Summary:Hank arrives to help Keiko out. Pepper is asked in for a check up. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Pepper Potts has a invitation to visit WAND, for a checkup after the inadvertent acquisition of a particular tattoo. Hank McCoy does as well. It's providence, not planning, that the two have arrived together.
Both have been escorted through the Triskelian and taken to what looks like a broom cupboard in one of the wings. The Agent with them muttered some words while holding a talisman and a shimmering, glimmering portal had appeared. "Step in." They'd been told.
The portal had whisked them to the WAND offices. It's a disorienting sensation at the least. When they step from the portal, there's a hallway and a small tattooed woman is waiting for them.
"Miss Potts, Hank. Welcome to WAND." Keiko greets them. No smiles but she does give them time to recover. Hopefully no one wants to be sick.
Hank has not dealt much, actually, at all - with WAND. This should be interesting! He dresses in a simple business suit, the by necessity custom tailored outfit comprised of a grey worsted Jacket, a crisp white shirt of Egyptian cotton, and black slacks. Oh, and size 20 shoes of black leather. Unlike a visit to Jemma, he's not sure what to bring, so he opts for the safest thing of all - himself.
He is a little surprised to see Pepper there, offering a friendly smile. "Hello again, Miss Potts, very nice to see you under less bio-weaponish circumstances."
The Portal? Yeah, that gets a bemused look, and then with a shrug he curtails his normal tendency to say 'Ladies First' as he's not sure it is safe, so…HE will go first.
Because Hank's a goof like that.
After receiving and accepting the invitation to WAND, Pepper has a 'discussion' with Arananet, explaining that she needs to remember their agreement and remain still and quiet while they're not in an area that Pepper deems safe for the arachnid. The spider, in her precocious way as Pepper has learned, replies by waving her frontmost legs. When the reach an agreement — and Arananet chooses which bracelet she likes best today — they are on their way. She arrives promptly as scheduled, wearing a pine green suit with a pale champagne silk blouse and a chunky wooden bangle bracelet that doesn't really conceal the spider tattoo peeking past the cuff on her left wrist.
Pepper smiles a hello to Hank and puts her hand over her wrist as if that would stop the spider there from squirming and attempting to jump free. "Hello again, Dr. McCoy. Are you sure these circumstances are much better?" She doesn't seem to bat an eyelash at the large man stepping through the portal first, and then before Arananet can make a leap for it she steps after him.
"Doctor McCoy. Miss Potts." Koa Turner is here, as one might expect. Supervising which is a nice way of saying making sure things do not go wrong. He is, as ever, a broad shouldered and powerfully built man. Someone who looks like he eats weight lifting for breakfast.
He also has silver eyes which Pepper has seen before but Hank has probably not. It is, to be sure, not the color he was born with.
"Miss Potts. Doctor McCoy. Thank you both for coming…" Ah. The spider. Yes. he sees that. He sees a lot of things normal people don't see. "Everything going well with your house guest, Pepper?"
Next to Koa, Keiko is tiny. Keiko is tiny next to most people though. Those slitted eyes of hers drop to Peppers wrist, the slightest of tightening pulling at the corners of them. There's another patch of bare skin on her arms - another tattoo gone, it seems.
The remaining tattooes seem to writhe in sympathy with Arananet, Bella sticking her snout out of the ink. Mirlo, a wing.
"If you'll follow us …" The peruvian looks to Pepper to answer Koa's question though. "We've got tea and donuts. A WAND mage is waiting for you too, Miss Potts. Hank, if you're still willing, Koa will … do the transfer today."
She sounds … despondant. Though it's difficult to tell.
The room she leads them to is clean. There's chairs to sit on and indeed, another person is waiting for Pepper. "Miss Potts. I'm Agent Hargreaves. Agent Kurita and Turner asked if I'd check on you. Thank you for coming in."
A fuzzy spider leg peeks out of Pepper's sleeve as if to reply to Bella and Mirlo. For her own part, Pepper smiles and nods to Koa and Keiko. "Well enough. She about startled a year out of Tony, but we've since come to an agreement." She looks down at her wrist and touches the fuzzy spider leg. "Just a little longer, then you can walk around." She returns her attention to the pair. Some tea would be wonderful, thank you."
