Two weeks later...
---
"Okay, May, are you recording?"
"I'm recording!" she replied, pointing the phone.
"Alright, here goes. Operation touch the thing." you said, feeling nervous. After a few sessions of more distant experiments with robotic arms and probing with your tech sense, the next step was simple and inevitable and
terrifying: you were going to have to put a bare hand on the Darkhawk crystal. You'd put it off a few more days pasted that and worked on little projects with May or just hung out, nervous at the possibilities. The alien crystal was incredibly hard to read with your tech-sense, and that made you
nervous.
Loki's texts had been unsurprisingly cryptic, but from what you gathered this armour, made by entities called the 'Shi'ar Empire', was stored in another dimension when it wasn't in use, and it had been built in an alien empire that lived in that expression of reality. The power the crystal was generating was coming from somewhere: the same quantum energy pump as an arc reactor, but drawing from energy in the same universe on different spacial dimensions orthogonal to our own, one of the dimensions that gravitons were lost into which explained its relative weakness among the five fundamental forces. The intersection of these dimensions created parallel physical spaces with altered laws of physics: Loki and his family lived in one such space. Operation touch the thing had maybe been delayed a few days while you broke out your notebooks and fixed the current string theory model based on Loki's information: it was
so much more elegant this way!
You'd explained all that to May, and she'd just nodded and said her head hurt.
Still, the moment of truth was now. Nothing else had produced real results, there was no other options.
