revivalproject | When the World Holds Its Breath

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When the World Holds Its Breath

WHO: Cal Kestis, BD-1 and you?
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: The storms, he does not miss.
WHEN: Event duration
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will go with tag prefs.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

He'd sensed something, a nameless foreboding that he could only hope to brace against, yet deep down knowing it wouldn't be enough. The quiet was too quiet. The peace was anything but- but in a place like this was it ever really peace?

And then the bottom finally dropped, that stifling feeling of being cut off from the Force threatening to prompt panic. But he's been through this before. Others haven't. It's that thought that Cal clings to, as tightly as the little droid dangling behind him clings to his harness.

"You're going to have to be my eyes again, BeeDee. Keep me grounded," he says. The droid gives him a solemn hoot in acknowledgment of his duty.

i. Where are you going? Is your character seeing things?

ii. Where have you been? Cut-to being found and seeking out shelter. But watch out for them projections! Will it hit you or Cal? What happens next?!

iii. Cover your ears! The moon is screaming and this Jedi's psychometry's on the fritz! Does he catch a glimpse of your past? Check here for deets!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

BD-1 skittered back over to Cal's side as the Jedi lay there for a moment panting. He looked up at Tony, confused, but his eyes were making contact with him rather than looking through him at least. "Tony..?"

Cal started to shove himself up to sit, wincing. "What...what was that?" He was still trying to collect his thoughts, setting a hand on BD-1's head as the little guy beeped concernedly at him. His eyes caught sight of the lightsaber some ways off, widening as he looked to Tony. "Are you okay? Did I..?"

"Try not to get too excited," Tony muttered, flat under his heart still in his throat, and the hopeful lift of his eyebrows at the return of Cal's focus. As the kid started to move, Tony finally risked touching him again, offering a hand to hold him up then clutch anxiously. "I was kind of hoping you would tell me," he admitted, then followed Cal's gaze only to snap his attention back on his face, working quickly on a way to dissipate the concern there. "If you were looking for an excuse to kiss me this whole time, that's understandable, perfectly natural, some people find the impulse actually impedes with their daily life, but you could have just talked to me about it, the performance wasn't necessary, really awkward for BD, honestly, kind of rude."

Cal grasped Tony's hand tightly, reassurance, perhaps. The man's further response, as exasperating as it was, helped air out the whole awkwardness of the situation. Cal breathed a weak laugh, shaking his head, glad that at least in spite of everything, Tony would always be Tony. He slowly got back on his feet.

"It was like...one moment I was following you, and then that thing hit and suddenly I was back on Bracca, the moment I got found out by the Empire." He looked around as though just to be sure things hadn't swapped on him somehow. But it was foggy, not rainy like that night the train had gotten halted.

Now that Cal wasn't staring into space anymore, nothing looked amiss to Tony as he gave him another quick examination when on their feet, patting some of the damp dirt from his shoulder. That didn't stop Tony from frowning, still searching for some evidence of what that thing had done to Cal. "Good news," he reported, "you didn't go anywhere. Here the whole time." Squinting one eye shut with a tilt of his head and mouth twisted to the side, Tony had to acknowledge that might not have been good news. That did still mean Cal was...here. And possibly experiencing some kind of brain damage.

"You were...moving," Tony tried to explain, trying to pick his words so he didn't freak Cal entirely out, but hoping that they could diagnose the error between them. "In your own little world. Didn't say much. Didn't seem to want us around." He glanced up the road to spot the lightsaber, then further with a tense flex of his jaw, searching the fog for any movement. Maybe it wasn't worth staying out here to collect more data.

"We should get the network back online..." he prompted again, with renewed urgency to warn people and get them somewhere safe.

Cal's eyes followed Tony's to the lightsaber, which he looked at grimly. Moving- if it had been in tandem with what he was remembering...

"Yeah..." he said, nodding as Tony pressed the issue of the network again. "Would you feel better carrying that instead of me?" He indicated the lightsaber with a nod of his head. "Not that I want to run into any more of those things but if this starts an unwanted trend, I'd be better off without that in reach."

"Uh..." Tony considered, staring at the hilt, then wrinkled his nose and grit his teeth. He did, kind of, want to carry it, but it seemed clear to him that this would be far more dangerous than keeping it in the expert's hands. The last time Cal let him handle a lightsaber, everything got very weird. Tony did swing down to pick it up for him, presenting it carefully in both hands for Cal to take as he suggested, "Maybe you can stop those things in their tracks instead."

With a toss of his head, he indicated not the road toward the hangar now, but to the centre of town where more people were likely to be, and they could investigate the security tower. "I thought your teacher was--you lost him...?" he started, not sure if he had his pieced-together timeline wrong, or the pieces he had been given about the strange dominance and downfall of the Jedi had been misleading. "You said 'prof'," he said, with no other logical way to interpret that.

