human
Nowhere:
Triad Orange teetered on the edge of the endless abyss. The floating slab of stone, drifting endlessly through the Time Trapper's domain was crumbling as the swirling red vortex sucked in everything around it. She had never experienced an environment where her flight ring wouldn't stabilize her, even in the vacuum of space where there was no "up" or "down", she could find solace in the control her ring gave her over her orientation and direction. But here, in this space outside of time and space, there was barely a forward or a backward, and her thoughts were panicked, unfocussed. All she could do was shout out to her other self and flail and try to get her heels back onto something solid.
"Lu-lu-lu... Luornu!" she cried as the pull of the vortex finally overwhelmed her imagined gravity and pulled her free of the disintegrating rock.
A few meters away, and yet simultaneously infinitely far off, Triad White-Purple laid a crippling, nose crunching punch straight into the face of one of the Trapper's thralls. Looking up and around at Saturn Girl's psychic warning, barely felt against the warm wash of psychic protection she often put up in her minds when in the heat of battle, she spotted her other self hurtling towards the vortex. Her breath abandoned her as she instinctively willed herself "forward" at the vortex, arms outstretched. Though her other self felt infinitely far off, somehow their hands linked almost instantly, and they were whole before either had a chance to realize it. The overwhelming sense of falling flooded Prime's mind, as the backwash of Orange's panic, if only for an instant, paralysed her. The vortex closed around her, and Saturn Girl's warm psychic embrace puffed out of existence.
Gotham:
Blinding light and pain struck her. She literally shattered into her base components, Purple coming down hard and leaping to her feet, White forcing herself up on one arm before collapsing again, and Orange tumbling helplessly, like a rag-doll, moaning pitifully.
Downtown:
Purple tried to draw her feet up under her, felt her arm sagging, and then the pain hammered through her like a cruiser through a building. "AAAH! SPROCKING NAZZING FRAK!" Purple cursed as she fell to one knee, sucked air between her teeth as her dislocated arm made her torso feel as if it were tearing apart, and not in the good way. She quickly looked around, her vision still fuzzy, looking for a place, a corner of a wall, to knock her shoulder back into place. She was in a dark, damp alley, garbage piled high along the walls, giving her no place to knock her shoulder. Where she could see wall, she saw... paint? Purple paint, a crude clown... grinning. One thing she didn't see, as she staggered to her feet, were her other two selves.
Uptown:
White's vision was blurry, but she could see faces. Faces looking down at her. She felt like she was floating. Red and blue lights were illuminating the white jackets of the two standing over her, their words seeming far, far off. They were shining a little white light in her eyes.
"Her eye's aren't dilating at the same rate... yeah, pretty big contusion over the left temple. Gently... Her left eye is... it's purple, you ever see that, Benny?"
"Bleeding into her eye, probably, kid's pretty messed up... there we go..."
The feeling of sliding on rails jarred something painful in Luornu's chest and she cried out in pain. Her eyes coming clearer into focus with the shock of it.
"Well, she's more responsive," Benny said, climbing up into the ambulance, shining the light in her eyes as Roger went around to the driver's side.
"Let's take her to East Mercy, then, ride's longer but they've got better neurology dep."
"Again, man, hating on Doc Regj. West Mercy is just fine."
"Then you get behind the wheel," Roger said, slamming the driver's side door.
"Wha...? Where...?" Luornu moaned, reaching out a hand, only to have it be caught by Benny and gently guided back down to the gurney where it was strapped down.
"Easy there, Darling, you'll be fine, just stay calm, this'll make you feel a lot better, just breath deeply," he said as he put the facemask over her mouth and nose and turned on the gas.
Luornu stayed awake, but, for some reason, didn't really mind being either immobile or being taken where ever it was she was being taken. The pain in her chest and head also felt like distant memories...
On The Outskirts of Town
Orange was dreaming of White holding her gently, kissing her face, her short brown hair tickling her forehead and eye and her ear. Her kisses becoming more passionate, more wet and... "Mmmm... Luory, that fee~eels sooo~ nii~iice..." Orange moaned as she rubbed her face into the grass. Ace continued licking her face, the huge black Great Dane sitting and looking over his shoulder, whining plaintively, then barking for attention. He went back down and licked the face of the strange girl who had fallen onto Master's lawn, here in the manor garden.
gpt
Things were starting to become difficult for Terry McGinnis, aka Batman. Of course it wasn't being Batman, that was actually the schway part, beating up bad guys and having the cool toys to do it was great; it was the mild mannered part that was starting to kill him. Trying to do the miracle balancing act was slaging impossible! Between high school, his family, his girlfriend (well now ex-girlfriend), and practically everything else that was not batman related were all suffering due to Batman. Thankfully right now was Batman time and he was looking to crack a few skulls to blow off steam. So now he was cruising around Gotham in the sleek and stealthy Batmobile that flew above the Gotham skyline, everyone below unaware of his presence. That was good, more thugs were more likely to try something stupid if they didn't know he was out there, watching. This whole time he had been silent, most likely due to the fact of his assessment of his current state. The silence was broken by the sound of a gruff man over the intercom spoke, "Terry, is everything alright? You're pretty quiet." Terry shook off his train of thought to focus on the task at hand. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking." He stepped on the gas and the Batmobile rocketed faster across the sky. Terry looked down at the scanner and still saw nothing blip or flash across it. "Kind of quiet tonight, think I could turn in early?" Bruce thought for a moment and came to a conclusion, "One more sweep of the city and then come back to the cave." Terry smiled and pushed the jet to its limits to make it go by faster.
On the last few minutes of his sweep Bruce came back on the com, "Ace wants outside, I'll be away from the batcomputer for awhile." Terry nodded and finished the sweep. Once done he turned the jet around and pointed it toward Wayne Manor.
Bruce got up from the comfy chair and reached for his cane. Ace was already halfway up the steps of the batcave and out the secret door. "What's gotten into him? I already let him out a half hour ago." He didn't think much of it and started hobbling his way up the steps and out of the cave. When he reached the front lawn he saw Ace sitting on his haunches and licking an oddly dressed girl on the face. "Tresspasers," He growled. He walked over and nudged her with his cane, "Get up!" He shouted, "And get off of my property!"
human
Wayne Manor
Luornu moaned and pushed herself up on her hands about an inch, muttered unintelligibly, then fell back on her face, rolled over onto her side. "Sorry... Mr. Brande..." she sighed. She must have slept in late - Luornu and Luornu must have gone ahead without her, or... Rubbing her eyes as she finally stood up, she saw they weren't next to her in... she wasn't in her bed. Looking around panicked, she looked up at the unfamiliar face of the old man brandishing a stick at her!
The dog by the man's feet barked once and Luornu screamed - bolting up into the air, a good two meters into the air, hovering there and staring down, realizing she had startled them, or at least the dog, which was now barking madly at her. The man looked irritated.
"Oh! I am so sorry! I must, I must... oh... Sorry, which was back to Metropolis?" she lifted another two meters into the air, looking around for a familiar city skyline... Saw only trees. There! The city was well off and... small... had there been a power outage around the rest of the city? Why couldn't she... she flew off in it's direction, holding her ring to her lips. "Braniac? Where am I...? Hello?" She stopped in mid air, over a... a river? How far out of Metropolis was she?
