Interactions: Sliver @BladeSS4
Location: Queens, New York.

“There’s a bar around the corner, Mad’s bar. Fine place if you like your liquor without ice.”
Gwen waved him along. Their outfits were perhaps a bit too formal for a place like that and a few people followed the two of them, as they entered. Gwen and James sat down and only needed to yell their drinks for the bartender to get to work.
She didn’t really sip on her Rom and cola, more like poured it down and ordered another. The man in front of her actually didn’t look that bad. Especially after a few drinks. She looked at him for a while and a smile sneaked its way onto her face.
“You’re a peculiar man, James. In that suit you would fit right into a business meeting,” she said in a playful tone. “But why are you actually in Queens? Did you worry about me?”
Underneath the table and strange smell of strawberries, Gwen’s leg brushed against his.
“Or are you here on business?”
Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe the loss. Maybe something else made her say these things. At this point it didn’t matter.
The room was buzzing with activity, but all Gwen heard was the steady breathing of James.

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Yet another day. They all seem to run together. I’m a glutton for punishment. I decided that I can’t leave. Not till I fix what is broken. To fix it I have to know how it broke first. That’s complicated.

I skim over details with Athena and Oberon about life every check in. No need for them to know that something is wrong. Athena would worry. Can’t have that. I’ve taken to shadowing Finnlay if he goes out to the Black Rose, I’m there. The gym, I’m there. Nightly jaunts, I’m there. Always with “I'm here if you need to talk. I'm not leaving. Is breá liom tú." and healing as needed. Sometimes if I’m lucky it seems like I almost get a response. Almost. But almost doesn’t count. Unless it’s horseshoes or hand grenades. This is neither.

It’s like I’m living with someone who switched off their humanity. Black and white, no gray. Boston is ruled with an iron fist. Most days I’m thankful I’m practically immortal. I’ve taken to stretching myself thin across the patrols Finnlay normally haunts. Collection of petty criminals that wind up in jail. Better in jail than to face off with an executioner.

"I'm here if you need to talk. I'm not leaving. Is breá liom tú." I say as I hand him a cup of tea. “Did you need anything before I head over to the library?” I know the answer. I’m not really studying for a class like I’ve let him believe. I use it as an excuse to do digging into newspapers, online articles, information in general. Like that James was dead.

I know this would be easier if I just let Athena do it but I can’t. I can’t make myself admit that there is a problem out loud. Don’t get me wrong I know that there is a problem. I carry this guilt like a cross and sharing the weight would probably help me out but I can’t. I did this to him. I have to fix it. No one else needs to know. He’ll be okay once I reach him. But it has to be soon.

I can feel parts of me shutting down. Maybe it’s just a coping mechanism. Just boxing up little parts of me to function better. Boxes that say ‘Open Later’ or something like that...Maybe. “Did you hear me, mo chroí?” I thought about how I was going to start questioning the low lifes that I caught asking them what was up and see if something floated to the top.

It had been an awkward 2 months since the events that had transpired between him and Jocelyn in the ally that night. For the most part, she had stayed out of his business and let him go about his business, at least she wasn't direct about it anymore. She had decided to stay around and always tried to get him to talk about it still thinking that there was something wrong with him. He could appreciate the gesture of trying to fix what she thought was broken but at the same time, it wasn't her place to assume he had changed.

Maybe he did change. Maybe he couldn't take it anymore and he just snapped and just needed someone to help him put himself back together. That's what Jocelyn wanted to hear anyway. But the truth was he had not changed like she thought he had. He did snap but he didn't break. No, he had woken up. He was shown how stupid it was to try and act like he was any different now then what he used to be. He saw who he really was and realized that this was who he was meant to be all along. He had only started to change when he started talking to her. He had grown soft in those years. But no more. He was back to how he should have always been.

The helmet he wore while “on the job” had returned to instilling fear in people. It kept people in line like it always should have done. People were going to better off with his actions running things. Unfortunately, not everyone had seen it the same way. People had begun to forget the about how important professionality was when it came to doing business with the Kings. Apparently, some people thought it was a good idea to start letting out information that pertained to him, the Kings, and everyone's ties to Ireland. Of course, this couldn't stand and examples had to be set. But luckily the problem children with a loose lip had a visit from a “ghost” that was all too real and found dead the next day with a cross painted in blood on their foreheads.

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The last few times that I got someone to talk about the issues in and around the Boston Area. The next day they turned up dead. Yep dead with a cross on their foreheads the very next day. But the information gotten was decent. I needed more information. If this was something that could affect both Finnlay and myself I needed to head it of.

I walked into the apartment and dropped the keys in the bowl that was by the door. Pulling off my jacket and shoes I start for the kitchen.

Finnlay let out a sigh when he heard Jocelyn enter the apartment. He had been looking at the picture that sat on his night stand. It would have brought a tear to his eyes had he not buried those memories deep underground a long time ago. "Soon” he said to himself as he placed the picture back on the stand as he headed out into living area to see Jocelyn. "Where have you been?” he asked casually hoping to not start a massive fight again.

I smiled and stretched. “Just a walk around the park. What’s up?” I continued to the kitchen. Breaking out a glass and pouring some milk. I bit my lip I hated lying to him but I was getting numb to it at this point. I was banking on getting through to him with names that I had finally compiled. These guys were no joke that I had read and heard.

“You better be careful.” he said with sincerity in his voice. "A lot of crazy shit is happening in this town at the moment.” he paused for second as he turned to enter the kitchen as well. "They just found another body today same as the others.” he tried to gage Jocelyn's reactions to what he was saying. He trusted her for the most part but something had seemed off about her for a while. He just hoped she wasn't trying to stick her nose in places it didn't belong or their would be real trouble coming her way.

I sighed and put the milk up. I shake my head. “Another? I can’t get over this. I have been doing some tracking stuff down and I really think you’re going to want to hear me out.” I look at him as I lean against the counter and drink my milk, waiting on him to say something.

Finnlay paused for a second as he processed what she had just said. He did his best to not show any surprise though a little slipped. He was really hoping that she wasn't going the direction he was thinking she was going. 'This woman is going to get herself killed'he said to himself after a few seconds of processing he finally spoke up. "Oh Really? What is it I need to know.”

I smile a now rare sparkle in my eyes. “So I’ve been tailing you and keeping you safe. Yeah now is not the time to get into that. And we know that the crime rate has gone up. Even with you taking people out of the picture. So I started asking … people questions. Well I have the names of the ring leaders.” I finished off the milk and put the glass down and licked my lips. “We could go after them and cut the head off the snake!!!” I looked at him my excitement spilling over.

Finnlay stopped everything as he froze up. Both his heart and his mind were racing at a million miles an hour. He tried his best to calm down and relax hoping that she had just found some poor sap that was identified as the leader and that she didn't actually know the names of any of the kings. About half way through this thought process however Finn was hit by another train as it were at the revelation that Jocelyn had been doing digging into this. He was really beginning to freak out. He had managed to calm himself down a little mostly on the hope that everything isn't as bad as it was. "And who would that be?”

I hopped up on the counter sitting in front of him. “Three names. Brendan Roarke, Finn Cooley and Gaalen O'Shay. And they have guys under them and what not.” She waved her hand back and forth dismissively at that last part. “Anyways...since you’re keeping brutes like this off the street I thought you and I could team up to take them down. Make the streets of Boston even safer. So I have a reliable source that has managed to stay alive and I got the information from.” I mock glared at him. “No I’m not flipping on my source so don’t ask.” I sighed and leaned my head against his chest listening to his thundering heart. I smiled and sighed. Maybe now we could get to the part where we weren’t practically strangers living together. Maybe he’d see me as someone who was present in life and not going anywhere, anytime soon. My hands went around his waist because it felt natural.

Finnlay’s heart was pounding in his chest with the force of a thousand cannons. 'How did she know those names?'he asked himself deep in his mind. This didn't make sense. How did she managed those names out of someones mouth. Worst was that she was openly talking about going after them. Did she have any idea what she was signing up for. He couldn't let her do this both for her own safety and so that nothing was ruined. The problem was trying to find a way to get her to not go through with this. All of Finnlay’s thoughts stopped as soon as he felt her hands wrap around him as her head found a home against his chest. He paused for a second as everything seemed to be nice and at peace, he dared to say it almost felt natural. Almost as soon as those thoughts krept into his head they left as he pulled away from her embrace quickly being filled with anger and worry again. "Do you have any idea who those people are?” he asked as he began to pace around the room. "These aren't some street gang lords were talking about. These are the top of the mountain. You have never seen something like these men before.” he paused again with his back turned to her as he stared at a picture hung on the wall.

I felt him pull away confusion on my face. Isn’t this what he was doing. Granted he was killing people. But these people were doing some truly awful things. “No I don’t exactly know who they are but I can find out easily. I have their names and they’ve never seen anything like me before. I’m not normal and I am done living by those rules anymore. They will see justice. I know this time I can’t let them walk away. You have the right of it. Kill them and let God sort it out.” I hopped off the counter and wrapped my arms around him my head on his back. “Is breá liom duit, mo chroí. Don’t fear for me. I have it under control. If we cut off the head of the snake then it dies and Boston will be better off. Is breá liom duit, mo chroí.” I kiss his back and rest my cheek on it. Sighing I nuzzle as if wanting to burrow in and snuggle.

Finnlay was still tense when he felt Jocelyn once again wrap her arms around him. Why did she have to decide now of all times to agree with his philosophy on crime and want to go after them. "You don't understand hálainn. These men have seen people like you and they aren't afraid of you. These men are ruthless, and are willing to do things that you can't imagine to get what they want.” he paused for a second as he placed a hand over hers. It felt nice to be like this but he
knew it was wrong. "I'm glad that you see that some people can't be saved but this is not the time to start trying this idea in practice. They are already pissed by the looks of things.” He paused once again as he tried to recollect his thoughts on the matter. Nothing he said up to this point was a lie, but deep down he knew that he was staring her away from it for a different reason than what he was letting on. Turning around in her grasp he placed his arms around her holding her close to him. "Hálainn you have to promise me you wont go after these men. Please. I don't want to see you get hurt.”

I was getting through. He was worried about me. I could understand that. I let him hold me and caressed his cheeks and stretched up to kiss him gently. “Is breá liom duit, mo chroí.” I whispered and smiled at him. “You’re worried. I got this. Don’t worry about it. I’ll put the fear of God into them before they die. I don’t want to talk about it and spoil this closeness that we are in the middle of now. I know I’m not changing your mind. But mo chroí I’m a big girl. Been through a lot. I got this.” I kissed him again.

Finnlay stopped as he felt Jocelyn kiss him. 'No no no no no.' He screened in his head as he was seeing that Jocelyn was going to go through with it. He let out a sigh as he let his head rest on hers. "I suppose there’s no way of talking you out of this.” He said already knowing the answer. He could hear a slight sound that meant yes. His mind was still racing trying to find a way he could stop everything from collapsing in on itself.

He could almost feel a part of him was trying to barrack out. A part that wanted to tell her everything and come clean. He felt that part hurting from how much he was lying and how easy it was to to just throughout lies as if they were nothing. As he was thinking figured the only way was to go with her and make sure she didn’t do anything that jeopardize the plan.

He let his body relax a bit attempting to enjoy the moment. "Fine I’ll help. But first sign that it’s to much for us I’m calling a quits for both of us. Alright.” He finished with a kiss on the top of her head.

I laughed softly at his comment, it sounded rusty. It felt good but sounded rusty. I hoped I’d have more of a chance to use it later.

