Designation: Displaced

I like to consider myself a patient person. I really do. I don't get angry very often, I can always keep a hold of my tongue when annoyed, and I can usually tolerate anyone for having different views, minus a very few major exceptions. So when my best friend had invited me to come with him to an anime convention since his other friend had bailed on him at the last second, I had said, "Sure, why not?" I'd never gone to one and, truthfully, never even knew our city hosted one at all. It would be a new experience.

New didn't usually correlate with enjoyable, unfortunately. I had dismissed many online rumors and gossip about these types of things, assuming that, as was human nature, people were identifying a larger majority by the negative minorities. Not to say I was wrong, oh no, most of the people here were very nice, if eccentric by way of their interests and hobbies, and were easy enough to start a conversation with. It was the minority that was ruining it all.

Maybe thirty people, maybe even less, of the hundreds of con-goers were the epitome of every bad stereotype one could think of when it came to anime fans. They were so few and yet so god damned LOUD! Wherever I went, they were there. Whenever I avoided them, they somehow found me. When I tried to join any of the events the con was having, they were there, ruining everybody's good time. How the other poor con-goers put up with them, I can only imagine.

But that was neither here nor there now. I had gotten separated from my friend earlier at one of the events and decided to peruse some of the souvenir stands while that group I had taken to simply calling "Them" was distracted. Nick knacks, baubles, trinkets and all sorts of things were arranged for sale. I could tell which stands were run by true fans of whatever franchise they were selling pretty easily as their merchandise was of far greater quality than those who just wanted to cash in on the apparently popular series. But there was one stand that stood out most, tucked away in the corner.

It had all sorts of things, some obviously related to the con, some I couldn't make heads or tails of. Even more strange was the man running the stall. He looked like one of those creepy guys you'd expect to find hiding away behind some abandoned warehouse selling all sorts of illegal things, what with his long coat and bandana mask. Sounded like one too. "Hello, Stranger. What ya lookin' to buy?"

"Nothing in particular. Just looking around," I said easily, more interested by all the things on display.

"He he, well, if ya see anythin' let me know," he drawled. Clearly this guy enjoyed playing as whoever he was dressed as.

It didn't take long before something caught my eye. "Hey what's this?" I asked and held up a multicolored, segmented metal cube. It was weird though. I was sure it was metal but it had a weird texture to it like gel padding. Not to mention the strange combination of orange, blue, and black.

"Ahhh, that," the merchant said. "That there is an old piece. Picked it up off client a few years back. Said it was a nanite puzzle box'."

"Nanites?" I asked skeptically.

"Mhm, said it was his inspiration from an old show he use to watch as a kid." The man shuffled for a moment, eyes shifting warily before before using a hand to hide his already hidden mouth. "Truth be told, I've never been able to finish that thing. Could never figure out where to start." He tapped the box and gave me a strange look. "You look like a smart man though, stranger. So how about it? Fancy, nigh impossible puzzle box sound temtpin to ya?"

I turned the cube over in my hands, thinking about it. It did look like certain parts could be moved around, so it probably was a puzzle box. Even if it wasn't, it looked nice and the texture was very odd, though not unenjoyable. Puzzle or not, it would be fun to play with to relieve some stress. "Alright, how much for it?" I asked, mind made up.

"He he, I knew you'd like it. How much you willin to pay?"

I pursed my lips and thought. "Ten dollars." It might be one of a kind and it might be a puzzle box but as far as I knew, it was still only a colorful cube.

"Hmm, that's a fair price a suppose. It's yours then." I gave him the money and thanked him. "No, thank you, stranger."

I left with my new acquisition and went to the food court, hoping to get a meal while I figured the box out. Whatever event was going on earlier was still going, so the lines were short and before long I was sitting at a bench, munching on some fries, and turning the cube in my palm. "Now then, reveal to me your secrets."

The next half hour was spent in silence as I toyed with the thing. Flip it this way, turn it around, poke at that, rinse and repeat. Eventually, after many failed attempts, I found the chink in the box's armor. "Aha!" I cried as a small portion of its side flipped up. Underneath was another layer, almost exactly the same, only with two obvious areas to peel away from. With this jump in progress, I fell into a sort of trance, peeling away layers and folding pieces back into it to give me leverage over others. Through it all, I never noticed that it was slowly forming a gauntlet. Only until the last piece snapped into place did I realize this.

"What the..." What an odd thing to make out of a box. Actually, now that I think about it, how did I make that out of a box. There certainly wasn't enough breaks in the cube to fold that many times and last I checked metal wasn't that flexible in a solid state. "Huh," was all I had to say.

Hey, it even looked like I could fit my right hand in there. I could! And it was snug too, not to tight but tight enough to not slip off. Cool. I had never seen anything like this before. It was probably the best ten dollars I'd spent in the last month.

Before I could admire it any further, an absolutely unbearable pain shot up my arm, doubling me over as I gripped my arm to my chest. Oh god, I felt like was going to through up. I looked at my arm and to my horror found the gauntlet spreading up my body and squeezing. "What the fuck!" I cried hysterically, ripping at the damned thing. "Help!" But no one came, in fact, everyone was standing completely still. Hell, the guy behind me when I got my food was still at the counter, frozen like time had just stopped.

Another scream ripped through my throat before metal got there, choking me as it started to crawl up my skull and down my chest. Full blown panic consumed me as my only good arm clawed futilely at my face as the metal thing crushed my jaw. Just before it reached my eyes, there was a bright blue flash, darkness, and then a terrible pressure as my skull collapsed.

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