Louise was sitting in the lunchroom of the newly built Stark Tower, which was basically a building to house an arc reactor that offered free power for a number of research and development projects that Stark had in mind. She had a frown on her face, something that was far too common in the past few months, a few months that had been mostly her friend saving lives from random accidents and investigating in vain for the location of the deadly Doctor Octopus.
And so the young woman was waiting, waiting impatiently for Pat to arrive. This would be the third time this month alone that the super-powered reporter had been late to meet her, the trend that was being formed caused Louise's blood to boil.
But only a little.
Given that he was probably late because he was busy stopping a crime or staving some life. Louise couldn't really bring herself to get mad at him. What did cause her blood to start boiling, was just how smug he could be about it now.
"Louise!" Hearing her name, she looked over, finding her old school friend, Becca, running over to her with her boyfriend, Rick, being practically dragged over to her. "It's been so long, I haven't seen ya since we graduated."
Louise gave her a little smile, motioning her head to signal for the smaller woman to take a seat. When the duo was finally seated, Louise finally spoke up;
"Oh, sorry about not calling you or nothing," The Redhead shrugged, her shoulders rolling up slightly as she rolled up her sleeves on her shirt, preparing to start eating regardless of the lack of Pat at the moment. "I've been busy with my new job-"
"And your new secret boyfriend?" Becca interrupted her, the grin the other girl was wearing slowly melting away as Ricky jabbed her with his elbow. The girl turned her eyes toward him and her boyfriend shook his head hard.
Becca took a long hard look at the way Louise gripped the table, watching the skin around her knuckles turn pale. Even though the other woman had perfect control over her facial expression, the hands never lied for Louise.
Louise just took a deep breath, in and out.
Then so she wouldn't have to speak about the subject, Louise took a large bite out of her lunch, crunching down on it as if she had been starving herself for the last month. It was so much and so fast that the other woman started to feel guilty over starting that reaction.
So she decided to change the subject.
"So… how's your dad? Heard his new job has been going well?"
This brought a small smile back to the redhead's face.
"Yeah, he's been doing great, the work's been real good for his health," Louise said after swallowing her food. "There are far fewer late nights… " she trailed off as she leaned in and whispered. "And fewer people shooting at him, which would be the big plus even if he didn't rake in more money than three mob enforcers combined."
Becca sighed in relief before morphing her face into a smile that matched her friends.
"That's great," Rick was the one this time to speak up, for the first time since he'd entered the room. Rick had always been a quiet guy, something that Louise was thankful for, but right now his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "I'm still trying to figure out my-"
"Yo."
Suddenly, as if literally jump-cutting to the last open seat, Pat appeared, he was wearing some sort of blue leather jacket, with white accents, his hair had grown longer, having been uncut for the last few months, now stopping around his chin, framing his face while it was still clean-shaven and his smile was smugger than ever before.
Something that didn't go unnoticed as Louise rolled her eyes at him while both Becca and Rick jumped slightly from fright, their knees hitting the table and causing it to shake.
"Pat."
Was Louise's rather subdued response, as she went back to munching on her meal. This caused Pat to frown for a single second before he leaned back on his chair, a hand going into his pocket.
"Don't be like that," he spoke, his jovial tone matching his overall body language, light and unguarded. "I was busy with a car crash down a few blocks."
"That's horrible, was anyone badly injured?" The only other male at the table asked.
Even while Louise didn't give any response to this, Rick couldn't help but ask about the crash. Pat just turned slightly, his grin much softer and could be better described as sheepish.
"Yeah, it was no bother, I can stop car crashes with a single finger," he bragged, moving forward in his seat once more, so Pat could get a better angle to talk to the other man from. "Let me tell ya, the bigger problem isn't stopping the crash… It's how grateful some people are afterward. Some of them are a wee… bit too grateful."
Becca and Rick shared a glance before the two realized what the man had just said.
"You're that-"
Before Becca could even voice her revelation, Pat shushed her, his left hand coming out of his pocket in a stop-motion, a quick wink. It wasn't like it was hard to figure out that the man in blue was the legendary super-powered reporter.
Over the past year, the reporter had been doing as much stopping crime as he was reporting on it. Though, the large majority of his actions was rescue work, helping out with burning buildings, stopping traffic accidents. That sort of thing.
Very few people were out robbing banks in this day and age.
New York's accident rate was down to levels many had never seen before, to a rate that made some wonder if there was any real danger to speeding anymore. But those people were morons, and shouldn't be listened to.
At least, Louise thought so.
