MAU: Infinte Crisis

MAU: Infinite Crisis

By: Set3

CHAPTER ONE
I was watching Bubblegum Crisis 2040 while also reading some Alpha flight comics.
Well actually let me back up a bit. My name is Noel Arthur, and no, I wasn't named after Santa Clause. Although that does become my nickname for the duration of the Christmas season. But I digress; I'm a twenty-five year old, average looking guy that likes anime and most cartoons. (I like to joke that it helps me stay young both physically and mentally.) I am Canadian and live in a town that's pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the country. Seriously, if you’re driving, you'll pass my home town whether you want to or not getting from one side to the other. At any rate, I do grunt work for the local grocery store, own a cat by the name of Ajax, and live in a one-bedroom apartment that was converted from a motel. Okay, now that you know about me, on with what happened. So, there I was sitting at home watching anime and reading comics on my day off, when I heard a bang outside. Thinking it was another drunk that hit a telephone pole (some drunks did that last Halloween) I looked out my window, but didn't see anything. Always being curious when I didn't see the obvious I stopped my DVD and walked outside. Looking to the right I saw that the cement stairway was partly crumbles from something that landed rather hard there. Looking closer it seemed to be totally black and rectangular. What was weird was that it didn't look damaged at all.

"Wow, that's very slightly weird!" (A saying I often used)

I inched towards it, careful if it was hot or anything because the rubble it was sitting in suggested that fell from very high up. Oddly enough, as I got closer with my hand outstretched, I couldn't feel any heat what-so-ever radiating from it at all. Even then, I hesitated before finally touching it. I was beyond surprised that felt cool to the touch. So with some lingering reservations, I brought it inside. After sitting down I turned the DVD back on only half-listening to it while turning the box over trying to figure out if it actually did anything. Turning it over again, I noticed a mark on one side.

"Hmph, guess the thing wasn't so tough after all." I thought to myself.

But then I realized the mark was intentionally made. Seeing some dust, probably from the cement stairs. I began brushing it away. It took me a moment to register, but I felt the box growing in my hands. With a quick yelp, I pushed it away from me where it bounced off the shelf which then landed on the floor and continued to grow. Needless to say, I was transfixed, watching it grow from the size of a tackle box to what seemed to big enough to fit a person in. Waiting a few moments to see if it would continue to grow, which it didn't, the only thing I could think of was:

"Great! The perfect writers block!" (Thinking of an old Calvin and Hobbes comic)

I mean, it was a completely blank grey box! There was nothing on it! Nada, zip, absolutely nothing! Not even the... Wait a minute, where was the mark? Surely that couldn't have disappeared; it was embedded in it for crying out loud! As I stated before, there wasn't much room in my apartment, so giving it a wide berth while moving around it was not an option, but I managed. Moving to the other side, there was s smallish screen about halfway up and to the right corner of it. Right below that was a panel that was angled out slight and had an imprint of a lizard paw or hand or whatever the correct term was. And just to the left of that was a little knobby thing.

"Okay, so I have a magic box that grew in size and I still don't know what it does."

I'm not sure whether I thought it wasn't dangerous, or that there was nothing I could do about it if it was. But, for whatever reason, I threw caution to the wind and approached the thing without worry. Seeing the knob, I twisted it and to my surprise, the rest of the wall to the left vanished. It didn't fold up! It quite literally vanished without a sound. This was weird because I knew basic physics and if the thing was sealed, then I should’ve heard a whoosh of air rushing to fill the empty space, or at the very least felt the rush of air. My train of thought was derailed when I noticed the pulsing glow of a large yellow crystal fixed inside at the top.

"So, is it a teleporter now or what?" I asked myself.

I then looked down to see another knob inside at waist level. I laughed, "Super advanced space compression technology and their still using knobs!"

At this point, I firmly believed that this was a teleporter. So to test my theory I grabbed my broom and tried to use it to turn the knob, because I didn't want to get stuck on an alien planet or anything. But alas, the damn thing was too round for the broom and in my frustration, I threw it aside, walked in and turned it by hand. And then... nothing happened.

I couldn't believe it, after all that build up of excitement, anticipation, and fear, not a damn thing happened. More than a little dejected, I gave up on it and went back to watching Bubblegum Crisis. Even though I tried to keep my mind off the box, something kept gnawing at me.

"Why would it only work part of the way?"

Deciding to give it another try, I got up, leaving the show going. I looked over the entrance again, but couldn't see any seams around that would give me access to the circuits or whatever made it work. The show got to the part where Sylia made her grand entrance and started kicking ass. Wanting to see that part, I leaned forward around the box, bracing with my left hand where the lizard print was. After the scene was over, I pushed myself back into full standing position, thankful it didn't tip over, when I just saw the end of a weird scrolling text on the upper panel, which was replaced with an image of Sylia clad in her hardsuit.

Startled, I whipped my hand away as if it were dry ice. "That’s strange."

Maybe it wasn't a teleporter, but a replicator. Thinking this, I twisted the knob by the hand print. Again nothing happened. Alright, what am I missing now? Making a mental checklist, I went through the actions.

"Okay, hand on the handprint, check! Think of something (I thought of an image of Guardian, the first leader of the Canadian marvel super hero team 'Alpha Flight') check! So far, So good. And then we twist the knobby." Again nothing happened. "What am I doing wrong?"

I went through the checklist several times before I more or less slapped myself for forgetting the knob inside the box. Leaving the image as is I stepped inside then twisted it. I turned around just in time to see the wall fade back into existence.

"No! No, this is not happening." I yelled, while hitting the wall hoping against hope that it would give and let me out. Suddenly the crystal above stopped pulsing and shone bright enough to blind me for a few seconds. Then, just as suddenly, the crystal was pulsing again, the wall disappeared and I was out of there. I kept it in front of me the whole time while I moved around it. The clock/radio suddenly went off; I jumped and turned around cursing myself for forgetting to turn it off from the day before, when two things occurred to me. The first one was I saw that my hand had a white glove on it; the second thing was something that I couldn't believe! I was hearing perfectly from my right ear! That couldn't be right because I was completely deaf on that side. The only way that I could, and should have, been able to hear was if I had an implant (which was too expensive) or a hearing aid with the volume as loud as a jet engine (couldn't do that either because that would've overloaded my senses knocking me out.)

But here I was hearing perfectly for the first time ever. Even the slight pressure (closes I can describe it) I usually felt was gone! I was so awestruck by this; I began snapping my fingers to my ear. Five minutes later I stopped after tiring out my fingers. While shaking my hand out to get the fatigue out, I glanced at my hand and again remembered about its gloved encasement. I quickly made my way to the bathroom to look at myself. What I saw stunned me so much I forgot all about my new found hearing, because there, standing in the reflection in front of me was Guardian, and I was him.
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So there I was, clad in a white suit with a red maple leaf splashed across the left side of my torso, and a red strip down the right. The only skin showing was around my mouth, and it didn't look like mine. Wanting to look at my face, I turned my head left and right looking for a seam. But all I could see was a faint raise for the headpiece which also reminded me of a helmet.

"Wait a minute!"

I completely forgot! The whole suit was like a memory fabric! It wasn't really spandex but actually a sort of a loose malleable circuitry that is worn around the body. From what I read in the comics, the suit is based on electro-magnetism. So, without further adieu, I reached under the nose piece. For a second just enough to feel the initial resistance it remained solid. But after that moment, it gave way, folding back like a hoodie and no longer holding its shape, looked deflated as such. Looking at myself in the mirror I was actually surprised that I could still recognize my face. It wasn't my face exactly, but a noticeably more handsome version of me. As if someone slapped me with a general all-purpose superhero look. It didn't hurt that I had lost my gut and received more noticeably defined muscles. I started flexing my new biceps for a bit but quickly got tired of that. It was then I wondered if I had his powers. I moved back into the main room (like I said, my apartment was a converted motel.) and stood there concentrating on wanting to fly, or hover as I didn't want to put a hole in the roof.

When nothing happened, yet again, I remembered the headpiece I pulled back. Returning it back in place I tried again and instantly flew up half a meter, stopping just before I hit the ceiling.

"Wow, this is so cool!" I said grinning to myself.

