Cupid's Arrow
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:28 pm
(A few weeks late, I know)
Sydney sat in his chair in the lab, swiveling back and forth as he tapped a pencil on the surface of his desk. He looked back over his shoulder to where his suit hung, strung up by heavy duty cables, wires flowing out of various places as it was a continual work in progress. It was always being upgraded, faster, stronger, more durable, and most importantly more weapon systems. As his gaze turned back to his desk, he looked over diagrams, parts, numbers, not really with anything in particular in mind. As he shifted folders and papers around, looking for what would jump out at him next to tackle a small white envelope with his name on it caught his eye. It must have gotten buried when he unloaded all of his notes back onto the desk when he arrived. He used the eraser end of his pencil to slide it out in front of him, raising his brow as to what it could be.
He slid it off the end of the desk into his hand, opening it up. Inside was a small heart shaped card with an arrow going through it. Flipping it open he had to grin as it ready "Happy Valentines Day Sydney" It was signed with a small heart and the name "Emily Ross" Dr. Ross was in the advanced robotics division, working several doors down from him. She had made a habit of bringing in an extra bagel for him on the weekend mornings, and striking up a bit of conversation with Sydney, as most on the floor he worked on weren't all that interested in talking with a 17 year old outside of some curiosities about the suit he designed.
The gesture had him smiling, laughing to himself as he idly traced the arrow on the card. Seemed like outdated technology. Really a modern cupid should have a more advanced delivery system, for spreading love and all that. He gave a look around the lab, looking for inspiration, then started to sketch something. Sydney had always been surprisingly fast and detailed with his drawings, now after finding out about his mutation he was pretty sure it was one of the perks to go along with it. When he finished, he had to laugh at himself at the sketch, then quickly grew silent as gears turned. Would they mind? They wouldn’t mind he told himself. With that grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair and running out the door.
A short time later he reappeared in the lab, carrying a large grocery bag. Moving over to one of his work tables, he cleaned it off emptying the contents out onto it. From the bag, there was a seemingly endless flow of “Sweethearts” boxes, the chalky little candy hearts everyone loves. Sydney shot a grin over at a device near his suit, he had yet to work out just how to integrate it into the current model, but for now it’d serve another purpose.
Several hours passed and Sydney had kept himself very busy, nearing completion on his design. It wasn’t until his phone rang that his head shot up, searching through piles of heart shaped candy boxes.
Managing to dig it out just before it went to voice mail he called out:
“Taylor! Hey, whats up?”
“Hey Sydney, not too much. Just here in my room, getting ready to go to the Valentines day dance with you and Jo. Like we talked about. Yesterday. And I know you wouldn’t forget or anything, I just wanted to let you know we are almost ready.”
His shoulders sunk low as he winced. That was tonight? That was soon?
“Hey of course I’ll be ready. Liked I’d forget and end up wrapped up in something else.” He looked over his shoulder to the device on the table “Very important.” Almost laughing silently.
He could near hear Taylor rolling her eyes. “Are you going to be late?”
“Five minutes, that’s all. Promise!!”
He grabbed his coat again, flying out the door to get ready for the dance. His project would have to wait until the next day until it could be completed.
It wasn’t until mid way through the week that the finishing touches and a custom paint job had the project finished. Taking some advice from Bronka about color choices and payload layouts. He had to show someone, his first choice being Taylor.
“Should I get the fire extinguisher” Was her first question as she met up with him at the firing range.
“What! No! I’m good I’m good.” He flinched a little out of instinct, having been hit with it one too many times.
“So Syd, watcha got this time? Rocket Launcher? Shoulder Mounted Laser Cannon? You still aren’t hitting me with the taser.”
“No! Nothing like that…better. Much better.”
He sat a case up in front of them, opening it up showing what looked like 12 grenade rounds packed neatly in foam cut outs, pulling them out one at a time and setting them up.
“Whoa, are those the breaching grenades you’ve been talking about?”
Sydney let out a chuckle, shaking his head no again.
“Not quite.”
He turned around, and pulled out a much larger case, unlatching it and opening it up.
Taylor’s face turned to one of shock, almost as if she didn’t know whether to laugh or what. Inside, there was a modified M32 grenade launcher, complete with custom pink paint job, as per Bronka’s suggestion. Adding in a small heart, etched onto each tube.
“What… the hell is that?”
Sydney only grinned as he took it out of its case, breaking it open to insert several rounds the chambers. Loading in three red rounds, and three white ones. Alternating them one after the other. He handed her a pair of shooting glasses and some protection for her ears, putting some on himself.
“Just watch.”
