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Spain was fun, then a pain, then fun again — but all things have to come back to an end sometime and, frankly? Tommy and Hope had a rent payment to drop off for their little apartment that kinda required them being back in the States. Too bad their landlord wasn't going to take pesetas, claiming that the money collected in Spain wasn't /real./
But there were other needs to take care of, too. Like the putting themselves back together kind of needs. Which is why he zipped off to the local pharmacy and was currently poking around in the aspirin aisle. Because he's /still/ got a bit of a headache from where he'd hit the concrete. Plus, it'd be useful to have some on hand for the next time it happens, because it's pretty clear that a next time will happen. It's just a matter of finding the right /brand./ Some work, some don't, and twinned memories do not help in sorting this out as formulas change over the decades.
*
-— New Activity ---
When being hunted the smart play is to get the hell outta Dodge then go to ground. Failing that, the best course of action involves not spending too much time in any one location, not making repeat trips to the same places, and whenever possible, try to be within 'random chance' distance of known allies. Which..is a nice idea in theory. Trying to figure out where anyone in the Brotherhood is lurking at any given time isn't always so easily done.
After a brief but brutal fight/shootout at Mario's Pizzeria Domino's laid low and allowed the heat to die down. Much as she and her pride hate to admit, the guy's got skill and when he hits he hits to win. Now that she's seeing straight again after being a hair's width away from having a ruined nose it's off in search of first aid equipment the albino goes. The safe houses aren't entirely safe, too much risk of luring the wrong kind of people back to them.
Like a dark cloud looming over a parade she drifts around one end of the aisle and stops short, quickly recognizing the guy rooting through the aspirin.
Without a thought she grabs the nearest bottle of pills she can find and chucks it toward the side of his head.
*
Laying low is a bit difficult when one sticks out like a sore thumb. Criteria for this can include
a. being albino
b. white haired
c. redhead
For this purpose Hope has her telltale flaming locks wound up under a knitted cap, and her eyebrows attacked with a questionable job using brown eyeshadow and a liner. She's not particularly happy with the effect, but blending is not a skill taught at the School of Hard Knocks. Her scarf covers the various bruises along shoulder and throat, and her oversized coat probably makes her appear like someone come to New York from the deep south or a shoplifter, or both. She hovers along one of the adjacent aisles, watching the bug-eyed mirrors stationed in the corner for everyone who comes and goes, further spooking the clerk on duty. To her credit, she has a box of gauze in hand, and another metal first aid kit open on the shelf to look at the largely useless contents. They're all but prehistoric to her, and she can identify scissors, at least. The rest of the packing tape and pillow stuffing can't have a medical use.
"Where was the peroxide again?" The question floats over to Tommy, at least to keep him busy. "I'd prefer not to use iodine, which is plain useless." Her breath escapes in a huff and she goes back to watching the door open, and quickly recognises the woman closing in. Tension flares in her eyes, narrowed down. Hm.. Scissors thrown at speed might be fun…
*
Laying low is just not something Tommy can do easily. Not even if he wanted to, and it wasn't just because of his hair. His personality just tended to attract attention, and he loved being the center of it. Naturally, this /also/ meant that he wasn't always the guy who's going to be /paying/ attention to things, or others, which is why Domino is able to assault him undetected.
Or maybe she's just lucky like that?
Either way, the little bottle of pills soars through the air and *bonk!*s right off of the teen's head. "Ow! Hey!" Tommy whines, turning in a flash towards the source of the pain. Spying the bottle first. Snatching it out of midair before it falls from the bounce. All of this is done in a second's time. Blame the slow reaction on being bonked. "This /better/ not be viagra or somet—" and then he's looking at the label. "Oh! Tylenol. Hey, that's what I wanted." Well, technically the bottle says 'Tylenol elixir', but still. Eyes dart around from what he's expecting to be his redhead as the culprit only to spy…
"You! You're, uh, that one chick." With the pretty gun. Who tried to save him and Lorna. How'd /she/ know what he was looking for? "How's life?"
*
The large black sunglasses, the long coat with thick fur lining around the wrists and collar, there's no chance that any of it will hide the fact that there's an Angry Goth Ghost lurking underneath it all. Domino stands her ground, only flicking the glasses off of her face. This also happens to reveal a very colorful bruise center stage upon her forehead and a nasty cut across the bridge of her nose.
