Manic Street
"Tara!" chimed the overzealous voice that had -- over the past few weeks – become all too familiar, "The sun says hello!"
Gruffly taking note of the young gentleman's commonly blissful voice, the aforementioned "Tara" pulled her dusty yellow bedcovers over her small, huddled body. "And I say goodbye!" the teenager groaned out in exasperation.
The door creaked open and the sound of weight shifting on the small apartment's floorboards informed the girl of all she gave way to knowing. He was standing in the doorway, firm hands on firmer hips, and a "you're being ridiculous" smile planted on his thin lips as he always was.
"You have a school to get to," Brion murmured with a tinge of amusement in his younger sister's unfailing laziness. "C'mon, I bet the Teen Titans are up way before eight o'clock."
"Wrong." The blond barely coughed out recognizably as she trudged from the soft confines of her blankets into the brisk morning air, and over to her dresser, "Teen Titans, Brion. Just like me."
Shaking his head, the young salary man sauntered into the kitchen, still yelping from his place to his less than responsible sibling. "Except they've got a duty to the city, whereas your duty is to your homework. You could really learn a thing or two from that green kid, you know; especially since you spend so much time with him…"
Tara adjusted the hem of her school uniform's skirt with her palm, flattening out the surprisingly stubborn wrinkles left from sitting among the other piles of laundry-yet-to-be-done in her bureau. "Oh, fat chance! From what Beast Boy's told me, the only difference between my friends and the Titans are their abilities. It's not like he hangs around me because I want him to or anything. It's been months, and he's convinced I'm this ex-Titan 'Terra'. I sue for copyright infringement!"
Brion turned from the kitchen counter with his car keys planted in place in his palm, and was pleasantly surprised with the image of his Tara Markov standing beside the front door on time, ready for yet another day of school. Urging her to go on ahead of him, the young man gave the comfortable home a "once-over" to see if he'd missed something necessary for the daily routine. Nothing prominent came to mind, or sight, for that matter. "Maybe he's delusional? Getting knocked out by super-powered baddies can do that to a person."
"I wouldn't go that far. It's a little sad that he can't find her, though. I just wish I knew what he was talking about sometimes, a-and sometimes I really do feel like I was there when he—" she had started almost nostalgically.
The teenage student's guardian had slammed the car door shut much louder than necessary, thus cutting off her statement. He shoved the key into ignition and sucked anxiously at his bottom lip simultaneously as the engine roared to life. Cerulean eyes tweaked with confusion were glaring intently at him, he was well aware. He wouldn't address it, though. He never did. Those situations where she claimed to have remembered were far too odd to address with a proper and complete explanation.
Though, figuring some of the trouble could stand to be put at ease, Brion turned towards the short young lady and flashed a toothy smile, closing his similarly blue eyes to enhance the comforting effect his expressions seemed to have on Tara. As he'd hoped, she swallowed roughly and subtly changed the subject as the two swerved out of the apartment complex's parking lot and onto the main road.
"I haven't ever spoken to the others, though. Sometimes they'll send someone out to pick him up when he's stayed too late with me at the library, but they never say anything. The closest I've gotten was a smile and a wave from the alien,"
"Starfire," Brion corrected her almost automatically. A mistake he commonly made when his sister touched on the subject of heroism.
She gave him a wary look and continued on, despite the slightest of slight suspicion lurking about her mind, "Yeah, her. He brought me a soda from the place across the street, but she came for him right after and he had to go. She looked at me, though, never once at Beast Boy, and she kind of smiled and waved before they took off. She looked way more…sad than she does on the paper, or in magazines."
The young man chortled good naturedly almost directly after Tara stopped speaking, brushing one shoulder with the opposite hand. "Maybe she's delusional too, huh? Might opt to get out here, Tara."
It took quite a few tics of a clock for the blond to realize what he meant and reluctantly pushed open the passenger door and leapt from her seat with a smile a wave, and couldn't help but reminisce about that strange, strange day with Beast Boy and the alien heroine called Starfire.
He would continue to hide; hide behind that ever so comforting smile, a happy wave, and he'd decided he could hide her too. Brion Markov was a simple man. What with the gently mussed scarlet hair, sky blue eyes, and the most neighborly grin anyone could ever imagine, it would be strange for anyone to even consider anything out of the ordinary involved with him. Of course, not even the closest soul to him still bound to Earth – Tara – knew that there was something off…something secret. Then again, if he had his way, she'd never need to care about the facts; about the truth.
