654/Second Times the Charm

Second Times the Charm
Date of Scene:	20 March 2020
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	Natasha and Tony try to watch movies, Power Girl has other ideas.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Karen Starr

---

Tony Stark has posed:
The evening was prepared for without laying any of the romance stuff on too thickly. That wasn't really Tony's thing to begin with and given that these were uncharted waters the best idea seemed to be keeping it understated. The lounge has been arrayed in such a way that the most comfortable sofas face the large screen television that descends from the ceiling. The title screen for a special box set edition of the entire Mission Impossible franchise scrolls by on the screen, though Tony is paying it no real attention right now.

Instead he's over by the bar, examining an array of bottles that have been lined up on the counter. He picks one up, regarding the Cyrillic text emblazoned on the front and giving it a quizzical look. Another he looks at has all the text in Kanji and Hiragana. The last, he's fairly sure, is Thai.

"How far afield did you go for these, exactly, JARVIS?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    <<I stayed within legal channels, Mr. Stark. But far enough to perhaps embitter certain blocs of voters. I am certain Ms. Romanoff can be trusted with discretion.>> Said the artificial intelligence of the spy.
    <<Speaking of whom, she appears to be here, sir. Shall I send her up, or do you perhaps need more time to rethink your approach?>> That list of burn-wards didn't come from nowhere.

Tony Stark has posed:
"Shut up," Tony snaps at the AI, "I'm half-sure this whole thing was partly your idea, anyway."

He trails off a little, looking out towards the large balcony upon which his security detail stand with their backs conspicuously turned to the window. He takes a deep breath, blows out his cheeks, and leans casually back against the bar.

"Send her up," he says, before immediately adding: "Wait."

He shifts a little, resting his elbow on the bar and pulling out his phone. Satisfied he looks nonchalant, he speaks without looking away from the screen.

"Okay, send her up."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    <<Very->>
    There is a pause while Tony adjusts.
    <<Very good, sir.>>
    A few moments later there's an ear-pleasing tone of arrival, and the elevator doors slide open to reveal Natasha Romanoff, looking... particularly lovely. Not whole-shebang dressed to the nines or anything, but her hair's done up a bit nice, and she's wearing a fetching sleeveless black dress, shoes and a choker around her neck. She's carrying a black purse slung over one shoulder, and lugging a slightly heavier looking bag in her off hand.
    She peers in a bit, as if checking for security, before stepping into the penthouse properly with a soft smile. "Hey there." She says, seeing Tony's nonchalant stance and putting on a slightly coy bemused smile, teasing "Am I here early?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"There's a thing about billionaires and time," Tony says with a lopsided smile, checking one more thing on his phone before dropping it onto the counter with the screen facing down, "It doesn't really apply to us. I can't be late for work, for example. I don't have to rush to catch a flight. And the party always starts when we want it to start."

A pause, before he adds, "Or, in this case, when you want it to start."

He stands up, making a polite gesture towards the bar as he does so.

"So, I learned from last time and JARVIS broadened my horizons substantially. We've got every one of those action spy flicks so we can watch all those impossible missions that turned out to be implausible instead."

He tilts his head, then gestures towards the bag: "What've you got?" His eyes widen in mock surprise, hand splaying on his chest, "This isn't an assassination, is it?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    "Is that so?" Natasha plays along with a smirk tugging at her lips. "I don't know what to do with that kind of luxury."
    On the movie collection Natasha's eyebrows raise and her lips briefly purse in an 'ooo' kind of impressed expression. "Excellent. It'll be like a super cut of Tom Cruse's midlife crisis." She smiles, and begins to bring the bag towards the nearest table, peering over at the kitchen and starting to answer Tony's first question before the the second one causes her to glance to the side thoughtfully and shake her head, "Mmmmnnnoooo, that's not until November, I think. And Barton has that one."
    She then immediately shifts gears, pulling out what turns out to be cooking ingrediants out of the bag and putting them back in as she checks everything for the third or fourth time. "No, I, um..." she grins a little bit, "I discovered the ruins of your kitchen adventure, and I got a little nostalgic." She says, and then gestures vaguely at the bag. "I thought if there's time, I might take a shot at it, show you where you went wrong." She shrugs a little, "Or I could just take it home, I win either way." She smiles, "Have you ever had Syrniki?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"Ugh," Tony presses his palm against his forehead, closing his eyes even though the smile never quite leaves his face, "You saw that? I tell you; I did my best, but I feel like all I got was a bowl full of cheese bits. I figured pancakes or all things couldn't be too hard but I guess that's the Russians for you - subtly ingenious."

