The steel door slid open. First Nightwing, then Starfire, and finally Terra were thrown into the large, dark, egg shaped room.
Terra and Starfire's hands were bound with power dampening bonds; they couldn't do anything. Nightwing was simply drugged into unconsciousness.
"This ain't good. Where are the others?" Terra asked, looking around.
Starfire hung her head. "They had Dagon trapped in that little cell surrounded by beams of light, did you see?"
Terra nodded. "UV stuff, probably. The boy detective could tell us, if they hadn't wiped him out. They knew just how to hit us. Really hate all supers. It's crazy."
"There must be something we can do!" Starfire rattled her bonds in anger. "I will not be enslaved again!"
"With Bat-boy lights out, we gotta do the math on this one. Or, no, hey," Terra's eyes brightened. "Just cuz winger is in dreamland, doesn't mean we can't use his tools of the trade!"
"You're right; they thought binding us and drugging him would be enough," Starfire shook her head. "They left his utility belt. Typical mistake. Let me; I know where the traps on the belt are."
Terra smirked. "I bet!"
Starfire gave her a look, then shook her head and carefully started picking at Nightwing's belt. "You're a good team mate, Terra; but at times your words are callous."
Terra shrugged. "Sorry. You know what it's like, when nobody will give you a chance."
"Yes....it hardens the heart....ah." Starfire found the appropriate belt compartment, and removed the lockpick. But the bonds were too bulky for her to undo her own, or Terra's. "I can't do it......can you?"
"Not with my hands....I've had experience breaking out of cuffs and stuff. This ain't the same kinda cuffs, of course. And it's been a while. But even so, lift it up."
Starfire frowned. "Up?"
"Yeah, up!" Terra leaned over. Puzzled, Starfire lifted her bonds, lockpick still held in her hand. Terra bent down with her head and took the pick in her teeth.
Emerald eyes widening in understanding, Starfire let go of the pick and let Terra work. The bonds were not a simple lock mechanism, of course. They were power dampeners, and so had their own supply; the trick was for Terra to short out the bonds without getting electric feedback into her own skull.
At last there was a clunk, and the bonds came free, their dull orange flow fading. Starfire rubbed her wrists, then took the pick from Terra's mouth and worked on the earth shifter's bonds in turn.
The girls grinned, like sisters.
"Okay Star, let's light em up!"
Starbolts and rocks pummeled the cell door, and they were out....
****
Terra and Beast Boy sat on the rooftop of Titans Tower. Nightwing stood before them, and he was not alone.
Robin had returned to the Titans. Only, it was not the same Robin that Nightwing had once been; so much was obvious. The kid seemed nervous, and awkward. Nightwing, for his part, projected bone-tired weariness.
The Titans knew the general situation, if not all the details. The old Batman had gone over the side of a dam with one of his enemies, Ra’s Al Ghul. Neither body had been found, but neither had made any contact, either. Batman would certainly have made contact by now if he could have done. He was, in all likelihood, dead.
Batman, dead. The idea floored Terra more than somewhat.
Now, Dick Grayson was juggling the Batman and Nightwing identities, spending some time in each. Terra felt sorry for him; he must really be totally burned out.
Beast Boy was sympathetic too; that was plain to see in his eyes. But all the same he had to ask the question. “No disrespect to the kid, but are you making him a member?”
Nightwing shook his head wearily. “Not as such, no. He’ll train with us some, both in our simulations downstairs and by helping us out in the field now and again. Sometimes he’ll be here with me, sometimes I’ll send him to you on his own. Membership is a question that will wait a year or two, I think.”
“I’m just glad to be part of this life at all,” Robin offered nervously. “I don’t want to step on any toes. I just wish…that things had begun under better circumstances.”
“I think we all agree on that,” Nightwing said heavily.
Beast Boy stuck out his hand. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Tim,” Robin answered, shaking his hand.
“You’ll be fine,” Terra said.
“I’m sure he will be,” Nightwing agreed. “We’ll be training with him down in the simulation room later. I’m sure,” his face formed a slow grin, “That you two will find something to occupy your time until then.”
The progeny of Batman left the roof quietly.
The remaining pair of Titans paused.
"Are we that obvious?" Beast Boy said, tremendously embarrassed.
"About as obvious as him and Balloon-bod, I should think," Terra said.
"Heh, yeah I guess." Beast Boy blushed.
"Although, I will say this. I been talking to Star, and she told me some interesting things. Like when you were in Miami, and stuff."
Beast Boy flinched. "What about it?"
"Just what you were going through there. And you were part of Doom Patrol, with the freaks, like I was with the Suicide Squad."
"The Doom Patrol are family," Beast Boy said a bit defensively.
"I know, I know. What I'm saying is...I used to think you were a little too sweet, too innocent. But now I know that you know what the world is like....you've been out there, suffering and alone. You're....a lot more like me than I thought you were."
They paused for a long moment.
Then he reached out and took her hand.
*****
Terra and Dagon were wandering through the hallways of Titans Tower.
"...I would think being a vampire would be totally awesome!" Terra enthused.
Dagon stared at her, then shook his head. "You don't strike me as the Goth type."
"Nah, that's Raven, kinda."
"Not really," Dagon countered. "What do you think this is, some kind of cartoon?"
They both laughed. "I said kinda," Terra said. "And anyway, no I'm not goth. But I do like black clothes, when I'm out there playing civilian. But anyway, I would think that being a vampire was cool; all the enhanced senses and strength and stuff.”
"No cooler than Earth control powers," he countered. "And remember, I sleep in a coffin. No cable. No phone. No internet. And getting maid service is the pits." They shared another laugh, then Dagon sobered. "You know what I miss the most, though?"
"What?" Terra raised an eyebrow.
“I thought it would be sunlight. I was never a big outdoors type but I did enjoy a bright summer day. But I've gotten over that. What I really miss...is food. A nice ham sandwich. Rotisserie chicken. Even a hot cup of tea." He sighed. "Blood has its own unique taste, of course. But it's only one flavor. Always the same." He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was small. "Forever."
Terra felt sorry for him, but she was also a little worried. "Uh....you're not hungry, right?"
He shook his head. "And if I were, I'd just go into the "severe anemia" blood pack supply STAR labs provides."
"I'm sorry, fang-face," Terra said, softly.
"It's okay. Hey, why aren't you hanging out with Beast Boy?"
She wrinkled her nose. "He's out on the town with Cyborg today. I try to back off at times and let them have their space."
Dagon shook his head. "I dunno what you see in him. But I'd have thought you'd have got him by now."
"That's right," she flared up, "You don't know what I see in him." She softened again almost immediately. "Eh, sorry....I do like him a lot. As for getting him..." She grinned, showing too many teeth. "I'm working on it."
Dagon laughed again.
*****
Terra climbed out of the subway station, up the stairs, into the Philadelphia afternoon. It had been the last leg of a long train ride from New York.
“Now, Gar, tell me why we came all the way down here, and couldn’t use the T-Jet?”
“We can’t use the jet because we don’t use that for recreation, especially when it’s just one or two members. As for the other part…well, come and see.”
He led her half a block away, and through an ornate door.
Inside it was like stepping into another age. The interior was that of an ice cream parlor of almost a century previous, complete with the machinery used, the décor, stylized ceiling tiles, even the uniforms of the soda jerks and the music drifting form a speaker.
“Well?” Gar spread his hands, a big grin on his face.
Tara leaned against the doorframe and struggled to contain her annoyance. It was impressive enough in its own way, and Gar got more leeway from her than most people. So she tried not to throw it in his face. “Look, green-genes, it’s nice and all; and I can see the attention to detail. But it’s not worth that just to come all the friggin way down here. We can get ice cream back in New York.” She didn’t add that such childish delights held no interest for her; he already knew her well enough to guess that.
For a moment, his face fell, then he mastered himself. “Well, try to the food and then tell me what you think, kay?”
She shrugged. “Sure, we’re here now, after all.” And won’t get home until late, she added mentally, seething with frustration. She shook it off and read the menu; there were a number of choices, some of which she didn’t even recognize.
So finally she settled on something she knew; the banana split. Gar ordered an ice cream float; but one made from an obscure old time soda brand she’d never heard of. The soda jerk smiled and got to work, and they went to sit down.
“I don’t mean to piss all over your party, Gar,” she said in a softer tone. “It’s just...my tastes are a bit…”
“Less innocent,” he finished. “I know. One of the things I’m trying to show you is that you can have fun with that end of things, still, too.”
Tara made a noise that was not prepared to commit itself.
Their orders arrived about five minutes later. Tara paused after her first mouthful of ice cream, then lunged wolfishly for the banana. Gar gave a smug smile as he drank his float.
“Yeah…okay…I see your point, green-cheese,” Terra admitted. “Good stuff. Just one small point.”
“And that is?”
“That next time you let our fleet-footed friend handle the commute.”
Gar laughed. “Well, Dick has warned me that can upset digestion.”
“So we make a full evening of it, like you planned anyway, yah?”
“Yah,” Gar echoed her patois, smiling.
*****
The ground was lit with flame.
Colonel Aaron DeGoss had gone mad, left the army, and started collecting fanatical followers to him, giving them specialized, advanced weapons. Nightwing had speculated that he was connected to Intergang, or perhaps the HIVE.
Now it was just Beast Boy and Terra fighting him. The others were already battling his main forces.
"You children can't hurt me," he taunted, slashing at Terra with his plasma sword. "My powers are beyond you!"
"Yer kiddin, right?" She shook her head. "You're just an idiot with a sci-fi prop, and ya don't even know how ta use it!"
He lashed at her, and she slipped back, avoiding the strike. “I know more of combat than you ever will, and this is no mere prop!" He slashed at her again, again, again. She kept backing up and throwing rocks at him, which he slashed through. She finally ripped up the ground beneath him, and he responded by digging his way out with the blade.
Suddenly, Beast Boy was there, wrapping himself around DeGoss in snake form. "It's over, Napoleon," he advised. "Roll over like a good boy."
DeGoss' answer was to burn his blade into Gar. Beast Boy screamed and collapsed into human form, unconscious, a bloody gash in his side.
DeGoss smiled triumphantly and turned to face Terra. He was unprepared for the look of absolute fury on her face. She screamed in rage, and a tremendous blizzard of rock and stone hammered into him, knocking him down and away.
Even as DeGoss lay there helpless, she continued to rip rocks into him. Finally, what stayed her hand, was her memory of what had inspired her burst of rage in the first place...
Gar. Lying helpless. Bleeding.
"Raven," Terra shrieked into her communicator. "Raven, I need you now! Gar's hurt! Bad! RAVEN!!!"
*****
Terra and Cyborg slowly paced circles around each other in the STAR Lab's medical wing. Raven had done what she could to heal Gar, but he was still very weak and wounded. The STAR Labs medtechs were doing their best. His condition was stable, but it would be a while before he was up and going again.
The others had all been here, of course. But Tara and Vic were the ones who kept coming back, and were here most often. Each of them had hardly left.
There was no sound except their footfalls—the heavier ones of Cyborg, the lighter ones of Terra—on the polished floors, and the sounds of Gar's life support machine.
"You really do care about him," Cyborg said.
Terra blinked. "Um, yeah?"
"I mean....he's not just a plaything to you."
Terra bristled. "Fer cryin out loud, Vic. We ain't even done it yet!"
Vic leaned against the wall. "No? You seem the type."
"I am, but he isn't. You know that. I've been workin on him for some time. He'll come to me when he's ready...." She bit her fingernails. "If he survives."
"The Docs say he should." Vic was eyeing her, surprised by her admission.
"Yeah, I know."
"But you really....you really do care about him."
Terra grit her teeth. "Yes, Vic. I really do."
"I guess...." Cyborg hung his head. "I guess I should stop trying to get in the way then."
"Cyborg...." Terra made a frustrated noise and punched the wall. "For God's sake, rusthead. I ain't trying to mess up your friendship with him. Being your bud is part of what makes him happy. I don't wanna make him unhappy."
Vic nodded slowly. "I see......I finally think I see."
"Vic...you and I ain't friends, I know that. Probably never will be. But we're both Titans, and we both care about Gar, and.....if there's one thing I know you can agree with me about, if there's one thing our lives share in common, it's the knowledge that....none of us should have to be alone."
Cyborg stared at her a long moment, then nodded. He extended a hand. Terra shook it.
"Aww, how sweet," Beast Boy croaked painfully from the bed. "I wish I didn't have to get hurt so bad for you guys to play nice."
"Gar!" they chorused, and ran to his bedside.
*****
Kid Flash raced along, carrying Terra. They were the only ones available, and there was no time. Trident was getting away.
"Speedo, this sure beats ridin rocks. You this fast with everything?"
Kid Flash smirked, not looking at her. "If you weren't so into Beast Boy, I might worry about that remark."
"Don't forget Raven while yer speakin of significant others, fleet-feet. And yah, I like to tease. I like to play."
"I noticed." Kid Flash turned and slowed. "There he is!"
Trident was in a Mall parking lot, terrorizing the citizenry. The villain lifted his namesake weapon and pointed it at them. He fired a blast of energy at them, but Kid Flash dodged effortlessly.
"Didn't suffer enough the last time, did you?" Trident sneered.
"You stole a hundred grand, Trident," Terra said. "Wasn't that enough? Couldn’t ya take a vacation or somethin?"
"His kind is always taking," Kid Flash said. "That's why we're needed." He put Tara down and blurred towards the villain. Trident smirked and simply let Wally run into him...and right through him. Kid Flash shouted in surprise; somehow the villain had set him on fire!
As he spun to put the flames out, Terra leapt on top of a car. "Hey Trident, that's a big weapon you got there. You wouldn't be compensating for something, huh "sugar-free"? Try going after someone half your size.....like me!"
Chunks of pavement ripped themselves from the ground and flew at Trident, but he simply blasted them into ash.
"Not bad, little girl. But not good enough!" He fired at her, and she frantically jumped, as the blast ripped through the car she was standing on.
Kid Flash came in again, but even with his speed he couldn't stop Trident turning the ground to ice. He went into a skid, then slammed into a car, hurting his shoulder.
"Time for me to go, kids." Trident started firing blasts at random, setting cars on fire, endangering people, hoping to get away in the confusion.
"No," said Terra angrily. "You don't." She slammed a fist into the ground, and as the villain turned to flee he suddenly found himself encased in a fist of rock. A fist that squeezed. He flickered for a moment and shifted position slightly in the fist; Terra guessed he had been projecting the image Flash had run through. She squeezed harder.
Trident screamed.
"Oh stop being such a baby," she said, eyes flashing. "I didn't even break any of your ribs. But if you don't drop the pitchfork, I might change my mind....."
Trident looked into her eyes and saw she meant it. He dropped the weapon. A surge of the earth moved it away. As Kid Flash struggled to his feet, Terra used her powers to make an underground water main break. The water burst out in a huge gush; spreading to take out the flames.
*****
Gar had taken Tara out to the movies. He was still a little sore, but he was up and about and moving around, making a nuisance of himself, and providing his usual "commentary" to anyone who came to the Tower. The STAR medtechs estimated he'd be ready for active duty in about a week.
So they sat together in the movie theater. It was some forgettable sci-fi flick, though Tara seemed to like it. Truth be told, Gar was more interested in her than the movie.
He put a tentative arm around her, like he'd done plenty of times before. Tara was fine with it, of course. But this time she gave him a slow smile, eyes glittering, planted a gentle kiss on his neck, and laid her head on his shoulder.
Gar swallowed reflexively.
*****
At last, they came to Terra's door.
"Thanks, Beastie Boy. I had a great time." She hugged him tight, kissed him once on the cheek, and opened the door.
As she stepped inside, she turned to face him again. The sarcastic smirk was gone, her face was softer, her eyes questioning. "Gar......do you wanna come in?"
He blinked, then laughed. "Don't tease me like that, Tara."
"I'm not teasing. I mean it."
Garfield stared at her longer, realizing she was serious. He swallowed. Perhaps his green skin turned a shade paler. "Tara....you don't have to do this, you know."
"I know I don't have to. I want to. Do you?"
Gar thought about it, seriously, standing there on the doorframe. When he looked at her again, she was still staring at him.
She was bad news on wheels, he had known that for some time. Now he had reached the point where he had to decide whether he wanted to...take a ride. But that was part of why he had become her boyfriend in the first place, wasn't it? He was scared, true....but he was also excited.
She reached out with one hand, and he took it, and let her pull him inside.
*****
The next morning, Gar sat at Tara's little kitchen table, head hanging in thought, looking almost guilty.
Tara came back into the little kitchen, humming softly to herself, some sad melody Gar didn't recognize. She was still wearing that purple silk nightgown she had put on last night......his train of thought derailed into embarrassment and a sort of reluctant pleasure.
She kissed him on the top of his head and smiled at him, then wandered over to the kitchenette proper. "Coffee or tea?"
"Whatever you’re having," he said, almost reflexively.
"Tea then. Cream, sugar?"
"One cream, no sugar."
She put the kettle on. "I'd have thought you'd have more of a sweet tooth."
Several obvious wisecracks occurred to him in response to that, but after last night he couldn't bring himself to say any of them. After a long pause, he finally said, "Tara....I don't want you to think..."
"What?" she asked, looking at him.
“I just don't want you to think that I.....that I only look at you as.....as just....that."
Tara blinked, then giggled. "I know that, Beastie Boy." She sat down and put her hand on his.
Gar hung his head and blushed.
She tousled his hair. "Gar....I'm not a nice girl. Never have been. Probably never will be, not completely anyway. And I know that you don't think of me as 'just that'. I also know 'that' is one of the things you think about me. And I'm okay with you thinking it, because I am."
Gar blushed deeper and stared at her hand on his.
She giggled. "This time tomorrow, you won't feel guilty anymore."
He started to protest.
"Shhhhhh," she said. "You won't. And you shouldn't. It's okay, Gar. It's better than okay."
"Tara.....you...you were my first time."
She grinned toothily. "I know."
He buried his face in his hands. "I was that bad?"
"Nah, you were fine," she hastened to reassure him. "You were sweet." She pulled his hands away from his face and held them, smiling at him.
He sat there in stunned silence, and finally a smile slowly spread across his own face in turn.
The kettle whistled, and she went to get it.
The next day, he did feel guilty, but not by much.
The day after, he didn't feel guilty at all.
By the next week, he'd forgotten he'd ever felt that way about it.
*****
As they had done before, Tara, Kory and Donna took the night out on the town. Donna had tried to get Rachel to come with them, but without success.
Tara had originally worried about their secret identities; particularly hers. Donna and Kory had laughed this off and told her not to worry about it.
They were at a comedy club tonight, and a young female comedienne was on stage. Her patter was amusing, and all three girls laughed heartily and often.
Eventually she came to a particular joke. "There's a game I like to play when I get together with any two friends. It's called 'And then there's the tart.'" Uncertain laughter from the crowd. "You see," she went on, "In any group of three girls, there's one sweet one, one smart one....and then there's the tart!" Louder, more confident laughter this time. "Check amongst your friends," the comedienne invited. "Which one are you?"
Kory put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide. Donna laughed easily.
Tara just sat there, wearing her heavy makeup and blue eye shadow. Not to mention her low cut black spaghetti strap dress. She gave a knowing smirk, eyes half-closed.
