I waited in one of the practice rooms at the gym for Erik to return with the gear for me. He had a couple of officers stand outside the door while he was away. And when I explained my doubt in their ability to stop whoever was trying to get at me, he patted me on the back and said should anything happen to require his attention, he’d be with me in an instant. 

I appreciated that sentiment, but it did little to calm my nerves. Part of me was already really missing Freyja and her calming effect on me. I felt terrible for upsetting her, but surely what I said wasn’t unreasonable. 

Right? 

The thought that I was being unjustified in my feelings did hurt, however, she was clearly pissed and I’m guessing she’d destroy the admin building if I tried to talk to her more about it at the time.

Just then, the door to the room slid open, and in stepped a cheery Erik carrying a white-gold box about a foot long and about half as wide, way smaller than what I was expecting. 

“So, there’s some sort of compact armor in there for me?” I asked, gesturing toward Erik’s mechanical knight-like armor. He shook his head with a laugh and said that was not the case. 

“Civilians are prohibited from this level of equipment, no, Hilda pulled some strings, however, to get you some rather useful items. Honestly, high-ranking women can accomplish the darndest things, regardless, we should consider ourselves lucky with what she acquired on such short notice” I raised my eyebrows. 

“Wanna tell me what’s in the box then? The mystery is killing me, man.”  

“Glad you asked!” How popped the box open by pressing two gold buttons on either side of it and I was treated to two items. The first was a black band that reminded me of a rubber bracelet, like the ones given out at fundraisers or school assemblies that kids would get sometimes. Not the most exciting thing. 

The other item though, man, I was stoked about. 

It was a pair of fingerless white gloves accented with gold as usual. They were padded along the joints and had a mechanical quality to them like Erik’s armor, but more flexible in their material. As cool as they were, they looked to be on the larger side, even for a bigger guy like me. 

“Are they not to your liking? Hilda specified these two items just for you.” He asked, his previous jovial expression now deflated.  

“No, you’re good man. I just, um, don’t know what I’m looking at ha-ha. Hilda never mentioned what exactly I would be getting. I’ll say this though, she definitely knows what I like.” Happy with my response, he took the black band out of the box and told me to put it on my wrist as he sat the box down. I slipped it on and watched as it shrunk to fit snuggly against my skin, “Heh, pretty cool. So, what does it do?” Erik told me to stand in the middle of the room and said I simply had to stand still.  

I did as I was told and waited for...something to happen. I looked over at Erik and shrugged, “Do I gotta say a magic word or some shit?” 

“Not at all, we just have to check and see if it worked.” Not a moment later, I glimpsed the blur of Erik’s form close the gap between us and attempt to slam a fist into my gut. My body was too slow to react and wouldn’t be able to deflect or dodge in time so I accepted my fate. 

Only, it never came. 

Instead, a golden construct of light shielded me from the impact, a small crack in the barrier evident from the force of the blow. I looked down to see my bracelet was brightly glowing white with the number ‘90’ in gold appearing on it.  

“It works!” Erik exclaimed and clapped excitedly, “I put almost all of my power into that, and I see it barely made a dent.  

“Ayy, that’s awesome! So, it’ll protect me from harm even without me doing anything? Nice.” I held up a hand for a high-five and Erik, the oddball he was, high-fived me with all four hands, one after another.  

“We’re very lucky that worked, it would’ve been bad otherwise.” He said it like it was no big deal. I made a note to myself then and there to never trust Erik to do something without confirming it would potentially end with me slammed into a wall. “My armor has a more advanced model as it’s intended for actual combat, yours is a refurbished model from the previous generation of its kind. You can survive a ton of damage, and it even protects you from deadly gases and can provide a bubble of air for an hour. Not like you’ll need those secondary functions, but every little bit helps. Now, it does take a while for it to recharge, so try to not get into any trouble, my friend.” He smiled. 

“Yep, no complaints from me dude. Now, how about them gloves?” I asked, eying the box on the other side of the room. In a flash, Erik retrieved them and told me to put them on. He didn’t need to ask me twice and just like the band, they shrunk to fit against my skin.  

This time, instead of solely conforming to my shape, the material of the gloves crept up to just past my elbows like vambraces. Rivers of golden circuits began to glow brightly underneath the flexible metal. Other than a weird warm sensation emanating from them and into my body, they fit well and were comfortable.  

Erik took my hands into his and performed a quick inspection of the gloves. 

“Hmm, I think they are working properly,” He shrugged, “Only one way to tell,” he took a few steps back before throwing some random punches my way too fast for me to dodge effectively yet again. Only this time, my arms reacted and managed to palm each strike, even going as far as preventing me from feeling the pain of doing so. 

“Stop attacking me randomly! As cool as this shit is, it’s scary as hell!” Erik bowed to apologize. 

“Apologies, I wanted to ensure your safety and am quite pleased with the gear you’ve been given and got carried away. Even if they are a bit dated, these gloves can detect incoming attacks within a three-meter radius and react automatically for you. And since you don’t have the durability of Bevusian men, this is perfect. In the event there are multiple attackers, or we are caught off guard, you will assuredly survive the initial contact.” I scratched the back of my head but didn’t say anything. “Is something else the matter?” 

“How do you deal with it?” I blurted out.  

“With what, Dean?” he asked as he gently guided us over to a bench to sit. 

