| Basic Training | |||||
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| What: Cir-El and Ben Grimm stop a train | |||||
Mia is on her way to STAR labs, she took the early train from Westchester, as she has every weekend for the last five weeks. Her vision training is going well, though she is still wearing the glasses Valeria made her. She COULD use her speed safely now, not like when her vision first activated. Still, she had arranged to do these trips by train, so train she is using.
The train and the New York Subway is perhaps the worlds greatest cross section of the best and worst humanity has to offer all rolled into one neat package. And then there's the Thing. Sometimes he just kinda likes to ride and think and not be noticed. And so shrouded in the safety of a disguise that involves an oversized raincoat, a battered fedora and sunglasses He takes up two seats on the train, massive hands crossed in his lap, just waiting quietly to reach his destination.
Lana was running late this morning, so has decide to take the train, rather than her usual walking. It's not a long trip, but one that will get her to her destination much more quickly. She descends to the platform level, yawning behind a raised hand, that holds an aluminum insulated commuter cup, likely filled with coffee. She takes a sip from it now, as she scans the platform, and listening for an arriving train. More of a crowd than expected, and there's some horseplay going on too close to the tracks.
Mia notices Ben, though she pretends not to. Well, at least not to know him as Ben Grimm, after all, he is is disguise not to be recognized, just like she is. His body sounds are unique, she can tell him from anyone else by her super hearing, she does not need to look.
On the platform, one of the children gets a bit to rough and one of the others falls off. Fortunately not landing on the third rail, but the train can already be heard coming in to the station...
Also you can tell him by his orange, rock-like skin and the fact he's freaking huge. Really it's not a very good disguise, but the regulars on the train at least are nice enough to pretend they don't notice him. Ben would appreciate Mia doing the same. Also absent any super senses (at least of any real measurable level) he is for a moment unaware of the trouble on the platform, at least until the train horn sounds repeated, more than it normally would coming into the station, and the wave of gasps that start overtaking the train as people realize something is wrong. Standing, though having to hunch over in here he says, "What in the...."
Lana's attention is immediately drawn to the scene as the kids nearest start yelling, mostly incoherently, their screams overlapping, and making it hard to understand. But, a crowd is gathering, and Lana is swept along with the rest of the witnesses. Being fairly small and agile, she worms her way closer, though she's not near the tracks yet as the train starts screaming into the station, horn sounding repeatedly.
Mia feels the train slowing faster than usual, hears the horn...and also hears the people screaming at the station. She looks over her glasses, looking through the train ahead to the station...though at times like this she wishes she had Telescopic vision that one has not happened yet. Still, even at this distance, she can see the problem. This is a job for Superlass!
Moving at superspeed, she bounds over the crowd, changing to her costume before landing at the front of the train car and opening the gate between cars, then the exit. She hits the ground running and reaches the front of the train in a human heartbeat. She has not tried this trick, but it it likely to be a bit more difficult than landing an airliner was...she turns around, running backwards at the same speed as the train, and puts her hands on the front, then starts applying pressure. The trick not being stopping the train (though that is hard enough), but not derailing it while doing so.
Ben double takes as suddenly there's a flash of light, and Cir-El is now flying to the front of the train. As she zips off, Ben looks like he is going to follow, He's heard several people gasp, "There's a child on a tracks." With only a moment to make up his mind, Ben turns. He was in the last car, and he's nearer the back than he is the front, and he doesn't have superspeed, every second counts.
"Comin' Through!" he bellows, and people are wise enough to clear the aisle for him. Most are already bracing. "Hold onto somethin' guys!" Ben says as he shoulder charges out the back of the train. Literally falling off the back side, his massive four fingered hands find purchase of the lip of the back door, and the screech of metal being crushed can be heard as he tightens a vice like grip. His legs and Torso flail against the ground harshly but quickly he gets his feet beneath him and digs them into the tracks, the rumble of terra firma being rended follows and digs in, trying to slow the train enough to give Cir-Er either enough help in stopping it or enough time to clear the kid off the track.
Lana makes it out of the crowd just in time to see the girl apparently plastered to the front of the train. Wait, what? She thought it was someone down on the tracks. Another look, and Lana shakes her head, trying to clear the muzzy-headedness. Of course she's not plastered to the front of the train, she's trying to stop it. And, from the screeching coming from the back of the train, it seems that she's got help. Lana can't see Ben, not being blessed with anything resembling X-ray vision, but deductive reasoning says he's there.
The kids at the site of the fallen comrade waste no time, and help their friend back up onto the platform, before the train can make jelly of him. One group surges towards the kids, the rest continue to watch the girl running with the train, even as it slows while pulling into the station. Lana is among this latter group.
This takes constant work, adjusting the pressure to prevent any cars from getting off alignment...watching to see that they ARE aligned with the X-ray vision. Cir-El notices Ben helping...and is is a help, but it is also a problem because she has to keep her pressure high enough that the linkages between cars do not break from him slowing down his end faster. She has no idea how close to the station she is, there are too many things already to pay attention to...but she can tell she is getting closer to the child and those trying to help...
