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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Happy Wednesday my wonderful readers. Are you ready for a chapter of almost all action? Cause you got it! We have Steve showing up and realizing that Rowan was up to one hell of a something. This is supposed to be thrilling and funny, kind of like Rowan's ditzy op from season 3. So hopefully it makes you laugh. Don't forget to leave a review (Cause I love your reactions) and I'll see you tomorrow.
Chapter 328
"Hi. Hey. I was wondering could I see Yao Fat again? I have some questions I wanted to ask him."
Those poor boys had been so startled by her appearance they had jumped. Coffee flew out of their little paper cups as they turned around and stared at her like she was a ghost. Maybe she kind of was, it wasn't like any of them had wanted to see her again after the shit she and Steve had caused the last time they were there.
However, showing up uninvited was completely different from her invited visit and as such they weren't as nice to her. They trussed her up, tied her up and then marched her down the hallways before throwing her into a room. Well, they weren't going to get any good reviews from her.
It took only one string to pull her hands free, and then she was faced with a whole different problem. Every time she opened up her void sense to the strings she got bombarded. Not with red strings like she was used to but by all the different outcomes. There were so many swimming around her, so many different ways this could still go that were all swarming her. She couldn't quite understand why but just looking at a few of them she figured it had to do with all the people that were involved in this op. Doris, Yao, everyone with Steve and he had 5 people now, and then of course, her and Wo. And there were all these different lines of outcomes. It could literally go any which way, and most of the lines were not good ones. Dear god this wasn't what it looked like when she first started looking at this situation.
She must have stood there for twenty minutes trying to concentrate, trying to find the right string path she wanted, or at the very least Doris' string, but she couldn't focus and she was starting to panic. She knew from experience that if she panicked she couldn't do it.
She must have sat in that room for a lot longer than she should have just trying to pick through the strings and getting more and more panicked the harder it got. She suddenly shot to her feet, grabbed onto the one string she knew lead to someone she knew and tugged him off of the roof she left him on and into that room.
Wo Fat dropped through the ceiling and into the room, landing in that typical super hero pose before looking around and catching sight of her. "What the fuck Rowan, this isn't the plan."
"I can't find the right strings," she said her voice hitching as she was dangerously close to crying. He stood and crossed to her immediately.
"What do you mean?"
"I can't… there are so many and I can't find Doris and I'm freaking out."
He put his hands to her shoulders. "Okay, calm down, do you want to pull Steve? Would that help?"
"No, cause he doesn't know I'm here yet and… he doesn't go through the void right. Makes him dizzy and sick…" "—Pussy." "… stop it that's not true. It affects him wrong, like an allergy."
Wo Fat merely rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine, what do you wanna do then, what do you need?"
"I… I don't know, but I can't… I can't seem to find Doris…" she said and he sighed.
"Can you open the door?" he asked and she nodded. "Alright. Then let's start with opening the door. And then think up a new plan, okay?"
Rowan nodded went over to the door and opened it. God she was really happy her brother was here to help her.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
As soon as Rowan Pierce showed up in their compound again, they all went on high alert. They had no choice. They didn't know how she got in or how she by passed all their roving guards and their security. They didn't know where Steven was, they didn't know where her brother was but she didn't have her phone and that was good because that was how the both of them would track her.
They couldn't broadcast that they had her because then her app would track her and they'd have her brother breathing down their necks, if he wasn't already there, and they didn't want that.
So they put out intel on her boyfriend. He was MIA. Then they asked for intel on Wo Fat, and well, he was supposed to be in Japan but no one could get eyes on him. They hadn't been able to for months before this they wouldn't be able to now.
"Hey guys. I'm really not feeling well do you have ginger ale or something fizzy I can drink?"
They jumped again and turned on her, how the hell was she standing there? How had she gotten out of the cell they put her in, how was she just walking through the hallways of their compound without anyone stopped her.
"How the hell did you get out?"
Rowan had been looking at the monitors they had, the security feeds that showed them all the cells. There was one camera that was black, they had just noticed it now, it was her cell. Why had the camera gone down in her cell?
"You didn't lock the door," she said and they both shook their heads. That wasn't true, they weren't that stupid. "But that's not what you should be worried about."
No? It wasn't?
She smiled, this big toothy grin that had them both shrinking back. "You should be asking who I let in."