Downtown
Nerves were pinched between her arm and her shoulder. Her flight ring, controlled by nerve impulses, wasn't working. Lu slammed her shoulder into the corner of the building, popping it back into place. "AAAAH!! NAZZ-IT!" She screamed as the ball of bone popped back into place. She punched the wall with her good left arm, the sharp pain in her knuckles distracting her from the mind shattering pain in her shoulder. She wiggled the ring off her right index finger and worked it in her left palm till it was on her left index finger. "The sprock am I?"
"Hey, pretty lady," came a voice like oil on sandpaper. "Wanna smell my pretty flower?"
Lu looked around and saw a... clown? He was massive and squat and wore a black and red plaid coat, large oversized red shoes and baggy yellow pants. His makeup was all white and black and blue with red hair coming to points on either side of his head. He hand one hand behind a flower in his coat's lapel. His bared teeth were... filed down to points...
"Smells real nice, come on, give it a sniff..." he indicated his flower with his other hand, black gloves with holes at the fingertips.
"Seriously, back off," Lu growled as she lifted off the ground, one hand in a fist, held before her, elbow down, her bad arm hanging at her side, but elbow stiff - the best aerial fighting stance she could manage with her hurt arm.
"Whoa... got a little meta in you, yeah? You wanna rumble little purple girl? You wanna run with the Jokers!" Suddenly there were more clowns, women in face-paint wielding tire irons and sledge hammers, males in outlandish clown costumes, swinging rubber chickens and juggling small black metal balls.
Lu held her ring up to her lips. "Control? Where the grief am I...? AH!" a net shot from somewhere unseen smacked into her from behind, the weights throwing her off balance for a moment. "Sprock you!" She shouted and proceeded to fly straight up into the air, net and all. Two of the gang of clowns jumped... impossibly high, and grabbed onto the net, pulling her back down. "Fine!" she screamed, and turned in mid air, rushing at the ground at speeds she would normally save for travelling interplanetary distances, slamming them into the ground as she pulled what would be, without her ring, a bone snapping turn and fired back up into the air. She had the satisfaction of hearing something squish and break in each of her assailants as she flew back up into the sky.
Another body, bigger than the others, slammed into her, coming horizontally from... maybe a building? Whatever it was, it had claws... Lu tumbled down toward the streets below, pain in her back from the sharp, shallow cuts that made it through her uniform...
gpt
Bruce was still upset that a kid would come on to his property like this, but that brought up a thought. Why would a kid come here of all places? Practically everyone in Gotham knew to stay away from Wayne Manor. The only ones who regularly came was Terry and Barbara, so what was her deal? Taking another look at her he noticed the orange jumpsuit on her with a strange triangle symbol in the center of her chest. She finally woke up and called him Mr. Brande, "Excuse me?" He asked. With that Ace barked and growled at her sensing his masters discomfort. Bruce put a hand on his head and Ace backed off. The next action she took surprised him. She kept straight into the air and stayed there, "Meta," Bruce murmured and Ace resumed his barking. Must be one of Clark's new protogs. His assumption was strengthened when she asked which way was Metropolis. Bruce went into Batman mode, a nostalgic feeling returning, and studied her with a detectives eye. She was flying with no visible technological help, she was obviously wearing a costume with nothing to hide her identity, and she was asking for Metropolis. Kryptonian? No, Kara was the last one to come to earth, the rest remained in Kandor according to Clark. So who was she? Either way he was not happy. As she went higher he yelled, "When you get back there tell Clark my home is not a safehouse for League members!!" With that she was gone and Bruce hurried back to the cave to inform Terry of what happened.
Speaking of Terry, he was heading back to the cave, happy to be done for the night. That was until his scanners picked up something. He slammed the Batmobile to a stop and looked at what the scanners was picking up. He was surprised to see that it was Nth metal. "Nth metal?" Terry asked himself, "What the hell is War Hawk doing in Gotham?" He turned the Batmobile to where the signal was coming from and sped off toward it.
When he arrived at the source of the signal he was shocked to not see War Hawk, but a girl in a purple jump suit. "What the frack?" What was more alarming was the amount of Jokerz she was taking on. She was on the ground with one on her back and he decided she needed backup. He slid the cockpit door open and lept from it. He activated his rocket boots and made a b-line to the mutt on her back. He crashed into him and tossed him into a heap of garbage. While the Jokerz were busy bolstering themselves to take on Batman Terry went to check on the girl. He nudged her on her left shoulder, "Hey," He said in his deep gruff voice, "You ok?" That would have to wait since he heard the twirl of some chains and the sound of pipes being slapped against skin. He cracked his neck and turned around drawing two batarangs from his wrists. "Let's dance!" He then jumped into the fray and battled the Jokerz again for about the hundredth time.
human
On the Edge of Town
Luornu couldn't reach Legion control - there should always be someone on monitor duty... The city she was flying over looked... colonial... small... the tallest of the towers were only about a mile high at the highest, there were... vehicles flying through the city haphazardly, and for a moment Luornu's heart froze thinking there was an evacuation underway... but there seemed to be a flow to the chaos... This was not a city she knew. Was it a planet she knew? She calmed down enough to decide on a place to settle down to the ground, atop a tower of the bridge spanning the river. The gravity felt... comfortable. Which meant if it wasn't Earth, it was a planet very close to it. She had been on Earth longer than her native Cragg, and so knew it's gentle pull better than any other... it felt like Earth...
She set her ring to scan for local transmissions... there was no comm. traffic she could detect... she set it to a wider scan, and found a blast of sound coming through a very short range of signals, all the electromagnetic bands... She wished Luory was there, she would know, she was the technically inclined part of her. She heard a dog barking in the distance, and shot up into the air again, her hands covering her face. Then realized what she had done and grimaced, ashamed of herself, she was a legionnaire, she shouldn't be so jumpy... but where her other selves? And where was she?
Rather than fly into a panic, she flew back across the river toward the isolated house she had left, circled it and, not seeing anyone, landed by the front door. It was made of wood... After a moment's hesitation, she knocked on it. "H-hello?"
Downtown
Lu jerked away from the prod to her good shoulder. Did she have a good shoulder now? There was blood in her eyes. The thing had gashed her forehead pretty good. She looked for it, found it in a bush some feet away, shaking it's head, and fly at full speed into it with her fist, flipped her feet out from under her in a wide arc while hovering and hit it in the side of the head again. "AAAAAAAARHHHHH!" She lowered to her feet and, realizing she had no other selves to support her, hesitated, unsure of how to proceed - was interrupted by a clown with a spiked club coming at her - ducked a swing, elbowed him in the back of the neck and kicked his feet out from under him.
That felt good. She brought her foot up into the chin of a girl dressed like a stuffed dolly from Princess Projecta's room, grinned gleefully as she was knocked fully off her feet, dropping her crowbar. She basked too long in her opponent's pain, because a piece of wood hit her in her bad shoulder from the side, causing a scream of pain to come unbidden from her.
Spinning into the air, she looked down to see a very short clown on another short clown's shoulders, wielding a large round stick of wood. "Base-ball bat" ran through her head. Super-Boy had had expressed an interest in the game and had shown him how the game was played. What were... Superboy... Time Trapper... a base-ball bat... Time... She looked around, guessing she had transported someone else in time. What the nass era had roving clown marauders? Sadly, none of Triad's selves were much interested in Earth history... She realized no one was paying attention to her, and a new shot of anger ran through her as she looked down (she had unconsciously floated higher than she realized) and noticed that the clowns were all focusing on someone else, someone in all black, with... antennae? No... Ears? Big black pointy ears? The image on his chest was a big red... What was that? A Bird? No, that wasn't a beak, they were ears too, but then... "Bat? Baseball Bat? Bat... Boy?"
