2012-10-07 Waiting For A Meeting

Central Park. Even from the air it&apos;s one of New York Citys most recognizable landmarks. Unfortunately, unlike buildings that might be landmarks, it doesn&apos;t exactly have one of the best reputations. After all, if one wants to find a petty thief, a drug dealer, or worse, supposedly Central Park is the place to be. Sure it&apos;s not all bad, after all the grass is green, the paths are clean, and everything looks nice, but still...

It&apos;s a place where those who either are down on their luck, desperate, and unfortunately criminal, tend to end up.

Right now though, the sun is setting over the city, and in turn the park, meaning that sooner rather than later, the criminal element will be a bit thicker. But then again, when the criminals come out to play, so do those that try to stop them. Right?

That&apos;s right. Well, not really play. Axiom, masked teen hero, had been below Central Park working on turning the abandoned subway station that had at one point been his home into a suitable place for a team of young heroes to be based out of. But now that it&apos;s getting later, he&apos;s back above ground and traveling via trees. He&apos;s taking it slow though, both to avoid getting hurt and so he can keep an eye out for any signs of trouble.

Axiom isn&apos;t the only hero in the park right now though. Nope. Because there&apos;s someone else, someone who&apos;s been spending a lot of nights in the last month or so in this park. Someone who is &apos;hunting&apos;. And yet, as this hero hunts, she does it out in the open for once. Or maybe she isn&apos;t hunting. Instead she&apos;s at a certain spot, kneeling down, and examining the ground.

Who is it? Why it&apos;s the female archer known as Hawkeye. And the criminals in the park are giving her a wide berth. All though as she thinks she catches a movement from the corner of her eye, her head spins around and her gaze snaps towards some trees...

Snap is a good word. Just as Axiom notices Hawkeye, the branch he&apos;s stepping on snaps. Axiom falls from the tree with a yelp and crashes into some bushes. "Ow..." he groans, getting back up. "Umm...hi, Hawkeye."

And as she notices someone falling, Hawkeye rushes towards the person who fell. In fact, as she gets close enough to see just who it is, she winces.

"Axiom!" is all but shouted as she moves towards her friend and fellow hero. "You okay?"

Yeah, for now, what ever oddity that the female archer may have been investigating is forgotten.

Axiom blushes, rubbing the back of his head. There&apos;s no injuries on him thankfully. "I&apos;m okay. Just a c-c-couple scratches and bruises. Nothing that&apos;ll stop me."

There&apos;s a blink at that, before Hawkeye kneels down a little so she can offer the power amplifying hero a hand up.

"Good. The last thing you need right now is to be down due to injury. Especially considering other things..."

Accepting the hand up, Axiom pushes the bush away as Hawkeye helps pull him to his feet. "Wiccan would be mad too if I g-got hurt," he says. "Wait, what other things? Is something going on?"

"You want an honest answer...?" is said as Hawkeye glances back at the spot she was examining earlier. "You wouldn&apos;t believe me if I told you. And if you did, I&apos;ll admit that I&apos;m not sure I believe it myself."

Then she shakes her head.

"But I probably shouldn&apos;t be talking about that just yet. So let&apos;s just say that &apos;other thing&apos; is that meeting you said you were going to set up, and that I have a little project or two I&apos;m working on, and leave it at that."

"Yes please?" Axiom replies, leaning to the side to peek at whatever Hawkeye glances at. He just tilts his head to the side as the archer goes on, curious now. "Oh yeah. I&apos;m trying to g-g-get in touch with Impulse and Superboy again but they&apos;re really busy or something. Projects?"

All right, since you asked for it Axiom...

"Things went really wonky in the park earlier. Freak rain storm just over a small area with pouring rain, then there was an explosion before a woman appeared. This woman claims to be from the 2030s, all though that might be from another reality all together. She was part of a force attacking a plant making giant robots meant to hunt down people with powers. Worse, those robots were originally created by the government, a government that no longer exists, as an off shoot of forcing people with powers to register. Oh, and supposedly people with colorful costumes are rare and this entire area is a war zone there, complete with radioactive crater."

