A.N. This idea was bothering me…so here it is.
Korina
Grinding metal on metal, screeches tearing through the silence, and sparks igniting the dark blanket covering the sprawling city.
A car crash like this one hadn't been seen in Jump City since 1984, but yet, there it was, blocking two lanes and belching smoke.
It was an eyesore if there ever was one.
Wailing ambulances pull up to the site, hauling Mindie, Koma, and Islo off, leaving only me, crumpled, in the front seat of the totaled BMW, drifting in and out of consciousness.
I don't know why they'd left me. Sure, I might not have been as badly hurt as Koma or Mindie, but I still needed medical attention.
I'm not sure how long I've been lying here, pinned underneath the rubble, finally knowing how it felt to be forgotten.
Rachel
"We can't just leave her there, Richard!" I cry as he revs up the R-Cycle, the sleek bike roaring to life.
"What are we supposed to do, Rache? Take her back to The Nest? Hide her there for the rest of her life?" Richard's voice is dangerously cold. "The rest of her life that could be for the next ten seconds?"
"I'm telling you, I saw something. We need to go back and check on her!"
"The answer is no." His voice is firm, but I can hear the doubt underneath the solidity. "Now get on the bike."
"No." I shake my head. "I'm not going with you."
"Rachel, stop pitching a fit and get on the freaking bike before I strap you on it myself." He growls.
I lean forward so my hair covers my mouth. "You owe me. Now go back."
His face blanches and then settles into his all-too familiar scowl. "If we get picked up by the police, or the Hive, I swear to God I'm going to crucify you."
"Dully noted." I grin, swinging my leg over the side of the bike.
When we get back to the site of the crash, Richard parks across the street, and I jump off while the motorcycles still hot.
"Bag?" I say, thrusting my hand out behind me.
"What am I, your concierge?" Richard grumbles, but he passes the worn purple backpack to me and follows me as I run across the street.
She's still there, pinned beneath the wreckage of the ruined car. I'm surprised they missed her, because the clouds of curls surrounding her scratched, pale face are such a vibrant red, they should be a dead give-away.
Richard whistles behind me. "They screwed this one up bad."
"No comments unless they're helpful," I snap. Tearing open the zipper of the bag, I pull out a small canister filled with dark powder and two pairs of sunglasses. Sprinkling some of the powder on each lens, I wait until the bubbling stops before handing a pair to Richard and keeping one for myself.
"Now look at her." I smirk, self-satisfied.
She still has the striking red hair, and the cuts layered all on her arms, chest, legs, and face, but through the lenses, I can see them starting to heal, which is crazy, even for a scientific miracle.
The car crash couldn't have occurred more than an hour ago, and yet her wounds are almost fully healed?
"Scanner," I bark.
"Manners, young one," Richard snipes, tossing the shiny stick to me.
I run it along her ribs, assessing the amount of damage done internally, and my eyes widen.
"Richard, call Vic and tell him to get that precious car of his over here. We need to get back to the lab and run her through some things."
"What, you mean the lab at the Nest?"
"No, Einstein, the lab on the Washington State Monument. Yes, the lab at the Nest!"
"We can't take her back to the Nest! She's human! People will be looking for her!"
I turn an icy glare on him. "Did I phrase that like it was up for discussion?"
Korina
"C'mon, Kori," Islo laughs as he dangles the flower above my head from where he sits in the maple tree.
"I need that, Is!" I pout, crossing my arms. "Give it back?"
"The Great Korina Anderson, asking a favor from me, the lowly Islo?" His island-tanned skin wrinkled as he laughed.
"Please, Is," I say. "Give it back to me?"
And then, Islo becomes Koma, sitting in the tree and holding the flower. "You have to find us, first, Kori. Find Iona Mayweather. Find the Queen of Half Ways….hurry, now, or he'll get angry. And be warned-when he is angry, evil, evil things happen."
"Koma?" I say, frightened.
"Find help with the bees, Korina." She says as she slowly fades away. "And stay away from the night."
My eyes flash open, and I scream.
A blond boy, my age, I would think bolts up, his blue eyes still faded with sleep. "Whaa?"
