2012-09-03 Disguises and Codenames

So this glass thing is where the Titans live? Somehow it does not seem the kind of place Magik would hang around. Nate floats over the river about a hundred yards away. Not too close, there are soldiers there he does not want to deal with. But maybe he can make them ignore him with some telepathic trickery. There might also be other security measures, so he spends a few minutes scanning the soldier's minds to find out how to avoid them. If Illyana wasn't shielded against his telepathy, this would be simpler! Impatient, and unable to find what he wants easily, he decides just fly to the place and knock at the door or something like that. Probably they won't shot him on sight, would they? But if they do, he can take it.

He is likely setting off some alarms. If only because he is an unidentified flying man approaching to the island. If they have some kind of meta-detection or mutant-detection technology, he is setting off those too.

The Titans haven't been under full scale assault in like forever. So when the alarm blares across the Tower, and Karolina was brushing out her hair in the restroom, well, she took a moment to figure out just what that was. Blinkblink. "Oh shoot!" And so, two minutes later, she had her bracelet off, she had her normal clothes on, and she was flying through the hallways, a rainbow corona of light as she lifts her communicator, to check the source of the breach. Except it wasn't a breach at all - it was right there, at the front door. And nothing was wrong? A little puzzled expression touches her features - Karolina gathers at the entryway, pausing a moment for others to arrive - before she would take the initiative to open the door, hovering in place as she peers around it. "Um. Hello?"

When the Titan's warning alarm goes off, it sends an alert to all those with handy-dandy Titan communicators! Like Magik. Despite her surly mood, she doesn't ignore the thing and a heartbeat later she's teleporting onto the roof of the structure where she's got a good vanta---that's Nate. "Stand down. I know our visitor." Magik says dryly. She steps over to the edge and crosses her arms, looking down at where Nate's landed, her cloak blowing in the wind. << You know how to get a girl's attention. >> She projects mentally. Her mind may be closed, but she's learned how to communicate with telepaths around that.

Nate arches an eyebrow when Karolina opens the door. Wrong blonde, but the rainbow corona is cool. “Hello. I am looking for Magik. I am a... friend, kinda. Maybe her stalking victim, not sure.” He peers up when the right blonde appears on top of the tower, shading his eyes with a hand. “And there she is.” He smirks at her telepathic comment too. Then to Karolina. “Nice to meet you, anyway. I’m Nate.”

What maybe spurred Karolina into opening the door was Illyana's comment about knowing. Otherwise, she may have kept the doors of her fortress shut. Upon seeing Nate, she has a smile dance across her lips, albeit a more tentative one. "I'm Karolina," she says. That whole codename thing she never really caught on with. "There who is. Can you see Illyana from here?" she asks, leaning forward to kinda peer around the corners.

The white-costumed sorceress blinks from the top of the glass-and-steel tower down beside the other two and peers at Nate. "What's up?" OK, not her usual sunny self. If by 'sunny' one means snarky and annoying. She does shake her head at Karolina. "You're all glowly. I think you're supposed to intro as Lucy." She points out. "Though seriously. You need a better codename." OK, that's a little better.

“She was up there,” pause, “and now she is down here,” comments Nate with a smirk. “As for what is up, I thought I could be the one dropping by unannounced for once. Besides, I had a few questions and you left too quickly last time I saw you.” Lucy? Uh? “Karolina seems okay, codenames are silly.”

Illyana's odd behavior the other night and her subsequent disappearance had left Roy with a nagging feeling that -something- had happened. But after a few days of lack of Illyana-napping, Roy decided to just stop by the Titans Tower. Surely someone could explain -that-. The trio hanging about outside the Tower included the sorceress was a relief, and so Roy makes his way over onto the island, and up to the front door. "Yo," he greets. At least he knew all the faces. Now to see if there was going to be a cold shoulder... "Well, yeah. Um. I thought we were going to be under attack or something," she says, lifting up her hand with the medic-alert bracelet, and flipping it on. The glow fades, and soon enough, there was Karolina Dean in her human guise. With unbrushed hair. She could tell that something was obviously wrong with Illyana the past handful of days. "I /do/ need a better codename, though. You'll have to help me think of one?" she says, smiling lightly at Illyana then. "And it's okay to come visit, especially if you're a friend," she says to Nate, when she glances over his shoulder to Roy. A pause, and her brow furrows then. She looks from Roy, to Illyana, then back again.

