| DC: Infinite | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
It is a warm and sunny afternoon in loveable San Francisco. And Dedrick was planning on enjoying every minute of it. He had been prescribed some rest and relaxation for the next week, so he actually chartered a flight out to California from Metropolis and after getting a hotel room, hit the beach with a vengence. Clad in swim trunks and nothing else, he is lying on a beach towel underneath an umbrella. A cooler of bottled soda next to him and a pair of dark sunglasses on his eyes. He lies on his back with his arms resting under his head and his portable mp3 player blaring in his ears.
Nice day on the beach. Sunbathers tanning. Surfers surfing. Swimmers swimming. Clam-bakers... er... clamming? Kara's passing by the area on her way to the diner she's been trying to do a 'normal job' at, despite not using her secret identity for it. It was Batman's idea, sorta. Even though he doesn't realize it. The idea of having her understand about money by earning some. Of course, Batman probably meant using a secret identity, but Kara figured Supergirl is always associated with being there for crime and disasters. It might be good to have people associate her with normal stuff as well. Not just stopping criminals. Of course, at that point there's an alarm that's going off at one of the surf shops and a guy runs out.
The surf shop's owner calls after him, "Hey someone stop him, he just robbed me!" So when the guy is running past Kara, she puts out her arm, which causes him to get clotheslined and down he goes. "I'm so gonna be late for work." Yeah, especially bad considering how few hours the diner actually has her work. Then again, the diner owner, Joe, does know who she is and who's going to give Supergirl a full shift?
Dedrick raises up and glances around when someone starts yelling. He was getting to his feet as he pulled the headphones out of his ears when he sees a familiar teenage girl stop the thief by sticking out an arm. Which was fortunate, because he was still banged up from his last effort at heroics. He casually walks over, waving to get Kara's attention. "Hi!" He's got a couple of bandages here and there and some parts of his skin that look like it's healing from electrical burns.
Kara Zor-El plants her foot on the downed thief's chest to wait until the police come. She looks at her watch sighing. "So... gonna...be... late." Superspeed doesnt help much if the police don't have it too. Then she sees Dedrick walking over and smiles, saying "HI!" happily while ignoring the guy trying to budge her leg. Then she peers at you. "Rao what the heck happened to you?" she says with concern when she notices how banged up he is, not to mention the electrical burns on top of the remaining bandages for the parts that havent quite yet healed. Especially since she knows how tough Dedrick is.
Dedrick smiles and opens his mouth to explain, but then looks down at the guy underneath her foot. "Um...I'll tell you all about it later. Looks like you're a little busy right now. Headed to work?"
Kara Zor-El nods. "That whole waitress thing I was telling you about." Yeah, the guy's still trying to get free. He even hits her leg, focused mainly on trying to get free. Not gonna happen, of course. She's not bothering to pay attention though. Might as well be bolted to the ground though. Kara looks you over with concern, while the police arrive and the shop owner points over at Kara and the downed thief. "I'm just so late though." She pauses to look down at the thief. "Who robs a surf shop anyway? Havent you ever heard of banks?" then back to Dedrick. "When would you like to talk about it? Must have been a big deal for you to get all bandaged up like that."
Dedrick nods and actually laughs a little bit at the guy for attempting to get away. "Whenever you have some free time. I'm on forced rest, so I'm not going to be doing anything strenuous for about a week. Tell you what, when is your shift over? I can come treat you to a cup of coffee or something."
Kara Zor-El tilts her head as the police take the crook away after she removes her foot from him. She doesn't stop chatting with Dedrick while it's happening. "Well, usually I'm only on for a few hours a week. The owner of the diner knows who I am and I think he just likes having me around as a publicity stunt or something, but I told him not to go advertising it for his own safety. But apparently today he actually needs me to do a full shift so .... um... that's eight hours. You know, unless there's some worldwide emergency."
Dedrick idly rubs the back of his head. "You know, I really don't understand why you insist on holding down a job under your Kara Zor-el identity. Doesn't make sense to me."
Kara Zor-El watches as the thief is taken away. "Well... it's just...." She crosses her arms. "Everything else feels like I'm lying to everyone. I feel like it's a lie when I'm running around in the Supergirl uniform, I feel like it's a BIG lie when I'm walking around pretending to be my secret identity. I mean.... you're..." She takes your hand and starts walking with you a little to somewhere with less people gawking. "you're not always having to live a lie. If it's always being either Supergirl or my secret identity, when would I ever get to be just me?"
Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "Besides, Diana does it. Okay, her normal job is being an amabassador to the U.N. for an island full of immortal amazon warrior women, but it's still not her being 'Wonder Woman' per se."
Dedrick shrugs. "I understand, Kara. I really do, but have you ever stopped to consider that maybe your attempts to be 'you' is harmful to your role as Supergirl? Look, I'm pretty sure Superman isn't Superman all the time. And I don't think Diana is actually trying to live as a human, or blend in to society like you are. Which makes her situation different. As far as the lying part...well, sometimes I lie to maintain my secret identity. It sucks, but it comes with the territory. My enemies may not care about what I want or how I feel. They'd do anything to get to me, including taking out those that are close to me...if they knew who I actually was. Which is why I wear the mask and live two separate and very different lives."
Kara Zor-El looks at him while walking. "That's why I was much easier for me to give up being Supergirl, even if it was temporary... than to give up being Kara Zor-El." She shrugs a little. "Kal isnt Kryptonian." She pauses then elaborates a little. "I mean... he's Kryptonian in that he was born on Krypton, but really, he's human. He's not the baby who used to throw up on me and where I used to change his poopy diapers. And I'm only trying to blend in because of Kal."
She shrugs. "I mean.... I don't have any normal friends. They're all super-powered or heroes or stuff. I don't really see what Diana is doing as being that different." She doesn't mention that Diana has a secret identity which she rarely uses as well. "I mean... who would my enemies try to take out? Superman? Batman? Wonder Woman? You? The Titans?" She shrugs. "Maybe if I had normal friends I'd think more like that."
She then listens to something else you say. "Far as I've seen I don't have much of a life to begin with since I came to this planet." Kara Zor-El holds up a finger. "The whole waitress thing? It's actually relaxing. I don't have to hide anything, and my biggest responsibility is getting people their food and keeping the coffee hot. And people arent instantly associating me with being a girl who can bench press an aircraft carrier or something, and I get to see people acting in a way where their lives arent in danger. It's sorta fun."
Dedrick thinks about that for a moment. "Well, as long as it makes you happy." He exhales slowly. "I don't have many friends. I have a few normal ones, my fellow teammates on the team. Few guys and girls from school. That's about it. Then there's my parents." He shrugs. "That's a lot riding on the line for me. Your family is bulletproof. Mine is not." He waves a hand, then winces slightly from the action. "Owww...I keep forgetting about that..."
Kara Zor-El looks at him sidelong. "My family's dead except for Kal. And yeah, there's not as much riding on the line for me to keep up appearances. Maybe if I ever find a guy who is normal, or if I was to get to go to college, or something like that. Then yeah I'd start using a secret identity more to protect them." She winces as you do, looking at you with her X-ray vision. "It's some sub-dermal bruising on the muscle tissue. Okay. It's Joe's Diner on Jefferson. And you better be there and tell me everything." She gives you a peck on the cheek. "I better hurry. Talk to you later!" And wish a burst of speed, she's gone.
Dedrick idly rubs his cheek where she kissed him. He sighs wistfully and trudges back towards his towel.
Hours later, Dedrick strolls into Joe's Diner wearing a pair of tan cargo shorts and a long sleeved dark blue form fitting shirt that has the Superman 'S' on the front. He finds himself a booth and slips his sunglasses off, hooking them onto the front of his shirt. He looks around as he waits for the waitress to notice him.
<OOC> Dedrick says, "Because you know they sell those shirts."
A mildly overweight man stares at Kara for a minute and then whispers to the middle-aged woman sitting across from him. He calls Kara over and says, "Excuse me, Miss. My wife thinks you look famiiar, are you really Supergirl?"
And.... there's Kara. Wearing a waitress apron, handing a family of four plates from a tray with food. A few things of note in the diner.
