The Crossover (closed for such_a_bad_man)

Jack chuckled at Vixen's question. "Uhh, yeah, I think so. One second." Jack walked down towards the other end of the long room and opened a wardrobe-style cabinet. Rummaging around inside, he comes out with a cloth style shopping bag. He hustles back over and begins setting things up in the bag, giving her back up batteries for both the drone and the controller. He adds a smartphone device as well, saying "You can watch the camera feed in real time with this." Once all the accessories are bagged up, he steps back beside her. "Don't worry about being too close; the drone has an effective range of 2 km. I replaced the usual RF controls with something based on the technology of the earpieces so you shouldn't have to worry about interference."

Looking around, he tried to think of other things he might give to her. "If you're not sold on the drone though, I might have some bugging equipment that you might find useful in one of the other labs." He offered, curious about the direction she was going to take on this.

Vixen waited for Jack to return with the bag and took it gratefully. The extra information was welcome as well, though the advanced nature of the drone didn't surprise her. Not if he was the one who had created it. His offer of other equipment, bugging equipment, was a welcome one.

"You can't give a woman a shopping bag and expect her to leave with it only half full," Vixen tsked. "I do like to keep my options open, so some bugging equipment would be more than welcome."

Vixen's mind started to plot and plan the next few nights of surveillance, and she knew that whatever help Jack could give her would come in handy if they wanted to get these people dealt with swiftly and efficiently.

Jack nodded. He walked to the door of the room and held it open for her. Leading her to the stairs on this side of the room, he went down to one of the labs on the first floor. This one is set up with all manner of electronics equipment and it looks like a number of things are part way through its development. Opening a cabinet style locker, he retrieves a small box from one of the shelves. Jack turned back to to Vixen and opened the small box, showing her 6 small disks and a small touch screen device.

"Now, these are smart bugs; they are controlled by the device here." He said, taking out the hand-held device. "They stay dormant until you signal them and then they activate, sending you signals back. There is a small transducer skin on them so they can pick up audio, but only within about 1-2 meters around them. They will also broadcast a signal that will allow you to tell you their relative position on the display when you fire these up. The battery doesn't last very long so activate them sparingly to make them last." Jack explained. "I haven't had a chance to field test them yet, so I'm not sure how prone they are to interference." He added, closing the container and handing it over.

Vixen followed Jack down to another level and to yet another bundle of workshops. From this one he retrieved some bugging equipment that was right up her alley. She should be able to work with the constraints he mentioned. She accepted the gear with a smile and nod of thanks and settled it into the bag he had given her with the drone.

"So, is there anything you need from me before I head off?" Vixen asked, settling the bag over her shoulder and looking up at Jack. It was then that she realised that the normal frustration she got from seeing his face had disappeared. It was a surprise, really. She knew it had to do with the fact that this was the first time she had ever seen him so normal, so casual, so unpretentious... But she couldn't forget who he was as Infinium either.

Jack thought about it and stepped forward, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Just be careful. We know so little about these three that we're treading into unknown territory here. If something doesn't feel right, just get out of there; I can replace equipment, don't worry about that." Jack looked genuinely concerned at her. They had only been working together for a short while, but even so, he was genuinely worried for her well-being. He gave her shoulder a squeeze before turning back and locking up the locker again.

"In the mean time, I'm going to look into what I can put together to disable these Infinium projectors we found. I'm willing to bet we'll run into them at some point and right now, there's no good way of dealing with them." Jack said, returning to his work bench and looking down at the weapon on the surface. "If you come across something, you know the way in now. Again, could you let me know on the earpiece if you're coming by?" Again, Jack tugged at his work clothes, still showing the stains of what he'd been working on.

Even though Vixen could tell it came from a good place, she couldn't help but be amused by Jack's concern. She had been patrolling the streets of this city for years on her own; if there were anyone here that could handle themselves it was her. She didn't bother saying anything about it.

Vixen's eyes raked over Jack's form as he tugged at his work-stained clothes.

"I will let you know when I have something, and we can organise a time again like we did tonight," She agreed. Then, with a smirk, she added "Though you don't need to get all suited up for me. Despite the sheen of my own outfit, I am used to the gritty alleys. I don't find your work shirts offensive in the least." She said with a wink.

She then hiked the bag up on her shoulder and turned, looking at Jack over her shoulder.

