twelve_not_fourteen | Walking the earth with eyes turned skywards ...

These bird-like creatures appear to have evolved out of the ability to fly. With those changes came denser bones. Likely you'd want your bones to be as dense as possible when you're getting punched by someone with super-strength. ... It's probably still alive, but if it is getting up, it won't be getting up very soon.

The display makes all the humanoids reconsider the life choices they made up to this point, but the other avian isn't taking the sight of its companion being dropped like a rock very well. It screams with a cry so loud that it drives Han's head to throb and then swings it's beak Captain Marvel's way for a bite.

Solo's hand, experienced in many gun battles, is a blur. Trusting Carol to handle 'feathers' he snaps off some non-lethal shots to the knees and shoulders of their other tormentors.

The cry is loud enough that Carol has to cover her ears and she's disoriented for just long enough that the beak connects with her and pushes her back against a wall. The wall breaks a little, but Carol steps away from it looking like she hasn't just been pushed into solid rock.

With an icy stare, she zooms forward and connects a fist with the bird's chest, sending it flying down the alley to smack against the stone wall on the other side. This time she doesn't even consider if the thing is getting up or not.

Noting that Han has the others under control, she takes another survey of the area to make sure that nothing else is going to spring up out of the shadows.

The Corellian is only vaguely aware that displays of super-strength are happening around him. Mainly because he's got his eyes on the three more human resembling threats right now.

The two that Han doesn't particularly recognize - hired goons or some lower status members of Garem's crew - decide they've gotten more than they bargained for in this alleyway confrontation. They pick each other up off the ground, boots kicking up some of the grit off the pavement while they shamble away.

The leader, though, is not going to get let off so easily. His DL-44 still tracking on Garem, Han delivers a boot to his gut and the man loses a few shades of color from his face. He spends a moment sputtering and gasping for breath.

"Garem, old friend, I feel like I'd be doing myself a favor if I finished you right now." Han says as he struggles to think of any good reason not to shoot a man that wants to kill him that badly. "So here's how it's going to go. I'll let you leave and you'll retire."

"And do what? Commercial fish on some ocean world? Herd nerfs on some desert?" The bitterness in his voice suggests that he'd almost prefer Han pull the trigger.

"Not my problem. I ain't going to be so friendly if I see you again."

"One of these days your luck is going to run out, Han Solo." He says with more resignation in his voice than menace. "I just hope someone gets it on holo when you do."

With that, Garem begins the painful task of standing up again on a badly injured knee. He makes it as quick as he's able and braces himself along the alley wall to limp away.

All indications are that the two Captains are safe now.

Carol lets out a breath as as she turns and heads in the direction of the abandoned bottle. She didn't hear anything distinct bottle breaking sounds, but she was a little distracted kicking some avian ass.

"You two were old friends, I take it?" she asks in a tone that's questioning, but not judgmental. It seems reasonable that a smuggler wouldn't be universally adored and had they been closer to Earth it easily could've been someone who wanted to jump her.

The bottle remains intact. Had there been more of a scuffle closer to it, perhaps they would have been less lucky. Since she's now the one closer to it, she may as well be the custodian of it.

Han is surveying the wall behind them. The one that now has a Captain Marvel shaped dent in the side of it. His pilot's mind is thinking about the velocity she would have have to hit it to make that kind of a crater and the estimate that his mind came up with is 'awfully hard'. A thoughtful frown settles on his face - though weither it was due to her words, the wall or the fact that people were trying to kill him is anybody's guess.

"Yeah. I suppose you could call him a rival smuggler if you wanted to use the term loosely."

Carol scoops up the thankfully-intact bottle and shifts it into the crook of her arms, almost like she needs to protect it in case they're jumped again.

She crosses back over to him and glances over at the indentation of herself in the wall. It isn't the first place she's left an impression and it won't be the last. "I'm strong," she offers as explanation, even though he has clearly figured that out by now. "And I can fly." It's stated plainly as she's not sure what may or may not surprise him. But hopefully it's not a complete turn off.

She mentioned being a pilot before and yet, somehow, he gets the feeling that's not what she's talking about when she mentions being able to fly.

At this point, Han feels like he wants ask all kinds of questions. How strong is she? How far into an atmosphere can she fly? Does she try to keep it a secret? Is she human? Does he have control of her strength all the time? are there limitations to her abilities? And on and on and on ...

The only one that comes out of his mouth, ultimately, is this, "have you always been like this?"

Edited 2017-09-09 01:23 (UTC)

Not this time. This time she specifically means shooting into the sky and space on a whim.

Carol opens the bottle to take a sip while they're standing there. She isn't sure how Han is going to react - everyone is a little bit different. Some take it in stride, some freak out, some ask a million questions, and some just conveniently find a reason to disappear.

