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Fandom / Re: So [M]any Snacks So Little Time
« on: May 21, 2019, 11:21:28 PM »
Eddie blushed when he realized Venom had overheard that thought.  He never wanted to hurt Venom's feelings, but of course it was impossible for him to not feel what he really felt.  The best he could do was not vocalize it, and that was seldom enough to keep it from his symbiotic partner for long.  Probably better to be honest. 

I think it would be good if you observe for a bit before you participate again.  The problem for Eddie, although he didn't know how to articulate it, was that Venom had too much control over his body and not enough understanding of his psyche.  He didn't yet get that a human could be aroused by something and still not want to do it.  Eddie wasn't exactly vanilla in his tastes, but Venom was a little too overwhelming for him still.

 Though I think Deadpool will always want you to participate.  Eddie didn't think he'd ever met anyone as jaded as Wade.  Just, uh, let me drive next time.

He didn't ask Venom to stop zipping and unzipping the backpack pouch, as it wasn't bothering him and he felt that anyone likely to be irritated by something so minor wouldn't last long as a New Yorker anyway.  He could throw a brick in any direction right now and hit somebody doing something more annoying.  In any case, it didn't take them long to reach a downtown used Harley lot, whereupon he cheerfully hopped off the bus.
"Guess you didn't get a briefing," the gunslinger said dryly.  "We have to capture a demon."  He didn't know for sure it was a demon, but all his previous encounters with horrible black shape-changing monsters had occurred in Hell, so he was going with that as a hypothesis.  "It was hanging around this Wilson earlier, so we want to grab Wilson and question him about it.  Hopefully, it won't be still hanging around Wilson when we catch up with him because I'd hate to lose my first team that fast. 

"Your first job," he said to the kid Ringo, "is to go over to that Office Depot over there," pointing across the street, "and buy us five or six rolls of duct tape, while I step into this men's room and change."

When he came out of the men's room, he was wearing the clothes Fisk's men had brought -- jeans, plain t-shirt, and a black denim jacket.  He kept his own boots, but brought nothing else out of the bathroom with him, except a packet of cigarillos.  His other clothes were simply gone.  Even the guns had disappeared, or at least they were obviously not on him. 

"Did you gentlemen bring transportation?" he inquired, striking a match and applying it to one of his smokes.

Fandom / Re: All Infinity Stone Sales Are Final (M)
« on: May 21, 2019, 05:14:06 PM »
Those are not normal dogs.  Steve normally liked dogs -- even German Shepherds, despite a few painful encounters with them during the war.  These animals made the hair stand up on his arms and neck.  Why would they be here?

Since the MPs -- if they were MPs -- still couldn't see him and weren't even pointing their guns with any accuracy, he didn't bother answering.  Instead, he slid his feet and one hand delicately along the wall, moving out from his position over the dogs and more into a position directly over the men.  They might as well be between him and those teeth when the muzzles came off.  Then he dropped directly into their midst. 

Two men got their heads banged together before the others even realized their quarry was among them.  A third, a little faster to react than the rest, got the butt of his own gun in the face, then Steve was already throwing a punch at the next one -- but also keeping a careful eye on the dogs, who he expected to react viciously.

« on: May 20, 2019, 06:27:55 PM »
Briefcase in hand, Steve entered the wrongly-placed "ordinance depot" and proceeded to the concealed elevator, returning the salutes of lower ranks with practiced ease.  There was no one else in it this time, thankfully, as the woman who had reported him and Tony as suspicious last time would certainly have recognized him again, so soon after the event.  He knew the code from the time Natasha had figured it out in 2014, shortly before the Zola program had destroyed the whole bunker with a guided missile from SHIELD, and he remembered which floor to go to from when he and Tony had been here.

Apparently, the alarm hadn't extended to this floor, where Tony had walked out without anyone questioning him just because he'd been with Howard.  Unfortunately, Steve didn't know where on this floor the Tesseract was supposed to be kept.  He picked his way through the quiet dark laboratory rooms, avoiding the direct line of the obvious cameras (but not the smaller ones that he didn't know about) and looking for a safe or cabinet that looked like someone had forcibly opened it. 

He was about as far from the elevator as he could get when he heard it open again.  Multiple booted feet on the vintage linoleum -- and the clacking of blunt claws.  Dogs.  Coming fast.

