Facing Henry's Past Ties
Honestly, Kim was about ready to kick her own rear. The rest of her shopping trip had, naturally, ended up rather less stellar than the start. A series of reports to the police and appeasing her fans' inquiries had taken a while this time. While Kim was generally used to it and would normally be happy for the chance to better introduce her new teammates, the recounting and questions' answers only drove Kim further down her own little well of guilt and self loathing. When they finally were left to their own devices, all Kim could do was follow along and drown her sorrows with soda at the food court, apologising repeatedly to her friends the whole time. They forgave her of course, immediately even. They were far more concerned about her than anything else and spent a great deal of time trying to reassure her, but it was pretty clear that nothing was working. The simple fact was that even Kim couldn't figure out why she had such a negative reaction to facing danger. All that her mind was giving her was that Ron wasn't there, which should not have been a problem.
And because it was, Monique had almost died. She would have if Felix arrived even a second later. Kim was right there and did nothing to stop a foe she could easily defeat from almost killing her best friend. How could she let that happen?
Still, her friends were persistent. If reassurance wasn't going to work then instead of letting her go back to her room and dump on herself, they'd silently agreed that distraction and a sense of normalcy was the best route right then and dragged her from the table, back through the mall. Which, much to Kim's chagrin and slight amusement, despite her mood, quickly resulted in a round at the arcade. All Felix had to do to get Monique on board was casually mention a damn wrestling game and it was once again time for the war of Pain King and Steel Toe. Only for them to leave the mall a couple hours later fully intending to continue the eternal fray on Ron's new game straight after dinner. When Ron and Monique got into that feud, it tended to last days and that was before you added Felix's playful teasing and goading. Kim wasn't about to complain though. Monique and Felix deserved the entertainment after today and it made Kim's buzz killing mood slip from their minds as they got a bit too into it. She was actually glad they at least had managed to settle down.
Wade was a little trickier to sidetrack from her mental wellbeing, but he did figure out pretty quickly that words weren't doing much for her and mental issues were too far outside his field to help much. He did scan through his monitoring systems, ensuring there wasn't any other trouble worth worrying about though. He figured that it would help to know that she had time to recover and collect herself. She just smiled as best she could at that before encouraging him back into the lab, where Bulma and Jazz were geeking out over some secret project their little squad was cooking up. Needless to say, it wasn't hard to get him back through that door.
She loved her friends and appreciated all the care and concern they were showing her, but they couldn't help with this. This was all set off by her fear and inability to control it. To fix this, she had to find out why she was so afraid and she had to learn to overcome the emotion. Otherwise, there was no telling when her fear could cripple her again.
So, naturally, this would have been the perfect time to address the elephant in the room. The timing couldn't be better, the only other person who seemed to be free was her intended target. It'd be all too easy to sit Henry down for a one on one conversation. She even knew exactly where he'd gone. However, Kim simply couldn't figure out how to put one foot into the same room as him.
"Open the door and talk to him, Kim! You've been too much of a coward today already!" She scowled, practically slamming her back against the wall, her eyes staring down the door before her. It was frustrating beyond belief. Henry was right there, on the other side one moving piece of wood, with all the answers she could ask for on Ryo and his team, yet here she was, failing to do so much as grab the handle. She just couldn't help it. For the second time today, there was simply too much anxiety and wariness running through her veins.
The negative feelings, the sense of danger that Henry stirred within her, were getting far too out of control. Sure, she'd managed to ignore and suppress them the day before, but that was before her memories started returning and she'd lost her nerve with a low level villain. Now there was so much running through her mind, so many memories returning and all of them showing her powers and dangers that she could have never imagined. That alone unnerved her so much and it amplified her concerns over Henry.
He was one of them, a super powered human, and very intelligent. The nature of his power, as little as Kim knew about it from his very small file, was devastatingly dangerous in place like Capsule Corp. The entire town sized building was overflowing with technology, both small and seemingly mundane to huge and explosive. With a single thought, the Chinese warrior could end them all in an instant. And Kim was about to face him all alone. Combine all of that with the feeling of a serious threat she got from him the moment she saw him and the continued lack of knowledge as to why she'd developed that fear and tenseness and you had one seriously frightening situation.
