El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
SPOTLIGHT
Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
Post by z inactive marcspector on Mar 31, 2016 6:37:18 GMT
It was very seldom that Marc had to go to ground and flee to one of his safe houses. Circumstances had to be dire, irredeemable, and unsalvageable.
Aliens definitely ranked in Marc’s ‘top three’ when it came to shit-to-fan scenarios.
After the Incident it had, of course, been in the air. Everybody asked, what if they came back? What if they brought some new horror with them? What if this time, the Avengers weren’t enough to stop them? What if their luck ran out? Marc supposed it was a reasonable fear. Reasonable enough, in fact, that Marc had moved all of his spare Angel Wing VTOLs to the same safe house, a quiet little abandoned mansion in the wilderness over the New York-New Jersey state line. Far enough to make a viable fallback point, close enough that Marc could quickly get there in times of emergency. And Marc wasn’t too jaded to consider ‘Sky rent asunder and bleeding alien invaders’ an emergency.
Was showing up to the party fashionably late with all six of his spare Angel Wings and all fifty of his spare hunter-killers a little overzealous? Maybe. But air support, as he understood it, was thin on the ground. The swarm of silent white aerial drones glided like a parliament of owls out of the cloud cover over downtown Manhattan and scattered as the retreating enemy rushed from the city. Damn. He was too late. Again. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t help with mopping up.
”Drones 1-25, attack mode. Target unidentifiable energy signatures!” He yelled into his communicator over the wind and rain. ”Wings 2, 3, and 4, scramble to engagement zones and initiate dogfighting protocols.” The mass of white scattered like so many insects leaving the nest, and Marc pulled his own VTOL into a steep dive, minigun roaring across a line of fleeing Chitauri and turning them to mulch. The night was already almost over. Marc felt the sickening knot in his stomach of a man who had arrived too late.
Daybreak found Marc chilled to the bone by wind and rain, circling the parts of the city that had seen the most combat with his five remaining drones like a pack of predator birds, waiting for something to rear its ugly head. He felt more like a deterrent than anything else, stung with disappointment and shame.
”Déjà vu, déjà vu,” Khonshu whispered; the horrid rattling whisper of ghostly wings beating the air slowly melted into Marc’s peripherals, and he glanced over. Khonshu had appeared beside him as a great hooded thing with fabric wings and far too many jangling bone charms hanging from beneath his terrible skull. ”Look who’s come out to say hello.” Marc turned his head instinctively and spotted a shock of red atop the bank building. The Black Widow. Natalia Romanova.
”Wing 5, with me,” He said, and broke off from the pack to glide eerily towards Natalia, the quiet engines lost even to his enhanced hearing in the wind and rain. ”Wing 1, mantle. Disconnect and climb to maximum lifeline range. Priority: enemy contact.” As his wing swept down, Marc unclipped the belts that held him in place and fell, his cape whipping behind him until he let it flare out, and glided gently to Natalia’s rooftop. He landed somewhat heavily, shaking himself as he tried to get re-acquainted with the ground.
He shook his arms and let his cape fall over his shoulders, shrouding his torso and legs in white. ”Morning stroll, Widow?” He asked. ”Timing is atrocious.” He lifted his arm from beneath his cloak to examine a non-existent watch, turning pointedly to stare into the dark clouds above the city. A Chitauri ship broke the surface and rocketed up into the gloom. ”City’s under attack, don’t you know?”
Post by Natalia Romanova on Apr 2, 2016 6:15:21 GMT
No matter how exhausted she was, Natalia couldn’t sleep. She had spent a solid chunk of the day out on the West Coast, helping deal with the incursion of Chitauri in Seattle. Her body ached, and not just from the minor injuries she’d sustained at the hands of the aliens. Somehow, despite it all, her mind remained sharp and clear. The crisp wind on her face played a large part in that, of course, but she wasn’t a woman to bemoan a good thing.
Leaning against a large vent protruding from the roof of the building, Natalia skimmed the horizon. Lights filled the city - some from buildings, and others from the fires being frantically subdued by teams of New York’s finest. There was a quiet sort of din echoing out towards this area of town, but here in the industrial district, things were mostly quiet.