Yeap, Kate manages to say that with a straight face.

"And as for my &apos;projects&apos;, I&apos;m trying to set up a safehouse. But odds are I might have to expand that to another one or two after the incident I just told you about from earlier."

Then she takes a deep breath, pauses, and finally nods at the power amplifying hero.

"Just let me know when you set up a time for your &apos;meeting&apos;. I&apos;ll admit, you have me a bit curious as to what it&apos;s about."

Axiom listens carefully, looking quite unfazed by the talk of rain, explosions, time travel, and other realities. It all makes perfect sense to him. Of course he looks a mix of horrified an angry at the mention of giant government robots and all the damage they cause. "More proof they c-c-can&apos;t be trusted," he grumbles. "Safe houses sound like a g-g-good idea," he adds. "Oh umm...the meetings about seeing if you and other young heroes want to form a team that&apos;s well...not connected to those government jerks."

There is a slight pause, then a nod at the mention of a new team, before Kate bites her lip.

"I&apos;m almost afraid to ask what, if anything, you have worked out for funding or logistics for that team if it forms." is said after a moments pause, before she glances yet again at that spot she was looking at earlier.

"And as for registration, I&apos;ll flat out say it, even if you already probably know it. I&apos;m against it. But probably not for the reasons anyone would guess."

"Um," Axiom rubs the back of his neck. "Well...we&apos;re kind of funding ourselves and using whatever we have?" he says. He&apos;s got no clues on the logistics though. "There&apos;s only one r-reason anyone needs. It&apos;s wrong."

Funding... Themselves...?

Kate tries to keep her expression neutral and calm as she hears that, before nodding slightly, and slowly. After all, as Hawkeye what she does and how she does it isn&apos;t cheap, but...

"I see..." is said as she closes her eyes. Not that Axiom can probably tell since she has her &apos;sunglasses&apos; on.

"And I thought my safehouses might end up being an issue..."

Axiom just tilts his head and blinks a few times. "Wait, what?" he asks. "What&apos;s wrong? Safehouses aren&apos;t an issue?"

And here&apos;s where Kate actually does rub her temples, "Let me put it a different way. Unless your team is completely mobile and has no &apos;base of operations&apos;, there&apos;s expenses for the base. Rent. Untilities. Even taxes, even if the government doesn&apos;t know we exist. If there&apos;s no base, there still has to be a safe and secure way for members to communicate, otherwise they won&apos;t be able to get ahold of each other when there&apos;s a need. Either way would require money..."

Axiom frowns, shifting a little awkwardly. "Umm," he bites his lip. "Actually...only the c-c-communications thing might be a problem. The base...I took care of. It&apos;s...where I...used to live before I met Thor and Sif," he says awkwardly. "We&apos;ve b-been fixing it up."

A base...? That sounds almost a bit too easy. Especially considering certain base related bits of logistics.

"I see. I guess if this actually does bear fruit, the communications bit might be taken care of a different way as well..."

Yeah. Hawkeye isn&apos;t going to say what she means by that. At least not yet.

Axiom nods. "I&apos;m sure the base will," he says with a nod. "I hope we figure out a communications thing too," he says, missing that Hawkeye could mean something else.

Yeah... Hawkeye isn&apos;t going to push that right now. Instead, she offers her friend one last quick glance, as if to make sure everything is all right after that fall.

"I guess I should remind you then. If you really are trying to set up a team, and are setting up a base already, then this is your show. Don&apos;t let anyone take it from you, and don&apos;t be angry if others do things that could show you up."

Axiom just looks lost at that. As far as he&apos;s concerned, he&apos;s sharing the show with Impulse and Superboy. The idea of not being shown up is still a new one to him too. He still nods and puts on a smile though. "Okay, Hawkeye. Thanks!"

There are many ways that one can upstage someone. Not that Hawkeye actually says any of those right now. Instead, she just offers Axiom one last nod.

"No problem. And good luck with that. But if you&apos;ll excuse me..."