[indent][u][b]January 11th, 1245 Hrs.
Grim grotto, Kasimir Castle, Gotham City, New Jersey[/b][/u][/indent]

[color=orangered][i]’Yep. Gonna be one of [b]those[/b] days.’[/i][/color]

Malcolm surmised in his own noggin, taking in the scene before him and to his credit, keeping himself from openly [i]weeping[/i] or [i]screaming at the sight of it-[/i]

For before him sat the immense, armoured bulk of the Grimmobile; literal [i]tonnes[/i] of armour and guns and a some of the most sophisticated machinery on the surface of the goddamn planet on [i]four flat tires in a puddle of virtually every fluid you could ever conceive of being in such a machine.[/i]

Also, the hood and most of what was under it was missing.

Also, it may or may not have been on fire just before he got here- If the pointed silence the scar-faced teenager’s Ma maintained about the plume of smoke that greeted him as he entered the garage was anything to go by.

...And the loud [i]’BANG!’[/i] that resonated in the background of the phonecall that brought him home early from a friend’s. 

No, no. Malcolm kept the pure, unadulterated [i]horror[/i] of the immense workload in front of him in a tightly locked box in the back of his psyche like he did most things, instead responding the only way he knew how-

[color=orangered]”Sooo… the new hybrid-magitech drive has some kinks, I see...”[/color]  

-By being a sarcastic little shit.

Of course, hoarding things inside like some kind of feelings dragon wasn’t mutually exclusive to Malcolm either. A soft hum was the only response he received from his Ma, Zoey’s steel-blue eyes focused on the mess in front of her. The billionaire was dressed in stark difference to her usual public persona, in oil-stained jeans and her favorite science camp t-shirt, not to mention the patches of smoke on her pale skin from this [i]unfortunate incident[/i]. The metal encasing her left forearm beeped in distress.

[color=crimson]”Perhaps a few,”[/color] The redhead finally conceded, only for a slight chuckle to build up in her throat. The fingers that before had been tapping against her chin thoughtfully dropped down as she stepped forward, fearlessly beginning to scavenge what remained of the engine amidst the tell-tale foam of a fire extinguisher. [color=crimson]”Though, you didn’t have to come home early from your friend’s, Malcolm. Working out the problems in this won’t be nearly as hard as maintaining the Justice Station.”[/color]

… That was, of course, followed by a low muttering that sounded somewhat like cursing. No doubt from remembering one of the other six Justice League member’s latest rough handling of [i]extremely delicate pieces of machinery[/i].

With a slight shrug, the boy removed his old bomber’s jacket and hung it off the handlebars of his bike, popping his knuckles as he walked over a little smirk and a shake of his head.

[color=orangered]”Eeeh, I was kinda being the third wheel anyhow. So I was actually pretty happy for the excuse to bail.”[/color]  

[color=crimson]“Well son, the answer to that is to steal his girlfriend.”[/color]

[color=orangered]”Oh, c’mon, after all that time I spent [i]nagging Anatoli to ask her out?[/i] that’d just be a [i]waste.”[/i][/color] 

[color=crimson]”Polygamy, then.”[/color]

[color=orangered]”Unacceptable!”[/color] Malcolm replied with mock outrage and a raised shaking fist… plus a wry grin as he grabbed a hold of his trusty wheeled tool box and pulled it over, removing his glow-hiding contacts and then slipping on a pair of leather mechanic’s gloves afterward. [color=orangered][i]”I refuse to be a sidechick!”[/i][/color]

With another little chuckle and a shake of his head, the wifebeater-clad teenager cast his eyes down towards the stagnant, outright [i]depressing[/i] puddle of mixed vehicular juices at their feet, cocking a brow in a particularly [i]Kasimir kinda way as he did so.[/i]

[color=orangered]”’Spose we should start by draining whatever’s left in the car then, yeah?”[/color] 

[color=crimson]”It’s probably the best option,”[/color] Was the calm response, even as Zoey pulled out a hanging part with a disgusted noise. It glowed an otherworldly orchid, faint though it was, but rather than treating it with the respect of a magical artifact she just tossed it aside. [color=crimson]”Don’t want the dogs getting any stupid ideas.”[/color]

They both knew she only meant one of the dogs.

[color=crimson]”Right, you work on draining the oil, I’ll grab the sand.”[/color]

[color=orangered]”Gotcha.”[/color]

Came the boy’s simple response as he lifted the top cover of his toolbox and flicking a quartet of switches on the small console wired into its underside, summoning a quartet of drones from the far corner of the vehicle bay, who dutifully wheeled themselves into the four corners of what was left of perhaps the single most badass thing ever to be placed on four wheels, deployed their built-in outriggers and began to lift.

[color=orangered]”So how’s work, anyhow?”[/color] Mal asked, pulling a small ratchet and socket out from the third shelf of his toolbox and casting another glance at the now raised Grimmobile as he stepped away to grab hold of a... [i]surprisingly mundane[/i] plastic oil drip pan with a long leck and a funnel [color=orangered]”...Aside from, y’know, having to fix [i]everything [b]all the damned time?”[/b][/i][/color] 

The clomping of metal on metal came back as Zoey came back, a large bag of sand not over her shoulder, but rather on the back of one of the security dogs. The mechanical beast’s head came up to her waist, dutifully following with glowing eyes scanning everything in sight.

[color=crimson]”The usual. Honestly I’m just thankful we had the foresight to install that magitech barrier - if I had to deal with outside debris along with everyone’s monthly accidents I think I’d go insane.”[/color] A flick of Zoey’s wrist had one of her ever present blades in her hand, and with a simple motion she cut a line into the sack of sand. Immediately the security dog began to pad forward, circling around the Grimmobile to begin soaking up the spilled fluids.

