As Spore and Ebon take a break in between fights he holds up his arm showing the bruised ribs he got from a few hits he failed to dodge from the large tree's punches. "You're pretty good in a fight, I'm glad you're on our side." He smiles, letting out a few deep breaths. "Tell me more about yourself Spore, Where did you come from? How did you and Trystt become good friends?"
Sterne slept deeply and dreamlessly and woke feeling almost as tired as when he collapsed exhausted into bed the day before.
His internal clock had roused him early as it always did and he groaned as he dragged his battered bruised body out of bed.
i am not getting through the damn day like this he said to himself as he moved into the bathroom and stared at his tired reflection in the mirror.
Focusing his mind Sterne began to increase his own bodies ability to heal itself, stimulating the very cells and in a matter of minutes he felt as if he had slept another night snd he smiled as the dull look faded from his eyes and he felt much more like himself again.
Forty minutes later , showered, shaved and dressed, he took his coffee and grabbed his landline and dialled Isobelle’s cell phone.
Bon matin, mon amour! he said smiling warmly as he heard Izzy’s voice it’s good to hear your voice too babe, I know , I know I’m sorry I haven’t called yesterday was literally a train wreck for me....
He missed her a lot, she was in France visiting her parents, her father was recovering from a knee replacement and she wouldn’t be back stateside for at least three weeks and considering what he was getting himself involved in he was glad of the time alone.
Finishing his call he hung up the phone and immediately dialled the number Napalm had given him.
hey Napalm... yeah I’m good. A little banged up but nothing a good sleep didn’t cure. How did you get on with the vial....ok, ok fair enough. Run every test you can think of we need to know what that stuff is.
I’ll come get the car in a bit and get it back to it’s owner, then I’ve got some things to take care of in work over the next couple of days, hopefully you will have some answers by then....
Good luck, I’ll check in tomorrow. Let me know if you find out anything
The rest of the day was a hectic scramble. First he had to pick up the car, arrange for it to be shipped back to its owner with a bottle of fine scotch and an expensive bottle of wine on the front seat along with an envelope containing $500 and a brief note.
“Not a scratch on her as promised. Thank you for the loan, treat the grandkids and the wife to something nice. “
That done, he still had a long day ahead of him back at the justice department.
by the time he had caught up in work it was late evening he felt the desperate need of some good food and several cold beers.
The next day Sterne had several parole hearings lined up, but it was the last one of the day that he was particularly interested in, this was the third time he had come across this particular appeal and he did not see it turning out any other way than it had done in previous years.
Sitting back in his chair Sterne looked around at the rest of the parole board panel and he could not believe they were contemplating giving this man parole, they gave far too much weight to Dr Chilterns recommendation and far too little thought to their own opinions.
I would describe Mr. Bowland's progress as remarkable. Taking into account his disability and the six years already served, I strongly recommend he be paroled.
Sterne looks up from the report with disgust and studied the man before him cleaned up and looking for all the world like he was a reformed man, but Sterne knew it was all an act and he thought to himself
you are so sly Ronald , but so am I
Clearing his throat Sterne interrupts his colleagues as they summarised Dr Chilterns findings and he addressed the prisoner directly.
I’m sorry but before you continue I have a few questions.
Mr. Bowland, do you regret your crimes? Sterne asks as he reaches out with his mind toward the convicted arsonist and murderer.
Yes. I understand now the pain I caused Ronald replies , his tone too oily and ingratiating to Sternes ears and he subtly peeled back the layers of the mans mind, reading his surface thoughts as he brought his abilities to bear.
you cannot fool me Ronald
If released, will you commit these crimes again? Sterne asks as he increases his connection and he begins to read the man and it makes him go cold inside as he sees the depths of his depravity, he can feel the evil within him.
I won't. he says quietly
Do you consider yourself ready for society? Sterne asks frankly
Yes, oh yes i am ready
The parole board shuffles their papers. Sterne can tell that for them It's a done deal. They fully believe Chiltons report, even though the man was an ambitious fool , who was more than likely on the take and who’s opinion carried little weight with Sterne, indeed he disliked him intensely.
Frowning ,Sterne suddenly stands and approaches Ronald Bowland.
here we are again eh Ronald. Sterne says with a smile why don’t you tell me again. What do you do with little girls? he says conspiratorially.
A tortured look comes over Ronald's face as he wrestled with himself fighting against Sternes influence, but he saw Sterne as someone who he could trust, someone he could tell his deepest darkest secrets to and he could not hold back the childish giggle that spilled from his lips.
What do you do with them, Ronald Huh? Sterne presses, bringing the weight of his abilities to bear as he pulls a
Cigarette lighter from his pocket and then lights it in front of Ronalds face.
