Here's the second part to my fic. Three and four should be along soon.
I'll get out of the way now so that ytou can read (and so that none of
the rotten fruit hits me).

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Kyle glanced over at his dorm mate as they entered the campus
underground parking lot. "You have a car?"
"Of course." John replied.
"I guess that makes things easier." Kyle had dubious visions  of
Gremlins, Pintos and mid-80's Fords dancing through his head. "Where is
it?"
"A couple of rows over, I think." John replied. "Just a sec." He pulled
out keychain with a small black device hanging amongst the keys. He
pressed a button on it. Nothing happened.
"What's that?" Kyle asked, looking at little device.
"Wait for it." John replied.
A moment later a bright red Ferrari rounded the corner and drove up to
the two. It stopped in front of them and the driver door opened. No one
was inside.
"Well? Get in!" John chided Kyle as he climbed into the drivers seat.
"THIS is your car?" Kyle asked, not moving.
"Yes." John said as if it wasn't unusual for a university student to own
a remote-controlled Ferrari.
Kyle shook off his paralysis and walked around to the passenger side,
examining the car carefully. <This is NO replica!> he thought. "What did
you do, rob a bank?" Kyle got in, careful to avoid touching the paint.
"Nah. My Uncle bought it for me for my seventeenth birthday." John said.
"Who's your uncle, Donald Trump?"
"Nope. Tony Stark of Stark Industries." John said, smiling.
"Stark Industries?!" Kyle's jaw bounced off the car floor. "You mean the
guys who make the...?"
"Yup."
"And those...?"
"Uh-huh."
"And those little...?"
"Of course!" John revved the engine, then gunned it, sending the Ferrari
screaming up the ramp and out of the parking lot, catching a little air
at the top.
Kyle desperately grabbed for the seatbelt. "Geez! Gimme some warning
next time!" He adjusted the seat back a little, then relaxed into the
plush leather seat. It felt like it had been custom moulded just for
him. "Man this is sweet! So... if you're so loaded, why the hell are you
living in the dorm?"
John shifted into third <Jesus!> Kyle thought <We were only in SECOND?!>
"Uncle Tony told me all about his University days." John said. "I kinda
wanted to see what University life was all about for myself, and I
thought the best way to do that was to immerse myself in the experience
as much as possible. You don't get the same kind of effect living off
campus."
"Like sleeping in a tent in your backyard, huh?" Kyle said.
"Immersing yourself in the experience doesn't necessarily mean depriving
yourself." John replied. "Know any electronics stores nearby? That dorm
room just SCREAMS for a wide-screen TV."
Kyle gave the directions, hardly able to believe his good fortune.
"Y'know, John, this could be the start of a _beautiful_ friendship."

A-ko sorted through her stack of textbooks, fuming at how much they had
cost her. <They just HAD to come out with all new editions this year,
didn't they?>. New editions meant that you couldn't buy used textbooks,
and as A-ko learned, new textbooks were EXPENSIVE. <Ah, well. So much
for buying a new fall wardrobe. So much for buying ANYTHING for the next
three months!>. She looked over at C-ko, who was reading a manga on one
of the dorm room bunks. "C-ko, didn't you buy any textbooks?"
C-ko looked puzzled. "Back at Graviton high, they gave you the books you
needed. Isn't it the same here?"
A-ko sighed. "I thought I explained this to you. In University you have
to BUY your textbooks."
C-ko looked over at A-ko's stack of books. "Can't I just borrow yours?"
"No, C-ko. We're taking different classes, so we each need different
books." A-ko paused. "By the way, C-ko, exactly what courses ARE you
taking?"
C-ko grinned and handed A-ko her crumpled timetable. A-ko glanced at it,
then looked again more carefully, then stared hard to make absolutely
positively sure she hadn't made a mistake.
"C-ko! This timetable doesn't make any sense! You're taking a French
course?"
"I always wanted to learn French." C-ko beamed.
"But this is _Advanced_ French! Next you're taking a computer
programming course..."
"So I can figure out how to make the VCR back home stop blinking
'12:00'"
A-ko blinked. That actually made sense! "... a course in
Horticulture..." she continued.
"I LOVE Hortas!"
"... Phrenology..."
"I'm good at making friends!"
"And..." A-ko's eyes widened with horror. "C-c-c-c-cooking?!"
C-ko grinned and nodded her head enthusiastically. "You can sample the
stuff I make in class, A-ko! Isn't that great?"
A-ko's face went slack. <C-ko... cooking... every DAY! The Horror...>
"Yeah... just wonderful..." A-ko handed C-ko back her timetable and
collapsed on the other bunk, suddenly feeling very VERY tired.
"A-ko," C-ko said, suddenly serious. "You didn't seem very happy to see
B-ko today. You aren't going to fight with B-ko, are you? You promised
you wouldn't!"
"I'll try." A-ko said. "But usually B-ko doesn't give me a choice!"
"I wish you two would just get along." C-ko said. "I get worried when
you fight. Somebody could get hurt!"
<Yeah, like ME!> A-ko thought. "I'll try not to fight, C-ko." She
promised. However, for some reason she had the feeling she would have
difficulty keeping that promise.

