Chapter #2 – Change Up
Galatea groaned in protest when the polarized sun-shade covering her bedroom window automatically opened on schedule, allowing sunlight to pour into the room.
"It can't be time to get up, can it?" she rhetorically asked the empty room, then groaned in protest again when the LED projection on the ceiling confirmed her scheduled wake-up at six-thirty in the morning.
Not an early riser by nature, grumpily she hobbled to the bathroom, relieved her bladder, then peeled off the silk pajamas Diana had insisted Edna make for her.
The pajamas weren't the only 'civilian' garments she'd received, as a whole drawer of underwear, bras, socks, jeans, blouses and dresses were waiting in her room upon her return from dinner the previous evening. Diana had insisted on the clothing, noting that even she have something else to wear besides her armor. Tea had reluctantly agreed, noting she'd only worn two outfits during her lifetime – the white uniform issued by Cadmus and the orange jumpsuit issued in prison.
A hot shower provided a much-needed wakeup. She allowed herself a moment to luxuriate under the stream from the nozzle, as she'd only been granted a three-minute shower every other day while in Belle Reeve prison. Now, there was even time to shave her legs with a razor.
It was a newly acquired skill. When she'd been 'born' in the Cadmus bio-medical laboratory, she'd learned early on that there was no way to remove the stubble of hair on her legs with anything less than her heat vision. Now that her body was bereft of its powers (and her invulnerability), a blade could cut through the tiny hairs. As she finished, Tea' wondered how soon they would be invulnerable to the cut of a blade.
She was still drying off from the shower when Diana walked unannounced into her room. Tea' yelped then closed the bathroom door with a bang. While she was used to the poking and prodding of the scientists in Cadmus' facilities, and the lack of privacy in prison, she'd been more than a little uncomfortable the day before standing nude before Diana and Edna.
This morning was no different.
"Tea, are you almost ready?" Diana called from behind the now-closed door. "Breakfast starts in fifteen minutes."
"Give me a minute, will you?" Tea wrapped the towel around her torso, then pulled a comb out of the drawer to straighten out her tangled locks. She cracked the door open to let out the steam, reasoning it would also make it easier to talk to Diana without having to shout through the bulkheads. "Just what is so important about getting there early? It's not like they run out of food."
"You don't want to get caught standing in line behind Flash, trust me," Diana said, then plopped into the corner chair. "Besides, the training room has an opening at eight. If we hurry, we can put our names on it before somebody snatches it."
"More training?" Tea groaned. "I thought after last night that you would have had your fill of abusing me for the entire week. Besides, why is the training room first-come, first-served? Can't you just put a reservation system on it?"
"We did, but certain members started re-programming the system and blocking out the best times. We changed it to the honor system. If you get there first, it's yours."
"Makes sense," Galatea agreed as she strode into the room. She stopped at her drawer, then turned around so that Diana could only see her backside as she dropped the towel on the ground. Her uniform was form fitting, so it took her a minute to wriggle into the confines of the material that Edna had provided. "You're not big on modesty, are you?"
"What are you talking about?" Diana asked.
"It's nothing, really."
"If you have something to say, then say it."
"Don't you think it's kind of odd to be standing there, watching me traipse around with nothing on?"
"I grew up on an island full of women," Diana replied with a shrug. "Trust me, I've seen it all."
"But still, a little privacy once in awhile wouldn't hurt, could it?"
Diana removed her hands from their resting-place on her hips then folded them across her chest, silently contemplating the request. She nodded in agreement when she made up her mind. "Point taken. Tomorrow we'll meet at the commissary."
"Great, let's get some food."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"Yeah, it's her all right," Green Arrow grumbled, staring at the statuesque blonde sitting across from Diana at the opposite end of the commissary. He turned to face John Stewart, ignoring the Question, who'd quietly joined them five minutes before. "You guys in the Council just had to go ahead and screw things up again, didn't you? Why couldn't you leave well enough alone already?"
"Come on, Arrow!" Green Lantern protested. "It's not like we didn't put some counter measures in place in case she goes rogue. Look who's training her."
"I know Diana can kick everybody's ass on this station," Arrow replied. "But come on, let's face it. Is Diana really the best example the Council could come up with to mentor somebody into the League?"
"What are you getting at?" The Question asked.
"Don't get me wrong," Arrow whispered, leaning in. "But let's face it. Diana is not the easiest person to get to know. The whole 'Princess' thing gets a little much sometimes."
"You don't give her enough credit for the things she's done for the League," Lantern replied with a dismissive wave. "She's not conceited. She's just used to having her way, is all. Besides, if she wasn't on the team, Batman would have crawled back into his cave years ago. I don't know about you, but I've come to like the perks of his lifestyle."
"That may be, but I'm still worried about the clone," Arrow said, his brow furrowed as he snuck another glance toward the women. "Why couldn't you mentor her like you did Kara? Knowing her personality as well as you do, you'd probably be the first one who could tell if she was going to go rogue."
"I needn't remind you, but that's not Kara. Besides, I had my fill of mentoring the kids, especially after Kara left us for the Legion," Lantern admitted. "Diana was the only one who volunteered. I think it's a pretty good fit, on a lot of levels."
"I hope you're right," The Question interceded, "But it's going to be up to us to make sure that if she does go rogue, we'll be ready."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"Oh great. They're staring at me again," Galatea sighed. "Is it ever going to change?"
"Ignore them," Diana commanded. "You said it yourself that there was going to be an adjustment period. Let the rest of the League adjust to you, not the other way around."
"I can handle the quick glances most of them throw my way, Diana. They're curious, I get it. But those three are like stalkers, taking it to the extreme. What's their deal?"
"They were with Kara during your first confrontation, right?" Diana asked.
Tea thought about it, then realized Diana was largely accurate, with the notable exception of Lantern. She nodded her head anyway, conceding the point.
Diana continued. "Lantern was Kara's mentor, while Arrow and the Question were like uncles…they looked after her."
"And now that I'm here and she's gone, they're ready to hate me, right?"
"Nobody hates you Tea'," Diana chided. "People are just naturally nervous about you joining the League. Trust me, it took awhile for me to get over what Shayera did to us when the Thanagarians invaded. They'll get over this."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"Come on Bruce, is this really necessary?" Nightwing asked his mentor as they strode through the Watchtower's empty halls.
"One, its Batman – never Bruce – here on the Watchtower. Two, you broke your wrist a month ago. If you want full-time membership in the League, you're going to have to prove to me that you're ready to give one hundred percent. Anything less than that won't cut it here, understand?"
"Full-time membership? Are you serious? Why now?"
"I'm lifting the boycott," Batman replied, stopping at the door to the training room. "It doesn't make sense for you to be off the JL 'Net when an invasion from Apokilips is going down. The threats against the League keep escalating in scope. If I go down, I need someone I can trust to make the right decisions."
"Brilliant deduction," Dick replied, kindly neglecting to mention the fact that he'd pointed out that very fact to the Dark Knight almost a hundred times before to no avail. "But why here? Forget to pay the light bill for the Cave?"
"The cameras are high definition – even better than what we have at the Manor. I may want to watch the replay to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time."
"You mean if you land a lucky punch, you want to record it for posterity," Dick chortled. "Trust me, it won't happen."
Batman held the door to the training room wide open. "After you."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"So back to that comment you made earlier about an island full of women. What's it called?" Power Girl asked as they strode through the hallways, heading toward the training room.
"Themyscira."
"Right, Themyscira! So there weren't any men at all?"
"Men are forbidden on the island," Diana replied, then launched into a synopsis she'd memorized early on to handle those curious about her background. "My mother is the Queen of the Amazons. They peacefully co-existed for millennia with other Greek tribes, but after a heinous crime was committed against them, the Gods created Themyscira, granting the remaining women in the tribe immortality in the process. Themyscira is still protected by the Gods today."
"So you've been on the island since then?"
"No, I came along a thousand years later."
"My experience with men is way too limited for my own tastes, but I know biology well enough to know that if there were no men, you shouldn't be here."
Diana smiled wanly. Her recent encounter with Hades had cast a cloud of doubt over the exact nature of her heritage, but she decided to recount the story as her mother had told her as she preferred it to the more likely possibility that she was Hades biological daughter. "My mother wanted a daughter, so the Gods told her to mold a statue of a girl, then they imbued it with the powers of the Gods. I'm the result."
Power Girl shook her head in disbelief as they arrived at the training room. "Here I thought I had a weird background. I've got nothing on you! Why did you leave the island?"
"The world was in peril five years ago. It seems to have stayed that way since I arrived. I did go back once to fight a sorcerer who'd invaded Themyscira, but I was exiled because I brought my male teammates to help me defeat him."
"You haven't been back since then?"
"I went back a few months ago," Diana admitted. "There was a similar mission for me to undertake, so afterwards my mother decided to end my exile."
"So you could live there full-time if you wanted to? Why don't you go back? From what I've gathered, it sounds peaceful…idyllic even."
"I've found Man's World to be intriguing, so I've decided to stay here. For the time being, anyway."
Galatea absorbed that thought, then saw Diana's face pale in disappointment when they reached the door. The red light was on, indicating that the training room was already occupied.
"Come on," Diana snapped, motioning up the staircase that led to the grandstands overlooking the training room. "I want to see who took our room."
Galatea obliged, and followed her mentor up the steps without a word. Ten seconds later she looked down on the floor to find two men – one of whom she knew was Batman as Diana had introduced her to the Council the previous evening – engaged in a sparring session. They wore protective padding on their gloves and feet to dampen the blows, but otherwise their uniforms were fully equipped as Batman consistently launched batarangs at his opponent, who skillfully blocked them with two club-length wooden sticks in a blur of activity.
Diana motioned for her to be quiet and to sit down. Galatea complied, transfixed by the spectacle of the session. To her eye, the punches, blocks, parrys and kicks the men employed were a blur. She struggled to follow the match then, taking note of a lesson Diana had taught her the day before, she started to breathe deeply stretched out with her senses and was rewarded as her hearing sharpened. Suddenly, the sounds of the battle were magnified ten-fold, and she could determine which attacks were effective based on the sounds of the impacts alone.
She watched their fighting styles with great interest as each man attacked and counter-attacked. Power Girl realized she could learn a lot from their styles as each move was made with strict economy of movement. Each man seized his opponent's openings without hesitation, but neither man was able to press an advantage.
Diana sat silently next to her, but Galatea piqued with interest when her enhanced hearing suddenly picked up on her mentor's heartbeat. Galatea estimated that Diana's heart was racing at almost twice its normal rate, though Galatea knew that was just a best guess on her part, having only been aware that she could pick up on its ambient noise since that morning's breakfast.
Power Girl alternated glances between the sparring match and her mentor, trying to determine the reason for the shift in Diana's physiology. Suddenly, Batman's opponent landed a solid blow on the Dark Knight's left kidney, sending him reeling across the floor. Galatea heard Diana's breath hitch – imperceptible to anyone not enhanced with superhearing.
Power Girl felt a smile spread across her face for the first time in months.
"So, Mister Pointy-Ears gets you a little hot and bothered, huh?"
Diana's head snapped towards her, as if the words she'd spoken had induced whiplash. "Where would you get such an idea?"
"Easy," Galatea replied. "My powers – my hearing and my sight at least - are coming back to me. Deny it if you want to, but I can tell that Mr. Dark and Gruesome over there makes your heart go pitter-patter. That and your body temperature has risen a bit."
Diana scowled back at her, but there was nothing she could say that would resemble a plausible denial. "Don't say another word."
"Who am I going to tell?" Power Girl replied impishly. "Besides, his friend is drop-dead gorgeous. Perfect hair, chest, shoulders. Nice butt, especially. What's his name?"
"Nightwing."
"Who is he really?" Power Girl asked, concentrating her limited x-ray vision on the two men below them. "Are they related?"
Diana considered how much she should disclose to her apprentice, then shrugged with resignation when she realized that Galatea's emerging powers would allow her to figure out the two men's identities soon enough. "Nightwing's name is Dick Grayson. Bruce Wayne – the Batman – is his father."
"A father-son combination here in the League? Really? Cadmus never said anything about that in their debriefings."
"Maybe Cadmus doesn't worry too much about the Bat-clan," Diana replied with a shrug. "As far as I know, this is Nightwing's first visit to the Watchtower. When we expanded the League, we asked Batman if he wanted any of his proteges to join forces, but he never agreed to it."
"It looks like something's changed," Power Girl replied with a mischievous smile. "Good for us."
"Good for you, you mean?"
"No, I mean good for us," the blonde replied. "Maybe we can make this work out to our mutual advantage."
"What mutual advantage is that, Galatea?" A darkly masculine voice inquired.
