Memoirs of the Phenomenal Primex: Book 1: That Time I was Sun Wukong

By S. Salim Shihab

Memoirs of the Phenomenal Primex: Book 1: That Time I was Sun Wukong by S. Salim Shihab

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887310381

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Chapter 1: The Only Thing Left to Do

Chapter 2: Pyrite

Chapter 3: Seconds

Chapter 4: Chaos Crow

Chapter 5: The Splinterverse

Chapter 6: Apparently I'm Sun Wukong

Chapter 7: Meanwhile…in the 20th Century

Chapter 8: A Day in the Life of Lucifer Prince

Chapter 9: From Acetylynne to Sita

Chapter 10: How Do You Install a STAMP Anyway?

Chapter 11: It Helps to Have Mastered Teleportation

Chapter 12: The Other Side of the Game Show

Chapter 13: What's a King Without Subjects?

Chapter 14: When Vishnu Met Sita

Chapter 15: Journey to the West

Chapter 16: How to Make Friends and Influence People That Look Like Animals

Chapter 17: Story Time

Chapter 18: The Battlesnakes

Chapter 19: A Kong Is Born

Chapter 20: The Second Dragon King

Chapter 21: The Prince Who Would Be Emperor

Chapter 22: The Rat for the Perfect Lab

Chapter 23: Midseason Finale

Chapter 24: Board Meeting

Chapter 25: Confidence Booster

Chapter 26: The Emperor's Storehouse

Chapter 27: Tag

Chapter 28: The Top of the Beanstalk

Chapter 29: Revelations

Chapter 30: Deal with the Divine

Chapter 31: Attack on Titan Network

Chapter 32: Accepting What I Can't Change

Chapter 33: Himitsukage Training through Montage

Chapter 34: Remember the Titans

Chapter 35: Reunion in Pacifica

Chapter 36: Becoming the Phenomenal Primex

Chapter 37: Life of Pi, Death of Doubleday

Chapter 38: Not Training a Partner, Training a Replacement

Chapter 39: King Kong versus Godzilla

Chapter 40: And We're Back from Break

Chapter 41: Pandora's Box

Chapter 42: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Chapter 43: The Ramayana…Sort Of

Chapter 44: Rise of the Monkey King

Chapter 45: Welcome to Battle Planet

Chapter 46: The Janus Agenda

Chapter 47: Sage Advice

Chapter 48: The Woman, the Fire, and the Truth

Chapter 49: I Am Become Primex, Destroyer of Worlds

Chapter 50: That's a Story for Another Time…

About the Author

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Memoirs of the Phenomenal Primex

Book 1: That Time I was Sun Wukong

S. Salim Shihab II

Copyright © 2023 S. Salim Shihab II

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2023

ISBN 979-8-88731-037-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88731-038-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

To my family, blood and otherwise, who always believed I would do this

Chapter 1

The Only Thing Left to Do

Prologue

Man, I'm old. I've lost count of how many years I've lived—how many lives I've lived. Traveling to different dimensions will do that for you—time travel too. Over the years, you've known me as different things—some of you know me as a super hero, others as a villain; I've been a king and I've been homeless. Would you believe I've been a god a few times? Several, actually. We even changed the nature of the universe. I'll explain more about that later. The only thing I haven't done is write it all down. Now that I'm old and retired, I figure I'll chronicle my experience for the younger generation who will carry on my work.

So where to begin? To really understand why I became who I did, I suppose I need to take you to the end—and to another universe. This is where my story starts.

Flashback: chaos

The planet Arborus is in its final death throes. The Pon'Gojin, a nihilistic race of creatures that resembled a cross between an orangutan and a weeping willow tree completely overran the planet. The research facility where young Lem Trogg (that's my real name) worked on the Reflection Shield was suddenly breached. Scientist after scientist was pierced through with the life-draining tendrils of the Pon'Gojin. The lights flickered on and off as other Pon'Gojin drained the power of the facility. Lem and his best friend Pan Obon ran to the shield to secure it, possibly making a last stand.

Lem. I think we can jury rig the subdimensional tech of the shield to make an escape for…

Pan. For what, Lem? The whole planet is gone! The last reports are that this whole star system is gone. They took everything!

Lem. "Well, I mean…I've been watching those broadcasts from that other dimension, maybe I can piggyback off that signal…

Pan. You mean the bald creatures? Don't be ridiculous, Lem. This is it! There's no place to run to. Team X is down! Even Apex and Mandrex are dead! We may be the last of the Arborn. We may not get to live past today, but we get to choose how to die. Let's die fighting!

