Chapter 76 : Dawn of a new era (Assembling part 1)
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Chapter 76 : Dawn of a new era (Assembling part 1)
Nighthawk Cinema, Brooklyn, New York City, 5th of May, 15:48, in Flash Thompson’s mind
The movie had barely started and Flash was already bored out of his skull.
It was, by all accounts, a rather bland romantic drama with a love triangle, a flick that definitely wasn’t Flash’s cup of tea on his best days.
But, sometimes, a relationship forces you to compromise with your lover for it to work.
Liz had wanted to see it and he was having an off day. It had been as simple as that.
It wasn’t like he had the high-ground to deny her a lazy afternoon in his company, considering the time he was sinking in his engineering and training these days.
Flash was definitely doing his best to juggle everything and she knew that, but he suspected she wasn't quite feeling it as graciously as she let show.
So, compromise.
Now, it would have been easy to handle if Flash had been in a better mood today.
Sadly, he wasn’t, so he was barely paying token attention to what was happening on-screen, his biomechanical cortex saving a copy of what he was seeing for future reference in his and Liz's inevitable post-movie debate.
Flash had much to brood upon, after all.
His girlfriend had her head leant on his shoulder, her hair sprawled on his neck and upper torso as her attention remained fixed on the screen, one of her hands clenching his, their finger intertwined.
Flash’s attention though, was on his other hand.
Contrary to popular belief, the months since January had been plenty noteworthy for him.
Aria and her alien ‘sister’ were, of course, top of the list as far as he was concerned. Yet, it didn’t change old home life negatively.
It made it better.
Flash had, for a long time, no one to speak about his home life, now old home life. Of course, after being trapped for half an eternity in the Astral plane, it paled in comparison.
Yet, the scars remained. And now, they were just that, scars.
His mother was still a fusspot but now she had the gall to speak aloud when something displeased her in her house.
Jessie was, as always, a ray of sunshine but she had also grown more confident and had, apparently, found a calling way earlier than he ever had.
His father, though.
His feelings towards Harrison remained conflicted.
Flash had even tailed him a few times at night when he was supposedly on his way to a meeting.
It has been nice to see the badge in January but Flash still harbored a lot of distrust toward his genitor.
Yet, he hadn’t lied and each time his son shadowed him at night to check if that was still a thing, Flash felt shittier.
Flash wanted, badly needed even, to let bygones be bygones.
But the scars remained and he wasn’t even sure if they would fade in time.
There was of course the training.
Aria had been one of the brutalest task-masters he had the opportunity to learn under and he had been a rising star quarterback before the incident happened.
The effort had born fruit obviously and gifted him plenty of advantages, what with his near instant learning capacities and the ever present option to run mock-battle in a corner of his mind.
Yet it also gave Flash the opportunity to discover something about himself that he wasn’t really sure how to deal with.
Feeling a shudder coming across his frame, Flash locked all of his servomotors and neural output for a beat.
Best not to dwell about that.
Shelving the issue for later, Flash reinitialized his motor functions in their ideal parameters as he heaved a little sigh.
“Something wrong babe?” Liz muttered distractingly, still enraptured by the screen.
“Just a yawn,” He whispered back, planting a kiss on her forehead, “I’m still tired from the week is all.”
His girlfriend just ‘hmmed’ under her breath.
His rekindled relationship was also among the noteworthy events.
Flash had, in all honesty, not expected them to give things a second chance that soon, if ever.
Hell, he wasn’t even fully human anymore for fuck's sake.
Yet, even if his juggling between school, training, engineering and the occasional date was stretching him a bit thin, Flash was definitely happy it had turned out like that.
He had changed and so had she. The time apart had done the both of them a lot of good.
He liked, really liked the girl.
Amid the constant madness that had become his life, she grounded him in a way that no one else had managed.
What if it hurt her?
Well, no one except his fake and a little batty twin.
Aria was a lot when you lived with her on a daily basis.
It wasn’t what she did because she was a role model of good manners since that fateful day in January.
No, it's what she said that made living with her a constant challenge. An intellectual one, mind you, but still a challenge. She regularly intervened in the family's more adult conversations with points and counterpoints that left Flash puzzled at times and reeling in others.
Yet, she made sense each time and it was infuriating to have his worldview shattered on a daily basis. Apparently, months spent with her for sole company hadn’t been enough to desensitize him.
