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OOC - OPEN SIGNUPS - Marvel's Academy Alliance (Sign Ups and OOC)
Accepted Character Sheets - CHARACTER INDEX - Marvel's Academy Alliance (Character Sheets)
~3 Days Ago~
Accepted Character Sheets - CHARACTER INDEX - Marvel's Academy Alliance (Character Sheets)
~3 Days Ago~
Ben let out a sigh of relief after making his order. Sitting at a diner, with a cup of chai tea, and waiting for scrambled eggs with a salad on the side, and toast, he could sit down and think. He'd traveled across the entire town to get away. He was now a fugitive, but it wasn't the cops or the woman who'd charged him he was afraid of however. He was afraid of his parents, and other celestial beings who could claim parentage of him.
His name had been picked up by the cops, and he had nowhere to go. His parents knew where he'd stayed the last year, and he could no longer walk freely on the streets. Dropping his raven clad head into his hands, Ben wanted to weep. His heart ached for Mrs Noeld, who would be lonely without him. he just wanted a place to belong. Ben cursed his memories of his old self. Why did the memories come with the package?! Screw you, Ben cursed King Loki inwardly.
His shirt was black, and with a screaming metal band on it. His scarf was green and rugged. His jeans were worn and studded, covering black army boots on his lean legs. His hands were covered in black fingerless gloves, which was fashionably studded with silver on the wrists. He looked very tired, and lost. His possessions were placed in a brown backpack next to him on the red couch, and he had enough money for the meal.
He opened his eyes, and looked at the steaming hot tea in front of him. He blinked slowly, and knew that he would have to face his parents sometime. He just didn't want to do it right now.
He'd explained to the police that the woman had let him in after helping her last winter. They had become friends, and in return for helping her, she had provided him with a place to stay, and food. He understood the woman who'd charged him for burglary and trespassing, but he claimed himself not guilty.
Benjamin had told the cops, when they asked why he'd run away, that he wanted to make it in town as a rockstar, and that his parents didn't support him. He lied, and made himself look bad so his parents wouldn't be suspected of abuse or neglect.
Benjamin sighed again, and felt horrible.
Margaret Rogers sat quietly at the booth, her eyes carefully surveying around her only to go back straight up. To the large blond haired man who sipped his cup of coffee. Straight up black, no sugar or cream. Absent-mindedly twirling a metal fork between her fingers she glanced outside, seeing a balding man standing at a tree, newspaper in hand only to stop. Glancing around the man turned and looked directly at Margaret. Giving her what would look like an acknowledging nod to the outside world. Instead the nod meant something else entirely for Margaret.
Parameter secure, move in on suspect.
She glanced over again towards the particular booth. Benjamin Baker, the fact on him weren't much. The kid knew how to hide away from the world. It was the timed he popped up that were the concern. Counts of robbery, prostitution, and now escaping jail. However it was the escape that gave SHIELD the reasoning to quietly pursue the kid. Quietly set up agents to keep tabs on where he was, where he was going. Find some kind of routine, some kind of place they can corner him.
While Margaret herself isn't any official SHIELD agent, they wanted her in this capacity to help out for a few reasons. Reasons she wasn't exactly thrilled about but she knew she both couldn't refuse, and shouldn't refuse. Still, Ben looked like a mess, and it wasn't the metal head punk motif he had going for him. Placing down the fork onto the table she began to get out of her seat. Before Margaret could give much of a reaction however, she felt a warm hand gently cover her hand that sat on the metallic counter. She glanced up, the blond man sitting across from her didn't look at her but had a warm smile on his face. She gave him a small smile back, then got up.
She looked normal enough, hoodie, shirt, jeans, and sneakers. She wasn't wired and only had a collapsible billy club hidden away in her back pocket just in case. Strolling up to the booth where Ben sat she put on a warm grin. "Hey…" She started, "Would it be cool if I sat here? All the other seats are taken and it's just… you know old people and stuff." She sounded unassuming, though she knew around 75 percent of the diner was filled with SHIELD agents. Ready to pounce if the kid tried anything stupid.
Ben looked up attentively, and even though she awoke suspicion within him, he couldn't understand why, so he gestured for the couch across from the table, and said "Sure." He kept his hands relaxed by his cup of tea, and simply looked at her, waiting for her reason. Was she pitying him? At least he pitied her. That was an awful pick up line.
Margaret accepted the invitation, taking a seat across from her. He had a hard to read face at the moment. Although she hardly had much to go on, and it wasn't like what she said was funny or earth shattering. "Thanks, not a lot of people in here around our age you know?" She mentioned with a glance around. "Anyways whatever right? I'm Margaret, what's your name?" She asked, trying to give him a warm smile, anything to keep his suspicions low.
