Play Testers Wanted Pt. 03

"Shuri is down that way." Natasha directed. "Something just came up."

I didn't bother asking. I followed the corridor until I heard Shuri cry out. I hoped to find her in the middle of something naughty but in fact found she was bent over a lab station watching a silvery web of shimmering alloy take shape. I didn't speak for fear of shattering the moment, so I watched. It didn't hurt that her ass was absolutely off the charts. Yes. Definitely. I was an ass man. The soft thrum of machinery wound down and the Princess caught me checking out her derriere.

"Hi."

"All you have to say for yourself is hi. You dare profane my backside with your lustful glances and all you can come up with is hi?" Shuri said trying to be serious.

"I'd like to quantify the chances of a twenty-five-cent piece successfully rotating after being hurled at your backside." I said trying to be clever.

"So, you'd like to see if you could bounce a quarter off my ass. Is that it?" The princess asked with a brilliant smile. "We can try that later, if you want. Before you ask, I am seeing how spider silk infused with vibranium functions. It has distinct possibilities."

"Textile or superhero purposes?"

"Both. Though it would be a huge waste of vibranium, for webbing that is." She frowned. "Unless of course the web shooter has a mechanism for absorbing the vibranium afterwards. Two cartridges, one loaded and one waiting to be filled after the fact. A little quantum entanglement and hmm, needs work."

"It is dizzying watching you work." I admitted and she smiled. "Unless of course you didn't use vibranium. You just borrowed some of its properties and added them to the silk somehow. Nah! Wouldn't work!"

"The hell it wouldn't." She said and that is when I saw the genius of her A.I. at work. "Look." She said using her bracelet to display a hologram of vibranium's structure. "It isn't exactly a secret just not well known. Plenty of scientists outside of Wakanda are trying to duplicate the element without success. Here are a series of different types of spider silk. Different silks have different functions along with their individual strengths and weaknesses. The problem is creating a silk with the best of most worlds. We want light weight as well as tensile and extensile strength. Open a new project and we'll call it Anansi, after spiders and storytellers."

"Yes Princess." The A.I. replied. "Extrapolating previous incursions into this field... adding vibranium qualities... extrapolating... projecting three possible solutions."

"You've done work into this before?" I asked and Shuri nodded.

"When I was younger, I didn't sleep a lot. My mind was always switched on. I would close my eyes and envision ideas and they would crystalize there. There are thousands of these projects that I started but for one reason or another never reached fruition until another idea or element was added. In this case... you."

"I was just brainstorming." I said and she glared up at me. "You didn't like the word just, did you?"

"No. People never give themselves the credit due to them. Run three batches and we'll test them out. What do you say hero, want to test fire some sticky white stuff?"

"Can you make it black, so it is harder to see?" I asked. "I wouldn't be using it to swing across the city."

"MMMMM! How would you use it?" She purred.

"Pity we don't have a web shooter here." I said and she chuckled.

"Open file Spiderman mark nine," Shuri ordered. "One cutting edge web shooter thanks to Nick and friends. Print two out for me sweetie."

"Yes Princess." The artificial personality complied as another workstation activated and it began printing off the components for the web shooters.

"We have time on our hands while the webbing and shooters are created... can I see it?" Shuri asked licking her lips.

"Right here?" I asked thinking of my recent encounter with Natasha.

"Right now!" She demanded so I reached down and began unzipping my pants. "Whoa! Hold on! What are you doing?"

"You said... what the hell do you want to see?"

"Your weapon... the energy sword." Shuri said and I blushed. "Did you really want to... with me?" She asked in what sounded like complete surprise.

"Yeah. Here take a look." I said handing her my weapon. "It won't ignite unless I am the one holding it."

She examined it every inch of it and I wish she looked at my cock with that kind of love and attention. She made noises there were certain ticks and habits she did along with the mention of lack of sleep that made me think she was bipolar. I had a sister that suffered through it and she showed all the signs.

"Sneaky bastard." Shuri cursed under her breath when she examined the butt end of the weapon. "I commend you on a very clever design. No wonder you had so many troubles against a vibranium weapon."

"So, I was right!" I declared and she admitted that a small shipment of vibranium had been stolen.

"You need a backup weapon if you are going to survive another encounter. That is one of the reasons I agreed to do some research here under Fury's watchful eye. I feel responsible for the theft and the misuse of that vibranium. I brought a limited supply with me. You must decide. Do you want armor or a weapon?"

