Once Rivals (Pika)

Jemmy pouted for a moment. "You just wait until I remember how to turn into a giant, and then we'll see who's 4 feet tall." It wasn't a serious threat. "What's wrong with being short, anyway? What's wrong with being a kid? Kids have more fun than adults. All grown-ups do is remember back to the good old days when they weren't old and miserable."

Meta suggested that Jemmy should stay away from Bow, unless there was a responsible adult nearby. "Because there are so many people I can trust with zero memory. I'll be fine. She's probably the one who shouldn't hang out with me."

Jemmy produced two ice cream cones out of thin air, both chocolate mint. She offered one to Meta. If he refused, she would just eat both. They tasted good enough, but she could never quite get the same flavor as her favorite brands.

"What was he so mad about?" Jemmy asked. "He gave you superpowers. Wasn't that what he wanted? He should be a happy scientist. And you must have had a family at one point. Did you ever know your parents?"

Jemmy stated that once she remembered to become a giant, then they'd see who was 4 feet tall. Meta simply stated that You'd be bigger, but I'd still be the same height, neither of us would be 4 feet tall she then started ranting about how kids have more fun, but Meta didn't dignify that with a response. When Jemmy said that Bow is the one that shouldn't be hanging out with Jemmy, Meta responded with an amused grunt Can't argue with that

Meta accepted her gift of ice cream, he wasn't particularly mad about ice cream; he has a strict diet to keep in shape, but he accepted it to be polite and slowly licked at it. Jemmy then asked what Meta's creation was mad about, to which he blinked I mean mad as in crazy. And no, I didn't know my family

Ah. Crazy. That would make more sense. Meta said that he never knew his family. Jemmy had never seen anyone eat ice cream while looking so miserable.

"Well that's too bad. I bet they were cool. My goodness, man, try not to be so miserable. Buy a dog or get a girlfriend or just make friends in general. Is there anyone who cares about you, or has your life just been the biggest load of garbage in history?" Jemmy shoved the remainder of her ice cream cone, which was most of it, in her mouth and swallowed it after chewing three times. "I mean, sometimes life gives you a rotten poker hand, but that's why you cheat. You don't have to take what is given to you. You can improve your life. At least, that's what they said on TV last night, right after the show about cowboys in space. You ever seen that show? Or done anything fun?"

Meta endured Jemmy talking about how he should be less miserable, with emphasis on ENDURED I'm not miserable, I have friends he said in a convincingly disgruntled voice that in no way would effect her ability to believe his words. He then also added I don't need a girlfriend, plus a dog is a waste of money such happy, much joy.

She then went on to give a anecdote about life dealing bad hands and how people can go about improving their life, Meta rolled his eyes I don't need to improve my life, I wouldn't rather be doing anything rather than what I'm doing he could tell this was going to be a loooooooooong ride.

Jemmy listened to Meta's unconvincing, grumpy defense of how joyful he was. He said that there was nothing else he would rather be doing than what he was doing right now. Everything about him said otherwise.

"It seems to be exactly the opposite," Jemmy said. "I don't think you want to be flying around in this boat with me. I don't think you even want to be a hero." Jemmy grabbed Meta's arm, gently. "And you don't have to be one. You know that, right? You could just be an average Joe, even if you have superpowers, and nobody would hate you for it. Anyways, you have friends? That's good. I can tell by the overwhelming excitement in your voice that you're close to them. Why don't you tell me about these dear friends of yours? We don't have much else to do."

When Jemmy said that she doesn't want to be flying in the boat, he was about to give an exasperated response about how he didn't literally mean what he was doing right now at this second, but then she added that she thought he didn't want to be a hero, he looked at her right in the eyes as she kept on talking I know that, I could just blend in with the crowd. But I don't want to. I want to help people, but fighting is the only thing I can do...

She then asked him about his friends, also mocking him about the way he sounded while talking earlier, Meta resisted the temptation to smack her My friends are my team-mates in the Titans. You probably wouldn't recognise their public names if I told you because of your memory loss he hesitated for a few seconds What about you? Who have you met besides who you've tolf me about?

"Honestly, that's about it." Jemmy sat there quietly for a moment. It was a bit scary to be able to count all the people you've ever met on your fingers. Eventually, she spoke again. "Hey, thank you for helping me back there. If you weren't being a hero, then this invisible guy could have hurt me a lot more. I don't know why you want to help people, but I'm glad you do."

