Chapter Ten: Project Geo Base – 2012
When Ciciley found her old locker, she was thankful that
it remained untouched by any “greens” (the new age agents who replaced most of
the old ones at the base, herself included). She blew off the dust from the
rust-ridden copper door, which still bore her maiden name, “Valdez.” Alone
inside the locker room, she stripped off her civilian clothes and put on the
decades-old S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform that was still perfectly folded inside the
locker. Of course, putting it on proved to be a somewhat difficult task. Even
though Ciciley managed to keep most of her in the same shape as she was before
her retirement from S.H.I.E.L.D., the one area she could not control was the
one that prevented her from getting her uniform on.
(Authorial Note: Livingston envisioned Ciciley's role in The Marvelous World to mirror Joanie's in World of Disney, starting out as an ordinary woman who has lost her way in the real world until later becoming extraordinary through experiences connected to the Disneyverse. In both stories, both characters are seen in two different forms - old and young.)
The standard S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform was a tight-fitting
jumpsuit, although Ciciley could not understand why the women’s edition was
made to be practically skintight. For what felt like ten minutes, she tried to
get the suit pass her protruding posterior – a product of old age, motherhood,
and plain old genetics. Ciciley was grateful that no one was there to see her
tugging and hopping to get her rear-end into the suit, but after fifteen
minutes, she got the job done. Once the whole suit was on, she could see how
she looked in the long mirror attached to the inside of her locker door. From
the front, she looked much like the young agent back in the day; however, when
she turned to look at the back…
“Dear Lord.”
(Disney Note: This scene mimics the one from the 2004 Disney/Pixar classic, The Incredibles, which involved Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible finding how much her own physique has changed over the years. Coincidentally, the Incredibles themselves appear in The Marvelous World.)
She sighed in despair of her aged body. Not even Jenny Craig can save my butt,
she thought in sadness.
The women’s locker room door could be heard opening and
Ciciley hastily shut the locker door, focusing on getting her boots and gun
belt on. Two young Caucasian women in similar skintight S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms
walked right up to Ciciley; they were both blonde, but one was brown-eyed and a
year older, standing six inches taller than the other, who was blue-eyed.
Ciciley smiled in the direction of the younger, shorter blonde and said, “Elle,
hey. Glad you could make it.”
Elendriel was the product of Ciciley’s first marriage.
Born just a year before and on the same month as Sean, Elendriel was his
half-sister. After her father was deported by S.H.I.E.L.D. for getting caught
up in espionage, Ciciley kept her close and perpetually raised her to be the
total opposite of what her father was, becoming one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most
dedicated agents next to her brother. To that very day, Elendriel had yet to
find out about her father’s betrayal; and, as far as Ciciley was concerned, she
never would.
(Biographical Note: "Elendriel Livingston" is based on and inspired by talented costume palyer Elendriel Alastair. Livingston had gifted the role to her after seeing her impressive Loki cosplay on her Facebook page. In addition to the God of Mischief, she has also costumed as other Marvel and Disney characters, including Elsa and Hans from Frozen, The Winter Soldier, and Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6.)
“Who’s the green?” Ciciley inquired, nodding towards
Elendriel’s companion.
Gee, Moms, I’m
doing great. Thanks for asking.
It was what she wanted to say in reaction to her mother’s
negligence for checking on her well-being. After all, she and her partner were
called out of an assignment in Peru because of her mother. Naturally, Elendriel
settled on not upsetting her mother
with sarcasm, due to the crucial nature of their meeting in one of
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most tight-lipped secret bases. She introduced her partner to
Ciciley: “This is Samantha Solus. I call her ‘Sammi’ for short. She was
assigned to me just a few months ago.”
(Biographical Note: "Samantha Solus" is based on/inspired by Sammi Jo Johnson, a model and personal friend of Livingston. She was given the role on a promise by Livingston to feature her alongside her fellow Oregon native, Ciciley Valdez, in The Marvelous World. This is the first collaboration between Johnson and Livingston, as she's been featured in two one-shots for the upcoming Disney Mystery fanfic series, Case of the Weird & Wonderful.)
Sammi stepped forward and stuck out her hand to Ciciley.
“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Livingston. I’ve heard a lot of awesome
things about you.”
Ciciley scoffed at the rookie’s offered hand, opting not
to shake it as she finished strapping on her gun belt. “You’ve never fired a
gun your whole life, have ya, greenie? Young hands, you got. Young and still
well-pedicured.”
Sammi drew back her hand, keeping it behind her back with
the other. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“What’ve you got
to be sorry about, greenie?” Ciciley asked, grinning. She was clearly enjoying
the mental torture. “Clearly, no one in this organization has kicked your butt
yet, have they?” Sammi shook her head. “How the hell did you even get
authorized without proper experience?”
Elendriel was getting impatient. “Can we please get back to why we’re here?”
Ciciley kept glaring at Solus while bringing the women up
to speed. “Tony Stark’s gone M.I.A., so the all-powerful Nick Fury sent in your
brother, Captain America, and Bruce Banner in after him.”
“Sent them in where?” Elendriel asked.
“Another universe, Elle.” Ciciley explained. “The
technology that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping wraps on here is one big
tesseract.”