The first year I spent with Athena and Oberon at DS Technologies was a surprisingly eventful time. Athena made me Head of Security. It was an interesting title to receive. I didn't expect to get one. I thought I wouldn't even be acknowledged while at DS Tech. I assumed I would have more than enough time to myself. I had plenty of things on my mind that I wanted to take care of, like Jiaying. I will never stop looking for her. Not after what she did to Lizzie. I won't stop until I've had my revenge. I've had years to prepare to fight her and I knew I was ready. Unfortunately, it seemed my hunt for Jiaying had to be put on hold when I became Head of Security at DS Tech. That title bestowed upon me many duties. Some that I enjoyed, others not so much. For instance, I had my usual patrols throughout the day, which were rather boring. The lack of excitement during my patrols was quickly made up, however, when Athena had Oberon and I go on missions to find and take down various Hydra cells. We went all around the world but noticed that there were always Hydra agents and smaller Hydra cells in places like New York and Washington DC. We were curious to know why but no matter how much Oberon and I theorized and tried to put various pieces of disconnected information together, we were unable to figure out why. We wanted to get Athena involved but at some point, she began working on a mysterious project that kept her busy 24/7. So, that left Oberon and me to figure out what the hell Hydra was up to.

Before Athena took on this mysterious project and shortly after my first mission with Oberon, Athena had called me up to her lab. She wanted me to see something she had been working on. I felt confused and a little wary of the situation. Athena hadn't done anything up to this point to warrant any uneasiness but I found it hard to trust her. I think she knew that too. Granted, I find it hard to trust just about anybody and everybody, but something about Athena's incredible intelligence put her on my "possible threat" list. Or maybe I just felt intimidated by her and inferior, or perhaps it was both. I'm not entirely sure yet.

Once I made it up to her lab, Athena presented me with a brand new suit complete with state-of-the-art gadgets and weapons. Athena started to explain how she made it and what she used to make everything but I wasn't paying attention. I just couldn't stop staring at everything she created. I think she mentioned something called "vibranium" but I probably misheard her.
Aside from the new suit (which included something called "cryo dampeners" which are apparently supposed to help regulate my body temperature as well as help me have more control over my powers), Athena made me a new sword that could absorb some of my powers to create an even more deadly blade of ice. She also made this gadget that transformed my ice into black ice bullets. Athena said I could use them in just about any type of gun. It took me a little while to get used to all of these new gadgets and devices but eventually, I was able to control and wield them with the same ease I felt with what I previously used. It was nice having such high-grade weaponry and other gear. Especially coming from someone who didn't seem inherently terrible, like many of the people I've worked with in the past.

I felt similarly about Oberon, though I trusted him less than I did Athena. Still, it was nice to work with someone who had powers like my own. There were many nights we'd sit together in this lounge that was on the highest floor of DS Tech and just drink in silence. It was how we would recuperate after one of our many missions. During those times, I often felt compelled to strike up a conversation with the man, particularly about our powers. I wanted to know more about his powers, how he first discovered them, how he handles them, and his strengths and weaknesses, among other things. Partially because I needed to figure out the best way to defend myself against him if he ever tried to kill me but mainly because I wanted to know just how much we were actually alike. I've never found it easy to open myself up to people and be vulnerable. Especially since I've never met a single person who could possibly relate to me and what I've gone through. But a very small part of me felt like he might be the only person in my life that could have the smallest idea of how I feel. It felt very tempting to try and connect with him, especially in my drunken state. I never did say anything, though. I don't even know what I'd say to him. Most nights I was too tired to try and think of any topic that was substantial and interesting enough for us to talk about. If we talked at all, it'd just mainly be simple, not-so-exciting small talk like what our favorite alcoholic drink was or what kind of weapon we'd use in various situations we'd make up on the spot. They were fun conversations to have, even if they weren't the most sophisticated. I wasn't used to that kind of comradery. Most of the time, I kept things strictly professional with the people and organizations I worked with, especially Hydra. This was a nice, and surprisingly welcome, change.
Our relationship when on missions strengthened the longer we worked together. I memorized how he worked, his tactics, and fighting style (which is standard for me to do with anyone I work with) and it seemed he did the same with me. Soon we were working in complete harmony, taking down Hydra cells with relative ease. Hydra had their own patterns too, some I knew about already and others I discovered while with Oberon. We took note of these patterns and always used them to our advantage when taking down Hydra cells. Our coordination and combined power were often unmatched by many of the people we went up against.

I began to use my powers more, as well. In fact, I feel as though they got stronger as time went on, once again with Athena's help. She created personalized training modules for me to help keep not only my body in shape but also to help me get used to fighting with, as well as to strengthen, my powers.
As my connection to them grew, I slowly began to accept having these Inhuman powers. I went from not being able to even think about them without remembering Lizzie to using them with deadly skill, the thought of Lizzie sometimes increasing my strength and the damage I dealt. In a way, I began to feel like myself. I wasn't forcing myself hide behind a wall of guilt, shame, and anger. I was able to use my powers with complete confidence. A confidence I didn't have before. A confidence I might've been afraid to have. It felt thrilling being able to use my powers so freely with no judgement. I was never able to bring myself to say it to her face but I was thankful to Athena. Had I not joined her and Oberon, I would still be forcing myself to hide a large part of who I am. I no longer felt that way. My main objective never changed, though.

This newfound confidence kept the fire burning inside me, that burning desire to find and kill Jiaying, alive throughout my first year at DS Technologies when it could've easily been left to die. I knew I was going to find her someday. I also knew that with these growing powers of mine, I'd be successful in defeating her and avenging Lizzie. I just needed to find her first.
I kept tabs on anybody that could be related to Jiaying or any Inhuman. When I occasionally asked Athena for a break, I would "check up" on these people. Most of the time, it just lead me to dead ends but some of them still held promise. I knew I'd find somebody that would lead me to Jiaying at some point if I was unable to find Jiaying myself. I wasn't ready to give up hope. Not yet.
I was sure Athena could help me find Jiaying, probably faster than I ever could. I didn't want to bring her into this, though. This was my mission. My fight. No one else needed to be involved in this except me, myself, and I. That made my search rather tough. I had to try and find Jiaying the hard, and sometimes dirty, way. It had to be done, though. Since Athena was so busy with her experiments, I doubt she would've been able to help me anyway. As for Oberon, I didn't want him to get involved in this either. He had no experience with Inhumans before I came along. Having him help me with my search for one of the most powerful Inhumans out there would be too dangerous. I don't want something to happen to him. So, I must remain alone.

It's kind of funny. No matter how many people I surround myself with, I always end up by myself in some shape or form. It's been that way all my life. I thought I was used to it by now but after working with Athena and Oberon for a year, I seem to have let myself get a little too close and attached to them. There I go again, breaking my own rules. No matter how hard I try to follow them, I always end up breaking them. I used to punish myself in small ways whenever I did that. I don't anymore. I've kind of gotten used to breaking my rules, despite how frustrating it always is when I do break them. It's just something I'm learning to live with. It's all part of this love-hate relationship I have with… well, myself. At least I hate my powers less, now. That's gotta count for something, right? I just wish I wouldn't let myself get attached to people so easily. That's my biggest weakness. It's something I'm always trying to work on getting rid of. Athena and Oberon are, unfortunately, making that difficult for me. Many nights I've lied in bed contemplating running away. I can never get myself to do it. I tell myself it's because I'm needed here to help take down Hydra, however, another small part of me tells me there's more than just that keeping me here. I ignore that feeling, though. Why? I honestly don't know. Maybe deep down inside I know it's nothing I need to think about. Or maybe I'm afraid of the truth. I don't know which it is and I don't think I want to know. It's not that I'm not afraid to find out. It's just… I don't feel like I need to know.

I'm. Not. Afraid.

Alistar, dropping his bag on the floor he walks up to her with his head tilted, "Athena is that really you?." He would then shake his head and rubs his eyes as if he was seeing something that wasn't there, "Did it actually work? It's been a couple of months I was worried."

She looked back at him and showed true emotion. He wasnt some A.I. loaded into a body of a doll or an L.M.D. built by SHIELD. Though she was not human or kree anymore. She was a new being formed from an amalgamation of beings, technologies, and herself. She took the form of what she would have looked like if she had grown up and could transform into the Goddess Athena or rather something like the legend. She clicked out of her thoughts and then began, "Yes my friend, it's me. It took so long because I had to make sure the parts would work together." She looked past Alistar for a second and smiled at the others. "Hello everyone." She then walked closer to Alistar and reached out then pulled back for a second looking him over before she leaned in and hugged him without saying a word.

When she hugs him he smiles as he hugs her back then all of a sudden he stops and says, Imma go take a shower, we can talk later." Rushing he gets his bag and goes towards his room. Once In the shower he lightly punches the wall as he hears the all to familiar voice of his father "Haha you are falling for another, haven't you learned anything from the others you can't be happy for long you're a demon come on." Alistar would say, "Shut your mouth, don't you think I understand. Now leave me alone or I will put you back in the cage, remember I can create one in my mind for you." Grumbling his father shuts up. After the shower Alistar would walk around in his sleeping shorts towards the kitchen area.

She nodded as he left. She could tell something was bothering him but right now she hadn't a clue what. After seeing him leave Oberon smiled and explained that he and Ava had things at the office that had to be done and they strode off. She was going to open her next two projects and have them finished for herself by the night.

As he got to the kitchen he would start prepping and cooking Cajun chicken and rice enough for everyone else who was here. The aroma would start to flow throughout the place, cooking is one of the things he's mastered. With the chicken he made tea for it.

Recieving a message from an associate Oberon left with Ava in the jet to pick him up. Oberon before that asked for Alistar to keep an eye on Athena and to save some food for them and the guest.

Athena finishing up the last bit of her project detected something in the air. That's right she thought I can smell now. Suddenly her stomach rumbled and she felt...hunger. "So this is what it's like. I can trace the scent to solve this physical need for food I assume." Her stomach rumbled again in assurance then she went down and made her way to the kitchen. "Hello Alistar." She said as she walked in. "It seems I must consume food as my stomach has informed me." It rumbled again and went over to him looking at him to the food.

Smiling he says "Oh yea you gotta eat from now on for energy. It's part of having a human side now." He would offer her a plate.

She took the plate and didnt detect any harm. Then she went over proper manners before she took out a fork from the drawer and then started eating. As it turned out she liked spicy food and ate all of what was served for her. "Thank you Al. That was really good for my first meal. I cant wait to try more food." With that she wiped her mouth as it was covered in cajun sauce.

Thinking to himself he would say. "Hows the body feeling? Have you tried to practice any attacks or moves? I got the time beautiful." out the corner of his eye he sees the image of his dad laughing then says, "Shut it old man!" quickly covering his mouth looking down.

She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side. She blinked then glared over his shoulder. "Dont listen to that old fool." She waved her hand in an annoyed dismissive gesture and the image of Alistar's father vanished in a plum of smoke. "Al just so you know I can't tell what's going on in your head all the time. You know we will get him eventually." What she had done to most people would have seemed like she was a real goddess but in reality all she had done was wipe away an anomaly detected by the nanites which she was still connected through. "As for your questions no I haven't done anything. I'm waiting for my spear to be done as well as my owl. I named him Archimedes, but you can call him Archy for short."

