[IC] Titans!

[YoshiSkittlez]

Upon the Kryptonian entering the room, Ravager stood up straight and sheathed her swords, folding her arms across her chest and stared Superboy down with somewhat of a glare. In some sense, Ravager was relieved that Superboy game to aid her, but more than that she felt her pride being shattered, if only just a little bit. What would her father say? Even though she knew he was miles away, she still felt the sense that he was always watching her...somehow.

"Nice to meet ya' Thomas. You've seemed to walk into the wrong party."

Rose's scowled expression seemed to darken as she walked up to the duo, though her attention was fully on Superboy.

"I already said that." She said a bit bitterly upon reaching the tall Kryptonian. "I had this under control, don't they need you back in space where your big head can let things orbit naturally?" She jabbed at him, turning around so that her back was to him with her arms still folded across her chest.

Superboy was a pretty good looking man. If it weren't for the fact that she absolutely detested him for being so damn perfect, perhaps there would have been something there between the two of them. Instead, he always seemed to piss her off in situations such as these, always trying to play the solo hero. Still...he had a kind heart and good intentions, he couldn't help how he was created.

"New outfit?" She added after a brief moment of silence. That was as close to a compliment as he would ever get from her.

[Natty]

Scorpion scared wide eyed as the tower appeared in front of him. He nodded timidly as Iron Fist talked them through their task, sliding his helmet back into place as he did so. So all they had to do was make it to the top of the tower? It didn't seem that hard. He could simply scale the side of the building! However he doubted that the den-mother would be happy. Which meant that they would have to deal with the guards. Honestly though it couldn't be that bad...

"If I throw a disk in the air, full of an anesthetic, could you blast at it and force it to detonate when it's in the vicinity of the guards?"

Tim turned to see Ricochet wave one of his special disks in front of him. Thinking about it, that was a half-decent idea. The young hero nodded happily, giving the fellow trainee a thumbs up. Leaping forward, the Scorpion landed just above the tower's doorway, his hands and feet planted firmly against the wall. Scuttling down he leaned into the doorway, his tail arcing over his shoulder, zeroing in on the guardsman. Looking up, he raised his thumb once more at Ricochet, giving him the signal to strike.

[Mr_pink]

Taskmaster turned to Tempest before answering
"I was contacted about some sorta job opening or something" He looked up to the roof
"Thought you guys needed a bit more swag on the team I guess" He smiled under his mask before turning his head back to Tempest.
"That's something teens say right? 'Swag'? Anyway can you show me where I have to go? Do I have to meet steel fist or whatever his name is again?"

[Enarr]

_____Ricochet

Training Room Simulation: Castle of The Nightingales, Titans Tower
10:41 PM, January 1 2016

When Scorpion leapt up to the doorway, Ricochet trained his eyes on his tail. When it was in position, Scorpion flipped him thumb up to Johnny, who responded by throwing his steel disk through the air.

The disk cut through the air and looked like a golden blur, as it launched like a frisbee into the padoga, Johnny hoped that Tim would time his blast so that it would detonate the disk. Otherwise, there was a possibility of accidentally killing the guard. But fortunately, success wouldn't result in a noisy explosion, it would be rather quiet due to the fact that Mr. Terrific had assisted in designing the disks to implode without a peep.

[DeathstrokeSW]

As Rose engaged the Kryptonian, Thomas gathered himself, visualizing his bones as malleable, like liquid. All he needed was a fraction of a second, and when Superboy was distracted, slid out of the other boy's grip. Redonning his owl-mask, he turned to Rose, plucking his knife out of the floor.

Fitting his mask into place, Thomas quietly slipped out the door, and into the dense foliage, making his way into the cliff where he dived into the Gotham bay. Beginning the long swim back to the Gotham Harbor, Thomas swam back to the city, thinking back on what happened. The girl was certainly skilled enough to make a worthy opponent, but the boy who had nearly trapped him wasn't worth fighting, as Thomas knew when to pick his battles. Right now, any sign of violence was bound to cause more trouble; trouble he didn't need at the moment.

