[Well that's not what he expected. Honestly Abel thought he'd be taking out the trash, or doing a grocery run. Being reminded of Cain still hurts, but he's come out in one piece on the other end and it's time to move ahead. Time to pull his weight and repay Matches and Loki.]
[Or talk about what being a Navigator means.]
Now that you ask, I guess the terms 'Navigator' and 'Fighter' really weren't very descriptive of what we actually did.
I mean, I definitely set the course during battles. But I also redirected power from the nav system to the weapons systems, handled R&D for engine configs, analyzed data from simulations and operational errors, performed maintenance and repairs-- Cain did that part with me though.
[If Cain was still within reach, Abel would have blushed and felt a swell of pride. He can't feel that right now, it doesn't feel right to tout his own accomplishments. They were a team, they fit together, they worked better together. He can't admit that he can function at that level on his own, not yet.]
( twenty minutes, and there's some shuffling outside the window before jason gets his fingers passed the barrier and climbs his way in. there's a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, collar of his jacket popped up to cover his neck.
he drops down onto the floor easy enough, makes his way over to the couch with the bag in hand. )
[Abel barely registers Malone coming in, casually flicking through Cain's Cooltalk. He's already taken grabs of the account, this is just his daily pilgrimage to see if the account has been purged or not. Somewhere he knows it won't happen, or it'll take a while at least, but he feels like its only guardian.]
[He looks up at Malone curiously, mentally waving away what he was looking at before eyeing the bag.]
Morningstar has tech to build their own ID scrambling helmets. Keeps the UNA or anyone from figuring out who's under them--and since this generation is built on implant tracking, they're not going to do jack shit with body types and speech patterns. Can't do much with it, anyway.
( out of the bag comes two shiny new ID scramblers, fresh off the morningstar racks. )
We're gonna pull these apart, manually. Use some blueprints I got, and redesign the tech so the signature can't be tracked back to Morningstar. In four days.
Four days? [Abel gives him an incredulous look, but he reaches for the scrambler anyway, curious to see what he's working with. Because even without verbally agreeing to it, he's clearly going to rise to the challenge.]
[Abel, having been in deep (and possibly overdramatic) mourning for his entire life, is unaware of what's going on with the other displaced-- maybe they's for the best, he won't ask about what Jason doesn't want to get into.]
[He frowns, clearly disapproving of the pressure that Malone seems to enjoy but Abel doesn't care for when it's not needed, but he doesn't say anything. He just examines the helmet.]
And how are you going to take heat off of Morningstar? Do something so flagrantly illegal that the UNA somehow ignores the whole of us?
[He sounds more disbelieving than disapproving, if it's any consolation.]
Overtake numerous criminal organizations, establish myself as their leader, and use them to divert UNA attention.
( said real casually, because how else would he say it? a few tools get pulled out of the bag too, and jason settles himself on the ground in front of the couch. there are a few other pieces inside of it, too: bits and pieces to redesign the scramblers themselves, some wiring, a few other things jason thought would be useful. )
[Abel watches Malone settle onto the floor with the tools and parts, looking about as hollow as he's looked the entire time he's been here. Normally, Abel would object to such extreme and dangerous tactics-- too much room for error, too little time to make it perfect and safe, and that was just the start.]
[But Cain never played by the rules.]
I'm going to have to rewrite the entire executable in case they've got any other Morningstar tech and have analyzed the code. That can be as telling as handwriting or a fingerprint. That could take two days, give or take, I wouldn't have too much time to take it apart and reconfigure the components.
[But he could probably do it. And it could be to his benefit that he's never seen or held Morningstar tech before-- he could just rebuild it using Alliance techniques and nobody would know where it had come from.]
( whatever it was that set it off--abel seems to have the confidence he knows what he's doing, at least. jason tilts his head up, raises a brow as he talks. it's good; jason could figure it out, given time and resources. he's no engineer, or technological genius, but--he was trained by batman and in part, talia al ghul.
being able to convert tech is part of the job.
giving abel some motivation to get shit done may not be as high on his list of priorities as this is, but it's up there. )
Good. ( that he hasn't seen jack shit and he's already formulating a plan. ) You won't be working on this alone, either. And I'll send over the blueprints and new design.
( four days was what jason wanted to finish it in. with abel's assistance, he's betting they'll get it done within the time limit. )
Oh? [Abel's already firing up his scanner program and using it to create a 3D model of the exterior, turning it over in his hands.] Who else is going to be working on it?
