That Meddling Meddler

[on_repeat]

WHO: Echo et AL
WHERE: Various about The Hero City
WHAT: Normal moments, action moments, normal action? Whatever happens in between the bigger events.
WHEN: May?
WARNINGS: N/A?

-----

Every morning, Echo woke up. Every morning, he answered his door, leaning against the frame before looking down.

"We need to stop doing this."

The orange tabby meowed, pressing against the man's legs to slink past him and the threshold. And after watching the cat take over his apartment yet again, he sighed, bending forward to grab the newspaper that came with it.

* * *

Place An Order

Because even in a city full of Superheroes, folks still needed saving...

...From exaggerated hunger pangs.

Ramen, hero sandwiches, pad thai – whatever it was, Echo was out there, picking up orders and delivering them to the awaiting customers in need of feeding.

"GrubDash!"


On The Way

There were plenty of times he was there outside of making an online food delivery.

Not every single event could be taken care of within twenty-four hours by one person, of course. That would be ridiculous. Echo chose what was realistically doable with the constraints he had to work with, which included being mostly normal as opposed to being someone with actual superpowers.

Anything within the lower to middle tier, really, scripted and unscripted. The latter at least didn't involve reading tomorrow's newspaper articles ahead of schedule.

He knew some things weren't fixable. But if he could change an outcome for the better, he took the risk.


Wildcard

[Other ideas/suggestions/scenarios/what have you go hereeeee]

Comments

[in_extremis]

While he kept his distance to let Echo make his own observations, Tony made a noise of agreement in his throat, tapping the mouth of the bottle against his lips anxiously as he considered the shimmering water. It was possible he did not have the proper experience to understand this situation fully and was assuming an oddity where there wasn't one, and the delivery man was just indulging him or the unsettled environment was encouraging some leaps of logic. "Let's, okay, listen: we're here, having a late breakfast, maybe we slept in, it's a hot day, we're still in our pyjamas and we're on the couch making our plans for the day," Tony proposed, spinning around to position them with a gesture on the dusty couch in this scenario. "Then a spaceship crashes into the building. Do the fire alarms go off in that scenario? I don't know. What do we do? We get our phones. We get the cat. Put the dog on a leash. Maybe even grab a lizard. Do we take the fish? We do love the fish, we bought those together for our third anniversary and they're very special, but it's not like we're putting them in a bag in an evacuation situation. Neither of us is stopping, hold on, honey, the walls might be coming down, but we can't just leave Mr. Bubbles."

[on_repeat]

The imagined scenario made the corner of Echo's mouth quirk as he followed Tony's lead, switching over to look at the couch. As ridiculous as it sounded, it helped deduce the matter in a way it would have unfolded when the problem was happening.

Yet he couldn't let the first thought go. "Third anniversary? Really?"

He then shook his head. "If it was also an expensive fish? Yes, we're taking it with us," came an answer with a straight face, arching a brow at the man. "But I doubt we'd have time to save the thing let alone try to get it into a bag in the first place. Meaning I'm sorry, dear, there's nothing else we can do and we have to go." Looking back at the part of the room that framed the tank, he added, "Mr. Bubbles didn't really have much of a chance, but he should still be here despite the fact the rest of us have been long gone."

[in_extremis]

"I was hoping we would be ready to move out of this place, maybe find somewhere with a yard, by our fifth," Tony replied like this was the obvious concern. It was reassuring in its own way that they were in some agreement about where the fish probably wasn't, so Tony finally closed in on the tank again as well to examine the floor like Echo had been doing, not sure what he expected to find. Ideally, a very normal body of a fish who had lept out of its tank in a fit of desperation, but all there was to see was dust, greenish puddles, and an air vent rusted with age. Tony's gaze lingered there as he straightened to take another drink of his champagne and organize his thoughts.

"It's possible," he said, "that we come back for the fish, after the incident." With that, he was left pointing at the tank and the sunken cork, and the water that must have been touched in this case by either the original occupants of the apartment, or some random, fish collecting weirdo, all of which Tony did not like the implications of. After a moment of considering them, he added, "I kind of prefer the idea that Mr. Bubbles walked away."

[on_repeat]

"These sure are some specifics," Echo accidentally blurts out while simultaneously wondering if finding a new space and moving out in less than six months was even realistic. It was probably better he didn't think too deeply about the factors going into the hypothetical, but it still managed to slip in. A notification on his phone chimed, giving him a break from the tank to fish the device out of his jacket pocket. "Seriously, Mr. Stark, I have other deliveries I have to get to– "

He barely read the 'spicy ramen' note when Tony carried on, bringing them back to the return trip to fetch Mr. Bubbles. His gaze followed where the man pointed, not liking the implication at all. "When you say 'walked' away," Echo began, "do you mean someone else got to him first? Or are you possibly saying Mr. Bubbles...evolved?"

Sure, it was a stretch, but. That couldn't be ruled out. Not here in This City.

[in_extremis]

That was the question they were here to answer, but Tony's fellow scientist didn't seem particularly convinced or focused. "You don't think so?" Tony pressed, but gently, taking the questioning alone as answer enough that this hypothesis was not workable. That would change Tony's focus to the less scientific exploration, and more detective work of figuring out who might have the fish in their possession, so maybe it was about time to relieve Echo and close the lab.

Tony raised a finger for Echo to wait while he took another long drink, wandering away as he did to deposit the bottle on the kitchen counter with his donuts. This freed his hands to fish out his wallet, and a thick stack of bills that he evidently didn't count before he was handing them over. "Illuminating discussion, Mr. Echo. Mr. Bubbles would be grateful for your service, I'm sure."

[on_repeat]

"I wish I could say yes," Echo sighed, "but we can't completely rule out any other outcomes. So Mr. Bubbles growing legs and stepping out on his own is still in play..."

His voice trailed off as one hand let go of the ninja turtle mug, automatically accepting the stack while his mind played catch-up. "What– "

Clearly this was a lot more than he made in a single day.

Echo worked his jaw, mouth opening, closing, then opening again. Much like what Mr. Bubbles would have done. "Mr. Stark?"

[in_extremis]

Tony's compulsion to correct the title was already half formed, tongue against his teeth before he was smiling wickedly and saying instead, "I liked 'dear' much better." Before Echo was under any impression that this was some kind of negotiation or he had to make humble overtures that would just make them both feel awkward, Tony was tucking his hands away in his pockets, not open for exchange, and backing a few steps away like he was wandering back for a donut. "I owe you, for the tips you could have been collecting, and for your help," he explained, letting Echo decide which of those he felt better about accepting. "But it looks like this project is changing directions, so I'm going to have to explore my options. I'll let you know if the evolution angle pans out."

[on_repeat]

The deliveryman's nose wrinkled, but he relented when Tony physically withdrew and explained as much, the hefty tip remaining a solid weight in his hand. "...Well. Thank you," Echo said with a slight laugh. "Glad I could help. And to be honest, I'm gonna expect some updates now."

He then raised his mug, drinking the rest of it down before setting it onto the counter. Maybe it was a mistake, but he did it. He saved himself any more trouble by waving a hand at Tony, turning on a heel to pick his way back out of the apartment unit.