| DC/Marvel: Age of Infinite Heroes | ||||||||||
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On the San Francisco freeway, cars tend to move pretty fast. There's nearly no speed limit to speak of, and half the time drivers don't pay attention to it anyway. Nico is walking at night, not really sure where she's going. Just needed some time away. She passes beneath the freeway and comes out of the tunnel to a side road, wandering down an off street.
A driver of an eighteen-wheeler pulls into the slow lane, as he needs to get out of the way of a police car that's trying to pass, lights flashing. The driver of the truck doesn't notice that he has a car in his blind spot though, and with a panicked crunch, the small sedan gets pushed off the road and down the exit, far too fast.
An accident later, Nico finds herself standing next to a sedan that's JUST slammed into a pole, and she is dragging the driver out of the car before she knows what's going on. "Oh, god, help," she calls out as loud as she can, then starts CPR. Very, very poorly. She doesn't know how to do it, but the guy has no pulse, and isn't breathing.
Breathing into his mouth, all the air escapes. She really could use a hand here.
Superboy was flying out from the tower to... wherever he spends his nights while in San Francisco when he hears the car accident. He arrives to find Nico failing at CPR. He pulls something out of a jacket pocket, his thumb blurring across the screen, and then he's tossing it to her. It's a Starr Phone. "Call an ambulance," he tells the girl, inspecting the driver for a moment, giving an X-ray, hoping there's no catastrophic damage.
Nico Minoru looks at the phone, trying to breathe into the driver's mouth. The man is not breathing, no heartbeat. If he's not at a hospital in five minutes, or starts receiving proper help, he'll die. There is damage, but his heart seems to have been shocked badly by the impact. Without the heart, the lungs do not function.
Nico tries to breathe into his mouth again, which doesn't go well, and then gasps, "I...hang on," and breathes into his mouth again. "That's not actually helping," she says, indicating the phone.
Superboy hesitates for a moment. "It's the heart," he says. "It's not beating." He looks at the freeway for a moment, then back to the teen. In a little puff of dust, his phone is launched back to his hand. Mindful of the damage, he lifts the man from the ground. "I'm faster than an ambulance," he says, taking to the air, hovering with his feet just a few inches from the ground.
Nico Minoru gets out of the way, as the man is lifted out from under her. She stands there stupidly as things are removed from her hands, entirely. "You don't ...know how to do CPR do you?" she asks, then realizes it's a dumb question. "Nevermind, go. Go. He's dying!"
"I'm going to learn, stay put, I'll be back," he tells the girl, and then he's flying away. He doesn't fly extremely fast, but, without having to worry about things like 'traffic,' he manages to get to the Emergency Room quickly. Thankfully, the staff there is actually fairly used to Titans turning up with injured, and, when he explains the 'no heartbeat' issue, the car crash victim ends up at the front of the line, quickly loaded onto a cart and hauled away. Once the professionals have taken charge, Superboy flies back to the site of the accident.
Nico Minoru is found sitting near the car, which still hasn't had anyone show up to deal with the accident. Admittedly it was only a few minutes, maybe ten at the utmost, but she feels it's more. Looking at her hands, she doesn't notice Kon flying down from the sky.
"You okay, miss?" he asks. "Your," a moment's pause, "your boyfriend'll be fine, they're taking care of him. Are you hurt?" He lands next to the girl, watching her for a moment, /without/ X-ray vision.
Nico Minoru starts slightly when Kon talks, but she calms amazingly quickly. She pushes herself to her feet, adjusting her long skirt over her legs. "I wasn't actually in the," she pauses, then shakes her head. "Never mind. I'm not hurt, thanks. I'm just a bystander who should find time to google how to CPR when I get to a library." She giggles once, then forces it down. "Should I know you, flying guy?"
"Superboy, one of the Titans," he says, and glances around again. Traffic is slowing drastically, but it continues to go past. "You know... dressed the way you are, maybe walking down the side of the freeway isn't the safest place for you to be," he tells the goth girl. He fishes his phone out of his pocket, and, somewhat belatedly, makes the call. "This is Superboy, there was a car accident. I already got the driver to the hospital, but his car's still," and then he gives surprisingly precise information about exactly where to find the vehicle. He looks to Nico. "You need a ride somewhere?" he offers.
Nico Minoru watches as her new associate makes a surprisingly normal phone call. While hovering a little off the ground. she seems to take it in stride, glancing down at her outfit when he comments on it. With a small smile, she says, "My outfit? Seriously, that's where you want to go with this?z
"Black, night, roadside. Not exactly high visibility, you might get hit," Superboy says, touching down. "It's not meant as an insult, just don't want the next car that hits something to hit you," he explains. "Serious about the offer of a ride. If you were trying to get somewhere, I can drop you off before moving on." He pauses for a moment. "You holding up alright? You... well, you were kinda panicked and... okay, I don't really know CPR either, and really should learn, but... pretty certain you were doing it wrong."
