NEW YORK, QUEENS,1:30 PM.
"Yeah, um, I will drop by pronto." Gwen was on the phone as her fingers fiddled around with Joe's messy hair. Like an enlightened man of culture, Joe silently rested his head on her lap, his eyes closed serenely. Yeah, it was the most sought-after lap pillow. It couldn't be gained by force, and only through luck, opportunity, and one's rizz level.
"No probs. Uh, dad... we're responsible adults. We didn't do anything. Trust in my work ethic. Okay. Bye." Gwen ended the call with a prolonged tired sigh before placing the phone beside Joe's head.
"Daddy dearest worried about his only daughter?" Joe donned a wide smile as he gazed up at Gwen.
"Shut up." Gwen lightly pinched his ear and only released it when Joe started acting cute.
"He's just worried that I have made your home my new home," she chuckled after a moment of silence.
"Of course, he's supposed to be worried. He hasn't seen you in, like, five days," Joe commented.
"But I called him every day," Gwen exhaled in exhaustion, a light frown marring on her face.
"Almost all parents do that. Mom used to call me each day even when I was just about 30 minutes away from home." A nostalgic look flashed on Joe's face.
"Ditto. I can't imagine that one day, somewhere along the line, I'll be a parent. I don't think I'm confident though," Gwen laughed while she absent-mindedly weaved his hair.
"The future me will surely have a hard time," Joe joined her laughing spree.
"Hmph, you'll be an awkward father. You've always been awkward."
"Ouch. I think I'm pretty decent."
"Continue deluding yourself, Mr. Petersen." Gwen patted his chest before pulling him off her lap. "Now get off me."
"Why are you being so rough, tiger?" Joe complained, feeling dissatisfied that he had been 'ejected' from warmth and softness like a fuckin' USB.
"I'm about to roll and leave your sorry ass...alone. Will you be alright without your nanny?" Gwen fixed her creased clothes as she gave Joe a once over.
"Oh c'mon, who do you take me for?" Joe waved a dismissive hand as he stood up. He then looked around the now tidy apartment(courtesy of Gwen) with an unreadable expression.
"It will just be more silence," Joe murmured softly.
"What did you say?" Gwen inquired, having not caught on to Joe's inner emotions.
"I said tranquility triumphs over companionship," Joe lied with a straight face.
"You think I'd buy such bullshit from a casanova like you?" Gwen scoffed, smiling a little, as she stretched a hand onto Joe's broad shoulder.
"I'm retired from my ol' profession," Joe harmlessly defended himself.
"As if. I'll chat you up once I reach home. Wait... It's supposed to be the other way around. You do that." Gwen ignored his reasoning and gently flicked his forehead.
"Ouch! Okay and stay safe, queen." Joe tightly hugged her, much to her satisfaction, before withdrawing.
"With that, I pass on my blessings and protection," he added confidently.
"Cheeky bastard," Gwen giggled before walking away.
"Byeee!" Joe energetically waved his hands, his actions seemingly silly.
"We're no longer in kindergarten, sheesh," Gwen said over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.
Joe was once again left all alone.
"You're just mistakenly oblivious. There's a reason why I'm still trapped in this earthly vessel that can't contain all of my powers," Joe chuckled at his eighth-grade syndrome phase.
Then, slowly, his easygoing, happy-go-lucky facial expressions began melting into a serious one. The atmosphere around him became colder as the summoned Super USB Drive hovered over his outstretched palm.
"Whenever I use the Dimension Key, I feel like a different person. Am I succumbing to power? No, I'm just utilizing that power for my own benefit. There's nothing wrong with that." Joe grinned.
"In such a world of lies, hypocrites, and brutality, I think I have been pretty tame so far." Shaking his head at his flawed reasoning, Joe headed towards his room.
While the revenue generated by his first-ever developed game was quite satisfactory, Joe didn't put all of his mind into it. As much as money and wealth were important, it couldn't compare to the evolution of self and ultimate power. Could money give you immortality? Well, it couldn't unless you encountered a bored ROB masquerading as a street broker. Longevity and immortality have been sought after by many individuals for billions of years, however, only a few have been able to achieve half of it.
"True immortality is a hoax to some degree, but still not within the realms of absolute impossibility." Joe touched his chin thoughtfully as he sat on the gaming chair.
"Even the super soldier serum doesn't grant an endless lifespan. Damn, the bastards with molecular manipulation don't seem to have a problem in that regard," he lightly cussed while he scanned his fingerprint, before eventually inserting the USB Drive.
"I should look into genetics later on after I'm done with my business. One step at a time, they always say. Well, I'll be taking two steps —genetics and playing machine god." Joe clicked on the search bar and typed the title of the movie he intended to use this time. It was The Predator movie released in 2018. The original protagonist of "I Have A Super USB Drive" proved that the movie wasn't barred from instantiation. The technology developed by the Yautja was truly revolutionizing and miles ahead of most tech in Marvel. The Yautja were already a space-faring race, capable of using warp travel. In the movie, they even dabbled in recombinant technology and evolutionary biology, spearheading successful genetic combinations to another level. The results of the genetic engineering were highlighted in the upgrade predator.
