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Around a back table in Frank's Tavern, a group of friends are sitting around and having a couple of beers. There is a motley crew, to be sure. Steve is sitting next to Jack and has invited his group of friends: Alex and Bobby of course. Given the company there's not really a chance to talk about the dissolution of the Avengers, but there's more to how Steve feels about those two men than work. Then there's Danny, who sort of butted her way into his life, nearly literally. Finally there's Jim Contreras, a friend of Steve's from the war who looks slightly out of place due to his age.
*
Danny has no shame. It is known. At least, it's known by anyone who reads the tabloids, or the society page of the newspaper, or listens to the gossip in certain circles. Danielle Rand has no shame. Especially not about trying to keep Steve Rogers occupied with keeping crime off the street.
So she sits there in wide-legged pants and button-down blouse, not the least bit self-conscious in the current company, laughing as she takes a sip of her beer. "No, I'm serious," she grins over at Jim. "Nine years old, and they thought mountain climbing in the Himalayas was a great family vacation."
*
Bobby wasn't exactly surprised by the Avengers being disbanded, all things considered. They seemed to work together like oil and water and he just assumed the whole political angle was an official explanation for whate turned out to be a really bad idea. So getting a call from Steve since itg happened… Well, he's not sure who the others are but he's expecting more than the stated reason for a get together. "Doesn't sound like a good idea." he comments, a beer set in front of him.
*
And then there's Jack. The diminutive brunette in the yellow dress, sits with her ankles crossed and her hands folded on the table. She may be mousier than Danielle Rand, but she is not easily intimidated thanks to her increasingly strange living situation. "Wow! That must've been quite the adventure!" Her eyebrows lift, "Risky though — something like 15% of all mountaineers don't make it out of that one. So, the odds are mostly in your favour~" She shrugs and then offers. "But still risky. I wonder," her eyes flit upwards, "had they been before? Because that lowers the risk some… goes down to 7% for second-timers — "
*
Hey, when Steve Rogers invites you out, you go out. Its the thing you do. So Alex comes, dressed in a black turtleneck, and for once its not really for the purposes of hiding a containment apparatus. Probably. There's no suspicious bulges or anything like that. Its his NYU-I'm-a-grad-student look, not quite getting to the Professor Summers level of pretention, but hinting at possibilities to come. Still, he settles down beside Bobby and nods in a friendly fashion towards Steve: even if the whole Avengers thing didn't work out, no reason to hold anything against the man. "Well, when I was that age, my family was doing Alaskan Wilderness as the go-to family vacation, so I can't criticize." Because /that/ vacation didn't turn out totally horrible or anything like that.
*
"I hear the Nepal is awful this time of year. All times of year," Jim says with a laugh towards Danny. "At night, during the war, I used to wish I was anywhere other than Germany. I never thought of there. I think you had it worse than I did."
Steve can't help but chuckle at Jack's explanation and how her mind goes immediately to math. There's something comforting in it for him. And though Bobby thinks there's more to the meeting, Steve stays quiet. This has been one of the few times he's been able to get people together without needing his shield and he is enjoying every minute of it.
*
"Dad had. He grew up around there, actually, little known fact," Danny answers Jack with an easy smile. "Mom hadn't, though. Or Harold. Originally it was just going to be Dad and Harold, but Mom wanted family time, and…" The smile fades a bit as she trails off, shrugging. "We got some of that, at least. Fifty percent of us made it out, so I guess we were on the less good end of the odds."
She'll leave out the part where she watched her father fall to his death when his business partner let go of the rope. Where her mother was eaten by wolves. The settling in the mystical city. Those don't make for good conversation.
"The cold is one thing," she chuckles to Jim. "But the air gets thin up there. You can get used to it, if you make it long enough. On the up side, no one was shooting at me. I'll take that part as a win."
*
"Not getting shot at is always a good thing." Bobby agrees. Not that he's entirely sure why someone would be shooting at Danny. "Sorry it ended badly though. That sucks big time."
*
The fifty percent getting out causes Jack's expression to somber. Insurance is her business, and that statistic is the kind that helps negotiate 'fair' settlements. Her lips press into a thin line and she nods slightly. "I'm sorry," she offers quietly. Even if it was awhile ago, the sympathy remains.
Her lips purse lightly at the thought of being shot at, and her chin tucks into her chest. "Silver linings, I guess."
"Family vacations for us were always far more mundane," she manages a flicker of a smile. "My dad once got it in his head we should drive across the country. I grew up in Providence, and he thought we should see the West Coast." Her smile turns bittersweet, "Never made it that far as a family, but still an adventure, regardless."
*
"My dad was a pilot for the Army then the Air Force when it formed, so we always tended to fly when we went on vacations. I'm not entirely convinced he didn't like borrow the plane or something. I don't remember well." Alex gives a bit of a shrug, and hails a waitress and asks for a beer before looking back to the group, "But, man, I can't imagine sitting in a car with my parents and brother and just being stuck in there for an entire drive across the country." he remarks to Jack, shaking his head briefly. Still, though, to those new he adds: "I'm Alex, by the way. Alex Summers."
*
Jim chuckles a bit, "We got shot at quite a few times and always made it through, me and Cap. Course they never gave me a nifty shield." He snickers a bit and stands. "Guys, I gotta get home to the wife and kids. It was good to meet all of you. Cap, you can go to hell but your friends are nice."
When Jack says she's sorry, Steve can feel her discomfort, added when she mentions something about never making that far as a family. Reflexively he reaches to rest his hand on the back of her chair, even as he takes another drink from his beer.
When Jim stands, Steve looks up at his old friend. "Give my love to Francesca. And my sympathy. I know how badly you snore." Jim nods to those at the table, gives Steve a quick middle finger, and makes for the door.
*
"I'm at peace with it." Most of it, at least. Danny takes another sip of her beer, looking around the table. "I'm a little bit jealous of the cross-county road trip idea, though," she nods to Jack. "I always feel like that's the iconic family vacation, you know? I get that it's probably a special hell of arguing parents and screaming kids," she grins at Alex, "But still."
"Nice meeting you, Jim," she calls after the soldier, then leans forward to offer a hand over to Alex. "Danny," she introduces herself with an easy smile. "Danny Rand. Nice to meet you."
*
"Me and my parents drove up to NIagara Falls once." Bobby muses. "It's like nine hours or something. And then we stayed there a week and went into Canada a couple times. My parents are more boring, I guess." Which explains why they're still alive, perhaps.
*
Jim is given a small wave, and Danny's remark about the "Well, I have four younger brothers. I'm amazed that everyone survived as far as we managed to get." She chuckles. And then nods towards Alex, "I'm Jack Pace. Good to meet you."
She turns back towards Bobby, "I bet Niagara Falls was amazing though. It's a popular vacation spot. A lot of folks in this region go there — so much that it's got its own insurance code. I mean, for better or worse."
*
Not flying every chance you get does drastically decrease the chance of dying in an airplane crash like Alex's parents did, so Bobby's thinking might have something going on there. "Danny. Jack. Nice to meet you both. Man, all this talk of vacations has me sorta whimsical, I haven't actually been on a *vacation* since…" Pause, "Well, anyways. A long time. You know, I've never actually seen Niagra Falls, either."
*
"Maybe we should all go." Steve's response is entirely from the perspective that he does not have a job. Or much in the way of any responsibilities right now. Other than to find a job. Which, come to think of it, is kind of a big responsibility.
Outside, Jim shrugs into his jacket and looks down the street. He begins walking toward the south and a lone vehicle approaches him from the other direction.
*
"Wait, hold on, insurance code for what?" Danny grins at Jack. "Insurance code for x thing that happened while visiting Niagara Falls? Or insurance code for going over the falls in a barrel? Please tell me there's a code for going over the falls in a barrel, it would make my night." She quirks a brow at Steve's suggestion that they leave. Pardon him, she's busy learning new facts from his girlfriend!
*
"Oh, call me Bobby, by the way." he tells the others. "And yeah, I remember being very impressed by Niagara Falls when I was ten. And the locks near it too. We watched a ship pass through them. It was pretty cool seeing how it works, raising and lowering ships to get from one lake to the other."
*
Jack actually stifles a giggle at Danny, "The barrel!" She presses a few fingers to her lips to suppress it further. "You'd be amazed how many people do it! People love it — they look for adventure constantly!" Back towards Steve, she notes: "The drive could be pretty great, and if you're overdue for a vacation — " she notes back at Alex with a shrug. "Incredibly hard to get off work these days though. Property damage is unreal. And my boss likes to stay on top of it as much as he can."
"I suppose though, the real question is whether Bobby would want to return. Because if not," she taps the side of her nose.
*
"People are stupid." is Alex's declaration on this question of going over the freaking waterfall in a barrel. He momentarily has a flashback of jumping out of a freaking airplane without a parachute, and shivers briefly. "Its not as if life isn't dangerous enough, that's… Okay, I don't scare easy and can face off against some pretty alarming stuff without blinking hard, but I'm not keen on attempting suicide because my heart isn't racing fast enough."
*
"I'm talking about tonight, guys. I can drive us there and have us back in time for work on Monday," Steve offers with a smile, liking this idea more and more until the idea is broken by shots from outside.
POP! POP!POP!
Those were definitely gunshots.
*
Danny laughs as Jack confirms her guess. "I love it. People are so stupid," she agrees with Alex, "That there is a literal numeric code for-"
And then there's gunfire, and despite the fact that she has no super powers, she's pushing back her chair and taking off for the door.
*
"I wouldn't mind seeing them again." Bobby agrees, starting to look interested. "Maybe over winter break?" When he could try to freeze them solid and not have it be /too/ strange. Steve suggestion of a two day road trip gets a rise of his brows but he's not rejecting the idea. About to answer, he looks over at the door sharply at the sound of gunfire. A moment later and he's following Danny.
*
Jack's eyes narrow into feline slits and she nods towards Steve. The pop of gunfire causes Jack to run in the opposite direction, towards the kitchen, "You need to call emergency services — something is happening outside, there's been gunfire — "
*
"Toni—" Guns. Alex looks momentarily annoyed. How dare the idiots of the world intrude on him? He just got his beer. He was totally going to drink a beer like one of the guys instead of his preferred martini's. But, the annoyance lasts only a moment and he's up and out of his seat and moving to the door… and stripping off? Or, at least, tugging the turtleneck off. Apparently he WAS hiding a suit under there. And that's a cashmere turtleneck, can't burn it up. The suit, though, is all black except for the silver lines of conduits and the central circle over his chest. Its his covert one, not the X-men one.
*
Steve meets the others outside and onto the street. He looks left and right and then sees a pair of black shoes lying on the sidewalk and his heart sinks. The body is lying in the street, but the face is obscured by a parked vehicle. Already, the blood is starting to pool in the gutter. By the time the group gets over to the victim, Steve already knows it's his friend Jim.
Thanks to Jack, the paramedics get going pretty quickly and should be arriving in the next few moments.
*
Danny skids to a stop near the body, dismayed. "Why would-" She turns, looking for any sign of who might have done it, or where any car involved might have gone.
*
Bobby isn't in quite the hurry to go check out a possible corpse as Danny is. And since Danny is, he doesn't need to. Instead, he stays within the doorway where there's some cover, since he hasn't iced up and is still squishy. From there, he looks around for a sign of a gunman. Or more than one.
*
With emergency services called, Jack lingers inside the restaurant. She quietly urges other civilians, "Come on — away from the windows — " there are few things she's an expert at, but relative risk — and risk negotiation — she knows.
*
For his part, Alex is hanging back a bit as well, but he does wince when he recognizes who it is, "Anyone know CPR?" Glancing down at his sweater, he changes his mind on the hanging back idea, and moves forward, "If we put pressure on the wounds and if someone knows CPR, we might be able to keep him until the paramedics carrive." And he crouches, intending on pressing said sweater against whatever most obvious holes are in the guy. He's no medic, but hey. Pressure is something anyone can do. Maybe it'll keep some blood in the guy.
*
Steve is right there to start CPR, but inside he knows it's of no use. All three shots look like it hit Jim straight away in the chest and Cap has seen enough of these injuries to know when there's little use. He soldiers on, however, even as the ambulance turns the corner at high speeds two blocks away.
As Bobby and Danny peer around, there is no sign of any gunmen. Things seem quiet. Too quiet, perhaps.
*
"Where did it even come from?" Danny looks to the body, trying not to think about the attempts at saving the man. She can feel it. She can feel his life force slipping away. Better to think about the practical things. Like where the bullets could have come from. Nothing on the street, so she looks up to the rooftops. She's used that route enough.
*
Bobby gives another quick look around before heading over to where Jim is. "Here, let me try something. I've read how some doctors have been doing this in emergency rooms…" Kneeling by Jim, he puts his hands on the man's chest. Though no ice forms, Jim's body starts to cool, his heart, respiration, brain functions all slowing. Maybe it'll buy him some time.
*
With things seemingly quieting outside, Jack slips towards the entrance and peeks out the door. She lingers there silently — completely freezing — as her breath hitches in her throat.
*
Nodding to Bobby, Alex keeps the pressure on the wound. Maybe the guy's doomed, but who knows. There's no obvious person for Alex to make explode, so trying to save a life? Even if ineffective, trying really does matter.
*
Steve pulls back and looks at Bobby as he works. He doesn't know what he's doing, but it's worth a shot. The ambulance arrives and the paramedics take over for the heroes. When Steve stands up and gets the hospital address from the driver, Jim's blood is stained on Steve's hands.
He makes his way over to Jack and the others. "Does someone mind getting Jack home okay? I'm going to go get Fran and head over to the hospital."
_ _ _ _
In a dark, sterile room, medical equipment, including a breathing ventilator. A man opens the door quietly and makes his way over to the bed. Lying there, a mangled body stirrs.
"We got him, Brock. We got the first one."