The armour hangs loose from a pair of metal forks against the back wall of the garage. A deep gash, surrounded by black charring, makes it clear that you had a pretty nasty brush with danger just a few moments earlier. Faust could be serious, it seems. Lala hangs from the front plate like a mischievous animal, poking at the hole with her finger.
"That's a big hole," she concludes.
"I noticed. Faust cut right through the plate using some kind of energy sword."
Mitsuru taps away at her touchscreen tablet, bringing up sheets of numbers and graphs; "Hm. I took readings of it, and our sensors managed to recover some data about the weapon he used. Hot, high energy, and lightweight too. I'm afraid the conclusion is fairly simple. We don't have the technology on earth to construct a usable material that can resist these forces."
"It's lucky that I managed to get out of the way then," you sigh.
"I feared that this would be the case. The fact of the matter is that for all of my immense genius, there are many things that cannot be done alone. Creating a new alloy would required billions of dollars in research and manufactories."
This is coming from the mouth of a girl that made a dimension hopping gun. Does she mean to imply that the cross-dimensional material was all she needed? The rest of the mechanism must be built from components that she can purchase on Earth.
"So, what can we do?"
Mitsuru adjusts her glasses, "Then we must merely change our battlefield strategy. We must do everything we can to tilt the odds in our favour when brute force will not suffice. I've already started working on something new, a module that allows us to modify the composition and function of the armour. Increasing attack, mobility or defence as and when the situation demands. If combined with a diverse group of harem members - we can handle any threat."
Lala jumps up and down on the balls of her feet, "Oh, oh! Form change!"
"Form change?" you repeat.
"Every good superhero changes form!" Lala explains, "At least they do in Japan…"
"According to my research and discussions with our summonees, our fictional, parallel selves created several 'power ups' that took inspiration from the media they crossed over with. I've already drafted some designs in line with that practice. It will provide a very profitab- I mean, powerful selection of alternate forms for you to use."
Mitsuru's intentions are incredibly transparent.
You give a world-weary sigh, "If that's what you think we need to win."
"Lala, can you patch this up for me?"
Lala salutes to Mitsuru, "Roger boss!" She dives into a nearby box of junk and begins digging through them to find what she needs to fix the huge slash running across the front plate. You hope that Mitsuru isn't working the poor girl too hard in the lab when you're away.
"By the way Mitsuru, have you been taking advice from Venelana?"
She smirks, "Of course – why would I not take advantage of such a brilliant mind for business? She's the one who helped me launder- I mean procure the money we earned from the merchandising line, all without leaving a messy paper trail."
"You've been spending more time with her than I have…"
"She is the leader of a gigantic noble family. She's a busy woman. Though that doesn't stop her from asking about you."
"Really?"
"Yes. I would suggest fulfilling your earlier promise of a fine dining date soon, lest you incur her wrath."
You shudder. Okay, juggling all of these different people is starting to get difficult. It would help if Mitsuru could increase the number of summons available again – but if she could she would. There's no sign of another capacity upgrade on the horizon at the moment. A date with Venelana huh? That means you need to buy yourself a nice suit – a really nice custom-made suit, that actually fits properly. Finding a nice restaurant won't be so hard, there are fifty million of them in town that nobody ever visits.
Chun-Li said five-hundred wives though. Perhaps their fiction is still fiction for a reason.
You take a seat at the workbench and watch the pair work their magic. You were so deep into that discussion that you failed to notice Motoko hovering around the place and taking a closer look at everything. "It's certainly an effective piece of urban camouflage," she concludes, sitting next to you on the other stool, "Though if it comes under attack you may be in trouble."
"Those alien losers can't even tie their own shoes correctly – they aren't going to find my lab," Mitsuru says in defence.
Motoko shrugs it off, "Don't say I didn't warn you when they do."
A question springs to mind; "Do you use powered armour in Section 9?"
She shakes her head, "Some units used to, a long time ago. But the prevalence of cybernetic bodies made most of their functions redundant. They're heavy, power hungry and reduce mobility. You could use one for someone who isn't enhanced, but the maintenance and costs are often seen as prohibitive."
"What I wouldn't give to get my hands on some of that technology," Mitsuru sighs.
"I'm not going to steal anything for you," Motoko says sternly. You have to agree with her. Snatching things from other worlds is going to drum up a whole heap of trouble for you in the future. Mitsuru wouldn't be able to resist reverse engineering them and shooting Earth's technology ahead by two hundred plus years.
Mitsuru pouts, "You're no fun."
----
Lala finished off fixing the armour, and both her and Motoko went home without further incident. Motoko is a hard woman to converse with – since so much of her time and mind-space is dedicated solely to her job. Speaking with you about your own TV and manga series is probably out of the question.
You decided to use one of your blank cards while Mitsuru dipped out to do something. Rias had been very insistent on introducing Xenovia to the harem – and considering the sudden focus on swordplay that has occurred in your fight against the invaders, now seems as good a time as any. You type her name into the computer and watch a reticle move across a map covered in thousands of tiny dots, before it locks onto one of them and turns red.
"Here goes nothing…"
You press the enter key and watch as the text log on the left spits out a spew of numbers and processes, calculating the needed data and inputting it into the body of the blank card. The printer whirs to life and rattles the desk, this process only takes a few seconds. It settles down and releases a gush of steam as it rapidly cools down.
The tray opens and reveals a newly inked card, featuring the serious and dedicated Xenovia Quarta. Now that you look at her with fresh eyes, you realise she kind of reminds you of Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill, thanks to their similar brash personalities and single bundle of off-colour hair. Maybe Ryuko would make a good choice in future too – though having a version of her without Senketsu would be problematic. Mitsuru's guiding hand will be needed to find a universe where she does.
You send a courtesy message to Rias explaining that you picked her up.
Rias responds with a heart eye emoji and nothing else. Thanks a lot…
Dropping the card with the rest of your collection, you consider what to do with the rest of your day. Training is an easy way to kill a couple hours, but what then? Maybe Mitsuru will have a dumb errand for you to complete. You grab a towel and some clean clothes from the office locker and head into the gym. You'll have to think about it.