2014.03.13 - No Pension

Well, she needed some air. Carol had spoken with medics, and had a psych eval done. (Granted, it was done by Karla Sofen). But right now she just needed to -move-. And so she is on her Ducati bike, zipping through traffic like she didn't care about such laws. Whoosh! She blasts past folks and eventually she's stopped at the edge of the park where she simply sits on her bike, eating a hot dog with her helmet racked on the handlebars. No costume for this agent. She's in street clothes....
It wasn't uncommon for Jocelyn to hang out in Central Park. Something about her other team being headquartered in the area and all. So the teenager, dressed in her own pair of jeans and a t-shirt (because by recent standards, today was WARM), spots Carol. She blinks as Carol just seems different somehow to the energy manipulator. She walks over towards the woman. "Hey Carol," Jocelyn greets. "Must be hungry to eat a water dog," the woman comments with an easy smile. She hadn't had a chance to talk with Carol since the big fight. She knew that Carol was alive and taken in by one of the Iron Man suits, so she hadn't been concerned for the woman's life. Being able to sense life signs were helpful for that.
There is energy there. It's just weird. Remnants of the evil cosmic force... Omega Force, mixing deep down with the white hole energy consumption and release. It is there, but like it is bottled, and both are fighting within her. The singularity is slowly consuming the remnants of the dark energy but.. Carol is likely unaware of you. You have always had a better -sense- of energy than she did.
With a bite of hot dog in her mouth, Carol looks over and smirks. She chews and swallows, "Hey kid." she remarks. "Always loved vendor cart hot dogs. They are more like Fenway park dogs than anything I can get in the store."
"Never been to Boston," Jocelyn admits. "Hell, haven't even gone to a Yankees or Mets game. Was at a Tigers game once, but that's about it". She shrugs. Money spent on attending sporting events just wasn't in the cards for her. "How you doing?" she asks. Her energy senses tingle, and she looks at Carol with a slight frown. Carol would possibly recognize the look as the one she gets when she's seeing something just plain weird, and wrapping her head around it. "Well, I'll give one of thse a try, spin the wheel. Lock the bike up and take a walk?" she suggests to the woman. "It's one of those rare nice days". Plus they could chat a bit more freely, given Joce knows this area quite well.
Stepping off the bike. Carol gestures to the vendor for another dog. "And two waters please." she adds before she nods to Jocelyn. She just finishes her own dog, pulls a remote out of her pocket and activates the SHIELD issue security system. "Bike should be fine where it is now." she remarks as she forks over a few bucks to pay for the order for Jocelyn. "Now, grab your junk food and let's walk." she adds with a grin.
Grabbing her food, Jocelyn will walk a little bit, expertly finding a fairly secluded area of the park. "How you doing? You got pretty banged up during that fight," Jocelyn says to Carol. The woman was always pretty straight and to the point about this things. "And you look like there's a part of you still carrying it with you," she adds. There is some concern in the younger woman's voice. It's hard to see your mentor get taken down that hard in a fight! Jocelyn does take a bite of her hot dog as she awaits an answer.
"Well, I give as good as I get y'know." Carol doesn't really -remember- what happened, but she was told that she basically nuked Darkseid and a lot of his minions. She shrugs a bit flippantly. The soldier in her... mostly the fighter pilot, won't let her get all maudlin over it right now. "Well, when I absorbed it all, I did feel like there was something inside it, trying to claw at my soul to make me turn and blast the others... like... the energy itself was sentient."
"Yeah. I can see it," Jocelyn says. "It's in you right now actually," the woman tells Carol. "Kind of like it's fighting with your natural abilities". Which is never a pleasant thing at all. "I handled some of it, but nothing like the amount you handled," the teen says. They're safe enough for her to talk that way. "The energy is really kind of disgusting to deal with," she admits. "Has it affect you at all afterwards?" Nobody told Joce that Carol was powerless yet.
