Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans so bye you basic bitches
Anyways... I hope you like this chapter but its kinda weird and boring but is needed to progress so... but I hope the end interests you? R&R k bye
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT
Chapter 4
"I can't believe you basically gave her a spot on the team. We know nothing about her!" Raven whispered-yelled at Robin in the dark hallway.
"I did not just give her a spot on the team. I told her she has to prove herself," Robin replied angrily.
"Please, that's like a mom saying to her child 'if you're good you get ice cream'. You know they're getting ice cream," Raven hissed.
"I made zero promises to her. I'm not sure about her being here too. But like I said earlier: we have to give her a chance. By no means did I say she already had a spot on the team. Now leave me alone. I have work to do," Robin pushed passed an angry looking Raven.
Cyborg and Beast Boy had just gone to show Rider her temporary room, and Starfire said something about coloring. Raven had stopped Robin in the hallway, quite displeased.
Raven faded through the wall and appeared again directly in front of Robin, "So what happens if she doesn't do well? What happens if she turns out to be a bad fighter and a bad person? Are we going to kick her out? Leave her alone on the streets?"
Robin looked away from her thinking, looking quite troubled at these possibilities.
After a moment he said, "No, of course not. I'll make sure she's taken care of."
Raven's anger seemed to cease and she sighed, "I don't want another Terra."
"I know. Me neither."
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT
"And wah-la! Welcome to your all-inclusive TITAN'S RESORT! BOOYAH!" Cyborg chanted as the door slid open.
He and Beast Boy high-fived.
"Thank you," Rider laughed, stepping inside.
The room was simple. It had a bed, a desk, a window that took up an entire wall, and a closet. The walls were white, and the carpet was a light beige. There weren't any decorations or elaborate furniture. It was just very plain.
"We know it's not glamorous. But this is just your temporary room. If you earn your spot and get to stay here permanently, then we'll fix you up a better space. As for now, think of this as your recovery/initiation/temporary quarters," Cyborg said.
"You totally will though!" Beast Boy said excitedly.
Cyborg slapped the back of the green boy's head, "Hey ow!"
Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head and gave Cyborg a dirty look before punching the air, "Dude, you are going to have a BLAST!"
"Here, I'll show you where TJ will stay for the time being," Cyborg left the room and the two others followed him just a little further down the corridor to a room with a large door. TJ clomped along behind them, as he had been waiting outside of the room. The double doors slid open to reveal another simple room. There were makeshift rubber floors with shavings scattered everywhere and hay haphazardly around the room. There were buckets of water sitting on the floor and grain randomly distributed about.
"How'dya like it?" Beast Boy gestured to the room.
"Well…" She scrunched her nose, "Um."
She touched her fingers to her jaw looking thoughtful. She titled her head to one side. Then she made a small sweeping motion with her hand.
All the grain on the floor was swept up and glided to form a pile in the corner. Then she directed an upturned palm at the water buckets and made the motion of lifting something. The water buckets rose from the ground. She made another sweeping motion and the buckets went flying into the wall, creating a hole and sending water everywhere.
"Oops," Rider looked embarrassed.
She twirled her pointer finger and the water that had splashed about splashed right back into the buckets stuck into the wall with a gust of air.
She turned to the boys, "Sorry about the wall. Hard buckets just can't be loose on the ground. We don't want them stepping on them and going lame."
"Lame? Horses aren't lame! They're pretty cool actually," Beast Boy argued looking appalled.
"Lame means injured you tosh pot," Cyborg sighed heavily.
"Oh."
"Well this isn't perfect. But it will have to do for the time being. Thank you guys for everything, but if you don't mind, I'd like to get TJ settled in to his- uh- room stall thing," Rider said.
"Course! Come on Cy, let's go play some Ninja Monkey 2000," Beast Boy encouraged.
Cybrog ooed, and they left running.
Rider sighed and turned to face the room again. Then she turned around to look at TJ and sighed again.
He was trying to eat the wall.
"You're an idiot," She shook her head at the sheepish looking TJ.
She stepped aside the doorway, motioning for her large equine to go inside the room. TJ obediently walked inside and then abruptly stopped, whinnying.
"I know, I know!" She laughed as she followed him in, "It sucks. But think of it as we get to be alongside the Teen Titans! That's all we've dreamed about for the past 8 months!"
TJ blinked at her.
"Well it's all I've dreamed about. Oh don't look at me like that. We don't have to go back home!" Rider paused, "If we earn our spot on the team."
Rider stroked TJ's neck, "I really don't want to go back home. I don't want to kill or hurt anybody, Zephyr."
