June-July Storm and Calibrations - OTA

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Sheperd, OTA
WHERE: Around Temba, Calibrations Waiting Room, Tommy’s Calibration Room
WHAT: The lead up to and time around Calibrations
WHEN: June 2nd to July 10th
WARNINGS: CW: Tommy’s Calibrations room potentially contains depictions of child abuse and neglect, deprivation of food to a minor, bullying, and possible references toward unintentional property destruction.. It depends on what you touch (each will have warnings in strike-through attached). One happier memory does occur, though.


Helping Hand (Around Temba - June 2nd, the 36 Hours - OTA)

The message comes and a few things happen. First, Tommy freezes. The storm had been bad the last time. The lack of powers, the way he fractured his ankle, the way he’d seen people he’d lost, the way he’d wanted to hide and never come back. The idea of it happening again scared him more than anything. Add in his new issues with lightning and it got more complicated, not less. Of course while he freezes forever, it’s actually only a minute, and then he’s moving.

While he hasn’t been to his home since things went wrong, he moves immediately there and starts packing a box with all of his things. And after a moment of thought, his brother’s things, and Teddy’s for good measure. Some clothes for them all, a few personal touches to feel comfortable. The painting Vision made for him happened to go into a box too. And once that is all left off in the mouth of the tunnel, he’s back in the city.

He stops at the Greenhouse and spends time harvesting every last thing that’s ripe that he can get his hands on. They’ll need food if they’re going to be there for a while. Then it’s off to the ships. Grabbing anything loose and useful on the ship is the goal to get things back. He then moves around the city, racing up to anyone he sees and stopping to ask an important question.

“Is there anything I can do to help you? Anything you need carried? Hell, I’ll carry you.”

Safety matters, and he’s a hero. It’s going to happen.


Calibrations Waiting Room

Here

Calibrations [CW: Tommy’s Calibrations room potentially contains depictions of child abuse and neglect, deprivation of food to a minor, bullying, and possible references toward unintentional property destruction. It depends on what you touch (each will have warnings in strike-through attached). One happier memory included.]

The room is different than the waking hours, but not much. It’s not actually emptier but it somehow manages to feel it, in an abandoned sort of way. Instead of a queen-sized bed, there’s a twin mattress on the floor, next to which there sits a half-eaten package of off-brand poptarts cw: neglect and deprivation of food. The mattress itself is resting under a window so dirty and dusty that it’s almost impossible to see out through it. Instead of the drawers there’s just a closet, open and mostly bare save for a pillow in the corner. And across from the pillow a beat-up bookbag cw: bullying. Hidden up on the shelf in the closet is a dusty high school yearbook cw: explosions, property destruction, for a school in New Jersey, Go Pumas! The last object of any real note in the room is a discarded belt cw: child abuse. Okay, no, there’s also what looks like a picture pinned to a wall, seemly drawn by a child. It’s on that level at least, it’s made of crayon, and depicts people in very colorful costumes, with something scrawled under it. Welcome to the Young Avengers it reads.

In the middle of it all, metaphorically, is Tommy, looking around the room in disgust.

Comments

[doubled_speed]

"Well, since you're not seeing the rest of the world through my eyes at my speed, that's not going to really get taught this time. But hey, here we are."

Does he know what they all are? No. Tommy shakes his head.

"Someone touched the picture. I know what that is. The rest... I'm not sure what will happen. Or even that the same thing will."

[wearingthestars]

"And you're really okay if I-?" He trails off. It still feels strange. All of this. "...Maybe we won't remember any of this. Like...when you go under anesthetic..."

[doubled_speed]

"Anesthetics don't work on me unless my powers are turned off," Tommy counters. Something he knows absolutely honestly. And he hates having known that.

"Come on, don't tell me you've never been a fucking busybody that wanted to know shit. I can't stop you."

He's tried.

[wearingthestars]

"Yeah, that's the part I don't like," Billy points out, but he flashes his brother a small smile, and hesitantly approaches the picture. That one at least won't be a surprise to Tommy. Maybe.

"...Is that us?"

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah. Never seen a picture like it before in my life."

He'd flash to his brother's side but he can't, not here. So he walks over slowly and stands by his brother to look at it, pointing out colored blobs in turn. Purple for Kate. Big and green for Teddy. Red cape for Billy.

"Weird, right?"

[wearingthestars]

"I don't remember seeing it either," he agrees, humming curiously, fingers passing over blobs with a fond smile.

"...Very weird."

[doubled_speed]

They're not there, the second Billy's fingers begin to brush over the paper. Instead they're at the Avengers manor, out back. In the statue garden. In the place where the memorial statues were. Billy and his team were in uniform, cleaning, rebuilding, and making new statues.