"No," she replies. "Years back I was in an accident with an alien. A Kree. And his DNA kind of...fused onto mine." But while she hasn't always been like this, she does feel like she was always meant to be like this.

It's a little unnerving to the young smuggler. Oh, outwardly his demeanor has hardly changed since the moment they happened upon each other in the cantina, but inwardly. It's ... a lot. He comes from a galaxy where humanoids can have all kinds of different characteristics, so the abilities themselves aren't really the problem.

What bothers him is that he never expected it at all. Nor has never really seen anything like it. Han is a man that prides himself on having 'been around' and something like this can't help but remind him just how ill equipped he is for some situations.

But. How mad can you really be when your new friend so willingly offers her powers to help you?

"Glad if it had to happen to someone, it happened to you." He says at last. Han makes a waist high wave of his hand. An 'after you' indication, since he still plans to go to her ship. "I ain't never heard of the Kree. Is the whole race as strong as you?"

Edited 2017-09-09 12:09 (UTC)

Carol's relieved that at least on the outside he doesn't seem to be very bothered with the reveal of her abilities. She's intrigued by Han - probably more than she should be - and would like to get to know him better. In which ways is still to be determined.

At his gesture she continues their walk to her ship though her eyes are scanning the shadows of the alleys far more than they were before Garem Till showed up.

"More or less, yeah," she replies while closing up the bottle for the walk. "Some hit a little harder, some hit a little lighter, but they're all forces to be reckoned with. Very advanced civilization and really high tech." Not people you really wanted to get on your bad side. "They've seemed to ignore this corner of the galaxy, thankfully."

Han, conversely, seems unphased by their encounter. As if someone getting mad and wanting to put a smoking hole in him was just part of a regular day. He doesn't even seem to be scrutinizing his surroundings any more than before they got jumped.

The smuggler's eyes darken just a touch at what she's describing of the Kree. Strong and smart is not the kind of qualities you want potential foes to have. Why he feels like they could be enemies without her giving any indication one way or another, he's not sure. Probably just the way he's wired to think ...

Everyone is a foe or at best, an annoyance, until proven otherwise.

"I suppose so. Lot of problems from them out your way?"

He's not wrong to be wary of the Kree. If they did ever become interested in this corner of the galaxy it could turn rather nasty for the citizens. Everyone she'd encountered in this quadrant already seemed to have a boatload of problems already. And she's wired the same, for what it's worth. She's seen too many hostile aliens to think any other way.

"At times. Not at the moment - we're having a Chitauri problem right now - but they've been a problem before." And knowing the Kree, they would be again even though their numbers had dwindled significantly in the past decade.

"What'd you say is the biggest problem around here?" Part of her mission is to assess the players in this quadrant. It was always best to ask the locals.

He manages not to stare dumbly at her, but he certainly feels that way right now. She just name dropped another entire race of alien's he's heard nothing about. It probably shouldn't bother him. She's from a place very far from here ...

Just because you don't know about something doesn't mean it can't hurt you, though. He shakes away an anxious feeling that wants to settle in the pit of his stomach and instead, focuses on her question.

"Politics." Han says. "It's a bit of a long story, I guess, but we ended up under control of one guy. The Emperor does have a way about keeping things organized, but a lot of people aren't fond of his methods."

In his defense, there would probably be a lot of alien species he knows about that she doesn't.

Carol frowns at his answer as they take a right in the direction of the hanger where her ship is parked. "Hmmm. I've seen that happen in other places and I have to tell you that it doesn't ever seem to have a happy ending." Plenty of riots, rebellions, and bloodshed. They were going to have to keep tabs on the goings on around here.

Finally she stops them in front of a large hanger and gets them inside. Her ship, just a bit larger than the Falcon, sits there powered down. After what happened on the way there she's just glad to see it.

It's a particular quirk of Han Solo's. This want, of his, to be the guy that has been around and know everything there is to know. He just isn't old enough to realize that it's a bit of a fool's errand.

Talk about the Emperor makes Han shrug. He doesn't really know what to say about galactic wide politics, to tell the truth. He was only a couple of years old when the republic fell and being under the thumb of Shiv Palpatine is all he can remember. The time spent in the Imperial Navy was nothing like what he expected - but he was able to see exactly how powerful the Emperor's military is.

"I'll be happy if I can just keep flying under the radar."

All thoughts of civil current events are gone from his head when there's a ship to look over. It's a pretty big ship, bigger than his, and it has that clean look that newer vehicles seem to have. He takes a slow walk around the vessel before he says anything and when he does ... it's about the answer you'd expect.

"Looks pretty nice from the outside." He admits. "How long have you had her?"