Looking down I saw my cat hiding under the bed, just barely poking his head out to watch what was happening. I chuckled while I floated back down to touch the floor again. Then a thought occurred to me. If this machine can fix my hearing, give me a better body and looks, then what if I did something a little more extreme? I glanced to the TV that was still playing Bubblegum Crisis and got an even better idea.

I went back to the box, and put my hand on the panel and imagined myself as Linna. (The green knight saber) The image quickly replaced the one of Guardian that I was now. Once the image was completed, I again stepped in. Taking a deep breath I twisted the knob and began to change once more. After the door disappeared I stepped out and was greeted with the tell tale sound of micro-actuators in the feet as I took each step. I guess this is so I wouldn't leave holes in the floor where my now heeled boots set down. I began waving my hand in front of my face, still hearing the actuators but at a much softer level that was barely a whisper. Next I flexed my fingers hearing the joints click against each other. This was getting old fast and I felt cooped up inside wanting to cut loose. I just didn't want anyone to see me outside. And since there was still daylight out, I didn't want to risk it. The only thing I could be thankful for was that it was winter and I wouldn't have to wait too late into the night before the sun went down. (Usually about 5pm or so) And again I didn't want to just sit around; I wanted to see what the rest of me looked like. The new me under the suit that is. I opened up and removed the helmet and set it aside. I then thought of the suit opening hoping it would work.

I was rewarded with the sound of a slight *hiss* and a *crack* as the hardsuit opened down the sides causing me to lean forward as the arms were attached to the front half. I was then bending down with my hands resting on my knees. Something inside the gauntlet let go of my wrist so I was then able to pull myself up and out. When whatever that was holding my ankles in released as well, I stepped out and headed for the bathroom again. For the umpteenth time that day, I was surprised by what I saw. My new reflection showed a Japanese woman this time. My hair was short except for the very front which hung down to frame my face. My eyes had gone from a light hazel to a dark brown that was almost black in colour. My nose was a cute button, and I was noticeably shorter than before too. The only thing I was wearing was the plug suit or 'liner suit'. I began taking that off. It was hard doing since it was so tight to begin with. After stripping down to the waist I stopped to look at my breast. I just stared for a few moments.

I was caught in a conflict with what I was seeing and feeling and how I knew what things were supposed to be. Bringing my hands up, I cupped them gently and suffered another mental conflict. These shouldn't be here! My legs closed of their own volition as I began getting warm and wet. For all that's happened, I was still human and my sexual reaction reflected that.

Snapping out of it, I saw that light turned to dark and it was safe enough for me to feel that I could risk leaving the apartment. Leaving my conflictions behind, I began redressing. A feat that was three times harder then disrobing.

"How in the hell do they change so fast? And even in a van sometimes no less?" I cursed.

Yelping as I caught my boob pulling the suit up and over them, I cursed again rubbing my breast as I stepped back into the hardsuit.

"Oh jeez, that's cold!"

The lining in the feet quickly warmed up so I continued. The rest of the hardsuit felt cold but warmed up as I put each limb in. Leaning forward, I slid my arms in and before I was ready, it straightened up and resealed itself. The momentum caused me to take a few awkward steps backwards into the fridge leaving a very sizable dent in the door.

"Son of a..."

Shaking my head, I grabbed the helmet. I had to push my hair up so it'll seal, upon finishing that, I closed the faceplate. Smirking to myself I struck a pose before going out the door. Closing the door, I stepped out into my snowy driveway, looking up into the sky. Fluffy snowflakes were falling; it was a really peaceful sight.

"Well, no time for that now. Now's the time to jump around." I chuckled at my corny joke of a song reference.

I decided to take a running jump. So after taking a few steps back, I launched forward, again caught off guard by how much different I moved. From the new anatomy to a piece of technology that shouldn't exist yet. My few steps forward turned into a sprint. I begun to stumble, but before I fell down rolling, I jumped.

The jump jets at my hips literally kicked in propelling me forward and up. Flying ten meters up in the air, I franticly waved my arms around trying to right myself. After a few seconds I started falling down into a line of trees. Still spinning forward, I hit a tree with my back. I crashed through several more causing me to flip around before hitting the ground with a hard thud. Sitting up, I looked up in time to see the top half of one of the trees I broke land on me.

