SHIELD Helicarrier Above NYC, Friday Afternoon
Tony
Though he'd been away for a week, very little had changed in the Living Laser's condition.
Tony hummed quietly, fingers dancing over the console as he ran through his readings. "Arthur, let me know if you can feel this," he said, glancing up as a machine circled the containment field. "You shouldn't, though. It's just another spectrum analysis. I'm finding traces of a mineral called kylight in your systems, I think it might be what's--"
Arthur
Before he could finish that thought, Arthur broke in suspiciously, "All my life people have stepped on me and called me worthless. But you're trying to save me. Why?"
Steve
Steve was leaning against a nearby wall, mostly attempting to stay off to the side and run interference with SHIELD personnel, since he was a little concerned that if he let Tony do that he was going to get himself arrested.
He considered speaking up at that to explain that it was because they were not, in fact, awful people, but...there was still the thing where they were here because Tony had decided to poke around in SHIELD's systems for the heck of it while he was supposed to be keeping the place from crashing. Priorities: Tony Stark could not have them, and Steve was honestly still pretty mad about how Tony thought that finding out about this situation meant his actions had been totally in the right. It was so Tony Stark, but that was far from his favorite thing about any Tony Stark.
So he decided to let Tony field this one, and kept his mouth shut.
Tony
"Because you're not worthless," Tony said with a frown, proving how much of a bleeding heart he really was.
And that was possibly the part of most Tony Starks that Steve did like. Who knew?
"And your life is worth saving."
Maria Hill
Unfortunately, that would be when Maria Hill cleared her throat because there was a naive teenager making doe eyes at the prisoner.
Followed shortly by alarms blaring. She pulled her gun from her holster, alert and moving toward Tony. "The helicarrier just went into full alert," she said, because they needed that bit of exposition. "We need to get you both out of here, right now."
Steve
Steve bit down on his initial, instinctual annoyance at the continued existence of Maria Hill her tone, and restrained himself from snapping that he knew what the alarms meant, thank you very much, instead saying in a mild tone, "We can handle ourselves, if you want to be more concerned about why the alarms just started blazing."
Ghost
"Actually," A dry voice that might have been familiar to Steve or Tony cut in. "About five minutes ago would have been better."
When he appeared, he was directly behind Agent Hill, shooting her in the back so she landed in a small heap on the floor.
"Well, well, well. Tony Stark and his Captain America impersonator. Isn't this just perfect?"
Tony
"You were paid!" Tony said, eyes going wide and frightened as he backed up into the control panel he'd been at.
Steve
Steve did not bother bending to check for a pulse, because, well. Very occasionally he was allowed to be petty. "I'm not a 'Captain America impersonator,' he said, still mild and calm, reaching for his leather artist's portfolio and a particular circular object it contained. "Now what are you doing here?"
Ghost
There was a shade of a smile under the mask as he moved the gun to point at Steve. Just in case.
"I'm not here for you," he said to Tony. Someone was being a little too self-centered here. Then he nodded at the glowing man, suspended in the center of the room. "I'm here for him. See, the people who hired me to kill you were a little upset that I took a better offer. So, they're insisting I do this for them."
Arthur
Of course he was there for Arthur. Poor, poor Arthur.
"Me?"
Steve
Steve was the opposite of impressed by the gun pointed at him. It wasn't even the hundredth time that had happened, after all. "And what makes you think we'll let you harm him, either?" he asked sharply.
Ghost
Well then. The gun suddenly moved to Tony's head instead, safety taken off as he walked toward both him and Arthur. "The fact that you can't stop me."
He pulled another gun, this one oddly shaped, from behind his back, pressing the muzzle against the containment field. "This might sting a little."
Or a lot, if you listened to how the man screamed as he was abruptly pulled into the 'gun', causing it to glow brightly.
Tony
Tony's eyes went wide and he ignored the gun to step forward to try and stop him. Aaaaand was quickly stopped once the real gun was touching his forehead.
"What did you do to him?"
Steve
Steve was suddenly very, very still and very, very alert, trying to mentally will Tony not to do anything stupid.
This was probably a vain hope, but he was trying anyway.
Ghost
"I just made him easier to carry." That shadow of a grin was back as he held the device up to his ear. "Huh. I think I can hear him screaming in there."
He kept the gun aimed squarely at Tony's head, using it to keep the kid in place just as much as the only conscious 'hero' in the room as he stepped back. Like he'd turn his back to them after that little show at the kid's school.
Steve
"And how are you planning to get out of here?" Steve asked. "They're not going to just let you leave."
