Step 7.4
Flash took me right next to the Auto-zone.
It sat atop a hill south of Boston University. Didn't look utterly drenched in water.
Exactly what I needed.
"This is a terrible idea," Flash said.
"I'm sure I'll be lectured about it later," I replied. I leaned into him, pushing my legs forward despite the pain. "You can go if you want. This is gonna take me a bit."
I glanced over my shoulder. Green, Navy, Orange and Purple flew through the air, carrying the barrels from my GN cannon with them and a bunch of parts stripped from Astraea. Red I sent to check on Armsmaster.
I'll be damned if I busted my suit and broke my ribs for him to die of blood loss.
Jerk.
"You should go," I said. "There are others who are hurt more than me. I'll be fine."
"Can't believe Alexandria is going along with this," he mumbled.
Yeah, that part surprised me too.
Flash helped me through the front door, and I did a quick look around.
Water definitely got into the building. The windows were shattered, the floors damp, and stuff spread all over the floor. It didn't look swamped though. I only needed a few dry batteries and I'd make the rest work.
"Go," I insisted. "I'm okay."
Flash frowned as I pulled myself forward. I slid to the floor with my back to the wall and started poking at things.
Once the Haros arrived, they dropped the barrels and I pointed.
"Bring me those batteries there," I said. "The ones on the top. And then I need loose wire. Charge cables. Check the back of the store too."
I pulled my beam saber from my side and adjusted the length.
Flash flashed away with a "tsk." He seemed nice enough, but he had an attitude problem.
I didn't have much time. Without my visor working I couldn't see the fight with Leviathan, but casualties kept coming in. Twenty minutes? I think Twenty minutes since the fight started. Hero got himself taken out of the fight building the breakwater. It held for now but eventually a strong enough wave would either get through or drop it on the city.
"This is inadvisable," Veda said. "You are injured."
"I can work," I said. "It's a simple design." Deceptively simple. "I just need to put it together."
I needed the ammunition. That's the key.
Two capes who enhanced projectiles solved part of the problem, but I still needed a round hardy enough to endure passage into Leviathan's body. If anything in him could be hurt, then it lay deeper in than anyone managed to penetrate.
The Haros brought me what I needed, and I rapidly started working the wires into a spiral.
I stood each of the cannon tubes up and welded the compressors to the top. I'd need car batteries to set the charge. I used some wire to build miniature GN antennas, and some of Astraea's processors to ensure the formation of a very narrow GN field.
"Veda, load the code."
She didn't answer at first. I paused, trying to figure how I'd code anything without my phone. Didn't matter. Even with it I couldn't assemble the components and program them to work together without taking more time than I wanted. I'd already need about seven minutes to assemble the tubes, coding would take even longer.
"Veda."
"Very well," she said. "But once the weapons are complete, you will withdraw."
"Fine. Green," – I pointed to the part I needed – "bring me that."
Light flashed just outside the store, and footsteps came toward me.
Good. I just need-
Shadow Stalker came around the corner first.
Sophia fucking Hess.
Didn't consider that. She could enhance projectiles with her power couldn't she? Damn.
Behind her a girl about her height in deep purple costume with a dark visor entered. White armor panels covered her vitals and She wore a crossbow over her back. A bandage covered her right shoulder. She got hurt at some point?
"Sorry," I said. I hesitated for a moment, but fuck it. I didn't have time to worry about Sophia figuring me like I figured her. "Don't know your name."
"Shadow Stalker," she said.
Wasn't asking you.
"Flechette," the other girl said.
"Hey." A man in a hulking metal suit followed in after the two of them. He looked at me and blinked. How did that work? His eye balls looked as metal as the rest of him. "Are you… Tinkering?"
"Yup."
"In the middle of an Endbringer fight?"
I fed cord into one of the tubes, Green using his little robot arm to appropriately fit it in place.
"That a problem?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Adamant. You needed someone who can work metal?"
"I need two stakes, three inches in diameter and a meter long. And I need them as durable as possible. They're going to be projectiles."
Adamant nodded. "Right." He glanced around the room and walked past me. He started gathering scrap. Pieces of a smashed shelf, and a fire hydrant? Didn't notice that.
Flechette and Sophia stood silently for a bit while I worked.
I doubted the tubes would hold for more than one shot. Building a weapon in a few short minutes did not breed longevity.
