Disclaimer: Victorious and its characters are the property of Schneider's Bakery and Nickelodeon. Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers – Age of Ultron and all relevant characters are the property of Marvel Comics and Disney. Arrow and all relevant characters are the property of DC Comics and Time-Warner. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. No profit is intended or wanted for this story.
Summary: The latest Marvel Movieverse release resurrects some memories for Tori, Jade and the others.
Note: Takes place roughly a week before this story was posted.
May, 2015
Jade was lounging on the right-hand couch in the Vega home. She and Tori, her girlfriend of over a year, were watching Arrow on the CW network. "You think Laurel has the hots for Nyssa?"
Tori walked into the living room, handing Jade a can of Wahoo. "Huh? But Sarah is Laurel's sister and was Nyssa's lover before…"
"I didn't say Nyssa was lusting after Laurel but that Laurel got moist whenever she was with Nyssa."
"You are such a romantic," Tori scoffed.
"Well, it worked for me, didn't it?"
Tori merely stuck her tongue out. Jade shook her head, "So mature, Vega."
"Well…"
"Shut up! Commercials are over!"
Silence reigned as Arrow resumed with a flashback to Oliver Queen's time in Hong Kong.
At the next break, Tori said, "Okay, I see what you mean. She does seem concerned about Nyssa. And not just friend level concern."
"Yeah. After it's over, let's check out the story sites and see if they have any slash with them."
"Um…you mean pornography?"
"No Vega, I mean smut!" The big smile on Jade's face faded as she glanced at the TV. A promo for Jane the Virgin came on. The smile faded as she shouted, "How the hell can she still be pregnant? Hasn't this show been on for like a couple of years already? What is she? An elephant?" Then she yelled at the TV, "Hey Jane! You sure you're not just putting on weight?"
"JADE!"
"Oh c'mon! You gotta be thinking it too," Jade countered Tori's implied criticism.
The closing act of the penultimate episode of the current season of Arrow started at the same time the doorbell rang. "Give me a break!"
"Jade, behave…"
Tori was interrupted again, this time by her sister who called from upstairs, "You get it!"
Jade yelled towards the stairs, "NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!"
At the same time, Tori called back, "I know what to do!"
"What the hell, muchachas?" Andre asked as Tori let him in.
"Nothin', Andre, just Jade and Trina and…"
"Shut UP! The climax is coming."
"That's what she said," Andre whispered with a chuckle. "OW!"
Tori smiled sweetly after her slap on his arm while Jade glared at both of them before turning back to the TV. Andre looked over and said, "Yeah, this is where Oliver…"
"SHUT UP! I haven't seen it yet!"
Andre glanced at Tori, "Lemme guess, the P's were out and you were suddenly distracted by her pale brilliance and…"
Tori blushed and nodded, "I promised her she could catch up with it on OnDemand."
"Which I can't if you two idiots don't shut up!"
Soon after Arrow ended, Trina and Beck came down to meet the others. "Ready to go see Ultron?"
"Yeah, buddy! This is gonna be epic!" Andre replied.
"Still rather watch Penny Dreadful," Jade muttered.
The fivesome got into Beck's truck – Trina next to her boyfriend, Andre riding shotgun with the two lovers in the bed of the pickup. In moments, they were on the way to the classic Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, one of several IMAX showcases in Los Angeles.
Parking in a nearby garage, they met the rest of their merry band at the corner of Las Palmas and Hollywood.
Jade walked up to Robbie and got right in his face, "You did get the tickets."
Robbie nodded quickly, swallowing loudly. "Ye…yes…"
Cat spoke up, "Jade, please don't make Robbie pee in his pants."
Reluctantly, Jade agreed. "As long as these are for the 8 o'clock show. I'm not hanging around gringo tourista heaven for the 11:30."
As a group, they headed to the historic theater, ignoring the fabled Walk of Fame. That alone marked them as locals.
They got in line, willing to wait for twenty minutes outside before they could enter the IMAX theater within Chinese. Jade snorted and said, "I shoulda stopped for coffee."
