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Erin was reading a comic book in her small, one bedroom apartment. Her bedroom growing up was larger than the student efficiency she now called home. Erin was taking notes on her tablet as she paged through the comic. She was working on a paper for her history class.

In a world where superheroes exist, comic books are not works of fiction, but instead a form of historical record. Words by themselves were inadequate to record the exploits of such individuals from the very beginning. When superheroes first started to appear in the late nineteen-thirties, photo and motion picture technology was far too limited. Newspapers turned to staff comic artists to recreate the stories in a graphic format. These turned out to be wildly popular and ninety years later they are still the format many people prefer for stories of their favorite heroes.

Erin was someone who always had an interest in metahumans and the like. She wanted to work as a researcher in the field, helping heroes from the sidelines. As much as Erin had dreamed of becoming a hero, or even just a sidekick, reality had set in by the time she was thirteen. She always considered baseline human heroes like Nightfox to be just a little bit crazy to do what they did with just training and high-end gear. So, Erin figured helping the heroes from the sidelines was the safest way to get involved.

She was working on a paper for her heroic history course. Erin focused on one of her favorite heroes, Damselfly. She was a local hero of Rondville, and had been extremely active, saving the city numerous times. Damselfly did such a good job the metahuman crime moved on to other places, leaving the small Canadian city to the normal petty criminals. Not long after that, Damselfly retired from active duty, and hasn't been seen in years.

Erin placed the comic down on the table to take a few notes on the fight between Damselfly and Black Ice. As soon as her pencil hit the paper, she heard her phone ding rapidly with a series of text messages from where it was charging across the room. Erin pushed back her blonde hair and her hazel eyes darted to the phone. She sighed and got up from her seat.

That sounds like mom…God! What is it now? She thought as she walked over to her phone. “What the hell…" Erin mumbled to herself as she walked back to her kitchen table, scanning through the series of texts that kept coming. What did you think was going to happen dating a guy like that? She shook her head as she tried to write a comforting response to her mother.

It took a while before Erin could put down her phone. She went to pull the comic book towards her when she noticed something. It was in the panel where Black Ice was slammed into a wall. Looking at the image mostly sideways, Erin could see something in the cracks. As she focused and tilted the page some more she could make out letters and numbers.

Erin tapped on her tablet, transcribing it over. It looked like a street address, though she wasn't familiar with the road off hand. A quick search on Maps showed it was a legitimate address, right on the edge of the city. The aerial view showed a small building in a small field surrounded by trees. Erin stared at her phone trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

What kind of an easter egg is this? A shack in a field? But the address is real. How come no one noticed this before?

Erin started to search for anything about this hidden address but found nothing, other than confirming its existence. Interestingly, when she found a scan of the comic page online, the cracks in the wall were completely different and didn't contain any cryptic messages.

This is getting weirder…Maybe I need to check this place out. Worst case, I'll just get some exercise outside.

***

After riding the bus to the end of the line Erin had a fifteen minute ride on the bicycle she had brought along with her. It was a fairly nice spring day, and the ride was through an undeveloped section of the city just past the industrial center. She could see the shack coming up, as there was nothing else out there. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Erin coasted to a stop and dismounted her bike. She walked her bike along an overgrown gravel driveway to the shack. The thing was old, but solidly built with concrete block walls and a metal roof. Erin slowly circled the building after propping her bike up along a wall. There were a few vents, but no windows, and just a single large steel door. Unsurprisingly it was locked.

Ok so, there's just a shack out here, nothing around and the door is locked. What did I expect? That there would be a key hidden under a rock by the door? She thought as she kicked a rock by the door.

To her surprise she saw something underneath the rock. Bending down, Erin found a small plastic box. Something rattled inside as she shook it. After prying it open with her pocket knife, a dull metal key fell out.

Well, son of a bitch, there was a key under the rock! She smiled as she bent down to retrieve the key from the ground. It's got to be for this place, right?

Erin stared at the key in her hand for several moments, contemplating whether to try it on the door or not. Eventually, her curiosity won out and she inserted the key into the lock. It was a little stiff, but it still turned. Erin slowly opened the door, half afraid something would jump out at her. Given the lack of windows it was unsurprisingly dark inside the building. From what she could see from the doorway it looked mostly empty and dusty. Erin found a light switch by the door and flicked it. After a moment's pause, a large fluorescent light fixture in the ceiling flickered to life. It wasn't the best light, one of the tubes was still sputtering, but it was enough.

