Mcu/Worm Oc Insert: Chapter 6

"I can't fucking BELIEVE you!" The blonde in front of me growls. "Now EVERYONE thinks we're just perverted FREAKS!" 

"To be fair. That's Regent's fault." I shrug, feet up on the coffee table as I lounge on the sofa, tinkering with a small gauntlet. 

"You STILL started ALL of that." The girl exclaims. 

"Would 'Noctis cape' make you feel better?" I ask. 

She crosses her arms, a pout on her lips. "M-Maybe." 

I offer a hand which she takes. 

After a brief flicker of power, she staggers back, a hand coming to her head. "Wh- you've... given me a power to split my focus... right? I can... think... really good now." 

"Multitask. You can give your full focus to several things now." 

"And- and I can organize my mind?" The girl whispers. 

"Yep. You'll probably never forget anything ever again if you sort your mind well enough." I elaborate as a grin slowly crosses her lips. 

"Woah..." She whispers. "How does this... wait... I can make it so one train of thought is always sleeping?!" 

"Keeping you perfectly rested at all times, yes." I smile. 

A long sigh leaves her lips as she crosses her arms, flopping down onto the couch beside me. "Alright... I have to admit, this is pretty cool." 

"I know, right?" I smile brightly. 

"..." 

"..." 

"Soooo when were you going to tell me that your powers can become permanent?" She asks after a long moment. 

My eyes briefly dart to her, I can feel my perception slide to a halt, she looks over, a faint frown on her lips. It seems like ages to me as I think over what to do... what to say, but in actuality it was barely a second. 

"When I was absolutely positive you wouldn't stab me in the back." I admit after a further second. 

"Fair. Fair." She shrugs before gazing forwards again. "It's what I'd do. Hell, if I had that power, I probably wouldn't even tell you." 

"When you'd figure it out?" I eventually question. 

"About a month ago... when your most recent 'batch' became permanent for you. I noticed you swap in that improved lungs power before you unlocked your third power slot later that week." She admits. 

Truth. 

A long sigh leaves my lips as I reach over and place a hand on her shoulder. "Here. I'm going to remove the limiter on Multi-Task, Power Nap, and Organized Mind. Eventually after you 'master' them, your power slots will re-open." 

"Hm..." She hums. "We're not telling the others, are we?" 

"The less people who know? The better in my opinion." I agree. "Less chance of it getting out." 

"Hm. Hm." She agrees with two slow nods. "I... appreciate you being open with it... even if I had to drag it out of you like that... sorry. That was kind of shitty." 

Does she feel regretful over that? My gut feeling- a power that I swapped in amidst my silent panic- says 'Yes' is truthful. 

"It's... fine." I admit after a long moment. "Sorry for ruining your internet cred... even if it was funny." 

The corner of her lips turn downwards as she lightly glares at me before turning away with a small huff. "Those tags better not be on my account the next time I get on PHO." 

"Removed them hours ago." I admit. 

"You'd better." She pouts. 

We fall into a comfortable silence yet again, sitting in the quiet of my room. 

"Sooooooo." I begin quietly. "I'm not exactly very good at this, but uh... would you like to go out and catch a movie sometime oooor?" 

"Are you, Zachary Stark asking the adorable little ol me out on a date?" A foxlike smirk appears on the blonde's lips. 

"Please don't call me that anywhere outside." I groan rubbing my forehead. "My father's already trying to sink his talons into Brockton Bay because I hit him with the 'Child Support' line. No need to make it any easier for him." 

"Having regrets?" She asks. 

"Nah. If we're lucky he'll pop in with a suit specifically made to kill Lung and he tosses the big dragon into the water." 

"Is he making one?" She questions. 

"Uh... one seconds I sort of made a mind-palace for myself with Organized mind to keep habits from my ancestors from bleeding through." I close my eyes and suddenly I am within my mindscape.  

A floating keyboard appears in front of me as I tap in a prompt. 

Tony Stark: Supervillain Lung. 

Several results pop up and I peer through the more recent ones, now it's more like watching a POV video instead of living through it. 

I hate to say it... but that was really starting to weigh on my psyche. 

