"With Sylia now working on my Hardsuit, I now had to focus on getting into decent shape. If only I'd gotten in shape back before I had even gotten in Mega-Tokyo. Thankfully Linna's helping with that. With my identity was placed into the A.D police database I'm beginning to feel relaxed. It was also connected to the regular police database and even government data so my greatest fear subsided. Lucky me that I am on good terms with Priss now... we will be working together so trust was needed. Thankfully she saw it too. I can just hope we can keep it up. I can handle the occasional jab and joke but for the first 3 days she didn't like me but now it was different. We restarted our relationship. Now I just have to wait and get ready. Hopefully it'll be worth it" Wilson's Journal 2032.

Ascending the stairs Jacob held a plastic bag in his left hand. Some drinks he had bought for the girls who had varying tastes. He had to admit, Sylia had some serious cash. Employing him and running both the Knight Sabers and her lingerie store. Few people could afford an entire building even in his Tokyo, and if GENOM ran the real estate market like Sylia said then it was probably even worse, but fewer people still could afford an infinity pool with a retractable roof. On sunny days the glass paneling would rise up to let natural air and natural light in, and on gloomy days and even clear nights it would descend again. It put his humble 2 bedroom apartment back in Toronto to shame. Then again it wasn't much to being with and he couldn't help but wonder how his roommate was doing. Probably worried.

Jacob walked in, freshly-bought swim trunks on hand and bag of drinks in the other, the other Sabers already present. Nene was trying to splash Priss, who seemed to want to just tread water in the shallow end. Linna was doing lap after lap after lap after lap, hitting the end, flipping around and kicking off with a grace that surprised him. Mackie was sitting with Cynthia on one of the chairs looking at something on a tablet (how had they gotten Star Trek TNG tech in 2032? How strange the digital revolution must have been even in his timeline!). And Sylia was just lying there, wraparound shades aglow with sunlight. Jacob swore it could blind somebody on the opposite end.

Wordlessly, she raised her right hand and made a sort of come-hither gesture with two fingers. Jacob obeyed, lying down on the chair next to her. He felt his throat grow dry. She was wearing a dark blue Bikini. Memories of last night floated back to the surface of his mind. I can't believe I saw her like that. Internally wincing, Jacob scrambled for words.

"Yeah?" He managed to say.

"I'd like to ask you some questions about your own timeline. Mostly as a comparison exercise, if that's all right."

"It is, but… I don't know everything. I didn't really bother following politics when I was a teenager. Canada did okay for itself, the Prime Minister was, uh… Jean Chretien?" If only he had kept up on things. It would have made this a whole lot more pleasant.

"Did he buy nukes from the French in exchange for an unequal trade deal with the EU so that the Americans wouldn't attempt to invade?"

This surprised him but he hid it. "There was no junta," Jacob said. "Bill Clinton was the president, and he had a lot of scandals but he had a good economy behind him. The uh, dotcom boom. You know, the internet?"

"Oh, the internet was an American thing." She smiled. "Interesting. My father always said that the only thing the Americans bothered to develop after ninety-three were weapons - lasers, railguns, legged vehicles like the MADOX powersuit. So you must not have any of that yet."

MADOX?!...ok I'm looking into that later. "Do you… have an internet? You know, a great web of data and information linking people across the globe to each other, a destroyer of national boundaries that will allow true connection and, uh, e-commerce?"

Was it his imagination, or was Sylia laughing? "You know, the global digital village! The cyber superhighway! Bill Gates's great data dream! The-"

Oh. She was laughing. Very softly, but still.

"Does the internet not look like that around here? I haven't really had time to get to a PC, Mackie won't let me play with those tablets and little bricks you guys have…"

"If you must know," Sylia said, a smile in her voice, "The internet is a balkanized, monopolized, neofeudal mess. It took the pre-GENOM keiretsus like SoftBank at least until the two-thousands to stop selling such networks as means of intra-megacorporate communication and to give the power of the Net to the average citizen, onboarded with new microhardware such as the intelliphone and the tablet. It was global to the degree that a given corporation one was getting the service from had access to information feeds in a given part of the world. Corporate alliances and trade deals had to be forged just to connect the Japanese Net to the EUrosphere, and that precluded Russia and China by definition."