Taylor found herself near speechless as he pulled the stock of the launcher up into his shoulder, aiming at a target some distance away.
“I call it Cupid’s Arrow, Mark II”
With that he pulled the trigger, the launcher kicking against his shoulder. The launch of the projectile was almost surprisingly silent, but when it struck the ground just in front of the target there was a small flash accompanied by a larger “Boom” as a small explosion sent something flying everywhere.
It wasn’t until he pulled the target back, revealing what had been flying around everywhere that Taylor let out a laugh. “Oh my god, you didn’t!” She called out as she managed to pick a candy heart out of the target.
“I figured, you know the whole arrow thing was a bit outdated. Plus you know, I designed this to be less lethal. I modified a stun grenade to have an extra charge to release these. Won’t kill you but hurts like hell. If you ask my granddad, s’pretty much what he’ll tell you above love.”
Taylor snickered at that, shaking her head as she looked at Sydney holding the grenade launcher.
“What do the white ones do?”
“Oh,well, you know I’m a fan of versatility. The red ones are the modified stun grenades, but they aren’t exactly the best to use if you find yourself in close quarters or someone gets up on you. So I designed these as well.”
He opened the launcher pulling out a white one to show her before sliding it back in, locking it in place and pulling it back up to his shoulder. This time when he pulled the trigger, the sound was heard immediately as the small candy hearts exploded from the barrel shot gun style into another target.
Taylor only laughed again as she saw the target pelted with small candy hearts “Sydney Walker you have way to much free time on your hands!
“What! Hey, C’mon there is practical application to this device, at least one day a year. I mean think about it, what better way to tell your sweetheart “Be mine” than a 40 MM grenade packed with little hearts that in fact say : Be Mine”
The two of them ended up laughing together as Sydney continued.
“The tricky part was calculating the charge needed to keep the candy hearts from you know, embedding into someones skin. A guy who works here said he’d help me run the tests to have it officially classified as a less lethal weapon. But if my math is right, and it always is. The kinetic force from the hearts in both cases is enough to hurt like hell, but not cause any serious damage.”
Taylor stopped laughing looking at him trying to figure out if he was serious.
“Wait… you aren’t going to mount this on your suit are you? It kind of clashes with… you know, the color. And the fact that it launches candy.”
Sydney shook his head and grinned “Nah of course not, but I did have a plan for it.”
Sydney sat in his chair in the lab, swiveling back and forth as he tapped a pencil on the surface of his desk. He looked back over his shoulder to where his suit hung, strung up by heavy duty cables, wires flowing out of various places as it was a continual work in progress. It was always being upgraded, faster, stronger, more durable, and most importantly more weapon systems. As his gaze turned back to his desk, he looked over diagrams, parts, numbers, not really with anything in particular in mind. As he shifted folders and papers around, looking for what would jump out at him next to tackle a small white envelope with his name on it caught his eye. It must have gotten buried when he unloaded all of his notes back onto the desk when he arrived. He used the eraser end of his pencil to slide it out in front of him, raising his brow as to what it could be.
He slid it off the end of the desk into his hand, opening it up. Inside was a small heart shaped card with an arrow going through it. Flipping it open he had to grin as it ready "Happy Valentines Day Sydney" It was signed with a small heart and the name "Emily Ross" Dr. Ross was in the advanced robotics division, working several doors down from him. She had made a habit of bringing in an extra bagel for him on the weekend mornings, and striking up a bit of conversation with Sydney, as most on the floor he worked on weren't all that interested in talking with a 17 year old outside of some curiosities about the suit he designed.
The gesture had him smiling, laughing to himself as he idly traced the arrow on the card. Seemed like outdated technology. Really a modern cupid should have a more advanced delivery system, for spreading love and all that. He gave a look around the lab, looking for inspiration, then started to sketch something. Sydney had always been surprisingly fast and detailed with his drawings, now after finding out about his mutation he was pretty sure it was one of the perks to go along with it. When he finished, he had to laugh at himself at the sketch, then quickly grew silent as gears turned. Would they mind? They wouldn’t mind he told himself. With that grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair and running out the door.
A short time later he reappeared in the lab, carrying a large grocery bag. Moving over to one of his work tables, he cleaned it off emptying the contents out onto it. From the bag, there was a seemingly endless flow of “Sweethearts” boxes, the chalky little candy hearts everyone loves. Sydney shot a grin over at a device near his suit, he had yet to work out just how to integrate it into the current model, but for now it’d serve another purpose.
Several hours passed and Sydney had kept himself very busy, nearing completion on his design. It wasn’t until his phone rang that his head shot up, searching through piles of heart shaped candy boxes.
