[IC] Avenger's Academy; Volume 1

[Tokara]

Copen glanced down at Damon as he murmured something in that deep, accented voice of his. With English being his own second language, it was slightly difficult to discern just what he was saying sometimes. The most understandable, to him, were English and American accents - English due to his teacher, and American due to television. Thankfully, the majority here spoke fairly well. He turned his attention to Angel as she explained, his blond eyebrows rising in an impressed expression. Granted, he was. She was sort of like a modern-day witch, really. Maybe the stories of old really did have some truth to them. It wasn't completely strange to think that mutants could have existed back then. After all, it turned out that Thor was real... (And to be honest, he had fangirled a fair bit. Along with the professors of mythology in Scandinavia.).

He was relieved that no-one had reacted badly to his explanation, though. He wasn't a criminal - not in the true sense of the word. He hadn't intended to hurt anybody, and he'd barely understood his own powers. But it still ached from deep inside his heart that he had killed someone. Sometimes, he woke up in a cold sweat at 2 in the morning, lost in the memories of that awful day. And he'd swear, and swear again, that nothing like it would ever be allowed to happen again. He would not let it.

Shaken out of his reverie by Nick, he grinned back at the boy. He was speaking French, and it was sort of understandable with his tourist knowledge - something about being a Frenchman, despite the fact that he'd declared himself as Canadian. Huh. Copen wasn't too sure why he was dipping in and out of the language when not everybody understood it, but... Perhaps that was his own quirk. What followed was the arrival of a new guy, and a whole lot more French. Jesus.

The new girl explained her own fast powers, and the blond nodded with a reassuring smile. That was pretty awesome. It was the sort of thing that you could use in everyday life, and couldn't really hurt anybody unintentionally. Will seemed hyped up on caffeine still, and he chuckled at the boy's rapid-fire speaking. Ah, this was going to be an interesting year. A girl entered next, her accent obviously English, and greeted the two girls. Rain answered back with a quiet, 'Hello,' and Copen raised a hand in a wave. "Hey," he greeted her, leaning forward slightly.

It was a short time later that a truly unbelievable event happened. They gained a cowboy. A cowboy, boots and all. The right side of Copen's mouth raised in an amused grin, chuckling softly as the guy took a seat near Garrett. He watched him for a moment, before giving his head a small shake and running a hand through his blond locks. "Hej, Cowboy," he greeted him, loud voice reverberating off the walls of the Quinjet. He seemed almost embarrassed at the tip of his hat - Copen ended up grinning even more. It was sort of endearing, to be honest.

~~~

Rain opened her mouth to reply to Will, but was overrun by his chattermouth. She slowly closed it, giving her head a small shake as he spoke. Her lips had formed an amused little smile, although it was kind-hearted. He was an excitable person and that was all that there was to it. His mind probably worked faster than his mouth. Her costume indeed was not spandex (how embarrassing), but a small blush rose in her cheeks as he commented on how she'd probably look good in it. The girl ducked her head, thankful that he'd moved on to paying other people attention.

Angel's compliment on her powers also made her smile abashedly, before another girl arrived and Rain looked up to say hello. "Hey. I'm Rain," she greeted her quietly, blue eyes taking in the interesting haircut. It was kind of cool. She couldn't help but admire people who had the confidence to pull off styles like that. And then, their next arrival was... a cowboy?

Her eyes went round with amazement.

He even smelled a bit like horses, she noticed, as he walked past her and onto a seat in the same row. Her chin tilted up as she stared for a few moments - before realising just what she was doing, and quickly glancing away. Her pinkness had not receded due to this further embarrassment, and she held her hands in her lap. She wasn't the only one excited, either. "Hi," she squeaked (to her horror) as she glanced sidelong at him again, before determinedly looking at the floor once more. It was still shiny.

[Winter Kitten]

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Between everything from being incredibly crowded and the shock of seeing an old friend, the only thing Garret caught onto: that kid could talk for the entirety of this group and then some. Garret narrowed his eyes, letting Nick slide off of him as his eyes roamed Will's face. Everyone around continued speaking, volume a steady beat in his ears. Politeness took over his mind, at this point, even if the look on his face spoke louder than his actual thoughts. Without having accessed the data files on any of his peers (nor wanting to; what was the challenge in reading dossiers? Getting the taste of wine out of your mouth?) Garret relied entirely on his own perception to figure out the people around him. That, of course, wouldn't take a few moments - those things took lengthy amounts of time. However, if Garret learned anything, patience held priority over everything else.

