text; email to alpha force (sans pietro)

[roboromantic]

I think I just met my illegitimate nephew. He's like a young American Quicksilver, white hair and all. And he's a bit rude. I bought him breakfast, but I'm not sure how much I should tell him. I don't think his home situation is very good, either.

Do I tell Pietro? This seems like news one should deliver in person. I always thought he would have been more careful, but I suppose accidents happen. I don't even know who the mother is.

Any advice is appreciated.

-- Wanda.

[in reference to this thread, which pura and i started before i actually got accepted because we're hecka impatient.]

Comments

action;

[makethatwork]

[ Clint honestly doesn't even bother replying, just takes off scrambling downstairs to the labs, taking a few moments to talk to the CONDOR agents to figure out which lab Wanda's in.

He skids in, wearing pyjama pants and a tshirt and socks. ]

What do you mean he's not Pietro's?

[ ...great entrance, Clint. ]

permaaction;

[roboromantic]

[Wanda is in civvies too, looking only slightly more dignified in red leggings and an oversized (also red) hoodie. It's after hours at the Tower, the lab techs and the rest of the day staff have all gone home to their roommates and families.]

He's just not. Unless the stupid computer is wrong, which it's probably not because I ran the test four times, and I remember when we upgraded to these systems and they were very expensive, so they had better not be wrong, and--

[Wanda is very clearly freaking out. She takes a deep breath, centering herself before she accidentally hexes a server bank.]

It says he's my son? But it also says he doesn't have a father. And as I'm sure you're aware, I've never had a child.

Re: permaaction;

[makethatwork]

[ WTF THIS MAKES NO SENSE AND WANDA IS UPSET HOW DO FIX???? ]

The machines are wrong, then. Though bought defective computers, you contaminated the sample. [ He slings an arm around her shoulder and squeezes gently ] If it accurate, you'd have a profile for the father, right? I mean, I know how these things work, more or less, you can't have a kid with only one parent.

[roboromantic]

There's no report of the computers being broken when the techs left this evening, and I don't think CONDOR would have contaminated the sample. They usually only hire competent people.

[she runs both hands through her hair, tugging at it and tangling her fingers through her curls.]

As far as I can really understand it's showing my DNA, mirrored so it's like I'm both his parents? And then the gaps are filled in with... something else. The computer couldn't tell me what it was. He's not a clone, he's. Well. I don't know what he is yet, but I intend to find out.

[Clint probably recognizes the Dangerously Determined look in Wanda's eye. It's gotten her into trouble just as many times as it's gotten her out of it.]

[makethatwork]

Okay, well just don't try telling him until you know what the hell's going on. [ Clint rubs the back of his neck. ] I don't know about him, but if someone had tried that line on me when I was that age, I would've gotten the hell outta dodge.

[ He squints at the screens for a moment, as if he understands any of this bullshit, and then nods decisively ]

Okay. So where do we start?

[roboromantic]

I don't know. I don't know how this happened, or how to fix it, I don't know how to even think about where to start. I'm not ready to be a parent, Clint.

[Wanda takes another deep breath, partly out of habit to keep her emotions under control and partly because she refuses to cry right now. Not that she's never cried in front of Clint before, but it's not going to help the situation.]

Okay. We start by talking to someone. A scientist. The computer explained all of this to me, but I think this is as far as it can go. I'd like to keep this as quiet as possible, so maybe someone outside of CONDOR, or a CONDOR scientist who won't ask any questions. You're right about Tommy, I won't tell him anything until I have all the information.

[She takes a shaky breath, and reaches out to grab Clint's hand, squeezing hard.]

This is a trainwreck.

[makethatwork]

[ Clint squeezes back, holding her hand firmly. Yeah, this is kind of huge. She apparently has a teenaged son who has no father who she doesn't remember giving birth to. That's... kind of a big deal. ]

Yeah, kinda. But that's pretty normal for us, right? So we'll get this sorted out.

Right, so, Rikki's friends with his roommate. Or... friendly with his roommate. Whatever. Do you want me to see if said roommate knows anything about him that she'd be willing to share with Rikki? I won't tell Riks why, and I'll ask her to be discrete. She's pretty good at that.

[roboromantic]

Right. This kind of thing happens to us all the time.

[Wanda just can't stop thinking about the horrible possibility that she actually did give birth to a child when she was 18 and she and everyone she knew then is just missing 9 months of memories.]

As long as you leave my name out of it, yes. I'd appreciate that.

[She hesitates for a moment, then pulls Clint in for a hug. It's been a long, rough day.]

[makethatwork]

[ He is more than happy to hug her. And Clint gives pretty damn good hugs, he likes to think. ]

I'll see what I can't scare up. In the meantime, you can't do anything else tonight, so let's head back upstairs, okay?

[roboromantic]

[Wanda holds on for a good long hug, and there's a bit of a damp spot on Clint's shoulder when she pulls back. She nods, dragging her arm across her eyes.]

Can we have pizza with three kinds of meat?

[makethatwork]

[ He laughs and squeezes her shoulder. He doesn't mind having a damp shoulder - it's seen worse, and it's nice to be able to help a friend out instead of being the friend needing help, honestly. ]

And those deep-fried cinnamon sugar stick things with the icing dip. And beer.

[roboromantic]

[Wanda's never been much of a drinker, but a beer sounds like a good idea right about now. She takes Clint's hand again and heads for the elevator.]

Oh, the sugar cinnamon things. Those are good. Can we get two orders of those? I don't usually order delivery here because I don't like making the poor security guards answer the door and bring it up, if I'm not in uniform to get it myself.

[12 years of living in Alpha Tower and Wanda is still weird about letting the Tower staff do her laundry and grocery shopping for her.]

[makethatwork]

I think that is totally doable. We can watch Netflix, too, you got anything in your queue?

[ Clint's still weird about many things, too - he still doesn't entirely believe he'll always have access to food, for one. But delivery is great. ...Also Clint has no problem going down to the lobby to meet the delivery driver in his pyjamas, soooooo... ]

[roboromantic]

Um, a documentary about how the education system has failed America's youth? ...And Say Yes to the Dress. We could watch something less bad, though.

[Wanda is always paranoid that the delivery person will recognize her and then her secret identity will be COMPROMISED, even though she would have at no point told them her real name and always pays with cash anyway, and it's not like she wears a mask.]

[makethatwork]

We will rock our cheesy reality TV night, those dresses won't say yes to themselves!

[ He tugs her onto the elevator and presses the button, thumbing at his phone. ...What? He has pizza apps, he's making the order. ]

You got any preference on which meats, or should I just go bacon-pepperoni-sausage?

[roboromantic]

Like you can even tell the dresses apart.

[of course Clint has multiple pizza apps.] That sounds good. Are you ordering on the Internet? That always confused me. [Wanda knows how to use the lab computer but still actually calls to order a pizza. Old people.]

[makethatwork]

I so can, you just watch me. Some of them are all frilly and some of them aren't white, and some of them don't have sleeves.

[ Clint rolls his eyes good-naturedly ] You're such an old lady sometimes. It takes half the time, and there's less chance they'll fuck up your order since it's written down for them when they get it.