Daughter of the Sea (lord_admiral) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-10-20 23:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jaina proudmoore, natasha romanoff (black widow), neena thurman (domino) |
I'm sorry you've lost people.
Who: Jaina, Neena and Natasha
What: Getting Jaina to Calm Her Tits
When: October 2nd
Where: The desert
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete.
Jaina was not calm. Though she’d discharged most of the arcane energy that had nearly consumed her, she was still jittery, and she was still grieving. Grieving for Theramore, for Rhonin and Kinndy and Pained, and so so many others.
Grieving for the naive woman who’d ever thought peace was possible.
There was no one she could even lash out at. No orcs, no Orgrimmar.
The Focusing Iris was a small thing in the palm of her hand, pulsing with power. But it was an impotent power and she didn’t know what to do.
The first thing Natasha noticed as the Blackbird came around the mountain was the crackling purple energy swirling around it like a storm.
The second thing she noticed was Jaina, sitting in a massive crater in the side of the mountain, staring at her hand.
Maybe she should have actually brought Freya after all.
***
From their chat on her post, Neena thought she'd been prepared for what they were about to fly into. But the crater spoke for itself, and she pinched the bridge of her nose as they circled in for a landing. It was hard not to think about what they'd be pressed to do if this went wrong, and she hated the part of herself that always went there.
Hopefully they could make a difference and it wouldn't come to that. She motioned towards Jaina's hand.
"That thing in her hand has to be the focusing iris. I don't know what it is exactly but I can't imagine it's a good thing. Just from the name of it, maybe something a mage would use to focus their power. We've got enough craters already, though. That thing should be contained, if she'll let us."
***
Natasha was already there, though what could bullets do against energy like that? She didn't want to have to find out. She brought them down for a landing, the hum of the engines dying down. Once the hatch opened, they could hear the crackling of energy and the rush of wind.
“Sounds logical. I think you should take point on this.” Natasha very deliberately left the high powered rifle behind, but grabbed a case that was designed for things like the tesseract.
“Talk her down, retrieve the iris, take her home. Easy right?”
And then Jaina lifted her head, her eyes glowing like suns, and Natasha remembered all the heroes and villains with glowing eyes and how that almost always meant someone was about to have a very bad day.
***
It reminded Neena of about as many things, but she left her own weapons behind - everything but a taser and a tranq dart she'd palmed out of one of the rifles back at the Agency, and headed down the ramp.
They were placed in locations that were out of Jaina's line of sight as Neena started to walk forward, trying to appear all at once non-threatening and not patronizing. Some kind of middle ground was probably the best. Jaina was smart enough to know when she was being talked down to.
"You know, you could have just had this light show at home. We'd already made a crater and I'd have been spared a flight." She shouted at Jaina, trying to raise her voice above the storm
***
The tears that streaked down Jaina’s face seemed to be more energy than water, lifting off of her cheeks and sparkling into nothingness. Her voice carried a faint echo, pebbles on the ground vibrating with every word. “I can feel them. I can feel their screams and their terror, I can feel the pain in that half-instant before they felt nothing more. I fought so hard for peace and now all I want is revenge!”
Revenge. Natasha could understand that. She kept herself in view, not too close and not too far. Though she was close enough to maybe taze Jaina with her Widow’s Bites, she’d rather let her come down naturally.
Because if she didn’t come down naturally she’d probably explode again sooner or later.
“But there’s no one to kill, no one to hurt. Garrosh doesn’t exist here and if he did I’d rip his heart out and force him to eat it.” They were violent words, carried with conviction and fueled by grief. “But he’s not, the Horde isn’t so maybe it’s better if I let this power consume me before I hurt someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
***
"YOU are someone who doesn't deserve it, and if you let this power consume you, then you'll go right along with it." Neena replied, taking a few more steps towards Jaina. If she got close enough, maybe the threat of taking Neena out would be enough to reconsider this line of thought.
Not that Neena was someone undeserving of a violent and gruesome death. She knew who she was. But she'd taken great care over the past few years to keep a lot of that to herself. "I'm not going to tell you you're better than revenge, because honestly? I have no idea. There were people who were outright stolen from me, sure. I lost my husband. Couldn't save him. Twice. I've lost people I loved. I've lost people I was supposed to be taking care of. But it's not the same. I'm not an idiot, I know it isn't."
***
"Maybe that's for the best," Jaina whispered, but she didn't back away. She looked down at the Focusing Iris again. "But I don't know what will happen to this, and this cannot fall into the wrong hands."
How it had been stolen in the first place was still something Jaina didn't and couldn't know. But where it belonged was deep within the magical realms of the Blue Dragons. Not here.
"I'm sorry you've lost people. I wish this thing had the power to bring them back."
***
Neena shook her head. "I wouldn't want them back, Jaina. Not like that. They're gone, and it never makes sense. It doesn't make sense most of the time, even when you know it's coming. You were taken by surprise, attacked in your own space, and they dumped a bomb on your doorstep. It's a lot, and it's gonna be a lot for a long time. And that's okay. But it's not for the best if you just go obliterate yourself."
Survivor's guilt was an extremely powerful emotion, and it was one that Neena actually identified with. She wasn't sure if this was the time to tell that story, but she had to believe that some of Jaina’s emotions were coming from that place just as fully as one filled with rage. "You don't get to join them. That isn't somehow an easier choice. And... Natasha has a shielded box she can lock that thing up in."
***
Jaina's eyes flicked back to Natasha, then returned to Neena. Slowly, she closed her fingers around the Iris. As she did so, the glow started to fade from her eyes, returning them to their normal calm blue sea. But her hair remained white save for the blonde witch's lock, and she still felt as though her skin was buzzing even if she couldn't see the energy arcing across it any more.
"I have so much power, I could just... make change."
"That's not a decision we get to make," Natasha said, quiet but firm. "I can effect change too. But with this power, the skills... magic or mutant or alien...the world is chaotic enough. Press in the wrong place at the wrong time and ..."
"Boom." Jaina finished for her.
***
The Phoenix had that type of power, and plenty of the people who'd played host to its power had had that exact set of ideas. Neena didn't even bother hiding her relief when Jaina decided to let some of that power go. There was a moment where she caught Natasha's gaze and nodded slightly, figuring they both knew how dicy this day could have gotten.
But it seemed to be mostly over. She hoped. "So... We've got this thing called the Danger Room. And when you're at a level where your power won't just blow up the entire building, we can probably help you work through some of that rage."
There was also the magic guild, though Neena had no idea if Jaina was a member.
***
"I think that sounds like a good idea," Jaina agreed. She looked up at the sky again, a view that had become a swirl of color and sound and fury. And even though her tears had stopped converting into energy, she still managed a smile and a small laugh. "I can see the math."
"I think we have something in the Blackbird that we can stow the iris in. It should contain the power until we can get it stored properly. Then no one can get to it without multiple levels of permission."
Jaina thought she could tear the wards apart easily enough. They were about as strong as the ones in Dalaran's vault. Formidable, but like all walls they could be worn down eventually. Neena was close enough that Jaina just kind of sagged against her. "Okay. But don't bury it too deep. We might need it some day."
Nat just smiled. There wasn't an item in that vault she wouldn't use if necessary.
***