You touched your finger to the crystal. Nothing changed.
"Liv, you okay?"
"Yeah. Nothing's happening." you said, "Wow. Maybe I was just being parano-
Y̢̪̳O̫̫̞̼̹U͜ S̗̥̠̻̞̘T̯̝̕A̤̗̺͓̳̰͕N̼D̵͉̘̗̥̱ ̳͉̠͚̱ͅͅA̞̠̬̘B̠̦̬͎͉́OV̰͕E̯̯̭̲̠̩ ͉͙̦͔̠̝T͍̦̙̗̖H̻͖͔E ̡͇̖͓͔͉̬̘S̕T͏͖̜̺͔A̫̞͓̗̯̖R̻͈̲̼̬S҉̮͙̤̣̞̺ I̥̘̰͎̤͓T͕͈̣̭S̯̭̠̘͙̗E͕̤̼̟̟̻͉LF̰̘̘͇,̕ ̺͎͚̩͉͔ͅI͔̝N͔̬̬͈̗ ̬̘̬͓A͔̱͕̱̰̬͈ ͠S͏P̮̜͎͙̘̳̰A̳̳͖C̣͈̀Ȩ̬̦ ́B̸͚̜͖̘͉̦E̡̤̞Y̸O̱̺͖͙N̛͍̭̘D͖͉ ̰̦ͅS̫̖̀P͉̻A̸͚̳̠̖͖CE̪̳̳̱̯̪̳͡.̧̻̠̣͈͔̜̤ ̙̻ͅA̳̹̮̣͓̫͢ͅ ͉̥̭̯̳̞̰S̷̺͖̬̻W̲͔̣͟I͉͉͓͠R̡̰̖͓̣͔̺L͔͎̜̱̯̭̮ O͚̳̗̖͍F͉͇̬ ̪͕͖̯N̸̜̪O̵͖̝̼͉̗T̶͎͈̳̜̻H̺̱͈͇̮̱̲I͔͔͓̩̗͝N̺͎͉̻GN͙̳̻̮͕͜ͅE̳̻̟͉̰S̮̥̩̣̺̜͓S͍̀ ̡̲̺̱E̹̗̥̦͓͝M̨B͏̭͇̹̩̬̺ͅR̬̘͉̼̱͟A͝C̷̮̜̟̩̼̱Ȩ̬S̕ ̞̘̝͞Y͖̗O͕̜̩U҉̪͚͚̬͚,͓̺̝̮͕̦ͅ ̭̪̜̭̰̤̳E͏̼̞̥̼̫ͅM̧͔̻̩ͅP̠T̹̲̪̹̝Y̻̤̗̺̯ ͏̙͍̼E̖͞V̤͘ͅE̸N̹̪̻̫̤̱ ̺̻͕̗̲̠O̹̝͟F̱̤͚̘̪̫̀ ͔̝̫̙V̥̗͉̘̬A̲̩̜C͚̖͓̜̦̗ͅU̷̘̩̳̗̘ͅU̘̱̼̲̥̭̙M̩̦.̶̟̖̭̺̣̖
̼̩̙͢ͅ
̀B̶͇̩E̲͠F̛OR͎̝̹̫̤̜͙E ̼Y̯̭̻̠̰͔O̶̯̰͔ͅU̧̫̬̟̭͚̭̗,͎ A̧̳̩͙̲̥ ͙̰̫̯K̷͈̟͕N̫͘O̻͢T͍̰ ̵̜̙̫͖̥O̺̬̱F͉̯̖̰ͅ ͈̥P̥̠̗̬̼UR̻͔E̢̤̰̩̖̱̰ͅ ̷̪̭A̭̗̺̯B̼S͢ͅE̫̪̟̲̳͚͍N̞̣͇̻̺͚̲͢C̸͕̻̮̦̫͓̫E͎̦̻̜,̭͢ ͓͇̩̱͠A̜̼̥̠̣ ̹F̭̝̝̭̳͎R̳̰A̩̰͍͖C̲̰T̟̝͙͖̥͇͚A̭̦̠̬̤L̷̺̬̝͕̠ ̝̣̯̞̲͙P̤͔̺̥̼̗͡ͅA͎̥͓͇̝͖̭T͇̤̺̣̖ͅT͓̳̖̻̗̦̤E̗͟RṊ̣ ̛̞͉̱͖O͍̖F̥̩̬̹̰̭͟ ͟I̙N̶̙͖̰͔̟FI̼̠N̸͍̝I̸͉̤̘͙̗ͅT̬͙͚̩E͙̣̦̹ ̬̞̹̲̭̹S̤̪I̺Z͈̥E̛̱̫ ͏̜̝̳Ḁ͙̫̕N͔͓D͎̥͚̞̠̰͔ ̨̻͈͖͎͈̩S̷͙̗̗͖͔̠CÓ̹͓Ṕ̖̲̘̫̤̥E̵̮̻͍̬̫͉͇.̳͍͚ ̥̗̣͚
S͕͔̲Ų̬͚I͈̬͈̦͚̲ͅT͙̰̗̺͍̲̬S̴̻̫̘ O͉̼̥̭̰͡F̼̖̟̠̩̺̱͞ ̢̩A͙̜̺̲͉R̰̥̲ͅM̛̤͔̼͓O̴U̵̳͔͉̘̭̩R̫̫͈ ̫͚̥͈͠L̦͉̬̻INI͠N͍̣̬G̺͈̙͚͈͎ T̯͕̤̕H̫͍̗̥E̼͓̯̥ ̮̰̪̥̳͔B̙̫̲͎̙͞R̶̫̳̺͍A̙͔͘Ņ͉͙̖̯̞͍C̛̜H̱̲͚͖͇̤̣E̴̖͍͚̜S͖ ̱͍͜ͅL̗͔̺̞͢I̙̙̰̟̻̦͘K͙̥̫Ȩ ̠͟S͎̲͚͚̱̥T̳̕E̯E̗͘L̗̳ ̞͍̖͔̤͙̟͢F̀R̭̲̹̦Ṷ̶̣I̙̹͖̦̼̞̠T̞̼̝̱
T̥̥̱̥H̷͕̤͓̠EŔ̪͉̥̝E͏̱̼͇,͉͔͞ ̵̙͙͓̣̥̟͎Y̙̳̫͖̥̞̟O̯͔̗̘͈͜ͅU͜R̗̫̼̯̳̹ͅ B͡O̡͍͈̦̼̪D͘Y̪͚̰̖̟͟, ̬̮̙͉͎͔SU̴͎̯S͈͈P̞͇̦̬̹͇̟E̜̦̟̝̮̱̤̕N̰D̸͕̳̜̳̺E̛̞̯̱͉͈̩͚D͕̱̕ͅ ̶̪̬ͅF̶̟R̨̜̗͖̥̥̜͕O̵̞̦M̰̱͚ ͍̰̭̙̭̝̭A͖̥͢ ̥͓̲ͅB̧R̴̰A͚̠̣N͔̜̭̬̪̻ͅCH͖̬̫̭͖̥͟.̴̠͚̘͍̮͎͍ ̪͖̘
IN҉̜̼͎͖̳S͈͎̥̻͇͔Į̰̟̘DẸ̬̙͈ ̨͕̯͚͚Y͖O̱̳ͅU̬͇͖̗R͚̖̹̜ ̧͔S̴̤͕̼̟̮U̢͕͓̰̬̲S͚̫͖͓̮̲P̞̬̯̪̖̪͝E̪̺̭̦͍͖N͍D̫͍̘̱̖̳̦E̠͙̰͎͜D̩̮̗͖̖̲̼ ̲F̣̹̗̩̭͚̦O͝R̺͝M̗̗͉̦̠͉
