Avengers: Don't Get in My Way
Chapter 10
AN - Sorry about the immense wait for this part of the story. My health has been in the toilet lately, and I just honestly felt like doing anything but sleeping. I got a little energized though when I got this gift. One of my readers was so incredibly nice that he made a piece of amazing artwork to go along with the story. Check it out! I love it! .
The group of heroes seemed to freeze in place when Wanda answered the Professor. That wasn't the answer most were expecting from her. Rhodey, Strange, and Hank all glanced at each other before turning their attention back to the conversation between the Professor and Wanda.
"This sounds like it's going to be a rather long and involved process," said Shuri as she closed the distance between where she had been following Wanda and Carol and where the group stood opposite them. Everyone glanced up at the sound of her voice. None had noticed her approach. Okoye and the other Dora Milaje stood to the side, with the General keeping a keen eye on what was happening along the main path to the palace.
"Maybe we should go somewhere a little more comfortable to make this easier. That'll give me time to check the fabrication progress on the new components for Vision," she continued as she turned, waving them along as she did so. The princess began leading the large group up the path towards the palace, shaking her head slightly as she did so.
After a moment of stunned hesitation, the cluster of people fell in behind Shuri and moved towards the palace. The outside of the building was a marvel. It combined traditional Wakandan architectural principles with a very advanced looking sort of design and the walls themselves seemed to be sheathed in Vibranium.
Inside, the palace was as much a marvel as the outside was. The furnishings were once more a blend of traditional aesthetic and the modern, almost science fiction, lines and curves mirrored on the exterior of the building. It was bright, a mixture of natural light, and what seemed to be lighting panels built into the walls and ceiling.
Shuri led them through several hallways, and stopped at what looked very similar to some sort of space age shuttle tube. "Step inside and make yourselves comfortable. The ride won't be very long, so no worries about discomfort…or even cooties," she said with an impish smile.
The shuttle was plenty large enough to accommodate the entire group, and have room left over. The others were silent, exchanging glances that spoke of many things going on in their minds. Most of the expressions were of surprise, awe, and perhaps wonder. Those like Wanda, Carol, Steve, and Bucky, however, had been there several times, so there was more a sense of familiarity on their faces.
After perhaps a minute or two, the shuttle stopped, and Shuri waved them out onto the boarding platform. Despite it's advanced appearance, it was very similar to the boarding and disembarking platform you'd find at any subway or train station, or perhaps even an airport. Like the palace, it had that all around lighting that gave it a very clean and almost clinical feel. The palace hadn't felt clinical but here, it was what one would imagine a top secret government installation to look and feel like.
After traveling a semicircular hallway for several yards, it opened up on the side to a vaguely circular room with plenty of comfortable looking furniture. The furnishings were distributed in such a way that Charles could move about easily in his chair, almost as if they were expected.
"You can relax here, and you can perform whatever sort of procedure that you're going to do for this…confirmation," she said smiling as she had her hands clasped before her and leaned against what looked like some sort of door jamb.
"You have simply to wave your hand here over this sensor to close the doors, and here is the panel where you may control the opacity and shading of the door and entrance walls. Everything has been keyed to permit any of you to use the controls."
Shuri followed her explanation with a brief demonstration, then nodded to them all. The bemused, almost impish and mischievous, expression she wore gave her eyes a bright twinkle.
"Should you need to speak with me, you may call me upon the intercom. The intercom controls are here by the door controls. Alternatively, you may exit this room, follow the hall to the right, until you see a large chamber on the left. That will be my lab, and where I shall be, continuing my work with Vision."
The young woman turned to leave them to their privacy, but Bruce turned towards her and stopped her before she left, asking, "'Your work with Vision?' Wanda, everyone, forgive me if I sound indelicate, but what sort of work can you possibly be doing with Vision? He's…not active."
A wave of anguish and pain passed over Wanda's face briefly. Bruce had almost said, "He's dead." To his credit, he caught himself, and Wanda knew he didn't mean to be cruel or hurtful by the question. It still felt like her very soul was being ripped from her once more, as it had when Thanos had ripped the Mind Stone from Vision's forehead and discarded his body in a completely uncaring and contemptible gesture. A couple of deep breaths later, she managed to regain her calm.
