12468/It's a Beautiful Morning for Flying

It's a Beautiful Morning for Flying
Date of Scene:	19 November 2020
Location:	Starling International Airport
Synopsis:	Zinda and Power Girl hang out.
Cast of Characters:	Power Girl, Lady Blackhawk

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Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl hangs in the air, in her famous or infamous uniform, on the edge of the small cloud as she looks down at the air field, for the time being she has added a pouch to her red belt on the uniform. Out of it now though is the map to the sights to see, or pocket world atlas as most people call it. The blonde places it back in the pouch after confirming her location and starts looking over the airport casaully as well as cycling through various announcements and conversations.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
It's technically not a *new* plane, but the F104 Starfighter is recently refurbished. Zinda Blake is putting the old bird through its paces. The Starfighter is notoriously unforgiving to pilot error, but this isn't exactly Zinda's first rodeo. She's heading out over the Pacific when she keys the mic to talk with the tower. <Starling Tower, this is Yankee Bravo Six, Zero, Niner. Departing Starling air space and preparing to go supersonic. Thanks for the gas, fellas!>

She doesn't see the blonde in red and white, of course. Not at over 600 knots. But Zinda's thumb doesn't even touch the afterburner button when the pretty, black plane jerks and begins to shudder.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl catches the transmission she was looking for, actually here to see sights and a fellow Bird. She starts to move, casually in flight, keeping just a basic pace with the flight and examining the plane in detail, except where lead might interfere. Her vision keeps pace, even if her flight doesn't for the moment. She travels a bit lower, trying to keep from drawing much radar attention. The plane's initial distress just causes her to concentrate more on the pilot, not wanting to rush into something and rescue some one from just normal recovery. It has been Karen's experience that people often would and could do it themselves. She's ready though, and makes a little effort to be certain she doesn't crack windows if she need to accelerate past sound.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
The Starfighter is glossy black with the yellow 'Blackhawk' logo on the vertical tail. And it's clearly in trouble. You don't need to be an aviator to realize that a puff of black smoke exiting the jet exhaust isn't right. And neither is the loud grinding sound (that Karen can hear) which follows.

Inside the engine, the compressor is in the process of rapidly disintegrating. The smoke puff is followed by actual flame as the superheated metal blades catch fire on their way out the exhaust. For all that, however, Zinda remains calm.

<Um, Starling Tower this is Yankee Bravo Six, Zero, Niner. Mayday, Mayday. Looks like Ah just lost mah engine, fellas. Ah'm gonna point her out to sea, much as Ah hate to lose this ol' bird. Too many civilians an' this thing's got the glide path of a fallin' brick.>

And right now, Zinda's attention is too focused on what's happening in the cockpit to notice someone flying alongside.

Power Girl has posed:
Well, that was a request for assistance, and the blonde gives up on her observer status, launching more like a missile after the distressed jet. She does at least let it get over the water before actually intercepting it. She passes by just under the nose and inverts to catch the fuselage and keep pace, then she targets a powerful chilling exhale at the bad fire.

Still Power Girl is making the effort not to interfere in the flight control or the pilot's action. The Kryptonian Copy is trying to restore the jet, at least as long as she feels that is an option. Once she gives the breath a good try at extinguishing though, she 'crawls' (in truth she continues to fly herself in a matching velocity) up to the top and then she cockpit to tap on the hatch glass.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Wait-what? Even as Zinda is trying to shut down the fuel system for a (hopefully) graceful glide into the ocean, the temperature suddenly plunges. It's easy enough for Karen to blow super-cold breath into the intakes and put out the fire, but the compressor... as well as most everything downstream of it... is pretty well gone.

Before she can figure out what happened, the blonde in white-and-red eases over on top of the doomed jet as it begins its steady descent. Zinda is wearing a helmet and her lower face is covered by the oxygen mask, but her blue eyes are bright and she offers a jaunty wave in response to the tapping. She makes a hand motion of a long descent that ends with a smack into her other hand, then shrugs.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl points at the throttle and raises the same finger to make the slice the throat kill gesture. Then she just lets go, speeding up ahead of the jet to side underneath again. She grips it, extending that Kryptonian TK shielding around the plane, the very thing they use to stop crashing planes or trains without simply smashing them.

