908/How Quick The Hours Go By

How Quick The Hours Go By
Date of Scene:	01 April 2020
Location:	Quickstart Enterprises
Synopsis:	Jesse and Rick reminisce about old times.
Cast of Characters:	Jesse Chambers, Rick Tyler

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Jesse Chambers has posed:
Quickstart Enterprises. In its day, this company was run by Johnny Chambers, aka Johnny Quick. It was a media corporation designed to sell Johnny's healthy living videos and other healthy lifestyle items (such as vitamins). As the age of videos came to an end, Johnny retired and gave the reigns over to his daughter, Jesse Chambers.

It took a bit, but now Quickstart Enterprises shifted with the times, adapted, and is now starting up their own style of healthy living. Exercise equipment designed for everyone, not just skinny executives seeking to better their form.

It has not been easy to figure out the proper media to go along with it, but today, Jesse is working the night oil - as she does most evenings, on finding just the right mix of pre-recorded and live media to go along with their new line of exercise equipment.

Jesse's office is a mass of laptops, computer monitors, a huge screen of monitors, and even blackboards filled with writing, advertising, numbers, and repeated videos showing people working out.

The blonde is dressed in her typical office attire, dark black slacks, a silk shirt with the long sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a couple of the first buttons undone revealing the chemise beneath just slightly. Her feet are currently bare, just a pair of tights can be seen on her feet - her jacket and shoes left behind her desk.

That is, if you can /see/ the blonde. There's nothing more than a blur of motion here, a slight shift in the video there, another video played here, the blackboard shifted slightly as another chart magically appears there... and the time reads close to nine o'clock at night - her dinner appointment with her boyfriend was supposed to be at seven. Jesse's missed it entirely.

Rick Tyler has posed:
Yes, entirely and utterly missed! Reservations at the Golden Phoenix are hard enough to get, but then to show up for your table of two and spend the first thirty or forty minutes telling the waitstaff that your date will 'be along shortly'? Needless to say, Rick Tyler was more than a little embarrassed. Why, Jesse didn't even answer her cell phone! Finally, after a half dozen glasses of ice water and more polite smiles than he should have been asked to give, Rick ultimately ordered to go (for two, of course) and began the arduous and exacting process of tracking down the errant Miss Chambers. After all, for her to miss this date, she must have gotten embroiled in something important - something where she was protecting innocents or standing up to villainy, something where the good of the many was at stake. And with her super speed, she could be anywhere in the world. Fighting giant gorillas in the depths of the African Congo, battling it out with would-be dictators in the icy cold wastes of Siberia, or even just stopping a simple smash-and-grab somewhere in small town America. Rick would have his work cut out for him.

Or so it would seem. In fact, it's his very first stop that he finds Jesse - the only villainy truly at play centered around nefarious deadlines and the drudgery of corporate America. With a quiet quirk to his mouth, Rick wends his way to Jesse's office at Quickstart Enterprises, past the many empty cubicles where her staff has long since gone home, carrying with him a number of Chinese take-out boxes in plastic sacks as he goes. He pauses at the slightly ajar doorway, leaning casually up against the frame as he studies the whisks of paper and the seemingly random appearances of charts or fast-forwarding of videos, before he states in a wry tone, "You said you wouldn't be late this time." He chides Jesse good-naturedly, his eyes mirroring the smile on his features. "We could have just ordered take-out from the get-go if you wanted. I mean, we don't get the live mandolin music here, but..."

Jesse Chambers has posed:
Internally, Jesse's thoughts are as quick as her actions, this particular product isn't doing well - should she give it another quarter? How are the numbers for the new exercise bike designed for beginners? Oh there's Rick. The numbers for this new exercise teacher is way down, people are expressing that he's too haughty and rude when he does live shows. That'll have to change, the last thing Jesse needs is to have her products associated with rude people.

And the blur continues through the room, until it dawns on Jesse that there is a voice coming from the doorway that isn't from the video - aaaand, yes, the time does read after nine, and that is Rick standing in the doorway, with take-out. Nuts.

A tick of the clock is all it really takes for Jess to fully come to that realization, but it's enough. The blonde then appears in front of Rick, a sheepish expression written on her features. "I missed it. Again." She offers with a splayed run of her hand through her messed up blonde hair. On her desk is her cell phone, currently showing the few messages and missed calls she'd not even looked at.

"I'd say sorry, but that really isn't going to cut it." For all her speed? Jesse can get so tuned into her work, normal things, like dates, and non-job related interactions? They go right through one ear and out the other. Waving her hand inside, Jesse begins shutting down laptops, a blur of motion here, and there, as her desk is cleared of debris. "This new product we're shipping out is going to make or break our new campaign of healthier lifestyles for everyone. I really want to kick the butt out of the other companies, and their ad slogans."

As Jesse sort of explains, she's soon sitting on the edge of her desk then, offering another sheepish look at Rick. "What can I do to make this up to you?"