"You be sure to watch out for yourself too," she said, "Your growing popularity also means that the target on your back is also growing. There's a reason I avoid the limelight."

Vixen then made her way over to the elevator they had come out of and pressed the button. The lift arrived a moment later.

"Goodnight Jack," She called out.

"Good night Vixen," he called back as he returned to wrap up his work for the night. A few hours later, he powered down the lab and zipped across to the tower which held his residence. It wasn't the one that Vixen had seen; that was the apartment he kept for appearances and parties. His real residence was in the 4th tower. It was the only one that he had specially treated so that no light was shed out the windows to indicate he was in there. It was also the much more lived in space.

Heading for his bedroom, he stripped down and showered for the night, crawling into bed in his usual pajama pants. It wasn't the restful night that he hoped. He kept seeing flashes of the 3 villains in the projection in his head; something in the back of his mind wouldn't let it rest until he could figure out who they were.

=============

The next day, Jack wasn't able to put in his work on this case as he hoped. He had a few appearances he had to do around the city, speaking at various engagements for causes that he felt very strongly about. As usual, the news media was out in force, piping his appearances all over the city. Like Jack said, it was the necessary evil of living his life out in the open as the city's protector. Even so, it was hard for him to look excited with so much attention on him. It also didn't help that he hadn't slept well the night before.

In the afternoon, he made his monthly appearance at Children's Hospital as Capt. Infinium. This was one instance where he could keep the media out of what he did as a philanthropist. His people could keep them out, saying it was for the kids' benefit that they don't get splashed across the paper. As soon as Jack walked in, his heart felt lighter at seeing their excited faces. Even some of the sick kids showed flashes of their old self when he showed up on the ward. There were toys and pictures taken and private moments with each kid, not one kid was turned away. Jack's heart ached at some of the stories, but there was a limit to what he could do for some of them. He'd learned that early on. Leaving the hospital, he made a pass through the city. While the Infinium weapons and the new tailored DNA enhancements were a real concern, he couldn't let the city fall apart while he was working on that case. Also, taking down some petty thugs always helped bring him back up from the sinking feeling he'd get at seeing some of the kids.

By the time the evening rolled around, Jack was back in his place, wondering what Vixen was going to be able to find today. Sadly, none of his messages were from the people at the college so he was left wondering how far they had gotten with sequencing the DNA strain they had lifted from the injected treatment. Slipping out of his costume, Jack went back to the lab and started work on some means of shutting down the weapons or protecting himself or Vixen from them. He'd spent so much work on Infinium particle containment, he was sure he could come up with something. By the time that it was 3am, he'd not gotten any closer to a solution. Apparently, once the particles had been weaponized, it was more difficult to absorb or deflect their energy output. Heading back to his apartment, he fell into another fitful sleep as his brain kept tugging on the string of how his ideas weren't yielding results.

"Miss Jones?"

The voice broke through Scarlett's concentration and she looked up. There was still another half hour left on the practice examination. No one should be finished this early.

"Jack? What is it?" She asked, looking up over her glasses to see Jack Abraham standing before her. His eyebrows were furrowed and his body tense.

"My head is killin' me. I can't do this. Not now," He said through gritted teeth. Scarlett put her pen down and looked up at her student, concern glinting in her blue-grey eyes. She took the paper he was holding out to her and gave it a quick look over. He had started well, but as he answered more and more questions his writing became far messier and his words less cohesive.

"Have you been to the doctor yet?" She asked, putting his paper to the side and looking up at him.

"I was gonna go yesterday, but I got caught up taking pictures," he said with a pained, sheepish smile.

Vixen opened up the notebook she kept on the corner of the desk and scribbled a note to the school nurse. She tore it off with the slightest twitch of her finger, working hard to make sure she didn't destroy the note in the process.

"Here, take this to the nurse. Hopefully she'll call up your parents and get you off school early. Go straight to the clinic and then straight home to rest."

Jack took the note with a slow grimace.

"This was only a test examination, you can retake it when you are feeling better."

"Thanks Miss," Jack said, stuffing the note into his pocket.

"And Jack?" Scarlett said, stopping the teen as he went to retrieve his bag. "I am sending the clinic a message to expect you there. I will know if you don't go." She said it with a wink to lighten the mood. Jack cracked a smile before he snatched up his bag and trudged out of the room.

