| Girls From Elsewhere | |||||
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| What: Terra, Valeria, and Cir-El chat in Central Park | |||||
Central Park. Most kids fly kites. The thing flying above Central Park right now is not a kite. It looks like some kind of flying wing. Some kind of not quite made right flying wing, based off of the fact that it just spiraled into a tree. Moving to retrieve it, Val manages, just, NOT to use language that would get Sue to wash her mouth out without soap. "How *do* they compensate for the lack of a tail..."
Superlass often stops by Central Park to sun herself as she patrols the city. Before last week, it was a good place to listen for trouble. Now she has to look, not listen. As she looks around, she spots Valeria and leaps over. "Hi Val. I was thinking about talking to you."
A curious young heroine took note of the odd flying object, and made her approach on her own flying object, namely the rock she's surfing when she flies about. Slowing down to a hover not far from Valeria, "hey, is that thing yours? What is it?" She asks curiously, before looking over at Superlass, specifically the emblem of the House of El on her chest, as she wonders aloud, "I heard that Superman was a man...not a little girl, are you Superman? Because I think people are wrong about you...just so you know."
Valeria Von Doom tugs the flying wing out of the tree. It didn't do too much damage. To the tree. "It's a remote controlled plane. I'm trying to work out how flying wings work without just copying somebody else's..." And then. "That's Superlass, not Superman," she says as if it should be obvious.
Superlass looks over at the lady on the levitating rock, "I am kind of a relative of Superman, though I am having some...problems...at the moment." No need to go into exactly how she is related. She glances at the Flying Wing and says, "I think you need a keel..."
"I didn't know wings could fly without a body," Terra quips at Valeria, before squinting at Superlass as Valeria explains who she is. "Superlass? Mmm...why do you dress like Superman? Are you trying to confuse people?" Terra asks a genuine questions, clearly not well informed about the meaning of the emblem.
"They can, but it's a tricky design to get right." Val shrugs. "And if I just copy somebody else's design I won't learn the principles as quickly." She considers. "I'll help if I can, but you know if it's biology I'm still working on that."
Superlass notes, "Stealth fighters and bombers are pretty much flying wings, but they do have tails and propulsion systems. You need to think hang glider, like the cape you made me." She adds to the stranger, "For a long time, I thought I was Superman's daughter from the future. I found out I am not really related, but I do have many similar powers." She returns to talking to Valeria, "I am not entirely sure if it is strictly biological. If you can access my latest STAR Labs profile, it should explain the problem."
"Wings are different from wing, that's one wing! Ha ha ha. Compared to two! Two wings, ha ha ha," Terra explains to Superlass, before looking back at Val, "why are you trying to make a flying wing? Is it to help an injured bird? Because that's awesome!" Quirking a brow at Superlass' explanation, Terra drops the subject, focusing instead on Val and her remarkable invention.
"No, it's a kind of plane, and it's actually more effective for carrying large loads than traditional designs, if you can get it stable. Or for stealth, yeah. But I'm more interested in civilian uses," she admits, moving to a nearby bench, sitting down and examining the damage. "Wish that tree hadn't been there."
"The tree can't move, I'm sure it wishes that wing wasn't there too..." Terra seems to take offense on behalf of the tree, crossing her arms, still looking at Val quite curiously, "so you're building a plane? Are you going to use it to fly to new places?"
Cir-el is no expert on aerodynamics, "I think the weight needs to be near the center of gravity or something. I never did figure out how to really fly yet." She is surprised that Val has not figured it out already, she is the smartest girl her age on the planet.
"It's my first attempt. Insufficient keel, I think, and I think..." Aha. "I need ballast." She grins. "I'll fix it and try again. And no, I'm learning to understand how the design works so if I want to do something like it eventually." Terra gets another grin, then an offer of, "I'm Valeria."
"Nice to meet you Valeria, I'm Terra," the girl with the violet eyes introduces herself in turn, "maybe you should try to take this to a lab? Or an open space, away from the city, so you don't accidentally hurt anyone?"
Cir-El introduces herself, “Hello Terra, I am Superlass, though you can call me that or Cir-El. A lab might not be a bad idea, I could talk to you more freely there." She does not want the nature of her problems spread about too far.
"I'll fix it in my lab, but it's not heavy enough to really hurt anyone." It's a pretty small thing, after all. "But if you want to go to the lab, we can." She grins at Cir-El. "I'll have to get your file before I can work the problem, though."
Terra looks aghast as Cir-El introduces herself with dual names, "Shhhh!!!" She puts her fingers to her lips and shushes Superlass, "Don't you know ABCs of heroing? You never give up your secret identity, that's why it's a secret!" For once she feels proud for being the responsible one to mention this fact to another hero. Nevermind she had to learn it from Power Girl first.
Cir-El explains to Terra, "Cir-El was my first hero name, not my secret Identity, I picked Superlass later." Not 100% true, but easier to explain that than what really happened.
"Yeah. It's not her secret identity. Not that everyone has to keep one." Val shrugs. "I mean, say, if all of your family and friends are super and attract more enemies than you do."
"Why do you need more than one hero name?" Terra looks puzzled, though at least she's no longer looking aghast at the assumed faux pas. Terra looks a bit surprised at Val, as she points out, "I know someone very smart who taught me everything about codenames and secret names, and she's a grown up!"
Cir-El explains, "The first name, the one I used for a long time, was given to me by someone who was trying to use me for bad purposes. I picked another name, one not associated with him, but rather with Superman, who I consider to embody what I want to be. Whom did you talk to, I know a number of heroes."
"People are allowed to change their hero names," Val says. Then she glances at Cir-El. "Wait, is this to do with the craziness at STAR Labs the other day?"
"I'm sorry someone lead you astray," Terra offers her sympathy to Cir-El, and then adds, "someone who is the bestest!"
Cir-El smiles faintly, "Craziness is a good term, the Joker was behind it, but yes. I was helping them with a test on a new medical process." She blinks at Terra, "Best is a matter of perspective. To me, that is Superman." "That's who it was? I went outside to do crowd control so I didn't see who was actually doing the raid." She considers. "Definitely a matter of perspective. I'd put Invisible Woman, but I've never *met* Superman." She grins at Cir-El. "You could introduce us?"
Terra shrugs, "I'll tell you when I finally meet him, for a hero, he's awfully shy! Or hard to meet! I tried too! I'm talking about Power Girl, and she knows everything! And she's the strongest!" Terra then hears about Val's candidate and looks astounded, "how do you meet a woman who is invisible!?"
Cir-El responds, "I have only met him once in THIS world. I have met Power Girl two or three times, she is nice. I know where to find Superman,if it is the same as in other worlds, but it would be impolite to do so without reason."
Valeria Von Doom nods. "Yeah, I mean...just if you do meet him, I'd love to meet him. I'm curious about aliens. In a good way. It helps us understand how life works in general, you know."
Terra seems rather pleased with Valeria when she explains her reason for liking aliens, no need to mention she is one herself, but it's good to know some people are rather friendly. "You're a good person, Valeria, we should know and understand each other better."
"You already know, Val, that I am a bit less than half Alien," notes Cir-El. She adds, "Val is smart and helpful. She designed my cape, though we had to alter how it activates."
Valeria Von Doom nods. "Show me the new version, just in case I need to repair it." She grins at Terra. "I try to be. Also, she's not invisible all the time." And Val vanishes. "See," says empty air.
Cir-El lightly touches the invisible Valeria, her eyes glowing blue, “I can see you."
Valeria Von Doom grins and reappears. "Cheater," she teases Cir-El. "Although I'd love to know how."
Cir-El says, "We should go somewhere private and I will explain."
"My lab, then?" Val always seems to have superheroes in her lab, one way or another.
"That should be fine. I will show you how the cape works now on the way...can you keep up with me or should I carry you?" Cir-El Inquires
"Let me try and keep up. I need the practice." Val tucks the model aircraft under her arm and then leaps upwards into the sky.
Cir-El leaps, and grabs onto her cape as she does. Her hands seems to emit sparks as the cape transforms into the glide form. She glides across town to the Baxter Building.
Cir-El will explain when they get to the lab, "When they tested the machine on me, it made me much more physically vulnerable. Ordinary knives, bullets, and flames can hurt me now. It messed up my hearing and changed my Red Sun Burst to some kind of electrical power...and my eyes can see EVERYTHING. I can watch penguins migrate in Antarctica from here..."
"Okay. So...do you know how your powers actually work?" Val, closing the lab door behind them, then moving over to her equipment. "I mean, the physics behind it."
Cir-El says, "No more than before, but STAR labs did some tests. I have an account we can use to log in and look at the results."
Valeria Von Doom nods. "I'll take a look." She powers up a computer. "Let me power up something that's hardwired so we don't get intercepted. Here...log yourself in."
Cir-El logs in to her account and then gets a call on her Titans communicator. She says, "Hmmm, OK Wally, be right there." she turns to Val, "I have to go help the Titans. I will get back with you later, OK?"
"Okay. That'll give me time to study this." She smiles at Cir-El. "We'll work this out."
Cir-El blurs off.