Her gaze swept further north along the cityscape, seeking out the familiar ‘A’ of the Avengers Tower. She wondered - no, hoped - Pepper had not been inside during the attack, or if she was, that the CFO had been safely evacuated. Pepper Potts was many great things, but despite her admirable fighting spirit, a soldier she was not. Hell, even Natalia wasn’t a soldier, but her extensive violent background had its perks during wartime. She’d been trained to combat men in all kinds of arenas - physical, emotional, mental - not aliens. The first Chitauri attack a few years ago had been a new experience for the assassin, but she was at least proud to say she’d proved herself capable despite all the odds.
A sudden feeling of dread shot down her spine and Natalia paused her speculation of the city.
She couldn’t hear anything outside the normal sounds of clean-up and the gentle pitter-patter of rain, but her instincts were screaming that she was no longer alone on the rooftop. Turning towards the left in order to hide the slight movement of her right hand down to the gun at her hip, she glanced behind her, a surprisingly stoic expression ensconced upon her porcelain features. A look of mild surprise took its hold on her face as she recognized the man dropping onto the rooftop near her. She’d stayed at his mansion for a while during the trial. His apparent derision for the limelight despite his vast wealth was a boon during her time of needing to lay low.
A slow grin formed upon her lips at the quip he used by way of greeting and as she turned to fully face him, both arms lifted back up to cross her chest. “Girl’s gotta get her cardio in sometime,” she drawled, keeping her eyes focused on the white-clad man in front of her as he inspected the heavens above. “Is it? Hm.” Once certain there were no specks of crimson to be seen against the pale outfit, she lifted her eyes to join his own as a chariot raced skyward for the safety of the clouds. “I hadn’t noticed.”
As soon as the alien was out of sight, Natalia shifted her gaze back to the man across from her and took a few steps to lessen the distance between them. The rain wasn’t heavy, but she didn’t want to yell in order to be heard nonetheless. She didn’t move with a limp, but her movements were slow and calculating, as if she were trying to maintain a level of confidence her body didn’t quite want to exude at the moment. As she got closer, her lips spread out into a surprisingly warm smile and she held one hand out towards her… yes, friend seemed correct. “It’s good to see you.” Stealing a glance at the VTOL hovering behind him, her lips cracked into a grin. “And your toys.”
Post by z inactive marcspector on May 6, 2016 20:50:13 GMT
Marc didn’t respond audibly to Natalia’s cajoling, although he did take a moment to give her a once-over. It was… peculiar, he thought, to feel the dizzying way concern pressed on his chest, even to such a negligible degree. Even Marc, stalwart tower of impassivity and couldn’t-care-less attitude, could not deny that having the red-headed Avenger hiding out at his mansion for the duration of her publicity issues and trial had put him in the awkward position of ‘bonding’ with another human being. Yuck. He’d leave the sweet-talking to Mr. Knight.
Casual greetings were another thing he wasn’t entirely used to. Regardless of whether or not he shared Natalia’s sentiment- it was good to see her, walking around and at the very least free of visible plasma burns or bullet holes. His lips tightened beneath his mask, and he rolled his shoulders in an approximate shrug as she mentioned his drones. ”Yes, well, I wound up being a little later than anticipated. You look tired,” He commented lightly, noting the forced way her legs moved. Injury? Probably. And probably trying to hide it. ”How have things been going here?” He took a moment to take in the city, noting the fires and the buildings that still had the luxury of electricity. He thought of a very far away time when he’d stood on a rooftop with another person and looked out over a city in combat- only it had been daytime, desert, and he’d had a sniper in his hands instead of a crescent dart.
Things weren’t exactly disparate enough that he couldn’t draw parallels between the two different battlefields; but this was on a whole new kind of level. None of the warzones he’d been active in had necessitated dealing with invaders that came from space. He was silent for a few moments as he watched cleanup unfold; slowly, as the hunter/killer drones and Angel Wings ran out of things to shoot, they began to trickle back in; Marc counted them. Down an Angel Wing. Down from fifty hunter-killers to around forty. Not bad, given the circumstances, he supposed. Before long they were swarming overhead like a collection of white vultures, and Marc took the opportunity to mutter some commands to his smaller drones; now that everything had settled to some degree, Marc’s primary focus was on digging survivors out of rubble and making sure that as many people were saved as possible. Most of the hunter/killers would be relegated to clean up and people-finding. Marc didn’t consider it below him or his time to help clean everything up.
