Page 39 of Lovesick Gods (Lovesick #1)
After fifteen solid seconds of making Mal sweat, Dom rolled her eyes and gave Priestly an apologetic shrug. “Guess I don’t know shit. Sorry, Spock.”
Offering his own melodramatic eye-roll, Priestly didn’t try to hide his disappointment when Mal stared back at him unwilling to budge. “Fine. Better get to the main event, then, if I don’t get any pre-show. Follow me.”
He stood from his chair and led them further into the back past another curtain.
Mal had never been so deep into the shop before.
He’d always assumed the last hidden area was reserved for more volatile equipment.
He wasn’t wrong. Two black cuffs like the one he’d seen Priestly working on earlier sat on a table waiting for them, as well as—surprisingly enough—a vase of flowers.
But in the corner was what looked to be…
well. Mal couldn’t help himself, because the only thing that sprang to mind was—
“If you’re expecting me to say ‘Beam me up, Scotty’, I’m sorry to say I’m a little attached to my molecules staying where they are.”
Priestly shot Mal a look between aggravated and impressed, which tended to be the kid’s default expression when it came to him.
Mal didn’t mind, as long as the impressed part remained true.
“Not a transporter, Captain . Or something out of the Goldblum version of The Fly .
It just looks like that because I had to build something that would be insulated against both heat and cold.
Kind of difficult to test out intense waves of temperature without ruining something in the shop unless I have a containment field.
“Keep your cuff on and you’ll stay safe in the eye of the storm; stay put in the containment box and I won’t have to worry about freezer burn. So.” He looked between them. “Who wants to go first?”
“Me,” Mal said before Dom could offer. Snatching up one of the cuffs from the table, he entered the containment box. “You mentioned it wasn’t necessary to bring eyewear.”
“I have new sets for both of you for the occasion. Nothing else should be needed since the field projects away from you.”
“Should?”
Priestly handed Mal a pair of goggles from a hook on the side of the box that looked nearly identical to his current ones.
“Notice the lack of a door,” he said indicating the narrow slit Mal had used to slip inside, then knocked on the clear containment wall.
“Electromagnetic waves are more effective than plastic. This is just backup.”
“Aren’t electromagnetic waves part of Zeus’s powers?” Mal tilted his head after securing the goggles over his eyes.
“Technically, but that would only interfere if he used his lightning to project his own field. Trust me, he will not see this coming. Button on the inside of the wrist when you’re ready,” Priestly nodded, then pressed a button of his own on the side of the box, surrounding Mal with a quiet hum.
Gently feeling along the interior of the cuff, Mal detected a small switch. At a glance, Zeus wouldn’t notice anything amiss until he felt the first blast of the cold field. Mal flipped the device on.
Instantly, he felt the change in his hands as if the cuff was causing his powers to manifest, but no sign of ice started to coat his skin. The subtle chill through his palms and up his arms was familiar, but while Mal didn’t feel cold anywhere else on his body, he could see the effects.
Through the new goggles, he saw a projection like a computer-generated overlay, ice blue and swirling like mist. Reaching only as far as the edges of the containment box, it surrounded him in a perfect circle.
Mal reached out slowly toward the ring of cold, stopping when he felt a definite drop in temperature. Pulling his hand back, he grinned at Priestly through the glass.
“Just you wait,” Priestly said as he strode over to the table with the other cuff and pulled a long-stemmed violet-colored flower from the vase.
“I can’t see shit,” Dom complained.
“I can,” Mal said, touching his free hand to the goggles. “Augmented reality?”
“For now it’ll only show you the radius of the cold field. And the weather report if you adjust the right lens.”
Mal did so and on the edges of the goggles he could see the temperature displayed, along with a brief description of the weather outside. He snorted.
“ Eventually ,” Priestly spoke on, “I can add distance tracking, maps, whatever you want, but for now the features are minimal. Now watch.” He stood before the slit in the containment box and held out the flower until it passed into the path of the cold field.
Only Mal could see the swirling blue, but all of them watched as the flower began to stiffen and build with frost as if Mal had used his powers directly.
“Oh Priestly, you deserve a special bonus for this,” Mal said.
“Does that mean I can name my price?”
“Within reason.”
Priestly smirked as he pulled the flower back. “There’s a thin dial above the switch. Left pushes the radius further out, right brings it in. It’ll never get closer to you than where it is now, but the outward radius should be able to reach a full city block.”
Mal felt for the dial. He tested it and watched the circle of cold press against the containment box, unable to escape, then dialed it in and saw how it bowed toward him without getting closer. He couldn’t wait to see how Zeus dealt with his new upgrade.
But that thought brought with it a sudden frown Mal couldn’t banish. Flipping the switch off, he exited the chamber. “The strength of the field is still lower than the lowest blast of my powers, correct?”
“You could give a normal person some serious frostbite if untreated for too long, but Zeus should be slowed more than injured. Non-lethal just like you asked for.”
Mal tried to shake off the relief he felt at knowing the amplifiers wouldn’t hurt his nemesis, but his emotions remained tangled, spoiling his good mood.
“With Helios’s too.” Gesturing for Dom to take Mal’s place, Priestly handed the pyro a new version of the welder’s mask she sported in combat.
Her normal costume was a white tank top, with tan cargo pants and red suspenders like some mockery of a fireman.
Like most Fire people, she didn’t overheat easily but preferred to be sparsely covered.
Dropping her thin jacket outside the containment box, she was left in black leggings and a baggy, sleeveless red top that hung to her knees and complemented the streak of red in her hair.
Dom went through the same process Mal had and grinned wildly at the augmented reality, especially when Priestly held the frozen flower inside the box again and it wilted like melting wax.
“You’ll also be able to see each other’s radius bubbles so you don’t accidentally...well, for lack of a better term…cross the streams.” He looked far too annoyed with himself for that reference.
“What happens if they do cross?”
“Depends on several variables. Most likely it’ll create mist or a light snow. Worst case scenario there might be a slight…explosion.”
Mal’s eyes widened, while Dom chuckled in excitement. “Don’t cross the cold and heat fields. Got it.”
“Remember,” Priestly said, “amplifiers basically collect a portion of your powers like a battery and store it to be able to produce the cuffs’ effects.
If you get winded or too injured to use your powers normally, the cuffs can be used as a backup to channel a few normal blasts of ice or fire. Try not to rely on that though.
“And here are the comms you requested.” Priestly pulled a set of three earpieces from a drawer in the table, handing one to Dom and two to Mal for himself and Lucy.
“Additional microphones are built into the eyewear. So,” he leaned back against the table as Mal and Dom inspected their gear, “do I get to listen in like Zeus’s team does? ”
Mal humored him with a smile. “Do I get to know where those flowers came from? Or do you always use camellias when field testing?”
Priestly crossed his arms, lips pursed and unrelenting. “Nana Andrews. Don’t change the subject.”
Considering the good work the kid had done, Mal decided not to push—for now. “Apologies, Hart, not this time, but there may come a day when we’ll need you. Can we set these up to signal you if necessary?”
“Already done.”
Of course it was. Mal glanced at Dom. Even with the earpiece she hadn’t been too keen on originally, she looked like a thief in a bank vault—positively gleeful. When Mal’s crew was happy, he was happy. “Let’s talk about that bonus, Hart. You earned it.”