At this, he stopped his hoof and tossed his head.
"Oh don't be an ass. That's your real name. Anyways, that's why we have to work extremely hard. Maybe if we are apart of this team, we can show Daddy and Granddaddy that you don't have to solve problems that way."
Rider closed her eyes and she breathed deeply.
When she opened them, she said, "Okay well do you think you'll be alright here? For the time being?"
If TJ could talk he might have said yes, but he just huffed out of his nose.
"Good boy. I'll be back later okay?" With that she gave him a pat, turned, and left with the door sliding shut behind her.
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT
Rider walked into the living room to see Beast Boy and Cyborg intensely playing what she assumed was Ninja Monkey 2000. She tentatively made her way over to the couch.
"Hey guys, mind if I sit?" She asked politely.
Her response was a grunt from Beast Boy who was standing on the couch squirming about in front of the huge screen.
"Okay whatever," Rider plopped onto the edge of the couch.
"BOOYAH!" Cyborg yelled, and he threw the controller on the couch.
"Ah no fair!" Beast Boy pouted changing into a sloth.
Cyborg was doing a victory dance or something while Beast Boy just kind of sat there. Because. Like… he was a sloth…
Anyways. Cyborg spotted Rider.
"Oh hey girl! Didn't see ya come in," Cyborg smiled, Rider rolled her eyes and Cyborg continued, "So everything's all settled?"
"Yep, everything's fabulous," the brunette replied smiling.
The green sloth formed back into a human and it said, "Great! And I know a perfect way to unwind!"
Rider raised her eyebrows.
"A friendly game of NINJA MONKEYS 2000!" Beast Boy cried, a backdrop appearing behind him that looked like it came from an infomercial.
"Um sure. But I don't really know how to play," Rider said.
"That's okay. It's easy. You just hit these buttons right here-" Beast Boy slid onto the couch next to her, showing her the controller, "And you press these when you want to attack."
"Okayyy…" Beast Boy handed her the controller and switched on the game.
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT
"Wow," Cyborg chuckled from his comfortable watching position on the couch.
"Dude…" Beast Boy said.
"What?" Rider asked.
"You literally suck at video games," Beast Boy said, "I mean you're worse then Raven. And she doesn't even touch the buttons."
"Gee thanks Beast Boy. You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself," Rider said sarcastically.
She had made her character fall off the platform and die a grand total of 23 times. She also managed to get her avatar to kick itself in the face until it died approximately 8 times. And finally, when she didn't kill herself, Beast Boy did it easily by pushing her over.
"You know, I'm impressed; I didn't think it was possible for avatars to kick themselves to death," BB joked.
Cyborg laughed, "It's okay Rider. So video games isn't your thing."
"Well we don't really have video games back home," Rider protested, her face slightly red.
"HOW DID YOU LIVE?"
Cyborg gave the green teen a dirty look and then turned his attention back to Rider, "What'd y'all do for fun?"
"Well I'm pretty good at the harp. And the lyre."
"What the heck is a lyre?" Beast Boy asked.
"A small, handheld harp used for singing lines of epic or lyrical poetry. Especially popular in ancient Greek and Roman times as it was used both in Archaic and Classical period of Greece. It was most prominent during the Golden Age of Pericles during the Greek's great advances in art and philosophy and in some cases science. It was also seen as a symbol for many Greek Gods and Goddesses," Rider recited casually.
Cyborg and Beast Boy looked puzzled.
"How do you know all that?" Cyborg asked.
"It's kinda common knowledge where I come from," Rider said.
Beast Boy and Cybrog looked at each other.
Beast Boy asked slowly, "So uh- where do you come from?"
Rider bit her lip and studied Beast Boy's face. There was an expression on her face as if she was deliberating on sharing this seemingly simple information.
Then she apparently made a decision and said, "I'm Greek."
"Oh that's cool, I don't hear an accent though. Were you born there?" Cyborg asked, making an effort to try and get some information out of her.
"Yes. Born and raised," She smiled.
"How long have you been in America?" Beast Boy asked.
"Well I've been roaming around the world for ages, so I've visited lots of times. I like to stay in the West hemisphere. But recently? I've been in New York for about 8 months. Gotham for a few weeks but I didn't like it very much so I came down to Jump," She seemed to be getting more comfortable.
"That's a long time. Why have we never seen you before now?" Cyborg asked.
"I guess you could say I've been out of sight since I came," Her mood changed and her jaw set.
The boys sensed this and both silently agreed to change the subject.
"Okay so harp and lyre. What else do you like to do?" Beast Boy asked cheerfully.