He said 'they,' but his tone implied an extremely pissed off 'we.'
Ghost
"Oh, I think SHIELD is going to be a little too busy to worry about me," Ghost replied, holstering the device that held the Living Laser and pulling something that looked like a detonator. He flipped the top open and then pushed the red button that lay beneath it.
All around them, the ambient noise died down. The gentle whir of the engines that had faded into the background after enough time spent on the ship, suddenly disappeared. "That? That was the sound of the helicarrier's engines going dead."
Tony
How bad that was became abundantly clear even if you weren't genius enough to extrapolate the kind of damage something this size could do as it crashed to the ground. The room tilted suddenly, throwing Tony to to the ground and sliding into where Steve had been.
Ohhhhh crap.
Steve
Steve was already scrambling to compensate for the sudden shift, which was derailed slightly by Tony sliding into him. He shoved Tony aside unceremoniously and got to his feet on...what was now the floor. "Turn it back on!"
Whether he was talking to the Ghost or Tony was up for debate.
Ghost
There was that smirk again as he saluted, standing easily on the wall turned floor. "See you around, Captain," he said mockingly. Then glanced around as the shouts and screams of SHIELD agents echoed through the doorway. "Or maybe not."
Then he ran.
Steve
Steve grabbed his shield and took off after him immediately, without so much as glancing back for Tony. He could take care of himself.
Tony
Right about now Tony was wishing he'd brought his damn backpack with him as he struggled to his feet. It didn't take too long to follow after the pair of men, leaping over the doorways turned on their sides as he went.
Someone was lucky he'd been working out this whole time leading up to this.
Ghost
And Ghost wasn't going to make it easy for them. Even if the teacher was faster than he could have imagined. Being able to run through any obstacles certainly helped
Well. That and having the escape route planned out.
Once he burst out onto what had been a landing pad, he dropped suddenly. The place he hit had been part of a hanger before the unfortunate case of gravity and it was further down than he'd planned. Changes in the schematics. Of course.
He glanced up to see if they'd risk following, waiting for his ship to reach him.
Steve
Of course Steve would risk following. He landed from the unexpected drop on arrival in a crouch and straightened quickly. "Turn the engines back on!" he demanded. He'd worry about the Laser next.
Ghost
Ghost had to admit, that was damn near impressive.
"You're persistent," he rasped, sizing him up in case this went down to a proper fight. "What are you? Kid's bodyguard? SHIELD?"
Steve
"Sex ed teacher," Steve informed him. "And not an impersonator. Turn it back on!"
Ghost
"Well, I'll be damned." The control switch appeared in his hand for a moment before being tossed up on the air.
In the opposite direction of where he went, leaping off the edge to catch his ride out of there.
Steve
Steve ran for the edge without a moment's hesitation, leaping into the void and snatching the control switch out of midair before twisting, his eyes searching for any sort of handhold--there! He grabbed a chain attached to the side of the helicarrier for some purpose and, dangling there, squinted at the control switch and hit a button.
Hopefully that would do it.
Tony
Tony was less willing to take that risk and break and ankle, but he was willing to use the small divots from securing crafts to the deck as hand holds.
Hand holds that were less and less necessary as the ship's engines whirred back to life and they stabilized.
"Mr. Rogers?" Tony asked, looking around wildly for where he'd gone. "Steve?"
And wow, wasn't that strange?
Steve
Yes, yes it was. Steve wasn't really dwelling on it at the moment, though. "Down here!" Steve yelled from where he was still dangling off the side of the helicarrier.
Tony
Tony scrambled over to the side, finding the oh so convenient chain that held him. Wasn't it strange how it happened to be there?
Not thinking to much into that, he grabbed the chain and pulled to help the man up. Dear god, how much did he weigh?
Steve
More than you could lift, Tony. Steve planted one booted foot against the side of the helicarrier, then the other, and managed to use the leverage to help with the hauling him up thing. Before too long he had one hand on the edge, and then the other, and was hauling himself onto the decking. "He's clever, I'll give him that," he said, annoyed, as he stood and dusted himself off.
Tony
Sure, mock the normal human hero. He was onto you, Steve.
Tony stared at him like he might hug him for being alive. Luckily he managed to stifle that urge because this was not Stephanie. Who could be hugged for that.
"I can track him," he managed after a moment. "If he still has Parks, I can track him."
Steve
"Good," Steve said. "You should do that."
[[NFB, NFI, preplayed with te amazing screwyoumarvel]]