capeandcowllogs | Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outer space

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Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outer space

WHO:

freedomofreach
WHERE: Just outside the Porter building
WHEN: This afternoon! The 10th.
WARNINGS: Possible violence or mention of violence
SUMMARY: The Negotiator gets Ported in and gets stumbled upon.
FORMAT: UH, WHICHEVER

On a street corner outside the MAC there was an alien. A rather green, rather angry alien. His long dark robe fluttered, as long, piercing claws gripped a small communicator.

The Negotiator hissed through his teeth, concentrating on redrawing his claws to normal fingertips, so he could use the communicator.

He was on Earth. He knew this. What he didn’t know was the how or the why. Being a hero was a ridiculous explanation. He had dismissed it outright. That it was possibly Jaime Reyes fault was still an option, although how the boy could have transported him halfway across the continent was still unclear. Outside forces were also a possibility.

And this communicator – perhaps it held the answers. Some of them, at least. So, oblivious to any stares, he stood in broad daylight, trying to figure out this infuriating piece of human technology.

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One more week.

Jaime couldn't grin too much, flying as he was (it was cold, okay), but he really couldn't help. One more week and the semester will be done. It hadn't actually been as big a deal before, starting college and picking a class here or there. But with all that had happened over the summer, trailing into the fall...He was really wiped. Really wiped. The prospect of an actual break sounded amazing. Heck, he was even considering taking an actual break – no superheroing or anything for maybe a few days. Fly south, like a friggin' goose. Get some warmth to fight off the crummy, crummy cold.

And thinking like that, he couldn't not grin. Even in the face of the latest Joker attack, he was feeling hopeful.

Street level, Citydwellers already learned well to crane their necks now and then – moreso since that hideous blimp had roamed around the day previous. But near the lab and MAC area, it wasn't big and bad – it was blue. But it wasn't the "Look! Blue Beetle!" that caused Jaime to slow and hover high above.

Scarab had given a very, very forceful wait command. Forceful enough to forcibly halt him. It didn't do that often. Not often at all. And only when there was trouble.

"Scarab?" Jaime began looking around. "What's up? Do you see someth––"

He was definitely not grinning when his vision led him, guided and zoomed, to the particular something.

Oh, no.

God no.

Now that his fingers were more manageable, the Negotiator started flipping through the Network. It appeared to be mostly inane chatter, but perhaps he could glean some useful data from it. So far there were quite a number of posts about people being transported random places, which might offer some explanation as to why he was on Earth and not - -

Did someone just say Blue Beetle?

He looked up from the device and around. There was no possible way Jaime Reyes could be here, so soon after being on his knees and powerless before him. Not unless whatever technology that brought him here also brought Reyes - or if it was Reyes' fault after all.

The closer he got to street level, the more obvious it became. Even if Jaime and his AI pal didn't recognize him, he definitely stuck out and produced some stopping and staring. He being...

Being...

Being not a good thing to be here. But Jaime couldn't rush to too many conclusions right away; aliens weren't really a natural-born thing in this universe, as far as he knew. The odds of this guy being the first of many were...uh...

Well, he didn't know that, either, but one crisis at a time!

He waved a little at some of the folks who spotted him, slowing his hover when he was in earshot. Or...whatever constituted ears on a Reach guy. Whatever.

"You get blasted all the way into another dimension, huh?" he called, yellow eyes narrowing to slits already. "That must suck."

"Jaime Reyes."

The Negotiator immediately focused his attention on the hero hovering above him. He started to figure out the odds. He was alone and weaponless. Reyes had gotten the Scarab back and functional somehow.

And this talk - another dimension? Not dimension shifting, something different. Whatever it was, Reyes knew what was going on. Not that it would prevent Negotiator from trying to assume the upper hand.

"If you think that getting pulled to this other dimension, as you called it, is going to prevent our victory - then you are more foolish than I thought."

He practically spat out the words.

He had to be careful, he knew. They were in a pretty darn public place, with a good handful of gawkers as it was. Even if this guy was just saving face, there was no accounting for how long he'd been around, what he'd already taken care of...

"You sound a little out-of-date," Jaime countered. "Your victory's a non-issue. It's practically ancient history. And history tends to repeat itself, you know. So starting trouble up here will be a very, very bad idea."

Jaime's feet settled flat on the concrete, losing the height advantage. If it bothered him, it didn't show. He didn't even blink.

"You are in way over your head, buddy. Don't try pulling any of your nice-guy-backstabber crap here – it's not gonna work."

