Justice Avengers: Jump City at Dusk

Ambush Bug set down the magazine. "Teleportation nano-whatzits got stuck to my costume, allowing me to teleport wherever and whenever I wanted to. I can't remember how I got my costume or the nanos. My memories come and go. I do, however, recall some kind of sock with a mask. What about you? You seem cool."

-*His memories come and go?* Pulsate thought. Perhaps he really is mentally unstable... which means he isn't a bad guy, but doesn't make him too reliable, either. He still didn't like having the Bug around. And what was that about a sock?

He couldn't think about that too long however because the tables were turned on him. And wasn't his own origin as odd? He'd been out hiking and just found the Hero-dial in a cave. How likely was that? He didn't even know what it really was, what it was made for, or how it ended up there. More importantly, should he share any of this with anyone (besides Suzie, who found it out on her own?)

"...Let's just say I too, stumbled my way to herodom as well. Life can be weird, I admit."

"Anyway, 'Bug', what are your plans? Will you be staying at the Justice Avengers Headquarters?'

Ambush Bug leaned forward. "As weird as weird can be. Believe me, I know weird. It's a lot like network comedy shows, except not as contrived." Barely noticeable, his voice started to crack. "I..might have to see about that. I have some things I need to take care of, but it would be wonderful if I could. Definitely a step up for me and Cheeks."

"Cheeks? Who is that?" Pulsate asked, worried. It sounded like a girl's name- a sleazy girl's name. He imagined this guy bringing in a tart to live with him in the headquarters- now that would be truly flabbergasting!

Ambush Bug smacked his forehead. "I can't believe I forgot to introduce everyone to Cheeks! I would have preferred to introduce him to everyone, but I don't want to interrupt anything."

Reaching into his pocket (and earning a horrified cringe from Pulsate in the process), he pulled out a slightly raggedy stuffed toy.◊ It was, quite frankly, horrifying, like a shaved Teddy Ruxpin. Ambush Bug smiled in the way that only a proud papa could. "Isn't he adorable? I found the poor little guy in a Dumpster one day, all abandoned. What kind of monster would abandon a child?" Ambush Bug paused for a second. "Aw, he likes you! He says hello."

Pulsate almost jumped off his chair when Ambush Bug brought out Cheeks. He thought it was some sort of joke- until the Bug explained who this was supposed to be.

"A... child?" he said, blinking. "You- think- that's- a child??" He didn't know if he should be confused, mad, or just pithy the guy.

Ambush Bug laughed. "Aw, man, you're such a kidder!"

Kara hugged starfire back, tightly. After hearing her speech, she read her autograph as a wide smile appeared on her face.

"And that's why you are my favorite superheroine!" She looked at the autograph to reread it, covered her eyes as she tried to clean her tears, but she just continued smiling after rereading the beautiful words on it. "I promise I am going to be as good as you and Majestic are," She thought to herself. Her insecurities were slowly being replaced with inspiration and hope. Having superpowers might not be so bad after all.

After taking notice of Pulsate's Kara , while she was still near starfire, and told him "Chill out! yeah he is a little crazy, but his heart is in the right place." She then pated Pulsate in the back. However, due to her lack of control of her powers, Robbie would probably feel a super strenght hit on his back.

edited 20th Jan '15 7:39:46 PM by RPGLegend

Majestic just stared in confusion at Ambush and Pulsate, then smiled at Kara and Starfire. It was good to see Kara making another friend. Then he turned his attention back to the counter, where he looked at the desserts on display. He'd never usually had more than his mother's homemade pie. So, that's what he went with.

"Um...apple pie and a glass of milk." The cashier nodded, cutting Majestic a piece of pie and putting on a plate with a glass of milk. Majestic sat down at a table across from Kara, smiling at her, but not wanting to interrupt her conversation with Starfire.

Pulsate was still wondering if Bug was serious or not when he felt as if a mule had kicked him from behind.

"OOFF!" he gasped, and turned around only to realize it had been Kara's friendly pat on his back.

"I'm OK" he said to her. Then, to the Bug: "Be right back" and he got off the table.

