Ch. 8 Q & A
Sleep well…
The two syllables ghosted past my ears in a whisper.
The words themselves were harmless. It was the voice murmuring them lightly that made me shiver. The menace of the melodic voice poisoned their meaning. My surroundings suddenly held a hint of danger in them. I only vaguely remember climbing up rocks in an attempt to lose the pursuing speaker, but as I do with some dreams, I forgot the rest.
"Miss Cain, please do be careful. You're about to—"
A sharp pain in my nose brought me out of my thoughts. It began to burn with ache as my eyes watered.
No cursing.
Urgh, that hurts, hurts, hurrrrts…
I reached up and massaged the bridge of my nose, as if that would help.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes JARVIS, I'm good." I said nasally.
I was on my way to Stark's meeting with JARVIS's guidance, but the dream I had— or at least what little I could remember of it, distracted me from noticing the wall that was clearly right in front of my face. It wouldn't have been that bad if not for the voice. It was a man's, lightly accented— not too deep, but not high either. It sounded so real too. Usually when I dream up conversations my mind fuzzily links together meanings, but never have I ever heard a voice sound so clearly.
"May I inquire as to what has you so distracted Miss Cain?"
I'm too worked up over a meaningless dream. It's all just my twisted subconscious.
"Nothing JARVIS, I'm just tired. Did Stark give any reason as to why he had to have this meeting so early in the morning?"
"Mr. Stark is on an extremely busy schedule today." The electronic voice paused. "He actually plans on keeping to it today, so he must have the meeting early. He holds this event in high regard: Mr. Stark is not an individual you see prancing about with a smile on his face during the mornings."
I sighed, the pain in my nose finally gone. My spaciness might also be attributed to the loud alarm that I woke up to at about four thirty in the morning. The absence of such uproars post slumber had been nice, even if it was only brief. I quickly scrambled into the overly large clothes that Pepper gave me and found a hairband in my bathroom goody bag. I quickly pulled my hair back into a loose bun before I was out the door.
"So do you know anything about this meeting JARVIS?"
"No Miss Cain."
Arghhhhhh— I want to eat. How long is this supposed to take?
I'm not that hungry. I had a later-than-usual dinner complete with caramel to dip it in. My subconsciousness reminded itself.
"You are here Miss Cain." JARVIS said as a gray sliding door opened to my right.
"Thank you JARVIS." I said as I lightly reached my hand out towards the room.
Four auras—who's missing?
I walked in, met with bright lights and a large amount of cityscape. In front of me was a great in size, black table with many chairs set before a wall of glass. The other walls of the room were a dark blue , the carpet a maroon color. The chairs added a bit of brightness to the room with their light, silvery tint. The same could not be said about most of their occupants. Sitting present was Stark, Dr. Banner, Thor, and Steve, each looking particularly tired, their watered-down grumpy and confused auras confirmed that.
It seems that I'm not the only one who dislikes being up early. I thought as I took a seat next to Banner. Good. Misery loves company. Nice to know I'm not suffering alone.
"Where are Agent Romanov and… I don't remember his name…?"
"They're in Africa, but we don't know that." Stark answered, winking with suggestion.
"Why?"
"They're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Mercy. You know the stereotypes you think of when someone says 'spies?' Think of every single one of them at the same time, then amplify the professionalism and explosion percentage by five hundred. Tasha and Clint are off doing that."
"Oh… Give me a second to mentally digest that, I'm tired." I let it slide that Stark called me by my first name, being in no mood to argue.
"Good Morning Cain."
"Hi Steve."
"The most glorious of mornings it would certainly be." Thor nodded, rubbing his eyes. "Surely it shall be productive."
I smiled weakly then caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. As I looked, Dr. Banner wore a disappointed expression.
He must have gestured while I was looking away.
"Good morning Doctor Banner." I said, making sure to grab his attention and let him know that I did see him… sort of.
"Alright, are the pleasantries over? I want sleep, you guys look like you'd cringe at the sight of the sun, except for you Thor… good for you buddy. Let's get some of this family bonding done and over with." Stark leaned back in his chair, folding his hands.
