driftfleet | 001 } Can't keep my eyes from circling skies.

Entry tags:

001 } Can't keep my eyes from circling skies.

Who: Howard Stark & You
Broadcast: Network
Action: SS Bishop (cockpit)
When: Right meow!

( OPEN BROADCAST )

[ howard has been here a few days, enough to suss out that something has happened. it's caused a bit of disquiet among his crewmembers already since apparently their captain died or something?! whatever. he's finding it disturbingly easy to fall back into this role. peggy told him how long it's been and who else is among them, but in usual peggy fashion: not much else. it's left him bereft and even a bit listless which is very uncharacteristic indeed.

he sets his communicator on the control panel so he can record as he flies. as a result, the feed is much more low-key and features a cool, collected version of howard those who know him might not expect. howard nods his head once to show that he is in fact recording on purpose. ] I hope my Huntress is in good hands. Though I guess... she isn't mine anymore. Forgive me, I'm usually not so bittersweet when saying goodbye to a lady friend. [ something of a wan look shadows his gaze, but it's quick, just a glimmer really. ]

Howard Stark. Ace inventor, innovator, pilot, and now director. [ a bit of a lopsided grin begins to spread across his lips, his mustache twitching with the movement. ] I'm also usually pretty charming if you can believe it. I would say you all missed me, it's been so long, but the turnover in this place is something else.

[ he hesitates over this next part, but he needs the intel. he knows questions will follow, but right now he doesn't care. later he'll be annoyed with himself, naturally. ] And if any of you used to know a Tony Stark or are holding his research... get in touch. [ tightly: ] Please.

( ENCRYPTED TO EDWIN JARVIS )

Hi-de-ho, old pal. [ a warm smile is reserved for his closest friend, even if he doesn't always treat him that way. or most of the time. whoops. ]

( ACTION SHENANIGANS )

Howard has been more-or-less just going through the motions since being assigned to the Bishop. He was actually a bit releaved to be off the Marsiva and have something to occupy his time with, truthfully. But with their captain MIA and everything more than slightly hectic, he's thrown himself into the work full on. He can really only be found in the cockpit or in his quarters for maybe two hours a night/morning. Even trips to the galley are extremely short-lived and involve toting snacks to the pilot's seat. With that said, he will be outspoken when matters of the ship come up that the captain would usually handle. It's easy for him to become attached and though he doesn't know these people yet, he feels responsible for them.

He hates responsibility.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Noted. I'll see you there.

With coffee.

I owe you one, sweet stuff.

[ oh lord okay how do you get ready for a probably russian spy with an unkown tie to your as yet unborn son??? this is a big moment and he so doesn't have the right outfit.

he does quick work of programming and setting the autopilot so the ship will continue in the... vague direction he'd started them down. whatever. this ship is nothing like the huntress, that's for sure.

howard doesn't have any of the things he'd managed to accrue on his first stay: snazzy suits, hair pomade. that sort of thing. he'll just have to make up for it with false confidence. that he has bundles of. he takes off for the iskaulit just in time to be a good 15 minutes late.

it doesn't take long to spot her, but he has to look around at this restaurant his butler built. it's just as impressive as he knew it would be, honestly. just as impeccable as anything jarvis accomplishes. in order to not keep her waiting any longer, howard slides into the booth opposite natasha and flashes her a bright smile. here goes nothin ]

What's shakin', bacon?

[Late is pretty much what Natasha expected. As a result, the coffee sitting untouched across from her is still hot. Natasha is good at details like that.

Her brow kicks up a little at his greeting. She can see some of Tony in him—or some of him in Tony—but the differences are... for lack of a better word... stark.

Tony knows better than to call her sweet stuff, for one.]

I was just starting to wonder if I'd been stood up.

[ he knows better he just has shitty self preservation instincts in comparison!!!!!!!!!! ]

Stood up? Starks don't stand people up. [ unless they forgot or there's a super important something going on that only they know about?! yeah that. still he can look offended even while sliding that coffee closer to his person yes ty for coffee. ... as long as she didn't do something russiany to it!! ]

They may have a tendency to... delay gratification. But that's all a part of the total package, I assure you. [ yolo he's going in for a sip anyway. if it's poisoned at least people get revived here. like 85% of the time. rough figure. ]

[No poison. Nothing Russian in it at all. Not even any vodka.]

You came through this time at least. Which is probably for the best considering you're the one with questions. Easier to get answers if you show up for them.

