Chapter 2
Icy Reception

Frost didn't really sleep. Unless of course he had over-used his powers or was injured in some way, but usually he stayed up reading or on the computer.

However, during his journey to Titan's Tower he had finished the book he was reading several times over, and had depleted the last of the energy in his laptop battery. Though there were power sockets in his – in the – room, someone had fitted coverings over them to protect them, and Frost didn't really fancy breaking stuff on his first night.

He was sorely tempted to explore the Tower, but considering Robin's suspicions that didn't seem like a good idea.

So instead, Frost just lay still, staring blankly at the ceiling. Bored...

It was a nice room he was in, though. It was rectangular in shape, with the double bed placed against the middle of one of the longest sides. From his position on the bed, looking right to left, he could see the door, a floor-to-ceiling length window, a desk, and a kind of alcove that took up the entire length of the wall

Ok, so he couldn't see the desk and alcove at the moment, but he would be able to if he put his glasses on.

Personally, Frost thought the alcove was a nice touch. The window was going to cause trouble though. Luckily it was north facing so it didn't get strong sunlight, but its size meant its light would flood nearly the entire room. Curtains could help with that though...

Frost mentally shook his head. Look at him. He didn't even know if he'd be here tomorrow night and he was already thinking of interior design.

To Hades with it. He needed to get out of here.

He pushed himself off the bed and took his glasses off the bed-side table, but didn't put them on. Instead he just slipped them into his jeans pocket. He left his jacket by the foot of the bed and, running his hand through his still damp hair – he had had a shower to get the ash out – departed the room.

The corridor outside was 'L' shaped, with one side of the L walled with windows. Again, north-facing.

Frost leaned against the door frame and breathed deep, thinking where to go. Starfire had given him a crash-course tour, but she had only really showed him the main room, the bathroom, the roof and some bedrooms, namely hers, Robin's and Cyborg's.

Footsteps made Frost look up.

At the other end of the corridor, Cyborg yawned at him.

Frost nodded at him. "Hey." He said softly. He started to wish he had brought his jacket out, but so far, Cyborg had seemed cool about...

The metal teen returned the gesture and walked towards him. "Hey. What're you doin' up?"

The albino pushed off from the door frame and shrugged. "I don't sleep often. Thought I'd go for a walk."

"Well I'd try if I were you, dawg. Robin's trainin' sessions are tough. Real tough." By now Cyborg had crossed the length of the corridor and had reached his new ally. He turned the corner and kept going towards – if Frost remembered correctly – the main room.

"What about you? What're you doing up?" Frost asked, following him.

Cyborg yawned again, gentler this time. "Been having trouble sleepin'. Thought I'd get a snack. That fire just kinda got to me, ya know?"

"How so?"

"Well..." Cyborg paused and gestured. "Whoopin' bad guy butt is difficult, but it's just that; whoopin' bad guy butt. But when you hear that there's been an attack on human bein's...it, it kinda just hits you. You've spent all this time dealin' with somethin' above the ordinary, then somethin' like this happens and you just..."

"Feel the mortality."

Cyborg nodded. "Right. Or somethin'..."

They had reached the elevator. Frost winced at the bright light as they entered, but said nothing. Cyborg set the elevator to the main room.

"And what about Robin?"

"Hm?" Cyborg turned from the console. "What about Robin?"

Frost leaned back against the wall and cocked his head so he could see the other. "Well, he's...mortal, I guess. Not saying that the rest of you aren't, but you get what I mean."

Cyborg scratched his chin in thought. "Well...first of all, you have to understand, just 'coz Robin ain't got powers don't mean he's weak."

Frost put his hands up in defence. "Never said it did." He said, hurriedly.

"I know, I know." The elevator doors pinged open. Cyborg led the albino out. "But Robin ain't exactly mortal. He's too...'larger than life' for that, ya know? Too..." he trailed off, eyes on the other side of the room. His silver and brown brow creased in a frown. "Stubborn." He finished angrily.

Frost craned his neck to see over Cyborg's shoulder at the large, floor-to-ceiling computer screen that made up the main room's window. Someone had turned it on, and with his glasses off he could see orangey-yellow flickerings and white squares with black blurs on them.

He guessed videos from the fire and text documents.

The light cast by the computer screen shone down, illuminating the room, giving enough light to make out a bundle of red, green and black fabric splayed out over one of the control panels.

As Cyborg and Frost approached it, the hazy colours separated enough for the latter to make out Robin's slumped-over shape.

The Titan – the awake one – grabbed the sleeping boy's shoulder and shook it gently. "Robin? C'mon dawg, wake up. You should be in bed."

Robin groaned. "Nnnn...Cy?" The twitching of the eyemask implied rapid blinking.

"What're you doin' up, man? Star told you to go to bed."

Frost stayed behind them, shifting his weight to his other leg, watching.

"I...had to finish this. I'll be done in a sec."

The difference between the behaviour of these two teens now and when Frost had first approached them seemed drastic. There was either a strong, brother-type bond...or major sexual tension.

Frost half-hoped it was the first one. He had a bet going on with an old school-mate that Cyborg was secretly dating Beast Boy.

Or at least, he had had a bet going...

He shook that thought off and started to try and read the text on screen.

He squinted. He closed one eye. He closed the other. He opened the first one. He tilted his head back. He tilted it forwards.

He gave up and took his glasses out of his pocket.

"What is it you're working on?" he asking, slipping the lenses on.

Robin jumped at his voice, swivelling round in his seat to stare at Frost. He looked at him, confused. "Frost?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.

Frost nodded.

"Huh." The Boy Wonder's masked eyes lingered on him for a few more seconds, taking in every detail of the previously hooded albino's face, before turning back to the screen. "I'm going over the police reports and the surveillance cameras from this evening. I'm trying to see if the police missed anything."

Frost walked forwards and sat himself in front of one of the spare control panels.

"Why? I mean, it wasn't a bomb, it was commercial gasoline, nearly every person in the apartment block was of an ethnic minority and didn't a gang or something own up to it? It was racist arson."

Robin frowned. "Or, theory two, someone else set up the attack to get at someone in particular, and either paid the gang to do it or just happened to target the same place the gang was going to. The gang didn't want to seem like someone had bettered them, so they called a bluff and said they did it."

"Well..." Frost thought. "I don't know this city's rogues as well as you do..."

"No, you don't."

The newcomer ignored the snapped reply. "...But arson doesn't seem to fit any of their MOs. Even if they had something against someone in the apartment block, they're all creatures of habit. They'd get their own back in their own ways, make a big show of it."

"And what about mercenaries? 'Leave no survivors'? If they had set a bomb then we would've been able to find the fragments and find out it was a hired killing. They'd know we'd search the history of everyone in the building, investigate everyone that has something against one of the tenants, and eventually find the person who hired them."

Frost cocked his head to the side, then uprighted it, completing a sort of sideways nod. "Got a point I suppose. But aren't we doing that anyway?"

From over in the kitchen area, Cyborg chuckled. "Don't argue with him, man. You ain't gonna win, believe me."

Frost smirked mischievously, before making his way over to the kitchen. "I'll hold you to that, you know."

The other shook his head. "You want a drink, Snowy?"

Frost paused, half-sitting on one the bar-stool-styled seats in front of the counter. "What did you call me?"

"Snowy. Ya know, like a nickname?"

"...Ok. By the way, Tintin wanted me to tell you Captain Haddock'll be round on Tuesday to drop off my ball and leash."

Cyborg chuckled again and shook his head. "Nah, man. I mean like...instead of 'Frosty the snowman' it's 'Snowy the frostman.' Or somethin'"

"Hm."

"Look, do you want a drink or not?"

Frost settled onto the stool. "Do you have any tea?" He asked.

Cyborg nodded. "Sure have. You want Earl Grey, or-"

"Stay away from Raven's herbal!" Robin warned from the other side of the room.

"I know! Now get back to your angstin'!"

"I am not angsting!"

