Chapter 2: Faint


Titans Tower

Around 3 in the morning

The Titans stood in their living room. Robin sat at one of the computers, examining recent reports of criminal activities and unresolved crimes. The others stood around him, mentally contemplating his fixation.

"Will you just let this thing go?" Cyborg said. "Mammoth's locked up now, and he's not going anywhere anytime soon."

"That's not what bothers me." Robin said.

"How much you wanna bet that it's Slade?" Beast Boy whispered to the others.

"Look, man." Cyborg continued. "The only thugs left in this town are just a bunch of small-time punks. We can deal with them just like we always do, but not if you're gonna be obsessing about it all night."

"This is serious." Robin said, sternly. "We protect this city, and we have to be prepared for the worst, even if things seem normal."

"We are prepared for the worst. I'm not saying we should take it easy, I'm just telling you that you need to sleep, just like the rest of us do."

"Go ahead. I'm not keeping you up."

"Okay, good night." Raven said as she turned to leave the room, only to be stopped by Starfire.

"Please, Robin." Starfire said, moving closer to him. "We are your friends, and you are worrying us. Please, take care of yourself as you do with our city."

Robin pursed his lips and looked down, captivated by Starfire's plea. Starfire moved closer and put her hand on Robin's shoulder.

"If not for your friends, then will you do it for me? Your girlfriend?"

Robin sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead before turning off the computer.

"Alright. Let's go to bed." He said.

Starfire smiled and Cyborg sighed in relief. Robin stood up and they all left the room. Beast Boy lagged behind, walking next to Raven.

"Why does he listen to her and not the rest of us?" He whispered.

"I don't know." Raven said, plainly. "I guess girlfriends have that power."

"Really? Cool. I wonder if boyfriends can do that, too."

"I wouldn't count on it." Raven disappeared into the floor.


The Next Day

11:22 pm

Robin awoke from his slumber, practically shooting up out of bed as he saw the time on his alarm clock. He immediately dressed and rushed up to the main foyer, where the rest of the Titans were gathered. Cyborg was cooking breakfast in the kitchen, while simultaneously fighting Beast Boy to keep his vegetarian food off the stove. Raven was sitting at the table, reading a book, only briefly stopping to glance at Robin as he came in. Starfire immediately flew over to him.

"Good morning, Robin." Starfire cheerfully hugged him.

"Good morning." Robin returned the hug. As he pulled back, Starfire stared at him expectantly. He sighed and kissed her. Starfire smiled and giggled contently.

"Good morning, Loverboy Wonder." Beast Boy teased him, before being thrown over the counter by Cyborg.

"Get outta here, man!" Cyborg shouted. "Keep that nasty stuff away from my food! I don't want to be infected with vegetarianism."

"It's not a disease!" Beast Boy shouted back. "And what am I supposed to eat?"

"Since you're a vegetarian, why don't you go find a field of grass to chew on?"

"Very funny." Beast Boy climbed back over the counter, transforming into a yeti, and pulled Cyborg away from the stove.

"Aah!" Cyborg shouted. "Stop that! Now, you're gonna get hair all over the food!"

"Cut it out, guys." Robin said, sternly.

"But he started it!" Beast Boy said, returning to normal form. Cyborg immediately pulled him away from the stove.

"I don't care. Cut it out. Let Cyborg finish cooking so the rest of us can eat."

Beast Boy frowned and crossed his arms, while Cyborg grinned smugly. Robin and Starfire moved over to the table and sat next to Raven.

"Did we all wake up this late?" Robin asked.

"Eleven-thirty isn't late." Beast Boy said.

"Yes, and yes, it is." Raven said.

"We usually get woken up when there's bad guys to deal with." Cyborg said. "But, there's not any, so…"

"I guess we just do our job too well." Beast Boy said.

"I think it's about time we earned a break." Cyborg said.

"That means we 'have the day off,' correct?" Starfire asked.

"Well…" Robin said. "Yeah, but we still need to stay alert."

"Yeah, yeah, we have the day off." Beast Boy said. "Come on, dude, don't tell me you're not excited that we don't have anything better to do. You like having a day off just as much as we do."

"It's not that I don't like it. It's the silence I don't like."

"This is most wonderful." Starfire said, pressing her hands together. "Now we may enjoy our day, perhaps by partaking in a banquet at the park, or attending the movies, or visiting the fairgrounds at the pier."

"Sounds great." Cyborg said. "But first things first: breakfast."


Jump City, Downtown District

Jack awoke from his sleep, yawning and stretching out in bed. He glanced at the clock and groaned.

"Stop laughing." He said, pushing it off the nightstand.

*Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Sound that a phone makes when ringing!* Jack picked his phone up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, sweetie!"

"Hello… whoever you are." Jack sat up in bed and rubbed the sleepies out of his eyes.

"Funny. Are you just waking up?"

"No, I've been awake for hours." Jack said.

"Very funny. I tried to call you this morning and you didn't answer. Guess I know why, now."

"I said I'd be driving all night. I didn't get here until 6 in the morning. I've gotta sleep sometime."

"You already look like you don't sleep at all. You have bags like an owl."

"I'll take that as a compliment, because owls are cool."

"Heh, so when are you gonna be home?"

"Later… maybe sometime this week."

"Aww, I'll miss you."

"You, too."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Yes. I'm not hanging up until you do."

"Shut up and get back to work. You have a job, don't you?"

"Don't change the subject. Say it."

Jack bit his lip and rolled his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too, honey."

"Get back to work, candy girl." Jack said, hanging up and setting the phone back down. He sighed again and stretched his arms out. "Lots to do, lots to do. First things, first… where are you?"


Later…

4:33 pm

"Okay…" Beast Boy said. "We went to the pier, we rode bumper cars, the rollercoaster, the Ferris Wheel, the hall of mirrors… we went to the park and had lunch, played some football, came back to the Tower, played some video games, and a game of cards… is there anything else we can do?"

"Umm…" Cyborg rubbed his chin in though. "I think there's a car show in Steel City. Anyone down?"

The others shook their heads.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." Cyborg said, dejectedly.

"How about we hit up one of the clubs?" Beast Boy said. "I've been working on my dance moves."

The others groaned.

"I do not wish to watch you whip, nor would I like to see you nay nay." Starfire said.

Beast Boy sighed and sat back down.

"Raven." Starfire said. "Perhaps you want to watch one of the shows about the tiny horses?"

Raven immediately slapped her hand over Starfire's mouth in panic.

"Or not." Starfire said, muffled.

"There's gotta be something we can do." Robin mused.

"We could… watch a movie?" Cyborg suggested. "Do we have anything new?"

"No." Beast Boy said.

"Oh, well… isn't there a new thing for that, now?"

"Yeah, but you need to make an account."

"Oh… is there anything on tv?"

"There's never anything on tv."

"Come on, guys." Robin said. "We need to think bigger than just what we can do here. There's a world of possibilities out there. There are exotic cities and forests filled with excitement. We have a ship that can go to the bottom of the ocean, or the darkest reaches of space. There's always something we can do."

The others said nothing for a minute or so. Robin took out his coms unit and flipped it open. There were no new alerts. He sighed and slumped back down.


A Few Minutes Later…

"Sir…" Beast Boy read from the book. "It is lamentable that mass agricultural development is not speeded by fuller use of your marvelous mechanisms. Would it not be easily possible to employ some of them in quick laboratory experiments to indicate the influence of various types of fertilizers on plant growth?"

"You are right." Cyborg continued. "Countless uses of Bose instruments will be made by future generations. The scientist seldom knows contemporaneous reward; it is enough to possess the joy of creative service."

"This was a bad idea." Beast Boy said, closing the book. "What the heck did you trick us into reading, Raven? Sounds like some kind of creepy occult thing."

"Stop going into my room and taking things." Raven said.


Meanwhile, at the Mall of Shopping

Jack stepped into an old antique shop and looked around. There was a surplus of junked home furnishings like lamps, silverware and whatever, most of it completely unorganized and left just lying around. The shop looked more like the inside of a hoarder's home.

Jack walked over to a bunch of canes lying on a glass table, but immediately dismissed them. He walked over to the back of the store towards the sound of people talking. The store owner was getting ready to write up the ticket for a man holding…

"That's mine." Jack shifted past him and snatched the cane off the table.

"Hey! I'm getting that." The man grabbed at the cane.

Jack swiftly grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him face-first into the counter, breaking his nose, and let him slump to the floor unconscious. The store owner gasped in shock, and Jack turned to leave.

"You-you can't do that." The store owner said, shaken by fear.

"Wrong." Jack turned to face him, raising his cane up, the top pointed directly at the store owner. A black aura surrounded the cane's top and pooled into a spherical form.


Elsewhere…

*Chirp, chirp! Chirp, chirp!* The Titans' coms units all rang out simultaneously.

"About time." Cyborg said as they all took them out and flipped them open.

"There's been a disturbance at the mall." Robin said. "Let's move out, Titans!"


End Chapter 2


Credit goes to Paramahansa Yogananda, author of "Autobiography of a Yogi," which was paraphrased in this chapter.