Chapter 2- A Few Visitors
Third Person:
Kato was was sure to wrap her head with cloth as she pulled up the hood over it as well. She was currently in her human form so the red fur, claws, cat ears, tail, and yellow eyes were replaced by red hair, somewhat pale skin, sort of long human nails, human ears, and blue eyes. The tail was completely gone.
She wore basic clothing that she had stolen from the village- cloth pants and a basic cloth shirt with a hood. As much as she hated to steal, she did what she needed to in order to survive. Though that didn't mean that she was barbaric. After all, she did live in society (to a degree) before she was captured... Granted she did go 'total animal' for a little bit while in captivity.
She shook her head. There was no use for her living in the past. Carpe Diem, she thought grimly, even if I don't really have much to do in the present.
Either way, today was supply today. She did enjoy that cheese bread, but she had to get some more food. Her metabolism was a bit too quick sometimes. She wiggled her toes slightly, feeling the dirt and mud of the jungle wriggle between them. She hated shoes- shoes confined her feet and threw off her balance. Besides, her feet were made differently from a normal human's. Her feet were stronger and made for running and jumping without protection.
She made her way through the jungle with cat-like ease and grace, jumping from tree to tree. As she got closer to the village, she made her way on foot on the ground.
The village was small and humble. It wasn't anything fancy and the people lived on basic necessities. There were small huts everywhere, small little market stations that had things like food, water, clothing, fabrics, beads and more.
Kato liked the village. It reminded her so much of a traditional Katojns tribu (Tribe). She took in all the sights and sounds, but did her best to keep her head down as to not draw too much attention to herself. She stopped for a moment as she smelled the air.
Someone is here, someone... no more than just one person... Six people... All smell human- to a degree... Two female, three males...One smells like bugs, pollution, and sweat... No they all smell like sweat, they aren't used to the jungle most likely... only two of them smell clean... The clean one smells like... human but there's something off- something small is off, almost a feline smell... The other clean one smells like so many animals and metals at once... I don't like it... Those two are female... One male smells cleaner than the rest, smells metallic sort of, and also smells like something else I can't define... One male I can't smell anything besides a bit of sweat and that he's a male... One male smells like a lot of chemicals, some other materials I can't identify... odd...
She made sure to keep her guard up and made a mental note to hurry with the supplies to get back to the temple. She needed to protect that idol.
"Hurry up," Nova whined.
"Can it, Bucket Head," Alex shot back.
"I'm serious. You know what-why don't I just-"
He was cut off by Alex putting her metal hand over his mouth.
"I said can it. There's someone here that smell like a feline and human at the same time-and no, Tiger, it's not you. Although it is a female. Also, there's a faint scent of cheese bread."
They all looked at her a little surprised.
"Do you smell anything else," Power Man asked.
Alex sniffed the air a few times before answering.
"Yeah. There's a village nearby, a couple miles at most. We can talk to the man in charge there."
"Don't we get a say in this," Nova demanded.
Alex, who had had her fair share of Nova, scoffed.
"Okay? You want a choice-fine. Would you rather run ahead into a possible threat without knowing any weaknesses or would you rather get some type of clue on what she's capable of so we can see how much of a threat she is?"
Nova opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it again.
"Fine," he huffed, "But this better be quick."
About half an hour later they were in the heart of the village looking for the chief.
"Nova, fly high enough to get a better loo but not high enough to be spotted by anyone in the jungle," Alex instructed.
He nodded and flew just under the trees height. A few minutes later he came back down.
"Nothing. They all look the same, but there was a supply truck."
Alex nodded her thanks and walked in that direction, leaving the team to follow her.
When they reached the supply truck, the scent hit Alex in the face like Thor's hammer. She could smell the cat-human hybrid very close by. Most likely in this crowd of people, but why? Well for food obviously, but she smelled more human than feline-in fact her scent was all over the village. Alex growled. It was a growl like several animals put together, so her lowest was pretty loud.
A few people backed away in fear while a couple more put there hands on their weapons.
Alex sighed.
It's always like this, she thought.
"Look," she said in Portuguese, "I apologize for the scare. We're super heroes from America, and we wish to speak to the person in charge."
Most of the men relaxed a little bit, but a few brought up there weapons and pointed them in her face. That did nothing to her emotionless face. She put her hands up in mock surrender and spoke in a more soothing voice.
"Please, may we speak with him? It is of utmost urgency."
A second later, a man in tribal garment around his bottom and beads covering his neck and arms came by. The most interesting thing was his giant feathery hat.
