Jason flushed faintly. "Ah…no." he rubbed a hand over his scalp, clearing his throat and leading her over to a rather plain vehicle. "This one. I don't, uhm, go for flashy vehicles a lot. This one's serviceable, and it can go off-road if I want or need it to." He pulled the keys from his pocket, getting into the driver's seat and starting it up.
Shea got into the passenger seat, slightly falling back when she leaned back, given that the seat was extended to the point where it was almost horizontal. She caught herself and sat up, raising an eyebrow at the strange seat position. The seat slid back into place with a click. She decided not to question it and snuggled into the soft fabric of the seat.
Jason started to drive, his damaged left hand tapping faintly against the wheel as he drove. "So, uh, if we get pulled over for whatever reason, it might take them longer to check my license than for most normal people. It's, uh, due to SHIELD and how I was made and blah blah, all that shit. So." He shrugged his shoulders a little bit.
"Cool." Shea automatically rattled off. And then the realization hit her. "Wait- how you were made? Wait- you told me about this- I think. Maybe. Yes. Yes, you did. Steve is your 'dad'-" She put finger quotes around the word. "-And some random anonymous donor was your 'mom'-" More finger quotes. "Test tube baby child. And you got the super soldier and ice powers from there. Right?"
"Yes, right." He said with a nod. "So I'm not legally…a person?" He squinted faintly. "It's complicated. Basically my driver's license is weird and it weirds out the police whenever I have to show it to them. So it might take a while. I shouldn't get pulled over, I just wanted to warn you on the offchance that we do." He wasn't legally a person, and that was something that had rankled at him for years. Was he a person? Did he have a soul? Or was he just very good at mimicry? The way he had been brought up hadn't helped either, and so he spent most days ignoring the fact that a lot of people didn't consider him a person.
"Legally I'm supposed to be dead," Shea snorted and laughed. Shea might've shrugged the words Jason had said right off, but she could feel the internal struggled. Her hyperactive and predatory amygdala picked up what people were thinking all around her. She wasn't a mind reader, but she could read people's emotions. The turmoil going on within Jason's head was severe… But Shea was never one for talking about emotions so she let the topic die.
Jason laughed a little. "Yeah, I suppose that's true." He replied as he drove. It wasn't too much longer before he pulled into the drive through for McDonald's. "What do you want to eat?" He asked, looking over at her. "Or do you need to see the menu first, before making a decision?" He shook off his thoughts as best he could, looking over at her.
(Gtg soon)
(alrighy)
"A Big Mac and a 10 piece chicken nugget with fries. Oh- and a large coke," Shea answered quickly. "The McDonald's menu is something I could never forget." Shea grabbed her phone, a secure one that SHIELD provided her when she first joined, and removed the case. She grabbed 15 dollars from the case and handed it to Jason.
Jason nodded, taking the money and ordering for them both when they reached the ordering station. He got a Big Mac as well, and also a double cheeseburger and large fries, and a coke. His metabolism always demanded more food than perhaps he normally would have eaten had he not been a supersoldier.
Shea immediately stuck the fries into her mouth, hissing when the hot food touched her tongue. "Mmpht- hot-" She groaned, chewing through the pain and swallowing the fries. She playfully shook her delicious-smelling fries under Jason's nose as he drove them back to the Tower.
Jason rolled his eyes at her, nipping faintly at the fries with a laugh. "Don't tease me, I'll bite your fingers off." He said, shaking his head a little bit as he made his way back towards the tower. "I'm serious about that, by the way."
"Do it, coward," Shea responded with a deadpan expression. "Or we could settle it with a spar later. Bite my fingers off now or lose to me in a match later, your choice."
He arched his eyebrows at her. "Lose a match?" He echoed. "I absolutely will not lose to you." Unless she used her mind powers to fuck with him while they were sparring. Then he would probably crumple like a leaf or something. "I'm a supersoldier. We don't lose to mere mortals." He laughed softly.
"Bold of you to assume I'm mortal." Shea laughed. "I'm an angry child who can kill a man with a glare, you're not winning against me, wonderboy." Shea shoved more of the scorching fries into her mouth. "MPHT-" Shea quickly chewed the remaining bit of fries in her mouth and swallowed. "God, why are those so hot?!"
"Mm, yes I will though." He said, shaking his head at her with a sigh. "And they're hot because they're fresh, Shea." He pulled into the garage and parked his car, pulling the keys from the ignition.
"No shit Sherlock," Shea snapped, following Jason out of the car. She held both of their bags in a vice grip, refusing to hand the food over. "So we eat and then we fight. You better enjoy your last meal." Shea tossed Jason his bag and plopped down at one of the many tables on the ground floor.
Jason laughed a little, sitting down and taking his bag. "Mm, I'm not fighting right after eating, Shea. It's not good to do that, it fucks with the digestive system and…whatever." he shrugged his shoulders slightly, taking a sip of his coke and opening up his bag.
"Coward," Shea snorted through a mouth full of Big Mac. She chewed slowly, not breaking eye contact with the other young hero. She took a long, loud, and agonizing slurp of her drink. She popped off the straw with a sigh. "How 'bout in a few hours then?"
"Sure, in a few hours works." He replied with a nod, opening up one of his burgers and taking a big bite, closing his eyes for a moment, then opening them again to look at her, arching his eyebrows faintly.
"Whachu loo'ng a'?" Shea asked though a full mouth of chicken nuggets. She had absolutely zero table manners and didn't plan on learning any. SHIELD was a place to learn to fight, not learn how to eat in front of strangers. Shea made a face as she swiped the hair from her eyes. She swallowed her food and sighed, pulling her hair back into a messy bun with one fluid movement. The shorter chestnut locks that didn't make it in the hairtye framed her face.
Jason shook his head a little. "A very messy eater." He replied with a laugh, smiling at her for a moment before returning to his food and his coke, humming faintly to himself for just a moment.
"Well I didn't exactly have anyone to tell me how to eat like a normal human being," She huffed but there was no heat behind her tone. She finished her last fry and look a long sip of her drink before disposing of the trash in the bin nearby. "I'm gonna go explore. I learn best by mapping things out myself."
Jason nodded. "Alright. If you get lost, just ask Jarvis for assistance, he's here to help." he kept eating, watching her go with his foot tapping absently against the floor.
(So maybe while Sheas off being Shea, maybe I could introduce Paisley. Like she just drops by to borrow a cup of sugar or something)
Shea took the elevator up to a random floor. She had just closed her eyes and smacked the panel, allowing the contraption to transport her to whatever floor she had selected. She hummed Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" the entire way up to the 101st floor. The song had been stuck in her head for days and it definitely wasn't going away anytime soon.
The elevator doors opened to reveal another lab floor, except this one had a lot more breakable things. Shea's eyes widened and she felt like a cat on top of the world's most expensive coffee table with the most valuable items just waiting to be knocked off. She took a few determined steps foreward but a hand placed on her shoulder stopped her.
"Not so fast, Firecracker," A familiar voice said.
"Hey Nat," Shea responded, turning towards her former mentor.
–
"Paisley, sweetheart, can you go get me a cup of sugar from the Tower?" Strange asked over his shoulder. He was split into his 12-arm form, each limb working on a different task. "I can't stop whipping the ice cream or it'll turn into scrambled eggs."
"Sure thing," Paisley answered, putting down her college textbook and opening a Sling Portal at her feet. She dropped through the gateway, landing gracefully on her feet. The portal closed above her and the wizard made her way towards a familiar face sitting at a table and eating… McDonalds?. "Hey, Jason!" Paisley waved to him.