I do not own the Teen Titans
Prologue
"We're finally here!"
The tall redhead flung herself out of the small car before her dark haired companion could even turn off the engine. Kory stared up at the modest red brick building, her gaze following the zig-zag of the rusty stairs up the structure and beyond it into the drizzly Gotham afternoon sky. Rachel emerged from the car, knees cracking from being seated for so long, and pulled up the hood on her zip up to avoid the worsening weather. Kory seemed not to take notice of the rain, too enchanted with their new home. Rachel walked up next to Kory, not nearly as enthralled about their new domain. She had been driving for two hours, her sneakers were getting wet and all she wanted was a hot cup of chamomile tea and a nap.
"We should proba–" Cut off abruptly, Kory scooped Rachel into a bone crushing hug, unaware of her friends muted protests. She rubbed her cheek affectionately against her friends paling one.
"Oh Rachel, I am so excited! After all these years we finally have our own apartment! This will be the best year ever, we can have adventures, meet boys, work at amazing jobs, eat at fancy restaurants –"
"Kory! Y-you're suffocating me!" Rachel managed to spit out, feeling like a small mouse in the anaconda grip that was Kory's hug. She had become somewhat accustomed to her taller friends affectionately aggressive tendencies over the years, but she had the feeling that sometimes Kory wasn't even aware of her own strength.
After realizing she was squeezing the life out of her petite companion, Kory gently let her down, apologies falling out of her mouth faster than Rachel could process them.
Bent over and catching her breath, Rachel looked up at her naive friend, "It's alright Kor, but let's get inside before it starts hailing."
As if on cue, Kory looked up at the sky, noticing the precipitation for the first time and shuddered. She quickly pulled up her hood and ducked back toward Rachels car, grabbing her purse from the passenger seat and swiftly swinging it over her shoulders. Rachel had found an umbrella in the backseat and the two quickly shielded themselves from the rain and ran inside.
"I think we'll have to get our boxes from the car later today when it stops raining." Rachel muttered once the two were on the elevator, looking down at her phone to check her weather app, showing unpleasant results.
"I hope it's not rainy all week, this humidity does nothing for my hair." It had already begun to re-curl from the rain, undoing the hours of straightening Kory had spent the night before. She pouted as she took a curly strand between her fingers. Rachel rolled her eyes. Petty problems.
"Well, we picked an awful week to move in then." Rachel muttered, showing the forecast on the small screen to her taller friend. Kory sighed in exasperation and attempted to assuage her frizzing hair. She was going to have to buy more product if she wanted to survive the week without looking like a crazy red lion. It was not a good look.
The elevator dinged loudly, signifying their arrival on the third floor. The two young women exited the elevator and walked down to their apartment at the end of the hallway.
"God damnit," Rachel muttered as she dug around in her black leather purse, "I forgot the keys in the car." She dug her thumb and forefinger into her forehead, attempting to combat the oncoming headache. Sensing her distress, Kory grabbed the car keys from her grip.
"Don't worry! I'll go out and get them."
Pulling up her hood once again as she exited the elevator, Kory mentally prepared herself to dash back out into the now pouring rain. Why had she volunteered to grab the keys again?
As she pushed out of the glass door, a large bolt of lightning struck off in the distance. Out of habit she started to count down the seconds until the crack of thunder occurred. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, 4 Mississippi... It was a technique her father had taught her so assuage her childhood fear of thunder. "However long it takes for the lightning to strike, the farther it is away from you," He had told her, giving her five year old self a sense of security. But now as a full grown woman, she wasn't scared of some petty storm anymore. Well okay, maybe they still put her a little on edge.
Shaking out of her reverie, Kory strode to the small automobile, unlocked it and opened the drivers door to bend over the seat and search for the keys.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Kory saw two black silhouettes moving gracefully against the skyline. Nearly giving herself whiplash with a double take, she stared off into the darkening horizon, searching through the rain for the figures that had disappeared mere seconds ago. A large bolt of lightning struck where they once were, and Kory yelped, caught of guard by the sudden blinding light. She exhaled deeply, denying it as merely figments of her jumpy imagination, and returned to her search. Finding the keys in the middle compartment, she gripped them tightly and darted back into the building, locking the car behind her back.
She had heard rumors of Gotham and its mysterious vigilantes who roamed the night, hunting down the powerful and evil that threatened the city. They were rumors of course, no one that she knew of had actually ever seen such persons. They were merely urban legends that made the citizens of Gotham feel more secure in their crime ridden city. Spending so much time with Rachel had turned her into a skeptic, but she momentarily let the thought drift through her mind that maybe there were individuals who fought for justice and were always watching over. Watching over Kory and her new city.