She rushed down just as this man in black was using a clown on a chain as a mace, swinging the hapless clown around in a wide circle by the very chain the clown had meant to use as a weapon against the man in black. She came down with her heel on the back of one of the bigger clown's necks, back flipped off of him and into the two small clowns who had hit her in the shoulder. "Little trolls!" she picked up the baseball bad and began hitting them with it, using her good hand, until another clown came up behind her, she moved out of the way, and raised the bat, only to have him run past her, away from the man in black, holding his bloody red nose...
Lu laughed seeing that. Threw the bat down on the ground and watched the man in black clean up the last insistent antagonists, most either lying on the ground groaning or scampering off to lick their wounds.
She squinted and thought back hard... "Bat Lad... Bat Boy... Bat... Man? Bat Man?" That stuck in her head more than anything else.
She sucked air through her teeth, as the breeze stung her back, reaching behind her, she felt the wet blood and torn fabric behind her. There was more blood running down her forehead... "Sprock me..." she muttered. She hoped this era had invented disinfectant... or the study of medicine all together for that matter.
Her only condolence was watching how massively the man in black was womping these clowns. She bared white teeth watching him crack noses and bones and kidneys with his fists and feet. "Bat Man..." she muttered again, mesmerized by the elegance in the violence, something in that ringing true.
gpt
Bruce was only part of the way down the steps in the cave when he heard the knock at his door. Strange, no company was expected and Terry only comes through the cave. Speaking of which Terry should have already been back by now. Either way Bruce went to go answer the door, proceeding with caution. When he reached the door he gripped his cane hard, ready to strike encase the visitor wasn't friendly. He opened the door and grew immediatley irritated, "You..." He gritted his teeth slightly, "I thought I told you that my home was not a refuge for Clark's little band of so called 'Justice League' members!" Not wanting to take this out on a kid he turned back and headed for the cave, leaving the door open so she could follow and hear this. He hobbled down to the cave and to the Batcomputer. He clicked a few buttons before an image of a middle aged Kryptonian, funny how he and Ckark are the same age and yet Clark looks 20 years younger, appeared on the screen. "Bruce!" Clark said in surprised, "I never expected to get a call from you." Clark then pointed to the annoying child. "Tell your sidekick to stay off my property! And that goes for the rest of your so called 'Justice League'!" Clark took a look at the girl and became befuddled. "I'm sorry Bruce but I've never seen her in my life before. Are you sure she's not one of yours? Has Terry quit?" Bruce scowled, if she wasn't from Clark's band of merry men the who in Christ sakes was she?! He cut the communication with Clark and opened a line for Terry, maybe something he saw in the field could explain this mysterious girl....
Terry felt right now that he was back to cracking skulls. Things just seemed to flow into one train of thought when he was fighting. Analyze, evaluate, dodge, block, counter. He tossed one baterang at a joker and hit him square between the eyes and dropping him to the floor. He was able to hear the whiff of a crowbar and ducked to see it whiz over his head. He got on his back and saw the joker come over him and try and take another swing at him. He loaded his legs back and released them as he sprang back up onto his feet, his feet connecting with the Jokers face on his way back up. He landed on his feet and looked around and saw the DeeDee's coming at him, joy. He used his second batarang and tripped one up. The one still coming jumped up and tried to drop kick him, he easily countered by side stepping and grabbing her legs. He swung her into another joker and wrapped them both up in his chain. He grabbed a loose end and swung them around like a ball and chain.
Finally he finished the rest off and the two were left alone. He turned to look at her seething over some wounds she had and went to go check on her. He stopped when he heard the familiar click over the intercom. It was seiches later when Bruce's voice came on, "Terry I've got a situation here. A girl appeared at the major out of nowhere. She has short brown hair and is wearing a jumpsuit with a triangle symbol that's-" Terry jumped in saying, "Purple?" Bruce continued, "I was about to say orange... do you have a similar problem?" Terry nodded, "Let's compare notes." He continued his walk to the purple girl and said, "I need you to come with me."
human
Wayne Manor
The door swung open. "You..." the old man said through gritted teeth.
"Um, hello, Sir," Luornu said, cringing at the apparent anger. "I'm sorry, can you, um tell me..."
"I thought I told you that my home was not a refuge for Clark's little band of so called 'Justice League' members!"
"J-justice League? Clark - You mean Clark Kent? You know Super- Um, sir?" She followed the old man into the house. He knew Superboy? Maybe, wait - Justice League... that was... "Um, s-sir? Can I just, hello?"
She followed the man into a kitchen off the main foyer, and through a... secret passage behind an old clock?
There were stairs, and Luornu floated down them after the old man. "S-sir?"
The dog was growling at her again.
"N-nice doggy..." she said, trying to placate the large, angry black dog as it followed its master, laid down next to the chair the old man sat in.
A screen came on with an image of... an older Superman, in his grey uniform.
"S-superboy?" Luornu muttered.
"Bruce!" the older Superman called the old man. "I never expected to get a call from you."
The old man gestured at her with a thumb over his shoulder. "Tell your sidekick to stay off my property! And that goes for the rest of your so called 'Justice League'!"
Superman looked at Luornu, who couldn't find words, let along explain her presence. "I'm sorry Bruce but I've never seen her in my life before. Are you sure she's not one of yours? Has Terry quit?"
"Um..." Luornu said. "K-Kal...?" Something changed in Superman's expression as recognition seemed to dawn over him, and just as Luornu's hopes began to raise, and Superman looked as if he were going to say something, the old man, Bruce, closed the channel.
"Um... excuse me?" Luornu said, shyly.
The dog growled at her again.
"Uh... never mind..."
Downtown
"I need you to come with me," the man in black said as he approached her. Through the blood and the pain, she managed to smile and leaned in toward him.
"Okay," she purred, putting her good hand on his shoulder, half fell, half lowered herself against his torso, leaning against him, putting her head on his shoulder, rubbing her cheek against his chin and neck. "Keep showing me a good time like that and I'll let you take me anywhere you want."
Her injured arm was folded in-between their bodies now, her palm on his chest, feeling the muscle, her other hand stretched down around the small of his back and down... to squeeze his butt. "Oooh, firm..." Suddenly she felt whoozy and... he really did have a firm butt. Then she passed out.
gpt
Clark was confused at Bruce's call, the girl seemed familiar to him but he couldn't put a name to a face. Then she called out his name, his Kryptonian name, and things came back to him. "Bruce wait!" It was too late, Bruce had already cut the transmission. He turned to Aquagirl, "Can you reopen the channel?" Aquagirl shook her head, "Sorry Kal, his signal is too encrypted. It would take days to even get a text based message to him." Clarke grew slightly aggitated, what was Lory doing back in the 21st century?
