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[Voice/Action]
[Today is a good day for serious business, apparently. There's a certain something he's been putting off for a while, and after one-too-many dreams interrupting his sleep, he's had enough: this morning when Billy wakes up, the first thing he does is jot out a note in the journal-]
[Private to Ben Grimm]
Hey, would it be okay if I swung by to ask you a few things?
[He'll work through his morning routine until he gets a response, after which he'll go for a visit and get a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.
After that, his mood for the day is drastically altered; he'll skip out on school, trying to sort out his feelings on the matter. Tommy's still AWOL, and he's trying not to worry Teddy, but what he's just been told has really got him thinking- about people, and heroes, and the unfairness of mankind in general. And eventually he'll just go ahead and return to his journal for it. He's kind of in over his head here.]
[Open to All]
I know Luceti's full of heroes- seems kind of a standard trait for most of us, for whatever reason. Back on my world, super-humans aren't that uncommon, and in general they're revered for everything they do for the world. Some of them were born that way, and some of them are from other planets, and some were altered to get their powers, and some have a lot of talent or skill instead of powers. But they're all considered to be super heroes. There's bad guys, too- just as diverse and unique as the heroes they fight. People fear them and celebrate their defeat.
There's another group, though... humans who got their powers because of evolution. It's much more natural, in a lot of ways. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are just trying to get by without becoming one or the other. But regular humans fear them, and hate them for it, even if they save the world just as much as the heroes they love. They're called criminals or monsters, no matter how innocent they might be.
[He hesitates- it's probably obvious to some, what he's talking about, and he's not sure if he should lock it from the mutant population, or apologize, or something, but it relates to them even if it's not by name. Hiding it wouldn't be right.
In the end he just leaves it be.]
...Sorry for the ramble. But it's not fair, and... I just can't understand why. Why hate one and love the other, when they're basically the same?
[Private to Ben Grimm]
Hey, would it be okay if I swung by to ask you a few things?
[He'll work through his morning routine until he gets a response, after which he'll go for a visit and get a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.
After that, his mood for the day is drastically altered; he'll skip out on school, trying to sort out his feelings on the matter. Tommy's still AWOL, and he's trying not to worry Teddy, but what he's just been told has really got him thinking- about people, and heroes, and the unfairness of mankind in general. And eventually he'll just go ahead and return to his journal for it. He's kind of in over his head here.]
[Open to All]
I know Luceti's full of heroes- seems kind of a standard trait for most of us, for whatever reason. Back on my world, super-humans aren't that uncommon, and in general they're revered for everything they do for the world. Some of them were born that way, and some of them are from other planets, and some were altered to get their powers, and some have a lot of talent or skill instead of powers. But they're all considered to be super heroes. There's bad guys, too- just as diverse and unique as the heroes they fight. People fear them and celebrate their defeat.
There's another group, though... humans who got their powers because of evolution. It's much more natural, in a lot of ways. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are just trying to get by without becoming one or the other. But regular humans fear them, and hate them for it, even if they save the world just as much as the heroes they love. They're called criminals or monsters, no matter how innocent they might be.
[He hesitates- it's probably obvious to some, what he's talking about, and he's not sure if he should lock it from the mutant population, or apologize, or something, but it relates to them even if it's not by name. Hiding it wouldn't be right.
In the end he just leaves it be.]
...Sorry for the ramble. But it's not fair, and... I just can't understand why. Why hate one and love the other, when they're basically the same?
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I wish I knew what to tell you. You already know it can take a very long time for people to accept others who are different, I'm sure.
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Believe me, I know. Rogue once said I was a walking hate crime.
[It was their most tactful of shared moments.]
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[And he's been called much worse than that.]
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[Despite the fact that Billy has been called worse, or that Pepper is certain Rogue didn't say it maliciously.
Or that it's entirely true.]
You'll prove them wrong, though.
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Well, I've learned to duck and cover, and if push comes to shove, there's always magic.
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People are going to see that you’re a good person, a hero, and that’s going to make them change how they think. Probably not huge crowds all at once, but it’ll still be a start.
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Miss Potts, are you trying to tell me that there's life after high school?
[He can't help himself.]
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Clearly he's been spending too much time with Tony.]
Believe it or not. [It makes her grin anyway.] Even after thirty, but only after you figure out how to navigate with your walker.
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Don't talk to me about thirty- that's almost twice my age, it feels like worlds away. I think I'll just stop time at 21 and look young forever- that sounds like a good idea, right?
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Also? Pepper is absolutely hiding her face behind her hands and groaning at "almost twice my age." Thank you, Billy, for pointing that out.]
Right. A great idea. You do that.
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At least he's never said she's old enough to be his mom? (Even though she probably is.)]
Relax, I promise I'm only joking. Besides I'd get kicked out of the Young Avengers if I did that- we all made a promise not to mess with time travel.
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Onto more important things, though. Like time travel.] You know, the fact that you actually have to make promises like that is a bit frightening.
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Well, I did get my mom's powers, and she can time-travel with magic, so it's more of a just-in-case. I wouldn't actually do it- our first big fight as a team involved time travel, and trust me when I say it was a nightmare.
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Oh, no; I know that. That you wouldn't, I mean. [Even with what she's said, Pepper never thought Billy wasn't joking. She manages a small grin when he talks about their first battle.] Considering how hard it gets keeping things straight here, I can only imagine how much worse that must have been.
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[Utterly horrifying, maybe. Somehow the idea of someone she cares for ceasing to exist just doesn’t sit well with her—not to mention the whole world going to pieces.]
Considering that it was your first fight, can I at least assume things turned out okay?
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[He leans back in his seat, lips quirking into the slightly smile.]
Not that we listened. But losing Nate was a real downer, and nobody felt very super-heroic that night.
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Still, the loss of a friend in any form is always a somber issue to deal with, and her smile turns sympathetic.] I’m sorry about your friend. But you did keep going, which is what he wanted from the sounds of it.
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[Actually, for a few weeks it was their shining moment of awesome, standing up against the terrible threat of the Avengers telling their parents.]
And we've got our Hawkeye and Stature to thank for that. Kind of scary how the girls who weren't even part of the team, originally, were more committed to keeping it going.
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[Though moving heavy objects and disbanding as a group of heroes are two entirely different things, she knows. It’s still worth pointing out.]
Wait—isn’t Clint Barton Hawkeye in your world too? [There’s a moment of confusion on Pepper’s part, since there’s not enough superheroes around in her world for people to be sharing names.] Either way, it’s a good thing they were. The way you talk about your team makes it pretty obvious how important they are to you.
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[Well, okay, maybe a little fanboying. Within reason.]
Hawkeye's... kinda complicated. Some stuff happened, and he was presumed to be dead for a while. And my team's got a fantastic archer who couldn't come up with a codename to save her life. Cap ended up giving her Clint Barton's bow and the Hawkeye codename. He figured she earned it.
[And she did; none of them would ever have said otherwise. No one worked harder on the Young Avengers than Kate Bishop.]
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[Billy gives her the brief rundown of Hawkeye’s history, although she does get a little confused at the end.] But didn’t he want you all to disband? Or did this happen after he realized that trying to get teenagers to listen is a futile effort?
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[He's got enough practice for it, that's for sure. The real answer is that when a battle is actually going on, fanboying's the last thing on his mind... he'd rather not ruin the mood, though.]
I think that was the main reason. That, and I guess we finally proved to him that we've got what it takes to at least be given a chance.
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[She's hopeful enough that he's joking to assume Billy is. Not to mention she doesn't think he'd do so well as a superhero if he oculdn't keep his glee in check.
Case in point.]
So they did come around, eventually.
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