Junkyrms 3: A whole New Generation ((Open/ Still Accepting))

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus nodded as he processed the information. He was apparently Black Flash now. That would make his freerunning practice much more... interesting. Assuming he could tap into that sort of speed and reflex at will, of course. He hadn't had a hint of such power yet. Some of the others made him a bit envious, though. The ability to hide from anyone just by standing still was one that would have served Marcus very well earlier in his life, and fire control would have let him ki-

No.

Marcus squashed the thought before it had time to fully form. He wasn't that kind of person, and no-one deserved that sort of death.

Pulling himself from his own thoughts, Marcus looked over at Walter and wondered how the older boy was dealing with the news that he was now basically the Incredible Hulk minus the rage issues.

Eric, unlike his boyfriend, was deeply annoyed at the power he'd been granted. No more dramatic entrances with his thigh-highs tapping against the ground, no more testing his new perfumes on himself, no more standing out in a crowd just by breathing.

'Actually,' he thought, 'That last one might not be so bad.'

((Cream: that works))  

[Wire_Colossus]

Walter slowly turned and trudged outside, before jumping, and screaming his head off in shock and fear as he found himself sent hurtling through the air and landing a mile away. Big Benny watched with a sigh, "The kids got the worst deal of us all...." Then he walked over to marcus and said, "Follow me." And he walked outside toward the forest.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus was very reluctant to follow, but if he did have super-speed he'd be able to run into the next state for a breather if things got too heavy for him. He grabbed his gym bag and walked out, smiling as he felt Jericho climb back into the bag. The little wyrmling's head stuck out as the two followed the large man.  

[Wire_Colossus]

Once the two go to the forest, Benny spoke, "Vicky told me about your behavior. It is evident that you are just like me Young man. Your bear the behaviors of a beaten child." And then the hulking man begen to undress, removing only the upper half of his suit. He then turned hs back to marcus; revealing a mass of complex scars covering his back and the backs of his arms. "Take a good long look young marcus. I was the youngest child in a family of 12 children and two parents. I already had these scars by the time I was orphaned at 4 years of age. The reason I brought you out here, Is to tell you you're not alone. And To make an offer." Then he pulled a set of documents from his pocket. "These are adoption papers. All they lack is your signature. You can stay here in my home town, and all the while have a family that actually cares about you."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus' closed his face off, blanking it of all emotion as he fought the impulse to break down. 'Family' was not a concept that Marcus enjoyed dwelling on, and he was certain that he would never willingly enter one again. He made sure to keep his voice neutral and respectful as he answered Benny. "Thank you for the offer, Mr. Jones, but I'd really rather not. I do appreciate it, but I'm... working through things on my own time. I'd rather not burden someone else with my own problems. Ain't anyone's business but my own, sir. No offense."  

[Wire_Colossus]

"You're wrong. It's my business, It's vicky's business, It's Eric's business. Each of us cares for you in one way or another. The Hardest road is the lonely road. We are already your family. These Papers merely make it legal. Vicky asked me to show you these papers, Becuase She wants to adopt you. She wants you to have the family you deserve. The family I never had at your age." Then Benny put the upper half of his suit back on and Then Roared at the sky. Then the sky turned red above the forest. The Air began to get hotter, and a dry hot wind began to blow toward the pair. And from the sky came a a truly massive shape. A colossal shape. As the shape got closer, it became apparent what it was. It was a junkyrm. "Never undermine the value of family. Because before I grew up, He was my only family. Hero..." The colossal junkyrm landed on the edge of the forest, the ground around its tank sized feet burning and drying up.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus started to sweat with the proximity of the massive wyrm, shaking his head as he replied to Benny. "I do appreciate the sentiment, and y'all are close as family to me as I'll ever get, but I don't do 'family' no more, Mr. Jones. Not in the way them papers say. Don't sit well with me. I'll give from my self so far as I can but what I gone through to get to the here-'n-now ain't gonna leave my own self 'til I'm nice and settled with it. Just somethin' I gotta sort through myself."