"You seem to be doing all right so far." Even with the attack earlier in the alley Carol can tell that the man can handle himself and knows what he needs to do to get what he wants.

But then they move to ship talk and Carol happy to show her off. While Han circles the ship she just stands near the entrance with the smile of a proud parent on her lips. The ship isn't technically hers, it belongs to Alpha Flight, but she's been the only one flying and she had a say in the design.

"Just a couple of months. She's pretty new." Carol gestures towards the entrance before heading over to open it up. "Inside is even nicer."

"Full of surprises when you get to know her? ... like her pilot?"

It's very complimentary when he says it and the tone of his voice is almost a purr. It's the kind of playful sensuality that could only come from a guy that's got full confidence in the way that he talks to women. Not to say that he's always successful at charming people, but ... he's almost always putting his best foot forward.

"I can't wait to see more."

And hey, if she has her back to him, he's gonna take a second to appreciate the view in front of him. He's not a monk or anything.

Carol's pretty good at pushing away that kind of playful flirting when she doesn't want it, but she's definitely into it today. She's been all work for weeks now and a little fun would be a lovely break. And when the fun looks like Han does, well, might as well lean in.

"Something like that," she replies with a grin, glancing back at him over her shoulder. The ramp whirs to life, unlocks, and lowers from the hull providing them an easy step into the ship. With another glance she heads up the ramp and onto the ship. Now which part to show off first?

She probably catches him looking. Not for very long, a heartbeat or two, but doesn't see much point in hiding the fact that he thinks she's attractive. They were both adults. They were going back to her 'place' with a bottle. A certain amount of writing was already on the wall.

Han looks more or less the same way he always does. Handsome and a little bit rugged in the modest cargo jacket that plenty of pilots favor in his galaxy. A ghost of a smile on his lips is the most of an apology she'll get for the once over he was giving to her. He follows her up the ramp and onto the ship without hesitation.

"I gotta think for a ship this big you aren't often traveling alone."

She did catch him looking and it simply made her grin a little wider. Had he gone up the ramp first she would've probably done the same thing.

Once they're up there she reaches over to close the ramp. After being jumped in the alley she isn't taking chances. "For safety," she explains. "But don't feel like I'm keeping you. If you want to leave, press and hold this yellow button." She points it out and then shifts the bottle to her other arm.

She gives him a shrug as she leads them towards the galley. Carol assumes that he's anxious to see the controls or the guts, but she's thinking about glasses first. "Sometimes I have a small crew. Sometimes I pick up refugees. Sometimes even my cat comes along. But right now it's only me. Hope you don't mind." As if he would.

"Turns out I'm not particularly claustrophobic."

He says as she reaches to close the ramp. Carols rationale for wanting to keep the ship is a good one and if there's any ulterior motive - such as making sure they don't get disturbed while they're up here - that doesn't bother him at all. It was thoughtful of her to let him know how to get out, though.

Also, for the record, he doesn't seem to be disappointed with her choice of the galley first. Han is taking the opportunity to look around, however, while she's going for the glasses.

"I don't mind at all." He says as his eyes flick over toward hers. "In fact, the quiet seems like a nice idea."

She didn't even realize it as an ulterior motive then, though she is thinking about it now. Despite the confidence she's portraying, Carol doesn't usually go around picking up handsome smugglers in bars. Work keeps her busy and if she thinks too hard about flirting she usually ends up saying something ridiculous.

Which is why she's side stepping a lot of small talk and pulling glasses from the galley. They're plastic, which is not fancy, but that keeps them from breaking when you have to do a barrel roll to avoid enemy fire.

She gives him a smile when their eyes meet and she passes the bottle over to him. "A great idea. You want to pour?" Mostly because she's not sure how much of the stuff he should drink right away.

She won't have to ask Han twice. He'll confidently assume the role of bartender for this evening; taking up the bottle into his hand, he pours two glasses for them. Hers is nearly filled up to the top. His has perhaps an ounce in it. The drinks are then doled out appropriately.

"We'll see how we do like this."

"Works for me." Carol picks up the glass carefully, doing her best not to spill any of the liquid. If he's only drinking that small amount it must pack a hell of a punch.

"Should we drink to that ship of yours? The one you'll have one day?"

There's a flicker of some kind of emotion in his face that doesn't quite match up with the slightly aloof, unflappable persona. Hard to say what it is because it's not around long enough to scrutinize with great detail. Only thing Carol that can be certain of is that he felt something when she mentioned the other ship.

... desperation, longing, worry, forlornness ...

Anyway, he has to go back a ways in his memory to get to the last time he drank to something. The fact that he could was all the reason this young scoundrel needed.

"Can we do two? To your successful mission and the Millenium Falcon?"

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