Bronze Mettle (MCU/DC SI)

[Xavier Bronze]

Trish Walker: Interlude​

My phone rings with a tone I haven't heard all week. I instantly leave my producer to his rambling, "Excuse me, I have to take this." He complains, but I don't listen. I step away and answer, "Jess? What's going on? I haven't heard from you in a while."

She sounds distressed, "I need your opinion on something. I got a job offer."

Why is she conflicted? She hates the job she has now, "What's the job?"

"Some organization called SHIELD found out about my powers. They want me to join a team. I know that sounds bad, but it seems about as trustworthy as government work gets." She pauses, "Trish, I'm standing within fifty feet of Superman right now."

Oh my, "Superman? As in..."

"As in Superman. The Man of Steel. The hero of Metropolis. The guy in a red suit who flies around the world without the help of reindeer. Iron Man's sidekick is here too."

I don't know what to think about this, "They want you to work with Superman and War Machine?"

"And some other people too. There's a scientist who's supposed to transform into the Hulk. You know, the green monster that a bunch of people saw in Harlem? And there's some other chick who can see the future. I'm freaking out and I don't know what to do."

I start putting on my coat, "Where are you?"

"Upstate. A town called Marlboro near Poughkeepsie."

I push the elevator button, "Can I meet you there? We need to talk in person."

"Yeah. Thanks Trish."

I roll my eyes, "You're my best friend. This is big. Do you really think I wouldn't be there for you? Text me the address, I'll be there in half an hour."

"You don't have to rush, I think I'll be here for a while."

"We need to talk. I'll be there in half an hour. See you then." I hang up.

What's the fastest way there? Depends on if I can get a good cabbie or not.

Superman? I remember talking about getting her a costume when Superman first made his debut. But, now it's actually happening. I know I should be excited, but I'm really just scared. This isn't like stopping a mugging or something. The stuff those people do is dangerous. We don't know how strong Jessica is, and I can't lose her.

There. That cab is driving far over the speed limit. I wave and whistle, and they pull over. I jump in right away, "Marlboro in upstate. I'm in a hurry. I'll pay extra."

 

[Xavier Bronze]

So far so good. No-one's started a fight yet. Jessica seemed to calm down a lot after talking with Trish, and she's talking with Superman now. I knew Trish would be supportive of the hero concept. I do want her to make her own decision, but... I also want her to decide to join the team. I think hero work would be good for her.

Rhodes gets my attention, "So we haven't really talked since the Ten Rings dropped a building on you. You okay?"

I nod, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. Don't be too hard on yourself. There was no reason to think they'd have suits of their own."

"Okay maybe that was the wrong question. How are you okay?"

I laugh, "Part of water, I think. Or maybe spirit. I'm not sure. If I have access to clean water I can heal some kinds of injuries, including burns."

He nods, "So you're the team medic, on top of everything else."

"Constantine can probably do a healing spell in a pinch, but yeah. I guess I am. Try not to need it too often."

He smiles, "I'm just justifying a reason to protect you next time. I felt terrible when I heard what had happened. I never want to let something like that happen on my watch again."

"How about we protect each other? That's what a team does in the field, right?"

He concurs, "Leave no man behind."

I warn him, "Careful with the military talk around the newbies. We don't wanna scare 'em off. I know what we do is basically a military operation already. But some people like to delude themselves that somehow it's different if you're wearing a fancy outfit."

"Copy that."

I chuckle.

"I can't help but notice Tony isn't here."

I look at his face to judge his tone better, "I had something to do with that. I pointed out that in a combat scenario you bring everything he does without the ego and attitude. Fury agreed with me."

He doesn't seem upset at all about that, "Tony isn't going to like getting left out once he finds out about our little club here. Iron Man is the world's most popular human being right now."

I shake my head, "He knows he has problems. Acknowledging that isn't going to break him. Feeling left out might just give him some humility."

He looks at me, "That's cold."

I take a moment to collect my response, "It is. It's also the truth. He's a smart man, he deserves that much."

I glance over and oh dear. Superman and Jessica are readying for an arm-wrestling match. Bruce is watching them. That table won't survive if they're going all out.

A loud bang sounds and Jessica's arm is pinned flat against the table. Looks like Superman kept just enough restraint to avoid collateral damage. I guess he must be pretty good at that.

Ha. Jessica's face is funny. She can't move her arm at all. As soon as she shows frustration Superman takes mercy and releases her. He gives her an apologetic look and says something. She smiles in return, but is still obviously bothered by her thoughts.

I hear something else and turn to see Constantine punching Coulson repeatedly in the face. Clint and Natasha are watching, and Phil is smiling, so I guess it's not a problem.

This must be the part of the party where the house gets totaled by people showing off.

Eventually John stops and shakes off his hands. He laughs, "Did you even feel a damn thing?"

Phil feels his jaw, "I felt it. It just didn't hurt. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Mate, if we're fighting together I want you as tough as you can be. I'll feel a hell of a lot safer with you standing by my side."

The mood overtakes me and I shout over, "Hey Constantine! How good are you at controlling fire?"

He gives me an eyebrow, "Not as good as you, I'd wager."

I generate a fireball between my hands, "Try."

He turns to face me and takes a few steps forward. We exchange challenging looks and he holds out a hand towards me. He closes his eyes and starts muttering some sort of incantation.

Oh that's interesting. I can feel his influence on the fire. The parts that he's affecting are changing. They no longer feel like mine. I have to float it a little farther above my hands to avoid getting burned.

And then it starts to move. The way I move fire is by giving it energy trails to follow. He's not doing the same thing. Some thing about the fire changes, to make it want to follow something other than the path of least resistance. I can give it as much energy as I want, and it doesn't even slow it down. Magic is a whole other level of bullshit.

The fire flows right from my hands over to his, and reforms into a somewhat smaller ball in its new place.

Hmm. Let me try something. I can manipulate heat in much the same way I do fire. I know I can put out fire by moving all the heat away from an area. I've tested it out on candles at H.O.M.E..

I reach out toward his fireball and feel out the energy flow. It's chaotic, and backwards. Something's just wrong about it. It makes no sense. But it's still there. The fire is still drawing from the same basic kind of energy.

Maybe there's an easier way than freezing it out like I usually have to do. I start moving the energy away. Normally, the fire would just follow along. But thanks to the magic, it's not. It's just drawing from however much is left in place.

So as I clear the space free of energy, his fireball quickly shrinks, and then dies in a puff of smoke.

He frowns, "How did you do that?"

Does he not know? "Fire needs energy. That fire wasn't being fueled by anything, so all I needed to do was deprive it of the elemental energy it needed to stay alive."

"It was being fueled by magic."

I shake my head, "It was being held in place by magic. Control and source aren't the same thing when it comes to fire. ...I can feel it."

John looks at me, mental gears turning, "Remind me to ask you for a lesson on 'elemental energy' someday."

