✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ a.k.a. Part I - Infinity War✔

01

today

Quickly, Jyn packed her sports bag, threw it over her shoulder and put her key in her vest pocket, but before she left the apartment, she filled her thermo cup with green tea. For her a better and healthier alternative to coffee, which she didn't drink anyway. Afterwards she went on through the city into the breaking full gym. It was about time again. She had been registered for years but lately, she just didn't come to it anymore. Nevertheless, the New York City Marathon was just around the corner and, as this year, she would participate, just like in the last years before. First came the Boston Marathon, at the beginning of the second quarter of a year, followed by the New York City Marathon, at the end of the third quarter. The two marathons and the gym were the only athletic balance she had, as she often spent several hours a day working on her laptop or tablet.

In the gym, which was unusually empty at this early hour of the morning, Jyn first ran on the treadmill until Mike, one of her coaches, arrived and she could finally start boxing with him. Boxing wasn't completely new for Jyn, which Mike didn't believe, but there was one more point. Maybe Mike was a good coach, but she would have preferred someone else. In this respect, when it came to sports, the first point of contact has always been one's own family.

At first you could say it was going pretty well until a few things, or rather words, came up during practice and Jyn Mike twisted his arm, rolled over his shoulder and pulled him to the ground. Shoulder luxation. He'll probably have six or eight weeks of fun with that. If he was lucky, otherwise it could quickly turn into six months. Surgery included. It had been a reflex reaction. Nothing personal.

Defending Jyn raised her hands, pulled the corners of her mouth down and gave a hissing Sorry. Once again, it had not been intentional. Some things shouldn't be mentioned and just when you knew the person for a longer time.

Since Mike was out and Jyn didn't feel like getting used to a new coach again, she went alone to the punching bag hanging at the back of the hall and drew three crosses on the bag with chalk. Then she bandaged her hands again and slapped or carried them against the marked areas.

"Is it Miss or Misses?" a man's voice from the other side of the hall, who knew Jyn all too well and hadn't changed a way since then, sounded "Bad day, it looks like."

"Stark, what do you want", Jyn replied without turning around or stopping training, because she already knew after the first words who was back there and what Tony wanted, "No matter what it is. No. And you already know the other answer to your next question."

"I seem to have caught just the right day to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative," with a wandering look, Tony went over to Jyn, held the punching bag and his typical Tony smile appeared on his face, "Heard it, ne?! One, two, three times. I can always use people on the team who share my views."

"Stark, really, I thank you for your visit, for the requests again and again and yes... but....... No," Jyn began to shake her head, rejecting, unwinding the bandages and grabbing her towel from the floor to walk, lifting her hand halfway to say goodbye, "You know the reasons, Stark. People would be thrilled. Yeah."

"An offer. You get the exclusive rights, all for the new Stark Industries project, exclusive interviews and everything else that follows for this project, just as exclusive for you", it was the kind of offer that had to be swallowed first, what Tony just submitted to her and sounded more than promising, "Sounds good or?! And if it goes down well with the population, we can talk about whether there might be more exclusive offers to follow..... You also get permission to quote me and ask anything you want. On the other hand, you think about it again with the Avengers Initiative. Did I say the word exclusively or at least mention it? E-x-k-l-u-s-i-v. Just to be safe."

"I may quote you one way or another, because when you said something, you said it, and quoting means that I'm just giving back what you said. You learn in school. Also, you told me at the opening of Stark Expo 2011 that I could use anything, just anything, in any form of you," Jyn turned on her heel, smiled broadly and shifted her weight to her left leg, "Thanks again for that. I even have a recording of that. Old, but as I see now, quite useful. Good, but to get back to the exclusive part. We assume that the press department, this complete department of Stark Industries, will pass everything on to me first. The Times, News or Post would be ripping for it. Honestly, you couldn't make it any worse for me to make a decision. In a way, it resembles what you're trying to do with blackmail. Yes....um.... A very good strategy that you're driving right now..... Actually you should say no, just because of that. I don't know, honestly. You..."

"Just think it over," Tony didn't say more about it than if he was quite sure of himself, crossed the room and left Jyn standing in the hall, but he had to get rid of one more thing before he disappeared completely, "In the course of the day a bird will definitely land somewhere. Who knows?"

Could this number become even meaner? It's like pouring blood on a shark's nose. But you want it, thanks to what's connected with it, you don't want it. And then you get such an offer. Of course you don't want to turn it down and Tony knew that all too well. He bet on it. Especially because he knew that Jyn loved her job. Always has been. Otherwise she wouldn't have studied journalism. Even the Times, Post or News, among other things, they all still liked it. Which was not a matter of course. Quite the opposite. Nevertheless, good work and performance..... plus an even better name even though no more..... to appreciate. References and Vita. That's all it was in this job.

At the moment when Jyn wanted to leave the gym, she received an envelope from the woman sitting at the reception. A bird will land somewhere. Thankfully she accepted the brown envelope, opened it as she left the gym and leafed through the stapled notes. Not the news. Ah ah. No. The Journal. Broker. For them it is. The Wall Street Journal. But somehow somehow she had the feeling of being forced to say yes. Why only?