| Just Another Thing in Central Park | |||||
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| What: A brief discussion between Ben, Valeria, Kaydin, and Cir-El | |||||
Central Park, bastion of weirdness and violence throughout all of NYC. This is where when shit goes wrong. It goes /waaaaay/ wrong. In this crazy topsy turvy world, it might as well be the thunderdome over which every Alien this side of the Alpha Centauri decides to touch down first when they reach Earth, and where every costume in a 3 state radius coverages to show the bad guys what they got. Strangely it all feels fairly normal to New Yorkers. They are, after all, a resilient bunch. Right now at least, there are no such cosmic battles, There is just one Benjamin J. Grimm, sitting at the edge of the of the lake skipping stones. Despite his skin being orange and rock-like, there's a is a palpable weight around him that makes him see bluer than his uniform.
Cir-El has been regularly patrolling the city for the month she as been here, and often stops at central park to get some sun...and occasionally practices flying here also. She has encountered everything from a Magical copy of the Tardis to Valeria Von Doom in this park. She is not surprised to see The Thing. She has not met him exactly, but has read some of his history, and seen him in passing when she is visiting Minoke and Genevieve.
She decides to greet him, so she drops down from the sky and says, "Good afternoon, Mr. Grimm. You seem depressed."
A stone goes skipping across the surface of the water, his power gets it all the way to the other side, but it's the surprising grace he has for a rock monster that gives him the precision to hit the water just so, so the flat stone skips along the service. Now Ben is pretty seasoned, but.. he's lost enough in thought that he starts a bit as Cir-El drops down from the sky to land next to him, "Woah, Jumpin Jehoshaphat! Warn a guy before you come dropping outta the sky like that!" he exclaims. He he clears his throat and tries to play it more cool, "I mean not that I was startled.. but someone else might have been." He looks out onto the water for a moment before his attention returns to Cir-El then, "Yeah kid, you could say I'm havin' kind of a down day."
Superlass nods, "I have had a few of those, the last few days in 2003, and the first few here were pretty bad. Finding out that you were designed by the worst enemy of the man you think is your father to carry a plague to destroy the world, and are not who you think you are, can do that. So what is your problem? Not Saying I can help, but talking about it sometimes does."
"Great." Ben says with a hrmph, "Now I feel depressed /and/ petty for feelin' all blue when someone's clearly had a worse day than me." The Thing is in full on grumble mode, but it's pretty apparent he means no harm by it. "I'm sorry to hear all that kid. That sounds rough. You ain't who made you though, you're yer own person, and don't let anyone tell different! An' if they do tell 'em Ben Grimm said to stuff it."
About the park, the sound of running feet is heard and before long, the blur with blue-white lightning bolts. It slows down by Ben and Cir-el. "The trick to cheering people up, Cir-el, is to not make the person feel petty." He says as he offers Ben a hotdog, from the stack of 20 or so hotdogs in his arms. "Here, food makes me feel better. Kaydin LeGraize, Speedster in-training and starving to death." He says as he eats one of the hotdogs.
And then enter Valeria, stage...well...vague Baxter Building direction. She's apparently been shopping, that black top isn't the one she was wearing before. The blonde, blue-eyed girl spots the Thing...he's rather impossible to miss...and starts to head that way, not immediately noticing the other two. When she does, her pace quickens a little.
Superlass replies, "The first two weeks were a bit rocky...no offense." She realizes suddenly that the statement could be interpreted as a joke about Ben's physique.
She adds, "I have found a lot of nice people here though, and I am getting along much better. I am learning things I never knew before, and even kind of got adopted."
"Well good. The cap 'n cowl game ain't easy. Got someone good to take you under their wing I hope?" This isn't Ben's first rodeo... he recognizes the S and figures she's probably cut from similar cloth. He's about to say something else when he looks down and suddenly there is a hot dog in his big rocky hands. He looks to Kaydin. Even if he hadn't just run at near mach speeds he might have pegged 'em for a speedster. Nervous energy just rolls off in erratic pulses like he has to be in constant motion. "That's mighty Kind o' yah Kaydin LeGraize, Speedster in trainin' Thank you very much." He snarfs down the dog in one bite and waves to the approaching Valeria as he licks off his fingers.
"No problem." Kaydin says as he watches the man eat it in one bite. "I bet you can go through a coney island foot long like a normal dog, can ya?" He asks with a grin before offering a hot dog to Cir-el. Whether she takes it or not, he waves to Valeria "Hey kid. Did ya find your mom, or well this version of her?" He asks curiously once she got within speaking range, offering her a hot dog too.
Valeria Von Doom shakes her head. "Not yet, but I found Ben!" She flickers the Thing a grin, then claims the hot dog without hesitation. "Thanks, Kaydin!" She seems quite a bit happier than she was...which probably means she's found some overconfident plan to get back home.
Superlass says, "Well Captain Marvel has been teaching me to fly, perhaps she will become a mentor. I think our powers are kind of similar."
