Chapter Text
Even though the rushing sensation lasted for less than a second, Sutton’s head felt just as dizzy after they had stopped. She turned to Bee, who had shifted to look at her, but her original question died in her mouth. She was floating! Her companions were, too- Puppycat was bobbing along side her, and Bee was slowly following her, all three of them in a gentle fall. A gentle pink pattern surrounded them, with streaks of white, soft sparkles and diamonds speckling around them. She felt her stomach drop as she tried to stay calm. Bee smiled at her, obviously assuming Sutton had been through this before.
“So, can you remember their addresses?” she asked, before reaching out and gently grabbing her hand. Sutton managed to supress her initial flinch and was brought closer as she stared down. The floor had been fully pink, but now a small circle of black appeared. She wrinkled her nose, trying to think. Usually, when she needed to find Tony, she’d ask to go to Stark Tower, or he’d send someone over specifically. She’d never considered him being well known a luxury but being able to reach him whenever she’d wanted to was something she missed. Were there any addresses she knew? Apart from her own, but she doubted that Tony would just be hanging around, waiting for her. Wait- she remembered Steve’s!
“Try sixteen, fourteen Connecticut Avenue?” She offered, eyeing the growing circle beneath her nervously. What was going to happen when they reached it? She saw Bee nod in the corner of her eye. Puppycat had been quiet the entire time, lazily doing a turn as the darkness surrounded them. If she hadn’t been so scared, Sutton would have found it adorable. She blinked quickly, her eyes adjusting to the darkness.
It wasn’t pitch black, as she’d assumed, but instead faded into a dark turquoise in huge streaks. However, she didn’t pay attention to the sky for long, as her attention was brought to the huge, boxy television-type robot in front of her. She stared at it, not sure how it was floating in front of them- she had noticed tiny wings at the top, but she guessed that the bot was held by the same forces as the rest of them. Its screen flickered slightly as a simplistic face appeared. She tried not to yelp as it spoke.
“Well, hey there, Puppycat! Hiya Bee! And who might you be?” Its tone of voice shifted as she became the centre of its attention. Sutton smiled nervously, hoping to bluff her way through this.
“What? Temp-Bot? Are you saying you don’t remember me?” She was relieved to hear her voice sounded light-hearted and not guilty, so she hoped that she would get away with it. Temp-Bot’s mouth went from a small scowl to a line. It was quiet long enough for Sutton to doubt that she’d passed, and she was trying to think of what would happen next as Temp-bot spoke again.
“Oh. Uh.” It now had a shifty expression. “Well, of course! I just have a busy schedule. We haven’t talked in so long, it’s getting busier here, you know.” Sutton smiled sympathetically, nodding at her when Bee perked up by her side.
“You guys have met before, right? Neat! But, since we don’t need introductions, Sutton and us all wanna go somewhere specific. Or as close as you can to it. Think you could do that?” She asked, swinging Sutton’s hand as she spoke. Sutton wondered how long she was going to hold her hand, as sweet as it was. Temp-Bot had made a small hum as it thought.
“Hm, I guess. I’ll try, but I don’t know. Usually, I just choose whichever one is easiest. You always complain, and it makes me feel bad…” Her voice dipped as she glared mournfully at Puppycat. “And you, too. Always taking her side. We’ve worked together longer, you know that, right?” Puppycat’s song in response seemed unapologetic. Sutton realised them falling out would probably lessen her chances of finding Steve, so decided she would have to be a mediator.
“Oh, I know that no one’ll complain after this,” she assured. “We’ll all be thankful, seriously. This’d help so much. You have no idea.” She needed this to work, more than anyone here knew. “Look, can you get us to a place from another… Earth? Like a different one? Except, this one with a specific bunch of people. They’re my friends, I have to find them. Please?” She was pretty sure she looked as nervous as she felt, as she felt Bee squeeze her hand in support. Temp-Bot made a small sigh.
“Whatever, I guess.” Sutton could have cheered, but simply nodded, not bothering to stop the smile that had spread across her face.
“Wait- really? That’s great!” Things were looking up, and she was relieved to finally have a chance. She just hoped it would work out. Puppycat gave a small hum as he stared at Temp-Bot.
“Well, of course!” it agreed. Without a warning, it opened its mouth and a beam of light shone directly out to them. Before Sutton could register what had happened, or cover her eyes, she realised that her clothes felt a lot heavier. Staring down at herself, she realised that was because they weren’t her clothes. Instead, she was wearing a cream blouse with puffed sleeves, a green skirt, and brown boots laced with leaves past her ankles. Her hair was in two neat plaits, and small flowers protruded from random angles. She could feel a small pouch wrapped across her, and it felt heavy. However, she was most surprised by the capelet around her shoulders. It was a deep red, and had a soft, woollen texture that almost reached her elbows. Flowers popped up around it too, and the occasional green leaf. She looked over at Bee in surprise.
She wore clothes similar to Sutton’s, but with green shorts instead of a skirt. Her capelet had a fluffy rim, was plain red at the top instead, and her had been fashioned into two fluffy plaits like Sutton. She smiled happily at Bee. “Your friends must live somewhere nice, huh?” Sutton frowned.
“What? Is this- are these supposed to make us blend in? Wait, I didn’t say where- “before she could explain that she’d never seen anyone wear something like this, and that she had a specific place to go, Temp-Bot interrupted her.
“Transporting you to The Faire!” Now Sutton was really confused. Faire? Why would they go there? She stared in surprise as, finished speaking, Temp-Bot opened its mouth. It gaped wide, wide enough for all three to have been able to walk through. She turned to Bee helplessly, who didn’t seem bothered by Temp-Bot’s spontaneity. Instead, she motioned her head towards its mouth, which was still agape.
“C’mon! Aren’t you excited?” Bee asked, looking her in the eyes as Puppycat floated past her and into Temp-Bot’s mouth.
“Oh, he just- “She was distracted by his disappearance, and figured Bee would be too. She frowned nervously, wondering where he went. “Bee, Puppycat just went into its mouth. And I don’t even know where to- I’ve never heard of this ‘faire’ and I’m really not sure about this. Besides- oh, he’s back.” Puppycat’s paws and head had popped over the bottom of Temp-Bot’s mouth, and he mewed impatiently. Bee turned to look at Puppycat.
“We might be a sec, Sutton’s kinda freaking out over here. Why don’t you go and see what the job’s like? We’ll meet you at the bottom.” Puppycat nodded his head once, then ducked out of view. “Look, I get it’s scary doing new things. But you’re gonna see your friends again! And look, these aren’t half bad. We get little bags! I bet there’s something cool in them.” Sutton sighed as Bee struggled to open her pouch.
“It’s not that. These aren’t the clothes that people from where I’m from wear, and we didn’t tell Temp-Bot where they are, so where are we ending up?” She wished she knew what was going on, just for longer than ten minutes. Bee frowned sympathetically as she stroked Sutton’s hand with her thumb. Sutton had forgotten that she was still being held but didn’t mind. She didn’t get much physical attention nowadays, so any was welcome.
“Well, we shouldn’t keep her waiting. Why don’t we find out? Worst comes to worst, we earn a bunch of money. Then we can buy your friends something nice when we do meet them!” Sutton’s gut twisted slightly. Yet again, she had the dilemma of honesty. She couldn’t tell Bee that she wasn’t sure how long she’d be here, that she would leave without warning or reason, and she couldn’t even explain why. She just had to go along with it, figure out what she could about dimensions before she was taken to another. She nodded, turning her attention back to Temp-Bot.
“Right. We can do this.” She was mostly talking to herself at this point, and she didn’t register Bee’s soft “yeah!” beside her. “I guess… you go first?” She offered, unsure of simply hopping through Temp-Bot’s mouth. Bee grinned and pulled her along with her as they went to find Puppycat.
Noise surrounded them- hundreds, maybe thousands of people walking around, chattering to themselves. Their clothes suggested she was somewhere old fashioned, maybe medieval, but when she paid closer attention, she wasn’t sure she was right. Some people wore jeans, and she had seen people carrying plastic water bottles, and more than five people had walked past on her while texting or on a phone call. Oh! This wasn’t an actual medieval faire. This was probably just one of those fetes that appeared around spring, when it was just warm enough to get people out and cold enough that people could dress up in all their layers.