Meanwhile, Ben is being dragged into the ground to the point where he is becoming dug into a rut in the earth. His hands and clamped on the back of the train with such a grip that he might as well be part of it. Feet and knees dig into the earth with all the strength he can muster, rather than simple pulling back on the back car. He anchors himself to it trying to create enough drag that it'll begin to slow.
And Lana just watches. She can't see the kids at this point, but the noises being made seem to indicate that the kid is okay, a little scuffed and probably with the scare of a lifetime - until the next one. The crowd she's stuck in the middle of is quite intent on watching the train, and the girl.
The girl, now that she is closer, gives Lana a little start, but then what did she expect, after all? She just shakes her head, and grabs another sip of her coffee.
It sounds like the track is clear. Superlass glances back and sees that it is. She needs to stop Ben from helping at almost the same moment she stops...but it is as easy at this point to simply finish stopping the train. She does let up the pressure a bit, so the train will stop at the station rather than well before it. Perhaps Ben will notice and understand. The fact that the train is not blowing it's whistle as hard may help too...
Ben has three super powers. Monstrous strength, near unearthly durability to abuse, and a weird connection with the City of New York that has accepted him as a freak yes, but their freak. Like the telephone game, a message gets passed down the passengers quickly until one nice old lady sitting at the back of the train informs him, surprisingly calmly, "It's ok, Thing, sweetie, they got the child of the tracks."
Ben Grimm draws a deep breath, "Oh thank god..." and that said he lets go and lets the train finish stopping on it's own power and just face plants right where he let go. "I'm jus' gonna lie here fer a bit."
Lana joins in with the applause that breaks out, when the train comes into the station on its own, and the kid is saved. She looks around again for the costumed lass, but must have taken her eyes off her at the wrong moment.
Superlass hurries to the back of the train once things are under control and helps Ben up. She says, "Thank you Mister Grimm, that would have been much more difficult without your help, I might have detailed the train...that would have been a major mess."
Ben Grimm finally sits up when, Superlass gets to him and stands with her help, "Yer welcome kid, we gotta look out fer the little guys after all that." And that said he starts limping back towards the platform and says, "We should make sure everyone's ok.... man this one is gonna on my tab I can tell." And that said he pulls himself up on the platform, "Everybody ok?" he calls out.
Ahh, that's where she got off to. Lana nods again to herself as she sees the massive orange man pull up onto the platform, with the girl following. Of course, if you need a drag anchor, who better? The crowd thins out quite a bit, now that the excitement is over, and their train is here. There's the typical rush onto the train, though Lana hangs back, looking off in the direction where the kids were last seen, but they seem to have gotten onto the train as well.
Lana shrugs a little. "I guess everyone is fine," she calls back to the question. "Thank you, both," she adds. No one else is around to do it, after all.
Superlass says, "Excuse me, I have some repairs to do before the next train comes in." She runs back and starts repairing the gouge Ben left in the ground and replacing anything broken (such as railway ties), straitening the rails...even welding contacts if needed.
"I'll help wi......" And Cir-El is off. Ben just sighs, "Kids with their super speed." he turns then and dibs his head to Lana, "Thanks, I'm glad no one got hurt... though I'm sure I'm gonna get an earful for this...." And just as he says that what sounds like an old phone ringing seems to come from his F4 be-logo'd belt buckle. Ben taps the flashing symbol, "Go ahead," You can't hear the otherside of the conversation, but it sounds like someone might be yelling, "Yes.. I know. Listen up yah bum!..." And finally a sigh of resignation, "Ok ok, I'm coming in Gyrich, I'll be there in a minute." He looks to Lana and says, "WEll I gotta go." he cocks a thumb to where Cir-El zipps around at supper speed like the worlds fastest worker bee, "Keep eye on the kid for me. She tends to push herself a little to hard a times."
Keep an eye on her? Lana is bemused by Ben's suggestion, especially as when she looks back to where Cir-El had been zipping about so industriously, there is no one there. "That's some fine kid watching there, Lana," she mutters to herself, turning towards the train once more. She's pretty sure that he wasn't serious - was he? There's a last few passengers getting off, and just as Lana gets to the doors, they close, and the train pulls out of the station, leaving her on the platform.
Mia tends to get off here and walk to the financial district. It may be slower than taking the train the whole way, but not by much. She is apparently the last one off the train. She is glad that she had been busy though, it gave hr a chance to not react without thinking upon encountering Aunt Lana. She Does pause at look at her though, it often amazes her how much younger people are here than in the world she is from.
And then Lana is face to face with Mia, who ... is the second person in as many days who looks oddly familiar, but she just can't place it. "Hi," she offers with a smile. "Guess I'll be walking after all," she comments, apropos of nothing.
Mia says, "I will be walking a ways myself, I am headed down to the Financial district. If you are headed that way, I would not mind the company."