She notes the others and says, "Nice to see you again Kaydin. Hi again, Val, I assume you know Ben."
She adds, “Say, you said something about building equipment. I was considering something, Captain Marvel called it a Deployable Aerofoil, though I was thinking of it as a paraglider cape. It should not be too tough, if you are good at tech."
"Ahhh Coney Dogs....." Ben says his sad expression fading for just a moment, "Man, I love getting an' all beef one, and pile it high with relish and sauerkraut and french fries and mustard. That's one o' lifes little slices of heaven." He clears his throat getting back to the matters at hand, "Well if'n Captain Marvel is teachin yah, then you are in good company. She had a long hard road to get to wh ere she is. You'll learn a lot from her." He looks to Valeria then and says, "Good to see you smiling kiddo. Been able to talk to Reed yet?" He looks between Cir-El and Val for a moment then before adding, "By the by, if you want one of them deploy-able airfoil thingies. I'll be Val could whip one up."
"I believe that if the badguys ever hurt the coney dogs, they will be met with the world." Kaydin says with a sigh as he eats more hot dogs. He then nods as he watches the goings on. "So you seem to be more confident. Fix your little time machine thingy?" He asks Valeria.
Valeria Von Doom shakes her head. "No. That's going to take a while. But I *will* get it fixed." Then she turns to Cir-El, grins, and heads over to the nearest picnic table, setting her backpack down on it and straddling the bench. She takes a bite out of her dog before calling, cheerfully, "Come here."
Cir-El accepts the hot dog...she may not need as much food as a normal human but she is still growing and the mass needs to come from SOMEWHERE. She says to Ben,
"Superman has been kind of busy, and I have yet to meet Supergirl or Power Girl. Superboy is too close to my own level if experience to help me learn much." She walks over to join Valeria.
"Man. Guy's got a huge family." Ben observes He picks up another stone and with a quick side arms sends it skipping to the other side of the pond. He pushes to his feet then, "Thanks for dog again Mr. Speedster-in-training. Lemme know if any villains do attack coney. We'll go put 'em in their place." That said he approaches the picnic table, interested in seeing what Valeria is going to scrounge up.
"I met Super-girl. Seemed like a great girl, very pretty. Um not that you aren't pretty too." Kaydin says to Cir-El with a bit of a nervous chuckle. He then nods to Ben as he eats another hot dog. "Hey, that is someplace I would love to defend. No body attacks Coney island. Even gods wouldn't dare." Kaydin says as he too draws closer to see whats up.
Valeria Von Doom sets the hot dog down carefully, making sure the wrapper is between the dog and the table. Then she tugs a sketchbook out from her backpack. "Really, the most efficient design is a flying squirrel riff, but that gets in the way when fighting, so..." She starts to sketch.
She inquires of Ben, "I assume you mean Superman, and he does? I mean I mentioned all of them I know. Superman did not mention any others when we talked." Cir-El asks Kaydin, "What is cousin Kara like? I never met her, she was not around in my home reality. I know about her from reading after I got here, but only a little."
She looks at the sketches, and says, "I was thinking a memory plastic scaffold structure, attached to my chest symbol at the top in the front, and perhaps attached to a belt also. It will mean a significant redesign of the costume. Make the plastic so it switches forms from rigid to flexible under an impulse from a device in the chest symbol that I can set off with my red star burst. Oh, Carol says I need deployable steering fins on my boots too."
"Smooth, real smooth kid." Ben says to Kaydin with a crooked grin. "Honestly.... I'd recommend like a hover craft or something. I mean I know Captain Marvel is good at it.. but I dunno how I feel about trusting my steering to fins on boots." The Thing leans over and observes Val's mini-designs "What you need is mini-fantasticar.. or a super cycle or something. Everyone get's their own pod, and I get override controls so Johnny can think he's piloting but never really gets too."
"She was really caring. Took out the bad guys with little to no effort but made sure she didn't hurt them. Even after Shocker blasted me back, she melted his blasting armbands into handcuffs. Made her blush and got her number." Kaydin says as he watches Cir-El. He then looks to the designs. "Shame I cant use a vehicle. Probably faster then most things." He says with a bit of pride.
"Alright." Val keeps sketching. "Do you have any idea how much propulsive force you're generating?" A pause. "Rigid to flexible plastic can be done, but I need to know exactly what your red star burst is. It can be embarrassing if the bad guys set something like this off. Especially by accident."
Superlass explains to Ben, "Since I am using my hands for propulsion, my steering has to be either on my head or my feet...and if it is on my head in might be hard to look around to see where I am going."
She smiles a bit, "You can move twice escape velocity at a jog, anything faster than you would be on the way to Mars, not on the planet."
Cir-El smiles Ruefully, "We have been working on fine control, we have not tried for speed trials or checked my thrust limits yet."
