509/A Call to Arms

A Call to Arms
Date of Scene:	14 March 2020
Location:	Library - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	If it were Clue, it would have been Damian, in the Library, with the concealed blade. At Happy Harbor it was just a nice chat with no school rules being broken at all. And maybe the start of something new.
Cast of Characters:	Samuel Morgan, Colette O'Connail, Damian Wayne

---

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Friday afternoon, and classes have ended for the week. Quite apart from the lure of the weekend, with Spring Break coming up, only the hardiest of souls have remained behind, for reasons both varied and esoteric. Of those few, only the most serious of students would be expected to be in the hallowed halls of the library, where silence reigns supreme and the pursuit of knowledge is considered serious business. Anyone found here after hours on a Friday risks to not only be branded as a geek, but to cross that boundary into outright nerd.

    None of which mattered to Sam.

    His fifteen page, single spaced essay complete with footnotes and bibliography had been sent off in the morning, many hours before the final deadline. This left him with nothing to do and a lot of time to do it in, leaving plenty of time to deal with his MIT assignments. That has driven the mutant into the library, to get away from most things technological, allowing him to focus on the offline medium of tattooed tree corpses...

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    There are other, non-nerd reasons for being in the library at this time. One of those is if you're the poor, overworked Teaching Assistant who gets a lot of the dull jobs dumped on her. Friday afternoon, for staff, is when you get busy winding things down for the weekend, in preparation for that nice relaxing weekend of... marking essays. Essays written by over-achieving workaholics who think that 'about two thousand words will be fine' means fifteen pages with footnotes and bibliographies. One of those dull jobs is going through the library, reshelving books left on tables, straightening chairs, and hopefully not finding any repulsive things left by the disgusting kids in some obscure corner.

    This is the reason for Colette's presence at this time. It's not a joyful moment for her. Now should be time to go home, put her feet up, relax a bit, then think about spending the evening getting in trouble.

    No, hold that thought. Maybe staying out of trouble for a day or two might be a good plan. Alas for the collisions of plans and reality.

     "Sam. Books? Isn't that a little low-tech for your tastes?" Colette stops when she sees him so engrossed, leaning against a shelf with an eyebrow raised in amusement. From certain abstract moralistic stances, Sam might count as one of those repulsive things, but then just the other day one of Colette's friends unconsciously and accidentally came up with a parallel between herself and a monster, so she's not one to judge.

    At least she thinks it was accidental.

Damian Wayne has posed:
    Damian had been long looking in the stacks, mainly checking up on the school's texts. He was short enough that he would be lost in the much taller stacks of the library.

  Dressed in what Alfred called 'appropriate attire for a young man such as yourself'. He had been looking up the Crow Nation, because of course he would, after the chiding he received from his own father, he couldn't help but remain focused on what he had said was 'inadequate'.

  He hadn't seen anyone else, which suited him just fine. The less he was disturbed, the better off for all those involved.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Just avoiding brain burn." Because being exposed to the constant barrage of teenagers and their phones was wearying to a technopath. At least in the library all Sam has to deal with is the occasional phone of the fellow seeker of knowledge and the background buzz of a few computers. He marks his spot in the book with a bookmark and looks over to Colette. "I hope my work was satisfactory? Under the circumstances, I thought it would be best to be succinct."

    Bear, meanwhile, has been dozing on the floor, when the Shepherd catches a familiar scent. His human had been sitting by himself for far too long, and despite this new human arriving, there needed to be more humans. So Bear stands, yawns, and traipses off into the aisles, leaving a very confused Sam behind.

    "He's ehmm... not supposed to do that."

    After a few moments, Bear comes to a halt sitting next to Damian, looking up at the other teenager with a questioning look. A look that seems to mean he would like to be followed.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"Satisfactory?" Colette smiles a little. "A veritable surfiet of data, Sam. And so many references. I'm sure you only do it to give my plagiarism checking software a headache. " She watches Bear walk past with a faintly bemused expression. "He's a smart dog, I'm sure he has his reasons. If those reasons involve cocking a leg against the stacks, I'll be intrigued to see if he categorizes it correctly. What do you think, natural history or biology? Does he know the Dewey Decimal system?"

