2012-07-24 Meeting the team -- Supergirl

Mid-morning, a bit before lunchtime. Titan's Tower is relatively quiet, with mainly the assigned Army troops being active. However, one of the Titans is here in the meeting room, going over some reports and documents on a tablet computer. Sueprgirl has a bottle of Soder Cola sitting in front of her that she occasionally takes sips from as she reads up on Earth nations and history. While she admires the United States and it's principles, she's wary of being so closely associated with a national military force. So, she figures she should get educated on the state of the world, to see what potential problem might arise.

A Bat's work is never done...or, better yet, a Nightwing's. After his business in Gotham was complete, he pretty much booked it to the new tower to skulk around while others were asleep. It's the best time for him to familiarize himself with the layout and systems before everything gets too hectic with the day's activity. He made sure to speak with the military liaison before spending time at the computer, learning the system and figuring out its access. He just might have had some outside help.

As the morning activity begins, he observes. Who gets up early? Who likes to sleep in? What the army folks are doing and their general mood? Who is staying within the Tower...that sort of thing. He eventually caught up with Supergirl in the meeting room and after a brief glance over her shoulder offers, "You realize that you'll never get anything unbiased about any of that."

Supergirl looks up at Nightwing. She's not met him yet, but she's seen pictures in the general information. And Nightwing probably knows that Supergirl's been pulling double duty in both Metropolis and Gotham, filling in for the injured Robin at Batman's request. Actually, pretending to be a new Robin to lay a trap for the Joker. She gives him a nod, answering his question. "I know; I'm not unfamiliar with propaganda. But I figure it's a good start. I can get a wider view by looking at the internet when I'm hanging around with Wonder Girl at her house." She smiles and stands up. "And you must be Nightwing. Robin's said good things about you." The smile turns into a mischevious smirk. "And some not so good things. Like you convincing him to make a production out of giving me that pendant."

"And you're Supergirl. I trust you're obeying Batman's rules while you're in Gotham..." he's had his own agenda so he wasn't able to babysit the new 'Robin'. "Even the internet is biased. Just know that there are two sides to every story...even if the other side is truly wrong." Nightwing says it with a slight hint of an underlying meaning there before he just crosses his arms at his chest, "What production out of what pendant? I never convinced him to do anything of the sort. What mistakes he makes with girls is all on him."

"I have been obeying the rules, yes. I agree it's good practice for me to have finer control over things like my strength and speed." Granted, there's been an upswing in arrested crooks with broken bones, but no splattered muggers. And no reports of this new Robin being bulletproof, although she's supposedly as untouchable as the Batman. "And there's often more than just two sides to a story. Sometimes, there can be as many sides as there are people involved." She smiles at Nightwing's defensiveness. "Oh, I'm not saying he didn't deserve it. He also told me that there might have been some payback involved regarding an incident with a proposal he told you to make with a Latin teacher." Supergirl smiles innocently. "Speaking of which, does he always go around speaking Latin? Becasue i think I'll have to learn that laguage to understand some of the things he says that he thinks are sweet."

"Good practice?" Nightwing echoes, his domino lifting slightly as his brows raise. "The same rule applies here. No killing. I don't care what the Army has to say about it or what the Army does, but there will be -no killing- among the Titans." Nightwing lets that settle in before he offers, "No one speaks Latin. Robin is just showing off when he does that. I suggest you ignore it, personally."

Supergir looks shocked at Nightwing's statement. "Of course there's no killing. That's never an option. We're here to preserve life, not take it. And to be honest, I'd rather not have the Army here at all. I don't think it's right for us to be so closely associated with a military force, especially a nationalistic one. So, unless i'm directly ordered to do otherwise, I'm not going to involve myself with them at all, training or otherwise. And I know you're the leader of the Titans and I'll follow your lead, but I hope that you do the same and call on them as little as possible; if at all."

Nightwing remains stoic despite Supergirl's look of shock and her own little insistence regarding the Army. "The Army is at our disposal. They follow our lead. There may be instances where we need extra hands to get the job done. There may be instances where they need our skillsets. They have no call to give you...or any of the Titans orders unless we are in a life and death emergency situation. If someone in the Army yells 'Duck', you should duck and not argue about who is in charge."

"That doesn't make it right," Supergirl says. "And I'm not trying to challenge your leadership or anything. You're far more trained and experienced than any of us. So, just like I follow Batman's rules in Gotham, I'll follow your lead here, without question." She goes back to drinking her soda. "So, is there anything in particular you want me to be doing besides the general job? Specific training, tasks...whatever. I'm more than happy to help out around here as much as I can."

