Present Time

"This is all your fault," Levi grumbled, "if you hadn't disappeared to go after Okapi, we'd never have gotten caught."

Lorelei rolled her eyes, pacing circles in the small cell. There were no guards anywhere in sight, but the door to their prison cell was still locked.

"First of all, that had nothing to do with it," she pointed out, "secondly, Okapi disappeared too! Besides, if you two had just stayed outside, I wouldn't have had to disappear."

"Who exactly is in charge here?" Levi demanded.

"Me, obviously," Lorelei countered, "unless you were going to volunteer Miss Princess of Vibranium Paradise."

"Please don't call me that," Okapi requested stiffly.

"I'm in charge," Levi repeated, "my father was the one who gave us this mission."

"And he gave Pablo and I the instructions," Lorelei pointed out.

"Where is Pedro?" Okapi enquired, suddenly noticing Pablo's absence.

"He gave all of us the mission, Lorelei," Levi argued exasperatedly, "could you stop being a drama queen long enough to admit that?"

"No," Lorelei decided, walking towards the door of their cell, "I guess you'll just have to do without me."

Before Levi could make a snarky remark about their being literally stuck in the prison cell together, Lorelei had put her hand on the cell's door, which emitted a soft click and swung open.

Levi's jaw dropped.

Lorelei walked out of the cell, and Pablo materialized beside her, flicking up the helmet of his Antman suit.

"You took your time," Lorelei grumbled, and Pablo shrugged with a wide grin on his face.

"What... how..." Levi stammered.

"Not important," Okapi decided, dragging Levi after the duo, "we're getting out of here."

-

Bruno sighed softly, flipping the testtube in his fingers. He'd managed to keep it hidden from the guards that had searched them for weapons before locking them up, although the guards had taken his backpack and the water bottle that he'd originally stored the testtube in.

He shook the testtube lightly, watching as frothy bubbles formed near the top of the mixture. He was painfully aware that he could probably gulp down the contents of the testtube in one go, transform into the Hulk, and break them all out of the prison.

But once he swallowed the serum, there was no way back. Was it really worth it?

"Well, this sucks," Hugo remarked.

"That's an understatement," Winter muttered.

"Nah, it's not really," Hugo smirked slightly, "I mean, not if you have a hairpin."

"A... why would I?"

"I don't know, because you're a girl?"

"And therefore I have a supply of hairpins with me at all times? Hah, no. That's not how it works."

Hugo's expression fell.

"Oh... in that case..."

Winter rolled her eyes, pulling a small hairpin out of her pocket.

"You are such a lucky bastard."

A broad grin spread over Hugo's face.

"Why thank you," he winked roguishly.

"That wasn't a compliment," Winter muttered, pressing the hairpin into his hands.

Hugo didn't waste as much as a second, walking straight up to the door and sticking the pin into the lock. There was only one guard, and he wasn't really paying much attention as he walked in and out of the passage -- he was due to be replaced sometime soon, and the need for sleep was etched onto his face.

"If I wasn't so sure you hated Hugo's guts, I'd be jealous right now," Rudy chuckled, and Cove pretended to gag.

A thud sounded from somewhere outside the cell, followed by a soft click as Hugo unlocked the cell door.

He opened it with a flourish, only to freeze at what he saw.

-

Lorelei and Pablo had set off at a jog down the passages, turning left and right at a guess in an attempt to find the exit. They entered another passage lined with prison cells, only to be faced with a guard that was on its way out.

The guard's eyes widened, but before he could cry out Lorelei had floored him with a quick roundhouse kick.

Behind him a cell door opened, and a young man triumphantly took the hair pin he'd used out of the old-fashioned lock.

He froze when he saw Lorelei and Pablo, both of whom were standing stock-still themselves. They must've been an interesting sight — Lorelei dressed in black and green like some sort of forest ninja, next to Pablo in a red and silver Antman suit.

"I won't tell if you don't," the young man spoke up in a clear Sokovian accent, and Lorelei nodded with a small smirk.

"Deal."

"Bro, are you Sokovian?" Pablo asked, suddenly regaining his power of speech, "that's so legit! Is that why you were locked up? Because you like, know Sokovian secrets and stuff? Does Sokovia have secret Vibranium mines, you know, like Wakanda? Or—"

"Pablo," Lorelei warned with a small smile.

"Am I rambling again?" Pablo frowned, "I'm rambling aren't I? I'm just asking, because I can't always tell for sure if like, you're frowning because I'm rambling, or just 'cuz you're trying to keep up the whole intimidating scary badass act, you know, the one that comes with being the daughter of—"

"You're rambling," Lorelei confirmed, stopping him before he could finish.

"Hugo—" another voice began, cutting off his sentence when he saw Lorelei and Pablo.

"It's okay," Hugo -- the Sokovian -- answered, "they knocked out that guard, so... the enemy of our enemy is our friend, right?"

