1
Usually on a Saturday morning, Titans Tower was still what remained of Friday night, and noone except Starfire would be making any effort to tidy it. But this Saturday was somewhat different. There were no pizza boxes, no empty video cases. In fact, it was... clean. Raven sat coiled on the couch, lost in her usual existential reading, choosing not to acknowledge the entrance of Robin and Cyborg. If the last fortnight had been anything to go by, she already knew what they were fighting about.
"I still don't see why we need new recruits!" Cyborg shouted heatedly.
"For the last time Cyborg," Robin replied, ever calm and collected. "They are not recruits. It's an old friend from Gotham and her crew helping with the whole Slade issue. It won't be for long."
But Cyborg's attentions had switched by now. "Her? You neglected to mention before that the 'old friend' was a female."
"Believe it or not Cyborg," Raven interjected, "We do live on this planet too."
"That's not what I meant. How do you know this female?"
"We grew up together," Robin explained, growing shy and vague. "But there were... uh, differences. We haven't been in contact for a while."
"Break-up," Cyborg and Raven said flatly, in unison.
"Hardly."
As he walked away, Cyborg leaned down towards the indifferent Raven. "So, uh, who's going to tell Starfire about this chick?"
Meanwhile, over in Gotham City, a slight teenager named Teleka was trying to explain exactly the same thing to Venom and Blue Moon, her own team of teenage heroes. "It was never a break-up, because there was never anything to break," she said loudly and clearly, as though speaking to two slow-witted children. But even the veiled Blue could hear the note of sadness on her voice. Telly, as she was known for short, would never wish any harm on either of them, but sometimes she wished her friends wouldn't ask so many questions.
Teleka, as her name suggested, was strongly telekinetic and telepathic, with black hair laced with bright red. Slowly, the colour theme had spread to her clothes, throwing her into what was very much coordinated, superhero style. Blue Moon dressed in flowing silver and blue silks and layered veils and spoke with a contrasting, broad cockney accent. She could fly and move at tremendous speeds when needed, though her main power was the ability to know whether or not someone was lying. Venom was the only male member of the group, poisonous in more ways than one. Armed with fangs and toxin, on top of ruggedly good, Hispanic looks for his age, he was a dark, silent type, but with a great sense of humour.
"Nothing to break, huh?" Venom threw in. "So how come that's your best costume?" Telly merely glared at him with iced-over eyes. Even to someone as tough as Venom, that stare could be deadly if endured for too long. She didn't need superpowers to accomplish that. The truth was, her training was what had separated her from Robin. Her mistress had been his trainer's archenemy. Losing her had been like losing her shackles. Their group, the Triquetra, had only been formed then, and Teleka had never looked back at her past. Until now...
Of course, joining up with the Titans was strictly business. They shared a common enemy in Slade, a mysterious Overlord who it seemed none could reach, not even his own apprentices. So rather than have him split his efforts between the two cities, they were joining up in order to focus him in one place. Hopefully, to make him easier to catch. And yet, Teleka couldn't help thinking a personal spin-off would be a welcome addition. Had she known what was to come, who she would fight, that might have been the least of her worries.
Robin watched impatiently for their arrival from the huge front window of the Titans T-shaped headquarters. What was taking so long? He was so tense, he almost jumped a foot in the air when Beast Boy tapped him on the shoulder.
"Uh... Robin? They're not due for another two hours. Relax, eat, act normally..."
"I'd rather not."
"Oh," Beast Boy said conspiratorially. "I get it. Cyborg told me about your girlfriend... So what happened?"
"First off, she was never my girlfriend. We were just kids. Secondly, nothing."
"Right. That's why you just can't wait for her and her crew to get here." The sarcasm had been a step too far, and from one raised eyebrow, Beast Boy got the message. Drop it... "So who exactly are they?"
"The group call themselves the Triquetra. There's Blue Moon, Venom and Teleka."
Raven glanced away from her reading, suddenly interested for once. "Teleka isn't by any chance telekinetic and telepathic, is she?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I know her. From a while back. She was one of very few who found a path to Azarath. She's OK, except for the whole-" She cut off quickly, at Robin waving frantically and rapidly changed the subject. "Where's Starfire anyway?"
"Still in bed," Cyborg answered, jerking his thumb in the right direction, without even turning away from the Gamestation. "It's not like her."
"I'll wake her up," Robin offered uneasily. There was a certain danger to waking Starfire, as he had come very close to finding out the morning before. Star's alarm clock, hurled by a bolt of energy, had crashed straight through the doors of their adjacent rooms, almost taking his head off. He walked slowly out of the room and timidly pulled Star's damaged door open via the gaping hole at its centre. But Starfire wasn't sleeping. Instead she was wandering around her highly decorated room, an oasis of mess in what she otherwise kept tidy. The room was full to bursting with thousands of little trinkets from earth, from simple leaves and rocks to posters and photographs of the Titans. No surface was clear of ordinary but precious charms. On the unmade bed, Star's fabled, but completely private scrapbook lay open with new photographs sticking to its pages.