There was a short pause in Ben's eyes, that seemed to be him making up his mind about something. He shifted and glanced away from her for the first time when looking at his tea cup saying "Yeah, sure. Though if you actually sit down and talk to them, they can give you some good advice." He looked up, and winked to her before widening his face in a charming smile. "I'm not gonna lecture you or anything though, I'm Ben. Nice to meet you, Margaret. That's a nice name. Do you live around here?" he asked and lifted his cup to drink, finally shutting up to drink.
Margaret glanced around herself, "Yeah I mean I'm sure some of them are interesting but I don't know…" She chuckled, "They'd probably just end up reminding me of my dad or something." She mentioned, inadvertently looking over to where her dad was in fact sitting for a second. The hesitation he had in his tone didn't go unnoticed. Margaret just made a quick mental note of it, then pressed on. "I mean really though you just struck me as someone interesting to sit with really." That wasn't really the truth, but it was in some ways really. Especially considering actually sitting with the guy who she read all the files on. He did have something to him. He felt unassuming sure, but he also had a strange aura about him. It was so hard for Margaret to put a finger on and rationalize though.
Ben lifted his dark brows, and repeated suspiciously "...'Interesting'..." He lowered his cup and smiled without judgement even though he was waiting for her to spill the beans. He leaned on his elbow and smirked "Are you not going to order anything? I can share my meal with you, but there must have been a reason why you came here?" She could be a flirt. Or a runaway, just like him.
Margaret reached over, grabbing one of the menus and lazily looking at it as she laid it on the counter in front of her. "Oh no I have money, I just haven't really decided what to order yet. I'm on a diet so I have to be careful about what I eat you know?" Margaret sighed a little as she glanced back up at Ben. "Besides, I just wanted to come in for a quick lunch. I live nearby and heard good things about the place. Having someone my age to share the time with is a nice little bonus you know?"
Margaret carefully slid the menu off to the side though, returning her full attention to Ben. "What about you though? I won't lie, you look like you had something on your mind." Margaret tried to keep the conversation upbeat. No doubt some part of the jail break was the cause of his grief, and she knew if she made it clear she knew any part of that things could potentially turn ugly. Thankfully there wasn't many casualties around, but still too many to allow Ben to go flying off the handle.
The right corner of Ben's lips lifted approvingly at her outgoing nature. Still leaning on his hand Ben answered her wryly and relaxed "My thoughts and worries won't quench your hunger, Margaret. Hurry with your order so we can eat together." He leaned back, and lifted his tea to enjoy it.
It was clear Ben was playing coy, obviously he wouldn't say the truth so soon. Plus she didn't want to beat around the bush any further, even though she knew patience was the name of the game. "Well I don't know Ben, you strike me as an interesting individual." Margaret thought aloud before leaning in towards Ben. "Like how someone could escape from prison without a single trace or clue as to how…."
Ben paused with the tea cup in both hands, and measured the girl quickly with a confused frown. "...Who are you?" he demanded, and stared at her.
"Well my name is still Margaret… for starters." She started, keeping full eye contact with Ben. Her smile had faded into one that showed she wasn't at all intimidated by him. "But that's not important right now. So why don't we just cut to the important part. From here on in, we can go one of two ways…" Carefully Margaret slowly gestured towards one of the people sitting at the counter. A faint glow of something metallic strapped to their belt glinted in the outside sunlight. "Either you can test your luck, try and make a getaway, and have it end badly for you." The man at the booth turned to look over at them. Giving the two a nod before turning back forward. She returned her steely gaze towards him. "Or you can say seated, give me a moment of your time, and explain some things."
Reaching into her hoodie pocket she pulled out a few pieces of paper. There were big blocks of black covering notable things, the header of whatever it was that produce the information among them. Though front and center were various photographs of Benjamin. Either out on the street or going into a building with someone. Ben's memory could fill in the blanks on a lot of them. As some of the pictures also had Mrs. Noeld, some were of the many people he pretended to sell his body too. "You ran away from home, and every time you reared your head either someone is robbed, something happens that can't be explained by conventional means, or both." Margaret let Ben look at the paperwork himself.
"Now I'm not going to try and peg you as anything. Not yet at least, I just want to know the truth. Not the truth you gave to the police… the real truth."
