Dante watched as the boy strapped more things over his body, and each time, the frown on his face got deeper and deeper.
"You… you made an exoskeleton…" he said.
"Yup," Finn said as he locked the last piece in place.
Though Dante called it an exoskeleton, the whole thing looked like really thin rods connected through small discs around the joints. He guessed that the boy made it this way so it would be concealable under his clothes, but Dante doubted that it could carry anything with how thin it was. Content orıginally comes from 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
Moving his limbs to check if everything worked the right way, Finn turned to his yellow friend with a smile. "Jake."
The yellow capsule ran behind the boy then, with such nimbleness one wouldn't expect from something with legs that short, it leapt onto the nearby chair before jumping onto the boy's back.
Finn swayed a little before straightening himself. Just when Dante thought the boy planned on having the robot hang on his back like that, the top of the capsule opened and a strap shot out. The same happened from the bottom. The two parts connected over Finn's chest, and as they did, Jake retracted his short arms and legs, once again becoming a full capsule.
By that point, Dante already got the idea, but the yellow capsule seemed to undergo one more change. Black lines ran through its surface, dividing it into several segments that seemed to move away from each other. By the time they stopped, it became clear that the capsule had elongated, with the gaps between its gaps acting like a pattern one would find on a normal bag.
"So, what do you think?" Finn asked as he turned around. "No one would notice, right?"
His nervousness was mostly gone, and now he had a proud smile on his face. Seeing that expression, Dante couldn't bring himself to say that a scrawny kid carrying around a huge bag drew as much attention as a yellow robot.
"Is it so heavy that you need an exoskeleton?" Dante asked.
"Yeah." Sighing, Finn tapped the connector on his chest. The strap retracted, and the capsule transformed back into its Jake form. "The android had some quality parts, so I thought I could create a new exocore, but…"
"You kept adding things till it got to this?"
"That's basically it. Well, I was going to make the exoskeleton anyway. It helps with the recoil from the Blue Night."
"Oh, so you were working on that as well?"
"Of course." The boy grinned. "Gotta be prepared for the big moment."
Dante grinned as well. Turns out he wasn't the only no making some upgrades.
"Alright, go wash yourself." He gestured for the yellow capsule. "We can go test this thing afterward."
Peeling the metallic frame off his body, the boy placed it aside and quickly ran out of the room, likely heading for the bathroom. Jake went running after him. Dante had a feeling that the yellow bot wasn't waterproof, but he didn't say anything.
"Still can't believe he made that in just three weeks," Dante said.
"Tell me about it," Suzuka replied, still sounding as exhausted as before. "He's a fast learner."
"Couldn't keep up with him?"
"Had to watch him 24/7 just in case. Was afraid he would build a nuke if I blinked at the wrong moment."
"C'mon, now you're just exaggerating."
"He almost did the first week. Used the power cell from the android."
"... you're kidding… right?"
"Does it look like I'm in the mood for jokes?"
Dante hated how believable her claim was. He knew the boy tended to do some insane things from time to time, and even gave him a good beating for it once. Looking at the blue-haired girl, he began to wonder if leaving him with her for so long was a good choice.
"Be honest with me," Suzuka said. "Where did you find him?"
Dante could only raise an eyebrow at her.
"You don't expect me to believe he's really your brother, right?" She added.
"No, it's just…" Dante didn't understand the question at first, that's all. "Actually, he was the one who found me. Little shit zapped me then stole my gun. I got it back, but… he kept stalking me till I gave it to him."
"And the business with the Daggers?"
"That's… his story to tell," Dante replied.
Suzuka didn't probe any further, looking at him as if trying to read his mind. Failing to do so, she sighed and walked into the room, stepping between the messy junk as she approached the workbench.
"To be honest with you, the kid scares me." She said. "Not in a bad way, though."
"That's kinda contradictory," Dante said.
"I already told you he's a fast learner, but that's putting it lightly." She picked up one of the tools. A small screwdriver, from the looks of it. "If he keeps going at that speed… he would probably be at my level by the end of the year."
"Now that must be a joke." Dante tried to laugh off the notion.
"Again, does it look like I'm in the mood for jokes?"
"I know the kid is a genius, but…"
"One in a billion." Sighing, Suzuka put the screwdriver down. "If you're serious about raising him, you should start considering schools."
"Schools, huh?" Dante said.
"What? Just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it won't work for him."
"Afraid it'll be much worse in his case," Dante said. "Bastards at the top hate it when talent comes from the streets."
With the boy hanging around him for a while now, Dante already had an idea of how many brains he had stuffed in that skull, and now that Nobara's genius granddaughter was vouching for him, there was no denying that he was a genius among geniuses.
Someone like that could easily shatter what is accepted as the natural order of things. He wasn't born to the elites, and because of that, he destroyed the whole notion of them being superior simply because they were born into wealth. That made him an enemy whose existence couldn't be accepted by those who rule the world.
When he thought of it that way, Suzuka's suggestion sounded all the more appealing.
"If it's the top you're worrying about, then you should just go ahead," Suzuka said. When Dante gave her a questioning look, she held his gaze and added. "Carve the path and pull him along. Isn't that what a good brother would do?"