[14th July 2010]
[Mount Justice, Happy Harbour, Rhode Island]
"Getting to know your teammates sure is awesome isn't?" I said as I made use of the rather impressive kitchen that the place had. Of course silence greeted me as there was nobody else in the place as I finished preparing my plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Mostly because the concept of a 'Team' did not seem to really apply to this 'Team' as it were right now.
No Teen Titans here it seemed as after a brief introduction and conversation everyone had gone their separate ways; I'd assume since I'd moved in today from saying in a hotel nearby we do some of this 'team-building' bullshit...but evidently not. I sighed as I sat down at the bench-table thing nearby and glanced out at the empty expense going into the base "Yessire it certainly is"
Truthfully I could be doing far more productive things than this after all. For one ensuring that John and Brendan didn't ruin stuff through their own stupidity in my absence from Ireland. Yes SHIELD had a few staff members assigned to preventing self-inflicted stupidity occurring, but I'd much rather be more easily accessible than a whole ocean away as I was right now. Of course given a little more time, effort, and magic I'd have a teleport connection established between my room here and my Sanctum/Apartment in Dublin...so I really shouldn't complain too much about it.
Mostly because I had lots of other things to moan about as I started to eat my dinner in silence. Such as the rather shitty setup here...well Team setup rather than machinery setup, because...well...that was pretty awesome in truth. Technically second equipment that was much better than SHIELD HQ's antiquated and cobbled together look and equipment. Second hand equipment that Batman had installed alongside the Hawk duo, and maybe the Lanterns too, so it was super fantastic sci-fi stuff better than modern day military equipment I expected. And were their defences, laser, high tech sci-fi stuff and/or and any powerful defensive magical wards?
'Fuck no, because who needs those!' I mentally groaned shaking my head. At least the homemade sauce tasted nice I reminded myself. One minute their saying the place had been abandoned because it was no longer a secret location and the next all about that being why nobody would realise it was in operation because of that very not-secret nature anymore!
It was all...rather messed up logic in my opinion. Especially when combined with the fact it had only a bare minimum of security systems in place. Mostly, I expect, because the Justice League had been based here originally and they themselves were walking WMD by and large so maybe they thought such defences as being rather redundant to install?
Thinking a little as I had 'quiet time' tight now it was also possibly due to Red Tornado in-theory being here as a line of defence, along with Black Canary assigned for training. Or in a short while she would anyway as this whole thing was far too...disjointed and, in general, disorganised for what this was supposed to be. There was alot more going behind the scenes between the various Justice League members and their 'apprentices' as best I could tell. Evidently Green Arrows not-a-sidekick-but-an-apprentice Speedy had gone walkabout after a 'disagreement' and after our brief introduction the trio of Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin had gone off in search of him to do some persuasion.
I'm all behind recruiting but really some level of organisational training might a good idea considering how overeager my new 'comrades' seemed to be to rush off on a mission. Well other than Superboy who just seemed to Brood off in his room most of the time as best I could tell. Not the friendliest sort there...which was concerning as he was evidently a Superman Clone and right now getting ignored by the members of the Justice League beyond a few drop ins. Especially by Superman. Yes I could understand the unease of meeting a clone made your enemy of you but...
Holy Me in Nishrek that was a gods-damned stupid strategy to take with the fucking Kryptonian Level Super-powered individual currently sulking, introspecting or whatever, off in his room right now. Yes right now they were probably keeping a watch upon him, and me as well I assumed (via hidden surveillance equipment or whatever other means), but that wasn't exactly conductive to the long term mental health of the teenager with the attitude problem and superpowers. Truth be told I'd made an effort to say hello...but a grunt and few words were the most I got so far in reply.
"Par for the course really" I muttered to myself. The mostly human sidekick trio didn't talk to me as I was an outsider and they were busy with other things, Superboy was like a few days out of the test tube and potentially having and existential crisis and the Martian...was either afraid of me or wary at least. Evidently my 'stay off my lawn...I mean mind' and then mental blocks had scared her off somewhat. Or at least I assumed it was she was seemingly avoiding me and Captain Broody Clone even with us living in the...
"You are talking to yourself"
Hmm...oh grumpy monotone and unhappy looking face as footsteps came from across the room and approaching me. I shrugged as I quickly swallowed the food in my mouth and half-waved, half-pointed, at the rather large and muscled teenager with the red S-shield thing on his black shirt. Then again Supes was built like a bloody brick so why should Superman Junior I guess. I wiped away some of the excess sauce on my mouth with my free hand just before I replied.
"Well, wasn't much of anyone else to talk to around to so I figured that...madness, yeah that's the way to go, so I said why not has a nice chat with myself" Oh, that was more sarcastic sounding than I'd intended. Even with keeping the tone friendly and such. He stopped and glared at me a moment. I waved my hands apologetically at my reply. Just been thinking about him being a bloody dangerous Kyrptonian and here I go and get all snarky when he does emerging from his Cave of Sulking...
