"Please just hear me out. If you don't like the idea. I can just make you normal armor. Any type you want." Jon pleaded.
Jake paused. The smart… the sane thing to do would be to leave. Perhaps he was more damaged than he thought because he stopped.
"So… As I said." Jon started when he noticed Jake wasn't bolting out the door. "I have tried this once before. You aren't the first player able to use either types. But she was a spell caster type. Her vitality was really low. D rank." Jon suddenly spoke faster again. "I know you are D rank too but not a normal D rank. Anyone um in the know has been studying your data. You defy a lot of things we thought were rules set in stone. It really is amazing. We know so little compared to the founders. In fact, I have a friend that is practically obsessed with your body. She even has a life size accurate to scale exact replica of your body in her lab. When I tell her I got to meet…"
"They have a what?" Jake asked his head swimming.
"Ahh I know it can seem strange. But I assure you she is using it only for scientific research… probably." Jon muttered that last word under his breath so softly Jake wasn't sure he had actually heard it.
Before Jake's mind could catch back up Jon continued. "Your physical durability and regeneration are amazing. Beyond amazing. I will give you the same drugs to boost them even further that I used before. If you agree I can even give you a few extra doses. They are expensive, very expensive. I've had to save for years to get them." When he saw Jake was still undecided he continued. "Also, you have that mutation… er evolution that allows you to rapidly heal and grow tougher when critically injured. Do you know you are the first recorded user able to successfully evolve that trait? There are a number of theories about why. My friend says she has been probing your body and thinks she found…" Jon trailed off seeing Jake's expression.
"Just think of it. You would possess the first perfect armor. Capable of protecting against all types of damage. Not only would it be great for you. But if we succeeded maybe we could unlock the secret to making more for others. It could save countless lives in the future!" Jon gave Jake his largest puppy eyes. Hoping his friend's mental profile of Jake was correct.
Jake stood there for a long few moments making Jon nervous before his shoulders slumped. "Fine." Jon twirled on spot out of excitement before rushing around his workshop.
**********
Jake was strapped to the strange table and wasn't sure he had made the right choice. Perhaps his concerns were visible because suddenly Jon came over the speaker, he was standing up at the window looking down into the room. "Don't worry. I agreed to even provide the first upgrade for your weapons. It came out of an A rank monster in the next region. Super rare and expensive. It took me years to save for it. It is an omni elemental heart!"
Jake looked up at the teen that looked only a bit older than himself. "Um, how long have you been doing this exactly?" Jake asked as much to distract himself as out of curiosity.
"Oh yes. I always forget how I look. I am much older than I appear. It is the one perk we get despite our inability to evolve further. As long as we stay in the safe zone our age doesn't progress. We are practically frozen in time. If we go beyond the safe zone or return to one of the pocket dimensions we start aging again. Well, leaving the safe zone would result in my death too." Jon answered but didn't answer at the same time.
"So how old are you exactly?" Jake asked again.
"Um, ninety maybe? I stopped keeping track. Uncle Clive is well over a hundred. But he tends to go back to check on the others, so he has aged quite a bit. He actually used to look younger than me." Jake wasn't sure what to make of that news.
A hatch opened in the wall and a drone came flying in, it looked battered and made of scrap. Compared to the drones Gadget used it looked like a piece of crap. It did not improve Jake's faith in Jon. It wasn't carrying a crucible but instead, a swirling moving blob of material hovered under it. Silvery metal and what looked like wood swirled together in an impossible mix. It came to hover over Jake's now bare chest. "So… I did mention this will hurt right?"
Jake started to answer but the glob hovering over him dropped down to splat on him. Jake wasn't sure if it was a burning or freezing sensation. But it did hurt. The blob seemed to crawl over his chest and dig into his flesh. His scream reverberated in the sealed room. Both his mask and gauntlets activated, even his boots as the blob of material bore into his flesh. The pain was intense, enough that Jake thought he might lose his mind. Then the last of the blob vanished, seeping into his skin. The burning freezing sensation ended as did the pain. Jake panted, feeling exhausted. His health bar had gone down some but compared to what he had expected. It wasn't nearly that bad.
"Good. Phase one is over. Now the real part starts!" Jon's voice came over the speaker and Jake's eyes went wide with horror. Before he could speak a new wave of pain started in his chest. It made the previous experience almost seem pleasant.
All his veins on his chest, neck, and even running down his arms bulged darkly against his skin. Little beads of the mixture from before started to seep out of his pores. They were metallic and shiny in appearance as they started to merge. But the process looked more organic and the results did too. As if metallic bark was growing over his chest. It spread over his shoulders, partly up his neck, and down his arms. The bulging veins came in contact with his gauntlets where they melded with his flesh and seemed to merge in with them. On his neck, the same happened with his mask. Both gauntlet and mask started to change slightly as if thin wooden vines were growing from where his veins met them. They warped the metal of his equipment but only in a small area around each vein.
It felt like years passed as he stayed strapped to that table. His health plummeted until his health bar went black. Jake found himself starting to pass out, to enter that dark void where he would be forced to relive the past. He gritted his teeth and embraced the pain instead. Clung to that horror like it was his last lifeline. The physical pain ripping his body apart was nothing compared to the mental anguish he would be forced to endure if he blacked out. Everything grew dim but clinging to his suffering he managed to keep from slipping into the void. He still couldn't control his body. Not as it ripped free of the bindings and went on a rampage tearing up the room he was in. His claws left huge rents in the reinforced walls, revealing metal beneath the concrete. Even that was peeled away.
Jake rode along the rampage feeling everything as if he was in his own body naturally, just that someone else was controlling it. Eventually, he tired out and collapsed. His skill finally ending.
"It worked! IT WORKED! IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" Jon was shouting over the microphone, his voice echoing through the ruined room. Jake found it annoying but was too tired to do anything but slump on the floor. He looked down at his chest. It was covered in what looked like skin tight shiny metallic bark. It folded and bent like a second set of skin that completely unimpeded his movement. Jagged short sleeves showed where the armor had stopped growing on his upper arms, not far past his shoulder. All his bulging dark veins were gone and slumped over he could see the edge of his gauntlets had started to take on the same bark texture. But it hadn't spread very far. He wondered briefly in his exhausted haze if his gauntlets and armor had tried to merge together. What would have that done?
In Jake's hud, he saw his health bar slowly filling back up. The bottom half was now covered in a blue glow he was familiar with. It was the representation of his shield. Above his health bar, it was now covered in a purple glow he had never seen before. They split his health bar horizontally. Overhead the hatch opened and Jon came bounding down the stairs.
"Oh my. Yes, look at you. Look at this." He was rubbing over Jake's back, shoulder, and chest with both hands in far too intimate a way for Jake. Almost as if he was caressing him. The fact that Jake could feel the other boys touch on his metallic armor just as if he was touching his bare skin wasn't pleasant.
"Hands off." Jake snarled and shrugged some, still too exhausted to move much.
"Sorry sorry I just got excited. No worries I prefer women. But this armor." He started to reach out to touch him again and stopped. "This is perfect. Amazing. Beyond my expectations. Honestly, I expected you to blow up and get teleported away still. I was just hoping to get a bit more data. But we did it! We really really did it!"
Jake, even exhausted, managed to glare at Jon as he processed his words. "You didn't expect it to work?"
"Oh um no I definitely expected it to work. Totally knew it from the start. You were never in any danger." Jake's glare only got stronger as his exhaustion started to fade already. The drug Jon had given him was really something amazing if he was already recovering. "Upgrade! I said I would upgrade your weapons!" Jon hopped up and quickly moved out of Jake's reach before rushing up the stairs. The hatch slammed and Jake could hear him spinning the wheel that sealed the door.
"Um back on the table when you can please." Jon's voice came over the mic. Jake wondered for a moment if he could rip through that door. Then slowly got up and moved to the table. If he couldn't yet, hopefully he could after this upgrade.