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It's a bright Saturday afternoon in Galpalla. While not everyone is chipper and up and at 'em, Jack has already finished filing some paperwork for work, sent in the bills, dealt with the laundry, and has just come back from a run. Clearly it's time for breakfast. Which is why she's busy whipping eggs in a bowl while still wearing a pair of loose fitting jogging pants and a ridiculously large hoodie (fun fact, you're about 30% less likely to get attacked as a woman if you wear clothes that are far too big for you and make you ambiguously female — the risk is not something that has missed Jack's thoughts).
In seconds, the scrambled eggs are crackling over the frying pan with a POP POP POP, prompting a sly smile from the waif brunette. She taps the side of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen it at its edges.
Of course, that's when the phone rings, prompting a strange arch of her eyebrow. Slowly, she treads over to it, "Hello, Jack speaking."
There's a pause as her eyebrows draw together, "Liv? Are you home? Phone call — "
*
It may be early on a Saturday, but Liv has never really been in the habit of sleeping in. Not even now that she is unemployed and should, by all rights, be indulging in at least a few days of woe-is-me slouching about the apartment. Not her, though. It's been business as usual, pretty much.
So when Jack calls for her, Liv — unsurprisingly — comes wandering out of the bedroom, already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with a perplexed look on her face.
"Phone call? At this hour?" Liv asks, shooting a quick look towards the clock as she extends a hand for the phone. Well, whatever. It is what it is. "Thank you, Jack."
Once she has it in hand, Liv brings it up to her ear, still looking rather puzzled. "Hello?"
*
Jack shrugs her shoulders, "It sounds important. If it was someone selling insurance I would've told them that you already have insurance." So there. Jack goes back to her eggs while giving just a vague eavesdropping ear towards this end of the phone call.
Even at the greeting, there's a strange pause on the other end. "Miss Sigrunsdottir?" the woman's voice is unfamiliar. "I'm so sorry to be calling you — you see we've never met," the woman sounds rather flustered as she begins the conversation. "I'm just… you see I'm…" she emits a soft sigh, and Liv can virtually hear her shake her head on the other end. "My name is Marla Madison-Jameson…. you rescued my niece last week…"
*
Jack earns a lopsided grin and a grateful pat on the shoulder from Liv, and then she turns her focus to the call. The pause is… odd, and she finds herself frowning, turning to lean lightly against the wall next to the phone.
For some reason, the name is not filling Liv with much confidence. "Mattie, of course," she replies warmly. "She's a sweet kid." Her eyes drift towards Jack and, closing her eyes, she goes ahead and asks the question she's fairly certain she doesn't want an answer to: "Is everything alright? You sound a little out of sorts."
*
Jack's eyes flit towards Liv for several beats with that assertion, but she continues her silence. It's just easier that way. The voice on the other end of the phone, however is clear: "Miss Sigrunsdottir, this is terribly embarrassing, but we're incredibly worried," there's a pause as Marla considers something. "Mattie isn't… you haven't… have you seen Mattie in the last two days? Mattie is missing."
*
Liv's eyes remain closed and her lips tighten into a thin line, and she gives a very slight nod of her head. Yep, there it is. "I'm afraid the last time I saw her was on Wednesday," she replies, finally opening her eyes to look towards Jack. She holds the receiver between her ear and shoulder, miming with her hands to request something to write with. "She seemed okay. Have you contacted the police?"
*
Exasperation has the woman emitting a heavy sigh. "They think she's a runaway. And I can't even blame them — she's a foster kid, lost both of her parents, and she's getting into that difficult age." The woman's tone sinks further, "JJ has been scouring the city for her. He's already blaming Spider-Man… I just want our girl home… she's our niece. Our responsibility… we need…"
*
Liv rolls her eyes towards the ceiling. Of course he's blaming Spider-Man, it's a day that ends in 'y'. "Just breathe, Mrs. Jameson," she says gently. "It's a big city, but I can look around for her, see if anyone I know has heard anything, okay?" Not like she has anything better to be doing right now anyway. "Did she say anything to you before she went missing? Trouble with anybody, weird feelings about a neighborhood? Anything at all?"
*
"I — " the woman's voice cracks as she attempts to remember the last few days. " — she was impressed with you. Which is why… I know it's silly, you barely know her, but she was just so enthused. She kept talking about it — " the woman sighs again. "We aren't sleeping, we just need to find Mattie. And with everything going on out there — " she doesn't finish the thought.