"So there wasn't any-" he searched for the word "-interoperability?" He then remembered the drinks and pulled out Sylia's, a can of Pepsi. Sylia took the can and briefly smiled.

"How pleasant your timeline must be, if such things are the norm! No," she said, wagging her finger at him, "It got worse after Cold War Two really got underway, and cyberweaponry — that's hack-attacks designed to cripple entire infrastructure networks or even smaller governments, for what it's worth — made most of the old Net unusable without overcomplex and hyper-redundant hardware."

Cold War 2. Oh you've got to be kidding me. Now he had his own questions but buried them for now. "Oh." Jacob leaned back and thought about that for awhile.

Timeline divergence was the weirdest damn thing. Everything he thought was easy history, certain solid, turned out to have the structural soundness of jello. What was that one line he'd read in college? "All that is solid melts into air?"

Yeah. Yeah, he liked that all of a sudden. Resting the bag on the chair he began towards the washroom with swim trunks in hand. Christ can this get any weirder?. He asked nobody in particular.

The radio played in the background. A voice he recalled was singing. It wasn't Priss, nor Vision (who Linna would play during their workout sessions). No this was different. Jacob reached back into his memory and picked through the hazy pile.

"There were shooting stars; it must be destiny" sang the voice.

Now it hit him. EVE it had to be, the voice was identical!. Did Megazone 23 even come out?. MADOX was reality so it was safe to assume part of it was real. He chuckled. Maybe I'll meet Shogo or Yui. He mused entering the change room. He wouldn't be surprised if he bumped into the Dirty Pair. He rolled his eyes and began changing.

The Next Day.

The mustang was so close to being ready for the road. Mackie brilliantly restored the classic car. Every bolt and rivet was lovingly cleaned or replaced as the engine was modified to run faster and cleaner than it's makers ever dreamed of. Wiping his hands off with a rag Mackie glanced to Jacob who was wiping the dash clean with wet wipes. The gearhead smiled. Nice too have someone willing to help on my projects. He thought. If it was a hard suit it was either Sylia or doctor Raven who Jacob was set to meet later today. His first time meeting the man for himself. They were supposed to finalise the design today and Mackie was supposed to drive him to the lab. Moving to the driver side he saw Jacob moving at a decent pace.

Mackie leaned against the door. "How ya holding up?."

Jacob looked at him. "Fine, just finishing up." Jacob replied softly.

"That's good, come on let's get down to Raven's." Mackie clapped both hands together.

He had never heard of Raven, something that Could've been avoided if he attends the whole series the night he had gotten it. His hand slowed and he sighed meekly too himself. Blast. He thought grimly. Stopping Jacob stepped out though the passenger side grabbing the cleaning materials as he went. Placing the garbage in the waist basket he placed on the the cleaning materials on the work beach.

Moving to the passenger door he slid into the seat. Mackie was already waiting in the driver seat. "Ready to rock and roll." he said with a smile.

Mackie nodded and started the engine. Shifting into first gear he started towards the main entrance/exit. The engine rumbled as they stopped 3 feet from the large garage door. Mackie reached into his pocket and then pulled out a remote and clicked the timer button. The door lifted outta the way and they drove though.

"I hate city driving." Wilson said mostly to himself.

Mackie glanced at him as they turned onto the road. He looked nervous even though being the passenger seat. Jacob felt a chill going up his spine as he clenched his right leg. It was a car crash which put him here and god knows where he'd end up if anything like that happened again. Hopefully not Evangelion...god translating that was hell. Jacob thought trying to push the experience from his mind. Depressing as all hell from what he remembered. I'd rather end up with the dirty pair. He added gazing out the front windshield. Mackie turned onto an empty street he understood how Jacob felt. City driving was too hectic and stressful with many people rushing from one place to another without much care for others driving.

