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Issue #1 by Dan Dolan
"Some Assembly Required - Part One" October 20017 |
The Hideout, New York City
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” The words were etched into the wall behind where Josiah Bradley stood and before now he had never read them with sense of irony in mind.
Josiah had been a troubled kid who lashed out against those who had tried to teach him and now… here he was with a group of super powered teenagers, of whom he was solely responsible for. Karma, karma was a good a word as irony, the muscular man decided.
When the so-called “Young Avengers” regrouped, as they had agreed to do after their grand parting of the ways, it was without their former mentor Scott Lang and his daughter; the Langs having decided that they preferred civilian life and so Captain America had tapped Josiah to replace him as their “token adult”.
Wearing his more informal variation of Captain America’s costume, Josiah stood before the motley crew: His nephew Eli foremost among them, beaming impossibly, Kate Bishop, Billy Kaplan, Teddy Altman and Michael Corson, in full armor.
Another former member, like Stature, who hadn’t shown for the big reunion was William Bryon AKA the titular Young Avenger himself. According to the one brief message they received from him, he was “chasing shadows”.
But thankfully they had already gained two new members to replace them and hope was high more would follow.
One of Josiah’s jobs had been to recoup the files from the so-called “Superhuman Deployment Division” the fictitious government agency masterminded by the Norse trickster Narfi. Specifically those regarding the “legacies” of the Avengers. Young men and women chosen as the potential replacements for Avengers past and present.
Standing next to where Michael AKA Iron Manacle hovered was one of these: her name was Riri Williams, a prodigy who made it to MIT at 15, was chosen as a potential stand in for Iron Man himself.
Out of all the other legacies that had been contacted only two others had so far had decided to pursue training and a potential future in super-heroics.
One of these was arriving this very day, hence the meeting, the other had been less committal but Josiah was optimistic.
“Our newest member will be arriving shortly.” Josiah said as he began to pace, “let’s bear in mind two things: she may technically be royalty but my friend Kasper Cole has told me that she does not wish to be treated any differently than any other kid your age. That being said, any form of conflict or slight could ignite an international incident. So let’s play this very carefully folks.”
“That was so helpful.” Kate deadpanned, to which Josiah shot her a stern look: which admittedly was far more effective than any facsimile thereof that Scott Lang could conjure, suitably silencing the archer.
“Yeah act casual everybody.” Eli swanned, a smug smile on his face.
“Eli I’m talking to everybody.” Josiah said, turning his fierce eyes on his nephew.
“Yeah slow down there Dwight Schrute.” Teddy laughed, Kate and Michael following suit.
Josiah was about to turn on the drill sergeant act again when his companion, for lack of a better word, former nun Sister Irenia entered the room. The elderly woman smiling at Josiah as she waved for his attention.
“Is she here?” The younger man asked, motioning for her to bring their guest in when she nodded in the affirmative.
All eyes in the room turned towards the entrance, in a very poor showing of “acting casual”, as Sister Irenia reentered behind an athletic young African-American woman, her hair up, wearing a mix of tribal clothes and more modern wear (all in either black or shades of green) with boots that would immediately remind anyone familiar of Black Panther’s.
“May I present,” Josiah spoke from the front of the room, “Chanté Davin also known as Queen Divine Justice.”
An awkward chorus of greeting erupted from the group, dwindling as an over exuberant Patriot surged forward hand outstretched.
“Eli!” Josiah snapped.
“No it’s fine.” Chanté smiled amusedly shaking the boy’s hand.
Eli seemed to read the room and removed his hand after an uncomfortable shake and stepped back.
“Sorry I’m just excited. Not only are we back, but now my uncle’s here and as much as I love these guys it’s nice to not be the only black person on the team anymore.” Eli laughed awkwardly, “I mean it only figures, like a horror movie, it was Black Panther’s original legacy candidate that died first last time.”
“Eli…” Josiah groaned.
“Oh I’m sorry… did you know Red Tigress?” Patriot stuttered.
“In a manner of speaking. You see, you had it a bit wrong before… she wasn’t his original Legacy: I was. Unlike the rest of you Black Panther got to choose his Legacy, he asked me first… I turned him down. So you can say it wasn’t a racist horror movie trope that killed Red Tigress… it was me.” Her tone had gone from amused to serious very quickly and the look on her face had made a similar, grim, journey.
“Oh. I… sorry.” Eli said stepping back further, into the group, looking abashed.
“So… welcome.” Michael chirped hesitantly.
///
Josiah decided to have an impromptu training session to “welcome” their newest teammate. All in all, Josiah had proven to be far more combat focused than their last mentor. Which sounds negative when said aloud but in all actuality was what they needed most. Not boasting the holograms or high tech robots that the training rooms of other super teams did, theirs instead was mostly a mostly empty fortified room with only some training batons strewn about and built in padding. For now, they were each other’s “battle bots”.
Josiah assigned each of them someone of similar power levels with which to face off: Kate vs Riri, Michael vs Teddy, Eli vs Chanté (much to the former’s displeasure) and despite the seemingly obvious power difference Josiah took on Billy; deeming his powers too dangerous for the others.
