[noted]:

Finally got to meet a third member of Esoteric - Force ! I sorta love Force a lot because she is really intelligent and, I also kinda added her little friendship with Aiden (Honorary Eso.) there which made me a eensy weency bit happy. We'll get to meet all of Esoteric soon, promise, and then we'll get into the big leagues. We might even meet some extras.

Also, i'm really interested on what you think of this chapter because this split into something I didn't really see coming. Drop me something if you want, hope you enjoy !

Minx98: You'll find out soon enough how Lux and Gem know each other, hope you enjoy this chapter for the time being though.
Moonlightmistborn: I'm glad you love it so much ! Thank you for your lovely comment.
Firecracker: well, Rosette's 'element' is sorta earth right? So she can't do much with water and because Shark's there, he's sort of her polar opposite. So yeah, it's a bad idea for her to be by the water, especially Rosette.

[ chapter seven ]

Joya

Translation - Gem

Appropriation - "Joya, estos son los Ultimates."

Sam Alexander was not good at being quiet.

After having his voice stuffed back down his throat for so many years, from bullies and teachers and society alike, it's no surprise that he found his mouth widened with decibels big enough to shake buildings when he was allowed to voice his opinion and wouldn't be judged. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with him at particular times, in particular places.

His voice had gotten them caught once or twice on missions, and now was no different. Spiderman had elaborately constructed a plan with Stalker, after the arguments on Lux's involvement had simmered down to a slight scuffle of annoyance in their chests, that had them scouting through the docks for the next few days by themselves. Monday slipped by into Tuesday, and Tuesday fell haphazardly into pieces when the night began to tinge pink with sleep.

"I'm still annoyed, you know."

"Yes Sam, we know," bites Tempest in a whisper, the usually-sweet tempered girl having to stuff her own voice further back into her skin to avoid yelling at her boyfriend. Sam raises a brow at the tone, arms crossing tightly. "We all are; she shouldn't have done it, but she did and it's in the past now."

"Still, I -"

"No offence, but would you shut up," she hisses, crouching further behind the crates stacked like toppling hands, pulling up the hem of her boot. The cosmic-themed hero narrowed his eyes at her, sitting against the wall opposite the crates, twisting his arm guards subconsciously and pulling up his legs.

"Why're you so testy?"

"Why're you so loud?"

He pulls back from the agitated attitude of his girlfriend, huffing a determined breath as she pulls her gaze over the edges of the crates, staring at the derelict warehouse they'd been watching for the last couple of days. The lights flickered inside, deep and intimidating, throwing grotesque shadows across the wood of the docks like wrenched eyes. Something bristles under her skin and her resolve eats away, as she turns to open her mouth but Nova beats her too it.

"I'm not being loud. God, you've been like this ever since -"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, No -"

"You can't order me!"

"When you're being annoying, I can!"

It's not usual the two get into fights, usually because Tempest had always been so jumpy and her powers were highly uncontrollable. But over the years, her self-control has grown and even though she can feel the urge pressing against the back of her teeth as she retorts to the cosmic hero, she stamps it down as she sees green eyes narrow behind the helmet and his aura flare a darker blue in agitation.

As he pushes off the wall to retort, there's a sudden pause of time where Tempest's eyes avert skyward, to the dark shape that rears an ugly head over the tops of the crates. It slams itself haphazardly into Nova's temple, scattering blood instantly and the action causes it to fall off. Her eyes widen as hands find their way over the edge and a boy, larger than the crates, folds a long leg over the top to crawl over.

Fear bleeds hot into Tempest's chest, and she scrambles forwards towards the groaning Latino, hands outstretched like desperate string. "Nov - !"

Something thick and elastic ties itself around her throat, and as one hand claws on the ground to get away and the other pulls at the wire that snags itself thick and uncomfortable around her throat, she can feel the familiar fear scratch itself up her throat. Wide eyes and a quivering voice turn to find another, the exact replica of the other boy, with a dog-catcher's wire tucked between his wide hands. He gives another harsh tug when she tries to speak, cutting off her air. In her frenzied state, she can't call it too her - she's far too preoccupied to remember her powers.

