revivalproject | Fall In, Troops!

Entry tags:

Fall In, Troops!

WHO: Omega and open~
WHERE: Outside of the library
WHAT: Patrolling like a good soldier!
WHEN: Nnnow?
WARNINGS: N/A

"All right squad, let's go over our mission again."

The young clone squats before several mothkittens, the latter in various states of attentiveness. One's sprawled out on its back, watching Omega as she gestures, another sits watching her hand the way a cat would a laser pointer, and the last two are a pile gnawing on each other, paused for the moment as they watch her anew while still holding onto an ear or a tail in their mouths. Up in a tree behind them is a larger mothcat, appearing content enough to lounge as she watches the children at play.

"We'll be patrolling the southern perimeter of the city square," Omega details, using the twig she has in hand to start tracing a rough map in the dirt. "Launch and I will take point, then Trapper and Tumble, and Dart, you're our rear guard. We'll start out facing the lakeside and keep to this side of the road. -yes, that's it right there, Dart. Can I have my stick back?"

She sighs as the little mothcat tugs at the twig she holds, grinning as she shakes her head and tugs it back a little before letting the winged furball roll about with it. Turning her attention to the one she's called Launch, she holds her arms out to catch the mothkitten as he predictably leaps up. "Okay, I think we're all set. Trapper, Tumble, Dart, let's go." Nodding to herself, Omega stands, letting Launch hop back out of her arms before she turns towards the tree and salutes the larger mothcat.

"We'll be back soon, Tony. Sure you won't come with us today?" She'll take that yawn as a no. "All right then. We'll see you later," she giggles, turning to head along. Naturally the mothkittens are quick to drift off in different ways than she'd outlined, but she doesn't seem to mind terribly as she sticks to her 'patrol' assignment.

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She tried to look behind them, surprised that they were still trailing them. The sight made her grimace a little. "Not too far, please. I didn't want to take them too far from the library. You remember when Tony got on the train?"

Alchemy was not a word she'd heard of, and it was quite clear that the name of Isaac Newton rang no specific bells either, space or no. She made a little face at Iron Man's attempt at an explanation, but she could get the general idea. "So...is it like some kind of genetic alteration?" That angle she could understand a bit more if they were talking science.

"Don't they come out here on their own...?" Tony asked, realizing he knew very little of the mothcat's lives once they were out of his sight. The library was still full of them, they couldn't have been getting into too much trouble and must have been feeding themselves somehow. Still, he graciously did a wide, lazy turn, making even the animal in the grass lift its head attentively, ready to make its attack once more.

"More fundamental than that, bigger. Alchemists who didn't even have skates yet and thought it was okay to eat lead, knew that there was a fundamental building block, the basis of all things and from all things, and if that was true, then there must be a way to control the form. They were crazy, but they were right. You know what a grapefruit is?" Maybe Omega felt the threat of being turned into a grapefruit through science was menacing enough to make up for what had turned into a stroll and cultural exchange.

Omega wasn't terribly sure herself, only really familiar with Tony the mothcat's wanderings in tagging after Echo. She at least wanted to spare Tony the panic of missing a portion of her brood from wandering off too far that they didn't know how to get back home.

This was turning into more of a strange sort of ride than a kidnapping, but at least the Iron Menace turned about. Omega had to grin a bit as she saw the mothkitten that had fallen behind now suddenly at the ready for a second chance.

She shook her head at the talk of grapefruit. "That's edible, right? How does that relate to lead?"

"It doesn't, opposite of that, I'm thinking about your genetic alteration," Tony replied, clipped like it should have been obvious and Omega was lagging behind. "We don't really have the tools here to rearrange your atoms, but most of the grapefruit that anyone eats on Earth stems from this mutant fruit that some lunatics made by piling a bunch of citrus around an absolute nuclear hazard. The fruit closest to the radiation all gave up, tried to leave the dimension, obviously. The furthest away didn't do anything, they didn't care, they were just some oranges. In the middle, though, we suddenly got red grapefruit, out of thin air, complete genetic mutation in one generation. So, I'm thinking, maybe I can't turn you into gold, but you're right, I could probably make you sweeter and redder."

The girl puffed her cheeks out in a sigh as she had no choice but to endure whatever strange lesson Tony was getting around to. Okay, so maybe in some roundabout way it was a little interesting, if a bit weird. The Kaminoans would probably think Earthlings crazy, definitely.