"What are you tinkering?" Flechette asked.
"Rail guns," I said. Thank you Skidmark for the wonderful idea. About the only positive thing he probably ever did. "I'm going to infuse two stakes with particles like I use on my suit. It'll harden the material. I'll use a field to propel the particles in the metal forward and give it enough punch to pierce Leviathan's body."
I fitted a pair of thrusters to the GN compressors and connected the wiring. Logically, something like it really shouldn't work. But tinkers are bullshit, and I knew it would.
GN compressors to provide the particles, the thrusters to give the stakes a kick, and the coils with an electric charge to spin them and keep them on target. Suppose it's more of a coil gun than a rail gun, but silly little details. Either way, the math in my head said the weapons could piece Astraea's regular armor when fired.
Throw in two parahumans to add extra 'umph' and that put us in business.
"I can't put together anything really good on short notice," Adamant said.
"Do what you can," I replied.
I frowned and set the first tube aside. Crudely constructed and hideous it may be, but it also happened to be functional.
"Should you really be doing this?" Flechette asked. "You don't look good."
"I can be in a hospital after we win," I said.
I immediately started work on the second tube, the Haros bringing me the parts I needed.
Adamant produced the stakes and they seemed suitable. Smooth and in the appropriate dimensions. Not sure how he made them. My first thought was tinker. A super welder or something?
Adamant. His specialization being metal made an odd sense. His armor didn't seem very tinker-like though. It seemed like a normal suit of armor.
Worry about it later.
Flechette shook her head. "You should be in a hospital now."
"And how will she be when the hospital washes away?" Sophia asked.
"Don't," I snapped. I do not have the emotional capacity for this shit right now. "We're running out of capes to fight, and the breakwater won't hold forever. If Leviathan isn't forced off soon we'll lose the city."
Another casualty list came in, as if fate wanted to mock me.
Only one name I knew, right at the front.
Aegis deceased.
Fuck.
I didn't have time to lament it.
Sophia's power phased herself and anything she touched. Okay, that actually did help. If she phased the stake when firing it might bypass some of Leviathan's outer flesh, save more of the energy for hitting something that mattered.
"What do you do?" I asked, looking at Flechette. "Sorry, I don't know."
"Enhanced reflexes and aim," she said. "Anything I touch basically becomes armor piercing."
Perfect.
I forced myself up and lifted the two tubes.
"The trigger is here," I said. I pointed at a rough switch on the side. "The car batteries need to be connected here and here before they can be fired, and it takes ten seconds of charging to properly prepare the stakes. You can start that process with this switch here. Don't start until you're ready to fire. I have the compressors set to burn most of the particles in them in that time. Fire in twenty seconds or it won't fire at all."
I loaded the stakes into the tubes and handed them off.
"Aim for the torso," I said. "StarGazer thinks Leviathan is trying to protect some part of his body."
"The upper torso," Veda said through Green. "I have been unable to determine a more precise location with the data available."
"We can't hit him if he's moving," Flechette said.
I pressed the buttons. "Newtype speaking. I finished the weapons, but there's only two shots. Leviathan will probably avoid them if he isn't pinned."
"We're sending a transporter," Alexandria said. "We're going to hem Leviathan toward Harvard and try to trap him there." Leviathan gets around. "Standby."
The four of us stepped out of the auto-parts store and waited in the rain. Flechette and Sophia carried a tube each, and Adamant hefted six car batteries in his hands. I asked Purple to carry connectors for them.
Green rolled in front of me as we gathered outside, separating me from the other three. Veda, I'm sure. She wanted to ensure I didn't get any ideas and evacuated.
I suppose that would be in my character.
Not this time though. Unlike Armsmaster I didn't want to die. Idiot.
I still felt… Bitter.
It's not Veda's fault. She wanted me to be safe, and I pathologically needed to be doing something productive. Something helpful. Going back to a hospital to have my ribs looked at felt like failure, even if it made complete sense. Then again, I'd seen Chevalier and Crusader keep fighting with missing limbs. They didn't stop, and one of them was a fucking Nazi.
Someone appeared in front of us.
No pop or flash or anything fancy. One second nothing, and then a teenage cape in a red and gold outfit. He wore a mask that covered his eyes, cheeks, and nose, but let his wild hair fall freely around his face. Next to him some tinkertech device stood on a tripod and hummed.
