New York City, Thursday Evening (Fandom Time)
What Billy had wanted to do after realizing that the Super-Skrull had kidnapped Teddy was dive out the hole in his apartment wall, with or without the other Young Avengers behind him, and do whatever it took to get Teddy back.
What Billy had to do was try to calm down his mother, who was quickly descending into shock, and finally give in and cast a sleeping spell on her so he and the others could get away.
Look, he was already going to be grounded for the rest of his natural life, so one more transgression on top of everything else couldn't hurt that much.
As much as none of them liked the idea, Kate was the first to point out that the next logical step had to be to seek out the Avengers. Unfortunately, when they'd gotten to Avengers Tower, they'd found only the Vision, and Jarvis. Jarvis was quick to pass them off onto the Vision for babysitting - there was really no other way to describe it - but things quickly looked up once the Vision pointed out that if they wanted to find Teddy themselves, they just needed to recruit more Young Avengers.
Of course, that had seemed like a better idea before they'd arrived at the juvenile detention facility. Inside the facility was a kid named Thomas Shepard. His super speed and ability to use it to blow stuff up had sounded great on paper, but...
"You could have mentioned where in New Jersey he was," Eli said.
"Relax, Eli. It's just juvie," Kate said.
"Just juvie?" Eli scoffed. "We wanted a Young Avenger, not a master of evil."
"You wanted someone powerful," the Vision said. "Thomas certainly fits that description."
From where he'd teleported everyone in, Billy slowly lowered them all to the ground, and looked around for any sign that they might have been spotted. "Why is he here?"
"He accidentally vaporized his school," the Vision replied, with robotic nonchalance.
"How do you accidentally vaporize a school?" Cassie asked, but the Vision was already headed for the main gates of the facility, where his body began to change until he looked like a security guard.
"In this holographic form, I should be able to retrieve Thomas without difficulty," he said.
Billy magicked himself into a matching uniform with a quick wave of his hands, and tried to straighten the hat over his unruly hair. "I'll go with you."
"Me too," Cassie said, without missing a beat.
"What should we do?" Eli asked, looking back and forth between Billy and Kate.
"Stay out here and keep an eye out for guards," Billy said, smiling softly at Kate. "And you can spend some time trying to think up a codename."
"Hey!" she said in protest, but Billy, Cassie, and the Vision were already heading inside.
"Vision, if Thomas can blow things up, why hasn't he escaped?" Cassie asked as they snuck down the hallway.
"I assume his cell is equipped with a power dampener. Once I override the security settings, he should return to normal," the Vision said, pressing his hand against the controls outside Thomas's cell. In one moment, there was a buzzing noise as the security system shorted out, and in the next moment, Billy and the others found themselves flying back as the doors to the cell exploded.
He was really going to have to avoid telling Topher how many times he'd gotten blown up today, or he might never be able to leave Fandom again.
"Vision, what did you do?" Cassie asked, as Billy tried to sit up without feeling dizzy.
From somewhere beyond the swirling dust of shattered rock, someone said, "He set me free."
Oh, that's a great sign, Billy thought. "Thomas?"
"It's Tommy," he said sharply, coming towards them, and Billy recognized the look of annoyance on Tommy's face, because it was the same look Billy got when he was pissed. The exact same look.
"Whoa," he said, standing up and staring at Tommy. If it hadn't been for the other boy's white-blond hair, it would have been like looking at a mirror.
"Whoa is right. You guys could be twins," Cassie said, and Billy was genuinely glad to have her backing up his thought process.
Tommy was looking too now, staring Billy down. "I know you. You're the Young Avengers," he said. "You're the shape-shifter, right?"
"No, he's the warlock," Cassie said.
"Um, witch, actually. 'Cause 'warlock' means 'oath-breaker' so it's really not a nice word and I'm just gonna shut up now," Billy said, trailing off. Luckily, there wasn't much time for embarrassment. Explosions had a funny way of bringing guards to the yard, and in this case, the yard had quickly filled with armed guards, agents, and flying droids. Billy and Cassie shared a look of horror, but Tommy looked excited.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," he said, running outside. "They've been keeping me locked up for months, testing me, probing me, trying to turn me into a living weapon." He grinned as he started moving his hands, and everything around them started shaking. "Let's see if it worked, huh?"
Billy was caught between trying to warn the guards, and trying to get Tommy out of there without him getting hurt, when Tommy spotted a group of doctors entering the yard.
"Hey doc, have you got time for one last test? Let's see how much I can accelerate your atomic structure before it explodes," he said, raising his hands higher. Billy heard Cassie gasp behind him, but before either of them could move, a black and purple blur knocked Tommy over.
"Down, boy. Young Avengers don't kill," Kate said sharply, staying on top of Tommy as they tumbled to the ground. From her viewpoint on top of him, she could see his face clearly, and leaned back in surprise. "Wow, you look just like--"
"The witch? So I've heard. Who are you?" Tommy asked. He didn't look like he minded having been knocked down, now that Kate was straddling him.
Kate stammered a little at the question. "Um, I'm--well..."
"See, this is when having a codename would come in handy," Eli pointed out, before staring as well when he got a good look at Tommy. "You really do look like--"
"Okay, I get it, really," Tommy said in exasperation. "Would someone tell me what the hell is going on?"
"You're being recruited," Eli said, offering Tommy a hand to get up from where Kate had left him on the ground.
Tommy looked around at all of them, but he took Eli's hand nonetheless. "How did you even find out about me?"
"We found you through him," Billy said, motioning to the Vision, who was back in his regular android form. "Let's go, I can explain on the way."
"Wiccan, wait," Eli said. "We didn't come here to free a super-powered teenage terrorist, we came here to rescue a superhero." He turned to Tommy, and everyone else followed suit. "So, what's it going to be?"
