Unknowns
Kate had to smile. Emily was a genuinely cool person, if a bit on the naive side occasionally. The fact that she was a fan-girl was not really a big impediment. Kate had met many people who put the 'fan' in the word 'fanatic' and she had been a bit worried as a result. But once they arrived in her lab, Emily was a consummate professional. Jesse hadn't been back and Emily was clearly worried about that, but she put her worry aside to try and help Kate, which was greatly appreciated by Kate. There also hadn't been any poking and prodding, so that was good too.
Now, if only the rest of this was good…
Kate sank back into the chair as the oddly discordant noises ended and the door to the small room she had been confined in opened. Emily stood there, a worried look on her face. Kate gave her a brave smile and Emily relaxed. Emily smiled but it was melancholy.
"I don't want to know, do I?" Kate said softly as Emily stepped in and started undoing all of the scanner equipment that she had hooked up to Kate before this test. Kate had no idea at all what the test had been for, just that she had been seated, hooked up with more wires that even Tony Stark would have found pleasant, and then barraged with noise.
"Well, the good news is that you are not doing it." Emily said quietly as she finished unhooking Kate and handed the girl a bottle of water which Kate gratefully took. She was parched. She didn't remember when she had eaten or drunk last. The coffee from the meeting had been hours ago. "There is a definite movement in the quantum fields around you. I can't say what it is, but it is not you moving it. It is definitely coming from somewhere else."
"So I am being pulled?" Kate asked. "Across realities?"
"Or pushed." Emily made a face. "It is so imprecise at times. We cannot even detect such things without extremely detailed tests. Sorry for the barrage of noise…" She started again, but Kate waved her apology away.
"You warned me and it wasn't nearly as bad as some 'tests' I have gone through in the past. Some of Pym's or Stark's 'gentle tests' would peel paint off the hull of a battleship." Kate smiled as Emily looked worried. "I survived those. I survived this. So, I will go again?"
"Almost certainly." Emily frowned. "It is not a signal or anything I can easily describe, but the energy around you does seem to be changing. I cannot tell if it is growing stronger or weaker, but it is changing."
"I am a puppet then?" Kate asked very quietly. She was starting to get mad. "I don't like being someone else's puppet."
"Me neither." Emily agreed, rage at Kate's condition surfacing before submerging in professionalism. "I have been manipulated by masters of the craft and it never gets easier to deal with."
"The blanket and pillow?" Kate asked, looking at the pair of items she had apparently brought with her.
"They are resonating with you." Emily shrugged as Kate looked blank. "They will likely go when you do."
"Why would whoever or whatever is doing this send me with a blanket and pillow?" Kate asked as she took another sip.
"They want to make sure you get sleep?" Emily quipped and Kate shook her head. "The only thing I can think… They didn't send you with a weapon." Kate stilled and Emily nodded. "If they wanted you to fight, they would have given you a bow." The scientist pursed her lips. "Maybe a sword too, but definitely a bow, Hawk-Eye." Her use of the code name was respectful, with just a tinge of awe.
"That would make sense." Kate agreed. "In the last...um...place I was, there was a bow, but it didn't seem to be all there?" She queried and Emily looked at her. "Or, it was there for me, but no one else could see it until I picked it up?"
"As if it was meant specifically for you?" Emily inquired and Kate nodded. "Hmmm. Well, if they don't want you to fight, then what does that leave? You are good at a bunch of things, but you are best known for archery."
"In my free time, I have been studying." Kate offered and Emily nodded. "It varied, of course, but I was taking classes online as well. It was… It is silly." Kate made another face and Emily shrugged.
"Right now, we have a lot of questions and very few answers." Emily replied. "What classes?"
"Business, mostly." Kate looked at the floor as Emily stared at her. "I mean, I cannot be a costumed crime fighter forever. Even Cap has limits and I worry he is reaching them."
Emily thought long and hard before she replied and when she did, it was thoughtful.
"Kate, in the world you are from there are those who covet and those who protect." Emily shook her head as Kate looked up at her. "In this world, the stories are simply that. Stories. Some are good, some are bad. Some are funny, some are horrific." Kate nodded. "I am caught up in my own mess. So much so that I don't even know what month it is outside of this building. If of course, we are still in regular space time and not warped by whatever happened. I wouldn't put it past this house."
"Well, yeah." Kate sighed. "So, there is no way for me to control this?"
"Not that I can detect." Emily slumped a bit. "I hoped to give you better news."
"Well, whoever it is doing this clearly doesn't want me dead." Kate rose to her feet a bit gingerly. She had been seated for over an hour and her butt felt all tingly. "Can you tell if it is one motion? Direction? Energy?"
"I don't know. It is fluctuating." Emily admitted. "There is a ring of energy around you that is barely detectable even with all of our tech and tricks. I dislike the word 'aura' but that may be the best descriptor. It is a fine word, but it has been misused by crackpots a great deal over the years." Kate scoffed at that and Emily. "You know about that." Not really a question.
"Crackpots?" Kate took a deep breath and blew it out. "Oh yeah. I know about crackpots." Did she ever! "That said? I don't know a lot about multi-versal theory. I know there is a multiverse. That there are infinite possibilities. That is some reality, I am the scientist and you are the archer."
"I do.. shoot a bit…" Emily seemed to shrink, but Kate reached out to touch her arm.
"I am honored." Kate smiled when Emily perked up. "Just don't focus on the stories so much that you ignore reality." She grimaced. "Your reality, that is." She yawned and then tried to cover it. "Sorry."
"You are tired." Emily said softly. "It will probably happen when you sleep."
"So the blanket and the pillow…" Kate walked to the item, bent down and picked them up.
"...are either hints or someone trying to help." Emily concluded. "Or both."
"Is it wrong that I am scared?" Kate asked as she slung the pillow into the blanket and then wrapped said blanket around herself.
"Not in the slightest." Emily was kind as held out a hand for Kate to take. The young Avenger did and Emily led her from the booth. "The unknown is always scary and this jaunting to parallel worlds defines 'unknown'. You have no idea where you will go next. A little fear is totally understandable. In anybody! I bet even Captain America has fear."
"Cap? Oh, he does, but he faces it every day. He has had for so long, its part and parcel of who and what he is. Facing fear is what shows bravery. I have always tried to do that. To act the part. To face my fear and do the job." Kate Bishop took a deep breath and nodded. "I guess… I guess I better this time too. Get on with it."
"I wish I had one of Captain America's pep talks right now." Emily led Kate to a small room that had once been for storage form the shelves still filled with boxes of many sizes and shapes. But now? A bunk sat to one side and Emily was leading her to that. Kate paused. Were those comic books that were in one of the boxes beside the bunk? She reached for the box, but Emily flushed and pulled it out of her reach. "Um, you probably shouldn't."
"Um… Okay." Kate shrugged. Then she smiled, naturally this time. "Tell me, do I look good?"
"Oh honey." Emily moved some stuff so Kate could sit on the bunk. "You look fabulous. I loved purple before I started collecting comics and when I saw yours? Well, the rest is history." That was pure fan girl.
"Give me the one you like the most and a pen." Kate said as she un-slung the pillow/blanket and pulled the pillow out. Emily looked conflicted and Kate shook her head. "Either it will disappear when I do or it won't. The last I can do is repay your kindness in this small way." She scoffed. "And I bet this whole mess will be classified and buried if I know anything about bureaucracies. So, even if they confiscate it, bury it or heaven forbid, burn it, you will have your memory of this." She waited while Emily clearly fought herself. "You know I won't spill your secret and I think the Director is in your corner on such things." She smiled wide as Emily flushed again. "You didn't betray her. You didn't hurt her. You have tried to help her. She understands that."
"She can't trust me." Emily said in a monotone. "It would be idiotic for her to trust me. I am with the Federal Bureau of Control! We lied to her, hurt he and her brother. Hell…" She broke off her almost rant when Kate reached out to touch her.
"You didn't know." Kate said softly. "From everything you have said. From everything Jesse said. You didn't know."
"I was an assistant." Emily said weakly. "I wasn't in that compartment. It is all compartmentalized, secrets within secrets. Lies within lies. Cover ups on top of cover ups! Darling never told me!" Betrayal sang in her tone and now, Kate gripped her arm.
"I don't think she blames you." Kate reassured the other. "I know about secrets, Emily. If you have read the stories, so do you."
