Twst Family Members: The Chief Engineer (pt4)
Early on in Book 7 Ortho volunteers himself for the task of infiltrating Malleus’ domain in order to gather data, asking the Chief Engineer to construct him gear that will enable him to do so.
When she responds that it is too dangerous Ortho seems to pretend to be losing contact in order to escape the lecture, and threatens to “permanently activate every sprinkler on the Island of Woe” if the gear isn’t ready by the time he has downloaded himself.
Ortho arrives 48 hours later to an unhappy Chief Engineer, who is not pleased with having been threatened, but she immediately accepts Otho’s apology and presents him the Cerberus Gear of her own creation.
Ortho says, "Mom is definitely the strongest member of our family. She's normally nice, but she gets scary when she's mad. Nobody can outmatch her there."
On the subject of his Cerberus Gear Ortho says, "This drive system is astoundingly efficient, and so is its energy consumption.Mom's engineering skills are out of this world..."
The Chief Engineer sets the strict rule that Ortho is to not be reckless and leave the moment he becomes scared, saying, “You really do take after your brothers.” Ortho thanks her for treating him like a real member of the family and she assures him, “You're one of our beloved sons too,” and the family shares a hug.
It is the Chief Engineer who orders Ortho out of Malleus’ domain, even as Idia is being actively dragged into an abyss.
Later, Ortho apologizes for losing the two robot dogs that she’d made for him inside of Malleus’ realm, and she says that they can retrieve their components and fix them up again as soon as Malleus’ barrier is down, but “What matters most is that (Ortho) made it out safely,” and they share another hug (though Ortho is a hologram at the time).
The Chief Engineer creates Ortho’s Cerberus Gear within 48 hours, along with “the entire tech dev division pulling all-nighters,” calling it “anti-magical disaster gear” that is “specialized for combat within areas affected by magic, and it can defend against system contamination caused by Malleus's spell.”
She says, “Isn't it the coolest? I've always thought sharp, angular gears were the way to go for you,” and Ortho says “the exterior does have a different vibe from Idia's designs.”
She gives Ortho the rundown on his special mission into Malleus’ domain, and orders the CHARON into termination mode when it looks like he may not escape in time. Later, she again oversees the deployment of the CHARON when awaiting for Idia to arrive to receive the equipment that is to be used against Malleus.
She also oversees the creation of the armor and shield made from mystium received from Briar Valley, going to Idia for instructions on who is to wield them and then announcing, “I hereby designate you as the wielders of the anti-dragon decisive battle weaponry and will begin work on them.”
She also oversees the calibrations to the armor and weaponry, which she then submits for Idia’s approval.