To make it worse, every time she forced herself forward and touched the handle, she did regain a memory on him. Just a second long one. A flicker of purple, blood thirsty eyes. A barrage of laser fire decimating the area all around her. Him surging through the air at her, blades of green energy poised to cut her in half. Him successfully cutting Ben 10's head off with malicious glee, no remorse whatsoever to be seen. It was only because of the regenerative nature of Swampfire's species that he was still alive. The image sent terrified shivers down her spine.
Her Vcom's data base told her that she was trying to talk to a hero. Monique deemed him boyfriend material. But Kim's feelings and memories depicted only the most malicious of killers and unlike last time, she was intending to face him alone.
That thought alone sent another round of ice through her veins. Almost enough to have her dragging Ron down with her. Backup would make her feel better, no doubt about it, especially if it was in the form of her mystically powerful boyfriend.
But that's exactly why she couldn't bring him. It would defy her newest point for doing this now. Earlier today, she failed to do anything until Ron made his presence known. She couldn't do that again or someone would die! She still had no clue why the fear was so strong, but she couldn't let experiencing it stop her ever again. She had to fight through it and do this alone. Besides, it's not like help was far away if she actually needed it. That was why this was the best method to relearn facing this fear. Not that that thought was calming her rapidly beating heart at all...
"Kim, get a grip and get this show on the road!" Giving herself a slap as she growled, Kim took one more deep breath before forcing herself forward. She didn't need Ron for this. She was Kim Possible. She could...handle anything. And this was nothing. She was just going to sit down and demand...ask for answers to her earliest fears from a dangerous technopath in super tech central.
"Kim, stop thinking about it and just...DO IT!" Her voice rising to a shout as her hand met the handle once more, Kim forced it to turn, forced the surfacing memory of livid purple eyes staring down coldly at her fallen, shaking form out from her mind and flung the door wide open...
Only to openly stare at the area she'd entered. It was extremely different to anything she'd expected to see. She'd imagined it'd be another lab, instead it looked like a miniature forest field. The trickling of a small fountain danced soothingly in her ears from a pond off to the centre of the room, accompanied every few moments by soft tweeting from to tops of trees scattered around the place. There was no floor, merely grass and the occasional flower bed, all well trimmed and healthy. A few small cats ruffled the bushes every now and then, sparing her a moment of curiosity before disregarding her entirely in favour of chasing each other or climbing the trees. The whole room was covered by a skylight, allowing everything to be bathed beautifully under the light of the rising full moon, the scene only being made even more enchantingly soothing by the few solar lamps here and there, the only manmade sources of light to be found. Not once had she ever seen such a beautiful, natural looking place within a lab or mechanics company before. It reminded her of Central Park, surrounded by New York City, a natural paradise hidden within the labyrinth of concrete and metal.
She couldn't enjoy it for too long though, for it only took a second to find her target. Donned in a simple brown and black sleeveless Gi, Henry was standing in the clearing near the pond. His stance clearly indicated he'd been performing some kind of kata, though exactly which type was lost to Kim. His stance suggested fluid movement and his arm was raised in way that suggested a slash, though twisted, one that would come with spin motion similar to a wave. Still, she couldn't confirm it, for he'd ceased moving. Instead, he'd turned his head at her, his grey eyes wide in surprise. Grey, not purple and definitely not malicious. A very dramatic contrast to the images her mind was plaguing her with.
"Uuh, hi Kim. Is something wrong?" He asked, dropping his stance and blinking confusedly as Kim stood there, staring far too intensely at his eyes. "Is something on my face?" He added awkwardly, subconsciously rubbing his cheek.
"What? Ah, no, sorry." Way-da embarrass yourself, Kimberly! Blushing, Kim offered him a small, sheepish grin as she forced herself to close the door behind her, much more gently than she'd opened it and take a few steps forward. Well, he hadn't tried to snap her neck yet, and she hadn't locked up either, so far so good. If you ignored how much of a fool she'd made herself out to be with that entrance. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything. What kind of kata was that?"
