I don't own any Marvel characters all rights go to Stan Lee and marvel
Chapter One: The encounter
Orla Karington heaved a tired sigh as she ran her fingers through her lengthening brown hair. Nursing school today had been especially hard and she was tired and ached for a hot meal and bed. She sighed as her cell went off and then answered.
"Hello? Michelle?" Orla asked, waiting for the bus to stop.
"Hey, I'm gonna be a little late. Mom and dad are in town and we're having dinner. So, eat without me. I should get home by eight." Michelle, her roommate said in a calmly tone.
"Ok. It's fine. My bus is stopping so I'll see you when you get back. Have fun with your parents." she hung up and stretched, standing up in her seat as the bus stopped. She got off the bus and started walking home.
As she walked she carefully looked around. It had always been a habit of Orla's to be careful when she was alone. There were all kinds of people in New York City.
As she walked past an alley, she heard a moan. She cautiously peered into the alley. Since it was dark, all she could see was the shadow of a person lying against the wall.
She flipped her phone flashlight on, and slowly walked over.
"Uh, hey there. Are you ok?" she asked kneeling down next to him. She looked at his outfit and frowned. It was strange. The colors consisted of black, gold, and dark green, and the majority of the material was leather. It had a definite medieval twist to it.
Orla gingerly searched for some sort of identification but found nothing.
"What should I do?" she muttered. If she took him to the police and he had no ID, they would make her answer several questions she wouldn't know. Orla remembered when a cop questioned her for three hours when she brought in a drunk who she didn't know. Because of that, she missed one of the most important classes for nursing and nearly flunked. Since then, Orla avoided police.
She checked for injuries and saw only minor ones. She wondered what happened. Perhaps he was mugged or got in an alley fight. Since the injuries were minor and the hospital was always busy, it wouldn't help him much to go to a hospital. For now, she would have to take him to her apartment.
"Guess I don't got much of a choice." She sighed, and lifted him up. He certainly was heavy even though she was quite strong, as she was constantly lifting heavy boxes at school and at her part time job. She heaved him into the apartment lobby and got into the elevator.
On the way up, she was getting many odd looks from the other passengers. She could understand why they'd think it looked…odd. A man in a medieval battle armor suit, unconscious, along with the elevator music, just made everything awkward. Orla managed a nervous laugh.
"Ah heh heh…too much to drink…" she said, awkwardly patting his back.
They all nodded, and her floor came. Grateful to leave the awkward situation, she hurried up to her apartment. After lying him against the wall and opening the door, she picked him up again and tried to find a place where he could lay down for a while.
Now the question was…what to do with this guy. She ended up taking off his armor, and bandaged his cuts and bruises. She furrowed her eyebrows. What on earth was he doing wearing armor? And those deep bruises didn't look like fist bruises. She fussed a little while over what to do about feeding him, as Michelle came in.
"Hey Orla-woah! What's up with the cosplay guy?" Michelle asked, kicking off her stilettoes and bag. Orla looked at her helplessly and started her long story.
"And since he had no vital injuries and the hospital also would've kept me, I just took the guy here." Orla said, completing her story. Michelle took a cautious look at the man and then back at Orla.
"Uhh….so what if he wakes up and kills us in our sleep?" Michelle said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I don't know, we can take shifts I guess!" Orla said, exasperated.
"Right. Well, Doctor Who is coming on, so I'll take the first shift, and when it's over, you can take the next one. Deal?" Michelle said, sitting in the arm chair, as she reached for the remote.
"Deal." Orla agreed, striding into the kitchen. It was never a good idea to argue with Michelle, and she didn't like Doctor Who that much anyway.
Michelle hurried into the kitchen with the remote in her hands.
"Hey, Orla, the remote batteries died, can you recharge it?" Michelle asked, shoving it into her hand. Orla gave the remote a short clench and then handed it back. "Hey, thanks."
