The Outskirts: Thé Crystal Keepers (Jace x OC)

The Crystal Keepers: 11 *

"Please tell us your joking," Jace whined.
"Sadly, no," Googol said, standing up as the pinging continued. He didn't seem too anxious, but he began to speak more quickly.
"Something about the way we brought you in or monitored Joe's arrest must have given up our location." He gathered equipment off the desk.
"It's a blow. This was our last fully equipped base of operations in the city."
"Do you have an escape plan?" Mira asked.
"I alwavs have contingency plans," Googol said, removing a few small black boxes from a drawer and pocketing them. "Otherwise they would have nabbed me long ago. Here at zerobase, we have excellent defenses to slow any intruders."
I relaxed a little. Apparently it wasn't time to run for our lives yet.
"You have secret ways out?" I checked.
"We regularly use three ways into the base from the surface," Googol said. "We've reserved three different ways out for emergencies. All who work here know about one of them, a smaller circle knows about the second, and only two other people know the route we'll use." Googol came around the desk and went to the worktables. "Would you five mind helping me carry a few things?"
Me, Cole, Dalton, Jace, and Mira hurried after Googol. We wove around the worktables as he picked up objects and handed them over. He gave us several crystals and a variety of gadgets.
Among other things, I received a short tube of dark metal. Googol unscrewed a cap at the base to reveal a button.
"Keep that button covered," Googol said, replacing the cap. "Do not press it unless you are pointing the other end at your worst enemy."
"I want one," Jace whimpered, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout.
"Don't worry," Googol assured him. "I have plenty of volatile toys."
I grinned at him and hit him on the shoulder playfully. "As in, I'm more responsible than you with weapons."
"Hey," he protested. "I'm very responsible with my rope."
I snorted. "You hid all our saddles at least once.
Mine was in a tree."
Mira turned to us. "Can you guys focus, please?"
Jace nodded vigorously, feigning a serious look. I glanced at him, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
Highwire returned to the room holding what looked like an extra-large trapgun.
Behind her came Roulette and a tall teenage boy with Asian features. Both carried smaller trapguns.
"If you're ready, we should go," Highwire said.
"The evacuation?" Googol asked, still sweeping the worktables with his mechanized eyewear.
"In progress," she said. "First lines of defense holding strong."
Googol picked up a couple more devices. "I was tidying up."
"Tidy," Highwire said with a smirk.
"You sound like a CK," Googol replied, shaking his head.
"That's a compliment," the Asian teen said.
"Good to see you, Googol."
"Hello, Trickster, Roulette," Googol murmured, stepping away from the table. "Nice of you to join us."
I took a second look at the teen after hearing him addressed as the gaming-hub champ. The boy looked relaxed and friendly.
"Why do we always see you when the sky is falling?" Trickster asked.
"Damage control is the story of my life," Googol replied, striding toward the door. "Let's go." The soft tone kept pinging as we all left the room and walked briskly down the hall. Googol led the way. Highwire brought up the rear, her giant trapgun held ready.
"What does this mean, losing the base?"
Roulette asked as they walked.
"It hurts us," Googol said. "I can't say I'm shocked, given the events of the past couple of months. We're missing something. Until we figure out what, this will keep happening. We'll have to get by with our smaller safe areas and less activity until we solve this."
"Won't less activity make this harder to solve?"
Trickster asked.
"You begin to understand our predicament,"
Googol muttered.
Roulette turned to me. "Not a long stay at the base."
"Nope," I responded, concentrating on not dropping anything, especially the weapon. The gear wasn't too heavy, but there were too many items to carry them comfortably. "We rarely get to stay in one place for long."
"You're the gaming-hub expert," Jace said to Trickster.
"Somebody has to do it," Trickster said. He glanced at Mira. "And your our top secret
guest."
"Sorry if I caused this," Mira said.
