Jump City, STAR labs
Silas, like any good father, wanted the best for his son, but it pained him knowing the cybernetic Body was not an absolute substitute for the human body; it would have its downsides, alongside the upsides of having all that tech built in his son's cybernetic body. He's had bad dreams of his son asking why his body was failing him, why he didn't do more to make sure his cybernetics were failing.
Because in the future, Silas knew that tech his son's new body was made out of, would eventually need replacements. The battery that sustained his son's body was top of the line tech he engineered in blueprints during his early years as a scientist, and it was among his creations that he used to save his son's life.
But like all tech, and a human body, nothing was built to last forever.
Silas knew his son was bright enough to invent his own solution to that far future problem, but Silas wanted to at least help a bit more, but he's been hitting a roadblock of ideas.
Presently, Silas was laying face down on his office desk, stirring awake from the extensive night of researching the alien tech that was brought in from the wider branch of STAR Labs; Silas wasn't going to look a gifted horse in the mouth and not help his scientist study the alien tech, but he did mentally question where the alien tech was acquired from.
But to be reasonable, alien tech fell onto the Earth every now and then, it was one of the reasons Jump City's police force were able to wield laser guns, contrasted to the jump from bullets of yesteryear.
Earth was starting to become a hotbed of alien visits, the more Silas thought about it.
As Silas blinked his drowsiness from his eyes, he picked himself up from laying down against his desk, and stretched his arms out and yawned, before standing up to exit his office. He palmed his back to arch it and stretch, eliciting a few cracks, before he righted himself and left his office, greeted by the sight of an empty hallway with clean floors.
His office window had the early morning sun peek into his room through the blinds, so it was very early for anyone to be at work.
He had conversed with his son last night, after seeing the news for himself alongside the staff, the lobbies and break rooms had their televisions, which provided anyone with some entertainment with whatever was on during breaks.
It made Silas proud that his son went out of his way to proactively help defend the city against those alien invaders…though he learned later in the conversation that it wasn't a simple alien invasion, and the city was actually caught in middle of two princess aliens against a warband of other aliens their people have been fighting against for some time. That was the basic gist of what his son told him, and Silas was sure there was more to the story between those two alien girls and the reptile looking aliens.
As Silas walked into the small cafeteria the building offered its workers, his eyes honed in on the coffee dispenser, and the stack of styrofoam cups beside it. Without any hesitation, the man walked towards the countertop with the coffee and cups to grab himself a cup.
While he poured himself a cup of coffee, the sound of footsteps brought his attention while he ceased pouring himself coffee and he turned to look and see who was coming in early.
From around the doorway entrance, Catherine was making her way into the cafeteria, with a thermos in hand and a purse on her shoulder, while dressed in her casual lab suit and jacket. "Oh." She started with a minor surprised look on her face, "Uh, ended up having another sleepover at the office, sir?" She asked him, expressing a sympathetic look.
Silas gave his employee a stiff nod. "Hm, yes." he answered, keeping it simple with her. Reaching up to rub his neck a bit, to feel the stiffness, he continued to speak with the woman while she walked in and filled her thermos with more coffee. "A habit I really need to stop." He muttered,
After Catherine finished pouring coffee into her thermos, she turned and smiled a bit at him, "Heh, forgot to fill this thing before I left with it." she chatted idly, while twisting the cap on her thermos closed. "But anyway…can you believe last night!?" she mused, "If Buu hadn't taken that second ship to the moon, we'd have more alien tech to research on!" Catherine gushed in excitement.
It did bother Silas a bit, that they could have had that ship, but he was curious to what the pink alien creature wanted with the ship. His best guess was that the little fella wanted space transportation to visit other planets, but the first hurdle to that would be for the little guy to learn how to fly the thing on his own.
And a ship that size would have to need more than one person, wouldn't it? Then again, this was alien tech, for all Silas could guess, it was easily flyable by one person, while a dumb AI helped pilot it.
