Kaleb stared at the absolute puddle of silver sitting in a beaker on his desk. The watery mixture was still fluid and showed no signs of ever solidifying again. He could see traces of Trucium still floating in the mixture and he sighed at another failure. It seemed that no matter the ratio, silver was not a suitable medium for the Ucrine and Trucium. Even the Trucium alone made the silver so watery that it was useless.

Marie and Roy had more luck with Copper and brass, but Terrance was in the same bucket as Kaleb. Aluminum was pointless after the introduction of the Ucrine plates. Not because it made the metal too flexible, but because it firmed up the aluminum so much that it was crazy. In fact, the boy had abandoned their little hunt for his own experiments with the Aluminum+Ucrine alloy.

It had been several hours sense the evening meeting and all the other members of the Super Group were out hunting totems. Vivienne was in Jar-lock's library relaying information about the Leylines to both Farrah and the patrols. But Kaleb was more excited about inventing a new alloy. Surprisingly, his friends gave him the space and time to work. Not bothering him with patrol schedules at the moment.

He wanted to be out there. Hunting down evil and fighting the good fight. But there was shit to invent. Kaleb grinned as he looked around his workshop. Roy and Marie were writing up notes about the properties of the discovered alloys. Meanwhile, Clara was inputting that data into a nearby computer and checking if the mixtures had been discovered already. He could tell by the frown on the bird woman's face that they had. Terrance was by the forge, hammering his alloy into shape.

CLANG

Kaleb was pulled from his thoughts by a loud sound coming from near his arm. Looking down, he saw Daivor holding an armor of black-metal ingots. The gnome had dropped one on the workbench as he tried to hold the rest in his arms. Moving to help, Kaleb realized that the Master Gnome was bringing out the alien alloys now. Each odd, dark ingot shone with an eerie light as Kaleb picked them up. Some even felt a little slimy to his touch.

"It's time to get to the actual work, boss."

"Agreed. But which one should we try first?" Kaleb nodded as he turned, a slim metal ingot in his hands.

The ingot was plucked from his own hand by a feathery one. Kaleb grumbled as he looked up and saw Clara studying the ingot.

"It's rude to snatch."

"It's also rude to steal. But the way I understand it, that's how you came into possession of most of the stuff in here."

"Oh, call a cop!"

Kaleb reached up and yanked the ingot out of her hand and went back to examining it. The alien alloys had exciting and dangerous properties. When he, Daivor, and Roy had first experimented with the things, the results had been… exciting. Clara pulled her face in closer to Kaleb to get a better look at the softly glowing ingot.

"Do we even know what's in these things already?"

Kaleb shook his head as Daivor nodded. He glanced down at the gnome as Daivor sighed dramatically. Pulling and lighting his pipe, Daivor explained.

"Roy and I did our best to identify the properties of the various metals we have. These ingots hold magic very well, but they are based on alien metals and elements. Comparing those elements to the public database on the internet, we think we know what a few of them are."

"But they are still not safe to work with, though, right?"

"What's safe, really?" Kaleb said, shrugging. "We are this close to getting the alloy we need. We just need to find the right metal. One of these might be it."

"Or it might blow this workshop of yours to hell. Trucium is a restricted substance for a reason."

"We'll keep the amounts small. Marie! Roy! You both ready to step it up a notch?"

Both teens turned to look at him and saw him waving the dark ingot. Terrance glanced up as well, but quickly went back to his own work. Roy was the first to his desk and was looking at the pile of ingots they had assembled. Reaching down, he pulled a one out that had a light-green sheen to it.

"This is the one we used for the battery casing, right?"

When Daivor nodded, Roy cheered and hurried off, saying. "Then I'll start with this one. I bet it's exactly what we need."

Kaleb grinned as Marie scowled at Roy. The teen went back to his workstation after collecting some more Trucium and grabbing Ucrine plates. Marie hardly glanced at what she was grabbing as she pulled a few more ingots from the pile. Kaleb looked at what was left as Marie got her own stuff ready. He had three dark ingots to himself. One with a dark-blue sheen, one that seemed to glow silver, and one that was as matte black as it could be.

Clara glared at all of them before throwing her arms up and huffing. "Fine! Blow yourselves up. Just make notes on which alloy you're using so I can place an order for more."

"Will do, teach." Kaleb called as he picked up the dark-blue one and felt the metal hum under his fingers.

"Ooh, that's magic-y."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Daivor nodded. "Yeah, it's got a decent amount of mana resonance. I doubt that'll end up being what we need, but it's good to make a note of it."

"Agreed." Kaleb said, flipping the ingot in his hands.

The next few hours passed, with each of them taking turns at the forge. Scott was working overtime as they melted down and then mixed in their Trucium and Ucrine. They only had one minor incident when Marie's second attempt caught fire. But they got things under control, and Vivienne quickly healed the burn on Terrance's leg. Although she did it while glaring at Kaleb for some reason. It was Marie that burned the guy.

Each of Kaleb's own ingots was a bust. Nothing seemed to take to the Trucium. In fact, the ingots he had seemed to actively repel the metal dust. Almost like they were two opposing properties. Roy's own attempt was a failure as well. The metal held the as an alloy fairly well, but once it got over a certain size, the molecular structure of the metal started to collapse. It was the metal equivalent of necrotic damage. The ingot damn near disintegrated.