"Yeah well, when you have no one to protect, they seem pretty silly. When you do, they're a hell of a lot less so, alright?" Magik replies to Nate with more venom than she normally does. Usually it's snarky. Sarcastic. Today she actually seems kinda pissed off. Her gaze slides over Nate's shoulder to Roy, and she frowns a bit before looking back to Karolina. "Sure. How about Light Bright?" There's the feeling that it should be sarcastic, but she doesn't quite manage it.

“I guess I tripped some alarms after all,” Nate does not seems particularly sorrowful about it, though. Along the way, he nods at Roy as greeting. “I would have called, but...” he glances at Illyana, frowning. “Are you... alright?” He asks, finally noticing her bleak mood. Not playful snarky, which is the normal Magik he knows.

"That's what -I- want to know," Roy chimes in, as he closes in. "What was going on, Magik? Hello, Nate, hi Lucy," the redhead adds as a sort-of-greeting, before looking to Illyana. Want to explain?

Karolina manages a smile at Illyana. Of course, it was a tentative one, but what wasn't? "I think that one could work?" she says. It was the sort of tone of someone playing it along, making it a joke a bit. There was a moment where that smile becomes more real, even as she turns her eyes towards Roy again. There was a little quirk of her head to the side, as if questioning, and she purses her lips. "Well, um. We can all go to the kitchen, and I can make sandwiches or something?" she asks.

"Next time, stop at the gate so security can call you in." Magik advises Nate. She scowls a bit as Nate asks her what's wrong, and then Roy is as well and her eyes flicker to white flame for a moment. She gestures with a hand towards Roy and a stepping disk flashes open in front of him and rushes at him to try to swallow him up. Dodge fast, Harper. "I'm fine." Her costume covers pretty much everything but her face, and the cut along her hairline is mostly covered by her bangs since she's taken the bandage off.

Nate perks up at the mention of food, as usual. That distracts him from Illyana for a second, and then she is trying to port Roy away. He steps away, curious, “I guess that answers it, she has yet to... hmm, do something more Magik-like. Is something going on with the group?” He asks Lucy.

That he'd expected a really whacky response from Illyana was about right. Given her reaction the first time they'd met and her reaction to being surprised, Roy's reflexes are quick, as he immediately dives behind Nate. Surely, she's not going to swallow -him- up too. And then Roy is quickly moving again, this time towards Karolina to use as a shield until he can get close enough to Magik... and do what? Hell, he didn't think that far ahead.

Those hell-disks. Karolina brings up a hand reflexively, likewise dodging to the side. Roy was probably a bit faster of a dodge, though, and ends up behind her anyways. Her powers were weak through her suppressor - but she lifts a hand to create a force field anyways - it was visibly thin, though, and she just kinda smiles tentatively towards Illyana. "...um. Where were you going to take him?" she asks.

The disk keeps moving in that straight line, so dodging out of it's path keeps Roy safe. Magik's cold blue eyes track him as he moves behind Nate and then behind Karolina. In the distance the portal winks out. Nate gets a look then. "Trust me. You don't want me to do anything 'magic-y'." To Karolina she just says, "Maybe I was going to send him where he belongs. Which is obviously not here." That said she turns to walk inside the Tower.

For an instant a golden wall flicks into existence between Nate and the glowing disk, but as Illyana makes it wink out, the wall also vanishes. Something is clearly wrong with the blonde sorceress, though. “Okay... so now we can see you are perfectly fine,” comments the telepath, “and Lucy here was offering sandwiches, right? Maybe we can all go to the kitchen and we can chat about... things completely unrelated to anything that could upset you. Since we do want you to remain fine, being your friends and all that.”

"Uh huh." Closing the gap quickly towards Illyana, Roy falls in step next to her. "What gives anyway? You still haven't explained -what- you were doing back then. What Nate's saying is bullcrap, you're upset. Explain what's going on, will you?"

Karolina pauses, her smile falling quite down into a frown. She didn't have any idea what was going on, really, and that was evident in the confusion in her features. A long pause, and she moves to quickly step beside Illyana. Not to like... defend her from the glomming Roy, or anything, she could take care of herself. But just kinda show that she was standing with the Queen of Limbo. "I... well, it sounds like Roy isn't quite welcome to sandwiches, right now, Nate." she says, softly.

