2014-03-29 - Stark Expo: Champagne Confessions

It's after the gala, most people have headed back to their hotel rooms, but not Clint Barton. He is hitting up the bartender for a bottle of champagne. Though how the Avenger is clinging to the bar, he has had quite a bit to drink already. "C'mon, it's alright, I'm an Avenger, my buddy, well former buddy Tony is paying for all this," he wheedles the barman.

There is a familiar voice that drifts over Clint's shoulder. "Keep the bottle. I believe that Mr. Barton has had enough for tonight." A shorter woman steps up to the bar, first focusing on Clint...and then the bartender. "Better yet, leave the bottle with me, then take a break. I will compensate you for the time." The look from Janet Van Dyne is enough to convince the barman that it is in his best interest to vacate.

The bartender nods and puts the bottle down in front of Janet before moving off. Clint shoots her a look that says he is less than amused. "Part of your new duties playing chaperone?" he asks as he makes a grab for the bottle. "Because I am so done trying to put my best foot forward."

Normally, Clint might be fast enough to have snatched the bottle. Now? Not so much. Janet slides the bottle just out of grasp. Her own expression isn't that of anger or condemnation....merely concern. "I am not the chaperone around here. And, from what I am seeing, neither are you." She sits there, those blue eyes in scrutiny. "So, going to tell me what is driving you to drink, Clint? Or, shall I venture a guess or two? Either way works for me."

Clint stares at his hand when he doesn't grab the bottle. "Aww hand," he murmurs. He sighs. "Sure, guess, it's been awhile since someone told me what's wrong with me." He doesn't sound so much mad as tired.

"You sure you just don't want to tell me? It would be easier. Be easier for me to help you, too." There is a certain reflection in Jan's voice...she means what she says. "However, if you really wish for me to guess, then I would say that, based on what I've seen, part of it is the whole infant fiasco with Nat and Tony. There was less than thrilled expressions whenever that was brought up." She pauses, letting her words linger. "So...shall I go on?"

Clint watches Jan out of the corner of his eye as she speaks, his head resting in his hands. "The baby thing is just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, I've got that, I've got this kid I never wanted but is too cool to let go back into the system, I got a school now for some reason, Steve's dead and I'm supposed to do his job, and yeah, the baby thing which means my best friend in the whole damn world can't be who she's supposed to be, or Tony goes insane or something." He turns then taking in Jan for a moment. "I am this close to just going," he says holding his fingers about an inch apart. "Just grabbing Adam and America, and just getting the hell out of New York and not looking back."

There is a slight nod....barely perceptible. Then, the bottle slides into reach, though still held by Janet. "Yes....that is a lot. It is a lot for anyone to be asked to do." She sighs softly. "I...know what you mean. Everything just got turned on its head after Siberia." Jan reaches over across the bar, taking a clean champagne glass and pours herself a glass, then pours some for Clint, though his is considerably less than full. "I knew about the baby thing before Siberia...but held my tongue. Had to, because otherwise Tony would have went into crazy mode sooner and refused Natasha from going to Siberia. Afterwards, it seemed that Tony was running away...from responsibility...quite possibly from reality. He gave away the chair and the school. Suddenly, we find ourselves with a mess that we are supposed to clean up, without consideration for what we have on our plate."

Clint takes the drink despite being less than full and downs it quickly, desperately. "Yeah?" he says about knowing about the kid, but it figures Nat would have gone to Pym for that. "Well I can see why you kept quiet about it, if Tony tried to stop Nat it would have gone badly for everyone. I just wish she took care of it before Tony found out, y'know?" he says. "That would have been the responsible thing, she and Tony, they shouldn't be parents." He lets out a sigh. "Cause yeah, like you say, Tony dumped everything on us and ran, great role model right there right?" he says not able to hide his bitterness. "To think I used to look up to him like I did Steve."

Janet is more lady-like with her drink, sipping it while Clint just drains his glass. "Yeah. I knew almost the same time she did. Hank did the pregnancy test. They tried to hide it from me, but I know Hank's pregnancy tests when I see one." Another sip from the glass. Janet skips past the responsible comment, and moves on. "I...I can handle the chairperson position. Or, at least I am trying. But, you got both the field leader and the headmaster. It is like Tony is saying 'Here....try to fill my shoes and Cap's shoes.'" She shakes her head. "That's too much. Too much for anyone."

There is another sip of champagne, then Janet turns to regards Clint fully. "So...I'm going to do something about it. That is, if you are willing to let me help you."

Clint goes back to leaning his head in his hands while Janet talks. He is attentive though, and when she's done he lets out a breath. "Okay, let's hear what you've got to say," he agrees. "'Cause all I've got right now is quit and admit I shouldn't have come back after the Skrull got me."

Janet gives Clint another half-glass, while topping off her own glass, which was only a third gone. "First thing we need to do is lighten your load. Take some of the weight of the world off your shoulders. I could take the field leader roll away, but, honestly, Clint....I need you there. There isn't another person I feel can do it as effectively as you and I am not alone in thinking that. There was a reason the vote was unanimous for you." Clint's glass is slid over to him, while Jan takes a moment to partake of her own. "Which means that I'll take the Headmaster position away. I have no idea who to give it to, yet. I might leave it up to the students to vote who they want...but I know you don't want it. And, honestly, you shouldn't have it."

