10/8 Issue: Gremlins

[Svartfreja]

Timelined for before [Issue]Tony's Dead Hooker.


<Shaw> Although the drive from Boston to the old Danvers site was only about twenty miles, with traffic and the reduced speed of towing a trailer in said traffic the trip seemed interminable.

<Shaw> Sebastian was spending the drive in the most amusing way he could - by needling Carol. He tapped his fingers on the dash, steering with his wrist in the slow traffic. "Perhaps we should stop for coffee?"

<Carol> "I don't know that applying coffee to this situation is a good idea..." Caffeine in a small rage-inducing space in rage-inducing traffic was not going to end well.

<Shaw> He gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "Scotch then?"

<Carol> "That'll help."

<Shaw> Sebastian chuckled as the light changed and he was able to edge forward. "You realize there is a bar in this vehicle, yes?"

<Carol> "... You have a bar hidden in here?" She started looking around for this hidden treasure. Oh scotch finding skills, now was the time to go to work.

<Shaw> "You think I wouldn't?" Sebastian looked over at her as she started twisting in the seat. And Jessica had accused him of having a drinking problem. Tsk.

<Carol> "I don't know how you got away with it?" She offered in reply, finding the hidden supply of scotch. Score! She was awesome at this!

<Shaw> "Because she knows it's there?" He arched a brow, glad that the vehicle sat up far enough to block her boozing from view.

<Carol> "Is the booze for her or for you?" Carol asked with an eyebrow raised as she helped herself.

<Shaw> "At times, perhaps both of us." Sebastian glanced back at her as the light changed again.

<Carol> "Not while you're driving though, right?" She wondered if it was okay that her glass was already surprisingly empty. Probably not. She blamed it on the stress of the driving.

<Shaw> "I heal, so you realize it takes a tremendous amount of scotch to affect me, yes?" He watched her through the mirror this time as they made it a whole mile before encountering another slow-down.

<Carol> "That doesn't mean it's legal..." Not that she was one to talk but he didn't know that.

<Shaw> "No, but then a great deal many things I have done in my life are not strictly legal." He smirked into the mirror.

<Carol> "Very good point," she toasted this sentiment with her glass. Groaning at the sight of how long this latest queue was. "Take a left..."

<Shaw> "A left?" He glanced at the GPS on the dash, then sat up from his sprawl to survey the traffic ahead. "Are you certain?"

<Carol> "Yes! Just trust me." She rolled her eyes, "Otherwise we'll be sitting in this for another hour."

<Shaw> Sebastian caught that eye roll and smirked. "Yes, ma'am," he said, tone dry. When they next were able to move, he quickly got over, and took the corner a touch more quickly than recommended, especially while pulling a trailer.

<Carol> "Ignore everything the computer tells you, it doesn't know what it's talking about," Carol advised.

<Shaw> "Of course it does. I programmed it."

<Carol> "So why are we sitting in traffic?" She countered with a small smirk and another eyebrow raise.

<Shaw> "Did you know, that attempting to circumvent traffic often takes longer than simply plowing straight through?"

<Carol> "Not in this traffic." She shook her head, "Take the next right and stay on this road."

<Shaw> Since he knew the general direction they were going, he didn't bother to argue.

<Carol> "In about five minutes the high school lets out and that traffic will get a hundred times worse. You're welcome."

<Shaw> Sebastian made a face. "Thank you then." The road was much more clear this way, and he was able to work his way back toward the old Danvers hospital complex easily, while Carol steadily drank his scotch.

<Carol> Turned out driving was just as annoying when you were a passenger. The scotch was medicinal.

<Shaw> The tower of the old hospital finally came into view through the budding trees and Sebastian sighed. Finally. "It hasn't changed a bit."

<Carol> "Well... it has less annoying teenagers in it..." Carol offered, "That can only help..."

<Shaw> "What has SHIELD been using it for?" He turned onto the long driveway, more slowly this time.

<Carol> "Nothing as far as I know.... for a while they were studying the portal Broo made but since then they just locked the place down and posted security on the perimeter to keep out the ghost hunters and urban explorers." She should probably stop drinking now.

<Shaw> Sebastian pulled up outside. It was boarded up, and looked a bit weathered, but still serviceable. "And now it's going to become an actual government facility."

<Carol> "Which means better funding... in theory." She eyed the building that weirdly bore her name and waited for the car to stop before she unhooked her seatbelt and climbed out.

<Shaw> "In theory." He cut the engine and jumped from the Conquest, enjoying the impact of the asphalt up his legs.

<Carol> "Wanna unload first or go see what we're dealing with first?" She looked over at him.

<Shaw> "This isn't going anywhere," he said, nodding at the trailer and adjusting his sunglasses. "Let's take a look inside." Mind made up, he started for the building.

<Carol> Carol nodded, heading for the steps to the front door. She'd been assured that power was on so at least they'd be able to see inside despite the boarded up windows. Extracting keys from her pocket, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. It creaked alarmingly and sent echoes around the building. ".... Well, I know what I'm fixing first."

<Shaw> "Well, that's delightfully ominous." Sebastian stepped inside and winced. "And you've discovered a wonderful smell..."

<Carol> Carol stepped inside and found a lightswitch, cautiously sniffing the air. Why was that smell horribly familiar?

<Shaw> "It's not quite the smell of a gas leak, but..." He brushed his hand over his nose as if that would help, and removed his sunglasses to look around the administration building's large entryway.

<Carol> "I know this smell..." she couldn't remember why though, "Give me a minute... it'll come back to me..."

<Shaw> "There is a hint of the chicken coop to it..." He was wandering the room now, his work boots creaking against the old tile.

<Carol> "No... it's not chickens...." What was it though? She moved further into the building, looking into the room that had once been her office.

<Shaw> "Pigeons?" That was entirely possible, and Sebastian looked up toward the high ceiling of the old building. A noise echoed from down a hall and he froze. "Did you hear that?"

<Carol> "If it was pigeons there'd be more shit...." She too froze at the sound reaching to grab his arm, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

<Shaw> "Oh, Christ, don't say that." He shot her a look but let her take his arm. The soft concussions continued down the hall, and were soon coming from other intersecting halls as well.

<Carol> "Oh fuck... I totally know what that is...." She covered her face with her free hand.

<Shaw> "And what is that?" He steered her toward a wall, cutting off attack from behind as he heard echoing pops from all over the building. The smell was growing almost overpowering.

<Carol> "Tiny blue naked teleporting klepto-demons from that portal in the basement." Having their backs to the wall wasn't going to help them.

<Shaw> Sebastian dredged through his memories of staff reports from ages gone by and groaned. "Oh, those. Clearly that portal was not closed."

<Carol> "Or the little blue assholes are smarter than we thought..." There was only one way to find out. She started for the stairs to the basement.

<Shaw> "Perhaps we should get flashlights?" He started after her, but tossed a thumb over his shoulder toward the Conquest.

<Carol> Carol rolled her eyes and ignited an energy charge in her hand, then thought better of it and concentrated for a moment before the energy flooded her whole body. "Will this do?"

<Shaw> "Right. Of course." He joined in on the eye rolling and followed her.

<Carol> Carol started down the steps to the basement, testing the light switch because there should be lights.... nothing happened. "Awesome..." Maybe some of the rooms still had lightbulbs?

<Shaw> Clearly, he should have gotten a flashlight. "Carol, a moment, please."

<Carol> "Sure..." she paused on the stairs, listening for more sounds of teleportation. The first naked blue thing she saw was getting an energy blast to the face.

<Shaw> "From what I recall, these things were mischievous but harmless. If that has changed, I would prefer an advantage." He gave her a smirk and spread his arms wide. "A power boost would be appreciated."

<Carol> "Want me to blast you or punch you?" She wouldn't mind either but he might after the last time she'd used energy blasts on him in this form. It felt like a lifetime ago now but it had been the suckiest day ever.

<Shaw> "Blast, please." He heard more of those bamfing noises coming from the darkness and swore he saw something move, although Carol's presence was fairly blinding.

<Carol> Carol reacted purely on instinct and fired at the space behind her, hearing a shriek. She smiled and turned back to Sebastian, hitting him with a concussive blast to charge his abilities.

<Shaw> He winced at the unearthly screech and then staggered back at the blast from Carol. After a moment, he straightened up. "Thank you. Also, that was horrific. Perhaps we can refrain from making them produce that noise."