Illyana cuts an annoyed glance at Roy as he steps up next to her. And then an even more annoyed glance to Karolina as she comes up on the other side. "Don't make me turn someone into a toad." She says with some heat and the sense that she might very well do that.

And they say Nate is unsubtle. Nate looks at Karolina and shrugs helplessly. He tried. “And it seems Illyana is not up to talk about her problems,” he murmurs, “Roy, leave her alone,” he says louder. << Pushing her is not going to work - she does not seem the kind of woman that appreciates being interrogated - we should try to improve her mood >> He projects into Roy’s mind. If he is not used to telepathy that can be a little startling, but since the Cuckoos are his daughter’s babysitters, he suspects the redheaded man has some experience.

Roy -does- indeed have some experience, if not necessarily with Nate, and the -look- that he flashes Nate is a curious one, one that fades before he shrugs. "Fine," he says, as he drops back behind Illyana. There's a glance towards Karolina, and a "... well, look after her, will ya?" And then falling next to Nate, Roy grunts. "Women."

Karolina Dean lifts her hands as if surrendering when Illyana puts that glare on her, and she takes a handful of steps back. "I um. Sorry," she says, kinda mumbly on top of everything else. Roy talks to her, and Karolina kinda looks his way, and gives a subtle sort of nod. "Well. Um. It's good weather out today, isn't it?" she asks, glancing between the others. There were no smiles on her face.

Obviously Magik's mission is accomplished. Now everyone is in as crappy a mood as she is! Well, not as bad as she is, but she's certainly sucked all of the happy out of the moment. She keeps walking and a stepping disk opens in front of her that she walks right through, letting it close after her. Annoying that she can just drop in on folks and they can't do the same to her, huh?

Nate is not in a poor mood, maybe a bit worried. He does not know Illyana so well, “huh uhs,” he half-agrees with Roy. Disk-of-light? “Hey, wait a second!” He reaches for the vanishing blonde, but hesitates a second too long. She is gone. “Damnit, there she goes again.” Yes, very annoying. Looks like Nate made the trip from New York for nothing. “Does she usually leave for long?” He asks to the others.

"Hell if I know, she turned up the other day at 3 AM at my place and was acting weird. I told her to go home, and..." A sheepish grunt. "Forgot what she considers home." Rubbing his face, Roy grunts. "You have any idea what caused that?"

"Um!" Karolina says, as the disk of light appears. There wasn't any way that she was going to follow, but she calls out, "Sandwiches! Kitchen! I'll make a double..." it was probably too late, and the disk of light had vanished. There was a bit of a sigh, then, and Karolina glances back to the guys. "You told her to go away? That kinda... explains what she said, then," Karolina says. She was the only native Titan here, so... she would lead the way to the elevator. What she had called the kitchen was actually a common room with a little kitchenette, and the elevator would open directly into it, in a minute or two.

By the time the trio gets up to the common area... Magik's already there. Her cloak is off, folded over the back of the couch while she's over on the wide sill of one of the windows that looks back towards the city. Her back is against a support column and she's got a mug cradled in her hands. She's stripped her gloves off as well.

Nate hesitates, but since there is food involved, he stays around. “I don’t know her very well,” he mentions on the way to the kitchen, “only found out her real name the other day. Hmm, maybe we should ask her boyfriend.” Named Peter. And not a boyfriend according to Illyana. But they sure looked like a couple. He was going to add something but shuts his mouth when he finds the blonde in the kitchen. “Hello again.”

"Boyfriend... eh?" Hnh. No, Roy wasn't going to touch that with a ten foot pole. But following Karolina, Roy grunts. "It was 3 AM, and my kid was sleeping. Why didn't she..." And then the subject in question is in the common area, and Roy arches an eyebrow. "All right, is it unnerving when she does that, or is it just me?"

"I..." Karolina begins to say in the elevator ride, but decides better of it. So her portion of the elevator ride was fair silent, Karolina kinda taking the idle time to stroke her fingers through her unbrushed hair, in an attempt to tame that savage beast. "It's just you. You'll get used to it, though," Karolina says. She was already heading to the kitchen - unless Nightwing or someone had eaten all the deli meat and sliced cheese, there should be enough in there to make simply sandwiches. And this was an endeavour that Karolina sets herself to with a passion.

