Young Avengers : Assembled

Chapter 16: Hulkling

Hulkling and Asgardian were walking up the stairs of a skyscraper. It was deserted for the night. They were both panting as they had reached the 34th floor. They still needed to get to the 42nd floor.
"God, I'm exhausted. Can we stop for a minute, please." Billy asked while collapsing to the ground.
"Sure, but only for a minute. We don't have a lot of time."
Teddy sat down next to him and caught his breath.
"God, it's still so hot out there. Can't believe it's already summer. To think a few months ago, I didn't know you guys and I was just an ordinary guy in high school."
"Right? It's really crazy when you think about it. Are you going to stay here for the whole summer?"
"I think my parents want to go travel in Europe. But, as you know, I am otherwise engaged."
"Duh, you have to save all of our asses. By the way, what do you tell them? I mean you've been with us a lot these past few days." Teddy asked. For some reason, he was really interested in Billy's life.
"Well, they have been both working a lot lately. So, they haven't been home much. Whenever they are, I just tell them that I am at a party or at a friend's house."
"Has this always been like this?"
"Not at all. They were really there for me when I was younger. Since they adopted me, they felt a huge responsibility over me. Sometimes, even too much. But, now that I'm older, they're concentrating on their work. Which means we don't have the time to talk about, ..., well important things."
"Do you know your biological parents?"
"No. My parents told me that it was not indicated on the file they got. However, it said I come from Sokovia."
"Wow. Sokovia? Really? And have you told them about your powers?"
"No. They would totally freak out if they found out. When I first discovered them, I knew I couldn't tell anyone. I was really scared and I had just woken up from my coma."
"Wait, you fell into a coma?" Teddy interrupted.
"It was in ... 2023. A few weeks after the second blip, I got hit by a car and I was unconscious for a few days after that. Then I woke up, and I could suddenly do weird things."
"Hulkling, Asguardian, come in" Teddy suddenly heard Iron Lad say in his comms.
"We copy." Teddy responded.
"Where are you?"
"We're climbing the stairs" Teddy said as he got up.
"You know there's an elevator, right?"
"Yes, but it's closed for the night, is it not?" Billy said.
"You can still use it. Why do you think I gave you a security pass?"
"To enter the building?" Billy responded with a bit of doubt in his voice.
"Yes, but also to open the elevator. So, are you there soon?" Iron Lad asked in frustration."
"Yes, only two floors left." Teddy answered.
"Okay, and do you remember everything you have to do? Or do I have to clarify anything that might be obscure in your minds?"
"Nope, we got everything in control. Thanks for the condescending tone though." Teddy replied in anger as he disconnected his ear comm.
"We've arrived Iron Lad. We'll keep you posted, don't worry."

They were on the 42nd floor, so Teddy opened the door that led to the room they were looking for.
"Let's do this quickly Billy, or dad will be mad at us."
"Don't let him get under your skin. We need to be united for this mission."
"How can we? He's the one making the plans but he keeps us on a need-to-know basis. We're not his kids or his soldiers. We're his teammates. So why does it feel like he's always keeping things from us"
"Calm down, okay. You can be mad at him all you want once we defeat that psycho. For now, let's stay focused or we stand no chance."
"You're right. Thank you."
"For what exactly?" Billy asked in a worried tone.
"I don't know. You have such a soothing aura. For some reason, you make me feel calm." Teddy confessed.
"Oh, really? That's really nice of you to say."

Teddy noticed that they had gotten closer during their conversation. The corridor they were in was dark, only lit up by a light located on the ceiling. Teddy could see Billy's face quite clearly though.
"Your eyes are so pretty. I never noticed it before." Teddy pointed out.
"Oh, thank you so much. Yours too. They have a magnificent shade of green."
"Yes indeed" Teddy smiled softly.
"I think we should go. Iron Lad is waiting for us" Billy reminded Teddy.
"Oh, right. I forgot about that." Teddy chuckled.

They both headed towards the door at the end of the corridor. It was locked but as planned, Teddy took out the security pass Iron Lad had given them and inserted it into the lock. He saw a green light, so he opened the door.
"After you." He politely said to Billy.
"Thank you?" Billy replied while blushing.

Teddy discovered a control room, with dozens of computers. He headed towards one of them and switched it on. He sat down on a chair and looked at the computer. Since he needed to log in to access the content, he plugged a device that Iron Lad had given to him. It was a device that tried hundreds of combinations in mere seconds. It was used to find the right password. Teddy waited for a few seconds and heard a bip. He looked at the screen and saw that it was unlocked. So, he took out a flash drive and then plugged it into the computer.
He opened the only file that was on there and could read: −− · · −  −− ·  ·− −  − ·· −− · ···  ··· −−·− ··− ·− ·−· · −−··−−  ··  ·− −−  ·−· · ·− −·· −·−−  − −−−  ··−· ··− ·−·· ··−· ·· ·−·· ·−··  −− −·−−  −·· · ··· − ·· −· −·−−
"Is that morse code?" Billy asked.
"I think so, but I couldn't tell you what it means. On the other hand, I'm guessing our robot friend could."
Teddy opened an app labeled billboard. He clicked the category image frequency and pasted the sequence from the flash drive on there. Finally, he clicked on the button which read Apply changes. He had done exactly as Iron Lad had planned.

"Our goal is to send him a message. If he comes to us, where and when we want, it will be easier for us to trap him."
"Won't he know he's walking into a trap?" Teddy asked.
"Most likely yes. But he won't know exactly what we are planning and, that, we can use to our advantage."

Teddy reconnected his comm. "It's done, Iron Lad"
"Great, now we can go onto phase 2"