The expression that passed over Wanda's face didn't escape Shuri's attention. Her eyes moved up to the much larger man in front of her and after a beat responded, "I'm reconstructing his frontal lobe, cranial crest, and fitting it with some new things that Wanda requested me to design and put in place. But you're right, he's not active…not yet."
When no more questions or comments were forthcoming, Shuri briefly smiled, and then exited the room. The doors slid shut behind her, leaving the group of individuals alone and to their own devices. The silence fell heavily over the entire room like a physical weight, crushing them all beneath it.
Bruce turned and looked at Wanda, even as several of the others were doing. The questions were obvious in their eyes and faces, yet the silence had not been broken as they sat there awkwardly.
The young Sokovian's cheeks were wet, and she sniffled loudly as her chin rose in what Bruce figured could be either defiance or determination, or perhaps both. He could see it was all she could do not to break down right then and there, and allow all that emotional hurricane inside her to envelope the room in its fury. He admired her strength greatly for being able to contain it, as well as the passion that gave birth to that same hurricane and fury even more at that moment. Bruce was fully aware that Wanda was anything but fragile, but this was an entirely different order of strength she was displaying.
The silence continued for a moment longer, and Charles glanced around the room a moment before he laid a gentle hand on Wanda's forearm. He met her gaze when she turned her attention towards him, and he asked in a quiet caring voice, barely above a whisper, "We can begin whenever you're prepared and ready, Wanda. There's no pressure or rush."
Several moments passed before Wanda made any sort of movement. She'd been still enough that she could have been a statue instead of the young woman sitting with them all. Finally, the illusion of her stony immobility shattered when she nodded. Wanda drew a handkerchief from an inner pocket of her jacket and wiped her eyes vigorously, and then wiped it over her nose as well.
"I think I'm about as ready as I'm ever going to be, Professor," she answered softly. Her eyes swam in unshed tears as she lifted her gaze to him. "The sooner we do this, the sooner all of you will hopefully finally understand. I'm not crazy, I swear to you. I promise you. I wish you could all understand that."
"Shh, my dear. It's important that you be relaxed as much as possible, or it could be an extremely rocky experience for us both," soothed Charles as he patted her arm. "I'm a bit too old to enjoy roller coasters any longer." He smiled as he joked with her, hoping to help put her more at ease.
Clarice suddenly slapped her hand over her mouth as her body jerked involuntarily. Her eyes squeezed shut and her body started shaking.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she managed to blurt out before anyone could ask her what was wrong. Noises that sounded suspiciously like laughter laced her words as she continued. "I mean no disrespect, Professor. It's just that I never imagined you to be the sort that did that kind of thing when you were younger. Then you said that, and immediately I got this really kooky image of you zipping along the rail of the monster ride at the amusement park in Brooklyn. I don't know why, but it struck me as ridiculously funny."
The rest chuckled hesitantly as she explained but Charles just smiled. "I can't blame you, Clarice. But you might be surprised. I was young once too, you know. I even 'borrowed' the old man's favorite hot rod a couple of times to take a zip into town to try and impress all the girls. Unfortunately, they were far more impressed with the bloody car than they were with me.
"I asked each of them out to a bite at the local teen hangout on different occasions, and they all agreed, but then each of them brushed off my every immensely charming advance to ask me a question about the car or to ooh and ahh over some aspect of it. I felt like asking each of them if they'd like me to give them and the ruddy car time alone, and the only reason that I didn't was that I was quite certain they all would have said 'yes.'"
That elicited a hearty round of laughter, and even got a smile from Wanda. "It was all damned embarrassing. So much for my imagined status as a dashing young 'ladies man.' It turned out I wasn't even considered an especially worthy chauffeur and chaperon.
"Out charmed by a bloody lump of metal and plastic. Thankfully, I discovered a path that I thought would give me a sense of contentment and value. I had heard that girls thought that professors were sexy. I have yet to discover why people are so convinced of that. So much for contentment and value."
The laughter in the room took a couple of moments to die down, but finally, the Professor sludged forward, "Now then, if everyone is quite finished taking delight in the tale of a disillusioned young man with dreams of being 'cool,' I believe we should get started.
