Who:Cisco and Ava brief phone guest Klaus What:A break in When: Yesterday before the net post fiasco Where: His apartment. Warnings:Bit of a fight. Status:complete
Just another average day, Cisco had been woken up by his cat Mocha who whined over his face until he had no choice but to acknowledge and feed her. He stared at her with an unimpressed, sleepy gaze as she happily stuck her face into her food dish and inhaled her breakfast. Lucky cat. He was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an oversized Star Wars t-shirt that read Luke, I am your father. And had a picture of a Darth Vader mask. It was early, he was still in a daze. Cisco stood there for a good few minutes just staring at the cat but not really watching. “You win, I’m up.” He said finally with an exasperated roll of his eyes and turned toward the cupboard to pull out a bowl for cereal. Yes, he did have more than just candy in the cabinet, just well-don’t look in the pantry.
He poured a bowl of Captain Crunch and padded into the living room of his apartment where he sat and flipped on the tv. News, boring, commercial, commercial, commercial. This was why he normally didn’t bother with day time television and switched over to youtube.
Beauty drama, go figure. It was the same in Vallo as it was in Central City- just different names,, art youtube, technology youtube. He put on some sort of how it works technology show and stared tiredly while he ate his breakfast.
The several days following turning back into an adult had been frustratingly difficult for Ava to readjust, especially with the sharp increase in pain to remind her just how badly her condition had deteriorated. Everyone had been quick to express their intentions of maintaining a friendship with her, even though it had been built on them meeting her as a child. A child that she obviously hadn’t been in a long time, and the whiplash put a lot of her nastier habits into perspective and only made her feel worse in comparison.
Not having friends had been easy enough, she knew how to do that quite well. But potentially losing a bunch of them that she accidentally acquired because she was a maladjusted mess was hanging over her. The reality of the type of person she was must have already been settling in, as Klaus appeared to have completely stood her up the night before after convincing her to give it all a chance. She tried to tell herself it was a relief, to get it over with so quickly, but the disappointment left her agitated and needing something else to do.
Which drove her back to having to face the fact she needed help, sooner than later and whether she liked it or not. Ava hated relying on others, but experimenting on herself hadn’t been yielding any useful results, and the entire stealing from labs routine had come to a halt as soon as Captain America stepped in. Because she really didn’t want to fight. And he was right. She was creating more problems for herself than she was solving. But he was gone now too, and all Ava was left with was a vague idea of somebody she was meant to contact and too much anxiety to figure out how to do so properly. It felt like a long shot, Dr. Pym had been the only one that really understood the intricacies of the research she required, but that was only in her universe and she understood there was at least a possibility. Which was more than she had now.
But Ava’s intentions never really translated well into her actions, showing up as Cisco’s apartment dressed in her stealth uniform because it was the only thing keeping her flickering somewhat under control, her nervousness hidden behind a mask designed for intimidation instead. She hesitated for several moments before banging angrily at the door, frustrated with herself. And then between having to choose to just run off before anyone could answer, she decided to phase right through the door instead.
Ava looked around the apartment, a glitchy and ghostly blur following her movements, before she pointed directly at Cisco. “You.” The electronic voice distortion through her mask didn’t help either, coming off far more threatening than she intended. “I’ve come for Cisco.”
The very last thing Cisco had expected in his sleepy stupor was for some creepy looking knockoff ninja to phase into his house uninvited and unrecognized. The suit was not doing her any favors at all. The cat who had been previously happily eating her breakfast froze and ran off to the bedroom right past Ava’s feet. “Would you believe it, there he goes!” He pointed at the cat hoping that it would give him a split second to gather his bearings while the figure tried to find “Cisco”. The bowl of cereal had fallen from his hands as he got up from the couch in a hurry and bolted in the opposite direction toward the door past her.
This was a big fat nope. It’d been such a decent, boring morning. Now look. Nightmare fuel occupied his living room. What the actual fuck was going on? He didn’t think he’d made any real enemies in this place. Especially not ones dressed in creepy suits with red eyes that brought back all sorts of familiar, unwanted memories.
Ava watched the cat take off in confusion, a split second too late to realize that it was a distraction tactic before bringing herself back on focus to her target. Because that basically confirmed that the man was the one she was after. If she took a moment to reevaluate the situation, perhaps she would have rethought her approach, but in the chaos of the moment she reverted back to what she knew. Her training.
“Stop!” she yelled, vanishing for a moment in order to intercept Cisco’s path, her appearance flickering erratically as she reappeared in front of him, face mere inches away from his as she tried staring him down. “Stop,” she repeated.
She attempted grabbing Cisco by the shoulder to stop him, her hand passing through him instead, and resorted to grasping him by the collar.
The cat ran through the room gracefully enough and went to hide under the bed most likely. Not exactly a guard cat. That was probably not a thing that existed anyways. Maybe in irony, but not in his house. “Eep.” When his collar was grabbed, he turned to glare at the thing grabbing on, and a soft blue glow began to envelope his hand. “Probably don’t wanna be touching me.” He warned as instinct began to kick in. A concentrated blast of pure energy cut through the air from his hand toward her.
He was not going to go down without a fight, he wasn’t much of one but he had some skill. He really didn’t feel like being kidnapped or whatever she was planning. If it hit, it would hit like a solid brick. Cisco wasn’t as innocent as he put on.
This definitely wasn’t how she expected anything to go (although any sane person probably would have anticipated it going so poorly) and everything was escalating a lot faster than she could keep up with. She opened her mouth to try telling Cisco to stop again, because he wasn’t listening but… “What…” Ava’s eyes widened at the strange glowing although the only visible sign of her fear was a flickering tremble of her hands before she promptly let go and went intangible to try protecting herself. She wasn’t sure what the blue energy was, but knew she didn’t want to come in contact with it and potentially fuck up her already fragile grasp on reality.
Ava rushed through Cisco to put herself behind him, away from the blast, leaving only an afterimage behind in her place to take the hit before it too flickered out. But she gasped in pain, stumbling forward a few steps with her arm wrapped protectively around herself. What the fuck. “I SAID STOP,” she demanded, aiming a punch through his head in hopes of knocking him out. It wasn’t the ideal plan, but if she could just get him to calm down maybe she could figure out how to turn this back around.
Cisco ironically really hated teleporters. Those were the last things he remembered thinking when she vanished from his line of sight and suddenly he saw nothing but black and stars in front of his eyes. That was not a fun sensation, he did not recommend it. All he’d wanted was a lazy morning with the cat and his cereal. Now he was faced with blinding pain.
It was a punch that had knocked him out, but it felt more like a brick. When he went to move his hands he couldn’t and his eyes opened a bit more rapidly than he’d have liked. He probably had a bit of a concussion the way he reacted to the world around him-but he was trudging past it considering he still felt like he was in pretty severe danger if he didn’t.
His eyes finally focused on the surroundings of his own apartment? What the fuck? They searched for the attacker.
Ava had stared at the collapsed body on the floor for a few moments as the situation caught up to her, and she cursed quietly. How did she always end up doing this shit? She ripped off the front of her mask and pushed her hood down, taking a few unsteady breaths as she evaluated the apartment. Okay. Okay, she could fix this.
She carefully dragged Cisco across the floor and up into a chair, poking lightly at his face to see if he was awake and maybe faking it to throw her off. But he seemed pretty out. Which a ghostly fist through the head normally would do. How long he’d be out was another question.
She could sit and wait for him to recover, but if she wanted to… maybe make it up to him, so that he’d be slightly more inclined to help her out after the mess she created, Ava needed to at least attempt to clean up as a show of good faith, starting with the spilt cereal that she almost stepped in. But she didn’t want him to go anywhere in the meantime, in case he woke up in a panic and tried attacking her again. Which would only cause another round of fighting that she didn’t quite feel up for. So Ava tied him securely to the chair, ignoring how this whole thing might look when he woke up. It’d be fine. She’d explain it.
After cleaning up the floor and returning the dishes to Cisco’s kitchen, she decided maybe she was a bit hungry herself. Ava returned to where she left him, spoon in her mouth as she took a bite of cereal and had the decency to look at least slightly bit guilty at helping herself to his food. “You’re awake,” she pointed out, approaching cautiously. Even though he was tied up, she wasn’t so sure his powers couldn’t easily undo all that. “I’m Ava.”
He’d been out for a solid fifteen minutes at least. He was really out, didn’t respond to face poking or anything she might have done. Clearly he hadn’t tricked her in any type of way, unfortunately for him. The blue glow that momentarily surrounded his hands was gone for the time being, the only thing that remained was a killer headache and sense of confusion. He’d been knocked out but he was hoeme still? The attacker hadn’t tried to kidnap him technically so what the hell was this?
“...Okay.” He said with confusion and exasperation finally as she spoke and was eating his food. “What the hell do you want? If you want cereal you could have just fucking asked me.” It wasn’t like he was about to turn down someone who was hungry. Without that suit fully on he seemed to panic less, but he wasn’t exactly happy she was there either.
His hands twisted in the ropes as he watched her cautiously.
“Could’ve asked,” she agreed, twirling the spoon. “Didn’t know how long you’d be out,” she shrugged, setting the bowl down on the coffee table, probably to get soggy in the meantime. She came in close, leaning in at eye level, head tilted as she considered him warily. “I was told about you,” she informed Cisco as if that explained everything, brushing a strand of hair off his forehead gently.
Ava slowly removed her gloves, her hands an unsteady blur of translucence as she held them up for him to inspect. “It’s called molecular disequilibrium,” she explained, wiggling her fingers in demonstration. “I both exist, and I don’t. Simultaneously, until I eventually don’t.” She sighed, turned her head away, doubtful he knew anything of Dr. Pym’s work while being from a different universe entirely. But the laws of physics hopefully were similar enough across them.
“Tried figuring this out on my own, but I got caught.”
He flinched a little at how close she was. Why did he always get the crazy ones? And his team had wondered why he wanted a normal life at one point and tried to give up the powered life. Rarely did shit like this happened when he had a nine to five science job at Star Labs before super powers. Rarely. Not impossible, but that's another story for another time. He pulled back a bit as she touched his hair. He was weirdly protective of it okay. “Lucky me.” He responded dryly as she stared him down and he uncomfortably stared back.
Pausing to look at the hands she’d held up, he raised an eyebrow. “And you want me to stabilize it.” He assumed with an annoyed look remaining on his face. This hadn’t been his best week ever. “And if I decline?” He asked as he felt ropes rubbing his wrists. A reminder that he was in fact being held hostage to look at this disappearing persons problem. He wasn’t exactly excited to start work even if the gears in his mind were already thinking up possible solutions.
“Huh, imagine that.” He said sarcastically to the fact that she got caught. “I’d give your stealth technique a little work.”
She stepped back, trying not to look hurt. If he declined… Ava wasn’t sure what she would do. It wasn’t like anyone owed her anything. Not after she knocked them out and tied them to a chair, and Ava ran her fingers through her hair, wishing she could do anything without messing it all up. She’d been down this road before, the desperation from the pain and her deterioration causing her to make riskier and more erratic decisions. And Bill wasn’t around to stop her anymore.
It was stupid of her to hope. “I promised Ca-“ she paused, wasn’t sure if anyone knew him by that stupid title here. “Rogers. That I’d stop. Because he said there were people that could help me.” She looked at Cisco. “You.”
Ava pulled back on her gloves, trying to calm her trembling. Getting angry right now wouldn’t solve anything. She wasn’t about to force him into anything. She didn’t want to be that person anymore. “But he’s gone now.” So really, what good was that promise if there was nobody around to hold her to it anymore.
“Next time I won’t get caught.”
Cisco stared at her for a minute, how the hell was she hurt by him wanting to decline while he was the one tied to a chair in his own house? It was an incredulous sort of look as he watched her stumble over her words and then brought up Steve, Steve said he could help her. Technically it was likely he probably could and if he could, he should. “...I can’t do anything with my hands tied up.” He stated plainly as he watched her every move. The entire time he was tied up, of course he’d be extra wary. Who with half a brain wouldn’t be? He’d been kidnapped enough times now to know not to let his guard down, ever around these types.
“Yes he is.” Cisco stated plainly, not wanting to talk about Steve with the person who hit him and tied him up. Sentimental moments weren’t exactly in the cards with your captor. “If you don’t hit me again or break in my house again I’ll see what I can do.” He hesitated a moment before giving her an exasperated look. “That isn’t the right way to endear someone to your cause. For the record.” A bland tone.
“Your hands are tied up,” Ava pointed out with an equally flat tone, “because you tried to hurt me. And I didn’t want to have to fight you again as soon as you woke up.” It seemed reasonable to her, expressing her desire to avoid any more physical conflict between them, but also her distrust. She didn’t want to come off as a threat, but she still definitely saw him as one with that strange blue energy. “I just wanted you to listen.” Even if she was horrible at communicating, afraid trying to explain herself was just making this worse.
And through her paranoia, she couldn’t quite tell if his conditional agreement was true, or a trick of some kind. Putting her life in somebody else’s hands was terrifying. “I won’t,” she promised hesitantly, because even if he didn’t help her, she knew doing this again would accomplish nothing. Ava sat down on his couch, shoulders slumped forward. “I never learned to be endearing,” she agreed, knew that her personality suffered in many key areas. “I was raised as a lab experiment in a…” Ava was interrupted by the buzzing of her phone, and she looked outright confused. “Nobody ever…”
She slipped it out of her pocket. And then she saw the name, expression immediately shifting over to annoyance. After a bit of struggling to get her finger to connect with the button to cancel the call, she looked apologetically over to Cisco as if their conversation being interrupted was the rudest aspect of this situation. “Um. Oh. Right. Normally my options are killing people, or stealing things. That’s the extent of my life skills.” She smiled awkwardly, hoping it was reassuring that she wasn’t currently doing any of those things. “I’m not going to torture you or anything.”
“If you want someone to listen, don’t break into their house. Try knocking.” He stared at her moodily as she sat and still didn’t untie him. What the actual hell was this? It was admittedly the most confusing thing that’d happened to him since arrival. “I’d not have tried to hurt you if you just knocked.” The annoyed look on his face remained. Likely would until he was cut loose and rope burn was no longer a thing. “Clearly.” He responded to her lack of endearing with an eye roll as he had to stop moving. It was all crazy.
He glanced over at her as she kept talking about life as a lab experiment and he felt a little pity. “If you want me to help you, you’re going to have to trust me.” He responded, not sure how to talk to her. He didn’t know her, Steve did.
When she stated her options he internally groaned. How was it he ended up with types like this? Cisco frowned as she said she wasn’t going to torture him. “Could have fooled me. A show of faith then would be to untie me if that’s true. No, you don’t know that I won’t attack you but if you want help you’re going to have to give a little too.”
“Okay,” she sighed, because no she still didn’t fully trust him. Not even with just untying, but the potential of allowing him to experiment on her at all. She had no idea his credentials, just that Steve, who was not as scientist, recommended him. And if he’d somehow use this as leverage over her, or lie to her the way SHIELD had...
But he was right. If this was going to go anywhere, she had to show good faith back. Ava stood, and her phone rang again. “Ugh, sorry. Hang on. I have to deal with this,” she apologized as she accepted the call, turning away partially.
“What,” she spoke, trying to keep neutral despite the fact Klaus basically ditched her last night. “I’m busy.”
"Avaaaaa," Klaus greeted, drawing out her name. "I'm the worst, right? Don't answer that. But I'm the worst."
Ava hesitated, because he’d never even responded to her text. Even if it was a singular question mark. But. “No, you’re not the worst,” she reassured. He wasn’t the one currently in the middle of home invading.
“But I have to untie this guy before he gets even more mad.” She smiled at Cisco to let him know she hadn’t forgotten him.
There was a pause on the other end of the conversation, as Klaus had prepared to launch into an explanation of what happened the day before when she threw him for a complete loop.
"Pardon?" he asked. "Did you say you had to untie someone?”
“Yeah it’s a bit... things got a little carried away,” Ava admitted, because really it hadn’t been her intention at all. “But I’m not torturing him,” she repeated, this time for Klaus’ benefit so he wouldn’t have to worry.
“Hang on. I’ll put you on speaker,” she decided, tossing the phone next to the cereal bowl so her hands could be free.
"What, why?" Klaus replied, trying to shrug off attention as there were too many people currently at his mother's place but no one seemed comfortable giving him any level of privacy. "Anyway I was on my way to going on a complete bender last night when my brother and my sister's boyfriend found me." He said that with a purposeful sneer, in case Diego was listening in.
“You were doing a what?” she asked, looking at Cisco as if he might know what a bender was. “It’s whatever. I fed your sandwich to some stray dog. I think it was a dog. Some weird gobliny dog.”
He had no reason to lie to her at all. Well okay maybe one big glaring one he could see, to get the fuck away-but the damage had been done. He really didn’t want anymore damage either. And then she took a phone call and his lack of amusement continued. “Are you serious right now? Oh I mean don’t let me interrupt you and your personal life or anything. By all means.” If he could have done any dramatic gestures towards that phone call he would have, but his tone suggested his sarcasm for him. Listening to someone he didn’t recognize when she put on the speaker phone, he rolled his eyes.
“Yes untie someone, think you can gab about your personal life later? You know maybe when mine isn’t in jeopardy. That’d be awesome, thanks.” He cut the person off while they spoke, really not in a social mood. Honestly could anyone blame him?
He wasn’t answering her questions, nor was he going to play along and chat it up with her friend on the other line. “If you want my help, hang up the phone and untie me.”
"Ben's gone," Klaus said glumly, listening to someone grumble in the background but his tendency was to focus on himself. "So I didn't mean to stand you up…"
He paused. "Ava, you should probably take care of whatever's going on?"
“Yeah I’m… working on it,” she frowned, because the timing of that news wasn’t the best. She risked a quick but sympathetic “I’m sorry, about your brother,” to Klaus before she turned her attention back to Cisco. Who seemed far less amused than when any of this began.
“This wasn’t how I meant this to go,” Ava tried explaining to Cisco, crouching to untie him. Except intentions didn’t change the reality of what she did and the habits she couldn’t quite shake. “I’m sorry,” she offered weakly, dropping the rope and stepping back just in case. “Look,” she eyed the exit, “I can… I should probably go.” That seemed a much better option at this point, than continuing to ask for his help. “Thanks for the cereal.” That seemed like good manners.
Cisco had no patience for the phone call. It was like somebody had tied him up or something crazy like that. He wasn’t interested in explaining what a bender was just then. Or feeling bad for the other guy on the other end of the phone.
When she stooped to untie him and said she should probably go, he nodded in agreement. “Yeah Probably.,,,but I’m still going to help you.” Whether or not she came around again, he was still going to. She needed help. He rubbed at his wrists as they were freed and frowned. “Next time you want something, knock. Understand?” He watched her leave, and couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief wash over him.