New Markets - 02 (69 page)

Chrome said, "That's not my real name, but yeah, I guess people are calling me that."

Psycom said, "Would you kindly release Diva or does this have to be a fight?"

Chrome said, "I'll stop if she does.  She's destroying my house."

I said, "Huh?  How can a robot have a house?"

She said, "I'm
not
a damn robot!"

"You aren't?"

"No, I'm just made of metal."

"You look like a robot."

She yanked my shoulders back even harder.  "Quit calling me that!"

"Okay, okay!"

Psycom said, "Diva, are you going to fight if she releases you?"

"No."

"All right then.  Chrome, release her."

The robot ... err ... Chrome slowly let go of me.  I slowly stood up and adjusted my dress.  My face was bright red as Psycom watched me.

Chrome stood up, "Idiot, you tore my clothes too."

I looked at my dress; fortunately it had suffered little damage from the fight.

Psycom looked at Chrome, "What caused the initial call about a fight here?"

Chrome huffed, "Probably my sewing machine.  I accidentally hit it and it went through my and the neighbor's house."

"You ... hit .... your sewing machine?"

"Yeah, everything's breaking today, damnit!  I was pissed off!"

"Listen, you can't be a danger to the neighborhood.  I don't care if you are a new super or not, you need to get yourself under control.  And you, Diva, what did you do, just bust in here and start fighting her?"

I said, "Well ... yeah.  There was a big hole in the wall, when I came in she came storming out like a robot.  So I tried to stop her."

He sighed.  "I think you are both idiots.  Just stand apart from each other until one of the agents show up.  I'm marking this closed."  He tapped on his phone a few times, leaned against a wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

Chrome said, "Well, at least now I know that getting hit hard doesn't hurt."

I said, "My kick didn't even hurt you?"

"Not really."

"What the hey.  I'm supposed to be a brick."

Psycom said, "You might be.  Power levels can vary even among the same type of supers.  Or if you have more powers they'll often be weaker."

"Oh yeah, I can fly."

Chrome said, "Must be nice."

"Well, I haven't figured out how to use it yet."

"Who wouldn't try to figure out how to fly on day one?  That's the first thing I'd be doing, it's too good."

"Well ... you need to stop crimes for the press to show up."

"Pfah, that's a dumb reason to be a hero.  You just want to be in newspapers?"

"No, I want to model."

Chrome opened her mouth to say something else, shook her head and closed her mouth. 
Obviously she figured out the benefits of press coverage to a model.

A man in a suit and a black overcoat came in after a while.  He had a badge with H.E.R.O. on it hanging from his belt.  He really could have done with a different style of suit to accentuate his shoulders.  Also, his shoes, while I’m sure they were comfortable, didn’t pop at all.

He introduced himself as Agent Carson.  He went through a boring, but detailed interrogation of the events we’d just been a part of. 
Now I get it, he’s some kind of administrative assistant. 
I was kind of disappointed that he spent as much or more time looking at Chrome’s metal face as he did looking at me.  He barely even glanced at my legs.  When he finished he quickly left.

Chrome said, “Would you guys come across the street with me to the neighbor’s?  I’d like to apologize to them, but I don’t want them to be afraid.”

Psycom said, “Sorry, I’ve got to jet.  Diva could use more exposure, though.”  He laughed at his own joke.

Chrome flashed her teeth at me.  I wasn’t even sure if she was smiling or growling at me, although she didn’t make any growling sound.  Pretty scary looking face to stare at, though.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was really a robot.

I said, “Uhh, okay.”  Her expression changed, but again I couldn’t tell what she was trying to convey, so I turned and followed Psycom outside.

It was easy to spot the house; right across the street was a hole about a foot or two in size in their front wall.  Psycom flew up into the sky. 
Ooh!  That’s right, I need to contact Black Tiger and get together with his friend to teach me to fly! 
I glanced back at Chrome, although I could hear her thumping footsteps on the driveway with every step she took.

I looked her up and down.  Her long t-shirt and sweat pants were ripped in places.  The t-shirt was too small, and did a good job showing her chest and abdomen now.  She was missing one sock.

We walked across the street and she touched the doorbell.  A woman answered.

She said, “Hello?”

Chrome said, “Hi Sally, it’s Selina.  I … changed with that meteor shower last Saturday.”

Sally looked downright afraid looking at the robot … err, Chrome.  Well, she might as well be a robot for all the humanity she appeared now.

I said, “Hi, I’m Diva.  I’m a H.E.R.O. person.”  I waved to her, remembering the warnings from the hospital that I could crush the hand of a person.

She smiled at me a moment.  “Those are quite the boots.”

“Thanks.” 
I knew the thigh highs and mini-dress would look good!