One of Magik's shoulders rests against the glass. Even with that barrier, it's a spot that might unnerve some, with that sheer drop and only the transparent barrier keeping one from it. She turns to look at the trio as they arrive, following Karolina as she heads to the kitchen to make food. She sips at her tea and doesn't seem inclined to actually come over and join them.

"Titans, report -- I got the intruder alarm and am on my way," Nightwing's voice comes over the comm unit. His bike is speeding down the streets of Metropolis towards the Tower. It isn't long before he's entering in through one of the upper-level windows towards the monitor room to check and see where the intruder might be.

“Just you,” confirms Nate to Roy, “which might be what keeps her doing it,” he adds more quietly. Because, coyote, remember? He goes straight to join the sorceress at the window, though. “Hey. Look, I am not going to ask you, but you came to me several times to ask about my health and have been charmingly... and annoyingly, insistent in getting me started right since I got here. So... come join us at the table and I’ll do my best to distract you?” He offers.

"Right, right," Roy replies to Nate. With a shake of his head, Roy just follows Karolina to the kitchen, taking care to not venture too close to Illyana in case she snaps. "Here, lemme help. Peanut butter and jelly?"

"Um. It's just a friend," Karolina says into her communicator, "We're in the common room?" she adds. With a sigh and a look in the fridge, she finds the cheese, but no meat. When Roy's voice interrupts her contemplation. "It looks like peanut butter and jelly is what we can do," she says, giving him a little smile. "Thanks for helping."

"It's fine, Nightwing." Magik says, reporting back to the Titan's leader via the comm after Karolina. "It's..." She can't help but smirk, looking over to Nate as comes over. "Reality Displaced Dude." She can't help it. Nightwing made the secret ID comment and so she doesn't give Nate's name. Rewinding the footage would show Nate's flying approach to the Tower and landing on the front grounds. The sorceress looks back to Nate, frowning as he comes over. "You just don't understand the concept of 'fine', do you?"

"Then why was the alarm set off?" Nightwing slams the chair into the desk before watching the footage shown on the monitors. He then makes his way to the Common Room as he was instructed and stands at the entrance, scowling. "We do have a doorbell." Or something like that. There's always someone to answer the door hanging about.

“Of course I do, like I am always fine myself,” Nate smirks at Illyana. Then points to the table with a thumb. “Sandwiches, hmm? I wanted to ask you about these super-groups you have going here, so this is the perfect place, after all.” He glances at Nightwing as he arrives. He actually meet Karolina at the door, but what doorbell?

Falling in step with Karolina, Roy sets up the bread in neat rows, the easier to have one person do peanut butter, while the other does jelly. "I'll do the peanut butter," he says, already grabbing the jar and starting in on the peanut butter group of bread. "So, Karolina... what was that about what Illyana was saying to you earlier?" Roy asks as he gets to work slathering the peanut butter.

Illyana looks over as Nightwing appears in the entrance with a slight roll of her eyes and a sigh. "He came in as a UFO. That's what set off the alarms. And I called them off as soon as I recognized him." She tells their fearless leader in a flat tone. She's still in a poor mood and it steals the usual mocking air she has about her. Which folks find worse? Well, that's on them. Magik gestures towards Nightwing, "You wanna know about the Titans? Meet our poster-boy."

Nightwing looks at those gathered in the common area...and making sandwiches. Roy gets a glance before he notes the explanation and looks to their visitor. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," is offered first, "And what got you interested in our team?" Illyana gets asked another question, "May I ask how you know him?"

Illyana’s statement makes Nate take another, more calculating look at Nightwing. “Name is Nathaniel Grey,” he states, stepping forward to offer his hand. “Call me Nate. I was going to ask Magik about... well, some things I don’t understand about how mutants and other folks with powers behave here. I am... er, reality displaced. Or that is what Magik likes to tell me.”

Since the subject seems to be something Karolina didn't want to touch for now, Roy averts his gaze, and focuses on the peanut butter. When the sandwiches are done, Roy glances at Karolina, leaves her be in the kitchen, and heads back out to the room with the plateful of sandwiches. "Okay, come and get it," he greets. "Hey Wingster. What's up? Before you ask, I wanted to check up on something weird."

Illyana lets her gaze rest on Nightwing when he asks about how she knows him. "I was there when he popped in. Backing up the Martian Manhunter?" She says to perhaps jog his memory of the event which she at least thinks she's mentioned. "There was another trio of mutants or metas there, but if you want info on them, You'd need to ask Arsenal." She says, sliding her gaze over to the archer. When he mentions 'something weird' she narrows her eyes at him.

