Summary:Nick and Isis talk strategy and Isis drops a small bombshell on Nick. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Nick and Isis are still waiting for the meetup with Pepper and Maximus Lobo to occur but that does not mean they have been idle in their case. Nick's been following up on a lot of other leads which mostly involves sitting in front of a computer. Today that has not been the case and Nick and Isis are just getting back in from a LONG day down at the river bank looking into places that are wet and stinky. And wet.
"I'm going to order chinese, Isis. Do you want to shower before it gets here?" They both probably do but if they both use the showers at the same time the hot water will be limited. Best to take turns.
Smelly and wet, yes. Nick had led them through some terrible places today and there were places that only Isis could go because of her size. Now … she stinks. And she doesn't like it.
Nick can tell. It radiates from Isis with her empathic projection.
"Yes. Are you going to join me?" Such an inappropriate question but given her upbringing perhaps not unexpected. She makes her way to the showers, anyway, snagging clean towels as she does.
"I hope it was worth me crawling through that pipe, Nick."
"And get the drain clogged with hair? Noooooo… I'm going to order dinner instead." And check on a couple of things while she's showering. He's not quite as bad off, so he can wait.
Fifteen minutes later the food has just arrived and Nick is setting it out on the table. He eats a lot here. He sleeps a lot here too. Technically he has an apartment but he really only does spend about half his nights there. Especially lately. The things they have been dealing with have kept him up long, long into the night.
"I don't clog the drains…" Isis says, affronted. "Oh, you mean you." She wanders off to shower and use most of the hot water. Nick probably should have showered first.
As Nick is setting the food out, Isis appears again, drying her hair. She's wearing one of his shirts and not much else, cheeky thing.
She stays here as well, in the bunks in the room upstairs, normally. Theoretically she had a room in M-Town, but here is nicer.
"Did you get pineapple on mine, Nick?" she asks as starts to flip the lids on the boxes, seeing what he got.
"Uh. There's pineapple in the sweet and sour pork." Nick chuckles. "It's not Pizza, Isis. It's chinese." And there's a fair amount of it. A lot of meat. Nick likes meat, which makes a fair amount of sense.
"Just let me go deodorize real quick." Not as good as a shower but a quick scrub does wonders. Nick's back in a couple of minutes with a new shirt and damp fur.
"Right. So. Consider this my apology for making you crawl through drainage outlets. You'll forgive me, right?"
He takes some food and then takes it to the couch back in the living area.
"Oh. Right. You said that… I was … " Pizza. It might be one of Isis' favourite foods. Next to icecream. "I'm hungry." Her stomach growls. Nick might wonder when Isis is *not* hungry.
Fill a bowl with rice and some of the food, Isis follows Nick back into the living room and climbs into his lap when he sits.
"I might. Was it useful that I did? I didn't find anything, did I?"
"Sometimes finding nothing is as useful as finding something. We know they weren't ever along that stretch of river and there's only so many other places they could have been." Process of elimination. It's a powerful tool though as in this case a slightly annoying to actually use in practice.
Fortunately not expensive. Nick knows Isis likes Pizza and that is also cheap, this being New York, but he was feeling the garlic chicken this time. So very good.
"You did say something smelled funny though, didn't you? Where was that?"
"Everything smelt funny, Nick. Funky. Like when I forget to take the trash out." Isis wrinkles her nose as she makes herself comfortable, picking at the food with her chopsticks. It that proves too hard, Nicks seen her let her claws extend and stabbing the food.
"But yeah. It was like at the facility where they held me and some of that stuff we found in that crate…" She means Terrigen "But only a little bit, like a hint. Like … I don't know how to explain it."
It's a problem of having a sensitive nose, you get *everything*.
"And that might be a clue, but because that stuff can be anywhere after that explosion, it might not either." Nick sighs and picks at his sweet and sour pork, smirking a bit as Isis starts to spear her food with her claws. "You know we have forks, right?"
The brown werewolf takes a breath and lets it out slowly. "They never had anything that smelt like that in the labs you were… in. Right?" Probably not but just in case he figures he'll ask. After all AIM messes around with a lot of things.
"We do?" Isis asks absently as she picks at her food, finding the pieces of pineapple and eating them first. With a sigh she takes a fork and uses it, settled quite happily on the wolfmans lap.
"The Terrigen? No, nothing like it. It's distinctive enough, I think I would remember. I recognise reverbium and the other chemicals they used on us. And how it made each person smell differently."
"What do you think we found down there, then?"
