The Kids Aren't Alright
Tonight we are victorious~
Champagne pouring over us~
All my friends, we’re glorious~
Tonight we are victorious~
Virgil hummed along as he did his eyeshadow in the mirror. Nice, nice, looked good.
He heard the door open downstairs. Must be Dee. He was having tea with Loki today, wasn’t he?
“Hello! Would you like some coffee? Tea?” Picani being Picani.
Okay, that definitely wasn’t Dee. A guest? People? Oh god people that wasn’t good.
Okay Virge, you got this. Focus. Who could it be?
Not the Egos. They just popped in whenever. Not anyone he knew or talked to that often- Picani would greet them with a hug or something. So it had to be an adult.
“Actually, I wanted to speak to… Virgil, I think it was?”
He froze and hurriedly set down his brush and palette. Okay. So he was going to have to socialize.
He walked out to the landing of the stairs and saw Fury.
“Uh- hi.” Stupid, stupid ‘hi’ what the fuck man-
“Hello yourself. Deceit said I should talk to you.” Oh, did he? He’d have to text him about it.
“Really. Huh. What else did he say?”
Fury suddenly looked older than he’d last remembered. “That you had a hero-complex and would be willing to help. Paraphrasing, of course.”
“Of course.” Hero-complex? Not wrong but… blunter than his cousin would usually put it. Roman had a saving-people-thing. Why didn’t he go ask him?
“We have a problem.”
“Mind if I Facetime my brother?” Patton was at Frisk’s. Frisk would know what to do.
“Go ahead. It will keep me from having to say the same thing twice.” He would anyway, seeing as Ro was at drama but… whatever.
He pulled out his phone and messaged Patton.
[Hello? Oh, hey Virge!]
“Hey Pat. So-” He turned the phone to show Fury. ‘-Fast and Furious is here and he wanted to say something. So I called you. You’re at Frisk’s place, yeah?” That was a good nickname. He’d have to use it.
[Yep! Whatcha need? Do you want me to bring them in here?]
He looked at Fury, who gave a grudging nod. “That’d be great. Thanks.”
He heard Patton call for Frisk and soon enough they joined Patton on the camera.
{What’s up?}
He pointed the phone towards Fury, who took the hint and started to speak.
“There are great cosmic forces in our world, and if they are brought together they have the ability to do whatever the user wanted. They would be unstoppable.”
[The Infinity Stones?]
If Fury was surprised he didn’t show it. “Yes. There is some… Mad Titan who wants to bring them together and destroy half of the universe. That is where you come in.”
“Are you insinuating that you are recruiting my children to destroy a cosmic threat?” Picani… also being Picani. Fury turned to the man.
“These children of yours managed to defeat something that my heroes couldn’t fully eradicate. I need them to-”
“You WHAT?!”
Virgil started as all of Picani’s righteous fury descended on him. “Well-”
([We did admit to going to the Raid.]) Frisk had pulled Dee up on their phone.
“You went to the Raid and dealt with a brainwashed supervillain capable of killing you in an instant?!”
({He’s not wrong-})
([Loki, you’re not helping. Look. We’re basically the crystal gems dad. It’s what we have to do.])
[Does that mean I’m Garnet!?] Patton had stars in his eyes.
([Maybe? I don’t- that’s not important.])
{If anything I’m Garnet. Determination, remember?}
([We’re getting off topic. Dad, don’t worry. We’ve always gotten out fine before, yeah?])
“Well yeah but-” Picani let out a sigh then straightened. “Okay. If you’re doing this I need to know exactly what you can do.”
Dee grinned, his face tiny through the screens.
([I’d expect no less. I’m coming over so we can talk about it in person. See ya in a few minutes.])
Frisk ended the call. They waited.
Soon enough a very out of breath Dee unlocked the door, eyes bright. A necklace he hadn’t seen before was on his neck.
“Okay. What’s going on? Tell me everything.”
---Five minutes earlier---
Dee closed the call and looked at Loki, who was fidgeting with the closest book.
“Well that is… something. You alright?” Loki shrugged, and wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I will live. However-’
He made a haphazard plucking motion with his hand in his general direction. Something cold washed over him and then disappeared.