When Orla was thirteen years old, that is when her "power" came. She had discovered her ability to control all forms of energy. From electricity, to other energy sources, Orla could somewhat control it. At first, she could only charge batteries and phones. Then it escalated to laptops, then to their house being the only one with power during outages, and then….well, you get the picture. By the time she was eighteen she could drive without gas. She used to be afraid of what people would think of her power, and if they would know, they would treat her like a freak. But her family didn't care, neither did Michelle. They all thought it cool. All the same, Orla kept this all to herself just in case.
That night, while Michelle slept, Orla quietly watched over the man that the two girls were currently calling the "Cosplay guy". She took a closer look at him. He had black hair that was slicked back. He was unusually pale, but that was most likely because he was a little sick. She felt his forehead. He was starting to get a fever. As it neared one in the morning he started muttering in his sleep. His words were incomprehensible and she was getting a little worried.
As she wiped his brow, she heard him say one sentence.
"….I could've…..I could've done it father…."
He said. Orla looked at him closely. He seemed to be in pain, but it was not from the fever, or his bruises. It was deeper than that. He kept repeating the sentence over and over. At least he wasn't muttering gibberish anymore Orla thought.
"Hey…." She said nervously blinking her grey eyes at him. "You're going to be alright."
She spoke softly, slightly afraid of the thought of Michelle coming in at that moment. Suddenly his eyes opened and Orla slightly jumped. They were icy blue. She didn't think she had ever seen eyes like that. He closed his eyes again and was once more asleep. She let out a small breath and adjusted his covers.
The next morning, Michelle woke Orla up.
"C'mon girl, rise and shine, you got a class to go to in thirty minutes." Michelle said in a casual, loud voice. Orla's eyes flew open and she fled out of the living room.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP SOONER!? NOW I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR A SHOWER! I GOT TO GO NOW!" Orla bellowed throwing off her clothes and struggled to get in her new clothes. Orla stopped for a minute. Why was she sleeping in the living room again? Then it hit her. The cosplay guy was still here. She came out with her bag and looked down at the sleeping guy. She checked his temperature and was relieved that it went down. "Hey Michelle, are you going to a lecture today?" Michelle shook her head and pulled out her laptop.
"No, I got a paper to write. You go to your lecture, I got a gun right here in case he's a weirdo." Michelle triumphantly stated, patting a hot pink purse that contained her gun. Orla shook her head. For a girl learning how to be a lawyer, owning a gun without a permit was so ironic.
Orla grabbed her purse and threw her hair in a ponytail. "I'm going! Make sure when he wakes up he gets something to eat! Bye!" with those last words, Orla fled into the hallway.
All day Orla could not keep her mind of the cosplay guy. What if her really was this psycho? What if he kidnapped Michelle or worse? After class, Orla called Michelle.
"Hey, how's the cosplay guy?"
"He's ok. Man, that guy can sleep! He still hasn't woken up and I'm already halfway through my paper." Michelle reported.
"Well, I am going to go ahead and head home then." She hurried back, still worried for her friend's safety.
Orla soon reached the apartment and came in. She took a look at the couch. The cosplay guy was not there.
"Michelle? Where's the cosplay guy?" Michelle looked up from her laptop.
"I went to use the restroom, came back, and he wasn't there! He even folded the blanket!" Orla frowned and immediately searched the apartment. She looked under beds, in the shower, threw open the curtains to reveal a huge skyline window overlooking the city. There was nothing, and he was gone.
"Hey, while I was out, did the guy say anything in his sleep or something?"
"Yeah actually. He woke up and started saying stuff like 'mortal, where am I?' It was weird." Michelle said slowly. Orla thought about what she said. That was definitely strange.
"Well, we can put that story in our collection of the weird things we did when we were in college." Michelle exclaimed, shutting her laptop. The two burst out laughing.
"How about some ice cream to celebrate the fact we have our couch back?" Orla asked, opening the freezer. Michelle cheered and got some bowls and spoons.