Jemmy stared off into space. "If I was a superhero, I'd call myself the Samurai. That's a pretty cool name, don't you think? And I'd fight with swords, but somehow never actually kill the bad guys. And I'd do ninja flips and disappear." She grinned, lost in her fantasy. "Yeah. Then again, someone could probably be a supervillain named the Samurai, too. They wouldn't be that bad, though. I'd just steal...like...diamonds or something. Just to prove how awesome I was."

Jemmy turned to look at Meta. "Have you ever thought about switching sides? You could still help people, maybe. Just in different ways. But, I mean, you could steal the pyramids and leave clues for the heroes to find you with. Or maybe you have some other game. You aren't entirely selfless, are you? Isn't there something you want?"

Meta sat there in silence for a second, before Jemmy thanked him for stepping in, he honestly wasn't expecting her to thank him, he was actually taken off guard for a second Oh... uh... you're welcome as a hero he was no stranger to being thanked, but this still felt weird for him for some reason.

She then started becoming engrossed in a fantasy about becoming a superhero which then turned to a supervillain fantasy, he decided to ignore the second part The whole point of a hero training in the use of a weapon is that they learn how to use it without killing

Then she asked him if he thought about switching sides, he was silent for a little while, he was sure of the answer but he would at least give it some thought Not really, there's nothing that really benefits me by being a villain who leaves clues for the heroes. Besides, I'd never do anything bad for... personal reasons she then asked an interesting question, whether or not there was something he wanted... nothing came to mind but... What I really want is to help people, truly I do... but... I don't know...

"You sound kinda boring," Jemmy said bluntly. "Look, I'm not saying you want to murder people, but everyone has some sort of selfish want or desire. I know that because that's part of my job, to help people act on their selfish, shallow drives. Come on, you don't have to act like you're Mister Perfect. We both know you've got a long way to go before I dare judge you for anything. Think of this as...an exercise, to understand the criminal mind. If you want to catch bad guys, you have to be able to think like a bad guy. I think that's in a movie."

The grin on Jemmy's face grew wider, unnaturally so. "If you knew you could get away with something, that nobody would ever know it was you, wouldn't you at least be tempted? I mean, that's kinda how I feel all the time, so self-control doesn't really...happen."

Well Jemmy certainly didn't mince her words, she just straight up called him boring, Meta almost felt the need to stifle a chuckle, ALMOST. She then went on to say that everyone has selfish desires and that he should do this as an exercise to better understand criminals on a psychological level, he just ignored that.

Meta was slightly disturbed by the size of the grin on Jemmy's face as she grinned, he essentially just ignored what she was saying about how he may be tempted if he knew he'd be able to get away with something bad. When she said that was how she felt most of the time, he just chimed in by saying I'm not like you though, if I ever was tempted to do that I'd just suppress those emotions, unlike you I have self control

Jemmy thought about his words. He was keeping up an image of perfection. True or not, she didn't believe it for a second. "Are you trying to tell me you've never made a mistake? Whatever. Let's just get this invisible guy to the prison before he tries to kill me again. Or...just hurt me again, I guess."

The rest of the ride was boring and quiet. Eventually, they got to the prison, and Meta took the invisible guy inside. Jemmy waited for him to return, but when he came back, the boat did not lift up into the air. "I'm sorry if I did bad things a long time ago," she said. "For whatever it's worth. I forgive you for beating me up, too. I probably deserved it." The mischievous grin returned to her face. "But that doesn't mean I need to give you a ride back to Jump City."

Jemmy started floating into the air, while apparently reclining on some invisible piece of furniture. "See you later, alligator." She picked up speed, moving back towards Jump City. "Next time we meet, you better have some mistakes to tell me about."

Jemmy took his words to mean that he was trying to act perfect, he was going to respond but she just decided to move past it, so he decided it wasn't worth bringing back up just for the sake of defending himself, it would just look like he was trying too hard. Meta remained silent for the rest of the journey, normally he'd try harder to be sociable, but with her he just really didn't want to.

They arrived, and Meta led the invisible man into the facility, it took some convincing to get the guard to believe he was delivering an invisible prisoner and that he wasn't just crazy. Soon the assassin was lead into a cell, Metamorphi thanked them and walked off, going back outside.

Meta went back into the boat and sighed, sitting down Alright, let's go back but she made no moves, then she apologized for doing bad things in the past, which made Meta suspicious. Meta's suspicions were confirmed, but in a different way than he was expecting, when she went off without him, leaving him behind. He watched her disappear into the distance ...now what?