"You -ruined my shot,-" she accuses the speedster as though it were the single greatest offense he could have committed. "Do that again and you're gonna need a lot more than a bottle of painkillers."
3…
2…
1…
"Come on out, Hope," she adds with a tired sounding sigh. "-Without- the pointy-stabby." Not that she's actually seen Hope with the scissors yet, she just happens to have a really good understanding of where the redhead's mind is usually at.
Not waiting for Little Red to reveal herself, Dom's back on the move in pursuit of her own pill bottle of choice. "Oh..you know. Making friends. Exchanging gunfire. The usual," she offhandedly remarks while eyeing another glass bottle now in hand, both weighing it physically and mentally as a follow-up shot marked for Tommy. "You kids staying in trouble?"
*
Unimpressed redhead on the left spins the scissors by the handle around her fingers, getting a bit of momentum going in a way that no teacher would ever allow. Too bad for them, she attended the Askavi Summers Academy, where playing with sharp things was not only encouraged, but rewarded for poking zealots' eyes out. Instead of tea parties, she got to have land mine disarmament parties in the sand. Wonderful times with dad, that's for sure.
The intent isn't written on her face, but all it takes is a shift of her weight to send those scissors flying and neatly slicing through the space between speedster and PETA target, landing an inch into the shelf and quivering excitedly. She peeks over the barrier to see where they landed: in the middle of the .00 price tag on the front. One shall not do the happy dance. She instead roams around the front, her box still in hand, cool as a cucumber. "Hi, Aunt Day-day." Please, shoot her, before it continues and infects the entire city. "Someone treated you as bad as he were treated, I'm going to owe you a Coke or something." Sizing up the cuts and bruise with a frown, she rubs her finger over her thumb, silently measuring. "I can clean that up for you, if you want. Can't make it perfectly go away, but I can help. Won't sting much, either."
She slings her arm around Tommy, casual as can be.
*
"I /could/ have put a cork in the barrel like Bugs Bunny. You should be thankful." Tommy replies indignantly, showing his infinite levels of maturity on the subject by sticking his tongue out. "But I wasn't kidding. It was a pretty nice gun, shame to ruin it and all. Even if it would've been kinda funny. Also, didn't wanna take your hand with it. Probably wouldn't have helped our budding friendship."
Of course, then she calls out his redhead and Tommy blinks. "Wait. Wait. Hit the rewind button. Roboto Mister Arigato Domo. You know Hope?" That's a cause for surprise. Eyes going a bit wide, and seeking out the redhead herself to repeat the question. "You know, uh, your Aunt?" This time asked about Domino, of Hope. Before a quick kiss is applied to her forehead as her arm fits around him. PDA? No problems with that with these two. Which may leave Domino with more questions than answers. "Really glad I didn't do the Bugs Bunny thing, then. That would've been awkward."
*
When the scissors land between the two with a *THRRRrrr!* Domino doesn't even flinch. Young, hot-headed, -red-headed, and empowered. It's really not a surprise that Hope would take the chance for a little show-boating!
"Right between the eyes," she mutters before her expression breaks into an acute frown, still staring at the new bottle in her hand. This time there's a clear note of disgust in her voice when she growls "Whey the hell am I looking at this?" before she roughly drops the bottle back onto the shelf as though the glass might suddenly turn acidic and melt her hand. The rest of the pills are completely ignored in favor of more basic items. Gauze, bandages, and..oddly enough, peroxide.
This time when she tilts her head enough to look at Tommy there's a thin smirk upon those steel grey lips. "It is pretty sweet. Colt makes a decent semi-auto. I've already inherited a few of 'em."
Tommy isn't the only one who's in for one hell of a surprise. The easy approach is to answer Tommy's initial question first: "Of course I know Hope."
Then..things quickly spiral into whole new levels of complicated. The package of gauze is flung back onto the shelf with a sideways toss, her attention falling completely upon the redhead. "-Aunt?-" she repeats, staring at Hope with absolute confusion.