It was the sound of the gun that got them, and the fact that she was shutting the door. They turned and Wo Fat was standing in the room. How the hell had even got past them?
"Sorry folks, it's just business." And then he shot them.
For a moment after he had done it he just stood there. Rowan hadn't wanted them to get shot, but these were the only two who knew that Rowan was there. The plan had always been to kill them, he just hadn't planned on doing it by Rowan. He couldn't have anyone realizing that both of them had managed to get Morocco as quickly as they had without a passport.
He slowly inhaled and exhaled before going about hiding the bodies best he could, dragging them out of the way and covering them before calling out to Rowan that it was safe to come in.
Rowan carefully opened the door and stuck her head in. She looked around before moving to join him by the monitors.
"So, according to this, this one is my dad," he said pointing to one monitor. He then pointed to the next one. "And that one's Doris."
"Okay," she said softly as she looked them. It says STH 4, hmm, I think that's back where I was."
It was, so Wo nodded to her. "Alright, you got this now?" Rowan nodded. "Alright, throw me back to the main power, I've already sabotaged the backup generator so we'll be going dark permanently. Once it goes dark go for Doris. You got your mask?"
Rowan nodded again and he nodded too. "Alright, ready?" She nodded once more and flicked him away. Hopefully the next time she pulled him, would be part of the plan and not a panic attack.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Everything went dark and Doris straight up panicked.
She couldn't think of any reason why this was happening, at least not for this long. Was this a rescue attempt? Was it Wo Fat or Steven? And if it was them how did they find out? Was it Rowan and her visions who had told one of them, or both of them, or someone else? Was it Rowan come to get her all by herself? Because if so, that was as dumb fucking move.
Then she heard someone at the door. But it wasn't a key, it was like a static hiss, which might have made sense if it was an electronic key pad between her and freedom, except it wasn't. It was a regular lock, tumbler and pin. If anything, she should have heard scraping not hissing.
But the door opened and someone came in. And Doris attacked. She got a hold of the person and flipped them to the ground.
She got on top of them, ready to knock them out but it was just Rowan. "Oh, oh my god!"
"I swear my life just flashed before my eyes," Rowan groaned from where she was on the floor. "What is the matter with you?"
"I thought you were a guard coming to check in on me…"
"Without a fucking key?" Doris helped Rowan up and then brushed her down all while trying to keep her steady cause she was acting like she was about to keel over. "God why did I bother? I should have left you to rot."
Doris tried to not take that to heart. She did just flip the girl afterall. "Did you come here by yourself?"
"Why yes I did Doris because I'm completely fucking stupid," Rowan snapped and then turned a glare to the older woman. "I am obviously not here by myself. Out of both of your sons, which one do you think would let me come here by myself?"
"Neither, so which one is with you?"
"Wo, though Steve is on his way."
"Steve didn't come with you?" she asked though that made sense. Steve probably didn't want to come help her, he was probably still mad at her.
"Well, no, but not because of what you think," she said. "Oh guard coming pretend I'm not here."
Sure enough the door opened again and another guard came in. His eyes on Doris immediately, he pulled up his walkie-talkie and said: "Target 2 is still here."
And then he jerked. He just yelped and spasmed and then went down. And there was Rowan, hands having clearly just been on his back. She watched the man drop and then laughed. "Haha, sucker."
Doris hadn't ever seen this side of Rowan, she was starting to see why it worried someone like Wo Fat. She then turned a happy smile, one that Doris recognized, up to her. "You ready to go?"
"I'm not leaving Yao behind. That man lost his family and the last 20 years of his life, he has suffered enough."
"Okay, just how dumb do you think I am?" she asked turning a glare onto Doris. "You think I'm going to bring Wo Fat here and not get his dad? What's the matter with you? It's like you don't know me at all."
Doris shook her head, she did know Rowan. She knew that Rowan got in over her head all of the time, though she had seemingly learned not to do that anymore. Instead she let Rowan open the door and led her out. She was kinda interested to see what kind of plan Rowan had up her sleeve.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
The plan was simple, he'd turn off the power and Rowan would get Doris and his father and meet him at the jump zone. It was simple. It was easy. She hadn't shown up.
He knew she was having problems with her strings, but this was ridiculous. She could still open doors and that was all she needed to do!
Wo Fat had no choice but to back track, he saw immediately what the problem was. Her exit strategy was blocked by a wall of soldiers and the room that lead to his father's cell was teeming with soldiers too. They must have realized that if Doris was gone, they'd be heading for Yao next. Smart. But not good for their plan. So now the question was… where the hell did Rowan go?
He danced around the perimeter before making his way around them, she had to be near-by, he just didn't know where. But he turned the corner and there she was, ear against the wall, Doris standing beside her keeping look out.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Rowan did even turn to look at him. Her eyes were flashing hot white and he knew instantly that she was struggling to work the strings.
"She's having some difficulty and I'm not leaving here without your dad."
Wo Fat nodded, yeah, he wasn't going to leave without him either. "Yeah, I unno what's going on here, she's never had this problem before."
"Well, from what she's told me, it sounds like there are too many variables in play," Doris said and Wo cocked his head in surprise. "Yeah, she said Steve has four other people with him, and then there's me, and you and all of these guys."
That's right, that was a lot of strings and possibilities to look at. Rowan didn't usually have to worry about that. Usually it was open and door and go away, she'd only have to worry about her and who ever she brought with her. She had clear escapes but this was nothing like a normal open and portal and go. She was clearly dealing with all sorts of outcomes.
"Oh, wait, wait, what about this one?"
She made a little bit of a jerking motion, like she was tugging on a cord and she just fell. Right through the wall.
Well that was one way of getting in. As soon as she fell Wo pushed Doris through the portal and the followed her in. Then, once he had crossed through the portal it just closed, like that. God damn, maybe they did need Steve, maybe he could help her manage this situation. He had always had a one-track mind maybe that was what he needed.
"I can't see shit."
That was Rowan. Instinctively Wo reached down, found the back of her shirt and pulled her up to her feet while he went for a flashlight. He got it out and turned it on, then used the beam to look at the small little room that was covered in comfort items. Clearly this cell had someone living in it. The beam continued to jerk around though he tried to keep it level and eventually it fell on his dad.
Who looked like a goddamn hobo.
Didn't they ever let him show or shave? Or was the old man beard a choice?
Yao Fat lifted a hand to block out the beam as it hit him and Wo Fat lowered it a bit so he wasn't blinding him. And then Yao looked at them, truly looked at them. His eyes widened when he realized who was there with him
After a long pause he whispered: "I didn't think I would ever see you again."
Rowan leant in to Wo and whispered "Is he saying that to you or Doris?"
Wo Fat leant in towards her in turn. "Probably Doris."
"I didn't think I'd see you again either," Yao said finally turning onto Wo who suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
He felt Rowan turn a smile up to him, not saw it, felt it. Dear god it was so bright and wide it had its own wattage. Yao had walked up to them, he smiled happily at his son and placed a hand to his arm.
"Oh my god it's happening," Rowan squealed and at that the two men turned to her.
Yao was the first to talk. "Is she alright?"
"I unno, what are you doing?"
Rowan just smiled up at him. "You haven't seen him in like 20 years… aren't you gonna… hug? That's what I'd do."
"Rowan since when do I hug?"
"You hug me all the time," Rowan whined, god he hated it when she whined.
"Yes, but with you I have to, or someone gets hurt," he reminded her and she frowned at him.
"I want you to think of all the country songs I know the lyrics to," she warned him and when he nodded to her and gave her a So What? look she said: "Hug your father or I start singing."
"I have a gun, I will shoot you and pretend one of these CIA guys did it."
"Nonsense, you'd never shoot me again, you promised."
Wo Fat sighed heavily and then turned to his father and clasped the man to his chest. He counted to three, hated himself for loving the fact that his father was hugging him back and then let go. "There, happy?"
"Yes immensely. You two get caught up I'm gonna see about a way out of here."
Wo Fat shook his head and turned back. "Kay her powers are out, we're going to have to get ourselves out of here."
Doris was already on the same page, but Yao very clearly was not. He said absolutely nothing about it though, and instead let Doris and Wo Fat take charge.
"I hid an explosive charge in the south tower. Behind an electrical panel. I was going to use it as a distraction maybe we could use it as a way out."
