Revamped!
[I just figured I'd give this to you since it's a MojoWorld conclusion.
OKAY so, I changed the format of how the council is written just because I think it will make more sense this way. It will be like this from now on].
Chapter 16: Hulk Rewind
PNG Quinjet - 16:34 PM
Agent Mike Tapper: Agent Banner.
That name echoes in his head. As Daniel looks up at the hologram of head debriefing agent, Agent Mike Tapper, in front of him, it blurs and makes him nauseous. He was on the phone with Emily before this call because he needed to hear her voice to ease himself for this debriefing. Did he tell Emily about the MojoWorld? Not really. All he said was that a mission didn't go as planned and everything was classified. He felt bad for sort of lying but she'll find out eventually and understand why he said what he said.
He wishes he left her on the line for this debriefing, just to have her beside him.
Daniel takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes, resting in that position against the table he's sitting behind. His head is throbbing but he takes a breath as he puts his glasses back on and forces himself to cooperate with the debriefing. A part of him wants to fake a bad connection to end it early.
Agent Mike Tapper: Agent -
"I heard you," Daniel says slowly. "I heard you."
Agent Mike Tapper: You aren't answering my questions.
"I know. I'd prefer it that way."
Agent Mike Tapper: And why is that?
Daniel opens is mouth but doesn't say anything. He looks down and feels his eyes start to swell with tears as he thinks back to MojoWorld. All those alien eyes on his Hulk, chanting for him to destroy the competition. His Hulk enjoying it. Merida being vulnerable and scared of him and everything else, feeling defenceless although she had a weapon. She felt alone when The Hulk showed up. Being thrown into a void of darkness for a bit and thinking it was the end. He wasn't taken as a weapon but a puppet, being forced to play a role he had no control of in many ways.
He should've kept Emily on the line.
He blinks and feels a tear fall down his cheek. Daniel rushes to wipe it but leaves his hand there. He hears Agent Tapper say something but it doesn't register. When Daniel looks up, he sees an empathetic look on the agent's face.
Agent Mike Tapper: You're dismissed.
-o-
James's Penthouse - Upper East Side - 17:29 PM
"I hate the Council," James says. Angela, Xavier, and Merida sit on his couch, watching him complain after a long mission. "I duplicated alien technology and created a teleportation device - mind you that it burnt to a crisp when we got back - but I taught myself a language that nobody else could understand and they don't even care!"
"They don't care because it came from your incomplete Ph.D. and your dad's research," Xavier says.
"Who are you? The Council?"
"I care about your incomprehensible space toy," Angela says, smiling brightly.
"Your ego is so overwhelming," Merida says to James, sipping her drink. "I could've just stayed in space and I would've still been able to see it."
"I'm not complaining because of my ego," James says. His friends raise an eyebrow. "Well, partially. In all actuality, I wanted to go to the debriefing to save Daniel's ass. You know, have my revelation distract them. Do you think Agent Tapper will go easy on him? Not one bit. He's a freaky man. "
James takes a seat on the couch with them. He sits on Angela's lap as a joke and she laughs, nudging him off. Xavier glances at Merida who crosses her legs as she rolls her eyes.
"Anyways," James says, picking up his laptop from the table and opening it. "I did manage to snag some data from Mojo."
"For what?" Xavier asks.
"A souvenir," James kids. "No, for research. I would've asked Daniel to help me but this data isn't really what any of us would've expected to extract information from nor would he want to look at it. Nobody asked for it since they don't know I have it."
"Why wouldn't Daniel help?"
"I'll show you."
James types on his keyboard and allows the information to be projected on the television in his condominium. Instead of coding or equations, which they expected, they see a video. That's when they all remembered that MojoWorld was a television show for the galaxy. They got the episode featuring Merida and Daniel.
"Brace yourselves," James says, playing the video.
The video starts with the cheering alien crowd. Then they see Daniel and Merida with the subtitle "Hulk with His Assistant" written in loud animated text.
Merida groans, putting one of James's throw pillows over her head.
Angela, Xavier, and James all watch the battle with the addition of cartoon sound effects and fake explosions. Every time Merida would hit the ground, the sound of bowling pins being knocked over would be added.
Mojo: And our human hitchhiker is down!
That was announced every five minutes, followed by an instant replay in slow-motion with a boomerang effect on Merida flailing body.
"Oh no…" Angela mutters sarcastically to Merida. "I was cheering for you."
Merida constantly hits her head on the pillow, not wanting to relive those days due to heroic embarrassment. At least it wasn't Agent Tapper roasting her over this. The others, however, are on the edge of their seats, intrigued on this battle. They cheered and laughed (mostly the latter since Merida was a mess). Whenever the Hulk would punch Kongo, the three of the threw their arms in the air and chanted.
"Can we stop this?" Merida asks.
"We're busy extracting useful data, Merida, take notes," Xavier tells her.
Merida narrows her eyes at him. "I hate you."
There's a knock on the door and James pauses the video. Everyone sits up as James runs through the door and looks through the peephole. James opens his mouth in shock as he looks back at the group.
"It's Daniel!" James whispers.
Xavier quickly changes the channel to the first show he saw, Angela organizes the pillows on the couch, even grabbing the one from Merida, and Merida just fixes the way she's sitting. James clears his throat before opening the door wide for Daniel. Daniel shuffles in, feeling miserable.
"I hate everything," Daniel says sluggishly.
"What a coincidence," James says, "we were just talking about that. I hate the same thing. Say, do you care about my teleportation device?"
"I guess?" Daniel replies unenthusiastically.
James expected more of an excited response from Daniel, hoping it would get his mind off of recent events. However, James knows that Emily would appreciate his invention but forgives Daniel since he's in a crappy mood.
Daniel looks at the others. They're watching an over-dramatic Spanish soap opera with no English subtitles. Merida is leaning over the arm rest to be closer to the twins as she translates everything, Angela is dabbing tears from her eyes, and Xavier is sitting laid-back with fake interest on his face. They say hello before focusing back on the show.
"We were just binge-watching this crap," James informs Daniel. "Apparently, Magdalena is pregnant and she's trying to figure out who the father is. She's torn between it being the butler or the hot neighbour but get this, the neighbour is her third cousin twice-removed who's escaping deportation. She doesn't know that, though."
Daniel nods as he makes his way over to the couch. He takes a seat beside Merida but before he gets comfy, he reaches over for the remote. He presses the recall button and is taken back to what they were previously watching and is blown away from the fake explosions from the video of the battle in MojoWorld.
Everyone else is silent. Nobody could come up with an explanation for this. Daniel only sits back and stares at it all.
"I was completely against this," Merida tells him.
"Daniel, we just needed to see it," Xavier says.
Daniel nods, almost hypnotized by the footage of the Hulk, rather than being mad at his friends.
"If it helps," James starts, "we were cheering for you."
"James!" They all yell.
[Daniel wanted a break and a break they will be getting… Wakanda, here we come!]
