Spending hours at the mall had left us tired and exhausted, and I thought we would all finally get some rest. Especially since our next mission is coming up. Except Skye had other plans for me today. Seems she really wanted to show me around her lab, and it just had to be the second we got home.

And since she only needed me, that meant Eve could go and relax in her room for the rest of the night. It was unfair really, but I wasn’t that tired so I guess it’s fine in the end.

The issue with that though, is that being alone with someone who I’m definitely starting to crush on...it's a bit nerve-wracking. 

It’s really bizarre to me, to start crushing on someone after just a single word. It was like her saying ‘Date’ today had made me see her in a completely different light. Like my brain picked her up out of the ‘friend’ box and placed her into the ‘romantically interested’ box. 

I wonder if I had always seen her like that, and maybe it’s just now clicking in? Maybe what I needed to mentally move her into that box was just a normal day. A day where we didn’t have to think or talk about the Phantoms. A day we could relax and just be ourselves.

I needed more time to process these feelings. A day isn’t long enough to suddenly declare that I have a crush on her, so maybe I just need to see how I feel as time passes. At least I think so...this is all kinda new to me so I’m not entirely sure…

Nervous wreck or not, I just need to get this over with. I reached up and knocked on the basement door that led to Skye’s lab. She opened the door from the other side and looked up at me with a cheery smile.

“H-hey.” Great, now I can’t even speak properly anymore.

“Heya, why don’t you come in? Explore a bit. I also got you some new gear to toy around with during the next mission. Just uh, try not to break anything, okay?” She said as she turned around and walked away, leaving the door wide open. 

I walked in and...just wow…

There were wires and mechanical parts everywhere. On the walls, on the shelves, the floor, and even hanging from the ceiling. Thankfully there was still enough space to walk around, but it was still pretty cramped down here.

I noticed a pile of obviously scrapped robots, some were half built and others were lacking even that much. Some of them looked similar to Tami's robot body, but they were just slightly different.

Towards the right side of the room was a large computer desk with a single large monitor. To the left of the desk was a mostly built robot, the only missing part was its head. It looked much more pristine and new than the rest of the unfinished robots in the room.

It almost looked like Tami’s body back when they turned off her illusion to show me she was a robot. But with a bunch of armor and oddly placed weapons along its arms and shoulders instead. 

To the right of the desk was a large alchemy lab, with a large glass case nearby. The case had a black lid and looked like it was kept at a cold temperature, if the temperature gauge on the side was to be believed. Inside the case were six vials, five blue and one red. 

“Those are what you and Eve got from the last couple of missions,” Skye said as she noticed my staring at the vials. “I’ve been trying to find a way to reverse the effects on them to try and find a cure, but I haven’t had much luck. At this rate I'm starting to doubt if there even is a cure…”

“Well if it’s any comfort,” I started as I turned back towards Skye. “I think out of all the people I know, you probably have the best chance at finding one.”

“...thank you.” She said with a genuine smile, before she quickly turned away. “Now, uh, how about a tour I guess.”

She pointed toward the headless robot near the desk. “That’s Tami’s main combat body. Tami, if you would do the honors.” 

Suddenly I heard a mechanical chirping noise come from under the desk, before the little spider bolted out towards her body. Skittering along as she climbed up the metal limbs and torso until she reached the top. She stuck her legs down into the robot, and after a second the entire body started to light up and become alive.

She let out another mechanical chirp, before she tried to take a step forward. Her movements were janky and very slow, and it was clear she was having a hard time moving at all. After a moment or so, Skye called out for her to stop and she jumped out of the robot.

She ran over to the desk and climbed up it, before turning towards me and staring at me with her large camera lens like eye. Tami let out a loud, long mechanical noise that sounded...happy?

Skye chuckled with a light blush, and I turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Am I missing something?”

“Nothing to worry about, Tami here was just making a friendly joke.” 

Wait...what?

“You understand her?” 

“Of course! I wouldn’t be a good creator if I couldn’t even understand my creations.” She said with a proud grin. “But she has a voice box, she just doesn’t want to use it. It took some time, but I eventually learned how to understand her based on the little chirps she makes.”

“That's..uh…” 

“Weird?” Skye asked and I nodded. “Yeah I don’t get why she doesn’t like it either, but if she’s happier this way then who am I to stop her. I’ve tried other voice boxes for her, but we never found one she liked.”

“I see,” I said as I looked between the two of them. “So, what did she say?”

“Uh, well…”She said as she avoided looking my way, before she coughed and pointed towards the desk. “W-would you look at that! The equipment I had planned on giving you!”

She darted towards the desk, and pulled out what looked like a shoe box. She opened it and...yep it was a shoe box. Inside it was two black tennis shoes. She quickly shoved the shoes in my hands as she started explaining them.

Guess I’m not getting an explanation on their joke…

“These shoes were made to be as silent as possible, to the point that your footsteps should be nearly inaudible! Unless you start running or stomping around...not much I can do there to silence that.”

“How’d you even make something like this?” I asked as I slipped the shoes on and tried walking around, and surprisingly she was right. They didn’t make a single sound, and they were weirdly my exact size.

“A magician never reveals her secrets!” She exclaimed as she picked up another piece of equipment off the desk. This time it was two black gloves.

“These are quite special, I had a fun time making them.” She started as she passed me the gloves. “They’re made of an incredibly durable and unique fabric, so they should be able to take quite the beating. Besides just being durable, they also have a deployable lockpick function for when you need to break in somewhere. Try it out.”

I nodded, before trying to position my hands like I do when I try to pick through locks. Almost immediately, a tiny slot in the gloves opened up, and out slid two small black mechanical lockpicks in response. I relaxed my hands and they slid back into the slots.

“These are insane! Thanks, Skye.” I said with an appreciative smile. She really outdid herself.

“That’s not all of it.” She said as she grabbed a small black box from the desk. “These are my recent masterpieces, and I’m quite proud of them.”

She opened up the box to reveal...a pair of contact lenses? I didn’t expect that that’s for sure...

“These have two primary functions. The first is that it allows me to see through your eyes like a video camera, so I can finally see what is happening during you and Eve’s missions. I originally had made this for her, but she refuses all of my tech. Says it restricts her imagination for her power.”

She sighed before she shook her head.

“Off topic. Anyway, the second feature is that it lets you zoom in on far-away targets. Kinda like a pair of binoculars. This should let you copy powers from a much safer distance, if it works. Just focus on zooming in and the tech will recognize it and do its thing.”

“Skye, these are insane...and I don’t wanna be rude…” I said as I looked at the lens. “Why didn’t you just make a pair of glasses? Shouldn’t that have been easier?”

“Yeah, it would have been. But how often do you get into fights? Dodging around is going to make them fly right off, and you probably don’t wanna imagine getting hit in the face with glasses on.”

“F-fair point,” I say as she pushes the box into my hands. “But this is...well a lot. You think I can give these a go right now? I really wanna try them out.”

She nodded. “Well of course, in fact, it’s a really good time. You'll need the practice.”

“Huh? Why?”

She smirked. 

“Because tomorrow is our next mission of course.”