Like JARVIS had promised there had been plenty of cloud cover tonight. Which was good, because for the several hours that you'd been following this guy with Happy you hadn't been exposed more than a handful of times.
Though at this time of night if anyone bothered to look up, they'd probably assume you were a drone or something. You hadn't been seen publicly with your suit on since… 2 models ago? The incorporation of Chitauri tech had drastically changed the aesthetics.
You had been feeling artistic when you'd made the upgrade, so now gleaming plates of amethyst started at the ends of your arms, legs and chest and faded into silver at the top. The first mark of your earthborn armour being forged into something so much greater.
"You still got eyes on him?" Happy asked, breaking you out of your reminiscing.
You resisted the urge to blow a raspberry. In your suit that would be disgusting. "Still in his car, just like you asked me two minutes ago." You answered, knowing that he could hear you, curtesy of the military grade wireless radio he kept on hand. "If he deviates, I'll let you know."
God, you hoped this guy did something interesting soon. You had watched him drive around for the past three hours. He hadn't even gotten out of the car yet.
Urgh! You were so bored. You briefly looked behind you. You'd gone past a Harry Potter marathon playing in a park a while back, that would've been a fun way to kill tonight. As your sight returned to the car a faint feeling of excitement began to stir in your chest. "Happy, he's parking the car."
"Roger."
Blinking, you switched to HEAT Vision. Red-borderline-white fire danced under the man's skin compared to the yellow-orange of the people around him. Yep, still high. You had no idea what it meant but the fact that his core temperature hadn't fluctuated at all over the past few hours was red flag of some kind, you just weren't sure what. Hopefully he just had a fever.
At least it made him easy to track. Now way he could slip into a crowd with kind of heat signature.
Still in HEAT vision, you watched as he grabbed a box shaped object from the passenger seat. As he stepped out of the car you got a better view. "Happy, he's got a briefcase."
"Can you see through it?"
"I don't have X-Ray." And now you needed to design an X-Ray visor. Another thing to add to the drawing board. "He's moving."
"Got it." Switching back to normal vision, you could see Happy parking a few cars ahead. Getting out of his own car, he took off ahead.
You spent the next few minutes calling out the guys movements for Happy, making sure that he was staying a few steps ahead, though you almost lost track of him for a minute when you had to switch to another cloud.
"He's heading into the Chinese Theatre." You said. Looking around the sky, you let out a curse. The cloud cover had finally started to dissipate in the area. "Happy, I'm running low on cover up here." Hopefully you were still high enough that no one could spot you. You moved towards some low hanging wisps of cloud. Anything was better than nothing and at this point it was mostly about avoiding the moon. Your armour was still mostly silver.
Activating the stabilizers, you hovered in place and waiting for Happy's word. From this his height most people looked like ants. Very clear ants thanks to your suit, but you currently lacked the capacity for greater magnification. Plus, you couldn't hear shit.
Down below you could see Happy-ant setting up at a kiosk.
"They're at the bench." Happy whispered. "Looks like a drop-off."
"Of what?" You asked, not expecting an answer.
"Let's find out."
Wait, what? You reflectively raised your hand to your ear. "Happy don't. This wasn't part of the plan."
He didn't answer.
You let out a growl and switched out the stabilizers for the boosters. You had a feeling you'd be needing every bit of speed you could get.
Less than a minute later you were proven right as Happy's voice cracked in your ear again. "There's something weird going on here. Get down here now."
Finally. A brief glow surrounded you as you rocketed towards the ground. A few seconds later you heard a bump and a grunt. Happy's communicator was still active. The ants were getting bigger.
"What you doin' buddy?" asked a voice that wasn't Happy. Shit. "You out by yourself? A little date night? Seeing your favourite chick flick maybe?"
"Traveller, he's made me." Happy said. The glow surrounding you strengthened and an ear shattering boom followed in your wake as you broke past the sound barrier. You could make out the details now. The guy you had been following for the past few hours stood across from Happy.
"Who are you talking too?" He questioned, taking an aggressive step forward. You were close enough to see his eyes widen in sudden realisation. "Wait, did you say Traveller?"
You kicked on the breaks right as you got close, but you still unleashed a small shockwave as your boots touched the ground, now occupying the open space between Happy and the guy we'd been following. The-guy-you-had-been-following was a bit of a mouthful. You'd call him Suit-Man until you could get his name.
"Yes, he did."
Suit-Man took a step back. "Oh, fuck."
You preened. "Right?" You looked back at Happy. "What did you find?"
"This." Happy held up his hand and held in between two fingers was a metal cylinder. You could sense something inside. Microscopic machines. Invisible to anyone not looking with a microscope. Interesting "What's it supposed to be? You and your little junkie girlfriend's new delivery system?"