Scarlett sat back in her seat, looking at the lesson plan in front of her but not really able to concentrate. Her thoughts, instead, were with the young man who had somehow gotten mixed up in a mess bigger than even she could comprehend. She wanted to do more for Jack, even considered asking Infinium to connect him with his contact at the university, but she couldn't put Jack's or her own identity at risk. She would, unfortunately, have to hope the kid went and got the blood tests like she had recommended. Taking the sample was the easiest and safest way to help him if things got worse. Or, when they got worse.

~*~

Vixen would have pitied Goliath if he wasn't such a prick. Huge, strong and noticeable beyond reason, it was inevitable that he would stand out. Vixen could understand to a point; she herself was quite different from the average person. Though instead of using his strength and fortitude to help out, Goliath sold his services to the richest (and often most dastardly) people around. She wondered if it was because of his size; because he couldn't slip under the radar like she could. Though he didn't seem to mind the lucrative pay that his contracts offered.

That weakness of Goliath's, the lure of money and what you could use it for, was what made him so easy to hunt down. It was only the first night of Vixen's hunt, yet she managed to locate the giant of a man after visiting only three clubs.

And now the waiting game began...

Vixen knew Goliath was one who loved to party. She crouched on the landing of a fire escape, overlooking the back alley that traced between the club and his Lamborghini (which she had already bugged). If he was on a real bender she could possibly be waiting until the wee hours of the morning. She frowned, knowing that she also had to break into the clinic and steal Jack Abraham's blood sample at some stage tonight, before it was shipped off to the pathology lab for assessment.

Vixen decided to wait for a few more hours before going to the clinic. She had already bugged Goliath's car, so that was a positive. She may just have to wait to wait to see the star of the show.

Time passed slowly in the alley, and Vixen used all of the stake-out tricks she knew to keep herself from collapsing due to boredom. Just when she was about to give up hope, the club door swung open and a lone man entered the alley. He was a tall, lanky creature. Dressed in a fine business suit that was sagging with sweat and alcohol, he stumbled slightly as he made his way down the dark walkway. Vixen sighed lightly to herself and sat back once more, just about to dismiss this night as a failure when the door opened again. Three men this time, looking much more sober than the first. They were all watching him with a look that she had come to recognise, and her entire body tensed, poised to intervene.

The three thugs continued to walk towards the businessman. Their own black pants and shirts in far better condition than his. They weren't at the club for the drinks, or the women, of the illegal drug deals. They were there for people like him; the ones with far too many dollars and not enough sense.

A loud ringing sliced through the quiet alley and the businessman's back straightened. His hand dug into his pocket, retrieving his phone with clumsy fingers. As he raised the device to his ear his foot caught on a stray crack and he tumbled to the ground, his head hitting the hard surface and knocking him out.

"Aww, seriously?" One of the thugs crowed, he was the shortest of the three, but the way his red shirt rippled as he walked spoke of the well built muscles beneath it.

"Just when we thought we'd get to have a bit of fun," another lamented, looking down his hooked nose as they approached the fallen man.

Vixen cast a disgruntled glance at the club door and let out a sigh. Then, with surprising speed and grace, she leaped off the fire escape landing and down into the alley below. She landed in a crouch, legs straddling the fallen man, startling the three thugs and causing them to stumble back a few steps.

"Woah!" Said the third, his eyes raking in Vixen's appearance as she stood up, still hovering over the fallen businessman. "Hey babe, sorry to kill your fun but Halloween's not for another few months!"

Great, Vixen thought, a joker.

"Either go back to the club or keep walking. This man will not be your victim tonight," Vixen said, her voice firm and unwavering. The three thugs looked at each other before dancing.

"Tell you what," the Joker said taking a step closer to her and throwing his arms out wide. "You come back into that club with me and I promise you I will forget all about that man." The wink that followed the words sent a wave of repulsion rippling through Vixen.

"You have until the count of ten."

This brought another set of laughs from the three men. Clearly they had no idea who she was. Otherwise they would have been gone the moment she landed on the ground before them.

"One."

"Oh, come on baby, don't be like that!" Red shirt's head tilted to the side as his eyes raked over Vixen's artfully displayed body. He took a step forward, nudging his mate out of the way.

"Two."

"Oooh baby, stop counting. You make me feel like such a naughty boy!" Joker crooned, a smirk on his face conveying how much he was enjoying the situation.

