(2014-05-22) The Ginger Conspiracy
The Ginger Conspiracy
Summary: Megan and Mary Jane encounter one another while going out for a treat. Unfortunately, their trip to the counter is interrupted by the appearance of an invisible assassinbot. Heroic hijinks ensue.
Date: 2014-05-22
Related: None
NPCs: Senator Kristen Hildebrand (D-NY)
Scene Runner: NA
Social/Plot: Plot
Players:
miss-martian..red-sonja..

Joe's Coffee House.

Megan liked this place so much more than Starbucks and places like that. This place had a little more of a 'real' feeling. It was Joe himself behind the bar that attracted her the most to this place. There was history here - love, and care, and joy at living his dream, even if that dream was a coffee shop beseiged on all sides by corporate brands.

And so Megan Morse - otherwise known as Miss Martian, came in, hoping to catch a bit of coffee before the pep squad practice today. As such, she was dressed nicely - modest skirt, socks tucked into dockers shoes, long-sleeved blouse with a little bit of extra ruffle down the buttons in the front.

It was busy today, as well, with people of all kinds chatting happily to each other at various corners of the place.

Coffee will stunt your growth. That's what all the adults tell teenagers. And Mary Jane Watson does /not/ want to be short. So she avoids coffee. But the neat thing about community places like Joe's is that coffee isn't all they have. And the best part is the people. For a budding journalist-wannabe like Mary Jane, there can be little more attractive than the chance to hang out and eavesdrop, people-watch, and just generally try to hone her talent for finding The Scoop!

OK, OK. So actually MJ is coming in with her backpack - an unusual affair for most student types, as it appears to be a full-length framed backpack, like serious hikers would use, even if it is colorfully appointed - to grab some hot cocoa and settle in to do some homework. She doesn't want to head home to Queens just yet. Aunt Anna is wonderful, but MJ is finding herself drawn to be 'out' and 'away' more often, these days.

The attractive redhead slips into line, and then notices the girl in front of her. "Hey. Nice hair. I'm biased, of course." MJ comments to the girl she has never met. The Martian girl she has never met.

You see - Megan hadn't heard that about coffee. But going to get a cup of coffee seemed very much a human thing to do - it seemed almost a ritual of sorts for so many, so Megan wanted to kinda join in on that. The caffeine didn't do as much for her alien system, and the taste was bitter at first, but she was growing to like it quite a bit.

As what was likely an equivalent to a high school student, Megan was holding just her bookbag right now, the leather thing decorated with stickers.

When the voice sounds from behind her, Megan turns, her smile growing wide on her freckled face. "Thank you!" she chirps then, her smile nearly beaming. "It's a good color, isn't it?" she adds, her tone of voice growing a little conspiratorial. It might be hard to tell she was a Martian - at least, she wasn't green right now, but a paler complexion - a spitting image of a star from an obscure 80's sitcom.

Not that anyone ever recognized her as such.

"I'm Megan!" she says, taking a sidestep so she can stay turned towards MJ as the line moves forward. "Um. Megan Morse. Do you come here for coffee often?"

Of course it's a conspiracy. A ginger conspiracy! Mary Jane smiles and extends her hand to the other redhead, as she completes the introductions. "I'm Mary Jane Watson. Pleased to meet you, Megan." It seems bright and bouncy redheads are the order of the day.

Mary Jane keeps up with the line as they chat. "Actually, no. I come here for hot cocoa, or sometimes milk, along with one of those scrumptious double-fudge chocolate chip muffins. They're awesome brain food, while doing homework and stuff."

Megan might notice that Mary Jane pays pretty close attention to everyone around them. She's clearly a people-watcher. Something else it would seem they have in common.

The whole ginger conspiracy thing - it was a secret, but Megan was kinda cheating to join that. But it made her happy to be a part of something like that - and one could see the smile lift brilliantly on her features as she kinda falls in tune with that of the journalist.

"Oh, you come here for the muffins? They taste /so good/ here - normally, I like… (sidestep to keep up with the line), baking my own, but they actually make them theirselves here, so I only /hope/ to get this good as they are," she chirps.

Megan tilts her head a little bit to the side, her smile growing so wide her nose crinkles. "But…" she says, lowering her voice and whispering even more conspiratorially. "I think I love the people that come to these places most of all. There's always such interesting people here," she says, her eyes flickering towards a woman in a corner, wearing a suit. "I would just love to listen to everyone's story, if I had all the time in the world."