Suit-Man shook his head. "That don't belong to you." He moved forward.
You matched it. "Back off." You growled. "Unless you want to take me on."
He smiled. "Hey, I don't want no troub-" He lashed out with a quick punch.
You grunted and took the hit, his fist making connect with your chest. A brief warning flashed across your HUD. Minor structural damage. An ordinary human shouldn't even scratch your suit.
Enhanced.
Before he could pull his arm back, your arm snapped out and grabbed hold tight. Immediately afterwards, you pulled him forward and elbowed him in the face with your other arm. A satisfying crack followed. "Happy, get the fuck out of here!"
You couldn't look back to make sure, but the sound of footsteps against concrete was almost as good. The glare on the face of the guy you just elbowed was icing really.
Before he could recover, you twisted and kicked him in the chest pulling back at the last second. You didn't want to blow a hole in him. Even so, you felt Suit-Man's ribs crack as he went flying.
Turning away, you gestured to the crowd gathering around you to back away. Distantly, you noticed about half of them had their phones out. "Everyone, please evacuate. Now!" A few moved, but far too many stayed where they were.
From the corner of your eye, you caught a glimpse of the guy whose ribs you just cracked staggering back to his feet, blood running down his nose. And then his face started to glow. He wiped away his face, revealing unbroken skin. He smirked, and started to walk.
"Stand down." You shouted.
He started to move faster.
By the third step his gait straightened, his ribs similarly healed.
There were still too many people around for you to use any of your arsenal. You put your hand out and clenched your fist. Every screen, from the phones in people's hands to the giant displays taking up most of the wall changed to a flashing emergency sign. From every speaker your voice boomed. "Leave. NOW!"
Finally, some of them listened and started to run. Or maybe it was because Suit-Man had closed the distance and his fist was glowing.
Seeing that behind him was clear, you stepped back, brought your arms up and unleashed a quick blast.
He dodged, spinning sideways, your beam zipped by and blew up a small chunk of concrete. Meanwhile, he lashed forward and swung his arm. You weaved, but his fingers still managed to scrape against your torso.
Ignoring the burning in your stomach, you brought your arms up again, the light inside your palms blinding.
Before you could fire, he grabbed a hold of both your wrists. "Not this time," he growled.
"Stand down," you growled back.
Servos groaned as you tried to pull your arm back. You failed.
He responded by tightening his grip, his hands glowing.
A gasp of pain escaped you as your HUD flared red. Taking a breath, you distanced yourself from the pain as best you could and stomped on his foot.
He stepped back to avoid it, but in doing so loosened his grip by the tiniest fraction. Using the moment of distraction, your body flared with energy for a split second as you overloaded your suit. The extra power gave you just enough strength to push your arms just a couple more centimetres forward.
A spark of fear entered his eyes as your palms now rested next to both sides of his head. A lethal shot.
"For the last time…" Strain coated your voice. He was starting to burn through the outer layer. "Stand down. Or I'll put you down."
The bastard laughed. A smirk grew across his face. "Go ahead."
"Do you think I'm fucking with you?" Smoke started to smoulder from your arms. You needed him to let go before he got past your suit. "Stop glowing, or I'll kill you."
His eyes darted in his sockets, checking the surroundings. His smirk widened. "Really? In front of all these people?"
Your own gaze checked the surroundings. While most people had cleared out, there was still a dozen spread around the area. All of them had their phones out.
"Are you going to execute me in front of all these people?"
You had never killed anyone before. The stray thought popped into your head. The Chitauri didn't count. After all the corpses you had analysed, you were almost certain that they weren't sentient.
You sighed. "No, I suppose not."
You then activated your flight pack.
Soaring a couple of metres into the air, you grappled his arm as he let go of your wrists, a look of surprise crossing his face. You looked down. "Hang on tight now." Activating the flight boosters, you ascended and spun, looping through the air. A couple of spins later, you threw him back down to the ground.
He crashed against the ground of the Chinese Theatre like a falling comet.
A small cloud of dust obscured the new crater, but it was nothing your HEAT vision couldn't piece through.
Spittle erupted from his mouth as your flight boosted foot smashed against his ribs for the second time. A crack was a lot louder the second time around as well. This time you were pretty sure you broke his ribs.
"Now, do me a favour and stay down." You said. Taking the opportunity, you rubbed your wrists and quickly repaired the damaged parts of your armour.
With your HEAT vision you could see the parts broken parts of his body flaring a deeper red. Despite you breaking most of his ribs, you don't think he'd be down for more than a couple of minutes.
