Living in the Loop: Life #146 – more new faces.
Disclaimer: see previous chapters.
11-1
"So, you want to tell me more about your own home dimension?" Angelika Finch asked Gemma Simmons, who was currently replacing Toby Nance back at the Cross Photonics.
"Not much to say – it makes yours look very quiet, actually," Simmons confessed. "I mean, all that you've got is an occasional dinosaur or other prehistoric beast. We tend to deal with Hydra and similar threats, which are altogether too human, you know?"
"Fascinating," Angelika drawled. "Now how do you propose to get rid of all these ostrich dinosaurs on the race track?"
"Which is not to say that your place isn't challenging," Simmons continued smoothly, without any interruptions (from her part). "I mean trying to capture - or return – all of those dinosaurs alive, this takes ingenuity! Skill! And gumption!"
"You're a lab worker – even more so than Toby is, aren't you?" Angelika gave her a look. It was nowhere near Melinda May's level, but in Simmons' case a glare anywhere near Melinda May's level was overkill."
"Yes," she confessed to the older woman. "I did do some work as a field agent, but I confess that this isn't my primary speciality...and we don't tend to encounter animals either, other than the lab rats, so who about we follow Ms. Weir's lead instead?" She paused and added. "Of course, it may be just me, but there appears to be something rather weird about her too."
"Oh yes," Angelika nodded acidly. "Remind me to tell you about the world of Nick Burhardt on one hand and about Dr. Melissa Connor on the other."
"A doctor of medicine?" Simmons dared to specify – Angelika Finch could look very formidable, despite being initially an office worker herself, albeit a CFO.
"Yes," the latter grinned rather savagely. "Oh yes."
11-2
It was dark. It was the night of the new moon. The frogs were singing – yet somewhat quietly – in their pond. A nightingale, or a similar bird, was singing in the bushes nearby. A hedgehog was trumping through the grass.
"So, this happens often?" Elaida asked Moiraine, as they observed it all through their newly gained darkvision (at least in case of Elaida. The other Aes Sedai had plenty of experiences like this).
"More often than you think," Moiraine snapped. Before Elaida began to loop, it was easy to avoid her – even when Moiraine herself was not looping (or using the Towers of Midnight). At that time, Elaida was not a friend – she was never a friend – but she was not exactly an enemy either, more like an inconvenience. Of course, later on this inconvenience initiated a coup of the White Tower and split the Aes Sedai in two, just when the Black Ajah were beginning to grow in strength for real...but Moiraine by that time was in the Towers of Midnight already, so, (admittedly selfishly), Elaida Wasn't Her Problem!
Only now she was. Elaida was in the loop, and she wanted more. Information, that is, and she appeared to be actually acting nice – well, nice for a Red Ajah, at any case – in order to get it. And that made it Moiraine's problem, as the Blue Ajah did not like the idea of sharing. True, there was Angelika, but she was of the Yellow Ajah, and frankly, part of the reason why the pair got along so well was because both knew when not to get in each other's way – unlike Elaida, whose modus operandi was to do exactly that-
Moiraine became aware of the other Ajah staring at her, owlishly.
"You know," Elaida continued, sounding rather upset herself, "this isn't my first choice either. Angelika Sedai is actually helpful, if not forthcoming – but then again, she is Yellow. You Blues can never do something helpful if it doesn't improve your lot in life, now do you?"
"Excuse me?" Moiraine puffed-up and began to look twice as big as did before. "What did you say?"
"...You know, I can understand you," Angelika called from down below, startling the other two females. "It's doubly weird, considering the current predicament, but still, can you two get your act together?" She paused and exhaled. "Or at least try to!"
"Angelika!" Moiraine flew down, followed, more reluctantly, by Elaida. "You're here. And you are you. What's going on?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Angelika said, as the other two landed on each side of her. "I believe this is something really new, for all of us. What do you memories tell you?"
They did not have much going on for facial expressions at the moment, but both eagle owls managed to look sheepish.
11-3
"So, you want to tell me more about your own home dimension?" Angelika Finch asked Melinda May, who was currently replacing Mac Randall back at the Cross Photonics.
"No," the older woman confessed, and then fell silent. Angelika did not prod her, surprisingly.
"Fascinating," Melinda relented after a brief pause. "Now how do you propose to get rid of all these ostrich dinosaurs on the race track?"
"Dylan has a plan for them, as you should know by now," Angelika shrugged. "Will it be a problem?"
"No," May shrugged. "Fitz and Simmons had told me about their experiences here. They said it was nice, though there was something strange about her-"
"Oh yes," Angelika nodded acidly. "Remind me to tell you about the world of Nick Burhardt on one hand and about Dr. Melissa Connor on the other."
"A doctor of medicine?" May specified.
"Oh yes," Angelika nodded. "Our fellow Canadian and Dylan's binary partner."
"Dylan's what?"
