2 Chap 2- Ingenious Mind

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩 𝟐 - 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝:

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{ 𝑲𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒌𝒊'𝒔 𝑩𝒖𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒓 }

Once again back inside her working place, Kaela makes sure a particular screw is properly tightened up while sitting at the edge of an iron table.

Her goggles were lowered, the lenses glowing orange, one of her special lenses zooming almost in every cranny of the prototype to see if there was any failure she need to fix, signaling she was serious. Few stray drops of sweat dripped down the small gaps they could find.

Tools scattered on top of the table as she kept her focus on her project, it was a few small copper cylinders attached to one another while having steel parts in specific regions where the joints would be.

Sighing, seeing it was okay for now, she pushed the goggles up her forehead, now cleaning her sweaty face. Dark tired lines surrounded her alluring ruby-red eyes.

" It's tomorrow…. But I finished it'in time… My new right arm exo! It should be even bettah than I thought! Now to test!"

Seemingly not affected by her lack of sleep at first, she picks up the new invention and pulls over from a side of the table a wooden mannequin arm, her movements a bit drowsy but nothing that interferes with her plans.... That's what she thought.

Because…. Staying six days without sleeping should be quite deadly to any person, and she did it without the use of coffee or energetics. Only pure determination to finish her <𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭-𝐀𝐫𝐦 𝐄𝐱𝐨𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐕.𝟏.𝟎 > As she calls it.

" Maybe after getting it working I can finish workin' in the full version… will they even allow me to bring it in? Hmm…We'll see, we'll see. Hmm*nods*...." - Attaching the Exo supports around the mannequin's arm she stretches both arms above her head.

Blinking slowly, she watches her surroundings noticing how blurry everything was starting to get until it began to really get to her as her head was going back and forth repeatedly. Eyes trying to stay open to their best..... Until.....

*Bam!*

Her head slammed down onto the table, luckily she was able to push her arms in a manner that cleaned some space above it as a last-second attempt, not even five seconds later the only thing she did was silently snore.

While only the snore was made itself prominent, another set of sounds started to approach the Forge's entrance. Steps.

*𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒆𝒌~* - Opening the Forge doors slowly, Sumass peaks his bald head through the gap he just opened.

Sighing while moving inside holding a blanket in one hand and what seemed like a black metal detector in the other.

He puts the metal detector above the table and walks closer to Kaela.

His clothes are pretty regular and very well fitting for his physique, a white shirt coupled with a black jacket having some fluff around the neck and loose black pants that fits pretty well with his black boots.

" Got out to scan our surroun'dings…. And you go ham on this huh…." - Resting the warm piece of cloth on top of his daughter's shoulders before shifting his attention toward the new thing on the table.

He exited two days ago from their City, Sumy, using his old partner, a cruiser bike he kept hidden on the surface inside one of the destroyed houses, keeping it covered with some debris so it would seem destroyed like the rest.

Scouting the best path they could take towards Poltava Airport, luckily there would be any nuisances in terms of geography since the closest river to them wasn't in the way, and most roads still were very well-drivable.

There in Poltava, once a month the USA sent two planes as well as full Hero squads to help the refugees escape this hell hole. Most failed.... The results were in hundreds of dead people making him fearful of taking it with Kaela as they could be killed by a projectile a random Villaien fired... And the stubborn girl wouldn't go alone until now when an incredible opportunity showed itself giving her the motivation to do so.

Although...This time he would make sure himself, that it would be a fine flight so his little doll could go away safely.

Now, two days ago when he departed, he warned his daughter about resting properly …. It seems she received his own stubbornness now seeing her sleep loudly after being up for so long…. A child is the parents' mirror image in many different ways after all….

Gently patting Kaela's messy hair he gets a closer look at his daughter's new invention.

Noticing that there were some spots or slots around the hand-Exo that felt like they were missing from the build…

Then it hit him..

