Notes: Look! More fun things! What a novel concept! :P
Chapter 54: "Memory Lane"
April 5
District 11
Ororo and Steve were an entirely different story as they traipsed through the orchards in Eleven to the hidden places far from the center of the district that all of the workers liked to gather. Of course, Eleven was hard to hit at night, considering that all of the people that would be talking would be there relaxing and trying to get away from the dull misery of the work they were doing in preparation of the season.
Right now, in the earliest parts of spring, the orchards were filled with workers that were trimming and pruning the trees for the best possible blossoms to thrive. However, it was early enough still that those that were in the ramshackle establishments were on duty still anyhow — set to build fires should the spring frost come up to try and kill the tender blossoms starting to appear on the trees.
But Ororo couldn't stop grinning as she pulled Steve along behind her and the two of them made a game out of dropping bugs into the windows of the buildings lining the orchard where the workers gathered.
As soon as they'd done most of what they'd set out to do, she made sure to drag him off to show him around her homeland under the relative safety of darkness until they found the spot that marked the entrance to Eleven's secret vibranium mines. They didn't dare get too close because the security was too tight — but Pym's amazing moving cameras could cover that on their own as long as they got halfway close and told Hank to get to work as soon as they did.
"Come on," Ororo said. "That's all we can do here, and Hank won't be able to translate it without me or Luke."
"Fine by me," Steve said with a little smirk. "I could use a little air conditioning."
"Aww, Cap, is the humidity getting to you?" she teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Just a little bit," he laughed lightly. "I can't believe it's still this hot in the dark."
Ororo just laughed and pulled Steve forward by the arm. "Come on," she said. "The big bad captain is scared of the heat…"
Steve started to argue, but he found that he really couldn't with how widely Ororo was grinning, so he just laughed and let her lead the way back to the jet.
April 6th
District Nine
When Kate and Kurt arrived in District Nine, the first thing that Kate said was, "It's so… flat."
Kurt had to chuckle at her observation. Kate's home district was filled with trees that grew on the low mountains and foothills, but Kurt had sweeping fields, and he was partial to the wide meadows during the springtime. He took a deep breath, just enjoying the air in Nine, and Kate watched him for a moment with a little smile.
"I like that look on you," she told him as she reached over and grabbed his hand.
He smiled a bit sheepishly. "It's been a long time— and I miss being home."
Kate nodded and leaned into him. "Why don't you show me around while we do our thing?"
The two of them made their way through the district hand-in-hand, but unlike in Twelve, where everything was relatively close together and even the mines were easy to get to and bug — there was a lot of empty space where there were nothing but fields of freshly tilled dirt that would soon be sprouting wheat, corn, and other crops.
But that didn't seem to bother either of them as they strolled through the turned-up fields together and it was Kurt's turn to tell stories about his home district.
He told her about how he had started working in the fields when he was old enough so that he could help his mother take care of the twins, and he told her about how Kitty would always finish work before he did and try to sneak up on him.
"I think it annoyed her that I could sneak up on her and scare her, but truth be told, Kitty is one of the sneakiest people I've ever met. I just tried very hard not to cry out when she scared me," Kurt admitted, and Kate had to giggle a bit at that.
When they finally hit the main part of the district, though, Kurt's stories seemed to gain a little more momentum. He pointed out several streets that they could bug, and Kate couldn't help but smile at the fact that he seemed to remember the names of every family that lived on every corner.
"And that was our climbing tree," Kurt said when they reached the tall, slightly gnarled tree toward the center of the residential areas.
"You and Kitty?" Kate asked.
Kurt nodded and let out the slightest of sighs. "I miss her," he admitted. "Just like you miss America. She was my best friend, and I can only pray she's alright."
Kate glanced between the tree and Kurt and rushed over to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him tight, not letting go for some time as they stood under the tree on the moonless night and she asked him to tell her more stories while she buried her face in his neck and shoulders and hugged the stuffing out of him.
They set a few more bugs, and then Kate caught Kurt staring down one street in particular. "That your place?" she asked carefully.
He let out a sigh. "Yes," he admitted. "But I'm afraid if I go any further, I won't stop at just looking at it."
She looked him up and down for a moment before she grabbed his hand again and started to pull him along. "Alright. We're going to the rooftops," she informed him.
He didn't argue with her in the slightest, instead simply grinning to himself as he climbed up the brickface of one of the nearby buildings. It was easy to stick to the shadows and keep from being seen or heard after they'd done this kind of thing so often in sneaking simulations, and it took them next to no time before they were on the roof of the house directly across from Kurt's.
