thoughtformed | [Audio]

All right, people, listen up!

Everyone not arriving through the hospital, there's free lodging and food being put up on the city's money at the Four Saisons Hotel. The men and women in blue uniforms with badges are the local police force. You need help? Ask them.

If you arrive injured, head uphill - near the top there's a big multi-story building with a lot of glass windows - the local hospital. They're aware that walk-ins are going to be up, so don't hesitate to get medical treatment if you need it. Police station's down five blocks to your left if you're looking at the hospital.

[Locked to NMPD; Avengers; Harkness//NMPD security]

All police personnel are immediately on call twenty-four hours a day. Extended hours. If you are called in off shift immediate hazard pay grades apply. Carol, that includes your people if they're registered as consultants with us.

Well over half our new arrivals are not arriving at the hospital. I need everyone but a skeleton staff on the streets getting people straightened out and headed for the Four Saisons. Do what you can to minimize the damage. All calls get routed through Sheska for the station, and Darcy for the Avengers, got it?

Any questions?

[Private Audio: Koizumi]
[The tight control she's kept over her voice is starting to crack a little - there's a lot of pent up tension and emotion under there.]

Special assignment. I need you to find a girl and try and keep an eye on her from a distance, if you can. Short, black hair pulled up in a halo style, strong voice and personality - forceful. [Pause.] Earthbender. Her name's Toph. Not a big fan of rules, and tends to hang out with a little bald boy in orange and yellow with blue arrow tattoos. Avatar Aang. Just make sure they aren't hurt.

[Private Audio: Coulson]
[Conflicting emotions are becoming more evident in her voice, so she keeps it short, almost clipped.]

We may have a problem. Timeline issues.

[Private Audio: Carol]
[She's keeping it together. For now. How much longer that'll last is anyone's guess.]

Carol. We're going to need your help. ...I may need you myself. Got a minute?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I figured we'd have that issue. My people are lined up, luckily.

How bad is it?

[He hears the tension and emotion in her voice, and the fact that the girl is an earth-bender... Well, he can put two and two together. He says nothing now, but he'll be sure to check in on her once all this is over.

His voice is almost gentle, though steely strong and confident.] Oh course, Chief Beifong-sama. I'll keep them safe.

[Pause.] Let me know if you need anything else.

Good, thanks.

....I can't deal with it directly. My mother's here. At age ten. Maybe twelve.

[She has to stop a moment and concentrate on not beginning to cry. Or hyperventilate. Or laugh. Or hit something. Better. She tries to keep her voice very flat and neutral.]

My mother is long dead.

Thank you, that is extremely helpful.

You're welcome. This is unusual, even for this place.

Thank you. [The relief and sincerity of the statement is profound.] Not right now. I'll let you know.

[ He's quiet for a second. Dead mother showing up as a child. Okay. That's a new one. How do you deal with that? ]

Do you want to approach or avoid her?

Comforting to know.

Is there something in particular you would recommend us not to try under any circumstance?

Several. Don't panic. Everything should settle down in a few days - about a week if the trend is right - and they'll set up an apartment and stipend for you. The brochures on your hotel bed should do the average job of explaining virtually nothing, but any of the long-time residents should be able to give you opinions on that.

There's a barrier around the island a few miles out. Don't try to break it. It won't work. We've had super-powered people try and get through and it hasn't worked. You'll do nothing better than waste time and energy and fray your temper on it. It won't hurt you if you're set on it, but don't bother.

Don't break the laws that would apply to your own home. They're probably still in effect here and just because you're new doesn't mean you're exempt. Whatever you've done at home is wiped clean. But whatever you do here still applies.

[It's hard to tell if that was a choke or a laugh. Regardless, she clears her throat a little.]

Avoid. I'm too close to it.

Do you want me to address her? Is there anything we need to pass on?

Thank you. I don't believe any of these will be a problem, and I will do my best to ensure at least some of the other arrivals--

[read: ONE]

-- adhere to these points.

I have all the time you need.

Do you want to meet up somewhere?

[She hesitates, then breathes hard through her nose in something like a sigh.]

Want? No. I want you out there. Need to? ....Yes. Where?

Good. Thank you.

...Do you have any experience in law enforcement or the military?

Man, and here I was hoping to get in some serious lazy time this week.

I've got Koizumi on it. He's young enough not to make her assume the worst. [The issue of trust is implicit.] If she doesn't stay... if she goes back at the end of this... She can't be hurt. Or have formed some attachment to someone. Nor can the Avatar - the bald, tattoo'd boy she is likely to spend time with. If that's even how this works.

[Another fraught pause, then she mutters so low as to be mostly to herself.]

What am I supposed to do here?

Too bad, Barton. I need you on the rooftops. If someone decides to get tetchy and start breaking or throwing things, I need you to be ready to help take them down. Keep an eye out for any activity that looks like it might be ready to storm the hospital or the station. We've got to keep the patients and the evidence rooms in tact.

The team can handle it, don't worry.

If you're close to the base we could meet there. You have your own key code into the back.

Aye aye. [He'd salute, but it's audio, obviously.]

Five minutes. I'll be there.

*****

[True to her word, it's only a few minutes before Lin is keying in her code with trembling hands and forcing herself to walk calmly into the Avengers base, looking around for Carol. And to see if anyone else is here to witness what is rapidly becoming some sort of episode.]

[Carol's already up in the loft. When the door opens she jump down and floats over to meet Lin, her face clearly showing her concern for the other woman.]

What's wrong?

Edited 2013-07-13 03:26 (UTC)

[She can't stand still, and she can't quite look her friend in the face. Instead she starts pacing, prowling, staying in the close area. She keeps looking at her hands, watching them clench and relax, clench and relax. Taking a deep breath, she pauses in her circuit and shakes the feeling of phantom steel from her fingers. The sensation of tearing into the top of that airship... No. She's here. In the present. The cursed present.]

...My mother's here.

[A strange smile pulls at her lips and she shakes her head.]

She's ten. Maybe twelve. She's been dead for nearly twice that.

[Carol cringes inwardly when Lin speaks. Timelines are messy enough without the added baggage of parents.

Have you made contact?

[Lin manages to flinch and look defiant at the same time.]

Yes. Briefly. Audio only, but I had to be sure. I had to know.

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