Chapter 39 - Fireball

The first thing the team did when they brought Kirby back to the Bus was rush him into Fitzsimmons' lab. Simmons immediately started scanning the little pink creature, who just looked lost as he sat on the table, kicking his legs back and forth and looking around the room curiously. Simmons typed a few keys on the pad she was standing next to, before opening a small compartment. She took out a plastic bag, and sealed inside was a piece of leftover steak that the team had for dinner a few days ago.

When Kirby spotted the steak, he perked up. He had never seen steak before, but somehow, he automatically knew that it was food. "Poyo!"

Simmons smiled at the cute pink creature, and opened the bag. "That's right. Food."

She took the steak out, and set it on the opposite side of the table. Kirby almost made a move to go after it, but Simmons put her hand up to stop him. "No, no. Sit."

Obediently, Kirby sat back down, but eyed the steak hungrily.

Simmons stepped back out of Kirby's range, and moved back over to her computer. Kirby watched her, eyes pleading.

"Okay," Simmons said, and started making sucking motions with her hand and mouth. "Suck."

Kirby frowned for a moment, but soon caught onto what she was asking. It was what the scientists back at the Playpen did whenever they gave him permission to eat.

Kirby smiled and turned to the steak. Instantly, he started inhaling, and Simmons held onto her desk tightly as a wind picked up in the room from the mere power of Kirby's suckage. The steak was in his mouth seconds later. As he ingested it, Simmons quickly turned to her computer. Her eyes were focused, and her thumbs twiddled as she watched the computer record Kirby's vitals. As he ingested the steak, the numbers went up briefly as an energy spike was detected...

... before dropping back to normal levels. Again.

Simmons sighed in aggravation, while Kirby licked his lips and rubbed his tummy. "Poyo!"

Simmons just gave the alien a small smile before lounging back in her chair with a sigh.

"Problem, Simmons?"

Simmons looked up to see Soladat and Skye entering. She gave them a smile. "No, nothing major. I was just doing a few minor analyses on Kirby, but I'm sort of stumped at the moment."

"What's the problem?" Soladat said, leaning against the table with her arms crossed while Skye walked over to Kirby, patting his head with a smile. Kirby leaned into Skye's tender touch.

"Well," Simmons said as she rolled her chair over to her workspace. She picked up a number of papers that had been stuffed into Kirby's file. "The records of bioanalysis that the Playpen scientists made on Kirby's physiology were minimal at best. They were correct in saying that his body is so overly complex that finding any abnormalities or connections to his superpowers is near close to impossible. His biology shouldn't even be real! No visible internal organs, no skeleton, yet he's stronger than the Hulk and can consume almost anything."

"What about that replication thing the scientists mentioned?" Skye brought up, holding Kirby's stubby appendage in her hand while the pink creature whistled merrily.

"Fitz and I were actually trying to experiment with that." Simmons explained, taking out one particular paper. "It said here that Kirby's power is triggered when he ingests certain materials. Whatever elemental or mutagenic alleles that the material holds, Kirby's resultant powers are almost directly copied from those alleles. Like, when he absorbed Bruce Banner, he basically became the Hulk. And when he absorbed Hikesh, he gained his ability to control dark energy."

Soladat hummed in thought, glancing at Kirby, who smiled up at her with adoring eyes. She just smiled back, before looking back at Simmons. "Where is Fitz, anyway?"

Simmons just rolled her eyes. "In his quarters. We were feeding Kirby different foods to see if his powers would surface. Kirby..." Simmons paused. "Kirby ate Fitz's fish. The moorish idol that he bought while we were in Hong Kong. He got upset and left."

Soladat chuckled at that. Fitz had been bugging her to add a fish tank to the Bus. Eventually, she relented and had one set up in the upper deck, right outside the briefing room. Fitz picked up a new fish every time they stopped somewhere for a mission. That moorish idol had been his favorite one yet. He took that fish tank seriously.

"So, you've got nothing, basically." Soladat concluded.

Simmons pursed her lips, before lamely saying, "Yeah."

Soladat and Skye shared an amused glance. Kirby had made his way to Skye's lap, kicking his feet back happily while Skye rested her chin on top of his head.

