Cold Compassion

The Titans were sitting in the ops room, each with a somber look on their faces. They had been a team now for a full twenty-four hours and were casually spending the night with each other, sitting and talking. The inevitable topic of personal history had taken the floor.

Robin, as team leader, volunteered information first. As much as the kid tried to put on a brave face whilst recounting the tragic death of the Flying Graysons, Victor Stone knew better. His cybernetic eye gave full body analysis readouts on each of his new friends. It was focused on Robin:

...Elevated heart rate...

...Increased sweat secretion...

...Involuntary blink reflex escalated by thirty-two percent...

...Median pupil dilation up by eleven percent...

...Skin temperature increased by one-hundredth of a degree...

...Voice amplification increased by three point one decibels...

...Measurable and involuntary voice semiquavers detected beyond acceptable thresholds...

All this and more was compiled and understood instantaneously through the man's organic-synthetic brain interfaces, but the human half of him was burdened with more powerful emotion. Men typically don't like to display emotion, but these guys - these team members - seemed to appreciate his cybernetics instead of deride them like most others. That meant the world to Victor.

Next up came Starfire and Beast Boy. Same readouts. Same faces of sincere sympathy. More of an understanding, a sense of respect for their fellow teammates, was blossoming between them. The alien's story came as no real surprise. Those Gordanian's were nasty things and mopping them up around the city proved that. The idea that they would take the princess of a planet as a slave in return for sparing their home world wasn't far fetched. Grass stain? There was a surprise. For such a cheery and dorky kid, he had a pretty touching history with his parents.

He couldn't help but notice that the dark girl to his left – Raven was it? – showed no signs of elevated anything. She didn't even have that concerned look, not that he could see it very well with her hood up. She just sat there listening closely and taking it all in. "She must have to keep under control for a reason," he thought.

He cleared the thoughts that had commanded his attention as he noticed everyone was looking at him. Beast Boy had finished. His turn.

"Well, obviously something really messed me up," he said. "Let's just say these augmentations aren't here because I wanted them." He shifted in his chair and gathered his thoughts. "My old man was named Silas. My mother, Elinore. They were scientists who were obsessed with advancing human technology. I was not their son, I was their guinea pig," he grimaced.

"Grass stain, your parents tested an experimental drug on you to save your life." Beast Boy's focus on the tin man intensified out of respect. "My father saved my life because it was a convenient opportunity to try out his experimental prosthetics." Beast Boy's mouth dropped and he noticed Raven's pulse quicken. Both of their pupils dilated by thirteen percent. Interesting. Robin and Starfire's readings remained as they were: emotional and in the negatives, but not out of the ordinary given the subject matter.

"My parents worked at S.T.A.R. Laboratories and would test intelligence enhancing experiments on me. They worked. My IQ was boosted to genius level, that's why I was able to plan and build this tower in such a short amount of time." He swelled a bit at that. This tower was a work of art and he was proud of it.

"Because I wasn't really a 'normal' child, I fell in with the wrong crowd. A guy named Ron and I became good buddies. We managed to stay friends despite his radical viewpoints and desire to blow shit up. I never thought he'd actually go through with any of that but I guess I was wrong. I stopped him," Victor's expression darkened and his audience knew better than to probe him about the subject.

"I played sports. Started slacking off in school. Anything to rebel against my parents. The last time I saw them together, they were working on some experiments regarding trans-dimensional travel. Something...foreign...came through the portal." His jaw clenched as he balled one of his hands into a fist. The dark girl surprised him when she gently laid a hand on him. Her face was still unreadable because of her hood, but her visible eyes said "it's okay, keep going."

"That thing…that blob went after my mom and killed her. She was nothing but a sack of blood and guts when it turned on me and started dissolving my body," he closed his organic eye. "I saw Silas chase it back into the portal before I blacked out."

Victor got up and gestured at his towering, 6'4" metallic body. "When I woke up, I was like this. The bastard didn't even have the decency to let me die and bury me. He just turned me into another one of his experiments." He turned and headed back to his room, thundering footsteps accompanying him there.


He stood in front of a high-tech computer terminal, refining some of the Tower's defense program coding. The door to his suite opened with a swoosh and someone came in.

...Footstep audio frequency indicates 120 pound bipedal...

...Pulse elevated 2% from recorded baseline medians...

...Time between footstep decibel recordings indicate 5'5 individual...

...Sampling indicators consistent with recorded alias dossier...

...Alias: Raven...

...Status: Active friendly - Vitals: Stable...

"I left early. I'm sorry I didnt stay to listen to you tell your story. It got too heated in there for me," he turned and faced her. He was a bit surprised to find her hood was down, revealing her azure, shoulder-length hair and chakra stone centered on her forehead.

"I didn't share today," she said. "I wasn't planning on sharing anyways. Like I said yesterday: if you knew what I really was, no one would want me around any longer."

"I don't believe that," he said and a brief silence followed. Normally, Cyborg considered silences like these to be awkward, but with her it wasn't. "Why'd you come to my room?" he asked.

"You were the only one to notice me hanging back from the rest of the group when we assaulted the ship. You came and asked me why I was always off by myself. Why?"

Cyborg folded his arms. "I notice things. I played sports and it was my job to notice things as the QB. If I couldn't pick out the right person to throw a spiral to, I wouldn't have been decent enough to make varsity." His eyes softened. "As for actually confronting you and asking about what was up? I'm just that kind of guy. I try to make everyone feel welcome and part of the group, it's just who I am. Especially now that I know what it's like to not be accepted; treated as an outsider."

"You pity me," the dark girl said, growing defensive. Her gaze hardened. "Don't pity me."

He unclasped his arms. "I don't pity you Raven, I don't pity anyone. I hung back with you and talked to you because I respect you. Respect you enough to give you the time of day and my attention. Respect you enough to keep you company so you don't get lonely and leave." This girl sure was insecure. "It's not pity, it's respect. One comes from contempt; when they think they're better than you. The other comes from those who value you as an equal; as a friend," he smiled at her and her gaze softened. "Whoever or whatever you are, I'm sure everyone will still want you around when you feel comfortable sharing with us."

She paused and a heavy silence hung over them once again. "I'm from another dimension," she finally said. "Just like that thing that hurt you and killed Elinore."

He shrugged. "Can't help where we're born. Your not some amorphous murdering blob and you helped saved that alien girl's life. Good enough for me."

"My father is evil."

"So is mine, but that doesn't make me evil. Why should it be any different for you?"

Raven's eyes opened slightly. He didn't need cybernetics to see that she was surprised at the statement.

...Heart rate elevated ten percent...

...Eye movement elevated thirteen percent...

...Blink reflex elevated nine percent...

She bit her lip and her brow furrowed, deep in thought. She snapped out of it to look up him. "Thank you."

"No problem. You ever need to talk, my door is open."

She nodded once. "Robin planned training for tomorrow morning at 0800." She turned and walked out of the room.

Soon after, Victor began replaying the conversation in his head. "Did the recluse open up to me tonight? It's hard to tell, but it seems like it's a step in the right direction," he mused.

He set his charging station to wake him at 0730 and hooked in, letting his organic parts drift off to sleep.


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Bonus: Give me your best guess at the symbolism behind the title and include it in your review! A challenge for the smartest of the crayons in the box.