A Moment in Time

by Fatolbaldguy

Lisa Whipple, an employee of the Chicago Sentinels, finds herself the only one capable of defending the Dome and the Sentinels. This triggers her own breakthrough and she is forced to learn about her powers as she fights a desperate battle for the Dome and her own survival.

Lisa

I swung the bright red and white Chevy Impala convertible into the underground parking garage that concealed the "Back door entrance to the Superhero headquarters of the Chicago Sentinels, known simply as the Dome.

I work here as the head of the motor pool..My name is Lisa Whipple. I am the daughter of the hero Drifter, a B plus class Atlas type who is making a name for himself with Heroes Without Borders.

I walked into the the secret entrance in the parking garage. I was still in my Army class A uniform from the change of command ceremony at the National Guard Armory. One of the Bobs met me as I entered and checked my credentials.

Looking over my dress uniform Bob raised an eyebrow. I chuckled.

"We had change of command ceremony at the armory I had to wear this monkey suit all day. I didn't get a damn thing done. Since I have to be in early tomorrow morning I decided to sleep here. Besides the new condos a mess I have boxes everywhere and the bed isn't put together yet, so I'll be more comfortable here anyway and I won't have to look at the disaster that I have at home."

Bob handed me back my card with a good natured chuckle. The Bobs don't talk much with the exception of Willis. He will hold a conversation given the chance. They/him were all the same person. One of those weird breakthroughs.

I continued down the long ramp through the motor pool into my office and living area.

I have a small room at the Dome nothing like the superheroes get but a comfortable room with a bed, chair and TV with a small bathroom and a shower. The Sentinels provide these quarters not only for our convenience but also to give us a place to stay in event of an emergency where the Sentinels and their staff might be under attack or in danger.

I walked in and examined myself in the mirror behind the door. My green class A uniform had Staff sergeant stripes on the sleeves and a CAB (Combat Action Badge) from the time my unit had been activated on my left side jacket breast. Among the ribbons in my"fruit salad" under the CAB were ribbons for the Bronze star medal with V valor device, The Meritorious Service medal, and several other combat ribbons. It had been a very scary deployment in China.

I examined the woman looking back at me from the mirror. People say I have hard eyes. Perhaps I have seen too much. They are brown. I am in pretty good shape. I run and workout regularly and the boys always seem impressed. My dark hair is cut short. Long hair on a mechanic is a nuisance. I stand five nine and I'm slim and I have a proportional bust. Shell described it like that once and I choose to take it as a compliment. I hate my hands. They are long fingered scarred and callused. I'm a mechanic it's to be expected.

Turning from the mirror I started peeling off the uniform. Hanging my jacket and trousers I put them into the surprisingly big wardrobe next to all my clean work coveralls.I put my uniform shirt into the laundry chute, another nice perk from working here. I could have put my dress jacket and trousers into a hotel style space behind the door mirror and it would be dry cleaned and pressed by this time tomorrow. But I didn't think it needed it and I don't like to over do taking advantage of what I think of as superhero perks. I'm just the wrench monkey.

I put on my workout clothes and strolled down to the gym. Not of course the one that Hope and Troy use. The one with weights set for city bus and main battle tank, the gym setup for normal people. After doing a quick workout for about 45 minutes to burn off some of the irritation I had built up throughout my unpleasant day at the armory.

I hate formal events. They prevent me from doing real work and force me to stand around all dressed up. Today had been no exception.

During the reception after the change of command ceremony I had been cornered by the Sergeant Major and my Platoon leader. They were once again complaining to me about my quitting the civilian job with the National Guard motor pool to take up my new job with the Sentinels running their motor pool. Since it was a social setting and the two of them had had a few drinks they got a little more nasty about it than usual. Remarks about disloyalty and money grabbing were bandied about thinly disguised as friendly banter.

The Sentinels job paid much better than the Armory work in my opinion was just as important and infinitely more interesting. Why wouldn't I move into a better situation? There was even a veiled threat that the event would affect my evaluation for my National Guard military position as a Staff Sergeant.

The Sergeant Major had realized that the remark had crossed a line and back pedaled on behalf of the lieutenant who had made it. After getting the hapless officer a cup of coffee the Sergeant Major had offered a small olive branch. He told me that since I had left the civilian position the National Guard motor pool's readiness numbers had dropped considerably and that they had requested two more civilian mechanics, in addition to the one that replaced me, to get the numbers back up. He also said that only my weekend drills coming in and fixing the paperwork and the extra hours I put in had kept the motor pool from getting a failing grade. The LT was in danger of getting a bad evaluation and was in terror for his career.

Nothing of course that I could do about it. The money and benefits offered by the Sentinels were far to good to turn down. The extra money had allowed me to buy a small condo in the same building Hope Corrigan had hers. We were neighbors!

The fact that my civilian job at the Armory motor pool and my citizen soldier positions were not in anyway attached always seemed to get forgotten.

I was satisfied that the Sergeant Major had my back on the evaluation threat that the over stressed and a little drunk LT had made without thinking. But the irritation had needed an outlet and some heavy bags and punching bags had paid the price. Of course I didn't shake the Dome like Hope did when she was ringing her gong in the Supergym.

I left the gym and headed back to my room by the motor pool. I was deep in thought thinking about getting some new furniture for the new condo. My boyfriend Jake was a little annoyed that I had bought the place. I think he was planning on giving me a key to his! Jake was fun but that was way to scary so not ready.