    Of course libraries are not places to talk. There are signs up all over the place reminding people of this fact. Inevitably they are mostly ignored. It's true that if you're going to ignore it, it's not a bad idea to do so at a time like this when the library is virtually empty, but if someone were trying to read in the stacks close by, it might be annoying.

    Colette pushes off from the shelf and steps forwards to see what Sam had been reading. Her movement is minimalist and efficient, taken in small, precise motions. There's something almost slippery, almost snake-like about it. "Not working in the shop tonight then? Looked like you're almost done with the van, but I suspect you had some other project which somehow I didn't notice to work on. Or were you thinking of taking some time off to relax? It is Friday, after all."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had picked up a book and started thumbing through the pages before he had heard the soft pawing come to him.

  From over the book, the boy looks to the canine. "Bear." He says, in greeting, much like he would any human of whom he enjoyed the company of, as short as that list may be.

  The small Wayne had went back to looking at the book, before he still felt the dog's presence, seeing that look, the look he'd seen come from Goliath. >tt< He places a scrap paper in the book and holds it to his side. "Fine, lead on." He says, gesturing forward with his hand.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Knowing Bear, he'll probably mark it under Anthropology, subsection on territorial markers." Yup, Sam knows how smart Bear is. Was that a coincidence, or is that dog more than he seems? Always hard to tell, and it sure seemed like Sam wasn't going to talk about it.

    But the question gets a nod, albeit a reluctant one. "Some projects are easier to work on when nobody is around. Otherwise they start asking such inconvenient questions, such as 'why did you need to build a fully articulated arc welder' or 'by why are you hardening steel to AR-500 standard', and the eternal favorite 'why are you building wrist mounted rail guns'. Besides, unless something comes up, I can work throughout the weekend and have the project three quarters of the way done before the metal butchers come back on monday to learn the difference between a piston and a crankshaft." Ouch.

    Bear gives Damian a happy grin when he seems to understand what he wants. Honestly, some humans are just clueless, so it's refreshing to meet one that seems to speak at least a bit of canine. And thus the teen is guided through the shelves and stacks to the other duo. Human! I brought you another human to talk to!

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"It seems to me that were such a theoretical project to be occupying a student's time, it might be best if it was occupying it in a location that had nobody around more often. Perhaps fewer rules and less stringent... oversight. Purely hypothetically. Of course the school's shop is pretty well equipped."

    Colette leans a hand on the table and swivels the book Samuel had been reading around with one finger to look at the cover before swivelling it back. The move seems ostentatious. She could surely read the title easily enough from where it was. There may be a message in there.

     Colette looks up with an easy smile. "Hypothetically speaking, what kind of equipment do you think such a hypothetical alternative location would require, as a minimum?" Almost as soon as the words leave her lips, she raises a warning finger, her eyes going to the edge of the stacks as Bear rounds the corner.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Bear turns the corner, and what comes after him is Damian Wayne. The boy's eyes had been expecting Sam, of course, but seeing Colette there was something he hadn't quite expected.

  The short young man just stands there once he stops following Bear. "Sam." He says, much like he greeted Bear. He hasn't said anything to Colette yet, figuring they'd be introduced.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Of all the books Sam could be reading, he would happen to be caught reading 'Dune'. Classic or not, he's still been caught reading for pleasure rather than learning, and it seems to annoy him just a bit. "Hypothetically speaking, should such a project exist and should it need a better place, it..."

    But then he's silent. Bear is back, and he has Damian in tow. That earns the intelligent Shepherd a very friendly scritching between the ears. "You found a friend! Good boy Bear, good boy!"

    And the teen nods back a greeting. "Damian." Yup. Just... yup.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette's eyes are already on Damian as he walks around the corner. "Ah, the famous Damian," she says when Sam greets him. "The sensation of the staff lounge. Hello there. I see you have made at least one friend already. Though in Bear's case... well I suspect he'll be in the class yearbook captioned 'Most Popular Student'.