"I… I do." Emily swallowed hard. "I mean… Some of it for the protection of people. There are things that are just too scary dangerous to be let out."
"Yeah. I know." Kate heaved a sigh. "You know, I get called a hero a lot. Saving people never gets old. There are sides to it though that I never would have thought of in a million years when I started this path. So many secrets. So many lies. Some small, some big."
"Yeah." Emily was rooting through the box she held now. Then she gave herself a shake. "This is about you, not me."
"Want some advice?" Kate asked as Emily finally chose one and pulled it out. Kate had to grin at the image on the cover. It showed her and Lucky the Pizza Dog. She loved Lucky and the costume she was wearing was one of her favorites. It was a bit surreal seeing it, but she had seen comics of her in her own reality, so here? It was just weird.
"Sure." Emily handed Kate the comic and then fished in a pocket for a pen, ignoring the pens that poked out of her lab coat pockets. Kate eyes her and Emily shrugged. "The pens I have for work? The ink doesn't last long. Either a side effect of the work or cheap ink."
"Six of one, half dozen of the other?" Kate smiled wide as Emily did. "My advice then? Talk to Jesse. She is dedicated and clearly hard working. She is not stupid, but she is having difficulty trusting. For good reason, from what you have said."
"Very good reason." Emily's tone was dark and hard as she found a pen and handed it to Kate.
"Thing is, you were both betrayed by this organization." Kate said softly as she inscribed her name and then, on whim, added an arrow with her logo. "You both want the same things now, from what I understand, but trust won't come easily. I know the feeling. I didn't trust Bruce. Cannot trust Bruce. He is a friend and fellow avenger, but I cannot trust him."
"Bruce Banner?" Emily asked as she took the comic and pen back, dropping the pen back in a pocket absently as she stared at the autograph, rapt.
"You probably know him by his other name." Kate took a deep breath and nodded. "You read the comics about me. Do you read stories about the rest?"
"I can't keep up with everyone." Emily shook her head. "I know Bruce has anger issues." She offered.
"What not many people know…" Kate said very softly. "What I didn't know until he confided in me… Is that the Hulk is the hero side of that personality." Emily went very still and Kate nodded. "By any stretch of the imagination, Doctor Bruce Banner is not sane. He fakes it. He fakes it so well he fools psychologists regularly. But he isn't. The various versions of the Hulk were originally his means of dealing with his madness because he knew that if he did act out with his scientific knowledge…" She trailed off as Emily inhaled in horror.
"Boom." The scientist said softly.
"Boom." Kate Bishop said with a growl. "When he told me his deepest, darkest secret, the day I joined the Avengers for real, He made me swear that if I found a way to stop him… That I would." Emily's eyes went huge and Kate continued. "He is one of the foremost scientists in existence." She paused and made a face. "Ours on our world anyway. His entire focus for a very long time was Weapons of Mass Destruction. And not for world peace or anything noble, but to try and salve the pain that lurks inside him The rage that must every so often be given form."
"He becomes the Hulk to protect everyone else from him?" Emily asked, dazed.
"Think about it, Emily." Kate said very softly now. "Think it through coldly and rationally. Evil mastermind in his or her lair. Hundreds of minions, deathtraps, all kinds of defenses, you name it, he or she has it. One small bomb and poof, no more problem. Huge glowing hole in the ground. Hundreds of dead and potentially far more from environmental issues. What is better? That or 'Hulk! Smash!'?"
"Hulk! Smash!" Emily said without hesitation.
"And if he did? How long until he starts seeing others as targets for such? Politicians? Lawyers? Telemarketers?" Kate slumped on the bed. She gave a small sob as her eyes started to burn. "Bruce never wanted to hurt anyone! He just wanted his dad to love him and stop hurting him! He is a good man, a good Avenger. But he is insane."
"Pym too, right?" Emily said soberly.
"Hank Pym has his own problems, and yes, he probably could do similar, but he was never quite as broken as Bruce is." Kate's sorrow gave way to rage. "Still wanted to flay the man slowly for what he did to Jan, but… That is just me." She shook her head. "I am really tired, Emily. Scared too."