It was then that the young woman found that she hadn't anything left to eat from her meal, nothing to hide the fact that she didn't want to talk. Instead, Louise was stuck staring at her fingers while Pat continued describing his morning of saving lives.
If it wasn't for all the gloating, Louise would've felt proud, she still did feel a little proud of her friend. But that wasn't something the O'Reilly woman was going to tell him, not in the mood she was in.
"... and that was when I appeared, matching the speed of the car, catching it with me hands and bringing it to a safe stop." Pat ended his story in a soft whisper, his hands moving forward in a mime of the event. "When it comes to catching most large objects, matching their speed is usually the way to go."
"Wow, that's intense," Becca replied, her eyes practically had stars in them when her boyfriend elbowed her once more. This time he motioned his head slightly, bringing Becca's attention back to the cross expression that Louise was wearing.
"You know… maybe we should be… leaving…" Rick supplied much to Pat's apparent amusement. With a gentle hand, he helped his girlfriend up and left the table, the duo leaving the room within seconds.
So the two were left alone… or, as alone as a crowded lunchroom could be.
"Hey," Pat spoke, after having waited through a long period of silence. "I'm sorry about being late again, I just let myself get caught up in everything, even just patrolling the city itself is a massive job. I'm letting myself get overwhelmed, so I had a thought…"
He let himself trail off, giving Louise a smile, a small hesitant thing that even on the face of a six feet tall man couldn't help but be shared by the woman herself.
"You had a thought, it sounds dangerous to me," she grinned, feeling uplifted somewhat before the O'Reilly girl waved him on.
"So, I had been flying about, and there was this cat," He put his hand on the table, his hand miming the actions of this animal. "Accidently, I picked him up, and for a second I was like… Oh no, she'd be dead… but no, she was fine, even at the fastest I could move. So anywhere you want to go, I'll take you."
Now, this got Louise's attention, she could recall the man's concerns over whiplash when she had once asked to be given a lift.
"How long will it take to get… to London?"
Pat leaned forward, an action that Louise mirrored, the two of them nearly directly in the other's face.
"Only a short half an hour," he responded, before adding on. "Just let me finish my fluff piece, then we'll figure out the place time, with time zones being considered, and this place finally being done and we'll get going, no need to pack for much, I can have you back before you know it."
It was at this moment that a large bang hit the table. Pat was the first to turn and face the noise, his grin much smaller now and stained. When Louise turned around at a normal human rate, she couldn't help but groan at the sight before.
"Agent Morse," Pat spoke, leaning back on his chair casually. There was a grimace on his face, a twitch that lasted less than a microsecond but that was more than enough for both Bobbi and Louise to pick up on it. "What can I do for you?"
"There's been a situation," Bobbi slid a folder towards Pat, the man catching it with a single finger and spinning it to face him.
Louise didn't get to peek inside it, as Pat leaned forwards, his eyes now glaring down at the page below him. He tapped against it before closing the folder and standing up, leaving it on the table. Something that the SHIELD Agent seemed to leave be.
"Sorry for cutting this short, L," Pat said, turning as he started to walk out of the lunchroom, SHIELD Agent in tow. "But the big leagues are calling, and I'm stepping into the ring."
"Stop mixing metaphors!" Louise spoke out, knowing that even as he had already left the room, that his super-powered ears could hear every word she spoke. "It's not as cool as you like."
(Pat Doyle)
Loki has come to Earth, blown up a SHIELD Laboratory, and stolen some artifact of great power, for no doubt nefarious purposes that included conquering either Earth or Asgard. Noice, that was something right out of the comics, and since Loki was down here and making a mess.
Thor wouldn't be far behind.
I should keep an eye out for a blond doctor with a cane. Since where there is Loki, his brother Thor can't be too far behind, ready to take out his evil adopted brother like a mighty... hammer of justice.
No, that was too lame… even for me.
We weren't taking long to get to the destination, especially given we took what I would call "Air-Lugh" to get there, I even had the time to get changed into my Lugh outfit, a blue hoodie with a white shield and a blue sun with three bursts coming out of it in the center. This was topped off with a blue domino mask.
This wasn't the only clothes I had for Superheroing, but it was the only set that I had on hand. The other suit was for… special occasions, so I didn't bother to carry it around with me.
The only reason that I even knew where I was going to was the folder I had been given earlier, and that place was… a SHIELD Carrier.
Now, as I came down to the thing, I was able to see the inner workings of this ship. The sight of the gears, the large turbines, and many other technical features revealed to me that this wasn't a normal carrier.