Looking at her he says "No we are going to train now hand to hand because what if you drop your spear huh? You just going to smile at them and ask politely if you can pick it up? Hell no I'm training you so you can go into the field into of teaching you how to control your strength. You have my raw power and you don't know how to use it." Walking to her he says, "And I'm not going to take it easy on you so get ready now." Staring at her with his arms crossed he waits for her response.

She was about to speak when she felt something then turned looking at the elevator on the other side of them common area. "It seems that we can't right now. Oberon and Ava have returned with..." She took a second as a file downloaded "...Cross. Hmm that's interesting." Athena went to the elevator to wait but then another sound in her head went off. Taping into Oberon's com she spoke, "When you make it up here food will be in the kitchen and I will be in the lab getting my latest project out. Come there if you like otherwise I can come back to the kitchen." Oberon said ok in her ear as she strode off to the lab to pick up Archy and her spear.

Hell's Kitchen, New York City

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This wasn't exactly the sort of situation Jax was comfortable with. Ever since he got burned, he never relied on chances or hope. But here he was, entering in an abandoned warehouse in Hell's Kitchen to meet with someone. A former HYDRA agent inside of SHIELD. Someone who wanted to flip... warned that something was coming. It was the kind of breakthrough he was looking for. The AI, Oberon, even Ava... they didn't have the connections he had. Nor the appreciation for doing things old school... real cloak and dagger.

Jax walked into a large, stripped out area of the warehouse three floors up. At first glance, the area was empty. Save for a single chair, where someone was sitting. Jax slowly approached, the figure remaining unmoved. His heart dropped as he got closer and walked around to see the individual's face. One bullet in the head, two in the chest. Clean kill. It was a professional hit.

Within seconds, he heard the thuds of feet rushing towards his location. Jax instinctively reached for his sidearm, lifting it up. If these were Hydra agents, he would certainly put up a fight. Even the former SHIELD agent was expecting a small squad of police officers to be the ones meeting him. The four in the front raised their sidearms, while two in the back had shotguns out, trained on his chest. "Put the gun down and place your hands in the air."

Jax sighed, his finger already on the trigger. "You're making a mistake."

The same officer barked back. "Put the gun down NOW!"

Jackson sighed. "I wish I could." Within a blink of an eye, three shots were fired, all from Crossfire. Three of the officers dropped to the ground, unconscious. As the police officers went to return fire, Jackson dove into a roll and stood behind a pillar, bullets pounding against the concrete pillar. Crossfire lifted his left wrist towards his mouth, speaking into the communications device installed into his suit. "Oberon, I'm going to need a pick up. Track my location. Outside the Western window, second story. I'll meet you there."

He gave a small sigh and holstered his sidearm, doing his best to listen to the footsteps approaching. They were trying to surround him. Poor move. Jackson waited a second before running out and sliding towards the one officer on his right side. The shotgun fired over his head, giving Cross just enough room to stand up, rip the shotgun from the officer's hand, and then wrap his left arm around said officer's next. His two comrades raised their weapons, only to slightly lower them at the realization their fellow officer was being held hostage. Before they could dive for cover, Jackson unholstered his ICER and fired two shots, dropping them to the ground. Now that his "hostage" was alone, Cross pushed the officer to the ground and kept his sidearm trained on his head. "Who called this in?"

The officer waited a moment, swallowing audibly, before responding. "I don't know. Dispatcher called in an anonymous tip on gunshots from this building. Please... I have a fam-"

He didn't even get to finish that sentence as the ICER round impacted against his head and almost immediately knocked him unconscious. Cross knelt down next to the office, picking up his walkie. "You better come pick up your friends. They're unharmed." With that, Cross heard the familiar sound of Oberon's jet outside. Jackson broke out into a sprint and dove out towards the jet, managing to land in a roll in the opened back of his favorite mode of transportation. He walked in, calling out to Oberon. "Back to base. My lead didn't pan out." Almost like a machine, Cross sat down in his usual seat and strapped himself in.

Oberon raised the hatch and took off as Ava kept an eye on things then returned to the copilot seat. Once back at DS Tech Oberon landed the jet and he and Ava got up and walked down the ramp to the hanger. "Cross let me know if you need somewhere else to go. In the mean time when you called Alistar was fixing food. We might have to warm it up but it should still be good." He walked to the the elevator leading to the penthouse living area for all of them. Once there he twisted his watch face and his suit seemed to flow into it. Underneath he had been wearing slacks and white button up with rolled up sleeves. Turning to Crossfire he smiled. "Oh and Athena has a body now so we might do something tonight if you want to join." Oberon knew that he might not. Since his change he hadn't been the same and he wouldn't let them run tests, but it was his prerogative and they didn't want to push him since he was helping fight Hydra. He and Ava waited for Crossfire before going up to eat or see Athena.

Cross simply shook his head, entering the elevator and pressing the button for the ground floor. He never really spent much time with the others, and he needed to go out for a drink anyhow.

Interaction: @soren

Gun Fight in Boston

Collab with @BladeSS4 @Almalthia

Finnlay let go of Jocelyn with a smile that he was forcing onto his face trying his best to not show her anything. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket but choose to ignore it for the time being. ‘I'll have to talk Jimmy about this’ he thought to himself as he was getting ready to head back to his room before he saw blood. The sound of what was a very large rifle filled the area along with the sound of shattering glass. But what was most clear was the sound of flesh being torn open and bones being snapped by what must have been the bullet entering her body. He could see the blood rocketing out of the side of Jocelyn as her body was already beginning to move from the force of the shot. The time around him seemed to only be going at fractions of seconds but he knew this was all happening in the span of maybe a couple of seconds. He could feel the heartbeat in his ears as he just continued to look forward yet not comprehending what had just happened in his own home.

A second later and all the sound that was previously muffled came crashing back and time picked back up. Instantly he grabbed Jocelyn and ducked back into the small hallway that leads into both of their rooms. Knowing his room was farther from where this assassin was he moved her into there keeping her away from the view of the living room window. Laying her down on the ground Finally looked at her body that was already starting to lose life. Tearing his shirt he began padding it to where the bullet had entered trying his best to stop the bleeding from worsening. “Come on Joc, this would be a really could time to start that whole healing shit you do.” it looked as though she was trying to say something but he couldn't make it out before her eyes closed. Stopping for a moment he could see that there were the smallest breaths being taken by her unconscious body.

Standing up he moved to his closet grabbing a new shirt, his jacket, and helmet. Taking one last look at Jocelyn he nodded his head saying “I'll be right back gálainn.” looking forward he popped a pin on a smoke grande before throwing it out of the window in Jocelyn’s room creating a smoke trail down to the street. Rolling his neck he ran into the smoke transforming as he followed the trail down to the street moving towards the building the shooter most likely was in.

---

After the shot fired Alex wasted no time loading another bullet into the rifle while keeping an eye on what was happening. Smiling under his mask after hitting his actual target. Quickly going from smiling to serious as he sees the male inside the building get into action. Knowing this could be a complication he readies one of his sidearms in preparation of dealing with this guy.

Alexander King didn’t have to wait long until he saw the guy go out of the window in and turn into smoke heading towards him. ‘Another mutant, this indeed is a complication’ Alex thought to himself as he saw the cloud but doesn't wait for the cloud to get far as he opens fire with the rifle wildly at the cloud of smoke. Then jumps back quickly not waiting to see if the shot hit or not prepares to slam the window shut quickly to try and prevent the smoke formed enemy from entering the building with him easily. Alex thought this most likely wouldn't work but he needed to figure out what are the limits of this smoke guy and if his shot against the girl was enough to do the job. Pulling the pistol off from his hip he prepares for the worst looking to open fire on his pursuer or at least hopes to do so as soon as he enters the room with him.

---

I felt the bullet go through and through. The pain was like fire raging inside me. Scorching me each time I breathed. I saw Finnlay and tried to call out after the hit. Passing out blessedly. The darkness closed on and I could rest easy my eyes falling shut and surrendered to the oblivion.

---

Finnlay’s smoke form rocketed across the street making its way to a window that the sniper had been hiding in. Finnlay saw the man shut the window most likely running or waiting to ambush him. As he reached the building the side building he took a moment to return to his normal form as he pressed up against the wall of the building trying to peer up and see if his target was looking out of the window again. Seeing no such sign Finn shot once at the window shattering it and leaving it open. He broke down once again this time traveling up the building headed straight for the now blown open window. Reforming in front of the broken window Finn saw a man in an armor of some kind standing across from him. With both adversaries having guns trained on the other, there was a pause. While both their faces were hidden their body language suggested this was normal for them to be facing down the barrel of a gun. “You're a dead man lad,” Finn said calmly as he placed around in the middle of the man's mask.

---

Seeing the man enter Alex quickly sums up that this man is skilled or at least has some sort of skills at fighting in a firefight. Once he came face to face with him hearing the man making a declaration to kill him Alex fought back to urge to smirk under his mask. He has heard that claim all too often before. Seconds later he was shot at and Alex doesn’t even flinch as the bullet flies right at the mask of his helmet and hits square in the middle of his visor. The bullet hits and bounces off with a loud cracking like sound. The visor’s image of the skull only flickers for a second as he returns to focus Alex then declares plainly in a monotone like the way the voice deepened by the mask, “Hail Hydra!” He then opens fire rapidly pulling the trigger rapidly at the man to return fire.

---

Finn saw his round just bounce off the man's face masks the image distorted for only a second. He knew the bullet would do little to faze the man, it was more just to make himself feel better. What did surprise Finn, however, was the man proclaiming ‘Hail Hydra’ before opening fire himself. While Finn was shocked at what the man said he was prepared for the fight which was demonstrated by the fact that all of the man's shots passed through him.

Not wasting time Finn broke down again and moved quickly towards Alex moving towards his left. Just as he began to reform on the left drawing Alex’s attention he quickly rebuilt on the right now having brass knuckles fitted to his hands that where glowing red hot from the heat. As soon as he had reformed he let loose catching the masked man in the helmet with a right and throwing a left to the body. Seeing the punches did more than the gunshots Finn continued to lay punch after punch into the man before he smoked behind him throwing him into the wall a few feet away. Looking at his work Finnlay dropped into his boxing stance looking straight at the man.

---

Rocked back from the punch to the helmet, Alex’s body rolling with the punch from the man who could turn into smoke. With the assistance of the heated brass knuckles no less as he is thrown into the wall. Alex stops himself nearly putting his arm through the wall doing so. This man could fight and had abilities that could assist him. Alex was amused that he was on the defensive in this fight so far.

Turning back to face the man who just tried to throw him into or maybe through the wall. Seeing the man taking a boxing stance and that amused Alex took a different stance keeping his palms open he took a more of a martial arts like stance. He then charges at the Finnlay leaping up slightly pulling back his own arm going for an open palm strike aiming for the center of the Finnlay’s chest. His hand goes right through the smoke body as he goes through he follows up with a spinning leg sweep like technique trying to kick the legs out from underneath Finnlay next once again slipping through the smoke.

Keeping his eyes open for an opening where he can actually strike this man, if he could be hit he figures he could hit him at that moment Alex preparing to strike Finnlay when he attacks next With a well-timed shot planning on hitting his arm he punches preparing to use his hidden blades on the next attack to attempt to counter.

---

Even with being able to see the man's face Finn could tell he was starting to irritate the man with his ability to be almost untouchable in combat. Attacking once again Finn lunged forward keeping the person and power of a professional boxer aiming for the head of the man. Just as the punch was about to connect Finn felt a sharp pain enter his left arm just as he made contact with the man's head once again. Stepping back slightly Finn saw he had been stabbed in the arm by some kind of blade hidden in the man's armor. Brushing off the pain Finnlay continued the advance not wanting the man to gain any kind of momentum against him.