Kyle slowly returned to consciousness, despite his best efforts to the
contrary. He felt as if someone were driving twelve inch spikes into his
forehead. Slowly.
"G'morning," John said cheerily. He was perfectly groomed, bright-eyed
and seemingly unaffected by the previous night's activities. Kyle
desperately wanted to kill him.
John held out a bottle of aspirin. "Not feeling so good?"
"Less talk, more aspirin." Kyle groaned, grabbing for the bottle.  He
managed to get it on the third try. "And don't look so damned un-hung
over, or I'll have to rip your face off and use it as a seat cushion."
John nodded sympathetically. "First time out partying like that, huh?"
"Wha? No, 'course not!" Kyle exclaimed, then winced as his head informed
him otherwise. "Okay, maybe. How come you're so disgustingly..."
"Sober?"
"Yeah."
"Lotsa practice. and the fact that I only had once drink to your four."
"WHAT?! Ow, damn!"
John shook his head. "The secret to surviving situations like that is to
LOOK like you're drinking as much as everyone else without ACTUALLY
drinking as much as everyone else. How much do you remember?"
"After we set fire to the stereo system and tried to flush the goat down
the toilet? Not much."
"Good. You don't wanna know what happened after that."
Kyle dropped his head back onto the bed. "<Groan>"
John noticed something going on outside. He walked over to the window to
get a good look. There was a crowd gathering around what looked like a
fire truck, a police car, a red semi, and a... yellow VW beetle? Before
his eyes, all four began shifting and rearranging, turning into large
robots.
"Hey, Kyle, get a load of this! Somebody from the cybertronics  program
is showing off their mechas."
Kyle groggily got up and staggered to the window. "Maybe we can get one
of them to blow my head off and end my suffering." He said.
Suddenly, the large red one (which had been the semi a moment before)
levelled its rifle at something on the ground and fired. The crowd
scattered.
"Jesus! They're firing on the students!" John grabbed Kyle's arm and
charged out of the dorm room, and towards the exit, ignoring Kyle's
protests <We gotta do something! People are gonna get hurt!>
They exited onto the field, and John finally got a good idea of the
scale that the mecha were on. <Maybe this wasn't the best idea...> He
thought.
A red streak slammed into the police bot, smashing its head. As it
landed, Kyle and John got a glimpse of red hair.
"A-KO?!" They said in unison. They looked at each other as they realised
that the other knew the girl. Before they could say anything, A-ko
grabbed the yellow volkswagen bot, picked him up and threw him at the
fire engine bot. Both exploded.
Kyle gaped. <She... she's not human!> then the realisation hit.
<She's-she's like me!> All of a sudden he desperately wanted to help,
but he discovered he had virtually not charge left. <Damn! I discharged
it all into that stereo!>
John watched as A-ko dodged the laser bolts from the last bot's rifle.
She was having a little difficulty with this last one. She leapt for its
head, and it backhanded her into the ground. <NO! If only there was
something I could do!> He thought back to some of the equipment at Stark
Laboritories longingly.
A-ko recovered from the hit, charged and smashed the leg of the robot,
toppling it. She jumped onto the robot's chest, then let out a yell as
she brought her fist down, sending metal and glass fragments everywhere.
"Till all are One..." The robot said, then all its lights went out. A
boy of about twelve ran up and began crying into the robot's lifeless
left hand.
A-ko jumped down. Seeing the boy, she felt a little bad about trashing
the robot, but it wasn't as if B-ko gave her a choice. She noticed Kyle
and the boy she had met yesterday standing on the sidelines gaping.
"Kyle! John!" She yelled in greeting, walking over to the dumbfounded
students. "I'm glad I ran into you!"
"Uh..." Kyle was still trying to process what he just saw. "A-ko,
what....?"
A-ko held out a map disk. "Here. I didn't get a chance to give this back
to you yesterday." She glanced at John. "Do you and John know each
other?"
<She knows him?> John thought. <She never said she had a boyfriend!>
"We're... roommates. A-ko, what was this all about?!" He waved his hand
at the piles of twisted wreckage.
A-ko shrugged as if it were no big deal. "Oh, that happens every once in
awhile. There's someone on campus who doesn't like me much. I'm lucky
C-ko slept in, or she might have gotten upset about me fighting again.
"Someone's trying to kill you?!" John said, enraged.
"Who is it?" Kyle asked, similarly incensed.
A-ko sighed. She didn't want Kyle or John mixed up in her little feud
with B-ko. "It's... a private thing. Its nothing to worry about,
really!" She checked her watch. "Oh no! I'm late! Sorry guys, I gotta
go!" She turned and sped off at slightly less than supersonic speeds,
leaving the two boys choking on her dust cloud.
"Nothing to worry about!" John sputtered. "That was serious! She should
report this or something!"
Kyle shook his head. "Who she gonna tell? As soon as she reports it,
there's going to be questions on how she beat those robots. You saw her
fight! The military finds out about her..."
John's shoulders slumped. Kyle was right. He had heard stories about how
superhumans were treated in the past, and it generally wasn't pretty.
Genosha, the Mutant Registration Agency, experiments at S.T.A.R. Labs,
nasty stuff. Then he straightened. There was something he could do! But
first there was something he needed to know. "Kyle?"
"Yeah?"
"I didn't realise you knew A-ko, too. Are you two dating or something?"
"No." Kyle said glumly, looking at the ground. "We're just friends from
elementary school." <At least, for now.>
"Ah, then she's up for grabs, then!"
Kyle's gaze snapped up. "WHAT?!"
John grinned wolfishly and held up the piece of paper with A-ko's number
on it. "She gave me this yesterday. If you've known her since grade
school and you STILL haven't made a move..."
Kyle's gaze narrowed. "Look, you..."
"Sorry, pal, all's fair in Love and War." John smiled, then handed the
paper to Kyle. "Look, I don't want this to turn into a blood feud. Can
we agree to be civil about this? No underhanded  tricks or anything, and
the loser agrees to leave the victor alone?"
Kyle looked at the paper, the sighed and took it. "Fine." <I wouldn't
win a war with him, anyway. He's got more looks, more money and more
charm than I do.> "But I don't want you griping when A-ko and I go out!"
"Done!" John said. He really didn't want to alienate Kyle, considering
he was going to have to live with him for the next six months. Besides,
he had a plan to win her heart already, something that was guaranteed to
work. "Look, I go some things to take care of, and I might not be back
for a few days. You mind watching my stuff?"
"Uh, I guess..." Kyle replied, but John was already off and running.
Kyle shrugged. He didn't like the idea of competing for A-ko, especially
with John, but he really didn't think he had any right insist otherwise.
He wasn't her boyfriend, and she was so far out of his league...
<No! I'm not going to give up that easily! I'm not the nerdy kid in
grade school anymore!> He looked over at the remains of the giant
robots. <And next time this happens, I'll be ready.>

