2013-02-08 Installing a Shower

Despite the snow and the cold, Eddie's out and about today. Specifically, he's down in the Young Allies' secret base beneath Central Park. Dressed for a work out, he can be found in the main base area. The scent of coffee brewing flows through the base as well as some music coming from a small radio Eddie's brought down there with him. He's not singing today though, anyone coming in will find him in the middle of some push-ups. "88...89...90..."
Tommy has arrived! It is easy to notice this, because suddenly there is the sound of metal hitting metal at high speed, the rumbling of broken brickwork and other terrible, loud sounds coming from the back of the station. Because as usual, Speed is doing 'something'. He just can't let things stay as they are. The idea of 'if it is not broken, don't fix it' does not seems to have space in his head.
Two things mark the appearance of Billy 'Wiccan' Kaplan into the working base of hte Young Allies. One is the sudden increase in ozone in the room, and the other him almost sighing the words, "I really hate school some days." The mystic teen tosses his messanger bag filled with everything he needs for school onto a random chair looking for a moment like he is about to join it before instead drifinting in the direction of the fresh coffee smell. "Mmm, Eddie that coffee smells heavenly...and what is that sound?" He asks the last hearing the clattering of bricks and other things going on.
The sudden noise gets a startled squeak out of Eddie and he falls flat on his face. Then Billy's arriving. Reaching over the flick off the music, the power booster sits up and grabs his towel. "H-hey, Billy," he offers. "I don't know, it just started," he says, starting to get up with that 'Let us investigate!' look on his face.
Last week Tommy painted the whole ceiling and walls of the station (it still smells to paint, there is not a good air circulation down here. Today his project seems to involve the destruction of the bathrooms, judging for the noises. There is a few large boxes on the doors that weren't there an hour ago.
Billy Kaplan nods at Eddie and gets himself some coffee real quick before he even starts to look in the direction of the noises. He has his priorities after all. Once he has coffee in hand Billy starts to float over too the male bathrooms, on the off chance something horrible and monsterous is about to attack he stands off to one side of the bathroom door and looks too eddie to make sure he is ready before pushing the door open. "What...what is going on in there?"
Eddie waits for Billy before heading towards the bathrooms. The boxes get an odd look before he settles into a ready stance. Giving Wiccan the nod, Eddie moves in once the door is open . The sight before him just gets a few blinks. "Uhh...Tommy?"
Yes, it is Tommy. He has demolished one of the tiled walls, and part of the brickwork underneath. He is ripping out old plumbing with a crowbar. There is some water on the floor, but not much, so he must have closed the water supply. "Hello," /clang-clang,-crunch/, "manthisplumbingisold I amgoing tochange itand setup abrandnew elctricalwaterheater." He is going fast, of course, but it all looks like a warzone
Billy Kaplan blinks and just stares at his lighter colored doppleganger. "I...think I need more coffee for this." Thats about all he can say at first. "Ok, where to start? What? why? What again, and maybe a huh?" No he is not making sense, but he is not really meaning too at this point.
Eddie just stares for a moment, glancing down at the water on the floor when he notices it. Billy's questions have him tilting his head to the side and shrugging. "Of course the plumbing is old. The station is old," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Umm...are you s-s-sure a crowbar is the right t-t-t-tool for this?"
Trig homework...that's all Robbie can stands, he can't stands no more!
Apparently, he needs to do his English homework too, if he's coming up with sentences like that.
And the best way to get away from homework for a bit is to go out and fight crime! Except...it's blizzard conditions out. So unless the Snow Miser is stooping to kidnapping, there's not much going out there action-wise. And a reflective bouncy force field doesn't do much against the cold, so he foregoes his costume and is in a heavy jacket, muffs and a scarf to make his way down to the Station.
"Anyone home?" he calls out, once he pries the snow-sprinkled scarf off of his mouth.
