James & Casper & Max & Echo
Location: Casper and James’ room -> The Sewers
Skills: Summoning: Ben & Conjuration
Skills: Summoning: Ben & Conjuration
Who the Fuck Needs Sleep when you have Fear?
James chucked at the story’s, putting his hand on Casper’s thigh under the table just to feel him, and stared adoringly at Casper as he spoke. The dinner table was set for four but James wasn’t sure who they were dining with. The scent of seafood made his stomach grumble but he ignored it, instead focusing on how Casper spoke with his whole body, hands flying and shifting in his seat, and James nted ho the candle light made him absolutely glow. He was totally in his element and James fell a little more in love. The rest of the world shrunk down to just Casper, their table and guests gone even though his boyfriend kept talking to them, and James leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek…”
Only to startle awake at a loud knocking. James lay there, frozen, hand under his pillow where his icer should be, and he panicked when he didn’t feel it. Someone was in his bed and he didn’t have a weapon, how could he be so stupid, he must have left it on the quinjet or something, fuck it must be the rebellion coming after him after the Hulk incident…
Casper’s voice finally got through the haze he woke up in and he felt his whole body relax. Right, they were at the Mutant Underground, they were safe for now, and Casper was the one in his bed, not some mystery person looking to gut him for all the times he flayed their allies alive. He gave a tired chuckle and flipped over in bed, sitting up just enough to snake his arms around Casper’s waist, and flopped back onto the mattress. He would like his mattress from that world though. He tangled his legs with Casper and snuggled close. “You tell him, babes.” He sleepily cheered his boyfriend on, even if Jack had already left.
Casper grinned at his boyfriend, wishing that James had snaked his arms around something a little lower than his waist, but c'est la vie. He hadn't even been thinking about having sex with James until Jack knocked on the door and insinuated it, and now, he couldn't help but think about it, sporting a boner. He then snuggled back down onto the bed with James, cupping James' butt with one hand and holding onto James' back with the other. He tried to entangle their legs even more, but it wasn't exactly humanly possible. "Go back to sleep, silly," he whispered gently, even as he was himself becoming more and more alert and awake.
Harrys heart dropped the second Callie had mentioned his twin and the others were in need of help. Why didn't he go with her? Why did he leave her alone? Suddenly he didn't care about the stupid bag, or the small fire. All he cared about was being there for his sister and making sure she was OK. Before he could ask any questions or say anything, Callie had already left the room in a hurry in search for others no doubt.
Max didn’t give himself any time to think, rushing before saying anything and plucking some hair from Harry. "Sorry need it to find Veil, can't open a portal if I don't know where she is and it's better to track her two ways than one." His words practically ran together as he spoke, rushing off towards James and Caspers room where Callie was calling out to them. He didn't care much for all the waiting and simply kicked the door open since there was no handle anymore.
"Hey James get up, we have an emergency. Casper you too, might actually need your powers here depending on how bad."
James barely had the time to mumble out a sleepy agreement and shut his eyes before yet another person came barging in. He opened one eye at Callie, grumbling but shifting so he could push himself up off Casper. Of course there were injuries. Not only was everyone in the Mutant Underground absurdly danger prone, they wouldn’t come running to find him if there weren’t injuries. It was a strange feeling being so annoyed at people when they needed help but he couldn’t stop himself. He was so tired and all he wanted was at least an hour to recharge.
He wanted to say something to Casper as he sat up but then yet another person barged in. He really thought the door handles weren’t a fucking priority but clearly they were. Did no one know how to knock anymore? James gave Max a deadpan look and sighed, finally pushing himself up. “I got it, I got it. I’m getting up.” James grumbled, pressing a quick kiss to Casper’s cheek as he got out of bed. “What’s going on?”
Casper sighed, forcing himself to sit up. He thought about shifting his legs to conceal his boner, in order to make it less awkward for Max, but then he realized he didn't care. He didn't want people to be hurt, but he was pouting anyways. Claiming to be Honey really was a poor move - her evening still got ruined by Frozone leaving to save the day. "Do you mean Ben's powers?" he asked Max. "And can it wait an hour? James was just about to hit that sweet dope REM sleep, weren't you babe?" Casper said, despite not even knowing what REM was.
"Don't make me hit you again," Ben threatened.
"Ben, why don't you go play tennis with Hitler and leave me alone?" Casper whined.
It took a moment for Max to even notice. Finally slowing down enough forcefully as the two other mutants got up sluggishly. He looked down at Caspers hard member, then back up at Casper, then back down before finally deciding to look away from the pair of them. "Oh I'm sure he was gonna get loads of sleep with that hanging around. And no I didn't mean Ben, I meant you Casper. If you can channel and speak to spirits, perhaps you can help if there's a bigger emergency than what we believe to be happening."
Truth be told Max had no idea what he even believed the emergency to be other than Callie seeming very pressed to save on time. If he had to guess lives were on the line, as they always tended to be. "No idea exactly what the situation is. I also don't know where it is we're going, I just know time seems to be of the essence." Max spared no time as he held up the hairs plucked from Harrys head.
His eyes began to glow as he started chanting words that seemed to just come to him. The air inside the room began to swirl as the sheets were kicked off the lazy pair and Maxs hair began to blow in the breeze. The strands started levitating into the air, dancing around in a circle until it revealed visuals on Veil and her location, as if watching her through a window.
