2012-09-17 Preparing a Base

Earlier in the day, Axiom had encountered the Martian Manhunter and it helped to improve his mood a lot. But once J'onn left, Eddie had work to do. By the time it was finished, it was getting late. He still sent a message to
Superboy and Impulse asking them to meet him at a certain area in Central Park though, hoping he wasn't waking either up.
The area is a small foot bridge in a secluded and out of the way area of the park. It's rarely traveled due to
thick plants and not much being in the area. Axiom can be found sitting on the bridge's railing and reading
something on a StarkPhone while he waits for either of the other heroes to arrive.
It doesn't take Superboy long to get from Metropolis to New York. He's slower than Bart but he can still fly at
speeds that put some modern jet fighters to shame. Soon after he breaks through the clouds, descending towards Central Park and coming to a landing soon after.
"Hey, Axiom. What's up?"
Axiom jumps and lets out a startled little squeak. Thankfully he doeesn't fall. Quickly stuffing his phone into
his belt, he turns to stand on the bridge. "Hi. Um...thanks for coming. Remember that I s-said I'd look for a
g-g-good place for a base? Um...I found one."
"Really?" Superboy seems excited about the notion, quickly walking over to lean back against the railing and
reaching over to stick out a hand just in case Axiom topples off the bridge, "Well, tell me all about it!"
Axiom nods. He smiles at the excitement, glad he's causing it. "Well um...I c-could show it to you if you wanted.
It needs some work still but I think it m-m-might work so that's why I asked you to come out here," he rambles a
tad awkwardly.
"Sure, let's go see it," Superboy nods, clearly very eager to have a headquarters for Young Justice - or the idea
of Young Justice as it is right now, "You need a lift or is it nearby?"
"It's nearby. We're right above the door actually. Follow me," Axiom offers, turning and hopping right over the
bridge railing. He tumbles a bit once he hits the path under the bridge but quickly gets to his feet. Gesturing
for Superboy to follow, he heads under the bridge and to an out of the way maintence door. Axiom takes out a key and unlocks it. He waits for Superboy before heading inside and closing the door behind them.. At one point it was a storage area for the parks department but it's been abandoned long ago. Once inside, he moves a shelf out of the way of a flight of stairs and looks back at the other hero. "Down this way," he says as he starts heading down into the dark.
"Oh wow," Superboy says quietly, genuinely awed at the secret door and the even more secret staircase as he
follows Axiom, "A secret entrance. This is great. This is exactly what a secret base needs." He then quietens
down, following after Axiom as he looks around.
"That's what I said when I first f-found the place," Axiom replies over his shoulder, leading the way down the
dark stairs and another tunnel until he reaches one more door. Once he opens this one, a new place is revealed.
It's the abandoned remains of a subway station, illuminated by christmas lights strung up around differnt places.
It's as clean as some underground place can be. The ticket offices have been made into what looks like a small
bedroom with a pile of rags and towls serving as a bed and various faded and ripped superhero posters plasterd on the walls. "How's this place look?"
"It's great!" Superboy replies, walking out ahead to try and take the whole place in, "This is exactly what I was
thinking when I thought of an abandoned subway station. We'll have to do a little work ... " He's been inside the Hall of Justice, after all, and scene what they have in there, " ... but this is definitely what we're after. How'd you find it?"
Axiom smiles, leaning against the stairs that lead up to an elevated platform. All the other exits are blocked off
with either concrete or collapsed rocks and dirt. Not even the tracks go anywhere, one side leading to a dead end
and the other a caved in ceiling. "I'm glad you like it," Axiom replies. The question makes him pause and look
away. He considers not saying anything but he'd felt weirdly relaxed when he told J'onn earlier so..."I used to
live d-d-down here. Used to be a homeless kid..."
"Oh," Superboy answers, seeming apologetic as he nods his head in reply, "I didn't know that. Well, hopefully we
can make it more homey. Where do you live now, if you don't mind my asking?"
Axiom shakes his head and offers a little smile. "It's okay. N-no one did until now. You're one of the only people
that does know," he says. "Yeah...I did what I could to make this place livable but it um wasn't easy when all I
had to work with was stuff I could scavenge," now he seems apologetic. "Oh! Um, I live with Thor and Sif now in
their apartment."
"The Norse Gods?" Superboy asks, eyebrows raised, "Wow." He picks up a chunk of debris that looks as though it may way close to a ton with one hand, moving it off to the side so it isn't in the way, "And don't feel bad about
having to scavenge things up. You did a good job, all things considered. We could definitely use your help furnishing the place."
"Yeah, um...when Sif found me going through a dumpster she and Thor insisted and ...now I live there," Axiom explains, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not sure how much help I'll b-be with that but I can try. Oh yeah!"
he jumps, scurrying over into the ticket offices a moment and coming out with a map of the underground area. "I
found this. Umm...see here?" he points to a spot on the map and then the blocked tracks. "If we c-can clear out
some of that debris, there's a path that leads to the main subway system so we c-could make a second entrance. And there's another door we could clear for an escape hatch to the street."
