4 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Nobody can really understand the joy of flying. Of rocketing through the air, screaming on a wave of air, diving and ducking as gravity fought to grab you and failed. The wind roared past me, my talons trailing behind me as my wings felt the icy chill pass above and over my skin.

But I had a purpose. Even as I flew, I knew the truth. There was no way Captain America was at that mall in Washington D.C. anymore. I had to find them again, him and that mysterious woman with him. With my eyesight, I focused on where I was aiming for. I needed to find them again, which meant hacking. I'd been flying for about a minute. Astrodactyl was fast, fast enough to break the speed of sound with ease.

The distance between Manhattan and Washington DC is only about 230 miles. Even Mach 1 is 340ish meters a second, and I could clear that with ease. Which meant I needed to slow down so I could see what I needed. I also dropped as low as possible at points, flying along rivers, under bridges, trying to avoid detection by radar.

About six minutes into the flight, the Omnitrix started to beep. I shot towards the ground, glad I wasn't as high up as the twenty thousand feet I'd been at before.

I came down behind a 7-11 on the outskirts of D.C. It was in one of the rougher neighborhoods of the city. As I landed, the Omnitrix turned off, and I landed in a roll as a human being. I stood up and looked around the empty street, then started walking.

Even with everything I'd done to try and shake off the radar, I knew it wouldn't last. I needed more. I needed a tech solution, a way to stop anyone, anywhere from tracking me. I'd thought of building one before, but I was more focused on hacking.

I grabbed my phone and found the nearest technology store. A Best Buy a few streets away. I started jogging, keeping my eyes open for anyone shady. I wasn't exactly trained in espionage, so I couldn't see if anyone was following, but it was the best I could do on short notice. Funny. All the power to change the world on my wrist, and the first time I get the chance to help an Avenger, it's on a mission more dependent on spy stuff rather than explosions.

I hurried down the sidewalk and got to the parking lot of the Best Buy. When I walked in, a kindly older woman with a badge on her chest that said her name was Martha smiled at me.

”Hello there! Do you need any help?”

”As much as the universe can give me,” I said quickly, striding past her fast. She blinked after me as I headed to the gaming center.

Years back, in my home universe, scientists used a little under 2,000 Playstation 3's to create a supercomputer. It used the advanced graphics capability of the gaming console to do things other supercomputers could do at a fraction of the cost. The PS3 was released in 2006, while the year I was in now was 2014. More importantly, it was created in a universe without Tony Stark.

In this Marvel universe, I found stuff I wouldn't be able to back home. I checked my phone as I walked through the store, and kept track of Captain America and Black Widow's traveling through my CapWatch program.

I had one of the employees get me one of the new StarkConsole systems, which he told me would be waiting at the front for me since they didn't keep them on shelves. We did the same with a small monitor, a pair of earphones, some graphics cards, and some legos, though I could carry a few of those items myself.

Once at the cashier, the problems started.

”That will be, one thousand seventy-eight dollars, and thirty-eight cents,” the cashier, a cheery young woman with black hair that had a red stripe in her bangs, smiled at me. ”And will you be paying with debit or credit?”

”Cash,” I reached into my bag. Over the months, I'd only spent money on essentials. The rest, I got from trashcans, sometimes pawn shops, but usually, I rarely spent the money I got from my job for anything that wasn't food. Add in the money I stole from thugs and gangbangers, and I had some cash to spend.

Of course, I'd forgotten that a young man looking hectically around and carrying over a thousand dollars in cash looks suspicious. I realized something was wrong when the cashier started taking an extra long time to check my bills. Then I saw the employee in the background making a phone call. He was trying not to look at me.

Someone came up behind me. ”Excuse me, sir?” I turned around. The guy behind me was short, kinda pudgy, with slicked-back hair. He looked like a normal guy. He smiled. ”Can you come with me please?” He opened his coat. Inside was a badge with an eagle symbol on it. SHIELD.

”...What, were you in the store already?” I said as the cashier hurried away.

The guy shook his head. ”No, but I was close by when we intercepted the phone call to the police... It just took him a while to get here.” He nodded behind me. I turned around. There was a guy, standing taller than me. He was striding towards me, wearing nothing but a tank top, which showed off he had enough muscle for a fitness magazine. His head was bald, and his eyes were hard. He was walking towards me, practically glaring.

”Don't move!” The guy who'd gotten my attention first was suddenly pressing a gun to my head. But I'd already reached for the Omnitrix. I thought about changing the alien I had set on it for when I left the store. But it didn't look like I had time. ”Get down on the floor, and we-”

I pressed the face of the Omnitrix. The guy fired his gun, but I was already knee height to him.

