Issue #9 (June 2018)
Written by Dan Dolan Featuring: Jocosta
Josiah Bradley
Tommy
Will
Patriot
Artemis
Hulkling
Riri Williams
Queen Divine Justice
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Hayley Mills v. Lindsay Lohan - Part Two-75 minutes ago-
“This is crazy we can’t do this.” Teddy whined. “We HAVE to do this.” Will said definitively, “We need to take the power back.” He took off his shirt and despite himself Teddy watched while he did, Will catching his eye giving him a disbelieving “Really?” look with his eyes. “You never had the power…” Thrud mused, “This will be your first step toward truly tasting it.” Her fists clenched against her restraints. “Can you try not to make me MORE uncomfortable about letting you out? Thanks.” Chanté quipped sardonically. “So what’s our play?” Kate asked readying her bow, “There’s a whole bunch of demigods out there just waiting…” “Teddy will attack as Thrud.” Eli said suddenly locking eyes with the Skrull, who said nothing, “That will set things into motion and put them off their game.” “We need them to feel good about themselves.” Chanté though aloud, receiving a nod from Eli in response. “Kate I need you to pretend you can’t get a shot.” Patriot locked eyes with the archer, “Let her believe she’s on top. Then they’ll all believe it.” “Fine.” She grumbled. “I’m not sure I can do this.” Tommy whispered to Will as he put on his brother’s clothes. “Yes you absolutely can.” Will said pulling his brother into a hug, “You are the Scarlet Witch’s son just as much as I am. So embrace it. Be a chaos bringer… sow discord… be amazing.” He said releasing him with a smile. “Thank you.” Thrud said as Riri undid the cuffs. “We’re not doing this for you.” Chanté said. “We’re doing it for us.” Victor nodded. Teddy sighed and walked towards the goddess, staring at her for a long time, then, slowly, his visage began to change: green skin turning Caucasian and pale, blond hair growing out, his clothes taking on the crimson color and gold armaments of the goddess and most notably his bulky male form becoming that of a tone woman. He was now Thrud in every way, except her face of passion and determination was lacking and instead replaced with a mask of self-doubt and anxiety. Will walked over to the Skrull. “You alright?” He asked, genuinely if a bit unsure. Teddy didn’t respond but the fact that Will asked seemed to comfort him, a smile forming on Thrud’s borrowed face. “Okay.” Eli said looking all of them, nodding confidently as he grabbed the door, “Let’s do this.” <The Present> Josiah, bound now and trussed up in a corner of the room, was fuming but also silent, it was the latter that had the Young Avengers more on edge. The man’s superhuman brain no doubt working overtime as he scanned them like an eagle on the hunt. “You told us we had to grow up.” Eli said meeting his uncle’s eyes. “We watched over and over again as power over our lives was taken away from us.” Kate spoke. “So now we take it back.” Eli agreed. Thrud smiled but said nothing, seemingly willing to watch and see the events play out. “Is she okay?” Tommy or “Will” asked as he cast a worried glance at Jocasta still still as a statue, hooked up to the same high tech shackles that had imprisoned Thrud just a while ago, Riri’s gizmos hovering around her head seemingly keeping her that way. “She’ll be fine Tommy.” Victor smiled. “I should have guessed.” The first thing Josiah had said since regaining consciousness, his glare zeroing on the boy now revealed to be Tommy wearing Will’s clothes. “Classic misdirection.” Kate winked, “Will could subtly affect probability to throw the Pantheon off their game right in front of them.” “Meanwhile we setup the fight with “Thrud”, actually Teddy, in order to make the switch.” Eli went on. “Very well thought out… but what comes next?” From behind them came Jocasta’s pleasant voice much to their shock. Kate, Victor, Eli, Thrud and Tommy whirled around to see the robotic woman standing there casually only to immediately look back and see her still in Thrud’s shackles seemingly immobile. “Please, you all are good but you’re still thinking so small.” Jocasta smiled, genuinely with no malice, “Bodies to me are like rooms in a house.” Victor stepped forward. “Jo… I know you’re probably angry and disappointed with me…” Jocasta waved him off. “Definitely not