Shaper of Metal Post-Apoc Progression LitRPG

Highfive's expression was so satisfying to see, Jack couldn't help but grin, despite his attempts to appear completely sober. As expected, this caused a flash of contrary suspicion to creep into that stunned countenance.

"Bro," Highfive said in warning, pointing a finger, "you better not be messing with me on this. This is serious."

Jack barked a laugh and shook his head, holding his hands up. "I'm not! I swear! On my honor."

Highfive squinted at him slightly. "You're laughing, though."

Bo scoffed loudly. "For frag's sake, he's not lying, you brainless bucket of muscles. I already noted his consideration of us. He's been thinking about it for a while."

Highfive pivoted himself to point at her, no less serious. "Why should I trust you, with that perfect poker face and devious mind? I do learn, you know. Eventually. And hell, why would you just now be telling me?"

Bo glared at him. With forced patience, she said, "Because you would be like a puppy unable to contain its excitement, and bother Jack before the proper time. He's made his choice known to you when he wanted to make it known. Welcome to the proper time. Be a puppy now. Go on." She sighed and waved a hand. "Let's get this phase going already so it can get over with."

"Yeah," Homage added while exhaling, "Fiver, my man, I don't think he's pulling your chain with this. Just as an impartial observer, here. You know."

Face screwing up in consternated thought, Highfive pivoted to turn the finger back on Jack. "Are you being serious, Jack? You actually want to join Team High Life, Mother's Honest Truth, or be struck down where you stand?"

Jack nodded, crossing his chest with a finger. "Mother's Honest Truth, or let her strike me down where I stand. I'm here to try out and earn one of those t-shirts." He grinned confidently. "Shortly before we earn our long coats to go on over them."

Highfive worked his tongue around inside his mouth as he held Jack's gaze, nodding slowly and shaking his finger. A brief chuckle resonated from his throat, and then laughter bubbled out in a quickly growing cascade that was rather unlike him — a rich, indulgent sort of sound, like a criminal who'd just figured out the perfect plan to get rich, or a pirate who'd found a chest of gold.

It finally exploded into something of raw glee as he emphatically clapped his hands together and shook them, the muscles of his biceps flexing. "Heeeeell fraggin' yeah, baby!" He rubbed his hands together. "We're gonna blow the competition away, now! We got Big Iron!"

"Not consenting to that name. But." Jack thrust his fist out for a bump, still grinning. "Let's do it. They'll never know what hit 'em, eh partner?"

Instead of bumping, Highfive called out, "Baah, come here, you!" as he grabbed Jack in a crushing hug, lifting Jack off the ground, laughing all the while.

"Bleugh!" was all Jack got out at that point.

"To hell with tryouts!" Highfive exclaimed as he set Jack down and clapped him on the shoulder. He put his hand out between them for an arm-wrestle-grip type of shake. Jack took it and Highfive continued with a grin, "If you want a spot, bro, you know you got i-"

"Wait just a damn minute!" Bo interrupted, hopping up suddenly to her feet. It was among the most animated of actions Jack had seen her commit. Her finger was pointed out at them imperiously. "I've got a voice in this, too, and I want to see what he can do before I make any determination. One of us has to use their brain to do this right, and, unfortunately, lacking other options, that falls to me."

Highfive frowned over at her incredulously as he let go of Jack's hand and presented both of his out in exasperation. "Are you serious? Come on, Bo, don't do this-"

"I'm doing exactly what you dragged me into this to do! We're trying to find the right fits for our team. Doing things the right way."

They glared at each other for a spell.

"It can also help me give an opinion," Homage added. "Again, as an impartial observer. Which, you know, you asked me to be?"

Jack patted Highfive's shoulder. "It's alright, man. That's all I'm here to do in the first place. We have to do this sort of stuff eventually, anyway. You can still be confident I'll make the grade."

"You're damned right you will!" Highfive sighed and flicked his hands. "Fine! Show 'em what you can do, Shaper of Metal." He gazed at Bo significantly as he said this, as one might say, 'Obvious Pile of Wins.' "Hope you two aren't attached to your socks, cause they're about to go byeskee."