"It's a date." As soon as the words are out of my mouth I regret them. But, surprisingly he doesn't react to the phrasing in any untoward way. He simply gives me a genuine and respectful smile.

Oh look, Bruce and Natasha are talking. Should I rescue them from each other? No. It looks like Clint left them to it to go get some food. We catch each other watching over the two and I throw him a telling smile.

He walks past me and I follow him to the far corner. He asks, "Do you know something about those two?"

I smirk, "Yes. And the answer is yes. Is that a good thing?"

He looks back at them just as they break off to talk with other people, "I don't know. Nat's never really done the romance thing. Not for real, anyway. Life like hers makes it hard. Spend your whole life lying to people to make them love you, how do you get someone to trust you the honest way?"

"I can see how that would make it difficult. Whether it happens or not, I think we have a few years. Neither of them are ready right now. Bruce is still fresh off his ex. They both have recently reinforced trust issues."

He nods, "She doesn't show it, but what you told me that I told her, hit her pretty hard. She's started isolating herself, more than usual."

"Hopefully being an Avenger can help with that."

My phone timer beeps.

"That's my queue." I call out to everyone, "Alright Avengers. Let's gather up."

They start to form a sort-of lopsided circle. I make sure the tape recorder is visible when I click the record button.

"I think most of us have met each other already, but just in case, we're gonna go around and introduce ourselves. You don't have to give your real name if you don't want to. But SHIELD regulations require that everyone have a codename. You can also give a brief summary of your powers, or not. If you want to join the team now, you can add, 'And I'm an Avenger!' But it's not required."

Jessica snarks, "AA much?" A few suppressed giggles sound from the circle.

I knew this was the wrong way to go with this, "Vocal declaration seemed more convenient than collecting signatures. The record needs it to be clearly stated in simple and consistent words. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can sign something instead..."

She submits, "No, I'm fine. Go on."

"I'll start. I'm Xavier Bronze. Current codename Clairvoyant, but I keep asking to get that changed to Avatar. I can control and generate fire, heal wounds with and manipulate water, and see some possible futures." Glare at Jessica, "And I'm an Avenger."

I turn to Clint to my left. He takes a moment to figure out that he's supposed to go next, "My name is Barton, codename Hawkeye. I use a bow and arrow, and haven't missed a target in going on three years now. And I'm an Avenger."

Phil goes next, "I'm Agent Coulson. You can call me the Thunderer." He pulls his hammer to him from across the room, "This hammer gives me all the power of the Norse god Thor. Strength, durability, lightning and weather control, and limited flight. And I'm an Avenger."

Superman waits a polite moment, "I'm Superman. I'm an alien from the planet Krypton. And I'm an Avenger. The yellow sunlight here in combination with the relatively low gravity gives me superhuman strength, speed, and durability. I can fly." Rhodes opens his mouth to start but-, "I also have heat vision and x-ray vision, freeze breath, superhuman hearing. And I don't need to eat as long as I have access to sunlight."

Rhodes looks mildly annoyed and waits slightly longer than necessary to make sure he's done, "Colonel James Rhodes of the United States Air Force. I'm an Avenger. Tony Stark is a close personal friend of mine, and I recently acquired one of his suits and took on the name War Machine. When I'm wearing the suit I can-"

Constantine interrupts him, "Does anyone here not know what an Iron Man suit can do? No? Right then. Let's hear from the lovely ladies."

Natasha doesn't quite smile, "I'm known as the Black Widow. I'm trained in martial arts, assassination, espionage, and interrogation. And I'm an Avenger."

Jessica looks around at us all, "I'm Jessica. I don't know if I really want to do this yet, and I don't know what my name would be if I did. I'm not as strong as anyone else who can claim to be strong, and I… don't really have anything else. I don't really know why I was invited when you have Superman. But I'm here, and I'm done talking."

Bruce is obviously uncomfortable at the attention, "My name is Bruce Banner. I'm a leading scientist in the fields of radiology and bioorganic chemistry. But I'm here on behalf of what you might know as the Hulk, who transforms into me when he calms down. It-" I give him a pointedly disappointed glare, "...He, is bigger, stronger and much less friendly than I am. And as far as I know, as long as he exists, neither of us can die."

There's a somber silence, which John quickly breaks, "I'm John Constantine. Xav tells me my codename is Hellblazer, which I'm growing to like more every time I hear it. I'm a demonologist, master of the Dark Arts, and overall nasty son of a bitch to anything that calls Hell its home." He pauses for a moment, "And I guess while I'm at it I might as well be a bloody Avenger."

And that's everyone.

And then the doorbell rings.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

I open the door and see Trish Walker instead of Matt Murdock like I was expecting.

I call out, "Jessica, it's for you!" Back to the newcomer, "Hi. I'm Xavier."

She asks suspiciously, "How did you know who I was here to see?"

Jessica answers, "She's the psychic I told you about. Creepy, isn't it?"

...I'm creepy?

Jessica says, "Come on in."

Trish comes in and is immediately starstruck by the circle of imposing figures and strong personalities.

Jessica points around the circle, "Superman, War Machine, Black Widow, the Hulk, Hellblazer, Hawkeye, Thunderer, and Xavier's the Clairvoyant."

I shake my head, "Please don't call me that."

Trish looks around at everyone again, "You're all superheroes?"

Clint answers, "More or less. Not all of us are super. Not all of us are heroes. But we're all here to do what we can."

Jessica talks to her sister, "I've been talking to all of them all day. It seems like it's for real. That's definitely actually Superman, at least."

Trish turns, "Oh yeah? Superman has x-ray vision, right? What color underwear am I wearing?"

He shrinks back, scratching his neck, "...I don't answer that question anymore. If you want to put up a certain number of fingers behind your back…"

Jessica interrupts, "It's him. It looks like him, he can fly, and he's stronger than me. Do you really think I haven't been checking for fraud? I'm suspicious too."

Trish snaps, "You damn well should be. We've never even met another person with powers before, and now suddenly this group contacts you offering heroism and fame? It's a trap. I just haven't figured out what for yet."

I answer, "For good. It's a trap for good." She's listening now, "You're right. We are trying to incentivize Jessica to join us. We want her here. But we want her with us for the good of the team, for the good of the human race, and her own damn good too. Fuck, Trish, you must know how bored she's been. Desk job after desk job doing tedious, endless nothings for the benefit of BP and Coca Cola. She's wasted doing jobs that anyone out of middle school could do just as well. She's unique."

She looks at me sternly, "My theory is cult, and I haven't seen or heard anything yet that disproves that. Just because you have powers doesn't mean you know what's best for her."

"You're right. The fact that I can see the future does." I sigh, "She saves people, one way or another. It's who she is. If I hadn't stepped in she would have lost months of her life as a consequence of saving someone. And even then she would have gone to hell and back to save someone else. And then she tried to spare the man who put her through that hell."

Time to pull out the big guns.

