Operation: Shaboom: A Break

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda and Doug escape to their stashed goods on the outskirts of town to get a taste of reality and to try and puzzle things through with clear heads.



As soon as Doug drove the car past the invisible "time turning line" or whatever it was, Wanda gave out an audible sigh of relief. "Those shoes might be cute," she commented, "but they are uncomfortable as hell." They were coming out to where they had stashed the equipment to do a quick – make sure everything was still there. And she wanted to make sure that the area of effect hadn't grown.

Doug breathed a matching sigh and patted his clothes to make sure everything was as it should be again. "I never realized how itchy letter sweaters can be," he mused. "Probably why they're jackets instead of sweaters these days." They pulled into the bus station where Doug had stashed his laptop, and Doug opened the locker. "Daddy's here," he murmured almost inaudibly, stroking his hand along the edge of the computer. He looked up at Wanda's bemused expression. "What?"

"What was your middle name again? Obsession?" Wanda shook her head and made sure everything was all right with the rest of the equipment. "I am glad I did not bring any papers from the universities. I would hate to see what would have happened to them. And look, my hair is back to normal!" She preened happily for a moment in the hand mirror she held.

"Don't listen to the mean old lady," Doug crooned to his laptop. "She doesn't love you the way I do." He stuck his tongue out at Wanda and booted the machine up. "So, what do we know?" he asked her, silliness left behind as his fingers poised over the keyboard.

"Call me old one more time and you will end up in the locker," Wanda responded, pacing around Doug slightly, glad for the excuse to really stretch her legs. She had to be cautious in the town itself because she was thoroughly modern and anything off might call attention to them. "I think the answer to that is not much, unfortunately. When we passed the mark, it didn't look like the effect has grown, did it?"

Doug grimaced. "I was hoping that was just my imagination," he told Wanda, reluctantly agreeing with her assessment. "When Amanda and I dropped off my laptop, I distinctly remember it taking longer to drive from the edge of the effect than it did today. That's...worrisome."

Crouching next to him, she frowned, looking worried. "It is something, at least, that we can report back to the others. Because I do not know about you but this is driving me insane."

"You're not the only one." Doug looked up from his laptop at Wanda. "It's like some weird Stepford Wives/Pleasantville crossover or something. It's kinda starting to creep me out, to be honest."

"Starting? I think I am fully into being creeped out. The problem we are facing is right now we do not have a clear why or who. We know what is happening, just know how, but there does not seem to be clear logic behind it. Weapons, killers, maniacs…you would think we should be seeing at least some sign of something going on. Besides the trip back in time, at least."

"It doesn't have to be a killer or maniac," Doug mused. "It could be something else entirely. We just don't know what." Which was maddening. There was no real pattern to it, just an idealized vision of the 1950s taking over a town in the middle of nowhere.

She smiled a little. "True, perhaps we are all being a little cynical. I mean, the place – the number one thing about it is it feels safe. I suppose compared to the world we come from, anything like this would but even back in this decade, there was crime. Every small town has its skeletons in its closets and we just need to figure out what those skeletons are before something happens."