| Just Another Day in Central Park | |||||
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| What: Valeria Von Doom arrives | |||||
Cir-El sometimes likes to sun herself in central park...well on top of one of the buildings in the park actually. She tends to wear her black suit when doing this, because it exposes more skin so she recharges better, but she can be ready to act in a hurry by putting on her boots and gloves. She has also found that there is a tendency of things to happen when she is here. Well, at least once a week since her arrival, things have happened when she was here.
'Things' happening.. well, things are always happening. Carol is happening, Captain Marvel, with her number one fan, Kit Renner, also known as Lieutenant Trouble. She's the adorable nine year old blonde daughter of one of Carol's best friends. Carol tends to babysit for her since they live in the same building.. so Ms. Renner can work without worrying if her daughter is okay. Today, it's chili dogs at a vendor cart that the two of them are sharing. Kit... is of course, totally a mess. Chili smeared on her cheeks as she eats, smiling soooo hugely. All the while, Carol is just observing and grinning inwardly as she herself eats.
Kit is eating... and talking of course, "And then Mark was totally saying that Hyperion was the best hero. So.. I tickled'im!" says the little girl, of course with a mouth full of food.
It was then a blue moves through the park, blue white lightning surging about it before it stops at the chili dog vendor. "Ten chili dogs please?" Kaydin asks as he appears from the blue. The vendor looks to him, blinks a few times and gets to work making his order.
The skies are clear. It's a warm, pleasant spring day. In Central Park - which is, admittedly, often the weirdness central of the particular weirdness that is Metropolis, New York. At least in any reality in which the laws of physics allow for such things as superpowers, magic, time travel...
So, there really *shouldn't* be a cracking sound that's almost but not quite like thunder, unless Storm or Thor's around (neither of them in evidence). And there really shouldn't be...a small rift in space opening not too far from the poor hot dog vendor. (He's probably about to regret coming out today.
OK, that does not even need super hearing. Cir-El is dressed and down near the vendor in less than a second. She really prefers her new costume for public appearances, but this one is better for sunbathing. She still winds up wearing it once in a while because of that.
That guy's probably not the only guy who is going to regret that. Carol sighs, closes her eyes and stops nodding absently and listening to Kit. "Hey LT. That rock over there. Time for a number four. You -can- follow orders, right Lieutenant?" she asks. And Kit just nods, turning to dash behind said rock. A number four is.. hide until I say it's safe to come out.
Of course, Carol now stands up, her street clothes transmuting into her costume with a ripple of golden energy as she starts striding towards the rift.
The rift causes Kaydin to give a groan. "Cant the interdimensional monsters even wait till I get some food in me? So cruel." He says as he sighs, and blurs out again, circling the rift atleast once before stopping by Cir-el. "Hey good looking. Love how your outfit exposes your skin." He says sarcastically to the girl before his attention is given to the rift once more.
And then it opens a little wider...and an absolute anticlimax drops through the rift, kind of landing in a crouch. It appears to be...a teenaged girl, if that, wearing designer jeans and a T-shirt and wearing a backpack. Oh, and clutching some kind of device between her hands.
"Oh dear. I think I zigged when I should have zagged!" She looks up, then down at the device. "This is definitely *not* London. And I'm pretty sure it's not 1599 either." Again, she looks up, and wide blue eyes flick to the hot dog vendor. "Definitely not 1599. Oops." A bit of a sheepish note on that last as she begins to realize she's disturbed a small nest of supers.
Raising a brow, Carol steps up behind Cir and Kaydin. "No, it is not 1599. And to be honest, I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of someone wandering about history.. with a mindset of Oops. They could totally collapse space time." she remarks. Meanwhile, Kit is hiding behind that big rock, but she can't help poke her head up to get a peek.
Cir-El says, "I know about how you feel, I just got here a month ago myself. Or should I say, I just got NOW a month ago? Gee, time travel tenses are confusing..." At least this girl does not seem intentionally harmful.
