Emerging Crisis

Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Marvel. I own Leon/Crisis, Farrah/Persiana, and Eve. All other OCs belong to their respective creators.

Chapter 8: Offering a Place

Back aboard the SHIELD carrier, the heroes and heroines were being treated and examined for their injuries. Fury walked in at that moment,

"Well, nice to see you all took down that thing."

Hercules chuckled,

" 'Twas nothing, Colonel. One day, I shall tell you the story of how I tamed Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding Hades!"

Crystal scratched her head,

"Is that anything like Thor slaying the Frost Giants?"

Wonder Man looked at the teens,

"You know, this team actually can work."

Black Widow nodded,

"Da, Simon."
The spy then looked around,

"Where is Miss Marvel?"
Meanwhile…

Leon was watching through the glass of an examination room. Inside, Farrah was being checked by the SHIELD scientist as to her present condition. No longer human, not fully an animal, the white-haired teen was now caught in the middle of two worlds; worlds that very few other humans had experienced. The red-eyed teen could not help but feel responsible for having caused this to happen. He sank down on the wall and sighed,

"What have I done?"
Carol was watching him from afar and her heart went out to the young man; she never saw him so sad. The blonde Air Force brat decided to approach him,

"Leon?"

Leon looked up and Carol sat down next to him. Carol said,

"It's not your fault, you know. You did everything you could to try and save her."
Leon shook his head,

"I should have done something more. I know there was something I should have done."

He stood up and walked inside.

Farrah looked up and smiled,

"Leon, you came."
Leon nodded,

"Yeah."

He said,

"I'm sorry for what happened to you. Maybe if I hadn't gone out with you, maybe your mother wouldn't have tried to capture you too."

Farrah shook her head,

"It's not your fault, Leon. My mother and I are through. I never really liked much of what she did. Plus, she was working with terrorists. I doubt that we'll ever speak to each other again."

She then looked at her appearance,

"I think I can change myself back, but that could take a while."

Leon thought about that for a moment before saying,

"No, keep it."

The furry feline looked at Leon,

"What?"

"Keep your powers. They suit you."

Farrah was a bit taken aback,

"But, I can't walk around without people noticing me. Unless I had an image inducer, and, even then, people will feel me as furry."

Leon nodded,

"True, but you yourself said it could take months to find a way to reverse it. By then, your more feline tendencies would be part of you behavior. If you changed back, you would still have some cat-behavior in you."

Farrah took all this in before smiling sheepishly,

"I guess that's true."

She looked up,

"Not just a cat, Leon. A lioness."
This time, the red-eyed teen was confused,

"Lioness?"
Farrah nodded,

"Yes, I am a lioness."

Leon added,

"Well, you're fur is like one of those Persian cats."

Farrah looked at herself for a moment before smirking,

"Fury is building a new team of Avengers, right? I'm going to join it, and, my codename is Persiana, the lioness."

Leon was surprised by this,

"You're serious?"
Farrah nodded,

"Yeah, but I'm gonna make it clear I'm not a government pawn. I do what I want when I want how I want."

She then asked,

"Are you gonna join, too, Leon?"

For a moment, the red-eyed teen did not answer. He was still unsure of himself, especially when it came to his headaches and precognition. Sure, he was one of the stronger heroes, but, with the uncertainty of his visions, a dangerous and important tactical situation could be lost because he could not keep focus, or his headaches would flair up again. He shook his head,

"I don't know. Excuse me."

He left. Farrah looked after him, truly hoping he would join up.

Later…

Leon was sitting in one of the private rooms on the Helicarrier. Despite the prime opportunity to be a hero, the red-eyed teen was having a serious crisis of conscience.

Fury walked in,

"Hey, kid."

Leon stood up,

"Colonel."

The head of SHIELD shook his head,

"Ease off, kid. I came to talk."

The two sat down and Fury explained,

"Leon, I know you got a lot of hesitation joining up. I understand that. Lemme tell ya, it's a prime opportunity. We can find out what's wrong with those headaches of yers."

Leon looked up and was about to say something, but did not. Figuring Fury, the head of SHIELD, he had information on everyone. Leon shrugged,

"Colonel, even though I have this power, these headaches could cost someone an advantage in a fight, and, I feel, if I do get one of these headaches at the wrong time, I could be causing anyone I'm near suffering."

The spy explained,

"Kid, these headaches come at random times. For all you know, you might not get another one in a day, a week, hell, even a month. Besides, you did work well with the others when they took out that android Dragon Man."

Leon had to admit; the colonel had a point. He said,

"All right, I'm in, as long as Farrah joins up too."

Fury nodded,

"Not a problem. Now, what about a codename and costume for yourself?"
Leon thought back to when he first encountered the Hellions. He remembered Monet saying something; caught in a crisis.

Crisis. It suited him perfectly. The unnatural flow of visions meant he was going through a crisis. He said,

"My codename is Crisis. As for my costume…you let me worry about that."

Meanwhile…

Eve and the Stepford sisters escaped the Hydra base and were now back at her old lab. The blonde geneticist grumbled,

"SHIELD and those Avengers got in my way, and they ruined everything!"
She slammed her fists on the table, growling,

"They'll pay for this. I'll make them pay dearly for this."
She looked at the five sister psychics,

"We're going to build a team of our own, and once we have the necessary components, we're going to stop the Avengers once and for all, and maybe even get rid of that excuse of a daughter."

Next Chapter:
The West Coast Avengers move into their new base.