*peeks into the pot* The ice is melted. Wanna feel the water? See if it’s cool enough?
*Max stuck his hand in the water before grabbing three(3) more ice cubes and tossing them in* almost.
Alright. *Carlos grabs an ice cube out of the pitcher and pops it in his mouth, crunching it with his teeth.*
Have you ever tried the hairspray lighter thing? *max took one of the ice cubes and put it in his mouth*
Yes, and it is very dangerous. I suggest, before doing that, you find a nice open space away from anything flammable. *how can one be noisy eating ice? Who knows, but Carlos is noisy*
Well that’s damn impossible since this is the middle of the forrest almost.
*peeks into the pot* The ice is melted. Wanna feel the water? See if it’s cool enough?
*Max stuck his hand in the water before grabbing three(3) more ice cubes and tossing them in* almost.
Alright. *Carlos grabs an ice cube out of the pitcher and pops it in his mouth, crunching it with his teeth.*
Have you ever tried the hairspray lighter thing? *max took one of the ice cubes and put it in his mouth*
Yes, and it is very dangerous. I suggest, before doing that, you find a nice open space away from anything flammable. *how can one be noisy eating ice? Who knows, but Carlos is noisy*
Well that’s damn impossible since this is the middle of the forrest almost.
Another robot suddenly rolled up to the bigger. He looked like a much smaller version of the sentinel. Black Hat followed, his eye twitching with anger. “Who are you?” he snarled at the human.
Carlos stopped, looking at the little robot with a little bit of caution. He then turned his attention to the other being. “I’m Carlos – I’m a scientist. I… wait, haven’t we done this before? Yeah, I think so… Anyway, I’m sorry about your robot. I can fix it, I promise.”
“I have no need for you. I have a scientist for that.” He huffed angrily. “Why are you still here? Do you have a death wish? Or are you just an idiot?” He snarled down at the human.
“I still think I oughtta fix it since I broke it,” Carlos said. “I’m just here studying a strange energy… I’m trying to figure out what it is because that’s what scientists do – figure out things that they don’t know.” He glanced at the other, smaller robot wearing a hat. It was cute – his creator really liked hats it seemed.
“Are you really that stupid? Wouldn’t it be obvious where this strange energy is coming from?” He hissed, eye twitching. The demon looked down at the small robot, who was trying to drag he bigger robot and failing. “Hmph. If you can drag that thing inside, I will allow you to fix it.” He said harshly, eye snapping back to the human.
Carlos just frowned at him. “I’m a scientist, so I’m the exact opposite of that,” he explained patiently. “And I didn’t say I didn’t know where the energy is coming from – I just wanted to study it without disturbing you.” He also looked to the smaller robot as it struggled and felt bad for it. But he knew not even he could move the robot either. “I have my toolkit in my car, actually,” he told the black-hat-wearing individual. “It should be relatively simple work for someone like me to go in and reset it.”
Another robot suddenly rolled up to the bigger. He looked like a much smaller version of the sentinel. Black Hat followed, his eye twitching with anger. “Who are you?” he snarled at the human.
Carlos stopped, looking at the little robot with a little bit of caution. He then turned his attention to the other being. “I’m Carlos – I’m a scientist. I… wait, haven’t we done this before? Yeah, I think so… Anyway, I’m sorry about your robot. I can fix it, I promise.”
“I have no need for you. I have a scientist for that.” He huffed angrily. “Why are you still here? Do you have a death wish? Or are you just an idiot?” He snarled down at the human.
“I still think I oughtta fix it since I broke it,” Carlos said. “I’m just here studying a strange energy… I’m trying to figure out what it is because that’s what scientists do – figure out things that they don’t know.” He glanced at the other, smaller robot wearing a hat. It was cute – his creator really liked hats it seemed.
Another robot suddenly rolled up to the bigger. He looked like a much smaller version of the sentinel. Black Hat followed, his eye twitching with anger. “Who are you?” he snarled at the human.
Carlos stopped, looking at the little robot with a little bit of caution. He then turned his attention to the other being. “I’m Carlos – I’m a scientist. I… wait, haven’t we done this before? Yeah, I think so… Anyway, I’m sorry about your robot. I can fix it, I promise.”
“Oh
I think he did. Got upset you weren’t there. But he’s ok now. Sometimes
comes and searches the ship but yeah. There wonderful lovely
creatures.”
“They are,” Carlos agreed. He’d never seen anything like them. “Gosh… I hope his parents are somehow able to let him know that it’s okay. Or… I dunno, Yondu… You, um… your species seems to have some minor telepathic abilities. I… I dunno if this is presuming too much, but… are you able to just…let him know I’m okay? I’m just asking – I don’t know what I’m talking about, so I’m just asking…”
Peter sighs as he flops down on his bunk and starts dialing up the signal for terra. They were goi g to be close and he knew if carlos said he wanted to see Yondu then they would visit. “Hey Carlos! Hehe. So we’re gonna be the closest we have been since we left only a few jumps away from terra. I really want to visit but you know how dad is…. he won’t come unless you call him… something about getting in your way or something. Damn man I miss you. Oh and tell your dad I’d loooove a life time supply of those tamales!”
A call from Peter was just what Carlos needed and he answered the communicator tired, but happy. “Pete, it’s so good to hear from you,” he told the younger man. “You’re close? What brings you to our back-water part of the galaxy? Heh…”
“A mission of some sort that I wasn’t allowed to go on……. was soooo stupid….. dad got shot in the arm…. would not have happened if I’d been there. But noooooo. Heh. So yeah I mentioned to dad to come by but he said not unless you invite us. Something about you being busy and stuff.”
Carlos wasn’t busy. Wasn’t busy at all. At least, not in the way he really wanted to be.
“I’m never too busy for you guys! Absolutely – swing by if you can! We’ll have dinner,” Carlos said, smiling.
“Awesome!!!” There was the sound of peter running then jumping on the bed the camera going all crazy then a flash of blue and glowing red. “Dad! Carlos says we can come visit! Common get up!!!”
“BOY GET OFF ME!!!! FUCK OWWW!!! PETER JASON QUILL GET BACK HERE!!!”
Carlos chuckled. God, he missed these peoples’ craziness.
“Yondu, you but holes in that boy I’m never buying you ice cream again,” Carlos pretended to scold, speaking loudly into the comm to make sure Yondu could hear him.
Yondu takes the com and sets it down so it showed him sitting up in bed shirtless and peter in a head lock getting tickled to death. “Now come on carlos. That’s just playing dirty.” Grins at him. He had a few bandages but didn’t look to bad.
Carlos blinked at Yondu, a little surprised at his state of
undress. Did Peter call in the middle of the night shift?
Carlos cleared his throat and smiled. “Um, so… How are you
guys doing? Not getting into too much trouble I hope?”
Yondu grins at him. “We’re ravagers always getting into trouble hehe.” Yawns a bit and let’s peter go as the boy plops down on the bed next to him. “Little shit woke me in the middle of the night cycle..”
Carlos sighed. “Peter…” he chided gently, looking at the lump of human teenager next to Yondu.
Peter grins. “Only time I can call you man especially with us being so close! And this grump is happy and he knows it!”
Yondu whacks down with a pillow. “Go back to sleep or when we do get to terra you’ll be here scrubbingbthe floors!”
Carlos smiled at Peter. He folded his arms on his desk and leaned in closer to the viewscreen on the communicator. “I’ll talk to you in a bit, Pete,” Carlos promised. “After Yondu and I iron out some details about you guys swinging by here.”
Peter huffs But then nods and jumps off the bed Yondu smirks hearing kraglins grumpy shout as peter returned to the shared bed with the older boy. “These boys are gonna be the death of me.”
Carlos just kept smiling. “But you love every minute of it, don’t you?” he asked. He propped his head up on one of his hands and looked at Yondu. “How are you doing, big guy?”
Yondu lays back floating the pad above him yawning. “I’m living. Missing you… that hasn’t changed. Just got done with another hybernation… Krags is coming out of his…. hence why peters sleeping with him. Pete either sleeps with me or krags…. sometimes Tullk or Jamie…… or Oblo never is away from someone he doesn’t trust…. never sleeps alone either. He’s been talking to someone. It’s a over comms so we can still travel. He did a lot of crying for a while…..a lot of clinging but I think he’s better now… to a point.”