Mary Jane would explain to Megan, if she knew, that the Ginger Conspiracy is a thing /anyone/ can join. If the genetic gods did not grace one with the properly red hair, it is heholden on any member of the Ginger Conspiracy to correct this oversight, by whatever means he or she has at their disposal. In short: If Megan wants in, she's in. 'Nuff said!

"I do. I can't have them all the time. I have to work out a good two or three hours to burn one off. But they are /so/ good that it's worth it. I just have to struggle to keep it down to one a week." Mary Jane answers, smiling as she keeps up with Megan in line.

MJ too notices the woman in the corner, though right now Megan is getting the lioness' share of her attention. "I absolutely adore people-watching. I want to be a journalist, an investigative journalist. Like that amazing Trish Tilby? She used to be with CBNC. I'm pretty sure she's a freelancer, now. I want to be like her She's amazing. And so insightful about people." Yes. MJ is gushing. Thankfully, she's cute. Otherwise it could be creepy.

All hail the Ginger Conspiracy, and the gentleness and acceptance of all that they offer. <3

"Oh, yes? Are muffins really so dangerous?" she offers, sounding a little surprised. Well, after all, she was mostly around high school aged young women for that. A pause, and she kinda chews on her lower lip, her eyes flickering downward, as if guilty a moment, before looking back up towards MJ, that smile returning to her lips full force.

"A journalist?" she says, her voice lifting. "That sounds lovely!" she adds, that smile returning to her lips as it lifts higher and brighter on her lips. Creepy was the last word that she would have considered MJ.

But such things can wait before being said.

Megan laughs brighter at the gushing. "She sounds like an amazing person - I should watch the news more often," she says, her voice chirping. "What is the best thing you want to be like her in? The insightfulness?" she asks.

"That rich, they must be like a thousand calories. So yeah, they're that bad. And that awesome!" MJ responds, brightly, as Megan inquires.

"Well, yes. The insightfulness. No one questions that Trish Tilby is really smart. They respect her. She's gorgeous, but they respect her for her mind. That's what I want." Mary Jane answers, explaining. She has no problem whatsoever with the fact that she's pretty. She just doesn't want to be liked /only/ because she's pretty. Because that won't last.

Megan does laugh in response to the other. "Yes, I know that they are bad for me, but…" Megan kinda pauses a bit, biting her lower lip. There was a bit of awkward here. A bit where she had to lie just to blend in, but it was something that she kinda did poorly. MJ could probably see the way her eyes droop and glance away briefly.

"I don't eat as much as I could, because I do not want to get fat as well," she says, with a chirp. "You're /really/ pretty, and it sounds like you take very good shape of yourself. Are you a cheerleader?" she asks, her nose crinkling cutely. "But yes. I guess there will be a time where we will all… get old and a bit ugly, and if all we had going for us are looks…" she shrugs her shoulder.

There was a little downturn in her voice, as if there was something else that that phrase had spoken to. Something a little darker, deeper, and hidden about herself. That bubbliness chases away.

"I actually go to the Xavier Institute - it's kinda a private place that people pay for me to go to," she says. "It's kinda like a high school - but I'm the pep squad captain there!" she says. Another pause. "I have so many friends there, so it is fun," she adds.

Some might notice the door open then. And some might notice that a shape was entering - it certainly was drawing a glance or two. Remember the movie Predator? The vision of nothing with little distortions around a shape of a person. That was what had entered, and abruptly vanished. The observant might notice that it had lept up, and was sticking to the ceiling.

"Are you going to go to college for journalism, you think?"

Mary Jane is far too good an observer of people not to notice what's going on with Megan, though she of course has no idea what any of it could mean. Maybe Megan secretly has an eating disorder? It will have to be up to the other lovely girl's oodles of friends at this private Xavier Institute place to figure that out and help her. Not the stranger she just met today. That's silly!

"Sounds like a neat school. Midtown High is a public school. It's a bit better than some. It's supposed to have one of the better media departments, and science. But it's just my high school to me." MJ offers, smiling. "I'm glad you have lots of friends at school. That always makes it worth it, I say."

Mary Jane doesn't really notice anything out of the ordinary. She's tuned into her surroundings, but she's tuned into the /people/, not the strange non-people invisible figure blurs. So she misses that. Instead, she answers Megan, "Probably. I might minor, or second major, in something like Communications or Marketing. I do modeling and stuff, and I want to keep my options open."

