trans_9 | Working It Out [Open]

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Working It Out [Open]

Terry's first priority when he'd found himself on the ship for a second time, now with so much changed, had been to touch base with those he'd known before, and get up to date on what had happened while he was away. He still needed to go through the ship's roster in more detail to pick out any more familiar names, and find out a few more of the details on what all had been going on, but he was feeling a bit more at ease now, and could turn to his second priority: making sure he was ready for the war with those damned bugs when it all finally came to a head.

He'd made a lot of use out of the sensoriums before, but it was mostly recreating his city, to have something to hold on to. About a year had passed outside of his pod, though, and he felt that he had to accept that Gotham, for now at least, was gone. His focus had to be on the current situation, not the past, however much he wanted to go back to things as they were.

Besides, he'd also used the sensoriums for fight practice - like the battle robots Bruce had had made for training back home. But he'd been asleep in a pod for a year, and though he'd only felt like he'd had a very long and restful night's sleep, he had to admit that his muscles atrophied somewhat in the stasis.

So he'd shaped this sensorium session into his own private work-out room. A mix between the Batcave and the gym at juvie. It surprised him, one he'd thought of it, just how much the ship reminded him of the latter.

He started in on a simple, but effective, warm up and then work out. He didn't quite notice anyone come in right away.

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Cassie had been thinking along similar lines when she went to the Sensorium. Sure, the medbay had some stuff to help her out with rehabilitation, and with work a lot of her dexterity had come back but at this point she needed to rebuild her muscles.

Cassie stopped at the door when she walked in. "Hey. Sorry, didn't know someone else was in here."

Terry might not recognize her. Her hair was much shorter than it had been, now comfing down just above her ears. Her skin had noticeable lines down the left side from her face to neck made from the clash of subtly different skin colors.

"Hey, no problem," Terry called out from a chin-up bar. He far preferred people wandering into something like this then his attempts to recreate Gotham or working out his frustration on his rogues gallery. At least with something like this, people didn't see a detailed little piece of his psyche.

He dropped from the bar and took a good look at the girl. There was something familiar about her, but it was hard to tell. So much had changed in the year he spent apparently trying to keep his soul from falling out. "Sorry, but... do I know you?"

Cassie walked forward. "Oh yeah, I'm Cassie Lang. Might have gone by Stature when you were here. I think we went on a mission together. The one where we found er- empty homes." That hadn't exactly been a pleasant first mission.

The recognition clicked, and Terry's face brightened a bit. He was glad to find another person who had been around before he'd been re-podded. Especially one that had been around for so long.

Oh, that first mission. The one where he had smoke-bombed his team. "Hey, right. Ah... sorry about the stupid stuff I did during that mission. I was nervous, and wasn't thinking things through. That's not really an excuse, but still."

Cassie waved her right hand. "Don't worry about it. That was a long time ago. I was pretty messed up too." Thinking about what happened back then was almost like looking in on another life. "Getting used to things again?"

Terry nodded. A lot of things had been confusing during that time. No one trusted Stacy, no one trusted each other... he would forever be glad that that had changed.

"Yeah, I guess," he said with a shrug. "Kinda weird to know that my soul almost fell out or whatever. And a lot's changed." Including her, but after hearing about what had happened to Superman, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know the details.

Granted there were still a bunch of people who didn't trust Stacy but people were (usually) less open about that.

"It happens to all of us. Don't know if that's comforting- actually it's kinda scary if you think about it too much. But at least we remember now when someone goes missing."

Terry frowned a little. Sure, it was good to be able to remember those that had gone missing. But having them come back, and different... wasn't exactly pleasant.

"Yeah, that really just makes it sound worse. Now on top of worrying about this war and the end of the universe, there's also the fact that, hey! Your soul could fall out!" He tried to make it sound like a joke, but it was clear he was pretty pissed off by the whole arrangement. The biggest difference between now and when he first woke up on Stacy was that at least he understood things a little bit better.

"It's better than thinking the AIs just liked playing with us. And our avia or souls or whatever do come back- usually. No one's happy about it but it could be worse." Could be a lot worse. "And I say this as someone GLaDoS has had a lot of fun playing with lately."

"Ugh," Terry groaned, "don't even mention GLaDoS to me." He'd had to run through that crazy AI's mazes a few times himself.

"But you're right. I'm glad the Stacy's finally being more open. Looks like a lot has changed. I'm still working on getting filled in on who's still around and what happened to them." He had meant well in saying that, but it was obvious that he was looking at the left side of her face.

"What's the last big thing that happened? I can give you a summary of what happened after. I'm a little hazy when it comes to some events because- well we'll get to that later." She paused. "Or we can just skip ahead and address the elephant in the room." And maybe then he'd stop staring. She still wasn't completely used to it.