Carlos hummed and nodded. “That sounds pretty normal,” he
said. “I mean, at least by human standards. We – especially kids – have a habit
of clinging onto things and thinking things are our fault. So it’ll be a while
to break him of that. But if you think he’s getting better, then I trust your
judgement. He’s… he’s not begging to go back to Earth when he’s in crisis mode,
is he?”
“Not as much. Only when he gets really upset….. keeps saying he’ll go live with you though with the argument. Kid loves you.”
Carlos chuckled. “Yeah… um, I’m glad he does,” he said. Though Carlos wasn’t sure if that should ever happen. As it stood, he was still unemployed – unemployed for a whole year, in fact. It was getting harder to explain why he hadn’t been hired yet, because really he didn’t know. He was living with his dad and his brother right now, and Mikey was the only one making any money with his software and software repair work. Carlos would really prefer Pete to stay with Yondu where he can be cared for and not feel guilty about being one more mouth to feed.
“Your thinking to hard carlos. Even if my came to lmy be with you it would be short… he doesn’t know how to live the terran life style. Anyway… how’s wheels and your dad? They doing good?”
Carlos looked at Yondu. “Huh? Oh, yeah – they’re good. They’re happy I’m still around. I, uh… haven’t gotten the chance to move back out yet. Just… haven’t had the opportunity.”
“Work hard to come by? At least one you like. With your needs and that doesn’t make you want to jump out a window. You know your job here is still available.”
Carlos sighed. “I know, Yondu, I know, it’s just…” He paused, trying
to think about all the shit he’d gone through that past year. “I…
found out my last employer was an absolute nutcase. Like, he’s been
convicted of attempted murder of one of Earth’s heroes and is in jail.”
“Wow….. sorry about that…. hey.. it will look up. That guys locked up yeah so you’ll be ok. Your really valuable just gotta take the right person to know your perfect for what ever they need you for. And earth has hero’s? Oh… John Wayne says hi…. he and he group are floating with us.”
Carlos made a little groaning noise. “I dunno,” he admitted finally. “I just… maybe he’s the reason I’m not hired yet – because people see ‘Hammertech’ in my employment history and assume I’m crooked or something. The… the guy Hammer tried to kill was literally the richest guy on Earth, and he spends his time flying around in a mechanical super suit helping people. Who the hell is crazy enough to try to kill someone like that??”
The mention of John Wayne caught Carlos off-guard. “You found the pod again? How are they doing? Has John Wayne gotten any bigger?” He wondered if Yondu was trying to distract him now. Carlos probably needed a distraction…
Smiles and shows him through the port hole. “A bit bigger not to much he’s still a baby and just as playful. Went out with them and I know he misses you too. Kept looking around the ship for you. He’s calmed down now after big daddy got him.”
Carlos couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Really? You’re kidding me – He can’t have remembered me – we only met once! He can’t really have imprinted on me, can he?”
Carlos looked at Hancock and smiled. “Oh yeah – it’s a lot spicier and there’s plenty of cheese in it. But the candy – it’s not just sugar candy, but there’s chili-powder stuff too that’s not exactly sweet but not exactly bitter either. Just kind of… tangy. Ooh! And the wizard side of Hispanic culture has some great food – Flying Quetzalcoatl chili and mango treats are one of my favorites. There’s a trick to eating it without getting bit too much.”
“Chili powder candy? That…… sounds like too much for me.” He laughed, perfectly comfortable admitting he couldn’t handle much in the way of spice. “What’s the chili like? What do ya mean it bites you? Is it shaped like a–– actually, what’s a Quetzacoatl? Is that some new world magical creature I’ve just never heard of?”
Carlos just smiled wider, a bit amused. “It’s not too spicy, I promise,” he said. “But I understand that it’s not to everybody’s taste. I really like them. And yeah… the treat is charmed to be animated. Kind of like your guys’ chocolate frogs. This candy’s just a bit sharper… in a couple of ways. And yeah, it’s based on a magical creature. It um…” Carlos thought for a second, trying to figure out how to describe it. “It’s… like a big snake. But with lots of feathers and shimmery scales.”
The Perfect Scientist 