Chapter 16

“Einherjar?” I said looking at Heads.

“There were Berserkers, but Odin’s army of dead warriors was called the Einherjar. Odin was also the god of berserking,” Nora said.

“I’ll have to research that. But, you get the point. I want male warriors too, along with the Valkyrie. Val doesn’t like being a guy, and you can’t really fight yourself, you need somebody else to compete and practice against,” I said, looking at Heads and wondering why she just let me go on for so long. If Nora knew, then Heads knew also.

“Are you going to tell Christian and Doris about the new possible identities?” Heads asked.

“Maybe, it’s not like I can’t just hold on to them.”

“I think they would take the twinning option. It would let them stay where they are, and reestablish elsewhere at the same time. I really could use the help with security,” Heads said.

“The first warehouse will be done by this weekend, once that is up, I’ll have the space to start turning out buildings. Is the architect finished with the materials testing yet?” I asked.

“He called today, said it had passed all the tests they had given it. He was particularly excited about flammability tests, as well as the strength to weight ratio.”

“See if I can talk to him Friday about our office building,” I requested.

“Oh, did you finish the armor?” Nora asked.

I conjured the two warriors, who immediately saluted. The girls were finished eating, so they examined the armor. The two warriors did some flexibility displays, and mock sparring, then I put them back into storage.

The next day Val tapped me on the shoulder to let me know that Thomas had arrived. I flew down the tunnel and up into the portable, opening the door, and stepping out to greet him. The introduction handshake revealed everything about him that the scan from a distance had failed to show.

The guy was fat, but it looked worse because he was short too. About 5’2” tall, and about 4 feet wide. I was wondering if he’d even fit down the tunnel. I invited him up to the portable. He stepped through the door going sideways, he wasn’t round, he was really wide. I was pretty sure he would fit, but maybe I should skinny him down first.

We sat at my desk, and he handed me his resume, which I glanced at. “Thomas welcome! Nora highly recommended you. I’ve got a few questions for you, as a way of interview. Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” he said with confidence.

“What’s a better name, Einherjar or Berserker for a genetically modified race of super warriors?”

His eyes went wide, then he smiled even wider. “Berserkers, because they came in three flavors, bear, wolf, and boar. A squad of each would give you varying types of abilities. Bear for brute force attacks, wolf for stealth and night operations, and boar for search and destroy.”

“Of the three what would you want to be?” I asked.

He slapped his stomach, and laughed, “I might look boarish, but I’m all bear at heart.”

I laughed at the self depreciation, and the excellent wordplay. “How much to hire you immediately, relocate, and start working, with a target first day as Monday. I’ll put you up at the hotel until you can get an apartment.”

“200k a year, full benefits, retirement, etc.”

“Do you want to know what you would be doing?”

“Doesn’t much matter at that price,” he said.

I slid over an NDA, and an employment contract. He signed the first, and wrote out what he wanted on the second. I stood from the desk, and shook his hand. While shaking his hand, I blinked him into storage, and conjured him back. Now I had a backup.

“Welcome aboard, how attached are you to your weight? Where we are going next might be a little tight.”

“If you have a magic weight loss pill, I’m ready to swallow,” he joked.

“Even better,” I said. My power flared out, enveloped him, and started fixing things. His stomach visibly shrank, his skin became less greasy, and his cheeks shrunk. I stopped at the point where he was just overweight, but definitely no longer obese.

“What the hell!” he exclaimed.

“The world is a wondrous place, and we all struggle to understand it,” I said stepping over, and flipping the carpet up in the corner. The hole underneath, revealed a ladder going down. I stepped into the hole, slowly lowering, looking him in the eye. He wasn’t moving so I picked him up, and carried him down after with my power.

There was a slight gasp when I picked him up, but no screeching, wailing, or demands to be put down. When I got to the bottom, he looked me in the eye. “Did I just make a deal with the devil?”

“Think of me as your fairy godfather. The people in the know around here call me Poseidon,” I said, walking down the hallway. “Do try to keep up Thomas, we have a great many things to do today.”

He quickly jogged to catch up, as he looked around. Two Valkyrie were sparring in the ring, another was taking practice shots at targets down a long tunnel. Nora was sitting at a table drinking a cup of coffee. I sat down next to her, and conjured a chair across from me for him to sit on.

“I hired Thomas, he’s brilliant, just like you said,” I told her, then kissed her. “Thanks.”

Thomas was still rubbernecking, but finally turned back at the kiss. “So, secret base. Are you aliens, military, magic users, fae?”

“I’m, me. I come from a line of people who have, what today would be called, superpowers. My lineage has always had the responsibility of protecting Earth. I’m working on making the world a better place. Using my power I crafted the Valkyrie you see around us. Using that same power, I’m going to induct you into our secret organization.” I loved telling just enough truth so they created their own believable lies.

“So it’s magic?” he said with wonder.

“No, just science that we don’t understand yet. Personally I can craft just about anything, but I don’t know enough to design what I need. You design, I build, we test. What works goes into the field. Do you trust me?”

“If Nora can kiss you, I can trust you. I’ve never met anyone better at reading people.”

“Great, asking you that question is the beginning of a ritual. It’s important that we follow the forms, even if I could do this without them. For example, this ring was my father’s. The gems each stand for a wearer with powers.” I pointed at the clear gem, “This is me. The red one was my father, the green Merlin, the black, our founder, who made the ring.