1) There are a lot of guys ages 14-25 in here. Especially on the days that Kara's working here.
2) Kara doesn't seem to bother to use a pad to write down the orders, yet doesn't get the orders wrong even when it's busy.
3) There's a small, rather insignificant sign on the wall which says 'Joe's Diner - the Diner that has Supergirl as a waitress' Kara has asked Joe not to advertise, but he still put it up and Kara just stopped asking him to stop since he's nice and he said he needed to be able to brag about it SOMEHOW.
She heads over to the mildly overweight man and his wife. "Um... yeah I am. Can I take your order?" she asks with a smile.
Most people just assume it's a marketing gimmick, like that Planet Herowood, though if it is, it's a weird, poorly done one, since the girl isnt wearing a costume or anything, and aside from the sign it's not plastered everywhere.
The wife smiles and looks to her husband. "Yes, dear. We'll take two iced teas please." After Kara walks away, the wife whispers to her husband, "The poor dear. She must work here to pay for all of those damages they said she did on the news recently." The husband hushes his wife. "Hush, honey. You do know she can probably hear us, right?" The wife replies. "Good, she needs to know that some of us think she's taking responsibilty. Which is why you're going to leave her a good tip." The husband sighs and drones. "Yes, dear."
Kara Zor-El heads off to get their drinks. She doesn't do anything 'super' while working. She's not super-speeding the orders. she's not reheating coffee by using heat vision (okay she did that once when the coffee maker in the back broke, but not today). She's not flying. She smiles a little at what she's overhearing, despite that it's not why she's working here. No need to explain that she paid for the damages by taking some coal and crushing them until the pressre created diamonds. Or that she only works on tips, since she doesn't have a social security number as Kara Zor-El. Technically she's an illegal alien, actually (despite the joke on the cartoon about that very term). At least they havent asked her to prove it. She heads to the next table which has some college goers. "Hi, my name's Kara, welcome to Joes. Can I take your order?" she says to them as well.
Dedrick takes a seat next to the college guys' booth. He smiles at Kara when she walks near his table as he continues to study his menu and watch her work.
Kara Zor-El smiles and waves at Dedrick when he takes a seat. She then looks back at her current table. "The special of the day is chicken fried chicken, and that comes with a side of potato and a vegetable. Soup of the day is cream of turkey. I'll give you all a few minutes to decide okay?" She then heads over to Dedrick's table.
You paged Dedrick with 'you're good as in you want me to NPC them or you want to?'
Dedrick pages: Actually, I will. Hehe.
Dedrick looks up from his menu. "Hi." He replies and then places an order. "Largest burger you have, extra pickles, no onion or tomatoes. Double order of waffle fries, and a large vanilla milkshake." It was a heavy order, but with his metabolism, he'd have it burned off in about an hour.
Meanwhille, the group of college guys talk amonst themselves after Kara walks away. "Dude, she's smoking hot. I would like...wreck that chick." His buddies nod, agreeing with him. "I would do everything to her." Their younger friend exclaims. "I would drink her bath water!" The only reply he gets is blank stares from his friends and a look of slight disgust from Dedrick as he overhears it.
Kara Zor-El leans over Dedrick's table. She hears what they're saying also. Heck, superhearing, she can probably hear what people are saying across the city. But she's not bothering to act like it, though you do see a little flicker on her smile during the 'bath water' comment. "Hey there. Welcome to my job." she says with a smile. "I'll be off soon, but until then want to order anything?" She leans further over, which gives the college guys next table something more to gape about, but she's doing so to whisper, "I'm working on tips." She grins as you give your order of the buger, fries and milkshake. "Gotcha - really glad you stopped over before my shift ends." She heads back over to the college guys. "Okay, guys, need any more time to decide what you want?" She pauses then adds, "No bath water though, but we have coke." she says with a straight face.
At the mention of no bath water, the younger guy turned beet red and sinks down into his chair. He meekly asks for a coke. Meanwhile, Dedrick smiles faintly as the guys give Kara their orders and then once she leaves, one of them gets Dedrick's attention and asks in a whisper. "Hey. Hey, dude. You hittin that?" To which Dedrick promptly replies. "No." The guys asks. "Think she'd go out with me?" Dedrick replies in a deadpan voice. "No." The guy frowns and then goes back to his friends.