Lem. "I don't think we have to die, Pan. I'm serious! I think we can really get to another dimension!

Pan. "That's a one-in-a-million chance, Lem! There are so many variables to calculate. You know we only have a few minutes before the Pon'Gojin find us!

Lem. I can do it…

Pan. Remember when we used to play those games, Lem, the ones where we made-up characters and pretended to be heroes? We used to pretend that we were part of Team X. I was Searex, the flaming maiden. You were—

Lem. Primex, the heir of Apex's shield. But we were kids—

Pan. Listen to me! You were holding Apex's shield a second ago! The world is going to end right now! How do you want to die? Running away? Or hand in hand with your girlfriend fighting the whole world to the bitter end as heroes?

Lem. Girlfriend?

She grabs me and kisses me, much to my surprise.

Pan. I've wanted to do that forever! The world is over. There is no reason to hold anything back anymore!

Lem. I never knew—

Pan. Don't ruin the moment.

The Pon'Gojin break through the inner wall, entering the room that they are in. Pan grabs the shield and gives it to Lem while she picks up two flame guns.

Pan. Your whole life comes down to this last moment. I'm going to fight. I know what you want to do. But what would Primex do?

Pan runs heading into the Pon'Gojin infestation, guns blazing literally. Lem watches, paralyzed with indecision. His hands move instinctively. There is a blinding light, then all goes black.

(At least that's how I remembered it every time I dreamed. Maybe different words were said; maybe there wasn't a kiss—it was a long time ago. Who can remember? It all boils down to the fact that I survived the destruction of my planet by running away.)

Date: One Year Later

It was the same dream I had every time I slept. I usually awoke with a start but quickly calmed down as I remembered that I was no longer in any danger. The Pon'Gojin were in another dimension for the time being. I had made it to the world of the bald creatures. Before I began my daily ritual of escape from lonely self-loathing, I needed to get some breakfast. At that time, computers were beginning to respond to voice commands for information and shopping. It wasn't as good as back home or as good as it is now, but it was a start. I told Echo Dot Alexa to order me some waffles with bananas and whip cream, pork sausage, and hash browns. I turned on the TV and waited for the coffee to brew. One of the first things that I had done when I got to this dimension was steal a cell phone. I found that I could access something called the internet from it, and with a few lines of code and a few physical modifications, I could manufacture an unlimited amount of electronic currency. Part of me knew it was stealing but justified it because there wasn't a better way for me to get established in this dimension. It's not like I had a social security card or a birth certificate to get a job. Eventually, it would all be forgiven when my friends and I saved the world for the third time, but that's later in the book. For now, once I got unlimited digital currency getting an apartment next to Central Park was child's play—getting it stocked with food, furniture and clothing was even easier. After all, almost everything had an app that offered delivery. These humans were ugly, but they certainly had convenience down to a science. Entertainment too for that matter. As the coffee finished brewing, a news report came on that had to do with my favorite subject at the time—me.

News Reporter. In other news, there are further sightings of the so-called Bigfoot of Central Park. The earliest footage captured a year ago showed a large apelike creature going from a run, jumping into the trees, and swinging away. Several videos have appeared since then capturing the creature's food-stealing antics and impressive acrobatic feats. Only in the last few months have new footage arrived showing the creature defending people from would-be attackers and muggers. New questions now arise. Is it intelligent? Is it the only one? Is it a benevolent being or a violent beast? One thing is certain, Bigfoot is real, and he lives in Central Park. Scientists weigh in on the implications…This story, first reported on our station twenty years ago has resurfaced again in the same park, with a creature that looks identical. Is it the same creature that was never found? Or is this an elaborate hoax? Our investigative team reports with its findings…

So let me explain. I started living in the park when I first came to this realm. It felt good to swing through the trees, but it didn't feel good to sleep there; I didn't sleep in a tree back on Arborus—well, technically my whole apartment complex was in a tree, but I didn't sleep outside in the elements like some homeless, primitive savage. This apartment on Central Park South was a lot more like home, and the view wasn't half bad. The twenty-year gap between sightings…we'll get into that later.