---

While at first Alex was on edge about not being able to land a hit on the Finnlay due to his smoke abilities but after the last exchange of blows, he had received his blade scored a single hit. He also was starting to read Finnlay’s movements as Finnlay rushes Alex for second go Alex begins dodging the shots he dodges half of the shot and waits for the last shot that hit him and counter-attacks again with the opposite arm using his other hidden blade going to cut Finnlay again. After that Alex switches his stance to a more defensive stance to let Finnlay come to him again then moves one hand up and cocky like beckoning him to come at him.

---

Finn was still landing some of his hits but it was becoming clear that Alec was starting to get the upper hand as Finn slowly began receiving more cuts on his arms. While it would normally bother him if he got cut the body language of this man was starting to piss him off. The final straw came when the man only held up one hand daring Finnlay to attack. “Bastard!” Finnlay yelled as he charged forward like a bull seeing red. When he reached Alex he reached began swinging what seemed to be a bit more widely having lost his cool for the split moment giving Alex the chance he needed to strike. Missing the last punch in the series of combos Finnlay felt a deep cut hit him in left arm before being thrown back by Alex. Looking up at the masked figure Finnlay was very clearly pissed off at the current state the fight was going. Getting up to his feet Finnlay once again dropped into his boxing stance beginning to bounce on his feet as if he was in the ring calling out to the man. “That all you got lad?”

---

Alex looked at Finnlay as he got back up to his feet as he got his advantage over him finally. Alex then hears Finnlay speak then he answers speaking for the first time other than his hail hydra bit, “You want more? It would be wiser to run, but then you would find a bullet in your back. You must see your attempts to battle is futile. If you want this to continue then very well it will be your second mistake you made.” Alex pulls a knife out from his suit a throwing knife then resumes talking, “Your first was coming up here you should have run far but now you are going to continue this fruitless fight and you will be the one who will tell me where my next target is then this will end.” Holding the knife in his hand then throws it down at Finnlay’s feet hitting the ground before hitting him. Then says, “You get one chance, you can take the knife and fight. Then I will kill you or you can tell me what I want to know then maybe you will have enough time to go save your friend that I shot. She isn't the primary target, so today I could let her go but I need the location of my main target. You tell me where Ava Alkaev is and maybe you can your friend can live another day. Careful because this is the only offer you get”

---

Finnlay looked down at the knife stuck in the ground between his feet as he thought over the deal the man had given him. “I don't owe that woman a damned thing. But I can honestly say I have no clue where she went. Could be dead for all I care.” bending over he picked the knife up and began inspecting it as he slowly spun it in his hands. “But you did shoot my friend back there and I am not the very forgiving type of person.” he stated as he tossed the knife pack over to Alex who grabbed it easily. “Besides Lad” he began as he reached into his jacket reaching for a surprise he kept hidden in a pocket. Pressing his fingers to a small string like top he heated it just enough to start a spark off of it. “I don't make deals with a dead man.” he finished tossing a homemade pipe bomb straight at the man as it detonated right in front of the man sending shrapnel everywhere.

---

The bomb completely caught Alex off guard, seeing the bomb go off he is hit by the explosion and blown through the wall as the room goes up in the explosion as the smoke clears Alex is laying them in the rubble. His armor singed he was a bit banged up inside, his eyes were ringing from the explosion but for the most part, he was alright thanks to the suit. He gets up slowly, still feeling the effects looking around at the destruction that bomb cause. That surely was going to bring some unneeded attention to the area from the local law enforcement. Alex stands up and looks to see if the bomb had killed Finnlay. While he wouldn't have thought against such an idea he was fighting a smoke changing mutant. He could have survived and Alex wasn't going to be letting his guard down until he knows either way.

---

Finnlay had come out of the explosion uncarved thanks to his mutant powers allowing any of the flying debris to pass through him. He had moved over to the side of the main room the had been fighting in so as to be unseen until he saw if the man would get up from the rubble he was currently under. Not surprisingly the man slowly began to get out of the rubble caused by the bomb having been guarded form the brunt of it by the armor. The armor itself while still fully functioning was clearly in a bad way from the explosion. Most notably the suit's visor that had a skull showing would cut out every few seconds. “Tough son of a bitch ain't you lad.” Finnlay said in a low voice to himself as he got ready to leap at the man once again. Just as he had begun to leave he could hear police sirens pulling up and men already running towards the now destroyed apartment they were fighting in. breaking down once more FInnlay vanished without a trace appearing as just more smoke caused by the fire as he moved back to where he had left Jocelyn.

---

Alex was fully prepared to continue the fight once he saw Finnlay emerge from the rubble as smoke. As gets ready to go for another round with the smoke using opponent then he heard the sirens and saw Finnlay leave in his smoke form. Not wasting time himself, Alex began to flee as well. Running through the building’s rubble halls from the explosion Alex makes his way to the street where the first squad car arrives. A pair of cops get out and Alex just kills the first one stabbing him in the throat then jumps over the hood of the car grabbing the other and snapping his neck. Alex then gets into the car and speeds away with his exit.

---

A small trail of smoke could be seen entering the apartment of one Finnlay MacTyre. It slowly crept into an opening of where a window should have been. As the Smoke fully entered the room it solidified into the form of a man who was currently running towards the bed rooms of the apartment. Sliding into his room Finnlay dropped to his knees checking over Jocelyn who was still lying on the floor from the gunshot she had just received not long ago. “Come on Jocelyn don't tell me your gonna let that bastard kill you.” After not hearing a response FInnlay shot up as he ran over to his closet once again as he reached for the top shelf before returning to Jocelyn's side. As he sat down he opened up a small box that was full of various medical supplies. Grabbing a bottle of alcohol from the box he quickly apologized saying “I'm sorry, but this is gonna hurt like hell.” as he bit the top off spitting in out across the room. Immediately following this he began pouring the bottle over the wound in her side.

---

I came awake shrieking and wet. “Jesus Christ!!! You daft bloody bastard!!! You know I'll be fine. It was just a really good shot that would have killed someone normal. I hate that stuff.” I really hated that burn of medical supplies.

I looked around. We were in his room. “Why here?” I tilted my head as I thought about getting up.

---

“Hahahaha.” Finnlay started laughing as he fell back to his butt at the reaction of Jocelyn ot his medical treatment. “Well i'm glad to see the gunshot did not make your mood any better.” He could see that she wanted up so he carefully held her shoulder as he helped to sit her up so she could be more comfortable. “Well I had to make sure that you couldn't be seen from the windows overlooking the street, and as you can see mine doesn't have a window looking that way. Anyway it's all taken care of now.”

---

As I sat up with Finn's help I could feel the muscles knit back together. “Is that sirens? You never get caught. What happened this time?” I shake my head and look up at Finnlay.

---

“I didn't get caught.” he said somewhat defensively. “They have no idea I was there. But I'm not sure how safe we are here now. It would seem your friends really made an impression and I somehow got dragged into this.”

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't letting him get away with that line. “Looks like we should make a trip to the big apple. Hell if I know what is going on there.”

To say Finnlay was pissed would be an understatement. It didn't take a keen eye to see the anger flowing off of him as he stepped through the doors of the “Black Rose” pub. “They are upstairs sir.” the bartender said with a slightly frightened look on his face. He was never the kind of man to show fear but even he knew something was going down.

Dropping his phone off to the bartender Finnlay began his way up the stairs before he came to a wood door at the top of the stairs. Breathing in slowly he tried to calm himself down slightly so as to not kill someone when he stepped through the door. Opening the door Finnlay saw the Kings already sitting around the table who all stopped when they saw Finnlay enter. “Finnlay good to see you lad.” the man paused for a bit as the door was shut by one of their guards before continuing “something the matter lad?”

“I'll tell you what's wrong. What the hell was with the damned hit on me tonight eh?” he was angry and it showed as he looked to a man who somehow looked both young and old at the same time. “Your lucky I didn't kill your damned assassin tonight.”

“Mr. MacTyre, I assure our intention was to never harm you in any way. However, I am pleased that you managed to not kill our asset. He is rather good at his job of course.”

“I thought we weren't doing anything until later why the sudden jump in the plans.”

“It seems your friends have been rather busy Mr. MacTyre. According to our sources that have been attacking some of our outposts. And for some reason, we are having trouble being able to pinpoint there location.”

“So you want me to find it for you?” Finnlay asked slowly becoming less pissed off. “And then what am I supposed to do exactly?"

“That won't be necessary my boy. You will merely be infiltrating the group and trying to slow them down when you can without blowing your cover. When the moment is right we will give you the signal.” the man paused for a second before standing and walking around the room keeping his eyes on Finnlay at first before looking around at the various pictures and items on the walls. “This attack may even give you the best excuse to get to the location of the base since, your friend his close to them according to the reports we have.” turning around the man looked to Finnlay with a serious look. “If you would follow me we have a few more things to discusses that she has requested.” Slightly surprised Finnlay nodded as he followed the man back down the stairs and outside to a nice car that was waiting for them.

As he approached the car he noticed the man stopped short of the door showing no signs of entering the car. Giving him a questioning look Finnlay nonetheless entered the large SUV knowing it wasn't his place to question a man of his status quite yet. Shutting the car door Finnlay looked up to see a beautiful redheaded woman sitting in front of him. “It's good to see you Finny.” Finnlay couldn't help but let out a small laugh at hearing his nickname. as soon as he looked up he moved forward kissing the women in the car. as they pulled apart the looked at each other for a second before “Hail Hydra,” escaped both their lips in unison

Time, to the Dragonknight, seemed to skip ahead with much haste. Two years to him was a matter of days in his mind. Sleep always eluded him, he cared not for what date it may be, nor did he ever find a moment dull enough in his life to walk away from. In truth, ever since he settled his score with Brimstone so many lives ago, he lived a dormant life. But. As the new world began to grow and change around him, he set out to study the way of life. All life. Living amongst all walks, from beast to man, and in all his journeys, and all the lands, he only fell in love with one place.

The Savage Lands.

A prehistoric tropical preserve hidden in Antarctica, though it's existence; oddly enough, common knowledge throughout the world, faintly reminiscent of his time. Residing within the Lands, this being the place he returns to at the end of every venture out into the world, since 1965.

His time here mainly consisted of tending to his vast crops of specially blended herbs. Oh yes. You know. Herbs. The only source on the planet known to keep his dragon rage in check. Occasionally he would be visited by the likes of Moon-Boy and Devil dinosaur, who he had aided on numerous occasions with pleasure. But the being back in New York. The memories that suddenly invaded his consciousness. They always sat in the back of his mind. Who was he really?

That's possibly what brought him back. Back to the place where he encountered the others from that time. Maybe he could find them again. He'd chuckle producing a pre rolled, snapping his fingers and creating an emerald green flame at the tip of his thumb. Who'd have guessed he would willingly come in search it trouble?

The evening with everyone was fairly tame with everyone but it seemed that Cross had elected not to join them. Athena had gotten a quick glimpse of him as he had exited the elevator and for some reason, she felt that it would be the last time or at least for a long time that she would see him. He was free to leave if he chose though.

Athena toasted everyone to the success of the project and told everyone that she was heading to bed. Ava proclaimed the same and they went off to their separate rooms. Oberon looked over at Alistar as he watched Athena leave then spoke, "You know I don't know how you fell for a program but just be careful. " Alistar grunted and sat down his drink as he got up and told Oberon he was turning in as well. As he left an alarm went off on O's watch. :: DEVICE DOWN:: following that was number that belonged to Finnly. That was impossible for those things to be down. Then another alarm. :: Device Restored:: Oberon shrugged it off till the morning as it was getting late he needed to sleep as well.

