A New Nest

February 26, 2016:

It's moving day for Captain America. Only two people can make it on short notice, and neither are who he expected.

Brooklyn

Outside of Cap's former brownstone residence.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Ronin Iron Man

Mood Music: [*None. ]


Fade In…

It's moving day for Captain America.

Because of his late timing and the recent sale of his brownstone, coupled with his purchase of his new place, meant that the closing period went very very quickly. Message after message let Steve know people couldn't make it, and even though he's a bachelor, and even with super powers, this will take a while.

He was lucky enough to find a parking spot out front on his quiet street and has already put his motorcycle in. Now after a couple of boxes, his pace is quickening, and off comes the sweatshirt.


Bobbi Morse took a leave of absence some nine months ago. She needed the time to come to grips with her new abilities, and the consequences that came with them. Since then, she's retired from her Agent status in SHIELD, staying on only as a consultant. The Mockingbird has felt the need to stretch her wings and try something new. She's known nothing but SHIELD since she was in college, and her work has cost her not one, but two marriages. Time for a change.

The fact she's been gone so long makes her arrival to help Steve Rogers move all the more surprising. The tall blonde is dressed casually, in jeans, Chucks, a Star Wars tee, and a Georgia Institute of Technology hoodie. She doesn't get cold as easily as she used to, but it would look weird to romp around Brooklyn in short sleeves in February.

"If I'm the only one helping, we're going to need some serious beer and pizza after this," she quips with a warm smile for the super soldier.


"Hey," Steve says with a tilt of the head and a bit of shock in his voice, elongating the word just a bit. "Well," he says grinning, "I know a place."

"How have you been?" he asks as he sets down his box towards the back of the truck, returning in just a moment. There's a shrug of his shoulders as he thinks about the people who couldn't make it today, "I was hoping for more, but any help is good help."


Bobbi plucks up a few boxes with ease, hopping up into the truck to start stacking them. A year ago she'd only be able to manage half that weight. She's had to learn to gentle herself, as the martial arts she reacts with as easily as breathing, can now be absolutely deadly if she doesn't hold back. Much of her time away was spent re-honing every instinct she'd built up to take her super soldier abilities into account. Restraint is something hard earned for her.

"Lonely," Bobbi admits with a smirk. "I didn't really trust myself to be around others until I was sure I could control myself." She hops back down and dusts off her hands. "I've been trained to react instinctively for as long as I've been a SHIELD agent. Now those reactions are a lot higher, and I put out a lot more damage. I needed to work all that out. On a beach." She grins at that.


"I hear you on the lonely bit. Although, I didn't have the benefit of a beach. Just an airfield," Steve responds with a chuckle, leading her back into the house. "You heading back to SHIELD? I know we could use you. Assuming you got everything worked out." In truth he hasn't logged as many hours since everything with the President went down. The assignments he gets are usually far more simple. Let things die down, they said.


"I've been in SHIELD since I was in college, Steve. I haven't really known anything else, and I've been so many identities in that line of work, I'm not even sure who I am. But I think I want to find that out now. I'd like to test myself out against bad guys who I don't have to hold back so very much to take down. Super villains. To go head to head more than sneaking around" Bobbi grabs a few more boxes easily. "Don't laugh. I know it probably sounds silly. Like I'll need a fancier costume or something."


"Team wouldn't be bad either. You could use one of those. Lucky enough, I know a team that's actively recruiting. We could use someone with your talents if that's something that interests you. And, even more so, if it does you can come with—that's where I'm moving."


Bobbi cocks her head a bit to look at Cap. "I'm definitely willing to hear your pitch. There's few people in this world I'd rather work with. I mean, you are a living legend." She might be teasing him there, but it's hard to tell since her expression doesn't give it away. She puts the armload of boxes into the moving truck with ease. "And I think I'd prefer a team. I'm not the best loner."


There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to ask themselves what's really important. Peter had made some wrong choices in his life, and he was still trying to atone, but this, it was a move too far. After much soul searching, he chose to answer Captain America's call to arms. He was there for the Sentinel of Liberty, webshooters ever at the ready. But instead of the iconic red and blue spandex, today he wore something a little more solemn, a little more sombre.

The black seemed to absorb all the light, as he stood there at the door, only broken up by the white spider on his chest, eyes, and some tiny squares on his wrists. He held his hands together, looking down as he approached. Despite the mask, he seemed to convey the sadness of this event. "Captain America, I heard you were moving to Jersey." And the pin drops, Spider-Man is in mourning for the fallen hero.


