The Unknown Variable
(Edited as of 1/16/14 by Espacole)
I own nothing, if you think I do then I have no restraint on sic'ing the Immortals on you. They are not as pleasant as they seem…
Still two days before
I shut the door slowly, this all seemed so surreal. Even if this was all another façade, it was quiet realistic.
"This might just work." I muttered quietly to myself, as Happy finished loading my bag and climbed into the driver's seat.
As we slowly pulled out of the Driveway, I briefly heard Jarvis say, "Farewell, Miss Penny."
"You know, Miss Telnets." Happy said sadly, as we got onto the road. "I'm mighty sad to see you go."
'So am I Happy, So am I.' I thought to myself. 'This is my home.' I sighed, 'and for a time, I didn't have to pretend.
I sighed slowly as I got out of the taxi. It had been a long trip, and I was still not in a good mood. The flight hadn't been that long, thankfully; and while the seat had been in coach, I was able to work, for about a half'n hour, on my physics dissertation. Then, I got bored.
I was thankful when the plane landed, finding my luggage was easy, not a lot of people had been on the flight, finding the prepaid Taxi was a bit harder.
Finding the Taxi itself was easy, the driver was standing beside his car holding a large cardboard sign that said 'Telnets'. It was the security that annoyed me.
It was the first time I had been on an airplane; let's just say that my Arc set off the metal detectors. Once I was alone with the two security guards, I quickly altered their memories with orders to report it was just a chest implant. It was.
Then, when I finally tried to leave the airport in Albuquerque, some over baring guard didn't want to let me leave with the taxi man because I was a 'minor'. That took another twenty minutes to work out.
Man, I was never flying on one of those things again.
The Taxi ride had been long, about two and a half hours. The driver didn't talk much, thankfully, and I just worked on schematics for my Electrical Engineering. Tony had asked me, right before I left, why I had never taken a Computer Science class, considering I would be able to pass very easily. I told him that those who got very high in the collage course were monitored heavily by multiple agencies. I didn't want to be under the microscope.
When we finally got to the small town, population 2,000, I quickly tried to memorize my surroundings.
My new house, which was a good sized town-house, was located on the outskirts of town. But it was also close enough not to be abnormally far.
The taxi driver pulled my suitcases out of the trunk and brought them to the door for me. He then tipped his hat, told me to have a nice day, and drove away.
I sighed as I walked up the small dirt path to the town house. There was so much dirt everywhere, it was strange. Everything was brown, tan, and a bit of orange. The house itself was only one story, and was painted a dark tan. The roof was dark brown tiles and every window had shutters the same color of the roof. It wasn't nearly as nice as Tony's house, but as a cover, it would work.
After finding the keys under the doormat, right where Tony said they were, I entered the house. It wasn't furnished, the furniture wouldn't arrive until later today at the earliest, but it was clean.
The front door opened right up into the living room, where a small door led to the kitchen and laundry room. There was a small hall that ran off to the side that led to the bedroom, and the spare that I would make my office. The large skylight, just as Tony said, was in the room I was going to make my office. There was a nice road bike in the small garage, and I was glad the water, electricity, and AC were already working.
After dumping my bags in my new room, I quickly wrote a note and stuck it to the front door, just in case the furniture turned up while I was at the store.
With a sigh, I pulled the bike out of the garage, and started off in the direction I saw a Safeway. I was still in a depressed mood.
Not for the first time, my mind went back to my entity friend. I hadn't seen him in a while, and could really use his company.
"Where on earth is Death?" I asked myself.
Helicarrier
"What is the information on the Telnets girl?" Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD yelled as he entered the bridge.
"Sir, it seems that Miss Telnets is no longer under Stark's employment." Agent Hill said, approaching her boss and long term ally.
"What? Stark seemed very fond of her, why would he dismiss her now?" Fury asked his senior agent.
"Well, it seems the official story being told to whomever is interested that she felt that working for Stark was interfering with her schooling, and left to focus solely on her studies." Agent Hill said.
"What's the real reason?" Fury asked, flipping through the paperwork that SHIELD had finally gathered on Piper Telnets.
"Our sources say that Miss Telnets could no longer put up with Stark, being around him made her extremely paranoid. Not surprising considering she got kidnapped for three months because of the billionaire. It was also stated that Miss Potts, Stark's original PA was pushing Telnets about information regarding Afghanistan. She is determined to just forget the whole thing ever happened."
"Where is she now?" Fury asked, as he flipped through her file thinking about everything they knew about her.
'Born in Austen, Texas. Homeschooled her whole life, the few tests taken show extremely high IQ level. Mother, Gracie Telnets, died of cancer about two years ago, father unknown. No other living family. A bank account from her grandfather let her get emancipated. When account went dry because of school funds, she approached Tony Stark for a job. Got three Masters, two from MIT another from Sedona University, at the age of thirteen. Received her Metaphysics Doctorate from the Sedona University at age fourteen. Stark accepted her as another PA at age fifteen. She is going for two more doctorates before she is sixteen.'
"It seems that Stark bought her a house, in a small town in New Mexico. He also arranged for a flight and taxi ride. She left Stark's mansion at 1030, and arrived in New Mexico around 1300 hours. The house is completely paid for and under her name. It is relatively small, and currently unfurnished. After pulling some strings, we got her school records from MIT online. She has almost completed her education. Just her final Dissertations remain." Hill informed her boss,
Fury remained silent, seeing her boss wasn't going to request any more information. "This morning our surveillance team on Stark discovered something interesting."