I groaned. I wasn't hurt or anything, but this was an embarrassing first start. More than a little pissed, I shoved the tree off me sending it flying into another. Getting to my feet, I spun around to punch an old tree behind me after breaking it in two; I noticed a ribbon swing around. For a second, I could've sworn it was glowing. I turned back after hearing several crashes to see more trees falling. They weren't broken, but were cut. I grabbed the ribbon hanging down on my right and brought it up to look at. It was weird, how can these be of any real use. Shrugging I tossed it back and twirled around in place. I thought, turn on ribbons. I again heard more trees falling and when I stopped, I saw that a decent sized rock was cut in half. I was at a loss for words; I think later I'll change into something else.

Grabbing a ribbon again, I thought "Go away."

The ribbon began pulling itself from my hand back into where it was stored. I ventured back to the tree line to see I jumped down the hill from my apartment. I guess I was lucky that I missed the power lines at least.

"Okay, let’s try this again."

Deciding to just jump from a stand still, I aimed for my apartment and jumped. This time, the jet in my back started up, sending me up into the air again. I had made it even higher this time; the sensation was like being in a fast elevator. Marveling at that the jets cut in again to soften my landing.

"All, right! That's much better!" I said with a small round of giggles.

I started jumping around all over the place, having the time of my life. Taking time in mid jump I saw that I was halfway across town. Just as I was staring my downward decent, I heard a beeping sound and my attention was drawn to a flashing symbol on the HUD in my helmet. Looking at it I recognized it as a dying battery.

"Oh shit!"

Upon touching down, I reversed my direction and started heading back. How the hell could I have forgotten about the damn battery! I was almost back; I just had to jump over the next hill. While up in the air I looked down to see where I was gonna land next and let out another round of swears. Because I was just about to land in the middle of an intersection as a transport truck was approaching.

"Oh shit! Turn red, turn red turn red!"

To my utter dumb luck, the light turned red making the truck stop. But, I wasn't out of the woods yet as I was about to set down in front of the truck.

"Oh please, have him think I'm a dear."

As I jumped away I could've sworn I saw the driver scratching his head. As I made it back to the front door the hard suit was getting harder and harder to move in the hardsuit. I had just made it inside when it stopped moving altogether. I struggled for a bit, before calming down. While trying to think of how to open the thing, it snapped open, falling backwards with my helmet still on I flipped over the back part of the hardsuit and landed painfully on my front.
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I turned to my side to ease the growing pains on my new breast. I laid there cradling them. I never knew how sensitive that part of a woman’s anatomy was before.

"Oh well. Live and bitch."

Getting up I tried moving the hardsuit, but unfortunately it was too heavy. I doubt I could've budged it back in my real body. Turning to the box I thought for a moment about using it to make another battery for the hardsuit but stopped short when I remembered that I had to be in there. And I didn't want to turn myself into a battery of all things. I sat on my futon, unconsciously crossing my legs at the knees, and tried to work out how I was going to fix this I thought of just picturing myself as I am now, holding another battery, but immediately shot that down when I realized it wouldn't last long enough for me to get any real fun out of it.

What I needed was a generator so I wouldn't have to worry about running out of power. That idea presented itself with more challenges, such as how was I supposed to attach it? Or how was I supposed to keep it from getting hit or knocked off if I land badly again? About a dozen other problems ran through my mind until I stopped when I realized I was massaging/fondling my breast. There were still sore from landing on them earlier but they did feel better. Cupping them in both hands I guessed they were a large C-cup or a small D in size.

"Maybe I should use the box too decrease my bust line. Or better yet, I'll make a new hardsuit, or both."

Don't get me wrong, jumping around was kinda fun, but it gets old after awhile, and with the battery life, I don't want to come back every few hours to recharge. And what if I wanted to change back when I'm out somewhere for some reason? After all that, I was pretty much decided; I was going to make a new suit. As with my earlier dilemma though, I was still stuck with the question of how to power the damn thing. Looking around the apartment for ideas, trek-tech was out, because I had no idea where to place it or where to refuel when it depletes (dilithium crystals and anti-mater aren't widely used products). After coming to that conclusion I decided that it had to be self-contained and internal.