Terry was now confused. When he was without arms reach of the girl she fell forward on him and she was... hitting on him, or at least that's what he thought. She certainly talking like it but she almost sounded like she was drunk or delusional. Was she seriously hitting on Batman? Normally women just thanked him and ran away from him, so what was her angle? Was she trying to get to him, soften him up for a critical blow? His train of thought was interrupted by her hand gripping his ass, he almost jumped out of the suit at that. Without warning she just passed out in his arms forcing him to catch her. "Oh you have to be karking kidding me!! The one girl to hit on me in weeks and she passes out right after!" He picked her up and clicked the center of his belt. The Batmobile lowered from the sky and touched down in the ground. He got in and clicked the auto pilot destination, cave.
Bruce was waiting in the cave when Terry finally came back to the cave, the mystery girl still beside him. Terry opened the cockpit, still carrying the girl. "What happened?" Bruce asked. "Girl passed out after she and I took care of some Jokerz. Didn't think Mutts claws did that much to someone. Terry set her down on the examining table and Bruce took a look at her. "The scratches and plus she has impact trauma as well as a dislocated shoulder." Terry was confused, "How can you tell? Her shoulder looks fine." Bruce chuckled, "That's because she popped it back into place, rather curdley but it got the job done, the trauma from the injury is still there though. It's gonna take a day or two before she can exert it again." Terry looked up to see the exact same girl but in an orange suit. "Who's she?" Bruce have her a passing glance, "I still don't know yet. I was hoping something from her could tell us who."
human
The Bat-Cave
Luornu was used to being invisible. Not as well as Invisible Boy, of course, but as well as any good corporate personal assistant - the old man, Bruce, had the air of a corporate executive about him, like Mr. Brande or Mr. McCauley - and like Brande and McCauley it looked like "Bruce" was a manager of super-heroes. After all, he knew Superman.
She stood back, kept quiet and watched. She had slowly lowered to the ground. The dog was still growling at her intermittently, but seemed less interested in her that something else that Luornu eventually discovered was a primitive - though beautiful - sleek craft that came down through a hole in the roof of the cave.
A man in black got out of the vehicle holding... herself. At first, Luornu was overjoyed to see her other third again, but then - seeing that she wasn't moving, and that there was blood on her face, Luornu put her hands over her face to stifle a gasp.
"Who's she?" The man in black said as he helped put her other body down on a high bed.
Bruce turned around and looked at her briefly, "I still don't know yet. I was hoping something from this one could tell us."
"Um... I'm Luornu Durgo - and, um, that's me too..."
That was it, she couldn't say any more until she knew... until she was sure... Bruce and the man in black were asking her questions, but she couldn't focus on anything but herself, lying on the table before her. She saw herself take a breath, and rushed forward happily until she touched one finger to her other body, and merged with her, sucked herself together until they were one. The shock of memories and merging injuries were jarring. The memory of the injured shoulder nearly sent her back into unconsciousness. She had bruises on her forehead, neck and back where gashes had been when they were separated. Her shoulder sore and swollen, but better than it had been for Triad Purple alone to bare. Still, they shouldn't separate for a while while Purple healed.
Her outfit was half orange and half purple now, with a purple and orange triangle in the middle, and no white down the centre of her torso or the insides of her thighs. Her right eye was lilac and her left eye was amber. The holes in her costume on the back were completely repaired, or at least they looked that way in this configuration. Her gloves and boots were still white.
Triad shook herself, Orange and Purple's memories merging as she sat up. She rubbed her face. "Time travel... I'm from the Legion of Superheroes, 31st Century Metropolis. Big bad end of the world battle with a time travel villain in the future. Probably okay now but... well, time travel," she said as if that were an explanation enough, after all, she was talking to two people who were essentially her colleagues in the super-hero trade. "And you're Batman," she said without looking at either of them specifically, then looked up at the two. "I'm sorry, Mr. uh... Bruce, I'm afraid you didn't see me at my best," she nodded with a little of Orange's courteousness. "And you," she turned to Bat Man, grinning cattily. "I'm afraid you saw me at my worst, yeah?"
She coughed before she could say anything else, holding her left hand up to cover her mouth, her two Legion Flight Rings on full display. She studied in her hand, pulled one of the rings off and put it on a finger of her right hand. "Now then, when and where the grief am I?"
gpt
Terry comtinued to stare at the unconscious girl on the examination table and watched Bruce do careful examination of the girl and her i juries. His attention only turning away when the girl in orange introduced herself as Luornu Durgo. "Luornu," Terry commented to himself, "What kind of name is Luornu?" Thinking more about her name made Terry chuckle at the ridiculous sound of the name. The chuckle turned into full laughter when she said that the girl on the table was Luornu Durgo as well. "Right and I'm actually Bruce's kid!" Bruce had the opposite reaction, his face was stern almost as if he believed her. Terry wasn't surprised, Bruce had probably seen everything during his time as Batman and wasn't ready to scratch anything off the list of possibilities.
His attention switched back to the purple girl as she finally gained consciousness. Terry went to go grab the medical supplies knowing Bruce would want to treat her so he could keep her stable while he got answers from her. As he went to get the kit the orange girl rushed past him, "Wait!" He called. The point he was about to make became moot when Luornu touched the other girl and they merged into one! "Shway," he said in response. Bruce didn't seem too surprised, but that changed when he saw the gashes and wounds he was about to treat turn to bruises, "Fascinating," he said in response. The two shut up and listened as she explained herself. "Of course it was time travel." Bruce said, he figured it had to be something that was impossible. Terry was still trying to wrap his head around it, "The 31st century?!" Terry sat down in the nearest chair taken back by the revelation. He sort of blanked the res of the way until she asked when and where she was to which Terry responded to with, "Gotham City, 2039."
human
"Yes..." Luornu said quietly. "The 31st century by earth calendar. And I've got a massive headache, so could you keep the exclamations to a reasonable volume, thank you." She rubbed her temples as she stood up.
"It's what my mother named me, thank you very much. And, at least in my time, it's generally considered polite to introduce yourself after someone tells you their name. Also... wait, Gotham isn't a City, it's a district of Metropolis..."
Thinking of Metropolis made her think of Superman. He was... She felt weak just remembering how amazing he had aged - that white hair on the sides, that salt and pepper on top, that Kryptonian military uniform that she had seen him wearing in some of the pictures of statues and paintings that adorned her and her friends' rooms... "Can we talk to Kal-El again? I've never seen him all grown up before, well, not in person, that is. Is he still with Lana Lang or is he single now?"
gpt
Terry got a nasty little thought when she back talked him about his exclemation. He held his arms out wide and then slammed his hands together that made a loud clapping sound that echoed through the cave. "Terry," Bruce said with a stern and warning tone. "Sorry," He said with a slight laugh, "I couldn't resist!" Thinking about how jovial and juvenile he was sounding it mind of counteracted the whole dark and grimacing look of the Batsuit. To get rid of that he gripped the spot where the mask ended and removed it from his face and tossed it on the table. He ran his hands through his hair and felt how messy and tangled it was due to the mask. He quickly fixed that by smoothing it out with his hands and quaffed it to the side as usual. He sat down in the big comfy chair infront of the batcomputer while the rest of this stuff sorted out.
Bruce paid closer attention now as the newly inter girl walked around like nothing had ever happened. "We'll keep the name basis to anonymous until we can figure out what the situation with you is." The adage of how Gotham is a district and not a city was strange. "In your time maybe, but in this time it is still Gotham City so that's something your going to have to get used to." At the mention of Clarke Bruce got up from his seat and walked over to lock the batcomputer to make sure she couldn't attempt to contact him with out his consent. "No," He growled, "If your memory is collective then you should know why I won't." He then left the cave.