"Now Mercy, as I said yesterday, I investigated your ability and came across the subject of empaths. Now, we all know that the inter-web is a glut of information— that's what I have to work with. From what I've gathered, you have the capability to do much, much more than what you have been. My theory is that Loki somehow figured that out— as to how, I'll be asking you buddy," Stark said, leaning over briefly to Thor who nodded in reply. "But for now, we need to discover how much of the information that I dug up is true. You know how sometimes people get in on something and get all hippie-dippy about it? A lot of people across the world believe that they are empaths— they're the ones that decided to create the sites. I assume, however, that their cases are a little different from yours. The purpose of this, Mercy, is to get the facts straight. Are you ready for some questions?"
My lans, he's being serious. My thoughts surfaced in the pool of monotonous disbelief sleep drowned them in. So he isn't difficult all of the time?
"Yes."
"Alright then— How do you feel right now?"
I wanted to laugh at his simple first question.
"Tired."
"How do we feel right now?" Asked Doctor Banner.
I looked over my new peers quickly, not really needing to get a reading, but checking just in case.
"Like you wish you were asleep. Right now, you're all a pink muddle of confusion, no longer grumpy. The light is watered down, so you're not actually confused— you just have a mild variation of it because you're still working on waking up."
"Well that's puzzling. I'm afraid I didn't really understand any of that. You said color, particularly pink, which is disturbing on so many levels—" Stark began.
"There is nothing wrong with the color pink— It's natural and takes a man to accept!" I said angrily, thinking back to an acquaintance I had back during high school who was bullied because of his wardrobe and color preferences. After months of feeling a negative aura surrounding him and resisting the urge to withdraw it, he attempted to take his own life. Luckily, he failed and recovered quickly. No one bothered him after that. He was my first lesson in what failure to intervene emotionally could lead to. I shuddered a bit at the memory.
Steve looked at me understandingly, sympathy reaching its invisible arms towards my senses. I had shared this story with him. He didn't exactly share my views about the boy, but Steve did agree that it was wrong for people to bully no matter what the victim is like. It's just plain wrong. Thor and Banner didn't understand, but kept quiet. Stark was shocked .
"… Well ok then. I'm not going to ask where that little outburst came from; however, I am going to ask you to explain the whole color-light thing."
"You all have a certain air about you— an aura. It follows you everywhere you go and is unique to everyone. There's not really an emotion that makes it distinctive, it's more like your soul is responsible for that part— your aura is where I look to read your emotions. Each emotion takes the on form of a light. It radiates multiple colors, like…" I paused, trying to pick some emotions. This is so much easier to connect in my head than to say out loud. "As I said, pink is confusion, but happiness is bright yellow and light blue."
"Sky blue or light blue?"
"What does that matter?" I asked, confused.
"It doesn't, but I want to know whether or not you agree with the Aloyarc Art Supplies Company— Why put sky blue in the pencil box instead of light blue? You're supposed to save the obscure colors for the large sets. Is light blue not normal? Why? Is it just not good enough for the small box?" Steve and Doctor Banner were quickly annoyed. Thor, on the other hand, was confused as Mr. Stark continued on with his rant, shrugging, tapping the desk, and saying everything with a ridiculously straight face. "I didn't find out that there was an actual light blue Aloyarc pencil until last year. Why not call sky blue light blue and light blue sky blue? The sky is closer to light—"
"Tony." Dr. Banner interrupted. "Stop."
"Right. Sorry. Go on." Stark said apologetically, edging back in his seat. His body language suggested disinterest, but his eyes flared, the question still burning behind the brown irises.
"Alright." I was a little surprised by Stark's goofy outburst, but I recovered quickly and began again. "The glow is like a translucent film that covers your body. Sometimes the emotion is very light, forming a skin-tight layer. When the feeling's stronger, the colors will float around you loosely, sometimes manifesting themselves into a large shape." I thought back to last night and felt my cheeks burn lightly. I looked to Dr. Banner and Thor.
"For example, Steve and I were eating dinner together peacefully last night. Next thing you know, I sensed mischief prowling nearby. It definitely wasn't coming from Steve, rather, it was from a much more malevolent source." I narrowed my eyes at Stark.