Once everyone pitched down and the Quinjet slowed it's course, Garret tilted his head to observe the kid in front of him. "Stark's got a lot of photos, kiddo," Garret said. His brow arched and he folded his arms over his chest, "You've gotta be more specific." Of course, Garret didn't actually know what Stark held on any of his files; he hadn't taken to Stark like he had any of the other residents of Stark Tower. Didn't mean he didn't like the man, it just meant he didn't find a passion in the things Stark did. And Clint had Lucky, so, that decision had been obvious.

Poised to continue speaking, Garret found himself clamping his mouth shut again at the sight of one of the other passengers staring intently at him. At least she tried to be subtle - Garret didn't appreciate prying, especially when it came in the form of loud yelling. Even though Will's normal voice didn't actually reach a higher decibel than the others, Garret couldn't help but hear a constant crescendo when he opened his mouth. Didn't need to say anything, just needed to part his lips and suddenly white noise. Garret shook his head and returned his focus to the girl, Angel? He didn't feel like asking out of simple embarrassment.

"Do I have something on my... face?" once he noticed her eyes dart to the door as soon as he brought her ogling to attention and he slowly followed. His nostrils flared almost immediately.

Alright, so Clint Eastwood and the original True Grit did absolutely nothing to prepare him for the moment an actual, real life cowboy decided he wanted to kill everyone with his freckled, sun kissed face and a hardy, 'Howdy'-doo. Of course, Nick chose that moment to goad him on and Garret took an elbow to Nick's ribs, hard and relentless. He hissed while Nick beckoned the guy over, "I'm not blind, asswipe-" Garret interrupted himself to say, "Howdee-uh... hi!"

After ten or so breaths and numerous times resisting tucking his knees into himself and laughing all giddy like, Garret turned toward their new arrival. Once Rain introduced herself - sometimes he really wished he could just be an asshole for once, however, he knew Rain didn't deserve that - Garret stuck out his hand, slow, in order to rain himself in, and flicked it up to reveal the red tinged face of their resident cowboy. "I love that accent," Garret offered, soft and almost to himself, "is it Texan? It's gotta be a little to the west of Georgia; that accent's got a Doc Holliday quality to it, ey, Huckleberry?"

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"You have everything you need?" like any mother still trying to grasp her son leaving the nest, Jane Foster fussed every ever bit of Magnus' she could get her flustered hands on. This happened to be the collar his outfit, tugging the leather toward her in vain. "Are you sure it's a good idea to wear full leather and plate armor on your first day of school - Jesus," Jane said it, finally acknowledged it, "This is your first day of any kind of formal education. You just bypassed twelve entire grades. This should be kindergarten. Oh my God, I'm freaking out. I'm hyperventilating. I don't hyperventilate. I don't panic. I get control of my feelings and... and... and..."

"Whoa, Odinsdottir-in-law is going timber. Catch her, kid! I got the brown bag of shame," Darcy timed her arrival perfectly, said paper bag in her hand. Magnus eyed it wary while he assisted his mother in standing. She shrugged, "I figured she'd go into frantic mom-mode. I've seen this happen before. Granted, I was a baby and it was my own mom, but same difference."

"I don't think that means anything."

"It's a saying, Mags. Look it up," Darcy came with her retort immediately while shoving the paper bag into Jane's chest. Any time she told him to look something up, Darcy usually meant it. Magnus took the words to heart and shifted his mother's weight onto one arm as he fished his phone out. Darcy's eyes followed the gesture and it took a moment before she realized what was happening. "Oh, my God. Don't actually-" her own huff interrupted herself and she took Jane from Magnus arms while she breathed deep, "You're going to be late. I've got Little House on the Prairie."

Magnus narrowed his eyes a second time and he opened his mouth to speak only to be shoved forward. She didn't actually have the strength to move him, but he humored her when she wished to by aggressively physical in her motions. After taking nearly ten minutes to frown down at the both of them, he took Darcy's second 'Shoo' seriously and turned to leave with his shield clasped to his back and his sword sheathed. The rolling bag his mother had stuffed full of an assortment of things, mostly clothes and sentimental objects, clattered down the steps of the RV as he made his way a safe distance from the vacation vehicle turned mobile science lab (that people likely mistook for a meth lab)

To say his mother picked out the rolling bag would have been a misstep. Darcy had picked it out; Jane paid for it. Darcy loved Hello Kitty and he could tell she wanted him to love it too. Either that or she thought a big, tall demigod dragging a sizable Hello Kitty suitcase was hilarious. He assumed the latter held the truth, however, Magnus didn't doubt she also liked it enough to pick it out herself. Lucky for Magnus, he had his father's lack of embarrassment to account for. He didn't mind. He thought it was cute and it served its purpose while benefiting him aesthetically.

