misterstark | 21st Century Smash & Grab

Entry tags:

21st Century Smash & Grab

Title: 21st Century Smash & Grab
Characters: Howard Stark, Jane Foster
Verse: Earth Zero

Howard Stark considers himself to be a patient man. You didn't build a better tomorrow by doing a rush job, after all. Engineering took time. So did making money. He could wait. He'd made an art out of waiting. The whole damn war had been a case of going nowhere fast.

That said, he'd been cooling his heels here for too long. They'd tried to throw a line about him being in a hospital in New York, but while this might be New York, this sure as hell wasn't a hospital. Too many concealed weapons for that. He'd let them have their sham, though. No skin off his back. The WAC on duty had been pretty. She'd had a nice wiggle, too.

That'd only kept him entertained for the first hour, though. After that, Howard had knocked the WAC out and stolen her gun, and then he'd demanded answers. That had been a little shortsighted. Being in the future was great. Being kept on a short leash wasn't. The most he'd seen is Fury's cellphone, the TV in his new room, and the cityscape outside the window. Which led Howard to where he was now: skulking through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hallways, looking for a goddamn exit.

There had to be a way out of here. It was just a matter of finding it. Or suckering someone into leading him to it. Howard wasn't picky.

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Jane wasn't a fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. She hadn't been since Agent Coulson took all her equipment and research from her place in New Mexico. Oh, wait. "Borrowed". Whatever. They were bullies, know-it-all bullies. They were bullies that funded her work now, though, so she bit her tongue (most of the time) and on her professor's salary, Jane needed funding.

Typically, SHIELD left her alone and only called her in for consultations, the occasional update on everything she was doing that took all day. Like today. All they did was waste her time and it made her cranky. Now, she walked through the halls at her own pace, blaming it on her short legs even though she was late for a meeting with Coulson. If they were going to waste her time, she was going to waste theirs. Yeah, okay, maybe it was unreasonable, and not the best logic, but even scientists could be petulant from time to time.

She turned a corner, hands shoved into the pockets of her skinny jeans and her messenger bag slung over one shoulder, the weight of it causing her to lean away a little for balance. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings, too busy watching her feet as she walked.

Howard doesn't see her until she turns the corner. By then, it's too late. He mows her down, sending them both to the floor. Papers and books go everywhere and as much as a hurry he's in, Howard doesn't get to his feet and continue down the hall. No, he shoves himself into a crouch and offers her his hand. "Aw, hell, I'm sorry. You all right, sweetheart?"

Jane never so much as heard a footstep before she suddenly came face to chest with a person. He must have been in a hurry because the next thing she knew, Jane was on the floor and her stuff was all over the place. She didn't even notice his hand as her eyes bulged in alarm and she scrambled around on her knees to gather her papers.

"Oh, my gosh...Hey! don't step on that!" she practically yelped, thrusting out a hand in his direction. "Oh, they're getting all crumpled..."

"They're fine," Howard says, but he does take extra care with her papers, putting what few with page numbers in order as he skims them. He doesn't understand a lot of it, but the math's solid, and that makes him think. After straightening the sheaf of papers on his knee and picking the dame's name off of the front of one, he hands them back to her.

"See? They're fine, Doc." And wasn't that strange? Doctor Jane Foster. Looked like the world had done some changing. "I, on the other hand, am not fine. I'm lost, actually. Can you show me the way out of here?"

Edited 2013-05-30 06:44 (UTC)

She watched him almost nervously as he gathered her work, almost afraid he would smudge it or something, but the care he took straightening and actually organizing it put her at ease and she relaxed a little. Finally taking a minute to look up at him, Jane took the papers with a grateful nod and slipped them back in their folder and then safely back into her bag with her books.

"Thank you. Sorry for yelling at you, that section was murder...took me three weeks to get written out properly." She cringed, remembering how she lived on coffee and cup ramen until she mastered the equations.

Straightening to her full height with a soft grunt at the weight of her bag again, she looked around a bit. "Um, well," she glanced at her watch and winced as she realized she was already half an hour late to meet Coulson. That was bound to get her a lecture on punctuality and responsibility that she was so, so not in the mood for.

"You know what?" She finally said, gracing him with a guilty smile. "Sure. Come on, we'll take the stairs. Follow me." She turned, not even thinking to ask for his name in her eagerness to escape her day of boredom.

