20098/TITANS! ASSEMBLE!

TITANS! ASSEMBLE!
Date of Scene:	27 February 2025
Location:	Memorial and Meeting Rooms - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Supergirl called the Titans to discuss a matter of grave importance. She knew it was asking them a lot, to go on faith. But in the end, despite some apprehension and dissent, she was able to convince them to go along with her. The Titans will be ready on the day that they are called on. Until then? The waiting game.
Cast of Characters:	Kara Danvers, Bart Allen, Mark Grayson, Jaime Reyes, Rachel Roth, Kate Bishop, Hank Hall, Cassie Sandsmark, Jason Todd

---

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara Danvers, better known to most of the Titans as Kara Zor'El or 'Supergirl', is seated upon one of the lush, cozy office chairs that's positioned not-quite at the head of the oblong, oval table within the main meeting room of Titan Tower. She is, as she often is within this space, fully costumed up. Her hair is down and glasses off, as it were -- which as we all know is a shocking, jaw-dropping, transformative sort of journey for a young woman to have. Such a far cry from that hair up, glasses-on, mild-mannered Kara Danvers look that those who see her in the streets might have witnessed. One can hardly recognize her!

Anyway, that's enough of that. Supergirl is sitting, with her legs crossed and her eyes turn towards the opposite end of the room, near the memorial hall. The young woman wears a... complicated expression. Something that sits on the edge of anxiousness and worry, but also contains the weight of something resembling duty or higher purpose. Supergirl is, after all, a true believer. And if the message she'd sent along to the Titans alongside her request to meet is any indication... she believes that there is a very real threat to the security of the East Coast. Potentially even the United States or... the world. Perhaps it's the weight of that, pressing down on the young Kryptonian's shoulders tonight. Or perhaps it's the memories contained within the Memorial. A space her eyes are drawn to, in this moment, even if she wishes she could look away.

Kara gathers up some of her hair between her fingers and begins to idly pull her fingers through it. She tries to smile, but it seems to fade after a moment or two until she remembers to again. All, of course, while she waits for the Titans -- comrades and friends -- to join her in the meeting hall to hear the news.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen comes in looking about as he got the message. The young man is in uniform, but he had a huge bag of big belly burgers and fries in each hand. He finds a table that aint disrepecting anyone to sit them, He pulls one out to munch it, and looks over to Kara, "Hey you ok? I brought food, hope thats ok."

Mark Grayson has posed:
While his father may have been a mild-manner sci-fi book writer, Invincible didn't feel that paticular draw - especially after his father's books failed so hard. So so hard. Therefore, instead of just a glasses on, glasses off situation, Mark wears opaque goggles to hide his eyes, and the blue and yellow of his suit makes him stand out, a must amongst superheroic fashion!

Arriving at the meeting room, when he sees Supergirl, well... "Oh wow. Hey! It's been a while. Uh. We fought the Mauler Twins together. That was a long time ago, though." She definetly forgot. He didn't. She was so cool. Ahem. Enough fanboying.

"So, it's got to be pretty important if you're calling the meeting. It's not like Brainiac is back or something, right?"

Jaime Reyes has posed:
One of the Titans who may, perhaps, have been a bit absent in recent days has made himself available. After all, this sounded... well, pretty serious. Jaime Reyes, more properly known to the others as the Blue Beetle makes his arrival from the elevator. One could, it's true, simply fly up to the windows but it seemed a little gauche to do so. As is typical for any meeting with others in this line of work, he's covered head to toe in the typical blue and black carapace of the armor provided by Khaji Da. As he steps into the room, he has to suppress the urge gawk. Even this far along into his hero career, sometimes it's hard to believe he's invited along to this stuff.

He does, however, raise a hand to give an earnest wave towards Supergirl and the others already present. "Hey, Supergirl! Got your message..." He trails off, not quite sure how one keeps up a cheery front with this sort of thing. "...Hope we can help, whatever it is."

