✷ ✷ ✷ ɐılnɾ ✷ ✷ ✷ (hurlyburly) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-05-12 07:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | julia wicker, tony stark / iron man (mcu) |
Who: Julia Wicker & Tony Stark
What: Working on a magical experiment gone wrong.
When: Saturday, May 12, around noon.
Where: Tony’s Place
Warnings: Some swears.
Status: Complete in gdocs
Everything was set. It took surprisingly little planning. The hardest part had been, in theory, the aluminum wire but thanks to a quick trip to Rocket’s scrapyard, it hadn’t been a problem at all. Tony made the physical battery to Julia’s specs and all Julia had to do was cast the spell. Marina, in theory, knew more about the spell for transferring power. It had taken Julia less than two seconds to rule out getting her fellow hedge’s help. For one, Marina wouldn’t be impressed with the idea of Julia purposely weakening herself. For another, Julia couldn’t trust Marina not to steal the battery once she knew about its existence. Julia didn’t even bring the wiring to the safehouse. Everything she needed had been collected and deposited at Tony’s. Tony would be enough. He had the quarterback in case something went wrong. Between the two of them, they could do this. She trusted him with the battery and to keep quiet about it. The hedgewitch swallowed her nerves at Tony’s doorstep and put on her best serene smile. It was going to be fine. Julia's little project had been an easy sell. A battery to store excess magical power that Julia and company could tap into in case of emergency. If Tony's mind were a palace, there would be an entire wing devoted to in case of emergency. Apparently wasted space. It had all been for nothing. It hadn’t been enough. He hadn’t been enough. He was still reeling from the news of what happened in his universe, and he was grateful for the distraction Julia offered. The device itself had been easy enough for him to piece together the week before. Like with the quarterback, he was rather taken with the whole retro-tech aesthetic of her magic. It reminded him of his childhood tinkering in his father's workshop. If she was nervous about their little undertaking, Tony hadn't noticed. He had been keeping himself busy finalizing the reactor at Fort Neill and doing a deep dive on the super secretive space portal in addition to a number of other undertakings he had hidden up his sleeve. The battery had taken little time at all to make, and he expected Julia's magical hoodoo to take even less. Just after Julia arrived at his doorstep, the glass doors opened automatically and a cheerful, disembodied British voice greeted her once she'd entered. "Good afternoon, Miss Wicker. Mr. Stark is expecting you in his workshop." Julia had seen the movies, at least some of them. She shouldn’t have been surprised. And yet, there was at least one second of stupid blinking and looking for the source of the voice before she remembered. Right. Computer. “Um, thank you?” Julia knew where the workshop was. She hadn’t seen much of the rest of the house. It was just the workshop that ever seemed important, or where, she suspected, that Tony spent his time. The battery looked like a metal ball, with obvious seams and symbols that meant nothing, made out of metal with a hollow core. Batteries could be made in any size, the more the power, the larger the battery. She made her best calculation on how big to make the battery, erring on the side of caution. It was probably large enough. When she spotted Tony, her expression brightened. They were going to make the battery, and no one would be the wiser. “Have the quarterback ready?” she asked. Typically, Tony's workshop was really the only part of his home that seemed lived in. Or at least it had when he had last lived there. As it was, in his timeline, this house was in pieces at the bottom of the Pacific, and his beloved AI uploaded into the synthetic brain of a superbot. It was strange to be planted in the vestiges of his past without any means to influence or change it. Yet things were not quite the same as they had been. He had roommates now, and not the live-in girlfriend kind. Rhodey and Bruce were succeeding in breathing a little life into Tony's architecturally magnificent but austere mansion. Which he would gladly give Julia a tour of if she showed any interest in getting one. "Miss Wicker is here, sir," JARIVS announced shortly before Julia entered the workshop through the door that had been left unlocked in anticipation of her arrival. Tony was seated in front of a u-shaped desk lined with transparent computer screens projecting holographic specs for his Mark XLII armor and live readings from the portal. When he heard Julia enter, he spun around in his seat and dismissed the holograms with his hand in one swift, obviously practiced movement. The battery was sitting on a table off to the side that was still littered with tools and surplus metal and wires from the building process. And the aforementioned quarterback. Tony rose and gestured towards the table as he approached it. "Your magical techno junk awaits your bidding." He tried to offer her a smile, but there was none of the usual brightness behind it. “I just have one more piece to put together,” Julia said. It might have worked. If she had just one small, but crucial piece of information, the plan might have actually been successful. What Julia didn’t realize was that, even as she put one last makeshift device made of old electronics toys from the late 90s together, she needed flesh from a powerful magical creature to act as a safe conduit. “You have fifteen seconds,” she reminded him. “I’ll cast as quickly as I safely can but you won’t have much time to push the button on the quarterback if it goes wrong.” He knew that. Obviously. It was only a reminder, so it seemed only fair to also remind him, “I trust you.” The strange tower of old neglected toys was completed. Julia connected the aluminum wire from the tower to the battery, and then adhesive medical leads to herself. “Ready?” He crossed his arms over his chest and observed as she pieced together yet another scrap oddity as if he were grading her on her technique. It did not look like it should have been capable of anything more than being a paperweight, let alone transferring magical energy. But he trusted that Julia knew what she was doing and so he watched with interest. She sounded more alarmed about the whole thing now than she had when she pitched the idea to him. "Yeah, yeah, fifteen seconds," he repeated dismissively. He already had Dum-E on literal standby to make sure the button got pushed if he was, for whatever reason, rendered unable to do it himself. The quarterback was taken care of. Tony was much more interested in her response to the question he was about to pose. "We can still pull the plug on this thing, you know?" Which became much less figurative as she connected the medical leads to herself. "You sure this is something you want to do?" He figured he would give her an out, in case it was something she needed him to do. Julia centered herself with an exhale and nodded. “I do.” The metamath added up. Julia had checked over her work multiple times, but it was harder to fake confidence when it was her power that she was channeling into the battery. No, not her power, whatever the gods had done to her. She just hoped she hadn’t overlooked or missed something and didn’t muggle herself, or worse. The risk didn’t stop her. She’d triple checked her work. It was good. Julia nodded to Tony, took a deep breath and said words in a language that was hard to pin down, motioning with her hands in a series of graceful gestures as her fingers folded and unfolded into choreographed shapes. Nothing happened. Julia paused very carefully to make sure the effect failed. “Okay, trying this again,” she said. Once more she said the words, her fingers engaged in a complex dance in front of her when, seconds before the spell was complete awas a blast of energy burst from the series of devices and Julia lost consciousness as the effect reverberated throughout the small town. Tony returned her nod, feeling like he had done his due diligence. Now all that was left for him to do was stand back and watch. And push the damn button, if need be. "Hey, JARVIS, give us a 15 second countdown once the witchy woman finishes her incantations." A holographic timer appeared over his workstation. Watching Julia perform magic was a little like listening to the stories from her world--slightly disorienting. There had to be order and logic to it, but as he watched her make hand movements and heard those strange words on her tongue, it seemed nonsensical. Tony's hand hovered over the button. And nothing happened. He looked from Julia to the battery and back again. "Is something supposed to happen?" She was trying again. Eyes on her, hand hovering near the button, Dum-E at the ready, timer reset and waiting. And then he was knocked off his feet by the concussive force of the energy blast. As he began to lose consciousness, he was aware of two things: the quarterback was not within his reach, nor was it within the robot's. The force of the blast had sent it flying toward Tony's cars, and the last thought that entered Tony's mind before the darkness came was, "Not the Roadster." When Julia came to, it was with a start. She was fine. The battery seemed fine. So what happened…? “Tony!” Julia scrambled toward her friend the moment she spotted his prone body on the floor. She placed her hands on him, gently at first, as though checking to see if they might glow before carefully examining him to make sure there wasn’t any obvious injury, careful not to move him. “Tony, wake up. Are you okay?” She didn’t notice his robot slowly rolling toward the quarterback where it had been tossed across the room. Tony also came to with a start, once Julia placed her hands on him. His eyes flew open, wide. "I'm up!" His voice was pitched slightly higher than normal, and his words came at rapid fire. "What'd I miss?" He rose into a sitting position and looked around at his disheveled workshop. And at the timer that was flashing zero. He glanced over at Julia with a half-smile. "I know, I know. I had one job." As if it could have been helped. "You alright? Was that supposed to happen?" Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dum-E nosing at something on the floor. Shit. "Dum-E, don't you dare touch that b--" But the well-meaning bot was set on completing his program as requested, and pressed the button on the quarterback. When Julia came to, it was with a start. She was fine. The battery seemed fine. So what happened…? “Tony!” Julia scrambled toward her friend the moment she spotted his prone body on the floor. She placed her hands on him, gently at first, as though checking to see if they might glow before carefully examining him to make sure there wasn’t any obvious injury, careful not to move him. “Tony, wake up. Are you okay?” Only the robot was aware that it had pressed the button as programmed. Julia and Tony would be none the wiser that the quarterback was down a charge unless they actually tried to use it. Just three charges left instead of four. Tony also came to with a start, once Julia placed her hands on him. His eyes flew open, wide. "I'm up!" His voice was pitched slightly higher than normal, and his words came at rapid fire. "What'd I miss?" He rose into a sitting position and looked around at his disheveled workshop. And at the timer that was flashing zero. He glanced over at Julia with a half-smile. "I know, I know. I had one job." As if it could have been helped. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dum-E over by the Roadster, which thankfully appeared to be unharmed, looking down at something on the floor. The robot looked up towards Tony and Julia, back to the floor, and then towards Tony and Julia again. His pincers pursed together, and he lowered his arm sheepishly. "Don't bother," Tony called out to the bot and motioning towards the timer. "Little late for that now." He turned his attention back to Julia. "You alright? Was that supposed to happen?" “No?” Julia said helpfully. Though it might have been in poor taste, she was smiling anyway, thankful that they both appeared to be alright. There was a pause before she released him. Once Julia was back on her feet, she offered a hand to Tony. Something didn’t make sense. In that, something did make sense. Julia squinted slightly at the magical devices at the table, the spot where she landed, the spot where Tony landed, the spot where the quarterback landed, and had a pretty decent guess of the force created during the magical blast of energy. Odd. “We should check the battery and see if it worked.” Julia walked back toward the makeshift station once Tony was on his feet, looked at the battery and realized… She had no idea how to test if there was any power in it at all. “I…” Julia frowned, staring at it, as if the answer would come to her. She touched her head briefly, but she didn’t feel any pain or sign of injury with her fingers. "You're lucky this place is used to the occasional explosion," Tony warned, with no actual hostility behind it. All things considered, it had been relatively mild and no real harm done. Tony took her hand when offered and was back on his feet in one graceful movement. While Julia was surveying the damage, Tony was more interested in the magical technology on the table. What had previously looked like half-baked movie props from an 80s sci-fi film, now somehow made sense to him. He could tell instantly how the secondary device had been put together, and even more strangely, exactly why. He was used to picking up things quickly, but this seemed fast even by his standards. When Julia hesitated in front of it, Tony gave her an incredulous look. "Touch it," he suggested, as if that were obvious. "See if you feel any power coming from it." Julia looked over her work and found none of it made sense. It looked like junk. Not even mad scientist junk, that might have made sense. This looked more like some sort pretentious art installation. “Um.” Mostly Julia was trying not to panic. What if she’d somehow not only drained herself of all her magic, but all of her magical knowledge? When she touched the battery, nothing happened. She didn’t feel anything that would indicate it worked or it didn’t. That entire sense was missing. “I honestly have no idea,” she admitted. “Fuck. None of this makes sense. Like I don’t even know enough to know what the hell happened or how it went wrong.” "Don't look at me! You're supposed to be the expert here. I'm just the battery-builder and button-pusher. See?" To prove a point, Tony put his hand on the battery... and felt something. Well, it was more like the absence of something. He quickly removed his hand as if it had been burned, his brow furrowed. Very slowly, he reached out again and without giving it much thought, made a hand gesture he had seen Julia use before, and suddenly the large, metal ball was levitating off the table. He looked over at Julia with his eyes wide as the battery hovered in the air between them. "Julia," he said very calmly, despite the shock written plainly on his face. "I am levitating a magic ball. How am I am levitating a magic ball? Why do I even know how to levitate a magic ball?" The battery dropped then, but he caught it in his hands like a basketball. He set it back down on the table, then put his hands in his pockets as if that would somehow stop whatever was happening. “You did the…” Julia tried to recall the word. She knew the words for the hand gestures once, popper, but when she tried to recall it the word was missing. Julia took a breath. “The spell and the tower,” gesturing to the art junk installation piece, “was supposed to transfer that extra power source to the… battery ball thing. But originally the tower and the spell were supposed to transfer the power to another person. I just modified it, or thought I did… so…” Julia squinted at Tony. “You got it instead?” Julia looked down at her hands. She tried to gesture, but couldn’t remember the positioning of her fingers. More importantly, she didn’t feel an inkling of power. She tried to move them anyway, mimicking from some distant memory one of the first spells she ever learned. “...Not just the power. I’m not naturally telekinetic. Or wasn’t. That was not an easy spell to learn and it’s like…” He’d inherited her knowledge and practice along with her magic. “So, we can still fix this. If you know what I know, plus what you know, I mean we can still do what we set out to do.” Maybe. If Tony couldn’t give Julia her own magic back, well, she’d only done it to herself, right? "Popper," Tony finished her thought, then looked slightly mortified at having done so. "You gave me your magic," Tony stated as if he had not heard her correctly, as if she would reply, "No, that's impossible, this kind of magic doesn't even exist in your world." But even as he said the words, he knew they were true. He could feel it. His mind was working at its usual frenzied pace, but now it was filled with thoughts that seemed unlike his own, knowledge that he had acquired, not learned. It was what made him say, "There has to be a way to reverse engineer the spell. I just need time to work it out." He looked around his garage, the workshop now seeming woefully inadequate. "Somehow." He was doing his best to hold it together. Supersoldiers, enhanced people, aliens, space portals, magicians, space warlords who destroy half the universe with the snap of their fingers. Just add this to the list of crazy. He could handle this. It was fine. It was... "Right, so I think we can agree that it's best to keep this little mishap between you and me. However tempting it might be, now is not the time to rub my new wizard status in the face of a few deserving people." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and placed them on Julia's shoulders, squinting at her as if he could somehow see what was missing from her brain. "You all good, otherwise? Nothing else missing in there like that sardonic wit we all find so charming?" “Technically you’re a hedgewitch now. But I can still call you a shrubwitch if it makes you feel better?” Julia said, occasionally blinking. What she’d wanted to say was You find me charming? and maybe tease him but perhaps it was the strangeness of the situation and not the sudden hands on her shoulders or the full impact of his expressive brown eyes that short circuited her brain momentarily. “I’m okay. Just the magic is missing. You made the ball to spec, right? I realize the notes I sent you weren’t exactly what you’re used to, but as long as you didn’t do anything out there, like use a titanium foam on the bonded joints or try to construct the aluminum shell from nanites or something weird-- it was a pretty straight forward design.” Julia didn’t notice the new information in her brain. It was as if it had always been there. She’d done well in school, maintained a perfect GPA, not shied away from harder math or science courses. But she’d never been a math or science major, either. Still, her brain didn’t find anything odd at all about thinking over how she might have constructed the battery with her less than optimal magical notes. "Technicalities," Tony waved his hand dismissively. "Magic or no, you're still the shrubwitch." "Of course I made it to spec. Don't you know who you're talking to?" he snapped. There was smugness, but also a bit of fear that he had failed. Again. But he was quickly brought back to the present as Julia continued, rattling off words that should have carried greater meaning and clarity than they did. Titanium foam? Nanites? And since when had Julia known anything about engineering the battery? It was why she'd needed him in the first place. Now it was Tony's turn to touch his head. "Power swap," he said suddenly, his hand still held up to his head. "You gave me your powers, but you took mine." It was not a stretch to say that his genius was his superpower. And now, it seemed, his intellect had been swapped out for a little hocus pocus. He was not sure it was a fair trade. Julia inhaled sharply, as she considered that. She thought about the watch he made her, the one she was wearing just then, had worn to the party, and in fact had worn every day since he’d given to her. Without meaning to, she could call up specifications and all of the engineering that had gone into producing it. “So we’re in agreement that we tell no one? We… swap back and no one will be the wiser?” If it was just the two of them, there wasn’t any real harm, was there? “You realize you’re kind of the one that has to figure that part out, right?” She winced. “Sorry.” Making Tony clean up her mess was probably not terribly impressive. She did not confirm or deny his statement, but Tony could practically see the wheels turning behind her eyes as she contemplated what he said. Is that what he looked like? "Let's just hope nothing comes up in the meantime that might compromise us." He thought, with relief, about the arm he had recently handed over to Barnes, and the arc reactor at Fort Neill that had just gone live. At least he had finished those before this little mishap. As for the rest? He could stall. "You're not getting out of this that easy. Need I remind you, this was all your idea? Besides," he motioned toward the battery, "We may need you to replicate my work." His face scrunched up a bit when he said that, displeased at the thought of not being able to do it himself. “It was my idea,” Julia agreed, nodding her head, appropriately contrite. She had enough friends angry with her. What she wanted was to restore Tony before anyone else lost their patience with her. “I have notes on the project at my place.” Julia paused. “That I won’t be able to get into because it’s magically protected. You mind letting me into my apartment? So we can grab my research? And also I don’t suppose I could stay at your place until we figure this out?” Eliot may have told Julia she was welcomed back at the cottage, but with Kady there, Julia wasn’t sure that was the case. “Tony, I’m so sorry about this,” she said. “I should have done this myself.” "You can crash in the spare bedroom next to Banner. Fair warning, he sleeps in the nude. So mind the view from your balcony." There was also the issue of the Other Guy, but the risk was greater for Julia getting an eyeful than encountering the Hulk. "All right, so we swing by your place, grab your notes. Anything else that could help us figure this thing out?" He was thinking of the books he'd noticed the week before over at Eliot's. Tony shrugged nonchalantly at her apology. "I find friends make a better audience for spectacular failure than anyone else." He hoped he was projecting the kind of reassuring confidence that would be most helpful in this situation, even if he wasn't quite feeling it himself. “Marina has books but I know the kind of dark magic she puts on her shit. Do not touch her stuff when we go in there.” Julia paused. “The Cottage probably has some stuff. If we get desperate, we can ask Alice, but that would mean telling someone what I did.” She sighed. “My place, The Cottage and back here.” That sounded like a plan. Julia looked around his workshop curiously. It was probably in bad taste if she wanted to stay and poke around, but she also felt helpless to fix her mess. At least Tony seemed forgiving. “I’m going to owe you a lot more than a quarterback after this,” Julia said. She would find a way to make it up to him. Somehow. Tony did not like to be told not to do things, but the last thing he needed was to go up against dark magic twenty minutes into becoming a hedgewitch. "Let's start there," he replied once she had laid out their game plan. "We can bring others into this as a last resort." It was going to be difficult enough to explain Julia's temporary change in residence to Rhodes and Banner, never mind trying to keep secret the sudden change in his expertise. One problem at a time. Truthfully, Tony was still in a bit of a shock about the whole situation. Julia had not hid the fact that this was a risky venture, and he had still agreed to do it. Although of the potential adverse effects she had ticked off, a power swap had not been among them. This was a bit more of an inconvenience than a leaky battery. He narrowed his eyes at her in a way that was at once both playful and menacing. "We can discuss the matter of payback later." Julia hadn’t actually shown anyone where she lived. What was the point? Part of her agreement with Marina meant no visitors. Even if someone wanted to come in, they had to get past the magical wards. The building was a warehouse in District 3, and the outside looked uninviting and a potential healthcode violation. Once they were standing just outside on the sidewalk, Julia motioned to the building with a little encouragement, “You can do this.” Disabling a ward was like picking a chess move, solving an algorithm and playing cat’s cradle with string all at the same time. Julia could no longer see the energy of the ward or what to do. She knew, vaguely, Tony’s hand would move and they’d be able to go in but now it was hard to recall just how much went into the magical protection. The inside of the building was much nicer, spacious. The sort of place wealthy hipsters would rent in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn at a premium. “If you like your blood inside your body, keep your hands to yourself,” Julia cautioned. She led him to her room, grabbed a bag and started shoving journals and books into it before handing it to Tony and packing up a small bag of clothing for herself. There was something missing, however. Something Julia could no longer sense or remember. She’d hidden more of her research in the room but was incapable of knowing to look or finding it. There was a snide remark on the tip of Tony's tongue about living on the wrong side of the tracks, but he was quickly distracted by the presence of the wards and the fact that he knew just want to do to crack them like a magical safe. "Tell me," he asked Julia as he positioned his hands and fingers just so, "Do I look as ridiculous as I feel right now?" Once he had gotten them inside, he pursed his lips and gave an approving nod. "Not bad," he admitted, as he followed Julia to her room as cautioned, hands to himself. He stood in the middle of her bedroom unhelpfully, while she packed her things, his roving eyes passing over her bookshelves. Just before she shoved the bag into his hands, Tony had noticed a significant amount of magical energy surrounding one of the floorboards. He dropped the bag at his feet and moved closer to investigate. Before long, the floorboard had slid open like the piece of a puzzle box, revealing a cavity containing several more books and a journal. He retrieved them and held them up for Julia to see. "Think these might be important?" he asked sarcastically. “Jesus,” Julia said. The surprise on her face made it plain, she had no idea that was there. At least her magic was doing its job? Hopefully it was enough to keep Marina out. Julia tried not to question if Tony found it easily because he had magic, or because he had Julia’s magic. “Let’s get out of here,” Julia said. Before Marina caught them. She didn’t feel like trying to explain what was happening and expect Marina to understand. Her room, the safehouse, felt almost alien to her without magic. She was eager to get out of there and somewhere mildly more friendly. “Cottage next?” Tony couldn't explain how he knew what to do, he just did. It really was the most peculiar sensation. And it left him insanely eager to test the limits of his abilities. Or, more accurately, Julia's abilities. He wondered what she would make of his. Placing the journal and books in the bag with the others, he kept one out to leaf through briefly while Julia finished packing. "Cottage next," Tony replied, closing the book with a hollow thump. He tossed it into the bag, heaved the thing over his shoulder and made an after you gesture with his free hand. "We need to sneak around there too? Because I could use a glass or two of whatever Eliot was slinging at the barbecue." |