She whirled in her seat to find the Dark Knight and his protégé standing in the row next to them. Both men were visibly sweating from the exertion of their sparring match, but neither had made a sound scaling the training wall to confront their audience.
Galatea turned around in her seat to face Diana, mouthed 'How did they do that?' with an expression of awe, then turned to face the two men again.
"Why, training of course, Batman," Galatea replied with a disarming smile. "I could certainly use some pointers. You guys are good. Really good."
"Thanks," Nightwing replied, then offered his hand in greeting. "I'm Nightwing. Have we met?"
"Power Girl," she said, clasping his dark gloved hand in her own white gloves. "And no, we haven't met. Do you know Diana?"
"Only by reputation, unfortunately," he said affably, then nodded a greeting at the Amazon. "Batman says great things about you."
"You must be joking," Diana replied with a grin. "Batman never says great things about anybody."
"Au contraire," Dick smiled back. "The only League missions he's ever discussed are the ones which involve you."
Diana glanced at the Dark Knight for confirmation, but he only glared back at his son.
The silence was uncomfortable. Dick came to his senses and realized that he was still shaking hands with Power Girl. He finally dropped her hand and decided to break the silence. "Well, we're finished with the training room. I'm guessing you two want to use it?"
"Where are you off to?" Power Girl inquired.
"Batman promised breakfast if I lasted ten minutes with him in the training room."
"Did you pass the test?" she asked, eyebrows raised in curiosity.
He leaned in close then winked. "With flying colors. Want to join us?"
"We already -" Diana started.
"- We'd love to join you, wouldn't we, Diana?" Power Girl interrupted, then looped her arm through Nightwing's and led him away down the corridor before her mentor could respond. "I'm starving."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTBatman and Diana hesitated for a few moments, consciously giving the younger couple a head-start. Diana knew Batman well enough to know that he was waiting until they were out of ear-shot, but she started to walk anyway. He grunted, a signal for her to wait, but she shook her head, motioning for him to keep up.
"She told me that she already got her hearing back, so it doesn't do us any good to wait for some privacy."
He nodded, then joined up with her on the walk to the commissary.
"How are things with Power Girl?" Batman inquired.
"She's headstrong, opinionate, and generally a pain unless she gets her way."
"I thought she was Kara's clone, not yours."
Diana stopped and covered her mouth in mock surprise. "Did Batman just make a joke? Maybe you should bring Nightwing up here more often."
"Dick's membership is going to be permanent."
"Dick's joining the League full-time?"
He grunted in acknowledgement, then realized he owed Diana more explanation than what he offered the rest of the League. "I've held him back long enough. He's ready."
"How did you know when he was ready?"
"When he kicked me in the kidney ten minutes ago. I never saw it coming. Worse, it hurt like hell."
Diana stared at him for a moment, then smiled with understanding. "You must feel like a proud parent. For the first time in his life, Dick surpassed you."
"Not surpassed. Equaled."
"Apparently the massive ego problem runs through the Bat-Clan," Diana observed.
"Said the woman who decided to mentor the next addition to the League while simultaneously deciding who to recommend for the Inner Council."
"Touche," she grinned. "But at least this way things don't get boring."
"Speaking of boring, when are we going to put together those dossiers?"
"How about after breakfast? We were supposed to train, but I guess our plans have changed."
"Who's going to watch after Power Girl?"
"If Dick is full-time now, why not him? Tea' seems to have taken a shine to him."
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"So what was it like growing up the son of the Batman?"
"Adopted son actually," Dick replied. "My parents were killed when I was ten. Bruce took me in as a ward, then adopted me later on."
"But at some point he let you in on his secret?"
He nodded as they stopped to wait for the elevator to take them up to the commissary level. "He trained me as his sidekick. I did that until I was in college, then I got sick of following his orders all the time. Been on my own since then. How about you? What's your background?"
Her face instantly clouded. "You don't know about me?"
"Batman isn't exactly known for his conversational skills," Dick said while stepping into the elevator alongside her. "I haven't been de-briefed on any of the members except the original seven."
"So that's why you don't look at me like the rest of them do."
"How do the rest of them look at you?"
"Like I tried to kill them."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Galatea hesitated a moment, then breathlessly launched into an explanation of her background, starting with details about the original cloning schemes, storming the Watchtower with the Ultimen, and concluding with Superman and Diana's recruitment offer into the League.