"...that sounds dangerous." But then he had said they were lunatics, so she didn't particularly expect any other explanation on that end. "I think that'd be too much trouble," she said as though seriously considering the effort it would take to turn her into fruit.

In return of this perfectly rational debate to be having, Tony mused, "I don't know..." and crouched in time to whiz by the mothkitten hunkered down and ready to attack, startling it with the flutter of Omega's hair. "I could be eating a delicious grapefruit. What else am I supposed to do with you? You're not very edible right now. You were right, the gold thing wasn't getting me anywhere, I was struggling to focus my villainous intent, but this one's really got fuel."

Poor Tumble. Omega tried to glance back and make sure the mothkittens were all right, but all she saw was red and gold.

"Doesn't give much meaning to the name of Iron Menace," she opined. "Grapefruit menace?" She managed to somehow keep a straight face with the suggestion. "I'm not even sure how delicious grapefruit is. It's a flimsy excuse either way."

"Please. Would you be proud to report that you defeated the Grapefruit Menace on your patrol today? Of course not, that's ridiculous, I'm made of Iron and I'm Menacing, I can still turn people into grapefruit, that's menacing," Tony argued as he straightened and spun around again, this time coming to a rolling stop to let the mothcats catch up with the development. They were looking a little tired, and one flopped down in the middle of the path, splayed and clearly feeling the summer heat, in the settling dust. "It's going to be even more embarrassing when you lose to the Grapefruit Menace," he added at the sorry sight.

"You just decided the grapefruit thing, and I haven't seen you turn anything into grapefruits or gold yet so you've still only got the name," she pointed out.

She watched as the mothkittens flagged behind them. "Aw, poor Launch," Omega said, sounding a little worried. She hadn't thought to drag them on a chase, although she was surprised they'd stuck it out as long as they had. "Are they all right?" She squirmed a little, anxious to check on them.

Tony clearly was not doing enough to get Omega to take her hero role seriously, and she didn't even seem to like the skates very much, even though they were incredibly cool and Cassie would not have lied to him about that. The sound of his sigh through the mask was a metallic hiss as he looked down at Omega, then out at the drowsy mothcats. "The perfect," he said, finally letting her legs swing down to touch the ground, "that's the first step into turning into delicious breakfast fruits. Look, go see how round that one already is."

Unfortunately while Tony's plan had been a fair one, Omega hadn't really very much experience in that sort of play to fully commit to one role or another. Did she ignore facts or was she supposed to balance it somehow? Playing pretend was not her forte.

The girl did seem to relax a little finally, once her feet were on the ground. Once the 'Iron Menace' let her go, she hurried over to scoop up the exhausted mothkitten, holding an arm out for the others. "You all did fine," she said, doing her best to juggle them as she tried to fish out her water bottle from her bag, a trade-off made as one settled inside.

"I'd rather you not eat them," Omega told Tony as she carefully poured some water into the bottle's cap, holding it by Launch so he could lap at it.

Without his wheels, the Iron Man dropped down an inch, where he remained for a hesitant minute, watching Omega tend to her pets, trying to figure out how new angle now that the villain, the skates, and the science hadn't done much for her. Eventually, he pulled off his helmet as well, fussily combing back his hair with his free hand as he strolled closer and offered, "Do you want to come by some time and make them a fountain? It's going to be getting hotter for a while yet, you know, and you could keep it by your place, give them something to climb on and keep cool..."

Three of four mothkittens had decided they rather liked the bag she'd sewn at the faire, and Omega was just thankful they weren't heavy as she let them each have a turn at the water. She looked up at Tony as he came over, smiling now that he'd removed his helmet, brighter still at the suggestion.

"Could we?" She'd never thought about making a fountain before, but then most of her mechanical knowledge came from the necessity of having to help AZ-3 with maintenance. "I think they'd love that."

That was a promising response, and Tony tried to smile back and not look as worried as he felt, tucking his helmet under one arm casually. "Sure, 'course, got plenty of junk lying around that should be put to use, and it looks like you're already dialed in, you've got the mothcat market cornered," he said with a nod toward her very well-received bag design. "And--listen, Stardust, if you like magic--" he offered, starting to grimace for even offering it, but she had seemed interested, "You should ask Billy some time. He could probably make you a grapefruit. Make a grapefruit for you. I wouldn't eat it, honestly, god knows what that could do to you, but he could do it."

