'You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be'
-David Viscott
Titans
Part One: Genesis
Chapter Four: Together
"Que paso man?"
"Hey Paco"
Dropping against the wall to sit next to his best friend, the Mexican-American took a bite of the bagel he was offered, savouring the two bites he took of the hot, but plain bread, before he handed it back to him with a grateful nod, "Thanks ese. I really needed that"
"I figured", Paco swallowed down what was left of the bagel, "I saw you coming back late last night. You looked exhausted dude"
"Tell me about it", he flexed out the muscles in his shoulder, feeling a twinge in the spot where they had bunched up yesterday, and were still sore and tense, "Walker's got us working longer hours now. Apparently the job's way behind schedule, and the guys at Kord's are saying that he needs to finish on time, so that means more hours for us"
"Yeah well, you're getting paid for it though right?"
He snorted, even as he passed a roll of bills to his friend, who promptly shoved them under his pillow, where they could grab them later, "Hey, I'm gonna go hit the park for a bit, see if anyone's up for a challenge. You in man?"
"Nah man", Paco sat up straighter against the wall while his friend grabbed his board from underneath one of the piles of clothes they had lying under the structure of corrugated iron and sheeting that made up their makeshift home, and slipping on a helmet he stepped out from underneath, "there's talk of some work going down near the docks, you know, just moving stuff here, there and the like. I'm gonna go take a look, see if I can get something going para mi"
"Alright then ese, let me know how it turns out when I get back"
"I will man. You gonna be bringing dinner back wit' you?"
"I'll see what I can do man. Later hermano!"
"Adios bro!"
"Is this it? It seems kinda…"
"Dull", Evelyn supplied, as she stepped out of the back seat of the SUV, finishing off Thea's question off, as the other girl joined her looking up at the plain white warehouse, "plain, completely bore-"
"-Plain is a good word", Oliver slid out of the driver's seat, coming to stand next to them and revealing the suit he wore, a light grey which he had chosen to accent with an emerald green tie, which was loosely hanging around his neck. Evelyn was dressed in what she wore as Artemis, a black leather jacket and some dark blue skinny jeans, also without her mask, and Thea was wearing an outfit similar to hers, except she was wearing it in all black, with a bright red t-shirt, "plain means nothing special, so it also means that no one will be looking at it", Oliver continued his explanation, as he came to stand beside them both, "and no one looking at it, means that it is the perfect place to house my new team. So", he turned to face them, "I'll ask one more time. Are you both sure you want to do this? This is pretty much the last time you can still say no"
"Oh, I'm definitely in GA"
"Absolutely Ollie"
"Oh, well, in that case, you can definitely count me in too then"
Having heard his first student approaching them from behind the van, Oliver didn't flinch at the sound of his voice, whereas Evelyn's hands flew to grab a bow that didn't exist, and Thea's head whipped around searching him out, as he came to stand next to Oliver, decked out in his old trademarked blue jeans and red hoodie, with a sports bag slung over his shoulders, before he came to a stop at the older man's shoulder.
"So how've you been boss?"
"Me? I'm fine Roy, thanks for asking. Yourself?"
"I'm doin' pretty good thanks"
"So, how was Hub City?"
"It was cold, well colder than Starling anyway"
"Actually we're going by Star City these days"
"Oh right. I heard about the whole rebranding thing", he nodded along, "but seriously though it rained a lot, and I mean a lot. I was always forgetting my coat when I went out too. Come to think of it, there wasn't a lot of crime there either"
"Ah, so you got bored there then?"
"Oh my god yes, I st-"
He was cut off by Thea striking him on the back of the head, before pulling him into a hug, which he was only far too eager to return, lifting her off her feet slightly, and keeping her there until the Star City vigilante pointedly cleared his throat. They released each other, both smiling like fools, while still slightly pink in their cheeks.
"I missed you", she looked at him softly, before glaring slightly, "and you're an idiot"
Roy grinned, "I missed you too", was his response, completely ignoring the insult levelled at him, before he turned his attention back to his mentor, "so where is our fourth man anyway?"
"Did he say he was coming?"
"Oh yeah, I helped him get set up with that cover story like you said to. He seemed pretty excited about it all too - definitely wants to get better, get faster, do his part to help out"
"Good, that's good… so he's just running late then"
"That's it, I mean, I don't get it, just… how can he be late? He has superspeed for god's sake!"
Oliver fought the urge to both, smile, and roll his eyes, thinking of the very number of times he'd asked Barry that exact same question, only for the younger man to smile at him and then laugh it off, "Just, just don't ask, it'll hurt your head less"
They were cut off from further conversation by a flash of yellow lightning, and the quartet turned to face their newest arrival. Dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a yellow-lined black hoodie, Wally West stood opposite them, with a sports bag wrapped around him, like Roy had, but his was strapped as tightly to his back as he could get it, so much so that he immediately had to lessen it when he stopped, but it had done its job well, and hadn't blown off when he was running over to them from Central City.
"Aw man", the young speedster took in the four of them, before blowing out his breath in a huff, "I knew I'd be the last one here"
Ignoring his disappointment, Roy stepped forward and offered his hand, which he was quick to take, recognising him, "It's good to see you here Wally"
"Yeah well, I couldn't let the Green Arrow's guys have all the fun, and I couldn't not show you all why us speedsters rule"
"Yeah, yeah, and just who exactly was it that trained The Flash again? Or who's the one that The Flash calls for help when he's stuck?"
"That's enough you two", Oliver stepped forward to break them up before their teasing progressed further than it should, though he felt a slight swell of pride in his chest, at the sight of Roy defending him, even as he ignored the wide-eyed, and slightly awestruck, look he was given, as Wally took in the suit, "now boys, I don't have all day you know, some of us have real jobs to get back to, cities to help run-"
"Masked supervillains to help stop, new recruits to train, reporters to screw…"
She trailed off, unconcerned as the Green Arrow sent a glare to his sister, who simply shrugged back, completely unapologetic as she mimed ticking off her fingers, and he rolled his eyes in response, "Come on then, let's get you all inside"
He led the way past their SUV, and towards the warehouse's sole door, which was only unlockable by palm print, before he placed his hand on the reader, letting it scan all give fingerprints. It took a moment, before responding with a small beep, accepting the code and activating the entire building, bringing all of its systems online and letting the door open with the sound of an electromagnet disengaging. Stepping past the entryway, they all, (those that had seen it), expected to find a set-up that was similar to what Oliver had in the Arrowcave, (though for some reason, the man himself still refused to call it that).
What they got instead, was to be greeted by an all-white corridor.
The concrete floor was painted white, as were the walls and ceiling. The only break in it was at the far end, where there was another door, only this time, there was no apparent way to get it open.
"Sweet", Wally was the last one to step inside, letting the door swing closed behind him, "I mean, if you like white that is"
"So now what do we-"
Evelyn's question was interrupted when the electromagnets that held the door reactivated with a low hum, and a small silver rod, no thicker than the average drinking glass, lowered itself from the ceiling slowly, roughly the length of their hands, and sent out a small, scanning blue light that ran over Oliver from head-to-toe.
"Ollie, what's-"
"Recognised: Green Arrow Zero-One"
"Dude, is that a full body biometric scanner?"
Oliver smirked at Wally's eagerness, before the same blue light ran over the rest of them, "Speedy B-Zero-Two, Artemis B-Zero-Four, Arsenal B-Zero-One, Impulse B-Zero-Three"
"Impulse?"
The door ahead of them began to lower into the floor, as Oliver answered Wally's question over his shoulder, "Ah, well I asked around discretely before I decided to recruit you, apparently they were all calling you 'Kid Flash' in this other timeline Barry created? Yeah, well I think that's kind of a stupid name, I mean you're eighteen - a legal adult - not an eight year old child, so that's just not happening here. And then to cut a long story short, I ran through a list of words relating to speed, and eventually I got up to the word impulse, because the body's impulses and reactions move faster than we can even think. I thought it was a nice fit, is there a problem with it? Because I can always programme a different name for you, if you want to?"
"Nah, I actually like it… Wally West, AKA Impulse, soon to be the fastest man alive… s'actually kinda cool when you get used to it"
Ignoring his rambling, the others stepped through the door, following the older hero and their mentor, as they took their first look at the base that was going to become their new home.
