HARDWARE 104: I STILL Hate Hospitals (by Henry Thrun)1
HARDWARE 105: On the Run(by Henry Thrun)2
HARDWARE 106: On the Run Part 2 (by Henry Thrun)5
HARDWARE 107: On the Run Part 3 (by Henry Thrun)6
HARDWARE 108: On the Run Part 4 (by Henry Thrun)7
HARDWARE 104: I STILL Hate Hospitals (by Henry Thrun)I
woke up the next morning in my hospital bed. Black Cat was
sitting nearby reading a magazine. "Good morning,
sunshine."
"What the..."
"Here are your
meds, sweetheart, including the ones you brought from home. We
brought your whole pack of stuff."
"What's with all the
sappy nicknames...?" Then I realized she was doing it again.
Just like when she was taking me in, she was lifting my spirits
during a crisis. I had just lost my right arm, my strong one,
and I was going to be heading straight to prison with some of
the greatest super villains the world has ever known. Yet all I
was thinking about, that early in the morning was Felicia's
smile. Oh man, they must have really drugged me...
"I
can stop if you really want me too..."
"No! I... I
really appreciate you... I mean, it."
She giggled.
"It's the least I could do for the man who saved my life."
The last time this happened I felt dread. This time,
however, I felt... "You're my hero!" cracked Felicia
in a damsel-in-distress manner.
"Oh, yeah... good one, heh
heh."
"Seriously, though, thank you. I begged Tony
to let me stay with... I mean, to guard you here. I can't
believe you did that for me."
"Anytime, Felicia...
Actually, I guess I can only do it one more time," I quipped as
I held up my remaining hand.
"Wow, you're sure in a good mood
for someone who just got his arm blown off."
"Hey, it
was worth it to save you."
"My, Jake, a girl could take
that as flirting..."
"Uh, I mean... Sorry about
that. No, really I'll be fine. After I serve my time,
I'll be able to just download an arm from my Hardware and use that.
I have to admit that I'll miss being able to feel things with it as
well... In the mean time I'll get by with the prosthetic."
"Um,
Tony's not going to let you use a prosthetic..."
"What!
There's no way I'll be able to get by. It was going to be hard
enough without my powers, now I'm going to be in there without my
arm!"
"It's total BS, Jake, I agree. Tony's just
getting back at you for that fight."
"Yeah... Dang
it! Could you cheer me up again?"
"Well, I know of
something we could do while you're stuck in that bed..."
"Uhhh...
Jokes will be fine."
"Gee, Jake, a girl could take that
as a rejection..." She actually looked disappointed.
I thought she was only kidding, but I guess she was at least hoping
to flirt.
"Oh, not at all, Felicia. I guess I'm just a
little uncomfortable with, uh, joking around with flirting and
stuff."
"Silly! Of course I was just kidding.
We'll have to wait until you get out of here. We wouldn't want
a nurse walking in on us. On second thought..."
"Ha
ha. So, how much longer am I going to be here." I
had to change the subject, fast!
"Everything seems to be
going well. We'll probably take you out tomorrow. Others
will meet us here and we'll... take you in." She trailed
off at the end there, again looking upset.
"Are you the only
one here?"
"No, it's just like the drive. There
are more enforcers in the hallway, the lobby, and outside.
We've really increased the manpower after yesterday. What was
that all about, with Cyclops there?"
"I wish I knew.
I really do..."
The doctor came in. "Hi, Jake, how
are you feeling?" I went through things with him for
awhile. After that I just hung out with Felicia the rest of the
day. She kept my mind off of everything that was going to
happen the next day. It was actually the first time I enjoyed
being in a hospital... and I had just lost my arm. I wonder if
it was ever going to really hit me.
At
the end of the day Felicia got in another bed. "You've
been here all day. Aren't you going to trade off with
someone?"
"Nah, I'm here for the duration! Good
night."
"Good night."
Later
that night I woke up to find myself moving. I was being
pushed down a hallway. I turned to see who was pushing.
"Felicia?" She was wearing a nurse's
outfit.
"Shhh! Lie back down. We're getting out
of here!"
"Felicia!