Hugo stepped out of the cell, followed by four others. At that same moment, Levi and Okapi stormed into the passage, panting heavily.

"Slow... down... next time... please..."

"This is why you learn how to use Sling Rings," Lorelei smirked.

Levi snorted.

"Not like that would've..."

He trailed off when he saw the small group standing opposite Lorelei and Pablo.

"Um... Lorelei? We appear to be outnumbered."

Lorelei followed Levi's gaze to Hugo and company.

"Oh no worries, they're cool," she reassured him.

"One of them is a Sokovian who can pick locks with a hairpin!" Pablo enthused.

"Actually, three of them are Sokovians that can pick locks with hairpins," a silver-haired boy pointed out.

Okapi seemed doubtful.

"Well that might be good enough reason to trust them blindly for you lot, but it's not good enough for me. Could I have all your names, please?"

Hugo exchanged a look with his friend who had spoken earlier.

"Please don't tell me you actually plan on giving them your real--"

"Rudy Hunter."

"--names."

Hugo sighed.

"Well, I guess you already know my name's Hugo."

"Surname?" Okapi prompted.

"Zemo. Hugo Zemo."

Pablo quirked an eyebrow upwards as the name rang a vague bell, but he couldn't quite place it so he made a mental note to ask Lorelei later.

"Winter Imhoff."

"Bruno Wayne."

"Cove Imhoff."

"And your names are...?" Rudy enquired.

"Levi, Okapi, Pablo and Lorelei," Levi introduced them.

"Surnames?" Cove prompted with a small smirk, and Pablo rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Strange, Udaku, Rudd and..." he hesitated, leaving Lorelei to decide whether she wanted to answer for herself."

"Laufeyson," she filled in with a shrug, "there's no point in hiding it, considering the fact that you have a mind reader in your midst."

Everyone in the small group seemed surprised, and they exchanged looks suspiciously.

"A mind reader? That's awesome!" Pablo exclaimed, "who's the mind reader?"

"I don't know, I don't read minds," Lorelei quipped, "besides, I just sensed someone was trying to read my mind, I don't know who."

"Wait, one of you is a mind reader?" Cove exclaimed, glaring daggers at Rudy and Hugo, "I think that ought to have been mentioned when you listed your superpowers."

"Whoa, whoa, superpowers?" Levi broke in, "you guys are superheroes?"

"Uhhh, it sort of depends on who you ask," Cove replied with a nervous laugh as he rubbed his neck, "but yeah, I guess so?"

Bruno rolled his eyes and made a dismissive gesture.

"We're part of a small band of teenagers that likes to think they're the closest thing the present-time world has to the Avengers. We were trying to break the rest of the group out when the whole place went on lockdown and we were caught and ditched into the cell over there."

He gestured to the cell behind him.

"Which brings me to the question; are we still going to try to find them, or do the smart thing and get out of here?" Hugo enquired.

"We're going to find them," Bruno replied, crossing his arms, "I'm all for running away from conflict, but Lilian's counting on me."

"Girlfriend?" Pablo guessed.

"Twin sister," Cove corrected, "speaking of twins, my brother's in there too. Man, I bet he regrets not having joined me when I self-taught myself to pick locks."

"I suppose the real question is, are you lot tagging along with us, or do we go our separate ways?" Winter enquired, raising an eyebrow.

There was a pause.

"Pablo, watch Okapi for me. Levi, follow me," Lorelei commanded as she pivoted on her heel and took her distance from the situation.

Levi was caught slightly off-guard, but he amended his surprise quickly and jogged after Lorelei, struggling to keep up with her long strides despite not being short himself.

"What do you think?" Lorelei enquired once they were out of earshot.

"You're asking me?" Levi frowned.

"Yeah, that's what you wanted, right? To be in charge?" Lorelei tilted her head slightly, seeming genuinely confused. Of course, given her heritage, that could easily be an act.

"Um... I mean... yes?" Levi answered.

Lorelei gestured to the small group of teenagers-and-young-adults gathered in front of the cells.

"So, part of being a leader is making quick and smart decisions. So, great leader, do we go with them or not?"

Levi sighed.

"Okay, now you're just being sarcastic. I don't know, okay? Besides, every good leader has a good adviser. What do you think?"

Lorelei paused, biting her lip in thought.

"Well," she began, "they are superheroes. So the odds that the Hulk is one of them is, well, pretty big."

Levi nodded.

"So you're suggesting we go with them?"

"Even if it's just for the moment," Lorelei shrugged, "I mean, it doesn't have to be permanent."

Levi smiled, holding out his hand for Lorelei to shake.

"Thank you, Miss Adviser."

Lorelei rolled her eyes, but shook his hand.

"No problem, Mr Strange Leader."

-

Question of the chapter: would you go with Winter & Co, if you were Lorelei, Levi, Pablo & Okapi?