Steve Rogers / Captain America (
assembles) wrote in
entrancelogs2014-05-02 05:02 pm
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and if you close your eyes
Who: Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Phil Coulson, and Tony Stark (+ observers??)
Where: 10th floor
When: 5/2
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Avengers assemble!!
The Story:
It's time.
For the moment, it looks like their numbers have capped off. Barton, Banner, and Thor are all missing still. Which is strangest in Thor's case, seeing how his brother, a friend of his from Asgard, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's intern are all here. But there's no sign of him, and Steve doesn't feel he should wait any longer. Everyone who's here has had a few days to get settled and accept the idea of being stuck in Wonderland for the unforeseen future, so now it's time to call in his team and talk things over.
He's already done some preliminary discussions with Natasha, before they realized they'd have so many people following after them, but it'll be good to make sure they're all on the same page.
And so Steve sends out a text to Natasha, Stark, and Agent Coulson, reading: Avengers Assemble. 10th floor, Room 25, 2000 hours. Don't be late.
Naturally, Steve makes it up there half an hour before. With all of his plans floating around in his head, maybe he shouldn't be that surprised when he enters the room and it's set up like a conference room, with a large table surrounded by chairs and some white boards on the walls.
Well, that works out nicely.
He breaks all of the mirrors that come equipped with the room and then leans himself up against the wall, waiting for the first person to arrive. The question is, will it be Coulson or Natasha?
Where: 10th floor
When: 5/2
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Avengers assemble!!
The Story:
It's time.
For the moment, it looks like their numbers have capped off. Barton, Banner, and Thor are all missing still. Which is strangest in Thor's case, seeing how his brother, a friend of his from Asgard, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's intern are all here. But there's no sign of him, and Steve doesn't feel he should wait any longer. Everyone who's here has had a few days to get settled and accept the idea of being stuck in Wonderland for the unforeseen future, so now it's time to call in his team and talk things over.
He's already done some preliminary discussions with Natasha, before they realized they'd have so many people following after them, but it'll be good to make sure they're all on the same page.
And so Steve sends out a text to Natasha, Stark, and Agent Coulson, reading: Avengers Assemble. 10th floor, Room 25, 2000 hours. Don't be late.
Naturally, Steve makes it up there half an hour before. With all of his plans floating around in his head, maybe he shouldn't be that surprised when he enters the room and it's set up like a conference room, with a large table surrounded by chairs and some white boards on the walls.
Well, that works out nicely.
He breaks all of the mirrors that come equipped with the room and then leans himself up against the wall, waiting for the first person to arrive. The question is, will it be Coulson or Natasha?
no subject
Exactly five minutes before the scheduled meeting starts, she saunters through the door in jeans and a too-big sweater and waves her phone at him with an expression that manages to be both fond and exasperated.
"Avengers Assemble, Cap? Really?" is all she says in greeting, her lips twisting in amusement. "Next we'll have a spotlight symbol on the roof or maybe our very own theme song we can custom match our ringtones to."
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Phil slips into the room right on Natasha's heels and offers them both a smile.
How could he turn down an invitation from Captain America? He'd actually forced himself to not be earlier, though there's still a sense of eagerness to his steps as he walks into the room.
He hardly considers himself an Avenger, but he's happy to help them and to be part of whatever this is, because these are people he cares about--or in the case of Stark, people he tolerates and begrudgingly respects in private.
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Except there's very little chance of that happening, seeing how Stark is a part of this.
Still, Steve is hoping that Stark can contain himself and approach things with some lovely of maturity. Despite all the flashiness, Steve knows what Stark's capable of—if only he could be on time.
"If you guys want to record something, be my guest," he murmurs. Just so long as he doesn't have to sing again. Ever. "Should we take bets for how many minutes late he is?" Steve is very much prepared to track Stark down himself and drag him up here if that's what it takes. Even if it's all the way from the basement.
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She glances around the room, taking in everything before choosing one of the chairs near where Steve's propped up against the wall, the one that gives her the best view of the room. And the door.
