TEAM Meeting
Fandom Young Avengers, No Warnings Needed, Not Betaed, Characters Belong To Marvel
Word count: 3033
Summary: This is how the Founders roll.
Author's Notes: I wanted more team fic; I miss Nate -> this came about from me thinking about how the team was organized before Kate became the YA sugar-momma. Criticism welcomed.
TEAM Meeting
Unnamed-super-hero-team Assemble! in the public library where Eli works and reserved Conference Room 538 on the top floor that can hold up to 55 people, comes with sound proof walls, a projector, wireless ability, and a dry eraser board on Friday at 1800 hours. When the TEAM arrived they found that the room did not come with furniture. Nate left to go back down to first floor to “borrow” the huge mustard yellow beanbag chair from the Story Time area of the kids’ section. Teddy went to look for a couch and Billy went along to help AKA hold open doors and pretend to be hauling half of the sofa. Eli just crossed the hall, unlocked one of the office doors and rolled the leather armchair back to 538.
Once Teddy and Billy get back into the room with a big enough couch for the two to lie on comfortably, Teddy remembers how these TEAM meetings have a habit of a fight happening in the middle and that no one gets to leave until the all the objectives of the meeting have been discussed. These things cool off faster if there’s something non-fight related to distract them. He goes back out into the hall to order a pizza delivery. Meanwhile Billy gets board and goes over to watch Eli fiddle with the connection between the laptop and the projector, or tries to anyway. As soon as Eli sees the living lightening rod start to head towards the delicate equipment he stops him with a glare and points back to the couch. Billy not pouts at Eli and Eli glares at Billy until Teddy comes back in chuckling telling them that they have to come outside to see something. They go out into the hallway, Eli keeping between Billy and the equipment, to look over the railing four floors down to see Nate dragging a beanbag chair to the elevator with a kid still on it. Eli sprints to the stairs while Teddy makes a video with his cell phone. After Eli gets down there he rushes over to the ruckus, grabs the kid, and as he heads back towards the kids’ section to return the missing child he slaps the back of Nate’s head hard enough for his face to splat in the beanbag.
When everyone has finally gotten their seats the meeting begins. Teddy stretches an arm to flip the switch to lower the screen to project Billy’s presentation. The first thing that shows up is a full screen of a line graph, a pie chart, and a table. “Okay, these three graphs pretty much show the same thing about our super-heroing so far. The line graph illustrates the trends in our heroing activity starting from last February till now. The red line is drug related incidences, the blue line is saving people, the green line is fighting bad guys, the orange line is mishaps in the heroing, the black line is for failing attempted heroic action, and the neon pink line is for events that don’t fit into any of the other categories. As you can see the orange and black lines have slowly, but steadily declined, spiking mostly when encountering new, and by that I mean previously unengaged, threats.” Billy enlarges the table and highlights the dates of when the unnamed-super-hero-team first fights new bad guys (names and locations of the new bad guys) and highlights the dates of the spikes in the orange and black trend lines presenting the timing overlap. “The blue and green have pretty much leveled out the more active we become while the red has increased. If you look at the pie chart, you can see that the drug related activity is what our team spends most of our time dealing with at 47% of our total super-heroing. So, I’ve researched what’s available.” Billy clicks the laptop and the screen changes to a composite picture with a bunch of different looking pills, inhalants and colored liquids. “Okay, so we all know what the common misused substances are: crack, cocaine, prescription drugs, and the like. And how not just the substances bring harm to people but the sharing of dirty needles spreads diseases such as HIV/AIDS around causing more needless death. And that if our stupid mayor would just let the city do a needle exchange program the deaths and users would decrease-”
“Billy, you’re kind of going off topic.”
“-but no~oo, he’s afraid of looking like he’s lax against the war on drugs, or voters forbid pro-drug. He needs to wake up, the preventative measures just aren’t cutting it. He needs to acknowledge and address the drug problem our city is facing-”
“Yes it’s bad, Billy go back to the drugs.”
“-and that’s the thing! People who use the needle exchange program are more likely to quite and not go back to the drugs because they feel like those people part of the program are on the level with them, and care about them as people. There have been multiple studies and examples in other cities to show that it works-Oof!”
Teddy hugs Billy to his chest, knocking the air from his lungs. “Billy. The presentation.”
Billy nods as Teddy adjusts their position on the couch. “Right, um, I think that these uncommon but public accessible drugs should take priority because they have the added benefit of super powering the bad guys: kick, mutant growth hormone, rave, thunderbolt, and zap.” Billy takes out his red lazier pointer to circle each specific drug. “Thunderbolt is a purified form of Zap developed by Dr. Malheur and marketed by the Yakuza, so most of the traffic is on the west coast. The drug gives the user an incredible euphoria, heightened strength, increased endurance and an inability to feel pain. This would be awesome except that it also causes death in an hour. So no repeat customers. It’s pretty much a drug used by the desperate with nothing left to live for. Zap’s proper name is Zootoxic Acid Psychogalvanide. It’s a highly addictive drug made from the "hypothalmic fluid" of the extinct Madipoorian Spider monkey, meaning that there’s a limited supply that drives the cost way up.”