Whether it's the offer to help treat her wound or the affection displayed the two isn't clear when she holds up an empty hand in protest, pinching her eyes shut and firmly shaking her head once. "-AUNT?-" she repeats a second time, causing another customer nearby to mutter a barely audible "Awkwaaaard…"
*
Surprises are the best, especially when it occasionally means Hope can get a reaction out of someone or another. Particularly given the very charged atmosphere, she takes advantage of the situation where she can to keep things minorly off-center. That's good, in her books, at least to avoid lasting harm between two people she actually has reason to care about.
"I'm told that's how you show respect to your elders 'round here." A solemn nod follows, and the redhead manages to sustain the need for a straight face over laughter. "Totally true. Isn't it? If not, someone is going to get a really early wakeup call for leading me astray on that front. It's okay, I can probably find something else to call you in the meantime, right?"
She stoops to pick up the brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide, guessing by a quick glance to one of the stickers at what its identity may be. If Tommy's a fish out of water in this place thanks to twinned memories, she's a koi in a punch bowl, left trying to fathom her route through the world. "Hmm." Brackish scent rising when she cracks the lid, she gives a nod and hands it to Tommy. "That'll do. You wanna buy this stuff and we'll figure out the rest?" The rest of the goods, as in one box, is shoved into his hands and the speedster makes his retreat to cover the purchases from the clerk who is seriously nonplussed about the whole business by this point. He's so looking forward to his milkshake and movie after his shift is up.
Turning back to Domino, the redhead loses some of the spark and gives a narrowed green look. "This is going to sound crazy, but you haven't found any people or bulls, like the moo steak kind, randomly popping out of the blue here? Especially, say, falling out of the sky?"
*
Tommy has partially disconnected.
*
Tommy has partially disconnected.
*
Tommy has partially disconnected.
*
"Yeah, just—Domino," the albino quickly tells Hope with that raised hand promptly shaking once before coming up to the side of her forehead in a pained expression. "I'm not that much older than you, quit makin' me feel like I'm over the damn hill. ..And related."
Flying stealth scissors, no problem! Why can't she just deal with more of those?
With an angry swipe of a hand she reclaims the flung package of gauze because she really does need it, though Hope did successfully pull the hostility out of the air. Now Dom's just plain grumpy, which does tend to be closer to her 'idle' mood. Just when it seems like some level of normality is going to return..Hope has to go and drop the strangest question Neena has heard all year.
Dom comes to stand right in front of Hope, crouching slightly so that she can -stare- into the redhead's eyes, level and close enough that their nosetips are about ready to duke it out over personal territory. "You trippin' out on me, girl?" she says in a low voice, complete with a note of warning. "I've seen an awful lot of bull lately but none of it on hooves or practicing paratrooper drills in downtown. What the hell are you getting at?"
*
Domino's resting grump face may be more effective than she realised, at least for keeping the boys away over there performing a transaction. Slowly. By taking their sweet time, they can thoroughly enjoy the benefits of not being involved with the unfamiliar ladies having a good time catching up, or possibly deciding how to bring down the Fifth Republic in France. Between the two of them, Domino and Hope could do it.
The tall minx crosses her arms over her chest, trying not to wince when shoulder muscles scream and back muscles ache, complaining roundly about their treatment. "I don't do drugs, especially not whatever they got on the streets here." Her time displacement isn't a well known factor, but sometimes it creeps through. Most girls would be scurrying away from Neena by this point, but not her, not after the week — and life — she's had. "I'm getting at exactly what I said. Some lowlife scum dumped angry bulls into the streets, and then they up and vanished in the middle of a firefight. They were real freaking cows, stinking leather couch cows, and they disappeared. Generally speaking I don't care but those could be here, as much as anywhere, but I could really see them coming here because this city is like the evil nexus of everything bad that every has and ever will happen. Trust me on that, it's borked."
A swirl of her fingertip drawn midair is far, far too casual. "I'm getting at someone is jacking around with me, and him, and a few others. A big yellow scumbag in a creepy crawly robot chair kind of scumbag, messing around with our kinds. This is the second time he's messed with us, all over some guy. Apples to oranges that kid has a latent power and doesn't know it, but I felt something in him. What it has to do with unleashing bulls is confusing but I think the lowlife wants to make it entertainment or fun. That's what people were shouting. Using us. As a… a… circus or show piece or something."
