Exiles: Monarch
Breakfasts and a Date
The fantasti-car skimmed over the water's surface at unbelievable speeds. It was were they not over the open ocean, all around them would have been a blur. Then the amazing vehicle slipped fluidly under the ocean's surface. "About how long until we reach Atlantis?" asked Namora curiously.
"Two hours give or take some minutes," answered Peter. He pressed play, this was his personal fantasti-car, so his music was still programmed in. a soft melody began playing.
"What is that?" Namor asked, rather liking the music.
"It's a JazzAttilan infusion," he answered. "It can be very surreal."
She smiled as she listened to the odd music. She liked it. She liked it a lot. Parker had good tastes.
Back at Freedom's Plaza, the other Exiles were just getting up. Blink had showered dressed and left her room only to run into a blond girl. "Oh I'm sorry!" she said after nearly knocking the girl over.
"Its okay," the girl said shyly. "I was waiting for you actually. I'm supposed to show you where the dining hall is."
"Oh, thanks. This place huge." Blink smiled at the girl, who couldn't be older than seventeen.
The blonde girl blushed as she looked back at Blink. "So," she said, suddenly remembering her job. "Its this way."
"So you work here? This early?" asked Clarice.
"Work, no. I live here. The Monarch lets a lot of people say here in Freedom's Plaza. There's a homeless shelter down on the first few floors. The Monarch took in me and my friends after our parents died."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Clarice said, sympathetically.
"Don't be, we're the reason." The girl said this without sadness or guilt. "Our parents lied to us, me and my friends, from birth. They were not only part of a meta-crime syndicate, but they were also trying to end the world. We put them down." The girl said the last part with a note of pride.
"Well way to go then…" Clarice paused, trying to remember if the girl had given her name.
"Karolina," the girl supplied. "My name is Karolina Dean, but my friends call me Lucy in the Sky."
"Like the Beetles song?" asked Clarice as they got moving again. She nodded her head.
As they walked through the corridor Clarice had noticed the girl's looks. "I'm sorry," Clarice suddenly said. "But I'm already kinda with someone."
The girl blushed brightly. "I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't mean to…"
"Its okay," Blink said with a smile. "My friend Mariko used to do it from time to time accidentally."
"Well, no offense, but I wasn't gonna ask you out," Karolina said, not sure if that made things better or worse.
"There already a girl you got your eye on?" asked Clarice with a smile. She actually missed having girl talk. Now that it was just her and Namora, girl-talk didn't come up often.
"Sort of, but I don't even know if she's… you know." Karolina blushed again.
"Hey, you look like a cutie, any girl would be lucky to have you." They turned a corner and were in the dining hall. Victor and Cal were eating ravenously, Morph a little less so. There were two others in the dining hall with them. One was a girl, about Karolina's age in Goth style, and the other was a girl a few years younger than either Karolina or the other girl. She wore pink and had a very tired appearance.
"Clarice," Karolina said. "this is Nico," she gestured to the Asian girl in Goth gear. "And Molly," the younger girl. "Or as I get to call them, Sister Grimm and Bruiser." Clarice waved and sat close to Cal as a man in a butler's uniform brought out her dream breakfast.
"I told them what you'd want. Is that okay?" Cal asked.
"Perfect," Clarice said, giving him a peck on the cheek. Morph turned into a little cupid and shot an arrow then turned into himself getting hit in the head with said arrow. This caused Molly to giggle.
"ooh, shoot," Nico said, looking at her watch. "If I'm lat again, Doc Strange is gonna kill me."
Karolina called to her friend as she got up from the table, "Wait, I'll walk with you. I have to meet up with the Silver guy anyways." And she followed her out. The Exiles looked at each other confusedly till Molly, who they were all but sure was asleep, explained, "They both have to take lessons with experienced heroes. Nico studies with Doctor Strange and Karolina studies with the Silver Surfer" she went back to eating her cereal silently.
"Well," Morph finally asked. "The Tallus say anything?"
Blink shook her head. "Nope, we're still flying blind."
"Its alright pup," said Victor. "I can think of worse places to be stuck."
They all nodded in agreement. As they did, Beak wandered through the door, yawing widely. "Morning," he greeted them.
"Hey Beaky," Morph said.
