2019-06-17 - Not Today

Summary:

SHIELD are called to McCabe Industries and foil an attempt on Mari's artifact collection

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Mon Jun 17 06:19:30 2019
Location: McCabe Industries

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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koa-turnersteve-rogersmari-mccabe

.~{:--------------:}~.


Why would Mari McCabe, CEO of McCabe Industries and ex Fashion Model want to see Agent Koa Turner and Agent Steve Rogers of SHIELD? That's a good question, but that's the message that Koa got not a few hours ago.

When they arrive at McCabe Industries in the Upper East Side of New York, they're ushered through the ground floor showroom which features several large cases that contain the lastest designs from Mari's line and a catwalk and stage, up the stairs to the 'office area' of the building.

Even here, Mari's taste is obvious. The 'waiting area' is tastefully decorated and by the full height window, there's a display case with a number of artifacts. Many of which Koa might be at least recognise. It's very expensive and clearly something Mari is proud of.

As the two arrive, the tall dark skinned ex model is just exiting her office, dressed in a dark pants suit with a crisp white blouse underneath. The neck of the shirt is unbuttoned and the strange foxheaded pendant she always wears is visible.

"Agent Turner, it is good to see you again." She holds out her hand to Koa and flashes a smile in Steves direction. "And you must be Agent Rogers." Because who wouldn't recognise Captain America?


Dressed in something close to his usual civilian garb, leather jacket and boots under jeans, Steve is still clearly one half of a team that means business. With Koa beside him, he approaches McCabe with a professional smile upon his face. It makes him appear pleasant without being invitational to overtures.

"Yes, Agent Rogers. A pleasure to be invited here." He looks around the waiting room and eyes the fashionable notes here and there, literally in the catwalk and stage. The Captain's true-blues linger on the artifacts and then flick to Koa, curious to see if he'll react.


"Miss McCabe, good to see you as well." Koa says, reaching forward to bend over Mari's hand politely. Not a shake, a bow. Old school. Hey, Koa has manners.

He is not dressed nearly as well. He's got a collared shirt on at least, but no tie today. A sports jacket and slacks. It's hiding the bracer on his arm. And the chain he usually has with him too. Those are not considered very… professional.

"Thank you for the invitation. It was rather convenient as I wanted to speak to you anyway. Though I am somewhat curious why you apparently felt the same way."


"Thank you both for coming by. I would have come to your offices if you'd wanted but I have something that I think you might both be interested in." Mari smiles warmly at Koa's old world charm. At least she's not flirting with him shamelessly? "And you wanted to see me? I hope that was to ask me out to dinner?" OK, maybe she is.

Seeing the interest in the artifact display she gestures "Ah, you've found my pride and joy, I see. It's taken many years to get those together and my insurance company is charging me a premium for having these here. They'd rather I stored them in a vault or somewhere safer, I'm sure."

They both might wonder why she produces a length of fabric and holds it out. It's rather pretty really, purples and greens all blending together. "One of the things that McCabe Industries is doing, is experimenting with cloth - weaving bullet proof fibres with standards so dignitaries can look stylish and be somewhat safer. This is a piece of fabric that we ordered from a distributor, made to our specifications but when we tested it, it behaved rather erratically."

She shakes her head and hands over a report to the men. It says that that cloth started to resonate at certain frequencies and didn't abate. Steve might recognise some of the graphs that are shown. Koa will most certainly recognise the results, he's seen similar recently.


Steve manages to keep his smiling to a minimum at the flirtation aimed towards Agent Koa. The faintest dimples appear as he gives the agent a knowing side-eye without breaking his air of business-like expectation. He gives the cloth on display a thoughtful once-over and then looks back to Mari's face again, his brows meeting to produce a faint 'v' above his nose.

Taking the printed reports from the fashionable woman, the Captain reads through the first page and flips to the second before giving Koa a more significant glance. "Wondered when it would turn up again." He knows the range of numbers on display, that sweet spot where the resonance thrums.


"I think SHIELD might frown on me trying to get dinner dates on company time." Koa says with a smile, giving Steve a sidelong look back. Just wait. His turn is coming. Maybe not here, but… he does have America's…

Assets.

"Coffee perhaps. I wanted to talk about some of your collection. You've quite a thing for foxes."

