Starlight meets Sunbright

She stated that she had no real interest when it came to coffees and teas. That was something Damian could agree with, as those weren’t exactly the most filling of things. A massive burger however sounded like something that he could really go for, despite the fact he found himself continually being reminded that he didn’t actually need food. Not that the fact itself was something that was interesting enough to be brought up at the moment. ”Actually, a burger and fries sounds great.” He said, absently following behind Uzma with hands resting on his hips. ”I’m not really big on coffee myself anyway.”

His ears continued to hone into all the sounds within the area. People jabbering, the odd bird cooing and a heartbeat picking up ever so slightly. In the midst of the cacophony of sounds, he didn’t really pay much attention to any one of them unless they were particularly sharp.

”Oh, I can blend in pretty good. So long as I don’t knock anything over, because accidentally knocking over things does….make blending in hard.” he said, nodding in acknowledgment, though internally he did consider the possibility that he might accidentally break something. Being overwhelmingly strong had the downside that everything was so much easier to break, which made trying to keep any kind of secret identity even more difficult.

His mind would quickly shift from the potential problems to where they would get said burger, as he had no idea where anything was. There was always the method of searching for the smell of meat cooking, though that would required a lot of him sniffing the air awkwardly. That shot the idea of him keeping a low profile in the foot. So he went along with a little more mundane means of finding things out, which involved fishing his cellphone from his pocket.

It wasn’t exactly the latest in technology, but it did look good enough. Within less than a minute he looked up a small little grill only a few blocks away from them, something that likely could sate their desire for burgers. ”Alright, I found a burger place somewhere around here. Huh, they also serve fish and chips too, awesome!” He noted, double tapping on the touch screen a few more times, glad this device was made not to break like it was made of half broken glass.

”I have no idea why I haven’t come to London before.” Seeming to become full of even more energy, he ended up a few steps ahead of Uzma as he lead the way to said burger place.

Damian had fallen into a small bout of enthusiasm, walking ahead of Uzma only until they reached out to touch his arm and remind him that he was walking a bit too fast. ”Oh...i almost forgot how fast I could move.” He said, looking a little embarrassed by that. There were probably not too many meta-humans that could actually match him as far as speed went, so that made actually keeping up with people nearly impossible. So he tried to slow down until they were walking side by side,  Damian continuing to follow the little trail that was being made on the map on his phone.

Eventually they would reach the burger place, smell of cooking meat reaching his rather sensitive sense of smell. That alone was enough to bring about a sense of anticipation. This was supposed to be one of the more popular burger joints in the city, so he wondered if the reviews were close to the truth. One of the waitresses walked up to meet them, seemingly eying one of them, something that was completely lost upon him.    

”Yeah, seats together sound fine.” Damian agreed, nodding and looking to Uzma with a smile that seemed default on him. From there they would be brought to one of the tables, Damian sitting across from Uzma, and letting his hands rest on the table as the ordering part of things would begin.

Mismatched eyes scanned over the little menu handed to them, his eyes falling upon one of the largest burgers they had available. ”I’ll have this quintuple burger with everything on it, the fries and….a root beer.” Their waitress would nod, scribbling something down on a notepad, and walk away with a lingering glance.

”I like like this place, it looks really….homey.” Damian said, trying to make small talk regardless of his lack of skill in it.

The woman sitting across from him looked him directly in the eyes, and then things did get deep. It went from friendly outing to an out pour of personal tragedy that only managed to make him feel sorry for her more than anything else. Sleeping on park benches and having absolutely nowhere to go, well that alone was enough to tap into the sympathy center of his brain. His face remained rather passive until she finished her explanation, not really eve blinking until he was sure that he wasn’t going to interrupt her. Manners luckily were one of the things that had been drilled into his head ever since he was young.

Where this ended up was her asking if they could be friends, something that actually sounded rather nice. ”Course we can be friends.” The response didn’t hold even a bit of hesitation. Damian let his chin rest on one of his palms, wondering where this all came from but not even really asking about it.  That heroic instinct within him wanted to help her, and yet all he felt he could do was be her friend. Not that he felt she was...well a charity case, but then again he also didn’t really have any friends. There were the people back at the facility, and his brother, though most of them felt more like people that were only nice to him because they felt they had to be.

”I don’t actually have that may friends myself, so it would be nice to actually have one.” He admitted. ”So I guess this makes us officially friends.” Damian added in with a goofy grin, seeming pleased with the development.

