Spectacular World

Lillian City

Kyle toyed around with the strange Mental-based tech in his hand. It was some sort of ray gun Metal Ronin had planned to attach to a suit but never got around to finishing it.

All Mental-based Supers had a lab or some sort of place where they would make all their gadgets. For the hero, Metal Ronin, it had been in the junkyard, but since the Beast attack, everything had been moved into one of the wings of the manor they stayed in, which served as the Sub Enforcer's base.

The area looked almost like an old garage. Dozens of shelves lined the wall, all containing Metal Ronin's half-built projects, and in the center were two large vans that had been gutted and were still being built.

Kyle flipped the strange ray gun in his hand, toying with the trigger. It had no energy and wouldn't fire, but he took a moment to pretend like it was working. He aimed it at the wall and squinted. "Pow. Pow. Pew. Gun noise-"

"What are you doing?" Rowan asked in a flat tone.

Kyle let out a loud yelp and dropped the device. He spun around and found his bodyguard staring at him with an unamused look. Rowan was in the doorway to the garage dressed in a wielding outfit and holding a blow torch. Today, Myth, Oxide, and Drake were patrolling, so both Wasp Nest and Metal Ronin were the only Sub Enforcer members at the base with whom Kyle had to hang out today. Despite that, though, he had basically avoided both of them.

"Relax. I was just looking around." Kyle said sheepishly.

Rowan stared at his friend with a blank look. "Really?" The superhero walked forward and bent down, picking up the broken gun. "Because it looks like you were messing with some dangerous stuff."

"Dangerous stuff? None of this crap even works."

"That's why you shouldn't mess with it." Rowan huffed. "It isn't stabilized. This thing here could have blown your hand off." Rowan jingled the gun in front of his friend's face. "Why do you think I scrapped it? If it worked, Oppenheimer would be ready to use it out in the field."

"Oppenheimer?" That was when Kyle noticed his friend wasn't alone. Standing behind Rowan, Oppenheimer, the dog walked in. The black puppy looked around before finally settling down near the corner. "You're still trying to build a dog mech suit for him?" Kyle asked, a little amused.

"Damn straight, I am." Rowan tossed the useless gun onto a shelf and gave a smirk. "When I finally figure it out, he and I will be ready to kick serious villain ass."

"How haven't you figured it out? I mean, you already are able to build a suit for yourself; shouldn't you be able to make one for your dog?" Kyle questioned.

"I mean, yeah, I could, but what use would I get out of it? The suit would run out of battery way too fast." Rowan sighed. "It's the one thing I haven't been able to figure out yet. I don't know how Boy Genius does it."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Rowan shook his head. "It's a Mental-based thing. I actually came in here to work on something, so you need to leave." Rowan looked around his lab, searching for the right object, but a frown came onto his face. "That's weird." He moved over to a crowded shelf filled with dozens of small devices shaped like capsules. He knocked several of them off as he searched through the pile but was unable to find the right one.

"What are you looking for?"

"There should be one listed as HV." Rowan's frown grew. "I was still working on it."

"HV?" Both boys jumped a bit when they heard the other voice. They turned and found that they weren't alone anymore. Kenny seemingly just got out of the shower, dripping wet, with only a towel covering him. He held it up with one hand and leaned on the door. "Are you talking about that dumb-looking van?"