    Colette straightens, folding her arms and half turning to face Damian, another of those snake-like motions."I'm Miss O'Connail, though I have been known to answer to Colette. I'm one of the Teaching Assistants here." She cocks her head. "The only one at the moment, but I'm promised there will be more soon. Welcome to Happy Harbor."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Awkward silence, check. Just leaving that right there.

  His eyebrow raises at the 'sensation of the staff lounge' line. Though he doesn't say much on it. He notes how she moves, and something about her voice...

  "Mizz O'Connail." He says, rather shortly, not aggressive, but he is definitely a smidge on edge. Social situations were something he dreaded, of course, this is why his father had sent him here, among other reasons.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Okay... this could be ... hmmm. Sam is not an idiot. There were enough clues in Damian's body language that the other teen was probably in some way trained in a similar way to himself. Strangely enough that made it easier to relate, but also more delicate when an unknown quantity was around. Although, granted, an unknown quantity that has proven to be remarkably okay with some of the information he has deliberately leaked. He stands, smiling and making it look like he just needs to stretch his legs, leaving Bear behind him for a change. This is one situation where he doesn't need his furry friend between him and someone else.

    "Some reputation you've got there. Must have scored pretty high on your entry tests. Still not going to beat my score, but you must have done okay."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Unlike Sam, Colette has not met Damian before - at least not as Damian. To her, he is above all a student. She's reading his body language too, but her focus is more on his defensive manner. She has in fact seen his entry scores. And has heard that he has been home-schooled. It occurs to her that this is one of those cases where home schooling has not prepared him well for socialization.

    In this case it's Sam's body language that intrigues her. As far as she has observed, Sam's movements are very... precise. He's someone who leaves little to accident.     "I couldn't possibly comment on another student's entry scores Sam," she says with a half-smile. "After all, if I did /one/ of you would be a little disappointed." The smile widens just a touch. "Maybe more than a little. But then it's how well you perform now that you're actually attending the school that interests me. History should be learned from, not revelled in."

    "Would you like to join us for a few minutes, Damian?" Colette nods her head in the direction of the book Damian holds. "What were you reading?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's eyebrow raises again when Sam boasts about his entry scores. "Are you sure about that?" He asks, like a snake in the grass. The former assassin was familiar with gaslighting, sometimes just planting the seed of doubt was enough to send someone over that edge.

  Damian sets the book down, 'The Crow People' it's called, a Native American tribe from the western states. Known for their 'guerilla' tactics. "Alright." He says, decidedly not sitting down first. "I was looking into Native American tribes." He comments, looking to both Colette and Sam.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "It's going to fun finding out. Or not." Sam smiles to both Colette and Damian, reading the room with the ease of long practice. So he sits, making the first move to appear non-threatening, although he does hedge his bet by sitting on the side of a desk. He's not quite ready to sit down on a chair yet, with these two around.

    "Worth studying. Especially the history of the Lakota and the Iron Confederacy, shows that early access to better weapons can lead to a decisive advantage, which can just as easily be lost when you're not weary of a reluctant ally."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    It seems like nobody's going to take a chair. Colette follows Sam's lead, though in her case it's more a lean against the edge of the desk than actually sitting.

    "Holding back the tide of history takes more than just being reasonably well armed it seems," Colette remarks. "Maybe that might have been a better modern parallel to bring up with Tony Stark than Meiji Japan, hmm Sam?"

    Coal-black eyes flicker between the two of them, meeting bright blue and then bright green for the merest moment. "Do I see a rivalry brewing?" she says, her voice teasing. "A friendly rivalry, I hope. Perhaps the pair of you could learn from each other. Actually you both got rather good scores in your entry exams. Not... well. No, best you find out for yourselves."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's eyes look between Colette and Sam, taking a seat after the other student. "Indeed, though I preferred the more recent history of the mujahideen and how the United States played a role in their eventual attackers overthrowing the established government."