"Yeah, well the luster on that started to wear off some time ago, I'm afraid." Steve can't remember when Bobbi left—if it was before, after, or during the debacle with the President. He, too, took to his own style of reclusiveness. It ended much of the goodwill he had with people, and even ended his relationship in some ways. But, like everything else in the mainstream news these days, everything blew over and left pieces in its wake.

His head nearly touches the archway of the door when Spider-Man cuts Cap and Mockingbird off at the front of the door. "Spider-man!" Steve says, shocked again. "Boy am I glad to see you." The young hero gets a box laid in his arms. "It's so much worse, Spidey. I'm actually moving into a trailer."


"Wait, I'm gone a few months and even Spider-Man turns emo? What is this world coming to?" Bobbi quips. It was just after the president debacle. She testified, then she took her leave. It was just too frustrating for her coupled with coping with powers. "Jersey? Well, you don't have to worry about Barton visiting then and eating all your food," she notes. Clint hates Jersey. "Ah, how is he, by the way? I haven't talked to him in a while."


Spider-Man accepts the box shoved into his chest. The weight doesn't bother him at all, but he does pretend to strain with it for a while. When he's in danger, his spider sense goes off, but he can still be surprised, like right now. When Bobbi calls him emo, he shifts the box to one side, so he can offer a hand, "Oh, hi there, I guess you know who I am, but it's nice to meet you…" he's hoping for a name. "And I'm not going emo, I just decided to wear black for the funeral. Jersey…" he shakes his head, "what made you take this suicide mission, Captain?"


"Barton? Well, that's an interesting story. Apparently there was a life model decoy running around somewhere, and I never put together which one was which when. If you see Bishop, don't bring it up to her, she's still pretty sore about it, understandably." Steve takes a deep breath, "Well, since I haven't been doing as much work for SHIELD, and don't mind the commute, I decided to move to my team's new HQ. And Jersey's not so bad, Spidey. There are parts of it that are quiet. I went to basic in Jersey, you know."


Bobbi takes the offered hand from Spidey and shakes it. "Bobbi. I used to work with Steve." That likely means SHIELD agent. Well, former SHIELD agent. She wiggles the fingers of her other hand at the black spandex. "What happened to the red and blue. I liked it. It meant the bad guys would likely be shooting at you instead of my people. We had enough bullets fly-…" she cuts off at the notes on Clint.

"An LMD? Are you kidding me? Did a robot sign my medical orders!?" Because that's like, whooooa.


'Not so bad', Spider-Man repeats in his mind, 'but it's Jersey' he screams back. But all he gives off is a shake of his head. He can't place Bobbi's origin from her accent, but that probably rules out New York, unless she's hiding it. "Thanks Bobbi, I like it too. You know it's a Vera Wang original. But I break out the black one for funerals, laundry day, every time I steal J. Jonah's toupee, and Halloween." He's been listening in on the conversation, picking up bits and pieces, but he's lacking some of the information, plus, he's not trying to eavesdrop. S.H.I.E.L.D. will probably be doing that for him. Getting back to work, he'll carry that box, setting it down next to the others. "Robot Doctors, are they covered by Obamacare, because you know, I want one."


Steve snickers a bit at Spidey. "I never really got too far indepth to the benefits package. I haven't been sick in 75 years." But then he looks sympathetically towards Bobbi. "I…I really have no idea." Which is technically true, but he is sort of leaning towards 'yes that was a robot.' He's already had to live with the fallout of that whole ordeal with one of the women in his life, he's hoping Bobbi was able to avoid most of it.


Bobbi scoops up some more boxes to put in the truck and, like Cap, she ditches her sweatshirt, tying the arms of the hoodie around her waist. She grimaces at Cap's words. The desire to punch her ex-husband in the face is strong at the moment. "Well, isn't that just peachy," she mutters. "I didn't realize you knew Spider-Man, and vice versa," she notes, gesturing between them after setting the cardboard boxes on top of the others in the truck.


"They don't call me the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man for nothing. Actually, I don't think I've ever heard anyone call me that. But I read it once… in a newspaper… not the Bugle." The pauses between his words might not be immediately obvious, but Bobbi is wearing one of those shirts. He tries not to let it get to him, but he's just never understood the appeal. Shaking his head at his own thoughts, he heads back for another box. "Careful, Steve, talk like that usually ends up with a splinter, stubbed toe, or something innocuous. And you wouldn't want to be setting up the new place with one of those, right? What am I saying, you probably have some top secret government place all set up, with security cameras," and he waves to nothing in particular. He's assuming that he's being watched. Technically, cameras set off his spider sense. But he's having fun.