"So I'm the bad guy?" He replied, amused.
"As Stark just hinted, it was him. He walked in the room spouting off nonsense with an orange cat looming over him."
"What?" Everyone asked simultaneously. It was one of those rare happenings that you just have to laugh at, so I did.
"Mischievousness is orange. I can't explain the cat thing."
"Oh."
"Lady Cain," Thor spoke up. "Are you only able to see us in the colors of our humors or do they shine opaquely over our natural features?"
Curiosity burned from the others as well at the question. The amber color was there the whole time, but for some reason, Thor's question triggered the most attention.
What does that matter? Are they really worried that I see walking blobs of red or blue?
"You have blonde hair and blue eyes Thor. Your shirt is different from the one you wore yesterday and it's light-colored."
Thor had swapped out his armor for an off-white, short sleeved button-up.
And what a total contrast it is to yesterday's attire.
"As you say then." He nodded, beaming dazzlingly. "Now for another," He leaned forward on his elbows, unintentionally drawing my attention to his muscles. I gulped a little at their size. "Are you able to feel our emotions or merely see them?"
"I can if I do a transfer."
"Forgive me Lady Cain. My intention was to question about whether or not you are able to while the emotions are still with another being."
"Oh, well… not normally. It really depends on how intense the emotions really are." And how I'm feeling. "How close I'm standing towards other people is another factor at play. Happiness is always soft, warm, and really tempting to steal away. Emptiness is cold and rough. Sadness almost hurts in a burning kind of way— it calls out to me the most. Anger and annoyance sometimes buzz, vibrating. It's very uncomfortable."
Stark's essence briefly lit up with playful mischief as he smirked, although he said nothing.
What's so funny? I must have missed it. I shrugged slightly and continued.
"Your moods constantly summon my attention, but sometimes I need to look harder— to get a reading and make sure that what's calling me is the feeling that I think it is. Not everyone is an intense emotional open book. Either way, emotions are sirens with job opportunities, cooing over to me like I was a jobless bum. So yes, I can feel them, just not in the same way that you do until I take them upon myself."
"Does checking auras or transmitting emotions hurt you in any way?" Doctor Banner asked slowly, removing his glasses.
"Getting a better look at how people feel doesn't hurt, but sometimes sadness and anger are painful if I take them away, depending on how vast the reserves for each are and how many people I'm taking them away from."
"So you can take emotions from multiple people? All at once?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever been overwhelmed by it?" The Doctor pursued.
I felt a tinge in my chest as a mental image of Louis's psychotic face bore down on me.
Danger, danger, danger- come on! Answer. This is a bad topic, move on.
"…No."
"Interesting." Doctor Banner said as he peered at me with interest, hope illuminating his core. "Is it difficult for you- for you to, ah," He looked down, waving his hand in a circle, then looking up at me. "Give and take emotion?"
"Not really, I just—I kind of… huh. I haven't had to explain this in awhile— I forget how I explained it before." I looked down and rubbed the back of my head, flustered. "Your emotions call out to me and I, I kind of mentally give them permission to, ah-to… to flow into me. It's the same with my emotions: I allow them to go to another person. It's really very easy. Resisting the urge to take away emotion, on the other hand, is hard— especially when I'm depressed and someone nearby is extremely happy."
"Well you've done a really good job of doing so thus far. I understand that a friend of yours passed away, is she the person that you explained this to before?"
"Yes."
"What about your own emotions? Don't you ever feel like throwing them away? Yesterday you could have just given someone else your grief. You could have used it on Natasha when she was interrogating you. Why didn't you?" Stark inquired after his long, content silence.
Hot water again, gotta get out. Louis flashed in my mind again. My lans, will he ever leave me alone?
"Pass." I resolved.
"You can't pass." Stark deadpanned, completely serious. He leaned forward, looking at me straight while shaking his head and folding his hands.
"Pass." I said more firmly. It seemed that I surprised everyone with my sudden uncooperativeness.
"We'll get back to that later Tony." Steve, my hero of the day, came to the rescue.