As she stands, so does Howard, and he follows her, a little perplexed at her behavior. But who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? He'd wanted a way out of here and she was giving him one, no questions asked. Shame for her that he had a few questions of his own. As isolated as they'd tried to keep him, he'd heard things while haunting this place. "So I got from your papers that your name's Jane. Mine's Howard. You work for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

This was crazy! She had never played hookie before in her life! From anything! And now she was ditching SHIELD? Jane couldn't wipe the grin off her face, or calm her nervous stomach. Is this what kids in public school felt like growing up? They were rounding a corner when Jane heard voices and grabbed Howard by the back of the coat and pulled him up against the wall to hide with her as two guards walked by.

Once the coast was clear, she took his hand and pulled him along again. "Oh, right. Yeah. I'm Jane. Sorry about that, nice to meet you!" She smiled back at him, "...And nice hat."

She lead him to a door that opened to the stairwell and made sure no one saw them as they ducked inside. "No, I don't work for these bullies. Not really. They pay me to give them consultations on astrophysics and space travel ever since the Thor fiasco in New Mexico, but I'm more freelance than an actual employee."

Her short legs started down the stairs with more care and grace than she typically walked with, but she kept a hand on the railing anyway-just in case. "You? How'd you get stuck with them?"

Not one to turn down information, especially when it's freely given, Howard nods as though he understands a damn bit of what she's saying. He'll need to go over it later, but right this second, he needed out of this building. He keeps close as they make their way down the stairs, keeping an ear out for the telltale sound of footsteps. He might not be Carter, but they'd sent him on missions, too.

Dropping his hat on Jane's head with a wink, he moves ahead of her, not wanting to her to meet up with any problems first. He needed her right where she was, alive and not in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

"Lab accident," he answers, pitching his voice to only carry as far as her. He pulls his stolen gun out of his pocket, keeping the barrel pointed down. "I got thrown into a secure area. They didn't like that. I don't suppose you know what the hell the Tesseract is, do you?" Might be a long shot, but she sounded in the know.

She smirked and tipped the hat up as it fell over her eyes just in time to see him pull out the gun and she froze. Her foot slipped on the step and both feet came out from under her in her momentum and Jane grabbed the railing with both arms in a desperate hug to save herself falling down the rest of the flight.

"Woah! Woah, woah!" She half shouted. "What're you doing with that? And what do you want with the Tesseract?" She knew about it, sure. She had studied it a little, read Eric's notes on it...let him use her as a sounding board...but now...Nice guy with a nice hat just turned suddenly psycho and she was to twitches away from taking out her phone and calling Coulson right then and there.

"You put that gun away, okay? Let's just take a minute and think about this..." Then, muttering under her breath, "...Figures the one time I play hookie I end up with a psycho..."

"Hey. Hey, easy." Howard holds up his hand, wincing at the way her shout echoes back up this stairwell. "This's for the government spooks, not you. One of their skirts knocked me in the head the last time I got loose. Gave me a hell of a concussion. And I don't want anything to do with it, except to go home. I figure, it sent me here, right? It can send me home."

Too much information, but he needed her cooperation.

Jane frowned down at him, glancing fearfully between him and the gun for a minute as she listened. She studied his face, his eyes for a minute, chewing her lower lip roughly as she weighed her options. She knew SHIELD wasn't against taking what didn't belong to them...and Eric had warned her about that doctor friend of his that had a run in with SHIELD just before disappearing...

"Oh..." she groaned a little, shifting from one foot to the other. "Fine. Okay, but we're doing this my way. Put the gun away." She stomped one foot. "I've got a clearance pass, and I'm a research scientist. We'll feed them a story about needing to run tests if we meet anybody."

Now, it's Howard's turn to weigh his options. Her plan wasn't bad, but... "This might be the only chance I have to get out of here." And that was the long and short of it. He had one chance and couldn't blow it just because some lady doctor got nervy. But she'd bring the whole place down around his ears if he didn't play this right. Howard slides the gun back out of sight.

"Fine, we'll do things your way." And hope to Got it worked. "You have an automobile?"

She relaxed when the gun disappeared, moving down a couple steps to be level with him. "You mean a car?" She asked, shaking her head at him. "Who talks like that? No. But I know where to find one..." She took his arm and lead him down the rest of the stairs. "Just let me do the talking."

Pausing by the door to the lobby, Jane took out her clearance card and took a deep breath before glancing up at him. "Here we go..."

He straightens a little as she takes his arm, standing taller and stealing his hat back. No need to draw more attention than they already would. "Yes, I mean a car. We still speak English in America, don't we?"

Slipping his hand back into his coat pocket with the gun for comfort, Howard lets her lead the way. "If they hassle you later, just say I made you take me this far."

Jane rolled her eyes, straightening her hair back out to avoid hat hair and kept her voice low. "I don't need to blame you, they don't scare me. Never have, never will."

She noticed how he seemed to have a familiar gentleman streak about him, like her dad used to have, and Eric. An old fashioned sort of attitude, but Jane liked it. To be honest, the little subtle habits she noticed about him in their short time together were the only reasons she was trusting him not to shoot her right now.

"Just try and look submissive." She smirked, knowing that could be taken badly. Honestly, though, she wasn't that worried. Security was a little more loose in the lobby, it was getting passed the lobby that was hard.

"They scare me," he says quietly. Shady government types always did. They knew more than you wanted them to and they could make you disappear in a heartbeat. They were worse than the Mob. At least with the Mob, your nearest and dearest got a body to bury. Closed coffin, probably, but at least you got a rock with your name on it. With the government, they just put you down as missing.

The submissive wisecrack makes him snort, but he adopts a looser, grudging stance and falls back a half-step. "Your beaten down lab technician? I think I can pull that off."

"Yeah, all my lab techs have suspenders and mustaches. It's all the rage now." She whispered, swiping her card on a security reader on a glass door.

"Dr. Foster! Hey, Dr. Foster!" A young guard beside the door called her name just as they stepped through into the public area and Jane winced briefly before facing him, motioning for Howard to keep walking.

"Yeah? That's me."

The guard stepped forward, "You dropped this on your way in," he said with a smile, holding out her wallet.

Jane sighed in relief, smiling and took it. "Thanks! See ya later!" Shoving it in her bag, she turned and caught up with Howard.

"You just keep me around for my devilish good looks. It's all right, Doctor Foster. I won't tell." It's nerves, a little sick giddiness peeking in at the edges. This is farther than he's ever got before. Last time, he barely made it two halls from his room.

When the guard yells, he keeps walking, his heart in his throat as he smothers the urge to bolt. He keeps walking, forcing his face into smooth, comfortable lines. It's the face he shows the press, the public. It's got him out of spending nights in jail. He only hopes it helps him escape this one. When Jane catches up with him, he gives her a quick, relieved look.

So, they got this far. They still needed a car. "What next?"

Jane caught up and gave his arm a tug to show him they were going right, waiting until they were out of sight of the glass walls before she just jumped up and down and spun in the air, pumping her fists excitedly. "Did you see that?"

She did a little dance, shaking her butt and kicking out a foot in an odd mixture of salsa dance and the hokey pokey. "I'm like a tiny 007! Take that Coulson!" She pointed up at a random window. She grinned up at Howard, smiling all the way to her eyes. "That was AWESOME! Come on, I'll show you their parking garage. They like to hide some things in plain sight...I don't think they realize what they did when they brought me in."

Laughing, Howard watches her, his gaze drifting down. Hardly his fault when she was dancing like that while wearing clothes like that. He wonders if all women dress this way. If so, it was a change he could grow to like. "We're not out of the woods yet," he says, glancing back at the building looming over them. "They have to know I slipped my leash."

As soon as they reach the 'parking garage,' Howard's in his element. Glossy, black automobiles stretch out as far as the eye can see. He tries a few doors, finally finding one unlocked. No keys, but the hood is still warm. Whoever left it there would be coming back, and soon.

Howard waves for Jane to get in the passenger seat as he slides into the driver's side. Reaching under the steering wheel, he pulls a host of hot wires free. They might fancy them up, but a car was a car. It only takes a moment to have the engine growling and turning over.

"R means reverse, right?" But he's already backing out into the sunlight.

"Yep. Just be careful what buttons you push. Who knows what they've got these things equipped to do. There could be flame throwers or something." Jane buckles her seatbelt and as soon as the engine hums to life, the annoying seatbelt warning started beeping and Jane screwed up her nose as Howard started backing out. "Dude, you've gotta buckle up. That won't stop till you do."

"My car had flamethrowers. A wet bar, too. Never could get them put into production, though." The alarm puts him on edge, but it doesn't stop him. They're on the road when he finally glances over at Jane. "Buckle up what?"

"Your seat belt?" She looked at him funny, wondering not for the first time if he was crazy. As they drove, she glanced back to make sure they weren't being followed before giving him a good look over.

"You know, you're dressed really weird. ..like something out of The Godfather. Where did you say you were from?"

Seat belt? Howard reaches for it and tugs it down to clip it in. Looked like they'd upgraded automobiles to small aircraft over the years. Or maybe they just got tired of people decorating the sidewalk.

"I didn't," he says, reaching up to adjust the rear view mirror. "But I'm from right here in New York. Just not from right now."

Jane frowned at him, the adrenaline easing off to give her rational side a turn. "Your car ad flame throwers but no seatbelts?"

That was just weird and made her rake a hand through her hair. Shifting nervously, she tried to sit a little taller. "What do you mean you're from not right now? That makes no sense! And where are we even going?" She freed a crazy person with a gun and now he was kidnapping her.

"I grew up in new York city....I should know better than this! Peggy is gonna kill me!"

"Hey, I just pointed us in the opposite direction of S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. If you have any directions, honey, feel free to start giving them." Frowning, Howard shifts, peeling out of his coat. "And I mean exactly what I said. I'm not from right now. I pulled the Tesseract from the ocean and wound up in a H.G. Wells novel. What year is it, anyway? Fury was cagey about that."

"My name is Jane, not honey!" She eyed his jacket, wondering how easy it would be to get the gun. "Its 2013! And throwing around words like that will get you slapped with a sexual harrassment lawsuit, buddy! Now pull over!"

"What words? Honey? Jesus Christ." He doesn't pull over, just keeps going at an even clip, keeping an eye out for streetlights. "The world's gone to hell in a handbasket," he says, more to himself than her. "People can't even be nice to each other anymore."

"Its called equality! " she quipped, feeling more nervous by the second. Suddenly, a street sign came up for a pedestrian crossing and Jane's foot was slamming an imaginary brake, "watch it! You'll kill someone! "

"What, so people don't call each other honey or sweetheart anymore?" The technology was impressive, but how did people live like that? Howard hits the break, slowing just enough for the foot traffic to pass. "Look, if you want to go, I can drop you off wherever you like."

"Only if they're dating or close friends...what-if..." she paused, thinking. If he was really going to hurt he would have by now. Besides, she had Sarge and her gun at her place, and she could call Peggy and have Steve come kick his ass if needed. "Come to my place. It's not great, I'm trying to pack for a move, but you can get your bearings and figure out what to do...its better than driving around like a maniac."

"It's been sixty-eight years since I last drove anything," Howard says, a little sharp. "I'm doing all right. You'll have to tell me where your place is, sweetheart. And before you take a bite out of me, we just stole a government property together; I think you can say we're good friends now."

Edited 2013-05-30 10:04 (UTC)

Sixty...Jane's head was suddenly spinning and she needed air. She was pretty sure Coulson was going to kill her and put her brain in a fish bowl to save himself future trouble. Her small hand slapped heavily at the window button on her car door and she took comfort from the smoggy city air outside and the chaotic noises that came with it.

She stole a man and a car from the most dangerous organization in the world. What had she been thinking? Laying her head against the window to feel the sun, she pulled it back inside and rolled the window up again, deciding it was too big a target for any agents after them.

"Turn left in two blocks. I live in Staten island..." she rubbed her face and clutched her bag closer. "I've gotta make a call."

Edited 2013-05-30 21:06 (UTC)

"Not turning me in, are you, Doctor Foster?" he asks, but it's only half a tease. If she was having second thoughts about this, he'd have to make tracks as soon as he got her home. "I only need a couple hours to get the lay of the land, figure out happened to my company since the war. Stark Industries still around?"

Jane was doing her best not to panic right now, raking her hand through her hair again and casting him a nervous glance. "Not as long as you don't plan to hurt anybody...." she tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. She had a bad habit of running off in cars with strange men. "Especially me." She added.

"No, I just have a friend who I think can help you, and her boyfriend isn't exactly from right now either. You can read up on current events on my laptop while I make the call." Her gaze trailed outside as she tried to keep calm -but then he just had to go and open his mouth again and her big brown eyes were glued to his face. "Wait a second! Howard? You're Howard Stark?! THE Howard Stark?"

Edited 2013-05-31 00:36 (UTC)

"I never hit anybody who didn't hit me first." His eyes cut to her. "And I don't hit women." At least, he tried not to. Sometimes it couldn't be helped. You couldn't choose who you fought during a war. You just took what life gave you and did the best you could with it. When they hit Staten Island, he nods at the road outside the windshield. "Which way now, navigator?"

"Boyfriend? You mean her fella?" The language shift was going to take some getting used to. They way they said things nowadays was so strange. Boyfriend. It was so coy. It sounded like something a child might say. "Where's he from? Or, rather, when?" So maybe Howard wasn't the only one who got sent here. It was a comforting thought. Her shock makes him smile, laughing a little. Guess that was a yes. "The, huh? I like that."

Jane unbuckled and scurried around to sit on her knees and get a better look at him. "To the left and straight. None of that matters right now!" She shook her head, bored with anything else. "You're really Howard Stark? Oh, my god! Does Tony even know you're alive? All the history books say you're dead! Your company was the leading company in the world for selling weapons, and now it's one of the leading forces in natural, clean energy! Your son is leading it all!" She was talking fast, excited, her voice almost squeaky.

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21st Century Smash & Grab

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