Summary:In The Waning Moon Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Jemma has been working on several things. The thing that is taking her focus at the moment is Steves problem. There's a few things they can do to try to help him and right at the moment, she's not sure there's a SCIENCE!! solution.
Steves due by for his latest blood drawers. The soldier must be feeling like a pin cushion at the moment - Jemma has him on twice daily tests.
She's also expecting a WAND agent to be present as well - that seems to be what happens when Steve makes an appearance in her lab.
It's the evening blood draw today and Steve's calendar goes off on his phone to alert him of this. Having just left the locker room after a prolonged bout with the Triskelion's most sturdy sandbag hung from the ceiling, he arrives at Jemma's lab in sneakers, sweatpants, and a t-shirt damp around the back of the collar from his hair. It gleams, towel-dried as fast as he could manage before leaving the shower area.
Looking somewhat sheepish, Steve stops at the proper, respectful, and safe immediate distance from Jemma's work area. "Evening, Miss Jemma." The darker circles under his eyes have faded since the incident with the Harvest moon, given its waning state, but there's still a harried and haggard air about the Captain, as if there were something he sorely wished to do but can't release the reins upon the urge.
E.G.: Shift and run like the East Wind in search of a missing piece of himself.
Koa is of course present. The reason is less supernatural and more bureaucratic though. When Steve is scheduled for blood draws or other medical operations, WAND is informed. A WAND admin then puts something on Koa's google calendar which then nags him to go. And thus as Steve arrives, so does he.
This is surely a relief for steve because he and Koa have in all ways gotten along well. Why would two predators not? This would be a bit chancy even if there weren't that aura of wrongness and evil coming off him. An aura that Jemma will likely not sense but Steve can.
"Evening Cap. How are you feeling?" The broad man says in a relaxed, easy fashion.
"Evening Steve." Jemma greets quietly, putting her vials down and staring balefully at the 3D model that's turning lazily over her table. After a moment she turns to look at the Super Soldier "I'd ask how you're feeling but …" she can see it.
"And here's Agent Turner. Any luck on tracking down those potential solutions you mentioned, Koa?" The biochem most certainly doesn't get that aura from him. "I'm afraid all I'm managing to do at the moment is keep my dendrotoxin formulation one step ahead of the serum. I'm almost ready to consider lacing it with Reverbium to see what that will do."
Which is dangerous.
"Come in, Steve and we'll get those draws done."
"Agent Turner."
Steve's greeting to Koa is curt without being impolite. Even if a shadow runs through the back of his gaze, he doesn't react as strongly as he once might have, back when the influence of the lycanthropic virus was new in his system.
"No Reverbium, please," he adds towards Jemma, giving her a wry smile that mostly reaches his eyes. "Haven't gotten to speak with Barnes about the dagger 'nd…" Steve lays out his forearm veins-up as he seems to do every time he's in this laboratory space. By the deep furrow of his brow, one can almost guess the response's continuation. "…I get the impression he's not gonna be keen to stab me in the heart with it. I don't think he'd do it even if we weren't married. Stab Captain America and possibly be responsible for his untimely death?"
A beat. "I mean, HYDRA would complain about missing out on an opportunity," the Captain jokes weakly.
Koa takes a seat behind Jemma on the table. He's dressed in his usual business casual getup. He looks like a cop really with the colalred shirt, rolled up at the sleeves and the pouch belt with sidearm. Less like a cop when one sees the golden asp bracer on his left arm.
"I did look into some of the possibilities I mentioned. I have what we had on them here." He lifts a manilla folder full of paper. "Which is admittedly not a whole lot. But enough to get started on, in any case. And yes I can see how stabbing you might distress your husband, Steve."
He pauses a little and chuckles. "Oh. I had something come across my desk that you all may find amusing. Have either of you heard of 'Captain Canada'?"
"It's not something I'd do readily, Steve but the 'curse' is mutating so quickly - that's thanks to the serum and the enhanced healing factor." The biochem looks worried and rightly so as she gets the equipment ready for the draws.
Fortunately the technology to take the blood doesn't require piercing the skin or vein anymore but it's still one of those things for lots of people.
The scent of lavendar is about the small woman, just a hint of fear and a fair bit of frustration.
"The Canny Canuk? Yes, I'm familiar with him. Why on earth do you ask? What does he have to do with all this?"
"Steve, I haven't heard anything more about the group going into the DZ."
How lavender rises makes Steve's nostrils twitch. His eyes narrow briefly down at the instrument set to his forearm and then forces his attention elsewhere, to Koa beyond the scientist's shoulder and his question.
"Miss Jemma's got it right; the Canny Canuk. Yes, had a run-in with him a month or two back, he had a Reverbium shield," the Captain replies, looking as if his patience were strained by the memory of the event alone.
He adds, almost sotto-voce to Jemma, "Group was set to head in, but then the moon happened." Ear-tip go pink. Yep, it was entirely his fault that the reconnaisance mission went to hell in a handbag.
Koa quirks an eyebrow at the 'moon' thing. That's, okay, that's interesting. Why would anyone in SHIELD be giving Steve work at night? He's going to have to have a chat to make sure that Steve is safely either with Bucky or in a containment room during the appropriate periods of time.