He couldn't blame Tony in the least for the hesitation, but it meant a lot to him once the man made his decision and offered the lightsaber back to him. Cal smiled faintly, giving Tony a nod as his fingers closed around the hilt, holding it there for a moment before he accepted the weapon and returned it to its place hanging from his belt.

"I'm not sure how well that would work," he mused, just as uncertain that he'd want to risk getting caught in another flashback. As Tony started to move again, Cal began to follow, reaching down for BD-1 as the droid hopped up onto his leg with a murmured, "Sorry for worrying you, buddy."

He blinked as Tony started to speak up again, unsure of what prompted this new line of questioning. "Oh..." He shook his head. "Prauf, he was...my only friend, back on Bracca. He looked out for me, helped me get in with the scrapper guild when I was trying to find my footing after the Purge."

"Can't be any worse than stopping them with your face," Tony proposed, though he clearly was not eager to find out, either. He checked carefully around corners before stepping out past buildings, trying to look very casual with his hands hanging from his toolbelt and briefly leaning out so he was rocking up on his toes to fall into his next step.

"I'm having a hard time picturing you hard up for friends," he admitted, twirling one finger in the air before dropping it back to his belt, very aware that this was maybe not a great time for Cal, emotionally. Not one for making connections. Tony pressed on, "Very charming, you know, very calming presence. When you're not trying to cut my head off. Maybe don't lead with that one, really risky move."

Cal breathed a laugh, something more like a sigh. "Right, I'll keep that in mind." At least they knew a little better that they could try avoiding a repeat performance.

"People weren't on Bracca to make friends. It was like Prauf said when he stood up against the Empire. Engineers were forced to become scrappers when they took power. Everyone there was just working to survive."

"You did have a friend, though," Tony pointed out. "You relied on him." Stopping his careful search to look back at Cal with a sympathetic frown as they passed through another alley, he said, "He must have been a good guy." Looking out for Cal when it wasn't in his own best interest, and standing up to the Empire sounded like a potent combination. "And you got BD, what is he, just an acquaintance? Come on."

"He was," Cal said fondly, sadly. "If it weren't for him I might have never left Bracca." Things would have never been the same even if the Empire hadn't shown up that night, but it had still been because of Prauf that he'd taken up his lightsaber again. It wasn't lost on him that things could have gone quite differently too.

BD-1 borbled at his mention, and Cal had to laugh as he reached up to pat the droid's head. "I wouldn't have met BeeDee if everything hadn't happened on Bracca, true. So I still owe it to Prauf. I just wish I could've done more.'

Something told Tony that Cal's resilience would have carried him a lot farther than he thought, making Tony narrow his eyes then let it go with a lopsided smile and nod. It was basically the same argument, anyway, when he protested, "Hey, you've still got a shot, we're not going to be here forever. I--I'm working on it." That got less convincing every day, and felt particularly miserable to claim as they went sneaking through the ruins, effectively firewalled by some fog. Still, Poe had told him enough about the pocket of resistance to this Empire, and they definitely weren't the only ones, by the sounds of it, if no one had benefited from this exchange of power except for the ones willing to murder and enslave. "What did I just say? You're very charming. A few good connections in a bar, you'll be storming the palace in no time."

Cal's hand fell over Tony's shoulder. "You don't have to work on it alone." He offered a faint smile. "That's something I had to learn too." That he wasn't alone, that he didn't have to be. And getting helping everyone get home here wasn't something that needed to be resting on any one person's shoulders.

He'd heard about how things pan out, about the Order that took place of the Empire eventually. It was too far to think about, and something that could easily dampen anyone's spirits. Cal wasn't even sure where exactly he was in this fight, except that they weren't for the Empire.

"...Merrin said I completed my mission, you know? She's from farther ahead than me."

Eventually, enough people would say it that Tony would internalize the message. Or they would keep showing up so Tony didn't have the choice to do it alone. He gave Cal a tight smile and appreciative pat to his hand for the effort, glad that he at least wasn't accusatory, and not unwilling to take the help as it was offered. Maybe he'd be able to tell Tony how he learned that lesson some day.

His eyebrows raised in surprise, brightening easily with what sounded like great news. "Of course you did," he said, chin raised like he knew just as well as Merrin did all along, and had any clear idea of what Cal's mission really entailed. "Never had any doubt, you're invincible." With less confidence, he shot a sidelong look Cal's way to ask, "How far ahead?"

It hadn't been an easy lesson, one that likewise needed constant reminding before it eventually stuck. Cal gave Tony's shoulder a squeeze.

