Noelle - Day 34 (R.M.S. Marathon; Parts 12 and 13)

Hiya!
So I don't have a ton of time, but I do have something for you (besides R.M.S. Parts 12 and 13!!!)  And that, my friend is my horrible attempt at Harry Potter Fan Art.  That's right, I finished the Dobby!

Like I said, I'm in a rush, so here's the Dobby and the story parts and I'm outta here.

Like I said, it isn't exactly amazing.  I hope you guys like it though!  Next on my fan-art-to-color list is the second Elsa (Day 17 by the way)

Random Marvel-based Story (Parts 12 and 13)

“Ok,” Jess said, walking back to the group, “I’m only going to say this once.  I got the Beetle, and we have an hour to prepare, so we’re going to have to move fast.  You do as I say, and you do it right, the Beetle is in a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison cell tonight.”  She giggled.  When the team looked at her, she said quickly before continuing, “It rhymed.”

“The Beetle is good - he’s got the fighting techniques, the tech, the experience.  We’ve got the numbers, and if we’re lucky, the element of surprise.  I got him to meet with me, and he thinks I’ve got two million dollars of Stark money for him if he does my evil bidding.  The Beetle is a mercenary, remember - he does whatever his employer wants if said employer pays well enough.  He trusts me, however, about as far as he can throw the Hulk, so this is going to be...delicate”

All this time that Jess was talking they were jumping from roof to roof, and she was leading the way.  Where they were going, the team didn’t know, but Jess seemed to know her stuff, so they followed.

She stopped at an empty roof top, putting up a hand so that the team skittered to a halt.  “Just what I thought,” she whispered, “Beetle’s sent cameras to scout the place.”

“What are we going to do about them then,” Peter hissed.  “He sees any of my team and your little ‘deal’ is off.”

“We solve it my way,” Jess murmured.  She slid her hand under a fold in her suit and pulled out a small stick.  With a shake it popped out into a bow, another shake and the string sprang out.  Jess pulled out yet another piece of tech, pressed a button, and loaded a collapsible arrow onto the bow.

“Um, dude,” Luke said softly, “You have one arrow and four cameras to shoot...how do you add that up, Jess?”

She grinned.  They had no idea of her skills...yet.  She took aim, saying, “Easy - I did algebra, I finished all my homework, and I studied for all my tests.”  And with that, she released the arrow.

The arrow hit the first camera, bounced, hit the next, bounced, hit, bounced, hit, bounced, and planted itself on the top of a near-by street lamp.  The team stared in awe while Jess calmly put away the bow.

Nova pretended not to be impressed.  “Dumb luck,” he said, rolling his eyes.  “Want me to go get your arrow for you, genius?”

“No,” Jess said, unexpectedly.  “Leave it.  Beetle will know I didn’t come alone, but he might as well overestimate.”

Four of the kids seemed to be confused by this statement, but Spider-man understood.  “Hawkeye,” he breathed and nodded.  This was not, as Fury would say, Jess’s first rodeo.  Making Beetle think that it was the Avengers accompanying Jess and not the S.H.I.E.L.D. teenagers was smart - even he wouldn’t have thought of that!

*******13

Half an hour later, each of the team members was hiding, a piece of concealer tech planted on their back.  They were ready - and just in time.

Jess didn’t even flinch when the Beetle landed in front of her, a gun powered up in his hand.  He held out his free hand - a clear gesture for, the money?  Jess shook her head.  The gun hand tightened.

Beetle picked up a shattered camera.  The metal hand holding the gun slowly snugged up on the trigger.  Jess shrugged.  “Video footage is over-rated.  No cameras for me,” she said and kicked aside the camera at her feet.  She looked at her nails, a clear sign of ‘I’m not worried about you’.  “Hint:  if you’re about to work for someone, you have to quit your other job.”

If the Beetle knew what this meant, it was hard to tell.  Nova shifted in his hiding spot.  What was Jess doing?

“The job I have for you is pretty hard, but as I said in the phone call, it pays well,” she continued.  “Before we deal, quick question.  Do you like dogs, Beetle?”

The feared (though silent) mercenary started, then shook his head.

With a dramatic sigh, Jess looked at her fingernails and said, “Some people are so very dead inside these days.  I love dogs, myself.  I actually have a few - very well trained.  They come when I call - see?”  And then she whistled.  Loud.  It was, in fact, so incredibly loud that the Beetle dropped the gun all together in surprise.

Jess dropped to the ground in parallel with the gun, grabbed it and stood, pointing it at the motionless Beetle.  “I don’t know what this thing does, but I sure like it - is that a custom leather handle?  You spoil yourself, Beetle!”

“You won’t shoot that,”  the Beetle said mechanically.

“No, I just want you to focus on the wrong thing for a second,” Jess said, tossing the gun and kicking the mercenary in his helmeted face with lightning quick speed.

That was when Iron Fist dropped down from above and slammed into the ground with his burning ‘fists of iron’.  Before the Beetle could recover, Nova blasted the Beetle’s purple armor, giving White Tiger an opportunity to slash at his weapons.  “Coming through,” Power Man yelled, charging at the Beetle.

That was when the battle took a downturn.  Luke missed his target and crashed into Iron Fist.  Jess narrowed her eyes - the Beetle was an A-lister and that was a mistake they just couldn’t afford.  They were losing the element of surprise.  Beetle’s weapons might have been down, but he was still lethal.  Jess knew this guy - he was the master of masters when it came to fighting - the only man who could best Agent Coulson.

Spider-man swung down to join the battle, but Beetle must have seen him coming, so it was White Tiger that ended up in a pile of webbing, not their target.  Nova got hit when he landed by a falling rock - Power Man really knew how to shake a building.  “Back into the battle I go,” Jess whispered, jumping forward.

Though a good fighter, Spider-man was no match for the Beetle.  This was good for Jess - it gave her the distraction she needed - but bad for Spider-man.  Jess leaped from the ledge she had been at, landed squarely on Beetle’s shoulders and did the one sensible thing.  She pummeled him in the back of the head till he was knocked senseless.  The Beetle fell to the ground, unconscious.

Jess stared at him, frustrated.  “It shouldn’t have been that easy,” she said to the rest of the team.

“You call that easy?”  Spider-man said, rubbing his head.  “Look around you, Jess, you’re the only person who didn’t get injured in this fight.  It was a good plan, but we might not be in fighting condition for days!”

“Yeah, and if you ever call me a dog again, Willow, I swear...”  Nova grumbled as he crawled out from under the wreckage.  “How did you even get the Beetle to meet with you?”

“You’re right,” Jess said, looking at her feet.  “I should have thought of you guys more.”  You’re wrong, she thought.  You want fighting condition?  How ‘bout three bullets in the stomach and still staying alive to tell the tale?  She frowned at her feet, growling in an undertone that nobody could hear.

Suddenly, the ground shook beneath them, making whole team fall to their knees.  An earthquake?  In Midtown?  As if to voice Jessie’s thoughts, Peter said, “What was that?!”