Silas nodded in agreement with Catherine, "That ship would have also helped with city resources to give them a headquarters, if they plan on becoming a team after that stunt last night. My son had briefly mentioned that he's been thinking of building something, after the alien incident, a place for him and his hero friends to use as a base of operations." he informed her, before taking another small sip of his coffee.
Catherine widened her eyes a bit , before frowning, "Oh, yeah. With all that tech and stuff the ship was made out of, it would have been the perfect choice of using extra resources to give those heroes a headquarters." she remarked, a spark of interest shine in her eyes.
Catherine then smiled and snapped her fingers after realizing something, "Oh, if we ask Buu, his magic might help provide resources!" she smiled brightly while she pointed her finger out at her idea, and shook it, "If he's willing to help out, we can just gather trash, and have it transformed into the needed resources!"
Silas lifted a brow at Catherine's proposition, asking the pink alien out of the blue to turn one thing into another with that magic of his. "He's turned a cow into a chocolate bar, then just last night, he turned an entire ship into chocolate and caramel…and you think he can use that magic of his…to turn trash into resources?" He challenged her, giving her a dry look.
He sorta doubted her, but if Buu's magic did more than turn stuff into candy, then that magic was fundamentally a philosopher's stone in a nutshell. Not quite exactly, but turning something into another element was there.
Silas palmed his chin and rubbed it in thought, "We can try asking him if he's able to, and if he's willing, but I wouldn't want to press the idea on the little guy too much…" he mused with narrowed eyes as he looked off to the side, "He has been rather helpful, but it wouldn't do to just ask for something from him without something in return."
Catherine offered Silas an amused smile, "I mean, we can try, but I suppose it would be nice to offer back something if he's able to perform the action in return."
Silas quickly looked back at Catherine, "Do you even know where he is, by the way? For an alien creature, he certainly minds his own business, besides doing a bit of work at the docks for the heck of it, from what I understand."
Catherine gave Silas an eye-roll, not specifically at him, but at her next words, "That little guy? He went off to get himself some breakfast, and went to a Pancake Cottage house." Her lip curved into an amused smirk at the end.
Silas lowered his hand from his chin and stared blankly at Catherine, "Breakfast?...wouldn't it be easier for him to, I don't know, turn stuff into his desired breakfast?" he asked back.
Catherine giggled a bit, before answering him, "Yeah, that's what I asked him when he left early, said he wanted an authentic breakfast at a Waffle House…I of coursed told him I don't know anything about a Waffle House, but there is a Pancake Cottage downtown." she explained, an amused look gracing her features.
Elsewhere in Jump City
Majin Buu
Shoveling a fork full of blueberry pancake covered in blueberry compote, I shoved the sliced part into my mouth and enjoyed the taste of this particular set of breakfast meal; in front of me, was the rest of the stack, with a container filled with more blueberry compote to put on my pancakes. The ambient noise of the kitchen grill and people clattering their utensils filled the restaurant.
Sitting on a bar stool, eating breakfast at an American restaurant filled me with something I couldn't feel if I simply magicked my breakfast into existence. The atmosphere also helped, so whatever it was, I was enjoying this breakfast, something made from real hands.
When I entered the place, I of course earned a few stares, before everyone minded their own, while earning raised brows from the employees, before they too went about doing their job.
The waitress was some woman named Bess, with a southern drawl to her voice. I wasn't sure how that happened, considering the geography and other things for such a dialect to end up on the West Coast, but then again, you had Billy Numerous that had his own country thick accent.
And speaking of the devil, the waitress herself passed by behind the counter, and faced me as I chewed on my next bite, savoring the flavor of each bite, "All right, so, are ya fixin for more, need any coffee? Just askin, cause I seen that news last night, mighty big gut you had eating up all that caramel." she mused, with a smirk on her lips, and hand against her hip while she held her notepad and pen in the other hand.
Can you imagine if Superman just came into a diner, and just straight up eats there?...Then again, I think there's a high percentage that the Flash does a pit stop at any fast food restaurant, orders and eats his food, before leaving. Wally or Barry, depending on the continuity, from my understanding, is more grounded and willing to interact with the populace of his city.
Or am I misremembering?