"Armor." I said with little hesitation. "A set of vibranium armor far outstrips anything I could possibly hope to acquire anywhere else. Besides, that weapon is my signature."

"Armor it is. Get undressed. I need to scan and analyze your current set up."

I stripped out of it and stood naked as I looked for any other gear I could wear in my inventory. I had nothing casual to swap out to. A blushing Shuri pointed to one of the lockers at the back of the room. I walked over and shouted out as I donned an official S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. It had little combat protection but damn it looked good!

"Where did you get this armor?" Shuri asked as she held it up. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"That is saying a lot." I replied. "Mr. Fantastic gave it to me. It is a variant of the Venom symbiote. It had an A.I. interfaced with it but that has since been removed."

"The same Mr. Fantastic whose wife and sister in law you slept with?" Shuri reminded me.

"Yeah." I said as I gained a few more notoriety points breaking the two hundred mark.

'New trophy acquired: Wakanda Remembers!' +50 notoriety pts.

"Glide wings, impact armor, improved stealth features, and enhanced spider climb. Not bad." She said as she broke down my armor's capabilities.

"Hey, I collected these from the conflict with the archer." I told her as I took the vibranium arrows from my inventory. "Will this help?"

"Absolutely!" Shuri smiled as she added them to the ingot, she had on her. "This will tip the balance a bit in your favor I hope."

I sat for the next few hours as she brainstormed, took out pieces of material, and worked. I got the classic blacksmith slash inventor montage. I was given a choice of three of the new stealth style armors to choose from. I selected the hybridized suit that covered everything from pure stealth to enhanced melee combat. The hood would accommodate the Helm of Anubis perfectly which had also been given an update. The once metallic helm and mask now gave me the appearance of a living demigod. Gone was the metal and in its place the illusion of living flesh. I would look just like the jackal headed deity. Nice! I got my second cinematic as Shuri went about her work. I didn't get tired, but she did. Just as the sun was setting, she stood, stretched her arms, and declared her work done.

She had integrated the web shooters into my new armor along with a feature on the belt that generated three types of web fluid all jet black in color. One of the fluids was centered around tensile strength and meant for entrapping villains or such. Another had a higher extensile strength and was good for drag lines or swinging about if I chose. The last was a potent blend of both, but also it was neither as strong as either of the other two. It was a nice general-purpose webbing. The shooter had a programmable dispenser that could change on the fly as it were. One released a 'burst' of webbing that could target a foe. The other would fire off a focused line of webbing in the traditional manner for travel purposes. Thank you Wakanda! It had everything my original suit had plus a few surprises. I placed both into my inventory and walked Shuri back to her accommodations.

"Thank you for making sure I got back to my room okay." Shuri laughed. "Be careful. You can still get killed if that archer puts a vibranium arrow in your skull. Your suit is only a vibranium weave. It isn't pure vibranium, remember that."

"I need to see if they have tracked down those thieves yet. Sleep tight." I said and she went into her room. "Patience." I muttered as I returned to the command deck.

Fury was just rising and holding a cup of coffee in his hand when I arrived. I asked about the thieves and he shrugged. I guess they were still gathering intelligence on them. Black Widow strolled in and she looked to be in a pissy mood. She walked right past me without saying a word. I understood that she didn't want to have her reputation tarnished by what happened in the elevator.

"Thanks for the tour." I said and watched her reaction. It wasn't what I had hoped for. "Fury had you give me a tour... yes?"

"No. What the hell are you talking about? I just got here after an Op in Latveria." She snapped. "Your joke isn't funny Jackal."

"Lock it down people!" Fury was hollering. "We are code violet. There may be a shapeshifter or hostile agents using chameleon technology aboard! Someone debrief the Widow and her team ASAP!"

"We have a missing Quinjet." One of the techs announced. "It left the carrier three hours ago!"

Natasha spun around and glared at me. I tried and failed not to smile.

"You fucked her, didn't you?!" She snarled and it was the way she emphasized 'her' that made me think this was a jealousy thing. "Damn it all to hell!" Her anger was more of an opportunity missed than me sleeping with a shapeshifter.

Shuri appeared wearing just her pajamas and looked bleary eyed as the claxons and emergency lights made everything more confusing. The princess got on her tippy toes and kissed my cheek before turning and returning to her room. When I asked her why she wanted to make sure I was okay. I cringed when I looked back at Natasha.