"It's not your fault," Googol said. "I don't believe they're aware of your identity yet. It's either our sloppiness, or City Patrol's excellence. Maybe a little of both."
The group went through a couple of doors. I didn't see any other people. The only sound besides the polite alarm was their footsteps.
Without anybody talking to distract me, it seemed like a fire drill at an empty school.
Googol stopped at a thick door of tinted crystal set in a metal wall and handed some of his gear to Trickster. Then Googol inserted a small, clear cube into a square socket. The crystal door slid upward.
We passed through the doorway, and Googol hit a button that shut the door. He walked to a round socket in the wall and placed a crystal sphere inside. A section of the wall opened to reveal a smaller room. We all entered, Googol pressed a button, the wall closed, and the little room sank.
"An elevator," I said.
"A sender," Jace corrected.
"Same thing," I said, rolling my eyes.
After some time descending, the wall opened again. A large lab waited beyond, brightly lit, with crystal worktables and no people.
A humanoid robot stepped into view from off to the side, standing a bit taller than Googol. Its yellow, rounded contours left it bulky through the chest and shoulders, but more slender in the legs and arms. The only features of the smooth face were a pair of glowing eyes protected by a tinted crystal panel.
I felt somewhat intimidated. It looked like the robotic version of a linebacker.
"Welcome, Googol," the robot said in a male voice so natural that I wondered whether it could actually be a person in a costume. "The password, please."
"Green pastures," Googol said.
"The guests are here on your authority?" the robot inquired.
"Correct," Googol replied. "The key elements have been removed?"
"Everything besides me and the little guy," the robot said.
Googol started walking across the lab. The robot fell into step at his side. The others followed. Twisting so he could point out the people he named, Googol said, "This is Cole, Kendal, Jace, Dalton, and Secret. They deserve top priority protection, with Secret at the tip-top. You know the others."
"Pleased to meet you all," the robot said.
"Especially you, Secret. I'm Outlaw."
"Why are you called Outlaw?" Googol asked theatrically.
"My existence contradicts the AI Accords,"
Outlaw answered.
"Freebots are illegal," Googol explained, still walking. "Here in Zeropolis, we were skilled at constructing adaptive neural networks long before earthlings had dreamed of BASIC. We can make very smart machines. Extremely life-like, if not actually alive. Which led to Aeronomatron and the fall of Old Zeropolis. As a consequence, the AI Accords were adopted, limiting the use of artificial intelligence. Machines with AI are not permitted mobility, are forbidden access to weapons, and their communication with other thinking machines is limited and strictly monitored."
"I break all those rules." Outlaw said with smug relish.
"Working outside the system should include some advantages," Googol said, pausing at a gleaming steel door and pressing a cube into a socket. The door slid upward,
"Outlaw is one of them." He paused. "Don't get me wrong I don't want another Aero either. But to fight a strong enemy, we need strong allies.
Besides, you're not going to try to conquer Zeropolis, are you, Outlaw?"
"Like I'd tell you," the robot replied.
"He has attitude," Googol said, leading us into the room.
"Learned it from the Crystal Keepers," Outlaw said.
"That's right!" Trickster said, slapping the big robot on the arm.
I entered a room with a few benches and a workable. Tall, metal lockers lined the walls. "We're suited up," Roulette said. "Do we need more?"
"Not you," Googol said. "Them. They're in deep.
This base failed them. We need to help them protect themselves."
"Or kill themselves," Trickster said. "Or give themselves away. Is this a good idea?"
"It is if you help them," Googol said. "They'll need a crash course in safety." He tapped a button on his vision gear. "We have time. The defenses are holding nicely."
"Sorry I'm late," said a little robot, the voice male but much less manly than Outlaw's. "I was making sure the last of the bots got away." Barely taller than my waist, it had a body the shape of a gumdrop, green with white highlights, though it looked a bit banged up and scratched. The robot scuttled on six insectile legs, each with a rubbery hoof at the end, Several small sensors poked out of the top, above three glassy eyes. It pulled a cart.
