1963-08-03 - One For The Road
Summary: Bounty hunters meet X-Men, SHIELD, and a giant.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
akihiro amadeus howard jennifer jubilee 


Wednesday morning is as busy as any other day in Manhattan with traffic thick on the streets. The sun has been up for several hours now and has started to make the city a muggy, sticky place. It isn't the best-smelling place in the world during the summer months. Despite the often-heard honking of horns out on the hot asphalt, it's quiet for New York. Too quiet…

Disquiet Incarnate comes in the form of a young man in a pinstripe suit, a silver Vespa, and a puppy named Kerberos. Amadeus Cho: 5'6, 117 lbs. Currently being tailed. Numerable options here in the current datastreams pour into his head, sifted through in nanoseconds. Trillions of complex quantum calculations done in the blink of an eye. And with a grin, the young man with his Jolly Roger skullcap crosses an arm over his torso to cradle a lump there in the jacket of his suit while he lifts one leg to plant his foot on the handle, maintaing throttle while subtly adjusting his side mirror. Tail: Buick Riviera, current year. Current speed, thirty miles per hour. Puppy? Secure.

The flash of light from the mirror reflects off of the polished metal of a nearby sign and right into the driver's eyes. The driver, narrowly missing other traffic and pedestrians, smashes the hood of his car right into a tree. "Pffffttthahahahaha!" emits from the silver Vespa as Amadeus rights himself and speeds along. "Later, gators!" And arm is raised then to give a victorious one-gun salute back to his pursuers.

*

Akihiro hears the commotion before he sees it, putting out his match before lighting his cigarette. "Well, looks like I'm needed." he decides. Thankfully he left his prized leather jacket at the Institute, deciding instead to wear a suit vest over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He wanders out into the street, holding a hand up to indicate that the incoming moped needs to stop. And it's clear from the tensing of his mucles he's willing to make it pull over if he has to.

*

Jubilee is getting herself a treat today. Specially shaped popsicle molds. Mickey Mouse! Donald Duck! They're great. She's not sure if the big ears will hold up well int he summer heat, but they're worth a try at least. That's what's in the small bag she's carrying when she hears some louder-than-normal-NY noise. Curious, head up, she starts walking toward it to see what's going on.

*

"Ciao." A cheery wave goes from the young lady in a black skirt suit to her colleague emerging from a French cafe. They're the sort charging too much money for a crepe suzette, a latte, or a pastry that will substitute for real lunch unless you are in fact a lady who lunches. In which case wrong side of town. With her briefcase in hand, Jennifer Walters is exactly the image of a scourge to all law firms from New York to D.C. A woman, that's her, doing an imitation of a man's job. The looks from the men taking liquid lunches at various restaurants and pubs along the same stretch of sidewalk aren't very pleasant. Sneers abound. She pays them no mind right up to the point glass shatters, metal groans, and the sick smell of rubber joins the air. Her nose wrinkles. "A woman's work never ends," she mutters even though her companion is too far to hear, and her casual walk lengthens to the definition of 'purposeful stride in heels' to catch up with the accident site. Since she essentially broadcasts 'professional,' it's not a stretch of the imagination to assume she is a lawyer. Maybe even feeding time for lawyers.

*

The man suddenly standing in the middle of the street holding a hand up is certainly interesting. Those same datastreams roll through his head in endless streams, calculating every possible solution to this problem. Male, 5'11, 140 pounds. Facial tick patterns non-indicative of any sort of fear or raise in pulse. He's capable of something that Amadeus isn't aware of, so he decides that stopping is probably the best way to go. The Vespa comes screeching to a halt about three feet away from the man standing in his way. "Look, I don't have time for this. Whatever you think you're seeing…you have no idea, alright? Let me get on my way," he says, lifting a brow at the man.

