Falling for it With Style

Music blared from one earbud as Shin hovered over the city. The other bud was firmly tucked away inside his white “diamond” suit of armor. No matter how often he did it, flying practice never got boring. Surveying the city, Shin sang along with the song.

”Flying in the sky~”, He sang. The song quickly shifted into a stream of Japanese. The opening theme to G Gundam had seemed a fitting song to throw on his media player for the flying practice session. He was still getting used to moving around above the city in just his armor, with no flying tortilla platform beneath his feet.

The shard armor was white, and appeared to be constructed from layer upon layer of little triangles that almost looked like a fish scale dusting of diamonds. It was form-fitting, with two icicle-shaped projections on his right shoulder and a green triangle that glowed a bit brighter than the white armor in the center of his chest on the “breastplate.” When he’d first made it, he had omitted a helmet, but if the various Tokusatsu super hero shows over the years had taught him anything, it was this: helmets are both good for safety, and cool.

His helmet was pretty simple. It was the same white fish scale design of the armor, with a clear white triangle set point-down in the middle of it, for a visor. He hadn’t gone to the troubles so many Super Sentai series do of setting a giant overarching theme to their “power rangers” armor. No pterodactyls or playing card-themed visors or anything. He also certainly didn’t look like a bug. Maybe another time?

The Asian drifted down in the sky, passing a skyscraper. His triangular pupils glinted with intelligence as Shin scanned the streets, rapidly calculating distances and making measurements to help plot his course on his vision grid “UI.” He noted that he’d been using quotation marks mentally for so many things about his armor, and decided to do away with that. If it was similar to a UI, to the point it may as well have been a flight computer system in his head, he may as well call it a UI, outright. He was basically wearing power armor. All he was missing was a heads up display with meters and gauges that let him know fuel levels and when he had to pee.

“I am in pro mode,”Shin thought aloud. He didn’t need all the gauges and meters and map nav to get around. Though a GPS would not hurt... maybe he ought to look into investing in an Apple Watch or some sort of Smart Glass?

His X-communicator was held in place on his right breast by shards, a red circle with a black X across it. The communicator made a noise, and alerted him to a crime in progress that could use X-man help. Shin noted the street, glanced around, and targeted the best possible route. Then, he swooped down into the city to help people out.

—

It hadn’t taken long for him to stop the bank robbers. They’d stolen a car, and a load of money, then tried to drive away with the cash. He supposed they’d had things in order. They had predicted everything. Everything except the thud as Shard landed on their hood. They swerved briefly, as was expected, but he didn’t do what most super hero rookies might, and try to extricate them from the car or distract them so they would crash... or generally endanger passerby just as much as them waving their guns might. He’d prepared beforehand. As he landed, the single shard spear he’d placed on his palm punctured the hood of the vehicle right where the fuel supply should have been. The car slowed to a crawl, and they finally stopped it as the fuel ran out. Metal groaned as he whipped the spear free. He looked a terrifying sight, with a spear on his right fist and a spear hanging off his right shoulder. The four men in the black ski masks panicked.

The man in the passenger side of the front seat made the first move. It was a bad move. He leaned out the passenger side window of the truck and aimed his shotgun at Shin. Crouched where he was, the armored Asian couldn’t dodge. He hunkered down on the hood, and brought both arms up in front of his body to protect him from the blast. He closed his eyes.

The world lit up around Shin in a constellation of little white stars. Each star was the pain from the impact of a shotgun pellet against the black field of his mind. While his shard armor was summarily bulletproof, up to a point, the force from each impact still tore at him, tore at his body, tore at the psychic connection between the shards and his mind. It pushed him back half an inch. He would have some sexy bruises. He hadn’t died though, which was nice!

The man stared down the shotguns barrel at the person he’d just shot, who had not died. “Son of a-“

”Language.” Shin intoned. He raised his free hand and flicked a finger. His shard wedding ring flew off a finger into the front of the man’s head. It hit like a baseball, and the man snapped back in his seatbelt from the hit. He rolled unconscious back into the vehicle through his window. The shotgun tumbled onto the street.

The driver goggled at Shin with big eyes. As the two men in the back seat rushed to get out their doors on either side of the truck, the Asian calmly extricated himself from the hood of the vehicle. The white ring drifted back onto his raised hand as he walked around the front of the truck, towards the man on the left.

”Give up. Please. It’ll be so much less work for everyone involved.” Shin said. His voice was sincere. The man, however, ignored him. He came at the Asian with a knife.

Shin did something from a martial arts movie that involved a lot of twisting and turning. It left the man tumbling into the street, disarmed.