Roy was a little peeved at being wrong. But Kaleb was more locked in on Marie's last attempt. Her last ingot was just coming out of the forge and she was ready to add the Ucrine plate before melting them together again. Terrance was a good ways back from the forge itself, but Kaleb was watching with bated breath. Daivor, on his shoulder, also seemed to tense up as the alloy was set on the anvil. The red hot metal was placed on top of the Ucrine plate and Kaleb watched as the two metals melted into each other.

Marie gave it a few good whacks with her hammer before she flipped the ingot and did the same thing on the other side. Once the heat looked like it was fading, she picked up the alloy and plate and dumped them both back into the forge. Scott watch the metals enter his domain and kicked up the flames into another level. The heat coming off the forge exploded and Kaleb tensed himself. Ready to leap in front of Marie in case shit hit the fan. But other than the flames licking out of the forge's mouth, everything seemed fine.

The entire shop held their collective breath as Marie brought out the ingot again and went to work. After a few more times, assuring the two metals were mixed, she let the new ingot cool. Everyone pulled in close around the anvil and watched as the hot ingot slowly cooled. Its black sheen had disappeared thanks to the Ucrine and Trucium. Both silver elements had given the new alloy a silvery sheen to the dark bit of metal.

"If this works, then we'll really be in luck." Daivor whispered in Kaleb's ear. "That's a Naskyx alloy. Designed to be used on the Maritinian home world. It's a world of ice and snow. So the metal holds and transfers heat well."

"Is it easy to buy?"

"Easy? Yes. Cheap? Not one bit."

"I can get us some." Clara said, eyes locked on the cooling metal.

Kaleb rolled his own eyes. "Of course you can, and what will that cost us?"

The owlish woman just grinned at him before they both turned their attention back to the ingot. It was a long while before the metal fully cooled. But once it did, all six of them groaned out loud. Other than being a pretty standard looking ingot, nothing seemed to change. Kaleb rubbed his face in exasperation and Marie's smile turned into a scowl. The silvery metal rectangle just sat there on the anvil, looking like a pretty standard ingot. Reaching out to it, Marie's glove had tentatively tapped the thing, but it seemed to stand firm under her pressure.

"Damn it!" the young woman shouted as she ripped her gloves off.

But a small, gnomish voice cut through the bad mood. "Wait! Poke it again."

Marie and the others all looked at the gnome on Kaleb's shoulder. Kaleb raised an eyebrow at the request. They all saw the ingot react like a standard bit of metal. But the gnome had his eyes locked on the metal. His pipe clenched in his teeth. Marie rolled her eyes, but used her still-gloved hand to pick up the ingot and heft it to her eye level. As she did, Kaleb saw the silvery metal bend somewhat as it was lifted into the air.

Terrance and Roy must've seen the same thing, as both boys charged Marie like wild boars. The three teens stared at the metal as Roy reached out a hand to the side of the ingot Marie wasn't holding. Between the two of them, they both bent their edge of the metal down, making the ingot bow out into an arch.

"It feels rubbery." Roy said as he bent the metal the other way.

"But it's still tough!" Marie cheered.

She ripped the metal out of Roy's hand and tapped the ingot on the side of the forge. A loud clang resounded as metal hit metal and Kaleb cheered. To his surprise, Daivor and Clara were right there with him. Shouting in triumph as all three teens looked at them like they were crazy. But Kaleb was in too good a mood to let the teens bring him down.

"That's it, right? We have our metal. We just need to get some more of it and start making what I need for my arm."

"No. We need to report the findings to TekNik!" Clara exclaimed. "The sooner they know, the sooner they'll allocate more resources to this little lab of yours."

"Workshop."

"Whatever!"

"You're both wrong!" Marie said, voice serious. "The first thing I have to do is name my discovery."

Kaleb tilted his head at the tone of the young woman's voice and looked at her. She looked both exhilarated and afraid as she stared at him, Daivor, and Clara. Her new alloy was in her gloved hand, and she held it close to her chest. As if she was afraid they would take it from her. Kaleb sighed as he realized that was what she was worried about. He took a full step back and made the 'go ahead' gesture with his hands.

"You're right, Ms. Kinley. My mistake. It's your discovery. You have the right to name it."

Marie nodded gratefully at him before glaring at Clara. The college professor squawked indignantly at the look before saying. "Of course, you get to name it, Marie. No one would think of taking that from you. But according to our agreement, TekNik gets the first right of refusal on any inventions coming from this lab. That is, if you sell it."

Kaleb nodded along, remembering that part of the agreement. Marie looked thoughtful for a few seconds before she nodded happily and held up the ingot. Her gloved hand made the slim bit of metal look small, but the look in Marie's eyes was one of absolute joy at what she had created.

"I shall call it Kinlyx!" She said triumphantly.

Roy and Terrance shared a look before they both covered laughter. Marie glared at the pair of them, but said nothing as she cradled her alloy. Kaleb rolled his eyes at the teen boys. Daivor tapped Kaleb's ear and said.

"Now we can finally finish your arm. More than a few things need to be tested still, but we have all the ingredients."

"Agreed." Kaleb said, and his eyes fell on the black frame and synth-muscle still laying out on his workstation.

He stilled needed to test how the Kinlyx handled heat and its overall elasticity. Not to mention undergo surgery to make his arm and shoulder joint compatible. He rubbed his hands together and felt the metal of his left-hand rub against his scales. Soon, that feeling of his robotic hand would be replaced by a new one, and he'd finally get the upgrade he'd been waiting for.

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