Flexible?
It seemed like a rather strange piece of advice. Manual, however, had spotted another crime in progress, diverting my attention to assisting in stopping a car thief.
"There are a lot of important aspects to be a great pro," Manual explained to me, as he handed the car thief over to the police.
"And one of them is flexibility?" I asked, as we continued on patrol.
"On your left!" Arrow called as we turned towards another crime in progress; Manual ran and I followed.
"Indeed. For instance - I know we were meant to be attending to that larger case right now - but we may have to change our plans, if there is a greater catastrophe happening here!"
Indeed, villains appeared to be popping up on every street corner!
I nearly exhausted my engine running back and forth in between crimes; the midday lunch break was the first chance I had to stop and use the restroom all morning. Manual told me to take that break if I needed it, and I decided it was perhaps better not to strain my body.
"It's important to be willing to look at the small things, and not just the big picture. Sure, keeping the big picture in mind isn't nothing - you've still got to look at the bigger picture at times. But the truth is, the only way to achieve your bigger goals is to be willing to spend time on the smaller ones - and take the time to do them right."
We had just then saved a woman from falling off a great height, using Arrow's speed, and prevented a falling beam from hitting a family. I nodded.
"But what does that have to do with being flexible?"
"Simply this. If you spend too much time chasing a single ending goal, and lose time for focusing on the small things, you get stuck. You start thinking only of how far you feel from the bigger goal, and that doesn't leave you time to attend to the small things. And in hero work - the small things are also the biggest things."
"I see. And if one remains stuck focusing only on the big picture - one stops being flexible."
"Exactly."
"But -" I said, thinking about Hatsume, "what if one becomes so focused on the small - on the minutiae - that the big picture stops mattering at all? Can't that be a bad thing?"
"It can be. That's why you have to find a balance."
—
We arrived back, many hours later, to find Hatsume had already completed our diving suits, and had plunged into working on something else.
"Hmmm, should be just right - Yes! This should do nicely!"
"What on earth is that?" I asked, staring at what appeared to be a mocha - a robot, not perhaps the size of the sorts in anime, but certainly substantially big.
"It's a protective drone. It'll let me accompany you on the battlefield - keep me safe, since I have no hero license to fight off villains."
"On the battlefield!?" I demanded. "Why are you accompanying us on the battlefield!? Surely a support course student-"
"Needs to be at hand for new, experimental babies to make sure nothing goes wrong, and be available to fix things if they do. Exactly!" She grinned. "Think of me as a portable pit stop!"
"It's the latest trend in support work," Arrow explained to me, as I tried not to look too horrified. "Hero gear often needs maintenance on site, so support workers are starting to develop tools to accompany heroes on the battlefield."
"These babies aren't quite ready at 100% yet, since they're such a rush job," Hatsume explained. "So I'll be accompanying you on this mission to make sure they go a-okay!"
It was difficult enough to have to work with her as our support, but on the battlefield? I really couldn't quite enjoy the idea of having to actually that far!
Still, it couldn't be helped, and it was no good complaining about it.
"Let's gear up," said Manual. "We've got a mission."
Hatsume's explanation of how to use the gear was so fast even I could hardly keep up with it. At the very least, putting it on was simple enough.
We were it seemed, the four of us now, to go deep diving in the hopes of retrieving this radioactive container before it leaked into the water or caused a greater disturbance. Another hero team had been requested to cover Manual's usual district while we did so. Thus we geared up and prepared for the descent.
"Be extra careful with my babies now! They're brand new, right off the shelf!"
"We know, Hatsume" I muttered.
Our descent into the ocean was an easier one than I'd expected. Hatsume's suits were so streamlined, so resistant to the water, and so insulating from danger, that we seemed to glide effortlessly through the depths as if floating on air.
"Nice work, Hatsume-san!" Called Manual over the comm-link we shared.
"My babies are a guarantee at this speed! Call me down if any problems pop up."
We had found the tanker, and descended through the hull. The radioactive part was fortunately cordoned off in a section that had not yet been waterlogged, and we were able to stand on our feet and walked through the hull. That was a relief, given my quirk; I wasn't sure what to do underwater if a villain came at me.
"Looks like we'll be able to get this stuff out without too much trouble," said Manual cheerfully.
Arrow, however, had walked over to the console and was poking around as I assisted Manual in moving the material.
"Guys, come over here. There's a log. We might be able to get some info on what the villains were planning with this stuff."
"We're on a time crunch, though!" I protested. Manual gave me a look.
Right. Flexible.
We set down the debris we'd been moving and joined Arrow. She tapped on what appeared to be a log.
"There's a video-log that goes along with it. Whoever was operating the place recorded research notes."
"They were doing research down here? What for?"
"Let's find out."
The screen turned on. We were met by the face of a bearded, goggle-wearing old man, who looked quite giddy.
"This - I am confident to say - this shall be the greatest invention in our scientific history. My friends, my fellow scientists - you all know the basic robots we use to get by in day-to-day life? The servile creatures that obey our commands and transport simple materials, place to place, hollow and efficient? Bah! No more! Behold, my creation! The first true and successful attempt to craft a functioning, sentient robot!"
The camera turned. The robot, steel grey chrome, but with the face of a human man, stood at attention, giving a salute.
"Number 19, say hello to the good people at home!"
"I would prefer to say 'beware', sir." The voice was hardly robotic. It was difficult to believe what we were looking at.
"Show them at least, that you are in fact no man in a suit, but a true robot!"
The robot opened up its face, showing its gears; it opened up its breastplate to show the robot parts, running smoothly.
"See? All true synthetic robot parts! And you're no drone, are you, #19? No, my boy here - the one of all my boys to survive - is the genuine, state-of-the-art sentient robot we have all been waiting for!"
"Will I be sold, sir?"
"Yes, number 19! Patented and mass-produced on the black market. Yes, sadly, the fools at the scientific ethics committee forbade the creation of sentient robots - for a mainstream market, that s! But for the villain market, robots with thoughts and minds like number 19 here are come into style. Soon, #19, you and your brothers will be serving the villain market in mass numbers! You'll be true living weapons. And you'll make your old man proud!"
"That sounds fun. Will we kill?"
"Yes, boy. You know very well how to kill - to strike own those pathetic humans, next to whom science itself is a titan, a true, real god!"
"Hoo-ray."
I felt a shiver, picturing the League of Villains with an army of these things.
"We've got to warn the heroes commission," said Manual. We turned to leave - and from a distance, heard something.
A countdown.