"Uff, sleep, small one," he murmurs, voice low and rumbling the foothills of mountains somewhere, when she continues to claw and kick her way towards the unconscious boy currently being slung over his twin's shoulder. Almost as if on cue, when she wonders if their team has noticed the scuffle or the lack of voices over the comms in her ear, his fingers nimbly pick it out from her ear and his partner, pressing the helmet back onto his face, scoops out Sam's and crushes it.

"Stay silent!" His voice quiver's with a snakes hiss as he drags her up, uncurling the dog wire from her throat and throwing her over his own shoulder, gasping for the breath she'd been denied and ignoring the line of pain that strings itself around her throat. He holds down her legs when she kicks and doesn't flinch when she claws, though she can feel the sobs and fear work their way up her throat, how she suddenly starts to shake as the world closes in on her, because she didn't fight. She didn't even try.

Slowly, Tempest's eyes notice how there's more of this boy, with hands for crushing buildings and eyes more narrow than blades. They ink out of the shadows, with Powerman and Iron Fist pushed in front of three of them, hands tied and eyes forward. Iron Fist, now mask-less and ripped mask tied around his wrist, nodded at Tempest, as if to ask if she's okay. She didn't answer.

Tiger stumbled from the shadows, tiger amulet thrumming hotly but her hands are restrained by a pair that aren't hers, with another two behind her - one holding Spiderman in a cradle as the hero slumped, unconscious - and the silence settled. Every now and then, tiger would throw out a punch or a leg to trip one of the identical-looking boys, but was soon restrained properly.

Then, the overhanging lamps, which swing like sunken heads over the docks, dampen as they reach the warehouses and Tempest's brows furrow. Are they transporting them to their base, conscious and live hostages? The brown-eyed girl can see the same thought process filtering through Powerman as his shoulders hunch, his feet scuff the wood that holds them above the roiling sea edge more frequently, as if trying to dig his heels into the wood to stop. Then, the light disappears in trade for a doorway threshold, where the boy has to bend to avoid from hitting both their heads on the arch way.

She's deposited in front of him with Nova's helmet in a duffel bag, as Nova and Spiderman are huffed unceremoniously to the floor by their own guards, and shoved forwards slightly with a soft nudge, towards where two people stand, another boy and a girl. The boy hides deep in the crevices of a hood and thick, ratty jeans that tug against and snag on the nails that poke their way from the wrenched-up floorboards. He approaches Tempest with the silence of a cat on it's paws, but no predator instinct sinks into his skin towards her. Still, she flinches back harshly when he puts out a hand to touch her.

"Don't you dare - " Powerman's words are cut short as the boy behind him throws a fist into his jaw, knocking him onto his knees and White Tiger's instantly trying to kick free, growls reverberating through her chest and roaring.

"Sentinel," the voice is soft and vaguely feminine, coming from the boy hidden beneath the folds of the hood, and instantly, the taller folds back into an obedient position, arms folding against his sides. However, the shorter doesn't still. "It is alright, my friend. You can settle."

There's a unanimous sigh between each identical boy, and suddenly, a soft vibration fills the room like after a triangle has been struck. Suddenly, their bodies begin to become transparent and take on a drip effect; however, not downwards but towards one space in-particular, behind White Tiger, where the only one that doesn't turn transparent stands. They seem to curl towards him, until they are no longer there, but inking back into his skin, like ghosts from another life. The giant sighs in contentment, flexing his arms.

"You know I hate the duplicating, Psi."

"I know. I apologize. Go check on Ameena, see if she needs more medication," softly orders the shorter, and the lumbering boy exits the room without a second of hesitation, smile on his features shy. Instantly, the four group around the two unconscious parts of their hero outfit, and somehow, Tempest knows that the boy - Psi - smiles softly at the action.

As he approaches again though, Tiger now without her restrictions, flares up her claws wide, glaring at the boy. His hands fall open in surrender. "I will not hurt you."

"Pretty hard to believe that after getting frog-marched here."

