Teen Titans: Next Gen IC

Mallory (Stat)

“Your father…”

Her voice caught Mallory by surprise, both because he hadn't expected to hear another person nearby, and a limited amount of exposure to said voice for him to figure out who it was until he turned toward its source. The sight of the Tamaranean Princess which greeted the teen certainly wasn't a displeasing one, in and of itself, but it didn't change how he didn't exactly wish for anyone to see him while caught in a moment of self pity.

“.. He has faith in you. My king has always spoken of him with high regard. I am sure his judgment is sound.”

X'Hal's words were simple, firm, precise and seemingly honest as they went straight to the point she wished to make. And while he wasn't opposed to finding out more about what her king had said in relation to his father, as she turned to leave, Mallory figured he knew enough where it wasn't worth pushing the subject on someone he barely knew at this point. Also, while he wasn't exactly an expert on the way Tamaranean's dealt with offering counsel to others, he could guess that attempts at doing so wasn't something the Princess did often. It caused a brief smile to ghost the side of his lips as he watched her leave, and for once his appreciation had little to do with the girls impressive physique.

After she left, the young hero resumed walking throughout the Tower for several minutes at a slightly increased pace that allowed for him to cover a lot of ground without risk of running into anyone as his mind continued to remain occupied elsewhere. Specifically, those parting words of his fathers which rang truer then he wanted to admit, but also couldn't deny. The speedster wasn't without a few missions under his belt (albeit most of them were done while in the company of more experienced heroes), yet he couldn't think of one which was on this level of both danger and importance. There was a lot riding on this odd group of heroes, perhaps more then any freshly formed team should have to carry the burden for, but each of them knew the stakes when they accepted their positions.

Mallory also held onto the belief that, despite the fact that he did occasionally let his emotions get the better of him while in the heat of the moment, his dad wasn't giving him enough credit. It was a sobering notion, the idea that your father, a man you respected more then just about anyone else in the world, might not have as much faith in your abilities as you'd like to believe. Still, if there was one thing the redhead could do better then most, it had to be his knack for making the best out of a bad situation. Perhaps he had been making too much out of the talk with Hex in his mind, and perhaps he'd been closer to the truth then he expected.

Either way, as his feet carried him closer toward his intended destination, the second generation superhero slowly nodded his head as he felt a sense of determination rush through him. With time, through patience and learning from any mistakes made along the way, Stat would make certain that neither of his parents nor anyone else could continue to question his commitment toward fighting the good fight.

"Ah, here we are...." The young man stated to himself as his eyes finally fell upon the door which, going by what he remembered of the detailed plans he was give for familiarizing himself with the place, would lead into his new bedroom.

In the literal blink of an eye, Mallory was down the long stretch of hallway and standing in front of said door, as his hand gripped at the handle before opening the doorway. Flipping the light switch, a wide smile spread itself across the young man's features as he gazed over the various contents of the room. The immediate items which caught his attention were a couple of his favorite models, both custom and store bought, being displayed upon the top of his dresser. The speedster swiftly started his examination of the room, moving from one corner to another in a blurring series of motions. Stat was like a kid in a toy store as he quickly discovered how there were several rows of books waiting on the shelves in one corner, while another had a dozen model kits waiting in brand new boxes for him to tinker with at his own leisure.

After a little more then a minutes time, the speedster had covered nearly every inch of every shelf and drawer in his room; along with having searched through his closet for a rough idea of what clothing was hanging inside. Part of him was tempted to pass the time alone in his room for a while, but, much as Mallory may have enjoyed working on models or reading, he was also rather anxious to both explore the place a bit more and get to know his fellow Titans. Thus, the young man wasted little time in sorting through his dresser drawers for a change of clothing; not wanting people to grow tired of his uniform before he had a chance at showing it off in action. As he went about changing out of his uniform and into more regular looking clothing (which took about 4.3 seconds), Mallory noted on how it was a shame he didn't have one of those perplexing Flash rings which one could use for stowing away their uniform. Primary reason for his not having a series of rings, of course, being that he changed the design of his uniforms so often where it would be impractical for them to be built in bulk.

As he was about to head out in search of his friends, the silence in Mallory's room was interupted by the brief electrical sound of its own Comm system coming online; followed by an unmistakably female voice.

"Um guys I think I just messed up here! I found an old file and it's........"

It as a voice he'd only heard a couple of times during everyone's initial arrival at the Tower, which made it difficult at first for the speedster to place where he'd heard it before. By the time he put a face to the voice, however, it was promptly replaced by a more familiar voice.

"If this program is playing then something pretty messed up must have happened. It's been a while since I updated this message, but here it is. This is my good bye message to you guys."

Stat stood near the center of his room with a curious expression etched upon his features as the message continued playing itself for the prying ears of himself and everyone else within their respective sections of the Tower. The message was intriguing in itself, with parting comments to pass Titans whom were active during the cyborgs time on the team. But it was when his fathers name came up that Mallory truly stood at attention; eyes widening slightly as he stared at the Comm, soaking in a confession made long before his time on this world. The teen knew the history of what happened between the two of them during the previous teams era. He knew how, even though his father had since grown to understand why Cyber did what she did, it was certainly one of the most pivital incidents in his lifetime.

The voice appeared to suddenly cut off in the middle of the message, slightly confusing the young man, though his attention quickly shifted to the sound of Arsenal herself speaking through the system again.

"Sorry about that guys, it went automatic when I unlocked the file. Any ideas of what happened to it? I think we should get this to our parents if any of them are still here."

Without bothering to take the time needed for sending a response over the Comm from his room (which he hadn't the chance to figure out in the first place), the young man dashed out out of the room without a second thought. While they weren't as durable when compared to the material of his uniform, the accelerated speed he was moving at hadn't been near the pace required for Mallory to be at risk of a wardrobe malfunction. Stat's blurred figured sped throughout the hallways, down the stairs, until he found himself near the hanger in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, there wasn't any sign of the Justlice League jet one he was inside, and a swift break for the nearest exit didn't produce any better results as he frantically looked toward the sky.

"Dag nabbit!" The young man cursed out as he lifted a leg and swung it toward the nearest rock, which caused his eyes to widen as he instinctively hunched over and grabbed at his now sore right foot; holding it with hands as he bounced around on the left one, "Oww! Oww! Oww!"

The Titan repeated his mantra several more times before finally releasing his leg and standing straight on both of his feet. Feeling the throbbing pain already subside as his increased metabolism kicked in, he once again gazed outward and into the relatively empty sky which surrounded the Tower. Letting out a sigh as he started to head back in, Mallory figured it would at least make for an interesting conversation piece the next time his father decided to check up on their progress. Which, the speedster had to imagine, wouldn't take very long.

She finished it. It was still slowly oozing its way down her throat, but dammit if she didn't finish it. The rather wicked sugar rush that would come from the far greater sugar than tea ratio would certainly come back to haunt her later, but at least she didn't look like a fool (in her eyes, anyway) for her mistake. Slipping off the stool, Kes started around the counter to rinse out her cup, a few ideas coming to mind on her plans for the team. "Hey guys, I-"

She froze, however, as a buzz and crackling sound passed through the air, followed by the rather rushed voice of Ollie and a second voice chiming in behind her- this one sounding more recorded than live. "If this program is playing then something pretty messed up must have happened. It's been a while since I updated this message, but here it is. This is my good bye message to you guys."

Cyber. She'd heard about her as well as most of the original team from Robyn... And only met a select few of them. After moving in with Gram for awhile, she rarely saw much of Jump City and its former heroic team... It was almost as if mom had regrets on things. She never liked to talk much about it with Jessi, and if it was brought up, she simply said that some things were to remain in the past.

In other words, mom-terms for drop the subject and shut up.

The room seemed so oddly silent as the message continued, Kestrel still holding the cup in the sink as she listened, the water left off as her other hand rested on the knob. Listening to all this was almost haunting, to hear the words of the former Titan and- Oh god. Was this.. Was this what it sounded like?

When the recording came to its abrupt end, she simply set the cup into the sink, closing her eyes a moment before speaking. "Titans. I- I know that was unexpected, and a bit emotional for a majority of you. Let's not think of this as something to mourn, but a reason to show our strength. This is why we are here. This is why the Teen Titans have reformed. We are the next generation of heroes that meant so much to this City, and we are here to give it hope once again. We are here to restore the name of the Titans, and to honor those who came before us in this building. It's because of them that we must prove that we can be a team, that we can fight together, and that we WILL bring down those who have made this City the horrible place it is today."

Looking around at the few remaining members in the kitchen, she moved away from the sink and pushed up her sleeves. "We've all had time to get to know the regular identities of our housemates. Its time to show what your heroic sides can do. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the gym."

And there was her mother, taking over once more.

Across the Jump City bay.

The figure looked through the window of the warehouse at the Tower. A little voice in her head said "Their back......." in a little sing song sort of way. She watched as the Justice League aircraft left. "Well well, it seems they've decided to put their kids to work. About time, business has been slow."

The armored figure turned and went into the office of the building and booted up the computer. She brought up video images of many of the arrivals to the tower. The team was set and assembled.

"Oh the games, they are about to begin. This is going to be great!" The figure said in a feminine voice. "Booyah."

"Well, that's good," Kestrel replied as she too his hand. "That means I won't have to hurt you any time soon." Harvey paused, puzzled for a second, then smiled, realising the joke for what it was.

"C'mon, Harvey. Let's grab a cup, get things set up around here with everyone else... Get about getting this team into some actual order." Nodding, Harvey followed her and opened a can of cola.

"Hey guys, I-"

"If this program is playing then something pretty messed up must have happened. It's been a while since I updated this message, but here it is. This is my good bye message to you guys."

Harvey listened in awe as the recording was played, and could see the anguish in his fellow team-mates faces. He could only guess that the voice was one that belonged to one of the original titans.

His train of thought was once again interrupted by Kestrel

"Titans. I- I know that was unexpected, and a bit emotional for a majority of you. Let's not think of this as something to mourn, but a reason to show our strength. This is why we are here. This is why the Teen Titans have reformed. We are the next generation of heroes that meant so much to this City, and we are here to give it hope once again. We are here to restore the name of the Titans, and to honor those who came before us in this building. It's because of them that we must prove that we can be a team, that we can fight together, and that we WILL bring down those who have made this City the horrible place it is today. We've all had time to get to know the regular identities of our housemates. Its time to show what your heroic sides can do. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the gym."

Harvey nodded, and made to make another sandwich, but suddenly doubled over as he felt pain course through his body, as if some unseen maiden was stabbing him. After a second he stood upright slowly and looked around curiously.

'I'm okay, It was just a bit of indigestion'

Arsenal looked up, the tears at only a light fond remembering level "That was Cyber from the original team. She was like an aunt to me. No one really knew whatever happened to her. Guess we do now huh?"

Michael nodded slightly. "I'll take your word for it. I don't know who that Sister Blood was she mentioned, but I guess if you haven't heard anything, then..." He stopped, realizing that going over the details of Cyber's disappearance might not have been the best idea right now. At least the message gave them some closure, as it sounds she had just vanished without a trace before.

Oliie looked down at the keyboard then back up with a bit of her old smile on her face "I shoot trick arrows, use a magic soul eating sword, and am a very highly trained martial artist."

She sniffed ever so lightly and then asked "You?"

The blonde man smiled and chuckled slightly at the girl's explanation of her abilities. Scratching his hair a bit, he shrugged as she inquired about his own abilities. "Well... I fly around and hit things, I suppose. I can't really think of a way to make it sound as cool as "soul eating sword" so I figure I won't waste my breath. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a swordsman, but I'm sure you trump me in that category."

With that, things became silent again. Michael's eyes glanced around the room for a few moments before turning back to Arsenal. "Feel like taking a break from this? Grab a drink or something?"

Heading for her room (or at least, the one that was once her mother's), Kestrel took a moment to think back on everything that had been said to her by Robyn.... Which was, all in all, very little. It was as if speaking on the Titans was painful, for some reason. there was pride on the group, no doubt- but something about it seemed as though she harbored some ill thoughts. Kestrel wasn't going to let that bother her. This was a new group entirely. Any issues that may have been bothering mom were not going to phase her now.

The door sliding open, she let her eyes adjust to the rather dark environment, frowning first at the fact it was so dark in there- only to frown further as she saw how bare bones the place was. "For god's sake, mom...," she grumbled, sitting on the bed and groaning as she found it hard as a rock. "Heaven forbid something be comfortable."

She nearly jumped out of her skin as the small comm in her pocket sounded off, grabbing it up and opening it. "What, do you like HEAR me talking about you?!"

"Actually, yes. That is my old room, after all, DEAR." There was a sharp tone to Robyn's voice with the last word, though the chuckle that followed ensured Jessi she was joking. "I wanted to know how thing were going. Any troubles so far? How is the team assembly going?"

"Uhmm... Nothing too horrible, I suppose. A few of them seem to already know each other rather well. A few names I've only heard you mention, and even a new recruit, you could say. Only one little problem with the comm systems; Arsenal accidentally set off a recording from Cyber, but it stopped by the time Joker and I were leaving the kitchen."

"Cyber? A- A recording? Jessica, I need to know more about this. There may be-" Robyn came to a sudden halt in her words, as though she were bothered by something else said by her daughter. "WHO was in the kitchen with you?!"