Rider thought for a second, "So I suck at video games but I'm great at cards."
"HEY COOL LETS PLAY CARDS I LOVE CARDS!"
"Calm down BB," Cyborg turned to Rider, "I'll go get a deck of cards."
"Oh no need," Rider smiled slyly, "I have my own."
Rider blew an icy breeze into her open palm. The blue air swirled in her hand and a deck of blue and white cards appeared.
"Hey cool trick!" Cyborg said putting his face really close to her hand.
Rider laughed, "Thanks! There's more where that came from."
Rider took her free hand and placed it over the deck of cards. She made a sharp swiping motion and the entire deck of cards shot upwards. The cards were rocketing randomly through the room all around them, and then she made a big sweep with her arm, sending the cards shooting to the left and right back towards Beast Boy and Cyborg. She twirled her hand and the cards circled above the boys' heads. She closed her hand tightly and the cards formed a line again and shot back at her. She outstretched her arms so the cards could go up one arm and down the other. Then the cards landed safely in the palm of the beaming girl.
"Neat!" Beast Boy said.
Then she fanned the cards in one hand and flung them across the room. The cards collided with the wall, and to the boys' surprise actually pierced it, like the cards were razor sharp blades stuck in the paneling.
"I'm even better at playing," Rider said smugly while the robot and the green boy nodded approvingly at the wall full of cards.
"Bring it!" Cyborg exclaimed whipping his head back around to look at her.
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT
"Hey Rob, wait up!" Cyborg called at the masked boy looking over some papers as he walked down the corridor.
"What's up Cy?" Robin said, but didn't take his eyes off his paper work.
"I have some info on Rider," Cyborg said.
Robin looked up at Cyborg and stopped walking.
"Yeah?" Robin raised an eyebrow and he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
"Okay so Beast Boy and I just spent like an hour and a half with her. We played some video games and she was awful, like worse than Raven and-"
"Worse then Raven? Raven doesn't even touch the buttons," Robin interrupted.
"Yeah I know right. Beast Boy didn't even have to do anything barely, she always died on her own; it was hilarious."
"You can't die on your own in Ninja Monkeys."
"She can."
"How?"
"She kicked herself to death a few times and fell a lot."
"Is this what you had to talk to me about? That she's bad at video games? Cyborg, I really don't have time for this," Robin said irritably.
"No! Okay but that she said something about not having video games where she lived. So we asked where she lived and she said she was from Greece. And she recited all this information about a lyre."
"The handheld harp?"
"Yes! Apparently she can play. But it was really weird because she was talking about Classical Ancient Greece and Gods and stuff. And she said she's been all over and she's been in Gotham and Jump for about 8 months. We asked why we had never seen her before now, and she got defensive a little bit so we dropped the subject," Cyborg said quickly.
"Strange."
"And then she kicked our butt at cards, and left to take a walk or something," Cyborg finished.
"Okay so what do we know about her? She's Greek. She's good at cards," Robin recited.
"Bad at video games," Cyborg said.
"She lives in the mountains…" Robin continued.
"The mountains?"
"Earlier she told us she lived in the mountains," Robin nodded.
"Well what mountain range? There are thousands in the Greek islands."
"How bout you ask her?"
"I don't know man. I think her deal is with her family and whatever it is, she's not ready to tell us," Cyborg huffed.
"Well if you find anything more out, tell me. And tell the others to tell me. Maybe we can piece her together. Thanks Cyborg," And with that, Robin walked away.
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT
Meanwhile, Rider floated aimlessly through the dim hallways, opening doors (knocking first of course) and giving herself a tour. She had gone down quite a few floors and was on the 37th of 100. For some perspective, the Ops room is on the 100th floor. The hallways were starting to get dusty as she went further down, obviously due to their lack of use. She rounded a corner and found she was at a dead end. Rider was about to turn back when she saw a small wooden door in the corner of the wall. This was particularly weird since all the other doors were big, titanium, robotic, sliding doors. Not this one. This one was light mahogany that blended in with the wall and was barely taller than Rider. Upon closer inspection, it had a thick layer of dust, dirt, and cobwebs. The brown haired girl ran her hand over the wood, making her palm black with dirt. She found the door to actually be much darker in color underneath all that dust. Like ebony.
Ebony She thought with a look of sadness fleeting briefly on her face.
Rider quickly shook it off and focused on her curiosity. She then noticed an engraved cursive 'T' in the space where she cleared the dirt.
Wonder what that's for…
Her fingers traced the small letter and moved her hand to the dulled, golden doorknob. She opened the door and its rusty hinges squeaked. Rider took a step inside.
TtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtTtT