|
  |
A relatively normal day in New York today, aside from the crazy weirdness with force-fields around the Museum of Natural History of course. But one guy in particular doesn't really care.
That would be The Mechanic, a rather reclusive meta who has been using his gifts of controlling machines to make some nice cash off flipping stolen cars. At this very moment, he is leaning quite non nonchalantly on a parked Chevy, before waving his hand over its door, which promptly unlocks and opens for him. The sharp eyed might notice he has no key in hand.
*
Sharp-eyes is Dani's middle… No, no it isn't. But she does have excellent vision. And a suspicious streak that comes with living in New York for a certain window of time, between the naivete wearing off and the cynical acceptance settling in. It's also possible that she's misreading the situation, so… Time for what passes for guile! The young woman strides right up towards the guy at the Chevy, lifting a hand and calling, "Sir? Excuse me, sir? Can you give me a lift to the hospital? I just heard my sister's in the ER and it's so far away and it would just mean the world to me if…" And on she rambles, not really letting the Mechanic get a word in while she brazenly closes the distance.
*
The Mechanic was just about to slip into the car he when Dani calls out to him. Confused, he pauses for a moment by the open door, staring at her with disbelief. "I'm not-" he starts to explain he's not a cabbie, but then Dani is shooting out words so fast, he can't quite manage to get a word in, leaving him baffled and quietly listening for now. "Not a good time," he eventually hisses in aggravation under his breath.
*
"Oh, it's no bother, I promise. It's just a couple miles. I'm sure it's on your way and you don't want me to walk through this part of town where anything could happen do you, it's my sister, my only sister in the world and she might…" As Dani does her best blabbering distraction, she also bends to peek into the car itself as if checking for room. She also just so happens to put her hand on the opened door, and pushes it more widely open. "Ohhh you don't want me to start crying out in front of everyone, do you? That would be so mean.." Can she do crocodile tears? Hrm. Regardless, she's eating up more and more of the would-be thief's precious time.
*
When Dani gets her hand on the car door, the Mechanic seems to lose it as he gives her a shove, "maybe, just maybe, I'm one of the reasons you shouldn't be walking alone in this neighborhood! I'm warning you, get your cute little ass out of here, doll, you hear?" He starts to change his tone to a threatening one, the car door suddenly slamming shut and the headlights come on, engine revving on its own. "I can really hurt you if you don't shut up and get out of here…"
*
Oh, yay! As soon as the Mechanic drops his act, Danielle drops her own. The sob story vanishes, along with her quasi-emotional expression. She rocks with the shove, but doesn't lose her balance. Her eyes narrow, and her lips twitch into something close to a smile. "This is you being big and scary, is it? Frightening the silly girly away, so you can steal a beat-up old Chevy?" The actions of the car should be disconcerting, but she hardly seems to notice. Instead, she exhales slowly and muses, "I think I can be scarier. What do you think?" With that, she reaches out with her powers, tapping into the depths of the Mechanic's mind, and pulling out the man's greatest, deepest fear. Which then appears, large as life right on the sidewalk.
*
The Mechanic certainly didn't expect the sudden change in attitude from Dani. He also didn't expect her to withstand his shove, he thought she would be down on the pavement, crying in pain. "Huh?" He can't help but be stunned as she starts to talk like he should be the one worried about her. "Look, I don't want no trouble, you just get outta here little girl…" but just as she promises, he sees his biggest fear larger than life, a huge building sized snake crawling towards him, and it's too much. He outright faints.
Moments later and Danielle might hear a faint buzzing sound, as the Winsome Wasp flies down, closer to Dani so she might spot her when she speaks up, "that was impressive and well done too! Took him out without a fight!"
*
It's so much more satisfying when they run away flailing. Oh well. Danielle glances at the Chevy again, making sure it's settled down again, then nudges the unconscious man with a toe. "Not so tough." As she tries to figure out what to do with the jerk, she hears buzzing, then compliments. It takes her a moment to figure out where the voice is coming from. The grumpy thief didn't phase her. The cranky car didn't phase her. The tiny flying lady, though? That makes the Cheyenne blink. Twice. "Uh. You.. ah. You saw that?" Ahem. "Thanks, I think. I could've punched him a few times, but…" But this works without getting her hands dirty.
*
"I was going to stop him myself, but I saw you coming, so I wanted to see how you would handle it. You are very confident! I like it." Wasp says with a big smile on her lips as she extends Danielle a hand for a handshake without a second thought, only stopping with her hand extended to realize the tremendous size difference at the moment. Giggling, she pulls her hand back and just gives a little wave of her hand instead, "so what exactly did you do to him? He seemed to just drop like nothing…"
*
Danielle starts to lift her own hand, then finishes with an amused little wave of her own. "Confident is the nice word for it," she grins. "I've been called worse." She glances down the sidewalk for a moment, then shrugs and crouches, hooking her hands under the unconscious man's arms and dragging him unceremoniously over to the nearest wall. She dusts off her hands and exhales, "I… showed him his darkest, deepest fears. Not always the most pleasant of powers, but nearly always effective one way or another."
*
"Really? Shame on the people who called you that," Wasp shakes her head and tsks, clearly disappointed. Nothing seemed wrong with Dani from what she just witnessed. "Hey, that's a pretty impressive ability." Wasp comments as she shifts to fly closer to Dani while she gathers the unconscious man, setting him up to be found by the law, most likely. "I go by the Winsome Wasp! Wasp for short…would you be interested in doing more of what you just did?"
*
"I'm.. Uh." Danielle pauses a moment, then shrugs her concern aside. "My name's Dani, or 'Mirage' in the field, if you like." Her eyes return to study the fairy-size lady buzzing around. "Doing more of…what now? Making carjackers soil themselves? That seems like an oddly specific hobby, Ms. Wasp," she points out, but her grin peeks through enough to suggest she's teasing. "What did you have in mind?"
*
"Mirage…? Fitting! I like it!" Wasp nods enthusiastically, before bursting into giggles when Dani intentionally 'misunderstands' her. "No, no, no, I mean heroics!" Asked what she has in mind, Wasp flies to about eye level with Dani and asks, "ever heard of the Avengers?"
*
Eyebrows raised, Danielle nods slowly. "Group of superheroes, saving the world from craziness? Yeah. I thought they were split up a while back, though." She pauses to reflect. "But my memories are a little out of whack, so I could be wrong."
*
"President Kennedy disbanded us, then he got assassinated," Wasp relates the very short version. "I was an Avenger, and politics are lame. Just because the Soviets cried is no reason not to have heroes looking after the innocents. I am working with a colleague on assembling a new team to do just that, The Defenders, because we'll be purely to protect and defend. Would you be up to the task?"
*
"Protecting and defending," Dani echoes quietly. There was a time when she might've argued or insisted she isn't worthy. There was also a time when she hadn't arm-wrestled Asgardians. "That sounds right up my alley, actually. I'd be honored, especially if we're not getting sucked into all that global politics bunk."
*