"Then you'd be complaining you have to wazz during the show," Tori said.
Jade humphed then asked, "Why do I hang out with you?"
Tori just smiled wickedly and wiggled her eyebrows.
Inside, they got seats in two rows near the front. Cat at in the forward row, flanked by Andre and her boyfriend. The row behind them, Trina sat next to her boyfriend and Tori and Jade sat next to them.
Tori leaned forward, "Heard from Sam lately?"
Cat nodded, "Yeah! She and Carly are going to some IMAX in Seattle with Freddie and his new girlfriend to see the movie tonight too!" Cat's phone growled a specific ringtone and she said, "It's Sam!"
She started to text with her roommate, who had returned to Seattle to help her girlfriend move to LA. "Yay! They're at the same show!"
"I'm out of popcorn, Vega."
"Already?" Tori sighed, "I told you to get a large."
"Get me more popcorn and I'll make it worth your while."
"Especially if I miss any previews…" Tori replied before she got up and headed to the lobby and the long line for concessions.
"How do you do that?" Trina asked.
"By doing things you'd never do to your sister," Jade replied. "And can't do to Beck."
"Eew!"
Beck laughed, "You had to ask, babe."
Tori managed to get back in time for the previews, with a large bucket of corn for Jade and another for herself.
As they exited the theater, Beck was saying, "The opening attack on the Hydra base was awesome!"
Andre agreed, "Yeah. That was cool. And when they were all checking out Thor's hammer…"
"I bet Cat could pick it up," Robbie declared.
"Aw, sweet," Cat said as she snuggled with the curly-headed teen. "Gotta pee!" The faux redhead raced across the lobby.
"Guess we wait," Beck said with a shrug.
"And Ultron was awesome! James Spader has the perfect voice…" Andre added.
"For some reason, I thought Hugo Weaving was going to be the voice of Ultron. One of the previews I saw, Ultron sounded like Agent Smith in The Matrix." Beck shook his head, "Must've…"
"Hanging out with the screechbox has ruined your hearing," Jade said with an oddly sweet smile.
"Jade, I don't know how but one of these days, I'll get back at you. And no one will ever find…"
"OKAY!" Tori yelled. "No more fighting between my girlfriend and my sister."
"Yeah, Jade. She'll take my side…"
"Don't push it, Treen."
"Still could've been rewatching Penny Dreadful. Or the first season of The Strain again," Jade tossed off.
"C'mon, Jade. I know you liked it."
Reluctantly, Jade nodded. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool. I was disappointed that the only casualty was…"
"HEY! We haven't seen it yet!" someone in line, waiting for the late show, yelled.
"Well, then… Guess who died?! It was…mmmppphhh…"
Jade's eyes were shooting daggers at Tori, who's hand was over her mouth. "Hush! Do not ruin this for them!"
Her hand slid away and Jade said, "Or what?"
"No num-nums for a month," Tori replied.
"Almost be worth it to ruin Fanboy's evening…"
"Really?" Tori asked.
Jade growled. "No! Damn it!"
"Good girl," Tori said before kissing Jade.
As the late-show movie goers waiting in line stared, Jade reconsidered ruining their night before succumbing to Tori's swift, dominating tongue.
Cat ran up, "I'm back! Aaw…cute!"
"Uh, guys? Can we at least get to the cars first?" Beck asked.
The girls parted, holding hands as they proceeded out of the classic lobby and onto the Hollywood sidewalk.
"Hey, at least they didn't play any song with bad memories attached…" Beck commented, referring to the night they went to see Guardians of the Galaxy the year before.
August, 2014
The first part of the credits ended. Baby Groot in a small pot started to dance to the Jackson 5 classic, I Want You Back, as Drax the Destroyer sat in a chair off to the side sharpening his large knife. When Drax turned to look at the small sprout, Groot froze in place until Drax faced forward again then the little shoot resumed it's little dance.
"Why did they have to use that song?" Tori moaned.
This was another of the few times Jade agreed with Tori. "I really hate that song!"
Tori, who had been holding Jade's hand since they finished their jumbo bucket of popcorn, gave her hand a squeeze.
