The Crossover (closed for such_a_bad_man)

[SinisterSpiders]

Scarlett's heart fluttered with pride at Jack's word, and she knew that her decision to trust him had been one of her best. She gave him a small smile that was only a fraction of what it should have been.

"No, people don't talk like that any more," she agreed, her smile turning to a wry frown, "But that is part of what is wrong with this world." Scarlett stopped as they stepped into the office and she gave him a polite nod. "It was nice to meet you Mr. Dunbar, I hope I see you around here again sometime."

And with that she was off, turning in her pointy heels and clicking out of the office, the door swishing behind her as a broad grin spread over her pretty face as she realized that Jack Abraham now had a fighting chance.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack was a little crest-fallen when Scarlett left so abruptly. He was hoping for a little more time to talk with her, but they had arrived back at the office so there wasn't much more for it. He shook her hand, thanking her for her time, before signing out and leaving the school. Hopping back into his car, he headed back for Argent Towers and tried to get his head right for tonight.

They had to be close to whatever was going on. The worry was that he still had no good way of dealing with this new group's telepath if it came to it. He tried to think it over, but he kept trying to place where and when he'd met Scarlett Jones. It didn't take him long to remember people, especially one as striking as her, but it just wasn't coming. He shook his head as he arrived home, parking in his private garage. Riding up to his penthouses, the house came alive again at his arrival. To clear his mind, he went back to work in his workshop. He had another of his Infinium shields to finish. This one was moving along better as he had learned some tricks from his first one.

It took Jeeves reminding him to eat for him to take a break and he relaxed in his private rooms, waiting to hear the chime of Vixen's arrival. He'd altered his system to alert him when the tag in the earpiece she was using was used to summon the elevator.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

The rest of the school day crawled by. It was hard for Scarlett to concentrate when her interactions with Jack had given her so much to think about. She did it though, and by the time she left her office for the day the staff room was abuzz with the news of Jack Dunbar's donation. The Principal tried to get more information out of her, to see if Dunbar had promised anything else, but Scarlett was deliberately vague about it all.

That evening she went home, dis a bit of marking, ate dinner and them suited up. It had only just turned dark as she paced her room in her leotard ans boots, bringing her mask in her hands. She wanted to go now, but she knew she should wait until it was a bit later. It was always easier to avoid detection that way.

So Vixen looked over the bug feeds, her eyes widening with excitement as she heard a few things that would keep her and Jack busy tonight.

Then she decided there as nothing for it, she had to leave now if she and Jack wanted to intercept the thugs. So she made her way for Argent towers. When she was approaching the building she turned her earpiece on and said:

"ETA ten minutes, and boy do I have some exciting news for you!"

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack lifted his head as he heard a chiming. But it wasn't the chiming he'd chosen for Vixen's arrival. She had activated her earpiece... intentionally. He picked it up and slipped it on, hearing her voice in it as soon as he did.

"ETA ten minutes, and boy do I have some exciting news for you!"

He smiled as it was maybe the first time she'd let him know ahead of time that she was arriving. "Can't wait to hear it then. See you in 10." He replied, leaving it in as he left his private rooms and made for the platform room. He buzzed across to the tower she had access to and set to work, making her coffee. He figured that she may need it if they were going to be up tonight.

He was mixing in his usual mix of sugar and cream as he heard the elevator open in the vestibule. As he heard her boots on his floor, he turned to her, holding out a steaming cup for her. "So... let's hear your news." He said with a smile.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

When Vixen strode out of the elevator she saw that Jack already had a cup of hot coffee waiting for her. She smiled at him as she reached out and took it.

"Wow, I'll come over more often if you greet me like this every time," she teased, taking a sip of the coffee and groaning. "Oh, perfect. Thank you," she said, taking another long sip before setting the cup down on a coffee table.

"So, I had a listen to the bugging recordings... and guess what? Goliath and the others have set up a meeting at the docks for tonight... at midnight."

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack smiled, happy that he remembered her favorite coffee. They went to his lounge and sat before she started in about Goliath. Now, he wasn't who they were after, but he was the link to their real targets. He sipped his coffee and set it down, leaning back on the seat.

"Any indication as to what the meeting is about?" He asked, hoping she had more details so he could prepare properly.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen folded one lithe leg over the other as she settled back on Jack's couch and took her coffee up again.