That would be silly indeed. Megan liked making new friends, but five minutes of conversation in a coffee shop line does not a friend make. Even if she had a very good feeling about this redhead. A handful of moments more, and Megan smiles brighter. "What about you? Do you have a lot of friends at school?" she asks, sidestepping further.

So close to the head of the line…!

Megan was splitting her attention between the barista and Mary Jane when, "Modeling? Like modeling modeling? You can do that in high school?" she asks, her tone just a bit brighter. "And…"

…Megan lets her voice trail off as there was a scream from that woman in the suit. That shape had detached from the ceiling, and had brought its sword down. Luckily for the senator in the suit, the man with her noticed just in time… and threw himself in the way of the blade.

Chaos was reigning soon. "Ohmygosh!" Megan exclaims.

"Sure." Mary Jane answers, when asked if she has a lot of friends at school. And it's not as if she doesn't have friends, or at least friendly acquaintances. But MJ isn't quite as well known by her school friends as most of them would like to believe. None of them actually know about her father, or her mother's death. Most know she lives with her Aunt, but that's it.

Megan isn't the only member of the Ginger Conspiracy keeping secrets, it seems.

"Yep. I can do modeling. I have to do photo shoots and shows during off-school hours, or get special permission to miss school. I don't do that, much, though. Usually it's early evenings or weekends." Mary Jane answers, smiling. "Nothing huge. But catalog work, a few smaller local fashion shows." She isn't bragging, She downplays it, but she's honest enough to say it exists.

MJ might have been about to say something else, but the scream causes her to turn … and then she blanches. "Oh no … no no no no." One of the teen girl's hands covers her mouth, as she backs away in horror a step or two. No, not this again!

"Run, Megan!" Mary Jane cries, trying to urge her new acquaintance to safety and encourage others to do the same. But MJ herslf does not run. No, she yanks her backpack off her shoulders, then reaches into its frame, her hand wrapping around the hilt hidden there. She is running forward, ready to aim her shoulder into the Senator's side, knocking her away from the next blow sure to be coming, even as she murmurs words in some alien-like foreign language.

Secrets upon secrets. But they were about to reveal one of their deepest to each other in this little bout of confrontation. Megan gasps - there was even a little bit of a scream from her as well as she turns towards the man as the ninja itself seems to fade into existence.

It was a shiney sort of black to its arms and legs, its center following suit. But in its dome-shaped head there were a series of red lights - about twelve or so, with most focused on the senator. Although two orient themselves towards Mary Jane as she approaches, a hand swooping up to try to clothesline her.

So MJ would have to dodge to avoid that arm lashing out, the arm that tries to keep MJ from reaching the senator. But the robot no doubt fails, even as its sword digs into the table instead. Up lifts the sword again…

And the robot stumbles forward a bit. Stumbles forward as a chair launches into it from behind.

Megan was no longer the pale complexioned, freckled young woman. No, she had the same features, and general shape - but she was no longer wearing a uniform. Her bookbag was leaning against the coffee counter, but she wore a shorter skirt now, and a white shirt with red 'x' along the front, and blue gloves on the ends of her hands. And a little cape. Holding out her hand, she levitates another chair.

"MJ! I… be careful!" she calls out, tears touching the edges of her eyes. No no no no no…!

Mary Jane is keenly aware of how dangerous her move is, but she is determined. She jukes clear of the clothesline move, but only barely, diving low to tackle the Senator down and out of the way. This puts both of them below the sightlines of the tabletops, out of sight at least momentarily …

Mary Jane's murmuring ended just before she dove to tackle the Senator and fell out of sight. There is a sudden clap of thunder in the air, a shockwave that seems paired with a dazzling display of light corruscating from 'over there'.

Struck by the chair, the robotic figure turns to regard the now-green-skinned girl. Visual imput impunes that she did not pick up and throw the chair. It flew on its own. But the algorithms of the robot make an assumption: she is the one looking that direction, so she must be somehow connected to that event. The lightshow does no harm, so the ninja-bot takes little notice of that, instead aiming one of its other arms backwards, firing a grapple-line at Megan with enough force to punch through reinforced concrete walls.