"I apologize for that as well, but you were the ones that were scouting us out," truth bleeds soft in his word and he chuckles when the girl behind him sighs around her discomfort. He angles his head back towards her. "Come now, Stutter. You'll make them feel bad."

"E'lm, I don't think they'd care much," murmurs the familiar blond, who pulls herself from the shadows with distrust evident in the creaks of her bones, the way her hips angle away from the SHIELD heroes. Her eyes narrow, gaunt features taking a sharp texture in the overhead lighting.

Psi doesn't seem to mind, and rolls his eyes, turning back to the ground. His hands fall from hanging by his head and the boy holds out one towards them, and everyone only vaguely notices it's a shoddy work of a prosthetic limb when his smile widens. "This is only a formality, so no one shall be hurt in this...introduction."

Somehow, Tempest knows he's looking at her, prompting her to go first, but her hands never stray from their clenched position against her chest, she never bends from where she stands over Spiderman and Nova, faces exposed slightly, unconscious on the floor. Suddenly, a large shape stands in front of her and with a neutral expression, Danny's hand slots against Psi's, fingers bending around his wrist as he takes Tempest's place. She'd always learned better through example anyways.

"Over-trusting, hm? Like Force."

"Only for my family. May I ask first," he says, hand pulling back before Psi can touch his skin, eyes narrowed, "but, what are you going to do?"

Behind Psi, Stutter smiles, impressed at the other blonde. Psi joins her, prosthetic fingers curling into his palm. "It is only a formality, as I said, but I can take away powers," when he sees the startled looks on their faces, he waves a hand, "but only for a short time, and I promise I will return them to you when it is time for you to leave. All I ask is that you trust me."

Danny pauses, brows narrowing downwards before casting a look towards the blond across the room. Suddenly, Danny turns to Psi. "Then take hers first."

"I beg your pardon?"

Stutter peers up, something akin to impressed shock as she wanders up towards the group to listen with interested ears. "That which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed similarly," Danny says, peering upwards as she approaches.

Stutter pauses, before her smile reaches higher and she holds out a hand to her shorter friend. "Smart boy; Christopher Hitchens."

Stutter didn't like Psi's power. In fact, she hated it. As his fingers slip over hers, mirroring the familiar dance of brushing his fingertips from the base of her wrist to the ends of her own, then prodding a triangle at three points on her palm, she can feel the world tilt slightly. Her feet slip against the ground and she stumbles slightly as her energy depletes and her teeth grit. Psi gives a whine, eyebrows crunching in slight pain, as well as Stutter's, until he pulls his hands from hers.

"See," he huffs, angular, crescent eyes darting into a sudden sharp blue from brown under the hood, as he turns to look at the perplexed, conscious SHIELD agents, "doesn't hurt at all."

"You sure about that? You don't seem to be your best now," murmurs Powerman, rubbing a hand against his bicep unconsciously.

"Psi doesn't like to talk of his pain," answers Stutter, hooking an arm around the shorter boy, who leans against her softly with a shy smirk, not wanting to bask in the rare praise she deposits like food in his lap. Then, when her arm still ties around spindly shoulders, she sends a narrowed gaze to the Ultimates. "But I promise you, he can do this. We'll give them back."

It seems that's all Danny needs and he gently, slots his hand back on Psi's prosthetic limb. The chi-wielder groans slightly and stumbles, but he regains his balance when Tiger bounces forwards, slotting an arm around his back before he stands again. Next, Tempest presses her hand into Psi's, and she has to sit herself on the ground as she's not as strong as Danny and he continues until he reaches Tiger.

"Your power isn't genetic. Where does it come from, may I ask?" Tiger doesn't need to answer; she shows it. Claws scrape across the tiger amulet that sits squarely against her collarbones, and it flashes with something primal and ancient, dark green worming it's way from the sunken in eyes of the tiger amulet.

"It's a family heirloom."

"Would you be willing to part with it for a while?"

"Not really."

"Okay," Psi shrugs, something soft and understanding as he hugs his prosthetic limb to his side and moves onto Spiderman and Nova. The same happens and he softly parts Spiderman from his web shooters and hands them to Stutter, but as his fingers go to claw under Nova's helmet, Tempest stands.

