19685/The Ride of a Lifetime

The Ride of a Lifetime
Date of Scene:	16 December 2024
Location:	Sub Basement Three
Synopsis:	Ted meets his heroine, Zinda and makes a friend!
Cast of Characters:	Ted Kord, Zinda Blake

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Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord made all the preparations for Zinda 'Lady Blackhawk' Blake's visit. The plane and accessories were ready. He had also taken several showers and gotten a shave and haircut. You might also think Ted bought the company that made Axe cosmetic products.

The meeting was occurring in Ted's holy of holies:M Sub Basement Three. The Bugwas hangared there. It was usually private but a smaller vehicle sat parked beside the aircraft. In fact the Bug was set to knock any unauthorized personnel approaching on their ass with its air cannon. Ted's loyal bots were a second line of defense. The bots thought their maker was showing off.

They were right.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake arrives a little early, and isn't surprised to be greeted but Bobo, one of Ted's bots. She carries on a casual conversation along the way, chatting even in the lift, until the door opens at the sub-basement level. "Oh, well ain't this fancy." she murmurs half to herself as she steps in.

It's chilly in the hangar, but Zinda doesn't seem to mind. She's dressed casually in her Blackhawks flight jacket over a t-shirt, along with traditional pleated miniskirt and go-go boots. She spots Ted first and walks right up, security be damned, flashing a wide grin along with a friendly, country wave.

"Mornin', Ted. So this is the place where you're buildin' Frankenstein's Monster? Helluva lab you got here."

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord shrugs and looks a little shy. "Oh scientists are the ones with the labs. I'm an engineer with dirt under my nails. This is a workshop, and the hangar for THE BUG!" He gestures a bit at the mechanized, flying kaiju.

"Anyway, let me tell you about this craft before the unveiling..." He motions her over to a light table.

"See, she's a fly by wire vehicle but she has cybernetic relays here, here, and here to to translate readouts into give or pressure on the stick and controls. So she's modern but the feel is like a World War Two aircraft." He points out the linkages.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake looks from Ted to the covered craft, then back to Ted again. She follows over to the light table, and isn't shy about giving him a little hip-check to nudge him out of the way for a better view.

"Fly by wire, hmm?" she muses, leaning in to look more closely at the drawings. "I don't have any idea what a cybernetic relay does, but it kinda makes sense the way you explain it. Sort of like 'fly by wire', but with controlled output."

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord moves to the side, still a little close. "Like she'll show you if she's experiencing resistance or flying easily. I have feedback from the elevators, ailerons. Basically... I used cutting edge Kord tech to make it feel like an old fashioned plane. But you can shut the feedback off if you want and use the display to see how well you're. doing. flying." Ted moves his hip off Zinda's. Now. he. talk. regular.

Ted works on breath control. tries for small talk.

"How are you not freezing your butt off dressed like that?" He decides against further small talk.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake nods and keeps her attention focused more on the drawings while he talks. She's a pretty solid mechanic, and has both designed and built her own planes before. "Never flown a plane where you can turn reality on and off before." she replies, looking up at him. Definitely impressed.

He switches to small talk and she returns a wry smile. "Well who says I ain't? On some days it's kinda refreshing, to be honest. Other days it's just easier to wear tights."

Holding the playful expression, she looks him up and down before adding. "So you invite me all the way down here to your secret hangar to check out my legs and ask about freezing my cookies? Or were we gonna look at some fancy plane?"

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord chooses from the following: 1) continue stammering like a doofus 2) apologize 3) point out he was looking higher up 4) laugh it off because she's pretty funny. "Hah. You're pretty funny. Why not both? C'mon we'll do an unveiling here." He really thought he was going to pick #1. He grabs Zinda's arm and leads her to a rope secured to the drop cloth.

"I've been calling the aircraft 'she' and 'her' because well she's a little smaller, sleeker and like most females deadlier than the male..." He hands the rope to her. "She also needs a name."

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake laughs at the response, confirming his choice. Then she is being dragged over to the pull rope. "Well you are certainly right in all counts." she replies, taking the rope and musing in the subject of the deadly craft's gender. "Well lets give her a look an' see what comes to mind, then." Zinda offers. Then she gives the rope a smooth tug.

Ted Kord has posed:
The aircraft sits on her landing gear. She has smaller engines than you'd expect for a jet. The wings are swept back right now, though obviously variable geometry. There are large exhausts and the twin engines are capable of vectored thrust. The finally touch is a mission specific pod under each wing.

Ted says, "I need to get something... I will let you get acquainted..." He hustles off, looking mischievous.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake approaches the small jet with open curiosity, first walking around it for a casual look. Then she walks around it again more slowly, giving it all the attention of a preflight check. Zinda finds the release to open the canopy, then climbs up the side ladder so that she can peer into the cockpit.

She is just climbing in when Ted returns.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord admires the beautiful design a moment, then looks over the jet. He climbs the ladder on the side and shows Zinda a corked bottle with clear liquid. "I tried to get the guys in the chemistry division to mke some corn liquor for you. I eh read your unauthorized bio. It was actually pretty flattering. Turned out I needed a distilling license and they failed miserably and made themselves sick. I got the license and asked Charlie in the mailroom who is from Alabama. He agreed to show them how... provided we not breathe a word of this to his family. they'd never let him hear the end of it, working legally. You can christen her o9r whatever. I can vet the quality. I never drank the stuff but charlie says his family's been doing it since the 1600's." He hands her the bottle.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake remains perched atop the ladder, half-turning when he starts talking about corn liquor. "Corn liquor, you say?" she perks, tilting her head as she accepts the bottle. Zinda pulls the cork (showing it's not her first time at such things) and takes a sniff. Wrinkling her nose, she takes a more careful sniff before giving him a nod. "I'd like to meet this Charlie sometime." she declares. "Even if he IS from Alabama."

Zinda is from Georga, of course.

She carefully climbs down the ladder before she speaks again. "Ya' don't bash a bottle against a perfectly good airplane, Ted, so we'll do more of a sprinkling." she declares. Reaching up, she carefully sprinkles some of the liquor over the nose of the plane, trying not to get it on anything that looks important.

"Still need a name." she declares, looking thoughtful.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord nods and says, "Why don't the three of us go into the Bug, before you freeze to death. I'd uh like a taste please? Yeah Charlie said he infused grape seed oil in it. We can look over the aircraft, tweak the automatics for you and be warmer."

He walks under the Bug and touches a throat mic. "Bug drop a line please?" The Bug responds of course. A Mutant technopath told Ted once that the Bug adored him with its simple computer brain.

"A name... how about Genie? That liquor has me thinking about good things coming from a bottle. Also I think she'll feel like magic to you." Ted steps on a crosspiece hanging from the line and holds out a hand.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake grins broadly at that, nodding. "Genie it is, then!" she agrees. "Or rather, *she* is. Zinda takes a quick pull from the bottle, then replaces the cork and reaches up to take the offered hand.

"Infused grape seed oil, hmm? Hadn't thought of that, to be honest." she muses. "Alright, ready when you are."

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord takes Zinda's hand, careful of the bottle. The crosspiece is not that big and they have to stand sort of arm in arm as they arm winched up into the Bug. Ted made an aircraft for Zinda Blake, one of his heroes! He's WITH Zinda Blake! She's not seven feet tall or anything like that.

'Don't meet your heroes' is lousy advice. Make sure your heroes aren't jerks!