nextgenerationmarvel | Coping Mechanism (Kassi)

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Coping Mechanism (Kassi)

Texas Marion was correct in her belief that Tommy had a way to deal with the events of the demon invasion of New York. Were he a normal man with a nine-to-five job like, say, Dawn or most of America, he might have just had a couple of beers and slept off the experiences of that day and chalked it all up to being a mass hallucination that he would never have the misfortune of participating in again. After all, the entire story was so crazy that no one would believe it that wasn't there. Even then, Tommy could have pretended it never happened and carried that belief to his grave. After the fight with the monsters, he'd thought of catching up with Joe and Roxanne and just staying in one place for a while.

Mephisto's voice in his head ruined that idea immediately.

"Excellent work, Ghost Rider. Dormammu's incursion could not have been allowed to succeed. Your...allies were of use but do not believe that they can save you from your fate. You are mine, now and forever. For now, I leave you to your own devices until such time as I have need of you again."

Tommy didn't both saying good-bye to the others and he didn't leave a forwarding number. He simply hopped on his bike and rode out of New York like a bat out of hell, not stopping until he almost laid his bike down outside of Chicago. He'd spent the last few weeks moving from town to town, taking down criminals and allowing the Rider out at night when his willpower finally failed him.

One evening he remembered to look up long enough to find himself in New Oreleans, Louisiana. He'd spent most of the evening on Bourbon Street drinking until he could barely stand and then stumbled out of the bar into the hot, humid night. He passed the crooks, thieves and other riffraff of the city, wandered beyond the canals and managed to get down to the waterfront. He stared at the water and a thought crossed his alcohol-fueled mind.

It would be so easy to just head right in and not walk out. Just a few minutes and no more Mephisto, no more sharing my body with a demon...and no more bein' afraid of going to Hell. No more putting it off.

Before he knew it, Tommy was heading down into the water.

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"Last time that we tried that the ambassador ended up in a lab because someone in Washington thought he had to be a mutant. Before that, the guy was a side show in a traveling circus. Countless others were just outright killed. Diplomacy hasn't gone very well with the other guy taking one look at the blue skin most Atlanteans have and seeing only freaks." Kassi downed two drinks in rapid succession. "My father made some minor progress, but only because they needed him in WW2."

"Your old man fought in World War 2, too? My grandfather did. He got to work with Captain America right before Cap disappeared. Funny enough, I ended up being friends with Captain America's kid." Tommy said, noting how small the world was starting to get. It was probably always this small but a small-town boy wouldn't know that since he was from a small town.

"So your old man is okay with you just comin' here and drinkin'? I mean, you're a princess. Don't you have to do princess stuff?" he asked.

"Yeah. Dad was one of the Invaders in WW2 alongside Cap. He took Cap and Bucky's deaths really hard. It took him awhile to go see Cap after his return. That's the benefit and the curse of a long lifespan: you grieve longer but if your friends happen to just be only frozen you're around to get a beer with them when they thaw."

Kassi nodded at the bartender for more vodka.

"I wouldn't say he's super okay with it. He's never fond of me running around on the surface and he hates that his custody arrangement meant I grew up here half-time, but I'm a lot like my dad so he accepts that I'm wild. Especially since I do my princess stuff when I need to, though it's not the kind of princess stuff you're thinking. I'm not some Disney ditz."

"I'm a lot like my old man, too." Tommy said. "But I prefer workin' on my bike and helpin' people when and where I can."

He left out the part about being possessed by a demon that tended to come out at night. Like right now. The Rider was oddly silent tonight and that worried Tommy more than hearing it in his head.

"I don't know if I could take livin' forever. It sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"Dad'll die eventually. We all will. We just tend to live closer to 200 years than 80 something. And there's really no way to know how long I'll live because I'm a good chunk more human than others. Though Atlanteans are a lot more active and are generally healthier. I don't know. I might not mind being alive forever if it meant I was in good shape and mostly cute."

"Living forever is overrated. It just gives you more time to think about all the stuff in life that you fucked up." Tommy said, ordering a beer. The bartender passed him the local brew on tap and Tommy took a drink.

"So you have regular skin and other Atlanteans have blue skin? Are they okay with that down there?" he asked.

"I try not to think about the stuff that's fucked up more than just to acknowledge it." Kassi took another drink.

"Nope. There are advisers in the royal service who would love nothing more than to get rid of me. They tried a couple of years ago and failed miserably."

"I bet your old man wasn't happy about them tryin' to kill you. They still tryin'?" he asked her.

"Not happy is putting it mildly." Kassi shook her head.

"Yeah, they tried again last week but at least last week they did it during an authorized event so it would look at least a little less deliberate. I freaking love War Games."

"You're real calm for someone who's nearly been assassinated a few times." Tommy said, taking another drink.

Of course she would be. She's never been dead before, not even for a minute. The living were pretty glib about death until it got close enough to see. Even then, people simply forgot about it until the next time.

Not Tommy. He'd been dead for several months once. He could still see it.

Kassi looked at the bottle for a moment as something approximating a grim expression crossed her face.

"It's easy to be calm when you know assassination is how you will die. You live with the idea of death so close to your skin that you no longer fear dying, just everything after."

She shrugged. And took another drink.

"Fear will make you crazy. I choose sanity."

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"If you ain't afraid, you're insane." Tommy said.

"And everything after dyin' ain't really so bad. Dependin' on where you're goin'...it can even be peaceful." he said.

"I doubt there is any peace for half breed Atlantean with a rebellious streak."

She grinned.

"My definition of sanity may be different than yours. You really don't know much about us undersea types, huh?"

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"I'm from southern Missouri. There ain't a whole lot of water-people around there." he said.

"Oh wow. No. You don't. So how'd you end up here, trying to hit on me via deep dive?"

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"After that whole demon thing, I got a call from my boss and decided to skip town. Spent the last few weeks movin' around. Just happened to end up here." he said.

"Is your boss gonna be pissed?"

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"As long as I'm alive, no. Besides, he can pretty much get in touch with me anytime he wants." Tommy told her.

He paused to take a drink.

"I'm a bounty hunter, of sorts."

"That sounds interesting and terrible all at once. I didn't figure bounty hunters to be the type to not be able to have good work/life boundaries."

Kassi nodded for another bottle, this time of whiskey.

"I mean, I kind of get it. My 'job' doesn't have boundaries either."

"My job has a few perks. Boundaries are somethin' else. Not many of those. I just help people where I can." he said.

"Then again, I didn't think you had a job so much as a lifestyle."

"Common misperception, actually. There's a lot of lifestyle to it, but I actually do have work. Most of it meetings. Very long, boring as shit meetings. What sort of perks does your job have?"

"Meetin' beautiful women. Shootin' bad guys. Drinkin'." Tommy said in succession.

"Sometimes I even get chicken wings. And I make enough money to work on my bike."

"I think your job trumps mine. But you mention chicken wings. I could definitely go for some of those. I know a place. Want to get some?"

Tommy ignored the possible double entendre in Kassi's words and took one last drink.

"Wings sound great right now. Drinkin' works up an appetite." he said.

"Where you thinkin' of headin'?"

"There's a place a few blocks east of here. We'd have to get them and take them somewhere because they're the only place down here that seems to close at night, but I've got a hideout where we can go."

Kassi shook her head as she stood up.

"You are the soberest drunk guy I think I've ever drank with. Most surface guys are passed out long before now. I think I might have just found someone who can keep up with me."

She smiled at him and then went over to say something to the bartender before paying him not in cash or on plastic but in a few colored gemstones and some gold.

"Let's go get some wings and cause some trouble, eh?"

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