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When he got back from Westchester, Teddy gave Billy a call and asked if he could meet him. Specifically, on top of Macy's in Time Square. It was a nice secluded spot where it was unlikey that anyone would accidentally tun into them. He's up there now, sitting on the ledge and waiting for him to pop in.
*
Billy doesn't know exactly where it is that the Macy's is, so he first *blinks* into being a hundred yards off, and then he concentrates, and falls through reality and reappears closer, floating there just in front of Teddy. He smiles, though there's something shy and awkward about the smile, and he inclines his head, "Hi, there, how are you?" He's bundled up in a thick sweater and a jacket on top of it, and his nose is a little red from the cold, but still. "Hey." He blinks, realizing that's sorta repeating himself, and flushes slightly.
*
Teddy smiles when he sees Billy and lifts a hand in greeting. "Hey. "Thanks for coming. I wanted to talk to you about something and it couldn't really wait till tomorrow." Though he frowns when he sees what Billy's wearing. He sometimes forgets what the exact temperature is. "We can go somewhere warmer."
*
Shrugging a bit, Billy floats over to settle down on the edge of the building by Teddy, arm brushing briefly against the other young man's. Not on purpose or anything, never that. "Don't worry about it. If I get too cold…" He holds his hands up together, and electricity arcs down along his arms to gather into a glowing ball of plasma. It gives off some warmth: of course, for anyone who knows science, it gives off WAY too little warmth. A lightning bolt is hotter then the surface of the sun. Still, it makes shadows dance over his features before he wills the ball of lightning away. "This is fine. How are you doing?"
*
Teddy looks at the lightning and nods. "Cool. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." Though at the question, he smiles. "Good. I think. Maybe in over my head a little but…" He shrugs. "How about you?"
*
"What, lightning?" Color Billy confused, he peers over at Teddy with a quirked brow and a bit of a pursed lip, "I'm fine…ran into a tense situation, Wan— my mom— got hurt bad, but she'll be okay. But in over your head? What's wrong? Is someone hassling you? I… I cast a spell the other day, and I kind of know how I did it, so if someone is bugging you I might be able to arrange to turn them into a rat."
*
"I'm glad she'll be alright." Teddy says and he sounds like he really means it. "No, no one's bugging me. And no, not lightning. But what you can do. Are you able to find someone if you want to? Like, could you find Tommy right now? Either know exactly where he is or know what direction to go to get to him?"
*
Hesitating, Billy nibbles on his lower lip for a moment, seeming a bit uncertain, "I … think so. I've never done it before, at least, not on purpose, but sometimes when I'm meditating I… find people. It's happened a couple times. When I meditate, sometimes I… for lack of a better term, leave my body. Then I sort of… follow these chains of connection. And now with this… with these *spells*… I'm not entirely sure. Is someone missing? Are YOU going to be missing?"
*
Teddy umms. He runs his hands over his hair and gives a small shrug. "Well, I might be if things go according to plan. Look, you can't tell anyone, okay? I shouldn't even be telling you but no one actually /told me/ I couldn't. And when I said I knew some people who might be able to help, they didn't tell me not to say anything. You remember I was talking with the SHIELD guy?"
*
"… you might end up missing if things go to *plan*?" Billy blinks. Usually going missing isn't a plan. But he nods slowly, "You can trust me, I can keep a secret." He's wary at mention of SHIELD, but nods his head slowly, "Yeah, you mentioned — uhh, so you went and saw him again? And well you're not locked up so that's something." Pause, "And you want me to help them?"
*
Teddy doesn't answer directly. Instead, he says "You know those aliens? The ones who can make themselves look like different people? They've infiltrated SHIELD. Their Director was an alien. And there were more of them." He looks to see how Billy is taking that bit of info. "You can imagine what could happen if the aliens started controlling all the government agencies. So I told them I'd help. They tried once to kidnap this one scientist already but failed. So I'm going to impersonate her and let them kidnap me."
*
Billy blinks twice, "Their _Director_ was an _Alien_?!" He sounds… not surprised, just sorta… something. All the more not to — "WHAT?" He blinks once twice and falls off the building he jerks up so fast, but its not much of an issue cuz he's flying after only a few inches of falling, "You're going to let aliens kidnap you? This is the plan? This strikes me as a bad plan. Like, monumentally bad. Let's try to think up a different plan." He thinks, "I can't think up a better plan but there has to be one."
*
Teddy shakes his head. "They kidnapped the director and a bunch of other SHIELD agents and replaced them. They're trying to replace more. Obviously, they need to be stopped and the real ones need to be found. If they think they're kidnapping a normal scientist, I can easily get away from them once we get to their secret hideout. Which is why I'm asking you if you can find me. You could lead SHIELD to me."
*
"Why don't we try to see if I can find… this Director lady? Isn't that a whole lot safer then you going through and getting kidnapped? I mean you have no idea what sort of technology they have or their capabilities besides replacing people." Billy shrugs slowly, "Because I don't know I can find you. I found Wanda before, but she and I have this… magic bond. And Tommy is my twin brother. That creates a sort of — connection. I can drift on the currents and just naturally find them, and then when I find them I check where they are, and teleport in." He hesitates, "Wouldn't it be better to at least try to see if I can locate her first?" He sounds… nervous. These controlled uses of his powers are new to him.
*
"If you can't find me, you certainly won't be able to find her." Teddy points out. "You've never even seen her. You can try, of course but…" He shrugs. "Maybe you could ask that Stephen guy you talk about for help on how to do it. Cause… Well, they /are/ aliens. It's possible their hideout is on a spaceship. In space. That could get a little complicated."