It was the middle of the night, so of course, no one was awake, but Kurt laid out on his stomach, his chin propped up on his arms as he drank in the house in front of him.
Kate was silent for some time, quietly watching him before she settled down next to him and gave him a quick little peck on the cheek. "Tell me about them," she whispered quietly. "Tell me about Margali, and the twins, and your home. I know you've told me a bit, but tell me again. Or tell me more."
Kurt glanced over at Kate and half held his breath for a moment, not quite trusting the emotion in his voice not to give him away — but he finally started, very quietly, to tell stories. Amanda falling and scraping her knee. Stefan getting his two front teeth knocked out playing soccer. Margali finding any story she could get her hands on to read to the kids.
By the time they absolutely had to leave or risk missing their rendezvous with Jan, Kurt's voice was thick from overuse, and he was reluctant to move now that he was so close to his house, knowing the twins would be up soon after dawn to start working now that he was no longer there.
But Kate reached over, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into a long, tender kiss. "When this whole secret Tahiti nonsense is over, we're coming back here," she promised. "And I want to meet them."
"Katherine Bishop," he said, half-teasing and half-disbelieving. "Are you asking to meet my family?"
Even in the pitch darkness of the night, it was obvious that Kate was blushing wildly. "I just… I…" She took a breath. "They seem so nice, the way you talk about them. You're totally going to have to meet my friends in Twelve too."
He grinned wider at that and decided not to tease her and point out that would mean meeting her family as he took her hand and finally, finally allowed her to lead him back the way they'd come, leaving the Wagner household behind them in the lingering light of the first hours of dawn.
And they weren't the only ones out and about hitting the common gathering places across Marvel. For the most part, the members of TAHITI were doing the same job — dropping bugs in every district — and in just about every single instance, they were all heading home ... in a manner of speaking.
Some assignments were clearly more cut and dried than others. Ororo was floored on seeing how Five was laid out. The massive hydroelectric dams that were humming with energy were a bit intimidating, but inspiring all the same — and there were oh, so many places to hide bugs.
Six was a little bit more interesting in that both Sin and Bruce kept each other company in their vastly different targets. Sin knew where the gangs met up and the best places to catch illicit conversations, while Bruce knew his way backwards and forwards around the opposite end of town.
And while Eight was certainly more or less a trip down memory lane for Peter, it was the tech district dominated by Osborn that had Tony's attention.
Naturally, he couldn't find a way to get close to Osborn's building — but … again, that was a job for those amazing miniaturized devices that Pym had the foresight to send with all of them — just in case. And of course, knowing that they had those incredible cameras, the boys were sure to swing by the Green Goblin's house and set a few of them toward the doors so that they could finally get eyes in Osborn's private study in his home.
"Really, Petey, I don't see what's so rough about ol' Gobby," Tony said as they watched through binoculars as the ant-sized cameras marched into Osborn's home.
"He's just … he's a lot nastier than he seems," Peter said. "And he seems pretty nasty once you get to know him at all."
"Right, well. Now that we're done here, it's time we took you up to the big leagues," Tony replied. "I can't believe you got as far along in tech as you did living … well. Here."
"Hey. don't knock the hometown," Peter muttered with a little bit of a hurt look on his face before he brightened back up. "We do okay out here. Sure, most of the tech is devoted to how to just … make the stylists happy, apparently. But still."
"Still — if we can ever get out of the stupid program and back to an actual life, you're going to want to come work with me. It'd be fun." Tony gave him a meaningful look as they headed out, though when they reached a high point overlooking the most populated part of the district, Peter couldn't help but stop and look down at the lit-up houses below, and the taller, mostly dark office buildings in the distance. He knew exactly where Aunt May's house was — even from this distance — and as he picked the lone golden lit window out of the dozens around it, he couldn't help but feel the strong pull of home calling to him.
Tony watched him in silence, knowing that out of all of the kids in the project, Peter was probably a little bit harder hit by everything that had happened than the rest of them. Watching how he so very clearly wanted nothing more than to run back to his family — or what was left of it — Tony couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
Peter held his hand over his heart as he watched the light for any signs of life for a few more moments before he frowned to himself and blew a kiss toward where he knew May was getting ready for bed — all alone with nothing but the old ornate picture frames holding the old photos of Uncle Ben, and his parents … and Peter himself to keep her company.