"The holocron. The one with the list of Force sensitive children. I destroyed it." Finding it had been the mission, reestablishing the Order had been the hope. Perhaps his counterpart had come to also realize what he had, here. The future of those children would not be determined by the Jedi, but the Force. Even here, even though Cal couldn't sense it right this moment, he knew it wasn't something that could be made to disappear.

"I'm not sure just how far," he admitted. "Although the last time I saw her she was trying to kill me, so..." He chuckled dryly, gesturing vaguely. Had to have been some bit of time at the very least. They emerged on the other end of the buildings and Cal quieted, looking around carefully before pointing out to Tony another projection standing almost aimlessly just at the fringes of their sight.

What confidence was left in Tony rapidly drained to caution, searching Cal's face for a better impression of how he felt. "You said...That wasn't the plan," Tony pressed, though it wasn't one he could say he disagreed with.

Merrin was a much easier topic, Cal's laugh mirrored in an impish grin as Tony finished for him, "A few hours, then." From what Tony understood, she was still trying to kill Cal, and they should be concerned when she stopped. He was still smiling when he turned at Cal's indication, which soured the expression quickly to grit teeth and no more teasing glimmer. The image still had him reaching for Cal, as the last time, hand on his side to slow and then still them, holding his breath to watch what this thing did if it didn't take notice of them. It was hard to tell through the fog, but they could have been staring at each other, statues both and waiting for the other to make a move.

Under his breath, Tony muttered, "Serenity." They had some idea of what this thing was capable of now. It wasn't real--not tangible, anyway, not something that was about to make them bleed. Maybe as long as they knew that, they could face it, and Tony's chin slowly dropped as his intent study became a challenging glare.

"It wasn't," Cal agreed, "...but maybe things happened that made me rethink things." And who it'd be affecting.

He did have to grin at Tony's response, far off but not missed for the intent, and talk about Merrin suggested a bit of shyness even in that smile he returned before they focused on the lingering threat.

Well, maybe it wasn't too much of a threat, but the things weren't likely to bring about any pleasant experiences. Cal studied the thing, waiting for some kind of response, both disappointed and relieved when nothing happened. He flicked a look at Tony then, brow furrowing as he saw the look on the man's face, not sure he liked whatever the man might be thinking. "Tony..."

There was probably nothing reassuring about the way Tony blindly patted at Cal with his still outstretched arm, because he did not drop the eye contact he was sure he was holding with the thing through the mist. What he was thinking was, maybe this was about fear--they'd gotten to know that one intimately themselves, how powerful fear could be, and he couldn't rationalize any other explanation for that intimidating chatter the last one had made as it came at them. Maybe if they're weren't scared, it would be neutralized, only Tony had to figure out how to stop being scared. An energy transfer, that's all it was, he knew all about energy, he just had to put it into something else.

The apparition twitched the second Tony made his move, and was hurtling toward them just like the last encounter by the time Tony swept down and collected a broken chunk of concrete from the road. "Come and get it, sweetheart," he welcomed as he wound back and launched the rock into its whistling face. He might not play baseball anymore, but his pitch was still mathematically perfect; a very straightforward energy transfer. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much. The light distorted around the rock, shattering the thing's face horribly, only to pass through serenely, not even slowing the thing down.

Alright, so it was Cal that made them explode.

By that point it wasn't a surprise as to what Tony intended to do. While Cal didn't like the blithe reassurance he was getting from the man, he wasn't going to object to trying to work out more about what they were dealing with here. There was perhaps some disappointment in seeing that a rock had no effect on the thing, as impressively on target as Tony's throw was.

Cal's turn, then. He stepped out of cover, lightsaber blazing with the familiar snap-hiss of its activation. He threw himself into a flip over the whistling specter, at least able to do some acrobatics without aid of the Force. It wasn't as high as he might've liked, but it was high enough as he sailed overhead, swiping his blade at the thing in its passing. The disruption was brief, causing the thing to flicker but not fade as it continued to sweep on past.

Cal's effortless flip had Tony regretting his little rock, up until the impressive acrobatics didn't really amount to anything, either, and suddenly Tony had to put aside his surprise that Cal could just do that before the horrible thing collided with him. He flung himself back against the wall in the alley, banking on the excellent odds that not a lot of people or freakish holograms were as graceful as Cal and this one would overshoot the turn.

His math was never wrong. Only, it didn't seem to matter. The thing didn't have to reorient and gain its momentum again to get back up to ramming speed, it didn't even give Tony the chance to slip around onto the road after Cal again. It just reached one arm out, brushing across Tony's chest, and shattered before his eyes in a flare of disorienting light that resolved as a familiar HUD, looking out into a dark room, surrounded by drawn, dour faces.