"That's good, except we can't leave until Steve gets here," he said. He caught Doris' mouth already opening to tell him that wouldn't be wise. "No I know, I get it, trust me. But uh, I know her and she's not going to let him walk into an ambush so…"
"That. Is. It!" Rowan suddenly roared. "GO AWAY!"
She paired that scream with a stamp of her foot and as soon as her foot hit the ground a shockwave erupted from her. It took him off his feet, took Doris and his dad off their feet. Knocked things over in the room. It was accompanied by a static hiss and in the silence that descended after that shockwave came shouts from the soldiers in the compound and the laughter of one girl.
"I'm back bitches!"
Somehow, he didn't think that was a good thing.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Harlan was having one hell of a night.
Two of his guys were down. Not just down, dead.
These two had reported a visitor while he had been out but never told him who it was. Now they were dead and no one couldn find the visitor.
Then the power went out.
Then Doris went missing.
And then they got hit with an EMP burst that took out all their electronics and coms, including their radio and walkie-talkies.
What kind of EMP took out radio frequencies?
He was trying to regroup his men, trying to send them to the perimeter to make sure they didn't lose their targets. And into the group of them came the gas grenade.
It went off and the second it hit their faces he knew it wasn't regular gas. This was laced with something, something that was making him dizzy. Which meant his men were going to be dizzy.
Come, if you're curious to see. Pull the tricks out of my sleeve. All you find is yours to keep.
It was a woman, but like no other woman he had ever seen. Her eyes were a demonic glowing red. He couldn't see her face through the shadows, but he could definitely see those damn eyes.
Brave, are you brave enough to meet, the desires that you seek. Hold my hand, I'll set you free.
In a blur of electric orange the woman went from in front of them to behind them. Still in the shadows, a single hand outstretched to the nearest of his men.
Welcome to the devil's playground. You can tread where demons play. It's your Candyland where dreamers dance. And I promise that it's safe.
The idiot actually took it. In flash he was dragged into the shadows with the woman and the man holding her hand vanished.
When she appeared again she was on the truck. Nothing but demonic features, glowing red eyes and a wide plastic way too toothy grin.
Welcome to the devil's playground. You can look and you can touch. It's a real fine day at the black parade. And I swear it won't cost much.
And that would be when the hallucinations and the panic kicked in.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve and the team came onto the scene to find the power already cut and the CIA operatives working there running around screaming things like: "Can you see them?" and "Where did they go?" Some were just plain shrieking. Shrieks that were being cut off abruptly.
God this seemed all so reminiscent of the Halloween Haunting, except now she was here, and she had seemingly upped her game and got her brother involved.
He actually felt kind of silly trying to sneak around these guys in his all black outfit and his night-vision helmet but the power was out and he needed it.
They were still sneaking around trying to avoid the soldiers running around like chickens with their heads cut off. If he could just get his eyes on Rowan it would be okay, he would feel okay.
They stopped, only because a flock of soldiers had turned tail and run in the opposite direction. Running from something.
Rowan. Had to be.
Steve whipped off his night vision helmet and broke away from the group to get to her quicker. He rounded the corner and slammed into someone. Someone who wasn't Rowan.
The person grappled with him immediately, twisting and managed to put Steve into a head lock and then flipped him over. And then he paused. Steve glared up to a man in a white monkey's mask. The person swung the mask to the side and he was staring at Wo Fat who was scowling down at him.
"You're late."
Late? He hadn't even been invited. In fact, Wo Fat was on his own op, with Steve's girlfriend of all people. If anything he was late to join Steve's op. Or early. The point was that Wo Fat was wrong.
"Go on, go up," he said gesturing to a service ladder that lead to the roof. "They're up there."
Steve gestured to his friends having them all go up before he went up with Wo Fat following. Steve was expecting Rowan on that roof, he wasn't sure why but he was. He was not expecting his mother and Yao Fat.
Well, it seemed Rowan had done all the rescuing already. Once Wo Fat was up on that roof with him, Steve turned onto him. "Where is she?"
"Your mom is right there," Wo Fat said with a nod in Doris' direction. Yes, Steve was aware of that. And that was so very obviously not who he talking about.
"Oh my god," came out of the Catherine. "What the hell is that?"
Steve turned, as did his three friends who all knew about Rowan and her powers. Chin and Grover had missed the Halloween Haunting and it was clear that they were very interested in what she was capable of.