I swallowed my next bite, and answered the waitress, "Buu wants another plate of same order, add bacon and eggs too!" I answered her, earning a nod from her with a smile, as she took her leave.
"Sure thang shug'." She hollered back as she went to take other orders.
While I continued to consume my breakfast, I dwelled on last night's events. It gave me a good framework of time, considering Teen Titans the show had slow build up, like introducing the setting, the characters and the end season finale.
If my memory serves right, the first season is based on Robin going after Slade Wilson, Deathstroke the Terminator.
Course, his name was just Slade in the show. Even when I was younger, I didn't know anything beyond who Slade was until later on when I was older to learn more about the wider continuity of all DC.
I'm pretty sure the reason they didn't call Slade, Deathstroke, was due to it being directed towards kids, and a few other legal reasons.
Thinking back on it, you'd think Robin would be able to hack and dredge up information about the name Slade alone, someone in the underworld of crime and such; while his last name isn't given, the name Slade alone was enough on its own in the crime world.
Shame there was never a video game where you could play as Deathstroke, and go after targets and contracts, while at the same time avoiding and fighting heroes; or heck, have a Red Hood video game, going after crime bosses and mafia families with guns…wait, wouldn't that be just the Punisher, with a few steps?
I was soon broken out of my tangent thoughts, with a fork of pancake in my mouth, by the loud mouth of Johnny, "-and after I cut off the old idiot, he gave the bird, so I gave him double the fingers!" He chuckled, while the woman beside him listened to him prattle on with a raised brow, as he slammed the door open for her with his palm.
"Is that why your bike is at the shop, and you're using your Charger?" The female asked him with a sly look, as he walked after her into the establishment.
Johnny smirked, "Nah, just needed to get the baby tuned up by my good man, just figured you'd want to ride in a muscle car." He retorted with an easygoing grin.
While Johnny walked in, he spotted me with easy recognition, "Oh crap, well if it ain't the pink gum freak." he snarked with a smirk, while strutting over passed his female friend, possibly girlfriend, and leaned against the bar near me, "I saw that footage of you from last night, after eating all that caramel, had me and the boys laughing our butts off, they way you went sprinting for a tree, and transformed it into a john! Hah!" he cackled.
Huh…I suppose there would be hosting sites with people using early tech to record stuff, guess someone saw me, during my clean up, and decided to record me…that, or one of my next toilet breaks had the news on me, showing me turning another tree into a porta john.
I finished eating my first course of breakfast, before speaking back to Johnny, "Johnny Boy is weird, biker boy gets kick out of others needing to use restroom?" I shot back with a plain nonchalant smile.
Johnny ceased his chuckles, and glared at me, "Heck no! Just freaking saying, pink idiot, it was funny seeing you run for the hills for the bathroom, while holding your bottom like you were about to let it loose." He then chuckled,
Okay, that was sorta fair. People do get a laugh out of other's misery, especially when it's toilet humor; while crass, toilet humor has always been a low brow but easy joke for anyone to make light on.
A simple fart can make anyone laugh. You can deny it, but that is the basis of all toilet humor.
I smirked back at Johnny next, "Next time, Buu challenges Johnny boy to eat as many burritos as he can, topped with hottest sauce and filled with hottest peppers. Let see how fast Johnny Boy can run after that for bathroom!"
Johnny glared at me, and leaned down, "You calling me out, cause it sounds like your-"
"Alright, enough enough Johnny." The woman from before, spoke with an annoyed tone, pulled the man over to her by the shoulder, and turned him towards her, and poked him in the nose, while he looked surprised, "You promised me breakfast, not a dick contest against Jump City's pink bubble gum hero!" she scowled at him.
Looking at the girlfriend of Johnny, she had that entire punk look about it, even with the hair. She looked like she came from the eighties era of punk fashion. Black colored outfit, showed ample skin on her midriff and had studds in her outfit.
Johnny grumbled a bit, "ah, was just shooting the wind with the little guy, Selinda." He grouched back while giving her a hapless shrug, and pulled out a bar stool for her to sit in, before he pulled out his own.