They weren't missing…. They were for future upgrades in performance. She only needed the things to make it work.

" Heheh, she has plans to use a strong spring mechanism as a sudden burst of power huh. Smort Papo's gurl." - Laughing in a very low voice, he makes his way outside to start cooking.

Today he would make a lot of food so they could reheat it during their travel. It was about to be a tiring day tomorrow.

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{ 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐲; 𝟎𝟔:𝟓𝟒 𝐀𝐌; 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞}

" Olah-Oah! It's mah life!~ It's now or never!~ I'm ain't gonna' live forevah!~"

Singing while starting to their everyday breakfast, Sumass flips an egg while singing one of his old tunes from the golden days, even if the song was from before he was even born, he still enjoyed it a lot.

*𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮!!!!*

Keeping going he ignored the sound coming from behind him… More so it was already routine for that girl to be up before him which at first he thought would be bad for her health given how much she worked.

Buuut…. After years, he started to notice that she only need about four to six hours of rest before zapping back to hammering and tinkering with her loved projects.

It was scary even, so little rest yet so much energy. If he didn't get her out to scavenge at times he was sure she could go an entire month working inside the hot place.

Talking about hot, Sumass flips the fried egg onto a plate before walking over to the kitchen set of cabinets that he was proud to be the one who built it.

Opening it and taking a plastic cup out and a small package as well written ' Orange Juice '. Filling the cup by the sink and pouring the package inside before mixing using a spoon, and now it was ready.

" She mus' be hittin' that thing again…. It seemed pretty good when I looked at it throug-" - As he took the plate and cup into his large hands to go see his daughter, something that made him ease any movements for half a second happened.

*𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑴!!*

A loud explosion rang out from inside the forge, this wasn't a good signal and he knew that.

The plate and cup hit the ground as he was already halfway through the large corridor, rushing forward at superhuman speeds given the adrenaline he was being pumped by to try and arrive at his objective quicker.

*𝑩𝑨𝑴𝑮!!* - Charging at the door using his shoulder to make his entrance, face twisted into a worried mess making his usual tough vibes now completely apart.

" 𝐊𝐀𝐄𝐋𝐀!!!?!"

Entering the room, all he saw was smoke. Although to his happiness and relief, a couple of coughs could be heard coming from where he knew the metal table was.

Walking over to the side while moving his arms around to find something amidst the dense smoke he finally got over to one of the concrete walls, a very specific one as he started sliding his hand through it until he found a small control panel. Pressing a button rapidly, making the vents that were hidden by the Forge sides start to act up.

Sucking in the smoke while another set of vents pushed fresh air inside. This was something that was rarely ever used since it did consume a lot of energy, always kept on stand by only getting in fresh air from the surface while taking the carbon out.

" * Cough* *Cough* Whateh hell….." - Hearing the almost always calm-sounding voice of his daughter made him lose quite a bit of his worries, since if she wasn't groaning in pain or anything it meant that it was something minor.

Finally, everything was clear and the worried father could finally see how his dear daughter was doing.

Immediately, as soon as he looked over at her to ask if she was alright his face closed up. A deadpan that only a parent could make.

Kaela wasn't hurt or ever scratched at all, her goggles were fine, and same for her clothing that were a white tank top covered by a black blouse that was resting onto her arms, as for her legs were the same loose black pants as well as brown boots.

Her radiant red eyes were still slightly closed not realizing her situation.

There were a few new additions to her look that one could tell at first glance. A red and black, with the glowing orange LED type of mechanical makeshift collar around her neck that was holding something onto her back.

And that 'something' was her right arm exoskeleton colored just like the collar, also bearing the same LEDs that after this project she completely used up the ones she had around, a very simple concept to give her a boost.

That would aid her already pretty good physique, after all, she was always working hard, and a very well-built body was expected from swinging that hammer and carrying heavy materials around for years.

Lastly was her hair, which was tied up in a ponytail by a red cloth that she used to give good luck when she 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 needed it for some Project.