"They were very cryptic unfortunately, but I did hear Goliath strong-arming Weasel again. Goliath said that the mysterious 'she' was planning to give Weasel a chance at becoming something better, at becoming something that would make his life worthwhile..." Vixen said, her eyes shining with anticipation. She hoped that whatever the thing was, that it would be the serum, or at least lead them to more info about it.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack nodded. In his mind he was already trying to think of all the different things he might bring in order to capture the mysterious woman, but then he had a sinking feeling. It was possible that it wouldn't just be Goliath, Weasel and the woman. She might be there with the other 2 people from the video. He still wasn't sure which one was the telepath either or what the others were capable of. He tapped his chin, thinking.

Eventually, he sat forward and looked at Vixen. "We can't miss this chance to get close to one of the 3 people behind this." He said, looking at her, hoping she shared his hope. "Any more specific information? Which dock in particular?"

 

[SinisterSpiders]

"Unfortunately not. Goliath just said he would pick Weasel up at the usual place and take him to the meeting... I figure that we may not be able to know exactly where to meet them, but if we take the receiver for the trackers and wait by the general area of the docks we should be able to move over to whichever they are at without too much trouble," Vixen informed him, holding onto her mug and enjoying the way that its warmth permeated through her gloves.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack nodded. "Good thing that I made it portable." He said, sipping his coffee again. It was going to be a long night from the sound of it and he was going to need it all.

"Maybe we should get down there and scout it out. It might help us eliminate some of the area." He suggested. "If you'll wait until I change, I can carry us down there."

 

[SinisterSpiders]

"Well, I guess that level of foresight is one of the perks of being a genius," Vixen said, with not a hint of nastiness. She raised an eyebrow at him when he offered to carry the both of them to the docks.

"Your suit can sustain the extra weight during a flight of that length?" She asked, clearly impressed. The docks weren't all that far away, but far enough that she imagined most flying contraptions would have a weight and balance issue with the extra person.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack stood up, smiling at genuine praise from Vixen. Something seemed different about her today, but maybe she was finally warming to the pair of them working together. He made a joking attempt at flexing as he answered. "What? I don't look like I carry a woman in my arms that far?" He chuckled. "It's the flying rig; it projects a bubble of anti-gravity around me so technically I can carry anything so long as it fits in the bubble as it won't weigh anything. What gets me into trouble is inertia. Some things don't accelerate or decelerate that quickly under the force I can exert on them." He explained, not sure how much Vixen was catching, but not talking down to her either.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen wasn't a science whiz, but she could follow what he was saying. She nodded, confident that his suit wouldn't falter under such a task. She did have to stop a smirk from his question about carrying a woman in his arms.

"Well, that's good to hear,' she said, finishing off her coffee and holding the mug to absorb the last of its warmth. "Now, I must ask before I forget, did you get a chance to sort out what we discussed the other night? With that young man at the school?" She asked, trying to play it casual.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack smiled warmly at Vixen. "Jack Abraham isn't going to need to worry about his future or his family's situation any more. You were right to bring him to my attention. Also, I feel a certain responsibility for getting him involved in this. He's a hard worker; he'll be fine in life. This is not the part of his life that should be hard for him." He said smiling down at her. She clearly cared about the boy, but he wished she would tell him why. He offered her a hand to stand up from the couch; they had to get ready. Night was already settling in and they had a lot of ground to cover.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen looked up at Jack as he spoke, and if he looked into her eyes he would see the shine of gratefulness in them. And something else, but it would be harder to decipher. She reached up, taking his hand, but stood up without his help. She held her cup between them, but with the look in her eyes there might have been no space between their bodies.

"Thank you Jack," She said, voice soft, "You have no idea how much I appreciate what you have done."

