Amber's specialty arrows had arrived at last.
Her face lit up when her eyes met the contents of the black duffle bag that Leo brought her. Inside the bag resided 7 types of arrows, all with different colored arrowheads that had different purposes.
The red arrowheads were obviously explosive, having a detonation radius of about 20 feet. The explosion could blow a hole through a 6-inch titanium wall.
The blue ones had been designed by Leo himself, and emitted an electric discharge on impact, disabling any electrical equipment. It could also daze and disorient a human if it came into contact with them.
The green ones emitted a heavy gas to use as a distraction or for cover, and the silver ones served as grappling hook arrows.
The gray arrowheads were sonic arrows, emitting a high-frequency sound that disoriented the opponent.
The yellow arrowheads were meant to be tranquilizers. They had a dulled tip, meaning that they wouldn't penetrate as much as the others.
But the white ones, those were Amber's favorite.
Back in archery class, she'd been taught the anatomy of an arrow. She knew it inside out, like it was the back of her hand. The point, the shaft, the fletching, the nock.
So, she'd decided to combine her knowledge with the advanced technology at her disposal in the facility, and what she got was a masterpiece.
She'd spent hours in the Armory designing her prized cryo-arrows. She could fuel them with her own cryokinetic abilities, allowing them to instantly freeze whatever they came into contact with. Even Leo, the most intelligent member of the team technology-wise, was completely baffled by Amber's ingenuity.
But her arrows weren't the only upgrades she'd been given. Her bow and quiver had been improved as well. While she'd somewhat gotten attached to the bow she'd equipped from the War Room, she felt that her own improved design would allow her to fare better on the battlefield.
Her new bow was collapsible, with breaks above and below the handle, as well as midway down the length of each limb. This allowed the bow to be folded into a more compact form that made it easier to conceal, carry, store, and transport. When deployed, the bow could swiftly re-assemble in one quick motion as the limbs locked back into place.
To further aid in combat, the bow had a red laser sight to help Amber quickly draw a line of sight when targeting enemies at close range. When pushed to hand to hand combat, the bow was durable enough to serve as an effective melee weapon.
Four buttons running down the length of the bow's grip, in line with each of her fingertips, allowed Amber to request specialty arrows from her quiver without taking her mind off the battle. She could also use these controls to remote trigger certain specialty arrows, such as the explosive tip.
By carrying the arrows in eight separate bundles, side by side, the quiver retained a flat, slim profile while being worn, which kept it from hindering Amber's movement. Each bundle contained 5 of each specialty arrow, along with 45 conventional arrows, making a total of eighty.
"You know, one of these days you're gonna get injured and I'm gonna be at your bedside." She weakly chuckled, suppressing the pain as the breaths of joy exited her mouth.
"That doesn't sound so pleasant." Leo laughed. "Being locked up in a room for the entire weekend and doing nothing but watching television sounds pretty boring."
"Isn't that what you do?" Amber replied with a smirk, spinning one of her arrows through her fingers. She used her middle finger as the fulcrum, swiftly forcing the end of the arrow against the webbing between her thumb and index finger.
"Touché." Leo smirked, leaning up against the doorframe as he toyed with a small spark of electricity on his fingertip. It bounced around frantically, jumping swiftly from finger to finger as if it were endlessly doing parkour. "But in all seriousness, what do you really do in here all day?"
"This." Amber replied as she moved one of her pillows over, revealing a silver switch. She flipped the switch downward, triggering the wall directly in front of her bed to flip inside out, revealing a target. She reached over herself as she winced, straining to grab her old bow.
"You're kidding." Leo gasped, his jaw dropped.
"I never kid about my archery." Amber flashed the boy a smile as she notched an arrow onto her bowstring, aiming at the target as she released it a mere second later.
The twang of the bowstring was like music to her ears. A sharp "thunk" sounded as the tip of the piercing projectile stuck into the target.
She got a bullseye.
"Hey, I'm glad you're not hesitating anymore in combat, by the way." She continued, hitting another bullseye as she prepared to launch another arrow from her bow.
"You really saved all of our butts on that rescue mission. You know, I've been meaning to ask, what motivated you in that moment? You were like a whole different person for a second there."
Leo froze like a statue, his pale face adopting the color of a rose. The only reason he'd been able to tap into that much of his power that night was because of her, but he couldn't let her know that.
Not yet, at least.
Fortunately, he was an expert at formulating excuses. "I just couldn't let you guys down, you know?" He chuckled. "I wasn't gonna look like dead weight again."
"Come on now, don't say that. You were never dead weight, and I'm sure Kai would say the same. We were all just getting used to our powers, that's all-"
"Leo Hargrove and Amber Grayson, your presence is required in The Cortex immediately." PAL informed through the speakers in Amber's room.
"Guess we'll continue this convo later?" Amber asked, sprouting up from her bed and strolling over to Leo as she brushed her hair out her beautiful, freckled face.
"Yep." Leo answered swiftly, turning on his heel as he and Amber exited her room, strolling down to the Cortex. A heavy, sharp gust of wind nearly knocked the pair over as a blurred Dylo shot past them, grinning as always.
Skidding to a stop, the squeak of his shoes rubbing against the tiled floor was like music to the boy's ears. He materialized next to the identification slot, throwing his head back in frustration as he let out a long sigh.
"Why do these things have to be everywhere?" Complained the freckled teen as he stuck his yellow and black card in the slot. He impatiently tapped his foot as he glared at Leo and Amber.
"Well, maybe you should stop running everywhere so fast. Just food for thought, motor mouth." Adam suggested from down the hall. The kid had already been hyper before the Genodium explosion, but his abilities only seemed to increase his energy level.
"Yeah, not gonna happen. You'll have better luck trying to get me to stop breathing, forehead." Dylo swiftly babbled, ignoring the boy's remark with a dismissive wave.
Amber chuckled. His words emerged from his lips in such rapid succession that it sounded like the boy was speaking Spanish. She could've sworn that the guy didn't breathe at all when he spoke.
"Agent: Dylo Daybreak. Codename: Blur. Access granted." PAL's digital, lady-like voice stated as Dylo opened the door to The Cortex. The others followed him inside.
Kai and Troy had arrived early, of course, eager to discover what new task Director Callan had assigned to him and his team. If it was anything that involved Primus, he was all for it. "What's this about, sir?"
"Even though you've successfully detained Ajax, there's still dozens of his troops running amuck. I've noticed that your team hasn't been faring well against most of Primus' top agents, such as Rionna Waters and Samson Woodward-otherwise known as Rift and Steel. And that's only two of them."
Troy's muscles tensed. His face felt hot and flushed as soon as the bulky director mentioned Steel.
Director Callan didn't say it, but Troy knew that the comment was directed at him. He could see it in the man's face. Back at home, his father had made that exact same face when he chastised him for being a pathetic excuse of a son.
Disappointing people just seemed to be a habit for Troy, though. Once again, he just wasn't enough.
But he couldn't think like that right now. He needed to focus on whatever task Director Callan assigned them next. Maybe if he saved the world, his father would finally accept him.
He was definitely yearning for a rematch between the two of them, as he desperately needed to settle the score. "You called us up here just to tell us how bad of a job we're doing?"
"No, Troy. There are hundreds of people still in Primus Industries' clutches, so we don't really know what else you'll encounter on future rescue missions. So, Dr. Matthews, Agent Owens, and myself have designed new equipment for each of you that should increase your chances of victory on the battlefield."
The muscular director gestured to the table beside him, which was littered with a plethora of different weapons and gadgets. Dylo was already bouncing with excitement.
"So, if you don't mind, I say we get started."