[complete]

[hexyoutotuesday]

WHO: Tony Stark (stirare_luomo ) and Jinx (badluckykitty )
WHAT: Help with catching a murderer, grudges hopefully aside.
WHERE: Un Morso di Mangiere
WHEN: Day 128, evening.

Comments

[hexyoutotuesday]

Pink eyes flicked over to observe him sitting up the salt shaker for a second time. Surely, it would fall over again soon. That was the way things worked when Jinx was around them, and in the back of her mind, her abilities enjoyed the superstition irony of pushing over salt shakers. Mirrors rarely survived that humor as well. Luckily, she had enough self control to keep the ones on her baby in tact. A Lamborghini with brother mirrors just would not be the same.

Sighing, she flicked at the corner of a crime scene photo, watching Stark use his technology to completely surpass her folder. And then, as she observed him eating his pancakes, she groaned as he explained to her how completely useless he was going to be. Elbow on table, chin in the palm of her hand, she mentally cursed herself for this. Jushirou was too ill to help her. She had cursed Shunsui, a retired police detective, to hell and back so he would not leave the country, so he was useless to help as well. And Alba was so busy with all the work the Monacello family continued to pile onto him that asking him for help may, in fact, implode that large brain of his. And then there was Tony Stark, who she had practically begged to come... and he was more focused on his damn pancakes!

Not only did the salt shaker fall over a third time, but the glass cracked, not enough to break the shaker just yet. "There's no bullet, Stark. There's no gun." She thumbed through some of the pictures, and found a closeup of the wound. "I know my weapons, and this wasn't done with anything normal. This was done with some guy's hand. He put his hand through his victims chest. And like me, suspect dude has no registered fingerprints. It's like he doesn't even care about getting caught because he knows you guys can't."

Once more she groaned. Tired of looking at her own reflection in Stark's sunglasses, her eyes went to scan the remainder of the restaurant. The small urge surface in the back of her mind to crack his sunglasses in two, but that would be saved for when she was much, much more frustrated. "Come on, you have to be able to help me with something otherwise you never would have come out here. This should be something easy along the lines of 'to catch a serial killer you have to think like one' but I can't come up with anything. What would you do in this situation?" Because all she could do for the time being was to appreciate the murder's handiwork.

[stirare_luomo]

Totally distracted from Jinx's angst, he picked up the broken salt-shaker and inspected the sudden appearing crack in it. He pocketed it for further examination, to see if the glass's structure was flawed or perhaps if it had something to do with the diner. Either way, glass should not randomly spiderweb like that. "I came out here because I want to help you not go crazy and flip out anymore than you already have. I'm not a policeman, Jinx. I never was. I'm a businessman and I make technology. I don't hunt down people. I build the targeting and tracking systems other people use to do it. If you reach out to me I'll pull you away from whatever cliff you're staring down at, but I can't just whip out some random answer. If that were me, I would put on my suit and fly around and look to see if I could see this guy doing it again."

He shrugged at her after that and finished off his last pancake. "Talk to that Dexter Morgan kid, he looks like he knows more what he's doing as far as criminal forensics are concerned. Or maybe Peter or Szyael. I'm sorry, okay? There's nothing I can do. I don't know how to track down a murderer. I know how to build a gun or a power plant."

With this, he leaned back in the booth and pulled the salt shaker out of his pocket, followed by what might a been a monocle, though it was clear that the green shade was technology and not glass. Holding the monocle to his eye, he returned to inspecting the mysteriously shattering salt-shaker.

[hexyoutotuesday]

As Stark reached for the salt shaker once again, presumably to put it back to its normal state, she quirked her eyebrow to watch him pocket it. What in the world was he... oh... oh. Jinx picked up her coffee mug and held it to her lips, hiding that awful smirk that was sliding across them. He did not know, did he? Not many people did, but she had figured he would read all the reports from her experiment as Komui had. Then again, there were few people still alive who knew about her experimentation, anything other from her pink hair and eyes with slit pupils. So this man, this well informed Tony Stark, had no idea about the power of bad luck.

"Well, that's a pretty good answer," she told him. "Start by just looking around. I figured there had to be some super secret special trick to it." She took a long drink of the coffee and finally found the bottom of the mug. God, she wished it were vodka, but the more sober she was the better. Then again, maybe some vodka would take the edge off her frustration. Bending to the wonderful will of the alcohol, she motioned toward the waiter and asked for a glass. When it was brought to her, she grinned at that familiar scent and enjoyed the taste a lot more than she should have. So much, that she emptied half the glass without any regard toward her empty stomach.