Frost chuckled softly. "Earl Grey would be great."

The three boys remained silent for a while, the quiet only broken by Robin's furious keystrokes and the bubbling of the boiling kettle.

Cyborg stared into space. Robin 'angst'ed. Frost slipped his glasses off, put them on the counter and rubbed his eyes.

"How badly do you need those?" Cyborg asked, nodding towards the black spectacles in Frost's hands.

"Nn? Oh. Technically I'm blind in my left eye, but my powers give me the ability to sense body-heat, so I'm not majorly handi-capped."

"Blind?"

"Well, not blind as such. More...drastically short-sighted." He put his hand about an inch from his left eye. "I can only really see stuff properly if it's this far away." He put his hand down and shrugged. "It sucks, but so does life."

Robin had been listening in. "What about your-" Cyborg shot him a look "-other problem?"

"What other problem?" Frost asked loftily, accepting the warm drink from Cyborg and again wishing for his jacket.

"Your photosensitivity." Robin stood and started to walk towards the other two. Cyborg placed a mug of cocoa on the counter next to Frost for him. "I saw you talking to Raven after the fire and noticed your hair. I had suspicions you were albino and knew it was going to cause trouble."

Frost paused from blowing on his tea. "'Suspicions'? What else, praytell, did you have 'suspicions' about?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine."

An icy glare passed between the two. Cyborg shifted uncomfortably.

"Look, guys-"

"If you knew I was albino, why did you give me a room with such a large window on a corridor lined with the bloody things?"

"-It's late, 'n we've all had a busy day-"

"If you're a pyrokinetic, why didn't you just put the fire out?"

"-And Frost's just got here. Don't start off badly, man-"

"Why did you give communicators to every famous teen-aged meta-human, but not to the lesser-known ones?"

"-'Sides, Robin's suspicious of everybody-"

"Why did you act so cold and dark when you first approached us?"

"-Ok, nearly everybody, but-"

"Cyborg?" Frost asked. "Please hush."

The other two looked at him in shock.

Robin frowned. "Don't you dare tell him to-"

"Let 'im talk, man."

Robin stared at Cyborg, before returning his gaze to Frost. The albino had closed his eyes, composing himself...

"My photosensitivity is inconvenient, but my jacket protects my face and arms. The lenses in my glasses are also tinted to reduce exposure to my eyes. I've managed 17 years as an albino, and I assure you I am an expert at dealing with it.

"As for the fire, I arrived here at the tower at the same time you guys left. I didn't have any fancy vehicles, so it took me longer to arrive at the fire. By the time I got there, if I had attempted to put the fire out, it would've collapsed anyway. The fire had drastically weakened the building, and me putting it out would've not only weakened it further, but probably would've drained me completely, and, seeing as I need to be close to the fire to do this, the building would've collapsed onto my unconscious form. And the girl would've died anyway.

"The way I acted when I first approached you...is just the way I act when I first approach anyone. I have had a lot of problems with people in the past, partially because of my appearance, partially my attitude, and partially my up-bringing. I tend to...act defensive until I know them better, and know they won't cause trouble." He took a sip of his tea. "Are those satisfactory answers?"

Robin didn't answer straight away. "...Yes." He walked back to the computer, leaving his cocoa untouched.

The other two stared after him.

"...Jerk." Frost murmured into his drink.

Cyborg rubbed the back of his head. "Don't take it the wrong way. We've trusted in the past and it didn't end too well."

"I heard."

"Just give him time and he'll-"

"Can I take this to my room?" Frost asked, indicating his tea.

Cyborg blinked. "Uh, sure."

The other slipped his glasses from the counter into his pocket and picked the tea up in both hands. He walked to the elevator...but stopped in front of the doors.

"And Robin?" He asked. "Don't ever call me a pyrokinetic again, OK?"

And he was gone.

--/--/-

WHAM!

Andrew winced. The stereo shattered upon impact with the wall.

TJ was angry. Very angry.

"HOW THE HELL DID THEY KNOW! THEY SHOULD'VE BURNED!"