"I don't anticipate any difficulties, but I feel it must be said. During this excursion, I will probably react with movements such as shaking my head or of my hands gesticulating about. This is normal with something of this depth. Under no circumstances are you to disrupt our journey unless there is a very evident and clear sense of danger."
Once he was convinced that everyone understood the gravity of his words, he moved into the small cubicle in the back corner of the room, and bade Wanda to accompany him. Once they were in, and Wanda was settled comfortably, Charles shut the door, but left the walls transparent to assure the others that everything was going to be just fine.
Once the cubicle was sealed, Scott moved to look out the enormous window on the back wall, and then turned towards the rest. All this time he had been uncharacteristically quiet and said very little. Let's face it, I'm way, way, way out of my league and depth with all this stuff. I'm just along for the ride in terms of what I can do if shit hits the fan and Wanda goes batshit. But it affects everyone in the universe, whatever happens with all this. That includes Cassie. Out of my depth or not, I need to know she's going to be safe.
He turned from the window and jammed his hands into his pockets. As he cast a quick glance towards the Professor and Wanda and then back to the others, he asked, "So, what are we supposed to do? Just sit out here and twiddle our thumbs while they do…whatever it is that they're doing?"
Most of the others looked up at him, but none had answered, so he pressed on. "Look," he said. "I know I'm pretty new to all this superhero zap 'em stuff, and maybe I don't get everything all the time, but I gotta say…it just feels weird to sit out here with all this going on, and waiting on the Professor and Wanda to have their mental tea party or whatever you want to call it. I want to do something, the right something."
Hank bristled and growled as he turned towards Scott, "Look, Scott, I know a lot of this is a few miles above your head, but could you try contributing something that's actually useful to all this instead of jabbering like an over caffeinated monkey?"
Horrified, Hope and Janet both grabbed his arms and opened their mouths to speak, but Peter, who had also been extremely quiet during the entire endeavor stepped forward between Hank and Scott.
"Hey, listen Doctor Pym, he's just worried. He's scared like the rest of us, including you. Whatever happens means pretty much everything to everybody. Maybe you can stay all calm and grouchy and irritable and all that, but some of us mere small minded normal humans can't. We have people we love that could just blink out, or get killed, or worse just like you do.
"Maybe Scott's not as smart as you. So what? Being smarter than most of the people here doesn't give you the right to talk to him the way you do and treat him like shit. He's not beneath you. He's here beside you, he's with you, facing the same things you're facing, dealing with the same things you're dealing with, and scared of the same kind of stuff happening that you are. You think if all this goes wrong and it's the possible end of everything there is means any less than what it means to you just because he isn't as good at hiding his fear behind being an arrogant, insufferable prick as you are?"
Peter paused long enough to take a deep breath. "Man, you're just like this guy at my school, Flash Thompson. He's so miserable and mean to everybody else because somewhere in that ball of bullshit he's got floating around in his head, he hates himself as much as everybody else does. So, like you, he takes it out on everybody else, treats them like they're nothing. Then he lies to himself and tells himself it's because he's so much better than everybody else. Just like you."
He finally threw his hands up, and turned around and looked at everybody else. "Mr. Stark, everybody, I'm sorry. I just had enough of listening to this. Come get me when the adults can act like adults. It just makes me want to stay a kid that much longer if this is what I have to look forward to when I grow up."
With that, Peter turned and left the room and headed down the hallway towards where Shuri said her lab was. Hank stood staring at him where he was still visible sputtering and growling, "That pretentious, pompous little punk! Who the hell does he think he's talking to? He shows that kind of respect to people, and he calls me an arrogant, insufferable prick?"
"You know what, Dad? He just might be onto something," said Hope after staring at her father for several long moments. Without another word, she turned and stormed out the door as well in the same direction Peter had.
Janet frowned and glared at Hank for long moments. "I agree with Hope. I love you, Hank, I do. With all my heart. You're actually a really great husband, you've always done what you felt was best for Hope and me. But you know what? You really suck at being a human being."
Janet whirled on her heel and stomped over to the far corner of the room, turned her chair towards the window and sat down in a huff. She had to grit her teeth in order to keep from saying more.