He leads the way over towards the kitchen which itself doesn't look as though it sees a great deal of use. Most of his food is ordered up or he goes out for it. The blender is about the only well-loved appliance in the place, mixing up all manner of fruit and vegetable hangover cures almost daily since he got it.

He pauses by the counter, turning to look at Natasha before adding in a tone a little less flippant and overconfident: "You look great."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha gives a soft huff of a laugh and grins as she follows Tony to the kitchen, leaving her purse on the bar, heels clicking on the floor. "I should have warned you. Everything's a trap in Russia. Even breakfast is meant to weed out the weak."
    Tony's compliment draws a gentle smile and she softly says, "Thank you. So do you."
    Failing to find a nonchalant or witty way to move on from that, Natasha begins unloading the ingrediants into a vaguely organized row, "But no, uhm... it wasn't the worst first try." She says, glancing through a cupboard or two and producing a pan, among other things. "I didn't *taste* it, obviously, but..." she puts on a subtly sheepish look as she says, "I... may have started a fire when I first tried to make one as a girl, so. By comparison." A beat, and then she thinks to assure him, "I've gotten much better at it."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Oh, you weren't there for the fire," Tony admits, lingering on the opposite side of the counter for a moment before stepping around to stand alongside Natasha, "Big fire. JARVIS would've called the first responders if I didn't manage to cobble together a makeshift extinguisher out of seltzer water."

True or not? He doesn't say. Instead, he presses his palms down on the counter and leans forward. His eyes follow the ingredients as they're laid out, making note of them in his head. He points at one particular box, brow furrowing: "See, I didn't have that one. Is that an important one?"

He turns his head to look at her and finds himself staring into her eyes. Whatever he was going to say next goes unspoken, instead he stands there, shoulder to shoulder with Natasha. Their eyes locked.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha stifles a laugh as Tony speaks - she's PRETTY sure she would have smelled it if there were a fire, but she WAS dealing with a crisis AND a night's worth of Asgardian ale immediately after and interdimensional warp, so... she may have missed it.
    She looks to the box that Tony points to and says, "Ah." And nods once firmly. "That's the one that avoids the-" Natasha looks back to Tony, and is caught... somewhat off guard by the look in his eyes. "... fire." she finishes very softly and lets that moment hover there for what CAN'T be nearly as much time as it feels like, just feeling... distracted. She's had enough opportunities to tell herself she needs to shut *this* part down before it becomes a thing...
    But she came anyway... so...
    Maybe she doesn't feel like it...

Karen Starr has posed:
    Putting these together is incredibly difficult considering the technology that goes into it- as of today, there are only two in existence. One in Wakanda now.. And another in her hands. Karen had just intended to listen for Tony's call in a literal sense. However, over time, she's begun to think that not only will it be difficult considering that she isn't always on-planet, and it's also... Not -exactly- invasive, but it approaches it.

    This is why this evening, she has a gift for the richest man in the world. Something not even -he- has... And had no hope of otherwise attaining. The notification will come in for Tony- a singularly familiar one, of an object approaching at nearly forty-thousand miles per hour. Its radar profile fits a certain curvature, so the alarms don't start blaring... But that does mean that there isn't some clever warning popping up on one of Tony's screens.

    Karen lands at a regular speed- as is the approach she's taking. Don't exactly want to see if the balcony of the tower can handle her hitting it at Mach L. Soon after her arrival, on the glass door of the balcony come a few interrupting knocks. You know, at the -exact- right time to basically ruin everything.

Tony Stark has posed:
The alarm goes off and Tony's eyes open, finding himself a scant few inches from what looks like it was going to be a very definite kiss with his co-worker.

Going to be.

He knows the tone already. JARVIS calibrated it for him after his first encounter with this particular speeding projectile at Avengers Mansion. He mutters a very graphic curse word as he pushes away from the counter, turning his head to look towards the glass windows that let out onto the balcony.

There, the security detail have their hands on their guns and their other hands pointed at Kara. Yelling at her to get back and away from the doors. Tony presses a button on the wall, voice projecting out through a speaker.

"Uh, fellas, it's fine. She's an Avenger. Sort of."

An apologetic sideways glance is given to Natasha, and he whispers low to her: "Sorry."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha is literally, physically very close to breaking a life long policy when the alarm comes in, seeming to snap her out of it with a sharp little intake of breath, seeming to take a split-second to recalibrate where the heck she is and what she's doing before she goes back into spy mode at the sound of aggressive shouting.
    Natasha's already at her purse, pulling a small handgun partway out of the bag when she recognizes the 'intruder', and her shoulders slump slightly. She lets the gun slip back into the purse, but keeps one hand on it as she offers Tony a sympathetic smile. "It's all right." She says, then inclines her head towards Karen and nods to indicate her, "I kind of thought you just photoshopped her into that picture."

