Not the killing type

“Wow, that is quite a few people.  Makes my little group look like spare change.”   Very impressive that they could gather so many healthy people in one place.  “I’ve seen some groups of people out there, but nothing like what you are describing.”  Not everyone that she shepherded along the way wanted to go this far.   At least she left friends in her wake, and very stubborn people willing to follow her.  Or at least the promise the suit might represent.

“Wait, Phil Coulson?  I thought he was dead?”   Which happened a long time ago.  Long before that day when the world changed yet again. This time far more severely than anyone could anticipate.  So this would be quite shocking news.

“Everyone counts,” Bek said with a shrug, “growing this place is surprisingly satisfying.  At this size, of course there are conflicts, but inside the walls I don’t feel unsafe?  I’m a brown mutant woman, this is entirely new for me.”  Her tone was jocular, but it was true.  Moving about in the world had always been dangerous for her, she could leave her apartment without fear now.

He inclined his head a soft near smile in his face as he watched the puppy’s antics.   Beaker had no reason to think anyone might cause him harm.  Nothing inhibiting his interactions with people.  If he could he would keep it that way.   That line of thinking drifted to a lower awareness as the primary focus remained on Bek.

“That sounds ideal.   Being able to quiet things would be nice.”  It could have applications when sensory information became a bit overwhelming.   “How do I start?”   There must be something beyond just getting into strange poses.

She decided she was happy to move onto the grass, and crossed her legs beneath her.  She indicated that he should sit on the mat beside her.  “I’ll show you how you should breathe,” she said, scratching under the dog’s chin when he followed her.  

Nakia was used to detachable limbs, after all, she’d lived with Bucky for almost two years, in fairly close quarters. That said, she had to admit Bek’s work was impressive, if only for the fact those two were clearly not the first or only designs. She reminded her fleetingly of the dozen different sketches of the black panther suit back in Shuri’s lab, some of them turning into fully fledged prototypes. She let out a small smile at the beauty of the intricate patterns on the engineer’s detached limb before returning to the conversation at hand. 

“I’ll chaperone.” she offered, a small thrill of excitement appearing at the prospect of being outside. She was very glad she had Haven, but she missed the days she could roam freely. It was one of the reasons she became part of the scouting parties as soon as she arrived. “I’m no Dora, my bodyguard abilities are not as tuned, but my zombie killing ones have had no complaints.” she joked, smiling slightly with mirth. 

As Bek explained what she thought was the problem she took the chance to unhook her ring blades from her belt, listening in attentively as she checked the vibranium induced field still worked properly. “Do we have some sort of contingency system should those fail?” she asked cautiously.

She smiled at Nakia’s offer, she could tell that the other woman was itching to get outside from body language alone, so she didn’t bother to object.  “Well, since no one’s out to assassinate me -- that I’m aware of -- less than a Dora is probably more than enough skill,” she replied with good humour.  She locked the field arm in place and engaged it, flexing her mechanical fingers and rotating her elbow to make sure everything was in order.  

Nakia let out a soft laugh, tilting her head to a side. “Oh trust me, there’s nothing that escapes her. She is the biggest gossip, but she’ll tell you its all for ‘research purposes.’” she did the quotation mark gesture with her hands, coming to stand by Bek’s desk and leaning her hip against it. 

As she spoke, Nakia nodded along, glad that it was not an immediate thread, but fully understanding the other woman’s concern. Prevention was key in the world they were living in, and sensors to warn them on time were crucial to their survival. However as Bek mentioned exiting the walls, she frowned. “Woah, hold on. You surely aren’t planning to exit the walls on your own, are you?”

“Mm, research purposes.  I know that one.”  She laughed.

“I mean, I would be looking to find someone who would go with me.  I spent plenty of time out there on my own but I’d rather not repeat that nonsense.  Not when there are actual trained fighters to watch my back while I try to figure out what’s wrong.  All I’ve got is a built in taser, and an experimental targeting system that still needs work.”  Of course her artificial eye and arm had to be able to work in tandem, but weapons systems were never her cup of tea before.

rebekahwinters: 

Bek nodded gravely, acknowledging the feeling she got, which was that this was not overly public information.  When he began to succumb to emotion, she put her flesh and blood hand on his uninjured forearm, “I’ll get this done as fast as I can, so you can go find out, either way.”  She gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

Coulson nodded, patting her hand with his one that he had left, “thank you, Rebekah, I really mean that.” Taking a deep breath he laughed sadly, “sorry, I think I’ve just been on the run for so long, I don’t think I’ve realized how much I haven’t processed.” 

“I don’t want to keep you if you have other duties or if we need to keep the line clear.”  While she enjoyed talking with her friend Pepper also understood the necessities of running a place like Haven.  Hers couldn’t be the only group to have found their broadcasts and followed the coordinates.   Having Friday as an extra set of eyes helped her split her attention but she couldn’t completely ignore her duties either.

“How many people do you have in Haven?”   Pepper felt curious about what exactly they would find.  How her little group would fit in.  “Anything or anyone of note?”

“Uhh, I haven’t actually looked at the count for a bit.  I think we were closing in on 700.  There’s talk of more expansion work, give people some more space, be a little more ambitious.  I think we’ll make a big smoke of this place in no time,” perhaps an exaggeration, but she did anticipate their numbers growing, and they would need to make their acreage larger to accommodate.  