"I'd need some help figuring it out. I've never built a fountain before," Omega said, easing the last mothkitten into the bag with the others. They seemed for the moment sated for thirst, and now it looked to be about naptime.

She arched a brow at Tony as he brought up magic and grapefruits once again, looking amused. "I don't think I've seen Billy's magic yet. I've seen Ezra's and Lark's though. Ezra said magic covers a lot of different things." She made a bit of a face. "I'm not sure I get it though."

"We'll make you an expert in no time," Tony assured her, head tilted inquisitively, trying to assess if that meant that there were things she had built. "It'll be the best thing you've ever made. Mothcats from around the world will flock to visit the installation."

Omega looked charmed again about the magic, so maybe Tony shouldn't be a complete asshole about it, but there was no one who could possibly control the sympathetic roll of his eyes at how impossible magic was to understand. "That's the point. If it made sense and could be replicated, it would be science," he complained. "Flashy, though."

Surely no one could say no to more mothcats! Omega looked pleased at Tony's confidence in her, anyway.

Well, she wouldn't say charmed, but it was always amazing to witness. Flashy was something Omega agreed on, a thoughtful frown on her face even as she nodded. Clearly not something either of them were very familiar with.

"Did you make this?" she asked, diverting to a question that had been nagging at her ever since Tony had made his own flashy appearance. She reached for his armored hand, and now that she wasn't being carried off she could give a proper look over in admiration.

Not sure what Omega meant to do with his hand, Tony offered it out flat, then turned the palm up to show her the repulsor and how he had been controlling his flight. "This is all science, sweetheart," he reported with pride, before his encouragement had mixed in the impression that Tony would be doing any magic himself. "What do you think I've been doing when you're not around to keep me busy? It was either this, or you'd be taking me on walks every three minutes, too."

The girl snorted, as though it wasn't obvious that this feat was scientific and not magic! "I've never seen such boosters used for armor mobility. These remind me of A-Zee's, but more compact," she said as she traced a finger around the repulsor and glanced down at his feet.

"It's amazing," she continued, smiling up at him.

"It is incredibly cool, please, don't hold back, I won't tell Echo how lame you think his armour is," Tony encouraged, prideful lift of his chin betrayed by his wry smile. "Who's Ayzee, and when are we scheduling their upgrades?" That wasn't an offer that he was too worried about following through on, fairly certain he would have noticed someone else flying around here without magic.

"It's a lot brighter than my brothers' armor. Shiny too." Omega laughed. "But I guess I can't be surprised. You like attention."

She started back towards the tree the other Tony lounged in. Seemed like a good time to return the kids, sleepy as they were. Already they were dozing in her bag. "He's a medical droid I knew back on Kamino," she explained, smiling fondly. "I'd help with maintenance checks for him."

There was very little Tony could do to defend against this very casual accusation, leaving him frozen where he stood with his hand still up in some shock at her youthful wisdom, then forced to jog after Omega for a few steps to catch up when he came up with the airtight, "Everyone likes attention."

Kamino remained something of a mystery to Tony despite prodding both Omega and Echo when he could, so he considered Omega's fondness closely, still trying to shape it. "You really kept that place running all by yourself," he said. "No wonder they wanted you back so bad."

It was an observation! Omega glanced back at him when she realized Tony had lagged behind, brow arching in faint amusement at his...defense?

She stepped over to Tony the mothcat's tree perch, carefully unloading the children one by one in the shade at its base. "I'm not really sure what they want. Or if they even have any say in things anymore," she said quietly, her smile fading. "Ever since the Empire took control, things were a lot different. They don't seem interested in more of the Kaminoans' clone army."

Omega's tone took Tony by surprise, making him unsure that he actually understood her. It made sense that she wouldn't want less of the clones in the universe, but surely she had personal experience enough to not want more of them, either. Whatever else the Empire might have done, that one sounded like a good call. "Should there be more?" he wondered. She was the one with the personal experience. Tony had just made clones, hoping they'd never actually have to be used.

"There's still so many developing. I don't know what will happen to them. I don't think production's stopped yet, but I don't know how the Empire will affect everything." Omega looks over at Tony.

"I know we're not supposed to exist, but...we do. But we're all people. I don't have anything against the other soldiers. They can't help but follow orders because of the chips the Kaminoans implanted."

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