”Alright,” He finally started after some amount of silence. ”I want to know what’s really going on here.” He turned to glance at Natalia, giving her a surreptitious once over to see if her body language shifted at all. ”Once is a coincidence, twice is a trend. What’s different this time, that the assault force is so much larger? There are reports of similar attacks coming in from all over.” Vaguely, he wondered if she even had the answers. He wondered if there were any to be had in the first place. It wasn’t why he’d stopped to talk… but it wasn’t as if he could march down and demand from the SHIELD agents on the ground. She was the next best thing, he supposed.
Post by Natalia Romanova on May 19, 2016 4:43:49 GMT
The silence that greeted her from the man to her left was unsurprising to Natalia. For weeks, that was most of what had filled the space between them whenever they saw each other at his mansion. It had been somewhat tense and awkward at first. She could handle silence; she preferred it, even. But he was awkward. No, that wasn’t right. He was.. nervous. At least, that’s how it had seemed. Eventually, he seemed to grow accustomed to her calm, no-pressure demeanor and the silence between them had become considerably more natural and comfortable.
Natalia’s smile slipped as Marc got straight to the point, zeroing in on the truth behind the mask of strength she tried to wear. “Jet lag’s a bitch,” she offered with a simple shrug. The flights hadn’t been terrible in and of themselves, especially considering how accustomed to travel she was. No, this was all post-battle pain, coupled with sheer exhaustion. She could survive longer than most, it seemed, but at the end of the day, she just wasn’t built for stamina.
“Reports are still coming in, last I checked. City took some damage, but it’ll live to see another day.” The West Coast seemed considerably worse for the wear at the moment. From the sounds of it, some Asgardians and the new Secret Warriors team had led the defensive measures in California, keeping the enemies in San Francisco and Los Angeles at bay while she and the other Avengers had tackled the enemies in Seattle. The Space Needle had gone down, and Steve was out of the fight should there be another attack - and she was certain there would be. All in all, it wasn’t looking pretty for Earth. “We got got rocked pretty hard over on the West Coast, but it, too, will live...”
As a comfortable silence fell over them, Natalia let her eyes wander across the city. Occasionally, the arrival of one of Marc’s drones dragged her attention up and away. Soon enough, a quiet hum filled the area, until a few muttered words from the man in white beside her sent them away again. Most, from what she heard, were being sent to help find civilians buried in the wreckage of the city. A part of her felt guilty for not being down there, helping dig with her own two hands, but Natalia snuffed that out quickly. If she pushed herself too far today, she might not be able to fight tomorrow. Or the next day. Or whenever the hell Thanos and his Chitauri mongrels returned.
When Marc’s voice lifted higher than a mumble, Natalia turned to look at him. Her eyebrows shifted together, forming a hard line across her brow as she pursed her lips in thought. Technically speaking, he was asking after classified SHIELD intel. Honestly, though, at this point, would it not be better to fill him in? He didn’t have proper clearance… but she trusted him, and well… That in itself was frightening.
Letting out a sigh, Natalia’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly and she turned to sweep her gaze across the cityscape again. “Four years ago, a… being… by the name of Thanos sent Loki here with the means to open a portal into space so that his Chitauri army could attack the Earth. We had an object here that Thanos wanted… We stopped him from getting to it…” This was old news, of course, but it was relevant.
“Thanos is what we here on Earth would call a sore loser, it seems. And so, for the past four years, he’s been rebuilding his army while moving it closer to us. According to SHIELD satellites, there’s…” She paused. There hadn’t been a number given, no estimate on just how many enemies they were facing here. More than four years ago… and more than earlier today… “...a lot of them.”
It was almost disheartening, knowing just how many they were up against. Or rather, not knowing…
“The Tesseract isn’t here anymore, but that doesn’t seem to be what Thanos is after this time around. Now, I think it’s just a matter of his wounded pride.” Turning back to Marc, Natalia skimmed him up and down. The armor was new, or at least it was something she’d never seen him wear. Hopefully it moved well enough, or else he’d be like a soup can against an army of can openers once the next wave hit.
