Arc 1, Thread 1: Man of Steel (Grunt)
A few days after the Raid on the Buchenwald, Grunt has been finally let alone to pursue his own endeavors. The laptop has been returned to Smoker and the data painstakingly copied into a proper sandbox. Then the laptop was shot out of a cannon and blasted by essence cannons for good measure.
So, in essence, Grunt is free. However he has a video call as soon as he wakes up from some well-deserved sleep. It's his friend in Pandora Bay, Peter Renkden, nowadays just a minor-league physicist slaving away at power converters.
"Hey Grunt," His face appears haggard and bereft of sleep, "I'm in need of a guinea pig. Sorry if that sounds blunt. But I figured you'd appreciate the chance to step into some of that old-school scifi armor, you know, big walkers with a guy in the cockpit? I finished the power source and thought of you. Gimme a call if you want in on the ground floor. Night man."