"Come along Agent Romanov." One of the security officers said. "This won't take long."

"Why are you still here Ghost?" Fury asked suddenly in my face.

"You said lockdown and...?"

"Speaking of and... why the hell are you wearing one of my uniforms?" He snarled as I quick launched my new vibranium weave uniform. "Sweet duds... go find my Quinjet!"

I left the command deck and took a quick GPS check before launching myself off the side of the helicarrier. My hood automatically came up along with the Mask of Anubis. The glide wings opened too and soon I was gliding above and near Avenger's Tower. I had a flashing red line in my field of view and followed it. It was the course the stolen Quinjet had taken. Who was the woman in the elevator? Was it just a bit of technology or could it be shapeshifting? I pulled up my skill tree and sure as shit there it was basic shapeshifting. I peeked at the costs and damn that shit was expensive to master! Did I fuck a Skrull? God, I hope not. Was it a mutant? One name topped that list. Had I fucked Mystique? She was clever enough to sneak onto the helicarrier and ballsy enough to do it. If it was her why was she there?

"Ghost Fire to Fury over."

"Fury here. What is it Ghost? Over."

"Check your files and anything classified. I have a feeling it might have been Mystique that compromised your carrier. Over."

"Our technicians are all over that shit. Fury, over and out."

I continued to track the rogue Quinjet from downtown Manhattan to the Bronx. I ran out of momentum and tall buildings to launch from. Sounds of loud gunfire caught my attention and I traced it to its origin. There was the jet parked decloaked in the middle of an abandoned car park. A group of kids had surrounded it. When they tried to approach it the auto defenses would be triggered and an impressive autocannon would drop down, fire a burst of three shots and then return. None of them had been stupid enough to push their luck so far. I landed behind them and they turned to face me.

"Yo dog! It is the Ghost Fire!" One of them declared pointing to the weapon on my hip. "Dude! You got a new costume. How sick is that?"

"I heard you tagged both Storms at the same damn time! No fucking way!" Another said.

"Yeah. The life of a superhero can be... aw shit!" I said as I sensed her arrival.

"Whoa! He didn't even look back!" Their leader exclaimed. "I told you Ghost was number fucking one. Didn't I?!"

"You slept with both of them?!" Gwen growled. "At the same damn time."

"Oh shit! We should like leave you two to hash tag this shit out." The leader continued.

I activated my combat link to the web shooters. I tracked the leader's movements and when he passed in front of a light post, I snared him. The black webbing engulfed him and held him fast. Gwen let out a gasp of surprise and then she got even more pissed off.

"Now you are stealing my gimmick!" She roared before I held up my hand. "What?!" She said as she sniffled.

"Hold the fuck on and calm down." I fired back. "I need time to explain after I speak with this guy over here."

"I lost track of you when you went onboard the helicarrier." She said coolly.

"Who got off that jet?" I asked the leader of the street gang.

"Just a woman." He replied. "She was like smoking hot and all. She never said a word. The ramp thing came down, she walked down it, and just walked the fuck away. The plane locked itself up nice and tight. If anyone gets too close, they get shot at. We figured we could make it run out of bullets or something. Nope. It just reloaded and we were about to leave when you showed up."

"You've spent the last two hours messing with the jet?" I asked and he laughed. "All that gunfire and no one called the cops?"

"The cops don't come to this part of the hood y'all. You gonna get freaky with spider chick?" He asked licking his lips. "She does look fine in that get up. Maybe you could talk her into a..."

Thwip!

A carefully aimed ball of webbing shut his shit down just that fast.

"NO! I am not a whore!" Gwen snapped. "I don't do threesomes." Here was the downside of a high notoriety score. "You are as bad as Toni Stark. Iron Maiden is the embodiment of all that is bad about being a superhero. She flaunts her affairs around like a badge of honor. Some of us prefer romance to smut."

"I see what you mean. Look at all the trouble surrounding Spiderman. He's been through so many powered and normal women it isn't funny." I said and watched her reaction. Just as I thought it hit a nerve. "You admire him, don't you?"

"I did. Past tense." Gwen admitted.

"Can I go now?" The gang leader asked after removing the webbing somehow.

"No." I said reaching out and attempting to touch his thoughts. I ran into the same barrier I had when I initially scanned the gang upon my arrival. "Are you a mutant?"