Are you crazy! Don't you know how much trouble we'll get
in?"
"Yeah! Exciting, isn't it?"
"I've
got to go back." When I tried to get up, she grabbed my
shoulder and pinned me down, holding me while she pushed us out to a
parking lot.
"You're so cute when you struggle. Here,
get in the car."
"No, Felicia, I have to..."
"Do
you really want to fight about it? After how easily I just
handled you?"
I slid off the table and got in the passengers
side. "You weren't driving this before..."
"Of
course not, the other one was Stark's," she replied as she
circled the car. "I had to get something they
couldn't trace as easily."
"How'd you get this one?"
"I
have connections," she answered as she sat in the driver's seat
and backed out.
"Ugh, my head hurts."
"Sorry
about that. I knew you would struggle and I didn't want the
hassle while carrying you around. We had to fit through some
tight places to sneak past all the guards. But that's no
problem, it's what I do for a living!"
"So you punched
me?"
"No, I just drugged your milk." We
pulled out to the street and started driving away from the
hospital.
"Why are you doing this? Where are you taking
me?"
"I haven't thought that far ahead. First
thing we need to do is change our appearance. A woman with
white hair and a black man with one arm will stand out like a sore
thumb. Oh, here are your glasses by the way. I brought
along your meds and stuff."
"Thanks. We're going
to get disguises? What exactly's going on, Felicia?"
She
paused. "Jake, you don't deserve any of this. I'm
not going to let them throw you in jail, especially with the freaks
they'd throw you with."
"So... you're kidnapping me?
We're fugitives?"
"Don't worry, Jake. We'll be
fine as long as we lay low."
"But I turned myself in for
a reason. I need to go back!"
"I don't know what's
wrong with you, but I'm sure as hell am not going to let you go back
there. I'm... I'm not going to let anything happen to you.
Understand? So you might as well just enjoy the ride."
"You're
doing this because... you care?"
"What's
wrong with that?" she shot back. "Isn't it ok for me
to do something that's not for money?"
"No, I...
This is great!" Again I didn't know what to think. I
felt that God wanted me to turn myself in. But I also didn't
want to throw away what Felicia was trying to do for me, trying to
help me out so unselfishly. But we were running from the law,
which was why I turned myself in to begin with. I was too tired
and drugged to keep thinking about it, so I took Cat's advice and
relaxed. "Thanks, Cat."
"Sure thing!
Fighting all those superheroes was getting boring, anyway."
"Look,
I'm already in trouble. If we get caught, I'll take the fall,
ok?"
"You worry too much. We'll switch cars after
a while and keep heading west. But right now we have to do
something about how we look. Where's your house? You can
get your stuff and use one of your doohickey arms. But we have
to hurry before they discover you're gone and check the place."
"I
hid all my stuff before I surrendered. Plus, I hide laptops and
jump drives all over the city in case of such emergencies.
There's one not too far from here."
"Aren't you afraid
someone will find them?"
"I hid them rather well.
I also have them rigged to self-destruct upon improper tampering, so
even if someone does find one they would have to know how to open
it." And just in case this is some kind of trick by Black
Cat, I'd be able to detonate them with a voice command. But if
this was a trick, Felicia deserves an Academy Award for her
performance.
We
stopped and I got my hidden laptop and accessories. We then
pulled into a rest stop after some more driving. Felicia opened
the trunk and it was full of supplies... and cash.
"You
really came prepared!"
"I'm no amateur, honey."
Felicia
shaved my head and I was going to let a goatee grow. I then
helped cut her hair shorter and color it black. Finally we both
put on some normal clothes.
"Nice look, cue ball."
"Likewise,
Cat. Talk about an ambush makeover."
"Let's hit
the road. We need to get some food and sleep."
"A
little catnap, Felicia?"
"Ugh, maybe I should
take you back!" she laughed as we got in the car.
Meanwhile,
Valerie Cooper received a call at the Xavier Institute. "Hello,
Mr. Stark. I hope your inspection had satisfactory
results."