Rachel Roth has posed:
Out of the inky gloom comes the hooded form of Raven, her pale grey hand clutching a steaming cup of coffee, her features cloaked in forever shadow. Just ignore the fact that her blue coffee mug had white rabbits all over it.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Outside of the Titans, or the Young Avengers, Kate Bishop tends to be more street level. But you never know when a bow and arrow might come in handy when existence itself might be under threat.

Hence having a room at the tower herself that she eventually emerges from. With a slight detour for the kitchen, to collect coffee, and possibly a bag of frozen vegetables.

The fresh black eye still a little swollen for any attempts to conceal with makeup with any effectiveness.

The rest of her getting covered in loose purple sweatpants and a tanktop in black. While very fit considering those arms can draw a two hundred and fifty pound bow, the splotches and scratches everywhere kind of probably kill any positive effect those arms have.

The joys of patrolling without a healing factor.

Hank Hall has posed:
This meeting sounded important and Hank managed to wobble his way in, still unsteady and awkward on his Dove-imposed crutches. He thought his bad leg was strong enough to handle a little walk but given how he'd fallen over practically on top of Dove, she was on the warpath about proper medical assistance devices. Personally, when he was well enough he was going to shatter the bloody things with his bare hands, then burn them to ash.

Or, more likely, stick them into a closet and promptly forget about them.

But for now he'd taken a seat as various other colorful folks wandered their way in, each according to their own idiom.

Rachel Roth has posed:
Out of the inky gloom comes the hooded form of Raven, her pale grey hand clutching a steaming cup of coffee, her features cloaked in forever shadow. Just ignore the fact that her blue coffee mug had white rabbits all over it.

Floating into the room, she draws to linger near one of the sides, although... nearish Kara.

She glances her way, her eyes flickering towards her. "You seem anxious," she says to Supergirl. You didn't really need empathy for *that*. She brings her languid fingers up to brush along the edges of the coffee mug, her eyes glancing towards the other Titans as everyone files in.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Cassie arrives with her nose in her phone, or at least her thumbs on it. This is apparently more than her typical idle shitposting, though, as she seems pretty focused, tap swipe tapping her way with a sort of focused intensity.

She's somewhat infamous for not really making much of a distinction between street clothes and hero costume, a far polar opposite from Kara's night-and-day transformations. However, it's also still pretty cold, so the outfit reflects that as much as any other consideration, her typcial 'winter' getup of a skirt with tights worn under it, a black sports turtleneck, and a brown hoodie jacket she wears over the whole thing. All of it has some kind of 'Wonder' branding, from yellow stars on the tights to 'WW' designs on the top and jacket. Bracers glint, lethal earrings... do whatever earrings do, you get the picture.

Eventually, she taps one last momentous TAP, signaling she's finished and sent off whatever she was doing, and looks up. "Hey. Sup, everybody?"

There are people she knows better, which yields her, for instance, going over to stand by Kate, while looking toward Kara for an explanation of the OMINOUS SUMMONS.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd hasn't frequented anything to do with the Titans in.. a very long time. Usually he finds enough to keep him busy in Gotham or the occasional venture to Bludhaven. But, as it would seem, he is here today when Tim is not. There's probably a correlation there. Don't look too hard at it.

Using the door rather than a window as the stereotypes in Gotham seemt o suggest, Red Hood enters the room. His tall, broad shouldered form easily moves in and finds a wall to lean against. As the gathering seems to have assembled, his metallic helmet's optics move between the others with something that could be considered suspicion, but probably more curiosity.

Quietly, he offers, "Red Robin wasn't able to make it. He had a.. thing." Shrugging his shoulders, he finishes, "So I'm here in his place." And much better looking. Obviously.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara's smile waxes when Bart and the others come filtering into view. She drops that little bunch of golden blonde hair she'd been twisting and it falls neatly back into place. Curly, wavy, bouncy. Stupid Kryptonians -- blonde hair isn't supposed to have that kind of volume! "I'm alright," she assures Bart, and then gives a small nod in his direction to signal that it is, indeed, okay that he brought food. In fact, she might even sort of sniff the air a tiny bit, trying to figure out what it is.

