2014.11.14 - Singing In The Rain

It is another fine November night. Which means is it just a few degrees over freezing and on top of that, it is drizzling. Smart people would stay indoors. Nate is seated on the top of the Halo building, on the helipad, getting wet and cold, and going over events last year. His legs are hanging over the edge of the helipad, and since the skyscraper is closed and still in repairs, it is also completely dark. Or as dark as it gets in New York.

It is also a hundred yards from all other human minds in the city, which is good when one is a telepath. For him living in New York is like living all the time in a crowded nightclub where the music is very loud. One hundred yards is not much, but it is better than nothing.

And then he feels a mind getting within range. Weird. Wait... he knows that mind. |"Hey, Hawk Lady. Doing that patrolling again?"| At this point Kendra probably recognizes that telepathic 'voice'.

High in the sky Hawkgirl is hovering. She is on patrol, or was on patrol, but she stopped for just a moment. One to wipe some excess drizzle off her mask, but two, to also look down below at the buildings lit up from within. When she saw the buildings lit up as they were, she couldn't help but pull out a small digital camera from a pouch upon her belt.

It's onlu as she's just looking through the viewfinder and centering herself, that Nate's familiar voice pops up in her head.

"GAH!" She exclaims loudly, her finger involuntarily pushing the button to snap the picture. "Dammit!" She swears, since she was in the middle of a startled jump when the picture was snapped. Roughly the camera is put away, as she turns left then right, looking for Nate. "I know you're not a flier, so where the hell are you?" And while her words might sound angry, there's only a little heat behind them as she begins to bleed altitude. And no, she still hasn't gotten used to telepaths and such, she's still talking out loud when she responds to him.


 * "I used to be able to fly, y'know?"| Replies Nate. Of course Kendra wouldn't unless she was the hero fangirl type. Scion was in the news a couple times, but mutant superheros do not get a lot of media coverage, and Stormwatch was a clandestine group.


 * "I am here. Here being about 50 yards down and to the left and... wait-a-sec. Here."| Kendra can see a glowing Nate waving at her left. Just an illusion, but it works. |"The top of the Halo building. It is dark, so watch out."|

Her questions are held for now, while she searches for Nate. The hologram definitely helps and as soon as she sees it, her wings tuck close to her body and she swoops downward. While other fliers might not be good at landing on dark building tops, Kendra's Nth metal affords her some added bonuses, like keen eyesight. So, while she doesn't have night vision per se, she definitely has better vision than your average person.

There's a light thud as Hawkgirl's booted feet touchdown upon the rooftop of the Halo building, and as soon as she finds Nate, she'll say, "I didn't realize you were a flier. What happened?"

No, Hawkgirl wasn't really a fangirl type. She spent too much time running on the streets before her grandfather saved her.

Another side note, Hawkgirl is definitely favoring her ribs, but likely it's too dark per se to see the bruises that shadow the skin.

Nate stands up when she lands. She probably can see him better he can see her, but he is a telepath. "I got injured, my telekinesis is gone. Mostly gone. I can still make paperclips dance."

He can barely see her, but he is perceptive enough. What his eyes miss his empathic and telepathic senses often catch up. "Are you injured? You really shouldn't be out flying in the night if you are, hmm?" Of course this is the kind of health advice he would never follow himself. But friend don't let friends fly with bruised ribs, right?

An amused chuckle can be heard from Hawkgirl at the paperclip comment. "You know, I can make paperclips dance too, only with a magnet instead of mental powers." Still, she is perceptive enough to know losing powers would be incredibly terrible, "Seriously though, sorry to hear you lost part of your powers. No way of getting them back?" She asks, curiously even as she approaches so that there's a comfortable distance between them.

The rib comment is waved away, "It's nothing. It'll be healed in another day or so. No big deal. Just some thugs got the drop on me, because I was stupid. Hardly hurts anymore." And while she says it's not a big deal, there's definite bitterness to her voice. Still, she firmly moves past that topic of conversation, as she adds, "And what the hell are you doing up here on the rooftop in this miserable rain? I at least have an excuse, patrolling. What's yours?"