"Well apparently he had a run in with a druid today. Yes there are druids. Nice folks most of the time. Tend to be in good with the park rangers. Anyway. He came in to 'save' some 'campers' from werewolves and threw a shield which…"
Exploded. Well the shield didn't explode but it produced a sonic blast wave.
"He leveled a campsite doing it."
"The Harvest Moon, Agent Turner." Jemma mentions quietly. The last time Steve changed and scarpered. "Well, not entirely all that. Barton went and got himself reassigned, so there's that. Would you like me to arrange a team to go in?"
There's a reason the Director has given Jemma a free reign outside her lab - though London might roll his eyes. "Agent Turner? Would you be willing to enter the DZ with us and hunt down other Werewolves?"
The news of the Canny Canuk has her shaking her head. "Of course he decided to help." The biochem sighs. "That man should be put behind bars before he hurts someone. I thought we were repossessing that shield?"
To hear of the campsite's destruction by sonic force has the Captain's mouth parting in disapproval.
"No kidding," Steve echoes. His glower isn't for Koa — it's for the appearance of yet another Reverbium shield on the market. "I thought we had at least one of those shield stashed away in R&D. How in the hell did he get another one?"
The fine hairs on the Captain's neck rise even as he sets his jaw against flashing his teeth. A blown sigh is hard and he turns away from Jemma to pace towards the door, putting distance between himself and the others.
"'nd yes, Jemma, we need a team to go into there 'nd see what's going on, at the very least. Triangulating the spread of the animal attacks leads me to believe they could be rooted in there somewhere," Steve manages to add after he finishes itching at his nape. Such shed. Much wow. He turns and gives both teammates a sober look. "If you want me there, I know I can track 'em. Thing is…" It's painful to admit by his bitter tuck of chin. "…it's hard to resist 'em. They…familiar to me."
"I thought so too. I'd love to speak to him about why he has such a thing. The report I read said that the shield was made of reverbium, which isn't something that one should be able to find just laying around.
"I can come with you us. I'm familiar with how to handle werewolves and I don't just mean Cap here. That's if I'm available. I wasn't joking when I said my primary case right now is fending off an extradimensional invasion. If that actually happens, werewolves will be the least of our concerns. Because we'll all be dead."
This is not the sort of thing WAND deals with every day but it IS the sort of thing WAND was created to deal with.
"Familiar? As in you met them before? Or more of a call of the wild kind of thing?"
"It's not but someone a few months ago, as you're aware Agent Turner, was selling these things on EBay. Maybe he bought more than one…" Jemma sighs. There's probably a stash of these things - whether with the Canny Canuk or somewhere else. Either way, that's another thing to add to the list.
"I'd appreciate it, other work permitting of course. I was thinking of getting May, Petrovna and maybe … Thor as well. If Bucky's available, I could use him too."
Whether Jemma goes is another matter, her bullet shield might have strong feelings about that.
"You too, Steve. I… If you think you can control it. I … don't want you to take a liking to my body wash again." She does look to him for an answer to Koa's question though. It's a good one and perhaps telling.
"…call of the wild kind of thing," comes the reply to Koa, low and still embarrassed. "Like calling to like 'nd all. Some of the werewolves I ran into while I was AWOL didn't have anyone to keep them safe. They were like me, when I first started falling victim to the shifts. They were scared 'nd alone 'nd reacting just like anybody would when thrown into a new 'nd hostile place without knowing the language — like being thrown into a war zone. That, 'nd…they're human beneath the pelt."
Steve sighs again, looking askance. "Those are all good options, Miss Jemma. I dunno if we'll be kicking in a hornet's nest or not, but I remember bits 'nd pieces here 'nd there to make me certain we don't want to be outnumbered in any way without some serious defensive force available to us. Hell, I'd even say use the Reverbium shield we have held in R&D, but that'd probably be tempting the worst." A faint laugh leaves him.
"I think 'm not too worried about your body wash anymore, Miss Jemma." She gets a small attempt at a smile, even if this one doesn't completely reach his eyes.
Koa nods at the conversation. "Werewolves are yes, human beneath the pelt. Rare are the ones that were born the way they are. Dealing with them is always a balancing act between saving whom you can and ending whom you have to." It doesn't always go well but WAND does the best it can. Some curses are worse than others. Steve has a particularly bad one.
"Well, we could always break it out for you, Cap. If nothing else I can use it as a frisbee if the worst happens. The blast should daze you long enough for someone to get ahold of you." It's a joke and hopefully one Steve appreciates.
"They are people, absolutely and we'll do what we can to save them, Steve. However, you are my focus and as an Agent Turner says it's a balancing act we have to achieve." She's already sending out messages to people as Steve offers the biochem that wan smile. "I'm not sure if I should be pleased or insulted, Captain Rogers."
It's a light tease and much more like Jemma than she's been with him for a while.
"I will recover the shield we have in R&D. Maybe one of the others will want to use it." The idea of using it as a 'knock out' isn't a terrible idea…. well, it might be … but it's better than shooting to kill, right?
"I'll let you know if there's anything significant in your bloods and I'll see you first thing tomorrow, ok?" beat "Agent Turner, if you can spare a few moments from saving the world, I'd like to buy you lunch in the cafeteria."