Jake was even more determined now to win than before. As far as he was concerned Haven sounded like bad news, the idea others were following in its example bothered him as well. They only had a week to prepare, so for the first time since the battle for the Dimensional Anchor, Jake went to see the Artist. His real name was Jon, spelled with a J and pronounced with a Y. Although looking only a few years older than Jake he was in fact much older.
He was one of the unique cases where he could return to Earth without instantly dying or mutating into a monster. But wasn't able to evolve with mutagens. Also, should he leave the safe zone that reduced the radiation to a safe level he would eventually die. Developing a sickness very similar to cancer. It was what had happened to his mother. She had taken the role of evolver, collecting cores with groups of others even though the very act was a death sentence.
Even worse was knowing that if she had chosen to do as Jon and Clive, living on Earth. Her aging would slow to a crawl. She hadn't given up a normal human's life span but one that could easily have been measured in centuries. She had done it for her family. Jake knew he shouldn't, but he still felt guilty about it as well. It was just another guilt added to the pile.
Jon lived in a bunker on the edge of the Hub. It was a prefall building that had been repaired and maintained for untold centuries even before Jon started using it. It was also reinforced and safely away from others so his experiments didn't generate any extra collateral damage. His nickname the Artist was given to him rather than him naming himself. He always referred to himself as Jon. But he created only custom equipment and almost always of the highest quality.
The A rank evolvers Jake had met knew of Jon and were jealous that Jake had equipment made by them. Until they found out he had almost died for the unique hybrid armor he wore capable of defending against both physical and elemental damage. On top of that, his gauntlets had been upgraded unsuccessfully until they started eating high-level magical equipment from his allies. Sure it had resulted in him gaining access to powerful elemental attacks. Ones whose use also damaged him as a double edged attack. While everything Jon produced was powerful and unique they all seemed to be nearly as dangerous to the user.
On top of that Jon himself was a bit… excentric. The last time Jake had seen him, the man was taking one last piss in his environmental space suit before taking it off after wearing it for a week straight. As he put it, "It is just so convenient not to have to stop for bathroom breaks." Jon had talked about developing a personal… diaper for lack of a better description. Jake just hoped he hadn't.
Jake paused at the bunker door to take a deep breath. Double checked that his Survivor's Fury was off cooldown, though there was no reason it wouldn't be. Then let himself in. The ancient metal hatch creaked and groaned as he pulled it open. Inside a narrow set of concrete stairs descended. Lit only by bare red lightbulbs that barely shed any useful light. Jake was halfway down those narrow stairs when the entire ground shook and fire blasted from somewhere far down below before rushing up past him. His body glowed in a faint purple light as his armor shielded him from the flames. It quickly passed leaving the narrow stairwell filled with dark smoke. Jake activated his helmet, the liquid metal erupting from his neck before closing in on his head. Even with the new shattered mirror look and the jagged jaw of broken glass, his helmet filtered out most of the smoke. Still, Jake could taste the foul smoke. It reeked of burnt plastic and just a hint of what he expected burning diapers to smell like. Jake's steps froze and he wondered in horror if that was exactly what he was smelling.
A cough announced the figure stumbling through the smoke into the stairwell. They were covered in soot so completely that they looked like a walking shadow. They paused when they pushed through the smoke enough to see Jake. Their eyes appeared impossibly white against that powdering of darkness on their face.
"Demon! Perfect timing I was just about to call you." Jon raced up the last few steps and put an arm over Jake's shoulder before starting to guide him down into the smokey mess below. Jake looked at the vast amounts of soot being smudged on him.
"Jon, shouldn't we be evacuating?" Jake waved some of the smoke away from his face so he could see the other man.
"What? No no it is clearing up already. See." He sucked in a deep breath then coughed and choked. In a wheezing voice, he spoke. "See fresh as can be."
Several minutes later once Jon stopped hacking up a lung after Jake dragged him back out of the bunker they got down to business. "You are here for an upgrade. But sadly there is nothing I can do at this point. I was hoping to get ahold of some nice Gravitite and make a staff to try and feed your gauntlets. But I just haven't found any. Well, none that either of us could afford. But just imagine it! If you had access to gravity magic. I wonder how it would manifest for you. I read the report about your fight with the invading monster. You finally figured out how to use your combined elemental abilities. Obviously, I knew how it would work but I felt it better for you to figure it out on your own. Also, did something happen to your armor? It seems different. Not just the appearance changes to your mask either. No there is definitely something. Anyways you are heading to Haven soon yes? Of course, I knew. I read the reports. Besides, I have a colleague who resides in Haven. I told you about her, remember. The one interested in your body. She is pretty sure she has learned everything she can with the life sized anatomically correct dummy of you she has. Oh about that she had some interesting findings she thought you might find useful. Did you know your primary erogenous zone is…"
Jake had to reach over and muzzle Jon to finally get him to stop talking. He did this sometimes. Just started rambling nonstop. It normally meant he hadn't slept in a while. Or had taken to eating coffee grounds straight, again. Or probably a mix of both.
"I don't want to hear anything about my… why does this person…" Jake sighed. "Never mind. Yes, I was hoping to get any upgrades you might have. Even something small?"
Once Jake removed his hand Jon seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Sorry. But I've got nothing. But don't worry. Haven has a huge market I am sure we can find something there."
Jake nodded then his head whipped back to Jon. "We?"
"Oh yes. They didn't tell you? I'm going. The Territory Trountement is a big event for those of us in the know. It is rare to move between pocket dimensions even to one as large as Haven. There are a number of things I want to check out there. Besides, I promised to introduce you to my colleague. She is just dying to get her hands on you, I mean meet you. She is almost as brilliant as I am. Though she specializes in organic topics while I focus on crafting the equipment. That said over the years we have found our research merges more than one would expect. The unique nature of the Evolvers and their symbiotic nature with the equipment created from the cores is just fascinating. We even have a theory we have worked on that states…" Jake had to silence him again as he started building up.
"So you're telling me you have no upgrades for me. I have to take you with me. And you are going to try and take me to meet this crazy psycho woman who has done gods know what with a dummy of me? Yeah… No." Jake stood up and again tried to brush the soot off himself.
"Now now no need to be like that. Besides, you will need an escort. Greger is going of course but so is Leru and she is bringing her little assistant. I believe you know them." Jon added.
"Assistant? What assistant?" Jake frowned. Had he met anyone besides the mayor, Leru, and Captian Asshole?"
"Funny when I spoke to her she made it sound like you knew them. I believe she said their name was Jerry." Jon shrugged, causing soot to float free of his shoulder.
"Gerri?" Jake asked shocked.
"Ahh yes. That is the name. Leru was excited to finally have someone to work with. There are so few initiated. I hear she will be making the trip down in my new and improved suit. I've really done some amazing things with the waste disposal unit. I was just putting the final touches on it when you showed up. In fact, let me go… Wait where are you going?"
Jake didn't even bother answering.