angry and I wouldn’t say disappointed so much as surprised. Surprised that it took you this long. In our family the aggressive rebellion against the preceding generation usually comes a great deal faster in the maturing process. Though I must say I am glad that yours comes without a body count.” She said gently cupping the boy’s cheek. “Jocasta.” Josiah grumbled. “Oh right.” She said sunnily as she marched towards the man and began to untie him. As he made to stand up Josiah and Eli’s eyes met once more. The kids all looked at each other, knowing one way or another. Things would be changing. “Okay.” Will whispered to “Thrud”, actually the Earth raised Skrull Teddy Altman in disguise, “We’ve landed. Just remain calm… You don’t have to do anything but just be “you”.” Will winked but Teddy still looked nervous and frankly a little green (thankfully just metaphorically speaking… for now). Will paused for a moment then slowly leaned in and kissed Teddy’s currently fair feminine cheek. “For luck.” The mutant smiled pulling back, noticing it had already had the desired effect of calming the shapeshifter. Will heard footsteps behind him. “Be careful son, she’s dangerous.” Hector warned as he and Ajax approached. “Yeah…” Will stuttered switching into his “Tommy” impersonation and seriously fighting the urge to make pornstache joke at Hector’s expense. Will stepped back keeping his eyes on “Thrud” as they moved her encasement along the floor with relative ease. Will started to follow but Hector waved him off. “Why don’t you go find your friends?” The man said kindly enough but his eyes were a warning. “Right.” Will said, trying to sound abashed but not entirely able to keep the steel out of his gaze. He scampered off as best he could regardless, making sure to be clumsier than he ever would be on his own. Hector looked after him warily but ultimately moved along with Ajax. “Thrud” swallowed, praying to god and any higher power that may care about wayward Skrulls that he could do this as the hallways narrowed and the tension mounted. Standing just outside two large doors was team leader Agamemnon, looking like the cat that ate the canary. “Our guests are already inside, they’ll be so pleased.” The godling smirked at “Thrud” as he opened the doors. This was it. “Uncle Josiah… BEFORE you say anything.” Eli said shouting over his Uncle’s attempts to interrupt him via grumbled protests. “I hope you’ll hear us out BUT since I have my doubts about that ever happening; let’s at least start with taking a look at this.” He gestured to the monitor bank. Eli locked eyes with Victor and nodded. The Hispanic young man nodded back and held a hand up towards the bank, his fingers crackling with teal energy briefly before a similar flicker brought the screens to life: the images were of the Pantheon, a POV “shaky cam” view of them as they moved down a dank hallway. “What is this?” Josiah spat. “A cam in the bracer we helped them put “fake Thrud” AKA Teddy in.” Kate said and Josiah noted she still had an arrow locked and ready. “Going to shoot me are you?” Josiah sighed. “No, no.” Kate smirked, “This is for her… just in case.” She jerked her head towards the would-be goddess and despite himself Josiah nodded in response. Thrud for her part seemed resigned to the ongoing threat and was more interested in the screens. “Eli… I am fighting to understand this… trying to understand this…” Josiah said, “But what is the big “reveal” here? The Pantheon said they were taking her in, I allowed it to happen showing me them doing just that means nothing.” Josiah said slightly condescendingly, his anger perhaps overtaking his teacher’s instinct. “Just wait…” Tommy said faintly though no one acknowledged him as a new image came on screen. As a door at the end of the hall the Pantheon were taking their quarry through opened, the Young Avengers were greeted with the image of none other than Anne Weaver. “That’s that brit lady who runs the Freezer.” Kate said. “I thought they said they were taking her to some kind of tribunal?” Eli asked pointedly, eyes narrowed turning to his uncle. Josiah said nothing but stepped closer to the screens. Anne smiled and greeted the Pantheon members but as she did so two other figures moved behind her. “Victor can you enhance the image on this?” Josiah thrummed his chin, his anger seemingly