Gear Crash

Chapter 4

"Pass me the Phillips head screwdriver. No, that's the Robertson, that one's the slot head... You know what? I think I'll just get it myself." Kyle twisted another screw into the suit. He had just finished polishing up the suit, by giving it a new coat of paint after Simon had complained that it looked like Iron Man.

Kyle looked over the the suit and smiled. It now had a sleek, shiny body, painted black like oil. Under the arms, there were two long, grey stripes running down to the hips. The legs were silvery black, and shone like the evening moon. The best feature, however, had to be the mask. It looked like something that fell from space, maybe of martian craft. It had two large metal wings on the sides, both pearly white. The front of the mask was solid steel, designed to protect blows from the face. There was nothing on the mask, other than two holes, one for each eye.

"We've been sitting here for hours, and you still haven't told me what we're supposed to be doing here." Simon complained.

"I am installing a small transit signal inside the pectoralis major that will allow communication between two different sources." Kyle replied. Simon stared at him with a blank face.

"I understood none of that."

"I'm installing minor transmission... I'm putting in a two way radio. Happy now?"

"Very." Simon replied. He put his feet on the table and leaned back. Kyle sighed. Simon could be a bit immature at times, but the two had been friends since they were little kids. Their personalities balanced each other out, with Kyle's introvert and hardworking personality reflecting on Simon's more carefree and spontaneous style.

"Anyway, I just need to click this in there... there we go." Kyle strapped himself into the suit and put on the helmet. "Pick up that headset over there and see if it works."

Simon placed the headset around his head and adjusted the microphone. "Now would be a good time to do a 'AH, IT'S TOO LOUD!' gag, wouldn't it?" Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so we know it works in close range. Why don't we go out and fly it around a bit?"

"Sounds like a plan to me" Simon said.

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"Alright, Black Angel, do you copy?"

"Simon, I really don't understand why you insist on calling me that."

Kyle was soaring way above Lovell City. It was nighttime, and the bright lights all around glowed like diamonds in the sky. He filled with elation. He was flying so high, higher than the skyscrapers, the cloudscrapers, and even the hovercraft. He'd always wanted to explore the world, and now with his new suit, he could. But first he had to finish this test.

"You never know if the government's watching you, y'know? Or something like that. Buzzfeed says I should always be on guard."

"You still read Buzzfeed? That site's ancient. All the cool kids are on E-social these days. Doesn't matter. I can hear you loud and clear Simon."

"IT'S ALPHA LEADER. NOT SIMON THE REPTILES ARE WATCHING!" Kyle let out another sigh.

"Alright, 'Alpha Leader', it looks like the comms test is a success. Heading back now."

Kyle steered the suit over to right above his lab, and started deactivating the suit's power system. Suddenly, as he began slowly drifting down, he felt the core engine of the suit start to shudder. "Simon, something's not right."

"Yeah, I can see you up there," Simon responded. "It looks like you're having engine failure." Kyle saw Simon run inside the lab, and quickly come back out with a mattress. "Try to land on this, it should break your fall!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BREAK MY FALL SIMON! THIS SUIT WEIGHS LIKE TWO HUNDRED SOME POUNDS, WHICH COMBINED WITH MY WEIGHT AND THE VELOCITY THAT I'M FALLING AT, MEANS THAT MATTRESS IS GOING TO DO NOTHING TO BREAK MY FALL!" Kyle began rapidly picking up speed as he fell towards the ground. He collided into the mattress with a thud, creating a large person-sized hole in the cushion.

"Are you alright?" Simon asked concernedly. "That looked pretty painful." Kyle got up, groaning.

"I'm fine." Simon brushed the dust off his friend and took the suit off him.

"You are most certainly not! You're covered in bruises, have a massive gash on your left leg, and your suit is literally cooked." Kyle winced. Simon quickly ran back into the lab and brought out a tube of healing salve. Kyle looked over at his suit. He'd only had it for less than a day, and it was already wrecked. He felt like crying, but he was too tired to do so. He'd just went from being on top of the world to back to earth in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, what's up?" Kyle looked up. Above him stood Sophia, with a blue fedora tipped on her head.

"Well, my suit's dead, so there's that..."

"Oh, really? Let me see that for a second." Sophia walked over to what used to be Kyle's suit. "Oh, I can fix this." Kyle looked up at her, amazed. Sophia took out what looked like a small, black cube and threw it on the ground next to the wreckage of the suit. The cube unfolded itself, and attached itself to the suit. It scanned the suit for a second, then seemed to absorb itself into the suit. In the blink of an eye, the suit had restored itself to perfect condition. Kyle and Simon stared in wonder.

"How the bloody heck did you do that?" Simon asked, shocked.

"Come on, you have to have seen iAssembles before. Or have you never been outside since 2017?"

"Wasn't that the year that the bloke with bad hair was president? Anyway, thank you so much for your ex-machina appearance. We owe you one." Simon said.

"Eh, it's nothing really." Sophia reached out her hand, and the cube separated itself from the suit. It flew back into her hand, beeping. Anyway, I think we should name your little suit. Referring to it as 'the suit' is getting tiring."

"Good idea" Simon agreed. "I think we should name it Iron Man." Kyle rolled his eyes.

"How about Gearcrash? It's conveniently short and sounds cool."

"Good idea," Sophia said. "So are we going to be like a superhero team or something?"

"Ooh, like Team Arrow!" Simon shouted excitedly.

"Jesus, season nine of that show was awful" Kyle said. "I guess we're a team now then?" Sophia smiled.

"So we're a team now." She put out her fist, the looked at Kyle and Simon expectantly. They looked at each other for a second, then followed suit. "To team Gearcrash."

"To team Gearcrash" They joined in. Kyle had the feeling that the trio would be going on many adventures, very soon. But for now, he was starving.

"I'm going to grab a sandwich. Anyone else wanna come?"

"I'm down." Simon and Sophia joined him, as the three walked off into the night together.