He turned his head toward me and… Is he scowling?
"Someone needed to go somewhere?" He asked.
"Harvard," Adamant said. He pointed at the tubes Flechette and Sophia carried. "With those."
"Step on in then," he said. He glanced at me, my hand still over my side. "You hurt?"
I glanced down at Green. "Yes."
"Come on then. I'll drop them off and then you."
Guess he'd dedicated himself to moving people around.
I stepped forward, Green and Orange following right behind me. I noticed a small indentation on the ground, centered on his device. Side effect of his brand of teleportation?
"Keep your limps inside the circle," the red cape said. "You'll lose them if you don't."
He raised his wrist and tapped it, and then we weren't in front of the auto-parts store anymore.
I'd seen Harvard in pictures. The campus is beautiful, with an age to it. It looked somewhat ruined by all the water lingering on the ground, about three inches deep.
Flechette, Adamant, and Sophia stepped forward. Sophia pointed at a building. A tall one on a small hill.
"There," she said. "It's the best vantage point."
"Alright," Flechette said. "We'll set up there."
"Good luck," whoever-he-is said.
I turned toward the teleporter but, "What?"
He wasn't there.
I looked left and right. He'd completely vanished without me. What the fuck? Green turned on his axis and mimicked the motion.
"Left behind, left behind."
Flechette turned, "What? Why are you still here?"
"Don't look at me," I said. "He up and vanished!"
The ground shook, and we all turned as a giant pillar of water rose over the rooftops in the distance.
Leviathan is coming.
Flechette set her tube down and pressed on her armband.
"Flechette speaking. Newtype is still here with us, she needs medical evac."
"Hold," a voice said. A moment later he said, "Frontal is having some kind of malfunction. Give us a few minutes and we'll get someone-"
"We don't have a few minutes," Sophia said.
She moved, a wall exploding about fifty feet away from us.
I stumbled back and cursed.
Adamant followed after Sophia, and Flechette helped me up to my feet.
"Come on!"
I winced as I leaned against her, but forced my legs forward.
I saw Leviathan's tail in the distance, and Legend flew overhead with a dozen others. How many were still able to fight? Alexandria dove from above, and a blast of air rippled after. I didn't see Queen anywhere.
Flechette got me to the front doors of the building, Adamant and Sophia a dozen feet ahead of us.
"You need to evacuate," Veda said through Green.
"Easier said than done," I said. It's not even my fault this time. I looked over my shoulder. "Going out there is suicide. Leviathan's too clos-"
A body bounced across the ground. The man scrambled up to his feet, rising just in time for Leviathan to slam him back down. I stumbled back and then turned to run.
I might have a pathological need to do something, but that didn't extend to fighting Leviathan with broken ribs and only my saber.
"Keep going," Flechette said.
She pushed me forward and I kept running, turning at the corner I saw Adamant turn down. We went up the stairs, which isn't fun with broken ribs, and the building shook. I slipped and started to fall backwards. Green bounced into my back and knocked me forward. That hurt, but probably less than going backwards down the stairs. With broken ribs, did I mention the ribs and how much they hurt?
Flechette helped me up the last few steps. Adamant and Sophia crouched by a shattered window overlooking the square.
Leviathan wrestled with Weld.
Well, not really wrestled so much as kept smashing him around. The metal boy hung onto Leviathan, his arms formed into hooks that clung to the Endbringer's arm. Alexandria punched at the beast from the other side, and Legend fired a laser that broke into multiple beams from above.
How does he get lasers to bend? Lasers don't bend.
I clamped down on my power's curiosity. Not really the time to figure that out.
"Stay here." Flechette helped me down in the hall, which I really didn't like.
If the building collapsed I'd be buried under the rubble. Not looking to feel any more Ali Al-Saachez today. Being out in the open, absent a brute rating, with broken ribs, seemed a far worse prospect.
Green stood around the corner watching, and I leaned over.
Adamant connected the batteries to the tubes, but he didn't do it right.
God damnit.
"Not like that!" I forced myself up and limped forward. I crouched beside him and pointed. "This one goes here and this one goes here."
Definitely not a tinker.
A tinker probably knew how to charge a car battery.
