CHAPTER 186: SPECTRE ARMOR

He walked through the hall of the Echo Base Station. He looked at the others who were waiting just outside of the door. Seemed they all came straight here. The door was still sealed because they were waiting for the primary engineer on this project. Before he could even speak he saw the engineer walking down the hall towards them.

He noticed them and picked up speed, going from a tired technician to an excited engineer in a second. "Finally, I have been waiting. They are all ready. You will not need assistance from anyone else in putting on your gear. You will need the automated pod if you want to take off and put on all of your armor though. But your helmet is pretty easy compared to the latch system of other armors." He immediately started rambling as he swiped his idea at the side panel and then began typing in a code.

"So we can try them on?" Dahlia asked in excitement. Her eyes were gleaming, it was a dream to have customized armor. But they needed it because they were too strong to normally even move around without damaging something.

"Oh yeah, I have all sev- Six in the pods. They are labeled with the names." The door opened as the engineer almost slipped up. He almost said something he should not have. "They are all in cryo cooling which was the last test. To see if the armor would prevent you from going into cryo hibernation. Spoiler, it won’t!"

Jace moved inside with the others. Almost immediately he felt something and moved to one of the pods. "You used the experimental metals for the exterior." Jace walked up to a pod that had the word Jace engraved on the bottom.

"Ah ha! I knew a genius like you would notice but how could you tell without actually seeing it?" The engineer asked. The pod’s clear glass was covered in frost so he was right, Jace could normally not tell.

Jace held out an arm and the electric gladius appeared in his hand. The lights in the room dimed for a moment. "Because I recognize the feeling but for some reason it feels like the armor is calling out to me."

"Huh..." The engineer looked at the other Spectres who were all looking at their respective armors cryo pods in confusion. "How curious. I suppose it must be the system subtly telling you about something that could help you in battle or advance yourself as a species. How curious indeed." After a moment he waved his hands. "Forget that. I want to see all of you in your armor."

Jace smiled and pressed a few buttons on the panel on the side of the pod. There was a whooshing noise as air escaped the pod and the frost quickly disappeared. But before it completely disappeared the front of the pod disconnected and moved forward slightly before it lifted up.

Jace grinned madly at his Spectre Armor. The armor is white with spots of black and gold colors mixed in. The visor was a wide vision version. The type of visor that he preferred. The visor looked black at first but he could see orange and yellow around the edges.

Jace noticed the others were just as mesmerized by their own armors. But the engineer was pushing a cart that was covered by a cloth. It must be the onesies they would wear under the armor, just like what they wore under their old armors. "We still have to wear clothes under that armor?"

The engineer grinned before pulling off the cloth to reveal undergarments. "No. But testing showed that normal undergarments were not as compatible. So unless you plan to go commando, I designed a material that is comfortable and basically feels like a second skin. So it should not be bothersome."

Jace laughed before walking down to the cart. The engineer looked at some labels for a moment before handing him three pairs of black underwear. Jace took them while the engineer handed out the next pair of undergarments.

Jace went back to the cryo pod where his armor was standing. He pulled it out and lifted it on his shoulder. A breath of air escaped him as he felt the weight. This was twice as heavy as anything he had ever worn before.

He carried it over to the automated pods they were the size of a bedside table. But as he stepped in front of one a hand print appeared on the screen. Jace pressed his hand against it. He felt a slight burning and then the small pod began opening up. He stepped back and watched it expand.

When it was done there were several small hands and tools held up by thin limbs. They were hovering around like they were waiting. While in the center were footprints. Where the suit was clearly supposed to sit.

Jace placed the suit and backed up. The small hands and tools began to work as he heard spinning and clicking from the suit. Jace nodded and then turned his attention to the underwear. After a moment of consideration he pulled off his clothes and pulled on the black underwear. When he was done putting them on he was surprised.

"Woah..." Jace spoke out loud without meaning to.

"Something wrong, Spectre Jace?" Jace looked over at the Engineer who had a clipboard out like he was ready to take notes.

"Actually it is the opposite, I feel naked." Jace answered as he glanced at the others who were pulling on their clothes. They were not shy about their nudity. The woman was pulling on the bras but made an odd expression. "I think they have an opinion." Jace pointed out before turning his attention back to the automated pod.

It had finished pulling apart his armor and was now waiting for him to step into the boots. Jace pulled off his communication watch and set it to the side with his bundle of clothes and the spare underwear.

He then stepped into the boots which were opened splitting between the top and bottom. When he stepped into them a screen held by a thin limb was held up in front of him. He smiled as he noticed they were directions. So he stood up straight and held his arms to the sides in a ’T’ pose.

He felt the boots tighten up first. Then he could feel something cover his hands. Then from there it built up. His legs and arms. Then his waist and chest. Then instead of placing the helmet on him the small limbs offered him the helmet. Jace picked it up looking into the visor for a moment. Then he spun it around and pulled on the helmet.

For a moment it was dark and then he could hear something that sounded like air escaping. Then the tightness around his body disappeared as the visor lit up and his heads up display appeared. He brought his hands forward and it felt nice.

He stepped out of the automated pod as he looked over the heads up display. He felt something was off about it.

"You can change the programming as you need Spectre Jace. You can see the option in the bottom right of your HUD." The screen flashed and an arrow pointed to the side. Jace turned to follow it and found it was pointed at the engineer. "I suspected you might want to modify it so I put the option in for you. The rest of you are going to need an actual engineer’s assistance if something bothers you."

Jace began changing the settings of the heads up display while he started moving around the armor. There was no restriction to his movement. He jumped slightly and he went up ten feet in the air before landing back on the ground with a metal creaking noise.

The others started moving around in their armor when Jace whistled. The noise caught their attention. Jace then turned to the engineer. "I am going to punch toward that wall at full force." The engineer nodded and then pulled a pair of earplugs out of his pocket before nodding and getting ready with his clipboard.

Jace turned to the wall and pulled back his arm. Getting into stance. He could feel the muscles in his arm tighten as he usually had to walk on eggshells through life. But as his arm launched forward there was a sonic boom and then the metal wall creaked as the air pressure hit it.

His HUD showed there was no damage to any part of his armor. While a visual inspection of his arm revealed no damage.

"It survived." Dahlia spoke and he saw a small indicator that connected not just to her armor but the other armors as well.

Jace nodded his head as he stepped further away. "Now for the real test." Jace took a moment to breathe while the others backed up and even the engineer moved further away.

When he breathed out he released his control. The mass of electrical currents running through his body went haywire not just through his armor but the surrounding area as well. Arcs of electricity went from his body hitting nearby machines and pieces of metal.

On the inside of his suit the heads up display did not even blink. It was seemingly unbothered by the electrical currents. Then he started moving his body and he was still unbothered. After five minutes when the lights started blinking on and off in the room, he stopped and sucked back in some air and got control again.