Soladat suddenly had an idea. "Well, Banner and Xegh were both alive. Maybe the copying only works on living people?"

"The fish was alive." Simmons pointed out.

"Right." Soladat said. Then she perked up. "What about inanimate objects? You said you've only done foods. Why not appliances?"

Simmons' eyes widened, a small smile breaking out on her face. "I hadn't thought of that."

Simmons spun her chair around and opened a drawer in her workspace. She rifled through it, pulling out three objects, before sliding over towards the holotable and setting each object down, side by side. There was a blank piece of paper, a dog squeaky toy in the shape of a hedgehog, and a cigarette lighter. Simmons then looked at Skye.

"Set him on the table."

Skye did as she was told, setting Kirby down gently on the table in front of the three objects. He looked up at the three women as they looked down at him. "Poyo?"

"Hey, Kirby." Soladat said, drawing the puffball's attention to her. "We're just gonna do a little experiment here, okay?"

"Poyo." Kirby said, smiling and nodding. He wasn't totally sure what Soladat just said, but whatever she said couldn't be bad. Could it?

Soladat looked at Simmons. "Go ahead."

Simmons nodded. She picked up the piece of paper first, holding it in front Kirby. "Alright, Kirby. See this?"

Kirby cocked his head. "Poyo?"

"Paper." Simmons said. "Paper. Food. You like food, right?"

Kirby furrowed his brows. "F... Foo?"

That made everyone blink in surprise.

"Huh." Soladat said, smiling. "That's one more word added to his vocabulary."

"He said foo, not food." Skye pointed out.

Simmons cleared her throat, frowning at the two to get them back on track. She smiled back at Kirby. "Yes, Kirby. Foo. You like foo, right?"

Kirby cocked his head. "Foo?"

"Yes." Simmons said. "Foo. Eat, foo."

Simmons made a motion with her mouth, like she was eating something. Kirby caught on then, eyes wide. Simmons had been feeding him food all day. Each piece of food she gave him was better than the last. Was the white paper food? Kirby wanted to find out.

The moment Kirby opened his mouth, Simmons released the paper. A small wind filled the room as Kirby's powerful suction inhaled the paper. The three women stood back as their clothes and hair fluttered in the brief wind. When the paper entered Kirby's mouth, he closed it. The three women watched as Kirby's cheeks puffed in and out as he moved the paper around in his mouth. His brow furrowed as he tested the paper's taste.

Simmons leaned in. "Well? What do you think?"

The response Simmons got was a 'bleh!' sound, followed by a crumpled piece of paper, coated in saliva, expectorated from Kirby's mouth hitting Simmons on the forehead. Simmons blinked and watched the paper fall to the floor, and a look of mortified repulsion etched across Simmons' face as she slowly reached her hand up and wiped the small speckle of saliva from her forehead.

Skye and Soladat were silent for a few moments, before breaking out laughing. Simmons glared at them, and they both shut up immediately, but still held smirks on their faces. Simmons looked back at Kirby, who just cocked his head at her.

"Poyo?"

Simmons sighed, wiping her hand against her lab coat. "Alright. So the paper is out."

Reaching for the desk, Simmons picked up the squeaky toy. She held it in front of Kirby's face just as she did the paper.

"Let's try this." Simmons said, and cooed. "See this, Kirby?"

Kirby looked at the small toy. "Foo?"

"Yes!" Simmons said with a bright smile. She squeezed the toy.

*SQUEAK!*

Kirby jumped slightly at the squeaking sound it made. Simmons noted his reaction and waved the toy around in front of him. "Food. Would you like food?"

Kirby just eyed the toy curiously, and reached his stubby arms out to it.

"Poyo!" The way Kirby said his signature phrase sounded more like a child, begging for a treat.

Not hesitating, Simmons gave Kirby the toy. She watched expectantly, frowning when he made no move to consume it.

"Well? Go on."

Kirby just glanced at Simmons, then back at the toy. He squeezed it in between his stubby appendages.

*SQUEAK!*

Kirby giggled at the sound, and repeated the process multiple times.

*SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!*

Simmons just stared at Kirby incredulously as he kept squeezing the toy, giggling merrily as he did it. She turned to Soladat and Skye, the former whom just shrugged helplessly while Skye immediately took out her phone and started recording.