"For what it is worth, seeing you like this helps me." Emily admitted and Kate perked up a bit. "They say you should never meet your heroes and it is true such often destroy whatever illusions you might have of their invincibility or perfection. But what drew me to you and your stories was your imperfections, your vulnerability." Kate scoffed, but Emily was not done. "Hear me out?"
"I am anything but perfect!" Kate said firmly and Emily nodded.
"You are human." Emily said firmly enough that Kate stared at her, dumbstruck. "Thor isn't. Captain America is barely considered human after all of his enhancements and training. Most people would not consider Tony Stark to be human with the way he acts." Kate swallowed her instinctive defense of her teammates and listened. "Tell me, does Natasha Romanoff think she is human?"
"No." Kate said in an undertone.
"Your mentor and you bring a reality to that team. The reality is that humans are lesser than superhumans. Less powerful. Less capable. Less...everything." Emily shook her head. "So why fight so hard to defend them? Why struggle so hard to make things right from a certain point of view? Tell me democracy is perfect and I will laugh at you."
"It is better than dictatorships!" Kate retorted, stung.
"Is it?" Emily shook her head. "Every situation in life is different from every other one. Government that works in one place won't work in another, the cultures are too different. There are times when having one strong leader is better than having hundreds of weak ones arguing." She shrugged. "And then there are times when having one strong leader is bad on toast. Nothing is simple."
"I know." Kate lay back on the bed and shook her head. "What can I do, Emily? If I am a puppet, dancing on strings?"
"Get to the end of the dance, find out who is pulling the strings and then put an arrow up their ass, Hawk-Eye." Emily whispered as the lights dimmed.
"Yes, Ma'am." Kate fell asleep smiling.
A few minutes alter.
"You WHAT?" Emily stared from her director to the other person in the Director's office with barely restrained rage. Being 'summoned had been bad enough after Kate had vanished from the bunk, but this? Jesse shook her head, but Emily was focused on the other being present now. "Are you insane?"
"Almost certainly." Came from the other and Emily paused. "Doctor Pope, what we are doing is insane. There is no other word for it. When people say something cannot be stopped, they mean by normal means."
"She has no powers! No weapons! No chance!" Emily was on a tear but the other was unmoved.
"She has more of a chance than anyone else does right now." The other snorted. "I couldn't stop Elizabeth. The wardens cannot. Maybe a human in distress can stop her long enough for us to fix this."
"How do you fix such a thing?" Emily demanded and went utterly still as Jesse patted her weapon where it lay on the desk. "No!"
"Elizabeth is too powerful. She cannot be controlled. She must be stopped. I will see her stopped."
With that, the tall, golden skinned male form vanished from the room and both women heaved a sigh of relief.
"Jesse…" Emily Pope was used to feeling out of her depth, but the sheer malevolence that golden skinned man and the lust for her body in his eyes had shaken her.
"It is okay, Emily." Jesse came around the desk and wrapped her subordinate in a hug as Emily shook. Then she whispered very quietly into Emily's ear. "There are other plans beside his in motion and we need him to think he is succeeding."
"Who is we?" Emily whispered back. If they were not safe from eavesdropping in the Director's office, then where were they safe? Scratch that! The golden lech had vanished from here as if it was nothing. As if the powerful defenses of the Oldest House could not even slow him down. So… Maybe it was nothing for him.
"Another compartment, Doctor Pope." Emily had only thought herself still. She froze utterly solid as Victor Von Doom, monarch of Latveria appeared in the Director's Office. He was accompanied by a humanoid metal form who bowed to Jesse and Emily. "Not now, Centurion Ric. We have no time for frivolous formality!"
"Courtesy where it is due." Was that a rebuke of Doctor Doom? Who was this guy? "They played their part to perfection."
"Agreed." Emily all but fainted as Doom bowed to her. "Well said, Doctor Pope. Well said indeed. Making her, them, think is what is required. Fighting won't work. Conflict of any kind won't work. Elizabeth and Lorinos Orokin are locked in a struggle to the death that may doom everything unless this plan works."
"Doom? Are you the one pulling her strings?" Emily demanded even as Jesse gave her a warning look.
"No." The dictator of Latveria replied but then his tone turned sad. "But Kate Bishop will wish I was."