It's Mark that she sees next, and she turns her chair a bit towards him, orienting her knees in that direction. Her face lights up in a way that suggests that she, in fact, /does/ remember fighting the Mauler Twins together alongside him. "It's good to see you, Invincible," she adds, and then again, gives a grim nod to him in response to his follow-up.

When Hank arrives, wobbling on those crutches, Supergirl is on her feet. And no, she doesn't really, like. Stand up, or something. She just sort of effortlessly floats from her seat to her feet, and then wheels a chair in front of her over towards him. If he lets her... she'll obviously invite him to sit down on it, so that she can push him towards the table, like some kind of office-chair taxi service.

"It is important. And I am anxious. But I... I really do think everyone can help," she offers to both Blue Beetle and Raven, offering those two a familiar sort of smile as well. She seems relieved, at least, to have them in her present company.

But it's Kate and Cassie's arrival that seem to send Kara Zor'El into 'business mode', as it were. Perhaps it's Kate Bishop's quiet coolness. Or maybe Kara just responds very well to 'sup'. Either way, the Kryptonian moves back towards where she had been sitting, but doesn't return to that seated position. Instead, she presses a hand to the table and delicately lifts the opposite up towards her chest, fingers curling atop the Kryptonian symbol for 'Hope' emblazoned over her heart.

"Thanks for coming, everyone. And... um. I guess I don't even know where to start with this," Supergirl says. She casts a glance over her shoulder once more towards the Memorials. One last reminder, maybe? Or maybe she's wondering what somebody who is now just a memory might have done, were they standing in her shoes today.

"I suppose I'll just come right out and tell you what I know. That seems... that seems like a good place to start," Supergirl says. A nod, then, to Steel herself, before she takes a breath to speak again.

"I have seen evidence and proof of a conspiracy within this nation's government. A corruption that spreads from rotted roots," Kara taps her hand on the table, pantomiming the base, before slowly lifting it out, inverting her wrist, to stretch those same fingers towards the ceiling, "All the way to the top. A corruption that can be traced back to Lexcorp, and to the man himself... and, um..."

Kara trails off, perhaps realizing how farfetched or... even unserious this all sounds? Why /did/ she call the Titans here today?

"Well. I've seen evidence that there is a very real threat to the United States. And that the threat is quite imminent... but I can't share with you why."

Beat.

"Or who I got this information from."

Supergirl falls silent now, her eyes turning to all of those who have gathered. To gauge their reaction? Perhaps.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen 's brow raises a bit as he munches down a double bacon big belly burger with extra cheese. The bags have pretty much a couple of everything on the menu from the fast food place. He nods to the folks he knows, and knew he should have gotten a pineapple burger or something when he sees Jason.

Hank Hall has posed:
Hank accepted his Kryptonian office-chair-ride, only because it took the pressure off his leg. However, at her _mysterious_ declaration of unwillingness to reveal her source or her raionale, he couldn't help but snort. Loudly.

"Right." he said sarcastically. "You're lucky most of us here are ... headstrong and willing to go along with all this."

Mark Grayson has posed:
When Supergirl acknowledges that battle from over a year ago, Invincible can't help but to smile a little more. Yeah, he's a half-Viltrumite and he's not on par with the larger Kryptonians, but if he keeps getting his ass handed to him, he'll keep getting stronger. It's great. Really. Settling into the seat as the rest arrive, he glances around towards the ones he knows and some unfamiliar faces as well. Kate gets an upnod as they're in the Young Avengers together - gotta love that cross-membership.

But then Kara starts the meeting and it's eyes front as she starts with that bombshell. "It's the government, when aren't they doing sometghing shady?" he asks with a lift of a brow. He's had more than enough with Cecil and the whole Ani-men project, and he's probably not the one to ask the poll question: Do you feel confident about our government?

"Anyway, snark aside. That's a big thing to drop with very little backing it. I'm assuming that you're confident in the information since you're bringing it to us?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
Not being her first time all beat up, Kate grabs a comfy spot on one of the sofa and with coffee set aside, beams a smile at Kara and the others as they arrive, it's a little on the goofy side due to the bruising.

