The weight of what they've done sinks in. "Whoa." He looks over in the distance at the city. All the people going about their lives. It really sunk in. He just turned to Superman, understanding at least a little bit about the man.
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Superman smiles back. "We just came in time for the clean-up. It was you four that did the real work! You should be proud of yourselves. You did what needed to be done and no one was seriously injured. In fact, some of the citizens were never even aware of what was happening."
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The next two weeks are almost boring by comparison; a house fire, a few minor crimes, but nothing that draws your attention away from the routine. Then, on a Thursday afternoon, the call comes in.
The Martian Manhunter's face appears on your monitor screen. "Heroes! We have a new assignment for you. The life of a public figure is busy, and one of the little things that must be done on occasion is to be seen by the public. We need for you to go to Los Angeles for a public appearance on behalf of the League. They have already been notified that you will be coming.
"Go and spend a day or two in the city. On Saturday, you will be at a public ceremony honoring all heroes. Attend the ceremony and put your best foot forward. Sorry that I don't have something more interesting for you, but this is one of those things that must be done. In any case, it should be a nice change for pace for you."
MINOTAR acknowledges the Marian Manhunter and closes the connection after asking for the salient details be sent to them individually. He then turns to the others.
"Query: Los Angeles? The City of Angels? As assignments go...this should be a learning experience. Correct?"
Being a hero and having a day job at the same time was definitely challenging. Fortunately, Ghost had adjusted to the routine fairly well. Having found the stun gun quite useful, he'd spent some time training to use it better in combat, as well as logging more hours flying the jet.
At the same time, his job at Wayne Enterprises had him learning about several new computing advances which he could also use as a hero. Despite how busy he was, it was definitely nice that everything was synergizing.
Having been at work, Ghost missed the actual call from Martian Manhunter. He arrived at the headquarters just in time to hear Minotaur's question. "Los Angeles, huh? What's our assignment there?"
MINOTAR shrugs in an almost human-like manner.
"Simplistic answer: Unless I'm misunderstanding, I believe it is referred to as "PR," also known as Public Relations. Most common references with such dealings agree that many palm-sweat mixing and baby saliva plastering is done.
"A PR mission?! That doesn't make a lot of sense. We aren't exactly the best face of the league. I suppose it's trying to build up our skills. by dropping us in the deep end." He shrugs from his position on the nearest wall. "I guess Zan and Jayna were busy."
"I'm OK with it as long as I don't have to give a speech. I'm never good at speeches. "
Ghost nods in thought at MINOTAR's response, although his description of certain activities was...interesting. "For the record, MINOTAR, we usually just refer to palm-sweat mixing as a 'handshake', and 'baby saliva plastering' I simply 'kissing babies.' I think we can avoid that, however. Fortunately, this sounds like a very simple mission overall. Let's make sure our costumes are clean - MINOTAR, let's make sure you're shiny and polished - then we just have to be polite when talking to others. Erm, Isikos, can you make yourself more solid?"
"Embarrassed response: Understood and I apologize. I lack decent understanding of most human interactions beyond basic harm and help. The actions that deal with some sort of liquid-based response usually end up confusing me the most."
He then moves to the base hanger and begins spray-washing his chassis in preparations for applying a nice shiny wax coating.
"Well, when I'm solid, I tend to look like a normal guy... hmmm..." he thinks for a bit. "Maybe I can fix that." He returns to his ordinary form and lets the shadow cover him. Soon he's a three-dimensional shadow. One so deep, it's hard to look at. "Of course I'm pretty vulnerable like this, but it should make for a better press conference."
A while later, he goes into the hanger. "MINOTAUR, can you help me with something? It shouldn't take much time."
MINOTAR puts down a wet squeegee and looks at Isikos.
"Curiosity piqued: I would be happy to aid you in almost any action my friend."
"Good." He doesn't emplain what he's doing. For the first few minutes it seems to be simply touching hims and concentrating. Then suddenly, MINOTAUR finds himself across the room. His internal clock seems to be running twelve seconds slow compared to the time broadcast by the GPS network.
Looking at Isikos, MINOTAR seems unperturbed by the experience and resets his chronometer.
"Interested query: You have learned to teleport others? Or erase memories? Or is this ability related to technology only?"
"It's a teleport that I can use on others. Shadowporting seems to take a while to emerge. I think that I sometimes use this agains unwilling people."
"Unexpected surprise: Fascinating! Could be very useful!"
"Ok, that was pretty weird. If it takes him that long to get where he's going, where is he in the meantime?"
"Neither here nor there." he says. "It's simply how shadow travel works."
Dave's father pipes up (only to him of course)
"While I'm no physicist, I'd guess he shunts people into another dimension for travel, but while there the time rate is different, so the lag is a function of travel time modified by different temporal rate. "
Straightjacket looks off to the side as if listening and then talks to the apparent nobody that's there. "Umm, yeah. That didn't help"
then realizing what he just said
"Uh, didn't mean that to you Isikos. Just my Dad. "
Ghost walks in and gives Straightjacket a funny look before turning to Isikos. "That's a rather useful ability. There are some really good applications to it - maybe we can design some kind of portable cage to teleport enemies into."
MINOTAR just cocks his head to one side.