Steve caught just a glimpse of the orange sparks, the way they zigzagged in a line together. During the haunting, from afar it looked like a blurred glow. But now Steve could tell that Rowan was moving fast, popping in and out of different portals so quickly and so close together that she was leaving a hazy orange trail behind her.
An unfamiliar song was floating up to them, one he didn't recognize. She was clearly terrifying everyone though.
"Steve what is that?" Catherine asked turning to him.
Steve sighed. "That's Rowan."
Catherine turned incredulous eyes onto Steve but Steve's eyes stayed on the blinking orange vision of his girlfriend, still moving too fast for him to really see.
Yeah this was a lot to take in if one wasn't expecting it. Maybe he should have briefed Catherine once he knew Rowan was in Morocco.
"Song's almost over," Wo Fat said, "She'll come here once she knows you're here."
"How would she know that?" Catherine asked. In the distance came a sudden firing line's worth of bullets and then there was a static pop and a cry of: "Steven!"
Rowan came right out of that Portal in front of him, jumping into his arms right away. For a second the two of them were making out and then she just abruptly stopped. "Wait… on a scale of one to ten how mad at you right now?"
"Probably going to be around a six or seven when we get out of here. Right now, I'm sitting at a solid four."
She let him go and as soon as she did, he regretted it because he would have rather had her on him. "Right, well we're going to save that for later then. Wo they're getting… coordinated… you got another one of those laced smoke bombs."
"Uh…" he said stooping down to a bag by Doris' feet. "Yep, got two left so this'll have to be our last run."
"There's an awful lot of them, I thought you said you were going to cut down on numbers."
"I thought you said you were going to round them up," Wo Fat shot back and Rowan went quiet but she continued to scowl at him for all of two seconds before she suddenly perked up.
"Oh Steve, look, it's your mom!" she said pointing to Doris. "Wo and his dad had a big emotional reunion, it your turn."
Wo Fat and his dad had what? And he had missed it? Wo Fat shook his head. "No, we didn't. She made me hug him, that was it."
"It was as emotional as the two of them could get," Rowan said. "You should have seen it I'm pretty sure Wo Fat had tears in his eyes."
Wo Fat groaned and rolled his eyes. "I did not, why… why… Doris make her stop lying!"
"Rowan stop bothering your brother."
Steve was just amazed at how quickly Doris moved to protect him. Rowan slapped Wo in the chest, hard enough to double him over. "You snitch."
"Don't hit your brother," Doris chided and Wo Fat stuck his tongue out at Rowan who stuck her tongue out right back. Dear god, was that what they were like all the time? No wonder Rowan wasn't afraid of him.
But Steve didn't have time to deal with that because his mother was coming towards him. "Steven," she said warmly going for a hug that he accepted but didn't really want. When she pulled away she held onto his shoulders and then frowned at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Gee, Ma, I don't know," he said sarcastically. "The same as them."
He gestured to where Rowan and Wo Fat were standing. She was making the move to poke him, but never actually poking him. And every time she did, she'd say: "I'm not touching you," and he would slap her hand away. He was getting more aggressive by the slap. He could tell because Rowan was flinching.
"You shouldn't have come."
Yeah and he was starting to regret that too, he should have just asked Rowan to void her out of that cell, what would anyone have been able to do? They never could have proven anything.
Across from him, Rowan went to poke Wo Fat and he grabbed her hand and then twisted it causing her to yelp. He could have hurt her worse from that position but still, Steve wasn't having it.
"Hey! Let her go," he snapped and the two turned to him with wide eyes.
"What are they doing?" Doris asked and turned around and the two of them separated. "Jesus it's like having toddlers again! Do I need to separate you two?"
"No," they said together.
"I see you brought friends with you," Doris said turning back to Steve. "Hello Cath, Chin, Kono… and … I'm sorry I don't know who you are."
That's right she hadn't met Lou before. "I'm Lou Grover, fairly new to the team, it's nice to meet you ma'am."
She nodded back to him and then turned to Steven. "That's an awful lot of people to bring."
"Well those two weren't with me," Steve said pointing to Rowan and Wo Fat. Wo Fat was now massaging her arm, no doubt massaging the pain out of it. How nice of him. "But uh… only an idiot would break into this place alone."
