"Alright... I'll tell you a bit more about your suit, Grunt No. 703." The mad scientist Victoria agreed to my request to know more about my Grunt Battle Suit, specifically on how to control the tiny nanobots that made up my dark gray skin-tight suit.
The hovering drone that displayed the scientist woman suddenly got closer to me. The drone stopped at a comfortable distance between us. I saw that Victoria was tinkering with something outside of the video feed that I couldn't see.
Soon after, the drone suddenly pulled out some sort of mechanical "limb," which surprised me a bit. Even more so when the edge of that mechanical "limb," a tube with a small lens-like glass, started rotating by itself and then light came out of the tube. The light it produced slowly configured into some sort of shape—a hologram, to be precise. The shape slowly but surely started to take form into something that was quite familiar to me: a T-posing supervillain's grunt.
Specifically, it was not just any grunt, but what I strongly assumed was my own holographic grunt body model. It even showed my muscular body shape, unique white markings, and especially my label number on the left side of the holographic model's chest: No. 703.
"Whoa..." I was awed by the holographic display that the drone showed me. I had never thought I would finally see what my full body looked like. Of course, I had somewhat seen it by the reflection in the clean, shiny wall in that resting room where I had woken up, but this holographic display of my body was clearer and even more detailed. It was as if those scientists had scanned my entire body into their database...
Well, most likely they did, given that all of us grunts had been their test subjects just recently.
"This is your Grunt Battle Suit, No. 703," Victoria began, referring specifically to the dark gray suit of my holographic model. Then the holographic model suddenly zoomed in on my body... and it didn't stop at just a closer look; it zoomed even deeper into the Grunt Battle Suit's, or GBS's, layers. It zoomed in to what I assumed to be a microscopic level. Finally, the holographic display stopped zooming, revealing the so-called 'nanobots'.
"These are the nanobots. They are the very things that envelop your body, creating a battle suit that not only protects all of you grunts but also helps mend the damage done to your body as well." Victoria explained to me about the nanobots and their purpose. The nanobots shown in the holographic display looked like some sort of mechanical bugs. They had bean-shaped bodies and multiple tiny limbs. Their bodies were a dark gray color, almost black even.
So... these were the tiny machines that had been protecting all of us grunts, huh? I was amazed once again by this nanobot technology. To be able to design and produce these tiny machines and make them into wearable clothing was quite an astonishing feat. And these feats were, of course, coming from the one and only infamous and smartest supervillain, Max Brain.
Then the holographic display of the nanobots zoomed out quickly, turning back into my T-posing holographic body model.
"Those nanobots work autonomously, without having to input any orders, to protect your grunt body or even heal any damage done to your body. They are connected to your nervous system, so they could be said to work as your own second layer of skin," Victoria continued explaining the mechanism of these nanobots. Her explanation really made sense of why I had felt naked even when I was fully covered tightly from head to toe with these nanobots. I could even sense heat and touch through them.
But... this was not what I was looking for. I was glad that I now knew that I could count on these nanobots to protect my body, but I was specifically looking for how to control these nanobots. Sensing my dissatisfaction, the mad scientist Victoria had a glint on her square-rim glasses which attracted my attention.
"The explanation is not over yet, Grunt No. 703," she briefly assured me. The holographic display of my body then rotated around, showing the backside of it. Of course, without much to say and I was not trying to brag either, but my body was pretty muscular on the back as well.
"While these nanobots do work autonomously without needing your command..." another holographic shape popped out, revealing a "window" like display that had a line connected to the back of my holographic body. Specifically, the spine as the window display inside the hologram showcased the side view of what I assumed to be my skull and spinal compositions. "They are also connected heavily to your brain and spinal cord. Thus, you also have the ability to control your nanobots suit," Victoria concluded her explanation.
"Whoa..." again, I muttered in awe from hearing her explanation of the GBS suit that I was wearing right now. Knowing that I could actually control these nanobots was a mind-blowing revelation. It was truly an otherworldly technological advancement. But... "So... is there a specific way to control them using my brain and stuff, boss?" I bluntly asked the displayed mad scientist Victoria.
Victoria herself only giggled at my blunt question, "Nope. Those are the only 'hints' I'm giving you~," she teasingly turned down my request.
I playfully slumped my shoulders in disappointment, "Aw man. You're a pretty cheapskate, boss," I retorted. Again, she giggled at my antics.
"Figure it out yourself, Grunt No. 703," the hovering drone turned off its hologram projector limb and retracted it back inside. "And I trust that you can definitely figure it out, No. 703. Good luck~," she wished me luck and even showed one of her genuine smiles on her drone display. Then the drone itself flew away, leaving me to figure things out by myself as it observed me from the sky again.
Now it was time to brainstorm on how to control these nanobots on my body, with my literal brain and supposedly my spinal cord. The fact that I now knew I could control my GBS suit was an eye-opening thought. Well... I potentially could, but I still hadn't figured out how.
"Hmm..." I hummed, closing my eyes to try to focus on my thoughts. I knew that these nanobots existed, enveloping my whole body as if they were a second layer of my skin. Wait... no normal person could control their own skin to begin with, so that was a rather bad metaphor.
"So... let's change how I view this suit of mine," I stated to myself, trying to get a mindset going. I tried to think of this GBS suit of mine as more than just a second layer of protective skin; it was now my own muscles. Just like before when I had to force my sluggish-almost-stiff body to get out of the EMF zone inside the Lightning Grid obstacle.
Now... I tried to imagine my willpower flowing through my skin... into my GBS suit... into my nanobots that had been protecting me and supporting me in this unexpected reincarnation of my life... as one of the grunts of the supervillain Max Brain. I even thanked Max Brain for creating this magnificent nanobot suit for us grunts.
"So please... heed my will," I muttered to myself, as I began "pouring" more and more of my willpower into the nanobots of my GBS suit. Then... I felt tingling. Not the same tingling that I had felt from the EMFs of the Lightning Grid... but the tingling of something moving... crawling on my skin. I admit, it was a horrible metaphor, but that was honestly the best description of what I was feeling right now.
I slowly opened my eyes... and found that my GBS suit was slowly shifting. I could somewhat see that it moved around on my skin, as if they were some sort of ants crawling on my body. I would honestly freak out if they were indeed actual ants, but they weren't. They were my nanobots... they were my allies.
After thinking such a thought, for some reason, I could somewhat feel that these nanobots were responding to my feeling of them and I could somewhat understand that they felt the same way about me.
I snorted out a laugh at such a thought. "I'm seriously going insane," I commented to myself. Truly, the more I got myself into this grunt "lifestyle," the more I felt like my sanity was starting to come loose.
So be it then... it didn't really matter if I became insane or not, because what mattered right now was to finish this obstacle course!
"Let's go...!" I exclaimed with determination. I was not only pumping myself up, but also my new nanobot buddies. As if responding to my willpower, my GBS suit even started to shift quite wildly. Before, the nanobots on my skin were shifting slowly and had a random wavy motion. But now... it was speeding up, and the shift was not random anymore; instead, it was shifting from one place to another... and then going back to its original position.
Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
The surfaces of my arms, the surfaces of my torso, the surfaces of my legs. Almost every surface of my body except for my head had the nanobots of my GBS suit shifting themselves in an orderly, but fast motion. As if... they were rubbing my body. This shifting on my body happened for a solid minute... then...
Small arcs of electricity started to appear around my body.