"No." He squirmed.

"Any hidden superpowers I should know of?" I asked as Gwen picked up on my line of questioning and took on a defensive position.

"Not really." The leader chuckled.

"What did you steal from the helicarrier?" I asked as he oozed through the spaces in the webbing and reformed.

"Mystique!" Gwen exclaimed raising her hands.

"Wait! Listen! I only tapped into their files to..." She never finished the statement because Gwen body slammed me to the ground so that the vibranium arrow aimed at my back missed.

"Fools!" Mystique cried out as she raced off into the dark while a masked figure armed with a gleaming sword closed the distance.

The archer backed up the swordsman with clean precise cover fire. I took on the archer while Gwen harassed the other. I had learned my lesson and didn't draw out my weapon. Instead I defaulted to form five, Shien, and the art of arrow catching. The archer took aim and fired. I snatched the arrows out of the air and kept them. I placed them in my inventory as fast as I could. Unlike many games this archer had a finite number of vibranium arrows. After I managed to snatch twenty out of the air, they switched to carbon fiber missiles. The archer's frustration turned to rage, and they charged me. Once again, they broke the bow into two swords and kept up the offensive.

"Now, that is more like it." I commented as Gwen kept the swordsman equally frustrated.

All was well until the bolts of mystical energy came out of nowhere. The villains used our confusion to escape. While we may have been thwarted, we knew more now than we did before. There were four of them. Mystique was the only one we had a name to, but she had an archer, a swordsman, and now a sorcerer working for her. Steph showed up dressed for battle when she sensed the use of magic so close to the Sanctum. She and Bryce both appeared via portal.

"Ghost!" The Sorceress Supreme said with great exasperation. "I might have known. Is this your sidekick?"

"I am no one's sidekick lady!" Gwen snapped. "I am an independent operator."

"She's plucky," Steph said with a smile. "I like her."

"New threads Ghost man?" Bryce asked noticing my uniform.

"Yeah. I must report back to Fury. Our pair is now at least a trio if not a... hmm... what is a nonsexual word for a foursome?"

"Group?" Steph offered laughing now. "Got time for a coffee before you go racing back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters?"

"That would be nice." I accepted. "Can Spider come along. I bet she would love to shower after that one on one with the swordsman."

"A shower would be nice." Gwen agreed. "But uh... it's not a swordsman... it is a swordswoman."

"How can you be so sure it is a woman under that mask?" I asked as Steph opened another portal.

"Because... oh wow... the Sanctum Sanctorum! I've read all about this place when Better Homes and Gardens interviewed you last year." Gwen rambled a bit before returning to the question. "Oh yeah, body mechanics really. I've fought a ton of bad guys and gals. Women move differently than men do. We are designed differently, and her kicks were way too wide and sweeping to be a dude."

"I wonder if the archer is a woman too?" I asked thinking out loud.

"Could be." Steph muttered. "Mystique makes for an interesting face to the group. She is probably the source of magic I detected."

"I thought she was just a shapeshifter." I said surprised at the news.

"Was just a shapeshifter." Steph corrected me. "I have it on pretty good authority that her and Von Doom were pretty hot and heavy for a few years. I suspected that is where she picked up her mystic training. Von Doom is a world class sorcerer and not to be underestimated. Mystique is as clever as she ruthless."

"There's that name again... Von Doom." I growled. "He sold weapons to the Darkholders and now he could be behind these thefts."

"Down to the right and second door. Enjoy!" Steph said as Gwen began undressing. "She's a sweet kid. Break her heart and I'll teleport you to the heart of the Dark Dimension."

"That wasn't my plan." I assured her even as the images of a naked Gwen Stacey danced in my head.

"I am too jaded to think anybody can be monogamous anymore. Just... go slow." Steph said a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Get going dumbass." Bryce said grinning. "Someone has to wash her back."

I took the urging to heart and walked down the hall. Gwen was singing in the shower. I knocked on the bathroom door and she told me to come in. I shouldn't have been shocked at the ethereal nature of the room. A naked Gwen Stacy stood under a waterfall whose rocks were covered in water plants and algae, however Gwen herself was shrouded in an annoying cloud like mist that hid her naughty bits from view. Thanks Steph! A moment later I had a flashback to Snow's shower but instead of the storm cloud pouring down rain it was a waterfall. I took a step back and gasped.