"Let's go," Tori suggested, standing and tugging on Jade's arm.
"No! There's always another Easter Egg after all the credits," Jade protested. The next year, that would become an on-going gripe after they waited through the Ultron credits for nothing.
In the present of 2014 though, Tori fell back in her seat with a "Humph!"
The last of the movie credits scrolled up and the screen showed the Collector sitting in the ruins of his collection, clearly depressed at the damage caused by his late assistant. A dog in a Russian spacesuit came up and licked his face then a voice from off-camera asked him why.
The speaker was shown and, while the older fans laughed, groaned or cheered, Jade and Tori looked at each other. "Huh? Who's that?"
"You got me," Jade replied.
As they walked out, Tori said, "I gotta pee!"
"Go, Cat!" Jade laughed snidely. As soon as Tori was out of sight, she realized she had to pee as well.
She found herself four people behind Tori in line for the five stalls in one of the megaplex's women's room. "Ugh…"
A half hour later, they arrived as Nozu to meet the rest of the gang. They found them at a table in the back corner.
Beck sat there, Trina right up against him, practically in his lap, as he asked, "So? Whaddya think?"
"I loved it! It was so much fun." Jade silently nodded her agreement, naturally not the type to gush like her very girly girlfriend.
Andre nodded, "I know, right?"
"Did you guys stick around through the credits?" Robbie asked.
With less enthusiasm, Tori nodded.
Jade said, "What's the deal with the Jackson 5?"
"Yeah, why did they have to use that song?" Tori whined.
"Yeah, after Yerba…"
"I don't think they were concerned about what happened to us when they made the movie," Trina spoke up, and made sense - oddly to her sister.
"And it was kinda funny," Robbie added about the short, mid-credit scene.
"Yeah! I tried it with an avocado sprout at home." Cat said.
"Tell them what happened, baby," Sam prompted her girlfriend.
Cat pouted and said, "He didn't move."
"Well, he was in a water glass, not a pot of dirt," Robbie said.
"Yeah! Robbie, you're right! Sam, lets go and put Baby Groot in a bucket of dirt," Cat demanded excitedly.
"It won't work," Sam said,
"Why would you say that?" Cat cried.
Sam pinched the bridge of her nose, "Because we have an avacado, not a… Not a Groot."
Cat giggled, stood up with her fists on her hips. In a deep voice, she declared, "I am Groot!"
The group spent the next few minutes talking about the movie.
"Ronan wasn't evil in the comics. He was the Supreme Prosecutor for the Kree Supreme Intelligence."
"Yeah, Beck, but Thanos was exactly right!"
Tori asked, "What was the space station? Did I hear right that it was a head?"
Robbie nodded excitedly, "Yeah, that was Knowhere. It's the head of one of the Eternals that was killed in in some ancient battle. In the comics, it was the Guardians' base.
"They changed Drax some too. He wanted to kill Thanos for killing his family, not Ronan…"
Beck spoke up, "Well, the movies aren't exactly the same as the comics."
"I was still hoping we'd see a Kree Sentry," Robbie muttered.
"What's a creesentary?" Cat asked.
"No, a Sentry from the Kree Empire," Robbie said. "It's a big, heavily armored robot used by the Kree to protect their bases."
"Oh, I see… Wait! No I don't see."
"It's like this Little Red. The Kree have a giant empire and bases all over the Galaxy. Every one of those has a giant robot guardian called a Sentry."
"Okay… Where do they come from?"
Andre looked at Beck, silently asking, do we really wanna go into this?
Robbie took the option out of their hands. "The Kree live in the Greater Magellenic Cloud near the Milky Way."
"Oooo, I love Milky Ways!" Cat clapped and laughed.
"No, Cat. That's not it…"
"Shapiro, just drop it!" Jade begged. "Before I get a migraine."
"Yeah, you're confusing my baby," Sam added. She turned to Cat, "We'll get you a Milky Way on the way home, Cat."
"YAY! Then we can put Groot in a bucket of dirt!"
