8459/Power Plays

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Power Plays
Date of Scene: 28 October 2021
Location: A hidden wearhouse hangar on Hala
Synopsis: Carol teaches Ava a little bit more about how to use her power... and suggests a path she needs to explore in the future.
Cast of Characters: Ava Starr, Carol Danvers




Ava Starr has posed:
Back at the hangar where the Milano hides, Ava leaves Finley to puzzle over her latest energy readings. She's restless, after their trip to the market. There's too much about this place she doesn't know. It goes against her training to be out of the loop like this. And with very little way of getting useable intel -- without help.

She's grateful Carol joined them out there. Though they didn't intend to do much more than observe, their observations weren't nearly as helpful as she'd like. And the promise that Carol will help her figure out the q-bands means a lot. Especially if it means Finley won't have to fret about Astro's crazy ideas.

Carol Danvers has posed:
    Carolhas settled in on one of the milano's wings as she is fiddling with the holographic Kree interface in front of her. IT seems to project from her suit and she makes a thoughtful mmmmm noise. "I wish we had someone who had been on Hala more recently..."

    It has after all been years since she was here as part of Starforce. She looks through the display dow nat Ava though "Hey Ava. Penny for your thoughts?"

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava glances up at Carol, through the strange display. "Oh. Hi, Carol." A wry grimace pulls at her lips. "Not much to say. I just want to find this scientist and get home." She glances to the ship. "I... don't like feeling exposed like this. I don't know enough about this place to know the right play."

She really is SHIELD trained. Even if the project was co-opted by HYDRA at the time. She's good at what she does. Sneaking around. Sabotaging things. Killing people. But this is more spy stuff than assassin stuff. Out of her wheelhouse. And she doesn't speak the language.

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Well, I've been very cautiously accessing the equivilant of an internet trying to track him down. I think I have it pinned down though so we should be able to actually take action soon." she pauses "Well I hope soon. I don't have the access privledges I use to, and if the Supreme Intelligence figures out I am here it will turn really violent really fast."

    "Have you been working with the q-bands, and could you use any help with that. I know on the trip to the market we talked about working together with them?"

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava looks down at her wrists, where the bands still sit. "I can absolutely use help," she admits. "The last time I intentionally used them in a fight, I blew up a robot we were supposed to save. I don't want to blow up a person that way." Not unless she intends to. "I've begun to figure out some kind of flight, though my control is crap. But I can carry Finley with me without letting her get hurt. I can't tell you though if that's just because I tend to phase us both out of physical space or if it's because I've figured out some kind of shielding." A beat. "It's probably my phasing. I'm rarely not phased."

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "I mean it is probably the phasing. Shields are a good trick to learn though." she looks down at Ava and then pushes off the wing turning off the hologram as she floats down to the hanger floor effortlessly.

    Well almost to the floor, she hovers like three foot off it looking to Ava still. "Okay, Show me your flight. I should be able to sense what you are doing with the bands and the flight and give you some pointers. This is one o the flashier but not easiest applications."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava watches Carol move so effortlessly through the air. She tries not to pull a face. Still, she did manage to figure out enough floating to show off to Finley. Phased herself right through the ship, when she did.

So, she takes a moment or two to school her thoughts, recalling that moment, and flexes lightly. She doesn't so much float as she thrusts. She understands quantum thrust. She uses it all the time in battle. So, that's her point of reference. Thrust one way, then another to balance it out.

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Ah... okay." as Ava sort of thrusts upwards not really floating there at all. Nope. That is pushing off or thrusting. "I see what you are doing."

    She floats higher to keep apace with Ava. "You're basically pushing off, on a molocular level, which is really useful actually for going fast. This is sort of the rocketship problem a lot of fliers have. To hover or to precision control you sort of have to push off in all directions at once. This is good though." she smiles encouraging. "Any sort of flight means you are getting the base concept and from there it is a feel for it and practice problem Ava."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava nods faintly to what Carol says. "I have trouble turning," she admits. "I can go fast. Not being afraid of crashing helps." Oh, the advantage of phasing. "But turning in time is a problem." Something she doesn't try when she takes Finley flying -- which she's only done once. "I can do it when I'm moving slow enough. I wouldn't want to do it at speed. I overshoot."

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Well.. yeah. You're probably trying to just picture turning or.. maybe twisting your body. What you need to do is move yourself away from the atomic bonds instead of just pushing forward." she thinks about it. "The best way to describe it... it is literally mind over matter."

    "You're probably thrusting like little sidejets from yourself to turn which means you don't have precise control.. it's all angular thrust."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava frowns slightly. "I don't quite understand." Not a physicist, though she's smart. However, even with her quantum thrust, she's always used it as an extension of her body, not an external force. The idea of treating herself like a static object that can just be moved is... a new concept.

Carol Danvers has posed:
    Carol floats closer now, drifting in and then twirls really fast before stopping. "Trust me on this.... you said you can feel through the bands the forces around you. Feel that."

    She pauses a moment.

    "Okay actually, one other thing we can try. How about you focus on sensing what I am doing..." she waits for you to open up your senses then she slowly drifts one way then the other, then does a slow backflip midair. "You should be able to feel the way I am manipulating the forces around us if you feel for it."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava considers that. She can't help but give a wry smile -- she's spent a month aboard the Milano with Peter Quill. "Use the force, Luke?" she quips dryly, one dark brow rising. She can't help but chuff a soft snirk at that.

Still, she realizes Carol is trying to help. She tries to do as she asked. She knows how to feel quantum anergy and a lot of what she ends up using with the bands is still quantum energy. She knows it. She can feel it.

Which means she can start to understand how Carol's doing what she's doing. Or, at least, she can see what the energy is doing... "Huhn." Cautiously, she starts pushing and pulling the energies around her to at least try to move without consciously moving her body at the same time.

Carol Danvers has posed:
    Carol is watching very closely, and not just on the visible spectrum. She can feel the manipulation of cosmic forces as well after all. "There you go." she notes softly.

    She keeps slowly floating, circling Ava as she watches what she is doing. "Use the force Ava." she can't help but quip there with a chuckle. "Seriously though, feeling the bonds that tie the universe together is how this all works. It's how I arrange the mocules of my flight suit into whatever I need it to look like. It's also how I can outfly any starfighter and go from FTL speeds to turning on a dime in a blink."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava's not sure she'll reach that level of control. Though, she and Finley have speculated about it. There's something about starting to recongize those bonds, though, that settles in the back of her mind and starts burrowing there. She closes her eyes for a moment and tries to perceive the universe on that level.

Somehow, there's a real rush to it. That surprises her. "Is that how you know where you need to go, too?"

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Pretty much, it's also where my Seventh Sense comes from. I can feel things that are liable to entangle with my state in the universe before they actually happen."

    She drifts up to sit on the wing of the Milano again, watching Ava practice hovering there, and feeling the universe around her. "It takes patience but it becomes sort of ingrained, a muscle memory. The Q-Bands should also help translate it all theoritically too."

    A reminder honestly that what Carol is doing when she does it, isn't because of Q-Bands or a piece of alien god tech, it is her doing it.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava has that sort of innate understanding of the quantum realm, though she's never really thought about it. The cosmic forces of the universe are a different flavour entirely. "I understand entanglement," she admits. "Half the time my atoms feel like they're halfway across the universe." Probably because, for nanoseconds at a time, they are. "That's why we're trying to find Yv'kar. The bands... things don't hurt so much with them. But the tidal forces are still there, pulling at me."

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Ah." yup that is all she says for a moment. "Actually with the bands and if you lean into it the right way. I bet you can push back against those tidal forces and create a bit of a bubble of insulation around yourself Ava."

    She lifts her hand and studies something unseen for a moment, concentrating and then there is a flicker of cosmic energy all around Ava and Carol concentrates on doing what she told Ava she should try. Buffering against the pull.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava, her senses open, raises her brows in surprise as she perceives that bubble. It's not a cure, but it is certainly better than where she's at now. "How did you..." Her brows lower as she concentrates on the structure of the bubble around her. She begins to try to immitate it. It's not a perfect replica, but the base structure is there.