Before the robot can decide on a course of action regarding its chosen victim, the table is cleaved beneath its load-bearing frame, dropping the robot's support system and forcing it to either leap up and away - if it can react that fast - or fall. A redheaded figure emerges from that direction, clad only in a scale mail bikini, leather boots covering feet and calves, a gleaming sword in her hands. "I know not what pit of Hell spawned you, murderer. But you'll not have this woman for your victim this day." she declares. She's nearly half a foot taller than Mary Jane, and older, not to mention more buff. But there /is/ a certain resemblance.

Being a shapeshifter herself, Megan generally had a greater sense of not disbelieving that people could change shape. Coupled with that was her experience with Linda Danvers, who entirely changed appearance when going to Supergirl. But still - she couldn't be /sure/. Well. Maybe by reading the woman's mind.

But Megan had promised not to do that except when necessary, and now…

Megan brings up her hands, kinda making a circular waving gesture with them - the grapple line is knocked off course - but not enough. It smashes into the wall behind her, and when the robot withdraws it, he gives a twist of the arm, to wrap the grapple line around Megan and start reeling him in, Megan's teeth flashing as she grits them, her eyes starting to glow a solid white color.

But the robot could pay attention to more than one thing at once.

The robot does fall, landing surprisingly light for the sheer weight that it must have. Several of the focused red lights in its dome turn yellow, almost with confusion as the chainmail clad warrioress appears. But it reacts, and quickly. There were two arms kinda in its abdomen. Those come up with an upward motion to kinda try to sucker punch Sonja in the gut. And at the very same time - that sword swipes across - a horizontal cut that might threaten to behead Sonja if she were to do absolutely nothing.

And a low electric thrum might come from it, a rumble with a series of beeps in it that might account for some sort of language.

Sonja knows enough of what is happening here, mostly because Mary Jane is babbling in her mental ear incessantly. The tall, brilliantly red-haired warrioress knows to be wary of the 'Hellspawn' that is the robot. If she caught sight of what was happening with Megan, she might be concerned - Mary Jane would be - but she does not. So she doesn't take aim to sever the cable reeling in the Martian girl in.

Instead, Sonja twists back a half-step and then pushes from a crouch to full extension, launching herself feet over head as she completely clears both the abdominal-arm punches and the sweeping head shot with the sword, as she literally runs across the ceiling, legs windmilling as she succumbs to gravity and drops on the other side of the bot, her own sword flashing as she brings it down with both hands right /through/ the arm holding that sword. Then Sonja backs up, giving the 'Hellspawn' some room, while also making sure it stays focused on her, following and coming after her, further and further away from the inert form of the dazed Senator.

When the warrioress leaps over her, the robot shifts the stance of the sword, whirring it down to aim it at the senator. Drawing the hand high, it starts to pull its arm down, perhaps for a killing stroke…

When its arm is severed to a flurry of sparks and otherwise, two of the red lights in that dome going upwards, saving one for the senator as the others fixate on Sonja. And what might further annoy it?

Well, Megan twists the arm with the grapple telekinetically, severing it from the robot and causing it to break free with a flurry of sparks and sizzles. But for all intents and purposes, it may look like the arm simply broke on its own, the cord slacking a bit afterwards with Megan starting to get her hands free.

Another moment, the robots light step turning towards Sonja… back towards Megan… and all those lights. One by one, they start to wink out, until there was just one light remaining.

The robot starts to advance on Sonja. Armless, it just had its abdomen graspers now, and it was trying to reach out and grasp for the woman with those little grabbers…

Sonja holds her sword out, keeping the robot in front of her, ready to advance. But she shouts out, "You! Grab the woman, pull her clear. Do it now!" She's probably talking to Megan, but she doesn't address her by name, or even turn her head to face her directly. She just seems to trust that Megan can do this … somehow.

When the robot attacks, Red Sonja swings low, this time, aiming for first one leg, then the other, trying to disable and weaken the robot's combat effectiveness. She lets the arms make their attacks, rather fearlessly, while she simply counter-attacks with brutal efficiency.

There was something in Sonja's voice that demanded compliance. Megan wasn't quite a superhero - wasn't quite anything more than a schoolgirl yet - but she had been something, many centuries ago, on Mars. And there was a bit of that sharpness in her again. With her hand, she lifts up, lifting the woman away from the wreckage, just hovering her in the air enough with her telekinesis to swoop over and grasp her, spinning around and away to start flying her behind the counter.

This might distract the robot.

Might leave something open, even as the counterattacks strike portions of it that would be fatal to a breathing human. One leg stabbed, the other severed, the robot balancing perfectly on that one. Although it teeters, it's stomach graspers reaching furtively at the other.