Slowly, a tiny grin tugged at the corners of Natalia’s lips and she let out a quiet huff of a breath. “Let’s just hope his hubris rivals that of Oedipus…”
Post by z inactive marcspector on Jun 13, 2016 5:21:59 GMT
Marc seemed to consider her words, filing them away and putting pieces of a puzzle he hadn’t really ever even started together in place. Asgardians helping extrasolar beings? Smelled messy, but easy to believe if the so-called ‘Trickster God’ Loki was fronting the charge. It would explain why Thor was even a part of the Avengers in the first place. This ‘Thanos’ character certainly seemed to be the kind of threat that the Avengers generally dealt with- but had any of them really dealt with this before?
Odds seemed to be firmly in the ‘not’ camp. She really did look… tired. But for more than just her physical strains. Something was really weighing on her. He pulled his mask up to his forehead, exposing his face. Ordinarily it was quite impassive, perhaps irritated, rarely ever displaying more emotion than necessary to maintain his stoic mannerisms and preferences; however, the way his brows were pulled spoke quietly of concern, and he took the opportunity to step closer to her.
”Warmongers,” He muttered, sounding slightly grim- as if he knew what he was talking about. ”Always cradling their pride. Usually it’s compensation. This seems… a little egregious to me. ‘Sore loser’ is an understatement.” Before long he was as close as he ever got to her- just outside of arms’ reach- and folded his arms, his frown deepening slightly. ”Are you… Okay?” He asked, more earnestly than the throw-away joke he’d made before. ”You do look tired. And sore.”
”You really know how to flatter a girl, kid,” Khonshu wasn’t in sight- Marc wasn’t sure where exactly he was, but he could sure hear the aggravating phantom loud and clear. ”Are you planning on trying to guess her weight next?” Marc ignored Khonshu for the moment; there wasn’t anything humerous to him about trying to ascertain what state his friend was in. And that was, after all, what she was- even though the thought made his stomach twist. His friend. Even in all this mess, Marc was still Marc. Nobody was going to tear who he was away from him again.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Jun 14, 2016 16:16:39 GMT
Staring out at the smoking city, Natalia tried to lift her chin and pull her shoulders back, but the image of silent strength failed her. Her chest heaved in a gentle, but deep breath. As she released it a bit of tension left her body, at least, though there was clearly plenty more where that had come from. Movement to her left drew Natalia’s attention away from the cityscape and she turned in time to see Marc’s face.
Both eyebrows lifted slowly, curiously, and her lips spread out into a ghost of a smile. It was sometimes amazing how much a simple millimeter’s worth of movement could exude, but the fraction of a grin, in addition to a quick softening of her naturally icy eyes, sent a mutual look of concern over towards the white clad vigilante.
Casting a quick glance around, she stepped closer to the man so that he would be forced to look down at her petite frame. She knew how important privacy was to him, and with both news and military helicopters filling the city’s airspace, it wouldn’t be difficult for one of them to get a good enough shot of his unobstructed face. At least if he was looking down at her, the hood would keep him doused in shadow while her bright red locks guarded his chin.
“Seems we’re not the only planet with a use for such a word,” she chuckled quietly.
The tone of Marc’s next question forced Natalia to pause. That wasn’t a joke of any kind. It was pure, unadulterated concern. She looked up, catching his eyes with ease now that they weren’t hidden behind the safety of a mask, and studied him for a few moments. Finally, she averted her gaze down and nodded slightly. “I am tired. And yeah, I guess I’m pretty sore, too.” Admitting it only seemed to solidify that fact, but she tried to keep her shoulders as far back as possible.
“I spent the morning jumping off the Space Needle,” she admitted, looking back up with a grin that suggested she was trying to be chipper about the whole nightmarish situation. Letting out a breath, she reached forward and placed one gentle hand on Marc’s well armored forearm and offered him a reassuring smile. “I’ll manage, though. I always do.”
“How about you?” Canting her head, Natalia pressed down against Marc’s arm by way of adding a bit of concerned emphasis to her next question. “Are you doing alright?” Judging by her tone, Natalia wasn’t simply asking after his well-being from the first wave of Thanos’ attack. She hadn’t been to the millionaire’s house in a few months, and so she hadn’t seen him in nearly the same amount of time. The idea of leaving him alone at that enormous mansion wasn’t a terribly happy one, but she knew it was his preference, so she hadn’t felt overly guilty about leaving when it came time to move on to her next home away from home. Still, whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not, he was her friend - no matter how odd the evolution of said friendship was - and she was nothing if not caring for those lucky enough to be considered such.