"This means I’m going to have to change more about myself then just my looks or gender."

Walking up to the box again I cleared the image of Linna's hardsuit. It was fun, but the ribbons were far too dangerous to use, especially with my lack of coordination earlier.

"Okay, first thing I want is to fly..."

I brought up Sylia's hardsuit and stopped. This was pretty much what I wanted it to do, fly and all, but it felt like I could do better. I brought up Nene's hardsuit. With hers I could stop people from doing live-stream videos on their cells. But if I used that suit I wouldn't be able to fly. Nibbling softly on my lower lip, I mulled it over deciding which I wanted till I was struck.. Well dumbstruck when I realized that I could do both.

"Ow!" I accidentally bit myself when I realized that.

Bringing up Sylias hardsuit I began with the changes. Starting off, I removed the battery and its casing and replaced it with the "wings" from Nene's suit making them retractable so it would cause less drag when flying, but would still be useful when I needed to jump. I also added the "fins" from Nene's headpiece (go Wi-Fi). I then modified the gauntlets causing them to balloon out slightly above where the katar blades were kept to make a slight teardrop bulge so I could fire the steel barbs Nene fired that seemed to only work once (all the other times it just pissed them off)

I paused for a second before changing it so it would fire energy bolts instead. After all I wouldn't know how to reload the thing let alone find more ammo. I changed it so my "real self" would be a Galatea-class boomer so I could make repairs to the hardsuit in case I broke something. But there was still the problem of the power generator. Since I'll be making myself a boomer the generator can actually be put inside me, but still... I glanced up at my Lego ships when it clicked.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of it before?"

I got the original concept from a kid’s book series way back and since made it my own. I call it a "Zero-space drive", but beyond that it doesn't even share similarities with the Stargate ZPM. What it Does is pushes a ship into another dimension, where nothing exist except what you brought with you, hence the name "zero-space".

To create the dimension hop, the drive produces a near-perpetual energy that's so intense that it could, and does, power its own containment field. And with this I can change back to normal. Well mostly. After finishing with the technical aspect I then became stuck on how to colour it. For some reason it felt wrong to give it the same paint job as the other hardsuits. So I stared off into space until my comic book catches my eye. A wave of giddiness fell over me as a stupid grin crept up my pretty face. I gave it the Guardian paintjob.

Taking my hand off I stepped back to briefly admire the image I was about to become. Still giddy I stepped inside and turned the knob once more. Upon exiting, I immediately noticed the newer sensations on my body. Aside from the differences of my female body, before and after the latest change, I could feel the hardsuit as if it were an actual part of me. It almost felt as if I wasn't wearing anything at all! I shivered slightly as I felt my armoured hands run over my metal skin.

I sighed. "Well, enough with that. Let’s get some flying in!" I stopped when I heard my new voice.

I sounded just like Nene from the 2040 version. For a minute I was just smiling to myself, shaking my head. Still doing so, I moved the old hardsuit effortlessly out of the way of the door and stepped out into the cold night air. With a jump, and a quick fire from my hip thrusters, I was high up in the air. As gravity started to bring me back down, I retracted my jump wings and deployed my flight wings. I fired my hip thrusters again to change my direction before turning on my back thruster and flying up higher than before.

Flying was an absolute thrill; I could feel the wind, and snow, going over the skin of my hardsuit, the slight changes from the ailerons in my wings and jump wings made to maintain stable flight. I could even feel the slight rotations of my hip thrusters, not to mention the slight changes in thrust my "engines" were making. It wasn't bliss but damn it was close. I started laughing after I flew above the clouds, getting a quick feeling of dampness on my skin (I began to think of the hardsuit as a real part of my body rather than an extension of it) as I passed through it.

The higher I flew, the giddier I felt. I flew through the stratosphere stopping short of the very edge of space. Cutting the thrusters I laid back starring at the stars with silence all around me. I take it back, this was bliss, in those few seconds of zero gravity I felt the most complete sense of awe and peace, once gravity returned I was thrust back into reality.