I had also gotten an email from Mom. She was getting out of jail in a few weeks and wanted to move in with me. "Just until she can get on her feet."

Mom wasn't the most dependable person.

Mom had filed a bunch of false reports about Dad and had conspired with terrorists to kill him. She was still getting alimony from Dad but not near as much as she once did. Normally that would have been enough for rent but she had large legal bills. It amazed me that she was getting out so judge had gone easy on her. I was very mad at her but she is still my Mom. On the other hand living with a convicted felon could jeopardise the clearance I had to have to work in the Dome.

In my self absorbed reveries I almost walked into Hope coming in the opposite direction. She was in her Astra Costume armor, maul and all. You would never think to look at her that she was an A class Atlas type .Many a bad guy had underestimated her just before she brought a world of hurt down upon them. She looked like a pixie playing dress up

.Her costume and armor were covered in soot and scorch marks. Apparently she had just returned from a multi car pileup on the interstate with a burning tanker truck. She and several of the others had gone to help with rescue and clean up. Lately the heroes were going on the calls with full armor and weapons loads. A few of these calls had turned out to be ambushes. Hence Astra arrived at accident scenes ready for war.

She greeted me and we exchanged pleasantries. She asked me how the condo was coming and offered to stop by tomorrow if she wasn't on a call and help me unpack. I gratefully accepted. Besides being one of the seven strongest supers in the country, Hope is very good at organizing and decorating. Far better than I am. And she likes it. I don't.

I walked into my small room and stripped out of my workout clothes and took a long hot shower. I toweled off and put on sweatpants and a T shirt. While I'd been in the shower I had thought of some upgrades for Rush and Crash's new bikes and I wanted to write them down on the work order before I forgot. The Speedsters were about to receive newer models of the motorcycles they rode when they were "speeding". But those two never settled on stock and always had long wish lists to add to their rides before they were ready for service. Of course I added the Lisa Whipple touch too which so far had gone over well with the two speedsters, so well that K Strike from one of the other Chicago Action teams wanted to come over and have me look at his bike too.

This type of work is what made this job so much fun. Much more design and try get your hands dirty stuff and much less paperwork than my old job.

As I stepped out on the floor of the motor pool I noticed that four of the Bobs were watching a semi trailer backing into the garage. Apparently some of the new Bikes for Rush and Crash had arrived. Strange they would come in on a Sunday night. Before the truck was completely backed in the back door exploded throwing the Bobs back and onto the ground. The shockwave knocked me down too.

I have combat experience in China so I didn't go all girl and scream like I did the first time someone shot at me. I wasn't too hurt so I crawled behind one of the tire machines.

Black clad men piled out of the truck firing into the downed. Bob's. I remember wondering how upset I should be since they were all the same person. But I was unarmed and unarmored at the time and I had other concerns. After all there is only one of me.

It appeared I had escaped the notice of the black clad men. They were all calling out clear with some having obvious foreign accents.

I crawled deeper in among the machinery of the shop which brought me closer to truck and trailer.

An Asian man wearing black but no mask or weapons walked out of the trailer to the edge of the back of the truck. He raised his arms and waited.

Suddenly Astra and Grendel crashed through the doors leading from the Dome proper and froze in mid air.

I was stunned. That was not a good thing. What could stop two Combat monsters like Hope and Grendel.

I looked on in horror as fire coursed through my bones. Was I having a break through? Dad had described the feeling to me once and this seemed like what he described. Apparently not nothing was happening. Wait some of the machinery around me was vibrating and rattling. Pieces of steel and parts were flying at me adhering to me. What the hell? My position was compromised.

As if to confirm my thoughts, assault rifle rounds began spraying around me hitting machinery and the floor. I scrambled deeper in among the tire machines and diagnostic carts trying to put metal between me and the shooters. But the machines were providing little cover. My assailants were using armor piercing bullets and they were passing through most of the equipment as if it wasn't there. My sudden need to pull stuff to me was giving the shooters a real good idea where I was.

With a thought I pulled the steel deck that was the floor of the motor pool up into a wall thick enough to deflect the bullets.

"There is a super in here!". yelled one of the Terrorists. He was inside your bubble you fool." another yelled.

I started shaping the metal around me into a kind of armor. It took some time to create something useful that I could still move in. All the time bullets flew by. My body was encased in a thick shell of metal. I had a face shield and the whole ungainly looking mess must have weighed a ton. The armor was projecting diagrams up on the face shield. Some must be positions of my assailants on the other side of the wall.

A grenade flew over the wall into my impromptu fort. I reached up and absorbed it. It became part of my rapidly evolving armor.

I looked at my now encased hands. The index finger had what looked remarkably like one of the motor pool's security camera lens embedded in the tip of it.

I raised my hand and placed my finger on top of the wall. I could see a large group of the bad guys moving past Astra and Grendel into the Dome. It looked like three were responsible for helping the maskless man. stumbled along as if drunk. Five or six others stayed back pointing their weapons toward me.

I half crab walked half low crawled over to the edge of my wall. The armor was surprisingly easy to move in. During my short scuttle, two more grenades were thrown and subsequently absorbed into the armor without detonating. Neat trick. I wish I knew how it worked.