Terry shook his head, "Yeah that's a bad move with him, he and Clark don't really get along anymore."
human
Luornu glared at the man in black for his rude behaviour. Then he took his mask off and her grimace lessened slightly. Mystery man was pretty cute when he wasn't being a little squaj.
"Bruce" was telling her that he didn't want to tell her their names. "You know as soon as I get back home I can just look you up in an ancient history text, right?"
That didn't seem to go over well and the old man left the cave for the house upstairs.
He also didn't seem to like the idea of calling "Clark", by which she meant Kal's adopted name, Clark Kent.
The man in black shook his head, "Yeah that's a bad move with him, he and Clark don't really get along anymore."
"How can anyone not get along Kal? He's, like, literally the perfect man? He's 'Super' man." Luornu leaned against the examination table, trying to look casual and trying to hide the fact that she was leaning on it for support.
Luornu remembered Brainiac telling her that Kal wore his Legion ring even after he had grown up, and that, if they absolutely needed him, they could call him through time using Brainy's stupid time travel death-traps. Luornu held up her ring and used a setting she hadn't used in, by her point of view, over a year, that for Superboy's ring. "Superboy - er, Superman, this is Triad, come in... Hello?" She waited a few minutes. "Hello...? Shit..." She sighed and rubbed her temples, her headache having diminished somewhat. She thought for a moment. Superman could fly, so maybe he could just need the ring for flying through space? Could he not be wearing the ring? For someone who tended to wear three rings at once that seemed irresponsible.
She looked over at the man in black swiveling in the chair under the ancient computer. Half of her wanted to attack him and force herself on top of him. The other half really wanted to go up-stairs and beg the old man to let them call Kal-El again. Eventually she made a decision. "How about this, Mystery Man, you tell me your name, and help me find where the rest of me has gotten to, and I'll let you borrow one of my flight rings. What do you say?" She pulled off one of her rings and held it up.
After all, she needed to stay together in order to heal properly, and she would only need one ring in the meantime. "It'll let you fly in space..." she gave her voice a tantalizing lilt to tempt him, holding up the Legion ring.
gpt
Terry was still not used to people referring to Superman by his Kryptonian name, Bruce always referred to him as Clark, so did the files he kept on him. He remained in the chair while Luornu went into what sounded like fangirl, or crush, mode and talked about how he's so perfect. "Perfect?" A few chuckles escaped him as he remembered the time Clark, or Kal as she liked to call him, went under the control of Starro and almost killed all of his Justice League. "Trying to say he's perfect is practically impossible, especially if you're trying to tell that to Bruce. You should have been here a couple months ago, then you would be thinking differently about that." Still Clark was a nice guy, it's hard to think what caused him and Bruce to have such a big rift between the two.
He swiveled in the chair more while trying to find something to do, now that patrol was over there was nothing left for Batman to do, but he still didn't know what to do with her. He turned to her when she mentioned there was more of her, "Wait there are even more of you?" Now the real question was, could they all assimilate into one like that or was it just between the purple and orange one? The ring she mentioned piqued his interest, "Space you say?" He thought about it but shook his head. "Nah, Bruce wouldn't want me to do anything like that without first discussing how we would handle this. Besides, the Batmobile can get into space, but there's no need, there are still the same nine planets out there, nothing's changing any time soon."
human
"Oh... nine planets..." Had the Sol system ever had nine planets? Triad thought back to history lessons... nothing came up. Between constructed planets using Kryptonian technology, wandering planets and exploding planets, any number of changes could have happened in the last thousand years to bring the number to the eleven that Luornu knew.
"Still, come on, tell me your name, at least. You owe me - I saw you, carrying my unconscious body out of that very small cock-pit, don't tell me you didn't cop a feel or two, Mr. Hero," she said indignantly, crossing her arms. "Plus, if I'm not looking for my other body right now, I'm bored." She slipped her ring on. "And if I'm bored I'm leaving." It was a bluff, of course, she probably shouldn't go anywhere with Purple in this condition, but...
She stared down the man in the chair.
gpt
Terry continued to swivel in the chair, ignoring the little quip about the planets. Damn people from the future, it was like they were cheating in the past with all of their knowledge from the future. He cocked a brow at her when she tried to accuse him of feeling her up on the ride over to the cave. "Well if you were paying attention, which how could you you were unconscious, then you would have noticed my hands remained under the crook of your knees and on your shoulders." Which was true, Terry had remained chaste the whole time. Though the thought did cross his mind on the way over, she had taken a squeeze out of his ass before so why shouldn't he gotten a grab out of her, but the thoughts never turned into action. Terry lowered the eyebrow and kept a straight face when she threatened to leave. "Then go ahead," Bruce's deep booming voice came from the top of the stairs.
He was walking down the steps as he had remembered a 911 call earlier that mentioned a girl in a white junp suit. From the vacinity the call came from the people from Gotham General should have come and gotten her. He reached the bottom of the steps and went to the computer and unlocked it. "I give you five minutes before you come knocking on my door again seeing as one of your halves only took three before she came back." He typed on the keyboard and brought up the call. "This was a call I intercepted earlier matching her description but in a white version of their outfit. Go to Gotham General and find out her story and see if it matches up with hers." Terry got up from the chair and grabbed his mask, slidin it back on to his face. "On it," Terry said in his deep Batman voice. He hopped in the Batmobile and took off for Gotham General leaving Luornu to do what she wanted.
human
"You're a very mean old man, Bruce," she told him. "No wonder history's forgotten you." Whether or not that was true wasn't something Luornu could be sure about. But she did manage to take off after the man in black and his vehicle. It couldn't hope to outrun her. But once it got into the sky it faded from sight.
Luornu sighed and pulled out her Omnicom from its pouch on her belt. With the scanning feature it was all too easy to track. And Luornu followed just above and behind the cloaked vehicle as they weaved through the city's buildings and skyways. On the flight to the hospital, Luornu tried to distract herself from what might have happened to her other self. She tried to remember how she could get back to her own time from here. Who had she encountered from this time period before besides Superboy? There was that Rip Hunter guy but... how could one ever find him? There were time travelling villains a plenty that she had read about who infested Earth's timelines, she had had to review the files as part of Legion training. Degaton, Warp, Chronos, numerous magic users. She knew that Superman could help her. Or at least use his ring to get in contact with... no, wait, did it work that way? She was having trouble thinking clearly without her other self. She hated being separated from herself for too long. Hopefully these "super heroes" were taking her toward her other body.
gpt
Bruce remained stone faced after the girl insulted him about his attitude. "I never expected historytoremember me." Yes it was always the song of the byronic hero that went unsung, no one remembers the outcasts, the black sheep. Though recognition wasn't why Bruce became Batman, Terry always reminded him of that. When the girl left to follow Terry he opened a communication line with Terry. "You've got a tail."
Terry received the communication and responded back. "I figured she would come, I wonder why the sensors haven't picked her up yet? Something on her must be something the Batmobile can't pick up."
"Just stay aware." Bruce said and the line went dead again.