*
Tommy's obedient to exactly one person in the world; she has red hair, is taller than he is, and is in the pharmacy with the rest of the walking wounded and other passersby. This is why he marched over to the clerk and paid for the items they'd come for, and after giving a few moments for the two to catch up, he's coming back with the bag in time to catch the tail end of the conversation.
"Tellin' your Aunt about the Jabba-wannabe?" Pause. "You realize, if I keep meetin' your family and you keep meeting mine, it won't just be Lorna asking us when we're gonna get hitched." he quips, elbowing his redhead playfully, before looking between the two women.
"Uh, should we go somewhere a bit quieter to talk about this without the possibility of extra ears? Unless you want people to think you're crazy. I was there, and I /still/ think it's pretty crazy."
Freaking Burrito Bison wannabe…
*
Okay, so maybe it isn't looking 'down' so much as looking 'up' but Dom's had practice standing toe to toe and staring people down when they have a few inches over her on height. "Good," she flatly replies. "Keep it that way." Hope's assessment of the city at large is something they can both agree on, going by the reflexive snort the albino makes no effort to hide. "Great. Teleporting cows. More bull for everyone. If one happens across me I'll invite you over for burgers."
As soon as Tommy returns with the 'aunt' comment she swiftly brings a hand up in his direction in an attempt to get him to knock it off, without the benefit of making any form of eye contact. She's still busy staring at Hope, as if trying to read her very eyes. Eyes..which do not appear to be affected by drugs, whether current or recently metabolized. In the end she lightens up. Hope's firm response on the subject earned her some brownie points, too. "'Borked' is putting it mildly."
It makes what Hope has to say next easier to tolerate considering how wacky it all sounds. Tommy's suggestion about talking elsewhere is well timed, something like this is going to require a bit longer to mentally sort out. "Yeah, I'm not seein' a whole lot of sanity around here. Let's take this show on the road," she suggests while stepping aside to pay for her handful of items.
'A big yellow scumbag in a robot chair…' Hell, after getting bitch-slapped by a red brick building just outside of Central Park this should be a cakewalk.
*
Tommy has the goods, the reason for staying is there. Hope pops her hands into one of the roughly nine-hundred pockets hidden inside her coat, a necessity to stay warm and prove, too, that she is happy with scooting as fast as they decide is purely appropriate. "Yeah. It's not like I enjoy being apparently mowed down by a steer with a death wish, and I figured you might have eyes out there for trouble. Because we date trouble like there's no tomorrow."
Case in point, the boyfriend himself is trouble, for all he might be trying to wisely nudge them out of the chemist and in search of happier places with fewer souls likely to listen. So on that note, she mosies. "It might be easier if we hang out on a good rooftop with a sandwich, you know? Something out of the way. I'm starting to get paranoid about all these archaic electronics around, because you know, I don't care to meet up with some freaking scumbag the colour of vomit again. Not without a damn big gun."
*
"Oh, a sandwich sounds /good/ right now. So do ten sandwiches. Especially from that little deli about a block from…" Tommy trails off; Domino put a stop to being called Aunt Domino, it also brings down the trust meter juuust a bit. For a couple reasons, really, though none stronger than that family's other than his adopted(?) family aren't as likely to stab you in the back as other people. "…meet there, then. Usual rooftop, usual order, Spicecake?" is asked of Hope, before he glances over to Domino and adds, "You hungry, want I should pick you up somethin' while I'm grabbin' us grub? Although burgers sound good /too…/"
…and yes, Hope, at the very least? Definitely dating trouble. Trouble that's /proud/ of this fact by the way he grins at the suggestion and gives her a quick squeeze. He works hard to be a problem to those who deserve it!
*
"I'm not so keen on freezing my white ass off on the top of a building," Domino thinks aloud to Hope's suggestion. Unfortunately for her, Tommy's practically bouncing at the idea! All she can do is stand there and stare at Mister High Energy until she once again shakes her head in protest. "Just—sure, yeah. A burger. Fine." A pause, then "Thanks."
He's stupid fast, which means he'll be there long before the two ladies will be. Since Hope can't vanish into thin air Neena has a moment longer to grill her over the situation.
