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“Yeah,” said the one called Diego. “Oh! Are you saying they’ll adapt to your little whatchamacallit, too?”

“That is exactly what I am saying. In order for this EWE to work a second time, it must be retuned.”

“Hmph. How do we retune it, then?”

“...Trial and error, unfortunately,” said the one called Carver. “On the bright side, it can be done from a... relatively safe distance away, provided you can see them in the dark. Which I have another device for. But, um, ah--I was hoping one of you fine gentleman would do it for me, this time. I must admit, it has always terrified me beyond measure.”

“Fine.” The one called Zeff took the box from him. “I’ll do it.”

“Oh, thank god!” The one called Carver suddenly hugged the other man. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to have such a dependable companion! Please never leave me!”

Everyone involved in the conversation just kind of stared, and the one called Zeff slowly peeled the man off of him.

The one called Carver was red in the face, though Royo did not understand what that meant. “I, uh--please, I apologize--ah, it was just a joke, you see--aha--um--”

The one called Zeff kept holding him at arm’s length. “How long will this take?”

“Oh, um, well...” The one called Carver bit his lip. “A few days, most likely. Perhaps shorter. Perhaps... longer. It sort of depends on your luck, I suppose. Just cycling through all of the potential frequencies. In theory, you could nail it perfectly on the first try. That would be amazing! But then again, you ARE amazing, aren’t you?! Aha!”

No one else laughed with him.

Royo had only pity for the poor bastard.

In the end, the one called Zeff did not nail it on the first try, as Royo had not even seen the man since. Though that was no great loss, to Royo’s mind. He did not much care for that man’s presence. He seemed perpetually on edge. And irritable, to boot. And with as much power as that superhuman had at his fingertips, Royo could all too easily imagine him simply snapping and going on a killing spree after someone said the wrong thing to him.

Given a choice, Royo much preferred the company of the other superhumans, and so he’d decided to use this downtime in order to learn more about them.

The most problematic on that front proved to be the Senmurai, who quite easily spoke the least and frequently went off on his own. He’d changed his armor, too, as if to compound the mystery further.

Difficult as he was, though, Royo had to admit, the Senmurai was the one who most intrigued him. More so than the Hun’Sho, even. Though, perhaps that was not saying much. What Royo had thus far learned of them, he did not like.