As the jets starts to slow, she maintains the altitude, and actually walks it all the way to a gentle stop in mid-air, before turning it around and casually flying it back towards the airfield it launched from. She can hear the radio signals, but she has no way of replying to them, so it is mostly just a smooth steady flight home.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Lady Blackhawk nods slowly and reaches to kill the throttle, and then the engine. The deceleration is slow, and Zinda laughs into the open mic as the caped rescuer turns her around and heads back towards the air field. <Um, Starling Tower this is Yankee Bravo Six, Zero, Niner. You ain't gonna believe this, fellas, but Ah'm requestin' permission to approach. Emergency landin'.>

She turns to try and peer out one side of the cockpit then the other as the tower chatters a concerned response.

<No, no, there ain't no need for emergency equipment. This pretty thing in a red cape sorta jus' scooped me up an' she's flyin' me back home again. Wait a sec.>

Zinda twists a lever and the landing gear smoothly deploys.
"Yankee Bravo Six, Zero, Niner, this is Starling Tower. Permission to land on runway Zero Seven West, Roger."

Power Girl has posed:
Karen lowers the plane gently down, following the runway, but not letting the landing gear touch it until she is at the taxi mark. In the nature of the full service rescue, she slips out from under the jet and pushes the mobile steps up to the cockpit. Waiting for it to open, she gives the two finger to the brow salute. "I really up I didn't screw up some emergency test. I have been accused of being a bit.. Rushed in judgement."

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Once the plane touches down, Zinda taps the breaks just once to make sure it's at a full stop. Then she begins the process of releasing the canopy, removing her mask, and unbuckling the harness. As soon as the cockpit is opening the blonde begins speaking almost immediately.

"Sugah, you ain't done no such thing." the pilot replies. "Screwin' up some emergency test? Y'all jus' saved me from ditchin' out in the ocean an' probably freezin' half to death waitin' on a rescue. Speakin' of which, don't you dare think 'bout zoomin' on outta here."

Climbing out of the cockpit, she descends the ladder with brisk steps, turning to look at her caped rescuer. "Not 'til Ah give you a big ol' hug."

Power Girl has posed:
There is a bright and quick smile that shows a bit of relief on the cherry red lips, one of those Kryptonian secrets as to how they keep that from smearing. "Good.. Zoom?" She looks off to the horizon, and then receives the hug and lets the accent play on her ears. She considers it for practice, latter. "Oh, no." She says gently nervously embracing the relatively tiny other blonde in a return hug. "You are welcome, then. I am here more, well to see you. So I don't exactly need to zoom off. I do sometimes. To be honest, I am still learning a little bit about the when to do it. I usually go with camera fashions and political questions."

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Lady Blackhawk doesn't even let her foot hit the pavement, half-turning towards the taller blonde to launch herself into that hug. Zinda is wearing a flight suit with straps and buckles, and she's sweat-damp from the ride as well. But the hug is tight and quite genuine. Pulling her foot from the ladder, she finds herself dangling a little, but doesn't seem to mind.

"Y'all are pretty, um, comfy." she offers. "But you're here to see lil' ol' me? Really?" Zinda's embrace slackens a bit and she slides slowly down if released.

Power Girl has posed:
There is a light laugh at the words and she lets the young pilot slip down before taking a step back. The 'comfortable' comment gets a playful retort, "I have been refered to is less flattering terms, thank you." Then she sort of waves her hand at herself. "We are in the same group. The Bird's of Prey. At least I am supposed to be in it. Right, also, Power Girl is the title, saves breath to just call me P. G. though. I have been trying to get a better footing and dealing with a few things of recent, so I wanted to track down some of the members and just talk and get to know each other."

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Zinda's eyes brighten at the mention of 'Birds of Prey', and she laughs softly as she settles. "Um, yeah. Gotcha, there. Birds of Prey... Oracle's lil' club." Wink "Zinda Blake, at yer service. Ah also answer to Lady Blackhawk... last survivin' member of the ol' squadron."

