In Hot Water (cue the cannons!)

[evilst]

"I'm not going to ask what you all were thinking, going after Hulkling."  Captain America said, doing his level best to keep his voice calm... and not doing a very good job of it.  "But I do want to know what was going through your minds when you broke him," he thrust an finger in Tommy's direction, "out of a federal institution."

They were in the

Comments

I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[evilst]

Iron Man waited only a moment for Captain America to nod in reply to his request before continuing. "You brought this situation to us, so now you're going to have to live with how we choose to deal with it." He paused as his armor updated him yet again, replayed a short segment from a midnight news program.

"So don't interrupt me until I'm done. We need to know everything that's happened. What we know -- which is mostly from the news reports, since we only just got back from South America to hear about this and go find you lot -- is that after two incidents involving the Super-Skrull which endangered innocent civilians, your families, and resulted in several tons of property damage, several injuries and one fatality -- you came to Avengers Tower looking for help. Then, when we weren't here, instead of waiting for us to return, you took a situation where you were in over your heads and made it worse by taking it upon yourselves to break a super-powered juvenile offender out of a federal holding facility, resulting in yet more

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[notahawkingbird]

No one else spoke up right away, so Kate took it upon herself to mention the other thing. "The Super-Skrull seemed to think Hulkling was royalty or something. Kept calling him 'Your Highness' and 'hatchling' like it was Swan Princess for the new millennium. The Kree were claiming him too, so I don't know what's really going on, but at this point Teddy could be king of the universe and it wouldn't fix anything."

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[teddyaltman]

If it was any other subject (on any other day) Teddy wouldn't have minded Kate's tone and words so much. He breathed in deeply through his nose and then took over, shrugging away the hands and touches that sought to comfort him, and let the words flow steadily, staring from Iron Man to Captain America as he spoke.

"Kl'rt -- the Super-Skrull thought -- thinks I'm a Skrull because I can shape-shift. That's why he came after us both times. My mom went to Billy's place to find me, and he killed her when she pulled a gun on him. And then he kidnapped me. I don't know anything about --" he paused, turning to look at the boy who resembled his boyfriend so much, "--Thomas? That's your name, right?"

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[tommyshepard]

"Tommy." He corrected, looking up from his inspection of the carpet. He hadn't really expected anyone to talk to him since he'd been a bit of a late add-on and only knew what he'd been told en route to rescuing Hulking. "They-" he pointed the the others "Rescued me from the facility and said they needed my help to go against that Super Skrull guy and I agreed. Helping was the least I could do to get out of there. I don't really know what happened before."

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[vision_ya]

Yes, because the Young Avengers called up the Super-Skrull and said "Hey, we're going to be out in a public place in our civvies. Why don't you come and attack us? It'll be fun!" is what the Vision carefully did not say.

It was times like this when the Vision sort of wished that he needed to breathe. Instead, he had to find some other way to calm down so that he was able to respond rationally.

Thank goodness for Luke Cage, at least. The Vision had been beginning to wonder if becoming an adult meant losing sight of helping your friends and loved ones.

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[billykaplan]

"You think we asked for this to happen?" Billy said after he had finished staring at Iron Man in silence. "The Super-Skrull kidnapped Teddy while we were out in our civvies! You guys weren't anywhere to be found, and I sure as hell wasn't going to wait while God only knows what was happening to him!"

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[evilst]

::Thomas Shepherd, age sixteen. Mutant. Juvenile inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility, Wrightstown, New Jersey. Escaped and at large. He is to be considered extremely dangerous due to his abilities--::"That's enough, Armor. Stop playback." Iron Man subvocalized the command as Billy spoke. Three times already he'd heard the same facts; the news reports were starting to rehash each other's words again, and that meant that there was nothing new to be learned from the media right now. "Crossreference all incoming information with information already on file. Report if any new information arises

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[notahawkingbird]

"Yeah, are we grounded or what?" Kate asked, making a mental note to thank the Avengers who were actually siding with them when she had a better chance.

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[tommyshepard]

Lucky his behind. It was because of the threat to be left there that no one else had died; if Tommy had his way he would have turned that place and everyone in it into a large smoking crater full of ash. It wouldn't make him, or the Young Avengers, look any better if he said that though.

He nodded his agreement to what the girl was saying. "What are you going to do with us?" And by 'us' he meant 'me'.

And maybe Hulking; having his mother die and then be told he was an alien had to suck a lot. Tommy was surprised he seemed to be dealing so well; he'd been fairly broken up when his mother had ditched him, he doubted he'd take her dying well.

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[vision_ya]

The Vision had concluded that now wasn't the time to bring up Tommy's behavior when they had broken him out. Perhaps he could bring it up later when tensions weren't running so high and tempers so hot.

"[They were experimenting on Tommy.]" he repeated. "[He's a sixteen-year-old boy and they were trying to turn him into a human weapon. We went there to get someone with fire-power to rescue Teddy and we got him. He's part of the team now. And even if he wasn't, we still wouldn't let them take him back to experiment on him more.]"

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[evilst]

"You said that already." Iron Man said. "We'll look into it. If it's true, then we will make other arrangements. Until then, he's staying here where we can keep an eye on him." There was something strange about the boy. Something too familiar, something that should be setting off mental alarms, but Tony wasn't sure what. The resemblance to Wiccan was uncanny.

::Performing requested function.::

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[billykaplan]

"If?" Billy said darkly. He was trying very, very hard to not blow up at them again... and succeeded in only accidentily blowing up a light fixture.

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[evilst]

Spider-Man lept off the ceiling, landing in front of Billy and staring straight into his face. "Hey hey hey! Watch it with the lightning bolts, kid! We're all on the same side here." He stood up, looking at his fellow Avengers.

"I think we all need to take a deep breath, let it out slowly... breath in, breath out. Very zen, you know?"

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[evilst]

Jarvis cleared his throat in that discreet way butlers seem to have. "Mr. and Mrs. Kaplin are asking to see their son and Hulkling," he said.

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[teddyaltman]

Recruiting Tommy had been reckless in the extreme, if the way the Avengers were acting around him was any indication; on the other hand, if what he was saying was true, then there was a lot that was going to need to be explained.

"Billy. It's okay." One broad hand had raised to touch Billy's shoulder, pull him back towards the empty chair at his side, when Jarvis spoke.

Re: I think it's time we discussed the facts.

[billykaplan]

"No it's not." Billy said softly, putting his hand over Teddy's. He looked to Iron Man, and his voice held more than a little chill. "Can we see them, please?"