entrancelogs | [Semi-Closed] Event Aftermaths

Entry tags:

[Semi-Closed] Event Aftermaths

Who: Natasha Romanoff and various friends/teammates
Where: Around the Manor
When: The days following the Mirror Event and Hunt for the Sword
Rating: PG-13ish?
Summary: Catch-all post for Natasha touching base with the newly-returned people who got sucked to the Other Side
The Story:

With the sword handed over to the Queen of Hearts and the Mirrors now returning to their own side, Natasha's both a little relieved and more than a little worried about what this will mean for the returningReals who were trapped over there. The fact that she's one of the only few on her team that didn't end up transitioning over at some point is not lost on her, has her wondering why and for what purpose, but she suspect she knows all the same. Which is why she spends the immediate first few days once more combing the Manor, this time searching out her teammates and friends she knows were drawn to the Other Side and making sure they'd returned mostly unharmed.

And if she had to start composing apologies for what her Mirror might have done over there. At the very least, she wanted to know more, if they were willing to tell her.

[[OOC: This is a Semi-Closed log for some pre-arranged threads to deal with the fallout of encounters with her Mirror Side, or the visit to the Mirror Side in general. Interested in threading out something with her, feel free to ping me!]]

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The transition back to the Real side may be even more disorienting than Steve's first trip, given everything that he's been through in the past week.

When he comes to in his room, it's just in time for the Queen of Hearts to broadcast her celebration. Steve watches the entire thing on one of the mirrors in his room, and it's enough to make him groan and shove his head under a pillow for a few seconds. All that effort, and it had all been for nothing.

He can't say what the Mirror side wants to do with that sword, but chances are that they'll all be caught in the crossfire of whatever happens. At least he's finally gotten a look at the Queen of Hearts, though he would have preferred to find her in person.

No, instead half of his team got terrorized, himself included. The stab would in his leg's already healed over, but that doesn't mean that he got out of this situation completely unscathed. Even so, Steve's far more concerned about people like Darcy and Pepper, those who weren't really trained to deal with this level of crisis.

He checks in with Bucky first, even if there's yet another can of worms he's got to tackle there, and finds out about Darcy's death. That's enough to send Steve into a quiet sort of rage, one that he'll stoke and use as fuel for a later fire. He'll need to go find her and make sure that she's all right (though he can already guess she most definitely isn't), but first...

Natasha. It's been a week since he's seen her, which is long for them on a good week, and this has been a very bad one. Steve crosses the hall to her room and knocks on the door, hoping that she's there and still in one piece. His Mirror had been on this side, after all, which is something he needs to learn more about.

Natasha's starting to dread knocks on her door. Mostly because the last few have ended up less than pleasant for everyone involved and she really need to put in a peephole or something so at least she could prepare herself for whatever might be lurking on the other side of that door.

Now though, she merely swung the door open with only the faintest hint of her wariness visible, her gaze narrowed faintly when she spots Steve standing outside her door. It has her hesitating, because yes, the Queen's called everyone back, but she doesn't know how fast the Mirrors will be obeying that particular command. It's why she eyes him with more than a hint of caution until she can judge which one she's dealing with.

"Steve?"

She's getting really tired of playing this guessing game every time she runs into a familiar face.

Natasha has never looked at him quite like that before. Or maybe she had once, the very first time they met, but either way there's a lack of trust in her eyes and it takes a split second before the reason for that slides into place.

It's right of her to be cautious even now.

"Yeah, it's me." Steve searches for a simple way to prove that to her, and his lips curl up into a smile as an idea strikes him.

"You always thought I should try talking to Jenny in Accounting. I guess you're regretting that now, since she was probably HYDRA." That offers her a personal detail about their friendship and a more professional one about the state of SHIELD, which should be enough to convince her.

It's such a random statement, something so very much him, and something they'd spoke of in her past that only she would know. It's just what she needs to hear and she relaxes visibly, shooting him an apologetic smile as she opens the door wider and invites him in.

"Nah, there was no way she was Hydra. She was shit at lying and she turned green at the sight of blood. Why do you think she was in Accounting? She never coulda pulled that cover off convincingly." It's said lightly, teasingly, as she nudges the door shut behind him, then leans back against the solid wood to let her gaze roam over him, taking in everything and reassuring herself that he was alright.

"Sorry," she offered after a slight pause, glancing up to meet his gaze again. "It's been... a week."

Steve also relaxes when he can see that he's successfully passed Natasha's test. He steps inside and shrugs his shoulders as he considers the possibility that the meek little girl behind that desk might have actually been one of the bad guys. "You never know, maybe it was all one big act." Natasha herself has probably put on similar masks before, given her line of work.

Not that it matters that much right now if Jenny was on their side or not. They're worlds away from that whole mess, and they've got more than enough to worry about here in Wonderland.

He nods, because it definitely has been a week, and he's pretty relieved to be back on this side after what he went through across the glass. "I know. I tried to keep track of you guys from the other side, but the Mirrors kept me busy. It looks like you made it through okay, though."

Physically, that is. Steve's come to check on her both because he trusts her to be direct with him about the state of the rest of the team, but also to make sure that she's holding up okay.

"It certainly got... interesting a time or two," she answers dryly as she nudges the door shut behind him. He's been in her room before - the couch that used to take up one corner is now conspicuously absent, although the rest of her surroundings seem to be relatively in order.

"So, are you here to compare notes? Please tell me you got us some intel from over there?"

Natasha's vague about what happened on this side, and that immediately troubles Steve. It can't mean anything good, but he's pretty sure he'll get her to tell him a little more than that. They don't keep much from each other these days, and as their leader he needs to know what he missed.

(He does notice the missing furniture, but doesn't think too much of it. Natasha's allowed to redecorate, especially considering how long they've both been here.)

He goes to take a seat in one of the chairs instead, and nods firmly. "I wish I had more to tell, but Bruce and I searched as much of it as we could. For the most part, it's exactly the same, just reversed. A few rooms are missing -- like the bar, the clinic, and our training room." Steve imagines that's because those rooms were created by the will of the people on this side, a will that might not have been shared by their counterparts.

"The Queen of Hearts has a throne room there, too, but she was nowhere to be found. And... on the fifth floor, there's this room. I didn't get too close, because supposedly it's impossible to get inside, but the word is that it houses Wonderland's power source."

Which manifests in an impossibly bright light, according to James Potter.

"The Core." She'd heard about that from Emma and some of the others, in the conversations that took place through the Resistance journals. "It's probably a good thing, I've heard that's the place that eats memories. I'd rather have your age take care of that, if it's all the same to you."

She crosses and sinks down in the chair next to his, leaning forward to prop her arms on her knees and regard him. "I'm guessing I ran into more Mirrors than you did, considering how many of them were on this side. But did you encounter any of the ones that remained over there?"

As much as Steve had been tempted to take a look at that room for himself, he's also glad that he didn't, if it takes memories. He wants to hold onto the ones he has pretty tight, because there may come a day when he's the only one who remembers certain things. About his past, about days long gone, about a time he'll need to remind Bucky of if the worst ever happens. He has to cling onto them with all of his might.

It's those more sobering thoughts that are to blame when he only gives a small smile in response to Natasha's jab about his age.

She cuts right to the chase, which Steve doesn't mind. It's for the best that they get this all settled away before something else comes along and distracts them. Steve leans toward him, mimicking her stance, and nods. "Yeah. Your Mirror, and Bucky's. As you can imagine, they were a real barrel of laughs."

"I would expect nothing less," Natasha answers lightly, although she's treading very carefully here, because there are depths to that statement that no one but her is aware of. And she'd prefer to keep it that way, if she can.

"What happened?" she asked instead, keeping strictly to the facts for now. She'd know what to say once she knew a little more.

Steve had also figured that all of their Mirrors would be terrors in one way or another, so it's not as if he'd been unprepared for what happened on the other side. Except for what Bucky's Mirror had done, but he's done what he can to brush that to the side and label it unimportant. Whether or not that actually works remains to be seen.