Tony had stopped the conversation he'd been having with several of the others when Peter had started laying into Hank. When he finished and walked out the door, the corners of Tony's lips turned upwards slightly and he chuckled. "That's my boy. Good job, Pete," he half whispered.
Meanwhile, Scott stood stupefied in the middle of the floor with his mouth still open from when he'd been about to reply to Hank. He wasn't sure he knew what just happened. It couldn't have been what it sounded like. Come on. Nobody talks like that to Hank. I've seen him tear down everybody he comes into contact with and nobody's ever came back at him like that. Okay, Lang, there must be something in that coffee. Wakandan coffee beans are hallucinogenic maybe?
Finally, Scott's mouth started working again. He couldn't tear his eyes away from where the teenager had exited the room, but all that came out of his mouth was, "Wow…"
X
Peter made it around the curve where he was no longer visible to the occupants of the lounge he'd just left and leaned his back against the wall. The young man took a deep breath and noticed his hands were shaking. That was something he'd never really done, especially with an adult with Hank Pym's reputation. He was even more anxious because Hank was actually a scientist he admired.
"And you just blew up at him, insulted him, and destroyed any hope you had of ever talking to him about anything except how to go jump out a spaceship airlock. Fantastic, Peter. As if your life couldn't get any more fucked up," he admonished himself in a half whisper.
His staring at the wall across from him was interrupted by a feeling he wasn't alone. He felt it rather than felt it, and he figured it was just the odd tingling he'd feel if something was dangerous coming his way. Peter's breath caught in his chest and he quickly turned his gaze towards the direction he'd come from.
Peter's eyes turned just in time to see Hope coming up on him in a jog. Like the rest of them, she was still dressed in her suit, and the look on her face didn't look all that friendly. Here it comes, Peter. Here comes the blasting for being a smart assed punk kid going off on one of the greatest scientists of this time. I wonder how long it'll be before she punches me in the mouth, or worse?
Peter pushed off the wall and defensively held his hands up as she approached. "Listen, Miss Pym? Van Dyne? Sorry, I don't know which name you use. I'm so, so sorry for going off on your dad like that and calling him those names. I don't normally do that kind of thing, I promise. Your dad is one of my heroes and I…I don't know what happened, I just…" he nervously rattled out rapidly.
Hope slowed to a stop as she came close to Peter. She wore a rather bewildered expression as he hastily apologized. This kid is just full of surprises. He's also a lot more polite and conscientious than I was at his age. I guess the others weren't kidding; he really is a sweet kid.
An odd silence lingered between the two for several seconds before Hope's face broke into a smile and she shook her head. "You don't have to apologize at all, Peter. Peter is your name, right?" she tried to put him at ease as she spoke as he nodded. "You didn't do anything wrong at all. In fact, what you did should have been done ages ago. Other than my mom and me, people don't usually stand up to 'the great Hank Pym' like that. Somebody should have done that a long time ago."
Peter's eyes grew as big as saucers, and he couldn't find his voice for several seconds as he slowly lowered his hands. "So…so you're telling me that you aren't pissed off at me for blasting your dad?" he squeaked out in a question. He still wasn't sure if she was going to hit him or not.
"That arrogant, insufferable prick? Hell no," she laughed as she put her hand on the teenager's shoulder. "If I were the President, I'd give you a medal for bravery and gallantry. You're right, Dad is an arrogant, insufferable prick a lot of the time. He has his moments, but most of the time? Most of the time, he's like that. And honestly, it gets old."
Peter still couldn't believe it, and was waiting for the fast jab he kept expecting from her. He visibly jumped and flinched when she put her hand on his shoulder, but he didn't pull away or try to avoid it.
"I don't like bullies. I've been bullied most of my life, and I…I don't know, it just boils my blood to see someone else be bullied, especially when they don't deserve it," he responded finally. He could feel the apprehension starting to slip away as the tingling was calming down. "He's always —if you'll excuse me saying so— condescending and snarky to most people, but for some reason, he seems to hate Scott more than anybody, even more than he hates Mr. Stark."
Hope smiled, and decided she liked young Peter Parker more the more time she spent talking to him. He was a good hearted kid, smart, and a lot stronger than he thought he was.
Her smile remained as she shook her head. "You don't need to be excused, Peter. He is, I won't deny it," she responded as she drew in a deep breath looking at the floor before she faced him again. "If I'm being honest, I've been known to be condescending and mean to Scott too at times. I resented him at first because Dad chose him over me to deal with a madman that was in the company.
"I was so mean to him, Peter, and he didn't deserve it, like you said. I guess I'd spent so much time being angry at Hank that I was angry at everybody by that time. Especially Scott. It took a while, but we talked, and I found out that there's a lot more to Scott than people think at first. He's kind hearted, a wonderful father, funny…he's no genius, he'll be the first to tell you that. The thing is he doesn't have to be. I don't want a genius. I love him just like he is. And he's a lot smarter than most think, especially himself."
She paused with a wistful smile and Peter said or nothing to interrupt her. She obviously had more to say.
After a moment, she continued, "Most people would have hated us for the things we put him through. Dad made sure he was desperate enough to turn back to committing burglary just to 'evaluate' him, to see if he was worth his time testing him.
"Scott put everything on the line for us —his freedom, his life, his ability to ever be allowed to see his daughter again— for us. He did it to help us. He didn't have to. Most would have told us to go fuck ourselves and have a nice life. He didn't.
"So, see? You were far more than justified for doing what you did. I didn't come out here to yell at you. I came out here to see if you were okay. You were shaking when you left."
"But…but he's still your dad. You're not even mad at me just a little bit?" said Peter finally, after a long pause. "Oh, man, and there's your mom. Oh, boy she must hate my guts now."
Hope shook her head and took hold of both of Peter's shoulders, maintaining eye contact. "Yes, he's still my dad. I love him, I am 'daddy's little girl' I guess in a lot of ways. But I'd be lying if I said that he is nothing like what you said. You had the guts —and the heart— to say what no one else would say, especially Scott. He's not afraid to say anything, I don't think. He just respects Hank that much, I guess. So he puts up with it, even with me telling him all the time Dad could use an old fashioned right cross now and then.
"As for Mom? She doesn't hate you, Peter. She agrees with you. She loves Hank more than anything in the world, except me, but she knows exactly how Dad is and how he can be. And she adores Scott. You can imagine how much teeth grinding that causes for my dad. But I think deep down, somewhere, he cares about Scott too. People are usually the hardest on those they care about the most."
The sound of someone clearing their throat startled both Hope and Peter, and Hope whirled to see Scott standing there the way he always did. "If he does, it must be really, really deep down. If he told me hated me, I'd feel like he was proposing to me, that's how deep his…feelings for me go," he said with a wry smile.
He chuckled and shrugged, "Seriously, though, it's just how Hank is. I stopped being offended by it when I figured out that he's like that with everybody. Besides, I think of Hank's extreme snarkiness with me as a status symbol. He loves me, he really, really loves me."
Scott hammed it up, clasping his hands against his chest, and otherwise being silly. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Hope and Peter both laughed heartily. As they laughed, Scott batted his eyes like he was blinking away tears of joy.
Hope wrapped an arm around Scott and hugged him close to her side. She gave Peter a wink and nodded towards Scott. "See what I mean?" she asked.
"Yeah…yeah, I think I do," Peter replied as the smile he wore grew.
Scott snapped his head between the two of them, and wore an aghast expression. "Wait, wait, what? You guys were talking about me? Oh, man that's such a relief. I thought you were talking about that amazing boyfriend you have. That means so much to me, Hope. Thank you so much!"
Peter snickered as Hope's jaw dropped in exasperation. She guffawed as she released Scott from her one armed hug and punched him playfully in the shoulder. "The only amazing boyfriend I have is you, you nitwit!"
Immediately, Scott grabbed his shoulder in mock pain and slammed into the wall and exclaimed, "Ow! Ow! Ow! See how mean she is? She hits me, she calls me names. She's a monster!"
"How's this for a hit, Wise Guy?" she asked as her hands flashed out and grabbed the front of his suit. She instantly dragged his face down and kissed him heatedly but briefly. She pushed him back as she released his suit and put her hands on her hips. "Well? Nothing smart assed to say now?"