dissipating as his curiosity increased. “And the sound…” Kate rolled her eyes, straining to hear what was being said. If they’d really been paying attention to him they may have noticed the troubled looks that crossed Victor’s face; like he wanted to say something to them about how they asked him these questions but he swallowed this discomfort. However not before Jocasta, and Jocasta alone, noticed. Victor raised his hand and unleashed another round of sparks. As he did the screen cleared and the sound boomed… Behind Anne Weaver appeared a strapping muscled man with dark hair none of the kids recognized but Josiah was firmly on edge, the other figure remained in shadow. “Grant Ward…” Josiah practically growled. “Grant Douglas Ward, Agent of Hydra.” Jocasta chimed, “Former sleeper agent posing as a high ranking SHIELD agent. His cover was blown during a failed coup and has since returned to openly serving Hydra, was ranked in equal standing with Black Widow in terms of both espionage and melee combat.” “Hydra.” Eli said, almost victoriously but he stifled the urge to say “I told you so” upon seeing his Uncle’s glower. “Just her? You promised us others.” Anne said musing as she circled “Thrud”. “There are three here in this very building.” Agamemnon said smugly. Noticeably Hector looked troubled by this statement, Ajax looked oblivious as ever. “They’re talking about Riri, Chanté and Will…” Kate said angrily. “That’s not the girl…” Another voice said, the figure from the shadows. He stepped forward revealing a man in a sleek yellow-green armor with a serpentine flair, hooded with a metallic green hued mask baring fangs. “What do you mean?” Agamamenon asked aghast. “I see nothing but truth and this...” The stranger pointed to “Thrud” “Is an imposter.” “Shit.” Eli gasped. “Can you communicate with Will and Riri?” Josiah snapped towards his nephew. “Not now. Riri’s supposed to give us an update as soon as she’s secured a clean connection outside their compound…” “Well that’s what we call a big fucking flaw in the plan boy!” Josiah raged. “We need to get over there now!” Tommy said lurching forward, it was the loudest they’d ever seen the boy be. “Tommy’s right. They need us.” Victor said laying a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We’ll never get there in time to do anything… where even is “there”…?” Eli stammered. “Nevada.” Jocasta hummed, “We’ll take off right away of course but… they do need help right now. Victor.” She turned to her protégé. “What?” “You should go to them.” Jocasta said like it was the simplest thing in the world. “What are you talking about…?” Victor was aghast. “Just like how I got out of your little trap back there.” She said with a smile, playfully tapping the side of the boy’s head with her metallic fingers. “Jocasta I… I don’t know…” Victor stammered. “The camera is part of the Iron Manacle system and you’ve connected to it before.” “Just superficially… I mean I can’t do what you do… I’m just…” His voice faded as he looked down at his hands, specifically his flesh as false as he knew it was. “I know you’ve been practicing… with Will. It’s the same thing, only bigger. Don’t be confined by such two dimensional limitations…” “You mean human limitations.” Victor sighed sadly. Jocasta smiled, leaning forward and placing her forehead on his, wrapping her arms comfortingly around his shoulders. “I know what you think… I know why it makes you feel bad inside but don’t you see? That’s why you need to do this. Put your qualms aside, save your friends and see how THAT makes you feel.” Jocasta said pulling back and cupping his face. “We don’t have time for this.” Josiah said through gritted teeth. “No,” Victor said determinedly, “We don’t.” and slowly he turned to the control panel with a resigned glare and stepped forward. “What is going on in there?” Will paced. The three of them were just outside “the Mount”. Having told the Pantheon they were “getting some air” while Riri tried to establish a safe link to the Hideout outside of their system. “Some kind of trial one would assume.” Chanté shrugged. “I’ve got it!” Riri shouted giddily holding one of her self-designed comms in her hand. “Good let’s get Eli on the line and get this show going.” Will said rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. “Young Avengers.” Atalanta’s voice broke the