"Something weird?" Nightwing looks between Roy and Nate, "Is it related to Mr. Grey here?" But he will step forward to take the offered hand. "Another who's reality displaced?" He looks over to Roy at that, "Seems to be an epidemic. The answer to your question, Mr. Grey, is 'it depends'. It depends on the mutants and folks with power. Some are open about it, some aren't. Some are using their powers for good, some for evil." He crosses his arms at his chest, "It's a little odd, don't you think, to be randomly dropping in and asking these kinds of questions of relative srangers?"

“Another?” Nate shakes his head at Nightwing, “nevermind. And no, I came to ask Magik. Not randomly. And she is not exactly a stranger, she was there when I got here a month ago and has been keeping an eye on me.” He returns to the blonde’s side. Hmm, everyone is a stranger to him, relatively speaking. But he still needs answers.

"Yes, that would be related to Mr. Grey," Arsenal replies, offering the PBJ sandwich on a tray to Nightwing. "It got resolved." For now, anyway. "Anyway, I dropped by to check up on Magik, so..." There was a shrug. "Look at it this way, Wingster, you've got a chance to make sure the stranger in a strange land doesn't pull a love-god gimmick to rule the world."

"He's reality displaced, so I was trying to convince him to be a part of the system instead of just doing whatever because he could." Magik tells Nightwing. "Look, you have your hobbies, I have mine." Hers just involve annoying people. "I'm fairly sure I'm one of the few people he knows so yeah. Not so much a stranger." Arsenal gets another sort-of-scowl as he admits the 'weird' thing he's here to check on is her.

Nightwing waves away the sandwich, "No thanks." He then looks to Magik, "Should I be concerned? Two people coming in to check in on her..." but he then looks from Illyana to the others. He finally shrugs, "Well, then. Call me if you need me. I didn't mean to interrupt your party, Magik." There's a brief smirk before he gives a brief nod and takes a few steps back.

Nate frowns, “I am not into doing anything I want just because I have power.” That was never an issue, hrmph. He grabs the sandwich Nightwing didn’t want, though. “So I am your hobby now?” He mock-glares Illyana.

The glare from Illyana is returned with equianimity, as Roy shrugs at Nightwing. "I think maybe a bit, but otherwise... nah." There was a look at Nate, then before he glances at Illyana. "I'm just getting in the way here, am I? Ah well... next time just call me before you show up at my door, okay? I'll just get out of your way now."

Illyana rolls her eyes heavenward briefly and then looks back to Nightwing and lifts a foot to push Nate towards the black-and-blue clad one. "You want to talk about metas or mutants and what they do here. Talk to him." She looks to Nightwing, "Be glad he came asking me questions instead of oh, Magneto." Looking over to Roy she nods. "Yeah, I got the message loud and clear. I won't drop in on you anymore."

Nightwing looks at Illyana for a moment before he gestures Nate and Roy to come with him then, "Well, Mr. Grey...it seems that Magik would like me to speak with you about this. So, I'll try to answer what questions I can. No doubt between the two of us," he gestures between himself and Roy, "We can at least give you an idea."

Nate grumps, pushed away by the bossy blonde. “I’m not Mr. Grey, name is Nate,” he notes. “So, I am not surprised some people use their power for profit and without caring who gets hurt. I think you are lucky no one has organized them into an army. Well, we are lucky. I am not surprised some use their power to help others either. But why the colorful costumes, the super-teams and the fancy codenames? Why not join the police, the firemen or the army? I am assuming the government is trustworthy, mind you. Not like back home.”

"Wrong message, Magik," mutters Roy. "Call -first-." Shaking his head, the redheaded agent turns towards Nightwing. "Already got him registered at the United Nations. Beyond that, got to see what he can be doing, and like Magik said, better you than Magneto." There's a light shrug. "Got any ideas, Wingster?"

Magik just turns away, letting the three menfolk talk while she looks out the window and sips at her tea. There's a slight grimace as it's gone cold but sadly, heating it back up isn't one of her talents.

