Night watch

Freyja reached down to the bracer on your arm, tapping idly at it. "If you don't have any plans of your own tonight, I would really like an opportunity to test if this configuration of ours has impacted my abilities in any way. I would like to go on patrol around the area for those who might be posing a threat to others."

You blinked, holding up the arm with the bracer on it. "That doesn't sound very safe, what if we get shot at?"

"My armor withstands arrows without so much as a dent. Now, will you allow me to do what I was fated to do?" Freyja asked, standing you both up.

You frowned. Modern weaponry might be significantly different compared to what she'd endured, but you weren't sure you could convince her that it would be too dangerous. "Just... if I say we need to back off, will you trust me?"

With a nod, you found Freyja wrest full control over you, walking out of the apartment and hurrying down to the base level.

While there was plenty of light from nearby buildings and streetlamps, Freyja found more than a few dark corners to slip into, wandering casually into them. When she reached an area that was nearly pitch black, you wondered what the point of all this was, until she looked down at the bracer. The metal that had been fully contained within it began to unfurl, sliding again up the body and over the attire you'd picked out earlier. As the armor slid further onto you, the concept of a knight wearing jeans underneath their armored layers amused you considerably.

This time, Freyja went so far as to don the helmet, and from underneath the seams and joints you could see that distinct blue glow radiate outward, softly but clearly luminous in an alleyway with barely any external light. Freyja tests movement, stretching her arms out and even jumping up and down or jogging a bit. The fact that she could jog in such armor was impressive, given that you could still tell that the armor was heavy despite your increased strength. It was also quite loud, hearing the metal joints creak and clash--you wouldn't be sneaking up on anybody tonight, that's for sure. Freyja didn't strike you as the sneaky type, anyway.

Does it always have to be plate armor like this? You asked curiously from your vantage point within the metal.

"Oh, not necessarily. Depending on the threat, I could scale back the amount of metal, adapt different designs. But villains and thieves often respond just as well to intimidation as they do brute ****, and I usually just need to use 'the walk' to send them running."

The walk?

Freyja grinned, and then demonstrated. While you couldn't see just how menacing it might actually be, you felt the way Freyja would take a step, stomping a little to shake the ground before pausing. She leaned forward with each step, one arm swinging slightly forward with a balled-up fist. Freyja certainly exaggerated each little motion to insert a slight amount of menace, wanting to be seen and heard as she approached. "I leave the element of surprise to Artemis when we work together. Three times out of five, my target will flee as fast as their pitiful legs can take them, if they don't shiver themselves into a pile of bones then and there! The other two, they'll stand and fight. One of those two is a fool for trying, the other often makes for good sport."

Freyja strolled right out of the alley, and down the street, heading further from your apartment as she sought to find some sort of criminal to test her might on. More than once, she swiped at her hip, grabbing at something that wasn't there. "We'll need to procure a blade later. It feels awkward to try and make one from my armor, a good weapon doesn't fold the same as the plate and mail. Perhaps Emilia could help, as we need something you could carry that won't attract attention. Not one person seems to carry a blade on them now!"

Why would you need one? You're not going to encounter other knights on a patrol like this. You're going to run into guys with guns, most likely. Which, we need to talk about guns later. But for now, all I know is you could poke them into oblivion.

"Because Geistknights are not summoned for the purposes of policing petty crime, as much as I enjoy both intimidating rats and earning adoration of those I assist! No, if I'm summoned, then there may be something far more sinister on the horizon." Freyja turned a corner, and then paused, looking down the streets. There wasn't a soul in sight, likely because any sort of street activity was skittish, and your blue glow was not too different from that of a police car. Couple with a noise that sounded like someone constantly fumbling with a metal trash can, and anyone within earshot would be long gone. She crossed her arms, leaning against the side of a building. "That's where your knowledge might be useful. Do the kingdoms surrounding this land have formidable beasts and warriors of their own to speak of?"

