Revamped!
[I will be doing daily updates since that is what you all want. I would do daily updates anyways since I need space on the document manager].
Chapter 9: The Kleptomaniac Part Six
Sydney Relics Centre - Sydney, Australia - 23:50 PM
Ivory climbs out the way she entered and sees oncoming cop cars. They came quicker than she thought. She pulls out her rope and uses it to slide down the side of the building quickly. Once she reaches the ground, she hides in the shadows and calls her motorcycle. She hears it coming but sees it being ridden by someone else. The person on it removes the helmet and Ivory sees a flood of red curls pour of out the helmet. Ivory opens her eyes wide, not expecting this at all.
"I'm sorry, was this yours?" Merida asks, revving the engine of the motorcycle.
In response, Ivory snickers as she begins running off in the opposite direction. Merida pulls out her gun and begins firing at her. Ivory activates a jet-pack and begins flying off. Merida holsters her gun and takes out her bow as she begins following Ivory through the roads.
"Not used to people stealing from you, huh?!" Merida exclaims at Ivory.
Merida doubts that Ivory heard her … or that the motorcycle was hers, to begin with. Or even that jet-pack. Doesn't matter. Just catch her!
Merida zips past the past cars on the roads, cutting them off and receiving honks and cuss words from the drivers. She has trouble driving a motorcycle and keeping her eyes on the road while keeping her eyes on Ivory at the same time, especially since her driving isn't following the Australian road rules, and she's firing arrows at Ivory as well.
Merida keeps her eyes on Ivory. Ivory turns back and smirks at her. Merida scowls. Ivory turns back around and takes a sudden sharp turn at a building. Merida turns the bike and slams on the brakes before crashing into a nearby street light. She huffs, watching Ivory fly farther away.
"That's right," Merida says, "keep on flying. Hopefully, you fly into the sun."
Ivory passes another building, thinking gratefully to herself that she finally got the redhead off her trail but little did she notice James running on the edge of a rooftop. He picks up his speed and leaps off the edge with a lot of strength in his push-off. He grabs onto Ivory's ankle which takes her by surprise. Ivory swings around at the impact of James' weight on her leg. Her arms shoot up and the pearl's box goes flying in the air.
"No!" Ivory exclaims.
James shrinks and begins flying for the pearl with Ivory. She pulls out a gun from her thigh holster and begins firing at him. James fires back with his bioelectricity shots. As the two of them race for the pearl before it hits the ground, Ivory manages to snag it but her jet-pack starts losing its power. Ivory curses as she lands on the ground, sliding across the concrete as the pearl escapes her hand again, only mere centimetres away.
Ivory stretches her arm forwards to reach the pearl but stops when a hand steps on her arm. She looks up and sees Daniel. He waves at her as he picks the pearl.
"Lucky for you," Daniel says, approaching them from the end of the sidewalk. "Your jet-pack has been stopped by this EMP."
Daniel shows her the little device. Ivory looks up at him with a smile, one that reads that she would love to have it in her hands after she's stolen it.
"What kind of toy is that?" Ivory asks.
"One that my curvy brunette made with her many olives," Daniel replies.
Ivory snickers. "She's creative as she's intelligent."
Daniel snickers the same way. "Nice try."
"What?"
Daniel raises an eyebrow to tell her to turn around. Ivory does so and sees Merida and James standing right there with their weapons pointed at her. In other words, Ivory is cornered with no other option but to surrender.
-o-
Back at the museum, SHIELD authorities have shown up as the rest of Project: New Generation meets up. Angela and Xavier return the pearl to the museum's curator. Ivory, who is now weaponless and bound, gets placed in a SHIELD car that will take her to the prisons. Once the car door closes, Ivory looks right at the team who stands nearby in a straight line watching her. Ivory smiles at them, almost as if she's happy to go to prison.
"Till we meet again," Ivory tells them, sending them a kiss as the car drives off.
"I hope that never happens," Angela mutters, crossing her arms.
"Until then…" James mutters. He quickly grabs Angela to kiss her, taking her by surprise. "I wanted to make sure that you were the last girl I kissed before I die."
Angela wraps her arms around his shoulders and puts a hand on his cheek. She did promise that they could smooch later and since the job is now done, she kisses him again.
Merida rolls her eyes. Again, some parts from high school and The Academy never seem to disappear.
"And SHIELD said I was the unprofessional one," Merida scoffs. "Daniel, would you stab one of my arrows into my eye sockets so I won't have to see this?"
