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[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi glared at the console, and instructed the computer to bring up the simulation once more. It was a fairly simple one - just dodging an oncoming asteroid field - but she'd run it three times now, and each had ended with her ship as an asteroid bug-splatter not too far in. She could drive a car just fine, but the finer controls of the ship eluded her. She had imported the Ptolemy's basic design and control scheme into the program, so at least it was a ship she was vaguely familiar with.

Nonetheless, ten minutes into this fourth run, a fairly loud stream of curses - in more than one language - could be heard outside the door to the sensorium she was using.

Comments

[indeliblepast]

There was a second or two of slightly surprised silence - and then Sumeragi broke down in a fit of barely-contained snickering.

[morganknight]

"Oh thank god," Morgan said, grinning. (Despite the fact that he wasn't a member of the Big Three monotheist religions, he never had escaped that common linguistic turn of phrase.) "I was afraid knowledge of Batman had been lost in the future and you wouldn't get the joke."

[indeliblepast]

She grinned. "Some things are immortal. Like Micky Mouse. I was never a huge fan, some some of the guys I knew in college collected the reprints and stuff."

[morganknight]

"And the future just keeps giving me more hope! I never actually dressed up and fought crime, mind," he said, "but my friends used to tease me about that all the time because of the other similarities."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi grinned. "Tall, dark, and handsome, you mean?"

[morganknight]

"And a billionaire martial artist whose parents died tragically early in his life," Morgan said. It was a horrible thing to say, really, but in this circumstance he could say it lightly and casually. It was, after all, part of the joke.

[indeliblepast]

"Mm. Somehow I suspect that sort of thing works out better in comic books." There wasn't pity in her voice, exactly - but a certain note of sympathy.

[morganknight]

He didn't mind the sympathy, but he wasn't telling her all this to earn it. "Well, I sure never got my own comic book or TV show. Though I WAS voted 'Most Eligible Bachelor' by People Magazine for four years in a row."

[indeliblepast]

She waggled her eyebrows suggestively - even if it was definitely downright silly, too. "I think I can guess why."

[morganknight]

But it was cute and kinda sexy even if it was silly. "The bags of money, of course. At least, I promise you that I could be pencil-think weakling and still have made the cut, but hunky-and-poor? Not a chance in hell."

[indeliblepast]

"The masses have such terrible standards," she mock-lamented. "Looks are at least on par with money, in my eyes."

[morganknight]

"The masses, or the magazines? Although I think the answer is both. Of course, you have a spaceship, I'm not sure what you would even DO with money compared to something that cool," he said, patting the seat he was still leaning on.

[indeliblepast]

She laughed. "Both, yes. And the spaceship is only on loan - so I can't use it to pick up cute guys, I think."

[morganknight]

"You never know until you try!" His grin couldn't turn entirely wicked, since there was still a bit of self-mocking amusement at the corners. "Of course you might have a hard time getting it anywhere into the ship proper to find them... I suppose you could always send out a message. 'Attention cute guys,'" he said, miming the punching of words into an omnicomm, "'please come to the Hangar so that I may select from amongst you'."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi cracked up at that - the whole tableau was just too funny. "You realize I'm going to have to try that now, you know. See who shows up."

[morganknight]

"Go for it!" he said. "I gave you the idea, so I get advance warning, right? I don't need much, just long enough to sabotage the efforts of anybody else to get there!"

[indeliblepast]

"Oh no you don't, you'll have to compete on your own merits," she shot back with a grin. "Though I think you've got a leg up on most of the ship anyway."

[morganknight]

"Hey, giving you the idea is a merit, isn't it? And my ability to trap, block, or shut out other competitors would also be a merit!" Morgan reached up to pluck at the shirt he was wearing. "My usual strategy IS just to take my shirt off, so you should be flattered I'm actually attempting to think tactically here!"

[indeliblepast]

She raised an eyebrow and grinned suggestively. "You do that, and I think it's down to you and Captain Reynolds. Though he's got a ship of his own, so I don't know how enticing that'd be."

[morganknight]

He lifted an eyebrow... then slowly his smile widened into a grin. A gleeful, wicked grin.

"Are you done in here for a moment? Or at least willing to step outside? Because if we're talking vehicles now, well, I drove here..."

[indeliblepast]

Now that sounded intriguing. "Yeah, I can come back to this later. Might be a little more levelheaded when I do."

[morganknight]

"Well then." Smiling, he stepped backwards to the door he'd come through initially, opening it to gesture her through with a grand bow.

[indeliblepast]

She mock-curtsied, and grinned as she went out. "Lead on, then." As she exited, the simulation vanished behind her, her mind no longer sustaining it.

[morganknight]

Outside, sitting off to one side in the hall:

The 2019 Ferrari Infinity.

The only one on Earth, although not the only one in the multiverse (thanks to infinite possibility and all); custom-designed for Morgan according to his specific requirement. Namely, to be the coolest car in the world.

Gleaming brilliant black, sleek tracing, smooth lines, raw power. Morgan reached into his pocket to tap the remote keystart, and the car came to life with a low, perfect purr as the roof folded back and its complicated hexagonal support structure folded up into the sides.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi's eyes widened in appreciation of the vehicle. She was not particularly a connoisseur of cars, but she wasn't an idiot either. She could tell the power and quality that went into this one at a glance.

"And you make a fuss about my ugly, boxy spaceship."