A-ko's first business class was Management. She thought it went rather
well, as a lot of it was just common sense, although the public speaking
project they were assigned made her nervous. When class let out, she was
surprised to see C-ko waiting for her.
"C-ko? What are you doing here?"
"A-ko!" C-ko glomped onto A-ko like she hadn't seen her for years. "I
was so worried! When you weren't in our dorm room when I woke up, and I
heard rumours of a fight on campus and..."
A-ko desperately tried to calm C-ko down before she went into one of her
crying fits. "It's okay, C-ko! I TRIED to wake you, but you just rolled
over and said something about wanting to blow up more planets!"
C-ko sniffled, but the immediate danger of a crying attack was over.
"Well, at least we can walk to our next class together!"
A-ko frowned. "What's your next class, C-ko?"
"That friend making one! That'll be a good one because we're such good
friends!"
A-ko took the crumpled timetable from C-ko's hands. "C-ko, your class is
on the other side of the campus!"
"So?"
"My next class is in this building! I don't have time to walk you to
your class and get back in time for mine!"
C-ko looked confused. "You... you mean we're in the same class, A-ko?"
"No, we're not."
"What about the next one?"
"Nope."
"The Horta class?"
"C-ko," A-ko said patiently. "We're in two totally separate programs! We
don't have ANY classes together. I'm sorry."
C-ko looked stunned for a moment, then her eyes began to water up.
A-ko frantically tried to head her off. "C-ko! Wait don't!..."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
"Cry." A-ko covered her ears and sighed, waiting for C-ko to run down.
Most of the students, not having A-ko's built up tolerance, ran
screaming from the building. A few collapsed into blessed
unconsciousness, bleeding from their ears. Eventually, C-ko ran out of
steam.
"Oh (hic) A-ko I didn't (sniffle) know! I (sob) wanted (hic) to be in
the same (snerk) class with you! (snifflehicsobsnerk)."
"Look, C-ko, you can come with me to my next class if you like..."
"Oh thank you A-ko!" C-ko grabbed A-ko in a bear hug.
"... urrk! But you have to go to your own classes eventually."
C-ko bobbed her head enthusiastically. "I will A-ko! I promise!"
A-ko took C-ko's hand and made her way to her next class.
As they approached the class, A-ko was surprised to see B-ko waiting
outside the door.
"Oh, hello A-ko." B-ko said, and evil grin on her face. "Did you enjoy
your morning workout?"
A-ko stormed up to B-ko. "Look, B-ko, I'm tired of playing with your
stupid toys! If you're too chicken to face me woman to woman..."
"Oh, who said they were mine?" B-ko asked sweetly. "This place is just
crawling with mechs built by other students. In fact, if you check
you'll find that those particular robots belonged to another student.
'Chip' something, I think. It was probably just a malfunction that
caused them to act that way."
"You were responsible for this, I just know it." A-ko hissed at her.
"Prove it." B-ko responded. Then she glanced into the classroom. "Oh
look, A-ko, you're class has started without you."
A-ko ack'ed and ran inside, dragging C-ko along with her.
B-ko smiled in satisfaction and pulled out the small scanner she had
kept concealed in her hand. She was surprised she hadn't thought of this
earlier. She hadn't really expected those cut-rate robots to be a match
for A-ko, but they allow her to 'test the waters', see if A-ko's skills
had changed significantly since high school. It also put A-ko into the
position of explaining what had happened to them. Now that she had the
data from the bio-scanner, she could look into finding some way to get
A-ko out of the picture once and for all.