Finnlay stood outside of his apartment looking at the small device that he had been given by Athena in the event he needed to contact her. He had almost thrown the damn thing away as soon as he had got back to Boston but had decided against it. “This had better work.” he said to himself as he opened the device calling his new “friends”

Oberon woke to an alert that came from the cellphone like thing Athena had given everyone. On it was Finnlay's number again. Oberon's brow furrowed but got up and draped a robe over himself before answering. "Hello? Finnlay is that you? Everything ok with you and Jocelyn?" It was strange that he was getting this call and received an alert last night. He probably shouldn't have asked about Jocelyn just in case but it slipped. Oberon typed out a message to the others on a screen to the side of him, "Everyone available meet in the conference room one." With that, he listened for Finnlay and headed out.

“Yeah well that's the problem.” said in a somewhat worried tone. “We got attacked by a Hydra assassin. she got shot but she should be fine once her thing kicks in.” he paused for a second. “Don't worry I scared the bastard off.” he stopped again letting out a grunt. “Look I don't want to be making this call but with what's happened I was wondering if that offers still up about a safe place?”

As Finnlay had been speaking Oberon had reached the conference room and Athena and Alistar came in right after. Once there Athena threw the call up on the screen and started a voice pattern recognition program and background noise filter. "Finnlay this is Athena. The offer is still on the table. We will send a jet out to your location. Keep the device on you and we will find you. You may not like it but it's good you called. We had been dealing with Hydra a lot lately and it seems we might have stirred the nest. " With that, she stopped talking and watched the monitor to see his voice pattern read out. As well as the note that the device had been interrupted which gave her pause that this might not be Finnlay or he was being manipulated.

“No shit you kicked a damned hornet's nest. It's like you and Jocelyn are asking to kill with what you have been doing,” he said when he heard from Athena that they were attacking Hydra bases. “You might want to tell your friends to be careful. That assassin who attacked me said he was going after everyone. Jocelyn was lucky number 1. Unfortunately for him, he didn't expect me to be there.” he paused again waiting for a response.

Athena stayed silent for a second then spoke again. "Listen Finnlay you knew I and a few others were going after hydra. I offered you protection and you didn't want it. Jocelyn had her own agenda and I don't fault her for wanting to go after hydra. Honestly, once you are here we aren't going to stop. They need to be taken out. Especially with what is going on in the world and maybe even beyond it. We don't want hydra in on that action." She stopped and nodded to Oberon to head off in the jet to the coordinates.

“Well ill grab our stuff together and be ready to go by the time our ride gets to hear.” he said once he no longer talking slightly ticked off about what she was saying. “We can finish this conversation when I get the base if you don't mind.”

Athena sighed. "Yes, we will do that. Oberon is currently headed your way. He should be there within the hour. Tell Jocelyn I said hello." Athena disconnected the line and sat back in her seat.

Finnlay closed the device before walking back into the apartment. Once inside he let out a heavy sigh of frustration. Walking over to Jocelyn’s room he knocked hard on the door to make sure she woke up. “Pack your stuff we’re going to your friends place. We have about an hour before the plane gets here.” He started to walk to his room before turning around again. “Oh and Athena says hi.” Satisfies finnlay walked into his room going straight for the closet where he kept a special bag he referred to as his ‘get the hell out bag.’

Looking around the room he made sure that he had everything ready to go. There wasn’t a lot that needed to be taken being as he was pretty low maintenance and low tech when it came to his job. Walking over to his nightstand he looked at the picture on it showing himself and the women he had just been in the car with along with Jimmy O and two others. Smiling pleasantly at the picture he set it back down as he heard a rumbling sound above of what he figured was the jet. Slinging his duffle bag over his shoulder he headed to the roof with Jocelyn to board their flight to wherever this base was.

Oberon kept the cloak on and the engines low but it seemed to him the plane needed a tune-up. As the two came to the roof he let them on. Once inside he slid the door to the cockpit closed and darkened the windows. After they were buckled in he took off heading for base.

Once there Oberon came out in his costume but tapped his wrist. It then began to slide across him like goo then into a watch. Wearing his normal suit he exited the plane and beckoned them to exit. "Welcome to DarkStar Technologies. Alistar and Athena are upstairs in the conference room waiting. Ava is attending her own projects and won't is joining us. For now, we will head to the conference room so you can give a full account of the attack." With that, they had reached the elevator which Oberon enter with them and pressed penthouse.

Stepping off the plane Finnlay let out a whistle at how nice the place looked. ‘How the hell couldn't we find this place.’ he thought to himself as he followed Oberon up to the penthouse where he was told everyone was waiting.

Entering the large conference room he saw two people already sitting down at the table. “Great the devils hear,” he said under his breath before turning to look at the women. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked.

The woman stood and walked over to Finnlay. She wore some black leggings and a work out shirt that was darkened with sweat. "Nice to see you too asshole." She then smacked his cheek. "I believe that is a typical greeting for a human female to Male who is being an asshole." She smiled at him then walked past and hugged Jocelyn. "Now that you are both here let's go over the attack and see if we can get a rendering of the scene." She moved over to a chair and sat down then waited for the two of them to sit. Oberon sat and pulled out a tablet bringing up the programs he needed.

Finnlay just stood there surprised at what Athena had just done. He wasn't mad at all but was simply shocked at her actions. Brushing it off he sat at the table begging to recount the events. “Well I and Jocelyn were talking about some of the events occurring in Boston at the moment before a sniper round went straight through her.” he finished pointing over to Jocelyn. “I followed where the shot had come from and engaged the man in the building across the street. He was well trained in combat and was able to adapt to fighting someone like me in the heat of battle. He's definitely a high-level threat. He was wearing some kind of power suit armor thing with the display of a skull on its LED screen.”

Athena listened intently and frowned. "So no facial ID. This is going to be a bit harder. We don't have any intel on this LED Skull." Athena knit her eyebrows while thinking. Oberon, however, was running a voice program that detected lieing from how the person's vocal patterns fluctuated. Nothing out of the ordinary for now it seemed but Oberon wondered what he did to the device as it had no off switch and now power issues. "So Finnlay we detected a problem with the device. Any reason for that?" Oberon adjusted the program slightly then waited for the answer.

“Well I'm not a tech genius like yourselves,” he said gesturing to everyone else in the room. “But it could have gotten messed up when I set a bomb off in the room we were fighting in.” he was mentally cursing himself. This would prove to be a problem if they kept looking into it. “Or the guy may have been tampering with it with some kind of jammer so I couldn't call for backup.”

Athena lightened a little at the explanation. She knew very well that a bomb wouldn't have done anything. It was designed to survive a concussive blast point blank but there was no way she could make it resistant to jammers. It would have to alternate frequencies faster than they could be jammed and jammers were far easier to make those communication devices. "You could be onto something there Finnlay. He may indeed have had a jammer." Oberon would have lightened as well but there was the ever so smallest of ticks in the program indicating he might be lying. Of course, this could be explained by simple stress as well. A sort of PTSD from the situation they were in but Oberon backlogged it just in case.

“But anyway, the suit is bulletproof and wasn’t damaged much from the bomb save for some exterior scratches.” He said continuing with the story. “The only way I seemed to be able to chase him was with hand to hand combat which he is very skilled at. The suit didn’t seem to construct his movements at all.” Finnlay paused for a second thinking of what else to say. “As a note, he is very skilled and was clearly used to fighting mutants and powered individuals.”

Athena recorded all the information then proceeded. "As far as we can tell Hydra is still stable even though we have taken down two bases of operation and another associate has taken down a number of others from the inside. It seems hydra's network is far larger than what even I could detect at the beginning which may mean they have access to alien tech. This suit might be a result of that tech though he seems to be more if a gun for hire." Athena stood and smiled. "Well, we have all we need. If you two have nothing further we would like to get you down to medbay for a checkup then see what we can do after that." The door slid open and Oberon stood to escort them out as Athena sat back down.

"I'll let you know if anything else comes up but that's about all I have for you." Finnlay began to stand up from his seat. "Just say when you have a mission or job to be done and ill be more than happy to help out the cause and earn my keep.," he said before turning around and exiting the room to get checked up on.

Jocelyn looked up pushing her blonde hair out of her face. "Did the protocols for the lab go off? As far as I know, I locked that place down better than Fort Knox. With your tech, if someone tried to get through they'd have to be seriously powerful to get through. Finnlay didn't even know where it was. There are things in there that Hydra would kill to have access to. I was so close to getting the formula right. We're probably lucky that Finnlay was present when I was shot. If not then I might not be here. It sounds like this guy had a lot of information on us, or rather me, and he wasn't there to kill me maybe just incapacitate me then use it to draw everyone else in. At least that's what I would have done." Jocelyn paced. "I mean think about it. Take out the healer draw the others out of hiding. Unless I'm overestimating my self-worth." Jocelyn looked from Oberon to Athena and back again.

Athena looked over to Jocelyn after she hadn't spoken the whole time. "Oh umm, your lab. Honestly, I'm not sure to give me a moment." Athena accessed a secure server and routed a search for the address then piggybacked a ping onto that server giving her access to the systems it was connected to. Flicking in the cameras she looked around the lad. All was dark and undisturbed it seemed. Suddenly the connection was gone and Athena felt light headed. Blood trickled from her nose. "Oh." She dabbed her nose. "It seems the lab is secure but someone is trying to get access to the files. I got through the firewall with one of my pings and they noticed. Couldn't tell who it was though. Seems my body has more limitations than I knew. They shouldn't be able to get through unless they have an alien strength decoding system." Athena took a handkerchief offered to her by Oberon. She held it to her nose. "Stay for a minute, Jocelyn. We need to catch up. Oberon, could you escort him down to medbay though?" Oberon nodded walked out and escorted Finnlay to medbay.

Jocelyn looked at Athena raising a brow. "How long have the nosebleeds been happening? And how often? I ask because they saw pretty regular based on Obie's reaction."

Athena avoided eye contact with Jocelyn. "Its the third time. I think it happens when I connect and overreach. I can control things in the facility just fine. The drones can go up about half a mile before I lose them. Seems my brain is more human than a computer which is bittersweet." She sat down and tilted her head back and activated her healing. The blood stopped and she tilted her head back up wiping the rest of the blood away. "So now that Finnlay is gone and we are alone. I need to ask you, is everything ok? I mean it's been two years with limited contact. Has anything strange happened or has Finnaly been weird?" She cleared her throat and drank some water that was in her glass.

Jocelyn looked over at Athena. "Depends on your definition of weird." Jocelyn sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Distant. Yes. But that's par for the course. Technically I am a criminal. At least in the public's eyes. Good little Irish Catholic boys don't bring home British criminals, no matter the truth. Which I don't think he believes. The truth that is."

Jocelyn looked away toward where Finnlay disappeared into. "Honestly we both could use babysitters. Boston was... complicated. More so than I realized. And Hydra picked up on my tail again. Which means Sinister, Stryker and anyone else wanting a walking talking torture machine. The thought of just giving up is more tempting than you realize."