"Just..level with me, here. I have no idea what you two have been getting yourselves into but you wouldn't be telling me about it just to pass the time. If you want an extra pair of hands on deck then say it. I could use the distraction. Otherwise I don't have any intel on the situation, what little I know is whatever drivel they spit out on the news."
Just as soon as she stops talking there's an odd expression slipping into place, interrupted only by a return of the sunglasses which work better at covering her face than they do blocking out the cloud-hidden sun. Her next thought train comes in a lowered tone. "Annnd you wouldn't bother mentioning it at all if you had the situation handled, which means you already did level with me. Goddammit that guy really messed up my head."
Sigh. Okay. Dom's head lifts back up. "You've got point, Fireball."
*
The sandwich king, that's Tommy. Trust him to know where to find the best rye and fat-marbled goodness, preferred in corned beef. Though frankly anything more than that would be delicious. "Make sure to…" Too late, he's probably already off, running for the capture of a pickle or a pile of chips. She shakes her head, leaving a tumble of her red hair threatening to sneak out from under that knitted hat. There's too much for the hat to contain it all, though it really tries. Time to go scooting outside. "Oh, the rooftop I have in mind has a sheltered spot."
Now, it doesn't help that she is super fast, either, though Domino may learn sooner or later about that. Still, she can happily open the door and lead out her companion into the cooler February air. It's not freezing under a Northeaster, at least. "I was raised that you don't mention a problem without giving a solution or asking for help. I don't have a solution to some evil slug overlord who might be hunting our people. If he can hunt us, that means he' s got means to control us." Her tone is low and neutral enough, not enough to attract interest from other pedestrians as she heads towards the brownstones deeper in East Village where there are more immigrants than people with sense, and most of them aren't interested in English conversations.
"Way I can tell, a friend of a friend of ours got kidnapped. So, our friend came asking us to help rescue him, or at least figure out what happened. We found out he was pulled into some weird TV channel that's way more than what it seems. Staff vets our kind and then tries to get them to demonstrate what they can do on screen. And then sometimes, they don't come back. I got teleported out of there. Where I went, I don't exactly know except none of my friends could find me and I met the slug. I pissed off the slug enough he sent me back. And then a week later, we get ambushed again by people teleporting in bulls to chase us, and a bunch of people with powers messing with the rest of us. Except they're not friendly, they seem to work for him. Connecting some dots, we got a mutant wrangler using his personal attack force on the rest of us."
*
In fairness, Tommy'd likely be bouncing at the idea of any idea that involved food. Doubly so ideas that involve food and women (more specifically, the girlfriend!). The rooftop just happened to be the place that the other two were already being offered!
Tommy's own part of the job took a little bit of time; because honestly? While /he/ can move in super speed, that doesn't mean that the guy behind the counter at that delicatessen can. Even though he's pretty happy with the large order, which is paid for by some silly wall street type who made the mistake of walking between where Tommy /was/ and where he was /going./
Those sandwiches gotten, the next trip is over to a burger joint - the best one in town by taste, not price - where a burger for Neena is collected, along with a ton of fries. Once all of these things are done? He'll be waiting on the intended rooftop. A little table and chairs already brought up, food and beer of some german label or another that can't be bought in the States laid out for the three under a box to keep the chill from the weather away from the hot food, at least. Tommy himself? Relaxing. Butt in one chair, feet on the back of another, eyes closed; because when a normal-speed person is walking with them, unless they /carry/ said person, it's hard to say just how long it'll take. So a nap in the meantime? Seemed appropriate.
At least he didn't start dropping pennies off of the roof.
Yet.
*
Being able to warp one's own probabilities makes for a pretty slick ability and all but when facing a world full of people who can fly or teleport or throw things around with their minds or dodge bullets or fling city busses for sport..it can feel like she's a little out-gunned sometimes! If Domino had any idea of what all sorts of tricks those around her had at their beck and call she may well retire and move to Hawaii.
Despite not knowing Hope could leave her in the dust as well, it's nice that she doesn't. Since she can keep up with Hope, she does. "Hunting mutants specifically? I'm surprised Raven isn't all over this." Then again, maybe she is. Hard to tell with the ol' shapeshifter.
