West Coast Avengers HQ- LA- Saturday
With the Jeremy situation taken care of, and things in the big battles he'd been denouncing ending, Maddie had gone back with the rest of her classmates to the West Coast Avengers' headquarters, where she had a room that she was currently ignoring in favor of hanging out in Brandon's bathroom while he checked his healing scars out in the mirror.
"They're really not that bad," she assured him. "And Dr. Pym says with more stem cell treatments they could still heal completely."
"Or not," he said, frowning into the mirror. "I'm an actor. A celebrity. If you can see the scars at all, my career's over."
"Come on. What about that guy with the burns who won Dancing With the Stars?"
"You suck at this, Maddie," Brandon sighed. "I am not going out there."
"Brandon, they're mutants. Some of them look a lot stranger than-"
Brandon glared.
"Oh. You know I didn't mean it like that." You go with your bad, accidentally-insulting self, Maddie.
Luckily any potential further awkwardness was cut off by Ken opening the door. "Dude, those X-punks are talking smack already. Let's go shut 'em up."
Despite all the complaining about not going out there, Brandon immediately turned for the door. "On my way."
Maddie stared after him for a second before finally shaking her head. "I will never understand guys."
With the X-Men and Avengers not actively trying to kill each other now, there'd been an event scheduled. A fun, easy game of football between Avengers Academy and the Jean Grey School. Maddie had no idea whose idea it was, but she thought it was cute of them to try. Avengers Academy had met up with Victor and Karolina and their friends, and the Xavier School students had been there for a while during the fighting, but Maddie's experience with other powered kids was mostly limited to the same people she'd shown up to school with.
Not that she was powered anymore.
A lot of the students she didn't know, or knew by reputation- one looked like a skeleton surrounded by a gelatinous blob, one boy was green and covered with what looked like spikes, one girl was just green, one guy looked like he was made of rock... Maddie was actually really glad that she was so used to Ken that she was beyond staring. At least the teachers she recognized: Rogue, Gambit, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Warbird, and Wolverine, because of course there was Wolverine.
"Attention, everyone!" Giant-Man called once everyone had gotten onto the field. "Welcome to the inaugural flag football game between Avengers Academ and the X-Men's Jean Grey School!"
"You guys are going down!" White Tiger said, getting the trash talk in early. "You're gonna eat our dust and go home crying!"
That was met with some weird alien language from what looked like a green, levitating sentient potato.
"Dude, smack talk is one thing," she said, "but that sounded obscene."
"Don't expect Doop to go easy on you'cause you're a girl," said a large guy who looked like he might be made of rock. His name was Rockslide, of course. "I hear he made Dr. Doom cry once."
Ignoring this, Giant-Man continued. "Before we start, let's go over the rules. This is not tackle football. When your flag is removed, you are out of play. By majority vote, powers are allowed, but not in any way that could harm oppononents."
"Any unnecessary roughness, you're out on your butts," Wolverine added.
"Also by majority vote, teachers will be participating," Giant-Man said. "Which I still think is a terrible idea."
Wolverine's smile was scary. Seriously. "Cause you know I owe you for sucker-punchin' me outta the Quinjet."
"But, Wolverine... that was during the conflict. That's all over now. You don't still hold a grudge, do you?"
"Let's play ball!"
While the students and teachers paired off by side, Maddie made her way towards the bleachers and stood there awkwardly, deciding to focus on watching everyone else have fun rather than feeling sorry for herself. And in a way, she was glad she did when the opening throw ended in Hawkeye firing arrows from one end as Iceman fired shards of ice from the other, which had them piercing each other's projectiles into the ground. And everyone kind of standing there wondering what just happened.
"Hawkeye and Iceman are ejected," Kitty said, jerking her thumb back towards the bleachers. Apparently someone got to take her referee job seriously today.
"Oh, come on!" Hawkeye protested.
"For what?" asked Iceman. "Excessive awesomeness?"
After she'd sent the guys off the field to go make friends, Kitty came back to the bleachers, standing next to Maddie with a little purple dragon curling up around her neck. "You're Veil, right?" she said. "You just lost your powers?"
"No offense, Ms. Pryde, but I look as it as being cured," Maddie admitted. "I would have ended up like a ghost in a few years."
"I've been stuck that way myself," Kitty shared, sounding sympathetic. "Not fun. Congratulations. But why aren't you playing?"