She put the key into her pocket and kept the door open, just in case. There were some shelves and a large workbench and a few wrenches laying around, but other than that, it was just dust.

What was the point of putting an old maintenance shack address in the comic book? Erin wondered as she picked up a ten millimeter wrench from the workbench.

She had come so far, lugged her bike onto a bus and had nothing to show for it. Erin was just about to leave when something in the dust caught her attention. She walked over carefully to one of the empty metal shelves. There was a layer of dust on the floor like everywhere in the shed, but Erin could see some faint lines in the dust, as if just when the dust was starting to settle someone had pulled a corner of the shelves out from behind the wall. With nothing to lose, Erin grabbed a hold of the shelving unit and pulled. At first it barely budged, then the hidden hinges were able to move and the shelf swung out like a door.

It moved so quickly Erin almost ended up on her butt. Behind the shelf, she could see the back wall was actually false and there was a space back there. She pulled out her phone for the flashlight and looked into the small area. It was just wide enough for a person to stand without brushing against the walls. Inside the opening there was what looked like a small industrial lift.

“No way…" she whispered out loud. This looks like something out of a comic book…which is appropriate given how I found the place. I got to try the lift!

Erin stepped on the lift one foot at a time, waiting to see if anything happened. When it didn't so much as flex, she dusted off the controls. There were two buttons, up and down, so Erin pushed down. There was a loud buzzing sound and after a lurching start the lift started to descend. It didn't go too far down, only about five meters or so. The place looked like some kind of bunker with concrete walls, floors, and ceiling surrounding her. As she stepped off the lift she heard the air handler kick in, just like a furnace on the first cold night in fall. As fresh air cycled through the underground bunker more lights flickered on.

She stepped into a room lined with old monitors and displays that started to come online. Then she saw it. Erin's jaw dropped open as she stared at a large transparent cylinder. Inside was the Damselfly suit.

“This…this is Damselfly's secret lair!" she squealed like a tween at a concert. “I can't believe it!"

Erin ran to the cylinder containing the suit. Getting a closer look, it seemed different from what she remembered. She tried to bring up a picture on her phone, but there was no service inside the bunker.

Of course, I'm underground. Can't blame that one on crappy service. She saw there was an info display attached to the containment vessel. Damselfly Armor, version two point five. I guess she was about to upgrade her suit but then retired. I wonder if I can get any more information on the suit?

Erin dusted off the screen and tapped at it to no effect, that's was when she saw the keyboard and trackball below. She blushed at her mistake, even if no one was there to see it. Erin dusted off the keys and tried to see what she could bring up. Of course she didn't really know what she was doing, just clicking through menus and options.

Activate live interface? Is that some kind of voice recognition program? Erin wondered as she clicked on it.

There was a whirring sound and some kind of alarm chimed. Erin looked around wondering what was happening when the glass cylinder started to sink down into the floor. The armor remained. Erin stared at it. She couldn't help herself; Erin had to get a closer look. She stepped up and slowly reached out to touch the suit.

Just as her fingers touched the surface of the gold and black insect looking suit, something unexpected happened. The suit seemed to almost melt and start to flow onto Erin's hand. Reflexively, she tried to yank her hand away but it stretched and continued to flow onto her hand and up under her sleeve. The sensation was difficult to describe. It moved like some kind of mobile fluid, but it didn't feel wet, if anything it felt like some kind of soft fine but grainy material, almost like the cream Erin used to exfoliate her face, but dry and cool.

“Oh god, what did I just do?" She panicked, trying to shake the stream of stuff off her arm.

As Erin watched, the armor continued to melt away and flow onto her body. She could feel it now flowing over her shoulder and down her chest, slipping under her bra to coat her breasts and continuing down her abdomen. Erin felt a shiver go down her spine as it also flowed down her back rapidly towards her rear.

“Please Just stop!" She cried out as it flowed under her panties from the front and back.

The suit was nothing more than a lump of goo as it flowed to cover Erin's other arm and down her legs. She wiggled her toes in her sneakers as even they were coated. There was nothing left of the suit as it started to flow up her neck and cover her head, blonde hair and all. Erin held her breath as her mouth and nose were covered.

“Oh god! I'm going to suffocate in this thing!"

Erin tried desperately to pull the substance off of her face. Then she heard a recorded voice in her ears.

“Activating live interface stage two. Please stand by."

There was a jolt in her body and she gasped. Erin realized that she could, in fact, breathe. Not that it did much to calm her state of mind.

“A-abort! Cancel! Stop!" She shouted into the skin-tight mask now covering her face.

