trans_9 | Meet-n-Greet

Carol had gotten a bit bored wondering around, just taking things in. She had also gotten annoyed by her suit. So in a flash she had chanced into her Ms. Marvel uniform, mask and all. It felt better to wonder around in something more familiar, than the suit that seemed to be a part of the ship. In her wonderings she over heard the red head. She snorted rather loudly as she moved closer, running a few fingers through her hair to get the few knots out, her boots clicking loudly on the ground.

"Space is vastly over rated. The movies make it seem far more interesting that it actually is."

Owen chuckled before he even turned around to face the voice. "Oh come on, it's my first time in outer space. Cut me some slack if I need to geek out a bit."

Then he saw her, statuesque and nordic as a glacier. Sinfully attractive and wearing something... well, he'd seen female heroes wear less, but still, DAMN. He immediately got the impression she could snap him in half with her pinkie if she chose, and he always found that attractive in a woman. And boots with heels. She was wearing boots with heels, and stroking her hair out.

As his eyes widened, he immediately tried very hard to command his hindbrain not to let him say--

"Woof."

The color fell out of his face as he realized he'd failed, hands clamping over his mouth, before falling away so he could start grovelling.

"Oh excuse me, that... that was in no way cool. Sorry... very sorry." He coughed into his hand, then extended his other one. "Hi, Owen Mercer-Harkness-Thawne. Freelance Adventurer, occasionally says stupid things."

FAIL.

But still, DAMN.

Carol blinked a few times. If she had came over here just a few minutes before, before she had gotten her barrens, she was sure he would be flying through those windows. As it was, she was relatively calm. So she let him apologize, and felt a bit of pity for him. The apology was kind of pathetic.

"Well that's a great first impression Owen. I'm Captain Carol Danvers. US Air Force. And sorry to bust on your first time. But I guess you lucked out. This is actually pretty nice. I've been in worst situations in space."

Owen shook her hand bashfully, making sure to keep eye contact. EYES. But not so much that it made him seem creepy. He managed a smile with some of his confidence again. "Well, this one IS off to a pretty great start. I mean... I meet some of my childhood heroes already, get re-united with one of my best buds... and I'm out of the train0wreck that things back home were turning into. Yeah, I'll agree that I'm lucking out."

He tilted his head curiously, raising an eyebrow. "What was your first time in space like, Captain Danvers?"

"Well I used to work for NASA, so it wasn't anything to write home about. Then there was the time I was kidnapped by an alien, and had my DNA rewritten." She shook her head, she didn't want to think about that because it brought up memories of Mar-vell. And she wasn't sure if she wanted to test her emotions just yet.

"Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time in space."

Owen laughed. "You kiddin'? Being in NASA is definitely something to write home about. I wrote home just for making the Dean's List in undergrad."

He arched an eyebrow, then pointed at her, gesturing up and down. "Rewritten... into this? Or is this the normal?"

"My father didn't approve of me going into the Air Force, let alone working for NASA. He hated it until his dieing day." Granted it was all because of her brother Steve's death, but the old man could have at least said he was proud of her. But no. He just hated it all.

"This was what I became. Ms. Marvel, kree human hybrid. Or something else. No one's quite sure what I am. But I was human." She shook her head slightly. She was used to guys asking about her, but this was new. He didn't know her at all. Which means he didn't know anything about the things she's had to do. The Civil War, the Invasion.. none of it.

"So tell me a bit more about yourself Owen."

Owen looked at her body language as she spoke of her father. "I'm guessing you told him to go scratch and did exactly what you wanted."

"Kree... never heard of 'em." He shrugged. "Can't argue with the results though, it seems." He would have given her a wink, but was worried that would be too much after the bad first impression. Maybe later.

He paused as she asked about him. So far it'd been much more comfortable just to geek out over the pseudo-fictional characters he'd met. He wasn't going to lie to a direct question though. "Well... I like long walks on the beach, rare steaks, cookie dough ice cream, and Neil Gaiman novels. I'm known as Captain Boomerang" He grinned, turning his chin up slightly. "--former c-list Rogue, been superhero-sober, if you want to call it that, for over a year now. Absolutely one of the good guys now."