<Carol> "We can't. They didn't learn their lesson from last time. Gotta make sure it sticks." She started back down the stairs again.

<Shaw> "Wonderful." His lip raised in a sneer and he searched in the pockets of his leather jacket for his earbuds.

<Shaw> "Carry on."

<Carol> She did carry on. Every time instinct compelled her to fire in a particular direction, she did it. As they passed different rooms, she tried the lights.

<Shaw> "Are these things sentient?" He wasn't getting much from them, but that wasn't terribly unusual. Sebastian followed in her wake, finishing off a few of the creatures that somehow survived her blasts. Mercy killings they might be, but he would be disposing of these boots later.

<Carol> "What do you think?" She poked her head into another room and heard one of the little bastards yell 'flee!' before she fired another blast and felt for the lightswitch.

<Shaw> "I think the lights are a lost cause," he observed, pleased when he located a metal bar to use instead of his boots. "These creatures must have disabled them."

<Shaw> The smell was overwhelming and he dearly wished he did not have enhanced senses. The fire wasn't helping, either.

<Carol> "Yeah... it's pretty dark where they're from... guess they don't like the light..." This gave her ideas. "... Might wanna shut your eyes."

<Shaw> Sebastian didn't question this, and took several steps back from her, putting his back to the wall again to close his eyes, relying on his other senses. He tugged the neck of his shirt over his nose, although it didn't much help.

<Carol> Carol concentrated on pooling the energy she had stored in her body and focusing it into light rather than heat. The glow put off by her skin, already impressive, grew steadily until she released the energy to fill the halls and rooms of the basement for a brief moment. There was a whole lot of shrieking from naked blue demons.

<Shaw> He could see her light through his eyelids and threw an arm over his face. It was impressive, and he wasn't afraid to admit a little terrifying. The sound of the creatures dying made him debate covering his ears as well as his eyes. And that smell.

<Carol> Carol dearly wished the basement had windows. "Okay, it's safe now... let's check out the portal before more of those things show up.... see if we can close it or if they broke it..."

<Shaw> "Christ that reeks," he said, slowly moving away from the wall and lowering his arm. He kept his shirt over his nose and his metal bar, however.

<Carol> "I'll get the air circulation turned up when we get to the lab..." She wrinkled her own nose and set off down the corridor.

<Shaw> Sebastian nodded and followed the glowing - but now thankfully more dimly - woman. He glanced into darkened rooms as they passed, but everything seemed quiet and still now.

<Carol> Carol really hoped they could do something with the portal that would help and she also hoped the demons weren't just lulling them into a false sense of security. She wasn't going to hold her breath, though.

<Shaw> "I wonder if they pulled the wiring... like little blue gremlins." Sebastian sighed. "That could take some time to repair."

<Carol> "That's pretty likely... they're annoying that way... also they like alcohol and shiny things." She remembered this from personal experience, "And I think I recall some complaints about missing underwear..."

<Shaw> That made him laugh, the sound echoing in the basement and he had to pause to decide if that was truly an echo or more of those same bamf noises in the far reaches of the basement. "Gremlins indeed."

<Carol> "First I thought it was probably Doreen.... but then her underwear went missing..." it was coming back to her now. "God, some weird shit happened in this place... I'm not sure Tony really thought this through...."

<Shaw> "That was my point exactly, but he was quite proud of himself. Perhaps with fewer, theoretically more mature participants in this venture things will go more smoothly." He doubted it.

<Carol> Carol reached out and patted him, "I thank you for your optimism."

<Shaw> "Oh, I don't believe it for a moment." He gave her a grin.

<Carol> "I know," Carol told him, "But thank you all the same... because now I can tell Tony it was you who jinxed it when it all goes to shit."

<Shaw> That made him chuckle again. "I believe I've already fallen out of favor with the king."

<Carol> "Not possible. He's your other wife." She pushed the door open to Broo's old lab, her nose wrinkling at the smell from inside. She wasn't sure that was all blue demon smoke bombs.

<Shaw> "What do those things eat?" It smelled like death in the lab and he couldn't stop the face he made. "I'm not so certain about that. It seems he has another wife right now." He gave her a sly look. "Don't you think?"

<Carol> Carol looked over at him, "Yeah... kinda got that vibe..." she picked up a forgotten broom to prod a mystery pile.