”Nice to meethca, I’m Damian. Damian Miles.” He responded, shaking Uzma’s hand as firm as he could without actually putting any considerable grip on it. That was harder than one would think, but he had learned to control his strength well enough over the years.

From there their conversation went rather well or so Damian liked to believe anyway. They told each other little details about themselves, favorite colors and all those things that friends sometimes knew about one another. Atlas’s being blue, though he did mention small things like how his hair was actually naturally this curly, or how many bugs he’s actually swallowed while flying. The latter being something said in a hushed tone to avoid having anyone catch onto the whole superpowers bit.

He of course left out the whole x-ray vision portion of things, because that lead to the implication of seeing through peoples clothing. Within their stream of conversation, the waitress would bring them food, and he occasionally felt a small amount of pressure on his hand, like that of another.

Once they had received their food however, he spent half their conversation time devouring said food. It didn’t take him as long to eat it as Uzma, but that was more just the fact that he enjoyed food more than anything else. Things were going smoothly in his mind until a napkin was left o the table, smelling distinctly of ink.

”Wow, really? I’m….surprised actually.” He admitted, finishing off the last few fries from the little basket, though for some reason they were called chips around here. ”Not used to having people just give me their number, feels sorta weird.” Honestly, he didn’t even have any friends numbers in his phone. The only reason he had one was so his overseers could get in contact with him.

A guy that burnt up cops, well that sounded really familiar to Damian but the name itself was something he couldn’t conjure up in his head. It had been in the news not so long ago, but maybe it was for the best that the two had broken up. His new friend deserved more than some weirdo that went around burning people up, especially people like cops. Still, he could tell that even having something to do with a guy like that managed to mess with her, so maybe that topic was something best avoided.

His eyes fell upon the half eaten burger slid to him, considering eating it for only a second before he decided to. From there things looked like they were going fine, until his sensitive hearing caught what sounded to be the sirens of police cars. That suggested that something was going on, quickly setting of his metaphorical hero senses.

As if reading his mind, Uzma suggested they looked into it. That was something that Damian agreed to without any real need for coercion, as the idea of it alone was enough to convince him. He felt a hand grab onto his, going along without any real need to be pulled, though likely Uzma would try anyway. They would be taken into an abandoned alleyway, Damian really wishing he had brought along his super suit with him. That was when he remembered that he actually did have it on him, or rather a more hand held one.

His gracious overseers had been working on making it possible that he could quickly change without having to return to them and actually do so. Damian dug around in his pockets until he found something, a small black sphere around the size of a golf ball, covered with what looked like some kind of weird striations. All it took was applying some heat through his fingertips and within seconds it would burst open and release his usual bodysuit that he was used to wearing, along with the small face mask.

”Alright, just give me a sec.” In a blur of motion he would quickly change from civilian clothes to what he was wearing now, hoping Uzma wasn’t one of those types with the whole fast perception. Now he held his clothes all folded up, save for a phone in his right hand, slipping it into a small compartment that looked as if it were made to hold the thing. Now that it was so close, it fell under the usual invisible barrier around him, thus making it rather difficult to actually break. ”Alright, let’s check this thing out.” He would wonder if Uzma would turn into her alien looking form, but regardless he would follow the sound of police sirens after settling his civilian clothes into said small sphere.

This involved trying to fly where Uzma could keep up with him, eventually reaching what looked to be the docks. Flames rise high, along with thick acrid smoke from around a large ship that looked to be leaking something. The air smelt disgusting, making Atlas feel as if he were going to throw up what he had eaten only minutes ago. Amidst the sound of things burning was the sound of people, screams mostly and they were his first concern. ”Okay, you try to contain the fire as best you can and i’ll get everyone away from the fire.” With that said, he flew downwards, through the flames and began his search for said people.

Uzma would move into action, making use of her own abilities to try and contain the fire while he made use of his own powers to do a bit of recon. Metal, fire and smoke was nothing when making use of his own exceptional vision, mostly catching the heat signatures of the flames as they continued to spread. Soils as always was something that help propagate fire, even when touching something known for putting it out like water. With that bit quickly done, he moved to do what he said he was going to do and move people away from the blazing inferno. This mostly consisted of rushing into the fire, past whatever it was that would stop someone from escaping and rushing them out.

