The Next Generation

"Well, yeah, that's a good thing," Power Girl remarked with a small nod. "Speaking of which, I should probably go get some shut eye now. I'll see you two in the morning." With that, she disappeared in a blue and was gone to go find a room to sleep in, leaving Raven and Neal together.

Raven didn't say anything, merely continuing to sip her coffee. After a moment, she started walking around the counter straight past him. She stopped, though, before continuing on her way. Moving her eyes over to look at him, she said, "So... she seems... nice."

"Yeah we probably all should soon, good night" Neal said before Power Girl took off in order to go get some rest. It now left just Raven and Neal in the room. Neal didn't believe that he had done anything wrong, considering that he didn't know it was a date till about four hours into the whole thing, it wasn't planned at all.

As Raven walked by him and spoke Neal just glanced over at her. "Yeah she's nice" he said with a simple shrug. He wasn't really sure what else there was to say unless Raven wanted to add anything specific. "So, anything go on while we were gone?"

"Nothing interesting," Raven replied, shrugging slightly. "Just a small jewelry store robbery that Nightwing decided to help out with. Not anything that required the whole team. In any case... I'm glad you had fun." She moved past him now, walking over to the television area and turning on the news. She then sat down on the couch and watched casually. As long as Neal was happy and having a good time, she supposed it didn't matter who it was with. Sure, they hadn't exactly been getting back together right away, but a part of her had wondered if they'd be able to, after a time. She still cared for him as a friend, and she had been working towards allowing herself to open up to him again. But as it appeared, she wouldn't have to... not while Power Girl was here, anyway. And really, what kind of guy would run away from that? "I imagine you'll be getting some sleep now, so... have a good night."

"Another one? Wow, criminals must have thought that we were sleeping on the job today," Neal said with the tiniest of laughs as he thought about the coincidence of the same robbery basically taking place right after a similar one. As Raven moved away though, Neal couldn't help but look after her in wondering. Was she mad? Sad? Jealous? Annoyed? Neal loved Raven the way she was, but he did wish that she was easier to read sometimes. Neal just finally glanced at the ground when Raven said that he should go get some rest. "Yeah, you're probably right. But hey, let me know when you want to meditate again. You said we would sometime" Neal reminded her before turning to leave. "See you tomorrow Raven", he said before heading to his room to eventually fall asleep.

"Atlee! Where's my hair conditioner!" Power Girl yelled across the hall. She'd been in he middle of a shower, when suddenly she discovered that her conditioner was missing, and she didn't wash her hair before first using said conditioner. That effectively meant that she couldn't finish her shower until she had it.

Atlee poked her head out of the doorway to the room she'd been staying in. "Hmm? Oh, right, your conditioner... I think I might have borrowed that." She went back into he room and reappeared a moment later, holding up a small bottle. "Oh, here it is!"

"You mind tossing it over to me?" Power Girl was currently standing in front of the open bathroom door, wrapped in a towel and still soaking wet. She'd had to stall her shower for this, damn it!

"Come and get it," Atlee teased, sticking her tongue out.

Power Girl let out an annoyed growl and started down the hallway. "You realize I could send you to the moon with one finger right?"

"But you won't," Atlee said, confidently, while wagging the bottle playfully out in front of her. "I'm too cute and adorable."

Glowering, Power Girl just stared at Atlee for a few moments when she got into range. She then snatched the bottle from her grasp. "You're lucky that's true." Turning to head back to the bathroom, she suddenly felt something brush away from her. It was her towel, which was now clutched in Atlee's hands. By the time Power Girl realized it, she was ten steps down the hallway, stark naked.

"Atlee...." she growled, glaring back at the girl. She was lucky that they were the only ones on this floor.

Neal had woken up early that morning and done a bit of a workout. He didn't sleep a super long time last night, even after having been up till three in the morning. Perhaps his adrenaline was still telling him that he could be up and partying and having fun. Neal didn't know, but he just needed to stay up now that he was awake. After having done his workout he had decided to just take a bit of a walk around the tower, maybe say good morning to Power Girl if he ran into her.

And boy would he run into her.