Rachel - sweet Rachel, very pretty, always knows what to do – tried to stop him from wrecking anymore things. "Keep it down Teej, the neighbours'll hear you."

"I DON'T GIVE A SH-" Andrew covered his ears with his hands – he wasn't supposed to listen to words like that. He waited a bit then took them away. TJ was still angry. "-NEIGHBOURS FRIGGIN' HEAR ME! THEM GODDAMN NI-" His ears were covered just in time.

If Andrew could he would cover up his ears completely, or leave and not come back until TJ wasn't angry. But he had tried that and...

...And it had just made it so much worse.

He released his ears slowly.

"-OUGHTA'VE BURNED!"

The coffee table disintegrated into splinters. TJ winced and rubbed his sore foot.

"They should be dead." He wheezed.

Rachel nodded and moved to his side. "I know, Teej, I know." She took advantage of her leader's temporarily calm start-of-mind and held him by the shoulders. "But we'll get'em. Even if we have to keep picking 'em off one-by-one like we used to, we'll do it. We'll scare 'em back to Africa or whatever god-forsaken mud-pit they've come from. Just wait."

TJ, still nursing his injured foot, gave her a foul glare. "I don't wan't to wait. I want them gone NOW!" He threw Rachel's hands off of his shoulder and punched the wall mightily. The plaster cracked and dented, a red, wet mark left in the centre.

Andrew was just thankful that wasn't him.

--/--/-

"If you're going to be a Titan, you have to be able to fight. If you're completely helpless, you're going to be nothing but a liability in battle. Or maybe you just know the basics and need help. Either way, I need to assess your skills to see if you can defend yourself sufficiently and how much training you'll need.

"Now, using your powers, I want you to come at me and – Beast Boy, what are you doing?"

The changeling threw his hands up hopelessly. "Dude! Didja have to give me away? I'm seeing if the new guy's really half-blind!"

Frost barely shifted. "Firstly, I'm not blind. Just incredibly short-sighted. Secondly, I'm wearing my glasses, so I can see you perfectly. Thirdly," He turned to look at Beast Boy. "You're checking the wrong eye."

Beast Boy, who was standing on his right side, blinked up at him. "...Oh. Well how am I supposed to know any of those things? You didn't tell me, and with that hood up..." He tried to peer into the shadows. Frost backed away at first, but then caught the looks on Cyborg, Raven and Robin's faces and just...

To heck with it.

...Pulled his hood down.

"Gah!" Beast Boy jumped back some. Then tried to peer even closer into Frost's face. "Duuude..."

Frost raised a pale eye-brow. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Your eyes are so freaky!"

Cyborg grinned from the side-lines of the blue mat. "C'mon man, you're green. You're calling him freaky?"

"Cy, have you seen them? They're bright red!"

Frost pushed him off the mat. He tripped on the edge and landed at Raven's feet, who was sitting on a bench, reading.

Starfire hovered over to him. "Friend...m-may I?" She held a hand out to his chin.

A nod, and Starfire gently hooked her finger under his head and tilted it back.

"Fascinating...Since we encountered so many gifted youths some months ago, I started researching the possible origins of these gifts. Eventually I found myself intrigued by all manners of human mutations or stray genes and how they affect life. With so many, it is a wonder anyone turns out 'normal.'" She turned his head from side-to-side, slowly. "The eyes of albinos are sensitive to light, correct? Are these lights too bright? Do you wish for me to dim them?"

Frost shook his head. "The lenses of my glasses are tinted. I'll be fine."

Across the mat, Robin folded his arms. "I don't think either of us want your glasses being broken. I'd take them off if I were you. Starfire, dim the lights."

The Tameranean flew to a control panel in the wall and lowered the intensity of the lighting. Frost slipped his glasses off his nose and laid them and his jacket on the bench next to Raven, before taking his place on the mat again.

"Now," Robin tried again, "Come at me."

Frost shrugged. "I'm not really much of the charger sort." Chiing! A thin spike of ice appeared in his hand. "...Why don't you come to me?"

