A Merry Marvel Debut

[daretodo]

“So, in this land that time forgot somewhere in Antarctica…what’ve we got to look forward to?”
 
We’re all of us crowded in the Quinjet. Iron Man’s at the wheel and me, Cap, Spider-Woman – no relation to yours truly – and Luke Cage are sitting at the back like some seriously deranged Little League team. Truth be told, I’ve been expecting the question ever since I got off the freaky future phone with Mary Jane. See, it’s Luke here’s first trip to the Savage Land and he’s been sceptical as to its existence ever since it came up on Spider-Woman’s computer.
 
Ah, to be that innocent again.
 
As for me? Well, I’m just hoping we aren’t all gonna to die. Doing my best to chew my nails through my costume, I reply, “All kinds of mutates and dinosaurs and big cheetahs and a surprising amount of acceptable nudity.”
 
“Are you #$%$ing me?”
 
“No,” I say. “But it doesn’t matter – we probably won’t survive the crash.”
 
“What crash?”
 
“You don’t go to the Savage Land without crashing.”
 
Without turning around, Iron Man interjects, “You’ve never been there with me driving.”
 
In spite of his words, my spider-sense is going off the charts. He couldn’t have been less comforting. He’s like the band on the Titanic, right now, that’s how comforting he is. Famous last words to die by. Jeez, I really have made it to the big leagues.
 
“Uh huh…”
 
“Seat belts.”
 
“Yeah, that’ll help.”
 
The jet suddenly pitches forwards and then we’re upside down. Spider-Woman lets out an incoherent shriek -- or was that me? Either way,  the noise is loud enough that I could’ve been singing the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ at the top of my lungs and the only thing I would’ve heard is the sound of a dying cat in a jet engine. Above the din, I can faintly hear the metallic voice of Iron Man say, “Almost there… Almost there…”
 
And, then, sure enough, we’re there. It all happens so fast that I barely remember it. One second I’m hanging upside down and praying to God I don’t wet my suit.  The next, the five of us are standing outside of the Quinjet and admiring the scenery. And what scenery it is. It’s really a shame about the inevitable death that goes hand-in-hand with being here. It’d make for one heckuva vacation spot.
 
Clapping a very manly hand to my shoulder, ol’ Shell-Head says to me, “See?”
 
“I stand corrected.”
 
Which is entirely the wrong thing to say because that’s right about the time that the Quinjet explodes, the force of the blast sending me and mine flying. I quickly shoot off a web to a nearby tree, pulling myself up and out of the line of fire. Only, as I soon discover, there’s a fundamental flaw to this plan. For whatever reason, I can’t stick the landing and so, my arms wheeling like windmills, I fall a good fifteen feet before the ground decides to break my fall.
 
“My back,” I croak, as I pull my sorry butt out of the foliage. “My poor, poor back.”
 
(Some dialogue comes from New Avengers #4 by Brian Michael Bendis.)

Comments

[like-arrows.livejournal.com]

For all the bizarro crap I've dealt with, I really can't figure out what about this scenario weirds me out most: that my power and Staff are gone, that Tony Stark is apparently now a nice guy or Wolverine. I don't know what's going on with him, but seriously, it's freaking me out here. That's not normal, okay?

"Sorry, I'm still back on the part where we can't leave," I say, arms folded as I tap a foot. At least I know Kate's decent; the others are all up in the air for me right now. "We're just stuck here now?"

[faithanbegorrah.livejournal.com]

Terry isn't liking a single thing she's heard since their rescue, and has mostly kept to herself through the explanations. She's mostly stuck on how Stark's already built himself a damn house in this place. Stark Tower it isn't, but it's still impressive. Not that she'd admit it.

The girl, she recognizes as one of those Young Avengers kids, but the guy...well, after her first initial shock, she isn't taking too kindly to this Yorick who looks just like Wade before...well, before.

"I'm with the girl," she says, nodding at Nico. "The high and almighty Tony Stark can't find a way out of here?"

[notawastedlife]

Tony waved down Yorick, who looked like he was about to argue with this - good man, that guy - and said, "I wouldn't say can't." He looked up and to the side. "Hasn't? I'm working on it. I'm trying to open the box from the inside, and the box is... invisible, and if I put a craft knife in the wrong place it probably explodes- this is a bad metaphor, I'm dropping that."

He shrugged. "I don't get credit for what I can find, which was- I did just save your asses. I don't get points for that? I feel like I should get points for that..."

He looked at Yorick, inviting his main man Orthodash to back him up, here.

[alas-yorick.livejournal.com]

"That thing was about to eat us. I say you get some major points for that," Yorick said, crossing his arms. "...You too, Jarvis buddy."

He managed to look as cool and stoic as Tony for half a second, before Ampersand scaled his head and he suddenly had tail in his face. And not the hot kind that was currently on all sides of him.

"Goddamnit, Amp," he grumbled, shoving the monkey away.

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Who's that guy, again?" came Peter's voice from under his mask.

Mary Jane sighed and shook her head, as if she hadn't been having trouble keeping track of everyone already. She figured she was entitled, being apparently at a disadvantage compared to everyone else. For now, she was just grateful she'd managed not to call Peter by name.

"That's - Yorick, right? Yorick," she said with a decisive nod, turning to look at the guy standing near her with that cute monkey. "And I say he's right. Whatever happened, we did just get saved from a dinosaur, and that definitely comes with points, if you ask me." Granted, she knew less about this than everyone else did, but she, for one, was really, really glad she hadn't been eaten by a dinosaur earlier.

[exweapon]

"We're certainly very grateful," I say, glancing about the house. It's almost as nice as my house, and the owner is certainly a very nice man. I think the shield might belong to him, he was wearing armor when he showed up and saved us.

Not even magical armor, like that Oriental from back home. I wonder if this one knows her? Perhaps I should ask. "I've been scared silly, and it is such a relief that there are no monsters trying to eat me any more. Did I tell you about the great blue moose, yet?"

[risesagain]

"No dear, you haven't," Jean placated, patting the childlike Wolverine on the shoulder. She didn't know what the teenage girl and Banshee's daughter had against Iron Man besides the obvious personality quirks that he apparently was missing this time around. He was an Avenger after all and that deserved some sort of credit, in addition to the fact that he'd stopped the dinosaur from trailing them.

"What I'm most concerned about is the apparent power dampener that's in place." She tugged on the fingers of her gloves as she pulled the right one off and walked in a slow circle around the room. "Do you have an explanation for that? It has to be pretty powerful, not even Phoenix is giving me a reading."

[notawastedlife]

The short, hairy Hugh Jackman with the attitude of a time-traveling kid was a little off-putting, especially when he was directing dopey looks at the redhead not in a torn wedding dress. One of them.

Admittedly, Tony couldn't exactly blame him. "We're sitting in a pocket universe, I don't think powerful is a problem for whoever's running the show. It's pretty pervasive... so high, can't go over it, so low, can't go under it, that sort of thing. I think it's built-in to the dimension, although that's just a hypothesis."

He shrugged.

[alas-yorick.livejournal.com]

Yorick sidled up to MJ. She remembered his name, and she seemed to have been with everyone before Tony, Kate and himself showed up.

"Dude...that is Wolverine, right?"

Even if he was the crappier movie version, Wolverine was still Wolverine.

"Why is he acting like he ate paint chips?"

[getemtiger.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that would be Wolverine," Mary Jane answered with a sigh, grateful that she'd caught someone -- one of the other redheads, the one with the accent -- calling him that earlier. She made a face, though, as she shrugged, stealing a glance over at Wolverine, unable to deny how weird he was acting. "And I don't know what's up with him. All I can tell you is that he shrieked louder than I did when that dinosaur was coming towards us."

[daretodo]

"So," I say loudly, jumping off from the chair I'd been crouching on for the past forever or so, before positioning myself between Yo-yo and MJ.

What can I say? I don't trust guys who sidle.

Besides, there's only so much exposition a guy can handle before he goes stir crazy, and I'm already half-way to stir.

Looking around the room at large, I spread my hands wide and say, "Anyone up for mai tais?"