air, surprising the three who were sure they were alone. They swerved around to see the archer, a tall woman with long silver hair and Ajax coming towards them, “You need to come with us.” She finished raising her energy bow as she did so. The smile on her face belying the implied threat. “What is this…?” Chanté said moving into a battle position. Will himself unsure whether or not it was time to give up on the “Tommy act”. “For what it’s worth.” Atalanta said sadly, “I’m sorry.” Then she turned to her two compatriots, “Take them in.” “I am Thrud! Daughter of Thor!” Teddy shouted as believably as he could. The mysterious man in the hood chuckled to himself and then… began clapping. “No, no… don’t get me wrong. A wonderful performance but seriously what are you? Who are you?” Anne and Ward moved to flank the armored man but Agamemnon grew frustrated. “Ophiuchus… could you be mistaken?” The eternal teenager whined. The armored man turned to him with such a look of wrath on his face that even the god Vali himself shuddered and stepped back. Hector moved forward. “Um… Mister? Ophiuchus… my “siblings” should be back with the Young Avengers soon…” The mustachioed man said slowly trying to appease the armored man. Ophiuchus smiled again and pulled back from Agamemnon, returning his gaze to Teddy. “Won’t that be nice?” Teddy stared him down and finally sighed. “Fine.” And suddenly he shifted from Thrud into a nebulous green semi-liquid form, spiraling out of the restraints into the air. Ajax looked shocked but everyone else in the room moved into a fighting formation. “Wonderful. You must be young Mister Altman.” Ophiuchus said raising his hand and releasing a cascading wave of energy the seemed to radiate through the room; though was concentrated on Teddy. The Skrull froze in mid-air as a silhouette of his “true” form (the human guise of Teddy Altman) appeared layered over the verdant mess he’d become. “I don’t understand…” Vali/Agamemnon stuttered, hand to his mouth. “They’ve tricked you Trickster’s scion.” Ophiuchus hummed. “No one gets anything past me.” The godling practically stamped his foot. Just as he did so an electric spark shot out of the girder that had been previously around “Thrud”’s neck. The sparks soon shifted into a steady beam and projected from this was the image of Victor Mancha. He stood, mid-air, and looked around for a split second before raising his virtual arm towards Ophiuchus. This action seemingly compelled the now empty holding unit to fly up and wrap itself around the armored man: thereby releasing Teddy from his metaphysical grasp. “Victor?” Teddy mumbled as her resumed his usual bulky green power form. “I am the one you know as Victor Mancha,” The projection said coolly, “More or less.” He winked as he made another gesture that caused both Ophiuchus and the metallic prison that now entrapped him to slide across the room and slam into a floundering Agamemnon. Teddy knew there was no time for questions and soon hurled himself towards Ajax, tackling him to the ground as he gradually increased his size. Victor for his part magnetically compacted Ward and Weaver’s guns as they stood shocked. Hector took to the air and released his energy flail but he flew right through the projection of Victor as the boy smiled smugly at him. “Let’s get the others.” Victor said to Teddy as he stood atop the gold mountain that was Ajax, “It’s time for the Young Avengers to assemble.” Despite their borrowed Quinjet it was still almost an hour later by the time Josiah and the rest were able to arrive at the Mount and what they arrived to was a scene of total chaos. As they entered the premises they heard the sounds of battle around them, Josiah could hear Chanté shouting orders in the distance and was surprised by how pleased it made him. They raced towards the noise. Upon opening one door they found not a clash of titans but instead a young waif of a girl cowering in a corner. Her platinum blond hair nearly as long as her nigh-anorexic frame. “Who are you?” Eli shouted but Josiah held his arm up to stop the boy advancing on the girl. “Delphi…” She whimpered… “I’m the oracle of the Pantheon… I should have forseen this… all of this but my sight… it failed me.” She wailed. “Where are the others?” Josiah demanded. “Deeper in the Mount,” She held up a shaking arm to point, “Agamemnon