Burn them. he giggles again his eyes going wide as he stares at the flame
And old ladies? Sterne presses
Burn them. Ronald hisses and Sterne presses further, relentless.
And the world -- the whole world. What do you want to do with the world Ronald?
Ronald tears his eyes from the flame and smiles coldly
Burn it all. he hisses and then giggles again
The parole board stares, stunned as Sterne puts away his lighter and turns back to them.
See ya again next year, Ronald. Now Ive Got somewhere else I need to be and I think we are done here he says and gathering his brief case he leaves the rest of the panel to finish up the paperwork and reject Ronald’s bid for freedom.
Striding our into the bustle of the New York streets Sterne drew in several deep breathes as if to purge himself of the feel of Ronald’s mind and reaching for his new cell phone he called Napalm
hey, yeah I’m done for the next few days. I think it’s time we all meet up and go over what you have found. How much do SHIELD know?
As you come through the door of your apartment, exhausted but still wired, you hear Maggie's frantic footsteps coming toward you down the hall.
She rounds the corner from the sitting room and then stops in the dim light of the darkened hall, illuminated only by the flickering light of the TV in the next room. You don't need Sterne's empathic powers to know she doesn't know whether to hug you or slap your face.
Jesus Lucas... is all she manages, her hand going to her mouth. Where the Hell have you been. And your clothes, you look hurt.... 8 times Lucas. I called you 8 times over the last two days and heard nothing!
Her hand rests on her hip and you know that you are in for it, both barrels straight up.
Do you know what has been going through my mind the last two days? You're such a genius, come on you must have some clue? I didn't know if you were dead Lucas. I didn't know whether to call the police because whatever the Hell you're doing it can't be legal.
I just.... urgh... she throws up her hands
"I lost my phone. Or, rather...I know where it is, but it's at the bottom of a river in West Virginia." He puts down the bagels. "But I do have breakfast."
He sighs. "Maggie, I know I should have called, I'm sorry." He sits on one of the kitchen stools. The exhaustion and weight of his failure are visibly crushing him. "It all went to hell, Mags. I tried my best, but it went to s+%~. I thought I had tracked down where the Punisher was, but we were no better than a dozen steps behind. And we might have brought meddled way above our capacity. Doom was there. And he swatted us away like an annoying fly. We almost drowned when he tossed the train into the river." It's all coming out in a torrent of word vomit.
He looks at her, seeing her death stare. "I don't know how to do this, Maggie. I'm not an Avenger. Hell, I can't even identify the chemicals we found."
\
Maggie stands with her mouth agape.
You were in a train crash? Caused by Dr f*cking Doom!? Lucas are you hearing yourself?
She looks like she is about to say something, her jaw working. She steels herself and then says;
Is this all about what the Goblin did to you? You know you don't have to prove anything, to me or anyone else.
Lucas slams his hand down on the counter, sending one of the bagels to the floor. "I know what I'm saying, Maggie! I know it inside and out. I've been living it for god's sake!.
He looks at her with anger at first, but then the look turns to despair. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing, Maggie. I couldn't find the Punisher. I can't find Daredevil. I have no f$*#ing idea what Active Pharma was doing, and now I can't even figure out what this chemical is! I can't even figure out a stupid, g@+&#$ned biological! I have four degrees, a biologically enhanced brain, a state of the art lab, and all I know about it is that it's blue!" He grabs a glass and hurls it at the wall, where it shatters into a hundred pieces.
For the very first time in his life, for all the hours and days and years they have been together, Lucas sees a look in Maggie's eyes when she looks at him. A little bit of fear.
Even when he was in recovery and horribly disfigured, he did not see that look.
Alright. Alright, calm down. Maybe you just need some help. she says, though somewhere in the back of your mind you note that she doesn't say help with what.
I... I... need to get to work Lucas. Please get some rest and we can talk some more later.
She grabs her keys and purse and gives you a brief kiss on the cheek before hurrying out the door.
As Spore and Ebon thrash it out, a small crowd of SHIELD agents gathers around the octagon but neither pays any attention. A few look on in amazed silence at their prowess but as the bout comes to an end they break up again.
A Chinese guy and a tree walk into a gym... a female voice calls out from across the training area.
Spore and Ebon turn to see Bobbi Morse - Mockingbird - strolling in, spinning her quarterstaff idly in one hand.
...sounds like the start of a joke. And the way you two ladies are going at it maybe a funny one too.
She grins and blows a bubble with the gum she chews that bursts with a satisfying 'pop.'
'Sup?