[[Adapted from Young Avengers #10. Warnings for violence and more explosions!]]
What Billy had to do was try to calm down his mother, who was quickly descending into shock, and finally give in and cast a sleeping spell on her so he and the others could get away.
Look, he was already going to be grounded for the rest of his natural life, so one more transgression on top of everything else couldn't hurt that much.
As much as none of them liked the idea, Kate was the first to point out that the next logical step had to be to seek out the Avengers. Unfortunately, when they'd gotten to Avengers Tower, they'd found only the Vision, and Jarvis. Jarvis was quick to pass them off onto the Vision for babysitting - there was really no other way to describe it - but things quickly looked up once the Vision pointed out that if they wanted to find Teddy themselves, they just needed to recruit more Young Avengers.
Of course, that had seemed like a better idea before they'd arrived at the juvenile detention facility. Inside the facility was a kid named Thomas Shepard. His super speed and ability to use it to blow stuff up had sounded great on paper, but...
"You could have mentioned where in New Jersey he was," Eli said.
"Relax, Eli. It's just juvie," Kate said.
"Just juvie?" Eli scoffed. "We wanted a Young Avenger, not a master of evil."
"You wanted someone powerful," the Vision said. "Thomas certainly fits that description."
From where he'd teleported everyone in, Billy slowly lowered them all to the ground, and looked around for any sign that they might have been spotted. "Why is he here?"
"He accidentally vaporized his school," the Vision replied, with robotic nonchalance.
"How do you accidentally vaporize a school?" Cassie asked, but the Vision was already headed for the main gates of the facility, where his body began to change until he looked like a security guard.
"In this holographic form, I should be able to retrieve Thomas without difficulty," he said.
Billy magicked himself into a matching uniform with a quick wave of his hands, and tried to straighten the hat over his unruly hair. "I'll go with you."
"Me too," Cassie said, without missing a beat.
"What should we do?" Eli asked, looking back and forth between Billy and Kate.
"Stay out here and keep an eye out for guards," Billy said, smiling softly at Kate. "And you can spend some time trying to think up a codename."
"Hey!" she said in protest, but Billy, Cassie, and the Vision were already heading inside.
"Vision, if Thomas can blow things up, why hasn't he escaped?" Cassie asked as they snuck down the hallway.
"I assume his cell is equipped with a power dampener. Once I override the security settings, he should return to normal," the Vision said, pressing his hand against the controls outside Thomas's cell. In one moment, there was a buzzing noise as the security system shorted out, and in the next moment, Billy and the others found themselves flying back as the doors to the cell exploded.
He was really going to have to avoid telling Topher how many times he'd gotten blown up today, or he might never be able to leave Fandom again.
"Vision, what did you do?" Cassie asked, as Billy tried to sit up without feeling dizzy.
From somewhere beyond the swirling dust of shattered rock, someone said, "He set me free."
Oh, that's a great sign, Billy thought. "Thomas?"
"It's Tommy," he said sharply, coming towards them, and Billy recognized the look of annoyance on Tommy's face, because it was the same look Billy got when he was pissed. The exact same look.
"Whoa," he said, standing up and staring at Tommy. If it hadn't been for the other boy's white-blond hair, it would have been like looking at a mirror.
"Whoa is right. You guys could be twins," Cassie said, and Billy was genuinely glad to have her backing up his thought process.
Tommy was looking too now, staring Billy down. "I know you. You're the Young Avengers," he said. "You're the shape-shifter, right?"
"No, he's the warlock," Cassie said.
"Um, witch, actually. 'Cause 'warlock' means 'oath-breaker' so it's really not a nice word and I'm just gonna shut up now," Billy said, trailing off. Luckily, there wasn't much time for embarrassment. Explosions had a funny way of bringing guards to the yard, and in this case, the yard had quickly filled with armed guards, agents, and flying droids. Billy and Cassie shared a look of horror, but Tommy looked excited.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," he said, running outside. "They've been keeping me locked up for months, testing me, probing me, trying to turn me into a living weapon." He grinned as he started moving his hands, and everything around them started shaking. "Let's see if it worked, huh?"
Billy was caught between trying to warn the guards, and trying to get Tommy out of there without him getting hurt, when Tommy spotted a group of doctors entering the yard.
"Hey doc, have you got time for one last test? Let's see how much I can accelerate your atomic structure before it explodes," he said, raising his hands higher. Billy heard Cassie gasp behind him, but before either of them could move, a black and purple blur knocked Tommy over.
"Down, boy. Young Avengers don't kill," Kate said sharply, staying on top of Tommy as they tumbled to the ground. From her viewpoint on top of him, she could see his face clearly, and leaned back in surprise. "Wow, you look just like--"
"The witch? So I've heard. Who are you?" Tommy asked. He didn't look like he minded having been knocked down, now that Kate was straddling him.
Kate stammered a little at the question. "Um, I'm--well..."
"See, this is when having a codename would come in handy," Eli pointed out, before staring as well when he got a good look at Tommy. "You really do look like--"
"Okay, I get it, really," Tommy said in exasperation. "Would someone tell me what the hell is going on?"
"You're being recruited," Eli said, offering Tommy a hand to get up from where Kate had left him on the ground.
Tommy looked around at all of them, but he took Eli's hand nonetheless. "How did you even find out about me?"
"We found you through him," Billy said, motioning to the Vision, who was back in his regular android form. "Let's go, I can explain on the way."
"Wiccan, wait," Eli said. "We didn't come here to free a super-powered teenage terrorist, we came here to rescue a superhero." He turned to Tommy, and everyone else followed suit. "So, what's it going to be?"
[[Adapted from Young Avengers #10. Warnings for violence and more explosions!]]