3702/Stepping Up

Stepping Up
Date of Scene:	21 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Guardian, Vindicator

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Guardian has posed:
It'd been several days since the attack on Earth and as to be expected Mac had thrown himself into figuring out what had happened whether that meant finding a way to speak to their prisoner or studying the captured alien tech for some sign of what had driven these aliens to try to wipe out the Earth. Not that there hadn't been other issues to address either, the mutant situation on Earth wasn't any better and the various groups and countries who had supported Alpha Flight's leadership when it came to defending Earth all wanted someone to explain what had happened.

Though at the moment, Mac had taken a break from all of that in his lab, toying with their battlesuits. The battle had taught him one thing, while the suits were potent weapons against the threats they faced on Earth they might need a bit more kick when it came to facing enemies in space.

So Mac is in his workshop on the station working away on his Guardian suit while it's stretched across his frame.

Vindicator has posed:
Heather, for her part, had been examining the reamins of some of the meteorites, making certain that they were nothing more nerfarious than rock. So far her investigation was proving that was, indeed, the case. Which reassured her, but it didn't fully explain how the technoology they had found within them had gotten there.

However, she needed a stretch, and had decided to take a walk and find her husband. He'd been looking at their suits, which meant he was likely in the station workshop.

A smile on her face, she slips past the sliding doors, and makes her way to his workstation.

Guardian has posed:
Mac's back is to Heather when she enters the workbay and so he doesn't see her coming. Instead he's fixated on a metal band on his right wrist. There was a matching one on his suit's left arm and matching bands on each arm. He presses a button on the right band and the suit flashes blue for a moment seems to go translucent retracting towards the four bands before there's an even brighter flash and Mac is thrown back from his work station, the suit gone, the along with large swathes of the clothes he wore underneath it.

He hits the floor with a groan, and sits back up, rubbing his chest through a gaping whole in one of his UBC t-shirts. He catches sight of Heather, and offers her a sheepish smile. "Hello dear. I think you may have caught me at a bad moment," he says as he begins getting up from the floor.

Vindicator has posed:
Heather can't help the slightly smug look upon her face as Mac is blown back by the suit. Not because he's been blown back, but because it's just typical Mac. She's never ceased to be amazed by him and his work. His dedication has always impressed her. And that he's all the amazing things he is.. and so very, very human to boot, has always left her feeling more certain of her love for him, always reaffirming that she'd made the right choice all that time ago to pack up and follow him.

"I could go and come back, if you want. Or, I could help you up?" She grins at him serenely. "I'd hate to bother you when you're so obviously working so hard." On the floor. You know, where he landed after the suit sent him flying.

Guardian has posed:
Mac catches that smug look on his wife's face and smiles. He was very human, very faillible for all his genius and very, very hers.

Her offer of help is met with a smiling nod and he holds out his hand to her to let her help him up. "No need to go, I think if anything this proves I need a break. I had been working on the weapons and that confounded me, so I started trying adapt something I read about in the Kree data for our suits so they could be put on quicker. Obviously, they need a bit of work," he says. "I hope the asteroids have given you less trouble," he says still looking up at her from the floor.

Vindicator has posed:
Heather loved that he wasn't insulted by her strengths. Or her offers of help. That his manhood didn't lie in such things. That they could be such partners. Her grip is strong and sturdy, and supports him to standing, where she remains hovered near enough to him to offer up her lips for a kiss.

"So far I'm not finding anything out of the ordinary. They look and act just like regular asteroids. If an asteroid met me and I did my thing to it."

Yes, there was that smug look again.

Guardian has posed:
Mac smiles playfully up at Heather when she takes his hand, he considers trying to pull her down to him but thinks better of it, and is rewarded by the offer of her lips. It's one he accepts and instead of pulling her to the floor in a childish prank, he pulls her to share that offered kiss, reveling in this little moment for just the two of them.

When he steps back, he's smiling but still hears what he says, "Thank goodness for that," he says about her able to manipulate the asteroids like she did terrestrial rock. He notes the smug look and smiles. "And it was a good idea to add it to your suit, I almost wished I added it to my own." Though the idea was the two of them with their different equipment would balance each other out. "Either way, we'll definitely need something extra if we're going to be facing threats like that again. That was terrifying," he doesn't mind admitting it. They hadn't been ready, except for being able to summon other heroes to help them.

Vindicator has posed:
his playfullness is noted, even when he behaves and does not pull her down. Heather's lips flitting over amusement. "I think I'm disappointed, husband." It's not like he's so playful so often.

"I think I missed the terrifying. I was busy. Though to hear it told, the rest was quite exciting. Me and my rocks. We're not the most exciting people on the planet. Or in space, it seems." She ponders the suits. "Working on upgrades for us?"

Guardian has posed:
Mac smiles when Heather expresses her disappointment,"Well in that case then," he grabs her hand and lets himself sink down to the floor pulling her with him if she'll come.