Right as Neal turned the corner he was met with a site that would probably exist only in a porn movie. It took a few seconds for Neal's mind to fully register what was in front of him, now just staring for several seconds at the image in front of him. Of course, it finally clicked to him that he was being a total man right now, the kind of thing that Power Girl was complaining about last night.

"SORRY!" Neal shouted and quickly cast his hand forward. Suddenly, Power Girl would find that it appeared that she was clothed in her super hero uniform, even though she still felt completely naked.......because in truth she was. It would be the first time that Power Girl would really recognize Neal for his power of illusions as he tried to cover her up and make her decent.

Power Girl turned around as suddenly someone else approached them. Of course, it just had to be Neal. Letting out a large sigh, she brought ah and to her head closed her eyes. "Oy, figures. Well, this is going to be a great day now, I can feel it." A second later, she was gone, the bathroom door slamming shut behind her. She didn't even notice the illusion cast upon her until walking by the mirror. "Eh?" she uttered, staring back at herself. Well how had that happened? Running her hands up and along her body, she could definitely feel that there was no suit there... and yet it looked like it. Well that was weird. Had this been Neal's doing? Lifting an eyebrow to herself and giving her reflection an amused smirk, she snorted out a chuckle. "My, what a gentleman."

Back in the hallway, Atlee was barely able to contain her laughter, having to hold a hand up to her mouth to stifle herself. "Wow," she said, through a muffled fit of giggles. "That totally gets back at her for making me fight that monster in my underwear."

Neal just held his position as Power Girl turned and left, she didn't even act like she had noticed the illusion that Neal had cast upon her. OF course, if she was focused on getting away from Neal's vision. After about a minute Neal finally let go of the illusion, there wasn't much point in keeping it up now that she had locked herself back up in her room after all. Neal just shook his head and sighed. He hoped that she didn't see him as a creep, he hadn't meant to walk in at that second after all.

Neal turned his gaze to Atlee who was laughing her face off, mentioning how it was payback for Power Girl making Atlee fight that monster in her underwear. "I have to admit I'm still confused about that. Wouldn't that make it even easier for people to recognize who you were if you fought like that?"

"You'd think that," Atlee said, with a small shrug. "But when you're flying around in your underwear, people tend not to look at your face that much. Plus, it was more a lesson than anything else... she always did tell me to wear my costume under my clothes, but I didn't listen. Until after that, anyway. Then I pretty much caught on."

Atlee then glanced down at the towel she was holding, giving it a contemplative look. "Hmm, she'll probably be needing this sooner or later... oh well." She then tossed it over her shoulder back into the room. Still laughing under her breath, she closed the door and walked back out into the hallway with Neal. "So, I hear you two had a fun time last night. Out late, were we?"

"I guess that might be true, still I guess I can't fight that sort of logic", Neal admitted as he thought about how Power Girl had taught Atlee the lesson. It had all worked out in the end as Atlee now always had the suit wherever she went, so he supposed that it had all worked out in the end well enough.

Neal just watched as Atlee debated about giving the tower back to Power Girl or whether to keep it or not. She eventually kept it before questioning Neal about their night last night. "Yeah, Power Girl wanted to see the town and apparently had a lot of energy. We went to all the main landmarks, got some food, and even went dancing" he added before looking at Atlee. "I heard you got back home late as well though"

"Ohh, how nice," Atlee said with a small grin. "Took her out on a date huh? Good, she needed one... it's only been forever." When Neal shifted to her own time out last night, she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I had a great time. Beast Boy and I worked things out, in light of the... incident yesterday. But he's really pretty cool when you get to know him, and he's a lot of fun. Funny, too. I don't think he liked it when I heckled the comedian, though... but after they threw us out, he took me to see the Statue of Liberty, then we walked around Central Park for a while, just talking... it was really great."

She smiled absently to herself, reminiscing about the previous night. After a moment, she came back to reality and gave Neal a pat on the back, as they headed down to get breakfast. "Just make sure you watch your back with Power Girl, though. I hear the last guy who got under the covers with her couldn't sit for a week." She paused a moment, allowing Neal to react to the comment... considering it certainly could have had quite disturbing insinuations. After letting him sweat for a minute, though, she burst out laughing. "I'm totally kidding, by the way."

"Yeah I guess I sorta did, we didn't really clarify that until about three or four hours into it though" Neal had to admit with a laugh as he scratched the back of his head. It had been a date even if the two of them didn't really decide that until far later. Still, Atlee was still talking and Neal focused his attention back towards her. "You got kicked out? Geez, what did you say? Ya know what never mind. I can already imagine" Neal said before hearing about Beast Boy. "Yeah, he's a good guy. I've known him for a while and this is the first time I've even seen him get upset to this level. He's just normally a really cool level headed guy" Neal admitted.

At what Atlee said next Neal had nothing to respond to. All he could do was glance down towards his groin, giving a shudder of pain as he already could imagine what might happen. It was only at that point that Atlee interrupted and said that she was kidding. "You're mean you know that?" Neal said in a joking voice as to not offend Atlee. "Besides, I don't think we're anywhere near that level. We didn't even hug or kiss or anything, it was kinda a date just to have fun I think"

"Ah well, I'm sure you'll get there eventually," Atlee said with a small shrug, still grinning in triumph over her amazing verbal prank. The look on his face had been priceless! "Because you know, a date isn't the only thing she's gone three years without. Though, there is that thing she keeps in her sock drawer... whoops, I don't think I should have told you that. Eheheh..." Clearing her throat, she hurried on ahead into the kitchen, where Cyborg was in the middle of cooking up breakfast for everyone.

"Morning everyone," Cyborg greets, wearing a chef's hat on his head. "Hope you all like your eggs sunny side up."

"I'll eat them whatever side up you got," Atlee declared. "I'm starving."

Neal raised an eyebrow and looked over at Atlee as she seemed certain that Neal would get further with Power Girl. Neal had no idea why that was, but of course Atlee generously provided the answer for it by merely speaking up about her own thoughts. By hearing it Neal felt his stomach tighten again right before they walked into the kitchen.

Upon hearing Cyborg talking about eggs Neal just walked forward and take a seat. "I'll take an extra helping today. I think that I'm going to need it at the rate I'm going"

"It'll be ready shortly," Cyborg announced, tipping his cap and continuing to cook up the eggs he was preparing. He was also working on some bacon, hash, and sausage. It would definitely be an exquisite breakfast. Then again, most of Cyborg's breakfasts were like that.

Beast Boy entered into the room a short while later, giving an extra hardy hello to Atlee and sitting next to her. "Well hello there, and how are we this morning?"

Atlee giggled quietly to herself and smiled at him. "I'm doing fabulous this morning, thank you."

"So I was thinking," Beast Boy added, sitting up straighter, "maybe we can go see the museum today. It's a pretty interesting place if you've never been before."

"I think I'd like that very much," Atlee responded, with a nod. "But not until after breakfast. It smells simply amazing."

"Hey Cy, you go my pancakes ready?" Beast Boy asked, looking at the cook.

"Yeah, yeah," Cyborg said, giving him a little wave. "No animal products for you, I know."

Atlee gave Beast Boy a curious look. "You're a vegetarian?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy explained. "It's kind of difficult to eat anything with a face when you've worn most of those faces."

"Oh... I guess that does actually make a lot of sense," Atlee replied, with an understanding nod.

Nightwing entered into the kitchen area a few moments later, giving everyone a wave of greeting and then sitting down to read the newspaper. Raven was the next to arrive, heading straight over to the counter to put on some tea. Cyborg always forgot to make the tea. Of course, that was probably because she never reminded him to make it, but that wasn't the point.

And lastly, Power Girl arrived, dressed in a rather tight pair of jeans, which rode a little low around her hips, and a midriff exposing T-shirt. "Good morning all," she announced with a warm smile. Walking over to the others, she glanced around for a seat, but since they were all taken at the moment, she decided to plop herself straight down on Neal's lap. "Something smells good."

Neal just sat at his spot for a while as everyone continued to come in. He briefly overheard the conversation between Beast Boy and Atlee. Neal knew that he had told Beast Boy to give things a try for a while, but it seemed like he was definitely taking it to heart here. Now they were going to go to the museum after having just spent most of the day together yesterday? If Neal didn't know any better, he'd almost say that something else was going on. Perhaps he really was just trying to be nice though, to apologize for how he acted yesterday.

Neal gave a small wave to Power Girl as she entered before turning back to the country. And of course only a moment later Power Girl took that as an invitation for her to prop herself right onto his lap instead of asking him to move. Well, he definitely hadn't expected that this morning. He didn't push her off though, just glancing up at her. "Good morning to you too", he said with a small laugh. He wasn't sure what else to say in that situation after all, plus it wasn't like he minded.

The others just sort of... stared, for a while. It wasn't like any of them had expected Power Girl to sit in Neal's lap, after all. Of course, it wasn't like it was a big deal, but still, a lot of men would have paid both their arms to be in his position right now. Power Girl didn't pay them any attention, though, merely leaning forward on the counter and blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. She did, however, shift her rear end around a little, trying to find the most comfortable position.

"Lucky bastard," Cyborg mused, whispering to himself. "How does he do it?"

Nightwing reacted probably the least, merely glancing up for a few seconds from his newspaper, then back down at it. It wasn't any of his business anyway. Beast Boy blinked a little in surprise, then gave a questioning look to Atlee, who merely shrugged. Raven, on the other hand, immediately went back about working on her tea. She didn't mind them doing... things together, but did they have to be so open in front of everyone at the breakfast table? Of course, it wasn't like they'd actually done anything together, but she could still feel it deep down that it was only inevitable. But why should she care? It wasn't like jealousy was an emotion that she felt. Certainly not.

A short while later, Cyborg started passing out breakfast and filling people's plates. "Alright everyone, eat up and enjoy."

"Thank you, good sir," Power Girl remarked, and an appreciative salute. She then pulled her plate over to herself and dug right in.

Neal also had to just stare for a moment. It wasn't like it was a huge deal, but Power Girl had done it so out of nowhere that Neal wasn't even able to mentally prepare himself for what had happened. It came just too fast! of course the fact that she was moving her butt around in order to find a more comfortable position against Neal certainly did NOT help the situation! He just stood perfectly still, trying to not act completely uncomfortable in this position.

As food was finally ready Neal got passed a plate but had to eat around Power Girl since she was sitting right in front of him. It wasn't that difficult thankfully, it wasn't like he was eating soup or anything like that. Still, it was a little bit strange to do but he tried to make it seem like not a big deal. "So, anyone have any big plans today?" Neal asked curiously to try to get some conversation going.

"Business as usual," Nightwing responded. "Wait for alerts and get some training in. Speaking of which, you will have your communicator with you when you go to the museum, right Beast Boy? In case something comes up and we need you."

"Sure, sure," Beast Boy replied, giving a small wave. "You worry too much."

Power Girl sat up a little straighter, taking a sip of orange juice before adding to the conversation. "In regards to training, I don't suppose you guys have a gym around here? Mybe a room I can get a little practice in, too?"

"Well, the gym's on the fourth floor," Cyborg explained. "We got a combat training room right below it, ideal for getting some more intense practice if that's what you're looking for."

"Oh, that does sound rather intriguing," Power Girl said, holding a finger to her chin. "Say Neal, how about we get some training in together? I really need to stretch my legs out after last night. A little sparring would help out a lot with that. But don't worry, I promise I'll go easy." She grinned back at him, giving his cheek a playful pat.

Neal glanced up as Power Girl asked about possible training today. Cyborg beat Neal to the punch, going over the specifics about where the training rooms were and was available for them to look into. It was than that Power Girl spoke to Neal, saying that they should get some training in, even giving him a cute pat on the cheek.

What was she nuts? She was a Kryptonian! She was going to destroy Neal if she was even going at half power! Who would be foolish enough to accept a challenge like that!? "Yeah, that sounds fun. Sure thing. Just try not to break my rib cage please" Neal said before taking another bite of his food.

"Oh don't worry about that," Power Girl insisted. "Like I said, I'll go easy. I'm more interested in learning what you can do, not beating you into a pulp. Which I could probably do with one finger. But I won't." She chuckled again, then finished up the rest of her meal. When she was done, she hopped off Neal's lap. "I'll meet you at the combat room in a few minutes, I just want to take a quick run on the treadmill." Of course, a quick run for her meant about five hundred miles, which she really could do in a few minutes.