Walking around in the daytime was kind of a hassle; I could pretend to be a Second—one of these mutated humans that had special abilities—but there weren't many of them that had an animalistic physical appearance. It usually brought up more questions than answers. I preferred to go out at night in my custom-tailored clothing—when my features were less noticeable. I also started doing some research at night: on Apex's Shield. Though I had helped design it, there was a big difference between working on the specs and using it in the field. There was a knock at the door. It was the food that I had ordered. I opened the door while still in my gold-and-black silk robe. My tail was wrapped around my waist, but the rest of me was visible—and it was hairy. The portly delivery man was a simpleton with no mental filter.

Delivery man. Whoa!

Lem. Excuse me?

Delivery man. Hey, buddy, you ever hear of a razor? No offense, but you kind of look like a monkey with all that hair, you know?

Lem. Have you ever heard of a diet or an exercise bike? You look rather porcine. No offense (mockingly).

Delivery man. I don't know what that means, but it feels like an insult.

Lem. It means you look like a pig. I'm calling you fat. Now scurry away and go play in the mud or whatever your kind does with your time.

Delivery man. Ay, yo, buddy! Maybe I was out of line with the monkey comment, but that was just—

(Door slams.)

Delivery man. Rude. Hey! What about my tip!?

Lem, through the door. Here's a tip. Get another job. You suck at this one! Now leave my door before I call security.

Delivery man. You're kind of a jerk monkey boy…

Lem. Dialing!

Was that a bit rude? Yes. In my defense, all I knew of Earth was television programs; I didn't realize that talking like that wasn't normal. What was more confusing was the absence of music and laughing in response to my actions. It took me a while to figure out that those things were added to the video—I just assumed that if you were funny enough or dramatic enough, music played. If I wasn't getting a reaction, I thought I needed to try harder. Back in my home world, Arborus, I may never have said that to anyone even if I thought it. There, I was just a humble scientist who happened to work for the most powerful heroes on the planet and who had helped design the most powerful handheld weapon on the planet. Scientists weren't really high on the social ladder, not like warriors and heroes. On this planet, however, I was rich and could do just about anything I wanted. I was smarter, faster, stronger, and certainly more handsome than everyone here, not to mention that I was in possession of the Reflection Shield. I could really be someone in this dimension. I had started to give a lot more thought to Pan's last words to me: What would Primex do? No one here knew that I wasn't a legendary hero. Those words would have a greater impact on me than even I knew at the time. As would the unfortunate conversation with the delivery man, what I didn't know at the time was that the portly package handler was the cousin of Cain Corvus of the Corvus Family, the local mob. Cain wasn't leading the family back then, but he was itching to show that he could. So when his cousin came to him suggesting that he send some of the boys to teach the mouthy rich guy a lesson, he jumped at the chance. If I would've known the trouble that exchange would go on to cause me, I would've just given the man a tip.

Chapter 2

Pyrite

I'm not going to insult you by explaining what fool's gold is: most people know that it's something that is shiny and pretty, like gold, but has no real value because it's not actually gold. Most people don't know it's called pyrite. Apparently, with experience, it becomes very easy to tell the difference. Well, superheroics are similar—and I was about to get a first-class education in how foolish I was to think that because I could be flashy I was ready to be a superhero at that time.

This is how that night started.

Seventy-two hours later, this was how things turned out. I was anything but the Phenomenal Primex at this time. This almost ended my hero career before it even really got off the ground. If not for meeting my mentor, I may never have picked up that shield again. But that's a story for another time. For now, here is the story of my first great obstacle on the path to being a hero.

After my verbal altercation with the delivery boy, I continued in my three daily pastimes: (1) watching television, (2) researching this dimension, and (3) working on the Reflection Shield. I was still toying with the idea of becoming a costumed vigilante like the stars of many of my favorite television programs, and I planned on using the shield to do that. I had already done a lot to customize the shield for myself in the year that I had been on this planet, but more needed to be done. The shield was coded to respond to Apex's DNA alone back on Arborus. Trying to use Earth technology to rewrite that coding was a monumental task—the processing power was so limited here. I had to basically invent new types of computers from scratch—new operating systems, new hardware interfaces, new code languages—just so I could communicate with the tech in the shield to get it to do what I wanted. It took eight months just to get the shield to move correctly. I had to get the directional jets to turn on, create an interface to activate, and control its movement since I had no idea how to make a psychic interface like Apex had from Earth tech. (Later, I would be able to do this with some help, but at the time, I really thought no one on Earth would have the necessary materials.)