̨͖̹̥
̨̺̜͖̲̦̘̞A̴̯̯̹̣͇͇ ̝͎͞V̧͓͎͚͓̱͇O̧I̖̭̯̖̭̜̰D͏͚̣̤̩͚̺̞ ͎̝͞ĘV̴͈̲̘E̫͎͍̫̖N̙̥̳̬̣̦ ̭̹͈̖͢G̞̼͠R̘̜̠͉͈̥̝E̝͟À̻̺̼̺T͔̪E̙̳R̳̪͔̦͉ ̫̭͔͉̻͙̕T̥̝̳͙̯H͡A͞N̷͈͓̘̲̬ ̪̣͙̝̤̺͟T͕̮̹̲̲̭H̡͖̳̜I̟̠S̼̤̘̰͚̟̯͡
̺͎̖̲͇͙
͖͓̠͕A ̫͙Y̞͡A͕͘Ẁ̯̫̺̗̫N͉̘Ḭ͖̱̼̺͇ͅN̲̭̩̰G͖̤̼͉ ҉A̛̲͙͚̹͓̟ͅB̧̻͔̙ͅY͉̭S̬̼̤̻̭S̝̬̳
̵̖
̤̗̟͇̰A̪̠̮̲̠̦͎ ͕̝̪̞̪C̲͚̹͙͈̳H͕̤͈͈̼̣A̩͓͞N͍̱̗͙͠N͎E͕̼L̩͚͙̥̗̹͘ ҉͚̻̱̪T̯̙͇͈͚͙̬Ó̰͍̜̰ ̖̘A̳͇͈͓̱ ̣̳̰S̲̮̤C̻̕Ŗ͈͚̫͉̖E͏̣̬̞̹A̫M̪̙̭̳I͓͚̤N͎͠G̛͎̱̻̜̹͖ ̞̝̖̘̟F͍̩̜ͅI̸̮̪͈͕͇͓̹R̪̕E͖ ͓̫L̟ƠS͕̹T͉͔ ̤̠̻̣̹̦Ḍ̠̝͉͍̖O͏̬̖̣̞̖W̙̰̮͚͈̖̖N͙̮̟̞̙͘ͅ ̶̙͉̹̞̜̞͉A̝̠̘͍̫̭͔N͇͙̳̭̘̳ ̞̬I̬N̗̰̻͖̪͍͉F̜̟̱I̹̞͠Ņ̘̯̫I͔̳ͅTE̠ ͉͈̼͕̖S͍̩ͅIN̺͈̱̙̬̱͜G̖̩̱̦̱͙̮Ṷ̸̙̪͖̪͔̻L̩A̴̹̼̼̬͇͈̘R͚I̙T̨Y͍ͅ
̗͖̟͔̮
̲͖͔̦̥̩̪Ţ͍͚͚H͉͟E̲͝ͅ ̞̝̞E͎̟̗̖̟N̢͖E̻͚̼̥͠R͉̲͍͖͔̭GI͕̙̼̭̬̹̣É͇̬͍̗S̺ ̴O͙̟͓͖̺F̯͙̰̫͖̥͈ ͎̱̮̻̪͞C͚͠R̙̞͍͇͈͚͕E͓̙̞͔̩̰A͇̩̭̫̞ͅT̻̪͍̩̜̫̝Ḭ̪̗̱O̦͔̱̞N͏̝͈̟ ͏̖̻̗E̳͙̼̫̠̮͕͝N͓̜̜̼̝̻͜S̯̻̞̭̦L̶̪̹̼̺̩AV̯̩̞̜͡E̱̞̥͉͈͕͡D͈̳̠̲͔̰͖
̹̘̣͖
҉̻͙͔̫Y̥͉̠̭͕ͅO̗̖̝͎U̡͕ ̞͔͢FĘ̝̹̠̘ͅͅE̶̠L͙͙̟ A̱̖̣̠͉ ̗͙̤̘ͅG̣͔̱̘̫R̵E͇A̪͎̰͍͇̖T̗̦̞̠̮̯̟ ̨P͖̖͎̼̥̗͉͢R̬̝̪̖͇̯͡ͅES̜͎̠E͉̖̜̳̳N̮̗͎C̯̻̦̙͓͝E͞ ͎̩̥̠́L͕̟̩͚͖̳̕Ǫ͕̜̰̣̙̮̰OM͇͙͔͍̼̝̮ ̭̥̦͎̻OV͘E͞R ͇͎̼̲Y̰̠͎O̞͚̣̝̹̹U̴̞̝̼̩̖̖,͏͚̤̲̠̱ ̝̥̮T̻̲̲̗͉͠H͙͘E͘ ̗̫̝̲̟́L̦͓͔͖̣O͍̘̞̣̹R̬̹̫͠D̀S͉̟̙̤͇̫ ̭O͔̹̮͚̝͍̱͟F̶̜͎͓̣ ̢̥̼͍T͎̻̮Ḩ̞̮͖I̢̲̠̠͙̲S̴ ̳̺̮̠͉̼NU̶͙̥̺͇L̡̺L͏̹͇ ́S̠̜͚̫̞͎P̴̘͓͈͕A͙C͎̭͔̪Ę̰̙,̝͕̳̜͓͢ ̵͎̻Á̘͍̠̬ ̪͎T͕̪̱̩̭͕͡HO̳̯͚Ụ̭̫̜̣̜̞S̴A̛͈̺͍̞̤̜N̟̠D͇͔̬̀ ̴͕͚̺E̶͕͎͔Y̶̼̝͖E͈̪̠̲̠̱̰͢S ̳̥̜͖͝W̛̪̦I̜͈̭̘ṮH̡̱̙̹̫ ̝̥̣̝̩͢A̜̮͖̤̦͕ ̗͓̮͉̣S͏I̶̻̜̲͔̬̼N̤G̪͓̻̩͠LE̥͘ ͉͚̝͓̠̺͝V̹I͚̹S̨̮̩̼IO̴̩̱̣͎̤̝̤N̷,̠̭̜ͅ ̝͇͇̹͍S̛̹T̫̤̹͉̞͘A̖̤̖̬̮͎R̡̩̘̠̖͕͕̲I͍͇̗͙̦͔N̫G͔̝ ̥͝F̛͓͈̘R̢͕͕͇O̩͖̥ͅM̗͔̺ ̨̻̤̝̻Ẁ͔̘̰͈̠̳I̗͎̯̰̣̞̺T͇̣̞́H̰̟̜͚̻͠I̩̦͎͠N̺̝͍͠ ͇͓̫̥̟̤̀A͏Ņ̠͚̯̻͓D̷̹͔̝̭͚ ̥͘Ẉ̰͔͚͎͟I̡̖̪̥̦̰̬T̠͠H҉͉̲̠̣O͎͔̼̰͞U̦̪̟T̗̫̺͔̲̠͢.̶͙̗̯̜͈̖̰
҉͈̬̬̞̰
̵̥͈͇͉͇̬̠
̣̳͇̣͉͠ͅO͓͖̤U̯͞T̺̬͓̯̲͟!҉̜̖̜ ͖Ơ͚͇̭ͅŲ͇͓Ț̹͕!̮̤̹̬ ̡̤Y̝̣̦O̩̭̫̭̮U̟̞͈͢ ̗̖̥̟̳̝Ą̰R̨E̖̮̯̥͓͜ ̧̺̟Ţ͉O̺̳O̖̻̞̘̯͜ͅ ̟̦̗̻̫͈̹͝M̗͔̥UC̺͓̱͔̯͙̱̕H̼̜̯̟̗͔͈!̹̝̟̠́ ̸̘̩̘͈̠͕W͔̫̭̳̞͔͎E͔̠̝ ͢C͙̰̬A̧̹̪̺̪̹͔̻Ṇ͖͔̬̭͡ͅN͓͓͎͖̟̤͢Ọ̹̼͚͢T͉̣͚ ̷͙H̯̭͙̕O̼̠L̜͕͎͙̖ͅD̘̪̳̠͔̪̀ ̧̯̹̳͙͍̞A̛̯̯̞̰͖͈L̵̳̭̻̫̳ͅL̯̖͠ ͔̖̺̥͟T͖̘̤͡H̗̫̬̜͈̤A̵̳̳͔͙̻̣̟T̞̖̩̗ ̬͓͇͎̫̼̝Y̜̭̯̕O̗U̞͍̳ ͚̟̜A͖̯̮̯̝̦R͉E̺̯͈!̙̲̜̩̗̦
