18 On a fun trip with Upgrade

Moments later my black and green form was joined up with our Quinjet as we rocketed through the sky. I did a roll while Rhodey whopped in joy and Natasha smirked, the two piloting me back to the helicarrier.

"Hey," Natasha asked suddenly as we flew. "How many environments can you survive in?"

I blinked a singular green eye. "What sort do you want me to survive in?"

Natasha pulled on the controls, guiding me to downwards. Curious, I went where she told me too.

"Uh... Natasha?" Rhodey asked.

There was nothing but blue ocean below us. Natasha had that confident smirk on her face as she pushed me to go faster until I broke the sound barrier, not letting up on our downward course at all.

"Natasha!" Rhodey yelled in a panic.

We slammed into the ocean. My surface adjusted to the impact with ease as we dived further and further down into the cold water. I took my radar and sensors and adjusted them for the ocean while turning my HUD into something that would allow Natasha and Rhodey to see in the dark of the sea as though it was lit by a Hollywood movie crew.

"...Wow," Rhodey said in awe.

The bottom of the ocean soon came into view. Still flying at hypersonic speed, I took us to the nearest objects my radar could find. I slowed down and floated upwards when we came closer to the objects I sensed drifting through the waves. Soon, we were in view.

A pod of Orca whales drifted through the ocean, incredibly massive animals that glided in the water as I flew in to join them. The beautiful animals eyed us as I swam alongside them, the sounds of their clicks surrounding them. Their black and white forms seemed to glide with a grace that left me in awe.

The three of us watched for a moment. Rhodey rested his elbows on my dashboard while Natasha rested in her seat and let me pilot myself for a bit.

Soon though, I decided to look for something else thanks to a wish to fulfill an old dream of mine. With a bit of regret, I turned around, leaving the Orcas behind.

I headed towards coordinates after doing a quick Google search, moving through the ocean faster than the worlds top fighter jets. It didn't long for me to get where I was headed.

"Mahmoud?" Natasha said.

"Just... I've always wanted to see this," I said.

"What?" Rhodey asked. "You find Atlantis or something?"

I chuckled at that. "No. But we're in the North Atlantic, and according to my GPS, this should be off the coast of Newfoundland at the right coordinates. I'll admit, maybe it's kind of stereotypical of me to think 'hey, I can swim to the bottom of the ocean at high speed, I want to go to see'..." I trailed off when it came into view.

A ship, resting on the bottom of the ocean. Well, the front of one. It was brown and rusted and cracked in various locations. The part where it had torn from its back section looked squashed, as though a giant had pulled it until it snapped. A metal pole rested across the top of it. Despite the decrepit look of the wreck, it had a sort of majesty to it. You could see the remnants of the great ship it had once been. The Quinjet being positively tiny next to it helped.

"Okay, that is cool," Rhodey said, looking closer.

"That's..." Natasha added softly.

"The Titanic," I clarified. "I've always wanted to see her. It's been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Granted, I wasn't the submarine in my dream..."

While I could easily see every bit of the ship with my robotic eyes even despite the darkness, I still shone a light across its surface, simply for how cool it looked. We flew around the ship, Rhodey taking photos on his phone and Natasha watching peacefully. After a while, Natasha spoke.

"Okay, time to go. Unless you have something else you've always wanted to see?"

I thought about that. Then I rose up, shooting towards the surface. As we slammed into the open air, I kept going, making it clear that my only goal was up towards the sky.

"Oh come on," Rhodey groaned. "Don't tell me you want to see satellites or something?"

"No," I admitted. "But I want to see the curvature of the Earth. See if those flat-earth people know what they're talking about."

"Speaking as a former fighter pilot and current owner of flying power armor capable of going up that high, I guarantee you they aren't," Rhodey said in the dry tones of the severely offended.

Passing the clouds, we were soon high enough that blue sky became black night. My rockets glowed green, pushing me through the atmosphere. The rotors in my wings twisted into engines similar to those one would see on fighter jets. Soon, we were out of the atmosphere, in the middle of true space.

From there, I turned us around. I could see the Earth's beauty below. I could sense satellites in the distance. The sun glowed with enough power to blind a person without protection, which made me glad I'd prepared for that by polarizing the window for Rhodey and Natasha.

And I could sense the moon in the distance. Reaching my sensors out until they were far more powerful than anything on Earth, I found what I was looking for. They were hiding pretty well, but they were there. I hid away that confirmation.

Instead, I focused on the view, on the sight of the clouds on the planet below, on the sun, burning so beautifully, and the place beyond all that. My sensors became telescopes, and I showed Rhodey and Natasha close up views of the other planets.

None of us said anything. We simply watched the wonder around us in peace.

After a moment, we twisted back towards the Earth.

I didn't know what to think. The things we had seen... Few people on Earth had seen either the Titanic in its final resting place on the bottom of the ocean or the deep of space with the Earth rolling beneath them. I couldn't imagine many who had ever seen both. Somehow it felt... like a privilege. Something I had to earn now.

"Thanks," Natasha said. "I... I never thought I would see things like that."

"Me either," I admitted. "I wish we had time. With aliens around, there are planets to visit. People we could talk to. There is so much to do out there."

"Earth isn't good enough for ya?" Rhodey asked jokingly.

I barked out a laugh. "No, of course it is. Our planet is hands down the best man, we created the telephone!"

"Pretty sure other aliens have the telephone too," Natasha noted.

"Well, we also made Cinnabon though," I joked.

"So what?" Rhodey asked. "You eager to see the aliens your watch turns you into?"

Flying as the Quinjet, I felt glad I could hide my reaction.

"I mean, I'll be honest," Rhodey said. "I would not like to fight an entire species that can turn helicarriers into their own personal death machines. Or unstoppable monsters like Rath or Diamondhead."

I didn't answer. Natasha clearly noticed my lack of reaction, but I simply flew towards the helicarrier.

It might be time to give explanations to the group. Maybe not right that second, but after I'd had a moment to think.