"Yes, Miss Cooper, but I'm calling on another
matter. Nordsworth and
Miss Hardy disappeared last night. Cyclops's involvement in
the previously unsuccessful abduction leads me to believe the X-Men
may once again be involved. There was no sign of struggle and
our men standing guard saw nothing. This sounds like it could
be the work of Nightcrawler. Do you mind if we question
him?"
"Yes, of course. Please give us some time to
fetch him."
"We're sending some men over again.
You have until they arrive. They will also do an even more
thorough investigation of the premises." Stark hung up and
the monitor went blank.
Valerie exited the room and approached
Cyclops and Emma Frost. "Scott, we need to lock you up
again. And we need to get Kurt."
"What's going
on?"
"Hardware and Black Cat are both missing.
Tony thinks Kurt may be behind it. Emma, could you please bring
him here while I get Scott ready again?"
"Uhh... I'll be
right back." This is getting too complicated, Emma thought
as she walked away. Kurt's with the Professor on that mission
to get Vulcan. Mystique's going to have to take his place for
now, but now we'll also have Stark's men searching the
place...
"Valerie, we have to find him!" said Scott as
they hurried outside.
"I know! But we're already under
so much scrutiny. It may be impossible..."
"We
could be in even more trouble with Jake out in the middle of
nowhere. Or it may already be too late..."
"We'll
have to take care of that when it happens. For now let's do
what we can..."
Peter
Parker entered the room where Tony Stark was sitting at his desk.
"What's up, boss?"
"Peter, Jake and Felicia are
missing."
"What? Do you know what
happened?"
"No. We didn't catch them on
surveillance and the guards didn't see a thing. We're going to
inspect the Xavier Institute further and question some of the X-Men.
But I also believe Hardware may have kidnapped Cat and
escaped."
"What? He wouldn't do that. Why
surrender in the first place? And he's too weak now to pull
that off."
"Peter, you know all he had to do was somehow
sneak in a jump drive No matter what happened, we'll find
Felicia and get her back."
Felicia and I stopped at a hotel. We picked up some food and supplies, but now we were both exhausted. Figuring we should be pretty safe for now, we decided to get some rest and try getting a new car tomorrow.
Felicia
and I walked up to the front desk with our "luggage."
"Excuse
me, darling," Felicia asked the girl behind the front desk.
"Could we get a room for tonight?"
"Sure, I'll be
right back." The girl walked over to use a
computer.
"Felicia," I whispered, "umm, could we
get separate rooms?"
"I don't want to draw any more
suspicion. How would that look after we pulled up in the same
car?"
"Yeah, but... well, I supposed..."
The
girl came back and asked for some information. Cat was all
prepared with fake IDs and everything. She really was a pro,
and I have to admit I was impressed.
Once
we got to our room, we dropped the luggage, Felicia lied down in bed,
and I collapsed in a chair. I then morphed my robot are back to
what was left of my human arm. It was aching quite a bit and I
started holding it. "Felicia, where did you pack my
meds?"
"Here you go," she said as she opened one of
the bags and tossed them to me. I sifted through and took one
of the pain relievers.
"Thanks."
"No problem.
But why don't you just leave on your mechanical arm?"
"You
see, when I switch to a mechanical body, it's like I download it off
of a drive and swap my human body onto the drive. So when I
switch back, my human body is just as it was when I first made the
change. If my arm's ever going to stop hurting, I need to let
it run its course."
"Ah, I see. What are those
other pills for? The ones you brought with you?"
"Anger.
And depression, but mostly anger."
"Oh." She
paused. "You don't seem like the type..."
"I
guess they must be working," I replied, trying to lighten the
mood.
"Yeah," replied Felicia with a chuckle.
"Which
reminds me, at some point I'll need to get a refill. Otherwise
the withdrawal is pretty nasty."
"We'll figure something
out. For now, let's just relax."
"Sounds good to
me! I need to clean up." I got up and started
pulling out some clean clothes.
"Great idea!" Felicia
said excitedly. "I'll join you!" And she hopped
from the bed and started getting undressed.
"Whoa! Hold
on, Felicia. Why don't you go first."
"Ah, no
reason to be scared, honey" she said with a big grin.
"I'll be gentle."
"Felicia, I am really, really
flattered. But... I can't, ok?"