On the ground, the man growled. Then he went for the shotgun. Shin brought up his right hand and made a “finger gun.” He focused. A white sphere appeared by his finger tip, glowing. As the man aimed the shotgun at him, Shin smiled beneath the helmet. A smile no one could see.

”This is way too self-indulgent, but Spirit Gun!” He shouted, announcing his attack straight out of his favorite anime. The sphere knocked the gun from the guys hands before he could fire it and sent it sailing several feet away. Shin ran up and decked him with a hard shard gauntleted fist. Another man, down.

A sound reached his ears from his right, and Shin snapped his body around to face the source. The man from the other side of the truck had come around the vehicle to flank him. He had a big gun, too. Not a shotgun. It looked like some sort of rifle, possibly automatic. Probably not. Before the man could open fire on him, Shin whipped his arm up and sent the spike he’d mounted on his wrist flying into the barrel of the weapon.

”I would not advise firing that weapon unless you like Loony Tunes.” Shin said cheerfully. ”Because it will blow up in your face.”

The man lowered the gun and took a step back. His eyes drifted first to one of his unconscious friends, then to the other. “Freaking x-man.” He muttered. “You got an answer to everything. Tell me.” He glanced at his friend behind the wheel. The driver looked like he was going to faint. The man’s voice faltered, and he bowed his head. “What should I do.”

Shin told him. When the police arrived, the man went quietly. The entire group had been so soundly defeated, the fight had gone out of him. There hadn’t ever been any fight in the driver to begin with. Shin dismissed his armor as things wrapped up, pocketing his communicator. It didn’t feel right talking to police while armored up like a tank. A half hour later, the police let him go. The Asian walked off down the street, towards the nearest bus stop. Sure, he could fly home, but he wanted to hit up a nearby deli on the way and didn’t feel like drumming up the mental effort to take to the air. Being shot at takes a psychic toll in its very own league. Music trailed from his earbuds as he walked. Something from some outdated Japanese cartoon from the 80s and 90s. Those were his favorite. He was pretty sure he’d fought that entire fight to cowboy bebops Tank!!!

It had taken some patience and some planning but it was time. Ved had done his research, set up the space and triggers, and put a few key players in place. He’d listened carefully for the right opportunity and today he’d heard it: Shard was out patrolling. Social media betrayed much of city activities; you just had to watch the right feeds and trends. Police scanners did the rest.

A poker game had gone wrong for young Teddy Jackson. He’d gotten caught or at least Ved had made sure he did by two dumb brutes who were remarkably easy to manipulate. A swift punch to the gut and Teddy grunted in pain.

“We caught ya,” the first growled.

“Taking our money was your first mistake,” the second chuckled.

“Getting caught was the second,” the first laughed in response.

“I swear, no,” the late 20 something Teddy insisted as he get up. “I didn’t put that card under my drink. It was that girl. She took some of my chips.”

“Yeah right,” one said, Teddy wasn’t sure whom it was, as he dodged one fist only to get thrown in the wall of the alley.

Teddy fell back against the wall, knocking over a trash can and screaming in surprise. If things were timed right the Xer should be close by.

“You’re gonna pay buddy,” someone said loudly as Teddy stumbled back. The Chicago-sounding native was all of 5’10” and his baggy clothes didn’t speak to much in the way of cash flow. Of course that’s exactly how it was supposed to look.

“Guys, I swear-“ Teddy insisted only to take a swift hit to the face. Ow. That he hadn’t anticipated right. But the faint sound of anime tunes?

That was right on cue.

He heard the clatter of the trash can just as he was changing songs on his media player. Shin pulled out his earbuds. They plopped onto the front of his white shirt, settling amid the blue and black stripes of the design. He spun towards the nearby alley where he’d heard the sound, And listened.

Amid the background noise of an anime fight theme, Shin heard the scream. He heard the voices. He took a step closer to the alley, then another. Thump, biff! He heard the impact of a fist against a face.

Low grade violence. Mugging, probably. Or a disagreement that had turned violent. He didn’t summon any shards, but in the back of his mind, the Asian imagined a silvery circle made of interlocking triangles. He held the image in his head as Tetsuya Shinbo strode into the alley. The song was Yurusenee!! From the Yu Yu Hakusho anime soundtrack. Loud enough for the people in the alley to hear faintly: he had probably had his earbuds turned up too high.

Shin approached the group casually. He wore a cavalier smile, and his eyes were settled in the middle of nothing, so he never focused on one person specifically, yet had them all in his peripheral vision. He’d been in his share of street fights. He knew to watch every angle. His stance was loose, arms at his sides.

“Hey, guys!” he said, friendly as could be. “What seems to be the problem?”

“F off,” the first growled as all eyes turned on the man who’d walked into the alley.

“Yeah, can’t you see this is a private party?” the second warned.

“Nah, they can’t see so good, y’know?” the first snickered at his low-grade, racist joke.

“Hey fellas, leave him outta this,” Teddy insisted, trying to step away from the wall. The second pivoted, looming, and Teddy ducked as the fist came flying.

The first reached a couple fingers into his long, plaid-shirted sleeve and with a flick, a long knife was in his hand. “F. Off,” he urged, eyes narrowing on the newcomer while Teddy dove sideways into garbage and rolled, trying to keep the second off of him.

The eloquence of the grumpy muggers was astounding! A F off AND a racist joke? Amazing! Their comments didn’t drive him off. They just made him want to help the guy they were harassing even more. Anything to open their eyes to the bigger problem, that being their attitudes.

No witty quips escaped him. He kept up the casual air, and didn’t even let it seem like their remarks had dinged him. All he did was arch an eyebrow and tilt his head. Inside, he was calculating various details, such as distance from the men, proximity to things like trash cans or broken bottles. Anything that could be used as an improvised weapon or an environmental object to fight with or around, Jackie Chan style. They stood upon his green vision grid, and he took their measure. What was the saying? Measure twice, cut once. His power was all about cutting. Seemed a fitting phrase.

The guy they were bothering was trying to protect him, when was sweet, but hardly helpful for HIM. Shin was in this. He wouldn’t be deterred, even by the victims own wishes.

The kids comment got a violent response. Shin stepped forward as the kid ducked the blow. He stopped for a moment, as the second of the two men pulled a knife on him.

There were a couple of ways he could handle the situation. He could take the man out rapidly, using his power. He could ignore the knife guy and move to defend the kid. He could use overwhelming force that didn’t seem warranted, and try to take out them both. Or, he could choose a little of column A and a little of column B. It had been long enough. His mental focus on the construct had been given plenty of time to grow. With an internal snap, he called the construct into being.

The shield was round on the edge, and curved outwards like a contact lens. It was made from countless interlocking triangles. Across its face, one could see multiple long, larger shards amid the sea of tiny “fish scale” triangles. They cut across it in an imperfect X design. The shield was diamond white, and— Shin placed it between the kid rolling in garbage and his attacker, rather than between himself and the man with the knife.

“You really don’t want to attack me,” Shin said calmly. He kept his body poised and ready, balanced on the balls of his feet. “Honestly, I’m telling you. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

Shin did not rush the man with the knife. That is a fantastic way to get yourself cut to ribbons. Instead, he waited, ready to respond with a disarming move or a martial arts grapple and throw at the very right instant. And while Shin waited, he split his focus between the knife man and the shield. He was ready to stop an attack there, too.

He threw his shield between a really solid looking punch and the kid, just as the man with the knife attacked him. Shin moved in a circular motion, arms snapping at limbs and grabbing in a throw meant to send the man sailing towards the concrete beyond him. The shield did not make a metallic ring when struck. That simply wasn’t it’s way.

“What the-“ the second muttered as the shield manifested between him and the young man on the ground.

“Wow,” the kid grunted as he leaned back and let the supporting wall help him up. The Shard guy had cool powers. It wasn’t hard to find out what you needed about the X-Men. The fact this guy could fly too seemed unfair. The fish scale appearance was a nice touch. Man, his lip hurt…

>> “You really don’t want to attack me,”

“Mutie,” the first shouted as his eyes narrowed. It hadn’t been hard to find racist, bigoted jerks either.

>> “Honestly, I’m telling you. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Ha,” the first laughed and the second smirked, but he glanced warily at the shield protecting his target.

The kid went to move and the second took his chance to throw a punch but no, it hit the shield. The first took his chance with the knife before getting hit, grabbed, and flung back. It happened fast and the kid rolled through a bit of foul water and scurried up near to the mutant.

“F this, man,” the first roared. “We’ll get our money.”

“Let’s go,” the second urged.

“I didn’t cheat,” Teddy pleaded. “That girl set me up.”

The two were retreating down the other end of the alley, but the first kept the knife in hand. The second retreated faster though he sneered at the kid.

Ha! Ha ha. That laughter was more cutting than any razor blade barrier he could have wrought. Everything they’d said, he’d heard before, and worse. Even in camps. From mutants who had hated themselves and wanted to die. So aside from biting laughter, he didn’t take much from the crap coming out of their mouths.

They tried their luck, despite his warnings. Tried, and failed. After the brief exchange, they ran. Shin thought he heard one of them mention “getting their money”, but the context of the comment was a mystery.