His mother was quiet a moment. "Okay. I deserved that." Steve nodded and looked away and then said: "I'm sorry."
"No it's fine, I mean…"
"No. I'm sorry for… I should have told you about Wo Fat."
"You know what, Ma? Not really the time for that talk."
"It's the perfect time. I mean, we're both kind of stuck here, right?"
"Wrong. She can open a portal to anywhere in the world."
"Short range, I've used a lot of power and I don't think I can portal this many people that far safely."
Wo Fat turned to Rowan, a dry glare on his face. "Then why the hell did we wait for him? Why didn't we leave when the coast was clear?"
"Because, if we didn't, that mean leader guy was going to take Steve and torture him. And you'd have to come back and save him. Did you want that?"
Wo Fat's face remained unchanged. "No." She cocked a single eyebrow at him and he groaned. "Fine. But I still think this was stupid. Right you two keep talking, her and I will come up with a plan."
Steve groaned. "Okay. Fine. Why didn't you tell me about Wo Fat mom?"
"Because I didn't think you'd understand and I was too afraid to find out. It was just easier for me to go than to face you, so I left. Went back to the only thing I was ever really good at."
Emotion was surging in him because it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair because Rowan was right. She had said Doris would run and he hadn't listened. But she had known, known all along. His mother should have wanted to stay with him. She took on deadly ops without flinching but staying with her son was what scared her?
"And three years ago when you looked me in the eye and you promised me you'd stay but you left anyway, you knew you were gonna do that didn't you? Huh? And don't lie to me because Rowan knew, and Rowan's always right!"
His mother almost gasped, tearfully and yet he continued. "You knew and I knew too. You wanna know how I knew?"
"No, how did you know?"
"Because you did it exactly the same way you did it all those years before when you left me and Dad and Mary. Exactly the same way. You hugged me out of nowhere, told me something emotional and then you were gone! Do you remember that day? Do you?"
"Yeah, I remember every second of that day, alright? I thought it was gonna be the last time I'd see you."
"It was the last time, for a really long time."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Steven… I…" she broke off with a bit of a sob and Steve looked away. "For everything. And uh… thank you for coming to get me. Even if they beat you here."
After a moment's pause the anger ebbed away because really, what could he say? His mom thought she was doing what was best, even though she had caused irreparable harm to him and Mary. Blaming her for it wasn't going to help him or anyone.
"This got really awkward really fast and now I don't know where to look," Rowan said, her eyes pinned on Wo Fat's shoes.
He too had a wide-eyed stare turned down to her shoes. "This is crazy but I'd actually rather have you singing country than listening to this."
"Rowan!" Steve growled and she looked up. "What happened to finding a plan?" he took a good long look at her, that wasn't what she was wearing before. "Did you change your clothes?"
Rowan looked down to the outfit she was wearing. This shimmery purple outfit, like a ripped off version of Jasmine. Had she changed in front of all of them? Had he missed that too? Wo better have shielded her from everyone's prying eyes.
"Yep, we're hitting the exit strategy. We're gonna use our original one and that requires a costume change."
Steve turned bland, frustrated eyes onto Wo Fat who just shrugged. Did the man just never argue with her?
Rowan smiled up to her brother. "Do you know your part?"
Wo Fat shook his head. "I don't want to do my part."
"You have to, you're the scariest part."
"No. I don't want to. Not with people watching."
"You have to do the part."
"None of those soldiers will even know the difference."
"But I will and if you don't do it, I'll never forgive you."
"If you make me do it, I'll never forgive you."
"Nonsense you love me."
"Okay," Grover said quickly. "Not that it isn't hilarious to watch but uh… they're down there… and they're all pointing guns at us."
"Don't worry Grover. Wo gas them," she ordered and he did just that, throwing the two canisters of gas into the crowd below them.
And then Rowan jumped off the roof and into a portal.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Oh, imagine a land, it's a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam.
Camels actually appeared, a whole heard of them, kicking up dust and circling around the confused group of soldiers before vanishing in another portal.
He couldn't see her at first. He had no idea where she jumped to, but that internal compass never let him down. As soon as he wanted to find her, get visual on her, he did. Because she wasn't that far, she was simply standing in the truck bed of a near-by truck.
Where you wander among every culture and tongue. It's chaotic, but hey, it's home.
