Chapter 10 - War. War Never Changes. [Pt. 2]

Devin never thought that there would come a day when he would be in a situation like the one he was currently facing. Holding a sword and fighting what looked like the bizarre love child of Blanka from Street Fighter and an orc from World of Warcraft that had been re-skinned. It took only minutes of combat with the now transformed being for Devin to realize that he was in a losing battle.

The beast had been boosted in all physical categories. His speed and strength were both on another level, making it so that it was all Devin could do to not get crushed by the tremendous force behind every swing from the massive man's fists and evasion was done barely by the breathe of a hair. Also the transformation had healed all of the previous damage from his blade and the gunshots. The one time Devin managed to catch his opponent with his sword it left what looked like a papercut so his skin had to have toughened up as well. All in all it looked bad.

'This is bad. I can't leave this guy alone as who knows what will happen later, plus I have no idea if I can even escape. He's so fast it's ridiculous!' Devin thought as he managed to get a minute to breathe by diving behind more equipment after a double, over-head hammer fist exploded, with dust obscuring the area.

'I could use the Spirit, but I don't want to unveil it so soon in front of people and I know that Strom is still creeping around here somewhere. Maybe I can lure him into the woods, away from prying eyes?' Devin thought as he glanced around at his surroundings. First he glanced around to see if anyone besides him and the titan he was fighting were around, but didn't see a single soul around. Then Devin checked the distance from his current location to where the edge of the woods was. A rough estimate in Devin's head guessed that it was about thirty feet to the woods. He'd have to make a break for it.

Checking on his opponent and still seeing the dust cloud in the air, Devin turned and shot off as fast as he could. About half way was when he heard another roar, signaling that that big asshole had seen him and was about to give chase. The good news about running through the forest was that it slowed both of them down, but was still worse for Devin's opponent as he had a considerable amount of mass that wouldn't be able to change direction or even stop easily. So weaving through the thick trees allowed him to dodge the blows a little more easily even though the blows dodged ended up making kindling of some trees while others had fist imprints in them.

Ten minutes of dodging and weaving later and Devin managed to find a small clearing that would easily allow him the space he would need. Stopping at the opposite side of the clearing and turned, waiting for his opponent to catch up. He didn't have long as the behemoth came bursting out of the trees. Looking around it finally spotted Devin not far. Devin could feel the energy and power in the spirit start to surge through his body and beyond.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Devin yelled out as a fiery energy enveloped his body and limbs before dissipating to reveal crimson armor made from a mysterious metal with a dark, charcoal-colored under-suit beneath. A massive green gem was embedded in the chest. The energy circled his forehead then revealed a crimson headband with seven smaller green gems inlaid in the front. The energy gathered at his shoulder-blades forming twin jets of fire before dissipating as well revealing crimson appendages with ethereal green webbing. Devin was now hovering slightly above the ground now thanks to the flapping of his newly received wings.

Devin could feel the power surging through his body making him stronger than he had ever felt before. His very being seemed to hum with the potential he now harnessed. Devin looked up at the angry mug of the bastard that had been chasing him like a cat does a mouse, but now no more. Now, he was going to show this living robot what power really was. His excitement peaked as he raised his upgraded sword that had been reforged by the same transformation that had given him the armor and nearly vibrated with power up next to his ear.

Devin zipped through the air before swinging his blade, the enraged man could feel a sense of emergency somehow from the approaching winged target and raised his arm in an attempt to fend off the oncoming swing. Unfortunately, the raised arm did little except to make an easy target which the descending weapon cleaved through effortlessly. The severed limb flying through the air and landing a dozen feet away. Devin could feel his excitement raise another level and he felt giddy to keep battling as he saw what he had done to his now weakened opponent. As Devin did another run at the now one-armed man he failed to notice the swing of his opponent's leg in a semblance of a roundhouse kick that caught him in the side, sending him crashing into one of the fringe trees a dozen yards away. It only took seconds for Devin to come blasting back out towards his enemy to land a punch on the man's jaw breaking it and sending the man flying in turn. Devin knew that something was wrong, but Devin didn't care at the moment. He wanted to fight more.