"Three. Four."

The three men moved closer, but Vixen stood firm. As she counted of numbers five and six something in their stances changed. She wasn't a normal woman, they could tell this now, as she was not afraid of them. She didn't back away, she didn't apologise, and as she counted number seven she certainly didn't beg for mercy. They stood now, so close she could almost punch them, as their eyes filled with menace and anticipation.

"Well, we were looking for a fight." Hook Nose shrugged with his words of concession.

"Eight."

"Might even get a little reward at the end!" Red shirt added.

The leader, Red Shirt, he was so close now that Vixen could feel the warmth radiating from his body and she could smell his expensive cologne.

"Nine." No, Vixen realised, these idiots really had no idea who she was.

Then, Red Shirt, with a smirk and an eyebrow cocked in challenge, raised his eyes and said; "Ten."

Well, Vixen didn't count it, but she acted as if she did. She reached forward, grabbing the fabric of Red's shirt and pulling him close to her.

"I warned you. Never, ever mess with the Vixen," She snarled against those curled lips of his.

Then she brought her knee up into his groin. When it connected he let out a howl of agony and she cast him back. The two thugs flanking him leaped into action. One aimed his hands at her throat while the other attempted to grab her waist. She spun, throwing a leg out and catching one in the stomach before ducking and swiping the other's legs out from under them. Vixen stopped, crouching in a defensive position as the three got to their feet and came back for more. She couldn't help but be impressed.

They all attacked her at the same time. What ensued was one of the toughest fights of Vixen's life. At first strike they had appeared normal, but every time she knocked them down the bastards would just get right back up. They were strong too, the blows they managed to land knocking the wind out of the otherwise unstoppable hero. The scuffle reached every part of the alley, and the drunken businessman lay forgotten on the ground. Vixen continued to punch and kick, to leap and roll, her fists were bloody but still they kept coming. On and on it went until the first finally stayed down. His body was a torn, crimson mess, and it was the way his head had struck a heavy skip bin that knocked him out. The other two, seeing their friend fall, realised just what a mess they had gotten themselves into. Vixen used their shock to her advantage, sailing into the air and scissor kicking, sending one of the bastards crashing to the floor. The last thug tackled Vixen, knocking her down to the ground, and she twisted, grabbing him by the arm and flinging him into his fallen comrade. She reached out, picking up the heavy skip and slamming it down on her piled up foes.

She stopped, breasts heaving, watching the twitching limbs of the men and waiting to see if they would get up again. No. Good. She whipped her sash off as she kicked the skip away. The two men beneath were unconscious as she dragged the third on top of them and bound them with her purple sash in one battered pile of meat. Then, with a heavy sigh, she slipped her arms beneath the unconscious businessman and heaved him up. She carried him out of the alley and laid him down on a near by bus stop before going to a payphone and dialing the emergency service.

"Police, Fire, Ambulance, what's your emergency?" The crisp voice of the responder answered after two rings.

"Clean up required in aisle three," Vixen said I'm her best imitation of a checkout chick.

"Vixen!" The woman on the other end said excitedly, Vixen grinned. She didn't know who the responders were, but after all these years they certainly knew of her. "It's been a while. What is it tonight?" The woman's voice was eager, as if this was the highlight of yet another stressful night in her job.

"Attempted robbery. Three thugs, one businessman. All currently unconscious, unfriendlies are tied up.Johnston alley," Vixen said casually.

"Great, sending police and ambulance your-" Vixen didn't need to hear anything else. She hung up before any more questions could be asked, wiping a sheen of sweat off her forehead.

~*~

The rest of the night, thankfully, had passed with ease. Vixen had successfully broken into the clinic and stolen one of the two samples of Jack Abraham's blood. She also took one of the coolers to store it in, not wanting to compromise the sample on her way home.

By the time Vixen stumbled through the doors of her apartment it was almost sunrise. The fight with those three thugs was still playing heavily on her mind. They just looked like the standard douche bags, preying on compromised souls for their own benefit... but the way they fought- it was incredible. If she hadn't known better she would almost say they were super powered.

Then it hit her.

The drug.

She thought back to Jack Abraham's performance, and Infinium's suspicions that the drug was made from metahumans. Shit.

Looking at the clock Vixen gave up any attempt at sleep. She looked down at her blood encrusted suit, at the places where the crimson mess stained her tanned skin, and she frowned. She walked to her bathroom and carefully peeled her costume off, rolling it in on itself to preserve the blood from further tainting. After the long night stepping into the shower was a blessed relief. She stayed in there, scrubbing herself and enjoying the feel of the spray until the hot water ran out.

By the time Scarlett was dressed and ready for work she still had half an hour to kill. She put Infinium's earpiece in and flicked it on. It was early, just on seven, but she couldn't call him while she was at school, and she knew he would need to get this sample sooner rather than later.

"Rise and shine Captain Infinium," Scarlett cooed through the comms unit, "It's your friendly neighbourhood Vixen reporting some new findings."

Jack was wrestling with sleep still when he heard his ear piece chime. Between his late night in the lab and his unquiet mind, he just hadn't been able to drop off. So the pinging notice that someone was on the comm was not a welcome intrusion as he tried to sleep. Reaching over to the nightstand, he picked up the small device and fitted it to his ear. Hearing Vixen's voice, however, snapped him awake, more than a morning coffee would.

"Oh, morning Vixen..." he said, his voice gravelly from his lack of sleep. He sat up, rubbing his head as he tried to yawn silently. "I hope you had a better night than I did..." he said, slightly blearily.

It took longer than last time for Jack to answer. When he did his voice held a husk to it, almost as though she had woken him up. When he mentioned her night she chuckled.

"That depends on how you define good," she said, voice bright and clear as she flopped onto her lounge. "I actually have a bit of an update for you. Have I got you at an okay time?"

Scarlett would have just continued with the updates, but if she and Jack were supposed to be working together she supposed she ought to make a good attempt at being civil and considerate.

Jack looked around, still not 100% awake. "Yeah... yeah, just... gimme a sec..." He said, getting out of bed and rummaging around for one of his Slates so he could take notes and receive data if need be. Sensing he was awake, Orbus hovered into the room, ready for his job. Jack just chuckled at the warbling robot and sat himself up in bed.

"Okay... okay, go ahead..." He said, yawning to himself again as he flipped the stylus around his fingers deftly, despite his fatigue.

The rustling and yawning confirmed Scarlett's suspicions, and she couldn't help grin at the knowledge that she had woken him up. So, at least she knew he wasn’t an early riser. When Jack was ready she could hear another rustle of fabric and she thought he may have just settled back onto his bed. An image of him, hair tousled, sitting bare chested amongst fine sheet flashed through her mind but she instantly swatted it away. This was Captain Infinium she was talking to, she couldn't let herself forget that.

"Right, well first things first, I managed to bug Goliath's car. He was easy enough to find. I was going to try and bug him as well, but unfortunately I got a bit distracted. Three thugs in an alley have a way of doing that," Scarlett adds with a laugh. "Problem is that these aren't your run of the mill thugs. They were tough. Very tough. I am concerned Infinium. I think this drug may be spreading." Scarlett sighs heavily. "Speaking of which, I have a blood sample that I was hoping you could have analysed. Someone who has taken the drug, now experiencing migraines…"

Jack settled back, the slate wirelessly connecting to his ear piece and transcribing what he's hearing so he didn't miss anything. Vixen's news wasn't the best news he'd gotten lately. He still had yet to hear from the people at City College and it was starting to be a concern. He made a mental note to swing by there later today to check in. As she finished up her report, he had an excuse to do so as well.

"I was afraid of that; the human body isn't something that is set up to take this kind of strain overnight. It's one thing to grow into these powers. It is quite another to attempt to force the body to do what the serum purports to do in a short time span. I hope that migraines are the least of the problems, but I fear they are not. Even stopping dosages might not prevent the impact of side effects. For all we know, it will make them worse. I hope to have more data about it in the next 24-48 hours. I will keep you posted."

Jack set the slate aside and sat back against the padded headboard. "Was there anything else? Any idea if anyone is onto us? I get the impression that this plan is reliant on remaining covert so I'd imagine the 3 we saw on the footage are taking great care to keep people off their tail. I'd keep an eye out for people from this organization watching for people watching Goliath. It may be paranoia, but they have worked very hard to stay out of sight." Jack offered, curious if she would heed his advice.

Scarlett hadn't bothered to hope that Jack Abraham's troubles were over. Just as she suspected, Infinium agreed that the headaches were probably the least of the withdrawals.