Worse still, she was also a careful listener. He had known, of course, since the two had talked at length for way too much time yet watching her weave her magic with his parents and his sister was mesmerizing in a way.
The Thomson family talked now, shared what they felt about and resolved conflicts with carefully worded reprimands and apologies.
She’ll probably listen to me if I spoke with her.
No, she definitely will.
But what if it hurt her too?
Quashing his own feelings once more, the movie still droning in his ears, Flash fetched an uncompleted design from his database.
Engineering, creating things with his intellect and solving problems combined into a solid second place finish in the ranking of major things that happened in the past months.
He had taken to the thing with a single-minded purpose since he was, after all, uniquely qualified to do so.
To this day, Flash remained amazed at how much he liked it.
It was maybe poetic in a fucked up sort of way that his new life was focused this much on building things when he had previously been a mean and destructive little shit with a boatload of insecurities.
Now, Flash drowned his own insecurities in his work.
And what a work it was!
In a few months time with admittedly very limited resources, he had built himself a lab, booby-trapped it to the gills, created his own machinery to help him, fabricated a ton of more or less useful gizmos just for the fun of it and built both armor and weapons.
Dredging up the schematics for his latest iteration of Jessica’s armor, he idly contemplated if he could improve it even further.
Nothing jumped out at him at a glance, not with his hands severely tied until Aria and he resolved two major issues.
Aria hadn’t meddled with his creations but had warned him about two things in specific.
EMP-based weapons and a friendly reminder that he wasn’t the only magnetokinetic around.
The first fact grated him something awful because, without a viable method to insulate his designs, he was essentially limited to what amounted to modern plate-armor. He had found a way around it with the use of hydraulics and gasses but it was bulky, relatively impractical and prone to failures if not carefully monitored.
Yes, Flash had to resort to steam-punk design in his engineering because electromagnetism was apparently the plague of all power-armor wearers.
Both Aria and he had slaved for hours each week trying to come up with a way around it but so far they remained unsuccessful.
The second though, it unnerved him. Flash himself had the possibility to counter someone who would try to rip him apart but his power remained nascent and that was before you simply said electromagnet out loud.
Granted, said magnet would have to be immune to his cyberpathy but anyone clever enough could probably do that. All the had to do was take the frequency he broadcasted to make everything more complex than a knife submit to him and start jamming.
It was possible, after all Flash had done so himself as a thought exercise. It had taken him less than an hour to crack it.
And so, Flash had recently taken to trying to discover a non-magnetic metal as a way to pass time at school.
The calculations were mind boggling if you tried to reach an absolute zero magnetism threshold without sacrificing everything else around, otherwise he would have already scoffed and used ceramite instead.
<“Flashy, we have a situation.”> Aria suddenly contacted him directly in his brain through his smartphone, bypassing his psy-shield with ease as she pulled him out of his fugue.
Flash tensed.
<“What is it?”> He cut to the chase instantly.
Instead of answering immediately, a world map was forwarded to him.
<“Gwen and I stumbled upon the X-Men while shopping.”> The golden girl started preambuled, <“I had promised to the Phoenix to lend a hand to His telepath if I ever met her and, since I value my life, I did just that.”>
Flash nodded absently.
Not pissing off Cosmic Forces was indeed a sensible idea.
<“One thing led to another and the Phoenix offed a meddling telepath a few minutes ago.”> Aria carried on, <“The problem is that the guy had facilities around the world dedicated to mutant cloning studies and he programmed his flesh puppets to go on a rampage if he bit it.”>
Flash eyes narrowed as his attention snapped to a very specific point.
<“And there’s one in New York.”> He said, his eyes darting to the two others on American soil.
<“Of course there is,”> Aria drawled, <“New York is the sole city of most import across the globe, after all.”>
Flash blinked, having the very distinct feeling that he was missing a joke somewhere.
<“And you aren’t more worried because?”> He asked instead.
<“I know what to expect and the entrance is in an abandoned underground line.”> She explained, <“The entrance is, also, severely fortified and the defenses aren’t easily disabled if you’re not the original owner. I estimate that by the time we go there it will be barely breached.”>
<“Do I have the time to swing by the house?”> Flash asked.
<“You should if you forget any attempts at discretion.”> Aria answered drily.
That made Flash pause.
<“Could you pick me up?”> He asked an instant later, <“I recall you going to Manhattan, it’s not that big a detour.”>
The line got silent for a beat.