The floor was all panelled in pale grey and white tiles, and the walls were painted in a pale blue colour. The main room was full of furniture, and they could all see a kitchen through a door and a hole in the wall, which meant they could eat there, and still see the rest of the place.
The ceiling was high, and the room was lit by industrial lights, which had been installed as part of the warehouse's security upgrades.
Oliver was happy to see that the others weren't questioning how everything had happened, which suited him just fine. He'd only bought the hangar off of STAR Labs a few weeks ago, and it had taken a bit of bribing on his part to get Sara to go back in time and book contractors to get the work done, while Ray and Jax had handled the rest of his security measures.
He had to admit, as much as it bothered that he had been forced to ask for their help, they had done very good work, and they'd done it to his extremely tight schedule.
He would actually have to say 'thank you' to them, the next time he saw them.
"This is the main room, which I've taken to calling 'The Hub'. Here you'll find all of the basic amenities you'll use on a day to day basis. The TV links up to a satellite that Ray and I may or may not have used our resources to discretely place-"
"-To probably try and appease Felicity for something stupid the two of you-"
"-I think that's enough from you Speedy", he levelled her with a glare that had everyone else slightly worried while she just shrugged him off, completely unconcerned, and he continued, "the point is that I can reach you, and you can reach me, at any point. I already had an alert set up on my phone"
"Wait", Evelyn looked at him, "you won't be staying with us?"
He shook his head, "I can't, like I said before, I have responsibilities in Star City that will take up most of my time, I'll be coming back to test you all on occasion", he ran his eyes over all of them, and Wally looked nervous at the thought, "and when required, I will personally deploy you on your missions, but I can't stay here permanently. I did however, find you all a suitable sitter", as he spoke the sound of heels on the floor grew louder, and from out of one of the corridors leading away from The Hub stepped an Asian woman that only Thea recognised, "this is my friend Tatsu Yamashiro from Japan. She is one of the many people who have helped me get where I am today, and she has agreed to try and do the same for you. The others have also taken to calling her Katana"
His men fell silent as he approached, each one of them coming to stand to attention as he walked past, bringing their staffs straight, as their red capes fell still behind them.
Dressed in his armour, resplendent in purple and gold, he climbed the steps to his throne, taking a seat as he removed his helmet, handing it off to the servant that had immediately stepped forward to take it, and offer him a glass of one of the mortal realm's finest wines.
"Tonight, my friends, we have moved one step closer to achieving my goal of once again re-establishing my rightful rule over this land. Once we have my final piece in place, we shall step forth into the light, and take our place as the rightful owners of this land. Our people will rejoice as they sing our names as songs of praise, and our enemies will be crushed beneath my boot", he clenched his fist, before he relaxed, purposefully flexing it, and watching as lightning danced across his fingertips, as a smile lit up his face, "but tonight, we feast, and then, tomorrow, we will retake our place as the gods of this land!"
His speech was met with cheers and the banging of their staffs against the floor, before the servants set out the feast in front of him. Idly, he helped himself to some of the more sumptuous fruits, and watched on as his subjects dined, for soon, the rest of the world would know that their gods had, once more, been returned to them.
"Hello", Tatsu's voice was quiet and polite, with only the slightest tinge of her Japanese accent leaking through, but other than that, her English sounded excellent, "I look forward to working with you all"
At their confused looks he decided to explain, "As all of you are still new to this, I've asked her to step in and help train all of you. You will find that she has much to teach you, as she was once responsible for teaching me, and she is an expert with all forms of swordsmanship. She'll also be responsible for your hand-to-hand training. I expect you all to keep up with your own specialised training", he sent a quick glance to Wally, who nodded his understanding that Oliver in particular had meant his speed training, "but for now, let me show you around"
He led them through 'The Hub', showing them the different user interfaces, as well as having all of their fingerprints scanned in for complete access. Off to the side, he took them through the kitchen, which in addition to being enormous, was fully stocked in terms of appliances and food, much to Wally's delight, as it also included the calorie-heavy power bars he needed to consume, in order to help maintain his bodyweight and muscle mass.
Their next stop was the second of three doors leading away from 'The Hub', not counting the entry way, which lead to an extremely long corridor lined with doors that led to the different bedrooms, with Tatsu already having claimed one that was halfway down the hall, an ideal place to be located, should anything happen at either side.
Oliver was aware that the others were scoping out the rooms, hoping to get the 'best' one, which was why he hadn't told them that they were all identical. There was a nice amount of space, although they weren't overly large, and each one came with a bed, desk, closet and a small en suite bathroom. At the very end of the hall, the rooms were larger, but designed for couples to stay in, such as Barry and Iris, when he finally got around to telling the speedster and his girlfriend that this place existed.
"You can all pick a bedroom later and customise it however you want", his voice broke them from their musings, as they turned to each other to grin, "but for now let's stay focused and just get through this"
He led them upstairs, which he had converted into a few small conference rooms, as well as one really large one, where everyone that could possibly fit in had a seat, with icons representing their identities on the back of their chairs. They could make out a green arrowhead for the Green Arrow, the Flash's lightning bolt, the symbols for Firestorm and the Hawks further around the round table, before the four were ushered out by their trainer and handler, and led up to the roof, which he explained was just a large landing space for the Waverider, more than anything else.
Once they were happy, he led them back downstairs, and underground to the lower of the building's two sub-levels, where Thea and Evelyn found their motorcycles from the Arrow-cave, and Roy was happy to see that his old one was there, as well as the car Ray had bought for him before he'd left Starling City and gone into hiding.
Not wanting him to feel left out despite the fact that he could run faster than all of them when they were on their bikes, Oliver had also outfitted Wally with a small, but fast black sports car and motorcycle of his own, handing over the keys with a gruff, "No street racing", as the boy began planning the various ways he could enhance it using all of the equipment that had been provided for their use.
Ten minutes later, when Oliver was no longer amused by Wally and Roy comparing their cars, and the girls were bored by the mindless banter, he dragged Wally, allowing Tatsu to force Roy, out of the garage and maintenance area, and back up to the first sub-level.
To the training rooms.
They, in Oliver's mind, having trained mostly on an island, were his pièce de résistance - a master piece of a training area, which he had started to design for his own personal use, and back then all he'd needed where dummies and targets, but then Slade brought Mirakuru soldiers into his city, and eventually he'd increased it to allow for Barry's use as well. From there he had just kept adding to the plans, piece-by-piece, and bit-by-bit, constantly upgrading all of the technology involved, until it had become what it was now.
The main floor was made of a material that none of them recognised. It was pale blue-green colour, but had a completely solid look to it, as if it was made of coloured concrete, but still held a shine to it, making it look like it was made of glass or plastic.
There was a monitor on the wall large enough to make even Felicity jealous, and when Oliver stepped onto the floor, it came alive, showing a small picture of his vigilante appearance, with 'GREEN ARROW' written alongside it. Below that were his current vital readouts, which were all blank, as they would be tracked through his suit, and as he moved, the floor beneath his feet lit up.
He explained it as best he could, though he had readily admitted that his own understanding of the technology was limited at best, but the floor was designed to track his movements while he was on it, as it was designed for sparring practice.
Ideally two people (or more) would spar on the large area, and the computer would record their movements, fight patterns, the time spent fighting and the result. All of which could be brought up from a computer terminal to help each individual improve their skills.
"And yes Wally", he spared a glance at the boy, "it is fast enough to keep up with you"
The young speedster grinned in response, "For now"
He nodded in agreement, "For now", before his gaze swept over them all, before he pointed to three of the training rooms four adjoining rooms, one after the other, "armoury, speed circuit, target range. You all now have access to all of them, and I expect you to familiarise yourselves with them, and make good use of them when you don't have an active mission, but for now, there is only one room left to show you, so if you'll all follow me"
He led them over to the fourth room - the only room in the entire building that they hadn't yet been in, having finally come to the end of Oliver's tour. The white door opened before they got there, operating on the same motion-sense technology as the rest of the building, and they stepped inside.
The room appeared to be a corridor, one that was not overly high, starting out wide and growing narrower in the distance, with the walls of the room appearing to be lined with frosted glass that none of them could see straight through.
"Okay Ollie, what's-"
As Tatsu and Wally stepped through the door, the last of them entering the room, six of the doors lowered into the ground, sliding down to reveal their most essential piece of equipment.
Their armour.
