Hudson awoke from that horrid nightmare, shivering and quaking, a almost imperceptible shake in the ground accompanied his own shivers, disappearing with almost a hushed whisper at the edge of his vision, a dark shape retreating into the nothingness of the air before his eyes were fully able to settle on it, dust unsettling as he began to get up, noticing a small twinge of pain in his stomach as he did so.

Looking down as he stood, Hudson noticed a knife solidly embedded into the meat of his stomach, three accompanying stab wounds alongside it.

"Only four stabs? This place really is nice if even those smack heads are so kind" he chuckled to himself as he pulled the knife from its purchase, feeling the familiar stopping of his blood as he redirected it away from the wound, not a drop of his leaden lifeblood spilling out onto the floor.

Stretching out the discomfort of the floor Hudson felt every muscle and minutia of his body from tendon to skin, each rippling and contorting in concert as if a wave of worms inched from one end of his body to the other.

Heading out into the early morning, Hudson heard his stomach rage in hunger, quelling it with a handful of the wall plaster, as he promised himself to find something actually tasty as he left the building, the slight chill of the early October if he guessed correctly dragged around him.

"I'll probably need a new jacket come to think of it" Hudson spoke to himself as he left the building, his atomic core producing enough heat that even in the freezes of Siberia he wouldn't need clothes, though it was far easier to hide when you look the part of the human, then in just appearance alone.

—-

Arms master was pulling his hair out as he wandered around his lab, first that massive surge of energy his sensors picked up and if his communications were true, every other damn Tinker on the planet did too. Not to mention the Tinker Fugue it sent them all into too.

Looking over to his table he saw the form, half made before it ended, a humanoid made of anything he had in his lab, still trying to take it apart to get his tools as he wandered around it just trying to figure out exactly what it was, documenting his words as he went.

"Humanoid roughly five foot three in height before the fugue state ended estimations of five foot six upon its completion, no distinct sexual characteristics at its current stage" arms master wrote as his electronic pen died, looking around to find his others he huffed as he noticed that multiple were fused to form the tongue, snapped and welded until they formed the familiar shape.

Not noticing the twitch in its arm either.

Looking around he finally found a pencil, only to hear a crash, whirling around at breakneck speeds, Arms master saw as a hole was busted in the wall of his lab, the open air and early morning sky and an empty table was all that greeted him.

"...Oh shit"

Walking down the streets as he went, Hudson memorised as he looked, each alley was a hide away, each street a combat zone in waiting, he knew it in his old bones, he noted as the streets where a mish mash of repeatedly rebuild structures, the asphalt grey and old in some place black and new in others, not in the way of the various unmitigated potholes you would be used to seeing, long uneven strips filled in quickly and without much care, telling the story of the city as he moved through, eventually finding what he hoped to find.

A flea market.

A ramshackle affair in one of the poorer neighbourhoods, none of those richer excuses ones, hudson spat to himself. 'cant steal a good piece of air in those shit houses' he thought as he walked though the market, some stares from people he noted as he moved, expected really he thought to himself as he moved through the market, people moving out of the way as he went, his gargantuan frame nearly blocking the rows as he looked, jackets in smalls and mediums everywhere but barely a large in sight.

Eventually finding a stall that had what he looked for, an inconspicuous grey jacket, it'd be a tight fit, but it would certainly allow him to hide easier, he needed every advantage he could, his impressive height already enough to catch the eye, the less people saw his face the better after that point.

As he looked through the jackets, Hudson tried to keep track of everything around him, if he really was in "another universe" as those magic nerds said, whatever that means he'd seen enough Doctor who to know that was probably bad.

"Ok money symbol is the same so hopefully america" he quietly spoke as he looked, barely noticing the owner of the stall approach him, a young african american woman probably twenty five or so from his guess standing quickly as he approached and seemingly startling her if her widened were any indicator,

"C-can i help you sir, is there anything you're looking for in particular?" she asked, her voice seeming to fail her for a split second as her head slowly lifted in turn his standing, head arching higher and higher until she saw to his nigh nine foot frame.