"Some people in government can be trusted, some can't. It also depends on your view of particular politics." Nightwing glances to Roy then, "As for the costumes and codenames, it provides anonymity. It means we can have our lives outside of the costume but while we're in the costume we're easily recognized as those willing to help. Same with the codenames. If you're a cop or in the army or with the fire brigade, you're following orders, you don't have that division between your private and your 'hero' life. Also, I'm not entirely sure that those groups will accept some of the heroes who -are- mutants or otherwise have powers. It's still quite the hot topic here."

“I have noticed there is a good deal of anti-mutant racism, yeah. Fortunately not an open war yet, also against other superhumans?” That makes Nate surprised and thoughtful. “Not sure why you need the anonymity. Policemen and soldiers do not get it, do they? Do they get targeted often on an individual level?”

"Hnh." Well, Magik being cold and stubborn. Yes. Ah well. Attention turned to Nate and Nightwing, Arsenal nods. "Well, some do," he adds. "Really, it's best to make it easier on yourself to just have fun outside of work. Especially if you want to relax."

"The people that we're likely to deal with... They're likely to take it personally. Police deal with all kinds of crimes. We tend to get called in when it's bad." Magik says into the window, not looking at the trio. "Takes a special kind of person to be a 'super-villain'."

"They also have very distinct...lines of action that they must take," Nightwing points out. "Lines of action that might not work for someone who can shoot beams from their eyes, fly, or call in magic demons to help out. Those very noble career choices are also limiting, especially, as Magik says, when dealing with an individual or group of individuals who have the same kinds of powers. Who will, as she mentioned, take it personally."

Nate seems a bit skeptical, but nods. They answered his questions truthfully. And it is not as if they are just saying; it looks like most superheroes do that. Disguises, codenames, etc. “I guess it is something I will got to get used to. It also seems a failure of the police, army and those organizations, not being able to adapt to super-beings. I... okay, not surprised there.”

"Well, that's what groups like Titans, the Justice League, SHIELD, the Avengers... they're all for that." There was a light shrug. "Just a whole new organization to deal with -those-. Besides, have you seen the reports on, say, Doctor Doom? Talk about a grade-a loonie."

Illyana does turn to look back at the boys now, tilting her head to lean against the glass. "Yep. We're that adaptation. The JLA and Titans are official United States law enforcement. Maybe sometime in the future we'll be rolled into a more conventional municipal force but... There's not enough of us that are willing to do the job even anonymously, let alone as part of the established system."

"I wouldn't call it a failure of law enforcement," Nightwing offers. "We are just the next step. These groups, at least." He gestures to Illyana, "We're sanctioned by the US Government in our anonymity and flashy costumes. It makes us targets for those who would otherwise target the police and army and civilians, especially when many on these teams can handle those attacks. With the introduction of mutants and powered individuals, it frees the police and the army and the fire department to focus their skills on what they do best and leave us the powered crazies like The Joker and this Doctor Doom." Although he does look at Roy when he says that.

“Ah, I guess you are the new step in law-enforcement, makes sense,” Nate knew little about the relationship between the government and the JLA/Titans. It is easy to forget. “Thanks for answering my questions, I guess it makes sense.”

"Heh. I'm outside these groups, really," Roy amends, flashing Nightwing a wide grin. Looking towards Illyana, Roy adds, "Besides, working in systems can be tough on people, so the ones who don't quite fit in... well, finding the places you can is really tricky."

Illyana smirks at Roy's response. "Yeah, he works for the UN. Means he's only got jurisdiction on US soil when the US lets him." She sticks her tongue out at him petulantly but at least it's something childish and almost silly.

"In a way, we are," Nightwing nods then. "We don't kill...and we call in the authorities to take care of things once they're able to be, well, taken care of by them. It means they're incapacitated, most often." He looks between Illyana and Roy before adding, "The Titans, especially, are mostly younger, less experienced folk who might be scared away by traditional law enforcement careers."

Nate smirks to Illyana, glad she did something normal. Normal for Illyana. “Not killing...” he states, looking at Nightwing, somewhat in disbelief. “That is truly something different here,” he muses, “that you can afford to let powerful enemies live. Jail them. Maybe reform them. You have no idea how much a... dangerous luxury does that seem to me.”

"... well, there's due process," Roy says, rubbing his nose. "I know, funny coming from people whose jobs usually work -outside- the law, but if we don't follow our own laws, how can we expect others to?"