Why would they use dogs? he wondered.  How would the dogs know what the intruder smelled like?  Steve didn't know that Zola had spotted him on his first trip through and had been able to provide the dog handlers with items he had touched and left his scent on.

 It seemed simplest for him to just avoid them.  Since they were going to search everywhere a normal man might be, he would just have to hide somewhere a normal man could not.  He found a dark, narrow hallway with a high ceiling and lot of equipment and file cabinets in it, climbed up a few of them and braced himself between the walls with his back against the ceiling. He could do it one-handed, which was good because he needed the other arm to hold the briefcase up against his chest.  Meanwhile, he counted the number of MPs by their voices and boots and hoped he wouldn't have to clobber a bunch of regular guys who were just doing their job.

« on: May 16, 2019, 11:35:40 PM »
Eddie didn't care what Drake tasted like.  He was anticipating the evil son of a bitch shitting himself when he saw Venom.  Some of Venom's approval spilled over into his psyche as he pulled them up and made him glow with pride and affection for the symbiote. 

"Not everyone has two left feet either," he said to Wade -- although, to be fair, the merc was a lot more graceful than Eddie, on his own, would be.  He committed Wade's home address to the excellent memory he had developed as a reporter, and shimmied his ass semi-ironically in response to the compliment.  Fleetingly, he wondered what sex with Deadpool would be like without Venom, but supposed he would never get to find out. 

He scrambled up onto the street, and then out of it quickly before the light changed.  "OK, man, I'll pick you up in an hour or two," he called to Wade, and ran to catch the downtown bus he saw getting ready to pull out.

"I don't care what your names actually are," Jude clarified.  "I just need the right fella to jump when I say so.  Toward that end, let's make your names easier to remember."  He got up and pointed to each of the four in turn.  "John, Paul, George and Ringo," the kid ending up with the drummer's name.  "And I am Jude, as in Hey, Jude, or Jude the Obscure.  If anyone has a problem with me giving the orders, let him say so now."

((I'm sure they'll develop personalities as we go.))

Fandom / Re: Creation's Obligation [M]
« on: May 14, 2019, 11:55:25 PM »
Ultron, if it really was Ultron, was speaking Tony's language.  Hell, he was saying everything that Tony had been thinking in the corner of his brain where he kept thoughts he wasn't ready to articulate yet.  Coming on the heels of Tony's vision, Ultron's speech was falling on very receptive ears -- but that didn't mean Tony abandoned his critical thinking skills altogether.  "I'm gonna give you some time to make your pitch," he said, moving his fingers away from the Eject button.  "But you better include a synopsis on how time travel is possible and why it was worth the risk." 

He noticed the power level recorded in his armor was more than it was capable of.  He might have started feeling jealous and insecure, but his ego told him that he was probably responsible for the advance -- he just hadn't done it yet.  "All right, let's go."

Thor, who had just evacuated Barton to the quinjet, came out the back of it in time to see a small red and gold rocket go up from the roof of Strucker's fortress and jet away.  "Stark!"  he yelled several times into the comm, and then spun Mjolnir to carry him aloft.


"What I did?"  Tony 2018 responded.  "I haven't even interacted with me!"  But Cap had turned his comm off.  Tony finished cutting through the door.  There was Strucker's treasure trove, including the skeletal Leviathan, but two things were missing: Iron Man, and the scepter.  Instead, there was a big hole in the roof....

Something about that struck Tony as wrong, but he wasn't paying sufficient attention to that part of his mind to realize what.  He rose through the roof himself hoping to spot Tony 2015, but instead saw Thor hurtling toward him.  "Oops..."


Pietro blurred and pulled the shield off Cap's back, although the magnets holding it there were stronger than he anticipated and he winced at the muscle strain he experienced as a result.  "Cool!" he said, and attempted to balance it, spinning on one finger.

He scowled at what the American had to say.  "Much as I'd love another chance to break Tony Stark's nose, we must be going."  He moved toward Wanda, intending to grab her, but he did it slowly enough to let her object.  "It must be a trick," he said to her. 

Fandom / All Infinity Stone Sales Are Final (M)
« on: May 14, 2019, 04:16:36 PM »
Although he refused Sam's help, Steve had asked Bucky if he wanted to go.  But his best friend, his eyes still haunted with pain beyond Steve's ability to imagine, and only a hint of the cocky young solider he had been once, declined.  "I don't want to take this version of me back to where it all started, Steve," he said.  "Those memories are the best part of me.  I don't want to ruin them."

