As soon as he is safe inside the gym, Ian will revert to his previous super form and introduces himself to the other two if they followed him. "I'm Ian, but I guess there's time for that later. We need to get to Midway City; it looks like three of my friends are fighting over there. Let's hope this thing has an outlet there." He shows the others to the hidden teleporter, then uses it to go up to the Watchtower, and then back down to the closest teleporter to Midway.
The Watchtower teleport room has a map with buttons corresponding to locations on Earth, and wouldntcha know -- there's a button right in Midway City! It's got a hawk-head logo on it.
If either Quinn or Jimbob (sorry -- Peltast or Chin-Su) don't want to go up to the Justice League Watchtower, they might want to say something. And then get their heads examined -- it's the Justice League Watchtower!
Oh, Quinn very much wants to go. All nervous excitement, he jams his finger on the button and stands in his most heroic pose while he waits for the teleporter to fire up.
JimBob will stand on the teleporter, then twist up his torso around and around until he's a large coil. That way, when he teleports, he can arrive with a super-cool spin, just like Supes or Wonder Woman getting changed.
It matters!
Jimbob whirl-materializes and impresses the hell out of Quinn. But Quinn's heroic pose went for naught, as there was no one there to meet him.
The teleport tube room is blue, glossy, and roundish. But there are two exits, labelled MEDLAB and MISSION MONITOR ROOM.
It is entirely possible one or both of the newly fledged heroes will have difficulty remembering their mission ...
Ian waits at the teleporter in Midway City for his two new teammates, prepared to offer either a ride if they need it. With his cellphone, he should have a fix on the location of this garage.
The teleporter in Midway opens on a cave carved out of the heart of a mountain, a spire reaching even above the other peaks of the Midway plain. Here, where once caravans of wagons gathered before setting out across the West, is a vast single-level hidden headquarters -- the Aerie of Hawkman!
There is a spaceship shaped like a golden bird hanging from the ceiling.
There are life-size statues of Hawkman's greatest foes: Byth the shapeshifter, Hyathis the purple bird-winged terrorist queen, Chronos the Clockmaker, and Kanjar Ro, the tyrant of Alpha Centauri.
There is a gym, next to an amazing museum of ancient weapons, all neatly labelled, from the Roman cestus spiked boxing gloves to the elaborate Persian processional axe. The gym has strange structures, some of which Quinn would recognize as training equipment for the sword, the nunchaku, and bare handed styles.
There is a workbench with alien equipment, all silver and curvy.
And finally, there is a large glass globe about six feet high, full of pale blue liquid within which silvery-white currents splash and combine, but remain separate, like a rapidly mixing sand globe whose sands remained distinct. It is surrounded by chairs and electronic helmets connected by thick silver cables to the globe's supporting pillar.
Oh, and a big map of Midway City and environs. It is easy to line up where the garage is: in the toniest residential suburb of Cicero, where the homes are on multi-acre lots in the woods and most have a private hill or two. An adjustable compass gives the azimuth: 344 degrees.
It should be the matter of a few minutes for Ian to fly there.
Ian seems leaderly, so Quinn will follow him everywhere. Though he will be easily distracted by cool weapons, and will unconsciously run a finger along every one he passes, one at a time.
ReplyDeleteJimBob would probably do the same thing, except...
Delete"Say, where'd that other fella go? I thought he was going to meet us right here, at the teleporter." He looks around. "I'll check out the MISSION MONITOR ROOM if you want to check the MEDLAB?"
"Yeah," Quinn says distractedly, contemplating a pair of what look like tonfa made of what appears to be pulsating lizard skin. "Medlab, sure".
ReplyDeleteGentlemen, I fear my description was imprecise. The globe, weapons, gym and spaceship are in Hawkman's Aerie in Midway City, the place Ian went to. The MEDLAB and MONITOR ROOM are in the Watchtower, the midway (heh) point on the journey to the Aerie.
ReplyDeleteSo if you stop to explore the Watchtower, you never make it to the Aerie. Which is okay, perfectly allowed ... I just want you to know they are two different places.
Yep! JimBob wandered off looking for Ian, not realizing he just needs to make another teleporter jump.
ReplyDeleteI mean, weird alien weapons, amirite? Though Quinn won't remain distracted for too long, and will start to wonder after a minute where he's supposed to be. At that point he'll try to find JimBob.
ReplyDeleteAaaaand maybe borrow one of the cool weapons or gear he thinks would be a good supplement to a heavy shield and spear. Like, I dunno, sandals of flight or a magic rope or a helmet that blocks telepathy or whatever he sees. Mainly he'll end up making his decision based on what looks the coolest (though not on purpose).