[Hopefully nobody he has to endure sad looks from, or questions about how he's doing. That seems fairly obvious, but people still seem to ask.]
Me. ( obviously, gosh. there's a small upwards tilt to the corners of his lips as jason turns his full attention on abel. holds back the laugh that threatens to escape. )
Oh! [Abel's eyebrows shoot up, but then he has the decency to look a little embarrassed. That's part of the whole Fighter-Navigator dichotomy that Abel's still pulling himself out of, that the Alliance had ingrained into all of them.]
( cute. abel gets embarrassed, and jason just--wiggles his eyebrows, gives him a stupid smarmy smirk. )
You totally were. But it's fine.
( it's on purpose. he was raised by bruce wayne, sure; but jason doesn't like to show off that he's not just strong and capable physically but also has brains to go along with it. easier to throw people off that way. )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[Or talk about what being a Navigator means.]
Now that you ask, I guess the terms 'Navigator' and 'Fighter' really weren't very descriptive of what we actually did.
I mean, I definitely set the course during battles. But I also redirected power from the nav system to the weapons systems, handled R&D for engine configs, analyzed data from simulations and operational errors, performed maintenance and repairs-- Cain did that part with me though.
[It really had been their ship.]
Why do you ask?
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i've got a project i'm working on and i want a second set of eyes
and i think yours might fit what i'm looking for
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[If Cain was still within reach, Abel would have blushed and felt a swell of pride. He can't feel that right now, it doesn't feel right to tout his own accomplishments. They were a team, they fit together, they worked better together. He can't admit that he can function at that level on his own, not yet.]
What kind of project?
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( he's still suspicious el can tap into all their conversations whenever el feels like it. )
twenty minutes
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[Suspicious, but he's not entirely put off.]
I'll still be on the couch.
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he drops down onto the floor easy enough, makes his way over to the couch with the bag in hand. )
We're building shit.
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[He looks up at Malone curiously, mentally waving away what he was looking at before eyeing the bag.]
What 'shit'?
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( out of the bag comes two shiny new ID scramblers, fresh off the morningstar racks. )
We're gonna pull these apart, manually. Use some blueprints I got, and redesign the tech so the signature can't be tracked back to Morningstar. In four days.
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You're going to use it in four days? What for?
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( also: there's the caroline bullshit. which he doesn't want to get into with abel. )
Told El I'd take some heat off of Morningstar, and I can't do that when I'm obviously myself.
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[He frowns, clearly disapproving of the pressure that Malone seems to enjoy but Abel doesn't care for when it's not needed, but he doesn't say anything. He just examines the helmet.]
And how are you going to take heat off of Morningstar? Do something so flagrantly illegal that the UNA somehow ignores the whole of us?
[He sounds more disbelieving than disapproving, if it's any consolation.]
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( said real casually, because how else would he say it? a few tools get pulled out of the bag too, and jason settles himself on the ground in front of the couch. there are a few other pieces inside of it, too: bits and pieces to redesign the scramblers themselves, some wiring, a few other things jason thought would be useful. )
So, yeah. Flagrantly illegal.
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[But Cain never played by the rules.]
I'm going to have to rewrite the entire executable in case they've got any other Morningstar tech and have analyzed the code. That can be as telling as handwriting or a fingerprint. That could take two days, give or take, I wouldn't have too much time to take it apart and reconfigure the components.
[But he could probably do it. And it could be to his benefit that he's never seen or held Morningstar tech before-- he could just rebuild it using Alliance techniques and nobody would know where it had come from.]
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being able to convert tech is part of the job.
giving abel some motivation to get shit done may not be as high on his list of priorities as this is, but it's up there. )
Good. ( that he hasn't seen jack shit and he's already formulating a plan. ) You won't be working on this alone, either. And I'll send over the blueprints and new design.
( four days was what jason wanted to finish it in. with abel's assistance, he's betting they'll get it done within the time limit. )
FIVE YEARS LATER......
[Hopefully nobody he has to endure sad looks from, or questions about how he's doing. That seems fairly obvious, but people still seem to ask.]
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I'm not just a pretty face, y'know.
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Ah, of course not! I wasn't thinking that.
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You totally were. But it's fine.
( it's on purpose. he was raised by bruce wayne, sure; but jason doesn't like to show off that he's not just strong and capable physically but also has brains to go along with it. easier to throw people off that way. )
I am very pretty.