Despite how strange the situation is, putting the pieces together is surprisingly ..normal. "Been hearing about that on the TV, too. That W-I-L-D thing, right? The timing is too convenient, plus with that missing kid figuring into the equation."
Neena listens more, dips her head forward, then suggests "Slugman wasn't able to hang onto you but that only got him more interested. The classic tale of wanting the one thing you cannot have. Even though you aren't stuck whereverthehell with him and the others he's still looking to put you under the spotlight. It's the illusion of freedom. I'm familiar with that play. Though you realize this means that someone could already be watching us. If we're lucky his control over mutants can't be triggered remotely."
It isn't being paranoid when people really are out there!
Upon reaching the roof, she asks "Do you know where the others are being held? If all you have to work with is that some crazy powered guys are chasing you down then I'm not going to be much help, got enough problems with that ..going..around…"
All Albino Systems grind to a halt upon seeing Tommy already up there, taking a nap. This in itself doesn't surprise her so much as ..everything else… With a sense of caution she approaches where those German beers are kept and picks one up, critically eyeing it and going so far as to tap the side of the bottle with a fingernail just to make certain it is what it appears to be. A blank shrug follows, then she pops the top and dives on in. "Now I know why you keep him," she mutters to Hope.
*
Probability warping is a gift that keeps on giving when walking with the hidden future Messiah of one's kind, supposing she ever gets back to the future or that future does not come visiting in a big flappy cape, a big gun, and a big chip on the shoulder. Bishop is such a prima donna; Hope hasn't reason for her paranoia at all. No reason she scans the street constantly looking for trouble, or anything that might constitute trouble.
"Think it's the case. Like I said, this friend was supposedly just normal, but I can tell you he's… He feels different. I'm going to have to be around him again to be sure." That's the closest she is willing to come to admitting that she's a mutant hunter herself, at least with the built-in radar giving her a good idea of all sorts of mutated weirdness. "You're smarter than me about this stuff. Yeah, WILD. I'm surprised it hasn't come out with 'Girls Gone WILD' or some other dumb program. There's a law out there. Now I said it, it's going to happen."
Her steps are going to falter when Domino mentions that illusion of freedom, the remote viewing, and worse, the remote recording. Her eyes narrow a fraction and she stops against the wall, and then widens her eyes, staring off blankly into space. Tommy is having a nap, and the redhead is totally clueless to sandwiches, sleeper agents, or anything but the pinging against the radar that only goes so far. "… just… too many to pick out the bad ones. Ugh."
*
Tommy's pretty good when it comes to sleeping. He can get to sleep easily. He can sleep lots. It's a byproduct of speed to a point, but one that's not /required/… just nice to have. And Tommy is few things if not a hedonist at his core, thus nap. The popping of the beer is enough to jostle him awake, though, legs swinging fluidly off the chair — maybe a bit /too/ fluidly, as it leaves him upside-down on his own.
"Tell me gravity didn't go and flip-flop on me while I was napping." deadpans Tommy, before, without righting himself, he reaches over for a sandwich and chucks it in Hope's direction. Not seeing it go flying into the 'floor' of sky, he smiles with satisfaction and rolls out of the chair and up to his feet. "Ahem." Beer taken and waved at Hope — if she wants it, he'll sling it her way too. If not? he's taking it for himself.
"So, I'm guessing my lovely girlfriend has filled you in on the nitty gritty details? The flying bulls, the slug in a chair, Lorna's — you remember, the girl I was with when /we/ met? — boytoy being in trouble?" Well. Technically he doesn't know this. Double technically it probably isn't even true, but he /does/ like to make an assumption. Especially one that starts a rumor that, spread around enough, will turn a green-haired girl all fifty shades of red. Trouble with a capital T and an 'ommy' to spare.
"Given how she's talking to you about it, I'm guessing you're joining our little hunting party — consider the beer your payment, 'cause it's the good stuff and other than that? We're pretty damn poor." It's the truth, but he's in good spirits about it, at least?
*
"Make that one more unknown variable," Domino corrects upon Hope trying to describe the 'different' guy. "Just in case the odds aren't already far enough outside of our favor." On the upside she now has a really good beer along with a warm lunch with her name on it! Tommy has redeemed himself. Speedsters are wonderful things when they're on your side..and a colossal pain in the ass when they're not.
