capeandcowllogs | I'm on a roll this time;

Entry tags:

I'm on a roll this time;

WHO:

couldbeavoided.
WHERE: The moon. No really.
WHEN: Friday night.
WARNINGS: It is a mystery.
SUMMARY: ~~Thor brings Bob up to date. There is no good news.~~ BOB THROWS THE MOON INTO THE SUN not really
FORMAT: words

At first Thor had asked himself what Odin would have done, but the answer, in this case as in many others, was useless to him. Odin's solutions had always been good solutions, but he had been a man with secrets; and Thor, as much as he measured himself against his father's legacy, was not. He doubted he ever would be: it was struggle enough to keep something as harmless as a separate identity. The more he thought about it, the stronger was his conviction that the Sentry deserved to know what would happen.

Thor put his trust in the Norns, far away somewhere, and Odin's watchful eye, and that - as far as he knew - was how he found the man. He was close enough to the mansion that Thor might have waited and followed him; but the mansion was in the heart of the city. There were better places to have this conversation.

Veering close as he caught up, he spoke over the wind: "Come with me." He turned sharply and lighted on the nearest roof.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The words carried easily even if Bob's hearing hadn't been superhuman, and he turned his attention to the God near him. He didn't respond immediately, standing and letting the wind carry his cape and his hair around him.

After a long moment, he inclined his head, flying over to Thor and hovering, before him.

"What's the matter?" He asked, jaw set in a frown. He didn't land on the roof beside Thor, remaining in the air some feet apart.

In the silence, Thor considered his battlefields. He wanted nothing more than to take this to some high mountain, a Midgard imitation of Hlidskjalf, where the Sentry could see all the things he might destroy - but mortals now built their shelters on the tallest peaks and the harshest tundras. Only one place would be far and lifeless enough.

"There are things you must know," he said, "but first we leave this land behind us."

It occurred to him, as he swung his hammer and let it pull him away, that even the moon might be too close. It wouldn't take long to reach it; what would stop the Sentry from returning just as quickly, if he lost himself? Nothing - except Thor, and he would have to do that at any cost, he told himself, even if it left him unable to return. With luck, the Sentry would do nothing stranger than hear where most mortals could not.

Frowning, Bob watched Thor carefully, trying to discern what was wrong by his expression. It told him nothing -- Thor was solemn, his thoughts hidden behind stern eyes. So Bob nodded, gliding up further into the sky. His cape flapped behind him like a wing.

"What is it?" He repeated, an ominous feeling settling in his chest. "Is this about the skrulls? Or..." About me? was how he would have finished that sentence. He didn't, leaving off in silence.

"No," said Thor after a moment. "Not skrulls."

That was all the talking he would do on the way out of the clouds, into the icy emptiness beyond.

He set down on ragged plateau, studded with rocks - not so different from what he'd hoped for, but there was little in the flat gray of the lunar floor that reminded him of either Asgard or the Northland of Midgard. Even ice had more life.

"The Avengers," he began, setting Mjolnir on a boulder carefully, "are not of one mind concerning you. Many of us are from another time." He paused. "We are long since finished with skrulls, and we have seen things which, for you, have not yet come to pass."

Edited 2011-01-09 07:19 (UTC)

Stepping across the lifeless rock, Bob settled down to sit, his cape folded beneath him. Their journey up here had been mostly silent, but he was at least patient. He had been curious about what Thor wanted to discuss, willing to wait before demanding answers out of him.

He met Thor's words with more silence. After it stretched for minutes, he spoke carefully, "I know. Most everyone has seen things that I haven't, but I've asked for more information," he paused, frowning, looking frustrated. "No one will told me about the future, even when I do ask. What have the Avengers been talking about?"

Thor hesitated, regretting that there was no best way to say what he had to.

"You have made mistakes, in our time. You allied yourself with a madman. I know not why." He turned his back to the Sentry. It was easier not to look at him, remembering what had happened.

"That man chose to attack Asgard. You, by his command--" He stopped suddenly. His memories of that day were vivid, and the man responsible for the most destruction was standing behind him. Innocent. Unknowing. There was a moment in his future where he would tear Ares in half and make his son fatherless. Somewhere, slightly farther along the thread of his life, this man was killing Loki. "You attacked Asgard, as well," Thor made himself continue. "You were our most formidable foe."

Of the ways Thor could have told him, there were far worse ones. Because of that, Bob's reaction would be far more mild than it might otherwise have been.

He stared at Thor for a silence stretch of minutes, upward to nine. His eyes, wide and blue, remained immobile and fixed on Thor. Allied with a madman, our most formidable foe, his mind repeated, over and over. Bob absorbed their meaning as best he could. That was all he could do now, without being there. Without knowing.

"I wouldn't ally myself with madness," he said, quietly. "I don't know, Thor. You know me. You know that whatever I would do, it was for the good of-- if I was..."

Stopping mid-sentence, his mind repeated itself again. His breathing quickened, sharp and dry in the airless environment. If I was myself.

Thor had turned after a few silent minutes, half wondering if the Sentry had left - and, after another minute, he'd sat down opposite him and waited. It was impossible to tell what the man was thinking. Mortals sometimes acted in ways that Thor found strange and difficult to decipher, but the Sentry was, by far, one of the most unfathomable men he knew.

When he finally spoke, Thor shook his head minutely. "You did, and you shall, but it need not be so in this place. You are a good and worthy man, or we would not have you for the Avengers; yet we have seen you give your allegiance to evil men." He met the Sentry's eyes. "You have a power that you cannot control, and this concerns us."

"I would not-- I would--" He stood abruptly, not meeting Thor's gaze. His eyes were more gold than blue, staring out into space both accusing and questioning. His feet left the ground and he flew, needing a moment -- just a moment -- alone, to clear his head, to sort his thoughts.

I am in control. I am. I AM IN CONTROL.

He let his frustration go, and his fear, not wanting for the moment to be seen. He was afraid again, afraid that now he knew he was going to be susceptible to the Void's guileful influence. Was it forever a hopeless struggle? Would he once again succumb to the Void and did he, and did he for good? What did what Thor was telling him really mean?

His fist collided with the hard rock surface, sending rippling waves of debris flying from the source of impact. He could feel it extend further in past his arm, but he flew off again, circling the moon once without assessing the damage.

Landing beside Thor again, he stood, head bowed, and waited a moment for his rush of emotions to pass before he spoke. He looked up, eyes blue.

"I am in control. You don't need to be concerned."

Thor stared back at him, lips pressed into a hard line. He had felt that, whatever it was, that impact, something striking the surface - that was not the reaction of a man who was in control.

There was nothing to be done about it. He reached behind him and picked up his hammer before answering. "Not long ere I was brought to this strange land, I saw fair Asgard crushed beneath your strength. Her towers now are ruins, and her people are diminished, both in number and in spirit. Give me cause to believe that this will never befall a mortal city, and I'll believe you." He clapped a hand on the Sentry's shoulder and moved past him. "Pray give me cause."

"I'm in control," Bob repeated, hoping the more he said it the more true it would become. "I promise you, Thor. You can trust me. I've been there with the Avengers: Pym. Iron Man. Captain America. Carol. All of them. I'm your friend."

His gaze shifted, fixed again on the expanse of stars spiraling around them.

"You have to tell me, Thor," he continued, quietly. "Was it him? Was it the Void?"

Thor froze.

I'm your friend.

And he was, in spite of everything, and that made it more difficult to understand how he and the Void were the same: Thor knew only that they were.

He looked up at the stars, seeking wisdom but finding none. He was alone in this; it was his answer to give, whether or not it was wrong. If the Void was not Robert Reynolds, then Robert Reynolds could not be held responsible for the Void. If he could not be held responsible, this talk of control was nothing but empty words.

"No, Robert," he said, turning back. "It was you."

Bob's eyes widened. Somehow, he wasn't sure if that was better, or far worse.

Tensing his arms and shoulders, Bob's fingers curled against his palms in loose fists and he turned his eyes to the ground. He didn't know how to argue; there was so much about the future he didn't know, and even then he couldn't say with certainty that nothing would happen. He couldn't control the Void. No one could.

That was the truth. And he couldn't assure Thor it wouldn't happen without lying. The Void could do anything. He could be anywhere. Bob's only reassurance was the possibility that the Void hadn't come here with him at all.

"I did all that?"

"Aye. Would that it were not so." Thor looked away, fighting the compulsion to tell him the rest of it: that he had killed two gods in one day, that in his last moments he had been more a monster than a man, that he was dead. (That his wife was dead - but that, apart from the rest, that he would never say; it would be needlessly cruel.) He stomped it down. It seemed not right, somehow, to go into detail. As much as some vengeful part of him wanted it, Thor didn't see the use of demanding that he regret things he hadn't done.

Bob's eyes darkened, and he turned his attention to his hands, then the cold grey rock under his feet. Everything was quiet. There was no wind, no sound of even his own breathing.

"I'm going to go," he said finally, still not looking at Thor. "I need to think."

It was not an unexpected outcome, and neither was it particularly good or bad. It was, Thor supposed, most likely what he would have done in the Sentry's position. Struck with sudden empathy, he wondered where Robert would go, and if he would come back, and if he was thinking about how the world might be safer without him.

"Do as you must." Thor laid a hand on his shoulder again for a brief moment, willing it to communicate everything that his mistrust and sorrow for Asgard prevented him from saying, and moved away to give Mjolnir enough room to take him home.

Bob said nothing more, lifting off the ground and circling out of sight, flying as fast as he could. He had to try to outrun Thor's words and his own thoughts, leave them in space where they couldn't harm himself or anyone else. Part of him was still angry -- but the rest was afraid.

Everything Thor described was the last thing Bob wanted for the future. Everything he feared. He worried that if the Void every came back, he would try and take the world into the sun with him.

He sped up, leaving a golden streak of light behind him as he flew.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm on a roll this time;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject