ascarletwitchery:
she sent him a grin at his words, before replying, “we’re not really the big fanfare type. does it seem like we are? …well, i suppose with tony perhaps we do.” ah, but it was good to have a fanfare now and then. and tony certainly knew how to throw a party and to help everyone relax. as things were at the moment however, no one had the time or inclination to think of such things. there was a lot at stake really, and any thoughts of ‘praises’ had been pushed aside for the time. that would hopefully come later. “if you’re lucky perhaps you’ll get a smile from those big bosses. or no! perhaps even a smile and a handshake. oh, that would be the day. you’d have to be ever so lucky for that to happen here.”
wanda didn’t need long to consider his words, and she gave a nod in response. “sure. we’ve got the best of all tech - or so i’m told. i can’t say i know much about all the things that go on here tech-wise. that doesn’t interest me all that much. but we’ve got good stuff, and great people to work it. but the joker– well, if he was easy to catch he wouldn’t be half as dangerous, right?” the joker was tough to find. they’d had so many breakthrough leads - only to turn up at a scene and realise that it was a decoy, the joker had led them on a wild goose chase. it was tough. their tech could do a lot of things - but the joker was hard to predict, and new york city had so many places to hide. hopefully with zach’s information and their tech they could at least narrow the location down enough to rule out a lot of the other decoys that were popping up.
as she listened to him talk about the end of the gala, her brow furrowed ever so slightly. she had not been there of course - gods, she was lucky no one had yet asked about that. wanda had heard about what had happened, and knew it would have been tough. there had been casualties and people probably in shock (or fuelled with enough things to gossip about to last a century), and they were all lucky the heroes and super-powered people at hand were ready and able to help out. the media were already promoting hysteria, if the casualties had been worse the public would have been wanting the heads of the heroes as well as the joker.
she glanced over at him, a wry smile on her face at his words. “a great way to describe it. he’s just… he knows what he’s doing. he’s just that right level of crazy that stops him being predictable, and also keeps him smart enough to actually know what he’s doing. which isn’t great for anyone else.” she shrugged, glancing away as she continued to walk. they’d get him. they just had to. they couldn’t afford to lose any more. but it was too tiring to think of all the ways he’d slipped past them so far, and too dark to think of what might happen should they fail to catch him soon. so wanda focused on what he said, interested and curious about this piece of magic. “that would be far easier than trying to get them to just show us another way. hopefully it works out. though even the slightest bit of new information could point us in the right direction just now.”
wanda smiled at his words, a slight chuckle escaping her. “alright. if you’re sure. i don’t think you’ll have to be here long if you don’t want to. everyone is likely going to want this information as soon as possible. i don’t think you’ll be here for chit-chat with anyone else.” though some might perhaps be very interested in his magic. everyone here dealt with the strange and the odd. magic was always going to be a curiosity however, and always be useful.
she did not see his surprise, moving ahead to open the door - but she caught a flicker in his aura. accidentally, of course. wanda didn’t want to pry, even with something like that. and so she pushed it away, and sent him a smile as she held the door open. “that’s true. i suppose apart from us there are likely going to be vigilantes without a team searching for the joker though. others looking to hunt him down. honestly, we’ve had letters and emails and everything from just random members of the public wanting to help out. which is nice but… i do think they’re a little under-qualified and a little too eager.” but good. if the public wanted to help they could do so by staying safe and out of the way.
as she moved down the short flight of stairs to the rooms below where the technicians and other agents had set up their workshops, she laughed slightly. “right, what a disaster. it’s like he’s made this personal. he should have known and held off these attacks until you had finished up! that would only have been polite, after all.” was that sarasm in her tone? oh yes. most certainly. and a touch of good-natured amusement too.
“You guys live in one of the biggest skyscrapers in the city, named Avengers Tower, you have massive flight crafts to take you places, you all wear fancy costumes and you’ve all got superhero names.” he rattled off, raising an eyebrow at her, “You’re like a parade rolling into town, the fanfare goes without saying.” he deadpanned, convinced on that one he was right. He wore his theatre get-up and used his last name, in comparison he could almost seem subtle, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “By ‘big bosses’ are we talking about that Dude with the eye-patch? Iron Man? Or the young-old guy with the shield?” he asked, “And keep this up Wanda and I’ll go send the cheetah to poop in your room.”
“Yea? Well I know nothing about it. And unless it can help me get more followers on twitter, not that really need many more, then I don’t wanna know. Science is for the humans.” And magic was for the Magi. Really, while he could understand how science had its points he’d always be on the side of his race, people kept trying to force things to happen with science, with magic, you could speak the languages you needed to just ask them to happen for you. “That clown is probably super-smart. And irritatingly enough an expert planner.” Yet he paraded around playing the fool, literally, and always getting away. Zach almost wondered if he was that insane, or maybe he just played up to it to throw people off, he knew a thing or two about stage presence after all.
Zach hadn’t really noticed who was there and who wasn’t, he’d been a little preoccupied at the time with playing hero with Supergirl of all people. Still if he had to find a bright side in the whole affair, which was tricky, at least the people he helped save were more than willing to tell the papers about it. He got a little publicity in the thing. But it was for being a hero, and he didn’t wanna be a hero! He’d made than abundantly clear. That was why instead of following his leads and trying to find that clown himself he was dumping the intel on the Avengers so they could go take care of it and he could get back to planning his shows. If he kept being distracted like this his performance quality could drop.
“Yea, well, that’s why I’m counting on. I’ve got some new tricks to go practice. You can just send me a text if you catch the bastard and make sure to give him a punch from me, go for the face, gut or the unmentionables, any one will do.” he said, a little lightness returning to his tone. Really he’d sleep better knowing that guy was locked away. “However,” he added, “If a few folks want autographs before I go I’d be happy to oblige.” he always had a pen ready for the occasion.
Zach was pretty sure he got away with that little slip. God, he didn’t want Wanda or anyone else knowing a simple heartfelt ‘thank you’ shocked him that much. It’s just... you didn’t see’em a lot in showbiz, people were only nice on the surface there. And his family, well that just wasn’t worth going into. So he cleared his throat and stepped through the door, the cheetah at his heels, his dove on his shoulder. “That’s not nice that’s a worrying pain in the behind. Against that guy they’d just be lambs lining up for slaughter and I mean that quite literally. If they had any sense they’d stay inside, lock the doors get some very mean dogs and never turn off the light.” he ranted a little, “Either that or move to Nevada.” He’d do well in Vegas too.
Zach looked around, he’d never been in a place like this before, for some reason it reminded him of school. Though he was quick to put a charming grin on his face as a few technicians looked up at the him and Wanda. “You know, I’m about ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure that’s sarcasm, but the funny this is, you’re not wrong.” he smirked back, “Villains have no manners. So next time I’m gonna spoil his big finale!”