"Well that didn't work either." Soladat pointed out.

"I'm aware." Simmons sulked.

*SQUEAK!*

Soladat raised an eyebrow at the squeaky toy held between Kirby's hands. "Why did you have that thing, exactly?"

Simmons just waved a hand casually at it. "Oh, Fitz just wanted to be proactive in caring for the pets he probably won't ever get. Like buying chew toys for puppies."

"I thought Fitz wanted a monkey." Soladat wondered.

"I thought he wanted fish." Skye added.

*SQUEAK!*

The women all looked at Kirby, who just smiled innocently. Simmons shook her head. "He's... always liked animals."

*SQUEAK!*

"Clearly." Soladat said fondly, ignoring the sound.

Simmons sighed and picked up the last thing on the table. The cigarrette lighter. "This is all I have left. I hope this actually gives us some results."

"Come on, Simms, more tests?" Soladat said, leaning against the table with her arms crossed. "Don't you think you should take a break? I can vouch for Kirby's powers myself. I've seen them."

"Oh, come on, ma'am." Simmons begged.

*SQUEAK!*

"The idea of a living organism capable of copying the genetic code of another? That's logically impossible. Which is why" *SQUEAK!* "I" *SQUEAK!* "need" *SQUEAK!* "to see" *SQUEAK!* "results."

*SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!* *SQUEAK!*

Soladat snatched the squeaky toy out of Kirby's hands, her jerking movement so quick that Kirby didn't even register that the toy was gone until five seconds later. He looked up at Soladat with a pout and reached his hands out, jumping up to try and grab the toy as Soaldat held it up high.

"Poyo! Poyo!"

Soladat gently placed her free hand on top of Kirby's head and forced him to stop. "Relax, Kurbs. We can play later. Jemma just wants to do one last experiment."

Kirby had no idea what Soladat just said, but her soothing tone calmed him somewhat and he plopped down on his bottom again. Soladat smiled and then nodded at Simmons.

Nodding back, Simmons lifted up the cigarette lighter. Kirby eyed it curiously. "Poyo?"

"No, no. Not poyo." Simmons said, and waved it in front of his face. "Foo."

Kirby's eyes set at that, and he stared at Simmons and the lighter warily. She said the paper was food. He didn't like that. He shook his head. "Poyo."

"Kirby." Soladat scolded lightly, crossing her arms.

"Poyo!" Kirby said, shaking his head indignantly.

"Oh, come on, Kirby." Simmons practically begged. "It's good, I promise."

"Simmons, maybe we should stop..." Skye tried to reason, but Simmons didn't listen.

"Come on, Kirby. Foo." Simmons pressed, frowning when Kirby continued to protest. She tried one more time, only this time, she clicked the lighter, making a small flame pop up above it. "See, Kirby? Foo."

Kirby paused when he saw the fire. His eyes were wide as he stared intently at the small flame, as though mesmerized it. "Poyo?"

"No, Kirby." Simmons said, frowning. "I told you. It's not poyo, it's..."

Simmons stopped when the lighter was suddenly sucked out of her hand, and she recoiled back away from Kirby as he inhaled the lighter into his mouth. She backed up to Soladat and Skye, who were all looking at Kirby with wide eyes. Kirby was still for a few moments, and Soladat stepped forward it worry when he suddenly started coughing and shaking. Puffs of smoke came out of his mouth as he coughed.

"Kirby?" Soladat said worriedly, reaching her hand out.

Kirby just kept coughing and fell back. Then, to the astonishment of the three women, Kirby's pink skin pigment began to darken, becoming a blood red color. His eyes blinked closed, and when they opened, they were a fiery orange. The entire time this was happening, the computer monitoring Kirby's vials was skyrocketing as Kirby's DNA rearranged itself in seconds.

"What's happening to him?" Skye asked.

Soladat just watched intently, getting a feel of deja vu. "I think it worked."

Kirby soon stopped coughing, and slowly pulled himself up back to his feet. His orange eyes gazed at the three women staring at him, before he made a sudden jerky motion. The women all edged back when a torrent of fire ignited atop Kirby's head, small cracks in his scalp resembling fissions in volcanic rock appearing on the flesh where the fires burned. Strangely enough, the fires didn't seem to harm Kirby at all. The temperature of the room, on the other hand, seemed to rise several degrees.