It takes pulling a hair band from her pocket on her sweatpantd and some careful positioning to affix the vegetables to one side of her head while not obscuring the view from her other eye.

The concerns Kara vents get heard at least and she hmms. "Isn't there like a whole heap of conspiracies going? They're like hydra, the actual snnake things, not the weird nazis. Well maybe a little like the nazis, there's always one somewhere, sometimes five."

Jaime Reyes has posed:
Blue Beetle listens quietly, waiting for Supergirl to lay out what it was that brought all of them here. She seems to take a moment and there's finally the big reveal. Government corruption, Lexcorp (of course it's Lexcorps), a threat to the whole country. Should've known it'd be big league stuff... Blue Beetle taps his fingers against his side, nervous.

"Sounds pretty serious," he agrees. "...But how are we supposed to help stop this if you can't tell us why the threat is so imminent? Can you tell us anything else about what it actually is?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Red Hood listens, looking to Bart with an upnod of his helmet's chin. At least someone he knows. Ish.

As Supergirl explains what she can, he considers a snort but manages to stiffle it. If only because there are enough present who could hear it even if the helmet could mute.

He changes his response to a simple shrug. "Tends to be the way we do things in Gotham. If we can help, going on your word is going to be enough. At least to start. Some of them, well One, is going to need more than just say so before He gets too involved." One guess Who that is.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Cassie wants deets, clearly, and fortunately Kara doesn't keep them waiting in the dark too long. Dramatic reveal, in three, two...

Dun dun DUNNNNNN.

Cassie's brow furrows a little, although she doesn't exactly gasp or show too much in the way of outward shock or outrage. Maybe, even, she's not totally surprised? Then again, her perspective on this stuff may be a little different than some.

"I don't find it hard to believe, honestly. We've - and I mean the Amazons, as well as some of our other sovereign allies, like Wakanda, the Atlanteans, etc. - well, suffice it to say we've had to deal with various levels of intrigue and bullshit dealing with the government, over the last year or two," Cassie reports. "Friction over the alien refugees and the Starport."

"Uh, which is also probably a good place to point out my double citizenship and the fact that I may actually already be on some of these people's watch lists. Being perfeclty up-front about it, if shit goes down- I'm siding with Diana and Themyscira."

It's been a long journey for her, but that's apparently where it's ended: that she considers herself Amazon first, before anything else.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Ah yes. Questions. Perfectly legitimate questions. And they're all sort of resembling, and I'm paraphrasing a bit here, things that sound like: 'okay... but why should we believe you?' and 'okay... and what are we supposed to do about it?'. Kara's expression is one of worry now, but there is an almost guilty look that crosses her visage now. Like she'd somehow anticipated this reaction. And as some of those first questions start to trickle in, she tips her head dejectedly forward and drops her hand back onto the table.

"Guys, I know it sounds crazy," she starts to say, but then squares her jaw a little bit and lifts her chin back up. Supergirl settles back into silence while she turns her eyes from one comrade to another. Those who seem a bit more skeptical are given a look of empathy and understanding, rather than frustration and anger, from the Kryptonian. And those who seem to believe, and trust her, are given a sheepish sort of smile. As if Kara herself feels a little uncertain if she deserves it. But she remains otherwise silent... until the moment that Cassie speaks.

"We're all being watched," Supergirl says. She won't interrupt Cassie, but she will turn to look at her with a somewhat more stern and sullen expression and a tone of voice that matches its seriousness. One that forms a worried line across her lips that only stiffens when Cassie indicates that she would side with Diana and Themyscira, over the United States, if... well. Kara would never say 'shit'. She'd call it, like. 'stuff' or something.

Still...

"I understand," Supergirl says, and then, once more, that worry flashes over her features. Perhaps this is the source of her anxiety. The conflict. Separation. Isolationism.

Nationalism.

"If what I've seen is true, and I believe it is, then the safety and security of planet Earth is at stake. But I know this is... a lot. I won't begrudge anybody for not wanting to do this..." Whatever /this/ is... "And if you want to leave, then... you can leave now. All I ask is that you not mention this to /anybody/. Or we might not be able to stop it."