At least there were less of them with me now. One of the Bob's lay in a puddle of blood. I grabbed his rifle and ducked back behind the wall. This rifle was way high tech. I'd never seen anything like like what the National Guard issued us support troop types. But the basic controls were pretty standard. A red light next to the sight blinked. I had no idea what it was for but I wasn't too worried about using the futuristic fancy optics. I was just going to spray and pray anyway. I jumped up over the wall and squeezed off a burst. At least that was my plan. The rifle didn't fire. I slid back down behind the wall. Just ahead of a spray of returned auto fire from the black clad men struck the wall. I looked at the rifle again and remembered hearing once that these rifles were all biometric and could only be fired by their owner. The flashing red light. It must mean "I don't know you I will not fire".

I guess that made sense but it was very inconvenient for me right now. I was holding one of the most sophisticated small arms available anywhere in the world and I couldn't fire it.

As Isat with my back to the wall and examined the useless rifle my expanding armor absorbed it. The rifle barrel protruded from my right arm. As I watched the armor on arms and legs continued to morph improving itself. It was fascinating and it looked alive.

Two of the bad guys came around the edge of the steel wall firing while I was distracted. Rounds struck and bounced off the armor although they were not penetrating to the meat parts of me they were doing damage to my ugly armor suit I could tell because red warning lights were appearing on my face plate display.. I was able to raise my gun arm and this time the weapon fired. Two black clad men went down in a hail of fire. Projected on my new face shield I could see the Ammunition levels go down like in a video game. Below the bullet counter was a representation of three grenades.

I leaned over the wall and thought about the grenades. A small box mounted on my shoulder popped out three grenades in a spread exploding among the black clad assailants. Any that were still standing I finished off with my remaining rifle ammo.

I was alone in the garage. I finally had a moment to assess my situation. The red lights went out one by one.

My body was covered in a hodgepodge, patchwork armor mismatched and bumpy. Optics and such protruding randomly. I picked up weapons that absorbed into the armor. Some of the bad guys and the Bob's armor absorbed into my new suit. Material fell away. I figured that my power was using stuff that was good and shedding stuff that was substandard as the armor improved.

My ammo load was displaying on on corner of my HUD showing which weapons had what kind and what amount of ammunition.

I realized that most of the bad guys including the unmasked one had gone into the Dome.

I carefully examined the inside of the truck. There were some rocket launchers and spare ammo for the read guard. My armor gobbled it up.

After checking the area clear I walked up to Astra who was suspended in air maul in hand. I didn't get too close because I feared my new freaky power would absorb her armor and maul. I hadn't yet figured out how to shut off the improvement feature.

Wrapped around Astra was what looked like a grey garden hose. Grendel was likewise wrapped I could see that the hose had some kind of control box affixed to the end with an LED display showing "10" in red.

I squinted to examine the markings on the box and the armor zoomed in. Nice! I could only see the word Time printed above the display. I doubted these hose things were meant to benefit Hope and were probably some kind of vern tech primer cord explosive. I didn't touch them, messing with them was liable to cause them to explode and if the bad guys had attached these to Astra and Grendel chances were they thought it could hurt or kill the two heros.

I looked in Grendel's big monstrous grey hand and saw his ear bud. He was in the process of putting it in his ear while responding to the emergency. I reached for the device and my armor absorbed it. I was about to curse when a readout came up on my HUD display showing all the ear bud functions. Talk, Mute, Record, Distress locator, General distress.. I tried Talk using my mind to select.

"Hello Dispatch?" Hello Hello" nothing.

Were they frozen in time like Astra and Grendel in the motor pool. I clicked on both the distress features and record. If nothing else maybe later someone could piece together whatever was happening here if I didn't make it.

I made one more circuit of the motor pool. My armor continued to absorb stuff it liked and discard stuff it no longer wanted or felt like I had bulked up considerably. I noticed that not all the discarded material looked like metal. Some of it looked kind of... juicy. I decided not to look too close. Time enough for that later, if there ever was a later.

I was beginning to form a theory. The maskless Asian man was a super. One of the bad guys had mentioned me being inside the bubble. Anyone outside the bubble was frozen? Was this like Rush and Crashes power? Since I was in the bubble I was speeding? The maskless man had looked drugged or drunk as his handlers led him out of the garage. I wondered if using his power made him pliable dopey? No thank you don't sign me up for that power!

I looked back at Astra and Grendel. Had they moved?

A complex diagram appeared on my screen, what I was beginning to think of as my HUD heads up display. The diagram superimposed itself on the two heros measuring.. Words typed across the bottom. It displayed the speeds relative to self. Although Hope and Brian looked to be stationary they were in fact moving impossibly slow. If I remembered Speedsters could not effect anything while time was dead stopped. Only when they just slowed down time. If that was true time was not dead stopped. Just slowed way down.

I decided to try something before entering the Dome.

"Self diagnostic" I ordered.

Text began scrolling across my view. I didn't understand half of it. I did see "AUTO IMPROVE ON" I switched it to off. Hopefully that would keep me from disassembling everything in the Dome as I moved.

"BIOMETAL UPGRADE COMPLETE" flashed at the end of diagnostic.

No that did not sound ominous at all.

A piece of the door of the semi truck leaned against the machines. I could see my reflection although distorted. I looked taller than six foot. The armor itself was bumpy with mismatched limbs and parts. Ordnance boxes were mounted on my shoulders and hips. There were flashes of color here and there one I recognised as the logo from one of the speed shops I use to get parts to improve the speedster's bikes. I may have absorbed one of Crash's bikes!

