Another friend had a domed energy shield. In use with his AI partner? Capable of amazing things. Instantly deployable and retractable, essentially impenetrable, though not much use when you can't fire out of it. But the AI could sync it to the rate of fire of his weapon . . . Could figure out how to selectively raise and drop the shield so he could fire as he liked anyway and block everything coming his way.

[ Ah, North. He's been thinking about North more, lately, and it might show a little in how quiet his tone is, despite the content of his words. A shift to a different voice, something a little more distant, clinical, reporting on history. Utah he didn't really know personally, after all. ]

He wasn't the first to have it. When it was still in testing, another agent tried it, without an AI partner. The dome did deploy, in an extremely localized sense. It formed around his head.