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Honestly that is the first time someone actually told me what was going wrong Ava. Your file back home was super redacted and not very helpful." she sits there watching Ava work on mimickry for what she is doing with a lot less focus and effort.

    Then she starts to slowly withdraw what she is doing and lets Ava's basic structure contend with the pull. "The Q-Bands and whatever the hell I am now .. it really is control of the base forces of the universe... it's why my body just naturally absorbs all forms of energy and repurposes it..."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava grimaces. "My file just needs to be lost." She hates her history in SHIELD. HYDRA. Whichever it was. She doesn't know. Her standing in SHIELD, even now, is in doubt. It's the only reason she's actually fine leaving Earth behind.

"They say that my condition is called 'molecular disequalibrium'. I think they're just throwing words out there in order to make themselves sound smarter. But one of them did tell me that I'm basically being ripped apart by the quantum field and put back together in a very painful, endless cycle. If not for what Phyla did... and for these damned bands... I suppose I could very well be dead by now. I don't think I had much more than a month left in me."

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Well. Those bands should help you hold yourself together until we can get ahold of the scientist.... or find another way Ava." she sighs sad all of a sudden.

    "I imagine in the last moment, Phyla may have willed them to you because she was selfless.."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava looks down at her wrists as Carol says that. "I'm sorry," she says presently. "I know she meant something to you. I'm sorry she's gone." She didn't want to inherit these bands. Certainly, not like this. She doesn't consider herself a hero -- a protector of much of anything, let alone the universe.

"She should have given them to Finley, though. Finley would know how to use these better." She may never quite shake her sense of inadequacy about that. "I... don't know enough."

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "Phyla and the universe.. or whomever controls where those bands go, made the call Ava. I'm pretty sure we should respect that decision and move on with it." she smiles.

    "Honestly almost no one I know with a powerhouse like that asked for it, but they take the responsbility. Unless they are supervillains like Thanos."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava snirks at that. She wasn't impressed with the Black Order. Or rather... she was very impressed with their strength and power. Less so with their politics. Then again, she's really had her fill of having her actions dictated to her.

"How?" she asks. "I'm no Avenger. And I don't trust SHIELD." She looks up at the ship, flipping a hand. "These people... they're nuts. Uncoordinated, undisciplined, and unpredictable. They do some good, yes, but..." They feel like a lucky band of amateurs to her. "I can't stay here. I can't stay with them like this. I'm as much a liablity to them as they are to me. And these bands... they're going to make me a target. I know it. I can... take care of myself." She snirks softly. "It's hard to hurt someone when most things in the universe just pass right on through. I don't have many people I care about in this life, but... there are enough."

Carol Danvers has posed:
    "I am pretty sure Finley would be sad if you set off alone into the universe, hitch hiking, solving problems, being alone Ava." she shrugs a bit. Dirty pool.

    "I've been thinking though that it might be good to take a break from the Guardians and head back to earth after we get you fixed up. Train you with the bands a bit. Then I can come back out and try to get a bead on the Black Order and we can take a swing at them when we narrow down where to swing... drifting aimless in space is not the best idea."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava won't argue with that. Any of that. "I can't leave Finley," she admits. "And we do need to go home." She catches, however, that somehow she's been signed up to take on the Black Order. With Captain Marvel. She pauses a moment. But then nods.

Taking responsibility? Not in her mind. More like... settling a debt for Phyla.

"So." She gives a wry, tight smile. "Did that holo thingy tell you where to find Yv'kar?"

Carol Danvers has posed:
    Carol wasn't very subtle but still. She smiles at the admission abot Finley and going home, and then the nod.

    "Yeah I think I have the address down. Now that we have disguises we should be able to sneak over to his labs and hopefully convince him to help. Should be a milk run."

    Famous last words.

Ava Starr has posed:
Milk run. Cakewalk. Call it what you will, it's still a jinx. And Ava knows it.

She grimaces. "Oh, you just had to say that. We are so doomed."

But there's nothing for it. "Fine. Let me grab Finley, and we'll go." Because really? She's so ready to be done. Time to do something constructive.