  The black haired boy rests back in the chair. "Oh, I don't think it would be much of a rivalry." The notion of learning together is casually put to the side, but definitely not off the table. Between the two boys, there's just that unspoken something, only the two know for sure, but there is still a little ways to go.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "For the record, I wasn't the one who brought up the Meiji restoration period, I only clarified the point." Sam elucidates from his perch, giving an almost amused smile towards Colette. Was she trying to play mind games? Honestly? "And if Tony Stark hasn't gotten that hint by now, I doubt he ever will. Two years of being Iron Man should have taught him that in a way that an off hand comment from a student during a PR stunt visit never could. Still a better candidate than Lex though. That man reminds me too much of myself."

    Rivalry? Unlikely. "I agree." he nods to Damian, still with that eternal smile that might convince the casual observer, but to a student of body language looks to be about as fake as a three dollar bill. The smiling assassin... "Could do with a study partner though. Most of the kids in here can't keep up with me." Is that an olive branch? Did he make the first move?

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "I agree with your assessment," Colette says to Sam. "Funny thing, I'd been speaking to someone who knows Mister Stark quite well a few days before the meet and greet, and the idea of talking to him about the lessons of the Meiji era came up then too. The world is full of coincidences."R
    Colette watches the pair, smiling wryly. "I don't know, I detect a hint of rivalry already. But that doesn't mean you can't be study buddies too. A bit of rivalry can a useful thing. Gives you something to aim for. If you aspire to be better than than each other, you can only both improve."

    ...you aspire to be...

    ...you aspire to be..."

    ...aspire to be...

    ...all you aspire to be? A gun?

    THREE WEEKS EARLIER

    The darkness of a rooftop, late at night. The first drops of rain falling. A figure, dressed in the white and black of the League, a heavy tote bag in one hand, pulling a knife embedded in a vent. Across the roof, a second figure stands, dark and hooded. The second figure calls out to the first, the sound of disappointment in her voice. The first person outside of the League to have spoken to him in three years. "Is that all you aspire to be? A gun? How sad."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Bright green eyes flicker in the lights of the library. He hadn't been used to someone volunteering to be with him, much the opposite. He was used to people being assigned and ordered to follow his lead.

  As Colette keeps talking, and explaining the usefulness of study partners, his memories go back to that night, across from the hospital, with the sniper rifle in his hands. The boy scoots back his chair with a good amount of force, jumping atop the table in front of them. He leaps fourth to collide with Colette, his teeth gritted and he says only one word. "You." His voice is low, but all that anger, all that inner pain he felt since their meeting,boiling to the top of his small frame.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette is surprisingly fast.

    No, that's not quite right. Both Sam and Damian have the training to perceive it. The muscle delay between decision and action is decent, but nothing special. Not the reactions of someone with their level of training. The anticipation of Damian's motion though, and the rapidity with which she makes her choices - that's a different matter.

    Colette is already moving before Damian hits the table, and almost as soon as he's on it, she kicks it away from herself, to throw Damian's balance and slow his forwards momentum.

    Then Colette makes her mistake. She misread Damian's /target/. Her instinct is to get herself between Damian and Samuel, brace the impact she expected to arrive where Sam was - no, not quite. Where she anticipated Sam would be. She seems to have trusted him to have the reactions not to be surprised by the sudden movement of the table, and to be standing at that point.

    The impact is a little off center, but that off-center impact costs her balance, and she falls back, hitting the ground at Sam's feet. Muscles start one set of motions, and then stop. She raises a hand, blinking at Damian.

    "You," Colette echoes.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    He moves like a striking snake.

    The tension had been building for a while, and Sam had expected something like this to happen. After all, he was just like Damian a few months ago. So when the younger assassin makes his move, the assassin formerly known as Scorpio responds. His first instinct, to kick the table away, has already been taken care of, so he uses the swing of his leg already in motion to carry the momentum up and over, going from a lazy sit into a back flip that lands him on his feet on the edge of the desk he had just been sitting on. He stays there for just a moment, a fraction of a blink of an eye, to assess the situation, and decides on his own move.

    He flips over the pair, turns in mid air and lands in a combat posture behind Damian, a sharpened pencil in his right hand. Those blue eyes have gone entirely emotionless. So it's probably through quite some tremendous effort of willpower that he manages to speak at all.

    "No business on school grounds. Both of you."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's eyes beaded up, this was the one, the woman who caused him to question that much more of himself. He hated, no...it wasn't hate, he lacked the ability to process this emotion he was feeling. He just knew this was the one who'd caused him so much of it.

  The presence behind him had been felt, though Damian was all focused on Colette. The boy knew what was in his shoe, it would be easy to just slip his toe to the side and hit the catch. But he didn't. The shallow blade sat spring loaded, ready to go.

  From Colette's point of view, a tear had dropped. His thoughts had strayed from his revenge to her words that night, and he just sighed, standing back up, slowly. His breathing had hardly sped up, his heart rate was only slightly elevated, but his face, his face told the whole story. His normal frown had changed from anger, to sadness. What was he going to do? Kill her and prove her right? No. He had to be better. In his eyes, she had so casually tossed him aside as nothing but a gun.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette watches Damian's face intently. She tilts her head slowly to one side, and whispers "Interesting." Her voice seems more alive than it ever had on the rooftop.

    There is a moment's silence. "Samuel. Alexander. Morgan!" The words whip out, full on schoolmarm. "Need I really remind you that you are student and I am staff? Mind your /manners/. No acrobatics in the library. And lower that pencil! Damian! Do you have /any/ idea how many school rules you just broke? Stand up and put these tables and chairs back. Right now young man!"

    Is she really going there?

    "While he's doing that Sam, you can check on security camera angles and tell me if that little scene got caught. And no, this was not... 'business'. I'm not entirely sure exactly what it /was/, but I'm sure we will figure that out." Colette gets slowly to her feet, eyes still on Damian. "Then we are all going to sit down quietly, with - pardon the cliche - nobody making any sudden moves. And we're going to have a nice little talk. Within limits. There are certain things better said in private." Her eyes find Damian's.

    "I think for this little performance I am going to set both of some extra homework." She really is going there.

     "Two parts. Firstly from each of you a brief analysis of the strategic and tactical mistakes made by the three of us. That can be written or oral, if you wish to deliver it now. Second, at least one thousand words on what you have been able to deduce from this last minute or so, to be handed in on Monday.

    In a very unconventional way to be sure, but she went there.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Even before the official response, before anyone has had a chance to react or defuse, there is a move from a very unconventional side. Human sad! No sad human, no be sad! Bear ignores the commotion, ignores the tension, ignores the threat to himself, and traipses up to Damian, leaning against the teen's legs and stretching his head up, looking up with those big doggy eyes into those bright green human ones. Don't be sad human! Bear is here!

    "I never sit where a camera can see me, thank you very much." But Sam puts the pencil away. Puts it down on a nearby table, in fact, making it clear that he's surrendering his weapon, if such it could be called. And he's also starting to drag chairs back where they belong, arranging three like the corners of a triangle. Nobody will have to sit facing someone, while nobody would have a tactical advantage over anyone else. He might have done something like this before.

    "If Bear bothers you, tell him to go away. But he's better with people than I am, and he seems to think you need some comfort. That's not a sign of weakness, he does that to everyone. As I said, he's better with people than most people." Extra homework? Colette gets a look with a raised eyebrow, as if she's gotten herself into having to read and mark yet another fifteen page tome.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's hand reaches gently down, rubbing the dog between his ears. He saw a lot of things between this canine and his bat dragon friend. "Good boy." He whispers, blinking gently and looking to Colette, his eyes flare again. "I do not recognize your authority." Yes, he's still defiant. "My only mistake is that I didn't take a blade to your throat, Woman. The cameras didn't see a thing, I always check their POV."

  Yeah, he's not doing what she says. But Bear, keeps getting soft rubs, because he is a very good boy.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Very good Sam" Colette responds to his reply about the cameras. "A little paranoid perhaps, but sometimes a little paranoia pays off." Taking one of the chairs and promptly sitting in it. Presumably given what has just taken place, she is making a gesture by being the first one to sit down.

    "Well you better start then Damian. If you want to be part of this school, you are subject to the rules of the school. You must accept that it is a new world for you. Those rules include respecting the authority of staff, and not attempting to kill them. I'm quite certain that people get kicked out of school for that. Right at this moment I'm not inclined to go down that route, because I think you're too interesting for me to want you expelled."

    Not just a gun?

    "Now sit down and try another answer, because that was not a mistake. One day I may tell you why."

    "Believe it or not, I take my position here seriously." It's lecturing time. "That means my job here is to ensure that you students have the best possible opportunity to develop, learn, and achieve. To help you become what you are capable of becoming... whatever /exactly/ it is you chose to become." The precise wording there won't be lost on Sam, given their previous conversation. "...Within reason." The precise wording there might not be lost on Damian, given their previous conversation.

    "And on that basis, I think the pair of you deserve that bit of extra homework over the weekend. And you can take that wording however you see fit. Do we have an understanding?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Second one to sit is Sam. Third? Third is Bear, by the empty chair, between Damian and Sam. The teenage mutant former assassin leans back casually, looking for all the world like nothing unexceptional has just happened. Damian, at least, will know that's an act, if he's taking the time to observe properly. There's an ever so slight angle to Sam's body, his balance just /so/, ready to deflect another attack. Although curiously he's not favoring any side, deeming one just as likely from both opposite corners.

    "In short, maintain cover and don't do anything to cause suspicion. By now you should have realised a few important things about this school. You're not an idiot, you're a professional. Act like it."

    He's not mincing words, and he's not treating Damian like a violent school kid, more dealing with him as if he were talking to a fellow 'professional' he'd run into on a job, having complimentary interests. Professional courtesy... "So, in case any of you want to talk freely, there's nobody watching and nobody listening. Trust me, I'd know if they were."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "You are not qualified to." He says, taking the third chair. "Just like you were not qualified to say what you said of me on that rooftop." His words betray him, his tone was more passionate and hurt than anything, quite telling. That she had been correct.

  The boy then peers back to Colette. "I am leagues ahead of anyone else here, with this one" He thumbs to Sam. "Being the sole exception. So if you are going to kick me out: Do. It. I do not even want to be here."

  Damian sits, arms crossed, and the miasma of anger wafting from him like steam from a boiling pot.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "You have no idea of my qualifications," Colette points out quite levelly. "But if you stop and /think/ you might have some interesting observations to make. Is that going to be an ongoing issue with you, Damian? Because so far today I haven't seen a lot of thinking from you. You acted with far too little information. You leapt blindly, driven by emotion. Frankly that was sloppy." She gives a quick nod in Samuel's direction. "Unprofessional. "

    "The two of you are, indeed, quite probably leagues ahead of anyone else here. "Colette pauses a moment. "In certain respects. You should both consider very seriously in what respects you might not be, because that's where you'll find your own weaknesses. And I have to say, since the subject of entrance exam scores came up, that if I was scoring you both on today's performance, right now Samuel would be way ahead of you, Damian. But then you both did assure me there would be no rivalry."

    Contrary to Damian's sternly crossed arms or Samuel's disguised readiness, Colette sits straight with her hands flat on her knees, fingers spread out. Almost as if she's saying 'I have nothing in my hands.'

    "As for talking freely, Sam. I think that both Damian and I would be well advised to discuss our /previous/ meeting on another occasion. However I think we all have a decent idea of what the pair of you are. I have no intention to tell anyone."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    There's a shrug, as Sam seems to agree with Colette at least on the topic of professionalism. Can't really disagree with that, really. Get emotional on a job and you get killed. He turns to look at Damian, giving him the same kind of shrug. "Gotta admit she has a point there."

    And now the casual posture disappears, Sam leaning forwards in his seat, running his left hand over his face as he inhales, a clear sign of either stress or extreme weariness. It either wasn't there before, or was lurking under the surface the entire time. "I'm already sorry I brought up the damned entrance exam. That was a cheap shot, and I should have done better than that. Honestly, who gives a crap? It got me into MIT, and that's all that I wanted out of it." And his next words are directed directly at Damian, not a sign of levity in his voice. "And I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I think it's time you start to think about what it is you're going to do as well."

    Sitting up a bit straighter, he looks directly into Damian's eyes. "Because I recognise that anger. I know it, I've lived it. Still am. It's the anger of your entire world being challenged. First thing you need to come to terms with, as we all have to do eventually, is that we are weapons. The second thing, is that nobody likes a weapon when there's no war on. And the third... the third, and most important thing, is to ask yourself what purpose you need to give a weapon when the war is over, when the last shot has been fired. What we need to do now that we've been decommissioned."

    And he reaches out, a hand, a gesture of humanity and good faith. "Scorpio. Formerly of HYDRA. I now go by Sam Morgan, my team name is Techno. And my friends... my friends call me Bean." He keeps up that look, that personal contact of blue eyes to green. "Now that you know, my life is in your hands."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's eyes keep focused on Colette. "Professionalism has nothing to do with it. I should have put you down."

  Damian looks to Sam as he gives his schpiel, though he wasn't decommissioned. His being here was an edict of hit mother and of course his father. He had a place back on Infinity Island. The hand is met, only because it seems the fastest way to get the hell out of the situation. "I did not go by a codename, only by al Ghul. I now exist under my true one. Wayne." It wasn't like it was going to be known eventually, there would be a cover story of course, and soon enough, the scion of the Wayne family would be known. "That is between us and us alone."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Yet you chose to spare me," Colette replies to Damian, a faint smile meeting his glare. "Just as I chose to spare you. Funny how things work out. Going for your knife would have been a huge error on your part. You were at a severe tactical disadvantage, though I think neither of you saw it. I hope we both made the correct decision."

    "Correction, Sam: /were/ weapons. 'Were', not 'are'. Now you both have the opportunity to be something much more than a gun." Colette's eyes go momentarily to Damian. "You have the opportunity to learn how to be people, too. Your /own/ people. Your own decisions. It is a far from easy path and God knows, I don't have all the answers for you. But I do have far more experience of learning to be a person than either of you two have. And I am offering to help. You would be smart to take that offer. Most people would not be as... understanding as I can be."

    Colette leans back in her chair, but keeps her hands flat on her knees. "Well. As we're being honest and sharing... everything I already told you was true. I am a Colette O'Connail. I am a Teaching Assistant. I am here to teach. I am not a part of any secret organizations. I have no ulterior motives to being at this school, I am here because I want to be the best teacher I can. To help the next generation be /better/ than the last. That is the truth. It is also true that I feel that there are certain students at this school who would perhaps benefit if the environment of this school was... a little different."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Even as he's shaking that hand, Sam's eyes suddenly go wide. It's the nearest expression of surprise anyone has seen of him in this school, possibly the most open expression of surprise that he has deigned to show in years. He slowly retracts his hand after the shake, keeping his eyes on Damian. Very closely. His mouth forms a word that might have been 'Ibn' but is never vocalised and might be too quick or too subtle for Colette to see in the first place. But Damian would have, no doubt about it. "You. You are..." Words are not easy to come by. And when he does continue, it's in a hushed, almost reverent whisper. "I thought you were a myth!"

    Then he leans back, all tension fading, running a hand through his hair. "Holy shit..." For a moment he looks at Colette, as if the notion of her having prevailed against Damian was quite absurd, and then the teenager remembers his manners and sits up straight, balling his right hand in a fist, wrapping his left around it in greeting, and giving a formal half bow to Damian. "My apologies if my behavior was inappropriate. I did not know. Thank you for not killing me when you had the opportunity." Professional courtesy...

    At last, he again turns to Colette, shaking his head. "I am a weapon. The choice of how I behave and how I express that is my own, but my nature cannot change. And a weapon without a war looks for a better war to fight. And with all the comments you've made, I'm thinking you have just such a war for us."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's demeanor goes a bit more relaxed. "Yes, Ibn al Xu'ffasch." That name had been a moniker given time him in the underworld, much like his grandfather had been called The Demon's Head. Though he gives a slight bow in return, another courtesy. Even if he wasn't in that life, he still kept up his appearances.

  "It was not."

  Though he still maintained he wasn't a weapon, he had been destined to lead possibly one of the largest criminal organizations in the world.