"And you know I'm right, because she's saved you too. The bathroom, when you were teenagers. Your mother wanted you to lose weight for the role of Patsy. She never bothered you after that, did she?"

She's tearing up. Maybe I took it too far.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up. I just need you to know that I'm on her side. And that means we're on the same side."

Constantine breaks into the conversation, "No-one's here who doesn't want to be, miss. Your friend's in good hands."

Trish wipes away the tears, "Jessica, can we talk outside?"

Jessica nods and the two quickly clear out, leaving the rest of us to speculate on what's being said.

Bruce comments, "And here I thought I'd be the hardest one to convince."

I shake my head, "Daredevil didn't even show up. Still, three out of four isn't bad."

Superman adds, "I get the feeling I'm only here because of you too. And Rhodes tells me you recommended him over Stark. That makes five out of six."

Phil smiles, "I only have this hammer because of her."

I protest, "There's about four others I didn't bother mentioning because there wasn't a chance in hell that they'd accept." Oliver, Kara, May, "...But I am pretty awesome, aren't I."

Clint joins in, "Hey, now wait a minute. Nat would've brought Bruce in with or without you. You've said as much yourself before. He doesn't count."

Natasha nods, "And while Thunderer might not be here, Thor himself would be."

I turn to Phil, "See? That brings me down to…" Count it up, "...Four out of nine. I think."

Bruce turns to Nat, "What would you have said to bring me in without her offering to help me control the other guy?"

"I didn't offer to help you control the other guy. I offered to help you build a working, stable relationship with him that's mutually beneficial. There's a big difference."

Natasha ignores me and answers the original inquiry, "I don't know what I would've said. You'd have to ask her."

I shrug, "I don't remember that well. Sorry. Not an important moment."

I've spent a lot of time combing through my memory for details. Just thinking about the movies for hours and hours, trying to eek out every bit of information that might be leftover from Alex before I forget anything crucial. After all, it's not information I can get anywhere else. But dialogue hasn't exactly been the focus.

Oh right, I should probably mention that, "John." Constantine looks at me, "At some point there might be a situation involving a little girl and a demon. You might think it's a good idea to summon a bigger, badder demon to scare it off. Think again. That's a massively stupid plan that gets the little girl banished to hell. I'm fucking disappointed you didn't get that right the first time. Don't fuck it up this time."

He lights up a cigarette, "Thanks for the warning." I'm a little surprised he didn't take offense at that. But I guess he might have experience with psychics shaming him for things he hasn't done yet. I wonder if he'll actually listen.

Rhodes asks, "Anything else you want to tell us while we're all here together?"

"Don't trust anyone named Zemo? Run away from anything that looks silly enough to be in a children's cartoon? Oh, should we develop a code so we can tell if any of us are ever replaced by a shapeshifting imposter?"

Phil jumps at the opportunity, "Something like Queen to King's Level One?"

I wave him off, "Something more memorable than that. Besides, isn't that a little on the nose?"

Clint suggests, "How about 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'?"

"Perfect." In ways only the Order members among us truly understand.

Superman answers, "I liked Queen to King's Level One."

I roll my eyes, "Whatever. We'll get the idea whichever we use."

Natasha says, "I'm not telling you my code."

I look at her, "Then how are any of us gonna know if it's you or not?"

She and Clint exchange a look.

"Oh, well of course he'd know."

Superman leans in to me, "So, are those two…"

"No. Not married. Not siblings. Just close. Yes, that can be a thing."

He quickly backtracks, "Oh no, I know. I didn't mean to assume. I have a friend, Watchtower. We've known each other forever and never..."

I laugh a little at his expense, "Cool it, boyscout. You don't need to be so touchy all the time."

Wait, Chloe's a thing here?

"Blonde? Used to be a reporter for the school paper?"

He gawks for the barest moment, "Just how much of my life do you know?"

"Know? Not very much. But I have a pretty good idea of what most of it might have been like. Your father's still alive, right? The human one?"

He nods, worried, "Should I be worried?"

"Probably not. He usually either dies when you're still a teen or else lives long into your adulthood. But maybe convince him to get his heart checked out just to be safe."

"Thanks."

I wait a moment, "You know, I thought about inviting your cousin."

He glares at me a little bit.

I continue, "I figured with you as an example, she'll come into hero work when she's ready for it. No need to rush things."

He nods, still a little offput by my knowledge, "I appreciate that."

I guess I am pretty creepy sometimes.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

Jessica and Trish come back in. Good. I was starting to worry that they'd just left.

Jessica comes up to me, "I think, I'm not ready for this. Can you get me my job back?"

"Sure. I'm sorry for… Well."

"Maybe after I've had some time to think. I'll keep the card. Thanks."

She and Trish make their way back out.

Constantine joins me and Superman queries, "Down one already?"

I shake my head, "No. I think she'll come around. I still count this as a win."

I notice Superman's distasteful expression at Constantine's cigarette and smile to myself, amused at his discomfort.

Constantine asks, "What is it?"

I shake my head with a chuckle, "Nothing."

I go over to where Bruce is talking to Rhodes, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

He looks at Rhodes and gets a nod of release, "I've got the time. What's going on?"

I look him right in the eyes, "I want you to see if you can let the other guy out. Right here. Right now."

He shakes his head with a smile, "I don't think that's a good idea."

I shrug, "Maybe not. But the only way he's ever going to trust you, is if you start trusting him. That means taking risks. Nothing here is going to antagonize him. We're planning to let him out later anyway, even work with him. Why not start now?"

His smile fades into a grimace, "Have you seen what he can do?"

"Yes. More than you. I've seen what he can be. I've been where he is now. I know what it's like to be treated like a monster. Sometimes you feel like playing the role. But that's not who he is. That's what's been done to him. He's never been trusted, never been shown kindness. Even from you. That fucking sucks. We need to change that."

His resolve is breaking, keep pushing.

I say, "It's step one." He's thinking, "Peaceful coexistence."

A tint of green swells above his eyebrow, and I squash the instinctual reaction of terror. His whole body suddenly grows, until his clothes are tight and I have to look up to maintain eye contact.

And then the eyes change. And suddenly I see someone else. Someone sad. Someone in pain. And then fear.

And then Bruce is back, and he shrinks back down, his skin reverting to exclusively human shades. The Hulk is gone.

He shakes his head, "No. It's too dangerous."

I make it very clear on my face how sad and disappointed I am, "You saying that is the only thing that makes it true."

He's not making eye contact anymore.

"I want to meet him. Whatever precautions it takes to get you to agree. I want to talk to the other guy."

Everyone's staring at us. I guess they noticed Banner suddenly growing four inches.

I smile over my shoulder, "Sorry folks. Hulk isn't making an appearance after all. We'll have to reschedule that meeting for another time."

Constantine points at Bruce with his cigarette, "That's quite a condition you've got there, mate. One thing to see on the news. Another thing entirely in person."

Bruce gets back his characteristic half-smile, "Maybe you'll actually get to see it some day."

There he is using 'it' again. I have a lot of work to do.

Constantine summons me over and after a quick check on Bruce I follow.

He near-whispers, "Are you sure it isn't a demon in there?"

Normally I'd consider that offensive. But his past experiences make that a pretty reasonable line of inquiry, "Pretty sure. If he is, he's a redeemable one. If it would make you feel better, you could covertly test it."

"That I might, love."

I see something out of the corner of my eye. What's Phill doing?

Oh, that's interesting. He's holding one hand over Mjolnir and appears to be using the summoning mechanism to levitate it. I approach to watch and ask, "How are you doing that?"

He's concentrating, and so takes a second to answer, "I noticed that the speed of the hammer when I pull it is determined by my emotional state. More urgency means it comes faster, and with more force. Right now I'm controlling my emotions to equalize the pull against gravity."

Most of everyone is watching now, but I'm not going to point that out and throw him off, "That's really cool. Do you wanna know something that makes it even cooler?"

Suddenly Mjolnir propels itself away from him with enough force to skip across the hardwood and make several dents and gashes. He looks at me, "What's that?"

I grin, "As far as I know, Thor never figured that out."

He smiles back, "Well it's not exactly combat applicable."

Rhodes supports me, "Not yet. But with practice... It definitely has potential."

I call out to the crowd, "Our most powerful member may have just gotten an upgrade!" I give Superman an aside, "Sorry, but the weather control kind of tips him over in raw output. You're still the best at flying and punching really hard. And one of our most experienced members." His amused face tells me there was no need for the lousy attempt at validation.

I guess I might be up there in raw power once I get gud. Especially if I can go into the Avatar State and summon on all of the other Avatars. Am I potentially more powerful than Superman? The very fact that I have to ask is enough to almost make me giddy. I love my life sometimes.

Bruce asks, "I thought punching really hard was why you invited me? Or, the other guy."

I sigh, "You're here so that someday soon, both of you might be in the position to do whatever you want. Maybe the day will come when you discover that neither of you really enjoy punching. Or maybe, you'll discover that both of you do. I brought you here to help you figure that out."

Clint and Natasha are isolating themselves again. But it looks like a private conversation and I don't particularly want to interrupt.

We all stop when we hear something banging in the other room.

Phil summons his hammer and starts quietly making his way down the hall, followed immediately by Superman floating just above the carpet. Then Rhodes with a drawn sidearm, and then myself. I hear Constantine muttering some kind of spell behind me.

We file silently into the kitchen. I finally enter the room and can't keep myself from bursting into laughter almost immediately.

The intruder who was shoulder-deep in the fridge turns around, still holding a stack of tupperware with the extra food we didn't need. I double over. Oh god, that's too funny. That fucking idiot.

I hear a pistol cock and look back up. I stop laughing.

And then I start again. Because he's not pointing it at me. He's pointing it at Superman.

The burglar drops their gun with a swear when it starts to glow red hot. Thank you, Constantine.

He's backing away slowly, still holding the stolen food. This is not helping my efforts to stop laughing.

And then I hear Superman and Coulson joining me. And then we're all three rendered useless. This is amazing. Of all the places he could have robbed!

Rhodes calmly walks over and takes the containers of food away, setting them down on the counter. And then he starts naming off the Miranda Rights.

I point at this stupid, stupid guy, "Hey! You! Congratulations! … This makes you the first official Avengers villain!" Aaand, back to laughing uncontrollably.

Several minutes later we file back into the front room. Rhodes is holding our first villain by the upper arm.

Clint asks, "What happened in there?"

And I'm laughing again. Not too hard to answer though, "We got robbed."

Clint looks at me, and then at the newcomer. And now he's laughing too. Nat doesn't take long to join in.

Rhodes walks his captive over to the food table, "Might as well help yourself. The police won't be here for a few minutes." He turns to the rest of us, "Did someone call them?"

I shake my head and rub the tears out of my eyes, "No, I don't think so."

Constantine corrects me, "I did."

Rhodes nods in gratitude, "Thank you."

 

[Xavier Bronze]

Mike helped me identify the martial arts that the four Bending forms are based on. Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Tiger and Mantis style Hung Gar, and Ba Gua. Turns out he's got belts in all of them already. My new workout routine is completely exhausting. But it's paying off. I can run from here to Metropolis in an hour flat. Three if I try and come back without taking a break. Ike can't keep up anymore if I go all out.

I'm in the shooting range. I've been practicing Earthbending. It comes to me a little more naturally than water, although not as easily as fire for now. The basic principle is to just be more insistent that the rock move than the universe is that it stay put. There's a little more to it than that, but that's the core mindset.

Unfortunately the universe is a lot more stubborn than I remember it being in the show. So far I can only move igneous rocks with low metal content that are already out of the ground and weigh two kilos or less.

I place one of the stones they've helpfully provided me onto a stand, and then push the button that summons a target to shoot at. Let's distance it at five meters for now.

Once the target is in place, I take my stance, and punch through where the rock is. Before I make contact, it moves as if it's fleeing my blow and flies down the range. It misses the target completely.

I ready the next rock.

I have an audience, "Hey Phil."

"Is it strange that this is a lot more amazing to me than when you throw fire?"

I take stance and send the next one out. It misses again, "It's called Bending, and it would be a lot more impressive if I could actually hit anything."

Phil steps up to the lane next to me and orders a target at the same distance. He holds his hand out to the side and several seconds later Mjolnir turns the corner into our room and flies into his hand. Then he tries to throw it like a spear. It lands at the target's feet.

I ignore his failure and focus on his success, "I didn't know you could make it turn like that. When did you figure that out?"

He looks at the door, "A few days ago, when I tried to summon it from under a table. It tries not to hit anything that I personally value. It took me an hour of pondering on the usefulness of walls before it started doing that, though. It's not the kind of thing you think about taking for granted, but they really are essential to so much of modern life."

I shake my head with a smile, "You're hacking an ancient alien artifact of divine power using only your mind. That's so awesome. Phil, you rock."

He looks at me, "When did you start calling me Phil?"

I think about it, "I guess I've been thinking about you as Phil for a while, but until we became teammates it seemed inappropriate to say out loud. Do you mind?"

"No. You're right. We're teammates now. Just make sure that in the field you call me Thunderer."

Questioning eyebrow, "You're really going with that, huh?"

"It wouldn't seem right to call myself Thor, since that's someone's name, and it might be offensive to his people. Mjolnir is impossible to spell and pronounce. Anything with 'god' in it just feels pretentious."

I shrug and setup another rock to throw, "Okay. It's your choice."

He summons his hammer back, "What about you? Is Avatar really so much better than Clairvoyant?"

Another miss, but I'm getting closer, "It's more accurate, seeing as how I don't actually see the future. I just don't like the connotations Clairvoyant comes with." Or that it was used by Garrett in the original timeline, "Is the paperwork through on that yet?"