Kestrel winced as she realized what she had done, cursing herself under her breath. "Mom, relax. It's not what you think. Harvey is nothing like his parents, he's here to make a new name for himself. He's a nice guy, I swear. I trust him. We had a talk about the pasts between his folks and you and Gram. There's nothing to be worried about."

"I don't care if he's simply there to fix the plumbing; you keep your ass away from him, you understand me!?" This was not the voice of a former Titan yelling at her now. This was the voice of a concerned mother.

"Mom-," Kestrel started, sighing. "Mom, please-"

"Jessica Anne Grayson. You listen to me. STAY AWAY FROM JOKER. If your grandmother were to find out about him being there-" She trailed off a moment, then sighed herself. "I'm coming up there. I need to hear this recording you found, and I need to meet this Harvey for myself."

"No, no mom, please don't do that-," Kestrel spat out quickly, getting up from the bed as she paced the room. "I can send you the file, Harvey would freak if you came here..." The dead tone on the other end told her this was not up for argument. "Fine... Just- please... Don't bring Gram."

Still nothing. Had she hung up? With a groan, Kestrel opened up her luggage, taking out the costume that she had worn on her patrols of the city with mom and Gram back in Gotham. It was a blend of both the older women's suits, but also enough of Kestrel's own personality to be all her own. Changing from her streetclothes to the suit instead, she headed off for the gym as she had told the others earlier. Even as she walked, the conversation just held with Mom was ringing in her ears.

Ohhh, not good. So not good.
It left her both a bit scared and rather fuming. Mom didn't trust her decisions, her instincts. Sure, she was using the recording as a partial excuse, but she knew that poor Harvey was going to be put under interrogation. That was the last thing that guy needed right now, with everything he had told her. Why the hell didn't she just trust her?! She was the one who had said Jessi needed to work on her leadership skills, to be able to handle the responsibility of making team decisions. Wasn't the decision to trust Joker up in that?! She knew what she was doing, and Mom was trying to treat her like a child!

Her anger grew even further as she entered the gym, the practice dummy hanging in the center of the room feeling the wrath of the infuriated Titan as she took a running leap towards it, a roundhouse kick nearly knocking it from its chain as her foot connected against the sandbag body.

Beast Girl hummed happily as she finished revamping the room, which appeared a bit more unisexual than it did before. The room was now decorated with brass candle gardens, some of the stands stood from the floor and were a good six foot high, minus the height of the candles themselves, while others were on brass sconces or on smaller candleholders, all which were similar to those you would find in a mausoleum. Amongst these, there were many other much smaller candles. Geraldine chuckled to herself, the boy loved candles and preferred their light over any other source besides the moon.

The room was also a lot darker now, thanks to the new thick and luxurious drapes she had hung in replacement to the old ones, which had tasseled ropes to pull them back with. She also had Edward helped her put up Victorian iron grilles in the windows, not only for a decorative touch, but also for safety purposes, to keep those who were outside OUT instead of keeping her son IN. From inside, they were easily opened with a key, being that there were French doors built in them which could open like gates. She took these special precautions for a reason that was quite obvious. Of course, these, too, added to the dimness of the room.

Vlad liked it dark. And since it was like she had two children instead of just one, she had to consider both of their likes and dislikes when it came to sprucing up their new living space.

Of course, Jullian was happy either way as long as he had a spot to meditate and had the magic mirror which he could use to go to his favorite secret places. One of those places happened to be his enormous study room littered with hundreds of books, which also happened to be back at the mansion. There he could also play his piano, a skill he had acquired among many others since he insisted to always find a way to keep himself preoccupied. The mirror, of course, was placed in the back of his rather large walk-in closet so it would be kept out of sight.

And about being preoccupied, even though he always had a bed, he rarely ever slept. He considered sleep to be a luxury that he could not ever afford, not even with all the money in the world, and the times he had fallen into slumber he was greeted by endless nightmares and strange occurrences. Nevertheless, his mother gave him a entire new bed, topped with a new bed set and even bed furniture; Victorian styled with a canopy and made out of iron.

Under the bed was a rather large place rug, more similar rugs also lied under other pieces of furniture, such as the chaise and the coffee table. Every piece in the room seemed to match or harmonized well with each other, giving it a distinguished, yet, romantic feel. The older demon’s aim was primarily to make the place feel like home away from home, despite the fact her child could easily drop by any time.

She stood back and admired their work for a moment, still humming to herself. She then turned and looked over at Eddie who had finished setting up the clock. “Now, all we need to do is fetch the rest of his belongings and then we’re through.”

“I’m on it!” Eddie replied, insisting that he should retrieve the remainder of his ward’s belongings. And in a quick instant, he was gone, leaving only a puff of red smoke like he always did.


Meanwhile, back up in the Kitchenette…

Jullian sipped on her tea, listening to every sound and word within an six block radius, tuning her mind to go that far but no further. This sense of hearing was more psychic than actually listening with your own ears. She could hear her mother humming to herself, Eddie whooshing and shifting around from place to place, her brother roaming about the Tower‘s halls, other conversations being held between other Titan Members, everything. She could even hear the mechanical shifting of the woman who remained in the warehouse undiscovered, including the beeping sounds and clicking sounds that indubitably came from a central processing unit. And since the building was so high tech, it seemed the whole place was an “iron cage”. Iron cages are technically places where of technical energy is strongest, composed with many cables and wiring. Thanks to the gentle currents of the bay, the noise was brought down a notch.

All of a sudden the demon princess’s ears flinched as she then Olivia’s voice was heard over the intercom; "Um guys I think I just messed up here! I found an old file and it's--"

She never got to finish, however, as an installed program abruptly overrode the control room’s CPU system. "If this program is playing then something pretty messed up must have happened," The voice belonged to a woman, a voice that would have been unfamiliar if it were not for the fact of the Tower’s manifestations past.

Everyone in the Tower suddenly became still and quiet as they listened as the voice continued; "It's been a while since I updated this message, but here it is. This is my good bye message to you guys. I know this is sort of cheesy, but I got a bad feeling about what I'm about to do. I finally got a lead on Sister Blood and I'm gonna try to take the bitch down. Guess I failed. B.B. I love ya like a sister girl. If it's still alive you can have my car. I know you always wanted it."

Jules’ eyes widened. B.B. was another name given to her mother, the only difference was that it meant “Beast Babe” instead of “Beast Girl”. The girl’s heart throbbed as she sensed the overwhelming sadness rise up inside of her parent. She calmly placed her tea down back onto it’s saucer as she continued to respectfully listen to the rest of what the deceased woman had to say.

"Robyn, you and me went round and round a few times, but you were the best leader the Titans could have ever had. You and Kor really should have hooked up you know." She could hear poor Cyber breaking down by this point as she then spoke rather tearfully. "Hex, I know I hurt you, and I wish there was some way I could have fixed things between us. I don't know if you care or not but the reason I was always such a bitch to you was that I kinda fell in love with you. It hurt me so bad when I had to go back to the team that first time." She paused for a moment, gathering herself before she decided to continue; "Then you joined the Titans. You joined the team and made it very clear that I was your least favorite person in the world. That's the reason I joined the Titans East. I had to get away from you while I got over you. I never really did but I came back here anyways--"

The COM system suddenly screeched and was cut off. The others might have not known who was responsible, but Jules did, and she could not blame the woman for doing so. By now, the whole place was wracked with sadness, most of the women, including the apparition, were brought to tears. Among them, her mother had dropped to the floor, literally sobbing her eyes out as she tried to control her screams of denial over at what she heard.

“No. No. NO!” Her mother kept repeating, her voice muffled by her hands that were no doubt over her face.

Eddie was also in no condition to comfort the female demon, being that he, too, was now silently grieving. “…Hot damn…” was the only words he could manage to utter and he spoke them disconsolately.

"Sorry about that guys,” Came again Arsenal’s, yet, now grievous voice over the intercom. “It went automatic when I unlocked the file. Any ideas of what happened to it? I think we should get this to our parents if any of them are still here."

There was just so much sorrow going on, the princess of darkness tried her best not to break down herself. She also sensed the panging sensation in her redheaded friend’s foot, to which she knew how that managed to happen and that it was out of frustration. “You could call him.” She psychically informed as he made his way back into the Tower. “But to each his own.” She added to that statement, then reached down took out her cell phone and placed it quietly upon the table for anyone who needed to use it. She gave her friend beside her an informative look as to why she had done so.

Her smile had faded away, of course, which had been replaced with a rather stoic expression, that is, instead of displaying what she really felt. She was determined to not allow her emotions get the best of her, especially since she had already made a few slipups. She honestly could not afford any more.

"Titans.” Kestrel spoke up, having moved to place her cup into the sink. She tried her best to play her expected role and make best at the situation at hand. “I- I know that was unexpected, and a bit emotional for a majority of you. Let's not think of this as something to mourn, but a reason to show our strength. This is why we are here. This is why the Teen Titans have reformed. We are the next generation of heroes that meant so much to this City, and we are here to give it hope once again. We are here to restore the name of the Titans, and to honor those who came before us in this building. It's because of them that we must prove that we can be a team, that we can fight together, and that we WILL bring down those who have made this City the horrible place it is today." She paused as she looked around at them for a moment. Having gained a sense of duty, the girl pushed up her sleeves and began to march away. "We've all had time to get to know the regular identities of our housemates. Its time to show what your heroic sides can do. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the gym." She informed, perhaps leading the way if anyone decided to follow.

Not wanting to waste another moment’s time, Jullian calmly got up out of her seat, and then turned her attention to the rest of them. “Pardon me, but there is someplace else I need to be at the moment.” She excused herself after having pushed in her chair. She bowed courteously and then, in a quick flash, she disappeared before their very eyes.

The young demon had only one thing on her mind and that was her mother. A part of her urged to fret over her mother’s blatant sadness, but nevertheless she contained herself. Not that Vlad or Trigon had anything to say about it, being that the woman had taken great care of their vessel and had proven herself to be worthy of existence.

Once in her room, Jules eyes first landed upon Eddie. There he was, sitting in a ball by the window, his tail and arms wrapped around his legs for security, while his head was nestled between his knees.

Her mother, however, was laying on the floor, curled up in a fetal position. The woman continued to sob as she lied there dazedly, her tears forming a spot as they pooled onto the carpet.

Instantly, the girl came to her mother’s side, kneeling down beside her. She carefully brushed away the dampened hair out of the older demon’s face, caressing her mother’s face tenderly in the process.

Of course, such actions caused Geraldine to look up at her, her head gradually turning towards the direction of her comforter. She tried hard to choke back her sobs, trembling as she did. It pained her to let her child witness her in such a fragile state. It always did. She felt so guilty, especially in those times she was caught drinking her fears and worries away.

“Don’t cry, mother.” Her daughter spoke softly, a faint smile dressed her lips. She shushed soothingly, petting the former Titan’s head.

Beast Girl instantly sat up, only then to hastily clasp onto the teen.

Jules returned her embrace, allowing the roles to be switched as her mother laid her head upon her shoulder. She patted and rubbed her back, just like her mother used to do when she was upset. The demon princess did her best to remain calm, thinking back at the times at what her mother would do in cases like these when she was little. Just then a song came into mind, one which her mother would sing to her whenever she was sad or when the nightmares came her way.

She began to sing the words in a gentle tone…

“When you're all alone
Far away from home
There's a gift the angels send
When you're alone
Everyday must end
But the night's our friend
Angels always send a star
When you're alone
At night when I'm alone
I lie awake and wonder
Which of them belongs to me
Which one I wonder?
And any star I choose
Watches over me
So I know I'm not alone
When I'm here on my own
Isn't that a wonder?
When you're alone
You're not alone
Not really alone
The stars are all my friends
Till the night time ends
So I know I'm not alone
When I'm here on my own
Isn't that a wonder?
When you're alone
You're not alone
Not really alone…”​

Once she finished the song, she rested her head as well in the crook of the older woman's neck. She did not care if anyone heard her, nor the fact that she had an audience or perhaps came off all the more bizarre. None of that mattered right now. Besides, her mother would have done the same thing if they had somehow switched places. Truly, it was one of those Madonna and Child moments.

Ravenor stopped dead in his tracks when Alice popped up in his way, instantly he assumed she was here to berate him, but she didn’t say anything at first, he was used to that, normally she would just ignore him and pass by, but she had clearly sought him out this time.

Then he was completely stumped as she pointed at him, then bolted off again, making him look around for any indication of what the hell was going on, was someone else there? Or was she just messing with him?

He took two steps forward, deciding it wasn’t worth finding out what she was on about, but she was back again, like the halls were booby trapped, step in the wrong place and they throw a rabid krypt thing or whatever the hell she said she was when they met. “What ar?” he went to vocalize his confusion, but again came the ignoring as she kneeled down and…

Kneeled down and started fixing up the shoddy bandaging on his foot, now that, that confused him.

“What the hell did you do to your foot anyways? Cause I know I didn’t do it and it wasn’t there when I broke into your room.”

He didn’t answer at first, or at second, he just looked at her, more emotion on his face then there had been for quite some time, even if it was confusion, he kept expecting her to stomp on his foot or something, that would be more in keeping with the Alice he knew, all this niceness was down right disturbing coming from her.

