Tag Archives: Master Insula Fu

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #032

The suit was getting hot; really, REALLY hot.  It became painful for Metcalf to move as movement forced more contact with the scalding suit.  It took a great deal of concentration for Metcalf not to cry out or turn the suit off right then and there.  She still needed its protection to stay relatively invisible and safe from the training-bots.

Enduring the searing pains, Metcalf managed to get into the alley’s shadow.  She immediately disabled the suit’s light bending technology.  Though she was no longer invisible, she was still hidden enough.  The neutral colors of the suit blended well enough to hide her from the flying patrols.  Crouched near a dumpster, she was safe enough from the wandering patrols.

Though the suit’s visual protection was deactivated, the thermal guard was still active.  The heat from the mechanism was still trapped in the suit, it would not cool by itself.  Metcalf was still cooking and the discomfort pressured her steady mind.  She had to do something, anything immediately before she could rest comfortably.   

After a few frantic seconds, an idea came to mind.  Though Metcalf was not a Thermal Master, she could use her Motion Mastery to cool her suit almost immediately and be on her way again.  The bots may get a clue of where she is, but hopefully, she’d be gone by the time they’d solve the puzzle.

The dumpster had a disgusting rusted hole in the bottom corner.  Gross, but it would have to do.  Metcalf barely opened her sleeves exposing just a little heat to the air.  Sticking one hand into the hole, she reached out with the other hand and prepared for the chill.  

With the next gust of wind, Metcalf pushed the air out of her suit replacing it with the air from the outside wind.  The hot air went into the dumpster while the cool air filled her suit.  Of course, her body needed time to stop sweating and the chilled air and what sweat she had suddenly felt the chill.

Now she was freezing again.

——

As Master Fu drove across town in the van, she took in the scenery.  The sight of this simple city in the morning was a welcome contrast to the life she knew in the capital.  Closed stores and large gaps between building gave testament to the lower population and the simple income of the locals.  

Insula also thought of her student’s progress.  Metcalf was doing quite well up until now.  There were a few rookie mistakes here and there, but that was expected on her first test mission.  Metcalf had shown vast improvements in just a few months, evidence that she was taking the training very seriously.  

There was a good chance that Metcalf could have already been a wonderful agent under different circumstances.  Unfortunately, she had found herself stuck and this particular goal was still far from achievable.  Metcalf had been at Sword Mint Academy for so long that the grading curve placed on her would be nearly impossible to overcome.  She would have to become better, train harder.  

Insula had been keeping close tabs on the test everything in this test especially the training-bots used for the mission.  Some of them were controlled by the peasant Commoners to give an added element of realism.  According to what she had noted, none of the bots or the guards had noticed any kind of disturbance.  Her student was hiding well so far.  However, Metcalf still needed to get to the van in time for a smooth extraction.

In the road ahead, the robotic guards had made a road block.  Insula didn’t know if her automated bots did this or the bots that were controlled.  Either way, Insula couldn’t help but smile to herself.  

This is going to be fun.

#1 – Lost and Found #31

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #031

Now that Metcalf had a plan of attack, she had a real chance at victory.  A great holo-movie lie was that someone could be good enough at improvising to escape a challenge such as this.  Being a big fan of the holo-movies, she giggled to herself at the lie.  Without a plan, mistakes and successes were indistinguishable until it was too late.

A small light on Metcalf’s visor flashed signaling information being received.  With a few touches on her glove, she saw what Master Fu was planning.  The convenience store her instructor talked about was not that far, a short walk in a normal situation; pretty convenient.

Thinking ahead, Metcalf also checked Master Fu’s vector.  If Fu stayed at her average speed, she should be at the store within two fifths of an hour.  Not a lot of time given the current situation.  At least, she knew where she was going and about how long she had to get there.

For the extraction to be flawless, Metcalf had to be a swift ghost.  It would be too easy to track her if she leaves a clue in the same area as a mysteriously escaping van.  It would also be suspicious if Master Fu shopped at a convenience store for more than three minutes.  It was time for Metcalf to be on her way.

Metcalf heard the faint marching of the training-bots in the distance.  She crouched low to the ground.  Her suit quickly turned dark shades of the shadowed grey alleyway.  She was impressed as the color of her suit even mimicked the small cracks on the ground.  She crept slowly towards the street hoping not to see any guards but prepared to disappear if any were seen.

Thankfully, the patrols hadn’t made it this far out yet.  She needed to stay ahead of them.  So she needed to move.  Still the street was the most dangerous place she could be right now.  Her color changing suit would not help her unless she crawled on the ground.

Ugh.  I don’t need this right now.

Getting even lower and flatter to the ground, Metcalf prepared for the trek across the street.  There was a good reason why the suit she wore was nicknamed the Chameleon Suit.  She had to pretty slow for it to hide her perfectly.  She was definitely strong enough to handle the crawl.  Her motion energy skills would help her move more easily at the slow pace.