You can -see- the lack of energy. She usually seeps energy like a bowl of water constantly on mild overflow. There is nothing coming forth from her now. Her muscles, her body are vacant of that power. "Well, yeah. I've overloaded before... and it just took time. When I sucked burgeoning antimatter out of the sun, it overloaded my powers, and they came back.. but a bit weaker. I think that killed the singularity and I had to link to a new one or some such. I'm not really good at the science mumbo jumbo."
"Well...". Jocelyn chews her lips. "I might...might be able to help. I can transmute energy, and I've transmuted this stuff before. Mixed with my healing abilities, I might be able to help things along. Not draw it in myself, but adjust it," Jocelyn tells Carol. She's confident that it wouldn't /hurt/ Carol. She's done medical healing before. She's unsure how much it'll help. But she has to offer to help if she can.
"Well, I can't see what it is doing. I know you can. Can you describe what is going on energywise?" Carol knows a bit about the stuff, but she's never had a -sense- for it.
"It's like your existing power is consuming the Omega Energy," Jocelyn says. "But all it's energy is going towards that. I could convert the Omega Energy into something harmless and it wouldn't have to eat it, and you could possibly regain your powers more quickly". Or they'd stay closer to the same level. "Kind of like this". Jocelyn channels up a little bit of visible light in two different colors. The white light is slowly consuming the black light. "That's basically what's going on inside you right now".
Inclining her head, Carol grins and reaches a hand for Jocelyn's shoulder. "I appreciate the offer kiddo. But I think I'll be okay. If things get weird, I'll call you okay? If I know that it is healing, then I don't want to screw with it and potentially make it worse."
There's a smile from Jocelyn. "Alright. I figured you'd say that. But I have to offer. You'd do the same if our roles were reversed". The light disappears. "Also, you've done the space thing before. Moving in space is really weird. First time experiencing zero gravity. Wish I'd known something of what it was like". It was really awkward for the girl, though she does grin a little at that. "Anyway, if I can do anything, just say the word," the teen says to Carol.
"Jocelyn." says Carol, her voice suddenly not flippant. Totally serious and such. She even stops moving. "Jocelyn.." she repeats. "You did fantastic up there. I've never been so proud of you as when you put it all on the line and you alone enabled us to get through that shield." She just steps forward and wraps her arms about her former protige... "Thank you." she adds softly.
There's a blink from the girl, and then she returns the hug that Carol gives her. "Carol". Jocelyn begins a second, but pauses. "I'm just glad I could help. And I just got us a door. I'd be dead if Wonder Woman hadn't blocked that flying guy, but we did as well as we did because we worked together. I'd never worked with the League before. It was pretty impressive, the way people played off each other". Jocelyn had gotten pretty good at playing off other people's powers, and so she'd spent her time opening up holes in a lot of that fight.
There is a pause as she pulls away. "Besides. It isn't like I did it alone. I had you there to help me concentrate on draining the shields in other spots, and all the teaching you and others have given me. Without that, I'd have been useless up there".
"Shut up and let me give you a compliment." suggests Carol with a bit of a grin. She reaches out and chucks your chin. "Now, eat your hot dog." she remarks, turning to start walking again. The companionable walk of a friend who really doesn't -need- conversation to just feel friendship.
Jocelyn is better at taking compliments now! "Yes ma'am," Jocelyn offers as she takes a bite of her hot dog. She is a little more relaxed now, however. If Carol's abilities are eating the Omega Energy, that's something at least. She felt better after taking a look at it. She walks along with Carol for a little bit. "So, been doing anything else interesting lately?" Jocelyn asks with a small smile. As if space battles aren't interesting enough! But there were other interesting things in life, yes? "I think I might have finally caught up on schoolwork. It's still boring," she adds.
"But important." replies Carol. "And, trying to keep up. At least my genetics make me stronger than normal... not to my old levels, but I can still work for SHIELD until this recovers. Also... met a kid last night who seems like she could use a bit of a power mentor. Strong, fast... smart." she shrugs a bit, "reminded me a bit of you."