“Aaaaand… GO!” Josiah shouted hoisting his shield as Wiccan let lose a lightning bolt, a smirk on his face.
Riri and Kate were all giggles, no real heat in their by play as Kate lobbed arrows at Riri’s flying gadgets that the younger girl controlled with an earpiece of her own design.
Michael took to the air aiming a non-lethal repulsor ray in the “token skrull”’s direction. Teddy shifting into a scaly form with hard armor-like skin plates to ward them off.
Out of all of them Eli fought the most aggressively, in his head he told himself he was trying to prove something to his uncle but the sting of his faux pas with Chanté hadn’t quite worn off either. He lunged at the girl only for her to nimbly outmaneuver him and, using her vibranium boots, get up and over using his momentum against him.
“Come on Billy. You’re holding back… I can tell.” Josiah whooped as kicked off the wall with his feet, dodging another bolt of mystic energy easily, picking up a baton as he did so and hurling it towards the young mage’s legs, successfully knocking him to his knees.
Kate and Riri’s “fight” had devolved into more of a training session. Riri following Kate’s moves, with the other girl encouraging her.
Teddy was momentarily distracted, overly distracted some noticed, by Billy getting knocked down that he took a repulsor blast right on the chin knocking him into Patriot, who had been just about to land his first major blow on Queen Divine Justice.
“What the…” The blue garbed young man shouted as both he and the Skrull flew into the closest wall.
“Eli… I am so sorry!” Teddy said as he helped the other boy up.
“Dude! I was so close!” Eli said shoving the currently green boy aside with all of his enhanced strength.
“Patriot relax it’s just a sparring session.” Chanté scoffed, stepping between the two as a shoving match threatened to form.
“To you maybe!” Eli snapped back.
Any reply Chanté or Teddy may have had was caught off by the sound of thunder. An already threatening sound that only became more so when taking into account that they were indoors, in a reinforced windowless room.
All three of them turned toward the source of the sound: Billy.
The warlock has a terrifying grimace on his face, an odd lighting effect emanating out from him: creating a chilling air in the corner of the room where he stood, his lightning bolt effect having grown to a full blown storm overhead. Most frightening of all his arms had transformed into unnerving pitch-black branch-like appendages, one of which held Josiah in a violent grip against the ceiling.
“Is this normal?” Chanté asked looking to the others.
“Not by a long shot.” Eli gasped.
“Billy! NO!” Teddy shouted, his eyes tearing up as he raced towards them only for a stray lightning bolt to erupt from the darkness above and send him flying backwards. The others watched nigh-helplessly as the green skinned shapeshifter fell to the floor, motionless.
Michael took to the air only for Riri to grab his ankle.
“You are literally covered in metal do you think getting close to that is wise?”
“But if I can knock him out with a shockwave…” Michael held up a hand as it began to morph but he soon locked eyes with Billy across the room and it was like all the fight went out of him.
He didn’t understand: he knew Billy, he liked Billy but somehow without changing at all, everything about him seemed different. His bloodshot eyes seemed to have some kind of darkness crawling behind them.
“Do you see…” Michael stuttered, his vision going hazy.
“Yeah.” Riri said sadly, “But we’ve got to--“ Her voice was going in an out, sounding like a loose connection over the phone, Michael strained to hear her but all he could think about was what a failure he was. How he was going to let the group down. Suddenly the intense image of his broken, crippled legs came to him which was quickly followed by a crystal clear “vision” of him crawling on the ground towards his teammates’ fallen bodies.
She seemed to catch on that he wasn’t understanding her and began pointing to his arm which was still caught mid-morph, seemingly as unsettled as his mind. He tried to focus all his will on forming a weapon but suddenly he couldn’t remember what his plan had been.
Riri, Chanté, Kate and Eli were all looking at him.
It was Riri who broke away first, she quickly but softly touched his armored cheek in a comforting gesture and then dashed towards Kate. Through the haze, and the thunder he could still hear rolling in he saw her break apart one her little floating gadgets and rewire some of the hardware onto one of Kate’s trick arrows.
Her self-assured face was the last thing he saw before he fully blacked out.
///
A few hours later after everyone had calmed down a bit. Josiah had asked everyone to stay until they could assess what happened and make sure team morale was not affected. They had been encouraged to talk to each other but Billy was still pretty overcome and excused himself momentarily. Teddy left him alone for a while but had remained stoic when approached by the others, refusing to answer questions about Billy’s state of mind or whether anything like this had happened before and soon Teddy also fled the room.
“What happened!?” The blond boy gasped as he raced into the hallway to find Billy; slumped against the wall, leaning on his knees.
“I don’t know…” The young warlock cried, “One second he said I was holding back and of course I was because I didn’t want something like THAT to happen, so I tried to let go just a little and it all… got away from me.”
“Billy… maybe we should tell them…” Teddy started, the words dying in his throat.
“No! No…” The magician rasped, trying to calm himself, “I know… you’re only trying to help. But I feel a little better now. Thank you.”
“They’re just dreams Billy.” Teddy said suddenly and from the look on his face, he regretted it.
“How can you say that?” Billy snapped jumping to his feet, his whole visage shifting in rage, “ESPECIALLY after what just happened.” He seethed, “Every night I dream about… I change into something else… about blood and death… all because of me.”
Billy’s vision went black with anger, images from his dreams coming back to him. His hands shifting into monstrous shapes and the same thing he always finds himself saying “My hands are not my own.”
As he struggled to verbalize what was going in his head, he felt the same prickling sensation of his “magic” activating against his will. He looked up into his boyfriend’s dumbfounded face and his mind went blank.
“But…” Teddy gaped.
“Don’t tell me they’re just dreams.” Billy breathed, “Do I need to remind you that I have no idea where MY powers come from? For all I know these “dreams” are a clue, the ONLY clue I have and it is most definitely not a good sign. I have no idea what this means about me, where my power comes from, about what I am. You know what you are! I helped you with it every step of the way… could you try and be there for me?”
Teddy looked like he might cry.
“I’m sorry.” Billy, said immediately deflating, he threw his arms around Teddy’s neck and buried his face in the taller boy’s shoulder. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“It’s okay… that’s why we came back right? So they can help…” Teddy proffered sullenly.
“And if they can’t? What then? If they look at me the way they did back there… like a monster.”
“Don’t think like that.” Teddy said definitively, “Everything’s going to fine.”
Billy looked at the other boy and suddenly never seemed so sure that things weren’t going to get better, the dread and fear creeping back in the more positive Teddy became.
“Can I be alone? Just for a bit.” Billy asked as gently as he could, Teddy’s face dropping regardless, “I’ll be back in in a minute.” He added with the closest thing to a smile he could muster.
///
Michael rubbed his eyes furiously, he felt like he had been weeping for days: his eyes sore and aching. The others, to his surprise, seemed to be equally affected.
“This is going to sound weird…” Michael hesitated to continue, “Did you all see things too?”
“Oh yeah.” Chanté nodded.
“Yes.” Riri said in the affirmative as she kneaded Kate’s temples, who raised a thumbs up in response.
“Eli?” Michael turned to the other boy who rolled his eyes but gave a brief nod before stepping away from the group. Michael gave the girls a weak smile before following him.
“Everything okay man?” He asked hovering closer to his friend, placing his helmet down nearby.
“She didn’t have to take it so personally.” Eli said somewhat bitterly and mostly to himself.
“What?” Michael asked patiently.
“That bad first impression I made must have really stung, I mean that’s what that was about.” Eli spat, gesturing to the training room on that word ‘that’.
“Where not talking about what happened with Billy anymore are we?”
“You saw the way she totally went in for the kill, just to rub it in during our “sparring” session! And then… well you were out of it but you should have heard how she talked to me during that. Mocking my lack of leadership skills, how I was unable to help my own uncle.”
“Dude. I don’t think she ACTUALLY said any of that. Same with the strange things I saw… or didn’t see as it were. We all saw, or in your case heard: our doubts, fears and everything we hate about ourselves.” Realization dawned on Michael, “That must have been what Billy was feeling during it. Don’t you see we really were all in that together: you don’t need to be embarrassed.” Michael said resting his armored hand on Patriot’s shoulder.
“I’m not embarrassed!” Eli snapped back in a way that made it very clear he was.
“No you really don’t, you don’t understand. I get what you’re going through.” Michael sighed, casting a wayward nod in Riri’s direction.
“What did she make a fool of you too?” Eli said, tone still tense but less defensive.
“No, not exactly but I get it. She showed you up,” The armored young man waved vaguely at Queen Divine Justice, “And Riri…”
“What?”
“She’s the real deal.” Iron Manacle sighed, “Me? I was supposed to Swordsman’s legacy, with maybe Stingray as a safety so to say, then I was crippled and lucked into this…” He motioned over his metallic carapace, “She’s supposed to be…”
“Dude no.”
“It’s okay.” Michael sighed again.
“No really, you should talk to my uncle, talk to Stingray, talk to somebody better at this than me but really. You deserve to be here.”
“So do you Eli.” Michael smiled, “God. We gotta stop beating ourselves up. Go talk to her, apologize. We’re a team.” Michael said with a sudden gusto before walking off with purpose.
///
“I hope Billy didn’t scare you off back there.” Kate laughed awkwardly to Chanté as they flanked Riri who sat at the monitor bank.
“Trust me I’ve run into worse.” The royal girl laughed but subtly dabbed at her own sore eyes regardless, “Your Cadet America for one.”
“Who Eli?” Riri smiled.
“Yeah, what’s his problem?”
“He’s not that bad. Just excited. TOO excited maybe but alas.” Riri smiled, “Our first time around there were a few other driving forces at play but this time his family’s legacy is front and center. His uncle is our “scout leader” and his grandfather is here in proverbial spirit in so many ways.” The young genius gestured to a framed photograph of the “black Captain America” Isiah Bradley in action that hung nearby.
“So I heard.” Chanté murmured looking up at the picture with awe, “Speaking of legacies, if we may, I heard there was another new “Legacy” joining us soon?”
“Well hopefully.” Riri said looking to Kate.
“I doubt it. I met the kid. Victor Mancha his name was, didn’t catch whose Legacy he was supposed to be, and he seemed VERY non-committal. Kind of a slacker type would be my guess, if I were to use Clueless terms…”
The girls laughed again but were interrupted by Michael clearing his throat behind them.
“Hey, I was hoping to talk to Riri alone for a moment?” Michael smiled. All three young woman looked at each other for a split second, thrown off by the oddly formal request, then Riri nodded subtly and the two other girls smiled and walked off.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Riri smiled bemusedly.
“I wanted to say something. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to come out right but it’s been rolling around in my head for days, weeks really and I just need to say it.”
“Okay.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to make an armor of your own.” Michael blurted out, “I mean, I’ve seen you with your gadgets and gizmos and I can tell… You’re holding back. You were MEANT to be Iron Man’s legacy not me. This thing fell into my lap. It does all the work, it’s not like I’m a genius or anything.”
“Michael…”
“No wait, just let me finish. I used to be the one sitting here at the monitor bank, I remember how wasted I felt, how pointless. You have a hundred times the talent I ever did, if any of us deserves to be benched: it’s me. I talked to Eli about what he was feeling and I didn’t like the thought of holding someone else’s talent against them. I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to feel that.” Michael leaned against the monitor bank, “Like back there. You improvised a sonic device to take Billy down harmlessly when I… blanked.”
“Michael Billy’s “episode” affected all of us.”
“Then how come you were still able to focus? You were still able to do the “tech thing” because that’s you. Not me.”
“Okay yeah, in a maelstrom I call still pull off a MacGyver now and then. But guess what? Did you ever think that you were more affected because you care more?” Riri stood and took Michael’s armored hand in hers, “Yeah I got a brain cell or two to rub together but do you know what I would give to have your heart? You “get” people. You know what they need. It sounds cliché but you are the beating heart of this team. Michael for God’s sake you’re the reason we’re all here. You pushed for us to get back together, you keep us together.”
///
Josiah sat away from the children, feeling his neck, the phantom feeling of the sorcerous branches still lingered there.
“Are you okay Josiah?” Irenia asked softly as she handed him a glass of water.
“Yeah. Of course. I’m okay. Always. But are they?” He stood up and surveyed the “team”, or lack thereof he feared.
“That’s your job to figure out.” She had a wink in her voice.
“Yeah but I’m not sure I even know where to start?” Josiah sighed.
“Think back.” Hummed the older woman, “Use your own story as a mirror. There’s a lot of parallels as I’m sure you’re aware. You know where life got it right and where it could use a bit of help along the way.”
“I certainly do.”
///
The thunder may not be ringing throughout the Hideout anymore but it was there in Billy’s mind. The others nursed their sore eyes but out in the hall alone, Billy was still weeping.
He kept replaying the scene in the Hideout in his mind. The voice in the back of his mind told him to go and join the others, that beating himself up was only making it worse but he couldn’t bring himself to look them in the eyes.
“My hands are not my own.” He repeated again, staring at his hands.
That prickling sensation of his magic kicking in came on, crawling up the back of his neck like a frost.
“Billy?” Michael’s voice took the warlock by surprise and he whipped around to see him floating behind him, “I don’t mean to bother you.” He smiled, warmly, he was really trying, “I wanted to know if you wanted to talk.”
Billy tried to compose himself, his brows furrowed.
“Michael, I’m sorry about before but…”
“No it’s okay, that’s part of why I came out here.” He came closer and despite the best intentions that were practically visibly radiating off of him, it felt intrusive almost, “I was recently reminded what I bring to the table.” He said with a small laugh, “And I didn’t want you beating yourself up. I know how that feels.”
At this Billy broke.
“You have no idea what I’m feeling.” Billy hissed stepping closer, “You couldn’t even begin to guess the darkness I’ve been battling. Did you have a little pity party back there? Oh boo hoo.” He mocked.
Michael began to get the feeling he’d made a mistake by approaching Billy and tried to back up a bit and give him some room but he couldn’t move. An invisible force seemed to hold him where he was.
“Billy…?”
Billy saw Michael’s eyes wander downwards, and he looked down to see his hands changing again but this time monstrous faces could be seen underneath his skin.
“I wish I was. I wish I was Billy but I think… I really am starting to think that I am not.”
The lightning he used to so often and so easily began to arc off of him.
“Billy stop, just think.”
“Stop telling me what to do!” Billy snapped and before even he realized what was happening a bolt of electricity flew from him right into the chestplate of Michael’s armor. The grimace of fear froze on the other boy’s face as he shook from the energy. Billy, for his part, seemed to sober as he watched his friend in pain but he was helplessly frozen in place himself, by shock rather than magic.
Michael gasped one last time and then fell to the ground, his armor still beeping but the boy inside: lifeless.