Kara Zor-El heads to the kitchen after she takes the orders, and the conversation next to Dedrick continues amongst themselves.
Guy 1: "Dude, I'm gonna ask her out. $20 says I score with her."
Guy 2: "Dude... she's Supergirl, you're not gonna score with Supergirl."
Guy 1: "Stupid, she's not -really- Supergirl, she just looks like her a lot. Smokin bod and all that, it's a marketing thing, moron." He adds, "Besides, I could get with the real Supergirl if I wanted to."
Guy 2: "Oh get real, you could not get with the real Supergirl."
Guy 3: "I heard that Superman is like her boyfriend actually and and they like.... do it like nuclear bombs or somethin'"
Guy 2: "Where'd you hear that? I thought he's like her cousin or brother or somethin"
Guy 3:"It's in the Tattler."
Guy 2: "That's a tabloid you idiot."
Guy 1: "Actually I know Supergirl, yeah, she totally has a thing for me."
Guy 4: "You do not!"
Guy 1: "Sure do! She was like...stopping a bank robbery and I was there and she gave me a wink. She totally wanted me."
Guy 2: "Oh you both are so full of crap."
Guy 1: "Honest truth! I probably could have had her right there. That short skirt. cmon, you know she's gotta be easy."
Guy 3: "Unless Superman's her boyfriend - pretty sure you couldnt compete with that."
There's a crash in the kitchen like someone dropped some dishes.
Guy 1: "Look, all I'm sayin is if I wanted to, I could be gettin' busy with the real supergirl PLUS that hot waitress. I bet I could get them to both dress up as Supergirl while I'm at it."
Guy 2: "You're both so delusional. Look, I dare you to even ask her out."
Guy 4: "Um what if she IS Supergirl?"
Guy 3: "She's not. It's a gimmick. Ask her to do something like... super."
"Guy 4: "Like what?"
Guy 1: "Oh, hit her! Yeah, she'd be like.... invulnerable and stuff."
Guy 2: "I'm with idiots. If you hit her and she is Supergirl, you're she's gonna beat the crap outta you. If she isnt you're gonna get arrested. Plus you were just saying you wanted to sleep with her now you're wanting Doug to hit her?"
Guy 1: "Hrm, okay oh... ask her to fly! Or um.... lift the diner!"
Guy 2 hangs his head. "Idiots."
Guy 3: "Yeah, besides, I don't hit girls anyway."
Guy 4: "Are you really gonna ask her out?"
Guy 1: "Course I am, I'm a stud remember?"
Guy 3: "I'm so gonna ask her to do something super."
<OOC> Kara Zor-El says, "should I edit that?"
<OOC> Dedrick says, "NO. That was freaking awesome and hilarious!"
Dedrick sighs heavily as he overhears the conversation next to him. He clears his throat. "Hey, man. I'm gonna tell you this so you don't embarass yourself. Yes, she's the real Supergirl. And she already has a boyfriend. Big mean orange guy by the name of Solarflare." He sighs and sips from his shake. "And now you know, and knowing is half the battle." Of course, whether they heed his advice or not remains to be seen.
Guy 1 smirks after Dedrick gives the warning. "Yeah, and I got a big mean guy right here." He's obviously motioning under the table at himself. Guy 3 looks over at Dedrick. "Fine, you get her to do something super to prove it." Guy 2 says to everyone. "Oh geez. Look, Supergirl isnt actually waiting tables. Am I the only one here who isnt clinically dumb?"
Kara comes out a little bit later. She first brings Dedrick his food, looking at him for a few seconds as if to say 'yes, I've been hearing them, shuddup' then puts on her smile again and heads to the college table, handing each of them their orders.
Dedrick smirks at the guy with the 'big mean guy'. He laughs. "Dude...seriously. I'll prove it." He stands up. "Hey, Kara? Our friends here are interested in seeing a small feat of strength. How about it?" He motions to himself, for Kara to lift him off the floor. If she could do that to a guy that was twice her size, then it HAD to be Supergirl.
