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A Missing Screwtop


RocketLord

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Chromium was concerned about his father and was watching as the old man took down a soldier like it was nothing, he was so surprised that he didn't see Commander Irons till his fist filled his vision and then all he saw was stars as he staggered back and forth trying to reconnect his brain to the rest of his body as he groaned,"Run dad...run......crap...."

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GM

 

"You stay right there!" Irons barked the order as he watched Chromium struggling to stand. The soldiers that were still standing all took aim at Screwtop, and even as he clutched the automatic rifle in his hands, it seemed clear what would happened if he fired the weapon. 

 

Commander Irons face remained stern, like a teacher that was handing out a scolding more than someone beating down an enemy. "You could be so much moreboy, if you had just tried, if you had just thought. Really, a car. You can turn into a car. What kind of cartoon world do you think we live in?"

 

He pulled his fist back once more, then let it fly directly at Chromium's face.

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Chromium swayed on his feet, his eyes taking in the drama around him and the part of his brain that was still functioning realizing that not only had he not rescued his father he had put himself, and his father in a much, much worse situation. He struggled to make sense of Commander Irons words, he had a choice about what he had had become? How?

 

Then all his questions were ended, at least for now, as the massive silver fist slammed into his face again and the darkness of Irons fist was matched only by the darkness that spiraled in from his peripheral vision till it took all if his sight from him as he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

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GM

 

Darkness. Numbness. A feeling of being moved. Everything a haze.

 

Then, light.

 

When Chromium opened his eyes, he found himself sitting against a wall. His arms were up against the wall behind him, hell in heavy restraints. His feet were secured to his seat, a solid metal slab. There was a hum all around him, in a small box with maybe half a meter of free space on each side of him, aside from the wall behind him where he was secured. The humming was strange. It was like he was held in place, like some sort of force was holding him in place.

 

He could hear voices around him, but the loud hum made it difficult to make out what they were saying.

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Pain and a flare of light, that was the last things he remembered and now....now here he was, chained to a wall.

 

His dad! Where was he? Did they kill him like they had planned? Where was he? Panic set in! Adreniline clawed at Chromium's heart, for all his bravado and powers he was still only an 18 year old boy figuring things out and now? Now what was he doing? Tugging hard at the manacles he shook his head, looking around, struggling and straining to pull his arms out of the manacles and then he laughed. He could turn into liquid, right? They couldn't stop him from escaping, nothing could!

 

With that he focused on his body and tried to turn himself into the puddle and simply pour out of here.

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GM

 

Chromium tried to shift his shape. He tried to change, to slip from his bonds. Slowly, he started to lose cohesion, becoming fluid, as he had done so many times before. Then he was violently pulled back into his normal form by a magnetic pulse, smashing him hard against the wall behind him. Enough to hurt, at least a little bit.

 

"Ha!" A male voice from outside the box, not one he had heard before. "Show us another trick!"

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Chromium struggled a little more, just using brute strength, but the magnetic pulse made him groan, he was in a situation where they knew more about him than he did, likely pretty close to where Aegis was in the knowledge of how he worked. A thought wormed into his head, there might still be a way out of this little trap, but not while he was suspended inside of a magnetic field and he frowned at the voice,"You're just going to sit and watch me all day? Boring flipping job....when do I get to come out and play?"

 

He looked around the room, analyzing it and looking for someway out, he doubted he'd find one they had Commander Irons to work with, they knew exactly what Chromium could do...mostly. He knew he'd developed his powers on the fly, but he wondered if he could learn more about them from Commander Irons....and then he thought of his dad and he breathed in softly, he didn't need to breath, it was not something he needed, he did it out of habit or when he needed to control his emotions.

 

With a growl he shook his fists inside the shackles again...he had to get out of here.

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GM

 

"Sure, sure. Beats getting shot at, kid." The voice was calm, jovial even. It seemed Chromium would have to try pushing some different buttons, if he wanted to get a rise out of them. 

 

The small room, or cage perhaps, shook with Chromium's show of force. Not a lot, not enough to make it topple over or anything like that, but enough to at least be noticable. There was a knock from outside the cage, on the wall right in front of Chromium's face.

 

"Knock it out, kid. You really don't wanna be on the Commander's bad side, so no need to cause a ruckus, hear? Just chill out and breathe, you'll get plenty of chances to work out later."

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Chromium snorted, interested that the room move with very little work on his part, his weight it seemed was enough to move the room. And he raised a silver eyebrow, and who said he wanted to be on the good side of the bastard who had him trapped? He thought for a moment about his options, he could make it as hard as possible or he could try and lull them into a false sense of security.

 

That was what he had planned till they threatened to kills his dad....dad.....