As Bo rolled her eyes, Jack chuckled and proceeded out toward the grass field, the area they were using still obvious by the damage present. He waved a hand behind him. "Activate whatever you need to, eh?" Jack gave a mental nod to Mini to activate his 'special preparations' as quickly as possible. "My materials are en route."

"Roger that!" Highfive called. Momentarily, a blue energy field appeared in a big square ending right in front of the tent on one side.

After a few moments, some levitation platforms flew over from above the trees — his 'special preparations.' Metal implements of some variety were secured on the top, most prominently his favorite anvil.

It's decidedly odd that I have a 'favorite anvil,' but I really do.

"Dude," Highfive called, "can you lift that whole damn anvil with your powers?"

Jack scoffed with put-upon haughty airs. "Just you watch and prepare to be amazed at what I do with that anvil, partner."

"Ohhhhh. Will do, bro!"

Bo audibly scoffed across the distance. "I can't decide whether it's that anvil or Highfive I'm expecting you to make out with sooner."

Jack grinned as he gave her a look of mock shock. "Bo, it's so brave of you to come out about your fantasies! Bravo, you."

Highfive nodded to Bo and gave an emphatic thumbs-up in exaggerated support. "I support whatever you're into all day. New age guy-anvil romance? Seriously, make those waves, girl."

"I really feel reinforced by this air of acceptance," Homage added, "so I'm proudly declaring my love of girl-and-cheese romance."

"How much cheese are we talkin'?" Jack asked.

"More than you can imagine, compadre. That's what's special about it to me. The… extra cheese."

Highfive whistled appreciatively.

Jack started a respectful slow-clap, and Highfive followed. Homage pretended to wipe a tear as he held a hand up, as if waving at a large crowd.

Bo slowly frowned in one corner of her mouth, eyes heavy-lidded in a deadpan expression balefully sweeping over all of them. She then plopped one cheek on a propped hand and waved with the other. "Hurry up and play with your toys, Jack. I'll try to be impartial after that, but no promises."

"By the way," Homage said, "whether it matters to you or not, everything I see and discuss, I'll keep confidential among your team. You have my word."

Jack nodded. "Appreciate that. I suppose it matters right up to the point we secure our coats."

"Yeah, pretty much. At that point, we're all on the same team, you'd hope."

"Enough chatter, Jack!" Highfive called. "Get after it, already!"

Jack nodded and turned to the anvil, now deposited on the grass along with the small cluster of other stuff. He channeled his memorite and collapsed it into the anvil, using his full strength to easily float it upward, spin it around end over end, and then toss it with a great ground-breaking thud into the turf.

Highfive clapped riotously. "Yes! That would hurt, bro! Oof, rival cadets! Oof!"

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Grinning, trying not to laugh at Highfive's biased cheers, Jack took hold of the anvil and ripped it apart, spooling it into a long sheet. He made this wrap around him, then grow and thin out, forming a wider sheet that obscured him entirely from the observers. It formed something of a wall that dug and anchored into the ground. A blast shield.

Highfive was clapping harder and laughing in glee. "Hell yeeeeeeeees! Wooo!"

Wow. He's a better cheerleader than Neex was. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. Discounting those with sonic powers, he's the loudest guy on the planet.

Jack prepped multiple darts with Fragile Spike, then split the wall in the middle, firing the darts as fast as he could — right for the barrier of the field in front of the tent!

They all exploded into mixed shrapnel and dust as they hit the field with great momentum, and literally right in the faces of Highfive and Homage, who were nearly at the edge of the tent. Highfive half-tripped over a chair as he jerked backwards, salvaging it to come to a knee, eyes wide in shock at what happened and looking around for damage — he shouldn't have, but that was how sudden instinct worked.

Homage, meanwhile, had completely dived to the side and rolled in a veteran maneuver. Nonetheless, he was facepalming from his position to the side of the tent at getting 'got' like that.

Bo, on the other hand, was hiding her face in her arms, clearly laughing at the others. She'd done little more than throw her arms up to protect her face briefly, adjusting to the reality far quicker than the other two.

The rare case when less twitchy reflexes is a benefit. But maybe it's just her general suspicious nature.

Jack burst into laughter after seeing their reactions, as Highfive stood up and frowned at him with his hands on his hips, and Homage was just shaking his head in shame at himself.