"W-Wait, that's his...it hides his identity," she answers as she shakily stands to her feet, hands outstretching like she needs another reason to grab onto, something else that will pull his hands back from the edge of the blackened, dented helmet. "And, i-it's his dad's."

Psi, once again nods, and it's that little action that floods the world in Tempest's chest. Her breath hitches in her throat and the smile that pulls her face wide seems to spill with gratitude as she moves to hook one of their arms over her shoulder, only to be parted away when Powerman - now Luke, bare of his sunglasses - and Danny pull one of either over their shoulders.

Tiger follows their lead, and her mask comes off, spilling dark hair over her shoulders and Tempest unties her own mask. They trusted them to enter their home with their powers intact, so now they would trust them with their identities. The two Esoteric agents pause, something gentle and scared as they stare onto open faces before Psi laughs, a guffaw of booming happiness and he sends a proud smirk to Stutter. The blond groans and shoves him away.

"Come on, SHIELD dogs, you've gotta meet the others," she announces and Psi bids a soft farewell, saying it's his turn to guard the entrance. As Luke moves to ask where it is, Stutter gives a short, brief whistle and directs their attention towards her foot. It's hooked under something thick, which she kicks open and dust flutters from the open mouth of the tunnel beneath the warehouse like it's finally been allowed to breathe again after so long. Stutter waves a hand around her face and gestures her head towards the stairwell that digs beneath the warehouse.

Slowly, they drip down into the tunnel, one-by-one, and Stutter closes the door behind them after giving a soft wave towards Psi. The world tilts into darkness for a moment, before something clicks, fast and sharp and fire lights the room. Stutter places the lighter into a dent in the wall, that runs further down the darkened room filled with gasoline, and the fire spreads quick until shadows flicker softly across the walls, throwing grotesque figures like twisted vines.

Stutter continues forwards without hesitating, down the hallway until she begins to descend down the stairs, and the Ultimates follow obediently. Tempest's hand pulls around Ava's fore arm, and the taller pulls her own hand up to grip it tightly. For all her tough skin, Ava is scared too.

"By the way," she comments lowly after a few moments, "if you're thinking of using your communicators to send a homing signal to SHIELD, think again. The upper floors are lined with lead and we've purposely scratched out this place and put it through the floors. So they're useless, unless you have some sort of game that doesn't connect to the internet on it."

The blond tries not to snort with laughter when she suddenly hears the sound of a recorded football game whirring to life on Luke's wrist, and the hall is filled with just football chatter and curious glances. Soon, the bottom pulls itself into view and light spills from an open entrance. The football game stops dead, and jaws fall open when they walk through the scratched out doorway.

The room is unlike the ones they've been in so far. Its cavern stretches wide like the mouth of someone screaming, but arched over the door, are soft tendrils of grape vines and foxglove flowers that hang like snow over their heads, teeth into the beat's mouth, and when Ava goes to pick one in curiosity, Luke sends her a narrowed look and she drops it by her foot with a sheepish smile. Around the room, pots and troughs line it with flowers and plants that arch high, towards the glass that seeps natural light into the room. The fire that had lit their way spills around the dome of the room, and it only dents it's path when it's cut underneath a spillage of water, with a dug out bowl that holds it against the wall, with vines pulling around it like creeping ivy fingers.

And in the center, where a bare row connects to the other side of the room to the next stairwell, fingers lovingly pulling two plants apart and pressing them towards the light beneath their leaves, is Rosette. Her thick brown hair falling loose from her pigtails and her clothes are muddied with dirt and work. There's smudges of soil on her smiling face and when the fire begins to roar, she immediately turns towards Stutter and goes to throw out her hands in a welcome hug, but ellipsis bleeds fear in her toes as she stumbles on her sudden stride and her face goes white and the arms bend into a defensive position so quickly, they wonder whether it was on instinct or if she even thought about it first.

"Kari, I -"

"What are they doing here?"

