Marvelous: Salvation

Chapter Seven

"I haven't had pancakes since I was 14!" Hope exclaimed, glancing around the kitchen with wide eyes. Bruce turned and smiled to her, setting the spatula on the counter.

"I think I may have gone a little overboard with the uncle thing, seeing as you aren't exactly a little girl…" He offered, shrugging sheepishly. Hope smiled and hugged him anyways, turning to look at the food that lay on the table.

"I don't care. This smells too amazing to tease you about."

"Not for me, I'll tease him for the rest of his life." Tony said, coming into the kitchen and making his presence known. "So how many are for me? Seven? Eight?"

"They're for Hope." Bruce sighed, turning to flip the remaining pancakes.

"Do I get any?" Johnny mumbled, walking in and rubbing his eyes.

"Sleeping beauty has awoken!" Hope called, hopping up to sit on the counter and grabbing a pancake. "I didn't think you'd be awake for another few hours, we were out so late last night."

Johnny grinned at her, "Food always wakes the beauty from his slumber."

"You guys were out last night? Where?" Tony asked, making a pained expression similar to that of a small child. "And why wasn't I invited?"

"Secret!" Hope told him through a mouthful of pancake. Johnny shrugged, leaning on the counter beside her and grabbing a sausage off the plate. "What happens with Hope stays with Hope." She nudged him, laughing, and taking his sausage before he could bite into it. Bruce smiled at them and turned to Tony, who raised his eyebrows. Bruce sighed and shook his head, turning away from Tony.

 - - - - - 

"Okay, last test to produce a result, I promise." Reed said, placing one more electrical wire onto her forehead. "This one has a super toned down version of the tesseract energy attached to it. Since Thor mentioned that she's from another realm, maybe this will wake the elf up and get it to talk to us." He looked to Xavier, "You ready?"

Xavier nodded, mind at the ready to put Hope to sleep in case the Elf became too much. She was already restrained in a chair, lips pursed with tension. She was nervous about this, about trying to get the elf to talk to them. "What if she's mean? What if she tries to hurt someone again?"

"That's why you're bound up. Even if she's controlling you, she still only has your strength. And no offense, but I don't think you can bend steal." Reed made a sympathetic face, and Hope sighed. 

"Alright. Let's get this over with."

Reed stepped back behind the control panel, flicking the switch hesitantly. Hope felt the familiar tingles in her mind as she had the past few tests, and then a new sensation flew through her, a blue light flashing behind her eyes. "Guys, I think we hit it…" She mumbled, feeling the warmth growing in the back of her mind and spreading forward. She felt herself blacking out again, looked once more towards Logan, standing at the back of the room, and then all was black.

Bruce watched intently as Hope's eyes closed, and when they opened again, they were glowing with the bright white light they had seen back at the mansion.

Mortals, I've almost had enough of your prodding. The voice echoed in everyone's minds, and Hope turned to look at Reed, Bruce and Tony. What do you need?

"Well, uh--" Bruce was pushed forward by Tony, who sat wide-eyed and staring at Hope. He frowned at Tony, then turned forward to face her again, clearing his throat. "We just had a few questions we had hoped you could answer for us."

And what makes you think I will?

Bruce swallowed. He didn't like this voice, it sounded much too old and elegant to be coming out of such a young girl's body. "I…I guess we all hoped you would be agreeable, and civil…?" He offered, face grimacing in case of mental attack.