Summary:Following a meeting between the Fantastic Four and Young Avengers, there's an after party! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Alas, as was usually the case, Reed and Susan were not up for a spontaneous outing. Johnny was usually better odds but… well, sometimes he had a date or was under a car (in a non-horrifying way). But when Ben floundered in search of company for the Beach outing he was prepared for - complete with grill and drinks - he found some takers.
The Fantasticar was united again and Ben assumed control of the vehicle, using it to avoid all the rush hour and difficulty of getting out to the sandy beaches of Long Island with Dani, Kate, and Sarah. Before long, the car was setting down on a secluded, fairly inaccessible section of beach, unlikely to be frequented by any but the most ambitious jogger.
He clambers out of his seat and looks from one to the next to the next of his companions for the afternoon/evening. Pointing at each in turn, he tries to get names straight."Okay. Katie? Dani? Uh… sorry… shoot." He pulls a blank on Sarah, though to be fair, Kate likely hadn't told him to call her Katie either.
Dani, for her part, actually followed the Fantasticar on her horse, Brightwind. The advantage of having a stallion with wings, anyway. She lands not too far from the Fantasticar, dismounting expertly as she grins, "That's right. Dani will do just fine."
If they were going to be a beach, Sarah was at least going to dress the part, having gone back to change from jeans into cutoff jean shorts and a simple bikini top, green on the right side and a deep crimson on the left, as well as picking up a straw hat perches on her head, her long hair having been unbound from her braids so it falls straight down her back naturally, with comfortable sandals. One of the first things she picked up when she had the chance to raid the nearest Goodwill store! Have to have summer clothes, after all.
She slips out of the car, thens miles faintly. "Sarah Rainmaker." she says easiy. "Sarah's fine. As long as you don't know too many Sarahs, and it won't be confusing. Otherwise you can call me Rain or whatever…as long as I'd actually answer to it." she says cheerfully, winking at the big rock man.
Kate Bishop crinkles her nose just a bit at being called 'Katie', but somehow the way that Ben did it wasn't as if he were trying to talk down to her. Just… Seemed the way he was. "Yeah, Kate or Hawkeye is fine," she offers with a grin. "I'm not really hiding my identity. The only family I have can take care of themselves and I don't really like them anyway." Not that she was trying to set them up. Of course not! It was just a way of thumbing her nose at her dad again.
For her own attire she'd at least stopped to clean up and reapply some foundation to hide her newer additions from her latest fight. But the purple suit was still worn, which was somewhat stylish with it's one shouldered design. She was totally taking her boots off in the sand though.
Ben sets to unloading the car as he gets confirmation and corrections on the names. He echoes the names he's provided. "Dani." "Sarah, right! Okay." and "Kate? Yeah, Kate rolls off the tongue easier than 'Hawkeye', at least while we're kickin' back on the beach!"
There are umbrellas, towels, a grill, and a couple of coolers filled with beers and other, more appropriate drinks to offer any who are underaged. Not that Ben's really monitoring that side of things. Ben is dressed for the beach, barefoot, in custom-made board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt left open to display his rocky frame beneath. Plus, sunglasses and a straw hat, not that he needs any protection from the sun. It's part of the look.
As he unloads, he notes, "So you're all Young Avengers, huh? That's great. I'm lookin' forward to havin' a bit more life in the building."
Dani grins, "Well, yeah, I mean, I have a place elsewhere, but it's nice to have a spot in the city proper." She hmms, "Though they haven't asked me to bribe would be recruits with flying horse rides." Brightwind, for his part, just stands to the side, glancing around curiously at the beach as he looks quite curious about the sand.