*****
Terra and Beast Boy stepped out of the time machine. It vanished behind them in a trumpeting roar, it's blue light fading.
Cyborg and Dagon were there to greet them. Terra leaned wearily against Dagon. Gar sat down heavily.
Cyborg sat with him. "You okay, man?"
“I will be," Gar said. He sounded like all the wind had been knocked out of him. "It was.....quite an experience."
"How long.....how long were we gone?" Terra managed, stepping away from the vampire and sitting next to Beast Boy.
"What do you mean how long, it's been two days." Cyborg frowned at her.
“For us it was six weeks....six very long weeks." Terra said. Her eyes were wide, and for a moment Cyborg thought he could see more in them than there had been before.
"We saw a lot of things," Beast Boy added. "Past and future, here on Earth and many alien worlds. Even some parallel universes. It was...staggering."
"Travelling with him.....with the time traveler....it was a blast, it really was," said Terra. "But I don't think I ever wanna do anything like that again."
Beast Boy shuddered in agreement.
*****
Robin was with them in the field, which had happened couple times now; but this was the first time that he had teamed with them when Nightwing was not present. Dick was off being Batman. By a stroke of good fortune, however, Speedy had come calling from Checkmate, with a mission the team could get behind.
Terra bashed open the door of the criminal safehouse with a midsized chunk of pavement. Robin hung back, waiting as a hail of bullets whistled past. He prepared himself to jump, but Speedy still waved him back, snap-rolling into the doorframe himself and firing off a shot. He rolled away on the other side as another roar of bullets came.
Next, Dagon charged past. He walked right into the hail of bullets, grinning nastily. The enemy fire began to slack off when the criminals realized their weapons were having no effect.
Terra nodded to Robin and finally, the kid got his chance to rush in, behind the vampire. While not quite as agile as Nightwing had been at his age, he had learned a lot; lunging around Dagon’s right shoulder, he lashed out with a boot that connected with the lead criminal in the face.
By this time, Terra and Speedy had also entered, taking out the remaining muscle with arrows and rocks before they could recover from their surprise.
Speedy joined Robin in staring down at the leader.
“Mister Soze,” Speedy said with relish, “Agent Kujan of Customs sends his regards.”
“Little out of your jurisdiction, aren’t you?” Soze said from where Robin’s kick had put him. His voice sounded calm, but his eyes were like flint.
“You’ve hired metahuman mercenaries before,” Speedy countered, “Which makes you fair game.”
“But we’ve been watching you,” Robin put in, “To know when you had no metas with you. You had to slip up sooner or later.”
“I’m sure my lawyers will appreciate your admitting to unlawful surveillance,” Soze said.
“I think we’ll be leaving the courts out of this one,” Speedy answered.
As Soze went white and began spitting curses, a lifelong career of crime finally checked, Terra nodded to herself. Robin was gonna do all right.
*****
Tara was quite pleased with herself; she had just come back from another night out with Kory and Donna. She let herself into her room; really her and Gar's shared room, now. She hummed a cheerful tune to herself.
Gar was asleep, on the big green beanbag chair that served as their bed. He was snoring softly and there was a smile on his face.
Tara smiled too, and gently stroked his hair.
Not quite ready to go to bed yet, she crossed to the computer terminal Cyborg had set up for her. She wasn't much of a technophile, but she found emailing Brion quite useful.
Checking her emails, she saw an address she didn't recognize, yet clearly it was not spam. Frowning, she opened it.
She read the message twice. She sat staring at the screen, her face slowly losing its color.
Slowly and carefully she got up, turned the computer off, and turned to go back out. She looked at Gar once, considering waking him, then shook her head.
Stepping out of her room and locking the door behind her, she saw that no one was around. Rachel might be able to sense her distress, but she was probably either meditating or with Wally.
She looked back at the Tower once; face pale, eyes wet with unshed tears. She shuddered.
She almost used her powers, but she checked herself. That was one risk with her secret identity she wasn't prepared to take.
Besides, it wasn't that far. She could walk.
*****
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