*
"No, no, you're doing everything you should be doing," Liv says with a smile, hoping it carries into her voice. "You've called the police, and you've called in backup. Make sure you call around to her friends, and you stay put at home so that you're there if she turns up, okay?"
*
"I will, I just want her home — did you hear what's happened around Mutant Town?" again her voice cracks. She inhales a long deep breath and then nods. "Yes. I… I will stay here. JJ is already looking. I'll go through the rest of her address book. Please help us. Please! Thank you."
*
"I'm sure she'll turn up, Mrs. Jameson. Try not to worry. I'll go put on my coat and start looking," Liv promises, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Once she's made her goodbyes and hung up the telephone, Liv lightly bounces her forehead off the wall with a thump before raking both hands back through her hair. "…okay, so. Apparently I'm going out today."
*
Jack has already plated the eggs and hands Liv a plate as she hangs up the phone. "Oh?" Her lips purse and she grabs her own plate before starting to shovel eggs into her mouth. "What was that about? Sounded…" she frowns "…intense." Probably the most diplomatic word she can find.
*
Liv accepts the plate without even noticing she's done it, though she does stop before she's brought a forkfull of food up to her mouth. Oh. "Thank you." There. Now she can eat. She makes a bit of a face, gesturing towards the newspaper clipping she's trying to forget the girls have stuck to the refridgerator door. "She's gone missing and the cops have decided to say she ran away so they don't have to do their jobs. I have no idea where to even start looking for this kid, Jack."
*
"Wait…" Jack holds up a hand. "A kid goes missing and they don't care?" She frowns. "I… have no idea how you would find someone. At all." Her eyebrows lift. "Maybe, go see her family? I mean, people don't just go missing do they? If they leave, they must have hints about where they've gone. If someone takes them, there must be some indication of some trouble ahed, right?"
*
"I'm not sure how much help they're going to be," Liv admits with a wince. "Her uncle's already probably written three full editions claiming Spider-Man's kidnapped her just to piss him off. Marla's going through her address book. I guess I could go by?" She frowns down at her food, lips twisting to the side. "This… I just hit things. I don't know what I'm doing."
*
"Fair." Jack's eyebrows draw together. "I… don't know anything," her hands lift. "Except that if twenty-four hours have passed,the odds of finding her alive are — " grimly Jack shovels another forkful of eggs into her mouth. Stop talking. Sometimes people don't want to know the odds.
*
" — not good," Liv finishes for her. It isn't a precise number like she knows Jack could and would have provided, but they don't really need one, do they. "And it's been two days. But this city is strange," she adds, gathering the last of her food up onto her fork. "It defies the odds pretty frequently, so I'm not going to make her aunt worry any more until I have to."
*
Jack pinches the bridge of her nose. "Was she talking about anything? Do they have any ideas where she disappeared to?" She frowns and eats another forkful of eggs. "Yeah… probably wise not to make them lose hope. But honestly, the odds are terrible."
*
"When I saw her on Wednesday, we mostly spoke about the Bugle," Liv admits, carrying her plate over to the sink. Might as well wash it now, no sense letting it sit. "Suppose I could run over there, while I'm at it, though I'm sure her uncle's been interrogating them all already." She frowns in thought, scowling down into the sink while she scrubs. "She can't drive yet, so she takes the subway. Her aunt mentioned Mutant Town, but I think that was just in the context of oh-the-city-is-so-dangerous."
*
"Right. Probably worth checking out the Bugle — I mean, at least as a starting point, right?" Jack's eyebrows lift slightly. "Plus then you've done something. I mean, it might not be easy to just find her, but maybe you'll have luck where her family hasn't? Plus maybe… she'll be more cooperative with you than her family. Sometimes people just don't want to be found. I mean, I think that's a thing, right?"
*
Liv cracks a very wry smile. "Yes, that is a thing." She turns off the sink and grabs for a towel to dry her hands with, drawing in a deep breath. "Okay. As eager as I am to march into a room full of reporters, I guess that's where to start… don't suppose I could get you to mention this to your gentleman friend," she muses, looking towards Jack with a small smile. "I'm sure he has better things to do with his time, but it'd make her folks feel better. Hell, it'd make me feel better."
*
"My gentleman-caller?" Jack asks with a wry smile. "Yeah, I'll bring it up to Steve. He.. will probably want to help if he can. I don't know anything about missing people or finding them, and I have no idea if he has any experience with that, but he's… pretty resourceful, it seems." She manages a flicker of a smile. "She'll turn up. She will." Probably.