Chapter 604 - The Guys (2/2)
Coulson pulled over beside a safe house situated near the Braxton Building, detailing Nik about the location itself on their way over as they both stepped out with Phil proceeding to unlock the door of the moderate-sized, single-storied house with a rather well-maintained backyard. A populated backyard. ”Never mind,” Nik called Coulson out and held his shoulder before shifting right to the backyard.
”Cindy, don't you dare ju—” before Ava could complete her sentence, Cindy dived into the pool, causing an astounding splash of water to bomb out towards the spectators. Coulson's mind shook for a moment before his dizziness was splashed away by the water as Nik lowered his body behind Coulson. Besides the two— ”Yaah!”— Ava yelped in surprise, her body moving into a lethal arm strike instinctually which Nik dismantled by tackling her legs slightly, tumbling her forward and smashing into Coulson.
*Splash*
Cindy's dive was successful. Coulson was wet, Ava's head struck against his back, making him stumble forward, too, and falling into the pool with the skid of his boots. Really, a person is better off barefooted on the edges of a pool. Not that it mattered to Nik. He was dry. Now he regretted his actions. He could have launched a wet t-shirt contest by being the first participant.
Aside from the two blonde men, one of which was Captain, obviously, Nik would remember the superheroes he turned unconscious by making a piece of small rock fall over them, Nik found only another thing worthwhile— A grill stand. It was placed near the entrance of the backyard while the pool wasn't populated with floating devices, no. Only one Cindy and one Coulson looked at each other strangely. Ava turned back with a sharp glare while the two men on the other side of the pool finally realized the entry of a dark-haired youth with a slightly buff build. Nik's regular workout aside from his actual strength was definitely showing its effect. In reality, Nik could get any shape for his body he wished but daily workouts didn't make Nik feel weird.
”Agent Coulson!” Cindy gasped and swam back up, her posture barely elegant and her underpants now... another worthwhile aspect in the backyard as she, too, finally sensed Nik and pulled herself out of the pool. Her shoulder-length hair now stuck on her body as the young blonde passed on a towel to her, giving Cindy the chance to wrap her top and get into a considerable distance from her main source of attraction. If she could avoid any source of embarrassment, then she would. At least, in front of the crowd. ”Reall?” Phil grunted as he, too, paddled back, barely reaching the edge when Ava crouched down and helped Phil up. ”Well, I have already seen the interior of the house, and everyone was here so I thought why bothering you to make me look around when we can get to the main party.”
Looking seriously at Nik, Phil uttered, ”My back hurts.”
”Ava, keep your head in the right places,” Nik shook his head and continued, ”You've hurt Agent Coulson.”
”Because you—” Ava hissed.
”Because you attacked out of nowhere,” Nik shrugged as he waved at Cindy, ”That was one cool cannonball, next time, try using your webbing, too?” he grinned while enjoying the sight of... well, her. She was blushing, her scent was already picked up by Nik and Ava, testifying that Cindy still needed a desirable level of control over her mutations. ”Oh, and,” Nik exclaimed, hurriedly shifting a towel right in front of Phil, ”Dry yourself, Agent. Wouldn't want the leader to fall ill.”
”You must be 'Vanish'?” Steve spoke up, sitting up from his chair and making his way towards Nik while giving Phil an appreciative nod, ”I've been wanting to meet you for quite some time now. To thank you for saving my skin in San Francisco. That Task Master was no joke.” Gazing at Captain's outstretched hand for a moment, Nik promptly shook and replied with a smile, ”Well, I guess I am a better mercenary. Both, in strength and choosing sides.”
While Nik hadn't chosen the profession out of consideration, it just came to him in the form of a briefcase full of bills. ”A mercenary?” With a disapproving look flashing on Steve's face for just a second, he continued, ”With your power, you could do much more. I just saw you appearing in the backyard... and move. Quickly. I've had a spar with Ava there and she could do nothing. Are you really going to use your powers just for money?” Captain inquired, instantly breaking into the heavy topic of money and morals. ”It was nice meeting you,” Nik smiled, disappearing from Captain's sight and then reappearing in front of the other blonde youth. His looks almost as youthful as any teenager but his blue eyes would give off a golden wisp every now and then. ”You must be Daniel, right?” Nik stretched his hand as the youth shook it with a nod, ”That is indeed my name. I would not have imagined that someone as young as me had such a control over space itself.”
”Was that what the glow was? A scanner?” Nik inquired, surprising Daniel for a moment as Ava grunted, ”Don't listen to him, Danny. He likes getting into other's heads.”
Rolling his eyes, Nik smiled, ”That's a nice one. Danny. I'll call you that myself. And don't listen to Ava,” Nik leaned forward, putting his hands to cover his face and spoke to Danny, ”Ava just likes to annoy the person she admires. Like a... typical cat, I'd say.”
”I heard that!” Ava growled, for a moment, forgetting that the others heard it quite clearly, too. Of course, Steve's furrow never let off as she sighed deeply. ”You were meant to,” shrugging, Nik looked at Danny from top to bottom, ”Woah... you didn't take any kind of venom or serum to get to your stage. Nice flow of energy,” complimenting the man, Nik tilted his head and gazed at his fists, one of his hands still connected with Nik's through a handshake, ”Your palms must be a form of outlet, right?”
”Did you glean such insight through your energy?” Danny took his hand back as Nik smiled, ”You could say that.”
With that said, Nik gazed at the group and looked at Captain, ”Let's discuss our plan, then? After you guys are dried up, or...” jumping into the water and causing a huge splash to hide Pickle hiding into his body while turning into a swimsuit, he floated in the middle of the pool, ”we can discuss this over a nice swim.”
While Cindy almost stepped into the pool again, after all, if she didn't like the concept of the pool, she wouldn't have bolted into the water in the first place. But Steve stopped everyone and asked Nik to step... swim out so that they could have an actual conversation and arrange a plan.
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Now taking their place within the living room, dried, the group sat with folders in their hands as Nik inquired for confirmation, ”So all of these villains actually almost cornered you out of nowhere? I thought that you incited the whole incident.”
”I was there, yes, but it was me who the target was in the first place,” Steve commented while Danny continued with furrowed brows, ”I decided to join Shield to help people out. I get that chance during the night but these guys... Rhino, Vulture, these two we can take care of. But not Electro. That man is too dangerous for any of us. While White Tiger and I are both experienced fighters, our experience is limited to the fist duels and weaponry. You on the other hand,” looking at Nik, Danny continued, ”You could, as Cindy and Ava put it, 'Shift' Electro away. If you can do that against a being of lightning itself.”
”I probably cannot,” Nik smiled, ”Not if he 'is' actually a bolt of lightning. We simply don't know everything about them. And we just have each other for the support for the time being. I could point you to another person who is way better than me in spying on other, and finding them, for that matter, but he'll probably wave you off with a— Know How to Track— dummy book. I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, we really need to talk about...” looking at Captain, itching to speak something, Nik sighed, ”You know what, I've said my part. I am here to help put down a few bad guys and boast it in front of my girl.”
”— 's— plural, right?” Ava jabbed with Cindy elbowing the girl. ”I did not say anything.” Cindy hurriedly spoke out.
”Yeah...” Nik smirked while Steve coughed, ”I never got to ask how you took care of Taskmaster.”
”I forgot,” Nik replied, ”He isn't 'that' good of an opponent to remember. Nor is he a girl, so he didn't have the desired assets to be remembered for.” Taking a serious expression, Nik continued, ”And if I recall correctly, he had a bone mask. So he's effectively a bone head. Not the kind of person I would ever keep in mind.
”Can we actually discuss a plan?” Phil cut into the conversation and placed a few doc.u.ments regarding the declaration that the villains stated, including the address that they'll strike again.