tobenormal | Hank's Lab, Covert CIA Base

Hank's Lab, Covert CIA Base

Hank had been thinking about his lunch (turkey and swiss on rye, a coke and macaroni salad as always; though maybe he'd get a Twinky today) when he heard the facility's Director enter his lab. "...Capable of super sonic flight!" The Director was saying proudly, making Hank guess they had some more Washington brass to impress. He stood, straightened his lab coat and adopted his casual yet serious stance.

"You should see the real thing if you want to be impressed," he said when the group finally turned around a corner and into view. The group was odd as only one person was in a suit. Washington Brass always wore suits and there were two woman with them. Agent Mactaggert he recognized, though he didn't know her name, but the blonde....she took his breath away. He stood frozen in awe and swallowed.

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Hank's face feels hot as he opens the door for her and he doesn't care. A girl is not only wanting to have lunch with him, she's touching him in a friendly way.

"I hope you like sandwiches cause we don't have much else."

"I love sandwiches," she promises, ducking through the doorway first before waiting on the other side for him to follow.

She knows Charles won't have to search for her thoughts to know she's alright here.

"There's Twinkies and Coca Cola also if you'd like. I'd stay away from the tuna fish salads though, they don't make it often enough so it can be scary sometimes."

He follows along with her, lost in the moment. Still he is curious about her. "So where did Mr. Black find you guys?"

"In a meeting with the director," Raven replies, as though it's no big deal at all.

"He was the only one who wasn't completely surprised after I turned into one of them to prove a point."

Hank laughs and holds open the door to the cafeteria for Raven.

"I'm not surprised. You were probably like Christmas to him."

She looks down as they walk, gaze descending to her boots for a minute.

"He's the first human I've met who was actually excited when we revealed what we can do."

"It's really hard," Hank says quietly. "Growing up like that I mean. I don't know if Professor Xavier or that other guy would really know that. Unless I missed something." Which is quite possible considering he didn't know her mutation.

"Charles, Erik - they can hide in plain sight," she murmurs, glancing up at him.

"Some of us aren't so fortunate." She has to constantly be focused, constantly paying attention. One slip and she could reveal herself.

He wonders then, what it's like for her. His feet are awkward and uncomfortable as he essentially walks on knuckles but do her powers stay on or does she need to think about them all the time? Definitely a question for later though as they are now in the cafeteria.

"We should be careful of what we say now. This is the CIA and we're the best with secrets but unless you want the whole facility to know about...us," it feels good to be able to say that, "then we shouldn't talk about it here. Spooks are terrible gossips."

She mimes drawing a zipper over her lips to close them, effectively silencing herself as she lets her gaze wander over towards him, a faint smile still prominent in her expression.

"Not another word," she promises.

"I hope you're not completely quiet," he says a little worried. "I was hoping to find out more about you."

As he talks, a yell of "Hey Flyboy, think fast!" interrupts and his head snaps up. Hank then grabs Raven's shoulders and spins her around in front of him just as an apple hits him in the back of the head. He grunts in pain be yells back, "Watch it guys, I've got a visitor."

"Sorry!" comes a semi-contrite reply. Hank blushes a bit at the immaturity of it all. "Are you okay?"

"Maybe you will, soon," she says, softly making a different promise.

He's reaching over towards her before she can blink, spinning her around, her feet stuttering against the ground, her center of gravity off-tilt - and she doesn't realize what's happening until she hears the thud, sees the expression of pain flicker over Hank's features.

"Are you okay?" she asks, stepping in closer to him and reaching up a hand to touch the back of his head.

"You got me out of the way."

"Yeah, sorry," he says blushing even more. He can't believe he just grabbed her. Of course the alternative of her getting his with the apple was much worse. He keeps hold of her, to make sure she has her balance (really), a little longer before letting go.
"I didn't want you to get hit. I'm fine, it was just an apple. Usually I manage to catch it."

Really he can always catch the thrown apples but he does make a show of barely being able to.

Her fingers gently brush against the back of his head, touching his hair before she drops her hand with a reassuring smile, silently lending proof to the fact that she really is okay - thanks to him, anyway.

"Oh. So faster reflexes - that's a part of your, you know." They're in public now, so she keeps her voice low, stays close to make sure that only he can hear her.

"Yeah though I used to just watch things happen. It took me a while to figure out I could stop what I was seeing," he says lower his eyes again. "Stupid huh?"

"It's not stupid," she promises, gently brushing her fingertips against his forearm.

"I didn't understand what was happening to me at first, either. Didn't know how to use what I had, how to control it."

"Have you had much chance to practice? If not we have a lot of rooms here, with locks. I could help if you'd like."

"I've been this way since I was twelve," she says, letting her hand fall to her side.

"I've had some time to practice."

And now Hank feels bad for souring things.

"Okay," he says with what he hopes is an encouraging smile. "Hey look, jello!" Yeah, Hank needs to work on his topic changing skills. "And looks like roast beef sandwiches too."

Her lips twitch into a slow smile, and she files into place next to him as she glances over the cafeteria's selection.

"You'll have to let me know what's good," she says.

"Well the roast beef is fresh," Hank says looking over the counter at the cooks. "And I recognize Chuck there. He's a wiz with Au Jus so it's likely the be the best. IF you don't like beef, I always get the turkey."

"I trust your experience here," Raven replies, nodding mock-solemnly.

"I'll have whatever you're having."

Hank knows food, being a growing mutant and all, and soon enough they each have trays with roast beef sandwiches, macaroni salad, Twinkies and cokes. Hank tries to take her tray but it's pretty obvious he won't be able to manage so let's her insist on carrying it.

"I think I see some chairs over there by the windows if it's not to hot for you?"

She glances toward the place where he's looking and immediately moves in that direction to secure them a table before no one else takes it.

As they pass the offenders from earlier, she gives them the kind of look that has most guys either shaking in their shoes or falling over themselves to get to her.

(There might be a flash of yellow in it, too.)

The table gapes at Raven and one in particular (it might have even been the thrower) drops a spoon full of red jello and whipped cream into his lap.

As Hank and Raven sit, Hank smiles at Raven, thoroughly enjoying his day. "You know, your...talents are perfectly suited to covert work. Of course you've probably have already heard that."

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andproud - 2012-06-19 19:16 (UTC) - Expand

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tobenormal - 2012-06-19 19:54 (UTC) - Expand

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