Stepping into the room, Pepper shakes hands with Agent Hargreaves. "Of course, Agent. I'm happy to be able to help." If there's a place to sit she'll take a seat, expecting the spider to step out and sit in her lap at the very least.
"I'd say…less imminently dire?" Hank quips over a shoulder as he vanguards through the portal. Once through he gathers his bearings and offers Koa and Keiko smiles. "Hello Keiko." At least she is someone he knows. He then offers the other large man a hand. "Hank McCoy, you must be Agent Turner?" His hand is huge, and his grip both firm and firmly under his control, he is very very careful about application of his strength.
He is silent during the exchange about Arananet, and follows after the diminutive Agent Kurita after a firm nod. "I want to help still, yes." And yes, he's a tad nervous about it.
Once inside he offers Agent Hargreaves a polite nod, then stays back and out of the way as he's not the one being addressed as of yet.
The room they go to is largely bare, but there are some seats and a large magical circle and a literal wand. The same transfer wand Koa had used with Pepper. Only this time he plans to do it with proper containment.
"I am indeed Agent Turner." The big man chuckles. Big, but not nearly so big as Hank. "Nice to meet you by the way. When you're ready step into the-"
Clink. Something is messing with a silvery jar on the edge of the circle.
"For Darkchilde's sake. KNERT!" The Agent snaps. K'nert immediately looks up and backs off.
"Damn imp…" Koa mutters. "Anyway. Whenever you're ready, Doctor McCoy."
"You two haven't met?" Keiko peers at the two men. Hank looks very different to when she first met him but they've caught up a few times since he took the serum. "Hanks a good friend, Koa. He knows Illyana and Piotr as well."
The young woman really has forgotten how to smile it seems but they'll notice how she runs fingers over her tattooes trying to calm them.
"Excuse me, Mister McCoy. I didn't mean to be rude." Hargreaves smiles "We can get a little single minded in here… Agent Turner, do you think you could do something about that imp?" The tone is resigned. K'nert might be a fixture.
Keiko moves to the circle, letting out a long breath as she does. Hargreaves gestures to Pepper. "Keiko won't ask, Miss Potts, but she's worried about Arananet. I'm going to check on you and her. I heard you say things are well but I have to ask if there's been any sideeffects? Rashes? Sneezing? Sleeplessness?"
Sure enough, Arananet takes the cue to appear on Pepper's lap like a creepy, eight-legged cat, waving her frontmost legs in curiosity. Pepper nods to Hargreaves, glancing over toward Keiko and fully empathizing with the smaller woman's concern. She's done her share of worrying, though Tony is a completely different story from Arananet.
"Side effects? Not really. I have been woken a few times because she's decided to explore my apartment and knocked something over, but no actual symptoms." She reaches a hand to let the spider pat at her fingers again like indulging a cat. "Is there anything I should be watching for in particular?"
Hank studies the room curiously, a faint smile as the D&D nerd in him is treated to the sight of a magic circle and other assorted mystic paraphenalia. A big part of him inside is squeeing right now, his big heart going pitter-patter with his delight.
"A pleasure, Agent Turner." He smiles and nods…about to step into the- when K'Nert makes an appearance, which is disturbing, he'd gone some time without seeing any imps and now the same one more than once in the last few days. That's..od."
Eyeing the Imp, he 'MMs' to Koa, and moves when told to.
"No, indeed we have not, Keiko." He smiles when she vouches for him to Koa. And then he's being addressed by Agent Hargreaves. "Hank, please. I'm not big on formality." He laughs. "Yes, single-minded I am well acquainted with."
He watches as Pepper lets the truly huge spider out, the side effects list however, is concerning. Not very fond of rashes!
"Aaaaaah." Koa says, clearly knowing both Piotr and Illyana. Actually quite well, the second more than the first admittedly.
The imp says something in a twisty, growly language that seems much more suited to it's mouth than the mangled English Hank heard it use before. Koa's eyes narrow. "I don't care, put that thing down and step back before I decide to use it on you."
That Koa seems familiar with the imp, indeed that Keiko and Hargraves do, might be interesting to Hank.