Managing to dig it out just before it went to voice mail he called out:
“Taylor! Hey, whats up?”
“Hey Sydney, not too much. Just here in my room, getting ready to go to the Valentines day dance with you and Jo. Like we talked about. Yesterday. And I know you wouldn’t forget or anything, I just wanted to let you know we are almost ready.”
His shoulders sunk low as he winced. That was tonight? That was soon?
“Hey of course I’ll be ready. Liked I’d forget and end up wrapped up in something else.” He looked over his shoulder to the device on the table “Very important.” Almost laughing silently.
He could near hear Taylor rolling her eyes. “Are you going to be late?”
“Five minutes, that’s all. Promise!!”
He grabbed his coat again, flying out the door to get ready for the dance. His project would have to wait until the next day until it could be completed.
It wasn’t until mid way through the week that the finishing touches and a custom paint job had the project finished. Taking some advice from Bronka about color choices and payload layouts. He had to show someone, his first choice being Taylor.
“Should I get the fire extinguisher” Was her first question as she met up with him at the firing range.
“What! No! I’m good I’m good.” He flinched a little out of instinct, having been hit with it one too many times.
“So Syd, watcha got this time? Rocket Launcher? Shoulder Mounted Laser Cannon? You still aren’t hitting me with the taser.”
“No! Nothing like that…better. Much better.”
He sat a case up in front of them, opening it up showing what looked like 12 grenade rounds packed neatly in foam cut outs, pulling them out one at a time and setting them up.
“Whoa, are those the breaching grenades you’ve been talking about?”
Sydney let out a chuckle, shaking his head no again.
“Not quite.”
He turned around, and pulled out a much larger case, unlatching it and opening it up.
Taylor’s face turned to one of shock, almost as if she didn’t know whether to laugh or what. Inside, there was a modified M32 grenade launcher, complete with custom pink paint job, as per Bronka’s suggestion. Adding in a small heart, etched onto each tube.
“What… the hell is that?”
Sydney only grinned as he took it out of its case, breaking it open to insert several rounds the chambers. Loading in three red rounds, and three white ones. Alternating them one after the other. He handed her a pair of shooting glasses and some protection for her ears, putting some on himself.
“Just watch.”
Taylor found herself near speechless as he pulled the stock of the launcher up into his shoulder, aiming at a target some distance away.
“I call it Cupid’s Arrow, Mark II”
With that he pulled the trigger, the launcher kicking against his shoulder. The launch of the projectile was almost surprisingly silent, but when it struck the ground just in front of the target there was a small flash accompanied by a larger “Boom” as a small explosion sent something flying everywhere.
It wasn’t until he pulled the target back, revealing what had been flying around everywhere that Taylor let out a laugh. “Oh my god, you didn’t!” She called out as she managed to pick a candy heart out of the target.
“I figured, you know the whole arrow thing was a bit outdated. Plus you know, I designed this to be less lethal. I modified a stun grenade to have an extra charge to release these. Won’t kill you but hurts like hell. If you ask my granddad, s’pretty much what he’ll tell you above love.”
Taylor snickered at that, shaking her head as she looked at Sydney holding the grenade launcher.
“What do the white ones do?”
“Oh,well, you know I’m a fan of versatility. The red ones are the modified stun grenades, but they aren’t exactly the best to use if you find yourself in close quarters or someone gets up on you. So I designed these as well.”
He opened the launcher pulling out a white one to show her before sliding it back in, locking it in place and pulling it back up to his shoulder. This time when he pulled the trigger, the sound was heard immediately as the small candy hearts exploded from the barrel shot gun style into another target.
Taylor only laughed again as she saw the target pelted with small candy hearts “Sydney Walker you have way to much free time on your hands!
“What! Hey, C’mon there is practical application to this device, at least one day a year. I mean think about it, what better way to tell your sweetheart “Be mine” than a 40 MM grenade packed with little hearts that in fact say : Be Mine”
The two of them ended up laughing together as Sydney continued.
“The tricky part was calculating the charge needed to keep the candy hearts from you know, embedding into someones skin. A guy who works here said he’d help me run the tests to have it officially classified as a less lethal weapon. But if my math is right, and it always is. The kinetic force from the hearts in both cases is enough to hurt like hell, but not cause any serious damage.”
Taylor stopped laughing looking at him trying to figure out if he was serious.
“Wait… you aren’t going to mount this on your suit are you? It kind of clashes with… you know, the color. And the fact that it launches candy.”
Sydney shook his head and grinned “Nah of course not, but I did have a plan for it.”