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Post by aquarius on Jan 4, 2024 11:54:09 GMT -7
It was easy to find reasons to hate yourself, Gabby knew. She'd fallen into that trap more than once in her life, survivor's guilt over living through The Accident when her father and brother had been difficult to get past, indeed she was still struggling with it on a bad day. But she knew enough to spot a few of the signs in others. Either that or he was the world champion of modesty. But given his array of brightly coloured costumes, that seemed... unlikely.
"Dr Richards almost never publishes his findings, so doesn't contribute to human knowledge anywhere near as much as you do. And I'm sure the various media pictures of his son have him being many years older suddenly a few months ago. That's either some kind of irresponsible parenting of the highest order, or whatever happened was accidental and that says ever worse things about his worth as a parent. And Stark? He was a weapons dealer. Still is, in his own way. He makes stuff to sell it. Everyone's flawed. At least your flaws are not about your scientific integrity. We've all made mistakes, yours are... unfairly brought up by people who can't discredit you by legitimate means."
As for the issue of Opus' interpretation of her 'prime directive'? That had been given a lot more thought than Gabby's quick summary might have implied, though anyone capable of inventing an AI would hopefully not do anything of that magnitude so hastily as she seemed to have implied.
"The wellbeing of life is made clear to include all needs, physical, mental and so on. I'm good with languages, means I sometimes get bogged down with semantics. But it means I made sure the difference between living and merely existing was clearly understood."
She giggled at his joke about his height, and seized upon the opportunity to ask the question that was otherwise going to be on her mind for the rest of her life.
"About that. How do Pym Particles work? I mean, one thing that can change size, mass, density, seemingly independently of each other, at will... I've tried to figure it out more than once, and never even formed a theory which seems remotely plausible. Particle - antiparticle pairs having differing effects, supersymmetry variants... I cannot think of any way one particle could do all that it can apparently do. Which means I'm missing something obvious, and that bugs me massively... Ugh, no pun intended."
She blushed at this last bit, apparently the 'bug' had indeed been accidental.
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Post by aquarius on Jan 4, 2024 11:18:09 GMT -7
Whilst waiting, Jeanne had noticed very little that was even slightly worth her attention, keeping her mind occupied giving further consideration to one of the more recent scientific papers written by Doctor Pym. She could recite it word for word of course, and indeed understood all the science involved. But to understand it did not mean she could necessarily get the most out of it, in scientific terms. Very early on in her education with the Avengers she had learned the difference between knowing the moves of the best fighters in the world, and in knowing when to use them. Knowledge was no different.
Robbie arrived with little fuss or ceremony, which suited Jeanne greatly. She'd thought about what to do at this point, knowing how first impressions were disproportionately significant to people's memories of you. A kiss was likely to be too familiar so early on, the handshake usually shared with professional interactions too formal, so she'd decided on something hopefully in the 'Goldilocks zone' of just rightness. As he approached she stood up from her seat and gave him a brief hug as he reached her.
"Hi! Good to see you again. How's Gabe? I trust he's stayed out of too much mischief?"
Whilst Excalibur surely knew how Gabe was doing, confidentiality rules meant she'd not be able to discuss anything about a patient so Jeanne hadn't even bothered to ask. Also, this meant she had an easy conversation starter with Robbie now he was here, traditionally a difficult prospect for people in her situation and a long way outside her usual area of expertise.
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Post by aquarius on Dec 16, 2023 12:47:21 GMT -7
A reply came back, and Jeanne read it with a brief smile, responding with an uncharacteristic pair of emojis - A simple thumbs up followed by a heart. Whether that was 'normal' to send when arranging a first date she had no idea and it was unlikely anyone she knew was in a position to comment on 'normal'. The closest was Ms Marvel, and given her ethnic background and age it was statistically unlikely she had any knowledge of 'first date' arrangements.
With her reply sent she turned her attention to her somewhat limited wardrobe, considering her various options (mostly too formal or too 'work' related) before finally seeking advice. When she left the mansion the next day, it was wearing an extremely average outfit comprising jeans, a plain black shirt, and a lightweight navy jacket over the top. Given that Robbie had seen her with her mask off there was no need to ensure she was recognisable. She'd seen him 'flamed down' to borrow an expression from the Human Torch, but was confident she'd have been able to identify him easily anyway just from body language.
Arriving early at the coffee chain outlet owned by her employer Mr Stark, she got herself a hot chocolate and sat down at one of the outdoors tables, surveying all passers-by for the tiniest piece of interesting information about them, though it was a very dull morning in that respect. By this point it wasn't long until Robbie was due to arrive, so she remained alert for his approach.
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Post by aquarius on Dec 12, 2023 11:12:12 GMT -7
What sort of venues were suitable for what would no doubt be 'first date' activities? This was far from Jeanne's area of expertise but she had a good enough knowledge of trends and cultural norms that she could improvise at least something. Food was not much of a concern of hers either. Whilst she had favourites she did try to keep her diet varied for the myriad health benefits from doing so. This meant that this was no direct help in making a decision either. However this meant she could improvise something with her characteristic efficiency.
There's a Starkbucks Coffee shop a little over a block down from Avengers Mansion. Meet there at midday, and work out where to go from there?
There were quite a few places to eat nearby, a great many of them the various food carts that were an integral part of the city's culture. She quite enjoyed sampling them on occasion, and hopefully they'd find something new and interesting. If not, maybe they'd wander into something more exciting than her instructors would approve of. Like the last time she'd met someone at that coffee shop, in fact. That had resulted in her fighting The Rhino with a few of the Young Avengers. Now that had been great fun. Like that warehouse team-up with the Ghost Rider, of course...
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Post by aquarius on Dec 12, 2023 10:54:35 GMT -7
A simple enough mission brief, with an equally simple objective. Naturally no plan survived contact with the enemy, but if this went properly they'd already be long gone before anyone knew they'd been there. Already they were at the 'any questions' portion of the brief though, and it seemed that Kestrel hadn't heard much about Agent Green, AKA Squirrel Girl, and her usual modus operandi.
"I'm assuming you two are pairing up, and me and Tippy are doing the same? We've taken down AIM bases before, so Tippy's got experience here too. She's had my back more times than I care to count."
With that, a squirrel that had been on a table nearby enjoying a bowl of nuts paused eating to chitter something, saluting briefly, before resuming her meal.
"That's a yes. I assume neither of you speak Squirrelese? She'll salute to confirm her identity if you need her to. And I'll go with... um... Voluble. It was on my word of the day calendar a few days ago, and I've been dying for a chance to use it ever since."
As the holograms appeared and the briefing continued, she turned her attention to that fully. AIM goons were fairly easy to take down, but their tech was quite often more of a concern. Electric fences were no real obstacle, but robot spider tanks? flying drones? This was different. Still, it was nothing she'd not faced before. Even if their tech was always advancing and this meant she couldn't be sure of how much of a threat they really were any more. But it was going to be fun finding out!
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Post by aquarius on Dec 4, 2023 11:30:00 GMT -7
Jeanne was relaxing watching a video of one of the world's finest clarinet players (instantly becoming their equal in so doing - even when relaxing, Finesse was learning) when her phone chimed indicating a text message arriving from a new number. This was rare enough on its own, let alone from a number that hadn't been in her contacts list already. A quick glance to read the message and she found herself smiling faintly at the painfully obvious teenage crush his attempt at communication indicated, before realising that she was smiling, and understanding what that implied.
Taking a moment to consider this, she sent a reply quickly, oblivious to the social signals doing so would send.
I am on relaxed duty currently, so can meet you whenever is convenient. Pick a date, time and location and I will be happy to be there. 'Work clothes' or civilian attire?
Jeanne's wardrobe was mostly very 'average' in what it contained, given her relative lack of social awareness it was far easier to simply wear things that made as little statement as possible. However, if he indicated a preference for regular clothing then she may well have to seek assistance in selecting clothing suitable for the occasion. Though deciding who from would be difficult. Her fellow students would be the most likely to be up to date on current fashions, but then there would be all the complicated interactions that would then initiate. So... Maybe Janet Van Dyne? She was a fashion expert, and far less likely to make a deal out of any such advice being sought. And of course letting her instructors know that she was interacting with others in a social context, on her own initiative, might get them to stop worrying so much...
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Post by aquarius on Oct 15, 2023 9:20:16 GMT -7
Excalibur was just getting back to the Avengers Mansion after a pleasant day off, and was about to settle down with a drink to wait for anyone to show up and update her on whatever epic adventures had been their ordinary working day, when she noticed a post-it note detailing... It was hard to tell, as if it had been written by someone unused to communicating with people.