As he crawled on the harbor in full Talon gear, a squad of his bretheren were standing there to meet him, imposing in stance. The tallest one, Alucard, was the one to speak. "Thomas, the Court wants an update. Have you successfully infiltrated the Teen Titans?" Thomas stood up and looked Alucard in the eye. "There were.....complications. The Titans will never trust the Court or its Talons. Mission Failure." Alucard sighed and nodded. "Thomas, the Court will want to speak with you on this. Come."

_________________________________________________________

Thomas found himself in the same dimly lit chamber as when the Court had given him his mission earlier today. The same Court members stood before him, all leaning forward slightly as if they were their namesakes on perches. Again, the leader spoke up. "Thomas Marsh, Talon of the Court of Owls, you have failed us. The Court does not accept failure, Thomas. " He paused here, letting his words fill the dank air, forcing a sort of tension. When he felt the sufficient mood generated, the leader continued. "Therefore, we strip you of your rank, and excommunicate you from the Court of Owls." Thomas rose, rage coursing in his eyes, fists clenched. "You throw me out? After everything I've done?" He turned, putting his back to the Court. "I've always wondered who my parents were. As a last request, who were they?"

The Leader turned and strode down from his perch, leaning down to whisper in his ear. "You have no parents, Thomas. We cloned you from Thomas Wayne. You are not human, but our property; our trash."
At these words Thomas fell to his knees, awestruck, his world shattered. A clone. He was a clone, raised to be a living weapon. And the Court had USED him his entire life. The chamber was empty now, abandoned. The Court would never use this space again.

When Thomas was able to stand, he too, left the building, left Gotham as well. There were things he needed to think on, to sort out.

[Natty]

Scorpion eyed the disk as Ricochet propelled it in his direction. His shot had to be perfect. If he took to long to take his shot then blast would surely kill the guardsman (even though it was a simulation, Tim suspected that Iron Fist would deduct points if they ended up killing). If he took the shot too soon he would risk the guardsman remaining conscious and sounding the alarm. Obviously he could miss although after having a mechanical tail for the last year, Scorpion had kind of practiced his shot. The disk whizzed past him. Tim took the shot. A blob of acidic goo was launched out the top of his tail and...

Kapoof!

Well technically there was no "kapoof". Scorpion couldn't actually hear any sound of an explosion, yet the disks did go off. A small cloud of smoke was evidence of that. As it slowly cleared, the teenage superhero caught a glimpse of the guard's body disappearing into a pile of fading pixels. Scuttling through the doorway and along the right hand wall, Tim surveyed the rest of the room, signalling Ricochet to follow as he did so.

As far as he could see, there were no signs of any other guardsmen on this floor. He smiled beneath his helmet as he moved on forward quickly, approaching the stairs to the floors above.

[Enarr]

_____Ricochet

Training Room Simulation: Castle of The Nightingales, Titans Tower
10:41 PM, January 1 2016

Watching Scorpion fire his blast and seeing the motion to follow behind, Johnny quickly began to approach. He started kart-wheeling, then threw himself onto his feet from his hands and landed with his knees ready to lurch up like coils. Then, taking advantage of the potential energy in the crouch, he leapt up into the second story of the elegantly constructed tower through an unblocked window.

He got up in time to see Tim scurrying up the stairs and raising his head above the doorway. But he noticed that one of the blind sentries seemed to have been alerted to the sound of him coming up the stairs.

So, to protect Tim from being sucker-punched by a warrior, Johnny nigh silently crept over the window and into the room. He didn't want to directly face the guard in hand to hand combat, so he chucked one of his disks over at the wall adjacent to the window, and it 'ricocheted' and then bounced towards the other wall.

The crafty warrior the ninja was, he heard the disk whizzing around the room and countered it with a shuriken when it was seven feet away from him. But he had been completely unaware that it was of the same sort that had been used moments before. So that sentry also fell unconscious.

He looked over at Tim, who had made it up right as the ninja fell unconscious, and then he gave a signature wink to his armored companion.

[Archangel89]

DeathstrokeSW said "I already said that." She said a bit bitterly upon reaching the tall Kryptonian. "I had this under control, don't they need you back in space where your big head can let things orbit naturally?" She jabbed at him, turning around so that her back was to him with her arms still folded across her chest.

Superboy was a pretty good looking man. If it weren't for the fact that she absolutely detested him for being so damn perfect, perhaps there would have been something there between the two of them. Instead, he always seemed to piss her off in situations such as these, always trying to play the solo hero. Still...he had a kind heart and good intentions, he couldn't help how he was created.

"New outfit?" She added after a brief moment of silence. That was as close to a compliment as he would ever get from her.

"Aw what's the matter princess, mad cause Big Bird here had you on the ropes?"

Kon-El set the would-be assassin down keeping a close eye on him as he disarmed himself. Using his vision to peer into the kid's suit hoping to get a look at some sort of distinguishing features of the guy.Sadly, under his suit, this Thomas looked like any other guy on the street. The long silence was broken by Ravagers "almost" compliment brought his sarcastic attitude.

"Yeah,I thought that I could pull off the "cyber ninja" thing at one point, but I didn't think that the circus would take me in."

The seething demeanor could be seen clearly through the non-powered girl. Kon wasn't a familiar as Clark or Batman, but he knew enough to know that he was a force to be reckoned with. He had seen the teen-aged hero fight before and her style was reminiscent of Nightwing and others of the Batfamily, but Kon had noticed a distinct style that favored Deathstroke. With her style of combat he could only guess that she had trained with Deathstroke at some point. Making her all the more dangerous and giving him more reason for Kon to keep a close eye on her.

[Natty]

Scorpion was confused to arrive on the second floor to find a guardsman fading away before his eyes. Looking up, his eyes rested on Ricochet who gave him one of his all too familiar winks. That was twice now that Ricochet had saved him today and Tim was determined to not let there be a third time. Darting forward, the armored teen scurried along the ceiling before emerging onto the level above. This time though, he prepared himself for an attack. Swinging his tail, the guardsman was knocked to the floor though before he could react, Scorpion was apon him and had delivered a strong punch which reduced him to pixels.

Smiling at his handiwork, Scorpion rose before bounding towards the window. Taking in his surroundings, he realized that the tower wasn't exactly that tall. They were already about a third of the way there! With a smile on his face, the hero moved on, scaling the side of the tower as he climbed.

[Dblade26]

Danny smiled slightly at the face Arsenal made during his spouting off of proverbial wisdom, though he was careful not to Roy see The young man possessed far better control than might have initially been assumed given that he resisted the obvious impulse to mock the expression. Far better control than Danny had when he first arrived in K'un-L'un as a boy, though Arsenal was much older than he had been then. Perhaps there was more purpose to such odd sayings than merely the enlightening and teasing he had assumed was their purpose.

Iron Fist listened patiently while Roy expressed his concerns about not being able to teach the New Titans very much, about how he wasn't really the one for that job and Iron Fist had the wrong person in mind for the task.

"Even so, maybe they'll surprise you, or you'll learn something unexpected about yourself. I was once told that in teaching, one learns more than one ever did as a student. As my own teachers were fond of putting it "The student is a mirror reflection of the teacher, and to one who looks upon it rightly a mirror's reflection keeps no secrets'" Danny grinned again, this time letting Roy see. "They mostly used to say that as a way to tell me that they'd caught me lying or making mischief and I'm still not entirely sure what it means, but it seems appropriate here too."

Suddenly, something occurred to Danny. Specifically the mischief had caused him to remember that at least one New Titan was skipping out on training today, and if there was any truth to all of this mirror's reflection business, he had a pretty good idea where to find them.

"Mind taking over full supervision for the exercise for a minute, Roy? I have a wayward student to look after. I'll be back to continue this conversation very shortly."

Iron Fist walked out of the observation deck and the training arena as a whole and into the elevator while waiting patiently for it to arrive at the Rec room's floor. Tempted as he was to try and just climb the elevator shaft for a workout, there had to be a certain amount of seriousness about him nowadays. Once he got out there seemed to be some kind of big mess in the lobby as if a fight had broken out there, but he would focus on that at a later time. If it was a threat then it seemed to have passed for now and if it was something else, well, he needed the right frame of mind to do what he was about to do and trying to focus on something else might wreck that.

So, keeping his mind serene and gentle for however this turned out he knocked on the door to the Rec Room.

"Amy? I know you're in there. Can I talk to you please?"

[Gowi]

Iron Fist’s words sort of made a little sense… sort of. Roy wasn’t completely sure what all of that shaolin kung-fu nonsense generally meant—but the idea that he owed it to these… teammates to do something other than being Nightwing’s second shadow, sitting in the darkness with a look of intensity, hoping that the new members got their tactics straight. Roy had always been hands-on in the past, but between the chaos he felt and the guilt he bore—he didn’t feel his head was straight enough. That’s when Rand’s voice cut his thoughts in half.

"Mind taking over full supervision for the exercise for a minute, Roy? I have a wayward student to look after. I'll be back to continue this conversation very shortly."

“Have fun with that.” Roy commented as the live-in mentor went off to see what exactly was up with the absence of the other new titan.

As he did that Roy kept his eyes close on the titans that he had been observing. For only two of them—they weren’t doing too bad. He wasn’t impressed by any stretch of the imagination but he wasn’t disappointed, so there was that. Then again there was the fact that they had come in to this program—to this team, to do serious work which was something Roy could definitely appreciate.

Though, the scenario did seem way too easy.

With that in mind Roy went over to the console at the mission parameters.

“Control: Randomize AI patterns to scale. Remove: A.I. teammate, Nightwing.”

He paused.

“Add specific opponent, ‘Harleen Quinzel: Harlequin’.”

Roy smirked, he was curious how they'd adapt to such parameters.

[Rin]

Amy Winston, Titan Tower's Rec Room

"...Whaaat? Stop abusing that low kick! What kind of scrub are you!?"

After having defeated the evil prettyboy of doom and his twelve additional forms, Amy had decided to move on to something a bit less serious. It hadn't taken her long to pick out the latest fighting game, but after beating the first few opponents she faced on online play with relative ease, she suddenly found herself against this cheap jackass. He was probably some 12 year old or something, putting on a deep voice to make himself sound cool...

"If I knew you were going to play like a jerk, I wouldn't have-" Her indignant outburst was cut short, however, as at that moment she heard a voice asking for her from behind the door. "Um, got to go, that's, uh... Got to go!" Despite the fact that she knew there were probably more important things to worry about right now, like that fact that she'd been caught goofing off like this, Amy could only think about how her opponent probably thought she was just ragequitting. Sighing, she dusted down her jeans a bit before timidly opening the door just a crack.

"Um... Hey, um, Mr. Fist... I was just, um... Getting ready to, uh, train, yeah... I was, um, watching and learning some new moves, uh, totally." Lying didn't exactly befit a princess, but it wasn't like she was any good at it to begin with. "I, um... So, uh... I'm in trouble aren't I."

[clanjos]

From the other side of the connection, a timezone showing an island in the Pacific, Amy's opponent- one DocNinja3- had obeyed the classic rule of gaming etiquette and was now chaining taunts. However, he also offered a little advice:

"For heavens' sake, girl, use ze projectiles! Ze low kicking stance prevents your opponents from blocking!"

DocNinja3 sighed, continuing his heavy German accent's complaints.

