2013.05.03 - Clearing the Dust

So about an hour ago, Cos sent out an all-Legion request for assistance in Metropolis; in the intervening time, a giant spaceship crashed into Highline Park and like ate a huge part of it and the street below; civilians are still emerging, bewildered, from the rapidly changing wreckage, but Damage Control is taking care of them at this point. Superman, after recovering and digging /his/ way out, pretty much immediately got another distress call, but it was one he could clearly handle on his own by basically breathing funny, so he hadn't needed assistance.
Right now? There's a concentration of flight rings still on the Highline; the emergency isn't an emergency any longer, and those winded or exhausted by the fight have had time to recover at least enough to be conscious.
"--*please* tell me this crate's got silverale somewhere in it. I mean, not smashed," Rokk says to Kent, the first thing he's been able to say that wasn't pure business. He's finally getting a chance to brush the caustic dust from his uniform, too, though... busted up buildings tend to need to be -washed- out. Especially out of black.
"I actually wasn't involved in stocking the ship, the Imskians took care of that," Kent Shakespeare explains. Not having been at ground zero when the Chiron hit he isn't as completely coated in dust as Rokk is. He seems a little dazed in the aftermath of a hyperdrive accident and then meeting his friend who had been left behind on Braal with the rest of his people -- an entire planet in recovery from a war.
The first thing Booster Gold does after regaining consciousness is to accept a small comb from Skeets, his valet droid. With a pulse of his force field, he divests himself of dust, then combs his hair and tosses the implement back to Skeets. The robot catches it in a little claw-arm which then retracts back into the egg-shaped body. 
Presentable, now, Booster hesitates for only a moment before he approaches the others. Speaking in Interlac, he says, "So... is this an awkward time? I have to admit, I'm confused about... a lot of what just happened." Booster glances around at the wreckage, and what remains of the neighborhood. "Other than the basic reality of heavy property damage that's clearly occurred, here."
'Rapidly changing' is often shorthand code for 'structurally unsound', so Laurel has been making herself useful shoring up things with carefully applied punches and blasts of heat-vision -- especially since that Superman fella decided to boogie out onto other pressing matters. Legion business is Legion business, and the Daxamite heroine would be hard pressed to think of anywhere else she'd rather be.
Once done, Laurel sort of floats over near the others and touches down - She's MOSTLY looking at the wreckage, really... "I'm not familiar with this make or model, Kent -- where the sprock did you find it?"
A figure in red and blue drops from the sky, in what must be a learned pose among the Superman family: almost standing vertical, first and elbows pulled in at the waist, right knee bent slightly. Valor*, or M'Onel*, or Mon-El* touches down, with his cape fluttering the breeze.
"Whatever the model," he quips, looking at the debris with Microscopic and Telescopic vision, "This could be a better way for Metropolis to become 'The City of Tomorrow' than via Brainiac tech. Maybe."
Lar looks at Rokk, "I passed Superman in Italy, he told me to come tag in." He nods at Booster Then he looks at Kent, "Welcome to the party." Finally he turns to Laurel, and smiles that almost-Superman smile. "Hey, you."
* Editor's note - we won't do that every issue, we promise.
Digging through the various crates, having long since negative-static-charged himself clean of dust, Garth peeks his head over a particularly large crate. "Hey, Shakespeare, what's with that get-up outside...? It's just doing something that doesn't -look- like repairs. It looks more like... well, building." 
Turning to the sound of additional familiar voices, Kent replies to the question asked of him. "Its Imskian Navy Surplus. They wanted to get me off of Braal before EarthGov sent agents in after me so they put together this pediatrics mission to Quarantine," he explains to her and then, to Garth, he says, "Automated base construction 'kit'. Figuring there was going to be some damage to the cityscape I figured that since I had the equipment available I should activate it so there was to do for the people of the city."
"Lar!" Laurel doesn’t even bother looking before she leaps - her 'cousin' gets a giant hug and she totally messes up his mop of hair (because it's always on the verge of it anyway, right?) "Good to see you!" Things are looking up all the time - Legionnaires HER OWN AGE are a total bonus, no matter what future they find their way from.
Kent's explanation nets a nod from the blonde, and she leans a bit on Lar. "Dunno what you're talking about really, but this thing should stop when it's done." Then there's a moment where Booster Gold is asking clarifying questions and hell if she knows, and then she's staring at Cos. "We're gonna have to pay for the land. Or at least a lease or something."
