Lucas’s wandering attention somehow meanders its way back on track.“So, Cafe Cup, yeah? Got it, catch ya there, then?” Lucas’s question is quickly answered by an agreeable hum on Alley Cat’s part. As there wasn’t much of a need for Lucas to keep staring at the phone during the conversation, he was looking around the restaurant. Upon noticing a service bot heading their way from the kitchens, his face lights up in anticipation of noms.“If there isn’t anything else, I’ll let ya get back to whatever yer workin’ on.” Even though Lucas is clearly addressing Alley Cat, his attention is wholly on the approaching bot. As it gets closer, he reaches his arms out in its direction, rather reminiscent of a child begging to be picked up. He’s even bouncing his legs and repeatedly opening and closing his hands, earning a few chuckles from his local companions.These not-so-subtle movements quickly catch Jonathan’s attention. Seeing the incoming tray leads to him putting his own phone away, eager
Abe glances over at Lucas as he sets down his fork, then turns his attention over to Mark. “And on the subject of busy days, some of us are going to continue being quite busy for a long time. Until those fancy new sewing machines you were talking about are ready, assuming they even work, I have no business staying up too late.”‘Abe is my hero. 10/10 cranky old man.’[...]Mark sighs as he waves a hand back and forth. “Yes, yes, I know. I’ll walk you home. We’ll all be seeing each other plenty anyway, I just wanted to make sure you, Lucas, and Jonathan actually met each other. Well, and also so Josephine could let everyone know the results of her meeting.”Dan, who finished eating while the others were chatting and quietly switched to using his phone like Jonathan, glances at Mark and rolls his eyes.He could be hanging out with Willy right now, he didn’t need to be dragged into this. So rude.‘Pff, walk him home?’[Well, Abe’s power isn’t particularly well-suited for self-defense. Me
Shortly after Jonathan’s hasty departure, Mark shifts his attention from the doors over to Lucas. “Well, he seems... enthusiastic.”“Eheh... Though I guess it’s not too weird. His jacket was coverin’ it, but he got a ton of blood from that dude earlier on him. Not too surprisin’ he’s eager to clean up, even if he didn’t have OCD. We were late enough for dinner as it is, and if he ran back home it’s not like the shower has superspeed too.” Lucas awkwardly scratches the back of his head as he makes some excuses on Jonathan’s part.It proves effective, as Mark’s slightly accusatory expression smooths out into a more understanding one.“Hmm, fair. I can’t really blame him, then. I generally try to wash up right away, too. It’s such an unpleasant feeling.” As Mark expresses his sympathies, Lucas freezes momentarily whereas the other two that are still present don’t give any notable reaction.“Er, yeah...” ‘I’m not entirely comfortable with this being such a casual conversation subject...’
Post proprio-perfect landing, Lucas barely maintains a neutral expression as he heads off in pursuit of the nearest subway station. The difficulty of his self-imposed Try Not to Laugh Challenge is further enhanced by the hasty departure of a random pedestrian that was clearly alarmed by his sudden arrival from above.‘Man, this’ll never get old. It must be even better with speed too... 427, go convince Boss System that I should be able to take speed without increasing the tasks I gotta do, kay thanks.’[...It’s highly unlikely that it would be approved. And that’s even if we tried to argue that it was an emergency purposes only power, considering you have no business letting anyone else see you using any additional powers. Unfortunately, until such time as you no longer need to hide your status as a member of the Superhero Enhancement System, taking any obvious powers like speed or invisibility would be ill-advised. Thanks to your viral popularity online, which demonstrated both your
Right when Lucas becomes bored enough for his mind to wander over to the fact that he could pull his phone out to play around; the not-all-that-long-awaited subway train arrives.Once it comes to a complete stop, a set of doors slowly open a few steps to the side of where he is waiting. After Lucas uneventfully minds the gap, he discovers that the only other inhabitants of this particular compartment are a pair of young women who are whispering to each other off to the far right side. Thanks to how socially spent he is, among other world-specific reasons, he opts for the furthest seat possible from them.Pulling out his phone before settling in, he resumes his previous sombrero research.‘Hey, am I gonna lose signal once we leave the station?’[I’m pretty sure Miss Calculated would take it personally if she knew you asked that question.]Lucas lets slip a small snerk of amusement.‘I’ll take that as a no then.’Although Lucas doesn’t have any success searching for a mariachi-style h
Lucas clears his throat once he’s done milking his cookie for all the extra time he can manage.“Uhh, actually I got noticed by Boss System around lunch the day before we met.” Lucas’s casual address for the Superhero Enhancement System elicits an amused smile from Jonathan, though he looks mildly surprised after processing the timespan.“Remember Clara, er, Clarissa?” Lucas pauses for a moment, quickly answered by Jonathan nodding. “Well, tryin’ to help her get her purse back from some asshole ended up with me gettin’ stabbed.” Lucas gestures at the serrated knife in the dish drying rack as Jonathan’s eyebrows subconsciously scrunch up. “That sounds like it was j-just a minor task? D-did you do something big to get that close?” It’s now Lucas’s turn to nod in answer to Jonathan’s question.“Yeah, it was. I’ll get to why my GDV was where it was in a minute, though.“So, I was bleedin’ out and 427 showed up an’ gave me a rollback with superstrength. I wasn’t exactly ready to make any
[The target is the young male that will be at your 3 o’clock. Arriving in 3... 2... 1...]Jonathan is running along the sidewalk, clad in a black tracksuit with equally black sneakers, weaving between the other intermittent pedestrians going about their business. Relative to him, these people and the passing traffic all seem to be moving in slow motion. But, from a regular speed perspective, a black blur is darting through the area, suddenly changing directions to veer off into a side alley.‘Disarming him should be good enough, right?’[Correct.] Jonathan doesn’t even come to a complete stop as he snatches a crowbar out of a man’s hands, who was in the process of lining up the edge of it with a door frame. Thanks to how heavy it is, it’s a two-handed task for Jonathan to move the crowbar around. Even still, he simply continues running at superspeed back out of the alley with his loot, not even paying any real attention to his victim.The extremely confused man takes a moment to lo
“Hmm?” Mikah turns to look as well once he notices which way Jonathan is staring. ‘Was it that guy with the gym bag? What is he taking out..? Oh.’Jonathan frowns slightly and glances at Mikah, who is now squinting with a confused expression.Jonathan stands from his seat, turning to face the approaching service bot. “I-I’ll be right back.”He darts off without waiting for any sort of reaction, only slowed down momentarily by the process of pulling the door open.After Jonathan traverses several yards’ worth of sidewalk, a familiar dry mechanical voice speaks up.[...Bzzt, reliably safe distance from Mikah’s power detected. Alert; a new moderate GDV task has been assigned. Please prevent the acts of vengeance of the recently laid-off ex-employee from Howling Cartographer ahead of you.]Skidding briefly as he slows down to normal speed, Jonathan lets out an involuntary snerk of amusement upon mention of one of the previously mocked supervillain organizations. A short distance ahead o