If there was an opprotunity for a death blow, that would be it - otherwise, it would just fall into a spasming hunk on the ground.

Sonja spins around tightly, almost a dancer's graceful move as she adds the full momentum of her entire body, to drive her sword hilt-deep through the guts of the robot, and then twists and levers, slicing through and out the side. Not content, there, she continues the spin with a jump, to drop her sword down through the head of the unit, adding her full moving weight to the blow to cut down through as much as possible of its armored shell. Of course, she's also leaving herself wide open to a counter-attack, if the robot is capable of 'faking' the severity of its injury.

It did not seem to be able to. Although it was not quite dead, it's little graspers feebly hoping to grasp the sword as the cut through the gut disables one. What causes the lights to go out and the machine to fall silent and still was the cut through its head. All of the animation seems to go out of it, and it topples to the ground.

Leaving a bewildered crowd of coffee drinkers kinda staring openly.

Megan kinda… sets the senator, likewise dumbfounded, down behind the counter, falling to stand up straight and tall, folding her arms before herself. "Um…" says Megan. "Thank you," she states, the woman in the suit likewise grateful. Even if outside, the sound of police sirens were drawing nearer.

Sonja approaches, but stays back a bit from Megan and the Senator, apparently not wanting to upset them. "You are quite welcome, Green One. And you as well, Lady. I know not what you have done to so anger your enemies that they would send something like this after you. But thankfully, for you, the warrior with you was willing to give his life for your safety." Sonja offers a bit of a smile, tinged with a grimace. "I suspect we will need to go. I believe the city guard are coming. That is what the girl tells me those sounds mean." There is no sign, however, of 'the girl', whomever that might be.

"Wait!" Megan calls out, lifting her hand after Sonja - not to touch - she did not seem like the sort of person to just casually grab. But still…

"That young woman that was over there - I didn't see where she went. Is she okay? She is smaller than you, red hair - she went to high school, um…" Megan lets her voice trail off a bit, concern etching her features.

So tempted to read the mind, but that would be rude. The girl. Of which there was no sign. Megan purses her lips, considering.

Sonja wasn't - yet - running away. She stops her retreat, eyeing the green-skinned girl. "The girl is fine. She is always safe when I am here." Sonja pauses, as if she listens to something, or someone. "She says to tell you to please look after her new friend, a girl named 'Megan'. Apparently, she lost sight of her friend, as you lost sight of her." Sonja shrugs those bare shoulders of hers. "I would suggest that perhaps we both depart, and let the lady … Sen-a-tor … speak to the city guard on our behalf. The girl tells me that they take a dim view of such weapons as mine, and I've no intention of surrendering them."

"I understand," says Megan, kinda glancing down and to one side, bringing up a hand to… well, the green-skinned woman shifts again. It was a color remarkably similar to how the roboninja first entered - a faint outline with distortion around the edges. Those with keen eyes could probably see it, but Megan was moving towards the door. While invisible.

And in Sonja's mind, a voice: <"Don't freak out, I'm not reading your mind or anything, just speaking into it. I'm telepathic, too, on top of everything,"> she says.

Sonja hisses aloud as she sprints forward, leaping over the counter and diving through the doors into the kitchen, heading for the back and busting through that door into the alleyway as she flees. « I do not 'freak out', whatever that means. » Sonja responds. Of course, it comes over in Hyrkonian, because that is her native tongue. It's not a language M'gann would ever have encountered before. « Get the other girl to safety. That is all you need to do. » she sends, as she flees down the alleyway and climbs a fire escape, making her way up to find a way through the city to somewhere safe.

The language kinda strikes Megan as odd, and the Martian was kinda flying after Sonja, dipping her head as she ducks into the kitchen - kinda… stalking after the taller redheaded one. «"Well, it means panic - um. Some people don't really deal with others in their head very well,» she 'says', grateful to be able to understand the meaning behind the thoughts. Megan did think in English.

Even if there was a strangeness to her words. Not so much in how they 'sounded' in the mind, but how she… said them? It was a bit unnatural.

«Well, I'm Megan, I guess. I'm kinda not… normal,» she states, «So as long as I am safe, she is too? Do you mind if I'm following you?» she asks then. After having made their escape, her form shivers, and colors in again, and there was the pale-skinned version of Megan once more, kinda… Megan whacks her head with the heel of her hand, "Hello Megan!" she calls out. «"I forgot my bookbag back at the store, um. I think Joe will keep it for me, but I don't really have a lot in it. Most of my books I keep at class."»