As Jennifer strides towards the accident site, the two tattooed men in the vehicle seem to be mostly unhurt. They'll definitely have everything aches later, but right now adrenaline is high and they seem to be confronted with a fight or flight situation. Both men are at first in agreement that flight would be best so, groaning and heavily bruised, they open the doorts of the vehicle and make an attempt at limping away. "Let's go, let's go!" one of them calls to the other. The other, a burly man in his thirties, doesn't look up to running and instead draws a revolver to point at Jennifer.

Jubilee arrives on the scene in time to see that Akihiro is stopping the young man on the Vespa while Jennifer makes a mad dash towards one running man and one fleeing.

*

For Howard it's a beautiful day. He drives along with a smile on his face aviator sunglasses on, and a sleeveless vest. It might be Wednesday but today still felt perfect for a Sunday drive. What kind of fool am I plays over the speakers of his car. The music drifts slowly out from very expensive speakers. His smile somewhat hollow as he keeps it on for appearances.

His mind as always is heading fourty different places at once. He slowly rolls up to the light in his cream colored tucker torpedo. The massive dashboard in front of him covered with nobs switches levers displays and all manner of tubing. It's the kind of thing that would make a helicopter pilot completely lost. Drive a high class airline pilot to confusion. As the sound finally reaches him Howard looks over to his side, in the middle of a traffic jam. The chaos of the moment isn't lost on him.

"What in the blue blazes?" He slowly allows his thick mirror shine glasses to slide down his face. There's a pause before he starts suddenly flicking one lever after the next twisting nobs hands gliding across the surface of his cars dash-board. After a few moments the wheels of his tucker begin to fold inwards but instead of hitting the street the car simply hovers there for a few moments in place. The car slowly starts to lift up off the street level.

*

"Then stop causin- shit." Akihiro starts, attention immediately shifting to the gunman. "Over here square!" He calls out, claws exploding out between the knuckles of his right hand as he breaks out in a faster than human sprint /towards/ the man with a gun. "How about you dance with me instead?"

*

Jubilee arrives to see guns? Crashes. "What is going on here?" she says to nobody in particular. Well, there's Akihiro. She starts making her way in his direction, just in time to see him drawing his claws and jumping at a gunman. She readies to help if he needs it, but she's guessing he's not going to need it, and firing a shot willjust risk messing with him, so she just readiers herself, and gets closer.

*

Two tattooed men are, in Jennifer's line of work, the least of her worries. They could be clients or sources or the other side. She slows down at the curb, giving the Buick a one over. Flight would be best as they push open the doors, and the immediate question is simple. "You okay?" The guy limping away has her focus, but her gaze swings back to the other, and arrested motion lands her on the gun. She peers up through the tortoiseshell glasses perched on her freckled nose. "Easy buddy, easy. Just seeing you weren't hurt." Her hand rises slowly, briefcase at her side. She too can calculate the wisdom of this course of action. "Put it down. I'm not going to hurt you." Right now, anyways. Because Akihiro is going to hurt him instead, which serves just as well.

*

Engine roars as Howard takes to the skies trying to get a closer look at this whole situation. He soars through the skies closer still as he swoops in hovering up above ground level.

*

"It's not my f-!" Amadeus starts to get the words out, but the pop of claws from Akihiro's knuckles causes him immediate pause. Once again he taps into the infinite datastreams of the physical world, aware of every bit of impersonal information going on in the world around him. For him it only takes nanoseconds to come to a solution. The way that both Akihiro and Jubilee move, their defensive positions - it's trained. There's a squint at that, but back to that later. The solution to the gunman becomes entirely clear in moments.

"Just back off, lady!" the gunman shouts at her, pushing the revolver out towards her. "We want out! We just want out! It's just not worth it!" They were paid to track down Amadeus Cho and indeed anyone with connections to the underground world of wetworks, mercenaries, or traffickers would know there's a hefty sum for his capture. Akihiro draws the gunman's attention while his friend makes a mad dash away from the scene. Who's a threat? Woman talking calmly or man with razor claws running at him? Shots are fired.

