"It's hot. I can't wear hoodies out here." I tell Grayson. We've driven out to the Grand Canyon, where the weather isn't agreeing with my year-round hoodie-wearing thing. He shakes his head. "I know how you feel."
My phone makes a ding! noise, so I pull it out to check it. The notification is from the FORM, the superhero version of Facebook. Raven's posted a video and there's about ten comments, even though she's only posted it ten minutes ago. Must be nice to be popular.
At eleven at night, the light from my phone screen is brighter than it should be. I turn it down and Grayson looks over my shoulder. Stop it, insufferable brat!
"Watch that video, Day." He tells me, so I press play. My screen lights up and I see a boy. A boy, curled up on a linolium floor, pushing papers away as he stood up. Then, lyrics play and I watch the boy run, run from people who weren't like him, people who didn't understand him, people who would shoot at him-Oh my God, that's me.
I listen to the words, the words to Titanium. You shout out, but I can't hear a word you say/I'm talking down, not saying much/I'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet/Shoot me down, but I get up/
Cass climbs off of her foldout bed to watch with me as the chorus begins. I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose/Fire away, fire away, ricochet, you take your aim/Fire away, fire away, you shoot me down, but I won't fall/I am titanium, you shoot me down, but I won't fall/I am titanium
Cut me down, but it's you who'll have further to fall/Ghost town and haunted love/Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones/I'm talking loud, not saying much By the second time the chorus plays, I'm singing along. "I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose/Fire away, fire away, ricochet, you take your aim/Fire away, fire away, you shoot me down but I won't fall/I am titanium, you shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am titanium"
Stone heart, machine gun/Firing at the ones who run/Stone heart, bulletproof glass/You shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am titanium/You shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am titanium/You shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am titanium/You shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am titanium, I am titanium
"Whoa. . . ." I murmur, the video screen going black. I look up at my brother, who just smiles. I lean against him, closing my eyes and pressing my phone against my chest. "She's right, for once. That's just like me."
"Oh, she's so going to find out you said that, Dami-brat." He laughs. "Okay, Gray-stupid, I-"
"Masters. Please stop resorting to name calling every time you disagree over something." Alfred snaps at us. He's setting up GPS directions for us so we can find our way home tomorrow. "So you're saying I can beat Damian up every time I don't like something he says? Okay!"
He tackles me, but I fight him off. "You know you can't hurt me."
"Yeah." He mutters and then remembers something. "I promised I'd video-call the Titans tonight."
He pulls out his laptop, clicking on an icon and typing in five keys: TOWER. The screen fizzes with static, and everyone comes in from outside as the chat comes on. There's a buzz of chatter I shut out with my hands over my ears, then I look up to see Cy, BB, Star, and-ugh-Raven on the screen. She laughs at me. "Loud, huh, Dami?"
"Someday, you're going to regret being mean to me. The day I die, I think." I tell her darkly. She gets this look on her face, the one she gets when she thinks about how young she was destined to die. "Damian, don't say that."
"With the reckless way you do things, I wouldn't be suprised." Bruce says, typing on his phone in the driver's seat. I look over to see who he's texting-Talia. I narrow my eyes at him as the facetime continues behind me. I roll my eyes-while he might not appear like it, Father is truly in love with my mother. Why, then, did he not marry her and have a child then? Too many questions. I turn back to the conversation as Star asks Grayson when he's coming home.
I wait for him to say he is home, he's with us, but he doesn't. He just shakes his head and TD laughs. "That's his way of saying he's having too much fun out here. I mean, what's not to love about turning twigs and newspaper shreds into fire, you know?"
"Shut up, Tim." Grayson swats at him, and the Titans laugh. I roll my eyes at my brothers. "You're just jealous you couldn't have brother time with us."
"Yeah." My oldest brother says. "You could've, but no-o-o. Videogames were more important."
I stick my tongue out and settle down on my knees beside Dick. He puts an arm around me. Cy laughs. "Wait, what did you do?"
"We made a cool little fire out of newspapers and stuff." Grayson tells his team. "You know, just this little flame that burnt out in like, five minutes."
"Why?" BB asks. I giggle at the thought. "I said I'd never heard of a cooking spray flamethrower, and so we lit things on fire."
"A what?" Raven asks. Grayson tells her, "You know, you get a can of cooking spray and spray it. Then you shoot the spray with a lighter."
"Yeah. Definetly sounds like the kind of crazy you do." Star disses him. He laughs at her. I notice at one point, Jason blows Terra a kiss, and silently she catches the imaginary kiss. Gross.