Once on the floor with Heather or not, Mac raises an eyebrow, "Seven rocks measuring mutltiple kilometers long about to crash into the Earth, and you 'missed the terrifying'," Mac says with a smile on his lips. "There's a whole genre of late 90's action movie that's very disappointed in you right now," he scholds good naturedly. "I mean if people hadn't responded, we'd be sitting up here counting the days until the stations food and air ran out." That thought does bring a slight frown to his lips, before the talk of upgrades gets a nod. "Yes, not going as well as I'd like which is why I switched to the materialization function, to clear my mind. We need more power to make any upgrades to the weapons feasible," he explains idly leaning back so his weight is resting on his hands.

Vindicator has posed:
Heather is most easily drawn down to the ground to sit in Mac's lap. It makes her feel inexplicably young to do so, suddenly pink cheeked and nearly shy with him. A girlishness she rarely shows. Much like his lighter side, a thing parcelled out with great care.

"You make it sound so.." Even she has to laugh at herself, burying her face in the side of his neck. "Now look what you've done. You've made me blush. And fine. They were big. Okay? they were very big. And ferociously dangerous."

Guardian has posed:
Mac can't help but smile. Heather's sudden blushing girlishness brings it out of him. It's a rare thing and one that can't be wasted with doom and gloom. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. The smile becomes a grin, when Heather buries her face in his neck and he says, "Guess I shouldn't be surprised an extinction level event would rattle the woman who'd trek across the artic with her new boyfriend and Roxxon on their heels," he says. That she did that still amazed him all these years later. He was glad of it though had he gone without her, he doubted his life would have been the same.

"And yes it seems I have, you're hiding it though, which is a shame, I like seeing you blush," he wrinkles his nose playfully as he caresses her back. "It happens so rarely."

Vindicator has posed:
Becuse it is Mac, and because she loves him, Heather lifts her head, just enough to let him see the blush and how he has flustered her. "I wasn't even thinking about it that way. I just looked at it like any other problem. One bit at a time."

Cheeks still pink, she smiles at him, a soft, considering thing. "I wanted you. I wanted you more than I wanted the future my parents saw for me. Or my place at Roxxon. Or anything. It didn't matter where you went, it only mattered that you were there."

Guardian has posed:
Mac gives Heather a look, pink cheeks and all and smiles, brushing a kiss across her lips. "Thank you," he says softly. "And that's probably the better way to look at it to be honest. When I saw them, other than my mind racing on how they appeared like that, it felt like I had the weight of all of them on my shoulders and if I was any sort of leader I needed a solution for all of it yesterday." He gives her a fond smile. "I guess it's a good thing you're watching out for me."

The smile only grows fonder when she speaks of that fateful trip and why she chose what she chose. She'd told him before but he never tired of hearing it. "I am glad you were there with me Heather," he says, "And that you still are, sometimes I think you really are the best part of me."

He kisses her then, a longer, more passionate kiss than the brief brushing of his lips against hers of a moment before. When he parts from her lips, he says, "I should probably do something about these clothes," he says about his ruined outfit. "Want to come with me?" he asks in a whisper against her ear.

Vindicator has posed:
For all he looks at her in wonder, she returns the same to him. That he loved her, and accepted her, including her as his partner in all they'd been through never failed to humble her. Without him, she'd not have ever found the nerve to do any of the things she'd done or become with him at her side. He might see her as the better part of himself; she saw him as the faith she'd never had in herself, manifest, and given back to her.

"I've only ever done what you've done for me, believed in you."

Her words are soft and true. And when he suggests doing something about his outfit, her smile softens again, in that way that says she hopes she's reading him.

"Always," she whispers that only he might hear. "Come to me, Mac."

Guardian has posed:
When Heather had put words to those thoughts in the past how much he'd helped her become what she was, Mac almost always responded with mild disbelief, only because he felt the reverse was true. Or rather, truer. Still, there was no denying that the two of them were stronger together than apart and that they challenged each other to reach new heights.

"And I thank you for that," he says of her believing in him. "And for making it so easy to believe in you."

His words have the ring of truth to them as well and he smiles faintly, when she takes his meaning about the clothing he nips lightly at her ear, saying, "Always," before he pulls back to let her stand chuckling lightly. "You said my line first," he points out with a grin. "That's cheating."

Vindicator has posed:
Heather stands, and slips an arm about his waist, letting him lead the two of them off to their quarters. "I'll let you say my line later. It'll all even out in the end."

She leans that her head lays upon his shoulder. "I love you."

Guardian has posed:
Mac chuckles as he slips an arm around Heather's waist in turn, "I am not sure that works, but we'll figure it out," he says with a grin.

He rests his head on hers as they walk saying "I love you too," as they exit the workshop on the way to their quarters.