"Believe me, we aren't stoked to be here either," bites Ava from where she folds her arms behind Danny, who tries to put a hand before her and Luke ruffles slightly at the sharp tone the other girl takes with them. Rosette bleeds a glare to them, muttering low in another language.

"Kari, they've been with Psi. They can't hurt anyone, I promise, sis," Stutter says, compassion leaking through every single bend of her bones, every breath that files itself through razor-sharp ribs and it takes a second to realize that they're family through circumstance, not blood. And when she coughs around something thick and sick, Rosette's fight ebbs away with her shoulders aching from the tensed position.

Her arm pulls around Stutter and pats her back twice, until the cough subsides and she stands. A soft look is passed between them, before the plant-grower sighs and peers towards the Ultimates, even if her teeth do grit like bricks in her mouth. "Do not step on Peonies."

When Luke playfully threatens to Tempest to step on one, a soft growl shakes the room a little and he bounces back.

They continue through the room, now accompanied by Rosette, in the same way as before. There's another stairwell, but it leads to a split path and instantly, Stutter takes the left one. The hallway continues until there's a room. This one is subsequently larger than the plant room, but there's no windows that press themselves into the ceiling. But this room is worse.

Row upon row of beds, of beds made of plastics and stolen sheets and even bin bags, greet them. And tucked, painfully thin, beneath the make-shift blankets, are children. Younger and older, weak and frail and leaning over the side of their beds to pull wracking coughs from their chests like pulling teeth. Tempest's breath catches in her throat, Luke's eyes avert and from the sheer crescendo of sickness, Spiderman stirs on Luke's shoulder.

"Walk fast and keep your heads low," commands Stutter, and she glides into the room, eyes facing straight ahead to the door, acting as if this didn't effect her in the slightest. But her fists curl and her eyes split with tears. It's obvious her heart is breaking a little behind the thick brunt of assertiveness she hums, but still, she manages to not break down and fall on her knees. Rosette is the same, and the flower crown that she's weaved through her hair wilts slightly because of it.

They continue, until another fork appears and Stutter takes the second right one out of the four until another room splits into view. This one is small, and square and it is littered with more frail, sick-riddled bodies. But pressed to the back wall, opposite them, is no door but a small platform with five simple chairs. On the other two walls on their sides, cut open doors lead to stairwells and hallways and they can tell this is the heart of the Esoteric hide-out.

On the platform are three girls. One is Force, whose eyes widen in silk shock when she see's the Ultimates standing awkwardly in the door behind Rosette and Stutter, who murmurs a frail, sensitive whisper of 'Timeline!' under her breath and races towards a girl propped up against one of the chairs, a window sheet pulled over her sickly frame. Her skin is pale, even moreso with her sickness and her black chest-length hair sticks to her forehead with sweat. Grey-black eyes arch into crescent moons when she sends a tired smile to Stutter, who collects Timeline's face in her hands like she's a broken doll and she hooks her fingers between hers on her jaw.

Crouched beside her, is another girl. Long, golden brown hair dips in greasy tendrils and wide blue eyes peer tiredly at the girl that is half leaning on her leg. When she peers up to see Rosette step up towards the last chair on the end of the row and drop her body into the seat with her legs thrown over the arm, there is a small noticeable scar that pushes it's way across her hairline. Her brow furrows, and the girl jerks her head towards the group at the door as she drops lazily into her chair, swinging her legs over the arm.

Something broken slips between her fingers. Something scared and fearful but her eyes press over the sick in the room, in between the ragged coughs and close-to-death children. Her heart taps a beat and she stands, ethereal glow from the windows above highlighting the bones that ring xylophones across her body. Rosette is half-shadowed by the light that bleeds down, arms crossed and Force peers over her shoulder, although she stands with her back to them. Timeline is huffing and panting against the pain in her abdomen and chest and head, slumped against the chair so tiredly, she hardly notices them there. Stutter pauses around the edges, every line of her body going rigid as she crouches beside the final chair.

"Gem, these are the Ultimates."

Gem nods, lip chewed in fright. "Right. Let's talk."