Lana nods and shrugs. "Company is good," she turns towards the exit, and gestures. After you," she offers with a smile.
Mia is from Metropolis, but not this Metropolis. however she has been here for six months, so she knows her way around. Lately she lives up in Westchester though, which is why she takes the train to town when traveling as Mia. She says, "I am Mia."
Lana smiles back and replies, "I'm Lana. Good to meet you." The way out is not any difficulty, and the walk is pleasant; being a weekend, not too crowded.
Mia replies, "Pleased to meet you Lana, have you been in Metropolis long?" Mia, of course, knows Lana is from Kansas...and is considering asking about her accent for verisimilitude.
Lana has been working on that accent, but it does come out every so often. "A few months. Opened a restaurant," she adds, gesturing forward. Not that said restaurant is in direct sight, but apparently is in the direction that they're headed.
Mia smiles, "I trust the food is good, though some men might come in just because there is a pretty cook." She is apparently joking, though she is not really good at it.
Lana laughs anyway, but mostly because it sounds like it should be a joke. "The food is good, or so the reviews have said. And, it is probably more the atmosphere, rather than the cook," she comments.
Mia says, "I was born in Metropolis, though I...lost my parents about a year ago." Lost is a good way to put it, since that future has become unreachable. She has heard theories that it still exists, but she is confused how it could, since what she remembers was entirely a creation of Braniac. Obviously that future did not exist...but some future where her body came from and was modified must have. It is clear that Mia is having unhappy thoughts.
"Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that!" Lana says, in a consoling sort of way. "Was it an accident?" That, of course, isn't very consoling, so she follows, "I'm sorry, that wasn't really a very tactful thing to say."
Mia frowns, "Actually, it was something very deliberate. There was a villain involved and some super heroes and a lot of stuff going on I do not really understand, but afterward my home was gone. I have a new family now, and they are nice. My new father is getting married soon to a woman with a couple of nice daughters."
Lana looks relieved, that she didn't put her foot into it, and also looks happy for Mia. "Well, it's good that you have a new family. Do you have brothers or sisters, besides the ones you're going to get?"
Mia considers, "Well I have a couple of relatives, but how they are related is a bit complicated. I kind of have an older half-brother, but he and I are not close."
Lana nods, "I was more asking about if your new family included brothers and sisters. But, the other relatives is interesting. Complicated can be interesting," she adds.
Mia says, "My new dad has a cousin who is a lawyer who works near here...and the woman he is marrying as a couple of daughters. The problem I am having is that dad decided to move upstate, and all my friends are here."
Lana nods understandingly. "It's hard to leave friends behind."
Mia says, "I come see them when I can, though of course school gets in the way of that." She would say that she has been having eye troubles and is on her way to see a specialist, which is true, but it might leave Lana wondering what kind of specialist is open on Sunday.
Lana would wonder that, too. But instead, she nods again. "Changing schools, too, I guess, from your move? Are you at least making new friends?"
Mia says, "Not many yet, but the move was recent. I need to give it time I suppose." Of course, the friends she is really talking about are the Titans. While she has encountered some students from Xavier's, who go to school nearby to New Salem, she is not in that school and so is not quite in their crowd.
Lana nods slowly. "Time will bring new friends, I'm sure." It certainly has for her, after all.
"I have a bit farther to go, didn't you say your restaurant is nearby," Mia inquires. She wonders if, in this world, Lana knows who Clark is. If so, saying her last name is Kent might raise some questions.
Since Lana's player isn't really familiar with the layout of the city, she's fine with saying that the restaurant is close. "Next block," she confirms. And, she's probably got a basic idea that she might be related. She looks like him, after all.
Mia does have a plan, in case she runs into someone who knows Clark and wants to know if she is related. Lar Gand has sometimes used the secret identity of Clark's cousin Jon Kent. She plans to claim to be a daughter of Clark's cousin Jon, but that will not work on anyone who knows Clark's secret.
Lana has keys in hand, as she approaches a door, the glass window etched with 'Lana's Place' - inside, though dark, tables and chairs can be seen, ready for setup once the crew arrives. "Come on in," Lana invites, as she unlocks and opens the door.
Mia pulls out a cellphone and looks at the time, "I have to go, I have to meet someone." She has been practicing at STAR labs on controlling her vision powers for a month now, and she does not want to miss her test today. If she passes, then her control is fine enough so that she can give up the special glasses.
Lana looks up and nods. "Oh, well. If you'll be coming past here on your way back, drop in, and I'll get you some coffee, or something." Mia says, "I will if I have time. It is nice to meet you Lana."
"It was very nice meeting you, Mia," Lana responds. "And I hope you do have time." Mia moves off at a fast walk, she did better this time...at least she did not call her 'Aunt Lana'. Sometimes, the slips she makes when reacting to her memories can cause problems. She can make it on time at a normal human pace.
Lana would certainly be surprised to be called Aunt Lana, to be sure, but would probably take it in stride. She waves as Mia heads on down the street.