Karen Starr has posed:
    You could think a lot of things about Power Girl were photoshopped. In reality, the pictures don't really do it justice. At the angle the selfie was taken at, for example, it was impossible to realize just how -tall- she was. She has Diana beat by three inches. What even -are- Kryptonians?

    Regardless, Karen hasn't given the security a second thought. Unless they're firing bullets tipped with little green rocks, she's not worried about them. It might be a measure of overconfidence, but even some of the best-equipped security on the planet is liable to get her angry long before they get her to listen.

    Stepping into the room and pretending that she didn't just overhear a snippet of their conversation- you know, from another state- she puts on the business face and approaches the person she'd spoken to about signing up. There's a nod in Natasha's direction. The photoshop comment is left for Tony to address, and Karen is bracing herself for the incoming mock outrage.

    "I'd been thinking about when you need to get ahold of me." she offers, taking a moment to bring one gauntlet up, and popping open a seamless compartment on its thickly armored surface.

    "So I threw this together." From that compartment, she produces this plain looking, entirely average watch. The face of it is simple, with no numbering, just small dashes to indicate the hours, and a stylized red and gold P behind the central section, into which the hands of the watch are set. She hands this out to Tony, as if somehow, he'll just -understand.-

Tony Stark has posed:
"Photoshop?" Tony whispers at Natasha, furrowing his brow and giving her a look that says 'really?' But then Power Girl is in the room, and professionalism abounds. He takes a step away from the kitchen, moving around the island counter to meet the Kryptonian.

When the watch is held out to him, he holds up a hand and makes a face. He shakes his head, leaning away as though Karen were making the very highest of faux pas by handing it to him. But then there's a glance back towards Natasha and he relents, accepting the device with a sigh and holding it up before his eyes.

"Huh," he says flatly, turning it around to try and get a better look and understanding of it, "A watch? Thanks, but I use a phone like every other human. Nice, though."

He starts pressing the sides of it, already testing it. Seeing what secrets it may hold. Nobody comes this far to give him a watch.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha gives Tony the real life equivalent of a halo smile, and pats him on the back as if he needed reassuring and hangs back as Tony approaches Karen, turning her nod with a short gesture of her own, but not feeling the need to assert herself into this situation without reason since it appears to just be the world's rudest social call.
    She kinda needs to catch her breath a little bit anyway, ignoring a few pointed questions to herself, as she offhandedly turns the stove on and ponders the unique feeling of being subject to an intruder that she can't usefully shoot if Karen suddenly decided she was actually an enemy.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen is the best house guest. She makes people feel inadequate in basically every way, and just sort of -shows-up-, what's not to love? Aside from basically all of that.

    The watch looks and behaves like an absolutely normal watch. Except that as Tony fiddles with it, some details will stand out. First, there are the requisite pair of dials for setting the hour, and the minute. However, despite that Tony's toying with each of those dials results in a different time than the local, there is only a momentary pause before the proper time reasserts itself. Down to the second. "You won't have to set it. The functionality is there, though, just in case."

    Karen waits, though, for Tony to discover the seemingly superfluous button between the two dials. It produces an audible click, but... Doesn't seem to do anything else. "Yeah, that one. That's the special part. When you need me, even if I'm off world, you just push the button. I'll hear it, regardless of where I am."

    Every few moments, Karen's attention goes to Natasha, whom she feels is left out. "You might want to take a look at it too. I'm pretty sure he'll leave it somewhere inconvenient."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Right," Tony murmurs, regarding the watch carefully. He clicks the button on, then glances up at Karen critically - examining her for any sort of reaction.

"This button?" he taps it again on then off, "This one?" On. Off. "This one right here?" On. Off. "This little button on the watch, right?" On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On.

He doesn't turn it off - either forgetting where exactly in his rotations of ons and offs that he was or doing it on purpose. Probably the latter. He moves towards Natasha, stepping perhaps closer to her than to work colleagues ought to be and holding it out so she can see. Even letting her take it, should she so wish.

"See?" he points, "It's got a P on it and everything. For Power Girl."

