Molly and Topaz: Calzones and Conversation

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Molly and Topaz go out for calzones. They are reminded of past missions, and talk turns toward the future.


"One veggie calzone!"

"Right here, thanks." Topaz retrieved her meal and returned to the table she and Molly had gotten near the door, where Molly was already digging in to her own calzone. "How is it?"

"Arrm?" Molly said, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster who'd stuffed their face with food. She was midway through chewing, her lip smeared with tomato sauce and a dab of cheese.

"Mff guh!" she nodded, attempting a grin, but kinda failing.

Topaz laughed a bit as she cut into her calzone, taking a bite. Okay, it was good. It was kind of a small place and they'd taken a chance stopping in here for lunch. Thankfully, it seemed to be worth it.

Taking the time to swallow, Molly dabbed at her face with a napkin. "Man, I haven't had one of these since Alaska! Not gonna lie, though...this place is like 20 times better," she said, then scientifically peered at cheese that oozed out of the calzone.

"I think they put crack in it," she soon determined matter-of-factly.

"I'd rather have crack than the nanobots they were handing out in Alaska," Topaz said with a small snort.

Molly's eye twitched and she made a face. "Ugh! That was the worst thing ever," she said, putting her face down on the table.

"I still can't believe I went all looney tunes. AND I tried to beat the crap out of Kyle," she muttered from the table before picking herself up.

"Felt so good to kick that guy's rear." She got a funny look on her face. "Y'know---the bad guy's rear, not Kyle's--" Molly let out a breath.

"Okay too many rears."

"Yeah." Topaz still felt a bit sick when she remembered Fixer. She shook her head, trying not to think too much about it. Better him than her. "Beat the bad guy, save the day. Almost like we're proper heroes, huh?"

Molly saw the look in Topaz's eyes when she mentioned it. Still, she smiled encouragingly. "Totally," she said. She shrugged.

"Hey, sorry to bring back bad memories."

"It's alright, I'm over it," Topaz said quickly - not quite dismissively, but with an air of casualty that wasn't quite normal in her tone. "I've been thinking a lot about it, though. Barton's trying to start a team, you know."

Molly had started to pick up her calzone again when she paused. "Wha? What kinda team?"

"Kind of like a research thing, from what I'm gathering. Find weird things, investigate weird things, give weird things to the right people to take care of. Rinse, lather, repeat."

Resting her chin in her hands, Molly grinned excitedly. "Dude, you'll do great at that! Library and magic and stuff...totally right up your alley."

"I dunno if I'll be any good at the team stuff, but..." Topaz shrugged. "I was thinking, though, maybe it'd be something you'd be interested in too. It's not just magic, and I know you're into tinkering and stuff."

Molly leaned back in her chair and started picking at her calzone. "I mean, I had a lot of fun fighting fishdicks and tiny robots but...Do you think people'd wanna have me on the team? Feels like that stuff with the Avengers was just a trial run. I think a lot of folks still kinda see me as...y'know, still twelve."

Topaz looked around before lowering her voice slightly. "One good thing about this universe. Barton didn't know you when you were twelve." It was something she almost appreciated; she knew in a lot of ways, she was still the fifteen-year-old brat who needed to be rescued to a lot of people, like Amanda. But there were people in this universe who hadn't known them when they were kids.

Taking a bite of her calzone, Molly smiled softly. "Yeah, I guess," she said. It was kinda bittersweet, but true. She fell silent for a few moments as she finished chewing, before slowly grinning again the more and more she thought about it.

"The Weird Squad. It would be so cool."

"Yeah." Topaz was a bit surprised to find that she agreed. It would be cool. And it'd be nice to feel useful, if she was honest. "Anyways, something to think about."

Molly nodded a little, tapping her feet a little.

"If we do start a team, we totally need a theme song."

Topaz laughed. "The only superhero theme song I know is bloody Sailor Moon. So I'll leave that one to you."

Tilting her head, Molly was thoughtful. "That one is kinda catchy!" she said, pulling out a pen from her backpack to write on one of her napkins. She glanced over.

"You know the best thing, though?"

"Catchy is one word for it." Topaz still got it stuck in her head if she thought about it too hard. "What's the best thing?"

A bright grin crossed Molly's face as she leaned in. "We'd totally get to be team mates! Like, for real, instead of just temporarily."

Topaz couldn't help but grin back. "Why do you think I asked you?"

Molly laughed. "Cause I look cool punching people in the name of science?" she offered helpfully. She finished off her calzone, dabbing at her mouth with her napkin, then held up her glass of soda for a toast.

"To weirdness!"

Topaz held her up her cup of water, "clinking" it against Molly's. "To weirdness."