"Ugh. Thor, I'm guessing. 'Finesse doomed - Gone to rescue her'. I know they said the Allspeak messed up subtle meaning, but I didn't realise it could be that bad. Now how was it I check the computer to track his comm card?"
Fortunately the sound of the door opening heralded someone returning that could help her remember. Given that it was Finesse though, it seemed unlikely that it was all that urgent after all. Though the brightly dressed individual following her in was not Thor, nor someone that Excalibur knew.
"Finesse! Thor left a note about you being doomed? And who's your friend?"
"This is Jubilation Lee of the X-Men. She and I were both abducted by Victor Von Doom, and Thor just freed us. He instructed me to ensure she got to safety, and here seemed the safest place within easy travelling distance. I believe standard protocol calls for a medical check-up for both of us as we would be classed as captives of a significant threat."
Excalibur nodded at this; she'd had to perform a few basic assessments to confirm people were unharmed, something her powers made almost trivial. But unexpectedly Jubilee spoke out at this. "Um... I guess I don't mind as long as it's private. I have a... condition I don't want to become widely known."
Finesse had already deduced that Jubilee was a vampire of course, but understood the desire for it being kept a secret so said nothing. Instead she nodded and spoke of her own thoughts regarding the need. "I am aware of what would be needed, and have no objections to it being conducted here and now. Once done, I will return to my quarters to give you privacy."
Excalibur nodded, and with a brief glow surrounding her hand, expanding to encompass Finesse and to harmlessly dismantle her body into the component layers, Faiza focused on what her powers were telling her about Finesse's health. "I sense no injuries, no foreign contaminations of any kind. You are given a clean bill of health, and are free to go, pending any debriefing that Thor will no doubt ask you to write for him anyway."
Finesse simply nodded and walked off down the corridor to her quarters leaving Excalibur and Jubilee alone in the main area. Jubilee hesitated before nodding to indicate she was ready for the same to be done to herself, and Excalibur once more used her blue glow to pull her patient apart. Instantly she could sense the difference though. "Ugh. This feels harder than it should. Magic? That's the only thing I know of that resists my powers. You're fine though, even if... well, I can guess..." and with that she released her hold on Jubilee.
Jubilee sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not alive any more. Vampire. Still not entirely sure how it happened, but a few people know, including Doctor Strange. I'm keeping control for now, and plans are in place for if I... well. Anyway, I hope you can keep this to yourself, but understand if you need to tell anyone."
Excalibur moved over to the computer terminal, tapping in a few details and speaking to their guest as she did so. "Basic checks performed on Finesse and Jubilation Lee of the X-Men. No signs of illness, injury or infection of any form. Both are cleared for all activities."
Faiza had a very practical view on such things. Jubilee was clearly no threat to anyone, so her condition was nobody's secret but her own. A doctor learned much about their patients and knew all about patient confidentiality. She knew enough about Doctor Strange to trust his judgement in the matter, and would double check it with him later, but take it no further as long as it checked out. Until it became someone else's business? It was none of their business.
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Post by aquarius on Oct 15, 2023 2:24:45 GMT -7
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Post by aquarius on Oct 14, 2023 8:28:17 GMT -7
Everything had naturally gone according to plan. The test subjects had been acquired and brought to him without complication or delay. Doom was pleased at a plan that had gone smoothly and without any unanticipated interference. His enhanced scanning device was giving him all the data he'd hoped for, confirming biometrics of every conceivable sort that would act as a frame of reference when compared against that of various kinds of other 'enhanced' individuals.
That was when an alert sounded confirming the arrival of the inevitable. A 'rescue party'. Only a team of one, though? They would have to be formidable to brave the halls of Latveria's monarch on their own. Danvers, Stark, or the Asgardian then. The X-Men had a few that could conceivably consider themselves capable enough to threaten him on their own, but they were a more 'team' focused collective. They would not have come to challenge him without everyone they could possibly bring.
When his laboratory door was finally opened, he was not surprised to see Thor walk in, nor to see his 'all business' attitude - one which he couldn't fault given the circumstances. This was business for the both of them after all, otherwise Doom might have taken a very different and less extreme approach to this whole 'experiment'. As his guests cautiously left, Doom commenced his inevitable monologue.
"No harm was done to either of them, and they are free to go, with thanks for their service to Latveria. As a sign of my gratitude for their cooperation I am prepared to share my findings with all who as..."
