[Homeplot 2009] Secret Invasion

[forhawkeye]

Have you ever have a dream that was so vivid, so extraordinarily detailed that, despite the fact it was also so utterly absurd, it somehow didn't make it seem any less real? That's what Tabula Rasa was for me. Months of memories and experiences...all of it the result of a knock to the head.

I never left the invasion.

All around me is chaos. Skrulls and heroes and villains alike, all fighting for control of the planet, and the sound -- oh my God, the sound -- is deafening. I wince as I pull myself up from the ground, absently noting that I'm in full uniform. And why shouldn't I be? I never left the invasion. And so all those people I knew...they were all figments of my imagination. Nate, Serena, Alice, Mikal, Yorick, Remy... I always assumed Felix wasn't real, anyway, so he doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it makes perfect sense, now, how there could possibly be a Tony Stark who hadn't betrayed everyo--

"HAWKEYE, LOOK OUT!" yells Patriot -- Eli -- and he's already running towards me before I have a chance to react. In what feels like slow motion, I turn to see what I'm supposed to be looking out for, but I don't register what it is until after he's shoved me out of the way, and the ground behind us is engulfed in fire, courtesy of a Skrull Human Torch. "What the hell's wrong with you?!" he asks, though the edge of panic in his voice is all too clear, and he grabs me by the shoulders. "Now's not the time to get PTSD -- we haven't even gotten to the 'post' part yet!"

I nod mutely. A few seconds pass before I find my voice again. "I'm fine."

"You don't look it," he says.

A Skrull falls dead beside us. We both turn to see who's responsible, and we're greeted with a loud whoop as a grinning Bullseye pumps his fist in the air and dives back into the fray. I feel like I'm going to be sick. Instead I clear my throat and stand up straight, shoulders back. "I'm fine."

The corners of his mouth quirk upwards in a smile, and he nods approvingly. Well, at least one of us is convinced. I guess that's better than nothing, right? Giving my shoulders one last squeeze, he then takes a step back and nods towards the fight. "Let's get to work."

"Yeah," I say, reaching into my quiver to draw an arrow. "Let's."

Comments

[unseenstorm.livejournal.com]

"It's a lot safer than being outside of it," Sue assured him. Simply rendering him invisible would have helped with the suggested claustrophobia, but it didn't seem as safe in the midst of such chaos. "Just stay calm and breathe normally. My name's Susan. How'd you get in the middle of all this?" Maybe distracting him would help.

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"My name is Felix, I'm very pleased to meet you, Susan!" he yelled back pleasantly. Being in the midst of a warzone was no reason not be polite, after all, especially to such lovely help as Susan seemed to be. "I'm not entirely sure how I got in the middle of all this, to be honest. I just went to bed last night as usual and woke up here. I didn't even bring my sleep mask with me!" As he spoke, he took a few tentative steps, pleased to find that the strange force bubble seemed to move along with him.

[unseenstorm.livejournal.com]

It wasn't really what Sue had expected, but after everything she and her family had been through, it really wasn't that weird either. At least, not apart from his concern for his sleep mask. He was moving and that was the important part, so long as she kept her attention half on him and half on warding off attacks. "Well, it's going to be just fine, Felix," she said, using a tone of voice generally reserved for Franklin and Valeria. "We'll get you out of here and on home to, uh, your sleep mask."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but my home isn't here," Felix said, cringing back as some sort of beam smashed into the air in front of him, but no further. "Or rather, it is, but the year is all wrong and there were far less aliens in the New York I'm from!" Although now that she mentioned it, why couldn't he head over to Park Avenue to check in on the old place? What if Leonard and Edna were out there somewhere, all grown up? Boy, wouldn't they be surprised to see their old pop now!

Of course, that all depended on his making it through the next few minutes, which still seemed up in the air.

[unseenstorm.livejournal.com]

"There aren't usually quite this many here either." Turning up in the wrong time was daunting enough without aliens to contend with, that was certain, though Sue wondered what Felix was doing moving through time to begin with. Questions would have to wait, though. Sue was focused more on a large section of uprooted pavement hurtled through the air toward her, intent on shielding herself from it. "You just woke up in the wrong year?"

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Oh no," Felix quickly amended, eyes wide as he watched her do... whatever it was that she was all doing. She was like some serial film superheroine come to life, it was amazing!

"I was on an Island for a while, first!"