"Oh?" Fury said, looking back up at hill, his eye-patch reflecting the artificial light.
"Our bugs picked up an argument between Potts and Telnets." Hill spoke, but Fury interrupted her before she could continue.
"No surprising, our bugs have picked up multiple fights between Stark, Potts, and Telnets recently. Most of them centering on Telnets." Fury said, dismissing her statement.
"Yes," Agent Hill agreed, "But this one was different. Many things were learned in this argument. It appears that Telnets' was tortured in captivity of the Ten Rings,"
Fury interrupted again, "Again, not surprising, they were with terrorists for months. I would be surprised if she wasn't. Personally, I was surprised she wasn't raped."
"What surprised us is that she had many burns covering her arms and upper chest, but we have no records of them. We didn't know about them." Hill said, passing Fury screen shots of the video that was taken in Stark's kitchen. They were enlarged so the many circler burns on Telnets arms were clearly shown.
"How did we miss these? We had all physical reports from the doctor at the base!" Fury said, ready to yell at the poor agent who pulled the record.
"It would seem," Agent Hill replied, "that even the base doctor knew nothing about them."
"How?" Fury asked, interrupting once again.
"It seems that Telnets is a low level Mutant." Hill told her boss, while showing him a copy of the video.
Fury watched as one moment, Telnets' arms were fine, and the next they were covered in scars.
"Does Stark know?" Furry asked, "Is it physical manipulation or some form of invisibility?"
"It appears to be a weak invisibility shield. We have not been able to fully assess her abilities but they appear to be very weak. Yes, it does appear the Stark knew about her ability. It was most likely discovered while they were with the Ten Rings, for we have no previous records of Telnets having abilities." Hill said.
Ever since the rise in Mutants and supernatural powers, SHIELD had been monitoring the larger population closely; keeping a watchful eye out for any Mutants; just in case one of them became bent on world domination. Like Magneto, thankfully, the X-man usually took care of him.
"I want her interviewed. Have Coulson do it, they are already introduced and I don't want her startled. She could be a great asset or recruit when she's older. I also want low level surveillance on her; just in case whoever set up the kidnapping goes after her. Also, keep an eye out for any more X-gene manifestations. If necessary, we'll slip the information over to Xavier." Fury said, giving the paper work back to Hill.
Telnets might be less important than Stark in the long run, but SHIELD was paranoid. They would watch her at a distance, just in case. Who knew, perhaps she would work for him one day.
Mortem growled, and stormed into Infinitas' Palace. Every Immortal had a palace, or manor, in the Ribbon. The Ribbon was the flipside that connected all dimensions, all worlds, and every universe together.
Fati had been getting in his way again. She had been furious when he, along with Vitam and Infinitas discovered a loophole in the 'no interfering' rule.
Because Mortem and Aequivalere were bonded, Mortem was allowed to be around his Mate and protect her if she was danger, if she is unable to do it herself.
Father had also spoken to Infinitas concerning Aequivalere, and she had summoned Mortem to relay the news. Father usually only spoke to the Elders, but mostly conversed with Infinitas.
Mortem stormed through the front hall, his long trench coat flapping behind him. The hall was large, light blue, and the best way to describe it was moving.
Nothing ever remained the same in Infinitas' Palace. Just like nothing ever stayed the same in her Realm.
"Mortem." Infinitas said, appearing by his side. "Prompt, as usual."
"What did Father say about Aequivalere?" Mortem said, as soon as he saw the Elder Immortal.
Infinitas sighed, "Come, we have much to discuss."
Mortem followed her down the moving hall into a small room that shifted into a small tea room. Infinitas sat down in one chair, and Mortem took the seat across from her.
"Father didn't come to me." Infinitas admitted, looking at the slightly younger Immortal.
Mortem looked confused before his eyes widened, "You Saw something, didn't you."
"Aye," Infinitas said, sighing, "I did. It concerned Aequivalere,"
Mortem opened his mouth to ask what she saw when she said, "I am not allowed to share the vision."
Mortem sighed, but relented. If Infinitas said she couldn't share, then she could not. "I brought the information I gained to Father. We discussed what was Seen, and he changed the rules."
Mortem's eyebrows rose and he leaned forward, Father never changed the rules. "What? What was changed?"
Infinitas sighed, and for a moment, she looked tired beyond her physical form. "Mortem, Aequivalere is going to need you in the coming time. You will need to be by her side, or not only will neither of you survive… but none of Existence will either."
Mortem's eyes widened. He was allowed to be with Aequivalere, without having to skate around Fati. But at what cost?
"But what about…" Mortem started to ask.
"This is beyond Fati's Realm. This concerns the Father's. This is his word, and it shall be followed." Infinitas stated her voice cold. Fati wasn't on good terms with any Immortal…except with Chaos. They got along a little too well.
"The only thing," Infinitas spoke, as Mortem stood up to leave, "that you must not do, besides interfere or try to rush her Awakening, is this: do not tell her who she is, but, don't let her fail either."
Mortem nodded, signifying that he understood; and walked out of Infinitas' home.
"Good luck, Mortem. Aequivalere is more important than even I could have imagined. You cannot fail. After all, nothing can exist without Balance."
I had fun with this chapter, both Death, and Fury in one go! Hehe, hope you all enjoyed it.
Cp