At the same time, the side mirror of a 1961 Vespa goes sailing past Akihiro's head and though he may not quite catch it, the mirror strikes all three bullets, spinning and ricocheting from one to the next. It doesn't stop them from hitting Akihiro as two of the bullets graze his cheek and ribcage area respectively. One of the bullets goes a little bit awry and punches a hole in Jubilee's yellow jacket, but otherwise embeds harmlessly into the asphalt.

Howard can see the action below from his vantage point: Shots fired from one man while another runs away in a mad dash. Amadeus /threw/ a side mirror at bullets and changed their trajectory. Jennifer had been trying to reason with them, but reason may just not be working.

*

Where the bullets graze Akihiro they leave deep gashes, which heal over in the blink of an eye before they can barely bleed. His gaze follows to where Jubilee is, and that seems to set him off. "I just replaced that damn jacket!" Then he's on top of the man, lashing out with his claws. Thankfully, however, he's aiming to take the barrel off the gun, before sending a barely pulled punch at the thug's jaw.

*

Jubilee starts, not that it's going to do much good, and yes, there's a hole in her brand new jacket. BRAND NEW! She clenches a fist, and looks around thougsh, a she's more concerned about being shot at, and where the shots are coming from, than about the jacket. She tries to spot where they're coming from, to fire back! But everything's moving so fast and she came in, in the middle, so it's hard to know just what's going on yet. Just for good measure though, once she sees the man with the gun again, she fires a burst, trying to land a firecracker boom in his face to disable him maybe.

*

Jen has got to stop getting guns in her face. New York gives lots of reason to stay in the kitchen. She puts her briefcase down on the curb by the accident, and then puts her glasses in her jacket pocket in the time it takes Akihiro to close the distance with the goon, and Amadeus to throw a mirror into the path of a bullet or three. She draws in a deep breath, and then sprints off the curb in those sensible shoes. Ladies take note, high heels cannot be sprinted in without causing serious damage to yourself and others around you, though a kitten heel or a small blocky wedge might do it. The attorney has a bit of distance to catch up from the man running away. It's only sporting he gets a head start, because she starts pounding into an all out sprint. Normally for a California girl versus a thug, this wouldn't end well but the one is disoriented and bruised from coming out of the car. The other happens to be fresh, if mildly hobbled by her choice in footwear. But there's also a major dose of adrenaline and purpose kicking in, which gives a little oomph. Since, you know, irradiated blood is just the thing to get the upper hand, though she isn't tapping that quite yet. Let's see if she can catch up with a flat out sprint first. If not, the earth mother may just lay down some law in another way.

*

Keeping calm and collected Howard starts to swoop the car lower and lower popping the latch on the door of his car. He calls out to Amadeus "Hey kid, hop in." Benny Goodmans sing sing sing (with a swing) coming on over his speakers still blaring out in high quality. "Like to see em keep up with a flying car." There's a smile across the mans face as he keeps his head down a bit lower to stop from potentially getting hit by bullets while keeping up along side Amadeus.

*

Jubilee's fireworks pop in the gunman's face, distracting him from squeezing the trigger on the revolver again. He also doesn't see the fist coming his way. The shock and awe tactic works as the perfect one-two punch, though. Hit in the right side of his face by the fireworks, he catches Akihiro's fist in the left side and he flattens like a doormat. The firearm skitters to the ground. The other man is still fairly hobbled from the accident and doesn't get entirely clear of the scene in time for Jennifer to go sprinting after him.

Still, Jen might just have trouble catching up as he does have a bit of a headstart. When he sees her coming, she can probably see him in turn pulling a gun from underneath the denim vest he's wearing. The earth mother may just have to lay down that law in big, green ways after all.

