3312/Who is Vorpal

Who is Vorpal
Date of Scene:	10 September 2020
Location:	Roof - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Terry and Kara reveal their secret identities. Kara interviews Vorpal and encourages him to join a parkour group in Metropolis.
Cast of Characters:	Kara Danvers, Terry O'Neil

---

Kara Danvers has posed:
That dorky brunette from Sweden wearing jeans and a hoodie with the hood down is sitting by the pool waiting for Vorpal. The roof top of the Titans Tower is a great place to have guests. Terry knows her well as the 'clutsy one' always dropping stuff and she snorts when she laughs. They work together, but Kara is still newer than Terry at the job and takes too long getting coffees which irritates the writing staff more than they let on.

She has her tablet out and a stylus for writing and her bright inquisitive blue eyes scan over the notes she already has on Vorpal. This will be her third interview with a superpowered individual and she's looking forward to it. The more she does it, the better she'll get at it. Exposure is great, as it helps her feel like she's doing something good for the world as a journalist, not just as Supergirl.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
For his part, the Cheshire Cat is easygoing, offering (non-alcoholic) refreshments and settling down for the interview at a table, a large pitcher of iced passionfruit tea set up on a little stool with a pair of glasses.

"It's such a lovely day, isn't it? I hope you don't mind us being outside. I'm not easily sunburnt..." he holds out his arm, indicating his fur, "Do you need sunscreen? Just in case? I know that over in Sweden you don't get a ton of sunlight..." he pauses. Did she mention she was from Sweden to Vorpal? Wait.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara lifts an eyebrow in surprise and chuckles, "I'll be fine. I appreciate your concern. I guess you've done some research on me? I don't mind, it is good to know who is asking the questions. You wouldn't want some anti-Titan anti-hero hack twisting your words in their article, am I right?"

She pours some of the passionfruit tea for them both and then takes a sip, then says, "It's a real pleasure to interview you Vorpal. The chance to interview any of the Titans is a big deal for a university student. If you're ready we can jump straight in to the questions?"

From Terry's perspective it's easy to see that Kara has not done this much and she is trying her darndest to get it right. "Oh this tea tastes delicious. Let's start with some backstory. Have you always had your powers and what is it you can do?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh yeah, you wouldn't catch me dead talking to the people from the Bugle," he grins, clearly indicating who he thinks is the anti-hero hack, "But sure! Let's talk turtle!"

He sits up straighter and takes a sip from his tea.

Ah, backstory, he taps his glass. "The answer to that is, yes. I have had my powers since I first existed- but I've also had them for only about five months. Since that is clear as mud, I'll add that I am still discovering what I can do- but I'm capable of creating Rabbit Holes!"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara lifts her stylus and says helpfully, "Like Alice in Wonderland. You're late, you're late, for a very important date!" She smiles and then furrows her brow, "You've had your powers since you first existed but you've only had them for five months. Does that mean you're five months old?"

That can't be right? "Tell me about these Rabbit Holes. They sound exciting. What does a rabbit hole do. Is it a portal like in that game Portal?" Somewhat ironic, it's the guys in the Titans Tower playing computer games that made her aware of the Portal computer game.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Suffice to say I *am* /the/ Cheshire Cat. You know, as you know from the book? Exactly," he nods and points when she brings up the White Rabbit reference. "But I've only been in my current form for about five months. It's a little complicated that way, it has to do with 'crossing over' from one realm to the next, and... well, other things I won't go into because it delves into secret identity territory." He pauses, and then adds, "I know that's not being very clear. I'm afraid I'm not an easy subject to tackle. Buuut..."
% Two rabbit holes open up on either side of him, and Vorpal extends his arm with the glass of Passionfruit refresher into one, only for it to pop out of the other Rabbit hole. He sips from the straw.

"As you can see, it really is like that game. I was tempted to sue for infringement... and then I realized dimensional physics can't be copyrighted, and my dreams of fame and glory evaporated. So I turned to heroism." He sets the drink back and closes the portals, "That was a joke. But I am basically able to create these and connect two disparate points in space. They are incredibly handy!"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara opens her mouth in surprise. She's very good at acting. "That's very cool," she comments and taps the stylus against her lips thoughtfully. "How far can the portals be? I'm so glad you chose to be a hero with such an amazing talent. My colleagues would be so envious of me right now. I work with this guy, Terry, he's very in to superhero stuff too. Perhaps I could convince you to meet him one day."

