thelegion | Sticky, Sticky Fingers [post-Time Ripples]

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Sticky, Sticky Fingers [post-Time Ripples]

[ The image on the screen is not of any member of the Legion. Instead, it is of what looks like a smallish rummage sale of things meant to fit into pockets. ]

If anyone's misplaced anything during the weird slide-y timeline situation, there's a bunch of stuff here on the Observation Deck now.

[ What crazy random happenstance, the professional thief has found missing items! You might want to come claim anything that's yours before it gets really rummage sale.

Or maybe not, if the item you've misplaced is embarrassing. And there are a surprising number of embarrassing things in the hoard on display. ]

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[ Joey is holding up the armguard part of his uniform. One of the shuriken is missing, and, in what is surely a great surprise, it is in the jumble of found goods.

But he tsks his tongue against his teeth and points at the armguard with a disapproving look, before putting it down and signing. ]

There are four throwing stars, Parker.

[ ... yes he's actually disappointed she did not manage to snag the entire set. ]

[ Parker appears on screen as she sets down her omnicom so her hands are free. She frowns thoughtfully into space for a moment, and then signs back. It's not perfect, but Parker is nothing if not dexterous. ]

One was enough. I don't know how to do throwing stars.

[ She probably means "use" rather than "do", but "I don't know how to do that" is a sentence she's already memorized. She also repeats the sign Joey used for 'throwing stars' since it's probably a useful one to add to her vocabulary. ]

[ Close enough. Joey smiles widely - he really appreciates it when someone makes an effort to learn enough sign to converse. Especially now, when the earplugs help so much. ]

Do you want to learn? If you have a good eye, it won't take long. It's even quicker with two.

[ This answer requires much less thought before she signs back. ]

Yes. Maybe fun?

[ Fifty-fifty whether Hardison reacts with "well, that's cool" or "because you weren't already terrifying enough". Eliot's probably just going to sigh and remind her to stay away from his "good knives". ]

[ A nod doesn't take any thought, either. ]

I think we can make it fun. I don't know if the training room will actually turn the floor into lava, but I do know it does a great mafia-owned warehouse sequence.

It does great security laser grids too. Sadly, it's not a big enough space to fake a Steranko; I've tried.

[ None of that was signed, though Parker does finger-spell 'Steranko'. ]

Thanks.

[ That sign is quick and sloppy, a reflex in response to a tricky name getting spelled. ]

Static grids aren't as fun as moving arrays. What's a Steranko, and is it something we need to fake?

Oh, that goes without saying. Static grids are warm-up work only.

We probably don't need to fake a Steranko. It's the toughest security system back where I'm from, not something here. But it learns and adapts, and it has four levels, ranging from 'passive lockdown' to 'hazmat containment breach'. It's only been defeated twice.

[ Parker's lips quirk. ]

And both those times were my crew, so I don't think anyone else is going to be breaking their way out.

[ You have his full and complete attention now. ]

Oh, we need to fake a Steranko now. I want to see how I stack up against it, and I'm curious how my friend Dick would do as well. I think we could beat it, if we were allowed to work together.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's curious - you basically challenged the entire Espionage Squad.

There's no way you could beat it if you weren't working together. Trust me, I tried.

[ She cocks her head to the side, thinking. ]

We need a large space for it. It's a security system meant for a building, generally fairly large ones. The smaller the space it has you trapped in, the faster it can hunt you down.

Because it does hunt you. Cameras, door locks, scanners...plus security personnel.

I bet Brainy could whip something up, if he's got the time.

[There's a chuckle as Dick turns on his omnicomm.]

I was wondering where that had gotten to. You grabbed one of my Wingdings when I was running around as a kid again. Didn't miss it at the time. Probably would have next fight.

This team carries a surprising amount of sharp things on them, you probably would have been able to borrow something. Still, it's probably frustrating to lose one, even if the Athramites could probably replace it.

I have others, so they'd at least have a template to work from. I like having weapons I can use from a distance and I've never been fond of guns. And as I have a friend back home who already uses a bow and arrow, thrown weapons are a good choice.

[Okay, Dick was using throwing weapons before he ever met Roy, but nobody else really needs to know that.]

I like tasers for distance work. And close range. Really, I just kind of like tasing people; it puts them down way faster than hitting them with whatever's closest to hand.

[ Like forks. Or the expensive piece of art that you just stole. ]

...I guess a bow and arrow make sense if you want to be really sure that most people can't actually use your weapon if you drop it, though.

Nothing wrong with using a taser. They're useful. I even have one for my Nightwing suit. Great for taking people down without anybody getting injured, if at all possible.

[Dick sits back, dancing a Wingding across his fingers.]

There is that. I mean, Roy knows how to use more weapons, but the bow and arrow is the one he's been using the longest.

