nextgenerationmarvel | (Un)Welcome Guest at the Pier

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(Un)Welcome Guest at the Pier

It had been a few days since Arcade had managed to kidnap Mary. She returned to the Pier, to her home with the Future Foundation with an unfortunate guest in tow. Someone many people did not want about, and if they did, it was to talk poorly about her.

Alisa LeBeau was Arcade's unwilling puppet. He hacked into her neurological implants, forcing her to kidnap people and force them into a game of death. She had moments where she could take control, but it was barely enough to prevent people from getting hurt. She sacrificed her own intelligence, her own being, to stop Arcade. She would not be allowed to be used to hurt anymore innocent people. It was perhaps the only self-less act, besides saving Reiko, she had done.

After the Future Foundation scientists got a hold of the implants, they determined that it was impossible to save them. Brand new ones would have to be build and that would take time. Until then, Alisa would need to live without them... and no one could expect the state she was in once they were removed.

Her actions were childish, showing a curiosity for everything. She smiled and laughed in a genuine way, not like how she used to for show. Though confined to a single room, she did not dwell. She thrived.

There was no brooding, no pain, no bumbling when it came to socializing, and no sadness at being left alone for too long. The scientists were befuddled by her actions, until a CAT scan of her brain was taken. The bullet that had damaged her brain did not do as much damage as people thought. It was only the implants themselves that had done the real damage. Alistaire Shaw had been tricked into doing more harm than good when it came to his bodyguard, and he never knew it. A sad irony.

For now, Alisa sat in her room, her eyes glued to a TV. From what Mary heard, Alisa never watched TV, she never got a chance to, and when she did... well... Ryan could attest she would try to cover her tracks about her lack of pop culture. She appeared mesmerized by some play that was being televised, her arms about a pillow, hugging it as the show went on.

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"Hey, you weren't horrible to me. You were just...in a very confused place. I understand that. You know, in retrospect." He leaned back in the chair and crossed one leg over the other. "You've really gotta stop talking about yourself like that, though, Alisa. I can't speak for where you were - obviously, that was something that you needed to deal with - but think of this as a second chance. Maybe this time to definitively stay out of the way of those who brought you down last time." He drummed his fingers against his knee for a moment. "You have some bad patterns, Alisa. This really needs to be a wake-up call for you. You might not have made it out alive."

"Dis was a huge wake-up call." Alisa admitted, looking at Ryan straight in the eyes. "How I was does not matter anymore, you're right. I am who I am, now, an' I like dis me. I feel like a whole weight is gone, and dat I am finally free. No longer controlled by others, no longer stuck just settling for less den what I deserve, and no longer full o' anger an' hate because I was jealous o' others for havin' what I could never have."

It took a lot for her to admit all of that to Ryan. She reached out to hold his hand, to stop it from drumming on his leg.

"You were really scared, weren't you? I'm sorry I made you feel dat way, Ryan. But t'ose were just kids Arcade made me kidnap. Kids wit' lives an' families, playin' horrible life an' death games for some sicko's entertainment. De stuff nightmares are made of! If I 'ad to do what I did to save dem all over again, I would. No kid needs to be put in such a situation! I still believe I made de right call." Her eyes teared up a bit, but her smile did not waver as her other hand moved to stroke the side of his face.

"De only t'ing I woulda done differently, was said I still loved you. But I could not do dat. Not when I know you found someone so special an' perfect for you. I don' want you to ever be sad, Ryan. I want you to be happy, always."

Ryan blinked down at the open hand and, misunderstanding, handed Alisa a fresh cup of water. "Good," he said. "Though I wouldn't be so quick to proclaim things until you're actually out in the real world," he added. "Let your actions speak louder than your words." At least, that's what his mother had always told him while he'd sit and watch her work on her art. Granted, as an actor he kind of needed to let his words speak loudly as well, but he felt that in this case, that was kind of off the mark. "You gotta stop looking at what others have and comparing it to what you have. Your life is your own. You can't make it by looking at the things other people have, you make it by getting what's best for you."

He reached out and poured himself a glass of water and took a sip. It was room temperature. Bleh.

"Honestly, I didn't even know what happened until Mary texted me to tell me what was up," he gently corrected her. "These guys are heroes, though. Mary, Spidey, and the others pulled in with you. It's not as though they were innocent civilian kids who had nothing to do with the cape and cowl crowd. If anyone could handle this, it's them," Ryan said with no small amount of certainty.

He froze, though, at that last part. The briefest flicker of sparkling purple cosmic energy sprung to life around Ryan before quickly dying. "I appreciate that, Alisa," he said carefully. "But you do need to move on. From me, and from Alistaire. It's a toxic cycle you're stuck in. If you're ever going to get out, you need to move on. From all of this."

"To me, dey are still kids. Dey didn' appear seasoned enough to handle what Arcade t'rew at dem. An' dey certainly were not ready to make such a tough call. It was better I made it for dem dis time around." She blinked at his reactions towards her, then down to the cup of lukewarm water in her hand.