Trystt spends most of the day trying to get in touch with Midnight but each of her calls goes frustratingly unanswered. Later that day, just as she is about to make her way to Midnight's apartment, her phone begins to chirp.
Answering it, she is flooded with relief as a familiar voice speaks from the other end;
Trystt, are you and the rest of the group safe? Midnight says in her flat, business-like tone.
Lucas sighs and stares at the closed door after Maggie leaves. I didn't mean to blow up at her. I just...the stress of the day, that must have been it. I hope she'll forgive me.
He walks into the living room, the shattered glass completely forgotten. He sits down on the couch and tries to rest for a moment, but the look in Maggie's eyes keep haunting him. He tries to close his eyes and rest, but suddenly he feels like he's back in the train with rising water all around him.
Lucas groans and opens his eyes. I have to get some rest. I'm no good like this. To anyone. He staggers to his feet and heads to the bathroom. He opens the cabinet and knocks several things as he searches. Finally, he pulls out a bottle of sleeping pills. Maggie had gotten them a year ago after a trip to Japan when she just couldn't seem beat the jet lag.
He makes his way into the bedroom, opening the bottle of pills. He takes a quick look at the dosing label, but decides that it wasn't really accounting for a mutant who had just survived being shot at and drowned. Whatever. Zolpidem will metabolize quickly with my biology. He could see the chemical bonds and interactions as it the drug molecule would bind to his GABA receptors in his central nervous systems.
He pours several out and swallows them, then collapses into bed, trying to forget West Virginia.
Not Daredevil. Midnight replies. The Punisher. And he had some very interesting things to say.
We need to meet. her voice turns urgent then. Who have you told about what you have?
Ebon turns to Mockingbird and smiles at her joke. "Very funny. We decided to make the most of working with SHIELD. The gym down here is very impressive. Spore and I have been going at it hard, but now you're here maybe you would like to go a round or two with me? Maybe I could show you a thing or two." He smiles again.
Nah. she replies. I been flyin' missions in Syria for the past 10 days, got a couple off now. Sand gets everywhere ya know. Just had my hair done so don't want to wreck it giving you a whoopin.'
She looks over to Spore;
So what's your guys' deal, SHIELD payin' you in fertiliser or somethin'
Tell him to get it out of there! Midnight shouts, taking you aback. Now Trystt, this isn't one of those earth jokes, I am absolutely serious!
Meet me at the construction site at 42nd and 12th. I can't say more on this line, it is not secure.
Without another word she hangs up the phone.
|
Trystt taps her phone against her chin as she thinks for a few moments. Odd reaction, and not much information, but Midnight isn't an average woman. She dials Napalm and leaves a message. "Hey there...yeah, so, I touched base with Midnight, and she says that we need to remove your blue goo from SHIELD. No, she hung up before telling me why." Trystt shrugs as if Napalm can see her. "I don't know if someone there would want it, or it will react with something else there. I'm heading there now, let me know what you want to do with it."
Trystt calls Spore and lets him know she is on her way.
"Very well, but if you ever want me to teach you a thing or two, I'm always ready I don't sleep much anymore." He smiles, pushing spore.
Lucas wakes up in a start. His mind was swimming in a fog. He had dreams of fire, drowning, and explosions. He dreamed that Maggie was trapped in a vat of the blue chemicals. And he was held back by the simple force of Dr. Doom's thoughts, incapable of saving his wife and forced to watch her... No clue to what the chemicals do, even in my dreams. But she had been in pain.
He shivered and sat up. How long have I been asleep?
"Maggie?" he calls out. No answer. His phone is blinking with a call from Trystt. He dials the voicemail and listens to her message. "S~!%." He gets up from bed, realizing the chaos of the room around him. Pills spilled out on the table, sheets thrown around. Chair on its side and the bathroom half torn apart.
He sighs and starts to leave. Something registers in his mind and he stops, looking back. His eyes find it instantly. The pill bottle was standing straight up. In the midst of the chaos of the room, the pill bottle was upright. His mind spins. Maggie. She came and saw all of this. Must have read the label and set the bottle down. He walks through the apartment for any other signs of her. Nothing.
"S!$%."
He sighs and grabs his backpack before leaving for SHIELD.
"Oh, I found a nice loam patch in the park that suits me; all the fertilizers SHIELD offered were too artificial for my 'refined palette', mmmm" Spore replied, deadpan, recycling a joke Trystt had made some time ago.
As he speaks, he released a cloud of golden spores that float in the air around him before being re-absorbed; as they do, his many wounds start stitching themselves back together.
"I mostly just want to help keep this planet safe— what with mine being... gone and all. It's nice here, beautiful even," he says, a sad tone trailing into his rumbling voice as he mentions his lost planet, "and we do what we can to keep it that way."