He throws his hammer again, this time underhanded like a bowling ball, "Fury doesn't like people changing their codenames without a good reason for it. You're on all the Avengers paperwork as Avatar now. I'm afraid that's the best I can do. As a SHIELD consultant you're still technically the Clairvoyant."

I sigh, "Maybe that's enough." Next rock, "How are things with Audrey?"

"She doesn't like me bringing the hammer on dates. But she's a fan of the Asgardian plate mail."

I give a wry grin, "What about the indestructibility? She's gotta have noticed that by now."

He smiles at his feet and says nothing. I'll take that as an oh god yes.

I see him readying to throw Mjolnir yet another way, and stop him by pointing, "Try twirling it." I pantomime, "By the strap."

He looks at his grip and moves it down until the hammer hangs freely, "This feels dangerous."

"That's the idea. As long as you practice enough to aim that danger at the enemy. Twirling is how Thor did it, and he got distance."

Back to Earthbending, let's try something different. I try looking at a specific part of the target. I put the rock completely out of my mind, and punch at the target.

I punch the rock, and hear my knuckles crack. Well, that's another hour in the medbay while they make sure all the bones are in the right places before I heal it. I guess I do have to be thinking about the thing I'm moving, at least a little.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

"Portals?"

Jane nods, "Once this device is finished, we'll be able to detect everywhere that the Bifrost has connected on earth, and open our own breaches between those sites. Last time, when I tried to rescue you, I only had half the equation. I wasn't able to control the other end. But now, we know of two places that it's opened. The place you came through, and the place the other four did."

I look at the repurposed phone booth in the middle of the room, "So we put something in there, it comes out at the other site a few miles away."

"And then we can watch the electromagnetic dispersal pattern and locate all the other potential sites in North America."

I shake my head, "Jane, you rock. This could change everything for SHIELD."

She grins, "And thanks to the deal I cut when I signed on, in ten years, it will change everything for everyone else too. Within our lifetimes, we could have planet-wide teleportation as public transit!"

One of the other scientists puts an apple in the booth and closes the door.

"Why is it a phone booth?"

She explains, "It had to have a contained atmosphere of standardized size to prevent pressure differential problems. And the glass serves a double purpose, insulating the chamber while also letting us see inside. It's also the perfect size for eventual human trials, once we get there. Also, I kind of grew up watching Doctor Who reruns."

I laugh, "That's what I thought."

I see the lights flicker and the node at the top of the booth where all the wires connect starts to glow.

And then the inside floods with light. Not just any light. I recognize that as the rainbow light from the Bifrost. The colors of creation. The truth and totality of existence.

The lightbulbs around us explode, and I see showers of sparks fly out of two of the large machines that are plugged into the device. The booth empties, and a rotted apple sits inside.

Jane frowns, and then squeals in glee, "That was incredible! How on earth did that happen! Johnson! Tell me we got a reading on that!"

"Yes ma'am. There are more breaches than expected, so we're only getting the ones in and around New Mexico. Twenty-one. No. Twenty-three."

She looks at me, wide-eyed, "Assuming even distribution, that's almost ten million worldwide."

I laugh, "That was some fast-ass math skills!"

She does that fidgety thing that's as good as a blush, "I already had the ratio in my head from when I modeled it this morning."

I realize how flirty I'm being, and how I promised to give her time. And that makes me sag a little. How long is she going to leave me in limbo?

I shake off the question, "Why is it rotten now?"

She kneels and picks up the apple, which disintegrates into goo in her grip, "I have no idea! That's the amazing thing about science, Xavier. For every mystery you encounter, there's the promise of answers."

That seems applicable. Right now, Jane is a mystery. She's the scientist. So I just need to wait for her to find the answers.

I know that doesn't make sense. But it'll help me not get frustrated for a while longer.

She drips the apple goo off her hand into a bag, "Speaking of answers, you never gave me the details on this alternate universe you're from. How different is it?"

I clench my teeth, "What's your clearance level?"

"One? I think. I might have gotten promoted to a selective two,"

I hesitate only slightly longer, "Oh, what the hell. It's my information anyway. The reason SHIELD cares about me at all is because of information that I have from my old universe. I've already told you, a lot of the people here, especially superheroes, are characters in movies and tv shows."

Jane briefly looks disturbed, "Yeah, you did say that. Does that mean all of this is fictional?"

"No, don't be crazy. It just means the filmmakers got their information from somewhere. The point is, I know the basic details of a lot of important events for the next five years."

She realizes something, "Natalie Portman. You said I looked just like her. She's the actress who played me in your universe."

I nod, "You got it."

She's wrapping her head around it, "So you know a lot. At least about superheroes. Like, if I asked you who Superman is-"

"I could tell you. I wouldn't, because I don't want to piss him off. But I could. Although the weird part is that he's not from the same movies."

"What do you mean?"

It feels good to go over all this again. Set the record straight, "All the movies and tv shows were based on comicbooks by one of two publishers. Marvel, and DC. You, SHIELD, Iron Man, are all Marvel. Superman is DC."

"So everything in these comicbooks either happened or is going to happen here?"

"Of course not. Look, it's pretty simple. The Marvel comicbooks were very loosely adapted into a series of movies and tv shows called the MCU. The DC comicbooks were even more loosely adapted into a series of tv shows on the CW, starting with one called Arrow. As far as I can tell, everything shown in any of those movies and tv shows would have happened, if I hadn't come here. Now I'm here, changing things. Who the fuck knows."

"But the comicbooks-"

I roll my eyes, "Shut up about the damn comicbooks. They're not important. I shouldn't have even mentioned them. The movies and tv shows are the only thing that really matters. A few things from the comicbooks have turned out to be true, just like Superman looks kindof like an actor who played him in an older tv show completely unrelated to the ones that are real here..." I'm getting sidetracked, "But there's so much that's different I can't make assumptions based on them."

She pushes, "For example?"

I sigh, "For example, in the old tv show, the one where Superman looked like the real one, there was an alien creature called Doomsday that rampaged through Metropolis and killed Jimmy Olsen. Obviously, that didn't happen here. So nothing else in that show is safe to assume is true, even if a few things might be. In the comicbooks, Tony Stark had a genetically engineered sentient tumor with the personality of his dead infant brother. Now, unless he's done a really good job of hiding it, that doesn't exist here. Which means everything from the comicbooks is suspect at best."

Maybe 'simple' was a poor choice of words. But I can't just say 'MCU and Arrowverse = True' because she doesn't know what any of that means. I expect it would be a lot easier to explain to someone back on Earth Prime.

She nods, "That makes sense, I guess. But, the movies aren't suspect?"

I shake my head, "No, because the only things that have been different from them so far are the things I've changed. Without me here doing shit, it's possible things would have happened exactly how I saw them on the screen on Earth Prime."

She ponders on that for a few seconds.

She looks me in the eye, "That must be weird, isn't it? Seeing the same things happen again, except being a part of it this time?"