"Luckily the area I was in last night is one of my normal haunts, so if someone is watching it shouldn't appear out of character. It is too early to guess at who those three are just yet. Honestly Goliath has been involved with so many different shady groups that the options are endless," Vixen got to her feet and started gathering her things for work and throwing them into her bag.

"I have come across one issue though. I realised that the meeting at Magnanimous was during the day, and Goliath had plenty of time to be out partying last night. I am thinking that with the security of the telepath, they might be operating during the day. As I may have mentioned, I only work nights. Unfortunately I am not able to listen from the feed throughout the day. Is there any way to record it?"

Jack gets up and activates the projection display on Orbus. Cycling through his schematics for his devices, he double checks if the bugging disks hub has a record feature. Breathing a sigh of relief at his fore-thought, Jack nods. "Yeah, it's under the function display. You can also set up how long you want it to record because using the record function does drain the battery. It has up to a 5 day continuous operation lifespan if you don't have it plugged in somewhere so it might not be that big a deal if you want to set it up to record during the day."

Closing the display, Jack decided it might be time for a slightly different tactic. Her concern about side effects, not operating during the day; the picture of Vixen's day to day life was starting to get filled in. He bit his lip before venturing into slightly uncomfortable territory.

"How do you know the person suffering side effects? I hazard to guess that it's from when you're not in Vixen mode. You don't have to tell me if I'm right; I'm going to help either way. I just thought you might wanna talk about it with someone that understands better than most people about this sort of thing." Jack offered, curious if Vixen would ever open up to him. This seemed like as good a chance as any.

As Infinium is shuffling about on the other end of the comms, Scarlett goes over to the bag in the corner of her lounge room and retrieved the bugs. It is just in time, too, as he informs her that she can record. She grinned, impressed (albeit reluctantly) by his tech once more as she swiped through the menus to see what he was talking about.

Scarlett set up a timer as he spoke, so it would activate the chosen bug and record throughout the day. She almost looked forward to getting home in the afternoon to try and figure out just where Goliath went during the day. She was about to sigh off for the morning when Jack threw her a question she had been hoping to avoid.

"Thank you for your concern," Scarlett said, trying not to be touched by the sentiment. "But that is as much as I can divulge right now."

Even if Scarlett wanted to tell Infinium more she couldn't. Jack Abraham was a minor, and there is no way she would put him in any form of danger by associating herself or this case with him. If the results of the blood analysis were concerning enough she would have to find a way to work with it, but she would have to be certain of the benefit to him as well as the discretion of all of the parties involved.

Jack nodded. There was more to the story of the person behind the blood sample. It was too early for Vixen to trust him with that. "Okay, I can understand that. If you do need to unload some of your worry, though, I'm open to listen." He offered, looking around his lab. "Do you want to swing the sample by tonight and I can take it to my people in the morning?" He asked, trying to plan his day a little more. There was still some more work he could do on a defense shield for the weapons they were bound to meet sooner or later. He already pushed his planned visit to the college to tomorrow if he was getting a new sample to give them tonight.

"Thanks for the offer," Scarlett said, unable to reconcile this Jack with the Infinium that she had spent years scoffing at. She picked her hand back up and slid it on her shoulder as she padded over to the front door and slipped her stockinged feet into her heels.

"I will come by tonight to drop the sample off. Some time around ten." She agreed. She had considered sending it over by courier, but it would be more secure if she just handed it over herself. She would then also be able to listen to the audio bugs with him to see if he could hear something that she may miss. "Okay, Vixen over and out."

~*~

That evening Vixen approached Argent Towers in stealth mode as usual. She didn't slip out of the shadows until she reached the path right in front of the main entrance. The building was mostly on reserve power now as it was night, but the towers were still as impressive as they had been the first time she had seen them. Sleek, monolithic creations, the glass outer walls reflecting the glimmering stars.

In Vixen's hand she held a bag, the same one Jack had given her the last time they had met. Inside was the controller for the bugs as well as the medical esky with Jack Abraham's blood sample. Her heels clicked against the glossy polished floors as she crossed the lobby, and there was already a lift waiting for her when she got there. The ride up went much quicker than last time, and within moments the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to reveal Jack's workshop.