Natasha's lips curve at Steve's statement, however. "Stark? It shouldn't be too bad. I took the liberty of letting Pepper know we required his presence. He shouldn't be too far behind us. Otherwise we might be here till midnight."
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He smiles fondly and takes a seat near Natasha, focus split between them and any sounds that might indicate Stark is on his way.
"So I haven't been able to find out much beyond those pamphlets. Whatever controls this pocket dimension is a mystery to me."
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True to expected form, Tony is late, but not that late, because Natasha had, indeed, informed Pepper, and she had, indeed, made sure he made it somewhat on time. Even if thought both the text message and the idea was a little bit hokey.
He's so proud Rogers has learned to properly work a text message, though.
So at about 'pocket dimension' from Phil, he strolls through the door, to-go cup of coffee in one hand (courtesy of one of the tea rooms), donut in the other. "Possible pocket universe. Possible." He kicks the door shut behind him, before sliding into a seat on the other side of the table. "And those pamphlets are useless, toss it. Whoever wrote that thing had maybe two braincells to rub together and no idea what to do with them when they were done."
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Pocket dimension, it's a term that's been thrown a lot, but Steve's got the feeling that none of them know for certain. Stark confirms that. With all three of the invited members seated, Steve pushes away from the wall and goes to stand at the head of the table. He doesn't sit for the moment.
"Are you saying that because the information was inaccurate, or because you don't like how it's written?" If it's the former, then Steve needs to hear about it.
He glances at all three of them. "And thank you for coming." It had been without much protest, which he's grateful for. They're really starting to resemble a team, though Steve's still finding it a little surreal that they've got Agent Coulson here. He believes he could be very useful in this situation, though, seeing how he's the one who brought them together in the first place.
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"They're far from thorough, but they did answer some questions I hadn't thought to ask yet and they're easily accessible. It at least puts some of the more important facts of the place on the table from the start."
Of course, she'd also been lucky in encountering some very helpful people right away who were more than happy to fill her in on the oddities of this place.
Well. Helpful people and Loki, but she wasn't bringing that part up yet.
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"I thought it was useful, if unprofessional, and I haven't heard anything that actually sounds better or more informed from anyone else here yet. I can't tell if that's because the pamphlet contain everything they know or if they only know all of it because of the pamphlets, but I'm not too keen on drowning myself just to test it out."
Arriving here and getting his bearings, he'd known immediately that he'd needed to find a way home, but with so many familiar faces here, it's no longer just about finding a way home for himself and he's been re-evaluating his approach the past few days. These are his people and he's going to get them home.
Maybe they're lucky to have Stark here. He's more likely to understand some of the more scientific complexities of this place, at least.
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He leans back in his chair, stuffing part of the donut in his mouth while digging out his phone. "And you'd be surprised how willing to share these people are if you just ask. And they recognize your face." Which should really come as no surprise to anyone: Tony's never been shy about his identity. "I've got JARVIS working on a map of the building and the grounds, checking for any kind of...Weirdness beyond the obvious. If this is some kind of pocket universe, there'll be some kind of anomalies somewhere." Phone dug out of his pocket, he holds it up, before placing it on the table in front of him.
"We'll know when JARVIS is done. Besides that, there's that whole issue of what's on the other side of the mirrors. That's the one thing I've got mostly squat on."
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Steve supposes he shouldn't be surprised that JARVIS already exists in Wonderland. Stark's a fast worker, there's no doubt about that.
"I know we may not want to test the barrier around this place, but I'm not sure we have much choice," he says to Coulson. "If we can find the edges of this place, maybe we can figure out what's keeping us in." If that means going for a swim, then Steve's ready to do that.
(Prepare for Dumb Cap Decision #256, everyone.)
Stark's got a point about the mirrors, though. That's something Steve hasn't heard much about, though he isn't too surprised. They can't see across the mirrors, they can't move into that side of the mansion, and so it's no shock that it's one big question mark to most people. "We can ask around more, see if we can find someone who's been here longer to fill in those blanks. Can JARVIS access that side, or is he completely cut off?"
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At the mention of the mirrors she taps a fingertip lightly against the table in thought, calling up what she's learned so far.
"I've been told some. The basics, at least. The Queen of Hearts rules that side of the mirrors while the Red Queen - supposedly rules this one. I'm not sure how the Duchess fits into things just yet, but apparently she was the one responsible for the most recent musical event. The Queen of Hearts makes our Mirror Selves when we arrive here - they're backwards reflections of us and they serve her. Apparently they're devoted to her, that's why she creates them. They vanish when and if we're sent away from here, so most speculation only has them existing as long as we're present in Wonderland. And apparently only one version of us can exist on one side of the Mirror at a time. If one version crosses over, the other is automatically moved as well. There's exceptions to this when the Queens get involved, from what I've been told. Apparently there was a giant chess match where the two sides were used as the pieces against each other. I was told it turned violent."
"Granted," she interjected, conceding a point, "I've heard all this secondhand, but some of the ones I heard it from have been here for a year and longer."
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"Something is up with the mirrors, even if it's just someone wanting us to think that there is. I watched a message write itself on one when I first woke up."
He doesn't know what JARVIS can and can't find, but he trusts Stark to figure some of this out.
"For now, I think we should wait on JARVIS before making any decisions. I'm not sending anyone out there just to see if they die."
And if anyone is going out there, it's him. He's been given a second chance and he doubts that that's it will be the same for the others.
The pamphlets can claim they'll come back all they like, but Phil's not buying it without proof and he's not pushing for that proof, either.
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And clearly that has nothing to do with the way Tony's known for talking to people.
"I did, however, and you're very welcome in advance, talk to a guy who says he has proof that magic has particles that can be observed and do, in fact, get excited. And he has notes, which means it can be replicated. I'm supposed to get together with him later, with Jane. See what we can pull together in the brain trust."
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Which is more about Bucky than the rest of his team. The more risky things Steve does, the more his friend will start suspecting things and asking questions.
"I'm not debating whether or not it's magic. But yeah, having some kind of idea of how it all works would give us an edge up. Stark, once JARVIS is done with its scans and you've gone over things with Jane, fill us in."
There's also the issue of Sif and Loki being here, but that's something he's not going to address just yet. Steve first considers what Natasha and Coulson have to say about the mirrors.
"So they can write messages to us across the glass? We might want to test that further, see if we can write back." They may just not like the things that they find out as a result. "We can't trust any of the Mirrors, but we can't ignore the fact that they might be able to give us some more information about their side." Since as Stark pointed out, the people on this end only know so much.
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"Although I would like to support the plan of not-dying. Which brings up the matter that there are a lot of interesting individuals trapped here with us and I don't just mean Loki. Although he's here too, apparently. And trapped, like we are. He doesn't seem all that thrilled about it either." She glanced around at each of them. "I don't know how much you've heard, but I've picked up a lot of hints of people with enhanced powers here. Magic is one thing, yes, but there's also things along the lines of werewolves and angels and demons, from what I've gathered."
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Then his eyes shift to the others. "Making contact with those mirror people could be beneficial, but there's no telling who we're talking to or if it will even be the same person the next time. We should be cautious about that and we should compare notes as we go."
He sighs. "I don't know about demons or werewolves, but something about this place is off. It's unlike anything I've seen."
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"It's because the laws of physics as we know them don't apply here." That's, really, the simplest way to put it. "For all practical purposes, we should be nothing more than atoms at this point, we shouldn't be able to withstand the dimensional shift or whatever it is that brought us here."
Which has, admittedly, left him more than a little befuddled on the whole thing, not that he'll admit that. "But angels, demons, whatever, we're all stuck here. And I got told the mirror folks couldn't really do much beyond spying on us, anyway, without the-" This is so ridiculous. He feels ridiculous saying it. "Queen of Hearts' say-so."