"Let's see, you've given me names and company. You've actually dragged yourself out here." Quickly, the vodka was taking its effect, dulling that sharp temper of hers, softening her around the edges. And then something came to mind. Possibly, Stark could be of use in his expertise. "Yo... so you make guns? How good are you, eh? Did you build this thing?" She motioned to what she decided to call a hologram projector. Observing him pulling out a monocle, a fucking monocle, to inspect the salt shaker, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold in the laughter. So, he was a man of science, not one to jump to the conclusion that it was Jinx's subconscious thoughts slowly breaking apart the shaker.

[stirare_luomo]

"There's no trick to most things in the world, especially the ones that get you places." Satisfied by whatever he had seen, he pocketed the salt-shaker and ignored the waiter's dirty look. "It's not like detectives just say some magic words and then suddenly they know everything. I got to where I am by being a genius and having my father start it."

He ordered another glass of rum and blessed this places' liquor license. "I make everything. I made that, I made this," he held up the monocle. "I made an enormous power reactor, I made a big iron man suit, and a little one... but I'm not making you any guns. Sorry. You can screw people up enough without me helping. I'll make you anything else if it's not going to kill someone, though."

[hexyoutotuesday]

Jinx rolled her eyes as he pocked the salt shaker without asking her any questions first. No wonder he was not a detective. The man could not even see what was right in front of her eyes. It was have made her laugh to start the same thing with the pepper and see where that went, but that would take effort, effort that she did not want to expend for him. The eye roll came about again as he began to glorify himself. Oh, Stark was a genius, Stark build this and that, look at how smart he is, what an amazing man.

Then her eyes narrowed at him.

"Listen," she said after finishing the rest of her vodka. "I don't need guns to kill people, I need guns to make sure I don't. Someone is more likely to live if I have a weapon rather than if they take me on full force. Honestly, you'd be doing the world a good deed." She held up a long finger to him, a sign that she was not hostile and he did not need to brace for attack. Carefully, she pulled up her dress and reached for the pistol strapped to her thigh. Not caring about the reactions of anyone in the restaurant, she held it up by the handle with two fingers, letting it dangle there upside-down. "I need something without all these pesky little seams, without screws and this removable chamber shit. I need something that won't fall apart when I get too... in the moment."

"The AMC has already given me all the weapons a normal individual needs. My superior gave me access to his stash of guns, maybe some of which you've made. They're just not strong enough." Looking bored, she stared at the pistol between her fingers, the effects of the alcohol making her a much calmer individual.

[stirare_luomo]

"Just what we need, you with guns you don't break," He replied dryly, rolling his eyes and paying for the check with an amex for the waiter. "I'll see what I can do for you, but even my suit as plenty of movable parts. If you're suggesting I just melt you a gun out of one solid piece of metal, don't bother - I haven't gotten there yet. Maybe soon, but not yet. Right now all my weapons still have that basic propulsion and explosion thing going on. I'm working on getting some sort of light-focused laser beam, which could probably be made from two or three parts and would just involve something to open and close to allow light into it."

Undaunted by her odd stare, he leaned into her, resting his elbows on the table. "Don't look at me like that, either. You don't intimidate me. I know what you can do. Do you really think that I'm going to tell or say everything I think, especially in a place like this? I made this, yeah," his hands flicked off the little projector and slipped into his bag. "If you can't stop yourself from screwing up a normal gun, I wouldn't trust you with any weapon I made for you."

[hexyoutotuesday]

Not only did he make such a remark, but he payed the bill. A majority of the calming effects from the alcohol immediately wore off and ignited her veins. The adrenaline began to course faster through her, it showing by the way her hand twitched on the gun. For safety reasons, she set the gun down on the table then folded her hands in her lap, trying to take those calming breaths Papa had been trying to teach her about. It began to not work as he told her, straight forward, that he was practically useless to her. Jinx did not care about laser beams or other whatchamacallits. She liked bullets, the smell of gun powder and the way the barrel was hot when she slipped it back into her holster.

