Chapter 30: I can see for miles

Chapter 30: I can see for miles

Hello everyone! I just wanted to give everyone a quick reminder that I have a Pat_reon! _/_MetaBettaOmegaLetta) They are currently a chapter ahead on my two fanfiction's, and will have access to my original story, Lair Divers Tale. Currently the first five chapters of LDT are available for everyone to read, while the next five are ready for patrons to read. If you are interested please show your support, otherwise enjoy the chapter!

After a quick morning start up, Ema and I sat down and started planning our next project, Clint's glasses.

"You keep saying you have a plan for these, but you haven't explained anything." Ema pointed out once I sat down on the couch with my notepad.

"Well it all starts with a base of those color changing glasses. I'm pretty sure you can get normal sunglasses that transition between clear and shaded." I explained. "

"You're pretty sure?" She asked, her tone skeptical and the tiniest bit frustrated. "How about I double check?"

She floated over to the laptop and started doing her research, quickly finding that they did exist. She quickly made note of a few shops that sold them nearby and sent them to my phone in a text. We went over my ideas and I took some more notes. After sending me another few stores that would hopefully have what I needed I left for another morning of shopping, making sure I had plenty of cash in my modified card before heading out.

After stopping at a cafe for a quick breakfast I started the trip at the first of three places that claimed they carried the photochromic sunglasses. My request for a dozen pairs of the exact same type raised a few eyebrows but I walked out with what I was looking for, though they only had one set like that. The second store didn't have such a large amount of one style, but luckily the third store did, and I now had two dozen pairs of two different sunglasses, one to make a set for Clint, and one for me.

My next stop was an electronic hobby store, one I had been to before. I specifically bought a bunch of rotary selector switches, which looked like a scroll wheel from a mouse that clicked from position to position. I also bought a ridiculous amount of other electronic bits and bobs. Switches, chips, resistors, capacitors, digital screens, all sorts of things that were small and easy to store, but had straightforward concepts that could come in handy in later projects. I must have looked like an eager hobbyist getting in way over his head when the store clerk asked what I was going to do with everything and I told him I didn't know yet.

When I got back to the truck I grabbed one pair of sunglasses and combined it with the wheel switch, putting them on and clicking it through its positions. Sure enough, instead of the tint slowly transitioning from being exposed to light it flipped through various levels of darkness before swinging all the way around to being completely dark.

With a satisfied smirk I pulled out of my parking space and headed for the next stop of a few, the hardware store. I walked in and perused the aisle before buying four of the most compact thermal imaging cameras they had, two voltage meters, which I could have bought at the hobby store but forgot, two metal detecting wands as well as two of the best stud finders they had. I wasn't sure if the last one would work but there was really only one way to find out. I headed to another hardware store and bought four more compact thermal imaging cameras before driving to a store specifically for hunters.

I walked into the shop and quickly perused the binoculars, finding a compact pair that also had a rangefinder. I also found a set of the most compact night vision viewers they carried as well. This was all incredibly expensive but it was worth it Well it was if it worked.

When I was done with my shopping at around noon I debated teleporting home for a while, before finally coming to the conclusion that having to find a secluded place to push my truck back out of its card when I wanted to drive somewhere later would me more trouble than it's worth, especially when I was only a short drive from home.

When I finally parked and made my way back to the apartment I sat back down on the couch with a sigh, taking a long breath and a moment to center myself before unloading everything.

"I think I got everything that I need." I said as Ema got closer. "I'm not sure about some of it but I'm pretty sure most of my ideas are going to work."

With Ema floating in her usual place next to my head I started unloading and organizing everything. My first test was combining the selector sunglasses I had made earlier as a test with the binoculars. The result worked, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I uncarded them and put them on my face.

The sunglasses were slightly bulkier but thanks to the compact concept they still looked like relatively normal sunglasses. I scrolled on the selector switch and it zoomed in and out, settling on one of four different intensities, the distance measurement in a little, semi transparent rectangle in the corner.

"What's wrong?" Ema asked when I frowned.

"I think I need to combine the glasses first and then add the selector switch. The selector switch is controlling the zoom, but I wanted it to select what kind of vision it had."

"Won't it just default to that?" She asked.