"Yeah. It'll be more interesting when I'm not doing Gen Eds. I've always hated math," Jocelyn offers. "You mean they haven't put you on a pension yet?" Jocelyn teases Carol lightly. It did seem that Captain Marvel had been around forever. "Oh?" The comment about the kid with the powers interests her. "Kid got a name?" Jocelyn questions. "I've heard of a few people, might know who you're talking about". Or she might not. But Jocelyn was good at making contacts, at the very least.
"I -am- on a pension you butt. I retired as a Colonel. But it's weird.... I'm a lot older than my body is. Must be all that time spent at relativistic speeds as Binary... maybe when I Was full power, I just didn't age. Hard to say for real." offers Carol. Yeah, she's thought about this a bit.
"Suzy Sherman. From California.." adds Carol. "That's her name."
"Suzy Sherman," Jocelyn says, running the name through her head. "Doesn't ring a bell," the girl says after a minute. Though she'd keep an eye out for her, maybe put some contacts out to find out about her. Maybe. She wasn't sure yet.
There's a tilt of her head. "I don't know much about your time as Binary. I gotta admit, Superhero History 101 isn't my best subject either". A grin. "I know, kids these days and all that".
Smirking a bit, Carol shakes her head, "I really haven't talked about it much to anyone. It was.. a rush. being able to breach the light speed barrier with just my force of will... racing about the stars with friends in their ship..."
"Gotta admit. That sounds really intense," Jocelyn tells Carol. And she'd never be late to class again! Not that she has much control over that. "I don't think I ever really got how big space was until recently". Having been there, you get an actual sense of the universe, in that you realize that's it is so much more than you can realize. "Being able to race along it like that would be incredible," she agrees.
Grinning, Carol nods, "It was the ultimate fix for a fighter pilot, yeah. So actually, while I'm in my early thirties, without that several year jaunt, I might be about ten to fifteen years older. Light speed really screws with time, that's for sure. Plus, I could do a lot of the stuff you can do now. I could -see- energy, tweak it and all. Trust me, what I am now... or was, you know... is quite the pale comparison to when I Was Binary. I..." she pauses now and blurts it out, "Turned an entire Brood -planet-, and all of its occupants, including their queen.. to crystal with my power... all at once."
Wow. Jocelyn knew the Brood seemed to, in general, not care for Carol much, from the one Brood she'd met. But she didn't really know the history. That would be the reason. "Wow," Jocelyn says. "That is...a lot of juice to control". She's controled a lot, but planet-changing? She's pretty sure she hasn't, not even with Axiom's boosts at times. There's no judgement in her voice, though. Jocelyn doesn't see it as her place to judge what happened in the past. The woman is quiet for a minute as they walk. "I'm nowhere near as experienced as you, Carol. I've done a lot in my year or so, but I don't know if I can comprehend having the ability to, and having cause to wield power of that level". She can grasp the concept, but Jocelyn just can't really fathom that level of responsibility yet.
"The Brood were killing indiscriminately, that single queen had snuffed out the lives of over a dozen worlds. Plus... they were the ones that... well, put it this way. They tried to make a weapon, a weapon capable of manipulating energy and matter, that could destroy worlds single-handedly. But that weapon did not want to be under their control..." Carol pauses and adds, "So I broke free and left, and came back later for revenge. It was dark, petty, and it felt great." she adds.
"I know someone with a similar story," Jocelyn says, thinking back to her roomie. Laura had a comparable backstory. "Just on a smaller scale," Jocelyn adds. There's still no judgement in her voice though. "I don't think I'd want to be used as a weapon either". She had her causes, and people she fought with and took orders from. But she always had a choice. That was important to the woman.
"But that is far in the past. That is why in the Brood tongue... I am named: She who must be destroyed at all costs, even if it destroys us." Carol shakes her head, "They really do like their longwinded names. Anyway... what is important now is that... this will pass and I'll be fine. And you did great."
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