Once Keiko and Hank are both in the circle, Koa lifts the wand and points it at Keiko while making little swirly motions with it. One of the tattoos begins to lift off and as smoke begins to flow toward Hank.
"This may hurt just a little. Or tingle. Or make you taste chartreuse." He notes.
"How have things been in general Pepper? Not too much fighting with the spider, I hope?"
Hargreaves hmmms as she looks at the spider in the womans lap. She's clearly shocked by its appearance. "Keiko, I never realised Arananet was so large …" There's a moment to catch her breath as she looks at the spider on the gingers lap.
"Well, now … Keiko told me that she had an urge to eat flies and wrap things in twine." It's hard to tell if she's being serious but the snort that Keiko gives might give that away. "I said no such thing…" the peruvian huffs.
The vision of Arananet sitting on Peppers lap has her swallowing and turning away with another tightening of her eyes.
"K'nert prefers you hairless." She translates in a tight sort monotone to Hank. "When Mirlo transfers to you, she's probably going to struggle and try to break free. You'll need to keep her calm and exert your will over her …"
There's no sign that what Koa is doing is affecting her at all, the space where the inked zombie raven was now bare skin.
The other tattooes though, all start to play up.
Pepper looks over at the strange growly language and her eyebrows fly up under her bangs. That's the extent of her visible reaction, though Aarananet seems to take exception to K'nert's presence, turning in Pepper's lap to face the imp waving her frontmost legs in the spider equivalent of a threatening display.
"Oh, well, at first, yes. She wanted to explore my office and wouldn't listen when I asked her to stop. It took us a couple of days, but we've come to a compromise that seems to be working out well enough." For now, anyway. "Stark Tower doesn't really have any insects in it, but she did manage to wrap up a pair of my shoes in silk." They were old jogging shoes long overdue for replacement anyway, so no real loss there.
Eyes of bright blue study the imp as it is threatened by and speaks to Agent Koa. He IS curious about what was said, but alas, doesn't speak Imp. He can be an imp, but that's very different from an Imp like K'Nert. It is definitely interesting that everyone present, save possibly Pepper, are familiar with the Imp. Standing inside the circle, he waits holds to Keiko's gaze, equal parts seeking and offering comfort as he does so.
Why does it not surprise him that Agent Hargreaves is a bit of a brat?
"Funny, he said just the opposite just the other day." Hank replies with a smile. This is also not a surprise - Imps are lying liars what lie. Still, he focuses on Keiko's words. "Just…will it so?" He asks.
He listens to what Pepper has to say. "You could always import some, some pet shops carry bugs to feed to other pets." A grin. "Save on the shoes."
The smoke settles on Hank and forms into a tattoo. Koa's part here seems to be done but Keiko wasn't wrong. The spirit immediately tests the will and control of it's new bearer. Keiko it knows, but who is this?
"Once you're sure you can contain it, Hank, you can both come out." If he cannot contain it, well they have jars for that.
K'nert creeps around the edge of the circle, peering, clearly interested in this whole process.
"Making the Consort less powerful… bad idea. She will want that power."
"I would think you would think it a good idea, K'nert." Koa snarks. "That way she has to beat you personally and can't send a spirit to do it for her."
K'nert sniffs in response to that.
"Also, strictly speaking K'nert said he prefers you naked. Anyway." He looks over to Pepper to see Araranet in full threat mode. "Uh, everything okay over there?"
Koa can see Keiko go 'on point' as Arananet 'puffs up'. It's an effort for the peruvian to leave Pepper with it. To correct Arananet now would be to diminish Pepper and that's bad. Privately though, Keiko wonders if Arananet will ever come back.
"No, no, I meant Keiko had those urges." Hargreaves beams and winks at Pepper. "Are you feeling more fatigued than usual? Keiko tells us the spirits feed from her. She, of course, has grown up with them so her body has adapated to their needs. You, haven't."
"Will it so, Hank. I was taught to fight them and master them." Keiko answers. "Miss Potts didn't do it that way. I guess it's different for everyone."
As Mirlo fully transfers, Keiko stumbles but catches herself quickly enough. The remaining tattooes try to activate in protest. "Careful, K'nert. I have my staff and I've been practicing. I also have knives that I use to skin…" The answer is given in almost fluent demonic to the imp. It's a horrible language and may make the listeners skin crawl.