The next thing Erin knew, her entire body started to tingle. It was enough of a surprise that she fell down to her knees. The substance started to warm, not in an uncomfortable way, more like a relaxing hot bath kind of way, though what she was feeling wasn't exactly relaxing. All of Erin's nerves were being stimulated, including her more erogenous areas. She sucked in a breath as she felt her nipples growing hard. It was quickly followed by a loud moan as Erin felt her sex being stimulated. She pressed her hand without thinking against her crotch as she squirmed.

Erin never had a boy or girlfriend and took care of her own needs as it were. But nothing she had ever done to herself felt quite like this. The fact that every inch of her body was being stimulated only raised her sense of arousal through the roof. Erin was almost writhing on the ground. She couldn't even think about her situation, Erin could only bask in the purest of pleasure. Her hips thrust up into the air as she arched her back up off the concrete floor. Erin cried out in ecstasy as the waves of pleasure rocketed through her body.

She collapsed back down on the floor, panting hard inside of whatever had covered her body. Just as she was able to form a coherent thought again she heard another announcement in the same voice.

“Stage two complete. Activating live interface stage three. Please stand by."

Oh god, what now?

Erin didn't have to wait long for an answer. The substance started to form solid shapes and harden. Suddenly she could see again. It was like a computer display in front of her eyes. Various bits of information flashed in front of Erin's eyes, though she wasn't paying attention to any of that, she was looking down at her body. Her clothes were being shredded as the goo started to reform into the Damselfly armor. Needless to say, Erin's jeans didn't stand a chance against the armored plates now adorning her legs.

I am in so much trouble… She thought as her t-shirt followed suit. How am I going to get home? Even if I get out of this suit, my clothes are nothing but rags!

Erin then felt something happening at her rear. It took her a moment to realize the wasp-like tail of the armor was starting to form. She rolled to her side as it filled in. Just below her arms Erin felt a tingling before a second pair of arms started to form. She watched in fascination as they grew from child sized to full fledged arms just as big as her own. She was also somehow able to feel them and move them as easily as the pair she was born with.

“This feels so weird…" she said out loud as she flexed her new fingers.

Slowly Erin got up on her feet. When she felt a similar tingle on her back, she could easily guess what it was.

“Wings too? I can't be that surprised." Erin said, feeling a little more excited about what was happening. She turned and saw her reflection in one of the large monitor screens. An insect-like helmet had formed around her head.

I look just like Damselfly…well, how she would have looked in this suit anyway. She turned to the side and flicked her wings.

“Stage three complete. Live interface complete. All systems online."

What do I do now? She wondered as she walked around the lair.

Moving in the suit was as easy as walking around naked. It moved with her like a second skin. Erin looked around her surroundings and spotted a fairly large metal crate. As she stared at it the suit analyzed the crate giving its dimensions to Erin and informing her it was made of steel.

I'm already in it deep for this joyride, I might as well enjoy myself.

Erin walked over to the crate and grabbed it with all four of her hands. She lifted it up like it was a cardboard box full of packing peanuts. Erin lifted it up above her head with just one hand before placing it back down gently.

If the comics are accurate, she should have a training area in the lair…

Erin explored a bit and found what she was looking for. A large room behind a heavy blast door. Judging by the target dummies and pockmarks on the wall this was where Damselfly had tested out her weapons systems.

Do I have to arm them or… Her display flashed 'weapons systems armed' across her field of vision. Ok, I guess that's how it works.

Erin focused on one of the dummies and almost instantly had a red reticle floating over it. She held out her arm and with barely a thought a dart shot out from her wrist and hit the target directly in its center of mass.

“Cool!" She nearly squealed then proceeded to launch several more towards the target from each of her four wrists.

Erin looked around and figured there was enough room to try out flying. Her wings unfolded and they quickly buzzed, lifting her up off the ground in a slow hover. It took some getting used to, but the suit seemed to know how to interpret her thoughts into how to move. Erin started to buzz around the room laughing as she flew.

I know I shouldn't, but I kind of want to take this outside so I can really fly!

“Having fun?" A voice spoke seemingly inside of her head.

Erin stopped mid dive and hovered about two meters off the floor. It wasn't the same recorded voice from before, but it sounded familiar.

“I asked you a question, Ms. O'Neill, I know that it's you in the Damselfly two point five suit, I've checked the security feed."

It finally clicked on where Erin had heard the voice before. It was her English professor, Dr Chloe Ward.

“Dr Ward?" Erin said in almost a whisper.

