Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

[Banner Laverick]

$45 headphones are totally worth every.single.penny. NO background noise, no annoying chitter-chatter of the other students. Nothing could penetrate the soft cushiness covering both her ears, which were currently blaring out a song by Vampire Weekend.

As soon as she stepped outside, she was airborne and perched on the roof. Her reputation as a grouch was growing, something Banner would've hated at any other school. Here, she didn't really care what anyone thought of her. The one friend she'd made, Taya, was nice enough, and maybe they'd have been friends if they met some other way. But she missed Parker. She missed JR, Lee (finally out of hospital, yay). She especially missed Felix, who promised her a visit sometime after finals. As weird as it sounded in her head, she missed her normal life...

With a sigh, she picked up a few errant twigs from the roof beside her, flicking them to the ground below.

[Batdude]

A shadow was cast over Banner as a wide wingspan passed overhead. Marty did a once-about, and, came down to perch near the brooding teen.

"What the hell are you doing on my roof?"

[Banner Laverick]

"Moping. And if I can fly, it makes it my roof too."

She didn't bother looking at him, resting her head on her knees.

"It's big enough for everyone."

[Batdude]

Marty rolled his eyes and shuffled up the roof tiles. He had no idea who this chick was, and he sure wasn't going to fess up that this was his dope spot.

"Great, somebody else here who can fly. That was about the only thing I had going for me."

[Banner Laverick]

"Well, boo-friggin-hoo. Lots of people can fly, so get used to it. I'm sure Superman doesn't whine about all the other flying heroes..."

Banner had pulled off her headphones, squinting up at him. Oh hooray, a giant bat furry. If she didn't know Taya, she might actually be fazed.

"Let me guess, your super secret hero name is Bat-Kid?"

[Batdude]

"He probably does when they cramp his style in the fortress of solitude."

It was light out, and he probably should just avoid getting mixed up with this flying angst monster, but something about her really got him raw.

"Hell no, it's Bat Dude!"

His ears flipped down and back up again.

"My first choice was a copyright, so what's your excuse?"

[Banner Laverick]

"My excuse?"

She raised a brow. Bat Dude made her think of Batman and Robin, ala Miami Vice in brightly colored shirts with deep tans.

"I'm sorry, I already have a super hero name and crime-fighting career. Or did, before I got sent here for my "own protection". Hence the whole angst thing - being sent away was not something I wanted to happen when I decided what to do with my powers."

[Batdude]

"Haha, what? You get Super-Grounded?"

Marty was beginning to think that this chick enjoyed being miserable.

"Exactly who is forcing a flying person to go anywhere?"

[Banner Laverick]

"My mother. Be disowned or go to Cullens." She shrugged. "You fly, why the hell are YOU still here?"

[Batdude]

"Because I want to be."

Marty ticked off the multiplicity of reasons why he called Cullen's home.

"One, free room and board that is way nicer than any dive I could afford back in Jersey.

Two, I get three hot squares a day. Also, free."

Three went unsaid. The ability to be a superhero dwarfed the other two.

[Banner Laverick]

"I could've had that at home if my mother wasn't so damn nosy. I guess I could fly away, but I doubt my boyfriends' parents would say yes to me staying there."

Banner hadn't even met Felixs' parents, had no clue what or if he had said anything to them about her. She was very certain they would say no to her showing up on their doorstep to stay forever, even if Felix said it was alright.

"I guess I could rob a bank or something; then I'd be a criminal but I could stay where-ever and do whatever I wanted."

[Batdude]

"Yeah, until you get sent up to Gitmo or worse."

Marty was anything but unrealistic. He knew what society would do to mutants who willingly became deviants.

"You are in control of your own destiny, maybe more than any of those ordinary people out there. Be realistic about it."