[ the vodka wouldn't have been unwelcome, but fair enough. he's too busy frowning at her implications to do much coffee drinking anyway. ]

This time. [ that isn't what he wants to ask her, but he can't help but repeat it. that seemed significant somehow. it seems like as good an invitation as any though, so he starts right in, leaning across the table a bit unconsciously while still clutching his mug with both hands. ] What were you and Tony working on together? Other than world-saving.

[Natasha's lips twitch, almost smiling.]

Really, it's just that one thing. [A pause as Natasha considers where to start. Telling Howard that she was sent to spy on Tony doesn't seem like the best foot.] We were Avengers together. It was a group intended to fight extraordinary threats. Him, Cap... a few others.

Avengers. [ he'll stop doing that at some point. probably. ] You work with Steve? You both do? [ that's a bit more interesting than the rest, clearly. a bit of vulnerability creeps into his gaze, as it always does when captain america is the subject despite his best efforts. ]

We do. Both of us. [Even knowing what he does, that look is a surprise. Natasha knows the affect Steve has on people, and she's familiar with Howard from Peggy and Jarvis's memories. That doesn't mean she's prepared to face this kind of vulnerability.] For several years now.

[ he puts it away quick, there's no room for his feelings now. and clearly steve doesn't want to talk to him or he would have come out of the woodwork already. it's just another thing in one long string of personal disappointments. ]

Avenging... whom?

The Avenger Initiative was the name of the original plan to bring together uniquely qualified individuals to create a team. The name comes from that. It's not specific to any one event.

[Not exactly, anyway.]

I wouldn't get too hung up on that.

[ he blinks. why does this sound so familiar? he straightens up in his seat, equally pleased and nervous to have a willing participant for all his many questions. ]

I hate to put you through the wringer, Natasha. [ he says it out slow, deliberately. one, to cement it in his memory and to keep from giving her a pet name that will definitely get him hit. and two, because he's almost entirely certain it isn't her real name. oh well. ] But I need to know: what went wrong? [ because something most certainly did go wrong, for all that she's playing this off. sam tipped their hand a bit on that one, but even before that he can read peggy too well for her to get away with glossing over this in the first place. ]

[Natasha's lips tighten slightly and she reaches for her own coffee, picking the cup up between light fingers.

This is why people should leave this to her. They can't be trusted to control the flow of information. She figured she'd get to that part eventually. She's already been using the past tense by intention.]

You're going to have to be more specific. What do you think went wrong?

[ fine, if she's going to be all cagey and russian about it, he'll just speak frankly. it's what he was born to do anyway. his face sets in determination. ]

I think... Tony did something that caused a rift between him and his team. You all speak about him as though -- he's a ghost. [ wait... he's not dead is he??? now he's raptly at attention again. ]

He's not a ghost. [Natasha is quick to correct that impression. However grim the situation got, none of them had died. Not for lack of opportunity. She considers begging the rest of the question, but she's already evaded Howard more than once and he's been very direct about what he wants to know.

And someone else will tell him. The same way someone else had told Peggy. The way Steve had wanted to know all the details before he remembered them himself. There's only so many secrets Natasha can keep when she's the only one trying to keep them.

So instead she sets down her coffee without taking a sip, meets Howard's eyes and puts on a very professional voice. If she has to answer this, she's going to do it her way, and she's still going to manage the optics.]

And Tony didn't do it. Not really. [This level of breakdown had to be a group effort, within the context of outside constraints.] The Avengers team isn't intact anymore, though. That much is correct. It was determined by the governments of over a hundred nations around the world that the Avengers could no longer operate without oversight. A solution was drafted that made the team answerable to a council and subject to structures that hadn't been there previously. We wouldn't get to decide where to go and how to handle things on our own any more.

Tony and Steve disagreed on that. They weren't the only ones. Tony was on the side of oversight. I sided with him too, at least at first. Not because I liked it, but because it was happening. Steve and the others who didn't toe the line, they were out of the team.

[A pause to let that sink in, because that? That is the simple part.]

An outside agent, a man who blamed the Avengers for the loss of his family during an event we were active in, took advantage of the situation to drive a wedge between Tony and Steve and escalate the demand for oversight using Barnes. The Avengers, those of us still on the right side of the law, had to bring Barnes in, and you know Steve wouldn't allow that.

[If Howard knows Steve, he knows that at least.]

