1162/Arcade Mode

Arcade Mode
Date of Scene:	14 April 2020
Location:	Avengers Mansion - First Floor
Synopsis:	Natasha and Tony play Final Fight and discuss the future.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff

---

Tony Stark has posed:
The Rec Room of the Avengers Mansion is, for better or worse, a testament to the formative years of Tony Stark. As well as the bare necessities such as a widescreen television and a fully stocked bar, it is given over to a myriad of arcade cabinets and pinball machines. The newest among them is just over a quarter of a century old. When they're not in use they sit idle with their garish, artfully decorated cabinets on full display. But when in use they chime and ring and flash their lights just like the arcades of the Eighties and Nineties.

At the moment he kneels at the foot of one such cabinet adorned with muscle bound heroes and the words 'Final Fight' splashed across the side. The front panel is open, and he's shoulder-deep inside the machine fidgeting with some hidden mechanism. On the screen the 'continues' counter begins to chime over and over, the number rocketing up from 'Insert Coin' to '20' in a matter of moments. Once he's done he stands up, brushing a little bit of dust from the front of the now well-worn Black Widow t-shirt that has become his go-to casual wear.

"I played the hell out of this as a kid," he explains, stepping aside and gesturing for Nat to take the controls, "Not quite the same as going down to the arcade with a pocket full of quarters but I don't even know where you'd fine one that wasn't trying to be ironic these days."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    One would be hard pressed to think of a way to take Natasha Romanoff - who was trained to more or less function and fit into most any environment - completely out of her element. But Tony has discovered a way to do that. Nevermind the fact that she'd never touched a video game in her life; when Natasha was born, pinball machines were being accused of selling out for adding lights and sounds.
    Not that she advertises that.
    "So instead of buying a game..." she clarifies to herself out loud, "People would come pay a quarter-" she glances down at the coin slot, "-A few quarters, to play it through standing up?"
    Natasha 'ohs' softly and steps up to the machine, glancing back and forth between the identical sets of controls on the dashboard and picking the rightmost one. She wiggles the stick back and forth and squints as a blinking border moves between three extremely ripped men and asks "Which one's the good one?" She asks, and then looks down at the buttons, hovering her hand awkwardly over them.

Tony Stark has posed:
"Yep, a quarter a shot. If you died, that was another quarter. These were the original money pit. I think I probably spent close to twenty bucks one afternoon. But then mom had Jarvis just buy the cabinet and I didn't have to pay anymore. It was never quite the same, though."

As Natasha steps up behind the machine, Tony makes a casual but eagle-eyed glance towards the door. Not seeing anybody in the immediate vicinity, he steps up behind her and wraps both arms around her middle so he can reach past her to the controls. He tilts his head to speak into her eat from where he stands, placing a hand over her own to move it back and forth across the three characters on the character select screen.

"I was always partial to this guy," he moves the stick to a musclebound, mustachioed, bare-chested man, "Haggar. He's a pro wrestler who became the Mayor of Metro City. The blonde guy is Cody, he's the one whose girlfriend the bad guy kidnapped. The other one is Guy. I don't remember what his deal was."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    "Ah... ha." Natasha says bemusedly at the explanation. "So it's a trap for children. I see."
    As she ponders characters - she'd say 'improbably ripped' characters, but she knows Steve and Thor - a sly little grin comes to her lips as Tony slips in behind her, flickering briefly with her own cautious glance to the doorway. Her head turns only slightly in Tony's direction, face still pointed at the arcade cabinet while her eyes turn towards him. "... And a trap for naive Russians, I see." She teases softly, "Sure it's a good idea to seduce me with so many strong young men in the room-" she stops and squints at the screen "-Or, no, that one's kind of old." When Tony singles him out, she observes "He... does not have a shirt on."
    Taking in his complex backstory, she says "... That's aspirational, I suppose. I like him." She decides and pushes a random button. "Okay, how do I save my... friend's girlfriend? I didn't pick the hero, did I?"

Tony Stark has posed:
The random button pushed, the screen gives way to the first level and the little cutscene providing that bit of plot. Tony moves his hands from the controls, letting Natasha take over and folding them instead lightly over her stomach. He peers past her at the screen, grinning to himself.

"You picked the best one," he explains as Haggar appears towering and ready to pummel bad guys on the screen, "I knew you were a woman of impeccable taste, Romanoff."

The crack about the seduction draws a close-lipped laugh from him and he turns his face a little to whisper more directly into her ear: "You know what, I think I like my chances."

Then the bad guys range onto the screen, fists held up in a boxer's stance.