That was as far as he got before the departure of the young ladies meant that Thor was no longer holding back his wrath To spare their eyes from such terrible sights, and a lightning bolt came hurtling towards him. Doom had warded himself against lightning as a precaution of course, but it was still enough to knock him off his feet and past the wreckage of the domes, striking the wall behind with great force.
"Whatever game you are playing, the Avengers care not. If you abduct innocents again, if you try my patience by preying upon others at all, my response shall not be so merciful."
With that the Thunder God left, allowing the Latverian's footman to shuffle into the lab to check on his still prone master. As he passed underneath the remains of the broken dome of one of the test chambers, a green light blinked on. Doom did not move until his servant reached him and offered his hand to help his Lord up. The monarch accepted the help, and engaged his suit's electric shock generators at full power, his steely grip not shifting until the now green form of his former servant fell to the ground.
"As I suspected. Doom cannot be deceived by anyone from this world or any other. Now to the business of finding the rest of your kind who dare cross the borders of Latveria."
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Post by aquarius on Oct 12, 2023 13:14:58 GMT -7
Thor had been the only one at the Avengers Mansion when the call came. The Chieftain of the Police had called to tell him of a member of the public who had reported seeing the abduction of one of the trainees of the Avengers. All children were worthy of protection of course, but especially so when they were students of the Avengers, and therefore of him.
Thor took the information down, writing it on an it-of-posts, hoping others would return from their missions before long. And with that done, he was straight out the door, soaring into the air and heading to the nearby location that would surely be where his goal would be found.
Less than a minute later, and the Prince of Asgard fell like a comet from the skies onto the front lawn of the Latverian embassy. He strode towards the main doors, a bellowed challenge giving the merest fraction of a warning before he knocked with all the force that Mjolnir could bring to bear.
"DOOM! I WOULD HAVE WORDS WITH THEE!"
The oaken doors, reinforced with metal and various mystical wards might as well have been cheap plywood for all the resistance they offered him. Standing the other side of the cloud of splinters and sawdust, he saw... an elderly man, one apparently unable to stand without leaning heavily on a walking stick.
"Good evening, your highness. My master has bade me direct you follow me to meet him. I am to assure you that no misdeeds shall be directed at you so long as you refrain from further damage to the embassy."
As he shuffled down a corridor, leading Thor onwards he spoke in what seemed to be a speech that had been prepared for him - an explanation of what Doom had done, and how he had done it. A horde of Doombots disguised as civilians, with secondary camouflage as footsoldiers of The Hand ninjas, then a magical trap left behind with just enough bait to lure in the trainee Avenger.
This monologue that Doom had delegated to his underling lasted just long enough for their journey it seemed, no doubt another calculated move by the Latverian dictator. The doors were opened, revealing a massive laboratory which would no doubt be many months of study were Stark ever able to access it.
At the far end of the room stood Doom, at the controls of a complex looking machine. Many cables ran from the computer bank to a pair of glass spheres, each over two metres in diameter. In the first he could see Finesse, and in the second he recognised Jubilee of the X-men. He spoke only two words as he held Mjolnir in front of him.
"Get down."
Lightning surged forth from his weapon into the two domes, shattering them and raining shards of glass over the two girls who had thankfully managed to avoid the worst of it all, stepping out of the wreckage and moving over to Thor's side cautiously, expecting one or both of these two epically powerful beings to begin fighting at any moment.
"Finesse? Ensure Miss Lee gets out of here safely."
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Post by aquarius on Oct 11, 2023 12:59:57 GMT -7
Gambit had a list of a few people he'd been watching, and today a few of them had sort of crossed paths. As one of them had laid an obvious trap, another had... arrived to walk right into it. Surely Jubilee knew better than this? Though to be fair she presumably didn't know half of the stuff he'd been finding out over the past few weeks. Or...
Or her being on his list was for a good reason.
He kept himself hidden for now, watching as events unfolded and only when everything was over did he begin to reflect on what had transpired. Jubilee was a vampire now? Had he really been gone for that long? Or was it that... Ugh, Fury's paranoia was as infectious as it was justified. This was of great interest to him, but only on a personal level. Why did saving the world have to be so... difficult?! Back when he was a Marauder, heck even when he was an X-man, he'd have dropped what he was doing and gone off on his own personal side quest. But something told him that doing so with Fury as his boss would be an exceptionally bad idea even by his standards.
And so he kept his position and resumed his observations of these remarkably unusual people. After a minute or so he began to pick up a few more clues from their movements, far more coordinated and precise than he'd have expected for these people. It kind of reminded him of... But that didn't make any sense...