Post by z inactive marcspector on Jun 25, 2016 7:25:06 GMT
Marc took a moment to consider Natalia’s responses to his question, eyebrows creasing slightly more. Even though his affect was quite flattened, Marc’s certain visual tics were noticeable enough- if you knew what to look for. It took time, but it wasn’t impossible. And Natalia had probably spent enough time around him to work it out; she was pretty bright. Seattle? He’d heard that the invasion hadn’t been limited to the east coast, but he hadn’t expected the Avengers to literally split their time between both shores. No wonder she looked fatigued. ”I take it you weren’t crossing something off your bucket list,” He deadpanned.
Truthfully he was satisfied with her response; if she was still trying to bluff him into thinking she was peachy keen, she couldn’t have been all that roughed up. He didn’t push her. She knew herself well enough to know when she was at risk. With all the ridiculous things going on it wasn’t unbelievable to think that the Avengers were spread thin. He was a little late to the party but that didn’t mean he was going to be slacking off.
As Natalia laid her hand on his arm, he barely tensed. He wasn’t fond of physical touch but living with someone, contact was inevitable. And Natalia had been… acclimating him. Anybody else tried to grab him and they risked a few broken fingers, but he’d at least grown accustomed to Natalia’s little touches of affirmation and comfort. They weren’t on hugging terms, but to Nat’s credit she was patient. He grunted slightly as a preliminary answer; his verbal response wasn’t forthcoming. ”I’m fine,” He replied. ”Bitter to be late.” He gestured out at the city, but he glanced back at her before long. ”I’m not really ever completely alone at home, you know.” This was technically only half-true. It wasn’t really exactly healthy to be stuck at home with a bunch of ghosts… but it was also something he was nothing but used to. He turned to the pair of Angel Wings circling overhead. ”Anyway. Came with an early birthday present.”
Post by Natalia Romanova on Jul 4, 2016 20:58:47 GMT
Natalia had begun to learn how to read Marc Spector during her time with him both on mission and off. His face was never usually visible outside his home, so she’d learned to use physical cues when he was parading around as Moon Knight. Or Mr. Knight. Or Mr. Moon. Whichever vigilante he wanted to be that evening, she supposed. Glancing down at the heavy armor adorning Marc’s body, she couldn’t help but wonder who was in control now. It seemed like Marc - the real Marc she’d come to know during her stint as his house guest. Perhaps this was the armor he wore when it was just him.
“You know me so well, Spector,” she purred, her shoulders rising in a gentle shrug. The amount of high places she’d leapt from over the years - some with parachutes, some with her grappling hook, and some simply on faith that her body would find a safe landing zone before the fall became too much - was almost staggering, so this particular jump would probably only stick out in her mind thanks to the hordes of aliens on the attack and the Seattle landmark crashing to the ground.
She had almost half-expected some kind of reaction from the white clad vigilante as she placed a hand on his arm. Instead, he remained still as a statue. The hint of a smile threatened to appear on her lips, but she hid it at the last moment. Her questions had been rather serious in nature - there was no room for such an expression, no matter how satisfied she was at having seemingly worked her way past one more barrier between the cold, hard hero Marc posed as, and the man beneath the mask.
The grunt was typical, of course. If he hadn’t answered verbally, she wouldn’t have pressed, but the look on her face would have suggested she wanted to. Thankfully, he added more. “As cliched as it is, better late than never definitely applies here,” she assured him, nodding her head in an affirmative manner. It was an incredibly cliched response, but it was also the truth. She hadn’t been here in the Big Apple during that portion of the attack, of course. Still, she could easily see Marc making all the difference in the tide of battle wherever he’d arrived.
A semi-amused smirk tugged at Natalia’s lips as Marc insisted he was never really alone at home. Yeah, yeah. Haunted by an ancient Egyptian deity. She’d heard the story, but hadn’t ever seen any tangible proof. She didn’t doubt him, per se, but she did prefer to believe things more fiercely once she’d seen them for herself. “How is the old bird?” she intoned, casting a cursory glance around the area. According to Marc, Khonshu tended to follow him around. Was he here now?
Her eyes danced back towards the man in front of her at his next statement, but instinctively followed his gaze up. Birthday present? Wait… “I didn’t get you anything,” she responded flatly as she watched the two drones circling overhead. Finally dragging her attention back down and away from the hovering crafts, Natalia canted her head slightly, one eyebrow arching in a lazy fashion. “So, what’s this supposed gift you brought?”