But eventually he realized that he hadn’t answered, and was probably seeming just as strange to her “um, I…” he went to answer, intending to just outright tell her what happened and that he had kicked the wall, but her finger quickly came up to silence him.

"Hold that thought."

“O…k?” He replied as she ran off again, leaving him to his complete and utter confusion, not only did he have to figure out what just happened, he had to figure out what was going to happen, was she off for good this time? Was she getting something? Was he meant to stay, or could he go? “I am incredibly confused by all of this”

He stood there for another few moments, but then he realized something, barring any kind of hostile action, that was the first time anyone had touched him in… at least a year… his face fell for the briefest of moments, and he didn’t know why that bothered him.

Then, much to his delight, something came along to finally distract him, he listened intently as the first message came over the intercom, rather average, not that interesting, but the second one, the second one was far more important, well, not to him, but he knew how much it would have meant to some of the people there.

He somehow had developed a great need to sit down, didn’t matter where, as long as it was dark and empty. He walked in to the room across the hall from Jules new place, it was empty, and it was dark, it looked like a guest room, but no one had used it in years, so everything was covered in dust. He walked over to the bed and sat down, blankly staring at his feet for what seemed like ages, the sound of Beastgirls sobs from the room across the hall refusing to be blocked out by the two walls in the way.

Soon he felt his brother approaching, no doubt to console his mother, for a second he envied them both, then he was angry, the mix of emotion making the light above him flicker even though he knew for a fact that power hadn’t been restored to that room, then it was all gone.

He laid back as he heard his brothers song, the sound wafting through from the adjacent room, or was it his sisters song now? He didn’t know… he was confused, everything today had been confusing, he hated being confused, why did everyone else have to show up? He liked Phantasm, she kept to herself, and he was starting to build up a nice bit of mutual ignoring with Alice, but now all that was ruined as well.

He curled up on the bed and pulled over the pillow, trying to drown out the sounds, every word of that dam song serving to knot his stomach further, reminding him that his entire way of life had just been obliterated within a matter of minutes….

“My foot still hurts…”

Michael nodded slightly. "I'll take your word for it. I don't know who that Sister Blood was she mentioned, but I guess if you haven't heard anything, then..." He stopped, realizing that going over the details of Cyber's disappearance might not have been the best idea right now. At least the message gave them some closure, as it sounds she had just vanished without a trace before.

The blonde man smiled and chuckled slightly at the girl's explanation of her abilities. Scratching his hair a bit, he shrugged as she inquired about his own abilities. "Well... I fly around and hit things, I suppose. I can't really think of a way to make it sound as cool as "soul eating sword" so I figure I won't waste my breath. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a swordsman, but I'm sure you trump me in that category."

With that, things became silent again. Michael's eyes glanced around the room for a few moments before turning back to Arsenal. "Feel like taking a break from this? Grab a drink or something?"

Ollie grinned at Michael "Yeah a break would be good. I don't wanna be the one to find the next hidden gem here, you know?" She took his arm and headed towards the lounge area.

"And one other thing I may have inherrited the sword and it may be the only real thing I have of my Dad's, but with what it's capable of, I'd trade it in a heartbeat for a real power," she said with another honest smile, "Trust me, being a powered person is much better than being like Kestrel or me."

Mallory (Stat)

“You could call him.”

The familiar voice caught Mallory by surprise as he walked back into the Tower, but hadn't really startled the young man; whom had long since grown used to hearing his friends voice reaching out for him from a distance. It was just one of those things a person slowly grows accustomed toward when one of their oldest friends is of demon heritage. Not to mention a partial demon with numerous powers which, in some cases, he was only capable of grasping a basic understanding.

“But to each his own.”

With that, Jullian's voice was gone and the redhead was left with little more then the fading pain in his foot to keep him company. The thought of calling his father had clearly crossed his mind, but the type of message left in that audio seemed more like something to deal with in person, rather then over any form of long distance communication. Besides, while the jet his father was burrowing had been cloaked with Justice League technology, he wasn't certain of how untraceable any message sent to Hex would be while he was this close to the city. Not that it would take long for the jet to clear the city, even when running at a decreased speed. Thus, Mallory knew he was grasping at straws to avoid what would be an odd conversation, but he realized it was one which needed to be dealt with soon.

These were but a few of the thoughts going through the speedsters mind as he roamed through one of those many hallways which connected the different sections of the Tower. Picking up the pace as he made a speedy, yet ultimately slow (by his standards) trek toward the leisure room area; the redhead couldn't help but muse on how, in a tragic way, he was fortunate to not have a second generation descendent of Cyber's or any of the Hive students to deal with on the team. Judging by the way he was reluctant of dealing with the message for his father, Mallory had to wonder how he'd deal with kids whose parents may have past issues with his heritage. Especially after having bared witness to bits of the earlier uneasiness between Kestrel and Harvey, which made him grateful there wasn't a third generation Captain Boomerang hanging around here.

Closest thing he had to an awkward family history in here was the controversial legacy of cloning which saw to the birth of Alice. But that was different, since he'd known Alice for the bulk of his life at this point. In fact, Mallory had known the girl for a good while before he found out about the cloning, and even longer until finally being told the details of her predecessors past with his father. Any possible issues he would have with these aspects and the general history of her creation were resolved long ago. Not that there many in the first place, though the biggest had been the thought of how, had Match not died so long ago, she was perhaps closer to the child Hex would have had. These were ultimately inconsequential, however, as he saw her then, now, perhaps forever more as one of his best friends first, with everything else being secondary.

Despite his relaxed pace, it took less then a minute for Mallory to find his way to the main leisure room area which seemed to be the popular hangout for the new group of heroes. Peeking into the kitchenette portion, it seemed as if the majority of the team had left for wherever else by now; save for Harvey, Ronan and the young woman he was idly musing about only moments ago. With a smirk playing at the corner of his lips, the speedster snuck in and slipped himself behind the Kryptonian. At the speed he was moving, Alice was likely the only one who could make out his sudden entrance as more then the entering of an unidentifiable blur, but even she hadn't reacted fast enough to keep the redhead from standing behind her seat and placing his hands over her eyes.

"Guess who??" The redhead quickly questioned as he held his clasped palms over her eyes in an equally playful manner; keeping his hands in place long enough for her to get in one guess, before releasing his light grasp on her head and instead slipping his arms around her shoulders.

Linking them together by his hands, Mallory gave the Kryptonian an affectionate squeeze as he let his chin rest upon the top of her blond head; gazing at the others with half-smile as he noted, "Admit it, you guys missed me. It's my rapier wit and devilish good looks."

Actually, he could tell they had greater things on their respective minds then a briefly absent team member, but it was often in the young man's nature to try and bring levity into a situation. With mixed results, he often noted; though it wasn't as if he were incapable of offering up a genuinely sympathetic ear and shoulder to lean on when they were needed. He'd like to believe his friends knew that they could come to him whenever it was needed and, as his eyes drifted toward the familiar cell phone left upon the table, Mallory was left to wonder how Jullian and his family were doing after hearing Cyber's message. It was enough to cause his seemingly cheery demeanor to slip up as his mind steadily shifted back to what needed to be dealt with in his own family.

Letting out a sigh, the redhead released his hold from around the girls neck, giving her a brief rubbing on her shoulders as he gazed at the cell, "I'm guessing Jules left that for me to use, huh?"

Of course, the young man couldn't know how much Jullian had told Alice about the brief message sent his way, but he figured something was relayed to the girl so she would understand the reason for leaving the phone behind. Picking the phone off the tables surface, Mallory let out another sigh, knowing his father deserved to know about the message, even if he wasn't looking forward to the conversation. Funny how being a superhero works at times. He could deal with the idea of doing his part in taking on villains whom far outclassed him in single combat, but a simple phone call was where he started to falter. That was the trick about being a hero, however. Often the most difficult parts involved the pieces which took place between the epic battles for the future of mankind.

Glancing at those few whom remained, the speedster gave an almost apologetic smile for having to step away again so quickly, but knew it was a necessary break away from his team mates, "Excuse me for a minute, will ya? I need to make an important call to somebody."

The redhead then departed from their company, although he only went so far as to leave for the entertainment section of the large area. They could possibly still see him from their place within the kitchenette, but it was far enough where they weren't likely to hear any of his conversation. Well, except for possibly Alice, but he trusted his friend enough to not eavesdrop on the phone call with her super hearing, so there wasn't a problem there. Moving his fingers in the blink of an eye, he dialed the number which would connect him to his father on the jet, then waited nervously until the connection was made. As he waited, Mallory couldn't help but make a brief scoffing sound as he thought over how his father likely wasn't expecting anything like this during his short visit to the Tower.

Finally, the line was picked up, as the young man glanced once more toward the kitchenette area, then turned his back to that portion of the leisure room as he hesitantly spoke into the mouth portion, "Um, Dad? Hey, funny thing happened shortly after you left the place...."

She could feel his pain. He may have thought that over the past years he'd been living here she'd ignored him but she hadn't. She'd always kept tabs on him.

When he'd been left at the tower she had known his heritage so she'd kept up on him. And now she could feel that he was injured. Down through the floors she descended.

He curled up on the bed and pulled over the pillow, trying to drown out the sounds, every word of that dam song serving to knot his stomach further, reminding him that his entire way of life had just been obliterated within a matter of minutes….

“My foot still hurts…”

"The foot I can bind," she said, "I might even be able to do something about that annoyingly soothing music if you'd like Ravenor."

This one she actually felt something for. This one she could deal with. She focused her will and telekineticly applied pressure to the walls of the room shielding it from the sound vibrations of Jules' singing muting out the outside world.

"Is that better Ravenor? Willing to allow me to help with the foot now?"

Ronan

The Atlantean allowed for a small smile to ghost the corner of his lips as he listened to the changeling give her toast following his comment. Whether he/she was coming across as annoying or amusing for the young man, Ronan had to confess that the one thing he never found Jullian to be was a bore. Nodding his head as she finished speaking, he took another drink of his tea started to shift his attention toward the others while the changeling took a seat. Kestrel and Joker seemed to be getting on just fine by now, with a considerably less amount of awkwardness after their talk. The blond had inadvertently picked up snippets of their conversation, though the bulk of his attention was on the hostess responsible for the drink everyone was enjoying. As a result, he hadn't heard much of anything which anyone couldn't easily piece together on their own by simply watching the pair now.

Refocusing his attention toward the Kryptonian clone, the aquatic Prince was about to elaborate on his previous question when Kestrel started to speak up. Which, ironically, was similarly interrupted by another female voice over an audio system which appeared to be set up throughout the Tower itself.

"Um guys I think I just messed up here! I found an old file and it's........"

"If this program is playing then something pretty messed up must have happened. It's been a while since I updated this message, but here it is. This is my good bye message to you guys."

Although he wasn't terribly familiar with either voice at this point, it was hard to forget the second one when you'd just heard it repeatedly shouting something about a 'Booyah' little more then an hour ago. The message played on, but there didn't appear to be anything of significance in it for the Atlantean or his family. Still, as the young man listened to it play out for however long it would, he could see the reaction it was drawing from some of the others whom were gathered around him at the time. Rather understandably, in a couple of their cases. All the same, it was a shame that it appeared happy hour mingling time was about to be cut short for the small group of heroes as the message finally came to an end; albeit in a rather abrupt way.

"Sorry about that guys, it went automatic when I unlocked the file. Any ideas of what happened to it? I think we should get this to our parents if any of them are still here."

Silence permitted the room during the short time which followed the conclusion of Ollie's explanation of the unexpected recording. It was evident nobody amongst those in the kitchenette knew what to make of the disruption, or at least wasn't saying speaking up about it if they did. Nobody was saying much of anything, for that matter, which made Ronan more uncomfortable then the majority of what was left on that message; though he hadn't an idea of what to say in repairing the tarnished atmosphere which had been fairly light only minutes ago. The half-breed was actually about to say something, anything to break the silence (which likely would have done more harm then good), when mercifully beaten to the punch by their newly appointed leader.

"Titans. I- I know that was unexpected, and a bit emotional for a majority of you. Let's not think of this as something to mourn, but a reason to show our strength. This is why we are here. This is why the Teen Titans have reformed. We are the next generation of heroes that meant so much to this City, and we are here to give it hope once again. We are here to restore the name of the Titans, and to honor those who came before us in this building. It's because of them that we must prove that we can be a team, that we can fight together, and that we WILL bring down those who have made this City the horrible place it is today."

While the Prince certainly didn't share her exact sense of enthusiasm for heroics or the call of duty toward the people of this City, he could neither fault what she was saying or disagree with any of it. She spoke the truth on what needed to be done in carrying on the traditions set forth by those who took up the name of this team before them. And, perhaps more importantly at the moment, said what was needed to be heard by those amongst her in this section of the large structure. He watched as the young woman studied each of their reactions, then offered a few parting words in addition to those already given as she excused herself to the gym. Ronan simply nodded as she left, then slowly diverted his attention toward another team mate, whom had finally stood from her seat and started to speak up like he assumed she would after hearing Cyber's message.

“Pardon me, but there is some place else I need to be at the moment.”

"Of course, take however long is needed." The half-breed responded in an understanding tone as he watched Jullian starting to make her departure from the kitchenette area; his eyes following the demoness until she wasn't within his range of sight any longer.

Silently, Ronan hoped the changeling and its family would be fine after the discovery of this will by the former Titan. Beast Girl seemed strong willed, if very passionate and easily driven to acting on her emotions, but at least she had her child and Eddie there to offer any consoling. Of course, there was also the larger part of the message which would effect Mallory and his father (assuming the former Titan was in the building at the time, for all Ronan knew), but the connection between Jullian and his own mother hit closer since they'd only recently talked about their respective relationships with their parents; and the Prince could easily see himself heading to Ula's aid if they were in Jullian and his mothers place.

"Interesting first day, wouldn't you agree?" His voice came out with just a hint of sarcasm, which was ultimately drowned out by the serious undertone as he finished reflecting on his own family; though he tried not to show it as he stared over at those few whom remained within the leisure room.

The blond resumed drinking what was left of his tea, when he jerked upright and was nearly startled out of his seat by the sudden appearance of the redheaded speedster he questioned Alice and Jullian about previous to hearing the cyborgs message. His hasty return caused a brief draff which in his wake which started to blow away any napkins placed on the table; least until Ronan regained his wits enough to snatch them before they separated from each other in the wind. Not that Mallory appeared any the wiser of this, as he went about trying to play around with the clone whose vision he was temporarily obscuring. There was little wonder how the three of them remained friends for so long, as each of them seem to have a penchant for trying to amuse themselves and others at the most random of times.

"Admit it, you guys missed me. It's my rapier wit and devilish good looks."

Ronan actually came dangerously close to giving an honest, thus unflattering response to the comment, when he again remembered what Harvey had mentioned earlier. Thus, he bit his tongue for now, and simply buried any hint of an emotional response to the speedsters presence by finishing off what remained of his tea. Not that he necessarily had anything against Mallory at this point. He simply didn't find his antics amusing, nor would he have noticed his previous absence if the teens friends hadn't been present without him at their side. Although the redhead certainly seemed to be making up for this with how he was practically hanging onto Alice, the Prince couldn't help but notice.

"I'm guessing Jules left that for me to use, huh?"

His eyes followed to where Mallory's own attention had shifted, and noticed the cell phone which Jullian had left there only a few minutes ago. That explained one minor question, though it reminded the half-breed of a bigger one involving how the changeling was dealing with its mother. It was actually becoming a little annoying that he kept thinking about them, since the Atlantean originally hadn't intended to extend his level of caring about these people beyond insuring they didn't get killed while out there on the streets.

"Excuse me for a minute, will ya? I need to make an important call to somebody."

Ronan spared little more then a brief nod as the young hero walked away to make a phone call which, best as he could gather, was intended to break the news about Cyber's message to his father. Watching the speedster for a few passing seconds, the Prince glanced into his cup, finding it empty and not really feeling up for another cup at this point. Straightening himself out a bit as he briefly stretched out his limbs in his seat, the young man simply gazed at those few whom remained in the kitchenette area, before glancing toward the entranceway Jullian had vanished through. Since there wasn't much else to do, the Atlantean figured he could at least sate his curiosity about the demoness.

"I'm going to stretch my legs around the Tower for a bit. Be sure to let me know if anybody threatens all of humanity while I'm away." The blond explained with a touch of dry humor as he stood up and took his cup toward the sink, leaving it in there before turning around and promptly heading off in direction Jullian had head off toward.

Of course, Ronan hadn't a clue of where the room was as he traveled down the nearest hallway, but locating it wouldn't prove too difficult after the use of some often underplayed telepathic abilities. The half-breed paused for a moment as he concentrated his efforts and felt his senses taking an indescribable turn which only came from heightening them to 'unnatural' lengths. This was a technique he rarely spoke of despite inheriting and mastering it from his mother. It was often shunned upon by factions of his people, and heavens knows Ronan had enough problems fitting in without this serving as another constant reminder of why the young Prince was different from others. Truly, it was a mixed blessing that he had Terran for a father, as it did at least detract enough attention away from his families psychic abilities. At least here in the Titans such 'gifts' weren't so out of place and frightening when compared to what several other past and current members were capable of doing.

"Bingo." The Prince muttered to himself as he detected the faint psychic trace of Jullian's presence which he needed, then picked up his pace upon sensing a hint of the emotions going on in that room.

A short time later, the half-breed was approaching the changelings bedroom, which presently had an ajared door that allowed anyone passing by to peak inside if they wished. Which the young male did, despite knowing of how such eavesdropping would be shunned upon by most. What he saw was rather saddening, and tugged slightly at his heartstrings, now that he was somewhat used to the sight of the unusual participants. Indeed, though Atlantean had noticed Eddie in there, it was the sight of the demoness trying to soothe its mother which caused Ronan's features to display a rare expression of morose. It seemed he passed by the scene during the tail-end of their exchange, which was perhaps just as well, since the Prince doubted he could offer anything more then to find them a box of tissue papers. Probably wasn't his place, anyway.

Reaching into the room to grab at the doorknob, Ronan watched the mother/'daughter' pair for a couple seconds more before closing it shut to allow them their privacy. Tilting his head as he stared at the now closed door for a moment, the young man let out an exasperated sigh as he stuffed his hands into his pockets before turning to go. Of all the people to make him feel homesick, that odd trio of a dysfunctional family had to be the last source he expected to cause those pings of emotion. Shrugging his shoulders over the thought, the blond tried pushing such depressing thoughts aside as he tried to find a way to busy himself for a while. Preferably with less family related drama, which seemed near impossible in this place of late.

Ollie grinned at Michael "Yeah a break would be good. I don't wanna be the one to find the next hidden gem here, you know?" She took his arm and headed towards the lounge area.

"And one other thing I may have inherited the sword and it may be the only real thing I have of my Dad's, but with what it's capable of, I'd trade it in a heartbeat for a real power," she said with another honest smile, "Trust me, being a powered person is much better than being like Kestrel or me."

Michael followed Arsenal out to the lounge, listening to her apparent dreams of having real powers. He couldn't help but wonder what she would think of him if she knew he really didn't want the abilities he carried. Did it make him irresponsible? It was not as if he had chosen to be unique like this and since then changed his mind. Perhaps it was his attitude about the whole thing that was off. Here were a gathering of people, all with the desire to make things right, whether they had genuine powers or not. What was his motivation? His motivation was just to find answers. It was rather selfish, if anything.

"I suppose you're right... If you're in that line of work, at least. It is a bit surprising that people without any real powers choose such a... dangerous career..."

As they reached the kitchenette area to where they'd be able to acquire their refreshments, Michael paused at the entrance, only briefly turning his eyes from Arsenal to notice if anyone else was in there. Joker was among the few, but the fact that no one else really knew him yet didn't seem to bother the blonde teen all that much. Instead, he glanced back to Arsenal. "Why do you do it? Fight, I mean. My short walk through that city convinced me that this won't be an easy task at all... Dare I say, it might even be a suicide mission..."

Michael chuckled softly, leaning against a nearby wall and crossing his arms casually. "Sorry, I don't mean to be so dour... This is just... new to me. All of it... I've never used my abilities for anything of positive consequence..." He continued softly, wondering to himself if this sudden attempt to put his abilities to use would result in anything worth living for. Did he really have power for a reason, or was it all just a coincidence. One of the many questions he hoped to answer by being here. For now, however, he'd just enjoy the company. The dark haired woman before him was particularly attractive, but she didn't seem like a woman he could just flirt with idly. The women here probably weren't lured so easily.

"You leave yourself open! Pay attention to your surroundings!" The barked warning from Bryce's lips left Jessi completely aggravated, Her fists balled tightly as she watched the older woman pace so calmly before her. "You're doing it again!"

As she said the words, Bryce's hand darted out, slapping the younger hard in the cheek. Jessi cursed at the stinging sensation on her skin, hastily yanking away and glaring at her grandmother. "You actually HIT me!"

"I slapped you. If you want me to hit you, I'll hit you." Bryce raised her hand questioningly, as if waiting for Kestrel to agree to the more painful option. "You'll feel far worse from those you face if you keep leaving openings like that. Part of your problem is jumping the gun. You need to realize what's around you, Jessica. To only focus on the goal achieves nothing. It's focusing on the way to reach that goal. Do you understand?"

She simply stared at her, a confused look on her face. "No.... Not really..."

"A goal is important. But its far more important to know how you'll reach it. It can be as simple as getting past me to go play your video games... or as difficult as saving a friend's life when they're in danger. You need to be able to handle that pressure, the unbelievably hard odds against you, the possible lack of faith that your companions may have- You need to be able to see past all of that and focus on how to achieve your goal. You have to believe in yourself and that you can do what you need to do. The only person who knows your limits is yourself, but you have to be willing to trust them- as well as test them."

Gram's words frustrated her now. She knew her limits, she knew to trust herself- and she was dealing with her doubting mother snarling in her ear. Part of her wondered what Bryce would have to say about mom's overreaction to Harvey- but a far greater percentage of her said to keep Gram as far, far away from the Tower as possible.

No. She needed to keep her mind elsewhere. Not focus on all that. It would drive her insane if she kept lingering on the 'what-if's of the days ahead. She had other things to worry about, like getting the Titans back into shape. If Mom were to see the way they were now-


"Gyaaaah-!" Kestrel winced as her mind began to wander off once again, flexing her fingers as she watched the swaying mannequin in the center of the room. The poor thing was rather sagged and lumpy after the beating she had given it thus far, Kestrel herself sweating and still breathing hard. Her usual way of dealing with frustrations- beat the shit out of something else. As her thoughts started to rebuild, she attempted to shut them out by taking a running start towards the dummy, launching into a handspring and causing the bag to nearly touch the ceiling with the force behind her feet impacting. Landing back against the floor in a squat, she glared up at the swaying object as she brushed her hair from her eyes, a light puff leaving her lips.

"It'd be a lot easier if Mom'd just fucking trust me...," she grumbled, getting up fully and looking around the room. She was partially afraid of hitting that old dummy too hard and causing it to simply fall apart... Something a bit more durable was in order.

Harvey carried on eating as Julian left the room.

His mind began to drift off once again...

Mallory's appearance though, once again snapped him back to the present, as the redhead placed his hands over alice's eyes while asking 'Guess who?'

"Admit it, you guys missed me. It's my rapier wit and devilish good looks."

Harvey simply raised an eyebrow, and was about to reply sarcastically, when the speedsters attention suddenly moved to the phone on the table picked it up, and quickly excused himself.

Ronan suddenly chose the same moment to depart, leaving Harvey alone with Alice, though not for long, as almost immeadiatly Arsenal entered once more, with the blonde kid in tow. The 2 of them though seemed more interested in each other, so Harvey turned back to Alice.

'Hey,' He smiled, 'You want to play a video game or something? That is, if theres a console around, mind you i've only ever really played Call of Duty 4...' He paused realising that he was speaking almost as quickly as Mallory, and began to chuckle.

'God, Don't I sound like an Idiot. I guess it's a result of not really having a childhood,' He offered his hand out, 'Anyway, we haven't being properly introduced, I'm Harvey.'

Ronan

The young man wandered around the halls for several minutes; partially out of a need for clearing his head, but mostly due to not knowing where everything was in this place. The Atlantean knew he should have paid better attention whenever one of his parents tried to get him a breakdown of the Towers layout, but he foolishly assumed they would prove better organized in helping the new members get settled into their new base of operations. How frustratingly naive the aquatic Prince turned out to be when it came to that assumption. Still, despite how annoying these slight detours were turning out to be, Ronan's current train of thought was primarily focused upon deeper issues.

Specifically, those nagging feelings of being homesick, when he'd just seen his parents prior to his departing for the surface world on the previous day. Which was strange, since the young Prince had been away from them for longer stretches of time in the past. Ronan could only assume it was a combination of seeing a couple of his team mates dealing with trying to comfort or break emotional news to their own families, as well as being so far away from others like himself. Or at least the Atlantean part of himself since, realistically, wasn't anyone like the half-breed when it came to.the civilizations living below and above the body of water which made up most of this planet.

Either way, it was the part of himself which he felt at greater comfort with, especially after his mixed (at best) efforts at fitting in with the humans on his team. Although he continue holding onto the belief that, for the most part, these road bumps were due to several of his team mates being a head injury or two away from ending up in a mental hospital. So at least he had those thoughts to console himself when it came to any slip ups in dealing with those participating in this odd faction. Not that he couldn't do for a change in subject or another means of occupying his thoughts for even a few minutes; which was why his feet carried Ronan about as he sought out and finally came upon the gym.

Normally, the Prince would swim off his worries, but he doubted a chlorine filled pool would prove as rejuvenating an experience, and he didn't wish to possible draw attention to himself by leaving the Tower on his own. Besides, it took him this long to find the gym, so he started to question if he could find his way of this place if he wanted. Upon stepping into the gym, his eyes almost immediately shifted toward the sight of a seemingly worked up Kestrel, who didn't appear nearly as calm nor collected when compared to how she left the kitchenette area. The Atlantean raised an eyebrow at the sight as the practice dummy in the middle of the large room swung back and forth, which answered his question on what she was taking her energy out on, but left him fairly curious on what had her so worked up in the first place.