I had to recalibrate the jets so that they didn't knock me over when I summoned the shield. (Apex was an eight-foot-tall wall of muscle akin to what you would call a silverback gorilla while I was five feet five, 162 pounds at the time.) That took a lot of trial and error. The shield's primary weapon system—the subdimensional event horizon that housed the absorbium core—was much harder to activate. It would take me a full year and some unexpected help to make the code that would be able to open the event horizon iris. Getting it to work along with the rebufficite focuser rings would take even longer. As I write this down, I realize that I probably sound like I'm talking gibberish. Before I go on with my great challenge, I should probably explain a bit about how the Reflection Shield works. That will make it easier to understand why I even thought that I could be a superhero by just owning it.

The Reflection Shield was the greatest weapon on the planet Arborus. It belonged to our greatest champion and my hero, Apex. He led the X team, which acted as our planetary defense system. More on them later. The shield was made from materials unique to my dimension: rebufficite and absorbium. I won't get into the boring specifics of the electro-vibrational ion valence repulsion fields, but suffice it to say, a layer of rebufficite on the outside of the shield ensured that no kinetically based attacks got within two feet of the shield without being deflected off course. The directional jets embedded in the rim of the shield allowed it to maneuver over great distances with significant speed, much like a small guided missile. The shield housed a subdimension for the absorbium. Again, I won't bore you with the quantum fractal mechanics of it all, but in essence, the crystalline element absorbed energy in near-unlimited amounts. The focuser rings, which used gravitational waves to accelerate the energy attacks, allowed any absorbed attack to be sent back with even greater force. In optimal conditions, it was the perfect balance of offense and defense. I was one of the scientists that helped design and maintain the shield. With the psycholite circuitry (psycholite being an element that was capable of storing and reacting to psionic energy), it could be controlled mentally by the wielder. The majority of the shield was composed of brawnium, a metal that was forged in a star and close to invulnerable.

I saw Apex use the Reflection Shield to take down a starship once single-handedly; he willed it to rip through the ship with the speed of a photon torpedo. With the X Team behind him, it seemed like nothing would ever harm our planet permanently; seeing the Pon'Gojin lay our entire dimension to waste, anyway, the Reflection Shield survived that. Perhaps it makes more sense now why I believed that just having the shield would make me unbeatable, even if I couldn't operate all the features. It turned out that I was wrong.

At this point in my life, I had not yet gotten the subdimensional iris to open at my command, so the Reflection Shield was only operating at 35 percent of its full power. I was diligently working on unlocking its full power when I heard a knock at the door. I was expecting pizza, so I went to open the door eagerly. It wasn't pizza. Instead, I was greeted by a large group of unsavory-looking individuals led by the portly delivery fellow from the morning.

Delivery man, asked challengingly. Remember me, monkey boy?

Lem, in a deadpan. Not particularly, no.

I knew who he was as soon as I saw him, but again, I was trying to get the laughter from the disembodied voices I believed were there, like on television. To my credit, one of his goons snickered a bit in the background, though a cutting glance from the delivery man made it short-lived.

Delivery man. It's me, Ralph, the delivery guy. You know, I brought you your food this morning. You called me like a pig or something. You slammed the door in my face and didn't leave no tip. Ringing any bells?"

Lem. Ah, yes. Oink to see you again.

Ralph. What's that supposed to mean?

Lem. You know, oink, like the sound a pig is said to make in books and children's songs. For example, "Old MacDonald had a pig…oink, oink here, oink, oink there…e-i-e-i-o." Surely you're familiar with this?

Ralph. I come here with all these guys and you're still calling me a pig? Do you know who I am? My last name is Corvus!

Lem. Though my research indicates that pigs don't actually oink, it's more like a snort, so I suppose I should have said snort to see you again. Maybe you would've understood it better.

Ralph. You deaf or something! I said my last name is Corvus!

Lem. You say that as if it should mean something.

Ralph. The Corvus Family runs this town! Nobody disrespects us and gets away with it!

A man in the back, holding a bat. Just punch this clown already so we can go home.

Lem. Ohhhh! I see what's going on here. Your feelings got hurt, and now you brought back your herd to exact revenge! (At this point, I looked around to see if the disembodied laughter would occur. I often did this around this time in my life, occasionally even speaking to the air. Looking back, I probably looked like an idiot doing that.) Ehh, nothing? Still not funny enough? What does a guy have to do to get some laughter around here? (I saidto the air.)

