Breaking Blades
Copyright© 2026 by FozzieBare
Chapter 2: Nine Percent? Super-MAC. Boss? We Have a Problem
Martin had worked nonstop for the last six hours, confirming and reconfirming his test results before he finally came out to speak with the other core members of Reforged.
“By slightly adjusting the core temperature of the armor-smelting process, and using a somewhat more exotic blend of materials, including trace quantities of diamond and several other compounds, I managed to produce a new armor type.”
He paused.
“Tentatively, I am calling it Reforged-Class 1 Armor.”
Martin brought up the figures.
“The additional manufacturing steps, along with the more expensive materials, increase production costs. Current estimate is approximately twenty-five to thirty-three percent more. I am still attempting to determine whether that can be reduced without sacrificing the durability improvement.”
He adjusted his glasses.
“Nine percent.”
Another pause.
“Quite probably worth it. Benefits appear to exceed cost significantly.”
Amy was a little slower to grasp the implications. She had never really worked with custom equipment until Martin started upgrading her own WarMAC.
“Nine percent? That’s ... um ... good, right?”
Elias stared at her.
“Amy, nine percent is a huge upgrade.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Elias leaned forward.
“Sure, if you look at it as ‘nine percent more armor,’ especially in something like Arena mode, it sounds nice but not revolutionary. Strategically? It’s enormous.”
He pointed toward the numbers.
“A nine-percent durability increase could translate into a double-digit reduction in repair costs.”
Amy frowned.
“How?”
“Because damage isn’t linear.”
Elias tapped the display.
“That extra durability might be the difference between a WarMAC taking a few more hits and getting destroyed outright. If it survives long enough to disengage, we can repair it in the field instead of waiting for a complete rebuild.”
He switched to another screen.
“And when a unit gets destroyed, the game assigns additional wear and damage to internal components. So we’re not just talking about nine percent more armor.”
Elias looked back at her.
“We’re talking about the shot that doesn’t destroy the MAC.”
Amy’s expression changed.
“Oh.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian nodded.
“From the tactical side, it means you can stay in the fight longer.”
Amy looked towards him.
“You don’t have to be quite as conservative when trading fire because you’ve got that extra buffer. It could mean popping out from behind a hill a little sooner to take a shot, or staying exposed long enough to cover a teammate’s withdrawal when everything inevitably goes pear-shaped.”
He looked back toward Martin’s figures.
“Or just surviving long enough to disengage when otherwise you wouldn’t.”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“The top teams in the League wouldn’t necessarily kill for a nine-percent durability increase.”
He considered that.
“But they’d absolutely think about whether it was worth the risk.”
Elias looked over at Adrian.
“Should we sell this?”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“The armor?”
“Either the armor or the process. Maybe license Martin’s manufacturing method. Hell, we could probably produce the stuff ourselves and sell it to pro teams.”
Amy looked between them.
“Would they buy it?”
Adrian laughed.
“Nine percent? Absolutely.”
Elias nodded.
“That’s what I’m thinking. We could make a lot of credits off this.”
Adrian was quiet for a moment.
Then he shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Elias frowned.
“Why?”
“Because the second we sell it, it’s out of our hands.”
He looked toward Martin.
“Right now, this is something Reforged can do that nobody else can.”
Elias leaned back.
Adrian continued.
“If Martin comes up with something better later, then maybe we sell the old process. Let everybody else buy last generation while we keep current generation for ourselves.”
Martin nodded immediately.
“Yes. Sensible.”
Amy glanced at him.
“You think you can improve it again?”
Martin adjusted his glasses.
“Almost certainly.”
Then he paused.
“Eventually.”
“Eventually?”
“Am sure there are more efficient methods. Possibly less expensive. Perhaps more durable.”
He shrugged.
“But cannot place timetable on breakthrough. Experimentation does not work that way. Things work or they do not.”
He looked toward the armor specifications.
“Would rather current generation benefit us.”
A slight pause.
“And not, say, the Blades.”
Martin frowned.
“Rude. Nasty. Not suitable at all.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Actually, there’s another reason not to sell it.”
Elias looked over.
“What?”
“It’s invisible.”
Amy frowned.
“The armor?”
“The upgrade.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Think about it. How would you know I had nine percent more durability?”
Amy thought about that.
“You’d take more hits.”
“Sure. But how many more?”
She paused.
Adrian nodded.
“Exactly. Too many variables. Weapon type. Range. Angle. Location. Previous damage. Nobody is going to look at a fight and immediately say, ‘That WarMAC has nine percent better armor.’”
Elias’s expression changed.
“They’ll just think it survived.”
“Right.”
Adrian looked toward Martin.
“Which means this advantage stays an advantage until somebody tells people it exists.”
He thought about it for another moment.
“And there’s one more reason not to put a price tag on it yet.”
Elias waited.
“If we sell it, we get credits. Useful, sure, but then the transaction is over.”
Adrian tapped the armor figures.
“If we use it with the right people, we could get something worth a lot more than a pile of credits. Allies. Help. Friends. God knows we need all the friends we can get.”
Amy nodded slowly.
“So we don’t sell it. We decide who gets to know it exists.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian looked back toward Elias.
“And when Phase One is complete, if we wanted to, we could tell some of the people we’re dealing with that there’s something their pro teams might really love.”
Elias looked at him.
“You mean use it as leverage?”
“Not leverage. An opening.”
Adrian tapped the armor figures again.
“Nothing written down. Nothing we can’t control. Just enough to get a meeting.”
Amy frowned.
“They might not believe us.”
“They might not.”
Adrian smiled.
“But they might believe us enough to take the meeting. No offense, Elias, but they’d believe it more coming from my mouth.”
Elias nodded slowly.
“And then?”
Adrian smiled.
“Then we blow their doors right off.”
He turned toward Martin.
“Congratulations, Martin. You’ve created Super-MAC.”
Amy and Elias burst out laughing.
Martin did not.
He considered the statement seriously.
“No. Not Super-MAC.”
Adrian’s smile widened.
“No?”
“Could put large S on chest, certainly. Still would not have ability to fly without Jump Boosters.”
Martin frowned thoughtfully.
“Would also need small laser emitter behind cockpit plasglass. Very distracting.”
Another pause.
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