"Deciding what to put in?" Robin asked nonchalantly, running the tips of his fingers over the worn pages.
"Oh!" Starfire yelped in surprise and slammed the book shut, ignoring the glue that was seeping from between the pages onto her bed. "No, I was... um, just looking at it. So many pretty things from Earth. And many more good memories..." Her last sentence trailed off, and she turned away, arms folded across her chest.
"Can I see?" Robin chanced, already knowing the answer. Noone had ever seen past the first few pages. Clearly it had become more of a diary than a scrapbook. Star shook her head violently and slid the beaten book under the bed, wondering to herself how she would ever find it under there. "What's up? Why aren't you hanging out with the others?"
"I will, it's just that... Robin, I have never told anyone this but it will not be long before I will have to return to Tamaran. Back home. But I do not want to go. I wish to stay on Earth and learn everything. There is not enough time." One single tear slid down each cheek she choked on her words and fell back onto the bed, completely hopeless. She sat with her back against the wall and more tears began to follow the still wet tracks. "I like it here," was all she could manage to say.
"There has to be a way around that," Robin said, completely shell-shocked and sitting down beside her.
"No, there is not. Because of my age, it would be against Tamaran law for me to stay any longer. They will come for me."
"We'll find a way. You won't have to go home, Star, not if you don't want to."
Star looked up at him weakly, eyes shining like glass with tears. Starfire's whole form had the look of glass; small and lithe, and as though if you pushed her over she would shatter into a hundred pieces. "Do you promise, Robin?"
"I promise," he replied solemnly, intending to stick to his word. "Come on. Last I heard, Raven was going to kill Beast Boy for breaking her favourite gemstone."
But meanwhile, Beast Boy and Cyborg were having a rather heated conversation over the relationship between Robin and 'this Teleka chick.'
"First crush?" Beast Boy suggested.
"No, that was Pamela Islely."
"Partner in crime... fighting?
"No. What would have caused the rift? And he had Batgirl anyway."
"How do you know all this, man? Is Robin like, your specialist subject or something?"
"No, he's my best friend..."
"Oh, and I guess I'm just the joker who walked into the gang. Thanks Cy!" And so it continued, flickering between spats and brainstorms. Until of course they realized Robin and Starfire were standing at the door, looking ever so slightly confused.
"Someone else knock," Telly muttered, stepping back from the door of Titans Tower for the seventh time.
"Oh for Gotham's sake!" Venom said, storming straight up and rapping loudly on the steel plate.
"And you expect us to believe-" Blue Moon added playfully, but caught the frozen glance Teleka shot at her and backed off, raising her hands in surrender.
"No answer," Venom reported. Blue took off upwards, searching for any sign of life inside the building, eventually finding the Titans on the top floor.
"Hey!" she shouted down. "It looks just like Saturday at our place!"
"Blue, get them to let us in already," Telly snapped, shivering slightly in the winter air. Her 'best costume', as it had been called, was only held by red leather belts across her shoulders, and not exactly winter gear. Blue tapped lightly at the window, then harder and eventually attracted some attention. Waving briefly, she fluttered down again, missing the animated conversation inside.
"Well," Cyborg prompted slyly, "Aren't you going to let her in, Robin?"
"What's wrong with your mechanical legs?"
"Well, if you feel that strongly... Star, Rave, go let them in. Please?" With a nod the two hovered on down, and somehow, Beast Boy became scarce too. "So what's the deal with you and this Teleka chick? It's like you're afraid to meet her."
"Unresolved conflicts. She's got a past."
"One that used to include you? And now, it's been so long you don't know what to expect, because she could have badly changed, for the worse. Am I right?"
"Something like that, yeah." His gaze was drawn to the familiar red and black where Teleka sat on her tiny suitcase in the cold. Her outfit had changed anyway. She'd hated the old one that she'd been made to wear for so many years. Something was confusing Robin. This was one of the people in the world he had once been obligated to hate, and vice versa. And then again, there had been a time when they were inseparable. Somehow, a lot of things can change, in not a lot of time. Now, though, was strictly business and nothing more. All they had in common, so far as he knew, was a goal, and an achievable one. So that would just have to be the first priority.
The door began to swing open, and Teleka took a deep breath, not knowing what to expect, but realizing she had to be strong for her team. The one thing she expected to see least in the world was Raven. "Rae? Oh my god, is that you?"
"No, I'm Raven's evil twin," came the sarcastic reply, but this only served to make Telly surer.
"How long has it been? I had no idea you were in the dimension or I'd have called in."
"Plenty of time for all this inside, where it's warmer. This is Starfire, by the way." Star moved forward and waved happily.
"Hey, Star," Telly replied easily. "I'm Teleka and this is Venom and Blue Moon. And with the formalities done with can we please go inside? It's sub-zero out here!"
"They're on their way Robin," Cyborg reported, watching from the window. "Keep it together, man," he encouraged, placing a heavy, solid hand on his friends shoulder. –Somehow he got the impression that something about this girl was scaring him more than any villain they'd ever faced together. "You sure you don't want to tell me what's so special about this chick?"