Beak sat at the far end of the table, across from Molly. When Beak had entered the room, Molly had stopped eating and just stared at him. Beak had yet to notice.
"Where's Namora?" Clarice asked.
"Yeah," Morph agreed. "She's usually up before this."
"She's probably with Mr. Parker," Beak said from his end of the table as Jarvis, the butler, set a plate of pancakes in front of him.
"What makes ya say that Birdbrain?" asked Victor.
"She was with him a couple hours ago when I went back to bed," Beak explained. "I couldn't sleep so I was wandering the halls. I talked to Mr. Parker for a bit, and then Namora showed up and started being mean, so I went to bed." Beak shrugged.
"Weird," thought Blink. "I wonder where she is now."
Namora and Peter were actually just entering Atlantis. "Beautiful," she whispered. Much of it was just as she remembered it.
"Atlantis is now the biggest maritime port in the world," Peter told her. "Since Atlanteans can get anywhere by water much more easily than surface-dwellers, they have pretty much taken over the industry."
She sighed looking out over the city, but was surprised when Peter did it at the same time. She looked at him questioningly.
He explained. "I love coming to Atlantis. This, to be honest, was as much for me as for you. This place is…" he paused looking for the right words. "A diamond. New York is a machine. Dirty, gritty, but functioning. Atlantis isn't dirty. Every inch of it shines and sparkles like crystal."
"That's always how I felt about her," Namora agreed. He loved the same land she loved.
Back at the palace, Beak was almost done with his Pancakes. Molly hadn't taken a bite since he had entered. She had just watched him. Morph had draw the other Exiles' attention to this. He turned into Molly and pulled up a thought bubble where in Molly and Beak were kissing. Neither Molly nor Beak noticed. Blink suddenly looked to her wrist. The Tallus was speaking.
"Guys," she said, getting their attention. They all gathered round, and Molly politely left. "Its says… its says in six months time the Monarch will commit suicide due to depression."
"I believe that," Beak said solemnly.
"After that no one will believe he committed suicide. A civil war starts that kills half the planet inside of two years." she looked direly at the rest. "It only gets worse from there."
"So what can we do? Get the guy counseling?" Morph turned into a Sigmund Freud caricature.
The Tallus says we have to… oh, no.." she said as the Tallus gave the final part of their instructions.
"Its strange," Namora said, looking over Atlantis. "It's my kingdom, and yet it isn't." She sighed distantly, thinking of her home, and the likely hood that she would ever see it again.
"Some times I think I want to move the capitol here… but with more than ninety percent being land-dwellers…" he shrugged.
"Politics," she agreed. She looked back at the city. "Beautiful," she repeated.
"Yes," he said, looking at Namora. "Perhaps we should do lunch here before heading back?"
"That sounds wonderful," she said, almost cheerfully. She shook her head, realizing how eager she had sounded. "I mean… I guess that's a good idea."
They landed next to a restaurant, and at together. They flirted lightly, neither one realizing they were. They took off back for Freedom's Plaza. By then they were talking fluidly, as if they had none each other all their lives, and were just catching up. "Okay," he asked. "What do you miss most about not being an Exile?"
"Beds… or rather Bed, just one. I miss not sleeping in the same one every night," she sighed. Deep down, no matter how much of a warrior she was, she was a woman on the inside. "Your turn. What do you miss most about being no one."
He knew what she meant. "Getting insulted and arguing with idiots," he said. "The annoying things. No one lets the idiots around anymore and on one dares insult me."
"Well if it helps, you're a scrawny, weak-willed, soft-hearted busybody," she said, completely in jest.
"I guess that makes you a thick headed, icy-souled, cruel bitch," they both laughed.
It happened before either realized it. Peter leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. It was an old instinct from when he would play fight with Gwen. He recoiled quickly, fearful that he had been too forward.
She sat there, puzzled. He had just kissed her, yet she didn't feel like throwing him out of the still moving vehicle. She was… dare she think it, glade he had done it.
"s-sorry," he said, blushing profusely.
"No," she said. "Its alright. I was probably sending out the wrong signals." She cleared her throat, trying to keep herself from thinking about that kiss.
He looked down at the ground. 'You're not meant to have that, remember Peter,' He chastised himself. 'You don't get happiness. You get pain and suffering.'
He looked up at Namora and thought for a moment, 'maybe it is possible for me to have happiness again.'