Michael was dead.
TO BE CONTINUED…
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” The words were etched into the wall behind where Josiah Bradley stood and before now he had never read them with sense of irony in mind.
Josiah had been a troubled kid who lashed out against those who had tried to teach him and now… here he was with a group of super powered teenagers, of whom he was solely responsible for. Karma, karma was a good a word as irony, the muscular man decided.
When the so-called “Young Avengers” regrouped, as they had agreed to do after their grand parting of the ways, it was without their former mentor Scott Lang and his daughter; the Langs having decided that they preferred civilian life and so Captain America had tapped Josiah to replace him as their “token adult”.
Wearing his more informal variation of Captain America’s costume, Josiah stood before the motley crew: His nephew Eli foremost among them, beaming impossibly, Kate Bishop, Billy Kaplan, Teddy Altman and Michael Corson, in full armor.
Another former member, like Stature, who hadn’t shown for the big reunion was William Bryon AKA the titular Young Avenger himself. According to the one brief message they received from him, he was “chasing shadows”.
But thankfully they had already gained two new members to replace them and hope was high more would follow.
One of Josiah’s jobs had been to recoup the files from the so-called “Superhuman Deployment Division” the fictitious government agency masterminded by the Norse trickster Narfi. Specifically those regarding the “legacies” of the Avengers. Young men and women chosen as the potential replacements for Avengers past and present.
Standing next to where Michael AKA Iron Manacle hovered was one of these: her name was Riri Williams, a prodigy who made it to MIT at 15, was chosen as a potential stand in for Iron Man himself.
Out of all the other legacies that had been contacted only two others had so far had decided to pursue training and a potential future in super-heroics.
One of these was arriving this very day, hence the meeting, the other had been less committal but Josiah was optimistic.
“Our newest member will be arriving shortly.” Josiah said as he began to pace, “let’s bear in mind two things: she may technically be royalty but my friend Kasper Cole has told me that she does not wish to be treated any differently than any other kid your age. That being said, any form of conflict or slight could ignite an international incident. So let’s play this very carefully folks.”
“That was so helpful.” Kate deadpanned, to which Josiah shot her a stern look: which admittedly was far more effective than any facsimile thereof that Scott Lang could conjure, suitably silencing the archer.
“Yeah act casual everybody.” Eli swanned, a smug smile on his face.
“Eli I’m talking to everybody.” Josiah said, turning his fierce eyes on his nephew.
“Yeah slow down there Dwight Schrute.” Teddy laughed, Kate and Michael following suit.
Josiah was about to turn on the drill sergeant act again when his companion, for lack of a better word, former nun Sister Irenia entered the room. The elderly woman smiling at Josiah as she waved for his attention.
“Is she here?” The younger man asked, motioning for her to bring their guest in when she nodded in the affirmative.
All eyes in the room turned towards the entrance, in a very poor showing of “acting casual”, as Sister Irenia reentered behind an athletic young African-American woman, her hair up, wearing a mix of tribal clothes and more modern wear (all in either black or shades of green) with boots that would immediately remind anyone familiar of Black Panther’s.
“May I present,” Josiah spoke from the front of the room, “Chanté Davin also known as Queen Divine Justice.”
An awkward chorus of greeting erupted from the group, dwindling as an over exuberant Patriot surged forward hand outstretched.
“Eli!” Josiah snapped.
“No it’s fine.” Chanté smiled amusedly shaking the boy’s hand.
Eli seemed to read the room and removed his hand after an uncomfortable shake and stepped back.
“Sorry I’m just excited. Not only are we back, but now my uncle’s here and as much as I love these guys it’s nice to not be the only black person on the team anymore.” Eli laughed awkwardly, “I mean it only figures, like a horror movie, it was Black Panther’s original legacy candidate that died first last time.”
“Eli…” Josiah groaned.
“Oh I’m sorry… did you know Red Tigress?” Patriot stuttered.
“In a manner of speaking. You see, you had it a bit wrong before… she wasn’t his original Legacy: I was. Unlike the rest of you Black Panther got to choose his Legacy, he asked me first… I turned him down. So you can say it wasn’t a racist horror movie trope that killed Red Tigress… it was me.” Her tone had gone from amused to serious very quickly and the look on her face had made a similar, grim, journey.
“Oh. I… sorry.” Eli said stepping back further, into the group, looking abashed.
“So… welcome.” Michael chirped hesitantly.
///
Josiah decided to have an impromptu training session to “welcome” their newest teammate. All in all, Josiah had proven to be far more combat focused than their last mentor. Which sounds negative when said aloud but in all actuality was what they needed most. Not boasting the holograms or high tech robots that the training rooms of other super teams did, theirs instead was mostly a mostly empty fortified room with only some training batons strewn about and built in padding. For now, they were each other’s “battle bots”.
Josiah assigned each of them someone of similar power levels with which to face off: Kate vs Riri, Michael vs Teddy, Eli vs Chanté (much to the former’s displeasure) and despite the seemingly obvious power difference Josiah took on Billy; deeming his powers too dangerous for the others.
