Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board The Office of Security (out with the Lardy, in with the Dev)

Red Arrow said, "I knew this time would come." She poured two more cups of coffee, handing the Superman one to Dev-Em and keeping the Green Arrow mug for herself. Question Lad stayed calm as he put away his Omni-Com. We will be fine.

Dev looked at her and nodded.

"Of course you knew that whomever took over this postition was going to have to deal with your actions during the last few weeks."

He took a sip of coffee.

"You should however be thankful that it is me sitting here and not someone that has no idea everything that transpired. I freely admit that I am not happy with some of what you did. First and foremost, you need to be extremely careful with the arrows you choose to fire at opponents. Choosing the wrong ones can be devestating when you go to incapacitate, and end up doing far worse. Secondly, you need to be sure of your commanding officers orders before you proceed with implementing protocols like you apparently did. I say apparently, beause there is no way to know with 100% crertainty that you were the one responsible. My investigation will find that there is just not enough evidence of insubordination to the Chief of the Office of Security. In fact, your immediate response to my direct order in that situation will go a long way in justofying your continued presence here."

He smiled at her, "look Emily, you're a good kid, and you have potential...a lot of potential. The thing is though, you cannot enact protocols with property of the Office of Security...no matter how those pieces of property were created...thatonly you can work on. You do that again, and there will be more severe reprecussions than a simple demotion. Your current access will be more limited, but you are still a full member of my team. Give it time, and things will begin to return to normal."

He took another swallow of coffe and waited to see if she would reply.

"Sir, with all due respect we were in a civil war, and then an invasion by a powerful being. I made the choices I did because I wanted to minimize casulties on our side and bring a quick end to the conflict." Red Arrow said. "I was terribly wrong. I thank you for your mercy."

"Emily, your intentions were right. I made some choices in that whole mess that eventually led me to where I am today. I am not sure how much it really was a civil war and how much of it was two friends trying to show who was right...instead of working together. Thankfully, your actions didn' short memories usually, especially when they don't have scars to go along with them."

He finished his coffee.

"We all do things that we question. We all eventually have to take responsibility for our actions. Lardy is taking his in the form of being replaced and trying to find himself again. I have figurative and literal scars from my recent choices."

Dev involuntarily rubbed his shoulder.

"The point is, you did do what you thought was right...even if nobody told you to take such action. That shows initiative. That's something we need more of. But, on the same token, you didn;t think through your decisions consequences thoroughly. Adding another wrinkle into the mix when we were already tapped out could ave cost us dearly. Thankfully, it didn't. So you are officially demoted, and you will also report directly to me as Question Lad is doing, he said as he glanced at Sebastion and nodded. "I want to hear your ideas...and over time, you will get a better handle on which things to act on, and which ones to ignore."

"I also want to see this new power of yours in action, so we're going to have some regular training sessions with you against someone I choose. I want to see what you can do with it."

OCC: "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance sums up my characters nicely)
Emily said, "How did...oh yes. It's an equation that my ancestors traditionally used to walk through walls."Usually to get out of prison. My father didn't get the equation before he got sent to prison, so that's why he's there. "But it's actually intangibility. That will require a good amount of practice, but I'm hesitant to change my codename just yet. I don't want to be branded as the crazy one," She looked into her coffee mug.

"Chief Lardy really didn't give us a lot of orders. I think he was scared of us because of our commitment to justice," Red Arrow said. At this Sebastian laughed. "The arbitrators of justice scared of justice! Where have I heard that before? But yes, there is an eternal war of justice versus impunity. Too many times we sacrifice justice for peace," Sebastian says. He felt very awake, and he couldn't tell if it was from the coffee or passion.

"That's why I gave you the Batman cup," Emily said.

Dev looked at Sebastion, "Interesting. By the way, the items you forwarded to me last night are fine. Go ahead and purchase them. Get the correct account to use from the secretary."

"Lardy was not really himself in this job...not sure if he let himself be what he needed to be to handle it. Not sure how I'll do for now either...but I guess that will be more for your generation to talk about when we're all retired or gone."

Dev stood up and rinsed his coffee mug out, "one more thing. I'm reveiwing the investment opportunities that you presented to Lard Lad. I'll get back to you one them some time next week. There's a few things I want to check out with them first though."

He turned to walk out of the kitchen. "If yYou two are a representation of Legion Worlds future...and I think we're going to be in good hands."

He left and went to head to his home to see what needed to be done before he could sell it.

Sebastian said, "That went well. I'm going to talk to the secretary and order those security systems. Then I'll probably talk more to the tech staff about what we need to get done around here." He looked down into his coffee mug, to see the remnants had formed a crude pattern. It looked almost like rorschach dots, and he quickly went to the sink and cleaned it.

"I just don't understand. I never had these problems with other superteams. I was popular," Emily said. She put the coffee mugs back into the cabinet, pausing at the Green Arrow coffee mug. She made a mental note to check out some JLA sites next time she was on Earth, always good to honor the ancestors.

Sebastian shrugged, "I wouldn't know. When people get close to me they usually fall into a coma." He chose that moment to leave the room and follow Dev-Em's orders.

Red Arrow left the room and decided to refill on arrows and go practice.

The next day Dev was back at work...on his second day of in a row. Too much to do, so many things that went unattended during the last few weeks. Not really Lardy's fault there, the Red Bee was here already...the other stuff though just compounded everything.

He put his Omnicom into alert mode and went to grab his cost...I guess I don't need this today...just going to get some air and enjoy the rrest of my day. Maybe see if Tempest is out and about yet.

He left the building and took off, glancing around to see if any of his friends were out as well. There were still people to get in touch with...ideas he had that needed to be thought through. Enough Dev...just enjoy yourself for an afternoon.