I gave Johnny a sideways look, before I focused my attention on the new set of plates the waitress delivered to me, more blueberry pancakes with bacon and eggs. Don't underestimate the thirst a man has for a woman, especially if she dresses how you like them.
While Johnny and his girlfriend sat to the right of me, he spoke after ordering his food to the waitress, "So when'd you get into Jump City, Gum boy." He passively sneered, while giving me a sideways look.
I finished a bite of my bacon from my hands, before I gave Johnny a sideways look, "Buu woke up from long nap in lab more than month ago, Star Labs."
Johnny grunted back with a 'huh', before he leaned his elbows against the table while craning his neck and head to look at me directly, "Guess that explains it a bit." He thumbed at himself, "I just breezed into this city a few months ago, hadn't seen your pink mug during that time."
Selina spoke up on her behalf while behind me, I heard someone enter the establishment through the front door, and sat to my left, "Leave it to some crazy scientists to stir up an alien from sleep." she rolled her eyes.
I turned my attention to curiosity and glanced at who was willing to sit next to me, and there sat some teen looking guy with actual red skin, with an extra set of arms below his first set, like some Asura looking dude from Hindu mythology. The teen looking guy even dressed like he came from India of old, like he stepped straight out of mythology…
Okay, I'm in DC, so of course this guy had to be from Hindu mythology, right?
I was about to speak, only for Johnny to speak up with a surprised tone, "Jeese, what sort of country you pull out from, to have that many arms!" He shouted.
The teen himself slowly looked over to give Johnny a stoic glare, "I hail from India, gray skinned one, but my business is not with you."
I gave Johnny a quick glance, seeing him shoot the Hindu god looking guy a scowl, before he pointed back at the red skinned guy, while I glanced back at the unknown person to my left, "Calling my skin out is laughable, you red skinned idiot!" Johnny said to the other teen.
Said red skinned person, looked at me, and frowned, "My business is with Buu, no one else." he narrowed his eyes at me.
"Oi." I turned my head at Johnny, who was looking at me with a confused look, "You know that guy? I thought you said you just woke up from a long sleep?" He asked, a confused look passed his features.
I offered Johnny a shrug, before taking my attention back to the red skinned Hindu teen, "Buu not have all memories of past life, who is Red man?" I asked him.
The teen spoke with an annoyed look, "I am Indra, and I have come to-"
"BUU!" Apollo's voice rang through the diner as he slammed the door open and let himself in, earning everyone's attention, "I have let you do your business last night, go unharassed, but now, I will have my veng-"
Indra glared at Apollo while he quickly stood up and turned to speak over the other god, "You're too late, for you will have to wait, I have my own retribution, and I will not have you sully this day!"
Apollo seethed at Indra, "You?!" He spat, and stormed ober to poke into the Teen Indra's chest, "I challenged him first, before he hightailed it away from me on the moon, if anyone will have their revenge on that bastard, it'll be me! Who do you think you are? Some Indra wanna be?"
Indra glared back up at Apollo, and quickly grabbed the offending hand by the wrist, and began squeezing it, eliciting a wince from Apollo, "I AM Indra, you sanctimonious Greek idiot!" he scowled back, earning a surprised reaction from Apollo before he glared once more.
While Indra and Apollo argued over who would fight me first, and denying any team up, due to it being a personal reason, Johnny spoke to me, while earning my attention as I looked back at him, "Aren't you strong enough to just shut those idiots up?" He thumbed in Apollo's and Indra's direction.
Maybe, but I don't feel like wrecking this place up for it.
A loud smack of flesh, earning everyone's attention back to the argument between two gods, as Apollo had thrown the first punch, "Outta my way!" He scowled, and stormed towards me and reached out to grab me, only for his own face to be pulled from behind by Indra, as the Hindu god threw him out the front door, crashing through the glass and breaking the door down, before Apollo's body landed on the asphalt parking lot.
While Indra went outside to fight more against Apollo, the waitress from before spoke with a nonchalant tone, "Been wandering when we'd get the first fight of the day." she mused while standing behind the bar.
…I guess this really is this world's version of a Waffle House.