It was something had been drilled into him as a survival skill over the years. There were very few people and things he trusted.
So when his boss and landlady had informed him that they were closing the shop today, he'd been suspicious. And when his boss/landlady's granddaughter didn't show up for her morning 'gawk at the super-hero', he'd been ready for trouble. And then when the boss/landlady's daughter (who Jono thought looked like the Juggernaught) had shown up, followed by two more grandchildren, he'd told Penny to stay in their flat and made ready for serious trouble.
And now there were these two people standing outside. The teenager with the green hair could have passed for local, but the man? Pure uptown Yuppie.
Jono unlocked the door to the shop, careful not to dislodge the hand lettered Shop closed, as owner is currently fighting eldrich monstrosities. Please call again. sign he'd hung up earlier.
[Starsmore, Jonothan Evans, AKA Chamber.] the Vision's memory banks supplied. It had taken some time to go through all of the Avengers' files, but the Vision hadn't really had much to do before joining the Young Avengers. [Human mutant, sustained by the furnace of psionic energy in his chest. Possesses telepathy which allows him to communicate.]
"We're here to speak to Mrs. Xanathos." Mr. Kaplan said. "It's important."
The Vision noted that Mr. Kaplan hadn't asked if Mrs. Xanathos was available. He hadn't missed the odd sign on the door of the shop. He wondered if Mr. Kaplan had called ahead or if he simply hadn't considered that Mrs. Xanathos might be elsewhere.
The Vision realized that he was fidgeting and stopped. Allowing himself to lose control -- again -- wouldn't help him locate his teammates. Friends.
Jono, being a suspicious bastard, was not about to let these two in just because it was important. What was important to one person wasn't also important to someone else.
And this important thing, it's really worth rousting the old bat, is it?
"Tell her it's about Eliza Morag," Mr. Kaplan said.
Jono withdrew from the door, shutting it. Mrs. Xanathos? You've got guests. They say it's about your granddaughter.
I see them. Tell Jeffery that the key is exactly where it always is.
"Thank you." Mr. Kaplan said after Jonothan Starsmore had opened the door again and reported Mrs. Xanathos' message. The Vision followed the adult up a couple of flights of stairs, feeling more and more unnerved the further they climbed. Something seemed...off.
Mr. Kaplan knocked on a door at the top of the stairs, and it was opened by a truly gigantic woman. The Vision approximated her height to be at least seven feet, and she was at least as muscular as the average male super hero.
He didn't want to know what had fought her hard enough to scar her face as badly as it was.
“Brainstorm what?” Sarah asked, rolling her eyes heavenward and silently asking for the patience not to do something like throw stuff at the old woman.
“Some super-heroic rescue for your friends. You know as much as I do at this point, so go think.” Mrs. Xanathos pointed a long finger at the door. “Somewhere else. I’ll let you know when I come up with something useful.”
The Vision scowled. Once again, he was being tossed aside simply because he was a teenager. Never mind that he had all of the original Vision's memory files, and had memorized the entirety of the Avengers' database.
[This is magic.] he told himself, turning towards the door. [You'd be useless here anyway.]
“Like we can’t be useful here?” Sarah demanded, feeling more than a little annoyed at her grandmother’s dismissal.
“Sarah. I am about to unleash serious eldritch forces in this room, and I am the only person here actually trained to handle them. I’d rather not fry your brain.” Mrs. Xanathos cast an eye to the two other adults in the room. “That goes for you two, as well.”
“But he’s my son-”
“Cyrus is-”
Mrs. Xanathos held up a hand. “I know. I am trying to find them, and this is not helping. We’ve only got a few hours until the spell on Eliza wears off, which will only make things more difficult, and I’d rather not have an insane grandchild on top of everything else. So kindly cease and desist with the arguing.”
The Vision felt a little vindicated that the adults were also being sent from the room, but he squashed that down into the corner with the evil voice. The buzzing sensation was getting louder, he winced a little and rubbed his temple. It was probably the build-up of the magic or something. His circuits probably didn't know how to handle or measure it properly.
