Chapter Text
Norman sat down, letting his hands rest on the surprisingly soft grass. Beside him, Mantis and Hope sat down as well. “How long have you two been going to Bronx?” He asked, glancing sideways at them. Hope shrugged. “Since my father got a job there.” She stated. “What does your mom do, then?” Norman questioned. “She’s a police dispatcher. She and my father are two very different people.” She replied. “I have been going to Bronx high school since my sophomore year!” Mantis said brightly. Norman tilted his head. “Last year. Huh.” Mantis looked like she was about to ask something, but was interrupted by some loud yelling. Sharply turning his gaze to the source of the noise, Norman was met with Max and Curtis being yelled at from across the street by a tan skinned man, with Mr. Obfonteri standing tiredly behind him. “Mantis, aren’t those your dads?” Hope questioned, Mantis nodding.
“Huh. I wonder what Max and Curtis are doing there..” Norman wondered aloud. “Who? Max and Curtis? You know them?” Hope said. Norman shrugged. “Yeah. We’re friends. Why?” Curtis replied. “Everyone calls Curtis Godzilla and Max Sparky.” Mantis answered. Norman had overheard people calling Curtis Godzilla, but Sparky? That was new. “I know about the entire ‘Curtis bit someone’ situation, but why Sparky?” Curtis asked. “You remember that power outage two days ago?” Hope spoke. Curtis nodded, clearing his throat. “Power went out for a good hour, then came back on again. Everyone was trying to find out what happened.” Norman stated. He knew Max could control electricity and whatnot, but the cure they had made for him made Max unable to do so. “Yeah. Long story short, Black Dwarf wanted to get back at Curtis by beating up Max. Black Dwarf stole the metal thing Max wears on his chest, so Max fought back, but ended up punching an electrical pole. Power went out, and then was restored. No idea how Max was injured, but Black Dwarf was electrocuted. Not dead, wish he was, though.” Hope replied. “Hence the name Sparky.” Norman said.
“But what are they doing at my house?” Mantis spoke up. Hope shrugged. “Oh. Oh, I know.” Curtis said tiredly. “I think they’re looking for you. They want to know about the other students that go to Bronx.” Curtis stated. “Oh! I’ll go bring them over here, then.” Mantis replied, getting up and already heading over to Max and Curtis. Norman silently noted how the tanned man- Yondu, Norman thought- had gone inside and Mr. Obfonteri was pointing to Mantis walking across the street towards them. Max and Curtis seemed to brighten up at the sight of Mantis. They followed her across the street, coming to sit by Norman and Hope. “Didn’t know you two were here.” Curtis stated. Norman simply shrugged in reply. Max clapped his hands together. “So, uh, Mantis, right? We’re gonna need to ask you a couple of questions regarding some of the other students that go to Bronx High.” Norman was sure he had never heard Max talk that professionally before. Mantis simply nodded in return. “Okay. What do you want to know first?” She questioned. Max and Curtis hesitated for a moment. “Could you tell us who the Avengers are?” Curtis said. “Oh, we’re gonna be here for a while, so you may want to get comfortable.” Hope stated.
Max and Curtis blinked at each other, then turned to Hope and Mantis. “Go ahead.” Max piped up. “So, the Avengers used to be Scott and his buddies and I. But, because Scott has always had a thing for mentally and physically strong people, he started inviting Steve Rogers, James Barnes, and Sam Wilson to hang out with us. Those three are, like, the golden boys in our school. Anyway, Sam invited a few other people, but at least asked us before doing so. Steve, however, did not, and when Tony Stark entered our friend group, the original founders of it were kicked out, and now Stark leads their not-so-little squad. Scott and his buddies are now called the Wombats, courtesy of my father. Currently, everyone thinks that the original members of the Avengers are Stark, Rogers, Romanoff, Banner, Barton, and Odinson.” Hope said bitterly. “A bunch of people have come and gone from the new Avengers too. Wade Wilson, some of the X-Men, Bryce McHenry, and even the Defenders at one point.” Mantis said. “Who on Earth are Wade Wilson and Bryce McHenry?” Curtis asked. “And what's with everyone naming themselves ‘The Avengers’ or, ‘The Defenders’. I think I’ve even heard ‘The Guardians Of The Galaxy’ at one point.” Max stated.
“Oh, I’m a part of the Guardians.” Mantis replied with a shrug. “I don’t know why they called themselves that, but it seems pretty cool to me.” Mantis said, blinking. “The Defenders have a few people in their group, but the main four are Jessica Jones, she's incredibly intimidating, Luke Cage, who everyone thinks is indestructible, Danny Rand, who's incredibly good at multiple forms of kung fu, and Matt Murdock, he’s blind from some sort of radioactive spill, and everyone likes to joke that he has some sort of echolocation because of it.” Hope answered Max, steering the conversation away from the Guardians. “Huh. Okay. Who’s Wade and Bryce, then?” Norman butted in, surprisingly very curious now. “Wade is not one to be messed with, but not in the way you’d expect. He’s intimidating and all, but he doesn’t have any sort of filter. Like, at all. He’s not afraid to get on anyones nerves, and seriously doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of him. Well, except for the three Peters, maybe.” Hope answered smoothly.
“What about Bryce?” Max asked. “He’s new here as well, but not nearly as new as you guys. I guess he doesn’t talk to anyone much, but he does have a pet monkey that he brings to school sometimes. Bryce refuses to tell anyone about himself and said monkey, too. The only thing anyone knows about the monkey is that it's a Japanese Macaque. There have been a few rumors about how Bryce and the monkey are secretly some sort of hitmen too, and that Bryce has a spiritual link to the monkey, because he seems to actually be able to talk with the monkey.” Mantis answered nonchalantly. Norman, Max, and Curtis all starred for a moment. “That’s.. Intriguing. And since when were monkeys allowed in schools? Surely that violates some sort of health-code violation.” Curtis said. Norman shot Curtis a look. “Says you.” Max stated with a snort. Hope raised a brow, but didn’t question it. “Anyway,” Curtis started. “I think that just about wraps it up.” Curtis said.
“Thanks for telling us about the people! Do you guys have any idea on who else we should interrogate?” Max finished. Hope and Mantis hesitated for a moment. “I think you should give the Wombats a try. Either them, or Frank Castle.” Mantis answered with a shudder. “Just a warning, the Wombats are very talkative and love to drag everything out, but Castle is very intimidating. Either way, they’re both brutally honest when it comes to certain people and conversations.” Hope stated with a small shrug. Suddenly, Hope whipped out a pen from out of nowhere, Mantis bringing out a notebook and tearing a page out of it. Hope scribbled down the addresses, handing them to Curtis. “We never had this conversation, and I don’t know you either, got it? If anyone asks, just tell them a little birdie told you guys their addresses.” Hope said with a stare. “Good luck on the rest of your very odd journey, guys. I’m just gonna stay here with Mantis and Hope for a bit longer.” Norman piped up with a small wave, thinking that part of the conversation was now good as over. Curtis and Max waved their goodbyes, already heading off to presumably go find one of the suggestions that Mantis gave. “That was fun.” Mantis said, Hope and Norman nodding in agreement.