"Relax, I have been reading stuff about this for the past couple days," replies Tommy, slowing down to talk. "It is all very easy. I have... er, obtained a few of those new galvanized steel tubes. Real cheap." He grins. "And the heater, I assembled it in my place the other day, so I know I can assemble it here, no problem. I'll fix the walls tomorrow."
Billy Kaplan just takes a nice long drink of his coffee before saying anything else. "I...ok so you do know what your doing?" Far be it from billy to cast doubt on his body double's abilities but...well he would need a darn slight more than a couple of days of reading to learn plumbing. The bit where Tommy 'obtained' the stuff he has is going to be politly ignored on the off chance they were not obtained using money. "Or when your done I could do that. Gotten pretty good putting things back together with my powers with all the practice I have gotten lately." when he heaers Robboe call out the dark haired teen turns form the door to the bathrooms and waves at Robbie. "Not at all, there is nobody here exept us ghosts."
"W-wouldn't like...a wrench be easier though?" Eddie asks, running a hand through his hair. He looks a little concerned at the mention of obtaining things. "N-need any help?" he offers to Tommy. Robbie's call gets Eddie smiling. "Hey, Robbie!" he calls, happy to see another friend.
"Hell, even ghosts need someplace warm," Robbie quips as he makes his way towards the voices and...what /is/ that banging noise, anyway? He drops his jacket over a chair in another room, and shakes some spare ice crystals out of his hair as he gets to the others. "Dude, the weather's real. H bad when your dad calls from Connecticut and says to stay with your mom in New York." He comes to a stop and just stares at Tommy at work. "Tell me we're putting in a hot tub," he says, moving a foot to avoid sneaker contact with the water. "Or a hot spring? Anything warm? Set something on fire?"
"Not rocket science, Billy," replies Tommy. "But if I don't get it right the first time, I just will try again. Or you can try your powers." He gestures a corner, where he has a lot of tools in a container. "I'll need a wrench, or several, for the new pipes. But the old ones are going to the thrash. This is faster. And sure, join in, it will be fun." Yes, Tommy has a weird definition of 'fun' that summarizes into 'anything that keeps me busy'. His days are very long.
Billy Kaplan nods and just blinks at Tommy a second. "You have a weird taste in fun, you know that right?" This comming form the teenager that has not only read the entierty of the Lord of the Rings Trillogy and the Similarion.
"Let's not trash them," Eddie speaks up. "We c-can sell the pipes at a scrapyard and d-d-donate the money to a charity or two," he says. "There's fresh coffee if you're c-c-cold, Robbie," he offers. "Tommy's working on installing a shower I think," he explains. He looks to Robbie and Billy before heading over to the tools to look for something to help with.
The blond kid perks at the mention of coffee. "Good enough!" he chimes, and reminds himself to bring things over to stock up. Coffee, snacks, nothing that Kate would yell at him over. "How're you guys doing? Hear from any of the others? Gonna magick snow off sidewalks for cash?" Okay, so maybe he's thought about powers for profit. A couple of times. He turns away. Now where's that coffee?
"Oh sure, we can recycle them, I guess." They are old and rusty, but Tommy figures they might be melted down for something. "Coffee doesn't do much for me, I metabolize it too quickly, and anyway, I don't sleep much, so I am rarely tired or sleepy. Maybe some cocoa later, not that I am cold right now."
Billy Kaplan nods at Eddie. "Given what scrap metal is going for right now, thats probably a pretty good idea." Billy shifty eyes a little makes a shushing gesture at Robbie as he says, "Shhh, not so loud. The little old ladies at the assisted living place Bubbie Kaplan used to live at are hard enough to dodge when they try to give me money for helping to shovel snow there from time to time. Saying anything about getting paid for it out loud is just going to ensure the universe makes it harder to avoid them." Of coruse there are worse things than little old Jewish women that knew his Grandmother before she moved to Bocca trying to give him money, like them pinching his cheeks and asking when he is going to find a nice Jewish girl go date.