"C'mon, Jake.
Loosen up!"
"I'm sorry, Felicia. I'll be honest,
I'd really like to. But I'm waiting for marriage."
"Ha!"
she replied as she came closer. "You'll be able to do it
again."
"Felicia, I'm sorry. But I'm
serious."
Felicia stopped and she got an expression that was
part disappointment and part unbelief. "I guess Peter
wasn't kidding," she said as she sat back down on the bed.
"You really are a religious fanatic."
I found that
amusing. "Heh, Peter said that?" She didn't
respond. "Cat, I'm sorry. I don't want you to feel
rejected or anything. I really do find you attractive, I do.
But my faith is important to me. It's nothing against you,
nothing at all. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or
anything..."
"Just go take your shower."
I felt
really bad, but I didn't know what else to say. When I got
done, I found Felicia fast asleep on the bed. I grabbed some
extra sheets and lied down on the floor to sleep myself.
I
woke the next morning and heard the shower running. I sat up
and decided to do a little meditation. The shower turned off
Felicia walked out in a robe, "Oh, you're awake," she said
surprised. "Oops, I'm sorry, are you praying?"
"Nah,
I'm just playing some Minesweeper in my head. Look, I'm sorry
about last night..."
"No, Jake, I'm sorry. I
should have backed off. I just thought I felt a chemistry
and... I feel so stupid. Let me go get dressed."
"To
be honest, Felicia, you're right. I am attracted to you.
I have so much fun with you, even when we're doing nothing but
talking. It's just... my faith is important to me, more than
anything else."
"So we can't be together because I'm not
a strong Christian?" she was really feeling down.
"It's
just that with God being so important to my life, the only way I can
with someone is if He is also as important to her. I know I
sound like a blowhard, I don't mean to..."
"No, no, not
at all. This is all new to me, that's all. We should
really get going. We can chat more in the car."
"Sounds
good!"
"How's the arm, by the way?"
"Or
lack thereof?"
"Heh, yeah..."
"I need to
take my meds, but it's getting better... Not Wolverine better,
of course."
"Heh heh."
"Oh, I've got a
little surprise for you planned..."
"Oh really?
Then let me hurry up!" She grabbed some clothes and went
back into the bathroom. I'm glad she was ticked any more.
I hated seeing her depressed like that. I started packing up
our stuff.
"So
when do I get this surprise?" Felicia asked as she came out of
the bathroom.
"Not for a while yet, but here's a little
something to tide you over." And I morphed into very
stripped down, skeletal Hardware.
"Not quite what I was
hoping for..."
"This is my storage drive," I said
as I gathered all our luggage together and morphed back into Jake,
absorbing all the luggage with my Hardware into the drive. "I
made that robot intentionally small to consume as little memory on
the jump drive as possible. Perfect for storing things."
"Nice
trick."
"Trust me, the real surprise will be better.
Can you drive some more? I'm going to make copies of this drive
just to be safe. Wouldn't want everything we own to fall out of
my pocket..."
We
continued east, heading towards my old stomping grounds in
Minnesota. I was working on my laptop and we were enjoying the
ride.
"You know," I said, "I never thought being a
fugitive on the run could be such a nice vacation. I mean, look
at all the lovely scenery!"
"You better be careful or
you're going to lead me back into a life of crime," joked Cat.
"But then I guess I'd never have a chance with you."
"Um,
Felicia. If you don't mind me asking, why exactly are you doing
this for me?"
"What do you mean? I told you Tony's
full of crap. I'm not letting you get effed up in jail."
"But
why me? Was it just timing and you felt like an adventure?
Did you all of a sudden feel this way about this Civil War?
Wait, I'm sorry. I'm being pushy. You don't have to
answer any of that."
"No, it's ok. Actually, it's
a mix of all that. And, to be honest, I also really enjoyed
talking to you at the hospital."
"You enjoyed it that
much?"
"You dork! Ok, ok, just listen."
She started tearing up. "Back in college, I was raped by
my boyfriend..."
"Oh, Felicia! I'm so sorry.
I had no idea..."
"Yeah, right," she said through
tears. "You know everything..."