Rick Tyler has posed:
There is little that Rick can do but nod in agreement as Jesse admits to missing the date, though he still keeps his good-natured smile on his features. "Why is it," he begins rhetorically, "that people with super-speed can never seem to be on time?" His grin grows broader with the statement, before he enters the room fully, nodding a little as Jesse explains about the current push for the latest marketing campaign that her company is undergoing. "I get it," he answers, setting the plastic sacks down on the newly cleared desk, before beginning to lift out the iconic take-out boxes, one by one. They're marked in sharpie on the lids - curry, sesame, and sweet and sour, along with rice and barbecue pork - and the flavorful aromas of the Chinese food becomes more apparent even before the boxes themselves are opened. "TylerCo went through a similar roll-out last year, it was this really big deal for a psoriasis treatment and we wanted to make a big splash at the pharmacuetical trade shows..." He pauses, catching himself. "Anyways. It's okay."

The offer of 'making it up' to him, however, does cause Rick to get a bit of a sly grin on his features, and he moves closer to the blonde as she perches on the edge of the desk. "Mm... I'm sure I'll be able to think of... something," he draws out the sentence, smiling a bit broader as he continues, "That'll be of commensurate worth to being stood up for..." a quick glance at the clock. "Two hours." He locks eyes with Jesse then, leaning in a little closer, his eyebrows lifting up and then dropping again in a slight wiggle. "Now, I wonder what I could ask of you for two hours that would offset such an experience..."

Jesse Chambers has posed:
"Easy Hourman." Jesse states with a slight flick of her finger against Rick's chin. "Eat first. Lengthy process of apology." There's a slight pause, before she leans in and steals a very quick kiss. "Later."

It never ceases to surprise Jesse just how hungry she can get, and the food - well, it smells delightful. Collecting up a couple chopsticks and the box full of sweet and sour, shuffling some rice on top, and then - well, Jesse's munching down, "Mm. Golden Phoenix. Reminds me of the time we first met." She states, food already chomped and swallowed, before she continues. "And that hideous outfit you were wearing." One chopstick is lifted upwards as she gestures towards Rick. "At least you've learned better fashion sense."

"I still remember standing at the entrance, watching you deal with those would-be terrorists.." Jesse's voice grows fairly quiet then, thinking back to the past, and the moment Jesse Quick would meet the second Hourman...

Rick Tyler has posed:
There's a return of the quick kiss before Rick can't help but laugh out loud at the mention of his first costume. "Hey, considering the budget I was working with at the time, I thought it was pretty good," he answers, starting to heap food onto a plate as well, fairly proficient with his own pair of chopsticks. "And you can't tell me that the clock-in-H motif wasn't inspired." The brown-haired man grins, his expression starting to turn a bit more nostalgic as the memories surface. "Not as inspired as *your* outfit, mind you... Those shorts..." He waggles his eyebrows briefly once more, finding a seat and kicking back as he starts to partake of some curry and sesame chicken. "Seems like forever ago sometimes," he muses, as the focus shifts and the mind's eye begins to capture the specifics of those events, some years hence, almost as if they were playing out like a movie...

"You guys... picked the wrong time to launch this plot of yours!" The voice that comes from the young Hourman is full of bravado and machismo, a confidence that can only be borne of super strength, super durability - and wearing a spandex outfit in royal purple, trimmed with a giant crimson 'H' running down torso and legs and centered by a bright, white clock face along his chest. He's facing off against a quartet of men in ski-masks and bulky coats, two others already laying unconscious at the perimeter of the power plant's control room. Nearby, a bank of machinery is capped with a large bundle of what looks to be plastic explosives, and a blinking red digital display that reads only a few minutes and counting. "Or should I say - the wrong hour?" Hourman grins from underneath his purple domino mask as he shrugs off a volley of gunfire from one of the terrorists, but the group is between him and the bomb, and even with his enhanced abilities, it seems unclear as it whether or not he'll he dispense with them in time to disarm it.

Jesse Chambers has posed:
"Those shorts allowed complete freedom of movement." Jesse interposes between the flashback of the memory. And the number of times that Jesse had to pluck them out of the uncomfortable zone - she's super glad she has super speed (and a different costume now). "You were so gallant there, defending the good fight.."

Jesse's already finished off the sweet and sour and is now proceeding to dump a large amount of rice into the sauce left behind. She can still remember the feeling of excitement that swept through her ...

About ten years ago --

Johnny Quick and his daughter, Jesse Quick, had stumbled upon the scenario from a complete different avenue. Johnny was in the process of stopping the crooks from escaping as Jesse went searching through the complex looking for survivors.

The loud gunfire caught Jesse's attention then, her form zig-zagging through the warehouse. It was then she saw the heroic figure of Hourman shrugging off gunfire and quipping about the wrong hour. A wry grin spread itself momentarily across the teenager's features, as the bullets that -were- going to head towards the man suddenly disappeared in thin air, as did the weapons that were shooting. A few shouts of surprise begin to echo through the room, "What the..?" "How'd the..?" Followed by a blonde in a very dark crimson bodysuit standing before the ticking bomb with an expression of worry.

"You wanna come help, or still tick off reasons they should move?"