"I have literally built machines that pick this game up quicker."

[Dblade26]

Iron Fist kept himself composed and calm, resisting any impulse to sigh or seem irritated in any way. Amy was young and new to being a superhero, and besides that from what her file and a few briefings had said she had already managed to do a literal world of good despite both of those things. Anger would probably not be the way through to her in any case. She was clearly nervous and felt bad enough about having skipped training, if he lost his head senselessly over something that could be easily made up like this, he'd be doing her no favors as a mentor. Despite attempting to seem detached, he couldn't help but chuckle a little at being called 'Mr.Fist', although he supposed that none of the new kids new his name, nor was he sure about the senior members for that matter.

"Well, in order not to fall behind and potentially put yourself in danger, you'll probably need to make it up to yourself with extra training, either with a group if you can work something out or one-on-one with me or one of the senior Titans, if they're around. I know you're fairly new at working with a team like this and you'd rather be gaming, but unfortunately, regular training's part of being on the team. If you're having any issues adjusting to the training or any other part of the life here, not getting along with your teammates, even plain not wanting to put in the work instead of doing something else, I'm always here to talk it over with you, but I can't do that if you hide away in the Rec Room."

Danny paused and looked at the game Amy had been playing. Rand Industries actually had some subsidiaries involved in video games and this one seemed a little bit familiar...

"That guy on the other end is right you know. If you time things just right you can hit him with the projectile attack while he crouches and starts the low kick but before he can block or finish the attack, since the action leaves him open for more than a few frames. You must always be ready to adapt your strategies to fit your opponent's, no matter how unfair or devious. If you attended my training you might know that."

Luckily he was fully dedicated to understanding every aspect of his business. Let her wonder how someone like him knew that, though.

[YoshiSkittlez]

Rose eyed the boy as he slipped out of Superboy's grasp and managed to get away, her gaze then going back to the Kryptonian. "Nice. You let him go." She said immediately shifting the blame, choosing to ignore his jab at her own costume choice. If only he knew...

She shook her head a bit, waving off the situation and turned to leave, heading towards the elevator. "Get this mess cleaned up will you? I won't tell anyone if you won't." And with that, she entered the elevator and watched Superboy's expression as the doors closed tight. With a bit of a chuckle to herself, she pulled her last cigarette from her pocket and poked it into her mouth as the elevator made it's way up to the simulation room. At the very least she should probably check up on Scorpion and Ricochet, really the only two people she could ever have a serious conversation with in this place. Maybe after that she would do some weight lifting.

The doors finally slid open, the AI of the tower properly greeting her as Ravager though the sound was practically drowned out by the sound of the simulation. Lighting her cigarette as she walked, she could hear the distinct voice of one Harley Quinn.

"Listen up you bozo's. Mistah J won't be too happy if you reach the top of this tower without his permission, so I suggest you morons just leave!"

Even though Rose couldn't see her, as she was in the simulated tower with the boys, she heard another familiar sound of Harley's gun, firing at random intervals. That girl knew how to empty a clip.

Rose had met Harley a few times with her father, always on business though. She never had the pleasure of meeting up with the Joker however, as Harley always seemed to do his grunt work. If it weren't for her psychotic hard-on for the Joker, Rose might actually respect the woman.

She found a spot against the room's wall and slunk down until she was sitting on the floor, one leg propped up, the other down flat. She inhaled a deep drag and rested her head back against the wall, and just watched.

[Enarr]

_____Ricochet

Training Room Simulation: Castle of The Nightingales, Titans Tower
10:42 PM, January 1 2016

As Scorpion caught the glimpse of the fading ninja, Ricochet saw him rush off to the next floor, where he scuttled in through the window and beat the guard to a pulp. But, as if it were swinging a yoyo, Scorpion was already on his way up again.

So, Ricochet leapt up to the next outward angled roof of the pagoda, before pulling himself up and swinging onto it. But as he looked into the next floor, he didn't see another guard. He saw a woman adorned in red and black clothing, she had a par of blonde pigtails and a really big hammer staring back at him.

