Chapter 8: Meeting The Crew

"Ugh is there a reason why we're all being called in to a meeting today? I thought we were supposed to be on lock down, or time out, or whatever." 

Wally slumped down into a chair in the living room area of the watch tower and yawned. It was rather early in the morning and while it wasn't odd for him to be up at this sort of hour, given that they were supposed to grounded and unable to carry out missions, he had gotten into the habit of sleeping in on mornings.

"I'm not sure what this is about either but I bet it has something to do with the kid we saved a while back." Chirped Robin as he poured himself a cup of juice from the fridge before making his way over to the living room as well.

"Given that it was Martian Manhunter that called this meeting and not Batman, unless he has another niece or nephew that's coming to earth, he's going to talk to us about that Nova dude."

"Gee, I wonder what gave that away, you really know how to use that brain of yours don't you." Superboy's sarcastic voice drew their attention to the stairwell where Superboy, Megan and Aqualad were making their way down to the living area as well. 

"Someone definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. That or you're definitely not a morning person." Robbin bite back before focusing on is wrist watch once more.

"Yeah what ever, pipsqueak."

"Can we please not have a quarrel right before a meeting with one of the more prominent members of the League?" Aqualad spoke up before Robin could quip back at Superboy, glaring at Robin in particular since he was more than capable of deescalating the situation if he so chose. 

"Fine, fine, we'll be on our best behavior." Robin conceded and went back to typing away on his wrist watch, Superboy and Megan sat together on the couch while speedy simply stayed slouched in the couch without a care in the world. 

Once he saw that his team was as ready as they'd ever be, Aqualad sighed in defeat before ringing up Martian Manhunter, shortly after he along with the tower figure of Nova made their way into the room. 

While everyone's attention was drawn to the two newcomers, Nova seemed to ignore them all in favor of checking out the surroundings with an inquisitive look on his face. 

"Its good to see that you're all here, I called you all here for a rather important meeting and to make some introductions. I'm sure you're all familiar with my friend here since you are the reason he's safely here with us now, and I'm pleased to let you know that he'll be staying with you all for the foreseeable future."

Martian Manhunter gentle extended his hand and tugged on Nova's hand to draw his attention over to the seated teen's 

"This is Nova J'onzz, and he's going to be hanging around the Watch tower for the foreseeable future."

The others weren't all that surprised at that announcement since they had partially already figured that was going to happen sooner or later. Still there were varying degrees of interest in Nova himself who had been looking at them in confusion.

Surprisingly the first person to say anything about the new living arrangements was Nova himself, who didn't seem to happy with the decision.

"I'm not staying with you uncle Jon?"

"No my boy, you'll be staying here with the others, You don't have to worry about anything, remember what we talked about? I'll be a simple phone call away if you need anything and you'll have my niece Megan here to help as well, right Megan?"

"Of course! I'll be more than happy to help him in anyway that I can." Megan smiled and waved towards Nova who smiled back at her.

He had already gotten to know that she was Jon's niece and maybe it was because she was also in his mind when he had regained control of his body, but he felt a closeness to her similar to the one he felt towards Jon. Megan had also grown attached to Nova in a protective big sister sort of way especially after she, under the supervision of his uncle, had had a psychic therapy session with Nova. 

Being able to feel his uncertainty and confusion first hand had helped her understand how little control Nova actually had over himself, and in a way reminded her of her younger brother when he was still a child. Not to mention how open and receptive he seemed to be towards her mental probs, something that she missed from back home but had been a problem for the other members of the team.

"Good. I brought along a few things that Batman was kind enough to get for Nova, such as a cell phone, computer, clothes, and a few other things that I'm sure will be important moving forward. I hope you all will help him navigate these things as they can be quite confusing. I should know since they gave me a hard time when I frsi came across them myself when I first arrived on earth." 

Jon used his telekinesis to float the several boxes that had been following behind him and Nova and gentle placed them down next to Megan. 

"New tech is always welcomed, should be able to get him up to speed in no time." Said Robin, eyeing one of the boxes in particular that had a rather well known electronic companies brand on the side.

"Don't worry Uncle Jon, I'll make sure that Nova feels more than welcomed here. We'll take good care of him, right everyone?"

Several half hearted sounds of agreement, along with a grunt of acknowledgement from Super boy was all that she got in return, though that was more than enough in terms of agreement as far as Megan was concerned. 

"I'm glad to hear that. It gives me a peace of mind knowing I can leave him in your capable hands. With that in mind then, I'll be leave you all to get acquainted with each other. I still have some business to attend to for the league, but I hope that you all can help Nova get acquainted with living here."

With that Jon left for the boom-tube and disappeared in a flash of light. The room was filled with awkward silence as Nova still seemed a little unsure of himself, and the other seemed just as confused as to what to do with him.

Finally as if wanting to break the uncomfortable situation, Megan floated out of her chair and turned to everyone.

"Well everyone, why don't we all introduce ourselves? That's what we did when we first all met each other and its also the polite thing to do don't you think?"

The others all looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders and rooling their eyes, though none of them rejected the idea outright. Of course the first to stand and greet Nova was Aqualad who stepped forward and offered his hand in greeting.

"I will go first, I am Kaldur'ahm and I am an Atlantean. My super hero name is Aqualad and I am the current leader of our group of young hero's."