« It is generally unwise to leave one's gear behind, 'Megan'. » Sonja responds, as she gets to the roof and makes her way across, leaping from one to the next and then finding another fire escape to climb down. At this range she should be outside the perimeter that the city guard - Mary Jane's 'police' - will establish around the shop. « Is there anything in your pack that could be used to identify you? The girl speaks of a modern magic called 'for-en-sics'. Some sort of sympathetic magic, as I understand it. »

«'Well, I mighta doodled or something like that. And there's my notebook, but,» Megan chews on her lower lip again - cheating - while Sonja was displaying daring acrobatics, Megan was just kinda following her by flying around. Although when there was someone that was peering out the window at her, she looks startled, and shifts back towards the green. "Hello Megan! Don't fly except when green," she says to herself. «It is not really a magic, but more like, um… looking at clues that we leave behind, to try to figure out who we are, you know?» she 'says'. «Like if you left a long red hair, they might DNA test it or whatever, and match it against a database.»

Another pause. «Is… um… MJ in /there/. Like, you're not a shapeshifter, but sharing a body or something?»

« The girl is here. Or soon will be. » Sonja answers. Once she gets to the ground again, she stops and checks out her surroundings. Seeing nothing and no one of concern, she waits for M'gann to land, and then nods to her. "She will be back shortly. Pardon me." She extends her hand. "I am told it is impolite not to introduce myself. I am Sonja. Many in my life spoke of me as 'Red Sonja.'." The reasons would be obvious.

That said, Sonja lifts her sword and murmurs in that alien-sounding language. Another corruscating corona of light and energy … and when it fades away, Mary Jane Watson lowers her arms, and slides the sword into a sheath she apparently has secreted in amongst the frame of her large backpack. "Uhm. Hi." she offers, once the sword is put away, lifting a hand to shyly finger-waggle at Megan.

«I don't understand,» says Megan, slowly lowering herself to the ground and shifting back to a more human-friendly form, the young woman looking very sheepish all of a sudden. Although the extended hand? Megan beams a smile and steps forward, reaching out a hand to take Sonja's own. There was strength in her squeezing - not enough to really hurt anybody, but enough to make herself known.

Without the telepathic translation, what Sonja says is entirely lost.

And when MJ stands there again… it leaves Megan looking kinda lost for a moment. Blinking twice, before she lifts up a hand to kinda shyly wave back. "Hi! Or… welcome back!" she says, laughing brightly. "I um… guess we both have secrets, right?" she says, green cheeks kinda reddening.

"I guess, kinda." Mary Jane offers Megan, sheepishly. "Sorry. I know talking to Sonja can be a challenge. She doesn't exactly think like we do. She can't help it. As it is, with our connection she can understand English, and usually speak it. But her thoughts are still that gobbleygook she usually speaks." Mary Jane checks to make sure the sword is fully put away, then closes a flap that hides the hilt from view, as she slings the backpack up onto her shoulders, securing it in place. "So much for my hot cocoa, or the milk and muffin. Pretty big deal, though. You two saved a US Senator." Apparently MJ knows who that was.

"Well, she um… she seemed good enough," says Megan, kinda giving a shrug of her shoulders. "I mean good enough in English, and stuff - very smart, and very powerful. I… that wasn't you like transforming into her, like…" Megan pauses, biting her lower lip. "…like no one I know?" she asks.

"Well," Megan says with a pause. "I think you helped. When you jumped forward like that, against that robot? That was /so brave/. I mean… if you still wanted a muffin and stuff, we could go get one at another place? Unless you wanted to go to school or had to or something."

"Honestly? I have no idea." Mary Jane admits to Megan, with a little shrug of her heavily-weighted shoulders. "Near as I can tell, the sword is hers. Was hers? I don't know. I found it at a museum. When I grabbed it, the words appeared in my head. I just had to say them … and when I did, I wasn't there anymore. Sonja was. I could see what happened around her. Hear it all. She could hear me, but no one else could. That's really all I know about how it works." She starts walking, with her new friend in tow. "I've been doing it, now and again, for almost a year. I still don't know why or how it works. Only that it does, and that she's pretty damned amazing."

"She /is/, and she has red hair like you - have you ever seen her? I mean, if you're kinda trapped…" says Megan, kinda giggling a little bit. "That sounds very magical. Where does she go when she's not… you know… here?" asks Megan, kinda tilting her head a little bit to one side, a little smile dancing up on her lips.