Ralph. Let's teach this funny monkey a lesson, guys! (Ralph said and punched me in the face.)

At least he tried to. You see, most normal humans were incredibly slow to me. I wasn't even a trained soldier, but I could still best a normal human with my eyes closed. I dodged very easily and jumped backward.

Lem. Ahh, an action sequence! Now there should be some music or something at least. Come on, let's make it a good one, guys!

One of the goons, rushing into my apartment. What is this guy's problem?

There were about five of the clumsy hairless beings ineptly trying to attack me. That was fine. You have to remember that, at this point in my life, I was rich. My penthouse apartment in a building next to Central Park was huge; it took up the whole top floor of the building. It was split level with roof access to the pool. I had decorated it like a jungle, so there were plenty of things to climb on jutting out of the walls so that I could get some exercise and lots of plants to make me feel comfortable. It would also be good to remember that, at this point in my hero career, I was calibrating the Reflection Shield and practicing using it. Where was my practice course, you ask? In my huge apartment, of course. So in a very real way, I was not scared of these thugs and ruffians coming into my apartment to fight me; it would be like practice.

Another important thing to know is that at this time, I had no idea how to really fight. My practice sessions were mostly on how to get the shield to respond the way I wanted it to with the limited features that I had unlocked. I wasn't being trained by anyone yet. I hadn't even met Warpwave or Acetylynne. More on them later. The only reason that I thought I could hold my own against five attackers is because they were human attackers. At the time, I had a really low regard for human opponents since I was naturally faster, stronger, smarter, and more handsome. But I digress. I feel like I said that somewhere already.

I easily (albeit inelegantly) dodged the flurry of attacks that cme my way. A bat here, a punch here, a kick there. They had a better chance of hitting each other than they had of hitting me, especially when I jumped onto the climbing structures on the walls. I hung from my prehensile tail and spok to the tired group.

Lem. Is that all there is? I thought you were going to teach me a lesson…

Ralph. You move just like a monkey, and you have a tail! Why was you so upset that I called you a monkey this morning?

Lem. I'm not a monkey. I have about as much in common with a monkey as you have with a pig.

Ralph. You're hairy, you have a tail, and you move like one.

Lem. Okaaaay, you're fat, you're pink, and you smell like you sleep on a farm.

Ralph. Arrghh! Stop calling me a pig! Enough scaring him. waste this clown!

That was apparently the signal to up the caliber of weaponry. They took out guns and started shooting at me. That was a little harder to dodge. I scrambled to the roof for cover, bullets barely grazing my arm. Well, if they were going to get better weapons, then so was I. I was wearing a watch that was serving as the interface for the Reflection Shield. With a touch of an on-screen button, the directional jets on the Reflection Shield flared to life and took off. The movements of the shield could mirror the movements of my finger on the screen, or it could follow a preprogrammed flight pattern. Since I was on a different floor and couldn't really see all of them that well, I opted for a preprogrammed flight pattern. While the shooting continued, I crouched for cover and selected 5 Star from the drop-down list on my watch. The shield flew around the room, taking out three of the five assailants before coming to me. The remaining two started trying to shoot at me even though I was holding the shield, the Reflection Shield. I suppose they didn't know any better, but they didn't seem to learn either even after all the bullets came right back at them. I actually had to tell them to stop shooting before they killed themselves. It was a good thing that I couldn't open the event horizon, or they would have definitely killed themselves—the bullets wouldl have returned to them with enough force to vaporize them.

Ralph. Put down your shield, and we'll put down our guns.

Lem. And then what, we're going to talk this out?

Ralph. Something like that.

Did that sound trustworthy to you? No? Me either. But I had a move that I wanted to try, so I did it.

I threw my shield down so that it landed behind them.

Lem, in a pensive tone. Now you put your guns down.

Ralph. I don't think so, monkey boy. No one messes with the Corvus Family and gets away with it.

Not entirely unexpected. So I pressed the pattern Low Swoop, causing the shield to fly toward their feet. It took out one guy while I jumped down and punched Ralphy in the face. I knocked him out cold while Thing 2 landed on his head. Also out cold.

Monkey Boy 5, Piggly Wiggly, and friends, 0.

Lem, disappointedly. Hmmm… No action music this time either. I'm starting to wonder if that's really a thing.

I lifted Ralph and his friend with one hand each and threw them on the floor. I collected all his other unconscious buddies and put them in a neat pile with them. Then I stood on top of the pile with my shield raised in the air, just like the photo you saw in the beginning. The cops came not too long after, and they hauled the whole group away.