"Fine. We'll take a break from the harder stuff for now, but we ARE going back to it." Stark said gloomily. "Steve, how about you start off round two?"
"Don't I get to ask questions?" I asked.
Stark just glanced at me then looked out the window, reclining in his chair and spinning—
These are SWIVELS? I thought excitedly. I quickly calmed down, not wanting to let Stark know that he just one-upped me in a sense.
"We'll have a second meeting for that." He said. "So Steve, round two? Starting?"
The Captain looked to the left in what might have been a glare, but I couldn't tell. He was slightly miffed.
"So… why don't you like your first name?" He asked, calming down and turning towards me.
"I don't like the sound of it. The spelling itself is pretty: M-E-R-C-Y, but I don't like the sound. I don't think I'm merciful anyway. Cain sounds better. That's why I prefer that you call me," I paused, addressing the next bit at Stark, who payed me no mind. "Cain."
"Your actions say otherwise." Steve said, looking at me seriously.
"When is your day of birth? I hear that such occasions are also ones to be celebrated on Midgard like on Asgard. I would like to make note of it for future festivities."
"Trying to ask woman about her age Thor? That's very rude." Stark joked.
I was finally starting to get him a little bit. Stark was definitely fickle, changing his attention to topics that interest him immediately once he is bored with others. He does what he wants. He can be serious though, which is good.
Janna did say that extremely intelligent people compensate with such behavior…I decided to test the waters and do something that I had never done with anyone other than Janna— joke back.
"Oh please Stark, don't act like you weren't interested."
He fake scoffed, smirking. "I never said that I wasn't, I just said that it's rude to ask."
And so ends my brief joking response spree.
Stark seemed to wait for another response, but eventually turned his attention his way. He must have realized that that was all the playfulness that I have in me.
"I was born in January, the first day of the year. I'm twenty at the moment." I finally replied to Thor.
"Excellent. I shall remember." He responded vigorously.
More random questions were asked until Stark became bored once again.
"Round three begins now." He said, interrupting my story about how my former pet mouse once killed a cat and dragged it to Janna's doorstep. It was the darndest thing. "I have some things I need to ask and get across with less than an half an hour left to do so."
"I'm ready." I said, moving away from Doctor Banner, who I had been batting lightly on the arm while I told my strange tale. When I answered Stark's questions, it was like the others weren't there. None spoke, although they did certainly react.
Stark swiveled back to face me. "Do dead people have emotional auras?"
"No."
Easy, quick answers—that's what he wants.
"Now, you are a mutant, and we're all good with that, but is the discrimination really as bad as the mutant groups make it out to be?" He had a particularly bright, large flare of amber envelop his form as he asked this. It took the shape of a bird this time.
I've never seen a bird shaped aura before. I thought before plummeting into the graveness of the question.
"My mother and father wanted to kill me because of it. A family that I stayed with burned because they sheltered me. My ex abused me because of it." I said, looking down and speaking in a low voice. Steve's aura showed worry and dismay. I didn't share Louis's story with him. "It's bad Stark. Real bad."
Sympathy arose from everyone. Thor made to move, but Stark shot him a glare that made him sit quietly.
"I'm sorry to hear that… You know, you did a really good job covering up that you were a mutant in Arestown. Were Miss Allsweet and your violent ex the only ones who knew?"
"Yes."
"And why did your ex not tell anyone about your dirty little secret if he was so opposed to you being a mutant?"
"He delighted in the fact that I couldn't do anything about him having that knowledge. Keeping it secret would prevent people from getting on his case for associating with some mutant scum. He wound up committing suicide."
"You've been through a lot. You were right to not trust us earlier, but now we're back to my other question: Why don't you thrust your negative emotions on other people?"
"That's selfish. They're mine in the first place. No one should have to deal with my emotional garbage on top of their own."
"Then why do you bother with ours? Why not ignore it?" He asked, wafting one arm and leaning on the other, resting his head on his hand.
"Because I empathize. I'm an empath, remember? My conscience won't let me not meddle."
"All right, all right. Now, this one's going to be a bit of a stretch, but you'll have to bear with me. What would compel you to allow an oddly dressed man that just crash-landed onto the roof of an apartment complex to enter your home?"