Then they had finished their work concealing any evidence of their presence, and they all gathered in the middle of the room, vanishing in a green pulse of light and taking all evidence of their presence with them. But this was the last little clue Gambit had needed to finally make some sense of this part of the puzzle. When you were looking for evidence of one hidden threat, it was all too easy to overlook the existence of other dangers. How to react to this though? It was still possible it tied in to his mission, after all. But there was no way he was going to be able to investigate this any further on his own, or indeed under any form of cover.
The faint sounds of movement alerted him to another presence, and he looked down to see one of the Avengers' trainees he'd read a file about briefly. She had potential, he had to admit. Lacked any real experience, but hopefully she'd live long enough to gain it.
Of course, her vanishing suddenly in the same green flare meant another rapid re-evaluation of his next course of action. He couldn't investigate directly without inevitable breaking his deep cover. He couldn't not investigate, which meant only one option remained. Be sneaky and manipulative and trick someone else into doing it for him! And so he stood up from his hiding spot and slipped off into the night, a plan - no, a scheme - already forming.
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Post by aquarius on Oct 10, 2023 13:07:51 GMT -7
Finesse's exceptional deductive skills had been tasked with helping in a lot of intelligence analysis without any idea of what it was actually about. This was... frustrating. She had voiced her concerns about how it was limiting her effectiveness in finding out whatever it was she was meant to be finding out, but apparently 'finding anomalies' was her only brief, and any elaboration would risk "revealing top secret information".
She'd already managed to work some of it out, of course. But that had only lead to more questions - ones she knew would not be answered if she asked them. And so she set out to learn the answers for herself. Scanning documents and reading reports had gotten her as far as they would for the day, so once she was permitted some rest time, Jeanne decided to 'take a walk in the park'. In truth, this was a simple enough pretext to investigate the site of one of the events in the reports she'd read. Maybe a bit more information would reveal more hidden answers...
When she neared the old warehouse, there were a few signs of suspicious activity almost immediately. Signs of unusual movement patterns, and despite being a relatively low value property there was a surprisingly advanced security system, and more than that it was not from any supplier that she recognised. Beyond that, it bore signs of the early stages of being dismantled, as if the owner didn't want to leave anything behind which might help identify them.
Officially she had no authority to enter the building of course, nor would her instructors approve of her taking matters into her own hands like this. But that meant she felt the need to take a look all the more. The advanced alarms and sensors were child's play to one such as Finesse, and she was soon inside searching for clues. Sadly, that proved a lot less simple than she'd hoped, as if the place had been swept clean by highly capable individuals, leaving very little for her to find. However, there was the faintest smell of... Garlic?
This brought to mind a few unrelated reports she'd analysed recently, but as she moved around Finesse noticed the scent was localised very specifically, mixed in with the definite aroma of blood. Quickly this was determined to be confined to a very small area, further adding to her suspicions. Of course, this lead her to investigate the middle of the narrow area of floor, where she found...
Nothing. No trace of anything even remotely interesting. She hadn't expected a lot, but at least something would have been nice. It was only when Jeanne moved away again and crossed the invisible threshold of the circle that anything changed. A flash of light blinded her, and a sense of disorientation that she knew from training signified teleportation.
And in the rafters above where she had been just a moment before, a figure moved out of the shadow in which they had been hiding, slipping away in silence.
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Post by aquarius on Oct 9, 2023 13:07:29 GMT -7
He found her respect surprising? That was... confusing. Anyone who questioned his brilliance was either blinded to his talents by focusing on his myriad mistakes (mostly non scientific, so Gabby considered them irrelevant in academic terms) or alternatively was blinded by jealousy. Mind you, she'd spent enough time around a few of the professors at ESU to learn that academic jealousy was all too common.
"You're a genius. Maybe you've made mistakes in how you apply that, but who hasn't? At least you're not covering yourself in armour to blow stuff up at every opportunity like Stark, or bouncing between projects at random like some stretchy kid with ADHD. But you... you've done serious research. You're a scientist, not someone who... uh... I don't know, it's like Richards just wants to see what is possible and doesn't care about the science. As far as I'm concerned you're the better scientist."
The questions on her AI seemed a little odd, but then Gabby remembered her research done early on when creating Opus, all the details of 'Ultron' that had basically been a 'how to NOT do it' manual. But that was good science too, of course. Reporting your failings as well as successes.
