Applejack
By Mice
Part 9: Time's a Wastin'
-Behind the Black Door - Astral Plane-
Hank led Annie to a seat in the theatre. They were the only patrons. "Ever since we kissed here, all I have thought about is the physics that apply. As a senior X-Men, I've had my fair share of adventures in astral related and yet, there is something here that's different."
"What's that?" Annie was disappointed that his mind had turned to physics and not on the kiss they had shared. Not to mention lack of follow through of certain promises, though she was sure Hank's fidelity was more to science than she.
"You're a dangerous woman, Annie Peckenpaugh." Hank turned more toward her. "A man has to be careful around you. Haunted eyes, anticipating smile...an orphaned siren who doesn't know that she's supposed to be bad." The movie screen began to flicker. "This astral plane has been listening to some of the darker aspects of my nature. On surface, I'm always afraid that I will devolve ever bestial. I never confide my idea that sometimes, I find that my humanity contains what I should truly be fearful of."
Annie squinted at the screen. "We're watching your memories."
"This is the week you left Xavier's. Jean and Scott took Bobby to a rehab facility further upstate. His approved visitor list didn't include me. It did include you."
Annie dared not to turn to look at Hank. "Are you cleaning up from a party?"
"It was going to be your graduation/birthday party. I had talked to the Professor and we agreed that you had achieved a point of recognition and introduction."
Annie saw the simple decor - snippets of a biography of her life displayed, a picture of her green and white Pallas Patriots softball uniform. A letter of scholarship from Western State University.
"How did you find those items?"
"I talked to your grandmother. A very lovely lady, by the way. I picked them up while on my way to a conference in Denver."
Annie frowned. "You went back to Pallas?"
"I really need to show you Dunfee one day. It's not a terrible place" Hank paused. "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"
Annie felt a warm numbness in her head. "I called you when I settled in Santa Monica..." Annie's voice trailed as the movie went from the party to Hank in his lab on the phone.
Patricia, this is Dr. McCoy. I will take the estate on the south, where the black swans landed at sunset...no, I'm afraid that my assistant is no longer with me...I don't know if I'll get another one...she wasn't my girlfriend...my best friend's girlfriend, actually...he's in rehab...does this mean I don't get the estate?...I know Matt Murdoch, yes...how many houses away, again?...I think I'll be fine...thanks, Patricia. See you Sunday.
The scene changed to sunset at the estate. Hank stared at the pond and saw the black swans flying in.
"I've been holed up at that estate with Harpo ever since. Every sunset, those swans land and I wish that you were there to see it. Sometimes, I even pretend that you are there. We've given the swans lives, names. I named the female Eliza. You named the male -"
"Hans."
Hank closed his eyes. "Exactly."
"The minute you mentioned the swans, I named the male."
The scene continued.
Good night, Eliza. Good night, Hans.
"I loved a girl with green eyes before I had met you. She was poor and troubled. She never said goodbye, either." Hank kept his eyes closed as the screen went black. "Our time together has brought this forgotten mass to the surface, and when you left, it detonated."
A montage of women in bed with Hank began on the screen.
"All auburn haired, green-eyed girls. Some are named Beth."
"The others, Eliza?" Annie steadied herself, feeling hot on her neck and butterflied in her stomach.
"I couldn't call them by your name." Hank stared at her. "But I'm still ashamed."
"You were too ashamed to tell me what was really going on." Annie turned to look at him, his eyes still closed.
"Annie, when I tell you we can't do this, it's not because I don't want it."
"It's because you only feel comfortable when covered in shame." Annie frowned. "Was the fantasy of the idea really more appealing than taking a chance that I could actually be there? I have thrown myself at you a few times now, Hank. Why not take it and start over?"
"You will outgrow me."
"Ridiculous."
"You should hear the pizza room at Tony's for Sunday football. Do you know Clint Barton?"
"Hawkeye? No."
"He seems to know you. In detail. Also, how well do you know Tony?"
"We email a lot."
"Do you know that you are now subject to the new hacking riddle, where the clue is Annie Peckenpaugh love's lace."
"So?"
"They think it's a picture of you..." Hank paused. "This is crude."
"Wait, do they think I'm deep throating Tony?"
Hank nodded.
"He took me through an exhibit of Ada Lovelace that's going to be showing at the Met next month. It was an engagement gift!" Annie smiled. "See, none of you ever saw that picture of Tony and Sable. Marianne and Mick style referred to an actual Mars bar, not the fabled destination spot."
Hank took a long time to nod. "I might owe Tony an apology." He looked at her sheepishly. "I definitely owe you one."
Annie bit her lip. "I'm sorry I didn't say good-bye. I thought that it would be a relief to you if I had gone."
"I was going to ask you to come with me to that estate during your party. If you had turned me down, I would have gone alone, leaving you alone with your relationship to Bobby."
"What if you had known all that had gone down between me and Bobby?"
Hank shook his head. "I could have spared you living in an apartment with Jubilee."