He walked speedily to where Copper Sunbird was standing and said to her "OK, it's official, the Bug guy is crazy. And I don't mean kind of, I mean absolutely NUTS!"

But she didn't turn around.

"?" "Hello? Can you hear me?"

She turned around, looking furious. "Just. What. Is your problem??" she spat out. "You've been acting irrational around Ambush Bug since we met him!"

"Excuse me, I am not the one who thinks a puppet is a child!" he explained, as he pointed towards Cheeks. "And what's your problem? What did I do to make you mad?"

Katana glared at the Hero Duo and went over to them. "Cut it out, bickering will only sour our celebrations" she pointed at Pulsate "Ignore the green madman and apologize" then at Copper Sunbird "Answer him and do not dress your response" then crossed her arms and looked at the heroes expectant.

In the backgound, Ambush Bug continued to talk to Cheeks, catching him up on where he had been for the past few days, along with certain troubles that he was still reluctant to tell the team about. "A detective agency? Eh, I'll think about it, Cheeks."

edited 21st Jan '15 2:58:02 AM by MiscellaneousSoup

The Hero Duo regarded Katana with shock. "Where do you get off-" Sunbird started, but Pulsate quickly cut in. "No, she's right, we need to- cool down. Both of us. Excuse us, Miss" he said to Katana, then headed for an empty table and sat down.

Sunbird wavered for a moment, then followed and sat across from him.

Before either could speak, their food finally arrived: A slice of cheesecake and a milkshake for her, and two brownies and a cup of coffee for him.

Rather than speak, they started eating.

Ambush Bug was still waiting for the hero to "be right back." Noticing that he had sat down with someone else, he simply decided to wave. "Okay, maybe we can talk later!" He felt an odd shudder go through his body. I don't really feel... He promptly fell asleep. The other patrons assumed it was due to some kind of sugar crash. Little did they know that other...weirder forces were the cause.

"How's about we let the lady decide?" The Flash said, turning to Red She-Hulk. "So... what do you want to do?"

Pulsate noticed The Bug waving and thought, *Oh right, I told him I'd be right back*. He swallowed another sip of coffee while he pondered if he should talk with him or Suzie first but then he saw the guy apparently deciding to just go to sleep on his table. If it were anyone else he might be worried, but with this wacko, this might be normal for all he knew!

So he went back to looking at Sunbird, who was still staring intensely at him. "Oh this is ridiculous!" he said to her. "Let's just spit out what is troubling us and be done with it."

"Fine" she agreed. "You first."

"What? Why should I go first?"

"I'm a lady, you owe me that respect."

"You? A Lady??" Pulsate almost laughed aloud.

(*Killer Stare*)

"Okay, Okay, fine!!" he said, quickly changing his tone. "I- I don't know why, but there's something about that guy that bugs me. Pun NOT intended" he cleared up. "At first I thought he was a villain. Then I thought he was trying to infiltrate us for the HIVE. Then I just thought he was an idiot. But now, I wonder if he really is insane, and if he is, do we want anything to do with him?"

"Wait, that's it!" she suddenly said, snapping her fingers.

"What?" he asked.

"The reason he drives you nuts! He's like, totally chaotic and unpredictable- and you've always been Mr. logic-can-explain-everything. And since you can't figure him it, it really bothers you."

"...Well... Maybe you have point" he agreed. "Maybe I am biased because of the kind of person he is. Still, I think my concerns over him are valid."

"Hey, don't forget, he did help us recently. And, he has nowhere to go. And even if he needs mental help, who better than us to give it to him? Few people understand Metahumans like others of their kind. It's part of our duty as heroes."

"...Fine. I guess we can give it a try" he conceded. "But, I'm still keeping an eye on him."

"OK now, your turn" he then said.

(silence)

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Why are you angry at me?"

"I'm not!"

"Like heck you aren't. You were ready to bite my head off a few moments ago. And don't say it was all about the Bug. There's something else you're not telling me."

"I..." (avoids his gaze)

"?? Suz- err, Sunbird? Are you- alright?"