"So you have an idea of what this guy 'feels' like. Can you use that uncertainty to pinpoint him? We're flying blind here, need some kind of direction. If we can't find the Slug then the only other option isn't one you're going to like."
Just what the other option might happen to be she's not elaborating upon; The burger has taken the lead. She settles down somewhere that the wind can't reach as easily and breaks into the edibles. Up until Tommy chimes back in, anyway. "No, gravity totally reversed polarity but we fixed it. Got to the roof in record time, you shoulda seen it."
In another moment she's pointing his way from around the bottle. "Was gonna ask about that," she comments around a wad of burger. "Mean Greenie. You take speed dating to a whole new level, kiddo."
Hearing that the beer is her payment has her pausing then looking at the bottle and shrugging once more. Then she takes another drink. "Consider yourselves better armed, the Albino Protection Agency is on the scene."
"..This is a really good burger…"
*
"Oh, good. I'd hate to think that you girls /needed/ me to fix reality and that I'd have been napping." Pause. "It would've meant waking up before I got to the /good/ part of my daydream, and, you know, a good daydream is hard to find." Granted, a daydream he can see when he's awake is spaced out right over there. Tossing the beer would wake her up… but a) it'd be a waste of a good beer, and b) he'd likely pay for it. Bigly.
Then a look is given over to Domino. A blink. Confusion. Lost. Total dumbstruckness. "Whatcha mean? I mean, yeah, I do everything fast." Pause. Glance over to Hope. "/Most/ everything, but…"
Then there's a grin. "Good, then. With any luck the crony that we caught back in Spain," Yes, they have a hostage too. "will be able to give us a clue on how to get closer to the big blob." …he's pretty sure Switch is with Ava right now. He /almost/ feels bad for the guy. Almost.
*
Hmm. It seems that Hope might be performing a mental reboot. This gives Neena a chance to focus on Tommy, a guy who sure seems to show up a lot yet she still doesn't know a whole lot about. Aside from two things. He's super-fast, and "You really like to hear yourself talk, don't you?"
The confusion. Then his glance to Hope. "Nevermind," Domino quickly intervenes as she has on a couple of occasions, already! "I don't need to know—wait. You caught a crony?" She blinks once then stares from one of the younger mutants to the other. "This? This is what we call 'critical intel.' Forgetting for the moment that you were both in -Spain,- who the hell else did you bring home with you? And for that matter, is there anything ELSE I should be aware of?"
Suddenly an Option C is beginning to take form…
*
First, sandwich. No beer. The sandwich is enough, something she eats with a steady selection of bites, trying not to gulp it down despite being ravenous. Famished. It takes her some time to come around to swallowing and ruminating a bit.
"We ended up with power swap, and mine…" Her hand wobbles. "The flip turned out badly for a bit. I'm wonderfully bruised because they brought him down while I was on overload. Don't exactly recall all of it, but I did give him a good smack when I came back around." Her sandwich is given another look over and then the wrapper neatly wadded up into a ball. "Mm. I can tell you a run down on all the powers of the people working there, if that matters, though not so much for names except those which I heard. If we take you back over there you can do a physical investigation. Don't talk to the green haired one, she's emotionally vulnerable." Unstable. "And I'm not sure she'd take the news so well. I'm sorry, the croney bit kind of happened when I hit a reboot and it's like having four migraines at once. Dad helped level them out, but without him, they get bad, sometimes."
*
For a while there Neena felt like she had a pretty good grasp of everything taking place. This all changes as soon as Tommy drops mention of Some Other Guy. Hope attempting to further explain it somehow leaves Whitey even more confused.
"A power swap..like you actually traded powers with someone else? How would that even work?" Bruised how, brought down from what? Overload? Gave who a good smack..? "Guess I had to have been there."
"A run-down on powers, great. That'll be useful, especially if you know something about the 'Slug.'" It's always good to know who the other players are!
"Lorna, yeah. I'm familiar," she flatly states while slowly looking back at Tommy with an expression that demands 'really, her? It was the green hair, right?'