 

He closed his eyes, another long slow, totally unnecessary breath, his eyes opened and he sighed again. Slumping against his bonds he decided that he'd lull them into a false sense of security, he was going to kick their asses...all of them, especially if they had done something to Screwtop!

 

For now, he would learn all he could and bide his time, soon, soon the time of ass kicking would arrive!

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GM

 

It wasn't long before the sound of heavy, metallic steps could be heard outside Chromium's little room. He was restrained. He was kept secure. Nowhere to move. Nothing to see. Something keeping his shape, keeping him solid. It did seem like they knew what they were doing. Like they had experience.

 

"Sir!" The voice of the soldier that had spoken to him previously was accompanied by the sound of his heels knocking together. "Prisoner's still secure."

 

The heavy steps got closer. Just outside the little room or box that Chromium was trapped in, they stopped. "I've been authorized to give you an offer, son." Commander Irons spoke slowly. "We might have come off on the wrong foot, here, but we couldn't know what we were dealing with until you showed up. Your country could use someone like you. Come work for us. Learn how to be better than you are right now. You want to be a hero, right? I can make you into one."

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Chromium was concerned about the fact that they seemed to be experienced when dealing with him, in fact it started to lead to him thinking that perhaps Commander Irons wasn't here voluntarily, or at least not to start, and that meant they had broken him and that was perhaps more problematic than Chromium would like to have thought about. Fortunately, or not his reverie was disturbed by the sound of stomping feet and the voice of the man he was considering.

 

The words made him snort, shaking his head,"Oh, now we want to be friends...sure, give me my dad back unharmed and we can talk about it...or is he already swimming with the fishes?" Damn, and he had really been planning on cooperating,"My country doesn't beat men up and use them as bait to lure their kids after them, at least not the part of my country that needs heroes." Snorting again he shook his head,"But please, feel free to explain who you represent and how come they meant well and it was my fault you threatened to kill me dad?"

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GM

 

"You're not cleared for that kind of information yet, son." Irons voice sounded heavy. Almost like the constraints and the field inside the box would make Chromium feel. 

 

"Your father's fine. Got his own little cell not too far from here. My superiors believe it'll be better for keeping you in line." He paused, there was a sound like metal rubbing against metal, then he continued. "I didn't want to do this, but my superiors know your type, son. If the military complex comes calling, you'll run away. If there's a chance of you coming to the rescue of someone, even criminal scum liek your dear old dad, then you'll jump at the call." Another pause. "And if that's what you think of your country, then I'll have some bad news for you, son. Heroes are what they're meant to be. Not everyone gets to put on spandex and wave at the kids. Some of us is gonna have to make the hard choices. Not all heroes get to wear a cape."

 

Another pause. Chromium could hear the soldier breathing.

 

"Will you behave if I let out out?" Commander Irons' tone was as hard as ever. "If you want to be what your country really needs, then I won't accept you acting out in any way. Got that, son?"

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Chromium listened, snorted and shook his head,"There's a lot of words to say nothing, you know. You let me out, you show me my dad is alive and well. He may be criminal but that doesn't stop him from being my dad, and I'm not sure if you've met the police in this lovely town, they ain't that much better than the criminals who sponsor them." With a roll of his eyes he sighed again,"So that's the deal, show me my dad's okay and I won't give you one iota of problems...."

 

Of course it didn't need to be said that if his dad wasn't he was going to rest till Commander Irons was nothing but a silver smear on the deck of the ship, no matter the cost.

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  • 2 weeks later...

GM

 

Irons was silent for a moment, then the humming sound stopped. Whatever pull Chromium had felt on his body let go, whatever magnetic device had held him in place was deactivated. The small room around him slowly pulled apart, and the chains loosened. Irons stood before Chromium, his hands folded behind his back. By his side, the soldier was holding out a pair of high tech handcuffs.

 

"Hold your hands out and accept the handcuffs, then I'll show you." Irons' tone didn't invite to discussion, as the soldier slowly approached, holding out the cuffs.

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The humming stopped and for a moment, just a moment Chromium thought about breaking free and making a run for it, but he knew that he was no match for Irons as he was right now. So instead he dropped his arms and offered them to the soldier, slowly and with out anything that would make the solider panic. Once the cuffs were in place, he shrugged,"Right, show me, Irons."

 

He walked calmly, peacefully as he could manage with cuffs on, but he couldn't hide his anxiety and concern about his dad. His heart, such as it was, would have been pounding in his chest if organs were a thing he had but instead he just felt the worry eating away at him.

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GM

 

Irons remained silent as they walked, the soldier by their side. The commander led, with Chromium between him and the soldier. The sound of Commander Irons' feet echoed through the hallways. It didn't take long to get to the room in question, through long, sterile white halls. Wherever they were, they were no longer on the ship, at least. They had passed several soldiers stationed by doors on the way, before Commander Irons stopped outside of a door. The guard opened it, and Irons motioned with his head for Chromium to enter.

 

"Go on in, then. Remember, we're watching."

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Chromium followed alongside, his eyes flickering from side to side as he tried to figure out where he was, and how he could get out, but there wasn't much to see. He watched the two guards, turned his head to glare at Irons before stepping into the room, his heart beating fast as he hoped they had kept his father alive. They certainly hadn't seemed like they took that to be a priority early.

 

"Dad?"

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  • 2 weeks later...

GM

 

Screwtop looked much like before. Beaten, battered and bruised. What Chromium probably hadn't expected was the he was now sitting in the middle of a nice looking office, dressed in the same pants and shirt as the soldiers he had seen so far, leaning back in a comfortable chair, a bottle of beer to his lips, only being lowered when he noticed his son entering.

 

"Jason!" There was a certain slur to his voice. The large number of beer bottles on the table in front of him made the reason for that slur quite claer. "Son! I think we've misjudged these fine folks!" He sounded almost happy. "Go on, go work for them. Do your mama proud, son!"

 

Commander Irons' face showed his distaste of the man, but his words were as measured as before. "Well? Do we have an agreement? Come work for us and learn what you can really do, and we'll bring your dad home."

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  • 2 weeks later...

Chromium looked his dad over, shaking his head at his dad's drunken state and turned to look at Commander Irons,"Well, his words would have meant more if he wasn't drunk as a skunk but you have kept your end of the bargain." He frowned, silver face glittering in concern,"At the very least I'll be willing to hear you out."

 

He wasn't sure he was prepared to sign on to a group he didn't even know the name of,"Who are you and what do you think you are trying to achieve?" After all they lived in Bedlam, no one did things just for the good of the world, that was naive to even think that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

GM

 

"That's classified, son." Commander Irons crossed his arms. The way he was looking at Screwtop made it clear that he wasn't fond of the man, or his current drunken state. "If anything, you're the one that escaped with some of our equipment, and well... used that to become a car." He scoffed at the thought. "Sign the dotted line, and I can tell you more. Its that easy. Fight the enemies of your country, keep everyone you know safe and sound before they even know they were in danger. That is what we aim to do."

 

He paused, looking at Chromium, scoffing again. "And maybe teach you to become something else. You get your hands on a weapon like this, and you become a car. Really?"

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Chromium turned, his chin jutting out and he frowned,"Sounds like a terrible thing right, I knowingly took a weapon from you and then I picked a car, of all things I should have picked a tank or a helicopter or something right?" Shaking his head he sighed,"You really think I did this to myself on purpose? I didn't even know this was in my dad's car. I took his car for a drive, sure I may have borrowed it without permission, he may or may not have had it in the back of the trunk...heck, I don't even know what it looked like before hand. All I know is that I had an accident, crashed my dad's Porsche and when I woke up I was silver...and could turn into a car."

 

Grunting in annoyance he shook his head again,"I didn't choose a single thing.....that said....you know more about what this is than anyone else, you can help me learn. What do I need to sign?" His eyes glittered,"And what can you become?"

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GM

 

Irons grinned. "You made a mistake, you own up to it, kid. That means you can still learn." Irons motioned for the soldier by him. "But Bedlam isn't the right kind of place to learn something like this. Too close to home for you, you're never gonna learn just what you can do if stick close to home all the time." 

 

He looked at Screwtop. Irons obviously disapproved of the man.

 

"You need to go somewhere that you'll make an impact. Somewhere easy. Might be a few troublemakers to fight, might be some tech you can learn to use."

 

Screwtop burped loudly. Irons moved in between him and Chromium. "How do you feel about moving to Emerald City while you learn the ropes?"

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Chromium frowned, that was a reaction he wasn't anticipating, normally he said admitted something and Screwtop lost his mind, but Irons...Irons was different. His eyes narrowed as he watched the interplay between the two. His silver head nodded and he sighed,"I'd like to make a difference, and I've never really been trained for much of anything."

 

"Emerald city? Sure, sounds as good as the next place, I don't really know much about it.", the image of his father being covered by Iron's massive form made him frown, this was a big move and a choice that was likely to impact heavily on him in the future,"But yeah, I can learn."

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GM

 

"Good. We'll drop the off your old man, then we'll leave this hell hole behind."

 

Irons took turned away from Screwtop and Chromium. "Say your farewells. It'll be a long time before you see Bedlam again, son."

 

He moved towards the door. The soldier still remained in the room as the commander opened the door and stepped outside. Just as he was about to close it, he seemed to remember something else. "You made the right choice, son. Welcome to Mattus."

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