"It's Tai Chi." Henry replied, leaving Kim internally sighing in relief as he accepted the change of subject. "It's a basic one I learned when I was first starting out. It's a simple one to perform and good for a relaxing exercise."
"Oh, I see. So that's your martial arts style? Most people I know who practice Tai Chi just use the fitness and meditation side of it."
"You remember that I'm a martial artist or are you assuming from my clothes?" Henry asked, offering her a small smile as he took a seat on the ground.
"Both." Kim answered, slowly stepping closer, taking in another deep breath as subtly as she could and mentally berating herself for even needing it. Henry had done nothing even slightly hostile, heck, the way he had sat down on his knees limited his ability to attack, yet she kept waiting for him to lunge, for his peaceful, warm expression to turn vicious, for purple...
"Uhh Kim, are you sure you're ok?" Henry asked worriedly, breaking her thoughts. "The way you're staring at me...I've never seen anyone so unnerved focus so hard on my eyes before."
"Y-yeah. Sorry." Kim sighed, blinking a few times and trying to make her expression less intense and more apologetic. "I know I'm being weird, but...your grey irises don't seem right to me."
"What?" Henry gaped, blinking a few times as he seemed to try and process that. He looked like he wasn't sure whether to be concerned or offended. "What's wrong with my eyes?"
"My memory says that they're purple." Kim responded, sucking in a sharp breath as Henry tensed. Not liking the abrupt change, Kim quickly pushed on, all the while subtly shifting for a quick exit if she needed it. "It's part of what I hoping to talk to you about. According to Bulma and my Vcom data, you're a hero, but when I first saw you, my mind screamed threat. I couldn't understand why. Then, when my memories started coming back, you and all the other Matrix Tamers were still completely absent from them. And since they finally did start surfacing, I've been seeing split second flashes of you with purple eyes trying very hard to kill me and successfully decapitating Swampfire Ben without a hint of remorse. I need answers and you're the only one who can provide them. Will you tell me?"
"I see. That definitely would be panic inducing." Henry sighed sadly, his body sinking sluggishly as he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms loosely around himself as he shook. "I suppose that means that you don't remember the fight against Garlic Jr at all?"
"Garlic..." Kim started, completely clueless, before blood started pulsing at her temple, an image of an ugly, bluish grey dwarf flashing through her mind. "Urgh, he was an alien, right?" She grunted, clasping her head.
"That's right." Henry nodded with a sigh, opening his eyes and stunning Kim with their morbid, grey depths. "He was one of the Z Fighters' old enemies looking for revenge. He had unholy mystic water called the black water mist, which he used to control me and my friends. The Z Fighters too, by the time you got involved. It made us as aggressive and bloodthirsty as we could get. He had us kill Goku and give him our DNA for one of his formulas so he could add our powers to his arsenal. We had no control over ourselves, we were little more than his hyper violent, temperamental attack dogs.
"We were also meant to capture anyone else with super powers we could find and a number of your team came after Gohan when he came at us in a murderous rage." Henry went on, forcing himself to look Kim in the eyes. Kim almost hugged him right then and there, previous fears be damned at the sadness she saw, how sorry he looked, the silent desperation that she believe him. "You were with them. But you had no powers. Ben's were technological. Neither of you were worth anything to Garlic Jr. So...I was free to kill you two. And I revelled in the fact, the attempt. Just like when I helped kill Gohan's father."
"Oh God!" Ice surged Kim's veins once more, but for completely different reason. She couldn't even hope to imagine how painful it must be for Henry and his friends, to remember all of it, to feel the aggression, the pleasure while attempting and, worse, successfully killing perfectly good people. Kim remembered what it was like to be controlled by Drakken's mind control chips. She was aware of everything the whole time too, remembered every moment that she attacked Ron and hated every second of it. The fear, frustration and regret of helplessly watching her body hurting her friend was enough to bring tears to her eyes, but she never did anything long lasting or remained enslaved very long at all. That was absolutely nothing compared to what the Matrix Tamers must have gone through. To do such horrible things under someone else's influence, to enjoy it at the time and remember every bit of it later...