"They found Bruce and I pretty early on, when we were still getting a lay of the land," he starts. He leans back into the chair and crosses his arms over his chest. Instinct spurs him to make sure all the mirrors in the room are broken or covered, though it doesn't really matter in this case. If they do happen to be watching, they already know all of this.

"I got a knife in my thigh for my trouble. Bruce transformed immediately after that and took off after your Mirror, and I was stuck dealing with Bucky's. He tried to play me, but I gave him the slip," he reports with a brief smirk. It's not something he can feel too cocky about, since the Mirrors had still managed to terrorize some of his friends.

He should have kept them all safe, but they'd been scattered and Steve hadn't even known who crossed over and who didn't. It's not really an excuse, and he plans to apologize to Darcy and Pepper both for his shortcomings.

"Was he what you remembered from DC?"

She'd encountered him herself, knew that there were subtle differences, but she wanted Steve's take on his encounter with this version of the Winter Soldier. Wanted to know what he'd observed and what the Mirror of James might have said in that encounter. 'Tried to play me' could be interpreted a variety of ways, after all.

"I'm interested on what your impressions of them were."

This isn't the kind of thing that Steve wants to talk about in too much detail, but with Natasha, he will. Because she had been there, she had seen the Winter Soldier herself and she even has some kind of history with him. She'll understand that Bucky's Mirror, as much as appearances might indicate otherwise, is not the same thing.

So he shakes his head at that question. "No. Superficially, sure. He had the metal arm, he had the outfit, he had the longer hair. But Bucky... he'd been completely hollowed out for HYDRA's use. This Mirror knew exactly what he was doing and why."

He's got no remorse, in other words. He'd never been Bucky, because Bucky would have never relished in his work the way the Mirror had seemed to. "I didn't interact as much with yours, though." Which means Natasha might be better off asking Bruce.

Which matched what she knew. He'd been much more like the Soldier she'd remembered, long before she'd aligned with SHIELD. he'd always been a ghost, but there'd been more to him, once. Then they'd taken that away as well.

She let none of that show in her features, merely nodded in silent acceptance, only the faintest flicker of a troubled shadow in her green gaze.

"Yours seemed to go out of his way to avoid me as well. And I didn't miss the fact that almost every one of you crossed over except me. Even Bucky, for a time. From what I've learned, I'm wondering if that was intentional on his part."

As much as Steve's curious to learn more about his Mirror, he's relieved that most of his friends didn't have to deal with him. It's better that way, because no doubt any opposite of him could do a serious amount of damage if he felt so inclined.

"They probably wanted to split their efforts between attacking and defending," Steve suggests with a shrug. "That's what I'd do." It's disturbing to realize that his thoughts could in any way match with his Mirror's, but it's also not surprising. There have to be some similarities.

"Bucky's Mirror crossed over toward the end -- maybe because they hadn't gotten any results." As it turns out, the entire thing had been a bust, and maybe they should have expected that.

"Did you hear anything about my Mirror? I'd like to know what to expect." Natasha may not have interacted with him directly, but she has a way of gathering information despite that.

"Yes, I'm aware. We... spoke," she answers cautiously, sinking back in her chair and stretching her legs out in front of her, purposefully projecting a relaxed air because that is the last thing she's feeling right now.

"I heard some," she answers instead, happily diverting the conversation in that direction. "He seemed more than capable at strategy and tactics and from what I gathered, he may be in charge of the team over there. I know Darcy's Mirror was sufficiently cowed whenever he was mentioned - he was using her in a resource and research capacity over here. Pepper seemed to be following his orders in her own search and I think Bucky may have been as well. Bruce... didn't seem keen on being much of a team player."

So Natasha had run into Bucky's Mirror. Steve frowns at that, because she'd still asked him for his opinion on it, but maybe she'd been more interested to learn about her Mirror. And who wouldn't be? He feels the same way.

It seems like his Mirror has retained all of his traits as a leader with none of the morals, which makes him extremely dangerous. To the point that some of his own kind are scared of him, whereas the others follow loyally. Or as loyally as a Mirror can.