"This is Sidekick," Outlaw said. "He's, well, my sidekick."
"Not everyone can be the hero," Sidekick said good-naturedly. "I'm really good at sanitizing, though."
As with Outlaw, I was struck by how lifelike the voice sounded.
"Don't be fooled by his modesty," Googol said.
"Sidekick's AI is just as sophisticated as
Outlaw's, though I housed it in the shell of a used cleaning bot."
"What I lack in size, I make up for in dents," Sidekick said brightly.
"Please place the items we brought from my office on Sidekick's cart," Googol said, taking his own advice. Me and the others added our items as well.
"You mentioned giving us something?" Jace prompted.
"We detoured here to equip the four of you with exo rigs," Googol said. "Subtle exoskeletons that hide under your clothes but will enhance just about every physical attribute you possess. They fall far short of a full battle suit, but can still be extremely useful. The Crystal Keepers use them routinely."
"Wait a minute," Jace said, turning to Roulette, his eyes narrowing. "You're wearing one now?"
"Yeah," she replied. "Almost always."
"No wonder you're so good at those games!"
Jace cried.
"The rigs aren't a replacement for skill."
Trickster said adamantly. "If anything, they require more control. You can to learn to work with the suit, and to understand the limits.
With rigs you can run faster, jump higher, react quicker, and survive more damage. But you can also wreck more spectacularly. And you can give yourself away. Unless you lost a limb or need them for other medical reasons, people aren't supposed to wear mechanical augmentations."
"All true," Googol said. "Might we suit them up as we continue? We're still under attack."
He walked toward some of the lockers against the wall. "Lockers one through five. I deliberately had the prep bots leave our newest model in the appropriate sizes. Those who know the drill, pick somebody to help."
"The outer defenses are about to fall in sector five," Outlaw reported.
"We still have time," Sidekick said.
"Okay," Trickster announced. "First thing, height check for rig sizes. Line up over here."
Cole and Dalton went first, coming out to a solid five foot nine. Then Mira went, her height reaching five foot six. When it was my turn, I stepped up to the wall.
"Five foot seven even." Trickster read off.
Jace was the last one to go, stepping up to the wall.
Trickster let out a whistle. "Six foot two. Only under me by an inch. You're what, fifteen?" He shook his head when Jace nodded. "That's impressive."
My mouth dropped open slightly. Obviously I had known Jace was tall, but he was seven inches taller than me.
He caught me staring and smirked, and I looked away, my face flushed.
Highwire went to Mira, Googol helped Dalton, Trickster assisted Jace and Cole, and Roulette brought a bundle of gear over to me. The gear didn't look like much—mostly narrow strips of pliable steel. Highwire led Mira out of the room to change, and me and Roulette followed.
"Shirt off," Roulette said. "And your pants.
Pretend you're going swimming."
I tried to not show how awkward it felt. It was like a visit to the doctor, right?
Roulette did nothing to make me feel uncomfortable. She strapped a fairly large brace to my torso, another around my legs and hips, then Roulette attached smaller braces to my elbows, knees, and ankles. It didn't take long.
None of the braces were bulky, and all were connected by flexible metallic strips that squirmed against my skin with a life of their own. As the exoskeleton adjusted, I could feel it gripping my entire body.
"Careful how you move," Roulette warned. "The rig is smart. It'll work with you if you let it, but sudden, unpredictable motion can confuse it.
Keep your movements controlled. Nothing extreme. Don't run or jump. Oh, and you can get dressed now."
I obeyed. None of the new equipment was bulky enough to make it tough to put my clothes back on.
When me and Mira were dressed again, the CK's led us back into the room where the boys were.
And none of them had shirts on.
"Gah!" Mira said, smacking a hand over her face to cover her eyes.