Badly for me? Yeah right, Ben thought darkly with the fact that he had the powers of a God. He was quite confident with his abilities, though he would only use them in emergencies. It was hard to miss Ben didn't like this one bit though, but he didn't want any trouble, so he remained calm when looking at the papers the girl produced on the table. He put his tea cup down slowly, and seeing how they knew everything Ben gave up on the papers, and pretending. He looked down, not able to look the merciless girl in the eyes. "You know there's something off about me," he started, and looked up at her, clearly displeased with his situation "So why don't you be honest with me, seeing how you like honesty so much. What do you think I am?"
Margaret was a little caught off guard by the question Ben threw back at her. She was expecting either he'd stupidly try to make a run for it, or spill the beans, possibly in a crying fit. This though made her tense up, was he planning something? Carefully from out of viewpoint, she started to pull the collapsible billy club out of her back pocket. Leaving it beside her on the seat for now. "I think you're someone that's hiding something," she stated honestly. "But not something conventional. It's something you still don't fully understand yourself, something that your parents couldn't understand." Margaret carefully started to reach out, letting her hand get close to Ben's. Not to touch it, but simply to give him something to loosen his guard up. Remind him she wasn't there to hurt him if he didn't give her a reason too.
Ben listened carefully, and seemed interested until she reached for him. He pulled his hands away, and down on his lap. His eyes flickered from her hand to her face, and back, skeptical to what she was doing.
Margaret retracted her own hand from Ben's reaction. Mentally chastising herself for not making him as relaxed as he should be. He was too tense, she's not given him his way out yet. She paused, taking a breath from her nose as she glanced down. "That said, I don't believe you're a bad guy necessarily." She admitted, "You don't have any violent crimes to your name, and the woman you lived with spoke about you like a literal angel. We… I can't ignore that." Margaret took a second to decide if it was the right time. He hadn't shown her what she wanted, that clear sign that showed all those crimes were out of malice. Still, from the moment she laid eyes on him it was clear that everything that led up to this point was eating at him. He was someone who wasn't finding joy in escaping from prison. He clearly wasn't happy being like this.
Finally she reached into her jean pockets one more time. Pulling out a pair of peculiar items, one was a pair of keys on a little keychain. A round metal tab with a piece of paper that had "14B" written on it in pen on the keychain with them. The other was a pamphlet for 'Manhattan Academy'. It showed the building downtown where the academy was. With shots of a class, a multiracial group of students having fun, and a guy dunking a basketball in the middle of a basketball game. "To be honest, I don't know if I can fully trust you yet Ben. But I can give you a way out if you're willing to work with me." Margaret let Ben look at both things. "The keys are for an apartment nearby. You, Mr. Adam Jones, will be staying there as you transfer over to Manhattan Academy this year. You attended Washburn High School in Tempe, Arizona the last two years but your grandparents put in the money to give you a better education." Margaret paused, "Now, I can give you all this, but you have to be willing to give me something in return."
Ben's squinting blue orbs were wide open in surprise when she finished. "And that is?" Ben asked, still overwhelmed and confused.
Margaret shrugged, "Good grades, good attendance, things like that for starters." She noted, "Most of all though, there's… a little project in the works that's going to be centered there. One I'm leading." Margaret actually sounded like she had to strain those words out of her mouth. She hasn't known about it for very long, a month or so. It was still surreal though, and one that was making her uneasy about the school year to come. "Now, I still don't know what exactly it is you're capable of. If you want in on this I'm going to make sure I know first hand. Because, Ben, this is something that is going to hopefully do a lot of good, and save a lot of people as well."
Ben seemed rather interested in doing good, but he was still processing everything. He chuckled "You find a guy who's just broken out-...And you show me this opportunity after showing me these-..." He gestured for the papers on the table, and continued in disbelief "And you give me access to a school...Which is going on a little adventure-..." Ben lifted his glove clad hands and gesticulated in a show biz way, suppressing a chuckle, and continued "Oh, sorry, a secret adventure. So, what are we? Superheroes?" He dropped the act and his hands, and said somewhat agitated "You found me out. Smart. I got no privacy, great! So, how much more do you know about me? And what if I say no?"
Margaret suppressed a small chuckle herself, when he puts it like this, it does sound crazy. Still, she nodded along with Ben's following of what had happened up to that point. Margaret knew how SHIELD operated fairly well, after all it was her home away from home on weekends when dad and her were going "camping". So it did surprise her how little SHIELD had on Benjamin. Usually, they could pinpoint every detail of someone down to disturbing lengths.
"Well first off I don't know that much about you besides what's on the paperwork here. "Margaret noted holding up one of the pieces of paper. "I know you're capable of something special though, which is why I'm looking for people like you. You can call it being a superhero if you like. It isn't that far off." Margaret gathered the paperwork and shuffled it together. "Now I will say, if you say no, I'm not going to bring you in and throw you back into jail myself. You'll be given a head start for being cooperative up until now, but you'll still be on the run. Exactly where you were when you came in here." Margaret patted the pamphlet and keys. "But if you're willing to work with me, I'll give you a reward you want more than anything else... a way out."
Ben leaned back, smiling in disbelief. "You won't just put me back in. You'll delete my memory, right? A big, secret organization of some kind, who uses children to do their dirty work, won't just let me go like that." He huffed a smile and added "I won't say no. This is too interesting, and none of us wants anyone's memory wiped, right?" Ben winked and waited until the waiter had dropped off his food and water before expecting any answers from the girl.
Margaret smirked, shaking her head. "Come on, what do you think this is? The Men in Black? Chill." Margaret let her guard down as she quietly made a gesture with her hand out of Ben's view.
Ben started munching his food, and said with his mouth full "If it is, I hope there's no aliens around." The boy had so many questions, but for now he was happy with an apartment, and people willing to back him up. He would see soon enough if it was a trick though. Benjamin was patient, and confident his powers would get him out of trouble, if Margaret brought some that was.
Quietly some of the patrons of the diner slowly made their way out without anything out of the ordinary. Including the blond haired man who Margaret was with earlier, watching a waitress approaching Ben and Margaret with a smile as he left.
"That's my girl." Steve Rogers muttered to himself.
~Yesterday~
Getting a parking spot outside of central park, Margaret hopped out of her somewhat cheap looking Ford Focus. Pulling out another manila envelope which talked about another magic user. She didn't know who all were involved, but she was starting to worry she was going to be the sole actually athletic person in a team of spell casters.
Strolling in Margaret stuffed the paperwork back into the sleeve. The afternoon sky slowly darkening overhead as she strolled past a few people. No one really seemingly out of the ordinary, and especially not who she was looking for. Though this time the meeting was hopefully going to be a lot smoother. SHIELD were able to contact the target ahead of time, and left Margaret to set a time and place for the two to meet. It took pressure off of herself, as having to corner Ben in that diner had left a bad taste in her mouth.
By the time she got to the meeting spot though…
"Guys… you really don't wanna screw with me. So just bugger off, yeah?" Her tone is a stern one as she stands there under a tree. Around her, 4 boys. Well.. guys her age. All of them grinning widely. "We just want a kiss, chica. Or a date. Or whatever." A few of them step closer to her, her eyes darting from one to the other. She suddenly reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a switchblade knife. The guys stop, and glance at one another. "Really, baby? You're gonna use a knife on us?"
Nico isn't happy.
She was asked to meet.. someone… here. Some kind of government group contacted her… somehow. She's still not sure how they found her, she thought she was laying low. But when she was contacted, she had assumed it was connected to The Pride. Good or bad, whatever comes of it, she felt the need to deal with this. And now… well she's starting to think it was a trap. Someone wanting some kind of revenge for The Pride? Someone wanting revenge ON The Pride? Or at least their kids? She can't say… but now she's leaning towards a trap. But.. these guys just seem to be braindead jocks wanting to look cool in front of one another. She's dealt with serious baddies before…and these guys aren't it.
"nah, the knife isn't for you guys." she whips the blade out from its handle, and she suddenly draws it against her opposite palm. She grits her teeth as she cuts herself, some of the guys taking a step back. They think they've come across a mental case. But… her voice suddenly has a hollow sound to it, an unearthly sound. "When blood is shed… let the Staff Of One emerge." Her hand flicks out, and from her chest a staff suddenly appears. It shoots right out from her skin, as if phasing out of her. She grasps the staff, and the guys now gasp as they back-peddle. "I warned you." She glances around, and then looks towards the boy that had been speaking to her, rather rudely at that. "Bum Chicken." Her voice once more takes on that hollow sound, her eyes flashing a bright red/purple color, along with the whole of the staff. The target of her spell… he disappears in a flash of light and smoke… and when it clears there is nothing but a pigeon there. It coos frantically as it waddles around in a circle, flapping its wings in a panic. Now Nico casually draws her staff up, resting it upon her shoulder as she speaks in a calmed tone, her voice normal. "He'll turn back into a guy in like an hour. So, you boys still want a kiss? I got lots more spells in this thing." She taps her staff upon her shoulder as she grins, looking slowly along them all. And as one… they turn and run. And the pigeon… he waddles off, making frantic noises.
Nico sighs as she looks to the Staff "Stupid guys…"
Margaret had watched on from the distance, thankfully besides the stupid punks no one was ever going to believe. There wasn't anyone around to watch the little magic show that just took place. As she glanced around one more time Margaret made her move. Trying to approach Nico casually, but also making sure she doesn't get too loose with her, least she gets turned into a duck or something.
"I'm impressed, I would've turned the guy into a chicken personally." Margaret joked as she came somewhat close to Nico. Glancing over with folded arms at the still bewildered pigeon trying to figure out how to fly away. "Anyways Nico, I'm Margaret, Margaret Rogers." She stated, holding out a hand to Nico.
As Margaret approaches, Nico's eyes flash a soft purple hue and she hefts her staff to point it in her general direction. She doesn't utter any spells, of course. It's more of a reflex. But her eyes do narrow as they return to their normal color. Slowly she lowers the staff, and it fades from sight slowly. She glances towards the new pigeon when Margaret speaks, and she replies softly. "Ah.. pigeon was the first thing I saw. Next time I'll wait to take requests."
And as Margaret offers her hand, Nico stares at it. She then folds her arms over her chest as her eyes draw back towards Margaret's eyes, not taking the handshake. "Demonstration of spells, check. Breaking the ice quip, check. Polite greeting and offer of handshake, check. Now that we have all that shit out of the way, how about we get down to the nitty gritty." She then blinks and lowers her hands, looking to the one she had cut. She grumbles as she pulls a band-aid from her pocket, and starts to apply it. "That would have sounded cooler if I hadn't forgotten about cutting." She applies the bandage carefully, her eyes only lifting towards Margaret. "But I was telling the truth with those boys. My Staff has plenty more spells. So how about telling me why I'm here, before I give you a beak too."
Taking a small step back Margaret held up her hands defensively. "As fun as being a bird for a little while does actually kind of sound. I do have better things to do with my time." The thought probably stemmed from having Ben show her his particular brand of magic earlier in the day. As much as she'd like to just be a normal teenager, Margaret is starting to get a twinge jealous of these people and their spells.
"I don't know what exactly it is you were expecting with me. I'm sure there's some paranoia I'm involved with The Pride even." Margaret started, all of that stuff was in Nico's information SHIELD had on her. It was horrifying stuff, and Margaret this time was glad the meeting would be more personal. She didn't have to guess Nico's pain, she knew it, she felt it deep.
"Really though I am solely interested in you. Basically I'm getting ready to start leading a young operative group soon. Now, the information on you had said a lot. Frankly, stuff I'm amazed you're still standing after having gone through it." Margaret told Nico with all honesty.
"Simply put, I think you'd be a great fit for this operation. If you're willing of course."
Nico calmly listens to Margaret's words, at the lighthearted tone the woman tries to keep up. She is trying to be civilized with Nico, this is something she realizes. Is it because she has seen a demonstration of Nico's spells? Is that where this air of respect is from? No.. its more than that. She isn't scared of Nico. She can see it in her eyes.
But when Margaret speaks of The Pride, Nico now starts to feel like she'll have to defend herself. Discretely she glances around herself, and she tucks her hands into her pockets. She tries to look casual about it, but in reality she's putting her knife in closer proximity to her reach. But Margaret then continues… saying she's interested in just Nico… she's not affiliated with The Pride? Or their enemies. But what she says does bother Nico a little… just how much do these people know about her? And how did they get that information? Did the Kingpin (yes that Kingpin) sell them out? No.. no that's not what this sounds like. "Wait…" Nico utters as she now turns to more face Margaret. "You're… recruiting me? Is that what this is?" Nico suddenly starts to chuckle, and she turns from Margaret. She takes a few pacing steps away, and then back. She motions towards her as she speaks.
"Margaret, right?" she lowers her hand as she continues. "Like… a ton of questions and doubts just popped into my noggin. But firstly… why me? If you know things about me… which I'd love to hear how you know things about me… then you know I'm a nothing. Just another kid on the street." Her tone seems to get more impassioned as she speaks. "I'm not into being in the Army or serving the man. Or whatever this is. There are… a ton.. of people more eligible than me for your..thing… whatever it is. The only thing I'm good at is organizing books." She sounds kind of down on herself, doesn't she?
Margaret was surprised, borderline shocked, that Nico had such low feelings of herself. Though on some levels Margaret felt like she could understand. The reports made it clear as day Nico's life for the last two years has been a living hell. Knowing what your parents did, and even after watching them sacrifice themselves for you never being able to stop running. Still, she had a clearly amazing ability. She was alive and sure, maybe she wasn't in the best situation she could be in, but sometimes all you need to make it is just be there right?