Stark Industries was world famous for its robotic assembly techniques,
which was good because it meant that the conversion of a warehouse to a
high tech lab took John a matter of hours instead of days. But the lab
itself was only the means to an end, and that end had taken him
considerably longer, nearly all night.
He had found the original design in a Stark Industries database. It had
to be at LEAST twenty years old, but the technology involved was equal
to or better than anything he had ever seen before. He had spent idle
hours working on the design, improving those bits that he could,
upgrading any outdated technology, but mostly figuring out how the
damned thing worked. He had been tempted to use it as his final project,
but he realized that revealing Stark secrets such as this wouldn't be
wise. Still, the design had given him some ideas that used more common
technology. Now he was going back and re-integrating his ideas into the
original design. It didn't need all that much technical modification, as
it seemed to almost be custom built for the purpose he had in mind.
Definitely not a military weapon. More of a 'One Man Army' concept. If
he had thought about it, he might have realized that the word
'superhero' better described it.
Most of the modifications were to the look. He didn't need anybody from
Stark industries recognising the thing. His whole plan required that he
remain anonymous for now.
"*Mr. Stark, fabrication is complete.*" Horton said. The A.I. was an old
one, also dredged up from Stark databases, but was solidly programmed.
And he seemed to have a knack for this.
John watched as the cylindrical chamber opened, revealing his handiwork.
"Do... do the systems check out?" He asked.
"*Affirmative. All systems read out as fully functional.*"
John yawned checked his watch. 3:00 am. "I'd better get some sleep.
We'll test out the prototype tomorrow." He smiled to himself. A-ko was
under attack by someone, and if what was needed was a knight in shining
armour, he would deliver.