Meanwhile, with them distracted, Amadeus is trying to make sure no one gets seriously hurt. The massive calculations are already running through his head, but he's starting to show some fatigue now. He takes from his pocket and unwraps a small lollipop, tucking it into his mouth. As the flying car approaches, he blinks at Howard in amazement, studying every last complexity of the 'impossible' machine. "Two questions," he says, giving a nod of his head. "Well, three. One: Can you give my lift a lift? Two: How did you stabilize the electromagnetic waves you're emitting? Three: How is it so /powerful/?" There's a furrowing of his brows, though and he begins to get his scooter ready to load into the large vehicle if at all possible.

*

Akihiro doesn't waste time, the man is down and he picked up the scent of the other two from the crashed vehicle. "Wish I was a little bit faster." he grumps, swearing quietly under his breath before he starts off in the direction Jennifer ran in, it does help that he isn't wearing heels and moves faster than an Olympic athlete.

*

Jubilee lets Akihiro do his thing, going after the other gunmen. She runs at the one she helped knock down. Running up to him, resting her boot on his shoulder, and jamming it in. "Stay down." Seeing the gun, she sends a blast at it, to push it further away, making sure he can't pick it back up. "Don't move. Don't make me hurt you."

*

It takes the space between two badly parked cars for Jen to decide enough is really quite enough. Her tailor is a very rich man at this rate, and Fashion Week probably needs an entire section just for futuristic materials for her kind. Are you listening Howard? Stark Enterprises needs to invent better than lycra fabric.

One moment, tidy little attorney doing a sprint. A blink, and maybe Roger Vadim is dropping his coffee mug as his cigarette droops from the slack corner of his mouth. Jade infuses her skintone, some kind of Chinese statuette come to life. Wild mossy green hair tumbles away from the falling pins, and the next stride bunches the powerful muscles of her thigh and calf, giving far more propulsion than any human ought to have. She springs up to leap the distance over the sprinting criminal, and land on the balls of her feet in front of him. A bit of asphalt chips and cracks around her feet — another reason not to wear heels, they're just hellish to NY department of transportation. "When a lady says stop, buddy, you stop." She advances on him with the intent to snatch the gun out of his hand, and probably pin him to the ground. "Really not in the mood. I tried being nice, remember that."

*
"First answer." Howard comments still hovering above the ground the thrust of his car hardly even pushing the grass out to either side as it seemingly floats there. "Why else would I have stopped, except maybe to gawk." He holds up a finger on his hand the music still blaring out as the back seats seemingly fold up to allow for storage of the bike. "Which while entertaining isn't exactly appropriate right here and now. Two"

He pauses taking in a deep breath of air as if about to go on some big in-depth scientific explanation. Instead he simply holds up the second finger and says with a slight smile. "I'm Howard Stark." Another light pause the door left open for a moment. "And three: I am Howard Anthony Walter Stark, little things like 'what's physically possible' don't really phase me when it comes to doing what I want."

*

The man on the ground groans out as Jubilee plants that foot on his shoulder. Going somewhere? Not at all. The burly man has decided enough is enough - particularly when he catches sight of her fireworks and Akihiro's claws once again. They're mutants and they mean business, clearly. "Okay, okay!" he says, closing his eyes and trying his best to cover them as well. Whatever the case, he's not putting up any more of a fight right now.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Or rather, back in the world of irradiated blood and legal justice, Jennifer has just decided to become the 'dreaded' She-Hulk. The first gunman can't see her, but the second one looks on in horror as the large green woman leaps towards him. /THIS/ draws Amadeu's attention as well due to his association with Bruce Banner. "Kirby," he says, looking on in amazement and stopping everything that he's doing for the moment. "I think I'm in love. And in need of therapy." A small, fuzzy grey puppy head pokes up from inside his jacket and lets out a high-pitched whine. "Damn." At the same time, speaking of amazement in reactions, it's a much different story for the second gunman. The revolver is dropped to the ground and the man in front of her just sobs a little before he finds himself pinned to the ground. "So jealous!" Amadeus calls out to the green woman before he quickly before turning his attention back to Howard.

"Amadeus Cho," he replies with a nod of his head, eyes widening just a little as he hears the Stark name. As Howard speaks, he nods his head and scrambles to get the scooter /inside/ the car somehow, allowing Howard to help him with whatever gadget he might have for the situation. When that's done, he gets into the car himself and gives the little coyote puppy in his jacket a light scritching on the head. "We're good now, buddy." Another nod is given to Stark then. "Thanks," is all he says, though he is a touch wary. No, of course Howard Stark wouldn't be interested in his bounty. Man's got enough money.

*

"Shit." Akihiro says when he catches sight of Jennifer pinning the other gunman down. "Find out what he was after?" He doesn't hang around to carry a conversation though. His claws retract into his arm as he continues the sprint, not planning on letting anybody get away.

*

Jubilee is being good. She's been told that the strategy is to be nice, and non-lethal, and non-volent when possible. But with guns out, non-violence isn't an option. So she's staying non-lethal at least. Thanks to this guy giving up. KEeping her foot on him, putting her weight into it, she stares at him, ready to do something should he try to use his much greater size against her. "Good. See I'm not even digging my heel into you. I'm just making sure you don't get up until the cops come."

*

"Never mind I could tell you about thirty city and state laws you've just violated," Jennifer grits out in a matter-of-fact tone, "you could have had my firm's help after that snafu. Now I'm going to represent that young man if there is so much as a speeding ticket to his name. You still have a choice, buddy. Play nice with Lady Justice and I'll be as fair as she is with you." Plea bargains typically aren't struck with a jade statuette who might look disturbingly like the granddaughter of Lady Liberty and the cousin of Justice done in verdigris statues everywhere around the city, kneeling over the poor soul who happened to get on her dark side. She tries not to make a total spectacle of herself, crouched down, using that ghastly strength to hold the man in place. Not enough to hurt him, though, but make a casual squirm away something done only in his very happiest dreams.

Locked and loaded on the task at hand, she slides her foot out to kick the revolver out of arm's reach but still within bounds of being bagged as evidence by some kind of law enforcement individual who is not herself.

"You want to start explaining yourself like the nice young man," Akihiro clearly, "suggested, it would be a help." Her nightshade mouth stretches into something of a flat smile that doesn't reach her eyes. Please don't let there be any flashbulbs popping right now. Sirens would be so much nicer. Or hovercraft from the futuristic cartoons where nice, law-abiding officials pop down and take away the offender and leave green attorneys to mosey past like absolutely nothing happened. She tips her head up to the shout of jealous. "Don't fly off anywhere, please! I have a few questions, starting with are you okay?"

*

"Oh well that's great." Howard says as if the world was just dandy his own voice calm collected as he just puts on that hard smile. "Stop me if you've heard this one. A former SHIELD director helps save try to save the life of a known terrorist and all around anti-shield operative."

A light pause as the shouting comes from over to one side. "And the Jolly green giant's really quite attractive cousin now wants to likely sue the pants off me." He raps his fingers across the wheel of his overly complex contraption. "So what's next?" He asks up to the sky. "Gonna start raining, or is the engine going to explode?"

*

Both gunmen seem to be giving up at this point, deciding that this is not worth the money for the bounty. The gunman currently pinned by Jubilee's heal looks understandably terrified. They weren't hunting some mutant or anything. Dumb they may be, but the burly man seems to understand when he's outclassed. "Look, I ain't goin' anywhere, lady. You wanna' ease up?"

The thug Jennifer has pinned down on the asphalt doesn't even try to move. For the most part, he just gibbers as he tries to get words out. "Okay, okay! The kid's got a bounty on him, alright? We're talkin' high numbers here. Enough to set somebody for life. Fuggin' kid is /dangerous/, though! I'll tell you that!" He then tries to struggle a little, gaining a brief amount of backbone there. "We're done, alright? This shit isn't worth it. Just let me walk outta' here, alright?"