Edited 2011-11-03 06:47 (UTC)

Terry looked down, feeling more then a little mad at himself. "Sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to... y'know. But, what exactly did happen?"

It was less the look of it that concerned him, and more that one of the first people he'd run into upon waking up was Superboy, and he was missing an arm. Bad things had happened while he was asleep in the pods, and he wasn't comfortable not knowing what.

"Do you remember this guy named Kawalsky? It turns out he was possessed by this parasite that was controlling him. It called itself Shiva. He- it- whatever it was roped two other parasites into helping him plant bombs around the ship. What he didn't know was that they were working against him. Unfortunately that didn't make the bombs any less dangerous at the time. One of them was microscopic. I was the only sizechanger on the ship at the time and I knew a bit about engineering so I volunteered. I didn't deactivate it in time, Shiva pushed the button and it exploded. I had enough warning time to shrink to a size where the explosion didn't have as bad as an effect but I wasn't fast enough." She pointed to the left side of her face. "This is after I got skin transplants. You should have seen me before." The entire time she spoke Cassie's tone was light, like she was summarizing a story she'd read somewhere instead of something she had lived through.

Starfire had no awareness of the idea that it might be impolite to watch someone working out. They were proudly displaying their strength, were they not? It was always a wonderful thing, to watch what well-trained bodies were capable of.

It hadn't been her intention to meet him like this, but after a few minutes of watching she couldn't restrain herself. She strode toward him from the sidelines.

"Do you need to consume water?"

Terry was surprised by the girl who was suddenly speaking to him. Not just that she was there - he was used to people wandering into his sensorium sessions, so that didn't really bother him anymore - but more that it seemed like she had been there for a while. And somehow, he just hadn't noticed.

You're loosing your touch, McGinnis.

He quite suddenly stopped what he was doing - single handed weight lifting - and raised any eyebrow at the girl. "Um... excuse me?"

"Hello!" Starfire pressed on, apparently unruffled by his surprise.

"You must require water to hone your strength, yes?" She had it all ready in a flash. "You will be a fine warrior. Maintaining your health will help."

"Uh, no? I mean, yeah I'd need water, but that's to keep myself from dehydrating. It really doesn't have anything to do with... honing my strength."

Terry was a bit confused as to what he even should say to this girl. Less then a few statements out of her mouth and she was already shaping up to be one of the weirdest, cheeriest people he'd ever met.

"And I'm not really trying to be a warrior, just a vigilante. I guess."

"Yes it does!" She insisted stubbornly. "You cannot do that well if you dehydrate."

Starfire took another glass and had a drink, considering her options. Okay, so she didn't always express herself very well. But she was trying!

"I know of that word. You defend justice on your own, yes?"

It almost reminded her of something Robin had said once. So long ago.

"Yeah, but it's still not directly tied to strength. I mean, you need more then just water, like salt and... nevermind." He stopped when he realized he was essentially re-stating a lecture his wrestling coach had once given the team. He was surprised he still remembered it, since he'd left the team shortly after becoming Batman. And that was getting to be a rather long time ago.

"More or less, yeah," he replied. "I have some people helping me with intel, but I'm the one actually out on the streets."

"Salt?" Starfire was left to ponder that, no matter what he said about its unimportance.

Ah, so he fought alone. That was all too familiar. "I have known others like you. I am a member of a team, but I understand."

Even if it could be lonely sometimes. Robin.

Terry could have tried to explain electrolytes, but he didn't really know enough about nutritional science to give a good explanation. Besides, he was now a lot more interested in something else.

"A team?" He said, leaning forward on the bench a little. "As in, superheroes? Who else was on it?" He didn't recognize this girl, but teams of superheroes sounded a lot like home.

"The Teen Titans! We were a wonderful team, a family to replace the ones we did not have." Starfire was always willing to talk about them. "You may have met Beast Boy. He is a green person with pointy ears and teeth, and he can transform into any animal. Cyborg was reconstructed with robotic parts, and he can build and repair any mechanical device! He is also quite powerful."

And she paid plenty of attention to that, of course. "Raven has powers that require emotional control to use. Her energy can lift and manipulate almost any object. Our leader, then, is Robin. He has no powers, but his skill, weapons, and mechanical devices compensate for this."

If that was familiar at all? "I have powers of my own, but I would like to learn more about the other ways."

The name of the team seemed slightly familiar to Terry, though he couldn't quite place it. As for the people on the team, they sounded interesting, if somewhat like the old Justice League.

But the last name certainly caught his attention.

"Robin? As in, Batman's sidekick?"

Starfire closed her eyes in thought. That was something that wasn't often discussed.

"Yes, I believe so. He does not discuss his past often, but the name is familiar. You have heard of him?"

