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Believe it or not, Johnny Storm is not in the habit of skipping classes. Especially not this early in the semester. However, under the circumstances… he couldn't bring himself to head in to NYU this morning. Not with the state Trish had turned up in the night before.
It is an uncharacteristically quiet morning in the Richards-Storm-Grimm household precisely because of it. Johnny had been keeping an eye on her when he heard the telltale chirp alerting him to a message from the robotic receptionist outside, and with a sigh, he rakes his hands back through his newly-blond hair and steps over to press the com button. "What is it, Roberta?"
"You have a guest, sir! A Miss Walters to see you!"
With a wince, Johnny casts a quick look back over his shoulder towards the sofa. "It's… yeah. Yeah, okay, I'm — thank you, Roberta."
The wait isn't long before Johnny draws the front door open.
*
He is totally in the habit of skipping classes to gussy himself up and look fancy in front of photographers. Especially the photographer she spends an unnerving amount of time with! You cannot fool anyone; the media in this age communicates at least a few truths. Trish is asleep (gasp!) and the building is not loud or brash, certainly nothing compared to the other thrumming hives of activity dotting Midtown and the Financial District. Here are the engines of the American economy at their finest.
Snoozing.
It is daytime, therefore Miss Walters of the missing Hulk (sad!) variety wears her usual suited attire, and her usual glasses, and her usual very plummy dull attire. Someone desperately needs to teach her how to dress for the body she has, not the wallflower she pretends to be. Is. Could be. When the door is open, and the somewhat familiar face seen, poor Jen blinks twice.
"You know, next time I should have Priscilla call ahead," she murmurs. "I have your insurance documents." The heavy envelope is held up.
*
Johnny already looks utterly apologetic and the poor guy hasn't even opened his mouth yet. "No, no, a standing invite is a standing invite. We just had a… a weird night," he explains.
He draws in a breath and holds it for a moment, letting it puff up his cheeks, before Johnny flashes her one of his usual smiles and offers a hand for the envelope. "Thank you. Did you want to come in?" he offers, already taking a step back and gesturing invitingly. "Give the rain a chance to let up before you're back out in it?"
*
This news does not cause the attorney much pause. Only about seven tenths of a second, possibly. "Really. A weird night. You? Never," she concludes, finally drawing her conclusions through the almost audible rotation of gears in her pretty little head. "You can wave me off if this is inconvenient, truly. I do not need to pry into your private life, honestly."
A usual smile is met with the lawyer's mask and bearing, at least proving she is willing to finish her business and dash back to the thriving thrills of writing forms. Filling in forms. Drafting edits for forms! "I happen to look fantastic in the rain, and it makes me think clearly. Though this sort of rain is making all sorts of unpleasant grime fall to the city streets, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Are you sure?" Johnny receives a passing, lengthy stare of distrust and uncertainty, like this offer is only to be polite. "I don't wish to put anyone out. Though I would be curious. Given this is next to Stark and Fisk Towers pretty much the most famous recent building."
*
That response gets a very wry smile from Johnny and a slight lofting of his eyebrows — yeah, that's a fair cop. He can't argue with that. "I guess we don't really do 'normal' anymore, do we?" he asks with an amused shake of his head. "It wouldn't be prying. Honestly. C'mon." He nods inside and offers her another smile. "We've got fresh coffee…" That one, he points out in as comically tantalizing a voice as he can manage, with a waggling of his eyebrows for emphasis. Pretty lawyers can't resist coffee, can they?
"I can tell you about it while I give you the tour, if you want," Johnny offers, and he actually sounds… almost hopeful. One supposes that when you're a part of the Fantastic Four, you don't have too many people to talk to who you know won't go running to the papers. "Though, honestly, Reed's better at the tours. If you like technobabble."
*
"Normal is a bit of a misnomer, given there is no singular definition of normal. Maybe that's your new standard, having things drop out of the sky to ask you to take care of them," allows the attorney with a bit of a shrug of a shoulder that meet with a grin. Then she steps in, her shoes not making it past the door because that's only polite to do in someone else's house. Stockings show off a pedicure only a little, and she is happy to be free of her bag of legal documents and various other detritus. "A cup of coffee sounds like heaven right about now. It can even be /terrible/ coffee and I'm okay with that."