"So...I should be original and not use my powers to travel back in time to figure out where I left my favorite stuffed animal as a little kid? I think I left him in an elevator air port in europe or china." Kaydin says with a half sarcastic half serious as he looks to the kid.
"I won't collapse the timeline! I know exactly how to modulate the time compression factor to keep that from happening," the girl says in a highly dignified voice. Then, in a rather smaller one, "It's steering I'm having problems with. But I'll be gone in a moment!" She fiddles with the device some more...
"Uh-huh, what if you step on a mosquito back in time, and that triggers a paradox?" asks Carol before she looks towards Cir. "Oh wonderful." she mutters once more.
"Paradoxi?" she asks, "Is that the plural of Paradox?" Her arms fold over her torso then as she just rolls her eyes.
Cir-El frowns, considering whether this girl could take her home for a moment, before realizing home never really existed. She mutters, "My memory mixups are annoying..."
"The sound of thunder. Neat movie and a warning to not step on butterflies when shooting down dinosaurs in the past." KAydin says to Carol before he hmms and shrugs when she asks the plural of paradox. "Don't look at me, my brothers and dad are the sciencey bunch. Bad enough most people I hang out with tend to be sciencey. Feel like the dumb kid in the science class." He says as he tries to rush over and interrupt the little girl from her playing with the device. "Lets not fiddle with time and space devices like they are video games please?"
Valeria Von Doom responds, almost as if Carol is stupid, "Time's more resilient than that, otherwise the first person to make a time machine would have stepped on a bug and we wouldn't exist," she points out. QUITE sensibly, at least in her mind. High vocabulary for her age. Then she turns a dial on the device. The only thing that happens is a faint thump from inside and then sparks emerging from all angles. "Oh. Shoot. OOPS."
Cir-El says, "Actually, so far, in my experience, you do not go into your real past, you travel to a highly similar parallel. I have do it twice."
Slowly nodding, Carol shrugs and admits, "Well, I'm a soldier, not a scientist. I only understand a lot about energy properties from my decade as a White Hole conduit." yeah, so White Holes are still theoretical, but she -was- a link to one, so there science!
Kaydin stops when sparks come and he makes a few tsks sounds. "Well that sounds real bad. Should have stuck with a Delorian, I hear they are more sturdy, not to mention they look so good." Kaydin says as he sighs. "So got a name kid, or do I just call you Sunshine?" He asks sarcastically.
"Right. Exactly. And if you modulate the time compression right you can get back to your own present." The girl drops to one knee and starts to examine the machine. "Oh. Joy!" Then she glances at Carol. "Wait, you were a white hol...wait...you're BINARY. What year is this?" She's not jumping around per se. Then Kaydin asks her the obvious question. "*I* am Valeria Von Doom." Oh dear. That's...probably not the best last name to be tossing around.
Cir-El says, "Interesting last name. I am, probably, named Cir-El. I am not absolutely sure, my memory has been tampered with. I am not from this timeline, but my own is no longer accessible." Well, the one she remembers probably never actually existed in the first place...
"Uh huh." mutters Carol. "Twenty Fifteen." she mutters. And then... the name. -That- name. Her body goes rigid and.. even those without special senses... or whatnot, would -know- that there is something wrong with her. She closes her eyes and there is a wisp of golden energy leaking from her clenched fists... and when I say clenched, I mean like... tight enough to crunch an I beam in each hand. She's not moving but... she is seeping energy, and anger of course... fury would be closer to the truth. But.. one of her core principles is self control.... [Public] Kaydin says, "your ancestors wrote the fairy tales." [Public] Ben Grimm says, "And why is that a problem?"
"Von doom...Either he is a bad guy or he likes to go 'muahahahahahaha' in his off time...Wait a moment isn't there some ruler of some country name von doom?" Kaydin asks. Yay for being raised about the world, the clueless american isnt completely clueless, just mostly. Seeing the woman clench her fist, he clears his throat. "I am going to go out on a limb here and say you perhaps know the von dooms. Maybe a little personal history?" He asks the glowy woman.