Maddie felt kind of awkward saying it, really. "Well... I'm back to normal now. And it turns out that means more than not being a ghost. I'm not as strong or as fast. I think I'm going to need glasses again. I..." Ugh, if she was word vomiting, she might as well just keep going. Especially since the one time she'd met the Kitty in Fandom had been trying to figure out whose baggage was whose in the dungeon, so really. "I mean, I don't want to sound ungrateful. I'm happy I won't be untouchable. But I didn't realize it meant I'd go back to being the loser I was in school."
Kitty looked at her like that sounded completely ridiculous. "You were trained to fight by Captain America. You've been to other dimensions. You've saved lives. I don't know what makes you think you were a loser before, but you're not that anymore. Now get out there and show them what you can still do."
Oh. Uh. Maddie would feel really pathetic not going out after that. "But... the sides are full..."
Kitty turned to look back at the field, and spotted the green girl holding a pink-haired boy a good foot off the ground by her shirt. "Quentin Quire! Lyra! Ejected for unnecessary roughness!"
Then she turned back to Maddie and said, "There was bound to be someone. Go."
Maddie had barely gotten into the game before Anole had scored the first touchdown, which led to Jenny trying to face down Rockslide and finding out that it was not smart to try and kick a guy made of rock in the junk. Then as they regrouped, Humberto pushed Brandon towards one particular spot. "C'mon, Striker, you line up against Anole."
"That's stupid," Brandon complained. "He's a lot faster than me. What about Julie, or-"
Maddie totally got what Humberto was doing, though. Anole was gay, Brandon was gay, maybe they'd hit it off! (Sorry, everyone, Maddie was totally that person.) "Just do it!" she said, and headed off to her own spot before he could do any more protesting.
And as soon as the ball was in play, Anole had jumped way higher than Brandon with an, "Intercepted!"
"You were right," Humberto said. "You're terrible."
"Line up against Glob Herman," White Tiger said.
The next time someone threw the football, Humberto was a tyrannosaurus, so not even Rogue could get the ball when she was flying. As Maddie, Giant-Man and a still-annoyed Brandon headed to where they needed to be, Giant-Man said, "You know, I don't mind admitting I was wrong. This is- a lot of fun-"
And then he got tackled from behind by Wolverine, who brushed himself off while Giant-Man was spitting out dirt and said, "Now we're even."
"Ejected!" Jocasta said.
"Both of you!" Kitty added.
"It was worth it," Wolverine decided.
"Much as I'd like to retaliate," Giant-Man said, brushing dirt off his costume, "I'm not going to. Because unlike you, I realize we have to set an example-"
"And I've got your example right here, you Molson-drinking, aboot-saying troll!" Tigra cried, launching herself at Wolverine with her claws out.
"Bring it," said Wolverine, also with his claws out.
"Um, honey?" Giant Man called as the two duked it out. "Can we not eviscerate people in front of the kids?"
"I will handle this, Henry," Jocasta said, rubbing her hands together till electricity sparked. "Charging taser."
A few moments later Tigra's fur and hair was frizzed and standing on end, and with smoke coming off his skin, Wolverine said, "Still worth it."
Hawkeye turned to fistbump Iceman. "At least we got ejected for being awesome, am I right?"
Since all their other teachers had been ejected now, Julie pulled Quicksilver into the game, only to have him immediately get into a fight with Warbird that had Jocasta doing her taser thing again. Every time Maddie looked over at Kitty, she was facepalming.
While they wondered what to do now since all the non-referee teachers had been ejected, Wolverine cupped his hand around his mouth and called, "Okay, everyone, change up! Now that you've all seen what you can do, Avengers students and X-Men students on the same teams."
If the teachers though the game would get any less rough with them out of it, they were wrong. It wasn't long before Glob Herman had Ken in a headlock and Julie was in the air more than anywhere else. And as Jenny grabbed the flag off of Anole, she cried, "Safety! Two points! That makes... uh. Hey, Jocasta, what's the score?"
"Good luck getting an answer," Rockslide said, and sure enough, to look over by the bleachers, the teachers had started grilling and drinking.
"Are they always like that?" Ken wondered.
"Worse, usually," Rockslide admitted. "Yours?"
"The same. But they've been through a lot lately," he said, looking to where Hawkeye had shot a fire arrow next to Iceman, who had iced up Tigra's tail. Ah, teachers, bastions of maturity. "And they're really trying. All any of us can do, right? I gotta tell ya, though, meeting you guys... Well, it's nice to know we're not alone. That the family next door's as crazy as yours. You know what? We should make this a regular thing."