She's quiet for a moment, and then lets out a long breath through her nostrils.

"I'm afraid it might already be too late."

Her eyes fall away from the group now and move towards the table, where she taps her red-painted fingernails delicately atop the surface. She curls them inward, towards her palm, and does her best not to scrape a chunk of paint and wood along with each of them as she does.

"I need you guys to trust me, okay? There's a... plan. Kinda."

Jaime Reyes has posed:
Blue Beetle takes a breath as everyone bombards Supergirl with questions. And of course, it's hard to believe. Or hard to see what can be done about it. But the important part is that Supergirl is telling them there's something /big/ happening and that something needs to be done about it. And not trusting Supergirl? That feels wrong. So Blue Beetle just... nods.

"I trust you, Supergirl," he says after a moment. "Even if it's already too late, we have to try, right?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Oh, we are all totally being watched." Invincible is easily accepting of that point from Cassie. "If not by SHIELD or SWORD or any of the other alphabets out there, then by whatever covert black op group that we haven't uncovered yet." It's said with a hint of sourness. He left that earpiece at home, as he does most nights now. His faith in the government disappeared when Cecil admitted he knew that Omni-Man was going to turn against the Earth, and never told him.

But he's not leaving. Instead, he leans back in his seat.

"You want us to trust you on this? All of us in this room have probably relied on your help at one time or another. And it's clear you believe this source." Reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, he considers. "Alright, I'm in."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Not leaving, just getting ketchup." He says and off to the kitchen and back with a plate and condiments. He puts fries and onion rings on his plate as well as some chicken nuggies, and different sauses around them for dipping "So, lets hear the plan and if nothing else, I am sure we can mess up the bad guys plans, thats what we are good at after all.

Jason Todd has posed:
How can an expressionless helmet scowl when it has no moving components? Apparently Red Hood has leaned heavily on perspective so that when he lowers his chin, the lenses and faint line where a mouth would be now appear to scowl. Greatly.

Apparently he won't be updating Tim. Or the others. At least with permission. Since when has he followed directions anyway? This will probably be one of the few times, ever.

Like the others, he isn't leaving but he crosses his arms across his chest and lifts his right boot off the floor to rest it against the wall.

"Red Robin's going to hate that he missed out on this." It's going to be great when he can finally regale this story to Tim. Brotherly love.

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Well if we can knock at least one of these conspiracies on the head. I'm down. One less group of people watching us. But I expect this particular conspiracy has a specific goal? Especially with all the watching? Methods to the madness." Hawkeye the better and usually better looking asks from behind the frozen vegetables. The contents much better for molding to a face and eye socket than a lot of commercial cold gel compresses.

"Get some plans forming girls," she says with another goofy grin aimed at everyone.

Rachel Roth has posed:
And Raven, for her part, just sips her coffee, continuing with her blank expression as she listens.

Although one of Bart Allen's chicken nuggets get an evil dark field around it, floating over to her, just by coincidence. She munches on it.

Hank Hall has posed:
Something about this was bothering Hank, but in the poli-sci sense, not the superhero sense. "OK. So the world's in danger, Again. Shadowy forces, mass surveillance, we all know the song and dance. But looking around, we got a woman from Themyscera - I think - couple illegal aliens, and a whole lot of Americans. We doing exceptionalism with capes? The Super-Marshall Plan?" he asked. "Where's the rest of the world stand on this grave threat, assuming they even know about it?" he asked Supergirl.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Yeah SHIELD, SWORD, whichever is probably still a little extra butthurt over us detaining a bunch of them on the Starport. But you know, they started it." Cassie raises her hands, palms up (phone still in one), giving a helpless sort of shrugging gesture. "I live my entire life on social media, so it's not like I have a lot to hide- they don't need to bug me to find out which policies I dislike. They can go check the tweets."

All of this emphasizes that Cassie is clearly already a bit of the way down this particular anti-authoritarian rabbit hole, or whatever you might want to call it. She glances around.

"There's new people, but plenty of you I've known for a long time, some as long as I've been doing this hero stuff. And the new ones usually come with good references. So yeah, I trust the people here, or I wouldn't be part of the team."