Kyle flicked off the T.V. and wondered where John was. They had agreed
to play fair, but he KNEW that John was up to something. Kyle was
distracted through his entire Biology class thinking about it, wondering
what John was up to. That and something else.
He walked over to his bed, reached under and pulled out something that
looked like an anti-static wrist strap, with a plug attached. 'Uncle'
Hank had designed the thing to safely drain his charge while he slept,
but he had always had the feeling that he was reluctant to build it. He
knew his father and Hank had had a number of arguments on the subject.
But Hank had finally caved, and Kyle had worn the thing at night ever
since. He hadn't even questioned that it was for the best.
Until now.
<I wasn't able to help A-ko today, not because I didn't have the power,
but because I've gotten too good at repressing it. A-ko has the same
kind of power, but she isn't afraid of it. Maybe I shouldn't be,
either.> He looked at the strap once more, then put it back under the
bed, climbed onto the bed and closed his eyes.

The next morning was rather pleasant, and A-ko was enjoying the walk.
She had managed to get herself and C-ko up early, and was taking C-ko to
her first class. She had violently pushed out of her mind that that
first class was COOKING.
"Thanks for walking me to class, A-ko." C-ko bubbled. "I'm sorry about
yesterday. I just thought this would be more like high school."
"It's okay, C-ko." A-ko said. "They don't explain the concept of
University very well until you actually get here."
"Tell you what, A-ko! I'll bring you back something that we make in
class today!"
A bead of sweat formed on A-ko's head. "Uhhh, that's okay... I'm sure it
would be too much of a bother..."
"Oh no, A-ko! In fact, I'll bring you a sample when we meet for lunch!"
"Oh. That's... great."
"Bye A-ko!" C-ko skipped off to class. A-ko checked her watch. Fifteen
minutes before her class, plenty of time. She silently vowed to come
down with some kind of stomach flu before lunch, then headed off towards
class.

Kyle walked along the paved pathway, heading towards his first class. He
mentally checked his charge again. It was definitely high, higher than
it had been since he had been a kid. He didn't FEEL like he was going to
blow up. <I wonder how much charge I can actually carry?> He thought.
Then he noticed A-ko walking along an intersecting path. He only thought
briefly back to his pact with John, then sped up his pace to meet her at
the intersection. <I said no dirty tricks. I never said I would wait for
him.> "Hey! A-ko!" He yelled, waving.
A-ko smiled and waved back. <So far so good!> Kyle thought.
"Hi, Kyle."
"Hey, A-ko. Where're you off to?"
"First class. Accounting." She made a face. "Not my best subject."
"Well, that's on my way, you mind if I walk with you?" Kyle asked,
mustering his willpower to get the sentence out without blushing. Part
of his brain screamed at him that the business buildings were most
definitely NOT on his way, and that he was actually heading at a right
angle to the way he needed to go. The rest of his brain replied by
beating that one part into submission. Finally Kyle got up the nerve to
ask about the previous day. "A-ko, about yesterday..."
A-ko sighed. "You're wondering what that was all about, huh?"
"Well, yeah, and..."
"There's this girl named B-ko who I know from high school. She's the
daughter of some rich guy, and she's a spoiled bully. She uses goons and
those stupid toys she dreams up to do her dirty work. She's had it in
for me for years, and she's always trying to get rid of me so that she
can have C-ko to herself."
"This is about... C-ko?!" Kyle said, stunned. All that for some stupid
schoolgirl rivalry? Then he remembered his original question. "Umm,
about that fight. How did you... well, you _picked up_ one of those
robots and _threw_ it!"
A-ko looked puzzled. "Oh, I've always been able to do that. I guess its
just because my parents fed me well as a kid."
Kyle facefaulted. She acted as if it were normal to be able to heft a VW
sized robot! He recovered and debated whether or not to tell her about
his 'problem'. "Actually, A-ko..."
The ground exploded in front of them, knocking them both off their feet.
They looked up in time to see five multicoloured robots walk out from
behind various buildings, weapons levelled on them.

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That's it fer now. Let me know what you think.

The Prime Saggitarian,
Alpha Centauri

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