Steve winces, "Sorry. I didn't want to be the one to tell you, but I figure you should know. If it's any consolation, another LMD pretty much ended my relationship. But, that's a story for a different time."

Steve chuckles, "Well, I think both this place and that place are pretty camera fee, Spidey, but you never know." He grins back at Bobbi, "Spider-Man and I have known each other for a while. He's always around when you need him."


No doubt SHIELD has been tracking Bobbi's movements since she got back into the state. You don't just retire from SHIELD. Even if she's still a consultant, they are monitoring her like hawks because of all the things she knows from her years as an agent.

Poor Peter, subjected to a dread Star Wars tee. Morse has no idea of his dislike of the franchise. She's a longtime fan herself. She winces for Steve. "Ouch. Well, if I ever liked robots before, I sure don't any longer. Is Stark around anywhere? Maybe I can punch one of his suits for a while and feel better."


Spider-Man returns with two more boxes, assuming that anything sealed will be moved, especially since there aren't any labels suggesting they be left behind, going to goodwill, or anything like that. Deciding to make something of an in joke, he says, "you'd be surprised, Steve. There's a couple of paparazzi who seem to nab shots of me, no matter how far into left field I am. Brooklyn's not really one of my usual haunts. Not enough skyscrapers for my tastes." Listening to Bobbi talking about punching Stark's suits, "why don't you invite him to a night of rock 'em sock 'em robots?"


"I haven't talked to Stark in a very long time, to be honest," Steve says with a forlorn look on his face. "But I'm sure he could work something out for you if need be."

Steve stops at Spider-Man's comments and takes a look down the street. "It's changed so much since I was a kid. Brooklyn, I mean. I'm not even sure if I'll really miss it or not."


"I'm pretty sure my bank account couldn't cover Stark's tab," Bobbi quips at Spidey. She moves to get a few more boxes. "But back on the subject of your team, Cap, if there's room for me, I'm definitely interested. She snorts softly at the words about Brooklyn. "Oh you'll miss it, after about 5 minutes in Jersey," she jokes.


Spider-Man seems to visibly shudder at the mention of Jersey. He's a born and bred New Yorker. He even seems to be whispering, 'why Jersey' under his breath, and through the mask. "Steve, you do know that Jersey's probably changed a lot since you were there. It's… not like it used to be. It doesn't even have a basketball team anymore. But it does have two football teams and a soccer team… that all claim to be from New York." He'll set some of the boxes down in the back of the truck, "appeal to his ego and his intellect Bobbi. Most guys like Stark love a challenge." Not that he'd know anything about science types, no siree.


"I'll talk to everyone, Bobbi, and we'll get you set up. The living arrangements are a bit sparse, to be honest, so pretty much everyone except for Hawkes lives here in the city or elsewhere. Well, and me. In the trailer I'm buying."

"You're invited too, Spidey. I know you're kind of a lone wolf, and I know how you feel about Jersey…clearly…but if teamwork ever strikes you as something you want in on, you'd be a welcome addition."


Bobbi digs in the back pocket of her jeans and pulls out a blank business card that she's scribbled her name and number on. She hands it to Steve. "I sold my place in the city before I left, but I can find another place. No problem." Ok maybe some problem without her steady income anymore. "It won't be in Manhattan but I'm pretty sure I can handle myself in the tougher parts of town these days." She grins. "I need to head out. I have my 13th debriefing at the Tri. Only a dozen or so more to go. Whee. Nice to meet you, Webhead." The young woman gives Cap a small salute before she heads off.


The offer takes Spider-Man aback. As a youth, he was always the science geek, so he was one of the last people picked on the playground, when his Aunt May and Uncle Ben could convince him to go to the playground. As he grew up, he never really grew out of it. And since the accident, he's done his part, but never been asked to be part of a team. He puts down the box he was carrying. "Oh, wow, um…" he's not really sure what to say. "Thank you, Cap, thank you." But, he really isn't the team type. He prefers his mask, his freedom. "If you ever need help, of course I'll be there, with bells on if you like, but… yeah, I kind of am a homebody. And, it is in Jersey." He shudders again. "That place sure does give me the willies." Thankful for the change in subject, he says, "it was nice to meet you too, Bobbi." Watching the Star Wars fan wander off, he says, loud enough for her to hear, "hey, she gave you your number. I think she likes you."

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