Kingdoms? We don't have kingdoms here. The closest you're going to get is the corporate world. Emilia owns a company that's in conflict with other corporations, but it's all business dealings and stuff. Not all-out war.

"War may simply be brewing, and has yet to be served at the dinner table." You wanted so badly to talk more about that metaphor, but you were interrupted by Freyja again. "Tell me about this corporate world. Is it like another realm, parallel to this one?"

...No, it's just businesses trying to earn money, and a lot of it. Emilia's company is King Enterprises, and I don't really know what she deals with other than magical suits of armor, but she's often butting heads--figuratively, not literally--with Yabusa Robotics, or Hideki Tech, or Shaw Biosciences. At one point, she tried to outright buy portions of each of those companies, but the sales fell through for some reason.

Freyja hummed in thought, before a noise caught her attention to her right, and she turned to advance towards it, investigating even the slightest disturbance. "I see. And these other companies, they have warriors or sorcerers of their own?"

How should I put this... each of those companies have been making monsters and their own equivalents to a knight like us, from what I've heard rumored. Yabusa for a while had a girl with a robotic--err, kind of like enchanted metal--horse body from the waist down. They had this other girl who seemed like she could lift up cars and stuff, she had most of her body covered in something like that, all black metal and stuff. Her, uh, steed...? Steed, I guess. That was a girl who could turn into one of those motorcycle things, like that two-wheeled thing next to that trash can.

Freyja seemed to grow excited at the ideas you explained! "A black knight an a centaur! I've not seen a centaur before. Strange that the knight does not simply use the centaur as a steed, but I suppose a shape-shifting devil makes just as much sense. That is just one of these corporations?" It was good that her excitement was high based on your stories, because all she found when she reached the source of the noise was a raccoon eating a slice of old pizza. Disappointing.

Oh yeah, there's others. I've heard tons of rumors that Hideki Tech has started on their own armor--or even monsters that could be WORN as armor, someone could just assume a monstrous shape and take control. That feels like fiction to me though. They even say one of the top scientists is made out of some sort of slime.

"Gelatinous beings... cubic in nature, or other?"

You didn't know how to answer, so you merely remained silent.

Freyja rolled her eyes, strolling further down the street. "Fine, fine. And what of Shaw?"

Oh, Shaw is filled with absolute buffoons. But, that's probably what makes them just as dangerous as the others. They'll happily steal any idea and subvert it for their own purposes, and I don't know that their genetic experiments are very benign either. Pretty sure they would try to engineer a superhuman if they could, and then outfit them with whatever it takes to wreak havoc.

"Hmm, so a den of thieves bent on creating berserkers." Freyja clasped her hands together, in glee. "I can see why I might be summoned. Well, not really the cause or catalyst for why my services might be required, but... hmm. Certainly it must be for a noble cause!"

You paused the body for the both of them. I'm... not entirely sure. My first guess is it has to do with the Phase Binder, the thing that put us together. Emilia didn't make that, that came from Yabusa first. And... hmm, trying to remember. Memories flooded into your mind as you thought back to the news stories from months ago. The Phase Binder had gone missing from Yabusa, some of the employees had been accused of conspiring to steal it. They said that someone had **** them, and claimed 'Geistknights' were at the ready if they resisted. That must have been a lie! King Enterprises used the specter of Geistknights to intimidate them, and then stole the Phase Binder to actually revive you! That's the kind of detail that those girls wouldn't have known if it didn't actually happen!

Freyja frowned, and sighed, as the words you spoke filled her with concern that maybe, just maybe, her cause might be less than just this time around. She thought of ways to twist what she'd been told into a more favorable light. "I would not be able to perform my duties at all if not for the Phase Binder, then. Perhaps the actions were not honorable, yet there must be some greater purpose at work. I get to continue to live, to protect, to help those who need my strength."

With a clenched fist, Freyja continued her march through the street.

"But above all, I serve those that summon me. Without question."