While You Were Out

[wannabeflashlantern]

A loud screeching noise can be heard coming from the landing bay. That could only mean one thing. He had finally got the Baby Box to work again, and Gold Sentinel was in the hangar of the Watchtower.

"Sir! We've arrived! Finally"
"Scooter, I'm surprised it got enough energy for this jump. We finally got half those riots under control. Thank God for the Titans, JSA, the GG and Big Science Action."
"Riot control is hard, sir. I'm just happy Shazam and Green Lantern were available to help manage the eastern seabord."

Alas, the skies turning green can cause panic. And while the YJLA was dealing with the problem, the other teams and their two teammates, Gold Sentinel and Scooter, were stranded on Earth trying to keep people calm. GS had settled for setting his Centrifuge Beam to "super dizzy" and making people be too concerned they were going to ralph to keep stealing televisions, canned food and water.

Why were they stealing televisions? Did they expect MTV and The Office to outlive the Earth? These questions and others baffled Gold Sentinel, but not all was lost. Or at least, he hoped.

"Hey! YJLA! Anybody home?"

Comments

[crazy_fast]

All that noise was hard to miss, and in a flash (no pun intended) she was down in the hanger bay. Yellow shades slipped down on the tip of her nose.

"Looks like I wasn't the only one to miss all the action. Just hopped the transport up myself."

Not that most of these people would know her, mom and dad weren't exactly the sort who hung out at team events or anything.

"Swift." She fanned her fingers in a wave to him.

[wannabeflashlantern]

He took off his visor dramatically, as if he had just found the cure for something. "Gold Sentinel, Hero of the 26th Century."

He walks over to her with that same swagger that heroes are known for, specifically the over confident type.

"Did you have any trouble with riots planetside as well?" he asked.

[crazy_fast]

Well...look at that. It's all she can do not to laugh, but she does crack a wide grin.

"Uhh yeah, more or less did a lot of running supplies and making sure things didn't get too out of hand. Super speed comes in handy for that sort of thing."

[wannabeflashlantern]

Scott tries his hardest not to grumble at the super-speed thing. Not that it matters, he's working on the Vandegraf Project for just that reason.

"I mostly made every guy busting open a store front dizzy or froze their feet down."

"So how long have you been here, and why couldn't we find you sooner?"

[crazy_fast]

"There were some fires along the coast. Seems like every time there is some sort of catastrophe people take advantage of it. Looting, riots, fires...worse things."

She had no patience for it, Chaos might be her mothers milk but that did not mean crime.

"Oh I'm easy to find, if you know were to look." She winked and vanished, not truly vanished but moved faster than the human eye could follow for more than a blur. She wound up behind him, tapping on his shoulder.

"Hello again."

[wannabeflashlantern]

Scott again cursed that his senses couldn't keep up. His body never could. He was trained to think fast though and turned around quickly. "Hello yourself."

"It makes me sick sometimes. Nothing wrong with being greedy, invisible hand and all that, but just outright looting places? That's messed up."

He looked around. "Hey, maybe later, after they do the whole 'debreifing' jazz... maybe you and I compare some notes?"

[crazy_fast]

"I'm not a fan of hurting others or taking their stuff personally, I believe in working for things." Maybe it was weird but her parents had instilled it in her. Who would have thought that Holly Granger and Thad Thawne could have been good parents?

"Compare notes? Ok, but it's gotta be over some food. I haven't eaten for like thirty-five minutes and I am starving. I could eat a dozen mega-burgers right about now."

[wannabeflashlantern]

Scott looked to Scooter. The little bot zipped away, and Scott smiled. "How easy are you with Secret IDs? Strict or more relaxed?" He knew some heroes were big on hiding their IDs, typically Bats. "Scott Rayner-West. Well, that's the short version."

[crazy_fast]

She shrugged, the whole secret ID thing wasn't a really big deal to her. Mom and Dad never let her use her powers in public so it wasn't like she was known or anything. She did look amused when he gave his name though, she extended her hand out for a shake, Daddy would have been proud.

"Genna Granger-Thawne." If that rang a bell...well she'd deal with it as it came.

[wannabeflashlantern]

"Genna..." He tries the name up. Not bad. "So how about we hit up the mess, unless you'd want to go grab a bit down in Queens after I'm done checking in with some of the other Leaguers... or we can grab a bite now, get to know each other first. I'm easy."

He looks around. He's always been fond of giving the woman a lead, at least at first.

[crazy_fast]

She made a face at the suggestion of eating here. "Are you kidding? Did you know they actually serve tofu here? And like..low fat stuff? Not nearly enough grease for me. I'll take a down town dive over this stuff any day. As for the others, Not so sure any of them are available. I did a quick run through just before you got here and most of the seemed to be med bay, headed home or out doing that thing with the rings."

She shrugged, she seemed to do that a lot. But if he wanted to wait it was cool, she could scrounge something from the kitchens she was sure.

[wannabeflashlantern]

Scott looked around. He knew Henry would be available, and he was working on a working teleportal into the satellite anyhow.

He put his visor back on and touched the side. "Scooter, you done loading in your recordings into the database? Good. We got enough energy for another Shriek Tube?"

Scooter zoomed back down. "For two or three sir?"

He looked to Genna. "Three?"

[crazy_fast]

She squinted, "A Shriek tube? That sounds totally nuts." But she grinned big. "I like it."

The Chaos was a gift from her mother, her logic was from her father, sadly that logic was less often the louder of the two voices in her mind.

[wannabeflashlantern]

"You may want to cover your ears," he said as he placed his vasor back on. Two discs unfurled from the visor to cover his ears. "Scooter, dock and activate Shriek Tube!" The little robot launched four little discs which attached to Gold Sentinel's suit, and the robot itself to his back before a hole was ripped into the universe itself, sounding like a baby crying. He grabs Genna's arm and pulls her into the Tube gently with him. Three seconds later, they are in a rather pristine white yet cluttered laboratory under a watch repair shop on a very mixed up street in Queens, New York.

[crazy_fast]

She gave him a blank sort of look but Genna did press her hand over her ears. She eased up beside him with the gentle pull and away they went. Something inside her, that bit of untamed Chaos that lacked balance, screamed in glee. She felt it inside her, like a ferret turning in a tube seeking a way out. This meant it had found something it could have truly Chaotic fun with. Down fella, easy boy. She did not need another accident, not like last time.

But it passed quickly, and they were left in what looked like a some sort of crazy workshop. Not like Dad's, his was always neat and tidy, he was a freak that way. But this seemed to have more personality.

"Nice place, cozy." She grinned and looked around, not waiting for permission to do so.

[wannabeflashlantern]

"It's not much, but it's home. A wannabe supervillain bought it from Professor IQ a few years back, then defaulted on a loan. The bank held onto it, not knowing of the elevator behind the bookshelves, and then I bought from them. The bank that owned it was in Texas, so all it cost me was $36 for all the paperwork. I get to live here, and if in the next year no one offers me enough money to leave, it's all mine." He grins.

"And that's what a knowledge of historical oddities gets you."

He walks to a wall covered in notes on how to improve the cold ray and touches the dial pad. The walls fold back, revealing a kitchenette. "How's about a smoothie and a cookie to tide us over for the walk to the pizzaria? Or would you prefer a burger, or Chinese? Up to you."

He knew only one type of person needed more calories than a supergenius that exercised regularly, and that was a superspeedster. Must be how she keeps so trim. Not bad for being holed up in your lab for two weeks, Scotty-Boy.

[crazy_fast]

"Wow, so this is really your place, like you own it." She smiled and nodded. "Cool." Not many of the people she knew who weren't already adults could make that claim. rent an apartment maybe but to own a place, especially one as eccentric and bizarre as this, well that was pretty sweet.

"I'd love a snack. As for food, I'm pretty open to ideas, as long as there's a lot of it. I do have a weakness for General T'so chicken, extra spicy."

She looked down and remembered the whole costume thing. "Hey just give me a second to change." and pretty much she was not exaggerating, with a blur of motion she changed from her temporary uniform to a tank and jeans.

"Ahh, much better."

[wannabeflashlantern]

He grinned. "Scooter, ball up the suit, would you?" The suit started to look like it was sucking off of him, leaving khaki slacks, a button down green shirt and a pair of red high-top Chuck Taylors. He took the visor off and put it on the robotic little friend, whose top compartment opened and a small pair of hands pulled it into the compartment. A ball of black was under the robot, who flew it over and put it on a shelf, which sucked it up and stored it next to two other gold suits and a silver one on the wall, unfolded and crisp.

"General T'sao's chicken, eh? Mr. Cho's buffet at the corner of 164th it is then." He presses a few buttons and has two cups with lids and straws. "Strawberry banana or mango pineapple guava?"

[crazy_fast]

Heh, he had his own cool quick change. "Nice trick, you always have the little flying R2D2?" She hooked her thumb back to where Scooter had settled himself. It was kind of cute, sort of like a smart robot dog or something.

She'd nodded eagerly to the suggestion of place to eat and then...ohh he was giving her a choice. She paused Took the strawberry one and took a slow sip, she handed that back to him. She took the other one and sipped. "I like this, I tend to like things a little out of the ordinary."

[wannabeflashlantern]

Oh, she is fun. Scott thought as she tested the smoothies. He looked over at Scooter, currently recharging himself with a little "nap," his fans making a little buzzing sond like snoring.

"Yeah, thay's Scooter. Built him initially when I was nine out of a drone at the Flash Museum that got tossed out. Been upgrading him ever since. This is his seventeenth model I think, but the AI has always been the same. Don't want to lose my best friend slash hoverboard."

He pointed to the large pillar in the center of lab that looked like a support beam that now had a door. "Elevator's here. We're about twenty stories beneath the shop right now." He leads the way to the open pillar now, ready for the chaotically fun girl to join him.

[crazy_fast]

"That's one way to make friends I guess." Well if she could she probably would too, but she didn't have the head dad did for this stuff. Not as much anyway. She liked her tech but she was far below his level.

"Right, you're from the future. Not bored here with us ancients?" It was a joke, hopefully he took it as such.

Genna followed along, still sort of drinking the place in, as well as drinking her smoothie. It was half gone already. These things happened with a super fast metabolism. she could have downed it in one drink, but as Mom reminded her that was rude. "So, we go up."

[wannabeflashlantern]

And up they went. To anyone who wasn't a speedster, it's a fast ride. For a boy with a speeding brain, it's still too slow. A ding and they are in a hallway lined with clocks. Turning the corner, the front room of the repair shop with stairs leading to the upper apartments, which are rarely used with the lab below existing.

"Ah, no place like home." Scott walks to the door and holds it open for Genna, and checks his watch. Most people check for time. He checks for how much battery is left if he needs to use the laser or the signal for Scooter.

[crazy_fast]

Her foot tapped along as they rode up, she had two unstable aspects that made her up, speed and chaos. Either one alone wasn't so bad. Speedsters could slow down and think, and Chaos could be balanced by perspective. Add the two and you had someone who moved and thought too fast to balance herself out. It made her either very effective or very dangerous, so far she'd been lucky.

She finished the smoothie and set the cup to one of the counters they passed. She was fairly certain she could put it back when they returned. "If you can have a secret lab under New York it's about as good as it gets."

He's been a real gentleman so far, holding doors and letting her go first. It was more impressive than a lot of the guys she'd met. "So, Scott Rayner-West, that's quite a name."

[wannabeflashlantern]

"Oy, that's the short version. The full version would be Scott Bartholomew Knight-Rayner-West. Only kid in my family to not have powers, a ring, a Star Artifact or speed. That gets old fast, and having a name that fills a gigabyte doesn't help." He finishes his smoothie, pushes the cup down and throws away the straw. "Collapsable cup," he says as he puts it in his pocket.

"Yourself, Genna Granger-Thawne... Well, I'm assuming not too close to the lines of Malcolm or Eobard then?" He grinned. "Sorry, I practically grew up in the Flash museum. the inspiration for most my gadgets were the Rogues."

[crazy_fast]

"Short version, good choice." After he'd explained his name. Ohh he was a legacy that didn't get the legacy goodies? That was a mixed blessing.

"Mom was Hawk, well still is on occasion, personification of Chaos. She passed some of that on to me. Who knew right?" She stuffed her hands in her front pockets. "Dad is a clone of one of your namesakes. Made by President Thawne and sent back in time to impersonate Bart Allen. After his mission failed he took control of his life and met my mom." There was more to that story, she laughed, not horribly embarrassed by her parents affection for each other.

"I think she seduced him or something, but they hooked up and apparently Chaos throws the stats for birth control all out of whack and...here I am."