Cho squints his eyes at Howard, gesturing to the man with splayed fingers. "So take me into custody, already. Play the hero! Defeat the evil terrorist." The young man huffs out a deep breath then before looking back towards Jennifer. "Heh. You wish she wanted your pants off. She was definitely looking my way when she said things like 'don't go anywhere', 'I need to ask you questions', and 'you've been very naughty again, Amadeus Cho, you genius stud, you'. Should we go?" In response to Jennifer, he gives her a cocky grin and a thumbs-up.

*

Akihiro stops, head ticking towards the flying car. "Cho." he growls quietly, guess you do pick up names when you spend four years at Camp Wetwork. He heads back over in view, pointing a finger at the vehicle, "Cho. What are you up to this time?" he calls out, taking a moment to put a face to the name and scent. "No good, I imagine."

He heads over to Jennifer now, "I'll take him over to the other asshole that shot me, unless you want to handle it. Figure we better not keep them too spread out."

*

Jubilee decides to be nice. She takes her foot off the guy. Then as she does that, she notices the hole in her jacket. "You shot my jacket!" she then growls, giving the man a kick in the arm. Not really a martial arts kick or anything like that. Just a reallyannoyed kick. Who knows if it'll even hurt?" Stepping back, she chances taking her eyes off of the man long enough to look over to the others. "Aki, everything ok?" she calls out."

*

A bounty hunter? Pity that fool underneath the young woman's grip because her fingers flush a darker verdant shade and the mossy halo stirs around, a shudder of displeasure running around her. "I don't care if he's the Politburo's newest nuclear weapon," she says in a low voice that holds a disturbing resonance, "he is a person. A young man. This is America, and in America, we don't put tag people for hunters to bag for a prize." Okay, other than Miss America, but those girls kind of ask for it.

The tension on her quarry will leave bruises the car accident didn't. They may be finger shaped. She hauls up the man with the effort she might spend on carrying a spice rack. A fold of her sleeve makes capturing the revolver without adding her fingerprints that much easier. With criminal man at arm's length, Akihiro can just grab him, no fuss and no dirtying his knees on the asphalt. "Thanks. Hell of a performance with the fists, by the way." Tactfully speaking of claws, and fireworks, she adds a nod to Jubilee. There's a thumbs up that way for the kick. Then Jen has to deal with looking up. "I'm not sueing anyone, but I am going to offer you representation on behalf of my firm, Mr. Cho. Jennifer Walters of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, and Holliway. And you know, almost every man is cocky when he's riding a floating phallic object, right?"

*
Howard looks back down resting his arm back on the side of his flying car. His eyes are hidden back behind a set of mirror polished aviator glasses, the man finally turning down the music. "More then welcome to represent him." He takes a slight pause. "However by the power invested in myself by SHIELD, and by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization under" He lists off a recently passed bill quoting down to the exact paragraph. "this man, Amadeus Cho, is to be placed into SHIELD custody until further notice." Rattling off the standard errata for his own organization as he continues to hover in place. "If you'd like to get in contact about representing this young man you can contact one of our public relations branches."

Howard doesn't exactly sound thrilled at the prospect of the mountains of paperwork or the ear shredding he's going to get when Peggy finds out he actually made an arrest, yet this is his life sometimes.

*

Akihiro's face doesn't quite register in his memory banks, but it's there now. It could be he's expended too much energy at the moment or that he honestly hasn't met him. The two jumble a bit in this instance. He'll remember him now, anyways. "I read lips, you know!" he calls down to the other young man. "I'm not up to anything! These guys have been after me since New Mexico!"

The man that Jubilee kicks for the tearing of her jacket looks frightened, naturally. "Sorry!" he says, though he'd clearly say anything to avoid more violence at this point. Things could only get worse with more resistance…especially since they said they were getting turned in to the cops. The burly man can go back to jail, but he can't stand chasing the young man any more.