(Marvel Note: The "Tesseract" is the cube-shaped main object of interest in both Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers, possessing unlimited energy. In Thor: The Dark World, it was revealed to be an Infinity Stone - one of six singularities that predated the universe. Once the universe came into existence, it changed form and had been used by various ancient civilizations before coming into the hands of the Asgardians, who then brought it to Earth. It was a focal point in the Battle of New York, opening a wormhole that brought the Chitauri invasion. After the battle, it was returned to Asgard and has remained there since.)
Sammi hesitated in speaking out. “But it’s a
s-sphere…m-ma’am.”
Ciciley could burn a hole into Solus, obviously
aggravated with the unnecessary correction in geometrics the young agent gave.
Quickly bringing focus back on the topic at hand before Sammi got her first
butt-kicking at the hands of her hard-nosed mother, Elendriel said, “So…the
sphere is another gateway? How do we know another Loki won’t come out from the
other side and unleash hell on us all over again?”
Her mother was momentarily silent. “I think it already
has, Elle.”
Realm D1999
Gigi was quickly reminded why she never publicly used her
abilities back when she was still known as “Joanie” with Archimedes Porter
continuously questioning her about the way she healed Sean. At first these
questions started as the usual “How did you do that?” and “What are you?” But
they gradually became centered on turning Gigi into a guinea pig as Archimedes
then asked “Would you be willing to take part in biological research?” By that
point, she was ready to leave that world along with Sean, who already had enough time
to recover from the healing process.
When Clayton returned from his journey into the jungle to
retrieve the plant (a mission that was met with failure, considering he was not
very keen on plants in general), he returned to the campsite to find Sean back
on his feet and the gunshot wound completely gone from his body. Shocked and bewildered,
Clayton whispered to himself, “What the devil?” He saw Archimedes and Gigi
close nearby and had taken notice of the bizarre hat that Gigi was wearing,
wondering where on earth it had come from.
After nearly ten whole minutes of questions, Gigi was
on the verge to throw some harsh words at Archimedes – something that would have
gone entirely against her title as “Guardian of the Disneyverse.” That was
until Sean, her knight in shining armor, stepped in and told Porter, “Hey, hey.
I need a moment alone with my friend. Do you mind?”
Still taken aback from Sean’s astounding recovery at the
hands of the sorceress, Porter acknowledged his request. “Oh, oh, yes. Of
course, my boy. Of course.” He then moved away from them and noticed Clayton
nearby, immediately going to the gorilla hunter and alerting him of the
phenomenon.
(Disney Note: Archimedes Porter has many connections to other characters in the Disney universe. He shares his first name with the talking owl of The Sword and the Stone, and he is voiced by Nigel Hawthorne, who also voiced Fflewddur Fflam in the 1985 Disney animated feature The Black Cauldron.)
“Thanks, hon,” said the extremely grateful sorceress.
“Hey, anything you want. You saved my life.” She could
see the tears in his eyes as he addressed her. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Gigi frowned in surprise. “Of course I did.”
“Yeah, I know you had
to, but you didn’t.” He sighed as a tear had fallen from one eye. “I…I could’ve
died. I wouldn’t have been able to tell my mother or my sister how much I loved
them…how much I was going to miss them.” He swallowed hard, trying to focus on
the words to tell her. “I treated you so poorly during this mission. Hell, I
pulled a gun on you! And you…you save my life like you did and…I don’t even
know where to begin in…”
She was touched by his change of heart, her own tears
welling up in her eyes. It was the first sign of expression from him that was
reminiscent of the son she left behind in her own world. Seeing him struggle to
find the words to say, she softly shushed him and placed a warm, loving hand
upon the left side of his face. “It’s alright, hon. It’s like a wise warthog
and meerkat once told me – hakuna matata.”
(Narrative Note: The classic catchphrase of Timon and Pumbaa of The Lion King, "hakuna matata" translates to "no worries." The Lion King has yet to play a crucial role in the World of Disney series, although Timon and Pumbaa were originally featured characters in the original draft of World of Disney 2. Their world, on the other hand, played a part in the events of Tales of the Disneyverse.)
Sean smiled, yet her subtle reference reminded him of
their mission. Wiping away his tears, he quickly went back to business. “Right.
So…we gotta find Cap, Stark, and Doctor Banner.”
Just as much as Sean was all business, so was Gigi. “The
only thing we are doing next is
taking you back to base.”
“What?”
“You heard me, young man. You were almost killed. I’m not
risking your life again like that.” Her motherly tone was evident in the way
she made that declaration. Man, does it
feel good to talk that way again!
“But I’m totally okay! You returned me back to perfect
health, remember?” He showed her the spot where his gunshot wound once was.
“This was seconds away from being a nasty infection. Now it’s like new! Even
the birthmark that was once there is gone!”
Gigi raised a curious eyebrow. “There was a birthmark?”
“Look, just let me come with you in finding Cap, Banner,
and Stark.”
She shook her head negatively, closing her eyes. “No can
do, hon. You’re going back now.”
“But I…”
He stopped protesting as soon as she reopened her eyes
and saw the ghostly white glow in them, which basically signified that she had
the last say on the matter. A disgruntled Sean sighed and waited for the
campsite around them to switch into the Project Geo Base. As he waited for the
transference to take place, he suddenly saw Clayton come up to Gigi from behind
and place a hand on her shoulder.
“We demand some ans—”
(UP NEXT: The unbelievable beat-down!)
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