And so, he drove off for work, waving goodbye back at the young girl, knowing full well there'd be more stories of the Titans awaiting him once he returned home that evening. Just as it always was, he marveled as he sped past the green orb of light on the traffic signal and down the same streets he'd passed each day before.
"Tara!" went two girls clad in the same uniform garb that was stretched across the pancake tone of the aforementioned girl's skin. They were just like Brion earlier in the morning, happy and excitable.
The blond had to sometimes remind herself how much she loved the sound of happy. Laughter, joyous tones…things of that sort. They weren't affected whatsoever by the plights the harsh Earth had to offer, and that was just how Tara liked it. Nothing to worry about but the impending quizzes and tests for the day, or even the day afterward, she would grin at the simplicity sometimes.
She jogged over to the two girls, Molly and Copper, grinning just as they had. "Hey. Great to see you, so, did any of you manage to study for that pop quiz everyone's been spreading rumors about?"
"Oh, yeah…" the conversation faded out as crowds upon crowds of teens in the same clothing moved past and into the school building. Shortly afterward, the bell sounded and every single student was, or should have been, in their seats and prepared to learn the lessons for the day.
Uneventful and unsurprising as usual, Tara had lamented to herself whilst a slightly amateur substitute teacher drawled on and on about the American Revolution. It would be another silent day at Murakami High, of that each student was sure. A thin finger absentmindedly entwined itself in tendrils of soft yellow, and Tara was content, if not a bit bored. Her mind prodded at the idea of what would happen today. Would Beast Boy be waiting outside the school's gates again? Would another elusive Titan stop by to pick him up when he was needed? Would they finally say something to her?
Now there was something to be anxious about, and a smile inched its way unto the young girl's round face without need for her control. Just as the teacher announced it was time to take notes, a rumble from erupted from the tile clad ground. The floor shook wildly and stopped all at once, sending each student in the room swaying in one direction, and landing a few places on the solid ground beside their seats.
"What was…?" the substitute grumbled as he picked himself up from the floor before glass was shattered and a huge hulking thing flew in and hit the wall opposite its entry.
Shards of sharp, clear solidity danced roughly through the air before making their descent to either the tile in the classroom, or some fifty feet to Jump City's sidewalk. Some students close to the window had been injured, including the teacher, and a horrified scream was elicited from almost ever girl present in the room. Even a few boys and joined in the terror, and still few had left the classroom completely.
The wall was destroyed in its entirety, and the wall the strange creature had crashed into was immensely cracked and played around with the idea of following suit and crumbling as well. Tara leapt from her chair and backed up against one of the two still solid walls, her palms suddenly sweaty and trembling as she tugged at the hem of her skirt.
Her eyes stumbled to the heap of rough, massed solidity that lay on the floor a few yards away. It was moving, alive, albeit very slightly. Some brave souls moved forward to get a closer look at the beige hulk, others cowered in fear. Just as one boy - whom Tara knew as Kyle – reached out to touch the creature, it lashed out and stood at full height, puncturing the ceiling above with its head, and creating a well sized dent in the floor below.
The thing let out an arrant cry before leaping from the Murakami school building to the open air outside its walls. All was quiet for a few moments after the creature had left, and then the statement that each Jump City citizen knew by heart was heard ominously from what one could assume to be a nearby rooftop.
"Titans, go!"
Instantaneously, every student was at the gaping hole in the wall, watching the festivities unfurl. An arsenal of green blasts was let loose upon the creature, and a few teenagers cheered Starfire on as she worked at the villain from above. Harsh grunts of exertion and the pang of metal hitting a hard surface rang through the district as the Titans' leader and second in command, Robin and Cyborg respectively, beat at the creature from the floor of the rooftops in hopes of knocking it off balance.
"Don't worry about Cinderblock," added the familiar voice of a certain green super hero, as if he were in the very same room. "They've got it covered."
Tara, among others, turned to face the opposite end of the room with hopeful, sparkling eyed joy as dark energy molded itself into the wall and a young green boy and a slightly taller, illusory looking young lady emerged onto the classroom floor.
Raven the taller, more feminine of the two, swiftly sauntered to the wreckage and shrouded the pieces of rubble and plaster in black, placing each place back into the wall as means to fix it. "Sorry about the wall. Beast Boy got a bit carried away when he charged him off the rooftop."
The boy was beside her immediately, a gentle hint of annoyance present in his features though a smile occupied his oddly hued face at the same time. "Oh, it was awesome and you know it."
"I was shaking in my boots. Happy? Now make yourself useful." The empath retorted dryly as she elevated a desk to his position with little more than a thought. "We can't leave the room like this."
"I don't even clean up my own room, and you want me to…" he grumbled, picking the piece up and putting it in proper position.
Tara nearly choked as she tried to get out a coherent sentence to say to each of the Teen Titans. She couldn't believe it, she and the rest of her class were caught in between one of the many battles Jump City's local heroes went through each and every day. And there was another one! And she was talking!
"B-Beast Boy!" she clamored eventually, though stumbled forward slightly at the same time.
Right on cue, the animal turned on his heel with a good natured smirk. "Hey Terra! Sorry we crushed your classroom."
The girl took a few more cautious steps towards the boy she'd like to think she could call a friend. "Don't uh, don't worry about it. You're just doin' your job and all…"
"Y'know you could be helping us now. Beating Cinderblock and all, I mean."
"Beast Boy," Raven scolded from a few feet away; following orders, most likely.
Garfield sighed and turned to his teammate, his emerald eyes solemn and more sunken than usual as he pleaded with the girl for answers. Raven only shook her head at him, shutting her eyes as such, and went back to her work. She'd read his mind, and sent a clear enough message that whatever he was thinking had to stop indefinitely. Even Tara could understand the situation, despite having no confirmed knowledge of any of it whatsoever.
"Rae, BB! Look out!" sounded a raspy screech. That's Cyborg, Tara's mind had answered the question just about to waltz off her lips.
The mysterious young woman's eyes snapped open and immediately all that she had supported in mid air with her mind had fallen roughly to the floor. She looked terrified for but a moment though she soon folded her legs and levitated in air, chanting whimsical words faster than she ever had before.
"Zinthos!" Raven shouted finally, and thus the entire school was engulfed in that cold, unknown black energy. An ominous thud filled the still air inside the bubble the school had been immersed in, and all was still for quite a while afterward.
"What is she..?" Tara inquired, her eyes searching Beast Boy's for an answer. She fought off fear as the sense of cold settled inside the empath's shield, her hand finding the path to Beast Boy's arm.
He coughed into his glove enshrouded hand and turned to his frightened old friend. "Waiting for the coast the clear, probably. She can sense things…maybe Cindy's still waiting for the shield to go down."
"Actually, I'm waiting to hear Robin's plan." She murmured as she repeated the phrase less and less audibly each time, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."
Beast Boy chuckled happily to himself as he could just feel the confusion emanating from the girl beside him and graciously offered her explanation. "Our job was to keep the school safe. Star, Vic…er…Cyborg, and Robin are supposed to take 'im down."
It took only a few louder thuds before both of the Titans' communicators vibrated with the same tone. It was Robin, who panted slightly as he conveyed the message to the two members of his team. "We're done here. Let's get him to the confinement cell and start the investigation. Meet you outside."
Raven exhaled heavily and the dark energy receded into her body, her head darting upward as she inhaled after all returned to its normal state. The dark haired teenager looked back to the changeling, a frown pressed firmly into her spectral gray skin. "You heard him,"
"Yeah, I know." He muttered and shuffled his boot across the classroom floor childishly. "Later, Terra." Garfield jogged into place in front of Raven, and this time they both waved, with that same melancholy smile Tara had begun to see much too much.
She'd lifted her hand to wave too, but they were gone via shadow portal in an instant. Tara frowned and allowed her hand to drop dejectedly to her side. She shouldn't have been as let down by the occurrence as she was. They were super heroes, and she was the girl that one of them had hoped were like them. She wasn't. She couldn't have been. No matter how much she wanted to be.
A/N: So, tell me what you think! I'll continue after three reviews. A little word about me, whenever I finish one project, I continue right afterward. So, since this chappie is finished and posted, I'll be working on the second one in moments. All I need are reviews to keep this up! Thanks for reading!
~ M. Rouge