I walked to the doors of the Dome and looked in. Before entering I started talking explaining everything that had happened since I'd walked in on the attack for the benefit of whoever might eventually play it back.I was surprised to see the message on my screen.

"KEEP TALKING. SHELL"

I was startled. Shell was the pilot of Galatea 2.0 she was a friend of Hopes and in my opinion much too flaky for her job. Seemed strange that she had the job when they could get a retired fighter pilot or someone. How was she talking to me now?

"How?" I asked.

"ASSUME I AM MUCH MORE THAN A FLAKY MECH PILOT. I WILL EXPLAIN LATER."

I cringed a little. Guess it's true my buddies always told me I have a lousy poker face.

"U R SUSPENDED IN A MOMENT OF TIME

"LISA U R ONLY MOBILE ASSET U R ON UR OWN I WILL HELP AS I CAN

THERE WILL BE SOME LAG."

I thought about it, Shell must think much faster than any regular meat person and doing millions of functions in microseconds. Maybe I have misjudged her. Shell was trying to help me at super speed. I certainly wasn't going to turn down help.

A diagram appeared on my screen. It was a map of the Dome. In front of me were four red blips around a bend. The bad guys had a rear guard waiting for any possible surprises. They were waiting for me. I designated all four on my HUD and walked around the bend. Two auto rifles deployed on my shoulders and fired as the black clad terrorists came into view. They hit the ground together with four shots between the eyes. I walked up to the bodies. A small word blinked in the corner of my HUD saying "USEFUL ITEMS". I toggled the auto improve feature and the armor absorbed weapons grenades and some of the kevlar armor. Switching it back off I saw on the wall a box. It had a display reading "10" like the grey hosed on Hope and Brian.. It looked to me like a bomb.

"Shell I have a possible bomb this location LED reading 10 on a screen labeled Time."

"CONFIRM VERN TYPE."

I moved forward and stepped into a tripwire. The claymores set up roared but somehow my suit shut out most of the sound. The blast threw me back into the bodies of the terrorists I had just dispatched. My Hud developed a crack and red damage lights flashed.

Across the middle of the screen "AUTO REPAIR?" flashed.

"Yes" I hissed. That hurt and I was mortified that I had missed that obvious tripwire. My First sergeant from back in China must never learn I did that.

The crack healed itself and disappeared. The suit swiped more stuff from the four corpses. I stood up and assessed. I was apparently unhurt. Thank You suit. The red lights were all gone.

I looked up the hall. More bombs were attached to the walls moving up the hall.

"Where are they?" I asked? I had to wait a few seconds for shell to respond. I had to keep reminding myself that Shell was answering my questions during one moment in time. There was going to be a little lag.

"THEY R SETTING CHARGES AS THEY GO. THEY INTED 2 BLOW US UP. THEY HAVE 2 CUT THROUGH DOORS 2 MOVE. THEY HAVE 1 B CLASS AJAX OPENING THEM AS THEY BOMBS ARE SET FOR TEN SECONDS. THERE IS NOTHING U CAN DO. RUN!"

Shell printed across the screen.

"That's an opinion. If they kill Hope and Grendel no one will be able to help me unpack in the new condo I can't have that. I said.

"LOL NO SERIOUSLY RUN"

I ignored the advice and continued to creep up the hall. I disabled two more Claymore traps on the way. These were just normal military claymores, the same as I'd been trained on since boot camp so it was not difficult.

I came around the bend and found a door with hand hold burned in and pushed open.

The Domes internal doors were like those in Star Trek . They slid apart as someone approaches. They are just too cool to make a woosh sound.

They had burned in hand holds and then someone useing great strength had pulled the doors apart to allow them to pass into the next section.

"Make armor bigger" I said. The suit ate the doors and some of the mechanisms. I couldn't stop for any more traps. I pictured in-line skate in my mind with motors. The armor obliged me. I had always enjoyed in-line skating. The ones I now had great big wheels and were long.

I engaged power to whatever made them go. Suddenly I was racing down the hall. Two more claymores detonated as I past but hey barely slowed me down. A couple of red lights flashed but corrected themselves before I could read what they said. I skidded around a bend putting my right foot up against the wall to keep my ungainly armor upright. As I came around I saw the mob of terrorists bunched up at a door facing me as one by one the ones behind them slipped through the gap as, what must have been the B class, pulled the doors apart. He had his back to me. I fired all my guns into the group and put two rockets into the broad back of the B class. He crumpled momentarily blocking the gap in the door open.

The terrorists returned fire as I mowed them down. They had good armor and it was taking more than one hit to take the fight out of them.

I took hits from the massed small arms. Armor piercing rounds were penetrating the armor and red lights were beginning to appear once more. In addition a big man set up a bipod rifle with an enormous opening in the barrel right on the back of the big super laying in the gap of the doors.. He fired hitting me in the faceplate shattering my HUD.

I fired five grenades into the gap, they exploded ending the firefight. My HUD started reconstructing itself slowly. My suit picked up weapons and used them to make repairs. Red lights on the still functioning part of the hud were impeding my vision as were the cracks. I jumped through the space in the doors over the groaning super terrorists body.

I reached down and back and snapped his neck. I wasn't sure my would suit be strong enough to do that. It didn't take much force at all. I knew I would that I would be having nightmares about that for years to come, but there was too much at stake to leave a super behind me.

I looked ahead, there were more bombs on the wall. I saw the shadows of the rapidly moving terrorists. I had gotten a glimpse of two burly terrorists loaded down with by how many of the bombs the sherpa's were carrying, these villains were planning to flatten the Dome and Kill everyone . Even if the Dome didn't collapse Chicago would lose it's Sentinels and it would take years to rebuild the structure.

I caught up to the bomb toting terrorists first. They were carrying such a heavy load I realized that they had to be breakthroughs too. No normal human could be expected to haul that kind of load. I selected the heavy weapon the armor had just picked up at the last door. Two shots and the two went down in a heap. Jumping the two corpses I slammed down on my skates and barreled around the corner. Roller derby queens eat your heart out. I came up on the dwindling group of terrorists. Without waiting I opened up with my shoulder and arm mounted weaponry Most of the group fell.

Then a strange thing happened.. Time restarted, just for a moment I saw the bomb on my right count down to 8 and then stop. It had a lurch feel about it. I briefly wondered what it felt like for those folk not speeding.

I came around the corner and found one of the ninja wannabes holding a large pistol to Lie Zi's head. She and The Harlequin were passing through the next set of doors frozen as they ran toward the motor pool.

Lie Zi appeared to be yelling instructions as she raced to where she had just learned the emergency was. The black clad man who was holding the gun was also supporting the unmasked asian man who was bleeding from several bullet holes.

How stupid could I be? If he died time would restart and the bombs would count down to zero. Boom no more Dome. I zoomed in on him with my HUD and realized that he was probably not going to survive much longer.

"Stop or I will kill these two lovely ladies while you watch!" He Ninja guy had a pretty refined english accent.

I pointed all my weapon muzzles at the ceiling while raising my hands in surrender.

The Black Clad man pulled off his mask letting the Time bubble guy slip to the floor.

I had expected another asian man but this guy was decidedly caucasian. I got the impression that he wasn't at all sure of what to do now.

"OK tin man let's start off by you peeling off that armor slow and steady. You shoot she dies." Indicatid Lie Zi with a shake of his head.

I nodded slowly and sent a thought to my armor. I wasn't even sure I could take it off. But I had to try or this bastard was going to shoot Lie Zi. In this freeze frame world I wasn't sure how that would work and I was desperate not to find out.

Pieces of armor started falling off my body I watched my HUD as a representation of my body showed where pieces were falling off from,finally the helmet split in two and clattered on the floor.

"Blimey you're a starkers girl." He exclaimed looking me up and down with wide eyed amazement. .

I looked down at was right, I was stark naked. The armor had apparently disposed of my clothing while it was improving itself. Not only that but I looked to be made out of chrome. I looked up and the dismay must have shown on my face. I wasn't sure if I was more upset about the chrome body or the fact that all of it was exposed.

Having regained his composure a bit the terrorist gave a rueful laugh while leering suggestively. "You've really put a wrench in it for us girl. Here is what we are going to do. You lay face down while I and my mate vacate"

.A second terrorist was draping grey garden hose on Lie Zi and Quinn as I lay down and faced the deck.

It took me a moment to realize I could still see the bad guys even though I was face down. Apparently I was still connected to my extra eyes in the armor.

"This did not go well at all. Just another mercenary adventure, In and out. You have cost us our meal ticket shooting this blighter" the pistol wielding terrorist said indicated the asian man at his feet.,

"I think he's a gonner. I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. But you and many of your friends are doomed. Not as completely as we would have liked but that's war. Even if you disarm every one of these bombs they are made of unstable elements a scary employee of my firm made them,they will break down and detonate even if the the detonator is disarmed." He paused

"What do they call you lass?"

I thought a moment "Mechanic" I said.

Shell typed across my screen. "GOOD CHOICE".

Reading the message I noticed that my aiming reticles on my HUD still followed the mercenary terrorist as he moved.

"Well Ta lass it was so nice seeing you like this, You are quite the looker." He pointed the gun away from Lie ZI to shoot me in the back of the head. I don't know if the handgun could hurt my metal skin but I was very disinterested in finding out.

I toggled the guns in my armor and they all fired. The man just looked surprised and crumpled. His partner was already headed back toward the motor pool. I jumped up and my armor jumped back onto my body.

I looked around. I was angry now. Hope never had to stand around naked while the bad guys monologued.

"RUN LISA SAVE YOURSELF" Shell typed on my HUD.

"No... no too many lives at stake. I've got to try. I walked up to Quinn and turned on the self improvement feature. Nothing happened. My greedy armor doesn't want the hose bomb.

My anger grew now at the armor.

"Absorb the bomb you pain in the ass" I raged.

"UNSTABLE MATERIAL NOT SUITABLE FOR UPGRADE" scrolled across my HUD.

I thought furiously. While I did I bound the wounds of the Asian man using his own first aid kit. I knew I couldn't save him but maybe just maybe I could keep him alive a few minutes longer. I had the feeling I was going to need every second. I noticed that one of the room service carts was down the hall. You know like the ones you see the maids use in hotels to clean the rooms. It gave me an idea.

There must be some useful stuff in the electronic timers on the bombs that my armor would like. I pictured a trailer that I could tow behind me into which the armor could unload the unstable material.