Valeria Von Doom blinks. Several times, wide blue eyes genuinely innocent. "What...what did I do?" She has the time machine open now. "Oh dear, the capacitors are burned out, and if it's 2015 those haven't been invented yet." She's stuck, and she's got Binary angry with her. For no reason she can work out. It's not manipulation in those eyes right now. It's genuine confusion.
Cir-El says, "Yeah, I am stuck here too. Not my past, not my timeline. I understand pretty well. If this were my timeline, I would be about seven now. As it is, I am almost sixteen, and there is no way home." She adds, "In this universe at least, my home never existed. At least I have friends here."
Once again, Carol's eyes are shut. As if she could control herself better if she wasn't -looking- at anyone. Have you ever seen someone so angry, that if they so much as moved at all, they'd flip out and try to destroy a city or some such? Well.. yeah. Then, out comes Kit. AKA Lieutenant Trouble. She scampers on over and wraps her arms about Carol's legs. Which...Carol feels, and lets her rage seep away. She won't...-can't- act on it with that kid on her leg. She exhales very slowly and opens her eyes as her head turns to look to the kid. Then she kneels down and scoops Kit up into her arms. "Welcome to the Twenty First Century." She remarks icily towards Valeria before she says to Kit, "Flying time!" And she just launches holding on to Kit.
"Well welcome to the twenty first century. I am Kaydin, and if you ever want to go anywhere in the world, I wouldn't mind running you there. Abilities of mine include running super fast and having good hair despite the running fast." Kaydin says to the kid.
Valeria Von Doom blinks as...Binary leaves. "I...don't understand." She knows a lot of stuff, she's had the best tutors, but she's never had somebody just suddenly start hating her like this." She starts to pick up time machine bits. "I'll fix it. It's just going to take a while."
Cir-El has no understanding of why Captain Marvel left, but she says, "I wanted to talk with her. Wait here please, I want to try something..."
Carol isn't zooming off super fast. She's trying to regain her good mood vicariously through Kit. The kid is shouting with glee as Carol slowly soars over the park, holding her in her arms. "Hold tight." says Carol as she starts spinning/twisting, even more glee from Kit ensues!
"Things in this timeline universe whatever isn't the same as yours." Kaydin tries to comfort the kid. "Here, things may have happened differently then would have happened where your from." Kaydin says as he squats down to be at eye level and looks to her. "Give her time.. In the mean time we need to find you a place to stay. Any ideas?"
Valeria Von Doom shakes her head. "I didn't *do* anything," she says with thirteen-year-old surety. "And...let's see...this IS Central Park, right?" She starts putting the pieces of the time machine into her backpack. "I...uh...this is 2015...but it might NOT be my timeline, so? The only place I can think of is the Baxter Building."
Cir-El Jumps into the air in the direction Carol went, and at about 300 yards up she puts on the force beams, acting as thrust. She keeps the thrust pretty low, she does not want to damage anything. When she gets near Captain Marvel she says, "Hey, Jack suggested I ask you for flying lessons." She has to shout, no way is she maneuverable enough to follow...
Well, the energy is felt on approach, and Carol is sure demonstrating some fine flight control as it stands. She maneuvers so that Kit is on her back like a piggyback ride, and then she herself grips the girl's legs. But she slows to a stop and turns to face Cir-El. "Flying lessons?" she asks. But she moves to match Cir-El's speed and direction so the other girl doesn't need to continue modulating. "If your propulsion is... that, then it may be a bit... difficult to maintain at the right power levels without practice. Lemme drop Kit here at home, and I can see about making some time." Seems she's kinda.. let go of the anger. Kit is good for that.. the girl is waving one hand enthusiastically at Cir-El, "I'm her sidekick! I wanna help too!" the kid says.
"That exists here. Fantastic four hangout." Kaydin says as he nods. "Well if you get on my back I can take you to the baxter building. I use the speed force." He tries to explain but it is clear he isnt a sciencey type."So what were you trying to do? Why 1599?" He asks curiously.