"Uh..." Booster Gold is radiating a wary bafflement, especially now that his headache is starting to go away. Thanks to his goggles, he is starting to notice little details--in particular, the familiar looking rings. Glancing at the ring on his own hand, he then nonchalantly covers it up by bending his arm and slipping that hand behind his back. "Hey, can I ask... and no offense meant, but are you guys aliens? It's cool if you are. I was just curious."
Totally failing to comment on Braal, Imskians, or EarthGov, Rokk floats over to peer into the crate Garth's investigating, and then Booster comes over to them, confused and unhappy, apparently. He gives Lar a thumbs-up in the same way as one would give a lo-5, then sticks his hand out to Booster, giving the man a crooked grin. "I'm admittedly kind of confused, myself, but I don't think it's something we need to actively worry about. I'm Cos, that's Lightning Lad--" he points to Garth, "--and M'Onel--" he points to Lar Gand, "and Laurel Gand," he points to Laurel Gand, "and Kent Shakespeare," he points to Kent. "Only some of us are aliens, but we're all members of the Legion of Super-Heroes."
Then the Braalian gestures at Booster's flight ring. "Which I kind of, admittedly, expected you to know. Out of curiosity, where'd you get the ring?"
Kent starts to extend his hand towards Booster as he steps over towards him. "I'm a Terran actually, for example," but he stops before his hand reaches far enough for the other hero to reach out to it as Rokk's comment on the ring brings his attention to it at well. Instead he waits for that topic to be addressed fully.
Waving a hand at Laurel and her concerns, Garth grins. "Don't worry about it. Cos'll take care of it. I just wondered about all that construction, though... hey, Kent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a -base-? You're gonna give a base to this city? Grife... give it to us, we could use a better place than Suicide Slum. Hey Rokk! ROKK! Can we have a base?"
Booster gets a blink. "You have no idea? You were answering the ring's call, man." 
"In fact... wait a minute... Rokk! We met Booster Gold in my time. He was some criminal that Brainy -let- him steal Legion ring... and the Green Lantern Ring.. and force field tech... and then he went back in time to become a -hero- after stealing a time machine!" Garth goes on. "That's how he... wait, you forgot all that?" 
Booster Gold opens his mouth to reply, then shuts it again. From the expression on his face, this is all way beyond anything he personally knows about. "Ah..." While he processes all of this, he gives Rokk's hand a shake, and then Kent's, and says, "I'm Booster Gold. And I--" When Garth starts to roll out a rap sheet and he holds up both hands, protectively. "Whoah, wait... what time are you people -from-?"
Kent Shakespeare tries to give Lar and Laurel leading looks, hoping that they might get the idea with him that as the heavy hitters the three of them might want to flank Booster until this is fully resolved, but also clearly ready to defer to them and Rokk what with his having just arrived in this time and not knowing the lay of the planet as well as he assumes they do.
"2995," Laurel volunteers. Brainy-approved space criminal refugee from Garth's end of the future? Behold, Booster Gold, the Daxamite Dubious-Face! Laurel studies him fairly closely, summing him up with an "Mmmmmmmmmmm HMM."
"Give or take a thousand years," Lar adds and runs his right hand through his hair, almost fixing it, as he throws his left arm across Laurel's shoulders and squeezes. "While you university boys are discussing things, is there any clean up or crowd control left you need us powerhouses to take care of?" It's obviously friendly teasing, but yeah knowing Mon-El he'd prefer action. In the meantime from the look on his face he's both amused at Booster's consternation and quite pleased he and Laurel have finally been on the same turf together.
"Booster Gold! Excellent assist, man--" Rokk starts, and then Garth's rap sheet intercedes. The Braalian squints, then squints more, and this time it's at Garth. "We've been over this," he says patiently, "you're weird. Remember? Imra yelled at me. Besides, he obviously doesn't have a Lantern ring-- he's Booster /Gold/, not Booster /Green/." And then he nods to Laurel, and adds, "3015, here. You can generally assume 30th or 31st century. But seriously, that's a Legion Flight Ring. As long as you didn't kill anyone to get it, I don't care-- too much time travel nonsense to worry about it. Your forcefield really saved the day."