Chrome said, “Well, Sally – I wanted to apologize for the wall.  Trying to get used to this metal skin is a real pain.”  She banged her knuckles on the other arm to highlight the point.

Sally asked, “What happened?”  She looked like she was being polite, but was really uncomfortable talking to the metal … thing … in front of her.

Chrome replied, “I tried doing some of my jewelry work and just destroyed it all.  I can’t … I can’t hold it light enough not to crush it now.  Then I broke the sewing machine and slapped it, and it just flew through the wall.”

“All the way over here?”

“Yeah.  I’m really strong now.”  I nodded at that.  My stomach and shoulder were still quite sore.

I wisely said, “You should avoid shaking hands and touching people now.  Us bricks need to watch that.”

She looked at me a moment with those creepy eyes – by far the only human looking thing on her apart from her body shape – but without the look of normal skin on her face, eyelids and such I couldn’t tell what she meant.

Sally said, “I’ll see if insurance will cover it, but, ah, thanks for coming over.”  She stepped back into the house and closed the door.

I looked at Chrome and said, “You should put on some makeup.  She’s probably scared by your face.”

She replied, “Gee, thanks.”  She turned and walked back toward her house.  Her shoulders were slumped and her feet continued making the heavy thumping noise as she walked.  The right sock made a dull thud, while the other foot was bare and make a metallic thud against the concrete and blacktop.

I walked with her back across the street, but neither of us said a word.  I wanted to ask her about how heavy she sounded, and what it was like having metal skin, but she just plain creeped me out too much.  I really didn’t desire to stick around her any longer than needed.

Before entering the house she said, “I appreciate you going over there with me, Diva.  I apologize for fighting you.”

“Oh.  Yeah.  Um, me too.  Sorry for thinking you were a robot and stuff.”  As she closed the door behind her I shivered. 
Yuck, what an awful thing to look like.

I turned and walked back to my car, rubbing my stomach and shoulder on the way. 
Well, this doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would after a little while.  That’s pretty neat.

I decided to go back to the shop with the mini-skirts as I drove away.

Chapter 5 - Crushing

Chrome's Viewpoint

I shut the door behind the hero wannabe.  I shook my head and sighed as I walked over to the couch and flopped down.  The springs gave a snapping sound and my butt crashed down to the floor.

I gave up and put my head on my knees.  I didn't understand what I'd done to make the universe hate me so, but hate me it did.  I had no idea what to do with my life now.  I couldn't work jewelry, and every other craft requiring fine dexterity would also be unavailable.

I obviously made people distraught just by my appearance, so anything requiring much human contact wouldn't work well - I'd simply scare or confuse my clientele.  I'd never done heavy manual labor - I was rather thin before my change, so I wasn't familiar with those possibilities - not that I relished the idea of those types of work.

Office jobs would be out as well.  I wasn't very good with computers in the first place, but add my destructive fingers to the equation and I'd be better in demolitions than anything constructive.

I sat in that state for an hour or more, bemoaning my bad fortune.

I heard the garage door open and my husband's car pulled in.  After a moment the inside door opened and I heard his keys jingle.  I jerked me head up and smiled. 
Finally!  I get to see my honey and everything can get better!

I ran into the hallway just as he set his keys in the bowl next to the door.  He barely turned around at the thump of my feet before I grabbed him in a big hug and held him tight.

An odd crunching and gurgling sound made me step back.  If not for me holding his upper arms I think he would have fallen down.  His face was screwed up in pain.  I realized then that I couldn't even hug people anymore.

He coughed after a moment and blood came out of his mouth.  He tried to speak, but was only able to gurgle.

"Honey?  It's me."

The look of horror on his face as he looked at me shocked me.  He coughed and more blood came out.

"I ... I changed into one of those supers.  I’m sorry honey!"

He was having problems breathing, and coughed more blood up.

"Oh no.  I may have broken something.  We need to get you to the hospital."

I helped him sit down for a moment, slipped on a pair of tennis shoes (which promptly tore along the sides), grabbed my purse and helped Sam get into the passenger seat of the car.  When I sat down the car tilted to my side.  I drove us to the hospital as quickly as possible.

He continued coughing on the trip, but even in severe pain he pulled away from me in the other seat.

I held back from crying for the rest of the drive. 
I can't believe you said that.  First that heroine, and now you don't think I look human....

The rest of the drive went without incident, although the car handled strangely with so much weight on one side.  I pulled up by the emergency entrance, helped him out of the passenger side and called out to hospital personnel standing at the entrance.

The man said something on a walkie talkie attached to his upper neck and shoulder area, and in a moment a pair of people came out with a stretcher and helped Sam lay down on it.