"Opening of the Globe Theater," Valeria says, again with that...are you stupid...tone in her voice. Of course, compared to her, most people are.
And...suddenly she's kind of stumped. "Speed force?" There's fascination in the eyes, but she clearly has no clue what Kaydin's talking about.
Cir-El smiles at the child, "I am really strong, fast, and tough, but not good at flying. I would not be very good to train with a sidekick. we would not need to learn the same things and Captain Marvel would be distracted trying to train us both." She likes kids, and she is pretty sure the little girl does not have the powers to be safe around her until she is better at flying...
Kaydin smirks as he finally has something the little kid doesn't know. "It is an extradimensional energy which makes things go fast." He says as he blurs out, blue-white lightning arching about the blur as he runs about the park all about the little girl and moves back to where he was, having picked up a hot dog on the vender cart out of the park, left money for payment and offering the hot food to her.
Valeria Von Doom blinks, then claims the hot dog. "Thanks. I don't have any dollars on me." She probably didn't think through having 1599 money either, given she didn't think through having 1599 clothing. "Never...that...I *am* in a different timeline. I've gone so far the laws of physics are different!" She sounds really excited about this fact...scarily so.
Nodding slowly, the almost ten year old Sidekick admits, "That's true. I.." she looks down to the back of Carol's head. "Okay. I'll go home. But.. superhero lessons later, okay Captain?!" she asks, almost like it was a mommy-wheedling sort of thing.
Carol chuckles and nods, "Sure. I promise L.T." she says. "So, what say you meet me in like, an hour... back here in the park?" She asks Cir-El. Oddly, she's not even talking about the Doomyness that almost ensued.
"Sounds good to me Captain, I needed to do something back at the park anyway," Cir-El says before she drops to the ground and speeds back to the park.
She slows down near Kaydin and Valeria and says, "When I got here, someone gave me some money to help me get started. I have money of my own now, but it is only fair that I pass on the favor." She hands Valeria a small purse containing a thousand dollars. She adds, "I think we are from opposite directions in the bleed, I know what the Speed Force is, but about half the heroes in this place I have never heard of."
"Consider it a gift for being so smart." Kaydin explains as he watches the girl and nods. He then looks to Cir-el. "Remind me to bum money off of you when you get more of it." He says sarcastically to the woman.
Valeria Von Doom blinks. But she takes the money...she's not THAT much of a morally upright type. "If I'm stuck here for a while, I'll...track you down. I can make stuff. Like, hero stuff."
And.. watching Cir-El go, Carol just shakes her head and drifts away, heading home. She's got a kid to deliver safe and sound to her mom of course.
Cir-El says to Von Doom, "I have been thinking of a few things I could possibly use, we can discuss what your rates are for custom equipment another time. I suspect you need to set up shop first." She turns to Kaydin and says, "I am on a bit of a budget, but I have money if you need some for something. That particular money was what Star Flare gave me, before I claimed a reward for my first big bust. I probably should not have by a lot of standards, but by claiming the money I can keep from being a burden on my guardian.
Kaydin shakes his head. "I am just joking." Kaydin says as he smiles at the woman before looking to the little girl and nods. "Nice to hear that. I need to get a costume sometime." Kaydin says with a nod.
"I need to..." Valeria shrugs a little bit. "Get set up, I suppose, except that they'll probably try to put me in a foster home. I need to find the Fantastic Four." They still exist. Things aren't the way they are in her world. But...how will they react to her?
Cir El responds, "I met one of them recently, the Human Torch, Johnny storm is a member, right. At least, that s what my reading told me..."
"I can run ya to the Baxter building if you need it, Valeria." Kaydin says as he waits for her answer on that and looks to Cir-el.
Valeria Von Doom takes a deep breath. "Alright. Let's go." She's just...not sure what she'll find there. But she doesn't have anywhere else to go.
Cir-El says, "Good Luck. This world is a bit strange, but it can be a good place."