Highfive finally broke into a grin and threw his hands up. "Damn it, Jack, I didn't expect that, but I gotta give it to you, man." He began clapping appreciatively. "That shit was impressive!"

Homage, frowning, joined in with the clapping. "He's right. Good demonstration of making an ambush out in the open. You're the type of Controller that can make a complex battlefield a real fraggin' nightmare. Stuff your bag full of tricks."

Bo, composure now supreme as she sat up, said, "That was great on multiple levels."

Jack nodded back to them. "Much appreciated."

"You said you're at Level 3?" Homage asked as he moved back under the tent and took a seat. "That metal looked odd. More crystalline. Fragile. Is that a mutation?"

"Actually, no. A stunt, a technique I learned in training."

Homage's eyebrows rose. "That's impressive to gain out of training with what I'm led to believe about your timeline."

"I think my initial inability to see simulations as not real was a bit, ah, exploited by my trainers. They stress-tested me big time."

"Nice. Makes sense. You're new, yet an adult."

"Marginally."

Homage grinned.

"Another big kid after our own hearts," Highfive said.

"I've decided you're off the team, Jack," Bo said to this.

"Like hell you did, Bo!" Highfive turned to frown balefully at her, expression alarmed and offended, as she just met his gaze expressionlessly.

Homage winked at Jack in a subtle tell about Bo, but Jack just smiled and nodded. He knew such statements from her could not be trusted. Furthermore, a feather of something in her eyes, looking at Highfive, had this 'he cannot be falling for this again' quality to it.

"Listen, Bo," Highfive said in supreme seriousness, thrusting one hand out, almost making an 'ok' symbol, "you can't just impulsively say that before the man-"

"Fine," Bo said, interrupting and sitting back to look over at Jack. "I'll give him another chance to show he's serious."

Highfive turned and met Jack's eyes, widening them in a way that Jack could almost nonverbally hear him say, 'Dude, I saved you, but you better get serious and knock her socks off, like, yesterday!'

Homage did something similar, though exaggeratedly and mockingly.

Jack nodded sagely to these guy-to-guy communications and turned toward his aggregate metal, collecting it into a mass and spawning various shapes out of it, from tools to weapons. He demonstrated how fast he could make darts and other weapons, and the sharpness of his blades. He showed off some accuracy by hitting small virtual targets set up by Highfive. With the minimal range within the field, he was basically hitting the bullseye on everything, even when moving targets were used. Mid-range, with his Control value? That was a situation where he was an absolute crack shot.

Going through all this relatively basic stuff, Highfive was constantly cheering supportively as a bottomlessly boisterous hype man. He tried to hype up Bo, too, with such sterling questions as 'Did you see that, Bo?! Did you?!' and 'Come on, no one else can do anything even close, Bo! Look at that! Look at it!'

Bo was mercilessly stone-faced as usual, though, giving only the occasional frown of consideration. She made 'notes' on a clipboard, which she hid behind other papers when Highfive tried to clandestinely sneak a peek. She literally made Highfive sweat with it all. He side-eyed her, wiping his forehead with a sleeve as he chewed his lip nervously.

Such a cruel mistress. She's enjoying this way too much on the inside.

After the basic stuff, Homage volunteered to hop in and be an active spar partner. He'd instructed Highfive on what to provide before coming, and the terrain suddenly shifted with a bunch of virtual additives. Blocks for cover. And a virtual rifle was suddenly strapped to his back — what looked like a stunner. He'd heard it was a pretty common weapon choice in team matches since it could annoy those tanky types who'd otherwise shrug bullets off like rain.

"I've got no direct offense," Homage said as he strolled up, "so you'll probably just be showing off your firefight aptitude, but Fiver feels like an unnecessary boss fight this early if he'd actually try, and… Well, you can see he's undermined right now. Bo isn't anything approaching a typical foe, and probably would just tell me to frag off if I asked, so I think I'm, uh, 'better' for introductory measures." He put his hand out for a shake and smiled. "But you better kick my ass, that's all I'll say."

Jack shook his hand but frowned. "What Access Level are you?"

"Level 7, not that it matters that much until I'm dropping a buff. Maybe that sounds ominous, but I'm more specialized using it on others. I'm on a Rescue squad. I run with a Medic, and a legit healer type, too. Anyway, I can boost myself slightly for this or that." He grinned.

