25th April
07:56 GMT -6
"Now,
remember:-" Doctor Sivana ♀ checks my tie for a second time. "-you're-"
"Not allowed to arrest your siblings.
" / "-not allowed to arrest anyone."
I put my hands on her shoulders, gently nudging her own hands off me to do so.
"It's
fine. I haven't forgotten anything you told me.
"
"Mom keeps the habitat on Central Time Zone Time-"
"Still haven't forgotten.
"
"-and.. I.. know that." She takes a deep breath and then slowly lets it out. "I really shouldn't be this wound up yet. The others won't be arriving for hours."
She's wearing a grey knee length skirt, a white blouse and a grey jacket, an ensemble which shouts 'camouflage'. An attempt ruined by the fact that the wearer is a gorgeous six foot tall blonde woman with super strength. I'm in a dark grey suit with orange pinstripes.
"You didn't say why we're going this early-.
"
"So I can catch up with Mom before everyone else arrives and she has to spend all her time 'Moming'."
"Is it.. really that bad?
"
She flares her eyes as she nods. "Oh, you'll see."
"I do have
one question, though.
" She nods, eyebrows slightly raised.
"Is this a date?
"
"Aaaahh…"
"I ask because I need to know what capacity I'm coming in. Is this a date, and if so how long are we supposed to have been dating? Because I doubt that you'll want to tell them that you.. grabbed me as an alternative to necking Jack Daniels until you could cope with them. Alternately, this is a fake date to demonstrate that you have a functioning social life, and if so-
"
"
Ou-ch."
"-same question. I can be vague about it if you want.
"
"Look, I have
friends, I just-."
"Don't want them getting involved with the supervillainous part of the family. You're like
Aimee Osbourne.
"
"Heh. Maybe. Only instead of swearing and shouting at each other they shout formulae and fire ray guns."
"I can use the rings
defensively, right?
"
"Ah, if things go badly enough that you're actually
threatened, yes. But… I want to
try and have a normal family day. Just once."
There's a beep from her jacket pocket. She looks down as she reaches into it with her right hand and pulls out her phone to look at the message.
"Bomb scare?
"
"No, Magnificus wants me to make sure Mom has the right coordinates. Dad used to organise these things in hard-to-reach locations and make us work out how to get there ourselves. Mom's holding it on the Venus habitat because we
can't turn it into a competition."
"I knew.. that your father
had a teleportation system, but I don't know how it works.
"
"Oh, it isn't anything special, really. It works in more or less the same way as Doctor Erdel's original zeta tube. Dad always said that the fixed entry and exit point was a step backwards."
I frown.
"Wait a moment. Wouldn't that mean that-
"
There's a flare of blue-white light around us.
"-you have problems-
" My brain catches up with my eyes, but my mouth presses on.
"-with integrity.. loss..?
"
"Hey Mom!" Doctor Sivana ♀ beams as she walks over towards the control booth, where a woman I'm going to assume is
Doctor Sivana ♀… No, that's not going to work, especially if we're supposed to be dating. Beautia beams as she walks over to her mother and embraces her. I know the joke is that the older children took after their mother and the younger ones took after their father, but the resemblance is far from perfect. Venus is notably shorter than her daughter, and without the Danner Formula lacks the same muscle definition. She's also… How to put this? She isn't fat. I wouldn't even call her plump. But there's a little more body fat on her than there is on her elder daughter.
"Tia, honey! How have you
been?"
Her accent is different as well. Transatlantic rather than Fawcettian. Okay, if this is a zeta radiation based system then… The four posts coming up from the platform must be the equivalent of our tubes. But that means…
"And who's this?"
"You fixed the problem with Doctor Erdel's original one-point system!
" And
curse not being allowed to scan any of this stuff!
Venus separates from her daughter and walks towards me. "No, that was Thaddeus. I'm an economist."
"Oh, right, sorry.
"
"I can tell you how much it costs to build or run, if you like. And why that means that it's not practical for mass implementation." I step off the platform and she holds out her right hand. "Venus Sivana."
"A pleasure to meet you, Doctor.
" I bow, taking her right hand in mine and raising it to my lips.
"Orange Lantern two eight one four at your service.
"
She smiles. "You probably shouldn't identify yourself with a number around here, in case Georgia or Junior get the idea that you're a robot." Her expression momentarily freezes. "Tia, he isn't-?"
"No Mom, he's not a robot."
"I only ask because last time-."
"Not a robot,
Mom."
"Last time?
"
Venus opens her mouth slightly, then closes it and turns to her daughter. "How long have you two been together?"
"We.. met back in February." Beautia comes around to my right side and winds her left arm around my right. "And we're going to be working together on reverse engineering the principles behind the purple healing ray."
Sophistry at its most off-the-cuff. Not a word of a lie but a strong implication that we've been together a while.
"Oh honey, that's wonderful! Your father's far less likely to claw his way back from whatever parallel universe he dumped himself in to wreak revenge if you're dating someone who isn't Captain Marvel."
I feel Beautia stiffen slightly. "Yeah, that's… Off the cards."
Hm. She's eighteen herself, so the age difference is only seven years and she's going to live for long enough that it isn't an absolute barrier unless she wants it to be. Maybe she prefers older men?
"It's probably for the best. So, Orange Lantern." Venus smiles at me warmly. "What do your friends call you?"