The ground rumbled again. Outside the gathered capes unleashed on Leviathan, Weld having dropped to the ground to give them a clear line. He'd gotten free somehow and when the volley paused he jumped to his feet and stepped back. Leviathan stayed on him, hands raking into the ground and throwing debris back through the air. Some hit a cape in flight and knocked her to the ground right as Reach appeared with a dozen more capes.
They spread out, surrounding Leviathan as the Endbringer stayed close to Weld.
Green rolled over to me and grabbed my costume with his hand.
"Retreat, retreat!"
I ignored him, helping Flechette and Sophia shoulder the tubes. They weren't really made for balance or ergonomics.
"Just like that," I said. "Remember what I said about the charging time."
"We remember," Sophia said. She took aim, tracking Leviathan as he sped back and forth along the quad outside. "Fuck Leviathan."
I stepped back and got out from behind them. Pretty sure both tubes would blow back when fired, and I didn't need more broken bones.
"Flechette speaking. We're in position."
"He's moving too much," Sophia said. "Get him to stop."
"We need Leviathan to hold still," Flechette said.
I sat behind a stone pillar, leaning over and watching the battle outside.
Leviathan did what he did before, with Armsmaster.
He kept Weld between him and other fighters. Unlike Armsmaster, Weld kept trying to get out of the way, making room for those behind him to shoot. Leviathan prevented him, constantly shifting and using any attempt to make room as a chance to attack. He didn't move far. Ten or fifteen feet at a time, but he did it often enough and with frequency.
If either Flechette or Sophia tried to fire they'd miss.
"StarGazer," I said. "He needs to hold still."
"One moment."
Queen spiraled down from the sky, feet slamming into Leviathan's back. Leviathan hit the ground and Weld stumbled back as the ground shook. I felt the rattle in my broken bones and clutched my side. Leviathan struggled, bucking back and forcing Queen off.
Veda rose and the Fangs shot out, peppering Leviathan in a volley of GN beams.
"Do it," Sophia said.
She flipped the first switch and green particles spilled into the air from the tube. We'd lose about a quarter of them in charging because I lacked the time to build a good field, but it should still work.
Flechette followed suit, and I started rerunning the math in my head.
The GN particles would reduce the weight of the stakes, but they'd maintain their physical structure and qualities. A field didn't need much charge to propel them forward. They'd go hyper-sonic, in a fraction of a second. They'd hit with more force than what Skidmark put together with his skids. They'd hold together better because of the particles.
Leviathan shook, a water echo snapping into the air and throwing Veda back. Alexandria came in behind her and crushed Leviathan, slamming him back into place.
"Shoot!" She ordered.
A volley of shots piled in and battered the Endbringer.
He looked even worse than before. I didn't understand how he could possibly feel pain and still fight with so much of his body ripped and torn.
Leviathan dashed to the side, a warning about a wave distant in my ear.
Just a few more seconds.
Queen shouldered Levaithan down again, and Alexandria swept his legs. The Endbringer hit the ground hard and my ribs painfully rattled.
I force my eyes to stay open and focused.
Fuck Leviathan.
The Endbringer rose, hand reaching out for Queen's leg as Veda flew back.
I fell forward and shouted, "NOW!"
The air cracked. Wind threw me back into the wall, and bounced Green across the floor. What windows remained on the floor shattered and the sound of rain stopped for all of a second.
I kept my eyes forward.
Leviathan's body snapped, his feet sliding across the ground as the stakes struck his shoulder and stomach. He crashed into a building opposite ours. And he kept going. The entire structure exploded, and the rain came crashing down like a curtain.
Flechette lay sprawled out on the ground clutching her shoulder.
"I think it's broken," she said as Adamant leaned over her.
I may have messed up the math on that.
I got up to my knees, looking straight ahead as the building finished its fall.
The wave rolled in, much smaller and lighter than the others. The breakwater must really be working, because most of the capes on the ground managed to hold their balance as it washed over them.
The building blew apart.
Leviathan barreled out, both stakes embedded near to hilt in his body.
Adamant reacted quickly, pushing Flechette aside before the Endbringer slammed into us.
Adamant down. Flechette down.
I cursed and tumbled, falling backwards as the ground lifted up beneath me. I fell and hit the ground. Then the ground fell and hit me.
I screamed, hand reaching down and grasping my leg.
First broken ribs and now a definitely broken leg.
I tried to push myself back with the leg that didn't hurt, but that just made the other leg hurt more. I raised my head, finding a slab of building pinning me to the ground.
