Kevin Sydney (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xp_changeling) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
xp_logs2025-06-20 10:43 pm
xp_changeling) wrote in xp_logs2025-06-20 10:43 pm
NOT ANOTHER TEEN DIMENSION - Resolution
The device is finally found.
Kevin was dressed up in a suit and tie and a pair of red Chuck Taylors, stealing a look from an 80s film as he picked up MA. Fortunately, he'd jumped in after leaving the house. His mother and father were decades dead, and Kevin would rather have given Sublime a meat cleaver, stretched out on a table and told him to go to town on him than face his parents again. They were running out of time, with still no clue where the device was.
"So, do you think your parents approve of us?"
"Mine?" Marie-Ange shook her head, not a single ringlet of hair did more than bounce a little. "No. No, this me has been fighting for four weeks about her dress for this dance, and I remember this fight with my own mother. Anything above the knee or below the collarbones and I was going to be send to a church school." Marie-Ange's dress was above the knee, below the collarbone, and she had a wrap over it. "They think you are going to get me pregnant. Ridiculous people."
"So I shouldn't mention we use condoms?" Kevin joked, pulling into the school parking lot. "And yes, I know. I'm whistling past the graveyard. It's a bad habit. Clint and Molly give us an hour, maybe two..."
"Well, I also have a piece of paper with lists tucked into this silly handbag." It went with the dress, so it was also small, green, and vintage. "So we may very well have time, because seeding everyone through this ridiculous high school means we have only a few possible candidates." Marie-Ange had been meticulously organized - as tidy in this universe as she was at home, no one thought twice about her taking endless little notes on everything.
"We've cleared all the people from our list. We know the device was there at the end of the night." Kevin said, getting out and opening her door. They'd fallen into a traditional pattern with their counterparts; a bit of old fashioned courtesy from Kevin.
"So who else could have moved it?" Marie-Ange brushed her lips over Kevin's cheek - the sort of thing a teenager might do to a gallant, sweet boyfriend. "We had everyone even bothering the staff. I am still - what if it was Stark and he just disassembled it into scraps?"
"No motive." He offered his arm as they walked into the school. "That's the big problem with this. It's a stupid mystery. The only ones with any motive to steal the thing were the jocks and they were too damn stupid to even steal the right experiment. No one else in that room had any reason to even know what the thing was... oh... fuck me, I'm an idiot."
The giggle was genuine and girlish, but the response was sly. "We did that already, no?" Marie-Ange let Kevin lead her to the side hallway, near the restrooms. "Why are you an idiot?"
"There's a person with a non-motive motive. Toynbee. He was the last person near the room while Banner was near." Kevin said. "We need to talk to the janitor."
A long blink. "Mortimer Toynbee." Marie-Ange asked. Carefully avoiding a codename she knew better than to say. "He is. not. unintelligent, by reputation, but here? Overlooked. None of us even thought to ask him. You are right, we are all idiots."
"The janitor has access everywhere. The teen thing has messed up my brain." Kevin said, leading them down into the basement. He knocked on the door and an odd looking man opened it.
"Everything ok kids? If there's a mess at the dance, we have people up there."
"It's not that. Sir, the Science Club is missing something for the lab and they think you might have taken it."
Marie-Ange watched for a moment - this wasn't - god, it was weird but this is what Toad could've been. Quietly competent in a job. She nodded at Kevin. "I was talking to one of them and they said it was well over my head. Well, that's what Hank Pym said, and he's a little bit of a jerk. I think the rest of them are worried somebody stole it though, one of those football jerks. I mean, Victor? Is kind of mean."
"Oh, yeah, Mr. Banner said one of his old prototypes was in the room. Asked me to take it back to storage." Mort pulled out a massive key ring and opened up a cupboard to his left, pulling out the machine. "Can you give it back to them?"
"I can take care of it."
Marie-Ange stared at the thing on the cart. She couldn't make heads or tails of it, but - that probably rather wasn't the point, the point was it was probably the thing they'd spent this entire week looking for. "Yes. Yes we can. most assuredly. Take that back to him. Soon. Now. Probably."
"OK. You kids enjoy the dance." He told them, before sitting back down at his desk and going back to reading his paperback copy of Frankenstein. Kevin stayed silent as they walked up from the maintenance area and took a hard right through the outdoor equipment area and out into the tarmac, beside the dumpsters. As he passed the rack, he picked up an aluminum baseball bat.
"I'm sure the techs and the science people are going to be angry about this, but I say we pound it into scrap and toss it into the dumpster before this world unravels." He said, offering her the bat.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, we found it like this." Marie-Ange said, hefting the bat with an ease that spoke of multiple ex-boyfriends who loved baseball, and equally loved looking at her in baseball leggings and a stolen shirt. "I have never in my life longed more for a portable music player. What year did the iPod come out? There is a movie - you should see it when we get back, with this only a printer." She slipped out of her heels, and swung the bat down. "This is going to cement our counterparts relationship you know. Secret property destruction they probably cannot explain entirely."
"The beginnings of a DC power couple." He accepted the bat back and smashed the machine again, denting in the metal housing as something inside popped, hissed and started to smoke.
"Very Wholesome. High school sweethearts." Marie-Ange watched the device that she had no hope of understanding emit wispy acrid smoke. "I almost wish I had let myself notes on managing overbearing parents."
"I think I'm an overachiever. Noticed a lot of empty beer cans at my place." Kevin reached down, picked up the device, and threw it hard against the back of the dumpster, where it shattered. "I need to return the bat, but we should check on the dance before we give the all clear."
"You owe me a dance, Mister Sydney." Marie-Ange slipped her heels back on. "And then we can leave before one of us has to do a cha-cha slide."
"I don't have any clue what that means." They walked back and finally stood outside the dance, watching all the kids dance. All of them were less than an hour away from not existing and now, they had a whole future ahead of them. That Parker kid awkwardly twirled a pretty red-head way out of his league on the floor. Creed thought he was being subtle spiking the punch before Lensherr's hand landed on his shoulder. The whole thing was so stereotyped it was borderline wholesome. Kevin gave a sigh as Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes' came on.
"I guess this might be the dance I owe you."
Kevin was dressed up in a suit and tie and a pair of red Chuck Taylors, stealing a look from an 80s film as he picked up MA. Fortunately, he'd jumped in after leaving the house. His mother and father were decades dead, and Kevin would rather have given Sublime a meat cleaver, stretched out on a table and told him to go to town on him than face his parents again. They were running out of time, with still no clue where the device was.
"So, do you think your parents approve of us?"
"Mine?" Marie-Ange shook her head, not a single ringlet of hair did more than bounce a little. "No. No, this me has been fighting for four weeks about her dress for this dance, and I remember this fight with my own mother. Anything above the knee or below the collarbones and I was going to be send to a church school." Marie-Ange's dress was above the knee, below the collarbone, and she had a wrap over it. "They think you are going to get me pregnant. Ridiculous people."
"So I shouldn't mention we use condoms?" Kevin joked, pulling into the school parking lot. "And yes, I know. I'm whistling past the graveyard. It's a bad habit. Clint and Molly give us an hour, maybe two..."
"Well, I also have a piece of paper with lists tucked into this silly handbag." It went with the dress, so it was also small, green, and vintage. "So we may very well have time, because seeding everyone through this ridiculous high school means we have only a few possible candidates." Marie-Ange had been meticulously organized - as tidy in this universe as she was at home, no one thought twice about her taking endless little notes on everything.
"We've cleared all the people from our list. We know the device was there at the end of the night." Kevin said, getting out and opening her door. They'd fallen into a traditional pattern with their counterparts; a bit of old fashioned courtesy from Kevin.
"So who else could have moved it?" Marie-Ange brushed her lips over Kevin's cheek - the sort of thing a teenager might do to a gallant, sweet boyfriend. "We had everyone even bothering the staff. I am still - what if it was Stark and he just disassembled it into scraps?"
"No motive." He offered his arm as they walked into the school. "That's the big problem with this. It's a stupid mystery. The only ones with any motive to steal the thing were the jocks and they were too damn stupid to even steal the right experiment. No one else in that room had any reason to even know what the thing was... oh... fuck me, I'm an idiot."
The giggle was genuine and girlish, but the response was sly. "We did that already, no?" Marie-Ange let Kevin lead her to the side hallway, near the restrooms. "Why are you an idiot?"
"There's a person with a non-motive motive. Toynbee. He was the last person near the room while Banner was near." Kevin said. "We need to talk to the janitor."
A long blink. "Mortimer Toynbee." Marie-Ange asked. Carefully avoiding a codename she knew better than to say. "He is. not. unintelligent, by reputation, but here? Overlooked. None of us even thought to ask him. You are right, we are all idiots."
"The janitor has access everywhere. The teen thing has messed up my brain." Kevin said, leading them down into the basement. He knocked on the door and an odd looking man opened it.
"Everything ok kids? If there's a mess at the dance, we have people up there."
"It's not that. Sir, the Science Club is missing something for the lab and they think you might have taken it."
Marie-Ange watched for a moment - this wasn't - god, it was weird but this is what Toad could've been. Quietly competent in a job. She nodded at Kevin. "I was talking to one of them and they said it was well over my head. Well, that's what Hank Pym said, and he's a little bit of a jerk. I think the rest of them are worried somebody stole it though, one of those football jerks. I mean, Victor? Is kind of mean."
"Oh, yeah, Mr. Banner said one of his old prototypes was in the room. Asked me to take it back to storage." Mort pulled out a massive key ring and opened up a cupboard to his left, pulling out the machine. "Can you give it back to them?"
"I can take care of it."
Marie-Ange stared at the thing on the cart. She couldn't make heads or tails of it, but - that probably rather wasn't the point, the point was it was probably the thing they'd spent this entire week looking for. "Yes. Yes we can. most assuredly. Take that back to him. Soon. Now. Probably."
"OK. You kids enjoy the dance." He told them, before sitting back down at his desk and going back to reading his paperback copy of Frankenstein. Kevin stayed silent as they walked up from the maintenance area and took a hard right through the outdoor equipment area and out into the tarmac, beside the dumpsters. As he passed the rack, he picked up an aluminum baseball bat.
"I'm sure the techs and the science people are going to be angry about this, but I say we pound it into scrap and toss it into the dumpster before this world unravels." He said, offering her the bat.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, we found it like this." Marie-Ange said, hefting the bat with an ease that spoke of multiple ex-boyfriends who loved baseball, and equally loved looking at her in baseball leggings and a stolen shirt. "I have never in my life longed more for a portable music player. What year did the iPod come out? There is a movie - you should see it when we get back, with this only a printer." She slipped out of her heels, and swung the bat down. "This is going to cement our counterparts relationship you know. Secret property destruction they probably cannot explain entirely."
"The beginnings of a DC power couple." He accepted the bat back and smashed the machine again, denting in the metal housing as something inside popped, hissed and started to smoke.
"Very Wholesome. High school sweethearts." Marie-Ange watched the device that she had no hope of understanding emit wispy acrid smoke. "I almost wish I had let myself notes on managing overbearing parents."
"I think I'm an overachiever. Noticed a lot of empty beer cans at my place." Kevin reached down, picked up the device, and threw it hard against the back of the dumpster, where it shattered. "I need to return the bat, but we should check on the dance before we give the all clear."
"You owe me a dance, Mister Sydney." Marie-Ange slipped her heels back on. "And then we can leave before one of us has to do a cha-cha slide."
"I don't have any clue what that means." They walked back and finally stood outside the dance, watching all the kids dance. All of them were less than an hour away from not existing and now, they had a whole future ahead of them. That Parker kid awkwardly twirled a pretty red-head way out of his league on the floor. Creed thought he was being subtle spiking the punch before Lensherr's hand landed on his shoulder. The whole thing was so stereotyped it was borderline wholesome. Kevin gave a sigh as Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes' came on.
"I guess this might be the dance I owe you."