He half frowned. Wilson wasn't gonna like it. "I feel you. How'd it happen?." he asked.

Jacob took a short breath. "I was crossing, I had the right of way and a massive semi truck slammed into me sending me spinning onto a street lamp...I hit my head on the wheel and then woke up in a bathroom of a restaurant." he responded calmly.

Mackie felt his heart sink a little. No wonder why he feels that way. Mackie thought as he continued driving. Patting Wilson on the shoulder he shifted down as the car slowed to a stop at a pair of red lights.

"It's gonna be alright. It'll be alright." Mackie responded kindly.

Jacob half smiled. "I know, it can't happen twice" He muttered softly. "Mind me for asking what do you know about MADOX?."

"Just that it was a power suit program back before I was born. What brought this about?." He asked Wilson.

Jacob sighed to himself. "It was an anime I helped translate for the underground bootlegging. Sylia mentioned it yesterday at the pool along with cold war 2 and I've been needing to take about it, kind of unbelievable to be honest."

Holy shit that's crazy. What are the odds of that?. Mackie thought. If only there was only 1 Cold War in this world. The lights flashed green and the two began driving again in silence. Not much more could be really said. All they could do was drive.

At Raven's.

He was a much older man than than anyone here. He looked to be late 60s pushing early 70s with faded blonde sliver hair. His brown eyes fell upon Jacob as he entered just behind his protégé Mackie. Sylia had told him little about him except that he wasn't of this dimension. Whether or not it was true would be up to him to find out. He trusted Sylia from long ago, her father was the closest thing he had to a brother and was taken away far to soon. One could imagine the shock when he found out that Genom's own Boomers held an uncanny resemblance to doctor stingray's own models. It didn't help that Brain J Mason was at the head of the department furthering the old man suspicions. Jacob looked at Raven with a sheepish smile.

He extended his hand and both shook. "You must be Jacob, I've heard much about you and your story."

"From Priss?."

The old doctor shook his head. "No from Mackie and then Sylia," He paused and both let go. "I've got to admit I find it hard to believe it myself."

Jacob agreed. "Not as much as me." he replied slowly looking around.

Mostly cars with hoods open begging to be fixed. Sylia was supposed to be here but the place didn't look too impressive for a scientist. Collage set his standard too high.

The doctor then moved to his desk. From a closer look Jacob saw it was indeed mahogany. Just how much would that even cost?. He pondered.

"Sylia's in the lab. Mackie will show you." Doctor Raven said.

Jacob nodded. "Thank you, if Priss swings around tell her I say hi."

The old doc nodded and smiled. "I will. Best not to keep her waiting." He replied.

Damn right. Mackie then led Jacob to a door. Opening it both stepped in. There was a stairwell leading two whole floors down. Peeking down Jacob let out a low whistle. He couldn't help but think of the nuclear bunker back from his collage days.

"You coming?." Mackie called from the halfway down the stairs.

Jacob snapped back to his senses and replied. "Yeah, I'm coming." He began down towards the lab with Mackie infront.

The lab was almost spotless with bits of oil drenching the floor in the suit storage area. Sylia waited in there checking the suit's systems on her tablet. She was wearing a howie style lab coat with a teal stripe running up the left side just short of her shoulder. Jacob and Mackie entered and Jacob's eyes quickly fell on the red and back hardsuit. On it's helmet was two antenna painted pure black. Sylia turned finishing the systems check. Jacob moved closer and couldn't help but smile like a school boy. The suit shined in the light as he looked in awe of it.

"Jacob, my eyes are over here." Sylia jokingly said.

Jacob felt his cheeks burn as he sheepishly looked at her. Then saw the small smirk on her face. She was even holding an softsuit tailor made for him.