"Eh, I got thinking," which is something Nate rarely does. "It gets dark early now," and he is soaked and cold, he is noticing now. "Lets get inside?" He offers, heading for the rooftop entrance to the tower. There was a staircase down and a metal door, but it looks as if someone dropped a bomb, and debris still covers the steps. The door is a crumpled ruin just into the building. It is dark too, although there are emergency leds offering some faint illumination. "Sorry for the mess. Supervillains blew up half the building."

"Sure, inside is fine. I wouldn't mind drying off for a few minutes." She adds, and when Nate leads the way, he'll find that some of the rain has been blocked, as she raises her wings above the two of them. They're not perfect umbrellas, but they'll do for the short distance that they walk.

"Damn." She says, when she spies the crumpled doors, and the debris. "Was anyone hurt?" She asks, as she looks sideways at Nate, "On your team, I mean." She could care less if the bad guys were hurt, or for that matter died.

After a moment, two small sticks will be removed from one of the large pouches upon her belt. With two soft cracks yellowish light emits as she holds up two glow sticks in each hand. "Stupid right? Who'd think you'd need glow sticks with the heroing business, but you just never know what you'll run into."

"Nah, makes sense. I always carry a flashlight," he admits. But he knows the way around the building even blindfolded. He is taking Kendra a few floors down. "Besides me? Just a few bruises. The other guys got it worse. A couple them must be rotting in some high-security jail for terrorists. But Halo pulled out of New York, and this place is semi abandoned... there is still power in the living areas, from solar batteries." It is warmer in this floor, too.

"Halo?" She asks curiously, as she looks around herself. "I take it that's what your group is called?"

While the next few floors seem better than the last, Hawkgirl still shakes her head at the mess. "Maybe you should just abandon this building all together? Might take more money than it's worth to salvage it completely." Then, as a thought strikes her, she slides a look towards Nate. "Please tell me you're not living in here and that you're living in a nice apartment somewhere?" Once there's enough light, the glow sticks will be shoved back into her pouch, to be disposed of at a later date.

"No, Halo was the company. The building too. Halo towers," explains Nate. "It is not mine, I am technically just an employee. I have a... place here, yeah. And a few others over the city. I don't like to stay for long in any place, though. Found out early on it is unhealthy in our line of business." The old living quarters seems to be missing some furniture, but there is a large kitchen and Nate heads straight there, tossing Kendra a towel and picking up one himself to soak some rain off his head.

Again, she looks curiously around herself, before she makes an agreeable noise. "Yes, I learned that lesson early in life too. Better to keep moving. People can't find you then." Though that lesson for Kendra was not from heroing, sadly. Just plain real life.

"I'd suggest staying in your other safe houses, instead of this one. Some of it looks like it wants to crumble."

Dutifully she follows him into the kitchen, and when he offers her a towel, she hesitates. He's been very free with his identity, but Hawkgirl hasn't. She'll fidget for a couple of minutes, before she finally huffs a sigh at herself. It's not like she's never shown other teammates her face and she can consider Nate something like that. They've been in battle twice now.

So, with that in mind Kendra deftly removes her helm and begins to wipe the water off of it. Her wings, however, stay on as she tries to not drip too many puddles. When she's done drying off her helm, she'll run the towel quickly over her short hair, leaving it a spikey mess. Sure, her helm covered the majority of her head, but rain still sneakily snuck under the edges. "If you like, you can call me Kendra. Figure Hawkgirl or rather 'lady' is silly to keep saying when I don't have my helm on." She states with a tinge sarcasm to her voice.

Nate looks at Kendra when she removes the helmet, maybe a little surprised she looks even younger than him. Legacy hero, she said. "I am going to nuke some pizza, you hungry, Kendra? I had never met any Kendra."