"3008," Garth replies, scratching his beard. "You're lucky Brainy pointed out that you've been doing -good- with those powers. You broke Bouncing Boy's brain for days -after- that, you know... you don't remember a damn thing? Man, time travelling must have scrambled your brains too."
Now Garth looks at Rokk. "But he -was- a thief that travelled back to the 21st century!" Motioning towards Booster and... "Where's Skeets, anyway?" 
"Wh... no, I'm from 2462! The 25th century. This..." Booster Gold raises his hand to show the Legion ring he wears over his glove, and he points to it. "It was in a Metropolis museum, just gathering dust. I remember the placard, the archaeologists who found it said it was probably around four or five hundred years old. I uh, worked at the museum and it was supposed to be inert but it flew into my hand. I swear." Pushing his goggles off and back, so that his cowl hangs behind his neck, Booster rubs his face with his hands. "This is so confusing. Skeets!"
Obediently, the small golden robot flies over and hovers in the air beside Booster, bobbing in place. "Yes, sir?"
"It seems like we are all from different timelines," Kent Shakespeare says before stating a year of his own. "2992, here, left Braal about three months after the Venado Bay Massacre."
Laurel Gand lifts a hand to her face, sliding it down over her mouth. She looks at Garth. Looks at Rokk, THEN at Booster Gold with an apologetic expression for the immediate suspicion, AND THEN at Lar. "I'm so glad you're here. Things are more insane than usual, as you can well see," she tells him quietly. At last, she's looking back at Garth, fixing him with that same intent stare she was giving Booster just a bit ago. She even gestures a little bit with her hands back and forth as she enunciates very clearly, "Of course he doesn't remember, he's not the same one you know. Like a lot of us aren't the same." And then she shakes her head in disbelief that she had to say that out loud at all! GOSH!
Slapping his forehead, giving Laurel the same look, and then sighing, Garth grumbles. "So he's -not- a timethief from the 31st century, he's from the... uh, 25th century and a ring just -jumped- onto his hand! At least he has -Skeets-."
Bringing his hands up in a 'why me' move, Garth kicks the ground a bit, sending a very very invisible lightning-charge towards Rokk. Really subtle, practically unnoticeable... just extra static electricity, don't mind it. 
"I mean, yes, okay, I -took- the ring," Booster Gold admits. "But it was supposed to be a non-working artifact. So when it flew into my hand, I figured... you know, maybe it -should- belong to me?" He rubs the back of his neck as he relates this logic, which made a lot of sense to him at that time. "And I thought, well, why have this stuff sitting around doing nothing when it could be used to save the day. But superheroes weren't legal in my era." He coughs lightly into his fist. "So I took a few more things, travelled back in time and... here I am." Booster grins a little crookedly, and spreads his hands in a sort of shrug. See? Harmless, and no harm done.
In response to Garth, there's a very very light magnetic shove. An 'I NOTICED THAT' shove. And a quick polarization; the dust that isn't ground into his uniform settles gently to the floor. And Rokk's gaze has, at least for the moment, settled on Kent-- it's somewhat stricken. "Oh," he says, clearing his throat. "Yeah." Cue the thirty-something not meeting Laurel's or Kent's eyes anymore, and finding something very interesting with his -own- flight ring, before he clears his throat again and then returns Booster's grin with slightly less emphasis. "Like I said, I don't care as long as you didn't kill anyone to get it, which you didn't. Sounds like a good use of artifacts in a century with silly rules about superheroes. You're fine. I mean, sprock, you should try out. Especially if you're gonna be listening in on the frequency anyway." Then he reaches over and lightly punches Garth's not-robotic arm, giving the other Founder an affectionate look. "By the way, yes, we can have a base."
Kent Shakespeare seems to visibly relax as it is obvious that this isn't going to come to blows. "I'm going to need to go to that office you told me about now Rokk. Try to get someone to get an interface with the construction system, you ought to be able to influence the progress," he explains. Then to Booster and Garth as well he says, "Thanks for the assist earlier." Finally, to all of his teammates (and Booster Gold), "Once I'm done with this registration process I'll contact the team. I'll see if there is any way to claim the crash site as Legion property also while I'm at the office." He then floats up into the air, departing after the goodbyes from his fellow Legionnaires.
Lar watches Kent go. At his cousin's observation on how crazy things are he says "You don't know the half of it."
Laurel Gand nods sagely. "We can compare notes later."