He moved towards the door, to introduce himself to the two girls waiting there.
"Let us never speak of this again," Sarah said promptly, pushing away thoughts of a pretty blonde girl who she had never met, and of a white haired boy with a penchent for sarcasm, and other people who she didn't know.
"Speak of what?" Helena asked, her patience clearly tried.
"Cyberpath thing. You wouldn't understand, since you don't do technology."
Helena growled softly, her form of a gentle rebuke.
"[It is quite technologically based, ma'am.]" the Vision agreed, hoping to placate Sarah Vale's aunt Helena. [Stupid programming doesn't know when to quit.] "[It was also awkward and uncomfortable. We do need to discuss it, however.]"
He shifted awkwardly. Remaining intangible, while neither difficult nor tiring, was only a short-term solution. Eventually, they were going to need to figure out how to avoid a repeat performance of the situation.
"[I am unsure if the connection has been closed or simply rendered unavailable while I am intangible.]" the Vision said, drifting a bit to the side. "[Has a single connection with your power always guaranteed a future connection in the past?]"
The background buzz had been annoying, but the Vision was perfectly willing to deal with it rather than another round of techno-psychic feedback.
Jessica frowned and made her way up the steps. All ready she could see what was coming up, and to her horror she might actually be of some use, which meant that she wasn't going back to Xavier's any time soon. She gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Forward march,” Sarah said in the way of all older sisters, preventing Jessica from doing anything like turning back and making a run for it. Not that making a run for it wasn’t a tempting idea from Sarah’s point of view, but then they might never get Vic back. So while it was an option, it wasn’t one she chose to follow.
The hall of the third floor was surprisingly normal, all things considered. It smelled faintly of cat, like most of the building, and there was a single door propped open… if being nearly torn off the hinges by Aunt Helena counted as being propped open.
The Vision followed the two girls up the stairs and down the hall. He wished that there was something more he could do to help. Waiting was the worst part of rescue missions. Waiting and being useless.
Sarah poked her head into the room. It smelled faintly of cooked meat and ink. The most notable features were the massive entertainment system and the stacks of long boxes up against the wall. The air also smelled faintly stale, like the windows weren't opened often enough.
"Okay," she said, "Sarah, you do what you do. I'm gonna check her cell phone to see if I can't get anything useful. Vision, think you can handle the computer?"
A portal opened up, revealing a huge explosion and a familiar archer landed flat on his face, months after what happened to the only family he knew. Clint got up off the ground and looked around at the unfamiliar area, just where the heck was he? He shrugged it off, realizing that he might want to find some clothes, seeing as how his costume was quite burned from the battle with the kree warship.
It has been said that all things must be witnessed in order for them to happen.
In this case, the return of the supposedly dead Hawkeye was witnessed by the mutant known as Penance to most, Penny to her friends, and 'Oh god what is that thing it's ripping off my face!' to an unfortunate few.
She eyed the human who had suddenly appeared from the shadows, keeping herself mostly concealed behind the garbage cans. She was very good at hiding.
Penny continued to watch the strange man with the wariness of a survivor. He'd made no hostile moves so far, but that was never a garentee that he wouldn't later.
Penny, luv? Now is not the time for hide an' seek...
And there was the backup. Excellent. Jono would blast this stranger into oblivian if he turned out to be a bad man like Marcus.
Comments 116
It was something had been drilled into him as a survival skill over the years. There were very few people and things he trusted.
So when his boss and landlady had informed him that they were closing the shop today, he'd been suspicious. And when his boss/landlady's granddaughter didn't show up for her morning 'gawk at the super-hero', he'd been ready for trouble. And then when the boss/landlady's daughter (who Jono thought looked like the Juggernaught) had shown up, followed by two more grandchildren, he'd told Penny to stay in their flat and made ready for serious trouble.
And now there were these two people standing outside. The teenager with the green hair could have passed for local, but the man? Pure uptown Yuppie.
Jono unlocked the door to the shop, careful not to dislodge the hand lettered Shop closed, as owner is currently fighting eldrich monstrosities. Please call again. sign he'd hung up earlier.
And what would you be wanting then?
Reply
"We're here to speak to Mrs. Xanathos." Mr. Kaplan said. "It's important."
The Vision noted that Mr. Kaplan hadn't asked if Mrs. Xanathos was available. He hadn't missed the odd sign on the door of the shop. He wondered if Mr. Kaplan had called ahead or if he simply hadn't considered that Mrs. Xanathos might be elsewhere.
The Vision realized that he was fidgeting and stopped. Allowing himself to lose control -- again -- wouldn't help him locate his teammates. Friends.
The Vision unconsciously began to fidget again.
Reply
And this important thing, it's really worth rousting the old bat, is it?
"Tell her it's about Eliza Morag," Mr. Kaplan said.
Jono withdrew from the door, shutting it. Mrs. Xanathos? You've got guests. They say it's about your granddaughter.
I see them. Tell Jeffery that the key is exactly where it always is.
Reply
Mr. Kaplan knocked on a door at the top of the stairs, and it was opened by a truly gigantic woman. The Vision approximated her height to be at least seven feet, and she was at least as muscular as the average male super hero.
He didn't want to know what had fought her hard enough to scar her face as badly as it was.
"Hello Helena." Mr. Kaplan said, unphased.
Reply
“Some super-heroic rescue for your friends. You know as much as I do at this point, so go think.” Mrs. Xanathos pointed a long finger at the door. “Somewhere else. I’ll let you know when I come up with something useful.”
Reply
[This is magic.] he told himself, turning towards the door. [You'd be useless here anyway.]
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“Sarah. I am about to unleash serious eldritch forces in this room, and I am the only person here actually trained to handle them. I’d rather not fry your brain.” Mrs. Xanathos cast an eye to the two other adults in the room. “That goes for you two, as well.”
“But he’s my son-”
“Cyrus is-”
Mrs. Xanathos held up a hand. “I know. I am trying to find them, and this is not helping. We’ve only got a few hours until the spell on Eliza wears off, which will only make things more difficult, and I’d rather not have an insane grandchild on top of everything else. So kindly cease and desist with the arguing.”
Reply
He moved towards the door, to introduce himself to the two girls waiting there.
Reply
"Speak of what?" Helena asked, her patience clearly tried.
"Cyberpath thing. You wouldn't understand, since you don't do technology."
Helena growled softly, her form of a gentle rebuke.
Reply
He shifted awkwardly. Remaining intangible, while neither difficult nor tiring, was only a short-term solution. Eventually, they were going to need to figure out how to avoid a repeat performance of the situation.
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The background buzz had been annoying, but the Vision was perfectly willing to deal with it rather than another round of techno-psychic feedback.
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The hall of the third floor was surprisingly normal, all things considered. It smelled faintly of cat, like most of the building, and there was a single door propped open… if being nearly torn off the hinges by Aunt Helena counted as being propped open.
THAT was where Eliza lived.
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"Okay," she said, "Sarah, you do what you do. I'm gonna check her cell phone to see if I can't get anything useful. Vision, think you can handle the computer?"
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In this case, the return of the supposedly dead Hawkeye was witnessed by the mutant known as Penance to most, Penny to her friends, and 'Oh god what is that thing it's ripping off my face!' to an unfortunate few.
She eyed the human who had suddenly appeared from the shadows, keeping herself mostly concealed behind the garbage cans. She was very good at hiding.
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"Ok Barton, your half naked, costume mostly burnt up and on a street corner. Don't panic. Find your avengers ID and go from there."
He felt around his pockets pulling out the little ID/communicator which was the only thing still with him. He sighed in relief.
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Penny, luv? Now is not the time for hide an' seek...
And there was the backup. Excellent. Jono would blast this stranger into oblivian if he turned out to be a bad man like Marcus.
Reply
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