Terry kept the jet in stealth mode just to keep things interesting for her. He swerved in and out of the skyline until the large red cross of Gotham General Hospital was in sight. Terry reopened the line to ask Bruce, "I need the floor and room number." Terry stayed on the line while he listened to Bruce at away at the computer until he came back with her. "Got it, they have her listed as a Jane Doe, the only one in the whole hospital. They brought her in with multiple abrasions and contusions, all cope coinciding with heavy impact injuries, reports say witnesses saw her falling from the sky." "Weird," Terry replied, "So what's the room number?" "4th floor, room 5." Terry pulled the Batmobile to the window of the specified room and opened the cockpit. He picked the lock on the window and gently slid it open before slipping in to the room without a sound. He crept quietly to the bed and looked at her charts, he didn't know if she was still conscious and didn't notice anything when he came in the room.
human
Luornu watched the man in black get out of his cockpit and climb through the window, she waited to see if he would go far, then could no longer restrain herself and flew in after him. It took her eyes a second to adjust to the low light, but she saw him standing over a bed, looking at a form on a clipboard. Then she saw herself and rushed over, diving into herself.
She came awake with a gasp as she felt her chest re-inflate fully, her bones realigning and snapping back into place. It hurt - it hurt horribly. Plus the drugs that were still coursing through her system, while diminished by two thirds, were still powerful, and made her woozy. Looking down at herself, she realized she was still wearing her uniform with only the orange and purple sections, her Triad-white uniform had been taken from her by the hospital staff. Over her uniform now she wore a white hospital gown. She tugged at the tie in the back and yanked that off from over her jump suit as well as the sheets. In the bio-fusion, the sensors and needles had already come out of and off of her body. The machines by her bed were now making a long, prolonged noise that made her headache all the worse. "Holy nass, I feel like death on a cracker, let's get out of here," she said to the man in black even as she heard commotion coming down the hallway.
Looking at her hands, she swore again. "Wait, they took one of my rings..."
gpt
Terry continued looking at her charts. It was strange looking at it, the standard set of drugs they used didn't seem to work, not Carisoprodol, or Diazepam, or Cyclobenzaprine, not even good ol' morphine. She didn't respond to them at all, at most they were just throwing in more liquids into her body. They had only gotten the standard set of antibiotics to take. That raised a few questions for Terry, if the standard set of drugs to keep a standard human sedated didn't work then what was she? "Hey," he whispered, "Are you awa-"
That was the last syllable he could get out before Luornu dove onto the bed. "Wait I!!" Then he watched as she assimilated in front of him, yet again. Watching that again should be way schway but it just made more questions come up. Was she meta, was she alien, or was she some sort of evolved human from the future? He shook it off as the drone of the machines monotone sound of no heartbeat pulled him from there. He looked to see that she was exactly the same as the last time he saw her except with an updated look to her jumpsuit, now covered in the standard white hospital gown. He waited for her to get everything together as she got over the fact that she just absorbed a part of herself that had almost her whole chest impacted.
The wait was cut short by the sound of nurses rushing down the hallway to try and save her. There was no time to find a stupid ring. He grabbed Luornu by the hand and yanked her out of the bed and out the window. He put her in the cockpit and closed it once he was in and rocketed off back to the cave to update Bruce in this.
human
She was whole again and part of her regretted it. Luornu winced at the painful healing fractures still present in her re-inflated chest, the bruised tissue in her head and lungs. She was dizzy from the rush of memories and sensations as her bodies reintegrated, to the point where she barely protested as the man in black lifted her out of her bed and carried her into his vehicle. As he closed the canopy, she got a brief glimpse of light spilling into the large patient room, nurses rushing in equipment.
"I'm amazed they didn't kill part of me - I'm not even human, you know," she muttered, sitting in his lap, craning her sore neck to see out the red-tinted canopy, see all the readouts. She needed to get her ring back - true, she had others and Brainy could always make her a new one, no matter how much he complained about the rarity of parts, he still had his sources, and if that meant new recruits and reservists went a little longer without a ring, then so be it. But what she couldn't afford was leaving future tech in the past. She would get in so much trouble if she let that slide it made her woozy just thinking about it. She might even lose Cragg's sponsorship to the Legion.
But for the time being she was just tired, and she snuggled down and back, against the pilot, his arms stretched out to either side at the duel controls. It really was a very small cockpit. "So, what now, Mr. Man With No Name?"
gpt
Terry zoomed the Batmobile over the dark skyline. He was surprised to feel her snuggle back into his chest, he hadn't felt that since Dana and he were dating. He refocused his attention back to flying so they wouldn't crash. The focus was broken when she even stated that she wasn't even. "Really?!" He really shouldn't be surprised at this point, he had met a Kryptonian, a half-Thanagaria half-human, an Atlantian, a waking Nuclear reactor, a woman who was waking ink, he really shouldn't react at hearing that he had just met another non-human. It's just that the fact that she looked so human he would have never guessed it, well after looking at her medical charts it was a possibility, but there could have been another explanation.
She asked him the gameplan for now and he himself didn't know. "We'll go back and drop off the Batmobile and then I guess Bruce and I will find a place for you to stay." He went back to flying before smirking, "I have a name..." He felt a little rebellious and decided to break protocol. "It's Terry, Terry McGinnis. Nice to meet you Luornu, am I pronouncing that right? Sorry if I'm wrong, alien names from the future tend to be confusing for me." After that he gave a small little chuckle thinking he was hilarious.
Finally they reached the batcave and he set the craft down. He opened the canopy and gently helped her out of it before stepping out himself and taking off his mask revealing the face of Terry McGinnis once again. Bruce turned in his chair, "Where's the other girl?" Terry waved his hand to her, "You're looking at her, they assimilated again and now three are one." Bruce tucked his hands under his chin, "Interesting." Terry went to grab his civillian clothes and went to change. When he returned he was in his standard set of jeans, a black v-neck t-shirt, and his brown leather jacket. "So what now? Where is she going to go?" Bruce began the shutdown process of the batcomputer, "She'll go to your home." "What?!?! How am I going to explain this to my mom! 'Hey mom look who found out in the streets, a random girl!'" Bruce shook his head, "Just tell her they're my distant cousin visiting from Metropolis, simple as that." Terry took it a step further, "And if she ends up splitting again?" Bruce had an answer for that to, "Tell her they're twins or triplets." He sighed in slight frustration, "Alright, I'll give it a shot." Terry turned to Luornu, "I guess your crashing with me." He nodded for her to follow him to the steps but before he could leave Bruce called for Terry and tossed him a cash card. "What's this for?" "Clothes, she can't go around in that jumpsuit forever. Take her tomorrow." Terry nodded and continued his way out to his bike. "Hop on," he said, he didn't have a an extra helmet so he would have to go without the helmet to give it to her.
Arriving back at his family's apartment he snuck her in, thankfully everyone was asleep. He decided she could crash in his bed for now until his mom made something for her. He took her to his room and immediatley flopped on to his bed, "Bathroom is down the hall if you need it, other than that feel free to crash wherever you want." With that he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.
human
"Well," Luornu said, responding to his outburst of surprise. "I guess my ancestors were, like 800 years ago. I'm from Cragg - that's a planet. I represent Cragg in the Legion... ugh... what were they doing to my body back there?" she said more to herself than the pilot.
"Lu-or-nu, three syllables. Or you can call me Triad - my professional name. My friends sometimes call me Lu or Lorry. And it's nice to meet you finally," she smiled. "Superboy always told us about the whole 'secret identity' thing, hard to imagine really living two separate lives like you do. I'm guessing your professional name is Batman?"