"Well, I don't really have an alternate identity there….I mean, Rainmaker is my last name, it seemed appropriate to use." the Apache girl says easily, resting a hand on her hip before moving over without asking to help Ben unload. Girl is pretty toned up close; obviously a woman who believes in seriously working out regularly. "But then, I don't really have anyone I need to protect with a secret identity or anything." She frowns a little bit, then shakes it off. carrying over one of the coolers to set down where things are being laid out. "And yes. Young Avengers, and new tenants for your building." she confirms, her eyes flicking over to Dani. And her horse. Because it's not every day you see a flying horse, and she's still getting used to it, even after she got to ride him earlier when being rescued by the Young Avengers in question. "….so, Dani…you're seriously a valkyrie? I mean, like all Ride of the Valkyries Wagnerian style valkyries from Asgard?" She raises a brow. "Because I seriously didn't remember any of those in the Cheyenne stories I've heard."
Kate Bishop slips out of the car? Vehicle? Once Ben lands it to stretch her arms out overhead with a little groan. "Yep, Young Avengers. It's a kind of cool name and we've just started working together. Great having people to count on though." She starts to step forward toward Dani's horse holding her hands out with a grin as she was always fond of seeing the pegasus. "Hey big boy, how you doing sweetie?" She starts as she reaches to try and give him a gentle scruffling pet along his nose. Just as she's doing it, Sarah starts to question Dani.
Kate has been busy. Really busy. Really, really busy, and tired. When she hears the word Valkyrie she starts to nod in agreement… before her face goes blank.
"Ah shit."
Sloooowly her gaze lifts up toward Dani, and she takes a few steps back uncomfortably. Moreso as the heels of her boots sink into the soft sand. She squints at Dani uncertainly with a little unease. "Sooo I kind of forgot about this thiiing," she draws out. "That is totally not my fault but… We gonna have a problem, Dani?"
"Yeah, I mean, you need space to let a horse roam," Ben offers to Dani agreeably. "Though… I mean, the fencing on your paddock has to be crazy." He then gets distracted by Sarah, offering lamely, "You don't have to… I mean I can… okay, thanks." In short order, with the assistance offered, he's starting to connect the propane tank to the grill. While Sarah starts speaking to Dani, Ben falls quiet. Though as Kate begins to relate what is obviously an awkward issue, he turns to watch the interplay, even as he keeps setting up the grill.
Dani grins at Ben, "Yeah, well, Brightwind's pretty well trained. He doesn't wander off… unless he has a hankering for burgers. But he knows he can't get them unless I pay, so." She chuckles at Sarah, and gives her a warm smile, "Yeah, you'd think that, but the thing is, the horse chooses the valkyrie. I got sucked up to Asgard five years ago and, well, Brightwind adopted me. So yeah, Wagnerian Valkyrie and all that jazz. Though I actually did meet Thunderbird and Coyote the other day, which was… pretty amazing, even if I was trying to keep them from fighting some Egyptian deities in the street." She glances over at Kate with that, eyes blinking a bit as she seems to notice… something.
"I'm wondering if Dr. Richards is going to give Brightwind a balcony pasture or something. That'd be pretty cool, actually." Sarah admits thoughfully, then grins at Ben. "It's fine. I haven't really gotten the chance to lift much today anyway, it's nice to get in some exercise before I relax."
She glances over at Dani. "..how exactly do you get sucked to Asgard…" she begins, before noticing Kate's sudden worry. "…you okay?" she says after a moment, raising a brow at the other girl.
Kate Bishop takes a deeep deep breath which she holds a moment. A smile is flashed to Sarah, and Ben, as she holds her hands out to the side with a open palmed shrug. The breath is let out as she deflates a bit. Still on guard, ready to bolt, but this was Dani. She knew her before all this mess. "Actually, the Egyptian god fighting thing was kind of due to something I got caught up in," she explains while lifting a hand with a single finger upraised.
"See, I met this guy who turned out to be an Asgardian god, but he said he needed my help along with some others. I agreed because… I guess I'm a sucker." At least she was honest with herself about that. But it was a BLIND guy for crying out loud! Her hand reaches back to run through her black hair with another sigh.
"Okay, so I went with him to the… church? Or something for this Egyptian god that he'd been invited to. They were supposed to talk over something that was going on. When we got there though, we found the Egyptian priestess dead. Straight up knife in the back thrown over an altar kind of thing."
She looks around again before continuing. "We had absolutely nothing to do with it. Apparently there's some sort of rules of hospitality though for when you are invited into another God's home or something, and this was totally breaking them. We step in, see the girl, not even three seconds later the Egyptian god shows up declares us all 'Oathbreakers' and tries to kill us, too."
"And pretty much any god from any pantheon that sees me now just straight up tries to off me. Including those Egyptian gods in the middle of the city."
Ben Grimm lifts a rocky hand to scrape it against his chin musingly. Looking toward Brightwind, he mutters, "The horse likes *burgers*? I'd like to see Darwin wrestle with *that* little conundrum." Then he speaks more loudly to Brightwind, "Don't worry, fella, I'll have you mowin' on patties in no time!" Then he fires up the grill and, as it warms, sets to unpacking foodstuffs and readying for the grilling. He has way too much food. He offers a tight-lipped, rocky smile to Sarah as she answers him, but like everyone else, is mostly focused on Kate and Dani. He listens to Kate's story before answering, in typical Ben Grimm simplicity, "I feel sorry for any god that comes to the Baxter Building or tries to mess with you while you're around me, Katie." With that, he puts on his oversized "Kiss the Cook" apron in preparation for grilling.
Dani nods, "Yeah, well, it's definitely there, and I was wondering why, Kate." She smiles a bit, "Sounds like this… wait, blind guy?" She pauses, "This wasn't that guy from the diner the other day, was it?" Her eyes narrow a bit, as she starts putting some things together.
Sarah blinks. "…right. Gods. Real ones. Sure." she says, folding her arms as she frowns "Okay, well…yeah, that's kinda a major setup, from the sound of it. Sure this guy didn't? I mean…seriously, it's his temple. If there's anyplace he'd notice something like that happening, you'd think full on priestess murder would be right up there." She frowns. "Maybe he didn't want to talk after all."
Kate Bishop points over toward Ben with a chuckle. "Honestly that's kind of what I was wondering. It seems like this whole thing is being used to start some kind of ethereal turf war." Though since Dani was *listening* she was slowly growing visibly relieved. Usually she didn't get passed 'Oh shit' before they started coming at her. "Yeah it's some kind of magical mark or something. I can't see it. I feel like I've got a big neon sign over my head though."
She moves over toward Ben and the grill taking a peek at what was in the cooler before fishing out a drink. Her hand actually lingers over a beer momentarily before grabbing a Coke though. Dangit. Soon it wouldn't matter. "Yeah, I appreciate that. We're working to clear our names and get it removed. And… Well as 'godly' as Asgardians get, I guess, Sarah. I've had some straight up 'The Mummy' stuff to deal with. Scarabs, Scorpions, the raised dead. If they want to call themselves gods, sure, whatev." Cracking open the drink she takes a long swig.
Ben smirks down to Kate, the expression resting stiffly on his rocky countenance. He has burgers aplenty, steak and ribs as well, and even a few vegetarian options. Though they're going to be sharing a grill with a lot of sizzling, spitting meat. He watches as Kate moves to get a coke and he asks her, "Hand a brewski, will ya?" It's all part of his outdated, borough charm, to call beers brewskis and Kates Katies. He muses, "Don't think you gotta prove your innocence to anybody. In America you're innocent until proven guilty, not assumed guilty by some pyramid-lovin' wacko. You could always call on Strange. I don't think he puts in with all that god nonsense."
Dani nods, "Yeah, it's there, but I'm not obligated to murder you or anything. But yeah, Asgardians and the other pantheons are very keen on hospitality and the rights of guests. Breaking that, or even seeming like you have? That's a major violation, so it doesn't surprise me that you had that happening." She pauses, then sighs, "Kate, you could have just asked me, you know?"