She turned to Bee, who was peering around as well. “Where’s Puppycat? Wasn’t he supposed to meet us?” she asked, hoping that they wouldn’t have to spend all their time looking for him. It didn’t seem likely that any of the Avengers would be at a renaissance faire, so she figured they may as well just have fun here while they could. Bee’s nose wrinkled as she answered.
“I mean, usually, yeah. That’s what we agreed, but sometimes he just does his own thing. We promised not to leave each other, though, so he should be nearby.” Sutton was pulled along again as Bee started to wander through the crowd. Did she not trust her to stay close, or something? Although, it did make Sutton feel safer. They pushed through all the people, the confidence in Bee’s stride suggesting that she knew where Puppycat was.
“Do you know where he is?” Sutton asked, as they reached a big stand. It was covered in blue and white stripes and had a small canopy at the front, with two triangular flags waving above. Bee grinned at her as they got closer. Sitting in front, tail occasionally flipping side to side, was Puppycat.
“Anywhere the food is, usually. We forgot breakfast, and this would have to be the place he’d choose,” she continued, nodding at the man at the counter. He smiled back, before ripping a bit off the sausages in the display and chucking it at Puppycat. Puppycat grabbed it with his paws, and chewed on it slowly, sitting on his hind legs. “Since that guy over there looks like Pretty Patrick. And Pretty Patrick always has the best food!” They reached the stand, and the tender smiled at them both.
“Hello there! And might you be interested in some sausages? They’re made as they should be, pig intestine and all!” Puppycat made a small grumbling noise and spat the meat onto the ground. The vendor grimaced slightly, turning his attention back to Bee and Sutton. “Maybe not your friend here, but how about yourselves? I can get you a good deal- if you buy three, the third’s on me!” Sutton looked at Bee. She didn’t know if this was who they were working for, or what was going on, but she figured Bee would.
“We’re good, thanks. Do you know anyone selling something nice? Like, candyfloss or something?” His expression turned into a slightly offended frown.
“My meats are nice. They’ve won awards. I’m even giving you a deal! I mean, come on. There’s no need to be rude about this.” Bee turned to Sutton for help, but she was equally lost as to how they should respond. Smiling awkwardly, she took a step back, then another, taking Bee with her. Then, she turned to the left, and quickly strode away, ignoring the seller’s sigh of exasperation. She heard Puppycat speak beside them, and Bee’s quiet agreement. She hoped they weren’t saying anything bad.
“That was great! So smooth, getting us out of there like that.” Sutton wasn’t sure if she was being serious, but she just hoped that the vendor wasn’t too annoyed. They reached another tent, much larger than the sausage-seller. Even though this fete logically wouldn’t have been set up for more than a month, there were two trees which looked at least ten years old holding the entrance open. They were covered in what seemed to be fairy lights, but upon looking closer were buzzing fireflies. The tent seemed out of place, especially since no one seemed to be going in. However, Puppycat gave another shriek and wandered through the trees, not bothering to see if they were following him. Sutton looked at Bee, unsure if they should follow. Bee’s grip tightened slightly, and Sutton found herself once again being pulled along.
The tent wasn’t well lit, but she could see enough to find Puppycat. It was dimly lit by the occasional glowing chunks of crystal hidden among shelves, and the shelves were also decorated with plants, leather-bound books and half empty jars. She couldn’t read any of the titles, partly because of the lighting and also since she didn’t recognise the characters used. There was furniture scattered around the place, but no one using them. Puppycat was wandering through the room, still not acknowledging them. Bee sighed to herself, turning to Sutton.
“Usually, they come out for us. I don’t know why it’s this hard to find them.” Sutton nodded, looking around further.
“Maybe we’re early?” She offered. “Or they’re late. Either way, we might as well just hang around some more until they arrive. Does Puppycat know anything more about them?” She saw Bee shake her head in the corner of her eye.
“I guess we really do have to wait. That’s okay. though! We can get to know each other more!” Sutton really wished whoever they were working for would come out already.