"Poyo." Kirby said, smiling.

"Huh." Skye said, dumbstruck. "You got your wish, Simmons."

Soladat edged closer to Kirby,. She edged her hand closer to Kirby, recoiling slightly when she felt a searing field of heat around him. "He's burning up. What's his current temperature?"

Simmons immediately scrambled over to the computer screen to see Kirby's vitals. Her eyes grew wide. "He's standing at nearly three-hundred degrees. And it's steadily rising even now."

"That's..." Skye said, circling around the table, looking at Kirby. "That's very hot."

"No." Simmons shook her head, looking at Skye. "That's impossible. No living thing should be able to survive at that temperature."

"Kirby's not exactly normal, Jemma." Soladat pointed out. "Has his DNA changed at all?"

"Yes." Simmons said. "Drastically, actually. A complete biological transformation. He's like become a completely different creature."

"Poyo." Kirby said happily.

Soladat just shook her head. "But I don't understand. You said that the reports explained that Kirby borrows alleles from the objects he absorbs in order to transform. Fire isn't a living thing. It has no alleles."

"Ma'am, I'm just as lost here as you are." Simmons said helplessly. "Nothing about this makes sense. I can't explain any of it and it frustrates the life out of me."

"He's still super adorable, though." Skye pointed out, smiling at Kirby, who smiled back. "So, what exactly can he do now? You know, besides be a living furnace?"

"That's a good question." Soladat said, walking closer to the table, though she paused halfway when she felt Kirby's singing heat. "Maybe was can test it."

"How?" Skye asked.

Soladat snapped her fingers, and held her hand out towards Simmons. "Jemma, give me another paper."

Simmons did as she asked, handing Soladat another blank piece of paper. Soladat crumpled it up into a ball, and tossed it in front of Kirby, though made sure it was out of the range that she, Skye, and Simmons were standing.

"Kirby?" Kirby looked at Soladat expectantly, and Soladat pointed to the crumpled paper. "Bleh!"

Kirby blinked, and looked at the paper. His face immediately contorted into disgust as he remembered the paper's taste. "Poyo!"

Kirby suddenly started to inhale the air around him, inflating himself just like he did when he flied, though this time he didn't fly. Instead, his cheeks started to turn bright red.

"His temperature's rising." Simmons said, eyes glued to the monitor. "He's just reached six-hundred degrees Celsius."

"Um, Wrekk?" Skye said, suddenly getting a bad feeling about all this.

"He's just reached five-hundred degrees Celsius." Simmons continued to say.

Kirby stopped inhaling, and his cheeks got redder and redder as the flame on his head seemed to intensify. Soladat frowned, feeling sweat on her brow as the temperature in the room got hotter.

"Kirby..." She said.

"Six-hundred degrees Celsius." Simmons said.

"Kirby that's enough." Soladat ordered more fiercely.

"Enough? Put him out!" Skye added, a little frightened as she backed as far away from Kirby as she could.

"Seven-hundred degrees Celsius."

"Kirby!" Soladat yelled, marching towards the small fiery puffball.

Skye immediately grabbed Soladat's arm and pulled her back. "Don't!"

"Already nearing one-thousand." Simmons said. "At nine-hundred and ninety-five! Ninety-six. Ninety-seven."

"Soladat!" Skye yelled. "Put him out!"

Soladat looked around the room frantically, her eyes falling on a fire extinguisher. She immediately punched the glass and tried to wrench the extinguisher out, but it was jammed.

"Damnit!" She said, frantically yanking at it.

"Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine." Simmons suddenly looked away from her computer and at Kirby, eyes wide. He was now completely red, the fires on his head scorching the table, which sparked and melted from the heat. "Guys, he's...!"

Suddenly, Kirby's mouth opened, and a sphere of fire was expelled. Soladat's eyes widened and she quickly unfolded her wings, which tore out the back of her shirt and wrapped around Soladat's form as she huddled up in fetal position. Skye quickly jumped over to Simmons and pulled her down behind the desk as the fireball struck the crumbled paper, which had already caught fire from the heat.