was meeting with that man… the snake bearer. He’s the one responsible. Something about him… cancelled out my sight. Took the future away from me…” She cried beginning to rock. “The snake bearer?” Kate asked. “Fascinating: That man in the footage, Ophiuchus. It’s the name of a constellation called the snake bearer. Often called the 13th sign of the Zodiac.” Jocasta recounted. “He was with that woman, Anne Weaver who runs the Freezer for SHIELD and an agent of Hydra.” Eli snapped. “Yes Eli, I’m aware and now is not the time.” Josiah growled. “Yes but the time will come.” Eli promised. “Can we do this later?” Tommy asked frantic, once more at volumes heretofore unknown from him, “Will is out there and he could be hurt!” “Thomas is right.” Jocasta stated, “To the others.” She took off, with the other four on her heels. Thrud ended up literally bringing the house down. As the others fought the Pantheon, mostly to a standstill Thrud finished what she started and struck the same spot where she claimed to have “escaped” from before: tearing the ceiling nearly off the building and sending the mortal staff running in a panic. In the mob scene that followed the Young Avengers managed to get the upper hand as Will caused the longhaired energy manipulator known as Cassiopeia’s power to backfire and she soon found herself accidently absorbing the energy of her siblings’ plasma weapons, leaving them unarmed and herself overloaded. Victor turned the power armor of Ajax on himself and Atalanta’s speed and skill were no match from a blob-like onslaught from all sides from Teddy’s semi-liquid state. Hector was quick to meet to bad side of Eli’s throwing shields, causing him to drop right out of the air and Paris’ empathy was no use on Jocasta who quickly mussed up his perfectly coifed hair with a textbook perfect upper cut. As the chips fell where they may the somewhat fractured team found themselves falling back into a decent rhythm and Josiah himself felt something awaken back in him that he hadn’t felt since before the inquiry: fire. He felt the passion and drive he once had for leading this ragtag team of adolescents return to him and it was a thing of beauty. The one disappointment in all this was that somehow in the storm: Ophiuchus and his two allies had vanished, leaving Vali and his Pantheon to take the fallout. Back at the hideout spirits were mixed but higher than they had been and most were content to take the win. Most… not all. “This isn’t right.” Eli said through gritted teeth. “It’s the way things are done Eli.” Josiah sighed as he poured himself some water. “SHIELD is holding the Pantheon until they can be charged and it can be best decided what to do with them.” Jocasta chirped. “SHIELD is the ones they were colluding with!” Kate snapped. “No Anne Weaver was, a single person with her own side to tell and SHIELD has said they are aware of her activities.” “What does that even mean…? What about that damn Freezer?” Eli shouted. “Eli…” Josiah sighed again. “What?!” The boy snapped back. “You’re right.” It was the last thing Eli expected Josiah to say, “Everyone gather round.” The older man continued, louder. Slowly the group, including Thrud who remained unshackled for the time being, closed in around him. “Ever since this group began it keeps coming back to the Freezer.” Josiah said, “Even SHIELD taking over and eliminating all traces of Narfi and his staff hasn’t solved anything. As you’ve said now, repeatedly, the SHIELD agent placed in charge was just found to be conspiring with Narfi’s own brother.” “So what do you suggest?” Jocasta asked, lips upturned in a wry smirk, “Keep communicating with SHIELD and let them sort it out through the proper channels?” “That’s what I should do.” Josiah nodded but then turned to Eli, “What do you want to do?” He asked sincerely. “For too long we’ve sat here and let that place pick our lives apart. I say we go. We take the Freezer ourselves.” Eli said determined but his eyes held a question, an uncertainty. “Than that is what we’ll do.” Josiah said dropping his glass on the counter with a dramatic plunk as punctuation to his pronouncement. “Really?” Riri asked amazed, sharing a disbelieving look with Kate. “Yes, really. Take the evening. Have some fun. Tomorrow we take the Freezer. SHIELD can deal with their own but that place is ours. Anyone who