My armor made the cart and I made another attempt to absorb the bomb. This time it worked. I heard a glooping kind of sound and I saw what can only be described as glop in the bottom of my cart. It bubbles and steamed. That It was unstable was not in doubt.

I repeated the process on Lie Zi. I then absorbed the bombs the Sherpa C class breakthroughs were carrying. I ran from bomb to bomb absorbing them off the walls. Finally I was back in the motor pool relieving Hope and Brian of their Bomb loads.

I then lifted the bubbling witches brew into the back of the semi. I strapped it down quickly and ran to the cab. Of course the keys were missing but my armor blended into the truck. The armor merged into the dash and floor boards. The truck became my armor.

The diesel roared and I became the truck. My drive wheels dug into the deck of the motor pool. I made changes to the engine and transmission as I flew up the ramp to the parking garage.I didn't need economy. I didn't need polution systems. I didn't need reliability. I needed speed.

The truck morphed into a speed machine.

At the top of the ramp blocking the ramp was an empty school bus. The Mercenaries had apparently planned to use it to escape after the job was done. The Semi plowed into the back of the bus.

I took hold of the bus and made it mine. I molded it divided its engine and distributed it's fuel through my body. A great battering ram cow catcher formed where my bumper had once been. Nacelles started to form in the corners of the rig.

The big rig screeched out onto Congress street headed toward the park and lake. Fortunately it was a Sunday night so traffic had been light, but I still had to swerve to avoid cars. I came out from between the buildings into the open. Past the statues and monoliths.

I crossed the bridge. The water was clearly visible. Buckingham Fountain was becoming larger in front of me. I crashed through the decorative planter pots placed to keep vehicles out of the park. They didn't slow me down.

I passed the newly rebuilt Buckingham fountain and I had the fleeting thought that if I failed Chicago was going to have to rebuild the fountain again.*

I raced down the steps and after crashing through the chain barrier I crossed Lake Shore Drive all the while accelerating.

The newly created motors in the nacelles started lifting the big rig a foot off the ground. I avoided Bikes and few folk down by the water in the late evening and the big rig become a hovercraft.

I roared out over the water.

As I raced past the breakwater I noticed that the water was moving. Small waves splashed on the rocks. My time was up The time bubble guy had died and I was back in normal time.

Shell screamed in my ears "Lisa get out!"

I disengaged my armor from the truck opened the door and rolled out and fell into Lake Michigan's waiting embrace.

Then a new sun appeared in the night sky and my world went dark.

Some people were arguing. How rude here I was trying to sleep and they were arguing. Couldn't they take it somewhere else. I'd lived in barracks many times since I'd join the military and inconsiderate conversations in the barracks when people were trying to sleep were not unheard of.

Wait what barracks was I in? Was I back in China? Why was I having so much trouble remembering?

I opened my eyes. My HUD was blinking red "REPAIR CORE ?".

Also there was a representation of a woman's body with armor over it. The right arm and leg were missing along with a chunk of the head. The missing part superimposed in red flashed.

"Yes repair core" I whispered. The armor began to contract as my right arm grew back.

"Doctor Beth, Warlock she's moving!" yelled a voice.

Astra's face came into view. "Her head and arm are growing back" she cried

Warlock's the Sentinels mad scientist added."Her leg too it seems."

My HUD was now flashing "CORE REPAIR COMPLETE. REPAIR ARMOR?"

"No!" I really didn't want the armor to start stealing material from Warlocks Lab. I'd never been down here before but It could be nowhere else.

I sat up while Doctor Beth and Warlock jumped up and tried to push me back down on the metal table. With my strength they may as well have tried to hold back the tide. Hope jumped between the two men and touched my armored shoulder.

"Lisa are you alright?" she asked gently.

I pondered the question a moment. "I don't know how to answer that Hope. Last I remember I was pinker and squishier. You're still coming over to help me unpack tomorrow night aren't you?"

Hope laughed merrily. "It would be tonight now, you've been knocked out for a few hours, and we might have to do a rain check. I think we are both going to be busy tonight."

Dr Beth and Warlock were both crowding in trying to examine me and squeeze Hope out of their way. Hope is exceedingly hard to move if she doesn't want to be moved.

"Lisa we can't get your armor off to examine you. And these two extremely push gentlemen need to check you out" Hope accompanied the remark with a dirty look at the two men in turn.

Waving everyone back I slid onto my own feet. Still holding my hands out to give me room, I released my armor which dropped to the floor heavily and noisily

Warlock turned his tousled bed head away looking at the ceiling. Looking at everything but me. Doctor Beth's reaction was a little less shocked but no less surprised. My first thought was that my chrome finish had surprised them until I remembered that I was in my birthday suit.

A disembodied voice laughed in my head through my stolen ear bud.

"Shut up Shell" Me and Astra said in unison.

Astra handed me a blue cotton one piece coverall. I quickly put it HUD evaluated it and decided that it was unsuitable for assimulation. I looked around and realized that I was not really seeing things as I once had. Everything had a CGI look to it. Like one of those newer cartoons. When I looked at Hope the HUD evaluated her Maul and breast plate and asked if it could absorb it. Small paragraphs and diagrams floated around her..

I gave a thought and all the diagrams disappeared but the CGI look to everything did not.

"Dr Beth can you tell me what's going on?" I asked.

I was rotating my new right hand in front of my eyes. I zoomed in and out experimentally testing.