As it impacted, the fireball exploded violently into a torrent of flame that engulfed the entire lab. The glass doors and windows connecting the lab to the hanger shattered, the doors getting ripped off their hinges as the force of the explosion wrenched them off. The entire bus seemed to shake, and in the cockpit, May, who was piloting, grunted as she felt the plane lurch forward slightly. Fitz, who was drinking a glass of water while mourning the loss of his new fish, jerked and splashed the water in his face.

When the plane settled and the flames died, the entire lab was filled with smoke and debris. Skye and Simmons coughed as they got up from their hiding spots, wafting the smoke out of their eyes as they tried to see through the mess.

A few fires were still burning in the lab, but they were quickly extinguished by Soladat, who had finally wrenched the fire extinguisher free from its socket.

"My... my lab..." Simmons said, her voice coming out as more of a whimper.

Skye looked around at the damage with wide eyes. "What the f-"

She was cut off by a small belching sound, which was followed by a small clatter of metal. Soladat watched as the cigarette lighter that Kirby ate bounced across the floor before stopping at her foot. Her eyes looked up at the table once the smoke cleared, and saw Kirby sitting on the table. He was pink again, and smiled at her.

"Poyo."

The three women just stared at the little alien. The sound of footsteps coming down the circular staircase outside filled the room.

"Agent Wrekk." The voice of Agent Ward came. "We just got a call from Fur... What in the hell happened here?"

Ward stood in the open space where the glass wall had once been, looking at the mess in shock. He looked at Soladat expectantly, and she merely pointed a thumb at Kirby.

"Poyo!" Kirby said, waving.

Another voice was heard as Fitz came into view, soaking wet and looking a little unhappy. "Mind telling me why I'm covered in... Bloody hell?!"

Fitz, utterly mortified, walked into the lab slowly, his hands slowly moving up to his head as he looked around the damaged room. "My lab. My equipment! Jemma, how... what the hell happened?"

"Fitz, please." Simmons said, trying to console him. "Let's not go crazy. The experiments worked, we got results!"

Fitz just gaped at Simmons, and his eyes trailed over to the pink alien puffball sitting innocently on the table. He just pointed a finger at him incredulously. "Him? He did this? How?"

"We finally triggered his copying ability." Soladat explained, as she blew out the last of the fire. "It was insane, like an Extremis detonation."

"Yeah, times three." Skye muttered.

"Well, I... I guess that's a positive side." Fitz said, trying to regain his composure.

"Positive?" Ward said incredulously. "He could have blown up the entire plane!"

"Yeah, but, we finally got results, right Jemma?" Fitz asked his best friend.

Simmons opened her mouth to answer, but then her eyes fell on what was left of her computer and Kirby's dossier. Both were burned to a crisp. She quickly turned back to Fitz. "I may need some time to figure that out, actually."

Fitz made a pained sound similar to a whimper, and he collapsed back in his chair with a disheveled look on his face.

Soladat just looked at him with pity, before looking at Ward. "We can clean this up later. What was it you wanted, Ward?"

Ward, still looking at Kirby warily, answered. "We've got new orders. I think we'll need everyone up in the debriefing area for this."

Soladat groaned, and looked at Fitz and Simmons. "You two, come with us. Skye? Stay here and watch him." Soladat said, pointing to Kirby.

"What? But, but-!" Skye didn't get to finish as the other four quickly scrambled out of the room. She looked towards Kirby, who just smiled cutely at her.

"Poyo!"

Skye sighed, unable to keep from smiling. Destructive or not, that was still super cute.

ooooo

May and Mike were waiting for the others in the debriefing area, and raised her head when they entered. She frowned when she noticed they were one off.

"Where's Skye?" Mike asked.

"Watching our resident time bomb." Ward remarked.

"What?" May frowned.

"Save it." Soladat ordered, and nodded at May. "What have we got?"

May's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she took in the obvious disheveled looks her teammates wore. Putting it aside for now, she typed a few commands into the holotable, and a series of records and displays popped up.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s detected massive energy readings in the skies above the California/Nevada border." May explained.

