<Rogue> Rogue bounced from foot to foot as she stood in the corner, counting as loudly as she could. "Twel-eventy! Fifty-ten!" She slowly peered over her shoulder, then whipped her head back to face the corner before she saw anything or anybody saw her. She hoped they were really gonna play with her and that they weren't just trying to trick her into standing in a corner by herself. "Ready'r not! Here Ah coooooooome!"
<Tyrone> Tyrone took a knock to the back of the head, dropping him to the floor like a sack of potatoes. As he came around, he briefly saw, through his blurred vision, Tandy being dragged into the back of a white van by two men, as a ginger hobbit watched on, "Tandy..." he cried, before falling back unconcious.
<Beth> Beth had two of her 'dolls' help her up into a top cupboard and close the door. "Okay! Now you go hide!" she shooed them away before letting the door close the rest of the way. The 'dolls' exchanged glances and scurried off in opposite directions. Mrs Winterbottom and Mrs Catterpole were terrible at hiding but they were very cooperative.
<Tyrone> The next thing he knew, he was being woken up by Heather licking his face, "Heather ???" His eyes opened with a snap and he jerked back as the mangy dog tongue licked him across the mouth again. Fully awake, he frantically looked around, there was no sign of Tandy, he needed help. "Ow! My head. Carol will know what to do." He opened a portal and travelled through to the asylum.
<Carol> Carol headed straight for the room in the basement with the shiny thing, because it was pretty and hide and seek was prime time to stare at the pretty without anyone telling her off.
<Bobby> Bobby was, of course, in the fridge. The bonus was he could get a snack, and then if he got really cozy it might be nap time. Perfect hiding place.
<Joe> Joe was glad for the reprieve while Carol was playing with the other kids... but he was getting tired of trying to get the sharpie drawings off his face. Maybe it was time for coffee... He decided to get some for Brian too, because he looked about ready to keel over from the effort of trying to keep Beth from mind puppetting him for treats.
<Tyrone> Tyrone stumbled out of the portal, his head still smarting, he knocked a bottle of whisky to the floor as he arrived. No sign of Carol, and the office didn't look anything like he remembered. Maybe the office belonged to someone else, but then who else would have that much whisky? Opening the door to the corridor he called out, "Carol! Anyone! Is there anyone here?"
<Rogue> Rogue clutched Tony's hanky in one hand, other thumb clutching her glove so she could suck on her bare thumb. She skipped over to the couch and gave it a kick, knocking it up enough to see that no one was under it. But there was a shiny! She got on her knees and pulled the quarter out from underneath the couch, then as she moved to shove it in her pocket, she heard something clatter. "Nobody's home! Just us chick'ns! Bai!"
<Lifeguard> Another patrol done, Heather circled the building a couple of times before she landed on the lawn and folded her wings. She headed back toward the doors to find Tony. Hopefully he hadn't used the two minutes to get into any trouble.
<Joe> Half way to the kitchen, Joe paused as he heard an unfamiliar voice calling for his sister. Should he check that out? Was that a good idea? He still had sharpie on his face. Nope. He was getting coffee.
<Tony> Tony Stark had again beaten a strategic retreat to Xavier's office. He was behind the desk, on the floor, with his back to the smooth wooden drawers. The floor seemed like a good place to be right now.
<Rogue> Rogue did not wanna see who that voice belonged to, so she climbed over the back of the sofa to try and hide behind the throw pillows. "Toooonyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!"
<Lifeguard> At Rogue's yelling, Heather picked up the pace indoors to find her. "Hey, what's the matter?"
<Tyrone> "Hello? Anyone?" Tyrone stumbled towards the kitchen, if the coffee fiend wasn't in her office, she was probably in the kitchen. Tyrone pressed his hand to his sore head as he walked down the corridor, then left a bloody hand print on the doorframe as he entered. No sign of Carol, Tyrone decided to get some ice to put on his head.
<Rogue> "Strange man's voice," Rogue squeaked as she peeked out at Heather. "He's come to kidnap Carol!"
<Joe> Joe looked round at the voice as it approached the kitchen. "Hello....?" he called back warily.
<Lifeguard> "Oh yeah? I'd like to see anyone try..." she held her hands out to the girl, "Let's go find Tony, okay?"
<Tyrone> Opening the door to the fridge, Tyrone looked in and saw a... "Nope, that can't be. Not real," he passed out on the floor.
<Rogue> "'Kay!" Rogue clambered out from her hiding spot and jumped into Heather's arms, afraid to walk unprotected. Tony's hanky was being rubbed on her face so hard that it was stretching her cheek.
<Lifeguard> Heather caught Rogue easily and gave her a cuddle, folding her wings around them both a little to help her feel secure, before heading toward Tony's usual hiding spot.
<Bobby> Ack! "Bright!" And it wasn't even Rogue! The man keeled over and Bobby leaned out to stare down at him. Then he reached out for the door and swung it closed, bumping the guy's shoulder on the way to recloaking himself in darkness and snacks.
<Joe> The thud alerted Joe to the location of the intruder and he picked up a broom to prod him a little, "Hey... you okay?"
<Tyrone> "Uh?"
<Joe> "You want some coffee?" he held out the cup in his other hand in offer.
<Rogue> Rogue curled against Heather, furiously sucking on her thumb, eyes wild as she looked around at the halls and rooms as they passed each one.
<Tony> Tony was slowly rubbing his temples and praying for some miracle, preferably from Fury or something, to put this nursery school public relations nightmare to rest.
<Tyrone> "Uh?"
<Joe> Joe decided to set the coffee down next to the guy who clearly needed it. "Have some coffee... I'll go... get someone else..."
<Lifeguard> Opening the door to Xavier's office, Heather looked around, not seeing Tony on first glance, "Tony...? You here...? There's someone in the building..."
<Tony> Tony twisted and peeked over the desk. "Do they have an aging gun?"
<Rogue> "An' he's gon' kinap Carol," Rogue squealed anxiously around her thumb.
<Rogue> Then she saw him and squirmed to get down. "TONY!"
<Lifeguard> "I'll make sure to ask..." Heather set Rogue on her feet. "Stay in here until I find out who it is and how they got onto the grounds."
<Tyrone> After the strange man left the room, Tyrone slowly sat up, almost knocking the coffee cup over in the process, whomever that man was, he was a saint. Coffee would surely help, right? "Meh. No milk. I need milk."
<Bobby> "Milk?" Bobby's voice piped from the fridge. The door popped open and the jug was shoved through the crack by a pudgy little hand. "Here!"
<Tyrone> "Thanks!" Tyrone said as he took the milk and poured a little into his cup, before handing it back.
<Joe> Joe flailed as he was almost taken out by the giant winged Oscar when she popped out of Xavier's office. He waved her apologies away and let her know about the guy in the kitchen, deciding to follow her back there since he wasn't really done with the whole coffee fetching.
<Bobby> "Welcome!" The milk vanished back into the fridge and Bobby settled back down next to the string cheese.
<Lifeguard> Heather sighed, wondering just how much weirder her day was about to get. Hopefully not too much. She paused in the kitchen, cocking her head on one side. Their visitor looked familiar... was her mind playing tricks?
<Tyrone> Tyrone looked up at the winged beauty. Ah Heather, thinking back to the french kiss from earlier. "Hi Heather! You're a really good kisser you know?"
<Rogue> Rogue ran as fast as her stubby legs could take her and flopped into Tony's lap, looking up at him with fearful eyes, and thumb still firmly in her mouth. "He's gon' get 'r!"
<Lifeguard> Heather blinked at the announcement, "Uh... I don't think we've ever...." she glanced behind her at Joe then focused back on Tyrone. "Ty... what are you doing here?" She went to help him up off the floor. "Joe, this is another former student from when this place was a school... Think you can find Carol?"
<Tony> "No one will get anyone, especially not Carol." Tony suddenly had a lap full, but not in the way he liked it.
<Joe> "Uh... probably. I have a fair idea where she's 'hiding'... I'll just drop some coffee off with Brian and go drag her ass back up here..." He poured a couple of cups and headed back for the hallway.
<Rogue> "....She dun' like me an'way. S'okay if sh' goes 'way."
<Tyrone> "Carol? Carol is hiding?" Tyrone mumbled. "Wait, we need Carol! Tandy was kidnapped by a beardless Gimli. But you already know that, Heather! You were there! You kissed me!"
<Lifeguard> "... Are you high?" She lifted him to his feet then saw the dried blood on his head. "Or are you concussed?" She sighed. Great. This was going to be a headache and a half. "Let's get you to a nice comfortable chair, huh? Then you can tell Carol what happened..." and she would probably laugh at him. Or punch him. Maybe both.
<Tyrone> "Oh wait, it probably wasn't you. It was probably the dog."
<Tony> Tony laughed and settled her more comfortably on his lap, and away from strategic areas. "She likes you."
<Lifeguard> Wow. Just... what the fuck? What was her life? She paused in the hallway when she saw a 'lamp' doing the potty dance. "Beth! Let your dolls take pee breaks!" she yelled loud enough for her voice to carry through the building. Once the 'lamp' headed to the bathroom (after a false start collision with a wall), Heather continued her trip to the rec room with Ty.
<Tyrone> "Hey Heather, I like the new voice activated fridge you've got here, it's really cool!"
<Rogue> "Nuh uuuuhhhh... She runs from me an' tried t' 'save' Bobby fr'm me." Rogue blinked her huge green eyes up at him. "D'y' need savin' fr'm me, Mr. Tony?"
<Lifeguard> Well, at least she knew where Bobby was? "Yeah, it's great..." she agreed for the sake of her sanity. Safely to the rec room, she sat Ty on the sofa. "Here we are."
<Tyrone> "Thanks, I gonna take a nap now. K?"
<Lifeguard> "Noooo I need you to tell Carol what happened, remember? Can you do that first?" she heard the tell-tale giggling of an approaching Carol so at least they wouldn't have to wait long.
<Tony> Tony felt like he should be buying her a pony for those eyes. "No, Anna. In fact, I will keep you safe from them here for a while, okay?"
<Joe> There was no Heather in the kitchen so Joe assumed rec room and told Carol as much. On his way past the regular hiding spot of the President he poked his head into the office, "Heather says the intruder is a former student so it's okay, by the way," he informed them.
<Carol> Carol stopped in the doorway to the recroom and peeeeeeered at the lump on the sofa. "Wha' hap'nin'?"
<Rogue> Anna! She giggled and felt her face get hot, so she looked down and tried to hide it. "Ah like mah name. Only sp'cial people know it."
<Tony> He turned his head when the door opened. "Good! Thanks! ...does he have an aging gun? By any chance?"
<Tony> He turned back to his lap kid. "That's right. And I'm pretty darn special. President and all." He gave her a grin.
<Rogue> "...Agin' gun?"
<Tyrone> "Aw! What a cute baby! Is this your baby, Heather?"
<Joe> "Didn't look like it?" Joe glanced into the hall, "Seemed kind of out of it..."
<Lifeguard> Heather felt like she might be developing an eye twitch. She shook her head slowly, "Noooooo, that's Carol."
<Tyrone> "Carol had a baby? I never thought she was the type to be a mother."
<Carol> Carol grinned, "Hi!" She moved into the room to get a better look, "You! I know you! You take my stuff!"
<Lifeguard> Heather facepalmed, "No... that is Carol." Even if Carol did have a baby. She wasn't getting into that.
<Tony> Tony waved away the little Rogue's question. "Want to see what's going on? Since it's safe?" Allegedly.
<Tyrone> "Don't be silly. Such a cute baby." Tyrone picked the toddler up. "Who's a cute baba then! Goo chi goo!"
<Rogue> "Yeah!" She beamed up at him and climbed from his lap and dashed around the desk and between Joe's legs and the doorframe to go to see the voice who wanted to kidnap Carol.
<Carol> Carol flailed her arms and legs and squealed at being manhandled, "Put me down! Down!" She swung her tiny fist at the face making noises at her.
<Rogue> Rogue stopped short at the door to the rec room and screamed bloody murder. "HE'S GON' KI'NAP 'R!!!!!!"
<Joe> Joe hurried to catch up with Rogue at the yelling. Oh shit. Someone was gonna get punched in the face...
<Tyrone> "Arggh!" Tyrone shouted as the tiny fist made contact. He dropped the midget Carol as he fell backwards, the baby landing on his stomach as he fell.
<Carol> Free! Carol raised her hands in victory to welcome the silent applause from her adoring fans. It was then she noticed the blood on Tyrone's shirt. She climbed up to his shoulder to see where it came from, "Ty got a booboo?"
<Tyrone> "Yeah, that's Carol's baby alright. I'd recognise that punch anywhere. Where's your momma kid?"
<Tony> Tony stopped in the doorway, taking in the situation. "Okay, this was not my best idea."
<Lifeguard> "He has a sore head," Heather told Carol, "He hit it on the floor pretty hard..."
<Rogue> Rogue toddled over and climbed up the back of the couch to see what Carol was looking at, "Owie! He needs ice. Ice! BOBBYYYYY!"
<Carol> "Aww..." Carol looked at the bump on Tyrone's head and reached to put a hand on it, "There there. All better." Without really meaning to, Carol activated her energy powers, letting some of her excess energy leak into him to speed up the healing process.
<Tyrone> "Whoa!" Tyrone exclaimed as the energy hit him, "Carol! I need to tell Carol that Tandy has been kidnapped!"
<Carol> Carol blinked at him. Then yawned. "Tandy gone? But... I like her!" she complained, her eyes filling up with tears. "Where Tandy go?"
<Joe> Nooooo she wasn't allowed to cry. Joe made a decision to pick his sister up, "It's okay, Carol... we can find her, right?" he looked between Tony and Heather practically begging them to back him up.
<Tyrone> "We were walking down an alley on the way to a chippy to get some lunch, when I was hit from behind. I saw a ginger hobbit in a white suit and a couple of men dragging her into a white van. We need to tell Carol!" Tyrone said, "Wait. Carol called her child Carol?"
<Tony> "Yes! We, uh... That is, there are some other people missing, too, so we're working on it. We'll find them?" Not a question. "We will find them."
<Lifeguard> "No, Ty... the ginger Hobbit... he did this to Carol... and Rogue... And Bobby and Beth... he turned them into kids...." Heather gave Tyrone a pat. "He took Jean and Jamie... so we're working on finding them and a fix for.... this..." she gestured at the kids.
<Carol> "Okay..." Carol was reassured by the adults and lay her head on Joe's shoulder, "Sleepy now...."
<Tyrone> "Wait, so you're saying this baby is Carol? Oh my... that is so funny."
<Joe> "It's not as funny as it sounds..." Joe assured Ty, "She's my big sister... and she can absolutely still knock most people onto their asses."
<Rogue> Rogue crawled over the sofa back to sit next to the man and blinked up at him, "Ah'm Rogue! Hi!" Her thumb quickly went back in her mouth after giving him a big smile.
<Tony> "Ginger... hobbit..." Tony rolled those words around to try them out.
<Tyrone> "Wait, if Carol is a baby, who is gonna help Tandy?"
<Lifeguard> "I'm standing right here!" Heather was offended.
<Rogue> Rogue frowned when nobody paid attention to her and wiggled until she was on the floor again, toddling off in search of her best friend. "Booooobbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
<Tyrone> "Just thinking back, you don't have a voice activated fridge do you? Did you know there was a baby in the fridge?"
<Bobby> Inside that fridge, Bobby was dozing after his snack, which consisted of all of the string cheese. "Mmmph?"
<Joe> "It's Bobby. He thinks he's awesome at hide and seek." Joe nodded, moving to an armchair to put his now fast asleep sister in it and pull a blanket over her. Meanwhile, Brian seemed to have lost the battle with his sister as he was shuffling off in the direction of the hallway.
<Tyrone> "So, you're Carol's brother? Pleased to meet you." Tyrone nodded at Joe. "Heather, do you want me to show you where Tandy and I were attacked? Or do you have another idea how to track her?"
<Rogue> Bobby never was good at hide and seek. Rogue knew that. But she liked that he wanted to pretend anyway, so when she got to the kitchen, she looked under the table first, then a cabinet near the fridge, then the fridge itself, "Found'ja!"
<Bobby> Bobby snorted awake and flailed. "Bright!"
<Lifeguard> "Fury's working on it." Heather sighed, "I'm not supposed to leave Tony unless there's a replacement... and all the usual replacements are babies. So we need to fix this first..."
<Rogue> That made her giggle so hard that she fell over and snorted.
<Bobby> That snort wasn't him! Bobby cracked an eye open and looked around, then tried to lean on the shelf to see who was trying to steal his snacks now. "Roguey!"
<Rogue> "Bobby," she squealed in delight between giggles. "Ah found'ja! An' there's a strange man here who's gon' ki'nap Carol! An' Tony wants a new gun! An'... An... Um. Ah found'ja!"
<Bobby> "You did? You did!" He frowned. "You didn't find me first... some dude did, then fell over, then I gave him milk..."
<Tyrone> "Ok, so how do we fix this? The hobbit could be doing anything to Tandy! Oh I hope he doesn't turn her into a baby too, that would be awkward."
<Rogue> Rogue gasped and her eyes went wide, "He's th' one wants t' ki'nap Carol! Bobby! Dun help th' 'nemy!"
<Joe> "We're really hoping it's not permanent and it'll wear off... but apparently SHIELD has some brains on the problem..."
<Bobby> "But.... you don't even like Carol..." His nose wrinkled. "And she picked me up really weird..."
<Tyrone> "You said he's the one that turned Carol into a child. Do we know anything about him? Anything at all? His name? Do I just keep calling him the hobbit?"
<Rogue> ".......Yeah so." She frowned at him and shoved her thumb in her mouth. Then the frown changed to a mischievous grin, "Wan' see 'im? Tony said s'okay."
<Lifeguard> "We were calling him the ginger guy so.... Hobbit works..." Heather shrugged, her wings rising and falling with her shoulders. "Apparently Carol ran across him in another reality... and he somehow found his way here... from what we gathered...."
<Tyrone> "So, Carol is responsible for this? Well at least she can't blame me for this one."
<Lifeguard> "Until she's back to normal, it's gonna be hard to get the full story.... but she has called him a lot of names," Heather glanced at Joe, "Look... stay here while we try to work this out if you want... then we can update you... or you can teleport in and out..."
<Bobby> "Sure!" Bobby started to climb out of the fridge, but got tangled in the produce drawer and fell face-first from the fridge.
<Rogue> Rogue 'eep'ed when she was landed on by Bobby, which started her giggles all over again. "Yay!"
<Tyrone> "I'm not going to just stay here! I'm going to help find Tandy!"
<Lifeguard> "Okay, well you let me know how you go on your own. We'll be here when you need help."
<Tyrone> "But... oh fine!" Tyrone portalled out back to the alley to start his search.
<Lifeguard> Heather face-palmed, "He's still an idiot."
5/25 Issue: Stranger Danger
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- Swashbuckler
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5/25 Issue: Stranger Danger
![quicksilver :quicksilver](./images/smilies/quicksilver.gif)
Quicksilver: Howisshe?Isshealright?Imusetspeakwithmysisteratonce.
Hawkeye: What is that noise?
IronMan: That is the noise Pietro makes right before he's tossed out of the airlock. ~ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6