Kirby doesn't seem bothered by any of it currently, in the warm confines of jacket and car. Hot, really. The tiny puppy opens his mouth to pant so he can cool himself off. Amadeus lifts the little coyote from his jacket and settles him in his lap. Cho looks back to Howard again and considers, pressing his lips together. He does pause a moment after Jennifer's words and he clears his throat before calling back out to her. "You're Banner's cousin?" It may be that Bruce mentioned him to her at some point or another. Maybe not, though. "If you're taking me in, legally, you can't deny me representation. I'd feel more comfortable if I had a signed contract with Ms. Walters before we continue if it's all the same to you." It clearly isn't, however. He looks a bit defeated as Howard speaks to the woman, but he does manage an apologetic look out the window to her. "I wonder why not everyone loves SHIELD," he utters, though he doesn't attempt to push that thought any further.

*

"Thanks doll," Akihiro says with a wink, taking the man by the collar. He clearly is a /lot/ stronger than he look, "didn't do too bad yourself. Next time somebody tells you a lady can't do it all, sock 'em in the mouth for me." The teen flashes the woman a wink and heads back over to deposit thug two with thug one.

"It's all good." He assures Jubilee next, dumping the man next to the asshole that ruined the coat he just bought. "You know better than to run, right?"

*

Jubilee steps back, and leans on a nearby wall. Lifting her coat tail up, she looks at it, fingering the whole left in it. Others are doing the cleanup, so she's left to worry about her trivial problems. "I wonder if I can get this patched up instead of having to get a new one. I doubt we'll get another deal on a free one. This is annoying. Very annoying."

*

"Cousins through my mother, Mr. Cho, and my father is Los Angeles County Sheriff." Because that doesn't hold a little weight, even if the girl is about seven feet tall standing up as she does now. She has listened to Howard's terms with the keen mind of someone fully versed in rights and protections. "Be as that may, Mr. Stark, and with every bit of respect for the country we serve, that boy is an American, a civilian, and entitled to the full protection afforded by his constitutional, federal, state, and civic rights. I will be altogether pleased to speak with SHIELD, but if he's retaining my counsel as I have offered, then I'll be very happy to accompany or follow you and go through all the necessary legal motions to assure my client is treated fairly and within his rights. I can even throw in showing up as a very nice lady rather than…" A sweep of her hand indicates her skin. "So as not to startle any of our hardworking men and women keeping this country safe. I don't think you will find me opposed to you and your organization, sir, but I do have a vested obligation to see that man gets all the benefits of our fine country as stipulated forth by our fine legislative and judiciary bodies. So will you be allowing me to fetch a ride, or do I need to call shotgun?"

Her manners are polite, her execution exemplary, and the fact she /could/ hop onto the back of that lovely floating phallic object probably horrifyingly clear in the wink thrown to Cho. Got your back, buddy.

*

He needs a smoke… Howard just reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small hand-rolled cigarette. He places it into the corner of his mouth simply letting it set there for a moment as his car hovers. He's listening to what she has to say even as he looks down cupping his hands in order to light up. The lighter in his hands is made from almost pure vibranium the flame on the end a pure white as it lights up just enough to get that perfect orange ember glow from the end of his cigarette.

"You know if the rest of you suddenly decide you're his council too I'm going to run out of room in the car." The voice is calm and collected even as he takes a long drag. A low puff of smoke rolls out either side of his mouth. His head rests back against the very comfortable and expensive leather seating of the car. More smoke rolls up into the air.

*

Technically it /is/ Cho's fault for ruining Jubilee's jacket, though it was the only quantum possibility that didn't involve Akihiro getting hurt worse. He hadn't accounted for his healing factor, of course, as he knew nothing about it. He does try to give Jubilee an apologetic look, though. Another glance is also given to Akihiro, though he doesn't shout anything out to the two mutants. There are police sirens on the approach, however.

