I woke up, green text skittering across the insides of my eyelids as I rebooted. I shuddered a little, and my finger twitched, a flinch, as everything was suddenly brighter than my eyes could stand. I opened my eyes hesitantly and looked around. I closed them again when I heard a faint noise so no one would see the green light in my eye that signaled I was rebooting. I was wearing my hoodie and I wished I looked different, maybe short black hair and green eyes, with tan skin. I felt myself morph, if that makes any sense. I was lying in a bed. I climbed out and tried to stand. My braces and metal leg supported me. I closed my eyes and wished for a walking stick or a staff, and a tall, straight stick appeared in my hands. I tugged my hood forward more and started walking. My shoes were still on. I was in a plain room, with old fashioned wooden paneling that would have looked hideous anywhere else, but managed to look charming here nonetheless. I pushed open the door silently and walked out. I heard low voices down the hall, that must have been the noise I heard, and tilted my head, following the sound, before silently padding along the corridor, going towards the noise. I stopped at a door and listened, becoming invisible.

"What do we do with him?"

"I don't know. We don't even know it's a boy!"

"How did you even get them back here? They weigh a ton!"

"We had four yeti carry them."

"Are they awake yet?"

"Let's go check." I took a step away from the door as it opened. I followed them, my knee whirring almost silently as I followed them back to the room I had awoken in. "They're gone! Why were they left in the room alone!"

"They were unconscious! They weren't supposed to wake up for several more hours!"

"Let's just agree to call them a boy, otherwise I'm going to go crazy."

"Aye, mate, that was mighty confusing."

They went silent for a moment as I bent my knee, and the spinning of the processing fan sounded deafening. "Did you hear that? Tooth? A little humming noise?"

I froze. I instructed my metal limbs not to move until I told them to, and my control panel related the command from my brain. Instantly my joints locked so I had to hobble and couldn't move my arm below the shoulder, but I was guaranteed silence temporarily.

"Nah, mate, I think you're hearing things. It's been a long day." Bunny clapped Jack on the shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe I just need some rest. Yeah, it probably was nothing, or maybe something far off in the workshop." He looked drop-dead exhausted. He had bags under his eyes. I unlocked my joints and took as step. "There it was again!" Jack looked around wildly.

"Frostbite-"

"No, no, he's not going crazy, I heard it too," Tooth blurted.

"Ah, well, I guess my covers been blown and my location compromised," I said, loud and clear. Everyone jumped. I wished I was visible again, and I appeared.

"How do you do that?" Tooth asked, a hand over her heart.

"No clue. I was born yesterday, literally. Or the first day you saw me, whenever that was."

"What are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "I just woke up in this room. I can cross the ocean, but I wanted to know why Manny brought me here."

"So I wasn't going crazy." Jack looked relieved. "But what was that whirring noise?"

"Eh. Do you guys know who you're up against?"

"Pitch Black."

I gestured with my hands. "And?"

"Some pretty woman."

I walked over to Jack and slapped him across the face. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" I bellowed in his ear.

"Ow, ouch, what was that for?" He demanded, rubbing his ear.

"You were under her spell."

"Pardon?"

"She can trick people into doing what she wants, thinking what she wants, believing what she wants. And if she wants people to stop believing in you, well, you guys don't stand a chance." I turned to run for a window, but North grabbed my hood and pulled it down, hauling me back with it. "Now what do you want?" I snapped at him. Everyone gasped. "Yes, I get it, I'm ugly, just leave me alone!" If I had tear ducts, I would have been on the verge of tears. "Just let me go!" I yelled, my voice breaking. "Just let me go." My voice cracked and I couldn't say anymore, I just hung from my hoodie sadly, pathetically. Then I straightened. "Let me go," I said firmly. "I am Det Ermi Nation, for crying out loud, and I have already died! I am not afraid of you." I slipped out of my hoodie, dropping to the ground. I didn't care that my metal arm was exposed, shiny steel glinting bright in the light. I let my face and hair change back until I was in my normal form. I snatched my hoodie out of North's loose fist and yanked it on. I felt all-powerful. My eyes glowed bright purple. "You did not see anything."

"We did not see anything," they intoned, their eyes glowing faintly purple. Then they stopped moving.

I flipped my hood back up and morphed my face back to the black haired one. "What did you want from me?"

Jack blinked. "How did you know that?"

"Know what?"

"About her. The one in the shadow."

"Oh, her. I, don't, actually know how I know. I just do. She lives on the moon."

They stared at me like I was crazy. "So you were just kidding? That slap hurt!"

"Um, no, I wasn't kidding. There's a whole Lunar colony living on the moon. They were sent up there before the Wars as an experiment, but after living on the moon for so long, they've- they've changed. They're not humans anymore. They've evolved differently, they can control people- with their minds." I fell to my knees and pressed my hands to my temples, faking a headache. "Ow, how- how did I know that?"

"Are you all right? What should we call you, Det?" Tooth put a hand on my shoulder.

"I need to talk to Manny," I groaned. I really did have a headache now.

"You need to walk, we can't really help you. You're too heavy."

I grabbed my thick staff and snapped it with my metal hand. I barked harshly. "Well, yeah, that is kinda the flip side of being made of metal."

"What? Made of metal? You're not making any sense, are you feeling alright?" Jack actually seemed concerned.

"Of course I'm not alright, I ripped my own skin off to find metal underneath just a few days ago!" I cackled a little. "Don't believe me? See for yourself!" I ripped my sweatshirt off and hiked the hems of my pants up to my knees. "Look at me! I'm steel and titanium!

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose,

fire away, fire away,

ricochet, you take your aim,

fire away, fire away,

you shoot me down, but I won't fall,

I am titanium!

You shoot me down, but I won't fall,

I am titanium!" I sang, delirious.

"You aren't metal. Look." Jack grabbed my metal arm and held it out. "See? Flesh and blood."

"No, it's metal. Try to break my arm, it won't! My stepsister pushed me down the stairs, you saw me get run over by a hover, I can't go in the water or I'll rust and sink!" I said in the voice of a madwoman. I laughed hysterically. "Can't you see it? My arm is metal... You really don't see it? So is my leg!" I slammed my metal elbow into my metal leg, a resounding clang echoing. "Hear that? Me! The whirring was my leg as I walked among you, invisible. See, now even I think I'm going crazy! I'm going crazy aren't I?" I sank to the ground, desperate. "I don't want to be crazy," I whispered.

"Is she mortal?"

"No. I'm not. And you know what?" I got to my feet and summoned something to lean on. A mini fridge appeared next to me and I rested my elbow on it. "I'm not crazy either. But I need to talk to Manny." I walked around a bit before remembering my wings, and with a small screech, they popped out of my back. I tied my hoodie around my waist before soaring off. My data center went crazy, trying to use the netfeed to get the blueprints for this place, but it couldn't find the feed. "What is wrong with this place? Why's there no netfeed?"

"Netfeed? What's a netfeed?"

I shook my head. "You guys don't even have netfeeds? How do you exist? Do you have hovers?"

"What is that stuff? It's the 21st century, and-"

"WHAT?" I screamed. "There is no way I'm in the 21st century. It's T.E. 109. The 21st century was A.D."

"Um, what exactly is T.E.? And it's 2013. What are you talking about?"

I started pacing, shaking my head as I puzzled things out, out loud."It all makes sense now. No wonder you guys are so clueless. I'm from the future. Do you guys know what this means? Manny sent me back in time!" I spun on my heel, pausing in my frantic pacing to face them. "This is incredible!"

"Okay. Definitely crazy." Bunny said behind his hand.

"SHUT UP!" I shrieked at Bunny, and when he went to make a retort, his mouth moved but no sound came out. He grabbed his throat and tried again. My eyes widened in terror at what I had done, and I stared at my work glove-covered hands in shock. "How-?" I managed before the red text in my line I vision warned me about shutdown. "Not again," I groaned before I stiffened and froze.

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Only updating this bc I'm boreddddddd

So I wrote this in 2013 and that's the reason for the date and this is the last update for a while since I just kinda lost inspiration, but I got up to ch10 written so it's all good for now

I hit rediscovered my liking for this so maybe I'll get back to working on it soon. I just got absorbed into FF.net, sorry.

-iamanawesometaco