[Clint and Bobby are my favorite part of this whole issue. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from Avengers Academy #38.]
"They're really not that bad," she assured him. "And Dr. Pym says with more stem cell treatments they could still heal completely."
"Or not," he said, frowning into the mirror. "I'm an actor. A celebrity. If you can see the scars at all, my career's over."
"Come on. What about that guy with the burns who won Dancing With the Stars?"
"You suck at this, Maddie," Brandon sighed. "I am not going out there."
"Brandon, they're mutants. Some of them look a lot stranger than-"
Brandon glared.
"Oh. You know I didn't mean it like that." You go with your bad, accidentally-insulting self, Maddie.
Luckily any potential further awkwardness was cut off by Ken opening the door. "Dude, those X-punks are talking smack already. Let's go shut 'em up."
Despite all the complaining about not going out there, Brandon immediately turned for the door. "On my way."
Maddie stared after him for a second before finally shaking her head. "I will never understand guys."
With the X-Men and Avengers not actively trying to kill each other now, there'd been an event scheduled. A fun, easy game of football between Avengers Academy and the Jean Grey School. Maddie had no idea whose idea it was, but she thought it was cute of them to try. Avengers Academy had met up with Victor and Karolina and their friends, and the Xavier School students had been there for a while during the fighting, but Maddie's experience with other powered kids was mostly limited to the same people she'd shown up to school with.
Not that she was powered anymore.
A lot of the students she didn't know, or knew by reputation- one looked like a skeleton surrounded by a gelatinous blob, one boy was green and covered with what looked like spikes, one girl was just green, one guy looked like he was made of rock... Maddie was actually really glad that she was so used to Ken that she was beyond staring. At least the teachers she recognized: Rogue, Gambit, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Warbird, and Wolverine, because of course there was Wolverine.
"Attention, everyone!" Giant-Man called once everyone had gotten onto the field. "Welcome to the inaugural flag football game between Avengers Academ and the X-Men's Jean Grey School!"
"You guys are going down!" White Tiger said, getting the trash talk in early. "You're gonna eat our dust and go home crying!"
That was met with some weird alien language from what looked like a green, levitating sentient potato.
"Dude, smack talk is one thing," she said, "but that sounded obscene."
"Don't expect Doop to go easy on you'cause you're a girl," said a large guy who looked like he might be made of rock. His name was Rockslide, of course. "I hear he made Dr. Doom cry once."
Ignoring this, Giant-Man continued. "Before we start, let's go over the rules. This is not tackle football. When your flag is removed, you are out of play. By majority vote, powers are allowed, but not in any way that could harm oppononents."
"Any unnecessary roughness, you're out on your butts," Wolverine added.
"Also by majority vote, teachers will be participating," Giant-Man said. "Which I still think is a terrible idea."
Wolverine's smile was scary. Seriously. "Cause you know I owe you for sucker-punchin' me outta the Quinjet."
"But, Wolverine... that was during the conflict. That's all over now. You don't still hold a grudge, do you?"
"Let's play ball!"
While the students and teachers paired off by side, Maddie made her way towards the bleachers and stood there awkwardly, deciding to focus on watching everyone else have fun rather than feeling sorry for herself. And in a way, she was glad she did when the opening throw ended in Hawkeye firing arrows from one end as Iceman fired shards of ice from the other, which had them piercing each other's projectiles into the ground. And everyone kind of standing there wondering what just happened.
"Hawkeye and Iceman are ejected," Kitty said, jerking her thumb back towards the bleachers. Apparently someone got to take her referee job seriously today.
"Oh, come on!" Hawkeye protested.
"For what?" asked Iceman. "Excessive awesomeness?"
After she'd sent the guys off the field to go make friends, Kitty came back to the bleachers, standing next to Maddie with a little purple dragon curling up around her neck. "You're Veil, right?" she said. "You just lost your powers?"
"No offense, Ms. Pryde, but I look as it as being cured," Maddie admitted. "I would have ended up like a ghost in a few years."
"I've been stuck that way myself," Kitty shared, sounding sympathetic. "Not fun. Congratulations. But why aren't you playing?"
