Billy, Wanda, & Clint | Thursday Afternoon (backdated)

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Clint and Billy are settling into their suite and Wanda happens upon them.


Clint dropped a duffel bag onto the couch in the suite he and Billy had been assigned, then quirked an eyebrow at the younger man. "Why don't you have more stuff?" To be fair, he'd kept his apartment in the city, just for the time being, but pretty much everything he needed was in that single duffel. Well, and another duffel for PD's toys and things.

"Most of my stuff is still at my parent's," Billy shrugged. "I haven't figured out the tale to tell them so they'll be thrilled I'm beginning a life of my own."

"Oh, 'rents," Clint said, nodding sagely. "Mine're cool but I moved out after I got my undergrad degrees." PD chose that moment to poke his head out of Clint's room, where he'd been rummaging beneath the bed. "C'mon," he said, walking over to give the dog a scratch behind the ears. "You gotta quit being antisocial, bud. Meet and greet, we got new friends and stuff."

"Well, maybe when I finish undergrad, mine'll be less parent!protector," Billy said, not sounding all that hopeful. When the dog appeared, his face broke out in a grin, and he knelled down. "Heeeey, boy," he beckoned.

"PD, meet Billy. Billy, this is Pizza Dog. He saved me from some Russians in tracksuits once so I took him home. Only thing I had to give him to eat was pizza, but he seemed to like it." Clint grinned as his dog padded over to Billy and sniffed his hand, then set about sniffing the rest of him.

Quite sniffable, Billy let himself be thoroughly examined before reaching out to scratch the dog. "That's a good pizza boy," he coddled.

The sound of high heeled footsteps came from behind them as Wanda appeared in the doorway. She was obviously fresh from the office, dressed in a sharp business suit but looking tired from long meetings. She had been wandering, trying to find Jean for perhaps grabbing food or something to drink, when she'd heard Clint talking to someone about pizza and had wandered by.

She raised her eyebrows at him when she spotted the dog being petted by a young man she had never seen before and she leaned against the door. "Did you really name that poor thing Pizza Dog?" Wanda asked with a laugh. "Or did I badly overhear while walking by?"

Grinning, Clint stood up. "You didn't mishear, his name's Pizza Dog. PD for short. There's a story involving Russians in tracksuits that goes with the name." He paused to look between Wanda and Billy, then his grin widened and he said, "Oh, hey, but happy coincidence - Wanda, this is Billy. He's the cause of those headaches you were telling me about. Billy, this is Wanda. She knows really hilariously awful Russian pickup lines and is apparently an expert in the occult. You should apologize to her for the headaches you caused her. I mean, legit headaches, not metaphorical ones."

"Happy coincidences tend to happen to me more than you would expect," Wanda drawled, pushing herself off the door with her shoulder so she could walk into the room. She stopped a few feet away from Billy and PD, hands at her hips and lips pursed as she glanced down at him. "Clint, when you told me you knew him, I hadn't realized that mean you were bringing him with you. Pleasure to finally put a face to the person that was moving that much chaotic energy around New York a few months ago. Thank you for toning that down, by the way. I was nearly at the point of buying stock in the Tylenol company for a while."

"Lucky you. Mine are UNhappy coincidences, often as not," Billy shrugged. "Good to meet you, and uh, sorry for the headaches. I guess? Not sure I really understand. Why would you think it has anything to do with me?"

"You ... really don't know, do you?" Wanda asked curiously, sparing a glance at Clint though he probably would have even less idea. "My powers allow me to have the ability to control and wield chaotic energy and entropy. I make things happen that seem improbable to anyone who is not myself or another chaos manipulator. It also allows me to see chaos energy and you, Billy, when you were making things happen in New York City - you were moving quite a lot of chaos around."

She frowned and asked, "How exactly were you doing those things?"

"Well, I like to think of it as restoring order," Billy said, not quite getting it. "Though I suppose I caused some chaos for people. They all deserved it "

He continued after a moment. "I don't really know how I do them. I just say stuff, sometimes only want stuff, and it happens. Sometimes the way I imagined, sometimes completely different, but it's pretty obvious I caused it." He glanced over at Clint. "So like the night we met, I was appearing on the rooftops, just saying I w... Er, I would like to be there."

"Is that what all the muttering's about?" Clint asked. He'd been watching the conversation go back and forth, but now a piece of the puzzle had clicked into place for him. "Like when you called and then the phone line call all fuzzy and you said SWORD wouldn't be able to trace it?"

"Yeah, saying stuff too loudly tends to ruin the mystery," Billy nodded. "I'm not sure I actually need to say it, but that's the only way I know to keep it more predictable. Sometimes stuff happens anyways, though."

A cold nose pressed against Wanda's knee and she crouched down to pet the dog, who looked quite pleased with this development. "Sometime stuff happens," she repeated, half laughing to herself as she dug her fingers through the dog's fur. "That would be the chaos, my friend. It seems that whatever you actually do - magic, perhaps? - it either impacts the chaos energy around you or, perhaps, even fuels it?"

She gave them both a wry grin and apologized, "I am sorry. I am honestly so used to talking to those who are used to me that I realize it might not make much sense. I manipulate chaos energy to my advantage, causing things to happen that seem improbable to others. I do not need to speak it, though I do need to see what I am manipulating. And I am sensitive to when large amounts of that energy are moved around, apparently."

Wanda snorted and stood, looking amused. "I have sadly never turned anything into bacon before..."

"Everybody's gotta have something to strive for," Clint said with a grin.

"I'll be happy to show you how," Billy grinned. "It's one of the more useful applications so far." He paused, thinking over her explanation. "Ok, so I'd you're right and it's this chaos 'energy,' how do I make sure it's to my advantage...more often at least?"

"Practice," Wanda said wryly. "A lot of practice. But, thankfully, you have managed to arrive at one of the few places on earth where you have experts on hand." She gave a little mock bow and straightened. "I am interested in seeing what you can do, Billy, since it does not sound like pure chaos manipulation." She glanced around at the bare bones living space and back to them, giving them a wry look. "Perhaps first I should feed you. I highly doubt from the looks of things that you'd have much in that insuite kitchen of yours."

Clint grinned. "I could eat. What d'you say, Billiam?"

"Never turn down food, that's my motto," Billy said, raising three fingers in a mock salute.

"Gentlemen after my own heart," Wanda laughed. She crooked a finger at PD, who was staring up at her hopefully. "Who am I to turn down a handsome face? Come on, you three, there is certainly enough at my place to feed an army. Or at least, two hungry fellows and a dog."