i'll send you a couple more videos later, this one was just a test run but after i get it all working it'll have all sortsa cool stuff

Probably shouldn't tell each other too much about what we're up to. not being on the same team yet and so on. (still thinkin about it).

eh i don't mind and like even if we're not a team you're not gonna be a villain right? and i really want to gush about my stuff to another tinker who'll get it, you know?

I know.... I had a really cool idea for an electric plasma bottle. plasma sword thing. but same problem as a lot of my other ideas, probably super lethal if it decides to break

you gotta add some safeties like... places for the energy to go? like in my stuff if everything goes apeshit i have a... uh... can i get technical it's kinda hard to describe in like regular american english

Probably better equipped to understand technical than most? Also yeah I've started doing that I have this goo that can absorb tons of electricity and heat.

The next message takes a while to come but has this piece of a blueprint and he explains it in loving detail. There's only so far she can ride on her own knowledge to understand what he's saying but what she can understand suggests that this is not only a rather complex piece of machinery but also that a lot of these things could not work without some very expensive parts. He's not mentioning that, though.

Looks from that like you have shiny toys than me. Maybe I should call myself "junkyard princess, mistress of old fridges and lawnmower engines."

hey, don't shit on that, there's an aesthetic to that, too. from the bottom to the top, clawing your own way, getting awesomer and bootstrapping yourself. i dig it.

One of my best first finds was one of those soda fountain rigs from fast food places. Valves and pumps are surprisingly hard to get.

I probably have to go soon tho.

it's alright, still fun to talk

He also sends a gif of the gun malfunctioning spectacularly and shooting rope and pieces of metal everywhere.

Walta shudders a bit, watching it.

...At least Fire Guy's thing is almost done. It's kind of neat, making something she already made, but better. She resists the temptation to add lots of new features. Do the same thing as before, but do it well.

A week later, she calls him on the radio and tells him where to pick up the gear. It even has a little handwritten manual.

He's glad that it's done! He only had to ask after it twice, even, that's nice.

...and then the city's capes start mobilising.

...That's the Endbringer siren.

But not the one that means one is coming here.

...Trying to go along would be a very heroic thing to do. If she doesn't actually die and get grounded for two months by her parents.

She calls Glam on the steadily-degrading radio she gave him.

"Are you going?" they ask without preamble.

"I can't- I'm terrified. I'm not sure I'll actually help. I don't even know which one it is. And- And my parents will probably say no and ground me literally forever if I go anyway."

"It's Leviathan. It's okay if you don't go, you don't have to. I'm going because I think I can make a dent on it. And if I can't, I definitely can help with evac."

"I think I could help with evac and moving folks around. My 'suit is really really mobile and pretty strong. It's just..." Deep breath. "This sort of thing is the whole point of being a hero. Right?"

"Right, kinda. But you really really shouldn't feel pressured. You should only come if you're absolutely sure. But if you're sure, I'm taking a teleporter in fifteen, we could meet up."

"I'm talking to my parents in like twenty seconds. Will let you know."

"It's Leviathan? Give me ten minutes to drop pointless weapons and get waterproof gear rigged."

"Leviathan, yeah. I'll wait for you."

Vertigo shows up at the staging area. You can't tell she's nervous under all that armor and tacked-on pipes and propellors.

Glam is there. "Hey. You came," they state, not sounding surprised. "Ready for it?"

"Ready as I can be. Only well-tested tech. Search and rescue stuff."

"Awesome. Teleporter's waiting," they say, gesturing, and start floating over there.