Ah he's curious about that. Well he probably can't be blamed for that. It's a hell of an artifact and that is literally what he's done his entire career both inside and outside SHIELD.

Koa quirks a brow. This is now THREE separate instances of this stuff he's seen. "I'd be interested in knowing the distributor." He says to Mari before looking to Steve.

"Vibranium laced fabric? I've never even heard of that. Or, well… not really Vibranium but you know what I mean."


"Then maybe I should ask you, Agent Turner." Mari really is incorrigible as she winks at Steve as well. She's a little like the fox on the pendant she wears. Clever and playful - and if SHIELDS files are anything to go by, equally as dangerous.

"I thought you would want that, Agent Turner." Mari's assistant hurries from behind her desk and hands over a folder. "That's all the details I have on our vendor. They're new to the market and are promoting this fabric as their unique selling proposition. I'm right though, aren't I? That's like that stuff we saw at the gala?"

"I might have a thing for foxes, yes, Agent Turner. It doesn't hurt that many think I am o——

BOOM CRASH

There's something akin to a sonic boom and the window behind Mari's display just shatters. Not long after that, two people dressed in all black armour with wings on their back, glide through the opening, one turning a weapon on the four in the room - the other heading to the case that houses her collection.


"I know what you mean, yep, 'nd no, first time I've seen the fabric too." Steve looks from Koa and back to Mari again. Upon being winked at, he sports a wry little smile that he simply can't help…and a little color in his ears. A thing for foxes, is it? The Captain notes this even as he hears an odd sound off to one side. A frown and —

Glass twinkles as it spreads across the floor. Steve's already making to grab Mari and pull her to one side, behind the nearest solid object, even as he's seeing what around him he can use against these sudden intruders.


"It is probably very similar if it's not Identical." Koa is just looking at that folder when the sound of shattering glass makes him jump. In less time than it takes to tell his pendulum is spinning into his fist. Several green motes fly into him from behind (and one of the waiting room's potted plants dies) and a shield springs into life on his right arm.

A shield that is magical but perhaps amusingly the same general size and shape as the one the other shield user in the room uses.

Since Steve has Mari's safety handled Koa goes on the offense. He grabs a planter that houses a ficus as big as he is - a terra cotta and soil assembly that must way a few hundred pounds - and chucks it one handed at the nearest armored and winged man.

This is a man whose file says he's human, folks.

"Your fans are a little too enthusiastic, Miss McCabe. You should set some boundaries."


Mari just grins as Steves ears colour. She knows she has a presence about her and that people like looking. It's not often that a good looking gets coy like that. It's refreshing.

The attack on her building takes her by surprise. By now the alarms are sounding though. "Felicity, go." Mari calls as the gun is turned on them. The assistant throws herself to the door towards the stairs.

BOOM Another blast of laser hits the wall where Felicity just exited. The wall just disintegrates and they can see Felicity hightailing it down the stairs.

The gunman is knocked over though as a terracotta pot hits him. It doesn't stop him, he rolls to his feet and aims at Koa this time, pulling the trigger as he levels his weapon.

"Really Agent Rogers, if you wanted to get me alone …" Mari opines as she's pulled to cover behind other terracotta pot in the room. "… you just had to ask." There's a hard look to her eyes though as she sees her collection being looted.

The pendant at her throat glows slightly and soon the outline of a panther glows around her. With one leap, she covers the room and knocks the armoured wing man onto his back, growling fiercly as she does.

It's then that the helicopter drops into view. Hovering just outside the building, clearly waiting for the two men to finish their business.


Still pinked at his ears, Steve pulls aside the ficus leaves to watch Koa go on the defensive. "I'd text you, m'am," he deadpans back to Mari — but there she goes, suddenly glimmering with a power he hasn't seen before. Each would-be winged thief appears to be accounted for, so now it's time to deal with the escape ride. If the Captain has his druthers, no one's escaping from this attempt, not after the use of deadly force even in failure.

He bursts out from behind the potted plan and skirts around the fracas with the two thieves to head for the open window.

Nobody tell Bucky that he clears the dozen or so feet of open air to land on the side of the helicopter. A brief scrabble before he gets hold of the sliding door handle and he cranks that open against a strain of blown gears. Then, he disappears into the helicopter itself to the panicked symphony of "OH MY GOD, NO — " from the pilot.