WORDS: 565 || TAG: z inactive marcspector It's okay. So many candles would probably set the city on fire... again.
Post by z inactive marcspector on Jul 8, 2016 9:41:05 GMT
At Natalia’s inquiry after his spectral patron Marc took a moment to glance around, searching for the god’s phantom form. He spotted Khonshu circling over the bulk of the action a little ways away, great wings of white fabric beating the air with a noise he could still hear faintly in the back of his head. ”He’s… Hm. I’m not sure if ‘excited’ is the proper word,” He muttered. ”He smells blood and a situation where I don’t have to hold back. He’s already been gorging himself on the work done by the other heroes and the cops. Wherever justice is being done, violently, at night, he’s there to reap the spiritual reward. I’m not sure exactly how it works. He explained it to me once- blood sacrifice and all that- but I wasn’t paying attention at the time.” He gave Natalia a minuscule and mostly apologetic smile. ”I was more hot-headed when I first started.”
Her second question- and the irreverence she started it with, made Marc’s eyebrow quirk for a moment. ”You were just looking at it,” He responded simply, tapping his watch. Wing 5 broke off its slow circling and shifted until it was circling directly overhead. ”I figured, with all the airborne targets you’ve been dealing with, you could do with some air support.” He slipped his hand into a pouch at his belt and withdrew a small communicator built into a watch, similar to his own. ”Here. Button on the side activates the recall function. Twist the rim clockwise to engage the roving AI- first click is tracking mode, it’ll follow you passively. Second click is predator mode, active seek-and-destroy on enemies you’re not currently targeting- and don’t worry, I already had the AI adjusted to go after aliens. Third click initiates AI dogfight protocols. Fourth click is ridealong mode- AI remains active but is locked to your immediate position and will stay over-shoulder until you either climb into the drivers’ seat or set it back to Tracking.”
”Counter-clockwise engages hover and switches over to manual piloting.” There was more, but hopefully she wouldn’t need to learn about the ‘kamikaze protocol’. ”All the bells and whistles in the, ehh…” He glanced up at the trio of straps and plasteel-polymer crash restraints that constituted a ‘cockpit’ and narrowed his eyes. ”The… ‘cockpit’… are labeled. Hopefully you’re a quick study- but it’s not that hard to pick up. Had to be simple enough that I could get good at it quick- I was a marine, not a pilot.” He turned back to her and issued a flat, mirthless smile. ”And if I could get the hang of it in a night, I’m sure you’ll have no problem.”
Post by Natalia Romanova on Jul 14, 2016 16:31:52 GMT
Natalia’s eyes drifted up to watch as Marc shifted his gaze this way and that, seemingly looking for the apparition she’d asked about. He wasn’t lurking over Spector’s shoulder, it seemed. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt a sense of relief at that fact - from what she’d gathered since meeting him, he wasn’t a huge fan of his life as a super-powered vigilante. Of course, she had no room to judge. She’d never considered herself a superhero (especially lately), and yet she’d been allowed a place on the Avengers.
“Well then…” she murmured, turning to glance in the direction Marc’s eyes finally stopped. There was nothing there so far as she could see, but she trusted the white clad vigilante enough to assume he saw something there. “In this instance, I gotta say - I’m more than happy to feed him if the blood of Chitauri sates his appetite well enough.”
Turning back to Marc, she caught his smile and offered one of her own. “Weren’t we all,” she chuckled, remembering clearly how often Madame B would refer to her as a spitfire when introducing the young Natalia to others.
Confusion continued to dominate Natalia’s features as she glanced back towards Marc. She’d just been looking at it? The glider? Icy orbs drifted upwards again, and she finally seemed to take in the vessel for what it was. She finally tore her eyes away from the hovercraft at the sound of Marc’s voice and the sight of movement from her peripheral vision. He was showing her a watch she knew had to control the angelwing, and just like that, she was focused wholly on the directions. Her lips twitched at the assurance he offered, but she continued to stare at the watch, trying to memorize the controls.
“Seems easy enough…” she murmured, her brows knitting together as she went over the controls in her mind over and over. Tracking, Predator, Dogfight, Ridealong… Wait… Ridealong? She glanced up at the craft again, as if seeing it from a whole new perspective. “I can’t imagine it’s got more controls than a quinjet.” It was considerably more compact, after all, and she doubted it had more engines than the SHIELD jets boasted.
