Mix-and-Mingle

[cityship]

After the most recent pod-pop had been completed, Stacy began encouraging the crew towards the Obs Deck. They would be most effective if they were familiar with each other, and as the Jaime Reyes Incident had proved, leaving them to meet whenever they happened to cross paths was not effective.

Anyone who stepped into the Hub would be transported to the Obs Deck, no matter where they had intended to go. Those who had been exploring the City were verbally herded towards the Hub, although the energy tentacles did not make an appearance.

||Please report to the Obs Deck for Crew Introductions.||

The Obs Deck hadn't changed very much since they'd last been there. The creepy sculpture was still present, as were the fleshy couches. However, the couches were arranged in a more obvious circle this time.

Come and meet the new -- and in some cases, weirder -- members of your crew.

Comments

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Some people have described El Paso that way? But I get around."

Out to San Fran for the weekends, sometimes all over for various weird things. Went with the business.

He held out a hand. "Jaime Reyes."

It was pronounced "Hy-meh."

The name...may or may not have been familiar to Terry depending on whether or not Jaime's ID had ever gone public--or even if the second Blue Beetle had ever come about.

[beyondgotham.livejournal.com]

Terry relaxed a bit. El Paso was in Texas, if he wasn't mistaken. That meant this kid was from Earth; and if he really was experiencing this, having a normal human around was preferable to the aliens and robots he'd met in his life.

"Terry McGinnis," he said, firmly shaking the latino's hand. If Jaime's identity was known, it was certainly not by Terry. Then again, he was terrible with history.

"So, Jaime," he pronounced the name slightly off, with a long 'e' at the end, but that could have just been the Gotham accent, "is this actually happening, or am I hallucinating or something?"

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it's happening. We've all been abducted by aliens, and as far as we can guess, they're recruiting for some kinda war or something," Jaime said. "Most of the people here have...something. Something special. Some kind of skill, training, knowledge, or even just enough flexibility or cleverness to become good at something. And there's a lot of superheroes in the mix. From a couple worlds."

[speedolight.livejournal.com]

"Like me! Wally West, aka the Flash, aka not caring about the secret identity thing because we're all trapped on a ship and someone was gonna likely find out anyways." Wally said as he held out a hand to Terry.

[beyondgotham.livejournal.com]

"Abducted by aliens?" Terry echoed, raising a skeptical eyebrow. It wasn't that he didn't believe in aliens - he'd met a few, but the idea of any of them abducting anyone was ridiculous. The bit about 'special' people worried him a bit. Was this some sort of plot? Some way to pick up all the superheroes of the world and bump them off at once? Maybe it was some sick sort of superhero tournament to turn them all against each other. It's been known to happen.

"Well, I dunno why they'd pick up me, then," he said, joking and lying at the same time, in case someone here was planning on bumping him off early, "I'm just a normal ex-con teen."

He looked over at the man that had just popped up. The Flash, the Flash... where did he know that from...? "Hey, you're part of the justice league!" Terry exclaimed, a bit excited, a bit nervous. "You guys weren't operating any more by the time I was born, but you're still famous!" Not to mention I've MET THE LEAGUE BEFORE, Terry was thinking. But that was time travel. This Flash may not have met him yet. And if he had, he'd never seen Terry without his suit, so hopefully he wouldn't blow his cover.

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

There was something about 'Well, I'm just a normal guy' that sounded ringingly familiar (and untrue), but then when you said it sometimes yourself when it wasn't, when ANYONE said they were normal, it sounded untrue, even if it was true, and there were plenty of mundane-ish people on the ship, that were clearly chosen just for being naturally badass, like Paco and Cybil.

The 'ex-con' thing got no reaction. He was allies with the Posse, Paco had driven some trucks across the border without looking in the back a few times, and he let La Dama continue to operate. Oh, and Peacemaker was his mentor.

'Nuff said.

"Oh man. Future thing. Uh. Say nothing. Less. Say less about the future. Details like 'The Justice League isn't operating anymore' are sort of bad even if they don't sound bad. I know these things because I have read notes, many notes on time travel, that the last Blue Beetle left behind. And in between the futuristic euphemisms for boobs that he picked up from Booster Gold, there were a lot of details Booster dropped that he probably shouldn't have. You might be from an alternate timeline from one of us--at the very least I think me and the Flash are only from similar worlds, rather than the same one--but say nothing important, just in case, nothing that could make someone have to decide if they were going to change something or not, since either choice could change the future--your present."

A pause and he squinted one eye. "Speaking of which, if you're from the future, can I get a verification one at least one euphemism? 'Sweater nebulas': real euphemism for boobs or just Booster being Booster?"

A pause. "I'm the Blue Beetle by the way. The third one. I should probably be trying to keep that under wraps better, but I blew my secret ID first day because the alien bugsuit freaked everyone out and they shot at me, so I had to show I was human underneath."

[speedolight.livejournal.com]

Wally had in fact come to same conclusion about Terry that Jaime had, but wasn't saying anything. "I'd say probably just Booster being Booster, considering there's noone else he can be anyways. He's not a metamorph."

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

The superhero comment caught Kate's ear, so she wandered over. Her bow and arrows slung to her back, and the sword sheathed at her side. Tricky with the pulsating suit, but she was managing so far.

"Now, you didn't have the boys only sign up over here, did you?" She smirked at the three of them.

Kate then asked, "Metamorph, that anything like shapeshifting? I'm Kate, Hawkeye of the Young Avengers by the way. Sounds like my world's probably different from yours, at least enough the secret identity's not enough of an issue."

[beyondgotham.livejournal.com]

"Sweater.... nebulas?" Terry snorted, "No, not by 2050, it's not."

But Jaime was right - he had to be careful with the talk about the future. If Flash was here, the rest of the league might be. And if they hadn't met him yet, well... he really didn't want to give Bruce a heart attack. That would be bad. But that comment about having a suit struck a pang of jealousy in Terry. He would have felt a whole lot more comfortable with the Batsuit.

He nodded at Kate, casually saying "Terry, Terry McGinnis." All these superheroes... they'd probably see through his lie in minutes. If he could hardly keep the secret from his mom and girlfriend, he was doomed around these people.

[el-escarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Of course, he's from farther in the future than 2050, I think..." Jaime mused. "I have got to find out if that's a real euphemism or not."

He waved a hand, as if dismissing the whole thing. "Anyway, Kate, this guy isn't a superhero--" possibly "--but he's from some version of one of our worlds--me or Flash's or one like it--in the future. I'm thinking we have another Paco on our hands--all we have to do is give him an alien-beating stick and he'll be kicking butt and taking names."

Best friends acknowledged their best friends'/sidekicks' inherent badassossity.

[speedolight.livejournal.com]

"Or he is and just doesn't want to tell anyone." Yeah, Terry's identity is pretty much screwed, especially since Wally's a master at messing with Bats.