A glance up at his house guest and he asks: "Power Girl, right? It doesn't mean something else? I don't do gang signs."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    "You're not wrong." Natasha says, waving her hand a little above the pan to get a sense of the heat before stepping away closer to the both of them. "We have a whole... support network in place, so..." Natasha watches Tony's routine take place, and despite some disapproval, she does have to put some work in not to laugh. "I'm Natasha, by the way. Hello." She says to Power Girl as Tony approaches Natasha, who takes the watch and graciously presses the button once more to turn it off,, having kept track of the cycle. She clears her throat and smiles softly to Karen, saying, "What he means is, thank you very much, this is useful."

Karen Starr has posed:
    The watch keeps time better than more or less any timepiece on the planet. The answer as to why any of this is possible will only occur to Tony when he gets the bug in him to take it apart- which may or may not happen at all. If he does, though, he'll find that the internals are... Perhaps the most terrifying mechanism that's ever been put into a watch, consisting of moving parts sized in the microns. The entirety of its important mechanisms, as well, are made of crystal.

    Maybe he'll think that he shouldn't have been playing with it, then, when he realizes that he was playing with Kryptonian technology. Or he won't. (He probably won't.) Regardless of that, the sheer miniaturization of what's within is impressive. Not -very- impressive, because it's technology from a hyper-advanced alien society, so it's totally a shortcut. Plus, when you have electron microscopes for eyes, there are more shortcuts you can take, so honestly, this whole watch is cheating. Doesn't count.

    Either way, as the two start to inspect it, Karen folds her arms, one hip cocked to the side. Just as before at the mansion, that whole mannerism ought to be illegal for Karen. Maybe they'll let it slide.

    "It stands for Hope. It's meant to be winding, like a- Yes it's for Power Girl. It's a P. In English, unless we're getting pedantic." she notes, before her attention turns to Natasha. "I think the best thing you do for the Avengers is translating Tony. That's not an insult, honestly, I legitimately think that if he went without an interpretor, there'd probably be wars. Asgard alone, think about it." To them both, she speaks up after a momentary silence.

    "You're welcome. If you ever need me, just hit the switch. I'm probably never more than a minute away." Is her being a minute away even in the solar system?

Tony Stark has posed:
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about Asgard," Tony tells Karen, the mirth seeming to drain with him all at once, "We've got that one sorted. Right, Agent Romanoff?" The way he looks at Natasha doesn't apportion blame at all, rather it's questing for understanding - she knows what he's talking about.

He goes back to looking at the watch, the corner of his mouth twisting up into a look of concentration. There's a definite urge to take it apart and see just what makes it, well, tick but he resists it. Less worried about looking rude in front the guest, more worried about disappointing Natasha by causing a diplomatic incident. He's fairly sure Karen isn't from Earth, anyway.

Finally, he wraps the watch around his wrist and looks at the face again. He holds his hand up, showing it secured there around his wrist, and then moves towards the bar.

"Instant Power Girl summoner watch," he announces, picking up one of the bottles and pouring out a highball glass, "And it's not even my birthday."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha meets Tony's look and meets it with a slightly tight smile of sympathy that turns a bit wistful as she looks to Karen, and lies so naturally that it's like breathing, "Clear skies for now." she 'confirms', because, yeah, she doesn't know this strange invincible person; some trust needs to be built first before she... uh. Stops lying?
    Being a spy is complicated.
    Still, she's actually fairly impressed with Tony's composure... relatively speaking! Not 'vote him into office' impressed, but 'don't twist his ear in front of people' impressed. Though partly that may be because SHE didn't have to hear the repeated signal.

Karen Starr has posed:
    The reaction she gets from Tony at what was ostensibly a joke is a little sobering. At once, Karen's brow raises. She looks between the two of them, but it's not her matter. For the moment, she's an on-call Infinite Punch Engine, not a real Avenger. She only gets involved in one way, when they hit the button. There's no authority for her to get involved, though if she ends up having to hit someone with the moon, she'll probably have questions about whose fault that was.

    Clearing her throat, she moves on. Part of her is trying to be as polite about it as possible, but Tony's last statement does give her cause to grimly state the obvious. "For business purposes only." she states, unfolding one arm to point at Tony, "You're not my type," that's clearly said -to- Tony, but is it intended for Natasha's benefit? Is that some sort of disclaimer that she just -gives- people wherever she goes? The latter is probably more likely, but it'll probably at least feel a little nice for anyone in the room trying to move in on the Stark fortune (And, you know, the person who has it.) "So if I show up to a candlelit dinner, you're eating yours through a straw." That's the standard threat. Tony probably has about eight responses queued and ready to go, but Karen is practiced at this. She's got more. "And if I show up to things you'd already drink through a straw, they become a suppository. Glassware and all." He might have -less- responses to that one.