"Yes" (said unconvincingly)

"Is it something- personal?"

(she nods)

"Well..." he says, awkwardly, "I... guess you can tell me later, then. When you feel ready."

(silence)

"...So. Is cheesecake any good? I never tried it."

(finally looking at him again, and smiling) "Yes! Want a slice?"

Shulkie gave the Hero-Duo a sideways glance. Not that she was the kind to pry, but there was definitely something up between them. Probably wasn't the kind of thing they could sort out entirely on their own, either. Maybe a little girl-to-girl talk was needed at some point. Meanwhile: food.

"I'll just have a couple of those cheese puffs, aaaaand a latte."

Red had ordered herself a potent vodka, and had been too busy getting stuck into it to answer Flash right away.

"I've slept in worse places than a home-base," she said. "Matter of fact, it's been a good while since I spent the night at a base. Plus, not the world's biggest fan of kids in general. So yeah, think I might pass on both offers, fellas."

"Of course I do," Starfire said to Katana and Kara, blushing from the praise of the two. Once her order came, Starfire began eating cookies by dipping each cookie into the mustard jar she brought and then eating said mustard-dipped cookie. Starfire seemed to enjoy it.

Katana was somewhat pleased by the duo's more civil talk so she walked away, getting her tea and seedcake on the way, and sitting down with Kara and Star. "Does it taste good that way?" she asked Star out of curiosity.

"For me, yes," Starfire said truthfully as she ate another mustard-dipped cookie. "Wolverine doesn't like it at all."

"I like its flavor," Starfire explained to Katana.

edited 21st Jan '15 10:53:01 PM by GameGuruGG

"I see" Said Katana, looking at the treat, she'd always liked simpler flavors herself, favoring salty and savory if she had to choose. "may I try?" She asked, raising her eyes back to the princess.

edited 21st Jan '15 11:29:36 PM by Sanojutsu

"Help yourself," Starfire shrugged, not protesting the idea.

She nods, grabs one of her cookies, dips it in mustard, and takes a bite. The tangy mustard isn't bad on first impression. She chews, and her eyes go wide as the flavor mix blindsides her. "disgusting" she thought. She finishes chewing and takes a drink out of her tea. "thanks, but I didn't like it" She then cut a piece out of her seed cake and began eating.

Kara looked back at Majestic and smiled back at him. A part of her wanted to catch up with him, but she also had noticed he had been , discreetly, peeking at She-hulk and she didn't want interrupt him.

Kara took a cookie from the table gave it to She Hulk and then she told her, "It's from my handsome cousin over there, I think he said he wanted to talk with you about something, " Kara winked towards her, before se returned to the table with Starfire and Tatsu.

When she returned Kara took one of Starfire's snacks. Her face gave the impression she had licked a lemon. " umh ..You know this ain't so... bad at all," a crunch could be heard coming fro her mouth. She continued trying to shallow the snack from her mouth, as fast as she could. "...But I think I prefer ...chocolate," she gave a nervous smile towards Starfire.

" You fought really great out there. I was a a bit scared of them, even after I realized I had superpowers," Kara told Katana.

When she had finished talking Kara tried to drink her chocolate milkshake, but she unintentionally, broke the glass the instant she tried to pick it up. " I am sorry, I got this," she blushed , before she began to clean the table with a nearby napkin.

edited 22nd Jan '15 12:07:54 PM by RPGLegend

In the Bug's mind...

This is great! I've made friends and introduced Cheeks to all of them. I like taking naps. I don't feel the best, but it's probably the lack of sleep. I hope this can fix things. Hey, wait, how am I speaking coherently in my mind? Shouldn't I be dreaming?

   Hello, Bug. It's time to talk.   

...No. How did you get here,-

Before Ambush Bug could say the foe's name, his mind-self was struck down by a laser. The intruder settled down and formed a new space, replacing Ambush's house and replacing it with a control room. Stretching his hands, he settled down.    Let's test this body out.   

Real life...

"Ambush Bug" twitched and woke up. Scanning the restaurant's occupants, he grinned. Perfect.