Merida looks over her shoulder and sees that Daniel is no longer standing beside her because he decided to go talk to the museum's curator. Merida rolls her eyes at Daniel's interest for knowledge which is likely what they're talking about. She looks and sees Xavier still standing on her other side.
"Xavier, would you?" Merida asks, holding an arrow in her hands for him to use.
"As much as I would like to, I'd better make sure nothing happens as they lock Ivory up," Xavier replies, getting in another one of the SHIELD cars.
"Seriously?!" Merida yells at him as the car drives off. "You're not even offering to bring me along?!"
-o-
SHIELD Prisons - 4:52 AM
Ivory sits crossed-legged in her cell, right on top of her perfectly made bed. Her hair and makeup are still in perfect condition as she wears the standard light-blue prison jumpsuit. To pass the time, she braids her hair without needing to look at the actions her hands are doing. Many guards pass her cell, keeping their eyes on her, and every time they make eye contact, she spares them a wink. Suddenly, she hears some more footsteps in the distance, and her head perks up when she doesn't see just another prison guard.
"You avoided the topic," Ivory tells him, uncrossing her legs and sitting properly for him.
Xavier looks at her as she drops her hair to focus on their exchanged words, seeming interested in having a conversation with him.
"What topic?" Xavier asks.
"At the gala, I mentioned a girl from your past and you spun me away," Ivory replies. "It was as if you didn't want to open up a wound that never seemed to heal. You weren't doing that to protect her because you know she can protect herself. You were protecting yourself, weren't you?"
Xavier says nothing. Ivory grins evilly, thinking she finally broke him. Xavier, looking at the ground, smiles sadly to himself before meeting Ivory's eyes again with a hint of contentedness in his eyes.
"Her name was Britney Braun," Xavier tells her. "We spent high school together and we were happy – we were in love, actually. She wore tight clothes that showed skin and matching bright lipstick. She had the kind of laugh you'd want to save as a ringtone and a smile that will stay in your memory forever. She was beautiful and other boys would check her out but I didn't complain. I liked knowing that she was mine and she felt the same about a boy like me. A relationship like ours shouldn't have worked for many reasons but it did and I can't be happier that it happened. I loved her before she found out the truth about herself and her self-discovery only made me love her more." He sighs. "Then she left because she had to and I didn't want her to stay because she has a life up there that she needs to figure out."
Ivory's grin disappears, almost as if she pities him. And judging by how soft her face becomes, it's genuine.
"Why are you telling me all this now?" Ivory asks.
She didn't see a point in Xavier telling her all this now that she was behind bars. He seemed fine, if not happy, with telling her all about this Britney Braun from his high school days. She hints that he had a reason for telling her this now and not at the dance.
Xavier is now the one grinning and it confuses Ivory more. He takes a step closer to the glass of her cell.
"To show you that you can't break me emotionally by getting to my heart because I don't have one," Xavier responds. "An Asgardian sorceress has it and I wouldn't trust anyone else with it."
Xavier walks away, leaving Ivory speechless.
But once he's gone, Ivory turns her back to the transparent door of her cell. She looks down at her body but peeks over her shoulder again to make sure no guards are at her cell making their rounds. Ivory looks down at the stretchy elastic waistband on her pants. She pulls out her cell's keycard that she snagged from the agent arresting her while she was being escorted to her cell. Ivory smiles to herself but that fades the moment she sees a message written on the back with marker.
"Do your job right this time."
-o-
PNG Quinjet - 5:40 AM
Agent Bonnie Moore: I'm sorry for being strict on your team but you know how the Council is. If Xavier told you how they grilled him about starting your team, he got the light version.
Angela laughs to herself. Knowing that the mission was a success and Ivory Gates was locked up, she feels satisfied knowing that she didn't let her SO, her team, or herself down. "All in a day's work."
Agent Bonnie Moore: But not every debriefing will be this easy. You know that since you've tagged along with me to some of mine and they can be brutal. I only went easy on you and faced the Council for you because first missions are never easy, especially if you fail. Training is nothing compared to the real thing.
"Thank you, Bonnie," Angela says, "for literally everything since The Academy."
Agent Bonnie Moore: Thank you for everything your team will do from now on.
[Oh, look, my shattering heart … all you Britney and Xavier shippers can just cry with me. Where can I find a boy who would talk about me the way he talks about Britney? Answer: my imagination]. [2020: Yeah, that gets worse when I wrote Imanu and Blake].
[2020: The part at the end from Ivory having the key onwards is all new].