Kara Danvers has posed:
There's a soft smile that touches Kara Zor'El's face as the others weigh in. Blue Beetle, Invincible, and Red Hood are all given soft smiles of appreciation. Again, she doesn't quite seem to feel as if she's worthy of this trust. Others, like Cassie and Kate, are given a more professional and grateful nod of her head. "Thank you," she indicates to the two of them. Bart actually manages to break the tension a little, his decree of needing to go get ketchup managing to make the Kryptonian's lips pull apart into a smile. And of course, there's dark, broody Raven, who gets perhaps the sweetest smile of all.

Sometimes support doesn't need to be vocalized, after all.

Supergirl turns to Hank Hall now, tipping her head delicately to the side. There's no anger, nor frustration in her eyes for the man who seems to be keen to poke holes in what is -- if everyone is being quite honest with themselves -- a plan that could use a bit more fleshing out. But at this juncture, Supergirl remains reticent.

"I understand where you're coming from. And I /definitely/ understand the optics. A bunch of superheroes overthrowing the United States government?" Kara says gently. She gives a soft shake of her head.

"It's why we need to be careful. Delicate. The people of this country did not vote Lex Luthor, or his people into office. And if their aim is to destabilize this nation, and to make a profit from the chaos it brings? Well. I think the people of Earth deserve the truth, and to be able to make up their own minds. Don't you?" she wonders.

But she doesn't give Hank time to respond.

"Are you in, or are you out? I will not fault you for your skepticism. I hear it, and I appreciate it. But I need to know if you are with us."

Hank Hall has posed:
Hank sighed. "I'm in. I always was a sucker for a doomed cause." he said with a laugh. "But seriously. Couldn't hurt to make some allies outside the lower 48. If the threat is global, we need to think and act global. If it's just the good ol' USA in danger, then we can handle our own business. Don't take me the wrong way, Supergirl. I don't get my jollies by poking holes in your statements. I just want to make sure you've _thought it through_."

Jason Todd has posed:
"A chance to give the goverment The Bird and still be doing the, uh, right thing?" That sounds so strange coming from the likes of him, but Red Hood shrugs and nods, "Sure. I'm in. Just tell me what you need. And when.". The crimson helmet offers a nod of affirmation to back up Hank's words and he reaches out an armored glove to point at the man, agreeing with that sentiment of supporting doomed causes.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"An excellent point," Supergirl says to Hank, and there's a tiny twitch of her lips when he speaks. Though it's an upward twitch, implying that she is, at the very least, amused by it all. Still, she does seem grateful to those that gathered today. And even more than that, when she straightens her spine and pushes her shoulders back to speak once again, there seems to be a palpable weight that has been lifted from them. Perhaps that weariness still remains. That worry, and apprehension -- but with all of the Titans here, at her side, well.

That weight is a little easier to carry, isn't it?

"There are a lot of innocent people in the administration. People who are just going about their lives and their days, trying to do what they think is right. When... the time is ready, and you'll know it is, all of us will need to work together to make sure that we keep them safe," Supergirl says. She briefly pulls her bottom lip into her mouth to chew on it, before letting it pop back out to continue.

"And bring the guilty in to answer for their crimes. All of us have... unique skillsets, and advantages, and insight. And it's going to take all our minds, and abilities, to do this in a way that no one gets hurt. So think about what you'll do when the time comes and... um... in the meantime, I guess. Let's stay in touch."

Beat.

"Maybe get a hotdog or something. If anyone wants, I mean."

Mark Grayson has posed:
"My contact information is in the system. But." Mark does realize he has a question after all. Considering it for a moment. "Considering that you are keeping this to the Titans, I will assume that you do not want anyone else to know about this?" he asks. After all, if he's in to overthrow the government, he miiiight want to tell Eve before she finds out like... the day of the attack.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Correct, Invincible," Supergirl says. OMG, she DOES REMEMBER! SQUEEE!!--

--AHEM--

"For your safety, for our safety, and everyone else's. We have to keep this between us. I'm sorry."