Special Delivery
Posted on Sun Dec 22nd, 2024 @ 12:36am by Pietro Maximoff & Ethan Hale
2,217 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 5: Days of Fortune Past
Location: Baxter Building
Timeline: November 17th, 1990
The Baxter Building was an impossible structure to miss. Standing at 35 stories tall and covered in mirrored glass, it gleamed and glistened in the winter sun amidst the brick and stone of Manhattan's more traditional buildings. Add in the impressive logo of the Fantastic Four painted across its roof and even from the sky, it was undeniable. So when Meilin had requested that Ethan deliver a packet of certified mail to X-Factor, she did little more than explain it as 'the Baxter Building'.
The security outside the building was rather high-techat and impregnable, leaving Ethan to enter through the conventional location of the front door. As he walked in, he was greeted by an olive-skinned man dressed in a doorman's jacket and a pair of white gloves. His name tag simply read 'Sal'.
"Welcome to the Baxter Building." The man said with a professional and courteous smile "How can I help you today?"
Ethan had not given up on wearing suits but found it difficult to do so if he were making deliveries and he never knew when he would be called to do so. Plus, he was just an intern. so he had changed the nature of his attire.
That morning he was dressed in a pair of black pants and a white turtleneck He'd left his blazer back in his cubicle at the law firm. He gave the man a warm gregarious smile. "Yes sir," he replied holding out the package, "I'm here to make a delivery for X-Factor. Can you tell me where there office is?"
“Oh! Deliveries stay here with me and they come down and pick them up when they want to.” Sal reached out for the clipboard that sat on his desk, he was about to start writing down the nature of the delivery when he saw the details of the documents Ethan was holding.
“Certified mail from a law office?” Sal exclaimed “Why did you tell me it required a signature of receipt…” He reached out for the phone on his desk and had a brief conversation with someone in X-Factor.
“Okay, They’re expecting you. 30th floor and the reception desk is right outside the elevator. Mr. Maximoff will sign for you, okay?” Sal gestured to the sleek silver elevators at the end of the lobby.
With a simple push of the button inside the elevator and Ethan was delivered to X-Factor’s headquarters. On the surface it looked like any other office’s reception area with a single desk and a few chairs to sit in. It was the tracksuit clad Pietro that felt out of place in this environment. Leaning against the desk with his arms folded across his chest, a look of irritation and surprise came over his face when he saw Ethan exiting the elevator. “What the hell are you doing here?”
"Well good morning to you too," Ethan replied without trying to hide the sarcasm in his tone. He held out the package, his smile having shifted into a smirk. "I'm here on official business. These are legal documents. And, why are you giving me such a hard time, I'm just trying to do my job."
"I'm giving you a hard time because I can't throw a rock in this city without hitting an X-Men. I get a call to sign for documents and surprise, it's another one of Xavier's boy scouts bringing up the papers." Pietro reached out for the packet of papers Ethan was holding. He examined them briefing before signing the certificate of service on its cover. "But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, you seem to take care of your own."
Pietro ripped off the original copy of the certificate and handed it to Ethan. "There you go, job well done." Quicksilver said with a patronizing smirk. "You'll be home in time for dinner."
Ethan returned the smirk with one of his own. After taking the signed form, he returned it to the document bag, he held up his right hand and let the talon on his middle finger flick up.
"I may be many things," he replied, “But I'm sure as fuck not a boy scout."
“Yeah, sure.” Pietro snorted, he was far from convinced.“You’re one of Xavier’s kids.”
Quicksilver dropped the delivered documents into a tray on the reception desk. Someone else in X-Factor would review and work with documents. “Well, your work here has been completed. You can go back to your law office for the next errand on your list. I suppose I’ll see you around because that appears to be the nature of the X-Men.”
"I'm not a child," Ethan said his tone short. I'm eighteen, almost nineteen and I've seen and done things most people twice my age have seen or done.. Besides you're not exactly a senior citizen yourself."
Pietro chortled at Ethan’s response, it was like a bratty child demanding that everyone acknowledge they are not just five but are actually five and a half years old. “The things you’ve seen and done clearly haven’t added to your maturity. I’m six years older than you and at this moment it feels like a lot.”
Quicksilver folded his arms across his chest as he leaned back against the frame of the door, that Lehnsherr arrogance on full display. “Look Ethan, as fun as it is to ruffle your feathers I do have things to do. Your lingering despite the work being done makes me think you want something, so what is it?”
A thousand thought rambled around inside Ethan's head, including one that said he was neglecting his duties. He'd realized almost as soon as his earlier words had left his mouth how inane they were. It wasn't unusual for Ethan to say something he'd later regret. Still, he had to be honest. It was just the way he was. "I don't really know what I want."
“Of course you don’t, you’re just a kid living out Xavier’s dream.” Pietro said with a laugh as he kicked off the wall he was leaning against and started to walk down the hall towards the living quarters on the floor. “Let me know when you figure it out, I’m always looking for a good laugh.”
"You know," Ethan replied as he half turned to leave, "you're a really hot looking guy. You're also a dick."
“I know,” Pietro said with a cocksure smile as he departed “And you love it. See you later, Boy Scout.”
Ethan with a less than innocent smile of his own, closed up his document bag and left the building, heading back to his office.
Ethan had gone outside to eat his lunch, some leftover steak fajitas when Meilin called him into her office, where she gave him a manila envelope and instructions to go back to the Baxter building. Like his first delivery of the day there, it also would require a signature and it had to be returned before the courts closed. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he was committed to his job and still wanted to make a good impression.
When he landed in front of the building for the second time that day, he described that whatever happened he wasn't going be intimidated or lose his composure. He knew the latter would be more of an effort to pull off than the former.
He walked inside.
Sal finished with dropping off a package into his locked office when he noticed Ethan had returned. “You’re back again so soon? Did you forget something?”
Ethan shrugged his shoulders and his wings rose and fell. "No," he said holding up the envelope. "I've got another delivery, this one has to be signed for too. Mind if I just head up? I'm pretty sure I know the way."
"Sorry, sir but I always have to call and get permission if you aren't on the list." Sal reached out for his phone and pressed a button to speed dial X-Factor's front desk. "I wouldn't be a very good doorman if I just let anyone head upstairs whenever they wanted to." There was a long pause as Sal held the phone up to his ear and eventually he hung up. "Looks like no one is answering, they must be out of office or in a meeting. My apologies but I can't allow you to just head upstairs unless you're on their approved list, you can either leave the documents with me or you and come back another time."
Ethan was tempted to just brush by the man, there wasn't much he could have done to stop him. But that would have been the end of his legal career.. So, he tried a different tact. "Look sir, I understand you're just doing your job, but so am I. It's my ass, if I go back without them. They have to be back at my boss's office by five o'clock. I'm an X-Man if it's not blindingly obvious. We're basically part of the same group. I can't come back at another time. Please let me go up there."
"I don't know what an X-Men is nor do I know what that has to do with an investigation agency that works out of this building. I do have a list of students from an Xavier's Institute on my list but your name isn't on here. Mr. Drake updated the list after Halloween but I don't remember who he specifically took off. I'm not going to get fired because I let someone who was specifically removed from the list up to their office and living space without their permission." Sal seemed slightly annoyed by Ethan's refusal to take 'no' for an answer but he remained professional. "Besides you told me you needed someone to sign for your delivery and there is no answer on the phone - who is going to sign for you when they are all gone?"
"I could wait," he insisted. Then an idea hit him. "The names on the list, are they first and last names? I'm also known as Gryphon. Is that name on your list?"
"I don't know what a griffin is and why it would be on a list of student's names." Sal said with a look of skepticism, "If you want to wait for a little bit you can but if it goes too long I'll have to ask you to leave do to our loitering policies." He gestured to an armchair and couch with a potted plant next to them.
Ethan just rolled his eyes, not even bothering correcting the gatekeeper. He crossed the distance to the chair and sat down. It wasn't as easy for himself as for most normal people who didn't have wings, but he'd had plenty of practice. Too bad there's not some communication device where I could just reach out to them and bypass all of this he thought to himself.
Ethan waited in the lobby until the winter sky turned to dusk and the street lights turned on outside. If he had any other tasks assigned to him by Meilin, they wouldn’t get done today. In fact, he may suffer some ramifications at his internship for deciding to wait in the lobby over returning to the office for the day.
As dinner time approached, Pietro finally returned to the Baxter Building with a bag of groceries in his arms and an older man walking with him. They didn’t touch one another but the way they spoke, with hushed close voices in what sounded like Russian, made them appear to be intimate with one another. Ignoring Ethan entirely, Pietro and his companion went straight to the elevator and pushed the button to summon it.
"Whoa," Ethan interjected as he quickly got to his feet and moved towards them. "I've got something that needs to be signed."
He noticed the closeness the two were displaying, but feigned ignorance. "This is important," he added.
“That’s a relief…” Quicksilver handed the groceries to his partner before taking the document and pen. He bent a toned leg and used it to sign the document on “For a moment there, I thought you were stalking me.”
Pietro handed back the slip and pen while keeping the document. The force in which he gave them back was more than necessary and it felt like a shove. “You’re all set, Boy Scout, free to go home to your mansion.” As the elevator opened Pietro and his guest stepped inside. “Oh and Boy Scout, if you have any other documents for signing tonight, don’t bother. I’m busy.”
"I know exactly what kind of business you'll be transacting," Ethan responded as he took the papers. Then, as he was turning to leave he added, "Old man."
Whatever insult Ethan attempted to sling fell on deaf ears as Pietro’s attention returned to the man who entered the elevator with him. There conversation returning back to that Slavic language. Quicksilver was aloof and distant with most people, it would take more than paperwork and snarky comments to catch his attention.
As the elevator doors shut, Ethan was left to exit the Baxter Building on his own.
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