<“I think I can manage.”> Aria answered, <“Meet us on the roof, it’ll be faster.”>
<“Roger.”> Flash answered as the line went dead once more.
The cyborg then nudged his girlfriend slightly, prompting her attention to him.
“I’m sorry babe,” He started, his tone apologetic, “But we have a situation.”
Liz’s eyes narrowed as her mouth pinched.
She had obviously picked up on his clue.
“How serious?” The auburn haired girl asked.
“Cloned mutants outbreak in downtown Manhattan serious.” He deadpanned in a whisper.
She gulped slightly.
“Could you bring back the car if I’m not finished before the movie ends?” Flash asked politely as he started to rise.
“Of course.” She answered easily, a little smile upturning the corner of her lips, “But you’ll owe me another date.”
“I wouldn’t have dreamt otherwise babe.” Flash answered easily, bending himself for a last kiss.
As Flash started to make his way out of the movie theater, he kept contemplating the strange turn his life had taken since January.
At least I escaped that bore of a movie.
If his attention kept darting back toward his hand as he walked the theater’s corridor, an image of a thinner design with longer nails regularly coming back, he didn’t say anything.
128
umm... Flash, are you feeling... okay? Manliness still comfortable for you?
He's sexuality is bending and he's afraid of hurting his girlfriend...
@Liber8T I don't know if his sexuality is changing at all, I find it more likely he's coming to terms with a gender identity question.
@Shadowqueer gender bender? it's possible with his full body mechanical revision
Somehow I find it comforting when Flash left his date to deal with Super-Powered BS that he told his girlfriend the truth and skip all the drama angst that a regular hero would have to deal with if they kept their secret identity.
That's the thing that always managed to drive me up the wall. It's just a lazy excuse for engineering conflict in my opinion.
Wait wait wait.... Flashes cerebral makeup was changed due to essentially being a clone of Aria! Holy shit.... I've gotta process the implications of this. Poor Flash. Aaannyways thanks for the chapter.
It could just as easily be he was always trans and just wasn't conscious of it. (I doubt an abusive home life is the best place for self discovery, and Aria happens to be an expert on being trans and has been talking to him(?)).
@UnseenDragon or the fact that he was shown Aria's memories while being half mad in the astral plane... On the second thought that couldn't have had any impact on how he views the world.
Ooh! Ooh! I know!!... Plastic Armor!!
My own theories on where to get StupidComicMetals(tm) in order, from most probable to most badass:
1. Do a Killmonger from Black Panther and raid a museum or two for "appropriated" Wakandan historical artifacts (aka Vibranium). No one would have a problem with that, right?
2. Wait for the hammer to drop, hustle over to Nevada, then melt Mjolnir down for the Uru. What could go wrong?
3. Borrow the Space Stone from Fury, use it to teleport over to Knowhere, merge with the dead Celestial's head, mine out all the good stuff, ???, profit!
And hey, it's a Friday night so plenty of time to point out plenty of suggestions... Plenty!
First, drop the apostrophes (') from Liz. I get it's to indicate the abbreviation, but it's unnecessary.
"on all accounts" > "by all accounts"
"he had an off day" > "he was having an off day"
"his engineering and training those days" > "his engineering and training these days"
"Flash was definitely doing his best to juggle the whole of it and she knew it but he had an inkling that she wasn't living it as graciously as she let it show." > "Flash was definitely doing his best to juggle everything and she knew that, but he suspected she wasn't quite feeling it as graciously as she let show."
"paying a token attention" > "paying token attention"
"seeing right now for future references for Liz' and his" > "seeing for future reference in his and Liz's inevitable"
"Contrary to popular belief, it has been a few eventful months for him since January." > "Contrary to popular belief, the months since January had been plenty noteworthy (goes with XriX being on a list) for him."
"old home life that badly" > "old home life negetively"
"bygone be bygone" > "bygones be bygones (the expression is pluralized)"
"It had bore fruit obviously and his advantages" > "The effort had born fruit obviously and gifted him plenty of advantages"
"sure how to deal about." > "sure how to deal with."
"issue for latter" > "issue for later"
"motor functions in their ideal parameter" > "motor functions in their ideal parameters (plural goes with plural in this case)"
"I'm still tired of the week is all." > "I'm still tired from the week is all."