"Initially – Dylan's body double, which helped somewhat when they began to loop in their respective worlds...in Dylan's case it's this one. They began to be in mental contact with each other, even when our respective worlds stayed separate. They became able to alternate between each other and their respective places in their respective worlds. And then-"
"Nick Burkhardt's world, right?"
"You've been there already?"
"We had some shared experiences with Jethro Gibbs. I met Abby Sciuto."
"...I don't like Gibbs and his lot, but I agree that what happened to Sciuto sucks," Angelika exhaled. "However, what happened when Dylan and Dr. Melissa went there was that they became some sort of a double-headed entity, an Ettin, if you please, but a very intelligent one. Since then, they're practically a single entity that can appear as either of them or a two-headed fusion of both – in any world that they're visiting."
May thought this over. "This sucks," she grunted. "But let's round-up the dinosaurs."
And this was what they did.
11-4
It was morning. The sun was just rising. Trees were half-covered in a milky grey fog. Something slithered underfoot – probably a toad or a snake. The smells of a swampy forest were overwhelming. The two figures that were trudging around that wild neighborhood were thoroughly miserable as well.
"At least we're humans this time," Elaida muttered to Moiraine.
"Aye, but what with all of this ridiculous clothing? And furthermore, in this situation, I would rather be an owl or a different creature."
"Ah, so you have been in times and places when you were a beast," Elaida said brightly. "Fascinating!"
"What's so fascinating?" Moiraine glared at the other Aes Sedai. "Wait, do you think this is a game?"
"Girls, you're Aes Sedai. You took what in my home loop is known as politics and made it into a game," Angelika Finch shrugged as joined the other two women while walking through a bush, BTW.
"Angelika Sedai! You're human!" Elaida exclaimed in surprise while Moiraine just stared.
"Well yes, I am," Angelika nodded. "Why would you think – or expect – it to be otherwise?"
"Well, we were thinking that that big black bird on that tall pine might be you," Moiraine exclaimed, sheepishly.
There was a pause as Angelika took a good look at the bird in question. "It's not a wild turkey, but some sort of a wild chicken or grouse all the same," she said, rather crossly. "Judging by the rather fancy plumage, it's a male, too. And you thought it was I? Seriously?"
The other two exchanged rather embarrassed looks between themselves and Ange. "Whoops."
11-5
"So, you want to tell me about your life?" Angelika asked the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent known as either Skye or Daisy (depending on who was talking about her).
"No," Skye shook her head. "Is it always this crazy with the racehorses, ostrich dinosaurs and what-not?"
"No. Last week it was a smaller, smarter variant of the raptor alongside some kangaroos that had escaped for our zoo," Angelika shrugged. "At this point in time our world keeps on shifting, so there's no prediction as to what'll happen next, either."
"Okay. Gemma and Leo did warn us about this when they first visited your place – this place."
"Hm?"
Skye shook her head. "Sorry. It is just that it is nice being here."
"Yes, your friends did mention that this was something of a step down for them – no human factor and all that."
"They probably were just overeager and overconfident," Skye said sourly, "because that had caused them troubles before. Is this colonel Hall in the Loop?"
"Yes, which is part of the reason why our world is as it is," Angelika nodded. "He really isn't much into this whole secret project situation; he tends to hand it over to the others, whenever he can. Give him something properly and directly military, however, and he's your man."
"Is that why you get along?"
"Honestly, we don't. Evan and I are not talking, Leeds has a complicated relationship with most of us – including Hall, Dylan has her own particular set of problems, as I have told the others, and so on. But we generally don't try to kill each other, if that's what you're implying."
"Ward has, or rather had," Skye said quietly. "Ever since I shot him, he has stopped."
"Because you killed him?"
Skye looked, feeling almost stung by the other woman's voice. "No, he's still alive, which is worse. I have broken something between us, it may've been for the best, but-"
"Do you feel that it was done for the best?"
"No."
"Then it probably wasn't," Angelika shook her head, "and that is all I want to say on this matter. You want to solve your affairs of the heart? Talk to Bo Dennis in Toronto. You don't want to – or don't need to – then just stop talking about them." She paused and added. "My love life has made me really sour on this sort of thing."
Skye decided to keep quiet for now.
11-6
"I must say, it is good to be out of the woods," Elaida told the other women.
"Aye, though the game bird was quite edible when we finally found some salt," Angelika nodded.
"Game bird?" Moiraine raised her eyebrow. "Is that what it's called?"
"I have no idea," Angelika shook her head, "just as I am not sure where and when we are now. I mean, I am quite sure that this is the States, not Canada, and WWII is over, but otherwise-"
"But nothing," another woman – a stranger – walked into their apartment, admittedly knocking on the open door. "Hello, I am Peggy Carter. The place is New York City, the time is 1946, and I was wondering if you'll be interested in helping me out...at least potentially."
End of Life 146