He really did appreciate the sentiment behind the offer of a familial relationship between himself and Vicky, she'd taken care of him and so far not pried into his life prior to Santa Draco, and he did hope that he and Eric would be together for a while (even if not forever), but he'd just met Benny and wasn't quite sure about him just yet. And, as he'd said, he didn't do mom-and-dad-and-brothers-type 'Family' anymore.  

[Wire_Colossus]

"Just remember, You're already a father. Right Little One..." And he looked at Jericho as he said this. "The reason Junkyrms leave us to protect their young, Is that they want their young to have the best parents in the world, Just like they had. They believe that we are better parents than they could ever be..." And then he reached up and put his hand on the underside of the chin of the great wyrm Junkyrm. Hero began to wag his tail. "Isn't that Right Hero?" and the great wyrm Junkyrm rumbled the word, "Daddy..."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus looked down at the dozing wyrmling, his lip quirking despite himself. "Guess you're right there, sir. Certain I'm gonna try for a better job of it than my old man did."

A thought struck him, and he let out a short hiss of laughter between his teeth, speaking half to himself. "s**t, ain't like I could do much worse if I tried."  

[Wire_Colossus]

After a moment, Benny said, "Go on Home Hero. I'll call you again when we can play. Right now I have to help your sons." And then the colossal junkyrm turned and took flight, His massive wings carrying him into the sky and he vanished into the clouds. The sky returned to it's natural blue, and the wind returned to a nice soothing breeze. "Let's get back to that truck, Your little guy has some growing to do." Then he started walking toward town.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus shrugged to himself as he followed Benny back. He'd managed to avoid having to talk about any trigger topics, and for now that was good enough.

He turned his thoughts away from his own overly-dramatic past after a moment, considering how Jericho would use... whatever it was that Benny had for him.  

[Wire_Colossus]

Benny opened the back of the truck when they got back to town and said, "Will these do? Took two trucks to carry all fifty sets and get them here, but they should be worth it. Five hundred dollars a set so Tell the little guy to use them wisely."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus opened his mouth to object to the $25,000 expense that Benny was putting himself to for his sake, and then closed his mouth and pinched the bridge of his nose as Jericho leaped out of his gym bag without so much as a by-your-leave and dove into the back of the truck.

There was a deep scraping sound of wood against wood and then the entire pile of boxes seemed to implode on itself as a much larger Jericho walked out of the pile of wood. The various ratchet attachments had become a reflective metallic armor over Jericho's body, with the various long-handled items within being used to form skeletal structures and the power tools forming softer plastic armor at his joints. The smallest items - gears, lights, and the like - had all gone to Jericho's head to form more intricate detailing to thereby enable more precise facial expressions. The glass fronts to the few battery-operated flashlights that had been included in the packs had gone to form claws at the ends of his feet, the tip of his tail, and the joints and ends of his wings.

The nails that had held the wooden boxes together had likewise been absorbed into Jericho's body, and they formed both a passive offense and decorative flourish as a double-row of spines along his back and the back of his limbs. His wings were quite large for his body, and seemed to consist of a combination of flat-head screwdrivers and chisels. The overall impression was of a bird's wings made mechanical.

With the absorption of so much material, Jericho had easily quadrupled in size - he was close to eighteen feet long from his nose to the base of his tail, and stood close to six feet high at his shoulder.  

[Wire_Colossus]

There was a giggling sound as Little Wendy laughed and cheered. She was walking toward Benny, "Daddy!! Buttons Bigger!" And When Benny turned, he immediately wished he hadn't. "My wife is gonna kill me for this..." Buttons had taken the tricycles like he was supposed to, but then he had allso taken the truck and trailer that had transported them. He was staring at a 40ft long 11ft tall version of buttons that sported alot of heavy armor and claws on the feet that looked to be parts of bumpers. "The Shipment I can get away with, But the truck....I'll never hear the end of this one...."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus turned and saw the massive wyrmling, jumping backwards instinctively. "OH HO-"

"-LY ********> His backwards jump - which ought have taken him a few feet further away - had easily placed him three hundred feet or more from the trucks. Marcus looked at the group, then down at his legs, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet before running at what felt like a casual jog towards the distant treeline. He easily covered the three-mile distance in a few seconds, and pumped his fists up in the air when he reached the edge of the forest. "Oh man, this is excellent!"