Aaron likes this
Post by KingJ on Feb 24, 2021 5:14:08 GMT
An explosion shook the skies of Astaria, and a body fell from it, bounce across the pavement in the Abandoned Warehouse District, and smashed into an abandoned truck, denting in the side. Timothy Smith, the hero known as Surge, looked up from his crash landing, wiped some blood off his face from his split, bleeding lips, and extricated himself from the truck. He held his side, feeling the ribs that were at the very least cracked, and limped away from it, favoring his left leg.
He looked up at the shining figure in the sky that had thrown him here. Cloaked in brilliant, almost blinding light, he could just barely tell that this figure was wearing a helmet-mask-thing that concealed his face entirely.
He brought his wrist up to his mouth. "Alice. Alice, he's too much. He's too much for any of us. I really wish it was a less dire situation, but... We're going to have to use it. Tell everyone to suit up."
It had only been a few weeks ago when a literal hole in space-time opened up, and a veritable army of soldiers, clad in brilliant white and gold, marched through, followed by this one helmeted figure. The gold accents arched up to form something reminiscent of a crown, and without amplification, or maybe the technology was just too small to see, he made a proclamation to the world.
"Rejoice. For I am bringing you peace and security. You will obey all I command, and you will be safe. There will be no crime. There will be no war. There will only be the peace of Prodigium."
Of course, the heroes of the world didn't take that lying down. For the past few weeks, it had been war between the superpowered soldiers of this would-be tyrant's regime, and the heroes fighting for freedom.
It was a losing battle. Eventually, Surge managed to go head to head with the man himself, and quickly found himself outmatched. They had similar powers, but everything about this Tyrant was just... more. Enhanced. But that was okay.
It could never be said that Timothy Smith didn't have a backup plan.
As he limped away to prepare to unleash his secret weapon, he grinned. Ivan was going to be so annoyed that he was wrong.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't believe you were right." Ivan sighed as he sat in a futuristic cockpit. He looked at the helmet in his lap. He was impressed that it was in his colors, black and blue, but he was not a fan of the bird-themed helmet in general. "Is this helmet really necessary?"
"I'm afraid so, Sparrow." Alice, in the android body that Andi and Tim had created for her, appeared on the viewscreen in front of him, in her own cockpit. One by one, all the people Tim had selected to help him helm this project. His wife, Adara, and his friends Andi, Honos, and Seb all appeared on the screen, each in their own futuristic cockpit, each wearing a stylized helmet. Alice's helmet was the one that seemed the most normal, Andi's helmet looked like a Spartan helmet of old, Honos' resembled a bearded dragon, Adara's a black cat, and Seb's a gray wolf. Tim showed up as well, his helmet modeled after a lion.
Andi nodded. "Alice is right. The helmets provide the neurological syncronization that lets you instinctively control the Sparrowtron."
"I hate that name."
Sebastian smiled wryly. "Wolftron isn't much better, but I was with you. I never thought there would ever actually be a reason to use these things."
Andi sighed and shook her head. "I tried. I really tried to get him to change the naming convention. "Spartantron" just doesn't work."
Tim rolled his eyes. "Okay okay okay, we can workshop the names later."
"Sweetheart, dear, love of my life, you'd better, or I'm never driving 'Cattron' again."
Honos was vibrating and sparking, almost bursting into flame with excitement and overstimulation. "This-this is so cool I can'tbelieveyougot this all to work and it's just like it is in powerrangersandvoltron and--"
"Settle down, kiddo. We've gotta do the combination sequence, because I honestly think this is the only way we've even got a chance."
Ivan sighed, put the helmet on his head, and gripped the controls as the cockpit lit up.
"All right, lets get this over with so I can stop living out this massive 'I told you so.'"
From seven warehouses in the District, seven enormous robots emerged, each one with a distinct theme. Several of them resembled animals, a blue sparrow, a black cat, a grey wolf, a red bearded dragon, and a golden lion. Two of them were themed after basic humanoids, one just a simple silver android, and the other a brass spartan.
"Right. I hope this works."
"It better work. If we die you're sleeping on the couch."
"...It'll work."
The seven friends piloted their mechs toward each other, and slapped buttons in the console. In the space of a few instants, they combined together to make a massive mech, all seven cockpits shifting and merging together to form a single cockpit with one seat. "I don't know why that felt like it took ten minutes but that was only a couple seconds."
"Come on. Lets save the world."
The battle lasted less then ten minutes. Surge glared at the helmeted tyrant from behind his own helmet, held up in a one-handed choke, struggling to breathe, struggling to summon some power, any power, from his broken, battered, exhausted body. His eyes desperately scanned the wreckage of the mech, looking for his friends. There was some small relief when he could see that all of them were breathing.
"Don't worry, Timothy." the masked tyrant said, calmly, almost paternally, like a father consoling a terrified child. "I know why you fight. I know why you work so hard. It's for them. It's for the world. It's all right. I'm not going to kill you. I'm not going to kill them. What I am going to do, is keep them, and you, safe. And you're going to give me the ability to do that."
He flew off toward his base of operations in the captured Aegis building, knocked out Surge with a swift gesture, and handed him off to waiting minions. "Prepare him for the extraction. We'll try format six this time."
"Yes sir."
"How is the tracking coming along?"
"Better, sir. Each universe gets us closer to isolating the unique signature of Subject 0 from the multiversal background radiation."
"Perfect. Keep up the good work. I really must thank her, though. If it wasn't for her desperate attempt to escape my utopia, I never would have had a chance to bring this peace to all the other worlds we've been too."