"I told you he was a time thief," mutters Garth as he brushes his hand against where the punch happened, looking at Rokk. "Fine, we have a base. You get all the paperwork, I supervise, Imra gets her britches hitched up for some kicking, and we get the Legion off the ground again." 
And then something sinks in. "So... wait... if I'm in charge of training, does that -also- mean I have to -run- the tryouts?" 
Casting a dubious look at Booster, Garth considers, before a slow smile appears. "Ohhhhhh... I think I'm gonna -enjoy- running that tryout. Count me in, Cos!" 
Why no, that wasn't a sinister laugh that emerged from Garth's lips.
A mild guffaw, maybe…
Booster Gold relaxes as well; he is still rather taxed from dealing with the ship wreck, if he had to fight anyone at this moment he would be off his game. "Well I was glad to help with..." He gestures vaguely at the untidiness that still surrounds the area. "Hey, I'm not a time thief. I just... stole a few things then travelled in time. I mean, now I'm not too certain if my native era shows up as-is in any of your histories, but it was kind of the opposite of a heroic era." After a pause, he then says, "Er, wowzer. You think I should join? Really?" He rubs his chin, as the idea clearly appeals to him.
Rokk claps a hand on Garth's shoulder. "You run it. I'm actually gonna help Kent see if we can't get the land taken care of really fast." He glances back to Booster and grins. "We'll let you know when to come for it." He lifts off, then reaches to *ruffle Lar and Laurel's hair* oh my god, gives a quick salute, and disappears without waiting for -anyone's- response.
Luckily, Laurel is wearing a headband that keeps her hair back so the 'damage' isn't too severe. "Hey listen," she tells Booster. "If there's a handful of versions of you in the future and they all end up with flight rings? How bad could you possibly be? We don't let bad guys keep 'em. I'll second Rokk's invitation for you to try out in case you missed him say it. Y'never know, right?"
Mon-El gives up and lets his hair stay mussed, giving Laurel a 'see what you started' look. "Trust her, Booster," he tells the blue-and-gold hero. "She's in pre-med." No one else knows makes sense half the time, a twencen movie reference can't make it worse.
"Hmm." Booster Gold rubs his chin, and admits, "Well, it has been kind of hard trying to make it as a solo hero. I don't really believe in predestination," he says, with a typical lack of foresight that will probably prove to be ironic years from now, "But this does seem to fit together pretty neatly. Also, it'd feel kind of strange, listening in on your chatter." He looks at the ring on his finger. "I had no idea that was one of its functions until today." He brightens up. "So yeah, sure, I'm up for an audition."
"Good, good," Garth grins, clasping a hand on Booster's shoulder. "We'll have a -lot- of fun." The lightning scar across his right eye almost sparkle with anticipation. "Congratulations, you'll be the first -new- initiation in the 21st century." 
"In this /version/ of the 21st Century, anyway," Laurel remarks dryly. "I'm sure we'll see you around -- and you'll definitely hear about tryouts when they happen, considering the whole ring thing." Shaking some rubble out of her hair, Laurel sighs. "If you'll excuse me boys, I have some deep conditioning to do."
Grinning as Laurel departs, Lar raises his hand in farewell to the remaining pair. "I'm going to get going too. If you need me, give me a 'ring'." See what he did there? "I'm sure there will be some crisis we will see each other at, before Kal-El's party. Catch you later."
And with that 'Superman's Brother' flies off.
"I'm really looking forward to it," Booster Gold tells Garth, with the kind of innocent enthusiasm that always presages something dreadful. He smiles, and points Garth's way with dual finger-guns, before waving to Laurel and Lar as they depart. He pulls his cowl back on and reseats his goggles, floating up into the air, switching to 21st Century English now as he speaks with Skeets. "Skeets. Dude. This rules. Make a note about an impending audition or ... tryout or whatever it is they're gonna do, and make sure to keep tabs on any ring chatter. If I'm like, asleep or whatever."
"Certainly, sir," Skeets agrees. "Although, aren't you concerned about what their initiations might entail? I admittedly do not have access to much data regarding the Legion, but I suggest that you--"
"Ugh. Skeets, stop killing my victory buzz," complains Booster, as he goes to fetch his backpack from the top of a lamppost, before he sets off for his apartment. "How hard could it possibly be?"
Category:Log