Nico Minoru crosses her arms, looking kind of like she's preparing a scathing reply. She pauses when Kon explains, as if taking the suggestion seriously. Practically. "Okay, fair then. I'm not slapping glow in the dark stickers on it though and I don't own anything that isn't dark. Got me a theme going and I like it."
Scathing reply abated, she looks Kon over, and adds, "I wasn't going anywhere, just walking and thinking a little." With a frown, she adds, "We both should learn, apparently. I'm not one to take omens normally but that was too close for my liking. I'll learn if you do, then? So neither one of us can back out on it or put it off." She doesn't seem too hugely awed by Superboy, one of the Titans.
Superboy leans into the car, turning on the hazard lights of the crashed vehicle. "I'd... probably learn from one of the others at the Tower," he explains, but considers it. "But... if it's an incentive, I guess I can hit the classes with you." He looks around again, perhaps listening, perhaps watching cars go by. "Thinking about anything in particular?"
Nico Minoru raises an eyebrow. "I...wasn't asking you to go WITH me, but if you want to," she says. NOW she's blushing just a little. Shaking it off as he moves on, she says, "Actually right now I'm wondering why you don't know me already, but before this," she gestures at the car with both hands, flashing hazard lights and all, "happened, I was kind of wondering about life. And skee ball."
"Ah," Superboy says, blushing slightly himself. "Misunderstood. But yes, we both should learn, though teaching me might be... hard." He shrugs. "Dogma? Good movie, and /should/ I know you?" he wonders, head tilted to one side. "You're not a young villainess having second thoughts about a life of crime, are you? I mean, happy to help a girl reform, but... I know how that usually goes, and my girlfriend might not approve... Robin's single, though."
Nico Minoru tilts her head, looking at Superboy. She has this very, very odd expression on her face as she listens to him. The blush is gone, at least. "No. No, I am not in fact an evil sorceress or any other form of villainy. Villainess?" She pauses, then goes on as if the mistake never happened.
"Ask Raven when you see her about the Minoru family. Specifically Nico. And stop in at the tower more often, I was there for almost TWO WEEKS recently!" She smacks Kon on the shoulder, rolling her eyes.
"I've been busy in New York," Superboy says, and begins to say more, but stops, and squints at the girl. "Wait, are you the goth girl that turned Kara into a little kid?" he wonders, scrutinizing the girl.
Nico Minoru sighs. She curtsies wordlessly, accepting the judgement without argument. "Call me Nico. She's adult again, you're welcome."
Superboy laughs. "Oh man, that was classic," he says with a grin. "She was /adorable./" He offers Nico a hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Nico. You can call me Kon. I know it was a mistake, and, well, not your fault she had a stick up her butt about the entire thing. Kept trying to tell her she should just enjoy it while it lasts."
Nico Minoru squeezes Kon's hand. She's got a mediocre grip, not strong at all, but she meets his eyes with a sparkle in her own. "I got her to go trick or treating, at least. So that's something. My GOD she takes herself so seriously though, and that's coming from a goth girl with a death complex. Seriously. Nice to meet you Kon. I'm not far from my ...uh, car, though. Unless you want to meet the family."
Superboy tilts his head slightly, raising an eyebrow. "I think it's a 'Krypton' thing," he says. "The planet doesn't really seem to do fun." He considers her for a moment. "And exactly where is your 'uh, car?"
Nico Minoru motions south, roughly. "Would you believe it's parked in an alley near a Dennys a couple blocks down? The fam is having waffles apparently. And it's not actually a car."
"I gathered," Superboy says with a chuckle. "So... what, space ship, time machine... space motorcycle?" he asks. "You'd be surprised the sort of 'uh, cars' I've seen." He smirks a bit. "I'll give you a ride there. Any particular reason you're not having waffles with the fam?"
Nico Minoru smiles. "Giant robot frog," she says, absolutely serious. "Yeah. There's a reason. I love them all but damn they're annoying sometimes. Sometimes...you just need the night. And a little quiet." She looks back at the car, wrapped around a pole. "I don't see it happening tonight."
Superboy's eyes open wide at that. "Okay, yeah, Giant Robot Frog's a new one," he admits. "As for quiet... rooftops are better than roadsides. I think everyone needs a little quiet, now and then." He flies up slightly. "Last chance to get dropped off at the Denny's in style."
You say, "Actually, could you drop me on a quiet roof for a bit? I could use a little more time without being asked why I don't have my underwear on my head or who's paying for dinner I didn't even eat."
"Under--explain that comment, and you can have your choice of any rooftop in the city you could reasonably find your own way down from," Superboy offers, and, flying back down, touches Nico's hand and, with a somewhat odd, clinging sensation covering her body, he takes to the air.
Nico Minoru explains, how her sister keeps begging her to wear a superhero outfit that often refers to ideas like wearing your underwear on the outside or other odd concepts, and she actually FOUND her wearing in on her head once, and as she goes on telling about her family, she actually does seem to relax.