When he leaned into her, she leaned toward him on instinct, taking her damn sweet time to mimic his position. But soon that playful look in her eyes flared into something stronger, something much angrier. What a goddamn, fucking, bitchass PRICK! Giving off a low growl, crinkling her nose, she gripped the table tightly with her clawlike nails. Sure, not was definitely not the time or the place to say anything to make her angry, but he just did, and keeping that temper under control was hard enough without Stark pressing her buttons.

"Listen, I know you hate me," she hissed, "but we're not all that different. Just following in Daddy's footsteps, eh? While yours was a genius, mine dissected me. So, you're now a genius and I... I know the only reason why any of you useless fucks haven't made an attempt on my life. It's because I'm Ukitake's daughter. It's because you all know that if you hurt the people he loved, I would no longer be the biggest threat. And you know what? I don't like that. I don't like that the only reason I'm here is because of a man who I've been taking care of for the past few weeks who can't even get up out of bed on his own!" First there was a spark of pink on her fingertips, then a familiar sound, one that made her bite her lip and look down. Every external seem in her pretty gun had broken apart, and screws now rolled in awkward circles on the table. And with that, she sighed.

"It's not like I'm not trying," she said solemnly, not looking up at him, pale hands balled into fists. "I didn't want to see you just so you could torment me. I know why you hate me, because I'd hate me too. I'm a sick fuck who gets off on cutting people up. God, and the only thing I've done for the past several months is fire a gun in a crowd to save someone's life." She gave a somber chuckle and shrugged. "So, if no one's even going to give me a chance, what's the point of trying so hard? Bradley once told me that the AMC was made to do the dirty work the police couldn't stomach, and that I was here for a reason, that I was here to help..." She began gathering up the case files, the pieces of her gun.

[stirare_luomo]

"How about you stop taking things so personally first?" He took the receipt and signed and left a tip, then stood up and folded his sunglasses back over his eyes. "Look, Jinx. I don't hate you. Really, I promise. There's a couple of people that I hate and you're not one of thing. Yeah, I think you're dangerous and yeah, I don't trust you, and yeah, I think you've done some dumb stuff, but I don't hate you. If I hated you, I'd tell you, all right?"

Taking a huge sigh and folding his jacket back on, he leaned against the edge of the booth. "I'm sorry you had dad issues, all right? Don't take that out on me, I didn't have anything to do with it. I'm not accepting an invitation to your pity party. And you're not Jushirou's daughter. He took you in, yeah, but you're not his daughter. I'm sorry your life sucks. Is that what you want to hear? What exactly would you like me to do to make you happy? I try to give you some help and you get all pissed off at me and start yelling at me for stuff I didn't know happened until you got pissed off at me for it?"

Shifting again, he pushed his sunglasses up over his hair once again and paused to regain his thoughts. "I want to give you a chance, okay? But I don't have any opportunities for you. That's just the way it goes. If that upsets you so much, maybe the problem's in you and not the rest of the world. Sometimes shit happens. Have a good afternoon."

He shifted the bag on his back and slid his sunglasses over his eyes. Then, in one slick motion, he tucked his phone from his pocket, dialed a number, and headed out, already in conversation.

[hexyoutotuesday]

And then he began to walk away from her. That prick with his fancy telephone, his slick hair, that look in his eyes of the disillusion of being better than anyone and everything. The sane would just leave it alone. The sane would have sat there, taken it and watched him walk away, only to scream and cry about it later. Obviously, Jinx was not in that classification of "the sane." When he spoke to her, tearing at every little loose edge he could, she was frozen, eyes unfocused over her briefcase. And now as he walked away, she let her head drop, hair falling to cover her face. Something right then and there within the unstable girl just... snapped.

A grin crossed her lips, followed by a quiet chuckle that crescendoed into something not unlike a cackle. A deft hand took a switchblade from her briefcase. And when she stood and halted her laughter, her voice was somehow different. When her hair fell away from her face, there was something a little off about her gaze, something crooked in her smile, and something just a bit beyond human with every movement. "Whoa... whoa... Tony, hold the phone. You can't expect to just walk away after that, do you? Hmmm... on second thought," she brought up a bony hand and hissed, "don't hold your phone." The electronic object Stark held to his ear began to crack and fizzle with electronic energy, a very violent surge mingled with a fuchsia haze. Telephones were so easy.