"He would have had to have been in serious danger and an emotional wreck."
"Well, to get things straight—none of that here, ok?" He joked.
"Yes Stark."
"Did you know about the energy transfer before yesterday?"
"No, but that makes sense."
"Are you willing to learn more about your ability?"
"Seeing as I helped my friend's murderer without knowing that I was, yes."
"Are you willing to fight for the safety of others?"
"Yes."
"Would you be willing to protect those people even though they might hate you for it?"
"I protect some people from negativity on a daily basis."
He slammed his hands down on the table and stood up. "Then congratulations Mercy, you are officially a junior Avenger in training— Bruce, you and I need to sit down later with that. I have to go. Meeting adjourned."
"But what of my other questions?" Thor asked, his brows lowering slightly.
"Ask her on your own time. You guys are hungry, right? Finish up over breakfast. I have to go." Stark said, walking out of the room in full business attire topped off with some nice shades. "Later."
"Farewell Tony Stark." Thor called, fully aware that he was not heard.
"Are you alright Cain?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, I'm just tired and hungry— not much different from when I first walked in the room. Breakfast anyone?"
Everyone nodded their heads, thus beginning our trek towards the kitchen. With sofas to sit on and food in our stomachs, all of us were content to sit in the lounge together once finished. Well, us as in Dr. Banner, Steve, and me. Thor was shoveling food into his mouth and making noises of extreme pleasure towards the taste. It was almost funnily adorable in a disturbing sort of way.
"You're really hungry." I laughed, sitting next to Thor. Steve and Doctor Banner were seated to my right.
"'Tis good to have a large supply of energy La- er, Cain. You should try to make it a habit to eat more. I fear that if I might sneeze or tap you, you shall break."
"I survived the pats on the back that you've given me so far Thor. I'm fine."
"Steve?" Doctor Banner piped up. "It's eight o'clock. You'll miss the news."
"Ah! My program! Thank you." The captain reached excitedly for the TV remote, then handed it to Banner.
He must not know how to work it.
"Wait, television?" I asked, getting worried. The TV and I… we're two forces that weren't meant to collide.
"Yes. It's Steve's way of… catching up and getting a feel for the world around him." Bruce answered. "Is there something wrong?"
"No." I lied as the TV flickered to life, showing a bored-looking anchorman.
"I enjoy the strange rectangle of spectacles." Thor spoke, the food in his mouth slightly muffling his words.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the anchorman's voice first reached my ears.
"In other news, tonight is the Anti-Mutant Rally lead by William Stryker," The picture of an unhappy, older gentleman with a clean-shaven face appeared on the screen. "Gathering the growing sentiments of hostility towards mutants in one place. Mutant activists quietly protest…"
I stood up, happy to have an acceptable excuse to get out of the room.
"Cain, are you alright?" Steve asked, having noted the topic of the screen. The three men radiated sympathy and concern. Thor stopped eating and Doctor Banner lightly touched my arm- I'm assuming that that was his version of a pat.
"I'm just going to go back to my room for a bit." I said, heading towards the kitchen. "I had fun..."
"I'll take you back." Steve made to sit up, but I stopped him.
"I appreciate it Steve, but no thanks."
"Do you mind if I visit you in your chambers Lady Cain? I have questions that I would rather like to ask you." Thor inquired.
"That's alright Thor, just give me a bit of time ok?"
"Fear not Lady Cain, I shall wait until sufficient time has passed."
"Bye Cain." Steve smiled.
"Until later Lady Cain." Thor added cheerily.
"Bye." Bruce said quietly, nodding his head choppily in my direction.
"I'll see you all later." I smiled before I tucked around the corner. Randomly, my dream from the night before resurfaced in my mind…
There were more words.
Those pathetic wretches can only protect you for so long.
Hi. Done. Excited. Please review. Forgive typos. REaaaallly tired. Thanks for reading. The plot can begin to move a little faster now. Yay :D Yes, there will be Loki x OC in this, but I have to get to that. It's eventual (I'm trying to make this somewhat accurate and realistic. Thanks for reading.