Everyone moved closer to the table to examine the readings. Simmons cocked her head at them. "These are the same readings from the Bifrost, and the Convergence in London. Does that mean we have an Asgardian on the way?"

Everyone looked at each other at that. Since the Battle of Greenwich, Sif had made monthly visits to Earth to make sure that Loki was not causing any trouble in his exile. S.H.I.E.L.D. high command had tolerated her presence, but usually she gave warning to her arrivals. So, this put them on edge.

"Sif?" Fitz queried.

"Not sure." May answered. "She was only here a few weeks ago, and we've gotten no word on Loki trying to declare war again. Either way, this is an unsanctioned visit, so S.H.I.E.L.D. wants us to be the welcome wagon."

"Sif? Like from the battle of New York and Greenwich Sif?" Mike queried.

"The very one." Soladat said. "She's more or less become our official Asgardian liaison."

"O-Okay." Fitz said. "No cause for concern, though, right? Even if it isn't Sif, Asgardians are allies, right?"

No one responded to that, instead sharing looks of uncertainty. It was Soladat who finally broke the tension. "What about Kirby? We've already got orders to take him to the Hub."

"Fury's authorized these new orders. He's deemed them more important at the moment." May explained. "We'll just have to keep Kirby here until further notice."

"I'm not sure if that's wise." Ward said, arms crossed and frowning.

"We'll keep him on lockdown." Soladat assured, and then looked pointedly at Simmons. "And no more experiments for now."

Simmons flinched and looked away, embarrassed.

ooooo

The team's SUV drove down the deserted highway in the California desert. May was driving, while Soladat sat in the passenger's seat, an assault rifle in her hands in case of danger. Mike and Fitz sat in the back, the latter staring at his holopad. Simmons opted to stay back at the Bus with Skye and Kirby simply because of lack of room.

"Fitz?" Soladat asked.

"Yeah, we're definitely getting close." Fitz said, looking up from the holopad. "I'm getting a massive energy surge... three times the level of the one before."

"How close?" May asked.

As if in response, a pillar of swirling orange energy shot down from the heavens, impacting the dirt road only a few meters in front of the SUV. May punched down on the breaks, halting the SUV mere inches in front of the anomaly. The group shielded their eyes from the light. When the pillar faded away, the group immediately exited the van. Soladat and May drew their weapons and pointed them forward while Mike got into a fighting position, trying to see through the dust.

Soladat's eyes narrowed as she made out a figure in the dust, and she immediately lowered her rifle when she made out the person's features, a relieved smile on her face.

"Sif."

May and Mike immediately stood down. The Asgardian goddess of war, clad in her best battle armor with her sword and shield fit snuggly into their hilts, smiled jovially at the team.

"Archangel. And her comrades of S.H.I.E.L.D." She said, marching forward and enveloping Soladat in a hug. "It is a pleasure to see you all again."

Soladat grunted as she felt the Asgardian woman's superhuman strength at its best. "You too, Sif."

Sif released her friend, and pulled away, her face suddenly serious. "I expected S.H.I.E.L.D. to be the first to respond to my arrival. I am most glad that out of all their forces it was you who was sent."

"What are you doing here, Sif?" Soladat questioned. "Loki hasn't been causing any trouble lately."

Sif just shook her head. "I am not here because of him. We must find a secure location to speak. I fear Midgard is in danger once more."

A demonstration of Kirby's abilities seemed appropriate now that he's in this story. So now Sif's back and the hunt for Lorelei will begin next chapter.

Skyeline 10: I been meaning to ask since you add Danny phantom and Kirby are goin to add more stuff like other shows like generator Rex, Kim possible , ben ten , and finally Jackie chan adventures in to this story? , cause I think it be cool , please continue

At least three guest characters will pop up during the Winter Soldier ark, which will begin right after the Lorelei ark. I won't tell you who, and for those of you who fear this story will become overcrowded, don't.

Fancy Bill: Good to see that my favorite pink puffball has appeared! Cant wait to see him interact with the other characters. I wonder what would happen would happen if he met Loki or Thanos...

Indeed. What would happen, I wonder... ;)

Also, thanks for getting my review number to 100 :) I appreciate that. Drop in a few more if you like.

Ciao!