Well above the Baxter Building in Midtown, there's the sound of a rocket. Or, at least, combustion. It's hard to say if the source of it is manmade or not because the sound comes in fits and starts. One minute it is blazing with confident power onward and upward.. then it stops and sputters. Could it be a small aircraft in trouble?
*
Carol, of course, has nothing better going on a Saturday night other than flying a patrol as Warbird, circling the skies of New York. She hears the commotion by the Baxter building, looking over that way as she flies in that direction. In case it /is/ an aircraft having problems, she can at least guide it to a landing.
*
Sadly? It is not so easy. What might have, at a distance, looked like the blinking lights of a plane turns out to be a blue flaming rocket.. turns out to be.. well.. a person. He seems to be deep in concentration trying to get himself to hold bloody still in midair. It's not working too well. Instead, he rockets upwards a few hundred feet.. then free falls while trying to use small blasts from his hands and feet to steady himself. It seems he has one setting right now. Go fast and off.
*
The advantage of having renegade Kree scientists zapping you with a Psyche-Magnetron? An amazing degree of flight control, which probably drives other would-be superheroes nuts. In this case, Warbird flies around and ends up hovering in front of the bouncing rocket-like person, giving him a wry expression, "Hey there, everything okay?" She sounds genuinely concerned, not sarcastic at all.
*
The rush of combusting particles might serve to drown out her question at first. It's really only on his way back down that he spots Warbird hovering ever so dignified in the air. "Hi!" He says with a wave as he plummets passed her.. then rockets back up again. "What?" He cuts off his thrust as he passes her up again then.. gives himself a nudge over towards the Baxter building where he lands.. on his feet! And the crowd goes wild! At least, he seems quite pleased with himself on that point. He looks up and gives Warbird a wave down.
*
Warbird grins a bit and glides down easily, landing on the roof on her feet as she stands near Ryan, "Oh, I wasn't sure if you needed a hand with anything, so I thought I'd fly over and say hi." She nods once, "You can call me Warbird, if you like." She gives Ryan a once-over, then grins, "Getting in some practice?"
*
Ryan gives Warbird a double nod and gestures at the sky in general. "Well, thanks for coming by. I mean.. I know who you are. Kinda hard not to given that you're on the news fairly often. Me? I'm a bit new at this. It's been.. a month now? So yeah.. still working on the finer points." He laughs and his attention drifts off to the sky. "I've got the afterburners down. At least, I think I do. I'm getting faster as I figure things out." He shrugs and looks back to her. "So yeah. I'm the effing new guy. Work for the Four.. with the Four.. Mister Richards.. er..Fanstastic." He points at the floor. "Stretch guy. You know."
*
Warbird nods, and grins, "I know of him, though we haven't met yet. But yeah, you don't want to know how bad I looked the first month or so that I had my abilities. I was crashing all over the place." She snickers, "Fortunately, I was practicing in a nice open area, so there wasn't much property damage." Her head tilts over towards Ryan, "So what can you do, aside from the afterburners?"
*
Ryan runs a hand over his head which suggests there might be hair underneath that glow. "Well, that's the real trick isn't it. I mean.. at the risk of sounding obsqueious.. I'm kinda like you." There's an awkward smile there and yes he used the big word without batting an eyelash. "I'm strong.. fly.. can stop a punch from Thing.. though I'll tell you that wasn't fun. Rang my bell plenty." He laughs, shaking his head. "Umm.. I can fly into space. Did that once. Getting there took forever but then I was pretty slow flying back then so I could probably get there before tomorrow now…" He trails off thinking. "I mean that's it right now but the Doc's been running experiments and he seems to think there's more to me than meets the eye." Another shrug. "He's the boss, right?"
*
Warbird grins a little to herself at the description, "Yeah, that's the basics of what I can do, though it's a little more complicated than that." Not that she's exactly one to explain all her abilities… then she nods, "To be honest, I haven't really dealt much with the Four, though they seem to be good people of course."