"These memories aren't new to you." It wasn't a question. The young man before her was filled with sadness and regret, but it wasn't raw. He'd been living with it for a good while. He's remembered this fight. A fact that was confirmed as he nodded his head.
"I was involved with this situation long before the Guardians got involved." He muttered, taking a moment to rub his eyes. "I was only involved with your team so much. The Z Fighters and the Matrix Tamers remember basically all of it. Ryo and Gohan have been friends ever since. Ryo brought Gohan to hang out with us a few times since memories started getting tweaked. He's a friend to all of us, despite what we did to his Dad. Mostly, the alterations to those memories is that the other Guardians we fought, like you, were shadowed out in our minds. It was like we were fighting silhouettes and just didn't think about it. At most, I just wrote it off as the original Z Fighters, until Bulma made her revelation and my opponents' faces appeared."
"So...then I realise that it's a hard time and you can skip details if you want to, but can you tell more about that mission?" Kim asked, albeit hesitantly. Henry looked like he'd aged ten years while they'd been talking. Old knowledge for him or not, he was still dealing with his part in it, still hurting. She didn't want to risk further opening old wounds, but she so desperately wanted to know what her memory was still hiding from her. "I want to remember everything. Particularly Ryo. I can remember every other Guardian to some degree now, but I can't remember a thing about him. I want to know why."
"...Probably because he wasn't a Guardian for very long." Henry informed her, giving her a small nod. "The Garlic Jr incident happened not long before Maleficent attacked. You only knew him for a few weeks and he has a terrible habit of dropping off the map, even with us."
With that, Henry told her the tale as best he could, starting from when he and his friends were approached and demanded to provide their DNA for some radical company only to be tranquilized and infected with the Black Water Mist. He told her about tracking down and infecting the Z Fighters, capturing Gohan and glanced over the murder of Goku before quickly moving on to their battle at the castle.
"Basically all I can tell you after that was that your teammates fought Garlic and his other forces and beat them all before sealing Garlic Jr back into whatever the Dead Zone is. Since I was out cold, I don't know anymore beyond our fight except that you weren't part of the end. You were near dead. My deepest apologies for the actions of my friends and I. Trust me, we deeply regret all of it." He finished with a bow.
"It's fine. There was no way for you to resist the Mist." Kim smiled, albeit painfully, slowly shaking her head. Just as before, throughout the story, memories from her side of the conflict quickly resurfaced one after the other. She remembered Roxas almost dying and almost becoming a vegetable. She remembered Gohan's grief turning to rage and unleashing power worthy of a God of War when news of his father's demise reached him. And she clearly remembered both her fight with Videl and the Matrix Tamers, particularly Sakuya. The shaman had almost ended her life horribly multiple times and she still couldn't figure out how she'd survived a direct strike of Gallant's lightning bolt, let alone got up again to fight. It was a huge amount of anxiety to take back in even before she reached the end where she'd actually died and was only revived because Ben managed to shock her himself. That part...well, let's say that a good few minutes of hyperventilating happened before Henry managed to calm her breathing back down. The fact that that had happened...well, she always knew that it was a technical possibility, that she was less than invincible, but to have actually been legally dead almost long enough for all brain activity to end... Oh my God!
Needless to say, she needed a distraction. any distraction. She'd succeeded in everything she'd come here to do. She'd gained the information she'd wanted, she'd fought through her sense of fear. She'd done enough for now, she wanted get away from it all for a while. She needed to.
Fortunately Henry was there to provide just the one she wanted most. Besides what only Ron could provide.
"Can you tell me about him? Ryo?" Kim asked, her desperation shining through her shaking voice. Not that she cared how freaked out she looked right now, she had every right to be. Henry seemed to agree, he'd gently wrapped his arms around her and held her face to face when she first started her panic attack and was still there, slowly drawing comforting circles into her back. "I want to remember him properly. I want to know more about him then I did before. I want..."