When the wind's from the east, and the sun's from the west, and the sand in the glass is right. Come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly, to another Arabian night
There was an actually wind that whipped through the crowd and an actual sun appeared behind her, probably through a portal. But by the time the men had their guns dropped she was gone again. When she started singing again, he couldn't see her but things were growing out of the ground. Stalls, like from a bazaar filled with different things wares and spices.
As you wind through the streets at the fabled bazaars, with the cardamom-cluttered stalls. You can smell every spice, while you haggle the price, of the silks and the satin shawls.
She was in with them now, pulling men around, knocking them around, tugging them with her as if she were dancing with them.
Oh, the music that plays as you move through a maze, in the haze of your pure delight. You are caught in a dance, you are lost in the trance, of another Arabian night.
One man, figured himself brave and caught her arm as she went by, but yelped when she electrocuted him. He wound up to swing but Rowan simply dropped out of view.
Steve turned to Wo Fat. "Is this new?"
Wo Fat turned back to him his face blank and impassive. "Uh… well… kind of."
"What does that mean?"
"The last time she was doing stuff like that she had no control… so… uh… yeah conscious control of that is new."
Steve was starting to regret asking. He would need to remember that he liked to be blissfully unaware of specifics like that one.
There's a road that may lead you to good or to greed, through the power your wishing commands. Let the darkness unfold or find fortunes untold. Well, your destiny lies in your hands.
"Oh god," Wo Fat groaned as a large towering mouth of sand erupted from the ground and in it stood Rowan. It was clear he didn't want to, but he pulled a voice distorter out of his pocket and began to talk into it while projecting his voice. "Only one may enter here, one whose worth lies far within. A diamond in the rough."
Rowan had her hand out, the soldier closest to her, even though his buddies were telling him not to, tentatively took her hand. Rowan tugged him to her and then then mouth of sand collapsed and the two of them were gone.
In the silence after they disappeared, several of the men watching screamed, having not expected that at all. When Rowan appeared again she was on the ground just out of their view.
Arabian nights. Like Arabian days. They seem to excite, take off and take flight, to shock and amaze.
Steve wasn't sure if anyone else saw it, but in that moment, the moment she said the word flight, he swore he saw a shimmering of wings on her back made of all the red strings that bound them up. With one big flap of them she was taken up into the air where she landed on the hood of the truck.
Arabian nights, 'neath Arabian moons. A fool off his guard could fall and fall hard, out there on the dunes.
And then she sunk into the sand and out of sight and the sandstorm swirled around the panicking soldiers that were all abandoning their position and their blacksite.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
"She's getting stronger," he heard Wo Fat say. "Not sure if that's good or not."
Steve wasn't sure either.
"Right guys, exit time."
They all turned and Rowan was standing across from them. She looked haggard and tired. Steve was by her side in an instant. He could feel her exhaustion, using that much power in one go had been hard on her. He almost wanted to tell her to just pull from him.
"How are we getting out of here, they're practically rioting down there," Catherine asked.
"Everyone just… hold onto me. And if you can't hold onto me, hold onto each other. Hold your breath and for the love of god don't touch anything!"
And then they all clamoured to do that. Steve held her hand, hoping to pulse some of his own energy into her to help her with what she was going to do next. Behind him someone gabbed the back of his shirt, half a glance showed him that it was Catherine. Yeah, he was going to have to deal with that later.
And then Rowan was humming almost to herself. The portal opened in front of them, and inside were all the strings she could use, most of them red, lights twinkled out in the farthest darkness. The portal was only wide enough for three people max.
There was a ripping and the portal grew wider and continued to do so, but as the edges widened, they frayed and beside him Rowan started to shake.
He held her hand a little more tightly as the void surged forward enveloping the group. The portal enclosed around them and Rowan exhaled a little puff of air into the void. There was a momentary pause. All those new to this were in awe of the scenery but this was normal to Steve and he wasn't the least bit afraid or amazed by it anymore.
Rowan lifted a hand, the hand she was using to hold his. She didn't let him go, and neither did he. The white string wrapped around their joined hands. It was the first time he had ever felt a string, that he could remember, and this one felt cold to the touch.
Rowan merely had to exhale one more time and the white string jerked them all out of the void and into the small room he and Catherine had been using as a base.
The adventure was finally over. Or… well… it was supposed to be.