Athena's brow furrowed a bit. "I don't know how they found you, Jocelyn." Just then her nose stopped bleeding and she took the kerchief away. Soaked in her blood she looked back at Jocelyn. "If both of you need babysitting then I'm giving you a job. Currently, I don't have a head of genetics or chemical engineering both departmentments could use someone like you and they are good teams just need someone they can work with. I can have a few drones go out and watch your lab and when the coast is clear digitize your equipment then bring it back here. If they trace the drones then they will be in a world of hurt. Also and this might be hard to stomach, but we need to know everything you know about Finnlay." She looked at the kerchief one more time then handed it to Jocelyn. "I'm abnormal. Study this to see if you can do anything for yourself with it. If you want that is, but don't tell anyone here but me or the team. Your underlings are not to know." Athena sat back and sighed as she pulled up a computer screen accessing files then opened a blank one titling it Finnlay. This was so when Jocelyn began it would copy the info and begin to cross-reference it with all databases. Well, all except shield.

Jocelyn nodded as she took the kerchief. "Having a pet project that keeps me out of sight for most of the time would be great. I'm qualified for both since you have the need. As for the equipment that should probably be a top priority. Sensitive stuff that." Jocelyn was silent as Athena pulled up a file. "What are you looking for? That might narrow the field and help me out.".

Athena smiled as her friend accepted the project. They would decide departments later. When opened a second screen and ordered three stealth tech drones to be outfitted and sent out to the pinged location with orders to take all the equipment and make sure nothing was left behind. "Honestly anything. I need to know somethings you might only know. I do know he has a past from the way he talked the first time we met but yeah just whatever you can tell me." Athena looks back at Jocelyn as she saw the drones being outfitted then fly off recording their journey.

Jocelyn nodded. She debated talking about the incident where Finn shot her. She still had nightmares from that. It was shortly after his trip to Ireland and she wondered if having the others know was better or worse. No, not right now. Maybe later. "So he's from Ireland. Dublin I believe. Came to Boston when things got heated at the border. Moved up the Boston food chain to owning a gym and I think he's a silent partner of the bar I worked at while we were there. He took a trip to Ireland recently family business. His mum is getting up there in years and he went to see her." Jocelyn shrugged.

The program ran, copying everything Jocelyn said, and once it was done Athena went through and highlighted certain words before running a second program that then began to scour everything save for hydra and shield. "This will search for some databases so we can come up with a plan of action if needed. Now I won't ask but once as I trust you. Is there anything you didn't tell me that you didn't want to be recorded?" Athena let the question hang in the air then shut down the programs in the forefront letting them run in the background.

Medical room.

O opened the door and ushered Finnlay inside. Once there Oberon took out a pair of gloves and strapped them on. "Alright first we are going to run a series of tests dealing with your blood. Need to make sure that everything is still good from the last time we did this." O took out a syringe and prepped it. Before walking over to Finnlay he put on a mask. "Ready?"

As Finnlay entered the medical room he took a moment to look at how high-tech it all looked. It was definitely a far cry from the bars he was used to being patched up in whenever he got into fights. Hearing Oberon's question Finnlay nodded before taking off his jacket and laying it to the side as he went to lay down on the table with his eyes closed. In truth, he hated hospitals with a passion and this, was as far as he was concerned, a mini hospital. But beyond that, he was also worried about what was being said between Jocelyn and Athena. “This could put the whole damn thing in jeopardy.” he had thought to himself as he heard Oberon walk closer.

Oberon was about to stick the needle in for the sample when the build erupted with alarms then the explosions came. Oberon was knocked over as the needle cut lightly across Finnlay's arm. Ceiling tiles fell and lights burst with a shower of sparks. Oberon got up and moved to the door. A cold chill ran down his spine and his eyes glowed white underneath his contacts. "Smokescreen I suggest you get stay with me." He clicked his watch dial into place and millions if nanites ran out over his skin then spread his suit over him. The AI filled his ears and gave him feed on what was happening. "Athena, lone target outside the building with a rocket launcher." Then the cracking began...

---Athena---

Athena's systems hadn't picked up the rocket in enough time...she had been linked to her system when she had over reached and it had cause a number of system failures with out her even knowing it. The shields should have come up to protect from explosives and impacts. The system should have warned about an unidentified vechile and or persons even taking aim...but no. Athena go the com from Oberon and suddenly she changed to her goddess form and her spear materialized in her hand. "Alistar! Conference room now! Protect Jocelyn!" With that Athena ran out of the room as more lights burst. Loud cracking outside began and the structure listed to one side. Athena panicked and flew out a window. Seeing the attacker she snarled and sent a mental command to her drones to attack as she flew over and found points on the building that was optimal to hold the building up without crushing her.

---

---

---

-

Finnlay let out a small grunt when he felt his arm get a small cut from the needle that was once in Oberon's hand but was now smashed on the ground. Seeing Oberon activating his suit and moving for the door Finnlay wasted no time grabbing his jacket before running to catch up. He quickly came to a stop however when he heard a loud cracking sound coming from the building itself. Looking at each other with a worried look on their faces. “I'll go get Jocelyn you go do your thing.” Once finnlay was done his body began to break down on command as a large amount of black smoke made its way to the air vent nearby.

Traveling quickly Finn was going over what could have hit them that hard at such a random time. Suddenly it hit him as if clear as day. “I swear if that damned bastard ruins this for us ill kill him.” Just as he finished the thought he started to hear talking coming from the vent opening in front of him. Pouring out of the vent the smoke cloud reformed into the standing form of Finnlay standing in front of Jocelyn and The devil named Alistar. “Jocelyn we need to leave now.”

Feeling the building shake after the explosion he says "ok and what the fuck happened?" He hears "someone shot a rocket at us". Fuck he thinks to himself, rushing to where she's at hoping everyone's ok.

Jocelyn looks up at Alistar running in. “What’s up?”

"You didn't feel that explosion?" cocking his head to the side. "And nice to see you again beautiful," he says smiling.

Jocelyn smirked at him. “Well yes but I figured that Athena had it covered. Something is wrong I just can’t put my finger on what. Oh and nice to see you too handsome.”

Grinning he says "Athena ordered me to protect you so here I am. I mean you probably don't need it, but she's the boss. How are you and ole smokey doing?" He looks around to see if everything's ok.

“Fine.” Jocelyn is short with the word. “Other than getting shot.”

Raising an eyebrow he says "I'm here for ya if you need an ear. I'm old so I might have advised. Let me find out who shot you and I will show him or her what happens when they shot my friends"

“Friends? And here I thought I just worked with you. And I don’t need advice ‘Daddy’ I’m fully capable of getting even.” Jocelyn pushed his shoulder grinning playfully.

"haha I feel sorry for him now, hell have no fury like a woman scorned, and that's saying something from a demon-like me." Looking at her he says "are you ok now though? Being shot hurts ... A lot or I might just be a big baby."

Turning on the security screen he sees Athena flying outside by herself and slams his fist on the desk "fucking HELL Athena just because you have my blood doesn't make you invincible. A rocket can kill me." Starting to pace back and he would seem to get pissed.

Jocelyn reaches out and catches his arm and swings him around to face her. “I’m fine ya big baby and Athena will be too.”

“Calm down and relax. We will be fine Al.” Jocelyn looked up at him.

Slowing down his breathing he says "we need to get out now, but where?"

Jocelyn bites her lip. “I’m not sure where it hit the building at. And I didn’t get an update on the meeting point...if we have one.” Jocelyn shook her head.


Rapidly tapping on the keyboard he finds Athena "oh my god, she's holding the building up. Fuck fuck fuck." Getting on the loudspeaker "EVERYONE THIS IS ALISTAR WE HAVE A CODE RED, GET OUT USING THE NEAREST TELEPORTER.". Almost start to freak out again. "I can't lose any more people", growling he says "NO MORE.".
Looking to Jocelyn "I don't think there was a meeting point".

Pouring out of the vent the smoke cloud reformed into the standing form of Finnlay standing in front of Jocelyn and The devil named Alistar. “Jocelyn we need to leave now.”

“What is it, mo chroí. Do you know what is going on? Any updates?” Jocelyn looked over at Finnlay. She was in between both of them.

Finnlay eyes narrowed at Alistar for a brief second before returning to Jocelyn. “I’ve got a feeling our friend is back to finish his job. And it appears he wants to take down the building with him.” As he stopped there was another cracking sound and the building felt like it had shifted for a second. “I can live through a building collapsing but I’d rather not push your healing that far so we need to go. Right now."

Looking towards the window he says "who are you talking about?" Turning back to them he says "there is always the window because I can fly.".

His eyes once again rose to look at Alistar. His eyes narrowing once he came into full view. “I was talking to Jocelyn. You can go test yourself against the whole building for all I care.” After he finished he looked back at Jocelyn “we really need to get out of here Joc.” Looking up at the vent he just came out of for a brief moment before turning back. “I should be able to smoke us both out through the vents and get us out.” He finished extending his out to Jocelyn waiting for her to take his hand.

Jocelyn looked back and forth between the two men and staring at Finnlay. “Really? I’ve been at your beck and call for two years now living with you. Two years and you don’t make a move and now you want to act even the slightest bit jealous? I’ve been in more compromising situations and you’ve been able it ignore that I’m even remotely close to female. Had I thinking you’d turned homosexual there for a while.”

Looking at the two he sighs "it's none of my business but I think we need to go now. Athena is holding up the building as we speak. I Kno you hate me Finn but right now all I care about is getting y'all out safe, so let's go"


“Dammit Jocelyn, this isn’t the time for this.” He said in an angry voice as he snapped at her. His eyes softened a bit as he looked at her. “Jocelyn you know I only ever wanted to protect you from stuff like this.” He looked for a brief moment towards Alistar before turning back to Jocelyn. “Jocelyn can we please have this conversation later when your safe and I will let you grill me for everything I’ve done.”

Jocelyn raised her hand to take his and looked back at Alistar. “Go on Al, I’ll be fine. If not...well you know who to ask first, right?” She took Finnlay’s hand and stepped into him curling their hands up between them.

Finnlay smiled for a brief moment before speaking. "just concentrate on holding my hand ok." after seeing a slight nod from Jocelyn his body began to break down into smoke. there was a brief pause in the smokes travel before Jocelyn was too broken down into smoke.

without another second passing, the large black smoke cloud moved quickly to the vent, travelling through the ventilation system before reaching the roof of the building. looking like smoke from a fire the cloud moved down to the roof of a nearby building where it recollected in the forms of Finnlay and Jocelyn.

As the form of Finnlay reappeared he seemed to be at a running pace as he stumbled forward a few steps farther than where Jocelyn now stood before he collapsed to his knees coughing violently. "Ah shit, I haven't done that in a while," he said in between coughs.

Before they left Alistar would stare at Finn "if you ever hurt her in any way shape or form no one, not even your pope can save you from me. She's a good friend and I won't let anything harm her." He would jump out the window and fly down to Athena growling as he would take over and lift up the building in his demonic form. "Athena save the others I got this".

Collab with @soren


A voice speaks

'Your powers are a gift'

'They will never understand you like I do'

'You're safe here, Ava. You never have to leave.'

'The Afterlife is your home now and forever'

'Stay inside after dark, Ava. You need your rest. Don't go wandering around.'

'Ava, come with me. I have something wonderful to show you.'

'Always follow orders.'

'Come 'ere, sweetheart.'

'Do a little dance for me.'

'Why did you leave?'

A voice promises

'You will grow to do wonderful things, Ava.'

'I'll never leave you, Ava.'

'We'll always be together.'

'I'll always love you, my dear'

'You are valuable to us'

'You will help us change the world.'

'You will be rich beyond your wildest dreams.'