I exit bullet time and open my eyes. "He is indeed building a 'Lung-buster' suit. Pretty ingenious, actually. Less a suit more a floating drone that'll keep shooting out replacement parts for the suit and a bunch of fire-suppression. I'll let him build it... and if it works good, I'll just steal the plans for it, I guess." 

 "Now... date? Yes or no." I ask, looking back to the girl who has her head cocked to the side. 

"Sure. Sounds fun. Ten bucks something out of our control ruins it... like a gang fight... or the wards being there and making not so subtle 'Any underage parahumans should join the PRT' statements while standing close by." Lisa grins impishly. 

"That's a fool's bet." I deadpan, giving the girl a half-lidded stare. "On that note... I will be bringing a shield. Just in case. So, I can draw attention while you make yourself scarce, then pull a disappearing act. Now... a bigger question remains... what do we actually do? Cause I mean... I've never exactly got this far before." 

"Huh..." The girl beside me hums. "Uhhhhhh-" 

[Split] 

"Really?" I ask quietly, Lisa's arms trapping my own against her chest as we walk into the boardwalk's theatre. "A movie date? How cliche." 

"You were the one who originally suggested it. I just went along with it." Lisa shoots back, giving me that same half-lidded and entirely too smug smile.  

"Also, what's the deal with the sudden closeness?" I huff, glancing around at the numerous posters. 

"You're the only person I can touch and get absolutely nothing from." She frowns. "Let me have this." 

"Fine. Fine. What do you want to watch?" I ponder.  

"I'll let you pick." She shrugs. 

"Ugh. Put me in the 'first date trap' why don't you." I grumble under my breath. "I have no real clue what you'd like..." 

"Comedy? No... you're really not one for comedy." I mutter under my breath. "Romance? Better than comedy, at least... Horror? Pfft are you scared of horror movies, Lisa?" 

She gives me a half-lidded stare as I continue. "It would be nice to hold you close while you shake and shiver, but no... you like Mystery movies, don't you?" 

"Oh boy... whatever gave it away?" She deadpans. 

"Deception or Eighty Eight minutes. Pick one." 

"I'll go for the one that's more likely to not be packed with Nazis who likely thought the name was a reference to their gang in their... infinite wisdom." 

"Ah. Shit... totally missed that." I mutter, blinking in surprise. "Deception it is." 

Her elbow bumps into my rips as her eyes flick to the side.  

"I know. Sucks, doesn't it?" I comment idly. 

"You owe me ten dollars." 

"Now now. That wasn't part of the bet." I smile as we walk forwards, grabbing popcorn and a drink. 

We enter the darkened room, ignoring the blonde trailing behind us. as we take our seats. 

My eyes track the girl as she comes to a stop in the row behind us. Then they flick to Lisa who is smiling smugly, lips around the straw of her soda. 

"Fine fine. You won the bet." I grumble as I reach into my pocket, grab my wallet and place ten dollars in the blonde's waiting hand as it slowly raises. 

Her grin becomes near predatory as she grabs and cuddles my arm, rubbing her face on my shoulder, her eyes flicking to the side every now and then to gauge the other girl's expression. 

'Someone's evil.' I roll my eyes as the movie starts. 

"You know..." I begin slowly. "Acting like this is why you have so few friends." 

Lisa glares up at me. "Oh, I don't want to hear the coming from you. What was it you said? 'The only guy you tolerated the presence of at school would be that Nazi bastard because he liked to gossip and that's useful for someone who has missed as many days as you have'?" 

"Tolerated is... such a strong word... more so I was just a spectator to him." I correct. 

"So. I'm your only friend?" The blonde smirks. 

"Well, it's not like there's many people to just gather around the school watercooler with and talk shit. Pretty much everyone at Winslow was horribly bullied, a Nazi, an ABB, a genuine psychopath who tried their damned best to get this random girl who just kept to herself to commit suicide... or was just a drug dealer." 

At the mention of suicide she flinches slightly, dragging her gaze away from me. 

Ah... right... don't touch that button. If I remember correctly... her brother... 

I pull her close, eyes straying towards the screen, as ads begin to play. 

I think I can hear Vista's teeth gritting. 

Or, well, she's out of costume right now so It'd be Missy Biron I suppose. 