Sarah wanders over to snag a water from the cooler, tilting her head. "…you'd think they'd have a way to prove it actually happened first, but yes. This seems like guilty until prove innocent." She frowns. "Then again traditionally, that's kinda how ancient gods worked for these…patheons." She frowns, popping open the bottle as she takes a deep drink.
Kate Bishop fishes out a beer to offer up to Ben though she doesn't crack it open for him. That she figures he can do himself… Then again he did have his hands full. His rather large hands. "Need me to open it?" She offers even as it's held out. Up to him whether she did or not but she wasn't going to make a big deal of it either way.
An apologetic glance is shot over toward Dani with a sigh. "Sorry. I had Hod, Sif, and Baldur telling me to lay low. I wasn't sure what would happen if I didn't." Not that she completely did. She'd been out just… taking smaller gigs.
Ben listens to the ongoing conversation, but doesn't have anything more to add to it. He nods to Kate, lowering his rumbly voice to ask her, "Do you mind? I break the damn things half the time." He uses those massive, four-fingered (including thumb!) mitts to get the meat on the grill and to prepare tomatoes, lettuce and other pre-chopped and prepared foods for what is sure to be a feast. Glancing toward Sarah, Ben asks, "Am I gonna be drinkin' alo— waitasecond. Are you all… uh, how *young* does Young Avengers mean, anyhow?" he asks the group at large.
Dani grins at Ben, "Hey, I'm an Asgardian citizen, we have different standards. But please tell me you have a stout in there somewhere, and not an IPA." Hey, she does have some limits!
Kate Bishop cracks open the beer which she then hands back up to Ben with a shrug. "Yeah, those big mits of yours look like they'd have trouble with a bottle cap. Hell I have trouble sometimes," she admits with a chuckle. Then the question comes. She glances to Sarah, to see her reaction to it, then to Dani. Well that was true enough about the difference in rules. After her swig of her own drink she shrugs. "Nineteen. Legal for most things."
The Apache girl raises a brow at that, smiling faintly. "About a week over eighteen, but I'm not planning on drinking." she reassures Mr. Grimm, walking over to sit crosslegged on one of the towels laid out near the coolers. "Other than water, anyway." She smiles a little bit. "They do have a point though, I'm pretty sure there isn't anything such as an drinking age in Asgard."
Ben Grimm nods toward Dani, tending to the grill as it begins to smoke and the meat starts to sizzle. Dani gets a point, but then he looks back and forth between Kate and Sarah. He heaves a sigh and notes, with the weariness of the parent of a headstrong and independent young man, "I can't tell if you girls are gonna be trouble for Johnny or the other way around." He pauses for just a moment before he notes, "If you'z are tied in with the Avengers though? You're old enough to risk your life for your country, I figure you're old enough to have a beer." Then, to Kate, "You mind gettin' Dani a stout? They're in the tallboys, down at the bottom."
Sarah mmms, her eyes twinkling a bit. "Does that mean you're the cool uncle of the Fantastic family, then?" the Native American girl says with a faint grin, then tilts her head. "…and Kate…you're part of a team. Means you've got people to help too. We won't let you down." she says simply. "I owe you for saving me, but I'd help even if it wasn't for that. That sort of thing just pisses me off, being framed."
Kate Bishop chuckles as she ducks down to get the ones that Ben mentioned. It's offered out to Dani before she considers one herself with a shake of her head. "Not going to lie, I do have a drink now and then, but I'm going to pass for tonight. Just in case someone less friendly than Dani shows up," she points out with a shrug. "I've never tried to use my skills while drunk before. … That's probably something I ought to practice at least once come to think of it." Hmm. She takes another swig of her coke once more which she lowers slowly when Sarah reminds her of being a team. "Yeah… Thanks. I've been solo for a long time and… Thanks." Flashing a grin she nods toward her. "Hopefully it'll be solved soon from what I hear. But thanks. I do need to remember that more often."
Ben gives a low, rumbling chuckle in response to Sarah. "Cool Uncle Ben, that's me," he confirms. Then, glancing aside to Kate, he offers, "You can get liquored one night and shoot arrows at me. I won't mind," he assures her, pausing to pour half his bottle of beer into his oversized, stony maw. He's flipping sizzling meat then, and he asks, "How you ladies like your steak cooked?"
There's a simple nod to Kate, smiling faintly. "Yeah, I know what you mean." she says simply, before glancing at Ben. "Hmm, a little pink in the middle, please." Sarah says politely, resting her forearms on her knees comfortably as she occasionally sips from her water. "Wait, we're allowed to shoot at you as long as we're drunk?" she says amusedly.
Ben obliges with the cook on the steaks, showing competence in cooking, though he is no home chef ready for Masterchef. Before long, however, the four heroes have wound down. Dani has taken her leave on her pegasus and Kate has found herself busy with Katethings.
Ben and Sarah are left, sitting on a log and putting aside the last of their meal. Ben ate a truly inhuman amount, but given his size, it was more or less proportional. He sets the most recent of his beers aside in the sand, twisting it a little so that it doesn't topple over. He looks over toward Sarah and he asks, "So what's your story, kid? What brings you into the heroing world?"
Sarah, at least, had a good sized steak herself…not afraid of protein it seems! But then, she burns most of it off after all. She tilts her head as she leans back against the log, stretching out her legs as she yawns, arching her back then resting her hands over her stomach. "Mmm…" She purses her lips. "…short, short version of a very long story…my father was generation twelve of a long term goverment project to artificially create metahumans. He married my mother, a black ops group made it look like my mom died in childbirth, he left, my mom later escaped with me.
She tilts her head, looking over at the mound of rocky Ben-ness. "16 years worth of hiding out in the desert, they found me again after my mother had passed, did some bullshit bureacratic shennanigans to make me a ward of the government, then stuck me in a…" she pauses for air quotes. "…school for gifted kids that was here they were gathering up the rest of generation 13 like me." She frowns a bit. "Which was really more of a lab and brainwashing center to turn us into their personal black ops hit squad. Me and some friends uncovered the truth and led a breakout…" She shakes her head, breathing out as she closes her eyes. "We split up. I volunteered to lead the Keepers after us away from my friends so they could go to ground. They weren't sure they could catch all of us…since they thought we were still together…so they tried to sucker the Young Avengers into bringing me in." She shrugs. "And instead they saw through it and fought them off long enough to keep me away from them until I turned eighteen a couple days later and was free of them. Annnnnnd…." She holds out her hands. "Here I am."
Ben glances over at Sarah. His eyes - really the only human part of him anymore - move here and there, taking account of her features as she relates this story. When she's done, he shakes his head and gives a low, exhaling hiss of breath. "Thirteen generations of that… I mean, we're talking a couple of hundred years, at least," he notes. "That's… that's dispicable. Like, America's supposed to be the best in the world, right? Freedom and justice for all? But then you hear about this, about how many governments had to have been okay with this, at least on some level, in some black book department. It's shameful."
He looks forward again, toward the sun dipping toward the horizon. "It's good you got out, but man, hearing about stuff like this makes me happy my team's got an independent operation going. No Uncle Sam to report to." He pauses for a moment, then asks, "So is that thing shut down, near as you know?"
TSarah sighs, then pulls a knee up to hug to her chest absently "To be fair…the first 11 failed horribly, and the 12th apparently were war heroes, just covert ones. So…I guess my father's generation was at least honored for it, like…super secret Captain America or something."
She rests her chin on the knee. "I don't know. I mean, it's my word versus some big black ops unit that probably can just make it vanish…I'm pretty sure the school they had is abandoned, but I've got no idea if anyone else made it clear, or what happened to the kids who disappeared while I was there." she admits softly. "So…I guess you could say I'm not really a superhero. Just a really pissed off Apache who got tired of being told to stay on a reservation, right?"