His own moving habit comes from being chased by Apocalypse Infinites in a parallel timeline. He would have to assume Kendra's childhood involved heroing parents, just because it is more normal. Relatively speaking. "You didn't have to tell me your real name just for showing me your face, y'know?" He offers her a half-grin, "but I am glad you trust me."

The mention of trust causes her lips to twist into a not so nice smile, "Call it professional courtesy with a dash of trust. Besides, if you break my trust all I have to do is stakeout this here safehouse and when you're in come-a-knockin'." With her mace, most likely.

"And besides, what if we met up in civvies and you saw me, I saw you, and all you had to call me was by my codename. Say you had to introduce me ... that would be awkward if you didn't know my name." She adds with a grin, before she leans a hip against the edge of one of the kitchen counters.

Arms will be lightly crossed, careful of the spikes jutting out from her knuckles, "Pizza sounds good. You need me to do anything? I can't say I'm great at cooking, but if the pizza burns I know a few good take-out places."

His mention of her unique name is ignored, she'd rather not bring up her parents in this conversation, otherwise it'll turn into quite a short visit.

"Your secrets are safe," states Nate with a smile. "I really don't need a face to recognize someone, minds are... well, a bit like faces. But if I had met you in civvies I could have feigned ignorance. I will if it is important for you. I have no secret ID. I am sure there are pictures of me somewhere in the internet. I don't care, but you might prefer not to be seen talking to me." Kendra's offer to not-cook gets a chuckle out of him. "I rather not walk down thirty floors to get the food. Besides, it has been at least a couple weeks since I managed to burn a pizza."

"Nah. I'm not afraid of a little danger. You don't need to pretend anything when we meet in civvies." Kendra replies, before she uncrosses her arms and drops her towel to the floor to mop up the small puddle that formed beneath her wings. Thankfully, it seems the majority of the water has dripped off of the feathered appendages.

"Walk down? Nate, I've got wings. I'd fly down snag it and fly right back up. Simple." An amused smile quirks her lips upward, even as her eyes roam around the kitchen. "So, what do you do when you're not fighting crime? Any sort of day job? I know you said you don't really have an secret identity, but I'd imagine you'd still need money?"

"Ah, I am, technically, a security consultant for the Halo Corporation," replies Nate. "Just means I get a lot of cash I don't use," he flops down a chair to wait for the oven to finish heating the pizza. "I can't tell you much; technically it is all a secret setup. Or it was, as Halo got hit badly and they are still keeping a low profile while... well, the problem is getting solved. Soon."

"Must be nice to have excess cash." Kendra says sarcastically, before she picks up the towel and tosses into the sink, to drip dry off.

Chairs aren't really made for winged people, so she instead continues to stand, once more leaning her hip against the edge of the countertop. Arms will be folded across her chest again, even as she considers what Nate has said. "Well, I hope your problem gets solved soon. Not good when you have an enemy tracking you down.?

And while others are much more adept at small talk, Kendra isn't necessarily. She'll fall silent for a bit, eyes resting on the oven, before a question pops to her mind. "So, what got you in this business?" The heroing business, she means.

Nate gives Kendra an amused glance. He literally does not use his cash. Last thing he bought, besides the odd meal, was a top hat, and it was a joke. Zero material possessions. "I can go on with very little," he comments. "I got used to it early on. You could say that is what got me in the business. I am from a parallel timeline. A very bad one. I had to learn to fight and live on the road. And now work to prevent what happened to my world to happen here."

A parallel universe? Oh sure, Kendra was expecting to hear a story similar to other heroes; wanted to do good or in bad circumstances and decided to help others, etc. Not a parallel universe? "Excuse me?" She says, obviously surprised as her eyes flick back to Nate's face. He definitely surprised her, as she looks him over a few times, as if she could now somehow see his parallel-sided self.

Shaking her head, the short-haired woman simply states, "That's a new one. I can't say I heard that one yet."