Illyana nods over to Roy with a slight sigh. "But, some people just hear 'goverment team' and... I dunno. Every conspiricy movie they've ever seen jumps into their heads. So they decide to 'do good' but they're breaking laws too. Just different ones. I'm glad they're helping... Just gets to me when they're offered a legitimate way to do it and they figure they're as above the law as the criminals they're griping about."

"We're not gods. We don't decide who gets to live and who gets to die," Nightwing starts But as Roy and Illyana go on, he just quiet. He's not going to get into the whole 'right and wrong' of being a vigilante. Pot meet kettle.

Nate nods to Roy, “it is not funny, it is just there /is/ a due process. A way to deal with it that does not involve killing.” He snorts to Nightwing, “gods do not get to decide that either. It is always the people who do. So you get the choice and got to live with it later. Sometimes you don’t get the choice, but in this world, in this America, I guess you always do. And that alone feels like a dream to me.”

"... well yeah, a lot of us are aiming to do things non-lethally. Shame there's enough idiots out there trying to do it for themselves," Roy sighs. "But that's a whole discussion for another time. Anyway, if you're looking for a place to fit in, maybe the Wingster can help here...? That is, if you've decided the US is where you want to be."

Now Illyana smirks over at Roy. "Instead of what, that beaucratic machine that is SHIELD?" She sips her tea again, having forgotten it's gone cold and grimaces again, setting it aside. She stretches out her legs with a faint sigh.

"Nightwing, Arsenal. My name is Nightwing." Certainly when they're in relative public. He looks back to Illyana before turning to Nate, "Are you looking for a place to fit in? What are you looking to do here, Nate? And how are you looking to do it?" He notes to Illyana, "Some people like beauracracy, like Arsenal here."

Nate looks to Roy. Yes, he looks like someone that loves bureaucracy. Heh. “I am looking for... I do not know.” He admits, “I suppose a place to fit would be good. But I have been in this world less than a month. I still have much to learn, and I’d like to travel more. I really like this, everything... the happy people, abundant food, the whole cities and due cause. Bureaucracy and all. But I will do anything to prevent this world going the way mine went. Anything.”

"Hey I don't -love- bureaucracy. Remind me to tell you the story about the Sarge, -Pixie Boots-," Roy retorts, ignoring the request to call him -Nightwing-. Because, seriously... why stand on ceremony? There's a roll of his eyes, before Roy grunts at Nate. "Well then, exploring this world will do you some good, I suppose. There's this wonderful thing called the internet. Just don't wander into the urban dictionary."

"Like he needs the internet." Magik says with a slight roll of her eyes, smirking. She knows he's a telepath, after all. What's worse than the internet? That would be people's brains. Dirty, dirty things.

Nightwing just gives a sigh at Roy's insistence on calling him by any other name. They'll have a talk about that sooner rather than later. "Definitely explore. There isn't always an abundance of food in this world...or happy people or due cause. The wealthier nations seem to be more along those lines, but there isn't equality of wealth. But definitely learn and explore this world. No one's saying you need to choose a place now. If you have any questions though, you can always come ask."

“I am a telepath, Roy,” clarifies Nate. Since Illyana is being cryptic at his expense. He nods to Nightwing. “I will do that... thank you for everything.” Including the sandwich, where is Karolina? He turns to Illyana, “and you, even if it was your hobby. You need better hobbies.”

"Right, right... I got that earlier," Roy sighs, slapping his head. "Though unless you can scan the whole world..." A shake of his head, and a grin at Nightwing's sigh, but Roy doesn't press the issue further, as he smirks at Illyana.

"Telepaths can't get into my head, so I tend to drive them nuts." Illyana admits, smirking over at Nate. "Probably one of the reasons I like bothering them." Because they just *don't know* why she's there and they like to know things so damned much.

"I highly recommend not getting into anyone's heads without permission. It tends to perpetuate the fear that many have for those who have powers," Nightwing points out. He then gives a quick grunt, "I tried telling her she needed other hobbies. She didn't listen to me either."

“It is not just that what drives me nuts about you, blondie,” notes Nate, staring at Illyana and smirking back. “I should go, I will keep in touch, though. And find the doorbell next time I drop by.”

Arching an eyebrow at Nate, Roy grins, nodding in agreement with Nightwing. "It's not just the telepaths she likes to bother," he adds, giving Illyana another look.

"That's me. Everyone's bother." Magik says with sarcasm. "Later, Nate." She says, not bothering to get up from where she's been sitting.