When Rain Rises

Chapter 15

Rain opened one of the leather backpacks, finding only clothing. Inside was the exact same jacket, trousers, boots and even mask that Aiden wore. As Rain pulled each item out piece by piece, he found at the very bottom a jet black metallic full body suit that was only gloved on the left arm, leaving the right arm exposed. Rain picked it out of the backpack, noting how light it was.

"What is this thing?" Rain asked as he more closely inspected the suit. He could think about the Dianists and whatever later; first he had to figure out this thing out. It had a multitude of tiny wires crisscrossing its metallic texture, with the only moderately large and visible ones forming a ring on the palm of the glove. Rain noticed a small, see-through tube that traced his spine from his neck to shoulder level before disappearing into the suit itself.

"It is your sword and shield," Aiden explained, shaking his head at the forward direction of Rain's mind. "This is our most advance piece of equipment to date. Once activated, it will link up with your mind and serve as your weapon, in the form of the power glove. It will serve as your shield by deflecting bullets through magnetism—extraordinarily powerful magnetism."

"Cool," Rain's eyes lit up in fascination.

"My parents do impressive work," Alyse commented proudly.

"That's like super future stuff!" Rain exclaimed. "How did you even make this? Doesn't it need power?"

"Yes, it does," Aiden nodded. "The Vincent has exclusive access to the energy it requires. The suits will remain effective for an extended period of time before needing to be refilled. Obviously I'm being vague here for a reason. The specifics are extremely need-to-know."

"The magnetism is basically like a force field." Alyse added. She was gleaming. "Just be mindful that since both the glove and the defense mechanism use the same energy, it can short out if you overload it. Oh, man, there is so much to explain to you about the titan suit it's unreal. Ugh, I hate how classified our best equipment is. It's such marvelous engineering." This was the first time Rain had seen Alyse join him in excitement. It was almost scary.

"Usually you'd be given extensive training in each piece of your equipment," Aiden continued. "However, since it now appears that there's a possibility we could be attacked by this spy or who they're working for, and I cannot see you unarmed in such a situation."

"So this'll be more like practical application?" Rain asked him. "I learn while I fight?"

"Hopefully not, or at least not until I get to teach you how to use it tomorrow. Not today, though, as twenty-four hours must pass before you can safely connect the equipment to your mind, even though there's virtually no chance of you actually activating it tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, I will be giving you your utility belt and pistols." Aiden seemed disturbed. "I strongly dislike giving you all of this all at once and without training."

"I grew up with most of this equipment" Alyse said. "I'll be just fine. Rain, on the other hand..."

"Yeah, right!" Rain said, feeling indignant. "I'm not going to do anything stupid with it." Aiden joined Alyse in her unconvinced look. "Honestly!"

"Nonetheless," Aiden started, dismissing him. "The Dianists will arrive tomorrow and operate out of sight along with Davis and Janet while I quickly train you in your equipment. With luck, they'll track the spy back to his base of operations."

"Sounds cool," Rain nodded. So this was the life of an agent. One moment you're in unimaginable pain crying on the ground, and the next someone is spying on you and you need to hunt him down. Rain put his clothes and suit back into the backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "So, same time tomorrow?"