"Put this on and once your done I'll help you into the hardsuit." She told him

Jacob nodded and was passed the thin softsuit. He looked it over as Sylia and Mackie stepped from the room. The door closed and his blush slowly faded. Thank god it's only Sylia. He mused as he began stripping.

The room was very blank and only lights were the only fixtures but they were behind bullet proof glass. The suit felt odd to put it lightly. At least he was warm.

"Alright. Jacob, your suit has no defined role…"

"Oh boy."

"…but before you start to panic, understand that I essentially need you as the pinch hitter. A multirole unit loaded with whatever's needed for a given combat environment. I considered doing the same for Priss, but then one risks having too versatile of a team, one unable to work tactics reliably. So you'll be taking orders and an arsenal from Mackie."

"Oh boy."

Sarcastic quips aside, it felt weird to be in the hardsuit. He'd expected it to be at once more and less clunky than it actually was. Like wearing something tight, maybe a little heavy at rest, and then the strength-enhancements and his softsuit took over and suddenly every little movement was mirrored, played out by the bleeding-edge piece of hardware he - wore? Inhabited? And suddenly he was faster than his old body, harder, meaner with every movement he made. He tried a few jabs to test the suit out, and his fists seemed to act on their own, blurring into movement the moment he got the idea.

"It's difficult to calibrate faster reflexes from a neural feed," Sylia said idly. "Too slow and the lag time's unbearable, too fast and a user feels as though they're not in control of their own body. You may require some calibration later but we'll get to that. For now, I'm bringing your arsenal online. Don't oh-boy this one, Wilson." Sylia's voice sounded though the comm unit.

"Got it." He replied dryly.

Something hummed in the back of his suit, barely perceptible, and suddenly something clicked into place in his left palm, plates sliding out of the way to reveal something gunbarrel-shaped.

"That's your standard-issue multi-megawatt laser gun. I have more powerful versions of those as my primary weapon, Linna has a triple array as a close-in weapons system, Nene has one as a backup weapon. Priss is the only one who uses kinetic ammo out of all of us, except now for you."

Jacob pointed it around the room a few times. "It's not on yet," Sylia said. "But a simulated version of it is built into your hardsuit's software right now, including the capacitor drain. Fire sustained fire for too long, and the capacitor banks won't have enough charge from the main power cell to operate. See the numerical indicator above your left hand? That's how many shots you have left before needing a full recharge. It'll recharge over time as long as you leave the system to cycle, of course."

"Of course," Jacob repeated. Even though he saw the little indicator (60/60), little of that made sense to him. But this was the future. Of course engineering was going to be much fancier. 60 rounds and 60 in reserve?. He thought trying to make sense of the number. Maybe he could that changed to something more easy to understand.

"Now then. For the rest of the day, I'm going to provide you with various unloaded weapons, throw combat targets against you, and I want you to see which weapons are the most comfortable to you."

"Um."

"Yes?"

"That's all well and good, but how do I shoot the one gun I've got right here?"

Silence. Then: "My apologies. I forgot neural interfacing doesn't come naturally to most."

"I mean, if my brain's all wired into this suit, how do I shoot without moving my fingers?" How they even did it was lost on him.

"The hardsuit's weapons are all neurally triggered. You should feel what's akin to a sixth finger between your pointer and your thumb. Try flexing it." She said with experience.

"What?" He didn't even try hiding his utter confusion.

"I'm deadly serious. Try to feel the sensation of a phantom finger, and clench it as though firing a weapon. It's an artificial feedback, so there's no risk of you flexing your other fingers and getting in the way of the blaster" She hoped to keep him calm.

A holographic target took shape. In the form of a boomer but translucent allowing him to see the wall on the other end. Jacob reluctantly nodded. Just flex the phantom finger, he mused focusing on the area between his index finger and his thumb. Raising the blaster he took a breath. Use the force. He couldn't help but think. He flinched suddenly when the a red flash filled his eyes. The counter suddenly went down one and the hologram flashed before vanishing from sight.

