Tim Drake-Wayne (tjdrake_wayne) wrote in somerealityrpg, @ 2020-04-07 12:22:00 |
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So far, they’d walked through the main offices, through the finance and personnel (boring) and were heading down through the pharmaceutical level. Tim was saving R&D for last, as it was his favourite place in the entire building and where he spent his time when he wasn’t busy doing other CEO stuff. The basement levels had come across too, which he’d take Torunn down to eventually as well, where the labs were that he’d be working on his suit and anything Jason wanted. It was only a small part of the budget that was redirected towards ‘experimental tech’ and a lot of the things they learned from building their own weapons and working on cures to Ivy’s poisons and Joker gas were then migrated upstairs to other parts of the business where they were used to help the people of Gotham. Now, the people of Goodland.
Pressing his thumb against the door and letting it scan his print, Tim let Torunn - who had her ID around her neck marking her as a Visitor - into the floor where there were separated labs with glass walls, inside each were people working in suits or looking into microscopes, all focusing on different things.
“Here’s where we work on medicines,” Tim said, “it’s only a smaller floor as back in my home there’s an entire building that helps process all the things we learn from our research teams here. These people are working on trying to find out how to undo a poison that gets spread by one of the bad guys in Gotham City.”
The fancy technology reminded Torunn of her foster dad’s lab back in her reality. Sure, some of the tour was boring, but Torunn was mostly enthralled by the cool building Tim owned. He was barely older than her, but obviously was a lot more interesting than he’d let on. She knew she sensed something more to Tim the day they met in Disney.
“You had bad guys too, huh? Guess they are everywhere.” She shook her head. “Were they just trying to destroy Gotham City or did they want the world like Ultron?”
“Bad guys are everywhere,” Tim agreed with a nod of his head and a heavy sigh. “But it’s okay, there’s people out there who are trying to stop them everywhere too. Like you and your dad.” He went past a lab with people inside who ducked as the table exploded in a shower of brightly coloured powder. Tim frowned and pressed his fingers to the intercom. “You guys okay?”
“Y-yeah, Mr Wayne,” came the reply from inside. “Wasn’t expecting that to happen. Pretty sure we won’t be using that compound with the actual toxin.”
“See that you don’t,” he said, glancing at Torunn and chuckling. “See? Even people who went to school for year and years get it wrong sometimes.”
He tapped on the glass and led on. “But to answer your question, mostly the bad guys in Gotham just want to destroy Gotham City. Or to take over it and run it. Or to be the King of all the bad guys. Other bad guys in my world want to destroy the world. But there’s a special team of people that handle those ones.”
“I grew up hearing what a threat Ultron was,” Torunn explained. “It is easy to forget the bad guys don’t all fit in one bubble.” It would certainly be easier to defeat them if they all had the same end goals. She was too young to be thinking about bad guys with such seriousness, but she came from a rough world. “My brothers and I were training to defeat him our whole lives. I don’t think my foster dad wanted it, but we didn’t have a choice.” She shrugged. She didn’t feel sorry for herself; she just found it hard finding a place in Goodland considering her upbringing. “Tim? This is all really impressive, but are you okay running all this by yourself?” It seemed...well, she was loath to use the word “unfair” since life wasn’t exactly fair, but lonely. Yeah. That was the word. Lonely.
Tim tilted his head at the question from Torunn, like it was the first time anyone has asked him. And, really, it was. The assumption had always just been there that he’d run the company if anything happened to Bruce. He’d shadow run it after Bruce had died, even when they had a public face. When Ra’s came after it, it only made sense to activate the failsafe. It was what had been expected of him, just like he was expected to pick up and carry on after two of his ‘brothers’ had tried to kill him, after his dad died, after Steph died. After Conner and Bart died. After Bruce died. After Dick just told him one day that he’d given Robin to Damian because Damian ‘needed it’ and he needed to ‘go and find out who he was somewhere else’.
For a long moment it looked like he didn’t quite understand the question
“Uh- I- yeah. I mean, I’ve been doing it since I was fourteen and a half.”
Her age. They both grew up fast, albeit in different ways. “How did it happen?” She regretted the question almost immediately. It was rude, wasn’t it? “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to,” she added.
“How did what happen?” Tim asked, “me looking after the company?”
“Hmmm.” She couldn’t exactly take back what she asked so she repeated, “If you want to tell me.” However, she really was interested in how someone her age came to run such a major company.
“My dad died.” It was said simply, and Tim was proud of the way his voice didn’t even catch when he said it. Bruce had been a father to him for years before he was officially adopted. To lose him so soon after just felt like a kick in the balls. “We had someone else who was being the face of the company so no one worried about it, but he was really bad at it, so I just did it in the background. Then, a little while ago, the paperwork was all filed to transfer it into my name officially meaning that I run it as Tim Wayne, not through someone else.”
“You must be really smart,” Torunn replied. “I’m sorry about your dad.” The words weren’t enough; she knew that from her siblings. Still, what did one say to something like that? She reached out to pat his arm. “I bet he’d be really proud of you! I mean, look at all this.” She gestured around. “I am really glad you asked me to visit, Tim.”