Fuck!
I grabbed my saber and brandished it, holding it out toward the monster as it rose. I couldn't tell if it saw me or no-
Sophia fired her crossbow into the Endbringer's face, her body clutched in its hand.
My heart stopped for a second, trying to process that scene.
Leviathan squeezed.
Shadow Stalker deceased.
How many times did I wish her dead?
She ruined my life.
She murdered who I used to be.
Why-
Green landed in front of me, his ears raised as Leviathan turned.
I snapped out of my stupor and raised my blade, not really sure what I intended to do with it.
Leviathan threw Sophia over my head, blood splattering as her shattered body hit the wall.
That's just fucking great. I get to die with Sophia. Emma is going to-
Two sabers dug into Leviathan's back and Queen Gundam slammed him back into the ground. Veda whirled the suit around as his tail tried to counter, pulling his attention away from me and stabbing both sabers forward. The fangs shot out, blasting the Endbringer's body.
One whirled in front of me and shot the rubble pinning my leg.
I screamed again, swinging my saber across my chest and cutting the rubble.
I pulled my leg free and started crawling, looking back as Queen hit the ground and faced Leviathan.
Capes gathered behind the Endbringer, and I cursed as he started to whirl, set to use Queen as his new sh- Fuck Levaithan, Queen is a drone Legend and the others can shoot through it!
"Star-"
Leviathan began to move, and Queen suddenly appeared in his path and stabbed the Endbringer in the face. His tail whipped to counter, and Queen ducked under it, swung past the water echo, and slashed at the tail. Leviathan jerked, a full body water echo shooting out. Queen ducked and crouched, stepping forward just like Armsmaster did and striking Leviathan in the stomach.
I stared, watching as I saw it.
She's doing exactly what Armsmaster did.
Veda avoided every blow. Countered every attack. Moved and stepped in exactly the right place to avoid being hit, and when- No, it's a trick. Leviathan beat Armsmaster this way!
Leviathan swung for the arm just like before and I wordlessly shouted.
Queen burst to the side, dodging the blow and swinging up into Leviathan's shoulder. The Fangs burst out and fired, two projecting blades that dug into Leviathan's back.
"Fire!" Legend shouted.
He fired his power along with a dozen others, and when Leviathan tried to dash out of the way Queen tackled him and forced his body back into the line of fire. The volley of powers tore into Leviathan, Queen hiding behind his body as the wall of capes behind him unleashed.
My eyes widened.
Leviathan tried to move. Veda shot past and blocked him, Queen's knee striking his leg with enough force to send the Endbringer back to the ground. Queen's leg shattered in the process, but Veda kept moving. Sabers and fangs tore through leviathan as she blocked his escape, and the other capes kept shooting. Leviathan tried to force his way through, but Queen continued dodging.
A swing to the left struck the ground and let Veda swing across his throat. A tail swipe to the back to try and knock down the capes behind him. Two Fangs stabbed into the limb and stuck it to the ground. Leviathan moved to kick and Veda shot into the air and flipped, running both beam sabers in Queen's hands over Leviathan's back.
Leviathan's arm was already swinging back when Veda flipped, poised to strike her as she came down. Instead she flipped Queen on its axis and circled, avoiding the blow and striking Leviathan's back again.
She's predicting all of it.
"Newtype!"
My head snapped up, Stratos standing over me with his scope thing hanging from his shoulder.
"Get up," he said. "Let's go."
But, – I looked back, watching as Queen continued fighting Leviathan, dodging all the blows and striking back every time – Veda.
"Retreat, retreat!" Green chirped.
Stratos pulled me up, and Laserdream came down from the sky.
"Go," he said.
"I got her," Laserdream replied.
Someone else flew overhead, Flechette hanging from their arms.
My mind went blank, and I turned my head to look at Sophia's corpse. The girl in the spider outfit crouched over her, clutching the dead girl's shoulder.
She raised her head and looked at me as my feet left the ground.
Having weight off of it didn't make my leg feel any better.
Down below another weak wave rolled in, and Leviathan sprinted through the water toward the Charles.
Queen slammed into his side, the right arm shattering as Veda stabbed a saber into the Endbringer's chest. Leviathan tried to attack her, but she flipped out of the way and Alexandria hit him from behind.
"Don't let up!" Legend said. "A little more!"