"Do you fight crime? Have you had any cool adventures?" she asks. "Or do you just save senators in coffee shops?" she asks. "And, well. I know I kinda seemed like I was human, but I'm actually a Martian," admits Megan, a little lowly.

"I've spotted her in a few mirrors and other reflections. And she has a pretty good idea what she looks like." For some reason, something about that makes Mary Jane squirm. Maybe it's characterizing her as being trapped? Who knows? "It does seem magical, I'll admit. That's what Sonja says it is, but even she can't fully explain how or why it works like this." Mary Jane keeps walking as they talk. "I have no idea where she goes. As far as I can tell, she doesn't really exist, until I summon her with the incantation and the sword. But when she's here, I'm kinda in her head. She can even hear me. I tell her about what I've seen, or what is around her. She doesn't know about cars, or phones, or anything like that. But she learns fast."

Mary Jane nods a bit. "We don't 'fight crime'. Not anything that big picture. But we've taken out some muggers, and a gang once. Our biggest 'adventure' is still the first time she showed up. There was some sorcerer guy. Someone she knew. He showed up, took over this security guard, he was doing all kinds of bad stuff. Then I grabbed her sword, called her, and she took care of him, and the rest of it." She makes a little face. "A Martian? Really? I thought there had never been life on Mars?"

There was a little nod of Megan's head, the young woman kinda biting her lower lip when she notices the discomfort, "Sorry," she quickly apologizes, bringing up a hand to brush her blue glove through her red hair, before sighing a bit. "It's still really really cool, I mean. I think I would feel happy to have someone that I was… well, that close to. At least, it seems like a really cool thing!" she says.

"And I could tell, she seemed really really smart - even as you were trying to tell her what was going on, haha," says Megan. "…what did she think about the robot? I thought I heard her call it Hellspawn?"

As for the little face, and Mars? "I… um. I know. That's what the government said too. But I have a spaceship that I brought back from Mars, and… I… have my memories," says Megan, kinda smiling softly. Perhaps just a touch sadly.

Mary Jane just shakes her head a bit. "It's … weird. We work well together, and all that. But it's still weird. And I'd rather know more about how and why it works." She's just being honest. Still, it is cool to be able to help people, and that they have done.

"She doesn't know from robots and stuff. To her, it was a thing out of Hell, to be hunting like that, using what she took to be magic, and all trussed up in armor. That's how she saw it, so that's how she called it." Mary Jane explains. It's not hard to see Sonja's point of view, with a little bit of imagination.

"I'm not going to call you a liar, Megan. I don't think you'd do that. It just surprises me, is all. But Hells, no one believed stuff like this was possible, and it is. I'm living proof. So I guess anything's possible. Right?" the teen journalist mentions to the Martian girl.

Megan does take in all of what MJ says when she talks about herself, nodding her head once. "I guess you don't think about the stuff you use day to day. I mean, I know about a cell phone, but I couldn't tell you why it works. Or how I can change shape - or read minds, or…" Megan pauses a moment, kinda frowning.

"Anything is possible, you're right," she says, getting rid of the frown for a chirpy tone again, her smile lifting brighter on her lips.

"So, um… wow. Did you want to get something else? I might even go for McDonalds at this rate," she says, kinda laughing.

Mary Jane shrugs a little, and shakes her head. "Honestly, I think I should probably get headed home. I don't want my Aunt to worry." Still, she smiles gently and hugs her currently green-toned friend. "You take care of yourself. Thanks, for helping. And for understanding." And with that, Mary Jane heads off. SHe's going to need a train to get home in time.

Joe's Coffee House — Greenwich Village

This old brick building has been converted into an ever stylish coffee house. There are a few book cases and a number of tables scattered over the floor with an art deco flavor. The counter is more of a bar and also has a myriad of swiveling chairs.

Music of the time is pumped in at a tolerable level, just loud enough to be noticed. Mounted posters and art align the walls, covering up a few dark spots of old age. Potted plants and candles finish up the charming aura of this place. Above the bar is a huge menu describing today's specials. An older man, by the name of Joe sits behind the bar happily taking orders and telling stories grand about his brazillian home land.

  • Contents:
    • Megan
    • Mary Jane Watson
  • Obvious Exits:
    • [O] - Greenwich Village — New York
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