"I would like to go a bit with you though, like Ebon says. New experiences on Earth keep me evolving, which I like. Maybe next time?"
-----
Later...
-----
Spore's spent more time at the SHIELD site than he's planned to, enjoying the opportunity to test himself and extended sparring sessions with Ebon and miscellaneous SHIELD agents and training protocols. When he gets Trystt's message he finds Ebon immediately, and makes for Napalm's lab...
Yeah maybe Mockingbird says dismissively. But I'm only here cos brass insisted I complete flight sim training in the Box. she sighs.
You'd think the UN envoy to Syria would be grateful that we weren't shot down by SAM fire but no, you pull negative 5 Gs in an evasive loop and when he loses his hair-piece and throws up on himself you're the bad guy.
You'd think all that Sarkovia crap would have made politicians think twice about bureaucracy but nope, someone with clout gets pissy and grunts like me foot the bill.
She slaps Ebon on the shoulder and says;
I rolled with some top dogs like Hawkeye and Falcon for a while and look at them now, out in the wind. If I were you I'd keep your heads down and just pick up your paycheck - whatever that is
Mockingbird, despite her jokes and bravado seems genuinely frustrated and jaded
Ebon listens a little closer to Mockingbird words and can see there is more behind them than she is saying. "I don't really know, what that pay is I dont need a lot. The use of this place is pretty big for me." He then hesitates for a moment. "But I can see how this life could get to people, I got into this to help people but SHIELD seem to want to want people like us to take a step back and wait before we move to help anyone."
The group converges on Napalm's lab. The passes you were all given still work and you find you are able to move around much of the headquarters without an issue.
Spore and Ebon come directly from the training area, the monk still covered in a sheen of sweat despite a cooling shower afterward.
Sterne finishes work for the day and heads across, still dressed in a suit and in act looking more like he belongs than the rest of you put together.
Lucas however looks drawn and tired.
Crossing the street , Sterne glanced up at the unassuming facade of the SHIELD facility and he couldn’t help but contemplate the possible outcome of his decision to expose himself to the agents within.
He knew he was jeopardising his way of life, he could not be certain what would happen but he knew everything could change for him.
He also knew this was inevitable the moment he decided to involve himself and try to make a difference.
SeeIng Napalm emerge from the building Sterne straightened his tie and buttoned his suit jacket as he made his way over to him.
Jesus you look worn out, have you slept at all? he asks as Napalm hands him a SHIELD pass and together they make their way inside the facility.
The surroundings were quite familiar to Sterne, one branch of government operated much like any other and as they pass without incident through the security cordon he follows Napalm toward his lab
are the others here already? Do SHIELD know about me yet?
Lucas runs a hand over his scalp. "I think so, Doc. Not sure it helped much though. Come on, the others are inside." He walks Doctor Sterne in through the security area, waving at an armed guard.
"I would be careful about using your...skills here, Doc. Even the slightest use might be detected. One of the things SHIELD is very paranoid about is mental control after the incident in New York. Loki taught us how dangerous it can be."
He guides the man down into the lab area. "Down here, we've got every type of lab imaginable. Aircraft testing, weapons modification, chemistry and biological analysis, composite textiles, high energy plasma, even extra-terrestrial astronomy."
noted. That is exactly the kind of reaction I am afraid of, it’s why I’ve kept my abilities a secret for so long. he says as they move through the facility.
As they descend deeper into the complex the similarity to other government agencies quickly fades away as the real SHIELD is revealed.
the budget they have for this place must be huge! Stern says as Napalm explains about the place and points out various areas as they pass them.
I know some folks in the NYPD that would give their right arm for access to this place.
Spore, keeping an eye out for Napalm at his lab, spots him and Sterne rounding a corner down the hall and wanted aggressively, as I'd the night miss the seven-foot-tall green vine-man in the otherwise whitewashed hallway.
"Napalm! Doc! Over here!" he yelled softly. "Did you get Trystt's message?"
Ebon follows Spore still feeling like he could go a couple more rounds. But realising its now time to get to the bottom of whatever was on that train. "Hey." He nods to Napalm and Stern. "So what have you two been up to? Know anything new about what we recovered Napalm?"
Napalm shakes his head, guiding them into the lab. "Nothing. I don't know much more about it than when we got it in here. I heard Trystt's message, but she didn't have much more information than it was dangerous and not to leave it here in SHIELD." He moves over to check on the sample to see if anything has changed.
The sample looks exactly as you left it. You check a dozen different data sources but it appears unchanged.
It looks as though someone has accessed your workstation - not with your password, but with administrative access.