"Thank you, Tarry," she said, making sure she could be heard by Bruce.
"Incidentally," Luornu walked over to Bruce. "I want to apologize for what I said earlier. I don't really know if history forgot or remembered you or anything, I'm not that versed in Earth's history. I was just angry and not... all together, I guess you could say. And I don't do very well when I'm so... spread out, like I was."
"Um... let me just ask you one more thing, and I'm guessing from what Terry said that you and Clark were friends once? Maybe were members of the League together? Did he... did he really never mention me to you? I mean, not at all?" She tried to hide the disappointment in her voice and turned her face away so her expression would be too obvious, but mostly she was just struck by the finality of it all. That ultimately Luornu was just a footnote in Kal's past, a childhood friend that occupied a very short segment of his life. However, due to the wide swath of time that Kal's visits to the 31st century were spread over, Kal had been a part of Luornu's life since she had joined the Legion, since there was a Legion, and according to Brainy and his time institute, Kal would remain a large part of their lives for the foreseeable future. But this Kal, of this time, was old, and his time with the Legion presumably a long forgotten memory that bore little to no weight on his current life. It was no secret in the Legion that Luornu loved Kal, more than for what he represented, but as a caring, compassionate, brave boy who had inspired her since early childhood when she had escaped Cragg for Earth - Alien child makes good on Earth and becomes a hero. It was a very relevant story for Luornu and the shock that the boy lived up to the legend, even surpassed it, made her love him all the more. And now she was forgotten by him, no longer a factor in the story of his life. It was a little more than she could bear or process in the brief amount of time she had been all together, and her memories of her short albeit eventful visit to this time compiled.
"And, for all you know, it might be totally true, Great-Great-Great-Grandad," Luornu teased. "And it's just 'she' not 'they,' I may have three bodies, but I'm still only one person."
Luornu watched the Terran boy, Terry sleeping in his clothes, dead to the world. She smiled and headed for the bathroom. There were... bits of clear tape and bandages on her body from when White had been at the hospital and, stripping out of her jumpsuit, she began picking them off and looking at the wounds in the mirror. When she reconstituted herself the open wounds and injuries lessened in intensity and healed more quickly, so long as she stayed together. Still, she was all together now, so so long as one of her bodies stayed joined with White they should be fine. Orange, not having any physical injuries to speak of, was the obvious choice if they needed to separate, but Luornu didn't really trust Orange not to get into trouble without them, and without Orange the rest of her would definitely be out of commission. Purple then, would be their alternate if they had to split again, and just to see how it would work out, as a proof of concept, she stepped out of herself, Purple wincing as the cuts and scrapes on her back and forehead almost opened up again - but were just returned to being scabbed over gashes.
Looking in the mirror at herself, she noticed that they were looking better than she had initially expected them to be, but her shoulder still hurt like crazy. Her other body was panting, holding her chest, but professed to being fine as she folded up her jumpsuit and picked up her boots and gloves from the floor. Purple strode down the hallway back to Terry's room and, spotting him there crawled into bed with him, naked, wearing only her flight ring, nudging him to scoot over as she lifted up the sheets and slipped in.
Seeing the rest of her walk in, also naked, and close Terry's door, she motioned for her to put her stuff down on the chair by Terry's desk. The rest of her moved to rejoin and Purple shook her head. "Your fine, I'm fine, just get some sleep." Purple pulled at Terry again to make him move closer toward her so that Orange-White could climb in on the other side of the bed and get beneath the covers, leaving Terry on top of the covers between the two of them.
"Hey, Terry? You want to get out of those clothes, at least your shoes and jacket? Your clothes are going to be all wrinkled if you sleep in them all night."
gpt
Terry was half asleep when he heard Lorry leave the room, flaking his offer on using the bathroom. He turned over on his bed, now facing away from the door, and tried to settle down after all the fighting and the running around. Sometimes it was hard to do this since it was either something that happened when he was Batman or the dread of having to go to school tomorrow that kept him tossing or turning in the middle of the night. Right now, it was school. He would have to get up early and fight through the pain from the previous night and put on the facade that he wasn't Gothams sole protector and that he was just some bad kid turned good looking to just make it through the world one day at a time. Ugh and then there was having to deal with the social melodramas of Hamilton Hill High School. Who was dating who, why are a couple breaking up, who was getting shoved in a locker, where were people going on the weekends, what were the latest trends? Sometimes it was just too much for Terry to juggle and he would pay the price by being out of the loop and subject to ridicule from his friends telling him that he had no life out of working for Mr. Wayne. Through all of this wallowing in pity he realized something, tomorrow was Saturday. "Oh thank God," he mumbled.
Finally Lorry came back and slid next to him, going under the sheets rather than staying on top of them like he was doing. His eyes still remained shut so what she did in the bathroom was a mystery to him. Lorry nudged him to scoot closer and he did, not wanting to try and deal with a grumpy girl when he was this tired. He was surprised to hear another click of the door, was his mom coming in to say good night? He still couldn't open his eyes and he obeyed again when Lorry nudged him to scoot closer to her. When he felt the sheets lift again his eyes darted open. At about the same time Lorry suggested he take his jacket and shoes off. He obliged and got up, he saw Lorry next to him under the sheets, but when he turned around he saw her again, they separated. Great, Terry almost freaked over nothing, totally unschway. He didn't bother to look under the sheets since he saw two jumpsuits and boots neatly folded and placed out of the way. He sluffed his jacket off and kicked them off before falling back onto his spot on the bed and finally closin his eyes and saying goodnight to both Lorry's....
When he got up the next morning he saw the two wet still sleeping and he snuck out of his room to let them sleep more, it was a bit hard since his muscles and joints were feeling sore from last nights events. He crept to the lit hen where he found a note from his mother saying that she and Matt went out to his soccer game and that they wouldn't be home for another hour or two. "Perfect," he said relieved, now he wouldn't have to akwardly explain why two. Amex women were in his bed. This would also be a perfect chance to take her shopping for some actual clothes. Figuring out his plan he went over to the cupolas and began digging around for some cereal. He would let them sleep a little longer before going to wake them up, unless they woke up on their own and joined him for some breakfast.
human
Luornu watched Terry creep out of bed through one open lilac eye, grinning to herself. When she saw him close the door, she lifted up the cover that separated her from her other body and scootched over, wrapping her arms around Luornu's shoulders.
"Lu... no..." Luornu's uncoordinated hand pushed Lu away and then rolled over. Lu, still undeterred, started rubbing Luornu's shoulder suggestively. Luornu threatened to reabsorb her by giving her a slight biological tug. Lu yanked her hand away and tsked angrily. But ultimately it was no use fighting with herself.
She crawled over her other sleeping form and stood up, stretching as best she could with her still aching shoulder. The other two were carrying more of the injury than she was now, but it still hurt like a hell.
Triad-Purple opened the door to Terry's room and padded barefoot into the hall. After a few wrong turns she found her way to the kitchen, padded across the linoleum floor, looking for something resembling a coffee maker. Had they discovered coffee yet? Terry had his back to her, making breakfast, apparently, and was still dressed in the same clothes he had been wearing last night. They had that wrinkled "slept in" look, of course. Luornu was still naked as she found the stack of mugs by what she assumed was the coffee maker. It was primitive but effective, and dispensed coffee when she held the cup under the nozzle with a hiss. She held the cup up to her nose and sniffed, confirming it was in fact coffee.
Sighing with pleasure, she turned around and leaned back against the counter, crossing one bare leg in front of the other, wrapping both hands around the mug to warm them and sipped the hot beverage gingerly. "Good morning," she said between sips. "So, shopping today, handsome?"
gpt
Terry was still squatting down in the cupboard trying to pull out some things for breakfast. His eyes moved to the corners of his sockets as he heard the light sounds of footsteps across the kitchen floor. He reached for a glass plate and was prepared to use it as a disk to toss at the intruder, his trained Batman instincts kicking in. He then realized it was just Luornu walking out of his bedroom and he just set the plate down and went back to grabbing things for breakfast. "Hry, do they still have cereal in the future?" He pulled the various boxes out and set them on the counter above him, still not turning around. Once the boxes were out he had an idea to make breakfast a little better. He went to the fridge and started pulling out the orange juice, bacon, eggs, and milk. He kicked the door shut and listened as she figured out how the coffee maker worked, he wasn't one for coffe, too bitter.
He turned to face her and answer her question. "Yeah, Bruce gave us a-Whoah!!" He now saw that she was totally nude, if he had anything to drink at that moment he probably would have done a spit take. He was shocked to say the least, he had never even seen Dana naked before. He knew that they had crawled into bed naked with him, thankfully they were under the sheets while he lyed above, but why in the hell was she naked now?! Oh that just brought up a point, which Luornu was she? Was she the one in the purple that was hitting on him after pounding some Jokerz, the timid orange one that Bruce had to deal with, the one in the hospital, or the one that formed when the purple and orange got together? Dear god that was going to drive him crazy just trying to figure that out constantly! He was hoping that he was masking his shock and confusion, but seeing as she blindsided him with her naked form he wasn't to confident that he was. "A-a-and uh...this is why we're going shopping." He lowered his head and used his hand to cover his peripheral vision. He was hoping she would finally put on some clothes so he wouldn't have to do this the whole time. "And uh if you d-don't mind me asking... Which Luornu are you? Also, why are you naked?" He hope he wasn't being too rude with her by asking that.
human
Triad startled slightly and almost spilled a little coffee when Terry shouted. She frowned toward him as she steadied her hand - but then she saw his face and realized it was more a compliment at seeing her nude body. "Agh," she smiled, putting one hand on her bare hip, shifting her wait to one foot, eyebrows up, sipping her coffee as she watched him squirm.
"A-a-and uh...this is why we're going shopping," Terry said. She looked down at her body and wondered if she should be offended or amused at his discomfort.
"And uh if you d-don't mind me asking... Which Luornu are you? Also, why are you naked?"
Luornu looked up, grinning. "Well, it's very complicated, but, basically, I'm naked because I'm not wearing any clothes at the moment." She set her coffee down on the kitchen counter and walked over to Terry, holding her hands behind her back, coyly, moving very close to him and leaning forward to catch his eye. "Don't slouch, Terry, look me in the eye... okay, good, as to 'which Luornu' I am..." she took another step closer to him, almost pressing her body up against his, her face pushed very close to his, looking into his eyes. "You can always tell by looking me straight in the eye. You see how my eyes are this lovely shade of lilac without any icky amber? That means I'm the best Luornu, all of my confidence, all of my boldness and strength - I'm both physically and mentally stronger than my other bodies - also my breasts are much firmer, though the other mes will deny it..." She was enjoying his discomfort. It seemed to strange to be so upset by nudity. Her friends Garth and Ayla came from a planet of nudists and often walked around the headquarters nude in their off hours without any major comment from their fellow legionnaires - though Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy, their Titanian and Braalian cultures showing, often admitted that nudity made them a little uncomfortable, but never anything so shocked and amazed as this boy from primitive Earth. A wicked through crossed her mind and she had to suppress a nasty little grin.
"Do you... why are you so upset, Terry? Is nudity really this taboo in your culture? Or is my body just that offensive to you...?" she did her best to sound and look hurt and offended, even though she was laughing on the inside. Messing with primitives was fun!
gpt
Terry's eyes remained locked down and he kept Luornu in his periphery. Even while he was looking down he frowned at the naked comment that was smothered in sarcasm. Of course she wasn't wearing any clothes and that's why she was naked! Sure Terry enjoys a little witty banter, but right now? He was not in the mood for it being that there was a nude woman in his kitchen, his family's kitchen for crying out loud! And he was lucky that neither Max or his mother was home... well really his mother, Max would just stop and ogle until he grew bored or until Luornu slapped him.
He was pulled away from that fearful trian of thought when he heard the padding of he feet on the floor as she slowly walked toward him until she came close to him and dipped her head to meet his eyes. She even ordered him to not slouch and stand up straight. He had no choice but to do so and stand up straight, his eyes shooting up and stayin locked in on hers. She then went on to explain about which Luornu she was and it was indeed quite simple. He found it quite interesting that they are so exactly the same, other than their personalities, that the only way to tell them apart was a simple look in the eye. The other differences she described were probably only there to turn him red and cause even more discomfort of the current situation. Well if they were or weren't, they did do just that. "Uh... Yeah I-I-I can see that or uh I guess in this case.... feel that."
She then proceeded to become suddenly shocked and hurt about his discomfort asking if this was because he thought she was ugly. "No no no its not that! It's not that at all!! It's just that... It's just that..." He was starting to become stuck due tithe fact that he was trying to think on his feet and normally that was something he was good at when he was fighting the big bad uglies of Gotham, but this was entirely different situation. Suddenly he got an idea, "Well it's like what you said, it's taboo in this time. Being naked infront of people is left for THE most private moments between a couple." He hope this was making sense to her or this was about to go downhill fast.
human
Luornu burst out laughing and stepped back, placing her coffee on the counter. "Yeah, I know, I've been to twentieth century Earth before - in Smallville. Also, some of the human colony worlds like Braal and Titan still have taboos against nudity - I'm just messing with you. You know two of the leaders of the Legion - sort of like your era's Justice League - are from a planet of human nudists. And on Cragg and on most other human worlds it isn't really an issue."
"What's so funny?" came a sleepy voice as Luornu walked into the kitchen, also naked, rubbing her eyes. "Is that coffee I smell?"
"Sure is!" Luornu poured the sleepy Luornu a cup of coffee, handing it to her and tilting the sleepy, amber and lilac eyed Luornu's chin up so she could kiss it gently - rubbed her side tenderly, letting her hand slide down to settle on the other's hip, accepted a kiss back from her other sleepy self, and leaned their foreheads against each other. "How's my adorable little bundle of neuroses this morning?"
"Mmmm..." the sleepy Luornu muttered, nuzzling her head against her other self. "Coffee...?" She pulled back from her other self and drank the hot, gently steaming cup.
"Enjoy it, sweetie," the lilac-eyed Luornu said as she gave her other self a playful little slap on the bum. "I'm sorry, Terry," she said, switching gears and crossing her arms over her breasts, casually, but with a conscious effort to take pity on the poor hero. "I'm also the repository for my sense of humour, so I'm not above poking fun at other's discomfort. So, anyway, shopping today?"
"Who's uncomfortable?" the other Luornu was saying, leaning her bare butt against the cool kitchen counter and drinking her coffee.