She pushes her glasses up and otherwise tugs on her damp coat, but this is the curse of someone without an umbrella. "A tour and trouble? Now you have your hook. I like human talk, my cousin gives me enough of the babble."
*
"That reminds me — if you see Spider-Man knocking on the window while you're here, don't freak out," Johnny says lightly, setting the envelope down on the small table next to the door. He turns and offers his hands for Jennifer's coat with a questioning tip of his head towards a small door off to the side — coat closet. "He's invited."
Once the coat is dealt-with-or-not, Johnny scoops the envelope back up and starts for the kitchen, pressing a finger to his lips as the path requires walking past the couch. He doesn't speak again until he's in the kitchen and fetching a pair of mugs, and even then, he keeps his voice down. "I will give you all the human talk you want, Jen. …oh. Can I call you Jen?" he asks with a wince, looking over his shoulder. "Too familiar?"
*
The young woman stares at him for a moment. "You invited a public menace," how does she say that with a straight face? "Here. To this building I just had insured for you, at the cost of a nicely pointed conversation with an underwriting assistant at your insurance company. That's another twenty-five thousand dollar rider and, I know this doesn't seem like much, but they could possibly use that as a clause to get out of any damage because he is a miscreant. It's like having bears on your property." She eyes Johnny quite seriously. "You need to make sure you put up a small sign in two entrance points, one preferably by a window and the other a few storeys above that, maybe by the fire escape or a light, that basically acknowledge the premises are guarded and you'll report any acts of vandalism to the proper authorities. That includes the firm if you need us to pursue anything."
That suit jacket is dull as day, but the white blouse is also dull as day. How terribly awful! She will hang it up, and then wanders after Johnny. The whole football team could be passed out on the couch and she wouldn't have any questions, though the Yankees, maybe, because she's a Dodgers girl. I know, total heathen, given they just moved, and the player knows jack and sprat about the most boring of sports, so please be kind beyond that. "You can call me Jen. Most of my friends and family do. What I've got anyways. Jenny is a straight up no, though, so we're clear."
*
With the two mugs in hand, Johnny turns to blink owlishly at Jennifer as she explains why, exactly, inviting Spider-Man to come by was a Bad Idea That He Should Feel Bad For. Except… he doesn't seem to feel bad about it. "He isn't a menace," he replies simply, with another puzzled blink. "We caught some bank robbers together yesterday." After a pause, his mouth twists to one side. "…but that doesn't matter, only what public opinion is," he says for her, with a tired nod of his head. "No, no. You're right. I'll… yeah. Signs." The envelope gets set aside and he turns to pour coffee, instead.
"Oh, god, no. You are not a Jenny," Johnny says with an almost comical grimace. "That's — no. Jen it is."
*
Two precious mugs of coffee are the makings of a good morning, though she probably already had two or three to get her to this point in the day. She has already been up for hours, and no doubt the story of stopping bank robbers has her almost spluttering into her mug. "Naturally. Because he swung by and you were conveniently placed. I do mean it about the signs to keep the underwriters happy; they are petty as the day is long. Their job means finding loopholes to avoid paying out, especially where anything meta human is involved. The signs are a precaution." She sips her coffee politely, and then looks at him through the steam. "He has a sense of humour, does that menace. I won't be able to see the look on his face when he reads them, but the reaction will be exciting enough. He might just toot a web somewhere."
She is not ashamed, oh no.
"What did you end up doing with the bank robbers? Sticking them at the precinct or something else?" Legal mind turns and turns.
*
Squint. Johnny peers suspiciously at Jennifer through the steam wafting from his own mug, and slowly, one hand lifts to point at her. "You know an awful lot about what happened yesterday," he says slowly. "And about his sense of humor." Squint. He's onto you, missy.
He does not actually voice any kind of conclusion born from these observations, though. Just sips his coffee with a quiet slurp and watches her through narrowed eyes. Well, for a second, anyway.