While it did so Zoey leaned against the vehicle, uncaring of the grime it left against the back of her shirt. [color=crimson]”Though, Preston’s wife is apparently visiting Earth for the first time. Let’s see… and Harris’ little sidekick is up from stasis. Apparently Karen unintentionally gave him a bit of a hard time, but at least she was there when he woke.”[/color] A frown tugged at the billionaire’s painted lips, another absent hum building up in her throat.

[color=orangered]”A... [i]hard time?[/i]”[/color] Mal echoed with a slight furrow of his brow, even as his glowing orange eyes locked onto the oil pan under the car and he stepped forward through the now-soiled sand, producing a muffled crunching as he wheeled his drip pan in behind him [color=orangered]”That seems a little… [i]Un-Karenish...[/i]”[/color]

Well he [i]said[/i] that, but truth be told, he hadn’t actually [i]seen[/i] Karen in just over a year now- And frankly, the last time he [i]did,[/i] there was a whole thing involving a cult, some guy who talked too much and had fetish for Ancient Rome and of course, as a slight itch along the lines of the scar above his brow reminded him, a [i]gigantic goddamn bomb in the middle of the Gotham Underground[/i] going on that [i]kiiiinda[/i] took priority over kicking back and shooting the shit.  At Zoey’s tone, however, the boy’s eyes swivelled in their sockets to peer over at her, focusing in on the translucent blue apparition of a woman that was his mother (as his brain comprehended her, anyway) against the roiling fiery effect the rest of their surroundings. Suffice to say, having eyes like [i]his[/i] made it awfully easy to read people, even stoic types like his mother- though he didn’t need any of that to tell that something was troubling her.

Flicking his eyes back to his task and setting about undoing the screw on the oilpan, he bit the bullet and asked the burning question-

[color=orangered]”...How is our ol’ Magic Kare-Bear, anyhow?”[/color]

[color=crimson]”Karen-like.”[/color] Was the immediately reply, followed by a humorless laugh. Zoey rolled her shoulders, tense as they always were, and raised a hand to rub at her temples. [color=crimson]”Putting too much responsibility on her shoulders, and remembering less and less to just be Karen Hernandez. Growing up too fast can do that to a person.”[/color] She huffed, pushing off from the car only to quirk an eyebrow at Malcolm, which he returned in kind. She was sure he could relate, but wouldn’t say that part aloud.

[color=crimson]”Though, at least she’s still a teenager. She’s taken to calling the Historama ‘Godtube’.”[/color] The billionaire snorted lightly at that, shaking her head. Finally Zoey moved, purposely going to the front of the armored car to begin examining the damage done in closer detail, now that it was lifted. [color=crimson]”And I may have told her to go join a sorority. Might keep her busy outside of her magical form.”[/color]

Mal let out a low whistle at that.

[color=orangered]”A [i]sorority?[/i]”[/color] Malcolm asked with a snort, but with slightly less of a smile now [color=orangered]”Jesus, that’s just [i]asking[/i] for a reenactment of [i]’Mean Girls’[/i] with a quarter of the run-time and an ending with a lightning bolt instead of a bus.”[/color]

Letting the plug-screw drop into the oil pan, knowing that it wasn’t going anywhere anyhow and stepping away to let gravity do it’s work, Mal moved back towards his toolbox as he pulled off his gloves and hit a few buttons on the console built into it’s lid- doing all this seemingly on autopilot as he kept talking. Brow furrowing slightly in a minute slip of actually [i]showing[/i] the concern he was feeling.

[color=orangered]”So do you [i]ever[/i] see her outside of work anymore?”[/color]

[color=crimson]”Not as often,”[/color] Zoey rumbled lowly, huffing lowly with agitation at the fact. [color=crimson]”At times it feels like I’m trying to lure her outside the Rock of Eternity like shaking a bag of treats for a cat. She’s her own woman now, but...”[/color] The Gotham hero trailed off, shaking her head. Finally she lifted her arm, the metal encasing her wrist lighting up as she prodded at the built-in keyboard, and soon she was left examining a diagram of the recently [i]exploded[/i] magitech drive.

Malcolm could only grunt and give a nod at that, even as his fingers danced across his console to try and get a diagnostic read on if there was anything left of the Grimmobile’s computer after all the car’d been through- There wasn’t exactly a whole lot of meaningful words he could say to express his thoughts on that statement, or his mother’s worries. But, casting a glance back towards the look on his Ma’s face the boy internally pondered what he was being told.

He mulled it over a bit, shifting his tongue about his closed mouth as he did before sighing audibly; both at the conclusion he reached and the fact that the console was telling him the car’s blackbox had actually been melted in the extreme (and possibly magical) heat of… whatever the hell went wrong with the magitech drive.

One of these things called for drastic measures. [i]And it wasn’t the one he could fix with a few hours of solder and twice his weight in caffeine.[/i]

[color=crimson]”Malcolm?”[/color] Zoey’s voice once more cut through the room, the noise of groaning metal and their own thoughts. Her steel-blue gaze had moved over to him, seemingly examining the boy more than the car. Finally a small smile tugged at her lips, and she stepped closer to reach up and mock-ruffle his hair, shaved short as it was. Maybe it was all this talk of being a shut-in, maybe it was just this brief lull in the stream of work that Grim used as a distraction, but... [color=crimson]”I’m glad you’re here, son.”[/color]

At that, Mal didn’t even bother hiding the grin that made it’s way back onto his face, his free hand idly rising up to catch hers and give it a little squeeze.

[color=orangered]”Glad to be here, Ma.”[/color]