Double Blind (solo)

The torch sparked as Arawn made the repairs on R.O.V.E.R. The metal gave under the tool's nova white flame. Arawn finished his cut and the plating fell away from the robot's body. His gloved finger flicked the dial on the torch's shaft. The flame lowered and then died. He dropped the tool unto the table beside him and shook the thick glove off his right hand. Once done he used it to free his left from the confines of it's flame resistant glove. Which proved to be too difficult with this glasses in their dark form. Everything was so dark when the torch was turned off.In frustration he bit the tip of the dirty material and pulled it with his mouth. The taste of oil and burnt metal filled his mouth, he spat on the floor. He reached up with is right and pressed the silver strip on his nose's bridge. With the press the blackness covering his eyes became transparent. Arawn reached into the opening he had cut in the robot and checked the wiring. Some of the circuits had been fried during the last test not to mention parts of the plating had melted. The material they used was the same alloy for the kido testing range. The material reacted to reiryoku by becoming red a reaction that absorbed said energy and reduced damage to the robot. They had tested it's limits in the recent case. A literally firing squad of shinigami against little Rover. The machine had barely survived. Arawn sighed. It wasn't as bad as it looked. He was just cutting away at the completed damaged parts for now. It was so hot and stuffing working in the lab wit h the torch. Arawn got up from his chair and approached the curtain, he pulled it back to open the window. Pulling back the thick material the sunshine came rushing in. He blinked back tears, being the lab all day one loses track of time. Opening the window he breathed in the fresh air and gazed at the courtyard. Nothing much to see, but he still got to enjoy the small breeze hitting his face. He stared up at the sky. It was still too bright for him. He double tapped the bio-leech again, and the shades returned. He stood there at the window a little longer just staring blankly at the sky.
"I really need to get these things adjusted." he muttered. A novel as the bio-leech was, he figured there was room for improvement. He looked at the semi-melted Rover. There was no rush to finish it. He needed to find Bryce. He exited the lab in search of his hunchback friend.

Bryce sat in the multiple terminals typing away. This was normal for he computer prodigy. The genius man was quick when it came to electronics, but everything else he was a fish out of water. Still he was a fine addition to the division. To pay for his services Arawn would help him with his late night work. Honestly they were learning experiences. The work was beyond Arawn's skills so Bryce would teach him how to work with the system bit by bit. For the most part he gave Arawn filing tasks. Even though he was higher rank, he wasn't about to order Bryce around. He considered his rank merely the order of responsibility. People expected more of him, and yet he couldn't do half the things he did do without the help of said people. It was an odd paradox. As such he wasn't above getting his hands dirty or asking for help. This was one of those moments.

"Bryce!" Arawn greeted the man. The hunchback didn't turn, his tentacle arm waved at him. That usually meant he was quite engrossed in his work. Of the short man's three limbs the tentacle seemed to act separately from the rest. Almost as if it was of different mind. Arawn moved over watch the man work. He couldn't understand half of what the text on the screen said. From what little he could comprehend it was a system update for the communication network. It was a marvel to think this man could do the work of four. Still everyone in the squad had unique abilities that put them head and shoulders above others. Minutes passed and Bryce turned around
"Sorry about that, needed to finish that while it was still fresh." he smiled. "What can I do for you?" The tentacle reached over to the side table and grabbed bottle. The slimy tendril looped around the bottle and brought it back to Bryce's face. It pushed the beverage into his cheek. Bryce batted the tentacle away.
"Well I was wondering if you can do something about this Bio-Leech" Arawn said pointing at his nose. Simone and he had helped to make the strange organism, it was only fitting he ask them for an adjustment.
"Something wrong with it? Has it been malfunctioning?" he asked with a look of concern. The man did take pride in his work as he should. "No, no it's doing just great, I just wondered it could be altered slightly." Arawn didn't want to insult the man by saying it was imperfect. "I recalled glasses in the human world that shifted into shades when it got sunny. I was thinking if I could do something like that. Actually I was blinded by a kido recently such a feature would be very helpful." Bryce's face lit up as Arawn spoke. Apparently he did like the idea.
"Photosensitive lenses." he muttered as the arm mounted on his back ran it's fingers through his hair. "It's possible, might take a four days to recalibrate it. A slight increase in the power drain, but nothing you'll notice. I think we can work in a heat sensor for good measure." " he said while scratching his chin. "You'll have to wear you old ones while I work on them."
"I don't mind, it would be worth it." Arawn replied honestly, he had no problem making do with his old spectacles. He wondered where he had put them. "I'll drop it off to you by the end of the day." he said as he left the man back to his computer screen. The tentacle waved goodbye.
True to his word Arawn left the little marvel with the Bryce at the end of the day.

Days later...

