Tess-5

Exosuit ThreeC blended in nearly perfectly with House White's new uniforms. Three layers to keep the illusion. One underneath the uniform, buckled to her skin. The second was sewn into the uniform with the help of Steven. Third, the only visible outside aspects of the control circles around the ankles and fingers like rings and bracelets. This was the perfect day to field test it.

"PeteOne, PeteTwo, any signs of occupancy?" Tess spoke into her wrist.

The mechanical spiders had been in this building longer than the other ones she's surveyed today. With the number of buildings acquired recently, it shouldn't be too hard to convince Ambrosia to lend her one as a workshop. Then she'd have to convince her parents back home in Naewauld to ship her tools over. Hopefully, that wouldn't be too hard. They'd been wanting to reclaim that shed for years and were tired of the explosions.

Clicks, chirps, and whistles came back as an answer.

"You're cornered? You should have messaged me as soon as you ran into trouble."

"Whee… click click."

"I didn't design you to handle this."

"Beeep woo woo."

"Just because they are rats… never mind, stay safe. I'll be in in a minute."

Tess twisted the control rings on her fingers, cycling through options. - Serve Tea Earl Grey version TwoB - Graceful Walk Six - Fold Sheets Fast - Combat Three Five Point Two: Small Mammals. Programming set, Tess pushed forward.

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The house on Blithe Street was large but in disrepair, kept vacant by a bank that wanted a high price but refused to repair it to match the standards on the street before being sold to Countess Maye. The steps creaked uncomfortably under the added weight of the exosuit. There will be a need to shave off some weight or cut out sugary pastries. Maybe a lighter composite?

With the windows boarded up, only slivers of light snuck through the cracks. Tess Sighed. The Petes didn't need any light, and no one would waste the time or energy to charge the glow stones. The glasses, well, goggles, she'd brought, while not the most efficient, should be sufficient for this. Why would someone waste a skill to produce light when one could engineer around such problems? It was no different than any of the maid skills she'd programmed into the suit.

Goggles on, everything took a dim red tint, which was an improvement from the near-complete blackness before. With the floorboards bending as much as the steps, Tess aimed to be careful with her steps. A room-to-room sweep to locate Pete and Pete. Their description skills were still lacking enough that getting an accurate placement of their location was impossible through communication.

The heavy thudding charge from the room she could only guess was a kitchen that nearly had Tess stumbling back at the sound and flash of movement. She'd long since trained her suits not to be so sensitive to her awkwardness; the combat mode was in full control. Five dog-sized, not rat-sized rodents charged out. The combat setting was no longer ideal. The Petes would need to be updated to be more informative. A dozen other thoughts went through her head that had nothing to do with the attacking animals.

The suit moved without direct input. The right leg swung more like a pendulum. The mass crushed the first unusually large rodent's skull with the forward kick. On the back swing, it took out the second lead rat. Three left, the suit deployed countermeasures against the numbers. Three small spheres ripped out of the pants' legs at the knee joints. Steven would complain about that repair. The balls landed on the ground and created an electric net, catching two more rats in twitching fits of dying.

One left. Tess's leg shot down, and her heel went straight through the rat, and it kept going. With a crash, her leg went through the floorboards until it was stuck halfway to her knee.

"Rust and ruin!" Maybe it was time to cut out sweets and try out a lighter composite?

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