"...damn it!"
-Grand Central Station Under the Sea-
Bert led a tear filled seven year-old Annie Peckenpaugh to the phone booth.
"I don't know his number."
"How did you think he was going to meet you?"
"My aunt told me he would be waiting for me so I should look for him." Annie frowned. "I can't believe I fell for that..."
Bert worried that she'd start crying again and directed her to the phone book. "What did you say his last name was?"
"Peckenpaugh."
"How many could there be?"
Annie nodded - she was the only one she knew of in her hometown. How many people were in New York City anyway?
She dropped a quarter in and dialed. "Is this Mr. Peckenpaugh?"
-Hyperion Hotel, Present-
Sean looked up from his guitar as he saw a man enter the suite. "Can I help ye?"
The man ignored him and went straight to where Annie was sleeping and went to touch her head. "Such strangefate..."
Sean got up. "I said, can I help ye?"
"Are they okay? Has anything happened?"
Sean put a hand on his shoulder forcefully. "As far as I know, they're fine. Who are ye and why are ye here?"
"That's my daughter, the one you're marrying tomorrow." Frankie held out his hand. "Good to meet you, Mr. Cassidy."
"So yer Dr. Strangefate." Sean removed his hand from his future father-in-law's shoulder and took his. His hand, in contrast to Sean's, felt as if it were made of paper porcelain.
"She's spoken about me?" His eyes lit up with dim hope.
"Who's here?" Scott asked as he entered, interrupting the conversation.
"And where in bloody hell were ye? I thought you were protectin' them!"
"Warren finally left the bathroom. I've been gone for all of two minutes." Scott nodded to the tall, thin, older man. "Who's that?"
"Dr. Stangefate, Mr. Summers...I think we've met at your recent birthday party/murder mystery." Frankie held out his hand.
Sean nodded towards the older man. "He's Annie's father."
Scott paused before taking Dr. Strangefate's hand. "...are you a space pirate?"
Dr. Strangefate shook his head slow. "Scientist. Podcaster."
Scott nodded and shook hands with his friend's father. While scientist and podcaster were cool professions, Scott's dad was a space pirate. And some days, that knowledge was the self-esteem that helped him get out of bed.
Frankie stared at his daughter. "I was told that...is it true that her mother is there with her?"
"That's what all these people are here trying to find out."
"Such strangefate. You know...I wasn't even supposed to come to New York City. There was a child prodigy in the lab back in Odense, Hermes Olsson. His ambition was to meet a real American prostitute...but he suffered a very premature stroke a week before he was supposed to leave. I was chosen to go because I was the next youngest." Dr. Strangefate shook his head. "What would have happened if Young Hermes had run into Salem instead of I. Would he have noticed her if she hadn't just..." Dr. Strangefate replayed the memory of them crashing into each other in his head and felt his mouth tighten briefly. "Has she ever mentioned me? Or her mother?"
"She's quite the fan of your podcast," Sean offered. "She suffers with her mother."
"So did I." Dr. Strangefate softened his mouth. "She used to be a cage dancer at a night club. I would meet her there to walk her home from work. She used to wear this cowgirl outfit that would reek by the end of her shift. One night, she had an extraordinary red feather sticking out from it. She said Andy Warhol a had brought in a rooster after getting kicked out of another club. Salem fought Warhol's rooster for fifty dollars. She took the feather as a trophy. And her arms were bright red with painful red scratches, but if they hurt, she didn't care. She just wanted me to say how pretty the feather looked and listen to her story about how she refused to do cocaine with Andy."
Scott nodded. Cage dancing cock fighter who could have done cocaine with Andy Warhol was the female equivalent to space pirate.
-The Sun-
"Ow."
"Ow."
"Ow."
"OW!"
"..ow."
Salem, flaming like the sun, held Bobby Drake and Drake'son by the tip of the ear. "I will let go of you boys if you promise not to destroy each other."
"I promise."
"He's lying! You can tell by his mustache!"
"We both know that neither of us can grow a mustache due to our Swedish heritage!"
"Thanks, great-grandmother Ulla Drake."
"Boys?"
"You can let us go."
Drake'son and Bobby rubbed their ears and turned to Salem, flames cooling.
"Is that a Phoenix force?"
"A what?"
"Phoenix force. You know...caw!" Bobby made a sound of what he thought a Phoenix would sound like. Neither Salem or Drake'son thought it sounded like a Phoenix.
She looked at them, unsure of her future. "You boys going to help me get out of here?"
"Sure are, ma'am," Drake'son answered, being very respectful.
"Good. Because I got to talk about with Dr. Strangefate."
A silver metallic figured moved closer to the group of Bobby, Drake'son and Salem, casting a long shadow.
Salem waved. "Hi, Emily."
-Grand Central Station Under the Sea-
"Sorry, didn't mean to bother you." Annie hung up the phone. "Great, I think I just broke up someone's marriage."
Bert ripped the page out of the phone book. "Come on. Let's go explore the city. We'll find him."
