Marvelous: Salvation

Chapter Five

"It still doesn't make sense, though." Tony argued, leaning across the table and staring at Bruce and Steve. It was early morning, the day they were planning on leaving for the Baxter Building. 

"What about it doesn't make sense?" Steve responded. "We've dealt with this kind of thing before. What we need to do is figure out what it wants and then get rid of it."

"What if it's not exactly a bad guy?" Bruce countered quietly. "I mean, the way Thor described it, it doesn't seem all that bad."

"Of course it's bad!" Tony shouted. "If it's taking over innocent girls and--"

"Shh, she's coming!" Bruce whispered, waving his hands. They all sat straighter, watching her walk in the room with Logan behind her. They all watched her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Logan growled at them, turning to grab some milk from the fridge.

"Logan, it's okay." Hope smirked at them. "You don't have to whisper. I can hear you all anyways." She tapped the side of her head, and Tony looked down at his shoes whispering, "Dammit."

"So I'm assuming you know what happened yesterday?" Bruce asked gently, staying on the opposite side of the table.

Hope nodded, taking a drink of the glass of milk Logan had poured for her. "Yeah. I mean, I read Reed's mind on accident when I was asleep yesterday. So I got a biased view of it."

"Oh." Steve said, brow furrowed. Tony looked up to her, "We just need to figure out how to help you."

"So I've heard." She replied with a sarcastic smile. "Look, let's just focus on my powers and once we know what I can do, then we can deal with this Light Elf in my head. Sound good?"

Bruce and Steve nodded, and Tony asked sarcastically, "When did we let a 19 year old start calling the shots?"

Hope smiled, but Logan remained frowning in the corner. No matter what Hope told him, he still didn't trust these guys. Hell, he didn't trust anyone. But if the Professor was backing them, they must be at least halfway decent.

"So, Baxter Building?" Hope asked, sitting herself on the counter. "What's it like?"

Tony started, "Eh, it's nothing compared to--"

"It's amazing!" Reed interrupted, walking in with Jean and Scott. "There's so much lab space!"

"You're just a little biased." Tony argued, sounding like a five year old.

"And you aren't, Stark?" Jean cut in smoothly, smiling. Tony shrugged, grinning. 

Hope remained on the counter, watching everyone with wide eyes. It had been a while since she had seen so many people in one place, all happy anyways. She had missed this.

Later that morning, as they prepared to leave, she said goodbye to Steve and Thor. Steve gave a simple handshake, wishing her luck. Thor kissed her hand, also wishing her luck but adding, "May our paths cross again some day, lady Hope." Hope blushed in response, following Logan to the car while he muttered something about a casanova.

The car ride was uneventful, and Hope spent most of the time casually glancing into everyone else's minds to gather what she could of the events that unfolded yesterday. 

A Light Elf? From what Thor had told her last night, most of what was known of the Light Elves was mostly speculation. Light Elves were apparently heavenly to look at, "almost as beautiful as the sun." This explained the glowing light that appeared around her every time it took over. She had never been taken over while other people were around before, so she had never been able to see what it really was.