"Ryo can at times seem a little bit like a split personality case." Henry said softly, keeping his voice low and gentle as a little amusement sunk into it. "He can at time seem very calm and serious. Everything he says and does is cautionary, reassuring, almost parental in many ways. When he's like that, it really does feel like I have my big brother caring for me, making me feel safe. Though at times, it's taken to this extreme where he looks so sad and haunted. His emotions are so strongly projected.
"That's usually when Rika starts teasing and calling him out, which is usually immediately responded to with his far more mischievous side." Henry let a small chuckle escape his mouth at that, bringing a small grin to Kim's as well. It was vague in her mind, but she was starting to recall what Henry was suggesting. "That side is light hearted and a smart ass. His wit knows no bounds and he's quick to joke and tease, particularly at Rika. He's energetic, fun loving and overly confident. He'll rile up Rika for the fun of it, which most people call crazy or terrifying. Of all our friends, Ryo and I are the only ones not afraid of Rika's temper. Well, Jeri isn't either, so long as it isn't directed at her. But yeah, Ryo's absolutely fearless, for himself at least. He only seems afraid when one of his friends are in trouble. No matter how dangerous things get, heck, he could face Satan himself and he'd still be joking around and diving into it with enthusiasm until five minutes after he's dead."
"Is there anything else he's into?" Kim asked, finally pulling away a little, getting an encouraging smile from Henry in return. "Besides combat and daring Rika's wrath?"
"Well, we're all fans of Digimon." Henry offered with a small laugh. "In fact, Ryo's known in some circles back home as the Digimon King for ruling in major card tournament. Even his codename, Justiman, comes partly from the rumours that surrounded him when our team first formed, the mysterious man of justice in the shadows, and partly after his favourite card, Justimon."
"Oh wow, you've gotta be kidding!" Her laughter met her ears before she even realised she'd done it. The sheer ridiculousness of naming yourself after a character in a kids' card game...it was too much not to laugh.
"His suit's based on the Digimon too." Henry snickered, bringing another round from Kim. "He looked that much like him already that when I gave his suit some enhancements, like his metal arm, I based the design of the Digimon. He figured it out right away and thought it was hilarious before declaring that he'd wear it with pride."
"What a geek! The great Justiman would fit in perfectly at a cosplay convention." Kim had officially lost it, holding her belly as she laughed long and loud, Henry joining in right beside her. "Ron and Felix would love him! I...I don't suppose you could get him here?"
"Well...I don't know." Henry replied, snickering a little more as he shook his head. "Ryo moves around a lot, he's hard to pin down. Usually he just randomly shows up on his own. I'll give it a shot, but you might have to wait a little while. I will introduce you at the first opportunity though."
"Thanks." Kim nodded, the mirth in her smile calming to gratitude as she took a few, much needed, deep breaths. "For everything. I'm sorry I forced you to relive so much. If I knew how bad that was..."
"It's fine. I'm dealing with it." Henry shrugged, shaking his head. "Besides, I rather deal with it than leave you scared I might butcher you in your sleep. If we're going to be allies, then we have to be able to trust each other at the very least."
"Friends is better though." Kim responded, smiling as she pulled him to his feet, getting a grin and a nod in return. "So, while I'm asking favours, would it be too daring to ask for one more and have you show me that kata you were doing? If you want, I have plenty from three styles of kung fu to trade with."
"Well then, we better get started." Henry grinned. He was already shifting his body to the first stance before he'd even finished talking.
By the time they were done, Kim was just as physically exhausted as she was mentally and barely made it to her bed before crashing. It had been a long day to say the least and she still had a lot to work through.
Still, she'd gotten all the answers she'd wanted, even if they came with knowledge she really could have done without. She even managed to force herself to break through her fear, though she still had no idea where it came from. She'd deal with all of it though. Just not right now.
Fortunately for her, none of her darker discoveries and experiences touched her dreams. Strangely, and humorously enough, they were mostly depicting Ryo Akiyama cosplaying at a geek convention as Sailor Moon.
...