"I'd try to go a little easier on that dummy if I were you. Kind of a bad start when the team leader begins breaking equipment on the first day." The blonde stated as he closed the door after him before walking into the room; allowing his eyes to take in a cursory glance of his surroundings, until they finally settled on Kestrel once again.

Ronan hadn't really known or seen enough of the girl at make any judgments of her at this point, but, according to Jullian, she was at least the leader by default of this new group of heroes. Which he didn't have any problems with, since one of royal heritage whom lives in a society ruled through a monarchy certainly didn't have any room for complaints about a person being placed in charge due to heredity. What little he had seen, however, left him with an early first impression of a person willing and potentially able to fill the shoes left by those before her. In retrospect, it was perhaps because of this that he was both intrigued and slightly disappointed at the prospect of the young woman letting anything get her so worked up after only having the position for a few hours.

"What has you so worked up in the first place?" The half-breed asked as he closed much of the gap between himself and Kestrel, though his gaze was momentarily focused upon the dummy, seemingly trying to make out how much 'damage' was done by her aggression releasing blows, "You seemed to have it pretty together back there, but now I find you beating on an inanimate object like it swore a blood oath against your family?"

Returning his full attention toward the brunette, Ronan crossed his arms over his chest and looked her over briefly, then let out a sigh as he used the other Titans current problems as a basis for taking an educated shot in the dark, "Please don't tell me it's family issues? Trouble with the idea of living up to your predecessor? We already have enough of that around here without the head of this team falling into a similar dilemma."

Which may have had a ring of truth to it, but the Atlantean realized it perhaps wasn't his place to comment so quickly when he hadn't even really spoken to the woman until this point. Still, if ones fellow team members didn't bring such concerns to their leaders attention, then who would? Not that he couldn't have tried a little harder at being less of a jerk about the way he approached her about it. In either case, he was already bringing his assumptions and the opinions he formed based on them to the forefront, so he didn't really see any reason for cutting his comments short at this point.

Staring the young woman for a while longer, the half-breed then shrugged his shoulders as he pointed out, "On the bright side? If you do feel the pressure is too great for you to handle, it's at least early enough where you could easily step down and let somebody more capable take on the position."

Ronan had said a lot of things where he was either speaking bluntly or not completely taking how others would feel about his comments into consideration. In this case, however, he made his 'suggestion' with a fairly clear intention of getting a rise out of the woman; despite whatever unflattering truth there may be in his words. This was perhaps most evident by the way the corner of his lips curled into a teasing smirk by the time he finished speaking. Why he acted the way he did? Hard to truly say, though the most likely reason probably had to do with both wanting to see how the person he would presumably follow the lead of for the following year would handle herself, and as a means of busying his mind with anything other then his occasional feelings of isolation.

Tis The Truth Beneath The Rose... BG's INSANE! But she does have a reason to be...

~War is death's feast. When its time has arrived, the prey becomes the hunter.~​

Geraldine was no longer the nice girl that everyone once knew, no longer the pushover that she once was almost twenty years ago. Time was known for changing anyone, and considering the circumstances she had faced and been through, one would understand why this was. The smiling face that the Titans had seen was merely a shell of her former self, the same could be said for the actions she had been carrying out since she first set foot in the door. In short, it was all an act on behalf of her previous ways of what use to have been, a conduct that could change in a moment flat without any warning. She was growing tired of keeping up this charade, trying so hard to be a buoyant figure which was a boldfaced lie.

Deep down, she was no longer soft but tough as nails. Having to become an astute business woman had also caused her to turn into being something fierce, cross and often cold as a crypt. But likewise, deep down, she was slowly deteriorating, dying. Having to deal with the countless deaths around her throughout her life, having lost people whom she cared for, and dealing with the tragedy that was her child’s life, the woman was little by little crumbling away. Even though she held great love for her child, a part of her yearned for death, brought by the madness that consuming her throughout the years. Eventually, she began to drink in the very madness, serving it in a tall glass, her way of trying to accept it all as it was. She was not calm and wholly confident as she looked or made herself perceived to be.

Beast Girl was never fond of her demon nature, especially during the time when it had taken her over when she was called to serve the most terrible and evil being in existence. Being raised as a Christian, she could not help but feel as if God had completely abandoned her in the darkest moment in her life, and out of His anger, scourged her for her for the creature she truly is.

Her betrayal against her friends and fellow teammates dealt her life a heavy blow, having lost all humanity in the world’s most darkest of hours. During that time, her friends were not her friends, but her enemies, and like all her enemies, she was determined to make them all perish. After having removed her “death mask”, a supernatural cover over her face, which upon after it was removed, she regain back most of her sanity. In the end, she knew what she had to do to bring an end to all of this. Believing it was the only way to defeat Trigon, she sacrificed herself, in hopes of making up for all she had done. Truly, she believed that day would be her last… But she was wrong, dead wrong. She survived, but was in limbo for a great deal of time. It was not long afterwards she discovered that she was pregnant.

The greatest blow dealt, however, was when she found out the fate of the child she was soon to bear into the world. The black dog came over her immediately after the realization that her child was destined to be the dreaded Prince of Terror, the bringer of both hell, death, and destruction. Her child was “the devil” and there was no way to run or hide from the unsettling truth. Oh, she tried, first by denying it all, but soon she found herself hounded down by those who either wanted the child for themselves or by those who wanted to destroy it before it was ever even born.

“The child that lies within your womb is that of our dear beloved mother. You mustn’t deny it, Geraldine. Come with us, we just want to guarantee her a promising future.” Insisted Jacquelyn, the demon spawn of Trigon who invokes lust.

“We promise you will have a part of that future as well.” Promised Jamie, tempting her, who’s sin is that of Greed.

“After all, you have made yourself worthy.” Added Jessie, also known as Envy.

“And we won’t abandon you or the child like our brother did!” Informed Jayden, the demon of Wrath.

“After all, us devils must watch after our own.” Said Jackie in an assuring tone, and she was the one who was Sloth.

“We’ll be like one big happy family.” said Trigon’s children, all together in a creepy union.

Oh, she knew better. But in any case, this all led Geraldine to despise her existence all the more.

Giving birth to such a child was nothing short of the apocalypse in of itself, surely feeling death’s presence awaiting at the door. Even in the underground hole she resided in while was in labor seemed to quake with such force, it seemed the whole world felt it as well. Eddie had said that it was if the moon has tripled in size had been turned to blood, and that all of electricity had been cut off until all of it had all passed, like an electromagnetic pulse had stricken the city and caused everything to cease. Not her fault the baby decided to come while she was in New York City. The sun had not come out the day before either, turning black as if someone decided to shield the earth from it‘s light completely. Meaningless to say, everyone was stunned by the phenomenon.

And before Jules was born, and especially afterward, Geraldine was anything but a happy mother. She fought long and hard to keep the child’s existence a secret, even if it meant that the others were to never know she was still alive. In spite of that, she still loved her baby regardless.

But such secrets could not be kept for long, and in time, everything she fought long and hard for fell apart, which started her down this long and winding road that inevitably changed her, if not for the better, then for the worst. The gloves were off. Beast Girl held no remorse for those who were against her, especially if they were trying to assassinate what little she held as her family. Survival became like black warfare, and she very much became diplomat only when it was called to be. Nevertheless, she was still bent on providing her child a normal life, a life much better than that of her own. Not only was she a mother, but she was a fighter as well, and hell hath no fury like her own. The only one who could outmatch her in this was that of her child, the very embodiment of hell itself.

Furthermore, she saw herself as a soldier more than anything, an elite fighter who stood in the front lines, ready and willing to defend all that was left that she held dear with her very life, no longer just a mere lady who had been dealt with an endless case of bad luck. The very fate of the world rested in her hands, to shield it and to protect it from oncoming darkness. Likewise, she taught her child to do the very same and to take her place when the time came. And her servants were more than what they seemed, being once heroes themselves, they still fought for the greater good of all human and humanoid kind. When one boils right down to it, Geraldine was also that of a General Officer, a Major, reforming The Doom Patrol in her own style since leadership was handed down to her after the old one had fallen.

Over the course of years, she had received various names or titles. “The Black Madonna” was one of those many names, as well as “The Akkadian Whore”. Eddie, too, suffered from given names, “The Dark Priest” and “False Prophet” being the ones that stuck the most. And both could be just as terrible and bloody as when the time called it to be. Heck, the least Eddie would do is spit in your face, if not rip it off if you got too close! Not that they cared what anyone thought anymore, mind you. Out of the two, however, her heart had hardened the most.

As time had changed her, Geraldine held none or little respect for anyone who saw her anything else but a force to be reckoned with. She reviled those who thought they were smart enough to try. She was not to be taken lightly and she made sure of it, too, keeping everything in order as if she was preparing for the ultimate war. Partial of the blame was that of her demon nature, while the rest was simply because of her history and what she feared was to come. “Judgment Day” being one of the terms defined by the Church within their town.

When Geraldine meant business, she meant it seriously…

And back when her Estate was infiltrated by the Brain’s hired forces, who slaughtered her men and even some of her servants in the process of it all, meaningless to say, she was down right furious! Enraged by their vile deeds, she showed NO mercy and ordered that her enemies be annihilated entirely. No one was to be excused from marching onto her property uninvited, let alone believe they could get away with such a crime as seeking to assassinate them, especially her child. After all, the main purpose of the attack was so they could destroy the young boy. He was twelve when that incident transpired. And to further prove she meant business, she diced many of her enemies up into tiny bits and pieces and even so much as blasted a few heads clear off their shoulders with a few weapons built out in courtesy by the weapon master himself, Edward.

Of course her son spilt more blood than any of them, painting the walls red for he had snapped when he saw the Brain’s men killing everything they could get their hands on, including their beloved pet cats. Unfortunately, that happened after the instigator of the whole force managed to get his slimy hands on the boy. The man was as psychotic as he was dangerous, torturing the kid as he cut his face with a knife. Eddie was supposed to be watching him and keeping him safe, just like the last time when Neron kidnapped Jules. But Eddie could not be held to blame entirely, in spite of everything, Jules seemed to run to trouble instead of running away from it! If he was human, his curiosity and strong iron will would have already been killed him by now! The woman wondered if it was her child’s other personality was to blame for such times of recklessness, daring people to try and see if they could kill him.

“He really wouldn’t…would he? …Kill all those people if he had a choice not to?” She would try to reason with herself, denying what was the truth.

“You seem to keep forgetting who he truly is… A monster.” Eddie kept trying to remind her time and time again what Vlad was. “Deep down, he is the devil, after all. …No matter how hard one tries to deny it.”

Fortunately, the boy had learned from his past mistakes to not permit such happenings to occur, at least not as often as they once were. Because once after he had realized if he did, the seal that kept the darkness at bay would be no more, losing it’s strength each time he did. She was just grateful that he was bent on not permitting that to happen, less the worst was to come sooner than expected.

…Nevertheless, Beast Girl was prepared for the worst. Come hell or high water, she was determined to be on her son’s side no matter what. She no longer cared that he was the embodiment of Trigon, he was her baby and thus would always remain as such in her eyes. And no matter how much the future hurt her, she would be by his side at the end of time if she could, because she certainly would never be against him.

“Your heart will be pierced by thirteen swords…when that time comes. Six of those swords will occur during that of the years when one is deemed innocent. The rest will surely follow afterwards.” The Angel of Death had foretold to her before her child was even born. “Out of everyone else, you will mourn the most, though you will not be alone in your grief.”

And it was true, if you considered every onslaught, after onslaught, after onslaught that had happened since then, especially what occurred during those time that they did. …The unspeakable horrors. Sadly, these were words spoken by a child and a young teenager:

“Now behold as my true face shows!”

“You are dog food to me. And soon to be nothing more than shit.”

“Come on! Get angry! Get up! Face me! Come on! You don’t have much time! HURRY! GET UP!”

“I, the Executioner, have caught sight of the condemned. Permission to summon “The Guillotine Effect” as stated in for summoning the infinite power of The Demon God of Terror and Ruler of The Underworld. Permission granted. Opening Gates of Hell at a five degrees scale, as so all Hell shall not break loose. Assembling and unleashing the Hellhounds of destruction; guardians of the gates, the devourers of the flesh and bone, and hunters of lost souls. KERBEROS! CERBERUS! Your Master summons you, COME FORTH, and partake as you inhabit in my shadow!”

“HURRY! HURRY! HURRY! TIME'S RUNNING OUT! TICK TOCK! TICK TOCK!”

“Ahh, sweet misery! How delicious it is! If only you could join me in my consumption! Indeed, it is a meal fit for a king! A Shmorgesborg of unadulterated agony!”

“Fool. You are all chest pieces in this game and I am the god who’s in control.”

“Enjoy your endless waltz, for I will make sure it will at last be brought to an end.”

“This is your finale, so go out with a bang!”

“You’ve got one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel… And I am about to push the rest of you in!”

“In order to perform a proper duel, two gentlemen must greet each other with a bow… Now BOW!”

“I want to hear your screams! And I won’t stop even after I do! And what joy it will bring me when I see the light leave your eyes!”

