Who: Nick Fury and Sara Lance Where: Verdant When: Thursday Night What: One’s observing, the other’s flirting - match up Rating: low Status: Gdoc complete
Fury knew that several people who frequented Verdant were of interest to him, though some were far more interested in their life here than back home. He didn’t necessarily rule people out who wanted to stay, but the more intertwined people got with their life here in Madison, the more they had things to lose, like spouses or children, the less likely they were willing to rock the boat if necessary. Sure, they might help if there was a danger to the town, but what if there was something that needed to be down about the Dome itself? What if the townspeople crossed a line? What if, through concentrated man power, there was an answer on how to leave?
Tonight was not a typical party night considering it was a Thursday. Fury had picked it on purpose. He found a place at the bar at the far end so he could see the rest of the club and have his back relatively covered - old habits die hard. He was nursing a whiskey drink - the same drink for a while now, but he wasn’t planning on getting drunk. He needed his wits about him if he was looking for recruits.
--
As both a trained assassin and a competent bartender, Sara was used to sizing up people in a short amount of time. In both lines of work, it was useful to have a sense of what you were dealing with and she did not like to be unprepared. The man at the end of the bar nursing the same whiskey since his arrival clearly had a motive other than enjoying an adult beverage, dancing, or finding someone to take home. What that motive was, she hadn’t quite figured out yet, but he certainly piqued her curiosity.
Sara walked down to the end of the bar with a bottle in hand. She set two shot glasses in front of the man and filled them both, sliding one over to him and picking up the other. “You look like you’re in need of a pick me up,” she said.
***
Fury lifted his eyebrow a little as he watched the woman lift up a shot glass. He knew her name was Sara, but otherwise she was mostly an unknown. He knew enough about her world, with his dealings with Mia Smoak, to know she could be of interest, if she had the right outlook.
“I do, do I?” His hand left the glass of whiskey and went to the shot. One of the things that was in his favour was he was old and practiced in drinking if he had to, though he still didn’t plan to get too drunk. Still, if she was amicable this way, he’d go this route for now.
With the faintest of smiles, he lifted the shot glass and downed the liquid in one go.
--
“Don’t think I’ve seen you in here before,” she said after taking her own shot. “I’m Sara Lance, owner of this fine establishment.” She knew who he was, at least vaguely, having been around long enough to meet a number of people from that particular world. There were some similarities between their worlds, enough that she knew the town could count on those folks when shit went down under the dome.
She set her glass down and filled both of them again. “Care for another?”
***
He had met Bruce outside of Verdant, but his first real frequenting of the club was during New Year's Eve. Before then he hadn't felt the need to go inside. If he wanted to drink, he often did so at home where it was safer to let his guard down.
"Clubs are not normally a place I frequent. Nothing against Verdant, I can assure you." Was he making a joke? It was hard to tell. He eyes the shot glass contemplatively. "Though I have come to wonder how you came about running a place such as this."
He pulled the shot glass to him a little more, but didn't throw it back yet.
--
The caution about taking the second shot didn’t go unnoticed. Sara got the feeling he was trying to keep his wits about him, not that she could necessarily blame him. It was interesting to note, at the very least.
“Luck, honestly,” she said. “A bit good and a bit bad. This place is named after a club back in my world. A friend of mine started it years ago and hired me as a bartender. Dome sent her back and I took over.” She used to have help running the place from Eliot and Oliver, but that was a long time ago too.
She’d been running it solo for long enough.
***
“Luck is sometimes all we have.” Fury liked to think he sometimes helped luck along with all his planning, but there were definitely a few times that they had just plain gotten lucky when it came to saving the world or staying alive. Unfortunately, lately, it had seemed that luck was running out back home - Peter Parker was currently facing the brunt of that in particular.
“Seems like a lot of people end up being sent home over the years while a few choice people remain. I’ve only been here a few months and even I find it frustrating.” And he hadn’t been attached to anyone who left, yet. Sometimes he contemplated how he’d react when someone was sent home. Before having Lyra as his ward, he’d have been okay with it, save a few like Tony Stark. Now, there were a few more he could see the benefit of the Dome.