With the perceived loss of control over the situation she tries to reclaim her former grasp of the discussion. "Look. This guy you brought home. Either we need to figure out a way to get to Slugman and Company through your new pal, or else we need to step out and do something stupid, reckless, and dramatic as hell in the hopes that Sluggo is indeed watching, because if we can't find him then -he- needs to find -us.- Unless you'd like to do something stupid, reckless, and dramatic just for the hell of it, because that could be kinda fun."
*
"Like one moment I was doing my thing," Tommy starts. 'His thing' should be obvious, "Next moment I wasn't. They had a guy who could stop me with a touch, too… but after that? My powers were /gone./ Less someone stopping me, more no me to stop. Apparently the switching guy took my trick, so I musta had his, but the lights kinda went out before I realized it."
Tommy wasn't happy about that particular fact and it showed all over his face. At least until he took a pull from the beer. It took a couple hours to get there and back, but really? So worth it. "They also had someone who can talk in your head. Never saw him. Her. Not sure. Some kinda… wolfgirl, too. "
…and then Domino's looking at him again as Lorna's brought up and eyebrows raise. "What?" …he has no idea..
To the last bit? Tommy /grins./ "Stupid, reckless and dramatic are my middle names. I'm technically catholic. It's totally a thing. ."
*
"But you both got your abilities back," Domino points out in case it wasn't already way obvious. "Was it a temporary change, or did something else have to take place before you two became yourselves again?" Again, darn useful intel! If she lost her luck during this gig it might be months before she'd ever realize that it was gone!
"Telepathy," she concludes with a light scowl. "And a werewolf chick. Tinfoil hats and silver bullets. Pretty sure I still have some of those tucked away," she says in what sure sounds like she's being serious about the matter.
Seeing Tommy light up might normally be cause for great concern. This time… Dom finishes the last piece of burger and reaches for a handful of fries before leaning closer to give the Speedster her full attention.
"Television. Hunting down powered individuals. Whatever the heck was going on with the teleporting cattle. Ol' Sluggo's looking for a good show, right? So if it comes down to it, we put on one hell of a show and hope that he's watching. Maybe we make Hope an easy target since she seems like a prime piece of bait," and Dom apparently doesn't care if Hope hears her saying as much, "then we both give him reason to want a few more of us and provide him an easy means of bringing us all home with him. Ooor…"
Domino lightly rolls her shoulders again then slowly passes a glance on the sly back over to Hope, dipping her voice further still. "Maybe he'd like to get a little revenge on Little Red over there. I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to find a mercenary who would be willing to drag her ass in for some cash on the side."
*
Tommy has partially disconnected.
*
Tommy has partially disconnected.
*
"Little of both," Tommy explains. "We were able to get most of our powers back /using/ the weird switching power, but not all." he says, waving a hand slightly, then going for a sandwich. "But the ones we couldn't fix went back on their own after a while."
"…you seriously have these things?" He's not sure which is more of the surprise, to be honest
"That's kinda the vibe we're getting, but… not one hundred percent sure if that's the real plan. Kinda feels … small scale for something like that, you know? I'd more expect him to try to take over the world and go after the big time heroes, like… Iron Man. The Brotherhood. Guys like that "
Yes, the 'Hood and Stark were lumped into the same category. Of heroism, no less. Different views on life for different people. "But maybe that's why he's grabbing… special people." Then come the ideas. And the speedster considers these things. And… shrugs a bit. "Something to run by the tactical people. I'm the one who breaks things "
*
Another nod from the albino. So it is possible to get powers back. Very, very good to know. Though when Tommy asks if she's serious she confirms "The silver bullets, anyway. Back when the Park and Kitchen were under attack by all of the demons and vampires and whatnot I got together with some other folks and we spent some nights forging and loading silver bullets. They never asked for the rest of 'em back, lucky me."
When he goes and lumps the Brotherhood together with a major 'hero' name she hooks a brow upward, silently regarding Tommy anew. It's a subject for another time, perhaps. For now she downs the remainder of her beer then stands up.
"Here's hoping that your memory's up to snuff. Given the limited intel this is the best I've got. Make sure Hope's in on it. Or not, if we go with the last option. That could also be fun. Regardless..she knows how to reach me. Give a shout if you kids need something made dead."