Thursday at eleven

[Mach V]

It probably wouldn't come as a surprise to most people. In fact almost everybody who found out this little factoid was neither surprised, nor interested. However, it meant the world to Abe Jenkins.
Abe was, at heart, a nervous and angry man, and quite possibly not the best choice to pilot an armoured battlesuit. Yet he probably had far better intentions and morals than most of those who had professed to being heroes their entire lives.

It was for that reason that Abe had a mild dislike for those self-important chest-puffers, and felt like everyone was looking at him, glaring - all the time.
It was probably more than likely that was because most of the time he was wearing the MACH V armour. In fact he almost never went out in public without it. Having no real friends outside of 'superhero work' he didn't really lead a very social life.

In truth, he was probably acting paranoid and blowing things out of proportion. Not everyone knew and hated him, not everyone was a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy or agent, although S.H.I.E.L.D. did have eyes and ears everywhere.
In all honesty most people didn't even recognize the man who had been in the papers all those years ago. He remembered the headlines. . .

---

Nefarious villain 'The beetle' Caught by City PD
Catch of the year!

Yesterday at 11:30 PM, we at the Bugle received word from a reliable police source that the evil and villainous 'Beetle' was captured within the last 48 hours by a concerted effort by both city PD and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
'The Beetle' had changed his identity to that of MACH I - a new Superhero working the streets of New York in a new unit known as 'The Thunderbolts'. This writer can only postulate on how we can really trust our heroes.
Could the man behind spiderman change as easily as 'The Beetle' changed his identity? Could one so close to the city also be an ex-member of the Masters of Evil?

. . .[/font]

---

He had given himself up dammit! Nobody had ever 'caught' him, and he didn't take kindly to being, discredited, badmouthed and paraded around like a trophy for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the NYPD. The most decent and honest thing he'd ever done in his live - volunteer to serve the time he was owed as a show of faith from the Thunderbolts and to get them a blanket pardon - and the manipulative backstabbing jackasses behind S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't let him have it.

He still seethed with rage, even all these years later.

Still, it was always better to keep moving on, and that was exactly what Abe Jenkins was doing. He was, for once, out on the streets of NY - in public - without his armour and wearing nothing more than a suit and tie.
He looked pretty good, if he didn't say so himself, which to avoid embarrassment he probably wouldn't.

Well, it wasn't entirely true that he was without any of his technological creations. Abe was paranoid enough (in the eyes of some) or sane, cautious and sensible enough (in his opinion) to take precautions.
This consisted quite simply of a sub-dermal wireless communicator made entirely from non-metallic components, and a modified C.R.E.W. holstered under his left arm.
The laser pistol was made up to look like a 9mm pistol, which (with a few payments in the right places) he had gotten a public license for.

It was amazing how a corrupt system judged people like him. Oh well. . . the bitterness can only fester for so long.

Forever.

Abe was pulled from his thoughts as the cab driver - seemingly a Russian gentleman - stopped the car and turned around.

"We're here." The cabbie spoke with a Ukrainian accent. "That's $22."

"Thank you." Ave said and handed him a fifty. "Keep the change." Abe smiled as he got out and looked up and the magnificent work of modern architecture that was Stark Towers.
Sure there were some things about it he would have done differently, but it looked imposing and impressive all the same. Hopefully, Abe thought, he wouldn't have to worry so much about his finances much longer.

Minutes later he was in the lobby and talking to a ditsy, dainty blond behind the receptionists desk.

"Yes, erm. . . hi."

"Can I help you Sir?"

"I've got an eleven O'clock with a Miss Pepper Potts?" Abe almost suggested as he looked around nervously.

People were looking at him again.

"Abner Jenkins. Job interview." He more punctuated the previous sentence than made a new one.

"Take a seat please Sir, she'll be right out."

"Fantastic!" Abe smiled as he went and took a seat on a warm and comfortable looking sofa by the lobby fountain. Somebody even brought him a cup of coffee.

Black.

No sugar.

[Pepper]

Pepper gathered the files on her desk. She'd done some reviewing of this Mr. Jenkins and it seemed he'd been involved in some odd trouble recently. Most notably was the SHIELD report, suggesting Mr. Jenkins was a superhero. Or at least, someone with an amount of power. Pepper knew she was supposed to be unbiased in an interview, but really she was fairly confused. Mr. Jenkins had contacted her directly and Tony had pretty much brushed her off when she mentioned setting up an interview. It was fairly clear to her that even if she did hire him, she had no idea where she was going to put him. He was Tony practically, the head - or now she guessed former head - of a technological company that had given Stark Industries some real challenges in the past.

Perhaps an advisor?

She would decide something. Absorb and deflect. Make a decision, make a choice. She made so many choices for Tony, why shouldn't she make this one too?

She stood and walked to her doorway. The only man in the room was settled comfortably in a chair, nursing a cup of coffee. With a platonic smile, Pepper said: "Mr. Jenkins? I'll see you now."

[Mach V]

“Great!” Abe almost jumped out of his seat, and nearly launched his empty coffee mug across the room. Quick hands and deft movements saved the crockery from almost certain doom, and prevented an embarrassing incident.

He quickly disguised it all with a few hearty coughs and warm smile, wondering all the while why he was so damn nervous. He had to calm down.
What was he expecting? Did he think that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were about to come crashing into the lobby and arrest him just for being near Stark Towers? Did he expect Iron Man himself to walk in and apprehend the villain he had fought in the Armor Wars? Was he simply waiting for somebody to recognize him?
Thinking about it as he followed her a few floors up to a series of functional, neat little conference and interview rooms, Abe realized that his biggest fear was simply not getting the job.