The only other time Kory had ever been this terrified had been... well now that she thought of it, this was the most terrifying experience of her life. Today was her first day on the job at Wayne Enterprises. She had been more than surprised when they called a week after her interview, telling her that she had gotten the job in the International Relations department and started promptly at the end of August. After receiving the good news, she and Rachel had celebrated by buying sugary pastries from the small bakery down two blocks and getting drunk off of boxed wine and dancing around their new apartment. Well, Kory did most of the dancing.
But her current flood of emotions was of a completely different species than that of that night. Sure she had held many other jobs before, but this was Wayne Enterprises. The most affluent business in New York, maybe in the entire country. And if you could make it there, you could make it anywhere your heart desired.
She took a deep breath, and gazed up at the giant steel skyscraper in front of her. The glass facade glimmered back at her. After another calming breath and she pushed through the rotating doors.
The lobby was a lavish open space, consisting of black leather couches and marble coffee tables with real orchids blooming out of vases, where people in expensive business attire sat on their phones or made small talk with their colleagues. Past two large security desks was a large marbled staircase with detailed black wood banisters, leading up to a small foyer with stainless steel elevators.
Even though it was the second time she had been through the lobby, it still managed to leave Kory in awe. Realizing it was probably didn't leave the best impression to just gawk, she continued to walk towards the security desk.
"Hello ma'am, how can I assist ya?" An attractive, man looked up from his papers, his smile that bloomed was almost blindingly white against his deep complexion. A wave of relief washed over her at his friendliness.
"Hi, I'm Kory Anders and was told I would receive my... scanner-thingy here?"
"Your badge?" he laughed at her odd choice in words. Her face flushed involuntary. How was she supposed to do well on her first day when she couldn't even speak properly? After a moment of digging through a drawer, he pulled out a small white ID card with her name and department printed on it, and set it on the counter for her to grab. "Don't worry about it, scanner-thingy sounds way cooler than badge."
Kory grabbed the card swiftly, her blush growing deeper.
"Just scan it to get on the elevator, and you'll be able to get to your floor."
"Thank you for your help, uh..." Her eyes momentarily flicked downward to his name badge "Victor."
"No problem Miss Anders." He flashed her another award winning smile as she turned away, her heels clicking on the stone ground. Victor watched her slender form glide up the staircase until his thoughts were interrupted by the guard across from him snickering. Making sure no one was looking, he flashed his companion an obscene gesture, muttering, "As if you weren't looking either."
Oblivious the the male bickering below her, Kory pressed the call button for the elevator. As the doors slid open, a man who she hadn't noticed standing next to her before, held the doors so she could walk in first before sliding in after her. She uttered a thanks, and shot a friendly smile in his direction. Once both inside the elevator she, discreetly as possible, turned her attention to the man occupying the small space with her. He was a young, somewhere around Kory's age, with dark tousled hair and electric blue eyes that were focused on the screen of his phone. With a quick sweep over his lean figure, she realized how clean cut he looked. Dressed in expensive looking slacks and a white dress shirt with the first two buttons undone, leaving a subtle patch of his tan chest visible. Kory shyly tucked her long hair behind her ears and promptly tore her gaze away from him and pretended to not be thinking about how attractive he was. It wasn't working very well.
"Your blouse is untucked in the back," He observed after taking his eyes off of his screen to look her over. He pointed the the silky fabric sticking out of her tan pencil skirt. She let out gasp of surprise and twisted around to see the delinquent piece untucked at the middle of her back. Promptly tucking it in, she then adjusted the belt around her waist to make sure it would stay in place. Kory seemed very set on embarrassing herself today.
"You might as well tell me if anything else is out of place so I don't mess up completely on my first day." Kory joked, wiping nonexistent dirt off her skirt. He looked her over once more, pausing for a fraction of a second at the length of her legs, before meeting her jade eyes. She felt like his eyes were piercing hers and reading her soul itself. Well maybe not that dramatic, but good God, he was handsome.
"You look perfect to me." A small smile darted across his features and he opened his mouth as if to say something else, but was interrupted by the ding of the elevator, "Good luck on your first day."
And before she could even say thanks, all she could see were his broad shoulder turning round the corner as a pair of old men walked in and took his place. She took a deep breath to calm her accelerating heartbeat. There was no need to get all glossy eyes over some random boy on her first day. This was her dream. To finally prove herself to the world. And nothing, including a very attractive man, was going to distract her from achieving it.
A/N: Edited Feb 27, 2018.
Some notes: I've made the executive decision that Gotham City is located in New York. Everyone is human in this story, so some characters might seem slightly OOC, but bare with me. For now the rating is a high T, but I might bump it up to M later on.
Reviews and constructive criticism/ideas/suggestions are always welcome.
Hope you enjoyed!
-M