For Hank, Mirlo is fractious. Fighting to manifest. A beak, a talon, a wing … appear above his skin. He might even get pecked.
"Well, she was clearly unhappy when I flatly said no to buying cockatiels for her to catch and eat, but I did speak with a friend who keeps large reptiles, and she's been sharing mice that she usually feeds to her snakes," Pepper replies to Hank, then looks from Koa to Arananet and back.
"I don't think she cares for … K'nert, you said? He might almost be small enough for her to see as prey." She says that last in such a way to make it seem like a simple observation, but she quirks an eyebrow at the little imp in a silent warning, even as she's having to work to repress a shudder at that harsh language coming from Koa.
"Shh, enough now, Arananet. It's fine." Pepper runs one finger lightly along the spider's back in an attempt to soothe her.
Consort? Hank is unsure he really wants to know about the details of that, or why an Imp would shive a git. Nope, he'll just focus on the weird magical thing he's doing right now, thanks. And then of course Koa gives them the naked truth about what K'nert said. And he blushes a bit. Big, burly, normally confident and composed Hank McCoy just blushed and shuddered. "I don't really want to consider that, thanks, Agent Turner."
Hank watches how focused and even more controlled and distant Keiko is than normal, she's clearly not having a good time of things with all this. "Feed from her? As in on her lifeforce?" That's news to Hank.
When Keiko suggests he just exert his will, he nods firmly. "Okay." Hey! She's the expert, if she says will it so, then by gum he'll do that.
And then the battle is joined. Hank is not a mage, but he DOES have a disciplined mind, and one of considerable scope and power. He'll direct that all into subduing the bird, keeping it in the new shell it is tied to by sheer willpower if he can. He is not cruel about it, just firm, let the thing peck him, and so on, he'll deal with small cuts along the way if he has to.
Sadly, this will take most of his focus, having never done this sort of thing before.
"Uh, sort of. They spirits have to get their energy from somewhere. So yes, sort of on the life force but in a symbiotic way. After all… they don't want you dead. That's a big problem for them."
Koa folds his arms to watch the goings on inside the circle. Hank looks like he has it under control. He should be good in just a moment. Once satisfied that the big man is he turns to the imp an waves.
"Scat."
The imp turns and lopes out of the room. Where is it going now? Likely to bother someone else.
Um, has anyone seen Agent Kitty Cat? Better warn her that K'nert is on the loose.
"Well that's three out. Agent Rogers. You, Doctor McCoy and Pepper." They have a few more to send out or put in jars but once this is done they can…
… do something stupid and dangerous. Cough.
"Better, Pepper?" Now that the Imp is gone, that is.
"Mirlo lets me see through her eyes…" Keiko explains. And yes, Consort. To the heir of Limbo. Mother of the heir to the heir. It's … complicated. "If you call her forth or she manifests, you may find you have that ability too. It takes a bit to get use to - I get two images one of what I'm looking at and one of what she is."
If Arananet is eating what Pepper supplies, Keiko will be surprised. Normally her spirits dissolve and regen from her. Speaking of which. "If she is injured, she will need to heal on you. If she's destroyed, you will take the damage and she'll return. It won't kill you, but some of the injuries can be bad. Be careful with her, Hank…"
"No Arananet, nor any of spirits, care for the Limbo demons. They protected me when we were n Limbo." The peruvian sighs and moves out of the circle, to put a jacket on - covering her mostly bare right arm. "The sooner we get this done, Koa, the sooner they'll be back where they belong."
She's grateful to these two but … they're her spirits.
Honestly, she's only 'sampled' one. The other she seemed to enjoy terrorizing, then leaving webbed up and traumatized for Pepper to find later. It's why Pepper has only offered her rodents twice. As soon as K'nert departs with Arananet watching him go, the spider finally relaxes again and starts reaching over Pepper's shoulder. "Oh, all right," she concedes and turns so she's sitting sideways in her chair leaving her back free. The spider climbs over and clings to her back like a creepy eight-legged backpack and seems content to sit there.
"Much better, Agent Turner. Thank you." Apparently, Goliath Bird-eating Backpack Spider is a thing.