I nod, "I guess, yeah. It is. I'm usually too focused on the matter at hand to think about it too much though."

A silence falls between us. It is a little disturbing. I watched Pietro Maximoff die. And now he's still alive. The Vision might never even exist. Moira Queen is still alive. The Reverse Flash is still posing as a wheelchair-bound scientist. I've gone back in time, in addition to everything else that's weird about this.

I guess I should really do something about Reverse Flash at some point. He's just kind of too terrifying to confront. I doubt anything SHIELD has could take him down. But he's a murderer. I can't just let him go on. That's a thought for another time, though. Jane looks like she's gearing up to say something.

Jane asks, looking at her feet, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "Do you have any plans for the holidays?"

I nod, "Yeah. I'm going out to dinner with Clint for Halloween, and H.O.M.E. is having a Christmas party for the agents who don't have families elsewhere."

She sounds hopeful, "Nothing on Thanksgiving?"

I look at her, and she looks up at me expectantly for the answer, "...No. What did you have in mind?"

She offers, "You could come spend it with us. Me and Erik, I mean. We invited a few other people, but Darcy thinks we've been brainwashed by Nazis and all Erik's friends are either busy or have other plans. So it's looking like it might be just the two of us. If you don't come."

I stop her with a smile, "I'd love to. Thanks, Jane."

 

[Xavier Bronze]

I'm excited. Clint invited me to spend Halloween with his family. We took a train out to some restaurant in Jersey, just outside Gotham. Apparently it's Laura's favorite place to eat.

I'm wearing my newly completed Avengers outfit. It's Halloween, so it shouldn't draw too much attention. It has a full-faced mask, no cape, and my hair is sensibly tied down where it can't catch on anything or be grabbed. The torso, upper arms, mask, and thighs are thoroughly bulletproof. And it has a plate skirt something like Xena's that's also bulletproof and has securely fastened pockets.

And the whole thing is heat resistant up to two thousand kelvin. Of course I might not survive that even if it were my own fire, but it does mean I can wash my clothes with molten lava in a pinch.

It looks a lot like the standard SHIELD blues, right down to the eagle patch on the shoulder and the holster at the hip. Empty right now, obviously. But deep red arrows run down the limbs in all the places that Aang had his tattoos. The mask is the closest recreation I could get to the Blue Spirit, except with a third eye on the forehead. It also doesn't have gloves. I tried a few designs, but found Bending to be a lot more difficult without full finger flexibility.

I still look ridiculous. But compared to a few of the other Avengers, fakecough Superman, I look like a badass. They gave me some design input, and I insisted on even more. I'm a little proud. Maybe not up to Edna's standards. But it'll do its job.

But since we're eating dinner, my mask is just on the table in front of me. I guess I might have thought about that before I came. I'm not terribly concerned about my identity though. There isn't a ton of light in here for anyone to recognize me by, even if I was anyone particularly recognizable.

Natasha walks in looking positively stunning. She's the fanciest-dressed person in the whole place. She takes the seat between me and Clint. I'm not surprised she's here, even though Clint didn't specifically mention her by name. She's definitely part of his family.

And her outfit is drawing all the eyes in the place. I don't bother to cover up where mine are straying, "You look good."

She smiles, "You too. I like the mask. Did you go with the bulletproof version or the Heads Up Display?"

I shake my head, "The Heads Up Display would have decreased the functional heat resistance by over a thousand degrees. I went for maximum durability."

"I assume the pockets were your idea? You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to get mine. I had to carry a bag for almost a month."

I laugh, "I know. They fought me on that right up to manufacturing. But where else am I supposed to carry things? I don't know how Superman does it."

She looks down at my skirt again, "It looks like some of them are hardshell containers?"

I nod, "Built to hold water. I'm not good enough to fight with it yet, but I will be someday. And I can't generate my own like I can fire. Some of them are reserve oxygen for the mask too."

The waiter comes by and Natasha orders, "We'll have a bottle of the house white." The waiter writes it down and leaves. She turns back to me, "I hope you'll want some too, I'd rather not drink the whole bottle myself."

I put a hand dramatically to my chest, "Why Ms. Romanoff, I would love some!"

I look past her at Clint and see him browsing the menu with an amused smile, "When did you two get so chummy?"

I throw an arm around her shoulders for show, "We went on that recruitment drive together. Besides, we're the only two ladies on the team. Might as well be besties."

She smirks at me, "I'm not sure either of us qualify as ladies."

I look her over again, "In that dress?"

Laura sits down next to her husband, "Especially in that dress. Hi, Nat."

The kids line up between Laura and me, with Cooper Johnny Blaze taking the seat next to mine again.

Clint kisses his wife, "Are you here to rescue me? I've created a monster."

She looks at the two of us, "Looks like a friendly monster."

Natasha and I look at each other like 'yeah, right'. I giggle for a moment and then untangle myself to pick up the menu.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

The next day I'm exercising when my comms buzz at me.

I answer, "What's up, Pussy Cat?"

The agent on the other side of the line doesn't react at all, "There's a fire at Dover AFB. General Ross may still be inside."

I grab my costume bag and start walking, "What can I do?"

"Your file says you can put out fires remotely, and prevent them from spreading. You can assist as Avatar."

That I can. I've gotten very good at putting out fires in the last month, "Understood."

Mike and Ike see me leave in a hurry and fall in behind me. Mike asks, "What's going on?"

I smile back at him, "My first solo mission! A fire at the Air Force Base."

He speeds up and passes me, "Well we can't be late for that. Come on!"

We break into a run, just slow enough to let Ike keep up.

Fifteen minutes later I'm just finished suiting up when we land in an area with several other emergency vehicles, near a three-story building that is very on fire.

I step out as soon as it's safe and run over to someone who's shouting orders, "I'm Avatar, with SHIELD. I'm pyrokinetic. I can put out fires with my mind. Where do you need me?"

One of the windows explodes outwards and rains glass on several firemen who were trying to approach.

"Can you put out fires hot enough to melt steel beams? This whole thing was started by an experimental jet fuel. No matter how much we throw at it, we can't put it out, and it's starting to break down the foundations of the base."

I see what he means when a very dramatic crack in the earth emerges from the building. One of the firemen almost falls in, before one of the others pulls him out of the way.

"I'll see what I can do."

I run toward the building. My mask's air filter takes care of most of the smoke, but the air that gets through is still a lot thinner in oxygen content. I could activate one of the oxygen canisters in my combat skirt, but I don't think I need it yet. I reach out my hands and start moving the elemental energy down into the earth. Fire can't exist inside solid objects, so if that's where all the energy is, the fire goes out.

But before the fires can noticeably fade, the ground shakes and another crack opens up only a few meters away from me.

Right, so moving it underground might not have been the best call when a large part of the problem is that the fire is causing earthquakes. It's too hot to freeze out.

I run back to the man in charge, "I can't put it out, I'm sorry. It's too hot."