    After a pause, she continues. "Are we -clear- on the intended use of the watch? I will show up ready to punch, and I am going to punch -something- before I leave. That is a thing to remember when you hit that button."

Tony Stark has posed:
"I ought to point out you're the one giving the watch to me," Tony says, pulling out another highball glass and upending the bottle into that one as well, "So, presumably, somewhere beneath that exterior you wanted me to have it. Or else you'd have given it to Captain Celibate Sobriety - his name's Hank and he lives in a trailer in our backyard."

The glasses both full, he picks one up in each hand and walks them over in the direction of the kitchen. One he lays on the counter nearest to Natasha, while the other he keeps in his hand and takes a sip of. There's an evaluating look on his face before he sticks out his bottom lip and nods in approval. Only then does his attention return to Karen.

"I solemnly swear to only use your fancy watch for genuine Avengers emergencies," he tells her with one elbow leaning back on the counter, "I think we can probably settle that we're neither of us each other's type, huh?"

A glance towards Nat, and he asks, "Whose type am I, anyway?" before taking another drink.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha's mood takes a sudden free fall from 'bemused at the madness' to 'pretty much disgusted', and while her presence of mind over her expression doesn't show that particular emotion, the humor has left it and has fallen away to just a hard neutral expression and piercing eyes. "... Do you always threaten your allies in their homes?" She says with absolutely zero humor. Though her expression does soften slightly at Tony's question and she answers, dryly, "America's type, Tony." turning her head to look at him and offering a little smile that vanishes again when she looks at Power Girl. "If there's nothing else...".
    Yes, Power Girl could probably sneeze and turn Natasha into a stain on the wall. Nat's still pretty much telling her to beat it, after that rude display. Maybe they can be on better terms later, but not right now.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen does tend to make friends wherever she goes. She's never claimed to be the best-mannered, or easiest-liked of the Metropolis folk. In fact, she's probably the opposite of both. She's not Kal. She knows that.

    "Well, if Captain Celibate Sobriety were a real person that existed and lead the Avengers, I'd probably give it to him. But, until that person is real, it goes to you." That's said with the same tone as Tony had given his quip about this imaginary person.

    However, Karen is smart enough to know when she's not wanted- which, frankly, is part of the plan. She'd interrupted -something.- A woman doesn't come to the tower to cook dinner for Tony in a little black dress at -random.- Restoring the status quo from before she arrived might require a common enemy. Considering that in this context, no violence is likely, she doesn't mind being that common enemy.

    "Yeah, that's everything." she states, before moving back towards the balcony doors. Unless she's stopped, the last they'll hear of her presence is the very light rattling of the windows when the sonic boom hits the tower. Considering its construction, it's likely not even very noticeable.

Tony Stark has posed:
"I'm going to tell Hank that Power Girl didn't think he was real," Tony mutters to Natasha behind his glass, though he's not attempting to go unheard (even if that were possible), "He'll be devastated."

For Tony's part, he doesn't glare or look at all hurt about what transpired. The mention of Asgard was a bit cutting, true, but beyond that he took it all with relatively good humor. He leans against the kitchen island with his drink in one hand, watching the Kryptonian make her way towards the glass doors. Nevertheless, Natasha's reaction seems to drive him to end the impromptu business meeting sooner rather than later. To that end, he says nothing and lets Karen make her way out.

Though, for a moment, Karen will hear that signal the watch was designed to emit in order to summon her. If she glances back, she will see Tony with his hand on the watch and he will call out: "Just testing! Nice meeting you again!"

Then, he turns back to Natasha and says with a less conceited and more honest half-smile: "I don't suppose we can pretend none of that happened?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha takes a deep breath and takes hold of the glass Tony set for her and slowly raises it to her lips as she says, "That is... easily... the least happy I've ever seen you to meet a busty blonde in yoga pants." She says, giving a little smile before she downs the drink quickly. No jealousy or bitterness, if anything it's an attempt to lighten the mood.
    She seems to puzzle over Tony's question, before smiling a little... mischieviously? "Sure. Absolutely. Mostly. In a minute." She says, sniffing sharply and bending over to take her shoes off before she walks towards the kitchen. "Jarvis! Get the fire suppression systems ready, we're making *severely* drunk Syrmiki tonight and we may not survive."
    <<I'm afraid your authority does not extend to this building, Ms. Romanoff.>> Jarvis pipes in, <<But I will prepare an insurance statement.>>