"Okay, so the button on the left jumps and the one on the right attacks. The joystick moves you around. You've got to beat these guys up."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha flashes a brief grin, then presses her lips together and shakes her head with a sigh. "Give a guy an inch, he'll take a mile." She sighs, adding "Muzhchiny." (Men) fondly in Russian, allowing a rare return of her accent for it, and wiggling a bit into place against him.
    Complimented for her taste, she says "Well, there's just something about a man who knows how to trim his mustach... but doesn't know how to wear a belt."
    Given the explanation, she purses her lips slightly and says, "Seems simple enough." before the Mayor of Metro City lumbers along the path her joystick dicates. When she deems herself in range, she glances down at the buttons and - almost daintily - pushes the button down with one finger. Haggar's tree-trunk of an arm smashes the disadvantaged vagrant... once. Natasha blinks, and looks down at where she's still just holding the button down. "He's not- oh." She stops as the thug begins beating Hagger about the head and shoulders with his fists. "*Oh* no, that's not..." she wiggles the stick a bit to no avail, and thinks to release and re-press the button a couple times, to no avail. The beating animation is locked into sequence, and Haggar's mighty frame is toppled by someone half his size.
    "I got knocked down. Haggar has a glass jaw."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Well, he's not the world's greatest super spy," Tony chides playfully, reaching past Nat to tap the continue button, "Haggar's gotta put in a little more effort to beat the hell out of these guys."

It's painted blatantly across his face. He's enjoying this immensely. Most of the things they have in common are so strange and outlandish. They both know the Norse God of Thunder. They've both fought aliens. They're both on the world's premier team of superheroes. It's nice to find something simple to enjoy with her, something without stakes or millions of people looking on.

"But you're right, you'd think he'd know how to take a hit, right?"

There's a pause, his hands returning to rest on her middle as he glances left and right with a look of mock conspiracy and whispers: "You want me to start wearing my belt like that? It'd raise some eyebrows but I'd do it for you."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha gives a single closed-mouth huff of a laugh and shakes her head a little at the flattery, and leaps - well, meanders - to Haggar's defense. "I mean, he took a few. He's probably out of practice." Mayorship is busy, or so she hears.
    Natasha doesn't have much in common with most people you could meet. It's an ongoing problem. But after growing up in an evironment of both harsh starkness and romanticized destiny and patriotism; and spending most of her life in high stakes intense situations one after another... she's starting to come to like things like this. What Janet once mistook for 'picket fence bullshit', Natasha sees as an... appreciation for simpler things.
    Once Haggar's up and flashing, Natasha says "Okay. More than once. Probably... more than that." She says, pressing the button repeatedly and actually managing to knock the punk over! Good job! She keeps committing the cardinal mistake of looking down at the buttons though. "There's no kick is, there? There's just punch and jump. Why would I jump? He looks heavy."
    Tony's offer makes her grin and she says. "Mmmmm. I'd have to really think about that. So manly. But I'd have to answer some questions in interviews." She smirks a little and notes, regarding Haggar's public service, "I guess you'd have to take officer first, anyway. To really sell the fantasy."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Keep your eyes up," Tony coaches lightly, reaching a hand to tuck a finger gently under her chin and tilt her head just slightly upwards to turn her attention back to the screen, "The buttons aren't going anywhere. There's no kick, no. It's just punch and jump. Though you can jump and punch in mid-air?"

The mention of his taking office brings him pause for a moment. He quietens down and stops coaching, just remaining where he is. Close to her and watching her learn the ropes on a thirty-one year old video game. There's something on his mind, and it's almost palpable in the air around him.

"About that," he begins quietly, drumming fingers against her stomach as he speaks, "If I do win. Does that change anything? I mean, obviously it does but ... does it change anything with us?"

He takes another pause, as though trying to find the right words. It's like speaking a language he's only ever heard others use or only ever seen written down.

"I ... like this. You."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    "Uhp." She grunts as her chin is directed upwarm and makes a small "Rrrmmmr." sound through closed lips in exaggerated resentment. "Normal punch seems to be doing okay. I mean, if all you have is a hammer, every problem just looks like a- '*wow*." She interrupts herself with blandly delivered surprised as Mike Haggar busts out a flying missile drop kick and lands on his feet when the jump button is experimented with. "That's... legitimately impressive."
    Tony's silence gets her to glance to the side a few times curiously in a manner that gets the mayor pummled once or twice, before Tony finally speaks. She goes quiet for a few long moments, still fiddling with the game with less focus now as she turns this over in her head. Not that she hadn't thought of it before, but now it's out there.
    "... Probably." She says softly. "I don't think Natalie Rushman's going to make it to the White House if we sort out who's gunning for you. You'll be busy. I'll be the ex-wife who changed her name and needs security clearance. ... You'll sort of be my boss. Boss's boss. One of them. I'll have my work." Natalie pauses and just admits, "It'll be... hard."
    Natasha softly says, "... I like this, too"
    The controls aren't really being messed with anymore, so this sweet gentle little statement is punctuated by the sound of Mike Haggar just getting fucking ROCKED.