It was only a second later that Devin appeared in front of the giant and foregoing his sword, began to pummel him into the tree that had stopped his previous flight till creaks and cracks could be heard from the poor plant. With one last punch the wood gave way and both the tree and the giant were felled. Devin felt unstoppable! He felt godly! It wasn't till he heard voices of orders being shouted nearby that a cold thought ripped through the blood-haze that had settled over Devin's mind like an arctic riptide. He was being consumed by the need to battle and kill. He needed to finish the fight before whoever issued those orders got there and saw his transformation. Devin decided to go all out and try one of the Dragoon Spells. Tossing his sword straight up into the air high, Devin began to gather a massive amount of magical power into a ball in front of him and compress it. Rearing back a closed fist Devin slammed it forward hitting the ball of fire and energy, effectively spiking it into the semi-downed opponent that had just made it to his knees. On contact the orb exploded, evaporating everything in a 15 meter diameter of where it struck. The crater was charred and some parts were glassed from the heat.

Devin could tell that the spell wasn't nearly as powerful as it could potentially be, but due to it being his first time transforming and only being level one for the spirit limited its power. Devin could hear shouts and chatter approaching so using the last of his power in his spirit, he flew away for quite a ways before he changed back, stumbling as he was a couple feet above the ground still when he changed. Now that he changed back he felt exhausted, like he was made of lead and about to fall asleep. Devin managed to find an outcropping of stone and fallen trees that he managed to crawl into before his exhaustion caused him to pass out.

(-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------)

[S.H.I.E.L.D. Hovercarrier]

Nick Fury had been on the bridge overlooking his employees when a voice caught his attention.

"Sir, we might have a problem." Said one of the agents at a console.

"What is it?" Nick asked as he turned toward the agent.

"We are getting readings of massive unknown energy spikes coming from near the Sokovian base that we were monitoring." the agent reported while typing away at the keyboard.

"Bring it up on the main screen." Fury ordered before a window showing charts and numbers from the report that came in. The spikes in question were definitely a worry as this amount could be labeled as at least a beta class threat.

"Anything from the agents in the area?" Fury demanded still having his one eye trained on the screen.

"The reports coming in state that about two hours ago a group of militant aggressors breached the base's defenses and not too long after a wall exploded and a large individual charged out and managed to destroy a piece of heavy equipment. That was the last report that we have as the monitoring equipment we had installed was damaged by the explosion of the wall somehow and failed soon after the large individual removed himself from the equipment." the agent who had reported the incident stated. Fury contemplated his options while staring at the video footage that had been collected. The video showing exactly what had been in the report. After the third time Nick noticed something in the footage near the end.

"Pause. Zoom in on the hole in the wall. Clean it up." Fury ordered as the agent manipulates the footage. Finally, a silhouette could faintly be seen standing in the shadow within the hole. The only feature that could be seen was a bar of silver light that cleaned up into the image of a gleaming sword. This confused several agents, but Fury was running dozens of scenarios through his head.

"Is Agent Sable still on her way back from her previous mission?" Fury questioned.

"Yes Sir, she is currently en-route." a male agent on the opposite side of the room reported.

"Have her change course and investigate to the best of her ability." Fury ordered as he looked at the agent that had spoken.

"Roger Sir!" the agent acknowledged before beginning to type away at the keyboard.

As his orders were relayed, Nick could only think about how he could get ahold of this power or if this was the doing of an individual then he would need to convince them to come and work for him.

(------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------)

[Baxter Building, New York]

Reed had been monitoring energy levels ever since he had gotten the first initial reading. He also had dedicated a few sensors to monitoring the house of Mr. Price as Sue had expressed her suspicions and concerns about his involvement in the phenomenon. So far there had been no further readings popping up anywhere so Reed had regulated it to the background as he continued his work on other projects.

Reed had just finished putting the casing on a small remote control looking device when a small alarm began to beep loudly on a nearby computer. Stretching his head over to take a look and seeing that there was a report from the sensors caused him to forget what he was doing. A huge spike in the unknown energy was coming from a secluded region in Sokovia. Conducting additional scans managed to track the energy to a couple dozen meters away from an old base from WWII. The energy reading wasn't nearly as big as the first but still had an enormous amount of power. Tapping a few keys, Reed contacted the rest of the team.

"What did you find Reed?" Sue said as she popped up in a window at the corner of the screen.

"I got another reading on that energy signature emanating from a secluded region of Sokovia. From what I can see it isn't nearly as powerful as before. This could mean several things, but nothing I can officially confirm right now." Reed replied as he continued tapping away.

"Alright I'm on my way back right now. See you then." Sue said before the window closed itself. Reed continued checking and double checking as he knew that if this power turns out to be malefic in nature then they would need to know what they were up against and how to stop it.