Picking up a wrench, Eddie moves to help Tommy start pulling pipes from the wall. "I m-made sure to bring cocoa with me for p-people that don't want tea or coffee," he chimes, grunting slightly as he starts pulling on one of the pipes. "I haven't seen any of the others t-today," he says. "B-but I have been hanging out with someone I think m-m-might be a good addition to the t-wah!" he pulls hard and a pipe comes loose...and ends up falling flat on his rear with it.
"After what we went through a few months back, I'm not going to assume any old lady is harmless, you know?" Robbie sets up the Keurig that Kate provided. Wait wait wait. He's watching Base Improvement Live while he awaits his warm coffee, so long as it's warm it could be jalapeno flavored for all he's concerned. He pushes off as Eddie takes a tumble. "Geez!"
Tommy glances at Eddie and catches him before he ends up on the floor, which has a few millimetres of ice cold water. "Copy my powers, you need the strength, those old pipes have been there for a century and don't seem to want to leave."
Billy Kaplan whinces as he sees Eddie go down and moves into the bathroom setting hsi cup of coffee on one of the sinks that is far enough away from the action to probably be safe. He moves over to offer Eddie some help up before seeing that Tommy has already caught him. Billy cocks his head to the side and starting a spell.
"Rightytightyleftyloosey,leftyloosey.leftyloosey!" The teen mage waves his hands around in a hopefully mystical looking fasion before several of the pipes give a little creek and a shudder while the start to turn very slowly for a few seconds. "Ooph, your right about them not wanting to leave. If nothing else at least they should be a little looser now and easier to get out."
Eddie just blinks as he gets caught, needing a moment to figure out why he isn't on the floor. "Thanks, Tommy," he says, blushing. Nodding, Eddie takes a deep breath and boosts Tommy's powers. One moment and flash of light later and Eddie's copied Tommy's powers, hair going white and outfit become a fusion of his own and Tommy's. "I'mokay,Robbie," he speaks quickly. Billy's mystic work makes him smile and Eddie nods. "Maybe there's s-some of that metal in them you told me that messes with magic," he says. "Oh yeah! Billy, m-maybe you should set up wards around here."
"Wards?" Robbie asks. He's gotten his coffee and is coming back with it. He shifts the mug from hand to hand because it's kind of hot. "Okay, Billy, that's pretty cool." He's still confused about the wards thing, from the look on his face. His eyes slide over to Eddie as he starts to get a little Tommy-look to him. "I don't think I'll get used to seeing that."
"No problem," says Tommy to Eddie, then he looks at Billy's work and smirks. "Yeah, stupid stubborn pipes, that is why I use a crowbar." He hooks one of them and pulls hard, bending the metal and prying it free from the wall, along some chunks of old brick and mortar.
Billy Kaplan grins at Eddie and shrugs. "Would make those things worth more than Hawkeye's Dad if there was. That stuff does not exist on Earth naturaly." He goes back to grab his coffee and take a long sip. "Actually, already started with a few. Nothing big, just stuff to hide us from magic so far like the stuff I did at home. Going to work up too the more...interesting stuff.""Really? Huh..." Eddie trails off. He starts pulling on another pipe with the wrench. This time he only stumbles back a step when it comes loose, smiling. "It's a magic protection thing, Robbie," he explains. "Like I w-was saying, I met someone I think might be good to join us," he says, pulling another pipe and bending it.
"Well," Robbie replies. "Don't keep us in suspense, Eddie. Out with it!" He chuckles to himself as he stands by Billy, but allowing for personal space. "So, what're wards," he asks, tilting his head.
"Cool, who is this?" Since Eddie is pulling out pipes, Tommy goes looking for the new ones. They are black steel, much lighter than the old ones. Also longer segments, which is the first logistic problem of Tommy's little project. The pipes are not the correct size to fit the distances between the faucets and the main pipe, and it is going to be a miracle if they can arrange the segments to just get to the water main. Hmm, but he has a metal cutting saw. The problem is the new pipes are -very- hard.