“Aaaaand… GO!” Josiah shouted hoisting his shield as Wiccan let lose a lightning bolt, a smirk on his face.
Riri and Kate were all giggles, no real heat in their by play as Kate lobbed arrows at Riri’s flying gadgets that the younger girl controlled with an earpiece of her own design.
Michael took to the air aiming a non-lethal repulsor ray in the “token skrull”’s direction. Teddy shifting into a scaly form with hard armor-like skin plates to ward them off.
Out of all of them Eli fought the most aggressively, in his head he told himself he was trying to prove something to his uncle but the sting of his faux pas with Chanté hadn’t quite worn off either. He lunged at the girl only for her to nimbly outmaneuver him and, using her vibranium boots, get up and over using his momentum against him.
“Come on Billy. You’re holding back… I can tell.” Josiah whooped as kicked off the wall with his feet, dodging another bolt of mystic energy easily, picking up a baton as he did so and hurling it towards the young mage’s legs, successfully knocking him to his knees.
Kate and Riri’s “fight” had devolved into more of a training session. Riri following Kate’s moves, with the other girl encouraging her.
Teddy was momentarily distracted, overly distracted some noticed, by Billy getting knocked down that he took a repulsor blast right on the chin knocking him into Patriot, who had been just about to land his first major blow on Queen Divine Justice.
“What the…” The blue garbed young man shouted as both he and the Skrull flew into the closest wall.
“Eli… I am so sorry!” Teddy said as he helped the other boy up.
“Dude! I was so close!” Eli said shoving the currently green boy aside with all of his enhanced strength.
“Patriot relax it’s just a sparring session.” Chanté scoffed, stepping between the two as a shoving match threatened to form.
“To you maybe!” Eli snapped back.
Any reply Chanté or Teddy may have had was caught off by the sound of thunder. An already threatening sound that only became more so when taking into account that they were indoors, in a reinforced windowless room.
All three of them turned toward the source of the sound: Billy.
The warlock has a terrifying grimace on his face, an odd lighting effect emanating out from him: creating a chilling air in the corner of the room where he stood, his lightning bolt effect having grown to a full blown storm overhead. Most frightening of all his arms had transformed into unnerving pitch-black branch-like appendages, one of which held Josiah in a violent grip against the ceiling.
“Is this normal?” Chanté asked looking to the others.
“Not by a long shot.” Eli gasped.
“Billy! NO!” Teddy shouted, his eyes tearing up as he raced towards them only for a stray lightning bolt to erupt from the darkness above and send him flying backwards. The others watched nigh-helplessly as the green skinned shapeshifter fell to the floor, motionless.
Michael took to the air only for Riri to grab his ankle.
“You are literally covered in metal do you think getting close to that is wise?”
“But if I can knock him out with a shockwave…” Michael held up a hand as it began to morph but he soon locked eyes with Billy across the room and it was like all the fight went out of him.
He didn’t understand: he knew Billy, he liked Billy but somehow without changing at all, everything about him seemed different. His bloodshot eyes seemed to have some kind of darkness crawling behind them.
“Do you see…” Michael stuttered, his vision going hazy.
“Yeah.” Riri said sadly, “But we’ve got to--“ Her voice was going in an out, sounding like a loose connection over the phone, Michael strained to hear her but all he could think about was what a failure he was. How he was going to let the group down. Suddenly the intense image of his broken, crippled legs came to him which was quickly followed by a crystal clear “vision” of him crawling on the ground towards his teammates’ fallen bodies.
She seemed to catch on that he wasn’t understanding her and began pointing to his arm which was still caught mid-morph, seemingly as unsettled as his mind. He tried to focus all his will on forming a weapon but suddenly he couldn’t remember what his plan had been.
Riri, Chanté, Kate and Eli were all looking at him.
It was Riri who broke away first, she quickly but softly touched his armored cheek in a comforting gesture and then dashed towards Kate. Through the haze, and the thunder he could still hear rolling in he saw her break apart one her little floating gadgets and rewire some of the hardware onto one of Kate’s trick arrows.
Her self-assured face was the last thing he saw before he fully blacked out.
///
A few hours later after everyone had calmed down a bit. Josiah had asked everyone to stay until they could assess what happened and make sure team morale was not affected. They had been encouraged to talk to each other but Billy was still pretty overcome and excused himself momentarily. Teddy left him alone for a while but had remained stoic when approached by the others, refusing to answer questions about Billy’s state of mind or whether anything like this had happened before and soon Teddy also fled the room.
“What happened!?” The blond boy gasped as he raced into the hallway to find Billy; slumped against the wall, leaning on his knees.
“I don’t know…” The young warlock cried, “One second he said I was holding back and of course I was because I didn’t want something like THAT to happen, so I tried to let go just a little and it all… got away from me.”
“Billy… maybe we should tell them…” Teddy started, the words dying in his throat.
“No! No…” The magician rasped, trying to calm himself, “I know… you’re only trying to help. But I feel a little better now. Thank you.”