He wasn't kidding when he said that it might take a few days. Tracking Ryo was never an easy task, even for his fellow Matrix Tamers. The guy was almost always moving around and seldom had a phone at all, much less remembering to turn it on or distribute his newest number. He was quite elusive, had been since long before their team formed. Henry didn't really know the details why, but anyone could tell that they guy was avoiding someone or something. Exactly what was something Ryo kept to himself, despite their prying. Rika frequently snarked about it every time it was brought up, accusing him of just loving his air of mystery too much, to which he always had a smug response. Though all of them had eventually noticed the sombre eyes behind the amusement. Still, since he wouldn't let them in, what more could they do than wait until he was ready to tell them?
So, while he waited for his tracking programs to hit their mark, Henry had turned his attention back to his projects. Particularly, working on the Fenton Ecto-suit data.
Bulma and Wade had a number of their own projects to observe in addition to their collaboration, so it was him and Jazz working on it the most, but he was pleased to say that they'd made a lot of progress. Almost all of it was translated and summarized into a state that was understandable to everyone involved in the project now and they were already set to tweak it.
The process was only sped up further as Kim's current battle suit proved to be the perfect template for what they intended to make together. A quick stroll through Wade's files had provided all of its data and they were pleased to find that very little general alterations were needed to make it compatible with both the Ecto-suit design and Henry's bio-energy tech. Grinning a little to himself, he plugged a USB into his computer and immediately watched as he willed the information on Kim's battle suit onscreen.
"At the rate this is going, we could have next generation battle suits completed in record time." Bulma beamed as she scanned over the data, double checking everything for any glitches or errors and only growing more excited as she found none.
"Let's not get too carried away." Wade replied, a sheepish grin crossing his face. "Kim's suit is technically a prototype and it had bugs. The invisibility system once left me unable to find it for hours and that was just the most visibly problematic glitch."
"Oh, don't worry. We're going to be constantly testing this thing every step of the way. Besides, Henry's already pulled up your logs and is making the necessary tweaks to your data." Bulma waved it off, her smile only growing more proud as Henry blushed at the praise.
"It's not that big of a deal." He muttered as the others turned to the other screens he'd set up off to the side. "Wade's reports are highly detailed and they're not dramatic changes. Most of the suits' dramas seemed to be associated to the inhibition or strain caused by the power output on its systems. Considering the merging tech we're supplying and the new power sources, the suit's systems should be a lot more sustainable, so the base design doesn't need many complex modifications."
"Which only supports my statement! Now come on lady and gentlemen, let's get this merger underway!" And with that, the four of them dived right into it with enthusiastic smiles. Bulma's mood really was infectious.
It didn't take them long at all to get the gist of all the modifications needed on each source of tech and get to work, starting for a suit specifically designed for Kim. Wade had already informed the group what basic changes he'd hoped to make, he'd made plenty of notes over possible changes and upgrades and all of them seemed easy enough now that they had all the data. What made Kim's suit such a good starting point was the that the base work for integrating both Henry and Jazz's technology was already in place, its design being easily adaptable and already possessing similar, less advanced versions of the others' systems. Their work could just as easily be seen as an upgrade rather than a merger in most instances. A few additions and tweaks from the Fenton data, and both the suit's forcefield and strength enhancement systems were amplified dramatically, while modifications from Henry's own tech made the body-to-suit energy transference twenty times safer than the Fentons' suit.
The suit wasn't initially designed for offensive force, but it was easy to add a few dangerous tricks, the most notable being the ability to throw a forcefield at opponents. After that, they moved on to altering the energy sources and ratio settings into safe, stable forms. That proved to be little trickier than expected and was no doubt going to need frequent adjusting as they continued the project. While it would run dominantly on Kim's bio energy, it still would need alternate power sources to lessen the load required of the heroine in long term situations and provide an alternate source when her energy levels were too low to risk powering the suit. The crossing of both power sources was a delicate situation. If done incorrectly, it could do serious damage to the suit or Kim.
"Sorry to make it more difficult for everyone, but while we're on the power source, do you mind if I make a suggestion?" Jazz asked hesitantly, trying very hard not to break Henry's focus. One part of how they were proceeding so fast was because of Henry's techno telepathy doing most of the work onscreen, quickly adding, altering and searching through files. It was really impressive, but it did seem to make her hesitant to risk breaking his focus. After all, if she'd startled him too much, he could have easily scrambled the whole project.
