Beta Testing

Ixtli yelled as she dropped the prototype she'd been working on. It was intended to be a modified, modernized version of Kether's sword for Emi, because Rina was nothing if not single-minded in her pursuit of outdoing the original.

The problem was that there was nothing for Ixtli to work from. No one had seen Kether's sword in action since the last war. Kether wasn't being forthcoming, and Jin Katsuya wasn't even answering the phone. She'd gone through the archives and pieced together what she could. She'd even interviewed a few veterans who'd served around Kether, though most of them seemed to be skeptical of anybody asking too many questions about their former commander.

Consensus was that whatever it was, it was dangerous to everyone around the General. There were stories that one of his own men had gotten impaled on it once and he'd never been the same.

Not that anyone seemed to know who he was either. That might have been useful information. But most of Jin's work during the war had been contract work, and he'd been temperamental at best, and so none of his records were to be found.

Realistically, reasonably, there was nothing left for Ixtli to do but make it up as she went along. That probably had something to do with why Monifa had told her not to bother. But it was also a challenge, and Ixtli loved a challenge.

Except when the damn thing kept shocking her as she worked on it. She swore at it again and then decided to inflict it on someone else.

Which was why she was on the testing range long after Monifa and the rest of the sensible employees had gone home. Koshou was there to help take notes, and Robin was there for... well...

"Somebody's got to make it work," Ixtli had told him. "Nobody reported anything like a power source, so I figure it has to respond to someone who's blooded."

Robin only agreed when Ixtli promised lunch all week. She handed him the sword she'd spent the last two weeks building in her spare time and handed Koshou her notebook. "I've got a list of tests. It should produce a field around itself that magnifies the force you use. So, let's get started!"

The first few tests went smoothly. Ixtli cheered as the sword went through one fruit prop after another.

"What's next?" Robin asked after it went clean through a watermelon.

"Reflex test!" Ixtli shouted. When Robin looked confused, she flung a kiwi at him. He utterly failed to react in time, only bringing his arm up in time to flailingly fail to stop the kiwi - and the sword kept going up, embedding itself in the ceiling.

"I'm going to get more coffee. I have not had nearly enough caffeine to have food thrown at me," Robin sighed.

Ixtli stared up at the sword. "That wasn't what I had in mind..." She reached up for the sword, but it was still beyond her fingertips, even when she jumped. She was about to go looking for a chair when she felt arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground.

She kicked reflexively and Koshou dropped her on the floor.

"Oops. Sorry," she said, "Reflex."

Koshou coughed. "It's fine. I should have warned you."

"How about you give me a boost by letting me stand on your hands instead?" He nodded and knelt, offering a hand to steady her as she stood on his leg and wrapped her hand around the hilt of the sword.

For the second time, it felt like the energy of the sword itself was pushing her away. It was almost angry and it shot up her arm like an electrical current, burning painfully at the junction between biological nerves and artificial. Ixtli fell back onto Koshou and the two of them hit the floor just in time for the sword to come down on top of them.

"Ow," Koshou said, inspecting the cut on his shoulder. Ixtli followed his eyes down to the cut just as blood started to seep through. It went clean through his workcoat, his shirt, and into the skin. Inspection told him her wasn't too deep, but Koshou looked uncomfortable.

"I suppose that's enough testing for now. I'll have to get Emi to try it directly," Ixtli sighed and stood. "Come back into the lab, we've got a first aid kit with a healing stone. I'll patch you up."

Koshou took her hand and she helped him up. Ixtli grabbed a pair of insulated gloves before she picked up the sword, just to be on the safe side. He held his other hand over the cut, applying pressure to stop the blood flow.

"I think it's earned a name," Ixtli snickered as she tried to shake free the chunk of insulation still stick to the end of the blade.

"What did you have in mind?"

She held the blade up, showing off the attached insulation. "How does 'Piece of Heaven' sound to you?"

"Like you'll laugh every time it comes up in a department meeting."

"I don't consider that a downside..."