<Shaw> "Perhaps this entire legitimization of the X-Men is to please her?" He was aghast that she was poking something, but then used his own metal rod to move something aside. Was that a corpse?

<Carol> "You think he'd do that? For a girl?" she raised an eyebrow, "I don't know..."

<Shaw> "Do you mean do I think he would do something completely spontaneously and utterly without reason to make himself look even more appealing to the woman he's trying to woo?" Sebastian snorted.

<Carol> "No, I mean do you think he'd seriously try to woo? It's not like he can just sleep with her and forget about it, is it?"

<Shaw> "Perhaps he's seeking a more long-term arrangement." He shrugged, moving to an old terminal and unsurprised that it was ruined. Smeared with... something, and with wiring - was it chewed?

<Carol> Carol's nose wrinkled, "I don't know how I feel about that..."

<Shaw> He smirked. "Jealous?"

<Carol> She stared at him for a long moment, trying to work out if he was serious, "... Ew no. Not my type... but she does have me in her brain somewhere."

<Shaw> Sebastian just shrugged, laughing softly. "Perhaps he is then, and you don't realize it yourself."

<Carol> Carol hooked a suspiciously icky blanket scrap with the broom and threw it at Sebastian when his back was turned.

<Shaw> He jumped at the soft thump, then made a face when he saw what she'd flung. "It appears I struck a nerve."

<Carol> "Ya think?" She looked over her shoulder at him as she inspected the portal controls Broo had designed. She'd already determined the air controls in the basement were shot.

<Shaw> The portal was still there, looking very much like a tear in reality that should not exist. He looked at it, then unbuttoned his overshirt to strip it off and inspect the smelly mark on its back. He shot her a smirk.

<Carol> Carol frowned at the controls and prodded them experimentally. She felt the energy in the portal respond but not enough to make a difference. She poked a few more buttons.

<Shaw> He gave the portal a wary look. "As there is a distinct possibility that we could make this worse by mucking about with it, perhaps I should call my brother-in-law for his assistance."

<Carol> "What could be worse?" She frowned at the portal controls and kicked the console out of frustration.

<Shaw> "Would you like larger gremlins? Perhaps something more like those Brood creatures?" It sparked at her kick and he winced and shot a look at the portal again.

<Carol> The shudder that went through her at the thought of the Brood was visible in the energy she was emiting. Now was not the time to have a freak out. She closed her eyes and counted to ten.

<Shaw> He turned at the energy fluctuation and tilted his head. "Carol?"

<Carol> She shook her head, "Don't... not right now..." she sighed, going to the portal itself and thinking about sticking her head through to see if she could figure out where it was in the other reality.

<Shaw> Sebastian watched her cautiously, moving closer and closer to the portal. He reached for her shoulder. "Careful there."

<Carol> "What? I've been to their world before... Cess and I busted up their weird little klepto burrow and stole our stuff back...."

<Shaw> "Yes, five years ago. Who knows what may have changed."

<Carol> "I did. I got more awesome."

<Shaw> "Be that as it may, we don't know the situation on that side of the portal."

<Carol> "That's why I want to go and look..." she pointed out, "How else are we going to find out?"

<Shaw> "Personally, I would send a drone, particularly since you just murdered countless of their brethren."

<Carol> "Which is why I want to make sure they got the message back in their home. So they don't come back. It's not like they can hurt me."

<Shaw> Sebastian gave her a flat look. "Is that truly wise?"

<Carol> "It probably wasn't the first time I did it but the sticky fingered bastards stole my shiny girlfriend."

<Shaw> "Well, if it wasn't wise then, it's not wise now, Miss Kincaid notwithstanding."

<Carol> She sighed and rolled her eyes, though the eyeroll itself was invisible it was probably audible, "Fine, we'll do it your boring way." She turned to head out of the lab. "Let's go get some air that doesn't smell like ass."

<Shaw> "I actually believe that smell is death." He slid his arm around her shoulders to steer her away from the dimensional rift.

<Carol> She sighed, leaning against him a little because the contact made her feel a bit better after the Brood reminder. "I'm trying to ignore that part..."

<Shaw> "Good, so long as we're all aware of our denial." Sebastian led the way back out of the lab, and the stinky, stinky tunnels. The portal could wait. For now.