"Nice. I get it. Keep some uncertainty for this."

Homage did his thumb-and-pinky hand sign and turned around to jog over to his position, taking his rifle out. "Start on the far end! The square ain't that big!"

Jack jogged to the end. Nearby was some virtual cover. When he looked downfield, there was much the same by Homage. Jack decided he'd play it defensively right off.

"Ten count, then start the duel sim!" Homage called, and between them in the middle of the field, a big glowing '10' appeared and began counting down with a verbal indicator included.

Jack went to work prepping his metal. Output, he pumped up to 90%, which would be fine for the match without draining him for whatever else was after. He made a large tower-like shield and a secondary round shield, a bunch of darts, some cables, and stuck some on his person. He made another big batch of darts and scattered them in a wide radius around him.

"Oh shit!" Homage called when he saw the darts drop everywhere.

"Stop noticing things!" Jack called back. Ordinarily, he might've been a bit stealthier, but the timeframe made things a bit frantic.

"Three…"

Jack took cover, seeing no particular reason to give Homage an immediate line of sight. He used the remainder of time to form a 'cloud' of metal in a wide radius and moved it out in front of him. With that, he didn't need line of sight to strike. Thanks to Anchors, the cloud could be left 'locked' when not actively moved, and it didn't need much total mass of material anyway. It shaved off very little Allotment, and even then, it was only off of that extra provided by the mutation.

"One… Begin!"

He sensed Homage do something almost immediately despite the distance, like a kind of blatant but vague 'resonance' in the air, and Jack knew he'd buffed himself, based on what he'd said about his powers. He also faintly heard footfalls on the grass, but they sounded incredibly rapid.

I know Homage is a quick runner, but did he give himself a speed boost, too? A bullrush makes sense if he fears my prep work and ability to tactically outmaneuver here.

Jack risked a brief peek from his cover, and, sure enough, he saw the form of Homage blurring between blocks, moving way too fast. Instead of trying a pot shot, he looked at the route Homage would likely take through the cover features.

Ducking back for a moment, Jack adjusted the position of his cloud to where he thought Homage would venture to get to him. He also tried to move a couple of darts as clandestinely as he could.

He'll come here as the last known position where I am. I might wanna take up another spot, just in case…

Jack, staying in a crouch, moved across the space, aiming for better cover if his designs happened to fail.

He felt a sudden, strange 'touch' brush across him, as if on the hairs of his neck.

That was probably his brand of Interpret!

Jack quickly maneuvered his shields between where he thought Homage would be.

Zaaap! An audible crackling sounded in the air as Jack turned to see a glow from around his shield, clearly showing it had been hit. An instant later, he was fully behind cover, his shield no more than slightly scuffed for the exchange. The field was momentarily quiet and still.

Phew! Damn, did he set me up for that, or did I frag up? I shouldn't have exposed myself at all. Oh well. He knows where I am, but he has to get an angle and come at me.

His cloud was big enough that he didn't need to move it, regardless, even if Homage changed his approach.

Holding to faith in his plan, Jack waited, his senses extended and primed in his diffuse cloud of metal. It wouldn't be the finest sensory power, considering he had to make it especially distributed to evade sapient detection. Even then, it would depend on Homage's perceptions.

The reward inevitably came as he felt a body rushing through his cloud. Quickly, Jack grabbed one of his darts and began moving it toward the body felt in the cloud — sadly, the distance wasn't insignificant, but getting the angle to be directly behind his target was easy. He moved the dart across the space, trying to deduce whether he'd need to utilize Throw…

Homage blessedly paused, clearly proceeding stealthily now, from cover to cover, paranoid for his enemy popping up to attack. Jack's brief altercation might've secured an advantage, after all.

Knowing he could keep up with his target, Jack transformed the dart into a band even as it was speeding up behind Homage. The navigation wasn't easy, relying on a 1.0 stat for targeting — maybe a little less for the lack of an ideal medium — but an unaware target was an unaware target. He'd muddle through against '0.0' one way or another.

He had to wait one more time as Homage rushed across space to another feature — by all appearances, angling to try and circle around what he knew to be Jack's position.

And now I've got you!