Four days turned into ten days. Arawn wasn't about to harass Bryce about the adjustment. Simone had popped by three days earlier telling him there had been a slight complication. He didn't ask anything more. They were doing it with their free time, he wasn't about to complain when his personal request took the back burner to their professional duty. As he was looking over the budget Bryce sent him a text: "It's done, drop by and check it out!!!" That's all Arawn needed to hear he put down the papers and went to pick up his electric glasses. Bryce wasn't in the computer room but in the lab just down the hall. He was waiting for Arawn with a wide grin on his face.
"Sorry it took so long, but the system was overly sensitive at first. It was turning to shades even indoors." he stated as he pulled out the box with the small metal object. It looked the same as the last time, but Arawn really expect a change in look only it's functions. Taking his glasses off he placed the silver bio-organism on his nose. There was the familiar pinch as it attached itself to him and siphoned his reiryoku to power itself. It took afew seconds for his eye to adjust, but he could see better than he could with his glasses.
"So how is it?" Bryce asked excitedly, his tentacle waving back and forth like a dog wagging it's tail.
"Feels great, and I can see fine." Arawn answered.
"Good." the hunchback beamed "Bakudo #5: Senko." he spoke as his third arm raised in front of Arawn's face. There was no time to look away." Arawn noticed through half-closed eyes that everything was darker around him. Unprepared for the spell he had flinched, but he could see just fine. The other man started to laugh at him. The redheaded man's face flushed red with embarrassment. "The same process that it uses to filter light it now uses to adjust coloring. It was quite tricky, but it factors the change in light fast enough to prevent blinding light."
"Nice." was all Arawn could say as he looked about the room with the instant shades. "You said something about a heat sensor?"
"Well that's more so for normal use." the other man began. "When it gets so hot they change to shades to protect your eyes. The field projector should still protect your eyes from physical attack, but don't expect much from it. "
Arawn was more than impressed. "Remind me to get you a day off. "he said patting him on the back the tentacle grabbed Arawn's hand and shook it.

Invention upgrade:
Increased photo sensitivity of the Bio-leech glasses' vision field. With a rapid change in lighting (bright) the bio-leech shifts the glasses into dark shades to prevent blindness. The same effect with a rise in temperature, unfortunately this also is effected by the body heat.

For the remainder of the day Arawn walked around through Seireitei observing the world through his instantly tinted glasses. It was like a kid with a new toy, trying it out in every way possible. He'd shade his face and the small fields would become completely invisible. Taking his hands away they would become a faint gray. The daylight and sun's rays weren't enough to make them go black as Bryce's spell had. Still happy with the recent upgrade. Blinding attacks wouldn't be too much of a problem now, but as he thought about it, they were quite rare. He suddenly stopped short. As he thought about it more the fact was the only reason to have such an enhancement was against his fellow shinigami's attacks. When using Senko the user was immune from the effect. He really didn't need the glasses for that either. Arawn tilted his head backwards staring at the sun, slowly his glasses got darker. As novel as it was, it now felt like a complete waste of time and effort.
"Crap." he exclaimed to himself. Time wasted just so he didn't have to worry about a sunny day. Even as he let out a sigh of defeat, a new idea hit him. He had already created a stun grenade, a flash-bang should be just as effective a tool. The spell was fine and good, but if he conserving energy in a battle could be the difference between life and death. Despite all his training he had trouble with kido spells. After so many spells he got tired due to excess energy being employed. Making a device to take the place of the spells was a great strategy. Now his glasses weren't a total waste, but an important step. Gazing up at the sun one later time through the darkened field Arawn hurried back to his lab.

From out side he rushed to his computer and researched components for a flash bomb. The database for Soul Society was far more detailed and informative than anything on the Living World's internet. There were examples of various weapon shown to him. It looked easy, he wondered why no one had made one before. It was probably just considered a waste of time since they didn't have glasses like Arawn now possessed. So it was far more easier to use the spell. Magnesium, Ammonium nitrate, pyrotechnic materials. Really simple stuff, almost nothing really too hard to come by. The fact it wasn't too exotic was kind of depressing. He had hoped for it to be a long search for the right kind of item. While the ingredients were spectacular, the shape had a multitude of options. Arawn grinned. Well looks like he would have some fun after all.

In the end he decided to keep the spherical shape similar to his last invention. An orb was by far the easiest to throw being the most aerodynamic. He borrowed the shell of one of the stun grenades as a base. The overall design was only slightly different in the end. The detonator was in place of the electric cascade circuit. He made it a button press much like the first weapon, but without electrical means. If he used the stun grenade the flash grenade might be affected. It was literally a primitive flint friction fuse with a timing spring. It was similar to a kitchen timer; the button moved the spring and then then the tension would push the flint back. As it retracted it opened the chamber with the explosive and would ignite it. He gave it several practice runs as it sat on his desk. Next was the mix of chemicals of the explosive, this was easy, but he hit upon a better idea as he worked. He decided to used hydrogen gas to help the process. Hydrogen being quite flammable would make quite a noise as it ignited the mix.
That made the task more challenging as to contain the gas and the powder. Having the powder suspended in the gas might work for the time being, but if the device malfunctioned it could detonate in his hand. Not only would the grenade give off a large flash of light, but some high heat and sound. A perfect diversion. In the next few weeks he worked at his newest toy. The sphere shell was given holes to vent the dangerous compound but they were all protected in a semi-durable inner shell. Once new mix was ignited they would rip the inner shell and vent though the holes. It was another short week before he was ready to test it. He took the orb behind the building and pressed the white button on the top. There was a click as the switch hit the metal grove and the spring tensed. After he let go of the button he had 3-5 seconds before it detonated. He tossed the ball several feet away into a metal tin he had prepared beforehand. There was a bright flash as it landed inside. Arawn's spectacles had changed dark when the grenade went off. He grinned.

Invention
Flash grenade - It's a simple device that causes a bright flash of light. The flash of light momentarily activates all light sensitive cells in the eye, making vision impossible for approximately five seconds until the eye restores itself to its normal, unstimulated state. The extremely loud blast produced by the grenade adds to its incapacitating properties by disturbing the fluid in the ear. It does give off a small measure of head making it capable of setting objects touching it directly on fire.