She smiles and writes down some notes on her tablet, "So, you can do portals. When you go through a portal, is momentum conserved? if you put the portals vertically will an object fall indefinitely speeding up to terminal velocity? Are the portals like black holes, do they evaporate or emit hawking radiation? is one side technically a white hole? are they are a wormhole?" She blinks a moment and says, "Oops, that was a lot of questions. Take your time."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, I haven't found a limit to the portals yet. If you wanted to visit Sweden, I could take you there in a second. Momentum /is/ conserved, so you can imagine all sorts of useful applications... when patrolling, I sometimes will use them as a roller-coaster. I'll jump from a building and then use the momentum to slingshot me across town. I'll chain them up so I can move across... and when I want to slow down, I change the angle so that I am going higher. And then I'll just shoot mysef straight upwards until momentum stops. I open another portal at my landing destination and-" he snaps his fingers "voila! Of course, I only do that if I'm keeping an eye on what's going below. Most of the time, I just go where I need to go."

He taps his chin, "That's a very good question, the hawking radiation. I haven't tested that... maybe I should get Victor in the lab and test? That'd be handy to know... but they're magical in nature, so there may be all sorts of laws of nature that are being treated as optional in this case." He grins at Kara.

And then he adds, "Oh, I know Terry. He hangs out here in the Tower all the time. He's doing an article on the history of the team for Miss Lane, I think. You work with him? He's a bit of a dork, isn't he?" he grins and winks.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara's eyes practically sparkle as Terry excitedly discusses his portal mechanics.. err, rabbit hole mechanics. She imagines it in her mind, all the energy exchanges, momentum and angular vectoring. If she weren't meant to know very little about physics she'd be excitedly discussing how to use it in combination with her own abilities.

"That is very incredible. Oh you mean Cyborg? he's down stairs right now? That's exciting too. But," she writes down some notes and says, "What would you say y.. wait Terry? a dork? oh no, he's wonderful. So nice to everybody and he's been super nice helping me settle in to my job. No no, not a dork at all."

There's an earnestness to the way she talks, something Terry has seen from her at work, she means what she says and seems to lack a sense of her own humour. That may be a Swedish thing. "But what do you feel is your statement you wish to make to the world, as a young superhero in the Titans?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh man, the important statements, eh?" Vorpal chuckles and ponders, tapping his chin. "Well... I believe the Titans are important. The League and the Avengers are very, very important to the world, but I think that in a way, the Titans show that the younger generations can also make a difference. It's always easy to dismiss us, but I can tell you that Beast Boy, or Wonder Girl, or Raven herself, Supergirl, Nightwing- anyone in this team would go down fighting to protect this city, or Earth, and not ask anything in exchange. It's also important to mention that the big heroics aren't the only things that are important. What superheroes do at the end of the day wouldn't really amount to much, if people stopped asking themselves about what's the right thing to do. And then committing themselves to do it. You can't sustain a skyscraper on bad foundations, right?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara points her stylus to Vorpal and says, "I have to ask the hard hitting questions. That what Lois Lane says journalists should do. Also Kara, no sugar on my coffee." She raises an eyebrow, whoa.. Kara Danvers DOES have a sense of humour.

"What's it like working along side all those other heroes and I know you're not meant to pick favourites, but which ones are your favourites and why?"

She furiously writes down his answer though, Vorpal is turning out to be a really good interview. She jots down some side notes and underlines a few works, "Great answer by the way, I really like it. Though, oh, can I take your photo for my article as well?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal chuckles, "Of course! We can take a picture at the end of the article, that way you can catch my best side!" He's not quite sure which one that is yet, but- "Oh, now /that/ is a tough question! You're definitely taking the notes to heart. I always figured Miss Lane would drink coffee that tastes like battery acid, it's that strong."

He thinks for a little, and then gathers an answer, "It's hard, because... in the very complicated circumstances that surround my secret identity, I admired the Titans long before they dissolved the first time. Cyborg, Troia, Beast Boy, Hawk, Dove, the whole gang were big heroes of mine. And then, of course, I happen to get mixed up in the re-founding of the team... so it's hard for me to pick my favorites from my team-mates... aaaand it would be unfair to them, I mean," He waves his hand, sloshing the drink around a bit, "Two days ago the news that Beast Boy and I are an item was revealed to the world at large so..."

"However, I /can/ tell you who my favorite is outside of my team-mates. Wonder Woman. She was a /big/ inspiration to me as well... when my powers started manifesting themselves, I had a choice to make. I could've kept them secret, or I could've used them in get rich quick schemes... but I asked myself what Wonder Woman would do... and when you ask that question, you can't really go back and live with yourself, right?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara happily writes down what he says about his team mates and smiles, "Oh that's very touching. Wonder Woman is quite impressive and an inspiration to so many. I'm glad she doesn't just inspire young women, of which she inspires so many. Though, since you brought up Beast Boy, I have to ask.. when did you first know you were in love?"

She is starting to realise this secret identity thing can be very useful! she's getting to ask all kinds of questions she normally wouldn't pry about. But in the interests of public knowledge, suddenly it's so easy to ask. What a wonderful super power. Kal was right.. yet again.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal thinks, and then says "When? Uuuh... last week?" he laughs, and shakes his head, "No I mean... it's been going on for some time. It took... a fair amount before either of us were willing to confess our feelings for each other and... well, Gar's update said it all, it wasn't something he was familiar with. I have to say that from the moment I entered the team, I thought he was the sweetest, kindest, noblest and goofiest guy I'd ever met. From that point on, I guess I just started falling hard for him. We're... not very good at communicating things to each other. But we're working on that. A friend of mine who gave me a lot of advice on this whole thing thinks we would have started dating a lot sooner if we'd just /talked/ to each other..." he grins, "Have you ever heard such a ridiculous thing? Who /does/ that?"

Vorpal is clearly at ease, sipping his Passionfruit tea with gusto.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara shakes her head, "That's not so ridiculous. I think sometimes that if I couldn't talk freely with my friends and family I'd be truly lost. Who knows what kind of person I'd turn out to be. I'd convince myself of all kinds of nonsense without someone to correct me when I'm wrong."

She continues, "I think it's sweet, romance in the Titans. You two are very lucky to have each other. And love is such a strong binding power, you'll always have each others backs. It can only make the team stronger. You mentioned guessing Lois Lane's kind of coffee before, have you met her?"

She takes another sip of the passionfruit tea and asks, "Not that I want to pry in to your secret identity, but what is your passion, outside of being a hero and saving the world."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh yes! I've met Lois- During that shadow creature invasion in Metropolis, I helped escort her to Zatanna. She had to deliver a magic geegaw or something or other to her. She runs /very/ fast."

He grins, the inside of his ears turning a brighter color. "I am ... very lucky to have Garfield for a boyfriend. Things are always so uncertain... you know... life. But I'm hoping that..."

He leaves that unsaid, as Kara brings another question for his consideration. "Well... Cheshire cat or not, I'm still, you know, a teenager. I love videogames but I don't have a lot of time in between the Titan stuff- but BB and I get into some mad sessions, Cyborg's good for them too. But I also like to read, a lot. I can't carry books around with me 'cause, you know, spines get wrecked but I've got some forty books on my phone between several readers, so..." he pauses, "I also like parkouring. Hah! That's stereotypical, a cat likes running across rooftops!"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara nods her head, "That shadow creature.. very scary. That's very brave of you and Lois to help fight it." She smiles genuinely happy at that color change of his ears. She listens to his heart for a moment and almost wells up in tears with joy.

"I'm still new to computer games, we just didn't have them where I grew up.. in.. er. Sweden."

"Gosh, we're learning so much about you today Vorpal. Have you considered joining the Metropolis Parkour Partakers? The Daily Planet did a piece on them last month. It is an exercise craze that is taking off. It looks really fun. I'm all left feet so probably not for me, but I bet they'd love having a Titan running with them. Also, what is the difference between parkour and free running?"

She smiles kindly to Vorpal and says, "You're lucky to have a team of such great friends. It seems like there's nothing you can't do together. I count myself lucky to have my friends too. And hey, that includes Terry. So, uh, don't be too hard on him next time he comes visiting."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, Parkour is all about finding the shortest, most efficient route, whereas Freerunning is a lot more show-oriented. It's about doing the acrobatics and the flashy moves- which is awesome! But if you're a superhero, it's a good idea to focus on efficiency over flashiness. Mind you, acrobatic beasts like Nightwing can do /both/- you should see him moving... but I don't have his experience. And, even though I'm a cat, I think it's a good idea to focus on fundamentals first. I've thought about joining the Partakers, actually- they look like a fun bunch!"

"Oh, Terry..." he pauses for a second, glancing at Kara. "Don't trust him, he's the kind of guy who keeps secrets!" he says playfully, but it's clear he is thinking about something.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"That'll be great for promoting their sport," she says with a cheerful smile and writes down a few more notes, "Who Terry? What, no he's a sweet heart. I don't think he has a deceptive bone in his body. Well, okay, he is learning to be a reporter like me too, so I guess he must be able to keep secrets. If you can't keep secrets you'd never have trusted informants."

She frowns a touch. There sure is a lot of lying on Earth. Is that better than blind zealotry? perhaps, at least with a lie you can always come clean. "Why are you so concerned with Terry any way? I mean, should I actually be worried about him? like, if he's in some trouble we could help him. He'd do the same for us.. I think?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The feline glances at Kara shrewdly, his emerald eyes examining her. "You're Clark's cousin, right? Clark Kent? He's a good guy. Very trustworthy, very wholesome." He taps his chin, "And Miss Lane holds you in good confidence. She's got good judgement. And survival instincts."

He crosses one leg over his knee, "Hm. You know, you're /very/ good. I think being a good reporter needs to be rewarded. Reporters need to learn how to keep secrets so..."

He reaches out and takes something out of a small Rabbit Hole- a mirror.

"You see, we're all mad here..."

The words echo, and when the light show fades away, there is Terry O'Neil, sitting there with Passionfruit tea on hand.

"Surprise!"

Kara Danvers has posed:
kara can't help but notice the weird way Terry is suddenly talking. And now he's crossed his legs. Very James Bond Supervillain style. "If you say 'almost too good' I've got to worn you I will scream for help. Please don't erase my mind or whatever it is you're thi... oh."

She blinks and then smiles, "Wow! Hah. Terry, you're Vorpal. Vorpal is Terry?! I never would have guess." She snortchuckles and fumbles her tablet in her hands, letting it dance about in the air before she snatches it back. "I'm Supergirl," she says with a friendly almost playful smile. No, Supergirl is definitely a blonde. Kara is definitely a brunette. She pushes her glasses back up her nose and says, "This is amazing. But a secret. An amazing secret. Of course I will keep your secret, I'm quite sure you can keep mine."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry chuckles, and then he almost lunges forward to catch the tablet before it falls to the ground. Fortunately Kara manages to save it from certain doom, and he relaxes visibly. "Oh, don't tease, Kara... you're not Supergirl. Supergirl is not from Sweden!" he chuckles and puts his drink down, "I mean, you've got a cousin from Kansas and all of that," he chuckles, "But I'm glad you'll keep my secret. I don't even know if I /can/ erase memories. I think only, like, Raven can do that. But in her case it might actually be painful."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara chuckles along with him and smiles fondly as he almost helps saves her tablet from another cracked screen. Those protective covers do wonders but somehow she still manages to break things. Her eyebrows raise when he casually dismisses her as Supergirl and she looks once again surprised. Why is she so bad at reading humans?

"No but really, I'm Supergirl." She presses her lips together, still chuckling which probably isn't helping her case. She takes off her glasses and rubs her blue eyes, as if simply doing so would be enough to prove who she is. Her disguise is a bit better than that though.

"Raven can painfully erase memories? Oh gosh. I need to make sure I never get on her bad side. Magic is very strange and intimidating. Though, your rabbit holes are wonderful."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry stops for a second and stares. He leans forward a little. Doubt dances across his face, and then there's the moment where he clearly starts thinking 'wait, but...' and then 'nooooo', and then 'really!', and then 'she's putting me on!', with a dash of 'but the profile...'

"... are you... you're not putting me on. Are you?" He pauses, "Nnnno... you wouldn't tease me..."

He slowly draws back to lean back on his chair. "Wow. You mean all of this time, you've been---- wait, does Lois know? 'cause I revealed my identity to her last week!"

Poor Lois, "/Two/ of us in the newsroom. Wait... if she knows about you... /that's/ why she looked completely unsurprised when I revealed myself to her!"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara looks around the roof top for a moment just to make sure the coast is clear. The looks Terry is giving her are fantastic but she doesn't want to keep her friend in suspense. She nods her head, "Nope really." A touch to a small hidden device and her brunette hair transforms in to the usual blonde of Supergirl.

She casually pulls off the hoodie and underneath she is wearing a black alien material, a large red and golden \S/ upon her chest. She runs her fingers through her hair and then grins, "I'm.. not going to keep you in suspense when you tell me your secret identity. I've decided tomorrow I'm going to come out to everyone on the team. Well, all the full members any way."

She sits forward and offers her hand to Terry, "Hi. I'm Kara Zor-El, son of Zor-El, daughter of Alura Zor-El. Aka.. Supergirl." She slides off her shoes and pulls down her jeans, revealing the blue fabric ends in a red skirt and long red boots that fit in to her shoes.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry lets out a whistle, "Okay... I'm speechless. Wow."

And then he laughs, "Man, all this time... this is too funny! Heeey..." he frowns for a second, "I've got questions now. Like.... Clark's not your cousin, then. Why would he pretend to be---"

Kind, wholesome, avuncular, gentle Clark. "I'm asking the wrong question, of /course/ he'd pretend to be your cousin... if there was a need to protect your identity. If the right person asked him?" he guesses.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara grimaces a little. She hates lying, but there are lies that must be told for the sake of others. "Well, .. you're right i'm not really from Sweden," she says with a chuckle. "So my mum and dad.. are DEO agents. But Jonathan Kent really is my fake dad's brother and that makes Clark my fake cousin, even though he doesn't know it. As far as he knows, I'm really his cousin." She rubs the back of her neck. There, finished the lie with a truth, just like they taught her to do.

"So, uh, please don't tell him I'm. It'd be a whole thing and I really like him and I'd probably lose my job too and I'm really starting to enjoy doing this whole journalism thing." She smacks her lips together and changes the subject, "Superman's my real cousin though. For realsies, House of El. He was a wee little thing when we left Krypton. I used to bounce him on my knee. He puked on me once." There, stories about Superman as a baby always works, never fails to distract from the thing she doesn't want to talk about. "I was his baby sitter."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Wait, wait wait wait- if he was a baby and you were..." he waves a hand, clearly interested- now who is interviewing whom, Miss Danvers? "Unless you are incredibly, amazingly super well-preserved, something squirrelly happened here because Supes is a full-grown adult... what happened?"

The explanation of the fake family and the unknown cousinage draws a nod from him- sure, why not? Troia had to withhold her real identity as Wonder Woman's sister from the Titans and had to come up with something to tell people. Kara having fake parents isn't that different. "Alura is a pretty name, by the way."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara laughs and says, "Anything I'm telling you now is strictly off the record Terry, sorry. My real family, we decided to keep things on the down low you see, Earth has an insatiable appetite for gossip about celebrities and like it or not, Superman and I are celebrities."

"So.. yes, I remained in stasis in orbit around the sun for many years. Unlike Superman, who landed on this planet much younger. While I slumbered, he grew up. It's coming up on two years for me, since I left him. But for him - as you say, he is a full-grown adult. He probably has no memories of Krypton at all."

She shrugs her shoulders, "It's as weird for me as it is for you hearing it I'm sure. I'm still coming to terms with it. I was asked to look after him on this planet. Instead, he has been looking after me. Helping me learn the languages, the cultures, how to handle having this crazy powers," she says gesturing with her arms.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That's fascinating... " Terry huhs, "I've never even been to outer space. You know... " he looks at his phone, "if you're done with the interview, how about I change back and then we go grab something to eat? You can tell me all you can tell me about where you come from, and I can tell you about Wonderland and stuff like that!"

And then he grins, "And if you tell me baby superman anecdotes, lunch is my treat!"