Turn Out The Lights

Dark Places

The next morning passed slowly as I filled out all the paperwork for my new land and house. There were papers about zoning and building permits, contractors, home owners associations, as well as all the government paperwork that came along with buying land in a country I wasn't a citizen in yet. Tai told me that's why he wanted me to rent something instead of buying it, but he understood that there were a lot of differences between home and renting a home across the world. He helped me read and understand all of my paperwork, and even taught me a handful of helpful words and phrases. Once all of my signing was done, it was time for a conference call and some brainstorming about what I wanted my new uniform to look like.

Sir Nighteye started us off by saying I should have better protection for my head and that if I'm going to wear a cape it shouldn't stop at my waist and be so useless. I agreed and suggested a cloak and full helmet instead, as well as steel toed combat boots instead of heels. Uncle Tai said that was a good start, but it would all be useless if I couldn't be stealthy. I asked what shifts I'd be working most and both of them responded with midnight shifts, so I suggested we make the whole costume black. Nighteye agreed and added that he liked the mesh in my costume, but thought that the shirt and shorts should be part of the suit instead of pieces to cover it. He also stated that he didn't think a flowing top was such a good choice and said everything should be tight to my skin. I told him it would've been too tight or loose when my weight fluctuated, so we settled on more of a matte spandex set so things could be swapped out easily in different sizes. Tai threw out that a support item for my time fluctuation would be nice along with something to carry first aid supplies or important items. I asked about a compartment belt, and Sir asked about how much room was between my wings before suggesting a small backpack or some thigh packs with the belt. I asked why I couldn't have all of it and was told I didn't need to carry that much, so I suggested removable and collapsible pieces so I could alternate them as needed. I was questioned on what happened when I couldn't use quirks and told them about my gun license that was still usable. They said that I might have to downgrade to a police standard handgun instead, and that knives would be a smarter decision.

All that was left to do was take my measurements, fill out the quirk info, and send it to be designed. After that it was all just a waiting game, really. Golden week flew by, and before I knew it, I spent every morning alone at Fat Gum Agency. I would workout and push myself for hours, and then I would soak in the bath and try to improve my Japanese. I wasn't learning it anywhere near as well as I had other languages. I think it was mostly because the characters are so different and some of the noise combinations felt weird or were difficult to remember. I was better at reading and writing it than I was at speaking it, let alone understanding it. About a week before I was reinstated as a hero, Sir had me come to his labs to test a couple new support items for me.

Once there I changed and started stretching like normal, but Mirio stopped me before I was done, saying that wouldn't be necessary for these trials. We headed into Sir's test lab, and he handed me a watch. I put it on and it automatically be cinched tightly to me, making it a little uncomfortable to wear, so I tried to take it off. There was no clasp, and playing with it didn't loosen it at all, so I tried to tell Sir it was broken, but he told me that it was supposed to be like that. It kept track of my time, even when it fluctuated, tracked my heart rate, kept track of my location, etc., and could be synced to nearby devices and upload all of its data to the Nighteye servers remotely. It was like being chipped basically, which was super cool. He told me that it would be better once he worked out some bugs in its programming, that the investors and keepers would have companion watches that synced with mine, and that I couldn't cut, drown, or burn it off, so I shouldn't try.

It wasn't all bad news though, because my helmet/mask set finally came in. The mask was half hard plastic eye mask, half face mask and the parts could be separated for repairs or solo use. The hard part of the mask had little cutout sections that snapped into the helmet to help keep it in place, and  helmet itself was modeled after my favorite French house band with a retractable glass plate interface. He told me to tap the helmet above the glass to move the plate, and when it came down it lit up and hooked up to my phone and watch. It had headphones that could cancel noise, a headlamp, could record video and send it to my phone, if it was torn off or broken then it automatically paged for police and hero reinforcements, and had its own type of AI. It was super cool and worked really well, and all I had to do was remember to put it on its dock when I came home from patrols.