She smirks a bit, then inhales and lets it out in a huff. "Yeah…I've been reading about you all, since Kori started talking about moving to the Baxter building. You being independent means a lot to me, I feel a hell of a lot safer around people like you than I would about, say, someone like SHIELD."
Ben listens, his stiff and stony countenance a little moreso than usual as he looks out that waves lapping against the sandy beach. He gives a grunt at first, a noncommital reply while he continues to process what Sarah's said. "Well, somebody should look into it. Sometimes the people doin' the work of the country need to be reminded about the ideals of the country." He glances aside, toward her, then sighs and notes, "Sorry. I'm sure that whole patriotism thing don't exactly fly with an Apache. Your people got that short end of the stick since the start - people doin' the wrong thing for the country whose ideals don't support 'em." He's silent for a moment, then he ventures, "I'll talk to Reed about it. He's pretty smart, he may have some ideas." Understatement of the year by Ben Grimm.
Said Apache wrinkles her nose, peering over as she gets an amused twinkle to her eyes. "That is correct, Pale Face." she says simply, then grins a bit. "Mmm, actually, I'm not where I hate the country completely. I mean…I hate that they ignore crimes committed in the past and whitewash it over like it was all happy democratic mobs and cherry trees and never lying and stuff. But…"
She shrugs. "…I do think we need to change. That we need reform. That social justice matters, for people like me, or others who are pushed on the bottom of society because they've got different color skin, or ethnicity, or want to love someone who's not the opposite gender."
She mmms, then nods a bit. "…thanks. If he wants, I'll give him the whole story. I don't know that I can tell him everything, because I don't know everything yet…but whatever I can, sure."
"Well, you're preaching to the choir there. You wouldn't believe the discrimination rocky-Americans face on a daily basis," Ben rumbles, deadpan. Then, a moment later, he elaborates, "Kill your idols. Somebody smart said that once - damned if I can't remember who. I think we could all do with a bit of that. Things ain't so rosy as they seem, as we want to make them seem. Like… we can never touch that ideal, but we keep tryin'. We keep tryin' to say *this* person is it. Be like them. We oughta cut out the middle man." He shrugs again. "Reed, though. He's smart as they come and he tries to do the right thing. He don't always, he's got his faults like the rest of us… but if we want to take this operation out, Reed's a guy to talk to about it."
That draws a chuckle from Sarah at least as she nods. "Yeah. It's the journey not the destination and all that. That you keep striving to be better. Doesn't matter if you never reach perfection." She frowns a bit, then nods slightly. "I…I do. I mean, I don't really wanna drag you all into it, but…if it'll help the other kids, or the ones they took…I think we ran into two that had completely drunk the koolaid when the others were saving me, they were part of the force trying to capture me again."
Ben bobs his head in silent agreement to her summary. When she comes round to talking about the program again, though, to her desire to see it ended, he looks back toward her. There's a steely look in his eyes. "Well, we'll have to see if we can't figure something out about that. We wouldn't be much of heroes if we ignored that kind of thing - kids being brought up like that," he rumbles in response. "We'll just have to find a time to grab Reed."
Sarah glances over, reaching up to brush an errant strand of black hair behind her ear. "Thank you. Really." she says softly. "Whenever you need me to talk to him, just ask, and I'll be there." she says, her eyes turning a bit steely. "I don't want anyone to end up like that. So full of…of crazy hate…" She shakes her head a bit.
With the BBQ having turned to sucha sour note, Ben gives a final grunt. He pats the log next to him - a surrogate for patting her, and when the bark crumbles a little under the contact of his stony hand, the reason is obvious enough. There is no other acknowledgement of her words of thanks, though as she comes to know Ben, she will learn that this is his style. "Best be headin' back," he declares. "When you're set to move in, we'll get some time with Reed, maybe the others."