This was an airship.
Memories of the nineties Spider-man and the flying ship that SHIELD used in that came to my mind first, followed by the one in the Ultimate line of comics in Marvel. The SHIELD Helicarrier, if I recall correctly.
It's impressive tech, relative to the normal stuff that the world has access to at least.
We landed without a bang, it was a fast but soft landing. It was a showcase of the power that I had at my command, that I could move that fast, but still not make a sound as I landed on their deck. Also… and this is something that I found really odd. No matter how fast I went, I never seemed to make a sonic boom… like what the hell is up with that?
Before anything else could happen, I spotted a familiar pair stepping off a helicopter, a very familiar pair.
"Dr. Banner, Dr. Ross, it's good to see you guys again!" I walked up, Morse running up to my side.
I took a long look at the pair, they were glowing in that metaphorical sense. And it didn't go without saying that Bruce was looking a lot better than he had been the last time I saw him, were before his clothes were hanging off him, obviously, he either couldn't get his hands on clothes that could fit him at the time or he was underfed and meant that clothes that should've fit didn't.
"It's good to see you too," Banner replied, his right hand caught in the grip of Ross's own hand as the two walked forward. "You… look colorful?"
"Bruce," Betty spoke up, elbowing the man lightly as she giggled. "Don't be rude."
"Hey, it was just an observation," he exclaimed with a smile. "I didn't mean anything by it."
Whatever the pair was about to say, I didn't pay it any heed as I instead my attention was grabbed by a stunning redhead walking up behind them, she didn't even make a single sound whenever her feet hit against the ground.
Interesting.
"So they brought you guys in on this, what's the sitch?" I asked the pair, deciding to pretend that I hadn't noticed the redhead.
"Well, from what we've been told, the Tesseract produces gamma radiation," Betty responded, walking forward toward the entrance to the carrier's interior. "So given that between Bruce and me, we're the foremost experts on gamma radiation in the world, they've brought us in to track it."
Bruce's face lifted into a smile as a blond man, built better than I currently was, stepped into view before us. He was tall enough, around my same height, but the broader shoulders he had made him out to be bigger than I was in spite of our similar structure.
It turns out that I was staring at him but given the amused eyebrow raise from the man, I doubt I was that creepy doing so. Maybe he was just used to people staring at him.
"Steve Rogers," he put his hand out, waiting for me to shake it.
So I did.
"Patrick Doyle," I shook his hand, remembering his name from what little Marvel trivia I could recall. Far more memorable than the Hellicarrier was in the Spider-Man animated series, Captain America wasn't a man one would forget. Given there was an entire arc around him.
But hopefully, this isn't the same kind of Captain America as the "This A on my forehead isn't for France!" Ultimate Marvel version. Given the variation of Nick Fury I met with, that was a big concern for me.
"I've heard of you," Cap replied with a small grin. "The superpowered reporter; heard that you've been doing some good work. It's nice to meet you."
It was said so earnestly that I couldn't imagine this man saying the most infamous line of the Ultimate Version. So earnestly that I couldn't help but share the grin as we shook hands. We didn't have much else to say to each other, so I let the good captain introduce himself to the gamma pair.
While the Cap and I had been talking, Morse had introduced herself to Banner and Ross, the two of them quietly giving each other the gentle exchanges of polite glad to be working with you.
"Dr. Banner, Dr. Ross," Rogers' tone was of deep respect. I could only presume it was respect for their intellect and supposed skills, given that the man had yet to meet them before today.
"Oh, yeah," Banner looked around as if he was surprised that the Captain was talking to him of all people."Hi, they told me that you were coming along."
"The word is that you're the man that can find the cube."
"Is that the only word?"
"The only one that matters to me."
"Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath."
The redhead spoke up, catching my attention once more as we entered the Helicarrier. This was the moment that I could feel the ground start to shift and shake slightly as the place started to lift up.
"Huh, it's not as impressive as the tech sheet makes it out to be," I mumbled, grabbing Morse's attention who couldn't help but give me a side glare. "I'm just saying, this thing can't go high enough to give me trouble. Talk to me when you've got a space-Helicarrier and then I'll be impressed."
Author's Note: Okay, this is my sixth time writing this damn note, from now I write in the document and not during pasting. So there's some changes, I'm sure some of you can guess why they were changed and can continue the thing yourselves.
This won't be a one to one retelling of the Avengers but there are times where there'd be no difference. So I didn't bother writing those scenes out, you will though get a rundown from a character's pov of the scenes that I don't write.Last