"Well, I have a pretty good amount on you." Margaret handed her the manila envelope that contained her information. The parts with SHIELD being blackened out. Along with the paperwork on her though were the same looking keys Ben got, only with 13B written on them, and the academy pamphlet.
"Now no matter how much you think of yourself. I personally still see a lot of potential in you. I think you can do a lot more good than you're willing to consider." Margaret gently slid some of her fingers through her hair to tuck some of it behind her ear. Looking down at the paperwork in Nico's hands she pointed to the keys. "These are for an apartment just west of here, the pamphlet is Manhattan Academy. We're going to be conducting operations out of there after school hours." Margaret folded her arms glancing back up at Nico. "If you're willing to give me what you can of yourself. The apartment is yours free of charge, and you'll be enrolled by tomorrow morning to the academy."
In the back of her mind, Nico hears warning alarms. She has a pretty good amount on her.. how long has she been watched? As the envelope is offered, Nico slowly reaches out to take it, keeping her eyes on Margaret. She opens the envelope and pulls the keys out, holding them in one hand as she looks over the papers inside. The dossier does say a lot.. locations, places she's frequented, a summary of Pride activity close to the end and some basic information about her power. While it's just semantics, she wouldn't call what she does a 'power'. That word brings up different images than what she can do. But again, semantics. Her eyes lift towards Margaret as she speaks again.
Nico shakes her head, and her hand kind of sways back and forth with the papers in it, motioning with them. "I don't know what conclusions you all came up with about me… and I don't know what it is you really expect out of me.."
She frowns a little to herself as her voice drifts off, and she looks back towards the dossier. And the pamphlet. Conducting operations… the group Margaret's with (from what she can gather) is an intelligence organization. Do they want her to be some kind of agent? A spy? Will she be watching some other kind and making out a dossier on them, as someone did with her? She starts to speak, her eyes still down cast.
"you said 'we're' going to be conducting operations. Even with my magic… being a witch… I'm not suited for the kind of work I think you do. Not alone. So who is 'we'? You and I? Or have you been talking to a number of people?" Now her eyes slowly move back towards Margaret's "And what if I say no? You've got things on me in here about what I've had to do since Los Angeles… the thieving and all. You gonna use that against me if I'm unwilling? Blackmail me?"
There was a long pause as Nico seemingly paced through the notes, Margaret quietly glancing around the park waiting on Nico's response. Again someone didn't take very well the fact that a whole organization was keeping tabs of them. Couldn't say she was thrilled about it either, being good at keeping secrets notwithstanding.
"The operation is going to involve quite a few people, Hell to be frank you aren't even going to be the only magic user." Margaret started off explaining, thinking briefly how said magic user has either already met his new roommate or was about too. "I'm running field management but we'll have a single officer to report to." The fact said officer was her dad was conveniently left off that little factoid.
"Now as for what if you say no..." Margaret frowned, slowly shaking her head. "Really it wouldn't feel right for me to do jack crap about any of that stuff to you. My superiors in this don't answer to the proper authorities when it comes to those petty thefts. So really if you say no I'll take all this and be on my way. You can go do whatever, and that'll be the end of that."
Margaret gently took the paperwork and keys from Nico. "Of course if you do that all you'll end up doing is just go back to what you're doing already. Now... I can't honestly imagine going through what you have. So maybe there's something to all this I just don't 'get' or something." She stated glancing around with a slight hands out gesture. "But... I also don't know how you can willingly go on with this. Even just reading about these last two years on your documents I don't know how you've gotten this far."
Margaret paused, she wasn't sure how to put it with Nico. The same difficulties of the tongue she had with Ben earlier in the day. For all the training she had up til now taught her. She wasn't sure anything she said in this capacity meant or even sounded coherent. Margaret took a deep breath, just biting her lower lip as her eyes slipped away for a second before going back to Nico.
"For what it's worth, I'm not going to try and suggest your life will suddenly become rainbows and sunshine from here on out if you do this. What I can promise you, is by doing this we can give you a direction to finally go. People around you that know even a little what you're going through. Maybe the apartment isn't that big of a bargain, maybe you aren't thrilled by the idea of going back to school. So what I should be offering you here is something you haven't had in a while... hope."
Nico is a little surprised when he mentions another magic user. She's not sure how she feels about that. Is this other person a witch? Or some other kind of magic user? In some circles, magic has a pretty broad definition about it. And also.. she selfishly wonders if this other magic user is as powerful as she is. That's going to fuel some self doubt on her part, surely.