Billy Kaplan grins at Robbie and tilts his head at Eddie. "What he said, protective magic. Stuff like making it so people can't track us here, or spy on us, or if I can get them working right make anyone with bad intentions that trys to get in get smacked upside the head." He just stands back and watches Tommy and Eddie at work a bit. "Yeah Eddie, can the suspense. Who have you been hanging with?"
"A mutant named," Eddie pauses to pull a pipe out and toss it into the pile. "Anole. I've worked with him a c-c-couple times. And um," he blushes faintly. "He was the g-g-guy in Times Square I was dance-fighting with when Dazzle Diva attacked with those aliens," he says. There's a pause as he tries to figure out how to deal with a pipe he's twisted out of shape. "I think you guys would like him."
"Ohhhh, awesome!" Robbie says as Billy explains what he means by wards. Apparently, Robbie was never a gamer. The odd name Eddie gives makes Robbie adopt a 'wtf' look, until the power-duplicator elaborates, and then Baldwin brightens right up. "Oh, the green lizard kid! He seemed cool when we went up against the Diva again. I swear, I gotta have an Epic Rap Battle ready for when she comes back."
"Anole? Isn't that a kind of lizard?" Trust Tommy to know all kinds of useless information. He is trying to calculate how to make the new pipes fit, frowning. "Do you know spells to make metal pipes shorter, Billy?" Hey, one can hope. Otherwise he will try to cut them. Chances are they are going to need more saws.
Billy Kaplan nodes at Robbie and then grins at Eddie. "Cool, so what kind of powers does he have? Bullet proof scales, super strength, twelve foot long prehensile tongue?" Billy of course listing the powers that come to mind with someone whose code name is a kind of lizard. Billy hmms as he looks at the pipes and shrugs. "I can always try...Makethepipestheperfectsizes, Makethepipestheperfectsizes, Makethepipestheperfectsizes!" He chants concentrating onteh pipes and wanting them to be the exact sizes that they are going to need them to be.
Eddie nods to Tommy. "It is," he looked it up. "Hold on," he says, pulling on the twisted pipe until it comes free with several bits of brick. "I hope she doesn't come back. She's k-kind of creepy," Eddie replies. "Umm, well he's all super jumpy and flexible. He healed fast too...and um..." no comments on the tongue, just Eddie blushing. "I think he can like...change c-colors and go all invisible too. Oh and stick to walls like Scarlet Spider."
"That's a nice set of abilities," Robbie says, sipping from his coffee as he eyes Eddie sidelong. He sees that look on Eddie's face. It's one of those 'get Eddie alone and ask pointed questions' kind of looks. Behind the mug, he just smiles. "Well, if you need a few of us around to chat him up about the Allies, count me in."
Tommy facepalms at Billy's spells. "Can't you chant the names of the alien gods and spirits or talk backwards like a normal wizard, Billy? Seriously, hearing your spell-casting thing kinda sucks." He pauses as the pipe seems to shorten to the perfect length. "Can't complain about the results, I guess."
Billy Kaplan blinks and just gets this grin as he sees Eddie blush. He can not help himself but ask, "Cool, wall crawling and super agility mixed with invisability. so now for the real question...are you thinking he is cute?" Whats a best friend for if not too tease a little about possible crushes and maybe play match maker. Especailly the last part since Eddie did a bit of that for him and Teddy. Of course then Tommy has to go and taunt Billy. The dark haried teen fake pouts at him and sticks out his tongue. "At least doing it my way you know what I am trying. I did try doing some in Norse recently though, turned a ripped shirt into a goat."
"They were pretty f-fun to copy," Eddie replies to Robbie. "Even if I did t-turn green and get like...spikes," he says. Sometimes the shapechanging aspects of his mimicry powers are weird. Like having Tommy's white hair now. He misses Robbie's sidelong look, just smiling at his offer. "Great! I should introduce you g-guys and the others to him sometime," he say. And then Billy asks that question. Eddie ends up going crimson and sputtering. "Wh-what?" he squeaks out.