He asks, "Can you survive going in? We need to find the General!"

I look back at the building. I haven't had very many chances to practice a full-body heat shield. But I've practiced small ones, and I have faith that I could get out before it failed completely.

I nod, "I can try. Where would Ross be?"

"His office. Second floor, third to the right."

Okay. Deep breaths. You can do this.

I run in the door, throwing my hands out to push aside the curtain of blue-white flame that was keeping everyone else out.

I stand for a moment to judge the terrain. My heat shield is holding. I'm not using too much Chi all at once. I think this is do-able. I walk to the stairs, every step a test of the destabilizing ground.

...Those stairs aren't taking me anywhere. They're falling apart. I look around for another way up, but of course I'm not that lucky. I'm not taking the elevator.

But maybe the elevator shaft? I make my way over and look up the shaft just in time to hear the cables snap. I jump back and see the box zoom through where my head just was. I hear it smash into the bottom, and more cracks swallow large areas of the building around me.

Okay. I only have to go up one floor. There's a door across from me one floor up in the shaft. The roof of the fallen elevator is only a floor down from me if I fall.

I've made jumps that high before. It's just like that, except I have to catch myself and then immediately do a pull-up. ...And it might be a little higher too. And farther. And I'm in armor.

No, that's fine. I step back twice and think through all the coaching Mike has given me, about using all of my body's momentum.

Go! I jump, and can immediately tell I'm not going to make it.

Fuck that. I do a mid-air downwards kick and throw my hands out below me. Fire floods the shaft and I get the extra centimeters I need.

I reach up and grab the ledge. It's hot to the touch, so I quickly climb up. Ignore the pain. I can heal it later.

Okay. I'm not at the top of the stairs. So my perspective is different. Find the top of the stairs, then from there, count three doors down.

I can see him. Ross is crouching on his desk. The floor between me and him is either burning or too burnt to safely walk on. My shoes are fireproof, but his aren't.

I call out, "Hey!"

He looks at me.

I check the flooring around me and take a careful step towards him, and then another.

I tell him, "It's going to be okay. I'm coming to get you out. Just stay where you are."

A piece of the ceiling falls, taking a large part of the building between us with it. This is only getting more difficult.

Go around, then. I need to move a little faster. This whole place is coming apart around us. Step. Look for the next place. There, where those two beams intersect. One of them cracks and I barely jump off before it drops.

Jumping was a mistake! I lean forward and land on all fours to distribute the weight. Then stand, carefully.

I make the final few steps to get to Ross's office.

I get close enough and beckon him to come off the desk, "We have to get out of here. I can't carry you, the floor can't take that much weight."

He climbs down, and I can tell his feet won't take long to burn. I take his hand and turn…

There's no way to get down. The stairs have collapsed into one of those chasms. Okay, new plan. Get to a window and wave for one of the fire trucks to give us a ladder.

I have to yell even though he's right next to me, "Step where I do. We're going to make it out of this."

I identify a path, and go. It's a little like Frogger. Or there was that one game Alex used to play with the collapsing platforms. To Ross's credit, he keeps up. Even when a safe spot I use breaks, he finds another one.

We make it to the window and I throw a narrow beam of fire out as a signal. I look down and see Mike and Ike scrambling to help.

Almost immediately one of the fire trucks starts swinging its ladder our direction. But it doesn't take long for me to figure out it isn't going to be fast enough.

"We're going to have to jump. Do you hear me?"

He looks at me, horrified, "What? No! No!"

"Yes! This wall isn't stable."

As if to prove my point a large crack extends out directly below us, swallowing a large chunk of what little support structure was left. From above I can see straight down into the magma at the bottom.

My eyes flick between the ladder approaching and the building crumbling below us, "On my count. Three," Come on, just a little closer, "Two," Come on! The wall immediately next to us freefalls into the chasm.

"Jump!" We jump.

I grab the end of the extending ladder, and Ross grabs me by the leg. My arm groans at the jolt of extra weight.

I look back and see the place where we just were fall into the magma below.

Why isn't anyone doing anything? "I can't pull us both up, I need you to climb."

Ross responds and starts climbing up my body until he's close enough to grab the ladder directly.

A minute later we're both back on the ground. I stretch the arm that held Ross's weight earlier.

He alternates between gasping and coughing for a while, "Who… Who are you?"

I think about saying 'Xavier Bronze. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD.' But no. It's not worth breaking identity, "I'm Avatar."

Two paramedics start walking Ross to an ambulance.

I ask them, "Is he going to be okay?"

They answer on the move, "I think so. But we can't be sure until we get him treated."

I run over and yell at the man in charge, "Is there anything else I can do here?"

He shakes his head, "Not if you can't put out the fire."

I can stay here and focus on damage control, or I can try and heal Ross.

The remains of the building I was in a minute ago fall into the earth, leaving only a glowing-hot pit. Right then. No way in hell I'm controlling that.

I climb into the ambulance with Ross and tell the paramedics, "I can heal him. I have healing powers. Do you have any fresh water?"

The ambulance is moving. I guess I accidentally ditched Mike and Ike, but I'm sure they'll understand. I've more than proven myself by now.

Ow. My hand moves to my neck and feels a needle.

I bend around and see one of the paramedics holding the needle they just stabbed me with. Then I'm falling backward, and I'm out.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

Well I'm still not dead. But I am shackled to a wall. I'm in what could definitely qualify as a dungeon. One of my arms is shackled to the wall by a meter-long chain, and there are two armed guards at the door. Ross is shackled next to me, completely untreated. He's not looking good…

I yell at the guards, "Hey, assholes! One of your hostages is going to die if he doesn't get medical attention."

They look at each other, and then back at me, "Is it you?"

I look confused, because I am, "No."

"Then who cares?"

They want me? Oh fuck. Ten Rings. No that's not right. They would have killed me.

"Why do you need me?"

"The master has a plan for you. That's all you need to know."

So it is the Ten Rings. It's just that the Mandarin wants me for himself now. Well, I guess that's a good thing, seeing as it's the only reason I'm still alive. Time to start planning my escape.

The wall I'm chained to is stone. I might be able to Earthbend myself free, depending on how deeply the chain is embedded. They took off my uniform, so I'm not bulletproof. But I can probably take those two if I can get a surprise attack.

It complicates things that I need to get Ross out with me.

That would be easier if he weren't hurt, "Hey! You need to bring me some water."

One of them throws a bottle of Gatorade at my head, which I catch. I'm a little surprised they complied with that so easily.

Damn it. This is way too impure to use for healing. But maybe I can purify it. I drink some of it as part of my cover. And then I make my way to the end of my leash, where I can reach Ross.

I give him a nudge to wake him up, "Hey. I need you on your feet, soldier. You hear me?"

He opens his eyes, "You? You're Avatar?"

I nod, "Yes. We've been captured by the Ten Rings. They drugged us before we arrived at the hospital. Now, I can heal you. But if we're going to have a chance you need to act like you're still hurt."