"I didn't force any opinions of any kind on my AI, except one. Opus has a numeric value representing all her opinions, and she is free to raise or lower them by any number she wishes. Not even me, her creator, is exempt from this. However, I assigned life as a whole an infinite value. Since values can only be changed by a finite value, people collectively will always be considered the highest priority. And none of my tech could be used to cause serious harm to more than one or two people, even if deliberately misused. Your mistakes were unfortunate, but when you're the world leader in anything you are the one making them first. Thanks to you I knew what to avoid, for which I am truly grateful. I know that probably sounds sarcastic, but I mean it entirely genuinely."
That was the thing about quiet hero worship in her own way. She'd thought about what she'd say to this man if she ever got the chance. Now if only she could keep this going long enough to ask about the gaps in the paper she'd been reading. Pym particles simply couldn't work the way suggested, given that Ant-Man, Giant Man, Yellowjacket and so on, they seemed to have variable mass, density and so on, contradicting all the basics of what was 'officially' known.
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Post by aquarius on Oct 8, 2023 11:44:09 GMT -7
It was a rare night off for Jubilee, but with things getting quieter for the X-Men again after the Apocalypse mess it was at least becoming more frequent again. She'd managed to get a ticket to a concert taking place in the city, and once the sun was properly set she was on her motorbike and out the gates, heading for the venue, a converted warehouse quite close to one of her favourite nightclubs that she was planning on heading to once the concert was over.
Parking up a brief walk away from the venue, she arrived a little later than she'd hoped but was at least still a little early. Once inside though, it seemed either quite a few others were yet to arrive, or the turnout was less than she'd expected. It should have been at least a few hundred for this band, but there were probably less than a hundred here so far. At first Jubilee wasn't suspicious until a speck of dust irritated her nose, causing her to sniff in irritation. That was when she noticed - there were no scents from any of the people around her!
Turning towards the exit as unobtrusively as she could, suddenly a dozen or more people were blocking it. A sudden flash-bang detonated, and when her eyes cleared no longer were there civilians standing there, instead ninjas in red garb. The Hand!
A glance around the room revealed that everyone there was now a ninja, and already forming a circle around her clearly preparing for the inevitable gratuitous messy fight that always accompanied their presence. But none of them moved any further towards her. Instead, in perfect unison each of them drew a blade and cut their palms, then smeared their blood onto the floor in front of them, between them all forming a circle around her. Only then did anyone advance, a single figure identical in appearance to the others. Despite her record against The Hand in the past, Jubilee knew better than to take any of them for granted. If The Hand thought this one was enough to deal with her? They probably had a good reason for that.
That reason was discovered as soon as she tried to dodge his first strike and only barely managed it. It wasn't that he was fast, it was... her supernatural speed was gone. But how?! Another sniff and she realised. The scent of garlic filled the air along with that of their blood. They'd used their dark magics to sap her speed, strength, and who knew what else?
When the next attack came, she found out what else. Not only was this ninja far stronger than they had any right to be, but their skill was beyond anyone Jubilee had fought against. She wasn't even sure if Logan was this good! Within moments she was held in a grapple she couldn't find her way out of, and she was being bound with ropes that had the painful sting of garlic - plus the faintest burn of silver. They'd really prepared, it seemed. Only when a hood was slipped over her head and she found herself slipping into unconsciousness did she wonder just how much their dark magics were capable of...
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Post by aquarius on Oct 3, 2023 13:07:37 GMT -7
Doreen turned her phone around to show the screen to Patrick in response to his enquiry, nodding a confirmation. "Yup! Have a look!" She was about to continue when the unexpected new voice announcing a 'comet bomb' caught her attention. After a split second she yelped in mild alarm, rolling over to quickly cover up as much of her tail as possible to avoid it getting soaked. When the near perfectly executed dive resulted in barely a few drops of water even reaching her, Doreen felt a little embarrassed but began chuckling at the situation.
"Hi, Carol. Great dive! Glad you could join us. Drink? Snack? Help yourself later if you want, too."
It was still a smaller turnout than Doreen had hoped, but then she'd only have been happy with the poolside completely packed, just about the entire Avengers roster there, and a fair few of her close friends from outside the hero world as well. Since the invites had not specified any 'plus one' was allowed though? It was just her. And Tippy Toe of course. You invite Squirrel Girl, you get the Squirrel and the Girl.
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