Shin turned, and offered the kid a hand up off the ground and the alley water. Nobody wants to stay in alley water. It’s 75% hobo pee.

”Are you okay? What was all that about?” Shin asked. The good ol cop voice only came out a little.

The X-Man offered a hand and Teddy – as he set himself up to be – took it while sending a suggestion of trust for the green eyed young man. He looked disheveled now, a few scrapes, and a healthy bruise on his eye. Rising to his feet, Teddy shook his head and sighed.

>> ”Are you okay? What was all that about?”

“We were playing some cards. They’re like ‘oh winner buys beer’ and I thought sure,” Teddy smirked and then frowned. “Then it was how about something a bit more interesting. It wasn’t a lot,” he glanced down shamefully. “Just a hundred a piece and I won, but some girl… She put cards under my drink!" he looked up, holding eye contact. And it’s true – she had – since Teddy had suggested her to do so.

“They suddenly get all pissed when I go to take a drink – why would I have lifted the glass if I knew I had cards hidden there?” Teddy shook his head. “Suddenly I owe them double. Maybe it was a set up. I don’t walk around with hundreds of dollars. They freak out and here we are. Guess this is why they say be careful in the big city and not to gamble. My momma warned me,” he sighed again.

“Thank you though, really. You uh… You got some cool powers, uhm, sir,” he smiled gently.

The shard constructs vanished, at a subtle mental command from Shin. Shard felt like he could trust the kid, even if he’d gotten himself into a bad situation. That happens. He’d gotten his own dumb self into many a shady situation, in his own day.

Gambling was risky, but at least it hadn’t been street fighting. Those people are serious about what they do to cheaters... and usually, they’re mutants and make sure it doesn’t happen again, with fire and flames. Or exploding kittens. Or other powers, less generic.

It was good the kid had lucked into him being around. A lucky coincidence, for sure. The Asian never even considered that maybe, the existence of coincidences is akin to the existence of Santa Claus— just a myth adults tell small children. Everything happens for a reason. Then again, turn it the right way and that’s another myth.

The kid thanked him. Shin nodded, face stern. ”No problem. You’re lucky I was around... hope it doesn’t sound like I’m too much of a hard ass if I tell you that you really need to be more careful.”

He was quiet for a second, then his face softened. ”Hopefully you learned your lesson and it won’t happen again. What’s your name, kid? Maybe I can give you a lift... somewhere. Somewhere where they can’t track you down after I leave.”

He trusted the kid for some reason, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be reasonably hard with him. Or that he wouldn’t try and help however else he could. Troubled people can always use help, even if it’s just an ear.

>> ”No problem. You’re lucky I was around... hope it doesn’t sound like I’m too much of a hard ass if I tell you that you really need to be more careful.”

“Yeah, clearly,” Teddy nodded nervously. “I’m not so sure that was just a teach ya a lesson kind of hit.” He rubbed his jaw and blew an exasperated breath. “Real lucky.”

>> ”Hopefully you learned your lesson and it won’t happen again. What’s your name, kid? Maybe I can give you a lift... somewhere. Somewhere where they can’t track you down after I leave.”

“My name is Teddy,” he grinned cheerfully even as his eyes was darkening from the hit. “And thanks, I wouldn’t mind… Wait,” he blinked a few times. “Do you mean like, lift lift?” He glanced upward, eyes widening. He wasn’t about to turn down a chance to fly! Damn, nice.

“That’s awful kind of ya.”

Teddy’s name was Teddy. He’d known a Teddy once, but he had a sinking suspicion this one didn’t turn into teddy bears.

His offer of a lift was met with surprise, then something akin to excitement. At least, that was Shins take on it all. The kid played it cool, but his glanced skywards as the mental gears went into motion, followed by the calm acceptance of the offer made Shin think... well, it made him think what kind of person wouldn’t accept an offer to fly, given the chance.

The fact the kid got “fly” from “lift” told Shin that maybe Teddy had heard of him. Maybe from that whole bank robbery a half hour ago? Nothing strange about that.

He’d nodded at the lift lift comment, and smiled at the “That’s mighty kind of you” comment.

”You’ve got a couple of options.” Shin noted, ticking them off on his fingers one by one. ”Flying triangle platform, if you want the basics. Or a motorcycle with a sidecar, if you’re more into that book series about the wizard kid with the glasses. I could probably also manage a Pokémon, if you’re a huge video game nerd. Or I could just put on a suit of armor and fly you myself. Although that offers a lot less elbow room. Alternatively, I could just hire you a cab.”