"Not sure. Maybe nothing." Nick says as he picks at his food. "But maybe something we'll want to pay attention to later." The wolfman steals one of Isis' pineapple bits. That should get her going.
"When we meet Lobo, we're going to need to dress you up a bit. More professional. More… intern like. He'll be interested in you anyway but maybe we can pass you off as a Stark hire. And try to avoid projecting. I don't want him to know you can pick up on his emotions."
Presuming he doesn't know already, but then why would he?
"Hey!" Isis goes to snatch the piece of pineapple back but subsides, realising she hadn't offered Nick first pick of her food. It *should* get her going and yet, it doesn't. Instead she offers her bowl to him to take from.
"Do we have money for some new clothes?" Isis asks quietly. "I have my jeans and shirts but …. " Nothing dressy like that. Why would she? It's not like Isis goes anywhere that it's needed. "A skirt and blouse, maybe? Some shoes?" And probably stockings, or panty hose - watch Isis make a face when she tries to put those on. In face, make that several pairs.
"I can do that, Nick. Not project. As long as nothing too bad happens. You want me to read him, though, don't you? How will I get any messages to Miss Potts, or you, if I need to?"
Nick takes a couple of pieces just to tease and then gently pushes the bowl back to Isis. Yes he's done there. He doesn't really want to take her food. Just tease her.
He is indeed already considering what shopping with her is going to be like. Getting her to look at nice things isn't a problem. It's the trying them on that's going to be tricky. Maybe they should grabPepper. Pepper has a better idea of what's presentable in the office and can help cat wrangle. For as good as Isis has been…. she is still a cat. And such a cat she is too.
"I'm sure we can find something. And yes we have some money so we can do this. I might even be able to charge it. Anyway…" He looks at her consideringly. "I have something on Reverbium production that we should check out soon. There's a place upstate that might be making it on the sly. With our noses it shouldn't be too hard to tell."
If they're making it, they're almost certainly AIM.
Isis is incredibly sanguine as Nick teases her but pulls the bowl back quite possessively when he allows. Using the fork, she tucks in, forcing herself to eat slowly. Habits die hard - she'd not been well nourished when they'd found her.
Isis might like shopping with Pepper. Or maybe not. Shopping isn't something the feline like mutant has ever really liked. Reading peoples emotions are often uncomfortable for her.
"Don't forget the places that Jean got from my mind, Nick. Where the others like me were being kept." Will they find anything there? It's hard to tell but there are other facilities like the one they found Isis in.
"When do you want to go upstate? Now? Tomorrow?"
"Soon. Next day or three. After our meeting with Lobo if we can manage that." Nick gives Isis a bit of a hug. Shopping with Isis is one part cat wrangling to two parts finding things that actually fit her. She's skinny. She's filled out a bit but she's still pretty thin. Thinner than a lot of clothing makers take into account.
"Yes. We need to take a look at those. Or get others to. Soon." Perhaps they can get some of their new contacts to look into it. Or Hank. Maybe. If Hank isn't busy.
"I'll check your calendar then and make sure we're free. Wouldn't do to have people expecting us to do things and us not be here." They've got real, paying, work as well. The type that keeps the lights on and food on the table.
And Isis rather likes to eat.
Most shop assistants coo over Isis' figure, she's so slim. But Nicks right, most clothes aren't made for her build. And she'll try to behave when they shop this time - there's an objective they want to achieve, after all.
"Maybe others … I'll see who's about. We can do that. It will be good to catch up with others, don't you think?"
Nick can feel Isis' hesitation as she leans into the hug. There's something she wants to ask.
"It would be yes." Nick's work often isolates him. Well, except for Isis. And that's alright most of the time but keeping tabs on people is a very good thing. Especially when they're people who can help.
He pauses and shifts his weight, canting his head slightly. His ears perk, just a bit. "Is there something wrong Isis?"
"Wrong?" Isis looks at Nick, sure she wasn't projecting. "Not wrong, no…" In typical Isis fashion, she becomes very involved in her food. This is something that Nick will recognise as a way of not bringing up a subject and trying to ignore it.
After a few forkfuls, the feline-like mutant sighs and looks at the Wolfman.
"Can I become a PI, like you?" She can barely read and do math! But it's the first time that she's interest in something other than … catting … around.
"Sure. You have to past a test and get a license but yes. It's possible. Do you want to start studying for it?"
It will take a LOT of work for Isis to do this. She has some things to overcome. But she can do it. He knows she can do it.
And he'll help. She can feel that. She knows he will.
