14828/Tech Support for Lady Blackhawk

Tech Support for Lady Blackhawk
Date of Scene:	02 May 2023
Location:	Lady Blackhawk's Hangar
Synopsis:	Geeze, that's a lot of dead people.
Cast of Characters:	Zinda Blake, Parity

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Zinda Blake has posed:
Blackhawk Transport has hangars at most major airports up and down the East Coast of the United States. Metropolis is no exception. While the majority of the aircraft traffic is cargo, there is usually a smaller hangar with select, vintage, and often rare aircraft as well.

Today is not a good day. The computer systems are down, and they have been down all morning. To make matters worse, a black F-15 with the Blackhawk logo on the twin tail rudders has just taxied in. The pilot climbs down the ladder in a black flightsuit, pulling off a helmet with the call sign 'Blackhawk'. A tumble of blonde curls precedes a string of colorful language in a thick, Georgia accent as she accosts one of the ground crew.

"... I don't care HOW good he's s'posed to be, he ain't touchin' nothin' until I talk with 'im." Notably, for a civilian pilot the blonde is wearing a pair of automatics in a double-holster shoulder rig over her flight suit.

Parity has posed:
Earlier today...

Snuggled in bed, Jamie Hudson woke with a start. It was that dream again, the one where he's weightless in a sea of blank space. Not unlike a sensory deprivation tank, but one without the charm of being able to escape in a heartbeat. Can't talk. Can't speak. Can't move. Not a body, not a person, not a thing at all. Trapped, forever, in the unfathomable reaches of an endless, blank void that goes on forever ...

... forever, that is, until he wakes up.

    <<Verity>> "Good morning!" Her voice booms in his head, causing a full onslaught cringe from him. He reaches for the nightstand, fumbling for the charger and pulls two ear buds off it, replacing the ones he fell asleep with in his ears. Those, he puts on the charger.

ujamie,Good morning, Verity. We've talked about the early morning greetings before.)

    <<Verity>> "Yes, but your phone has been beeping for the last hour."

"Aw, fuck," says Jamie, aloud, as he reaches for his smartphone. One look at it says it's the agency. One look at it says it's urgent. One look at it says he's barely gonna have time to shower today.

... a short time later, his rideshare is nearly here, and he's half running, half limping out the door, down the stairs, and to the front of his building to greet it, tossing his now empty yogurt cup in the nearby dumpster. He piles into the car, really wishing he'd brought his cane.

...and then, after a while, he's getting out of the car, looking at his destination. He knows the job -- do the work to get the system up and running that doesn't require a full support team. The one in his ear -- not Verity -- will give the instructions. He's just a glorified monkey... a glorified monkey that gets paid.

"Blackhawk," he says, staring, and then, well... then he's being shown in beyond the gates, and hijacked to go see someone in particular.

Zinda Blake has posed:
When the system expert arrives, it's a good thing that the lady pilot got there first. By now, Zinda has relaxed a little and is enjoying a cup of coffee. Airport coffee is still, technically, coffee. The flight suit is unzipped to the waist, showing a pristine, white t-shirt beneath.

She is still wearing the guns.

Jamie is escorted by a pair of guards to a large, private hangar with the black F-15 parked outside as casually as if it were a minivan. Into the office and straight to a small conference room, where the blonde is waiting. She offers a warm smile, and could be a dead-ringer for the woman in the vintage recruitment poster hanging on the wall behind her.

"Sit down, honey." she gestures towards an empty chair, then looks up to the security guards. "Go ahead and take a walk, fellas. We'll be fine here."

Parity has posed:
Zinda Blake herself. Lady Blackhawk. As out of touch as Jamie can be with the whole fancy world of superheroes, this is absolutely someone he knows. He remembers seeing the news reports when her miraculous reappearance was announced.

"Wow," he says, moving to a chair. His knee aches.

He's grateful for the opportunity to sit down.

"How can I help you, Ms. Blake?"

He has a feeling he knows this might be about.

    <<Verity>> "Who is she?"

   <<Jamie>> "I'll explain later."