Nova tentatively grasped Aqualad's outstretched hand, before looking up expectantly at Aqualad. For his part Aqualad seemed to realize that the concept of a 'handshake' wasn't something that Nova was familiar with and so after giving Nova's hand two solid shakes he took back his hand before sitting down once more.

The next to greet Nova was Robin who had finally put away his wrist computer.

"The names Dick Grayson but you call me Robin. Though only when I'm in uniform. I'm the brains of this whole operation so if your having trouble with tech or just need a brilliant mind to bounce ideas off of, then I'm your guy."

He too offered his hand to Nova, who grasped it and following Aqualad's example gave Robin two solid shakes before taking his hand back.

"Wally West is the name but be careful, don't want you wearing it out or anything. I'm Kid Flash while on the clock but I also go by Wally with my close friends, either works for me, and as long as your sense of humor is still there then we'll get along just fine."

Wally hadn't gotten up and instead waved at Nova from his chair, completely ignoring the several glares that were being thrown his way by the other members of the team. Several seconds went by before everyone turned towards Superboy who had been sitting on the couch with his arms still crossed and a scowl plastered across his face. 

Once he realized that everyone was looking at him he sighed before introducing himself as well.

"Conner Kent, Superboy. Just make sure you don't get in my way and we'll be best of friends."

"And you already know me, So that's everyone." Megan quickly added, not wanting Superboy's cold introduction to upset Nova.

"Well why don't you introduce yourself Nova?"

Nova nodded to Megan, paused to think for a moment, before speaking.

"My name is Nova and it seems like I'll be living with you all for the foreseeable future, so I'll be in your care. I'm not sure who I am but I've been told that in time, I should remember that. I'm also a meta-human like all of you as well so at least we have a lot in common!"

Everyone perked up after hearing Nova's last statement, with Robin being the one to ask the question on everyone's mind.

"You have powers? What sort of powers do you have?"

Nova's smile faltered a bit but he still answered with a chipper voice.

"I'm… not really sure what they are. I just know I'm a meta human because uncle Jon said they ran some test to check, but they don't know exactly what my powers are. Maybe you guys can help me figure that out. Jon said that it would help with bonding."

"It could be fun, though we'll have to figure out a way to do that. None of us really know anything about helping with the discovery of meta powers."

Wally seemed thoughtful for a moment but didn't dwell on it for too long, instead he turned to Megan and pointed to the stairwell with his eyes.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, why don't you take Nova up to the rooms and help him pick one out? I'm sure he'd appreciate some time to get accustomed to his room and all that."

"Hello Megan, Your absolutely right Wally," Megan tapped her head like she always did in imitation of her favorite sitcom, "There are so many rooms here that it can get confusing sometimes. Come on Nova, lets get you settled in, then we can hangout with the rest some more. Can you give a hand with these boxes Conner?"

Conner sighed, but in the end he still got up and lugged two of the largest boxes over his shoulder and made his way to the stairs. With a small smile on her lips, Megan flicked her hingers causing the remaining boxes to float a few feet from the ground and made her way behind Superboy, making sure to wave Nova to follow her.

Nova nodded towards Megan, turned a final time to the remaining members of the team to wave goodbye before following behind Superboy, the floating Megan and the many floating boxes that were heading up the stairs.

Once Nova and Megan were out of ear shot, Wally's genial smile faded away into a grimace of frustration.

"So is anyone else getting the feeling that we've been downgraded from hero's in training to baby sitters, or is that just me?" 

The others didn't say anything but by the looks on their faces it was quite obvious what they actually though of their current situation. 

"To be fair its not really like there was much of choice in where he was going to go. From what I managed to get out of Megan, the guy barely remembers anything about his life before waking up in the infirmary and even then its spotty at best. In a way we are responsible for saving him, only makes sense for him to stick around with us for now." 

Robin sighed as he got to his feet to stretch his stiff limbs before continuing.

"Even if we end up being his baby sitters, it'll only be for a while. Besides it might be interesting figuring out what he can do. He might even be a good addition to the team."

"He might also be a burden who's purpose is to keep us out of the fray for a while," Interjected Aqualad, a thoughtful look on his face. "The league could very well use his presence as a reason to extend our period of inaction since he would require constant supervision for a period of time."

"Isn't that a bit a stretch? I doubt that the league would do something like that." Wally objected, but his uncertainty was clear to both Robin and Aqualad.

"I don't know, its something that I could see Batman doing." Robin rubbed the back of his head as he thought about how sneaky Bruce tended to be. "Knocking out two birds with one stone. They get to keep us under lock and key, while also having someone to watch over Nova twenty-four seven." 

The three boys already bad mood lowered even more as they contemplated what would happen now, but it didn't take long for Robin to smile and chuckle to himself, drawing the attention of his two close friends.

"What's so funny?"

Robin's grin grew even wider as he turned to answer Aqualad "Well I just though that it would be quite a shame if the leagues plans were to backfire on them. There's nothing stopping us from training Nova and once he's had enough training, there'll be no real reason for them to stop us from going on missions again."

The other two boys seemed to understand Robins plans, and while Aqualad seemed skeptical of whether such a plan would work, Kid flash was on board one hundred percent. 

"You don't have to worry Kaldur'ahm. Even if things don't work out, at least it'll be fun spending time training him. It'll be something to do to keep our minds off being grounded."

Robin brushed away Aqualad's concerns, his mind already thinking of what type of training exercises he would be able to implement in Nova's training.