Max stood in the center of his cluttered workshop, breathing heavily. His fingers flexed inside the gauntlets of the suit, testing its newly calibrated energy settings. He fired a blast of raw energy from his right arm, watching as it erupted from the suit's gauntlet in a brilliant blue beam, slamming into a pile of scrap metal across the room. The debris scattered in all directions, and a faint echo of the blast reverberated through the walls.
Max's heart raced as he admired the successful test. "It works... it really works..." His voice was filled with awe, a sense of pride swelling inside him.
He repeated the action, firing again. This time, the blast hit a larger target, a steel frame he had welded together to test the suit's power. But this time, something was different. The energy blast seemed more forceful, more intense than the first. The room around him flickered as if the very air was charged with electricity. "What the hell?"
Before Max could react, the suit hummed, deep and ominous. A sudden pulse of light radiated from the chestplate, where the meteorite fragment was embedded. It pulsed once, then twice, growing brighter and brighter. Max's stomach dropped as he realized the power source wasn't behaving as expected. He could feel the suit vibrating beneath him, as if it had a life of its own.
"No, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Max's voice trembled as he instinctively grabbed the suit's control panel on his wrist. He tried to shut it down, but the system was unresponsive. The energy in the suit surged again, this time with a violent force, sending a shockwave through the workshop. The blast hit the ceiling, causing small chunks of debris to rain down. The lights flickered wildly, and Max's vision blurred for a moment.
He stumbled backward, trying to steady himself, but the force was too strong. The suit's exoskeleton locked his joints in place, its weight throwing him off balance. He crashed into a nearby workbench, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Max gasped, disoriented, his heart racing as he tried to regain his composure.
"What's happening?!" Max screamed, struggling to pull himself up from the floor. The suit's systems were malfunctioning, and he couldn't control it. The chestplate was glowing brighter now, almost blinding, as if the meteorite within was feeding off the suit's energy.
The hum of the suit was deafening, and the light from the chestplate grew more erratic. Max could feel the heat building within the core of the suit. It was as if the meteorite itself had come alive, its power consuming everything around it.
"It's unstable... it's... it's too much." Max's voice was barely a whisper, filled with fear. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The meteorite was too volatile—too powerful. He had underestimated it. He had assumed he could control it, that he could harness its energy without consequences. But now, it seemed like the very source of the suit's power was beyond his grasp.
Max staggered to his feet, the suit's lights flashing as he tried to regain control. "Come on, come on, please work!" He slammed his hand against the control panel, but the energy surged again, throwing him back to the ground.
As the room spun around him, Max couldn't help but feel the weight of his father's words echoing in his mind. "Don't push it too far, Max. The meteorite's power... it's unpredictable."
The hum of the suit reached a deafening crescendo, and the lights flickered one last time before everything went dark. Max lay on the floor, panting, the suit silent for a moment, as if it were waiting for something.
Then, the glow from the meteorite beneath his chestplate flickered once more, pulsating weakly. It wasn't over yet. Max knew that this malfunction was only the beginning. The suit had the power to change everything, but at what cost?
He pulled himself up, his body aching, sweat dripping down his forehead. "I need to figure this out... before it's too late."
As Max stood there, shaking, he realized that the journey ahead would be far more dangerous than he had ever imagined. He wasn't just facing a malfunctioning suit; he was facing the unpredictable power of the meteorite itself. And whatever secrets it held, they were not going to be easy to control.