*
"Yeah.. it's pretty cool." Ryan offers as his attention returns to Warbird. "I get my own apartment in midtown so that's a nice plus. I can't say I know them all that well. Doctor Richards is usually so focused on his work he doesn't talk much. Torch.. I admit I kind of avoid. Sue.. can't say I've met her more than once and doubt she'd remember me. And Thing.. well.. he punched me on a dare.. okay call it an experiment.. so I've been ducking him." Awkward smile. "I don't know if I'll be sticking with them or going my own way or.. well.. it's all new. Trying to keep my options open." He looks at her thoughtfully a moment. "Say.. I don't suppose you'd mind helping a guy out would you? Now and again? I know you're busy."
*
Warbird chuckles, "Don't underestimate that… superpowers don't always pay the rent." She hrms a bit, and looks curiously at Ryan, "What exactly did you have in mind?"
*
Ryan lifts both palms with a big lift of the shoulders. "No idea." He answers candidly. "I mean.. you're the expert in heroing here. I need to learn how to fly, that's for sure. I need to figure out what I can lift.. and how to not crush the coffee cup." He says that like that was a thing. "Heck, some basic hand to hand would be nice. I'd go take karate lessons but it's hard when you know one slip and you've crushed the fellow's watermelon. Ya know?"
*
Carol blinks, "I'm an expert?" She grins, "Well, I guess I'm a little experienced, but I do know some hand to hand combat and such, if you want to get a few basic lessons." She hmms, "Though, admittedly, I've never really tried teaching anyone what I could do before…"
*
"I'd say I'd pay you but.. actually.." Ryan laughs. "I could. I don't drive, don't eat anymore, and don't have rent to pay.. so it's not like I have anything to spend money on." Then his brow knits as he considers how feeble an offer that is. "I mean.. I'd owe you one obviously. I'd give you my number or something in case you needed help with.. whatever.." His voice trails off as he realizes she probably wouldn't need a noob's help with anything. "I can ask really nicely and say please?"
*
Warbird grins, "Well, with an offer like that, how could I say no?" She nods, laughing a bit, "But yeah, making sure you can use your powers responsibly is good enough for me. Though if you need a job, I could probably offer some suggestions."
*
Ryan bobs his head a few times. "Okay then." Phew. That was a hurdle and a half. "Ahh.. kinda already have one. I help Mister Richards in the lab. Science stuff, ya know? Big lasers. Particle beams. Next time.. I will be extra special smudge free careful on the optics. Not sure I want to get plasered a second time." He gives her the double finger pistol shoot. "Not that I think it'd do anything /now/…"
*
Warbird arches a brow, then holds up her finger like a pistol, "We could find out, if you wanted." There's a bit of a glow around her finger, as she gives Ryan a slight grin. "Though we don't have to, of course."
*
Ryan arches a brow. "Uhh." It's a wary reply. I mean.. punched in the face by Thing.. shot with plasma beam by Warbird? What could possibly go wrong. "Sure?" Doofus. "But not here!" Quick save! "I mean.. if something wierd happened we could totally blow out the Doc's satellite uplink and he'd be crazy mad. /That/ I couldn't pay for."
*
Warbird nods, "Yes, there's definitely a lot of power being drawn into the building. Wouldn't be a good idea to test it right here." She smiles, "Probably be a good idea to find a nice empty space, away from people. Or any serious property damage."
*
"I'm open to suggestions." Ryan replies gamely. "I mean we could try the moon but at my flight speed.. we'd get there.. in six and a half days. Give or take." Yep, he just did the math in his head. "So someplace closer to be sure."
*
Carol hmms, "Well, there's plenty of open space in farm country… and on the bright side, it's all clear thanks to the fact it's still winter. How fast can you go in atmosphere?"
*
Ryan thinks a moment. "Mach.. twoish? I did a few test runs the other day though I'd hardly call it a scientific effort. Used a laser range finder and a stopwatch but I was spending more time keeping myself in the air than I was looking at the display." There's a snort of a laugh or frustration.
*