A voice reproves

'You're just a little bitch, aren't you?

'Stop trying to help.'

'You're making things worse.'

'This is your life now. Get used to it.'

'Just stay silent and do what I say.'

'Say that one more time and I'll put a bullet through your pretty head!'

A voice cries

'No… stop!'

'Don't come any closer!'

'Stay way you are, monster!'

'Ava… help me… please…'

'Get away from me!'

'I have a family!'

'Don't leave, Ava!'

'Demon… demon!!!'

'Why would you do this, Ava?'

And a voice dies

A blood curdling scream rings out, reverberating in this abyss. It is familiar and in pain. It grows with each moment that passes, getting louder and louder until-

"AAAGH!!" I shoot up in bed, expecting to still be living in the nightmare. I hear my heart pound in my ears and feel it resound in my chest. Amidst my panting, I quickly begin to come to my senses. I'm no longer in my head. I'm still in my room at DS Tech. I'm not surrounded by the ghosts that haunt my subconscious. I'm all alone… save for the others living in this building. I breath a sigh of relief as my heart slowly begins to beat at a normal pace.
'I really hope nobody heard me.' The last thing I need is for Athena to come rushing in here to check on me like some weird, robot mother. She doesn't need to know about what happened.

What did happen? Another nightmare, the fifth one I've had this week. I've been having consistent nightmares like this for the past few months. It's making it very difficult to get a solid night of sleep. I don't exactly know why this is happening but I do have a theory. Lately, I have been doing some digging. I've been trying to locate Jiaying, or someone close to her. I've had no luck, unfortunately, but that hasn't stopped me from continuing my search. It's been especially difficult lately since we've been dealing with Hydra a little more than usual. We just recently rescued Sling, who is currently staying at DS Tech with us, from some Hydra related fight. He hasn't told us much more about it, at least not with Oberon and I around.
I haven't a clue why Hydra has suddenly grown a pair and started to get more bold with their attacks. Hell, maybe it isn't only Hydra. Maybe other organizations are getting involved too. I'm hoping it's no one I used to work for but, let's face it, it probably is. I have a lot of people out to get me in the hopes of "blowing my brains out" or "spilling my guts" and other vulgar and mostly empty threats. Suffice to say, life is getting extra dangerous. It always was for me, but I didn't think it could get any worse.

I wince when I suddenly start to feel a throbbing pain in my head. 'Ugh, I didn't think my headaches could get any worse either. I doubt I'll be getting any more sleep tonight.' I decide to sneak out of my room to get some water and some Advil. Maybe some tea and a snack too.
I tiptoe down to the elevator, in the hopes I won’t wake anyone. Once the elevator brings me to my destination, I continue to walk as quietly as possible until I make it to the kitchen. Once I arrive, I quickly get a glass of water and down a few pills to help with my headache. I take a look at the time. Five o'clock sharp.
'Welp, might as well stay up to see the sunrise.' I say to myself. I proceed to make a cup of tea so I can have something warm and comforting to accompany me. In this middle of this, however, I hear the sound of footsteps behind me. I grab a large knife from the drawer next to me and swiftly turn around to face my potential opponent. I'm able to drop my defensive stance, though, as the source of the sound turns out to only be the man known as "Frostweaver".

"Oberon." I say, flatly
"Morning, Ava." He says, in a tired voice. I can see the suspicion in his eyes as he examines me and the room we're in. His eyes land back on me and says-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You use a knife to make tea? Somehow I don't think that's effective. " He then poured a cup of tea himself then took out something from his watch and dashed it in. The cup began to get cold as an outer layer of frost formed. "It's a good thing these cups are thermal protected." He turned to her and took a sip of his now cold tea. His eyes glowed and artic blue as he blew out a sigh of relief. "Here to watch the sunrise?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I continue to observe Oberon as he pours himself a cup of tea. He presses a button on his watch that opens it up, revealing some kind of powder that he proceeds to add to his tea. 'I wonder what that was. He doesn't seem like the type of guy who'd put a something like cocaine in his drinks.' I watch in curiosity as a thin layer of frost forms outside of the mug. "Here to watch the sunrise?" He asked after taking a small drink of his tea. I take a sip of mine, "Yes, I am. I don't take enough time to appreciate the beauty of a serene morning. It is quite relaxing."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oberon smiled at her and walked over to the table next to the window with the view. "I can't agree more. I do the same thing most mornings when everyone is asleep." Looking out the window he pushed the chair opposite out for her. He wasn't really giving her a choice if he should join her or not but he suspected that she was going to be ok with it. Still looking out he spoke but didn't look toward her. "Your abilities. You shouldn't be afraid of them. No matter what you have done in the past you owe it to yourself to know all of yourself." He touched the table and a thin layer of frost formed there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow Oberon in suit, sitting in the chair opposite to him, which he had so kindly pulled out for me. 'Well, well, what a gentleman.' "Your abilities... " Oberon began, "You shouldn't be afraid of them. No matter what you have done in the past, you owe it to yourself to know all of yourself." He lightly touches the table and in an instant, frost begins to cover the table like a thin blanket. 'He uses his power with such ease...' "I already know enough of myself." I reply "I doubt anything good would come from more self-discovery."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He turned to her eyes still glowing with a frosty shine. "Self-discovery never stops and continues until death. Good or bad it is what we do with our discoveries and I think you have the right intentions." He smiled at her as the sun began to rise. The glow from it met his eyes and he turned to watch it rise as he sipped his tea again. On a chance he let his foot slide from it's position on the chair to hers. Grazing it lightly with his he blushed lightly hoping the sun would mask it. He pulled his foot back onto the chair and then spoke with a smile in his voice "Almost as beautiful as the first thing I saw this morning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Oberon and I watch the sunrise, I feel his foot brush against mine. I tense up immediately. When I sneak a glance over at him, he is still staring out the window but this time with the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks. "Almost as beautiful as the first thing I saw this morning." Oberon then says with a small smile. I raise an eyebrow at him, "Wow... what a line. Do you say that to all the girls you sit and watch the sunrise with?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking at her directly, "Well since you imply all as the total of my experience then I would say yes I do but so you know, you are the only one I've wanted to watch the sunrise with and the only one I have for that matter." I raise an eyebrow back at her. "We've worked together for two years now and I've grown fond of seeing you. I believe you might have done the same if I'm not mistaken." He sat his cup down and, still looking at her, laced his fingers together in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needless to say, I am taken aback by what Oberon has just said. No one has felt that way for me in a long time. I didn't mind it though. Truthfully, I'm not the greatest at relationships, especially of the long-term variety.
'But Oberon is different.' A small voice in my head says. It isn't wrong. Oberon is different. He's one of the few people I've worked with these past couple years that doesn't seem to have some kind of grudge against me. No ulterior motives either. He seems sincere but if he knew everything I have done to become who I am today, this idealized version of myself he appears to have affection for would shatter into millions of pieces. But he may be too blinded but love or whatever he's feeling to even see that.

Of course, there is the off-chance that my past doesn't phase him. What then? It's not like I feel the same way for him, right? It's been what, two years and most of that time we've spent on missions after Hydra?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years earlier

I had just started working for Athena. I'd already been on several missions to thwart Hydra with Oberon. We had exchanged pleasantries (if you could call them that) when we met a few weeks back but we rarely socialized. Most of the time, we only talked during a mission and we'd usually only discuss and plan strategies with some occasional small talk if we had an especially long flight or walk.
This was our fifth mission together. Athena hacked into Hydra communications and overheard them talking about an upcoming meeting just outside of Washington DC. Athena had Oberon and I leave immediately as soon as she got the coordinates, though she was going to keep up us up-to-date on the situation the whole flight there. As soon as we got in our jet, we were off. It was a relatively quiet flight, mainly because Oberon was focused on both flying and listening to Athena's updates and I was busy preparing my weapons arsenal for the potential fight ahead. The few times I spoke I only asked about updates on the mission. When he spoke, it was for similar reasons.

Once we got to our destination, we put the jet in stealth mode and, after landing it, swiftly made our way to the meeting place.
Turned out Hydra was speaking with some mercenaries. I recognized them from a gang I had been a part of for a short time. They weren't the greatest people to work with. Hydra could do better.

Oberon and I had to calculate a plan. It was the one thing we didn't get a chance to discuss on the way there. I suggested we ambush them and take them out as quickly as possible. He suggested we use our combined powers to freeze every single one of them and then take out the Hydra agents, but let the mercs go (after a short interrogation). I rejected that idea. I wasn't ready to use my powers like that. I didn't want to use them like that. Not yet, anyway. It's not that I hadn't used my powers around him before. I had, but for small things like freezing the bud of a flower out of boredom or creating a dagger of ice. I hadn't used my powers for anything more than that for while and I had never combined them with someone else's. Granted, I had never met "somebody else" till I met Oberon but I didn't feel ready to connect with him and his powers on such a personal level. I preferred to be a little more independent during missions like this.

He eventually agreed to the ambush, though insisted that we keep the mercenaries alive, which I, in turn, agreed to as well. We then executed our plan flawlessly. It felt almost graceful, though I doubt it looked that way. After we had taken care of the Hydra agents and questioned the mercenaries (whom I made sure wouldn't go crawling back to Hydra to snitch on us), we headed back to DS Tech. This time, our flight back wasn't as silent. We both complimented each other on our fighting,
"It was very impressive how you handled those two men." He said, "I didn't expect you to take them out so quickly."
"And you handled yourself well against those mercenaries." I wasn't too worried about him, in all honesty. Oberon is a capable fighter. Those mercs… aren't. But I couldn't just say nothing. I doubted he actually meant what he said anyway. He was probably just trying to fill the silence.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked. I was in no mood to spend time answering personal questions.
"From different places… and different people." I said, hoping that answer would suffice and he wouldn't ask anything else.
I felt curiosity tug at me, though. If he was hoping I'd reveal things about my past, perhaps he'd divulge on his. "What about you? Where did you learn to fight?"
Oberon then shrugged, "Different places… from different people." I could hear the smirk in his voice. What's even worse is that a small smile began to form on my face from it as well. Oberon had never made me smile like that before. I hated it. I hated how it made me feel: "good". I hated how it was a result of what he said.
I hated that there was a part of me that liked it.

What's even worse, is that I longed to feel more of that.
Later that year

Later that same year, Athena sent Oberon and I on a recon mission. We had gone about a month without any Hydra activity until Athena finally tracked down two members who were going to have a meeting at café near Staten Island. It was perfect. We had been waiting for a moment like this for a while: an opportunity to get some more info about Hydra from Hydra.
Of course, we couldn’t just waltz in wearing our special super suits and expect not to be noticed. We had to look like any other couple going out for some fine dining.

It was the first dress I had worn in many years and the first dress I had worn that had a pattern of small white and yellow flowers all over it. It wasn’t my first choice but Athena insisted this was the best thing to wear and paired it a flower hair clip. I can’t remember looking so frilly before. It was going to take some time getting used to.