Lowering his arm he slowly raised the helmet in shock. "Holy shit!." He said with surprise.

Sylia looked on from the control room with a pleased look on her face. She had to admit, he learned pretty quickly aside from being from god knows where.

"Alright, I'm gonna bring up C-55 boomer and you just have to take it out." Her fingers danced across the keyboard and another boomer took shape.

Just where the hell are those projectors?. Jacob looked around confusingly. Sylia giggled at the display and recalled when the others did it. Simpler times were long gone. The boomer began moving and his suit sounded a shrill beep vision. Lowering the helmet he saw the large droid approaching him. Suddenly it swiped at him striking around his chest. The suit reacted by tossing him down to the ground.

"Ow!." Jacob yelped as he hit the ground.

Sylia winced and keyed the comm. "The suit will react to the hits accordingly. You didn't think it was gonna be easy did you?." Touching a stud the boomer froze.

"You could have told me that sooner." Jacob rolled onto his gut and pushed himself upright.

"I could have and you probably would have gotten sloppy. Had to teach you someway."

Jacob grunted. "I'd hate to see your love life" standing he composed himself.

Sylia casted a blunt look his way. "1, I'm with Priss. 2, I don't want your guts ripped out on a mission. Understood?."

Jacob nodded. "Sorry, my bad" He admitted to the poor choice of words. "Alright I'm ready."

Sylia looked back down to the controls and decided to adjust it. Increase speed and agility 5 percent. She touched a few buttons in succession and entered the commands. Unpausing the hologram it suddenly leapt at Jacob. He was suddenly grabbed by the arm and was thrown up against the wall. The sounds of metal on metal bounced around inside of the hardsuit.

"Holy mother of fuck!." He cursed as his body slammed into the wall like a wrecking ball.

Sylia looked in surprise as the holo-boomer began pounding Jacob into the wall. Oh that's gonna hurt. She winced at the sight. Jacob brought his leg up and kicked the holo-boomer center of mass. It's grip slipped and staggered back. Lowering his arm onto the boomer he flexed his phantom finger unleashing a burst of laser fire casing the holo to shatter and fade away. Breathing heavily he began clambering at his helmet. Finding the override he triggered it and the seal broke. Pulling it off he slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. Sylia moved into the room and over to Jacob who looked stunned. He hadn't even seen it coming!. It was only 5 percent and he had gotten completely wrecked by it.

"My bones are rattling" he said. "Maybe we should turn it down. Plus I think something broke"

His tone was very soft and not a hint of anger to it. He looked like he was about to get raked over the coals. Pulling him up she saw the back and the dent in both the suit and wall.

"How much dose it hurt?"

"5.5 out of 15. I feel like a snail that got stomped on" He responded calmly.

It wasn't too bad but the damage to the suit worried her. But it was his call.

"Do you still want to go for it?" She inquired.

He nodded. "What else do I got?. Just warn me when you change something next time" He said sliding the helmet back on.

Sylia moved back into into the control room. Seating herself she adjusted the settings one last time. 3 percent across all systems. She glanced up at him as he took position in the middle of the room.

She keyed the comm system. "Ready?"

"Ready" his voice filtered through the speakers.

"Here we go" she whispered touching a stud and spawning the next boomer.

Jacob saw it and and took a breath. Alright let's rock and roll. He thought as he took a combat stance he had picked up from Linna. The boomer began towards him. It swung and he back stepped. He didn't need much to tell Sylia had nerfed the hologram. Probably this time I won't get my ass kicked. He though leaping to the left. Pushing towards it he slammed his armoured fist into the holograms face. Not missing a beat he lowered his arm to the chest area and fired a low power burst. The boomer staggered back and grunted at him. Jacob kept his blaster on the boomer and focused on his trigger finger. He could see it in his minds eye. He pulled it and then the boomer was gone. His confidence was slowly restored over a day of training. Sylia switching out weapons and he tested them. It was a pretty good day.

End chapter.