Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Six - Armour Up

“We spend a lot of time romanticizing the Samurai as a person of action and power, but this image is almost always framed with an incursion as the backdrop.

24/7 coverage of all of your favourite Samurai, delivered in a bi-daily format for the low low subscription price of 350 credits a month!”

--The International Enquirer ad, June 2031

***

I looked at the image on the television one last time before sighing and poking Lucy in the sides. “Lucy, I need to get up,” I said.

“Aww, but I’m comfy,” she complained.

I chuckled. “You’re not the one with a bony butt digging into your lap,” I said.

She gasped and half turned to face me. “My ass is not bony.”

“It’s practically nothing but bone,” I said.

Lucy jabbed an elbow into my gut, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to send a message. “Keep talking about it like that, and we’ll see if you get to play with it any time soon,” she said as she hopped to her feet.

Laughing, I accepted the hand she extended to help me up. “Maybe I won’t let you touch mine then,” I said.

She shook her head. “Nope. That ass is mine.”

I pulled her into a hug. Not a sexy hug, just a comforting press of two bodies together, holding her close so I could feel the tickle of breath against my neck and the hummingbird beat of her heart.

“You’ll be back?” she asked.

“Always,” I said. “I just need to go out and act the hero for a bit.”

She nodded. “Alright. Can you be safe?”

“I can try,” I said. That was the best I could do. I’d never been out on Samurai business before, or whatever they’d call going out to track some girl, but I had the impression that it wasn’t exactly the safest thing to do.

“You’re going to get changed?” Lucy asked.

I looked down at myself, at my very dirty pants and lack of a proper shirt. “I should. I’ve been thinking of buying some sort of armour too. Might as well do that now, before heading out. Maybe a few other things.”

“Can I see?” Lucy asked.

I couldn’t help but grin. “Sure.”

She would probably be a bit disappointed. The movies and games made the whole process where a Samurai got new gear out to be this big thing. In reality, it was a bit simpler.

Lucy and I headed over to the bedroom again, with only a few pauses along the way for a bit of kissing and groping. When we stumbled our way into the room though, we separated. Lucy bounced on the edge of the bed a few times, then brought her knees up to her chin. “Do the thing!” she said.

“I’m afraid,” Myalis said as Dumbass scurried into the room before I closed the door. “That the process isn’t nearly as amusing as you might think.”

I shrugged. “That’s pretty accurate,” I said as I started to undress. “Myalis, I need some sort of armour. Nothing bulky though.”

“Of course! I have many millions of options for you, though I believe I can narrow it down to a few choices that would suit you best.”

“Was that a pun?” Lucy asked.

Dumbass bobbed up and down, but didn’t answer the question. “I see three avenues you could take. Your Sun Watcher Technologies has a few decent armours at tier one that could be very useful. They tend to be slim and form fitting, with kinetic redistribution gels, nearly uncuttable materials, and the better options have in-built systems for regulating temperature.”

“Alright,” I said. That sounded neat enough. “And the other two options?”

“Your stealth speciality has some suits that allow for audio-ocular camouflage of the entire body. They can also serve as armour, though these wouldn’t do much beyond stopping some very low calibre weaponry. It would be more useful as a method to avoid getting hit, than one to prevent the damage of a hit, so to speak.”

“Ooh, invisible BDSM Cat,” Lucy said. “That could be kind of hot.”

I decided to ignore that, even if it was hard to keep my mind on track. There was no way I was still hot and bothered after our morning, but all signs pointed to that being wrong.

“And the third option?” I asked.

“Purchase an armour catalogue and buy something piecemeal, or a full set of proper armour. This is the option with the widest range in prices.” Myalis, or maybe Dumbass, moved over to the side of the bed, then hopped on and nestled over next to Lucy.

“Right,” I said. “Okay, let’s start with the Sun Watcher stuff.”

“Might I suggest improving the catalogue up one tier?” Myalis asked. “You have three tokens, and an ample supply of points. The improvement in the level of technology cannot be overstated.”

I thought about it for a bit. “How many points will I have left after that?”

“Eight Thousand, seven hundred and twelve.”

Still a lot of points. But those were limited. I wasn’t going to get any more for a while. “You know what, sure.”

Class II Sun Watcher Technology unlocked!
Points Reduced to... 8712!

“Good, now the armour. What price are we talking here?”

“That would depend on what exactly you’re looking for. A simple gel suit, with some protective capabilities and not much else would cost you ten points. A full suit, with self-repair, integrated medical load-outs, automatic adjustments, a deployable mask, class II armour and weaves, temperature control and minor reflex enhancers would cost two hundred points.”

“You should take the more protective one,” Lucy said. “Your new arm is cool and all, but I’d rather keep the rest of you all flesh. It’s a lot more squishy.”

I hesitated for a bit, but that was practically just for show. I’d already made up my mind. “What colour does it come in?” I asked.

“Any colour. Even those that can’t be properly perceived by human eyes.”

“Neat. Can you make it black?”

“Not black!” Lucy said. “That’s so boring!”

I huffed. “Black is always in fashion,” I said. “Plus I’m supposed to be stealthy. You’d probably want it to be pink or something. Black, or maybe that dark blue like some of my other gear.”

“A mix of both, perhaps. There are some complex parts to the suit,” Myalis said.

“As long as by both you mean black and blue, then yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.”

New Purchase: Mark IV TIGER-B armour
Points Reduced to... 8512!

A box appeared next to Lucy on the bed.

I stepped out of my pants, leaving me in not much at all except for my underthings, and moved over to the case.

Inside, I found a large belt and a few weird bracelets and something that looked like a very large necklace. All of them were big and bulky, and rather heavy when lifted. “Uh?”

“Put them on. The suit will assemble itself over your body.”

“Cool!” Lucy said.

I had to agree, the belt was little more than a series of linked boxes with a clasp by the front. The bracers went over my arms in a similar way, as did the sections over my ankles. The necklace, quite a bit heavier, sat a bit awkwardly around my neck.

With the last piece on, the whole set buzzed. In the time it took to blink, plates of some bluish metal unfolded across my body and a cloth-like weave raced across my skin, then pulled taut.

“Nice!” Lucy said. She clapped a bit. “You look awesome!”

I stared down at myself, and kinda had to agree. The armour clung, a bit tight and form-fitting, with plates following my ribs and covering my chest and upper arms. Armoured sections covered my elbows and knees too, which would probably come in handy. The cloth had a few sharp lines done up in dark blue, giving it some contrast over the darker material.

“Oh man, that’s tight,” Lucy said as she reached out and ran a hand over my stomach. The material was pretty tight there, I could actually make out the dip of my belly button through the material.

“Is this actually bulletproof?” I asked.

“We could test it,” Myalis said. “Give Lucy a gun.”

“Ohh,” Lucy said.

I shut that down quickly enough. “Yeah, no, I’ll take your word for it,” I said.

“I like the way it makes your butt look,” Lucy said with a thumb’s up.

I snorted and made a mental note to look into a mirror later. “It already looked good,” I said.

Lucy nodded. “Your best asset,” she said before breaking off into peels of giggles.

I shook my head and reached down to pick up my auto-loader jacket. It would be just that much more cover. As cool as the armour looked, it was a bit... skin-tight. I was far from self-conscious, but still.

“You should perhaps invest in a few other things before heading out,” Myalis said. “Your armament seems appropriate for the likely level of threat you’re going to face, but you’re lacking in other areas. Your sensor packages are visual only so far, and not that terribly advanced.”

“And you need to look even cooler,” Lucy said. “And a bit more colourful. Like... a scarf or something.”

I sighed. “Alright, we can do a tiny bit more shopping,” I said.