Who: Francis Barton and Cassie Lang Where: Chicago What: The pair decide to go on an adventure! When: Backdated to July 16th after the Next Avengers + Cassie + Jan mission Rating: Low, I don't think they even swear. Open: No Status: Complete
Cassie had drifted to the back of the group . They had been successful, minimal injuries, all good things. The pizza had been excellent as well. Just not nearly as good as real New York pizza. But now she was coming down from the adrenaline high and was just feeling the burn. Not a literal burn, she’d been lucky. Just the let down burn, of fuzzy numb. She’d found it hard to catch her breath right after working so hard. She really needed to train more. The stingers had worked a treat. It was fun to work with a group again, finally. Pym and Francis and their group were great people. She glanced to her side and smiled. Looked like Hawkeye’s always saw better from a distance. She wondered...she and Francis had been talking about it. Should they? Iit didn’t seem like there’d be a better point. There was usually a lull right after something like this, and there were certainly enough heroes that an Ant and an archer probably wouldn’t be missed. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t be available. They’d just be unavailable if they did what they’d been talking about. Which made sense in her head.
“Do you want to?” Cassie drifted off. Awkward conversation starter there, Cassie. Good job. “I mean, what we’ve been talking about. Do you want to do it now?”
The whole group dynamic was still something Francis was getting used to. Sure, back home he’d had his own thing going with the Scavengers but he’d been a leader back then. It was infinitely weirder to go from that position to learning how to function as part of a group. He liked to think he’d done a pretty good job though. Sure, he may not have evacuated the most civilians but no one had been killed so that was still saying something, right? And, all things considered, he’d had a lot of fun. Flying in the jet, spending time with all of the Next Avengers plus Cassie, finally seeing some action... it had all helped him get over the fact that his mother was gone. That, wherever Bobbi was, she didn’t remember anything about him. Again. It may have also helped put into perspective the fact that this Torunn wasn’t the same one that had been there before. She didn’t have the same memories and, it was entirely possible, that this one wouldn’t have wanted to attend a dance with him. Though, all things considered, he was now glad he’d been too scared to ask Torunn in the first place. If he’d gone with her and they got closer it would’ve only made her disappearance and reappearance all the more painful. All of that had been put into perspective, however, and he wasn’t dwelling on Torunn or his mother anymore.
Looking over at the sound of Cassie’s voice he offered her a smile. It took him a minute to realize what she was trying to ask him without actually asking. “You mean...” He trailed off, keeping his voice down so she was the only one who could hear him. “Sure. Now’s a good time.”
“Left a note yet?” Cassie asked, kicking a stone out of the way. She was excited about the trip. They’d have to get some civilian clothes. She didn’t think that over too well after all. Oh well. They’d do alright. How could they not? She kept her voice low as well. She didn’t want any interference and a big group outing. This had been enough of a big group outing for her for the moment. She was still used to being on her own for the most part, except her Daddy. This would be fun. “Do you know how we want to travel?”
Francis took a moment to add the finishing touches to the note he was leaving before tucking it away to be found on the jet once the two of them were gone. “Just finished.” He said. It probably would’ve been nice if he could’ve informed his dad that he was going on a mission in the first place but he assumed word had gotten back to Clint one way or another. You couldn’t really take a group of kids on a mission and not have it get back to the parents. SHIELD would’ve said something, right? Right. He’d worry about what his dad would do or say once they got back to New York in... however long this was going to take. “We could catch a train?” He suggested, Union Station couldn’t have been too far from where they were. Unfortunately, the trains leaving the station were pretty expensive. The two of them still needed civilian clothing. “Of course we could always ride the rails the old fashioned way and hop into open box cars.” Unless she had a better idea. If she had a better idea he was all ears. Otherwise they’d have to either try their luck hitch hiking or try their luck with the railways. Either way, if they were caught it was likely they’d be sent right back home.
She grinned mischievously. Taking the old fashioned hobo way appealed to her. The safer way, of course, would be to just take the bus. Find a greyhound station and ride it all the way to Orlando. Then figure out where they could pay cash and stay. Or find fake IDs, pay cash and stay. Whichever. Who cared?
“Well, we could take the Greyhound. Or should we save that to take back, assuming one of the adults doesn’t somehow meet us in Orlando. I kind of like the hopping into open boxcars idea, to be honest.” It definitely sounded like the adventure of a lifetime. And she had the stingers she and Pym had created. Not to mention her ant-helmet. Ants made excellent allies against annoying people. They were everywhere and in everything. She and Francis would be safe enough. “But we should find a Goodwill or thrift store first. Somewhere we can get regular clothing at.” She was wearing her uniform still and carrying the aforementioned helmet.
Well he had wanted an adventure and it was pretty impossible to have one seated between however many people on a bus. The idea of riding the rails and hopping into open box cars sounded like a lot of fun. Besides, he had arrows and knew more than a little about taking care of himself (and others) in situations that would otherwise be considered dangerous. What could possibly go wrong? It wasn’t like Ultron was going to appear and take over the world while the two of them were trying to make it down to Orlando. They’d have to figure out where they were staying later and how that situation was going to work. For the moment it was probably best to stick with one problem at a time. “Let’s save the bus for the trip home when we’re too tired to actually run after train cars.” Bartons were known to be vagabonds from time to time. If nothing else this might go a long way to soothe Francis’ wanderlust.
Looking down at his clothing and then back at Cassie’s he laughed softly. “Yeah, I don’t think we’ll get very far in these.” In his case it was a little more debatable. He didn’t really have a costume like the other Next Avengers but his jacket was distinctive... as were the boots he was wearing. A change of clothing would probably be beneficial. That way, if they were spotted, there really wouldn’t be any clear identifiers to give them away. “Let’s find a Goodwill first, get changed, and then try and figure out the trains.”
Cassie watched the stores as they walked, and pointed up ahead. “There’s a Goodwill. We should get at least two changes, and a bag we can put food in, if we’re going to hop trains instead of take the bus.” She bounced just a little in excitement. Opening the door to the Goodwill, and walked in. “Meet you at the register?” She went to browse among the women’s clothing.
A couple shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, so they would take the beating. Her shoes were good enough for running. She wandered around the purses and stuff and found a good backpack that wasn’t expensive either. What else would they need? That should be enough.
Francis actually hated shopping for clothes. Back in his world it wasn’t really an issue that came up too much. He had a few pairs of clothing that he wore (usually until something ripped) and then replaced or repaired what he needed to. Whether it fit right or not didn’t really matter (unless it was too small) but here he’d learned that people tended to frown upon wearing shirts three sizes too big. Randomly grabbing clothing didn’t work either. He had to make sure it looked all right. The longer he stayed in this place, however, the more he developed a sense of style. He was less likely to come out of a shopping trip looking ridiculous simply because he was more interested in clothing that could take a beating and would be practical than clothing he could actually be seen in.
Eventually settling on a couple pairs of jeans and a couple of shirts (there was purple one tosse in there just because) that fit and actually looked all right together he wandered off to find Cassie. “You have a jacket, right?” He asked. “Or a sweater? It’s bound to be colder at night.” He wasn’t too sure just how cold. It was the middle of summer and Chicago, at least, was incredibly warm.
“I have a cardigan, I doubt I’ll need more than that. We’re heading south, it gets hotter as you get further down,” Cassie said, patting her pile. “Do you have money?” She had enough. Lucky she was used to living on a budget and knew how and when to splurge. “I got us a bag, so we have something to put all this in, with enough space left over for food. We’ll probably want to stop and get some, so we don’t have to eat out constantly.” That was the biggest way to waste time and money. And who knew if they were going to wind up near any towns, the way they were planning to travel anyway. She lead the way up to the cashier, went to put her stuff on the counter, and stopped. “Wait, we each need a towel. and books.”
Francis nodded. He knew that about the south but the sweater was still a good idea, just in case. “That’ll work.” If it didn’t she could always borrow his jacket for the night. He wondered about their sleeping schedule. Would it be safe to fall asleep or was this a situation where you had to sleep in shifts? Maybe if there was someone else around they could sleep in shifts just in case but Francis was pretty sure they’d be okay on a moving train. No one could hop on once it was at full speed, after all. “I have money.” He said, hand immediately moving to his pocket. He didn’t have a lot but he had more than enough to pay for what he was getting and then do a little grocery shopping. He stopped when she did and looked down at his pile. “Wait... what do I need a towel for?”
“If we’re hitch hiking, we absolutely need a towel a piece,” Cassie said. She paused, on seeing no comprehension. Sometimes she even forgot they hadn’t the same life experiences. “Towels are necessary to hitch hiking. They can be used for practically everything. And towels make people think you have all the other stuff you don’t have. If you have a towel, obviously you have your toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, parents, whatever. You’ve just misplaced them so they’ll be happy to help you fill in the edges. It’s book, we’ll see if they have a copy here.” She moved to the book section, picking up a couple of books for herself, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for him. “Remind me to show you Home Alone when we get back to New York.”
Francis was getting better at pop culture but there was still a lot that escaped him. This book Cassie was talking about seemed to be among them. He liked to think he was well versed in James Bond films and various television shows he’d never admit to watching (was it silly to marathon a whole season of Supernatural on Netflix or Doctor Who?). He’d even developed a taste for certain music thanks entirely to his viewing choices. His interests had started out as a general curiosity for these other worlds but grew into something more. Of course, he wondered whether or not it was rude of him to have a draw to these shows given the fact that the actual Winchester brothers had suffered greatly for something that was seen as entertainment here. This, however, meant he hadn’t managed to get into too many books. There were a couple, sure, but this one had, apparently, escaped him. “Sorry. I haven’t managed to read as much as I probably should. I’ll try to remember about Home Alone too.”
“Reading is awesome. But you’re forgiven,” Cassie teased a little. She paid for her stuff, stuffed it into the duffel-bag and waited for Francis to pay for his own stuff. “I think we need to get a bit out of the city before we hop into a box car. I could, right away but...you don’t have the shrinking powers. “ She headed towards the grocery store she could see, once they were outside.
Given the amount of security around Grand Central station it probably would be easier to catch a train a little ways out of the city (there was also the fact that mostly passenger trains left GCS but that was a minor detail). “Thank you. I’ll be sure to read more both on this trip and once we get home.” Especially if she was going to buy him this book. Paying for his own clothing he put his stuff into the duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder. He could probably be in charge of carrying it unless she wanted the two of them to switch off occasionally. Following her to the grocery store he nodded. “I think that’s probably for the best. I don’t know where we’d actually catch one of those trains from in the city.”
She nodded. “We can just follow the train tracks, or find a bus out to the suburbs, and then just follow the tracks from there. I think that would be the better idea,” Cassie said, This was exciting. Something she’d never thought she’d ever do. It was like the stories, only better because it was really happening.
The suburbs sounded like a good idea. It may have been easier to find open tracks when they weren’t surrounded by so many buildings. “Either one of those ideas sounds good to me.” He said, deciding to leave that decision up to her. He’d actually never taken a bus before. Sure, he’d been living in large city for the past couple of months but he hadn’t actually travelled too far from the tower. He spent most of his time around the roof or in his room playing around on tumblr or watching various things on Netflix. He was going to miss his internet access on this trip but he figured it wouldn’t be too hard to get over that. He lived just fine (if you called the constant fight for survival ‘fine’) without either of those luxuries so he’d be fine without it. “Okay, so let’s get the food and get on our way. If Pym’s mom found the note there’s still a chance we could be grabbed and taken home before this adventure even begins.” Once they were on the road he figured they’d be fine. This part was kind of tricky.
Cassie picked up some tuna meal packets and some fruits and vegetables. That plus water should be enough to keep them going for a while. Donuts? Definitely. there was never a wrong time for doughnuts. Mmmm....maybe cookies. “Anything you want, grab it.” She wandered the aisles, thinking about what else they might need. Already had entertainment...Pad of paper and pens. If nothing else it could be used to record their adventures. If not that then a few games of hangman or something like that would be good. What else would they need on their epic adventure. Duh Cassie. A MAP. That would be necessary. So very necessary. She looked to Francis. “I think I got everything.”
So they had donuts, tuna meals, fruits, vegetable, water, and cookies. That sounded pretty good so... what else could they need? Finding a few Nutella snack packages he handed them over to Cassie. “That’s all I really want.” Breadstick things with a chocolate hazelnut spread? Yes, please. “I think we’re all right for now.” If they rationed things well enough whatever they had could last them the duration of the trip. Travelling was tricky if you didn’t know how long you’d be on the road without a place to stop. If they really needed to they could probably find a place to get food once they arrived in Florida and had found a place they could stay. Francis didn’t have a problem with sleeping outdoors but it probably wasn’t the best idea. “Okay, then we’ll find a bus and get out into the suburbs where we can find a train.”
“Let’s go!” Cassie tossed the food into the duffel bag and headed towards the bus stop. This was going to be fun.