It's more about her being family to someone he trusts rather than who her father is exactly, but Amadeus does nod his head to the seven-foot green woman. He almost mirrors Howard now save that in his mouth is a lollipop stick while Howard is puffing on a cigarette. "Thanks, Mister Stark," he tells the man before turning his attention once more to Jennifer. "I'm…kind of a friend of your cousin's. I haven't seen him in a while, but…" He clears his throat then before smiling sheepishly. "He's probably not going to be thrilled either."

*

"Kid's trouble." Akihiro mirrors what the goons have to say. "Now, I'm not an American citizen, so I'm heading out. Gotta go talk to my tailor anyway." He sighs quietly, attention moving back to the men on the ground. "And you're both gonna behave, right? Because I've got your scent." There's something that could intimidate a normal person behind the teen's eyes, something that suggests he is capable of worse than punching. "If I hear you've ran off, I'll drag you to the police myself."

*

"You let me deal with him." Jennifer's nightshade smile matches the faint wrinkle of her freckled nose, speaking to a clear fondness and a brief look beyond lawyer mask to the girl there. "If you're one of his proteges then I guess it's my responsibility to see he gets to give you his own thrashing." No harm there, really. Unless one worries about the littlest giant getting excitable. "I think we have everything we need here." She speaks as she bounds back to get her briefcase, doing her best not to imagine the show the rest of the street gets because of the dynamic and fluid clothing situation. Nothing out of the ordinary as totally risque, but that shirt is inadvertently a bit low cut and she would absolutely love Jubilee's coat. Still, no transformation back takes place as she breaks into a healthy sprint, measuring the distance to the floating vehicle. Seeing that Mr. Stark isn't making it any easier for her, she jumps up to meet -it-. EasySpirit shoes wish they had that amount of lift, and so does Brigitte Bardot's hair. By a grab or a much neater landing, she /does/ get on the back and promptly dwindles back down to her usual size to avoid causing a second traffic accident. Would that be an act of God?

*

Jubilee winks to Akihiro. "If they run off you'll hear some explosions. I'll stay around until it's taken care of." Leaning back,s he drops her coat, and sighs a bit. "I clearly need to get some sort of high tech armored jacket. Maybe find some military contractor and swipe it from them," she snickers. If only she knew.

*
Howard slowly lowers the car to a point that the green lawyer can get into the vehicle. However he pulls out what look two be two simple black bags from his glove compartment. "For maters of international security I am going to need you both to put one of these dampening hoods on." Finally giving in to the idea of this whole having the lawyer tag along. Looking her dead in the eyes as he puffs away.

*

Bruce…shouldn't totally lose it over Amadeus still being a rebellious little prat after they've parted ways last. He does wince a little at Jennifer because he knows that conversation is going to start with something along the lines of 'I'm disappointed'. Those conversations are always bad. "Alright," he says to her with a nod. When She-Hulk leaps up onto the vehicle and reverts to her normal size, he reaches out to open the door again if he can so that she can get inside the vehicle. Either way he'll move into the backseat so that she can have the 'shotgun' she called before.

The thugs still on the ground don't seem intent on causing any more trouble for either Jubilee or Akihiro, content to stay there until the police arrive. Well - not content, but it's a way better deal than they could have gotten.

Amadeus looks over to Stark then and cants his head to one side curiously. "Really need to figure out how you fixed the inherent stability problems with repulsor tech. This is pretty cool." Dampening hoods? Amadeus gives a raise of his brows and then a sigh. "Fine." He takes one of the hoods and slides it over his head finally.

*

"Thank you!" The happy grin thrown to Amadeus is a bit different on the windblown attorney than her green self. She wiggles in and if there's a seat belt, it's so on. "Everything is going to turn out. More or less. And if it doesn't, we will have one heck of a story to share about it." She offers her hand for a shake, of sorts. Partners in crime, right?

*

Jubilee watches to make sure the police take over. If they let her, she explains to them that the few had guns, and were shooting. She shows them her coat, where she was VERY NEARLY SHOT. "But hey it could have been worse right?" Positive face for mutants eh? Well, if anyone notices the whole firework bit.

*

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