“What was that?”
“I had a bit of a spell designed to keep you from accidentally using your abilities without knowing, but if you need to use your powers fully then…”
He looked at Loki in confusion. “Then why didn’t you put it in a necklace or something? You’re a god. I’d appreciate it if you tell me next time but I trust you.”
Loki blinked at him in surprise. “You’re… not angry?”
“Not particularly.”
“I violated your trust.”
“I would have done that same. Now-” He fashioned a long chain with a wooden snake pendant on it and tossed it at him. “-do the voodoo that you do so I can get home.”
Still blinking in confusion, a strange green magic emanated from his hands and was channeled into the necklace. He said something- probably in old Norse- and silently handed it to him.
“Nice.”
“Now shoo.”
He slung it around his neck, grabbed his bag, and bolted out of the door.
---------
They all gathered around the dining table, cups of coffee and tea and hot chocolate around them, as well as Logan with his notebook.
“So we’re dealing with an Infinity War type situation here.”
“Infinity War… I suppose that would be the correct term.”
Dee blinked and smacked his forehead. Oh so that’s what was so familiar. “You want us to go against Thanos? Us. Like: us us.”
“You already know of Thanos?”
“I thought we covered this- you guys are movies in our world. Infinity War was a huge thing a few years ago.”
“Did we win?”
Silence enveloped the table.
“No. Thanos destroyed half of the universe before he was finally defeated. However… there are other factors to put into play this time. You have us, and the E-mhmm mm!”
Dee covered Logan’s mouth with his hand. “Logan’s right. You have us, and whatever forces you have. It’s what, late 2017, early 2018 for you guys?”
“It’s almost March, yes.” Wow. It was September here.
“So you still have a few months to prepare.”
Dee’s phone buzzed, and he jumped.
“Hey Tony. Mind if I put you one speaker? Just us and Fast and Furious here.”
[Sure, whatever- how old are you guys?]
“Rem and Dee are 18, Patton is seventeen, Thomas is sixteen, Roman and Virgil fifteen, and Logan fourteen.” Picani supplied.
Holy shit. Logan was fourteen? Damn. He was so mature they forgot about the difference in ages… no wonder Picani was worried. Granted, Frisk was saving Monsterkind at, like, twelve but… still. This wasn’t Percy Jackson.
[Fuck, it’s worse than Peter… alright, alright. Give me a minute. I’ll call you back. J?] The call disconnected.
Silence.
“You see why I was hesitant?”
“Yes I do. I’m sorry for intruding, Dr. Picani. I’ll see myself out.”
And he stood and made to walk out of the door. Dee blinked rapidly and stood as well.
“What? You’re just going to leave because we’re a bunch of kids?”
“Yes.”
The bluntness took him aback. Then it made him angry. His fingers tightened against the wood of the table.
“Where were you when Loki was mind-controlled and trying to take over our city, huh? Cowering. What were we doing? Saving our world when you couldn’t. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to help you whether you like it or not because I have friends in that world and I’m not going to let them get turned to dust along with half of the universe!”
His face was red. Fury turned around slowly.
“You say that as if that will change my mind. Now go enjoy being a kid while you still can.”
And he walked away, leaving a shocked Deceit behind in his wake as the door closed. Picani hurried after Fury to say thank you.
“Hero complex, huh?”
Dee just moved to open the sliding door and disappear to the field.
“I don’t see why he’s so upset. I mean, Fury is correct. We’re much too young.”
“It’s not that simple for him Lo. He’s a people person. He knows a lot of people in that world, and is very close to them. Not being able to help them hurts him.”
Logan blinked at Patton before understanding dawned. “Oh. He’s going to try and find a way to do it anyway, isn’t he?”
“Of course he is.” Virgil groaned. “He’s Dee. What do you expect?”
Remy rolled his eyes and stood up. “I’m going to try and talk him out of it. He’s being an idiot.”
“Be nice Remy.”
“I will.” He gave a thumbs up and left where Dee had gone.
There was silence.
“Anyone want to watch the fifth season of Lost?”