"No.
I'm sure if I had done some searching online I would have found it
eventually, but... I'm so sorry."
"Forget it,"
she said through tears. "It was a long time ago."
She pulled herself together and continued. "The thing is,
I hated being a victim so much I started training so I could kill
him. I was going to murder that little bastard, but he ended up
dying in a frickin' car accident."
"Oh man. I
can't imagine what you were going through..."
"Ever
since then, I've been living for thrills. Throwing myself
wildly about and trying to take charge of my life. I've been
living for my own pleasure, especially in my relationships.
Even with Peter, which was my most serious relationship since, was
mainly just physical. But it's different with you. We
actually communicate and enjoy being with each other. I mean,
we haven't even kissed but I feel more comfortable with you than any
other guy I've been with... Uh, does that answer your
question."
"Huh? Oh, ahhh, yeah. Yeah, it
sure does..."
"So what do you think?"
"I
think I pretty much told you where I'm at..."
"Oh,
yeah. Hey, I'd be willing to give church a try. It
wouldn't kill me or anything..."
"Don't do just for me,
Felicia, or for any guy. Don't attach a relationship with God
to another relationship."
"Relationship?"
"Yeah.
Oh, take a left up here. It's time for your surprise."
"This
has a lot of hype to live up to, Jake!" Felicia replied
cheerfully.
Felicia
followed my directions and we ended up at an amusement park.
"What do you think?" I asked. "I thought we
deserved a night of some thrills. I know it's not quite jumping
around on the rooftops or fighting crime, but..."
"Is
this an official date, Jake?"
"Well, uh, you know where
I stand on everything, so..."
"Yeah, yeah, how could I
forget?" she replied with a grin.
"Well then, sure, why
not. It's a date," I replied embarrassed. "Oh,
leave the keys in the ignition," I instructed as we got
out.
"Huh?"
"We need to switch rides,
right?"
"Yeah, but what are we switching to?"
"You'll
see," I replied with a huge grin.
"Wow, Jake, I'm
impressed," Felicia said as we walked to the entrance gate.
"You weren't kidding when you said you had a surprise.
You're full of them!"
"Hey, I'm not a boring computer
geek all the time," I replied with a smile right before taking a
couple motion sickness pills.
"You take those like candy.
How do you manage to fly around like you do?"
"Just
my human body gets sick." We paid and went inside.
"Then
you better change to a robot fast!" Felicia said as she grabbed
my arm and started running to the nearest rollercoaster. We got
on, it started up the first incline, and the dropped down the other
side, people screaming with delight. "Yahoo! You're
right," said Felicia. "Not quite as thrilling as my
normal job. But still... Whoa!"
I was glad to see
her enjoy it. "I think I'm going to hurl..."
"Ha
ha! Wuss!"
I actually did fine as the pills kicked in. We went racing from ride to ride. It was a wonderful break form everything we had been through. No thinking about what was going on back home. For the time, we had forgotten about our friends fighting each other with a city in the middle paying the price. It felt good to be so carefree.
We
decided to grab some food quick. As we were walking towards a
food stand, someone called out, "Hey, buddy, come on over and
win your girlfriend a prize!" It was one of those games
where you had to throw a ball through a hole, you know the
type.
"C'mon, Jake, win me something nice!"
"It
doesn't seem quite fair, though. I've got a computer brain and
a bionic arm."
"Bah. These guys cheat people out
of money all the time. Even if you win the prize isn't worth
what it cost to play."
"Yeah, that's true."
And we walked up to the stand.
"You get three chances,"
the guy said, handing me three balls. "Just get one
through that little hole right there."
"Gee, that seems
awfully tough!" I replied, holding in laughter.
Felicia
jumped in. "You can do it, honey. I believe in
you!"
I just about broke out laughing, but then quickly threw
one ball through my target, then threw the second ball one through
the next target over, and threw the third ball through the next
target after that. All while standing in one place.
"Uh,"
the guy was speechless.
"Beginner's luck," I said.
"So what did I win?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah.
Here's something cute and romantic for the little lady." He
composed himself and with a big smile he handed Felicia a
red plush spider shaped like a heart.