Tommy smirks at the dialog between Eddie and Billy. He is adjusting the first segment of new pipe, crazy fast, this time using a wrench. "Robbie, we need to start looking for more girls for the team, these two only pays attention to guys."
Mock-rolling his eyes, Robbie turns to Billy. "Dude, you don't just come out and ask him like that." Beat. "Here." Another beat. "You wait til he's back at the apartment and get some of that greeting mead into him, then make him talk." He turns back to Eddie, all grins. "You heard the question, Ed-man. You liiiike him?"
At Tommy's words, Robbie's grin turns wicked. "Tommy, I'm all for whatever makes Billy and Eddie happy. Less competition for the rest of us, you know?" He considers something. "But, dude, Hawkeye's gorgeous. Think she'd put an arrow in my eye if I asked her out, though."
Billy Kaplan lets out a single laugh as Eddie sputters a bit but keeps that grin on his face. "You heard me Eddie. I can always play wingman if you want, after all you introduced me too and helped set me up with a awsome green hottie, least I could do is reciprocate." Billy eyes Tommy and trobbie for a bit and then laughs again. "He's got the right idea, less competition. Think about it Tommy, how much harder would it be if you had to compete with someone that not only had the same good looks as you but awsome reality warping magic powers too?" Billy does hmm a little to himself looking over Robbie. "You know, it would depend on just how you ask her out."
"That is n-not true," Eddie pouts at Tommy. "I've been looking for anyone that c-could join us regardless of gender. I w-was going to ask Spider-Girl or her friend with the claws b-but I haven't seen them in a long while," he says. Blushing again, he turns that pout on Robbie and Billy. "I...I don't even know if he swings this w-way, okay. He's just my friend," he says. Not confirming or denying if he thinks Anole is cute or not or if he likes him.
Moving over, Robbie puts a hand on Eddie's shoulder for a moment. "Dude, chill," he says. "We know you're not gender-biased or anything, especially when it comes to the team. And wait, there's a Spider-Girl, now? How many spiders are there, anyway?" Billy's advice gets a rueful shake of the head. "I know. But I'm pretty sure she doesn't see me that way. No harm no foul." The mage's retort to Tommy gets a chuckle. "Yeah, Tommy, and he's so much more humble than you."
Tommy pffs at Billy. "Dude, you are almost as bad as Eddie and..." did he say 'friend with claws'? Interesting. "Yeah, Hawkeye is hot. But she needs to learn to relax. Everything she does, well, it looks like the whole world depends on it. I think Noriko is hot too, but we don't seem to get along. Man, I hate drugs."
Billy Kaplan grins at Eddie and just gives him a look, one that says all he could teasing him wuthout using any words. "Friend with claws? Wouldn't happen to be long dark haired chick, tends to wear a hoodie and some minor anger managment problems would she?" Grins at tommy and snerks a little. "Totaly agree with you, Hawkeye is awsome but wound a little too tight. Same with the whole drugs thing."
Eddie glances back at Robbie and nods. "There's a f-few," he says. "But they're awesome," he adds. "Spider-Girl's p-p-powers felt different from Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider's though," he says. "I know another g-girl we could ask...her name is Jubilee and she makes these..." he wiggles his fingers. "Energy fireworks. I'm n-not sure if she wants to be a hero though," he adds. Billy's question gets a nod. "Y-y-yeah. The girl from when Broo went all monstery. I've run into her a few times. She was working with Spider-Girl and Cannonball awhile back," he says. He just gives silent nods to the identical teammate's opinions about drugs and Kate.
For a brief moment, Robbie gets a faraway look. "Noriko said my powers were awesome," he murmurs, relishing that memory for just a moment. He shakes his head to dislodge it, and gets back to the present. He doesn't respond to the opinions on Kate, but there's that thoughtful look in his eye when it's mentioned. "And Karolina. The rainbow girl. She's very cheerful."