Her wings rustle with slight unease, as she considers her own circumstances and how she became a hero. Giving her head another shake, she'll then ask, "How'd you get into our timeline? If you don't mind me asking."

"I could show you," says Nate, looking serious. "Remember that blood-drinking woman that called herself 'Dark'? For the way she talked, I think she might have also come from another Earth." He stands up to check the pizza, because he is impatient. Then he begins pacing. "I am not entirely sure how I got here. There was an odd crystal thing that... it seemed important. So I took it from Apocalypse. He was the mutant that was the main responsible of the war that destroyed my world. I had it while I was fighting, and at one moment it seemed to charge up. Next I know, I am in Central Park here. Same place, but completely different world."

At Nate's offer to show her, Hawkgirl immediately raises her hands upward in a definite negative way. "Uh. No. That's okay. I have enough ... thoughts in my head currently, thanks."

And then to try an soften that harsh tone of hers, she adds, "And yeah, I kinda recall the woman speaking like she wasn't sure where she was. I figured she might have been a little crazy. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that she drinks blood and seems like a bonafida vampire."

When Nate goes to check the pizza, Hawkgirl will begin to search for plates, just randomly opening cupboards as she looks for them. "Do you ever miss your timeline? Would you go back if you could?" She asks curiously, after listening to how he became part of this particular timeline.

Nate shakes his head, "I miss my friends, but there is nowhere to get back, no one left. Most of the world was already dead and nukes were falling on the few remaining habitable areas. The human-mutant war was ending and... well, everyone lost." And although he has told this story a few times, it never fails to sour his mood. Pizza should help, maybe. "Lets talk about something else, okay? Like, how did you got those wings?"

"I'm sorry." She says honestly, as she finally finds plates and puts them on the counter. "It sucks reliving bad memories. Especially when it seems like that's all you have."

Even with his last question, she's silent for a few seconds, before she answers. And while in the past she might have answered the question without any hestiancy, now that she knows what her wings are really about, her answer is full of hesitation. "My grandfather gave them to me. I was into some bad things growing up - " She says unapologetically, "- and after I got my act together, with his help, he offered to train me as the newest Hawkgirl. My Great-Aunt - " And this is where the hestiation comes in, " - was the original Hawkgirl. I'm following in her footsteps, I suppose you could say."

And those last words cause Hawkgirl to frown, wings twitching slightly, "That about sums it up. Anyway, you have a pizza cutter around this place? We could use my mace but not sure we'd get even slices." A poor attempt at humor, clearly both of their pasts bring on sour moods.

"Do not beat up the poor pizza," Nate finds a cutter in one of the drawers. "And it is okay. It has been three years. I made plenty of friends. I got to know my genetic parents, and they are cool folks, and I have a sister that is from a third alternate timeline, but she is amazing. Even if she calls herself Marvel Girl, which is silly. My not-quite-mom is Phoenix now, a much better codename."

Nate is given a crazed look again, as Kendra says, "Seriously? A third alternate timeline sister?" A hand will be dramatically put to her brow, "I don't think I can keep this all straight." And while those words started off as playful, they almost resonate within her, to her own situation. Sure, hers has nothing to do with alternate realities, but it still resonates with her reincarnation.

Her expression drops to something pensive again, as she brings the plates over to the table. "I'm glad you were still able to have a relationship with your family, even if it's not the same one from your timeline. It must be comforting in some sense, to still be able to have a family."

"It is. Although I have to admit I must have the weirdest family on Earth," replies Nate, happy to be able to complain about something that is more amusing than dramatic. "But hey, you just put on the wings. You will find a ridiculous amount of strangeness in this line of work. One becomes used to the strange. Some folks I know now seem to have problems relating to normal people and prefer to lurk in deep caves and secret bases in weird places. I prefer to live in New York. It is not exactly a normal city, but at least it has normal humans, and it is more entertaining."