Tony Stark has posed:
"Do you ... have to work?" Tony asks hesitantly. His attention has drifted away from the game now, and rather than stand behind her he moves to the second player side of the machine and leans back against it. It's an odd thing to see him look out of his element - it's a place he very rarely is, and when he is he usually does a better job of hiding it.

"I had the lawyers look it over," he continues, "The laws are pretty airtight. There's no real precedent, of course, but they're pretty certain that if I'm sworn in as president then the suit is out of the picture. Something about not being allowed to conduct military operations on American soil. I haven't really mentioned it yet but ... if I win, then that's the end of Iron Man. At least while I'm in office."

He clears his throat, staring ahead of him. Suddenly fixed on some incredibly interesting point on the wall across the room.

"Maybe we could just be two people, rather than two - what, Avengers?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha looks a little puzzled at first, asthough briefly unable or unwilling to process what he means by that question, and Natasha goes very, very quiet, staring at some suddenly interesting point where the arcade cabinet meets the screen.
    A normal woman? Natasha hadn't toyed with the idea since she was a very young, and even then she knew it was a silly dream.
    She isn't addicted to the danger, she isn't addicted to the life. She's not weighed down by patriotism; she's woken up to too many different regimes for that. So that's not keeping her here.
    So what is?
    Guilt? A little. A lot. Buried. But guilt is useless to her. You can't fix what she did. Better to try to move forward.
    Fear? She's only good at two things: Killing men, and pretending to be a person. What's left if she stops? What if what's left is ugly? Or worse, useless.
    What's right? Her sense of right and wrong has always been defined by... relativity.
    Except here. Except with the Avengers.
    All of that is outside of the fact that Tony essentially just asked her to marry him without probably realizing it, and all Natasha can say is, "... That's... asking a lot, Tony."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Yeah ... " Tony admits, clearing his throat and looking down at the floor for a second, "Yeah."

He claps his hands together noisily in front of himself, shaking himself out of the momentary stupor and stepping away from the arcade cabinet. His arms swing back and forth practically dragging his whole upper body with him in the rocking motion. He strides quickly across the room, sweeping behind the bar to start pouring.

It's as though unpleasant feelings and emotional discomfort are met by an almost Pavlovian response.

"It's kind of a crazy thought, anyway," he continues, his voice much more 'Tony' than it was moments ago, "I can barely imagine retiring the suit, anyway. What would this team even be without me? Less well-represented in pop culture, for one thing."

He reaches out to flick a Thor bobblehead that's recently been mounted atop the bar, watching the head jiggle back and forth with the same broad and sparkling grin as the original.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha takes a second or two after Tony walks away before she turns around to look at him, leaning her hips against the machine a little bit, her expression briefly blank, because she wants to frown, but she'd have to choose to show him a frown.
    As all that went through her head, she hadn't even gotten to Tony leaving the team, which she feels... conflicted about. She may or may not have told Tony he'd won her vote under... compromised circumstances... But it would change some things she doesn't want changing. Is it right to want him to lose?
    ... Nothing lasts forever. Realizing that is part of why she left Russia.
    "... Tony." She says softly, straightening up and walking towards him. She puts her hands on the back of his shoulders and rubs gently, close enough that he can probably feel her breath when she sighs. "... If you give up on your dreams for a pretty foreign girl... I'm gonna pick on you."
    She gives his shoulders a little squeeze and says, "... November's seven months away. Ask me again some time, okay?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"Hey, I didn't meet you over the internet, at least," Tony offers, dropping a cube of ice into the drink and bringing it up to take a sip, "I think that warrants a little less picking on me, right?"

He puts the drink back down on the counter, turning to face her. He rests his hands on his hips, tilting his head to one side. He studies her carefully, not that there is anything about her expression that is readable to him unless she wants him to read it - and even then, she's the one writing the book.

"You're right," his tone is more hushed now, hands trailing lightly up and won her sides as he speaks, "It's ... we don't have to think about it now. I'm happy with this. With us."

