Phos retraced their steps at dawn, eager to arrive at the building they first appeared on. They hadn't had much sleep, not since Antarc…
Anyways, Phos had three things they wanted to do today, observe the area they appeared in, look for the portal they came out of, and find a way to get to that black clad being if the portal didn't come.
First things first, observation, Phos thought as they pulled themself up to the platform they were at yesterday. Watching the steady stream of beings entering the metal tube, Phos was curious. Questions steeped in their mind. What exactly was it for? Well, that was the easy question, it seemed to be a mode of transportation. Phos eyed the amount of passengers entering the tube, it also seemed to be able to carry heavy weights. Alexandrite would kill for something like that. They would load it up with anything they could, dragging Benitoite behind them as they did.
Not to mention how strange Cinnabar would find this world. In fact, Phos thinks they would really dislike it, Cinnabar likes their personal space and this world was teeming with beings. Euclase would love to study it, the math behind such device would entertain them for some time. And Antarcticite…
Phos snapped out of their thoughts. They didn't want to think about it farther. They already knew they were homesick, not even mentioning what happened in winter.
That's how Phos spent a portion of their day, observing the area and sometimes getting lost in thought, eventually snapping back to reality, then repeating that process again. After a while, Phos thought that enough was enough. They know enough about the metal tube, and waiting around for a portal to appear would be counterproductive. There's no way it would appear, not after they waited so long. For all they knew, it wouldn't spawn till the next year. They were wasting precious time that they could have used to get back to their world.
Phos stood up, dusting themself off, the platform must not get much cleaning for it to be so dusty, they thought. Going down the platform, Phos mingled with the locals, looking for a clear path towards the metal tubes.
Phos decided they would ride the metal tube, staying in one place hoping the horned being would go there is madness. They would rather seek the being out themself. Maneuvering themself towards the metal tube —of which they need to think of a name for, metal tube is getting redundant— they managed to slip in without anyone paying attention and headed for the first door they saw. Passing the door, they saw rows of seats. Huh. So that's how they fit so many beings in. Settling in one of the seats closest to the door and with a full view of the room, Phos felt slightly nervous. They didn't know where this metal tube would be going, or how far it would go. For all they know, this world isn't the same size as theirs! It could be way bigger, after all their world only has one island.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Phos calmed down, watching as other passengers entered the room. They haphazardly placed their belongings at their feet or on the chairs next to them. After everyone boarded the tube began to move, jarring Phos. They knew it would move but they never experienced anything like it.
Looking around, there were empty seats. Phos thought they were lucky that they chose to ride at this time, another tube could have been full, leaving Phos with nowhere to sit.
Phos paid attention to the other passengers, trying to get exposure to the strange language they spoke. Since they didn't know how long it would take to find the horned boy, learning the language of the dominant species was a must to be able to communicate with it. After a couple announcements—which freaked Phos out, they aren't used to disembodied voices speaking overhead— Phos thought they could at least understand a couple of words. Apparently what they were riding in was called a train. It was a strange sounding word, but then again they were in a completely different world.
Their thoughts grew sluggish the longer they were in the room, the rocking of the tube lulling them to sleep. They slept quietly, unaware of the hours passing by. The moon stealing across the sky before dipping under the horizon.
Phos woke up to an announcement, watching as many passengers shuffled their belongings around. It was apparent that the train would stop soon. Phos finally got up, striding towards the door they saw many passengers walk into, curious on what was behind it. Closing the door behind them, Phos was a little disappointed. There wasn't much interesting, just a mirror with a porcelain basin connected to it and a seat. Phos messed with the knobs below the mirror, pleasantly surprised at the water flowing from it. Once they finished, they turned back to the mirror, smoothing out their sweater and tugging their cap back neatly.
Making their way back to their seat, a small hand grabbed at their skirt. Turning, Phos saw a small being, a gummy smile being sent their way. Unsure of what to do, Phos stared back. After a moment another being dislodged the hand from Pho's skirt, an apologetic smile gracing its lips. A steady stream of words were aimed at Phos when the doors slammed open. Phos's gaze lingered on the tiny being before walking out of the train, bumping into people during the rush.
Scanning the area, Phos determinedly walked out of the station. Hopefully, they would find a lead on how to get home.
—
Once Captain Marvel heard the victim was awake, he was quick in questioning him about the incident. Apparently—since the victim seemed keen on keeping some details to himself—the victim, Lewis Wilkerson, was going about his day before he was ambushed in an alley. He claimed that the woman who attacked him was made of metal and had gold arms. The story was obviously edited, though he seemed truthful about being attacked. It seemed like the perpetrator was a meta, one with the ability to control metals or had a body made of metal. Though he can't eliminate the option that the person wasn't human in the first place. This was Fawcett after all.
After he left Lewis in his hospital bed, Captain Marvel patrolled once more before heading to the zeta tube located in his city, it was his shift on the Watchtower. He strolled to the computer and sat down, browsing the information he commissioned Oracle. He watched a person(being? meta?) walking in a back alley before turning a corner, the camera angle shifted to account for this, being grabbed by the shoulder and shoved against the wall. He winced, that must have hurt, he would know. The camera angle wasn't the best, with Captain Marvel barely being able to see what was going on. Even less when they shifted outside of the range of the camera. Swiping, a photo of the meta was shown, he recognized the background as the Binder Train Station. He frowned, it was possible that the meta already left the city.
"Whatcha looking at?" Flash asked, leaning on him to he snacked on a bag of chips. (One day he would find where the Flash hid the snacks. One day.)
"Oh! It's just a case I've been thinking about. Asked around for the footage." He answered, sneakily trying to grab some chips.
"Hmm? What's it about?" Flash questioned, swatting Captain Marvel's hands.
"A presumed meta. Made of gemstone or metal. Possibly both. She attacked someone. I've already asked the victim what happened and just making sure the story is straight. I managed to nab some pieces from the scene."
"Presumed?" a new voice chimed in. Wonder Woman leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed, as they faced her.
"We can never be too sure." Captain Marvel said, smiling cheekily. He swiped some chips from Flash while he was distracted from Wonder Woman's unexpected entry, smugly shoving them in his mouth. This earned him a swat from Flash. Wonder Woman smiled indulgently.
"What do you mean by pieces though?" Flash asked, absently moving his bag away from Captain Marvel's wandering hands.
"Look," Captain Marvel swiped back to the security footage, fastforwarding to the meta being slammed to the wall. He angled himself out of the way so they could see better, pointing to the shoulder that hit the wall. Flash and Wonder Woman leaned forward, spotting the light reflecting off of the meta's hair. "Pieces of her body fell off when she hit the wall." He paused after the meta left, pointing to the area they previously stood in. "You can't really see it from this camera but there were pieces of her body on the ground. I picked some up."
"Do you have it on you?" Wonder Woman inquired, a contemplative look on her face.
"No. I dropped it off at my base. I could bring it back tomorrow for processing?" He replied, already making plans to investigate the meta further.
"That would be helpful." Wonder Woman smiled, leaning back against the wall.
"And was it straight? The story?" Flash questioned, absently stuffing his face, circling back to what was said before.
"No. The victim attacked first." He frowned, "I'm worried about there being another attack. She hurt that man pretty bad, even if it was in self defense." He paused for a moment before continuing.
"The meta could have already skipped town, though." He pulled up the photo of the meta at the train station.
"If you're that concerned about it, we can ask everyone to keep an eye out." Wonder Woman proposed, Flash adding in his own affirmation.
"Thanks, guys. I appreciate it." Captain Marvel smiled warmly. With that, they chatted a bit more before splitting up, finally focusing on their tasks.