-The Sun-
"You know her?" Bobby pointed to the figure who came closer to them.
"She was my roommate."
"I was more than that, Salem, I saved your life." Dr. Emily Clay-Poole turned to Bobby. "And we were teammates for two weeks, Bobby."
Bobby frowned. "To be honest? The first few days, I thought you were a realtor who was trying to rent out the place and had no other place to be."
Emily turned her attention back to Salem. "You know, Salem, I did I make sure your child was safe."
"My child was supposed to be raised by a Jewish accountant! How did she get to Wyoming?"
"It was the safest place for her, Salem! It was the last place Anagiovanna expected her to be. She would have been a high profile target with Mr. Bass, who is not an amazingly gifted empath."
"She grew up ignored and feeling unloved. I've been in here, absorbing as much of her pain as I can, but it's too much."
Bobby stepped up to the two of them. "You know, Mrs. Peckenpaugh-"
"Just call me, Salem, Bobby. It's complicated."
"Salem. Ah...not to shit on any of your points, but you're daughter turned out pretty great. My cousin Holland? Raised by my uncle. Not the most fun person in the universe. And if anything hurt your daughter, well, it was having you up here and all the confusion with her father. Just my two cents." Bobby cleared his throat. "Also, you can disagree, but Drake'son and I have an agreement about this mental adventure we are having in her head."
"We're here for Annie. Not you."
Drake'son nodded. "It's this and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Those are the things we got."
"I'm here for my daughter, too," Salem explained. "And to have a long talk with her father."
"Do you really think that he'll even remember you after all these years, Salem?"
"Cram it, tin lady. He'll remember me."
"As the woman who gave him a child she hid from him."
Salem blazed towards Emily. "Say one more word..."
Drake'son spoke up. "Dr. Peckenpaugh did know about Annie. She said she came to New York when she was seven...she called him from the bus station and he told her he couldn't come and that she was on her own.
Salem stared down Emily. "That's why I didn't send her to Pallas. My sister tried to do the same thing to me when we were kids - convinced we weren't related. I trusted in Jacob's bland existence!"
Emily shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Once Anagiovanna wakes up in this new body, you will extinguished."
"This new body?" Bobby held up his hands, "You mean she's going to take up living up here?"
"She's done it countless times." Emily narrowed her eyes and smiled at Salem. "She even took your body out for a spin until it gave out. And now, she's going to do it to your daughter."
"How do we stop it?" Drake'son asked, gold armor returning.
"You can't. Hannah can't, either. All of you when you return back will be so tired that will barely be able to perform the most basic of function. She has a bodyguard on the outside in one of your people who will not think twice about killing you."
"How do we know which one?" Bobby asked.
Emily blinked. "You know, Bobby, we were on a team together. Two weeks. I know that being a New Defender wasn't a huge deal for you, but it's the one thing I have, aside from being the right hand of a head of an all female assassin's guild."
"See, that second thing? Way better than ever being called a New Defender. It sounds like you were side pimping."
Salem stared at Bobby. "Just tell her."
Bobby took a deep breath. "We were once New Defenders together."
Emily nodded. Then sighed. "You were right, it isn't that amazing sounding. The guard will be in whoever went in to retrieve Anagiovanna."
"I don't know who was doing that - Drake'son?"
"No clue."
"I know," Salem answered.
"You will have a few seconds to distract them before anything happens."
"Salem, who do we need to distract?"
"Jubilee."
Drake'son turned and smiled at Bobby. "I have an idea. What should we do about -"
Salem saw where Drake'son was looking at and disintegrated Emily with flames. "I was just waiting to see if she knew anything. Look...here comes Annie and Hank."
-The Sun, Further Away-
"Looks like we're going back soon."
Annie gripped his hand very tightly. "I'm getting married soon."
"I know." Hank gripped her hand tighter.
"I won't. I won't if you ask me to."
"I don't think that anything I promise in here I can follow through out there. Being inside someone's mind...this time...has been some what holy. If I make a promise to you here, I'll be beholden to it...to you forever."
Annie nodded.
"However...if I remain as emboldened as I do right now...I will send you a message."
"What message?"
Hank kissed the top of her head. "You'll know it when you get it. Be brave, Annie."
-The Ocean, New York City, NY-
"I don't know about this, Bert..."
"Be brave, Annie."
Annie pressed the button on the call box to dial the apartment.
-Hyperion Hotel, Present-
Scott handed the phone to Dr. Strangefate. "I think this is for you."
Strangefate took the phone. "This is Dr. St-This is Frankie Peckenpaugh. Who is this?"
My name is Annie Peckenpaugh. I'm seven years-old and I could be your daughter. Could you let me and my friend in?
Strangefate nodded. "I can't ring you up, but you can punch the code - #1247. I'm in apartment 12C. I look forward to seeing you, Annie."
"Annie?" Scott asked.
Strangefate nodded. "Mr. Summers - when that door knocks, make sure everyone is where they should be. They're coming back."