Isis is quiet. She knows that she's not educated and is a long behind in so many things. Eating a bit more, the woman rubs her ears under Nicks chin - it should tickle a little.
"I … yes, I do. I think I'm good at working things out but … there's so much I don't know, Nick." Nick will help and maybe she can take some extra classes at the Institute. Maybe not as well, she's not well liked there.
"Do you think I can?"
"I think you can. It will be hard, the study part. It's not like a lot of the things you've done before. But I think you can do it." Nick says, putting his hand on hers and chuckling as she tuckles the underside of his chin.
"I can help a lot but I am not licensed to teach you so we will have to find someone for the classes you need." He's thinking Institute too. Why not? It's the simplest solution. Occam's razor and all that.
"What brought this on?"
"I … want to learn and I think I'm good at this." Isis says quietly, mulling it over. "And it means I can stay with you." Not that the latter was ever in question, really. "And … I should do something, right? Catseye, she learned heaps when she was found. I can barely write my name."
She's good at other things though and her life was different.
"I don't know, Nick. Now that I'm not *at* the Institute. Now that I'm free … it's something I want to do. Is that … bad?"
"Catseye also has less cat brain." Where as in Isis that had been deliberately… cultivated. If cultivated is the right word. It's not but other words aren't things Nick wants to think aobut right now.
"It isn't bad, no. It is just out of the blue. But it is a good idea. You have to be able to do something." And there's a chance that something might happen to Nick, not that he wants to say that. "Tomorrow lets look at the requirements and figure out what we have to do. It is going to take time. Years, possibly." But that's not a bad thing either. Long term goals. Isis hasn't had those really.
"Sort of. She was aided by someone who rewired her brain, in a way." Isis answers. "But your saying they kept me feral and that has an effect." She knows he's right. She's been trying to work on that on that as well.
"I … I've been thinking on it for a little bit. You keep asking me what I think, like it matters. Like my thoughts, my instincts are important. If they are, maybe it's something I'm cut out for apart from brawling."
Rubbing her ears under Nicks chin again, Isis looks crestfallen at the timeframe Nick lays out. "Years?" it's so forlorn… Isis can barely focus past the next three hours.
"Correct." Nick says, nodding. Isis will feel that of course tucked up under his chin as she is. It's quite comfy there, really. For both of them apparently. "We'll know more once we look into it. Chin up, Kitten. It's possibly that you've already done a lot of the work. Right now I'm not sure what the state of New York would need for you." He knows what it needed for him though. And he did get it done relatively quickly. There are, thankfully, some programs meant to help mutants coming in 'off the street' as was the case for Nick and quite a few others in the wake of Registration.
"Your thoughts are important. You are my partner after all and you've got good instincts."
"It's just … such a long time." Isis settles against Nick, resting her bowl on her lap. It is comfortable here and she doesn't want to move. Except that Nick sort of smells a bit - and not in a good way. He really should take a proper shower.
"We'll find out then, together." She's pretty sure Hank will help if he can.
"I'm your partner?" She knows she's his Kitten and she works for him. But she's never really thought of it in terms like that.
"Of course you are. What did you think you were? My employee?" He DOES pay her, and he DOES make most of the decisions, but there's also just the two of them. Partner sounds better in his mind. She's not, after all, just there to file things and do gopher work. She helps him with investigating. And when it comes to it she helps him with fighting too>
"We will find out. And it's not all that long. You're going to be here anyway, so it's just maybe adding a few things to your schedule." Schedule. Isis and schedules do not always go well together. But they'll make it work.
"Yes?" Isis answers in a small voice. He does pay her and she works for him. "I like the sound of partner though…." Isis smiles and Nick can feel it, the way it radiates from her. Literally, she's broadcasting how she feels. Again.
Isis, of course, would do anything to protect Nick. As he's seen - and had to stop her.
"What do you want to do tonight after you shower?" Shower, Nick. He needs it. "I … can we go to ice skating rink in Central Park?"
"Of course." Nick gives Isis a little push to get her moving and then stands up to go get said shower. "They also have hot coca there and I might want some." With peppermint. And marshmellows.
Nick heads on up to the showers. He can smell himself and that's never a good sign. Particularly with his sniffer. This won't take him too long though. He has a very good shower here.
It's about the only thing that IS expensive.
"Peppermint?" Isis perks up at that as she slides from Nicks lap. As he heads, she collects the plates and bowls and left over food, to tidy up.
By the time Nick gets back, she'll be waiting at the door - dressed to go.