(Untitled)
Normally, Jennifer Walters always has a somewhat stable portal to Milliways from a certain infamous restaurant in New York City. It's a gamble; half the time when she opens the door to Pascha's she gets Milliways, and the other half she gets five star and five alarm tandoori chicken, pakoras, and naan. Either way, she usually has an interesting
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Still, she is a friend, or was.
So, he watches.
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Below that hair, a handsome face that she last saw during a somewhat awkward and strained exchange between two groups of people that would have rather been elsewhere.
It doesn't matter; Milliways isn't attached to the United States, and Jen, as an upholder of the law, also knows when she isn't supposed to be upholding it, namely outside terra firma America.
She stands, and walks over to his table.
"Nathan Christopher Charles Summers Dayspring Askani'son."
She holds out her right hand.
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"Jennifer Walters. Fancy seeing you here. Buy you a-- another drink?"
He offers a grin to her, eye flashing. A wait rat jumps, and scurries off to grab what he has ordered, quietly.
He gestures with his other hand toward a seat.
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And then there's his grin, which either means that he's conquered half of Europe by now or is genuinely full of goodwill.
So she clasps his hand and gives it a little squeeze, then sits down.
"Hiya, Nate. Neutral territory, okay?"
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He surveys her for a moment.
"Of course. "
He bites back some other comment, probably a nasty one, and nods. A flicker of something darker cross his face, then he nods.
"How are things for you?"
Avoid the subject, shall we? Or not, or... hell, Nathan has no idea what he wants to do at this point, not after what happened.
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Because Jen's about had it with Registration, with sudden relocations of abode, with not knowing where her cousin is, and with everything else.
"You may not believe this, but I miss Nick."
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"I am sure he would be glad to hear that. Seeing as he is another on the top list."
He shakes his head and nods as the wait rats bring them two very large mugs of froth topped draft beer.
He takes a sip, and a deep breath, then nods, his face going through half a dozen permutations. Finally he takes another breath and lets it out.
"Should you ever need a place, my island is open to you."
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"Wow. Nate..."
She's tempted. Very, very tempted.
"That's very generous of you, since right now I'm sure you think of me as a fascist trying to line people up for the Negative Zone."
She takes a careful sip of beer, watching him.
"I wish Nick would come back. I wish he'd come back and boot Maria Hill into the Crab Nebula. Listen, I don't like her, at all, I don't like this whole thing, and I'm kind of in a hard place here."
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"I don't like what you did. I don't like what you are doing. An I will take it apart if I can, piece by piece. But as long as you respect the laws and peace of my land, you are welcome."
He looks back at her, eye burning brilliant silver.
"I don't believe anyone should be caged."
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"Nate, I don't have any jurisdiction outside the U.S. I don't want any jurisdiction outside the U.S. I'd never come to Providence and do anything less than obey the laws of the land. Tony and Hank may be gung ho about pursuing American nationals outside our borders, but I'm not touching that. In fact, I'm waiting for the first superpowered American dragged out of the air over Canada to sue, and sue loudly. I might even take the case."
She's surprised, and along with that is a profound sinking feeling of total helplessness.
How, how, HOW did things get so bad?
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"Stark stepped in it this time. You know the politics have hit the fan on this? The US is now losing more diplomatic points than ever in history. And Providence? Isn't that far from the US."
He shakes his head and sips his beer.
"Registration is wrong, is going to cause more deaths, and only going to lead to a bad end."
The words are bitter in his mouth.
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"You have a law degree. Don't you?"
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He looks into her eyes and there is sheer determination in them.
"Stark's playteam may run around and wave the Avengers flag, but the real avengers are still out there, and still fighting the good fight. That is where you belong, not in Stark's own personal army."
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She does remember, and he was the most adorable baby to ever adorable, if adorable was a verb.
"I lived with Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny, remember? Reed once flowcharted out all the timelines that have appeared and disappeared since you graced the Earth. For fun. At the dinner table. Askani and otherwise."
Jen's always wanted to know more about the Askani, because women in charge sounds much more reasonable all around, but now clearly is not the time.
"Who's to say who the 'real' Avengers are now?"
She holds up her fingers in air quotes, to make her point.
"There've been hundreds of us. Is it so hard to believe that not all of us agree about something? That's like trying to say who the real X-Men are. I can't keep track anymore; is it the X-Men, X-Factor, Xcalibur, or X-Force? Is Rogue on the team or off, as of last week?"
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His eyes narrow as he considers her.
"Now you are acting like a lawyer."
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"I'm not evading the question, if that's what you mean. That's my point, Nate. I am a lawyer. Every day when I go to court, I'm reminded that I am charged with upholding the law, with honoring the law, and that I, as an attorney, am part of a larger deliberate social construct that retains the integrity of the law. Because as a civil society, that's the foundation of what makes a society hold together, at least in the 21st century. I even have to uphold laws that I don't like, Nathan. So don't give me that lawyer line, okay?"
Her eyes don't leave his face while she risks a sip of beer.
"Sometimes, people have to make a judgement as to whether or not the law can or should be overturned, circumvented, or broken. When you decide that the law is untenable to your personal morality, that's when that cleavage occurs. You know that as well as I do, and that is what this entire fight is about. I have to uphold the law, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. I hate it, I hate this entire war that ( ... )
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