"GARFIELD MARK LOGAN, IF YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO HER, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL BURN YOU ALIVE!" Someone bellows from next door. I hear footsteps echo down the hallway.
"Jesus Christ," The boy says, clutching his heart. "You scared the crap out of me."
I fight the urge to smile and look around. I'm lying on a steel table in the middle of a nerdy scientist's fantasy, with gadgets and machines all humming and whirring away. A Smart Board stands in the corner, and an entire wall is covered with tables and shelves full of Mac Airbooks. Monitors blink, and the whole place is spotless.
I open my mouth, but Blondie shakes his head. "No talking-Rachel said. Oh, you're going to love Rachel. She's smart and funny in a sarcastic way and really, really, really beautiful, and she can be really mean, but she's only mean to me because-"
"Because you talk non-stop?" The door slides open and a slender girl steps in. She shakes her head, and a long curly black ponytail whips around. "Hello. I'm Rachel, and that grass-stain is Gar, age 16. I hope he's not the reason you screamed?"
So this is Rachel. I can see why Gar thought she was beautiful, and I've got to admit, I thought so, too.
"Don't answer that," She says sternly when I open mouth. "You're to let me do the talking."
I nod, fighting the urge to roll my eyes.
"Go get Richard, Vic, and Terra." Rachel tells Gar.
"Okay. RICHARD! VIC! TERRA! RACHEL WANTS YOU IN THE LAB, ASAP!" He bellows.
Rachel glares at him. "You know that's not what I meant, cretin."
"Ah, but it accomplishes the same goal." He grins impishly, and then pulls a bag of sour worms out of his pocket.
"No eating in the lab!" Rachel cries, making a swipe for the candy.
But before she can, he turns into a bluebird and flies to the top of the cabinet, the candy clutched firmly in his talons. When he turns back into a human, he has a smirk on his face.
My jaw drops open.
"Thanks, Gar." Rachel seethes. "I told you, no powers until I explain everything to her. Now she really can't ever leave."
My eyes widen. Can't ever leave? What?
Shaking her head, Rachel moves over to me just as three people enter the room.
"Korina, this is Vic, 18-" She points to a large kid wearing a jeans and a hoodie that covers his entire face. "Terra 16- " A tiny, dainty, sliver of a girl, with wide blue eyes and golden hair. "And the big boss himself, Richard, age 16." A tall, wiry, handsome boy with shockingly clear blue eyes and night black hair.
Night black.
Stay away from the night.
"Now that introductions are out of the way," Rachel says briskly, "We can get to the point."
Turning to me, she takes a deep breath. "Korina, you're dead."
Richard
Classy, Rachel, I think as I watch Korina's eyes grow to the size of golf balls.
She shakes her head, those endless red curls glistening in the light from the huge windows.
"You're not dead dead. But you should be." Pointing to one of the monitors she adores so much, Rachel brings up a picture of Korina's skull. "I analyzed the kind of crash it was and the damage you sustained. And the thing was, the car flipped twice, landing in the middle of Interstate 50. This should have fractured your skull beyond repair, broken your spine, and damaged all of your ribs. And it did."
C'mon, Rache, I think. Get to the point already.
"But you…for lack of a better term, healed yourself. Not only is that scientifically impossible, it was interesting enough for me to put you in, again, for lack of a better term, a medically induced coma, and run some more tests."
"And?" I prompt.
"Patience is a virtue, Richie." Rachel grins when I scowl at being called Richie. "But anyway, the test showed that you have a special chemical in your blood stream. You ready for the shocker?"
She nods, and I'm struck, suddenly, by how large and sparkly her green eyes are. And then I think of Kitten, waiting for me down the hall, and I shiver, all thoughts of Korina gone.
"Everyone in the Nest has this chemical, including everyone in this room. When I first discovered it, I dubbed it Titan. This chemical causes certain….side affects, which are unique to every person, depending on how much you have. Gar, for example, has an uncommonly high amount of Titan in his bloodstream, which is why he can change shapes." Gar turns into a bald eagle, just to demonstrate, and those emerald eyes in her face widen again.
"Coincidentally, Richard, Gar, and I all have the same level of Titan in our blood. We were the highest level, at 74%….until we found you."
