After fitting the new exoskeletons, Stephen was itching to test them out immediately. The rest of the group shared his excitement; they were eager to see exactly what kind of destructive potential these Gilt Rat prototypes truly possessed when paired with a superhuman user. Without wasting another second, the group moved out, heading down to a training floor that was a closely guarded secret.
As they stepped out of the elevator, Joe let out a low whistle. "Whoa! What is this place? It looks completely different from the main gym."
"That’s because we’re on a restricted floor," Max explained, his voice echoing in the vast, polished space. "This isn’t the standard training hall. This is the floor directly above it. During the recent restructuring of the Fortis Group, many departments and corporate areas were consolidated or shut down. This entire floor was left vacant and unused. I decided to repurpose it as a dedicated training space exclusively for us, the Rangers."
Max walked toward the center of the hall, gesturing to the high-tech equipment lining the walls. "Now that you are all essentially superhuman, it’s become far too dangerous to keep training in the public areas with the regular recruits. At least until you have full, refined control of your abilities. From what I’ve seen of Darno and Stephen lately, I don’t think they’ve quite mastered the limits of their current power."
The group was visibly impressed. The facility was almost a perfect replica of the state-of-the-art training room below, complete with massive open sparring areas, rest zones, and high-recovery cooling rooms. However, the most striking difference was the aesthetic.
While there were still observation seats that gave the room the feel of a professional arena, like a stage set for a high-stakes show, the walls and sections were meticulously color-coded. Each section was painted to represent one of the Rangers. There was Red for Stephen, Green for Joe, Silver for Aron, and Black for Max himself. Gold had even been integrated for Wolf. But as Darno’s eyes scanned the room, he spotted one final, unexpected color: Pink.
"Hey, you actually do have a pink section!" Darno exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face. "Is that why you all looked at me like that when I said I wanted pink? But wait... I’ve never seen anyone here wearing a pink uniform."
Once again, Darno was met with the same heavy, silent stare from the others. After a beat of awkward silence, Joe finally spoke up, his voice hushed and solemn.
"The Pink Ranger," Joe began, "is the strongest among us. He is the pinnacle of what we represent. That’s why you won’t see him out in the open like us. If he were by our side right now, this entire conflict would have been a breeze. We would have finished taking over all of Notting Hill weeks ago."
Darno watched Joe closely. He felt like he could almost see Joe’s nose growing longer right in front of his eyes. It sounded like a total tall tale, the kind of myth used to scare new recruits. But as Darno looked around at the others, his skepticism faltered. If Joe was lying, surely someone would have called him out or laughed, but the rest of the team remained stone-faced and silent.
"Well, I guess I should be careful not to anger this person, then," Darno replied, half-joking but feeling a strange chill. "I hope I can actually see him in action one day."
"I do... as well," Max mumbled. Darno caught the words, noticing that Max’s tone was oddly nostalgic, or perhaps even a little bit hollow.
Shifting the focus back to the task at hand, the group gathered around as Stephen prepared to put the exoskeleton to the test. First, he tested the equipment without activating the power of his Vow. He wanted to get a feel for the raw physical enhancement of the machinery alone.
Even without superhuman interference, the results were staggering. In the hands of a regular person, the exoskeleton made their movements incredibly snappy and precise, granting them the reaction speed of a world-class athlete. The strength was even more impressive; the motorized joints allowed Stephen to easily bend solid metal bars as if they were made of soft lead. It was clear that if a regular person wore this gear against a non-superhuman, it wouldn’t be a fight, it would be an execution.
Then came the second phase of the test. Stephen prepared to combine the exoskeleton with the full power of his Vow.
He walked over to a heavy-duty punching bag that was mounted on a long, reinforced rail system. The apparatus was designed specifically to measure the force of impact; the bag would slide along the rail depending on the power of the strike. The rail spanned a total of ten meters, a distance that was considered nearly impossible to hit. Na was currently the only one who had managed to send the bag the full length, but that was with his specialized super-strength fully engaged.
The speed at which the bag moved along the rail was just as important as the distance, as it indicated the explosive power of the kinetic energy. Stephen stood before the bag, his feet planted firmly. He took a deep, steadying breath, feeling the hum of the exoskeleton against his skin.
’I don’t have to worry about my arm snapping or my muscles tearing from the recoil,’ Stephen thought, his eyes narrowing. ’If the gear is going to take the strain... then I can give it everything.’
Stephen clenched his fist and poured every ounce of his Vow-enhanced speed and momentum into a single strike. His arm blurred, moving faster than the human eye could track. There was a sickening, metallic thwack as his fist collided with the heavy target.
But the bag didn’t slide. It didn’t move an inch down the rail.
Stephen stood there in stunned disbelief, his arm extended. The bag hadn’t moved because his fist, bolstered by the hydraulic force of the exoskeleton and his own superhuman speed, had punched clean through the reinforced material. His hand was buried deep inside the center of the bag, having pierced it like a hot needle through wax.
The room went silent as the group stared at the hole in the training equipment.
"I’d be very careful with those from now on," Wolf said, breaking the silence with a grim nod. "It looks like the Bloodline Group has just obtained a truly deadly weapon. It looks like we have a new S-rank in our ranks."