With a heavy sigh, Peter finally turned away and gave Tony a sad look. "Okay. I guess … we should probably go now."
Tony put his arm across Peter's shoulders, and the two of them headed back to the jet while Tony started to tell him about the ideas he had to improve on some of Peter's sketches for hidden weaponry. "I've got an idea about some adhesives that we need to discuss," Tony said. "We gotta get our favorite webhead slinging webs instead of just wearing them."
April 9th
District Two
Clint could hardly recognize himself.
The device he was wearing was apparently called an image inducer, and Fitz had assured him it was field-tested several times over, though he noted that since Clint was impersonating a known figure, he might want to brush up on his acting skills.
"Couldn't find me somebody with fewer… polo shirts or whatever the heck this is?" Clint grumbled at Bobbi, tugging at the color of the overly-stiff shirt with a look of pure distaste.
"That's an interesting complaint," she said with her nose wrinkled up a bit. "I'll try to adjust for it if we need to do this again."
"These things are constricting on the shoulders and arms, Bob," he said, going for a more 'legitimate' complaint before he added, "They are stupid."
"Yes, but they look nice on the chest and stomach areas," she countered before she gave him a little grin.
He had to chuckle at that and shake his head. "Well, as long as you're enjoying it," he said with a crooked smile. He readjusted the collar of the shirt one more time. "So, this guy…"
"Don't ask questions," she said, cutting him off at the pass. "Not now."
Clint shrugged at her for a second. "I was just gonna ask if he's the strong silent type," he said with a little smirk. "So I don't have to act."
"Not always, but maybe for today," she said with a little sparkle in her eyes. "He's got an accent, so it might be better to keep it simple."
"Got it," he said with a little nod as he threaded his arm through hers. "Well, come on, darling, show me the sights," he prompted in a bit of a Capitolian accent just to mess with her.
"More like Moira — but not as thick." She looked him up and down in a sideways glance. "But nice first try."
"Not just a pretty face," Clint smirked her way.
"I knew that much already," she said as she bumped his hip "It's the acting that I didn't know about yet."
"I can even do cartwheels and bow to an adoring crowd," he said perfectly straight-faced.
"We'll leave the flexibility portion of the show until later," she replied just as evenly.
He chuckled and shook his head, allowing her to lead him through the nicer parts of the district that he simply hadn't even touched when he was growing up there. These were the areas closest to the Victor's Village, the areas where Academy trainers and others lived — the ones where the Capitol support was strongest, if he was honest.
But they weren't just trying to find the places that supported SHIELD, after all. If there was strong Capitol support, they needed to know that too, and Bobbi was quick to find places to put Hank's little movable bugs toward the 'official' training areas and the large homes where parties tended to gather.
"Okay, I think that's it for this part of town," Bobbi said. "I have one more spot to hit, but I need a little break, so you're up."
Clint looked at her sideways for a second. "Sure your reputation will hold up where I'm from?" he teased.
"I'm sure I'm not worried about it," she said with a wave. "They might think I'm trolling for hot guys for the rest of our evening."
He smirked her way for a second. "That's a real worry, Bob. I mean, you have crap taste. I should know."
"Shut up and be pretty under that stupid disguise."
He laughed outright at that as they made their way through his part of the district. He wasn't very sentimental about the place, so he just focused on hitting the big points. Places where illegal fights took place, betting rings, that sort of thing.
"This really isn't so bad," Bobbi said as they were leaving one of the larger 'arenas'.
Clint snorted at her. "Yeah, one good thing of organized rings is, well, it's organized." He tipped his head at a symbol scratched in the wood of one of the buildings nearby. "Sentinels came by recently, so they're laying low."
"I didn't think criminals cared much about what the Sentinels did," she said with a laugh. "Everyone knows the most inept Sentinels stay in Two. They need the meaner ones out where they count."
Clint just chuckled. "Yeah, well, Sentinels in training get their practice down this way," he explained. "The real mean ones get their practice down in Madripoor, but…" He shrugged.
"Yeah, we have to hit one more spot; maybe you can help me, because I'm not familiar," she said, though she stopped short when she saw the guy blocking her path.
"Heya cutie. What're you doing all the way out here in my neighborhood?" the tall brunette asked with a leering grin.
"Leaving," she said with a tight smile.
"Already? Babe, you ain't even been around long enough to see the good stuff," the guy said, still making it a point to block their path. He gestured Clint's way as Clint was suddenly no help at all and wasn't moving in the slightest. "Ditch the kid, spend time with a real man."