He nods, eyes drifting closed again.

Okay, Gatorade. What've you got.

Ugh. It feels like sludge. The motion is there, but it's so sluggish. It's impeded by all of the sugar and dye and other stuff that's dissolved in the liquid. Come on. There's water in there. Just feel that. The water is all I need.

Smaller. Below the big, slow waves of the mixture, there are tiny waves made of normal water, as it bumps and bounces against everything else within. Okay. There you are. Now, come.

I hand the bottle to Ross and position my body to block what my hands are doing for the guards. A very thin stream of water makes its way out of the container, and I direct it onto his face, where it pools sideways and begins to glow as I pour my Chi through it into him.

"Open your shirt."

He complies, and I move the water down to his chest. I can feel that there's deeper damage there, in his lungs. So I allow the water to absorb through his skin and carry my Chi deeper into his body.

I look him in the eyes, "Are you feeling better?"

He nods, and buttons his shirt, "Yes. Thank you, again."

I look at him somewhat more sternly, "I said, are you feeling better?"

He gets it after a second, "No. I feel terrible. I'm dying."

I give him a pat on the shoulder, "There you go."

I take a bigger gulp of Gatorade. After that expenditure of energy, I'm actually thirsty. And then I move out of the way so the guards can see me offering Ross a drink, to explain why I came over here.

An hour later, several people come in. Two of them try to grab me, but I use a Tai Chi dodge, crack one of their ribs and send the other over my shoulder into the wall behind me.

Four more dogpile me and two more come in before I can throw them off. They're holding me too still for a fire blast. Another of them comes in with a syringe and draws my blood while the rest hold me in place.

They let go of me and hurry back out, the one with the cracked rib lagging somewhat behind the rest.

That was embarrassing. I should've been able to prevent that.

Why do they want my blood? And why didn't they take it while I was unconscious?

 

[Xavier Bronze]

They've been drawing a lot of blood. I'm guessing they took some before I woke up too. The good news is that they've been giving me lots to drink to compensate. And I've been using that to covertly heal Ross up to almost full health. The bad news is that that means I haven't been drinking a lot of what they've given me, and my Chi expenditure has left me with not very much energy to myself.

I still have no idea why they haven't killed me yet. They haven't asked for anything. They just keep us locked down here, and every few hours they come and take some of my blood. I don't know how long exactly we've been here, but it feels like a few days.

There's no good time to stage our breakout attempt. The two guards switch out at different times, and the new guard comes before the old one leaves, so that only means we'd have three people to deal with instead of two. Whenever they take my blood, they bring sufficient numbers to overpower any attempt we could make then. They take my blood often enough that I'm never quite at full strength, and even if I were I'd be held back by having to drag Ross out with me.

Breakouts are hard.

...Why is the wall vibrating? I put my ear against it. Is that running water? If I can hear it it has to be close. I might be able to use that.

Let's see. What else do I have? Fire, obviously. But not a lot of it until I get my strength back up. I haven't yet been able to figure out lightning, unfortunately. I've already tried metalbending the cuff, but it's not responding in the same way earth does.

The guards aren't looking. But I don't have a plan yet.

But... Will I ever? What information am I lacking now that I'll get by just waiting more?

No. I'm not strong enough yet. Now that Ross is healed, I can actually drink everything they're giving me. I need more energy if we're going to get out of this alive.

I feel the pipes again through the wall. It's regular. Maybe about every five minutes. Maybe less. I can use the pipes to measure time. If I measure the time between blood drives I can know when it's coming, which means I'll be able to tell when I'm the strongest I'm going to be.

So the next time they draw my blood, I calmly sit back with my ear against the wall. And after they leave, I start counting. One, two, three, four, five…

…Seventy-three, seventy-four. They come in again. I count out one more cycle just to make sure that it's consistent.

Seventy four again. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I go to Ross and whisper, "I have a plan. Be ready."

I'm lying, but it's to make him feel better.

As soon as the pipe hits seventy I give Ross a nod to let him know it's time. The guards aren't looking.

Okay, you chunk of dungeon wall. I'm not chained to you.

You're chained to me.

I take stance and pull, and the chain comes free. The block of stone attached to it flies directly past my head, and I thrust again to try and send it at one of the guards.

But it's still attached to my arm by a chain. And I'm on my face. That was stupid. I scramble over to Ross and pull his chain out too as quickly as I can.

And he immediately stands to slug one of the guards with a right hook. They fall.

The other guard is nowhere to be seen. They must be going for backup.

Ross pulls me upright. I see motion in the corner of my eye and kick the prone guard in the head before he can do whatever it is he was about to try.

Ross asks, "What now?"

I start walking towards the door, "I don't know. I honestly wasn't expecting to make it this far."

He looks at me incredulously. I shrug.

We go down a long stone hallway before finding a three-way fork. Every tunnel including the one we just came from has an old rusted iron door. But they're all open. I see sunlight and turn that direction.

We reach the end and there's a storm drain right above us. It's buried in the surrounding rock.

I just figured this trick out with the chain a minute ago, albeit on a smaller scale. I take stance and push upwards. The stone cracks.

I hear sirens, "They know we're out."

Come on. Stance, and thrust. The grate pops out. Ross makes a platform with his hands and I use it to push the grate aside and climb up. Then I turn back and pull him up after me.

We're in a courtyard. It's hot, and dry, and there's sand everywhere. I'm starting to think that wasn't a drainage grate. The architecture looks middle-eastern. Worry about where we are later. We need to get out.

I see a red dot on a rooftop. Sniper! I run. Don't bob and weave, just run straight and run fast. I hope Ross is behind me. I hear a gunshot and feel air displaced by the bullet next to my head just as a spot of dirt is thrown up ahead of me.

Well why the fuck are you trying to kill me now? Make up your damn minds already!

Where am I running, besides away from the people with guns? There. That looks like an exit.

It ceases to be an exit when soldiers walk through it and I have to duck behind cover. Then I realize that cover doesn't block the sniper and roll into a new cover.

Ross is lying on the ground out in the open. Was he hit? I don't see blood. Shit. I'm only here because I was trying to save his stupid ass!

I hear boots and look around me. Convenient vase full of water. Lucky. I tip it, and then immediately urge the motion to cease, creating a patch of ice. The first soldier to round the corner slips, and all the ones after him have to climb over him without slipping themselves.

But I'm already running. Exit. Come on, exit. There. That looks like it might be, oh shit.

I barely stop short of a ten meter dropoff above a small town. Why is this here! Fuck!

No. I'm on a mountain. The only way out is down, one way or another. I look down and see a bail of hay. No, that's stupid. Water trough? Not big enough. There's a rooftop I might be able to get to with a boosted jump.

Someone much stronger than me grabs me around the neck from behind, lifting me off the ground and over the cliff's edge.

"You should have jumped."

I've heard that voice before.

And then he knocks me out.