The restaurant was silent, not so much as a clank of a fork against porcelain. Grinning wider, the young assassin looked around from the corner booth, then stepped forward. "Ladies and gentlemen, the emergency exits are located on the left and right. Please evacuate in a calm manner and thank you for not becoming casualties." In a gallant gesture with a proper flick of her wrists, as if she were conducting an orchestra, two of the larger windows on either side of the restaurant shattered. By now her eyes were lit up, a single hue that matched her hair. "But Tony... Tony, you stay. Come here, Tony..."

Swaying her hips, her every movement like a jungle cat stalking its prey, she slowly came to the middle of the restaurant. "Now, Tony... you say you know weapons. It's your forte, right? Then you really should know when not to piss a weapon off." There was something wrong about her, seriously off. Her voice, fluid and taunting, was also cold and lacking conscience. "Ever had a gun backfire, Tony? You know, a weapon that vowed itself to protect you, but one little thing breaks, one thing just SNAPS!... aaaaand you're fucked." She laughed to herself, shaking her head, this entire situation fucking hilarious now. "Now Tony... I don't care who the fuck you are, but no one messes with me!" With a flick of her wrist, she opened the switchblade and twirled it between her fingers, eyes intently focused on him.

[stirare_luomo]

Around her, the diner moved, shifting around to avoid the glass while attempting to continue their meals or flee in terror. The staff disappeared into the kitchen, and Tony stood, looking at his suddenly worthless phone, feeling irritated that he'd just lost the call with the businessmen over in the USA. He was relieved, though, when he remembered that he had a back-up of all his phone information back at his workshop.

He dropped the ex-electronic and turned to face her, crossing his arms over his chest. He was very aware of the hum of the arc reactor in his chest and the beat of his heart and he wondered what would happen if he suffered some fatal lung injury. Surely there was no doctor certified to treat a man with an enormous power source hooked into him. Maybe it would just keep his heart beating as his lungs bled out and his brain suffered from lack of oxygen. He didn't really want to find out, but at this point in time, death didn't seem so huge. True, Pepper and fighting the mafia and Stark Industries had no heir, but still.

"You destroy all the windows in the diner, take apart a gun, destroy my phone, and you expect me to be scared of a knife, Jinx? Come on. What are you going to do, kill me? I'm sure everyone on the face of the earth will definitely try to help you out there. Not only that, I'm sure the US won't try to extradite you for my murder or anything. Does it just annoy you that I won't bend to your will and be afraid?"

Ten Rings had scared him more than this. He found it oddly welcoming. "I've had more than guns backfire on me, thanks, by the way. If you're going to kill me, just go for it. Stop with the drama."

[hexyoutotuesday]

"Maybe..." her eyebrow twitched and a few chairs around her tipped over. Of course she was annoyed! This pathetic prick was just staring at her, not moving a muscle, not fearing what she could potentially do it him. That made for a very frustrated Jinx. And yet... curiosity was the thing to get the better of her in this state. So she stalked him, making a complete circle, observing his stance, sinking low to the ground on her stiletto heels. Her thumb continually itched itself along the blade as she gripped it tightly. Stop with the drama? Impossible. Without it, life would not be nearly as fun.

Her circling began to close in on him until she was finally at his back. Straightening her posture, she ran the fingertips of her free hand along the small of his back, dragging her tongue over the blade of her knife, feeling how cool it was. "You see... I like knives. It's so boring to just wink at someone and snap them in half, or let other forces take their way with them. No, I like to get to know the people I work with. I'm a people person."

And then she drew away from him, quickly, stepping back as if to gauge his reactions. Tony Stark did not seem like the type to stand by while something such as Jinx walked all over him. Also, she guessed he was much stronger than she was. If he could restrain her, she would be next to useless physically. So instead, she kept a comfortable distance. Coming in front of him, she smirked and flicked her fingers, a pink flash with the friction, the screws in his sunglasses snapped, breaking them apart, letting them fall from his face. "There we go... I like to see a man's eyes."

Playfully, she ran her blade along her own neck, knowing the right angle where it would not cut. "Now, my Papa would get very angry if I sliced you into pieces and it killed you. So, what do you most value about yourself? Your pretty face? What all men enjoy?" Pursing her lips, smirking, she glanced down at his pants. Slowly, her eyes trailed back up his body, then to focus on the arms crossed over his chest. "Or... is it those hands you use to do all your work, build all your genius inventions? What would you do without those?"

