nextgen_parent (nextgen_parent) wrote in marvel_nextgen,
@ 2010-08-13 12:00:00

Entry tags:

inactive - tech, npc - valentina fontaine, sammy fury, team - shield

Checking on the home team
Commander Fontaine, Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., made the rounds when the special ops team came back in. After their last disastrous outing, she wanted to make sure they were still in one cohesive piece. The reports had been favorable.

She hadn't met the newest member yet, though she knew the contents of his file. She'd been the one to have it sent to Sammy for consideration. Her little gun nut, and Walker and Dugan, could always use someone with the ability to build a better gun.

Sammy's report had been terse but informative. The others' a little more informative. Landon was next on her list.

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	sammyfury 2010-09-12 01:20 am UTC (link)
	Once at the hospital, Sammy waited to take Tech's hand, lacing their fingers together. She did it without thinking, wanting the contact as well as offer support. "It'll be okay," she assured him." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

thisismyweapon
2010-09-12 01:41 am UTC (link)

Tech takes the offered hand, drawing strength from the simple touch between the two of them. He's not certain he could have done this alone, so he's doubly thankful that Sam is here.

"Yeah, it'll be okay." he says, though whether he's agreeing with her or trying to convince the two of them is uncertain from his tone.

The pair arrive at Evelyn Landon's room and find her...watching television, and laughing.

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nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 01:46 am UTC (link)

Evelyn is resting comfortably on the white-linen bed, and her head turns quickly to the pair as they arrive. She is about to speak, but when she notices her grandson hand-in-hand with Sam, she smiles brightly at the both of them.

She's still a little pale, and there are tubes in her nose, but otherwise, Evelyn is in good spirits.

"Well hello, you two. You're both up very early. What brings you out so early?" she asks coyly.

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	sammyfury 2010-09-12 01:53 am UTC (link)
	Sammy smiled back at Evelyn. She squeezed Tech's hand before she let go so he could move to the bedside. "You do, of course. And biscuits and gravy, which Tech...Jason assured me weren't as good as yours." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

thisismyweapon
2010-09-12 02:33 am UTC (link)

"Oh, Gran." he says, moving forward to kiss his grandmother's forehead. In twenty-four years, Jason Landon has never seen his grandmother so vulnerable, so tired, so...frail. He often forgets just how old she is during her daily bustling about.

"Sam and Ah were havin' breakfast at the diner to the road a piece, but we were waitin' for someone to call and tell us you were awake. It kinda seems like you been up awhile, but no one called me." Jason says.

"Where's Jess?" he asks.

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nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 02:38 am UTC (link)

"Well, that's good that you two were having breakfast together." Gran smiles, looking between them.

"Jess went home this morning. Ah asked her not to call you, because Ah knew you were likely sittin' up worryin' about me. You look like your ribs are doing better, and if Ah can attribute that to anything Sam has done, then Ah don't regret not letting Jessica call you, Jason.

The doctors just want to keep me another day for a round of tests, but they said Ah made it in here in good time. Ah'm glad you and Sam showed up when you did." Evelyn says.

"My heart's always had issues, Jason, but you need to be worried about Jessica and the baby. She's four months along as it is, and she can't be havin' much excitement." Evelyn tells the two of them.

"Sam, did my grandson try to lock himself in his lab last night?" Evelyn asks.

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sammyfury
2010-09-12 02:43 am UTC (link)

"No ma'am, he didn't," Sammy said from the doorway. Hospital rooms where small and the amount of equipment made it hard to find a spot out of the way. "We had dinner and talked, and went to bed."

As soon as she stopped talking she realized that it didn't sound...complete. She hurried to add on to the story.

"I was right across the hall and I don't sleep much, so I would've known if he sneaked out of the bedroom to go anywhere."

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nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 03:22 am UTC (link)

Evelyn chuckles softly at Sammy's addendum to the story. Evelyn was fairly certain the girl hadn't gone to bed with her grandson, though, if one asked Evelyn, she thought it might do them both a world of good.

However, she wasn't be asked, and thereby did not volunteer this opinion.

"Thank you, Sam. I appreciate you watching out for him. Now, I will be home tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. The doctors want to keep me today and tonight for observation, but they said I'm recovering very well already." Evelyn says.

"Now, can I ask you to step into the hallway while I speak with Sam?" Evelyn Landon asks her grandson in a tone that pretty much says his only answer need be "yes, ma'am".

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thisismyweapon
2010-09-12 03:26 am UTC (link)

Tech seems a little nonplussed at his grandmother's attitude. It's like she's not even worried about her own health and safety, and that bugs him.

"Gran, you tell me what time and Ah will be here to pick you up as soon as they release you." Jason says.

When she asks him to step outside, Tech does so reluctantly, though he does touch Sammy's hand before stepping into the hallway.

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	sammyfury 2010-09-12 03:37 am UTC (link)
	Sammy tried to convey reassurance in a smile. "He's worried," she told Evelyn once he was out of the room and she moved closer. She couldn't imagine what the woman had to say that Tech couldn't hear as well. "Yesterday was quite a day." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 03:50 am UTC (link)

"I know, Sam. He's always worried, bless his heart. He's been that way since he was just a boy." Evelyn smiles now.

"Sam, I'm an old woman with a heart that isn't getting any younger. This isn't the first heart attack I've had. I don't intend to die anytime soon, but I also have no illusions. What I am trying to do now is provide for my family in the event that something happens while Jason is away.

I would like it if you could arrange for Jessica to be moved to a safe-location for the duration of her pregnancy. She's even more fragile than I am, and I don't want her getting caught up in the insanity of Jacob's life." Evelyn says.

"I asked Jason to step outside, because if I tell him this, he's going to insist that I go with her, and I don't have the energy to argue with him. Jessica also doesn't have the ability to care for myself and her while she's with child.

Jason's focus needs to be on his little nephew that's coming into this world, and not the woman who could be leaving any day." Evelyn says.

"Is there anything you can do in this regard?" she asks.

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	sammyfury 2010-09-12 03:58 am UTC (link)
	Sammy sat down in the chair by the bed. This woman was definitely far more informed than Tech realized. "I can arrange that without a problem, but why don't you want to go with her? Tech...I'm sorry, he introduced himself as Tech when we first met...would feel better if you were out of danger as well. The insanity grabbed you too." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 04:42 am UTC (link)

"Of course he did, dear." Evelyn smiles. "I remember when he told me would be the king of all things technological. His grandfather told him that he could be anything and anyone he wanted to be."

A tear rolls down the older woman's cheek.

"Sam, if I'm going to pass on from this world, I would like to do it in the bed that I shared with my husband for over forty years, not some apartment in the big city, full of streets and sounds and smells I don't know.

And if I'm going to pass on, I need to make sure that someone knows how to take care of my grandson, and my great-grandson, because they will both need it." Evelyn says.

"Sam, the information I'm about to give you is not well-known or widespread. Jason's ability regarding machines isn't random, as most mutant abilities are. Nor is his brother's ability to create death. Each generation of Landon develops the ability to...understand the world around them. They can do things without training, without prior preparation. The longer they train themselves at something, the easier it becomes for them to understand. They master skills that should take years in a...in a matter of days or weeks." Evelyn says, trying to catch her breath.

Her heart monitor beeps a little bit faster, and a few minutes go by before she speaks again.

"But with this power comes a...a desire to know more. To understand more. My husband used to call it a hunger, of sorts. It does not wane or sate itself. My husband was a wetworks operative for the C.I.A when he was younger, Sam. He killed many important men, men whose names you would recognize if you heard them.

Men whose deaths were...blamed on 'Lone Gunmen', or patsies who were in the wrong place in the wrong time. He went off the grid in 1972. Our son, Carter, inherited his father's power, but the hunger was too great. The last thing he was able to do was to bring Jacob and Jason to us.

Daniel knew that Jacob and Jason would develop the same abilities as their father, as he had, and the same hunger. Daniel wanted to help Jacob understand what was happening to him to help him control it. Unfortunately, Jacob came into his power sooner than we thought he would. Jason wanted to save his brother, wanted to rehabilitate him, but... he doesn't understand that Jake can't be saved, Sam. He can't.

Daniel started Jason early with machines. Putting them together, taking them apart, hoping to focus him so that he didn't suffer the way every other Landon has in the last one-hundred fifty years. It took, and it took well...but there is a chance his power will expand in other ways, Sam. I...I can't explain it all, but Daniel can.

I tell you this because Jason doesn't know that his power has been cultivated to do what it does, or that he can do more with it than just machines. But he needs to know, because he's going to be the only person who can understand what Jessica's child will go through...and maybe someday, the only person who can understand what his own children are going through..." Evelyn says.

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sammyfury
2010-09-12 04:59 am UTC (link)

None of this had been in Tech's file aside from the names. Sammy could only look at the woman in surprise. She'd seen Tech do some amazing things with scraps of metal and a few gears in the short amount of time she'd known him. To be told that it could get both better and worse, and figure out how to save the man from crashing...that was going to require help.

"Daniel can explain it? You speak as if he were still alive."

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nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 05:12 am UTC (link)

"No...he was killed several years ago, but he has several old movies and recordings. He...he made videos for Jason. They're...in my bedroom, in the closet beneath the floorboard.

He also kept notes of the things and people he was assigned to." Evelyn says, tearing up a bit more. Her expression is resigned, and she clutches the sheets nervously, as if she expects something bad to happen any moment.

"Daniel was wary of giving this information to anyone, but he felt he could trust Nick Fury, if he needed to trust anyone. He has several files on other targets he was directed to watch and wait for information on from organizations I've never heard of." Evelyn says.

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sammyfury
2010-09-12 05:30 am UTC (link)

"All right..." she said slowly. "I can't do anything about Jake. I met him at the prison. He wanted to talk to me. Threaten me, actually. He belongs where he is. Tech is still alive inside. Him I can help. He..."

Her voice faded when she recalled that what Evelyn had joked about earlier hadn't actually come true. Tech hadn't gone to the lab once since they arrived other than to get items for the warehouses that were out of their reach now. He didn't sneak away to the lab in the middle of the night. His brain might have kept on working, but he could distract himself.

He counted kisses as if he hadn't been kissed in a long time...

"May I have your permission to retrieve the cache in your closet?"

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nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 05:47 am UTC (link)

"My husband never believed in giving up on someone you love, but...Jacob has become an animal. A rabid dog with no regard for human life. I saw him once, recently. His eyes are so...cold. So dead. He didn't look at me, so much as through me, Samantha.

I have never been so terrified of a human being in all my life." Evelyn tells her, her eyes closing in either shame or exhaustion. It's hard to tell which.

"You have that permission, Sam. If Jason asks about any of this, tell him whatever you need to. Review the information and make your conclusions. Your superiors will likely have questions." Evelyn assumes.

"The only other thing I can ask is that you do your best to keep Jason from losing himself. He's...more than his power, even if he doesn't believe it. Someday, I hope he will." Evelyn says.

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sammyfury
2010-09-12 05:54 am UTC (link)

Sammy reached over to cover Evelyn's hand where it clutched at the blankets. "By the way... you're going to hear some more rumors when you get plugged back in to the Bon Temps gossip mill. It all started out as a cover story to keep them from gossiping about him working with S.H.I.E.L.D., and I sort of...ran with it. You'll hear that I'm a shameless hussy spending his money and luring him to the dark side with my wiles. Such as they are."

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nextgen_misc
2010-09-12 06:13 am UTC (link)

Evelyn actually laughed at Sammy's account of the situation, the smile reaching her eyes as she patted the girl's hand.

"Sam, they could say you were the Anti-Christ in female form, and I wouldn't believe it." Evelyn says. "You did what you felt was necessary to protect Jason from all the horrible things people might say...but as you said, that's how it started, my dear.

But I think we both know that's gone past that. I see how he looks at you, and how you look at him. All the cover story in the world can't account for a connection with someone. Take it from a girl who started out as a cover story." Evelyn smiles.

"You're the second girl he's every brought home, Sam...but you're the first one who hasn't run from who he is." she says.

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	sammyfury 2010-09-12 06:19 am UTC (link)
	"If I ran from who he is, I'd be running from myself." She could see Evelyn wanted to believe there was more to it, and nothing Sammy said would make a difference. So she didn't try. "We'll take good care of him, and Jessica and the baby. I'd also like to have someone check on you if you won't come to New York and stay for a bit." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	nextgen_misc 2010-09-12 06:31 am UTC (link)
	"Thank you, Sam. I appreciate it." she says softly. "I don't want you burden anyone with watching over me, but I'm also not in a position to stop you, either. And I'm sure it will make Jason happy." Gran says. "Now, you two go ahead and get on with your day. I...I need some sleep." Evelyn says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sammyfury 2010-09-12 07:01 am UTC (link)
	"I hope you rest comfortably." Sammy gently pulled her hand from Evelyn's. She wandered out to the hall to find Tech waiting. "Your turn. She's pretty damned stubborn." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	thisismyweapon 2010-09-12 07:37 am UTC (link)
	"Takes one to know one." Tech grins. He goes in to speak with this grandmother and emerges several minutes later, looking a bit more sober. "So...we have an errand when we get back to the house?" he asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sammyfury 2010-09-12 03:04 pm UTC (link)
	"We don't have to go back to the house just yet. Didn't you say something about swimming?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	thisismyweapon 2010-09-12 06:30 pm UTC (link)
	"Yeah, sure." Tech says. This time it's him who has withdrawn, but he takes her hand and begins walking out of the hospital, back to the car. "Let's get you that bathing suit." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)