  "A little different how?" He asks, his interest piqued. His future had been uncertain, some of his 'family' wanted him to take up a hallowed mantle, others...thought he should still be in a cell in Gotham, underneath the remnants of Wayne Manor.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "A weapon doesn't chose its own targets," Colette says to Sam with a shake of her head. "That's what makes you a person. It's not a weakness. The weapon remains as a /part/ of you. A few days ago, I had to save a friend of mine from being executed by some gangsters. Gun pointed at his head. Two meat mountains standing behind him. And I had to do it without my friend seeing how I did it. It had been... a while... since I had to do anything like that. Believe me, it doesn't leave you." A wry smirk. "Though my reactions and my instincts are certainly rusty. And fortunately, they were /not/ trained assassins." The smirk becomes a grin. "To be honest they were fucking idiots. Excuse my language."

    "That's a good question, Damian. The policy of this school is that people like you two should learn to blend in. That is good. However it omits to make sure that people like you have the best opportunity to use your abilities. It is better to aim to /surpass/ the previous generation than to ape it. I don't think it's my place to determine what those differences should be. However I am determined to see that those students who want those differences get the opportunity to have them. So..."

    Colette gives Sam a smile. "So no Sam, I don't have a war for you. It's your war already. The biggest war of all, the one that never ends. Saving the world. The current generation of heroes, and this isn't a personal criticism of any of them, are just muddling through. The world is changing, the rest of the universe is knocking on the door. The generations to come are the ones who will have to get it right. Or lose the war."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I hear you at least skimmed my essay then." Sam grins back, his posture now just as relaxed as earlier. Only this time, it's not an act. He now knows who he's dealing with, and that takes the uncertainty out of the equation. Now, finally, with details clear enough that proper tactical data can be extrapolated, he can make a decision.

    "I've been in contact with someone who has similar inclinations. Currently they're being tutored by a known hero, but I don't know how far that tutelage goes. I can sound them out."

    But one thing, it seems, has to be clear. "You know I described categories of heroes to you earlier. As long as you understand what category I fall into..."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian'a face grew a bit uneasy at all of the talk, but only because he'd been speaking with some of his elders about doing something like this as well.

  "There's another avenue we should look at." He finally says, after some thought. "If this should be more public. But I work with those I can truest. I do not want someone who puts on a costume and says they are heroes." He had been thinking of things so far, he wasn't even sure he wanted to bring back everyone from the Titans for it. But he does know he gets the thrill being out there, the thrill he had been missing for the last year.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "I had been looking forward to reading it," Colette replies to Sam, her own grin getting a little wider, as an eyebrow raises in mock disapproval. "Though I should warn you, most markers /will/ mark you down for going quite so significantly over the essay length. " She really does have the whole 'teacher' thing on her mind.

    Colette leans back, relaxing a little too. "That's good Sam. I have been making contacts too. One thing to clarify though - my intention is to help create /opportunities/, not to offer some kind of hero tutoring. Though I wouldn't refuse if asked. Actually I'm hoping I can persuade the pair of you to offer some training to those people we find with more potential than skill."

    "One of the contacts I am working on could provide a very useful... hmm. Shall we say...career path. There used to be a group that had rather similar aims. The Titans." The coincidence is a touch spooky. "No promises though, they are in a mess and I don't know what can be salvaged. I'm trying to pull some levers though."

     Sam's point about categories, Colette does not address. She feels at this point it really doesn't need addressing. A certain degree of understanding has been reached.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I'll add a TL;DR next time." Information had to be complete, why else convey it? But being succinct? Sam'll give that a try in his next assignment. "Took me some effort not to write it like a mission outline." Some habits die hard indeed.

    He looks between Damian and Colette, then over to Bear. Bear looks back at him, cants his head and gives a soft 'whurf'.

    "Bear's in, that's good enough for me. Titans... that's going to be fun if we ever run into Zeus."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Very well then." Damian comments, standing up and brushing himself off. There was no doubt what kind of person Damian was going to be. He still needed to get himself together in Gotham.

  "I will be in touch." He adds, before heading out. No niceties, no aggression, he just needed to get out of the situation, baby steps.