He was missing something. Some piece of information that would make this all clear.

"I fail to see how mere minutes would change anything."

And now they were on level, and Negotiator couldn't fight the sneer coming across his face. As far as he knew, the Reach still had to maintain a certain presence, no matter how frustrating it was.

"And where is here exactly?"

"Funny story, really."

Jaime felt a little twinge of satisfaction, despite himself. He was in the know this time, he knew how things stood. A badder guy would've taken that little aspect and run wild with it, but...No. Even with all the delightfully malicious suggestions Scarab was rattling off, it wasn't right.

We're better than this, he reminded his partner. That quieted much of it. Not all.

Jaime exhaled in a little bit of a sigh, glancing aside at passers-by. Before going on, he side-stepped once, coming to stand between the Negotiator and the people. Better safe than sorry, weaponless or no.

"You're on a completely different Earth now," he said, peering up at that smug face. "And you can totally not believe me if you want, because it'd be funny to see your reaction later. There's a ton of other people around here who'd love to rip into you for not having a clue. And a ton of other people who'd love to rip into you if you try pulling any crap like you did before."

His mouth disappeared for a moment, pressed into a thin line which only made his hard stare more apparent.

"And yeah, that's kind of a threat. You don't get to do what you want here."

He watched the paranoid movement - as if he would kill humans in broad daylight, please.

Negotiator knew many things about Jaime Reyes, having ferreted them out the best he could. His habits, his life - and one thing he knew was that Jaime Reyes would not lie. Deceive, sometimes, but he was much too simplistic to craft such a sophisticated lie. Although there was the possibility he could have planned this, but no. There was no way Reyes could organize such a thing under their watchful eye. Then the alternative was that this was truth.

He knew now how dangerous Reyes could be. He would have to play this carefully. He would not underestimate him twice.

"You seem to have a lot of knowledge about this alternate Earth, if that's what this is."

And now he was looking, really looking. There was a subtle change in Reyes, but how much change exactly was still unclear.

"Yeah, I do," Jaime confirmed, unable to keep the slight note of smug out of his voice. This was the guy who gave orders to blow up his home while his family was still in it. Not to mention the whole heading a plot to enslave mankind and destroy the Earth. Old news for him, but no less an important thing. No one was going to go through anything like that again at this guy's hands. Claws.

Whatever.

And whatever changes the Negotiator was going to notice, height wasn't among them, unfortunately. Yet even so. This Jaime Reyes wasn't a confused kid anymore, and it wasn't his first rodeo in inter-species/dimensional relations anymore.

"Here's the important thing," he said, breaking up that pause for reaction and effect. "Showing up here and going back to the right dimension? Is completely out of your hands." Claws. Whatever. "You're pretty much stranded until a crazy AI decides you're boring or something and zaps you right back where it left you. Which, in your case, is..."

He squinted, head starting to tilt. Blown up? But no matter how cool a customer the Negotiator could play at, there was no way he'd be that chill after getting blown to hell.

"Is..." He frowned, then shook his head of it. "Wherever you were left off. It doesn't really matter at the moment. But I'm gonna stress the whole you-not-being-in-control-of-this-situation part again. Because I feel like you're not really the type to get that the first time through."

He noted the hesitation, but wrongly accounted it for lack of information on Reyes' part. And he wasn't exactly going to explain where he had left Jaime, broken and powerless. But that thought barely helped soothe the rage that was building.

It was surreal to go from mere moments from such a climatic moment to talking to the same person. The switch in power was palatable.

"The machine brought me here," he hissed. He wasn't outright yelling, yet, but the frustration was there in his body language - clenched fists, arching back, angry eyebrows.

"You must have tried to fix the AI. Or is the technology beyond your capabilities? The Scarab can only compensate for so much."

"You are more than welcome to take a shot at it with your superior, techy brain," Jaime retorted, his tone flattening out. Har har, stupid human jabs. Real original. "But then, you'd probably get blipped into the middle of the Atlantic and drown. Last I checked, you can't fly."

"Oh is that why a number of imbeciles on this device - " he holds up the communicator and shakes it a little, just to show his disdain, "are complaining about being transported to other locations?"

If he had a nose, he would sniff. As it were, his sneered showed a bit more teeth. He was starting to understand. The AI gave him the tags and the communicator, obviously it brought others if Jaime Reyes was here. He was starting to piece together a picture from what Reyes was saying, although he'd need to back it up from other, less antagonistic sources later.