Guy 1 says, "Soo..... I was thinking after your shift's over, I could -" To which he's immediately cut off with "No thank you I have a boyfriend." Before he can even finish the sentence. Guy 3 says, "So are you really Supergirl?"
Kara just says, "Yep I am." She looks at Dedrick. Oh Dedrick stop encouraging them. she thinks. "Um.... no, I'd rather not do that."
Guy 2 leans back. "See? She's not Supergirl, Can we all stop being stupid now?" Guy 3 says, "Whatever..." he looks over at Kara. "Cmon, do -something- super. Or go out with my boy here. That would show super guts."
Kara looks at Dedrick, then the guys, tapping her foot a little. "Fine." She looks at Guy #4. "Fruit of the Loom." She looks at Guy #3. "Xbox and HALO." Then Guy #2. She smiles a little. "Hello Kitty. Really?" Then Guy #1, who she looks at, scrunches her nose and quickly looks away, "Uh ... commando." She looks at all of them briefly, "X-ray vision, happy?" Then she quickly walks away to take care of other customers, giving Dedrick a quirky smile/look first.
Dedrick smirks and sits back down at his own table. "Hehe. Hello Kitty ... hope that makes you guys happy." There is silence from them all until Guy #1 asks Dedrick. "I haven't seen you do anything. How do you even know her?"
Dedrick shrugs slightly, "We met during an armored truck robbery. I asked her to have coffee with me afterwards." As nochalantly as possible, and he didn't even lie. He just didn't tell the whole truth.
Guy 2 looks embarrassed. Guy 1 does also. Guy 4's still quietly sipping his non-Kara's-bath-water Coca Cola as intently as possible.
Then Guy 3 asks, "So she's like REALLY Supergirl?"
Guy 1 asks Dedrick. "Dude, do not tell me that... did YOU tap Supergirl?"
Guy 2 says, "I'm so not tipping her."
Guy 4 then says, "Um... you're not gonna stiff Supergirl, I mean she could throw you into orbit or something."
Guy 1 then said, "I'd stiff -" Guy 2 interrupts. "Shuttup, don't even finish that. Fine...." They eat their food.
Dedrick frowns slightly. "Despite the fact that she's remained professional throughout this. You guys are not going to stiff her on her tip. If you do..." He exhales slowly. "Let's just say that it would be bad to piss her off. She's heard everything you guys have said and she's still smiling while delivering your food and doing her job. Think about that." He sips his shake before adding. "And no, I didn't tap her. She's my friend. No, I'm not gay, but it is possible to have a total platonic relationship with a hot girl. At least it is for a mature person."
<OOC> Dedrick says, "He's lying on that last part."
After what Dedrick says, they finish their food quietly enough. That's right, Supergirl was hearing you all talk about everything. Though Guy 1 murmurs to himself, "Yeah, gay." Kara comes back to the tables and hands them their bill and smiles at them. They smile back at her. Except for Guy #4, who's STILL intently drinking his coke and not making eye contact anymore. "Thank you and come again." They pay the bill and put down a rather good tip, actually, 30%, getting up to leave. Then Kara looks over at Dedrick. "I'm off work now if you'd like to hang out" she says with a wink.
Guy 1 says to Guy 2, "Maybe I should be gay. Gay guys gets the hottest babes." Guy 2 sighs. "I'm being punished for a past life by having you as my friend, aren't I?" Then they leave.
Dedrick takes the time to finish his burger and waffle fries and nods when Kara asks if he wanted to hang out. "Yeah, have a seat. I've got a lot to tell you." He holds his shoulder as he rolls it slightly. "I got pretty banged up the other day."
Kara Zor-El sits at the table and leans forward to listen as Dedrick talks. She reaches over to steal one of your waffle fries. "I can see that. Want to tell me now or later?" she asks as she pops it into her mouth. "By the way, I'm a hot girl, am I?" she says with a smile.