Joe was, without a doubt, extremely interested in their ways. But sadly, reading and fully understanding Yautja was going to consume some of his time. What mattered most was what the fugitive predator brought with him as a gift to the humans — the Predator Killer Armour. While Tony Stark had his Iron Man suit, Joe could now access something similar but more lethal. It was something that suited a hunter very much. This time round, Joe didn't flinch when his hundred-dollar bill got sucked by nothingness. He had slowly begun nurturing a capitalist heart.
"Come to me, O Predator Killer," Joe smiled in anticipation as he skipped to the end of the movie(Not the afterword lol). It was the part where the researcher near the pod gets engulfed by the specialized armguard which finally displays its final form. Joe skipped a little to the part where the Predator armguard dropped on the ground and paused the video. With relaxed movements, Joe speared his hand through the screen. Deeply inhaling, he carefully jerked the heavy alien armguard out of the screen.
"Quite the heavy lad, ain't ya?" Joe weighed the piece of alien technology on his hand, feeling its warm and slimy surface. In his rough estimation, it weighed around 20-30 kilograms. Nothing unbearable for an average human. With immense curiosity showing off his face, he then began viewing the special armguard from multiple angles. From an outside perspective, it looked pretty normal, maybe a little bit mysterious due to the alien writings etched on its silvery surface.
Eyeing the Predator Killer Armour in its inactive form, Joe swallowed loudly. He was excited and afraid at the same time. What will happen the moment I wear this armguard? How will the experience be? Will I experience technical difficulties and get injured in the process? Can I truly embody this life-exterminating armor?
"Say what? I say fuck it to all forms of caution!" Joe steeled his resolve as he steadily wore the armguard. The moment it sensed being worn, it tightened around his arm, but Joe didn't panic. Almost instantly, the armguard began experiencing some structural changes. Nanobots kicked into action as they began materializing the suit to fit Joe's form. There was a low plasma effect as the quick nano-particle activity generated enough heat to make his skin go damp. Fortunately, it wasn't unbearable as the temperature was around 70-80 Degrees Celsius, just enough for a stressed CPU. Like magic, everything seemed to happen very fast and soon his vision was momentarily blackened before everything turned red.
With Predator's mask forming, Joe's vision was no longer as before. There were multiple HUDs showing him real-time analysis of his intermediate environment, his own vitals, the suit's structural integrity, and potential threats in the vicinity.
"This is phenomenal. From the nanotechnology display upon activation to the nanites' reconstruction to fully adapt to the wearer's physique. This suit feels like it was made just for me," Joe marveled in fascination like a mad scientist.
Joe scanned his room with thermal infrared imaging vision giving him more feedback than he could ever wish for. He picked up heat signatures from beyond the wall, from below his floor... They were all people. He could even vaguely monitor their activities. Fuck privacy invasion in front of multispectral vision, Joe thought, a smirk etched on his face.
Next... Joe thought of the weapons systems, and behold, an arsenal of two shoulder-mounted plasma cannons, plasma lasers, and a microwave minigun came to life instantaneously. The laser tags immediately calibrated themselves and targeted every living soul in the building. While the laser tags couldn't pass through the walls, that didn't mean that the true laser energy or even the electromagnetic energy could incapacitate everything. If so he wished, Joe could absolutely wreak havoc and harvest scores of lives.
"But I dunno if it would be enough for a harvest festival," Joe chuckled at his almost inhuman joke. Of course, he wasn't an impulsive murderer. What benefit would it serve him to murder harmless NPCs? He wasn't going to get any experience points out of it.
With just a thought, Joe deactivated the integrated weapons system and they disappeared into the Predator Killer Armour. Everything was as stealthily as possible, just perfect for surprise attacks.
"For the suit to be able to perfectly respond to my commands, the neural synchronization is mind-blowing," Joe analyzed, taking every detail of the suit into account. "Is it calibrated to sync with the brain waves without the use of a neural link?"
"Nothing short of amazing. Then, what about this?" Joe raised both of his hands and activated arm-length claw blades that would put Logan to shame.
"Perfect for close combat and slicing..." Joe paused and edged away from his setup lest he succumbed to the urge to slice through his table.
"But in hindsight, how will they fare against the adamantium claws?" Joe wondered as he retracted the blades.
"If I can infuse proto-adamantium into the claws, they would be virtually indestructible. But at that juncture, I would have to worry about the seamless nano-structural compatibility issues."
"What if I incorporated some anti-metal..." Joe's mind swirled with mad ideas as he paced around the room while shadow boxing.
"Won't a punch outrightly break some bones without a sweat, huhu?" Joe relaxed his arms.
It seemed the Predator Killer wouldn't impede his movements. It made him even faster with no needless hesitation.
Suddenly, the armor started de-materializing and returned to its inactive armguard form. It happened in the blink of an eye, much to Joe's surprise and curiosity.
"Oops, I guess I should immediately start working on the power source inefficiency. Isn't it the time for the engineer to shine?" Joe crossed his arms as he gazed down at the armguard. "With a slightly large arc reactor as the core, oh boy, the suit will be even more perfect."
Even with its limitations, the Predator Killer armor was still better than Elysium's exosuit, GI Joe's accelerator suit, and Edge of Tomorrow's combat jackets. It was obviously more advanced and complete than the others. It was just better even as a prototype. However, what would happen if Joe employed his tinkering skills and upgraded the hell out of it? Well, there was only one answer.
Massacre personified.
…
Enjoy 15 chapters ahead if you like the cook: Patreon.com/OneArmedImmortal
[Word Count 2019]