There was a fight between the sides. It got out of control. After that, I ended up on the wrong side of the law myself, and had to make my exit. I know Steve and Tony met up again in Siberia after that and whatever happened there, I can't speak to. Not with any authority. But yes, there is a rift. That's back home.

[Her lips twitch wryly.] When you bring that all hear, it starts getting complicated. About a year ago, a bunch of us were here. Steve. Tony. Me. Barnes. A couple others who aren't with the fleet any more. We didn't remember any of this at first, then one by one we did. Tony remembered before Steve did.

And Tony left before things could come to any kind of resolution. So there was a rift back home, and also a different but related rift here because of the gaps in knowledge.

You follow that?

Edited 2017-10-01 16:57 (UTC)

[ he's trying to focus on all the tiny details, but maybe they aren't so important in the end. so as she goes on he more allows the broad strokes to fill in the gaps for him. he has to interrupt with a snort at the 'government' thing, because of course it was. but then he's irrationally angry -- about all of it. tony and steve fighting when they should be family is disturbing enough, but then all the specific trauma of this place comes up and that's something he can understand intimately. the rest is just words, useful words he's grateful she gave him, but not something he can visualize because he hasn't lived it himself.

still, he listens more or less intently the entire time. which is a feat for him, really. but that just goes to show how much he really wants to know about this. ]

I'm a Stark. Of course I followed that. [ which is his way of saying thank you, obviously!! howard sighs, setting his cup down and glancing away for a second. ] So that's it? The Avengers are no more?

That's where things stand. [Which isn't the same as being it. She doubts things are done. She doubts that Steve or any of them, really, will be able to stay out of it if anything actually goes down that needs them.] Tony still has the Avengers, but there's not as many of them as there used to be.

The rest of us are fugitives, up until something drastic changes.

[ he's sympathetic to their plight even if he doesn't fully understand it. hell, he was only recently not a fugitive himself. ] Don't suppose you know any agent types who could... clear your name?

[ he tips his head, then sighs again. this is depressing him and none of it has even happened yet. this place really sucks sometimes. ]

Is all of this... [ gestures vaguely ] why I haven't heard from dear ol' Cap yet?

The closest I have to that might be Tony. But considering in this case I actually did the thing I'm wanted for...

[Natasha shrugs. For the time being, that problem can stay firmly at home.]

Can't say for sure, but I imagine it is. Steve blames himself for what happened. He doesn't like letting people down.

Shhh. Plausible deniability, honey. [ that one slipped, but he's serious. ...kinda. he has to be a little funny bc otherwise this conversation would make him want to blow his brains out. ]

The thing is... I know I'm not gonna get a real chance to see him again. It's the same song and dance every future-timed one of you I talk to. This is as close as I ever get.

I thought you wanted answers. [Natasha's chin angles up sightly, somewhere past playful but just shy of challenging.]

You'll see him. I don't know if you can call it real. Whatever happens, it stays here.

But you'll have a chance.

[ he nods. he does... to a point. his curiosity always did get the better of him, and only so much information is actually useful here, as she's already pointed out. ]

Only if he gives us a chance to iron out our beef. [ beef he didn't even know they had since it doesn't exist yet, so... he looks a little helpless here and shrugs. he really didn't mean to bring up steve with her, it's probably not a fair topic and he knows he'll have a tendency to say way too much which will annoy peggy... blah blah blah blah. he leans foward again. ]

What do you think, Natasha? You and I can be friendly, can't we? [ his tone is almost sweet, and really he has no reason to doubt any of what she's said. ]

[Honestly Howard, you probably have more beef with Tony than with Steve, though that's all in the future too and falls squarely under the category of information that wouldn't do them any good here.

Natasha is more than willing to move forward here.]

That really depends on you. Just how friendly do you want to be?

[ that gets the shadow of a grin. ] Now you're just trying to set me up, dollface.

[ but he shakes his head. he's not going to get sidetracked this time. ] The kind of friendly that can call on each other in combat. ...Or out of combat. [ and... yeah that still sounded like a pick-up line sorry :( ]

Oh, I don't have to set you up. If you get yourself in trouble, that's all on you.

[It must be genetic, with Starks.]

But if you need someone to watch your back, I think I could do that. Unless you give me a reason not to.

[Good reason to remember her name. Though with Steve and Bucky both dealing with their own feelings and Tony absent, Natasha is all right picking up some of the slack when it comes to keeping friends and family of friends alive.]

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