2014-01-13 - SDR: So Busted

The Batjet was wicked cool. At least, Adam thought so, his ride back across the country. By his estimation (and what Clint had told him about how long the older man had expected to be gone), when they arrived in Gotham, and Adam hopped onto the borrowed skycycle to get back to Brooklyn, he had time.

Probably.

He hadn't exactly told Nightwing and Red Robin that he wasn't supposed to be there. So when they all made a pit stop at the Titans Tower for a bit, Adam had bothered letting anyone know that the clock was ticking.

Besides. Clint was notoriously never on time for anything. He had time. He had plenty of time.

He unlocked the door to the apartment quietly, slipping inside, still cowled with the quiver on his back. He let the door latch nearly-silently behind himself-- just in case Clint had gotten home and promptly passed out in his bed in the loft above. He tended to do that.

Any way that Raptor looked at it, he was home free. He was back in the apartment. Everything was great. He took a couple steps in the near-darkness towards the couch.

The light flicks on, and Clint is standing there, backlit by the light of the bathroom. He looks a bit haggard and pale, like he'd been throwing up recently or had one hell of a hangover. Landing in a pool of Newt will do that to you. "Where the hell have you been?" he all but growls. His eyes take a quick catalogue of what Adam has with him. "And what are you doing with my stuff?"

"Shit." Adam quickly snatches the cowl off the top of his head, his spikes flattened and mussed by the extended wearing. "I..."

Well, damn. There was no lie Adam could think of right off the top of his head that would explain the cowl, the spare bow, the quiver, and the fact that it was mid-morning and he was just getting home.

"...was superheroing?" he says finally with a questioning lilt of the voice, flinching.

"Yeah, with my stuff," Clint says stepping out of the bathroom to check out the tape on the arrows. "Bad enough Kate gets me shot at for things I didn't do, but now you. What did you do? And who's going to be pissed?" a beat. "And what the hell are the pink arrows?" he wonders allowed. It'd been awhile since he labled those, the tape was peeling and coming off. "Some sort of gas, anyhow, what were you doing?"

"Look, the Titans wouldn't let me come unless I had my face covered. They are apparently strict about this whole secret identity thing... it was all I could grab last minute." Adam shrugs, looking at the pink arrows. "No clue. Didn't shoot one of those."

"Uh, you know. Just... stuff. Apprehending bad guys, saving the world. I don't think you have to worry about anyone coming after you for it. I think they will be more pissed at... like, Superboy and Starfire." He pauses. "Who is smoking hot, by the way. For an orange chick."

Clint pauses. “Wait? What? The Titans? How did you end up going on a mission with the Titans? they’re in San Francisco.” Then Clint face palms. “You were in San Francisco weren’t you? Who’d you go with? Supergirl?”

"Uh..." Adam rubs the back of his neck. "Well, you see..."

He stops himself. "Sure. Uh, yeah. Supergirl. It was totally Supergirl." That at least prevents him from having to explain the whole... Bat thing. Ever.

Clint scowls darkly. “I’ll see?” Clint asks as he moves over to snatch the cowl back and he holds it up for Adam to see. “Good thing you were wearing this, but seriously, so I don’t find out on CNN what were you doing? And also, why in the hell was Supergirl taking you on a Titan’s mission?” he asks and tosses the cowl on the couch as he reaches into his pocket for his Avengers ID. “I am going to send a message to her cousin, we need to have a talk.”

"Ack! Nonononono--" Adam reaches for the ID/phone. "Okay okay! It wasn't Kara." He runs a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath.

"So, remember when I was in Gotham a few weeks ago? And crashed there for the night?" He says finally. "Uh... that lab that me and D checked out? Sort of was not abandoned, like I /might/ have sort of glossed over and led you to believe. A bit."

Adam looks up at the ceiling, twiddling his thumbs. "Uh... so... this Scarecrow guy? Yeah. He's kind of a dick. And... uh... yeah, so, I met Nightwing, and we kinda kicked his ass?" Okay, gross exaggeration there.

Clint lowers the ID and then drops down on the couch. “Wow,” Clint says massaging his forhead with his thumb and pointer finger. “So, not only did you lie to me about that, you ran off, with the Bat Family to go do something you’re still not telling me about. Were the Titans really there or was that just bullshit too?”

"Yeah... they were. They found where the newt stuff was being made or something. So... I got an offer to go along in... someone's stead." Adam actually looks somewhat sorry.

"I...I'm sorry for lying to you, Clint. The Titans hit the newt distro place in Oregon. Muricorp International are the assholes making it. I was gonna tell you /as soon/ as I saw you again, but you had that secret agent thing you were doing last night, and Batw-- uh, a friend-- called me like, right after you left offering me to head out with Nightwing." He sighs.

"I mean, it was pretty cool?" he says, trying to bring the tone back to something lighter. "I got to hold my own with Nightwing and Red Robin, and Starfire, Superboy, and this hot gothy chick... and some weird ghost chick..." he trails off.

"It was pretty awesome. I've never worked with a team like that before. Even training at the Academy, I mean, Julian's always off being depressed and angry lately, and Finesse is honestly really scary, and I don't think she likes me at all... if she even has even acknowledged my presence. And that Cyber kid just wants to play video games in the sim room all the time." He looks frustrated. "I /liked/ being part of a team. It felt... right, you know?" He stares at the floor, his cheeks dark red, embarrassed and angry. "I like feeling like I can /do/ something."

Clint frowns looking up at Adam. He's still angry though he keeps it in check. "They took you to hit," he face palms again. "Yeah going to have words with the Bats I stay out of their city, they should return the favor."

Then he lets out a breath through his nose then "You're alright, right? You didn't get hurt?" he asks. The part about teams and doing something is ignored for the moment.

Adam looks to the side, his jaw setting stubbornly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Nothing even touched me. It was a pretty smooth operation. I mean, gothella got all demon-y at the end, but that's about it."

"Good," Clint says standing up again and taking the cowl with him. "Then you can put the arrows back and then get to sleep. Tomorrow you're packing boxes, and not leaving his house. I've got something to do for SHIELD, but until I get back, and probably a while after that, you're grounded."

"...grounded?" Adam sounds incredulous. He hadn't had parental supervision for years, and even then, he had never been... grounded. "Are you... serious?"

"Yeah, dead serious," Clint says as he starts towards the stairs for the loft. "What you did, was so not cool. So, yeah, you're grounded until I can be sure you're actually going to be doing what you tell me you're doing."

Adam waits until Clint disappears into the bedroom before sinking onto the couch, dropping the quiver beside the coffee table.

He sighs, pulling out his cell phone and firing off a text. A few moments later, his phone chimes with a reply. He reads it, snickers slightly, and then fires off a short reply before grabbing a blanket and flopping over, tossing the phone onto the coffee table. He's asleep before his head hits the throw pillow.