“Indeed, I am MAD. Madder than a MEAN JUNKYARD DOG!”

“This world is begging for a world leader…and I am the one who’s guaranteed to take the job!”

“Who am I? I am the deliverer of an untimely death. The harvester of lost souls. The Prince of Darkness and my kingdom is HELL.”

“You are all already dead, you just don’t know it yet.”

Those words echoed throughout her mind, as well as the screams of those who had caused the darker side of her child to come out and bite. Vlad was indeed mad, but even though he also seemed to lack any sense of kindness, he always carried himself in a dignified manner… That is, until you have managed to piss him off, though you could rarely ever tell if he was truly angry. He always seemed to grin, like Cheshire. She could not deny that he was the real deal, that Vlad was her real son, not the Shadow whom she wish he would be.

And in time, it was if he was rubbing off on her, bit by bit.

Out of all of this, and when you came right down to it, the only kindness or humanity she had left she would spend on only those whom she cared for or was considered to be her friend. Everyone else, she did not trust and regarded them with the utmost seriousness, as serious as the tombstone on a grave. She no longer cared for the past, believing it to be dead and buried. The very same went for her love life, or what it used to be, which she had given up a long time ago, primarily it meant she no longer dated men. All that mattered now, out of this consuming madness, was her son. Jules was all that mattered. ...Well, mostly.

Speaking of which, the only real joy she had now was knowing her child was alive and well, especially “well” and triple for “alive”. Being that she was a very busy demoness, she nowadays barely had enough time for her to generally spend with her offspring. Either that or Jules had gone away to seek for more answers, and in the process, hoping to find more solutions to better himself and slow down the process of his preordained future. And in her spare time, when she knew all was well, she would indulge in the carnal pleasures of both smoking and drinking. Actually, in fact, there was rarely ever a moment when she did not at least held a cigar in her hand.

This, of course, lead Beast Girl to wonder if her overemotional state was either more from nicotine withdrawal or from the fact that too much of the past was coming back to her way too soon and all at once. She had not cried like this since she had once lost a great deal of her men. And even though she knew it was more likely the latter, or a little bit of both, she decided it was the prior reason the most.

After wiping the tears from her eyes, she straightened herself up immediately.

Jullian blinked as she watched her mother stood up, a solemn grimace upon the older woman’s face. Even Eddie could not help but look up to watch, knowing exactly what was going through her head.

“Jullian, stand before me.” She sternly ordered. “In the form you came here in.”

Jullian, of course, complied with her mother’s wishes, and after having stood up, she became male once again. His clothes had also changed along with him, now sporting a black tux, a matching top hat, leather dress shoes, and a cane. The braids in his hair, Alice’s craftsmanship, were also gone. He became still, as if someone had put him on pause, awaiting for his mother to speak.

Geraldine stared at her child, her hands clutched tightly by her sides as she tried to figure out what she was going to say.

“Jullian, I do not know if what we are doing now is the right thing,” She spoke gravely. “But I do know it is the best.” She paused as she drew in a deep breath. “That is why I am requesting you, Vlad, to…” She found herself hesitating to speak the words.

A devilish smile appeared upon the Prince’s lips, signifying that the one whom she addressed was listening. The room turned black as his shadow covered the walls, preventing all and any sound within the room from escaping. “Yes, Mother? What is that which you order?” The Dark Prince coaxed, a low rumble emitted from him as he waited in anticipation. “Speak and it shall be done.” He added, removing his hat and bowing respectfully to her.

Geraldine squeeze her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, somewhat dreading what she was about to say. But then it then all came burst out; “TO TAKE DOWN THOSE WHO HOLD THIS CITY CAPTIVE! AND DON’T EVEN THINK OF STOPPING UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE, DO YOU HEAR ME?”

Eddie winced a bit at her tone of voice. After all these years he had known her, he had no room left to be surprised. After all, he had been there all along, witnessing the changes that had taken place within her. The woman had gone stock raving mad, like the Queen of Hearts! She had no room to talk about her enemies, because she could often be as bad as them these days. Hopefully, no one has painted her roses red back at the Estate. In fact, he pitied anyone who somehow managed to piss her off.

His eyes gleamed with bloodlust. Oh, how Vlad loved it when she was like it. He threw his head back and laughed in a concoction that was both diabolical and insane. He continued his laugh for a moment, then looked at her, a deranged grin stretched broadly upon his visage. “EXCELENT! I am very much pleased that you see it my way, as much as I am proud that you are indeed my mother.” He said with much praise and enthusiasm. “And how shall I carry out this order? Shall I maim them? Tear them to bits? Put them on display for the whole world to see? Make all their lives a living hell, that not even their worst of nightmares could ever be an equivalent? Or shall I devour them all, one by one until there is none left?”

“I don’t care how you go about doing it, just do it!” Geraldine answered a bit snappily, dawning her authoritative persona. “However, I do insist that you remain on your best behavior, Vlad! No coming out until the time calls it! You are NOT to take over whenever you feel! That is an order! Obey it!”

“As you wish, mother.” Vladimir replied, bowing his head in her presence once again. “The black dog of hell aims to please, though only you.”

Geraldine then reached into her inner pocket and pulled out a golden tin case, which upon after opening it, she pulled out a cigar. She tucked it back into her overcoat, pulling out a liter, biting the end of the cigar before lighting it. After taking a few puffs of the toxic elixir, she put away the liter as well back into her pocket.

“Good.” She said with the cigar in her mouth, which hung leisurely within her lips. “Now let me speak to Jules.”

Vlad bowed once more before hiding back within the regions of his vessel’s mind. Once back in complete control, Jules looked up at his mother questionably. He had the faintest clue of what must have transpired during the time his other personality influenced him. Though it was not a total take over, he was still lost. One minute she told him to stand and transform, then next she was addressing his darker persona. The woman could be just as much as an enigma as was he. Fortunately, he had the ability to understand regardless, just like she had the ability to often understand him. However, he could not help but to find himself staring at her as she came towards him, placing her hands firmly, yet, gently upon his shoulders.

“Jullian, watch yourself.” She told him, her personality seemed to have changed as well, now turning on a more motherly role. “Take care of yourself.” She seemed rather sad when saying those words. In fact, she had been wreaking of depressing thoughts since he first came to console her.

Jules calmly blinked, pushing back his feelings of concern before he then smiled gently at her. “Yes, Mother. I will.” He assured her.

Geraldine smiled weakly and then removed her hands from him, only then to embrace him. Jullian blinked and returned the hug.

“Heed these words, young demoness!” The angel’s foreboding words ran through her head. “The child’s destiny is forlorn! The end shall at last come! Though there is no way to prevent it, one can only wish to slow it down, opting for more time before it inevitably takes it’s course! Eat his wings, if you must, in attempt to keep him tame! But they’ll grow back, he’ll no longer be lame! Cut off his head and it will, too, only to be twice as hard each time removed!”

She continued her embrace as she whispered; "I love you, my angel."

"Hm." Kestrel barely glanced in Ronan's direction as he spoke, the comment on the swaying practice figure not phasing her much at all, though a light smile did tug faintly at her lips. "If it could handle half the things done to it by our predecessors, it should be able to handle anything I can throw at it."

Finally turning her attention fully to the aquatic prince, she stood up from her position on the floor and pushed the mask covering her eyes up over her hair. "It's the best way for me to let off aggressions," She explained softly, hearing the chain's creaking slowing behind her. She had never heard either of the women in her life talk about their feelings to others unless there was a truly horrific issue bearing down on their chests... and to talk to them about the issue bothering her now would simply make matters worse.

With his question on why she was rampaging against the mannequin, she scowled, though tried to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at him. "Family issues... Yes... But as for keeping pace with my mother; not quite." She forced a smile with that, starting to turn back the other way-

Only for him to make another comment, suggesting she let someone more 'capable' take over. Capable? What the hell is he trying to- Oh HELL no.

Turning around on her heel, her jaw locked tight as her eyes narrowed at him, she simply looked him over for a moment. The expression resting on his own face gave her the sure proof that he was indeed trying to get to her- and he had not only found the right button, but was now proceeding to jam his thumb on that thing as hard as he could.

"If you really must know, I'm frustrated at the fact that one of our own members is going to be persecuted simply because of his lineage by my own parents. Me standing down is not going to solve any part of that. I know what comes with my mother's name, and I know what problems I'm going to have to face... I just didn't expect this. They always taught me not to judge people... Yet the instant I said Harvey's name, my mother went nuts on me." Shooting a sidelong glare at him, she gave another frown before shrugging. "Though I suppose that's not really anything you need to be worrying about. It's not something that affects the whole team, but it affects the team in a way. I've only known all of you for a few hours, and already I feel defensive on anyone that would dare to question the values of our group. It's my problem, and yeah- frankly, its pissing me off. I'd rather get my aggressions on the matter out down here and not let the rest of the team see it."


With that off her chest, the rest of his words continued to bother her, refusing to leave her mind as tried to get around it. He didn't think she was capable enough to handle leading the team? "As for the leadership of the Titans, Prince...," She started suddenly, a sour tone to her voice. "My emotions shouldn't be what leads the team. But that doesn't mean I'm going to block them out completely. It's one of the things I rely on in the field... One of the reasons I know I can handle myself out there without depending on special powers."

Shut up..we all know it's a sign of the apocalypse.

Alice (Knave)

Jules smiled at her as Alice pulled an empty cup to her, mechanically going for the teapot with the other hand. She wasn’t fooled though. That was probably the worst part. If she was actually fooled by her friend’s charade of being cheered up, her own smile wouldn’t feel half as fake to her as it did at the moment. It wasn’t like she’d missed the impromptu precipitation outside or the way Jullian’s eyes dimmed slightly before lighting up again as they turned to her, but she’d been down this road before. If she pursued the subject, if she persisted in finding out what was wrong and try again and again to cheer her up, then her green friend would only pull away from her, like always.

As soon as Ronan held Jules’ attention away from her, Alice’s smiled faded as she stared into the amber liquid that filled her cup. She didn’t bother adding milk or sugar to it, preferring tea and most everything else as strong and pure as possible. Otherwise, she’d just be tasting individual compounds and that tended to ruin her appetite. Not that she had much of one right now either, her mind whispering at her about failing at something that should be so easy for anyone. Mallory would have better luck than her. She’d have to ask him to talk to Jules later.

"Here here! Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to This Day. Is an old adage. Just like, “A hard beginning maketh a good ending”

Jules rather exuberant voice brought her back to the present and Alice finally brought her cup to her lips in order to hide any sign of melancholy on her own features. Being all emo about this wasn’t going to solve anything. Still, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, Jullian seemed to be in a better mood now and by the sudden reappearance of Arsenal and Joker, she assumed it to be because of them. It felt incredibly weird to call him that. Joker. She’d have to bug him for some other name, because she just couldn’t put him together with that same psychotic woman that lurked in her memories. Well they weren’t ‘her’ memories, but they still creeped her out like those encounters had been hers alone.

"So where's your redheaded friend? Since my arrival here, I don't recall ever having seen him away from either of you for more then a couple of minutes. Was starting to believe you three were near inseparable.”

She blinked at him over the rim of the teacup, suddenly realizing that he was talking to her and not Jules at the moment. She stared at him for a couple moments, trying to figure out who he reminded her of. A lot of people did this to her, reminding her of someone else or even themselves, only from a lifetime that wasn’t hers. Then she realized and she giggled at herself. Of course he’d remind her of his dad, though there was definitely a bit of Ula in there. Alice tended to get offended when people assumed she was as dense as her hair color made her out to be, but sometimes she really didn’t give as much forethought to things as she should or could have. Shaking her head softly, she set the cup back down on its’ saucer and grinned at Ronan. The sight of him gave her a weird sense of pride. Whatever. He’d asked a question and she intended to answer it.

“Umm well last I saw he was going off with his dad, probably to say goodbye.”

Of course she could just peek around to see where he was, but that would be snooping. It was something she generally tried not to do, regardless of the lectures she had received on doing exactly that when she was little. It was just, sometimes she liked to be ignorant instead of just pretending it. All these super powers along with the inability to forget. It could get really annoying if she let it. Ignorance was a bliss she tended to allow herself to have whenever she could. Grinning at Ronan, she shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“And I don’t know about inseparable but we’ve all been friends for a really long time. Given how everyone else has pretty much just met each other, I assume, I can see how that’d be a little daunting.”

"Um guys I think I just messed up here! I found an old file and it's--"

Her gaze shifted up as the message started but she more or less went back to drinking her tea. Perhaps it should have made her sad or reminiscent to hear the voice that felt familiar to her even though it was the first time she’d heard it herself. Out of all that made her, there was one that had known the cyborg and had called her teammate. Perhaps Match would have been sad hearing this. It was full of heart wrenching goodness after all, but it wasn’t like the two had been close. At least, she supposed that to be the case. There was no strong attachment trying to tug at her heartstrings right now after all. Though the mention of Hex did have her giving an unconscious sigh. She hadn’t thought about how he would react to this news. Cyber and Hex had been an item, sort of, at one point, before Match had ever been. Alice hoped he wouldn’t take Cyber’s death too hard. He didn’t need another reason for sadness in his life.