Koa hunkers down behind that shield as it gets shot at and looks around. There. There's a bottle of alcohol on Mari's desk which is… mostly water. Enough to count. Sorry Miss McCabe…

The bottle shatters and its contents shape themselves into something jagged and sharp just before Koa hurls them at the gunmen shooting at him. Lasers. Really. That's unfair. He works for SHIELD and he doesn't get lasers.

Magic yes, but not lasers. SWORD probably stole the laser budget come to think of it. Them and their space station…


There's also a water cooler just outside the door of the waiting room should decide he need more.

The helicopter starts to gyrate once Steve disappears and the pilot draws a pistol and tries to aim it at the super soldiers head. This shouldn't prove too much of problem for Captain American. Except for the way the copter is moving towards the building.

The water shards that Koa forms find their mark easily, hitting the gunmen in the left shoulder. He raises the rifle in his right hand and this time aims for the WAND for agents chest.

Mari is growling - they can all that as she rolls her attacker. There must be something to exosuits, the one she's attacking manages to throw her off. Not just push but throw. He's on his knees in no time flat, aiming his rifle directly at Mari and pulling the trigger.

The outline of the panther disappears only to be replaced by the shape of a Rhinocenorous.


In the cockpit of the helicopter, Steve ducks the bullet shot. Thank god it pierces the side of the airbourne vehicle and doesn't clip anything critically important in the hydraulics. Reaching out, he snags the ugly little gun and slams it back against the pilot's own face. Yowch.

Holding on for dear life as the gyration becomes more dramatic, he manages to reach out and grab the pitch-level before the thrumming blades drive too close to the building. It's an equally shocking tilt away from the building — no doubt the nearby intact windows hum in reaction to the engine's nearness. Evening sunlight glints off the outside of the helicopter as Steve finally rights it enough to clamber into the empty copilot's seat. He gives the unconscious pilot a disapproving glance and shoves him harder back into the seat.

Then, he swings the vehicle forwards and away, intending to bring it around to land on the rooftop of Mari's building.


Koa cannot dodge bullets. Or lasers. That's why he has a shield. He still doesn't want to draw his gun because, well that might be problematic for the Felicity's of the world. However… there is another option.

With a clanking sound, the WAND agent spins a chain into his fist and lashes out with it. The chain extends several feet as it swings and wraps around the gunman's leg after he fires (right into the aforementioned shield which is not looking great at the moment).

And then he yanks. And swings the one he's got into the one aiming at Mari. Like a sudden, improvised, involuntary flail.


The copters blades scrape the edge of the building as Steve struggles with pilot. Some of the windows vibrate visciously and one of the cracks. That's how close he gets.

The copter pulls clear though and the roof it clear. Steve can land and be back down in a moment or two - though he might want to secure the pilot first.

"Ack." That's the winged that Koa manages to hook. He struggles but to no avail. He's caught good.

The second fires at Mari and she rolls, taking a glancing shot of the laser. Her clothing smoulders as she grimaces. Her roll though takes right into her attacker just as Koa's improvised, involuntary, flail connects.

Both of them hit Mari who grunts and falls back a step or two. It's looks like they both just hit a brick wall. They're out.

"Ow…" the ex-model says as she looks at the burn on her side. "This was my favourite suit as well. Thank you Agent Turner, are you alright?" She looks around. "Where's Agent Rogers? I hope he hasn't gone yet, he was about to ask me to dinner."


The pilot is secured with a spare pair of zipties scrounged out from the back pocket of his own seat and brought inside along with Steve as he enters. He's got the engine and door keys in the pocket of his jeans now — no more sneaking off, goons. The stairwell with its open face now instead of a door resounds with him descending it at a brisk pace and he appears on the stairwell, dragging the pilot behind him by the back of his jacket. The man's head still lolls about, proof of the pop with his own gun; that Steve has as well, slipped into his pants at the small of his back.

The sight of the two winged thieves sprawled on the floor like dropped dolls has him looking from them and to Koa and then Mari.

"Looked like I missed half of the fun," he quips before he tucks the pilot against the room's wall.


