InsaneJournal

log: liberty belle & hourman
summary. [backdated to Nick's birthday] Nick gives Betty a call, waking her up. They talk a little bit until they realize they're not that far from each other geographically, despite him having moved and her being on base.

nick. Nick Tyler lay in bed, staring at the date on his phone. September 14th, 2049. "Happy birthday to me..." He handwaved with his free hand and put the phone down. What a 29th birthday. Nothing made you feel old, aside from the number, than celebrating by doing a day's worth of work and coming home to no one. He had some nice calls and messages from his parents and friends from about the world, but those only edified him so long. Despite having just put it down, Nick reached for his phone and hit Betty's name. She was his go-to gal when it came to needing verbal entertainment.

betty. It could be worse -- he could be turning 30. Nick will get to relish that feeling next year. Since she and some of her Freedom Fighters offered aid to Marina in Sub Diego, Betty's been back at her normal military base in New Mexico. It also meant that, when she could help it, she was in bed early and getting her sleep whenever she could. Tonight was one of those few exceptions -- but before she could fall into a deeper sleep, her phone rang. Rummaging for it blindly in the blankets of the twin bed of her assigned quarters, she rolled over and answered it, all without opening her eyes. "Armstrong here." She was used to answering the phone in the middle of the night.

nick. While 30 would indeed feel worse, Nick would almost like to get it over with. 29. It felt like a petty last hurrah that he didn't need. "...Tyler here." Nick was amused at her response. Sir, yes, sir!

betty. A grin broke out across her face. "Uh huh. This better be good, Tyler -- the secretary of defense could be trying to get a hold of me," she teased. It didn't matter really -- she had another line. Besides, if it was a real emergency, she'd probably hear commotion in the residence halls with everyone trying to get ready to go out.

nick. "Sorry, I know it's really late out in Philly." Nick admitted, then realized he really didn't have a good excuse for calling her that late. He had a selfish excuse, but not a good excuse. "I ... just thought I'd say hi." Liar. "It's been a few days and I know how things can get crazy when you're an active super-hero."

betty. "Lucky for you, I'm not on East Coast time, so the damage to my sleep cycle is minimal," Betty sat herself up in bed, pushing some hair out of her face. "How's the new job working out?" Betty remembered that was his reason for moving. She hadn't heard much about it since she returned from leave.

nick. "...where are you right now?" Nick was curious. Her life was far more exciting than his at the minute, even with a new job, new town, and new age. "It's interesting. It's a different field altogether, but it's nice to use some of my other passions for a change for pay." Such as his tech love and crime sleuthing love, which is really a latent leftover from being a super-hero.

betty. "New Mexico -- on the proving ground near Maxwell," Betty relayed. Morrow Proving Ground was the main testing facility in which she got to try out all the new and in development weapons, armor, and vehicles as well as run practice missions with the team. It was nice and in the middle of nowhere, about a few hours out from Albuquerque.

nick. "New Mexico?" Nick repeated, finding that interesting. "Huh. You know, that's right by Colorado. I'm fairly positive we share a border right now." Despite the fact it would take hours for him to drive out of the state from where he was in Middleton right now.

betty. She hummed softly in consideration. "I seem to remember that from my high school geography class, yes. Where are you again?" He may or may not have told her -- he'll have to forgive her for not remembering the details.

nick. "Colorado. Middleton, Colorado." Nick offered quickly, as if it was a timed answer and she would lose interest with the phone call if he didn't provide it quick enough. Really, he was just taken aback. Perhaps he was more infatuated with her than she was with him!

betty. "Hmmm.. Middleton. You know, that's a drive right up I-25. Not far at all. About the same between New York and Civic, if you consider traffic is probably not nearly as bad out here as it is back there," Betty said, thinking out loud. "....Not to scare you or anything." She realized as an after thought that her babbling could be awkward. But oh well -- if it bothered him, there were probably other things about Betty that would bother him more.

nick. "I'd hope so. It's beautiful out here. A whole lot of nature." Not at all like the concrete jungle of the northeast, as it were. "I can safely say that being ambushed with a visit by you would be the last thing I'm scared at. Or vice versa, hopefully."

betty. A whole lot of open space for Betty to try out the new toys of the military. She laughed. "I think if you tried to ambush me here, you probably would be arrested. I'm not the one working the entry points."

nick. And for Nick to pointlessly hike mountains, canoe down rivers, and other things that no one found interesting anymore except him. Ah, nature. "That's true. So since I can't ambush you, you'll have to ambush me. I hope you're up for that challenge."

betty. "I'll have to see if I can borrow that stealth hovercraft they have down in R and D, then." Betty liked challenges. She also liked her access to new technology in the name of 'research'. The boys down in research and development both love and are afraid of her. ...They were just glad she didn't drown when she took that underwater armor out without it being properly tested. "...There's also another option," she began, putting those smarts of hers to good use.

nick. "...I would really like to see that, actually." There had to be all sorts of cool gadgets and software on a stealth vehicle. "What would that option be? Keeping in mind that I don't really have access to a teleporter anymore." If that's what she was thinking.

betty. Boys and their toys. It's all what boys want to use Betty for, it seems! "...I was thinking more along the lines of meeting half-way?" As handy as access to a teleporter would be.

nick. "Very fair and democratic. I like it." Nick hesitated. "Except, where's halfway?" As soon as he said that, he dropped the phone from his ear and put it on speaker so he could fuddle on the phone screen and get his navigator app working.

betty. Betty leaned back to lay against her pillow again. "I don't know -- I don't have my map handy and it's kinda dark in here anyway." Since she hadn't turned on the lights to begin with.

nick. "The border," Nick suddenly informed. "Pretty close to the border, at least. It looks like it would be about a ... 90 to 120 mile drive for each of us." Hm. Not exactly close, but not all that far. "I'm just not sure what's there. I've never really heard of these towns before."

betty. "That's half the adventure, not knowing what to expect," Betty wasn't one for planning out an itinerary. For one thing, she never knew if she had to cancel plans in case of emergency. For another, she didn't want to dictate what she had to do on her time off. And lastly, why possibly block an unforeseen chance of fun because you had something else in mind?

nick. Nick was glad she was so optimistic about the unknown, because what the Internet was telling him didn't look that promising. Hopefully she wouldn't be disappointed. "I don't suppose you get any days off over there? I can picture you guys all sortied, waiting for the call to go out and save the world."

betty. "I usually have some part of the weekend off, when I'm not running some training exercises or testing out stuff. Except in the case of a national disaster, of course." She would sometimes drive to Albuquerque if she was desperate for social interaction, taking along some of her team. There wasn't a lot to do in Maxwell -- it had become a military town since the installation of the testing area nearly thirty years ago. There were bars, some motels, but that was it. Nothing in terms of entertainment, nothing to be explored because Betty had already done all the exploring that could be done in Maxwell.

nick. "So, it's Monday..." Nick considered. "So if I were to randomly be at the state border - say, Saturday at noon, maybe I'd see you there?" Granted he would text her an actual location later, but this was just an idea he was throwing out.

betty. Betty did the math in her head -- what exercises could be done on Saturday morning (or more horrifically, Friday night), in addition to how fast she could drive up the highway. There'd be no traffic on a Saturday afternoon, but things could always get in the way. And she'd rather be there early than leave Nick waiting. "Make it one and I'll text you if that changes?"

nick. "It's a date." Nick tagged it! Yes, date. He'll ... find something romantic to do out in the middle of nowhere. Hm. Hope she likes oldschool picnics.