Dr Beth looked uncomfortable. He looked at his shoes twice. "Honestly Lisa I haven't figured it out. Sit down please" he said indicating a straight back chair next to the table and he slid another around my discarded armor to sit across from me.

"We found your body in the Garage" He said with a solemn look on his face.

That surprised me. I was sure I was out in Lake Michigan. How had I gotten back to the motor pool.

Dr Beth saw the confusion in my face. "No no not this body" he indicated me sitting in the chair

"It was your organic body. It was in several pieces. I am so sorry."

I remembered seeing some of the discarded chunks falling away. They had been juicy. Apparently my breakthrough was about improving stuff and discarding unneeded parts. My weak and organic body had been discarded and replaced by BIO Metal. The armor even told me it had finished. I was now a big chunk of some kind of advanced metal.

Dr Beth continued, "I have to tell you I declared you dead. That's why we are down here instead of the infirmary. I wanted Vulcan to get you out of the armor so I could try and autopsy you."

Warlock raised his hand for a turn to speak. Both Me and Dr Beth let out a short laugh and nodded to the mad scientist.

You have a reactor where your heart is supposed to be. I can't detect any radiation nor can I figure out what the thing is burning. It will keep me and the good doctor busy figuring it out for a good long time I think.

"We need to go back up and do a physical workup and find out what makes you tick. What do we feed you Do you sleep without first having to be subjected to a mega bomb blast. Basic care and feeding. Also we need to know how your powers work. Needless to say this is a non standard breakthrough. Whatever it is you are A class. No one will argue that." Dr Beth said."

We got up and started moving toward the door. Red flashing lights appeared in the hud. I looked at my broken armor lying on the floor of the lab. It was screaming for me. It didn't want me leaving it behind.

I rushed back over to it and activated my HUD. "REQUIREMENTS" flashed red with a list of things it needed scrolling down. I called out materials and Vulcan located them and handed them to the armor. It grew and morphed. Occasionally disgorging material it no longer needed.

I started to get suspicious "HUD I think you are getting greedy. Do you have sufficient material to function?

"AFFIRMATIVE" .

I didn't want to put the armor back on. I was glad to be out of it.I thought maybe it could walk behind us. I pictured a sleek metal cat like a Jaguar hood ornament.

The armor morphed and became a sleek lion sized cat. All smooth except for the occasional optics and antenna sticking out.

Hope, Dr Beth, Vulcan and I followed by a big silver cat walked out of Vulcan's Lab.

The semi backed down the ramp. The point of view changed and I saw myself walking onto the Motor Pool floor. The back door of the Semi trailer exploded. Sending me and the four Bobs sprawling onto the floor. The Asian man Came out onto the rear of the semi trailer and raised his arms.

This time I heard the alarms blaring. The rear door must have momentarily deafened me.

Astra and Grendel crashed through the doors and the semi disappeared along with me and all the black clad men. The Motor pool was a shambles. The two heroes landed and looked around of the terrorists magically appeared and threw his hands in the air surrendering to Grendel. Smart man. The motor pool was a shambles. It looked like a battle had been fought here. Astra leaned down to check on the dead Bobs.

The camera view switched again this time to the top of the Dome. My hover truck was racing out of the breakwater of Monroe camera zoomed in and I watched me fall away into the water just before the whole truck exploded lighting up everything and momentarily blinding the camera's optics.

Lei Zu turned the lights back up. We had already watched a stop motion version of what had happened during the moment in time in which I had fought the terrorists. I think It would've made me sick if I'd still had an organic stomach. The jerking motion and me killing all those men.

"Warlock has estimated that had that explosion occurred inside the Dome it would have utterly destroyed the structure and killed everyone inside. The dome is meant to repel blasts from outside not in. Except maybe for Watchman who escaped the grey hose treatment. We all owe our lives to Miss Whipple." Lei Zi said indicating me sitting on the other side of the Sentinels assembly room table. "That's Mechanic" Shell called out.

Everyone laughed and applauded making appreciative noises.

I was sitting between Hope and Shell. Shell was all decked out in her Galatea 2.0 armor. She told me that us Heavy Metal Girls needed to stick together. "Sisters of iron" she had said pumping her fist.

Shell is crazy and I'm kind of glad, nice as she is, that she does not live inside my head! Hope had clued me in to Shell's unique existence. Nice but a little nuts.

The only surviving Terrorist had talked to Detective Fisher and now interpol was disassembling the mercenary terrorist company that had been hired by the Ring to destroy the Sentinels.

The Time bubble guy had turned out to be a very mentally ill young man who had been taken by the Mercenaries and made into their secret weapon. They had used him on several unsolved snatch and grab as well as seek and destroy missions. He had the mind of a two year old. I doubt I will ever forgive myself for killing him. The others pointed out that it was the Merc's that had put him in that position but inside of my fiery heart I knew much of the blame was mine.

The meeting closed and I got up. I was wearing a form fitting catsuit that I had trained my armor not to discard when I was armored up. As I reached the door to the room and it slid opened I spotted the big cowboy.

A big burly cowboy in a flat topped cowboy hat duster coat Cowl mask and a cross draw revolver. Drifter of Heroes Without Borders stood framed in the door. I threw myself into his arms. No worries about hurting him. He was as strong as I am.

"Daddy!" I said and burst into tears. Or WD40 or whatever comes out of my eyes when I cry.

