trans_9 | Welcome to Stacy, Mr. Lang [Open]

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Welcome to Stacy, Mr. Lang [Open]

Somewhere on the ship, if people cared to look, they would hear, around the corner, the sound of a panel opening, and someone being unceremoniously dumped out in the middle of the hall, followed by said person releasing a long string of curse words beneath their breath.

"...of all the!" The person got to his feet, albeit shakily, his hand going to his head as his mutterings got lower and lower.

A pause.

"Wait one minute... Where's my helmet?"

As if to answer the person, a helmet with two antennas flew out, right into his head, knocking him to the ground with a loud "Oof!"

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Things had gotten just a little more on the boring side for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. With half of his Ranger pals and his younger counterpart MIA and everything pretty much being quiet, Spidey had taken himself into just wandering the ship.

Or more accurately, web-swinging and wall-crawling across the ship.

However, his aimless trek came to an end as he saw someone familiar. Someone, last he checked, was a little dead.

"Y'know, of all the people I thought I'd see here? You're certainly not one of the ones I was expecting!"

Scott, the person, looked around, eyes going to the sound. He eventually found his eyes on the person. In a strange costume. Such a strange costume. "Spider-Man?" he asked, eyebrows rising. "...what happened to your costume?

"Annual costume change." Spidey replied. "At least this time it isn't trying to kill me. Though I wish it wasn't Iron Man colors."

Approaching Scott, he couldn't help but scratch his head. "So, aaaahhh... I take it you've been making friends with the resident malicious computer?"

"It..." what do you say to someone who might be the only person on the ship that you know? "Certainly suits you." And be as nice as can be when looking at the strange suit...

He rubbed at his own head with a sigh. "If by "making friends" you mean, 'finally being relinquished from its hold', then yes."

"Be honest -- it could use a few improvements, couldn't it?" Spidey said before laughing. "As for that bit with the computer, join the club. Half of the crew's like that."

Okay, that's out of the way... time for catch up.

"So... what do you want to know? The fact that we're caught in another interesting intergalactic war, there's people we know that are actually from different points in time, shoot...!"

A few? But Scott kept his mouth shut on the matter. "You must be joking. I didn't even meet anyone before that thing took me away."

Scott's brows rose at the last part of Spidey's speech. "Different times?" This sounded like something Reed would know about.

"Yeah, different times." Spidey said. "Like, ah... Scarlet Witch is from when she was married to the Vision, I just came back from the dead - please don't ask - ah... there was a girl here named Big Zero, and apparently, she's from a time where Norman Osborn's running the show. And Cap's dead there... I REALLY hope that last one's not true..."

He shook his head and dismissed that last thought. "As for what's going on? We're fighting bugs. Really evil bugs. Who destroy universes. Yeah, that's WAY over my head."

"Norman Osborn in charge? Wanda before Vision? Cap probably or probably not dead?" Scott shook his head. What had he woken up to?

His eyebrows arched. "Bugs I can handle. Bugs that destroy the universe? Give me a moment to think about that situation." He sighed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck anxiously. What had he woken up to?

...Oh %$#&.

Jonas froze in place, staring at the man before him with a look of mingled shock, horror, and sadness. Cassie had so hoped that her father was on board in the Pod Caverns somewhere. To find out now that she had been right to hope...

And now he was going to have to tell her father that she was dead. He could not turn away now and let someone else do it. Not to this man; not to Cassie's memory.

Not to mention the fact that the presence of a silent teenage version of one of Scott Lang's teammates standing by silently might attract his attention...

Scott dusted off his helmet, checking to make sure that there were no dents or cracks on it from the impact. When he found none, he sighed, then tucked it beneath his arm. He surveyed the area, checking for anything...he might briefly remember before that mad computer pulled him in.

While he surveyed, his eye caught the form of someone familiar...if not for the height and width and...age?

"Vision?" He stepped toward him. "You're here as well?"

"[He is indeed here, but I am not him,]" Jonas said uncomfortably, clasping his hands behind him. "[My name is Jonas, I am the second Vision. May I ask what your last memories prior to waking up in the Pod Caverns were, Mr. Lang?]"

Stalling was pointless, and yet he was doing it anyway. He could argue that this information was important to the inevitable questioning about his own origin, but he knew that he was primarily asking as a stall tactic. Therefore it was a stall tactic and he was engaging in it in spite of the fact it was ultimately pointless.

A second Vision? Scott crossed his arms. "I was moving into the Avengers Mansion." After losing his daughter in a custody hearing to his ex-wife. It still stung. And whoever this person was - Vision the second or no - didn't need to hear it. "And if you're the second Vision, and I've never met you before, or heard of you before. Just how do you know who I am?" Software of some kind? He had a hunch.

Of course Scott Lang was from long before his own death. Why on Earth had Jonas even so much as hoped for this to be that simple?

"[I am from several years in your future,]" he explained. "[This ship rescues people from different points in the time stream. I apologize for the confusion.]" He would also shortly have to apologize for destroying this man as well. He knew how much Cassie loved her father, there was no way that he could have possibly loved her any less in return.

"[At age fourteen, your daughter will insist on joining a team of teenagers who have been dubbed the 'Young Avengers' by the press,]" he says by way of explanation. Easing toward Cassie's ultimate fate. "[I am also a member of that team.]"

Scott blinked. "The future?" Well that made sense, as much as it still puzzled him. Wait. His eyes narrowed. "You are my daughter's teammate? My grown daughter's teammate?"

Jonas hesitated. He could not reasonably answer "yes" to that question, couched in the present tense as it was.

"[I think perhaps we should take this elsewhere,]" he said finally. "[Follow me.]"

He knew a spot nearby that ought to be reasonably private. The could talk there, away from prying eyes.

Scott arched his brow at Jonas's movement, but he followed nonetheless.

Jonas lead Mr. Lang to the Media Library (http://cityship.livejournal.com/4558.html), where he ushered the Avenger into one of the small private rooms. The walls began to glow so that the two of them could see each other, but Jonas turned off the sound before anything started playing. He gestured for Scott to sit, though he remained standing himself.

"[Have you been told what Stacy is and why we are here?]" he asked.

"I was informed," Scott said when they arrived and he had made himself comfortable. He gave a quick, brief look around the room before back to Jonas. "I am expected to help in the fight against the Ohm, is that correct?"

"[Essentially, yes,]" Jonas said. "[Unfortunately, some of the other people who have woken up are not as heroic as they could be.]" He fidgeted, twisting his fingers together, then noticed he was fidgeting and separated his hands and placed them firmly at his sides. "[One of them was a parasite called Shiva whose wore the face of a man named Kawalsky. Shiva attempted to take over Stacy by placing bombs in various areas of the ship and threatening to detonate them. Many people in the crew volunteered to disarm the bombs, and your daughter was one of them.]"

Jonas looked down, unable to meet Mr. Lang's eyes. "[The bomb went off before she finished. While the incomplete disarming saved the people in the Pod Caverns, she was caught in the blast.]" He squeezed his eyes tightly shut. "[I am so, so sorry, sir.]"

Scott sat stone-cold silent through the entire speech. When Jonas finished, he still stared off into space, eyes slightly wide, jaw slightly hanging, no sound coming from his throat...until he managed to regain the ability to speak, and scowled.

"This is a sick joke."

"[I wish it was,]" Jonas said. "[I wish with every fiber of my being that I was lying to you or trying to trick you. But I am not. You can ask Captain Kennedy, or the Scarlet Witch if you want to hear it from someone from our universe. But I loved your daughter, and I will not lie to you about what happened. She died a hero, sir. She died like an Avenger.]"

A tear escaped Jonas' eye and began its trek down his cheek toward the collar of his cape.

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Welcome to Stacy, Mr. Lang [Open]

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