Who: Connor Hawke and Teddy Altman, Open to all Teen Titans When: September 19, 2013 Where: Teen Titans Hangout What: Connor comes over to teach Teddy some sparring and they both figure out some things that have been bothering them. Rating: Pg for now! ooc: Feel free to thread, spy on the two, tag in wherever, have random shenanigans, teens!
Thump! Whapwhap! THUD!
Teddy landed on the floor, grimacing. “Man… Either you’re getting faster or I’m getting slower.”
The human reached down to pull the alien crossbreed to his feet, smiling quietly. “I am only not pulling as much.”
Teddy frowned, helped back to his feet and falling back into stance. His green, bony armor shielded him from most of Connor’s strikes, but sometimes the martial artist seemed able to strike past it somehow, usually with precise palm slaps that threw Teddy entirely off balance. “You mean you were pulling before?”
“Only while you were healing. Ready?”
Teddy thought he was, releasing a noisy breath and starting back into it. Connor, much shorter than him, somehow got under his elbow and gave it a firm push upward while stepping past him. Teddy landed on his back again. “Ugh!” The teen decided to distract his being so easily thrown to his back by focusing on the comment. “Connor, things heal on me super fast.”
Connor dropped his guard briefly, looking to Teddy with some concern as he got to his feet. “I… think you mean that injuries seal swiftly on you. When you first came to live with us, you favored certain areas. Your torso especially. So I avoided striking there.”
Teddy scratched his claws though his hair briefly before falling into stance. “Guess I didn’t notice that you noticed… You didn’t say anything.”
Connor smiled sympathetically. “Sometimes we try very hard not to worry those around us. You were getting better, so I thought it better not to pry.”
Teddy smiled some. That was one reason why it was easy to talk to Connor. The monkish Green Arrow rarely seemed judging. Teddy had done a very good job of hiding it, but he had been sore for over a month after the Scarlet Witch broke him out of the hellish prison he had been in. He didn’t remember the details of being dissected very well, but he did remember clearly his side exploding outward from one of their security implants. His flesh had formed back in place, but the traumatized cells still needed to recover, and his body let him know it. He just thought Billy was the only other person who knew it.
He shouldn’t be surprised Connor noticed during their practice spars, though.
Teddy almost managed to reverse a wrist grab from Connor before the other simply stepped into his space and pushed his chest with his shoulder, toppling him back again. Sometimes the teenager found it hard to believe how simply Connor could unbalance him, and with seemingly so little energy. “Man…”
“Enough practice for the day?”
Teddy nodded, climbing back to his feet. “It is still freaky that you can do that when I’m so much bigger and stronger than you.”
Connor smiled, shaking his head. “It’s never about strength. It’s about seeing and circling the energy elsewhere.”
“Still… Makes me realize how much more I have to learn. Like, if I can’t even master simple wrist grabs and can be tossed around so simply…” Teddy frowned, letting the statement drop.
Connor didn’t though, picking up the strand of conversation with careful consideration. “It’s bothering you…”
“It’s… not really about the sparring. Um… you want some hot water for tea? I think I’ll make myself some noodles.”
Connor followed after him through the hideout to where the teen’s more cozy lounging area was. Things had improved around the teen’s hideout since the Green Arrow had last been there at the mentor meeting. They had a high powered computer, better security, and there was new training equipment. There was even a spaceship. Connor decided not to ask where that had come from.
He sat down in one of the chairs, watching Teddy maneuver about. Then his green eyes flicked down, and the Green Arrow decided to open up a little himself. “I… had an offer to join a team yesterday.”
“Team?” That had Teddy’s interest instantly. “Which one?”
“The Avengers.”
“Dude! No way!”
Connor laughed a little. “Way. Just…” Now it was his turn to be uncertain how to word things.
Teddy’s enthusiasm dampened some as he realized Connor was having second thoughts. “You’re… not sure about giving up the Green Arrow solo gig?”
Connor thought about that, then shook his head. “No, I don’t suppose that’s all of it. There is some benefit to being responsible to one’s self, but I see a great deal more benefit to be had by joining a team that can coordinate where people are needed most. It is more that… Well… You sort of stated it earlier. You are much stronger than I am. So are many others. I expect most of your team will far surpass anything I can ever do.”
Connor paused, trying to think of the correct words for what he was truly wanting to state. Teddy found them for him. “You’re wondering if you have the right to be up there with them.”
Connor smiled in appreciation. “Yes.”
Teddy sat down as well, the green shrinking away from him. He looked like such a normal teenager now, leg up and forearm relaxed over his knee. “Heh… that’s weird, to think you would have that problem.”
“It is?” Connor looked at him with genuine curiosity.
“Yeah. I mean, you’re good at what you do, and your head’s on right, which says a lot. Sometimes I look around here and wonder what I’m doing, but…” Teddy’s brow pinched. “I don’t know what else I would do. I want to be like my dad, and I hope it’s for all the right reasons, but other times I think if he were here to see me he’d probably just be… disappointed.”
Connor wanted to immediately say that would not be the case. However, that would be an untruth, since he could not possibly know what Teddy’s father would think of him. So instead he tried to smile encouragingly. “I think you do very well.”
Teddy was frowning again, though. “’Very well’ isn’t good enough at times. I… I accidentally had someone follow me here. Super amateur mistake—I think that’s how Spidey likes to label things like that. Well, it turned out okay, but… If it hadn’t, some of the things this kid can do could have decimated us. If he had been a bad guy, I could have lost everyone!” The emotion that rose with admitting that aloud was sharp, and while Teddy kept it subdued, Connor could see it in his eyes. “This is the only family I have. I can’t… I have to do better than… that.”
Connor was quiet for a long moment. Teddy looked miserable before he got up as the water started boiling, putting his noodles into the pan. Finally Connor spoke quietly. “None of us are perfect. We’ll always make mistakes. I have made a lot… Heh. Eddie and Dad have had to pull me out of the fire more than once. This business isn’t about how perfectly you can do it—It’s just doing the right thing with what you have and know at the time. It’s a mess, truthfully.”
Teddy sighed some, leaning back against the counter with folded arms. “But my team…”
“Are alive and well. It sounds like you have gained a new member, too.”
Teddy smiled a bit, rubbing at the back of his head briefly. “Yeah. He’s a nice kid. Crazy stuff he can do, though.” He looked up, giving a short snort of a laugh. “So yeah, that whole thing of wondering if we have a right to be doing any of this with others? I totally feel like that sometimes. Speed running everywhere in a blink. Flying girls with crazy strength. My boyfriend who we have no idea the limits of what he can do—if he even really has limits. Then Blue with his wild gadgetry. Add two chics who can slice a hair from over my ear at over 200 yards, and… Yeah.”
Connor couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Teddy. What is the major thing that you asked to be taught?”
Teddy stopped suddenly, then smiled awkwardly, repeating the often said rule. “It’s not about strength.”
“Strength takes a lot of forms. And… I should thank you for reminding me of that as well.”
Teddy looked at him cluelessly for a brief second before he caught on, grinning. “So you’re going to join?”
“I think,” Connor said carefully, “That I will go and meet with them, considering it an option that may be very good to take.”
“Way cool. I’m going to eat these. Then you need to show me that step-in trip that you do.”