10 Chipware

(Had to wait till after midnight to post this so it counts as one of the chapters I release for today.)

It was another hot, sunny day in the middle of... wherever they were. Talia hadn't informed Jason of the secret location since he was banned from leaving until his level of proficiency satisfied her.

Jason and Talia were having a sparing session atop wooden poles that put them both over 5 meters in the air.

'Please let me land at least one blow before she knocks my ass off these and down to the ground again.'

Jason launched his offensive against Talia. He threw a jab to her face which was easily dodged and countered with a kick that had one of her heels implanted in Jason's ribs.

Jason nearly stumbled while trying to recover from that blow. And to make matters worse, Talia just let him. As if giving him the chance to recover wouldn't change the outcome of the fight.

Jason tried to attack again with a flurry of different blows but no matter what he tried, Talia was able to see through his moves and block or counter each of them.

'Fine. Let's go all out.'

Jason's world turned blueish-green before he charged at Talia with afterimages trailing him. Jason launched another punch toward Talia's face but just as it was about to land, the woman smirked. Suddenly the person that was standing still, moved so fast that Jason couldn't even see her anymore.

The next thing Jason knew, and Rose and Damian saw from the side, was that Jason crashed on the ground with 3 imprints along his body. Jason coughed up blood while looking at the woman standing proudly above him before she jumped down.

Both of her feet landed on either side of Jason's head.

'In it was any other woman, I might enjoy this view. But somehow, this demon has ruined that for me.'

Talia moved to the side so she wasn't standing right over Jason before offering him a hand to stand up. Jason took it since he knew that he was still a bit wobbly from the blows she gave him.

"Even using the +3 chips of 4 different martial arts at once didn't help you. It seems that you can't cross the gap between +3 and +4 that way. You're also relying on the Sandevistan far too much. Using it against someone else who has it and is a better fighter will only result in you dying faster unless you use it at the right time."

(Sandevistan: a type of cyberware that causes the user's nerves to get overclocked. To them, it seems like time got slowed down. To others, it seems like their opponent suddenly got super speed. Either way, it makes for one of the two deadliest operating types of cyberware.)

It had been 3 months since Jason started training under Talia. During this time, she taught him as much as she could and helped to become a better... killer? Hero? Edgerunner? And she had also helped fund some upgrades for them as well.

Jason and Talia had upgraded themselves using Talia's private funds. After finding out about the various cyberware that Jason could get, Talia quickly selected a few other pieces for herself such as the Sandevistan. She only got 3 big pieces of cyberware since she was wary of cyberpsychosis and didn't believe that she needed a bunch.

The woman also tossed Jason a bone and let him buy a couple of things but it was mostly for study. Talia had Jason buy several pieces of cyberware for them to take apart that way he could study what was going into his body closely. The only thing he was actually allowed to install was the Sandevistan.

Jason nodded. He could also feel that even combining the chipware didn't do him much good against Talia.

"So that means we have to use the custom chipware function then," Jason lamented

"Hmm. Unfortunately, if you want to be on par with Deathstroke and the others in terms of skills, that is what you will need."

Chipware was rated on a scale of 1-8. 1 being experienced, 2 being well trained, and 3 being military level or expert. Those were the only levels that Jason could buy with the system. If he wanted to get +4 to +8 chipware, he would need custom chipware. But that had 3 huge costs.

The 1st big cost of custom chipware was the actual cost. Depending on what level Jason wanted to get, he would have to pay between 24,000 to nearly 2 million for a single chip.

The 2nd cost was that these chips had to get their information from somewhere. And they got their information from being inserted inside of another individual to copy all of the muscle memory and knowledge that the person had. So Jason would have to find people to put the chips in order to get their skills.

The last big cost was the unknown skill levels. For most people, their skills could be estimated between certain levels but it was hard to tell exactly. And if Jason guessed wrong and bought too low of a chip, he wouldn't get the full skills. But if he got too high of a level, that would cost eddies him per level.

But even by taking these negatives into consideration, it was still worth it most of the time. Even if Jason could only get a single skill per person, as long as he chooses correctly, it would be worth it.

For example, what're 2 million eddies to be able to shoot like Deadshot or fight on Lady Shiva's level?

"So will you give me one of your chips?" Jason asked, already knowing that his teacher had stored several of her skills in various chips

"Nope," Talia shook her head. "My fighting style isn't suited for you. Your body is bulky and manly compared to my petite frame so even if you have my skills, you won't be able to exert them to their fullest."

"So how will I get better skills?" Jason asked for the 17th time

"Don't worry about it. I have a plan for that. Just go do some training with Rose and Damian."

Talia ignored Jason as she turned around and walked inside the nearby building. Jason turned to see both Damien and Rose were ready for their chance to fight him before he sighed to himself.

'Daughter of the Demon, indeed.'

While Jason was taking on the two deadliest assassins under 18, Talia watched them from above in her room. The woman held a cell phone to her ear that was ringing.

"Talia," a woman's voice answered

"Waller. I heard that you have been having problems keeping your dogs on leashes."

"I don't know who told you that but they are lying. These dogs know better than to try and get off leash because of the shock collars."

"Really? Because I heard that a certain redhead had managed to already break free and that you're currently looking for him."

Waller didn't reply for a minute. Talia knew that she had her.

"What do you want, Talia?"

"The question isn't: what do I want? Instead, it should be: what do you have to offer and how can I pay you for it?"

"What do you have to offer and how can I pay you for it?" Waller said through gritted teeth

Talia smirked.

"Neural implants. As for payment, I have 2 students that could use some live training on dangerous missions not associated with the League."

"... deal. When can you send them over?"

"Give me a week to get them both prepped. They will be ready for you then and will do the installation themselves."