One eyebrow arched lazily at what he said next - a marine? She decided against speaking out on this new fact about his life before Khonshu, instead offering Marc a simple grin. “Of course I won’t - we both know I’ve got you beat in the smarts department,” she drawled, holding her hand out to show she was ready for the watch if he was ready to give it up.
Post by z inactive marcspector on Aug 3, 2016 8:37:13 GMT
Although he didn’t really reply to her, Marc couldn’t help but agree- albeit grudgingly- that his usual compunctions when it came to Khonshu’s gory tithes were somewhat less severe when it came to killing a bunch of power-mad aliens invading his home planet. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if that would extend to other aliens in more peaceful circumstances; but it was impossible to know unless some ‘friendly’ aliens actually showed up on Earth and made themselves known. Maybe they’d get lucky and some great alien race would finally wise up, and nuke the planet from orbit, and nobody would have to worry about much of anything anymore.
But dark ideations like that were exactly the kind of thing he was supposed to be cutting back on, so Marc lent his attention to the task at hand. Luckily, Natalia seemed to have gotten the gist of what he was saying enough that she was confident with her comprehension. It didn’t surprise him; she’d told him that she was licensed for SHIELD quinjets, and if she could fly anything that Tony Stark designed she could probably fly the glider with no problems. Stark-tech was not well-known for its easily mastered UI, although he supposed that was partially purposeful to dissuade people who weren’t qualified.
Marc only let out a scoff of amusement at Natalia’s assertion that she was the smarter of the two of them; he didn’t challenge it, of course, because she was right, but he still rolled his eyes as he handed her the watch and pulled his mask back down over his face. ”Alright, alright,” He said flatly. ”Come on, I’ll take you on a quick out-and-around to make sure you’ve got everything. And, you know, to make sure you don’t crash and kill yourself.” He mumbled into his earbud and the second wing came around, and Marc started to step out from beneath the one he was lending to Natalia; but first, he hesitated, and gave her arm a brief squeeze. ”I’m glad you’re okay,” He muttered.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Aug 14, 2016 22:18:00 GMT
Receiving piloting instructions from someone who wasn’t a licensed pilot seemed odd to Natalia, but considering the source, she wasn’t terribly thrown off. Some might consider Marc to be a bit loose in the head, but she knew better. Beneath that mask, and beneath the stone cold exterior he tried to keep up at all times, he was a genius. Perhaps not quite up to Stark or Banner’s standards, but despite her teasing, she never had to fear speaking above his intelligence level.
His sense of humor could be a bit stale at times, and non-existent at others, but even in that arena, she’d noticed an increase in ability. Whether that was because of the time he’d been semi-forced to spend with her, or whether there was some other reason behind the uptick, she wasn’t sure. But it made her happy every time he cracked a joke. It made him seem more human, and less like a machine the likes of which she’d been trained to be in her youth.
A small grin continued to dance on her lips as she watched Spector’s eyes roll up into his skull briefly. He didn’t argue, of course - smart. “Maybe afterwards, we can stop for dinner at one of those park and eat restaurants,” she drawled teasingly. She was hungry (downright famished, really), but it was clear her suggestion had merely been a joke.
Natalia’s eyes shifted up to watch the second angelwing descend at a command from Marc, silently taking notes on the way he controlled his own glider as she strapped the watch to her wrist. Glancing back down, she ran over the controls he’d given her in her mind again, this time matching them up with the proper buttons on the mobile controller. He was right; this shouldn’t be too difficult for her to get the hang of quickly. She wasn’t entirely sure what kind of firepower these things packed, but even if she only kept it in tracking mode to watch her six on the ground, it would prove useful.
His movement drew her attention back up to the masked vigilante, mostly because instead of climbing into his glider, he was leaning towards her. She paused at the feel of his hand around her forearm and realized all of the sudden that she’d stopped breathing. Forcing her chest to heave outward as she sucked in a breath, she stepped forward without a second thought and wrapped both arms around his armored abdomen. “Stay safe out there, Marc,” she begged her friend, resting her fiery locks against the breastplate. “Tell Khonshu I’ll be coming for him if he lets anything happen to you.”