"Oh. It was kind of a running thing," Johnny explains, walking his free hand's fingers through the air. "So they were kind of… the first two, he stuck to some parked cars, I think? Then we split up. I waited with mine for the cops to arrive and told them what'd happened."
*
"I know how to observe and extrapolate. You have a number of robbers. There were no news reports about men burnt to death or thrown into the river, at least where you would likely have gone. You're also highly visible and familiar as a person, a celebrity even, so that would've been to your disadvantage." A hint of a grin follows suit. "Therefore you're dealing with bad guys up to bad things. You seem a decent chap, not the sort to resort to mafia tactics, and neither does the menace. Therefore you'd deliver them to the police rather than jail so they could be booked downtown or at the county. If they got away with any residuals or physical objects, they would probably be returned as evidence." Jen, deducing things like there's some kind of job in that sort of thing. Yep, onto her, the girl who has the law degree.
She also really enjoys reading trashy mystery novels. Forget Agatha Christie, she's reading the garbage about Inspector Lomond taking down Gwen and the Lizardman.
Another sip of coffee follows, and she merely smiles. "Le Tour de Quatre."
*
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain the 'he has a sense of humor' crack, wise guy," Johnny replies with a laugh — and immediately clamps his hand over his mouth, casting a hurried look towards the couch. …okay, no. Still dead to the world. Phew.
He crooks a finger at Jen and starts for the stairs tucked off to the side, mug in hand. "C'mon, I'll show you the lab. No promises Reed's not sleeping in there," Johnny muses. "I think he forgets he has a room."
*
"He's famous for quips. Talk to any of the bad guys and you'll hear them tell the same story. Terrible sense of humour, made fun of them, the whole nine yards." Jen raises her cup in a wordless salute. "Professionals in my field are notorious for gossiping, except the prosecutors or anyone tied up to the Supreme Court, obviously. They're mum. But if you have defense lawyers over beer? You have no idea."
She moves along after Johnny, trusting him to know the building and keep her out of the fire room or Reed's dungeon of numbers or Sue's smoke sauna. Poof, it's a visible woman!
*
"He was afraid I was gonna try to take him in. And it's like, why would I? Because the Bugle said to?" Johnny asks, and this time, he doesn't hide his laugh behind a hand — the stairs are just far enough away that he's less worried about waking their guest. "Man. Lawyer gossip must be a thing. Now I'm curious."
The lab itself is, evidently, just one floor away from the living space. Johnny leads the way with his coffee still in hand, and before he simply lets them into the lab itself, he lightly raps a fist against the door. "Fair warning," he singsongs, before grasping the handle and shouldering his way inside, stopping to hold the door for Jennifer.
*
Jen the attorney is different from Jen the girl. She claps her hand over her mouth. "I didn't tell you about the Times reporter I found crawling around in the subway. He tried to jump the turnstile and wiped out, but that's another can of worms altogether. The Times and the Bugle are two rags. Is it terrible to want an actual worthy paper around here?" Yep, JJJ, your flagship is *going down*.
The coffee mug securely in hand, Jen swills that stuff like she needs an IV. Of course, she does. "Fair warning that he's about to jump out and shout at us, or you're trapping me in there for knowing lawyer secrets and lawyer gossip?"
*
"Fair Warning" is so Reed isn't startled into flinging some million-dollar piece of equipment clear across the lab, actually. And it only works maybe… 60% of the time. Speaking of Reed, he's doing…. something? in the clear space near the center of the laboratory floor. Something… sciencey. Who knows. Anyway, it involves him wearing dark goggles pushed up into his hair and aligning a cylinder with one hand while his other hand reaches perhaps twenty feet across the room to get a target detector set up properly. So… it's a Thursday, basically.
*
Basically.
"You did not tell me about that! Right on his face?" Johnny asks, raising his eyebrows and trying not to laugh at this poor reporter's misfortune. But… jumping the turnstyle. The Times. He can't bring himself to feel too bad about it. As for the meaning of 'fair warning,' he just beams at her. "Can't it be both?"
But no, it's neither. Johnny isn't even going to hazard a guess at what Reed is working on — just keep his distance while peering in his direction. Dare he? …yeah, he dares. "Hey Egghead," he calls cheerfully. "Company."