"This isn't about being 'right'. 'Right' is subjective," he nods to the reading she was doing, "As you probably see from all of that. This is about protecting people who can't protect themselves. Whether it's under the auspices of the United States Government, the United Nations, Buddha, or a Giant turtle is irrelevant. If they expect us to trust them not to use us as some sort of super-soldier, then they need to give us similar respect of our own autonomy. Time will tell as to how much rein we've truly been given." He still hasn't really moved from his spot, his arms still crossed at his chest. A Nightwing-statue...aside from his mouth. "What do you feel you should be doing as far as training and tasks go?"

Supergirl thinks about the question. "Probably what I've been doing. Training in fighting with Wonder Woman. Learning to be less reliant on my powers. Help out with the chores around the Tower." She glances over at Nightwing, smiling slightly. "By the way, some of the other girls and I were thinking it might be nice to do a 'Cooking Night' once a week or so. Where we all get together and make a person's favorite dishes so that we can learn more about each other. Bond together in ways other than teamwork."

"You should train to fight with people who don't have similar powers to your's. Not everyone you go up against is going to be able to take a punch from you." Seems he's done some reading...or observing...or both. "You should train to fight against them...and also to fight alongside of them." The mention of chores isn't given any attention for the moment. "A cooking night?" He's quiet for a long moment before he just shrugs, "Have at it."

Supergirl smiles a bit at Nightwing. "You know you're welcome to join us. You're a big part of this team, we'd want you to relax with us." Of course, 'relax' may not be a word that the Bat-folks understand. "This needs to be ore than just a team of crimefighters, more than just the successors to the Justice League. We're all still young and sort of fumbling our way through being both heroes and adults. We need a place for people our own age where we can talk to each other, share our problems, and learn from each other." Seing the stoic look on Nightwing's face, Supergirl ends up shrugging and looking at the table. "Maybe I'm just being foolish."

"You are. A little. This isn't a Sorority House or a College Dorm. We're not in a Reality Television show. This is a Command Center. I realize that some people are living here, but that doesn't change things. We keep our identities secret. The more they're known, the more likely they are to get out and then we're all going to suffer those consequences." Nightwing might be scowling a little more at that. Just a little. "This -is- a team of crimefighters and a team of future leaders. This isn't Summer Camp."

"I know," Supergirl says with a sigh. "I just can't help thinking that we could be more than that. Friends. Maybe even a family of sorts." She finishes her soda and looks back at Nightwing. "I know there's always going to be secrets. But we can work around them to form real friendships. I know a lot about Wonder Girl, including her real identity, and she knows a little bit about me. No far, on-one's broken down either of our doors in the middle of the night or threatened our loved ones. And..." she smiles wistfully. "Robin and I are doing okay, balancing our relationship and the need for secrets. No-one's come bugging you or Batman since we started talking and dating." Supergirl's expression grows more serious. "How's he doing? I talk with him on the com at nights, but I haven't seen him since he was taken from the clinic to wherever Batman had him transfered for care."

"This is not a Club. I don't care who you make friends with, but do not go about even asking people to divulge their identities in the name of 'friendship', 'family', or even 'relaxation'. We need to be able to get along well enough to work together effectively and efficiently and no less...and no more. If you want to go around making friends and throwing cooking parties and the like, be my guest, but anonymity is paramount. That you know Wonder Girl already, fine. That's your affair. But the more people who know us outside of the costumes means the greater chance of having it affect all aspects of our lives. I will not have that. At all." When he's asked about Robin, Nightwing's eyes narrow slightly from behind his mask, "You probably know as much as I do about him."

What we're thinking, currently, is that we'll simply try to have one weekly scene. This scene could be anything, from training to hanging out to someone emitting a villain/thug or two. Whatever we want! We will also not be setting a specific day/time for this scene, that way no one gets skipped over for scheduling conflicts. The idea is just for whoever is available to try to meet up once a week or so and do something as Titans!

"I'd never ask or expect to have names revealed," Supergirl replies. "It's a personal choice who to trust with what information and I'd never ask for someone's identity anymore than they'd ask me for mine. Trust is something that has to be earned." She sighs in frustration. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make problems here." She starts gathering up her trash and the tablet computer in order to leave.

"You're right. Trust has to be earned. By all of us." Watching as she picks up her things, Nightwing then takes a step back towards the hallway, "You don't need to go. Just realize that trust isn't going to necessarily be earned by cooking dinners and playing Scrabble. I'm sure that we won't even realize it's there until we're out in the field."