"was also a part of those events" > "was also among the noteworthy events"
"to take a second serving" > "to give things a second chance"
"that no one managed" > "that no one else had managed"
"fateful day of January" > "fateful day in January"
"No, that's what she said" > "No, it's what she said"
"She regularly intervened in the more adult conversation with points and counterpoints that left Flash at times puzzled and at other reeling." > "She regularly intervened in the family's more adult conversations with points and counterpoints that left Flash puzzled at times and reeling in others."
"But she was also a careful listener." > "Worse still, she was also a careful listener." (You doing the thing where you go 'this point, but that point, yet this third point, then considering this fourth point'. The oscillating back and forth feels a bit run-on.)
"Quenching" > "Quashing"
"Engineering, creating things with his intellect and solving problems, had been the solid second place on his ranking of major things" > "Engineering, creating things with his intellect and solving problems combined into a solid second place finish in the ranking of major things"
"But Flash remained to this day still amazed at how much he liked it." > "To this day, Flash remained amazed at how much he like it."
"was this much focused" > "was this focused" or "focused this much"
"Dredging the schematics of the latest iteration" > "Dredging up the schematics for his latest iteration"
"jumped at him at a glance, his hands severely tied for now until Aria and him" > "jumped out at him at a glance, not with his hands severely tied until Aria and he"
"hadn't meddled in his creations" > "hadn't meddled in his creation (singular if you're referring to the act of creating)" or "hadn't meddled with his creations (if referring to the created articles)"
"The first fact stumped him gravely because without a viable method to insulate his designs against it, he was essentially limited to what amounted to modern plate-armor and it grated him." > "The first fact grated him something awful because, without a viable method to insulate his designs, he was essentially limited to what amounted to modern plate-armor."
"Both Aria and him were slaving" > "Both Aria and he had slaved (past tense applies here)"
"Flash had himself the possibility" > "Flash himself had the possibility"
"both limited and still growing" > "nascent"
"Granted, it would have to be immune to his cyberpathy but a clever person could probably do it if they isolated the frequency he broadcasted to submit everything that was more complex than a knife around him." > "Granted, said magnet would have to be immune to his cyberpathy but anyone clever enough could probably do that. All the had to do was take the frequency he broadcasted to make everything more complex than a knife submit to him and start jamming."
"started as a preambule" > "preambuled"
"I had promised to the Phoenix to land a hand to their telepath and so I did since I value my life." > "I had promised to the Phoenix to lend a hand to His telepath if I ever met her and, since I value my life, I did just that."
"It's not like New York isn't the sole city of import around" > "New York is the sole city of most import across" (double negative is hard to track)
"any attempt at discretions." > "any attempts at discretion."
"her attention on him" > "her attention to him"
That was awful! I feel ashamed being so bad!
In order :
1. The wakandans will take offense, of course, so not really the best idea :p
2. Why melt the hammer when if you wait a few hours you'll have a whole Destroyer to melt instead and there's a lot more Uru in it. Plus, you don't antagonize a frickin' god so there's that.
3. Using either the cube or the stone will draw some unecessary attention toward earth so it's not possible at the moment.
ty for chapter, Flashy losing his touch with humanity? Or maybe masculinity?
some corrections
Hell, he wasn’t even fully human anymore for f*ck sake.
f*ck's
The time apart had done the both of them a loot of good.
lot of good
What if it hurted her?
What if it hurt her? What if I hurt her?
Apparently, months spent with her for sole company hadn’t been enough to desensibilize him.
Unless you mean Desensibilize, the desensitizing agent for whitening, then it's desensitize
Dredging the schematics of the latest iteration of Jessica’s armor,
This should be drudging, though I'm not 100% sure
IEM-based weapons
IEM? Improvised Electromagnetic? Idk what your acronym here means for sure, but if it's my guess then get rid of the -based, because Improvised Electromagnetic-based is weird. Otherwise just get rid of the I, so it's Electromagnetic-based weapons.
It was possible, after all Flash had one so himself as a thought exercise.
Flash had done so
he programmed his flesh puppets to go on a rampage if he bitten it.”
not 100% on this one, but reading "bitten it." feels wrong to me, certainly when it's after he. Maybe "he bit it." or "he had bitten it." or just "he died."
Thank you for the corrections, always appreciated!
Great as always. The 🥚 is flashing? Or the flash is egging?
Aria had been one of the brutalest task-masters he had the opportunity to learn under and he had been a rising star quarterback before the incident happened.
brutalest -> most brutal
EGG EGG EGG EGG EGG
Hello!
Flash remained amazed at how much he like it.
liked
Thank you!