Billy changes the screen to a map of the world with a few red dots. “This is the guesstimate of the mutant population after M-Day. I bring this up because the last three drugs are mutant related. Rave is a highly addictive and cheep street drug that temporarily boosts a mutant's power and still used by depowered mutants that got hooked before M-Day. If M-Day ever gets reversed then we’re going to have city filled with countless majorly increased powered mutants for a six to forty-eight window depending on the dose and strength. Longer if they have a stash. Kick is also a highly addictive drug that enhances special abilities in mutants, but this one is dispensed only via inhalant. The active ingredient is Hypercortisone-D. It was later discovered to be made out of a concentrated does of a primordial microorganism known only as Sublime in aerosol form. Sublime is a sentient bacterium that is one of the oldest living organisms on the planet; inhalation can lead to behavior altering effects and in large enough doses the user's body being taken over by the bacterium which then controls the host. The means for addiction are most likely linked with the sublime bacteria in kick, but a few of the doctors at the Mutant Center think that some psychological addiction may also be taking place due to the desire of the drug's power enhancing effects. The most famous incident, which brought the drug to the mainstream mutant community attention, is the riot at Xavier's caused by several student members of the Omega Gang possessed by the sublime bacteria.”
Billy sighs as he changes the screen to a multitude of pictures. “The reason that the last two drugs are a present concern for us is because of this.” Billy enlarges and plays a silent computer generated video. “This is the mutant growth hormone, on the streets referred to as MGH. MGH is a naturally occurring hormone produced within Homo Sapiens Superior and genetically altered superhumans such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, and The Hulk. So while Doctor Strange is a powered superhuman, he is genetically human and so does not produce MGH. MGH is a drug extracted and isolated from the genetic material of superpowered individuals.” Billy closes the video and opens another silent video that starts inside a club. “Sometimes used as a party drug, MGH often results in increased strength and aggression. When used by baseline humans it will result what's known as a "temporary genetic shift". In other words, it temporarily grants super powers. Sometimes the powers are duplicates those belonging to the donor, but results are known to vary. Such as different powers, diluted abilities, or the drug being too much for body to endure and having the heart explode. When MGH is used by mutants, it increases the super-human powers they already possess. It is most commonly available in a capsule form for oral ingestion, but a liquid form for intramuscular injection is a common alternative. The drug is known to be highly addictive especially in baseline humans, while mutants need a much larger dose to achieve the same level of need.” In the video, a guy takes a capsule and then hunches over looking ready to puke. When the bar tender comes over to refill the drink of the girl beside him, the guy picks him up and tosses him into the alcohol smashing at least thirty bottles. The guy then screams as fire bursts from his back along his spine. The party goers scream and run while the bar catches on fire and the guy rips the girl’s arm off.
After the video ends a picture of a scientist in his lab is brought up. “The first person known to have isolated the Mutant Growth Hormone was biochemist Dr. Henry McCoy PhD, who later became known as Beast when he joined the X-men, while working for the Brand Corporation on Long Island. Dr. McCoy was attempting to develop a serum that would act as a catalyst for activating latent mutations. However, he was forced to consume an experimental version of his serum to protect his discovery from industrial spies. The not yet addictive drug caused Beast to grow gray fur, which later turned blue, all over his body and acquire sharp ears, elongated canine teeth, claws, enhanced senses and an accelerated healing factor. When he could not reverse the mutation, McCoy came to accept his fate, though his actions continue to haunt him to this day.” Billy closes Dr. McCoy’s picture and brings up several others, circling each person with his red lazier pen. “A few years later an experimental drug, most likely MGH but there’s no conformation, first came onto the party scene being sold by Vanisher that gave the crowd powers similar to some popular super-humans such as Thor, Cyclops, and Daredevil and also made them extremely aggressive. Sometime later he was caught and stopped from dealing MGH on the black market by the X-men. The drug reached prominence when the mutant crimelord, Owl used his own genetic material, though his dealers claimed it came from Spider-Man, to obtain the drug he could sell, trying to build a new criminal empire with the profits. Daredevil stopped him.”