Said blondy was holding a green-handled screwdriver close to her prosthesis, smoke was floating out from the mechanical arm as if something had overheated it. Even a few fingers were sent flying out from their sockets and were now scattered somewhere across the room.

Blinking towards her dad she glanced at the screwdriver and then him repeatedly, finally settling into him with a - ' I messed up look. ' - While trying to hide the tool away, but to no avail whatsoever.

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( 𝑨/𝑵: 𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆. 𝑾𝑵 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑨𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇, 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒕, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑾𝑵 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍-𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒖 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕? )

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Sighing, Summas massaged his temples. Eyes were now closed as he shook his head that was looking down at the ground.

" 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐢𝐭, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞'."

Using a demanding tone he sent a shiver down Kaela's spine that made her body shake, even if her eyes still held that calm look… Her body was very much fearing for its dear life.

" Uhhhhh…..Hmmmm….. I-I…. Was trying to put a flamethrower in the alredy don' version of the exo ….. Everything was' guud…. Until when…" - She stops talking, and even if still shaking she makes an explosion motion using both hands while she voices the sound effects of the same.

" Try to shoot' fire as a test, and everything goes 'Boom' like that. And my finger's ….. Fled the scene." - Looking at her mechanical arm she sweated, opening and closing what remained from her fingers. Luckily the metal was pretty tough so she just had to change the joints and re-attach everything back together.

Biting his lips to try and calm down at how his daughter could be so calm about almost having everything blown up if she messed up, and the compartment that contained the fuel also had been ignited....

.....She would go with it….

Summas lets out a tired breath, walking over to his daughter and taking hold of her shoulder, lowering himself to be at her eye level. Eyes this time not holding that deadpan, but a worried look.

" Make' shure to work in'it when ya arrive ther'. Until then' don't use it, okae?" - He knew she was trying to put a mechanism at the last minute so she could protect herself, this girl always thinks of what could happen after all.....

But... He also knew why she did that, and couldn't really get mad given he knew the cause behind it.

Hearing that made Kaela's body finally stop shaking, this time she was more so feeling that letting her intrusive thoughts of putting a damn flamethrower in her arm would be cool.….. And it did end up in a bombastic show...

Tapping her shoulder he gets up, walking back towards the door not saying a word, somehow making Kaela feel even worse than if he had reprimanded her.

Stopping at the door he gave her one last look. - " Jus' because we might encounter danger, doesn't mean we need to create it ourselves, little kukla…. *groans* Ya kids think yall can do anything don't you all? Just be mor' careful, Papo knows it mus' hurt your head to keep all of them in..…Also…. We're departin' in two hours." - Exiting the forge, he left her sitting there, thoughtful.

Getting up from the chair she was sitting on, quickly crouched down to start searching for her arm's fingers.

".... Luckily I didn't try the grenade launcher barrel…"

Seeing one light in all this trouble, she was happy that the results could have been way, 𝑾𝑨𝒀 worse than they already are now if she had chosen a different set of upgrades.

And that was the start of the day for the Kowalski's. Could be said to be a normal one.

Sumass did try to teach his daughter daily about how her doings could have the consequences like her losing her left arm, and yes, she did learn…. He knew that, but even if she did so, there was a factor he learned from the girl herself when she was around four years old....

Creative Intrusive Thoughts.

If it weren't for these Intrusive thoughts of multiple upgrades, inventions, projects, or even the many buildings she could make with Legos always creeping up inside her head messing with her, almost forcing Kaela to work on one of them to get them out or stop more from popping out.

Luckily the great stamina she has come in handy to help her head stay in the right place as she would keep creating and messing around with things without stopping to keep her head in peace.

A Quirk like hers was a blessing for how many things she could create after she studied so many books…. But also a hell as they wouldn't stop appearing if she wasn't working in one already…

She truly holds an, 𝑰𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒅.