Illusions (The Avengers)

12. Clairine's Message

It was several days before Jaelyn saw anyone again. Tony and Cap came by to reassure them that they wouldn't be locked up forever, though they were very unconvincing and their answers were forced, which meant that they weren't getting along at the moment. After they left, Jaelyn found herself desperately hoping that that little bead would call upon her, or whatever it's supposed to do. Since the cameras had 24/7 surveillance sound, Jaelyn couldn't exactly tell Tanya about her little secret.

She'd gotten lucky and received a pen and a piece of paper, so she wasn't completely bored out of her mind. She still hadn't designed Chloe's flapper dress, and she figured that she owed it to her, wherever she was and if she was alive. If she got out of here within the next month, that was the first thing she would do.

She was just getting into the details of the dress, like the texture of the dress, when the bead finally came through. It buzzed slightly in her pocket, causing her to jump in surprise and glance over her shoulder out of habit. She drew the bead out of her pocket, as soon as it met her fingers, a full-size hologram formed in front of her.

"Hello, Jaelyn." Clairine Pevensie Wolf was someone that Jaelyn hadn't seen in two years, she'd visited to ask Tony about some new tech, but between then and now she'd turned nineteen. She looked like her father, King Edmund, but Jaelyn knew her to be incredible smart like her mother, Phoenix Wolf, the third oldest original Nature Queen. Her dark raven-colored hair had gotten longer, her soulful brown eyes wiser, and she herself was just more beautiful.

"Clairine," Jaelyn smiled," Not exactly who I was expecting, but it's good to see you none-the-less." If anyone, she was expecting Kiasta.

"The same to you, but I didn't call out of pleasure," Clairine told her, she looked frustrated.

Jaelyn arched an eyebrow," Word has it that you were sent to find another shard."

"I was," Clairine replied," but somehow it ended up exactly where it shouldn't be, in the hands of Taneleer Tevin."

The name seemed to chime in her ears, not like a peaceful wind chime in a summer breeze, but a wind chime banging against a wall during a hurricane. Jaelyn had only met Taneleer Tevin once, and it was when one of his minions stole one of Ambur's Narnian antiques; Jaelyn's mother would have torn his place apart if Loki hadn't been there to use his manipulative words to get the antique back before Ambur summoned a tornado. Not only did he take things that could put just his world in jeopardy, but he took things from other worlds, putting the universe in jeopardy. 

The bridges between dimensions were closed to everyone but the Nature Queens (they couldn't have Voldemort taking over Middle Earth), however, a few select people scattered across the dimensions had ways over the bridges into other dimensions besides their own. Taneleer Tevin, the Collector, was one of those few.

Jaelyn groaned, running a hand down the side of her face. If Taneleer Tevin had that shard, it was going to be an ordeal getting it.

"I thought Thor said he was done with illegal dimension jumping," Clairine said.

"He was supposed to be!" Jaelyn snapped," but that moron is about as truthful as Hydra."

"Hydra's a terrorist organization."

"Exactly."

Great, so not only did they have one shard here, but two. Obviously Maro didn't know, or he'd have made a much greater deal about it.

Clairine sighed," Can you get the shard? You know we need it and you have connections to Taneleer that I don't."

Jaelyn ran a hand through her hair, she'd have to break out of here first, and then convince Tony that they needed to call an old friend...well, her old friend, not Tony's.