*
"Right on his face." Lady Liberty's granddaughter wears a faint, amused smile that is a little too smug. "That teaches him to avoid paying for subway fare, especially as he was using it more than most. But begs the question, what is a reporter doing with a funny metal hoop wandering around the tracks? I think he had a death wish." Her head shaken, she chuckles softly and peers past Johnny in search of… well, she found what that was. Mr. Reed, yay!
She peers past, and sadly, she is not green. Just regular old lawyer girl unless someone attacks the building. "It could be both. Suppose it is, I still get coffee, and a call to one person, right?"
*
"Hello, Company," Reed immediately quips in a self-amused kind of fashion, but he doesn't look up immediately, continuing to fiddle with the alignment to a degree that is… honestly, kind of hard to tell he's making adjustments at all.
Though he must be paying a LITTLE attention, since he recognizes Jen's voice. "Oh, good morning, Ms Walters." Is it still morning? Jury is out. "Welcome to the lab, mind the gap." What gap? who knows. Probably the one between device and target he's currently spanning with an arm.
*
Whatever 'mind the gap' means has Johnny groaning and covering his face with one hand. Do the Fantastic Four have running gags? It looks possible that the Fantastic Four have running gags. "Jen, I apologize for him," he asides to her, hand still covering his face. "He thinks he's funny, you do not deserve this."
*
"Again, the Menace has set the standard. Perhaps the two of them need to meet and worry about causing upset to the good citizens of Stuvy Town by removing the barriers to the river park or something really nefarious." She considers. "They could probably repair a foot bridge accidentally damaged by a loading van." Somewhere creativity, or the muse thereof, is shaking her head with her face in her hands.
"I'm used to workshops and labs. This reminds me a great deal of growing up." Go figure that comment out. She grins at Johnny. "Except I was usually the one told to sit on a stool before some very illegal concoction was brewed up."
*
"No, REALLY do mind the gap," Reed cautions. Just to be clear, because safety first in the lab. they've had more than enough accidents for one lifetime, thanks. "It's where highly energized particle streams are meant to go, not random metahuman limbs and body parts."
*
"The Menace," Johnny echoes with an amused roll of his eyes. "Honestly, Jen, he's not a bad guy. I think it's the mask," he says thoughtfully, gesturing at his own face. "People can't see his face and go berserk. Part of why we're so visible. Right?" He looks towards Reed, flashing him a winning smile as he brings his mug up for a sip.
He grins askance at Jen. "I do most of my work in the garage," Johnny admits, shrugging a shoulder. "This is really more Sue and Reed's territory, unless the equipment needs work or something. Which reminds me -" He points towards Reed. "I had a couple ideas for the big four. Lemme know when you have time?"
*
Laughing, the attorney shrugs her shoulders in a playful manner, or as close as she can get to it. She needs a lot of practice with the casual gestures, but she's trying, even if her mind's eye contains someone another foot and some taller than she is. "Visibility is a win for everyone. It looks rather fascinating, Mr. Reed." She runs her fingers through the… no, no loose hair. Okay, idle gesture halted. "It does look particularly effective in here, and all the more reason why I am going to stay back here where no harm can be done. It is impressive in here, though."
*
"Oh, I can multi-task," Reed assures Johnny, glancing up from his work. Pause. "You bleached your hair. It suits you," he notes, looking over to Jen with a smile. "Yes, well, it's in miniature nonetheless. I'm exploring some of the applications we might be able to pursue with the equipment installed in the logo we put on the building." He pauses. "And please, just call me Reed, Ms. Walters. Dr. Richards in public if you must, but at home…"
*
Stop the presses. Johnny's free hand leaps to clutch at his chest and he blinks across the lab at Reed, mouth twitching into an odd smile. "You think so? Thank you. Seo said to get my picture taken in one of the shirts, so I figured…" He shrugs a shoulder. It worked.
He casts a quick glance towards Jen, considering for a moment, before he levels a serious look on Reed. "…you need to tell Sue she looks nice," he says gravely, lifting a finger. "Compliment her for how nice she's looked lately. Don't ask me why. Just trust me on this one. Next time you see her."
*