And, just for a second, her eyes darted from his down to his lips. She then quickly looked back up at him, hoping he hadn't noticed. She couldn't believe the thoughts running through her mind. But Jack had shown her so much more than she would ever have hoped to see in him, and he was every bit the hero the city thought he was and more.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack smiled as he gently took the cup from her hands, his fingers brushing against hers as he did. "No thanks required. It's all part of why I do what I do..." He smiled warmly into her eyes as he stepped away. He had to put a little distance between them; there was something more going on and he could feel it. He took a deep breath as he took the mug into his kitchenette, setting the mug in there to clean later. He came out the other side, looking at Vixen. "Come on... Time for you to see the real house..." He said, ushering her toward the platform room. So far, he'd been cagey about letting her see his real rooms, not his entertaining space that they had been using all this time. Maybe it was time for her to see it.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen let out a shallow breath as Jack stepped away. She internally scolded herself for being so ridiculous; they had work to do, she needed to be on her A game. When Jack returned from the kitchenette her eyebrows quirked up.

"Your real house? You mean, this incredible, huge, beautifully decorated penthouse is not the real house?" She asked, clearly looking surprised that there was more to his living space than what she had already seen.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack just smiled. "No, this is the penthouse I use for when I have people over. This is the one that the general public can access under the right circumstances. My real quarters are in that tower." He says, pointing out the window at the one spire that they'd never gone to ever since they started this case together. He led her into the platform room, smiling at the memory of the last time they used it. Only this time, he stepped onto a portion of the room that didn't have anything in it. This time, it did, but only when Jack stepped onto the black tiles.

As he did, his feet sank into foot holds like the other platform had and the controls rose up from the floor as he took them in hand. He smiled back at Vixen and waited for her to join him. "May want to twist it into a bun since you know what's in store this time." He joked as he reached over to activate the sliding glass wall before him.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen followed Jack and watched as he stood on some black tiles that seemed to activate footholds just for him. Impressive. Then she wondered if his technical genuis would ever stop impressing her.

Vixen stepped up onto the platform too, smirking at his comment.

"What? Do I not look dashing with my hair all windswept and wild?" She asked, twisting her blond locks into a bun nevertheless.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack smiled at her quip as the glass parted, the wind blowing in almost immediately before the platform lifted off and sailed across the short distance to the mysterious 4th spire of Argent Towers. As with the other buildings, the glass opened automatically, letting him in and the platform docked to the floor. He stepped out of the bindings and led her to the door.

Unlike the other buildings, there were hardly any glass walls in this tower. In fact, the door out of the platform room was not unlike the front door for an ultra-modern house. Placing his hand on the door, there were a series of chimes and clicks before there was an audible sound of metal sliding against metal and the sound of an unsealing pressure door. He looked at Vixen. "It may be several dozen flights up, but I'm not about to leave my front door unlocked. Not in this day and age." He smiled as he pulled the huge, but surprisingly light door open.

The hall inside was warm and welcoming; couches that looked like beds, lighting fixtures for reading, shelves of books and the occasional piece of artwork. If Vixen was keen on the local art scene, she would recognize that the artwork was done by local artists. No prints of classic pieces of art or artists here. Off this hall were very homey looking rooms, each seemingly meant for comfort. There was a TV/multimedia room right off it on one side. Across from it there was a English manor style kitchen. Unlike the other towers, this tower felt lived in, not sterile. The second floor had a hall that ringed the walls of this hall, accessed by artistically designed marble and metal stairs. The doors above were deep dark woods and more art hung up there as well. Jack didn't linger in the hall. He continued across to the expansive Lounge area. It was open to the dining room on the right and a huge table that looked to be set up for all manner of table games on the left. There was an open fireplace on the far end of the room surrounded by couches, but he stood in the main area and looked at Vixen.

"If you just want to relax in here a bit, I'll go get into character." He smiled warmly at her.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen was awe-struck as she followed Jack into his 'real home'. It felt almoast as if she had stepped into a part of Jack himself. The other two towers... They were the ones where she had pictured the Infinium the media portrayed, the one she had previously detested. They were slick, cool, expensive and artfully impersonal.

This tower though... it was different. She noticed the work of local artists, the warm timbers, the way that it all felt lived in. Her eyes danced over the table loaded with games, the comfortable, the range of books... His home was beautiful. Even being in here made her feel as though she was privy to something that others just didn't get to see. Privy to the real Jack that she had come to learn was beneath the manufactured Infinium exterior.

"Sure... of course," Vixen said with a slight nod, gesturing that he was free to go. She waited until he left to spin around, taking it all in again. She stood there, a little awkward and unsure of what to do while she waited, before she walked over to the bookshelf. She often found that a person's book shelf gave an interesting and unique insight into their personality, and she wondered what Jack's would say about him.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack turned and returned to the hall, walking up the steps to one of the upper floors. He stepped into a room up there, but the angle through the entry from the hall made it impossible for Vixen to see which one.

As she perused the bookshelf, it became apparent that Jack divided his books by theme it seemed. It was made all the more clear as she realized that all the books on this particular bookshelf were trashy romance novels. It was so out of place for someone so smart to find pleasure in books like this. It was also a full bookshelf. Some looked as though they had been read more than once as well.

As she was looking them over, there was a soft warbling sound as Jack glided down from the higher floor into the hall before turning to look at her. He smiled bashfully. "Ah, I see you found my collection..." he said, sounding a little embarrassed.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen's eyes widened as her fingers ran over the use-softened spines of the books. His Majesty's Lover... A Highlander's Love... Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition...

Romance novels? Well-worn romance novels! Vixen was more than a little surprised. She would never have guessed that Jack would own books like this, let-alone that they would clearly be so well read. He always seemed so comfortable in himself, like a self-contained powerhouse... But these books? She wondered now if there was another side to him.

Vixen jumped slightly as Jack approached, so lost in her find that she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings. It was foolish of her, and she silently admonished herself as she took her fingers from the spines of the books and turned to face him. She could see the blush on his cheeks and tell by the way that he stood was a little embarrassed.

"We could almost start a book club, you and I," she told him evenly. There wasn't enough of a hint in her voice as to whether she was telling the truth or it was a quip, but he would be able to tell that she didn't think less of him for it.

"So, feeling more in character?" She asked, looking him up and down.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack smiled at her reaction. She wasn't snarky or poking fun. She may even be a kindred spirit. He had no explanation for it. He knew these books were trash. They weren't particularly well-written, but he also couldn't put them down. He read every one of them at least twice. He was glad that he didn't have to worry about hiding them from her after all.

At her question, he bent and twisted in his suit a little, checking it to make sure it was cinched in correctly all the way around. "Yeah, but you should know by now that this is the character..." he said, gesturing to his suit. "Before we met, I was worried that people were starting to forget that there is a man inside the Capt. Infinium suit. Meeting Jack and learning his story, seeing how excited he was to see me even though I wasn't in the suit... I guess I was wrong about how people looked at me."

He gave his suit one more look over as well as his gadgets in his belt. Looking up at the upper floors, he called out "Orbus?" The same quiet Jetsons-style sound filled the room as the small spherical drone hovered down beside the Captain. He turned to look at it. "Orbus, please add Vixen to the non-target file." The drone warbled and hovered just before Vixen.

"Arms out please," he directed Vixen. Once she was in the right position, Orbus spun a very slow circle around her, sweeping a laser scan up and down her body several times a second. Once done, it hovered back beside Jack and beeped. "There, now you're tracked by my combat targeting systems so I don't accidentally project a beam your way." He explained further.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen listened as Jack spoke. She looked at him, surrounded by the technological marvel of his armor, but she considered him to be just a man. This was so different from what she thought before, from the way she had always seen him. She realised that there was no going back now that she had made this connection with him. Despite the vow she made to never let herself get this close to someone, she had done it. And she really felt as though, if she had to pick someone, she had picked the right person. Vixen opened her mouth to say something to Jack, but then he calles Orbus. Instead of talking she smiled at the spherical drone, still thinking it rather Jetsony and cute.

Vixen was curious about this non-target file, and held her arms at as directed. She waited patiently as Orbus scanned her, deciding that what she was going to say probably didn't need to be. But then Jack stood there and explained that she was now on his marked by his combat targeting system and wouldn't be hit by friendly fire. For some it would be odd, but for her it was rather touching. She nodded, and waited until he was about to move away before she reached out, placing a gently hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Jack I..." She hesitated for a moment. "I used to be one of those people. I couldn't see past the suit and the media appearances. I thought that you were your image... But now I know better, and I can honestly say that I can think of no better man to be in your suit. You are everything this city needs and more."

Vixen took her hand back, letting it fall down by her side as she broke eye contact with him. She hoped she hadn't come on too strong, but she wanted him to know what she thought of him, that she understood how he felt. If he looked closely enough he may even see a hint of a blush beneath the base of her mask.