This was a situation that made him feel...oddly excited and he had no idea why. Likely people had been working on the ship were still around, and with his impressive speed Atlas could make some pretty good time in saving them. Honestly, he didn’t even need his full speed to pick everyone up, though he had been told his full speed was gradually growing as he advanced in strength. It felt like forever, but to everyone else his rescuing time was only around two minutes, people being snatched up as they were enveloped in something that protected them from both friction as well as the force of being moved this fast. Normally they would probably be torn apart, but then again he was crafted for this reason. Having someone die in his arms would make the whole ultimate hero thing completely moot.

This part of the heroic adventure was almost over when he heard someone yell something over the sound of metal grating and flames crackling. The ship had needed to move, and something told him he was the only one that could likely be able to perform such a feat. ”On it.” Atlas muttered under his breath, mentally sizing up the ship and wondering if he could be able to move something as large as that. The doubt crept in only for a moment before he hyped himself up as always. ”Course I can lift that. I mean, I can lift anything.” He muttered to himself, diving quickly into the water, mostly to allow him to get closer to an angle that would allow him to push the vessel as quickly as possible. If he moved the thing into the air, that would make the ship catching on fire nearly impossible.

Alright Damian, just keep pushing. His palms pressed flatly against the cold metal, feeling the water pool in around him, causing the very sound above him to muffle as he began to push. The force of his push alone was enough to cause the ship to tilt, though he did not let up as more and more strength was pushed into both of his arms. He had never felt such weight over him before, not even when he was doing the whole gravity training. His overseers had been worried that leaping too much in weight would do something to his body, and yet that did not matter now.

All he had to do was move this thing so it wouldn’t hurt anyone else. All at once he felt it slowly give way, moving higher and higher as the water around him would begin to give way, along with the chill of the ocean. There was a strain, and yet he could feel that strain slowly lessening, On and on he pushed, as he lifted the ship higher into the air, with his tactile telekinetic field managing to keep the oil for the most part from spilling out, along with breaking apart around him. He could hear water draining from his ear, along with people shouting in astonishment of the ship being lifted into the air, higher and higher. Despite how heavy the thing felt, all he had to do was believe that he was capable of keeping the thing above his head, like the weight of the world itself.

This gave Uzma a chance to actually put the fires out before they spread further. Now he hoped his new friend could take care of everything else, because he had to do something about this tanker, because just dumping it elsewhere would have been a huge problem.

Once the smell of flames blazing faded, he knew he could set the tanker down without worrying about the fire propagating more than it already had. Uzma would do something with the water and oil, separating the oil from the water, preventing any further potential environmental damage from taking place. As expected, some people would gather to see the heroes take care of the problem as human curiosity would dictate.

Atlas wiped a few strands of hair blackened by the water from his eyes, taking in the sound of clapping that was louder to his keen hearing. Shaking his head much like a dog to ring out some of the water droplets, he would lower himself to the dock and land soundlessly.

A small crowd of people had gathered, not exactly an unwelcome sight but something that didn’t happen too often when he came onto the scene. Metahuman hysteria was rather prevalent in the US, though maybe they were just lucky not to have to deal with the more radical types. They would bask for a few minutes, until he felt what was his phone vibrating. ”Ummm...i’ll be right back Starlight.” He floated off,  pressing the phone to an ear as the voice flowed through.

”Damian where are you? You’re ten minutes late.” The unmistakable female voice noted, sounding somewhat annoyed.

”Oh...um...sorry about that. There was some trouble at the harbor, so I cleaned that up.” he could hear the vague sound of keys being clicked in the background.

”Fine, but be back within the hour.” With that she hung up.

”Well that was...fun. So, how about we split? I don’t like too much of this media attention.” he would say, levitating closer to Uzma.

Today had ended up being pretty great if Damian could say so himself. Sure, he wasn’t expecting to work with a fellow hero, but then again surprises were something that he could greatly appreciate. Regardless of what was going on now, he had places to be before he had to deal with more griping from his overseer. Flying away from the crowd, he gave them a small wave before flying out of sight. There was the brief feeling of the breeze against his skin. ”So...I actually need to go now. The whole job thing calls.” He said offering an apologetic smile, giving his number to her if he didn’t already.

”Call me sometime...or text me. We can do the whole heroing thing sometime or whatever.” With a small wave, he flew off, already on his way to his secondary job thing.