As I fell, I extended my jump wings allowing me to plunge head-first straight down without having to worry about tumbling. I kept my arms to my sides and legs together as I plunge downward faster and faster. I even retracted all my wings to get more speed. As I dove through the cloud layer it felt like running into a still damp bed sheet that was drying on a line. After breaching the other side, I spread my arms, legs, and jump wings so that I was laying flat spread eagle to the ground down below. I spent a few more seconds like that staring at the doted lights on the ground before switching back to powered flight mode. All through this I was giggling with the biggest grin on my face.

"Alright, now that we enjoyed ourselves, where should I go?"

After flying around a bit more, I decided to land and see if I really could change back without the box. Flying low I spied a public outdoor washroom near a baseball field. Landing in front of it, I immediately sunk down up to my knees in snow. Grumbling, I cleared out a small patch of round. After that I stood in the middle closest to the wall and concentrated on changing back. When I did, there was a sort of "click", and the next thing I was cold.

"Shit!"

I should've changed back at the apartment instead of out here. Or at least thought of adding a jacket and boots to my original form. All I had on were pants, socks, and a shirt. (Underwear goes without question) I immediately concentrated on changing back. A "click" later and I was back in a female hardsuit. And warm. Having enough of that for now, I jumped up and started to fly south to see my sister in the states.
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It may have been on a whim to go, but I really did want to see her. Way back, when we were kids, she received a lot of abuse from dad. So, after our parents split up, she went with mom. More stuff happened somehow between her and dad so she pretty much left the country to get away from him. I moved out for the same reason pretty much. He had this delusion that he was right all the time and also the "reason" we don't want to be around him is because "we were all sick in the head." A while later as I was about to cross the border, the colour of my hardsuit changed from its red and white to a two-toned olive green.

"Radar impairment active." A voice said in my ear.

Surprised I twisted slightly, causing me to dip sideways to the right and down. Catching my breath I corrected my position and turned south.

"Man, I'm glad I was high up instead of down low to the ground."

I then made some profanity towards my newfound vocal computer and told it to shut up. The word 'Acknowledged' flashed across my visor then winked out.

"Smart ass!" I repined with a smirk.

In the distance I saw a plane a bit higher than me but was heading in the same direction. An idea crept into my mind and with a grin I poured on the speed to catch up. Coming up on the tail I felt the jet wash coming off and moved to the right, I passed under the tail wing and made my way up the passenger windows. As I looked in, I saw old people, a mother tending to her baby, a fat guy sleeping, some frat boy sports team laughing about something. On the last window at the front there was a girl, about five or six, smiling with her doll looking out the window. And then she saw me. Her face light up and she began making her doll wave to me while saying, or mouthing, hi and hello. I smiled and waved back before banking away and leaving the girl and probably a very confused parent. Sometime later, the sun started poking up over the horizon. I could've gotten to my sisters a lot sooner, but decided to take it easy and "poke along" instead. Staring at some eagles that were flying below me, I was shook from my daydream when the word 'COUNTER' started flashing on my hud followed by an urgent sounding beep. A split/second later my wings retracted and my hip thrusters rotated causing me to spin to the left. I gasped when I felt something hot scorch my back, once I was level again I saw a white ball streaking downward. Turning over and looking up I was beyond surprised to see Iron Man flying above me except he had an American flag paint scheme instead of his normal red and gold.

"Hmph! You’re not my other half, but you should be able to provide some decent target practice."

And with that, he started shooting. I was twisting and turning trying to get away from him. The bastard was laughing all the while. I dove for the ground and he dove after still shooting. I was just about to pull up above the trees when one of his repulsors hit me square in the back causing me to scream in pain, my momentum carried me through several thick trees knocking them down before plowing into an open rock bed. I careened off the rock, and then slamming to a stop into the roots of a fallen dead tree.

"Owww!"

I turned over from my back onto my knees the Iron Man guy slammed down then uppercutted me into the air. Taking advantage of this I went back to flight mode and hauled ass, I looked back in time to see an energy ribbon go over him, changing him into War Machine from the movie and chase after me. A dotted line of bullets lanced their way all around me occasionally hitting me; I turned and fired back with some energy bolts. He dodged all but one that managed to take out his mini-gun. Another energy ribbon went over him and at first I thought he repaired himself since he started shooting his shoulder cannon again, but then I noticed the missile launcher on his other shoulder. I turned around again so that I was facing forward and poured on more speed. The chase brought us by a small rural town, I turned around in time to see him open up with both 'barrels'

"Oh jeez. Is he crazy or something? Doesn't he see people below me?"