"Listen up you bozo's. Mistah J won't be too happy if you reach the top of this tower without his permission, so I suggest you morons just leave!" The sound of a faded Jersey accent was present as she (quite nasally) whined.

But suddenly, she laughed as she pulled a pistol out of her pocket, cocked it,and opened fire at Ricochet, who dodged several bullets matrix style before her gun was emptied. So Ricochet retaliated, hurling one of his plain steel disks into the room and knocking the pistol out of her hand.

[Gowi]

Roy crossed his arms as he noticed Rose audibly enter the observation deck as the effects of his optional programming were seen in effect.

“Late as ever, aren’t you?” Roy shot back at Rose as he watched the scene and how the two inside the simulation acted. If they defeated the unpredictable mess that was the A.I. Harlequin, then maybe they were better than he thought and he owed more to them. Maybe he would even increase the difficulty another bit by adding enemies Roy was personally familiar with. The thought made him smirk.

“If you are here to ogle our fearless leader, then sorry—Nightwing is elsewhere.” Roy teased Rose as he didn’t even avert his eyes away from the training simulation.

[DeathstrokeSW]

The Road to Owlman, pt. 1

Darkness shrouded the lone figure walking down the highway south of Gotham proper. Stripped of his Talon uniform, he swaddled himself in the clothing of the bereft. His hands were kept warm by knit fingerless gloves, his body by a wool sweater beneath a long coat. A scarf was draped around his neck. His name was Thomas, and mere hours ago, the mastermind of the Court of Owls had stripped him of rank, of home, and delivered unto him a revelation that had shattered his world.

"You are not Thomas March, Talon of the Court. You are nothing but the clone of a dead man- Doctor Thomas Wayne. You are our failed weapon-our trash!" The last sentence repeated itself over and over in his head. Was he really just a weapon, or was he a human being, capable of more than just serving the Court?

The questions he could not answer burned in his mind, crying out to be resolved. Thomas shook his head, trying to clear his head, to remain calm and levelheaded. But no matter how hard he tried, one thing kept bringing itself to the surface. It was hate- pure, burning, unadulterated hatred directed towards the Court and its enigmatic leader.

Thomas stopped wandering then, a purpose slowly forming in his head, a drive fueling his every step. His journey had begun.

[YoshiSkittlez]

Late? Rose scoffed, a puff of smoke exhaling a bit awkwardly from her mouth as she did so.

"As if I'd ever be caught dead in one of these stupid simulations." She spat, rolling her eyes at him a bit.

She had made it clear as of lately that she just didn't wish to partake in anymore simulations, that they bored her, that there was no real excitement that got your heart pumping when you knew that the punch you just made could very well be your last. No, if Rose was to train at all anymore, it had to be real. Ever since training with her father became a normal thing, she wouldn't settle for anything less.

The blonde turned her head away from Roy, ignoring his comment about Nightwing. I don't oggle! Instead she turned her attention to the simulation playing out in front of her, and found herself just staring at the wall of the simulated building. Still though...where was Nightwing? He should have been here by now. All of this simulated business had her itching for a good ol' one on one. Not to mention, the feelings he stirred in her heart each time she saw him had become rather addicting.

[Gowi]

"As if I'd ever be caught dead in one of these stupid simulations."

“Heh. Yeah, the simulators aren’t too interesting are they?” Roy commented as he kept his eyes on Ricochet and Scorpion. He understood Rose’s disposition though: the simulations were just hard light constructs in a simulation chamber and as such there was no real intensity of the situation in a way. Honestly, Roy always felt personal training (such as his long sessions between himself and Nightwing) were where the most of your education came from. Then there was the alternative of calling the Martian Manhunter in here to telepathically make them ignorant of being in a simulation—but Roy never quite liked people being inside his head either.

“Are you that bored?”