Sometimes, a single turn of events can change the flow of history

Gaige sat behind her assigned table at the planet-wide science fair. She eagerly awaited her turn to dazzle the judges with the technological wonder she created. She looked to her left to see her classmate, Marcy Holloway, show off her pathetic excuse for a robot. It could barely balance itself on its own two legs and emitted an annoying high pitched whine that gave Gaige a headache. She laughed to herself and turned her head to her right. Her dad was watching from the sidelines. He looked back at her and gave her a thumbs up. She couldn't help but grin. She was glad that her dad could be there to see her win first place and show up her ditsy classmate. He would be so proud of her and they would probably have some kind of party to celebrate. Soon. Very soon.

Gaige heard footsteps approaching her and quickly turned to face the noise. Two snooty men and one stuffy woman looked down on her where she sat. She couldn't help but grin nervously.

The three judges looked across her empty table as though they were looking for something until one finally spoke up and said, "Miss Gaige, where is your science fair project?"

Gaige fumbled for a moment and replied, "Uh, uh, my science fair project? It's right here," and she raised up her mechanical arm.

The judges looked at her quizzically. "Your prosthetic arm is your science fair project" another one of the judges asked her with an uninterested gaze

Gaige grinned confidently, "Oh no, my arm isn't my science fair project."

She turned away from the judges, extended her arm, and with a flick of her wrist, a gigantic metallic beast materialized into existence. The judges gasped in awe and Gaige knew she had their attention.

"I call him DeathTrap. He is the future of anti-bullying technology. With his digistructed claws and thermosonic lasers, he will track down bullying and beat the CRAP out of it!"

Gaige turned around and saw the judges eying up her mechanical creation. The looks on their faces made it very clear that they were thoroughly impressed.

The final judge asked, "Would you care to demonstrate the abilities of your, uh, DeathTrap?"

Gaige confidently stated, "Of course," and willed her creation to further dazzle her audience.

She won first place in the planet-wide science fair. Her and her creation were given matching blue ribbons and Gaige had to fight back tears of joy. She looked over to her sniveling rival classmate and contemplated rubbing her nose in it, but decided against it when her dad quickly ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

"You did it sweetheart! I knew you could do it!" he shouted, looking almost as excited as she was.

"Hell yes I did! I'm the greatest engineer alive!" Gaige shouted back, flexing her robotic arm.

Gaige's father laughed for a moment and said, "You know what this calls for, right?"

Gaige stopped to think for a moment and asked, "A party?"

"Hell yeah," he proclaimed loudly.

They exchanged a high five and quickly raced out of the school's auditorium to the car.

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Cupcakes and loud music filled the house. Everyone had a bright smile on their face. A bottle of wine was opened and a glass was poured for Gaige's mother and father. Gaige was content with a mug of hot cocoa. Occasionally, when her mother would leave the room, her dad would let Gaige have a small sip from his glass, and then they would return to how they were when she returned. Everything was perfect and nothing could possibly spoil their joy.

It was late and the merriment had significantly died down. Gaige decided that she would retire to her workshop in the garage for some peace and quiet. She was thoroughly exhausted and was ready to crash on the couch that she had placed in the corner of the room when her dad caught her dozing off at her desk one too many times. Gaige stood in the doorway and flicked on a light switch. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She stepped inside and looked a rather large blood stain on the floor.

Heh, good times.

She then looked at her desk where scraps of metal were sprawled out around a conspicuously placed ECHO recorder. That's odd, she couldn't recall leaving her ECHO behind. She stepped closer and picked up the recorder. It was crisp and clean and state of the art. She looked at it closer and noticed that it contained a message from a man whom she didn't know by the name of Blake. She hit the play button and listened to its contents.

"Miss Gaige, we at the Hyperion Corporation were so impressed by your DeathTrap, that we would like to invite you to our branch on Pandora to become our head engineer."

Gaige stood in shock and awe. This night just kept getting better and better.

"Your shuttle has already been paid for and you will be departing from your home in Eden-5 in a week. We sincerely recommend that you consider our offer and join the Hyperion family. "

The tape ended there. Gaige's mind ran wild with excited thoughts and she squealed to herself while jumping up and down. The commotion caught the attention of her father who quickly walked to the doorway.

"What's up? What's got you so excited," he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

She turned to face him and squealed, "Dad, you're never going to believe this."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed my first chapter. I really enjoyed writing this fic. I won't update on any sort of regular basis, but I do plan on finishing this story. Please leave a review and keep following the story to the end.