He'd done it. He'd figured it out. It took him most of the day, but he had the solution. It wasn't terribly elegant, but it would do when the time came. By energizing a disk with his own Infinium particles, he could use it as a deflection shield. Since the weapons only seemed good for a few blasts, it wouldn't have to last that long. Most of the day was spent wiring up the panels so they would project a containment field. By the time that Vixen was going to be arriving, Jack was elbow deep in using his grinding wheel to bevel the edges of the panels so they would slide past each other. That way, the whole thing would fold up and he could carry it easier.

When the elevator opened, Jack was in his leather apron and sleeves as well as ear protection so he didn't hear the chime of the elevator before Vixen stepped off and into his workshop. As she rounded the corner, Jack had his back to her and a shower of sparks sprayed across the floor away from her as Jack was nearly done with the last panel. The loud noise of the wheel scraping away at metal had to be 1000 times worse for Vixen's sensitive ears, but luckily, there was a set of ear protection on a bench nearby.

It wasn't until Jack walked around to the other side of the piece he was working on that he noticed Vixen had arrived. Killing the power to his grinding wheel, he peeled his earmuffs off. "Hey! You're early!" He said as the device spun down. Then, he looked at Orbus beside him, projecting a hologram of the time. "Or I have woefully misjudged what time it is... sorry, one sec."

Not thinking anything of it, Jack peeled off his protective leather sleeves then his leather apron. Having sweated through his shirt as a result of his work, Jack peeled that up and off too before pulling a fresh shirt on that was hanging from his rack of tools. "There... now... you have something for me?" He said expectantly at Vixen.

Jack was hard at work when Vixen arrived. Once more she was surprised by just how much of the work he did himself. Before getting to know him better she assumed that he would just design his devices and then pass the plans down to his minions to fabricate . This time she found him he had his back to her, grinding plates of something against a wheel. The sharks from the grinding showered him and the nearby area, like indoor fireworks, but the noise was far worse. Vixen gritted her teeth against the grinding sound. She knew it wasn't a good idea to interrupt Jack right now, as sneaking up behind him while he was working on something could end in injury for him. So she looked around, noticing some ear muffs on a nearby bench and putting them on. She sighed as the horrid grinding squeals settled down and then leaned against the work bench beside her casually as she watched him work.

When he moved around the wheel he seemed to notice her. He shut the wheel down and then removed his ear muffs, Vixen took hers off too. She just caught he tale end of this assessment about her timing and she chuckled to herself as he realized he had been wrong about the time. She was just about to make some smart remark when he cast off his gloves and apron. Then his shirt. Vixen's eyes widened slightly beneath her mask as time seemed to go into slow motion. Jack's shirt was dragged up his body, and her eyes snagged on the exposed skin of his chest. She watched as a drop of sweat trailed down from his forehead,over the lines of his face, dropping onto his collar bone and tracing a scenic path down his chest. An image of Jack, shirtless and sweating on top of her flashed through her mind and sent a zap of pleasure down to her core. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from him, at least until Jack tugged a new shirt on and snapped her out of it.

"Ah, yes!" Vixen said, scrambling for some semblance of dignity. She reached into her bag and pulled out the small medical cooler. "Blood sample." She crossed the distance between them and handed Jack the bag. She then held the bag open for Jack to inspect. "I also brought along the recording from the bug... Just in case you wanted to listen to it with me."

Jack's eyes brightened as she produced the blood sample. He was glad that Vixen had enough foresight to put it into a cooler to help keep the sample from degrading. "Great, I'll take that over to my people for analysis tomorrow. I should have an update about the virus they are using for the supplements, as well. I hope it's something we can use." Jack set the cooler down on a bench beside a row of shield panels that he finished already and are waiting for assembly with the one he was working on when she arrived.

"As for the recording, we'll have to take that to my sonic lab. This way." This time, he went up to the top floor of his workspace again, into the corner that faced the other Argent Towers. "This room is the most sonically isolated room I could manage up here. Even so, I had to add these..." he gestures to the foam padded walls that rise up out of the half walls that all his labs have. They covered the windows in the four wals, making the room dark before overhead lights came on. "LED bulbs, don't have to worry about a 60 Hz harmonic while we listen," he explained as he gestured to the lights in the ceiling. As the door sealed, it became eerily quiet in the room. Even their voices ceased to echo which made it all the more maddening as it was the closest either of them would be to being deaf.