"Of course." Wade answered, taking just a second to wait for the green glow to fade from Henry's eyes before turning to her with an encouraging smile. "This is based off your tech, why shouldn't you? Did we miss something?"
"Nothing from the Ecto-suit data, or anything like that. As far as my limited knowledge can see, we're on point with that." Jazz shook her head. "I just thought that it might be a good idea to add an Ecto-converter system, if we could figure out how to make one that wouldn't add a twenty pound block to Kim's back."
"An Ecto-converter?" Well, that got Wade intrigued. "What's that precisely?"
"It's a device that takes pure ectoplasm or ectoplasmic energy and converts it into pure energy. A system that would work wonders for the suit as an extra power source if Kim was allied or fighting a ghost. Actually, adding a Spectre Deflector would be a good idea too, I should have mentioned that back when we were modifying the suit's gear. Sorry. That would shield her from possession and add an extra, strong shock to her punches and kicks if she finds herself fighting a ghost. Which, considering that we intend for her to team up with my brother, is a guaranteed scenario."
Taking over the computer Henry had used for Wade's maintenance logs as she talked, Jazz brought up the design of what had to be the most brilliant idea her father ever had. Normally that wasn't saying much, his ideas were usually ridiculous without Maddy's input, but this one was truly ingenious. And he did it all on his own. Jazz was quite proud of it.
"Ok, that I can add." Grinning widely, Henry got work again immediately, effortlessly transferring the specks and altering them into a compatible form for the suit. "And…there! Done."
"Though, the converter is going to be trickier." Bulma mused as Jazz brought up its schematics. "It's definitely a good idea though. We'll work on that, but I am bringing your parents into the loop before allowing it to be integrated into the suit."
"The suit's circuitry will probably need to be modified again too." Henry added thoughtfully, frowning as he compared the design to his calculations. "We're designing this suit for a normal human and based if off simply enhancing Kim's current one, so, combining that with the current delicacy of varying power sources, I only increased the suit's power capacity so much. So we will have to make adjustments to compensate whatever power boost this converter can provide."
"That shouldn't be too much of a problem. Worst case scenario, we simply add it to the second model." Wade shrugged, getting a nod from Bulma. "After all, the first is just going to be another prototype, not necessarily the final product. Either way, this is a great idea Jazz." He added with a grin.
"Glad you liked it." Jazz smiled back, before they dived into it again. Wordlessly agreeing to ignore alterations for the ecto-converter for the time being, they, admittedly slowly, made their way through stabilising Henry's energy system with the suit's original supply and effectively connecting it through the ecto-suit tech modifications before Henry and Jazz left the others discussing upgrades to the nano-bot system to check through their own weapon and tool designs to see if they could find anything suitable for Kim's use to add.
Looking over their creation as he was about to call it a day, Henry felt quite proud. There was still some room for improvement, but it was still quite the impressive design and there was little he could think to add at this time that wouldn't take away from Kim's strengths or risk damage to the suit. Bulma and Wade still needed to add the nanobot upgrades they were still discussing, but other than that, this was perfect.
"Mmm…almost done." That remark almost left him in a spluttering mess as Jazz turned the critical glare back at the screen before them. What was that supposed to mean? He'd put everything he could safely put into it, it's defensive and offensive tech was amazing! An amateur could be deadly with this suit, what could possibly be wrong with it? "Let's add some metal bracers onto the forearms for some extra protection." Oh, a small, non-technological addition. That made sense. If all the tech failed, a little metal armour could save Kim's life. "And then we change the look. I mean really, a plain, white jumpsuit with a few blue lines going through it? What is she, an astronaut? How dull and boring!" She added under her breath, quickly getting Bulma's agreement and leaving Wade spluttering just as much as Henry had been before.
Oh, yeah, he was quite happy to just move aside and let Jazz take care of that one. Women and fashion statements, he'd never understand it.
AN: Hey all. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm gonna try to update every Monday for the next five weeks. We'll see how we go from there. Well, later.