And it involves less wrestling around than chloroform.

[ Parker shrugs. ]

I've never learned. My hitter can probably use one, but he's taken out a guy with an appetizer before so I just assume he can use just about anything as a weapon.

Well, I see you've had an offer from Joey to teach you things if you want to learn. I'd be happy to join in and teach, if you want. Or teach you something else. I'm not so great with appetizers, but I'm pretty good with eskrima sticks.

I don't tend to carry much more than a taser back home. There's only so much you can conceal in most outfits for women; and when I don't need to conceal my tools, I need them to be light and portable. So I tend to stick with either a taser or hitting and running.

But if you've got suggestions that I can fold into that, I'm interested. You never know when you'll need to buy yourself a little more time.

[A couple of small pieces of plastic with shields on them lift from the table, surrounded by an aura of purplish-blue power. They fly over to Vance, who closes his hands around them.]

I had been wondering where these got to. Actually, I'm a little surprised that they're still here, since they came with my younger self.

Maybe because they weren't on you when you moved forward in time? I don't think the food my past self ate when I was here stayed here.

[ The look Parker gives Vance probably isn't one he's gotten from her before. She's reviewed some of the omnicom footage already, and there are some signs in certain entries that she recognizes from her own past. It's not open empathy, because that's not how Parker rolls, but it is extended eye-contact and a you've-been-through-some-shit nod. ]

I hope losing them didn't upset you too much.

That's probably it. I'm glad of it, really. They got lost soon after that time. [He hums, tucking them in a pocket.] I'm not sure I'd say I was upset, but that's more because it was...safer here than it was back home.

[A few people know about his past. A few more, like Parker, can probably make some inferences from what was on the comms and what some others said as well. He takes the eye contact and nod in stride, offering a nod of his own in return.]

Where did you end up spending most of your time? I seemed to mostly follow around on Robbie's heels.

[ Parker hums in agreement. This place had been safer than a lot of the places she'd grown up. Though she'd have been enraged if she'd ever misplaced her bunny in the future, no matter how accidentally. ]

I mostly avoided everyone. I holed up in one of the buildings in my area of the Hab Deck a lot.

[ Not the pub. It had looked too lived-in, she'd thought someone might come through there. ]

[The things that Vance would have lost his shit over were all still back home. A couple of shoelace holders weren't that much in the grand scheme of things.]

Yeah, I get that. I don't know how long I would have tried to avoid people if I hadn't been hurt. Still, it took a lot less time to heal here than it had back home.

Spacefuture healing does wonders. The food's pretty good too.

[ She's mostly stolen unopened cans and boxes of cereal, built herself a pretty decent-sized stash before the timeline had normalized itself again. ]

[Vance grins slightly.]

I was a lot less prone to complaining about the food at that age. But it was still better than the family recipe for matzo ball soup.

I didn't complain much at that age either.

[ Just wrecked havoc and destruction and vanished under the cover of chaos. There are upsides and downsides to being small in a big world. ]

I'm not sure I would have believed any notes from my future self telling me to try the blue fudge, but I guess it would have been disappointing to try it and then not be able to have it again for a decade or more.

I think I may have left some string there, and maybe a couple bracelets?

[ Parker paws through the pile until she finds a likely looking bracelet, which she displays for the camera. ]

Like this?

Yes, that's one.

I'm sorry I left things behind for you to deal with. I can take it off your hands.

...You're adorable.

[ It just sort of pops out of Parker's mouth. She doesn't intend for it to come out condescending, and she's actually completely sincere. Honest people who take her at her word when it comes to "misplaced" items are adorable by Parker's standards. ]

Feel free to swing by when you've got a moment. I figured I'd keep an eye on stuff for a couple days before I dumped it in the lost and found.

Oh, uh ... thank you?

[For what it's worth, she things Parker's commenting on her aged-down version making bracelets in the first place.]

I can be down later today, after training.

I'll be around.

...Or there will be camera surveillance on it so we know who's been poking through the pile. One of the two.

I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Parker. I go by 'Payback' and I run the Espionage Squad.

Fareeha Amari, 'Blue Falcon'. I admit, I'm not really one for stealth.

[She doesn't balk about having suveillance on her, because she knows she's not going to be doing anything worth surveying. Have fun with that, Parker.]

Hey, if nobody claims some of that shit, is it up for grabs?

Sure, I don't want it. I was going to put it in the lost and found after a couple days anyway.

We haven't met. I'm Parker, or 'Payback'. I run the Espionage Squad.

Awesome!

Oh, I'm Jesse. People called me Street Angel back home so I guess that's who I am here too.

Neat. Why do they call you Street Angel?

[ It's an interesting thing for people to call someone, especially a young person. ]

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Sticky, Sticky Fingers [post-Time Ripples]

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