"Oh, is that what you think you are?" Bobbi asked, wide-eyed. "Because you're very …" she looked him up and down very slowly. "Very sadly mistaken."
He glared and took a step forward, clearly moving to grab her by the arm, but she sidestepped the move without even looking like she was trying. When he spun around to try again, she let him get a bit closer before she moved out of his way, and his own momentum sent him off balance enough that Clint only had to stick out his foot and the guy went down — which the two of them took as their cue to ditch him as Clint halfway dragged Bobbi by the arm away from that particular neighborhood.
"I was just getting started," she whispered his way. "I didn't lay a finger on him."
But Clint had settled into a good glare. "Leave it, Bob." He didn't tell her that he did not want to get into it with Buck, focused instead on simply putting the whole neighborhood in his rearview mirror.
"Okay, okay. But we do have one more stop." She pulled him to a stop once he slowed his pace a bit. "A place called the Princess Bar … it's not a name I'm familiar with."
He goggled at her for a moment. "I… don't even know what that is. I don't know what that is, Bob."
"It's in low town?" she said with her nose scrunched up. "Does that help?"
"Awww, Bobbi, no." He turned to face her with wide eyes. "Why — why would you want to go to low town? Nobody goes to low town if they can help it."
"Well, I'm pretty sure Viper's not going to bug her own establishment for us."
Clint tipped his head back and just groaned. "Fine. But if no one hears from us ever again, I blame you."
"It's Viper's," she said with an easy roll of her eyes. "We'll be fine."
He sighed and took her arm. "Alright then. Fine. Into the insanity we go — with me all dressed up like mugging bait. You did this on purpose, Bobbi. I know you did."
"I didn't realize for some reason that Viper would be in a place that scares criminals," she said with a half-amused laugh. "She's so … snooty."
"Don't ask me to explain it, because I don't know. All I know is a couple SAFE boys went there on a dare, and only one of 'em came back — and he doesn't talk about it." Clint pulled a face. "Us criminal types are usually the ones who disappear and no one knows it, in case you haven't noticed."
"Well you're not a criminal type tonight," Bobbi pointed out. "And you're with me. We'll be fine. Especially if this is Viper's turf."
"My hero," Clint couldn't help but tease as they wandered further into the area of Two known as Madripoor — and deeper into the grittier parts, too.
Everything about the place made the darkest, nastiest parts of Two that Clint knew look downright homey. Open crime in the streets. Drugs. Prostitution — the whole nine, out on display with no shame, and no concern of any repercussions.
It was a small enough portion of town, but it was jam-packed with everything you didn't want to deal with, and before they hit the end of the first street, no less than four people had been caught trying to pick Clint's pockets. None of them put up a fight on being caught, instead opting to disappear into the dark alleys, but it was the principle of the matter that had Clint annoyed all the same.
And in the heart of Two's crime district, they finally found the bar Bobbi had mentioned — shining almost like a jewel amid the clutter and garbage. "And … there's the snooty," Bobbi said quietly as they looked at the massive, well-lit establishment.
"For someone who likes poisons so much, she's not real big on subtlety," Clint snorted.
"No, she's really not. But I'll bet if anyone bothered to test the blood in some of the corpses in the street, they'd find they didn't die on accident. She said she had plenty of test subjects."
"Yeah, see, this is why we don't come here."
"So SAFE is scared of Viper?" she teased.
"Probably a little bit," Clint said with a little smirk. "Not like we're trained to fight victors, let alone crazy, poison-obsessed victors. Glad I'm not in that half-bit program anymore."
"Then they're not as stupid as that idiot leading them looks. Good to know."
"Buck's extra stupid," Clint said, the glare from earlier coming back to his face before he tried to shake it off. "You wanna introduce me to your best friend?" he teased in an attempt to turn it around on her.
"Ah, no. Let's just set the bugs and try to get out of there before she knows we were ever here."
"I'm totally fine with that," Clint had to agree, letting her lead the way as the two of them quickly and efficiently set Hank's moveable bugs down the path, letting them loose when they didn't want to get too close before, finally, they turned and left Madripoor — though it was clearly not soon enough for Clint, who was well aware of the fact that Bobbi was the main reason he wasn't getting assaulted or drugged or something.
"Well this was a fun date," she said as they got closer to the jet. "How about we grab a burger and get the hell out of Two?"
"I am down for that," he said, nodding fervently. "No place like home."