Dedrick clears his throat as he turns a light shade of crimson. He scratches the back of his head, which Kara knows is a sign of him being nervous. "Well, yeah. Of course you're hot. You know that." He quickly changes the subject. "I had a throw-down with Atomic Skull and Livewire...at the same time."
Kara Zor-El listens. Though honestly - grow up on a planet which is a product of basically eugenics where everyone has these incredible genetics in the first place then, after being on the planet for a few weeks, spend months on an island full of amazons in sparse dress. Then living with a group of heroes which includes people who dress like Starfire. And not to mention the alternate universe version of herself is. It probably doesn't make Kara instantly consider herself 'hot' so much as 'the norm.' Another reason for her to be out in the public among normal people more often.
When you mention the fight, she raises her eyebrows. "Livewire's pretty tough. I mean... she has a lame weakness at least. She gives Kal all sorts of trouble, I think it's because he doesn't like hitting girls." She smiles a little. "Well at least you won. Good job." She peers at you. "You -are- okay right? I mean you'll heal fast right?"
Dedrick nods. "I'm okay. I don't have super healing, but I do heal faster than normal humans. The damage I took will take me a week to heal. It'd take a normal person months along with physical therapy."
Kara Zor-El nods a little. "I bet they got it a lot worse, right?" She tilts her head. "Are you heading back to Metropolis tonight?"
Dedrick grins. "I KO'ed Skull. He wasn't that much trouble. Livewire almost did me in. Geez, what a mouth on that one. I hit her with everyting I had and I thought I was gonna take a dirt nap until I remembered that she bragged about being living electricity. And water and electricity doesn't mix. So I ripped open a hydrant, and used the body of her partner to focus the water on her and short her out. I heard that she escaped later, but that's ok. I've got her number."
Kara Zor-El nods. "Are they your first metahumans you've fought? You don't forget the first ones."
"Mine were Harley Quinn, Clayface and Poison Ivy. Didn't take that long" She pauses. "Though Harley wasn't actually a meta." Then adds, "And Clayface did have Kryptonite to try to even it out. Didn't help him." She thinks. "And Poison Ivy sorta... kissed me before I knocked her out. So.... yeah." She then nods. "Yeah, Livewire... I heard she was on the radio before she went all super evil. Amazing with the stuff she says huh." She shakes her head. "Well, good for you that you handled her well!"
Dedrick nods. "Yeah, it was the first time I've ever gone up against another meta. And I got lucky and pulled two. But I'm happy with the result. I feel...elated. Like I really made a difference by stopping them from getting whatever it was they wanted out of that warehouse."
Kara Zor-El tilts her head. "What did they want anyway? Did you find out?"
Dedrick shakes his head. "Not really. But I know they were working for someone else. Unfortunately, I remember asking the cops to take me to Star Labs and then I passed out."
Kara Zor-El nods a little. "Maybe later we can play good cop bad cop with Atomic Skull. You know, if they let us question him." She shrugs a little. "I've been trying to practice my interrogation technique like Kal sometimes does with Batman."
Dedrick considers that for a moment, then nods. "Okay, it's a date. After I heal up, we should totally go question Skull and see if we can get anything out of him. You'll probably have to play good cop. Or dose yourself on Red K first." He chuckles at the joke and then rises. "I gotta get going. Can I give you a lift..uh..nevermind." He was going to offer to drive her home, then remembered she can fly a lot faster than his car can drive.
Kara Zor-El smiles a little. "Yeah... I think I've had enough red kryptonite though."
She adds, "Yeah thanks. I have some stuff I need to do in a few places though now that my shift's over. First time I ever worked a full 8 hour shift, actually. About the Atomic Skull thing, I'll see if Kal or someone can pull some strings okay? He knows people in the Metropolis SPD." She gives him another peck on the cheek then gets up. "I'll catch you around.
"And by the way, I could -totally- be bad cop if I wanted to."
Dedrick smirks. "I'm sure you could. See you later, Kara." With that, he exits the bar and goes to his car. He sits down and exhales slowly, closes his eyes and looks at himself in the mirror. He shakes his head at his reflection. "Don't do it to yourself, Ded. It probably won't end well." He starts his car and drives away.