When I met with Oberon, I would occasionally catch him stealing glances at me all throughout our mission.
I don't think he realized how obvious he was being. It was annoying… but kind of cute too.
Even if it did almost get us killed at one point

Later the following year

After one of our most recent missions, Oberon and I decided we would head to a nearby bar for a little r and r.
We sat in a booth near the back of the bar to avoid any interactions with the other patrons. As we drank, I decided I would be the one to initiate a conversation this time.
"How many more hotels are we going to visit before we settle on a place to rest?" Oberon and I had our own codewords so as to prevent unwanted ears from learning of our "job".
"Well, there are so many hotels out there. Some we haven't even seen yet. I doubt there will be any rest for quite some time." He answered
I nodded solemnly, "Athena will probably have another hotel for us to visit once we get back. It'd be nice if one day she didn't find anything and we could just have a day off."
"I can't remember what having a day off feels like."
I sigh "But we're doing all this for the 'greater good' and whatnot." I take a sip my of drink, "What even is this 'greater good' anyway? Who or what are we fighting for?"
Oberon paused, "Well, I suppose that all depends on who you are and what you believe in."
"Yeah, I guess. I'd just like to know what exactly I'm constantly busting my ass for. I wouldn't go to these lengths for just anything or anybody. Hell, I wouldn't do all this shit even for myself. Yet here I am. Following orders from some super intelligent robot thing, fighting for some cause that's supposedly 'bigger than all of us'." I sigh, "I just miss the simple days where I was fighting for myself and myself only. The more people that are involved, the more dangerous it gets."
I can't remember the last time I said so much to another person. It must have been all the alcohol talking. Unfortunately, it was too late to back out of this now intimate conversation.
"You're not afraid of a little danger, are you?" Oberon said with a small yet playful smirk.
"I wouldn't be here if I was afraid of danger." I replied, "I just don't enjoy following orders blindly when I don't know if I'm getting something out of it. We've been doing this for two years? How much longer are we going to put our lives on the line for seemingly know reason at all?"
Oberon looked like he was deep in thought. I was unable to read his face. He was hiding his emotions well… or maybe it was the alcohol hindering my observational abilities.
I groaned, "I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have assumed you'd understand."
"No, I do understand." Oberon said, finally "During the first few years I worked for Athena, I felt the same way. After a while though, you learn to trust that she knows what she's doing. We may not know what her goal is but she is having us visit hotels. Athena couldn't want anything terrible-"
"Unless she's having us take out the competition." I interject, "What if… what if we are on the wrong side? What if we shouldn't be on a side at all?" "We?" Oberon raised an eyebrow.
"You know what I mean." I said, "We're Athena's best, and only, hotel finding duo. But maybe…" I trail off, unsure how to finish my train of though. I had no idea what my drunken self had been saying to Oberon the entire time. At this point, my brain started to work a bit and I knew if I kept going I could easily say something to give him the wrong idea concerning "us".
"But maybe what?" Oberon said, appearing to be genuinely interested in what I was going to say.
I leaned back against the booth, "You know… I think I may have had a bit too much to drink."
"Is that so? And here I was enjoying our little chat."

They sat there in silence for a good minute as Oberon nursed his drink. "Ava, I trust you and what I'm about to say doesn't leave your lips to anyone." He looked up at her with a rather blank expression. "Athena used to be alive. A long time ago her father and my mother worked on a secret project for SHIELD. It was a bio-enginered virus delivered by computer programmed nanoparticles. At the time both our parents were top of their fields, her father wrote the code and mom created the virus. At the projects culmination they were raided by SHIELD. Turns out mom and her father had been working for a splinter cell of HYDRA and hadn't known it. During the raid my mother died and little did Athena's dad know he became infected. After all was said and done SHEILD brought Athena and her mother who was a Kree spy turned domestic house wife to a safe house with her father. He then worked on a counter program to stop the virus. Six months later Athena was on the verge of death and her mother had already died due to the virus. Her father in a stroke of genius wrote Sanctuary. A program meant to take the minds of the dieing and place them into a digital landscape. He did this to Athena and died shortly after. SHEILD leveled the place figuring the virus would die off if they contained and irradiated the place. It did in a way but they never knew about Athena. The virus was gone and Athena lived on. Years later she found me living in foster care and developing powers of my own from an accident I had. I watched her father's videos he left hidden in her code. She is legit the only being that I could trust back then. I became an up and comer in the tech industry as well as biotech. All thanks to our genius. That's our story. Thats how I know I'm on the right side. The videos I watched explained certain things and I felt her sorrow. I knew she hadn't been just a computer program." He drank the last of his drink then let the silence envelope them again.

I let out a little snicker, "I'm surprised you have so much trust in me. Not many people do. And what makes you so certain I won't leak everything you just told me?"

Oberon sighed then stared at her knowing the drink was talking. Sadly his healing factor was already taking care of the poison, as it saw alcohol. "Ava it's one of two things with me. Either I trust you or I don't. Either way Athena trusted you enough to give you a home with us. I wasn't keen on it at first but she saw something in you. So if you do leak anything you'll have betrayed her trust and that's not something you'd ever want to do." He then waved another round over from the waitress.

"I've betrayed many people's trust, Oberon. It's something I'm used to and not above doing. Lucky for you, I have no desire to leak such information. I wouldn't gain much from doing that. At least, not right now." I said, looking into my empty glass. I perked up a bit seeing the waitress bring a fifth round of drinks. Or was it the seventh round... sixth? I... can't remember "But enough talk about Athena and hotels." I said, "What do you want, Oberon?" Oberon eyed me, looking confused by my question. "Yeah, you heard me." I said after he didn't answer, "What do you want? In life, either right now or in the future. What are Oberon's hopes and dreams?" Only alcohol makes me talk like this, which is why I rarely drink.

"What do I want is a question I don't ask myself cause currently I have a lot of what I could ask for. Money, projects, being gifted." He knocked back half the drink to catch the effects. "Honestly? I want fun. I'm always fucking working or attacking Hydra. I just wanna slow down and watch a movie with people or someone. Go on a date. Dreams and hopes though..." He thought for a second as the buzz was already draining away again. "...I hope that one day the fight will be over. My dream is to use these gifts for something other than war." Knocking back the rest of the drink he gave her a grin. "What about you? Since you got me spilling the beans you might as well do the same."

I opened my mouth to answer Oberon but nothing came out. I never seriously think about what I want in life. I've only ever been focused on survival and self-preservation. I never stopped to reexamine my life or to dream. I generally lacked the time (and desire) to do that. But since I dug that existential hole for myself that I saw no way of getting out of, and since I was drunk off my ass, I decided I might as well answer honestly. "I... I don't know."

Oberon sat and looked at her then smiled saying, "Well you have a fresh start and the rest of your life to figure it out. Plus if you need help then I'll be a friend to help you along." It was cheesy he knew but he meant it. He saw something in Ava that he realized she didn't see or couldn't see herself. He would be there for her when she needed it so that the darkness wouldn't work it's way totally through her.

'God, he's insufferable sometimes.' I thought to myself, 'He's a fool to believe in me so.' I opened my mouth to reply to him when we heard the sound of several people shuffling into the bar. I looked back to see who had come in and smirked. Turning back to Oberon I said, "Looks like the hotel came to us tonight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Present Day

"Ava?" I hear the voice of Oberon say. I meet his confused eyes. 'How long was I…'
"What?" Is all I'm able to say
"I think you spaced out there for a second." Oberon says with a small grin, "Everything alright?"
"Everything is fine." I answer quickly. 'Damn, that might've been too quick.'
"Ava…" He trails off, using that knowing tone that gets on my nerves. I sigh, "Oberon, I meant what I said. Everything is fine. And if it wasn't, trust me when I say, you're the first person I would go to to talk about it." I tell him, not breaking eye contact with him so he knows I am being honest. I can tell he is studying my eyes, trying to figure out if I'm lying or not. 'I hope he realizes I'm telling the truth.' After a few moments, he leans back into his chair, "Well, I'm happy to hear that. I feel the same way." He says, taking a sip of his coffee. I follow in suit, enjoying the comfortable silence that has fallen over us. After thinking about us more, I feel content knowing we have gotten to a point in our relationship where there is some real trust. Maybe not a lot of trust, but it is there nevertheless. I know Oberon would take a bullet for me, and I… well, I think I would do the same for him. Of course, I'd prefer it if I never had to find out the answer to that. Another thing I'm fond of is the silence between us. It never feels awkward which is nice. It's nice to just sit and be in each other's presence and not feel the pressure to say anything.
'I haven't felt like this in a while…' There was only one other person in my life who made me feel like this… and she's been gone for a long time.
'It's strange how whenever I'm with Oberon I never think about or long for her. Is this what emotional growth feels like?'
My thoughts were interrupted by Oberon, "I think the others are going to wake up soon."
"You're right." I say, finishing up my coffee. "I'm going to head to the training room. You're welcome to join me if you'd like."
"I'd love to but I have something else I need to work on." He says, standing up
Raising an eyebrow, I stand up as well, "Oh, is that so? What is it you need to work on?"
"Eh, it's nothing really. Just something Athena asked me to do. Shouldn't take too long." Oberon says, stretching his arms in the air, "Well, I should probably get to work, then. Have fun with your training."
"And you have fun with your special project." I say playfully knowing full well that deep down, I was very suspicious and… a bit hurt?
'Come on, Ava. It's not like you don't still keep your secrets. Oberon is allowed to keep his too.'
I try to shake off this childish feeling of betrayal and head down to the training room. 'I should feel better after I train for a bit.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that Day

I was in the middle of some… "private business" in my bedroom when there was a very loud BANG that completely shook the building. 'What the fuck??!!' After steadying myself on the bed, I quickly put away what I was using like it was damning evidence (and washed my hands because I have manners) and rushed out of my room to find the others. Before I could locate anybody, I heard over the intercom, "EVERYONE THIS IS ALISTAR WE HAVE A CODE RED, GET OUT USING THE NEAREST TELEPORTER." 'Shit, this is bad. Really bad.' There was no time to search all over the base for the others now. As I was running to the nearest teleporter, I turned on my personal com to check on everyone's status, starting with Oberon. "This is Ava. What's your position, Frostweaver? Over."
I waited for a reply to come through… but it never did. I tried to contact him again, "Oberon, come in. This is Ava. Are you okay? Over." 'You better fucking reply this time, Oberon.' Yet there was still silence. By the time I had gotten to the teleporter, I had tried to contact him a couple more times with no luck. I took one step into the teleporter and stopped, sighing. 'Am I really about to play hero again?' There was suddenly another bang that violently shook the building. The sound of metal creaking followed as the room around me began to tilt. I grabbed on to the frame of the teleporter, expecting to have to hang on for dear life when the tilting abruptly stopped. I cursed under my breath, letting myself drop to the floor. Despite the room and probably the entire top half of the building being at an odd angle, I was still able to walk. Which meant I could still go and find Oberon.
'Of course I probably have less time to find him now than I did before.' I know where all the other teleporters were though. I also knew I could use them to travel from teleporter to teleporter, which would save me a lot of time. The trick was figuring out which floor to go to first. DS Tech was a large building with many, many floors both secret and otherwise. If I was to judge by what Oberon told me earlier, I doubt he'd be in a place like his room or the kitchen.
'It was something Athena asked him to do…' My gut told me to start by checking all of the rooms I've seen Athena in, like the war room and the lab, and then move on from there.
'This could either end really well or really bad. And I'm really hoping it isn't the latter.'
I ran into the teleporter and set the coordinates for the lab, praying to whoever might be listening that I won't regret this. 'I never learn, do I?' I shake my head, disappointed in myself and my situationally heroic nature.
I finally arrived at the lab and as the doors to the teleporter opened, I found myself thinking 'You better not make me regret this, Oberon. Because I think it's official-' I began to frantically look around the lab for Oberon, '-I've found someone I care about… and I hate it.'

There was no sign of him in the lab. Already frustrated, I turned around to head back to the teleporter when I was stopped by another person and found myself momentarily speechless.