nextgenerationmarvel | Call for Help (Sammy)

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Call for Help (Sammy)

(Immediately following this.)

Joe headed down to the garage and got on his bike, kicking the engine to life. He put in his bluetooth and dialed Sammy's number, waiting for his oldest friend to answer.

"Hey, I need you. Something just happened and I need some back-up. You available?" Joe asked as he sped away from the house.

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"All right. I'll see you there soon." Joe said, ending the call.

Half an hour later, Joe was waiting for Sammy on the Helicarrier.

"Hey, thanks for coming. So...someone stabbed the doorman at Roxanne's brownstone with a knife I used to own. The knife was given to me by an old girlfriend who died. The one I mentioned when you found me." Joe said.

"I buried the knife with her when she died so no one should have it. Someone came after me after Roxanne and I got back from dinner and I think I know who it was." Joe said.

"You knew I'd come," Sammy accused.

"So, a knife you buried in a grave is back in play? You have some really sick enemies or your old girlfriend is a zombie."

"Don't joke about zombies. Someone, somewhere, is crazy enough to do that." Joe said seriously.

"But yeah, I buried the knife with Melissa and it showed up in the back of Roxanne's doorman. He said he saw someone casing the place most of the night. I caught up with the guy who did it not long after. He was about to give me a name and then someone remotely ended our conversation and killed him. Police were all over it." Joe said.

He paused for a moment, bracing himself to recount the story for the second time tonight.

"I met Melissa during my second year at Colorado Springs. We met in a bar one night and hit it off. Things got deep. She went on a lot of business trips and said she worked for her family. Turns out that she and her older brother, Jason, were spies. Jason did wetworks, too. Jason tried to take out a visiting general during my third year. I got involved and stopped him. Later that night, Melissa called me for help and I found Jason sitting on her couch." Joe said.

"I waited two days before I turned him in. He killed three cops before they called him. Melissa was so pissed she stopped speaking to me. A month later the coroner called me to ID her body. Last I heard, Jason was sentenced to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I went to see him once and he said he would make me pay for what happened to Melissa. He had her body moved so I couldn't visit her." Joe told her.

"He said he'd start by killing everyone I cared about. I think he arranged this but if he's out, I need to find him and stop him."

"If I don't joke about it, I'll let it get to me."

She listened intently to his story. "So we need to find out if this Jason is out. We can do that from here. What else do we need?"

"If he's still in prison, I need to know what he did with Melissa's body. I want her to rest, Sammy. I need to see him. Can we pull some kind of rank with the locals in Kansas and get in to see him?" Joe asked.

"That's easy. SHIELD has jurisdiction if we can show that it's in our interests, and there's a good amount of inter-agency cooperation. SHIELD is a good thing to have at your back. Getting him to talk is another matter. Unless you go in with a telepath, he's going to play games with you. Are you prepared for that?"

Joe took a deep breath. He hadn't thought about Jason screwing with his brain but he had to take the chance.

"No choice, really. I'll deal with it. How soon can we go?"

"I'll have the deputy director's office send the request and get us some transport. Have some coffee and relax a few minutes."

"Too keyed up for coffee, Sammy." he said, sitting down and tapping his fingers. "This whole thing is just...ugh."

A thought hit him just then.

"You think we can look up someone else while we're at it? There's someone else, not connected to this, that I need to find. He might be in trouble...or he might BE trouble." Joe said.

Too keyed up for coffee? The coffee addict in her had to marvel at that statement.

"What's the name?"

"Tommy Templeton. He's from Loving, Missouri. Used to work at a place called Clayton-Templeton Auto that burned down two years ago." Joe said, remembering his old friend. He hoped the guy hadn't gotten himself killed. That would make it hard for Joe to find him and punch him out.

"I'll put that into the system and see what jumps out. Anything else?"

"That should work. I'll be here trying to keep from jumping through the walls or something." Joe said.

"Hey, Sammy? Thank you." he said.

"No thanks needed." She bypassed the usual reminders that he should've come home sooner and gave him wink. "Your mom knows you're here."

Joe sighed. Mom would know something happened in short order and she'd be asking him to come home or trying to check out Roxie's place to see if it was properly secured.

"I'll go talk to her in a few minutes." he said.

"It'll take a while to get the info, so you have time. She worries, and she can't put SHIELD agents on your tail like my mom can do to me."

"Thank goodness. I don't need a team for my security." Joe said.

"What's up with you, lately? How are things with the boyfriend?" Joe asked.

"I'm in between," Sammy said with a shrug. "Marcus is good. He's been busy himself. He's full time with the Avengers and I'm up here a lot these days."

Joe nodded. "I talked to Bruce about the team and went on the reserve list. They're hurting for people. He said they just had some major business with frost giants."

He paused.

"I moved in with Roxanne. She had space and I needed to get out of Dad's loft." he said. "That's why I was there and why the doorman got attacked."

"I'm on the reserve list myself. If he wants me full time, he knows where to find me."

She paused.

"You both had been be kind to each other or I will put you each in painful, embarrassing positions when I find out you aren't. Not even the Goddess of Hot War-ness and Shopping or my oldest friend can stop me. Got it?"

"Sammy, it's not like that. Roxanne's had a rough time lately and I think she needs a friend. And I could use a place where my parents aren't hovering over me." Joe said.

"Besides, I'm not ready for anything. I still think she'll get back together with her ex before too long. They sounded important to each other. You don't just get over something like that easily." he said.

She frowned at him. Your Oldest Friend grew up while you were gone, Joe.

"And in the meantime, two damaged people in the same place are going to offer comfort, especially when they are friends. So I repeat, the two of you had better be kind to each other. I don't care about the way, shape, form or fashion. I just care about the two of you. We need a lot less damage and a lot more healing going on all across the board."

"You're right. You're right, of course." Joe said.

"There's not enough healing in the world. If you'd asked me when I was ten if I thought I'd be this screwed-up at 24...I'd have told you no." he said.

"I really like her, though, Sammy. She's amazing." he said.

"Anyway, let's get to work. What should I do in the meantime while we're waiting on this info?" he asked.

She hugged him, her head barely reaching his shoulder. 'Nuff said, she wasn't beating any dead horses.

She pulled back, took a deep breath, and lightly whacked him in the belly. "Go say hello to your mother and I'll go harass my mother's assistant for the info. Tell her you'll be over for Sunday dinner."

"All right, all right. I'll go." Joe said, releasing Sammy from the hug. He had to talk to his mother sometime and he knew he needed to be nicer to her. He would start now.

Joe left his kid-sister-that-wasn't-but-should-have-been and went to go see Agent 13, also known as "Mom".

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Call for Help (Sammy)

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