"That's reassuring." Hank says with a faintly relieved smile at Koa's news that the relationship is symbiotic. And then the battle of wills commences. Once the battle of wills is joined, Hank simply closes his eyes and /wills/ submission. "Dominance or Submission…" Quoting one of the laws of Magic from the Lyndon B. Hardy book 'Master of the Five Magics', because: nerd!
Once the tat is settled in, it formed on his left inner forearm, the wings folded so the arm is largely black art. Black art that's bleeding, but not too horribly. A moment to wipe the blood, and then to dab at his brow, Hank looks down to the raven. "Mirlo…I am Hank McCoy, now that we know how this will work out, perhaps we can talk later, establish ground rules as Miss Potts and her..guest..did."
And then he moves over to Keiko, showing the tattoo to her, showing it is safe and sound. "I'll return her whenever you want." He promises. "And I will take good care of her so hopefully I won't ever know what happens if they're hurr or killed, mm?"
He just sort of stares at Pepper with her spider backpack. "You know that is very off putting, Miss Potts, right?"
"Given that hopefully you won't need to use them in battle, hopefully not, Doctor." Koa says. He's got a compress with something smeared on it and offers it to Hank. When put on, it soothes the small pain from the cuts and pecks and heals them. Small magic. Very small. But magic nonetheless and Hank may enjoy it purely on that basis.
"You told them, Keiko, about the…" He gestures to the rather 'corrupted' nature of Mirlo's art. Well not told Pepper, Pepper they addressed but Hank he hopes has heard that there is some… magic-y stuff going on with those creatures. Unsurprisingly.
"Oh by the way Pepper I take it that you have no… unusual urges? Vivid dreams of impossible cities? Sudden urges for raw flesh?"
It sounds like he's kidding. Almost light and playful. He isn't.
Keiko looks at the tattoo on Hanks arm and nods. There's no other response from the woman. She doesn't emote, doesn't smile. Her emotions are tightly controlled. Koa's seen why, now.
"The last thing, Hank." The peruvian starts in response to Koa's prodding. "The spirits have absorbed some of Limbo's taint which is why she looks like she does now. You shouldn't have the spirits long enough that it matters but … you should be aware of it, none the less."
Arananet hanging off of Peppers back gets the faintest of sighs. The peruvian declining to respond at all.
Pepper smiles at Hank with a mixture of amusement and impishness. "This is a compromise. She originally wanted to hang from the front of my jacket." Arananet seems to have taken well enough to this compromise, reaching her pedipalps (little front leg-like appendages) up like bunny-ears behind Pepper's head.
She takes a moment to give Koa's question a serious bit of consideration. "Well, now that you mention it, I've asked for steak rarer than I usually do." Not that she eats red meat very often. "Would that count?"
Keiko's deliberate lack of reaction to Arananet's antics does not go unnoticed, and her expression falls a bit. This can't be easy for the younger woman. She reaches up a hand to brush at the closest of the spider's legs with her fingers, their agreed upon signal that she was asking the arachnid to return to her tattoo for now.
After a moment, Arananet turns into smoke and disappears into Pepper's sleeve under the chunky wooden bracelet.
"That would be my hope as well, Agent Turner…and please, call me Hank." Hank is definitely impressed and delighted by the healing bandages. "Oh, that's amazing, reminds me of the healing mechanic in Planescape: Torment…they used bandages in just such a fashion." Hank definitely finds the magic fascinating.
He maintains his smile firmly, by will alone, Keiko's lack of reaction being pretty telling. And then she speaks to the corruption that might happen, and he frowns a bit. "So I might be…changed." He's no expert on Limbo, Yana plays that pretty close to her vest, still, demonic taint doesn's sound good. "I will be mindful of it, perhaps I'll meditate or visit a priest or rabbi."
A smile to Pepper as she explains. "That's actually hopeful, that she can be reasoned with, I hope my guest is similarly willing to listen when the time comes."
He looks to Keiko. "A raven is capable of learning human speech - does Mirlo have this ability?"
"There's a surprising amount of RPG magic that is reminiscent of actual magic. There is some suspicion that some of the people who originally wrote them either were magi or knew magi." Was Gary Gygax a mage? Probably not but he did put some very INTERESTING things in his books, that's what Koa knows.