I just looked around awkwardly. I had seen Dalton and Cole shirtless a number of times, so that was nothing new, but Jace? His chest and torso were well toned, and I tried my best not to stare as Jace pulled a shirt over his head, shielding his toned abs. He caught me staring and gave a smirk. I felt my face heat up as I looked away.
"No wrists, gloves, or helmets?" Trickster checked.
"Correct," Googol said. "This needs to be covert.
The rigs are just an emergency precaution."
Trickster continued helping Cole get suited up while Roulette and Googol spoke with Mira.
Jace came up to me. "These things are pretty sweet right?"
I nodded in agreement, not looking at him. 
He smirked. "So did what you just see apply to the list of why I'm 'not bad' looking?"
I swallowed. "I think it made the cut."
His smirk went wide. "So you admit that I'm good looking?"
I studied him, faking a pondering look. "I mean, your six foot two, so yeah. I'd say your pretty good looking."
He laughed and opened his mouth to say something, but Trickster made an announcement. I sighed in relief.
"Okay," Trickster said, raising his voice a bit.
"Get together in the center of the room, away from the lockers. Then, I want each of you to try a little hop. Just enough to get you past your tiptoes."
We did as we were told. I bent my knees and did a gentle hop. I went higher than expected, as if I had caught somebody's bounce on a trampoline.
"If you jump hard, you'll hit the ceiling,"
Trickster warned. "Try a little higher than the first hop."
I glanced at Jace who grinned from ear to ear.
"These are like training wheels for life," he said
Turning my eyes toward the ceiling, I saw that it had to be fifteen feet overhead. Could I really touch it?
Next to me, Jace shot up into the air, stretching for the ceiling and coming just short. Cole and Dalton did a more modest jump, but their feet still went a little higher than my head. Mira went higher than Dalton but not as high as Jace.
I thought about it for a moment, then leapt up as high as I could, my fingers just barely brushing the ceiling, before landing softly.
Jace stared at me, his mouth slightly open, before trying another jump, managing to touch the ceiling.
On my other side, Cole jumped as hard as he could. I could tell he had jumped to hard and watched in horror. His hands smacked the ceiling hard as he tried to brace himself.
Without the rig, he would have broken his wrists. He fell back down, but the rig slowed his fall.
"Follow directions, Cole," Jace mocked.
"Woah, you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," Dalton said. "For a minute there, it looked like you were planning to find your own way to the surface."
"I'm good," Cole said. "I wasn't expecting so much power."
"You squatted pretty deep before you jumped,"
Trickster said. "The rig read that you really wanted some altitude."
"The outer defenses have been breached in sector five," Outlaw said. "Sectors one and three won't hold much longer."
"Keep going, Trickster," Googol said. "They need the basics."
"Okay," Trickster said. "When you walk or run with normal strides, the rig won't push hard like when you jump. It'll flow with you. But you'll find your top speed higher and your ability to change direction enhanced. You'll get the feel by experimenting. Now, just with your arms, throw some punches. Don't actually hit anything. Beat up the air."
I punched and felt the exo rig moving with me, increasing the force of my blow. I looked over at Dalton who had both hands going really fast—leftrightleftrightleftright. I tried it and found I could do the same thing.
"See Kendal and Dalton?" Roulette asked.
"Experiment with quickness. You can be faster.
Your reaction time isn't quicker, but once you start moving, everything is sped up. Try karate moves. Have fun with it."
I did imaginary kicks and turns and punches. I loved the feel of my new speed and the power behind my movements.
"Now the bad news," Trickster said. "If you go punch a crystal wall right now as hard as you can, your finger bones will turn to dust. Punch somebody in the face, and you'll hurt them, but you'll also probably break your hand. Cole almost gave us a demonstration. If he hadn't used his arms against the ceiling when he jumped, he might have cracked his skull and broken his neck. We aren't invincible in these things. In some ways, we can do more harm to ourselves."