"Well it looks like you're off to a good start." Ben says as he leans back from the the table. The Mountainous man takes a deep breath as his FF insignia starts to light up. "Well crap." He looks at Cir-El and Val and Kaydin, "Sorry kiddos. Duty calls. An old friend is callin' in a marker." And with a wave he starts to jog towards the street. The ground rumbling slightly as he does.
"Is that jealousy I detect, Superlass?" Kaydin asks with a sarcastic tone and grins. He then eats more hotdogs rapidly, giving grunts of happiness for being able to eat and fill his empty stomach.
Valeria Von Doom nods. "Well, I need some idea, in order to make sure we have the right structural integrity without overbuilding. You don't want it bulky." She stops sketching to wave to Ben and then to take another bite of her dog.
Superlass considers the question seriously before answering, "Perhaps a little, you are ten times as fast as me. Not many people re that much better than i am in any way. Superman is one..."
She says to Valeria, "Mostly, I think I will be using the aerofoil at low speed. I do not think maneuvering will work as well at high speeds."
"Yeah but I don't have super strength and endurance. You can take a bullet, I gotta dodge em." Kaydin says as he looks to Valeria. "So How are you adjusting to this place?" He asks curiously of the super smart thirteen year old.
"It's not too bad. The fashions aren't even that different, although I think that's kind of fashion oscillation. Or something." Valeria shrugs one shoulder. "Alright. I'm going to need to see your red star burst...not now, but with sensors set up."
Cir-El admits, "In a way, it is good to have people like you and Bruce Banner and Superman around, he helps to remind me what normal people feel like around me." Superlass inquires, "How long will setting up the sensors take?"
Valeria Von Doom hrms, "Depends on how long it takes me to get the sensors. I need to talk them out of some people. Give me a couple of days?"
Superlass says, "I have worked with folks from STAR labs a time or two, perhaps they have what you need already set up?"
Valeria Von Doom nods. "Worth checking. What I want to do is make sure it's triggered by that combination of energies and nothing else." She grins. "So I need to know exactly what kind of energy you're producing."
"Hotness." Kaydin says with a smirk as he finishes his hotdogs. "I need to go get me something. I will be back in a flash." Kaydin asks with a smirk before running off with blue blur.
Cir-El says, "I was about to ask if he could get a list from you of what you need, so he could take it to STAR and see if they have it set up. I can tell you ABOUT my power if you want, and think it will help."
"It will give preliminaries, but I want...like I said, you don't want it deploying in the middle of a fight. If nothing else, the bad guys might *break* it." Which would be annoying.
Cir El says, "I could explain the source of our powers, though a lot of that is speculative. Suffice to say, Kryptonians use Solar power as a catalyst to produce far more energy than they seem to take in. Because the amount of sun light we get can vary a lot, we need a release valve to get rid of excess. In most Kryptonians, it's their Heat Vision. I do not have that, I have my Red Sun Burst instead. I can release the energy as Light, Heat, or force...but no matter which way I do it, it has a visible component that is on a range of frequencies common to a Red Sun."
Valeria Von Doom nods. "Alright. That's a good start." She stretches a bit. "And when Kaydin comes back, I'll suggest he swings by Star Labs."
Kaydin came back, having a coney island dog so obviously a foot long. Several of them, four or five. He then gives one to Cir-el and another to Valeria. "Whatever you two don't eat I will eat." He says as he watches them.
"We were thinking you might take a list of things Valeria needs by STAR labs. Any you might as well have mine, I do not need much solid food," says Cir-El
Valeria Von Doom hasn't, as a note, even finished the one she had earlier. "We don't all have your metabolism." Clearly he's burning biological energy on his powers. mental note. Find out if true for all speedsters...there was only one she ever met where she was from, and he was nuts.
Kaydin nods as he eats the foot long happily as he nods. "I can run the list by Star labs but I don't think they would pay much attention to me." Kaydin says as he watches the two. "So Where is the list?" He asks curiously.
Valeria Von Doom starts to scribble something down, presumably the list. "Maybe we'll have to all go, then. It's not *that* far," she points out.
Cir-El says, "Kaydin can carry you better, the thing I envy more than his speed is is frictionless aura. He can carry you without sonic booms or the like, me, I have really hard time stopping them if I exceed the speed of sound."
"It is something called the speed force. Basically makes speedsters go fast. Basically anything within our aura isn't affected by more then a strong wind." He says with a smirk as he does nod. "Alright I will get the list to Star labs and if need be we can all go down there.
Valeria Von Doom nods. "I should be able to fly, but my attempts so far haven't been particularly good," Valeria admits. Her mother can, but Sue also told her it takes a lot of practice. "Working on it."
"I know the feeling, I only just figured out how to fly about two weeks ago, and I am not exactly good at it yet. That is why I want something to help with low speed maneuvers. Let's head over to STAR labs and she what we can find out."
"Alrighty then. I am becoming the Von Doom escort services." He says with a grin as he gathers his food for later consumption and moves to help Valeria. When ready he blurs off.