to tie up loose ends to make amends

[skort]

WHO: supertorso & battothefuture
WHERE: Terry's apartment.
WHEN: Sometime around today-ish? Today being Thursday.
WARNINGS: ... Possibility of some violence.
SUMMARY: Kara and Terry were gonna try again after their failed notadate. But then he got exPorted and never called, so she stops by. SHIT HAPPENS.
FORMAT: Quick to start, can do whatever after.

[ It starts like this: Terry and Kara parted ways and agreed to try again for coffee. But there was never a 'Hey, how does tomorrow sound' from his end and Kara was just this side of shy and worried about this whole friendship with a civilian thing that she wasn't sure she could call him about coffee.

But when she'd seen neither hide nor hair of him on the Network for a while, she got a little worried. She wasn't sure picking up the phone and going 'You're not dead, right?' was the kind of thing one did, so she didn't act on it, instead keeping eyes and ears out should he show up anywhere.

On the other hand, though, if she was just patrolling and happened to be in the area, she could stop by and knock on his door, right? Just... checking in. She could say she lost his number, wanted to make sure he and the dog were okay. And wanted to see the dog again. Yeah, that would work.

Which is how she ends up standing in front of his door, wishing terribly her x-ray vision could penetrate lead. One hand raises and knocks gently, so as not to... accidentally break anything. Because that would be bad. And she'd have to buy him a new door. ]

Terry? You home?

[ Wait a little bit, then knock again, a little harder this time. Maybe it was too soft of a knock. Just because she had superhearing... ] Terry?

[ More knocking. She pauses again and then knocks just a little too hard, knocking the door off its... surprisingly sturdy hinges. ]

Oh, crap! Ohcrapohcrap! Terry! If you're home, I'm sorry I broke your door. ... if you're not, I'm sorry for breaking and entering to fix your door...

[ She moves the broken door aside so she can step into the apartment and... freezes. Because that— that stuff can't be what she thinks it is. It just can't be. ]

Comments

[skort]

... I'm trying to wrap my head around a sixteen year old Batman. It's not really working. I figured you must've been pretty young, but. Wow.

Alright, alright. Might be a good idea to invest in some chew toys, though, especially since she's probably going to start losing her baby teeth soon.

[battothefuture]

It's-

I picked up the suit when my old man got murdered, and just... it's what I wanted to do. And it's what Gotham needed. Things are still bad in the future.

And yeah, I know.

[skort]

[ She pauses and gives him a somewhat sad look before sighing softly and looking away. ]

I'm beginning to think family tragedies are the greatest common denominator when it comes to people in our business.

[battothefuture]

[He smiles a little but doesn't want the conversation to go depressing again, so tries to keep it light.]

Yeah, maybe. Anyway, that's when I broke in and swiped the suit. I guess Wayne decided that not getting myself killed was good enough to let me keep it.

[skort]

If being able to stop a crime without getting killed was the only prerequisite, we'd have a hell of a lot more human vigilantes than we actually do.

[ Kara pauses and gets a strange, almost wtf look on her face, then. ]

I just realized... Bruce now has super powers of some kind. That is so weird.

[battothefuture]

[The smile turns into a grin.]

It's not the only prerequisite, but it's a helpful start. And somebody had to do it - I guess I had a few reasons to be the one.

[skort]

Yeah? Can I ask what?

... I'm totally giving you the third degree, aren't I? Sorry. You don't have to answer, or you could interrogate me back or something. I'm just really curious.

[battothefuture]

[This is a slightly more uncomfortable topic of discussion, since Terry isn't terribly proud of his past, but he doesn't have a real reason to hide it either.]

I used to be a pretty bad kid. Broke my folks' hearts, broke some laws. I guess I'm atoning.

What about you? I know the basic story, but....

[skort]

I've kind of got two origin stories, since I gave up being Supergirl for a while.

But the first one goes like this: back on Krypton there were two brothers, Jor-El and Zor-El. Jor-El was Superman's father, Zor-El was mine. When Krypton blew up, Jor-El sent his infant son off in a ship towards Earth. One of Krypton's cities was saved when the planet went, but the forcefield that protected it attracted some... unwanted attention. Rather than have their daughter face all of that, my parents sent me in a ship a little while after Kal's went to Earth. Except I got caught in suspended animation for about thirty years.

I crashed into Gotham Harbor, Batman found me and then I ended up living in the Fortress for a few months before going to Paradise Island to train with Wonder Woman and the Amazons. After living there for a while and then having a run-in with Darkseid I decided I wanted to be a hero like my cousin and took on the name Supergirl.

The second story... well, it's a lot more complicated and happened more recently.

[battothefuture]

[Terry grins again]

Both are more complicated than mine, then. What's the second?

[skort]

... okay, brace yourself, this gets really complicated.

Before Krypton blew up, Brainiac came to our planet and stole one of our cities, shrinking it and bottling it. It's kind of his schtick. Now, Argo City's forcefield was reverse engineered Brainiac technology, so the unwanted attention it got that cause my parents to send me to Earth was Brainiac.

A little more than a year ago back home, Superman found Brainiac and the bottled cities of Kandor and Argo. He brought them back to Earth and re-enlarged them, setting the last of our people free. [ She's been grinning all through this, but then her expression dims. ]

Not everyone on Earth was thrilled though and... things happened, like they always do. My father was killed and my mother, the leader of our people, packed us up and moved us into orbit opposite Earth. New Krypton was born.