Sam just groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose again.
"C'mon, Vega! Time to sing!" Jade announced as she gently tugged Tori out of the booth.
"Jade!" came the expected protest. But Tori willingly followed Jade to the DJ sitting off to the side of the small stage.
"What you ladies want to sing?"
"You have an oldies list?" Jade asked. The DJ smiled and handed her a single sheet.
"There! Play G-2."
"Please," Tori added with an apologetic smile.
"OKAY! This Jade and Tori! They gonna sing Go All The Way by the Raspberries!"
The new lovers had already been enjoying the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack for a couple of weeks before the movie so they knew the classic '70s and '80s songs well. (Except for the Jackson 5 song which they regularly skipped over.)
Jade and Tori started to dance as the lively song started then, when prompted, they began to sing to each other. The passion and the fire from their performance was almost palpable.
After that song played out, Jade yelled, "B-5!"
The DJ smiled and started the next song, Fooled Around and Fell In Love by Elvin Bishop.
Jade and Tori took turns singing that song to each other. Their eyes were bright and locked on each other. Both forgot all about the audience as they remained fixated on each other.
When the song ended, Jade pulled Tori to her and kissed the other passionately. Tori returned the torrid French kiss enthusiastically.
A strident voice yelled out, "NO! No! No! No! You both nasty, evil girls! You leave now! You hang my daughter for your stoopid play! Then you come here, act like perverted Geisha girls…"
Jade turned on her, "Perverted? I'll give you perv…"
Tori interrupted Jade, "Mrs. Lee, we love each other. The song got to us and…"
"You act like two dyke porno movie sluts!"
Beck stood up then, "Hey!"
Ignoring the Canadian, Mrs. Lee went on, "You take your gay, dyke rainbow unicorns and leave! Now! No gay dyke homos in my restaurant!
She clapped her hands twice. "Kwakoo! Throw out these two gay dykes! And their gay dyke friends!"
Andre couldn't help but laugh, "We're gay dykes?"
Beck chuckled, "It could be worse. We could be happy Dutch dams."
Reluctantly, Kwakoo came from behind the counter, where he had to chop more squid after an incident involving broken glass and plastic ware. As he walked up, Jade, still holding her microphone, yelled, "Hey! Back off, Gigantor! We're leaving!"
That froze Kwakoo at the opening of the circular sushi bar. Jade continued, "We're leaving. And anyone else who isn't a homophobic moron can go with us to Karaoke Dokie! The food's better there anyway!"
Jade threw the live mike behind her and the impact against the big screen monitor echoed through the speakers causing screeching feedback.
Not pausing, Jade led Tori from the stage to the door. The gang immediately filed out behind them. Slowly the tables emptied as most of the clientele left, some to go to Karaoke Dokie with them. Even the DJ got up, flipped off Mrs. Lee with a big smile and left.
In only a few moments, Kwakoo, the waitstaff and an older couple, who had no idea what was going on, were the only ones left in the restaurant.
Mrs. Lee fell onto one of the stools at the sushi bar and yelled, "DANG IT!"
May, 2015
"I still miss Nozu," Robbie said sadly.
"Screw them, the sushi's better at…"
Cat interrupted, "I wanna sing karaoke!"
"Okey-dokey!" Robbie replied happily.
Cat laughed, "That's funny 'cause I was thinking Karaoke Dokie!"
"That's so cool, Cat! So was I!" Robbie said.
"Oh, Robbie, it's like we're in syn…"
"God! Enough!" Jade interrupted. "I'm about to go into sugar shock!"
"Sugar shock?" Cat asked. "You didn't eat any candy…"
"Jade's saying you two are too sweet for her," Tori explained. "I think it's cute."
"You would, Vega."
"No num-nums?" Tori warned.
Jade held up her hands in surrender, "Alright, alright."
As they neared their cars, Robbie thought about the girlfriends' shared phobia over the Jackson 5 song and said, "Maybe you guys could sing I Want You Back…"
Simultaneously, the dark-haired girls yelled, "ROBBIE!"
"Eek!"