The very second she said that, Scott clasped his hands behind his back and bent to cock his head up in position. "Oh, please, please Miss Hope ma'am, may I have another? I deserve it. I've been so bad, so, so bad! I'll be good, I promise. I'll be so good."
Hope covered her face and tilted her head towards the floor as she laughed hard enough to shake. Finally, she released an exasperated breath and just stared at him, still wearing an amused grin.
Peter tried to catch his breath after laughing so hard at Scott and Hope's antics, and shook his head, half in disbelief, half in admiration for the relationship they seemed to have.
"What the hell am I going to do with you? You are absolutely incorrigible!" Hope finally managed to choke out around her renewed laughter. She was having trouble breathing herself.
Scott's face grew mock serious and he spoke in what was apparently supposed to be an exaggerated sexy voice, full of heat and desire. "Any damned thing you want. Anything. Should I lay down plastic? Is this with, or without, whipped cream and cherries? I need a hint on how to set it up. We can get kind of messy!"
He immediately grabbed her in a tight hug and jerked her to him. Once she impacted with his chest, he kissed her deeply. The kiss was all too brief, but the duration was offset by the emotion poured into it.
"Scott!" she exclaimed as she pushed him off her. The ring of her laughter echoed in the hallway. "I'm sure Peter doesn't need, or want, to see and hear all of this!"
She looked over at Peter again as she tried to fend off the rain of kisses Scott playfully tried to land. "I'm sorry, Peter. He sometimes gets a little carried away with the comedy."
Peter shook his head and waved his hand in a semi circular motion. "Oh, it's cool. Really. You weren't kidding, though. He is funny." His laughter punctuated his statement.
Suddenly, the kissing assault halted and Scott's face grew genuinely serious. He extended his hand to shake Peter's, and clasped Peter's shoulder with the other. "But seriously, Pete, thanks for what you did and what you said. It was nice not being the universal superhero joke for a change. It meant a lot to me, necessary or not. You've got more guts than I would have had in your position at the time. You're a good man, Peter Parker."
Peter shook his hand back, flabbergasted by Scott's words. A slow dumbfounded grin came to his face as he replied, "Uh, um, well…I try to be. All part of being your friendly neighborhood Spiderman."
The sound of his words hadn't even faded before he groaned and shook his head. Way to go, Peter. You're trying to contribute and convince all these amazing adults that you should be taken seriously as an equal instead of the annoying kid that gets in the way, and then you go and say something stupid and silly like that. How long do you think it'll be before they'll ask if you want a pint of milk and a nap, or a Band Aid for your scraped knee, and do I want one of the surrogate mommies to blow on it and kiss it all better? Stupid!
"All part of the job or not, Pete, you're still a good man. With the views on this whole thing with the Stones being so divided, we've got a huge call that somebody's going to have to make, and it's not going to be unanimous by any means. Everybody is convinced that their call is the one we should be pursuing. We need good guys to help make the right call. That means you too, Pete. You're one of those guys."
Peter nodded and mumbled, "Uh huh." What he didn't say is how he wasn't so sure what the right call was. He just hoped that despite what Scott just said, that it wouldn't come down to which call he thought was the right one.
He believed Wanda was right, and she could do exactly what she was intending to do. A lot of them shared his belief. A lot of them didn't share his belief. He didn't like the feeling of being torn between sides with friends on each side. He had a knot growing in his stomach that didn't show any sign of disappearing any time soon.
"I hope I can make the right call. Personally, I think…I think Miss Maximoff has the right idea, and if she can do it, let her do it. I'm just not convinced what I think is important enough to make a difference. I'm just a kid. What do I know, right?" asked Peter with considerable trepidation.
Hope could tell that he wasn't sure where she and Scott stood on the situation and that he was worried that he might say the "wrong" thing. She smiled and gave his shoulder a light squeeze.
"Kids have to live in this universe too, it doesn't matter which way it goes. You're just as qualified as any of us are to offer an opinion. In fact, to be honest, since you'll have to live in this universe after all of us are all gone, your opinion should be at least as important as any of the others' if not even more than ours. Of all of us, you're the one who's going to have to live with our decision the longest," she reassured him.