[ There's a pause as she looks down at her hands and ponders for a moment how much to tell him. Back home a lot of this was public knowledge, but she's pretty sure that only a few people here know what happens next. It's still a bit of a raw subject, so she's not going to tell him everything, but maybe, maybe if she tells him something, he'd be willing to do a little quid pro quo. Since he totally skimped on the details of his own origin story and she is really intensely curious. ]

The next year was filled with fights and tensions between the Kryptonians and the people of Earth. I did some... really stupid things and it ended up getting a lot of people hurt. Eventually things went to hell, as things are wont to do. New Krypton was destroyed, the Kryptonians declared war on Earth and Superman, Superboy and I fought to protect Earth and in just under two hours what the media came to call the Hundred Minute War was over.

The three of us Supers are the only ones left and I... well. I quit after that. Not something I'm especially proud of, but I did. I just upped and disappeared for a few months and then when I went back to Metropolis it was with the intention of never putting on the cape again.

[ she lets out a little laugh, then. ] It took a huge disaster and my adoptive aunt just reaming me out to make me realize I couldn't really give up the cape. I'm Supergirl. It would feel wrong for me to just sit on the sidelines when I know I have these powers and I've been trained to save people and fight the bad guys and hopefully be home in time for dinner.

[ There's a very brief moment of silence before Kara looks back at Terry with as close to a hundred-watt smile as she can get right then. Denial is a go! ]

There you have it. The great and complicated origin of Supergirl.

[battothefuture]

He stole a city?

[His voice is slightly incredulous, because you don't see things on that scale all that often. THEN AGAIN, BRAINIAC....

He's quiet through the rest of the explanation, and it's pretty clear that... it's hard for her too, telling all of this. So she gets her wish.]

Guess I can't say anything like that.

I was in a gang, for a while. My parents were getting divorced and I was just... being an angry kid, mostly. Guess I was kind of a brat. That was when I was 13, and 14. Things changed when I got caught at this robbery, and got sentenced to a few months at juvie. Anyway, it was... I guess a year after I got out, maybe a bit more, that I... accidentally found the batcave. Then my dad got murdered, and I found this disk. Took it to Wayne, he told me to take it to the police, and when that didn't work I swiped the suit.

[skort]

He stole a lot of cities. Dozens, maybe even a hundred or more. And then he would destroy the world they came from.

[ But! Success! She got her story. And it's definitely not what she was expecting, especially since he mentioned wanting to atone for things.

It makes her pause for a moment to think about what she wants to say. ]

Definitely a origin story I haven't heard before. [ pause. ] I know we're... trying to keep things light and fluffy, but you mind if I diverge from that for a minute?

[battothefuture]

Huh. I thought he just stole information.

Shoot.

[skort]

He did that, too.

[ She hesitates for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. ]

It— ... Lemme preface this by saying I really don't want to offend you at all, okay?

[battothefuture]

[Now she is getting a look, slightly curious and slightly hard. It's on the edge of being an interrogation look, but is still too innocent to really be there.]

Spit it out, Kara.

[skort]

Guilt's a funny thing. It eats you up inside and, to some extent, will always have its claws in you.

You said part of why you're Batman is to try to atone for these thing you did when you were a stupid teenager. But that was, what? Four years ago? Five? You've been Batman for longer than you would've had time to be make trouble. Between that and the fact that you already did your time, there's no way the Justitia's scales aren't already tipped in your favor.

[ She pauses and looks down again for a moment. ]

Eventually, you're going to have to let go of the guilt and just tell yourself you're moving on. What's done is done and there's nothing we can do to change that, no matter how much we may want to. [ A wry smile crosses her face as she looks back up at him. ] ... I feel like there's something else I could say to finish this up nicely, but the only thing I can think of is Star Wars quotes.

[battothefuture]

Part. Not all.

It's less what I did and more who I was then that bothers me. Sometimes I wonder if I've really changed all that much. Either way, it's not like I can quit. Gotham needs a Batman, remember? And if there's something I can do....

[skort]

[ She grins then, bright and genuinely happy. ]

The fact that you're wondering if you've changes is proof enough that you have. And that need to help people, the way you know that you need to be out there doing what you do, because maybe, just maybe you can save someone, or stop someone, or make a smallest bit of difference?

That's what makes you a hero.

[ Why, yes. Part of that whole guilt spiel was to see just how much of him being Batman is doing it just because he feels bad. Just a little part of it. ]

[battothefuture]

[He gave her a dry look.]

It's your turn.

[skort]

[ She sticks her tongue out very maturely. ]

I'm serious, though. About both the guilt and you being a hero. I've been there before, I know what I'm talking about.

[ And she takes her turn. ] Serious moment can be over now, if you want it to be.

[battothefuture]

[He grinned]

Make up your mind; either you're the optimistic, cheerful type or you're not. You seem to keep wanting to have it both ways.

[skort]

Didn't I tell you earlier that no one can be optimistic all the time?

[battothefuture]

Sure, but you seem to want to divide your time evenly.

[skort]

What's wrong with that? Means I get the best of both worlds.