“They’re just dreams Billy.” Teddy said suddenly and from the look on his face, he regretted it.
“How can you say that?” Billy snapped jumping to his feet, his whole visage shifting in rage, “ESPECIALLY after what just happened.” He seethed, “Every night I dream about… I change into something else… about blood and death… all because of me.”
Billy’s vision went black with anger, images from his dreams coming back to him. His hands shifting into monstrous shapes and the same thing he always finds himself saying “My hands are not my own.”
As he struggled to verbalize what was going in his head, he felt the same prickling sensation of his “magic” activating against his will. He looked up into his boyfriend’s dumbfounded face and his mind went blank.
“But…” Teddy gaped.
“Don’t tell me they’re just dreams.” Billy breathed, “Do I need to remind you that I have no idea where MY powers come from? For all I know these “dreams” are a clue, the ONLY clue I have and it is most definitely not a good sign. I have no idea what this means about me, where my power comes from, about what I am. You know what you are! I helped you with it every step of the way… could you try and be there for me?”
Teddy looked like he might cry.
“I’m sorry.” Billy, said immediately deflating, he threw his arms around Teddy’s neck and buried his face in the taller boy’s shoulder. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“It’s okay… that’s why we came back right? So they can help…” Teddy proffered sullenly.
“And if they can’t? What then? If they look at me the way they did back there… like a monster.”
“Don’t think like that.” Teddy said definitively, “Everything’s going to fine.”
Billy looked at the other boy and suddenly never seemed so sure that things weren’t going to get better, the dread and fear creeping back in the more positive Teddy became.
“Can I be alone? Just for a bit.” Billy asked as gently as he could, Teddy’s face dropping regardless, “I’ll be back in in a minute.” He added with the closest thing to a smile he could muster.
///
Michael rubbed his eyes furiously, he felt like he had been weeping for days: his eyes sore and aching. The others, to his surprise, seemed to be equally affected.
“This is going to sound weird…” Michael hesitated to continue, “Did you all see things too?”
“Oh yeah.” Chanté nodded.
“Yes.” Riri said in the affirmative as she kneaded Kate’s temples, who raised a thumbs up in response.
“Eli?” Michael turned to the other boy who rolled his eyes but gave a brief nod before stepping away from the group. Michael gave the girls a weak smile before following him.
“Everything okay man?” He asked hovering closer to his friend, placing his helmet down nearby.
“She didn’t have to take it so personally.” Eli said somewhat bitterly and mostly to himself.
“What?” Michael asked patiently.
“That bad first impression I made must have really stung, I mean that’s what that was about.” Eli spat, gesturing to the training room on that word ‘that’.
“Where not talking about what happened with Billy anymore are we?”
“You saw the way she totally went in for the kill, just to rub it in during our “sparring” session! And then… well you were out of it but you should have heard how she talked to me during that. Mocking my lack of leadership skills, how I was unable to help my own uncle.”
“Dude. I don’t think she ACTUALLY said any of that. Same with the strange things I saw… or didn’t see as it were. We all saw, or in your case heard: our doubts, fears and everything we hate about ourselves.” Realization dawned on Michael, “That must have been what Billy was feeling during it. Don’t you see we really were all in that together: you don’t need to be embarrassed.” Michael said resting his armored hand on Patriot’s shoulder.
“I’m not embarrassed!” Eli snapped back in a way that made it very clear he was.
“No you really don’t, you don’t understand. I get what you’re going through.” Michael sighed, casting a wayward nod in Riri’s direction.
“What did she make a fool of you too?” Eli said, tone still tense but less defensive.
“No, not exactly but I get it. She showed you up,” The armored young man waved vaguely at Queen Divine Justice, “And Riri…”
“What?”
“She’s the real deal.” Iron Manacle sighed, “Me? I was supposed to Swordsman’s legacy, with maybe Stingray as a safety so to say, then I was crippled and lucked into this…” He motioned over his metallic carapace, “She’s supposed to be…”
“Dude no.”
“It’s okay.” Michael sighed again.
“No really, you should talk to my uncle, talk to Stingray, talk to somebody better at this than me but really. You deserve to be here.”
“So do you Eli.” Michael smiled, “God. We gotta stop beating ourselves up. Go talk to her, apologize. We’re a team.” Michael said with a sudden gusto before walking off with purpose.
///
“I hope Billy didn’t scare you off back there.” Kate laughed awkwardly to Chanté as they flanked Riri who sat at the monitor bank.
“Trust me I’ve run into worse.” The royal girl laughed but subtly dabbed at her own sore eyes regardless, “Your Cadet America for one.”
“Who Eli?” Riri smiled.
“Yeah, what’s his problem?”
“He’s not that bad. Just excited. TOO excited maybe but alas.” Riri smiled, “Our first time around there were a few other driving forces at play but this time his family’s legacy is front and center. His uncle is our “scout leader” and his grandfather is here in proverbial spirit in so many ways.” The young genius gestured to a framed photograph of the “black Captain America” Isiah Bradley in action that hung nearby.