Maddie felt kind of awkward saying it, really. "Well... I'm back to normal now. And it turns out that means more than not being a ghost. I'm not as strong or as fast. I think I'm going to need glasses again. I..." Ugh, if she was word vomiting, she might as well just keep going. Especially since the one time she'd met the Kitty in Fandom had been trying to figure out whose baggage was whose in the dungeon, so really. "I mean, I don't want to sound ungrateful. I'm happy I won't be untouchable. But I didn't realize it meant I'd go back to being the loser I was in school."
Kitty looked at her like that sounded completely ridiculous. "You were trained to fight by Captain America. You've been to other dimensions. You've saved lives. I don't know what makes you think you were a loser before, but you're not that anymore. Now get out there and show them what you can still do."
Oh. Uh. Maddie would feel really pathetic not going out after that. "But... the sides are full..."
Kitty turned to look back at the field, and spotted the green girl holding a pink-haired boy a good foot off the ground by her shirt. "Quentin Quire! Lyra! Ejected for unnecessary roughness!"
Then she turned back to Maddie and said, "There was bound to be someone. Go."
Maddie had barely gotten into the game before Anole had scored the first touchdown, which led to Jenny trying to face down Rockslide and finding out that it was not smart to try and kick a guy made of rock in the junk. Then as they regrouped, Humberto pushed Brandon towards one particular spot. "C'mon, Striker, you line up against Anole."
"That's stupid," Brandon complained. "He's a lot faster than me. What about Julie, or-"
Maddie totally got what Humberto was doing, though. Anole was gay, Brandon was gay, maybe they'd hit it off! (Sorry, everyone, Maddie was totally that person.) "Just do it!" she said, and headed off to her own spot before he could do any more protesting.
And as soon as the ball was in play, Anole had jumped way higher than Brandon with an, "Intercepted!"
"You were right," Humberto said. "You're terrible."
"Line up against Glob Herman," White Tiger said.
The next time someone threw the football, Humberto was a tyrannosaurus, so not even Rogue could get the ball when she was flying. As Maddie, Giant-Man and a still-annoyed Brandon headed to where they needed to be, Giant-Man said, "You know, I don't mind admitting I was wrong. This is- a lot of fun-"
And then he got tackled from behind by Wolverine, who brushed himself off while Giant-Man was spitting out dirt and said, "Now we're even."
"Ejected!" Jocasta said.
"Both of you!" Kitty added.
"It was worth it," Wolverine decided.
"Much as I'd like to retaliate," Giant-Man said, brushing dirt off his costume, "I'm not going to. Because unlike you, I realize we have to set an example-"
"And I've got your example right here, you Molson-drinking, aboot-saying troll!" Tigra cried, launching herself at Wolverine with her claws out.
"Bring it," said Wolverine, also with his claws out.
"Um, honey?" Giant Man called as the two duked it out. "Can we not eviscerate people in front of the kids?"
"I will handle this, Henry," Jocasta said, rubbing her hands together till electricity sparked. "Charging taser."
A few moments later Tigra's fur and hair was frizzed and standing on end, and with smoke coming off his skin, Wolverine said, "Still worth it."
Hawkeye turned to fistbump Iceman. "At least we got ejected for being awesome, am I right?"
Since all their other teachers had been ejected now, Julie pulled Quicksilver into the game, only to have him immediately get into a fight with Warbird that had Jocasta doing her taser thing again. Every time Maddie looked over at Kitty, she was facepalming.
While they wondered what to do now since all the non-referee teachers had been ejected, Wolverine cupped his hand around his mouth and called, "Okay, everyone, change up! Now that you've all seen what you can do, Avengers students and X-Men students on the same teams."
If the teachers though the game would get any less rough with them out of it, they were wrong. It wasn't long before Glob Herman had Ken in a headlock and Julie was in the air more than anywhere else. And as Jenny grabbed the flag off of Anole, she cried, "Safety! Two points! That makes... uh. Hey, Jocasta, what's the score?"
"Good luck getting an answer," Rockslide said, and sure enough, to look over by the bleachers, the teachers had started grilling and drinking.
"Are they always like that?" Ken wondered.
"Worse, usually," Rockslide admitted. "Yours?"
"The same. But they've been through a lot lately," he said, looking to where Hawkeye had shot a fire arrow next to Iceman, who had iced up Tigra's tail. Ah, teachers, bastions of maturity. "And they're really trying. All any of us can do, right? I gotta tell ya, though, meeting you guys... Well, it's nice to know we're not alone. That the family next door's as crazy as yours. You know what? We should make this a regular thing."
[Clint and Bobby are my favorite part of this whole issue. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from Avengers Academy #38.]