Bullets and mini-missiles shot passed me as I dodged them, I turned over and was about to shoot the missiles down but I hesitated being afraid I'd miss and make things worse. I was relieved when the missiles started to turn up. One although didn't quite make it and hit a water tower exploding, shrapnel and water rained down on a bus shelter and a parked car setting off its alarm. I then flew up high so that no one would get hurt by the crazy fucks shooting. I was doing pretty good dodging, I even shot down a few missiles, but then my luck ran out. While pulling up to dodge a missile and gun fire I somehow lost track of a second one that was above me before I dodge the ones just behind me. When it hit, it flipped me around backwards giving the first enough time to hit me again. I screamed in fear and pain tumbling through the air until Iron Man (he must've changed back when I got hit) grabbed me around the shoulders and said in a creepy playful mood

"Gotchaaa!"

He turned us over so that we were pointing down and muttered a phrase that sent a chill through my body.

"Hulk buster mode."

And with that, another energy ribbon went over him making him seemingly grow three times his original size. A few seconds after diving straight down, he flung me ahead of him while simultaneously firing the repulsors from both hands causing me to fall faster still. Spinning wildly downward I began firing my thrusters trying to level myself out. I was just above the roof tops when I finally leveled out and was about to spread my wings to fly off again when I looked up in time to see his uni-beam hit me. One minute, I was up in the air above the town, the next, I was lying in a crumpled heap in the cratered remains of a truck. Before I could get my wits back, the Hulk Buster landed on me, causing me to sink further into the ground. Getting off, he reached down and pulled me up by my head. He laughed while I tried hitting and kicking in order to get loose. In a last ditch effort I activated the blade in my gauntlet and with all my might, plunged it deep into his arm only stopping when my knuckles stopped it from going any further.

"Bitch! I actually felt that!"

And with a roar, he fired his repulsored hand. In horror, I watched as he fired point-blank three times into my face. The first shot blinded me, the second scorched my faceplate and cracked it a little causing me to scream in pain, and the third actually managed to make a small hole letting some of the residual energy to burn a small patch between my eyes. I screamed and he laughed. Reeling in pain from the feedback in my hardsuits damage and the wound on my face, I couldn't move. Every time I did in the slightest the pain would triple. He was still laughing. He then swung me around and grabbed one of my legs with his other hand. Exhausted from the pain, I just hung limply. I thought I heard voices behind me but I was too tired to look and I couldn’t move anyways. Then I heard a whine, looking down through the edges of my scorched faceplate, I could see home charging his uni-beam to fire again. A new wave of terror washed over me as I redoubled my efforts to get away. His laughs continued to mock me. Just before he fired I shut my eyes and mumbled a quick prayer and then, nothing. I opened my eyes wondering what happened. I was beyond shocked when I saw that the uni-beam was still in the process of being fired. The beam looked like a growing stub of energy, but it was growing little by little. Seizing the bizarre moment I tried moving out of the way only to discover I couldn't move. Wait a minute. I could move just very slowly.

"Mental faculty processing has been increased to determine best course for survival." A voice in my head told me.

And in my mind I could see a diagram of the uni-beam and my hardsuits current condition, there was even a simulation of what would happen if I did nothing, it wasn't pretty.

"Viable option one: extend energy shield protecting zero-space drive to encompass torso area in line of fire. Warning! Unknown possibility of drive overload."

It showed me another diagram of the earth with a sizable chunk of North America missing. I looked over to see the uni-beam made it halfway across. Oh god! I don't want to die. The computer showed me other possibilities that didn't destroy the earth but left me mutilated if alive at all. The uni-beam was centimeters away from hitting me now. I didn't want to die.

"Extending shield."

I didn't want to die... Without warning normal time resumed for me with barely enough time (pun not intended) to register the uni-beam hitting me. I felt a searing pain in my chest and suddenly felt whatever energy I had left leave me. Was this what it's like to die? Seeing something flitter across into the hole I made in his arm my last thought was:

"Who was going to feed my cat now?"

END PART ONE