—-

Rachel was having a boring day, rent had been increased again for the next lease, so her affordable apartment suddenly became so much less affordable.

Taking a job ith her mother working one of the flea market stalls they used, she was making a fair profit today, nothing outstanding but you'd be amazed how much clothes sold when the chill started to set in, a shame her mother refused to have her wear a jacket, a thick shirt in its place, her mothers own words stuck in her head.

"A jacket is uninviting, nobody wants to have a conversation in a jacket" she had told her, and annoyingly seemed she was right as person after person came for a jacket, her treasure she couldn't attain she lamented.

"Hey rache, you hear" her friend maria said, walking back with two bottles of water as she handed one to rachel, "apparently there's some kind of empire goon or something walking around the stalls looking for someone" she said with a sense of worry, she as well as anyone knew here they were almost all prime targets for a E-88 goon deciding to vent their frustrations. Wards and the PRT barely patrolled their little slice of the city at this point, close enough to the docks to be a problem, too far to be a worry.

"Seriously Maria, every bit of gossip in these stalls can't be true, I mean come on why would an Empire cut throat be wandering amongst these stalls" she joked, hiding her worry under jest as she usually did.

"Because they're Empire '' Maria simply said. Deadpanning in such a way that Rachel couldnt refute.

Seemingly without notice at first small hushed whispers were coming from around their stall, walking around the corner.

She saw a monster.

A man well taller than the people around even while partially kneeling to look at the jackets she had at the stall. Approaching with her best customer service voice she greeted the giant, noticing his pale almost paper white skin and shaved head immediately, 'yep definitely empire she thought to herself as she saw him stand taller and taller, until his head and eyes were almost covered by the roof of the canopy tent.

Then she heard him speak, a thunder deep thumbling like an earthquake upon her bones, each inconsequential tone and note practically growled out as he spoke to her.

"A jacket, grey, big enough for me" he spoke simply and slowly, clearly to her talking down to someone he saw as inferior.

coming to the only logical conclusion as she heard him say such an inconsequential sentence in such a tone and manner, he was Angry, someone looking for any small reason to take his rage out, what would happen if she didn't find a jacket to fit him, what if she told him the price. Would he think she was being demeaning?

Thousands of possibilities flittered through her head as she began to silently look through the racks of clothes she had set up, looking around she saw some people on phones as she refocused on finding the clothes. Surely if she took enough time someone would save her.

Unfortunately she in her haste to set things up earlier today set the larger clothes at the front, right in view and first to grab, that had settled it for her, clearly he knew what he came for and could see them, she was dead no doubt she thought to herself.

"H-here sir, your j-jacket" she spoke with feign courage.

"Alright, how much?" he asked in that same growl.

"First comers no charge" she spoke with a sense of joy as she stared with a fake smile up at those viscous sickening yellow eyes, oh…oh god he was a cape, she thought as she lowered her eyes quickly, hoping he didn't react to her seeing his face so clearly, only to get a strange sound originating from the man and then his leaving.

—-

Hudson was liking it here more and more, free clothes were always bonus to that respect, as he walked through the flea market the stares started to wither and whispers died on their lips as he moved, only stopping once he heard something particular on one of the radios.

"-ports of a unknown metallic humanoid have been sighted along main street they are described as armed and highly dangerous, please remember to lock your doors and report any strange activity to the nearest PRT official or local office this individual is described as appearing to be made of various pieces of office and laboratory equipment, please stay safe everyone" he heard

Hudson felt that description ring too close to home, memories of a living calculator he called a friend flashing to mind, and the Abomination that took him too soon.

"Well guess I've got something to do at least" he spoke as he walked out of the market, slipping into one of the alleys unnoticed and with practised speed, the corridors of brick and pipework at home with the giant's presence as he disappeared into the early morning.