"Ryan, I 'ave moved on from you. I just told you dat I am happy for your an' your new girlfriend, no? It don' change dat dere will always be a lil' piece o' my heart dat cares for you. It just needs to care for you on a friendship level." she continued to look down at her water. "And as a friend, I saw you lookin' upset an' hurt. I was jus' tryin' to comfort and assure you. I didn' mean to upset you none."

She placed the water down on the nightstand by her bed and got up, standing up in front of Ryan.

"I wanna try sumt'ing I was never allowed to do, because I listened to de people who controlled me, an' everyone around me instead o' myself. An'... you may or may not laugh when I tell you what it is." She went back to smiling, walking away from him to the other side of the room. She took a good look out of the window. "Well, two t'ings."

"Spider-Man's been around awhile," Ryan said. "And Mary...she comes off as really sweet and innocent, but put her in a corner, and she's a bad-ass," he added. These were, after all, people that he knew on some level. Sure, he may not have been able to speak for the others there, but there were a couple who he knew well enough. "I know that, having the life you've had, everyone seems lighter and softer by comparison, but they're a tougher group than you give them credit for."

"Sorry. It's just that the line about loving me threw me a little bit," he said. "You can't blame me for that, given how it was a little touch and go there for awhile in regards to your feelings for me and Alistaire. Besides, I'm not the one who needs comforting here - it's you. You're the one who was passed through the wringer again."

He nodded, then. "Alright. What is this something that you wanna try?"

"You may be right, about me needing comfort. It's somet'ing I am not used to an' I don' know 'ow to really react to it." She turned back to look at Ryan. "It's as foreign to me as de Korean language is to you."

That last bit she said actually made he laugh a little. She then revealed what she wanted to do.

"I want to try out for Broadway. I 'eard dat someone is castin' for "Gypsy", an' I wanna give it a shot." She was actually blushing as she admitted this to Ryan. "When I was in college, I wanted to take performin' arts, but... everyone around me told me to take actual art instead. I regret it in a way, even if I am good at paintin', authenticatin', an' restoration."

"Naneun hangug-eo syampu gwang-go e chul-yeonhaessda," Ryan replied in Korean with a gentle smile. He had done a shampoo commercial in South Korea. He took another sip of the lukewarm water, then, and said, "You should definitely try out," he said, "but I'm going to warn you now that it's not as easy as auditioning and getting the role. I'm speaking from experience - my own and Mellie's - and from having done a lot of off-off-Broadway work. You may have to start out a little bit smaller than the Great White Way," he said. "But if it's a dream, you should definitely follow it."

"Great, I never knew you spoke Korean." Alisa smirked a bit. "But I don' care if I'm rejected. I jus' wanna try, you know? An' even if I got a bit part, I'd be happy."

"T'ough I could always try out for a Burlesque troop, instead." She grinned. "Dat always looked like fun, and I always admired de art. How confident de women are on stage an' so talented..."

Alisa quickly cut herself off, not knowing how Ryan would take what she said.

"I also wanna go on a shoppin' spree. get clothes I like for once. I mean, I rock a men's dress shirt like no other, but dat was kinda a uniform I 'ad as an Enforcer. I want to find clothes dat I like, colors dat look good on me. Finally take advantage o' havin' a personal shopper at Neiman Marcus!"

"I did a commercial there once," he said. "Shampoo." When the agency had realized that the advert would have done better with someone like Robert Pattinson in the role, Ryan had quickly been replaced. He had his advert on a dvd somewhere, though. It had, after all, played for a couple of weeks.

"As my friend Tyler would say - you gotta do you, haaay." This said without any sort of intonation, whereas Tyler's version of the phrase would have been upbeat and peppy. "Retail therapy is supposedly the best," he added. "Or so Mellie tells me."

"I never tried retail t'reapy before." She pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. "So it might be fun! An' I kinda got a limitless budget dese days."

Alisa was worth a pretty penny. From her work in the finicky art industry, her work as an enforcer, and her work as Allistaire Shaw's body-guard, she had a bank account in the low nine digits. She never had to worry about money ever again, but she was nowhere near Wyngarde and Shaw levels of money. Not that such a thing mattered to her.

"You do not t'ink I am jumpin' into all o' dis too soon, do you? I mean, I don' even know where I am going to live, now. I like my mansion, but it's got too many bad memories, now."

"I think that maybe you should sit back and take a few days rest before jumping back into things," Ryan said. "There's no rush, there doesn't have to be. Take some time. Figure things out. Wait until it feels right, and then act." It was perhaps a little funny, all of this coming from Ryan Grimm, but Alisa tended to bring out a different side of Ryan.

One that he was perhaps a little unprepared to completely accept. He was happy being the pretty face of the Imaginauts, the ditzy one with the silly one-liners and the blonde moments.

Ryan smiled softly at Alisa, nonetheless. "You could always put the mansion up for rent and then buy another piece of property for yourself to live in elsewhere. That way, there's some source of income for you without you having to live amongst the bad memories."

"Well, I did fix it up nice... I might get more out o' it den I put in." She sat back down on the bed, patting a spot for Ryan to join her. "I can get a nice place on de East Side, maybe one wit' a nice view o' de river."

"I mean... I would love to stay here. But I know I can't. It will jus' make me dependent, again. An' I need to grow, emotionally. I need to grow in my real-life skills, an' be more confident in myself."

"Whatever place that doesn't provide any triggers for you would be best," Ryan said. "East side, west side, out in Connecticut. Whatever you think would be best for you." Ryan didn't stand up and switch seats, but he did lean forward. "With Alexa and the baby, I don't think this would be the right place to crash for now anyway. It's part of why I've been staying at Mellie's place recently too. To stay out of the way." Sure, Pier 4 had a lot of space, but regardless. Besides, playing house with Mellie had been fun.

Especially when they built a laundry fort for her puppy to pounce through.

"You'll get to where you need to go. But you do need to take it one day at a time, without any rash decisions."

"I'd rather be dead den in Connecticut." Alisa laughed, leaning over to nudge Ryan's shoulder. "Sure, dey got tax free clothes, but dey film "Maury" dere, an' it's boring as heck! Give me de lights an' noise o' de City any day!"

"I'm gonna try and work on de rash decisions. But once I am well enough to start venturing out o' dis place... I'm gonna try out for some shows. I need to have sumt'ing to look forward to. An' I need to start makin' friends. GOOD friends."

Finally, Alisa brought up the elephant in the room.

"You haven' said anyt'ing about my eyes."

"Hey, Connecticut's not all that bad," Ryan said. "Good place to get away from the city, to rest and recuperate." It was better than the Hamptons at any rate, given that the city crowd tended to head to the Hamptons on the weekends and during the summers.

He smiled. "They're very pretty. A nice change. New look for a new life and all that."

"Actually, I got dem because I was worried about your broder." She admitted sheepishly. "I remember what you told me, why I was never allowed at de Pier to begin wit' . I didn' wanna make him uncomfortable in his own home, so I asked de scientists to change my eyes to a color dat would not freak him out. I'm still tryin' to get used to dem."

"Do I... look like a completely different person, now?"

"My brother?" Ryan raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't just your eyes, Alisa. I mean, yeah, that was a part of it, but it was your past as well," he added. "Thieves Guild, Hellfire Club, all of that. In case anything were to...well. Home base needed to be protected." He paused. "Besides, it's not really as though you're going to be moving in here that you need to be so worried about Jacob's feelings that you changed your eye color for him. That's something you do for yourself, and not for anyone else. I mean, you're not even a blip on his social radar for you to have gone to those lengths. Especially since we're no longer together."

He stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the view of the waterfront, and took in a very deep breath. "Alisa. If you want to change, you need to stop doing this - changing yourself constantly for those around you. It's unhealthy, and it's the wrong first step on your journey to improvement. Yeah, you look like a different person, but I'm starting to wonder if that was purely just a cosmetic change."

He breathed in deeply. "I'm not trying to be mean Alisa. Especially not after what you've been through. Having said that, though? You're never going to come into your own if you don't remain true to yourself. Things like this? It needs to stop. You're not doing anyone any favors, least of all yourself."

She felt like such a child, now. So small when Ryan brought these things up. In her mind, she had done something to prevent chaos in the Pier. Even if she was staying here for a short run, it was necessary.

"I..." She did not know what else to say. She did not know how to respond to his words or his thoughts. Alisa just went silent and listened, sitting in bed with her hands resting on her knees.

He hadn't meant to belittle her, but the fact was that Ryan had been very taken aback by Alisa's confession. He was glad, though, that she didn't try to backtrack or play it off as a joke or something, as she sometimes did. "Just...think about it, alright? About why you're making the decisions you do, and what brings you to make them." He nodded at her, a little awkwardly, and opened the window, that familiar sparkly purple glow enveloping him. "The change has to come from you, and to do it, you need to stop trying to please everyone else. Clearly all it's done so far is get you hurt." He was halfway out the window, floating, before turning back one more time. "I'm sorry. I honestly don't mean to hurt you. But someone's gotta be honest with you. I gotta jet but...take care, alright?" He pointed at one of the Gerbera daisies in the vase and lifted it with his powers, dropping it across her knees. "Let Mary know if you need anything."

With that, he was out the window, taking off into the sky.

There was so much she wanted to tell Ryan, and like that, he was gone, again. She looked at the flower he left resting across her knees and just put it back in the vase. He may have been honest with her, but it hurt.

She wanted to yell at him for being no better than the others in her life. That he never asked her to hang out, and she always had to call him. That he made her feel like more of a problem or child then a friend. Something he pitied, rather than cared for. That while his advice was good, it did not stop it from feeling so hurtful and cold.

"I'm doin' what I do, because I don' wanna be alone anymore. I want friends an' for people to like me. An' I don' know 'ow to do dat." She whispered to herself, before hugging her knees to her chest. The smile was gone, and for the first time since she had come to the Pier, she cried.

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(Un)Welcome Guest at the Pier

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