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A dark-haired man dressed in blue landed on the dusty ground. His blue armor was etched with golden symbols Kate did not recognize. His skin was cracked, those lines glowing, and his eyes were the color of molten gold, with his pupils barely identifiable.
‘Zombie!’ Kamala shrieked, one of her hands transforming.
Kate didn’t think so- the man’s skin wasn’t decaying, his armor was still unblemished, and his eyes still looked human. This was confirmed a moment later.
‘Negative,’ F.R.I.D.A.Y stated. ‘The being is inorganic and heavily damaged.’
Inorganic? Jesus, he looks so human, way more than Vision ever did. Whoever made him was extremely talented.
Suddenly a blue blast slammed into the being, barely missing the three humans, and another being descended from the sky. This one was dressed in ripped black-and-silver armor, appeared feminine, and had the signature decaying skin plus white pupil-less eyes of a zombie. Kate didn’t recognize her and wondered who she had been in life.
‘That is a zombie,’ F.R.I.D.A.Y said.
‘Oh hell no,’ Kamala said.
‘Move! Move!’ Riri yelled, shoving both Kamala and Kate.
The three began to run, F.R.I.D.A.Y on their six and the zombie turning to look after them, when there was a blast of bright light. Kate turned around and saw the zombie crumple, her head separated from her body. The other being stood behind her, his eyes glowing the same color as the light, but then he stumbled and his eyes rolled back into his head before he collapsed on the ground.
The trio stared.
‘What do we do with him?’ Riri asked.
‘He just saved our asses! We help him, duh,’ Kate said.
‘She has a good point,’ Kamala told Riri.
‘We don’t know what he is! He could be violent!’ Riri argued.
‘She has a good point too,’ Kamala told Kate.
Kate rolled her eyes. ‘Ri, he literally just saved our lives and you’re calling him violent? That’s a bit much. And honestly- if he wasn’t here, if he hadn’t decided to help us, would any of us be here? No. So let’s help him in return.’
‘Mm, she makes an excellent point,’ Kamala told Riri.
‘Besides,’ Kate added, knowing that Riri was almost won over, ‘look at him! He’s such an incredibly advanced android! Wouldn’t you like to see that technology up close?’
Riri sighed and pinched her nose. ‘Alright, fine. But I am not carrying him.’
‘Fair enough,’ Kate said. ‘F.R.I.D.A.Y, can you carry him?’
‘Yes, Ms. Bishop,’ the Artificial Intelligence replied, steering the Iron Man suit over to where the android lay unconscious.
‘While you’re at it, scan him,’ Riri ordered. ‘Make sure he isn’t hiding any nasty threats.’
Why would he save us just to blow us up? Kate wondered. That would be a ridiculously complicated plan, more like a James Bond villain than real life.
F.R.I.D.A.Y complied and picked the android up. ‘The being is not of this world,’ the Artificial Intelligence announced, which surprised absolutely nobody. ‘He is millenia old, older than humanity.’
Now that caught Kate’s attention and Riri perked up.
Riri looked amazed. ‘To think while we were crawling out of the sea he was already old, the Greece to our Rome…wow. That is amazing. Continue, F.R.I.D.A.Y.’
‘I cannot discern what materials he is made of, or the source of his power,’ F.R.I.D.A.Y stated. ‘But he is powerful.’
Riri nodded and gestured for the others to follow her as she started walking back towards their downed vehicle. ‘Makes sense. That zombie was ridiculously skilled- for him to have lasted so long, he must be powerful too.’
They soon arrived at the remains of the Uhula.
Riri frowned. ‘Hm. Kamala, do you think you could use your powers to flip her over?’
‘On it, Ri.’
☣
They were a few hours out from the valley, having managed to repair the Uhula and return her back onto her proper stance when the android stirred. The golden cracks in his body had long since disappeared, and F.R.I.D.A.Y had said moments before that his neural activity indicated that he was exiting sleep, yet it was still surprising when piercing blue (not golden fire) eyes met Kate’s.
‘Hello,’ the android whispered, a faint Scottish brogue rolling his words.
‘Hi,’ Kate said. ‘I’m Kate.’
‘He’s awake?’ Kamala shouted from the driver’s seat (Riri, fast asleep now, had called shotgun). ‘Hello, strange robot guy! You’re such a badass!’
The android looked both bewildered and bemused. ‘Thank you?’
‘Ignore Kamala,’ Kate told him. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Ikaris,’ the android-man said. ‘Pleasure to meet you, Kate. Where exactly are we?’
‘Middle of bumfuck nowhere,’ Kate responded.
Ikaris hummed, sounding and looking so very human it nearly gave Kate a heart attack. ‘...and why am I with you?’
‘You saved our lives,’ Kate told him. ‘We weren’t just going to leave you there to die.’
Ikaris smiled softly. ‘Humans. Your ability for empathy is so strong. It’s one of my favorite things about you.’
The smile melted slowly off of his face and his brilliant blue eyes darkened. ‘Or it was.’
Kate knew that look. She saw that look every time she glanced in a mirror and let down the pretense of being alright. It was sorrow.
‘Are you alright?’ She asked. ‘That fight looked rough. Thank you, by the way, for saving us. It…means a lot that there’s still survivors out there willing to risk everything for others.’
‘You’re welcome. I have watched humanity grow, stumble, evolve over centuries…and you all are beautiful, talented creatures. I could not save this planet from the virus in the Quantum Realm, but I could save you. And I’m alright. You only saw the last part of a five-year-fight. I ache, and I’m exhausted, but things could be very much worse,’ Ikaris told her.
Kate paused. ‘...you fought a zombie for five years.’
‘Yep.’
‘You fought that zombie for five years,’ Kate repeated, shocked.
‘Holy shit,’ Kamala said from the front. ‘That’s crazy, Ike. Can I call you Ike?’
Ikaris snorted. ‘You may. And it was my duty. If she had escaped, she could’ve threatened the entire universe.’
‘And yet not many people would have made that choice,’ Kate remarked.
‘I may be an android, and thus not on the menu, but I wouldn’t have had much of a life in an apocalyptic universe anyway,’ Ikaris said.
‘True,’ Kate said, and the car descended into companionable silence.
But little did they know that not only that their new friend would give them a way off the planet…but he and his connections would prove to be humanity’s salvation.