I was in my Army Combat Uniform. My class A uniform would not quite fit my new form. Dad was dressed in his Drifter costume and Watchman aka Troy Damer in his quasi-uniform super suit. The two men were flanking me as I entered the conference room, the cat armor followed us in and lay down in a corner.

Sitting at the end of the table sat a female Bird Colonel a Male Major and my National Guard Sergeant Major. They stood as I entered. Everyone shook hands me being hyper careful not to squeeze too hard and we sat down.

The Major, who introduced himself as Kelly, started pulling paperwork out of his briefcase and stacked it in front of himself before sliding it across the table to me. The Colonel and Sergeant Major both gave him a dirty look and he pulled the papers back.

The Colonel was named Smith. She began. "Staff Sergeant thank you for coming. Congratulations on your breakthrough and well done saving the Dome and all those people. Your actions reflect well on you and the United States Army." I nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment.

She continued. "I see you have brought two graduates of the Army Super school with you." . She nodded to Dad and Troy.

"Yes" I said . " My father had a rather unpleasant experience at Super School as you know. However he has pointed out to me that was management above the school Cadre, not the school itself. Watchman was a fight trainer there for several years. I think they are well qualified to advise me"

The paper pushing Major jumped into the conversation with a very nasal voice.

"Sergeant you must understand that your father misrepresented himself when he came to the school and caused his own trouble." Troy jerked his head up and Dad's mask did a poor job of hiding his fury. I'm sure my face was pretty angry too.

The Super school had messed up Dad's assessment and overrated him. Once they realized what had happened they took away his advancement and retired him from the Army Medically to cover the mistake. Dad still held a grudge about that. Troy had investigated and gotten Dad back his rank of Sergeant Major but Dad did not return to the Army. Apparently the Major was still trying to cover up the school's mistake.

The Colonel was clearly furious with the Major. They were here to recruit a new class A breakthrough who was already part of the Army National Guard and was a decorated combat veteran to boot. This recruitment was supposed to be a slam dunk. In a couple of sentences the Major had derailed the mission and antagonised everyone.

To nail it shut the Major used the pause in conversation where everyone was trying to regain their composure to push the pile of paper back in front of me and tried to hand me a pen.

"Sign at the yellow tabs and initial at the blue Sergeant." He said smiling.

I started to stand up. The Colonel Jumped to her feet trying to get me back into the chair.

"Please please we are getting off on the wrong foot please sit down.' She said.

"The Major once again decided to "help".

"Clearly your father and Mr. Damer have given you a negative view of the super school. Maybe if they stepped out we can start fresh without the negative influence. You know get all this paper out of the way" and then he smiled nodding his head.

"Colonel I am sorry for wasting your time." I said while pointedly ignoring the Major.

" I had planned on resigning from the National Guard and going to the U.S. Marshals School in Virginia but my Dad and Watchman convinced me to give you guys a chance to pitch the Army school. But I don't really think Army Super Troops are right for me" I said.

The Colonel looked dismayed "We'll get you advanced to warrant officer rank and you will get the big bump in super pay plus a signup bonus." She said hopefully.

"No thank you Ma'am" I looked at my Sergeant Major who had a slightly amused look on his face.

"Could you go ahead and process that paperwork I submitted Sergeant Major. Thank You."

He jumped to his feet and shook my hand ."Will do Lisa we hate to lose you, don't be a stranger stop by now and again and let us know what you're up to. You are always welcome."

I assured him I would. I turned and walked out followed by My father and Troy My armor cat bringing up the rear. I was unable to resist I had the cat walk by the Major and growl causing him to jump. He had no way of knowing the cat was me too.

Just before the doors slid shut I heard the major say.

"Wait she's not going to sign?"

Dad and Mandy (Rapunzel) came to see me off at the train. I was wearing a long coat, sunglasses and a wool scarf not against the Chicago cold but to minimize the sight of my chrome skin. The cat was now a rolling suitcase. Flying was not possible. Between me and the armor even stripped down I weighed more than a ton.

Dad and Mandy were in civilian clothes Mandy's hair stuffed down into her own long coat to hide it's strangeness.

Dad took me in his arms "So what are your plans after the Marshal School Sweety?" He asked.

"The Marshal school will be longer than the standard breakthroughs get Dad. They want to discover everything I can do before they teach me how to do it. Once I know maybe I will join one of the teams in Chicago or the Crew, an engineering response company. I could even join you and Mandy in Heroes Without Borders.

Maybe i'll go back to school and get my engineering degree so me and my... luggage can create cooler stuff." I looked at my suitcase and smiled."

I'll let you know once I figure it out Dad."

Dad smiled and changed track.

"So yer Mom will be moving into your Condo for a few months while you're gone but she will move out before you get back, I made sure. I paid off most of her legal bills so she should have time to find a job and a place to live before you get back."

I was surprised after everything Mom had done to Dad he still paid off the lawyer. Dad must have read my face.

"Yeah in spite of everything your Mom gave me the greatest gift ever. You."

The train pulled in and I let Dad go. I gave Mandy a quick hug. Her I had to be more careful with when hugging. And climbed aboard the train. I sat down sliding my luggage into the space in front of my seat.

A little boy in the seat in front of me stood on his seat and looked at me smiling and waving. I pulled down my dark glasses.

The little guys eyes got big as he saw my chrome eyes and skin.

I winked. He giggled in delight