"Crap I don't know I think the only way to know is to try it." I said. "There is no way to know which it will settle with."

I grabbed the other style of sunglasses and combined them directly to the remaining pairs of binoculars. This time the binoculars themselves added a little scroll wheel, though instead of snapping to certain levels of zoom it was a gradual change. After I tried them and recarded them I added the scroll wheel switch. This added a second wheel to the other side, letting me turn the zoom on and off.

"Okay, step one is a success." I said. "I'm really glad that worked. Let's try it with the night vision."

I repeated the process with the compact night vision viewers and the same style of sunglasses, resulting in a pair of eyewear similarly bulky to the modified binoculars. These had two rubber click buttons on the side that changed the intensity of the night vision as well as a small wheel that adjusted the small zoom capabilities the original device had. I added the scroll wheel style selector to the night vision glasses, the selector appearing again on the opposite side and allowed me to shut the night vision on or off.

"Why don't we go together?" I suggested. "That way we can trade places behind the wheel occasionally to sleep or relax."

"No. There is only one thing you are doing tomorrow, and that is taking a break."

"I don't Okay I do need a break but what about you?"

"Carson, I appreciate the concern but I don't need breaks. For one thing stress is a symptom of biology, which I don't have. I also don't get bored, which means driving for thirty five hours or more would be a break. Plus, being able to shop in Chicago and in Austin will make it a lot less likely that someone will figure out what you're doing. We need to get this sorted as soon as possible."

I thought about it for a moment before letting out a long sigh, nodding and standing from the couch.

"Alright, fine." I agreed reluctantly. "I'll go out, get what I need for a book of driving, card the truck and travel upstate. You can leave from there, it should save you a few hours at least."

I carded Ema and her exosuit, snagged a baseball cap, a scarf, a shirt and a pair of jeans. I grabbed Fury's gloves on the way out as well, taking two landing pads with me in the Deck. From the apartment I drove directly to a bookstore, buying a few books on driving, and a simple gold ring from a nearby pawnshop. I also bought two high quality, high draw weight bows from a sporting goods store I happened to drive past, as well as a huge bag of parts for them. I parked in a parking lot, made sure there weren't any cameras around before getting out of the truck and carding it.

"Travel Upstate."

I almost slipped and rolled down the hill when I arrived at the upstate landing pad. I took a deep breath before sitting down on a rock and pushing out Ema and her exosuit. The sun was slowly starting to set as her metallic body formed around her.

"Hmm having a body does have its charm I suppose." Ema admitted as she sat next to me. "Everything ready?"

"No, give me a second to put your ring together." I answered, quickly combining the books and her new ring. "Remind me to make that into an advanced driving skill ring later, alright? I didn't want to waste too much time looking for the proper books so that's just the basics."

She nodded and took the ring, sliding it on as I laid out her outfit. She slid everything on easily, making her body shift into things to fit everything easier. The gloves were last. As she dressed I told her about my other purchases.

"How did you like using the bow?" I asked as she put her scarf up and around her face.

"It was nice, the ring made it easy." She said with a shrug that looked completely natural. "Why?"

"Because I will hopefully be making some better weapons for myself in a few days and I figured I could upgrade it a bunch with some stuff I just bought and that could be your weapon."

"Yeah that would be good." She agreed with a nod. "As long as I'm not stuck with that forever"

"Do you really think I would force you to only use that?" I assured her, shaking my head. "Eventually I'll be making a whole lot of extra stuff for both of us. For now I just want to make sure you have a powerful ranged option when you need it."

"Okay. I look forward to seeing what you make then." She said before standing. "C'mon, the quicker I get going the better."

I nodded and walked down the hill behind her, stopping beside the long road. It took a few minutes of us hiding behind trees before we found a good moment to push out the truck, the two landing pads going in the passenger seat. Ema climbed into the driver's seat and started the truck. She pulled down her scarf and gave me a metallic smile.

"Go home, order pizza and relax." She said reassuringly. "I'll keep you updated."

"Alright, drive safe."

She nodded and pulled away before pulling a U-turn and heading the opposite way. I watched her drive for a moment before checking the other way to make sure no one was coming.

"Travel Home."