That was all honest, whilst still avoiding ~~Dad~~ stuff he didn't want to talk about justnow.

"My dad and I never really got along. He expected me to be the typical little girl, but I don't think I could ever fit into that mold." She shook her head slightly and was glad to be able to focus on other things.

"The Kree is an alien warrior race. Not much really to know about them." She shrugged a bit, it was true. Other than their hate for the Skrulls, and the tendency to mess with human DNA. There wasn't much to know about them.

"Cookie dough you say? A man after my own heart." She grinned a bit, she was a sucker for some good ice cream, and even if she didn't get the Rogue thing, she figured if he was trying to be a hero, she had to give him that. Simon after all, hadn't always been a hero. Jessica either.

"I'm sorry, but.. what's a Rogue? I mean I know what rogues are... but I don't think you're talking about it like that."

"This probably revolves around a lot of 'local' knowledge, so try to bear with me." Owen shrugs. "The 'Rogues' are a slew of costumed villains around Keystone, the Flash's town. Usual assortment of deranged geniuses and freak-shows, but pretty much just in it for the score, no world-conquerers or whatever among them. Turned out my dad, my real dad, I was adopted, was one of them. The original Captain Boomerang. He played both sides of the fence for years... until he died while on a contract."

Yeah... this is what he hadn't wanted to talk about.

"I'd met him just a little before that.. kinda patched things up. Made some really bad calls and fell in with the other Rogues after he got killed, took up the gimmick." He tapped a boomerang on his jacket holsters. "Wasn't much of a villain, even if I was great with the gear. Did my time, behaved... ended up saving a real A-list hero who was in jail on stuff he got framed for, ended up hitching a ride out with the heroes saving him with a jailbreak. Rolled with them for a while... until I wound up here."

Carol had figured that these Rogues would be villains, but she was kinda amazed at the knowledge that they weren't in it for the world domination. There wasn't any real groups of evils back home that just wanted stuff. She would have gladly welcomed them back home. If it meant she'd be able to get rid of the over barring "I'm going to rule this planet" crap.

If she had known Owen for a bit longer, she might have hugged him. She knew that it couldn't be easy loosing a parent, especially one you didn't know all that well. She had lost her father, but at the time she didn't have access to those emotions. Still didn't it seemed, or she just didn't care.

"I'm actually surprised. We don't have many bad guys who turn good back home. Mostly there's just the gray area guys who you want to throw in jail, but who are actually doing good things." She shrugged a bit. She hated the gray area, she really did.

Owen would not have minded that hug at all. And not just for the girly-bit related reasons.

"It... it was kind of my fault. He was... well, he was past his prime; a joke, really. Ended up meeting me, and it was nice. We just.. we talked, had a catch." He tapped the boomerangs again, wincing. "Then... he gets it into his head to put himself back on the map. Goes to pretty much the prime networker for villains in our 'business', and picks up a contract. It was all a set-up though. The same person that took out the contract on..." He paused, Robin was here after all. "On let's say, John Doe, had sent him a warning, and a gun. He was the dad of another hero, a teen one.

Turned out to all be the plot of some psycho hose-beast ex-wife of one of the big heroes trying to get his attention again. Killed another guy's wife, along with taking out the contract-scheme on my dad and the other guy's dad. Hero-dad and mine killed each other... then the feds even hijacked his body before I could even see it. Putting a roadblock on ressurection, they said." He practically hissed. "Whole reason I fell in with the Rogues was to try to get him back for a proper burial."

He caught her surprise at the notion of the Rogues and was a little surprised. "Really? You're from a cape-infested world and there's no just plain thugs? Must get... well, depressing." He grimaced. "So far as the Rogues go... it's kind of a; well not non-aggression, but a non-escalation deal. The cops don't get involved, and the Rogues don't involve bystanders. Similar deal for other heroes. They stick to their towns, the Rogues keep to Keystone and The Flash. I can't say they like each other enough to be a brotherhood, but... it's something."

