ULTRAFORCE

by Zarathi

Gatefold

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ISSUE #3: Shattered Lives, Shattered Dreams, Part Two: Prototype

In freefall he found an unexpected liberation, a calmness that he had not anticipated to find or felt for some time. Life held too many responsibilities for him, the price of an abandoned childhood he supposed. So much in the works.

His duties constantly pulled him away from his friends and family. So little time to himself, or to think, barely enough to process everything that happened.

Good and evil sometimes merged into gray to his senses, not always sure who was truly right, regardless he followed his orders. But in this moment his cares were few and far between, he just didn't care, nothing mattered; there was no more stress or agitation, just peace. It was nice to find solace for once, the pain, frustration and confusion were all gone, everything was so much simpler.

Then the realization came, he still had much to do, so many to help. These thoughts saved him from destruction. The void could no longer control him through passive persuasion and decided to remove him from its fold. He streaked through the air gracefully as he went, almost like a star come home from the heavens, hot and bright. Then his magnificent, near angelic flight was cut short by a very thick brick wall.

"Arrrg!" Prototype grunted as he smashed through the wall and hit the ground with only slightly diminished force. "Ehhh... took a lot of damage.", he muttered while checking through his armors digital stats and protocols, armor integrity was at 20%, most the computer components were fried along with his power supply. "Shit.... Well.... at least nothing seems to be broken or dislodged." he sat up gingerly and tried to remove his helmet. He heard a somewhat wet ripping noise which caused him to desisted. "Well, that doesn't sound very good." Proto moaned slightly and refastened his helmet's snaps as a bit of blood dripped out of it onto the chest plate of his armor and slid down like hot butter "Hmmm... probably best leave that alone for now." When he pulled up to a squatting position he felt his skin tear and separate from his muscle in the armor, the balmy sensation of blood saturated his body, with a sharp breath in, he groaned "That didn't feel very good."

"And your going to feel even worse unless you explain who you are and what exactly you are doing here," A voice unintentionally boomed from the gap Prototype had made in the building's exterior.

"Well, by the armor alone it should be clear. I'm Prototype and currently I'm trying to figure out just how much of my skin and muscle tissue has been fused to my armor." Proto winced as he stood up, whoa this guys really big, not as big as Prime but he is working on it. I need some time to figure out what is going on, wonder if I can get some answers out of this lug "How about you?"

"I don't know who you are, but you look like a badly painted War Machine rip off." the man responded in a somewhat cautious but warm voice as he drew closer to Prototype and prepared to chase his prey if necessary.

"Prototype, part of the UltraForce," then Jimmy saw the blank stare and realized this man really had no clue what he was talking about, still he continued, perhaps in hopes to jog some forgotten memory of the man's mind  Lead by Hard Case, sponsored by UltraTech, any of this hitting home big guy?" he questioned relentlessly, a nervous tone creeping into his voice. What's going on here, something is majorly screwed up.

"That fall must have jangled your brain hard." the man replied, now only a few feet away from Prototype.

"No, I'm fine and you still haven't explained who you are." Proto answered feeling a little exposed and under informed.

"I'm U.S. Agent, of the Avengers, and I think you better start your story from the top "

"It was about 23:30 when Hard Case flipped, I couldn't really be sure my systems were already damaged from some earlier contact with the void. We were staying in some hick town on the outskirts of Philly, Quakertown I think. The going had been really tough that day, lost a bunch of people in a attempt to cut time through the void, needless to say we were all stressed and tired."

"What went wrong?" Agent asked, now enthralled in the chronicle, almost like a child sitting at the knee of father waiting for the end of a story.

"I'm not quite sure..." Prototype replied with a sigh "I was on patrol with Prime when the fight broke out, all I know is when we got back Prime and I had to witness Hard Case throw Siren into the void, I wasn't close enough to get her before it enveloped her. I raced into the void after her, I didn't see any other option, I couldn't let her go, I had to at least try. The last thing I saw was Prime holding off Hard Case for me as I hit the void." he stated as he shifted his weight on the bench "Rouge Ultra or not the Guy had guts."

"Isn't it a possibility that the others made it through the void too?" Agent questioned to give Prototype some hope of finding Siren. This boy has been through so much, its sad, no way he made up this story, he is at the midpoint of a great journey and still has so far to go.

"With how hard I hit; Prime, Topaz or Hardcase could have survived, I doubt Siren or some of the others could have or did." Proto replied mournfully. No second chances, no opportunity to explain, no possibility for forgiveness, I've screwed up royally.

"Well until you find your friends you will need some new ones," Agent said in a comforting tone "I myself have found New York a beautiful, yet hostile city."

"What do you mean?" Prototype questioned not quite able to understand Agent's drift.

"How would you like to be a temporary Avenger?" Agent questioned, a faint grin visible on his face

"John, what the hell were you thinking bringing him here?" An angry metal man voiced and moved in an agitated manner, his industrial strength steel chair whined under the pressure of the great mass it had to support.

