Lorna Summers ate all the cookies (cosmiccastaway) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-07-08 23:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, j'onn j'onzz (martian manhunter), lorna dane (polaris) |
Who: John Jones and Lorna Dane
Where: around town
What: talking about the husks
When: 7/4
Warnings/Rating: PG
Status complete
John was rising from the scene, thoughtful. He rubbed his chin, still clad in his Bronze Wraith outfit, the one he had helped Lorna and Alex in, when Lorna’s powers went kaka. Determined to learn more, he sighed. This was going to be a bad one.
One arm was elongated and was easily carrying the iced up corpse of the Brute he had killed. He would need to drop it at Snape’s facility as soon as he could. He knew, there would only be more like it, though. And he would check in with others, too. This was bad news.
Lorna was just following the source of the sonic booms. She wasn’t sure who else could move that fast. When she saw who it was, she laughed a little, touching down gently in front of him. “I should have known. What the heck is that?” She moved over to take a look at the Brute.
“A new variety of nasty. Apparently things weren’t bad enough with alien tech infested zombie humans, now we have to have alien tech infested zombie aliens, too.” His voice was wry as he floated down and rested in front of her. He grinned and glanced at the Brute sighing. “It’s a nasty thing.” Torn into four pieces, it was still formidable.
Lorna nodded, her face a little pale. “Things really got bad, huh? Was anyone hurt by-” she waved at the pieces of Brute.
“No. Neena and Shepard encountered it first and were smart enough to call for help. I was referred in. “ He chuckled. Then he sobered, “But where there is one of them, there will be others. “
She nodded. “Yeah.” She wondered if she should be scared. She didn’t really feel that way. She was just nervous. Could the Ranch handle one of those if it came knocking?
“If you encounter one, remember it has a forcefield. Take that out, and then use your powers to incapacitate it as soon as possible. Don’t get in close, if you can help it.” He could, but others would not survive such a thing.
Lorna nodded. “I wonder if I could use my powers against its shields?” They had to be energy, right?
“I don’t see why not, just do it from a distance, so you have time to figure it out.” John smiled to her. He eyed the corpse. “I’m going to take this to someone I know who is working on figuring them out.”
She nodded. “Do you need a hand? I just came to make sure you weren’t a threat of some kind. Wrex has made me pretty twitchy.”
“Sure. if you like. Just delivering this to a friend. I’ll leave it there and probably swing back out to see if more of these things are around.” John nodded.
“I can help you carry it to your friend, at least. I hope none of these things come to the Ranch.”
“As do I. That many kids and something like this would mean...” Dead kids. John shuddered. “Perhaps I will start swinging out that way more.” He rose into the air again and nodded to her.
Lorna hovered, lifting the bits of dead brute. She brought one close so she could study it. “I’m a little glad I have my powers again. Even if that last dream was horrible.”
“Oh? What was it about?” John rarely asked, but this sounded like a doozy. He led the way into the sky, toward Snape’s offices.
Lorna followed quietly for a minute. “I killed my parents in the dream. Well, my mom and the guy I thought was my dad for most of my life.”
John winced. “I’m sorry. that is.. not an easy burden to bear. Such sorrow makes the heart hurt, in any world. But at least you know it is not you.”
Lorna nodded. “It just hurts because it happened in a way that I could see it playing out in the real world, you know? Like it’s not so implausible.” Unlike Genosha, which was entirely unreal to her.
“Except one thing. If not for the Dreams, you wouldn’t have your powers.” John nodded to her, simply and quietly.
She nodded. “And I’d be dead in San Francisco with my parents.” Her voice was also very quiet.
John winced and sighed. “Many things change with the Dreams, Fate, life, hopes, choices. We cannot look at our dreams and think of them as us, though, for they are not. They are other people, ones who we can understand, hate or love, respect or belittle, and we have to make those choices, but they are not us.”
He nodded.
“I heard my parents screaming as they died. Even if that wasn’t me, it was so vivid, and I can’t call them to check up on them, to make sure it wasn’t real. I’m afraid I’ll forget which world is the real one.” It was hard enough to tell already. Life in Orange County made her embrace many things she didn’t think the ‘real world’ could contain.
John turned and then hugged her close. “I’m sorry. Do you think more sessions would help?” He had helped her before and would try again, if she wanted him to.
She hugged him back. “I don’t know. We might as well wait until this is all over.” She eyed the brute’s pieces. “I’m going to need a year’s worth of therapy after this.”
“I think we all do. And that’s a fact.” He sighed. “Life seems to be getting crazier, not simpler.”
Then he smiled. “But I do love flying.”
Lorna nodded, a small smile on her face. “I love it too. It’s my favorite thing.”
John grinned. “I have a few other things that are more favorite, but it is close.”