*
"Stephen's… magic… is magic, in like, the hand waving magic words and channelling the power of … stuff. I don't think he could teach me anything at all, what I do is … completely differnt." Billy replies absently, shaking his head, "You're missing the point; the point is if I can find her then you don't need to get kidnapped and put into a completely unknown situation you can't possibly be prepared for. I don't know. If we're going to rely on me finding you we should at least you know practice before its a matter of life or death."
*
"Go ahead?" Teddy suggests. "Do what you need to do. It's not happening for a couple days so there's a little time. If you can find her, great. But from what you said, you'd have an easier time finding me than someone you've never met if you need a connection to them."
*
"Do what I need to do? Uhh—" Grinning suddenly, dimples showing, Billy gestures at Teddy, "You're… right there. I found you. See? That was easy." He shakes his head, "I can't try finding her just… point blank. I need to know like… Her name. What she looks like, at the least. If someone had something of hers that was important to her that'd be extra helpful. Really, same about you except err yes I know what you look like." He knows very well. "What's your last name? Do you have something valuable to you that you wouldn't want to be parted from?"
*
"I don't know. I never saw her, just the dead alien. And they only called her Director." Teddy answer with a shrug. "But it's Altman. And… well, not really. There's stuff I like but nothing that is so important. What about hair? Don't wizards use hair and nails for that?"
*
Billy gives Teddy a long look, "Teddy. The point of me asking was for you to *go ask them*, get this stuff. Find the information out. If you're going to be part of their crack team surely they'll talk to you in the preparation and planning of it." He eyes Teddy's hair a moment, then shrugs, "Might as well try but something you're emotionally attached to— or had for a long time— would be better. I'm not a wizard, though. Stephen is like a super-wizard, what I do he insists isn't actually magic. And as the Sorcerer Supreme I think he's qualified to rule on the matter. I bend reality through sheer and pure will. Or something. Apparently. Until like two days ago I didn't really believe that."
*
Teddy ummms. "Well, thing is… It's not really an official operation. They don't know who's been replaced, after all. So it's just the guy I was talking to trying to find as many people he's sure are still human. He did mention asking the Fantastic Four though. Anyway, he might be able to get you some stuff but it'll take a bit."
*
"Wait so… we're going to be going off and invading an alien base, and you don't even have a proper strike team? Just… some guys this guy manages to round up?" Billy reaches up to pinch at the top of his nose, "Well, I'm going then. I'm not going to just point them at a map and then have them run off to rescue you. I don't even know if I'll be able to do that. I might need to take more… direct action to find you."
*
Teddy spreads his hands to the sides. "They can't be sure who's safe to tell. But the longer they wait, the more damage they can do. And who know what other spy agencies have been invaded. The CIA, FBI… Besides, I should be pretty safe."
*
"You have absolutely no idea what they're capable of, what technology they have— if they have interstellar travel that means… heck that means our science can't even imagine what their science finds commonplace." points out Billy with a weary rub of his hand through his dark hair, "If they can replace people they have to have some sort of shapeshifting or mimicry ability, and do you really think a people who have that wouldn't have defenses or precautions against it? Their society couldn't function without it."
*
"So I'll be careful." Teddy assures Billy. "I can't just do nothing. This is our planet. We can't let aliens invade us and take over. They might have a cookbook." He reaches out and lightly punches Billy's arm. "You'd do the same thing."
*
Huffing, Billy shakes his head, "Yeah but I'd have a better plan then whoever some random guy can manage to wrangle up." he grumbles, "Heck, I'll leave a note for Stephen and Wanda and tell them I'm off to invade the alien stronghold. They'll be our backup. Anything goes wrong with our rescue, they'll show up and wipe the flippin' aliens out like snap. Apparently you don't mess with a Maximoff's family. They take it personal."
*
Teddy grins. "Whatever works. And actually, it was my plan. I know what I can do, after all and he doesn't." And so that's taken care of. Except "I'll have to introduce you to Fitz so he can work you into the plan. Which, I admit, is kind of basic but when you really don't know anything, you just have to improvise."
*
"Oh so is that supposed to make me feel better?" Billy grins and shakes his head, "The not at all good plan was your idea, so there we go then. Anyways, my point with practicing was we need to practice. That means you shuold go away." He waves, "I'll close my eyes and you take a half an hour to go tuck yourself somewhere. And I'll see if I can find you. It might take awhile to work out how so give me awhile before you give up."
*
Teddy nods and stands up but then he hesitates. "I think I have an idea of how you might be able to find me easier but…"
*
Expression becoming more serious, he floats over to settle on the edge of the building, tilting his head and nodding, "Shoot. But remember, that hoodoo stuff just isn't my thing. Its about connection and emotion and not about things like… blood, hair, nails. Its not really sympathetic magic. Because its not really magic. Its like. I feel something strong, I want something strong, and sometimes if I do it right, reality *changes* so what I want… *is*."
*
Teddy walks over to the edge where Billy is and, without warning, leans in to give him a kiss. A hand on Billy's shoulder keeps him from falling backwards off the building in surprise if he tries to step back. Three seconds and then he pulls back, gives him a nod, and jumps off the edge, shapeshifting a pair of wings to fly away on.
*
To say Billy is surprised is an underestatement. Flabbergasted! What is this what is happening oh my god wait now what is happening he's leaving NOW?! As Billy, wide-eyed, watches Teddy flies off away, the surprise turns into a boiling fury. Oh, he's gonna find him all right, he's gonna find him and turn him into a *rat*. A bald rat. A bald, blind rat. A bald, blind rat whose whiskers got burned off.