I reached out, my blurry vision making it harder and harder to make out the battle.
"Hold on," Laserdream said.
I lost sight of the battle as she flew me away. The city looked a disaster from above. Hard to make out how much of a disaster, but I'm pretty sure buildings don't stand at ninety degree angles. What?
Might have been right about that concussion.
"Over here!" Laserdream called. She descended into a chaotic field, dozens of people moving left and right. Some wheeled gurneys back and forth, while others carried stretchers.
"She's got broken ribs," Crystal Pelham said. "And her leg is busted."
"We've got her!" An EMT came forward and Laserdream passed me to him. She shot back into the air and flew away, and the EMT asked, "Cape name?"
"Newtype?" I said weakly.
Over? Like that? No. Veda was still fighting. I needed to-
"Hero or villain?" A nurse asked. She held up a domino mask and someone fitted it over my face.
Wait-
I raised my hand, touched my cheeks and temple.
My mask cracked open?
People can see my face.
"Hero or villain?" The nurse asked again.
"H-hero," I said. They saw my face. I straightened the domino mask as best I could. "Why does it matter?"
"Lawyers," the EMT said.
I got shuffled onto a gurney, which fucking hurt. Rain fell on my face as they wheeled me away and into a room that stank of iodine and iron. Blood stained the walls, and the people. Doctors and nurses ran back and forth, plus a few capes. Think I saw Red for a moment, standing on a bedside stand and pointing at something while two young women in plainclothes worked on someone.
The EMT wheeled me into a room, and three people painfully lifted me onto a bed.
"Newtype," the EMT said. "Hero."
"She's from Brockton Bay," someone said. "Broken ribs and leg. Possible concussion."
Someone flashed a light in my eye, which I did not appreciate.
"Can you hear us?" A man in a face mask asked.
"Yeah. What-" My ribs and my leg are broken. "Am I okay?"
My costume got pulled open, and a familiar voice chirped nearby.
"Broken ribs, broken ribs. Broken leg, leg."
Someone tested my side and I winced. Someone touched my leg and I screamed.
"Painful," the doctor said. "Don't think the lungs are punctured. I'm not seeing any internal bleeding. We got her from here."
I turned my head toward Red, my Haro sitting on the bed by my pillow.
"StarGazer?" I asked.
"Fighting, fighting."
Still.
"Get her in the system," the doctor said. "Can you hear me?" I nodded. "You're not going to die, I'm sorry but that makes you low priority. We're going to give you some pain killers and I'll be right back to set your leg. A healer will get to you as soon as possible. Sit tight. Do you understand?"
I nodded.
Someone got a needle into my arm, and I started feeling cold. Not in a bad way, but rather in a 'can't feel the pain' way. That's kind of nice.
The doctor left, pulling a curtain closed around my bed.
Two nurses, a man and a woman stood over me. One worked on the machines at my bedside, and the other tapped his hand at a table.
"What the hell?" He asked.
"What's wrong?" The woman asked.
"It's broken," the man said. "See?"
He held the tablet out, and they both looked confused.
"Damnit," she said. "That's the fifth one."
"Fifth?"
"Yeah," she said. "A whole bunch of them are breaking right now. Right when we need them, naturally."
They both shook their heads.
"I'll put it on paper and get it down to admissions. That system's still working, right?"
"Yeah. No problems there. Just these dumb tablets."
The nurse set the tablet down on my bedside and he looked at me.
"I'm going to be right back. Do you want water?"
I blinked.
"Fuck no," I said.
He seemed surprised and then he frowned. "Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean it like that. Hold tight. I'll be right back."
He left through the curtain, and the woman nurse disappeared after him. Don't think she went far because her footsteps stopped before his did. Other people in the same room?
I raised my head slightly, looking down at my leg and seeing the bone stick out. Gross. I looked away, and the tablet caught my eye.
Seemed like a standard model. I'd researched some of the medical equipment commonly used by hospitals, especially the ones with tinker tech in them. A standard Med-Tech V3. Just a simple tablet really. They used it to update patient files and such.
Code streamed by on the screen.
It looked like gibberish to most people. Pieces out of place, not really fitting together. It worked just fine in and of itself, it just didn't look right. Unless you knew what to look for. Saw the equations and the algorithms in non-digital processes. I'd seen them plenty of times.
I made them.
Veda?