“Mmm-hmm." Was the reply.

“What? What are you? How?"

She heard a long loud sigh. “Erin, why do you think I have access to the security of that bunker and the ability to communicate with the suit?"

“Y-You're Damselfly! Holy shit! My English professor is Damselfly!"

“Correction, I was. I hung up the cape a long time ago, as you are no doubt aware. Now, how did you get inside of there?"

“Umm, The lair or the suit?"

“Both."

“I, ah, I was working on a paper and I found something strange in a comic. You were fighting with Black Ice and I saw an address hidden in the background of one panel. That led me here."

“Someone finally found that issue then. I can't say I expected one of my own students to be the one who would."

“When you say that issue, do you mean it was only in one?"

“Correct. If it was in every single comic printed lots of people would have found that old bunker. Now, what happened with the suit?"

“I was just taking a look at it, trying to learn about it when I clicked on the button for the live link. I thought it was some kind of voice recognition program."

“Let me guess what happened next, you touched it and it bonded with you."

“Yeah…I'm sorry."

“You're not exactly in trouble, I left that clue out there on purpose."

“You wanted somebody to find it?"

“I'll explain when I get there, I'm already on my way. I suggest you just stay there and try not to break anything in the meantime."

***

Erin killed time messing around in the training room. She had no experience in any martial art, but it was fun seeing how hard she could throw a punch or a kick. Erin found it much easier to keep her balance and even managed a backflip for the first time in her life. When she saw an alert on her display that entry into the lair was detected, she assumed it was Dr. Ward. Erin left the training room and hurried to the lift.

It was already coming down by the time she got there. Dr. Ward's dark brown eyes behind red framed glasses were looking at Erin intently as the lift finished descending. She was dressed professionally in a long skirt, blouse and dark blue blazer. Several shopping bags were in her hands.

“Ummm, Hi Dr. Ward." Erin said meekly.

“Hmm, the improved voice modulator really sounds good. I can't recognize your voice at all."

“My voice? What? I don't sound any different, do I?"

“Inside the helmet, no. And it's your real voice over the communicator as well. The voice projected out, however, is modified." Dr Ward walked over to a counter and set her bags down. “When I first received the armor it didn't have that feature. I actually bought a novelty voice changer from a toy store and jury rigged it in the helmet when I first started out. With voice and image recognition only getting better over the years I kept working on better designs to conceal my identity."

“Considering my favorite hero has been my English Lit teacher for almost a semester and I didn't know it, I think you did a good job."

Dr Ward chuckled at that. “Have you managed to retract any part of the suit yet?"

“Retract? You mean take off?"

“No, retract. You've linked with the armor, it won't come off your body, at least not while you're still breathing."

“What? I can't take it off?" Erin pulled at the armored plates, but she might as well been pulling on her skin.

“Calm down and let me explain. Let's start with retracting the helmet. It's kind of off putting for me right now, almost like I'm talking to myself. Focus on the command and you should be able to retract the helmet so we can talk face to face."

Erin took several deep breaths trying to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on freeing her head and face. Suddenly, Erin could feel the helmet melting away and her blonde hair fell freely down to her shoulders. She opened her eyes and let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. It took her a moment but sights and sounds seemed duller somehow. Erin rubbed her eyes gently.

“Your eyes are probably fine. Your senses are enhanced while the helmet is up. With everything going on you didn't notice until now when that went away. It takes a bit to get used to."

“I guess that makes sense." Erin walked over to the counter and glanced at one of the bags.

“Is that poutine?"

“Yes, it's for you, along with the rest of the food in the bag." Dr Ward pulled out the flimsy metal container and placed a plastic fork on top." The armor is hypermetabolic, even when not deployed. You've probably already lost any excess body fat since you put it on."

Erin ran a hand over her tummy. “Really? Well, I guess I do feel a little hungry, now that you mention it." Erin was about to start opening the poutine but paused and then looked at her hands. The suit seemed to quickly shift into its fluid-like form and then seemingly was absorbed into the skin of her hands. “Woah! Where did it go?" She asked, turning her hands over and back several times.

“The armor is fused to you now. For all practical senses it's a part of you now. In its non-deployed state it retracts into your body. It naturally masks itself from body scans and the like, so you won't get troubled by airport security for example."

Erin looked up from her hands at her professor. “How come none of this was in the comics?"

“First of all, not all of our details are published in them. Heroes do need to maintain our civilian identities and we don't want our enemies to have a full list of our powers, abilities, and weaknesses."

“Ok, yeah that makes sense." Erin had opened the container and started to eat.