Turning to her monster computers, Rachel brings up another slide. "Korina Anderson, 95% of your bloodstream is Titan. That's the highest level ever heard of."
She's ninety-five percent Titan?
That's insane. I've listened to enough of Rachel's lectures to know that she shouldn't be able to house that much Titan without burning up. Literally, spontaneously combusting.
"As an interesting side note, the only people this chemical presents itself in are between the ages of 13 and 19. After the twentieth birthday, it transforms itself into another chemical. The side effects don't disappear, only lessen."
I watch her carefully, wondering what she'll do next.
She points to her throat.
"Yes, you can talk," Rachel nods.
"So, you guys are all Teen Titans?" is the first thing I hear her say.
Rachel
I quickly glance up to the cabinet, where Gar has turned back into a human. The laughter is still in his eyes, and he grins when he sees me looking. I fight the urge to blush, knowing he's thinking of the day he came up with that nickname…and everything else that had happened between us that day.
"Um, yeah, that's what we call ourselves," Richard says, his voice devoid of emotion.
I groan internally. The last thing I need right now is for Richard to become a rock on me.
Richard goes all granite when he's turned on, for some reason, and seeing my older brother bang the new girl isn't something I'm looking forward to. The way Kitten crawls after him is already bad enough.
But he's Richard. I know him better than anyone.
And I also know that if he wants Korina, he'll get her, one way or another.
"So what is the Nest?" She asks, her green eyes sparkling. "And can I sit up?"
"Sure. Sit up all you want." Richard smirks. "God, I forgot how clueless you newbies are."
I want to stop him right there, since Korina's technically my patient, so he's overstepping his bounds by letting her sit up, but she beats me to it.
"Look, Mr. I'm-Sexy-And-I-Know-It, just because I'm new doesn't make me an idiot. And last time I checked, Monster Brain Rachel over there was the doctor, not you." She turns to me. "Can I sit up?"
I don't even try to suppress my grin at the look on Richard's face. "Yes, you can."
"The Nest is the building you're currently in. It houses every Titan in the country, and some from other places. It's sort of like a headquarters, a safe haven." Terra says quietly, and my face burns up. Everyone in our Nest knows that she and Gar are practically sworn to each other. So what am I doing, feeling like this about him?
"A lot of times, Titans get mistreated or abused in their homes before they find us." Richard says in his monotone.
Richard and I both watch her carefully, to see if she was one. When she flinches and tenses, I can tell I'm right: she's been abused, wherever she came from.
"The Nest is a safe place where we can use our powers, learn how to harness them, find other Titans to be with…."Gar quotes the manifesto in a singsong voice.
"Each Nest is split up into Cliques." Terra continues, her high clear voice laced with the soothing quality Gar loves.
My voice doesn't have it, ironically.
"Your Clique is the group of people you room with, eat with, hang with, talk with, and solve crime with." Gar continues. "You can hang out with anyone in the Nest, but those are the people who become your family first."
"Who's in your Clique?" She asks, swinging her legs, over the table.
How did she get those legs so long and tanned? Good God, Richard thinks. His thoughts press in on my own, and I sigh. Normally I can tune everyone out, but thoughts of impressive strength break through my mental wall.
"Richard, Kitten, Vic, Jason, Flash, Jessi, Rachel, Terra, Adam, me, and you." Gar says, eating the last gummy worm and jumping off of the cabinet.
"I'm in the Clique?" Korina says. "Why?"
"Our eleventh person just died." Richard says bluntly. "For some reason, the death toll's highest in our Clique."
Way to get her pumped up for joining, Richie, I think.
She winces again. "Okay. Where's Koma?"
"What?" Terra asks.
"Koma, my sister. She and Islo and Mindie, they were in the car, too. Where are they?"
"Korina…"I start, dread in my stomach.
"It's just Kori." She mutters.
"Koma, and Islo, and Mindie, they….they didn't make it. The news story is al over the television, especially because they think you've gone missing."
"They're dead?" She asks slowly.
"I'm sorry."
A green fire lights those sparkling eyes, and huge beams of light spit from them and burn holes in the gray tile.
Our collective jaws hit the floor.
She looks up guiltily. "Oops?"