He stepped inside the building, and smiled at the battered, cobbled together quantum tunneling device. He'd made an improved version, of course, but he would have had quite the time figuring it out if she hadn't left this one behind. "Soon enough, 'Tayla.' I'll have you back, and I'll be able to thank you properly for all you've done."
FIN
((In case it wasn't clear, this one-shot is set in an alternate universe.))
He looked up at the shining figure in the sky that had thrown him here. Cloaked in brilliant, almost blinding light, he could just barely tell that this figure was wearing a helmet-mask-thing that concealed his face entirely.
He brought his wrist up to his mouth. "Alice. Alice, he's too much. He's too much for any of us. I really wish it was a less dire situation, but... We're going to have to use it. Tell everyone to suit up."
It had only been a few weeks ago when a literal hole in space-time opened up, and a veritable army of soldiers, clad in brilliant white and gold, marched through, followed by this one helmeted figure. The gold accents arched up to form something reminiscent of a crown, and without amplification, or maybe the technology was just too small to see, he made a proclamation to the world.
"Rejoice. For I am bringing you peace and security. You will obey all I command, and you will be safe. There will be no crime. There will be no war. There will only be the peace of Prodigium."
Of course, the heroes of the world didn't take that lying down. For the past few weeks, it had been war between the superpowered soldiers of this would-be tyrant's regime, and the heroes fighting for freedom.
It was a losing battle. Eventually, Surge managed to go head to head with the man himself, and quickly found himself outmatched. They had similar powers, but everything about this Tyrant was just... more. Enhanced. But that was okay.
It could never be said that Timothy Smith didn't have a backup plan.
As he limped away to prepare to unleash his secret weapon, he grinned. Ivan was going to be so annoyed that he was wrong.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't believe you were right." Ivan sighed as he sat in a futuristic cockpit. He looked at the helmet in his lap. He was impressed that it was in his colors, black and blue, but he was not a fan of the bird-themed helmet in general. "Is this helmet really necessary?"
"I'm afraid so, Sparrow." Alice, in the android body that Andi and Tim had created for her, appeared on the viewscreen in front of him, in her own cockpit. One by one, all the people Tim had selected to help him helm this project. His wife, Adara, and his friends Andi, Honos, and Seb all appeared on the screen, each in their own futuristic cockpit, each wearing a stylized helmet. Alice's helmet was the one that seemed the most normal, Andi's helmet looked like a Spartan helmet of old, Honos' resembled a bearded dragon, Adara's a black cat, and Seb's a gray wolf. Tim showed up as well, his helmet modeled after a lion.
Andi nodded. "Alice is right. The helmets provide the neurological syncronization that lets you instinctively control the Sparrowtron."
"I hate that name."
Sebastian smiled wryly. "Wolftron isn't much better, but I was with you. I never thought there would ever actually be a reason to use these things."
Andi sighed and shook her head. "I tried. I really tried to get him to change the naming convention. "Spartantron" just doesn't work."
Tim rolled his eyes. "Okay okay okay, we can workshop the names later."
"Sweetheart, dear, love of my life, you'd better, or I'm never driving 'Cattron' again."
Honos was vibrating and sparking, almost bursting into flame with excitement and overstimulation. "This-this is so cool I can'tbelieveyougot this all to work and it's just like it is in powerrangersandvoltron and--"
"Settle down, kiddo. We've gotta do the combination sequence, because I honestly think this is the only way we've even got a chance."
Ivan sighed, put the helmet on his head, and gripped the controls as the cockpit lit up.
"All right, lets get this over with so I can stop living out this massive 'I told you so.'"
From seven warehouses in the District, seven enormous robots emerged, each one with a distinct theme. Several of them resembled animals, a blue sparrow, a black cat, a grey wolf, a red bearded dragon, and a golden lion. Two of them were themed after basic humanoids, one just a simple silver android, and the other a brass spartan.
"Right. I hope this works."
"It better work. If we die you're sleeping on the couch."
"...It'll work."
The seven friends piloted their mechs toward each other, and slapped buttons in the console. In the space of a few instants, they combined together to make a massive mech, all seven cockpits shifting and merging together to form a single cockpit with one seat. "I don't know why that felt like it took ten minutes but that was only a couple seconds."
"Come on. Lets save the world."
The battle lasted less then ten minutes. Surge glared at the helmeted tyrant from behind his own helmet, held up in a one-handed choke, struggling to breathe, struggling to summon some power, any power, from his broken, battered, exhausted body. His eyes desperately scanned the wreckage of the mech, looking for his friends. There was some small relief when he could see that all of them were breathing.
"Don't worry, Timothy." the masked tyrant said, calmly, almost paternally, like a father consoling a terrified child. "I know why you fight. I know why you work so hard. It's for them. It's for the world. It's all right. I'm not going to kill you. I'm not going to kill them. What I am going to do, is keep them, and you, safe. And you're going to give me the ability to do that."
He flew off toward his base of operations in the captured Aegis building, knocked out Surge with a swift gesture, and handed him off to waiting minions. "Prepare him for the extraction. We'll try format six this time."
"Yes sir."
"How is the tracking coming along?"
"Better, sir. Each universe gets us closer to isolating the unique signature of Subject 0 from the multiversal background radiation."
"Perfect. Keep up the good work. I really must thank her, though. If it wasn't for her desperate attempt to escape my utopia, I never would have had a chance to bring this peace to all the other worlds we've been too."
He stepped inside the building, and smiled at the battered, cobbled together quantum tunneling device. He'd made an improved version, of course, but he would have had quite the time figuring it out if she hadn't left this one behind. "Soon enough, 'Tayla.' I'll have you back, and I'll be able to thank you properly for all you've done."
FIN
((In case it wasn't clear, this one-shot is set in an alternate universe.))