Tony stood stiffly, eyes darting rapidly, but otherwise very still as he said very evenly, "I'm a futurist. The way my mind works--the way Reed's mind works--we can intuit the future. And now I'm going to tell you the future."

The moment Cal's boots hit the ground, he spins around, bringing his lightsaber up in case the thing happened to change course. True, the blade hadn't done much of anything but he still counted the flicker as something.

The projection had still stayed true to its path and original target. "Tony!" he shouted as he started to rush towards him, but by then the ghost had collided into the man and vanished. The Jedi slowed, lightsaber deactivated as he looked anxiously at Tony whom otherwise appeared fine, but his attention was nowhere and everywhere. His words made no sense in light of the present situation, but Cal wasn't sure where Tony's mind had gone, realized how little he really knew about the man as he went through similar motions that unwittingly had been used on him earlier in their previous projection-encounter.

Calling his name clearly had no effect on Tony, the only pause he took to raise his chin with what might have looked like determination or defiance, if he had his mask on. His gaze continued to flicker, jaw tight as he continued, "A hero, probably a young one...One of the Young Avengers...Some carefree, happy-go-lucky, well-meaning young person, with the best of intentions, will do something wrong."

His gaze finally seemed to settle briefly, picking out faces in the group seated around him, and he bared his teeth uncomfortably but still continued, measured and low; "He'll be trying to save someone--do something heroic--but he'll make a mistake. Turn to the left instead of the right--and people will be hurt or killed because of it.

"And it'll either happen on live TV, or it'll be recorded...and it'll play over and over and over. All over the world."

He licked his lips, clearly starting to sweat, and losing some of his nerve to keep his gaze raised even through the mask. "...and every politician looking to make a name for himself will run right on TV and they'll tell America how they are going to save the world from these out-of-control costumed characters who think the law doesn't apply to them. And half of us will go along with and and half of us won't.

"Our lawmakers will be forced to make an example of someone. Someone like our friend Spider-Man. Someone they can make a real spectacle of. Something they can unmask on TV, destroy his marriage and family and pin a crime or two on. All for the whole world to see."

It was clear then that he was looking to each of the people he was talking to, pleading that could practically be counted, one, two, three, four. "And the country will rupture. Sides will be taken and people will get hurt. Friends dying at the hands of a former ally or teammate. That is what will happen."

No amount of waving his hands was registered, nor even a tap on the shoulder, and as Tony continued to address and unseen audience, Cal circled him as he tried to work out how to break the man out of it. "Any ideas, BeeDee..?" he asked as the droid also peered at him from where he clung to one of Tony's pants legs.

The things Tony was saying made more sense to Cal than it probably should have. Between strange alternate realities and the things that had come up in his talks with Teddy and Tommy and Billy, he had a pretty good glimpse of the Earth that they lived in. And even then, a lot of what Tony addresses wasn't exclusive to that world. He could recognize echoes of those events having happened in his own galaxy, in what happened with the Jedi. It brought about a familiar ache that he almost missed BD-1's suggestion.

Compared to what Tony and BD-1 had to deal with when Cal was out of it earlier, this was a tamer situation by far. Cal regarded where Tony stood, and then with a nod at the little droid still latched onto the other's leg, the Jedi stepped closer behind Tony and bent a knee against his, hoping to cause it to fold. He was ready to catch him from falling completely, but this seemed a neater tactic than trying to just shove him over.

The nudge was about as effective as knocking Tony's feet out from under him, with no way to prepare for it and trusting the Iron Man to be holding him up. Just as he started to propose, "But if we come to them now..Cooperate--," he buckled, biting down on his tongue and eyes flying wide open as the whole world seemed to flip and go strangely dark, like the Iron Man had just imploded. He grabbed at what hold Cal did have on him, panicking and trying to throw himself back out of it before it crushed him, slamming back into the solid reality of the crumbling, Temba wall. When his eyes darted then, it was with clarity, assessing where and when he was, then looking to Cal with a desperation he struggled to place until he had properly remembered, "Are you okay? Is it gone?"

Worry was quickly chased off by relief as it flooded Cal's face once Tony started to register the present once again. He couldn't help but feel a little bad for interrupting him, but reminded himself it was a memory, and whatever Tony had been trying to head off with this presentation, it must have been long past.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's gone- it...disappeared the moment it hit you," he said, hiding a wince, still grasping Tony's shoulder to make sure he wouldn't actually fall over. ...not to mention his hand was slightly pinned between Tony and the wall. Ow.

"The same thing happened. You weren't here." BD-1 beeped confirmation from where he now sat on Tony's foot.

When the World Holds Its Breath

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