“I’m average smart,” Tim said, covering her hand briefly with his when she reached out to comfort him. He appreciated it, even if it had been unexpected. “Thanks Torunn. I like to think I’m doing the right thing, what he would have done.”
He paused, “I’m glad you came today, but I’m really interested to talk to you about my idea. If you still wanna hear it?” He tipped his head. “Still curious?”
“Totally,” Torunn said quickly. She wouldn’t push him to talk about any more unpleasantness unless he wanted. “What’s up?”
Tim pushed open the door to a conference room and ushered her inside, just so that they had some privacy. He lifted his arm and tapped on the watch on his wrist, which caused a green display to hover in the air above it, like a hologram. He flicked through a few images and brushed his finger through one and the light in the camera in the room flickered once and then went back to the steady red light.
“Privacy,” he told her, perching on the table and waving a hand that she could sit anywhere. Next to him if she wanted, or on one of the fancy office chairs. “Well, so remember when you asked me if I was normal and I said I could fight but that was it? Well… that’s not technically true. I’m a really good fighter. Still just human, but I was trained by some of the best people in my world.
“And at home, I’m part of a team. It’s filled with special people who are my age who have powers and want to do good things with them. We train together, and we go on missions together, we do stuff like heroes and we’re sort of a bit of a family. It doesn’t replace anyone’s real family, but we’re, I guess, like brothers and sisters?
“Here, I think some of us need something like that. Some avenue of working as a team and using our skills, or powers, for good things. Training for anything that might happen. Then, if something bad happens, we’ve got practised moves that we can use to work together to help the grown ups. Or to do things on our own to help the people that can’t protect themselves.”
If she hadn’t been raised by Tony Stark, she might have been shocked by the level of technology displayed in that one moment alone. She, instead, was pleased her hunch about there being more to the story was correct. “That sounds really amazing actually.” But why was he telling her? Could he possibly want her on such a team in Goodland? She let out a little laugh. “I hope you are not telling me this just to get my hopes up,” she added.
“Why would I be saying that just to get your hopes up?” Tim asked, “That’d be really mean.” And he wasn’t like that, sometimes he said the wrong thing but he never went out of his way to be cruel to anyone. “You’re stuck going to school and then doing your homework after, right? And then… you’re not using your powers, you’re not getting to train or work on your abilities or learn new things. Joining my team would mean you’d get to do that, and also do good things if something bad does happen here. And a team of your own.”
Torunn thought of James. He probably wouldn’t like the idea. He’d been protective of her when the villains ascended on Goodland. Still. There was no danger in training, was there? And a team...she’d love to belong somewhere again. “I’d love it! Tim, thank you so much for this.”
“You’re very welcome, Torunn,” he said with a nod of his head. “After all, we kids have gotta watch out for each other.” And they were usually the ones underestimated when something went wrong. But the ones who truly had gifts, who could truly make a difference, those needed something to do so they didn’t end up feeling bitter or like they were of no use to anyone. “Now I’ve got my company, I can start getting us set up with our very own base.”
“Who else is on this team?” she asked. She wondered if she knew any of them. She wasn’t particularly close to anyone outside her family (and Tia) so chances were slim.
“Well, you’ll get to meet them once I get our base set up,” Tim said, “but there’s my friends Cassie and Conner, and I’ve got Harley - you know Harley, right? - he’s gonna be our comms guy. I don’t know many people yet, so we can definitely add more as we learn about others that might be a good fit.”
Harley was a surprise, but Torunn merely nodded. She didn’t know him well, but she’d done the Hidden Mickey challenge with Peter. She couldn’t help wondering how her former foster dad would feel about that one. Well, none of her business. “ What sort of skills do you look for besides strong fighters? And powers obviously.”
“People who can work well as a team and take orders. Who aren’t interested in being a hero on their own terms but understand how important it is to trust your team and work with them rather than against them.” Tim’s shoulder lifted. “And no grown ups. That’s an important one. We might let them help us, and we’ll help them, but this isn’t a team for grown ups. They’ve got their own ones. Doesn’t mean it has to be a secret, though.”
Torunn thought about the team James mentioned they became in their reality. It sounded similar. Well, if she could do it there, she could do it here, right? “I’ll keep my eye out,” Torunn promised. “So once we’re more...settled, I guess, I can tell my brother and dad?” She thought James would take it hard if she didn’t tell him. She wasn’t sure about Thor, but she didn’t want to strain that relationship either.
“Of course you can,” Tim said, “since a lot of people here don’t seem to have a secret identity I think it’s okay if you want to tell them you’re on a team. We’re not doing anything dangerous and it’ll be safer if we get involved in any conflict because we’re working as a team instead of being on our own.”
The teen girl inside Torunn wanted to screech with happiness, but the more mature side won out. “Tim, I am really excited about this.”
Tim just grinned at her, suddenly looking boyish, like the teenager he was rather than the person he’d often been forced to be by circumstance. “Me too, Torunn. C’mon, let’s finish the tour and then go get something to eat. I’m starving.”