So, when the jet finally touched down after Magnus found a stray log to sit upon and fiddle with the suitcase on his lap, he wasn't expecting the door to open to a nearly crowded room of kids. Or. Not kids. They looked too old to be kids but too young to be adults. That baffled him often and Magnus had to shake himself before standing and wheeling his suitcase onto the Quinjet. He stood in the middle of everyone, decked out in his armor with this helmet on tight. He shifted on his feet and secured the belt that held his holstered sword.

Raising a gloved hand, Magnus greeted everyone in his unbelievably deep voice, "Hello." And that's... that's all she wrote.

[tenebrae16]

He didn't like being confused or in the dark about these sort of things, about any sort of things actually. And right now Garret was being that confusing thing and it was even more frustrating because he was so absolutely sure he had glanced over his file while going through the system and that he had definitely seen his picture on Tony's computer and this had to be true because he swore he had a photographic memory and just a problem of taking too many photos, making it hard to find the exact photo-er-memory to remember. But he was really sure he had seen him on that monitor screen! And not just because he was a curious kid that wasn't allowed any toys, because he had made a promise not to ever hack into Stark Tech, he probably couldn't anyway. He had gotten a glimpse at that code just once! Once! And he had been confused! Him! Confused! And he hated being confused, but he was sure he had already thought that thought already. Speaking of thoughts, was it weird that just they got a cowboy come on board just as the conversation about whips were being brought up?

Well, cowboys didn't really use whips, but there was like some...weird connection between the two right? It was like trees and green ice cream right? Technically they had no connection unless someone liked trees as much as they liked pistachio, or maybe if you were a deer, technically both would be edible, but in the normal context, one didn't usually see a connection between the two, but there still was to some extent and he was frankly sure that the both of them were somehow connected to Christmas, but getting back to the point. Cowboys. AND whips! And hello cowboy! They had a cowboy now!

He wondered if making cowboy themed gear was beneath him, then decided that it wasn't because he could probably make something really really hilarious out of it or he could just get on someone's nerves. Cowboys and blue birds, they really had a lot of characters already, they weren't as colourful on their files as they were on their files, most of them had been really dull sounding. S.H.I.E.L.D probably didn't have any creative writing classes, which was a good thing, because he was sure that was his only real weakness. It was lucky that that wasn't one of the essentials of being integrated into the learning world, though it was probably all the parental unions that pushed for 'real' academic subjects to be integrated into the school. He just hoped they didn't start putting in actual 'curfews'. Oh, he shuddered to think about that, though he was pretty sure he could get around the security system at least after a couple of days or so.

He shouldn't be thinking so much about it, they weren't even there yet! And he was partaking in a conversation wasn't he? Speaking of which,

"Like your face is that memorable." He retorted, rolling his eyes as he grinned at the guy. If this was going to be a competition of wit, than it was actually going be fun because winning was fun no matter what anyone said. The newer people that had climbed on board had caught his attention for the time being though and he took his time glancing from Mr Cowboy over to bluebird over there. He supposed there were a lot students spanning across this region, for what ever quota the academy had to fill. He was frankly sure at least one of them would end up being his bunk mate, best to start getting on their good sides. It was exciting to have so meet so many new people, but it was going to be a little bit of a hassle keeping track of everyone and he was frankly sure tracking devices were readily becoming banned in an increasing number of countries. Sure the Hellicarrier technically wasn't over any country, but he was still frankly sure that Fury as a dictator wouldn't condone that sort of act unless he had thought of it first. Oh, he just got a little chill from that. Note to self; check for bugs in his room.

Speaking of bugs, which had absolutely no relation to the current situation whatsoever....no he couldn't think of a seamless transition for his thoughts because they were all sort of jilted when the Quinjet's door started to lower again, having docked once again without anyone having really noticed of felt it and-hello Adonis. Was there some kind of gene really being passed around? Because he was frankly sure by now that hotness was a gene and for some reason it was in abundance for all the testosterone that was occupying this space a hundred miles above the land by now probably. Off course it wasn't a hundred, Will knew the exact number, but really he was more preoccupied wondering if there was some relationship between being a hero and being a 10 on the hotness meter. Even the girls were pretty hot after all, he couldn't rely deny that looking at all of them, but the guys were really built like gods, most of them and that just wasn't fair. Even Damon had his wings to admire when he chose to hide himself behind them, speaking of which, he hadn't forgotten about him either because one way or another he was gonna get permission to study those things of beauty.

"Now that we have a cowboy and spy, you gotta be a pirate or ninja right? One of you?" He called out as their newest arrival greeted the lot of them, eyes darting from Magnus to Jen, before the automated voice of the Quinjet filled the chamber again.

"Target destination changed, on route to; Avengers Academy"

"Finally!" He piped up, turning to stare at the small overhead set above them, the geo map on the screen flashing as the Quinjet started on route towards the academy. Typical that the dotted lines that indicated it's path was non existent on the screen as the map flashed out of view, seems like it was supposed to be a secret from the students themselves, though the Helicarrier did constantly move around, there was no tracking it's exact location if one could even get past it's cloaking cover, speaking of which;

"Entering Stealth Mode"

He could feel the tingle of the electric signals coursing through the jet's body, behind the smooth wall that he pressed his back against, pinging softly. It probably looked cooler on the outside, where one could actually see the full form of the jet start to melt away into the background of the sky. He swore he could feel the arching branches of electricity spreading across the curves of the Quinjet, routing around wires, following the laid out paths of circuits and sensors, creating crystalline patterns that hummed softly to him before it screeched violently and started to scream in his ear.

"CREEEECH!"

The sound broke through the metal walls and Will winced as the jet lurched violently, throwing him off of his seat and many others off their own feet as the lights momentarily flickered and he knew the power was being directed somewhere else before the jet righted itself and the screen flashed a solid red before the calm automated voice started to fill the cabin again whilst he picked himself up,

"Please remain calm, the Quinjet is currently experiencing 'mild turbulence'. Please remain calm and seated, a new route has been selected to avoid turbulence."

"That's bull." He muttered as he picked himself up from the floor, before another screech bombarded his ears and the jet lurched again, albeit less violently this time and the screen flashed once more, this time giving way to the man himself, Nick Fury glaring up at the screen like it had wronged him somehow, then again, had anything not wronged him in some possible way?

"Recruits, we are experiencing a mild problem with the Quinjet, you are to remain in your seats until you reach the academy and not to act on your jurisdiction. I repeat; do not act on your own jurisdiction."

And with that his image flickered and flashed out as the jet finally seemed to settle for a few seconds anyway, another jerk rocking the them. It had dwindled down into something akin to actual turbulence on a plane flying through a storm, but anything able to rock the Quinjet just the slightest was worrying to him, probably the same to his rattled classmates around him, but they had all heard Fury and he was frankly sure that the doors had gone on lock down if any of them decided to go against his word.

Right now, he was just glad that no one had fallen on top of him because all that muscle probably weighed a ton and he didn't want to suffocate before he even got to lay eyes on the academy, though it wouldn't be the 'worst' way to die.

"So...you think this some weird hazing ritual?" He piped up, sitting up straight on the floor whilst he nursed his sore head.

[Tokara]

After that slightly embarrassing greeting, Rain pretty much avoided looking at the cowboy sitting a seat over from her. What would he think of her, all pink and barely able to say a word? It was ridiculous, but try as she might, she couldn't control herself sometimes. Their final stop picked up yet another godlike young man, and she decided to not try to greet him right away. She'd introduce herself later. It would probably only come out as another small sound if she said anything right now.

A moment later, there was a loud screech and the jet lurched. Being rather light, Rain did not manage to stay put (in hindsight, she probably should have been wearing her seatbelt). She was jolted to the side, toward the cowboy - and yep, straight into his lap. A soft scream had escaped her at both the noise and the way her world had turned. She'd managed to elbow the guy next to him, too.

The next jerk frightened her even more, and she ended up clutching at the poor cowboy's arm out of instinct, trying not to fall off him and onto the floor. "Sorry!" she squeaked (again) amongst all the turmoil and voices in the background. Her small hand didn't even fully go around his bicep, what with him being so big.