Terry was a little surprised. How could someone be on a team and not know the past of their team mates? But then again, Terry had never really 'got' teams in the first place.

"You could say that," Terry said slowly. It was a surprise to meet someone who had worked with Robin - though, she hadn't said which one - and it was hard to explain how he knew about him. Somehow, it was just a lot easier to explain things to strangers or to the Robins themselves. It didn't help that she didn't really know about Batman.

"See, in the future, I'm Batman. I've never worked with Robin, but I know the legacy. And I consider the Robins... well, at least Tim and Dick, family."

They were on a team with Robin, that's how. Endlessly paranoid, endlessly secretive.

"I do not know what his true name is. It is safer to keep silent. But I am certain that he would be honored to meet you! We are all glad to find others like us."

"That makes sense," Terry said with a nod. It made a lot of sense, yes. But he was still glad that the League hadn't been so secretive about their members. It would have made his little mole operation a lot harder then it had already been.

"I... don't think so, actually. I mean, you probably know him better, but none of the Robins I've met seemed all that happy that I existed. If I'm around, that means they eventually got old and retired."

"That is part of the cycle of life. We all accept this eventually." But there was pain along the way, she knew that as well.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she focused on what mattered in the present. "My name is Starfire. It is pronounced differently in my native language, but that is its meaning. I am a member of the welcoming committee, and I apologize for failing to greet you earlier."

"Yeah, that doesn't mean people have to like it, though," he replied with a smile.

"Terry McGinnis," he said, holding out a hand. "And don't sweat it. I think I was the last person released, I don't hold it against you for leaving the obs deck before then. Besides, I'm not exactly totally new."

Starfire agreed. "It is sad and frustrating, yes, but I always try to make the best of it."

Part of that cycle was comings and goings, and something about Terry's coming was new. "You have been a crew member before?"

"Yeah," he replied, "For about a year, I think. But Stacy put me back in the pods for another year. I guess people coming back doesn't happen very often." Or when they did, they didn't have any memory of the experience. Like Tim. Terry still wasn't sure what to do about his lack of memory.

"Your avia was unwell?" The concept still confused her, but she tried her best to keep up. "I am glad that you are healthy again! Welcome!"

She grinned up at him. "Are your friends still here?"

Jamie...has been thinking about food, as usual, and so this particular trip to the Sensoriums is less for exercising and more for imagining his lunch into something more palatable. Of course, he would have to go and pick the one that's being used, and is about leave when he catches sight of a familiar face. Grinning, he leans up against a nearby wall, folding his arms over his chest and waiting to see if Terry notices him.

It shouldn't be too hard, he thinks. After all, Jamie still looks pretty much the same as he did before, with the exception of two bracer-like devices he's now wearing on his wrists. But he can't help himself, and pipes up a few moments later with a slightly tongue-in-cheek comment.

"And here I thought ye would have imagined yourself up on some building in a city somewhere."

Terry was rather engrossed in what he was doing - somehow, machine work-outs tended to take up more of his attention then simulated fights. Perhaps because he was used to talking while fighting, but not while doing normal work-out routines.

But he was pulled out of his concentration when he heard a familiar Scottish voice.

"Jaime!" He said, looking up with surprise. Yeah, Jaime had gotten in touch through the omnicomm, but it was still much more surprising to see him in person. "Heh, that's what I thought of doing at first. But you can only beat up so many Jokerz before it gets boring, y'know?"

Said Scotsman gives Terry a crooked grin. It's definitely good to see him again. "Aye, maybe so. Although ye could always try imagining them in strange hats that change colors, I suppose. At least then you'd have something different to look at while ye fought them."

He pushes himself off the wall, walking around for a moment and looking around curiously. "Ye know," he comments, "I'd not given much thought to making a place like this for training with the Rangers. Would ye say it's useful?"

"Well, they already do the strange hats," Terry said, "but the changing colors would be pretty new."

Terry was just about to respond with his own thoughts on the sensoriums, but caught himself. "Wait... what d'you mean, 'The Rangers'?" He asked.

Oh, it has been awhile, then. Jamie rubs at the back of his neck, trying to focus his thoughts and try and come up with an explanation that's not too confusing. "It's...aye, well, it's complicated. But the short version is, there's a group of us that were given these devices here."

Lifting his arm, he turns his wrist so that Terry can see the morpher strapped to it. Its mate can also be seen on the other side easily enough, as he's not particularly going out of his way to hide it. "With these, we've some powers that are a bit better suited for fighting the Ohm. We call ourselves the Dimension Rangers, but that's a bit long when you're bringing it up in conversation."

((OOC: Apologies for the late tag. I'm running slower than normal due to RL, but am trying to get my butt back in gear.))

Edited 2011-11-08 08:08 (UTC)

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Working It Out [Open]

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Sorry, I miss LJ login

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