Yes, this 'young pilot' apparently has been flying since WW2, but certainly doesn't look it.

"Power Girl. Ah like 'PG', Ah think. An' Ah'm gonna guess you ain't originally from around here."

Power Girl has posed:
"Closer than you might think, but I am Kryptonian." Karen has no interest in leading with just a clone. She looks over Zinda a bit more and motions to the jet, "Is there a hangar I can push that too, or is there some little taxi vehicle that does that?" But, she does not wait for a reply before returning to the introduction chat. "Nice to meet you, Zinda. Would you like to talk over a cup of coffee or something?"

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Lady Blackhawk looks from the damaged jet to the caped blonde, then back. She smirks, letting out a little sigh as she points towards a row of hangars. "Better wheel it over into one of them, Ah s'pose. She's gonna need a new engine, from th' sounds of it. Once a turbine engine decides t'go, it's usually pretty catastrophic."

Reaching up, she runs a gloved hand almost affectionately along the pointed nose of the plane. "But Ah can't thank you enough for savin' the air frame, at least. They stopped makin' these things in the 60's, y'know. Called 'em 'Widowmakers'..." Her thoughts trail off, then she looks back to Power Girl with another smile. "Lemme get outta this flight suit first. Least Ah 'ken do is buy you a cup of coffee."

Power Girl has posed:
Karen looks from the jet to the hangar, and then in a way that actually manages to mostly seem like she is not showing off, gets underneath and carries it to the hangar. "Don't want to mess-up the breaks." She explains. "I will meet you back here in a few minutes."

Only Karen actually might take a little longer to return, deciding that she sticks out just a little too much in the showy outfit. When she gets back, she has changed, a red tank top, blue tennis skirt with a gold belt, and white sneakers with gold logo strips. "Hi, it is me." Even in California though she would on the tall and toned side of the local models. so it would not take Batman to guess the sudden replacement of Power Girl might be one in the same. "Karen, this way."

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
For her part, Zinda goes with something more traditional for her in civilian garb as well. The short skirt and boots, of course, along with the signature Blackhawk leather flight jacket. Only there's a black t-shirt beneath. She's freshened up a bit as well, and the blonde hair has fallen into place.

"Wow, sugah, they DO grow 'em big where you come from." Zinda offers, having to look up even with the boot heels. "Karen, hmm? Well Ah'm still Zinda. Don't s'pose y'all are much of a beer drinker. Heard someplace that beer don't affect you Kryptonians the same way."

Power Girl has posed:
"Nice outift." Karen offers with a smile as the pilot approaches her in more relaxed wear, and she shifts her shoulders a tiny bit. "Kind of, it is a little challenging to really fit in at times. Supergirl is a little more to scale."
     Then Karen smile and makes a motion on raising her palms upwards, "Not very much, but if that is what you prefer, we can do that. I could see how that might be a little more relaxing given the issues with the jet. It is still a very cool looking jet. I am sure it will be up and flying soon. Perhaps you could give me lessons one day?"

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
Lady Blackhawk walks alongside Karen, her short skirt swishing with the attitude she puts into her steps. She laughs at the suggestion. "Seriously? Y'all can, like, leave orbit an' stuff all by your lonesome. But Ah think Ah ken' make y'all a decent stick-an-rudder woman, if ya' want."

Giving a glance back over her shoulder towards the hangar, she looks a bit wistful. "Yeah, Ah bought that one from th'Italian Air Force. Used, of course. Ah'll bet those fellas did some tinkerin' where they should'n've, too. An F104 ain't a Ferrari, after all."
A few more paces, then Zinda adds. "There's a decent lil' bar just around th' corner where pilots go after hours."

Power Girl has posed:
"She can, like this, I am not supposed to." Power Girl explains in a some what simplistic way. "Superman says that I have to keep the two as separate as possible. Besides, in either form, I can only do it in the presence of the yellow sun.. I might need to pilot something outside that some day. It looks fun, too. I like to drive a car, it feels more normal."