̶̮͍̪̻̝̲
̼
̼̯͕̫̺͘R̴̻ET͍͇͓̜͙U͕̟͖͙Ṟ̲̘͉̩͖N̜̰ͅ!̧̯̝̯̲̙͔ ̰̺̪̭̺̣R̴͉̬͉̭͉E̬T͓͚̳̙͎̻U̹͠R̦͙̝̮̭͉̩N̰̞̤̬̱!̯͓̻ ҉R̶E̩͕̭̞T̹͎̹͙͍̻U͔̻R̺̭̮̪̞̮Ǹ!̪̮̫
-holy shit what the fuck was that?" You staggered back, feeling utterly overwhelmed. "May, May what happened! What did you see?"
You turned to see her pushed against the wall, her phone in her hands, eyes wide.
"You were a robot guy." she said, voice wavering. "There was a big flash of blue light and you were a robot guy, then another and-."
"Blue light?"
"Yes, like staring at a camera flash." she said, nodded. You were gripped with a sudden,
horrified fear: was that gamma radiation? Cherenkov radiation in the fluid of her eyeballs?
"
Your electronics are all still working, so it wasn't a gamma ray burst. Still, that was terrifying." Athena whispered in your ears, "
I saw it too."
"Okay, holy fuck. So, uh, I think we went to another dimension." you said, grasping for your phone. "The... inhabitants? Whoever they were, they were not super happy to have us."
"
Understatement of the year." Athena said, "
I think our powers didn't interact too well with their world." May turned the phone around and showed you the video, and sure enough you vanished in a flash of light and, for a few short seconds, Metal Flappy Bird was standing stock-still in the middle of the room. It didn't react or anything, it didn't even really seem
alive, and then there was another flash and you were back.
"Okay... but good news is, we got the armour. We know we can bring it to this dimension." you said, "And none of us died. That's a promising sign. It sort of looks like my first guess, the armour switching position with whoever activates it. But that's kind of problematic, because it makes it hard to study the armour..."
"The obvious answer would be for me to do it, but I don't really want to go to another spooky dimension." May said. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah, no, I think we can rule out any more jaunts to the other dimension entirely unless we have a really good plan. No more touching the crystal." you confirmed. "Though... there were other suits, weren't there?"
"
It looked that way, yes." Athena said, "
The armour's original user never described any place like this... it might be that your power prevents you from using the suit properly, but allows you to operate inside this other dimension. And it seemed to take your clothes, your phone, and so forth through the transfer. I wonder if perhaps you could snag one of the other suits we saw and bring it back with you? That would probably be our best bet for exploiting the technology of the suit."
"Yeah, but it'd probably really piss off whatever voice that was. Though if it could hurt us from where it was, it probably would have in the last year or so." you said, "Okay. What's the plan?"
---
[ ] Take another jaunt through the dimensional swap and try to snag a suit.
[ ] Let Athena front before making the next swap, and have her try to do the same.
[ ] Touch this crystal again, and stay long enough for May and Athena to take a sample.
[ ] Fuck this. Take the crystal out to an empty warehouse and crack it open with a robot arm, study that instead!
Each of these will result in a different benefit, and will come with risks and consequences proportional to the reward.
We will meet May's new personal helper next update.