I shrank down by about five feet. My hair faded away. My ears grew out behind me as my nose grew forward. I felt my arms become skinny sticks, yet somehow become even more powerful. My skin became red. My blue jeans changed to fit my new form, my sneakers as well. And my white t-shirt shrank with me, the black spreading out. As it did, the shirt shifted colors further. A gold image appeared. Like a man wearing a helmet with big goggles on and a triforce symbol on the eyebrow. Over the head were two words. Black Sabbath. Three more words rested under the head. U.S. Tour '78.

”Jury Rigg!” I cried out, stretching my arms out as though I was a menacing monster, rather than a tiny red Gremlin in a tour shirt.

”Hahahaha!” I giggled, rubbing my hands together. ”Oh yes! Time to go nuts baby!”

The guy who'd pointed the gun at me stared for a second. I leaped up and grabbed his face. ”Hahahaha!” I punched him in the nose, hard, cackling madly as I held onto him by his right ear.

”Oh god! Get him off me!” the guy screamed falling back as I punched him over and over with a tiny fist. He reached up and tried to pull me off him. I leaped away, over him, and ran towards the main store.

My mind was racing. Jury Rigg was just a manic energy kind of guy as is. But here? In the middle of a Best Buy?

”Oh my god,” I stopped in the middle of an aisle full of printers. My fingers twitched as I stared at the devices in front of me. ”Heh... hehehehehehehe! DISASSEMBLE!”

With that battle cry, I leapt for the nearest printer. My powerful red claws dug into the plastic, ripping through the casing. As I did, my mind began to link it all together. One part connected to this part, so it could do this. And if that was possible, why couldn't I just do this? The feeling of tearing the printer apart, of understanding through destruction, made me cackle like a madman, my squeaky voice filling the air. ”Disassemble, disassembledisassembledisassemble!” In a blur, three printer were torn to pieces. Then I started mashing them together. The computer parts, mechanical sections, the pieces just fit together in my head. My mind may have been as hyper as the Flash on crack, but I just felt this... natural intuition for technology. I knew the machine because it just made sense.

”Reassemble!” I cried out, creating a power source in the handle. ”Reassemble, reassemble!” I placed the glass in the barrel as a focusing lens, then jammed plastic all around it for reinforcement. ”Heh. Fixed it, baby!”

Jury Rigg was my most mind-bending form. But in some ways, he was also my most peaceful.

Just as I finished the machine, the bald guy from earlier came around the corner. When he saw me, he started walking down the aisle. I picked up the device in my hand and pointed it at him.

”Hey, baldie!” I said with a fanged grin. ”Say hello!”

The creation I'd made was shaped like a giant gun made of plastic. I pulled a trigger that had once been a piece of plastic, and the gun fired, sending me flying from the recoil.

A ball of light slammed into the tall bald guy. It pressed into his chest, lifting him up and sending him flying.

”HA!” I cried out. The guy slammed into an earphone display, shattering the plastic. ”What you gonna do now!?”

The bald giant rose up. His nostrils flared, rage in his face. He grabbed the metal shelving next to him with his right hand. He smirked suddenly, his rage becoming determination. ”I can think of something.”

As I watched, his right hand changed color. From the point where he was grabbing the shelving, it started to match the shelving. For a moment, I thought it was some sort of camouflage. Then I realized it was so much worse.

The color moved up his arms to his shoulders, and up over his head, until he was completely white, metal replacing skin.

”Huh,” I said, my eyes wide. ”Your last name wouldn't happen to be Levin, would it?”

The big metal man roared, rushing at me. The imagery of a giant white being of metal rushing for a tiny red gremlin carrying a giant gun was hilarious. I raised the gun and fired again, as fast as I could. The light balls didn't send him flying anymore, only smashing into him with force. I leaped onto a shelf and started running down the aisle, kicking products to the floor as he followed me.

”Crusher Creel, right!?” I smirked at the roar I got in response. ”What, you don't like that name?”

I leaped over to the next aisle, shooting at the guy. My gun didn't have a punch, but at least the light balls could knock him around.

I leaped over to the next aisle, then the next, going from shelf to shelf. He spun to follow me, crashing through shelves as I leaped from one to another. I leaped over one more. Then I leaped off the shelf and down into the aisle, leaving me to hide against the shelves and wait.

To my left, Creel slammed through the shelves, crossed, the aisle, and crashed through the next one. I grinned at the sight of him continues his chase as I stood behind him, then turned.

I needed to escape. But I also needed to be able to keep anyone from chasing me. I ran through the holes Creel had made, going back until I hit the smartphone stuff. I grabbed three phones and turned to get more.

”There you are!”

I looked up. The guy who I'd punched in the face came running down the aisle. His nose was bloody, and he seemed enraged. He sprinted full force.

”Come here, you little shit!” he reached out his hands to grab me.

I grinned. ”Rude!” Then I lifted my gun.

He had a moment to realize what it was. His eyes widened, and his sprint became a backpedal. Then a ball of solidified red light slammed into his face. I didn't stop shooting as he flew through the air, hitting him three more times and knocking him across the store.