Turning away, you gestured for the people who were still around to back off. They didn't. Annoying, but you couldn't do anything about it.
If you didn't want to keep breaking his ribs every few minutes, you needed some heavy lockdown equipment.
Time to give Tony a call. Hope he didn't mind you interrupting date night.
The phone rang several times before a grouchy voice answered, "Hello?"
"Tony." Guess you just woke him up. Oops. He'd get over it. "I got an enhanced down here, super strength, fast healer. I need a containment unit. Like, right now."
"Where are you?"
"Chinese Theatre."
"Got it. Be there in-" A left hook smacked you in the jaw, ending the call.
Before you could recover, a burst into the hump in your back. The flight pack.
Dashing forward, you twisted back around. You didn't need your HUD to show you that your flight pack was dead.
Across from you was the newly healed asshole.
You groaned. "How the fuck was are you up already?" You knew he healed fast, but this was ridiculous. He was only down for 30 seconds.
You brought your arms up. Fine. This time you'd break his arms and legs as well. See how long it took for him to heal from that.
You stepped forward and then your HUD screamed in warning. On the edge of your vision, a heat signature was rising, very quickly.
"Savin," a voice moaned. You both looked to the right. The guy Happy had grabbed the sample off was on the ground, burning from the inside out. "Help meeeee…" The signature kept rising.
Savin started to run.
You hopped back, grabbing a disk from your belt and throwing it in front of you. A near-translucent door shaped shield materialised in front of you, shimmering a faint blue. A second shield joined the first. You crouched and poured every bit of power you could spare into your shield.
His skin cracked. And then gave up.
Blue flared against orange. For a split second it held. And then it fell. Before you could do anything, your vision was consumed by fire.
Your back slammed against unforgiving concrete. The smell of cooked flesh hung in the air.
Footsteps stopped next to you, and Savin loomed over you. He whistled. "Still alive huh? You're a tough son of a bitch, I'll give you that." You breathed a chocked gasp and started to cough. "That shield you put up probably saved your life, shame about your arm." What was he talking about?
You lifted your arm. It was missing below the elbow.
Oh.
Distantly you knew that you should feel pain, but there was nothing.
"You know," Savin said conversationally. "My boss has been really wanting to talk to you. You don't mind, do you?"
Chitauri ooze dribbled from your chest onto your face as you were hoisted up in a fireman's carry.
Your HUD was gone, but you didn't need it from your position to see his foot regenerating.
Your vision blurred. And then there was nothing at all.
**
Your eyes flickered open and brief flashes passed by. The back of a car. A garden with a water fountain. A basement.
Straps were pulled tight across your chest and stomach. You couldn't move.
"…awake…"
"…good…master…pleased…"
"…"
"…too…damaged…not…going…to…make…it…"
"…"
"…injection…"
"…"
"…are…you…insane…"
"…will…die…without…"
"…"
"…don't…"
Something punctured your arm.
Liquid entered your veins and everything started coming back into focus.
"Why did you do that?" screamed a man with slicked back blonde hair.
"He was going to die," shot back a browned haired woman. "Do you think I was getting answers off a corpse?"
He let out a deep exhale. "Fine." He pointed to you. "Stay here. Watch him. Make sure he doesn't blow up." He turned away. "Savin, with me." Your gaze followed him as he left. You could faintly hear him as he left the room. "Hogan got away with a sample and Stark is still combing through the remains of the Theatre looking for his friend. We need to accelerate. I'll tell the master…" Whatever else he said became indistinct as he left the room, his words warping and echoing off the walls.
Where the you? Who was that?
You tried to reach out with your senses but your armour was dead. The internal mechanisms were fried. And you didn't have a power source.
"Hey," the browned haired woman said. "Stay at me."
Your eyes snapped back. Your hands shook as you tried loosen the restraints but nothing was happening.
It was getting hard to focus.
Whatever she had given you was already wearing off.
"My name is Maya Hansen." The smile she gave you looked forced. "You're going to be fine."
A new needle entered your arm.
"Your nerves are going to grow back in first. This is going to hurt, but I need you to stay focused."
Something warm spread from your arm.
Slowly, sensation came back. You could feel the fragments of your armour digging into your skin.
Then came everything else.
You convulsed, stretching the restraints to their limits as orange light spread under your skin. Your awareness dimmed to nothing as a thousand little machines entered your bloodstream.
Heat.
FIRE.
BURN!
Deep in an underground dungeon, a man screamed, as fire danced underneath his skin.
Well, you survived. One Skill Point has been unlocked. Choose a skill from the skill tree (note that only skills coloured green can be chosen):
[] Write in Skill
Canon, what's that?
2-hour Moratorium.