Margaret takes the keys and papers from Nico, and she once more tucks her hands into her pocket as she frowns thoughtfully. Margaret is saying all of the right things. Did she have this kind of speech prepared ahead of time? Did she have to give a similar speech to someone else? A soft sigh escapes her lips as she looks down now, her slim shoulders slumping a little.
"Don't.. don't do that." She says softly, looking back up to Margaret with a small smirk upon her lips. "You don't have to give me the pep talk, Margaret. I get where you're coming from, I do. I mean" she now motions to Margaret "You're not much older than I am, right? And this place you work for, they must have considerable resources and manpower, I'd say. I don't think you've done all of this spying" She accentuates that word as a passive aggressive notion of not liking to be watched, "yourself. So you come out here to recruit people for this little group of yours… and you use the kind of speech someone in a position of leadership would use. Ideas like 'things haven't worked out for you' or 'why continue this life' and using words like 'hope'." She now glances down, speaking as her gaze draws back up towards Margaret "If y'all have been watching me, you would have done more in depth research. Like how financially well off I am. So no, the idea of a free apartment doesn't do a lot for me." She pauses as she watches Margaret, her features softening a little. "What I'm trying to say.. I appreciate the effort you're putting into this. In trying to convince me. But I think we both knew I would be coming along with you" She reaches out and plucks the keys from Margaret's hand, looking them over "Before the speech. A nice apartment isn't something I've seen in a long time. And neither is hope. The chance for either makes me want to give this place a shot. But.. I'm not promising I'll stay. You know what I can do… you know I can just leave whenever I want to, and I will if I get bad vibes here."
Margaret surprisingly folded his arms and gave a shy chuckle. Sighing as she took a finger through her hair. "Actually, I wasn't sure at all if you were interested…." Margaret meekly admitted. "But still, all I ask is you give it a chance."
~Now~
"Thanks for dinner mom." Margaret sighed as she slid the plate that now had a few crumbs of meatloaf, a small smear of mashed potatoes and brown gravy, and some peas and carrot chunks.
Her father Steve did likewise, leaning over to give Kathy Rogers a smooch on the cheek. "Yeah, excellent as always." He told her to a small giggle from his wife.
The setting and environment almost had an air of 1950's Americana to it. Kathy Rogers had on her clothes from work but a large dark gray apron over it all. As the three sat in a dining room adorned with various knick-knacks from both of their parents and grandparents. It was a cozy setting, something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
"Well I figured the both of you would appreciate your favorite considering what a big day tomorrow is!" Kathy told Steve and Margaret, standing up from her seat as she took the empty plates from in front of them. "Margaret has another school year ahead of him, and Steve with your new job running the school!" Kathy laughed a little as she looked over to Margaret. "I bet you're just thrilled your father is going to be around aren't you sweetie?" She asked her daughter with a slight joking tone.
Margaret to her credit just smirked, looking over at her dad. Shaking her head as Steve chuckled. "Yeah it's going to be… uh… great. Wonderful credibility for my popularity." She had been considering the fact that while she does have a good reputation.
"Oh come on, are you just nervous I'm going to call you out at each of the school assemblies and tell everyone how proud of you I am." Steve jokingly asked, leaning in towards Margaret. "Oh man look at my daughter! She sure is so cool you guys! She likes the uh… who was that one boy band group? The one with the one guy?"
Margaret immediately covered her face with her hands, her face starting to turn red in realization of what he was talking about. "I'm not…" Margaret shook her head.
"Oh right One Direction right?" Steve asked blurting out loud to his wife's laughter from the kitchen nearby. "Still haven't forgiven you for making me take you to that concert you know." Steve added, lightly jabbing Margaret's shoulder with his elbow.
Later on Margaret headed back to her room. At her desk as she clicked away at her computer, getting online to do some last minute work before bed. The websites she was logging onto looked normal at first, though the sites started to appear less and less commercial. Something more and more plain looking as files came up.
Benjamin Baker…
David Layton…
Simon Williams…
Nico Minoru…
Peter Parker…
Gwendolyne Stacy…
Matt Murdock…
Margaret browsed through updates and general information on each of them. The few of them that needed residence have been moved in and given all the information they needed. The others were all set with whatever they needed themselves. Margaret admittedly had only met Ben and Nico by this point. She wanted to meet the others, know what exactly it was she had on her hand.
Ever since her father brought to her this plan it has been a roller-coaster of a month. As if just surviving High School wasn't already a trip. There was now a group of super-powered guys and gals her age that were going to be dealing with all kinds of problems only super-powered people can apparently fix. All that and the squad's field commander was going to be her dad too. Nothing about this seemed natural, but frankly that's been the story of her life really.