“Secondly the armor has been modified greatly since I was first entrusted with it. The combat systems were designed to evolve and incorporate new technologies. After the little hack job I did with the voice changer, the suit's computer figured out how to build and integrate a proper voice modulator."

“Mmm, you never struck me as much of a techie, Dr. Ward."

“Given the number of English degrees I possess?" She raised an eyebrow. “And you can call me Chloe while we're off campus."

“Oh, ah ok, Chloe."

“I wasn't trained in engineering or design, but I'm no luddite. One of the things I've learned in earning my degrees is how to do research. And like I said, the suit was built to be improved and integrate new technologies." Chloe leaned against the counter and took off her glasses, rubbing the bridge of her nose before continuing. “As I wore and fought with the suit, I got to know it better, feel what it needed. Maybe on some level it was communicating with my subconscious. The addition of the nanite assembler tech was the final upgrade I installed, that is what allows it to retract into your body.."

Erin thought as she chewed for a moment. “How come you didn't put it on yourself after going through the trouble of upgrading to version two point five?"

“Things were…changing, in both Rondville and in my life." Chloe let out a small sigh. “Metahuman crime had practically dried up, and the regular criminals were being handled by the up and coming heroes and the police. I received offers to join some hero associations in larger regions or cities, but Rondville is my home."

Erin forced herself to swallow. “You did?" Really?"

Chloe nodded. “Even a few from the States. But at the same time, I had completed my PhD, and had accepted an offer to be a professor at the university. Of course as the junior of the department, I was given all the freshman classes nobody wanted to teach." She laughed a bit at that. “The thing was, I rather enjoyed it. It brought me more joy than just busting a car thief at the time. I felt fulfilled by the work, like how fighting crime had when I was younger. I debated it as I finished the upgrades to the suit. Could I lead a double life, or was it time to move on and just become a professor at a university? In the end I decided to hang up the cape. As a hero I had worked mostly alone, and my personal life was even worse at the time. Having no one I could pass the mantle onto, I came up with my plan. There are a fair amount of retired heroes who work in the comic book business, that's kind of a secret so keep it to yourself. Anyway, I had some contacts slip in that altered panel into a single random comic on the run."

Erin nodded. “Like a treasure map in a bottle. Still, you were leaving a lot up to chance."

“It was a pure chance that had me out on a backpacking trip in Banff National Park when a spaceship landed by my campsite and I was entrusted with the suit to keep it safe."

Erin scraped the remaining gravy out of the container with the last fry. “I guess that's my job now. I'm studying to be a field researcher for metahumans, but I wasn't expecting to actually become one." She looked into the food bag. “Is that a burger?"

“I got a burger and a grilled chicken, I wasn't sure which you would prefer, help yourself. Most of us who aren't born with powers weren't expecting to put on the cape, it just sort of happens. Luck, fate, the gods chucking darts to see what happens, who knows?" Chloe shrugged and pulled out a bottle of sports drink. “Here, you need to keep up your electrolytes too."

“Thanks, I was getting thirsty." Erin opened the bottle and took a long drink.

“I may be out of the game officially, but I still notice things. There's been some strange goings on in Rondville as of late. I think without a strong hero presence some bad elements have decided to move in and set up shop here. I was even starting to wonder if I should have come back here and put the suit back on. But now, I'd rather mentor you, and pass on what I learned the hard way. I guess I'm just a teacher at heart."

Erin's face lit up. “So you'll help me become a real hero?"

Chloe smiled. “If you're willing to listen to my advice, yes."

Erin chuckled. “As a kid, I used to dream of being your sidekick." She opened the container with the burger and took a large bite out of it.

“Well, you managed to skip a few steps. Just as well, I've never been a fan of minors getting involved in the hero business."

“So, where do we start?"

“How about we start with retracting the rest of the suit?"

Erin placed the burger down. “Um, yeah, there might be a slight problem with that…"

“I know about your clothes, I saw the security feeds." Chloe shook her head. “You were supposed to strip down first and then activate the live link." She smirked. “I got you some clothes to get you home at least." She patted one of the bags.

“Oh thank god!" Erin sighed with relief.

“There's a shower and locker room right through that door." she pointed across the room and held out the bag.. “Let me know if you have any trouble."

“I think I'll be ok." Erin took the shopping bag with the clothes in it. “I'm still hungry though, I might eat both sandwiches."

Chloe laughed. “They're all yours."

_________________________________________

Characters are property of Gryphus1

Written by Syntaxerror37

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