feels otherwise or would rather sit this one out may do so.” Josiah said definitively as he turned and went to his quarters. The Young Avengers just looked at each other and slowly smiled. Teddy pulled Will aside as the sarcastic young man went towards his own quarters. “So listen since we’re finally getting that downtime, why not go on that date we kept putting off?” The blonde boy asked nervously. Will again internally cringed but the part of him that was trying to be better smiled and nodded. “Great,” Teddy smiled back, “Let say that Italian place down the street? In 30?” The Skrull practically jumped in place. “Sure.” Will said before Teddy nearly imploded with glee and bound off to get ready. Will sighed and turned to continue into his quarters only to nearly jump out of his skin at the sight of someone sitting on his bed. “Victor you nearly gave me a heart attack.” Will laughed. “Sorry.” The android smiled, not sounding very sorry. “What’s up?” Will asked as he removed his cloak. “You know today I did the least human thing I’ve ever done.” Victor said somberly, “I truly let myself just become some computer program, practically emailed myself to the Mount.” “Yeah… I know. Are you okay?” “Yes because you had already helped me prepare for it but more than that… it was for you that I did it.” Victor said suddenly very serious. “What?” Will asked someone off-guard, “What do you mean?” “I don’t think I could have brought myself to do it if you weren’t in trouble.” “Victor that’s… wow. Thank you, that does mean a lot. You know this entire time… I’ve been sure I’ve been pushing people away… sure that that’s what I wanted to not get close to anyone. Even poor Teddy… I mean I didn’t even think I knew HOW to get close to someone but helping you… it came easy.” Will said sitting next to the Hispanic young man on the bed. “Remember how I talked about wanting to turn off the “Victor Mancha” program and find out who I really was and what I really wanted versus what I had been programed to be?” Victor asked leaning forward. “Yes.” Will said meeting his eyes. “Well today, like everytime I’ve turned “Victor” off… and even when he’s on…. I just want the same thing.” The boy said, licking his suddenly dry lips. “Say it.” Will said leaning in to match the other boy’s posture already knowing what he was about to say but Victor chose to let actions speak for him: and closed the distance between them with a passionate kiss, one of his hands coming up to grasp the back of the mutant’s head. Will returned it just as hard, his hands gripping the other boy’s neck. No words need be said. Sometime later Teddy found himself sitting along at Elio’s, the charming little Italian bistro he had been telling Will about. He checked his watch for the eleventh time and sighed. This was just the way his life was going. His parents had abandoned him, he was trying all he could to take Billy’s place in the illusion he had created but that too was slipping away, and now the one boy he’d allowed himself to show interest in had forgotten him too. He felt tears start at the corners of his eyes and fought the urge to weep. This was not who he was… he wasn’t forgettable… was he? As he raised his watch to check the time for a twelfth time he felt someone walk up to his table, before he could stop it he felt a pang of hope that it was Will, fashionably late but as he raised his head he instead found himself face to face with Ophiuchus. “We meet again young Mister Altman.” He smarmed as energy pulsed from his hand before Teddy could move. Suddenly the Skrull shifted between several forms before once more returning to his default human guise, falling to the ground as he did so. “Bag him and find him an empty container.” Ophiuchus said turning to face his compatriots. Anne Weaver clicked her communicator to call it in as Grant Ward moved forward and lifted the unconscious Hulkling over his shoulder. “Where running out of refrigerators boss.” A blond man with a goatee said snidely. “Find room mister Jackson.” Ophiuchus snapped, causing the man to adjust his goggles as a way to avoid eye contact. “Anything else Lord Ophiuchus?” A man in a standard Hydra getup asked worshipfully. “There will be much to do Bob.” Ophiuchus smiled sincerely, clasping the man’s shoulder as the group walked off, “Company’s coming.” TO BE CONTINUED… |