emmeline danvers-vance. (heyvancey) wrote in valloic, @ 2022-01-01 14:13:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, marvel: carol danvers, ₴ inactive: emmeline vance |
Unfortunately, she’d failed in both respects. But she must have done something right because she’d gotten a moment with the real Strange — the Stephen she’d come to know here in Vallo. And it had hit her harder than she’d expected, realizing how powerless he was and how hurt Wanda must be feeling underneath it all. She was facing the very real possibility that she was losing the person she loved without any real clue how to help him.
That helpless feeling had to be one of the worst. Carol had felt it plenty of times before, and she never stopped hating it. She was probably one of the most powerful people in the universe, and when she came across a problem she couldn’t fix, it grated on her. She wouldn’t be surprised if Wanda was feeling the same.
There was no point tracking Strange down again just to have him suck her up like a raspberry Slurpee. She’d given him enough juice to last him for a while, and she didn’t need to hand herself over as a constant power source. So, once she’d gathered herself, she shot off the mountaintop he’d abandoned in search of the one person she couldn’t get off her mind after that encounter. She had a message to pass onto Wanda, but that could wait just a few more minutes, after she was sure Emme was all in one piece.
Of course, they’d been checking in with each other frequently since all this calamity began, and Carol knew how very capable her girlfriend was. She’d seen her at work with her magic, trained with her hand-to-hand at the Underground, and she had shit under control. It didn’t matter what kind of creatures had come pouring into Vallo thanks to Strange, Emme could handle it. Honestly, it was one of the sexiest things Carol had ever seen, but then, she’d always been into the strong, independent types.
A few swipes into the GPS tracker on her phone and she was headed in Emme’s direction — they’d shared their locations with each other when Defense was called at the beginning of the chaos. Within minutes, she dropped down into a patch of forest filled to the brim with the same type of bots she’d dealt with not long before she’d finally tracked Strange down. There were a handful of others scattered throughout, doing everything in their power to take these things down and avoid the lasers shooting out of the rectangular eye at their center.
She landed with a soft thump on Emme’s left, immediately throwing a hand out to blast straight through the nearest bot’s eye. She burned a hole through it, causing it to stop in its tracks, shaking and sizzling, before it lost its legs and collapsed on the forest ground. She smirked, basking in her victory for just a second before she felt the sting of another laser against her shoulder, jolting her back a half step.
“I swear I took out a horde of these at sunrise,” she called out to Emme, thrusting her fist back out to take a shot at this new bot’s center. Destroying the core was the only way to get these things to stop, and her aim was usually pretty on point. “You doing okay, babe?”
Just another day in Vallo. Emme threw up a shield charm to deflect a laser blast from hitting the center of her chest. It crackled and ricocheted back towards the bot where it originated. She was disheveled and dirty. Her hair pulled back in a ponytail and a good bit of dirt on her face and clothes from an earlier scuffle. She blasted another bot off its feet when her ears picked up a familiar sound.
She’d learned to recognize the sound of Carol flying in closer, so it wasn’t unexpected when she saw her girlfriend suddenly land nearby. “You must be slipping, love.” Emme called over to her with a small smirk. “All good here! We’re having a….” she paused and shot another spell at the bot’s core, “....blast.”
Carol scoffed and flashed Emme a smirk of her own. “I’ll show you slipping, hot stuff.” She took a step forward, making sure Emme was just a bit behind her, and swept her eyes over the area around them to make sure no one was too close. When she was sure the coast was clear, she clenched her fists at her side, charging up until her entire body and her eyes glowed as bright as the sun and a blast of energy knocked all the bots in a fifty yard radius off their feet.
Sure, it wasn’t a permanent solution, but it gave the defense team members in the area higher ground for a minute to take the damn things out properly. She was helping — you’re welcome.
“Food once we clear this place out? I could eat, and they can spare us for a few.” She leaned back to give Emme a quick kiss, throwing her hand behind her back to blast a hole through the center of a bot she heard scrambling to its feet. She had expended a lot of energy over the past twenty-four hours, and she needed a good intake of calories to make up for it.
“Consider me corrected.” Emme smiled and returned Carol’s kiss after the impressive showing. She also didn’t miss the opportunity to scan her girlfriend for any potential injuries. She looked tired and a little battered, but clearly was still handling herself okay. “Absolutely,” Emme agreed. She’d feel much better once they both got a breather and some food into their systems. “Burgers?”
“Burgers,” Carol confirmed. She wouldn’t say not sitting down somewhere a little distance away from the chaos to refuel, especially with Emme. She felt fine, but she would admit Strange sucking up some of her energy had dimmed her just a tiny bit.
He’d certainly kicked her motivation up a notch, though. With the two of them working together, it didn’t take long to clear the vicinity of bots. The clean-up of burnt out shells was going to be hell, but that was a problem for later. They had earned some peace, and she wasted no time in wrapping Emme up in her arms to get her out of the forest.
“Where to?” she questioned, nose pressed against Emme’s temple.
Emme barely had time to secure her wand up her sleeve before she was quite literally swept off of her feet. She was getting slightly more used to flying with Carol, and wrapped her arms securely around her girlfriend’s neck.
“The Grease Bucket.” She absolutely hated the name of the establishment, but she couldn’t deny they had the best burgers in Vallo.
The Grease Bucket it was. Didn’t sound like the most appetizing establishment, but she knew for a fact you would never find yourself on the receiving end of a disappointing burger. It was one of the longer-running Vallo establishments, and she was fairly certain the cook had been around since the place opened at least a century ago.
She dropped down carefully to her feet just outside the front door, giving Emme a second to recover before opening the door and waving her forward. It was still relatively early, so the place hadn’t started getting crowded.
“The dirt-streaked look is a good one,” she chuckled, reaching across the table to rub at a smudge on Emme’s forehead. “You holding up okay?”
Emme scrunched her nose up and made a face. “You’re biased. But yes, I’m fine. Nothing a very long shower and some sleep won’t cure. I’m far more concerned about how you are. Details now, please.”
Carol sighed. “I’m fine,” she insisted, dismissive but in a gentle way. She knew Emme’s concern was genuine. “I found him, dealt with him. Probably not going to repeat that. He sucked up my power pretty damn good.” She was a little tired, mostly from running at max for so long, and yeah, she’d taken some good hits. Emme wasn’t the only one a little dirt-covered.
Emmeline blinked as she tried to process what Carol had just said. “He sucked up your power.” She reached across the table and grabbed ahold of Carol’s hand. “I don’t pretend to know much about how things work with powers and abilities in your world, but that really doesn’t sound pleasant. And I have a fairly good guess as to how you are likely feeling about it right now.”
“Honey, I promise I’m fine.” Carol lifted both hands to close around Emme’s and squeezed them reassuringly. “It was more - just seeing him like that was tough. Whatever happened, he’s not our Strange anymore. But he’s in there. He gave me a message for Wanda.”
It was kind of incredible, seeing him fighting to break through because he loved Wanda. There was a degree of helplessness, knowing there wasn’t anything she could really do to help. Now, though, she believed that he would make it through. Somehow, some way, and until then, she’d lend as much moral support and creature-fighting support they could need.
She had a feeling that Carol would have said that regardless of if she was actually fine or not. But for the moment she was choosing to believe her. She sighed heavily and reached her other hand out across the table. “I’m so sorry you had to see him like that.” She knew Carol and Stephen had an extremely unique friendship. “I’ve seen something similar. We have a curse in our world, the Imperius, that allows the caster to take control of someone’s mind. It can be fought off, but it’s difficult. It’s hard seeing someone you care about not be themselves. Is there anything at all I can do to help?”
Carol shifted her grip to hold both of Emme’s hands, thumbs brushing across her knuckles. “Having you here with me is enough help,” she assured her. “It’s really just…made me think, you know? You never know how quickly things can change around here. It’s kind of fucked. Nothing in Vallo is guaranteed.”
Emme’s heart gave a painful thump in response. While she’d never been too personally affected by something like this before, she certainly knew the pain that came from Vallo’s whims. She’d said too many goodbyes and she hated it. It was her least favourite thing about the place.
“It is kind of fucked. The best we can do is hold onto the good things while we have them.” She gave Carol’s hands a small squeeze. “And fight like hell for the people we care about, of course.”
Carol wasn’t oblivious to how many people Emme had lost since coming here. Some of them were people she’d lost back home, too, and she could imagine how hard that had to be. None of it was easy. No matter how badly you wanted to keep people close and make sure they never got away and nothing bad ever happened, it was all up to chance around here.
It created a kind of helplessness she was not a fan of.
But it had also given her Emme and this good, solid relationship she never thought she’d have again. It had been too many years and she’d been sure her heart was too broken.
“I’m always gonna fight for you.” She gave those hands a fiercer squeeze. “I love you. I planned to say that in a much more romantic setting, but - I want you to know now. I love you, Em, and I’m not letting you leave me. Like what’s happened to Stephen or - whatever. Got it?”
A lump of emotion had risen in Emmeline’s throat. She’d kept her heart guarded for such a long time, and then here came Carol Danvers with her cocky attitude and to-die-for smile and suddenly all of those long-standing fortifications seemed to just melt away. This woman was her heart. There was nothing else to it.
She shook her head. “No, it’s perfect. I love you too.” Standing up, Emme leaned across the table to kiss Carol.
Carol stood to meet her, grinning against her lips for a few long moments before breaking away and rounding the table. They didn’t need any obstruction between them right now, not at a time like this. “What do you say we…grab a couple burgers to go instead?” she suggested with a smirk, nodding toward the counter.
Emme’s hand found its way around Carol’s waist as soon as she was close enough. She tugged her close and let the rest of the worry and pain of the day melt away. “I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”