Taking the mother unit of the bugs he gave to Vixen, he hooked it up to the computer in the room that was set up as an audio analyzer. "THis is where I worked on those devices you put to use..." Jack added as he loaded the recorded data. Even without playing it, he could see there was a lot of noise on the track. "Hmm, let's see how bad it is..." The track started playing and it was just a cacaphony of street noise. Frowning Jack paused it and started layering filters. "Let's get rid of that...."

Now, all he had were the conversations of people passing by Goliath's car. "Well, that's a start..." Jack kept fiddling and eventually frowned. "Hang on, this will take forever and will force us to listen to hours of nonsense... Let me script something and pick out what we need..."

Jack set to work writing a piece of programming in the analyzer, looking for relevant sound clips as well as filtering the recording. It took a few minutes to write. It was also going to take time to run. Hitting Enter, Jack turned to Vixen, reclining a bit in his chair. "That will take a bit... Since we have time to kill, I do have to ask... Do you feel better about this working relationship now? We didn't get off to the best start in the warehouse, but I hope I've showed you that working with someone can often be better in the long run." Jack smiled slightly, hoping he hadn't overstepped with his first question.

Vixen was about to thank Jack for taking the sample, but he started whirling about his workshop, leading her up to the sonics lab and leaving her caught in the hurricane of his thoughts. She was following along with his explanations as much as she could, but as soon as they entered the padded room and the door shut behind her she was distracted.

Everything was so quiet yet so loud at the same time. All of the background noises of civilisation were gone, to be replaced by the regular sounds of breathing, the creak of clothes, the whisper of movements against the floor. It was disarming, being in here, and her heart thudded in her chest. She could have sworn she heard the thundering of it, but she looked up at Jack who was tapping out some code without a care in the world. So Vixen straightened up, listening to his words and allowing them to distract her from the strange feelings this room gave her.

Jack's question shocked Vixen, and a wry smile tugged at her lips.

"It has been... convenient," Vixen says, looking at Jack. "And I have to admit that you have some resources that I have been needing for quite a while."

Jack laughed at her assessment of their working relationship. "Well, I'm happy to be of such use to you. C'mon, seriously though, we both want the same things for this city. We should keep working together after we figure this all out. I have a feeling this one case won't cure all the ills of the city, but it's a start. It's something that you and I can use as a jumping off point to make some real change. Come on, what do you think?" He asked, curious if anything of this was sinking in through that tight, body-hugging uniform of hers. It was hard not to stare; the woman behind the suit and mask had a body most women kill themselves for in the gym. Combined with her confidence, it was hard not to be drawn to her.

Vixen could understand now why people were so drawn to Jack/Infinium. Every time he spoke it was with such passion, such enthusiasm and optimism that you couldn’t help but feel it too. Vixen's eyes narrowed as he spoke, but her lips curled into a reluctant smile.

"Yes, well, I have to admit that working with you does hold a certain allure," she admitted begrudgingly. That image, the one of him sweating above her, filled her mind once more and she shook her head, trying to rid herself of it. She was talking about working with him. That was all. "I say we work through the drug and the weapons first before committing to anything else. Call this a test run. Though surely you don’t require my help, what with all of your gadgets and what not." She said, her voice was dismissive hut there was a hint of a tease in there.

Jack's smile faltered at her jab about not needing her help. "I need it more than you know. As much as I love this city, I don't know her streets. You do. I barely have enough time to do any meaningful work to go after the people preying on this city. I thought living my life in the open would mean that I could serve as a beacon for what this city could be. All it's done is serve to pull me in a million directions at once; everyone wants a piece of the 'City's Savior' or so they keep calling me. I've built a few buildings, made a few businesses. But people are still hurting out there, people are still desperate enough to become criminals or turn people into one. I haven't saved this city; I put a nice coat of paint over it. The foundation is still crumbling."

Rolling closer, Jack spoke as he looked into her eyes so she could see how much he meant what he said next. "That's why my work as Jack Dunbar is so important to me. I want to rebuild this city from the ground up. Crime can't take hold in a city where people have what they need: food, water, housing and a career." He said, sounding a little more fired up than normal. "To truly wipe out crime, you have to remove the conditions in which crime can take hold."

He sat back and looked at Vixen. "This is why I wanted to work with you when I met you in the warehouse. Not just because we have a stake in this case. We both have a stake in this city."