[Split] 

Lisa smiles slightly at her hands as she washes them. Her power screaming that she still has some butter under her nails.  

Her power certainly has its advantages... but it's also got its fair number of disadvantages. Almost one to one, really. Headaches. Disgusting information about her friends- like, she doesn't need to KNOW that someone accidentally nicked themselves while shaving their asshole. But oooooh fucking well. Too bad! 

Fucking Alec. She'll throw another brick at him when she gets home. That'll make her feel better. 

Anyways. To have someone who her power just... flat out doesn't work on is... well... she kind of struggles to describe it. 

Over the past few months she's lingered around her errant blind spot, just taking advantage of the sole person she could look at without her power being all 'he picked his nose exactly thirty six minutes ago' and just... sort of soaking in his general vibe. 

Getting a read on him as a person... without her power. 

Admittedly, she kind of liked what she saw. So, she agreed to the date. 

Plus, her desires of just being... held... were starting to weigh on her a little bit. 

Today is a good day. 

Only made better by the fact that she was able to bully Vista practically the ENTIRE movie. 

Little hero brat... ogling what she can't have. 

She can look, but she can't touch~ 

And speaking of the blonde. 

"So. What's your problem?" She asks slowly as she continues to wash her hands with her entire focus. Or at the very least the entire focus for one of her trains of thought. 

The blonde who had just entered the bathroom, freezes, eyes widening. 

"Yeah. I saw you." Lisa huffs. "I'd have to be the most unobservant dunce of a person not to notice... and Zach noticed as well." 

"You're not very subtle in your glaring." She continues. "So. What's your story? You his Ex? Did he reject you? Get your order wrong at Fugly Bob's or something?" 

Lay some seeds of doubt. Make her think she's wrong about her assumptions. 

"Maybe he even pulled a 'Sorry, my phone's broken' when you asked for his number?" A thin smile appears on Lisa's lips as she shakes her hands free of most of the water, then goes to the hand drier. Noting in the corner of her eye how Visa flinches back, her eyes darting around as she pieces together what Zachary did to her. 

She looks a little insulted. She's also on the back foot. 

"You-" the other blonde seethes. 

"Maybe he just thought dating you would be a hassle. I mean, you've probably got some annoying hobbies. Might badger him incessantly to join you in them. Just really make his life an absolute nightmare!" Lisa needles casually as she smirks her patented fox-like grin at the Ward out of costume. 

"You..." Vista whispers. "You whore! You're corrupting him. Tainting him. You're going to make him an utter monster when he could be... so much more. He could help people. Save people. Be a genuine help instead of a waste of space like you." 

"Wow. That's hurtful little miss." Lisa smirks, noticing a small twitch to the girl's face. It'd probably be for the best to nip the whole stalking thing in the bud... reveal some deep truths to make her feel bad. "Let me ask you a question... hypothetically... if- and this is a big 'if' here as we pathetic weaklings can't really understand the mentality that comes with power- someone had a power... a power that makes them genuinely Asexual. Feeding them gross tidbit of information after gross tidbit of information. They couldn't kiss without noting in disgust the past ten things another person ate. Couldn't touch without noting how filth gets under their nails and couldn't be hugged without noting the stain on their shirt from when some pasta sauce dripped on it from two months ago... or maybe where they wiped their nose when they were six. isn't that strangely fucked up?" 

She begins walking along the outside of the room. "Don't you think that... it's kind of sad? That sort of isolation... the mental strain... that'd break a person, right?" 

She taps her chin, a low hum leaving her lips. "But what do you think would happen if that person... found someone that didn't register to them... that was just... blank... what do you think that person would do to keep a close relationship with that person. What do you think a person would do... in a scenario where someone was trying to take that person away?" 

Vista's eyes narrow as Lisa's face falls into a serious glare. 

"Keep away from my boyfriend." She finishes, eyes narrowing slightly. "You've lost your chance. What use would he have for you? An emotionally damaged, scarred, hero complexed little girl with daddy and mommy issues. A broken doll he'd have to put back together piece by piece to even get a below average dating experience. Why would he pick you... when he has the better-" 

"Lisa." A voice calls into the bathroom. "I can hear you monologuing from here. Stop being such a bitch. Leave her alone."  

"Tsk." The blonde hisses. "Another time, then... or never. Hopefully never." 

With that she turns and leaves, leaving the blonde hero behind... who looks like she's about to start crying. 

A small pang of guilt does eventually nestle itself into her heart, but she shakes it off and leaves it behind. 

Said guilt returns as she sees the disappointed look of Zachary. 

Haaah. Damn. 

[Split] 

"That wasn't very nice." I note, arms crossed as we sit back on the couch of our home. 

"So?" Lisa frowns. "She hassled us pretty much the entire time." 

"By keeping her distance and not saying anything?" I continue. 

"W-Well she kept glaring! It was distracting!" She protests. 

"She didn't deserve that." I continue.  

"SO?! Can't I be selfish sometimes? Can't I just... have something for once?" The girl growls. "One thing... without someone trying to ruin it? My parents taking advantage of me. Coil enslaving me. Vista trying to steal MY fucking boyfriend?!" 

"Lisa..." I sigh. "Fine. I'll drop it. I just wish you wouldn't piss off someone who one: doesn't really deserve it and two: Is arguably in the top ten strongest shakers who exist. Maybe even top five." 

"You have a really bad habit of mouthing off at people who could genuinely splatter you and, well, Lisa... that kind of terrifies me because, well, I WORRY about you, Lisa. Would you mouth off to Alexandria? Legend? Eidolon? What about fucking Jack Slash?! The fucking SIBERIAN?! Let me just say, Lisa. My shield won't do SHIT to that thing. She's just an all or nothing field. A black hole shaped into the vague outline of a person. The unstoppable spear and the unbreakable shield in one. No shield. No item. No THING in this world can overcome her durability, and you seem like you'd sass that thing just to get the last laugh in... before she cuts you in half like Hero." 

She breaks eye contact. 

I place a hand on her shoulder and pull her into a brief hug before we both gaze forwards at the Tv. 

"I'm sorry." She mutters into my chest. 

"I know..." I whisper. "It's okay..." 

We sit there for a long moment. 

"..." 

"Want to go find Captain America's body?" 

"What?" She blinks, briefly pulling back and looking into my eyes. "Who just starts a conversation like that!? What the hell, dude!?" 

"His shield. Vibranium. The rarest material on the planet." I inform with a bright smile. "Annnnd well, it's probably sitting at the bottom of the sea. I figured that, well, Captain America isn't using it anymore sooooo might as well pick it up for myself~" 

"And... find his body to more or less lessen the blow of you taking and- probably- defacing one of Americas most important historical relics on par with the Rosetta Stone or like... the Mona Lisa." 

"Funny how you'd instantly pick something with your name in it." I huff, causing the girl to pout slightly. "Annnnd well... maybe I'll just keep it. Beat some Nazi's with it. Y'know. Be... thematic." 

She gives me a flat, half-lidded stare. "I want more powers." 

"Lisa. You already know since you figured it out that every time you master a power I'll be giving you more."  

The corners of her mouth turn upwards. "Good. I don't want fall into that shitty damsel in distress trope." 

[Split] 

"So... you're hanging around a lot." I observe, continuing to cross-check flight paths on my computer. 

"To be fair, I don't have much else to do." She shrugs.  

"Yeah? I thought the undersiders were going to do some sort of heist on Lung." I note. 

"Correction... we WERE going to do a heist on Lung's Casino... then you handed us each a cut of two million dollars each." 

"..." I stare at the girl. 

"And, well... to be honest, Coil was kind of the only thing keeping the undersiders together." 

"Wait... did I just kill the undersiders?" I mutter. 

"Pretty much." Lisa slowly nods. "Regent took his money and said- and I quote- 'Fuck this noise. Why should I stay in the raging dragon's back yard. I'm rich. I'm going to go to Vegas. Then he sort of just wandered off leaving behind merely a phone number. I kind of get why he'd want to go further south... get further away from Canada and all." 

"Grue... was kind of in it for the money. But mainly because he wants custody of his little sister. I managed to get him that in like... not even a week, proving Coil had been dragging his feet, then, well, I assume he went off to another city that doesn't have literal nazis in it. I think I heard him saying he wanted to rebrand to Tenebrae or something? Rogue has sort of gone to ground, she was here because after her trigger she used her powers on her boyfriend and put him in a coma. Coil has been covering the hospital payments, but, well, millionaire. She's covered for the foreseeable future. Bitch is more or less the only one who stayed around the cape scene. Mainly because she has a bone to pick with Hookwolf, you can improve her dogs, and she doesn't know how to read and that makes it quite difficult to use money." 

"I've been helping her out with that money on the side... I can fully admit that the girl's had it rough. She wants to make a dog sanctuary and I'm trying my best to make it happen." 

"You're a good friend." I smile lightly, causing her to look away with a huff.  

"..." 

"They returned the shields, right?" I ask slowly. 

"Yes, they did." The girl confirms. "Or at least Grue and Rogue did, I figured out Regent was going to skip town and took it away from him because I'd imagine you'd have issues with that." 

"Oh, Good. Good. God I must sound like a complete asshole if that's the first thing I ask." I groan, rubbing my face. 

"Nah, I get it. You don't want your tech getting out there. I kind of understand it." The girl snorts. "Anyways, I think the place you're looking for is about here." The girl mutters, pointing at her phone. 

"Shall we call Strider?" 

The corner of her lips turn upwards. "We shall." 

[Split] 

With a pop, a postman appears in front of us. "Hey Hey, if it isn't the tech guy who saved one of my most lucrative customers. You sure about the location?" 

"Yeah." I nod once. "I see you packed a coat. That's good." 

"Is this more of a... Tony Stark situation?" The man asks slowly "I can't really see a reason as to why you'd want to go to the arctic." 

"Well..." I grin. "Who knows~" 

"You do." The man deadpans. "Oh well. As long as I'm getting paid. You two ready?" 

[Split] 

Snow whips around me as I stand there in a large fuzzy coat, Lisa wears about the same. Strider's arms are crossed over his chest as he shakes slightly. 

We all gaze down at a dark shape under the ice. 

"Strider... can you sense any open spaces down there?" I ask slowly. 

"I can, actually. It's not flooded." He supplies. 

"Well. It's probably going to be even colder, buuuuuut." 

"As long as I'm getting paid." The man mutters. "Let's just finish this quickly. God it's freezing. This is why I don't typically do jobs to Arctic or Antarctic." 

With a flash we reappear in total darkness. 

My hud changes to night vision as I hold up my phone, ice coats the floor as I begin to shine my phone's flashlight around the room. 

"So... do I even want to know what this is?" The man asks slowly. 

"Hm... well, what do you know about Captain America, Strider?" 

"Wh- No... you two... you didn't..." The man begins, a grin spreading across his lips. "Holy shit! This is HUGE!" 

"A captain america fan, Strider?" I ask with a small smirk under my mask. 

"Who isn't? He's the first superhero." 

"Empire eighty eight?" I suggest with a shrug. "Probably the ABB?" 

"Villains in general?" Lisa supplies with a fox-like grin. 

"It'll be good to finally give him a proper burial." The man sighs. "After all this time." 

"Yeah." I nod once. "I'm behind giving him a proper burial and all, but I'm kind of here for the shield. As a shield tinker I kind of want to see if I can figure anything out from it. Vibranium is the rarest material on the planet, after all."  

"You're going to... break captain america's shield?" The man asks slowly. 

"Oh. Of course not." I wave off. "That's like using Mona Lisa as firewood or turning the Rosetta stone into cement. I have SOME class, Strider." 

"Not a lot." Tattletale smirks. 

"Shush you." I snort. 

"There's also the fact that... ah... if my memory of the second world war is correct, this aircraft here is housing several nuclear bombs. I'd suggest you get someone on that as soon as we're done here, Strider." 

"Ah. Shit, yeah." 

We eventually come to the cockpit, ice has come through cracks in the hull coating every surface in a few inches of ice. 

I shine my light through it, a circular disk of red, white, and blue seems to shine beneath the ice. 

"Well... there he is." I hum, looking over the room slowly. 

"Wait." Lisa pauses. "He's... He's alive." 

"HUH?!" Strider shouts. 

"Huh..." I note. "How bout that. I wonder if he'll let me have his shield for a selfie." 

[Endsplit]