Directly in front of the door was a second set of Green Arrow gear, complete with a fully-stocked quiver and spare bow alongside it. Alongside the wall and to the left was a set of light armour, as well as a face mask bearing the Japanese flag, and a single katana sword, which they all correctly assumed belonged to Tatsu.
At the very beginning of the room, rather than at the end, four more pods appeared to have been set aside from the others, as their doors also began to lower themselves down, and Thea immediately recognised Roy's old suit, which she had modified into the Speedy outfit she wore on patrol, as well as her bow, quiver, and the small sword she'd begun to carry after going through training with Malcolm.
"Roy, your new Arsenal outfit is the second one on the left. Evelyn, I've also taken the liberty of having a real Artemis outfit created for you, and it's the one next to Wally's; Wally, the new Impulse gear is on your right-"
He barely had time to say what it was he wanted, before he was cut off by a flash of yellow lightning, and Wally was stood in front of him, decked out in yellow and red. All Oliver had done was taken Wally's 'Flashpoint' design - he still didn't completely understand everything Barry had told him about that (time travel was confusing) - and added some lightweight armour throughout the suit; the same type of armour which he still insisted Barry needed, as well as some extra padding at the shoulders and knees, in order to help with high speed collisions.
He was quite proud of it actually; he'd never had the chance to design armour for a metahuman before.
"What are these for?"
The speedster waved the red goggles in his face, before snatching his hand back when a scowl crossed Oliver's.
"These are for field use. There's night vision, thermal vision, and some basic scanning features, which you should try out. It's the type of stuff our masks", he indicated himself and his three protégés, "can't have, but I think should. I thought it'd be useful for someone on the team to have one, and it should slot in behind your belt buckle while you're running. Just tap the button on the side to cycle through the various modes"
"Sweet", not wasting anytime, the boy set about playing with his goggles, while Oliver led Thea, Roy and Evelyn to the new outfits, giving a brief outline as he went.
Roy's new Arsenal suit was a reflection of Oliver's Green Arrow suit, mixed in with his former Arsenal one that Thea had adapted; paying an homage to the training he'd undergone with Oliver, but recognising that he was now more than capable of standing on his own. Instead of being nearly completely green or red, the top was now made of a dark shade of purple, with black accents, while the hood was also the same shade of purple, the mask and gloves were black. The trousers were the same ones he had worn as Arsenal, with a small band of purple trimming at the point where his boots met the legs.
Oliver had also seen fit to include a new thigh holster for his twin Escrima sticks, as well as new shatterproof sticks to actually go in them, an all-black quiver, with purple-tipped black arrows, and in the cubicles final slot, was a bow that was identical to the one the Green Arrow used, though it was slightly shorter, in order to compensate for Roy's slightly smaller frame.
Unlike Arsenal, Artemis would be wearing the exact same shade of green that her mentor did, in a suit that seemed to combine elements of the Green Arrow and Speedy. Her boots and trousers were the same that Thea would be wearing, but unlike hers, Evelyn's had been crafted in the same colours as Oliver's.
The top part of the body was a slim-fitting version of what Oliver wore, but where he had his zipper going down the front, her own went down the back, unseen, and much less visible, instead the front chest of her suit was covered in a large, pale yellow arrowhead, and when she ran her fingers across it, she found that it had been reinforced, and she smiled, remembering his lesson on drawing attention to areas where they had the most protection. He'd given her gauntlets and shoulder pads, like his first Green Arrow suit, instead of the sleeves he currently wore, which was the way she preferred it. She'd also been provided with a new full-face green mask, in almost the same design as Wally's. It would replace her black domino eye mask, but unlike with Oliver, Roy and Thea, there was no hood, leaving her free to pull her hair back into a long ponytail.
"Sweet", was Evelyn's only response as she picked up her new black bow, as she let her gaze run over the green arrows, before it landed on the small collapsible crossbow and thigh-holster that was also present, turning to her mentor, with a raising eyebrow, she smirked, as his own rose in tandem.
"For emergency use only - don't", he stressed the word, "become reliant on it"
"I won't, I promise", was all she said before Roy, having waited long enough, grabbed his suit and headed for the changing room, and after a moment's hesitation, she followed.
Oliver turned in time to see Thea and her Speedy gear following Evelyn, while Wally was busy admiring himself in the mirror. Catching Tatsu's eyes, he rolled his own with a smirk on his face, as if to say 'kids', while she smiled, before closing the door to her own armour, and the two of them left for the kitchen, where Tatsu would make the two of them tea.