What I didn't know at the time was that Ralph Corvus was right. The Corvus Family did run that part of town, and that meant that they had operatives in the police department. Ralph Corvus and his associates never saw the inside of a jail cell that night after they left me. In fact, they went straight back to his cousin, Cain, and told him the whole story. Well, Cain wasn't too happy about it, and as I mentioned before, he was looking for a way to make a name for himself. I wasn't there for it personally, but I imagine their conversation went something like this.

Cain. You couldn't handle one guy, Ralphy? I gave you four guys!

Ralph. He wasn't no normal guy, Cain. He didn't just look like a monkey, but he was strong like one and moved quick like one too. And he had this shield—

Cain. What? A shield?

Ralph. Yeah, a shield. All our bullets bounced right off it. And he could make it move without him touching it. The shield alone took out three guys.

Cain. Interesting. You think he was a vigilante then?

Ralph. Not yet. I never heard of him. And he never said any hero name like the others do. Plus, the biggest thing. He never heard of the Corvus Family. He can't be going out to fight crime if he's never heard of us before.

Cain. True. Well, cousin, in your failure, you have brought us a unique opportunity. We know where he lives. No vigilante would ever let us know where he lives. Let's put a stop to this budding hero before he starts going out in the street. I'm going to pluck this thorn before it finds a way into our side.

Ralph. "You want me to do anything?

Cain. No, cousin, no. I will handle this personally. It has been some time since I went against a vigilante. I've been looking for an opportunity to stretch my wings, especially against another animalistic Second.

At this point, I should probably mention that Cain Corvus is a Second with huge black wings. A special type of Second called an entropath—a being with a psychic connection to the force of entropy or chaos. He would later go on to become a super villain named Chaos Crow, but that's for a later time.

Ralph. Personally, cuz? I mean—

Cain. Corvus oculum, cousin, corvus oculum.

Ralph. Of course. Corvus oculum.

For those that don't speak Latin, that is a reference to the saying Corvus oculum corvi non eruit. It means, A crow will not pull out the eye of another crow. It is the Corvus Family crest. It was said as a show of solidarity among a group of like-minded individuals, like honor among thieves. I looked it up after I kept hearing it over the years. Various members of the Corvus Family would say it to each other when they agreed to do something to protect each other, so I imagined that they would say it to each other in regular conversation.

Back to me now. I was very proud of myself, having beaten five attackers single-handedly. My thoughts about becoming Primex were really going at that point. In fact, I started drawing up costume designs that very night. That was the first time that I did that. There would be many more costume designing sessions that I would have over the years before I settled on the one that you knew of. The one with the cape.

That weekend was when I started to feel like I was the real deal, like gold. I thought the shield was ready for use in the field. To an extent, I was right. The Reflection Shield at 35 percent was more than enough to handle normal human muggers and car burglars. Just like a piece of pyrite can gleam in the sun. But pyrite is not gold.

With each passing victory, I got more confident and took even greater risks. This one patrol made the news.

I had started the night standing on my rooftop looking down at the city I now called home when I heard a delivery truck, out of control, with no brakes. Well, I heard the driver scream and honk for people to get out of the way because he has no brakes. At this time of night, Fifth Avenue was mainly clear, but since it was New York City, it still wasn't empty. In fact, there were some Con Edison workers with a rig around an open manhole doing some sort of repair work. The way that the worksite was set up, there was no way that the truck wasn't going to hit something—either the workers or the pedestrians on the sidewalk. It was time for Primex to shine.

I put the shield on my back and used its directional jets to propel myself in the path of the truck. This was the first time that I used the shield as a jet pack, but it would not be the last. Once I landed in front of the workers, I took the shield in front of me, told the workers to run, and braced myself. I had a pretty good idea that the rebufficite would be enough to repel a speeding truck, but I told them to move just in case I was wrong. Fortunately, I wasnot. The rebufficite worked exactly as I hoped it would. The truck never touched me. As it came into the repulsion radius, it screechingly slowed until it came to a dead stop about three inches from the shield. Then it started to get pushed backward; rebufficite is actually really strong. I had to point the shield to the sky, or else the truck would have flown back down Fifth Avenue. People had been filming on their phones since the beginning. I waited for a moment, letting them soak it in, and then I pushed the shield toward the ground. The resulting pushback from the