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Directions were given to a private airstrip a little North of the City; while it would be fun, Stark doubted that the city airports would appreciate them taking over their airspace or runway space and he decided he should probably show a little consideration on this 'First Date'. No flowers or chocolate were bought as she didn't seem, upon first meeting, to be the type impressed with that sort of thing. He spent that time and energy tuning up his suit in preparation for the 'race'. V.2 would have been better for this sort of thing, but it wasn't ready, sadly.
The airstrip is empty of private planes for now, and the sky seems to be clear, albeit a bit cold. Tony is there, relaxing in an Adirondack chair…in the suit. Because why not?
*
A cherry red Corvette tears into view, pulling around and parking in the nearby lot. With a bit of a jaunty step, Carol steps out of the car, wearing a pretty similar outfit to the coffee date, save for a red scarf and a brown leather jacket that pilots like to wear. She walks over towards Tony, and smiles a bit, "See you've already gotten all dressed up for this." There's still a bit of an impish 'I know something you don't know' about her, but it's hard to pin down, exactly.
*
"What sort of guy would I be if I didn't at least make an effort?" is asked even as he removes the helmet. No need for that just yet. "Did you want to borrow one of our prop planes? I had them all gassed up for you…" and he probably has the keys for them somewhere. If not, surely they can hotwire one between the two of them.
"I promise, though, for dinner, I'll change. It's a little loud for some of these fancy-pants restaurants, don't you think?"
*
Carol chuckles a bit, "Actually, I guess Peggy didn't tell you everything, did she?" She grins, a bit too much, then steps up into the air and… hovers, without any appreciable effort on her part.
Then she looks over at Tony, "I don't think I'm going to be needing the plane, but I do have something a bit more appropriate in the car, since I suspect the maitre d' would pass out at a woman in pants, don't you think? Plus, flying in a skirt… ugh." Her eyes dance a bit, as she waits for Tony's reaction.
*
Tony's eyebrows arch at the little display of flight, "No, she didn't. What other little secrets are you hiding? Because this could be construed as cheating in which, I win." Although he seems more than happy to still race — for funsies. "I certainly don't mind if you fly in a skirt. And are we going to dinner immediately following this race? If so, I should probably make reservations."
*
Carol hmms, "Well, I don't know about /cheating/. After all, I think a prop plane against your suit isn't exactly a fair test either." She grins, "But since the stakes seem to be the same whichever one of us wins, I don't think it matters that much."
At the mention of dinner tonight, Carol laughs a bit, "And I wasn't exactly sure on that, frankly. I haven't eaten yet, so going out afterwards would be fine by me, since I have a suspicion you aren't going to have a problem setting up reservations."
*
"If you had flown in a plane, I might have as well…" Tony offers, "But I had a hunch you had -something- up your sleeve. Maybe not this," a gauntleted hand gestures to her floating above the ground. "Well, there's the little after-dinner, soda-fountain at my place if I win…" and maybe there will be more, who knows? "So you're going to be flying on an empty stomach, fueled by hunger. Hmm…" although he really doesn't seem all -that- concerned.
"Hope you brought something fancy to change into. These snooty places have a dress-code and while I would absolutely -love- to show up in this, I think eating might be a little tricky."
*
Carol laughs a little, "I have something a bit more appropriate in the car, and I'll even drive us there after the race if you want." She grins, "If your ego can handle a woman doing the driving, anyway. But sadly, I just have clothing for me along, I didn't quite catch your size." She does a lazy pirouette in the air, still hovering about a foot or so off of the ground. "And actually, I really haven't had much of a chance to race against someone else who can fly…"
*
"What, do you think I'm so delicate that I can't bear the thought of a woman who knows how to drive a car? What is this, the 1890's?" Tony sets the helmet on his head as if in preparation for the race to begin. It's also a way for him to hack into the nearest telephone line to make the call to the restaurant for a table.
"We'll just need to take a brief stop at my place for me to change…you can change there as well, if you'd like. I have a spare room…" or three. More comfortable than trying to do so in a cramped bathroom stall.
"Oho, so you haven't raced anyone before. Well then, shall we begin? One…two…" he starts his propulsors so that he's hovering about as far as Carol is before he gives, "Three!" and takes off!
*
Carol laughs, and then kicks it into gear, a golden aura of sparkles seeming to glow around her as she takes off after Tony, leaving a trail of light in her wake. She flies after Tony, catching up to him and flying parallel as she grins over to him, "Now /this/ is more my thing!" Then, she kicks in a bit of a boost, edging slightly ahead of him as she looks curious about what the suit can actually do.
*
Tony's own grin can't be seen from behind the fairly featureless mask of the suit, but it's there in his voice as he says to the speakers, "More than flying jets?" As she pulls ahead, he adds some more energy to the propulsion system, kicking him up to at least be able to match her speed. Is he -trying- to win? It's too early to say yet.
*
Carol laughs, "Flying jets is fun, but…" She eyes Tony's suit, then grins and teasingly increases her velocity, staying just a little bit ahead as she winks at him, "There's nothing quite like flying on your own. Or with a suit, as I'm sure you'd agree."
*
Tony catches up with Carol even as she goes a little faster still. "I've never flown on my own, per se, but it's certainly different flying outside of any sort of plane or jet that I've known." He hasn't flown with many others either, to tell the truth — he just hasn't known too many who have suck skills. "So what…are you a Mutant then? Or an alien? Or did you invent some invisible thing that allows you to fly? How'd you get to do this?"
*
Carol chuckles, "Stumbled onto an alien gizmo that spliced my DNA, as a matter of fact. Changed me quite a lot." She grins, "But I don't want to spoil /all/ the surprises on a first date, Tony. Why would you ask for a second one if I did?" Another wink, and she keeps increasing the speed. Not enough to pull away completely, but just teasing Tony for the moment as her hair whips back and forth with the wind.