“So I heard.” Chanté murmured looking up at the picture with awe, “Speaking of legacies, if we may, I heard there was another new “Legacy” joining us soon?”
“Well hopefully.” Riri said looking to Kate.
“I doubt it. I met the kid. Victor Mancha his name was, didn’t catch whose Legacy he was supposed to be, and he seemed VERY non-committal. Kind of a slacker type would be my guess, if I were to use Clueless terms…”
The girls laughed again but were interrupted by Michael clearing his throat behind them.
“Hey, I was hoping to talk to Riri alone for a moment?” Michael smiled. All three young woman looked at each other for a split second, thrown off by the oddly formal request, then Riri nodded subtly and the two other girls smiled and walked off.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Riri smiled bemusedly.
“I wanted to say something. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to come out right but it’s been rolling around in my head for days, weeks really and I just need to say it.”
“Okay.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to make an armor of your own.” Michael blurted out, “I mean, I’ve seen you with your gadgets and gizmos and I can tell… You’re holding back. You were MEANT to be Iron Man’s legacy not me. This thing fell into my lap. It does all the work, it’s not like I’m a genius or anything.”
“Michael…”
“No wait, just let me finish. I used to be the one sitting here at the monitor bank, I remember how wasted I felt, how pointless. You have a hundred times the talent I ever did, if any of us deserves to be benched: it’s me. I talked to Eli about what he was feeling and I didn’t like the thought of holding someone else’s talent against them. I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to feel that.” Michael leaned against the monitor bank, “Like back there. You improvised a sonic device to take Billy down harmlessly when I… blanked.”
“Michael Billy’s “episode” affected all of us.”
“Then how come you were still able to focus? You were still able to do the “tech thing” because that’s you. Not me.”
“Okay yeah, in a maelstrom I call still pull off a MacGyver now and then. But guess what? Did you ever think that you were more affected because you care more?” Riri stood and took Michael’s armored hand in hers, “Yeah I got a brain cell or two to rub together but do you know what I would give to have your heart? You “get” people. You know what they need. It sounds cliché but you are the beating heart of this team. Michael for God’s sake you’re the reason we’re all here. You pushed for us to get back together, you keep us together.”
///
Josiah sat away from the children, feeling his neck, the phantom feeling of the sorcerous branches still lingered there.
“Are you okay Josiah?” Irenia asked softly as she handed him a glass of water.
“Yeah. Of course. I’m okay. Always. But are they?” He stood up and surveyed the “team”, or lack thereof he feared.
“That’s your job to figure out.” She had a wink in her voice.
“Yeah but I’m not sure I even know where to start?” Josiah sighed.
“Think back.” Hummed the older woman, “Use your own story as a mirror. There’s a lot of parallels as I’m sure you’re aware. You know where life got it right and where it could use a bit of help along the way.”
“I certainly do.”
///
The thunder may not be ringing throughout the Hideout anymore but it was there in Billy’s mind. The others nursed their sore eyes but out in the hall alone, Billy was still weeping.
He kept replaying the scene in the Hideout in his mind. The voice in the back of his mind told him to go and join the others, that beating himself up was only making it worse but he couldn’t bring himself to look them in the eyes.
“My hands are not my own.” He repeated again, staring at his hands.
That prickling sensation of his magic kicking in came on, crawling up the back of his neck like a frost.
“Billy?” Michael’s voice took the warlock by surprise and he whipped around to see him floating behind him, “I don’t mean to bother you.” He smiled, warmly, he was really trying, “I wanted to know if you wanted to talk.”
Billy tried to compose himself, his brows furrowed.
“Michael, I’m sorry about before but…”
“No it’s okay, that’s part of why I came out here.” He came closer and despite the best intentions that were practically visibly radiating off of him, it felt intrusive almost, “I was recently reminded what I bring to the table.” He said with a small laugh, “And I didn’t want you beating yourself up. I know how that feels.”
At this Billy broke.
“You have no idea what I’m feeling.” Billy hissed stepping closer, “You couldn’t even begin to guess the darkness I’ve been battling. Did you have a little pity party back there? Oh boo hoo.” He mocked.
Michael began to get the feeling he’d made a mistake by approaching Billy and tried to back up a bit and give him some room but he couldn’t move. An invisible force seemed to hold him where he was.
“Billy…?”
Billy saw Michael’s eyes wander downwards, and he looked down to see his hands changing again but this time monstrous faces could be seen underneath his skin.
“I wish I was. I wish I was Billy but I think… I really am starting to think that I am not.”
The lightning he used to so often and so easily began to arc off of him.
“Billy stop, just think.”
“Stop telling me what to do!” Billy snapped and before even he realized what was happening a bolt of electricity flew from him right into the chestplate of Michael’s armor. The grimace of fear froze on the other boy’s face as he shook from the energy. Billy, for his part, seemed to sober as he watched his friend in pain but he was helplessly frozen in place himself, by shock rather than magic.
Michael gasped one last time and then fell to the ground, his armor still beeping but the boy inside: lifeless.
Michael was dead.
TO BE CONTINUED…