"They're capable of communicating on a more fundamental level. As a spirit it's fairly smart but since it's already linked to you, making you hear things, or projecting thoughts to you isn't much of a hardship. After all, they're already inside the meat-shell."
Koa could go on at length about how that's what people are but neither Pepper nor Hank is likely to appreciate it.
"Mmmmmm. Probably not, but keep an eye on it. There are some distant connections to fairly nasty beings that I would hate to have influencing either of you."
An agent, breathless from running, sticks her head into the room. "Agent Turner. Divination got a hit. Rasputina is alive."
Koa looks up and breathes out a sight of relief. "Thank God." He murmurs partly to himself and partly to Keiko. "Did you get a fix on her location."
"No but we're working on it."
"Keep at it, let me know when you have something."
Keiko's lack of reaction is very normal. Koa could tell both their visitors that. Piotr too - it makes him want to rant at the small peruvian. "Maybe. No one knows. No one really knows what is happening to me. I have the spirits and I have the impact from Limbo itself. I will not leave her with you long, if I can avoid it."
"You do not need to send her away, Miss Potts. It is good that she is settled with you." Keiko lets out a long slow breath and shakes her head to Hank, gesturing to Koa to add more if he thinks it's needed. "I was … discouraged … from doing more than seeing the spirits as tools. She has never spoken to me but did she learn in all the time she was with me? Perhaps."
The breathless agent draws the small womans attention and she starts moving. "Someone will see you out …." she starts to say and then sighs. "Oh. We're not going yet …"
Pepper stands now that she's not got a lap-spider and steps over toward Keiko. "I've gathered that how you came by your animal spirits wasn't the most positive experience. But you're not there anymore. Perhaps when this whole ordeal is done and they've all returned to you, perhaps you can consider trying to see the spirits as the intelligent companions they have the potential to be?" Heaven knows, if she'd tried to boss Arananet around instead of working out a compromise, her apartment would have far more of a mess and she likely would have had to resort to working from home the majority of the time, which would NOT turn out well.
She looks over at Hank and Koa as well, hoping they won't immediately speak up to contradict her well-intentioned suggestion.
"Oh, I know that a lot of game designers use actual myth's and legends as inspiration, some of the details researched painstakingly." Hank is a gamer nerd, of course he's thought about that. "Though they were not anything as portrayed by Rona Jaffe, or Jack Chick, not in my experience anyway." Mazes and Monsters, and Chick Tracts…both sad.
Blue eyes are thoughtful as Hank ponders what is being said about the spirits. "Meat Shell, mm?" Interesting term, and no, he doesn't really need the long version explanation to expand on it, that was sufficient.
He looks over to the breathless agent, and he can't help but feel a surge of happiness to hear that Illyana is still alive. "Oh, that is great news."
He nods to Keiko of tiny body and massive spirit. "And I will return her when you're ready without fail." He promises, suspecting that any comfort offered wouldn't mean much to her.
He does pay attention about her training, and wonders how much of that was the trainers wanting to keep her under their thumb. Pepper's hopeful words are echoed inside by Hank's thoughts, he would really like to see Keiko smile more, and to enjoy her friends, maybe even heal them and through them herself.
"That does tend to be how it is." Koa says, looking back at Hank. Pepper gets a bit of nod. That is indeed something roughly along the lines of what he had suggested earlier.
"If you will all pardon me though, I should go look in on what Divination has found."
Did Hank know that Illyana's 'aliveness' status was in question? And did he know that she was working with WAND? Or at least with Koa and Keiko? And does Pepper know who Illyana is?
Probably not on that last one.
"Someone will see you out. Keiko when you're done here come up to tracking."
"Koa has been encouraging me to do that for a while, Miss Potts. I've been making progress." Keiko shrugs. She won't admit she can't do something, that's too strongly ingrained now. "If you will both come with me, I'll show you out. I need to attend to this with Koa."
"I will be take them back as soon as I can. I know they are in good hands with you both."
She'll show them to the portal and then head up to tracking.
Maybe one day either of them can ask her about getting the spirits. She does seem attached to them - as attached as Keiko shows to anything.