Now-Tommy sighs as he watches the then-Young Avengers, because he's not there. Of course he isn't he didn't agree to join them until later.

[wearingthestars]

Oh-

Billy looks around in surprise, taking a few steps closer to the team. They were so much younger then...

"Where-?" he frowns. Tommy's not here. The not-now-Tommy. How is this one of his memories?

[doubled_speed]

Were they really, though? Maybe less worn out, maybe less scared. But were they THAT much younger. But Tommy points, up toward the mansion. To where there was a figure in a window of the ruined building. A figure with a shock of white hair, and in a green suit.

"I was watching. All of you were so weird. I didn't know what to do."

Tommy moves aside, just in time for Eli to come towards them and move to start pushing some ivy away from a mound of rocks. It was where he was going to find the Mockingbird statue.

"I'm in a lot of places people don't expect."

[wearingthestars]

It feels like so much has happened since then. But sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday.

He follows Tommy's gesture to the window, lip curling softly. "You could've joined us-"

He watches Eli, mind trying to race ahead to remember what came next.

[doubled_speed]

"I wasn't one of you. I never could be. That's what I thought."

His eyes watch himself in the window. He knows he's watching the news on a cellphone he stole. He was horrible.

"You ever regret offering me the suit?"

[wearingthestars]

"We weren't...the best at being welcoming at first," he admits. Everything had been so crazy. And they were more than a bit judgmental.

"No. Never. Do you regret taking it?" Billy asks with a frown.

[doubled_speed]

"I did try and kill people," Tommy shrugs. And he thought it was fair to try.

Does he regret...

"Yes and no. Do you?"

[wearingthestars]

"They were really horrible people. Any of us might have done the same if we went through what you did."

He pauses, surprised to have the question turned around on him. "I um...no. Not most of the time. For a while though. I thought maybe things would have been better if I hadn't..."

[doubled_speed]

No. The rest of them would be... better. Stronger. Heroic.

"I'd probably be a brainwashed assassin for the government if you hadn't," Tommy points out. "Come on, this is going to move us soon. The UN. You get to see my first fuck up as a hero."

[wearingthestars]

They aren't always as strong as Tommy might like to think.

He wonders if Nate hadn't come for him if Tommy would have been one of the people he reconsidered. One of the founding Young Avengers...

"How do you know?" he asks, looking around for some cue things are about to change.

[doubled_speed]

Probably not. Tommy wasn't conveniently placed. No one cared about him because of that.

"Done this before, remember? It..."

The world blurs around them and it's like they can't see the travel. Which ANNOYS Tommy. But there's in front of the UN now, watching Tommy speed around, moving around and avoiding the members of the Zodiac.

"I thought I was doing the right thing here. Trying to stop people. That maybe you all would accept me if I did. Guess it worked."

[wearingthestars]

Even as a memory the fast travel makes Billy squint with disorientation, but he smiles softly.

"I remember. It was a real pain fixing it," he teases, "But we were all glad you agreed to be part of the team. Maybe not so much Eli. At first."

[doubled_speed]

"Eli never liked me," Tommy sighs, and there's the blur of Tommy, dodging some hot twins and a guy with crab claws, rolling under another guy's stinger.

"I wanted you guys to want me on your club. And to feel like I'd earned it. Thus stpidity."

[wearingthestars]

"He did. Deep down. He's just...Eli." He was a lot like Tommy in some respects. Neither of them really liked to let people in.

"You could have just said yes," he agrees with a teasing smile, "You all ready proved yourself, we liked you."

[doubled_speed]

That and Eli had been authority, and Tommy didn't like authorities. Everyone knew that. But he watches and then turns away when he sees himself moving closer to the building and raising his hands. There's definitely an explosion coming, and Tommy cringes.

"I couldn't. I... Eli HATED me. Kate didn't trust me."

[wearingthestars]

Billy turns to join him. He doesn't need to see. He takes Tommy's hand. "We wouldn't have offered you a suit if we didn't trust you, Tommy. Even back then."

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, no, he didn't believe that. The building explodes nearby and with that, the memory fades. And Tommy's back in his room. But no door. No door. Fuck.

"Shit.

[wearingthestars]

Damn.

He was really hoping that would be enough. He shoots his brother a guilty look, like there was something he could have done differently to fix things.

Looking around, there's not a whole lot to chose from , gaze landing on the book bag before flicking back to Tommy. "...Can I?" he asks.

[doubled_speed]

The bookbag. Tommy sighs and nods. Something tells him that Billy's not going to be amused by what he sees. Mostly because, well, he knew his school life wasn't that great.

"I mean, school isn't going to be nice."