Koa is just coiling up his chain again and rather than put it away in the conventional fashion - where it doesn't really stand out - he just hooks it into a convenient loop on his pants where it hangs like Indiana Jones' whip. Well, Indiana after he got into a much more violent phase.

"Perhaps, Captain, but you ARE just in time to ask Miss McCabe out to dinner."

Because just in case the Cap didn't pick that up Koa is going to be oh so helpful.

"And I'm fine, thank you Miss McCabe. You look like you're singed more than I am."

But he has a magical shield and that makes many things better. Well not many things. It makes getting shot at better.


Mari shifts slightly uncomfortably as that burn pulls at her, hitting the intercom and saying "Felicity, bring up the med kit please. I seem to have hurt myself."

"Again Ms McCabe? Right away."

It's the cheekiest of smiles that Steve gets. "I don't know, I wasn't the one that jumped out a window. At least I can fly if I do that." beat "And it doesn't have to be tonight of course."

She'll relent on Steve in just a moment. There's also Koa to tease.

"They were after my collection." she says quietly, looking at the knocked out attackers. "Shall I call the police to have these handled or is SHIELD going to call jurisdiction?"


There's the pink at his ears again. Koa summons it up as if he's a magician and Mari cements it with her own comment. Somehow — somehow — Steve manages not to roll his eyes, even if he's relieved that no one seems to be extremely hurt. He walks over to the nearest potted plant and uprights it, spilling as little dirt as he can manage. Poor ficus. It never signed up to be a projectile.

"Respectfully, I've already got dinner plans and I'll be chewed out if I'm late," he replies with the barest hint of a wry smile. Dusting off his hands, he adds, "The NYPD would be the best bet for the thieves. SHIELD's still interested in the fabric sample as well as the information on the vendor you showed us earlier, Miss McCabe." Hopefully that set of papers is still intact somewhere in the mess of the room itself.


The ficus has indeed performed above and beyond the call of duty. It will be treated with honor and reverence, Koa is sure. With a casual flip of his wrist, Koa sets his pendulum spinning again, unwrapping from his hand. And then back in his pocket it goes. Handy and portable, that one is.

"I'll interface with PD and get their report if it seems relevant Captain. Miss McCabe, if it's not too much trouble we'll take that cloth. Our labs are better equipped to study it than the NYPD. Or your… facilities."

Do fashion houses study cloth scientifically? Koa has no idea. But he does have a sudden and amusing mental image of SHIELD researchers in very fashionable Parisian style clothing talking animatedly about cloth in bad french accents.

His imagine is… vivid, sometimes.

"Is this something you want me to keep in house, Captain? Or shall I forward it to your other unit."

He means the Avengers. Who might find this a bit beneath them but he has no idea.


"Ah well… Felicity will call the NYPD and I'll hand my samples and information to you, Agent Rogers." Mari's already collecting all that as she speaks. "And if you're not available for dinner them, it will have to be Agent Turner."

It's Koa's turn. It's almost like Mari knew Steve would refuse.

She watches the way he spins that pendulum. "As I said last time Agent Turner. I'll show mine if you show me yours." She's incorrigible. "Let's retire downstairs to complete all this, shall we?"

The office really is a bit worse for wear and as they speak, Maris security chief appears. "I've got this, Ms McCabe. If you're injured be sure to see a Doctor."


"Send it through the channels, Agent Koa," replies Steve with a curt nod. "Both the report from the NYPD and the cloth. They might be more interested in the latter, but this was a fair attempt at a robbery with some sophisticated instruments." He wanders over towards one of the thieves and eyes the winged contraptions on their backs. "I've seen something similar to this before, but if it's on the market, it's also trouble."

He reaches to rub behind his ear as he sighs and glances over at Mari. His eyes fall to the burn on her side and rise back to her face. "If you need assistance with it, SHIELD can handle it. We've got a well-stocked medical ward," the Captain offers.


"Wing suits and laser rifles definitely aren't regular crime." It's gonna be federal at the very least and Koa'd put some money on this part of the case ending up with SHIELD too.

He turns to give Mari a rejoinder but then her security chief is demanding her attention. She is sort of scorched. She probably SHOULD get looked at.

"Well, I can accompany you downstairs at any rate Miss McCabe. Unlike some here I am not especially fond of jumping out of windows."

Yeah. That's for Steve. Koa winks.


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