Jaime half-squinted. Was that why folks were getting zapped to Sibera and Italy and elsewhere? He really didn't know for certain. But then again, the Porter was being assaulted nearly at the same time, so...

"Like I said," he shrugged. "You're not really in control here. You're going to have to play nice with folks, unless you'd rather hang out in a maximum security prison until you get blipped back."

"Prison. I'd like to see you try, Jaime Reyes. You don't even have the fortitude to threaten me with death. I've seen you fail, Reyes, don't presume to threaten me."

He was already forgetting his earlier decision of carefulness, getting sidetracked by the moment. He didn't appreciate the feeling of powerless, especially when that feeling came from one of his enemies.

Oh, man. Jaime had forgotten how grating this guy could be. He huffed, fighting the urge to facepalm or just outright punch him.

"You got nothing, man," he insisted, jabbing a finger at him. "In fact, the only person in this entire universe who even knows what you're about is me. No cronies. No motherships." The finger retracted, tapping at his own temple. "But all I gotta do is ping the Network and a buttload of folks a lot less considerate than me'll know what you're about. Save yourself the beatdown and maybe try behaving? Because you really don't have any better choice."

The hand dropped to his side, then settled on his hip as he pondered over this...this...whatever it was. Did other superheroes have to chat it up with their more-or-less archenemies like this? What other choice did he have? Besides beating the guy to a pulp, which wouldn't do at the moment. Like it or not, the Negotiator wasn't guilty of anything in this dimension. And if it could stay that way, then...all the better, right?

He sighed. Man...

"This could be one of those change-of-heart things, you know," he said, a little flat. "A chance to see what it'd be like if you worked with humans instead of playing them for saps and plotting their downfall."

It was true. He was alone. That fact, the fact that here he was practically nothing was starting to hit him. He had been relying on the power of the Reach and now he was the only one.

"So that is your plan. Hold your knowledge of me as leverage. And who will believe you, Jaime Reyes?"

But even that sounded hollow - he had no idea what sort of contacts Reyes had in this dimension. Was he as isolated as he was? It was all so uneven. Jaime had unknown resources and he had none -

Unless.

Oh and how he hated to think it. But Jaime Reyes was right. He could work with the humans. They were easily manipulatable. It was desperate, but perhaps he could use them. That's what he was good at, that's why he was the Negotiator. He had lost track of that in all his games with Reyes.

"But perhaps you're right. I will have to make do."

He rolled his eyes despite himself. The guy had no idea what was up, but still had to throw the attitude around. Of course. But what could Jaime do? It was, in a way, practically a clean slate. Trying to promote good behavior was better than having to beat the bad.

And, of course, in Jaime's' mind, work with humanity by no means meant work with humanity to promote humanity's downfall.

"Without world domination," Jaime pressed, folding his arms. "So I guess if you've ever wanted to try a new hobby, now's the time."

"I don't have hobbies"

He was almost insulted, except for the part where he didn't care. "Are you quite done lecturing me, Reyes? If you're right, then I'm just an average, ordinary citizen now."

And if Blue Beetle stuck around, poking into his business any further, Negotiator would find it much more difficult to keep his temper under control. He needed to retreat, make plans.

Was this really alright? Jaime wasn't sure, and Scarab wasn't helping. Not with all those 101 ways to fry a Reach Negotiator it was trying to offer. But lecture aside, what could he do?

He rocked back on one heel in a backward step, looking as reluctant as he felt.

"Don't do anything stupid," he said, knowing full well how stupid it sounded. He wasn't Superman; that kind of thing just didn't hold the weight coming from him. But what could he do? Just hope this guy decided to be smart and not stir things up, perhaps.

He needed to talk to some more experienced people about this, that was for sure. Tim, or Ted. Definitely Ted. What would Ted Kord do?

The wings popped out with little flair, lifting him up slow. He stared down at the Negotiator for a length before turning and leaving, double-triple-checking to ensure yes, Scarab knew the guy's "scent." If there was going to be trouble down the road, he'd need to be able to track him. Fast.

Please let there not be any trouble.

Negotiator watched him go. He wouldn't say he was relieved, but he was.

Jaime Reyes was going to be a problem. On top of how being here was a problem. He'd do his research, he'd gather resources, and he'd get rid of the Blue Beetle once and for all.

But now? Now was time for old tactics. Problems could be dealt with. Sooner rather than later. He had learned that lesson the hard way.

Now, what was he doing? Oh yes, the communicator. Now that he had some context, it should be easy enough to solve.

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Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outer space

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I can do html tags right :|

i believe in this

i believe in you who believes in me

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