"It wasn't until I was de-programmed that I knew just how sick and twisted the whole thing was," she concluded. "I hope you don't hate me like the rest of them do."
"Why would I hate you?" he asked, pausing at the commissary entrance. "It wasn't your fault."
"Tell them that," Power Girl replied bitterly, sweeping her hand across the expanse of the room.
Most of the Leaguers and technicians went silent as soon as they saw her, then the conversations resumed in a subdued hush when Diana and Batman walked up next to them.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"I thought you said you were starving," Nightwing observed as Tea' sat down next to him.
"Guess I'm not as hungry as I thought," she replied. Tea' shifted her gaze to Diana, pleading with her eyes not to divulge they'd eaten a full breakfast earlier that morning.
"So, Nightwing, what do you think about the Watchtower?" Diana chimed in.
"When Batman told me about the size of this thing, I contemplated on calling him on it," Dick admitted. "Now, I'm glad I didn't."
"It certainly put the first one he built to shame," Diana replied, then turned in her seat to face Batman. "How much bigger is this one?"
"Counting the defensive pods orbiting out there?" Batman asked.
"They're manned, so why not?"
"There's roughly ten times the living space that we had on the first one," he explained to Power Girl and Nightwing. "I learned a lot from the design of the first one, making some improvements the second time around."
"Is that your primary role in the League, to do engineering and build things?" Galatea asked Batman. "I mean, it's not like you have any superpowers or anything."
She knew instantly she'd committed a serious gaffe when Diana and Nightwing's faces turned incredulous. Only Batman remained unaffected by the question.
"I don't have any problem with you looking at it that way," Batman replied. "You're right about me not having any powers, so I try to find other ways to contribute. Paying for the Watchtower is one of them."
"I have a problem with looking at it that way," Diana replied indignantly. "You're not some dilettante that we beg for money." She turned to stare at Power Girl. "You and I are going to have a little talk later on."
"I wasn't trying to insult him!" Galatea responded. "Honest."
Batman reached out and touched Diana on the wrist. "There's no harm, Diana." He turned to level his gaze at Power Girl. "But I would add one thing: Don't ever underestimate your opponents, even the ones who are unpowered. We wouldn't be sitting here in this room if you hadn't underestimated Kara and Steel. I hope you heed Diana's lessons. The prisons are filled with criminals who underestimated her because of her appearance."
"I'll try not to," Tea replied.
"Do more than try," Batman said, then looked down at his empty plate. "I'm done. Diana, do you want to get started on that project?"
"What project is that?" Nightwing asked.
"Council business," Batman replied.
"What do you want me to do?" Nightwing inquired. "Wait here for you, or head back to Bludhaven?"
"Why don't you keep Power Girl, or is it Tea?"
"Either is fine."
"Tea then. Why don't you let Tea show you around the Watchtower?"
"I've only been on four levels," she replied. "I'm not sure if I'll make a good tour guide."
"That leaves you twelve more to explore. Do you remember where you got your comm. link?"
"Deck Five?"
"Take Nightwing there and have him set up." Batman said, then pushed himself away from the table. Diana stood up to join him, then the two Council members strode away, leaving Nightwing and Power Girl alone. They stared at each other for a moment, then both of them broke into a grin at the same time.
"What are you laughing about? Nightwing asked.
"I was just thinking of a phrase I heard once. You know, 'when the cats are away, the mice will play'," Tea replied. "Would you mind if we stopped by my room on the way to pick up your comm. link?"
"Sure," Nightwing shrugged. "As long as you don't mind if I make an imposition."
"Well it will depend on the imposition," she replied, batting her eyelashes playfully, "But I imagine that I will have a hard time denying any request you make."
Nightwing felt a surge of adrenaline flood through his body when he realized that she was flirting with him. He licked his lips as his mouth had suddenly gone dry. "I don't suppose a shower would be out of the question?"
Power Girl contemplated the request with a wicked grin. "No, a shower is definitely NOT out of the question." She kicked her chair back to stand up, but she did it slowly, careful to give him an eyeful of her cleavage as she rose up to her full height. "Got anything else in mind?"
"In mind? Yes. Can I talk about it in a public place? No."
"Well then what are you sitting around for?"
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