Alex bowed and motioned for the team to do the same.
"Greetings," the man said in a cheery tone, "To what do we owe the pleasure of superheroes visiting the village?"
Nova sighed in annoyance. He couldn't understand a single word they were saying and that made him more than annoyed. He was sure the rest of his team felt the same.
"We have come to take obtain the idol. There is a madman known as Taskmaster that will use it for evil. We just want to keep it in a more secure place," Iron Fist said, stepping closer.
Alex nodded her agreement while the chief looked appalled by their request.
"N-no! We need that idol for the protection of this village, along with the temple guardian!"
Alex and Fist's eyes widened slightly at this.
"We understand, and we could give you protection as well. Could you tel us more about this temple guardian?"
He shook his head in disdain.
"Sadly, I do not. But there are a few people in the village who bring the Guardian offerings. The two that go the most are two kids called Davi and Yara."
Alex gave him a soft smile and thanked him for his kindness. A few minutes later they were back in the heart of the village, looking for the two called Davi and Yara.
"I see you are fond of the chief," Iron Fist said as he walked next to Alex. She hadn't even noticed the small smile that hadn't left her face.
"Not really, I just have a soft spot for kids. I always kind of have but I don't bother getting to close anymore."
Iron Fist shot her a sad look.
"Why not?"
"Not only did I get hurt, but so did they. It was the kind of hurt that didn't get better. So, I only get as close as I need to."
He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile.
"It can always get better. Even more so when you're surrounded by friends."
She smiled and thought for a moment before asking,
"What do teens usually do for fun? I mean-I usually only hang out with the Avengers, and the only kids on that team are Axel, me, and our friend Gear."
He gave her a thoughtful smile.
"Perhaps we can find out after the mission. Right now, we must find the ones called...David and Yari?"
Alex smirked.
"Davi and Yara," she corrected. Behind them Nova scoffed.
"Animal and Iron Fist, sitting in a tree," he sang, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
About a minute later he was on his back gasping for air with Alex standing over him.
"My patience is wearing thin and by 'wearing thin' I mean you're one smart-ass comment away from being bitch-slapped so hard not even Google will be able to find you."
The whole team-minus Iron Fist, who was just looking amused-burst out laughing.
"We should use that one!" Spidey said through laughter.
"Wait," Alex said as she sniffed the air, "She's nearby... I can smell her."
The team started to look around- but to no avil. The only thing that seemed out of place was one person that only Iron Fist noticed. It was a woman, he could tell that much, but he couldn't tell anything else. She seemed out of place, however, when she looked at him in the eyes- he saw the blue eyes staring back at him. Blue eyes are very uncommon in these parts. A second later, the girl ran off at a high speed. Before Iron Fist could bring attention to it from the rest of his team, a little girl, maybe nine, ran into Alex.
The girl started speaking madly fast Portuguese that nobody but Alex could understand her. A second later an older boy came up, he was probably around fourteen. He looked a lot like the girl.
"Would you by any chance be Davi and Yara?"
They nodded.
"Good. We need to ask you some questions about the Temple Guardian."
Davi and Yara shared a look, before they nodded once again. Iron Fist stepped forward slightly to ask the first question,
"Why do you give the Temple Guardian offerings?"
Nova huffed,
"Well, what's he saying?"
"He's asking about why they give the Temple Guardian offerings," Alex translated.
"She protects the village that way," Davi answered, "She's good though... Please don't hurt her, she saved us when we went into the jungle."
Alex translated what the boy had said so Nova and the others could understand.
"Weird, if she's a hero, why does she want offerings," Spidey mused.
"Well, could you turn down free food," Tiger answered.
"What does she look like," Alex asked.
"I don't know, we didn't see her. We were going to be attacked by a jaguar when something in the bushes scared it off- she had yellow eyes and was feline... We knew it was the Temple Guardian. She scared off the jaguar and saved us and she's scared off so many bad men that come to our village..."
"Well," Nova asked.
"The boy said that the guardian protects the village and saved them from a jaguar. He doesn't know what she looks like, just feline," Iron Fist translated, "Rather interesting since Alex had smelled a female feline earlier."
"I still smell her," Alex added, "Her scent is all over this village so she must come here often... I just don't know how she stays hidden from the villagers."
"We won't hurt her," Iron Fist said to the children, "We thank you for your help."
Davi smiled and started to leave with his little sister when Yara turned back to them,
"Promise?"
"We promise."