I’ll have to avoid streets from now on.  It took a dreadfully long half minute before she was almost across the street.  Thankfully there were no early morning drivers in the factory district.  Also, it was either a blessing or a curse that there were no patrols flying over her area.  It was wonderful not to be caught.  Still, with no patrols, she could have dashed across the street without a care and had been on her way.

She felt inner joy as she touched the curb.  However, a high-pitched whine above her head ended all how her inner cheer.  Judging from the sound, a speeder patrol hovered just a decimeter away.

Metcalf’s natural response was to freeze in place, a good response since they couldn’t actually see her.  The stealth suit started getting warm as she waited for them to make a move.  It sounded like there were about three speeders.  Metcalf had to be patient and look down not showing them the slightly less camouflaged visor.

After fifteen seconds of pure terror, the speeders lifted higher into the sky and sped off to the intersection.  Instead of celebrating her relief, Metcalf used this time to activate the cloaking field around her suit.

One of the suits flaws was that it could only be reasonably hidden from one angle.  She would prefer them not to see a chisho-shaped bit of concrete sticking out of the road.  That would be an obvious tell.

Unfortunately, activating the suit’s cloaking field exposed another flaw.  It was getting really hot!

#1 – Lost and Found #30 – Lost and Found #32

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #030

Metcalf couldn’t take her eyes off of the factory.  Training-bots kept piling out of the main building forming more and more search parties.  From the small gap between two distant buildings, she focused on them with her monocle hoping to find something that she could use to get an edge.

This test, if it was a test, was far more intense than any she had ever taken.  The training-bots were acting a lot like real people.  The loud alarms were most likely interrupting real lives in the town but they were Commoners.  Having little to no abilities and being of the lowest class, they were probably used to interruptions by now.

She didn’t know how well the training-bots were programmed to fight.  She didn’t want to learn either.  She did know that they were all hunting for her.  Any sign of her presence would rally a constant stream of bots to her general area.  Consequently, hostility or disturbances were out of the question.

Metcalf had no intention of making things more difficult for herself or Master Fu.  She was still planning on a smooth extraction.  Things were hard enough, no need to add a high speed chase.  It was time to avoid capture but it was harder to do with her present surroundings.

The text book’s method to evade capture was simple.  Haruna and the gang had drilled her quite a bit over the last few months.  All she had to do was outrun her pursuers then blend in or hide within her surroundings.  Over time, they would lose her trail and move on.  If they didn’t put a tracking device on her she could disappear without a trace.  Easy, not that pure knowledge would help her now.

In practice, it was quite difficult especially here.  The training-bots were filing out into the streets and even more of them filled the skies.  Granted, she had outrun them and they had no idea where she was.  But she did spy heat sensing scopes on their blasters.  Also the bots didn’t seem to be losing interest; at all.

She caught herself giving up before the chase even begun and shook herself out of that mindset.  This was no time to be frozen in fear.  She had to take control of herself, will herself away from the wall, and move on.  She did not want to end up fitting inside a small bloody box like that one guy.  She needed a plan to get out of the area.

Blending in was not at all reasonable.  She was alone in the factory district at a crazy hour of the morning; the only warm body to track.  She would be hard pressed to convince them that she was taking a morning jog while armed to the teeth and in a stealth suit.

A stealth suit!

Metcalf resisted face-palming.  She wore a major part of the solution.  The time she could have spent using her gear was wasted on worrying about her problem.

The indigo cloth suit she wore was state of the art technology.  It could change to any color that she set with a simple command.  On its highest setting, it could cloak her completely for short periods of time.  It also could capture her heat to resist detection from heat seeing sensors.  She would waste no more time.  She had to get safely away from here.

Metcalf quickly changed the suit to the exact color of the concrete pavement a dull tan/grey mixture.  The cloaking system only lasted a short while and drained the suit causing a shutdown and recharge period.  The natural shadows should blend her in and keep her hidden from the flying patrols for now.

Activating the heat system was simple enough as well.  Her gear came equipped with goggles and a breathing mask.  The material became freezing cold as the system activated.  Master Fu told her about that minor effect of the technology.  She didn’t know exactly what she meant until now.  Every part of the suit was cold.

Master Fu!  She suddenly remembered that she was not in this exercise alone.  Perhaps that was another major part of the test.  Pressing her now almost invisible body to a wall, she made a quick call to Master Fu.  The suit mimicked the color and patterns on the wall.  Only her visor maintained a clear image of her eyes.

“Master,” she started, placing her finger to her ear, “We need a place to meet.”

“’bout time,” Insula muttered as she answered the call.  “I just so happen to have a place set,” she said much louder, “A Wang’s Convenience store.  I’ll patch the location to your visor.  I’ll get some snacks and leave the side door unlocked.  Good luck hide-and-sneaking.”

“Thanks…  I think,” Metcalf finished.  She ended the call and started for the street.

#1 – Lost and Found #29