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"I heard a mention of vampires," he adds, more of an aside than anything. "I also met someone with super strength that was closer to Thor's level, and someone who could heal." This place has all types, that's for certain.
But Stark's got a point. No matter who else might be here, they're all stuck in this place together, which means that cooperation is going to get them much further than a lot of infighting. Loki is his exception to that, of course.
"Spying on us will still give them the advantage if any of them cross over," he points out to Stark. "But I think right now, one of our main concerns should be figuring out how to handle Loki being here. There's no way we can trust him, but I think he also realizes he's outnumbered."
So maybe he'll behave, or at least stay out of their way.
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"Then again, he was pitted against us last time and there was no avoiding it. This time we may have the advantage of having a common enemy. I'm not saying we should trust him - we shouldn't, that would be suicidal at best - but it does change things. And it wouldn't be the first time circumstances change an enemy to an ally."
She flicks a glance at Coulson as she says it, knowing that in this room, he may be the only one who gets the reference.
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"I think them spying on us could pose a danger. We should definitely be aware that we're being watched and be careful about what we say and do in front of the mirrors. Anything we do say or do should be assumed to be potentially known by anyone."
If Phil didn't like someone, he'd find a way to spill all of their secrets. Obviously they can write messages, so that means anything they say can be relayed to anyone else.
"As far as Loki goes, our first priority should be finding out what he wants and how that will affect us. He may just want to leave and he may be willing to play ball, but I'm not going to trust that that's all he wants yet. The people here are new to us, though. We can't just go around busting heads in because we say that they're bad back where we come from. It makes us look like the bad guys and that's the last thing we need."
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Bless him, he knows.
But where everyone else is now fairly removed from the battle in New York, it's something that's still fresh, still replays itself every now and then, when he least expects it.
Loki threw him off his balcony. It's a little hard to swallow the line that they should play nice and not have him locked down somehow where he can't be a problem. Really, to Tony, it's just asking for it to come back and bite them all in the ass.
And he's not really surprised, seeing where that train of thought is coming from. It's not about SHIELD or the Avengers or anything like that now.
He glances to Rogers a moment, before picking up his phone.
"Yeah, I'll let you guys handle that one. I'll see what I can get about what's on the other side of the looking glass, figure out what's up with what's actually powering this place."
He looks up then, to all of them. "Guy makes my skin crawl."
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Even though Steve is far removed from New York at this point, he remembers everything Loki did with perfect clarity. He set up a situation where the Hulk was let loose in the helicarrier and almost killed them all in the process. He brainwashed Hawkeye. He murdered Coulson, and while that's been undone, it doesn't change the fact that Loki did it. He threw Stark from a building, he stabbed his own brother, and there are just too many things on that list that Steve can't forgive.
He realizes that Coulson and Natasha are trying to be practical. That's their job here, and yet Steve isn't able to completely remove himself from the emotional side of this. Catching Stark's look, it's no mystery that he feels the same way.
"You're right—if we start hunting someone down, it's going to make us look bad. And I'm not saying we should be trying to do that. But we do need to be careful. He's able to cloak himself and hide in a room—hell, he could be in here right now."
Steve casts a paranoid look around the room. "Maybe you should design us some thermal goggles, Stark. Anyway, the point is that even if Loki says that all he wants to do is get out of here, he's always going to have some other motive, some play. I don't think we can trust him as far as we can throw him." (Which, to be fair, for some of them is fairly far.)
He's pretty sure that all of them are well aware of that, but it's always good to issue a reminder.
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"Captain, if any of us start sounding like we trust him, please do us all a favor and lock us in a room somewhere until we come to our senses. But if you want, I can try and keep an eye on him. Short of mapping out our new surroundings, I'm not really useful with the science/magic end of things. I can keep talking to people though, since they seem so willing to share what most take as common knowledge here. Although I think that will only get us so far, considering everyone is still here."
She doubted getting them home would be as simple as shooting the person responsible.