The window began to crackle and spark in a similar manner to Strange's portals. Orange flecks paraded the visual until it became a doorway, Max continuing to chant the spell until it finally clicked into place. He could see Veils feet sticking out of rubble, and the voices of others not far away. He turned to face Casper and James, eyes still lit from magic as he held one hand outstretched towards the portal. "Oh fuck…"
“Yeah I was cause despite what you assholes all think, Casper’s a great fucking boyfriend. I was going to take care of that after the nap, jerk.” James snapped at Max. James watched Max do his magic, feeling like he was back in the other world and desperately waiting for Max to open a portal to Casper. He put his hand over Casper’s and squeezed.
"Aww, babe, you were?" Casper gushed.
“Oh shit, that is not good.” James launched himself out of bed when Max’s spell revealed the collapse, only Veil’s legs poking out. All thoughts of sleep were gone, adrenaline washing away the exhaustion, and he was through the portal without a second thought. “Guy, can you hear me? Is everyone in one piece?”
Casper didn't hesitate to follow after James - if it had been someone else going through the portal, like Spark Plug, he would have. It was incredibly dark and he coughed, feeling dust getting into his lungs. He didn't even realize they were looking at Veil at first, since all they could see were her feet, trapped underneath rubble like she was the Wicked Witch of the West. He could hear stones shifting and - was that a car alarm blaring? "Good news - I don't see the ghosts of our friends," Casper said, before he turned white as a sheet and stumbled backwards, tripping over some rocks, as he saw the angry spirits of a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. "Uh, bad news... There's a fuck ton of dead agents down here, and I'm guessing that's a recent development."
Max took a breath and looked through the portal. Dead agents? Rubble everywhere, car alarms blaring. He wasn't fully sure where they were but he needed to help get them out. Max tried to entangle his magic into the rubble, redoing what he had done back at the Mutant Underground not but moments ago. His eyes still held their glow as strands of energy wrapped around the piles and warped them out of the area to a landfill. He'd considered how long it would take to move them by hand, and a single wrong move and they could collapse down onto Veil and the others. What he hadn't thought of was the street above collapsing down onto them from the shift in weight.
Rubble began to fall down, kicking up more dust into the air as debris fell all around them, missing everyone but separating the team from Veil. "Damn it! Can you guys see Veil? Are you ok?!" Max looked towards James and Casper, exasperation and dread filling him. "I don't know what to do. I can try to stabilize the street above us but...it may take some time. I just...I…"
Oh fuck, of course there were dead agents. James didn’t have time to try and figure out what happened with that, all he knew was it was bad. Dead agents meant vengeful agents and they did not have the resources or the skill to combat trained agents of any agency. They were going to have to move after this and fast. Casper’s New Orleans idea was sounding more and more like an immediate possibility.
Casper’s observation distracted him from Max, always a fatal mistake. He only snapped back to the crisis in front of them when he noticed strands of Max’s magic wrapping themselves around the rubble. “MAX, STO―” James’ scream cut off as the road above them groaned, unable to support itself as the rubble beneath it vanished in uncoordinated parts, and James all but tackled Casper back towards the portal as the ceiling came crashing down to fill the voids. James coughed and sputtered, dusting himself off as he took in the changes.
“Max, don’t do a goddamned thing. We have to get support in there before we move anything else or we risk killing them and anyone above us.” James popped up to his feet, reaching his hand out to help Casper up. “Just focus on the portal. No pressure but if you drop it, everyone is fucked.”
“Guys, we have a portal open at Veil’s location and we have a cave in. Need people who can help brace the ceiling before we can move anything!” James screamed back into the Mutant Underground before turning back to where the MU team was trapped. “If you can hear us under there, try not to do anything to disrupt the rubble! We’re gonna get you out but we’re going to need some time!”
Casper got back on up to his feet, trembling as the ghosts of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents surrounded them. He didn't know if all of them hated mutants, but the cave-in part 2 seemed to have only angered them, as they were screaming and shouting abuse. One of them rushed at Casper and went straight through him, making him feel naked and raw and violated - he yelped slightly. "B-B-Ben, I think th-they need you," Casper stammered.
"Yeah, come on, do the thing. I can brace and move," he offered. Unfortunately, as Casper tried to summon Ben to come out to play, the blue glow in his eyes kept on flickering. He felt like a dead battery. "Casper, you can do it!" Ben urged.
"Shut up, it's n-not cool to have expectations of me!" he whined, before giving one last try and his powers popped - his eyes turned blue, there was a blue aura around his hands, and Ben was visible. Ben's tentacles quickly went to work, bracing what remained of the ceiling.
"James, tell me what you need me to do next. And Max? Maybe cool it with the powers for a little while. Or start small. Little things first."
Harry had been pacing the floors in a worried fit as he waited to hear news about whether or not they had found his sister. When James called out to the Underground he bolted upstairs and saw the large glowing portal and the rubble that was before them. "Val? Val?! Are you ok? Can you hear me, talk to me sis!" Tears started streaming down his face as he cried out to her. He couldn't lose her.
“For now Ben, you and Casper and Max just keep being awesome. Hold everything tight and when we get some back up, we’ll see if we can stabilize more of this mess.” James told Ben, tuning Harry out for the moment. There were more important things to think about as James started figuring out the best place to start excavating.
