Timelined after Overturned
<Shinobi> He needed to get away, somewhere, but there was at least three feet of snow outside preventing much in the way of escape. If he phased, he had some protection from the cold, and maybe he could just... clear his head.
<Shinobi> Halfway through his loud escape down the stairs he remembered he did have his powers - for now - and sank through the floor, just catching sight of Jessica the moment before he disappeared.
<Jessica> "Shinobi?" Jess stood up, regretting it instantly - COLD! - gathering the blanket that had been around her, she headed for the stairs after a glance at Miriam.
<Shaw> Sebastian stopped in the living room, spotting Jessica, the baby in her bouncer, and no one else. "Where is he?"
<Jessica> "He went that way," Jess pointed down the stairs, deciding to take the express route herself.
<Shaw> "Jess - I would give him some time." He moved to block her path.
<Jessica> "Oh sure now you're being sensitive." Jess rolled her eyes, taking to the ceiling first to get around him.
<Shaw> That answered a measure of the question of whether she had heard their conversation upstairs. "They need to think about these things."
<Jessica> "Mmhmm." She was so done with this shit.
<Shaw> He felt her irritation and let her go, running both hands through his hair. After a moment of thought, he headed for the scotch.
<Jessica> Jess made her way quickly through the floors, glad for the weird shape of the house and its former life as a clock tower. "Shinobi?" Damn Sebastian for delaying her.
<Shinobi> He'd tried to find things in the dark, but it was near impossible, and so finding his matches and the candle Hope had left on his bedside table had taken time.
<Jessica> Jess slipped down the stairs to the basement, where it was beyond freezing, and knocked lightly on the door before letting herself in. She risked the cold to ignite a venom blast in her hand, the bright green glow providing plenty of light to see by. "There you are..."
<Shinobi> He'd heard her, and moved around to the closet, looking for his warmest coat and the winter boots he'd yet to even wear. "Yeah, not for long."
<Jessica> She moved further into the room, "You can't be thinking of leaving? Not in this..."
<Shinobi> "I need time, to think. The cold won't bother me as much phased."
<Jessica> "Can't you think somewhere safer? Like down here?" Though it was probably competing with outside for coldness, it at least didn't have the wind.
<Shinobi> "Safe is relative." He shoved his socked feet into the boots, sitting on the bed to start lacing them.
<Jessica> Jess plonked herself down beside him, dropping the charge from her hand and enveloping him in a hug, wrapping him in the blanket at the same time because she didn't know what to say to help anymore. Every time she managed to make him feel better, Sebastian would find a way to bulldoze it.
<Shinobi> The contact made him freeze, then, just as with Hope, he sat stiffly. These were at least things to remember, he supposed, for if worse came to worst.
<Jessica> "Please don't go out in this... if you have to go outside, wait until the storm is over - it's not safe out there..."
<Shinobi> "It's not snowing anymore... not really." She was warm though, and she felt safe.
<Jessica> "But it's still several degrees below freezing and nothing looks the same covered in snow... what if you got lost and couldn't find your way back?"
<Shinobi> The response that was right on the tip of his tongue - that it was probably for the best, who would care? - seemed ridiculously juvenile to say aloud. "You really don't want me to go out, do you?" he finally said with an almost-amused huff.
<Jessica> She shook her head, "Noooo I would worry myself sick until you were back inside."
<Shinobi> "Okay, point taken... I just..." He deflated, shoulders sagging, and leaned into her. "I'm fucked no matter what I do, apparently, so... that's something that bears thinking about."
<Jessica> Jess tightened her hold on him, adjusting how she was sat to make it a little more comfortable for them both, "I want to help you... is there anything I can do?"
<Shinobi> "I don't know." He laughed a little, the sound holding a hysterical edge.
<Jessica> "I could try talking to Sebastian again..." for all the good it would do. And it would end up yelling rather than talking.
<Shinobi> "How much of what happened upstairs did you hear?" He turned his attention to the candle and let himself be mesmerized by the flame.
<Jessica> "Plenty." Her tone said as much. She was, once again, furious with her husband. "Super hearing and wide awake."
<Shinobi> "So... why is he bothering to try to get me to go to school, or taking me to the Hellfire Club, or... anything? If I'm just going to have to go back to prison... what's the point? Or is this all about Hope?"
<Jessica> "What you have to remember about Sebastian is he often forgets to think before he says things. He's very clever and I'm not disputing that but, God, he really could stand to gain a few points in the sensitivity area." She sighed, "What he neglected to mention is that he's working on getting the charges dropped."
<Shaw> "If I stay away from Hope," he added.
<Jessica> Jess shook her head, "No, he was doing that anyway and he will damned well carry on doing it or he and I are going to have words and they won't be very nice."
<Shinobi> "He was watching us this morning. Hope woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. We... both laid down in the floor. Together." He was still staring at the little flickering flame. "He was a dick about it. Not surprising, but... I should have known I was getting off too lightly."
<Jessica> "He's been a complete pillock about most things lately... I've tried talking, yelling, warning... even resorted to nagging. None of that worked... and actually smacking sense into him is off the table before we even get anywhere." She grumbled, "Best I can advise is to ignore most of what he says."
<Jessica> She paused, frowning and smiling a little, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission." It was something her father used to say and now she was seeing the value of those words.
<Shinobi> "I really do understand why he doesn't want me to see Hope. I do. But..." He swallowed, throat closing again. "She makes me feel more... normal. Like I could have a real life." Shinobi snorted. "So much for that. He wants me to be my own man, but only on his terms."
<Hope> There was not enough scotch in her little cup to complete her job of turning the power back on. She threw her screwdriver at the wall and headed down the stairs, pausing to give Sebastian a death glare.
<Jessica> "His terms are stupid." Jess informed him, "I know how you feel... really... that's how I felt with Sebastian... and no one has the right to keep that from you. Who Hope dates is up to Hope and who you date is up to you. Sebastian's probably never going to like it but it's none of his business anyway."
<Shinobi> That made him glance at Jess, sniffing back his emotions. "You? You seem pretty normal already," he said with a slight laugh. "Other than the green-haired terrorist connection."
<Jessica> "Well now I do... but three years ago was another matter entirely. I was stuck in a foreign country with no friends, no family, no money... I thought I was going to be stuck there for the rest of my life doing a job I didn't really want to be doing... but then two idiots from the school showed up and I decided anything was better than there and went with them."
<Shinobi> "You know what I was doing three years ago." He rubbed both hands over his face. "More important, Hope knows, but yet she still wants me around." The flame was drawing his attention back.
<Hope> Hope continued down the stairs, stumbling down the last few and having to steady herself on the rail. It was so damn dark, but the cold at least felt nice. She paused to check herself, catching the sound of voices. Of course she wanted him around. Idiot. She headed into the room, eyes adjusting to the dim light. Where had he hid the scotch?
<Jessica> Jess turned her head toward the sound, shifting an arm free of the blanket and raising her hand to ignite a frest venom blast and light the area, "Speak of the devil..."
<Shinobi> "Hope." He sat up, and then got a better look at her from the green light.
<Hope> She winced at the light. "Shinobi," she parroted, second guessing her decision now.
<Jessica> Jess looked between them, she didn't need empathy to feel the tension there.
<Shinobi> He'd already gotten used to her nickname, so the loss of it made him look down with a hard swallow.
<Jessica> Jess rolled her eyes. "Seriously? All this fuss and you're not going to talk to each other? Do I need to zap someone?"
<Hope> "Yes. He's upstairs. Where's the scotch?"
<Jessica> "He'll enjoy it too much." Jess frowned, "I'll think of something.... But you two... sort it out."
<Shinobi> "Sort it out?" He looked at Jess in confusion, then back at Hope. Her eyes were red and puffy and the green light made her look ill.
<Hope> She didn't have time for this. "Quite capable of handling things without being told." Where was the damn scotch? She had a power grid to repair and this missing ingredient was going to make that happen.
<Jessica> "Well obviously not because I'm spending every waking hour putting out metaphorical fires in this house. You two care about each other, yes? You want to be in a relationship with each other. So be in a relationship with each other and stop letting other people boss you out of it!"
<Shinobi> That walk in the blizzard was looking appealing again.
<Hope> Hope looked over at Shinobi, since this was his doing. It was then that she noticed the boots. She gave him a bit of a look. Boots? Why the hell would he need those? She definitely needed her scotch. She rubbed her forehead and looked around the room. If people would stop telling her what to do for five minutes, maybe she could think.
<Jessica> Jess extinguished the light, firing a concussive blast at the door to close it. "Will someone please say something constructive?"
<Shinobi> He jumped at the sudden darkness and the sound.
<Hope> "I'll ask this again. Where is the scotch?"
<Jessica> "Hell if I know." She pulled her arm back inside the blankets and shivered a little before wrapping it back around Shinobi with the other.
<Shinobi> "You're drinking?" He was slow on the uptake right now, he realized.
<Hope> "Well I was until somebody took the damn bottle like he takes everything else." What was with these people and their prohibition? What was this, a wormhole into the 1920s?
<Jessica> "Awesome, another person he's pissed off today. He's on a roll."
<Shinobi> Like he takes everything else. "He didn't take anything, Hope. Not yet anyway... it was just a threat."
<Hope> "Hasn't he?" She asked, looking over at him finally. Her eyes took in his outfit again, lingering on the boots before going back up to his eyes.
<Jessica> This was agonising. But, to her credit, Jess kept her mouth shut.
<Shinobi> What did she think? Shinobi shook his head, and that look felt pretty hostile. "Remember," he said quietly, trying to meet her eyes in the terrible light. "Remember the memo on your phone, right?"
<Hope> Hope stared at him. She did remember. "And then you pushed me away. And you're doing... what now? Going to build an igloo perhaps? Snow angels?"
<Shinobi> "I just needed time to think. That... still stands." He glanced sideways at Jess.
<Jessica> "And you can have as much as you like.... after the snow is gone... or just somewhere in the house where I can make sure you're not an ice cube."
<Hope> It was clear she wasn't getting that damn scotch here either. She rubbed her forehead, breathing in and out several times, slowly. "Yes indeed. Take all the time you need to think." She, on the other hand, didn't need to think. She needed power. Or a David. With a wave, she headed for the stairs.
<Shinobi> "Not that that. The other... oh, fuck this." He flipped the blanket back and got up, just in time to see her start to go and moved quickly to catch her wrist.
<Jessica> Jess curled up under the blanket and waited to see if either of them was going to use their brain.
<Hope> Barely, she contained her glare as he touched her, turning her face to look at him.
<Shinobi> He reached up and brushed his thumb under her eye, cupping her face and holding it so he could meet her eyes. "I didn't mean to push you away. Not like that. I'm sorry."
<Hope> Her anger and her heart melted. She blinked quickly, pulling him to her and kissing him, not caring that Jess was still there.
<Jessica> Finally! Jess shivered and drew the blanket tighter around herself, deciding to give them a little more time before she told them to stop being stupid. Again.
<Shinobi> Relieved she understood, he pulled her close with a hand on her back, the kiss deepening. She really thought he was giving this up? I want to keep you.
<Hope> It's so complicated. I can't ask you to risk prison for me. She didn't break that kiss though, tightening her hold on him.
<Jessica> And now she couldn't keep quiet, "You two remember that I'm an empath now, right?"
<Shinobi> He broke the kiss, but held onto her, turning them both a little to see Jess. "I'm not going to apologize for that one."
<Jessica> "I'm not asking you to apologise," She pushed a hand through her hair before raising it and lighting up the room with another venom blast held back in it, "I'm asking you to remember that I know how you both feel... whether I want to or not. I'm not eavesdropping, it's just... really hard to block out.... and I'm so tired of trying to stop you both from hurting for no reason."
<Hope> Hope rested her head against Shinobi, watching Jess. "Then we're all agreed. Nobody listens to Sebastian about this matter at all."
<Jessica> "Yes." She nodded, "Because he's being an idiot about everything and he knows it too."
<Shinobi> "So what stops him from calling your dad as soon as he gets service back and saying I assaulted you or something?"
<Jessica> "I will venomblast his phone before I let that happen."
<Shinobi> "All his phones? You know what I mean, right?"
<Hope> "I'll call Tony." Hope decided finally. "If he is to know, it should come from me anyway."
<Jessica> "I only need to get the first one, I can pheromone him into submission after that."
<Shinobi> "I heard how your call with him went before," he pointed out, giving Jess a surprised look. "Hope... he doesn't need an excuse to have me taken back in, to SHIELD, or he could even send me to Guantanamo Bay this time..."
<Jessica> "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Viper could break you out of there too."
<Hope> "And the longer I wait, the more pissed off he's going to be." Hope shuddered physically at the mention of Viper. She was not trusting his life to her. "Does no one believe I can handle this?!"
<Jessica> "Contingency plans never hurt anyone!" Jess pointed out.
<Shinobi> "And then what? I'm a fugitive? Forever?" He shook his head, then gave Hope a tight squeeze. "It's not that, it's just that not even you can stop the president. I'm not worth ruining your relationship with him... it's what you always wanted. A family. I can't fuck that up for you."
<Jessica> Jess shook her head, "You wouldn't have to live on the run..." but he would have to live with Hydra and she didn't particularly like that idea. "Maybe I could help you talk to Tony? You're biased..." Plus she'd already successfully bossed him around once.
<Hope> "You watch me, Shinobi. You watch me. You aren't going to ruin my relationship with him. I told you before that I wasn't sure what you were. I know now. You are family." She placed her hand on his cheek, looking up at him. "I have the ultimate card to play in this situation. This... I can handle."
<Shinobi> "And what's that?" He swallowed, leaning into the touch a little.
<Hope> "He refused to be with my mom. His keeping people apart has caused enough damage." Hope spoke softly. "I don't want to use that unless I have to. But he really loved her, according to her parents."
<Jessica> Jess got up from her seat on the bed, extinguishing the light again so that she could remove the blanket from around her shoulders and wrap it around them. She was sure they were freezing.
<Shinobi> "And you would use that..." He wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but he had a good idea. Luckily Jess distracted him and he took the blanket. "Thanks..."
<Jessica> "You're welcome," she shivered and rubbed the tops of her arms, "I'll run up and get more candles... camp out down here for a little while...."
<Hope> "If I have to," she repeated, glancing over at Jess. "Thank you, Jess."
<Jessica> "Any time," she smiled at Hope, "Remember what I said: I'm on your side." She went over to the door, "Back in a few with more candles - I'll build you a fake fireplace."
<Shinobi> He better wrapped the blanket around them both, pulling her close again and resting his chin on top of her head.
<Hope> Closing her eyes, Hope squeezed him tightly. I'm not losing you now. Whatever it takes.