Hearing the door to her bedroom open up Margaret quickly started to minimize windows on her screen until she realized it was her dad. Relaxing from the quick tense up she started reopening said windows. "You know you can knock right?" Margaret muttered aloud as she was looking at the computer screen. It's dull hazy light reflecting back on her face as she leaned back in her desk chair.
"Sorry…" Her father meekly muttered as he went to carefully close the door behind him. Immediately Margaret noticed the pair of envelopes in her dad's grasp. More possible recruits, lovely. "Well we have two more people that tomorrow SHIELD is going to want you to look into as…"
"Possible recruits into the program right?" Margaret asked, reaching over and plucking the files from her dad.
"Something like that… yeah." Her father sounded a bit miffed, not that Margaret really noticed. Opening up the envelopes and pulling out a pair of small biological files. Unlike a lot of the people that were getting involved in this however she recognized both of the people here. She never really talked or interacted with either though. Only seeing them around the academy during the last few years.
One was someone she did have a class or two with, same grade as she is in. Reed Richards. A weird name, and from all interactions with the guy a weird person to go with it. He seemed nice enough, kept to himself a lot of times. There was a rumor that went around school that he was a modern day Dr. Frankenstein. Holed up in a shed in the back of his house making whatever was causing all the strange sounds and lights to come out of it periodically.
The other one though… Tony fucking Stark. Oh she knew all about him. You couldn't ignore him if you tried, especially if you had a female body. The sleazeball was a multimillionaire who showed up in a Ferrari each day, coasted through all his classes, and made sure you knew how much better he thought he was compared to you. The few times he ever talked to her usually resulted in Margaret feeling like she needed to shower afterwards.
Still, Margaret pouted as she put the files onto the edge of her desk. "Alright I'll go ahead and talk to them tomorrow when I can get the chance." Margaret stated simply. She went back to the computer for a second until she started to realize that her dad was not only still in the room. He had taken a seat on the side of her bed. Glancing over at her with a mildly disappointed look on his face. Margaret blinked mildly confused for a second. "What's up?" She asked.
Steve sighed, glancing down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at Margaret and around her bedroom a little. It wasn't very big, but Steve hadn't known any other place for his little girl. So many memories in the room, either in his head or the pictures around the room of various vacations, parties, events they all did. Still, Steve glanced back at Margaret. "Listen, I know everything has been thrown at you pretty quickly." He started, "I just… I just want to make sure before we really get going you're going to be okay. I mean I know…"
Margaret held out a hand, patting her father on the knee. "Look it's fine. This is a little crazy sure. But it wasn't like all that time you took me to SHIELD I didn't know someday it would come to this." Margaret told her father. Referencing all the weekends when she would get personalized training that took advantage of the super soldier blood coursing through her veins. "I know what I'm signing up for here. Don't worry about me."
Steve shrugged, "Look sweetie I know. Still I'm worried this is all happening a little too quickly for you. I mean I know my whole thing back in World War II wasn't quite the same as what you're going through now. But… I guess it's just my job to worry about my little girl right?" He asked.
Margaret smiled a little, "Sure but… I'm not exactly little anymore now am I?" She responded with, which Steve gave an admitting nod to. "I'll be fine. I feel ready for this, I mean sure I am nervous but I feel like I can handle this."
Steve smiled, "Well… there is one other thing. I was going to do this at the first group meeting but I figured I'd just embarrass you in front of everyone there." Steve left the room for a moment, leaving Margaret to wonder what was going on. Eventually though Steve came back. Holding a large olive green military looking bag in his grips. Re-closing the door behind him Steve beamed at what he had. "Here."
Margaret paused, taking the bag from her father and with curiosity taking over opened the bag to reveal inside something heavy, sturdy, and very familiar. It's vibranium metal base shined against the computer screen light. The red, white, and blue paint still holding strong despite all the little chips, and dents. It wasn't just any shield though, it was the shield. "Dad…" Margaret gasped quietly.
"When I told you there was a time you'd take over. I meant it." Steve reminded her. "It seemed like every-time me or someone else pushed you. You pushed back and fought like Hell. I know we had talked about your alias for this being Patriot. But… last night I talked with Fury. The time felt right, and we both agreed if you're going to do this. You need to do it right." Steve had to pause, quickly reaching up with his arm to wipe the small tear from his eye. "From here on in, when you're out on assignment. I'll be addressing you by your proper alias…"
"Captain America."
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