Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warnings:
Category:
Fandoms:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Collections:
My Entire History, That Good Golden Shit
Stats:
Published:
2023-04-16
Updated:
2024-11-11
Words:
72,028
Chapters:
34/?
Comments:
1,834
Kudos:
3,746
Bookmarks:
1,278
Hits:
188,406

Second Chances

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 - Interlude

Notes:

Just another quick little one, an interlude this time, to whet your appetite.
I've been a bit busy at work, trying to make up for my time off, and they've instituted compterised rostering which limits my time in front of a computer to much less than it used to be :(

Chapter Text

Chapter 34 - Interlude

Jessica woke to the sound of the front door opening and the chipper voice of Taylor’s friend Harriet.  She was a good kid, kind and very excitable.  Despite the revelation of Taylor’s origins, real age and sexuality, she had continued to remain Taylor’s steadfast friend.  Jess wiped the sleep from her eyes, and quickly got dressed in her jeans and black singlet.  Taylor’s mom Deb had joked in the early days of her and Taylor’s relationship about jeans and black singlets being the only clothes she owned.  It was basically true.  This horrified Deb, who demanded that she take Jessica out shopping.  Taylor, the traitorous traitor, just laughed at her.  She now owned a growing and varied collection, but still preferred her usual attire.  She checked her phone, hoping for another message from Taylor, that she’d be coming home, that she’d invited Harriet around to celebrate or something. As out of character as that would be for her.  The lack of further messages made Jessica concerned that something bad had happened then.  She knew that Taylor had to conform to a type of operational security while she was out.  So Jessica really had no idea what Taylor was up to, aside from that she wouldn’t be home like she had earlier announced.

 

“Good Morning Jessica!” Harriet greeted her, once she had arrived in the living room.

 

Jess gave Harriet a half-hearted smile, “Harriet.”

 

“Morning Jess,” and “Good morning!” came from Deb and Kathy.

 

“Morning,” Jess replied, “What’s up?”

 

“Well, this is my show and now that everyone is here…” Harriet said as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

 

The television was already switched on and set to ‘stream from device’, so whatever Harriet had was likely a video.

 

“Does anyone know what Taylor’s up to at the moment?”  Harriet paused theatrically for them to either answer ‘no’ or shake their heads, before stabbing her finger at the play icon on her phone in a dramatic manner.  This didn’t work out for her as she either missed, or pushed too hard, and ended up stabbing her finger at the screen three or four times.  Playing and then immediately pausing in one instance.  

 

She let out a quiet “Eureka!” when the video began playing on the television.

 

It showed a man dressed in strange green black and gold armor / robe shooting some sort of laser thing from a scepter at a group of people.  The blast was blocked by a man wearing a uniform reminiscent of the Captain America of World War Two.

 

Harriet paused the video so that she could point at the two costumed people.

 

“Loki,” she said,  pointing at the man in green, black and gold.

Then she pointed at the man in blue, red and white, “Captain America. Or Captain America the second, we’re not sure.  It could be a new one, but the prevailing conspiracy theory is that the government had him cryogenically frozen until the government needed him again.”

 

She pressed play and there was a little bit of a back and forth between Loki and Captain America before Harriet said, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand…. Guess who that is?!”  Just as Loki was engulfed by a black swarm.

 

A black blurry figure appeared next to Captain America and said in the most trauma-inducing manner, a grating, buzzing chorus, “Stand down… Or we find out what Asgardian tastes like.”

 

It was, frankly, quite terrifying.  Harriet failed to repress a shudder, though she had obviously already watched it.  Kathy made no such attempt and let out a little ‘oh’.  Deb was just staring through the television.

 

“She’s in Germany!  Or was in Germany, at least.” Harriet announced.

 

Kathy noticed quickly how quiet and shrunken Deb was and put a hand on her shoulder.  Deb jumped from the unexpected contact and tried to push herself away.

 

“Oh, Deb, honey.  I’m sorry,” Kathy tried to reassure her.

 

Deb had tears down her cheeks and apologized to Kathy, over and over, “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry…”

 

“It’s okay darling, there’s nothing to apologize for.  It’s okay, you’re alright.  I’m here.” Kathy calmed her soothingly.

 

“I’ll just take Deb for a quick lie down, girls.” Kathy told Harriet and Jessica, before helping her partner up and escorting her to their bedroom.

 

Harriet had quieted, she also had shrunk in on herself and whispered, “This is my fault.”

 

Jess was quick to move over and give her a hug, “It’s okay, it’s not your fault, you didn’t know.  She had a terrible experience and seeing that has just brought back memories of it.  How were you to know that?  Besides, I’m sure she’ll appreciate knowing that Taylor’s safe, I know I do.”

 

Harriet hugged her back and cried into her shoulder, “What a terrible day.  First, my hamster dies, and I found this and thought that I could turn the day around, but now this.  What else could go wrong?”



Welcome to the Parahumans Online (Formerly Iron Man Fan) message boards.
You are currently logged in, ReprimandFan
You are viewing:
• Threads you have replied to
• AND Threads that have new replies
• OR private message conversations with new replies
• Thread OP is displayed.
•  Twenty  posts per page
• Last ten messages in private message history.
• Threads and private messages are ordered chronologically.

♦ Topic: Captain America in Stuttgart
In: Boards ► EUROPE ► Germany ► New Sightings
Ventilator (Original Poster) (Verified German)
Posted On May 3rd 2012:
Das ist gerade in Stuttgart passiert!
Sieht aus wie Captain America, aber ich weiß weder, wer der Käfermensch ist, noch der Möchtegern-Diktator.

Autotranslate:
This happened just now in Stuttgart!
Looks like Captain America, but I don't know who the bug person is, nor the Dictator Wannabe.

[Stuttgart.mp4]

(Showing page 1 of 1)

►Reprimand (Top Contributer) (At Stark Expo Battle) (At Harlem Battle)
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
Great Video, but, what? No Mention of Iron Man?

►Ventilator (Original Poster) (Verified German)
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
Ja, Iron Man was there.

Autotranslate:
Yes, Iron Man was there.

►SetCustard (Founding Member)
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
Does that "Bug Person" look familiar to anyone? From the Stark Expo attack?

Ventilator, what makes you think that it's a bug person?

►Ventilator (Original Poster) (Verified German)
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
I spoke to one of the persons that was close.
They said the person was made of bugs.

►SexualOlympian
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
Definitely looks the same as what I remember!

►SKYE (Top Contributer) (Founding Member)
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
Thanks! Footage has been saved in a secure offline place. No WAY is anyone deleting or corrupting that!

►McLoving692 (At Harlem Battle)
Replied On May 3rd 2012:
No sign of the big green guy there?


Replied On May 3rd 2012:

End of Page.   1