Clint takes the glass gratefully but doesn't swig it back. He looks down at the bubbles rising to the surface and for a moment he's quiet. "Yeah, you're right. Not cut out for the headmaster job. Should give it to Pym or maybe Banner, they're smart guys, responsible. Y'know, not like me." He takes a drink. He should be happy to have the school lifted from his shoulders and maybe in a couple days he will be but now it feels like failure. "Anyhow I'm sorry I messed up so bad with this. If it were Steve, he would have stepped up and handled it, no matter how overloaded he was."

"You didn't mess up. Not the way I see it." There is a soft sigh. This isn't Jan's first glass of the night...and she is starting to feel the effects. "Steve may have handled it, true. But...Steve also knows when to back down when he is overwhelmed. I think you didn't want to let Steve down, which is why you took everything on yourself." She dips her finger in the glass, swirling the effervescent liquid idly. "You did what you could. That is all anyone could ask for."

There is a moment of thought, then Jan breaks out into a fit of giggles. "You want Banner to be headmaster? Something gets him mad and the whole school's a crater." The giggles lessen, but don't quite go away. "And Hank is a dear...but responsibility and him are strange bedfellows. He talks to ants, hon, because people mystify him. Imagine him trying to talk to teenagers..."

Another shrug follows "Kay not them then," he says though he smiles, Janet's giggles were contagious like that. "Anyhow, whoever, probably good idea to let the kids have a say like you were talking about, they'll take it better that way rather than having things rammed down their throats the Tony Stark way."

Janet tries to stifle another giggle, only to let it slip out. "Hmm...yes, indeed. I am not Tony Stark. I don't do things his way. People are starting to find that out." The finger is extracted from the glass and the glass itself is raised to Jan's lips...this time for a long pull.

Clint shakes his head and finishes his glass before he sets it down again. "Well you're cuter than Tony, that's for sure," he says as he looks over at her again. "And tougher, I think Tony would have folded during this whole T'Challa thing," he rubs his head gently trying to stoke his thoughts. "Right I was going to ask. Think we should go pay Wakanda a visit since that's where T'Challa was last seen?"

There is a blush...a nice rosy red blush...for Clint as he calls Jan cute. Then a nod as he starts talking about the 'incident'. She turns to look at him, while she fumbles for her holoID from her clutch. "I...have theories on that. Namely...I think I know who our imposters are. But....I just have circumstantial evidence." She manages to pull it out...and tries to key in some commands. "So...yeah. going to Wakanda would be excellent. If we can prove T'Challa wasn't in New York, then that takes out the main purpose of the attack...which I think was to defame the Avengers."

Clint can't help but smile at that blush. He turns though so not to make her more embarrassed, pleased, whatever. Women right? Anyhow he turns back to her after a few seconds. "Yeah, like you said if we can prove it's not them, that's some of the pressure off us and the Fantastic Four, then we can work on trying to get the guys who did it. Which will be the tricky bit, guessing they're some sort of shape changer?"

"That's just it. I know." Janet seems rather sure of herself, though it could be the alcohol talking, too. "At least...with Reed, it is a shape-changer. You know how I haven't been around to a lot of the parties around here? I’ve been busy." Jan takes her holoID and pulls up an image for Clint to see. "Been running searches through the Avenger database and doing compares. I came up with this guy..." On the screen is the image and statistics of the villain Clayface. "This guy...from what I seen, was pulling off the exact same moves as the Reed recorded on that live feed was. Plus he's strong enough to pick up the fake Panther and run off like that."

Jan places the holoID on the counter to let Clint look if he wishes. "As far as Panther....I don't think it was a shape-shifter. According to Jennifer, she said that Natasha was able to grab the arm of T'Challa and felt regular cloth, not the fabric his catsuit usually is. So, she thought it was an image projector. Sorta a hologram or something. which means it could have been anyone, really, but...really, how many people do you know that make a habit of using image inducers and can mimic others so well that they can convince even close friends?"

Clint looks at the picture on the holo-ID. "Clayface?" he asks looking up at Jan with a smirk. "And here I thought we had some lame villains," he jokes before he sees what the guy can do. "Yeah, he seems like a good fit for fake Reed though. Stretchy and whatever," he says before he nods about the fake T'Challa. "I wouldn't put the tech past AIM and HYDRA but the acting, not their thing. So, do you got a guy who has both?"

Janet nods....reaching over to tap a button on her holoID. The image shifts an image of a person with a solid white mask, with the text identifying him as the Chameleon. "I think this guy. He is known for using image emitters when he needs to....and he has the acting chops to pull it off." Jan leans back, her left hand reaching up to cover her face as she yawns. "Excuse me....been putting in some late nights."

"Hmm," Clint says looking at the picture. "Well this is the sort of thing I can deal with, might be hard as hell to find a couple of shapeshifters but it's doable," he pauses when Jan yawns and he smiles. "Same, plus I'm drunk, so hold off the rest of this until tomorrow? Probably need to wait for this thing to be over before we assemble the team and go hunting anyhow."

Janet offers a grin, albeit a tired one, then nods. "That..sounds good. The holding off part, I mean. Hell, at least I was able to tell someone. Tried texting Nat to set up a meet to get her and SHIELD the info...and you could imagine how well that went." There's another yawn, this time in plain sight. "Anyways, how about we head back to our rooms? We can hit this up more when both our heads are clearer."

Clint yawns too. It's not just the giggles that are catching. "Good plan," he says as he stands up and puts a hand on Jan's shoulder. "Thanks for the talk Jan, really. Glad you're in charge." He smiles then and with that said he offers his arm all gentlemanly like to walk her from the hall.