Four hours later, at just past two in the afternoon, Oliver had long since finished the training session he'd decided to put them all through to break in their new suits, changed out of his workout gear and back into his normal suit and tie, and had then enjoyed catching up with Tatsu over a pot of her tea when the others finally decided to re-join them.
Thea was the first one back, having had enjoyed a longer and more thorough workout than her brother, testing to make sure she still felt confident enough in her own skills to go back out into the field, followed by a long shower. When she walked into the kitchen, she headed straight for the coffee machine, putting on a fresh pot, and dressed in black skinny jeans, ankle boots and a red plaid shirt over a t-shirt of a band Oliver didn't recognise; she spared the two fully-trained heroes a nod in lieu of a greeting, while she waited for the others.
Roy and Evelyn followed in quick succession, the former dressed in a red hoodie and jeans, which came as a surprise to absolutely no one that knew him, while Evelyn wore her favourite black leather jacket, jeans and a green t-shirt. Both of them headed for the coffee that Thea had already helped herself to, and managed to grab a cup, before a flash of yellow lightning flew past them, and poured the rest of it into an extra-large mug, before Wally came to a stop in front of them, casually leaning against the counter, dressed in a pair of blue jeans, with a black shirt over a yellow t-shirt and a pair of trainers.
"Hey guys", he offered, before quickly draining what was left of the coffee, before looking at Roy and Evelyn, "so how're the suits?"
"Mine's a good fit"
"Pretty sweet. How's your-"
"Eh hem", Oliver cleared his throat, cutting off whatever they were going to say, "I was being polite, but I do have a few more things to say before I have to leave", he paused to see that they were all listening, before reaching into the duffel bag at his feet, and pulling out five mobile devices, that other than the large glossy circled 'T' embossed on the back, looked exactly like normal smartphones.
"These", he explained as he tossed one to each of them, "were designed by Mister Terrific for my team, but we turned them down in favour of Overwatch's latest upgrade to our communications. They function as normal smartphones using our own satellite, but they also have an instant communication line to the other four, constant tracking, as well as a 'panic' button, which, yes Wally, I stole from Team Flash. Should any of you ever be caught in a situation out of uniform, I thought these would be a better fit for you guys"
"Does Curtis know that you've taken them?"
Oliver expertly ignored his sister's question, "Keep these on you at all times", he finished, making sure to look all of them, including Tatsu, in the eye, "I also have one, and I'll be alerted if three of you hit the panic button within a ten-minute period. If that happens, Tatsu and I will drop whatever we're doing and make our way to your last known location"
Seeing that they understood, he nodded to himself, before reaching down once more, and sliding each of them a plain black rectangle.
"Credit cards for your personal use, paid for through the Team Arrow funds", he crinkled his nose at the use of the name he usually ignored, "you can use them to buy clothes, food, necessities, and have a little fun with them", at that, their collective faces morphed into shocked expressions, and Oliver chuckled, "just don't go overboard, I'm not any of your fathers, and I won't act like it - Thea gets made when I try - but please be somewhat responsible. There's a small amount that will be added each month, but if you want to get a job in your spare time and supplement your income, then that's fine with me"
"Thank you, Oliver"
"You got it boss"
"Sweet, that's pretty cool GA. Thanks"
"That's pretty awesome man"
"No promises Ollie"
They all slid their cards into the purses and wallets, while Oliver stood, collecting his bag from the floor, and looking at them all, "I have to go now, I need to get back to being the mayor of my city, and I want to leave before I change my mind about the cards", he bent down to kiss Thea on the cheek, and hug Tatsu, who was on her way out of the kitchen, "Wally, Evelyn, don't forget to that you have actual classes to attend. I'm paying for them through Q-Core, so please don't waste them. Other than that, I'll be in touch"
The four of them hung stayed silent long enough to hear the computer announce "Recognised: Green Arrow Zero-One", before Thea bounced out of her sea with a grin, and turned to face them all, flashing her purse.
"I say that no decorations, not many clothes and a new, Oliver-approved credit card equals a shopping trip, followed by a team dinner", she flashed them all a grin, "so who's with me?"