DING. Pizza is ready. Nate pulls it out on a plate on the table, and brings also a bottle of water from the fridge.

His obviously affectionate talk about his weird family garners a slight smile from Hawkgirl, even as she adds, "All family is weird, Nate. Hate to break it to you. But at least you were still able to have them, weird timeline or not." Once the pizza is cut up, Hawkgirl will snag herself a slice and slide the hot piece of pizza on her own plate.

Shifting away from her own morose thoughts, Kendra will take a small bite of pizza, saying after she swallows the piece, "I'm with you, though. I'd rather be in the heart of the city, not locked up in some dusty old house, looking at relics from past adventures." Or lives. "Easier to distract yourself, when it's needed."

Nate nods. Much better to be distracted than thinking on the bleak past or his lack of any future. "Right, I don't really spend much time lurking on rooftops while it is raining, honest. Most quiet nights you would catch me at the theater or maybe clubbing." But look at Kendra, she was 'patrolling'. On the other hand. "I used to fly a lot for fun when I could fly. So, I bet your patrolling gig is also for pleasure?"

When the conversation stays firmly away from family, Hawkgirl's expression lightens. THere's less tension around her mouth and eyes, and finally a playfully guilty expression crosses her features, "Guilty as charged." She'll scarf another bite of pizza, "I love flying. I'll be honest my first flight was terrifying, but now ... now I love it." She smiles, her wings stretching out a little bit, "Let me know if you ever want to go up again. I can take you up and let you free fall for a little bit, if you like."

Another bite of pizza is taken, "And don't worry, I won't let you go splat." As for clubbing? "We should club, sometimes. I wouldn't mind having someone to hop the clubs with every now and then."

"I crash-landed about the first twenty times," admits Nate with a grin, wolfing down pizza slices as if he had not eaten in a week. He will definitely take up her offer for flying. Just not on a rainy night like this. This night was more for clubbing. Which she just said she would too? "I'd love that. You seem the kind of girl that can dance," he tilts his head and gives her a studious once over. "Yes, I think you are."

"Ha. I nearly went splat into the face of a cliff, top that." She says wryly, even as she polishes off her first slice of pizza. She'll eye another slice, but inwardly shake her head. Not when she has other things to do.

"Dancing? Hell yeah, I can dance." She says vehemently with a quirk of a grin, "This girl can definitely move." A smartphone will be removed from a pouch upon her belt for the time, "How about this. Let me finish my patrol in twenty, grab some clubbing clothes, and meet back in in about forty? Then we can crash some clubs and show those people just how it's really done." She'll give him the once over, "You can dance, yes?"

Nate laughs. "Oh yeah. I can top that. First time I broke the speed of sound I lost control, crashed on the Atlantic and almost drowned. Just about ten miles there," he points through the window. Except there isn't much to see this late.

Wait, clubs now? But... why not? It is still early! "I can dance. Or something that looks like dancing," he semi-confirms. "You must live close to downtown if you can be here in twenty. But of course I'll ready."

Nate's top that causes Kendra to purse her lips thoughtfully, "All right, I think that beats any of my stories."

His confirmation that he can dance sounds a little hesitant, and Kendra will give him a quick look. "Oh come on, you're a telepath. That should make you totally great at dancing. If you know in advance what moves your partner is going to make, you can totally follow."

And as she speaks, her plate will be placed in the sink, and then her helm picked up. Settling it on her head, she'll tilt her hawk face to the side now, "I can fly fast." She grins, "These wings don't have the same flaws as real bird wings. All right, be back soon and be ready. Maybe find an umbrella. I prefer to be dry when we go into a club."

Nate stands up when Kendra does, smirking, "I can't lie; I am totally great at dancing. And if you I am not, you will never notice it because I will cheat." He watches her don the helmet again, and then he will take her back to the roof. He also needs to find some dry clothes. Maybe an umbrella. He never had one, but it is a big building.

Finished!