Somewhere deeper inside the mansion, there is a loud thud of something heavy followed by the uproarious gloating of one of Steve's Einherjar: 'Victory! I am the most Twisted! Again!' A pause. 'Left hand blue!'

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    There's a split second after Tony turns around where he might swear Natasha's face was completely blank; but in the blink of an eye there's a gentle sort of sympathy in her eyes, and a tug at the corner of her lips at his response as if she's trying not to laugh right now. It's not all of what she's feeling, but it's what she wants him to see.
    "... Me too." She says softly, and smiles. "... There's no need to rush. Busy or not, I'm still your tail right now. There's nothing stopping us from-"
    The Einherjar make themselves known, and Natasha's eyes and lips close very tightly shut as she tilts her head back. Her head then gently pitches forward so her forehead hits Tony's shoulder. Then rears back a tiny bit and does it again over a shorter distance, as if beating her head against a wall. "We... *have*... to get those guys an apartment."
    It's like living with half a dozen sitcom neighbors.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony's head turns a little when he hears the Asgardians in the other room, looking back to Nat once he feels her beating her head gently against his shoulder. One hand comes up to rest on her head, fingers tangling lightly in her red hair as he laughs.

"Or we could go back to my apartment. It's got better views than here, anyway? I've got more spy movies on - "

He stops talking, as though suddenly struck by a guilty thought. He leans back a little from her, regarding her with a morose expression of one about to air a terrible secret that will surely change things forever.

"I've got a confession to make. You may not have noticed because I'm incredibly skilled at the art of deception, but the movies are mostly just a ploy to get you back to my place to fool around."

He tries to maintain the sorrowful look, though it quickly gives way to a faint ticking at the corner of his mouth and then a full grin.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha's brow is still furrowed, eyes still squinting a little bit as she pulls back to look up at Tony curiously when he stops talking. 'I've got a confession to make' is met with a soft, slightly dubious "Yeah?" When Tony finishes, she stares at him for a moment, then starts shaking her head, feigning being flummoxed, but in the most unconvincingly bland voice you've ever heard. "You, uh- why- I- I can barely... believe you would take advantage of my naivety this way." She holds up one hand with curled fingers and sighs as she very ineffectually pushes at his shoulder with her knuckles for a second, then smiles a little as she asks, "... Do you want to go to your place and fool around?"

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony's still grinning as Natasha responds, casting his eyes upwards in a mock plaintive expression as he clutches his hands before his chest to beg forgiveness. When she asks her question, however, his demeanor changes. He looks shocked, as though she's just given him the greatest surprise of his life.

Without warning he ducks down, one arm against the small of her back and the other just above the back of her knees. In one motion he sweeps her up into his arms, carrying her out from behind the bar and into the middle of the Rec Room. He holds her there for a moment, turns to regard her with a thoughtful expression and then says plainly:

"Yes. Yes, I do."

Then, without regard for the Eirhenjar down the hall (or wherever they are) he moves to carry her out of the room.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha smirks a little at his expression, but blinks owlishly as he moves for. "Huh?" She barely manages to grunt before her light body is lifted bodily into the air with a surprised "Wha-HUAOO-no!" She looks aghast for, like, a second, but then her shoulders start shaking and she turns her head away looking like she's trying not to *giggle* of all things. This is... nostalgic. She shakes her head, smiling, "This is- this is- you *brute.*" She says a bit blandly, then yelps as Tony moves forward, weakly kicking her legs a little as they move towards the door. "Oh nono- aw no-" but then laughs helplessly for a second, closing her eyes and pressing her cheek to Tony's shoulder, sighing, "I... I need to draw up a schematic of 'discretion' so you understand it."
    She seems oddly... happy, though!

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony makes his way to the door of the Rec Room and then, with a casual glance towards either end of the hallway, makes his way out with Natasha still in his arms. He's already running through a dozen different scenarios in his head of exactly what he'll say if they're confronted. Though honestly he doesn't worry about it too much - weirder things have happened around the Mansion.

The mention of discretion gives him pause for a moment, stopping right there in the middle of the hallway. In the middle of one of the most commonly-used thoroughfares in the entire Mansion. The place anybody could just walk by and see the two of them acting so ... frivolous.

"Discretion? Have we not met? I'd shake your hand, but I'm currently grabbing your ass with mine."

He lets out another grin as he moves down the hall a few doors and then mercifully nudges open the door to the garage with the toe of his shoe, carrying them both out of sight.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha tries to scowl, but just ends up closing her eyes, her shoulders shaking with a restrained laugh as she says "... I'm gonna pick on you, you big dork."