Rick Tyler has posed:
One moment, he's facing gunfire from multiple directions, a bomb ready to go off in just minutes across the room, his brave exterior doing all it can to mask both the bruises from the bullets he's been facing, as well as the worry of whether or not he'll get the bomb quick enough... The next moment, the terrorists are all but defeated, their weapons discarded, and the most alluring blonde speedster glancing over her shoulder at him as she faces the explosive. Blinking just a bit - and doing his best to not stare too forwardly at the way the woman's short shorts have started to, ah, rise up in certain places - Hourman doesn't take long to move next to the new hero, also giving the bomb a cautious, studious look.

"Yeah, I'll lend a hand..." he answers, his tone of voice just shy of emphasizing the last word in the comment. "But you may as well face it, in just a second we're both going to run dry of time jokes. Besides," he adds, nodding to the digital countdown. "We're on the clock." That having been said, the purple-clad man reaches gingerly forward to examine the mess of wires and explosive material a bit closer, a delicate frown forming on his features. "You're a Quick," he states then - not a question, but a statement. The outfit is probably the give-away for him. "How fast are you? This bomb wasn't meant to be disarmed. There's a mercury drop failsafe that'll trigger if we try to cut or pull the timer. The only way to stop it is to pull *all* the wires at the same time. Like, exactly the same time, or close enough to it that there won't be a feed to the failsafe. Which is about a few hundredths of a second margin of error..." He turns to eye Jesse, as the red numbers continue to decrease in sequence...$r

Jesse Chambers has posed:
Annoyance races across Jesse's youthful face, her mouth pursing into a thin line. "I /am/ a Quick, and you never ask a Quick how fast they are." Because, she's going to show this individual just how fast she can GO. Of course. There's a slight blur of motion next to Rick as every single bad guy trying to escape suddenly find themselves outside of the radius of the blast and of course, bound in duct tape.

The single blur later is also the tall blonde idly returning to gaze at the contraption with a pursing of her lips. "Okay, so remove all the wires at the same time." Her gaze flickers towards the Hourman, then, "If this explodes, don't worry, I'll carry you out - in the nick of time."

The grin is there, briefly, behind the mask, the next instant and there are a number of wires in Jesse's hands, and the bomb is made quite inert. "I'm Jesse, by the way. Jesse Quick."

At that moment, another blur of motion can be seen as a tall, still good looking even through his older age, man appears at Jesse's side, "Hourman?" He inquires, his hand held out to the young man. "I know your father."

Rick Tyler has posed:
Unable to help himself, Rick grins broadly at Jesse's indignation - that grin becoming even wider when the hapless thugs are all dispatched with the ease that can only be demonstrated by someone with super-speed. He nods to her follow-up question about the bomb then, opening his mouth to answer her. "If you-.." But even as he's speaking, the bomb is already disarmed, wires plucked clean and the red numbers flashing static with a very unthreatening '2:07'.

"You know, in the movies they wait until there's only a second or two left on the timer before they disarm it," he quips, before he starts to answer the introduction. "Hourman," he answers proudly, even striking just a bit of a dynamic pose as he does so, chest puffing out a little. "The Man of Hour." It's cheesy, but he knows it, and he just leans into the whole thing. Clearly, he has to, given the garish colors of his outfit.

Then, the older speedster arrives and also makes a greeting, one which takes Rick a little by surprise. "My, er, father...?" he stammers out a bit, before having the presence of mind to take the man's hand in a firm and friendly shake. "What, ah, makes you think I.. I mean..." He purses his lips together just a bit then, his shoulders sagging almost imperceptibly. "Is it that apparent?" he asks then, a little quieter. "Do I need a bigger mask? I was, ah, kinda going for a completely different look and... everything..."

Jesse Chambers has posed:
The older man lets out a laugh, his shoulders shaking with the motion. "Relax son." He offers, "Your dad is quite proud of you, and while we don't talk often, we do talk." The twinkle to the older man's eyes is apparent, friendly, relaxing. His hand idly places itself on Jesse's shoulder. "Good work you two on the bomb." He then begins, "I'll wrap it up with the police officers if you'd both like to go. My old friend, Captain Jones should be coming soon enough."

And then - the memory fades as soon as it begins, as Jesse shifts in her comfortable chair, the rice now gone and the flashback faded into time. "Dad still misses your dad, you know. He reminisces about him often. He's also quite happy we're still dating."

Rick Tyler has posed:
Also having finished up his plate of food - and then some afterwards - Rick has his feet kicked up on Jesse's desk at the moment, the posture casual and relaxed with the trip down memory lane. "He's not the only one," he remarks, the tone a little introspective at first, before adds in a much happier and lighter tone, a grin erupting on his features. "On both counts." The brown-haired man drops his legs down then, straightening up in his chair as he places his empty plate in the trash, starting to take stock of the leftovers to begin cleaning them up. "But. Good to know he still approves... Especially after all the, ah, mistakes I've made..." Rick pulls a face at the allusion to his somewhat checkered history - but those are memories best left for another time. At the current moment - his girlfriend has yet to make it up to him for missing their date, and he's not about to forget that she hasn't paid up yet. "Now..." he begins then, grinning slyl as he rises from his chair and crosses over towards Jesse slowly. "About those couple of hours you owe me...?" And so it begins that new memories are ready to be made...