"As you improve, you'll learn all sorts of tricks" Roulete said, "Jumping can be especially useful if you do it creatively For example, once you get the feel, you can leap back and forth between the walls of an alley to climb."
"But you don't want to mess around with those kinds of techniques yet," Trickster said. "Practice advanced moves in a controlled environment."
I couldn't resist. My jump to the ceiling had given me a feel for how much the rig augmented my leaps, so I bent my knees and jumped, just a little less than before, and at the apex of my jump, I flipped in the air and fell back down, landing on two feet.
"What?" Trickster laughed, clapping his hands. "Are you kidding me? That was tidy! No way was that luck!"
"I've done a lot of jumping lately," I said, unable to suppress a smile. Using the rig felt a lot like leaping with a Jumping Sword. "Secret will be good at it too."
Dalton than experimented with some cartwheels and handsprings, Jace was doing back flips mid air, and Cole was bouncing from wall to wall.
"I'm pleased you're getting a feel for the rigs," Googol said. "Remember, once you're out in the city, the goal is to move about like a normal citizen. The rig should only come into play in an emergency."
"Isn't this already an emergency?" Sidekick asked.
"You know what I mean," Googol said. "We should go."
He walked out of the locker room, back into the lab. The others followed, including the robots. On the far side of the lab, Googol opened a cleverly concealed sender. We all entered and it began to descend.
"I won't come with you," Googol said. "My face is well known, so my presence could unnecessarily endanger you. I will escape by a less comfortable route with Highwire and Outlaw. Trickster and Roulette will escort the rest of you to Forge's place. Sidekick will accompany you. Outlaw would draw immediate attention. Sidekick's commonplace appearance enables him to blend in throughout the city."
"That's what the lady bots are looking for," Sidekick said knowingly. "Commonplace."
"Don't worry about his personality," Googol said. "He knows how to act like a regular cleaning bot when necessary."
Sidekick began to speak in a deliberately robotic monotone. "I am a ro-bot. I love to wipe counters and scrub toilets. Take me to your lea-der."
"Outlaw, could you bring the cart Sidekick was pulling?" Googol asked.
"Yes, mas-ter," Outlaw said in a deeper robotic monotone.
"I suppose I set myself up for that one," Googol said.
"Secret, I'll leave you with communicators." He held up five black rectangles about the size of dominoes. "Trickster will teach you how they work."
The sender stopped and the doors opened. They stepped out into a close, domed tunnel covered in white tiles. It extended a great distance in opposite directions.
"Harmonic crystals are the key component to the best communicators," Googol said. "The tech relies on the principle that harmonic crystals can share energy. For energy to be shared, and for communication to take place, the crystals must share the same harmonics. Think of it like a radio
frequency, but with many more variations. Through tinkering, there are nearly infinite harmonics to choose from. The four crystals in these communicators form a unique set, meaning these communicators can reach one another but nothing else. Don't overuse them, but if needed, you have them. I'll keep one. Trickster, Secret, and Roulette, and two of you will hold the others. Obviously, don't let a communicator get captured. Roulette, show Secret how to destroy hers in case she's taken."
Roulette handed me and Dalton the other comms.
"So right when she most needs it she won't have it?" Jace asked.
"She can get off a message first," Googol said. "When destroyed, the communicator also sends a signal to alert the others. This is where we part ways. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Listen to Roulette and Trickster. I leave you in the care of two of our best."
"Wait," Cole said. "One question. I'm looking for friends who were taken from my world as slaves with me. I know some are in Zeropolis. Can you help me find them?"
"You're going to the right place," Googol said. "Forge can help you with that. He can also connect you to a thruport so you can access the Internet in your world. But be warned—Outsiders are usually frustrated by the results."
"We know," Cole said. "Joe told us all about it."
Googol raised a hand. "Until we meet again."
"Which will probably be around the time of our next emergency," Trickster grumbled.
Googol gave half a grin. "He might be on to me. Good luck!"