2.12

9:55 AM, 4th of April, 1989

Location: Cafe, in a private booth.

Fleur was livid, hearing about the ape and it's master's plan. As far as the strange plane was concerned Airforce investigators were crawling over the wreckage with a fine tooth comb. What had been found however was shocking to them.

The plane itself was covered in a layer of ceramic composite armour that absorbed radar. The components they could identify matched no known maker and the unknown technology was built into the plane from the ground up. It was designed to include them, rather than haphazardly upgrading as a prototype could be. Some elements, such as the turret were a kind of transferable payload that could be swapped out, but the fibre cables running the length of the ship (believed to be the cloaking device) and the strange energy generator that fuelled the engines were integrated flawlessly. Speculation suggested it was operable even in low orbit.

Thus the entire military wing of France in the know was horrified.

This was a stealth plane that could easily be used to destroy their nation. It showed industrial production and planning and technology beyond anything they had seen before.

One thing was discovered, that survived the majority of the destruction: the cannon/bazooka used by Mallah which he hit me with twice. It was some as yet indecipherable sonic based weaponry.

The fragments of the neural disrupter/pain amplifier were too mangled by the EMP I hit it with. However it was concluded that the device had a small bomb built in, based on the burn pattern.

As we talked May nodded off to one side, because for some reason she had decided that my home was now hers and that I needed her protection twenty four, seven. She didn't actually understand what was said in French, but she nodded anyway. It was kinda cute.

I made sure she got some pastries to keep her occupied as Fleur and I talked.

Ryan at least was more interested in sleeping in. He's planning to just relax today, which he's doing in a private room in a hotel.

Anyhow, that attack by Mallah was a wake up call. I need to be more proactive. I've been stagnating.

Once we're done Fleur pauses in her professional act to squee and hug May tightly. Which is a side I've never seen from her before. She settles into the booth next to the girl and begins petting the brunette like a cat, pulling May onto her lap.

May gives her a complicated look for a moment before settling back down and eating pastries.

Then Fleur whispers in her ear and May is blushing and trying to hide from my curious look.

"Girl talk." Fleur says to my look, sounding pleased with herself.

I shake my head in response. I really don't want to know.

Next stop: Louise's workshop, with May tagging along as a guardian angel… um… bodyguard.

I had to float past the front gate of the military base to identify May as a guest before settling my sheet of compressed iron dust on the landing pad assigned to me as a parking space.

Knocking before entering I found a worried looking Louise hurrying to meet me. It almost looked like she was going to hug me, but she paused when she saw May.

"Who is this…?" She asked.

"May. She has powers. May, this is Louise. She is a magic practitioner." The two exchanged glares. Uh… not good.

Then Louise switched to ignoring her. "I heard the report, you were attacked and nearly kidnapped?!"

"Yes, that's why I'm here." I pulled out a plastic bag. "Can you use or create something that has a tracking ability? I have some hairs of the Gorilla that rubbed off onto my clothes."

She thought a moment. "I'll need a set of maps… or better an atlas. I think dowsing could work to narrow the location down to a few dozen square kilometres."

I smiled. "Then I'd just have to do some leg work. By all means, give me a moment."

"May, be right back. Try not to fight with Louise while I'm gone. I just need to visit a book store." I explained to my new right hand woman, apparently.

She crossed her arms in annoyance and looked sharply at Louise who narrowed her eyes back.

The brief fifteen minutes of the trip had apparently lead to unusual events. I found the pair happily chatting away in pidgin English. Louise was apparently fluent enough to be understood and May to understand. Well, if May is to spend a decent length of time here, immersion in the local language is the fastest way to learn how to be understood.

They both looked up and smiled… I felt a brief shiver and the weirdest feeling. Like I was a piece of meat.

I took a breath.

Focus.

I handed over the atlas. Louise pulled out a jagged lump of quartz on a string and held it over the map. It pulled towards Europe. We flipped to the map of the region. France. The monkey was still here!

National map. Where are you? The crystal pointed to a place I wouldn't have expected. A rather inhospitable region on the side of a mountain in the alps. Bingo. Lair.

Local map. Got you.

Louise looked pleased and May was memorising the location, having marked it with a pen.

"Can I ask for one more favour? I need a defence against loud noise." Louise seemed confused before pulling out a rock with runes carved into it, handing it to me.

"Silence charm. I use it when I'm enchanting. Keep it. When you need to use it, rub it." She explained.

"Thanks, this should be a great help." She smiled brightly. "And… I'm sorry about the other day, trying to drag you along to a fight… you don't need that. What you're doing right now is invaluable." She pat my shoulder.

"It is okay. Perhaps one day. On my own time I've been going to the gun range on the base to test my creations." She explained. I nodded. Not a bad idea, even as simple self defence for someone who can conjure guns from thin air.

My next stop was a junkyard. I paid a rather exorbitant fee to take anything from the heap I could carry on my person. May watched with glittering eyes as I began to upgrade my costume. Underneath, Punk styled leather jacket studded in places and matching pants. Steel cables wound around my arms and connected, interwoven. Crushed cars were compressed and melted down by friction at an atomic level, cast by my barriers and magnetic fields into solid, compressed sheets of armour to overlay the cables in a smooth appearance, interlocking perfectly. A helmet, because while I may not be Magneto, I am emulating him and sometimes feel a kind of kinship. So a helmet like his classical one as a homage. All of it fitted better than a high class business suit. Skintight, yet smoothed out surfaces and edges to avoid abrasions. Atomic level smooth. It felt like silk.

Solid as I could make it. Even micro fractures and weaknesses fixed.

The guy at the gate of the junkyard just stared open mouthed as I walked out in shiny chromed surfaces, using the cables as muscles I was able to move fluidly despite the three hundred kilos of metal I wore. The cape, woven from copper filaments micrometres thick was majestic.

I grinned and tipped him extra, because I was certain I'd just cheated him.

May seemed really intense as she gushed about how cool I looked.

The finishing touches were the hardest part: The outer surface of the metal plates and cape is a thin layer of manganese alloy extracted from the steel. Bright purple. while the cabling and cape has a rust red from iron oxide.

Now I feel suitably like my role model. My looks are different, a kind of palette swap with elements of Iron Man's suits in the sleek lines and form fitting nature. Bad form to rip off this universe's heroes, after all.

I'm not sure if this suit can take heavy damage, I'll test that later. For now, it should be enough.

May struck me as equally as fragile as myself, so I included her in my little construction frenzy. She's been wearing a blouse and skirt with leggings I had brought to my apartment yesterday. A thin breastplate under her blouse, with chain mail as light and tough as possible. Her power seems to work through proximity, rather than touch so I add chain gauntlets and greaves thin enough they are hidden by the stockings. The final touch, an iron mask inlaid with a design like a blooming flower.

Covered in so much metal, I was able to carry her aloft without foothold. She was thrilled by experiencing something equivalent to actual flight. To finish her defences I found her a few nice pouches and a belt, which I filled with seeds from varieties of plants. She mixed them together declaring she could identify them by feel. Showing this ability off by pulling out an apple seed after naming it.

Wanting to keep radio silence for operational security, I arranged for a second meeting with Fleur. Who knows how far reaching Brain's information network is, with his tech.

That monkey and his disembodied brain were going down! This time, for certain!