So Steve had to say goodbye to him as well as everything else, but at least, he reasoned, he'd get a chance to save some other Bucky and give him the life Stateside that he should have had.  He knew returning the Infinity Stones would not be easy, but after everything they had been through already, he thought there were grounds for optimism.

Except for Tony and for Nat, of course.  Steve was ready for an ordinary life, with ordinary sorrows.  They would be just as heavy as the ones he felt already, but not to his conscience, at least.  So, carrying the case with the six Stones in one hand, Thor's hammer in the other, and his grief on his back where his broken shield should have been, he hit the button on his nanotech glove.  Disappeared from 2023 with the GPS set for 1970, in the woods of the training grounds of Camp Lehigh, NJ, a bare second after he and Tony had vanished.

Indeed, shooting back up to full size, he noticed the summer leaves were still swirling in the breeze that their disappearance had created.  If he'd been a minute sooner, he could have seen Tony again...

Don't go there, Cap.

He'd chosen to do the Stones in chronological order, as it seemed to conserve Pym particles to jump forward rather than back, and he wanted some margin for error.  He set the amazing nanotech suit Tony had designed to look like an army uniform again, but changed the nametag to read Capt. Wilson (since the base's MPs were looking out for a Captain Stevens now).  He was about to walk out into the open when he remembered Mjolnir.  It would look pretty weird to walk around Camp Lehigh with a Norse sledgehammer.  So he set inside the hollow stump of an old tree and kicked some leaves over it.  He didn't have to worry about anyone stealing it but might as well avoid attracting attention anyway.

Then a deep breath, a reminder to "fly casual," and he walked out and headed for the secret SHIELD HQ part of the base, briefcase in hand, once again looking like he knew where he was going.

« on: May 08, 2019, 11:31:45 PM »
Eddie explored for a bit, pleased to think that he could now get anywhere on the island unobserved, but the sewers rapidly became monotonous.  "Rats carry diseases that can make regular humans very sick.  Or at least the ones that live in the sewer do.  I suppose if we farmed rats and fed them healthy stuff, the meat would be okay."

Deadpool was clearly wanting to return to the surface.  "I'd like to get back to the mission," Eddie said.  "Every day Drake is still alive pisses me off.  We've got plenty enough cash to get to San Francisco now."  Practicing his new skills, he wrapped Deadpool up in a few tendrils, then shot a couple more up to a manhole cover above them, reeling them upward.  "You should get cleaned up, Wade, while we go get ourselves a ride."  Eddie was picturing a Harley.  "Where do you live?  We can pick you up there."

Once they were up under the manhole cover, he put Deadpool on the ladder below him and shoved the cover off.  "Pull in, V, we need to look human now."
Jude looked each man in the eye as they arrived, sizing them up and memorizing their faces.  Remaining comfortable on the bench, he flipped through the file, looking mainly for a home address and the names of the banks where Wilson had opened new accounts with Bullseye's money.  "What I really need to know is where to find the damn clown."

He frowned at what the thug had to say about the boy.  Jude didn't kill kids either, or put them in harm's way if he could help it.  However, if the kid was working for Fisk, he'd probably be in just as much danger if he didn't go on the mission.  "Got names, have you, gentlemen?"

Fandom / Re: Creation's Obligation [M]
« on: May 06, 2019, 12:12:05 AM »
Tony 2015 was getting too many shocks piling on each other.  Even his genius brain had to play catch-up. 

"...Ultron doesn't exist," he said, trying to inject a flat note into a strained voice.  He was well aware that a "yet" could be attached to that sentence too, but he saw no reason he should.

Ultron had the initiative, as Tony was too busy trying to process while the AI carried out the steps necessary for kidnapping him.  Who knew there was such an idea as Ultron?  Bruce, JARVIS, Pepper... whoever they might have mentioned it to, not a big list.

Though part of him was nodding in agreement with the AI's comments, he protested.  "I'd be a lot more inclined to believe you if you weren't hacking my armor and kidnapping me."  And taking the scepter... "We can have a  private conversation without that being necessary."