Then the whole thing gave a shrill sound and she winced as it pulsed against her sensitive eardrums. Biting back terse curse words, she set her cup down so she could press fingers to her temples in an attempt to quell the headache she could feel trying to gain residence in her skull. Closing her eyes just after Jules gave her a look, Alice did her very best to ignore the sounds of those around her. Her breathing came out in slow even puffs as she tried to let that be the only thing she could hear. She was actually rather successful at this, tuning her hearing out, as long as she concentrated on it. Not that Superwoman ever believed she could have that much control over herself, no matter the times J’onn had tried to assure the woman of just that when she was little. Paranoid Kal-el had more than enough dealings with clones to afford little patience when it came to the latest of the brood it seemed.

It has been an eventful day so far, Dreamer.

It was a voice she had known literally all of her life. Her first memory was of his voice echoing in her head, asking her to wake up and live. No matter the mood of the moment or the contents of the words, she had always, always felt comforted by the simple fact that he was always there when so much she craved never was. His nickname for her she had never shared with another, even her friends. Thinking about it actually made her a little sad. It was meant to be a happy explanation for the wide-eyed stare she had so often worn as a child, but well her childhood was tainted with things that were very much not happy, including her thoughts that had laid behind that wide-eyed stare. Now at his presence in her head, she smiled and visibly relaxed even as she scrambled to push the harrowing dreams she had been having recently out of his immediate notice.

You could say that. I’m sure it’s more harrowing for everyone else. I wonder what their reaction would be if I told them this is now the norm for the next year…. And the years after that and those after that and so on and so forth.

You have company. I’ll speak with you at a later time.

Her eyes snapped open at the statement. A couple were missing now, including Jules, but it wasn’t like J’onn usually minded when she was around other people. Then hands settled over her eyes and she grinned. Obediently, she went along with the ruse of her ignorance and pressing a finger to her lips, feigned thought, before guessing as far off as she remotely could. Still, Mallory pulled his hands away anyways, letting them drift down into a light embrace of her shoulders. Giggling, she made sure not to move her head to much as her own hands unconsciously rested on his forearms as an awkward form of returning his hug.

"Admit it, you guys missed me. It's my rapier wit and devilish good looks."

Looking at Ronan, she made a great show of rolling her eyes. When she was younger, this would have been enough to make her blush. Probably because, despite the humorous tone he gave it, she happened to agree. She had her reasons for ignoring it now, but for a short while she had been very aware of her affections when it came to both of her friends. Most people tended to be happy when they realized they had a crush. She’d watched others over the years and they always got this particular light in their eyes. It had only really scared her. It was a sign of change and she didn’t want that to happen, ever. Even though she knew, one day, it would and she’d be powerless to stop it. Reaching up, she was going to tug his red hair, some teasing comment ready on her lips, when he pulled away from her.

"I'm guessing Jules left that for me to use, huh?"

Looking over at the cell phone laying beside her, she nodded dumbly. She hadn’t really noticed its’ presence until now and probably still wouldn’t have given it any thought if she had. What Jules did with his things was his business, after all. By the sigh that made its’ way past Mallory’s lips and that announcement earlier, it really wasn’t that hard to figure out what he needed it for right now. She almost stopped him, could easily do so after all, and for a mad moment she really wanted to. But, he snatched the phone up unhindered and excused himself for some semblance of privacy. Hex would find out sooner or later, anyways. Knowing him he’d probably prefer it to be sooner.

"I'm going to stretch my legs around the Tower for a bit. Be sure to let me know if anybody threatens all of humanity while I'm away."

Turning her attention to Ronan, she raised an eyebrow as he suddenly decided to leave. Oddly it was this that made her realize that this whole first day meeting deal was exceedingly awkward. She was used to meeting new people constantly. She rarely ever stayed in one place long enough for them to ever become beyond 'new' people anyways. If she had the option, she probably wouldn't remember over 90% of the people she'd met in the last year, much less her lifetime. This usually meant that she gave no attention to her actions and did any and everything that popped into her mind to do. But this was all different. She'd be seeing these people constantly and they'd have to work together and do more than tolerate each other's presence. It kind of had her on edge. She'd probably already freaked more than a few people out today. So all she did was smile at the prince and wave as he departed.

“Bye bye.”

Then Arsenal and someone else walked in and she paused in her actions, her eyes narrowing slightly. She had NO IDEA who that guy was. Arsenal seemed pretty buddy buddy with him and even Harvey didn't look like he was going to freak out, but still. That made two whole newcomers that were not supposed to be here. Paranoia, born of experience that wasn't hers, made her wonder about spies. How did everyone know where they were all of a sudden? This was supposed to be a secret. She had stayed cooped up in this tower for weeks because she was being good and keeping this secret. So why all of sudden was everything going to pot on the first day? And who was that guy?! Seriously.

“Hey,you want to play a video game or something? That is, if there’s a console around, mind you I've only ever really played Call of Duty 4...”

It actually took her a moment to realize that the question was directed towards her. Then she sat there blinking at Harvey as she mentally went over his words and turned them around in her head. There was a game console, several in fact, just in the room next door. She didn't know what games there were though. Until now, she'd pretty much had left Ravenor on his own since it was obvious he didn't want any company. Alice, herself, wasn't much for games, didn't really have the attention span for it. Unlike books, she couldn't just speed her way through them. Granted, she did have an odd yen for children platform games. His chuckling though had her raising an eyebrow, failing to see how what he said was funny.

”God, Don't I sound like an Idiot. I guess it's a result of not really having a childhood. Anyway, we haven't being properly introduced, I'm Harvey.”

Smiling, she stood up and leaned across the table to take the hand he offered. The action causing the flowers pinned in her hair to tumble forward, ever distractingly orange in her vision. So she pulled her hand away and giggled as she smoothed the fake posies into a less obtrusive position. Sighing, she tried to figure out what else to do. She knew it would just be unfair to play video games with someone when she knew she was only going to be bored with it. But, it wasn't like she could do what she usually would when she was bored. That require going outside and all things considered, Jump City wasn't the best of locales for a fun night out. Looking Harvey over, she momentarily considered dressing him up, but then reminded herself that she was trying NOT to freak people out here. Plus, she knew that everyone really needed to get to know each other anyways not just a few people connecting every once in awhile. A mischievous grin lit up her features as she rested her chin on her hands, her mind plotting. She had always wanted a slumber party of her own.

"Alice. Knave. Been there. Done that. With the no..childhood...thing....literally.... Actually, nevermind, that would take too much time to explain. Soooo games. Umm I don't know.. Not exactly my forte. OH! We should totally start a support group or something! Well, it would just be the two of us I guess. Unless more genetic puzzles decide to join. Oh well."

X’Hal (Bluefire)

The box she held in her hands was much deeper than it appeared to be. It was a technology that was relatively new in her world. So new, in fact, that what she now held was the only one of its' kind on Tamaran. She had spent the last season developing it herself and didn't want the possibility of it falling into treacherous hands. Many suspected her of trying for her father's throne, but seemed blind to such a threat from others. She was not so foolish. Her father was a capable warrior and a king that ruled wisely. X'Hal had tried to make every provision to see to his protection before she left for this planet and now could only hope that his wish to trust those around him would not be his downfall. If she were to find such a thing happened in her absence, there would be no mercy for the traitors.

When she had arrived, there had been little to tell her that she had come to the right room. It seemed nothing like what her father had described in his stories. This bare place seemed not at all to resemble what had once been Korand'r and Silkie's home. Stepping within, she had let the door slam shut behind her, dooming her vision to a darkness that was only broken by the soft glow of daylight that trailed valiantly under the curtains that blocked the windows. Opening her box, she had pulled out a handful of orbs, blowing softly on the small spheres until they gained a familiar glow and floated to the ceiling. Steadily the light within them grew until there was not a corner of the place that was not illuminated. What it revealed made her gasp softly in surprise, a slim hand held over her lips as she stepped forward.

There, between two windows, a carving was set deep within the stone of the wall. Hesitantly she reached out to touch the Tamaranean symbols. She knew they were put there by her father's hand, but for what purpose. They spoke of a warning and ensured protection, with her family's insignia behind it all; the flames that were meant to course through their blood. It made her homesick already. It was funny. The court always bristled against her very presence and she had only ever known a handful of people that had not let their perceptions keep them from treating as a being of some worth. Most of them were dead now. Only her father remained. Realizing the depressing path her thoughts had suddenly taken, she pulled away and went back to unpacking, pushing away the tears that burned behind her eyes.

"Um guys I think I just messed up here! I found an old file and it's--"

"If this program is playing then something pretty messed up must have happened. It's been a while since I updated this message, but here it is. This is my good bye message to you guys. I know this is sort of cheesy, but I got a bad feeling about what I'm about to do. I finally got a lead on Sister Blood and I'm gonna try to take the bitch down. Guess I failed. B.B. I love ya like a sister girl. If it's still alive you can have my car. I know you always wanted it. Robyn, you and me went round and round a few times, but you were the best leader the Titans could have ever had. You and Kor really should have hooked up you know. Hex, I know I hurt you, and I wish there was some way I could have fixed things between us. I don't know if you care or not but the reason I was always such a bitch to you was that I kinda fell in love with you. It hurt me so bad when I had to go back to the team that first time. Then you joined the Titans. You joined the team and made it very clear that I was your least favorite person in the world. That's the reason I joined the Titans East. I had to get away from you while I got over you. I never really did but I came back here anyways--"

"Sorry about that guys. It went automatic when I unlocked the file. Any ideas of what happened to it? I think we should get this to our parents if any of them are still here."

She stared at the speaker she'd somehow overlooked as she had unpacked, idly considering if it was worth the trouble of taking the thing out. This room was to be her one escape for solace during this year and she did not want her peace ruined by the infernal device. Still, she supposed it would not have been installed if it was not absolutely necessary. More importantly, this sudden news, the parting words of Cyber, would devastate her father. Her gaze traveled down to the gem on her wrist, dreading having to inform him and knowing that she had little choice in the matter. Taking the bracelet off, she threw it on her bed, a giant gelatinous mass wrapped in the soft fur of the yargel beast. He was busy for now and time would not lessen the message's relevance. No, she would inform him later of his friend's fate, no matter how much she did not wish to see his tears or know his sorrow.

Her eyes scanned what was now her room. She had nothing left to do here, but she could not quell her yearning to delay going among the aliens once more. They did not hate or despise or revile her, but they were ignorant. She didn't want to spend the time among them that would surely gain their animosity. Reaching into her box once more, she searched for her giorn, eager to use training as a means of escape from the worries that plagued her needlessly. Instead, as she grasped the familiar hilt of her weapon, something soft brushed the back of her fingers. Frowning faintly, she laid the giorn next to her before reaching back down and pulling the awkward package out, before shutting the box completely and letting it collapse harmlessly into itself until it could fit easily into the palm of her hand.

It was a bundle of soft yargel fur and she stared at it for some minutes, wary of its' contents. She had packed her things herself, after all. Who could have possibly placed such a thing in her belongings without her knowing of it? There was a very real chance that, whatever it was, could mean her death. It would be so convenient if her she died here on this alien world, so easy to explain away. She could be assassinated and none would think to call for the blood of the traitors that had done such a horrible deed. Anger boiled quickly in her blood at the thought that her enemies would even seek to deny her an honorable death in their greed. Then just as quickly, it faded. Such anger was only a sign of fear. She could and would not let her fears rule her. Heaving a sigh of irritation with herself, her fingers reached up to peel the layers of fur away from their contents.

What she revealed was a flower. The same one whose name her father and her mother had frequently called her by. Stories. Her mother had always had a story for everything, even something as simple as her nickname had a story attached to it. Smiling softly, she pressed the luminous petals close to her face and inhaled its' scent. It was intoxicating, so much better in luring animals to eat the poisonous flowers, killing themselves so that a new x'etta tree would grow. Sighing, she let the softly glowing blossom slip from her fingers and into the nearby water of a fountain she had placed in her room earlier. She knew that, if left alone, it wouldn't wither for a very long time. It was only when crushed that x'etta died.

Perfect, he hadn’t even sensed her arrive before she started talking, not only had all the new arrivals served to mess up his life and generally piss him off, they had dulled his senses, something that would no doubt result in his death or maiming… bastards.

“Thank you” he said through the quickly slapped together and emotionless mask that his face had become, he could still feel the emotion behind the tune, no matter how hard he tried to block it out, but at least he didn’t have to listen to it anymore, his sound ignoring skills had been rather neglected of late.

“It’s really no bother” he said as he moved from under the pillow and leaned back on his hands, dismissing the pain in his foot like it was nothing “but if your help isn’t needed elsewhere, I won’t refuse” he held back on a sigh as she moved to his foot, the mask almost breaking for a second, but he held it together.

“I’m guessing it was you that cut of Cyber’s transmission” he asked, trying to find ways of not thinking about his own woes for a moment or two “I’m guessing that was the first you heard of it, it was automated after all, must have hurt” he said, not really choosing his words very well, somehow managing to sound like an ass even though this was the first time in over a year that he had tried to be sympathetic “you were close with all the old titans huh? Must have been bad, all of them leaving you” he continued, still not realizing just how mean he was coming off.