Felicia held it in her
hands, looking it over a little. "Um, actually, could I
have that?" she asked pointing to a small plastic toy
robot.
"Really? That thing? Ok..." he said
as he took the spider back and handed her the robot. "Doesn't
seem quite as romantic though..."
"I think it's much
more romantic," Felicia replied as she turned to me with a big
smile. "Let's go eat."
"Sure thing," I
replied, blushing.
We
lived it up until the park closed. We were both pretty tired as
we walked out to the parking lot. "Well, it worked,"
said Felicia. "Someone swiped our car."
"Come
with me. I'll show you what we'll be driving." I
lead Felicia out from the parking lot lights behind some
trees.
"There's nothing here."
"Just a second,"
I said as I morphed my arm back and pulled out the drive I was
using. I put it away in my computer case and pulled out a new
drive.
"Now I think I'm going to hurl," Felicia joked as
I put the new one in my forehead. "I don't think I'll ever
get used to that." I then morphed into a motorcycle,
decorated with a Black Cat theme.
"So what do you
think?"
"Wow! I didn't know you could do
that!"
"Change into a vehicle? Heck, designing
this is a piece of cake compared to the robots I make. This is
what I was working on on our way over. Nobody's looking for a
lone female riding a motorcycle."
"But the Black Cat
stuff might give it away..."
"Oh, that's just for
later," and I switched it to plain black.
"Jake, I don't
know what to say! I love it!"
"You're very own Cat
Cycle, ha ha! Grab the helmet and hop on!"
"Looks
like I'm going to get to ride you after all," she joked as she
got on.
"Whoa, Felicia!"
"Just kidding, Jake,
lighten up!"
"Yeah, yeah," I laughed as I started
out. "If you'd like to sleep just let me know. I
have some harnesses built in that I can hold you on with. In
this mode I can go all night!"
"Yeah, but you'll be
tired again when you change back. Let's just find a place to
stay."
"Ok, hold on!" And I jetted it out,
accelerating to about 100 miles an hour. "I normally don't
do this.."
"Woo hoo! This is better than the
rollercoaster! But we shouldn't draw any attention to
ourselves."
"Cat, you worry too much! I really
suped this thing up. I can sense radar detectors from miles
away. I also have radar built in to detect solid objects all
around me far in advance. I could go much faster..."
"Ok,
then. Hit it!"
"As you wish, my lady."
WHOOSH!
We
found a new hotel and crashed there. I downloaded all our stuff
and we called it a night. I went to sleep in the bathroom this
time, filling the tub with cushions.
"Good night, Jake,"
Felicia called from the other room. "I had a great
time!"
"Me too, Felicia, good night."
"Um,
Jake, can I ask you something?"
"Sure..."
"Have
you, uh, ever dated? I mean, you know all about me and Peter
and... You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"No,
that's fine. Yeah, I used to date here and there. It's
been a while since I went on a date, though."
"What
happened?"
"I got shot."
"On your
date?"
"Yeah, we were ambushed by a few crooks and I
got hit before I could morph."
"Is that where you got
those scars? I'm sorry, I noticed them at the
hospital..."
"Yep, some of them. So you're still
interested in me even though I'm full of bullet holes and missing an
arm?"
"Oh yeah! It makes you seem dangerous!"
We both laughed. "So, uh, was it serious."
"No,
not really. I've never had a very serious relationship. I
think I would probably consider Ororo the most serious, but even
that..."
"Who? Did you say 'Oreo'?"
"Ororo.
You know, Storm of the X-Men."
"Doesn't ring a
bell..."
"Anyway, when I hung out at the Xavier
Institute she was one of my best friends. We got to know each
other because of our African heritage. We would hang out quite
a bit when I was there, but when I left she got involved with
others. It was pretty much expected and we have always been
good friends. She's like a sister to me now. I went
to her wedding not long ago."
"Who did she
marry?"
"Black Panther. You know him?"
"No,
but it sure sounds like he ripped off my name, heh heh."
"I'm
bushed, perhaps we can talk some more tomorrow?"
"Count
on it. Good night."
"Good night."