Lon checks in at the front desk of the Office of Security and finds out that his brother is indeed in his office.

He walks down the corridor...[I]this is just weird. Dev is the Acting Chief."

Dev looked up from his desk and gives a head nod for Lon to shut the door.

"Thanks, I know who she is now Lon."

"That's nice. She's been given a second chance here if you will, and there's nothing more to be said on the matter."

"I know. One last act of Lardy. No doubt by yours and Cobies prompting."

"Something else else like that...listen, I didn't come here to argue...I came to offer my congratulations. You're suited for this job better than you even think. So, congratulations. We should be out of your 'jurisdiction' soon enough anyway."

"Just watch your back...I don't trust her."

Lon sits down. "What the hell happened to change your mind with the kids? You were gone by the time Bruce and I...um, finished our business back there."

Dev preceeds to tell Lon about the conversations he had with Princess Alyson, her father The King, and their own father Kar Em. (some of which happened off screen as to not bore the hell out of everyone.)

Lon stood shortly after Dev finished. "I guess I can see why you did what you did...still, it was an interesting journey overall. I gotta run and find Cobie. I want to have a little talk with him about presuming to speak for me on certain subjects."

Dev raised a curious eyebrow, and just shrugged when it was obvious that Lon wasn't going to explain. "Take care then. Let me know if you need me for anything, I'm going to head over to Lardy's soon. I was just dropping a few things off here, and got distracted..."

Lon left and shut the door.

After Leaving Lardy\'s Lair, and taking a short flight, Dev returns to his Office.

He starts setting appointments and rifling through paperwork. Sending messages, and investigating Red Arrows and Question Lads proposal.

(Walks into the Dev's office and tosses her shoes on his desk, she is leaning on his archway into his office.)

You must really hate these.

"Actually, they're very nice shoes."

He looks at her.

"I guess you were right. It would complicate things...sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you."

She can see that his face is not showing any emotion.

"I should have known better."

(She straightens up and walks in and sits down in the chair on the other side of his desk.)

Wipe that stoic look off your face.

I liked that you pushed.

(She gives him a grin.)

I'm just not strong enough and, well sane enough right now to deal with any of that. I don't know how to explain what happened. I just needed a release. I couldn't do it with you, it would have made things to complicated. I can't give you a bone and then take it away.

You're looking for something in me Dev that can't give. Not to you, not to him. He knows that now.

He looks at her, still emotionless...but she can see hints of something creeping into his face.

"Explain something to me. Why him...but it complicates things with me."

He finally breaks and she sees a hurt in his eyes, but also anger and confusion.

"What is it you're afraid of? What are you running from?"

I've stopped running. If I was still running I would have never come to this damned planet!

(She pauses, she said more than she wanted to.)

I am afraid of the truth. The truth hurts, you should know that. It's easy to live in the lie.

(Grabs her shoes.)

Maybe, Lardy and you need to figure things out. Don't let me come between your friendship. This is the last place I need to be dubbed a "homewrecker."

"Wait a second. I've got nothing to figure out with Lardy, and as far as what happened between you two...it happened."

He moves in between her and the door.

"I know you can be out of here before I finish my next word...but if you've stopped running, then stop running. I've lived with people lying to me for most of my adult life. I have two wonderful children because of a lie. I should have been able to move on with my life years ago...but I didn't because of lies. I'm tired of living lies."

He looks away from her, but does not move.

"Truth. Truth is I do like you...but I have no idea if there was ever any chance for us. Truth, I saw things in the Astral plane that scared the hell out of me, things that I didn't quite comprehend. Things that I don't think people are supposed to see. Truth, I want to help you with whatever it is that is chasing you...and don't pretend that I am talking nonsense, because we both know better. I don't know what is going on yet, but I will find out whether it's from you or through my other sources."

He moves to her, and touches her cheek again, "I don't know why, but I know I can help you with whatever it is."

My truth is not for you. It's not for anyone!

You can't help me, I can help myself just fine. Last thing I need is some man acting like my damn protector.

Don't you dare scold me, I don't need another daddy figure.

I meant what I said, I moving out. It's too complicated here.

(Storms out of his office and into her quarters where she immediately starts to pack.)

Dev stands there for a second, and then follows her to her door.

"I'm not trying to be anything except your friend right now," he says to the closed door.

"You don't seem to even want that...do you, unless it's on your terms and conditions. I'm not playing that game anymore."

"This is probably just going to make you madder at me, but that's okay though, at least it's something...some kind of emotion."

"Call me if you need me...I'll be ther for you, because that's what frinds do for each other..."

"You can't run away from your problems forever..."

He shakes his head, sighs, turns and leaves, going back to his paperwork, but really accomplishing nothing for the rest of the day.

Dev heard the door open and lifted his head from his desk...where he had fallen asleep (some might argue that he passed out).

"Hey Question Lad, anything I can do for you today?"

"Thanks," he says as he takes the paper.

He glances over it and shakes his head.

"My faith in humanity grows with every day around here. Just one more storm to try and figure out. You think things are heading one way, and then they turn around completely."

He looks up and sees that he is loosing Question Lad. "I'll send some people over there. Hopefully a little presence will go a long way to derail that trend."

He looks at the clock, and says, "Time to go fly around a bit."

(Walks out of her now former room, she has completely cleared out all her things.)

Was never an officer here anyways, shouldn't be here, it is a business.

(Looks at Dev's office as she walks. She walks up to the closed door, she puts her hand on it.)

You think you can just make me all better, don't you? Poor sap.

(Leaves.)

Dev arrives back at the Office and gets back to work.

"I think I need more diversions like that."