“And now to find out that some of them are just gone, that must suck” he sighed, his face showing a few traces of sadness “for what it’s worth, I know how it feels, I’m sorry it happened that way” he closed his eyes “if you ever need to talk about it, or just about anything, I’m always here to talk” he half smirked “its not like there’s anyone else here worth interacting with as far as I’m concerned”

Ollie/Arsenal.

Michael followed Arsenal out to the lounge, "I suppose you're right... If you're in that line of work, at least. It is a bit surprising that people without any real powers choose such a... dangerous career..."

As they reached the kitchenette area to where they'd be able to acquire their refreshments, Michael paused at the entrance, only briefly turning his eyes from Arsenal to notice if anyone else was in there. Joker was among the few, but the fact that no one else really knew him yet didn't seem to bother the blonde teen all that much. Instead, he glanced back to Arsenal. "Why do you do it? Fight, I mean. My short walk through that city convinced me that this won't be an easy task at all... Dare I say, it might even be a suicide mission..."

Michael chuckled softly, leaning against a nearby wall and crossing his arms casually. "Sorry, I don't mean to be so dour... This is just... new to me. All of it... I've never used my abilities for anything of positive consequence..."

Ollie smiled at Michael. "It is a tough job, but it's the family business," she chuckled, "I don't do this for any high and mighty reasons really. I do it because it's my heritage. It's also one of the biggest rushes in the world."

She smiled remembering the first time she ever went against that new Doctor Light back in Star City. She'd had to get so many stitches it wasn't funny, but she'd brought the rat bastard down.

She went over and pulled a red bull from the refridgerator, easing it up and wiggling her eyebrow in silent offering to Michael as she opened the second one she grabbed. "You might want to be careful with that dour thing too. Kestral might think you're invading her Emo kid thing," her easy ready laugh made another appearance, "For me, it's a bit much. I'm too much of a party girl to be dour."

Phantasm. Playing favorites.

“Thank you” he said through the quickly slapped together and emotionless mask that his face had become, even if it did fail to slip her notice. He was clamped down on the emotions but after years of living close together she could tell.

“It’s really no bother,” he said as he moved from under the pillow and leaned back on his hands, “but if your help isn’t needed elsewhere, I won’t refuse” he held back on a sigh as she moved to his foot, the mask almost breaking for a second, but he held it together.

“I’m guessing it was you that cut of Cyber’s transmission,” he asked, “I’m guessing that was the first you heard of it, it was automated after all, must have hurt” he said, not really choosing his words very well, somehow managing to sound like an ass even though this was the first time in over a year that he had tried to be sympathetic “you were close with all the old titans huh? Must have been bad, all of them leaving you” he continued, still not realizing just how mean he was coming off.

“And now to find out that some of them are just gone, that must suck” he sighed, his face showing a few traces of sadness “for what it’s worth, I know how it feels, I’m sorry it happened that way” he closed his eyes “if you ever need to talk about it, or just about anything, I’m always here to talk” he half smirked “its not like there’s anyone else here worth interacting with as far as I’m concerned"

She looked at him for a moment before bending her attention to the foot. She unwound a couple of strips from the bottom of her robe making bandages and wrapping the foot tightly enough to inhibit any swelling, but not enough to limit the blood flow or his healing capabilities. "Yes, I did cut the transmission. That message was meant for the original Titans. I know everyone dies sooner or later Ravenor," she said, "But you are making wonderful progress in human manners. I know people die, and more of those I was a Titan with will as the years go by."

She thought on her words for a moment and realized the boy was trying, so she continued, letting more out to him than she would any of the others. "Cyber's death was a small shock, I will admit. I had thought Red Arrow or Robyn would have been one of the first to go," a bit of mischief entered her voice, "but there was a time or two when I was tempted to do in either Terran or Beast Girl. They both could be pains in the ass."

She looked at the boy now that the wound was dressed properly, "If you are curious, the Titan that caused me the most pain on departure was Plasmus. She was special, in both the true meaning as well as the politically correct meaning. She didn't even say goodbye. One night I was having a conference with Bostonia Brand, and when I turned my attention back to the tower she was simply gone. I couldn't even look for her seeing that I was bound to the Tower by that time. We were the last two to live in the Tower."

It still hurt her to remember that. She hadn't paid enough attention to the girl that night. Bostonia was comforting Danielle in her sorrow of being left behind and Plasmus either left on her own or she was taken. Phantasm never figured out which it had been.

Her voice took on a strange tone to it as she finished "That was until you were left here. Part of me finds our peace being disrupted as a rather large pain. But they promised me they would return, and now the Titans are back."

Ronan

The Atlantean tilted his head slightly as he listened to the brunette going into detail about what had her so worked up when he arrived at the gym. The information about Harvey being 'persecuted' by others was news to him, and came off as a bit of a surprise until she mentioned the identity of said persecutor. Ronan may have spent the majority of his life away from the surface world, but he'd heard enough stories about the infamous 'bat family' to know how several of them could become tightly round up and quick to caution when it came to those around them; including fellow team mates. In hindsight, it was perhaps a small miracle that Kestrel didn't appear as bad in that department, although it was hard to predict how actual experience could alter these aspects in a person.

After that was over, her response then shifted toward focusing upon his earlier questioning of her leadership. Which was actually what he'd expected the young woman to respond to first, rather then immediately addressing her concerns for a fellow Titan. This may not have seemed like much, but it did give the young Prince a more favorable view of where her heart was in the role of leader. Not that he felt his personal opinion was any more important in the grand scheme of things then any other members (despite how his behavior may indicate otherwise), but it at least granted him a clearer, albeit relatively early idea of what type of person was going to be leading himself and other for the following year.

Aside from raising an eyebrow over the way she let the title of 'Prince' pass from between her lips, Ronan had maintained a fairly calm, seemingly cocky expression by the time Kestrel finished speaking. Regardless, she actually had made a number of good points, though he wasn't about to admit as such so quickly after having provoked their current conversation. Turning his head to again study the punching dummy, the young man reached out a hand and started pressing it against the material. For being so new, it already had a few areas which showed early signs of wear and give after the woman's assault. It made the half-breed rather curious, and brought about the slightest hint of a smirk on the corner of his lips.

"Fair enough, fearless leader." The aquatic Prince started as he referred to Kestrel with a mocking pop culture reference which, while he hadn't grown accustomed to the source, had been a fairly popular term by his father over the years, "There's nothing necessarily wrong with letting your emotions play a factor in how you handle yourself and deal with others around here. I can agree on that much, and would be an utter hypocrite if I tried playing holier than thou on this issue."

Conceding that much to the Titans leader in their animosity tinted conversation, the young man then showed that couldn't completely give in on his side of the argument; especially when he felt his own points were justified, "Still, I stand by the concerns I voiced earlier. If you're this worked up after only one day, then I can't help but wonder how you're going to handle things weeks, months or possibly even years from today."

Which he felt were fair enough points to bring up, even if they could have easily been voiced in a less confrontation manner. Granted, this group of young heroes were perhaps stronger and quicker to rebound then he gave them credit, but it didn't change how demoralizing it would be for their team leader to start giving under the pressure once they were further into the thick of things. Perhaps it was because of his own royal heritage and the pressures which came with the inevitable nature of it that he was so outspoken about the role of leadership? Or maybe he was simply an outspoken, blunt prick whom needed to back off once in a while. Regardless, his opinions and concerns were out there, so little need in harping on them now.

Staring at Kestrel for a moment longer, Ronan allowed his eyes to wander as he briefly studied the girls physical form; though not for the reasons one would normally expect of a young male, "Either way, if you're looking for a way to let out some pent up aggression, then maybe you could do for an upgrade over an inanimate object which can't punch back?"

His intentions were fairly clear, if a little out of the blue considering how calm his demeanor was coming across. Ronan never enjoyed the prospect of striking a woman, but he also learned long ago to treat a skilled warrior with the proper respect which they deserved; regardless of their gender. And Kestrel came across as the type of person whom would prefer this over any preferential treatment, so the half-breed didn't believe he was causing her any further insult by intending to treat her as he would a male member of their team. Albeit, one with nicer curves and which smelled nicer then the guys. Even if only slightly, considering her current amount of perspiration.

Turning to take a few steps away as he stretched out his arms a bit, the blonde only returned his gaze to her own after also slipping off his shoes, which he felt to be restrictive, and kicking them aside as he explained, "Usually I go for a lengthy swim or practice my hand-to-hand skills whenever I need a distraction from any stress in my life. But since we're supposed to maintain a low profile for now, I figure my choices are limited to a sparring contest."

Putting his hands together and making a few cracking sounds with them, Ronan clearly intended for this sparring session to take place, but left the final decision up to her as he finished, "What do you say? No powers on my part, save for my naturally increased strength, but I can't exactly shut that part of myself off."

Jessi had hoped he was done with the subject as he studied the dummy dangling from the ceiling, stepping to the side of the room to inspect the towels and other items hanging from the racks, plucking one off for herself and wiping her forehead with it.

As much as she had hoped he was done, she had a feeling he wasn't. He seemed to be enjoying this far too much to let it simply be dropped, the smirk on his lips hinting that the subject was yet to be let go...

And her assumptions were proven correct as he spoke up once more. Glancing at him over the towel, she merely raised an eyebrow, lowering the item from her face and tossing it over her shoulder. "Unless you're planning to recruit even more kids of Gram's enemies, we should be fine. Harvey seems a nice enough guy, but I'm not going to defend every damned one of them that tries to walk through that door. Don't think I get this worked up over everyone I meet... Its only those that I feel don't deserve such harsh immediate judgment. You know, not trying to take first impressions as the only one I get." Another glance was directed his way, Kestrel's lips firmly locked together.

His stare was making her a bit uncomfortable. What was he doing, sizing her up? She wondered if his Royal Pain in the Ass was debating on how to force her from the leadership position, something that did not set well at all with her. Was he this way towards everyone? Or just her because of her position on the team? His sudden statement, however, threw her off. Images of ceremonial defeats of leaders to overtake their position came to mind, Kestrel adamant on him not taking hers away.

He seemed serious, however; his shoes being flung across the room as he prepped for the anticipated sparring. Well, he certainly knew she wasn't about to turn down a challenge, even if it was of a 'friendly' variety. She tossed the towel aside, approaching the Prince as she pulled the mask up a bit more, using it to hold her hair back. "No powers, hmm? I don't mind the strength at all, Ronan. Might even remind me of home, with all Gram's practice bots." She smirked, giving another light shrug. "I apologize now if I hurt you... It's been awhile since I sparred with an actual person," She added in quickly, the grin growing as she took her first swing, a testing of the waters to see the young man's reflexes.

Quick reaction. Nice. This would definitely be fun.

"You'll be a great one to get back into the swing of things with, though..."

Ollie smiled at Michael. "It is a tough job, but it's the family business," she chuckled, "I don't do this for any high and mighty reasons really. I do it because it's my heritage. It's also one of the biggest rushes in the world."

Michael nodded slightly. She got a rush out of it. A simple, honest and understandable response. It was easy to assume she was sort of guided into being a hero thanks to her parents, so it seemed as if she was genuinely not in it all for any sort of attention. Of course, were any of them? No one was going to recognize them for saving Jump City, because there was no one left to care but them and their retired relatives. That wasn't to say the more logical solution was to let the 'villains' roam free, but he could understand if there were people out there who would consider this task pointless. He nearly did, after all. He could claim to be there for the rush as well. He just had to figure out whether he'd get it at all. If he didn't, all he'd have left would be hope of answers. If those never came about either, would he abandon them? Did they even need him in the first place?

Arsenal went over and pulled a red bull from the refridgerator, easing it up and wiggling her eyebrow in silent offering to Michael as she opened the second one she grabbed. "You might want to be careful with that dour thing too. Kestral might think you're invading her Emo kid thing," her easy ready laugh made another appearance, "For me, it's a bit much. I'm too much of a party girl to be dour."

Smiling lightly and nodding in thanks, Michael reached out for the can, though he simply held it for a moment, listening to the dark haired girl's continued words. Every so often, his eyes would glance over to the other pair in the room, Joker and a rather attractive blonde girl he didn't meet yet. He shifted his glance away when he saw her look in his direction. He knew what she was thinking. 'Who is this guy?' but she apparently wasn't going to ask due to his oh so casual conversation with one of their other teammates already. Looking back to Arsenal, Michael smirked lightly, finally opening his drink.

"Emo? No.. Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to wear dark eyeliner, hate all things interesting and act depressed. I have a bit of a cynical attitude, but I've done my share of the party scene, too. I thought I gave it up coming here, but hey, I don't mind lightening up if I have to." He chuckled softly, overhearing the last bit of Alice's reply to Harvey in which she introduced herself to him. He also couldn't help but mentally laugh at the guy asking such a woman if she wanted to play video games. Was that really the first thing he could think of?

"Make that at least three." Michael called out to the other pair. "Support group? Couldn't we just form a club instead? That sounds more fun. No one with a childhood allowed.

Besides, it adds mystique. Proves we're not just cubicle sheep that decided to try and fight crime. More genetic puzzles I say." He raised his can before taking a sip and glancing back to Arsenal. "Ah, my life was so boring before. I say bring on the interesting. Though that Julian fellow might be exceeding my threshold for... interesting. You're more my style."