The spike flew through the air. It embedded itself in the mat where Robin had been just a few seconds ago. Robin himself finished the back-flip and used the momentum to leap forward, pole-vault with his drawn bo staff and execute a flying kick at Frost. The albino crossed his arms in front of his face.

WHAM!

Robin's feet connected with a solid wall of ice, which he back-flipped off of, landed, then ducked quickly as it flew towards him. He righted himself just in time to block Frost's ice-laden fist with his bo staff held vertically.

Chiing!

Three thin needles of ice materialised in Frost's left hand like claws, which he used to slash at the Boy Wonder. Robin, still blocking the fist with his bo staff, managed to dodge the claws, but three parallel rips were left in his costume's side.

Frost took another slash, this one vertical, but Robin managed to push the fist to one side, block the needles from the other, then bring the staff sharply across Frost's face.

The ice-wielder stumbled back, keeping a grip on the needles but melting the ice-fist. The water re-shaped into three more needles, which he swung at Robin on his next charge.

Quickly, Robin threaded his staff through the claws of the one hand, twisted, and wrenched them out of Frost's grip. Still spinning his bo staff, Robin struck at the other's head, torso, and shoulder vertically. Frost barely managed to deflect the blows with his remaining claws. Then, using Robin's last technique against him, he caught the staff between his claws, twisted it slightly, then pushed Robin away with a kick to the gut.

A slight breather...

Robin readied his bo staff again. "Not bad."

Frost grinned, holding his claws up to guard his face. "Thanks. I used to get in a lot of fights at school, so my foster parents sent to me self-defence classes. Probably thought I could get it out of my system or something..."

A shared grin, fuelled by the adrenaline rush.

"HrraaAGH!" Robin charged, bo staff held high-

-And slipped on the layer of ice beneath his feet.

WHAM! He landed on his butt.

From the sidelines, Beast Boy sniggered helplessly.

Robin quickly but cautiously righted himself, trying not to fall again. He looked up just in time to see three ice-needles flying towards him.

"Gah!" He dodged just in time. The needles embedded themselves in the wall behind him.

But Robin wasn't going to be distracted. He saw Frost charging at him, three more needles held ready to attack.

Robin blocked with his staff, pushed the claws upwards, hit Frost square in the back and shoved him forwards. Frost made to turn-

WOOMPH!

-And ended up slipping on his own ice.

Beast Boy burst out in hysterical laughter. Cyborg snickered. Even Raven cracked a small smirk.

Frost tried to clear the stars from his vision. "...Ow."

He sensed a body-heat stand over him and saw a blur of colours out of his left eye. Robin's voice said: "Ok Frost. That's enough." A haze of green that must've been the Boy Wonder's glove was offered to the floored albino.

Frost nodded, still trying to clear the fuzziness from his head, and groped for the hand.

They touched and-

Wumph!

-Robin found himself thrown across the room. He rolled to a stop at the edge of the mat.

Frost watched him, face impassive, body still hunched from the throw.

Robin pushed himself up.

Their eyes met.

"...Alright." Frost straightened. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away. "If that's it-"

"RaaaAAGH!" Robin charged.

Frost smirked. He spun around and grabbed Robin's bo staff before it crashed down on him.

They struggled, Robin shoving it down, Frost pushing up.

Frost grinned. Robin grit his teeth...then returned the facial expression.

A sizzling sound split the air. Robin's gloves started to steam. His eyes widened. He reversed his actions, tugging desperately at the staff, but it wouldn't budge; Frost's grasp was too strong.

The bo staff started to glow red-hot. Robin kicked Frost away.

The albino stumbled back.

Whap! Robin smacked the back of his knees with the glowing staff, making him trip.

Yet again, Frost found himself on his back...and not in the good way.

The Boy Wonder stood over him again, this time on Frost's right side. "Had enough?"

Frost nodded. "Yeah. Alright. I give."

Robin held out his hand. Frost took it.

"Now," Frost started when he had righted himself. "Let's go find a hospital." He limped off, rubbing the bruise on his jaw.