Superboy peers off into the darkness towards the pile of rubble that blocks the potential second entrance, "That
shouldn't take too long. None of that looks very heavy." For someone who could hoist the International Space
Station over his head, there is very little that looks heavy. "Well, sounds like you've got it made, Axiom."
"No, it shouldn't. I just couldn't really do it myself," Axiom replies with a little laugh. "I was going to ask
Wiccan if he could just...magic it but he's busy tonight," he adds. When told he's got it made, Axiom just gives
Superboy a blank look. "I do?"
"Well, isn't Thor a Prince where he's from? You're living with royalty, man," Superboy smiles, nodding his head
with enthusiasxm, "You should be happy. Plus, you get to be in the best team going around."
"He is," Axiom answers. "We don't live in a palace or anything...but I have been to his place in Asgard and
its...wow," the teen chuckles. "I am happy. Just coming back here to clean this place up it...well bad memories
came back but I got past them," he nods. "Yeah. Talking with Nightwing...well he didn't make me feel any better
about the government being in control over there."
"The government means well," Superboy suggests, brandishing that Super-Family loyalty to America, "But I think
it's better not to put everything in their control. That's why we're going to work independently."
"They say they do. For now," Axiom shrugs. Nope, no loyalty the to Feds in him. "Definitely better to work on our
own. That w-w-way we can do things our way and not have to worry about anyone spying on us."
"That's right." Superboy answers. He continues to move back and forth, lifting and moving any debris that looks
like it might be in the way, "Have you spoken to your friends about joining? I think we could use as many people
as we can get."
"Bunker's with the Titans now," Axiom isn't entirely happy about that. "Wiccan will join for sure. And I sent
Hawkeye an e-mail to talk but she hasn't g-gotten back to me yet," he explains as he watches. "I haven't seen
Arrowette in awhile though so I don't know what she's doing."
"It's alright," Superboy says with a smile, attempting to be reassuring, "If he wants to join another team, that's
his choice. Maybe he'll change his mind once we get Young Justice all set up."
"I hope so. I worry about him over there," Axiom replies. He's quiet a moment, shaking his head. "Umm..." there's an awkward pause before he smiles. "Could I ask a favor? Please don't tell anyone else I used to live down here yet? I'll let them know eventually but...let's get it all nice and fixed up first."
"Your secret's safe with me," Superboy answers, another reassuring smile offered towards Axiom, "I won't tell
anybody. You can go ahead and tell them when you're ready. I'll talk to Bart and ask around. I know a few people
at the Themyscrian embassy. They might be able to give us some furniture they don't need."
"Thanks, Superboy," Axiom brightens at this. When the embassy is mentioned, he perks up. "You do too? I got to meet Wonder Woman there. She gave me the grand tour of the place," he says. "As long as no one minds old stuff I c-can check my old scavenging spots for thrown out couches and tables and stuff," he says. There's a pause as he realizes something. "Oh yeah! The um bathrooms here do work but there's only cold water in the sinks and the hot air dryer things d-don't work so we might need to fix that too."
"That's alright, we'll work it out," Superboy replies, moving the last of the debris off to one side, "I'll break
this all down into gravel later if we can't find a use for it. And you can call me Conner when we're down here. I
got to pick my own name and I'm kind of getting used to my friends calling me by that."
Axiom's pretty surprised by the ID reveal and being called a friend. It brings a smile to his face and he nods.
Reaching up, he takes his mask off slowly...because the sticky stuff hurts if he rips it off fast...and nods. "And
you c-can call me Eddie down there then."
"Nice to meet you, Eddie," Conner says with a smile, "And don't worry, that secrets safe with me, too." And he
means it. He didn't even use his x-ray vision to see beyond the mask ... mostly because he doesn't have that level of control, but its the thought that counts.
"It's really nice meeting you too, Conner," Eddie replies with a faint blush. He has a little fanboy moment and
realizes Bunker's going to be jealous but pushes it to the back of his mind for now. "I still c-can't believe this
is all real sometimes..." he trails off. "I should probably give you a hand with moving stuff."
"Don't worry about it," Superboy waves a hand, shaking his head, "Trust me. I can handle it myself. I throw cars
around for a living." A grin covers his face, "Besides, I'm mostly done."
"Really, I feel bad just standing here," Axiom replies. "Besides, if we work together, we c-can finish faster and
then um...go hang out or something. And...I can finally show my powers to you," he says, taking a deep breath.
"Get ready...this is g-going to be a rush," he says, eyes lighting up blue as he boosts Superboy's powers. A
moment later he mimics Conner and there's a slight flash of light from Eddie. His costume changes to be a fusion of his own and Superboy's complete with that iconic S. He's even put on a bit more muscle. "Okay...this is awesome..."
"Wow," Superboy answers, staggering a couple steps back in surprise. He looks Axiom over, nodding his head with the kind of acceptance of someone who was born right into fantastic, unreal things and doesn't seem all that baffled when things like this happen, "Alright then, lets get moving."
Axiom winces slightly when he notices the stagger. "Sorry...my powers let me make other people stronger...and then copy their powers and stuff too," he explains as he moves to help with the debris clean up. "R-r-right!"
Superboy lifts a piece of debris up and down a few times, getting the hang of his powers. A large chunk of metal
fixture, he looks at it for a moment before saying, "Okay, lemme try something." He squares his shoulders, takes a careful stance and faces away from Axiom just in case it doesn't work. Then? His eyes start to glow and are soon firing two narrow beams of heat energy. Beams that he has control over for a change, "Hey! Cool!"
Axiom tests the debris himself, grinning as he puts the mimicked strength to work. The teen nods and watches
curiously as Superboy mentions wants to try something. Floating a little for a better look, he claps when the
beams are fired. "Oh man, that was awesome, Conner!"
"Yeah," Superboy agrees, looking at the metal which is now white hot in his hand and beginning to reshape it, "I
don't usually use it because I don't really have a whole lot of control over it. Guess it takes time to learn."
Moving at super speed, he's soon done and he holds up the metal now reformed into the letters 'YJ' in a sort of
cramped together symbol, "Check this out."
"We all have to practice sometimes," Axiom offers. He knows he does. The power booster watches the metal work, wondering what Conner is up to. When its finished, he smiles. "Cool!"
"I think I'll put this up here," Conner begins, moving to hover but overestimating how fast his boosted flight
will accelerate and flying headfirst into the ceiling. He manages to hold off enough to only cause a minor dent
but his muffled speech from above comes back, "Sorry."
Axiom flies up after Superboy quickly, looking on with concern. "I'm sorry," he squeaks, waving off the apology.
"Being boosted takes a little getting used to."
"It's alright, it didn't hurt ... I don't think anything wouuld being boosted like this," Superboy replies, flying
down a little to hang the YJ symbol on the wall, "I feel like I'm in a big bubble."
"A bubble?" Axiom asks, following along. "Do you w-want me to stop boosting you?" he asks, worried he's offended the other young hero.
"No, not at all," Superboy shakes his head, descending back to the ground, "It's cool. Just takes getting used to,
yeah. I feel like nothing could hurt me, honestly."
Axiom's landing is a little less graceful but he at least doesn't fall. "Well you um...are a lot tougher right
now," he says with a smile. "You m-might even be stronger than Superman himself."
"Maybe," Superboy says with a chuckle, glancing back at Axiom, "I wouldn't want to test that theory, though. So, how long does the boosting last for? Do you have my powers forever now or what?"
"Me either," Axiom laughs. He blinks at the questions for a moment and then shakes his head. "Umm, no. Both only last as long as I keep the boosting and copying going. Or until you g-g-get too far away."
"Well, that's useful," Superboy says with a nod, "If we get into a fight that we can't handle by ourselves, you
can use my powers. They're pretty good, I've found."
Blushing a little, Axiom nods. "I'm n-n-not much but I give it my all to help," he says. "Thank you. I've b-b-been
working on trying out as may different powers as possible, you know...trying to adapt to different situations."
"I think that's important," Superboy moves swiftly, very swiftly, to get some more debris out of the way, "When we
get the headquarters together and everyone is here, you should train with everyone's powers. Just so you can make sure you're never caught off guard."
Axiom seems to be filled with new enthusiasm as he helps move and break debris. "That's a great idea. It'll give
everyone a chance to train while b-b-boosted too!"
Superboy nods his head, "That's right. You know, I think we ought to call a meeting. Everyone we can find who
might be interested can come. I think we're about ready to get started, after all."
"That sounds good. Do you think we should all meet here or somewhere umm...neutral?" Axiom asks. He pauses a moment and then looks towards the door they came in through. "I should g-get more keys made..."
"Somewhere neutral might be the best," Superboy agrees, "But nearby. So everyone who is interested can be brought here and we can show them the headquarters we've got. Invite your friend in the Titans, too. He might find he likes the idea of Young Justice better than the Titans."
This gets Axiom thinking. He taps his chin a few times then grins. "I've got it! I know just the place r-right
here in the park," Axiom exclaims. "I'll show you on a m-map later," he says. "Okay. I hope he does."
"If he doesn't, that's up to him," the Teen of Steel nods, crossing his arms low over his chest, "But we should
give him the option. Alright, so, the place looks cleared out enough."
"Yeah," Axiom murmurs. He understands. He just doesn't like it. Stretching, the squeaky teen smiles. "Yeah. A lot cleaner than it's ever b-been before."
"Good," Superboy nods his head, pleased with what they've done, "I think that's enough work for one day, don't
you?"
"Yep!" Eddie chimes cheerfully. "Bart and Wiccan can help do more when they see the place," he says. "Um...want to g-go get some pizza or something?"
Superboy nods his head, "Sure. Pizza sounds good. Let's go."
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