"By the way," she added, glancing back at him over her shoulder with an amused grin. "Do you always get that excited at breakfast, or was this just a special occasion?" And on that note, she was gone.

Atlee immediately entered into a fit of giggles, holding a hand over her mouth. "Well, I think that's our cue to get going."

"I'd say so," Beast Boy remarked, also trying to hold back his laughter, as the two got up from the table.

Raven took one final sip from her tea before setting the cup down. "I'll be in my room..." she muttered, disappearing into a portal.

Cyborg watched as the room had suddenly got more empty and then merely shrugged with a smirk. "Hey man, no one could blame you."

"Oh you are so kind, thanks" Neal said with a bit of a joking tone as Power Girl talked about how she could easily take him out. It was true, the League taught Neal how to fight quite a few people but they hadn't really covered Kryptonians in their lessons now did they? "Alright, I'll make sure to meet you there in a few once I'm done here" Neal said before eating the last bites of his food.

Of course, at Power Girl's next question Neal nearly began choking on a piece of toast as she said it. Of course she had felt something going on. She probably had extra sensitive skin to notice such things. Than again, perhaps it was just a lot more obvious than Neal wanted it to be.

By the time that everyone was gone with the exception of Cyborg, Neal's head was on the table and he just shook it. "Why did she have to say that man", he asked rhetorically before pushing himself up. "Whatever.....guess I'll be in the combat room if you need me" Neal said before giving Cyborg a small salute and heading off. "Thanks for the food again" Neal called back as he walked.

A few minutes later and Neal entered into the combat room, looking around for Power Girl wherever she might be.

Power Girl arrived in the combat room several minutes later, dressed in her full costume. She had to admit, this place definitely looked like it could take a beating. The walls appeared to be made out of reinforced steel alloy... or perhaps a stronger material altogether. She imaged that, if she really wanted to, she could go all out in here without worrying about damaging the tower. Of course, she wouldn't quite be going all out by any means, or she'd end up tearing poor Neal apart like butter.

"This is quite some place," Power Girl said, placing her hands on her hips and gazing around for a few seconds. She then walked out towards the middle of the room and cracked her knuckles. "Alright, time to see what you can do. I'll limit my physical attributes to peak human, which is about what you should be at. It'll be a bit more even that way. Just be careful about how you hit me... bullets do bounce off me, after all. Sure, some parts are... softer than others," she glanced down at her chest briefly as she said this, "but it'll still hurt if you're not careful."

"Yeah, it's a pretty advanced place that we got" Neal admitted as he looked around the room. He remembered that they had come down their in the first week of being a Titan. Neal had fought Beast Boy, while Starfire had battled with Sarah. Neal and Sarah had never been so sore before, they didn't even realize it was possible to be that sore in areas like that! Neal almost gave a small shudder as he thought back to when Beast Boy had turned into a gorilla and thrown him against the wall.

"I'll try to keep that in mind" Neal said as he gained his usual fighting stance that the League had taught him how to fight in. Power Girl was the better fighter, there was no question of that. Neal was going to have use what Deathstroke began to taught him, trying to learn to read his opponent's movements. Neal had never completed the training fully, but he had still learned quite a bit. Hopefully it would help him here.

For the moment he waited, trying to see how Power Girl was going to react first.

Limiting herself to peak human also meant using no powers. That meant no flight, no heat vision, no freezing breath, or anything like that in her arsenal. No, she'd be going about this the old fashioned way. As he took his fighting stance, Power Girl advanced on him, going no faster than a top physical human being would be able to. She was still fast, though, lightning fast by human standards. Neal would be used to that level, though, after spending so much time experiencing it first hand with Lady Shiva. The results of their spar would probably be quite the same as when he fought with Shiva, after he'd reached her level. Granted, no matter how many times he hit Power Girl, he wouldn't actually do any damage, but she would be sure to limit the strength of her blows enough to compensate, so that she didn't actually cause any lasting damage.