eyes with the back of her hands. As much as she enjoyed working on this masterpiece of an arm (no thanks to Brainiac 5's brilliant original design), she could only focus for so long. The only reason the original arm had been finished so quickly was due to Brainy's uncharted intelligence (which he thankfully still had), his then robotic nature, and the subsequent fact that he could, if left to his own devices, work for countless hours (and sometimes even days) without any breaks. Of course, the fact that Garth's life had been hanging on by a thread at the time of the arm's construction, regardless of what any of the other Legionnaires were told, certainly gave the situation a sense of urgency.
Since then, much had changed. Brainy had left the Legion shortly after he was cured of Brainiac 1.0's influence and emerged in a new human form. Garth had been healed by the newest Legionnaire and the mechanical arm was carefully removed from his shoulder. Brainy had returned to the Legion after a year of "finding himself," as he had put it. Shortly after his arrival, Garth had approached him and Salu about possibly modifying the mechanical arm so that he could attach it to his flesh arm at will as a power-boosting accessory. He had grown used to the explosive power it had given him, and figured it would put the otherwise unusable arm to good use, since the arm had been specifically designed to enhance his bioelectrical powers and wasn't compatible with any other Legionnaire.
Salu rubbed the fingers of one of her hands along the palm of her other hand, then moved on to massaging each of her fingers' joints. The muscles in her hands with stiff from holding her tools so tightly for so long, and now they ached as well. The joints throbbed with each flexion and extension of the muscles. She briefly considered heading to the medical bay of the Legion HQ to get an ointment for her hands, but quickly dismissed the idea. She wanted to work for one more hour before calling it a day, and then she could get the ointment.
As she massaged her hands, she walked over to the work bench next to the one that the mechanical arm was resting on. She studied the new design she had drawn up. The diagrams and illustrations she'd drawn were nowhere near as neat and organized and efficient as she remembered Brainy's design had been, and, not for the first time that day, wished he were here in the lab to help her. Unfortunately, he was currently busy in the medical bay analyzing the machines there and taking notes on the changes he wanted to make to improve their efficiency, effectiveness, handling, and safety.
Salu was supposed to be helping him with that, but she had prioritized Garth's request since she figured it would be a much shorter project and she would quickly be able to get it out of the way and return to her normal duties without much of a hitch.
Or so she had thought.
She had allotted herself two days to work on and finish the arm. Today was the second day and she was fast approaching the beginning of a third, and she had only just gotten past the stage of disassembling the old systems and parts of the original arm and constructing the new, lighter version. The new arm accessory needed to be much thinner in order to fit around Garth's arm, rather than replace it, yet it had to perform the same function of enhancing his power (minus launching rockets and carrying other bulky knick-knacks the original had). It also couldn't rely on having titanium membranes attached to the neural sheaths in Garth's shoulder and receiving direct signals from his brain like before. This was the area still giving her trouble. She had designed the rest of the gadget without many problems: despite the decreased working space for the circuits and other mechanical components, she had managed to get it to receive electrical currents running through the accessory and output a greater voltage at a slightly greater velocity. That, in and of itself, she was proud of. Previously, Brainy had designed that function, and she had had to go off his complicated designs and figure it out for herself. But the remaining problem was that she didn't know how to get the accessory to receive the electricity from Garth. So far, it seemed that he could only release his electrical energy through his hands, specifically through his fingertips. . . .
Salu's eyes widened as she continued staring at her design sheets. Of course! She could extend the bottom of the accessory past the back of his hand and have it wrap around his hand completely, encasing his fingers like a metal glove and incorporating input gates into the fingertips of the glove. That way these gates would "plug" into his fingers, the energy source, and create a sort of power bar contraption, just like plugging a power cord into an outlet like in centuries past.
She sat down on one of her stools and began writing notes furiously, worrying that she might not be able to remember this revelation tomorrow morning when she got back to work on the arm. As she wrote, she realized that she would need to improve the efficiency of the accessory even further. The whole gadget, from top to bottom, was needed in order to output the enhanced power. The current would need to travel from Garth's fingertips up to the shoulder area and then back down to his hand, where the enhanced lightning bolt could be released. She knew that any lag between when his brain chose to fire a lightning bolt and when the bolt was actually released from the accessory needed to be kept extraordinarily low. In battle, it could mean the difference between missing an important target, saving another Legionnaire, and preventing injury to himself or even death.
With all these heavy thoughts on her mind, she continued to work until it was only a few minutes to midnight. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't notice when Brainy walked quietly into the lab to shut off the lights.
He let out a surprised noise when he saw that she was still there, wholly focused on her notes and designs.
She startled at the noise, her head whipping around and her pencil clattering onto the workbench. Her eyes widened when she noticed who it was. "What are you doing here?" she asked before she could fully process what was going on.
He raised his eyebrows at this. "I could ask the same thing. Do you even know what time it is? How long have you been working today, Salu?"
She glanced up at the clock and then, with a grimace, replied, "Almost eighteen hours, minus breaks for meals."