In the meantime, he was fingering a button inside his gauntlet.  Tony was a very thorough engineer.  He had prepared for the risk that somebody would hack his armor -- with him in it -- someday.  He had installed a hardware killswitch that would power down the suit and expel him.  But he wasn't prepared to use it yet.  Ultron had gotten his full attention and he wanted to know more.
Thor was shouting, Natasha was saying sensible things like, "Do what on your own?" Tony 2015 wasn't answering.

"No!" Tony 2018 told Cap.  "Something's wrong.  JARVIS isn't responding either."  He went to the secret door and shoved, but its mechanism had jammed -- possibly, Tony 2015 had jammed it?  Why?  Had Cap, knowing what Tony was about to do, said something that spooked him?  Given him the man-was-not-meant-to-meddle medley? 

He used an IR scan to locate the metal pins holding the door locked and started lasering through them as quickly as he could. 
Pietro's main character flaw was poor impulse control.  He was at the door in a flash, ready to punch the Avenger who stood there, and only held back at the last second -- fortunately for him, as a punch at full speed on vibranium would have shattered his hand. 

Instead, he looked back at Wanda.  "What do you want to do with crazy man?" 

Strucker had hated Captain America, naturally, but the mythology lingering in Eastern Europe -- even Sokovia -- was about a hero, and some of that cultural gestalt had filtered down to the twins, young as they were.  So Pietro found himself mainly curious -- at least, for as long they had time to be.

((OK.  BTW I send you a PM in the old VT because I can't convince this website I'm not a robot.)

Fandom / Re: Creation's Obligation [M]
« on: April 30, 2019, 11:59:43 PM »
Tony (2015) was still suffering the shock of his vision, and at this point, he didn't even know where it had come from.  His heart raced, his breathing came fast and shallow, and all that he knew was that he had to stop what he had seen from becoming a reality, and that he would take any means necessary to do it.  When he grabbed the scepter, he was not thinking about Project Ultron, because he didn't yet know what the scepter really was, but he was certainly thinking that anything that expanded his understanding of the enemy and gave him power to defeat it was a good thing.

The arrival of his armor, which he'd left on sentry, startled him, however.  "JARIVS, what --?"  The armor moved with him in it, turning his hand.  "JARVIS, stand down." 

"Hello, Father," said a deep, rather musical voice  "We need to talk."

Tony froze slightly, his mind scrambling to understand in the absence of sufficient data.  "Oh, yeah?" he said.  "And who is this?"  He scanned his readouts and saw that his signals were being jammed -- neither JARVIS nor the team could hear him.  His first assumption was HYDRA, although the idea they had someone who could hack his suit was almost ludicrous.  "I don't have any kids... who could do this."
Tony (2018) had made good use of his time and of Tony (2015)'s credit.  He was cleaned up, shaved, and decently dressed under his armor.  He had even gotten into his lab (after the Avengers left) to make himself some nanotech food so that his nanytes were back up to full strength and numbers (the battle on Titan having depleted them quite a bit). 

He knew to the minute when his younger self would find the scepter, so activating stealth mode, he flew to Sokovia.  He was listening to the Avengers' comm chatter and had the fortress on visual about the time Cap was getting knocked down the stairs.  He heard Steve say, "We have a second enhanced.  Female.  Do not engage," and then, "Guys, I got Strucker."

"I got something bigger," Tony (2018) murmured.

"Yeah, I got something.... bigger," Tony (2015) said.  "Thor, I got eyes on the prize."

Tony (2018) flew around to the entrance that he'd used before, where the HYDRA thugs he'd disabled were now either unconscious or had run away.  JARIVS already knew not to give him away, so it would be safe enough.  He opened a channel that the Avengers weren't using so that he could talk to Cap.  "Have you contacted her yet?"

He landed in the dim-lit fortress and took a few steps forward, and froze for a second, seeing the complete absence of an Iron Man suit in the computer room where he'd left the thumb drive uploading HYDRA files.  "JARVIS, where are you?" 
It was very clear that, despite the twins' efforts, Strucker's forces had lost.  They encountered none of his men who weren't unconscious or too injured to run away.  Strucker himself had been captured.  The Avengers' foreign clean-up crew were coming into the fortress. 

Pietro put Wanda down in their quarters so that they could grab their small collection of money and possessions before fleeing.  "It is all very well to say that Stark's fear will destroy him.  I would still have liked to break his nose at least.  Where do we go now?"

((You're good at Wanda.  :)  ))

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