"I know the clawed girl, we fought against a robot squid in New Jersey the other day, along with a man with ice powers and a super-strong blonde. She said her name was Laura." Also, she refused to give her phone number to Tommy. Too bad. "I don't know Lucy or Speedy very well, to say the truth."
Billy Kaplan nods at Eddie. "Ok, just who I thought. Havn't seen her since then but she would be kinda cool to have on the team if she was interested. Heh, yeah Karolina is fun to hang with. You do have pretty cool powers, the whole kenetic energy thing...wish I had powers like that jsut about all of last year in school."
"Your powers are awesome, Robbie," Eddie grins, turning to his friend. "When I c-copied them it was like...wow," he gestures excitedly with his arms. "Karolina's cool too. I think her powers make her extra cheerful too. I got really energized and happy when I mimicked them," he blinks at Tommy. "Man with ice powers? Iceman? Oh that is so c-c-cool!" he read about that mutant online. "Which super strong blond?" he asks. Of course if anyone looked up Heather's photoshoots they'd find at least one picture of her and Axiom together at a Victoria Secret's photoshoot in Metropolis months back...with Axiom looking incredibly flustered. "Hawkeye knows Speedy b-better. I hung out with her once and she seemed nice though."
"Thanks, guys," Robbie says, on power-affirmation. He might be happier with his abilities if he had more control. But, he's been getting a little better since he's been hanging around others. "Speedy's cool, though she sounds like she has a wild side. She's said stuff that just takes you off guard, because it's all stealth stuff." A pause. "Never thought I'd be having this conversation with you two," he mutters.
Iceman? Maybe," Tommy does not follow the carriers of obscure and secretive super-heroes, he only knows the big names. The Justice League, Iron Man, Thor, the Fantastic Four, Spiderman. Those guys. "The blonde was... hmm, mid twenties, her name was... Heather, or Hillary. Can't remember."
Billy Kaplan raises an eyebrow at Robbie and just grins. "What? Just cause I am gay does not mean I can't talk about girls. Might be rusty, but was pretty good at it back before the whole getting outted to the scholl thing. Made for almost decent cover when trying to stay in the closet and you know...not being the most jocktastic of masculine people." Billy grins at Robbie and shrugs a little. Then Billy blinks at Tommy, "Wait not Heather as in..." cue evil grin and then rushing off to get something out of his backpack. It only takes a few second and he is back with an iPad flippign through something till he turns it around and yes has foudn the picture of Eddie and the woman that puts the super in Super Model. "As in here right?"
"Heather?" Eddie blinks a few times, wondering if its the same Heather he's met before. When Billy gets that grin, Eddie knows something is about to happen. "Oh b-boy..." he trails off. And then Billy brings up the picture. Eddie in costume looking like he might combust from over blushing with Heather pulling him into the photo. "Billy," he groans a little, edging behind Robbie.
Wandering over, then looking over Billy's shoulder at the picture he's brought up, Robbie's eyebrows find a home somewhere way above his hairline, and he almost drops the mug of coffee in shock. "Damn," he says. "I...gotta get out more."
Tommy leaves the pipes to peer at the picture and nods, "yeah,that one. Bit old, but very nice, ah... smile." He was looking a little lower than her face, of course. "So you know her already? Is she famous or anything?"
Billy Kaplan just looks at Eddie. "What? My best friend gets a picture that goes viral and you don't expect me to have a copy? I mean I have blurry tabloid shots of heroest hat could very well jsut be bats or a lost red balloon for all thier clarity of course I am going to have that one book marked."
"I m-met her in Metropolis. Me and Robin saved her from some crazy lava woman," Eddie explains. "I think Thor knows her too," he says. He gives Billy a pout. "It's embarrassing..."
"I think that's part of the hero business," Robbie says. "Tabloids, pictures, and they're never the pictures when you're not getting your butt kicked." He just looks at the supermodel, and shakes his head before he turns away. "Gonna catch the tube, see how the city's holding up."
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