The screen changes again to show medical equipment ranging from state-of-the-art to tools that look to be a combination of easily obtain hardware supplies. Billy gets up off the couch and starts to pace going around in a circle around the couch. “While trying to reverse the effects of M-Day, the X-men shook down MGH dealer Charlie Hustle to obtain active MGH samples. Unfortunately, they discovered like most mutants, most MGH lost its viability. Beast found that all stock of MGH that was obtained from previously-powered mutants was no longer viable. However, all of the MGH taken from still-powered mutants was fine. And here’s the part that’s an actual threat to members of our TEAM. At one point Spider-Woman was kept sedated and exploited as the source of the material to be harvested for MGH by her boyfriend. She was eventually freed when former super heroine Jessica Jones broke into her apartment and rescued her, but I’m sure everyone can see where I’m going with this.” Billy stops his pacing behind the couch and rests his hands on Teddy’s shoulders. “Once we start getting a rep and become known, some of those bad guys are going to go after us for viable sources for the genetic material.” He then looks at Eli. “They may go after you too.”
“Wait, what?”
Nate leans back into the beanbag and looks up to the ceiling. “So this is a preemptive strike.”
Teddy places one of his hands on Billy’s and leans forward, “We’ll still be doing our super-heroing, but also actively going after these types of dealers to curtail potential problems against us and the safety of the city. Think about what could happen if a baseline human gets his hands on MGH and one or both of the drugs that boosts mutant powers. He’ll suddenly have extreme abilities he has no experience with and major aggression to the third power.”
Nate leans forward and rests his arms on his knees, “Yeah, but how likely is it that’s going to happen. If the person’s extremely aggressive, it makes him hard to control and not useful to organized crime when the power house takes out as much of his own crew as he does their enemies.”
Teddy grabs the laptop and puts up the silent video of the club again. “These people don’t really care what they take. They mix and match multiple drugs all the time. This club is now gone and the surrounding buildings had major fire damage to repair and rebuild. It only takes one person to get this combo to kill hundreds of lives.”
Nate turns back to look at the video, “Yeah. So I’ll go over all the data that my suit has collected on names, territory, activity, and drugs we’ve encountered to build a map of the illegal action in the city. Once we have that, it’ll be easier to plot our prevention plan. Meantime,” Nate in his beanbag chair hops over to the couch, “I can make trackers from my armor so that I can always fine you. What shape would you like them in?”
“…a headband?”
Teddy turns to look up at Billy, “Don’t you think that’s a little, um….”
“You’re right. A headband with wings!”
Nate motions for Billy to sit in front of him. His armor comes from under his sleeves like liquid silver and pours itself around Billy’s head, “Think of how to you want it to look.” As the armor solidifies itself, he turns to Teddy, “And what do you want?”
“Something less…big. Something that won’t be a problem when I shapeshift. Earrings maybe?” Teddy’s cell rings, “Pizza’s here.” Billy jumps up and jogs out of the room playing with his wings.
Nate shifts over to Teddy and covers his ears. The liquid metal changes to form a needle tip and then threads through both of Teddy’s ears leaving multiple hoops behind. Nate turns to Eli, “So what do you want yours to look like?”
“Why do I need a tracking device? I’m in no danger. And what if we need to rescue you?”
“I can find him with my magic.” Billy says as he walks back in with the food and soda.
“You’re getting better? That’s great guys!” Billy smiles at Nate as he sits next to Teddy with the boxes in his lap. He passes two boxes to Teddy, who tosses one to Eli. Nate and Billy split the last one.
“Again, why do I need a tacking device? I’m not a mutant.”
“True, but despite the name, most sources of MGH are not actually mutants. And you may be producing MGH or something like it.” Billy takes a bite of pizza. “When I was looking for information from the online scientific journal database at the hospital my dad works at I found this case study on Captain America. He was in an explosion of a methamphetamine lab and the high level exposure to the drug led to it somehow bonding with the Super Soldier Serum in his blood, causing aggressive and violent behavior. The only way to remove the drug was to perform an exchange transfusion, which would mean the removal of the Super Soldier Serum as well, making him powerless. After they did the procedure, they “cleaned” the blood of the methamphetamine and could now give him back his Super Soldier Serum blood. Cap refused, but sometime later his abilities came back. His body was producing its own Super Soldier Serum.” Billy takes a sip of soda from Teddy’s cup. “Which makes sense; drugs eventually breakdown. If Cap’s body wasn’t producing something on its own, the effects of the drug would have long since disappeared.”
Eli sighs as finishes his pizza and rolls his chair over to the rest of the TEAM, “Fine. I want a star that I can sew into my costume.” Eli holds out the palm of his hand and Nate covers it with his own as the armor pours in-between them. After Nate removes his hand a metal star remains. “So we done? The building closes in ten minutes.”
Nate nods as he gets up dragging the beanbag chair behind him, “We’re done for today anyway. Is anyone else in the mood for cake?”
Teddy lifts the couch, with Billy still on it eating pizza, with one hand, “I could go for some. You wanna go to the Getaway?” Billy nods and starts to text Irene to save them a spot somewhere.
Eli takes the laptop from Billy to return it to the basement computer lab and drags his chair behind him. “Fine. But we’re going to sit in chairs this time. All of us.” Eli says while looking at Nate, who completely ignores him, and turns off the light.