[stirare_luomo]

Shrugging at Jinx's threats, Tony glanced down at the pieces of his sunglasses and sighed. Those were good shades and he was very fond of them, and now he'd have to call someone and make a whole list of people to get knew ones. He rubbed his back where she had touched him, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and a little violated. He was indeed moving from distrust to dislike of this girl, and he found that it probably would have been easier to just hate her.

"And you wonder why people hate you," he said simply. "I come here to help and you break my sunglasses and my phone and the glass of this respectable establishment. I'm sorry I even tried, you know? This is what I get for reaching out to you, for trying to help. I'm glad you've now shown me that I should never help you, ever, with anything. Kill me here and now, or I'm going home. Oh.. and I'm telling Jushirou about all of this. Congratulations, now even as he's too sick to get out of bed you can make him feel terrible about your behavior. I'm glad to see that you're representing him real well, too."

With that simple statement, he continued his stride towards the door.

[hexyoutotuesday]

That bit of sanity she had on occasion was a ton of bricks that toppled over her at the mention of telling this to the man she looked to as a father. Holding up a finger, she tried she tried to find something to say back, try and find those smooth words once more, but for the time being she was too much herself to do much else than stutter and take it. God, she wished he hated her! She wanted him to be so goddamn angry that he would lash out at her, just so she would have more fun messing him up! Right now if she stabbed him, the odds were not so good for her. Stabbing him would be stupid anyway. What a fucking prick...

Furious, she turned around and strutted her way back to their booth, grabbing her briefcase and shoving her knife in there before closing it. "Sonuvabitch!" she exclaimed, growling, trying not to break anything else. She could not remember the last time she was so goddamn angry at one individual. Oh wait... yes she did. It was when Shunsui pulled all that "holier than thou" crap on her right before they broke it. Back then she wanted to scream, but she did not want to hurt him as badly as she did Stark. Not caring about the condition she left the restaurant in, she stormed through the doors and toward the parking lot, heading toward her Ferrari. She looked over at Stark, walking through the parking lot himself toward his....

And Jinx got a wonderful, awful idea.

The nicest car in this lot was now going to be a piece of trash. "You're a horrible prick and none of this would've happened if you just deflated your ego!" Grinning, she flicked her hand up, eyes flaring to life with a pink spark, and she aimed all she could in a split second toward his car, shattering all the glass on it within her view.

[stirare_luomo]

First she screws with his phone, and then his glasses, and then his car?

Tony was done. Hand shooting into his pocket, he pressed a tiny device. Sound waves pulsed through the lot, stopping everyone within a twenty foot radius in their tracks, making their veins stick out blue in their heads. He sighed at all the people that had to be caught in this, but his eyes narrowed when it found pink pair that crackled.

"Why exactly did you blow my windows out?" He asked, frowning. Expensive glass. "I have an ego? I have an ego, and you're threatening to kill me because I wouldn't cry at your story? Go home, Jinx. The paralysis'll wear off in about fifteen minutes - if you honestly want to come after me, then do it. But seriously. Go home."

Unlocking the car, he slipped inside and left.

[hexyoutotuesday]

Too focused on the car, she did not have enough of a reflex to break the device in his hand. She paid for that dearly. Not sure of what just happened, she found herself on the ground, not able to catch the fall, not able to adjust her position on the ground. Her body was contorted, in a pile of its own muscle and flexibility on the tar of the parking lot. On the bright side, it was a beautiful night sky and she could not feel the stiletto heel that was probably stabbing into her spinal cord.

Paralysis was something Jinx was not very familiar with. Most of her surgeries she was never put under for, just restrained. In her life, lacking movement always meant death. Yet she was still alive and Tony Stark seemed not to have plans of killing her. God, it was hard to breathe. When she heard his tires on the street, she frowned, or at least hoped she was frowning, and waited for the time he said horribly impatiently. When it finally came around, she contorted herself upward using just the muscles in her back, then popped her neck. "Fuck..." she groaned.

Finally, she was able to stand. Shaking, she pulled herself into her red Ferrari and slumped against the steering wheel. "God fucking damn it..." she hit her forehead against the horn a few times. Of course she wanted to go hunt down Stark, cut off different parts of his body, burn the remains... but that would be stupid. She needed to make better choices. Better choices were not what she had done. Actually, what she had done was probably one of the worst possible things in the universe next to killing a Turk. So when her head was clear enough to drive, she made her way to the warehouse district and curled up there, going over the case files. She was in no mood to have Alba tell her what an idiot she was, as well.