“Being seen as so...small, fragile, and brittle by these women. Having to use high-level technology just to keep up with their natural capabilities, is wild. Freyja doesn't trust you for a second to protect me, much less these trinkets you gave me. I think I’ve been a good sport about the whole thing, but Freyja she...it’s like she doesn’t trust me to be on my own. And God almighty, it got to the point where I shit you not, her soul was trying to overpower my own. ” Erik took this in for a moment before replying. 

“That is why she was so upset, I see now. Tell me, my friend, what did she say before she left you?” 

“That she loved me.” Erik laughed quietly, “Come on man, this is serious. She acted like I shot her dog when I wanted to keep going at an, I don’t know, a reasonable pace for this relationship.” I took a breath, “And I totally get it, man, you guys believe in predestined love and whatever else, so why fight it yeah?” Erik leaned back against the wall and considered my frustrations.  

“I don’t want to pry into your business too much, but I have a question, if I may?” I nodded. “Are you more afraid of falling in love with her, or losing your sense of self?” I took a breath to respond but stopped short. “We don’t have to talk about this now, you made that pretty clear earlier but perhaps think on that for a while before you talk with Freyja again. As for my issues with the more dominant sex, I wish I could tell you I've gotten used to it by now, but, truthfully I haven't.” He looked far away as he spoke. "They care about us, that I know. But very often it ends up where the female becomes possessive, suffocatingly so. Fear drives most of it, the fear of losing a one-of-a-kind connection. Not enough males to go around you see, ha-ha. But you know that bit."

"So, what do you do, what should I do?" I asked earnestly.

"I've only been in a single relationship before, not a destined one like the kind you have with Freyja. It was short-lived, however. And the one thing I've taken away from it is that you just have to let them worry." I narrowed my eyes at that.

"You mean let her coddle me? Treat me like a little kid who can't take care of himself? Seriously?" He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"I said nothing like that! What I'm getting at, is you have to let them worry about you, otherwise they will push harder to try and control you. They are obsessed with ensuring your safety, so fighting against that innate biological drive of theirs is not a good idea. Unlike you humans, our biology plays a huge role in our social interactions, often superseding the effects of one's social environment. Whether one is a warrior, peasant, or even a high-class merchant, they all will behave similarly in this regard. In other words, don't take it too personally my friend."

I thanked him, what he said helped a lot actually. But that’s something to think about when I inevitably won’t be able to sleep tonight. Clapping a pair of hands together, my four-armed friend stood up and said it was time to train. 

“I'm sorry again for drawing out that conversation, feel free to talk to me more once you've got your feelings and thoughts better collected, alright?" Now then! Let’s get you used to fighting with those gloves of yours and let us hope you gain some insight into defending against my people. If you can survive a bout with one of us, you can survive anything!” I got up with a grin and made my way to the other end of the room.

“Alright big boy, let’s see what that tech of yours can really do,” I said as I got into a fighting stance. Unlike myself, Erik was standing straight as an arrow totally relaxed.  

‘Fair warning,” he began, “Try not to resist the gloves, they are meant to protect you if the band cannot. Lastly, unlike my feminine counterparts, we male warriors have developed a unique fighting style.” 

“Yeah, yeah tough talk, put your hands up so I can show you what Earth has to offer,” I said as I shifted into my signature southpaw stance, but, as soon as I blinked Erik bum-rushed me with a spin kick to the head. The gloves kicked in and blocked me, allowing me to counter by grabbing his leg and slamming him to the ground.  

Using his four arms, he caught and righted himself before launching himself up from the ground with a barrage of punches. The gloves were able to block a couple of blows, but since I was missing you know, two more arms, the band activated and tanked a couple of hits to the head for me. I jumped back to get some space to get some breathing room. 

This was a purely defensive fight, I can’t imagine how this would go if he were trying to kill me. 

“Good! You adapt quickly; I’m impressed. Now, how about this!” Erik darted from side to side, keeping his blur of a body low to the ground. When he reached me, he attempted a sweeping kick to knock me off my feet. 

My body lurched low, and I managed to block it in time, however, that was just the start of his combo as he followed up with a barrage of punches to my thighs, stomach, ribs, chest, and finally the head before jumping back. 

Again, the gloves and band did what they could, but it was clear that if I didn’t have them, I would’ve been pulverized. Adapting my boxing style to the equipment was easier than I had anticipated, however, my body was not able to keep up with Erik completely.  

Well, if the armor was going to protect me, I thought I might as well get aggressive. This time, I took the initiative and sent a few jabs his way, followed by a feint and hook to his face. Erik, I assumed, allowed me to get close and even finish my combo uninterrupted but he managed to block everything easily before countering with a blindly fast straight punch to my sternum. 

The barrier projected from the band caught it but Erik refused to let up and with some strain managed to push through and land the hit, sending me flying across the training room. I kept my body tucked and guarded my head as my body tumbled along the floor, the pain from my chest freezing me from moving once my body stopped ragdolling. If it weren’t for the band stopping the ground from hitting me, I’d be worse for wear. 

I heard Erik walk up to me before he squatted down next to my head, he patted my chest before injecting me with something with his other hand. My eyes went wide as I sat straight up and inhaled sharply, the pain from my chest vanishing instantly. Seeing that I was okay, he stood up and walked back toward the center of the room, and uttered one word. 

“Again.”