*
"So you just tripped over an alien gizmo walking down the street and it messed with your genetic structure?" Ok, that's pretty fascinating. "Well, the second date is to find out if you have tentacles. I mean, isn't that obvious?" He also kicks up his velocity as she does…even though he can tell that she's toying with him. He's not sure if he likes it or not as he's usually the one who plays the games.
It's kind of a refreshing change.
*
Carol grins, "Not /exactly/ like that, but close enough… hang on!" She then decides to stop the talking at tentacles, kicking her speed up to the sound barrier… which, yeah, talking isn't exactly the easiest thing to do at this point. One of the advantages of planes and suits… radios!
*
"We're playing that game, are we?" Tony comments, mostly to himself, as Carol speeds up yet again. He's able to match her just up to the sound barrier, but he's not able to kick in to increase his velocity to break through it. His suit even gives him the warning that if he keeps up his speed for too long, he's going to have some consequences, most notably to the arch reactor.
There are a few muttered curses as he slows his speed, letting Carol zip past him.
"I'll get you next time, my pretty!" a gauntleted fist is shaken in her direction.
*
Carol looks back as she sees Tony's suit can't quite break the sound barrier, then actually blows him a kiss before she goes vertical, a golden light climbing unfathomably fast as there's a rattling *BOOM* from the aftereffect of her speed.
After a short period, Carol soars back down, spiraling around before flying back alongside Tony again. She grins, looking pretty pleased with herself as she regards Tony, "So, dinner?"
*
He does watch as she disappears into the atmosphere, his eyes narrowing some behind his mask at the blown kiss. He's not used to this sort of flirting…usually he's the one doing the bulk of it and he's not entirely sure how to read these signals. It's a challenge, that's for certain.
When she returns, he slow-claps for her display, "That all depends. How long are you going to gloat? See, I don't have alien genetics to help me along. Just plain, brilliant Science."
*
Carol tilts her head, trying to decide if Tony's actually mad or not, then decides to go with 'not' as she says, "Well, not at all, really. I'm pretty sure if you put your mind to it you can put something together that will leave me in the dust anyway." She isn't really gloating, so much as just… confident, is probably the better word.
With that, Carol grins, "Though, to be honest, you get brownie points for waiting instead of heading back to the airport right away." She then angles downwards, heading back to the landing strip where the race started, though at a pretty leisurely pace.
*
"Maybe," Tony offers honestly. "How fast -can- you go?" Has she been measured? There's definitely more ideas for V.2 of the suit now, if he can figure out how to equalize the energy so that it doesn't drain the reactor. Or him. Or either.
His smirk sort of returns at the mention of Brownie Points, "So, what do those points get me? Why would I go back to the airport? To sulk? What sort of gentleman would I be if I did that?" And he may not have more than one drink in him at this point.
*
Carol hmms, "If I push it /really/ hard, I can go up to Mach 6 and get to low orbit. That takes a lot out of me, though." She smiles at Tony's other questions, "Well, if I told you, that would spoil all the surprise wouldn't it? And I have heard about you a bit, mostly in the papers…" *uhoh* "… but also from what Peggy said." *whew!*
*
There's a pause before he offers, "No wonder you consult with NASA. I'm surprised they haven't sent -you- to the moon on your own!" That might be a -little- far, though. "'Takes a lot out of you', huh? Let me guess…you break a sweat?" He's sort of teasing. Sort of.
"You seem to like surprises, don't you?" Now he's really wondering if she's actually hiding tentacles.
"Which papers are you reading? Some of them are true, some of them just like to make stuff up. Same with Peggy…although she tends to be a little more accurate in her accounts." He flies with her back towards the airport, landing when she does, almost as gracefully, even. "And yet I know very little of -you-…aside from what you told me at that bakery."
*
Carol laughs a little, coming in for a landing, and gives Tony a wry look, "Well, you know Peggy, there /is/ an issue of security and all that. And she didn't tell me your clearance level." Not entirely a joke, as she smiles, "Actually, what I do is absorb energy. Sunlight, electricity, even sound sometimes, and I can store it, then redirect it. It's how I can fly, or survive in space, or lift a lot more than most people."
She then continues, "And Peggy… well, she saw where I was at a rough patch, took me in, gave me a second chance. She's been like a big sister to me." She smirks a bit, "A nosy, sometimes overbearing, meddling in my life big sister, but all the same, it seems to be working out okay /this/ time."
She then stops, considering a moment, then decides to either ruin or make Tony's evening by saying, "No tentacles. Honest."
*
Tony pulls off the helmet, his hair a bit mussed from being in the thing and the sweat - he's still working on a cooling system. It gets damn hot in that suit sometimes. "You do realize that I could probably have any Security Clearance I wanted…if I wanted it." Maybe. Probably. If he wanted to get his dad involved, which he usually does not. "So you can survive in a vaccum as well? Why -isn't- NASA just sending you to walk around on the moon and then stick it to those Russians?"
As far as the tentacles are concerned, "Well, that's a good thing, I suppose. I'm not sure that the Maitre'D would know where to seat us if you had them."
*
Carol smiles wryly, "Tony, at my maximum speed, assuming I can break orbit, it'll take me about five and a half years to make it to the Moon. I'd rather take a rocket." She shakes her head a bit, and looks at Tony, "And yeah, the fact that Peggy trusts you is the reason I'm telling you this stuff now. She's a pretty good judge of character."
She walks over towards her car, giving Tony a wry grin, "So, back to your place, then out to dinner?" Her eyebrow rises, just a bit, as she's apparently enjoyed the time so far. Not that she's going to admit to Peggy later, of course…
*