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake is leaning one hip against the table, coffee cup in one hand, watching as he sits down. She waits until the door closes behind the security guards before she speaks.

"We had some computer problems this mornin'... shut everything down cold. Now that, itself, ain't a lot to get excited about, normally. But, see, we run background checks on all contractors... sorta routine."

She takes a sip from her mug. "Now where are my manners! Can I get y'all a coffee or somethin'? Donut?" The blonde shifts to stand, stepping over to a coffee machine in anticipation.

"Anyway, I got a call bright an' early today. Not because of the computer glitch... 'cause Lord knows nobody wants ME workin' on computers..." She flashes that grin captured so well in the poster.

"But mebbe y'all can explain to me why you're flagged by the DEO with a classification that ain't been seen since the Manhattan Project."

Parity has posed:
"... man, they haven't updated their classifications since the Manhattan Project?" remarks Jamie.

He's not exactly a figure one would expect something like this out of. He's not cut from that mold. Not unattractive, but slipping grtacefully into his thirties, out of shape, and with more pounds than he should have. Blame the fast food.

His face screws up a moment.

"I had a feeling that's what this would be about. Good background check game, I guess?" He gives a lopsided, tired smile.

"It's not nothing, but it's not something that'll have any impact on the job I do here, or you. I'm not a criminal, not even a meta really, but I was party to an accident that exposed me to something that is."

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake pours him a cup of coffee anyway, stepping over to hand it to him. "Sweetie, I already know it ain't -nothin'-, otherwise I wouldn't have broken the sound barrier gettin' here. I do work for SHIELD and the Avengers, so we sorta take security seriously around here."

Half-sitting on the table, she leans on one hand in what could almost be a pose for nose art. Except for the flight suit and the guns, of course. Zinda smiles, then.

"Just so we're clear, I'm here because I need to be sure y'all ain't more than you seem to be. I killed a couple hundred men during the war in aerial combat. Good pilots, all of 'em. An' that's doin' it the hard way. That means if I have -any- doubts about you, there ain't gonna be no hesitation."

She pauses for a moment, then adds. "So convince me I ain't got nothin' to worry about."

Parity has posed:
"Geeze, that's a lot of dead people," he replies, blinking slowly at her.

"Look, ma'am. I've got four titanium pins in my knee ans arthritis in both of them. I walk with a limp. Some days, its bad enough I need a cane. I'm not sure how i can convince you I'm not a threat: the most threatening thing I can do is talk to you about the boring details of virtual private networks, which is by the way what I'm here to help fix."

His face screws up, for a moment, and he reaches up to adjust his 'hearing aids', uncomfortable shifting follows.

"How much do you know about null space?"

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake holds her pose, casually sipping coffee. "Other than it's got somethin' to do with physics, and physics makes my head hurt?" she replies, with a grin. "I'm a pilot, I'm a soldier, an' I'm a certified aerospace mechanic. It's best if y'all use real small words."

Zinda finishes her coffee and sets down the cup before sitting more fully upright again. "I ain't gonna shoot ya', and I'm pretty sure those security fellas are more here to keep me from roughin' you up than the other way 'round. Tell me what you can, an' I'll let you do the job you came to do. I'll even throw in hazard pay for havin' to deal with me first." Wink.

Parity has posed:
"It always comes down to physics, doesn't it? I hate it," Jamie pinches the bridge of his nose.

"It's a bad place. A place where the rules that govern this world don't apply, but there are things that call it home -- one of those things touched me. That'a why the file. I had contact with an extra-dimensional being."

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake doesn't seem bothered by that, and she tilts her head a little. "You ever met any of the Avengers, honey? Half of them are... well shall we say they just ain't from around here."

She slides from the table and steps over, offering a hand to help him up. "C'mon, then. Let's get you to a computer so you can do your thing. Whoever checked you out musta' thought it was okay to leave you walkin' around instead of stuffed in a box somewhere."

"I'll hang around until you finish. Have somebody find me when you do, and I'll buy you a beer."