Concern pulled his lips downward, and briefly she was distracted by this, but she quickly raised her gaze again, hoping he wouldn't notice. If he did, he didn't let it show. "Salu, I know you want to finish this project as soon as possible, but running yourself ragged isn't going to speed up the process. Lack of rest dramatically cuts productivity and creativity. You know this already. You used to scold me about it all the time. Remember?"
She looked away, chewing on her bottom lip. "Yes, I remember."
"And furthermore, in your tired state, aren't you afraid you might miss something? If anything goes off in this accessory, it could seriously injure Garth. Did you ever think of that?"
She raised her gaze again, tears blurring her vision. "No," she whimpered, feeling both ashamed and downright furious with herself. She hadn't even considered this. She'd been so consumed with getting the gadget done within what she considered to be a reasonable amount of time, she hadn't paused to consider the consequences of her potential carelessness. She was doing this to help Garth. Since it was a custom-built piece of machinery, and she was the sole builder this time around, only she could guarantee its safe use. But she couldn't exactly do that unless she was carefully managing every little piece that went into it. And for that, she needed a clear head, which required adequate rest.
Brainy watched her silently for a few moments, his expression shifting several times in subtle ways––too subtle for Salu to process while she was internally berating herself. Then, he finally said, "I think you should consider, at the very least, sleeping in tomorrow. Have a slow start to the morning. Refresh yourself. I've noticed that it hasn't been just this project that you've been working on while running on fumes." His expression softened. "I know, and believe me, I know, how it feels when you feel like you're being forced to slow down for something that seems so trivial as rest. It can be infuriating." His expression became sterner. "But if there's anything I've learned from my time away from the Legion, it's that we can't do all the things we want to do and help all the people we want to help if we don't help ourselves first. We can't give everything we have if we're not prioritizing our health."
"Well," Salu began slowly, hesitantly, "one thing that would make me feel a lot better is if you could help me finish the accessory tomorrow. I would certainly feel better about letting Garth use it if I know that you've at least checked everything."
A small smile graced his lips. "I'm happy to hear that you think so highly of my abilities, even after"––he gestured at his body, at the lack of any robotic parts––"the change happened."
Salu gave him an incredulous expression. "Of course! You're still you!" His eyes brightened at this, despite the way his shoulders were sagging ever so slightly from fatigue. "I think the change has been good for you. It has made you vulnerable on the battlefield, sure, but it has made you better in so many other areas. For example, it has made you better suited for helping people behind the scenes, like you were doing today in the medical bay."
His expression softened even further, and he took a step toward her, his eyes never leaving hers. He continued to walk until he was standing only two feet away from her. He had grown two or three inches since the time he left the Legion, and now Salu had to look slightly up at him as he came closer. She noticed, not for the first time since he had returned, that he had also filled out a bit. She wasn't sure why he had always been skinny before, but perhaps this new change had to do with what he had just mentioned about helping himself before he could help others. Maybe while he had been away he had decided that he wanted to be stronger and bigger. Maybe he had finally been able to focus on what he wanted, rather than always focusing on others. Sure, he had been a bit of an arrogant jerk here and there in the past, but she attributed some of it to his then awkward nature, which had since improved in leaps and bounds. She also figured that the heightened emotions now mixing with his intelligence were mellowing him out a bit.
Caught up in her musings, she hadn't noticed that he had tentatively reached out one of his hands toward her face. She startled when it gently, hesitantly cupped her cheek. She briefly glancing down at it, then back up to his face, her eyes searching his. After a moment, she quietly asked, "What are you doing?"
Brainy's expression became a bit more strained, almost weary. "Do you . . . not like it?" His hand began to move away from her face, but she quickly raised her own hand to keep it in place.
Both of their eyes widened at this, as if surprised by themselves as much as by each other. Then Salu noticed his eyes briefly flicker downward and then back up again. She inhaled sharply, stiffening for a moment, but then made up her mind.
She closed the distance between and then leaned forward, gently pressing her lips against his in the same tentative manner as when he had placed his hand on her cheek. And, to her great delight, he responded without any hesitation this time and immediately leaned into her, placing his free hand on her waist.
Placing her other hand on the side of his neck, she closed the distance even more, pressing her body flush against his and then relaxing in bliss. She couldn't restrain a sigh when he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.
They continued like this for a minute or two before Brainy broke the kiss and decided to trail his lips along her jaw, causing her to tilt her head back and her eyes to close again in pleasure. He kissed his way down her neck and was just about to get to her collarbone when his wrist communicator started beeping, indicating someone was trying to reach him. He groaned as he leaned back and look down at the device to see who it was.
Sighing again, Salu couldn't help the frustration that seeped into her tone when she said, "It seems like you're asked for 24/7. No wonder you wanted a break from the Legion."
He glanced up at her with a pensive look, his lips pressed into a thin line. "I didn't leave because of that. I needed––" His comlink beeped again and his shoulders sagged in defeat. He gave her an apologetic look as he took the call. "Sorry, I gotta take this."
"Brainy!" The voice of Matter-Eater Lad boomed through the small device, causing them both to startle. "We need you up in the control room! Now!"
Frowning, Brainy pressed a button to reply. "I'm on my way. What's the problem?"
His worry-stricken reply sent a cold chill down both their spines. "Timber Wolf and Saturn Girl are in trouble."