"Query: Is there some reason you can't just teleport enemies up into the air? Most cannot fly. That would effectively disable most gravity susceptible enemies quickly."
"It would, although you'd have to be careful about how high you teleport them - the League probably won't be too happy with us if we start having a lot of our foes end up dead." Ghost wasn't quite as comfortable with that, either, but the League was the best point of reference to use.
"It might be an idea for people that are too tough for us to hurt, but I'm not going to start dropping people out of the sky on a regular basis." He does seem uncomfortable with the idea. "But a cage would be great. If nothing else, it puts one of them out of the fight for a moment. We can focus on the other people."
"Is it possible for you to control the delay on re-appearing? That would be handy for breaking up threats into manageable chunks. "
"I canna change the laws of metphysics, Captain!" he responds in a bad Scottish accent.
Straightjacket will be in civilian garb until he has to be his official appearance.
"Well normally, I'd say we blend in. But MINOTAUR doesn't have much of an option for stealth. If he's going to be obvious, I think we all should. After all, they'll figure out who has adjoining rooms pretty easily."
Ghost eyes MINOTAR. ”We should work up a way for you to pass along normalpPeople unseen. Until then, let’s walk around in costume - keep together, I think.”
He sighs and replies "Oh alright. I did want to see LA though. I've never been here. Fawning crowds make seeing stuff suck. "
His dad pipes up "Fawning crowds? You're the little league JLA, don't get ahead of yourself. "
Looking at his invisible to everyone else dad"We're not little league. Supes said we helped to save the world" then remembering that nobody else can see his dad.
"Nevermind. Costume it is. "
Nodding in appreciation, MINOTAR agrees.
"Statement: Regardless of my personal wish to be a 'silent partner' of the Justice League, if I am to grow and improve my personal interaction programming, I need to experience more 'normal stuff.' At least that is what Straitjacket keeps telling me."
"Yeah buddy, I'm all over helping you be normal. "
this elicits a a short from his dad.
SJ looks over with a stern glance and then back at MINOTAUR
"We can probably spend a little time sightseeing in civvies, but If we're representing, then we should represent." adds the man in vantablack.
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While the sight of costumed heroes walking down the streets of Hollywood does draw some attention, most of the denizens largely ignore the trio and their robot, and it's pretty easy to see why. The cacophony of styles and looks of those around you are assorted as any you've ever seen. There are leather-wearing bikers and punks, men dressed as women, women dressed as men, and some individuals dressed as... you can't be certain. Some of these people look like they would fit into a fantasy movie, while others appear almost post-apocalyptic.
You stroll down the boulevard, taking in the sights and sounds of nighttime Hollywood. You pause before Gruman's Chinese Theater to compare your footprints and handprints with those of the stars. As you are doing so, you hear a scream from a nearby alley... "No!"
"Ok, guess it's a good thing we are in costume. " he quips as he heads towards the alley expanding up to full growth.
Looking at the various hand and footprints in the concrete, MINOTAR seems perplexed.
"Query: Why do people place their extremities in wet cement? Did they not know that it is dangerous and harmful to humans? As cement hardens, it draws the moisture from your simple bodies so quickly that it can leave special burns on the victim's skin..."
MINOTAR's explanation is cut off by the scream from the alley, causing him to jerk his mechanical head around suddenly with an audible whirring noise.
"Tactical assesment: Too crowded here for a fight without possible civilian casualties. Ghost and Isikos should scout the situation and isolate the trouble quickly if possible. Straitjacket and I can move the crowds back if needed and move in to assist if things escalate. Agreed?"
Halfway to the alley SJ looks back "Whuh? Ok, scout. Sure. And he stops. "
Ghost nods to MINOTAR and immediately goes invisible before teleporting into the alley to see what is there.
Isikos falls down into shadow mode and slides into the alley.
Amplifying his voice to the nearby crowd, MINOTAR speaks clearly while holding his metal arms up, with his palms open.
"WARNING: PLEASE STAND BACK. POSSIBLE ALTERCATION IN PROGRESS. FOR YOUR SAFETY AND OTHERS' SAFETY, PLEASE MOVE AWAY FROM THE AREA CAREFULLY AND DIAL 911 ONCE YOU ARE CLEAR."
Isikos sighed internally as MINOTAUR made it known things were going down. He called out, "I suggest dropping the knives. We've got both ends of the alley covered and you can't cut the two of us in here with you. If you surrender, we won't have to subdue you." It was all matter-of-fact.
Ghost allowed Isikos to give them the threat, and pulled out his stun gun, preparing to zap one of the goons if he tried to hurt the lady.
Straightjacket simply waits till he knows if there's someone to beat up. For the moment he will just stand ready.
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"W-who said that?!" one of the youths says aloud. "Where are you!?"
"Aww, man! Capes! Just what we need," another groans.
The gang leader edges closer to the girl. "Keep back! I'll cut her!" Isikos moves, but Ghost is faster. His stun gun makes contact with the man and there is a crackle of electricity! The thug sinks to the pavement as the others look on incredulously.
"Hey, man! I don't want any trouble!" one says, dropping his knife. The others quickly follow suit.
"Standing down is a good idea," he says. "Ma'am, are you okay?"