"Positive." It was just the same second that Star and Raven led the new arrivals into the room and, just as mysteriously as he had gone, Beast Boy reappeared. "Teleka," Robin said weakly, faltering for once. "Or is it still C-?"
"Don't. I mean, no. Just Telly. What about you?"
"Same as always. I didn't change my name."
"Am I missing something here?" asked both Beast Boy and Venom in unison.
"No," Telly replied sadly. "It's history."
"So this is Titans Tower, huh? Not bad, not bad at all!" Blue Moon said cheerfully, trying desperately to change the subject. Her eye caught on the huge television screen that covered one wall and slowly rose to the top. "That is amazing. Ours isn't that size."
Starfire floated happily over beside her, bobbing slightly in the air. "I agree. It is huge, but I do not get to watch some of the interesting programs your planet has to offer. There is usually a video game being played."
"As in Gamestation? Oh well, I guess I didn't need to pack mine," Blue murmured, jerking her thumb towards her backpack. She was about to continue when she was jerked out of the air by Cyborg and Beast Boy both tearing at the pack.
"Are those the new fingerprint reading, always-remember-your-name-and-call-you-by-it controllers? How did you get these?" Cyborg exclaimed.
"They're the prototypes. I'm on the tester list. I try things like this out, evaluate them and sometimes things get put on the shelves."
"Oh, man, Cyborg. We have got to get ourselves on that list!"
"I'll see what I can do." Blue laughed. "But if that impressed you, maybe you should check this out." She pulled a game cartridge out of the bag and passed it to him nonchalantly, before returning to her conversation with Starfire.
Teleka however, was not feeling so immediately comfortable. She had lied before when she had said she didn't know Raven was here. If it weren't for Raven, she wouldn't have come. She was the only other person who knew anything of her past. Now that she was here, she wasn't so sure it had been a good idea. Because she, Robin and Raven shared a secret that they couldn't even talk about, something was terribly uncomfortable.
"So Rae, what's been happening these like, what is it, four years?"
"Well, I finally got tired of my father and left Azarath, and I ended up here. It hasn't exactly been boring, but it hasn't been anything special either." Telly merely nodded, remembering ruefully that her friend had never fully promoted conversation. Venom sauntered over in his usual confident, easy style. Raven's mouth dropped slightly open as he casually said hey and walked on to inspect Beast Boy's CD collection. With a strange look in her eyes that Telly had never seen before she followed closely, leaving Teleka on her own with Robin. The one moment she'd been dreading.
"Listen," they said in unison, after a few seconds silence.
"No, you first," Robin continued.
"Right. Robin, that night, when I was running, did you hear me?" Teleka spoke quickly and nervously, and barely paused to acknowledge Robin's nod. "Well, I said it then and I'll say it now, I'm sorry, but..."
"But she would have killed you, I know. It doesn't matter anymore. Like you said, it's history."
"Good. That's good, because I just had to get that out of the way because, y'know... I'll never forgive myself for what I did that night."
"Well, now that's out of the way. How'd you get out of it?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Her eyes slid over to the huge cinema screen and a tiny, slick smile ghosted her face. "She gave them my program. I don't believe it. It's not ready yet."
"You write Gamestation programs?" Robin asked in awe. Teleka nodded easily and walked over to inspect how her work played out.
Cyborg and Beast Boy had already started on the fighting melee game and stared open-mouthed at the choice of characters.
"Is that..."
"Us?"
"Yep. There's pretty much every superhero I could get a picture of. Arenas like Metropolis and Gotham and of course Jump City and Titans Tower."
"You made this?" they asked together, turning to Teleka as she leaned over the back of the sofa. Again Telly merely nodded in reply. She was proud of this. It had taken her years, so why shouldn't she bask in the glory?
"Telly, I know we just met," Beast Boy asked jokingly, "But would you marry me?"
"It's a decision that would need some thought. It'd help if you let me take on Cyborg." Teleka found herself pulled over onto the seat with a controller shoved in her hand. "Hope you're ready to take the fall, boy."
"Listen little lady. I am as yet unbeaten at most video games in my possession. I am the one and only master of the Gamestation."
"Then this should be very interesting," Telly replied selecting her own picture and watching it swoop on screen. Ten minutes later, both of the players were still next to full health. The rest, whether Triquetra or Titan had fallen into respectful silence, knowing it would simply be a case of who made the first mistake. Finally it came to Cyborg locked against the side of the screen, pummelling but not realizing why Teleka wasn't fighting back. Not until the pillar she had been manoeuvring around the screen was right over the projection's head. "Say goodnight," she quipped, satiated, before dropping the stone and zooming to the other side of the screen.
"G'night," murmured a shell-shocked Cyborg. "Did you just... beat me? You had to be cheating. You made the game for Gotham's sake."
"You're just a sore loser, and I've always been a winner at heart," she smirked, but her smile faded into nothing with Robin's contemptuous snort. "So much for history," she muttered, before returning to her place as champion and asking for another challenger.