"Calm down," Agent said as he put his hands up as a peaceful gesture, "...give me a chance to explain."

"Why not, things have been rather dull around here, its about time we spices things up, "a female with short auburn hair stated, crossed her legs and sat down beside her husband "...and it's got to be better than watching American Idol." she added with a crooked smile.

Once the group had settled down and there were no more audible objections from the peanut gallery, Agent continued the tale, "Jimmy Ruiz, or Prototype as his armored counter part is named, comes from an alternate dimension. In his world there are very few who choose to help the justice system control mutants, or as they are called in his universe, Ultras. Recently an unknown force literally ripped his reality apart. Jimmy doesn't know why it happened, but he does remember a great battle with a old friend of ours, Loki." Agent paused for what may seem to some as a dramatic effect, but he merely meant to let the fact sink so as to catch the attention of the group, hook line and sinker. "His universe has been reformed many times since the fight with Loki. He believes that the universe became unstable because of these alterations, that is what he alludes to be the reason the fabric of his time gave out. That catastrophe is what brought him to us."

"Henry, you have examined this Prototype, what can you tell us about this punk?" Falcon inquired an action that interrupted Agents proposal, not so much out of rudeness but a natural inclination to do such as well as some curiosity.

"Well, from what I have seen I don't think the kid is lying. Mentally I'd say he is ok, though he seems to suffer from some selective amnesia. He remembers the last week or so pretty well, and the events leading up to the destruction of his Earth but past that he has some big gaps. Physically he is in great condition the only thing I can't explain is the fact that some of his armor fused to the skin without killing the cells. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it before"

"I don't buy it, he is probably some sort of mutant or something." War Machine barked as he stood up.

"I haven't found anything concrete to suggest that he is a mutant, I don't think he is but I can't be sure. His chemistry is different from a normal humans, it may be because of the armor, or it may be normal in his reality."

"Not good enough Pym, him just happening to land in New York, surprisingly close to Avengers HQ, hooking up with Agent here." War Machine barked and pointed a metal arm at Agent "This situation reeks, the whole package is too... perfect".

"What isn't there to believe, WM? Look at his technology alone, some of it is highly compatible with yours and a great deal more effective, you yourself have admitted this." a darkly clad man who resided in the shadows spoke up.

"Yeah, and some of it is stone age compared to mine, most of it they probably pieced from earlier Iron Man models." War Machine scoffed, that the boy's crumbled suit is even half as good as mine, hah the idea is laughable.

"I think War Machine's jealous," the brunet joked in a malicious tone, "He finally has a worthy playmate, but it seems his opponent has better toys."

"That's ridiculous." War Machine belted "This guy is not to be trusted, as far as we know he is some sort of spy who is trying to infiltrate us."

"We can't be sure of that. We should give the kid a chance," U.S. Agent protested.

"Why don't we test him?" The brunet asked leaning back in her soft black leather chair.

"Do whatever you want, I'll have no part of this." WM snapped as he stormed out of the room nearly knocking down a late Jack of Hearts in the process.

"Whoa, watch it." Jack stated, then as he entered the room he questioned, "What's up with WM? He seems more arrogant than normal, if that's possible"

"He is just adjusting to some... changes, come on we have to talk" Agent replied and motioned for Jack to sit down.

He had been lying in the room for quite some time, several hours at the least since Dr. Pym had separated him from his armor. "I probably look like some kinda mummy." he smirked and checked out his bandages "Not much bleeding, that most defiantly has to be a good sign," as he sat up and took a cursory glance of the scenery, which wasn't much to take interest in. The digs were decent in his opinion, but he found no comfort in the empty blue room. The only thing remarkable about the sickly pastel room was the view it gave him of a snowy New York. Now as he stood there in the dark he moved with the grace of a cat to the window. To the security people who were watching him, via pinhole camera, this was remarkable when you took into consideration that Jimmy Ruiz had lost about 68% of the skin on his body. Jimmy made an attempt to open the slidable glass window, he found it stuck or most likely locked, some great new friends he thought as two men entered the room.

"Jimmy, you should be resting" Dr. Henry Pym stated as he walked up to Jimmy "It may sound strange but I honestly I feel fine Doc" Jimmy replied with mild enthusiasm as he turned around.

"That's the anesthetics talking, you shouldn't over exert yourself, you've been through a lot Jimmy." Pym reaffirmed and guided Ruiz away from the window.

"Ok Doc, if you say so." Jimmy answered, his movement showed no sign of weakness or discomfort, best to play follow the leader for now, man I really despise this game. I think we are in for a channel change, lets try Discovery "Hey Agent, what's the verdict on me?"

"Its still out Jim, you will be tested of course, but I have no doubt that you will pass," U.S. Agent smiled " I think its safe to say... Welcome to the Avengers, son"