--
Sara nodded. “It’s definitely frustrating. I’ve lost a lot of people over the years, some of them multiple times.” People coming back without their memories of being there previously was probably the worst thing she’d experienced here, though in comparison to some of the things she went through back home, it was barely a blip on the radar of terrible things.
“You got a name, hot stuff?” she asked. “Or should I make up a fun nickname?”
***
Fury had been called a lot of things in his lifetime, but ‘hot stuff’ was not one of them. Both eyebrows rose slightly in amusement. He wondered briefly if Sara often said that to strange men she wanted a name from or if he meant it, though the wonder didn’t go much further than that - Fury’s suspicious nature meant he assumed she was trying to butter him up.
“My name is Fury, but I imagine you could think of some imaginative nickname should you so choose, Ms. Lance.” --
“Oh, I definitely could,” Sara agreed. “But I kind of dig Fury. It makes you sound mysterious. Are you mysterious?” He definitely had an air of mystery about him with the way he sat and observed the goings on around him, not to mention the eyepatch,
She was partly poking at him because she was curious and also because it was simply fun. And he looked like the type who was all prim and proper in public, but would be wild one on one.
***
“Many people would call me mysterious.” Except for Carol would who probably laugh at that, but she wasn’t here. He missed her, to tell the truth. She was one of the people to whom Fury felt like he could be a little more of his true self. “Could just be the only talking point I have.” It came out deadpanned, but there was amusement in his eyes - a subtle indication he was making a joke. “Do you have any nicknames I should be aware of?” He knew she came from the same world as Mia Smoak, so Sara could be one of the vigilantes he had discovered live here.
--
Somehow Sara doubted that his name was the only interesting thing about Fury. She was nothing if not persistent and her new goal was to uncover those interesting things.
“Oh, I’ve had several through the years, but here it’s just Sara,” she said. “Well, and Zari still calls me Captain.” None of the rest of her crew was around. “I’ve been Black Canary, White Canary, Ta-er al-Sahfer.” She shrugged. Code names were pretty common in her world and from what she knew of his, it was the same there so she figured he’d understand.
***
“All good names.” He had code names back home too, though ironically he didn't. Many people thought his name was code, but it wasn't. "And which of those do you prefer?" He had a feeling it was the same as most people here in Madison, but he could always be surprised.
"You'd fit in well in my world."
--
“Sara is fine,” she said. The others were all distinct reminders of different parts of her life that, while not terrible, were things she’d prefer not to think about too much. A lot of the choices she made in the past were things that she wouldn’t choose now and she wouldn’t say she had regrets because they were all part of who she was, but she also wasn’t necessarily proud of some of the things she’d done.
She smirked. “Oh yeah? I’ve met some of your folks. Natasha and I have a lot in common.” She wasn’t going to clarify what those things were.
***
Fury inclined his head a little at that comment and looked at her anew. He could see that. “Ms. Romanov has several qualities to strive for.” He didn’t seem to disagree that she did, though he also didn’t comment on what similarities he saw. “I’ve met Ms. Smoak. She’s a very driven young woman.” There seemed something more there, but he didn’t know the whole story… yet. “Our worlds seem to compliment each other in many ways and then differ in others. Makes you wonder just how many worlds are like our own here.”
--
It took Sara a moment to realize he meant Mia, not Felicity. Having her ex’s future daughter around was still weird. “We’ll have to trade stories some time,” she said. “Maybe somewhere a bit more private.” There was definitely more than a hint of suggestion in her tone when she spoke. He was smart enough to know what she was offering.
***
It had been a long time since someone had openly flirted with him. He usually gave off a ‘go away’ vibe that people picked up on, but Sara seemed to slice right through it. That made her a little more interesting on her end. Other than Coulson, Carol was the only one in recent time to truly see passed it.
“A bit more private.” He agreed after a moment. “Another time, perhaps.” Though he didn’t sound like he was shutting down the idea completely. It was something he’d have to think about. As cliche as it was, he was pretty sure he could be her father’s age, if not older.
--
She was going to take that as a win since she hadn’t really expected him to take her up on the offer. “I’ll hold you to that,” Sara said. “You need anything else at the moment?” She probably ought to pay some attention to her other customers, as fun as this was.
***
He was a little surprised himself, but he'd never admit it. Fury smiled just a tad. "I'm good. And you'll learn I keep my word." One way or another, at any rate.