They ended up in a moderately sized and sparsely decorated little room about halfway down the corridor. Abe wondered at how modern everything looked as he sat down across the desk from Ms. Potts, slowly and unconsciously wringing his hands.

Ahem Abe coughed nervously. He was amazed that none of the security systems had detected the weapon he was carrying, even if it did have no metal parts. He should probably announce it. And the fact that he was a supervillain. . . Ex-supervillain, of course. . .

“Mrs. Potts?” He smiled awkwardly, “Before we begin, I believe there’s something I should tell you.”

[Pepper]

Mr. Jenkins seemed nervous for an interview. Strange, considering his history, he wasn't exactly the type who would seem jumpy even in a one-on-one conversation. But he nearly shattered the coffee mug in his haste to get up and he saved it nearly. Pepper smiled comfortingly and led him to the office. They wound through the halls of Stark Towers, Pepper not saying a word but still trying to come up with a job for this former CEO. She noticed none of the alarms were tripped as they walked, and wondered if he'd really come unarmed. Well - she'd find out, she guessed.

They reached Tony's office and Pepper sat at her desk. She prepared for him to sit as well but he instead began to speak. Pepper shuffled some papers and looked at him. "All right?"

[Mach V]

It was going to be a difficult confession to word. Did you tell somebody that you were a convicted murderer before or after you told them you were carrying a concealed weapon? After a short while Abe decided it would probably be best to tell her the worst news last.

"Well, to begin with," Abe smiled and tried to look as calm and sane as possible, slowly withdrawing the weapon from its holster, “I’m carrying a weapon.”

Abe took out the compact laser pistol and thumbed the power switch, deactivating it before removing the power cell. He put the weapon on the desk and pushed it towards her side, away from him.
The little pistol didn’t look like much, not even having a recognizable muzzle, but it was more than capable of inflicting some serious damage.

“For my own protection, of course.” Abe tried to keep smiling as he leaned back in the seat, glad that he wasn’t looking too nervous yet. At least he wasn’t sweating.

Now for the real bad news. . .

“One final thing Mrs. Potts,” Abe cleared his throat, “My name is, as you well know, Abner Jenkins. What you may not know is that the murder sentence to my name – served under the prisoner rehabilitation act – was committed as the Beetle.”

He wring his hands again.

“So I’m a reformed supervillain”. He couldn’t help but cast his eyes down and wait to be thrown out of the room.

[Pepper]

Pepper, for her part, showed little emotion. Which she considered very lucky. Immediately she sat at her desk and began ruffling through the papers again, not stopping until she hit the SHIELD file. She immediately began to skim as she had before, and this time the name she had missed before popped out at her. I missed a name. Not good. She hadn't been sleeping well, to tell the truth, and this was the first indication of it she'd seen. But it was a biggie. Abe Jenkins wasn't just a person who may have superpowers, he was the Beetle himself. And of course he'd come in carrying a weapon.

Which was now deactivated and sitting about two feet from her. Pepper slowly put down the files and allowed herself to look a little shocked and unsettled. Why exactly Tony wanted to hire an ex-supervillain was not beyond her, but she would have to do her best to understand why. Because Tony wouldn't likely have missed the name. He might miss a math calculation, but not a supervillain.

"Well, Mr. Jenkins," she said, pulling out a handkerchief and moving the weapon to the side, "do you always start interviews this way?"

She tried to smile but it came out a little strained. She was sitting across from a murderer for crying out loud!

"Tony Stark saw your name and approved for me to give you an interview. But I'm not entirely sure why you would want this job, being a former CEO. So...what brings you and your knowledge to Stark Towers?"

[Mach V]

In relation to what Abe was worried might have happened after he divulged those wonderful little nuggets of information, the actual outcome had been almost pleasant. He was still here, in this nice-looking room, in the same comfortable little chair and more importantly, he was still free and alive.
Perhaps he was just being paranoid, or maybe the security guards just hadn’t arrived just yet. Still, with nothing more than a look of confusion and concern and a quick review of her papers, Mrs. Potts seemed to be quite open and accepting. Abe decided just to carry on with the interview and see how things went.

After all, what was the worst that could happen? It probably wasn’t good to start along that route. He’d just be truthful and honest, open and forthcoming and as genuinely nice as he could be. All he wanted was a job with a decent pay packet, which actually provided engineering challenges to a man who could design turbojet engines in his sleep.

“Not usually,” Abe smiled wanly, “More often than not I don’t even get into the interview room. Not many corporations would want to hire a reformed villain.” Abe sighed almost silently under his breath. He probably should have kept that to himself.

“Ah, Mrs. Potts, I was never the CEO of the aerospace engineering firm I worked for. That was the reason I left. I felt that I wasn’t provided with enough challenges and that my talents simply weren’t recognized.” Abe tried not to sound or look too smug or arrogant as he spoke. It was his honest opinion, wasn’t it?

“As you can see,” Abe said, placing a folder on the desk, with copies of his qualifications and awards and employment history within, “I’m an excellent engineer and project manager. I’ve even designed and operated my own ‘Mobile Armored Cyber Harness’, similar to the Iron Man armors.” Abe’s smile became just a little more genuine.

“I came to Stark Industries looking for a challenge and to offer you my talents as a manager or an engineer. I’m fairly well experienced and qualified in several different fields.” Dammit, he was sounding too self-important again. Drat.