Save for Bruce. Even among their actual team, he'd been the one most reluctant to join. "What was he keen on?" Steve asks after a pause. "We didn't hear too much about him when we were over there."

Natasha gives a short huffed breath of laughter and pushes her hair back off her face.

"Let's just say he has considerably less interest in restraint than our Bruce," she answers dryly, giving him a knowing look. She knew Steve would catch onto the meaning there quick. And potentially the games of cat-and-mouse she ended up playing in order to keep the Other Other Guy away from everyone else.

Steve catches on without even missing a beat. He's seen Bruce lose control, and he's also seen him exert it, and there's a marked difference in how the Hulk behaves.

It's a shock that the mansion's even in one piece of his Mirror had been tearing through it, but Wonderland has a way of repairing itself.

At least Natasha has experience with outrunning the giant rage monster, but it really isn't fair that she had to go through something like that again. "Great," he says with a weary sigh. "I'm sorry you were stuck dealing with it pretty much on your own." Bucky may have been on this side for most of the time, but Steve, Bruce, and Clint had all been dragged over, taking most of the team away.

"I made do," she answers, flashing him a wry smile when he apologizes for something he had no control over. "Besides, from what I've picked up on, you all had your hands full over there anyway. We all got through it, for the most part. That's something. Now we just have to come up with what we learned and see if any of the pieces fit together to give us a better idea of what we're dealing with. We should probably call a meeting soon, once people are feeling up to it. I saw Bruce, briefly. I think he's going to need a day or two of rest before he's anything resembling coherent."

They got through it, but not completely unscathed. Steve and Natasha have been through worse together, so it's not her that he's worried about. It's Darcy, it's Pepper, it's those people who they are responsible for who got pulled into a completely unpredictable situation. One of them died, and maybe it could have been worse, but this hardly feels like a victory.

Some battles are lost, but the war's still going. Steve just has to remind himself of that.

When Natasha mentions Bruce, Steve glances up from where he'd been staring at his hands wrung together and then nods. "Yeah, I think everyone's going to need a few days to catch their breath." Maybe more than that, for some people. "Bruce was a huge help on the other side, though. We owe him a lot."

He can at least call the Avengers in to talk everything over and then disseminate information from there. That seems to be the best way to handle things with such a large group.

She doesn't bring up the details of some of what she encountered, but some things are better left buried, unexplained and forgotten, as long as she could keep them that way. And as for Loki... well, she didn't quite have an explanation for that yet anyway.

So she just nods in agreement to his statement. "Yeah I feel like I could sleep for a week at the moment. Suddenly the harmless little events where we have puppies everywhere and go to high school seem like a walk in the park."

The mention of Bruce has her lips curving faintly. "You should tell him that, when you get the chance. I think it would mean a lot to him."

Steve's shoulders shudder with a laugh that doesn't quite might it out, and then he nods. "I would even take singing at this point." He doesn't really mean that.

But they're all here and alive, if only because Wonderland doesn't let anyone stay dead. Steve can't help but be glad for that in this moment, although the real solution would be to not let this place turn into some kind of death trap.

When Natasha suggests he tell that directly to Bruce, Steve nods. He realizes that Bruce doesn't often get the chance to be the hero, and he should be acknowledged for it. "I will," he promises.

"No," she states succinctly and gives him a scowling look, although it's still mostly in play. Probably. "No, the singing is still infinitely worse."

His agreement about Bruce has her expression softening a hint and she nods in approval. "Good. That would be good. Is there anything else I should know?"

Steve barks out a laugh and shakes his head at her. "You don't have much reason to complain. You keep wriggling your way out of it." Or if Natasha has done any singing, Steve hasn't been allowed to see it. He's a little hurt -- aren't they friends?

There's something else Steve could tell her about Bucky's Mirror, but if she's allowed to have secrets, then so is he. It's not that important anyway.

"I think Darcy and Pepper were hit the hardest by all this. If you check in on anyone, it should be them." Natasha may not consider herself the touchy-feely type, but she's actually pretty good at reassurances. Steve knows that from experience. She's helped him through some rough spots.

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