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If he thinks about Loki too long, the scars on his chest ache and that's something he's acutely aware of. Even he can't completely remove himself from the fact that Loki had sliced through his torso like a warm knife through butter and he could do it again. He hasn't forgotten that or any of the other things Loki has done. What he did to Clint alone is enough for Phil to see him as unforgivable and irredeemable.
"Agent Romanoff and I can handle watching Loki. If at any point it becomes tactically advantageous to take him down or lock him up, I'm all for it, but until then, I'm hanging back to watch."
He glances around at all of them.
"And I'm with Romanoff on trusting Loki. If any of us starts to sympathize with or trust him, we need to consider the fact that it's his doing. We've seen how he gets into people's heads. We need to watch out for that. I don't have a problem locking any of you up for your own good and I would hope that you'd do the same for me."
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But there's a prompt on his phone, before he can continue in that sarcastic vein. Saved by JARVIS.
"Map's done. I'll forward it to you guys, you can poke it all you want like you want." A few swipes later, and he sits his phone back down. "There's blank spots, but I'll take the suit and fill those in later."
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"You're right," Steve tells Coulson nonetheless. "We have to assume that he could influence or manipulate us, if he wanted." Some of them are more trained to recognize that than others, but with everyone keeping an eye out, they should be okay.
When Stark announces that he has a map ready for them, Steve nods to him. He could call Stark a lot of things, but "lazy" isn't one of them. Not when it comes to something this serious.
"There's a few other things I thought I should bring to your attention," he says to the room at large. "I've heard that certain events here are capable of taking away a person's powers. That isn't going to affect any of you, but it could compromise me. We need to take that into account and have some sort of plan in place if that happens."
While Steve keeps his tone steady as he speaks, this is the news that's arguably bothered him the most. He doesn't want to become a liability, but he may have no control over it, which means the best thing he can do is warn his teammates.
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"From what I've been told, they can range from either extreme - the mildly harmless and silly to outright deadly. Speculation seems to have them linked with when this place - or the Queens? No one's been really clear on this - take a memory. I don't know if the events are closely linked to the memory in question, but it might be something to keep an eye on. I've only seen the one, but they're rumored to happen every few weeks, or so I gather."
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He's already experienced some issues with muscle memory and, hell, memory in general, so that's something he doesn't like the sound of, but he's ready for it, he guesses. He's more worried about keeping the others safe if their skills or powers fail them, because he knows that under normal circumstances, they're all capable.
"These devices they gave us are handy, too, but I don't think we should rely on them too fully."
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A pause.
"Yet. I'm working on that. It's like a lot of stuff in this place, so I'm gonna go with the default of magic."
It's been quite the quandary for him, actually, not that he'll ever admit that. "But if you have a better idea, share with the class."
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"We can try to make sure to have the more sensitive conversations in person, at least. It's not like this place is very big." Meeting up can be as simple as sending a quick text message to set a place and time. Granted, others might be able to track those messages and follow them accordingly, but if it really becomes a problem they can always look into using some kind of code.
"The other thing I wanted to mention is that there's word that some kind of monster called the jabberwocky is going to end up terrorizing this place in the future. It doesn't look like there's a good plan in place for how to handle that when it happens other than building a cage for it, so we should all keep an ear out for any word about that, see what we can do to help."
Other than assembling when it shows up, though? It seems a little tough to handle a threat that doesn't yet exist and that they don't know all that much about.
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She falls silent as Steve brings up another matter, one she's heard mentioned once or twice in conversations with people here. But she's also been doing her own research on Wonderland, refreshing her memory as much as she could.
"What's Wonderland without a giant monster looming in our future?" she drawls, shaking her head. "I don't suppose there's any way of finding a vorpal sword around here, is there?"
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Phil will look into whatever he can. He's heard of the creature, of course, but he can't say that he expects this place to be like the book at all. As far as he can tell, they're distantly related at best.
He's glad that they all seem to be on the same page here, at least, though he expects that it's easier for he and Natasha to get on the same page than the others. While they've both seen combat experience, they haven't really dabbled in the espionage portion of the game.