...hmmm...maybe that explained Superman's Fortress of Solitude?...though did that mean when he lived with the Kents he had a Basement of Brooding like Batman did?...
Think of that later, apology first "Sorry, sorry, just getting a bit annoyed by the current I'll admit. Have a seat, grab a bee...soder, whatever! I've even got dessert in the oven if you want some?"
Gifts and food were often good ways to bribe your way into peace talks in potentially awkward personal interactions with warrior types I'd found!
And it was successful once again as with the semi-permanent glare/glower look upon his face he strode forward and took a seat across from me at the table-counter divider between the kitchen and a rather large living-room area. Ah, there we were...awkward silence as he just sat down across from and said nothing as I worked upon finishing the last of my dinner. All in all this was just further proof that this was all just a terrible idea by my superiors that would come to an end rather soon. Or at least allow me to get home and back to my actual paying job sooner rather than later.
"You mentioned food" he announced after...I dunno, seemingly forever. I sighed as I'd just finished and glanced at the watch on my wrist. A nice simple one that wouldn't stand out much I hoped outside our merry little Secret-but-Not-really-secret mountain base and amongst the general public; even without me being under an illusion. Still a glance at the sci-fi cooker and it confirmed that it wasn't magically done despite all this high tech future equipment.
"Whelp, another five minutes I guess, and then there will be apple pie, well strawberries and apples because there were some and that's what I felt like..." I replied with a sigh resting back in my high stool-chair thing. Gods above couldn't they get some more ordinary looking furniture for this place "...anyway, how're ya settling into this grand auld place?"
Blank, slightly confused stare in reply. I sigh again "I mean what do you think of the cave and, well, living here and...not where you were basically"
Oh, unhappy face, resist groaning or sighing at own stupid. At least his tone neutral enough "When will they let us out and do something! Being kept here is...frustrating"
Okayyyyy...that's not what I asked. It seemed we had another member of 'Action Now!' within this oh so glorious team I was on. Sadly I seemed to be the only sane one on said team right now. Honesty may not be the best policy but I'd prefer to be straight forward with him rather than offering a false opinion off the bat to a teammate. After all I'd be holding back plenty of stuff so best be honest and upfront where I could.
"Well I won't disagree things here right now are sorta crappy, but you want my honest opinion?" I at least waited for him to nod a yes before I continued on "Personally I wouldn't put us in the field right now. We're a Team in name only, I've hardly spoken to any of the others...or you for that matter, so it's not the best idea to deploy a fighting force into the field if they hardly know or trust each other"
"Grr...I am a Living Weapon, I don't need trust or a team to win any battle!"
Wow arrogance. Wasn't expecting it mixed with mild anger. Still I got up and moved to bring my now empty dish to the sink. I kept my attention on the maybe angry Kryptonian of course, but wasn't stalking away to brood some more so that was an improvement over me talking to empty air "Maybe ye are, Kryptonian power and all that, but I'd disagree myself as we all have weaknesses as well as strengths. Hence the whole 'Team' thing like the Justice League does. Help each other and all that...in theory anyway"
The unhappy slam of a hand into the countertop answered that even without the words that followed. At least the thing hadn't shattered I found as glanced back at his still unhappy face...Superhero proofing maybe? Or had someone gotten drunk on night and they had to reinforce stuff afterwards?
"I don't want help! I don't need help! I am not weak"
Well this could be going better "Ehh...I didn't say you were...come'on, look I ain't trying to get on your bad side here but mate, I don't know you and you don't know me, and fighting together means some amount of cooperation. Everyone here seems to want to rush and Leeroy Jenkins some bad guys straight away, and that'll get folks killed. One of us or some poor schmuck that'll get caught in the crossfire from our disorder. So when I say think we ain't ready I don't mean it as an insult to you or anyone else!"
Seriously this poor fecker needed a bloody therapist or even just a sponsor to help him integrate into normal bloody life. Where in the gods damned hells was Superman? Just really he should be at least doing some sort of life-coaching or something here for Superboy...who still hadn't been given a proper ID or name other than Superboy! That was also pretty ridiculous after nearly two weeks now in my opinion...
Paperwork people have you not heard of it in this reality!
Awkward, unhappy silence greeted me in the wake of our brief introduction as I grabbed the oven gloves and made to take out my dessert. Oh this was such a fun assignment. Make future allies they said. Get international help and prestige for us they said...
"Ummm...hey...can I join you?" a feminine voice echoed shyly from out of my line of sight. Miss Martian had also been drawn out by the smell of food. Hopefully she'd actually be less nervous of me this time and we had some sort of conversation that didn't feel like an anger management session. Because I really didn't want to have to end up dealing with a future version of the Plutonian right here in this reality thanks to Cadmus: The Idiocy that just kept on giving...
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