I'm tossin' turnin' in an open grave
It’s a thick sort of tension in the base today, the kind that couldn’t be cut with a sword because it’s so heavy. That’s Teddy’s opinion on it, anyway. Maybe everyone else can’t even feel it. He can.
Kate is refusing to speak with him, still pissed that he’d let those thieves escape with whatever it was they’d stolen from the Avengers Mansion, but Kate also refuses to speak with him over things such as a lack of Poptarts or fights with Eli, so he doesn’t mind too much.
And speaking of the incident at the Mansion…
“Cap said they weren’t really sure what got taken,” Cassie is saying, waving her arms wildly as she speaks, the Vision hovering near her with a look of mild concern for her lack of spatial awareness as she narrowly misses hitting Kate in the face with a particularly wide sweep of her hand. “But they’re trying to contact Dr. Strange and find out, because the Scarlet Witch had a lot of dangerous things stashed there…”
“And those kids?” Eli asks, dragging a hand down his face as he leans heavily against the table. “The ones who-”
“They aren’t sure,” Cassie replies, rocking on her heels. “They’ve shown up a few times before, apparently, doing similar stunts as at the Mansion, but they’ve never caused serious damage, as far as the Avengers- former Avengers -know… they’re a speedster and a magic user, possibly twins? They might have some connection to, uh, M- Mephisto? Maybe.” She shakes her head, her hair slipping from her ponytail and falling across her shoulders. “I dunno. Did they seem all, uh, devil-y? When you guys fought them?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kate drawls, kicking her feet over the arm of the couch with a scowl. “In that they wanted to send us to Hell, that is.”
“They didn’t want to hurt us,” Teddy interjects, drawing another huff of Kate’s ire. “They didn’t, Kate!”
“That speed boy tried to stab me!” Kate protests, waving an arrow at him for emphasis.
“The one with the magic- he said that they didn’t want to kill us!” Teddy insists, crossing his arms stubbornly. “He said he didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
The boy had flinched, when Teddy had asked if he was going to kill him, those mysterious eyes wide and worried. Teddy trusted that he’d been telling the truth- he hadn’t tried to attack him, or any of them, not even after his brother- brother? -had been hurt.
“Oh, yeah,” Kate snarks, flopping back on the couch, tossing her arrow in his direction, “that’s why your little crush stole several highly dangerous books from the Scarlet Witch.”
His face burns, suddenly, as he stammers out, “I do not have a crush.”
“The fact that that’s what you decided to focus on basically confirms that you have a crush,” Cassie tells him sympathetically, as Eli groans.
“I don’t have a crush!” Teddy insists, kicking Kate’s arrow back toward her. It skids under the couch, and Kate huffs.
“Keep telling yourself that, loverboy.”
“He said he didn’t want to hurt anyone,” he repeats firmly, “He- I don’t even think he wanted to steal anything. He said that… he said they didn’t have a choice.”
“Didn’t have a choice?” Eli echos, and he nods.
“Yeah. Like they were being… forced to, or something. I don’t think they actually wanted to.” He shrugs awkwardly, ignoring Kate’s eyes digging into him. “I dunno.”
Cassie gasps, empathetic to a fault. “Oh! Oh no, do you think they’re being forced to? They were like, our age, I don’t think teenagers tend to do super-illegal-supervillain stuff on their own- do you think they’re in danger? Or hurt? Oh gosh, we should help them! We need to help them, we should help find them- Vision, don’t you agree?”
The Vision glances away, looking downright embarrassed and for all the world like he would be blushing if that was something he was capable of. “I- er, I suppose that if you think we should then-”
“Hey!” Kate cries, tossing another arrow at him. “Cassie, no exploiting crushes to win arguments! Anyway, you agree with me that this is stupid and they’re dangerous, right Eli?”
“You’re a hypocrite,” Eli tells her flatly, as Cassie pouts. “But I do agree. They stole highly dangerous volumes, and if Cassie’s Mephisto rumours are correct that could be a serious threat. And I’m sorry, Teddy, but one vague comment and a crush you have isn’t enough to convince me that seeking them out like Cassie wants is a good plan. The Avengers told us to just leave it alone. That’s what we should do. We have other issues to worry about, anyway.”
“It’s not a crush,” Teddy corrects, “and besides, when do we listen to anything the Avengers say? They also told us to stop being heroes. Are you going to obey that order, too?”
“That’s different, Teddy,” Eli insists with a sigh. “Besides, we don’t know the first thing about how to track them down, even if we were going to. And again- we don’t know what they’re capable of. Sure, the Avengers haven’t recorded them causing major harm-”
“They tried to kill me!” Kate protests sharply.
“-but that doesn’t mean they haven’t, or aren’t capable of it. Your not-a-crush had magic powerful enough to combat the Scarlet Witch’s spells, or at least work around them. That’s a threat, Teddy, you know it is.”
“Aren’t we also threats?” Cassie says coldly. “We should at least try to help them. It’s what heroes do, Eli. Nate-” She stops, wrapping her arms around herself, and Teddy moves closer, offering a hug. She leans into him, burying her face against his shoulder as she continues. “Nate was supposed to be bad too. We helped him. What if Teddy’s right, Eli, and those boys are like Nate was? Shouldn’t we at least try?”
The air is thick again, as her words hover in the air, before Eli slumps against the table, nodding.
“Fine. You’re right. If… if they really need help, it’s our job to try. And- even if you’re wrong, we might be able to recover those books for the Avengers. It’s… the right move.”
Yeah. It is.
Now all they need to do is… figure out how to help.