"Brotherhood..." Bad choice of words, as that brought up memories of Rogue and fighting for her life. She shook those thoughts off and focused back on Owen. He'd been through so much, and she could feel the need to hug him start to overwhelm her. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her neck, hugging him close for a minute. She didn't hug him as tight as she would have hugged someone back home, but then he probably wouldn't have survived it.

When she stepped back she willed the mask on her face to fade, it was pointless to have anyways. She blinked a few times adjusting to the feel of her bare skin open to the air again, and then tried a soft smile.

"We had hired goons, but nothing like these Rogues. It would be surely refreshing to fight someone like them. You get so tired of fighting off the same terrorist group, with the same plans for world domination."

Owen's eyes widened slightly as she hugged him, turning his hips slightly to keep it from being awkward.

~~It was niiiiice though.~~

"Uh... thanks." He replied quietly, clearing his throat before he spoke up again. "Well.. it's not like they always work together. Just kind of a collective term for the costumed villains around Keystone. They don't really tolerate outside competition, or guys who don't play by their rules; and to their credit.. well, I can only think of one time Kobra ever attacked Keystone. Meanwhile, Gotham and Metropolis practically have a revolving schedule of extremists."

He paused, then laughed at himself. "And then I end up doing the secret agent thing against terrorists... y'think a guy would learn."

Carol moved a piece of hair behind her ear as she listened to him. It was nice to just talk to a guy without the pretense of having something else over her. Like with William, or Simon... She shook her head slightly to get rid of those thoughts.

"In my experience, guys only learn when there's something else in it for them. But I haven't given up hope yet." She gave him a teasing smile.

Owen just looked at her for a moment after that.

"Colonel Danvers, I think you're flirting with me." He put a hand on a hip, smirking back at her.

"...aren't you?"

"I just might be Owen. Is that a problem for you?" Her voice was tinted with every ounce of sweetness she could dish out.

"Only if I'm expected to keep calling you 'Colonel Danvers'." He chuckles, not intimidated, or too ruffled, but fairly amused. "I mean..." He made a so-so hand gesture. "Kinda nicely kinky, but I imagine it'd get old."

"Well I suppose you're right. And I really don't have a problem with you just calling me Carol." She smiled a bit more. Sure she loved the added title to her name, but it really wasn't necessary. It wasn't like it was true any more anyways.

He smiles, a bit more relaxed. "Well then, nice to meet you, Carol."

"It's nice to meet you too Owen. In fact, it's a welcome relief after the day I had before this."

Owen groans and rolls his eyes. "Oh tell me about it. Something of a break-up with my best bud slash teammate, black-ops team breathing down my neck to recruit me, and still not exactly well thought of by most of the hero community." He shakes his head.

"But seriously, tell me." He looks at her. "What happened on your end?"

"Well.. we had some psycho with super powers blow up a school filled with little kids. The Government passed a law making anyone with powers register. The hero community split in two and started fighting. Then one of the men who I looked up too as an older brother was gunned down." She looked at her hands for a minute trying to place the events in order. Nitro, the Civil War, Cap's death...

"Fought off an alien race who wanted to kill me. Then had to fight an alternate version of myself who wanted to kill me. Then had to fight my own team because THEY thought I was a shape shifting alien. Then had to fight to stop an Invasion of Earth, which had basically already happened and we were the last to know about it. Damn Skrulls...." She shook her head and sighed.

"Then I found out my power was going out. And some super villain was running around with my name. But I couldn't stop that, and I went off to take out a major villain and my powers exploded... taking me with them." She looked up at Owen and smiled slightly.

"I put my self back together again."

Owen listened and nodded to all that, but withheld comment that on his world, he couldn't even imagine the heroes having an all-out slugfest like that. The alien parts and alternates, that made a lot more sense.

At the last part, he smiled at her and cocked his head to the side slightly. "In more ways than one, clearly. You don't carry yourself like someone who's been through all that."

That's a compliment. That's clearly a compliment, right?

"Owen, I've been trapped in Limbo. Toured every inch of our galaxy. Had my DNA screwed with, fell in love with an alien, and been so out of my mind that I nearly killed hundreds of people. There isn't much that can throw me off anymore." She gave him a small smile.

"Though exploding into bright alien light beings.. that was new."

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