Isaac reached down and unclipped the leash.   A signal to Beaker that he was free to run around if he wanted.   The puppy bounded forward, not quite tripping over his own paws.   He’d been growing, no longer the small armful the teen first met, though not close to his full grown size either. Eager to meet the interesting person he sniffed her finger before trying to lick Bek.

“I don’t require much sleep.”   An oblique answer at best while remaining truthful.   Then again if he wanted help perhaps sharing some of the information might be best.  “I have a very active mind.”

She grinned and let the dog move past her outstretched arm and over to investigate her properly, laughing as he licked her face.  She looked back up at Isaac as she petted Beaker, allowing him to investigate her.

He heard her talking, he nodded along slowly, taking note to call someone if he felt warm; but all he could focus on was the fact she’d have to touch his chest. Stitch up his chest. The thought of that made him feel sick.

Bek wasn’t out to hurt him, right? She was just trying to help him.

He was staring at his hand too long. He hadn’t said anything for a long time. He looked up at her, blinking back the tunnel vision that usually followed his panic.

“Yeah. Slow. That… That should work just fine.” He flexed his hand, feeling the texture of his pants on his palm.

She took a fresh piece of gauze and tipped alcohol onto it.  “Here, take my hand, you can squeeze it as much as you want, and you can tell me if you need a break,” she put her natural hand in his, and when he was ready, she began to dab at one of the cuts on his chest.  She wanted it clean before she stitched anything up.

    Bobby had just rescued a rather nice blunt from his shirt pocket when he heard Bek’s voice. 

   “There may be a footstool in the shed. But I tried sitting on that thing once. You’re better off on the grass.” He really should break that death trap down for scrap metal.

   “Care to partake?” He asked, holding the joint between two fingers to share.  “It’s been a while. You owe me gossip. Or at least some good company.”

Bek shrugged and sat down, leaning back on her elbows.  She tilted her head from side to side, stretching tight neck muscles.

“Thank you Ma’am.   I’m happy that we are finally here and I can report back my mission complete to the boss.”  Friday responded cheerfully.

“I’m sure this suit could use a check up by Tony considering how long it’s been.  Friday has been pretty good at helping me avoid trouble.”  Pepper knew exactly how hard Tony could be on his suit.  More because of how much danger he put himself in.   Only using parts of the suit worried her some.  Not likely that her boss and friend would take fewer risks.

“I think all of us with the exception of Friday here are really looking forward to a good hot shower.  Right now Bek your voice is the most beautiful sound I’ve heard in a very long time.”   The friendly welcome and hearing what waiting for them at the end of the journey just pulled so much weight off Pepper.

She knew that the suit was a little too noisy at times for any application of stealth, which was why Tony often went without it.  Still, being armoured also had its value.  “I’m sure he’ll be glad to get his hands on a suit again.  Though I think one of the things he picked up on mission was a spare of his own.”

Now that idea intrigued him.  “My mind is never empty of thoughts.”  Always busy, always processing everything around him.   While he didn’t want to loose his awareness, it would be helpful for when Isaac got somewhat overwhelmed.   By information, by sensations, things racing through his head.  “I would like to try this.”

He looked at the puppy wiggling at his feet.   “Beaker would like to greet you.  Is this acceptable?  He is still learning things I do not know how much longer he will stay put.”   Isaac wanted to reward his pet for good behavior.  Attention would serve just as well as food.

“Do you have trouble getting to sleep?”  She asked, if he always had a busy mind, that was likely.  She might be able to help him there too.

“Neither can I.   I’m really looking forward to some civilization.  Please tell me you have working indoor plumbing including hot showers.”  While camp showers and other things had been improvised that is one of the things she missed the most.   Sure a soak could be really good but there could be something refreshing about a hot shower you couldn’t get anyway else.

“You are on par with Tony about naming things.   So some would say you are in good company.   Though I did have to rename a few of his ideas for marketing purposes.”  True some of them could be quite clever, but not all of them were good choices from a selling perspective.

“This suit is pretty good proof of Tony’s contingency planning.  I’m not sure what he called it though.   I’d have to ask him.   Though the AI that’s helping me run it, her name is Friday.”   Which in equal parts charmed and amused Pepper.   

“That would be me Ma’am.”  The cheerful voice with an Irish lilt to it chimed in.

“We have hot showers and electricity.  It’s luxurious by comparison with what’s out there.”  Bek promised with a grin.  “Real beds too,” she added.

Isaac retained an awareness of anxiety, in an abstract sort of way.   While he couldn’t pin it to anything he’d experienced that remained true of most emotional things.   A sort of disconnect that he hadn’t quite bridged yet.   He did latch on the word focus.   Not that he retained any difficult concentrating on a task, the stimulus in haven much different.  The number of people increasing added to that.

“Would it help calm an active mind?”   That would be another bonus to such an activity if he wished to learn it.  Nothing he;’d observed appeared to be difficult to him in any manner.   Yet if something about it could help when his mind got too busy than it could be a useful tool.

Bek nodded, “If you respond to it, not everyone is the same.” she didn’t like to make absolute promises with things like this.  Anything that wasn’t entirely based in science got that disclaimer from her, even things she found spiritually enriching.